Category Archives: Recipes

Are Real Simple’s Recipes Any Good for Clean Hippies?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Alden Wicker

I still remember an exercise my first grade teacher gave our class 19 years ago. She taped a big posterboard up on the blackboard with instructions handwritten on it. (We were studying “following directions” at the time.) She told us to follow the directions.

In a pattern that would endlessly repeat itself to this day, I enthusiastically set about following everything in order. “1. Draw a square. 2. Draw a circle inside that square. 3. Draw a star somewhere on the page.” And so forth, until I got to instruction number 10: “Don’t do any of the above instructions. Just write your name on the paper and hand it in.”

Only one boy in the whole class found this tricky piece of information, sauntering up a good ten minutes before everyone else. This exercise was supposed to teach us to read the directions all the way through before getting started.

And gosh darn it, do I think of that exercise every single time I get to a third of the way through the recipe and realize I don’t have a slow cooker, a certain spice, a big enough food processor, the cognac I meant to pick up, etc, etc. I still haven’t learned this particular skill of reading through all the directions before starting. (My predilection for charging into things without reading the directions has earned me a nickname, Blue Toad, and is something my editor has remarked upon several times. Whoops.)

And … I did it again on a fairly epic scale. A few months back Real Simple came out with an ambitious piece called, “Food for a Month”, with recipes that would supposedly keep you fed for 30 days. It seemed like a challenge to my willpower and cooking skills: “Alden, could you have the preparation and skill necessary to cook all of these recipes?”

In a word, no. But I’ll be darned if I haven’t been trying my hardest. There have been a few speedbumps:

  • These are family-sized recipes. The first time I went out and bought every single item off the ingredient list, and then set about futilely trying to cook it all up before it went bad. Whoops. I should have known to read a little closer before I dutifully bought two pounds of pork chops. My grocery budget was shot for the month.
  • They are meat-heavy. So far, out of the seven recipes I’ve cooked, one has had quinoa as the star protein. The rest of the recipes feature pork chops, lamb ribs, pork loin, steak and chicken. This gets expensive when, like me, you want to get your meat from the Greenmarket or Whole Foods. Also, why so much meat? What is this, the Midwest?
  • I am a young, single NYC gal. Therefore, I do not need a recipe for every day of the week because I’m going out to dinner and drinks and events, and I really don’t eat that much. In my quest to conquer these recipes, I’ve let arugula rot in my crisper. Twice. So, I’ve switched to choosing two to three of the tastiest-looking recipes, cutting them in half and cooking that up for a couple dinners.
  • They actually aren’t that healthy. Somehow, I thought Real Simple‘s recipes would be as fresh and modern as its photography. But one of them was hanger steak with waffle cut fries (“Prepare frozen waffle fries according to directions …”) and a simple salad. Maybe we are in the Midwest.
  • They aren’t season-specific. This came out in October, and features ingredients like asparagus (best eaten in the spring) and few gourds or root vegetables beyond potatoes. I get as much as I can at the market, but with these recipes, I’m forced to heavily on supplements from the grocery store.
  • They don’t play off each other. What is the point of having a recipe a night when there is no synergy? Random ingredients have been piling up in my pantry, especially when the recipes pull stuff like calling for regular breadcrumbs one week, and panko bread crumbs the next. Really? I might have to take a break and use up all the extras before I continue to the final week.

Still, there are some tidbits worth saving, especially the vegetables sides. Miraculously, when I got home from my long weekend in Virginia tonight, the cauliflower left over from the breaded pork loin last week was still edible, so I cooked it up. It’s a simple recipe using a few ingredients, and for a Monday night after a weekend of heavy chili, cookie cake and two brunches, a plate of pure vegetables is just what I needed.

All you do is cut cauliflower into little florets, throw them in a pan with olive oil, pepper and salt until they are cooked up and yummy, toss them with some diced sweet peppadew red peppers, capers and parsley, and you’re all set.

I think overall, however, I’m going to stick with Whole Living recipes from now on.

Posted in Food, Recipes, Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Behind the Scenes at Momofuku Milk Bar

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Alden Wicker

Momofuku Milk Bar

Sunday night I took the L to Williamsburg to meet up with two old sorority sisters and see a The Artist at the Nite Hawk. Afterward, Whitney, who was visiting from Philadelphia, said she had a friend working at a local place. She clearly didn’t know what a treat she was about to give us: Her friend works at the Momofuku Milk Bar.

There are  lot of Momofuku’s in the city, and many of them are all but impossible to get into. But you can grab a little slice of sweet heaven at the Milk Bar, which has four locations in the East Village, Midtown, Upper West Side, and Williamsburg, no reservation necessary.

Their crack pie is aptly named (you can try to recreate it with this recipe), and their little cake truffles are so ridiculously good, $4 price seems like a bargain.

Whitney’s friend gave us the hookup, taking us into the warehouse of a kitchen in the back, where all the Milk Bar treats are made before being delivered to the Manhattan sister stores. It’s where pastry chefs took over in January to stage a decadent event called Killed by Dessert. (Please let there be a redux.) This is a serious workspace … I could crawl inside the mixers and take a nap.

“When I first applied,” our friend told us, “I though, ‘Oh, I like to bake, this could be fun!’ I had no idea.”

And in a testament to how good this stuff is, she hasn’t gotten tired of the sugary morsels–her sweet tooth has only increased.

Momofuku Milk Bar

Is it sustainable? Well, it’s a mixed bag. Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar cook book has been slammed for heavily relying on processed food like junk food cereal. But up until the farm shut down in January (SO SAD), the Milk Bar also used Milk Thistle Farm for their excellent, local milk.

After doing some sampling, I suggest you not eat for an entire day, then go in and get one of everything, washing it all down with a White Russian milkshake.

It would also make an excellent date spot. (Hint, hint.)

Posted in Brooklyn, Food, New York, Places to go, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spread the Love With These Fair Trade V-Day Gifts (Plus a Giveaway!)

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Alden Wicker

If you’re looking for an easy way to communicate to your honey (or your mom, or bestie, whoever wants to brighten your upcoming Tuesday) that you would prefer a Valentine’s Day gift with good energy, then I’ve got your solution: Just share with them this post!

And if you’re searching for a good way to show the conscious consumer in your life how much you care, just think about how, “I got you these Fair Trade roses from Ecuador” sounds so much better than, “I ordered these roses from FTP.”

Fair Trade USA has put together a very helpful post on traditional Valentine’s Day gifts … with a loving twist. Read on for their guidelines, and for how to enter to win a yummy, dark chocolate, Fair Trade bar!

Roses

One World FlowersAmericans will buy more than 189 million stems of roses this Valentine’s Day, the majority of which will travel all the way from Ecuador and Colombia before they’re sold to doting beaus.  You can make sure that your long-stemmed symbols of love positively impact the lives of farm workers (many of whom are women) by looking for bouquets bearing the Fair Trade Certified logo.

Fair Trade Certified roses can be found in-store at Whole Foods Market. Just look for the big, beautiful blossoms and vivid colors with the green Whole Trade Guarantee sticker in the floral department. Before you hand over these special roses, make sure to read up on the farm they came from to add a sweet story to the gift.

If you are sending flowers to loved ones, you can order online from One World Flowers and schedule the delivery of beautiful Ecuadorian roses. In addition to traditional red and pink roses, you can select themed bouquets like “Helping Haiti” and “Honoring Japan” that support much-needed relief efforts in those countries.  Remember to order early: Fair Trade Certified roses tend to sell out during this season. Use the coupon code FairTrade5 to get $5 off your order.

Share the Love: Show your love for Fair Trade Certified roses by asking your local florist to carry them. You can also use this photo as your Facebook timeline cover picture (Ladies: this works well as a subtle hint to your Valentine who might otherwise make the mistake of getting you non-certified roses).

Read more about Fair Trade Certified roses.

Chocolate

Even though Americans spend $16 billion a year on decadent cocoa products, cocoa farmers face tremendous instability. Fair Trade certification ensures that cocoa farmers receive a fair price for their harvest, creates direct trade links between farmer-owned cooperatives and buyers, and provides access to affordable credit.  Fair Trade also strictly prohibits slave and child labor. This Valentine’s Day, support a better life for cocoa farmers by sharing your favorite Fair Trade Certified confection with your friends and family.  There are plenty of delicious options to help you achieve this goal, including Sweet Earth Chocolates Classic Red Velvet Box, Sjaak’s dark chocolate with raspberry bar, ChocoDream Spreads, Kopali Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs, TCHO “My Heart’s Desire” Adigard 12-Bar Sampler, Alter Eco Dark Velvet Chocolate and sweetriot riotous riotBar gift set.

If an Alter Eco dark chocolate quinoa bar sounds like something you would like (um, obviously), you can enter to win one of five bars! Just tweet at me (CleanHippieNY) and tell me you prefer Fair Trade Valentine’s Day gifts. The first five readers to tweet will get a sweet gift in the mail.

Read more about Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

Share the Love: Help change the cocoa industry for the better by asking large chocolate manufacturers to go Fair Trade.  Many companies have comment submission forms on their websites, making this an easy action to take.  It is also important to thank companies for their delicious Fair Trade Certified offerings–do this with a handwritten card, e-mail or post on Facebook!

Coffee & Tea

Start the day off right by brewing a hot pot of Fair Trade Certified coffee or tea for your special someone. When it comes to coffee, look for a special blend with a good story, like Weaver’s Astral Blend (supports Breast Cancer Research – use code 1201FT for free shipping in February on orders over $45), Grounds for Change Cafe Famenino Peru (promotes women’s empowerment) or Green Mountain Coffee Golden French Toast (it’s just fun!).  If you prefer tea, there are plenty of Valentine-approved blends available like the Rishi Tea Pu-erh Gift Set, Choice Organic Tea Rooibos Chai, Art of Tea Vanilla Berry Truffle or Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Pomegranate Rose.

Share the Love: Did your loved one enjoy your Fair Trade Certified Valentine’s Day brew?  Take the time to thank the company that made it with a shout out on Facebook or Twitter.

Baked Goods     

Nothing completes a Valentine’s Day dinner like a freshly-prepared dessert.  With so many high-quality Fair Trade Certified ingredients available (chocolate, sugar, honey, coffee, etc.), it’s easy to create your own Fair Trade Certified delicacy. Take a lesson from Top Chef Just Desserts contestant Malika Ameen and try her Chocolate Mousse Cake with Vanilla Cardamom Swirl, or browse through Wholesome Sweeteners’ tantalizing Valentine’s Day recipes. Chocolate Hazelnut Waffles with Frangelico Brown Butter Syrup, anyone?

Not much of a baker?  Don’t worry; there are options for you, too!  The bakery at Sam’s Club now carries a variety of freshly-prepared treats made with Fair Trade Certified sugar, including banana nut bread and pound cake.

And thanks to Just Sweets Desserts, you can order online and send elegant Fair Trade Certified treats to loved ones.  Nothing says “I love you” like the delivery of a box of Fairest Chocolate Chip Cookies on your doorstep.

Share the Love: Host a Fair Trade dessert party.  Ask friends to bring their favorite dessert, made with as many Fair Trade Certified ingredients as possible.  Judge the desserts based on taste and number of Fair Trade ingredients used.

Wine & Spirits

Add a little color to your Valentine’s Day table with red and pink drinks. You can order Heritage Link One World Shiraz online or pick up a bottle of Cantora at Whole Foods Market (it’s a Top 10 wine!). In addition to wine, Valentine’s Day is a great time to try one of the FAIR. Spirits. You can blend FAIR. Quinoa with FAIR. Goji to make a beautiful, pink Gogipolitan. If you can’t find these spirits locally, you can order them online from JugShop.com, 67Wine, Marketview Liqueur or Cask.

Read more about Fair Trade Certified wine and spirits.

Share the Love: Make sure to ask for Fair Trade Certified beverages at your favorite restaurants and bars.  Suggest that they contact Fair Trade USA for more information and product recommendations.

Unmentionables (and other items of Fair Trade Certified clothing)

While the month of February brings with it an abundance of gifts geared toward the special women in our lives, it can also bring a sense of panic to those seeking the perfect gift for the perfect man.  Well fear no more, this Valentine’s Day show him you care with something a little more…well, outside the box. Good & Fair’s Fair Trade Certified boxers, made with 100% Organic Poplin cotton, last infinitely longer than a box of chocolates, and they are lightweight and comfortable to boot! Aside from the boxers, consider a scarf from Maggie’s Organics, the prAna Soul Tee, or a Classic Polo from by Tompkins Point Apparel. Fair Trade Certified apparel and linens support the livelihoods of cotton farmers with better prices and also benefits factory workers with a community development premium for schools, medical clinics, scholarships and more.

Share the Love: Spread the word about Fair Trade Certified apparel and linens by sharing this link: http://www.ecouterre.com/first-fair-trade-certified-clothing-arrives-in-the-us.  You can also make a donation to Fair Trade USA to support the expansion of our apparel and linens program. Our expansion initiatives are 100% funded by philanthropic contributions like yours.

Read more about Fair Trade Certified apparel and linens.

Gifts of Fairness

Does your sweetheart have everything or want nothing? You can give a unique paperless, package-less gift that changes the world – a Gift of Fairness. This Valentine’s Day, your donation to Fair Trade USA can come the form of a symbolic gift such as a Fair Wage for a Woman or a Micro Loan for a Grandmother. Fair Trade provides women with decent income and economic opportunities in 70 countries worldwide. Designate someone special to receive your new Gift of Fairness and personalize an e-card for them. Hint: this is a wonderful last-minute gift!

Share the Love: Fair Trade USA is a nonprofit organization that depends on donations to expand the benefits of Fair Trade to farmers and workers in new geographic locations and product categories every year.  Encourage your friends and family to consider making a donation in support of Fair Trade this Valentine’s Day by sharing this link: http://www.fairtradeusa.org/donate.

Giveaway Alert!

If an Alter Eco dark chocolate quinoa bar sounds like something you would like (um, obviously), you can enter to win one of five bars! Just follow me at CleanHippieNY and tweet @ me telling me you prefer Fair Trade Valentine’s Day gifts. The first five readers to tweet will get a sweet gift in the mail.

Posted in Activism, Food, Products, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rummage and Bake: The Way to New Cookie Horizons

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Alden Wicker

As I write this, I’m waiting for the disc of dough for Salt-and-Pepper cookies (grace a foodie newsletter Tasting Table) to set up in the fridge. They seemed like an exciting twist on sugar cookies that would make the kitchen smell homey. But let’s forget those for a moment; I’m really excited about the other, more interesting cookies in the oven right now. They were born of ingenuity, rummaging, and Google.

It started when I pulled out all the ingredients for the Salt-and-Pepper cookies and realized we didn’t have enough all-purpose baking flour for the full recipe. “We’ll divide it in half,” I declared. With Mike acting as sous pastry chef, we started. And…immediately messed it up. Well, I messed it up, by forgetting to divide it all in half and mixing a full stick of butter in with the full amount of sugar.

No problem, I just cut the mixture back in half. But Mike wouldn’t let me throw out the remaining butter-sugar mixture, pushing me to use it for something else. We didn’t have any all-purpose flour left, just bizarre varieties like spelt, garbanzo bean, and quinoa flour. Mike looked around and actually found a cookie recipe with quinoa flour, called – wait for it – Cookies Made with Quinoa Flour.

More rummaging. We had the honey, almond butter, nuts, and everything else except for quinoa flakes (that’s a new one to me) and brown sugar. So we added in molasses to the regular sugar and screwed the quinoa flakes.

Now they are out of the oven, and Mike and I just split one….

Hmmmm….nutty, as promised, sweet, very soft and chewy. Kind of like oatmeal cookies with a kick. Not bad!

Back to the original recipe: I’m a bit peeved with the kind of tools required for these salt-and-pepper cookies, as if we New Yorkers all have professionally-appointed kitchens brimming with obscure tools. A standing mixer with a paddle attachment? I haven’t yet had the opportunity to register for one of these $300 babies as a wedding present. Until then, I will use a hand mixer, just like my grandmother has done for 60 years. A spice grinder to grind up the black peppercorns? Don’t have that either. Instead, I used straight-up black pepper from a can. I also don’t have a rolling pin, so I used a can of Pam to roll out the dough, and a drinking glass to cut out the disks.

Now they are out of the oven and cooling. I’m slipping a spatula under one speckled, round, butter-yellow cookie. It gently lifts off the pan and I break it in half. It comes apart easily, with a soft inside and crunchy crust.

We nibble. We smile. They are great!

“They are both so different,” Mike says, referring to both the pepper cookies and the quinoa cookies, “but they are both very good.”

Success! We may not have all the fanciest, most expensive tools from Williams-Sonoma, but it didn’t even turn out to matter, did it? And no special grocery store trip either.

That, my friends, is how you rummage and bake.

Posted in Food, Recipes, Tips | Leave a comment

10 Hard-Earned Tips for Throwing a Healthy, Delicious Dinner Party

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Alden Wicker

Last night Mike and I threw our very first dinner party! Liz and her date Dustin gamely made the trek out to Ditmas Park via the Q. They were perfect guests: loud, cheerful, full of compliments, and loaded down with after dinner games and a bottle of wine.

One dinner party does not an expert make, but I learned a few things along the way:

1. Choose recipes that are deceptively healthy. On one side of the spectrum you could serve a thick, meaty lasagna with chocolate cake. Or you could serve aggressively raw vegan foods with a clementine for dessert. But not all guests would be happy with either of these options. Instead I chose recipes that looked indulgent, but had a healthy side. That way Liz and I could enjoy without feeling guilty, and the boys enjoyed everything too!

From Yoga Journal I mixed up a red pepper and walnut dip to serve with pita chips that Liz and Dustin could nosh on while we got our act together in the kitchen. If that’s too much to handle, you can set out hummus with pita chips and crudites, or a bowl of mixed nuts.

I followed with healthy chicken fingers from Natural Health Magazine. Instead of just white flour, the crispy shell included flax seeds, garbanzo bean flour, whole wheat breadcrumbs, and chopped pecans. Unfortunately, I can’t find the recipe at their website, and I don’t have permission to reproduce it. You’ll have to buy a copy of Natural Health Magazine, which I highly recommend. I present, as proof of how delicious the chicken fingers were, this exhibit: Every chicken finger was gobbled up, leaving Mike and I with no leftovers for today. For a side I made green beans with walnuts and shallots with a delicious dijon glaze.

Finally, after dinner was over and we were setting up Rockband, I emerged from the kitchen with four Glazed Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes. “I’ll tell you what is in them when you’re done eating!” I said. The avocado replaced the eggs and most of the oil or butter, making them much healthier. The recipe is intended to be vegetarian, but I substituted in milk for the soy milk. The tofu and maple syrup glaze side-stepped the pitfalls of refined sugar and heavy cream. Be aware that the batter tastes like avocado, but once you bake they emerge moist and very yummy.

2. Make a schedule. Now add two hours. I sat down the day before we planned to have the dinner party and wrote down a schedule with time for grocery shopping, showering, prepping, and cooking. But I still ran out of time! Between burning the shallots and starting over, Mike’s emergency run to the grocery store to get cupcake pans, and underestimating cook times, by the time Liz and Dustin showed up (45 minutes late, thankfully) I was still scurrying around the kitchen. I never did get to putting on my makeup. And Mike had to duck into the bathroom and hide my lacy hand-washables, which I had forgotten to put away. Luckily Liz found Mancala in the living room, and she and Dustin started their own game while Mike and I sauteed and blended in the kitchen.

3. Read the recipes very carefully and write down all the ingredients you’re going to need. Read them again and double check that you have more than enough of all the ingredients you happen to have in the cabinet. I almost had a disaster when I had barely enough white chocolate chips for the cupcake icing. Luckily it turned out yummy, if a little thin. Read it out loud one more time just to be sure.

4. Double check that you have all the tools you need. The four recipes I used required a food processor, a whisk, a shallow pan, a muffin tray, a sharp knife and several cutting boards, a mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons, tongs, a wooden spoon, a mesh strainer, a flour sifter, a saucepan, a skillet, toothpicks, and a large pot. We also realized another tray of ice for drinks would have helped. Do you have all these things in your cabinet? If you’re a 24-year old like me, probably not.

5. Alcohol! It’s a no-brainer. Wine, the liquor basics of gin and vodka, beer, cranberry juice, tonic and ginger ale will ensure that every guest gets what they want for a libation. You could come up with a fancy cocktail, but for our first dinner party, Mike and I went very simple.

6. Tape all your recipes to the cabinets when you’re ready to start cooking. Things will get crazy, oil will fly, and your greasy hands will make it hard to shuffle through the pages. If it’s a cookbook you’re pulling from, you might want to get a cookbook stand. If you’re working from the internet, it’s worth it to print it out (on recycled paper or the back of something else of course). It will make everything go smoother.

7. Say it with me: mise-en-place. (Pronounced mees on plaas) It’s a French term which means having all of your ingredients and tools ready to go on your workspace. Before I did anything, I already had my ingredients lined up on the counter, grouped by recipe. But I could have done better: I should have had the pots on the stove and the cooking utensils out as well. Anything that makes the process go smoother.

8. Do as much as you can early on. I made the dip in the morning and put it in the fridge. I learned the hard way that I should have made the cupcakes in the morning as well, so they could be slathered in icing and ready to go when I wanted them.

9. Have something to send your guest home with. With 16 cupcakes baked, I could send Liz and Dustin home with a container of sweets they could enjoy later.

10. Boardgames! You don’t need Rockband or Guitar Hero to get the giggles. After dinner have Taboo, Scattergories and Apples to Apples ready to make the time fly.

Bonus: Encourage your guests to drink a little too much. It’s much more entertaining for everyone if at least one person guest schnockered.

Voila, a successful dinner party at your fingertips. I’m not sure I’m ready for more than four people yet. But I know that Liz and Dustin had a great time last night!

Posted in Food, Lifestyle, Recipes, Tips | Tagged | 1 Comment

An Ode to the Wonderful Food Processor

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Alden Wicker

I may seem a bit schizo sometimes, posting about wild parties and then mundane things. But it has to be said, life is made up of both the big things you’ll remember always, and the little things that make every day better. The food processor is one of those things.

Mark Bittman composed an ode to the food processor, and all the wonderful things it can do in your kitchen in the New York Times. Check it out; he speaks wise words.

Posted in Food, Recipes, Tips | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Step by Step Instructions: How to Shop at the Farmers Market

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Alden Wicker

Ahh, the Farmers Market. Beautiful, bountiful, and bucolic, it’s a wonderful place to spend a summer hour. But it’s a whole lot different than going to the grocery store, so I’ve put together a little guide to help you navigate this bold, delicious new world. Enjoy!

1. Do an inventory of your pantry, fridge, and freezer. See what you already have on hand, so you don’t end up buying what you don’t need, and can use up what you already have stocked. I call it rummage-and-cook, but you can just call it common sense.

2. Make a meal plan. As much fun as it is to just show up to the market and grab what looks good, if you’re a nouveau chef like me you might be overwhelmed. I have a couple different strategies. I might put in a couple ingredients I already have in Epicurious and see what pops up. Yesterday I came up with couscous salad with peppers, olives, and pine nuts. I had everything already stocked except for red bell peppers, parsley, and an onion. I also found a savory gouda, bacon, and leek pancake recipe. With the flour and other essentials in jars on my shelf, I would just need the leeks and bacon.

You can also keep a good seasonal cook book in the house. I have a couple on my shelf: Sustainably Delicious and Simply Organic both group their recipes by season, so you won’t have to go on a treasure hunt in Whole Foods. I also have Earth to Table, Lucid Food, Eating Local, and Farm to Fork on my Amazon wish list. Obviously, local food is a hot topic in the cooking world.

I usually pick two recipes. One recipe will keep me for three or four meals, depending on if I’m sharing. I find myself eating out spontaneously with friends quite often so I don’t want to overstock.

4. Look up which markets are open where. Maybe you knew this, but farmers markets aren’t plunked down in one location, open 24/7. You’ll need to do some research. This handy site lets you look up NYC Greenmarkets and filter by the day. But a Google search of your location and “farmers markets” will probably do the trick if you are elsewhere. I found only one market open on Monday, and that was the trusty old Union Square market. It’s an hour round trip from me, but I decided it would be worth it.

4. Bring some reusable bags. Farmers will have plastic bags there if you are in a pinch, but we all know plastic bags are the devil’s invention. Bring reusable produce bags too if you have ‘em.

5. Be flexible. You might not find exactly what you’re looking for. I’ve found delicious bacon at the Union Square market before, but there was none to be had on Monday. Oh no, recipe ruined? Nope! I decided to substitute a similarly rich duck prosciutto instead. That brings me to my next point…

6. Get advice from the farmers. You won’t find specialized service like this, even in your fancy Whole Foods. When I couldn’t find bacon, I had a long conversation with the girl at the duck tent. She gave me a couple samples, (“this has a smoky, more ham-like flavor…”) and we discussed the ins and outs of using duck prosciutto over fresh duck. As I slipped my mouth-watering duck breast into my bag, she also said to try it with goat cheese and arugula. That’s what I call service.

7. Try something new. I know I said to meal plan, but really, the best thing about the farmers market is picking up something you’ve never seen before. If grocery stores are for uniform, tasteless tomatoes, the farmers market is for heirloom varieties that spark the imagination. I picked up an odd green vegetable called kiwi squash, which the sign said had a rich nutty flavor, and would be good sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper.

8. Indulge. You should feel guilty about picking up those cupcakes from the grocery store with an inch of icing shaped into a clown face. But the treats at the Farmers Market were made with love and care, are free of preservatives and other artificial ingredients, and taste delicious. I bought a roasted peach popsicle from People’s Pops, and then a pack of three sticky and sweet cider donuts. I also indulged in some mild flirtation with the hot guy selling me the donuts. I only felt a little guilty. After all, he started it. (Note: You would never catch me flirting with a grocery store cashier. Farmers? A different story.)

9. Get creative. As I wandered about, licking my delicious popsicle, I saw piles of fresh berries everywhere. “Hmmmmm” I thought, “Why not make my own icy treat?” I piled blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries in my bag.

10. Supplement from the grocery store. You can’t get every single thing you need from the grocery store. Although food advocates recommend saving the leafy greens for the spring, and the apples for the late summer and fall, even the most stringent locavores cave to shipped-in salt, sugar, flour, and olive oil, all of which don’t have local replacements. After I was done filling my bags with produce, I stopped in the Whole Foods market next door to restock on olive oil and granola.

11. Get cooking. Another reason to meal plan? Fresh produce doesn’t look kindly upon being crammed in the back of your pantry for months on end like granola bars and boxed cereal. When I got home I quickly unpacked everything and got it into the pantry, and a couple hours later got started on dinner.

12. Enjoy! I can now say that frying duck smells just as good – if not better – than frying bacon. Vicki loved the savory pancake with melted gouda on top, and the popsicles were a snap to make. They were just what I needed this afternoon to keep cool!

I hope I’ve answered some of your questions about shopping at the farmers market. If you have any more, leave them in the comments. Now get out there and shop!

Posted in Food, Lifestyle, New York, Recipes, Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Farmers Market Cooking – the Right Way

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Alden

As you know, I’ve had several forays into farmers market cooking. It is usually sporadic, however, and often involves potatoes. They keep well and need nothing more than olive oil. But lately I’ve been seriously lagging, mostly because all the farmers markets close at five. Five! Unless I make it there on Saturday or Sunday, well, than it’s off to Whole Foods, or – even lazier – my corner grocery store for pesticide laden produce from California.

I’m a bad person. I know!

Anyway, in an attempt to redeem myself I signed up for a cooking class with the owner of Home Cooking NYC, Jennifer Clair. The menu was composed almost entirely of farmers market goodies, save the lemon, sugar, salt, and flour. Hmm, maybe the butter too. But really, it was a very small percentage wasn’t fresh from the stalls.

Jennifer is extremely knowledgeable. In contrast to my last cooking class, which was long on knife technique and short on instruction on high quality ingredients, Jennifer was all about getting the best stuff. She talked about the meaty wonderfullness of heirloom tomatoes, the robust flavor of fresh garlic, the dense nutritional value of farro (an “uber grain” she called it), the merits of salt, and the demerits of processed food, how to store various fresh herbs, and the importance of choosing sustainable fish and humanely raised meat.

In short, she imparted a gold mine of information about how to cook and eat healthfully. She agrees with Michael Pollan on many points, including the fact that Americans devote a too small percentage of their budget to food. “I spend most of my money on food,” she said. As someone who enjoys paying $4 for an heirloom tomato so she can bite into like an apple, she was definitely telling the truth.

So what goodies did she demonstrate? Check out these photos of the fresh ingredients before they were whipped into munch-worthy shape by Jennifer:

Fresh Tomato, Fennel and Corn Relish over tilapia fish. Lightly floured and tossed in a non-stick pan with olive oil, tilapia is an easy cook – it holds together well and is always a good choice for the cook who is conscientious of depleted fish stocks.

Roasted Ratatouille with eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic, bell peppers, thyme, tomatoes, basil, and – a untraditional addition which really amped up the flavor – kalamata olives, all spooned over farro. A great choice for this time of year, ratatouille brings together a bounty harvest of mid-summer flavors. It may be a “peasant dish” but it tastes like royalty.

Magret duck with a summer fruit compote. Seeing that the Columbia farmers market near me has no chicken, but has duck, I was grateful for this recipe. It combines savory duck, with sweet fruit in a way I didn’t think possible. It wasn’t quite as good as the duck from Bobo in the West Village, but that is a really, really high bar. You can also try the compote over chicken or pork, or mix it up with other fruit, even apples. Tasty!

The empanada and the peach pie met, fell in love, and had a little bastard child called “hand pie.” It’s got it’s momma’s good looks and it’s daddy’s money, and it’s flaky, buttery crust encases a sweet fruit filling that will knock you out. Did I mention it was yummy?

The end result was a family-style lunch that was just the right amount of filling, and good conversation with other aware foodies from NYC and Connecticut.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t reproduce her recipes here, well, a. it doesn’t do them justice, and b. I don’t want to steal her thunder! I highly recommend Jennifer’s classes. Find more here, including private lessons in the home and lessons in her home kitchen in the Hudson Valley.

P.S. It’s National Farmers Market Week!

Posted in Food, New York, Recipes, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sushi: A Great Cooking Project for Two People

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Alden

I’ve always heard that making sushi is really, really hard. That unless you have tons of practice, your rolls turn out messy and unappetizing and you might as just give up and order some take out. Well, I’m here to report that it is not as bad as all that.

I’ve been adding some random stuff to my Amazon wishlist. Things like heart-shaped ice cube trays, books that look interesting but aren’t must-reads, and a sushi mat. Oops, I accidentally added this little sushi-rolling doodad to my cart, and it showed up at my door along with an organic cookbook a few weeks ago.

Mike loves sushi, and when yesterday morning I casually suggested we could make sushi for dinner, his eyes lit up. I mean, Mike is a super-positive guy, but more in a “I’ll do anything once” sort of way – when I suggest going to a good restaurant, or biking out to Coney Island, he smiles and says, “Sure! Sounds fun!” No, this time, it was different. He pounced on that idea like spaz-attack cat Luca pounces on a laser pointer. (Ever seen that? It’s pretty funny. But I digress.) There was no reneging on this idea.

We stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and picked up the ingredients. I already had sesame seeds, wasabi powder, sugar, soy sauce, and nori, so we chose a tuna steak and salmon, some sushi rice, rice vinegar, some cheap caviar (or roe, as they call it in sushi restaurants, and it was 11 bucks y’all, don’t get excited) a couple avocados, and convinced the lady at the sushi counter to part with a little bit of spicy sauce.

A google search found this stellar all things sushi website with detailed instruction on every step.

We rinsed, soaked, and cooked the rice, mixed in the vinegar, sugar, and salt, sliced up the fish and avocado, spread the rice on the nori, and used the mat to roll it all up in different variations.

The result was delicioso. (Sorry, I don’t know the Japanese word for “awesomeness in my mouth”) Yes, my rolls were a bit fat. “I don’t know if this is going to fit in my mouth,” Mike said as he contemplated my overly rice-y roll. “I’m not going to say it,” I said, but then couldn’t help my self and yelled “That’s what she said!!!!” as he placed it in his mouth. Then I started laughing so hard, because he looked like a chipmunk. Sorry, no pics of that, which is unfortunate, really. Luckily Mike was able to chew  it and swallow it, as hard as I was making it for him.

Also, we had a lot of sushi. FYI, three cups of uncooked rice is excessive for two people, as is a pound of fish. Who knew?

But overall, it was super fun. We took turns spreading the rice, and choosing our own favorite garnishes. One hiccup was that Mike forgot to keep track of which rolls were heavy on the wasabi, which was an unpleasant surprise for me. And no, I did not get sick, thanks for asking! Now if you will excuse me, I need to go eat my leftovers!

Posted in Food, Recipes | Tagged | Leave a comment

So you're having a vegetarian and meat-lover to dinner…

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Alden

What do you cook? Well, a team of experimental chefs is trying to answer that question by putting together a book of flexible recipes, called Flexitarian. But they need your help funding the project! I kicked in $30 through Kickstarter, which guarantees me a copy of the cookbook if the funding goes through. The project is 40% funded, and it will only go through if they reach their goal of $3,500. I want my cookbook, so head over there at give $5 to a good cause. All proceeds from sales of the book, once printed, go to benefit two organizations: Slow Food USA and Yoga Bear. (The former I’m wild about.)

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , | Leave a comment