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..... :-)

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Go to the Farmers' Market

I used to think going to the farmer's market was a fun, field-trip kind of experience. And then I read more and did the math of how expensive places like Whole Foods add up to be without necessarily offering better quality, and realized that for my money I prefer to support actual people as much as possible. I still get some things from WF and other places, but I really enjoy talking recipes and details with the farmers and walking stall to stall to see whose daily lot looks the most alive and why... I guess you could say that connecting to the growers helps me appreciate the food I'm going to prepare later at home.

The market is more fun than ever, now a weekly excursion - and even more frequent sometimes, to see growers I miss on other days. I've built it into my to-do pattern as a way of living, incorporating into my life the freshest fresh, seasonal foods. These photographs are the bountiful array from last week's trip at the Union Square Market in New York. Check online for your local farmers' market - almost every city and town has one, if not a few! If you are linked to a CSA  - community supported agriculture - even better. :)

We got our strawberries from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm and our eggs from Violet Hill Farm. The mushrooms are from Bulich Mushroom Farm; the pork chops from Flying Pigs; thanks to Hudson Valley Organic Gardens for the mung sprouts, and our radishes came from S&SO Produce. The mutsu apples are from Nemeth Orchards; our plants - the zinnias, are from Van Houten Farms, and the basil is from Nature's Healing Farm; the cheese is a sheep's milk aged gouda style and found at Valley Shepherd, and our cream-top whole milk is from Milk Thistle Farm. After collecting all these goodies and with our bags filled to the brim with as much as we could carry, we decided it was time to return home and begin the feast!

With local and personal in mind, I want to offer you a sneak preview of my next post... I am eager to share with you an interview I made with none other than the great food writer Betty Fussell, who has written stories on America's love affair with (and the history of) corn and beef, amongst many, many other things. She is an amazing person, and someone I am honored to call a dear friend. Please stay tuned for this very special story.

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Wintertime (yes, still) Indulgences

 

It isn't every day that I eat pizza or pasta. Hardly ever, in fact. I made a deal with myself long ago that because of my love for chocolate (see my Valentine's Day post), I decided not include other delicious things that I cherish in an effort to maintain a healthy physique and "order in the house"... well, ahem... currently, that has been tossed out the window. You might be aware that it has been an unusually bitter and protracted winter here in New York. I keep saying to myself, "when I'm overcome with heat during the city's oppressively humid summer, I'll wish it was cold like this!" But because winter has been so ferocious, I have actively sought out THE MOST comforting comfort foods, and am having quite a lot of fun with the results. 

Not too long ago, I decided to make a pizza. Two small ones, in fact. I usually go for red and saucy but this had none, save for a drizzle of olive oil at the end. I had seen it from recipe grazing on the web over a year ago, and saved it for who-knows-when. The ingredients are simple and yet the result is so flavorsome I would make it again in a heartbeat: a crust with just the right bite, oozing cheese, meaty mushrooms, and buttery slivers of potato... What's not to love?  

In my story, there's also a lasagne tale... Scroll down for the juicy bits on that. :)

This recipe is divine! Please let the pictures (and my vigorous encouragement) speak for themselves. :)

My lasagne has a somewhat sad ending, but fear not. There is romance and passion, and it turned out amazing. There's just a wee problem that happened along the way...(notice the absence of my gorgeous, baked and bubbling tray of lasagne?)

What happened I vow will never happen again. So delighted was I with my tray of perfection, I hurredly scurried with oven mitts and hot pasta to the studio from the kitchen. While pulling a board from the shelf to set it upon (not looking at said tray in the other hand), it promptly slid right off my mitt and exploded on the floor. CRASH. I was red, shocked by the calamity in front of me. 
There was no way to repair this defeat and all I could do was scoop the poor thing off the (thank god freshly cleaned) floor... all the lessons we get taught by parents or bosses or teachers or whoever flashed before me and I could have just kicked myself, dammit. Because I am a masochist, I had to know what exactly I had ruined with a little nibble from my trashed masterpiece. It was outrageously tasty...I think this means that somewhere down the road there is a lasagne re-match awaiting me. Hopefully, it won't take another crazy winter to bring me to the stage, so I can indulge in its spicy, cheesy, incredibly savory layers for real.

Thank you for sharing in this little drama, and have a fantastic weekend!

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