On being a vegan and the discipline of staying alive and well
On being a vegan and the discipline of staying alive and well
I’m a good chef, have been for a long time. When I left home at 15 my first real job was a dishwasher at a place in Rochester N.Y. called “ The Other Side of The Tracks”.. It was an upscale restaurant at the time that had The Gap Mangione Trio playing with his brother Chuck sitting in at times. One night into this very boring and tedious job the Sous Chef quit and chaos ensued for a few moments until the chef came over to me and said I was the new Sous chef.
Hilarious, I loved to eat but at 15 I had zero cooking experience. He calmly said he would explain what to do and if I followed his directions all would be fine. This was a steak house so not too many sauces and I learned a lot. All before child labor laws were enforced. I was bumped up in pay as well so I was very happy.
Cooking and making music have always been similar to me, coming out of the same creative well. It’s all instinctive.
I’ve always said you can’t teach someone rhythm, that comes from inside and I believe with great chefs it works the same way. After years of perfecting sauces, smoking meats, BBQ’ing, marinades, brewing beer, and living in the Adirondack Mt’s where wild game and fish were everywhere, I abruptly stopped eating meat. My body knew that it was time to stop. I had cancer and it was time to rethink what was going in and give it the best opportunity for getting healthy. The transition was so easy, so natural. The learning curve was unexpected though. Making my food interesting, tasty and having a dynamic presentation. It’s all about making it exciting. We were lucky to be in Boston for my treatment because there were excellent Vegan restaurants to be inspired by. Two in particular; Clover and Whole Heart Provisions. For me it was like hearing a great band and being inspired to write a new song. Cooking vegan requires thought, a lot of thought, it’s not as easy as it seems. Exploring the nuances of and subtlety of each individual vegetable and pairing it with others or a spice to enhance is so much more refined than cooking with meat. Subtlety takes effort in finding balance, that sweet spot. It’s been over a year since my transition to being a vegetarian and six months to my transitioning to being a vegan and I feel it’s a positive step in understanding cancer and finding the path to understanding diet and exercise and their benefits with this illness.
Romescu Sauce; the first time I had this was in the Catalonia area of Spain. Springtime brings the harvest of calchots, an early green onion that looks like a small leek. In Spain they grill them and drizzle a Romescu sauce over them. What can I say? I get hungry thinking about it. It takes a bit of work but a big payoff.
Here’s my recipe:
2 large sweet red peppers, one whole garlic bulb, 2 small tomatoes deseeded
Cut the top off of the garlic bulb and drizzle with olive oil
Roast these in the oven @ 400 degrees for about 20 minutes
Squeeze the garlic out of the skin and put them in a blender or food processor and add 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar, 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika, ½-¾ cup of walnuts - this as opposed to almonds gives the sauce a very earthy flavor. I prefer ½ cup of roasted pine nuts, I use this as opposed to bread to thicken and they work well with the walnuts.
Cayenne to taste, salt to taste
After blending let it sit for an hour to settle in all the flavors. This sauce works on anything and is rich, if you need to thicken it more just add more nuts.