Digging Rhubarb with Scott at Quaill Hill Farm

The best time of year to transplant or separate rhubarb roots

(crowns) is the spring, this year I found myself digging on
St. Patricks day. The Rhubarb I've been cooking with for
the past 20 years has come from Quail Hill Farm, New York's
first CSA. My friend Scott Chasky, the farmer at Quail Hill,
has been guiding me as a gardener for the whole time.

The nice thing about rhubarb (other than its unique
flavor profile) is that every 3 or 4 years the roots get large
enough to divide and replant. My first spring rhubarb
visit to the Quail Hill rhubarb patch was in 1994 when
Scott had been on the job for 3 years. He had been given a
gift of several crowns in the spring of 1991 and it was time to
divide that first row, he gave me 2 crowns for my Amagansett
garden at that time. Over the years that followed I divided my
plants to eventually total 12 crowns, they served my Amagansett
kitchen well.

Now that my Sag Harbor garden is in full swing and the 12 crowns
from Amagansett have been moved over and were divided last
spring to include 24, I still have room for more. Yesterdays visit
with Scott yielded 8 new crowns that will be planted today.

Harvesting crowns is simple, using a sharp spade dig into
the plant edge about 10 inches in and cut the outer crowns away
as you see Scott doing in the photos. Transplant to new locations
taking care to dig a hole deep enough to accommodate several shovels
filled with good compost, then place the roots and crowns on the
compost and fill to level with more nutrient rich soil. Then water and
mulch to finish. Be sure that the crowns are level with the mulch
much in the same way they looked prior to digging.

Sliced Steak Sandwich, Manchester farm

Over the past 3 weeks my menus have offered a new take on

beef, or if you sit next to Dave Beckwith at the counter he might

suggest it's "old style beef".  The source, Manchester Farms in 

Avella, Pennsylvania has a strict code,  raising it's animals on

a grass diet from start to finish. At this time, since Manchester

is an organic dairy farm, they raise only Hereford dairy cows. 

Smaller than beef breeds, the Hereford male offspring, raised 

on grass, provide a deep flavor, lean but rich and gamey, I just

love it.

Purchasing beef from Manchester Farm requires a unique ritual that 

I won't go into here but most importantly it involves an education

in whole animal awareness. You must commit to 1/4 of an animal 

that in this case dialed down to 96 pounds of meat. Packaged in

cryovaced plastic bag and labeled properly for each cut. The 

package included one filet, 2 London broil, 7 pieces of NY strip

cut at 10oz on average, 5 Delmonico steaks, beef stew chunks, 

30lbs of chop meat an assortment of roasts and a brisket.

We've had a favorable response to the prime cuts, especially 

the Delcomico and enthusiastic reviews for the burger which

has been offered at 1/3 pound on 8 grain toast with what we call

our ensalada de casita.

Why introduce the Organic, Grass fed beef now, in the middle

of the off season you may ask? Simple answer, we're preparing 

new menus for the next Estia location. As we searched for the next

spot to share our full service program we met new people and 

Joe Pagliarulo and his wife Margie who own the Manchester Farm

came across our bow. 

The new space has all of the ingredients we've been looking for 

to make the Estia formula work. It's in a family community,

filled with open minded busy folks who look for fresh, clean

food to share with their friends and families. While I'm not at

liberty to introduce the location yet I can tell you that my partner 

in the kitchen will be Carissa Waecter. Happy to work with Carissa

who's enthusiasm and drive make every moment of this anxious 

time seem more worthwhile. 

One of the many dishes we've developed to highlight the "Old Style
Beef" from Manchester Farms is our new Sliced Steak Sandwich,
it'll be served on home baked baguette topped with grilled red onions
and warm bleu cheese over arugula, the beef is so flavorful we've
found it's not necessary to pile it on.

Russian Boar: Winter specials at Estia's Little Kitchen

Last Thursday started with a hard frost on Estia's garden.
The greens held up but it's not going to be long before
our cold frame is the last bed standing. Nice to know it's
full and ready to serve into January. After a quick breakfast
rush and a meeting with Carrisa Waechter covering future
plans for Estia expansion, we hopped in my Ford pick up
"Bob White" and drove to the Wells family farm in Riverhead,
NY.

Our intent, to purchase a free range, humanly slaughtered
Russian boar. The animal had lived all 4 years of
its life on 50 acres, roaming in a pen that provides inhabitants
with shelter from summer heat in a 15 acre marsh, all of the
nourishment of a  25 acre corn field and shade from a large
wooded area featuring nuts and worms, all good things that
wandering pigs might enjoy as they pass through.

Carrisa and I enjoyed the experience of acquiring a field to
table offering for Estia's customers. We also found the farmers
tour to be interesting and educational. The animal he harvested
for us dressed out at 350 pounds. My job as the butcher was
to break it down into all it's parts and store it for the winter
for lunch and dinner specials at Estia's Little Kitchen.

If you scroll back to an earlier post from the summer of 2011
you'll find my recipe for pork loin and belly "Roti". This
time around we roasted a stuffed leg, tied off and packed in salt.

The fore shank was braised in 2 cups of pork stock made from
some roasted bones. The braise also included sweet carrots from
our garden, onions, garlic and celery with a cup of red wine and a handful of herbs from the garden too (parsley and oregano). The result (after 3 hours at 325) was succulent but not fit for a meal. Instead, I cleaned  the meat from the bone, diced it into thumb nail size cubes and let it rest overnight in the strained stock. In a bowl on the counter top 1 cup of red kidney beans were covered with cool water and allowed to soft over night.

The following day I cleaned the fat from the stock and brought the
beans to a simmer in another cup of water on the stove top. When the
water had been absorbed, I added the pork and stock along with 1/2
cup diced onion, 2  chopped jalapeno chilies and 1 tablespoon crushed
coriander seed. The pot of beans and pork simmered for another hour
until the beans were soft then I added a tablespoon of salt and simmered
a while longer over low heat. Finally, basmati rice (1 cup) was
rinsed and then cooked in a covered pot with 2 cups of water over
medium flame, after simmering for 20 minutes the heat was removed
and the rice rested covered until service.

To serve, place the rice and beans on the plate first then top with a
slice of herb roasted pork leg. The addition of some sauteed carrots
and fall greens will give color to you plate.

Fancy Eggs Benedict

Anything with hollandaise works for me, especially when I'm cooking
at home for Mansell. This morning, she's on a soft food diet so I
decided to forget about the usual English and sliced ham arrangement.
Leftover mashed potatoes and diced ham provided a perfect
replacement. Simply mix 2 slices of ham diced fine with 2 cups of
mashed potatoes and create patties, place the patties on a buttered pan
over medium heat until they begin to brown, then flip them over and
repeat. We actually like this preparation better so It'll be on the
"Little Kitchen" Sunday brunch menu soon.

The key to a good hollandaise is to make it just prior to service, in this
case make the potato cakes first. Bring the poaching water to a boil,
then make the hollandaise by stirring 1/3 of the butter and 1/2 of the
lemon juice in a small sauce pan on boiling water (like a double boiler)
until the butter melts. Next add slightly whipped egg yolks and another
chunk of butter and continue stirring, as it starts to thicken add the
remaining lemon juice and butter and stir some more. When it begins to
thicken again set aside and poach the eggs. When the eggs are cooked
and the potato cakes plated add a dash of clementine and a dash of salt
to the sauce, warm over the boiling water stirring for 30 seconds.
Finally, pour the hollandaise over the eggs in equal parts and serve
immediately.

Serves 4

6 large eggs (poach 4, separate the yolks from 2)
4 tablespoons butter (plus a little more for the potato grill pan)
2 medium lemons
1 clementine slices for garnish and juice from the ends for the sauce
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 sliced baked deli ham (diced fine)

Baja Sur Mexican Specials for December

Little Neck Clam & Sweetcorn Chowder $9.95
Shrimp & Serrano Pepper Quesadilla
on corn tortillas with onions and jack cheese $13.95
☙ ☙ ☙
Pomegranate glazed Salmon with red quinoa & quail hill greens $21.95
Herb stuffed, salt roasted Local Pork Shoulder
with sweet potato purée & brussels sprouts $20.95
Peconic Bay Scallops with homegrown spinach risotto and
roasted carrots from our garden $25.95