Pensiero - Hudson Valley Mediterranean: the Gigi good food cookbook

New Yorks Hudson Valley is in the midst of a rural renaissance. The farms and pastures stretching north along the Hudson River from New York City up to Albany have undergone a radical shift over the past thirty years, creating a new kind of American agricultural landscape. Committed farmers, ranchers, and artisan food producers have joined with one another and a growing community of innovative chefs to create a fresh food movement that is focused on local ingredients and supportive of farming practices that are both environmentally and socially sustainable.

The proof is on the plate. The Hudson Valley now produces some of the best-tasting food in America. This book is a celebration of the pleasure, practice, and joy of eating right here: a place of green rolling hills, deep, rich topsoil, exceptional agricultural diversity, and four very distinct seasons.

Life in the Valley today mirrors our national preoccupation with sustainable living, but does so with an exaggerated intensity. This trend toward sustainability and green living is particularly strong because we cull from a population thats passionate about food, cooking, and the environment and because we attract people who thrive on the excitement of the changing seasons, complete with dramatic thunderstorms, noreasters, brilliant fall colors, and endless sunny summer days with slow twilight evenings. Our proximity to New York City means that our farmers have long supplied urbanites in search of quality and flavor. As a result the Hudson Valley has grown into a sophisticated agricultural community with a certain urbane style. Sure, you can buy sweet summer corn here, but you can also try local handcrafted Calvados and pear liqueur or organic foie gras.

Leading this charge to ensure a sustainable landscape are many of my friends, neighbors, and growers throughout the Valley who work hard to protect the land, encourage local traditions, and advocate for the need to maintain open spaces. It is an exciting time.

Looking outside our valley, I recognize the growing community of concerned Americans all across the country who seek to restore, and in some cases create anew, sustainable agricultural landscapes that will invigorate rural communities and provide consumers with healthier, fresher, and humanely raised food. I am thrilled to be a part of this national, and even global, movement of change. My friend Diane Hatz, who champions sustainable agriculture through her organization Sustainable Table, led a biofueled bus journey across the United States in 2007, highlighting the best farming practices, and found enthusiastic audiences everywhere. Fittingly, the Eat Well Guided Tour of America ended right here, with a September harvest celebration on the field behind our Gigi Market barn. I was curious to find out what Diane had observed in the many communities where she organized events and farm tours during her two-month journey. You know what surprised me? she said. This really isnt a niche trend any longer. Whether we were on a sustainable ranch in eastern Washington State, an organic pizza restaurant in Chicago, or a hog farm in rural Iowa, people everywhere are growing, raising, promoting, and eating fresh, local sustainable food from small family farms. It has become part of daily life for hundreds of thousands of Americans.

I was born and raised in the Hudson Valley and spent the early years in my career working as a registered dietitian and culinary consultant to chefs and in hospitals throughout New York City. My central goal was to convince people that good, healthy food and great-tasting food werent mutually exclusive. In 1999 I left New York to spend a year running a restaurant in northern Italy. That was an eye-opening experience for me. The food in Italy was extremely fresh, very locally grown, and often simply prepared. It was this natural seasonal approach to eating that made food exciting. Since 2001, I have owned Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, New York, and as a restaurateur, I have never forgotten the lessons of my Italian sojourn and remain an advocate of fresh, locally grown food. In fact, its the cornerstone philosophy of Gigi Trattoria and lies at the very heart of the food we prepare and serve. In 2006 I opened Gigi Market, a year-round farmers market to provide everyday access to straight from the farm products and to forge a stronger link between growers and consumers in my community. Both businesses have thrived. I find that my great food, great flavor mantra is now part of a revitalized national discussion about health, nutrition, and food. How exciting it has been for me to see all this happening, especially right here!

I laugh every time someone characterizes rural life in the Valley as sleepy. No way. There is a tremendous amount of activity going on. My neighbor, farmer Chris Regan at Sky Farms, is trying new sorts of organic farming methods to coax baby lettuces and leafy greens onto my plate when there is still frost on the ground. Owen OConnor and KayCee Wimbish of Awesome Farm are collecting eggs so fresh that the yolks look like sunshine. Gary Wiltbank of Wiltbank Farm is harvesting chanterelles, shiitakes, and oyster mushrooms for a clientele that snaps them up as soon as they hit the farm stand. The rich pastures and open grazing spaces of the Hudson Valley are ideal for raising animals. The lamb you eat here is gamy and rich, the beef has an intense mineral quality, and the pork breeds are traditional, which means plenty of succulent, natural fat. Humane animal husbandry is the theme among our ranchers. Animals are given sufficient space to move around and given high-quality feed, making them an exceptional choice for our tables.

The Hudson Valley today boasts excellent cheeses and dairy products. Two local producers, Old Chatham and Coach, are recognized nationally for the quality and flavor of their cheeses. One of my favorite cheesemakers is Colin McGrath of Sprout Creek Farm. This 200-acre working farm in Dutchess County makes cheeses from the rich and creamy milk of their herd of grass-fed Jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, and Brown Swiss cows. These Hudson Valley artisanal cheeses are crafted in time-honored European traditions. Their buttery Toussaint and young Barat make their way into many Gigi menu items and are sold at Gigi Market.

Sam Simon, a local dairyman and former surgeon, helped form the Hudson Valley Fresh dairy consortium. Dairy farming is a notoriously tough business in upstate New York. The consortium has helped independent dairy farmers get their excellent milk, cheese, and yogurt onto the tables of residents from here to New York City. Its all natural, distributed locally and regionally, and provides the chance for people to taste fresh, preservative-free milk.

For me it all adds up to high-quality products made a stones throw from my back door. Whats not to love? Like many Americans, our community is also thinking differently about the very long journey our food takes from the field to the table. Some long-established farms are changing their approach to land management. Even more encouraging, I now see young men and women becoming farmers and working to translate a philosophy of sustainable agriculture and sound environmental stewardship into reality. Im glad to see that Russell Bieszynski will return from SUNY Cobleskills College of Agriculture and Technology ready to take over the property adjoining his parents ranching (beef, pork, and poultry) business, Northwind Farms. After mentoring Russell for years, his father, Richie, looks forward to everything his son will be able to teach him. Perhaps all these enthusiastic new farmers have been inspired by farmers markets packed with customers from here to the city, clamoring for food picked at the peak of flavor and ripeness. I know I have.