tomatillo salsa

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Today, while everyone was at the Ruins, India Showed me how to make a fresh tomatillo salsa. She made it with a friend last year around this time when they were vacationing in Mexico.

This salsa is super easy and really versatile. We have been using it on our fish tacos, our rice and beans, as a dressing for our salads, and with tortilla chips and guacamole. It is fragrant and fresh and very easy to make.

TO MAKE:

husk, clean and quarter, rougly 30 tomatillos 

coarsely chop a generous bunch of cilantro

cut the fruit of three avocados into small pieces

chop 1 or 2 red onions or a combination of red and spring onions (depending on your preference)  we used a combination of red and spring onions because the spring onions were available.

squeeze and set aside the juice of 6 small limes

when everything is chopped and prepped, dump it all into a big bowl (with the exception of the lime juice) and loosely toss until it is mixed

puree the chopped ingredients a little at a time, adding a bit of lime juice for some liquid (we used a small immersion blender, but you can use a food processor or a regular blender)

as your ingredients become pureed, set the puree aside in a clean bowl and keep adding to it until all your chopped ingredients have been pureed.

add salt to taste.

this is a very loose recipe, one that can't really go wrong. add more avocado if you would like the salsa to be thicker or add more lime juice for a little more punch.

if you want a little spice, chop and puree with the ingredients a single deseeded jalapeno pepper

 this recipe will yield about 4 cups.

notes from the road.

Photographer Mary Rozzi on her meal at Da Nino in Rome...

" I loved the puntarelle, my new favorite dish!

We had fried baccala and artichokes, braised veal and puntarelle. Nothing tops the Italians, I could eat myself to death!" Da Nino is a beautiful old ristorante da 1934 right off the Spanish steps.

 

Ristorante Da Nino 

Via Merulana, 74, 00185 Roma, Italy+39 06 7045 3458 ‎

spring cleaning.

   All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Spring is here and I have the urge to spring clean like crazy! Looking around the loft this morning… I am  driven to paint the walls and sand the floors and change all the furniture! I know this a dangerous place for me to be so I have decided to get outside and get some fresh air and to let the dust settle so to speak.  I am hoping a trip to the Greenmarket at Union Square will calm the need to restructure everything in my life all at once. 

Well, I didn’t exactly follow my own advice. I just couldn’t let the urge to rearrange go…

Before heading to the market. I changed the position of the living room and and the dining room but while concentrating on that I managed to completely overflow the tub! Disaster!

Luckily, Lula and Sam came to my rescue. So, once it was cleaned up I decided to really get out of here. I went up to Union Square  and just roamed with no particular idea of what I would buy. My first purchase were some gorgeous aracana eggs, a nod the blues and greens of spring. Then, I bought some pea shoots from Windfall Farms. The fresh ricotta from Tonjes Dairy was gone, so being that it was a beautiful day I headed north To Eatly in search of ricotta. Now, it is impossible to go to Eatly and pick up just one thing. I bought some  fresh ricotta from the ladies of Salvatore in Brooklyn and some 36 month aged parmigiano. I also picked up some prosciutto and black kale.

The idea of  a pea shoot and ricotta ravioli was well under way when I entered the wine shop. I chose a earthy mineraly white to go with the ravioli and headed back downtown.

My plan for the ravioli filling is to lightly chop the pea shoots and to mix them with the ricotta and and egg and some salt and a little parmigiano and some black pepper… I plan to finish them off with a brown butter sauce and a little crumbled fried prosciutto and a shaving of parmigiano.

The kale? I am thinking a raw kale salad rubbed with olive oil and sale di cervia.

Then, barring any unforeseen decorating , we are going to sit down in this newly arranged loft and enjoy this meal!

the sweet spot

  All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

A couple of years ago,we discovered a new cafe in our neighborhood, Oro Bakery Bar. We started frequenting it every morning as it was just on the way to our parking garage. Unfortunately, at the time I was off caffiene and they don't see the point of decaf. I did however, indulge in the amazing breakfast pastries. They are made fresh every morning and chances are if you arrive early, the chocolate croissants will still be warm! Dorina the owner, was trained at the French Culinary after a career in finance didn't quite satisfy her soul. Lucky for us she chose the right path!

One of the most unusual things about Oro is that it is a sweet cafe in the morning and then transitions to a bar in the evening. It is the perfect place to grab a glass of wine and a quick bite and finish it off with something sweet. Try the mango cheesecake if you are lucky enough to pass by when it is in season. While securing a foothold in a neighborhood full of cafes that attract millions of tourists, Oro still manages to feel like our own neighborhood secret. It is never crowded and always full of familiar faces. They have recently partnered in a new venture, Lafayette Espresso Bar and Marketplace between Broome and Grand Streets. It is a great place to get a sandwich on the go while in Soho. I recommend a green juice called the mood changer. If you live in the hood it helps to combat the bastions of tourists with a smile!

a little taste of summer

 

   All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved