august. tomatoes.

It is August and you know what that means... tomatoes are out in full force by the bushel load!

The farmers market was bursting with every shape and size. Our little garden upstate is not too shabby either. It seems that hot spell was just what they needed. Delaware County has a ridiculously short growing season so when we get tomatoes we are ecstatic.

I am eating them every way I can. Last night I made a salad inspired by one I ate at the new restaurant Estela on East Houston Street in NYC. There is really no recipe here as I just kind of threw them together based on the flavors and ingredients I remembered from the dish.

This is what I put in mine.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Purselane

Canary Melon

I added some fresh herbs and topped it with olive oil and chive blossom vinaigrette.

Hope you are inspired to make something with tomatoes too! When January comes you will be craving a real tomato. So what are you waiting for?

You can see the completed salad on instagram here

Check out the August issue of Bon Appétit Magazine for some great inspired tomato recipes. 

xx

where the wild things are. poached egg with garlic mustard.

This past weekend a group of friends and I went on a "wild walk" on our friend Carver's land in Bovina in upstate New York. Carver and his wife Sonya own The Pines restaurant in Gowanus and are interested in seasonal local foods both wild and otherwise. We were lucky to have local Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower as our guide. She is wealth of knowledge when it comes to wild plants. We set out on an incredibly cold and rainy morning after a super delicious brunch (we were more than a little sad to leave the roaring fire) and roamed both pasture and woods. Before we even got out of the yard proper, we had spotted garlic mustard. Garlic Mustard from what I have read was brought to the United States in the 1860's as a culinary herb but escaped into the wild and is now an invasive plant. You will see this early flowering wild plant along roadsides in the spring, it has delicate vibrant green leaves that are heart shaped and toothy with  tiny white flowers. It does not have any poisonous look a likes. You will know this plant at once when you rub the leaves; it gives off a garlic odor. The leaves and the flowers are bitter but very delicious. Garlic mustard can be used in pesto or a salsa verde or raw in salads. All parts of the plant are edible and the roots apparently taste like horseradish.

When I got back home I searched our property for Garlic Mustard and found it literally two feet from my back door!

The next morning we decided to try it out for breakfast.

 I blanched the greens and served a poached egg over them. 

I have seen farmers selling Garlic Mustard at the Green Market in Union Square.  However, if you can't find any just substitute any bitter green in this recipe. You can't go wrong with eggs and greens.

I will post more on our walk soon.

xx

Poached Eggs with Garlic Mustard

2 farm fresh eggs

1/2 pound of Garlic Mustard with flowers or a similar bitter green (Dandelions would be just as good)

4 tablespoons of olive oil

 Cracked black pepper to taste

Sea salt to taste

Wash the garlic mustard and remove the leaves and flowers from the stems

Discard the Stems

Set the flowers aside

In pot of rapidly boiling water blanch the Garlic Mustard leaves for 10 seconds or so, just long enough for them to soften and turn a beautiful vibrant green.

Remove the Leaves from the water with a slotted spoon and divide between to plates.

Drizzle the greens with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

In the remaining boiling water crack two eggs and poach. 

When the eggs are one slide one each with a slotted spoon from the pot to the plates.

Drizzle with a bit more olive oil

Top with cracked black pepper and Sea Salt

Add the delicate Garlic Mustard flowers on top.

Serve with tow slices of toast. I used walnut raisin bread because that is what I had around. (Thank you Paola!)

I rubbed the toasts with garlic after toasting.

where the wild things are. ramp bloody mary.

It has been one of those weeks. I am really looking forward to chilling inside today on this rainy rainy Sunday.

My bed and a good book is calling me. Today is kind of perfect for this spicy Ramp Bloody Mary. You might want to brew up a batch of this ramp infused vodka while you can still get your hands on some ramps. It is super easy and great way to have ramps throughout the year, that is if you don’t get too addicted and drink it all too fast!

Take a fifth of good vodka. 

Pour it into a large mason jar (I used a Le Parfait Super)

Trim and clean between fifteen and twenty ramps. 

Remove the greens to use for something else.

Place the ramp bulbs and stems in the vodka and store in your fridge from 3 months to one year.

I left mine for a year but after three months they were fairly infused. It is up to you how long you leave them.

Mine started to break down after one year and I eventually strained them out.

Infusing can happen rather quickly but I tend to push it's limits. Check the vodka from time to time to see when you like the taste of it best.

This Bloody Mary is rather spicy and full of horseradish. I like it that way but you can obviously tweak the spices to your liking.

I add crushed juniper to mine as well to give it a woodsy piney taste.

Enjoy!!

 Bloody Ramp

In a an extra large Mason Jar Mix:

3 ounces vodka ramp vodka

10 ounces tomato juice 

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

4 drops Tabasco sauce

1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon homemade celery salt

3 tablespoon fresh grated horseradish 

Shake and Chill the bloody Mary mix

When The Bloody Mary mixture is good and cold; Rim the glass with homemade celery salt

Pour the mixture over crushed ice and serve

Serves two.

Garnish with pickled ramps or a crisp celery stalk.

See this post from last year for Juniper Pickled Ramps.

Celery Salt

10 fresh green celery leaves

1/4 cup sea salt. I like grey.

Combine the sea salt and the Celery leaves in a mortar and pestle and blend together until you have a fine green salt.

It may be a little wet.

You can set it out on a baking sheet to dry and then store it in airtight jar in a darkened place like a pantry or stick the jar in the freezer to store it.

The green color will slowly fade over time.

summer.

Summer in the Catskill Mountains... to be continued.

 

 

where the wild things are. no. 20. pick a peck of pickled milkweed.

I have gone a little mad for milkweed this summer! You could have knocked me over when I first learned that it was edible. I have always known that Monarchs are dependent on milkweed for survival but I was dubious about eating it but no more, I am now a total convert. I have made milkweed frittata, a tempura of the blossoms and buds and now i have come to the pickled milkweed pods! They taste a bit like pickled ochre  and have a caperberry like texture. Do not worry, you will not end up like Sylvester with a mouthful of fluff! The tiny pods get pickled when they are between one to two inches long and the fluff inside the pod is not really fully fluff yet. I have tried these out on friends and family and the consensus seems to be that they are surprisingly good.

So grab some milkweed pods before they get too big and get pickling.

 Pickled Milk Weed Pods

4 cups of milkweed buds (between 1-2 inches in size) 

5 cups raw apple cider vinegar

1/4-cup sugar in the raw

2 sprigs of fresh dill flower

1-tablespoon whole juniper berries

1/2 teaspoon crushed juniper berries (crush them with a mortar and pestle)

1 tablespoon of black pepper corns

3 tablespoons grey sea salt

 To Make The Brine:

Add the spices and sugar to the 5 cups of vinegar

Heat to a boil in a non-reactive pot

Turn off and allow steeping for 20 minutes for the spices to infuse

In the mean time, clean and wash and de-stem the milkweed pods 

Blanch the milkweed pods for 30 seconds and then plunge them into an ice bath

Place the blanched milkweed pods in two 4-cup sterilized mason or Weck jars.

After the brine has infused for 20 minutes or so, return it to the heat and bring it to a quick boil and turn off.

Remove the brine from the heat and slowly pour it over the milkweed pods.

The pickled milkweed pods will last a couple of weeks in your refrigerator.