Perfect Summer Shepherd's Salad

This has been one of those weeks I wish I could forget or, even better, start over. Ball up the paper and launch it into the trashcan or select all and press delete! Unfortunately, I have a deadline looming over me, baby girl is sick and our wonderful nanny is off for two weeks. Needless to say, my stressometer has boiled over and exploded.

However, one bright light this week was making my most cherished salad in the world: Shepherd's Salad or, in Lebanon, Fattoush. It consists of crunchy cucumbers, ripe tomatoes and thin slices of scallion with a healthy sprinkling of herbs including purslane which is nearly impossible to find at the grocery store, but is sold at my market by a wonderful man who seemed to forsee my week of hell when he laid out his goods last Friday. If you can find it, purslane has small delicate leaves and it's loaded with omega 3s and antioxidants.

Without further ado, here is a recipe you'll turn to again and again when you're bored of lettuce.

Shepherd's Salad (Fattoush)
(Crunchy vegetables, leafy herbs and tangy lemon dressing make for a glorious mixture of texture and flavor. To step it up a notch, toast some pita bread, break it up and sprinkle it over top. You just might die and go to salad heaven.)

What You'll Need:

For the Salad -
3 large tomatoes chopped into bite sized cubes
4 small to medium cucumbers also chopped into bite sized cubes
3 scallions sliced thinly
2 cups purslane, mint and Italian parsley leaves (equal parts)

For the Dressing -
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp zaatar spice (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

In a large bowl combine salad ingredients. Then in a sealable jar, combined dressing ingredients. Close the lid and shake. Pour a generous amount of dressing over the salad, I usually do 4-5 tablespoons, toss and serve. While most lettuce salads won't keep, Fattoush will keep in the fridge for a day or two. However, it is best the first day!

Approximate Dinner Cost
• Groceries - $12.00
• Leftovers – Expect 8 servings or less as it's so healthy and tasty, you won't feel guilty pigging out on it. Yes, you will actually pig out on this salad. All told, it's around $1.50 per serving.

Sour Cherry Anniversary

The day after graduating college, I met my husband while out with one of my girls - one of the "my girls" I speak of so fondly in Gnocchi, Gah-nocky. Well, the hubby and I met the very night I had sworn off the emotional agony of dating. Before him, everyone was just not that into me and, of course, I never realized it until I was crying with one or all of my girls wondering why oh why couldn't I find love?

They say it happens when you least expect it and I definitely least expected it while sitting in the dirtiest bar in New York, a little jewel called the Cherry Tavern, bored, grumpy and watching my friend try out her very fake English accent on a bunch of blokes who ate it all up. But then a tall blond came my way and parked himself next to me. There was talk of butterflies and cocoons - weird stuff to be sure - and then an exchange of numbers. While he may not remember this, my husband fell in love with me at first sight. Yes, it's true. He called me and wooed me, bringing wine and ice cream on the first date and a bouquet of flowers the next day for our second. With the exception of a three week break up at the end of our first year, we've been together for 9 years: two of them dating, one engaged and 6 married.

This past Sunday we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary so I decided to make him a special dinner. I had bought a pint of sour cherries at the market and thought duck breast with sour cherries, wild rice and some veggies would be perfect. Oh and it was. So much so that baby girl ate as much duck as we did and got very angry when we didn't give her her own glass of wine. However, she did says cheers and clink her little water glass against our wine glasses as we toasted to ourselves and another 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, etc. - you know to the times-tables, right? - years.

Duck Breast with Sour Cherry Sauce
(This dish is as easy to cook as it is beautiful to look at. It's sure to impress anyone you decide to make it for whether it's a new flame or a lasting love.)

What You'll Need:

1 cup wild rice mix (I like the Lundberg wild rice mix)
2 cups chicken stock
2 Duck Breasts (Moulard or Pekin are tasty options)
1 pint sour cherries
1 tablespoon sugar
1 shallot, finely diced
1 bottle Pinot Noir (For cooking and drinking)
4 sprigs of thyme

About an hour before you'd like to eat, place a small pot over a high heat. Pour in the chicken stock and add the rice. Stir once or twice and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down the heat to a simmer.

Take the cherries, wash them and pit them. I don't have a cherry-pitter so I just cut the cherries and removed the pits by hand. Anyone have a pitter? Is it handy? Then add the sugar to the cherries, stir with a spoon and let them macerate.

Put a frying pan over a medium-high flame. While the pan is coming to temperature, take out your duck breasts, and, with a very sharp knife, gently score the skin in a cross-hatch design. Be careful not to cut the skin. Duck is very fatty - doing this will help render the fat. Sprinkle the skin generously with salt and pepper and place the breasts skin side down into the frying pan. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the fat has been rendered and the skin is a crispy brown.

Holding the breasts down with a pare of tongs, pour out the rendered fat into a container (you can discard this or use it for roasting veggies among other delicious things), sprinkle the uncooked side with some salt and pepper and flip them over. Cook for another 8-10 minutes or until it's medium rare. While I know this is sacrilege, I cut into one breast to see that it's a nice rosy color. You might like other meats well done, but duck is really at its best medium-rare. Remove the breasts and set on a cutting board to rest and reabsorb its juices.


Pour out the remaining fat keeping just enough to glaze the pan. Return the pan to the flame and add the pitted cherries, shallot and thyme, cook for a minute or two and then add about half a bottle of red wine. Let it boil gently until the sauce has reduced by two thirds. I also took a potato masher and squashed the cherries to distribute even more cherry flavor throughout the sauce.

To serve, spoon some wild rice on the plate. Then slice the duck breasts in quarter to half-inch slices and overlap about 5 slices together on the plate. Spoon a bit of sauce over the duck and have a lovely green salad on the side. I also served some roasted carrots and turnips we had leftover from our CSA. This is a wonderful meal for celebrations or for any night you want to eat like a king. Enjoy!

Approximate Dinner Cost
• Groceries - $33.00
• Leftovers – Expect 4 servings at $8.25 a serving.

Hale to the Kale

Willie Mae cooked for my great-grandmother, then my grandmother and, even for a short time, my mother. She was a large woman with a high-pitched booming voice and an old fashioned Southern twang. My mother grew up with her as did my brothers and me. While we loved everything about Willie Mae, we especially loved her cooking. She cooked in the old Southern tradition of stewing and slow-cooking nearly everything from baked beans to baby back ribs. Even her apple pie was more of a heavenly applesauce spread in between two layers of flaky pie crust. The only thing that didn't really work were her chocolate chip cookies since they were also cooked forever and therefore hard as rocks.

The other day, as I was trying to figure out what to do with a big bunch of kale from my CSA, Willie Mae sprang to my mind and I wondered why she'd never made kale for us. Kale is after all a big hearty Southern green used in all kinds of braises and stews. Plus, kale is full of vitamins A, K and C and it's also an amazing source of manganese, calcium and fiber.

However, if Willie Mae ever did cook kale, I imagine she prepared it the same way she did her slow-cooked green beans, which she simmered all day in a hunk of bacon. I decided to follow her lead with a couple slices of bacon, a little chicken stock and even some cannellini beans for an Italian flare. To save our hearts and my sanity, I poured out the rendered bacon fat and only simmered it for 15-20 minutes. The results have permanently turned my husband and I from wishy-washy on the kale front to actively buying it every time we see it at the market. It's that good and so easy to prepare. Baby girl loves it too, picking out the beans first, then the bacon and finally the kale. It's a great dish for picky veggie-eaters since it's soft and tastes mildly of bacon. What's not to love?

Simmered Kale with Bacon and White Beans

(If you're tired, a large bowl of this with some crusty bread would make a fine meal.)

What You'll Need:
2-3 strips of bacon cut into bite-sized pieces (go for the pasture-fed pork if you can - I got mine from my local market, but I also recommend Niman Ranch bacon)
1 large bunch of kale chopped
1-2 cups chicken stock
2 15 oz. cans of cannellini beans rinsed

Place a large pot over a medium-high heat and cook the bacon until much of the fat is rendered, but before it gets crispy. Pour off the fat and add the kale. Toss with tongs until the kale is wilted. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the beans, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

*This can be made with just about any leafy green. This past week I used a mixture of dandelion and swiss chard. And, a good friend used turnip greens in his version and chicken sausage - the possibilities are endless.

*Sorry there is no picture this week because I was super silly and deleted it!! I have kale in the fridge so stay tuned for an update to this post with a picture of the real delicious deal.

* One more thing, my title isn't a mistake. I meant it as hale as in hale and hearty kale, but used it like hail as in hail to the king. My husband insisted I post an explanation as he's a crazy meanings obsessed lawyer.

Approximate Dinner Cost
• Groceries - $7.00
• Leftovers – Expect 7-8 side servings and about 4 meal servings.

Much Ado About Chutney

Just a quick one here, but I've been receiving numerous questions about what to do with the chutney left over from Monday's virtual dinner party. I too asked myself the same question since the paneer cheese ran out way before the chutney did. Here are a couple ideas for what to do with any leftover Apricot-Orange Chutney. To read the original post, click here: A Potluck of Spice & Everything Nice.


Option 1: Tuesday night rolled around and we still had a good two cups of chutney in the fridge. I also had a head of bok choy, about a cup of snow peas, a garlic scape and a bunch of scallions all from our CSA. My husband suggested a stir fry, but I took it one step further and here's how: Place a large frying pan over a high heat and add a quarter cup of chutney and a splash of chicken stock. Bring it to a boil and add the bok choy, chopped, and the snow peas. Saute for about 3 minutes and then add the garlic scapes and scallions, all chopped, to the pan. Cook for just a couple more minutes and serve over brown rice. It was amazing!

Option 2: On wednesday night, I turned on the oven to 400, salt and peppered two pork chops, smothered them in chutney and popped them in the oven for about 15 minutes. The result was caramelized and juicy goodness.

Option 3: Finally, for a snack yesterday, I took some triscuit-type organic crackers, topped them with ricotta cheese and a dab of chutney. Such easy perfection.

There you go, three totally different things to do with all that chutney. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Strawberry Jam

For the last month, baby girl and I have been eating up strawberries like we'll never see them again. Every week, as we approach the market stands, baby girl screams, "sawberry!" and "teese!" her two favorite market finds being strawberries and cheese. Alas, strawberry season is nearly over. We might get another week or maybe two, but once the heat sets in, we won't be seeing them 'till next year. Sure, I can get strawberries at the supermarket nearly year-round, but those are hard sour white things rather than the sweet, juicy red berries that are so delicate and fleeting, you must eat them or cook them within 48 hours before old age sets in and spoils them.

So, this past Friday I decided to try my hand at strawberry jam. In the morning, baby girl and I sauntered over to the Bradley Farm stand for some of their organic strawberries. Baby girl kept saying, "mah! Mah!" as Ray's wonderful partner handed her berry after berry and, somehow inspired, I kept seconding baby girl saying, "more! More!" each time Ray filled a pint of strawberries. Luckily, I stopped at 8 pints. It was getting sort of embarrassing.

That night, after we tucked baby girl into bed, the husband (who I must say has been really getting into this whole slowfood thing) and I perused the Internet and our cookbooks for jam recipes. While there are many to choose from, we decided to go with the KISS method that I so hated at Citigroup: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Oh yes and we did just that, stupid. There are only three ingredients and one basic step to making this jam. It's that easy

The end result was a not a sugary sweet, but a strawberry sweet pot of the most flavorful jam I've tasted in quite some time. Not content to wait 'till morning, the husband and I made some toast and heaped criminally huge helpings of jam on top. The next morning, baby girl was all over it too saying, "mah! Mah!"

Icebox Strawberry Jam
(To get an unearthly strawberry flavor, you must use fresh local strawberries. Those shipped from thousands of miles away simply won't cut it here.)

What You'll Need:
10 cups fresh market strawberries cut into small chunks
2 cups of sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Wash and cut the strawberries in half or into small chunks. Toss them into a stockpot and add the sugar and the lemon juice. (If you don't have 10 cups of strawberries or if you have more, just remember the ratio of sugar to strawberries is 1:5.) Mash the berries, sugar and lemon juice together, turn on the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer at a low boil for about 30 minutes or until the jam passes the cold plate test, which is plopping a helping of jam on a cold plate. If the jam holds its shape, it's ready. If not, It probably needs a bit more time.


While the jam is simmering, plunk whatever jars and lids you're using into a vat of boiling water to sterilize them. Keep in mind, I didn't take all of the steps necessary to store this jam in my pantry. Therefore, this is icebox jam an really should be eaten within a couple weeks of making. You won't have any problem polishing it off.

Approximate Dinner Cost
• Groceries - $20.00
• Leftovers – Expect 3 full jars of jam. We ended up giving two jars away and keeping the rest for ourselves. One jar lasted two weeks to the day.

Garlic Scapes

During my childhood, Northern Virginia wasn't the food destination it's now become. Sure, there were lots of restaurants, but the DC area in general was basically a joke when it came to fine cuisine. My father, however, was a foodie through and through before foodie was even a term. Between meetings on "the Hill" and poker games at the Pentagon, he scoured the tri-state area (MD/VA/DC) for tasty food. While there were many awful meals, he often hit paydirt and when he did, he always enthusiastically brought me, my mother and my three brothers to partake in his discovery.

Perhaps the best find of all time occurred when I was about five years old. My father took us to the Peking Gourmet, which, to this day, remains my favorite Chinese restaurant ever. Even after devouring the nooks and crannies of Manhattan's Chinatown, the Peking Gourmet reigns supreme in my heart. Beside the obvious Peking Duck, my other must eat dish at the Peking Gourmet is a unique, but very simple dish called Shrimp with Garlic Sprouts. The restaurant has its own farm out in the countryside where they grow the garlic sprouts just for this dish. Think delicately cooked shrimp sauteed with garlic flavored sprouts. Yum. Yum.

Well, I have yet to find garlic sprouts anywhere, but on Friday I wrote about scoring garlic scapes from my favorite bearded farmers. Garlic scapes are to garlic what scallions are to onions: mild and delicate. Ray Bradley of Bradley Farm in New Paltz, NY suggested I saute them in olive oil and that's when I said, Eureka! These garlic scapes would be my stand in for garlic sprouts and I rushed baby girl home to help me recreate my favorite Chinese dish. Only one thing saddens me: garlic scapes aren't available year-round.

Garlic Scapes with Shrimp and Brown Rice
(One of my readers commented last week that I should look into Slowfood Chinese cuisine. Dear reader, here is what I have for you: a simple, delicious and complete meal that tastes strangely authentic.)

45 minutes to an hour before you want to eat, pour two cups of chicken broth and one cup of brown rice into a small pot. Put it over a high heat and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down the heat so that the rice is gently simmering.


15 minutes before the rice is ready, (Or even after it's done. I find rice doesn't mind sitting and plumping up. Just be sure to turn off the heat and keep it covered.) wash about four handfuls of garlic scapes (They are like long wriggly snakes so just dig in there and grab on.) and chop them roughly, leaving some bits long and curly for effect. Set the scapes aside.

Set a pan over a high heat and pour in two or three tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle about a half pound of shelled and deveined shrimp (I used extra large shrimp) with salt and pepper and place evenly in the pan. Squeeze half a lemon over the shrimp. After a minute or two, flip the shrimp and cook on the other side. Remember, shrimp cooks quickly and needs to be just pink. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.


Throw the chopped up scapes into the shrimp pan and saute for about three to four minutes. Then throw in the shrimp and saute together for another four to five minutes or until the scapes are al dente. Don't overcook them as they tend to lose their garlicy goodness.


To serve, spoon the rice onto a platter and heap the scape and shrimp mixture on top. So simple. While I'm not one for heat, my husband enjoyed it with a little Chili Garlic Sauce by Tuong Ot Toi Viet Nam.

Approximate Dinner Cost
• W/Wine - $21.00
• W/o Wine - $9.00
• Leftovers – We ate this for two nights so expect four servings at $2.25 each. Not bad!

Farmers' Market Finds - June 5th

It is pouring yet again, but I have to admit I am a rainy day kinda gal. I love any excuse to wear rain boots, tuck baby girl into her stroller, strap on the rain guard and take off. Rain means Manhattan enters into a dreamy state akin to sleeping in on the weekend. Most people don't leave their homes, instead choosing to wait for the weather to clear. I love taking advantage of those times where baby girl and I own the streets and don't have to fight for our place on the sidewalk. So, today, we, along with our neighbor and her baby girl, walked leisurely to the farmers' market while the cold rain pounded down on us. Just like last week, the market was alive and well with people like us who don't mind a little rain in their hair.

The most exciting find this week was garlic scapes! They are the green stems that come straight out of the ground when garlic is flowering. Scapes have a mild, almost delicate, garlic flavor. I've never cooked with them before, but Ray Bradley of Bradley Farm and former sous chef for David Bouley, says to saute them briefly in a little olive oil or butter with some salt and pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'll post more on my adventures with garlic scapes next week!

The market was also alive with strawberries. I'm visiting my in laws tomorrow so I made a bit of a joke out of myself, buying one container from Bradley Farm and then returning for four more! One measly pint of sweet, luscious berries for 8 adults and 3 children? Baby girl eats one pint herself if she can get away with it.

Gnocchi, Gah-nocky

"What's gah-nocky?" Yes, that's what I said out loud at a restaurant in Manhattan while my three friends of Italian descent snickered at and teased me. It's OK. They're my girls and I can't tell you how many times I've snickered at and teased them. That's what we do and when we go overboard, we fight. I don't normally fight with friends, but there's something about living with a group of girls for four years in college that brings out the sister in you even if you never had any and I never had any. I'm the girl in a family of boys.

The gah-nocky incident occurred twelve years ago when I was just a semi-worldy mafia obsessed college freshman. And when I say mafia obsessed, I mean I dragged my high school best friend to Sicily in search of the real godfather. Yeah, I had some kind of influence then, right? Wish I could be so inspiring nowadays. Sure, now I realize the mafia isn't cool, but I'll watch The Godfather any day...

You might recall this past Friday I picked up thyme and sage at the farmer's market and I sent out an SOS to you all looking for ideas on what to do with it. Of course, one of my college ladies came through and suggested I try this amazing Mark Bittman recipe of brown butter, sage and bread crumbs to go over pasta. Little did she know I had also picked up a package of homemade ricotta gnocchi so I decided to try it out. Yummy! Seriously wonderful. Baby girl was asleep when the husband and I devoured the entire thing, brown butter, crispy sage, bread crumbs and all. Thanks, S!

After dinner, my husband and I were chatting about how this little package of gnocchi was so tasty (and pricey), but I couldn't very well write about someone else's gnocchi. I needed to make it myself. So, the next day I invested in a food mill (I'm planning on making jam this summer too!), thumbed through Mario Batali's Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home and got the general idea for making gnocchi. Then, like I do most weekend afternoons, I sent baby girl and my husband off to the playground while I got down to bidness. Everything was going smoothly until I decided to not peel the potatoes. I thought the ricer would take care of it. Nope. It took forever and majorly aggravated my carpal tunnel. Worst of all, the potatoes turned into a gummy mess from my continuous spinning of the mill and attempts to force the potato through the skin-bit riddled holes. By the time my husband and baby girl got home, I was hot, sweaty and angry.

So, I had to start over and I must pat myself on the back. They turned out lovely. I made a few additions to Mr. Bittman's brown butter sauce including tomatoes and pea shoots, which I settled on since sweet peas aren't in season yet. And, even though the bread crumbs were amazing, I nixed them because my husband and I wanted to get a true feeling for the gnocchi's texture: they were smooth, light and just a little chewy. What's more, I made a huge batch and was able to freeze most of the dough for hectic nights.

Whole Wheat & Potato Gnocchi Studded with Chives and Sauced With Browned Butter, Sage, Tomatoes & Pea Shoots
(Are my titles too long? Perhaps, but I feel I need to include every last bit to give you the idea. This recipe was inspired by a combination of Mario Batali's basic gnocchi recipe and my momnesiac memory so it's a true team effort.)

Steam three pounds of russet potatoes until a knife or fork goes in and comes out easily. Then, peel the potatoes and run them through a ricer, food mill or something that has spaghetti sized holes. Dump the riced potatoes in a large bowl and add about 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 eggs, a teaspoon of salt and lots of fresh chopped chive. I also added their purple flowers and the effect was lovely green and purple studded gnocchi. Mix together with a wooden spoon, spatula or your hands until thoroughly combined. Then turn out the dough onto a floured surface.


The dough is a bit sticky so keep a little bowl of flour on hand. Roll out pieces of the dough into thin snakes - about .5 to .75 inches thick. Then take a knife and cut inch long pieces off the snake. Take a fork and roll the gnocchi on it to make little indentations. My husband wondered why this is necessary and I told him it's to hold onto the yummy sauce. 'Nough said.

Once the gnocchi is fork-tined, it's ready to cook. Now, unless you're cooking for twenty people, you'll have loads of gnocchi ready to freeze. Reserve the amount you need for dinner and then place the rest in rows on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze them for about 20 minutes. Once they're frozen through put the gnocchi in a plastic freezer bag and then into the freezer for another time.


Bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in the gnocchi, wait for the water to come back to a strong boil and cook it for one minute. Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and throw in a big old pat of butter. Watch it carefully. Immediately, when the butter turns a dark, nutty brown (not black!), toss in a couple handfuls of chopped cherry tomatoes, lots of sage and sage flowers if you have them. With a slotted spoon, transfer the gnocchi to the pan and saute them in the tomato and sage mixture. Add in some fresh pea shoots and toss just a little. Add a pinch of salt and serve. Ain't it pretty?

Approximate Dinner Cost
• W/Wine - $24.00
• W/o Wine - $12.00
• Leftovers – OMG, there are at least 10 more servings in the freezer, which comes to $.92 per meal. Talk about recession gourmet!

CSA Expansion

In two weeks my CSA starts its Tuesday deliveries and I just found out I can also special order meats, cheeses, milk, jams, breads, pickles etc from other farms in the area. Gosh, CSAs have come a long way from the early days when a single box of veggies was amazing.

Also, I just got word that I can expect to fill 4 shopping bags with veggies and fruits each week. Aye yai yai. I'm going to need some serious recipe advice and I'm definitely going to get into canning this year. Get ready for pickle and jam recipes! What great Christmas and Hannukah gifts they'll make!

Farmers' Market Finds - May 29th

Today is my daughter's 18 month birthday and we didn't get off to a good start. It was rainy and dreary outside, but baby girl was itching to go around 8am. Of course, she wanted to walk rather than ride in her stroller, which might have been a possibility except that it was pouring outside. I was also bummed thinking the market might be rained out and all the tasty things I wanted to find wouldn't be there. Thankfully, just as I had wrangled baby girl into the stroller and pulled the rain cover over her, the rain stopped and we made our merry way to the market where, as it turns out, the rain hadn't prevented my darling farmers from setting up their stands.

This time of year is the best in my opinion because winter is truly behind us - a cold day means 60 not 30 degrees - and every week at the market is a new discovery. This week, the herbs were out in full force, all flowery and green. Baby girl immediately grabbed a bunch of chives, she flashed our friends from Bradley Farm the cutest smile and scored us a free bunch. I also picked up some thyme and sage (pictured above) and I had to pin my own arms behind my back to avoid getting bunches of mint and peppermint and basil and on and on.

Also at the market were asparagus, strawberries, baby bok choy, hot house tomatoes, spinach and loads of lettuce. As you may have gathered from last week's post, I'm obsessed with my new salmon recipe. I have some creme fraiche in the fridge so there's tonight's meal, but what am I going to do with the big beautiful bunches of thyme and sage? Any suggestions?

I Got Nothin'

I usually post recipes today, but I just returned to NYC after a weekend of travel with my mom. The pickins were slim in the country as far as food and antiques go so I was uninspired and found nothing to feature. Tonight, I'm cooking a tasty meal for baby girl and my husband so stay tuned tomorrow for the the results... I'm thinking lamb and goat cheese inspired by a restaurant my parents and I use to frequent in Philly!

In the meantime, I came across this great article in the LA Times food section. It's by Russ Parsons, author of How to Read a French Fry and How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor From Farm to Table. Anyhoo, check out this article on how to cook with all the amazing produce that's just starting the flood the market. A demain!

Farmers' Market Finds - May 22nd

Today, I am training it down to the place I was born and raised: Old Town, Alexandria outside of DC. Tomorrow, my mother and I will drive out to a country auction in Western PA. Here's hoping we find some tasty food along the way as well as some fun antiques to add to my mother's staggering collection. My husband, saint that he is, is taking baby girl to see her other grandmother in Connecticut for the weekend. I can't wait to be child-free for a few days even though I know I'll be thinking of her nonstop. Uh, yeah right.

Since I am traveling today, baby girl and I had to improvise and visit the Columbia University market yesterday. I wasn't expecting much so I was truly ecstatic when, at the first stand we visited, rows and rows of the season's first strawberries greeted us. Upon seeing baby girl's hand reach out and grab for a container, the farmer smiled and gave her a berry. While she usually prefers blueberries, upon tasting the sweet sweet goodness of strawberries that are red on the inside too, she screamed 'mah!' He wasn't about to give away any more freebies so Lily and I hoofed down to the ATM and back just to get her Mah! Later that morning, on the way to the playground, she surprised the heck out of me by reaching her little hand out of the carriage and actually saying, 'strawberry.' Hmmm, maybe fresh, local food is good for the vocabulary too.

Also at the market yesterday was plenty of asparagus, spinach and rhubarb for those of you who are adventurous enough to figure out what to do with it. While I love a good rhubarb crumble, I haven't yet ventured forth into the realm of actually cooking with it. Here's to my first CSA package having a big batch of the red stuff so I can tackle my good friend's crumble recipe. Stay tuned!

Two Faces of Creme Fraiche

I consider myself an adventurous cook, but, for some reason, my escapades never lead me to creme fraiche... Until this week when I came across Molly Wizenberg's column in the June issue of Bon Appetit where she describes a very simple way to roast salmon by slathering it with creme fraiche and then popping it in the oven for a few minutes. (Sidecar - I discovered Molly's blog, Orangette, a few months ago, became thoroughly hooked and then devoured her recent book, A Homemade Life. Not only are her recipes easy to follow and delicious, but she's nearly as crazy as I am about banana bread. OK, back to the story.)

I thought the whole creme fraiche approach sounded a little strange until I remembered back to an impromtu dinner party at our good friends' apartment almost 10 years ago - yikes! I can't believe there's 10 years of my adult life to consider. My friends covered salmon in mayonnaise and then baked it. Not only was the salmon moist, but it had just the teensiest hint of tang. Molly promised that tang as well so I added some of the fresh chives I professed my love for on Friday and a squeeze of lemon to the mix and, um, it was delicious. It was so good that after we finished dinner and my husband and daughter had left the kitchen, I turned back to the baking dish like a kid to brownie batter and started gobbling up the leftover creme fraiche and chive sauce, salmon bits and all. I couldn't stop myself so I decided I better nix the roast chicken for Sunday night and make a baked chicken with, you guessed it, creme fraiche and chives. Get a load of Molly's recipe with a couple tweaks and my new and seriously addictive baked chicken recipe. Enjoy!

Roast Salmon with Creme Fraiche and Chives
(Adapted from Molly Wizenberg's Roasted Salmon with Creme Fraiche from Bon Appetit)

Preheat the oven to 425 and line a cookie sheet or roasting pan with foil. Wash and pat dry two quarter pound fillets of wild salmon (or more depending how many you're cooking for, but plan on a quarter pound of fish per person) and place them in the pan skin side down. Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper and set aside.


In a separate bowl, mix together a small container of creme fraiche, a big handful of fresh chopped scallions and generous squeeze of lemon. With a spatula slather the salmon with about a quarter of the creme fraiche mixture (you'll have plenty left over to make the chicken recipe below) and pop it in the oven for 12-15 minutes. You'll know it's done when the salmon is firm yet slightly springy to the touch.


To accompany the salmon, I decided to stay on track with chives. I steamed some red skinned potatoes, drained them and popped them right back in the pot with a big pat of butter, salt, pepper and a healthy handful of chopped chives. I put the lid back on and shook it all about until the butter was melted and the potatoes and chives had a buttery smashed look to them. This is a delicious way to eat potatoes with any kind of fresh herb.

Last but not least, I sprinkled some lovely baby lettuces with a dressing of equal parts lemon and olive oil, mixed it up and then topped the greens with lovely lilac chive flowers. Look how beautiful these flowers are.


Approximate Dinner Cost
• W/Wine - $28.00
• W/o Wine - $13.00 at $4.30 for each of us
• Leftovers – Nada! Baby girl ate so much salmon, next time I'm getting her her own piece.

Chicken with Creme Fraiche, Chives, Asparagus & Mushrooms
Inspired by Wizenberg's salmon, I invented this symphony of all things Spring with the leftover cream fraiche and chive mixture. Honestly, I can't tell you which recipe I prefer. They both turned out so dang good.

Preheat the oven to 400. Buy a chicken that's been cut into pieces or, if you have the stomach, butcher it down to its breasts, thighs and legs. Keep a freezer bag on hand so you can freeze the backbone and wings for making stock another time. Set the chicken aside and place a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan and add a chopped medium onion. Then clean a bunch of asparagus, snap off their woody ends and cut the stems into 2 inch long pieces. Add them to the pan and stir around. Finally, clean about a pound of baby portobello mushrooms (I wash them with water, so uncheflike), break off their stumps and chop up the caps. Add them to the asparagus onion mixture. Cook until the veggies have shed their water and are firm edging toward soft - steer clear of mushy. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.

On another burner, place a dutch oven or even a roasting pan (something that can be moved from burner to oven) over a high heat, sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the dutch oven skin side down. Cook until the skin is brown and crispy and the fat has been rendered. Remove the chicken from the pan and pour out most of the chicken fat. Return the chicken to the dutch oven and scatter the cooked vegetables over and around the chicken. Finally, get out that leftover creme fraiche mixture from the day before or make a new batch if you're not having a weekend of obsessive CF gluttony and pour evenly over the chicken and vegetables. Spread it with a spatula and pop the whole thing uncovered into the oven for about 30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in a breast reads 180 (some people go as low as 165, but I'm an avid devotee of my digital thermometer which says poultry should be 180).


True to my dearly beloved chives, I served the same steamed potatoes and baby lettuces and I even scattered some chive flowers on the chicken for a fresh burst of chivey goodness. Bon Appetit!

Approximate Dinner Cost
• W/Wine - $28.00
• W/o Wine - $15.00
• Leftovers – At 6 servings, that’s just $2.50 each!

Why CSAs Rock

So, I am happy to announce that I've just been accepted to the... West Harlem CSA! It was a brutal application process complete with letters of recommendation and a personal essay. Nah, just kidding, but I did nearly miss out entirely. Most devoted CSAers know to sign up in February when fresh fruits and veggies are a mere memory of summers past. Of course, this year, like last year, I only thought, hmm CSA, when asparagus popped up at the market a few weeks ago. I was wait-listed at two others until I found my future Alma CSA at Just Food's website.

What is a CSA, you might ask? It's basically a food coop where members buy a share in a farm's yearly harvest. Windflower farm, my CSA's farm, will be growing fruits and veggies and harvesting pasture-raised eggs this year and I will be getting my equal share. Here's a rundown of why I've joined and maybe you'll be inspired to find one in your neighborhood for this season, or, if you're too late, punch a reminder into your calendar for next year.

Reasons I Joined a CSA:

1. For fresh, local and usually organic fruits and vegetables grown just for me.
2. As if you need to hear it again, eating local and organic is good for the environment. When food travels thousands of miles, not only are natural resources being wasted, but added pollution is being pumped into the air all so we can have strawberries in January.
   
3. Eating local and organic is good for you. The farther produce travels the fewer nutrients it retains upon reaching your mouth.
4. Accountability - yeah, that's a big one for me. While you might be buying organic raspberries from Chile, who from the FDA is actually overseeing the farming? Who is protecting our interests as consumers? When you buy from local farms that are a short drive from you, you can go visit and see for yourself where the food is coming from and how it's being raised.
5. It's cheaper. Huh? Yes it is, by a lot. My weekly produce bill comes in at well over $50 a week if not $70. Provided this year's crop is a good one (and that's always the risk, you do as well as the farmer does), then I won't have to supplement my weekly CSA goody basket with outside produce. I will be spending $40 a week for fruits, veggies and a dozen eggs from June through November which means I'm cutting my shopping bill in half!

I'll still be going to the market every week to see if there's anything I can't live without and to pick up meat, milk, cheese and bread, so keep tuning in on Fridays for my Farmer's Market Finds column. And, starting on Tuesdays, I'll be filling you in on what I'm getting from my CSA and how much. Will one week be nothing but kale? I hope not, but if so, I'll give you the good and the not so good and the how to cook all this stuff anyway every Tuesday.

This is my first experience with a CSA. I've never been a get psyched kinda gal probably because I am still traumatized by my years of forced participation in an all girl's convent school. But I am psyched and I'm excited to enter a world of community support where we will enable our local farmers rather than our corporations. Maybe, come next winter, you'll be signing up for a CSA too.

Farmers' Market Finds

Just returned from the 97th street farmers' market and scored some beautiful spinach! While the pickings are still mainly potatoes and onions, spinach season is here on the East coast and what a relief. Over the winter months, much of the spinach I buy, while organic, comes from California. Sadly, it's probably been frozen and sapped of its nutrients. Fresh-picked, local spinach is loaded with vitamins K and A, manganese and folate; it's is one of the world's healthiest foods! Check out more on spinach at The World's Healthiest Foods, one of my favorite resources.

Other delicious gets from today's trip were a raw milk Gouda for grilled cheese and fresh pasture-raised eggs. Oh what a Mother's Day brunch we'll have. Hope all you mom's out there have a fabulous Sunday!