Sustainable Fish - Scallops Provencal

If there is an area my food knowledge is shaky it's seafood. As a person who puts quite a bit of thought into where my land-based food comes from, I wanted to be equally enlightened about my choices from the sea.  I’ve never managed to get a handle on which fish and shellfish are okay to eat and which, due to various reasons including overfishing and pollution, are not.

When I heard NYC Greenmarket's next Educated Eater panel discussion was about why local seafood is sustainable I was quick to sign up. What I hoped to learn was fairly simple, or so I thought:  when I head to the store filled with good intentions of buying seafood that is not only tasty but also plentiful and guilt-free, what do I choose?

The panel consisted of Christopher Moore from Sustainable Fisheries at NOAA Fisheries Services (FishWatch), Niaz Dorry, director of Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA), and Long Island fisherman and Greenmarket regulars, Alex and Stephanie Villani of Blue Moon Fish and Glenn Bickelman of American Seafood.  The moderator was Colin Alevras, chef and current beverage manager for Momofuku restaurants.

To a certain extent the discussion, held at the 92nd Street Y Tribeca, answered my question because it turned me on to FishWatch and NAMA, two organizations with meaningful answers to what is considered a sustainable fish and where to find it.  But I would be lying if I didn’t say I was still pretty confused when I walked out of the Y.  The issue of healthy, sustainable oceans is riddled by regulations, science, and politics and there simply isn’t an easy answer.

In fact I started writing this post a month and a half ago and got bogged down trying to sort through the complexity of it all.  I sort of gave up and instead did things like eat oysters on the Vineyard and take pretty pictures of flowers.  But then the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred and my disgust and sadness over what is happening to one of the most productive, fragile ecosystems on any American coastline inspired me to get back at it. 

I’m not going to talk about my stance on offshore drilling (which gets further developed every day I hear more about the spill) but I would like to make the case for how important it is to support local fisherman and woman like those on the Gulf whose livelihoods are about to be wiped out by the spill.  Not only because it benefits these incredibly hard-working people and saves a culture and way of life, but because, as I learned from the Greenmarket panel, the best way to make smart seafood choices is by keeping them local.

Hardly shocking advice coming from me, I know, but what can I say? The United States has some of the toughest catch requirements in the world. The number of regulations fishermen must abide by (meaning when, where, and how much fish they can catch) is mind-boggling.  The granddaddy of them all is the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  This act was initially created in 1976 to limit the number of foreign vessels allowed in US waters and has since come to address overfishing, fish stock conservation, and pollution.  The original act also created the eight regional fisheries management councils that oversee all US waters from 3 to 200 miles offshore (each of the thirty US coastal states manage their own waters from the shoreline to 3 miles out). 

There are at least nine other US acts fishermen must follow, not to mention state and international laws. The United States does a very good job of managing our fisheries and as a result, 80% of our fish stocks are not overfished.

That’s the good news – our fish stocks are recovering and coming back.  The bad news is updates to regulations have not kept pace with these developments, much to the frustration and dire need of regional fisherman.

One example brought up by the panel concerned quotas: if the quota for a particular fish is 1000 pounds per day but a boat has the ability to bring in 3000 pounds, the fishermen would like to be able to catch the larger amount and tie up their boat for the next two days, saving them a tremendous amount of time and fuel money.  Currently if a boat brings in more fish than quota allows, heavy fines and penalties will be handed out.

Glenn of American Seafood recounted a recent trip to Hudson Canyon, a major commercial fishing ground 70 miles off Fire Island, where he spent three days trying to get away from schools of dogfish which could not be brought in because of quota restrictions. Each day his boat burned 500 gallons of fuel.  At the current price of $3.50 per gallon, that's $5,250.00 spent on fuel with nothing to show - or sell - for it. With numbers like that it’s apparent why so many small-scale fishermen are being forced out of business. 

Alex from Blue Moon spoke of the considerable amount of time spent on compliance – calling in before leaving the dock, filling out daily trip reports, throwing back bycatch, and reporting what fish were caught upon returning to shore.

Despite these headaches, neither Alex nor Glenn is against regulations as long as they are made within reason.  They realize their long-term survival is based on protecting marine life, not exploiting it for short-term gain.

Knowing little about the history of commercial fishing, I was interested to hear when and how the United States allowed overfishing to occur. According to Niaz Dorry, there are parallels between current trends in fishing to those in farming 30 years ago; just as the advent of processed foods led to the collapse of family farms and the consolidation of farmland into large, industrialized farms, the entry of the European fishing fleets into US waters at the turn of the century along with the conversion of WWII war frigates to fishing vessels led to massive amounts of fish being taken from the oceans.  The Magnuson-Stevens Act, as mentioned above, was enacted to counteract these developments but the damage was already done – there was too much capacity chasing too few fish.

Now regional fleets are left trying to compete with huge, consolidated fishing interests, as well as imports.  The United States imports 85% of our seafood, most of it from Asian countries, much of it coming from filthy, polluted water. What I learned from watching documentaries such as The Cove and The End of the Line is many European and Asian countries have a total disregard for the same international laws our fisherman uphold.  European fish stocks are currently 80% overfished.  Worldwide, illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing is a $25 billion dollar business.   

(A note on overfished vs. overfishing: According to NOAA, a species of fish is considered overfished when its population drops below a certain level determined by scientists to be sustainable. Overfishing means the fish are being removed from the population faster than it is spawning.)

With overfishing seemingly under control, everyone on the panel – fishermen, advocate, and regulator - agreed the number one problem facing United States fisheries today is pollution and runoff.  All heads nodded in agreement when one panelist questioned the point of rebuilding fish stocks if we continue to allow companies to contaminate the waters.  

It was impossible to mistake the sincerity expressed by both fishermen on the panel when they said they aren’t villains guilty of pillaging the ocean of its fish and damaging its ecosystems.  I heard a similar urgency in the voices of Glenn and Alex that I now hear every night on the news from fishermen in the Gulf.  Whether it’s oil in the Gulf, runoff in the Chesapeake, or chlorine-treated sewage pumped into the Long Island Sound when a rainfall over an inch falls on Manhattan, what is wrong in US waters today - pollution, increasing water temperatures, coastal development, drilling, dredging, dragging – is not a result of these types of fishermen and the way they fish.  Alex and Glenn simply want a fair opportunity to continue making a decent living doing what they love - working on their boats in the waters off our coasts. 

With the deck clearly stacked against independent fishermen, what can be done to support them?  A good place to start is by getting informed at FishWatch.  FishWatch is the consumer arm of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Services and takes data gathered from the eight US regional fisheries councils regarding fish stock assessments and boils it down to useful info you and I can use when buying fish.

Different environmental organizations have different criteria for determining which fish are okay to eat.  Some put a fish on their Don’t Eat list because they disagree with the way it is caught, not because it is overfished.  FishWatch’s list is based solely on scientific data obtained from the eight fisheries regarding stock size and health.

I love this site; it is an excellent resource for accurate facts about the sustainability of all types of American seafood.  Each fish and shellfish is listed by species and region where it is caught, along with info on whether it is overfished and if so what is being done to bring it back to sustainable levels, what its nutritional value is, how it is caught, and what bycatch might occur when it is harvested. 

NAMA is an organization looking to affect marine policy from the grassroots level.  They advocate for locally caught seafood and help foster relationships between coastal communities and their fishermen. NAMA started the country’s first CSF (Community Supported Fishery – think of it as a CSA on water) in 2007 and is working to found more throughout New England.  Fishermen can either fish for volume or fish for price; CSFs allow them to charge more and catch less – a win-win for both the fishermen and the oceans. 

Below is a series of green seafood guidelines taken directly from the NAMA website that I think does a great job of summing up a smart approach to sustainable seafood:

· Buy from a local fisherman when possible. Doing so helps a more sustainable way of life and better jobs in traditional fishing communities. Eating local seafood means fishermen get a better return on less catch - which in turn means the ocean gets a break. Money spent locally tends to stay in the community, which for those of you who live in coastal communities means you'll be supporting your own local economy. Buying from a community-based fisherman also ensures to some extent that you are eating fish that is "in season" rather than perpetuate the century-old demand for "any seafood, any time" regardless of the ecological consequences.

· Get involved in a Community Supported Fishery (CSF). NAMA is actively working to create CSFs in New England and provide the basic tools to fishing communities in other regions interested in staring a CSF. In addition, we are working to broaden the market for CSFs and other fishing community-based seafood marketing efforts by building connections between these organizations and sustainable, regional markets through working with chefs, restaurants, co-operatives, farmers' markets, local food enthusiasts and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). 

· What if you don't live near the coast? We highly recommend that you stick with eating what's available to you locally as much as possible. If you need to have seafood, look at the rest of our suggestions below and stick with what has had to travel the shortest distance to get to your table.

· Eat fish that looks like fish! That's a funky way of saying stay away from overly processed fish that is turned into squares or fingers or some other shape. And don't be afraid of whole, bone-in fish. Good cooks know that's where the flavor is!

· Avoid fake or imitation seafood products. The majority of fake seafood products come from factory style fishing operations. Alaska Pollock is probably the number one fish that is on the market today in just about every form and shape. It's turned into surimi to make fake lobster or crab or some other fake seafood product. Incidentally, like herring, Alaska Pollock is an important part of the North Pacific's food web.

· Eat wild seafood whenever possible. Some shellfish are farmed in operations that produce healthy animals and do not compromise the ecosystem in which they are grown. However, it is often difficult to get the information that will allow you to make an informed decision. With a few exceptions, shrimp is usually farmed in coastal areas of Asia and South/Central America where it destroys wetlands, introduces chemical pollution and disease, and may foster poor treatment of laborers. Most shrimp consumed in the US is farm raised and imported. Also, for all farm-raised seafood, do not trust an "organic" label, as true standards are not yet developed. If you can't get the information you need, opt on the side of caution and go wild!

· Ask how, where, and when your fish was caught. Doing so lets your seafood dealer or waiter or chef know you care about their buying choices. If whoever is selling or serving you the fish doesn't have the answers, or the answers you wanted, don't buy or order it.

  

I may have been confused when I left the Y discussion almost two months ago but the more thought and research I put into learning about the subject, the more I’ve come to realize the answer really IS simple.  It boils down to buying and eating seafood caught as close to home as possible, ideally from someone you know. 

This is much easier said than done unless you live on the coast or have direct access to fisherman like we do at New York City’s farmers markets.  One reason we don’t see more local seafood in the supermarkets is because the supermarkets need to know what will be available a week in advance so they can print their advertisements. Independent fisherman can’t guarantee they will have a specific fish on a specific day – nature doesn’t work like that.

There are sustainable alternatives such as VitalChoice.com, an online retailer, and packaged products with the Marine Stewardship Council seal that are perfectly acceptable and much more accessible for those without connections to local fisherman.  Whatever you do, try to resist buying imported seafood – for the health of the oceans, the health of traditional US fishing communities, and your health!

Scallops Provencal

Adapted from Barefoot in Paris

I’m extremely lucky to have Blue Moon Fish at my Saturday market in Tribeca.  Blue Moon owners Alex and Stephanie Villani are based on eastern Long Island and have been coming to Greenmarket since 1988.  The fact I can get such fresh seafood on the streets of New York City is nothing short of miraculous.  This is where I bought the sea scallops for this recipe.

I keep a bottle of dry vermouth in my apartment for times like this when a recipe calls for a splash of white wine and I don’t have any on hand.  I’ve found vermouth makes an excellent substitute.

1 pound fresh bay or sea scallops

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided

½ cup chopped shallots (2 large)

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth

1 lemon, cut in half

If you’re using bay scallops, keep them whole.  If you’re using sea scallops, cut each one in half horizontally.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss with flour, and shake off excess.

In a very large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over high heat until sizzling and add the scallops in one layer.  Lower the heat to medium and allow the scallops to brown lightly on one side without moving them, then turn and brown lightly on the other side.  This should take 3 to 4 minutes, total.  Melt the rest of the butter in the pan with the scallops, then add the shallots, garlic, and parsley and sauté for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops.  Add the wine, cook for 1 minute, and taste for seasoning.  Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serves 3

Walking around the yard at Mom and Dad's

Easter on Martha's Vineyard - Sweet Neck Farm Oysters

This year I spent Easter with friends on Martha’s Vineyard. Many people think of the Vineyard as only a summer destination and while it is glorious at that time of year, fall, winter, and spring are quite spectacular, too.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our spring weekend and spent most of the time going on walks and driving around the island, enjoying the fact there were no crowds or traffic.

Oh, yeah...and there was a bit of eating going on, too.  Given that everyone in the house was a foodie (including two incredibly talented Boston chefs, Barbara and Kevin), we happily spent the days leading up to Easter Sunday gathering a feast of local foods – eggs and pork sausage from Packer Farm (where we also saw piglets that had been born less than 24 hours before), 

apple crumb pie from Eileen Blake’s on State Road, 

and racks of lamb from Allen Farm in Chilmark.  

But the surprise hit of the weekend were Sweet Neck Farm oysters, raised in the waters off Edgartown. 

I say surprise hit because we hadn’t planned on serving oysters and only a fortuitous dinner at a favorite Oak Bluffs restaurant sealed our fate.  I got to the island a day before everyone else with Curt, my friend since high school.  His family has had a house on MVI since the 1950’s and he has been generously inviting me to visit for years.  We decided to go to Offshore Ale for dinner on Friday night and while having burgers and a couple of their home brewed beers, I noticed a sign saying they were serving Martha’s Vineyard Sweet Neck oysters.  Neither of us had had them before so we decided to order a few.  We managed to get the last oysters of the night and were blown away by their sweet, clean flavor.

 

The next day on a whim I called Sweet Neck Farm to see if we could buy two dozen for Easter dinner.  I spoke to the owner, Jack Blake, and as luck would have it, he was in the middle of boxing oysters for shipping and told us we were welcome to stop by and pick some up.  Curt and I hopped in the car, drove to Edgartown, made a left at the jail (the prettiest jail you've ever seen), and found the land-based portion of their business on Norton Orchard Road.  Jack and his wife, Sue, work in a little white shed off the side of their house, preparing their oysters to be shipped to restaurants and wholesalers across the country.

Jack told us he was a scallop fisherman for years until there were no more scallops left to harvest.  He realized his future depended on sustainable harvests and switched to farming oysters.

The water-based portion of their operation is a one-acre site in Katama Bay.  Jack is as much inventor as fisherman and has designed an upweller raft that constantly moves the plankton-rich water through the oyster seed he purchases from a certified hatchery.  This continuous feeding of nutrients is what causes the oysters to grow and double in size weekly.  After ten weeks the oyster cage is hoisted out of the water onto the raft where they are placed in a Jack-designed tumbler.

 

The tumbler is a feature that helps set Sweet Necks apart from other oysters.  It is a cylindrical cage that spins partially in the water, tumbling the oysters against each other.  This action cleans them of fouling and removes the sharp edges of the shells.  Not only does this produce beautiful shells that are easier to handle while shucking, the chipping off of new shell growth produces a deeper cupped, stronger shell.

 

Finally, the tumbling shells are sprayed with pressurized water to remove silt from the crevices.  The end result is a pristine oyster.  Sweet Necks come in two sizes - cocktail and large - and are packed in boxes flat side up.  As Curt and I learned, if you keep oysters in this position in the refrigerator you can store them for at least a month.  That was a revelation to us; our trip to Edgartown for 24 oysters turned into a box of 100!

Just as important to me as how delicious and gorgeous Sweet Neck Farm oysters are is that they grow them in a way that is light on the environment; their upweller is tidal powered and all the machinery, including the tumbler, are powered by a wind turbine.  Sustainable farms tends to be the norm on the Vineyard and Jack and Sue's rank right up there with the best of them.

 

To be honest, we were so excited with our little surprise we didn’t give much thought to how we were going to serve the oysters beyond raw with a squeeze of lemon and maybe a dash of Tabasco.  And given how fresh and sweet they were I’m pretty sure everyone would have been perfectly happy to eat them just like that.

 

This was a moment when having a chef like Barbara in the house made a big, tasty difference.  She heard we had oysters, immediately got on the phone to Kevin who was out and about in the car, and asked him to pick up Prosecco and white wine vinegar so she could make her mignonette sauce.  He somehow managed to find stores open on Easter Sunday with those ingredients and brought them home.  Mignonette is simple to prepare and gives you the tang and heat of lemon and Tabasco but is much more sophisticated – a lovely accompaniment to a special oyster.

Oysters on the Half Shell with Sparkling Mignonette

From Stir by Barbara Lynch

Lucky To Have A Chef In The House Moment #2 - Kevin later took the asparagus we were roasting for dinner and tossed them with the leftover mignonette, adding wonderful flavor while wasting nothing (a sure sign of a successful chef and restaurant owner).  Perfection.  Did I pick the right friends to spend Easter with or what??

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

2 shallots, very finely chopped (about ½ cup)

½ cup Prosecco or other dry sparkling wine

½ cup white wine vinegar, preferably Chardonnay

1 teaspoon kosher salt

As many of your favorite oysters as you and your friends want to eat, rinsed and shucked

Using a fine-mesh strainer, sift the ground pepper and reserve only the coarsely ground pepper left behind in the strainer (If you include the finely ground pepper, the mignonette sauce will be too hot.)

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients except the oysters.  Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary and keep chilled.  Put just a few drops of the mignonette on each oyster before serving.

*  The mignonette lasts for two days, covered and refrigerated, but the bubbles from the Prosecco will dissipate.

Makes about 1 cup

Edgartown on Dwellable

River Café’s Tagliatelle with Crème Fraiche and Arugula

Many years ago while flipping through the TV channels, I came across a cooking show that was so beautifully shot – natural lighting, sleek, modern restaurant setting, spectacular looking, rustic food - it stopped me in my tracks. Turns out PBS was running an episode from the British television series called The Italian Kitchen. The chefs were Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers of London’s River Café and I instantly became a fan. Since then I have bought several of their books and vowed to someday taste their delicious Italian farmhouse cuisine firsthand at their restaurant on the banks of the River Thames.

Sadly, I heard Rose Gray passed away on February 28th at the age of 71. For twenty-plus years the River Café has helped influence and transform the British food scene. Rose and Ruth, both self-taught chefs, were passionate about sourcing the freshest seasonal ingredients and preparing them simply. They embodied locavorism long before it became fashionable. Like similar-minded American chef Alice Waters and her restaurant, Chez Panisse, many stellar chefs have emerged from the River Cafe kitchen; Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and April Bloomfield all learned and worked under Rose and Ruth.

One of my favorite recipes from the River Cafe is a delicious pasta dish made with lemons, crème fraiche, arugula, and Parmesan. It’s so rich, so creamy, and so easy it’s dangerous!

Tagliatelle with Crème Fraiche and Arugula
Adapted from Italian Easy by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

I was able to source many of the ingredients for this recipe from local New York farms. The crème fraiche came from Columbia County’s Ronnybrook Dairy and the arugula from Windfall Farm in Montgomery, New York. Instead of the dried egg tagliatelle called for in the original recipe I substituted Dutchess County's Knoll Crest Farm’s fresh pasta.

You can play with the ingredient amounts; depending on how you feel about lemon, you can add a little more or a little less. The same is true for the arugula. And tossing in a bit more Parmesan never hurt anything!

1 cup crème fraiche
Finely grated rind and juice from 2 lemons
12 ounces dried egg tagliatelle
5 cups loosely packed arugula, large stems removed
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper

Stir together crème fraiche, lemon juice, and zest in a bowl until just combined. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and return to pot. Add crème fraiche mixture, arugula and half of Parmesan; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve pasta with remaining Parmesan on the side.

Serves 4

People's Garden NYC

As a resident of lower Manhattan, I’ve been closely following the debate over where the 9/11 terror trials will be held. Initially the trials were proposed for the federal courthouse which is very near the subway station I use to go to and from work. While it would be hugely satisfying to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed meet his justice just blocks from Ground Zero, this part of town would again be subjected to intense security and media coverage, another very sobering daily reminder of what happened almost nine years ago (as if we need reminding).

In one of life’s little ironies, I’m also following another proposed event that would occur down the street from the courthouse at City Hall. In many ways it is the polar opposite to the trials; while September 11th was about discord, destruction, and death, the City Hall project is about new beginnings, nurturing, and bringing people together for the common good. It’s not big news like the trials, but the project has the potential to inspire the whole city towards a healthier, more sustainable future. What is it?

It’s called People’s Garden NYC. This grassroots project would be a teaching garden, planted in raised beds in front of City Hall in an area left open for security reasons and Yankee celebrations (I had to sneak that in!).

The garden would be filled with vegetables, flowers, and herbs and tended to by the city’s public school students. The kids would learn from local farmers how to grow plants organically and their harvest would be donated to a local food pantry. In addition to learning where their food comes from, the kids would get plenty of exercise, learn about healthy eating habits, and discover the many ways a garden is beneficial to the environment.

This is a proposed project, not yet approved. If enough people sign this petition, sending the message to Mayor Bloomberg that New Yorkers care about keeping their food local and improving the quality of life in their neighborhoods, it could become a reality.

Growing up in New Jersey, my family had a vegetable garden and as a result I was familiar with putting my hands in the soil, planting something, watching it grow, and eating what it produced. But that’s not the norm for most kids, especially city kids. Actually, forget about growing their own food – in certain parts of the city, kids don’t even have access to fresh fruit and produce. It's easier and cheaper for them to get a cheeseburger from McDonald's than it is an apple. While People’s Garden NYC wouldn’t change these conditions immediately, it would be a model for what could be in schoolyards, terraces, rooftops, and vacant lots throughout the city.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who launched the People’s Garden initiative, has set a goal of seeing an organic garden at every USDA building throughout the world, the first having been planted in February 2009 at its headquarters in Washington, DC. So far there are 124 People’s Gardens across the USA, not all at USDA buildings. In fact, Secretary Vilsack encourages anyone interested in starting a community garden to contact the department. While People's Garden NYC is not connected to the USDA initiative, David Bowman Simon, the person organizing the petition for People’s Garden NYC, was inspired by what the USDA has accomplished. He is also the co-founder of the influential The WhoFarm (aka The White House Organic Farm Project).

Speaking of the White House, that is the location of the most famous organic community garden of them all. Within 2 ½ months of moving in, the Obama’s broke ground on the first large scale White House vegetable garden since the Roosevelt administration. On a national level no political figure has been more visible in their support of community gardens than our First Lady. The sustainable food movement found a passionate and vocal ambassador in Michelle Obama; in addition to the White House organic garden, she supported the creation of the White House Famers’ Market and recently kicked off a campaign to fight childhood obesity called Let’s Move.

After a particularly cold and snowy winter we’re starting to thaw out just a wee bit in NYC. On my morning walks I hear the birds chirping their springtime songs and see the snowdrops peeking through the ground in the park. The warmer weather also means it's time to start gardening again. With a little bit of luck and many more signatures on this petition, New Yorkers will be able to watch a vegetable garden grow on the steps of City Hall as we go about our days. Please take a minute and lend your support to a great cause and give this part of town and all of New York City something to smile about.

It doesn't get any more local than family...

I find January is usually a quiet month and mine certainly started off that way. A few of us at the office decided to get the New Year and Decade off on the right foot by following Dr. Alejandro Junger’s Clean detox. I did it for five days, felt fantastic, and vowed to keep up the many excellent dietary lessons I learned.

Then the week of the 17th hit. It kicked off with my dad having a strange feeling in his chest and taking a trip to the hospital in an ambulance (turns out his heart is okay but he needs to increase his exercising and watch what he eats – especially sweets, right Dad??). I celebrated my birthday two days later at one of my favorite Manhattan restaurants, Cookshop. The week ended with us rushing my 16 ½ year old cat, Pasha, gasping for air, to the vet. The next three weeks were touch and go for Pash with lots of tears and guarded excitement as she came home. She was with us for two peaceful, adorable weeks. But it was not meant to be and I lost my little girl in the beginning of February. Yes, she was an old lady and I’m comforted in knowing she lived a wonderful life but wow, do I miss her.

Like my dad, Pasha had issues with her heart. Hers failed; thankfully, Dad’s beats on. Mine? It’s broken. While I love working on this blog, I haven’t been able to think about anything but kitty lately. What I’m learning is, like it or not, life goes on. In an effort to ease my sadness I decided to make heart-warming chicken soup and chicken pot pies.

This one's for you, Pash.

Violet Hill Farm Chicken Soup and Chicken Pot Pies

There are many incredible chickens to choose from at my Saturday farmers’ market. Quattro’s, Knoll Crest, Flying Pigs – I’ve cooked them all with delicious results. I recently read Michael Pollan was “blown away” by the chickens from Violet Hill Farm, another attendee of my Saturday market. Since MP can pretty much do or say no wrong in my eyes, I decided to try one for myself.


Violet Hill owners Paul and Alix Dench-Layton farm in Sullivan County, NY, raising goats, pigs, lamb, and guinea hens, as well as a flavorful, clean-tasting French heritage breed chicken called Belle Rouge. As I did a bit of research on them and their farm I discovered many top chefs in the city are loyal Violet Hill customers due to the superior quality of their meats. Really? Where have I been?? It just goes to show - you may have an amazing food producer right under your nose and don't realize it. Always keep your eyes and ears open...

Around the time I crawled out from underneath my rock and heard about these chickens, I also saw a recipe for chicken soup in the January issue of Martha Stewart Living. It seemed to me this recipe and the VHF chicken were made for each other. The recipe has only seven ingredients, three of which are chicken, water and salt. What better way to showcase the taste of this special bird?


The recipe doesn’t require hours of stock making and simmering which appealed to me in my saddened state. I had little interest in cooking and yet I yearned for soothing, homemade food.

I bought my VHF chicken in parts rather than whole and along with breasts, thighs, legs and wings, I also got the feet. A couple of years ago if I had found a pair of chicken feet in my bag of chicken pieces I would have screeched in horror. Chicken feet look unsettlingly human and are therefore a bit creepy. But being an alumna of Farm Camp has made me less squeamish and definitely savvier. At Farm Camp every chef tossed the feet from the bird they processed into their bag and brought them home to make stock.


The feet, you see, are loaded with gelatin. Bones and cartilage have it, too, but not nearly as much. Gelatin has been touted as a health food in traditional cuisines dating back to the ancient Chinese. It is filled with minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon and sulfur, as well as amino acids and anti-inflammatory compounds. Gelatin is what gives stock and broth a rich taste and silky, luxurious mouth-feel.

It wasn’t until the mid-20th century when scientists learned to replicate the flavor of chicken and other meats that making stock from scratch fell out of fashion in Western cultures. Now many of us reach for bullion cubes and canned stocks because it’s quick and easy. The problem is when we do that we miss out on the truly wonderful qualities of the real McCoy. If you need further convincing of the virtues of homemade stocks, read this enlightening article by Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

What makes this soup so good is you start with water and in an hour or so end up with a beautiful, golden-hued broth filled with healthy, healing properties and comforting, soul-renewing flavor. A good chicken soup has the power to take the edge off illness and, in my case, sorrow. Sick, sad, or just plain happy, this is a delightful soup. I hope you try it.

Basic Chicken Soup
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living January 2010

This is a very simple recipe. In fact, it’s so simple I say unless you’re going to buy the best quality, free-roaming chicken you can find, don’t bother making it. I realize not everyone has access to pastured chickens from a local farm so do the best you can with your selection at the supermarket. Spend a little more and get a bird that is antibiotic-free and organic. And don’t – I repeat DON’T – buy anything labeled Perdue or Tyson.

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into pieces (including back, neck, and feet, if you have them)
8 cups water
Coarse salt
3 medium onions, thinly sliced (4 cups)
2 celery stalks, sliced crosswise ¼ inch thick
4 garlic cloves, crushed
6 medium carrots, sliced ½ inch thick

Bring chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon salt to a low boil in a large stockpot. Skim foam. Add onions, celery, and garlic. Reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.


Remove breasts, and set aside. Add carrots. Simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.

Remove remaining chicken; discard back, wings, neck, and feet. Let cool slightly. Remove meat from bones, and cut into bite-size pieces.


Stir in desired amount of chicken; reserve the rest for another use. Skim fat. Season with salt.

Serves 6


If the chicken soup was meant to coax me back to everyday living, the pot pies were meant to remind me of the joys in life. Hearty, rich, and comforting, they are shockingly good and easy to make - an ideal combination.

I came across this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma catalog about the time I became Pasha’s mom (which means a long time ago). I’ve continued to make it over the years, never tiring of the pot pies' lovely cream cheese-and-butter pastry crust and luscious chicken, carrot, and mushroom filling. I recently checked to see if Williams-Sonoma had the recipe on their website; they don't and that's too bad. For me it is an old standby, a tried-and-true keeper.

Chicken Pot Pies
Adapted from the Williams – Sonoma catalog

I used the leftover chicken from the soup in the pot pies.

If you don’t intend on eating all the pot pies at once you can successfully freeze the uncooked extras. First, allow the filling to cool in the ramekins before laying the pastry across the top. This will keep the pastry from melting into the filling and produce a crisper crust when baked. Then wrap the cooled pot pies in foil and freeze. You can cook them frozen but will need to increase the cooking time to about 40 minutes or until the pot pies brown and bubble.

Pastry Ingredients
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small dice
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small dice
2 tablespoons cold water

Filling Ingredients
4 cups chicken stock
½ pound carrots, peeled and sliced thin
½ pound large mushroom caps, quartered
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup flour
½ cup heavy cream
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

To make Pastry
Toss together flour and salt. Add butter and cream cheese. Blend until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 1 tablespoon water and stir with a fork. Add up to 1 tablespoon more to make cohesive dough. Pat into a smooth cake; wrap and chill for one hour.

To make Filling
Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large saucepan. Add carrots and mushrooms. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon; set aside.

Strain stock into a 4 cup measure (if necessary, add water to make 4 cups). Return saucepan to heat. Melt butter then add flour. Cook and stir 2 minutes.

Add stock and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat, add ½ cup heavy cream and simmer 2 minutes. (This is a good time to take the pastry dough out of the refrigerator to warm up slightly before rolling out.)


Stir in 3 cups diced, cooked chicken and the cooked vegetables. Add ¼ cup chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Divide filling mixture among six 10-ounce ramekins. Roll out pastry on floured surface and cut six rounds a ½ inch larger than the top of the ramekins. Lay pastry over filling, and then flute the edge. Cut vents in top. Place on baking sheet and bake 20 – 25 minutes, until browned and bubbling.

Serves 6