By Carly DeFilippo

This week, the New York culinary community celebrated the 20th anniversary of Chefs Collaborative, the leading national nonprofit network of chefs invested in creating a more sustainable food landscape. ICE hosted the cookbook launch for the collaborative’s 2013 publication, featuring recipes from such renowned chefs as Dan Barber, Rick Bayless, Mary Sue Milliken, and Ethan Stowell.

A selection of chefs from across the country prepared a local, seasonal feast, featuring their recipes from the book. ICE students cooked alongside these culinary all-stars, preparing dishes such as Matthew Weingarten’s whey-poached triggerfish or Piper Davis’ Oregon filbert and honey tart.

ICE grad Seohyung Im and Chef Caroline Fidanza of Brooklyn’s Saltie

ICE students helped prepare Andrea Reusing’s savory custard (Lantern).

Also in attendance was Ellen Jackson, who authored the 2013 cookbook in cooperation with the organization’s member chefs. In total, the text features 115 sustainable recipes, as well as dedicated sections addressing the benefits of organic products, baking with whole grains, sourcing sustainable fish, the comparative quality of frozen meat, and more.

ICE President Rick Smilow, Ellen Jackson and Michael Leviton (Area Four; Lumiere)

We were also thrilled to see alumni working toward a more sustainable food industry, such as Sydney Schwarz of Sea to Table, as well as other members of the extended ICE family, like Chefs Advisory Council member Michael Anthony.

Sydney Schwarz, Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern) and Seth Caswell (Bon Appetit Management Company)

Thank you to all the members of the Chefs Collaborative who helped make this event a success. It was our pleasure to celebrate your 20th anniversary and cookbook launch, and we look forward to continuing to support your efforts toward a more sustainable food industry.

I first learned of Canal House Cooking while browsing through a bookstore in Soho two years ago. In the cooking and food writing section I noticed a series of five thin books, each a numbered volume categorized by season, sandwiched between the much thicker, bulky cookbooks on the shelf. Size wasn’t the only thing that set these cookbooks apart; authors Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton cook, write, style, photograph and design all volumes out of their Lambertville, NJ studio kitchen.  Today, those self-published cookbooks are a staple in my kitchen (and often in my purse while on holiday vacations and weekend trips to Cape Cod), where they continue to inspire my cooking.

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Regular readers of DICED will know Chef Instructor James Briscione from his many adventures around ICE. In April alone, he went to Italy to study sous-vide, starred in the Celebrity Apprentice and gave us a recipe for potato-crusted halibut.  What you may not know is that he and wife Brooke Parkhurst’s book, Just Married & Cooking, will make its debut next week.

While Chef James can usually be found teaching in one of ICE’s professional Culinary Arts kitchens or cooking pork in a recreational class, Brooke is also an ICE Instructor who leads classes in ICE’s Center for Food Media. In addition to all this, they teach couples cooking classes together. As a newly married couple with a strong background in food, they created e a compendium of delicious recipes for any occasion — from weeknight meals to special moments.

Just Married & Cooking is jammed packed with over 200 recipes for couples to prepare affordable, seasonal meals at home together — a venerable guide to life together in the kitchen. They say, “We think it’s simple enough not to intimidate beginners yet inspiring enough to entice first-timers into the kitchen.” Ted Allen, the host of Food Network’s Chopped (which Chef James won twice!) praised the book as “an instant classic that every young couple should put on their gift registry. Yes, it’s a great collection of recipes, as easy as they are delicious and interesting. But, more than that, it’s an owner’s manual for the heart of the household, as inspiring to (ahem) older couples as it is essential to newlyweds.” For an example of some of their great ideas, check out these Derby Day recipes.

If you are in the New York City area, you can catch them at Williams Sonoma at Columbus Circle on May 11, or catch one of two “Cook the Book” classes they will be doing at ICE on May 14 or May 15. The book will be available in stores on May 10, but you can preorder online in the ICE bookstore.

For more from the duo, check out their Twitter and Facebook or their website.

Dan Leader was at ICE yesterday to demonstrate a variety of bread recipes for ICE students and alumni. Leader, who sits on ICE’s Pastry & Baking Arts Advisory Council, was named one of Dessert Professional’s Top Ten Bread Bakers in America in 2010. He is the owner and baker of the acclaimed Bread Alone Bakery in New York’s Catskill Mountains. His amazing breads are also available at the Union Square Greenmarket.

In addition to being a accomplished baker, Leader is also the author of Bread Alone, Local Breads and Panini Express. His latest book is Simply Great Breads: Sweet and Savory Yeasted Treats from America’s Premier Artisan Baker. The book is full of easy bread recipes inspired by request for simple, fast recipes from his readers and customers.

For the demo, Leader demonstrated a flatbread, doughnuts and chocolate babka. Leader walked the audience through the three dramatically different breads, but said that baking really just boiled down to keeping things simple and understanding a few basic techniques. More…

As Christmas decorations go up and the fifth day of Hanukkah begins, we’ve been thinking about all the food that goes along with the holidays. Between the cookies, cheese balls, and general feasting at parties, we here at ICE are very excited for all the treats we’ll get to eat between now and the end of the season. But beyond just eating, the holidays are a time to create lasting food memories. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the experience of making treasured cookies. For Hanukkah, people work on perfecting the ideal latke with recipes passing through generations. Variations on these traditions abound, and everyone has at least a few lasting holiday memories.

So, to celebrate the season, we’d want to hear about your traditions and memories. Tell us your favorite holiday food memory, whether it is a beloved Christmas tradition, a funny Hanukkah story or a memorable New Year’s Eve, and you’ll be eligible for a chance to win a copy of baking maven Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook, Around My French Table. You can leave a comment below, or let us know on our Facebook wall or over Twitter. We’ll leave the contest open until January 3, 2011, leaving time to include this year’s memories as well. So, what memories make the holidays special to you?

Looking for a fun and interesting culinary class? ICE offers more than 1,700 recreational classes each year. Here is a round-up of some of the classes happening this month:

Going Bananas — September 13
Thanks to its unique texture and flavor, banana is one of America’s favorite dessert ingredients. From pie to pudding, join Jennifer McCoy to make great use of it, with recipes such as Banana Pudding with Gingersnap Cookies; Banana Cream Pie; Bananas Foster; Banana-Sour Cream Muffins; and Roasted Banana Ice Cream Sundaes. Jennifer McCoy is the pastry chef at Tom Colicchio’s Craft. Before that, she held the same position at A Voce and Marc Forgione in New York, Emeril’s Delmonico in New Orleans, and Bittersweet Bakery in Chicago. Early in her career in Chicago, she also worked in the pastry kitchens of Gordon, Blackbird, and Charlie Trotter’s. Jennifer still write for Emerils.com cooking blog.

Get Yourself Published — September 22
You’ve got the running narrative, the headnotes, and the recipes all typed out and meticulously edited in Microsoft Word. Now what? Learn the latest self-publishing technologies and roll your own cookbook! Find out the easiest, fastest way to publish your work in a real book, with gorgeous pictures, perfect binding, and a custom cover, at a surprisingly low cost. This class will provide a market survey of book-making services, show you how to layout your materials for printing, and manage the production workflow to create your own Print On Demand food book. Finally, you’ll explore distribution and marketing and learn how to obtain an ISBN number and how to sell your books online and through national booksellers.

Malaysia Kitchen for the World — September 28
Chef Zak Pelaccio will show how he uses the country’s wonderful ingredients in inspired interpretations of the cuisine. He is the award-winning executive chef and partner of the critically acclaimed Fatty Crab. Early in his career, Chef Pelaccio spent close to a year working at a traditional Malay restaurant in Kuala Lumpur — he was only westerner who had ever cooked there. The experience was life changing: It opened his mind to new flavors and a new style of cuisine, and inspired him to open his first restaurant. A spin-off, Fatty ‘Cue, opened this spring in Williamsburg, offering Malaysian and Southeast Asian barbecue. He will demonstrate two of Fatty Crab’s most popular dishes, Chicken Satay and Crispy Pork and Watermelon Salad.

For details and reservations, register online or call 888.576.CHEF.