game online,fashion,interior design: farmer's market

Showing posts with label farmer's market. Show all posts

4.08.2012

Happy Easter! Chag Pesach Sameach!

Look out for more from this feast, including recipes...... xxoo

Getting to the Root

Eat from the earth. Literally. We have arrived upon the season where bounty has grown ripe deep in the dirt, and is ready to bring to the table. These roots in their many shapes and colors, dense and heavy, are some of the greatest eating around. This is a story of L-O-V-E. There's more, too. Like the great things I did with the stuff Gilt Taste sent me a couple weeks ago: Becker Lane's gorgeous pastured pork shoulder, and BliS bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, which is every bit as dynamic as it sounds. Savory, sweet, hearty, and all of it comfort food.

The Beauty of Fall

As I write this, the year is slipping away faster than ever. I can't believe it - there are still so many dishes to make and share, and experimentation to get lost in. At least I have the day-to-day provenance of coziness in making - and eating - so many of the results!

This food you're about to see was all SO good. That's what I mean - I want to make it all again and yet, I have adventures waiting in the queue, new stories tugging at me to make them. I guess there are tougher problems to have, right?

* 29 November - Updated with recipes - scroll down to view!

The goodies from our anniversary adventure

I was informed by the kind folks at The New Amsterdam Market to stop by one particular Sunday, so that I could swoon at crazy, gorgeous mushrooms. I know that doesn't seem to qualify for "kid in a candy store" material, but it was exactly that. While there, I met Les Hook and Nova Kim and learned about their wild foods - harvested on Saturday in Vermont, driven to NYC for Sunday's market. I made the acquaintance of mushrooms I never knew existed.

Had we shown up at the very beginning we would have found an even greater selection, but I left happy, with many paper bags filled with earthly delights: Lobster mushrooms (those bright red-orange beauties, and they do taste quite like their namesake); White Matsutakes, lower left; Chicken of the Woods, at lower right (they taste exactly like chicken); and the most unusual, Blue Alb mushrooms, at top right (they are a gorgeous sparkly blue-black hue, and bitter - an acquired taste, ultimately).

With these, I made a fantastic mushroom ragout adapted from those great ladies at Canal House. Served with creamy polenta, it made for the perfect comfort food.

The pretty squash we brought home got some loving from the organic elixirs shipped to me from Crown Maple Syrup... I painted their grade A medium amber syrup (mixed with some olive oil) all over their surfaces, sprinkled with some sea salt and cracked pepper, and let them roast away in the oven. The result was caramely-savory, soft, delicious squash. Perfect autumn. I used some as a side dish and then pureed the rest in a soup.

Then, there were the apples. Oh, those apples. So many sweet, tart, crisp and juicy apples. We ate plenty straight out of the sack, but I wanted to have fun with them and so hollowed a bunch out and stuffed them with spiced goodness. Worth doing many times over.

Lastly was the pie. It was my first attempt at a shingled crust. I tossed the apples in nutmeg, brandy, and lemon juice. It's so nice to try something out for the first time and for it to become a smashing success!!! Know that you have to be patient as a saint for all the cutting-out of those shapes for the crust, but it too was absolutely worth it.

I hope I have tempted you all well enough to return, so you can make these treats for you and yours. Happy, cozy days..... :-)

The Shapes of Summer

The days are changing. I looked at the sunlight in my studio just the other day and I saw new directionality in the light streaming in. With the added milestone of Labor Day behind us, schools are back in session and people have returned to their full-swing things, signifying Change. I will volunteer and say that I am not ready for autumn, as much as I love its crispness and soft, worn hues. Autumn is actually my favorite time, but I am stuck in love with the heady ripeness of summertime's flavors and shapes - bright and bold, each so easy to love.

Here is a collection of amazing-tasting things I managed to prepare in recent days. Thankfully, much of the bounty of the season is still available at farmer stands, so you still have time! I hope that once you pour over the images, you will be inspired to try your hand at one (or all!) of these. They are - almost entirely - surprisingly simple to make, and the return on flavor is well worth it. Enjoy!

Please let me know if you try your hand at any of these. I'd love to answer questions should you have any, or just hear how much you enjoyed a recipe you shared with loved ones!

Birthday Celebrating

Now a little while ago already (where does the time go??), I made sure to celebrate my birthday this year properly, by making trips to two of New York's most fantastic and specialized markets, back-to-back! Smorgasburg on Saturday, and The New Amsterdam Market on Sunday, my special day. Smorgasburg was with my dear friend D. In the sultry sun, I didn't want to make a big deal of taking pictures so the series is shot completely on my iphone. Sunday was with my sweet man, and he was kind enough to be the official camera chaperone when I didn't feel like shouldering it. :-) As you'll see there was lots of good eating to be done between the two. I am so lucky to call New York my home with this incredible bounty of interesting foods.