CHEF TC: This time of year, morels, peas, and asparagus, fava beans, and rhubarb. I just shot photos of a book that I’m working on yesterday and it was Spring. There’s nothing happening in Spring right now although we had some great weather, but nothing is coming out of the ground yet. But in California, it’s already Spring and we had a bunch of stuff there that we shipped in. You know, it’s my favorite time to cook. I think that part of it is that it is Spring Renewal and you’re coming out of the winter, food becomes lighter, fresher, greener. The flavors are something that I really enjoy!
GS: I think that there is a reason that if you think about the rhythms of the world, like even in religion – Passover, Easter, or Eid, they all happen in the exact same time of year for a reason because it’s renewal, it’s celebration of the Earth and all of the waking up of the world again and so Spring is absolutely the best time of year to cook. All of the early berries and the rhubarb. All of the peas – I could eat peas all of the time, every moment of the year! But I don’t because they are so much sweeter and I like to eat them in the Spring and asparagus. All the fresh herbs, everything comes to life and I just feel like there is so much flavor there and you don’t realize until you get to cook with them, how much you have missed them through the cold winter months!
AM: Very true!
What are 3 spices that you like cooking with?
CHEF KK: Ooo someone else take this first so I can think about this one!
GS: Not together, but right now that I have been leading on a lot, sumac, smoked paprika, and cardamom. Again, not together!
AM: Right.
GS: But they are 3 spices that I find really add dimension to whatever I’m cooking.
CHEF TC: I love sumac! I always forget about sumac.
GS: I’m going to bring you some! I’m going to bring you some! I just received this giant pint container of the most beautiful sumac that I have ever tasted.
CHEF TC: Spice wise, pepper, black pepper, and long pepper which you don’t see a lot of. Fennel seed, I just can’t get enough of that!
GS: Oh me too!
CHEF TC: I absolutely love it, it’s one of my favorites. Gail and I are lovers of licorice, right here. The black ones, not the red stuff that’s candy. Actual licorice is my favorite.
GS: Ooo White Taragon is my favorite!
CHEF TC: Fennel – wild fennel fronds woo!
GS: Delicious!
CHEF TC: It’s the best!
CHEF KK: I agree on the black pepper! However, I like to toast my black pepper. So I toast my peppercorns before they go into the grinder. It just adds a whole other dimension of flavor. One of my favorite spice blends is Montreal Steak Seasoning.
GS: I love you for that answer!
CHEF KK: It’s so good!
GS: If I didn’t love you before, I love you now!
CHEF KK: It’s so good, so yes – Montreal Steak Seasoning.
GS: On everything? No matter what or just on meats?
CHEF KK: No, I do it on vegetables.
GS: Salty, smokey!
CHEF KK: I have it as a finishing salt on certain dishes. I don’t do it at my restaurant, I do it at home.
GS: I don’t know why it’s called Montreal Steak Seasoning.
CHEF KK: I don’t know either!
GS: It’s not particularly Montreal spices.
CHEF TC: It’s like why is that rice that San Francisco treat?
GS: That’s a really good question! It’s a mystery of the universe!
AM: Ha!
The last part of the question is for Kristen and Tom, what are 3 dishes that our readers should try at your restaurant that you would suggest for our readers to come and have?
CHEF KK: One of Arlo Grey's most popular dishes is this beautiful Malfaldini Pasta not that it was done intentionally, but I cooked these mushrooms several times and it just so happened to be a mushroom that got me my first win on Top Chef, but people love to come to the restaurant to try it. It’s like a 4 day sauce that you dehydrate and rehydrate it and it’s just humble white button mushrooms.
There’s this Crispy Rice dish which is my ode to crab fried rice in a lot of ways.
There are 3 dishes that will never change those two and the Lime Sorbet which has pink peppercorns, coconut, and people really love it and it’s like the dessert palette cleanser.
AM: Tom
CHEF TC: Well, it depends on the restaurant!
AM: Well choose your restaurant!
CHEF TC: So Small Batch out in Garden City, LI, I would say the Braised Chicken Thighs. We do it with semi-dried tomatoes, soppressata, lots of sherry vinegar, roasted garlic confit and really good.
Craft NY, the Braised Beef Short Ribs are the go-to there and any of the pasta dishes that we make are really good. We make them all by hand at Craft.
Then Temple Court, the Roast Chicken is really good! It’s a Spring roasted chicken with lots of garlic, ramps, and mushrooms.
AM: Gail, if we were to go home with you, what would we have for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?
GS: Oh wait, now I have to give you a whole day? That’s a lot of things!
AM: Well, it’s 3 dishes!
GS: Alright, sure, ok! That’s fair!
Alright, I’m a big egg person so I would always make you eggs in the morning. I like just a simple, well I like eggs anyway that you give them to me, but one of my favorite ways is just a really simple soft scramble with some chives and a little parmesan. But I’m very particular, I hate when eggs are overcooked. I don’t want them undercooked.
CHEF TC: You hate the Spanish Fry.
GS: I hate – well I love them in a Spanish Tortilla but the fried egg with the crispy edges – I like it when the egg yolk is still runny.
CHEF TC: Ok.
GS: You know what I mean?
CHEF TC: Alright!
GS: There’s a delicate balance, but for a scramble or an omelet, it really drives me nuts when you get that brown crust on top! A soft scramble means cooking it slowly. People just want to pummel an egg and that’s not nice to the egg. So that’s what I would make you for breakfast.
For lunch, lunch is kind of random – it’s not like I’m making elaborate lunches! But maybe I would make a roasted chicken with some spring vegetables or make you a really big fresh salad with a beautiful piece of fish on top.
For dinner, my family, we love soups all year around. We make a lot of soup and braises as well as stews because it’s really great for families to eat and to make in big batches! But now that it is Spring, maybe I need to get out of that.
I’m trying to think of dinner because I don’t have a signature or a restaurant so I don’t have to cook anything ever more than once! I love that as a cook, I can make whatever I want.
AM: That’s right!
GS: So I think that it really depends on the time of year and where I’m coming from. Every time I’m coming back from a trip, I bring back with me these memories of a favorite thing that I was cooking then so I just got back from a trip from Quebec and all I want to eat now is Maple Syrup on everything. So, I might make you a very traditional Quebec Tourtiere which is a savory meat pie with a beautiful golden crust. It’s sort of like a chicken potpie, but it’s a little heavier. Or maybe a Tarte au Sucre which is a traditional Maple Sugar Tart – for dinner – just tart!
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