Hirsheimer Christopher - Canal House Cooking Volume 5 The Good Life

Copyright 2010 by Christopher Hirsheimer & Melissa Hamilton

Photographs copyright 2010 by Christopher Hirsheimer

Illustrations copyright 2010 by Melissa Hamilton

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

CANAL HOUSE

No. 6 Coryell Street

Lambertville, NJ 08530

thecanalhouse.com

ISBN 978-1-4532-1941-6

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book design by CANAL HOUSE, a group of artists who collaborate on design projects.

This book was designed by Melissa Hamilton, Christopher Hirsheimer & Teresa Hopkins.

Edited by Margo True & Copyedited by Valerie Saint-Rossy.

Editorial assistance by Julie Sproesser.

With great appreciation to

Gabrielle Hamilton for Christmas Eve

Frank Stitt for Grower Champagnes

This 2012 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media

180 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

Welcome to Canal House our studio, workshop, dining room, office, kitchen, and atelier devoted to good ideas and good work relating to the world of food. We write, photograph, design, and paint, but in our hearts we both think of ourselves as cooks first.

Our loft studio is in an old red brick warehouse. A beautiful lazy canal runs alongside the building. We have a simple galley kitchen. Two small apartment-size stoves sit snugly side by side against a white tiled wall. We have a dishwasher, but prefer to hand wash the dishes so we can look out of the tall window next to the sink and see the ducks swimming in the canal or watch the raindrops splashing into the water.

And every day we cook. Starting in the morning we tell each other what we made for dinner the night before. Midday, we stop our work, set the table simply with paper napkins, and have lunch. We cook seasonally because thats what makes sense. So it came naturally to write down what we cook. The recipes in our books are what we make for ourselves and our families all year long. If you cook your way through a few, youll see that who we are comes right through in the pages: that we are crazy for tomatoes in summer, make braises and stews all fall, and turn oranges into marmalade in winter.

Canal House Cooking is home cooking by home cooks for home cooks. We use ingredients found in most markets. All the recipes are easy to prepare for the novice and experienced cook alike. We want to share them with you as fellow cooks along with our love of food and all its rituals. The everyday practice of simple cooking and the enjoyment of eating are two of the greatest pleasures in life.

CHRISTOPHER HIRSHEIMER served as food and design editor for Metropolitan Home magazine, and was one of the founders of Saveur magazine, where she was executive editor. She is a writer and a photographer.

MELISSA HAMILTON cofounded the restaurant Hamiltons Grill Room in Lambertville, New Jersey, where she served as executive chef. She worked at Martha Stewart Living, Cooks Illustrated, and at Saveur as the food editor.

Christopher and Melissa in the Canal House kitchen

ONE MORNING A THICK ICY VELVET COVERS THE LEAVES its the first hard frost. Weve had all the clues: golden light falling through the thinning trees patterning the grass, the whiff of wood smoke hanging in cold air, and a certain vibrancy to every view and vista. But a hard frost is the delineator. When we meet at Canal House, we both start talking at the same time What a day! Fall is really here. Lets take a walk before work. And up the towpath we go, Christophers little dog, Henry, padding along at our side. We talk as we walk and quickly the conversation turns to food. We think of all the things wed like to eat now that the cold weather is here. Lets make sausagesremember that delicious broiled lobster with cream we used to makegnocchi, definitely gnocchiand we need to ask Frank Stitt about those grower Champagnes. So we make a list and a plan.

One day we drive into New York to see whats cooking. Were buzzing with excitement and expectation as we drive first through pretty country roads, then onto two-lane highways, and finally we are navigating the four lanes of freeway as we near the city. We chat all the way in about where we are going to go, what we want to buy, then how we plan to cook everything. We are hungry for the elegance of truffles, foie gras, and caviar, and turned on by the idea of making our own fresh sausages, rustic terrines, and roast goose. Were having a good time.

We hit a few stores, and then we head for Russ & Daughters, the venerable appetizing emporium on New York Citys Lower East Side, offering the finest smoked fish, pickled and preserved herring, fish roe, and more. Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, fourth-generation Russes, are behind the counter when we walk in and as always, the place is bustling. Its been a year and its great to see them. They come out from behind the counter to give us a warm hello. We talk about all their wonderful fish and Niki tells us stories while she gives us little tastes. We buy Danish doubled-smoked salmon, chubs with skin that look like burnished gold, salty belly lox, and seven kinds of pickled herring, and we choose jewel-like orange trout roe over osetra caviarour pockets are only so deep. Everything they sell is so beautifully chosen and prepared.

We load our treasures into coolers in the car. Then we walk across the street to Prune, the restaurant that Melissas sister Gabrielle owns, and order juicy burgers and flutes of beautiful bubbly Guy Larmandier Ros, one of those grower Champagnes that we love. On our way out of town we swing by Myers of Keswick for traditional British pork pies and bangers to take home to our families.

It feels so good to cook for ourselves, our families, and our friends at Canal House. We choose small splurges with big returns. We are ready, our larder and fridge are full, and there are a couple bottles of Champagne chilling out on our little balcony. We have everything we need for this seasons recipe repertoire. When the kitchen is up and running its amazing what you can make. Good food begets more good food. And then there is the beautiful bonus of leftoversa breakfast of jellied juices from last nights roast chicken spread on toast, or a thick slice of pt on a warm buttered English muffin, or a lunch of minced chicken and mushrooms wrapped up in a delicate crpe.

Sometimes life arrives at our door unexpectedly. One evening while we were working late, there was a shy knock at the door. Elizabeth and Tom, in their Saturday night finery, stepped into the studio beaming. Walking by after dinner, theyd seen our lights glowing into the dark and climbed the stairs to share some good news. Hed just proposed. Shed accepted. The room turned into a dreamthey stood there floating in love. We were transported too, the first to know. Thrilled to share the happy moment, we pulled out a chilled bottle of Champagne, popped the cork, and toasted to their happiness and to a good life to come.