Backyard Brunch Sessions

There were two reasons why I decided to move the August 6 indoors (the first indoor BBS being Person L):

• it was going to rain (note:  it ended up not raining after all)
• I was moving and wanted to make sure I didn’t risk messing up the backyard

Myself, Jonas, Eric, Pamela from Telextile, and Jared from Minerva Lions brainstormed for a bit until Jared made the recommendation of The Richardson, which is a speakeasy-type bar not that far from my old apartment (yes, I officially moved).  Funny enough, I made a stop at The Richardson on my first date with my girlfriend, so I figured why not host a session there.  Our vibes were the same (urban, rustic, playful) and they have a great back space that would be perfect for us.

After talking with Joel (the owner), the venue was settled.  Now, the issue was finding something to eat that would be something new, something simple, and something easily eaten/disposable.  After a convo with Pamela we landed on the genre of raw food and then it hit me:  white gazpacho.

I literally had never heard of or tried white until a few weeks prior after going to a work event with Geoffrey Zakarian (from TV’s Chopped and Next Iron Chef).  I took the recipe that he gave me and make it my own:

The Core -

• Organic skinless seedless white grapes (alternative:  watermelon)
• Roasted Organic almonds
• Organic seedless skinless cucumber

The spices and liquids -

• Grapeseed Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Verjus
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cream (alternatives:  milk, sour cream, non-dairy milk substitutes)

The wild card -

• Pineapple mint (thanks my old friend Josh Greenfield’s rooftop garden) — a cool alternative could be ginger

Around 12:30pm Pamela rolled to my house wearing a vintage red dress, black boots, and carried a “I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m so excited to be here” smile on her.  After 15 minutes chatting and giving her my shpeal, we got to cooking.

We prepared the gazpacho in under 30 minutes because all it takes it skinning the grapes (note:  taking the skin off is the only time consuming thing in this recipe), peeling/chopping the cucumber, and throwing everything in a blender.  Then all you have to do is let it chill for at least an hour in the fridge.  THAT’S IT!  So simple.  So tasty.

Around 2:30pm I started to serve the meal.  Within 15 minutes all the gazpacho was gone because it was that super tasty and more people showed up than expected.

Around 3:15pm, Pamela’s band took “stage” along the back wall of the back room at The Richardson.  Pamela, standing up, began stomping and clapping slow and quietly as she began singing “Heartquake” alone.

After the brief, but powerful solo song, Pamela sat down, grabbed her harp, and the rest of her band joined her for “What If You.”

The rest of their five-song set was filled with quiet intensity and melodic tranquility compliments of Pamela’s harp and accordian as well as the rest of her 4-piece band.

Finally Minerva Lions hit the “stage” a little after 3:45 shortly before frontman Jared Samuel technically had to leave for a gig playing wedding, but to paraphrase Jared, “that’s what pays the bills.  This is what I love, so I’m not leaving until the set is over.”

Armed with a guitar and a cordless vintage keyboard, Jared lead his band through their 6-song set, which was a combination of originals and a few choice covers including a old favorite of mine — Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cook Original).

Their sound pretty much embodies the earthy soul of The Band as well as the airy guitar sound of Daniel Lanois (producer of U2).  As Jonas said, they’re an ” all-American music experience.”

Even though I moved, this won’t be the last BBS.  I promise…

In the meantime, you can download both sets for free at NYCTaper:  Telextile and Minerva Lions.  In addition, we’ll be releasing new videos in the next few weeks, so stayed tuned on our Youtube page.

All audio by Jonas Blank for NYCTaper.com.  All photos by Dominick Mastrangelo.

Filed under: Backyard Brunch Session, Cheap Cooking, Events, Organic Food Tagged: | almonds, brooklyn, brunch, cream, cucumber, garlic, gazpacho, grapes, grapeseed oil, minerva lions, olive oil, recipe, teletextile, verjus