Light, Easy, and Seasonal: Crimini Mushrooms with Shallots and Wine

A quick and tasty dinner (I often use brown-rice pasta - Trader Joe's makes a good one - as an alternative to the wheat).

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons butter, divided
2 medium shallots, sliced into thin sauté slice
1 lb. crimini mushrooms, stems removed (keep these in your freezer for stock!), sliced thinly
approx 1/2 cup dry white wine
4 oz. whole-wheat pasta (I like spaghetti)
sea salt + freshly ground black pepper

Heat a 12” skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon butter and all the olive oil, as well as the shallots and a pinch of salt; cook, stirring, until softened but not browned.

Add mushrooms, several generous pinches salt, and several grinds black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until mushrooms get very brown and reduce a lot in volume (see photo). Remove mushrooms to a plate, add wine, and turn up heat; scrape browned bits from pan and reduce by half.

Cook and drain pasta according to package instructions, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add remaining teaspoon butter to mushroom pan over medium heat; when melted, add mushrooms, pasta, and as much reserved pasta cooking water as needed to moisten, and toss to combine well. Serve immediately with additional freshly ground pepper.

Champagne Punch with Cherry, Ginger, and Cognac

You should probably double this recipe, if your friends are anything like mine.

4 cups sour cherry juice*
6 tablespoons fresh ginger juice, from about half a hand-sized piece of ginger**
6 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup agave nectar
200 mL cognac (I used Courvoisier)
1 bottle dry white wine
4 bottles well-chilled Champagne or semi-dry sparkling wine
Additional lemon slices for garnish, optional

Mix the first six ingredients up to several hours before serving; keep chilled. Mix in Champagne just before serving and garnish with lemon slices. I prefer not to ice this punch, so I made mine in two batches, dividing up the punch base and combining with two bottles of chilled Champagne each time.

*I used Red Jacket Orchards’ Tart Cherry Stomp; if you can’t find sour cherry juice, try unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juice, but you’ll need to up the agave nectar quite a bit to taste.

**Make ginger juice by squeezing grated ginger through cheesecloth or a jelly bag.

Two bring-along lunch ideas for warm weather

Here are a couple of my favorite lunch ideas for hot days that are easy to make ahead and don't require reheating once you're in the office.

This cheese-free frittata is loaded with vegetables and is tasty served cold:

Note: Bacon fat or butter make for a much cleaner release from the pan, and both fats add wonderful flavor to this dish, but if you are particularly averse to them both, refined coconut oil or olive oil will work—you’ll just have a messier cleanup and a less neat serving appearance.

3 eggs
Sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter or bacon fat
1 spring onion, diced
1/2-1 cup cut-up asparagus spears
1/2 medium bunch lacinato kale, cut into ribbons (about 2 cups)

Heat broiler. Beat eggs lightly with several generous pinches of sea salt and black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon fat in a medium skillet over medium heat; add onion and a pinch of salt and cook until soft, about five minutes. Add asparagus and cook about 2 more minutes. Add kale and a splash of water and cook until kale stems are almost tender and additional water has cooked off. Add remaining fat and allow it to melt. Turn heat down to low, add eggs, and stir occasionally as if making scrambled eggs. When eggs are half cooked, place under broiler for about 2 minutes, or until cooked through. Immediately remove frittata to place and serve, or cut into slices to cool.


My lighter version of tuna salad (with an olive oil/vinegar dressing - no mayo required) is great with lettuce leaves or crackers: one can of olive-oil packed tuna, drained; 1/2 red bell pepper, diced; zest and juice of 1/2 lemon; about a teaspoon of capers and a few splashes of brine; a small handful of rough-chopped olives; a pinch of cayenne and plenty of freshly-ground black pepper; a glug or two of extra-virgin olive oil. Mix everything together and add sea salt and vinegar to taste.

RIP Readymade, + my radish slaw recipe

By now everyone's heard that ReadyMade is no more, and while the site continues to stand, I have no idea how long that will remain. So I'll be reposting my best fruit- and vegetable-related recipes from my tenure at RM here, mostly so I'll have a record of them.

Sad news for sure, but a recent wonderful development in my vegetable life has been my membership in Garden Of Eve's CSA, which picks up downstairs from my office in Brooklyn Fireproof, and has gotten me excited about trying and re-trying all sorts of vegetables. My last ReadyMade post (below) was my reintroduction to radishes, which I've never liked; but when chance and seasonality forced them on me, I learned.

Also, the Rick's Picks staff (of which I am an occasional member) is currently underging its Eat Local Challenge; handed the task of choosing one of the pickles in the line and one of a short list of local ingredients, I chose Handy Corn and cucumber, and devised this chilled, briny cucumber-dill yogurt soup. I was so happy with the way it turned out that now I'm trying to turn as much of my CSA haul as possible into cold yogurt-based soups.

Here's the radish slaw. And here's to more posting now that the summer growing season is well underway, and I'm inspired to create new vegetable dishes for the first time in ages!

Pickley Radish Slaw

1 small bunch radishes, sliced into very thin rounds (use a mandoline), about two cups
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave nectar or honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon capers, drained

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, agave, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until thoroughly blended. Add olive oil and whisk to blend.

Toss radishes, capers, and dressing together in a large bowl until coated; allow to sit several hours at room temperature or refrigerate overnight before serving.

The green smoothie, 2011 style

Whether it was Mercury in retrograde, the continuing depressive contribution of an especially trying winter, or turning 31, the first few weeks of 2011 were rough, people. The energy was that of scratching one’s way through an increasingly narrow tunnel through the dirt.

Worse, I ended up with crippling late-night abdominal pain, the result of an infection, and took antibiotics for the first time in about seven years. To me, the girl who prides herself on an immune system of steel, this was a bit of a wake-up call. I re-quit coffee, decided to go on a two-week alcohol-free vegan diet, and dusted off the old Vita-Mix to reintroduce green smoothies into my life.

But these are not the yogurt-and-berry breakfast-in-a-glass concoctions of the past – these are lean and streamlined, for someone who doesn’t fear the grassiness of raw greens or the grainy texture of flax. One cup of local apple juice or cranberry-apple juice, about a cup of raw kale leaves, a half-cup of parsley, and one tablespoon freshly-ground flax seed, liquefied in my darling machine.

Raw kale we know: it’s full of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, etc. Parsley is the overlooked nutritional powerhouse in this equation: astounding amounts of vitamin K in addition the expected A and C, as well as good levels of iron and folate; and the volatile oils and flavonoids that give parsley its vibrant, grassy piquancy are especially anti-carcinogenic and blood-cleansing. And, of course, the flax provides yet more fiber and most of a day’s worth of omega-3 fatty acids.

I’m not exaggerating to say that bringing green smoothies back into my life felt like coming home again. While I’ve cleaned up my act in other ways (though I've gone back to coffee), I can trace my morning exuberance directly to that cup-and-a-half of chlorophyll-laden freshness. Green smoothie for president!

What have I been doing all these months, anyway? (A roundup)

Let’s see: happy hour, going to the gym, eating fried chicken, and general idleness. Oh! And, as I've mentioned, writing for the ReadyMade food blog.

Here are links to some of my favorites of the vegetable-related posts I’ve written for them:

In which I resolve to eat greens for breakfast, and share ideas for same.

A double-quick, light dinner: pasta topped with crimini mushrooms in shallot and wine sauce.

Fridge-pickled cabbage slaw – this stuff is great.

Party menu!

I love tacos the most.

And a few ideas for one of my very favorites, broccoli rabe.

Toward the perfect beet slaw

While I've discussed my affection for beet slaw in the past, my relationship to the stuff has since escalated into somewhat of an obsession. For the past month, I've been whipping up a huge batch of slaw every week, and eating a good helping every day with lunch or dinner; the vinegar, salt, and spices ensure it keeps well in the fridge, and the flavor improves with time. (On a related note: remind me never to go back in time to before I had a food processor, k?)

This slaw is especially great to have on hand in the winter, when tasty raw vegetables can be few and far between. And if you happen to have an overnight guest (don't judge me), serve this slaw alongside the obligatory omelet for an impressive late breakfast.

Now that I've made half a dozen or so batches of the stuff, I've finally got a recipe I think is good enough to share. This slaw is a little spicy from the mustard, naturally sweet from the beets, with a great puckery tang from the lemon and vinegar. Don't be tempted to omit the raw shallot/red onion - it's key to keeping things interesting here.

This isn't a good recipe to attempt if you have a hand-modeling gig later in the afternoon, but it would be totally fine to make the same day as you're planning to dye your hair with Manic Panic, or possibly work on your car.

NB: This isn't one of those "serve this to the beet-haters in your family - it'll convert them!" recipes. You should seriously like beets to go down this road. My mom and President Obama: this isn't for you.

Best Beet Slaw

Ingredients:
2-4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 cup mild extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion or 2 shallots (will yield 1/2 cup sliced)
3-4 large beets, peeled (will yield 6-7 cups shredded)
agave nectar to taste, optional

Procedure:
1. Put on an apron, preferably a full apron, but if you wear a cute half-apron like I do, cinch that thing right up around your natural waist for maximum coverage (plus: flattering!)
2. Whisk together mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, pepper, and salt until thoroughly combined. Pour olive oil into vinegar mixture slowly in a thin stream, and whisk until emulsified. Set dressing aside.
3. I'm serious about the apron thing. Do it. Things are going to get seriously messy.
4. Cut up beets into manageable pieces and shred on the larger shred side of your food processor. Do that thing where you futilely try to get it to shred those weird pieces that get stuck on the top of the disc a couple of times, then give up on them.
6. Ok, fine, go ahead and make the Macbeth joke, we know you're dying to.
What, will these little hands ne'er be clean?

5. Slice onion/shallots in half around the equator and slice on your mandoline's thinnest setting. Totally use the hand guard, because you always do, right? Safety first, that's your motto.
6. Toss shredded beets with onion slices in a large bowl. The onions tend to clump when sliced so thinly, so use your hands for this.
7. Give the dressing a quick stir to make sure it hasn't settled, and pour over beet/onion mixture. Fold until evenly distributed.
8. Let slaw sit for an hour or two (during which time: clean up! - sorry), adjust seasonings (adding agave to taste if your beets aren't quite sweet enough), and serve.

The aftermath

CSA-OK!

Instead of my regularly scheduled greenmarket shopping this week, I was a CSA tourist. My friend Meg couldn't pick up her Stanton Street CSA share Thursday, so she let me have it. My haul is pictured above (there are a dozen more nectarines inside the Whole Foods bag).

All in all, I took home:
1 head lettuce
6 beefsteak tomatoes
4 yellow plum tomatoes
35 cherry tomatoes
2 Italian frying peppers (?)
2 small yellow peppers
2 long skinny Thai-looking peppers
1 head fennel
2 slicing cucumbers
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch basil
1 lb. tongue of fire beans
13 nectarines

This for the low, low price of free ninety-nine (with a plan to buy Meg dinner in the nearish future, maybe at M. Wells, where I inexplicably still haven't been.)

The lettuce and chard are easy enough (salads; sautéed - last night, I had some with white wine and bacon), but there are a lot of tomatoes in this cornucopia for someone with serious tomato sensitivity. I threw caution to the wind and ate all the cherry tomatoes plain; I made tomato, cucumber, and basil salads with some of the plum tomatoes, and added others to green salads.

Most of the beefsteak tomatoes ended up in the ranchero sauce I made for this morning's huevos rancheros brunch with my friend Jane - I cooked them along with onions, garlic, cumin, the frying peppers (roasted) and yellow peppers, and a little cayenne and oregano, then threw it all in a blender. This sauce is killer - I'm excited to find out what else I can put it on - I'm thinking almost anything.

I still have a few tomatoes left, and I'm stumped, since I'm already paying for eating all the other ones. Maybe I can add them in small amounts to things here and there without causing too much damage.

As for the nectarines, which (of course) ripened all at once, I have been eating them as quickly as I can; I used four of them in some nectarine muffins, which I adapted from this recipe; I used half whole-wheat flour, used 1.5 cups sucanat instead of 2 cups white sugar, used melted butter instead of vegetable oil, and in addition to freshly-ground Ceylon cinnamon, I added 1 teaspoon vanilla. I'm not a big muffin person, because they're generally so dull, but these are quite moist and have a lot of flavor - switching to butter was definitely the right move.

I'm having a crew over for Thai curry Tuesday evening, so I'll throw in the rest of my basil (if it lasts), and if I'm feeling brave, maybe I'll toss in some slices of the Thai chiles. Or I could try sautéeing those with shallots, and tossing them with popcorn, maybe with lime and some curry powder? We'll see.

The tongue of fire beans are a bit of a stumper, but since I still have some tomatoes left, I might pick up some corn and make an improvised succotash for dinner one of these nights. I bet that ranchero sauce would be right at home on top!

Field trip!

Upon finding myself in Clinton Hill of a Saturday morning, I took the opportunity to be a Greenmarket tourist, visiting the petite but well-stocked (and refreshingly uncrowded) Fort Greene market. Plus the sun was shining and I found some vintage sunglasses at a stoop sale for $3: all in all, a magical, if drowsy, visit.

A well-balanced haul for two hours' sleep:
1 bunch collards
1 bunch broccoli rabe
1 bunch carrots
3 lbs. mixed summer squash
4 shallots
1 pint sungold tomatoes
1 1/4 lbs. nectarines
Total spent: $25

Naturally, the sungolds are gone - can't stop from eating those things like candy, as much as they wreck my stomach + the inside of my mouth. The first one of the nectarines to ripen was my first nectarine of the season, and I couldn't have asked for a better one: it was perfect, and started my lazy Sunday in the best possible way.

I'll quick-pickle the shallots, add the squash to everything in typical late-summer fashion, and sauté the greens - all per usual. Some of the carrots will go into lunches, but I have been thinking about this simple recipe for grated carrot salad from David Lebovitz since I saw the post, and I'll whip up my own version along with dinner tonight.

Otherwise, it's all catching up on sleep and biding my time until the rest of my nectarines ripen. It's a lush life, people.

Late-summer powersalad

This whole both-ends candle-burning tendency continued unexpectedly through my return from Bloomington IN, so I didn't wake up bright or early enough to make it to Union Square Saturday morning. Instead, I had a semi-lazy morning and took my budget-shopping to the McCarren Park market instead.

Midwest recovery diet:
1 bunch collards
1 bunch curly kale
1 head red romaine lettuce
2 ears white corn
2 yellow bell peppers
1 bunch spring onions
1 lb. apricots
2 lbs. new Yukon gold potatoes
Total spent: $16

Vacation-eating (and drinking) for the past five days had put me in desperation for a cleanse, so I revised my powersalad recipe to use more of late summer's bounty, ratchet up the fiber, and blast those phytonutrient levels up to healing levels. More importantly: this salad is a joy to eat.


Late-summer powersalad
3 cups torn romaine leaves, cleaned and dried well
One ear sweet corn
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper
2 hardboiled eggs
4 kalamata olives (optional)
Dijon mustard vinaigrette
Sea salt
Black pepper

Shell and quarter hardboiled eggs; set aside. Roughly chop olives if using.
Remove kernels from corn cob into large bowl. Slice bell pepper into thin strips with mandoline into the same bowl. Add lettuce leaves, drizzle in dressing, and toss with tongs; taste and add more dressing if needed.
Plate lettuce mixture and top with eggs and olives, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.


The rest of my haul is pretty much just maintenance, but I did innovate a little tonight, adding homemade curry powder to tonight's collards with caramelized onions, to great effect; I had them for dinner under a medium-rare grass-fed burger, with red-and-white mixed quinoa on the side. Dessert was four super-juicy Red Jacket Orchards apricots.

Friday night fridge pickles

Friday night in = fridge pickles, which are my new obsession, and - along with popcorn - the only thing I feel like eating during this heat wave. I have a post up about them with a bunch of recipe links at ReadyMade; on my exciting Friday, I tried all sorts of intrepid new spice blends, as this questionable iPhone photo attests.
Everything's less fun on a budget:
2 lbs. crimini mushrooms
1 red bell pepper
1 bunch Siberian kale
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch spring onions
2 bunches carrots
Total spent: $27

The criminis, bell pepper, and some of the onions will go into the mushroom sloppy joes I'm making for dinner with a friend tomorrow night (along with miscellaneous spices and the housemade barbecue sauce from The Meat Hook - cheating, I know, but theirs is so good); we'll also have collards with caramelized onion and, of course, fridge pickles to top the sandwiches.

My favorite carrot farmer has told me that the weather's allowing for a second planting this season, which is lucky, since apparently the deer have gotten into the carrots - my carrots! - so they'll stick around longer this year. I know I've waxed overly poetic about these carrots before but they're just so sweet, but mineral, but grassy - balanced - with no bitter edge like most carrots tend to have, but they're not candy-sweet and one-dimensional like some. All his produce is delicious, so it must just be fantastic soil.

But, fridge pickles! Friday night's batches used the same brine as my previous efforts, with cucumber, yellow bell pepper, spicier yellow Santa Fe pepper, garlic, and onion slices. Four jars, four spice blends: cumin seed, coriander, and black peppercorns; caraway seed, yellow mustard seed, and black peppercorns; pink peppercorn, fennel seed, brown mustard seed; and a final (smaller) jar with lots of yellow mustard seed and crushed red pepper. I also upped the amounts of the whole spices from my initial batch, from 1/4 tsp each to 1/2 tsp each. It's still a bit early to try them, but I'll probably do a tasting along with dinner.

Otherwise, it's a broke week 'til payday. I'll be eating lots of eggs over greens and rice for the next few days - though, since that's my favorite dinner of all time, I'd probably be doing it regardless. Also I'm going to try to be a better blogger. But summertime, man.

I've seen fire and I've seen rain

Well, I did make it to USG Saturday morning, but the rain and wind had already started - though they'd get worse - and the vendor turnout was understandably sparse. I bought some potatoes, onions, cheese, eggs, and milk, before heading to Whole Foods to pick up the rest of what I needed to cook for my old folks on Sunday.

And Sunday itself was almost laughably terrible, with the aggressive gloom continuing, the leak under my kitchen seak worsening, and my rushing to get everything done before I had to run to the office to bring merch for the Hauschka show at Le Poisson Rouge (which show was perhaps the only positive of the day). It was the kind of day where you find yourself making fennel and orange salad at 1 a.m. - we all have those, right?

Oh! And my camera's broken. I haven't even begun to figure out what to do about that.

On the positive side, I finally wrote down my permutations to this baked fettucine recipe I found on Epicurious. It's a great dish - one of my clients' favorites - and can easily be made ahead and popped into the oven when dinner guests arrive. While a bit heavy on the cheese, there are enough vegetables in the mix to make the whole thing seem, if not virtuous, then at least balanced.

Also on the bright side (literally, heyo!), it's sunny and in the 60s all week - further making me feel like not going to SXSW this year was the right decision.

Baked Fettuccine with Mascarpone and Vegetables

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets
2 lbs. spinach leaves, washed well
3 medium leeks, halved and cut into 1/2" strips (about 4 cups)
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
zest of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup whole milk
8 oz. mascarpone (I've used fromage blanc for a lighter version also)
1 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano
3/4 lb. dry fettuccine (whole-wheat works great here)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sauté spinach in batches in a small amount of olive oil, adding a pinch of salt per batch. Drain, chop, and set aside.

Blanch broccoli in boiling salted water just until crisp-tender; shock, drain, and set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; add leeks and a pinch of salt, and cook until softened; do not brown. Turn off heat and stir in lemon juice, zest, thyme, several pinches of salt, and several grinds of pepper. Set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed, medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and add flour. Cook one minute, whisking constantly.
Whisk in milk, turn up heat, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly; turn down heat and simmer (keep whisking!) until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 3-4 minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in cheeses until mostly smooth (mixture will be a bit grainy because of the Grana Padano). Stir in leek mixture and taste for seasoning.

Cook fettuccine to al dente in salted water. Toss pasta with vegetables in a large bowl; add cheese sauce and toss until thoroughly combined. Adjust seasoning as needed. Transfer pasta to a baking dish and bake in preheated 350˚ oven until top is bubbling and golden, 15-20 minutes.

If making ahead, store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator, and toss to redistribute sauce and vegetables before baking. Can be frozen at this point, tightly wrapped in aluminum foil; allow to thaw completely before baking.


photo from Flickr: Ervin Bartis' photostream

Excuses, Kalustyan's trip & secrets of tempeh

I've been going to the Friday greenmarkets at Union Square lately, and since I have to scurry off to work immediately afterward, the freshness of the experience and my will to post fades by Sunday, when I finally have time. (Saturdays I'm now part of USG, working at the Rick's Picks stand.) That will all change next week, because I'll start shopping at USG on Wednesdays, which will also be my new day off. And so! As the season starts anew, so doth I.

Excuses, excuses. I did finally go to Kalustyan's, and naturally I'm kicking myself for not being a regular all these years. I went a bit overboard, as the photo indicates. I just got so excited about all the exotic legumes! - "overwhelming" doesn't begin to describe the place. I wouldn't even let myself consider the spice aisle, because once I got there my basket was getting hard to carry, even with both arms. Next time!

Tonight I'm making pan-fried tempeh, collards (the delicious, sweet ones from Yuno's Farm), and baked potatoes with gravy, and I got to thinking about tempeh. Lots of vegetarians and plant-food enthusiasts don't like tempeh, and I think that's because most restaurants handle it poorly or at least not well. Even a beacon like Angelica Kitchen has problems with overly sour, bitter tempeh (though it's much better than most).

The secret of making tempeh delicious, which I had to spend $20K going to a health-positive cooking school to learn and which I am now sharing with you at no charge, is that you must simmer it in marinade for 20-30 minutes before pan-frying, grilling or baking it; or if you're using it in a stew, it must cook in the liquid at least half an hour. That eliminates the off-flavors that tempeh so often has. The marinade can be extremely simple: for each 8-oz. package of tempeh I use a few tablespoons of shoyu, a couple slices of ginger, two smashed garlic cloves, and water to cover. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, then let cool until it can be handled, slice on the bias, and you're ready to pan-fry (my favorite), grill, or bake your tempeh. Leftover pan-fried tempeh is phenomenal in a sandwich! In fact, one of the reasons I like to have tempeh for dinner is the promise of sandwiches for lunch the next day.

Onward and upward. Friday I'll be buying my vegetables, Saturday I'll be out in the 80-degree heat all day, and next week things will return to some semblance of normalcy - at least w/r/t my vegetable blog, that is. New excitements on the horizon! More later.

Candy, candy, candy, I can't let you go

Tonight, the photo assistant and I joined a friend for an early dinner at Dirt Candy. I am already trying to figure out how to recreate their carrot risotto.

But before I go into that, here's the shopping:
1/3 lb. baby Swiss chard
1 lb. white mushrooms
4 lbs. carrots
6 lbs. yellow onions
1 lb. Italian red torpedo onions
1 bag shallots
2 lbs. carola potatoes
2 lbs. Empire (?) apples (the bins weren't labeled!)
1 4-lb. bag mixed "bargain" apples
Total spent: $37.50

Dirt Candy, as you may have heard, is a restaurant dedicated to vegetables - so naturally, I wanted to try it. I'm no restaurant critic (though perhaps I qualify as a vegetable critic?), but here's the summary. (Photo is from their website. I don't take photos anywhere outside my house, really, but especially not in tiny restaurants.)

I loved: carrot risotto (my favorite thing I ate there by a long shot - I do love carrots); jalapeno hush puppies w/ maple butter; the fact that they offered an upscale pinot grape juice along with the wine list (delicious, and I got to drink out of a wine glass just like a real grownup).
I liked: Greek salad (but I thought the fried mushrooms made the feta a bit too much); popcorn pudding (a little too sweet for my taste).

All the food was delicious, though I do think the menu relies a little too heavily on fried food. But frying is certainly a good way to make vegetables decadent, which is obviously one of the goals of the place - and I have to say, they succeed admirably. The place is tiny - 20 seats - with a two-chef line, chef Amanda Cohen expediting, and one server. I'm sure they felt a bit frantic back there, but the compactness and efficiency of the setup made me romanticize the idea of opening my own tiny restaurant.

And dinner was early (it's not easy to get a reservation for 3 there - 5:30 was our only option), so I had time to make granola and hummus, start a batch of yogurt, and sharpen my knife when I got home. Earlier in the day I made vegetable stock, but I didn't get around to the applesauce I had planned to make out of my bargain apples. Luckily class ends early tomorrow.

In semi-freakout news: next week is our Friday Night Dinner!! Tomorrow I'll make brown stock (using carrots, onions, celery, and the pound of white mushrooms) and post the recipe, which I invented to use for our borscht. It is fantastic for soups!

Why don't you take a picture? It would last longer!

Today was, simply, hectic. I got a late start, the L train was running in two sections, and (no surprise) it was freezing. Plus I had to stop by Whole Foods to get greens and peppers, as well as beets and fresh dill for the borscht recipe I'm testing for school (and Satur Farms mesclun greens - pictured - to feed my addiction). By the end of it, K and I had our brunch date an hour and a half late, but everything turned out fine. Our brunch was great, the borscht turned out well. Unfortunately I lost track of everything I bought at the market today during my rush.

Because the L was running shuttle into Manhattan, it was quite crowded and everyone was irritable...and since the only beets I could find at Whole Foods had greens - big, robust greens with which I would be thrilled on any day I wasn't already heavily laden with produce - I was the person on the train with two feet of green leaves sticking out one of her three giant tote bags. Usually it doesn't faze me, but today everyone's stares burned: I was stressed and vulnerable and there was a lot more negative energy zooming around than usual. At one point I just wanted to yell "haven't you ever seen a woman carrying vegetables before??" In retrospect, it's probably best that I didn't.

The cold plus the stress plus my own perversity have made me plan a four-course dinner tonight. It's relatively simple, but it's four courses nonetheless. My photo assistant will be thrilled to do all these dishes:
  Mesclun greens with shallot vinaigrette
  Dilled beet borscht (goat cheese garnish)
  Mushroom and cheese frittata with garlic-sautéed baby spinach and tat soi (crispy shiitake garnish)
  Poached lady apples with toasted walnuts and dried cherry-maple compote

I'm not quite ready to share this borscht recipe, but I was inspired by this Amateur Gourmet thread to post my own favorite granola recipe. I have been refining this one for years, and I have to say, in all modesty, it's just about perfect (at least, to my taste). It's also got a lot going for it, health-wise: sesame seeds are a great source of calcium, sunflower seeds have lots of magnesium, even refined coconut oil is good for you, and walnuts are the best nut source of omega-3. I use half maple syrup for flavor and to cut down on honey, but honey is key for browning and clumping, so all maple doesn't work.

Note: Please buy organic nuts, seeds, and dried fruit whenever possible: pesticide toxins are concentrated in fats and dried foods. And buy nuts as intact as you can (e.g. whole almonds, walnut halves), because the more surface area is exposed, the more quickly their fats oxidize and turn toxic. And always store nuts in the fridge.

Anna's Best Granola
3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup raw sesame seeds
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts
1/2 cup chopped raw pecans
1 cup chopped raw almonds
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/6 cup grade-B maple syrup
1/6 cup honey
1 cup mixed dried fruit (I like 1/3 each raisins, dried cranberries, and chopped dried cherries)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Mix first six ingredients in large bowl.
Melt coconut oil in small saucepan over low heat; whisk in honey and maple syrup until smooth. (Don't skip this step and add the oil and sweetener separately because they won't combine properly and your granola will stick horribly.)
Add oil/sweetener to oat mixture and stir until thoroughly coated.
Spread on a half-sheet pan and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown; allow to cool completely in the pan.
Using a metal or hard plastic spatula, remove granola into a large bowl and combine with fruit until evenly distributed. Transfer to an airtight container.
Granola will keep for about a week.

Return to USG: they may not be so pretty, but they're dinner

It was a lovely cold clear morning at the USG - I am so glad to be back!

Super Roots:
2 1/2 lbs. soup carrots
1 lb. yellow carrots
1 lb. eating carrots
2 celery roots
3 lbs. parsnips
1 lb. burdock root
3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
1 lb. shallots
4 lbs. onions
1 head Shaman garlic
1 head cabbage
4 lbs. "bargain" apples
2 1/2 lbs. Mutsu apples
1 lb. Macoun apples
Total spent: $42.50

Once again reconfigured for construction, the USG was short a lot of vendors, and selection was limited to the season's slim selection of hearty roots (and the odd greenhouse-grown delicacy), but I managed to get enough food to fill all three of my shopping bags and test the strength of my shoulders and arms.

As the photo above indicates, I've got a red lentil and root vegetable stew simmering on the stovetop at the moment - not really a recipe dish but here's what I've done so far:
    I sauteed one onion (medium dice) in sixish tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt until golden, added 4 cloves minced garlic and 1/2 tsp each sage and thyme, and cooked that about a minute;
    then I added 2 large yellow carrots, 2 medium orange carrots, one parsnip, and two 12" burdock roots, cut very roughly into 3/4"-1" pieces, stirred well, and sauteed uncovered for a few minutes, then covered and cooked about five minutes;
    at this point I added 4 cups homemade vegetable stock, 2 cups rinsed red lentils, several pinches of salt, 2 bay leaves, and a 3" piece of kombu; I brought this to a boil then turned it down to a simmer.
    When my lentils have disintegrated and my vegetables are tender, I'll season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and serve the stew with some of the whole-wheat bread I just took out of the oven.

I'm hoping the stew tastes good (I have never cooked with parsnips or burdock root at home before) and that the bread isn't underbaked. Fingers crossed!

Some of the rest of the vegetables will go into more stock (I'm down to one quart in the freezer), some into practicing one of the recipes for my group's upcoming Friday Night Dinner, and some will be featured in a week of what I'm guessing will be very similar meals.

I did buy some non-local collards and kale at the grocery, and will probably get some more Satur Farms mesclun mix at Whole Foods, my new pricey addiction. All in all, I'm feeling stocked up and looking forward to much better meals than my pantry-relying creations of last week (although I did come up with a lovely black bean soup).

Making/taking stock

This was the type of morning that makes it hard to romanticize being a Greenmarket farmer (which romanticizing I will admit that I do quite often). Below freezing and windy, today makes me want to stay inside my warm apartment, baking and nestling up on the couch with a book and a hot drink - while all day, the vendors are outside, selling cold produce to warm-home-bound people like me. And the fact that standing outside in the freezing cold all day is probably one of the least difficult aspects of farming as a profession, especially in winter? Hard for this California-bred vegetable-lover to fathom.

I said lots of "goodbye 'til next year"s today:
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch red Russian kale
1 bunch collard greens
1 lb. fingerling potato "roasting mix"
3/4 lb. assorted chile peppers
4 lbs. onions
4 lbs. carrots
1 bunch celery
1 lb. cranberries
3 lbs. apples
1 head Shaman garlic
Total spent: $49.50

I have stock on the stovetop now (5 quarts water and 2 lbs. onions, 2 lbs. carrots, 1 lb. celery, 2 bay leaves, 4" kombu, 5 black peppercorns, 2 sprigs thyme, pinch of salt), and I'm also planning to make applesauce, a mushroom quiche, and maybe a loaf of bread or some pita or tortillas, if I'm feeling adventurous. And I'm not sure if I'll do it today, but I'm planning to make some cranberry jam or jelly - these are the first cranberries I've seen at the market this year, and I'm excited.

And later, I will finally finish my tabulating and announce the Produce Stories Best Of The Year!

Freezing toes; greens galore; announcement!

Lately I've been reflecting a lot on the person I was a few hours ago, when I was getting ready to leave for the greenmarket, a person I don't understand. Actions speak louder than words, so I think the best way I can sum up this enigmatic past me is the decision, upon finding via weather.com that the temperature outside was 31, to wear the pictured holey sneakers rather than, say, one of the many heavy boot options available in my shoe wardrobe.

My toes are still freezing after half an hour in my warm apartment. What was I thinking? At USG, I kept hopping from one foot to the other while vendors added up my purchases, and lest they think me ungraciously impatient, I was impelled to explain my toe situation. Despite my frostbite-fearing hurry, I managed to find some great vegetables among the dwindling winter offerings.

Cold feet, warm kitchen:
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch lacinato kale
1 bunch fancy Italian kale
2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
1 lb. assorted chili peppers
1.5 lbs. assorted mushrooms
1.5 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 lb. miniature, multi-colored potato "roasting mix"
Total spent: $32

The mushrooms will go into quiche when my quiche-loving photo assistant comes back from LA, the greens will be blanched and sautéed/stir-fried, and I haven't decided whether to make chili or lentil pepper-pot with the chili peppers.

I'll use the sweet potatoes in lunches - spicy roasted sweet potatoes with blanched greens are a great lunch side. And the apples left from my Wednesday USG trip will become applesauce at some point today.

In camera news, it's apparently working again.

In other news: Announcing the first annual Produce Stories Best Of The Year Countdown - next week I will be sharing my picks for best produce of 2008. How will you stand the anticipation?!?!? I honestly don't know - you might try meditating, or maybe you could take up a new hobby? I hear knitting's popular.

Thanksgiving market trip and things I made today

Still no photos. Also: afraid if I sit down too long I won't get back up. Not enough sleep last night.

Ready for the not-so-big day:
1 sugar pumpkin
3 sweet potatoes
3 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 lb. crimini mushrooms
1/4 lb. shiitake mushrooms
2 heads Rocambole garlic
3 lbs. onions
1 lb. shallots
1 bunch sage
1 bunch rosemary
1 lb. carrots
1 head butter lettuce
1 bunch Siberian kale
2 cute little squashes
6 lbs. Mutsu apples
Total spent: $70

Things I made today:
Applesauce
Quiche (whole wheat crust with caramelized onions, cheese, fresh thyme, greenmarket eggs, Amish cream)
Spelt bread (on its final rise right now)

Things I will make for Thanksgiving:
Celebration roast (artisanal ersatz meat roast, for fun)
Mushroom gravy
Mashed potatoes
Sautéed greens with caramelized onions
Cornbread stuffing (is it dressing because nothing is getting stuffed?)
Pumpkin pie (using roasted pumpkin and sweet potato, per Cook's Illustrated)
Ginger cookie ice cream sandwiches

There will only be three of us (though more are expected later for dessert) so I think I am going to skip another starchy side, though this sweet potato recipe, which my friend Zeb sent me, sounds really delicious. Maybe I'll make it one of these non-Thanksgiving days.

Also want to make soon: polenta lasagna with portabellas and kale from Fat Free Vegan.

I'm pretty sure that quiche is my favorite food ever. It is so nice and self-contained, and just tastes amazing. That may have something to do with the fact that it is entirely composed of butter, eggs, cheese, and cream. Maybe. Looking forward to quiche almost makes up for the fact that the sun started setting before 4 today. Almost.

Punk rock died when the first kid said...

Despite my morning grumpiness, the sun, perfect blue sky and not-quite-chilly temp made me glad to be a vegetable obsessive, rather than the sunglass-wearing aging punk I sat across from on the train back to Brooklyn. Nothing wrong with his way, of course, just that fiddling with the safety pins on a black hoody while reading Barthes (whom I recognized by the author photo alone - thanks, liberal arts education!) just doesn't strike me as the way to get the most out of such a lovely morning. Though shuffling through a crowded market with aching, laden shoulders may not appeal to lots of folks either, I suppose.
Greens greens greens:
1 bunch beets with greens
1 (gigantic) bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch dinosaur (lacinato) kale
1/3 lb. mixed salad greens
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
1 head celery
2 1/2 lbs. carrots
2 lbs. German butterball potatoes
1 lb. seedless grapes - green Lakemont and purple Jupiter
6 lbs. mixed apples (Empire, Gold rush, Macoun, Gala)
2 Bosc pears
1 pint strawberries (?!?!)

Total spent: $56

Being on a budget at the market always requires sacrifices: today, I gave up on getting tomatoes, and had to forego goat cheese in favor of eggs and bread. Though I suppose there was no question of whether or not to buy the strawberries once I saw them, which are some of the best I've had all year...and will be perfect over our favorite coconut milk ice cream for dessert tonight. Beets always make me feel like a smart shopper, though, since they're two vegetables for the price of one.

The Brussels sprouts were an impulse buy as I was still in the shallows of the market - they're not really an economical choice for the household since the photo assistant won't eat them. But if buttered Brussels sprouts and toast for lunch at 11 a.m. are wrong, I don't want to be right!

It's become the time of year when hearty greens make it into every meal - blanched and chopped in tacos instead of lettuce, added to chilis and soups, and sauteed with garlic and olive oil to accompany just about anything. Tonight I'll probably have garlic-sauteed beet greens (my current fave!) along with roasted potatoes and veggie sausage for dinner. My friend Amanda makes a yummy dish with lacinato kale, lemon, and I think red pepper flakes - I'll try that this week.

And of course, given the tough economic times (which for me have nothing to do with Wall Street, rather the increase in my monthly student loan payment for culinary school), I'll save the stems from all the greens and stir-fry them with tofu at the end of the week, like I did last night. Not the tastiest dish in the world, but good if it's spicy enough, healthful with brown rice, and frugal.

One of my favorite greens dishes lately is toasted English muffin halves topped with (in this order) goat cheese, minced chives, garlic-sauteed chiffonade-cut greens (chard is ideal), a butter-fried egg each, and more minced chives on top. The chives may seem optional, but they absolutely make this dish - combined with the goat cheese they elevate an ordinary breakfast combo into a dinner-worthy meal. Tomatoes on the side are an excellent accompaniment and predictably, I precede this with a big green salad.