Bob Marley | The Dinner Special podcast

125: Posie Harwood: A Career Cultivated from Growing Up on a Farm

June 1, 2016 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

600 Acres

Posie grew up on a farm that is just over 600 acres where here family had access to the freshest of milk, eggs, and harvests from their well-attended garden. On her blog, 600 Acres, is where she shares some of her memories as well as the new things she is cooking and trying in places far from her home. Posie had worked as a food writer and editor for Tasting Table, Food52, King Arthur Flour and she contributes to Sift Magazine.

I am so pumped to have Posie Harwood of 600 Acres here on the show today.

(*All photos below are Posie’s.)

On Growing Up on a 600 Acre Farm:

I look back and I think how lucky I was because we grew up drinking raw milk and my mom made everything from scratch. We didn’t have chips or any of that stuff. But I never felt like, “Oh man, I feel so deprived.”

When I got older and people started talking about organic food and all that kind of stuff, to me, I always thought, “What else is there?” That’s what I’d always known. Now I realize how lucky that is. Some people have to learn that or seek it out. So, it was a really cool experience. I think it is responsible for what I ended up doing.

On Her Interest in Cooking:

My mom, she cooked every night and we always had family dinner, but she is an incredible baker. She always made bread for scratch. Just watching her, I learned a lot of the things I’d love to make and cook and bake. And I also think I just watched her have that natural rhythm in a household and picked up on that.

I never went to culinary school. I didn’t start working in food until a little while after college. So, I just always knew that was what I wanted to do. And not even what I wanted to do. I just felt like, “What else is there?” That is just in me. I feel I don’t have a choice. I have to.

On Leaving the Farm:

I’d spend a decent amount of time in spaces away from home. And then, going to college. I went to college in New Jersey actually and then I moved to Manhattan. I think New York took a lot of getting used to for me. I am really not a city person. I love New York. I think it is an amazing place to live and there is lots of food.

But I have always missed open space and fresh air. I know I won’t stay in New York forever. That’s always been a hard thing to just get used to. It is a pro and a con. It is an exciting, huge place. But sometimes I want to speak to no one for the next four hours, but you can’t when you are in New York. It is an adjustment. It is always a little bit of a balance. Now I work for a company in Vermont. So, fortunately, I get to spend a lot of time up there, which is a really nice balance.

On a Dish That’s Special to Her:

I guess I would have to say baking is my one main love. I feel like the first thing that ever really made me excited about food was baking bread. As I said, my mom, we never had store bought bread. She makes everything from scratch. My favorite thing is just white sandwich bread that she makes. It is the most delicious.

When it would come out of the oven we had all my sisters waiting just like rabid animals and she would cut off the loaf, the heel, and give it to one of us and we spread it with butter, which we always would have because we had cows. And she would churn it. So it was this really bright yellow Jersey cow butter and she packed it in these little ramekins. So, she would take a big swipe and put it on the bread and eat that.

That is the ultimate, that is the best thing. Now, every time when I bake bread, which is a lot, I am always making just that white sandwich bread loaf. And I am like, “Ah, this is heaven.” The thing is it is so easy to make. I think a lot of people are intimidated by yeast bread, which I feel like it is the kind of thing if you make yourself do once, it is totally magical and you realize, “Oh, okay, that is actually easier than so many recipes cooking- wise.” I mean, what are there? There’s like three, four ingredients. It just is all a matter of touch and just getting used to what it feels like, bread dough, and how it should feel.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

Top Chef. I’m obsessed with Top Chef. And The Great British Baking Show. Also obsessed.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I love Smitten Kitchen. I love Food52, former employee, I have to say that. I also love The King Arthur Blog where I work now because it is incredibly informative, super good step-by-step baking. If you ever want to learn how to bake, or frost a cake, or make sourdough, check it out.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I love following Molly Yeh.

Funny, playful, great flavors, love her farm life snap shots.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

Treasured item probably my stand mixer, I guess I have to say. It is bright red and I love it, and it does so much for me.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Mushrooms. I used to hate mushrooms and now I eat them all the time. I eat scrambled eggs and mushrooms twice a week for dinner.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Definitely the Joy of Cooking. That is a huge one. Always referencing it. And probably, I have the Cook’s Illustrated Best Baking Cook Book. That is another go to with everything I bake.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I really like cooking to reggae music. I listen to Bob Marley a lot when I cook because it just makes me want to dance around.

On Keeping Posted with Posie:

Definitely my blog, which is 600acres.com and Instagram. I am always Instagraming twice a day. So you can always check out what I am doing in my kitchen there.

059: Samantha Ferraro: How Her Diverse Background Influences Her Food

July 15, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

The Little Ferraro Kitchen

Samantha has a very diverse background. She’s a Brooklyn native, lived in Hawaii for 10 years, is a current California resident, she’s Jewish, and one of her favorite cuisines is Italian. All of this influences the foods she enjoys and shares on her blog, The Little Ferraro Kitchen.

I’m so thrilled to have Samantha Ferraro of The Little Ferraro Kitchen here on the show today.

(*All images below are Samantha’s.)

On How Her Family Background Influenced the Foods She Enjoys:

I grew up as a Jewish girl in Brooklyn, which is very common, but the funny thing about me is I come from a Jewish background that has both Sephardic and Ashkenazi backgrounds, and there’s a difference just in culture.

So my father’s side is Ashkenazi, which means they come from Eastern Europe, so a lot of the foods that I grew up with on my father’s side was like, matzo ball soup, briskets, really kind of stick to your ribs foods, comfort foods. And then my mom is part Turkish, and actually the ancestry comes from Spain, during the Spanish Inquisition they went from Spain to Turkey. So, a lot of the foods I grew up with on my mom’s side was maybe stuffed grape leaves, lots of things with saffron, and olive oil, and lemons. I grew up with something called fasolia, which is a green bean and tomato stew, so a lot of those foods I grew up with, so I kind of incorporate everything as an adult now.

On How Where She’s Lived has Influenced the Foods She Enjoys:

You have this Jewish girl from a big city, and then my mom and I decide, “Oh, let’s move to Hawaii, why not?” So when I was 14, we moved to Hawaii, not knowing anything, and I still had a thick Brooklyn accent. Nobody really knew probably what brisket was. But we just did it, and we embraced it, and what I learned living in Hawaii is the simplicity of food, the beautiful fruits and vegetables, and farmers thanking you with a bag of lettuce, or growing their own avocados. It’s just such a beautiful place, and the Aloha spirit is so true and alive. It’s just so honest, and it’s just such a beautiful place. I’m so happy that I lived there and experienced it.

(Today) I’m a five hour flight from New York and a five hour flight from Hawaii, so I have the best of both worlds, because California is kind of, you know, I live in a small beach town but if I want to go to a big city, I can have that, too. There’s a lot of people that I actually went to high school with in Hawaii that now live in California, and vice versa. People from here move to Hawaii, so, I’m so blessed to be able to go to both places and have an excuse, like, “Oh, I have family in Hawaii,” or, “I have family in New York.”

I live in Southern California, and we have such an awesome food mecca. When I moved here, I had never gone into a Mexican mercado before, a Mexican market. And when I moved here, you know, it was just so amazing that there’s such a huge Mexican culture here. And there’s different Asian markets here. There’s Vietnamese and Thai and Japanese. There’s a Jewish area in LA that I can go to if I really want good challah bread. It’s just such an awesome area. I went to Little Saigon, which is just 10 minutes away from me. I just live in a really cool area.

On a Food that Surprised Her:

I would have to say, living in Hawaii, I didn’t think I would try a lot of things that I did in Hawaii. For example, taro root, or poi, is this really, like, pounded until it’s kind of like gelatinous, kinda, and it doesn’t taste very good, but when paired with a salty lomi salmon, or pork, it’s actually delicious. And there are also some similarities, so, for example, lomi salmon you would find at a luau in Hawaii, which is diced up, cured salmon with tomatoes, which is very similar to a bagel and lox, like that cured salmon. So I saw some similarities there, but I mean, honestly, just the fruits that are grown there are just, nothing like it. Nothing like a mango from Hawaii.

On Foods That She Misses:

I miss New York bagels. When my cousin actually moved here, from New York to here, and I see him often, and whenever he goes back to visit my aunt and uncle, I’m like, “Can you please bring back bagels?” I mean, if you’ve ever had a New York bagel, there’s nothing like it, and they say that it’s because of the water, you know, that East Coast New York water. That’s the excuse. Nothing like it, so he always brings back bagels.

Another thing from Hawaii that I love is something called lilikoi, which is passionfruit. Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for it, and it grows just everywhere. My mom has a lilikoi tree, and one time my mom sent me a box of lilikoi. She just took this mailing box and stuffed it. It must have been like 10 pounds of lilikoi. And you can’t ship things from Hawaii to . . . like you just can’t do it, it’s agriculture, you can’t do it. And one time it came through and I was like, “Oh my gosh! This is awesome!” The next time it came through, I got an empty box with a nasty letter from Agriculture saying, “Don’t do that!” Such a gorgeous flavor, it really is.

On Her Passion for Cooking:

You know, to be honest, I knew I liked food when I was little. My mom cooked, my grandmother cooked, but I was never mature enough to really ask them about it, or, you know, be mature enough to learn from it. So, it wasn’t until I got older and I was experiencing foods and traveling that really inspired me, and I just wanted a challenge. I love challenging myself in the kitchen. I’ll jump in and make a ramen dish that I’ve never made before, or a soufflé I’ve never done. I think it’s so fun to do that.

My mom cooked all the time when I was little, now she asks me recipe questions. But now that I’m older, I realize that I wish I took notes from my grandmother on my father’s side, I really do. For example, I remember her making a Jewish cookie called rugelach, and I remember it vividly when I was little. You know, she passed away since, but now that I’m older I make my own rugelach, and I think about her, like, “Oh, you know, this is what she would do.” So I think memories inspire me.

On Starting Her Blog:

I was going through a transition, I was changing majors in college, I was kind of confused, I didn’t really know what to do. But my outlet was cooking, that was what my outlet was. I loved it, I mean, it was a stress reliever for me, it was exciting, it was challenging, it was beautiful.

So, I was reading blogs, and I thought, “I can do that!” So, I kinda did. I’m spontaneous, so I said, “Oh, why not?” I just jumped in, and I said, “Oh, let’s see how long this goes.” I was enjoying the challenge, and I was enjoying learning, so I was learning, too, and it was fun, so I just kept doing it. Three years later, here I am.

On Her Culinary Bucket List:

I have a bucket list on my blog that I need to update. I’ve actually crossed off a few that I haven’t put on the blog yet. But, to be honest, the cuisine I’m least familiar with is Asian cuisine, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai. I’m least familiar with that and that is something I would love to learn.

I have the Momofuku cookbook, and I really want to do his ramen broth. I think that it’s a 48 hour broth and you reduce and add, and I just think that’s so awesome. I really, really want to do that.

I made pad thai once, and that came out horrible. So, I want to do that. It’s just a simple dish, but the flavor combination of that sour and sweet, it’s gorgeous. I really want to conquer that.

Cannolis, I’ve done cannolis once. It was okay. I want to give it another shot. Again, here I am, all different cultures.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I’ve been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain shows, like No Reservations. He has a few of them that are very similar to each other, love him.

I like some of Gordon Ramsay’s shows, like Master Chef, it’s fun and kind of creative what they do.

I love Ina Garten’s show, Barefoot Contessa. It’s really simple and clean, and to the point, I really like that.

And sometimes I watch Julia Child on YouTube.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

So, well you’ve already talked to Amy. I love her blog What Jew Wanna Eat. She’s awesome, she does all these creative, fun Jewish recipes. Rainbow challah, like what? She has fun with it, and she’s fearless and I respect that.

I think she mentioned another one that I read, one of the first blogs was, she’s formerly known as the Shiksa in the Kitchen, but her name is Tori Avey. She’s really fascinating because she’s a convert to Judaism, and she loves history, so she does a lot of Jewish history and Jewish food, and that’s really fascinating.

One of the first blogs I also read was called Pass the Sushi. She is really interesting, she’s really creative, she designed my blog, and she’s a gorgeous photographer, food and outside of food.

I have a personal friend as well, it’s called Pineapple and Coconut, and her and I have a Hawaii connection. She loves all things Hawaii, so she does a lot of Hawaiian food, Kalua pig, or pineapple this, or coconut that.

Another good resource is called Just One Cookbook. She does a lot of Japanese food, and one time when I was going to a Japanese store, I was messaging her like, “Oh, should I get this?” She’s helped, guiding me, and she’s just awesome, just a wonderful resource for Japanese food.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

I love dogs, so on Instagram I follow The Dogist, ’cause dogs make me happy and it’s all dog pictures and I love that, it’s awesome.

I follow WhatJewWannaEat on Instagram, ’cause I love her bagel lox photos, it makes me hungry.

TrumericandSaffron has an Instagram and a Facebook, and I think she’s a really great resource for Middle Eastern food, Persian food.

Can I do a YouTube one? I just started watching, it’s called Sweets and Beyond. And she does a lot of Puerto Rican food, which is fabulous, ’cause I’m not too familiar with that food, so I started watching her and that’s really cool.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I don’t know if it’s unusual to other people, or maybe not to me, but I have anchovies. Is that unusual? I always have anchovies on hand. When I was trying to learn about Korean food, a friend of mine gave me, I don’t know what it’s called but it’s like that red pepper that makes kimchi. (Gochugaru)

It’s a powder, and I guess you add it to your seasonings and it makes it spicy and red, and it’s a gorgeous color.

I have kind of random ingredients. Fish sauce, different kinds of fish sauces.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

I would have to say anchovies again. It was horrible, but now, I don’t eat it by itself, but I’ll add it to things, like to sauces.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Well, like I said, The Art of French Cooking, that has just opened my mind, my taste buds, everything. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s old school, it’s to the point, it’s well written. That one is wonderful.

I also just recently got a cookbook called Jerusalem, which has become a very popular cookbook. But just gorgeous, inspiring Middle Eastern flavors, bright flavors, and just gorgeous photography. Those are probably two of my favorite books.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I’m very diverse with my music tastes, I’ll listen to like Rolling Stones, or Bob Marley, or like Beastie Boys. I was in a Beastie Boys, Run DMC mood. Some kind of like hip-hop, like, get you going.

On Keeping Posted with Samantha:

I’m on Facebook as the Little Ferraro Kitchen, and I absolutely love Instagram, as FerraroKitchen. You can find some behind the scenes, some things I put on the blog, other things I’m eating that I want to share.

048: Brooke Conroy Bass: An Introduction to Cajun Cooking and Food

June 12, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Chocolate and Marrow

Today we’re celebrating rich, decadent and indulgent food. On Chocolate and Marrow, Brooke uses local and seasonal ingredients to create dishes inspired by growing up in New Orleans and from her current life in Portland in the Pacific Northwest.

I’m so happy to have Brooke Conroy Bass of Chocolate and Marrow joining me on the show.

UPDATE! Since our chat, Brooke became a finalist in the 2015 Saveur Blog Awards for Best New Voice for Chocolate and Marrow.

On Starting Her Blog:

I was doing a lot of research and a lot of scientific analysis for my dissertation and it got a little bit too much. I just felt like there was this imbalance in my life. While I’m thinking about all of that, I went to Italy with my grandmother who loves to cook. And we did this amazing cooking, culinary experience. I just found myself being so happy. I’m just really in my element, and that’s really how I realized I need to incorporate food in a more creative way throughout my life, more than just cooking in the home.

That’s when I decided, you know what, I’m going to start a blog.

Finding the time for it is a totally different matter. It’s more of a weekend thing. I just spend my Saturdays always cooking and photographing and at night I’ll do the recipe development and research and things like that.

On Her Interest in Food:

I’ve loved cooking ever since I can remember.

I was probably five years old and I don’t even know how I could write at the time. But I remember standing by my grandmother’s side and she was saying, she’s cooking catfish, frying catfish. And I remember saying to her, “I really want to learn how to do that so I can go home and cook for my family.” I don’t know what I was thinking at the age of five, they probably wouldn’t let me turn on a burner at that age. And so she got me a crayon and a piece of loose leaf paper and was like, “Well, here, write down the recipe as I cook and that way you can have it for yourself.” So I did and we actually still have that piece of paper that I wrote it on, which is really fun to pull out and look at sometimes.

She is one of my food heroes for certain. I have a number of them but she’s certainly the one that I think piques my interest in cooking.

She worked on a television show in the 80s and 90s called Great Chefs and so she’s always loved food. Even today, when she’s in town visiting for Thanksgiving and we sat and chatted in my kitchen for about eight hours after Thanksgiving while I whipped up some gumbo and some French bread. It’s just one of those things that’s really, really fun to do together.

On the Food Culture in New Orleans:

The food culture in New Orleans is really synonymous with the party culture. We cook food that can feed 30 people and be a big part of a celebration and that’s how we do things down there.

It’s like you can’t have a party without tons of food and you can’t have tons of food without a party.

There’s also some pieces of New Orleans cuisine that are kind of staples in ways of cooking and ingredients that we always use. So yeah, that’s definitely how I think of it at least.

On Cajun Food:

Cajun food, I think like anywhere else around the world, we work with the ingredients that we have available to us and that’s when in forms, different cuisines. With Cajun cuisine, it’s really working with what’s available on the land which is there’s a lot of rice. We see a lot of rice and beans and things like that.

But also there’s this abundance of seafood, so things like oysters and crawfish and shrimp and catfish. That puts itself into a lot of good food that we prepare.

For me, Cajun cuisine, though, it’s like eating home. I mean, I probably cook at least one or two Cajun dishes just for dinner for my husband and I each week and it’s something that always makes me feel comfortable and at home in my kitchen. I just don’t even have to think about it. It just kind of happens.

People love their King cakes and their beignets and their po’ boys and things like that. But most people don’t know about our festival food. You know how most people like spring, summer, fall, and winter as their four seasons. Well, in New Orleans, we don’t have those seasons. We’ve got Mardi Gras, we’ve got festival season, crawfish season, and Saints season.

During festival season, everyone has probably heard about Jazz Fest. I think probably one of my favorite kind of off the map food is crawfish bread from Jazz Fest.

It’s this two kind of flat bread, sandwiched around this melty cheese with crawfish and olives and all these spices. It’s just one of these foods that I think if you’re able to go to New Orleans at the end of April or early May for Jazz Fest, you cannot miss the crawfish bread because it’s absolutely amazing!

On Key Elements in Cajun Cooking:

You know how the French have mirepoix, which is onions and carrots and celery. Well, in Cajun food, we have the holy trinity is what we call it. That is basically like a mirepoix but sub out the carrots and put in bell peppers.

That kind of gives it that spicy kick that New Orleans food is really well-known for. And I think also, New Orleans food is known for being fried. I won’t say fry anything but something in a nice cornmeal batter with just a little squeeze of lemon is probably a real classic New Orleans food.

I think that probably a really great dish to start with would be a gumbo. I know that sounds intimidating but it’s really basic. It just involves a roux and a stock and some kind of protein like chicken or turkey or seafood even, and then the holy trinity, sautéed with some spices and a bay leaf.

Then you throw it all together in a pot and just let it simmer and it’s pretty much heavenly. I think it’s a great way to start introducing yourself to Cajun techniques and also flavors.

On Some Good Resources for Learning About Cajun Food and Cooking:

One of my favorite cookbooks is actually called Cooking Up a Storm.

That is a book that came out after Hurricane Katrina because as you can probably imagine, when Hurricane Katrina hit, one of the things that people lost that they loved the most is their cookbooks. When people lost their homes, their cookbooks went with it. And so Cooking Up A Storm came out. It’s produced or created by two of the writers of The Times-Picayune which is the local newspaper there.

They actually found all these old recipes that have been published in The Times-Picayune and that readers were writing in and inquiring about, saying, “I lost my recipe books and I really want to get this recipe or that recipe.” So they published a collection of readers’ most requested recipes and I think that’s just a really great book for so many reasons.

As far as blogs, I actually just recently discovered a blog called the Acadiana Table and I have absolutely fallen in love. They have so many phenomenal Cajun recipes, just really authentic. I love the way that they do Cajun food.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

The only cooking show that I watch is actually Top Chef.

I was really stoked this year because there were two Portland chefs on it, so it’s really a fun season to watch.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I’m a sucker for writing, good writing on blogs, and so my favorite would probably be Cynthia of Two Red Bowls, who has really short, fun, engaging posts.

Erica of Southern Souffle, who I think her words are just super soulful and inspiring and I just really connect with her over what she usually writes.

And then Beth of Local Milk, who is known for her photography but her writing is just as beautiful and eloquent, so I definitely recommend checking those bloggers out.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

To be honest, I’m not a huge Facebook or Pinterest person, but I am addicted to Instagram.

Some people that make me happy, I would say Martine Cooks is the handle and she’s amazing. She lives in New Orleans, she’s a photographer, and just posts the most beautiful photos with inspiring captions of things like oysters and crawfish, which I can’t get enough of.

And then probably some of my local chefs like Ian Wilson of Fenrir, post just really beautiful food all the time that’s super artistic. And Ryan Roadhouse of Nodoguro who does these most amazing Japanese-inspired dishes and I love looking at the crazy ingredients he gets flown in.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I don’t think I have a bunch of unusual things but I do love my cast iron skillets. I have way too many of them but they are like my little babies.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

I have to say clams. I used to hate them and then I met a friend who–actually we met on Instagram, which is a whole, different, long story. But I told her I hated clams and she convinced me to try making them with her and so I did and they were absolutely phenomenal, so now I’m addicted.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I absolutely adore The Flavor Bible when I’m looking to create new recipes, I’m looking for inspiration on what pairs well with what. And then I think Sean Brock’s Heritage, I’m really crushing on hard right now.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I can’t really think of a song or an album. I’m more of a Pandora person, so I have my Pandora stations.

I’d say my favorite ones are probably Louis Armstrong radio, which I use on mornings if I’m baking or something. Milky Chance, which I use to cook with during the week, just like on a random week night. And then Bob Marley is my go-to for the weekends. He just kind of gets me, you know, feel loose and inspired in the kitchen.

On Keeping Posted on Brooke:

Probably Instagram. I usually post at least once a day and it’s either recipe testing or ingredients that are inspiring me. I would love for people to check out Instagram and see you on there.