Arthur Schwartz
The Food Maven
About Arthur: The New York Times Magazine called Arthur Schwartz “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge.” As the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News, which he was for 18 years, he was called The Schwartz Who Ate New York. Nowadays, he is best known as The Food Maven, the name of his website. Whatever the sobriquet, he is acknowledged as one of the country’s foremost experts on food, cooking, culinary history, restaurants, and restaurant history.
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Ann Amendolara Nurse’s Famous Ambrosial Baked Ham; plus Roasted Asparagus
Ann Amendolara Nurse is a force of nature. As she herself has said, “I may be old but never fear, I can still climb a hill in shifty gear.”
How to describe this smart, funny, wise, incomparably generous and indefatigable woman? You might say she is a mother figure to many of us in the New York/New Jersey food world. Indeed, she often refers to herself as Mother, as in “I’m just telling you what your old mother thinks.” Or, when she wants something, “Do your old Mother a favor.” No one ever denies Ann, as she would never deny one of her “children.” I, for one, however, never think of her as parental. She’s just my dear friend Annarose, which is her given name and the name her family still calls her.
How did Ann become mother to so many in the New York food world? Many years ago, she was a cooking teacher and before that, as she likes to remind us often, a professional singer, as if we would ever think of her as one dimensional. Her cooking career started inauspiciously enough. :Like many of us, she’s been cooking since she could reach the kitchen counter – since she was 6 or 7, as she remembers – and after she married Gene, she loved giving dinner parties. She was such a good cook that people always asked her for recipes. Somehow, her renown as a hostess evolved into a catering business, and her renown as a caterer led her parish priest at the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Kensington section of Brooklyn, to ask her to conduct cooking classes. After a time, she also conducted classes in the Kingsboro Community College and Bishop Ford High School adult education programs. Eventually, she helped launch the original culinary program at the New School in Greenwich Village, which eventually broke off from the New School and became the New York Restaurant School.
Perhaps her most famous endeavor, however, was her always sold out, annual Easter-season brunch that she produced at the James Beard House to benefit the scholarship fund in her name at New York City Technical College (City Tech), where Ann continues to produce special sessions with guest chefs, exposing students to some of New York City's top toques. In fact, Ann’s fans would reserve their places a year ahead. As you might well think, Ann serves more dishes at this party than fill some cookbooks, but the piece de resistance is Ann’s own glorious baked ham. Here’s the recipe. It’s easy, but you must buy a high-quality, low-moisture smoked ham for it to be really good.
Ann Amendolara Nurse’s
Famous Ambrosial Baked Ham
Makes 1 whole ham to feed at least 20, probably more
1 12- to 18-pound smoked ham, bone in
Whole cloves
3 cups pineapple juice
1 pound dark brown sugar
1 bottle dark corn syrup
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place the ham in a large open roasting pan. Score the fat into a 1-inch diamond pattern, and stud completely with cloves. The cloves should be about an inch apart. Pour the pineapple juice over the ham. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 12 minutes a pound.
3. After the first 1 1/2 hours, remove the pan from the oven and carefully pat brown sugar on to completely cover the top of the ham. Then gently pour the corn syrup over the ham, taking care not to disturb the sugar covering. Return the pan to the oven and continue baking, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices.
4. Once the ham has baked for the allotted time, remove it from the oven and continue basting until the ham is cool, about an hour. This gives it a beautiful glaze. The remaining syrup may be used to make candied yams, sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
Roasted Asparagus
I feel I should always give credit to George Germon and Johanne Killeen for this recipe, even though roasted asparagus -- indeed, all kinds of roasted vegetables -- are served all over these days. They are the husband-and-wife chef-owners of the highly acclaimed Al Forno restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island, and the authors of a cookbook with their restaurant's recipes, Cucina Simpatica (HarperCollins, $25). George and Johanne pioneered the high temperature roasting of vegetables in the early 80s, about the same time they invented grilled pizza. By the way, at Al Forno, a bit of butter would also dress the asparagus. I find the light brushing of olive oil and a liberal salting is enough.
The recipe
Arrange the asparagus in one layer on a baking sheet and brush them lightly with olive oil. Alternately, drizzle a little olive oil on the baking sheet, then roll the asparagus around to coat them with oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt, if desired.
Place the asparagus in a preheated 500-degree oven and roast until the spears are tender. The medium-thick asparagus I favor take about 8 minutes to roast tender.
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