as we near the end of market season

The end of market season is upon us and that makes me just a little bit sad.  Though indoor and outdoor markets run year round in the city, the biggest presence and variety of markets exists from late Spring to early Fall - Market Season.  There exists this great little book that I've considered buying about a dozen times because it details nearly all of these markets from the hidden foodie gems to the giant seasonal produce stops.  Well, whadaya know, not only does Aunt Carolyn have a copy of Markets of New York City, but they also launched a website to guide you through all of the special events occurring on any given weekend!  So I perused my late season options for lower Manhattan and came across two that I had never been to, probably because I rarely leave Brooklyn when the weekend rolls around.  

First stop was the Fulton Stall Market, a small but sweet length of gourmet stands boasting barbeque, sweet treats, teas and coffees, handmade jewelry and my personal favorite, lobster rolls.  I don't normally indulge in lobster rolls because I'm usually really poor but damnit, I have a broken leg and I deserved one this weekend!  Well, at least half of one.  So that's exactly what I got at Lots o' Lobstah!  For those of us on the cheap, they sell buttery toasted rolls jam packed with generous lumps of lightly seasoned lobster in halves and boy are they delicious.  It was the perfect little bite of lunch for a cool Autumn day near the waterfront in downtown Manhattan.  Plus, the ladies dishing it out were super nice and the line wasn't excruciatingly long like so many other lobster roll stands (delicious Luke's Lobster at the market across the street, I'm talking to you!)

After that indulgence, I made the arduously long trek across the street to the New Amsterdam Market.  Significantly larger than FSM, the New Amsterdam Market boasts similar stalls of gourmet foodie goodness alongside fresh produce stands, packaged goodies and yesterday, a hard cider tasting festival. I love a good hard cider, especially enjoyed outside on a perfect Fall day, so I was pretty bummed that it was too crowded for me to feel comfortable on my crutches to enjoy... there's always next year.  But not all was lost because just a few stalls down from the apple-holics was a taste of home.  Yay, it was the Bent Spoon all the way from Princeton, NJ!  Their natural, artisan ice creams and sorbets were one of the best and worst things that ever happened to me during my days in the jerz.  Understandably, I hobbled over to the stall, tried all three flavors and decided on two scoops of cran-crab apple and ginger sorbet, a brilliant palette cleanser that was both sweet and tart.  One of things I love most about the Bent Spoon is their use of local Jersey ingredients so I could be sure that everything I was indulging in was from the Garden State, splurging and supporting both of my homelands!

I'd say it was a pretty wonderful day to conclude a pretty wonderful weekend.  We'll see how many more markets I'll be able to cram in before October ends in a couple of weekends.  Unfortunately, not will conclude with a relaxing reading break and single bottle of hard cider with this panorama to relax with -

happy sunday

marys & macarons

One of my favorite things about this season, and about living in the city with some pretty awesome friends, is the chance to meet up with folks and enjoy a little afternoon cocktail in the cool, fresh air.  After a bit of Halloween costume shopping (wait til you see my costume, it's going to be amazeballs!) my newly legal gal Paula and I set out to find a Bloody Mary deep in the heart of the Lower East Side... now that I think about it, we probably should have gone straight to Mary Queen of Scots since the breakfast cocktail is named after her, but I didn't think about that until just now so I suppose it's besides the point.  Anyways, Paula and I were wandering around and, maybe it's because my crutches forced us to move a little slower and take notice of our surroundings a bit more, we stumbled upon Bisou Ciao.  Apparently this adorable little macaron shop has existed for over a year but it wasn't until today that we happily discovered it.  The perfect little French confections come in flavors that were so tempting I almost felt inclined to spend the last of my money on a box of five, but instead opted for single belated birthday treats for me and Paula.  So we tossed a sour cherry macaron and a poppy macaron in the bag of Halloween leotards and tights and continued on our quest for daytime drinks, promising to return soon, which we definitely will.    We made our way over to White Slab Palace to enjoy a couple of drinks and a potato pancake slathered in caviar and red onions and sour cream that was almost as good as the original one I used to get at Good World, my once favorite NYC restaurant (RIP Good World.)  And after a bit of a bathroom door snafu, we made a new friend, had another round and concluded the kind of simple and successful Autumn afternoon that really makes me thankful that I live in the place I do.  I hope y'all are enjoying as satisfying a weekend as I am! xo

poppy & sour cherry?! i must recreate these!

happy happy

Happy Friday kiddos!  Just a quickie as I'm on my way out for a special lady date of dinner and drinks on this fine, drizzly evening.  I had my first beer in about two months while I was out with Isabelle last night.  We enjoyed some improv, a birthday cupcake and a nice, cold IPA.  I had almost forgotten how good a cold beer can taste after a long day of... well, really just sitting around these days but that doesn't make it any less deserved!  This doesn't mean I'm turning my back of the classic cocktails I usually favor.  No, no, no.  Rather, in honor of my recent rediscovery of those hoppy brews and a refreshing cocktail, here's a great list of beer cocktails compiled by the folks at Gothamist.  Anyone up for sharing a sip with me tonight?  I think I just might head down to my old stomping ground, Iggy's.  Let's happy hour, kids!

bs, bacon, hash & nuts

To thank my folks for a lovely weekend at their place, and for buying all the ingredients for my cooking spree and for taking care of me for the past month and a half and for their 31 year wedding anniversary, I decided to prepare them a feast of a Sunday supper.  I even got the kid sis and her fancy fiance to join us!  It was truly a family affair.  Because I'm me and I love a good theme, I decided that our meal should be traditional and seasonal with a roast chicken being the main attraction.  Unsurprisingly however, it was the sides that stole the show.  Check out our festive fall family dinner -

the menu

roast chicken

wild mushroom & pecan cornbread stuffing

brussel sprout hash with bacon & toasted hazelnuts

spring greens with beets and crumbled goat cheese in a dijon vinaigrette

wild mushroom & pecan cornbread stuffing

ingredients

1 loaf day-old cornbread

1 1/2 c sliced cremini mushrooms (or any variety of mushroom you like)

2/3 c chopped pecans

1/2 tsp sage

1 tsp parsley

fresh ground salt & pepper, to taste

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/4 c chicken stock (or drippings from the chicken roasting in the oven)

directions

1. Tear the stale cornbread into bite-sized pieces tossing in an oven-safe dish with mushrooms, pecans and spices.  This can be set aside until you're ready to bake.

2. When ready to bake, toss with the beaten egg and chicken drippings until moist and well-coated.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the top starts to brown and crisp.

brussel sprout hash with bacon & toasted hazelnuts

ingredients

4 c brussel sprouts

1/2 lb thick cut bacon

2/3 c chopped hazelnuts

fresh ground salt & pepper, to taste

directions

1. Clean brussel sprouts and remove the stems.  Chop into strips and toss in an oven-safe dish with s&p.

2. Slice bacon into small strips and cook up in a pan until crispy.  Remove cooked bacon from pan, reserving drippings, and toss with sliced brussel sprouts.  With the flame still on, toss the hazelnuts in the bacon grease until they begin to get brown and toasty.  Toss with brussel sprouts and bacon, grease and all.

3. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until brussel sprouts are tender and begin to crisp and brown.

I find that the key to a perfect roast chicken, and anything else you ever cook, is butter.  Just keep basting that sucker with butter and juices to give a perfectly brown and crispy skin.  Also, fresh ground salt & pepper and a few cloves of garlic.  Any chicken you don't eat will make for a delicious chicken salad because it's going to be so moist and tender.  But until then, enjoy a perfectly warm and seasonal meal that will satisfy the entire family!  It also makes a great dinner party menu so give it a try and make  sure I get an invite.

festive fall family feast

not just for jam anymore

I've had a lot of free time on my hands lately.  A lot of free time.  I wish I could say that I've been really productive with this time and that I've gotten a lot of work done or that I've read a bunch of books on my reading list or that I learned a new language or something.  But I haven't done any of that.  Instead, I've been taking advantage of the free cable by gorging on food channels and cooking shows while simultaneously perusing the internet for new foodie blogs to read or recipes to try out.  Not a complete waste of time because when I came across these tiny pies on Serious Eats the other day, I was truly inspired.  How adorable would it be to serve everyone their own little personal pie in a Mason jar?  I love Mason jars and I love pies so it seemed like a totally natural combination.  Plus, I've been itching to make a pie from scratch lately; can you believe I've never done that?  Well I almost did it this weekend.

Since I went a bit nuts baking and cooking up a storm this weekend, my mom convinced me to cheat and take the easy road for my pie crust by buying the already prepared kind from the grocery store.  Though I complained and whined about how wrong it is to cut corners, I'm kind of glad we did because being back in the kitchen the way I was the past few days really wore me out.  And we all know how important the pie crust is to the overall yumminess of the pie, so it would be pretty awful if I ruined the crust because that would ruin the entire pie since it's so itty bity.  So I succumbed to my mom's advice regarding the prepared crust and focused all my energy on the filling.  I've always been a huge fan of apple pies and since it's apple season, what better pie to bake than a warm, cinnamon-y apple pie?  So off we went to pick up a variety of apples because the more the merrier, and we came home with Granny Smith, Honey Crisp and Empire apples.

Now, I have major plans for an ultimate apple pie but the time isn't right for that yet so I had do a little research with an ancient copy of The New McCall's Cook Book for perfect apple pies but it just didn't seem to be what I wanted.  I remember being a kid and walking around the corner to buy those mini French Apple Pies that had plump, sweet raisins in them and how much I loved them.  But I had just made oatmeal raisin cookies the previous night and didn't want to use raisins again so I chose to go with a similar but more seasonal fruit - cranberries!  With my filling planned, I started lining seven Mason jars of various sizes with crust before figuring out that I had run out and wouldn't have any to top the jars with.  No worries because aside from my love of French apple pies, I also have a fondness for the sweet and crumbly topping of a traditional Dutch apple pie.  For something so all-American, this was starting to get awfully international.  But this globetrotting recipe turned out to be a huge hit, even with the biggest apple pie critic I know - my dad.  He loved it and even called me today to tell me that it was even tastier the next day after the ingredients had marinated a bit.  Me and my mom liked it a la mode with the new Sweet Chai Tea ice cream from Haagen Dazs for a little extra kick of Autumnal spice!

mason jar cranapple pies
ingredients
8 c apples, peeled and chopped into small chunks
1 - 1 1/2 c dried cranberries (use as much or as little as you want)
2/3 c sugar
2 tsp fresh ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c plus 2 tbsp flour
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/4 butter, room temp
rolled pie crust (homemade or store bought, whatever's easier)
directions
1. Preheat oven to 425.  Line shallow jars (7-10 depending on depth and size) with pie crust up to the lip and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, toss together apples, cranberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, 2, tbsp flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.    Scoop into lined jars being mindful of any gaps or wholes that might not have any apples; the shape of some jars makes filling them kind of like doing a puzzle.
3. In a separate bowl combine remaining cinnamon and nutmeg with flour and brown sugar, blending with a fork until it it well combined and looks crumbly.  Evenly top each pie with the streusel topping filling the jar to the top.
4. Place all the jars on a baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the pie crust starts to look golden brown.  Let cool before serving because the filling will be super hot.  Serve each jar individually, on its own or a la mode with a scoop of chai ice cream and enjoy!

How perfectly adorable are these?!  Beyond a sweet and delicious dessert for the people you love, I can think of a few other uses for these little cuties.  Wouldn't they make wonderful place holders or seat markers at a dinner party?  You could put each guest's name on the lids (oh yeah, make sure you don't overstuff the jars so that you can put the lids on them for storage,) and put them at everyone's assigned seats.  You could freeze them before baking them and give them as gifts around the holidays, or give them fully baked as a hostess gift the next time someone invites you to a dinner party.  You might want to be careful when giving them as hostess gifts though because that gal might ask you to bring dessert to her next dinner party, so you'd better be prepared.  Or how about favors for a wedding or a shower?  They could be seasonal and local for the time and place of the event - cherry or strawberry rhubarb in the Spring, berries or peaches for Summer, pumpkin or pecan for Winter.  I can just imagine an idyllic Autumn wedding on a rustic orchard with teeny tiny apple pies in Mason jars as favors!  Almost makes me want to get married all over again... almost.  The jars don't necessarily have to be stuffed with pie either.  How about a cobbler or just the filling for future pie preparedness?  The possibilities are endless, always adorably sweet and sure to be a big hit with all the recipients.  What ideas do you have, readers?  How would you make this perfectly personal recipe your own?  How do you plan on dishing it out?  Let me know, I love hearing from you.