♪ ♪ >> From the editors of Relish.com, we bring you Moveable Feast, with host Alex Thomopoulos.

>> ALEX THOMOPOULOS: Today we're in Boston, and if you're a food lover like me, you know that this city is going through a major food revolution.

Boston's vibrant and diverse immigrant community is really making their mark here on the food scene, and everybody's taking notice.

Joining me today is multiple James Beard award nominee chef Irene Lee and fellow trailblazing chef Tamika Francis.

Now, both of these chefs have a passion for uber-local ingredients and a commitment to creating positive social change in their communities.

Now, because it's the season and it's just a short drive away, we're off to harvest some of the best of fall's bounty, which includes honey and cranberries straight from the bog.

(crunching loudly) >> You hear that nice pop.

>> ALEX: Then we'll source our vegetables grown right here in the city at the Food Project, a nonprofit urban farm that is near and dear to both of these chefs' hearts.

>> So excited to show you how much food is growing in this very small urban space.

>> ALEX: And after we've gathered all of our ingredients, our chefs will cook up an amazing feast that celebrates the people and the ingredients of New England.

That's all happening right now on Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Coming up next on Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

(gecko clears throat, feedback squeals) >> GEICO would like to take a moment to say thank you to our military service members at home and abroad for all their hard work and sacrifice.

We all sleep easier knowing you're out there keeping us safe.

And on a personal note... (jet engines roar, gecko's speech muffled) (crowd cheering) (exhales) Just needed to get that off my chest.

Thank you.

>> GEICO-- proudly supporting the military for over 75 years.

>> We can't just take from nature, so we collaborate.

Ocean Spray works with nature every day to farm in a sustainable way.

♪ ♪ >> Ocean Spray is a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> At Pure Leaf, the most important ingredient in making tea is saying no.

We're committed to saying no to artificial flavors and sweeteners in our brewed iced teas.

♪ ♪ >> I am Errico Auricchio, the founder of BelGioioso Cheese.

I came in 1979 from Italy with my family and the memory of Italian cheese.

♪ ♪ >> Welcome to Boston.

We are so excited to have you here.

>> ALEX: Thank you guys, for having me, and showing me around today.

>> Well, you're here at the Haley House in Nubian Square in the Roxbury area of Boston, part of my favorite part of Boston.

>> I think, like all big cities, there are many different versions of Boston and most of them people who are just visiting don't get to see.

>> ALEX: And what is this place-- Haley House?

>> So Haley House is a nonprofit that's been here for about 50 years.

They have several programs-- a soup kitchen, it's a shelter.

They also have a transitional work program for folks who were incarcerated.

They have a teaching kitchen and they have amazing food in this cafe.

>> ALEX: So where you guys gonna take me today?

>> First thing we're gonna do is go visit a cranberry bog.

We're going to see how cranberries are grown and harvested.

It's really a magical process.

So it's gonna be a great start to the day.

>> And then we'll come back to Roxbury to go to The Food Project.

>> That's what we're gonna have the feast tonight.

And The Food Project is a really long-standing sort of anchor of the community here in Boston, just like the Haley House.

And so we're really excited to sort of show you these parts of Boston that not everybody gets to see.

>> ALEX: I'm excited to go cranberry bogging, I'm excited to go see The Food Project, and for our feast tonight.

>> So, have a couple last bites, and then we'll go bogging.

>> Yes.

Let's do it.

>> ALEX: All right.

♪ ♪ >> I'm so excited that we're here at Korpinen Cranberry Farm.

This is Wampanoag territory.

And I'm thrilled that we have Adrian here to tell us all about the farm.

>> Thanks so much for coming out and joining us during harvest.

♪ ♪ Certainly exciting time of year.

Cranberries are indigenous to this area in southeastern Massachusetts and have been growing here for hundreds of years.

And not until the 1800s did they start to commercially cultivate them.

So when the early settlers arrived, the Wampanoag tribe was already using them for medicinal purposes.

They're really high in antioxidants, vitamin C. So settlers were taking them back on their cross-ocean journey to prevent scurvy.

On this particular farm, it's about 280 acres and there is 44 acres of bog.

>> ALEX: So it starts dry over here.

You just let the plant do its thing.

And then the second step is to flood?

>> We're doing wet harvest, and that's what we do on our farm here.

The plant itself is a vine so it grows outside of water throughout the year.

Once the harvest is ready, flood it with about a foot to two feet of water.

From that point we're using a Harrow machine.

And what all that's doing is driving over the bog.

And it's knocking the berries off the vine.

Because they have four hollow air pockets on the inside they float to the top.

>> ALEX: So the quality of the water really probably affects the quality of the cranberry.

>> Oh, yeah, water is our most critical resource.

We are stewards of water.

We do that through managing a closed tail water recovery system where all the water on our farm stays on our farm.

>> It looks like a flower to me.

Is it actually a flower?

>> Once we come out into that March timeframe into April, the cranberry comes out of its dormant state.

And hopefully by May, June, it's starting to flower.

And so critical to us at that point are really the bees.

We have about a million to a million and a half bees per acre pollinating our fruit.

>> Wow.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

Yes, >> Do they also make honey?

>> They do.

Our beekeeper has given us some.

You guys can take it if you want to give it a try.

>> That would be amazing.

I'm sure we can find a way to use it in dinner tonight.

>> I think we can, yeah.

>> Awesome.

>> Sounds great.

I'd love to show you the actual cranberry vine itself.

And also we can take a look at how back in the day they would have hand harvested them with a scoop.

I mean, if you guys are up for that?

>> Oh yeah.

>> ALEX: Oh yeah.

I'm down for some manual labor.

>> All right, Good.

>> Wow.

>> Look how colorful that is.

>> It's very firm.

(crunching loudly) >> Hear that nice pop.

(laughing) >> Yeah, I love that crunch.

>> ALEX: Those are delicious!

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Cranberries, again, it's a vine, it's a perennial, comes back year after year.

We call this an upright, and right in the very, very center, that will produce next year's fruit.

I love all these ideas you have with cooking so... you were talking about savory, too, correct?

>> Yeah.

I mean, I think that any time you want a sauce, that's gonna be really sort of tart to like cut through a fatty meat dish or like a barbecue sauce, cranberries, rhubarb, any fruit that really packs that kind of punch I think is perfect.

>> So, if you ladies are ready, let's head out back.

I think we're still wet harvesting.

So if you want to get in the water.

>> So I actually have to head back to the city because I have a few things stirring in my mind.

Can you bring back some dried cranberries, some fresh ones, different varieties and some honey as well?

I have some ideas for that.

>> ALEX: We can do that.

>> Definitely.

>> Thank you.

>> All right, well, let's get to work, ladies.

>> All right.

>> Got a lot to do.

>> ALEX: Let's get in the water.

♪ ♪ >> Excited.

It's like being in a ball pit full of treasures.

>> It's fun, I mean, give it a big scoop.

Look how deep they are down there.

Yeah, you get all the leaves and debris.

>> ALEX: And the spiders >> (laughing): And the... Every now and then we do get the spiders.

But all of this leaves and debris is gonna be rinsed off as it goes up this truck and then going into our compost truck.

So there's no waste here.

So with this pusher we're gonna push it towards where our vacuum is placed below the surface of the water.

So with a perennial crop there's some long-term sustainability; we're not planting it every year.

>> So how did you get into cranberry farming?

Did you wake up one day and go like, "I'm gonna be a cranberry farmer today."

>> We got into cranberry farming about 30 years ago.

So I'm a second generation grower, um, with my dad.

My son is nine.

He'll be the third generation.

>> ALEX: Oh, that's so great.

Do you have him out here in the bog?

>> Yes, he is.

It's a great quality of life for him to understand and appreciate where your food comes from.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: The different colors, does that just determine the ripeness of the berries?

>> Yes.

>> ALEX: Do they have different flavors?

>> So cranberries go through a lot of different reiterations.

So it starts off as a very small green fruit, and maybe, for example, this size.

And this fruit probably didn't get access to the sun.

Maybe it was a little thicker in the vine.

And then it would go to more of this yellow color and then start to turn white.

Some people think it's sweeter.

Some people think it's more tart because the sugars haven't fully developed.

And then it will move to this, you know, that gorgeous red color.

And then, finally, to this beautiful crimson color that you're probably most familiar with.

>> ALEX: I'm noticing that this is getting a lot smaller in size.

>> That means you're working hard.

>> ALEX: So is this how you bring the cranberries in?

>> A line around us we call a boom.

And so when it started this morning, it was out maybe about a fourth of this whole field.

And we bring it in tighter and tighter.

>> ALEX: Very cool.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Irene, Tamika, where have you brought me?

>> We are at The Food Project and we're here with Danielle.

So excited to show you how much food is growing in this very small urban space.

>> Chefs, what is your relationship to this farm?

>> Back in 2012, when I was unemployed, I would come here three times a week and wash produce and help it get packed up for the market, and I just fell in love.

>> I have lived in this neighborhood for a while.

I also volunteered here, taught classes, and I just love The Food Project place mission.

>> ALEX: Can you tell me a little bit about this place?

It seems so special.

>> So this is one of two farms that we run in the neighborhood.

We also have a 10,000 square foot year-round greenhouse that is a both production space and also a community food shared space.

And we feel really lucky to be able to steward this land.

>> ALEX: What sort of produce are you growing right now?

>> Harvesting a lot of beets, broccoli, kales, collards, and sweet potatoes.

>> And, Danielle, you also grow a lot of crops because they're culturally relevant to immigrant groups that live in this neighborhood.

>> One of the things that we grow in a huge quantity are these Tongue of Fire shell beans.

Creamy bean that a lot of our Cape Verdean farmers grow a lot of, so.

>> ALEX: And how have you seen this program affect the community here?

>> We're so lucky to work in a neighborhood where there's already a really rich history of farming and cooking just enhances like what's already happening.

♪ ♪ >> I think broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables.

When I look at these plants, you know, the actual broccoli comes from the very center.

Look at how much energy the plant put into growing everything else.

Like all these gorgeous leaves, which are basically the same thing in a lot of ways as kale or collard greens.

I'm thinking that maybe for tonight we'll just do a broccoli leaf dish.

>> ALEX: Oh that's so interesting.

>> Thank the broccoli plant for growing everything.

♪ ♪ >> Got the beets.

We got broccoli leaves.

We've got sweet potatoes.

And I think Tamika will grab some cilantro.

>> Yum.

>> Yeah.

>> ALEX: And I think we're ready to get cooking.

>> Great.

>> Sounds good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> These scallions look beautiful, Danielle.

>> Thank you.

What are you gonna make with them?

>> Of course I am going to make scallion pancakes.

>> Oh, I love them.

>> Yeah, I'm really excited.

I think it's so cool to get to see scallions actually growing.

Because once you get them in the store like all of this is gone, and all of this is gone, and that's actually like where a lot of the flavor still is.

>> That's absolutely right.

>> It's really cool to see.

>> We always debate how much to clean them up for the market.

Because, I agree with you, but people are used to seeing the tops off of them.

>> Oh, definitely.

I mean, I think some people think that you can only use the bottom part of the scallion.

Just requires a little bit of different preparation.

>> That's right.

>> All right, Danielle, I think this is all I need.

I better get cooking.

>> Great!

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Tamika, what have you decided to make for our feast tonight?

>> A braised goat shank.

I am absolutely excited to share goat with you.

>> ALEX: I love it.

I've had it before, I think it's absolutely delicious, but you don't see it enough here in the States.

>> I mean at least three-fourths of the rest of the world eats goat.

Here in America, it's not quite caught on yet, but I feel like goat is my immigrant story on the plate.

♪ ♪ It's nostalgic for me.

I grew up on a farm in Jamaica.

Always had a goat around.

It's a red meat, but it's definitely not as gamey.

It lends itself to like lots of treatment.

So you could braise it, you could curry-- my absolute favorite.

So I'm gonna start this goat braise by doing a dry rub.

A good amount of salt.

And I love to use pimento berries.

So pimento berries is like the main ingredient or spice in jerk, which is like a Jamaican like quintessential spice.

So all-spice berries, they're in here.

>> ALEX: Okay, what else goes in there?

>> I'm gonna have some ground cumin that goes in here.

I have some turmeric, and I also have a wonderful curry blend that has ginger, cloves, pimento as well, black pepper, cardamom, other spices.

And that just goes in.

I probably should measure this but I tend not to.

You just go with your feelings.

>> ALEX: That's the best way to cook.

♪ ♪ So this is a quintessential Jamaican jerk seasoning?

>> A combination of the spices that would be in jerk, but also a little bit of curry and turmeric, which I think is very common in the Caribbean, also in Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa.

And our cuisine comes from those places.

And this neighborhood, Roxbury, has tons of immigrants from those communities.

I thought it would be a good fit.

>> ALEX: So tell me a little bit about Food & Folklore.

>> Sure.

I like to call Food & Folklore my love story to Boston.

I've lived here for 15 years, have tons of friends in the farming and food community.

We've always had really good conversation what we think is missing from the Boston food scene.

Boston has lots of seafood, lots of steak, and that's amazing, that's great, but I think there's a newer American food story that's evolving.

We want to be part of that.

So we're sharing our food traditions from across the country and across the world through Food & Folklore dinner series.

>> ALEX: And you're telling all of those stories with local ingredients here?

>> Yeah, so we try to source as locally as possible from local farms like The Food Project.

We also try and get sustainably raised meat.

And we also share our passion around social justice by paying folks fairly.

Because that wasn't always a case in our food industry.

All right, Alex, so we have our dry rub on our four lovely goat shanks.

Marinate them first and we'll braise them off for about an hour and a half or so.

>> ALEX: So you have these beets from The Food Project we picked this morning.

What are you gonna do with those?

>> Yeah, so we have two kinds of beets, we have golden beets and our classic red beets.

So we're gonna salt, pepper, olive oil-- very simply.

This goes into an oven, around 400 degrees around 45 minutes or so until they're nice and tender.

We'll rub that nice skin off.

I'm thinking slicing a few in disks, a few in like dice so it'll have some more texture.

>> ALEX: You're gonna go to the oven?

>> Yes.

>> ALEX: Get all this ready, and I'm gonna go see Irene.

>> Sounds good.

>> ALEX: See what she's gonna make.

>> See you back in a bit.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Irene, okay, what are we making today for our feast?

>> The first thing we're gonna make is some scallion pancakes, which is one of my favorite recipes growing up.

>> ALEX: The scallions from The Food Project that we picked?

>> Exactly.

>> ALEX: And then what are you gonna do with those pancakes?

>> I think we're gonna cut them into triangles and use them to pick up some delicious cranberry chutney.

And if people even want to kind of wrap up a little bit of braised goat in a bite of pancake... >> ALEX: Oh, I like that.

>> ...they should do that.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: How did you get into food?

>> I got into food totally by accident.

Food was always the center of our family life when I was growing up.

It didn't really matter what you were doing after school, as long as you were at the dinner table at 6:00 sharp.

But I really fell in love with cooking when I was in college.

I loved going to the farmer's market every single weekend, and I didn't grow up religious at all.

But I always felt like, oh, you know, I have this weekend tradition now, and I go commune with nature, and I hang out with all the people I like.

So this must be what churchgoing people feel like.

>> ALEX: Food became your church.

>> Exactly.

>> ALEX: How would you describe your cooking style?

>> Well, we call it Chinese American food.

We call it a farm to table multicultural Asian.

And then, of course, we like to call it Chinese food with cheese.

We grew up here in Boston eating pizza and mozzarella sticks, and so we have always had cheese kind of at the center of our diet, even though it's definitely not a traditional Chinese ingredient.

>> ALEX: Talk to me about your activism because you do so much for the community.

>> I grew up in part of Boston that is pretty affluent, and I was lucky that I was a very enriched child.

And when I realized that there were so many parts of Boston that weren't like that and parts of Boston that actually I had not really seen before, I felt like it was important for me and for my business to really be looking at how we could give back.

We have a growing community of diners who really do see that there's so much food being cooked in Boston that's not getting showcased in restaurants.

>> ALEX: To be American, it's a beautiful melting pot of people.

And I think this next generation of chefs, and in the culinary space is really reflecting that.

>> Yeah, and it's reflecting in our gardens, too, right?

>> ALEX: Right.

>> Because here at The Food Project, we see lots of things that are not typically found in Italian or French kitchens.

>> ALEX: So, like, what are some of the ingredients that you'll see here that you normally wouldn't see in like a French or Italian garden?

>> One thing I had never seen growing before was actually sweet potatoes and the green.

So the ones that we saw this morning that we harvested, we're gonna have sweet potato the root, and the green part.

>> ALEX: So what's going with the scallion pancake?

>> So we are going to make a cranberry chutney.

♪ ♪ So we're just gonna give these a nice sauté.

And when we start to really smell the sage and onions talking to us, it'll be time to add those cranberries in.

>> ALEX: Great.

And these are cranberries that we got this morning from the bog.

>> Yes.

And then if you could pass me that soy sauce.

>> ALEX: Sage and soy sauce-- who knew?

>> Delicious.

And then the last thing we're gonna add is a big spoonful of that cranberry honey.

>> ALEX: I think I'm gonna use the honey as well in my cocktail.

>> Yum!

>> ALEX: It's got such an interesting flavor to it.

How much?

>> That looks great.

>> ALEX: Perfect.

>> And we'll stir that in.

And then just let this cook down while we get back to our scallion pancakes.

>> ALEX: Cool.

♪ ♪ >> We're separating every layer of dough with a little coating of oil so that when we start cooking it, the steam pushes those layers up and you get all those nice, flaky, delicious pockets.

I like a lot of scallions... >> ALEX: So do I.

>> ...in my scallion pancake.

So then this is a lot simpler than French laminated pastry.

So there's two parts.

The first part is called, "It's a snake!"

And we go, "It's a snake, it's a snake," and we roll it up And then the second part is called, "It's a snail."

So we take this roll and we kind of spiral it.

We took its little tail under.

And then... we flatten it back out... and we're gonna roll it again.

♪ ♪ >> ALEX: I saw you picking up some sweet potatoes and some broccoli leaves from the farm this morning.

What do you think you're gonna do with those?

>> So I'm gonna slice up these sweet potatoes and toss them with a lot of oil and salt.

Get those on the flat top, and hopefully they'll start to caramelize a little bit.

And then I'm chopping up some of these broccoli leaves with the sweet potato vines.

I have some leaks in here, too.

Gonna toss those with oil and salt and fry those on the griddle until they're nice and crispy.

And then I'm going to grab some of that Gorgonzola dolce and some garlic panko breadcrumbs to finish things off.

>> ALEX: I think Tamika's almost done with her goat and her beet dish.

Mama's thirsty.

I'm gonna go make a cocktail.

And this feast is about to get started.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ALEX: Irene, are you thirsty?

>> Definitely.

>> ALEX: Awesome.

This is cranberry juice with a rosemary cranberry honey simple syrup.

>> Wow.

>> ALEX: Some tequila, little lime juice, and a little seltzer on top.

Supposed to be very refreshing.

>> Mm!

That is delicious.

>> ALEX: Good.

Awesome.

I'm gonna go pass these out to our guests.

>> Awesome.

>> ALEX: And we are almost ready for our feast.

>> Yes!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ALEX: How's everybody doing?

You guys good?

(guests responding) Awesome!

Welcome to our feast.

Tonight's feast is a celebration of local ingredients, but more importantly, it's a celebration of local community.

And Chef Tamika, Chef Irene, would you like to share with everybody what you made tonight?

>> So I made a scallion pancake with scallions from right here at The Food Project, as well as a cranberry sage chutney, which is gonna be great on the pancakes.

But I think also might be delicious on the goat.

And then we have a roasted sweet potato dish that has broccoli leaves, sweet potato vines, leeks, some blue cheese and some crispy garlic breadcrumbs.

>> Mm.

That sounds amazing.

We braised a goat shank in red wine, a little bit of cumin, coriander, some curry and also some pimento berries with local carrots from here on the farm, it also has cilantro and also really fresh chives on top.

My second dish was roasted golden beets, roasted red beets on top of celery root puree with a top of chives and also cilantro on that.

>> ALEX: And I hope you enjoy the cocktail that features cranberry juice from cranberries grown right here in New England.

A little bit of cranberry honey and rosemary picked right here from The Food Project.

Cheers, everybody.

Enjoy!

♪ ♪ (people chatting indistinctly) ♪ ♪ >> ALEX: I want to thank The Food Project for hosting us tonight.

Thank you to Chef Tamika and Chef Irene.

And if you want any more information or any of these recipes from today's episode, make sure to visit moveablefeast.relish.com and like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram.

And who knows?

Maybe next episode we'll be feasting in your neighborhood.

Cheers.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> For more information about this episode, recipes, and behind-the-scenes fun, make sure you go to Relish.com, follow us @MoveableFeast_TV on Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

See you next time on a Moveable Feast with Relish.

>> Major funding provided by: >> Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.

(gecko clears throat, feedback squeals) >> GEICO would like to take a moment to say thank you to our military service members at home and abroad for all their hard work and sacrifice.

We all sleep easier knowing you're out there keeping us safe.

And on a personal note... (jet engines roar, gecko's speech muffled) (crowd cheering) (exhales) Just needed to get that off my chest.

Thank you.

>> GEICO-- proudly supporting the military for over 75 years.

>> We can't just take from nature, so we collaborate.

Ocean Spray works with nature every day to farm in a sustainable way.

♪ ♪ >> Ocean Spray is a proud sponsor of Moveable Feast.

>> At Pure Leaf, the most important ingredient in making tea is saying no.

We're committed to saying no to artificial flavors and sweeteners in our brewed iced teas.

♪ ♪ >> I am Errico Auricchio, the founder of BelGioioso Cheese.

I came in 1979 from Italy with my family and the memory of Italian cheese.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪