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December 18, 2012 by admin

Tagliatelle with Wild Boar Ragu

Toasted Spelt Tagliatelle
1 tsp sea salt
500 grams “00” flour
250 grams toasted spelt flour
100 grams semolina
9 each egg yolks
3 each whole eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup water

1. Place salt, flours, and semolina in a bowl and mix well. Turn out onto a flat surface and make a well in the center.
2. Add egg yolks, eggs, olive oil, and water in a bowl and mix well.
3. Add wet ingredients into the center of the well and begin pulling the dry ingredients into the wet with a fork.
4. Once the dough begins to form a solid mass, begin to knead the dough by hand, pulling up all the residual flour on the board. Knead for 10 minutes, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
5. Cut the ball of dough into 4 with a knife and roll out to a number 1.5 on your pasta machine.
6. Cut the sheets of dough into 10-inch-long sheets.
7. Attach the tagliatelle cutter to the pasta machine and feed the dough through. Dust with semolina and store in freezer until ready to use.

WILD BOAR RAGU
Yields 3 pounds

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December 18, 2012 by admin

A BLANK CULINARY CANVAS

It’s exciting to visualize: Chef Scott Conant and his team gathered around a table with a blank piece of paper and a roomful of ideas. And now it’s even easier to do thanks to the artfully inspiring Culinary Loft that serves a thousand uses and more. It’s not just an office that doubles as an event space—it’s bigger than that. It’s all the stages in between, making it a crucial part of the next steps in Chef Conant’s world.

Probably the most important consideration was the room itself. It’s open and bathed in light. It’s warm and yet elegant. As Chef Scott Conant points out, “Lighting and mood is very important here, just as it is in any restaurant setting.” And it’s inviting. “You come up the elevator and it’s very private; it’s like being in a home, and that really works for a lot of people,” explains Director of Corporate Events Brandon Lynn.

After that, it was important to discuss functionality and practicality. The Culinary Suite encourages both with its convenience. “Scott always has a ton of ideas and visions. He feeds them to me and I pick a time to work them out and get immediate feedback, since he is right here,” says Corporate Chef Nick Kennedy. “It’s great to be able to run through things and bounce ideas off each other, right at the table.” Nick admits he’s a morning person who likes to get in at 8 a.m. and enjoy the quiet. “Here, we can basically work all day and into the night without feeling the pressure of using up someone else’s precious space.”

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December 18, 2012 by admin

Room to Create With Brandon Lynn

Brandon Lynn knows how to throw a party. As the Director of Corporate Events for SCM, he handles all aspects of private dining for Scarpetta in New York, Beverly Hills, and Las Vegas, and now those at the Culinary Suite. Whether it’s creating an experience for a small group with cocktails and canapés or a five-course sit-down dinner, Brandon’s goal is always the same: to celebrate life through good food.

I always loved food and cooking as a child, and my grandmother was a big influence on me in that regard. After school, I worked as a general manager and a food and beverage director at various restaurants and small hotels before spending a few years as the director of production for a destination management company based in South Florida and the Bahamas. It rounded out my hospitality education, as I traveled a lot throughout the United States to conduct site visits. After that, I headed to New York, where I spent about four years at Gotham Bar and Grill as the assistant general manager and director of events before I came to SCM.

The first time I actually came to the Culinary Suite was for an event, and I was drawn by how comfortable the room was. I loved the original concept for the space and how versatile it could be. The table can go away and we can do a product launch; we can do a taping, make a film. Chef Scott Conant has grown a solid brand with Scarpetta that has a strong future. Realizing the true potential of the Culinary Suite is an exciting next step of which I’m glad to be a part.

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December 18, 2012 by admin

A CREATIVE WHEELHOUSE

Sometimes the best ideas are born out of sheer frustration, as in the case of the Culinary Suite. Chef Scott Conant’s idea took on a life of its own and became a reality. The suite has quickly become Conant’s creative wheelhouse—a multipurpose space to inspire, to create, to collaborate, and to sit back and savor in a unique destination.

Spending as much time as I do in different restaurants, I often find it hard to complete a thought with all that racket going on! Commercial kitchens are noisy and cluttered, and not at all conducive to testing and experimenting with recipes. Time and space simply do not exist inside a busy restaurant. So I got this idea years ago to have a place where I could do that—think out loud. To that I added the need for an office component with a library of cookbooks available to my entire team as a creative outlet. And that’s where the initial thought process started.

I took the idea a little further and thought: O.K., what if I created a space where I could do food photography, video shoots, and recipe development, with a big table as the focal point to gather around and allow for an interchange of free-thinking ideas? A platform where we could throw ideas at one another and then actually apply them. All of this was great in theory, but, let’s be honest, an office space in Manhattan is an expensive venture, and so I had to think outside of the box as to how I could make it work financially. That’s when the event-space angle came to mind.

What if we could make a space nice enough to create a whole different revenue stream while applying some of the original ideas? Scarpetta New York is great for entertaining large parties, but this idea has opened up a whole new option for private dining, not to mention cooking classes, cocktail parties, and much more. When I found this specific location, it all came together. There was a section for an office, ample room for a big table that encourages easygoing discourse but still keeps it serious on a workday, plus a space in the back for more private conversations. And the kitchen allows us to bring together all things culinary: from demos and cocktail parties to private luncheons and five-course tasting dinners.

There is something very warm and approachable about this space while still having an inherent elegance to it. It lends itself perfectly to many different situations. It inspires me and really allows my team to accomplish so much more in a relaxed yet energizing atmosphere. And I think the untapped opportunities are endless!