Alexis Nikole Nelson Eats the Weeds: Recipes from the Wild

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

This episode of Milk Street Radio explores a diverse range of culinary topics, from the art of wild foraging to authentic Roman home cooking

Key takeaways

• Alexis Nikole Nelson explains how wood ear mushrooms can be transformed into a candy-like dessert using syrup and sugar.
• Arianna Pasquini details the 'risottata' technique, where pasta is cooked in a pan with vegetables to absorb flavors like a risotto.

Main topics

• Wild Foraging
• Roman Cuisine

Notable quotes

One is poison and one is a snack.

Conclusion

The episode provides a rich tapestry of culinary knowledge, blending p

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Hey, this is Christopher Kimball. Next May, we're taking a culinary tour of northeastern Spain, and we'd like you to come along. You'll eat just like the locals, which means lobster stew at a folding table by the sea, and sausages and vermouth in a neighborhood taverna. You'll also make fideas a la cazola and sip cava at a small winery. Forage with a botanist and transform your wild harvest into an elegant dinner. And eat barbecue a la Catalonia in a field at the foot of the Pyrenees. Please join us. Head to culinarybackstreets.com slash milkstreet to learn more. That's culinarybackstreets.com slash milkstreet. Thanks for downloading this week's podcast. If you'd like to hear an ad-free version of this episode and every episode, please visit our show page in your Apple Podcast app. Again, you can listen to our show ad-free and support the work we do here at Milk Street. Go visit the Milk Street Radio page in your Apple Podcast app and start your seven-day free trial. And thanks. This is Milk Street Radio from PRX. I'm your host, Christopher Kimball. Speaker 4 (1:11) Alexis Nicole Nelson is an expert forager. That means when she finds wood ear, a tree fungus, she starts dreaming of dessert. Speaker 3 (1:20) When I see how like wibbly wobbly fresh wood ears are growing off of a decaying log, the first thing that I thought of was candy. Later Speaker 4 (1:31) in the show, Alexis Nicole Nelson returns with stories from finding her groceries in the woods. But first, it's my latest interview with Arianna Pasquini. Last year, she gave us a food tour of Rome. Today, she's back to share what Romans actually cook at home. Speaker 4 (1:49) Arianna, welcome back to Milk Street. Speaker 1 (1:52) Thank you so much, Chris. I'm excited. It's always a pleasure to be back with you. Speaker 4 (1:57) So a few years ago, you took me around Rome, where to shop, where to eat. But today, I'd like you to show me the other side of Rome, the personal side. Like, how do you cook on a Tuesday night? You told me you basically eat pasta and vegetables. So, you know, first of all, the pasta in Rome is mostly dried pasta, right? Speaker 1 (2:18) C, CCC. For me, it would be dry pasta mostly because fresh pasta, either egg or non-egg fresh pasta is mostly from the north. And for me, it's pasta and vegetables because I love pasta very much. But also, let's say for, you know, the house economy, eating pasta and vegetables is very affordable. But pasta with vegetables, I mean that you cook the pasta with the vegetables. So there is some sort of technique in there. It's not as simple as it sounds. Speaker 4 (2:55) So let's talk about that. So we don't tend to cook things with the pasta here. So are you just timing it properly to add vegetables to the pasta cooking water, depending upon how long it takes? Or how are you cooking it together? Speaker 1 (3:10) I will give you examples that became very popular to make even in Rome, but they are originally from Neapolitan cuisine because we hybridated a little bit all the regional cuisines together and meshed that up. So we cook pasta together with peas when it's season, fresh peas. But you can use the frozen one. I mean, it's legit, the good brands. And pasta with potatoes, which I guess the... cheapest thing you could possibly have and it's delicious or pasta with lentils or pasta with chickpeas or pasta with pumpkin during the winter time which is my favorite now all these pastas they have a characteristic they are cooked with a technique that i would call risottata meaning that you cook the pasta as you cook risotto in the pan where you have done the sauce you Prep the soffritto and the vegetables. Let's say the pumpkin, okay? That goes very well with garlic instead of onion and some extra virgin olive oil. When the pumpkin is soft, you add the pasta, the dry pasta, and then you cook it with the soffritto. And there is no liquid at this point, okay? And then you add the liquid just to cover. You wait that it's absorbed. You add it a second time until the pasta cooks and you serve it in this little broth. still dense sort of way. And it's very good. Speaker 4 (4:39) Okay, so give me three or four ideas for a simple pasta dish or whatever that you might make during the week. You know, late summer, early fall. What do you want to put on the table? Speaker 1 (4:53) Well, let's start from the starter, from the beginning. I always want, if I have, a little bit of cheese, just a little bit. It could even be Parmigiano-Reggiano that are usually great on top of pasta, but just... Cut in big chunks. Maybe with my honey. So maybe some honey with parmigiano to open my stomach and get ready to eat. But just a little thing. It could be even some dry stale bread soaked in water with some extra virgin olive oil and cherry tomatoes on top. Speaker 4 (5:29) So you have some stale bread. You soak it in water for like a minute or something. You squeeze it out. What do you do? Speaker 1 (5:40) Well, you know bruschetta. Of course you do. In that case, you use the steel bread or even the fresh, soured or the non-salted Tuscany one, sliced and toasted or gently baked in the oven. So it becomes crunchy. You put, you know, some garlic on top of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt or some tomatoes and basil and stuff. In this case, it's the opposite. The same steel bread. you have it and it's too dry to eat it fresh you soak in cold or room temperature water not too much just enough that you can bite it you squeeze it you put it on a dish and you put the condiment exactly like bruschetta but the concept is the opposite it's soaked instead of toasted I eat it for breakfast. Speaker 4 (6:32) Add that to my repertoire. Speaker 1 (6:33) But let's go back to Tuesday, Wednesday night. So I started with something like that. Okay. And then I would do a pasta. Now I'm going to surprise you with maybe burro parmigiano, which is simply butter and parmigiano reggiano or pecorino grated on top, which is not cashew pepper. But the concept is similar. And it's even more simple. And instead of pepper, I grate nutmeg on top. So it's a way like you will do, you know, the topping for the ravioli in the north of Italy. And I love this. And it's not easy because simple food, it's always the most technical to make. And then maybe I will do... side, vegetable side, for example, pumpkin. I love, I said before, I know, but I really love it. I would slice it and bake in the oven while I'm preparing the pasta because it takes very little if you slice it finely and with some rosemary on top. I like to pair rosemary and pumpkin and serve as a side or even on its own with some oil and balsamic vinegar on top. Balsamic vinegar helps the pumpkin. A lot. Speaker 4 (7:48) So the last question I have is eating alone. I know that Parisians rarely eat alone. And I've heard you say that you often eat with your neighbor. So is eating alone, you know, something Italians just don't like to do or actually want to? Or is eating alone becoming, you know, more common? Speaker 1 (8:08) There is a generational conflict here, I believe. It's like, for me, it's not strange at all. I go to the cinema alone, I eat alone, there is no problem. If I think about my family, but even not the very old generation, even I'm the younger of four sisters, for example. My eldest sister, she's turning 56 this year, I'm 35. For her, it would be strange. So it's something that is changing right now due to the new approach that we have to the work culture and job in general. It's not something that's always been like that. Actually, it's been the opposite. So these families that used to be so big and no one had the money or the idea to go independent on their own, people have always been living their life community-based. And this is changing right now. And together with it, the basic aspects of our culture, like the food, that plays this crazy, incredible role in Italy. It's an important moment. It's a ritual. It's a ceremony that is very specific, very important, and it's not just having something to survive, but it's much more. Speaker 4 (9:26) Ariadna, it's always a pleasure to speak with you, and I hope to see you in Rome soon. Speaker 1 (9:32) Grazie mille. Chris, you're always welcome in Rome. Speaker 4 (9:39) That was Arianna Pasquini. She leads food tours and teaches cooking classes in Rome. Now it's time to take your calls with my co-host, Sarah Moulton. Sarah is, of course, the star of Sarah's Weeknight Meals on public television, also author of Home Cooking 101. Speaker 5 (10:01) Hey, Sarah. What's going on? Hey, Chris. So before we get started here with the call, you know, in New York City now, it's impossible to get a reservation on a weekend at midday because everybody's having brunch. How do you feel about brunch? Speaker 4 (10:15) Breakfast is supposed to be eaten when you get up. Speaker 5 (10:18) Oh, I like breakfast for dinner. Speaker 4 (10:20) I like it like past 630. It's not breakfast. And then taking sort of lunch and breakfast and calling it brunch is just I don't understand that. Realistically, what's going on on a Sunday, you know because you've been in the restaurant industry, the chefs, et cetera, are all passed out. And the dishwasher and other people are doing the cooking. And they're making these overcooked three-egg omelets or whatever it is. And also they're injecting the idea of this is kind of a party thing. Because there's alcohol. I don't know. Mimosa. Speaker 5 (10:52) Oh, Lord. Speaker 4 (10:54) Oh, Lord. I'm sorry. On Sunday, I still get up at 530. I know that. I'm so. You are. The most boring person in the world. That thing. I'm out of bed by 5.45 in the morning on a Sunday. So I got work to do. Also, the idea of Sunday, you're sort of lazing around and drinking champagne and orange juice and stuff. Speaker 5 (11:10) It goes against your New England spirit. Speaker 4 (11:13) Well, I think there is something about the New England spirit which doesn't appreciate fun. That's why I don't like swimming pools because I don't like the idea of sitting around. Speaker 5 (11:25) A Speaker 4 (11:25) pool because you're not being useful. I know this is – I really need to go see a psychoanalyst. You are a lot of fun. Oh, my goodness. No, I Speaker 5 (11:33) just think – No, you've got principles. Let me just say this about that. I'm not a big fan of brunch either. Really? Yeah, but I do think that eggs can be eaten midday and I think they can be eaten for supper. I Speaker 4 (11:44) totally agree with that. Speaker 5 (11:45) Yeah, Speaker 4 (11:45) so – I eat it for supper all the time. Yeah. Speaker 5 (11:47) It's not overcooked omelets. There's some beautiful egg poaching going on and interesting international recipes a la Milk Street that you are missing. A Speaker 4 (11:57) lot of restaurants for brunch is not the highlight of their culinary offerings. Let's be honest. I don't know about that. Speaker 5 (12:05) All right. Well, note to self, don't ever invite Chris out for brunch. Next Speaker 4 (12:09) time I see you, I'll just invite you to brunch. Speaker 5 (12:12) And I'll have pancakes. And we'll see. Because that's what you'll make. Speaker 4 (12:15) Yeah, that'll work out. I like Speaker 5 (12:17) pancakes. All right, let's take a call. Welcome to Milk Street. Who's calling? Hi, this is Susan calling from Brooklyn. Oh, how nice. Where in Brooklyn? Park Slope. Okay. How can we help you? Speaker 8 (12:30) Well, I have a question. I live in a small apartment building, and our radiators are erratic. They're not broken, but they're erratic. And when they're down, I try to bake them. something in the oven to keep the apartment a bit warmer. I've tried Irish soda bread and ginger pancake that require about an hour of baking time. And I wondered if you had any other suggestions. And I even roasted a whole pumpkin one. Speaker 5 (12:56) Susan, this is not a baking question. This is a heating question. This is a lifestyle. This is survival. This