Manresa, p.9
Manresa, page 9
> To Serve
Butter or extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
Nasturtium vinegar, white wine vinegar, or Champagne vinegar
To build the garden, we have small containers of the various sets ready to go. We use homemade nasturtium vinegar, made from the flowers and stems and marinated in white balsamic vinegar with ½ clove garlic, using a large amount of the petals to achieve a beautiful color, but a white wine or Champagne vinegar will work just fine.
Take a warmed plate and begin by dabbing the various purees of The Root Set on the plate—not too much, but enough for them to make their contribution. Heat up a small pan and wilt and warm through the entire contents of your Cooked Set with a small knob of butter or bit of oil. Season with salt, then drain on a plate. Arrange the various braised items on top and around the purees. These will serve as wonderful fulcrums to hold up the more delicate leaves so the garden can be built up, rather than lie flat.
Blend or froth the Dew emulsion until it is a light and brittle foam. If you wait a few seconds after finishing, it will get rigid. A great way to test if it’s ready is to scoop up the emulsion with a spoon; if, when you turn the spoon upside down, it doesn’t move or fall off, it is ready. Place a couple of dabs of the Dew on and around The Cooked Set.
Put The Raw Set in a bowl and season with a pinch of salt and a thin, small stream of olive oil. Toss the contents to coat the leaves evenly. Then, working quickly, place the leaves on top of The Cooked Set, trying to make it appear as a natural tangle in the garden. Don’t worry about pressing into the Dew or working around it. Pretend it isn’t there.
Next, place your choices for The Flowers and Seed Set on top and around the garden. Save the most delicate element for the top, so it won’t weigh down the garden. Lastly, take a spoonful of Dirt and scatter it around the base of the garden. Mist the entire salad with the nasturtium or wine vinegar and serve immediately.
PRODUCER PROFILE: Cynthia Sandberg
Attorney-turned-farmer Cynthia Sandberg has gone from backyard tomato enthusiast to the backbone of Love Apple Farms. Since the afternoon in 2006 when she brought her tomatoes to Manresa’s back door for David Kinch to sample, she’s changed the way that the kitchen cooks and transformed how diners experience their meals. It was worth tearing out her lawn for. —CHRISTINE MUHLKE
Q. Do you remember the first time you met David?
A. Somebody had come out to the farm and said, “We think you should sell your tomatoes to restaurants.” And I said, “I don’t have the time.” And they said, “But, but, but … there’s this great restaurant in Los Gatos!” It had just gotten named one of the top restaurants in the world and I thought, “Wow, I don’t need to sell tomatoes to them, I just want to go there and eat.” So my husband took me for my birthday dinner—this was in May—and that was significant because I do remember the very first time I ever laid eyes on David Kinch. He came out of the kitchen, and I looked up and here’s this figure in white, angelic almost, like the pope or something. I remember the first thing he said to me: “I understand you grow tomatoes.” And I said, “Yes, I do.” He said, “Would you mind bringing me some when they come ripe?” And I was instantly struck by how this guy knew in May that the tomatoes weren’t ripe yet. I look back on that and I go, “Well, of course he knew that.” But on the other hand, this was back in 2006. So I agreed to it, not only because I was impressed with his knowledge, but also because I was in the middle of the best meal I’d ever had.
Q. How was the shift from growing tomatoes for your honor-system stand to producing for a restaurant?
A. I jokingly call it RSA, or Restaurant Supported Agriculture, instead of Community Supported Agriculture. The initial hurdles were getting the quantities right. ’Cause David’s not figuring out quantities, he’s just putting in an order, asking me, “Can I have a hundred carrots, five inches long, every delivery? And can you give me four different colors of carrots?” Well, the problem comes in when you’re growing carrots year-round, because they have a different taste and maturity depending on when they’re sown. A carrot sown on January 1 takes an extra month or six weeks to get to be five inches long than a carrot sown on June 1.
Q. And as soon as you figured it out, you moved to a bigger property.
A. That posed a whole new set of challenges, because this land is completely different: It’s a different climate, it’s a different soil, there’s a whole different set of pests and varmints on this land that I did not have to face at the other location. For instance, our first summer here, I’d go out and see that the pea pods were still on the bush, but the peas inside were gone. It looked like [the pod] had been unzipped and the peas extracted, and I thought, “What fresh hell is this?” Turns out we had mice—and soon we’d adopted a bunch of feral cats. But it’s not like we’re a sweater factory, where all we have to do is hunker down overnight and make more. The stuff can only grow at the pace it wants to grow.
Q. How do you decide what to plant?
A. We meet quarterly with David to discuss the crop list. Right now it’s July, so we’re planning our winter crops. It’s like fashion: When they take pictures of models in bikinis, they’re freezing their asses off in January. We just don’t know that!
Q. How many cultivars do you have right now?
A. Three hundred, and that includes one hundred cultivars of tomatoes. For instance, we’ll have eight kinds of beets and five kinds of carrots and summer squashes, and maybe ten kinds of peppers. Then in the winter we’ll have eight kinds of potatoes.
Q. Where do you get your seeds?
A. From all over the world. I’m always online, scouring tomato boards or following different chefs and farmers on Twitter and Facebook. David’s got this mantra, which is a running joke at this point. I’ll come up with something new for him, and he’ll say, “That’s the single best thing we grow!” And then three months later I’ll have something new or different and he’ll go, “That’s the single best thing we grow!” I’ll say, “David, how can it all be the single best thing we grow?”
Q. What’s it like for you to eat at the restaurant today?
A. One morning, as I was picking radishes, one caught my eye because it was an unusual shape and leaf structure. And I thought, “Wow, that’s kinda pretty.” Later that night, I went to the restaurant and there was that same exact radish, out of the hundred that I’d pulled! That was pretty cool.
Q. What’s next for Love Apple Farms?
A. With the new parcel of land that we bought down the hill, the goal is to be a full supplier of meat for the restaurant: pigs, sheep, ducks, goats, cattle, turkeys, rabbits, chickens—everything except fish. I’m not sure David can get away with putting catfish on the menu at Manresa.
Garden Velouté with Mustard Cream
GARDEN VELOUTÉ WITH MUSTARD CREAM
SERVES 12 as a first course
This idea came about simply because we had to find a way to use the overflow of “green” that comes from the farm from late spring until early autumn. We wanted to capture the fragrant aromas of the stalks, stems, flowers, and seeds, not to mention the leaves of the lettuces, spinaches, chards, and other vegetables, to create a heady broth—or a floral tisane. Our ideas led us to this velvety soup, which combines the bright pureed leaves—blanched and refreshed to maintain their color—with the perfume of the garden inherent in the broth. The cores and overgrown leaves add a pleasant bitterness to the vegetables’ natural sweetness. Thickened with a little bit of potato, the soup stays completely vegetarian but has a luxe texture. Some delicate herbs and several cool, contrasting vegetable purees (which have any number of creative uses in the kitchen) make a colorful statement.
It is important to have a diversity of ingredients in the pot without turning it into a compost pile. Be thoughtful but open-minded about what goes in. You’re trying to achieve the flavor of green while staying balanced. This recipe makes a large batch: luckily it’s even better the next day.
| Garden Tisane |
Enough “green,” such as tender herbs and vegetable stalks; onion, leek, and carrot tops; lettuces (including their cores, bolts, stalks, seeds, and flowers); pansies and calendulas; and the like to fill a stockpot loosely
Approximately 6 kilograms (6½ quarts) water
1 head garlic, halved horizontally
1 large white onion, sliced
2 medium leeks, white and green parts, trimmed, washed, and split
8 grams (2 teaspoons) large-grain sea salt, such as fleur de sel or sel gris
5 grams (1½ teaspoons) black peppercorns
2 handfuls of delicate soft herbs, especially Italian flat-leaf parsley, including stems
1 handful of flowers, trimmed of their stems
Trim away any brown spots or streaks from your gathered “green,” cut into manageable-size pieces, and put the pieces in a large stockpot. Bring the water to a rolling boil in a second large pot. Add the garlic, onion, leeks, salt, and peppercorns to the vegetables in the stockpot, then carefully pour the boiling water over all the vegetables. Bring the mixture quickly to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Place a light lid over the tisane and allow it to sit for 20 minutes.
Add the herbs and the flowers, replace the lid on the pot, and allow it to sit for another 15 minutes. Strain the liquid immediately, pressing down on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. You want the flavor to be bright and sharp and not have an overcooked vegetable aroma.
| Blanched Vegetable Velouté |
About 6 bunches leafy green vegetables, such as chard, spinach, watercress, arugula
2.3 to 3 kilograms (2½ to 3 quarts) Garden Tisane (left)
300 grams (10.5 ounces) potatoes (2 medium), peeled, cut into pieces, and steamed until soft
Approximately 15 grams (1 tablespoon) Champagne vinegar
Kosher salt
Blanch each of the leafy green vegetables separately in salted water until they are vibrant green, then refresh in ice water. Press out as much water as you can with your hands, combine the vegetables, and give them a coarse chop with your knife. Set aside.
Finish the soup by pureeing the Garden Tisane, potatoes, and vegetables to a smooth velouté texture. Adjust the seasoning with the vinegar and salt. Chill the soup by putting it in a bowl resting in another bowl filled with ice water.
Vegetable Purees
Vegetable Purees
MAKES 2 to 5 colorful vegetable purees
Carrot Puree
Turnip Puree
Beet Puree
You can choose to make only two of the purees and sauces in this recipe or as many as five, depending on what vegetables are available or at their peak.
| Celery Root Puree |
1 sprig thyme
½ clove garlic, crushed but left whole
190 grams (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) whole milk
250 grams (about 2 cups) peeled and diced celery root (½-inch dice)
Kosher salt
15 grams (1 tablespoon) butter
Wrap the thyme and garlic clove in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with butcher’s twine. Combine the milk, celery root, and a pinch of salt in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the celery root is soft. Remove the sachet and drain, reserving both the milk and the celery root. Place the celery root in a blender and blend, slowly adding as much of the milk as needed to make a smooth puree that is not too thick or loose; you will not use all the milk. Add the butter to the blender and continue blending. Strain, adjust the salt seasoning, and cool.
| Eggplant Caviar |
1 large globe eggplant
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
25 grams (2 tablespoons) mayonnaise
50 grams (3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
Roast the eggplant over an open fire until the skin is completely charred. Wrap the eggplant in aluminum foil and let rest for 30 minutes. Carefully peel the eggplant of its charred skin. Split open the eggplant and remove the larger seedpods. Very finely chop the eggplant flesh. Add the eggplant and garlic to a pot and place over medium heat. Stir until the moisture leaves the eggplant and it starts to stick a bit on the bottom of the pot. Transfer the eggplant to a bowl and allow to cool. Whisk in the mayonnaise, then the olive oil. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
| Fava Bean Mortar and Pestle Sauce |
½ clove garlic
10 mint leaves
Kosher salt
160 grams (1 cup) blanched and peeled fava beans
2 salt-packed anchovies, soaked in milk for 20 minutes, then rinsed
10 almonds, toasted
Extra-virgin olive oil
7 grams (1½ tablespoons) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Freshly ground pepper
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Working with a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and mint leaves with a pinch of salt. Add the fava beans, anchovies, and almonds and continue to pound until you have a thick paste. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while continuing to use the pestle, until you have a flowing sauce. Stir in the cheese and adjust the seasoning with salt, a few turns of the pepper grinder, and a drop or two of lemon juice.
| Nasturtium, Arugula or Chrysanthemum Mortar and Pestle Sauce |
200 grams (7 ounces) nasturtium, arugula, or chrysanthemum leaves, blanched and refreshed in ice water
25 grams (3 tablespoons) almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or pine nuts, lightly toasted
200 grams (scant 1 cup) olive oil or other relevant oil (such as walnut oil if using walnuts)
Kosher salt
White wine or Champagne vinegar
Squeeze out as much water as possible from the leaves and coarsely chop with a knife. Working with a mortar and pestle, pound the nuts, add the chopped leaves, and pound to a thick paste. Slowly drizzle in the oil while continuing to pound into a sauce. Season to taste with salt and wine or vinegar.
| Mustard Cream |
270 grams (1¼ cups) natural or heavy cream
45 grams (3 tablespoons) whole-grain French mustard, Pommery style
Combine the cream and mustard in a large stainless-steel bowl and whip the cream to soft peaks.
> To Serve
Assorted small flowers or tender herb tops to add starbursts of flavor, such as purslane, tiny sorrel, bean flowers, cucumber flowers, coriander flowers, mustards, radish tops, squash shoots, arugula, and basil tops and flowers
Place spoonfuls of the colorful Vegetable Purees, Eggplant Caviar, and mortar and pestle sauces and a small quenelle of Mustard Cream in each shallow bowl. Arrange the fresh flowers and herbs over the purees. Pour the warm velouté over the Mustard Cream tableside.
Green Garlic Panisse
GREEN GARLIC PANISSE
MAKES about one hundred 1¼ by 2-inch pieces
A simple snack that takes advantage of the season’s first garlic, which is harvested before the bulbs form. Delicious hot or cold.
250 grams (9 ounces) white portion of green garlic
100 grams (7 tablespoons) butter
100 grams (7½ tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil
1.9 kilograms (8 cups) whole milk
45 grams (3 tablespoons) kosher salt
475 grams (3½ cups) sifted chickpea flour
1 Meyer lemon
Grapeseed oil, for deep frying
Line a half sheet pan (13 by 18 by 1-inch pan) with oiled parchment paper.
Split the garlic lengthwise and rinse carefully to remove any dirt. Dry the garlic on a towel, then slice it as thinly as possible. Melt the butter with the olive oil, add the garlic, cover with a cartouche, and cook over low heat until translucent. Transfer to a large pot and add the milk and salt. Increase the heat to medium-high and slowly add the chickpea flour while whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Cook over high heat until the mixture begins pulling away from the sides of the pan and the starchy flavor has cooked out. Pour the dough onto the prepared pan and spread evenly. Zest the lemon over the entire surface. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the panisse to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for about 1 hour, until completely set. Cut into desired shapes.
Heat the grapeseed oil to 350°F (175°C) and fry the panisse pieces in small batches for about 30 seconds, until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels, arrange on a platter, and serve immediately.
Squash Shoots, Pole Beans and Bonito Butter
SQUASH SHOOTS, POLE BEANS AND BONITO BUTTER
SERVES 8 to 10
Our bonito butter reframes the best characteristics of dashi in a Western context. The result is one of those special dish components that magnifies the deliciousness of whatever it comes in contact with. It’s a recipe that has evolved over the years, and it works! The decidedly untraditional steps that we take include reducing the dashi base while the bonito flakes are still present in order to extract some bitterness. And then we add an unexpectedly luxurious layer of richness with butter.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
TO SERVE: Handheld frother or immersion blender
| Shelling Beans |
80 grams (½ cup) shelled fresh Purple Queen runner beans
1 gram (½ teaspoon) black peppercorns
1 dried bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
¼ white onion, cut into large dice
¼ large carrot, cut into large dice
½ stalk celery, cut into large dice
Extra-virgin olive oil
