A traditional staple of southern Italian cuisine, specifically Sicily, these tiny bites are flavorful, satisfying and easy to make. They are great for a party appetizer or enjoyed with an ice cold beer and feel free to substitute the filling for whatever you prefer. Don’t be afraid to experiment. My grandmother used to fill hers with mozzarella so when they came out of the pan they were warm and gooey; the trick is to make sure to stuff them with enhances and complements the natural flavor of the olive without overwhelming it.

As Liz and Joel are ardent patrons of the Paso Robles wine area, they poured us a side-by-side comparison of two 2010 Mourvedres from AmByth winery, the Mark’s Vineyard, and the StoneCross. One could argue that Paso’s signature wine is the GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre) blend, and so it is unique to find a vineyard that is making single-varietal bottles of Mourvedre.

AmByth Estate, owned by Mary and Philip Hart, is a Demeter certified biodynamic farm. Their grapes are dry farmed, and their wines are made with minimal intervention and minimal to no additives (e.g. sulfites). In accordance with the biodynamic philosophy, the estate is home to not only 11 varietals, but also fertilizer-producing dairy cows and free range chickens, bees, olive trees, and vegetable gardens. The goal is to let the flavors contributed by the surrounding nature shine through the wine. Growing wine this way is not so much a manipulation of vines and grapes to a desired outcome, but a partnership with nature to produce a product representing the unity and character of the location.

Per Mary’s recommendation, the wines were opened in the morning and decanted a few hours before the meal. As we sat down to Joel’s Chicken Parmigiana, they both presented as fairly fruit-forward. As the night wore on—and the conversation got more and more good-naturedly off-color—the early-ripening StoneCross, grown at higher elevation with more access to sun, retained Mourvedre’s typical blackberry and black pepper. The more protected and late-ripening vines of the Mark’s Vineyard began to exhibit the more earthy side of Mourvedre, presenting the anise and clove that made this bottle my favorite.

AmByth Estates maintains a relationship with the ViniVeri Consorzio, an Italian consortium whose guiding principle of  “Wine By Nature” inspires them to produce wines shaped by the world and the weather around them, not by industrially produced chemicals. AmByth poured their Sangiovese at ViniVeri’s 2011 Vino!Vino!Vino! expo outside of Verona.

The just-released 2009 Sangiovese is also grown at the lower elevations of Mark’s Vineyard, the original vineyard on the estate. It promises to be spicy, earthy, with great acidity. Pair it with something fresh and light for a springtime supper al fresco. Try Gabriele’s Breasaola, Peach and Fennel Salad, or take early garden vegetables and toss them with some Homemade Pasta.

If the Mouvedre is more enticing to your palate, Gabriele’s salty-sweet Risotto with “La Tur” and Wild Carrot Honey will offset it nicely. Whatever varietal you choose, AmByth wines will swath you and your company in a casual sophistication, weaving a connection between your dinner table and a relaxed spring evening.

So I decided to go on assignment, sign up for my first foraging trip. Wanting to get in on the fun, yes but also remembering my Aunt Mamie’s wild huckleberry pies and the gustatory joys when Uncle Cap came round with the mushrooms, I was in it for the food.  Inspired by Italians that are masters of the craft; hunting with dogs for black diamonds, roaming the hills for insalata di campo. Their foraged food feasts:  pasta with porcini, frittata con tartufo, rum in the chestnuts stewed. I was in greedy pursuit of the delicious, the glorious, as Wildman Steve Brill said the when eaten, “die of happiness” wild foods.

Into Central Park and out with a meal, my first adventure was urban foraging with Wildman Steve Brill. The obvious, hard to wrap your head around eating anything plucked from here.  With the buzzing of activity at the entrance to the park, I felt less the huntress and more Woody Allen.  But Wildman who has been leading tours for over thirty years has an infectious passion and this is New York folks, he puts on a great show.  Politics, metaphor, music, with his “Brill o phone” Wildman played Poison Ivy and other apropos tunes. Witty banter, “this plant is beautiful and deadly,” an ode to his ex girlfriend.  And danger, a fellow tour mate had the poisonous white snake plant in his grasp twice.  No joke, you must have a guide, a proper book or App to identify these plants.

Wildman, the author of a wild foods cookbook, made wonderful recipe suggestions, wisteria blossom pancakes, an Indian spiced bitter doc paneer.  We gathered over ten species of plants, buds, and flowers.  And most were over fences and up trees a comfortable distance from all that roam the park, a relief. It was the perfect first exposure.  I was hooked, intrigued.  What other foods might I forage for?   Maybe like my ancestors I could gather wild mushrooms to dry for our Christmas Eve soup.  I was thinking spring garlic and summer berries of joining the Delaware Highlands Mushroom Society, a foraging group.  I wanted to get to know my own terroir, what is on my land.  I had the thought too, that this is good work.  What can we do in a world of Mad Cow, Franken Food an over reliance on processed foods?  Get to the source, dig in, plant a garden, keep bees, and forage for food.  When we look to the land to sustain us our relationship to the land inevitably changes. In times such as ours, this is an exquisitely hopeful thing.

Here is the information to get foraging.  The tours, the resources and for those that just want to sit back and sample the foods from the wild, the dinners and restaurants. I even have a list of the most delicious wild foods from Wildman Steve Brill, a hit list if you will.

The Tours/Trips

New York~ Wildman Steve Brill

Truffle Hunting Trips Florence Italy

Los Angeles~ Wild Food Tours with Christopher Nyerges

New England~ Edible Wild Plant Walks with Russ Cohen

The Groups/Classes

Find a foraging group in your area

Wild Foods Classes around the Country

The Resources

Wildman Steve Brill’s Wild Foods APP

Wildman Steve Brill’s Wild Foods Cookbook

The Restaurants

Noma

Chez Panisse

French Laundry

Atera New York

Gramercy Taven

Franny’s Brooklyn

EL Ideas Chicago

Forage Los Angeles

Wild Foods Dinners

San Francisco Wild Dinners

Hunter Angler Gardner Cook Wild Edibles’ Dinners

Outstanding in the Field

The Most Delicious Wild Foods According to Wildman Steve Brill

1. The June Berry is my favorite fruit. It tastes like a combination of blueberries, apples, and almonds, and it’s sweet and abundant.
2.  The Cattail is one of my favorite vegetables, even though I’m a vegan. The shoot has a wonderful cucumber/zucchini flavor; the immature flower’s a little like corn on the cob, and the pollen’s great for baking.
3. The Black Trumpet, with its rich, smoky flavor, is one of my favorite mushrooms, great in almost any recipe.
4. Burdock is probably my favorite root vegetable. It’s large and abundant, quite versatile in recipes, with a flavor of artichokes and potatoes. The young shoots, which taste like artichoke hearts, are also great.
5. Sheep Sorrel is my favorite leafy green. Its lemony flavor makes it a favorite among kids, who are never sheepish about gathering it.
6. The Butternut is my favorite nut. Large and easy to shell with the right equipment, it tastes like walnuts and pecans, but with a smoky overtone

Grappa is the most renown. Distilled from the skins, pulp, and seeds of grapes, originally winemakers created grappa as a way to prevent waste by using their leftovers. Nowadays the beverage is protected by the European Union, so grappa must be produced in either Italy, the Italian part of Switzerland, or in San Marino in order to carry the name. Hundreds of different grappas saturate the Italian market and distillers constantly create new flavors.

Aside from grappa, many other digestivi abound. In the south, Limoncello is an absolute must after almost any good meal. Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast boasts having the tastiest recipes, but it’s easy to make at home using lemon rinds and grain alcohol. For those who don’t like the sour taste of lemons, Liquore di Fragole replaces limoncello as a sweeter alternative. Made with tiny strawberry bits, the liqueur is viscous and sweet, but with a bite.

Sambuca, a sweet licorice tasting liqueur, is probably the third most popular digestivo. It’s not usually drunk straight, but rather splashed into espresso. Called ‘caffé corretto’ or ‘corrected espresso,’ the beverage provides a light lift after a meal. You’ll also see men at the café-bars drinking caffé corretto right before they head off to work in the morning.

Maraschino, a sweet cherry flavor liqueur, is most often used for baking cakes. The stronger digestivi, such as Anice (a stronger version of Sambuca) and Il Finocchietto (a fennel based alcohol) are also best used for baking and cooking. While Le Noci (a walnut alcohol) and Le Dodici Erbe (a twelve-herb grain alcohol) can be used for cooking, people prefer to drink these as elixirs for all sorts of ailments from coughs to heart disease.

Three digestivi are additionally thought to have healthful properties. Dark in color, their taste is bitter and they boast having anywhere from fifteen to forty different herbs, including fennel, mint, thyme, cardamom, and wormwood. The labels include: Averno, Ramazzotti, and Amaro Montenegro. But Italian digestivi have endless variations. Alcoholic beverages in Italy are even made from artichokes and truffles.

Certainly, the most important cure that any digestivo provides is for the traditional pleasure of Sunday overeating. And if there’s an immediate cure for overeating, then I say, Buon Appetito!

But what exactly are these practices? How do people across the US practice sustainability? What does it mean to the individual, to the masses? Well, these are the questions, Douglas Gayeton, the mastermind behind the movement and dear friend of Under the Tuscan Gun is aimed to find out.

The premise is that people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability. For the past three years Douglas Gayeton, along with his wife Laura Howard-Gayeton have crisscrossed the USA to learn this new language of sustainability from its foremost practitioners in food and farming which include forerunners, Alice Waters on edible schoolyards; Wes Jackson on reinventing wheat farming; Joel Salatin on embracing the value of saner farming practices; Vandana Shiva on the global imperative of protecting seeds; Paul Stamets on how mushrooms can save the world; Will Allen on Food Security;  Temple Grandin on the humane slaughter of animals; and Farmer John on the revolutionary idea of community-supported agriculture.

In all, over one hundred leaders in food and farming from across the country have contributed their valued experiences to this rapidly growing Lexicon of Sustainability.  These insights have been translated into large format “information art” photo collages and a series of short films commissioned by the Independent Television Service or ITVS.  Study guides, a book, a traveling show, installations, and lastly a website where people can dig deeper into these terms (and even add to our ever-evolving lexicon) are also under development.

“What began as a Sustainable Conversation has led to a Good Food Revolution,” says Douglas Gayeton. “It isn’t happening in galleries and museums; it’s happening at our local supermarkets, at our corner stores, at farmers markets and roadside food stands and grange halls and school gardens across the country, so it makes sense that the Lexicon traveling show appear in those places, curated by the very people trying to build more resilient food networks in their communities.”

This is how it works: anyone in America can apply to curate a show … community leaders, students, farmers, activists, gardeners, cooks … anyone except curators.  In all, 100 applicants from across the USA will be selected.  Each Curator will be a SUPER CONNECTOR who:

* hosts 5 shows

* involves producers from their local food system

* becomes a lending library for their communities, allowing anyone to borrow the exhibit, from neighbhors to local non-profits to schools to farmers markets

Transform your community into  an “idea incubator”, a localized think tank that generates dynamic coalitions able to make a difference in reshaping your community’s relationship with its food, farmers, and local environment.   And by becoming a lending library, you allow these messages to retain their significance and continue to inspire audiences for years to come. To learn more and apply, check here.

Mint Juleps are made with spearmint, bourbon, sugar and water. Minty flavors are generally not appropriate in a beer. But there are a few beers that have a huge amount of herbal character that I think you’ll enjoy.

Let’s start with Dogfish Head Saison du Buff, brewed with rosemary, sage, parsley and thyme. Three great breweries collaborated to design this beer, then each brewed their own batch using the same ingredients. The resulting beer is awesomely unique and refreshing, offering citrus and herbal flavors while some terrific tartness shows through. Another unique beer worth mentioning alongside Saison du Buff is Bison Organic Honey Basil. Sweet honey with an herbal coolness? Mmmm. Either of these two beers will wow even the snootiest of the bunch! Try it.

OK. So some of you are already asking why I skipped the Bourbon. I didn’t! Patience… Honestly, I love bourbon. But I usually despise the effects it has when they age perfectly good beer in its barrels. Barrel Aging is, however, a very popular practice within the craft beer community, and many people enjoy the resulting flavors. So I found a terrific example for you, where the bourbon barrels added to the flavor profile.

I’m talking about Weyerbacher Heresy, an Imperial Stout aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels. The rich chocolate and molasses flavors combined with more subtle licorice and cherry nuances really stand up nicely to the bourbon imparted by the barrels. Terrific sipper to break out should any pompousness get in the way!

Yes, I know you want to hear my (not) expert opinion on the actual race, which horses I’d put my money on. Well, here is the list of horses in the race. While I like my picks, keep in mind I lost $40 on opening day at Gulfstream Park this year. Anyway, here are the two horses I’d choose, with a beer recommendation the owners should have available for their jockey should they come through with a victory.

I’ll Have Another will be ridden by Jockey Mario Gutierrez. What a perfect name for a horse! When you’re in that kind of mood where you want to sit back and have a few brews, a crisp and refreshing beer that’s on the low end of the alcohol spectrum is a great choice. Half Acre Gossamer Golden Ale is the perfect beer should I’ll Have Another win. An awesome lemon and orange citrus, creamy texture, and wonderful hoppy bitterness will have you asking for more. And this beer comes canned, a bonus considering glass bottles are frowned upon at the track.

Second pick: Daddy Nose Best to be ridden by Jockey Garrett Gomez. Let me tell you what! If you put your Nose in front of a glass of Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout, you will be ready to run the race yourself! The delicious chocolate and toffee aroma followed by rich and smooth flavors should be enough to fuel you and your pals when this horse brings home the Rose Garland.

So yeah, I said it. Skip the cocktail and grab an awesome beer instead for this year’s race!

Summer is already over, you got now a few months for practicing and researching your own flavor and balance of ingredients.
In fact, even if this recipe is extremely simple, the sweetness of the drink can be adjusted to your likings; after tasting your first batch of Limoncello (in about a month and a half from now) you will be able to assess if you would like it to be more or less sugary. We personally like our drinks to be more on the dry side, and the proportion of ingredients we are giving you reflects that.
Grazie Zia Laura, for opening your secret kitchen book for us… we might think of starting designing a label for it now and put it in our market!
Enjoy and brew responsibly!

Do not get me wrong, we love getting out of the house, indulge in a meal that for once is served to us, cooked by others, drink some good wine and then come home to a clean kitchen… no dishes to be done, the kids possibly asleep. Then strip our clothes off and keep on celebrating. Truth is, it does not happen that often. Debi and I go out, but for the most part is for work events, which means that the food is usually below our expectations… unless we go visit friends, and that for the most part happens to be a family affair where the daughters come along and get to enjoy some time out of the house as well.

The most romantic dinners we have as a couple are the ones that we have at home… in our comfort zone. Not to mention that by staying in, we do not have to drive back to our nest, and we can afford to drink a couple of glasses more…. no cops between my dining room and my alcove! We get to choose our menu, the wine we like, and if we really decide not to loose to much time, well, we can leave the dishes in the sink and start loosing our clothes on the way to bed…

And this is exactly what we will be doing this evening!

We will rent a movie for the kids and treat them to a TV dinner, while we set up our dining room, and make it as romantic as we can! We will buy flowers, we will uncork a bottle (or two) of one of our favorite wine, play some old school Bossa Nova from the 50s’, and make it a memorable evening. We will start cooking our dinner as the kids enjoy theirs, and after they eventually (finally) get in bed, we will sit down in front of each other, and bless the day we met… the day I looked at her, after a three hours conversation and I told her: “You are so cool, wanna have kids with me?”.

For this Valentine’s day we wanted to invite you to stay at home, skip the pre-packaged restaurant menu, avoid the surcharges and the last minute hustle of reserving a table in your favorite restaurant… and if your nanny is not available (mine bluntly told me “Sorry Gabriel, I am getting laid!”), do not despair, here is a recipe easy and tasty that will help you create the perfect Valentine’s Evening.

Thank you for joining us, once again, in our kitchen!!!