The NYC Greenmarket has a new event space called Project Farmhouse, where they are hosting fundraising events, community development meetings and food-focused film screenings. We were invited to participate in a collaborative Chef Seasonal Dinner Series, with the theme “International Cooking with Local Harvest Ingredients.” Each chef made a dish from their country of origin, so for PRINT’s Chef Charles Rodriguez that meant a dish from the Dominican Republic. One of the most iconic Dominican dishes is sancocho, a rich stew of various cuts of meat, root vegetables, and pumpkin. The ingredients were perfect for the late autumn harvest and the comforting soup was the perfect dish for a chilly November evening. We introduced the dish, which was the first course, as basically a big hug from Mom in a bowl. Like gumbo, chili and other stews, each family has their own sancocho recipe and each mom or grandma has her own special ingredient. Our sancocho for the event used various local root vegetables like taro from Lani’s Farm, red sunchokes from Paffenroth Gardens, and kabocha squash instead of pumpkin. The result was a slightly lighter version of the original stew that was fitting for first course. To top it off we used the last of the hot pepper harvest to make a local chili-citrus oil as a garnish. To make our seasonal sancocho at home find our recipe on the Yumavore recipe sharing app; our username is PRINT.restaurant.
This fundraiser was the second in the Greenmarket Seasonal Dinner Series and helps raise funds to allow GrowNYC to continue working with partner organizations. That night we learned about their program FARMRoots which helps people new to farming find land and begin operating a successful family farm. All in all it was great to collaborate with other chefs to raise funds for such an incredible organization so vital to New York City’s sustainable food initiatives. We hope to be involved in many more such evenings in the future at Project Farmhouse!
All photos credited to the event photographer : Vitaliy Piltser , follow him on instagram @vitaliypitlser or on his website : http://www.vitaliypiltser.com/
