“If you don’t have to eat what’s in the bottom of your wallet, it’s been a good year …” Mary DeMarco

This was the line we heard every New Years Day from my grandmother before the feast/food orgy would begin. Its genesis is an old Sicilian proverb, but I have come to find out that the words, in one form or another, along with the tradition I am about to describe, are common among the poorer southern Mediterranean cultures. The concern is poverty and hunger and the talisman is a lentil.

Every New Year’s, lentils wrapped in paper were distributed to all in our family by my grandmother. The women opened their purses, the men their wallets, and for us there was a jar that was kept in the kitchen cabinet. On cue each family member would empty his or her cache of last year’s lentils into a pot. Once all were accounted for, one of us tossed the contents of the pot out the door, new lentils were distributed, and the food frenzy would begin.

The origins (or so I was told) of the ritual are that for Buona Fortuna (good luck) you were given lentils, but you must have them with you at all times. If during the year you were fortunate enough not to have been forced to eat them, it was a good year.

So as not to break the “snide” (Mojo, in NY Italian) everybody cheated. My mother and her sisters and all the aunts would put their lentils in a bag they would put way back in the closet (I guess having it in you apartment counted as being with you at all times); the men in wallets they never use; and our jar was put on a shelf we could never reach. On occasion, after I moved from NYC to college, I would receive a letter with a check from my father and in the bottom – lentils from my mother.

Claudia’s family’s Southern tradition is a meal of cornbread, black-eyed peas, ham hock, and cooked-to-hell greens with hot vinegar. I’ve eaten this for going on 30 years now, although with various bouts of vegetarianism the ham hock was at times left off the menu.

Of course, this is superstition and family idiosyncrasy, but it speaks from which we came. Not just my family, but also to all of us. We look to the New Year with hope and for renewal. In China, there are vast migrations of people traveling for specific family gatherings on their New Year calendar. In Mexico, the entire population parades at Midnight. However and wherever we do it, the rejection of what has happened and the promise that the future holds is an endearing human belief shared by all.

So, on New Years Eve or New Years Day come by and check out our blackboard, or just have a flatbread and a glass of wine or farm fresh eggs for breakfast, but come by and join us. There will be a bowl of lentils for new and old friends to take at the front door and there will be a pot to deposit them for those of you who have been carrying the weight of last year’s lentils these 365 days.

Claudia and I wish you all very good health, fulfilling days and wonderful nights for the year ahead.

See you soon,
Ed

Traveling just ain’t what it used to be …

I remember the first time Claudia and I traveled out of the country. The cabin staff, with their charming accents and tailored uniforms, warmly greeted us and made us feel welcome. We were offered complimentary travel kits with eyeshades, toiletries, and even cool socks. Cocktails were offered (a true five-mile-high open bar), and with dinner a bottle of wine was left by the attendant for Claud and I to share. All this in coach! I could only imagine what the party was like in first class.

This is not a rant about the dismal state of air travel. I could, but it would not be at all original or even timely. This is about a culinary excursion we are leading at Republic. As a matter of fact, this blog is late, since the boat has left the dock so to speak.

We are planning to feature the foods of a number of countries that border the Mediterranean. It started two weeks ago when I featured the cuisine of Turkey. I’m sorry for the late notice and I know that I’m remiss, but life and business got complicated …
I will not bore you with my travails, but I will now try to make it up to you. Forgiven?

Here is what some of you may have missed: Claudia and Sous Chef Jenn (the woman with the big black hat behind the line) did a good amount of the menu research, along with the added input of a few good friends and loyal guests who have traveled to the country often.

We served Phyllo with creamed leeks, egg and tzatziki; Borek (a kind of dumpling) with ground lamb, cinnamon, sweet onion, aleppo pepper and pomegranate molasses; Turkish Taverna Chicken Pie with cilantro and allspice, served with Ajdar (roasted eggplant, red peppers and Harissa); Zucchini Fritters with feta, dill and stewed tomato; Monkfish fume with lemon, tomato, chili and sumac; and a Vegetable Stew with zucchini, eggplant, tomato and bulgur wheat, served with local yogurt and dill. For dessert it was carrot and coconut bars, along with rice pudding with saffron, raisins and pine nuts. If you have been in the restaurant recently you would have still seen a few of these ingredients and recipes on the blackboard. I fell in love with some of them and they are now part of my lexicon.

We will be traveling (please excuse this metaphor) around the sea and the next stop will be Greece; then Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt; then on to Italy (Yeah!); and finally over to Southern France and Spain. All this without a full body scan, those stupid 3 oz plastic bottles, and that jackass in front of you reclining his seat into the 14 inches allotted to you for the $800 ticket price. (I got my rant in anyway.)

In researching the recipes from all these destinations, I am finding out how similar the ingredients and cooking styles. Some of the ingredients, such as Aleppo pepper, saffron, grains of paradise and even salt, were at one time or another used as currency. This region has long been settled, conquered and reconquered. Peoples have migrated back and forth, intermarried, traveled and shared their cultures, both willingly and under duress.

I have been to some of these countries and look forward to seeing them all one day. Until then, let’s eat their food and make believe that outside the window of Republic is not Elm Street but Marrakech, or Athens, or Nice. I will try to come as close as I can to the truth of their cuisine while keeping our word to using as many local and regional products as I can get my hands on. Watch for our destinations in the Hippo and I will send out an email blast, so “don’t spam box me bro!”

By the way, if any of you have been to these destinations and have recipes or ideas for a dish, come by. If it is used I promise full credit on the blackboard.

Claudia, I, and the entire staff of Republic thank you for your support over the past two years and wish you all a very peaceful holiday. Eat well and share.

See you soon.

Ed