Category — Uncategorized

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.

I had never given much thought to Italy’s Alto Adige region when it came to buying cheese, but last week I had a chance to taste four cheeses from this Northeastern Italian region at a tasting at Clo Winebar in the Time Warner Center, and now I can’t wait to try them again.

Italian food expert Lou Di Palo, whose family owns Di Palo Fine Foods, was the speaker.  He told us that all of the cheeses were made by hand from cow’s milk that comes from small local farmers.  The cows graze on herbs and grasses that grow in the high mountain passes of the Dolomites.

The first cheese was Lagrein, which is confusingly the same name as an Alto Adige wine, but understandable when you learn that the Lagrein cheese is actually soaked in red Lagrein wine.  Then it is rubbed with herbs and garlic and  left to age about 2 or 3 months.   The cheese is firm with little holes and cracks.  It has a creamy texture and slightly garlicky flavor which I thought was great.  We tried it with a Muller Thurgau from Alois Lageder, one of the top wine producers of the region, but next time I want to have some with a bottle of Lagrein.

Dolomiten Konig resembled Swiss cheese, with its nutty flavor and holey texture.  The cheese is made from milk from the pristine Pusteria Valley and is aged about 2 months before being sold.  I could see using this cheese a lot for cooking as well as eating.   A spicy Gerwurtztraminer from producer Weingut Gottardi was a good complement.

My favorite cheese of the tasting was called Stelvio.  This is a PDO cheese, meaning that it is has been recognized by the EU with a Denomination of Protected Origin designation.  Lou explained that it is a “malga” cheese because it is made only during the summer months when the cows go to their summer pastures in the mountains.  Though aged only about 2 months, it had a lot of pungent flavor and buttery texture.   We drank Kellerei Kaltern from Pfarrhof made from 1000% schiava grapes with it, but any big spicy red would be good.

The final cheese of the tasting was Alta Badia, a straw colored cheese that is aged between 6 and 10 months.  It was pungent and tangy yet well-balanced with flavors of spice and fruit.  We had it with the Abbazia di Novacella Lagrein Riserva, an excellent wine.

In between cheeses, we sampled speck, the classic air dried ham of the region.  It may look a little like prosciutto, but the big difference is that speck is lightly smoked, while prosciutto is not.  We tried it both thinly sliced and cut into small chunks to better appreciate its texture and flavor.

Alto Adige cheeses are available at Di Palo, Murray’s, Todaro and in many other shops.  Speck, too.  All you need is some crusty bread and a bottle of Alto Adige wine for a fine summer picnic.

Last night I had a chance to taste some of the wines from Helfrich, a winery in the Alsace Region of France at a dinner with Anne-Laure Helfrich at Cru Restaurant in Greenwich Village.  I don’t often drink Alsatian wines, but as we tasted them and talked about how they were made, I found myself wondering how I could have let this happen.  They were easy to drink and complemented the food so well.

We started with a 2009 Reisling from Helfrich’s lower-priced Nobel Tier.  I loved its crisp citrusy flavor and  found it the perfect companion to my first course, sliced raw fluke served with cherry tomatoes and avocado sprinkled with crushed corn nuts.  It would be just the right wine with sushi or smoked salmon or a salad.  Next we had the pinot gris.  In the glass, the wine  had a beautiful pink blush and was very aromatic with peach and apricot flavors.  I could see serving it with bbq chicken or pork glazed with fruit.  The gewurtztraminer was spicy and sweet with floral aromas.   It would have gone really well with spicy food, like Chinese or Indian, but last night I liked it best with the cheese course that ended our meal.

After the fluke appetizer, I had an excellent main course of branzino on a chick pea puree with braised endive and sauteed maitake  mushrooms.  Tiny black sprinkles turned out to be salty and flavorful bits of dried black olives, a nice touch that contrasted with the delicately sweet fish and endive.  Once again I preferred it with a riesling , but this time the Helfrich 2007 Grand Cru, the company’s better line from their prestigious Steinklotz vineyard.  It was bigger and fuller than the first riesling I tried, yet still easy drinking and very well priced.  Amazingly, the wines in the Helfrich Noble Tier are only about $15 a bottle, while those in the Grand Cru line are about $25 each.

During the meal, Anne-Laure told me a little bit about Alsace, which is a long narrow region in the eastern part of France bordering on Germany.   The town of Colmar where Helfrich is located is considered the capital of the wine region and is famous as the birthplace of Frederic Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty.  Wines have been grown in the area since the Romans inhabited the area over 2000 years ago.   We talked about some of the foods of the region, too, including Tarte Flambe, a French pizza topped with creme fraiche, bacon, onions and cheese and of course choucroute garni, sauerkraut braised with a variety of sausages and smoked pork.

Some people favor red wines with cheese, but I think whites are a better choice in most cases, especially the Alsatian wines I tasted last night which had a hint of residual sweetness.   I plan to get in a supply of them for drinking all summer long.

Some time ago, a food writer friend who is also a restaurant critic came for dinner.  It was winter and I had prepared a hearty meal including cauliflower gratineed with browned butter and Parmigiano- Reggiano.   As soon as he arrived, my friend went straight to the kitchen to check out what I was cooking.  He oohed and ahed over the homemade cavatelli, and practically drooled at the sight of the fennel dusted roast pork and ribs sizzling in the oven.  But the cauliflower stopped him in his tracks.  ”I hate cauliflower”, he announced with a long face.  I must admit, that stopped me in my tracks!   I happen to love cauliflower in all its forms, so it never occured to me that anybody might not.  How could anyone not like cauliflower, I said.  But he had had a traumatic encounter with it when he was a kid and wouldn’t even consider trying my version.

I’ll be honest, I don’t have much patience with picky eaters.  I’m not talking about people who can’t eat something for whatever reason (and I really appreciate it if they let me know BEFORE they come for dinner).  But why single out a great vegetable like cauliflower to avoid?  Think of all the things you can make with it:  toss it with whole wheat orecchiette and bacon (the recipe is in my book Fresh Taste of Italy), braise it with black olives and garlic (1,000 Italian Recipes), or coat it with eggs, cheese and breadcrumbs and fry it until crisp (The Antipasto Table).  I also find that it is one of the best vegetables to cook in a slow cooker.   And do I need to tell you how full of anti-oxidants it is, and how low cal?  That’s why I formed the Cauliflower Defense League, whose sole purpose is to encourage the enjoyment of more cauliflower.

Take for example the creamy cauliflower soup I made this week in my slow cooker.  It was incredibly simple and so good.  I had a little jar of golden-hued wild whitefish caviar in the refrigerator, so I decided to garnish the soup the way the way I had had it in Paris last year, with a spoonful of caviar in the center and a sprinkle of chopped chives.   I loved the way the sweet, creamy soup contrasted with the salty cool caviar.   If you don’t want to go for the caviar, serve the soup with crumbled blue cheese, or grated Parmigiano, or leave it plain and enjoy it as is.

I hope you will do yourself a favor and join my Cauliflower Defense League.  Our slogan is Eat Cauliflower and Enjoy!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Caviar

Serves 6

1 large cauliflower, about 2-1/2 pounds, trimmed

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

4 cups chicken broth

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream

Caviar and fresh chives (optional)

Cut the cauliflower into 1-inch pieces and discard the tough stems.  Place the caulflower in a large slow cooker with the onion and chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. If necessary add a little water to just cover the cauliflower.

Cover and cook on low 5 hours or until the cauliflower is very soft.  Transfer the cauliflower to a blender and puree until smooth.  Taste for seasoning.  Add the heavy cream.  Serve hot, plain or garnished with caviar.

The Wall Street Journal published a great review of THE ITALIAN SLOW COOKER in today’s issue written by Aram Bakshian Jr.!

Here is the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704479404575087452535515596.html?KEYWORDS=The+Italian+Slow+Cooker

ButcherSauce from "The Italian Slow Cooker"

All you can eat pasta is not what you might expect at an upscale restaurant like Locanda Verde, but for the past three Mondays, Chef Andrew Carmellini has transformed the private dining room  into an old time trattoria with a set menu of antipasto, several pastas and dessert.   When Charles and I and a group of friends arrived this Monday, we were shown to the warm and rustic private dining room at the rear of the restaurant.  It was decorated with wheels of Parmigiano, giant tins of imported Coluccio brand Italian DOP tomatoes, red checked table cloths, and candle dripped Chianti bottles to look like an old time trattoria.   We sat at a big wooden farmhouse table, ordered some wine and the parade of antipasti began.  Meatball sliders, fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, mortadella from Emilia Romagna, fried eggplants in vinegar and garlic, and a crisp Caesar-type salad topped with fat anchovies were all passed around the table and quickly gobbled up.

Then came the pastas, the moment we were all waiting for.  Tender fresh ravioli with a creamy ricotta cheese filling and light mushroom sauce, called My Mother’s Ravioli on the menu, were the first to arrive, dished out from a large platter by our waiter.  Penne Ricche with Ragu Pugliese made with tomatoes, ground lamb and mint was next, and then my favorite, or maybe my second favorite, gigantoni, similar to paccheri but with ridges and a tasty pork ragu.

I thought they were coming to clear our dinner plates, but the waitstaff appeared with a fourth pasta, Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe pesto, olives, pine nuts and raisins.  The orecchiette, which I learned later were made by a company called La Bottega and sold, like many of the other ingredients of our meal, at D. Coluccio & Sons in Brooklyn, were so good they seemed like home made.   I was impressed at how well all of the pastas were cooked al dente — not an easy feat under the circumstances.

Charles ordered a perfect wine to go with the meal, Grifalco Aglianico del Vulture.  It was hearty and spicy and stood up to all of the different flavors in the antipasto and pastas.  We ended with big bowls of Citrus Tiramisu and espresso.

Locanda Verde’s pastapalooza was a lot of fun, especially for a group.  There is one more pasta dnner scheduled for Tuesday, March 2.  Just make sure you go hungry.