Stories

Stories

Chicken Stuffed Pumpkin Paella

— Posted in: Chicken, Main Dishes, Recipes, Stories
Pumpkin Paella stuffed with Chicken and veggies

Sunset Place, Nashville, Tennessee
October 24, 2021
Dinner with Mansell & the Beveridge family 

Henry’s sister Glory was married at noon yesterday. It was a first class southern family celebration. Proud father, gorgeous bride, beaming groom, 16 bridesmaids, of which Mansell was one, and a parade of groomsmen. The reception featured deviled eggs, fried chicken and waffles and a glorious white almond wedding cake (I had 2 pieces).

This morning we attended a brunch at Henry’s family home, his parents Mark & Nancy Beveridge hosted family and friends from out of town. I enjoyed hot coffee, mini quiches, mini biscuits with ham and cheesy grits. Each room in the Beveridge home tells a story, new and old.
We felt comfortable, everyone was friendly and happy, proud to share stories about Mansell and the light she shares with them.

Tonight was our turn to host the Beveridge’s at Henry and Mansell’s house. This dish took center stage on the service table. I was concerned that the rice might not cook through, but it did. While still firm and a bit nutty it cooked through. 

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Estia’s is Proud to Present “Lunch on the Deck” on WLNG 92.1

— Posted in: Stories
WLNG 92.1 Lunch on the Deck host Jessica Ambrose with Bill Evans

When WLNG owners, Bill Evans and Sandra Foschi, first purchased the station in 2018, Evans was sitting at the counter at Estia’s Little Kitchen in Sag Harbor lamenting that there were only male DJ’s working at the station. So he asked Estia owner, Colin Ambrose, where he should look for some female radio talent. Colin directed him to his wife, Jessica, who had been a DJ for 20 years on the west coast right after graduating from Boston College.

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First time visitor at The Center For Discovery: Hurleyville NY

— Posted in: Stories

In response to last year’s Covid lockdown my wanderlust kicked in hard this February so I decided to commit to getting on the road inside the quarantine zone. Starting in early March I initiated a personal challenge to ride my bicycle north from Manhattan to Canada on the Empire State Trail with my friends from New York. The plan included inviting as many chefs as I could to join me. I sent an early note to Cesare Casella whom I’d met 15 years ago at his 22nd street restaurant, Beppe.

Although Chef Casella couldn’t join me on the trail he was quick to respond and  invited me to visit him in Hurleyville, while he didn’t provide more details than a dinner invitation, I didn’t care. My goal is to spend time connecting with like minded people in New York State this spring so Cesare’s invitation was like gold. He suggested I touch base when the trail ride reached New Paltz. That time has come and contact was made last week and a dinner plan in Catskills was scheduled.

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Slow Food East End

— Posted in: Stories, Videos

We Are Slow Food East End

We bring the food community together on Long Island. Join us!

Slow Food East End’s mission is to seek to create dramatic and lasting change in our food system; we connect communities on the East End with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that create our food. We inspire individuals and communities to change the East End of Long Island through food that is good, clean and fair for all.

Slow Food is an international movement with chapters in more than 160 countries; Slow Food East End is a chapter of Slow Food USA, and is one of the largest chapters in the country.

This video highlights interviews with East End farmers, producers, chefs and educators:

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Roasted tomato and basil pasta sauce: The A.Sisters Christmas giving

— Posted in: Recipes, Sauces, Stories, Vegetarian

It’s been 8 years since the A.Sisters have made a batch of pasta with our machine at Estia.

Now that each of my daughters has their own kitchen and more of an interest in cooking (Mansell especially), we thought it was time to put together a Christmas gift of red, white, and green pasta with a simple tomato sauce and a chunk of cheese. We gifted these to family friends and a few hard working chefs that I love, too.

The finished Gift box
The finished Gift box
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Thanksgiving story & Turkey Roulade

— Posted in: Main Dishes, Recipes, Stories
Turkey Roulade for Thanksgiving

After a traditional Ambrose family Thanksgiving day breakfast of roasted pork loin and sweet corn hash with red skin potatoes and poached eggs, Mansell and I stuffed the turkey that we’d boned out on Wednesday morning.

All of the vegetables we used came to us in a farm box from our friends at the Foster farm in Sagaponack.

We diced carrots, chopped green onions and garlic, rosemary, arugula and 4 lovely dried Shishito peppers. In a sauté pan the vegetables were softened with Cromer’s Italian sausage. After the mixture cooled we rolled it into the boneless bird and tied the roulade off with sage.

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Cornbread Crusted Chicken Pot Pie

— Posted in: American Rivers Tour, Chicken, Cooking over Fire, Main Dishes, Stories, Videos
Colin Ambrose is serving his cornbread crusted chicken pot pie, cooked and enjoyed by the Teton River

cooked over open fire by the Teton River, Driggs, Idaho

Serves 6

This is one of the most satisfying open fire meals I can think of. Chicken pot pie is a complete campfire dish with vegetables, protein, starch and dairy. All you need besides a plan and ingredients is a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven with a lid and a spoon.

On this trip we bought a wooden spoon, which split in half as I opened the skillet that has a tendency to seal lid to base while cooking. But as you will see if you watch the video, it all worked out.

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Sofrito from field to plate

— Posted in: Recipes, Sauces, Sides, Stories, Vegetarian
Estia's Sofrito

Harvesting different types of peppers at the Quail Hill Farm

Reporting in from the Quail Hill Farm on October 30th. My membership here extends back to the early days, having joined New York’s first Community Supported Agriculture adventure (CSA) in 1993 I’m always thrilled to harvest here.

Harvesting carrots was my first task.  Take a look at our carrot video in the Estia Seed to Plate series. Once I was finished with the pitchfork in the carrot bed I moved on to find an abundance of chili’s three beds to the west. As always my eye was distracted by the beauty of the farm that’s been created and maintained by the Quail Hill crew now run by farmer Layton and mentored by poet and seed specialist Scott Chaskey.

Last week my email inbox featured a note from my pal Laura’s wife Catherine. She had visited a garden—planted by a man she spoke fondly of—and she carried a large bag filled with peppers home that day. Her note to me requested a recipe that might properly celebrate the harvest. Read More »

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Asado Birthday Party

— Posted in: Meat, Restaurant Events, Stories
Asado birthday party in Estia's garden using new outdoor setup

Half the crowd and twice as much fun. That’s the idea when it comes to garden entertaining at Estia’s Little Kitchen. Earlier this summer—with a simple request of good tequila and plenty of food—we shared our garden space with Nick Silvers as he set out to celebrate his wife Erin’s Birthday. Read More »

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Beaverkill Hatchery Rainbow Trout with Roasted Grape Relish

— Posted in: American Rivers Tour, Cooking over Fire, Fish and Shellfish, Main Dishes, Recipes, Stories
Beaverkill Trout Hatchery rainbow trout with roasted potatoes and roasted grape relish

Adapted from a recipe by Galen Sampson, Chef and G.M. at the Beaverkill Valley Inn that he demonstrated over fire at the BVI.

Galen Sampson has settled into a comfortable life with his wife on the edge of the Upper Beaverkill River in the Catskill mountains. As the Chef and General manager of the Beaverkill Valley Inn, Galen works hard to create new and interesting dishes and experiences of all kinds for his guests. Chef Sampson’s recipe is a good example of how he responds to expectations that an Inn on a famous trout stream should serve trout, without pulling fish from the Inn’s private stretch of river. This is a highly prized trout fishing paradise that requires all guests to agree to catch and release practices prior to stepping into the special mile of river.

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Hatchery Steelhead with Smashed Potatoes and Wild Greens

— Posted in: American Rivers Tour, Cooking over Fire, Fish and Shellfish, Recipes, Stories, Videos
Hatchery-Steelhead-lunch_Eel-River

We cooked this delicious recipe over an open fire alongside the Eel River in Benbow, California

Adapted from a recipe demonstrated by Joshua Schwartz: Executive Chef at Del Dotto Vineyards

Josh Schwartz has an eye for all tasty things in the wild. When invited to spend a day fishing and cooking with our American Rivers Tour crew, he was quick to suggest we start by foraging for watercress and other wild greens that sprout around the cool, clear creeks which run into Humboldt County’s Eel River. He reminded me that any wild fish we catch should be returned to the resource. Hatchery steelhead are available in Northern California so our recipe will help tell that story.

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Garzon: with Francis Mallmann and the A.Sisters

— Posted in: Stories

It’s a delightfully arid drive from Ruta 9 (Rt.9) in to the Little Uruguayan village of Garzon. The gravel road winds about for 5 miles through grazing fields surrounded by wooden fence posts topped with sparrows and hawks, bird nests and a hairy mess of wind blown moss. Cows and sheep graze the vast range, flowers bloom on some parcels suggesting the rotation of live stock provides ample time for regeneration and return of fragile forage. Read More »

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Estancia Vik in Uruguay

— Posted in: Stories

Approaching Estancia Vik for the first time brings a sense of calm, the hacienda sits atop the highest point on an expanse of open land covered by  miles of grass to the north and tidal inlet to the east. Greeted at the gate we were immediately put at ease, a suave, tanned guide shares 10 minutes of his time. We tour the building and learn that it was originally planned for the owners’ family personal use only. Later it was determined  to be too large and instead then was transitioned to a lodge.

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