An Interview with Stacy Dermont of Dan’s Papers

We would love to show you a picture she is an absolute knockout but we cant!

A few weeks ago, Stacy Dermont, a self-defined “upstate farm girl” from North Otto, New York, called up Chef Peter Cooke for an interview about the Hampton’s Chef Society – that is, after all, her job. A reviewer with Dan’s Papers, Dermont is often the one behind the pen (or, in our modern times, the blinking cursor), telling Long Island foodies what’s new and exciting. What many don’t know, however, is the person behind the font.

Dermont was born and raised in “cow country” near Buffalo, on a family dairy farm that her mother’s family used to run, so it’s no wonder that Stacy herself grew up to be a foodie. While the dairy farm responsibilities ended with her mother’s generation, Stacy was raised with a kitchen garden as well as some animals raised for slaughter. “We also gathered a lot of wild fruits, asparagus and horseradish,” she recalls.

Today, Stacy has little time to cook. “My husband is, thankfully, a fine cook,” she says. With her schedule – reviewing restaurants twice a week and working late hours – it’s no wonder that she lets him take on a lot of the day-to-day cooking. Stacy herself still cooks every weekend, and during the week, she says she often makes jam. “It’s great therapy to stir down a big pot of hot goo.”

Her job may be stressful, but Stacy seems to love it. After moving to Southampton in 2000, she started reading Dan’s Papers. “I found it remarkably frank at times, and surprisingly imaginative,” she says, though she didn’t think to apply for work there until last year, when she was asked to help find a new Associate Editor. “After (Managing Editor Susan Galardi) described the job, I applied.”

Her writing stints at Dan’s started as seasonal filler spots, and this fall, she started writing restaurant reviews. As of January, Stacy oversees all the food writing. “I love it,” she says. “I devour cook books and other food writing by the ton.”

Speaking about her job, she gushes about the opportunities she’s encountered, like meeting Sarabeth Levine. On her blog for Hampton Epicure, her weekly column with Dan’s, she describes the “crazy stuff she gets into” with the founder of infamous Manhattan prepared foods store, Sarabeth’s Kitchen. She also found her interview with Marcus Samuelsson to be “utterly inspiring.”

And then, of course, there’s the food: she gets to try new restaurants and meet restaurant professionals every day, and she’s discovered quite a few places, like her favorite Long Island restaurant, Luce + Hawkins in Jamesport. “They have it all goin’ on,” she says. “It takes a lot to ‘out foodie’ me – the whole Luce + Hawkins staff are crazy foodies. I love it and the atmosphere of high falutin’ food fun that pervades that lovely old building.”

She still finds time to get back to her roots, though. In Sag Harbor, where she now lives with her family, she has an herb patch and walks to the Sag Harbor Farmers Market every week to pick up local produce. “I also stop at the Serene Green Farmstand on my way home four nights a week.”

This may be the only part of her work life that is routine, however. “Every day is different at Dan’s Papers,” she says. “There’s no telling ‘how different’ until you get here in the morning.” As far as Stacy is concerned, this seems to be one of the key draws of her life and work at Dan’s.

The Hampton Coffee Company

l

 

“It’s usually Fred who does this sort of thing,” Theresa Belkin admits to me as we grab a seat over a warm cup of coffee at Hampton Coffee Company. He’s the entrepreneur behind the coffee roaster and café; she was “thrown into this” when she met him as a student working and traveling for a summer during her studies in Ireland. At that point, Fred had already owned Hampton Coffee Company in Watermill for a year, after working there as an Associate Manager. Now, they’ve been married and running the Hampton Coffee Company together for six years.

 

Apparently, however, the original Hampton Coffee Company “didn’t even do half of what we do here,” Theresa says. Not only do they roast all of their own coffee, but they bake fresh muffins every morning and bring in the best of baked goods and snacks for their clients.

 

“We find the best of the different things, and we’re the people who bring them together,” she says, citing their scones and sandwiches as two examples. “We try not to do prepackaged.” They do, however, order some gluten-free and vegan-friendly items to keep customers happy with the variety. For the most part, though, they try to “keep it local,” choosing New York vendors and Long Island merchants when possible.

 

Perhaps the biggest change since Fred took over, however, was the opening of a branch in Westhampton, the very branch where I met Theresa. The Westhampton store has been opened for five years, and in that time, Theresa’s favorite part of the work developed: the community.

 

“The customers are our friends, part of our family,” she muses, though it goes without saying: I’ve already noticed the way she waves and greets everyone by name as they walk in the front door.

 

“There’s more of a community here,” she says. “But that’s possibly because we live here as well. This is more like family – this town – than Watermill. Watermill is more of a transient community. Here, they’re here for a reason… not just passing by, they’re already here.”

 

It’s safe to say that the spot they chose, near the six-corners roundabout, is not the most obvious location in a town where most of the businesses are found along Main Street, but that doesn’t keep regulars from coming in every morning for fresh coffee, and now the parking lot here is always full.

 

Like a family, Theresa and Fred look out for their customers. In a time when the economy is making everything more difficult, they stay involved in local charities. “We prefer to go and man a table and bring free coffee rather than write a check,” Theresa says, citing the contact with the community as one of her favorite aspects of the job.

 

In addition, they keep prices low when they can, even in a time when green coffee is costing more and more, raising their costs. “We’ve raised our prices twice in 10 years,” Theresa says, an impressive statistic when other coffee vendors have marked up prices 11% just this month.

 

It’s clear that they care about this sort of detail: it’s nice to be able to tell a customer, for example, that his cup of coffee came from beans “roasted last Friday out in Watermill,” and even to shake the hand of roast master Dwight Amade.

 

This attention and care has maded them a success: what used to be just an East End staple has become “a bigger deal,” tripling in size since Fred first took over to become the largest independent roaster on Long Island, distributing to restaurants “out here and in Manhattan” and to 32 King Kullens, something that they’re “really proud of.”

 

“It’s still personal, even though we’ve grown so much,” Theresa maintains; it’s hard to disagree. The care shows in everything that they do, and in the fact that people from all walks of life – from the more well-known faces of Long Island society to day laborers and even high school students – find their home in both stores.

 

“The age for coffee drinking has come down in the past ten years,” she says. “Kids are stopping in daily for a yogurt parfait and a latte.”

 

Even local artists like Christine Wexler find their niche here: the photographer displays and sells her work on the walls of the café, adding a surfing flair to the interior with her pictures of Montauk beaches.

 

As for Theresa, her beaming smile and friendly demeanor hides the fact that even after six years, she’s still learning about the business, though she’s come a long way since the beginning, when, she admits, she “didn’t drink coffee.”

 

“I still need a bit of milk,” she says, smiling bashfully. As far as I’m concerned, this down-to-Earth authenticity is what makes her – and the Hampton Coffee Company – so charming.

Shoe Fly Pie

I just got back from a trip to the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. I’ve decided that I love it there after three trips in as many years. There are so many things to love- the rolling farms of corn and tobacco, the intriguing Amish people and the quirky names of the surrounding towns (Intercourse, Paradise, Virginville). But the consensus, at least in my family, is that the best thing Lancaster has to offer is shoo fly pie.

We were virgins ourselves to shoo fly the first time we went in 2009. Everywhere we went there were signs for this weird –named dessert, on bill boards, on menus, even being sold by barefoot Amish kids at roadside fruit stands.  Clearly it was part of the whole Pennsylvania Dutch experience-as much a symbol of the area as the Amish horse and buggy- so we had to try it. One bite and we were hooked.

Made with molasses and brown sugar, this pie is strictly for lovers of sweets. It reminds me of a pecan pie without the pecans but with all the gooey goodness of the filling, topped off with a powdery sweet cinnamon scented crumb. Weeks before this last trip, my kids were talking about it, asking if we could stop to get one as soon as we entered Lancaster. We did indeed buy one before we even checked into our hotel. No one bothered to cut slices, we ate it out of the box, everyone spooning into it at once.

We bought our pie from a shop named Dutch Haven, located in Ronks Pennsylvania, eight miles outside Lancaster. It’s a definite tourist attraction, shaped like a giant windmill complete with spinning blades and selling knick knacks like shot glasses and Amish fridge magnets in addition to shoo fly pie.  Cheesy tourist novelties aside, Dutch Haven claims to be “the place that made shoo fly pie famous.” Turns out they earned those bragging rights, securing a spot in ‘America’s Best 100,’ a book published in 1980 about the best of everything in the United States, which in turn led to an article in Time magazine.

Kevin Schaefer has worked at Dutch Haven for 13 years. He said that he has seen visitors come through the shop from every US state, not to mention as far away as Australia. While Dutch Haven’s pie may be the best, Kevin said that shoo fly recipes vary. “It’s like chocolate chip cookies,” he said. “Everyone has their own twist.” As for the kooky name, Kevin said it came from back when the pies were made in outdoor ovens. “The flies were attracted, so you would say Shoo, Fly!”

Kevin said there are other favorite regional eats in the Lancaster area including apple butter and chow-chow, a generic name for any pickled vegetable. He explained that although the Amish people are so closely associated with Lancaster, shoo fly pie is not an Amish food but a Pennsylvania food. “The Amish are Pennsylvania Dutch but you can be Pennsylvania Dutch and not be Amish,” he said. “Amish people in other areas don’t have shoo fly.”

Pretty intriguing for a dessert. It got me thinking if there was anything comparable for us on Long Island, any specialty food that visitors here know is the best there is. We’ve got New York pizza and bagels of course but was there anything strictly “Long Island?” Since we’re talking pies, I called the veritable Long Island pie expert, the good people at Briermere Farm on Sound Avenue in Riverhead. They are famous for their baked-on-premises goodies, mostly all made from fruits they grow themselves on their farm. According to Clark McCombe, boss and part of the Briermere family, shoo fly pie is not made there, nor is it ever requested. The pies available depend on the season. “It’s strawberry pie in June, blueberry in July as well as peach, apple in the fall,” Clark said.

Famous in their own right, but Briermere’s does not have that one particular item that people travel far and wide for, that symbolizes Long Island. There has to be something. What am I forgetting? What is the Long Island specialty food that visitors just have to have when they come here? That makes their mouths water in anticipation? Let us know.

The Kennedy Compound: Where Food meets Politics

By Marnely Rodriguez

 

Cape Cod and the lslands (Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard) have been known to be summer retreats for US Presidents and their families and one of the most notable and distinguished families on the Cape are The Kennedys. The Kennedy Compound is the waterfront property on Cape Cod that was once home to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Rose Fitzgerald and their sons U.S President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. JFK used the compound as “a base for his successful 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign and later as his summer White House and retreat”.

 

And with such personalities all home for a summer-long vacation, the food had to be outstanding while still being comfortable and summery. Chef Neil Connolly was the Kennedy family’s personal chef for 12 years between 1980-1990. He has now a new cookbook called “In the Kennedy Kitchen”, which recounts summer memories, family recipes and loaded with Kennedy family photos. Overseen by Senator Kennedy, this book is full of great New England recipes, perfect for summer picnics, family gatherings and quick meals!

 

Below is a favorite of Senator Kennedy and it is a quick and delicious Lobster Stew recipe from “In The Kennedy Kitchen” by Chef Neil Connolly.

Recipe from:  http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

 

Kennedy Lobster Stew

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
4 tablespoons butter
1 to 1-1/3 pounds cooked lobster meat, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/4 cup Sherry wine, preferably medium-dry, preferably Amontillado
1/4 cup lobster stock, optional, but desirable
1 1/4 cups light cream or half-and-half
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons minced fresh chives

 

Method:

1. Melt butter and cook onions over medium heat until translucent.
2. Add cooked lobster meat and drizzle in sherry. Bring to a boil and add lobster stock.
3. Reduce this liquid by half and add cream, paprika, salt and pepper (seasoning to taste).
4. Serve and garnish with chopped chives.

 

Purchase the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Kitchen-Recipes-Recollections-American/dp/0756626420

The new owner of Katrinka’s, in no rookie to this business

 

Peter and Alan when chef at the Green Door

 

It seems as though that Alan was made to be in the deli business; his mother and father owned delis when he was growing up, and he worked alongside them throughout his childhood. But as I sit across from him in the back room of his new “baby,” Katrinka’s Deli in Hampton Bays, when I ask if he always wanted to work in the business, he responds with an emphatic, “No!”

 

“I didn’t much care for it,” he chuckles, strange, considering how much love and affection he’s put into delis over the course of his lifetime. While he went to school to be an architectural drafter, he soon realized he missed the interaction with customers that deli works provides, and he missed cooking. At 19, he opened his first store, Country Heroes, in Westhampton Beach.

 

“I built it up real quick and then sold it,” he says, moving on to other things, including his second store, Village Deli in Riverhead. He eventually became the manager of the Green Door Deli in Hampton Bays, a high end store where he got to know the local people. “I got to love this community,” he says. “The local people are very devoted and hardworking.”

 

After Green Door, he finally made his way to the landmark Katrinka’s, also in Hampton Bays, where he brought his experience and love of cooking to this mainstay of the community.

 

“Five percent of people don’t want anything changed,” he says, “But 95 percent are happy.” It’s cleaner than the old Katrinka’s, with an expanded menu including vegan and vegetarian choices, a new addition to the Katrinka’s repertoire, and one that he says he was happy to offer. “They’re my customers. If I can’t handle it, they’re going to go somewhere else.”

 

All in all, the changes have been positive, if non-traditional. “It’s more upscale and health conscious,” he says. “A traditional deli was a style 20 years ago (…) You still need to excite the palate.”

 

Work experience at German delis like Sunset and Otto’s as well as his family background in delis has helped him to expand and change the menu at Katrinka’s. “My mom is German,” he says. “Germans are frugal – you can use everything.”

 

Indeed, limitations or restrictions such as these are often fuel for inspiration in cooking, and for Alan, this is certainly the case. “I got into creating my own recipes,” he says, noting that one recipe in the deli is different every week. He took a year and a half to write his own cookbook after numerous requests from customers for recipes for salads and other deli options, though he doesn’t advertise it directly.

 

“I like them to get to know me, taste my food first,” he says. “I want them to ask for it. People take it personal. They want to know, ‘Is it going to taste as good as the last time?’”

 

Alan re-opened Katrinka’s on January 5^th of this year, the perfect time for him to get to know the locals and the community. “They’re my best advertising,” he says, and it is for them that he creates the sort of environment that he himself would enjoy.

 

“We’re keeping the name because it’s a landmark,” he says. “I want to pay honor to the name.” It’s clear, though, that the old Katrinka’s has changed. There are tables and chairs to provide a place to stop and eat, and there are no cigarettes or beer available. “It’s not me,” he says.
One thing that certainly hasn’t changed is the value, something that Katrinka’s has always been known for. “Creating business today in this economy is hard enough,” he says. “We’re in the Hamptons, but these aren’t Hamptons prices. We’re here for the locals.”

 

He looked for six years for a location with locals he could get along with, locals who shared his vision for a deli that was both traditional and modern. “It’s a well-balanced area,” he says. “The ma and pa image wasn’t that important in Riverhead.” Here, on the other hand, he reaches out to the different and distinct groups of patrons, offering free samples of rice pudding to older people and creating vegan recipes for those who request them; the January opening worked to his advantage, giving him the time “to feel the locals out.”

 

“Locals are right in your face, honest. If it’s a nickel too much, they tell you.”

 

It’s obvious from the way that Alan tells his story, recalling particular anecdotes with a smile on his face, that he loves his work. Still, when it comes to starting work in the industry, he says “the best recommendation is don’t.”

 

He glows with pride and glee as he describes Sunday mornings with his daughter Sarah, peeling eggs together early in the morning and setting up a cot for her to nap on in his office as he preps at four in the morning. Still, the “family business” will stop with him, according to Alan.

 

“I love what I do,” he says, but it’s nothing like in his parents’ day. “In the 60s and 70s, you made a lot of money. In 1967, heroes were 60 cents. Now we’re working so much harder and making less. I do it cause I really love what I do… you gotta do what you really love.”

 

In 15 years, he plans to retire. “Hopefully this will be the homerun,” he says, referring to Katrinka’s. “Because of my maturity and experience.” But as he plans for future days without the deli counter in his life, I can’t help but notice how much a part of him it seems to be.

 

“Seeing a satisfied customer pull you out of the kitchen to tell you it’s the best salad they’ve ever had…” he trails off and smiles… he doesn’t need to finish his sentence for me to understand exactly what he means.

A word about the Turkey Salmonella outbreak- look where it came from?

The only time as a chef I really worry about God forbid getting someone sick is when we hear about an outbreak that is totally out of my control. For example a few years back they found salmonella in scallions of all places. The good news is that if you follow the rules you can kill the bacteria anyway. Cook all turkey to a minimum temperature of 165 F , I cook it to 170 F just to make sure. Then clean all surfaces thoroughly, I use 1 cap full of bleach to 1 to 1 gallon of water on my cutting board. If you follow these standard rules you’re gonna be safe. The other thing is buy local from an organic source. The turkey I use is from a local farm right here in Calverton,NY. I know its local and not processed with all the additives like these corporate behemoths that control most of the country’s food sources, such as the Cargill corporation. It seems like one of those company’s you hear about in the movies such as “Michael Clayton” which I recently read was modeled after the evil Monsantos corporation. Omg, I said it will they send their spy’s after me to blow up my car? This is just a note to all who read this as of today Aug 4th 2011, I love my life and do not plan on killing myself. So if anything happens to me you know who did it. You have a company here that makes animal feed, petroleum and my turkey? Hmmm… Buy local, Eat local =  no problems. In my humble opinion.

Chef Peter

A Beyond the Scenes Look at Hamptons Chef Society ‘s Editor, Virginia Tran

logo of the Hamptons Chef Society

Every good blog needs an excellent editor, and Hamptons Chef Society has just that; Hampton Chef Society has Virginia Tran, who is responsible for editing blogs and letters for the organization.

But editing isn’t Tran’s only responsibility. Like many modern women, Tran juggles a variety of responsibilities — work, volunteerism and a large family.

Tran became associated with Hamptons Chef Society after meeting Peter Cooke, the head of the organization, through her local ambulance squad. Both Tran and Cooke are volunteer Emt’s who respond to 911 calls. After learning about Tran’s editing experience, Cooke asked Tran to help edit documents for Hamptons Chef Society. Tran, who has a love for writing and editing, willingly accepted.

“Virginia is my editor and Chief Advice Person,” raves Cooke.

Tran started editing during college; she frequently edited  papers for friends and other students.

“It was never about the money,” says Tran. “I was always good at writing, and I enjoyed editing. I just fell into the opportunity.”

During college, Tran took a variety of advanced writing courses. She was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to her writing. She would spend time crafting the perfect final draft. Then she would take the paper to the school’s writing lab and have a graduate student criticize her work.

“The grad student would tear my papers apart. He taught me how to publish a piece for reader consumption,” reveals Tran.

In addition to editing, Tran trains teachers to manage an online classroom. Part of Tran’s responsibility is showing teachers how to edit online lessons for a global audience and for students with learning disabilities.

As if that weren’t enough, Tran also stays home to raise her five sons, ages 18, 16, 14, 7, and 5.

“Yes, I am an editor for Hampton Chef Society and I train teachers, but my real job is raising my sons,” says Tran.

Even though Tran considers herself a stay at home mom, she does not consider herself very “domestic.”

“I write and edit because I enjoy it, not because of the money. Plus, it is more fun than doing dishes and mopping floors,” reveals Tran. “Luckily, my two oldest sons enjoy cooking.”

Although Tran experimented with cooking and hosting dinner parties after college, she quickly learned that she preferred to be at her computer desk.

“It was fun to host dinner parties when I first got my own place, but with a large family, it becomes a lot of work. Besides, I am a better baker than cook,” says Tran.

Although Tran prefers words to food, her sons do not. All of her sons enjoy cooking, especially her two oldest sons who are inclined to culinary arts. Naturally, her 14-year-old enjoys helping Cooke with personal parties. Even her youngest, who is only five, loves to cook.

“He can’t read yet, but he follows directions well. He really enjoys baking,” Tran says of her youngest son.

So what can we learn from Tran and her family? If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. It sounds cliché, but Tran proves that it is true.

A Culinary Calling- 2 chefs a husband and wife team turn their dreams of opening a culinary school into reality!

Culinary Education in Illinois

Chefs Tom and Jennifer DeRosa have culinary education on their mind and their future venture is opening a culinary school in Moline, Illinois. Keep reading to get to know them and their love for food, as well as their future plans!

The Culinary Love Story

Some love stories start with movie dates, going bowling and walks in the park, but I can attest that the best love stories start around food. Tom and Jennifer met at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  As Jennifer recounts the story, she had just graduated (Class of 1990) and stayed on to do the Fellowship at St. Andrew’s Café. As with everything in live, nothing is random and Tom’s class rotated through St. Andrew’s while Jennifer was there. When the group finished, Tom asked her out “and the rest is history!” After graduating in 1991 and Jennifer finished with her fellowship, they both left school together.

Leaving New York, they both had jobs lined up in California but that didn’t start right after graduation. In the meantime, they both lived with family in Illinois, and got involved with the American Culinary Federation chapter in the city. This was when Tom got a job as one of the top chefs to launch the food service on a riverboat casino. During this time, this would be the first gambling establishment in the area, so the opportunities were exciting and challenging for the new venture, plus the press coverage they’d be getting was great!  Chef Tom continued to develop his culinary network and spent the first decade as a country club chef, and his second decade in executive dining.  His strengths are in hands-on teaching, his passion shining through.

Chef Jennifer, on the other hand, was working as a sous chef of a hotel, but was bitten by the education bug during her time at the CIA. Starting by helping the local ACF chapter put together the ACF apprenticeship program, her role was to link the apprenticeship program with the local college and create a degree program. This volunteer position lead to a paid position with the college: four years as Program Direct and later stayed on for 16 more years as Chef Instructor! Jennifer’s strengths are based on culinary education administration, due to her organizational skills.

The Culinary Plan

After getting a feel from where both chefs were coming from, we started talking about their future ventures, one in particular: their interest to start a culinary trade school focused on hands-on practice in Moline, Illinois. The program in mind would not be a degree program, but strictly culinary trade school experience. The one currently existing program is supplies the Quad Cities (Illinois/Iowa), but has grown to be so popular that the demand is not being met, so the DeRosa’s saw this as a culinary calling and will be the second in the area.

“The single most attractive aspect of CIA, to me, was that it was 100% culinary, 100% of the time.  That’s the type of experience we will bring to Moline, Illinois. “

Programs are planned to be 4 to 6 months in duration and compared to the 3 years taught at the competing culinary school, the DeRosa’s program will focus on kitchen skills. The great aspect about kitchen skills is that you’re not only learning technical skills; working in a kitchen will provide the student with a sense of urgency, teamwork and productivity as well as organization and preparation of their mise en place.

“Our program will allow students a direct path into kitchens.  In 18 years I never had a culinary student ask me for more English classes.  They always (always!) ask for more kitchen time.  There is nothing wrong with English, I love English, but the fact remains that most students don’t want to take general education courses.  They want to hold a knife and cook something.  I’ve watched students give up on their culinary dreams because English Composition met at a time when they had to work, or their humanities class was just a dreadfully boring.”

Culinary Education Venture

In a nutshell, the culinary students will attend approximately 20 hours per week of kitchen classes. For 4-6 months, they will be taught by full-time culinary educators, all coming from classic curriculums with strong fundamental background and work experience in the field. By having the students in the kitchen full-time, they will get the hours needed to create a habit of kitchen skills, to know the techniques needed for recipes, as well as develop those fundamental basics needed in every kitchen around the world.

Utilizing the fabulous Chicago food scene, the students will be exposed to the best chefs in the world, shopping in the same markets they do as well as seeing the trends first hand. After decades of working in the food scene, Tom and Jennifer have created a culinary network of professionals that will help in instructing the students in what the culinary world is all about, as well as showcasing the talents of those chefs.

Other future decisions include electives such as Wine and Bar, as well as Baking and Pastry. Both very highly demanded in the industry, electives round out the students and give them that extra leverage they would need.

“We have also had a lot of requests for adult education courses for non-professionals.  We are not ruling that out.”

Tom and Jennifer are extremely passionate about their craft and you can feel that passion pour into their work.  Although there are certain stages they will need to go through to make this venture a reality, they are working on it night and day and soon their dream of directing and running a culinary school that focuses on skills will be a living establishment.  If all goes as planned, early enrollment will begin in the beginning of 2012.

For more information, contact Chefs Tom and Jennifer DeRosa:  cookderosa@aol.com

Local Strawberries

strawberry pie a summer classic

 

Strawberries-they’re as essential to summer as flip flops and sunscreen. You know it is time to head poolside when the farm stands out east are piled high with the red berries and hand-painted signs urge you to turn this way or that to come pick your own. These juicy gems have earned their reputation as a summer staple as they can be the star ingredient in just about any warm-weather meal: sliced, they jazz up your cold cereal in the morning. Toss them in a spinach salad dressed with balsamic vinaigrette for lunch. Sip astrawberry daiquiri alongside grilled chicken and strawberry salsa for a light supper out on your patio. After dinner, try them in shortcake, dipped in chocolate, baked in a pie or simply dolloped with whipped cream. They’ve never met a dessert they couldn’t conquer.

Yes, strawberries can do it all come meal time. But don’t be fooled by the pretty color and regal crown of leaves-this pretty little fruit will turn on you in the blink of an eye.

It’s happened to all of us: you put the berries in the fridge only to find them covered in green fuzz when you want to eat them. And this is after you spent twenty minutes turning over each carton looking for signs of moisture and rot. So what is the trick to keeping strawberries fresh?

Well, I’ve got bad news. There isn’t a trick. “You have to use them within two days,” says Lolly Rottkamp of Foxhollow Farm in Baiting Hollow. “Strawberries have a short life, that’s just the nature of them.” According to Lolly, any moisture means bad news for strawberries, which is why she recommends keeping the stems on and waiting until you’re going to eat them before you wash them. In fact, water is so disastrous to the delicate strawberry that all the recent rain here on the island has put an abrupt end to the pick-your-own season which usually runs through June at Foxhollow’s Sound Avenue location. “They get soft and soggy,” says Lolly. “Rain is their downfall.”

If you just can’t eat them that fast, some other tips to prolong a strawberry’s shelf life are to layer them between sheets of paper towel and to store them in an air-tight container.

While the life span of a strawberry is ever so fleeting, they will remain a symbol of summer. And just like these relaxing days of beach trips, sunshine and open windows, we love them more because they just don’t last. So enjoy them NOW.

show me the love..

Simple Quiche

This year has been the most fun of any year since I have been cooking!  We have met so many people who love food and entertaining. The last week of June and most of July I retire to a grand old home in East Hampton where I get a few weeks to forget about 5 course dinner parties and cook for a family that has summered here for generations. As far as food is concerned the family know’s exactly what they want and how they want it, how is should taste and although they are particular to a degree, they don’t interfere with how I do things. They expect a certain quality and let me make it happen. This makes me a better a cook every year. This is my chance to work on things I thought about all year, it’s a chance to try new things and at the same time be careful not to go overboard with fusion cuisine or anything crazy. I just have to keep it simple. Cooking at this level is a true labor of love. This is what being a private chef for one family is all about. The benefits are tremendous. In my case I have a kitchen that I know better than any kitchen I have ever worked in. The kitchen is basic but we have just about everything a good cook would love. The relationship with the family is the best because if it’s not what they like they will tell you, if its under seasoned or cut wrong or they had different or better somewhere else they will tell you. Imagine cooking for your son or daughter exactly the way they like it and that is the best way I can describe what a private chef does. When your shopping your thinking well no they don’t like this brand but they love this brand. And this is where you store these and your prepare it like this and wrap it a certain way. After a while you know what they like so well, it’s hard not to take pride in the way things are set up. It’s really awesome because for me it makes everything I do as a chef seem so much more meaningful. Returning to this after a year of so many gorgeous homes and kitchens is like  going back to cooking school, a chance to go back to the basics. For example today I got to make a simple Quiche. Last week I did a corporate lunch at beautiful home in Bridgehampton, where I made, 12 different dishes in 2 hours,–yes it was all good food, but I didnt put in the love I can express in just one simple Quiche! Thats the beauty of private chef for one family.

Simple and delicious Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

6 oz of american mushrooms

6 0z of fresh spinach

3 large eggs

1 cup of milk

6 0z shredded Vermont sharp cheddar

2 0z freshly grated locatelli cheese

1 deep dish or Pyrex pan with pie dough crust

2 oz Kelly’s Irish butter or Plugara butter unsalted

pinch of salt and black pepper

egg wash

Set oven to 375 and then take pie dough and stab with fork to let air out and avoid bubbling of the dough. Then pop into the oven for 12 min or until dough forms a light crust.

Next,pop or cut the stems out of your american mushrooms and then rinse off ,place mushrooms between 2 papers towels to dry off.

slice mushroom like you slice them for pizza nice and thin

in hot saute pan, add your irish butter and then saute the mushrooms until tender season lightly with salt and pepper, then add the spinach and stir till both are tender and flavorful.

Remove pie dough from the oven and place on wire rack to cool

when vegetables are cooked drain off any excess moisture then place them directly into cooked pie dough and spread out.

Next crack your 3 eggs and whisk until pale yellow, then add your milk,cheddar and the locatelli and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Place on a sheetpan and cook for up to 40 min or until fork inserted into center of Quiche is dry and clean.

When done place on a wire rack and let cool until service

Just before service cut into 8 slices, serve with salad or saute vegetables makes a great lunch or dinner, even better the next day! Enjoy