Four years ago my first Back of the House for Edible Brooklyn was shot in the kitchen at David and Laura Shea’s applewood restaurant in Park Slope (That’s the couple, shown above). It only felt it right to revisit them during our Eat Drink Local Week. Although it had been a while since I’d returned to applewood, I found the same creative connectivity to food and farms that the Sheas had aspired to from day one. Their opening (and openness), not only kicked off my Back of the House series for Edible Brooklyn and later Edible Manhattan, but also my search for food that more than sustains — it also inspires.
Below is what I ate this week.
Breads and spreads:
white and whole wheat bread, red beet and cream cheese, french butter, white bean and bacon spreads
Amuse bouche:
housemade lamb pastrami
1st course
sauteed rhode island black bass, green cabbage slaw, fried okra, applewood smoked bacon
2nd course
grilled vermont lamb sausage, charred scallion relish, french green lentils, herb sour cream
3rd course
braised vermont lamb leg, sauteed pumpkin gnocchi, braised greens, toasted pine nuts
Dessert
mother’s milk cake
keegan “mother’s milk” stout cake, italian plum puree, chocolate sauce
cocktail
cinnamon-infused laird’s bonded applejack, luxardo maraschino, lime juice
***
Beets from the Farm at Millers Crossing, Claverack, NY
Lamb from Fancy Meats, Andover, VT
Green cabbage from Markristo Farm, Hillsdale, NY
Okra, Italian plums, and scallions from Hepworth Farm, Milton, NY
Pumpkin and braising greens from Lucky Dog Farm, Hamden, NY
