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Interview with Chef Josh Ziskin of La Morra

  • Blanca Valbuena
  • March 16, 2010

La Morra is one of Brookline’s favorite restaurant and is known for outstanding food. This is a direct result of having a husband and wife team working together to create an impeccable dining experience. Josh and Jen have a long history of working in the restaurant industry and took their passion one step further by moving to Italy. There they learned local techniques and dishes that they have brought back to Brookline to create a menu that pleases all. We recently had a chance to interview him to find out about his success.

FriendsEAT: Did you grow up cooking?

Chef Josh Ziskin: I started working in the restaurant industry when I was 15.  It wasn’t until I lived on my own in college, that I truly developed my passion for cooking.

FE: Who in your life influenced your cooking the most?

CJZ: My mother is an amazing home cook, so I would have to say, she was my greatest influence.

FE: What made you decide to become a chef?

CJZ: After I graduated from Denver University’s Hotel and Restaurant management program, I worked in the front of the house at many Boston restaurants.  I decided to go to culinary school and it was then, that I knew I belonged in the kitchen.

FE: What is the biggest misconceptions people have when coming into the field?

CJZ: They think that they will be a super star chef in 2 years.

FE: What tip would you give a novice?

CJZ: Season your food properly throughout cooking.

FE: What are your three favorite cooking tools?

CJZ: Truffle slicer, fish spatula, micro plane.

FE: What’s the funniest thing to happen in your kitchen?

CJZ:When one of the cooks was walking through the dining room with a bowl of whipped cream on a stack of plates.  As he was walking, he tripped and the bowl fell on top of a party of four.  The whipped cream covered the guests like a pie in the face.

FE: What is your favorite food to cook with?

CJZ: Seafood.

FE: And when you are at home, what do you like to eat?

CJZ: Roast Chicken

FE: Do you have a favorite cookbook?

CJZ: The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kaspe

FE: Is there a specific etiquette in your kitchen that you are specially proud of?

CJZ: Checking every dish before it goes out.

FE: We’d like to thank Chef Ziskin for his time and for sharing his scrumptious recipe:

Chef Josh Ziskin’s Polpette (Tuscan Meatballs)

 

 

 

 

 

Serves 8 to 10 as appetizer
Josh Ziskin, La Morra

INGREDIENTS:
5 LBS. Ground Beef
½ Loaf Bread (Cut in large cubes)
3 Cups Milk
2 Cups Parmigiano
4 Eggs
1 ½ Cups Dried Porcini Mushrooms
1/4 # Proscuitto (Thickly sliced and diced)
3 Cups White Wine
3 Cups Flour

PREPARATION:
Soak bread in milk until it is fully absorbed.  Soak porcini mushrooms in water until hydrated and clean.  Remove and chop.  Mix all other ingredients and then add mushrooms and bread.  Mix well.  Roll onto desired size ball.  Flour ball, and shake off the extra flour.  Sear in a pan on all sides until lite brown.  Add wine until it is ½ up the side of the meatball.  Put in oven and bake at 400 degrees, until cooked through.  Approximately 15 minutes.


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