Oleana

Spring / summer

Our farm, SIena Farms, has started its harvest and the menu at Oleana has been formed to showcase what is in season once again! Our really, really fresh food is back and we love this time of year!

Meats are also being sourced locally. Buying our animals whole enables us to serve different cuts on different nights of the week. Knowing how the farms operate ensures the best quality and is the most sustainable way of preparing delicious pasture raised meat.

Our menu will change a little, but very often this summer as we trust good weather and our farmers to inspire our dishes.

 

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winter 2011

Cooking classes with Ana at Sofra will resume in November/December and run through the winter. Please check back for the schedule.

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Kitchen Tour with ANa Sortun

 

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Video Recipe

 

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Spices from A Boite A Epices Available at Sofra Bakery
from Stuff Magazine | Photo by Derek Kouyoumjian

The flavors at Oleana (134 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, 617.661.0505) and Sofra (1 Belmont Street, Cambridge, 617.661.3161) have a deep what-do-I-taste? complexity. For dreamy dishes like Ana's Lamb with Turkish Spices at Oleana, Ana Sortun's secret weapon is Ana, an eponymous spice blend. It's made for her by Lior Lev Sercarz, a New York-based chef who operates La Bôite à Epice (laboiteabiscuits.com/epices.html), which translates to "The Spice Box." Sortun found Sercarz through the whisper network of top chefs in New York. A French-speaking Israeli, Sercarz was trained by Daniel Boulud before he began his spice company. Today, he still preps spice blends for chefs, fellow New Yorkers mostly, in his tiny home kitchen. Spices are obviously a Sortun specialty (her award-winning cookbook is titled Spice), and the blends she uses require a lot of labor - drying the orange peel, toasting the coriander seeds, air-drying the jasmine petals. It's because of a shared belief in palate perfection that Sortun entrusts Sercarz with the task of blending her signature mix, a careful balance of sumac, rosebuds, and sesame seeds. Curious about some of Sercarz's other creations? How about Mishmish, a blend of crystallized honey, saffron, and lemon? Or Orchidea, a mix of Sichuan pepper, lime, and orchid root? Or what about Borneo, made from long pepper, lemon, and mace? Although they hadn't met in the flesh until a year ago, Sortun and Sercarz had been going back and forth by mail for several years, getting the blend just right for Ana's secret recipe. When they finally did meet, Sercarz says, "It was instant love." (PS: Sercarz ships retail!)

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Oldways and Ana Sortun go to Turkey in March 2011!
Chef Sortun and the Oldways organization will lead a culinary and cultural tour through Turkey!  For details contact oldwaysspt.org