Fresh: the food documentary

Fresh the movie is going theatrical. Find a screening near you!

Or just watch the trailer below and see if you recognize the farmer featured in Food Inc.

Good Food Jobs: A Profile of Taylor Cocalis and Dorothy Neagle

Friends turned business partners, Taylor Cocalis and Dorothy Neagle are ecstatic about the June 2010 launch of Good Food Jobs, a unique pay-per-post job board that will link the food community together.

Each posting on Good Food Jobs will be screened for relevance by Taylor and Dorothy to create a pool of individuals that can connect with other specialized and ardent food professionals who care about food and where it comes from. Their blog, the gastro.gnomes, will be incorporated into the site to profile people with interesting food jobs to inspire readers and reinforce their mission. Eventually, the website will expand to include face to face events and educational programs.

Good Food Jobs uniquely targets professionals on the other side of the culinary world, i.e. - those who don’t work in a kitchen. Translation: You won’t necessarily find a line cook position, but you will see postings for an artisan baker, experienced beekeeper, urban farmer, espresso machine technician or pastry apprenticeship.

The site evolved from Taylor Cocalis’ prior experience as Education Director at Murray’s Cheese, where she often was asked for guidance from people who wanted to work with food, but not in a kitchen. Using her vast network, she linked people together for potential opportunities whenever possible.

Taylor recruited Dorothy Neagle into the Good Food Jobs due to their existing friendship and their mutual interest in food, agriculture and sustainability. Dorothy came on board after realizing her career in interior design wasn’t fulfilling as much anymore. She decided that what really mattered to her was the experiences and ideas she grew up with on her family’s farm in rural Kentucky. Seeking to restore the early connections she made with food and where it comes from, Dorothy recognized that this enterprise afforded her the opportunity to make a larger impact.

Taylor and Dorothy are cheerleaders for good food. While talking with them and sampling some ridiculously rich artisan ice cream at Van Leeuwen’s, I couldn’t help but be excited for them. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Good Food Jobs has the potential to be a big asset for the disparate food community, so when you read about them in a couple of months on Grub Street or Gothamist, just remember that little ol’ me got their exclusive first interview.

A profile of Emily Peterson, Culinary Educator at Astor Center

What’s the right fit for what you want to do?

Answering this question propelled Emily Peterson to walk away from her career in education administration and into cooking school.

In nine short months, Emily completed both the culinary arts and culinary management programs at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE). While you might view leaving a stable work environment for cooking school as a risk, Emily points out that the risk isn’t going to cooking school -- it’s what you do immediately after.

Except Emily didn’t set out to become a chef running a restaurant. Since it’s in her personality to bounce around, she finds herself working on a number of projects since graduating ICE. These projects often draw upon her education background.

When she’s not cooking at The Green Table in Chelsea Market, she’s busy planning classes for the Astor Center or putting the final touches on a fundraiser for a Vietnamese culinary school for which she developed the curriculum. She also is creating a small project for NBC and has done a series of green market cooking demonstrations for Community Markets in the Hudson Valley.

At the Astor Center, Emily is thrilled to watch people learn and she’s more than happy to demonstrate how to break down an animal. She implemented sell out classes such as -- A Lobster Primer, Cooking with Sustainable Seafood, and The Responsible Carnivore: Cooking with Sustainable Meat. Currently, she’s conceptualizing a class centered on unusual ingredients.

Speaking of her Lobster Primer class, I asked Emily which of the following are the best method for killing lobsters: boiling them alive, freezing then boiling them alive, or using a knife. She explains using a knife is the most humane method. You need to drive the point of your knife into the back of the lobster’s scull, about an inch behind the tip of their eyes. You’ll see a little line on the shell which is the exact spot where you insert the knife. But beware, lobsters continue to move around after they are dead if you don’t cook them right away.

As a spirited culinary instructor, Emily shares her enthusiasm for local and sustainable foods with people whenever possible. When choosing between local and organic (non-local) products, she adamantly chooses local because is supports an entire community in your own backyard. Organic produce flown in from other countries, Emily notes, is radiated at the border which isn’t widely known.

Emily’s goal in her classes and on her blog, The Gourmand & the Peasant, is to encourage you to become an inspired risk taker in the kitchen, to keep learning, and know that it’s fine if you mess up because you can always order a pizza if dinner becomes a total disaster. Her blog chronicles an array of recipes from a simple peach and blue cheese bruschetta to more complex chocolate truffles. Be sure to try out one of her recipes, but I’ve got dibs on the recipe for zucchini feta pancakes.

My 27 Year Ban on Brussel Sprouts Ended Tonight

Roasted brussel sprouts are my new friend.

Ladies and gentleman, it's a historic night for me.

It's been about 27 years since I've tasted brussel sprouts and damned if I didn't eat six of them tonight with my dinner.

I was just a youngster around the age of seven and I fondly remember my only successful act of defiance. Being served a side of brussel sprouts (probably boiled or steamed) with my dinner (probably with meat as a main course) was just too much for a wee young lass like me to handle. Brussel sprouts tasted vile, reminded me of boiled cabbage which I also despised, and I wasn't going to eat them.

Growing up in my house, you had to eat what you were served. Normally this was never an issue, except for that fateful night when a seven year old girl decided to pull a Norma Rae and start a revolution.

I told my mother "No."

*Gasp*

The instructions were clear. I could not leave the kitchen table until I finished the three brussell sprouts sitting by their forlorn selves all alone on my dinner plate.

Time began to pass by...tick tick tick.

My mother finished the dishes....and still I sat. Swinging my feet back and forth as I sat on the wood kitchen chair which was getting harder and more uncomfortable by the minute.

My mother finished sweeping the kitchen floor and I continued to stare down at those menacing brussel sprouts.

My mother left the kitchen to join my father in the family room.....and I was left alone burning with determination.

In the mind of a 7 year old, it felt like I sat alone in that kitchen forever. In reality, it was probably an hour.

My mother came back into the kitchen and flatly said, "You can go watch TV." I darted away, flooded with relief, while those three sprouts found a new home in the trash.

I never ate them again.

Today, I stared at my enemies at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange, otherwise known to me as that amazing vegetable store inside Chelsea Market.

Having heard that roasted brussel sprouts were really quite good, I fearlessly bought six sprouts and roasted them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I added some butter on top just as a precaution. After all, butter makes everything better.

I took a deep breath and bit into one. Then another, then another.

Mmm mmm mmm.

Lesson learned: It's all about how you cook vegetables. Boiling is bad. Roasting or sauteing are good. And brussel sprouts are my new friend.

How to Use a Pastry Bag

Tomorrow I have the privilege of meeting Emily Peterson, a cook and culinary instructor. I came across a great instructional video she has on her blog, The Gourmand and the Peasant, on how to use a pastry bag and the rest of her post is on tempering chocolate and finishing the truffles.

Having done none of these things before, and impressed with her effortless presentation, I just had to post the video here. I hope to be trying some of this out very soon!

When a Typhoon Hits, Stay in the Kitchen

This serving of Pho Ga is short on broth and long on everything else.

Since the NYC area was hit with a practical typhoon last weekend, I decided to stay indoors, clear my schedule and do some down 'n dirty cooking and baking. I haven't had the time to do much of either lately so I went a little overboard. Since I had a lot of chicken already, it was the protein of the weekend.

I started with Chicken Cattiatora with Eggplant courtesy of the great Lidia Bastianich. The fried eggplant alone was good enough to eat on its own. Next, I was onto multiple rounds of Pho Ga, which I modified from this Turkey Pho recipe on Food52.com.

Would you believe its nearly impossible to find star anise in Greenpoint? Oddly enough my corner bodega had a container that appeared to have been sitting on the shelf since 1989. But it worked like a charm when I was toasting it on the stove with whole clove, coriander seeds and a cinnamon stick.

To get my baking groove on, I wanted to make a cake from the book I'm reading called "Under the Table: Saucy Tales from Culinary School" by Katherine Darling. Since I couldn't decide between two particular cakes, I decided to make both and take them into the office. I whipped up an Apple Bottomed Gingerbread Cake and Flourless Chocolate Cake. Both were simple and turned out fabulous! Let me tell you I've been one happy camper.

I clearly need to do more cooking and baking on weekends.

Apple Bottomed Gingerbread Cake

Upcoming Event: The Brooklyn Brunch Experiment

The Brooklyn Brunch Experiment

Sunday March 28, 2010 12-4pm

The Bell House 149 7th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Tickets On Sale Now! Open Call To Chefs!

Advance Tickets: $20

Day of Tickets: $25

One Drink Included with Ticket

Free After Party in Front Lounge

What do all New Yorkers need and love to do every weekend? Eat brunch!! Cookoff luminaries Theo Peck and Nick Suarez present NYC's premier culinary competition, the Brooklyn Brunch Experiment. The most creative and competitive chefs will prepare various brunch-type dishes and showcase them to you! From pancakes and granola to quiche and Hollandaise Sauce, you name it! The audience, along with one of the most esteemed, culinary judging panels, will select their favorite dishes and grandiose prizes and cash will be awarded to those who strive to be the next Brunch king or queen. Do you have what it takes?

Stonyfield will provide milk and yogurt for chefs to use!

SOME PRIZES...

JetBlue generously provided 2 airline tickets as the Grand Prize!

Whisk has donated a Cuisinart stand mixer (the Holy Grail of kitchen appliances!)

JUDGES

Sean Rembold (Chef at Diner/Marlow & Sons)

Andrew Knowlton (Iron Chef Judge and restaurant editor at Bon Appetit magazine)

More TBA....

Tunes by Jonathan Schnapp (Brooklyn Taco Experiment Winner)

A portion of ticket sales will help support Ovarian Cancer Research

Please visit http://www.thefoodexperiments.com/ for more information.

Contact Email: thefoodexperiments@gmail.com

Sponsors include JetBlue, Stonyfield, Whisk, Le Creuset, Diner, Bark Hot Dogs, Crif Dogs, Rose Water restaurant, Bodum and Bustelo Coffee!

Who are we? Nick Suarez and Theo Peck are both serious cookoff competitors, turned into food competition hosts. We have held four successful SOLD-OUT cookoffs over the past year, including themes with beer, cheese, chocolate and tacos. We have recently been recognized by the Brooklyn Paper as some of the 20 people to look out for in 2010 and have many more exciting Food Experiments planned this year, including a large scale cookoff on Governor's Island this summer.

NEWS

-Watch a short video about the Food Experiments at http://vimeo.com/7529495

-Theo and I are also available to cater your next party. Any time. Any place. However many people you want. Check out our new website catering tab.

Choose Your Own Adventure at The Meatball Shop

A big ol bowl of spicy pork meatballs

Inconspicuously situated on the corner of Allen and Stanton on the LES, you might walk right past The Meatball Shop as I did. With a large community table centrally located, warm colors and wood textures, its just cozy enough and the staff are extremely friendly, stopping to say hello wearing different plaid button down shirts. The restaurant has only been open one month and it's a full house at 6:30 on a Thursday night. We dine beneath a row of “instant ancestor” turn of the century photographs hung on the wall, making it seem like these long lost grandparents, aunts and uncles could look down and approve of our dinner plans.

But what really makes this place so rocking, is it’s like a choose your own adventure of food. Use the dry erase marker at your table to mark up your laminated menu presenting a stunning array of options.

Choose your balls! Spicy pork, beef, chicken, veggie, salmon, or the weekly special. (check)

Choose your sauce! Tomato, spicy meat, mushroom gravy, parmesan cream. (check)

Eat your meatballs on a slider (check here) or maybe on a hero sandwich, (check there) or get your meatballs and sauce served with risotto, polenta, white beans, mashed potatoes, or spaghetti. (check here, here or there)

How about adding some greens? - sauteed broccoli, steamed spinach, roasted veggies, market salad. (you get the idea)

My spicy pork meatballs live up to the buzz and the crowds. While they aren’t particularly spicy, they are mighty flavorful, moist, and sized well. Served four in a bowl, they are adequately coated in my chosen classic tomato sauce, with shredded cheese and two foccacia strips. They taste like good home cooking should. Just how I would want my mom to cook meatballs (if she ever made them).

The side of risotto I randomly chose isn’t creamy like I anticipated, but it is a nice texture contrast.

Brownie cookies with vanilla ice cream

Gingersnap cookies with chocolate ice cream

For dessert, it’s another odyssey of choices to build an ice cream sandwich from a handful of home made ice creams smushed between two freshly baked cookies. All are conveniently made on site by the owner’s wife. I chose gingersnap cookies loaded with real ginger you could taste. Pairing it with chocolate ice cream that is as rich and intensely chocolate as Van Leeuwen’s, I knew I had hit pay dirt. The ice cream was actually better than the meatballs, but shhh don't tell.

My first time as a Guest Blogger

Velva Knapp digs my blog and she asked me if I would do a guest posting on her recipe based blog - Tomatoes on the Vine.

My posting is up today (Monday) so take a moment to head over to Velva’s blog to check out my post and stay a while to take a peek at some of the recipes she’s made. She does one helluva job!

Thanks Velva!