Category — Events

Queens County Farm Produce

Despite the infernal heat today, Charles and I headed to the New Amsterdam Market.  Located next to the South Street Seaport, the market was set up in what was once a parking lot for the old Fulton Fish Market now relocated to the Bronx.  The New Amsterdam Market was started several years ago as a way to showcase local products and producers and revive the tradition of riverfront markets that New York was once known for.  The organizers’ vision is that one day it will be as famous as the Pike Place Market in Seattle or London’s Borough Market.  My vision was to stock up on some fresh vegetables and fish for the weekend.

About 50 vendors were on the schedule for today’s market.  There was lots of goats and cow’s milk cheese, freshly baked breads, gorgeous produce, wine, honey, pickles, coffee,  and chocolate.  These bialys from Brooklyn-based Hot Bread Kitchen, a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit bakery that trains immigrant women to become professional bakers, caught my eye.

One vendor, The Ravioli Store, had beautiful looking fresh pasta.  In addition to pasta made with wheat flour, they also had buckwheat, emmer and spelt pastas.

I was feeling pretty hungry, but couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat.  The line was too long for the the lobster rolls, the peanut butter and bleu cheese sandwiches at Saxelby Cheesemongers sounded inriguing, but not what I felt like eating.  Then I spotted  the perfect thing:  deep fried corn on the cob topped with a little cherry tomato salad from Marlow and Son, an excellent restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The corn was sweet, crunchy, salty and popcorn-y and the tasty little tomatoes were a nice finishing touch.  A slice of yellow watermelon was served on the side.  At first it seemed strange, but the melon was refreshing and cleansing.  Charles and I polished off the corn and were ready for more.

I had been craving hot dogs all week, so we headed over to the Fleisher’s Market stand.  Fleisher’s is located in Kingston, New York and this old-time butcher shop has been in business since 1901!  They must be doing something right.  I have stopped there several times on the way to visit friends in nearby Woodstock.  They specialize in organic and pasture raised meats and chicken.  Their hot dogs are homemade and do not contain nitrites, so they lack that reddish color we expect in a dog.  But the flavor was good and beefy and the dogs had a nice snap.  I had mine topped with yellow mustard and relish.

In between, we tasted  bread and cheese, and sampled wine, coffee, and kombucha, which is a fermented tea.  I bought honey from Sag Harbor, bread from Sullivan Street, chocolate covered chocolate nibs from Taza, and gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and Japanese eggplants from Queens County Farm, the only working farm within the New York City limits.  We never did find the fish vendor, but  I can’t wait til the next market, which according to their website www.newamsterdammarket.org is scheduled for August 22nd.  The market becomes weekly starting September 12.

Red, White and Green Lasagne, Mortadella and Truffle Stuffed Pork, Slow Cooker Cheesecake and Struffoli plus 4 of Charles’ favorite Italian wines are on the menu for this Thursday’s class at De Gustibus at Macy’s starting at 5:30. Join us for a delicious evening of cooking, eating, drinking and fun.  Hope to see you there!  For more information, go to www.degustibusnyc.com.

On Thursday, December 3 at 5:30, I will be teaching at De Gustibus Cooking School at Macy’s.  We’ll make a variety of Italian dishes that you can use for all of your holiday entertaining.  I am working on the menu now, but you can be sure there will be something old — it’s not Christmas without struffoli – and something new, a creamy ricotta  cheesecake you can make in a slow cooker!  All the dishes have one thing in common:  they can be made ahead so you can relax and enjoy being with your guests.  Have a special request?  Let me know and I will try to include it.  Charles is lining up some great wines to match the menu.

To find out more about the class, please go to:  http://www.degustibusnyc.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=45&func=details&did=185

Hope you can join us!

The New York Times yesterday published this item about Charles’ upcoming classes at the Enoteca on Court Street. Don’t miss it

Vino Culture —  Wine classes conducted by Charles Scicolone, the consultant at Enoteca on Court, 347 Court Street (Union Street), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, will be held July 28 at 7 p.m., covering how to pair wine with food, $75, and on Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. on Italian wines for summer, $40: (718) 243-1000.

Last week, my friends at Family Circle Magazine asked me to stop by and give them a lesson on making struffoli.  These little balls of fried dough dipped in honey are essential for many Southern Italians at Christmas time.  When I was a child, my mom and I used to make them assembly-line fashion, with me doing the cutting and rolling while she did the initial mixing and then the frying.  After frying, they were coated with warm honey that she would buy from a beekeeper on  Staten Island.  The finished struffoli would be piled onto shallow plates and decorated with colored sprinkles and maybe some candied fruits.  They would last for quite a while and we would serve them to guests and bring some to relatives we visited throughout the holiday season.  They were perfect for nibbling with a cup of coffee and we would all sit around the table and pick them off the pile with our fingers.  They were messy to eat and many people claimed not to like them, but somehow they would all disappear.  I always thought my mom’s were the best because they were light and airy, not hard and dense like some others I have tasted.

I will post the recipe struffoli at Christmastime, but if you just can’t wait, you can find it in my book 1,000 Italian Recipes

To see more photos of the struffoli class at Family Circle, see http://www.fcinnercircle.com/fc_inner_circle/food/

Did you know that about 95% of organic milk sold in this country has been “ultra-pasteurized”,
a technique that heats it to a very high temperature and destroys many of the nutrients?
It is perfectly legal and prevents the milk from spoiling too soon so that it can be shipped further and have a longer shelf-life.

This was one of the issues under discussion yesterday at a conference I attended on organic foods in the US and Europe. It was co-sponsored by the NYU Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Casa Italiana, the Italian Culinary Academy, and Alce Nero, an Italian organization that distributes organic products.

There were several presenters who spoke about a variety of topics including organic certification, food distribution and consumer perceptions. All of the speakers had a lot to say, but the most interesting speaker to me was Mark Dunau, a farmer in New York State who told us about his reasons for dropping out of the US government’s organic certification program. He chooses instead to be involved with a group called the Farmers’ Pledge, whose members advocate stricter regulations than the government and advocate local products, and fair labor practices, which is not part of the government’s program. He also voiced his concerns about big food marketing chains getting involved in organic foods, and how their involvement has impacted the organic food movement, and products such as organic milk.

Other speakers discussed the consumer’s dilemma of finding fresh organic food, and eating seasonally and locally, which even with all of the choices we now have, is not always so easy.

What’s a cook to do? I decided that I would try to learn and participate more in these issues. In the meanwhile, I will follow Chef Cesare Casella (of Salumeria Rosi) who advised us all to
“Choose food that smiles at you in the market.”