David Tanis's Blog

BOOK TOUR

Events

10/2: New York — Private launch party

10/3: New York – Google office

10/5: New York – New York Times office

10/8: New York – Café Altro Paradiso  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING (McNally Jackson)

10/16: Baltimore, MD — chef Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen & Bird in Hand (The Ivy bookstore) DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

10/18: Washington, DC — Salt & Sundry // Union Market (in-store demo)

10/23: St. Paul, MN — Cooks of Crocus Hill  COOKING CLASS, DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

10/24: Austin, TX – Central Market Cooking Schools  COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

10/25: Austin, TX – Lake Austin Spa   COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

10/26: Austin, TX – Jeffrey’s of Austin  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

10/29: Los Angeles, CA —  Sunday Supper at Lucques  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

10/30: Los Angeles, CA —  Rose Cafe

11/1: Los Angeles, CA –      Botanica

11/4: Los Angeles, CA —     Manuela

11/5: San Diego – Chino Farm  BOOKSIGNING AND SNACKS

11/6: San Diego, CA – JCC with  LECTURE & BOOKSIGNING

11/7: Seattle, WA — Lark Restaurant (Book Larder)  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

11/8: Seattle, WA – Book Larder (in-store demo) COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

11/9: Seattle, WA – The Pantry (class)  COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

11/12: Oakland, CA – Camino with Omnivore Books COLLABORATIVE DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

11/13: Larkspur, CA – Left Bank with Book Passage

11/15: Berkeley, CA – Chez Panisse

11/16: Inverness, CA – Saltwater Oyster Depot

11/23: Toronto – Toronto Public Library Foundation  LECTURE & BOOKSIGNING

11/24: Montreal – Appetite for Books    DEMO, BOOKSIGNING AND SNACKS

11/28: Boston – Short & Main with The Bookstore of Gloucester   DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

11/29: Boston — The Butcher Shop (Barbara Lynch)   DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

11/30: Boston – BU Culinary (B&N College, BU)  COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

12/2: Boston – Milk Street Master Class  COOKING CLASS & BOOKSIGNING

12/6: Philadelphia – Dizengoff  DEMO, BOOKSIGNING AND SNACKS

12/12: Salisbury, CT — White Hart Inn + Oblong Books  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

1/18: Atlanta, GA – Miller Union with Steven Satterfield  DINNER & BOOKSIGNING

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BOOK TOUR DAVID TANIS MARKET COOKING

Please check back for updates.

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Joys of Sicily II

Just a quick post to say this year’s cooking class in Sicily takes place the week of

July 4 2016   Details at AnnaTascaLanza.com

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The Joys of Sicily

I recently spent a week in Sicily in what I reckon is one of the most beautiful valleys in the world.  I have been there in every season, experiencing the the shortening days of autumn, the scorching sun-filled summertime, the cold, damp, drizzling winter. Now, with this visit, I have seen the green, green spring. And a brilliant green it is.

I’ve been invited to be a guest instructor in the kitchen at Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School, which is indeed an honor and a pleasure. Working in tandem with my friend Fabrizia Lanza, the intrepid proprietor of the school, I want to show our group of cooks some of the ways to use simple Sicilian ingredients. Though my approach isn’t strictly Sicilian, it is in spirit, I think; Fabrizia, a real Sicilian, demonstrates a variety of classic traditional dishes and gives them a cultural and historical context. We have a field trip and a cooking class each day, dining extremely well on our daily creations and drinking the wonderful Regaleale wines from the Tasca estate.

Spring has finally arrived, after a long harsh winter, with late rains and even a bit of snow. The hills are dotted with wild flowers and wild herbs, notably finocchio selvatico, the native fennel that finds its way into so many Sicilian dishes. Once harvested, the wild fennel is simmered in water until tender. Mixed with breadcrumbs, egg and cheese, it is fried to make polpettine. As a flavoring for fresh or dried fava beans, it enhances maccu​, a​ traditional extraordinarily satisfying and comforting soup. With bucatini, sardines, and saffron, it is the necessary herb for the justly acclaimed pasta con le sarde.

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The vegetable garden has been planted with leeks, garlic and onions, but it’s far too soon to pick more than the odd scallion or garlic shoot for salad dressing. Chickpeas are showing their frilly barely sprouted leaves; fava beans are just flowering. But the remnants of the winter garden can still supply something for every meal. I’m in heaven, since my favorite thing to do is scavenge for a meal’s worth of vegetables and use them immediately, so much better than hunting for dinner in a refrigerator. We pick greens for a big salad every day, usually a mixture of chicories, lettuces, rucola, mâche and tender spinach, along with mustard and calendula flowers and a few foraged leaves.  There is lots of chard to harvest, and the last of the broccoli, some tiny cabbages. There’s patch of cardoons too, and blood oranges, lemons and grapefruits. In a month or so, the garden’s offerings will change dramatically.

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In a neighboring valley there’s a family-run sheep dairy where Filippo, the master cheese maker, shows us the early morning cheese making process. Twice each day, 500 sheep are milked by hand, which produces 400 liters of milk, enough to fill a giant vat. After the cheese curd is cut and scooped into molds, the whey is transferred to a huge kettle, heated beneath by a wood fire. When the whey reaches the proper temperature, after about an hour, it magically produces the most delicate ricotta, heavenly when tasted while still warm for breakfast, with a little honey.

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One day we spend the morning at the fish market in Catania. Steps away from the central piazza, it is a sight to behold. All manner of fish and shellfish are for sale, from the impossibly long and silvery spatula fish to the tiniest clam-like bivalves called telline. The blood ​red Sicilian tuna, ​the ​bonito and mackerel, the squid and cuttlefish, skate, prawns and langoustines…  it’s a veritable 3-ring circus of tasty marine creatures.  At a marketside cafe we sample exquisite raw tidbits, gifts from the fishmongers to eat on the spot with salt and lemon, before heading to a little trattoria for a fishy lunch: fritto misto to start, and a stellar spaghetti nero tossed with a marvelous deep-flavored black squid ink sauce. We also buy sea urchins to make a heavenly but very simple 4-ingredient pasta back at Case Vecchie. That night, dinner was a seafood extravaganza.

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The school is housed in a compound of old stone buildings called Case Vecchie. The kitchen is its beating heart. It still has the original wood burning oven, which we fired up for baking, but with only moderate success. Some of our breads and pizze got a bit charred, I’m afraid. Still delicious. But the results were spectacular when I roasted extra-thick tuna steaks in it. Fabrizia made two Sicilian favorites, sfincione and scaccia ragusana, as well as her own sourdough loaves made with local wheat varieties. You can find the recipes for them in her wonderful cookbook, Coming Home to Sicily, where you can also read all about the school and farm and the seasonal cycles of the place, with brilliant stories and photgraphs. For more information about the school, visit the website annatascalanza.com

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Cooking in Sicily April 13-18

There are still a few spaces left for my 5-day cooking workshop in Sicily at Anna Tasca Lanza School of Cooking April 13-18, 2015. Please join us to experience the wonders of Springtime in Sicilia in one of the most beautiful valleys on earth. Garden to table freshness guaranteed.

 

 

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Spring’s Latest Book Tour Dates for One Good Dish

Forthcoming appearances by David Tanis are as follows.

San Diego, CA
Sunday, March 30
11:00am-1:00pm
Book Signing

Chino Farm
Rancho Santa Fe
On the farm rain or shine
Refreshments
Read More >






Los Angeles, CA
Monday, March 31
7:00pm-10:00pm

Tasting Menu from
One Good Dish
$60 includes signed book, small plates & refreshments




Canelé Restaurant
Los Angeles [Atwater Village]
Read More >

 


Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, April 2

5:30pm-7:30pm
Book Signing and
Tapas + Refreshments



Belcampo Meat Co,
Grand Central Market



Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, April 3
7:00pm
Dinner Menu from One Good Dish
$95 includes signed book, dinner and wine

Lucques Restaurant

Read More >

 

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One Good Dish is nominated for 2014 James Beard Award

One Good Dish has been nominated as a finalist for a James Beard Award.

JBF Awards Background

Covering all aspects of the industry—from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more—the Beard Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America. The awards are presented each spring at Lincoln Center. Nominees and winners are fêted at a weekend of events in New York City that has become the social and gastronomic highlight of the year.

You can read more about the James Beard Awards and the James Beard Foundation here.

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Book Tour

Forthcoming appearances by David Tanis are as follows. Please check back often as more events are being added.

New York, NY
Wednesday, October 16
12:00pm
Talk & Signing


James Beard House
167 West 12th Street
Reservations: jamesbeard.org


Pittsboro, NC
Thursday, October 24
1:00pm
Lunch, Talk, Signing


The Granary, Fearrington Village
2000 Fearrington Village Center
Reservations: 919-542-3030




Chapel Hill, NC
Thursday, October 24
5:00pm
Signing


Southern Season
University Mall, 201 S. Estes Drive
To reserve a book: 877-929-7133




New York, NY
Monday, October 28
2:00pm
Talk & Signing
Moderator: Peter Kaminsky


92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue @ E. 92
Bookseller: Kitchen Arts & Letters
Reservations: 92y.org




New York, NY
Wednesday, October 30
7:00pm
Dinner & Signing


Haven’s Kitchen
109 West 17th Street @ Sixth Avenue
Reservations: havenskitchen.com




Montreal, QC
Saturday, November 2
2:00pm
Cooking Demo & Signing


Appetite for Books
388 Victoria Avenue
Reservations: 514-369-2002




Washington, DC
Monday, November 4
6:30pm
Dinner, Discussion, Signing
Moderator: Joe Yonan,
Washington Post food editor


Buck’s Fishing & Camping
5031 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Bookseller: Politics & Prose
Reservations: politics-prose.com




Brooklyn, NY
Tuesday, November 5
7:00pm
Dinner & Signing


The Wythe Hotel

80 Wythe Avenue @ N. 11th Street

Reservations: brownpapertickets.com




Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday, November 6

7:00pm

Dinner & Signing


The Wythe Hotel
80 Wythe Avenue @ N. 11th Street
Reservations: brownpapertickets.com




Seattle, WA
Monday, November 11
6:30pm
In conversation with
Amy Pennington, host of Check, Please!;
Snacks courtesy of Chef Jay Guerrero, Boat Street Cafe


Book Larder
4252 Fremont Avenue North
Reservations: BookLarder.com


San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, November 12

6:30pm

In conversation with
Davia Nelson, host of
NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters


JCC of San Francisco
3200 California Street
Bookseller: Omnivore Books
Reservations: jccsf.org


Larkspur, CA
Wednesday, November 13
12:00pm
Lunch, Talk, Q&A, Signing


Left Bank
507 Magnolia Avenue
Bookseller: Book Passage


Oakland, CA
Wednesday, November 13
6:00pm
Dinner & Signing


Camino
3917 Grand Avenue
Bookseller: Omnivore Books
Reservations: eventbrite.com




Healdsburg, CA
Saturday, November 16
3:00pm
Talk, Q&A, Signing


Copperfield’s Books
106 Matheson Street
707-433-9270


Inverness, CA
Sunday, November 17

12:00pm

Lunch & Signing


Saltwater Oyster Depot
12781 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Bookseller: Pt. Reyes Books
Reservations: ptreyesbooks.com




San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, November 19

6:00pm

Dinner & Signing


Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street
Reservations: 415-487-1600


St. Paul, MN
Thursday, November 21
5:00pm
Signing

6:00pm

Dinner & Signing
Cooks of Crocus Hill
877 Grand Avenue
CooksOfCrocusHill.com

 

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