Food for Thought: Fish Stories: From the Deep Blue Sea to the Top of Your Plate ...

New York, New York

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Food for Thought: Fish Stories: From the Deep Blue Sea to the Top of Your Plate with Lidia Bastianich & Tom Philpott - $175

Wednesday, June 06, 2012 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (Eastern Time)

La Scuola at Eataly
200 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010
United States
(212) 229-2560

Class Description
If present trends continue, the bounty of seafood we enjoy today will be a fond memory by 2050. Overfishing, pollution, climate change, the destruction of coral reefs: all are turning our great underwater ecosystems into inhospitable places for the sea creatures we love to eat. What can consumers do to help save the oceans while enjoying seafood, too? The answers, happily, are delicious. Ecologists agree that one key is pointing our appetites to the lower part of the food chain. There's plenty of flavor lurking down there: anchovies, sardines, oysters, mussels, and the like. But that doesn't mean kissing goodbye to the top feeders. Sure, the days of unthinkingly gobbling up bluefin tuna, which verges on extinction, are over. But it is vital that consumers support well-managed—and delicious—fisheries like Alaska's glorious salmon runs. In this class, Mother Jones (www.motherjones.com) food writer Tom Philpott will deliver an overview of the problems facing the oceans while Chef Lidia Bastianich will whip up a few of the solutions. Lidia will demonstrate a 3-course pesce menu paired with complementary wines. Guests will enjoy everything Lidia prepares featuring our freshest catches direct from Eataly’s Pesce Department. Class will be complete with adapted recipes and wine tasting notes to take home.

Menu:
Antipasto Primaverile di Acciughe (Spring Anchovy Antipasto)
Crostini di Vongole (Assorted Clam Crostini)
Branzino con Capperi, Limone ed Erbe (Local Ocean Branzino with Capers, Lemons & Herbs
**Menu subject to slight change based on ingredient availability

Wines:
Prosecco Flor NV
Bastianich "Vespa" Bianco 2011
Bastianich Rosato 2010

Lidia Bastianich is one of the best-loved chefs on television, a best-selling cookbook author, restaurateur, and owner of a flourishing food and entertainment business. Lidia has married two passions in life - her family and food, to create multiple endeavors alongside her two children, Joseph and Tanya. Lidia has authored seven cookbooks as well as the recent, Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidia's Christmas Kitchen, her first children's book. Lidia is the chef/owner of four acclaimed New York City restaurants - Felidia, Becco, Esca and Del Posto, as well as Lidia's in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. In 2010, alongside her son Joe Bastianich, Mario Batali, Oscar Farinetti and the Sapers, she opened Eataly. Lidia is the founder and president of Tavola Productions, which produces Lidia's Italy. Together with her son Joseph, Lidia also produces award-winning wines at Bastianich Vineyards in Friuli and La Mozza Vineyards in Maremma, Italy. Along with her daughter Tanya, son-in law Corrado Manuali and other partners, the team launched Nonna Foods in 2010 as a platform to distribute an array of both existing and new "Lidia's" food products. Lidia gives freely of her time and knowledge, and is an active member of society who participates in community service activities and special events on behalf of the James Beard Foundation and Public Television. To learn more about Lidia please visit www.LidiasItaly.com.

Tom Philpott writes on all things food and agriculture related for Mother Jones. He is the cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. With a distinguished background in financial journalism, Philpott formerly wrote for the online magazine Grist, and in 2011 he was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Journalism Award. Last year Utne Reader named Philpott one of 25 "visionaries who are making the world a better place."

** Class duration is approximate and may vary by 10-15 minutes.