HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

By Ivan J. Sheehan
Photographs by Ken Mengay

Mother Nature has long relied on the strength of her ingredients, but her recipe for northeast Ohio is marred by inconsistencies:

Gradually incorporate increasingly large dollops of snow and ice, freeze lake, remove sunshine and allow to stew. When mixture has nearly thawed, liberally sprinkle with rain, adding sunshine and signs of life (sparingly); vigorously toss and chill overnight. As greens and flowers begin to emerge, increase temperature and bake until lightly browned, adding cool breeze as needed, and set aside. Slowly cool resulting mixture under indirect heat until completely browned, allow to fall, and repeat.

It’s a difficult recipe to follow, but northeast Ohioans are resilient, adapting the seasonally challenging formula to meet their needs and tastes. When it comes to creating food using this curious recipe, few are more adept than Ohio’s farming community. Each year, Mother Nature alters her recipe, often without warning, creating additional challenges for the local food purveyors committed to delivering quality product to our neighborhoods.

However, the effort of those who sow the seeds does not go unappreciated. Many area chefs and restaurateurs salute our state’s farmers – and support the local economy – highlighting the beautiful, locally produced bounty by creating and serving the fruits (and vegetables and meats) of their labors.

Four such chefs are Ben Bebenroth of Spice of Life Catering Co., Heather Haviland of Lucky’s Café/Sweet Mosaic Bakery, Doug Katzof fire food & drink and Matthew Mathlage of Light Bistro. All four, though as unique as the seasons, are devout adherents to farm-totable ideals, possessing the creativity and talent to really punctuate the riches our soils have to offer. But, could they each create three dishes that showcase local ingredients after winter had largely deadened the region’s crops? As it turns out, the answer was a resounding yes: A true field of dreams, where all parties shared a home field advantage. Northeast Ohioans have a great team to support – on and off the field. And rumor has it, they’re going to really shine this summer.

IJS: Given all the emphasis we placed on local ingredients with this feature, am I really a bad person if I buy precut, bagged lettuce from my local mega grocer?

BB: I don’t think you’re a bad person. You’re just probably chasing convenience more than quality, which I think a lot of people fall victim to that. We fall victim to that – my wife and I. You’ve got a kid running around, it’s not like you always have the time to sit down and wash all your lettuce, and chop this, and make a salad from scratch. You have to bring balance to your life, one way or another. If you’re going to support local farmers and local purveyors, and put that money back into the community like that, it’s awesome, but it»s not something practical for every single person’s everyday use.

IJS: What are some of the ways people can incorporate more local ingredients into their regular grocery routine?

BB: I think if you have a little bit more foresight, little bit more longevity to your grocery shopping vision… Highlight your menu for the week based around what is available. In three weeks, it’s going to be asparagus season, so you can make an asparagus quiche and have a slice of that every morning for breakfast – just so quick: Throw it in a toaster, and it’s done. You kind of have to focus on what we have a great variety of at that time. If you go to the farmers market in June, and you really want to make roasted red pepper soup, you’re in the wrong place.

IJS: What are some of the foods you are most looking forward to this summer?

BB: Ramps. I love ramps. I do a lot of foraging. I grew up doing a lot of foraging, so I spent a lot of time in the forest, and after working more intensely with Tom and Wendy [Wiandt] from Killbuck Valley, they’re very well versed in wild edibles and things, and we’ve really brought that to a focus in our plated landscape dinners. Cattail flour, for example, that’s one of my springtime favorites. We’ll go out and dig cattail roots, and then bash them up and dry them out, and then grind them, and we make flour out of it. It has this amazing nutty flavor in the front [of your palate], and as soon as you swallow, you get this citric acid going on in the back… you put a little of that on some perch with tartar sauce, and it’s like people never had fish before!

IJS: What was your favorite part of the challenge to create three dishes using as many local ingredients as possible?

BB: My favorite part about doing this was that I got to buy a smoker for my house, and my wife didn’t complain too much about it. I love the idea of "Work with what you got right now." That keeps everybody on their toes. It’s so easy to fall into the doldrums of February: Everything is gnocchi with bolognese, heavy, meaty, wintery dishes.

IJS: Least favorite part?

BB: I’m not a big fan of cameras. I’ve always been back in the kitchen. I kind of love being tucked away in the galley with all the guys, just chopping and sweating. That’s where I grew up, that’s were the creativity happens. When people bring out a floodlight and a sound guy, I want to curl up underneath the table.

IJS: Which of the three dishes you created is your favorite and why?

BB: I like the oxtail, just because it’s something people don’t usually eat as an entrée. Everybody eats poussin as an entrée, but oxtail is always something that you’ll use in a broth to thicken it, or you’ll make a soup out of it. I just love highlighting, not waste cuts, but cuts of meat that don’t take the spotlight anymore. We’re so focused on filet mignon and hangar steak that we forget about the treasured portions of animals that back in the day – like tongue and tail – you couldn’t get near that piece… and now people won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. It’s so funny how society and our vision of what’s good has changed… there’s a lot more flavor in an oxtail than there is in a filet.

IJS: Given all the emphasis we placed on local ingredients with this feature, am I really a bad person if I buy precut, bagged lettuce from my local mega grocer?

HH: No, you’re not a bad person. I think that there’s degrees of being local. In today’s fastpaced way that we all have to perform, pay bills and things like that, it’s not reasonable, and somewhat ridiculous, to think that you can live completely locally – unless you live on a farm.

IJS: What are some of the ways people can incorporate more local ingredients into their regular grocery routine?

HH: You’re eating well, you’re making your own food, you go and support businesses that support farmers, you walk if you can, you do things like that – that’s all a good approach. I did this to my staff recently: I started the challenge by cooking a locally produced egg and one that we just got from what we call "the bad store," and not only could they see visually the difference, but I had them each eat it, and that’s how the challenge started out. I said absolutely, every time you put anything into your mouth, as if you were on some kind of diet where you have to write down calories, try to imagine where it came from and what it went through to get from where it started to your mouth… Once you start thinking about it, you will find ways to incorporate: Use a local baker who uses local grains, try to go to a local market or grocery store once a month, little teeny things. It’s a mindset, where at first it’s an idea before it becomes an exercise.

IJS: What are some of the foods you are most looking forward to this summer?

HH: What am I not looking forward to? Coming back to Ohio, and living in Ohio, I start thinking about the next season like some people think about "Do I have the appropriate shoes?" I start thinking about, "Do I have the way to showcase rhubarb? Do I have the perfect menu to showcase peaches?" Rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries, early greens – they’re all coming. As a chef, I get beyond stoked about that, and I start thinking now, ’How can I showcase that ingredient in its purest, most beautiful way?’

IJS: What was your favorite part of the challenge to create three dishes using as many local ingredients as possible?

HH: I really did love it. The fact that I had to create an entire plate times three focusing on local foods… I think that I am someone who supports local farmers… I learned a lot. I’ve never made a perch cake in my life! I thought, wow! I’m going to add this to the menu because it was so great, and I’ve never seen one on a menu, and I’ve never made one, but I liked it better than crab cakes, and it’s in my water. It affects fishers here, fishermen in my city.

IJS: Least favorite part?

HH: My least favorite part was trying to be authentic. So many people that I talked to said, "In theory, you can get your hands on…" It just showed me how many local chefs, they love the idea of being sustainable and using local ingredients, but it can be a pain in the ass. Of course, in theory, many ingredients are available, but it may be very difficult to get your hands on them.

IJS: Which of the three dishes you created is your favorite and why?

HH: I love making people feel comfortable. Our whole brunch thing [at Lucky’s Café] is because I love the idea of a big plate of food in the morning. The one that had the polenta is so like something we would serve at the café, and it so represents the kind of food that I do.

IJS: Given all the emphasis we placed on local ingredients with this feature, am I really a bad person if I buy precut, bagged lettuce from my local mega grocer?

DK: No, but I think that if you make an effort whenever possible to support your local farmers markets, to go. There are times when convenience is important, and until local product is available to the point where it’s in your grocery and it’s affordable for everyone, there’s going to be times when you just do that. But you have to make that effort to support local farms.

IJS: What are some of the ways people can incorporate more local ingredients into their regular grocery routine?

DK: There’s so many farmers markets right now that I think just going there for 10 minutes and walking through it, and you pick up one thing, and it might be a cheese, it might be a green, it might be mushrooms… if you start going through a farmers market, you meet the farmers, and that’s when the passion really starts. Buying one thing from a farmers market on a weekly basis. Or, go out to a farm, if you have kids, go to a farm and help them one morning.

IJS: What are some of the foods you are most looking forward to this summer?

DK: In May, I think we’ they’ll probably start in late April. Great strawberries, hopefully in June. The stone fruit. Last year, we had a lot of problems with the apples and the peaches because we had a really big storm when the fruit actually started blooming on the trees, so we lost a lot of that fruit, so I’m hoping this year that doesn’t happen, and we get a lot of peaches, lot of apples. I’m actually excited about local corn because when everything you read is corn prices are so expensive, and I feel like, if you get the local corn, that’s got to help a little bit.

IJS: What was your favorite part of the challenge to create three dishes using as many local ingredients as possible?

DK: The whole idea of it, that there’s an interest in supporting this type of thing and to publicize the idea of how many farmers there are, how many opportunities there are… there’s so many options for buying local… The fact that a magazine’s interested in doing this means that it’s something that’s important for our community, something that’s happening, something that’s really great – something that gets me really passionate.

IJS: Least favorite part?

DK: The least favorite part was the planning of it – another stress. Just running the restaurant, going in and cooking, that’s what I love. Having 200 other stresses, that’s what makes running a restaurant hard.

IJS: Which of the three dishes you created is your favorite and why?

DK: I love salads. It’s so easy… buying local greens, or picking something out of your garden, and just tossing a vinaigrette together. I’d say I like that the best, just because it’s so simple and easy, and you can eat it really quick, and I’m an immediate satisfaction–type person. I love the chicken, too, but it takes a long time to prepare, and it’s not something I personally do that often.

IJS: Given all the emphasis we placed on local ingredients with this feature, am I really a bad person if I buy precut, bagged lettuce from my local mega grocer?

MM: I wouldn’t say you were a bad person, just that your priority is on convenience and not on supporting locals, which is a very common problem that we have been lulled into over the past couple of generations – the fast food generation. Things are coming full circle now, and I think awareness is up, and with that will come a priority shift in many Americans.

IJS: What are some of the ways people can incorporate more local ingredients into their regular grocery routine?

MM: First and foremost, find a local market that supports local farmers by carrying their products. Second, make a routine of visiting one of the great local farmers markets – it’s a great place to take your family and begin the education process for generations to come.

IJS: What are some of the foods you are most looking forward to this summer?

MM: Peaches, asparagus, tomatoes, corn, melons, green beans, squash blossoms. I think I could go on naming things for about an hour. I love summer and the bounty it brings from our farmers.

IJS: What was your favorite part of the challenge to create three dishes using as many local ingredients as possible? Least favorite part?

MM: My favorite part was creating on the fly; I love to be spontaneous and I had about 12 hours to get everything together. Two dishes that I created for this will be on our new spring menu. My least favorite was the logistics of my schedule. Being a new father and a restaurateur doesn’t leave much leeway for impromptu meetings. Oh yeah, the fact that it was the middle of April and we are still a couple of weeks away from an abundance of spring vegetables.

IJS: Which of the three dishes you created is your favorite and why?

MM: I really like the Greek salad a lot because it incorporates a lot of different techniques. It is very visually appealing, and eating it is very familiar and comforting.

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