Since our opening last July we have been committed to using all natural chicken and beef.  Many of our new customers often ask me why we have made this choice. We here at La Cuisine truly believe that all natural chicken and beef simply taste better and are better for the environment than their conventional counterparts.  Read on for more details!

Does all natural protein taste better than conventional?

We believe this is a big yes and probably our number one reason for using these proteins.   We have found that all natural chicken has a deeper, earthier flavor, tasting in fact more like chicken. The breasts remain tender when cooked and do not have a tendency to dry out even when reheated.  All natural beef exhibits many of the same properties, the beef has better marbling (fat dispersed throughout a particular cut) and the flavor is deeper and richer than conventional products.

All natural chicken and beef are fed using feed that is exactly what the name implies “All Natural”.  That means no animal byproducts are feed to the animals, they eat corn, whole grains, grass, and minimally processed feed.  This also means that there are no antibiotics in the animals feed.  They fight diseases naturally and are not pumped full of hormones to mask real flavor.  This ultimately allows the animal to live a more normal life, as nature intended.  As the end consumer of a long natural cycle, we benefit from all that the animal has ingested.

Most conventional chickens and cows are kept in massive holding areas as they grow and are prepared for harvest.  Their feed is filled with antibiotics and hormones to protect them from being in such close quarters with each other and to artificially inflate their growth rates so they can reach weight faster.  As a result, meat does not develop the deep complex flavor of all natural proteins.  Often times we find conventional meat to be bland and flavorless.  Sauces and rubs easily mask the flavors of the product instead of working in harmony with it as with all natural chicken and beef.

Is all natural chicken and beef better for the environment?

We believe the answer is yes.  Animals are not kept in massive holding lots like their conventional counterparts.  Therefore, animal waste can be processed at normal levels instead of the massive amounts of animal by product that occurs from conventional husbandry.  Many farms actually use their own animal manure to fertilize crops on their land thereby keeping the growth cycle within the farm itself.  Animals eat natural feeds that their own manure originally helped to fertilize.  Sounds slightly graphic but the truth comes out when you taste the products.

All natural feed helps to support organic and all natural farming, minimizing the use of pesticides on the land.  Crops and feed grown organically and all naturally use natural pesticides and herbicides to protect against insects.  As a result farm run off is not toxic and does not contribute to the pollution of our creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, and ultimately the ocean.

All natural beef and chicken tastes fantastic, is better for the environment, and as a result is ultimately better for you the consumer. Stop by today and try our delicious all-natural chicken and beef dishes.  See for yourself what all natural is all about!

Please check out the following web sites for more information on all-natural proteins:

Our meat supplier: www.cambridgepacking.com

All-natural chicken farm: www.springermountainfarms.com

All-natural beef: www.brandtbeef.com

Tags: all-natural, animals, antibiotics, beef, chicken, conventional, environment, flavor, hormones, La Cuisine, pesticides, proteins, taste

A warm lentil salad made a great addition to a mustard coated rack of lamb the other night. The lamb was salt and peppered, simply coated with Pommerey whole grain mustard, dusted with bread crumbs, and then thrown in a 400 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes, depending on the size of the rack and how you like your lamb.

After a quick browse through Alice Waters The Art of Simple Cooking, I cooked a cup of lentils for about 30 minutes until done, drained them, and tossed in some salt and fresh ground pepper, and about 2T of Banyuls red wine vinegar then tossed while still warm. I fine diced about 1/2 cup each of eggplant and onion, quickly sautéed in olive oil, and finished with another 2T of vinegar. Added that to the lentils. Picked about 1/4 cup total of mint, basil and parsley, chopped fine, added to the lentils, with the tips of a bunch of blanched asparagus. Just before serving, I added 1/2 piece of Chévre aux épices, a wonderful French goat cheese we just started carrying. As you can see, it is crusted with fine herbs. It is fresh, soft, mild, and a perfect compliment to the lentils. Added a green salad and bingo - another 30 minute miracle!

Tags: Alice Waters, Chevre, fine herbs, goat cheese, lamb, lentils, pepper, Pommerey, salt, summer dinning, The Art of Simple Cooking

Julia Child would be 96 today. The recent revelations about her career as a spy (New York Times, 08/14/08) have only added to the incredible stature of one of the first true stars de cuisine in America. Her first tome, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published shortly before I started law school in Boston. Written with Louisette Berthole and Simca Beck, the volume was both scary for it’s incredible detail and exciting for the door it opened to French cuisine. Watching the taping of her shows at WGBH, buying heretofore unheard of ingredients at Cardullo’s in Harvard Square or the stalls of Haymarket downtown became one of the few affordable activities on a student budget that occasionally produced some good food as a by product. She defined technique, the illustrations were typically helpful, sometimes not so, but the recipes did work if you followed them with precision.

Her style evolved as our palette’s did, focusing on ingredients as well as process, pulling back from the grand cuisine of her early works to embrace a more fluid, relaxed approach, much easier for the novice to try. Even in her 90’s, her persona lit up the TV screen in the specials she did with a variety of chefs, including our local celeb, Jacques Pépin. The chemistry between them was delightful.

One of my all time favorite Julia recipes, done in conjunction with Jacques, is for Leg of Lamb. It’s perfect for this time of year with some grilled eggplant, steamed just dug potatoes, and the last of the haricot vert in the garden. See below.

I, like many, can still hear that distinctive voice in the pages of her books, and remember her signature sign off: Bon Appetit!

Leg of Lamb a la Julia Child

2 1/4 pound leg of lamb, butterflied

Marinade

2 large cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS dijon mustard
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp thyme
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Puree garlic into a small bowl and mash to a paste with the salt. Whisk in the mustard, soy, herbs (one may also use rosemary or oregano, or a mixture of all three), lemon juice. Add the oil slowly, still whisking, to make a mayonnaise-like cream.

In a dish large enough to accommodate the leg of lamb, coat with the marinade. Let sit at least 8 hours, overnight if possible. Note - I use a large ziplock that I can rotate and turn every hour or so.

Preheat oven to 325. Roast lamb in a roasting pan until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees (approximately 45 minutes — as determined from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, it should be about 24 minutes per pound). Let rest under foil tent for 15-20 minutes and serve.

Tags: America, Bon Appetit, Boston, Cardullo's, chefs, chemistry, eggplant, French cuisine, Garden, grand cuisine, grilled, haricot vert, Harvard Square, Haymarket, Jacques Pépin, Julia Child, Julia recipes, Leg of Lamb, Louisette Berthole, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, persona, potatoes, Simca Beck, WGBH

Hello friends!

Welcome to the inaugural blog of La Cuisine Cafe, Market and Catering. Several times a week, we hope to publish short snippets about all things related to food. This week’s edition focuses on our organic garden and how it came to be.

People sometimes take a quick look at our industrial facade and say “Where the heck do you guys have a garden?” The answer is all around the exterior of the building - in raised beds that we replant each year. Raised garden beds make for better gardening for variety of reasons but probably the most important reason is total control of the soil content. This year, we took our garden to a new level. Ben bought 8,000 lbs. of organic lobster compost from Maine… no typo here, folks. That photo shows 8,000 lbs. of compost being unloaded into our yard here at LaCuisine Cafe, Market and Catering.

Once we received the compost, the beds were mulched and tilled and made ready for seedlings. The seeds we use in our garden are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Johnny’s focuses on organic and heirloom varietals… you won’t find GMO (genetically-modified organism) seeds at Johnny’s and you won’t find GMO seeds in LaCuisine’s garden. Ben and Patty prefer to start their seeds indoors to monitor temperature, water intake, and sun exposure. Starting the seeds indoors helps them make it through the harsh Branford, CT spring.

After about three to four weeks of indoor germination, the seedlings were transplanted en masse to the outdoor beds. This year, we planted a large variety of vegetables and herbs including four varietals of tomatoes and three varietals of squash as well as cauliflower, lettuce, cucumbers, all manor of herbs, and - of course - Patty’s favorite, the ever-present sunflowers. (Don’t ask me how she gets them to grow so tall. Clearly, Patty has the greenest of green thumbs.)

As I write our first blog post on LaCuisine.net, we are harvesting Pattypan squash, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and herbs galore - and our early tomatoes are just beginning to show. Yesterday’s thunderstorms added a much needed dose of rain. Dry conditions seem to be the biggest problem for our garden this year.

Growing our own vegetables and herbs is a labor of love. We toil in our garden to bring you nothing but the freshest ingredients. We note the food items in our market case or on our menu that are made with our own garden produce. At LaCuisine, we practice what we preach. Eat locally-grown food… eat organically-grown food. We’re doing our part to reduce our overall carbon footprint. We thank you all for your support during our first year open at the café and market. Feel free to subscribe to our blog. We’ll keep you updated on all the good things to come out of our kitchen… whether it’s take-out or eat-in, our food is prepared from vegetables and herbs from our own garden… and it can’t get much fresher than that!

Cheers,

Brendan

Tags: Branford CT, CT shoreline, garden produce, genetically-modified organism, GMO seeds, green thumb, indoor germination, Johnny's Selected Seeds, La Cuisine Cafe Market and Catering, locally-grown food, organic gardening, organic herbs, organic seeds, organic vegetables, organically-grown food, raised garden beds, sunflowers, take-out