Home /  News /  Food

RSSRSS Feed

Bring home the flavors of camp

By Jonah Levenberg

February 2nd, 2010

My sister-in-law, Lindsay, spent the latter half of 2009 working with her boyfriend, Chef Jesse Schenker, to open Recette (recipe in French), a new “urban American restaurant” with a menu that focuses on small plates and snacks using fresh ingredients delivered daily.

Sitting down at a table for an opening event for friends and family last month was a tremendous experience that left me speechless. All around me, the only words I heard were “amazing,” “phenomenal” and “Chef (Jesse) is a rising star.”

After the event, we walked to SoHo’s City Winery, owned by former Milwaukeean Michael Dorf. While enjoying a glass of Moschofilero from Greece, Michael recounted his experiences at the Steve & Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken JCC and how much of an impact it has on the lives of his children.

“While running near our home in upstate New York, I imagine myself running along Lake Finley at camp and have the connection to my boys while they are there.”

We chatted about the winery and other camp topics, including the improvement of camp food over the last number of years. While certainly we cannot compare Recette’s gastronomical paradise to camp food, some camp favorites are nothing short of sublime.

The following recipes are some camp favorites with a unique twist for your home kitchen.

 

Interlaken kids love grilled cheese and tomato soup day. These two recipes are a twist on what we serve at camp. The second, the Grilled Cheese and Strawberry Jam is a takeoff of a recipe that I tweaked from a small café in the North Woods. 

 
Cream of Tomato Basil Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, lightly chopped
28-ounce can diced tomatoes (use canned Italian plum if possible)
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat olive oil in stock pot over medium-low heat and cook onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir the onions every couple of seconds and allow to very slowly brown. Add sugar, garlic and basil and cook additional 30 seconds.

Add both types of tomatoes, vegetable stock, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer 30 minutes over medium-low heat, being careful not to burn the bottom of the stock pot. Remove from heat.

Carefully puree soup with immersion blender. Just before serving, slowly add heavy whipping cream while stirring. If you plan to freeze, do not add cream until you are ready to serve.

Makes 8 Servings
 
Grilled Cheese with Strawberry Jam

1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 tablespoons butter (don’t use margarine)
8 slices sourdough bread
8 slices sharp cheddar cheese
8 slices mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons strawberry jam

In a non-stick fry pan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook red onions until slightly browned, about 3 minutes. Remove from pan.

Assemble sandwiches with 2 slices of each cheese, red onion and strawberry jam per sandwich. Butter each side of sandwich.

Heat fry pan without adding additional oil. When hot, but not smoking, add sandwiches, two at a time. Fry until bread is lightly browned on each side.

Makes 4 servings.
 
Deconstructed S’mores
1 scoop vanilla bean ice cream (use a good quality vanilla bean ice cream)
1 tablespoon marshmallow fluff
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
1/2 piece graham cracker
 
In a ramekin add scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Add marshmallow fluff and lightly drizzle with chocolate syrup. Break graham cracker into two pieces and wedge next to ice cream. Serve immediately.

A classically trained chef, Jonah Levenberg is the director of food services at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, where he is the creative mind behind CAF%u0100 B DATA and Citron Catering. He blogs at www.jccmilwaukee.org.