I had to go on a very quick trip to Chicago this weekend for work—gone Friday, back Saturday night—and walking around my old haunts made me remember how much I love the Windy City. New York may have all the glitz and glamour of a big town, (along with some serious culinary greats), but Chicago is a beautiful place that stands out on its on. I was in town to interview the fabulously interesting Martin Kastner, the creative genius behind Crucial Detail and many of the artful, thought-provoking service ware, design elements, and boundary-pushing elements of Alinea and Next. It may have been in-and-out trip, but it was so cool to see Krastner’s studio and work in action.

Inside Crucial Detail with Martin Kastner

Although I barely had a chance to unpack my bags before I was heading back to the airport, I did get to run along the lakefront (one of my favorite areas in Chicago), catch dinner and drinks at Balsan in the newly minted Waldorf Astoria, and hang out with the fun, and very proud, crew of Balena for staff meal. It’s always great to be back in Chicago, even if it’s only a short but sweet trip, and it was particularly nice this time around. Be on the look out for my Martin Krastner profile and Balena staff meal feature in the coming weeks on StarChefs.com.

I’ve been travelling to Atlanta with my job for StarChefs.com, eating with some of the city’s best chefs, pastry chefs, mixologist, sommeliers, brewers, and baristas. And guess what? I love Atlanta! From the Southern charm to the not-to-cool hipster esthetic (a refreshing break for the sometimes overkill of Williamsburg), I’ve thoroughly enjoyed traipsing around this town with Editor-in-Chief Antoinette Bruno. And I can’t wait to head back in June to celebrate our latest class of culinary rock stars at the StarChefs.com Rising Stars Gala at the eclectic Goat Farm Arts Center.

And although we’re putting the spotlight on our Rising Stars, there was something about every one of the nearly 80 tastings that Antoinette and I loved—a clever flavor combination, an interesting technique, an out-of-this-world dessert, or a rich, complex beer. Justin Burdett, the chef de cuisine at Miller Union, was just one of the chefs who wowed us during our trips, and I can’t get his creative dish of fresh carrot juice and oysters out of my head. Lightly seasoned, it’s a refreshing riff on an oyster shooter. And it didn’t hurt that Burdett finished the dish with one of my personal favorite garnishes, celery leaves, for an added brightness.

My version, an ode to Burdett’s creativity, swaps out the oysters for shaved radish, beets, and carrots. It’s a simple, refreshing amuse buche or cool spring soup that brings a little bit of my newfound ATL love to any meal.

Shaved Vegetables and Carrot Jus, inspired by Miller Union Chef de Cuisine Justin Burdett
Serves: 4
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup carrots, julienned
¼ cup radishes, julienned
¼ cup beets, julienned
1 cup carrot juice, lightly seasoned
Celery leaves

Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper together. Toss with the carrots, beets, and radishes. Bunch the vegetables into piles and place into bowls. Pour carrot juice into bowls. Lightly dress celery leaves with remaining oil mixture and garnish with celery leaves.

This month I convinced the lovely rEATers group to dive in, head first, to one of my absolute favorite food author’s of all time: Jeffery Steingarten. As writer for Vogue, Steingarten devotes much of his time to dissecting all things food. His first book, The Man Who Ate Everything, is a collection of his essays for the magazine and discusses everything from the vegan diet and the wide variety of water types to front-of-the-house finishing school.

Some of the books more interesting topics­—the nitty gritties on ketchup, or themed restaurants—seem to be more Steingarten’s own fancy than perhaps those of his fashionista audience. But chatting about the why of Steingarten (why a Harvard lawyer is writing about food in the fashion magazine), rEATers discussed the sensibilities needed to be a lawyer—the intuitive, argumentative nature that is required of a lawyer prepared to win his case. These are the same qualities Steingarten brings to each essay, showing his reader—no matter how educated they may (or may not be) on the topic—the full story. Armed with Steingarten’s information, the reader can may make their own judgment, whether it be on Evian and Perrier, or Heinz and homemade. Inspired by Steingarten and our talk, I cooked up a batch of my own homemade ketchup (although tomatoes aren’t yet in season, so my recipe is altered a bit with canned tomatoes). I hope you enjoy, and if you haven’t read the book, it’s a must read!

Homemade Ketchup, adapted from Saveur, Issue #12
Serves: 4 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 cinnamon stick
1 28-ounce can tomato purée
2 tablespoon dark brown sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Celery leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized sauce pot, heat the olive oil. Sauté the onion over medium heat until translucent, then add the garlic and cinnamon stick and continue cooking until aromatic. Add the tomato purée, brown sugar, and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Place the herbs in a piece of cheesecloth, tie with butchers twine, and add to the liquid. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes, until thick.

Remove spice satchel and cinnamon stick and pulse purée in a food processor. Strain, season with salt and pepper, and store refrigerated for up to one month.

Wow, it has been quite the busy past two weeks! I’ve been on the road with StarChefs.com, eating my way through Atlanta, and unfortunately too busy for La Vita Cucinare. But luckily, I’m finally all settled back in New York City. And what better time to talk about menu planning than after I’ve just spent eight days eating and drinking at six restaurants a day (I know, best job on Earth!). I’m certainly ready to get back to some good home cooking!

When I was a kid, my mother had a meal calendar that she used to plan each week, including my Dad’s favorites­—beef stroganoff, chili, tacos—and a few dishes my sister and I loved—Chinese sweet-and-sour meatballs and chicken Parmesan. While I can still remember the little square piece of paper she would pencil dish titles onto, I never thought to create a meal plan of my own. Trips to the market have always been more of a lazy stroll, as I imagined the feasts I could prepare during the week. Occasionally I planned out dinners or parties, and went shopping grocery list in hand, but more often then not, shopping has been altogether impromptu.

But a few weeks ago, after realizing that my move to New York has resulted in way too many take-out and restaurant grub sessions (embarrassingly sometimes breakfast, lunch, and dinner!), I decided to take matters into my own hands and cook everything I ate for an entire week. And thus I realized the secret of menu planning. Starting off with a little inspiration from The Kitchn’s Roast Chicken menu, I devised a resourceful menu, and then only spent $90 on groceries, much less than my take-out bills usually add up to. (It did help that I was only cooking for one, as TH was out of town the whole week.)

I began with a roast chicken, eating chicken breast, chicken salad, and chicken soup—one bird, five meals! Then came braised pork loin for dinner, which once shredded also turned into barbecue sandwiches and tacos. My new favorite sandwich, pan-fried tofu with spicy mayo, made an easy lunch to bring along to work. And to end off the week, I made this pretty quiche for a friend’s brunch party. Of course eating at all of New York’s fabulous restaurants is part of the fun of living here, but every once in a while, it’s great to challenge yourself with a week of home-cooked meals. And a reminder of how easy it is, especially when armed with a plan!

Leek and Spinach Quiche, adapted from Food+Wine December 2011
Serves 6-8

For the pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup ice water

For the filling:
1 leek, carefully washed and thinly sliced
½ cup spinach, thinly sliced
Salt
Black pepper
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup water
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites

For the pastry:
Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Use two forks or a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until it is pebble sized. Slowly pour in the water and mix together until a dough starts to forms. Turn onto a work surface, knead two or three times, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 11-inch pie or tart pan and trim the overhang. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat over to 375°F. Line the tart shell with aluminum foil and baking beans or pie wrights. Bake for 50 minutes, until golden, then remove weights and continue baking for 25 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool, for about 10 minutes, while preparing filling.

For the filling:
Sauté the leeks over medium heat until translucent. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Combine the butter, water, cheese, and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Add the leek-spinach mixture and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, whip the whites to soft peaks. Add 1/3 of the whites to the filling, combine, then gently fold in the rest of the whites. Pour the filling into the shell. Bake for 35 minutes until golden. Cool 10 minutes and serve.

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

When I was just starting college and knew very little about food, I suggested to my still good friend Aaron that we have a lunch date at a sushi buffet. His response was utter horror and an explanation of disgust at the thought of less than fresh raw fish. After watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi, you may never be able to dine at any sushi restaurant again, save for Sukiyabashi Jiro, the 10-seat eatery found in a Tokyo subway station that’s currently swept up the foodie nation.

I’m not sure anyone (at least in the food world), has yet to see the Magnolia Pictures production, but if you haven’t managed to make it to this captivating film yet, I fully insist you catch it. The movie profiles 85-year-old Jiro Ono, renowned sushi master and chef of the first three-starred Michelin sushi restaurant. Wide-spanning, sensual shots of sushi combine with the details of Jiro and his two sons’ lives, telling the passion and dedication required to reach a level of true perfection.

On many levels, Jiro can be hard to understand. At 85, he is unwilling to retire, so dedicated to his world he cannot imagine doing anything but running his restaurant day after day, even as his 65-year-old son Yoshikazu Ono should step up to take his place. For many people, this kind of all consuming passion is a foreign concept. As Jiro says, “Once you decide on your occupation, you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success and is the key to being regarded honorably.” Most people are more interested in making money quickly, and then working as few hours as possible, enjoying life’s pleasures rather than enjoying their work.

But Jiro’s thinking is such the life of a chef, the life of the kitchen: to work hard, long hours in order to reach perfection. Study any great chef today and you will find the same common thread, the quiet demeanor, hard-working mentality that is necessary for success. No great chef has ever wanted to get rich quick, and if they mistakenly did—after peeling carrots as a stagiaire or pulling 15-hour shifts—they quickly realized this was not kitchen life.

But the world of the kitchen can be all consuming. For a chef truly dedicated to there craft, (as in many other fields) there is often time for little else. There are moments when I think hesitantly at the seriousness with which I take my chosen profession—it is just food after all. For all the options in the world, I have chosen to devote my life to writing and educating about food in a very serious way. The people that know me well know that I live, breath, sleep, and of course, eat, what I do. I could be writing about politics or economics or science, but I have chosen food as my cause, my way of storytelling. I have a feeling that that saying of Jiro’s will be oft repeated and it hit home practically hard with me. I’m in love with food and the story of people through food, but I’m still falling in “love with my work.”

While the movie’s imagery of sushi is enthralling and very tempting (make reservations at the very best sushi restaurant you can for after the show!), and the story of Jiro’s temple is quite interesting, in the end, Jiro Dreams of Sushi is really about awakening the passion we all have inside us. It’s that push, the voice inside telling us to do what we love, to be completely dedicated to an art and to a craft. It’s a bit scary, and also quite wonderful, to question if we are passionate enough at what we do, and in the world of escapism and materialism, doesn’t happen nearly enough.

Also,  I’d like to say congratulations to Britt T., who won my Preservation Kitchen giveaway! Thanks to everyone who posted comments and to Kate Leahy for her interview and copy of the book!

When I first met Kate Leahy, after working at Chicago magazine in 2010, she was working with Chef Paul Virant in the midst of the Preservation Kitchen cookbook project. Michelin-starred, and Chicago-based Virant is widely known for his skill with canning and preserving, and the book is his guide and manual to techniques, recipes, and seasonal menus, inspired by his award-winning restaurants Vie, in Western Springs, Illinois, and Chicago’s Perennial Virant.

The book is finally out April 3^rd, and after all the cookbook ghostwriter hullabaloo last week, I thought it might be nice to chat with her about the cookbook experience. And Kate was kind enough to offer a copy of the book as a giveaway to my readers. So read her words, leave a comment about your favorite canning recipe below, and I’ll choose a winner next Monday April 2, 2012 to receive the beautiful book!

Katherine Sacks: So, you’ve worked on several books now, your first A16 Food + Wine, then Preservation Kitchen, and most recently the forthcoming SPQR book. Tell me about working with Paul.

Kate Leahy: I met Paul staging at Vie in 2006. I just went in because I was curious to see if a restaurant in Western Springs could be as good as everyone was writing it was. I called up Paul and staged there, and I was really impressed with what he was doing. In 2009, I sent him an email­—I didn’t know him well at the time, but knew him enough—and I asked him if he’d thought about doing a cookbook. There wasn’t a canning cookbook on the market that was also by a chef, and he seemed interested. So we met and really hit it off; at the next meeting he wanted his wife there, and we all got along.

So it started becoming this weekly meeting that we would have over coffee, to talk shop and also talk about the book. He’s a little different than most chefs—he’s not an introvert, and everywhere you go, you run into people he knows. Being his sidekick for a year and a half, I really got to know the person, and it was a great experience. Even though he’s pressed for time and stressed like most chefs, he really does care about people and values creating relationships. After the project was over, to thank me and the recipe tester, he invited us over to his home to cook for us. It was an amazing meal, and his kids even played the cello and violin for us. It was like becoming part of his family.

KS: How did the project get off the ground? So many food writers/bloggers are interested in writing books, how did you get yours started?

KL: I pitched the book to Paul, and while he was still figuring out what it meant to write a book, I was in touch with Ten Speed about whether a book about canning from Paul would be of interest. The canning and preserving market is saturated, but if you have the chef’s perspective, that is different. We spent a long time developing the proposal before we sent it to Ten Speed, and we had a clear idea of what we wanted to create. Sometimes with the proposal, you later realize you need to change things, but because we had a lot of meetings early on, it really helped figure out how we would approach this book.

Working on Preservation Kitchen with Chef Paul Virant, image via Kate Leahy

KS: What was your favorite part of working on the project?

KL: The trips we took out to the farms. Paul, Tony [the recipe tester], and I all went out to Heritage Prairie one day, and we ended up going out there nine months later for a photo shoot. I had never seen a beekeeper pulling out a fresh honeycomb, and then he handed us a piece. We also went down to Prairie Fruits farm for a shoot and spent all day there seeing the goats and the orchards and just how these farmers do it. It was really fascinating.

KS: The New York Times article about ghostwriting caused quite a stir. Do you consider yourself a ghostwriter?

KL: I think I’ve been a ghostwriter. When I did the A16 book that was like being a ghostwriter. I stayed in the background. I wrote the whole darn thing, but when it came to media attention it was Shelley and Nate Appleman. So I can identify with that article. With Paul, it really is his story, they are his recipes, but he is also such a collaborative type of guy—he would always ask me questions, “Well, what do you think, we could do this or this.” I thought that was really interesting, because a lot of chefs would just say these are my recipes. It’s still his book and it’s still his name on the front, but I feel pretty connected to the book as well.

KS: And what’s up next?

KL: This fall I’m coming out with a book with SPQR, another Italian cookbook. I’m gonna get the first page proofs next week, so the hard work is done, and it’s coming out in mid-October of this year. After that, I might need a breather after these heavy duty projects. I would like to do my own book I think, nothing huge, but you need the time to actually develop it and in this bizz we never have enough.

The first thing that came to mind while re-reading Year in Provence for our second rEATers book club was pâté. Creamy, silky, and oh-so-French, it was the perfect dish to dig into while discussing the ebbs and flows of Peter Mayle’s impressive book. I’d never made pâté before, and—after a good deal of research—I settled on a chicken liver recipe that was quite the hit. Enriched with salty bacon fat, and a good shot of Calvados, it was just the rich, earthy flavor to get us in the mood for a discussion of all things Provençal. With Katzie’s spread of wood mushroom-brie crostini, flowering kale salad, and celery root remoulade (and a few bottles of wine), our stomachs were filled French-style by the end of the evening.

Our discussion of Year in Provence was a fitting background to this rich and glorious meal: I first read the tome in high school, and quickly fell in love with the romanticism of the European lifestyle. I couldn’t wait to retire to France and eat my way through the countryside. In my second read, the book felt a bit less romantic. Perhaps it was my older age, or the fact that I’ve now traveled a good deal through Europe, but some of that dreamy facade fell away. The other rEATers agreed with me; during our meeting we discussed how unrealistic the book seemed at times—a rich couple with nothing to worry about other then rebuilding a Provençal home—to a group somewhat shocked by the country’s economic status. And, as retiring is far from our 20-something minds, it all seemed a bit impractical. But for the most part, the group enjoyed the rich scenes and reading about a culture where food is held on such a high pedastool. And of course, eating and drinking French-style for the evening is never a bad thing.

Chicken Liver Pâté, adapted from Bon Appètit
10-15 servings
½ cup bacon fat, room temperature
1 shallot, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 handful thyme
1 pound chicken livers, cleaned
½ cup water
1½ cups unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
2 tablespoons Calvados or Brandy
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Small (2–4-oz.) glass jars or bowls

Add a spoonful of the bacon fat to a large sauté pan and place over low heat. Add the shallot, garlic and thyme, and heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the livers and the water, turning up the heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the livers are firm but still pink inside, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, and discard the thyme. Place the livers, shallot, and garlic in a food processer and blitz until a paste begins to form. Add the remaining bacon fat, and continue to mix. Slowly add in the butter, until a smooth, creamy consistency forms. After all of the butter is incorporated, add the Calvados, and season with salt and pepper. Blitz one more time to incorporate all the flavors.

Strain the mousse through a fine chinois and pour into glass jars. Allow to set until firm in the refrigerator, then pour a small amount of melted butter over the top to form a seal. Store for 3 to 5 days, refrigerated.

I’ve had a thing for tiki drinks lately. San Francisco’s Smuggler’s Cove is by far one of my favorite bars, and I’ve been itching for a trip to New York’s Lani Kai since I arrived in September. So when my good friend Matthew invited us to his housewarming party a few weeks ago, my mind shot directly to making a pitcher of sunny tropical drinks to share. It didn’t hurt that I was also reading Bon Appetit’s March issue at the time, and was inspired by the simple and lovely Queen’s Park  Swizzle.

Starting out, I infused some dark rum with orange zest and cinnamon overnight. To that I added simple syrup, lime juice, and mint. The recipe also calls for orgeat, an almond-infused syrup used heavily in tiki concoctions. I didn’t have time to whip up a batch, and my local bar store was out, but Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters (infused with cinnamon, allspice, and paprika) made a lovely replacement. Swirl the mixture around and pour over crushed ice, and you have a slightly sweet, spicy, and tart cocktail. And our ever-expanding bar continued to grow with the addition of a few bar staples–Peychaud’s and Angostura–used to top of the drink with a bright red flourish. Garnish with mint and a long straw, and you have tiki magic. Light and floral, it’s a great way to celebrate, housewarmings or the coming sunshine!

Queen’s Park Sqizzle, adapted from Bon Appetit March 2012
6 to 8 servings

3 cinnamon sticks
3 pieces anise
1 orange
3 cups cup spiced rum
2½ cups simple syrup
1 cup fresh lime juice
1 handful mint sprigs
10 dashes tiki bitters
10 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5 dash Angostura bitters
750 ml sparkling water

Heat the cinnamon and anise in a small pan over medium heat until aromatic. Place in a large container and pour the rum into the spices. Zest the orange, and add to the rum. Let steep overnight.

Gently muddle the rum, simple syrup, lime juice, tiki bitters, and mint sprigs. Pour into a pitcher, and add the Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters. (For an individual serving, I added these last, in the traditional manner. For a pitcher primed for a party, I added the bitters to the batch.) Top off with soda water. Serve in glasses filled with crushed ice.

And it’s no wonder the booze part is right­­­. Partners Tom Potter and Allen Katz have years of experience in the business: Potter co-founded Brooklyn Brewery in 1987 and Katz is the director of Spirits Education and Mixology for Southern Wine & Spirits of New York. Distilling in urban New York is steeped in history (the earliest stills in Brooklyn date back to the 1700s), and Potter and Katz formed the company as a premiere craft distillery much in the same tradition and craft. The company currently produces two varieties of gin—the Dorothy Parker, blended with elderberries and hibiscus, and the Perry’s Tot, an aromatic over-proof Navy Strength gin.

While The Shanty serves their traditional Tom Collins and Gin and Tonics with the Perry’s Tot, we particularly liked the Sauvetage, a bright drink made with the more floral Dorothy Parker. A refreshing sip, the drink combines Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, tart grapefruit juice and a bit of spice from Bittermen’s Amère Nouvelle. And while the gin drinks were easy to drink and enjoy, I’m especially excited that the company is currently working on an American Rye Whiskey. As if anyone needed another reason to hang out in Williamsburg.

The Details:
The Shanty
79 Richardson Street, Brooklyn NY
718-878-3579
http://nydistilling.com
Open nightly from 5pm-2am

TH has finally made his way from Chicago to New York, and this weekend we were in the midst of moving me from Park Slope into a  sublet together in Williamsburg, so this will be a short little note hello. And what better way to say hello than with sunny pictures from our most recent holiday in Hawaii. While we were still apart, we were lucky enough to meet up, and fly the coop for a few days in early February, when we headed to the Big Island for tiki drinks, snorkeling and waterfall hikes.

This was my first visit to Hawaii (other than as a six-month-old), and I was thoroughly enamored with the Island culture; the warm hospitality and laid-back spirit was certainly something I could get used to. And those big drinks didn’t hurt either. Highlights included Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge, Akaka Falls, fresh rambutan at the Kona farmers market and snorkeling at Kahaluu-Keauhou cove. And we’d head back for the pretty beach view at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, any day. Even though our larger-than-life Hilton resort (complete with a monorail and on-site dolphins), wasn’t our normal traveling style, it was nice to sit by the beach, relax and escape the East Coast winter. And with spring right around the corner, Hawaii’s sunshine look’s like it’s finally headed our way!