obsessing

Deborah reports on her trip to Paris...

When it comes to Paris, what can I say?  I obsess. This recent visit  had me completely captivated by Parisian apartment windows. The weather in Paris last week featured a magnificent October heat wave with temperatures in the low 80s. Perfect for wandering around the city and staring up into peoples homes. Not only are Parisian apartment windows over-the-top beautiful with gorgeous glass panes, elaborately lush window boxes and ornately curled iron work, no, not only all of that BUT also, they are unmarred by air conditioners! And even more dazzling for me was to see these magnificent windows thrown wide open to catch the breezes without a single instance of screening or insect netting. Amazing! See for yourself:

 

 Do people really live in these places?

Oh yes, and those awnings, the perfect accent of color. sigh.

The other great Paris obsession is of course food. One of my favorite blogs is Paris Breakfasts, the chronicles of one woman's serious obsession with French Pastry. 

 These simple fruit tarts were irresistible to me.

I like pastry too, but I am more obsessed with the fresh food markets. Last Saturday found me strolling around Paris' Marche d'Aligre, a huge open market teaming with produce and packed with shoppers. 

The garlic just flopped on top of the apples, too much!

Overly stimulated and now totally starving I headed in to the covered market area where you can buy charcutiers and cheeses. I put together a picnic of country pate, goat cheese and a container of artichoke tapanade. To round out the meal we stopped at a boulangerie to pick up a baguette and when they handed it to us it was STILL WARM! Ah heaven, you are Paris.

 

There is no shortage of perfect picnic spots in Paris. Just stroll right up to the river bank and join the rest of the pleasure seekers.

I did not have a kitchen to cook in on my trip, but I want to make that artichoke tapanade. It had a rich earthy flavor that was addictive,  scooped straight up from the container with chunks of that warm baguette. There are no artichokes in the NY farmers markets right now so for a quickie version this is what I am going to do:

Artichoke Tapanade

- Simmer a package of frozen artichoke hearts in some vegetable or chicken stock until tender.
- Drain the artichokes and puree in a food processor with a good glug of extra virgin olive oil.
- Season with salt, pepper and lots of lemon zest.

Bon appetit!

For further obsessive musings on my Paris trip this link is to my husbands blog where I wrote a post about our day at the horse races in the Bois de Boulonge.

Wingin' It

Amanda tries to re-create a spectacular dressing....

It all started a little over a week ago. Sushi night at my house with some of my neighborhood girlfriends. I do it a few times a year. Lots of laughs (and wine) are regular components of the night. Usually I just order a few platters of different pieces of sushi and exotic rolls. This time, I wanted to add a salad to the mix. I was feeling inspired and wanted to make something special, (but easy) impressive and healthy. I had a hankering for carrot ginger dressing. I envisioned a pretty, crisp, fresh salad to begin our night, along with some Prosecco.

There are a few things I am very particular about, and like only when made in a certain style - hot and sour soup is one, gazpacho another, and carrot ginger dressing yet another...to name a few.  I have a specific type of carrot ginger dressing that I like and I was in search of a recipe that sounded like it might meet my expectations. Right away I was attracted to one in particular - a recipe from Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Newsletter. (the original recipe is at the bottom of the page on her site).

Seemed straightforward, looked pretty, and I imagined this was exactly what I was looking for. I bought the ingredients on Thursday, and the dinner was going to be on Friday. I decided I would make the dressing Thursday evening. I went to Whole Foods in search of the sweet white miso. Lo and behold, they were out of stock. The employee I spoke with recommended I use the red miso - that it wouldn't make much of a difference. As miso is not my forte, I took his advice and went with the red.

Once I began, right away I knew I would not have nearly enough. Having just got home from hot yoga, I was exhausted - it was 9 pm and I was ready for sleep. I made a quick batch, using the miso very sparingly as I did not know how it would taste. The recipe is for 1 serving. Knowing I would have 6 women over, I increased all of the ingredients. As I enjoy heaps of this kind of dressing on my salad, I wanted to have way more than enough. I took a small taste.  For me, the shallot was too pronounced and rendered the dressing very "oniony" - too much so. Plus, I felt it was missing something. This is what you get for rushing and trying to create something when your heart is not in it. All I could think of was my bed. Not sure whether to throw it out, or start over, I finally decided to put it in a container and deal with it the next day.

So, morning came and off to work I went. Once I got home, I knew I'd have about 1 1/2 hours to finish the dressing before my guests appeared. Plus, I had to straighten up, feed the kids, set the table and pick up the sushi. The day before I had picked up pretty black plates on which to serve the salad.  I was determined to make it a success. Before I did anything else, I had that dressing to contend with. I was on a mission!

I took the previous night's concoction out of the fridge. Got the Cuisinart out. Lined up the ingredients. I poured the dressing I had already made into the food processor. I knew I would not be adding anymore shallots. I would just add the other ingredients to balance it out. First, I re-tasted it. Definitely still too oniony. And it needed a touch of sweetness - perhaps that is what the sweet white miso would've helped with? I decided to add some mirin - a Japanese rice wine similar to sake but with less alcohol. And, it's sweet. So, I drizzled some in. Peeled 3 more large carrots, cut up a huge chunk of ginger, and added more rice vinegar, red miso, sesame oil, vegetable oil and water. Didn't measure anything - decided to just "wing it". After all, I was running out of time.

Pressed the puree button. When I felt it was the right consistency, it was time to try it. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I couldn't believe it. I thought "this is it!" This is the recipe I've been searching for! It was literally 100% of what I had hoped for. I don't know how I did it.  When the time came, I put some cut up Bibb lettuce and sliced avocado on each plate. I topped it off with a few heaping spoonfuls of the carrot ginger dressing. It was a tremendous hit. Everyone commented that it was better than the dressing they get in Japanese restaurants! I was so happy with the result.

But now here's the problem - I don't know if I can do it again. Was it luck? I'll find out tonight when I try to re-create it. Stay tuned....I will let you know later. And, I'm going to pay closer attention to the quantities I use so I can post them! Gwyneth Paltrow's recipe is terrific and I highly recommend it! Check it out by visiting the link above. I will post my version later!

a good read

Deborah discovers that not all chef's passions are created equal...

It is officially fall!

The humidity is really starting to get to me. My garden is infested with mosquitoes. I must brave the onslaught to harvest a handful of cherry tomatoes. Slap, slap, scratch, pick, pick, scratch. Might as well stay indoors and read.

I am a library junkie and pop in at least once a week to the closest branch in whatever borough I happen to be in. My long daily subway commutes to the three public schools, whose lunches I oversee for Wellness in the Schools, leaves me ample time to plow through many, many tomes.

Recently consumed are back to back readings of two great chef memoirs:
Life on the Line by Chicago restaurant Alinea's chef/owner, Grant Achatz
and Blood, Bones and Butter by NYC restaurant  Prune's chef/owner, Gabrielle Hamilton.

Both chef's books are highly engaging reads, emotionally moving and at times gripping. They cover their lives in the restaurant industry, the influences that inspire them and how they got to where they are now (rich and famous). But it is the differences in their approach that really struck me.

My garden coleus is hanging on till the first frost.

Achatz has achieved professional greatness with his exacting craft and hyper-perfection at Alinea, his fancy pants award winning restaurant that typically serves 25 course dinners composed of mind blowing original concoctions. No I have not eaten there (yet). Achatz's standards are so demanding that the Alinea kitchen feels more like a military command center than a place that feeds people. And aha, the catch is that he is not really trying to FEED people but rather, give them an unbelievable experience that only he can create. I want to go.

Hamilton is an earthy bad girl, stealing and lying her way into her early restaurant jobs. She is a bad ass and super cool. Her passion is about getting her hands dirty in the kitchen, creating something primal and sublime, food that is completely true to its origins, and she is unafraid to make it funky. I love her.

My just picked cherry tomatoes went into the oven smothered with olive oil, feta cheese and a few cloves of whole garlic and a spoonful of sugar to balance the tartness of the tomatoes. They bake at 400 degrees for at least half an hour. I want them to melt down to a gooey wonderfulness to eat on some crispy bread. I am more in the Hamilton camp of cooking.

 Out of the oven, warm and golden.

I want my food to taste great. I want to cook it simply. I want to enjoy its perfectness without artifice. Achatz will dazzle and delight and frankly I am so intrigued after reading his book that I am contemplating a trip to his restaurant in Chicago, but for me it will be an impressive trick, a good show, not a way of life.

 The smell and flavor of this preparation brought memories of pizza in Rome.

Grrr...

Deborah tries her hand on a free-form galette.

The harvest is in! The bounty at the farmers markets is overwhelming right now and this will continue for several more weeks. I have bought my huge batch of plum tomatoes and will be making tomato sauce to pack away for winter. I have bought big batches of apples and will begin to cook them down for apple butter and pie fillings. I am plucking the last of the roses and sunflowers from my garden for casual arrangements all over the house.

It is a late summer odyssey of hunting and gathering the best that nature has provided. I did not expect the gathering to include an animal hunt, but the latest grouping of sunflowers that adorn my dining table had hidden within the petal folds, dozens of tiny inch worms. They began to emerge, crawling across my computer screen as I sat checking email. Hey! Within a day I had to get a long handled broom and start sweeping them off my ceiling. So cute. Listen, nature is nature. I'm taking the good with the not so welcome.

One crop I eagerly anticipate is Italian plums or sugar plums. Every year I bake a tart or two showcasing these handsome egg-shaped beauties with their fetching dark purple skins. In the Wednesday food section of the NY Times this week, food writer Melissa Clark featured a free-form plum crostata that looked fantastic and easy enough to try. I like Clarks recipes; accessible and always based on seasonal ingredients. Crostata, the free-form tart, or galette, as the French and I know it, is a technique I have struggled with in the past. I love the casual looseness of its presentation, but rarely succeed in keeping the crust from falling apart. I make pies and tarts all the time so it isn't the dough per se that holds me back. Somehow when it comes to forming the galette I manage to bust a hole or two on its bottom edge and the juices come pouring out during baking, sticking to the pan and making removing the finished tart a task of prying, scrapping and holding back tears.

I was game to try it again with Ms. Clark's guidance. She warns not to get too attached to the tart's appearance as crostatas are notorious for busting a leak, just expect that as part of the what she calls its "shabby chic" appeal. My first ever galette was for a practical exam I took at cooking school where my artfully arranged apple concoction split a seam in the oven and became GLUED to the pan. I had to present it to the instructor with a whimper. I think I passed with a sympathy vote.

 A food processor makes quick and easy work of dough making.

Clark's dough recipe calls for combo of whole wheat and white flour, a little sugar and an egg. The dough was quick to make and easy enough to roll out. The filling requires little more than the plums and sugar. I added some cinnamon for a little depth of flavor and lemon zest to counterbalance that.

Folding the dough over the fruit proved to be as fraught with error as I always remembered. My dough cracked apart at every turn. I finally decided to place the jigsaw pieces of broken dough where I wanted them to be and then squeezed them together with my fingers to form a single draped sheet. Needless to say the damned thing leaked like crazy in the oven. It came out looking not so terrible and I was able to serve it in reasonable shape. My mother in law who is an excellent baker had never encountered this technique before and she seriously questioned what I was doing, but gamely took a bite and declared it "very good!" I thought it tasted pretty good myself. The whole wheat dough gives the tart a rustic mouth feel while the plums, so tart and juicy, are the stars of the show. Give it a try and try not to cry.

Link to :

Melissa Clark's recipe from the NY Times 

 

Italian plum Galette or Crostata by me

-written by Deborah

never say never

Deborah
Last week found me traipsing around the southern coast of California. It was a pleasure to escape the rainy, soggy East Coast and experience life in the land of sunshine.

Sunflowers at the Solana Beach farmers market in sunny California.

Miles of beautiful, accessible coastline define this area.

A wooden pier that juts far out into the Pacific ocean. It seems so improbable to this Atlantic coast girl.

What struck me so deeply about this coast line is how accessible it is to the general public. It is possible to drive right alongside the coast for miles and miles enjoying constant sea views. On a whim you can pull up to any beautiful beach and FIND PARKING! What? That is crazy. Anyone who has tried to hit the Hamptons or the Jersey Shore in summer can relate to my astonishment.

You can choose between busy surfer beaches or long stretches of solitude.

So what are they eating in the land of coastal bounty? The Mexican influence is felt here with Tijuana less than an hours drive away. I sampled some great fish Tacos at a casual restaurant on the pier in San Clemente. Hot sauce and salsa are as available as mustard and ketchup at every roadside eatery.

Freshly brewed herbal teas were hard to resist for this tried, thirsty visitor.

No bargains to be found on heirloom tomatoes but the amazing taste seemed worth the price.

Cactus paddles! How cool. I did not have a kitchen at my disposal so I could only fantasize about what I might do with them.

We had some great meals at the restaurants we stopped in along the way. Among the most memorable meals was the rich and deeply satisfying eggplant Parmesan at Vigilucci's in Carlsbad; Del Mars famous waterfront restaurant Jake's red lentil mulligatawny soup with pickled zucchini garnish and the French inspired menu at Paon Restaurant and Wine Bar's with its Yellowfin Tuna Tartare and an Indian Spiced Prawn Salad.

 

Torrey Pines State Natural Reseve in La Jolla offers breathtaking views on all its hiking trails.

Hike down these steep bluffs, many areas provide staircases, and sprawl out on the wide sand beaches.

Swami Beach in Encinitas, CA

The entire time we traveled up and down this stunning coast the locals kept bragging about their great weather and how it NEVER rains, but for a few very specific weeks in the winter. Well, great! On our last day as we lounged on the beach the clouds began to gather and to our very trained east coast eyes we knew to pack up the beach towels and get off the sand. Sure enough the sky opened up and we stood under our "sun umbrella" giggling as we watched an incredulous So Cal population experience in collective disbelief the watery deluge. In between the showers we managed a last stroll along the STUNNING Swami Beach in Encinitas. Lush vegetation hugs the bluffs of this protected cove making this a very special place worth seeking out.

A trip to southern California is sure to please with its great food, beaches and hiking. Be sure to pack your umbrella!

An Experiment

Amanda

While Deb was away this past week, I thought I'd try my hand at some kind of spontaneous post for our blog. Not sure what I would write about, I conveniently received an invitation to a barbeque, which got me thinking. I needed to bring something. I have been really into making this delicious, simple yet impressive cucumber, tomato and feta salad with mint. When I presented the idea to my friend and hostess, Beth, she informed me her husband would not eat cucumbers. I really wanted to take advantage of the spectacular Heirloom tomatoes I have been buying at Whole Foods.

But several weeks ago, I grilled some string beans which I had marinated in an Asian-style vinaigrette, and they came out fabulous. So, I got to thinking. Why not combine the grilled string beans with some Heirloom tomatoes? Writing this blog with Deb over the past two years has instilled in me a quiet sort of confidence. I've been able to go with my instincts when cooking, rather than always following a recipe. I have more fun this way.

So, I began by tossing some string beans with olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, chopped garlic and minced ginger. (mistake #1 -  Later on, I realized later that I used a touch bit too much olive oil). While I let the beans sit, I washed and sliced some beautiful Heirloom tomatoes and left them sitting in a large bowl.

Heirloom tomatoes, ready to go.

I heated my veggie grill pan on the grill. When it was ready, I threw on the beans in two batches. I like to let them cook for about 2 minutes, letting them char in spots but also allowing them to maintain their crunchiness by not overcooking them. (mistake #2 - I did overcook them a little). When they were done, I let them cool to room temperature, and added them to the bowl with the tomatoes.

Grilled string beans

When all was said and done, I was disappointed in the outcome. The beans seemed a little too cooked, and the olive oil was too pronounced. What to do? My vision did not match the results, and I have to say I was hesitant to bring this dish. So, I figured it couldn't hurt to try and remedy the situation. I began by throwing the entire concoction into a colander, to drain out the olive oil. After putting it back in the bowl, I tossed in some salt and rice vinegar to try and add a little "pizzazz" and brightness. I tasted, and added, tasted, revised.

The final result. Would it be successful?? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

I decided to bring the dish, hoping for the best. This is the shocking part: my friends who had the barbeque are "foodies" in the truest sense of the word, as are their friends. When dinner was served, I heard two people commenting on how delicious the beans and tomatoes were! I couldn't believe it! I was flabbergasted.

So, the lesson for the novice is this. Once you have the confidence, and learn to improvise a bit, you will feel great! I am by no means experienced in the kitchen. But a love of food and cooking, combined with a certain amount of confidence is a recipe for success!

Love's labor's lost

Deborah
I tenderly kissed my tomato plants goodbye on Saturday night. I figured it would be the last time I 'd see them once Irene stormed through. As we now know, Irene was very kind to most of us in NYC and so my tomato plants live on.

Not all of us were lucky. So many towns in upstate NY are reeling from the brutal flooding that washed away hopes, dreams and years of labor and love. It will take years to rebuild for many and much has been lost for good. We in the city will begin to see some of that loss in the local farmers markets for the rest of this season. Many Hudson Valley and Catskill farms have lost their entire fall crops. These are losses not only to the farmer's income and the enjoyment of those of us that patronize these farmers, but it includes the many who are dependent on these extended systems.
Take for example Roxbury Farm, a community supported farm located in Kinderhook, NY. Their current newsletter describes to their CSA community in heartbreaking detail the irreparable loss of the upcoming season's bounty. I ran into a colleague who runs a food pantry that is connected to the Roxbury Farm CSA drop-off site on the Upper West Side. That pantry has been the recipient of generous donations of Roxbury farm's beautiful produce all summer long.  The loss of that resource will be a terrible blow to the patrons of the food pantry where need is great and resources are always scarce.

As I was waiting for the storm to pass on Sunday I dug into my refrigerator and pulled out all the odds and ends accumulated over the week. Hurricane soup is what I dubbed the result of combining these disparate bits to make a compelling and very delicious whole.

HURRICANE SOUP

The white beans were cooked from scratch, submerged under two inches of water in a covered pot for about one hour, till tender.  I had plenty of time on Sunday to make them, but I am not above using canned beans when in a rush and they can be substituted here.

In a separate pot saute some chopped carrots, celery and onions in a dash of olive oil.

To the sauteed vegetables add the cooked beans, some vegetable stock or broth and some chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Add some cubed potatoes or pumpkin or winter squash to the pot and continue to cook till these vegetables are soft.

Add a whole chili pepper to the simmering pot. If you leave the chili whole you will extract the flavor with out all the heat. I happened to have these habanero chilies growing in my garden. They are one of the hottest peppers, but after fishing the chili pepper out of the soup pot at the end of cooking the broth had a pleasant bite without a major sting.

Cooked green vegetables go into the soup pot towards the end of cooking. I had leftover green beans and broccoli rabe that I chopped into bite sized pieces and added to the mix. Simmer for a few more minutes till all the ingredients are warmed through.
My refrigerator offered up other choice tidbits like grilled onions and zucchini that also got chopped up and thrown in. I wanted a lot of variety of textures and flavors in the soup, but tried to be mindful not to go too crazy, you don't want the soup to be weird. Too late for me. My husband was picking the broccoli rabe out of his bowl and smiling politely.

Chop up some fresh herbs to stir into the finished soup and top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve piping hot!