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This post was contributed by Armina Del Toro, Wave Hill’s School Programs Manager.
The third year of the Wave Hill-Bronx Institute Salamander Project came to a close on Saturday, May 22, 2010. Salamander Project teens―25 students from MS280-Mosholu Parkway and MS 505-The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice―and their families came to Wave Hill to watch the students describe their experiences and present their scientific findings for 2010. But before students and families began sharing, they had a chance to learn how a pesky weed could make for a tasty plate.
Salamander Project teens spent many hours this summer collecting data to determine the relationship between salamander populations and invasive plants―garlic mustard, chickweed, bedstraw and Japanese knotweed, to name just a few―in Riverdale Park. They had been curious about the name Garlic Mustard and some students were brave enough to take a nibble of the leaf to experience that garlicky taste. But it did not end there. One afternoon, with go-ahead from Wave Hill’s Director of Horticulture, Scott Canning, the teens spent an hour pulling garlic mustard weeds from Wave Hill’s Woodlands. Such was the students’ enthusiasm that they collected seven large bags in one hour.
Often repeated by the teens, the question “What do we do with all this garlic mustard?” got us thinking “What would Laurel and Charley do” (Laurel Rimmer is Wave Hill’s Assistant Director of Public Programs, and Charles Day the Ruth Rea Howell Horticultural Interpreter.) Cook with it? Why not?
Now, over the previous five weeks the students explored ways of disposing weeds and household vegetable products, investigating Wave Hill’s worm bin and learning that this was one way to mimic processes that naturally occur in the environment. After the worm bin, the students learned about the value of composting and other disposal methods. However, we had never discussed other methods of weed disposal, specifically what can be done with edible plants like Garlic Mustard.
Corinne Flax (Wave Hill Environmental Educator), Marjorie Lune (Bank Street Intern) and yours truly pulled and washed the garlic mustard leaves, prepared the blender, cut bread and laid out all the ingredients for Garlic Mustard Pesto. The delicious smell engulfed the entire room and even we were prone to sneak a taste.
The students were hesitant to taste it, but after carefully dipping a corner of bread into the pesto sauce, they took the ultimate plunge, giving the recipe a taste. There was much scrunching of faces at first, but then their eyebrows lifted and smiles appeared on their faces as almost everyone agreed “It’s not bad”! Some of the students even really liked the pesto―and all of the instructors thought it was delicious.
It was a fitting end to a great program and an invasive weed, proving that we have some great ideas for cooking with invasive plants…Move over Rachel Ray, we’ve got Pest to Pesto, Perfecto!
Pesto Petiolata (or Garlic-Mustard Pesto)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons pine nuts or walnut pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, about 1 ounce
4 cups garlic mustard leaves (Alliaria petiolata) or 2 cups garlic mustard with 2 cups basil leaves
Place all of the ingredients except the basil in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add the garlic mustard and/or basil a handful at a time. Blend until all of the greens are incorporated and the pesto is smooth. Makes about 1 cup.
We gratefully credit Whitewater Valley Land Trust for this inspired concoction!
Laurel Rimmer is the Assistant Director of Public Programs at Wave Hill.
Pastry Chef Newton Pryce of Great Performances, Wave Hill’s exclusive caterer, kicked off our Warming Winter Spices Cooking Series last weekend with stollen, a traditional German sweet bread made with candied fruits, spices and marzipan. To begin, Wave Hill Director of Visitor Services Michael Wiertz provided a brief history of stollen, and shared memories of eating stollen with his family during the Christmas holiday while growing up in Germany. He recalled that it arrived at the table in the shape of a lamb and was enjoyed as an afternoon treat on Christmas Day. The impending snowstorm kept the audience numbers down enough that we could transform the program from a demonstration to a hands-on workshop, with everyone donning disposable gloves and getting a chance to mix ingredients and work with the dough. While the dough was rising, Newton melted some decadent Callebaut chocolate and participants dipped fresh strawberries for an additional treat. A freshly baked warm stollen was brought out at the end of the program for everyone to enjoy. This delicious bread satisfied even the fruitcake-phobic in the group!
I’m already looking forward to the next cooking demo, which takes place early in the new year. (And may be it be the happiest of new years for us all!) On January 23, GP chef Dan Obusan will be preparing hearty winter soups. In the meantime, here is Newton’s wonderful recipe, which is sure to bring you as much pleasure as it did our visitors last week.
Chef Newton Pryce’s Christmas Stollen
1 T. active dry yeast
2/3 c. warm milk
1 large egg
1/3 c. white sugar
1/2 T. salt
1/3 c. butter, softened
2 1/2 c. bread flour
1/3 cup currants
1/3 c. sultana raisins
1/3 c. candied red and green cherries, quartered
1 c. diced candied peel, prunes and mixed fruits
1 t. ginger
1 t. allspice
6 ounces marzipan
1 T. icing sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes). In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, white sugar, salt, butter and 2 cups bread flour and beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in the currants, raisins, dried cherries, peel mixture, ginger and allspice. Knead until smooth (about 8 minutes).
Place the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1 hour). Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the centre of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it, and pinch the seams together to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise until doubled in volume, about 60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for a further 30−40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the loaf to cool on a wire rack. Dust the cooled loaf with the icing sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Charles Day is the Ruth Rea Howell Horticultural Interpreter at Wave Hill.
Our popular woodland cooking series continued this spring when we were joined by Gary Lincoff of the New York Mycological Society. Gary introduced us to the world of wild mushrooms and fungi with a very informative and entertaining slide show. He was encouraging about collecting wild mushrooms but very clear about the possible dangers – one should not mess with mushrooms you don’t know as the results can be fatal! Chef Marc Spooner of Great Performances (Wave Hill’s exclusive caterer) then demonstrated two vegetable dishes that strongly featured wild mushrooms, such as hen-of-the-woods and king bolete. The “wild mushroom pasta with truffled cream sauce” was rich and delicious and the “peas and carrots” dish was a fresh-tasting and colorful assembly of tiny carrots, peas and baked wild mushrooms with a carrot and onion puree. Marc was delighted to share these recipes.
Wild Mushroom Pasta with Truffled Cream Sauce
1 lb. assorted wild mushrooms, washed, dried and stemmed
4 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
1 lb. spaghetti
1 large carrot, peeled, cut into brunoise pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
4 oz. unsalted butter
24 oz. heavy whipping cream
½ bunch Italian parsley for garnish
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add the dried porcini mushrooms. Remove from heat and reserve. Prepare pasta according to the directions on the package and reserve. Blanch the diced carrot in boiling salted water until just done, strain and reserve. Strain the porcini mushrooms and reserve both the water and the mushrooms.
Place a pan over medium high heat and coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Sauté the minced garlic cloves and shallot until aromatic. Add the assorted wild mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste and cook until tender. Add the porcini mushrooms and 1 cup of the reserved porcini stock. Reduce liquid by half. Add the heavy cream and reduce by half. Add salt and pepper to taste to the sauce then add 2oz of the butter, the carrot and pasta. Toss to coat. If needed, add more of the reserved stock and butter until desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle with truffle oil, toss and plate. Garnish with few large sprigs of parsley.
Serves 4
Peas and Carrots
1 lb. large carrots cut into 2” pieces
1 medium yellow onion, peeled, and cut into 1” slices
2 qt vegetable stock or water
1 lb assorted mushrooms, washed, dried and stemmed
1 lb English peas, in shell
16 Thumbelina carrots (or assorted baby carrots)
8 oz pea tendrils
Olive oil, as needed
Salt and pepper
Pre-heat oven to 350˚F. Place carrots, onions and vegetable stock (or water) in a large pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until fork tender. Do not boil, adjust heat as necessary. Strain the contents and reserve the liquid. Puree the carrots and onions adding some of the reserved stock as needed. Puree until the mixture is smooth and the consistency of mustard. Set aside and allow to cool.
Place mushrooms on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 350° F until tender. Set aside and allow to cool. Remove peas from shell and blanch in salted boiling water until tender. Strain and shock peas in a bowl of ice water, drain and reserve. Peel Thumbelina carrots and blanch in salted boiling water, until just done, strain and shock in a bowl of ice water, drain and reserve.
Assembly:
Place some of the carrot puree on the plate. In a bowl, toss the remaining ingredients with olive oil, salt and pepper (add herbs if desired). Arrange on plate.
Serves 4
Recipes courtesy of Mark Spooner of Great Performances.
Great Performances chef Marc Spooner was here in late March to kick off our springtime Woodland Cooking series with a marvelous demonstration of how to cook with maple syrup. (Great Performances is Wave Hill’s exclusive caterer.) I always appreciate the way Marc combines delicious, easy-to-follow recipes and useful cooking techniques with interesting food information: Did you know that the sap of sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) is about 98% water, and that 40 gallons of sap must be boiled down to produce one gallon of syrup? Thus its high price. Marc has a great personality, and is so good at making cooking accessible and helping people get excited about using local ingredients. Here is one of the delicious recipes from the demo, one Marc has been making for many years. It’s yummy!
Spinach Salad with Feta Cheese, Local Apples, Maple-sugared Cashews and Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette
4 cups baby spinach, washed and dried
2 apples, cored and sliced
¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup tarragon Dijon vinaigrette (recipe follows)
½ cup maple-sugared cashews (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper to taste
Place baby spinach, apples and feta cheese in a large bowl. Drizzle vinaigrette over ingredients and toss. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Garnish with maple-sugared cashews.
Maple-sugared Cashews
3 Tbsp maple sugar
½ cup cashews
Melt maple sugar in a sauce pan. Add cashews and coat them evenly with melted maple sugar. Keep stirring nuts until caramelized. Spread nuts on parchment paper and allow to cool. Once nuts have cooled, break them apart.
Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette
1 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp shallot, minced
¼ cup champagne vinegar
¾ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together tarragon, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, shallots and champagne vinegar plus salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Recipe courtesy of Marc Spooner.
Laurel Rimmer is Assistant Director of Public Programs at Wave Hill.
