Hanging out with Evan Strusinski and Hugue Dufour

The most recent "Field to Fork" story I shot for Nona Brooklyn took me back out with wild edible forager, Evan Strusinski. This time we found ourselves in the woods and along the shores of Camden, Maine. Back here in Brooklyn Evan's mushrooms were delivered to Hugue Dufour, chef and owner of M. Wells Dinette at MoMA PS1.

Wild Mushroom and Poached Egg French Toast at M. Wells Dinette

The legend himself...Evan

Chef Hugue Dufour

Evan scored a huge chicken of the woods of a tree in someone's yard

Hen of the Woods

Chantrelles

Black Trumpet

A morning's harvest

 

I have no idea how I didn't end up at the bottom of this ravine.

M. Wells Dinette

Hugue Dufour

  

 

Chef Brian Leth at Hillside, Brooklyn, New York

On Monday I shot Chef Brian Leth at Hillside near the Navy Yard in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn. Chef Leth is famous for putting Vinegar Hill House and the newly opened Hillside on the map. The portraits are the final piece of the Island Creek Oyster story soon to be published by Nona Brooklyn.

The lovely Dana Hale

Portraits of Dana Hale, Island Creek Oyster's own Oysteress. Shot at Duxbury Beach in Massachusetts.

Cucumber soup from The Splendid Spoon

This week Nicole's seasonal soup is chilled cucumber with mint and farro.  Nicole ate a similar soup while in Turkey this summer with her husband. A few tweaks, some practice and this version is her own! To get your own check out The Splendid Spoon and look for the recipe on Nona Brooklyn.

A Duxbury Bay Sunrise; Harvesting with Island Creek Oysters

Last week I joined the Island Creek Oyster crew for a spring tide harvest in Duxbury bay. We slipped out onto the water at 5am, beneath a sky the color of dark blue ink from a ballpoint pen. The sun finally fought through the overcast sky, spilling like gold onto the sand as the water disappeared from the bay. The crew worked for hours on their hands and knees, plucking the oysters from the sand and mud, filling crate after crate until the tide came back in and the sun shone brightly on their backs. After a coffee break the crew started the culling process on a raft anchored off shore. The oysters are sorted by size, bagged and labeled for delivery.

This is part of the farm to table series I'm working on with Nona Brooklyn. My previous post has images from my shoot at Hillside with Dana Hale of ICO.

Click the first photo for slideshow viewing.

Oysters start out as "seed" the size of a sand grain. They are grown in screens and then cages until they are big enough to disperse loose  in the bay.

Culling

A culling ring is sometimes used to measure oysters.

Shore and Mark use a machine to sort the baby oysters by size.

Checking the oysters in the screens to see if they are big enough to sort and move to the next phase.

Mark tried his luck at the jumping bluefish as we head back from the river. I'm sure he would like you all to know that he actually caught two fish on the same cast.