Oyster House is one of my favorite restaurants in Philly, though I can only truly indulge in the experience once or twice a year. I distinctly remember visiting the old restaurant as a kid on a weekend trip with my dad and trying a small taste of his turtle soup. I love the vibe of the new restaurant and anyone who knows me can tell you that eating fresh seafood is one of my greatest pleasures. Being a Marylander, eating crabs in the summer has always been a must and there isn’t a plate of oysters that I’ve ever left unfinished. Through Oyster House’s consistent Facebook posts and email blasts (talk about a local business that’s good at staying on your radar) I learned about chef and cookbook author Aliza Green’s book signing of her new book: The Fishmonger’s Apprentice. The event also included a cooking demonstration and seafood discussion so signing up was a no-brainer.

I have been learning to cook for the past year or so with steady progress in skills, technique, knowledge and confidence, yet I still find the hardest part of preparing any meal to be sourcing the ingredients. This is one of the reasons I am excited about a Co-op in South Philly. Having a say in what comes to your food supplier is a great start. Uncertainty in knowing where your food originates most of the time is also why I have the least amount of confidence in cooking some of my favorite foods to eat: seafood. It all boils down to knowing your ingredients, where they came from, and what to do with them.

Aliza’s demonstration included pickled herring, sauteed calamari, and filleting an entire shad. Her insights were intelligent and her guests included the head of Samuels & Sons Seafood Co. and their expert fillet-man, one of the few who can actually properly fillet a shad and extract its roe. Just learning about a few new ways to prepare a fish I’ve never thought about buying was a real confidence booster and made me excited to visit Ippolito’s more often and ask “what’s fresh?” Here’s a few things I learned: go to a reputable fishmonger, ask what’s freshest and what’s in season, don’t be afraid of the smaller oily fishes, always ask for ice, keep on ice until the second you are ready to prepare your fish, try to prepare within 2 days of purchase, pickled and smoked fish can be a great way to enjoy seafood without worrying so much about its spoilage.

For those of you who are obsessed with seafood and want to start preparing it more in your homes I would highly recommend checking out Ms. Green’s book: The Fishmonger’s Apprentice. It’s a great place to start understanding seafood as opposed to your traditional recipe based cook books that have the same old methods for searing tuna, grilling shrimp, baking salmon, and sautéing tilapia. Fortunately we Philadelphians live in a major port town in the Mid-Atlantic offering us a great selection of both local and international seafood. I may not be jumping into steamed cockles and broiled skate just yet, but I will be asking more questions, taking more risks and definitely buying more seafood this summer.

Martin Brown is a musician and arts administrator currently venturing into the ice cream business with Little Baby's Ice Cream (www.littlebabysicecream.com). Being a Maryland transplant his favorite food is crabs, as a South Philly homeowner his favorite food is anything he grills in his backyard.

On which committee do you serve?

I am a member of the Outreach committee and also serve as webmaster and de-facto IT coordinator.

What do you do for a living?

I'm a software developer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

How did you get involved with the food co-op?

An old friend and Steering committee member, Julia Koprak, sent me a message suggesting I attend an Outreach meeting since she knew it was something I'd be interested in. After seeing the passion the members already had at that early stage of the game I was hooked.

Why do you want a food co-op in South Philly?

It was food that originally brought me to South Philly. I'd lived all over the city but after an amazingly enjoyable weekend stuffing myself at the Italian Market Festival a number of years ago I knew that South Philly was where I wanted to make my home. My original motivation in joining the co-op was to further improve our local food situation by bringing better access to high quality food to South Philly. While we our blessed with amazing restaurants, sandwich shops and delis, great ethnic shopping options (be it some of the quite good corner stores or the Asian supermarkets), sometimes it can be difficult or expensive to find simple, healthy, and fresh options in South Philly.

As my involvement with the co-op has deepened I've also come to realize that the food co-op is an amazing way to connect with members of the community that I might otherwise never get to know.


Why should people join a food co-op?

Let's build our community while we increase our food security and improve the health of our environment and our neighbors.

What is your favorite meal to cook and why?

I have to admit, I rarely cook, because I am blessed with a wife who cooks as well or better than my skilled mother and grandmother. Though I was the only kid who said he wanted to be a chef on the first day of kindergarten I've graduated in adulthood to dishwasher-in-chief and lead taste tester. In my college years I did make a mean bowl of fancied up ramen.

In 1984 I was in kindergarten, my dad worked at a graphic design firm at 20th and Sansom, and I would always beg my mother to take me downtown on the bus to visit my dad at work. I loved to see him, but what it really was about was the inevitable lunch out. At a restaurant. At my favorite restaurant, the only restaurant I was aware of at age 5, The Frog Commissary. To this day, Steve Poses remains one of my culinary heroes. I have never met the man but I want to personally thank him for making me aware of how good food can be. Back home, one of my mother’s regular meals was the Steve Poses recipe from his Frog Commissary cookbook for Thai Peanut Flounder. Though I would often turn my nose up when my mother made fish–she was famous for over cooking the crap out of it–I knew it was “the Frog guy’s recipe” and flounder is so mild and unassuming that this dish was a favorite of mine: crunchy, nutty, and a little spicy. Over the years I’ve tweaked the recipe and find that you can use this all purpose coating and marinade technique for most lean protein (chicken too!). As an alternative to fluke/flounder, Tilapia is pretty similar in flavor and texture but without the high price tag. Or for a splurge, if you are fancy, use Halibut, which is in season right now! Serve this with steamed rice and Chinese broccoli sauteed with sesame oil and thinly sliced garlic. Thai Peanut Fluke Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Serves 4 people

• 4 4-6 oz pieces of Fluke (or other white flaky fish)
• 3-6 tbsp canola oil

For the marinade:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• 3 tbsp mirin (or sherry)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sriracha

For the coating:

• ¾ cup AP flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp sriracha
• ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
• ¾ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped finely
• ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients for marinade in a ziptop bag set inside of a large bowl, add in the tilapia and marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Remove from marinade and pat the fish dry with paper towels.
• In a pie plate, mix the eggs, water, and sriracha and season with a small amount of salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Tear two 12-15 inch pieces of parchment paper and set on the counter. On the first piece place the flour and on the second piece place the panko, peanuts, and coconut. Using the parchment as an aid, mix the panko, peanuts and coconut. This step could also be done in two pie plates but why create more dishes?
• Start by coating the fish with the flour, then tap off any excess and place in the pie plate that has the egg mixture. Coat the fish in the egg mixture well. This is the glue that makes the coating stick.
• Lastly coat each piece of fish in the panko mixture, pressing it thoroughly onto each piece to make it stick well.
• In a large saute pan, heat 3 tbsp of canola oil over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until the pan is very hot but not smoking.
• Add 2 pieces of fish and cook 3-4 minutes on one side without moving the fish, turn fish and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.
• Repeat step 8 with remaining fish.

Since Thursdays are our "Sarah's Garden" days, it only seemed right to include the following announcement which found its way into our inbox yesterday.

The Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia have informed us that on Saturday, May 21st at 1pm at the South Philly Library (Broad and Morris Streets), they are sponsoring a book and plant sale that includes a free workshop by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

The plant sale follows immediately after the workshop with all proceeds benefiting the South Philly Library. The workshop promises to help people who want to learn how to create beautiful small space gardens and will cover topics like container gardening and window boxes.

I've been reading Sarah's posts with great interest since I'm trying to get my own backyard vegetable garden going. Anyone who gets into this activity and does it without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can really start to appreciate how refreshing it is to eat food free from those chemicals. It's one of the many reasons for supporting a food co-op so YOU can make the decision to have such carefully and sustainably grown food available to you (especially when, as is likely to happen to me, your backyard harvest isn't all you hoped it would be).

Hello again!  Things are moving along in my little corner of South Philly.  My garden has gone from this:

to this:

and this:

Nice!  So now everything is outside:  "everything" being the beefsteak and beauty queen tomatoes and the eggplants.  I still have other things to plant outside, like sunflowers and summer squash, but I only have so much precious weekend time.  There are also some tulip and daffodil bulbs that I planted very late in the game that have started blooming so I decided to let them keep going and focus on replanting all the tomatoes and eggplant.  Here is the raised bed now, with daffodils and one red tulip hiding amongst all the mint:

A note on this mint:  it's crazy!  But seriously, this is the third year I have had this particular mint plant and every year it comes back stronger than ever.  It requires NO work (except the occasional thinning out of the plants unless I want it to take over the entire backyard) and in the winter I just cut it down and it comes right back up in the spring.  It's great to have though, even just to throw a few sprigs in some iced (or hot) tea or just plain water or iced coffee.  And things like mojitos and juleps are fun (the latter especially if you're having a Derby party this Saturday) but a sprig of mint goes well in pretty much any drink.  You can also throw some leaves in salads and it pairs well with lots of lamb dishes.  Versatile!

Anyway, the actual planting of all the tomatoes and eggplants took both Saturday and Sunday afternoons (sure, I could have started in the morning and gotten this done in one day but my weekend mornings are reserved strictly for sleeping and brunching.)  I planted 28 pots in all and went through three BIG bags of potting soil and two smaller ones, plus another bag of my trusty compost.  The biggest obstacle this time around was water.  Thanks to all the rain we've been getting, everything was really wet.  The potting soil had been sitting outside, so all three big bags were wet - the one on the bottom was actually closer to mud than soil.  There are also two large metal planters left over from a previous tenant and they already had soil in them from last year.  Unfortunately that was also pretty muddy and there are no drainage holes in either of them so I had to use other pots.  I actually had some luck with just cutting the bags open and leaving them in the sun for a while to dry out the soil on Saturday, but Sunday I started running out of soil and the sun was not as strong.  Long story short I ended up using one of the metal planters for some beefsteaks surrounded by eggplant:

We'll see how that goes.  And here are the plants right after I planted them, looking a little droopy and over-watered and sad:

Two days later, they are less droopy but I still haven't watered them yet, which shows how wet the dirt actually was.

Another challenge was (again) actually transplanting the plants - untangling them from themselves and attempting to keep as many of the roots intact as possible.  Even the beefsteaks, which were all at least about a foot tall, had insanely delicate roots.  I'm going to get really scientific on you here, so get ready:  roots are really important.  Even more important than the part above the ground, since a plant gets the vast majority of its nutrients and water from the soil (this is also why good soil and compost are important.)  Here's a picture of one of the little eggplant's roots so you can see how big they actually are in relation to the rest of the plant:

Kind of like that overused analogy of an iceberg, the biggest part of the plant is actually what you can't see!  So you want to be very careful when transplanting to try to get as many of the roots as possible.  I actually found it easiest to just dig in there with my hands - this way I could feel the roots instead of just shoving a spade down there and breaking lots of them.  Of course, then your hands will end up looking like this:

But getting your hands dirty is fun, right?  I thoroughly enjoy it, but do be prepared to have dirt under your fingernails at all times.  No more manicures for a few months.

The plan in the coming weeks is to make sure what's outside doesn't get too wet/dry/cold and give away some of the smaller pots of tomatoes to make room for more plants!  I am also starting some more things inside:  basil and feverfew.  I've never grown basil from seed and I'm not entirely sure what feverfew actually is other than I love the name and it has pretty little white flowers.

Just for fun, here's a picture I took of two of the daffodils.  Look at them poking their little heads through the chair!

So stay tuned!  I'll be back with another update next week.

Sarah DeGiorgis has lived in Philly for five years and is finally starting to feel like a true Philadelphian, though she still detests cheesesteaks.  She enjoys reading, watching bad tv, eating and cooking good food and digging in the dirt. Catch up with her continuing efforts to grow food in South Philly by clicking here.

With over a year under our belt, there's a risk that our efforts to organize a co-op will lose steam but if last week was any indication, we still have plenty of steam left. The week started with our monthly educational event during which we hosted Shruthi of Cardamom Kitchen fame. (In fact, you may have already read about it.) The Newbold Civic Association welcomed Outreach Committee Co-chair Rachel Linstead Goldsmith on Monday to talk about the Co-op at their monthly meeting. Our outreach to the neighborhoods on the west side of Broad Street continues to pick up. On Wednesday, our good friends at Hawthornes Beer Boutique and Gourmet Eatery (738 S. 11th Street) hosted a fund raising event for us. The happy hour featured several delicious hors d'oeuvres (okay... I'll list them again: Smoked Salmon with cream cheese on crostinis, Pulled pork on slider rolls, Roasted red pepper hummus on Pita, Pico on tortilla chip, Bruschetta on Baguette, Tuna tartar on won ton, BBQ chicken quesadillas, Oven-roasted turkey on multigrain with sauerkraut and poblano aoili). Over 50 people enjoyed the hors d'oeuvres and drink specials (growlers, anyone?) helping the Co-op raise nearly $500. Some lucky folks won gift certificates or tickets donated by Calm, Zipcar, and Eastern State Penitentiary. All proceeds from events such as this go toward expenses we anticipate down the line including the market analysis and feasibility study that we'll need when we approach lenders for financing or the marketing materials that will help with our upcoming member-owner drive. A special thanks goes out again to South Philadelphia Tap Room for another such event back in December (before this blog was really up and running) and the Philly Community Wellness Center for donating a gift certificate that was awarded during the event. The end of the week arrived and we were just getting started. On Friday night, several of our more talented volunteers began dropping off some of the best looking baked goods South Philly has to offer. Somehow, Alison and I were able to resist the temptation to eat every single cookie occupying our dining room table just long enough to hand them over on Saturday morning to other committee members and volunteers who peddled them at the LoMo Spring Flea Market and Community Fair. Braving the breezy, sunshine-filled weather, this group brought in another $140. Meanwhile, a few blocks to the north, Amanda, Kat, Andy and I staked out a spot on East Passyunk Avenue to hand out brochures and solicit survey takers at the Flavors of the Avenue event. So while part of our group spent the day with cookies and cakes, the rest of them got to sit downwind from a big top tent filled with samples of Passyunk Avenue's finest restaurants. At least a hundred or so folks stopped by to learn about the Co-op and many of them have joined our growing list of potential member-owners. Thanks to everyone who filled out a survey. Any information and research that we compile ourselves is that much less that we have to pay professionals to find for our market analysis. And if you missed out on any of these events, we'll have plenty of additional opportunities for you to see us or volunteer to help out. On Saturday, May 7 we'll be tabling at the PEP Plant Sale (Broad and Federal) from 10am to 4pm. Interested in volunteering? Learn more about volunteer opportunities and fill out our Volunteer Interests Survey. I can almost guarantee you that someone will be in touch with in a day or two to take you up on your offer!

Join us on Saturday, May 14 and Saturday, May 21 from 3:00pm to 6:30pm at Lucky Old Souls for their Jazz on Colorado Court series at McKean St between 17th & 18th Streets.

Lucky Old Souls is a jazz club coming to South Philly, currently getting their final approval from the PLCB with renovations on their building to begin soon and an opening date of 2011. Every Saturday in May they're hosting a free outdoor neighborhood concert next door to their future home. On hand serving up food will be Honest Tom's Tacos, Buttercream Cupcakes, Tyson Bees, & Little Baby's Ice Cream. SPFC will also be there on the 14th and 21st for two fabulous evenings of live jazz and food trucks! Stop on over with the family and say hello!

*This event takes place every Saturday in May but SPFC will only be there on the dates indicated here.

Kale chips are the easiest non-recipe around. Take kale, heat to chipness. I Googled "kale chips" to see if there was someone I should credit, but I get over 2.5 million hits, so I assume a lot of people do this. I make this for parties, and a giant bowl of chips costs less than a dollar, and it's made of kale. You can't beat it. People ask for the recipe. I point to kale and the oven.

I'm not a huge kale fan, so I started doing this a few years ago and it's awesome. We usually intend to pack it up and keep it, if we make it when we don't have company, but it's hard. You start picking at the tray, and suddenly you've eaten a bunch of kale. If you're a big kale fan, all the better, but you don't have to love kale to love kale chips.


First, preheat the oven to 400.  Then start with some kale.

I thought I'd use the whole bunch, but in reality only used about half by the time I filled my trays, so the rest went to the fridge for another use.  Wash and dry your kale thoroughly.  Kale seems like one of the buggier of the greens.  Wash it hard.

Take off the stems.  This is pretty simple, just run a knife along the stems.  Or, sometimes you can hold them by the end and run your hand down them and take the leaves off (like a giant version of stripping rosemary).  Do this to all the kale you're going to use.  My stems go to the stock bag.

And tear the kale into bite-sized pieces.  This size.

Half a bunch of kale (and a bunch is 67 cents worth at the "regular" grocery store) gave me this many uncooked chips.

Which filled two baking sheets.   I tried it lined with a silicone mat and unlined today, and the results were the same.

Then spritz with olive oil.  I rely on my olive oil spritzer, but if you don't have one, toss them with olive oil in a large bowl or shake them with it in a bag.  You want barely any oil - we're not talking about coating, we're talking about just enough so they don't stick to the pan, and so that the salt and pepper do stick.   That's right, salt and pepper.  To taste.  Forgive my blur.

Then in the oven for 10 minutes or so.  The edges will just start to brown and none of it will feel soft, it will be crispy all over.   If I could add audio of someone biting into a kale chip here, that would convey the texture.  Like if you barely closed your hand over a piece, it might crumble like this:

So the finished chips look like this:

You can let them cool and then seal them tightly in bags for a day or so, but they don't keep crispy for long and besides, they're addictive fresh from the oven.
This works with chard too, and I imagine other veg but haven't tried.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Kale Chips

• 1 bunch kale (or less, sokay)


• spritz of olive oil (or a teaspoon or so)


• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.  Wash, dry and de-stem the kale.  Tear into bite-sized pieces.  Spritz with olive oil and season with salt and pepper (more pepper) and bake until crispy and starting to brown, about 10 minutes.

Some of you may remember our very first Community Event back in January when Genevieve Sherrow came and shared her personal journey of transitioning to a gluten-free lifestyle, talked about her new book (Gluten Free Warrior) and brought some crazy good samples of some of her gluten-free recipes.

We're happy to announce that Genevieve has recently partnered with La Cucina at Reading Terminal Market for a series of gluten-free cooking classes.  Check 'em out!  Here are the deets:

Thursday, June 2nd 5:45-7:45 PM: Gluten-free Budget Friendly, Quick and Easy: GF diets can be costly. Relying on whole foods such as bulk grains and legumes, fruits and vegetables can be your best bet when designing quick, budget conscious, nutritious meals. We’ll make satisfying whole foods meals that you can prepare in less than 30 minutes for under $20 including: Eat the Rainbow Veggie Chili, Chickpea Vegetable Curry and Stir-fry of Carrot, Celery, Zucchini and Mushroom with simmered quinoa (Vegetarian, no eggs and no dairy).

Saturday, June 25th 11-1 PM: Gluten-free Brunch: Brunch is an ideal time to nourish, relax and cook! In this class we’ll make nourishing whole grain breakfast dishes that are sure to jump-start your day.  Millet Porridge with Peaches, Scallion, Walnut and Nori Scramble, Hearty Buckwheat Waffles.  Recipes include eggs and dairy.
Classes are $30 and include food samples, recipes and educational  materials.  You can register by contacting Anna Florio @ 215-922-1170.

Genevieve Sherrow, MS, CN, has been living gluten-free since 2007. She completed a Master’s of Science in Integrative Nutrition in 2009 at Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Genevieve is Founder of Gluten-free Warrior, a Philadelphia-based company specializing in education, counseling, writing, food service and restaurant consulting. Gluten-free Warrior is also a therapeutic whole foods cookbook designed for individuals living gluten-free and wheat-free. For more information about Genevieve, visit gfwarrior.blogspot.com and wholefoodreflections.blogspot.com

It is difficult to fathom that in a country as wealthy and industrialized as the United States, over 17 million households are without proper access to fresh, healthy food. Many US cities with a large impoverished population, with little access to food, rely on a strong network of nonprofit organizations to help increase food security. While these nonprofit efforts are admirable, the best way to bring the community together to increase food access for all citizens, is the implementation of a Food Policy Council (FPC). The advent of food policy councils began in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1977, when Bob Wilson, a professor at the University of Tennessee challenged his landscape architecture class to examine planning issues related to food availability within their city. This assignment spurred a resolution to be passed within Knoxville’s local government in October of 1981 to form a food policy council. The resolution declared that food policy and issues were a governmental responsibility and concern, and that Knoxville’s food system was to be monitored and acted upon as needed. The initiation of Knoxville’s food policy council inspired the implementation of at least five other food policy councils over the past twenty years within the US. As food policy councils became more prevalent in the United States, their function became clearer. A council’s mission is to strengthen the economic vitality of the local food industry, ensure that an adequate and nutritious food supply is available to all citizens, increase local food production, and minimize food-related activities that degrade the natural environment. A council’s members consist of government officials, local restaurateurs, members of local businesses, farms, and food distributors, as well as volunteers from a diverse set of policy development and community bodies. A number of policies must to be enacted in order for an FPC to accomplish these goals. The specific state and local policies that affect the survivability of a local food system address transportation issues that hinder food access and farm viability, nutritional programs available to citizens, institutional and nonprofit involvement, and sound economic strategies that promote a sustainable local economy. The organization of urban farming programs by a city’s food policy council not only improves access to food for impoverished residents, but also improves the environment with the creation of green space, as well as provides a source of income for local citizens. One area where this is being done is Boston, Massachusetts. There, the statewide food policy alliance is supporting an extensive campaign encouraging citizens and institutions to buy and eat local produce. The promotion of urban and backyard gardens in Boston have improved the area’s land and soil quality, boosted the local economy, and provided impoverished citizens with greater access to fresh, healthy food. Meanwhile, back in Knoxville, TN, home of the first ever food policy council, members of local government collaborated with policy developers from the department of transportation, re-routing bus routes, in order to provide impoverished citizens with greater access to supermarkets. In addition to altering mass-transit routes, the Knoxville food policy council also pushed to install bicycle racks on the front of buses so that citizens without cars could access food a little easier. Without governmental sanction and strong ties to the local nonprofit network, many Knoxville residents would still be without sufficient food access, today. Bringing together specialists and key players within a food system helps to improve the system as a whole from the beginning of growth and manufacturing, to distribution, to consumption and ending with waste management. The implementation of Food Policy Councils offers the best opportunity for any urban area to accomplish the goals of strengthening the local food network, aiding in increased food and nutrition policy effectiveness, and also in creating an overall balanced food system for producers, consumers, and the environment. In addition, councils strengthen food security for the residents of an urban area. The implementation of a food policy council is the best way for a city to improve its local food system and move toward the ultimate goal of sustainability. Please welcome Haley VanderMeer who is a new addition to our team of South Philly Food Co-op volunteer bloggers. Haley first published this article at GreenAnswers.com on March 28, 2011. Haley has done work promoting various local food events including photographing food at farmers' markets for social media promotion for the Jefferson Farmers' Market and has written and distributed recipes at its educational booth.