Spring is springing around the country and it’s officially that time of year on the calendar. I don’t know about you, but I have fresh and bright flavors on my mind and that’s what I end up seeking out. I think we have a few of those items included in this installment.
We also have a very SPECIAL feature: a few foods from our sister business, Cornman Farms! That’s where chef Kieron Hales and his crew work with local ingredients (even some they grow themselves) to craft truly delicious treats, pies, sauces, and feasts. This is the first time I’ve shipped them anywhere, so this is a big deal! Enjoy the food and the weather.
Included in this installment:
Red Yuzu Kosho from Japan
First off, that image was the closest I could find in our archives. It sort of has some of the ingredients you’ll find in Red Yuzu Kosho—at least it evokes an exotic imagery that I think fits with this condiment/secret ingredient that I’m guessing isn’t a part of your normal rotation. But in truth there’s no cocount or tomatores or nuts in this kosho…just chiles, yuzu peel, seaweed, and salt.
As legend has it: mountain hermits living around Mount Hiko were the first to make this citrusy, salty condiment by combining the fragrant perfumy peel of the yuzu with green chiles and salt and letting it all ferment. The technique was passed down through generations, changing very little as it moved through the years. This particular version comes from the Yakima Orchards and is made with red chiles (not green) and a little bit of seaweed to give it a bright umami burst and break through the salty nature of the condiment. The red chile version is a little less spicy than the green chile version, so that’s why I selected this one.
Take a little nip from the jar to see what we’re working with: it will start out citrusy then give way to a spicy experience and finally that sort of savory/sweet umami flavor in the finish. It’s spicy, yes, but in a way that accents the other flavors you’re including around it.
So what’s the best way to use this condiment? Well, it’s not ketchup, that’s for sure. Traditionally, it’s a simple and flavorful way to dress up baked fish or grilled chicken. The salty/citrusy/umami/spiciness goes really well with fish, I think, served simply over a bed of rice.
It can really zest up a marinade for meats. You can add red yuzu kosho to a plain tomato sauce, even, and spice up normal pasta night. I think that’s what hooked me on this stuff. I don’t cook or prepare a lot of Japanese cuisine at home, but I found myself using kosho with the dishes I usually make (and could use a little zushing). I’ll admit it’s a little “weird” for the kids, but they’re not very adventurous at this stage.
When you start to experiment with the kosho, though, start small and slow. There’s lot of flavor packed into each dollop so use wisely!
Cha (Green Tea) Soba Noodles from Japan
Is there anything more satisfyingly simple and delicious than noodles in a warm broth? Well, depending on the weather, cold noodles are very pleasing on a hot day, too. The point is we all love noodles of all ilks and varieties and in Japan soba noodles are at the top of the popularity charts. Udon is cool, too, I guess, but soba: that’s where the action’s at.
Making noodles traces back to an ancient monk who traveled to China—learned about making noodles there and then brought the technique back to Japan sometime in the 12th century. Traditionally, soba noodles were made from buckwheat flour which folks had been cultivating for centuries and using to make porridge. Buckwheat is a hearty plant that grows more like a bush than grasses or grains. So it’s not like wheat at all, except for the fact that you can mill it into a flour like you do with wheat berries. And just to get slightly nerdy, buckwheat was important to the Japanese diet because it had nutrients (thiamine, in particular) they couldn’t get from other staples of their diet like white rice.
Today, they blend buckwheat and wheat flours together to make the dough—and for these Cha Soba Noodles, they’ve added green tea powder (matcha) to the mix. Without the wheat in there, the noodles can be brittle and hard to cook without breaking. The addition of wheat flour adds just enough gluten to hold the noodle together and give it a toothsome, pleasantly chewy mouthfeel.
The green tea powder adds an earthy, grassy character to the noodles that I find really comes out when you serve the noodles cold. That’s an important thing to note about soba noodles: they might be better served cold. They’re great in hot broths, too, and that’s a very traditional way to enjoy them…but if you want to capture the true texture and flavor of the noodles, it’s best to serve them chilled. Here’s a simple, traditional, straight-forward, delicious recipe to enjoy soba!
Cold Soba Noodles with Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
- Salt
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey mixed with 1 tablespoon water
- 250 g (8 ounces) soba noodles
- Finely grated or minced ginger
- Minced scallions or toasted sesame seeds for garnish
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it. Cook noodles until tender (3-7 minutes) but not mushy. Drain, and quickly rinse under cold running water until cold. Drain well.
- Combine stock, soy sauce and honey mixture. Taste, and add a little more soy if the flavor is not strong enough. Serve noodles with garnishes, with sauce on side for dipping (or spooning over).
It’s a very simple recipe and easy to prepare so you can serve with baked fish or grilled vegetables or chicken or any protein that makes sense to you. Great as a simple, quick meal anytime of da
Mancini Mezze Maniche Pasta
(from the Zingerman’s Deli Blog)
Mancini Pastificio Agricolo makes their pasta in a wood, glass, and concrete factory located in the middle of one of their wheat fields (pictured above). It was designed to be integrated into the landscape of the farm–to be a symbol of how the most advanced technology and tradition can combine in order to obtain the best possible pasta.
They carefully research seed selection and management techniques and follow a set of rules for eco-friendly and sustainable management agricultural practices to bring about the highest quality products with the least possible environmental impact.
Mancini rotates their wheat crops with alfalfa, clover, field bean, pea, chickpea, and sunflower to improve the fertility of their land. They harvest their wheat in the summer only when it has reached full maturity and there is the right degree of humidity for better conservation.
They use circular bronze dies for each pasta shape. Bronze increases both the porosity and the roughness of the pasta–which is much better for retaining the sauce. Each pasta shape has a specific drying recipe based on the type of wheat used and the temperature, humidity, and ventilation. Drying times can range from 24 to 44 hours to ensure the wholesomeness and taste of the finished product. The Mezze Manichi are a short tube pasta, made with durum wheat. Its name translates to “short sleeves” in English. It’s perfect for any oil or cream-based sauce.
And now back to me (Brad). This maker has been one of my favorites in recent years and I think there’s a ton you can do with it. I mean, it’s pasta, after all. But I think it goes particularly well with either of the sauces from Cornman Farms. Enjoy!
Sweet Yellow Chutney from Ann Arbor
Tara Stowe has been working for Zingerman’s for more than ten years by now. She started with us at Zingerman’s Mail Order, but has spent the last few years working part-time at Zingerman’s Candy Company where she handles a lot of the packaging of those precious confections.
But her true passions are found in the garden and in the kitchen where she turns the fruits of her labors into the jams and sauces that she remembers making with her grandmother and mother, and now her own daughter.
Many of the recipes Tara uses come from turn of the century cookbooks she’s collected over the years. We’re not talking Betty Crocker, here, we’re talking ingredients and techniques that Laura Ingells Wilder would have recognized.
That’s not to say that Tara assuages modern conveniences and safety measures when creating her chutney…on the contrary. She made each and every jar in a USDA certified professional kitchen and it’s passed muster. Still, it’s a lot of work for one woman to handle. She harvests peppers and celery and tomatoes and all sorts of delicious vegetables from her garden all summer long and she uses as much of her own produce as she can to make this Sweet Yellow Chutney. Obviously not the spices.
“The Sweet Yellow Chutney has my homegrown yellow and orange tomatoes, ground cherries, garlic and peppers. It goes nicely with chicken, fish, veggies or cheese.” Tara, said.
But don’t just take Tara’s word for it, use the chutney on everything from eggs to burgers and grilled meats. I especially like it on burgers this time of year.
Wonderbon Drinking Chocolate
This is one of those products where what’s inside tastes just as good as the outside looks. And frankly, I see a lot of good looking packages that are holding something less desireable inside. So when I tasted (and liked) this sipping chocolate that you can enjoy cold or hot, I thought it was a good fit for our club.
In this case, I asked the founder, Alex Atzberger, a few of my favorite questions for small business owners. I’m always interested in how something evolves and I think it’s interesting for folks like Alex to take a step back and think in a more holistic way. I’ve often found that some folks have been so busy just trying to manage the day-to-day operations that they end of forgetting why they started out in the first place! I’m not worried about Alex, though.
1. What brought you to drinking chocolate? Have you always made it? Fell in love with it on a trip to Madrid? Loved chocolate since birth and were tired of drinking it straight from the Hersey’s can?
I’ve always loved the idea of liquid chocolate. If I have a chocolate bar, I let the chocolate melt in my mouth. I remember seeing chocolate fountains in stores when I was a kid and wanting to just drink straight from it!
Hot chocolate is a wonderful form of melted chocolate. Growing up in Germany, high quality chocolate is all around you. Hot chocolate in Europe is very different though than in the US: thicker, less sweet and more “chocolate-y”. That’s the hot chocolate I craved, but had trouble tracking down, once I moved to New York for college. I’d find myself disappointed by a watery hot cocoa, made from a powdered mix, that tasted more like sugar than chocolate. To change that, I created the hot chocolate of my dreams in Wonderbon.
As I researched hot chocolate, I was surprised to learn how far back its origins go: while the chocolate bar was invented in 1876, people around the world have been consuming chocolate in liquid form for thousands of years. Back in 500 BC, the Mayans were grinding cocoa seeds into a paste and mixing it with water, cornmeal and chili peppers. Later, the Aztecs celebrated chocolate as the drink of the gods. Once it made its way to Europe in the 1700s, hot chocolate was a fashionable luxury — chocolate houses were the coffee shops of their day. It wasn’t until the early 1900s until companies like Cadbury and Hershey made chocolate bars widely available through mass production.
We think about sipping chocolate, melted chocolate and hot chocolate as similar concepts that deserve a high quality treatment and the best ingredients. With Wonderbon, we’re creating something new – the first canned chocolate beverage made from real melted chocolate – but also bringing chocolate back to its drinkable roots.
2. What’s your favorite way to enjoy the Wonderbon drinking chocolate? Hot and traditional? Cold and cool?
Depends on my mood! If I’m craving a warming treat, I pour my Wonderbon into my favorite Marvel mug and microwave for 20 seconds. But I also love to enjoy Wonderbon poured over ice – it really brings out the rich chocolate flavor. Or I just put a can in the fridge and if in a rush, have it straight from the can. The flavor profiles are different depending on hot or cold but it is the same great chocolate. My wife likes to mix it with her coffee, and we’re also loving Wonderbon as a cocktail or mocktail mixer.
3. What’s a perfect day look like to you? From the first cup of drinking chocolate (or coffee like most folks) in the morning to the book you put down before turning out the light at night, what’s a good day doing Wonderbon look like for you?
I travel a lot for work, so I’m always excited to have a weekend at home! While I’d love to sleep in, our dogs are having none of that – my wife and I will take them out for an early walk, and pick up pastries at one of the great bakeries in my neighborhood like Red Gate Bakery or Librae. In the mornings I use an espresso cup – a shot size – to have Wonderbon in a small quantity rather than a full mug. This way, my wife and I share a can between us.
My favorite way to spend a free day is exploring New York City – it’s such a walkable city. From museums to shops, I wander the city. Back at home, I take a break with a good book in the afternoon. If I need a pick-me up, hot chocolate hits the spot. In the evening, my wife—who’s a calligraphy artist— might take me to a gallery exhibit, then we’ll check out a new restaurant or return to one of our favorite spots like Dirty Candy. I often crave chocolate after dinner though. I am not a cake person, and I don’t want a heavy dessert. Wonderbon is perfect then. It gives me a delicious chocolate mouth feel but is also not too heavy, and I just love melted chocolate.
Pea & Mint Soup from Zingerman’s Cornman Farms
Finally, these last three products are very special in many ways, but most importantly this is the first time the wares of Zingerman’s Cornman Farms has been shipped by us! You see, there are more than ten different businesses in the “Zingerman’s Community of Businesses” and Cornman Farms is the only one that’s (slightly) outside of Ann Arbor. It’s located in Dexter, Michigan, just west of Ann Arbor and that’s where they host luscious, gorgeous yet comfortable and intimate weddings at their century’s old farm.
If anyone’s intersted in tying the knot (my brother and his betrothed are doing just that in a couple months), then I highly recommend it. But we’re here for the food and that all starts with the chef, Kieron Hales. I’ve known Kieron for nearly twenty years by now and we’ve watched either grow up and start families all around the same time. I try not to compare myself to him too much because it makes me feel like a bump on a log, but let me tell you a little about what Kieron, his co-managing partner Tabitha, and all the crew out at Cornman Farms are creating.
Chef Kieron grew up in England and began working in Michelin-star restaurants at the age of 13—but these days there’s nowhere he’d rather cook than here. For him, the cultivation, preparation and enjoyment of food is deeply personal. What he can’t grow in his lovingly tended chef’s garden, he sources from local farmers and vendors he trusts—something he believes makes food more meaningful.
With every dish, Chef Kieron aims to create flavors that evoke emotion and feelings of home. Finding inspiration in his mum’s handwritten recipes, his years in world-renowned kitchens and his collection of 8,000 cookbooks, he creates meaningful menus that you’ll always remember.
Inspired by Ballymaloe in Ireland, Cornman Farms’ garden is probably Chef Kieron’s second-favorite space, just steps from his farmhouse kitchen. The four-season garden is both functional—growing vegetables and herbs for use in the culinary staff’s creations—and educational. During our FarmHand Programs or on event days, Chef Kieron loves to show visitors how his garden grows, and impress upon them how much better food tastes when it’s grown on-site, with loving care. Throughout the year, our seasonal menus are based on what is growing in our own garden as well as at other local farms. What is not used during harvest, we preserve by pickling vegetables and making jams, chutneys and sauces for use in our winter menus.
That’s the abridged version of Cornman and Kieron, but many of the foods they make would have worked for this club (expect the meat pies…).This soup is lovely for this time of year because it tastes bright, fresh, clean, and it’s a great color. When I was a kid I ran screaming from pea soups. As an adult I realize how foolish I was.
It’s all vegetarian. Simply heat in a saucepan and serve with good crusty bread and some nice butter on a lovely spring afternoon.
Walnut Pesto from Cornman Farms
All the basil used for this sauce was grown right there at Cornman farms. Because Kieron wants to stay as local and true to the flavors of the area as possible, he uses walnuts from local farms instead of pine nuts which really don’t grow here in Michigan. The cheese (parmesan) and apple cider vinegar aren’t exactly local, but the vinegar is regional at least!
Regardless, pesto has always been one of my favorite pasta sauces and it goes great this time of year when we want fresh tasting things but nothing has come out of the ground quite yet. Obviously this goes great with the pasta also included in this installment, but try this out as a sauce on baked chicken breast or grilled meats or even as a sandwich!
My favorite vegetarian sandwich at Zingerman’s Deli is the #55 Gemeni Rocks the House and is grilled farm bread with sliced tomatoes, melted mozzarella, and pesto sauce on the inside. Delicious.
Marinara Sauce from Cornman Farms
In short, this is the type of marinara sauce my mother-in-law would make (and she’s mostly Italian and grew up working in the family’s restaurants around Toledo, Ohio). It reflects the sweetness of tomatoes that I love in pasta sauce and that often gets missed simply because it takes too long to “cook it all down” like that.
All the ingredients (expect the salt, pepper, some olive oil maybe) are local and/or came directly from Cornman Farms. If Kieron didn’t grow it, he knows the folks who did. It’s great with the pasta and keeps well in the fridge. Depending on how many mouths you have to feed, this is going to last a minute.