Lots of cool stuff happening at the Schenectady Greenmarket this Sunday!  From now until May, the Schenectady Greenmarket will be held inside Proctors, from 10am-2pm.

Activities, Performances, and Demos:

• Local Expert, Chef David Brough will demonstrate proper techniques for cutting up chicken at the market this Sunday. Shoppers may purchase fresh, whole chickens from Cooper’s Ark Farm then bring them upstairs to the Local Expert table to learn how to cut them up.
• Live classical and new age guitar from Harry George Pellegrin.  Harry is a good friend of mine – he played at my wedding!  He’s fantastically talented – don’t miss this opportunity to hear Harry!
• Children’s Activities with Mark-IT Art. A new mini art project each month. Kids of all ages can be creative and make art.
• 11am – Jam session with Tim Barker and Friends. Bring your guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo, bass and play and sing along.
• Community Table: Waggin’ Tails Pet Rescue.
• The Farmers Market Nutrition Program for 2009 concludes this Sunday, senior citizens and WIC recipients can use their coupons with any produce vendor at the market.
• Variety vendor: Burden Lake Creamworks
• Alternate week vendors: David Smyth, Moseskill Marketplace, Full Quiver Farm

What’s Fresh and New at the Market this Sunday:

• Cooper’s Ark Farm: eggs, fresh whole chicken, chicken sausage, and MAYBE a couple turkeys for Thanksgiving.
• Madura Farms: exotic mushrooms, micro-greens, sprouts, popcorn and unique vegetables including black radishes
• Pixies Preserves introduces a new line of no-sugar added spreads made with just fruit (no added sweeteners). Also try their seasonal Pumpkin Pecan Butter.
• Native Farms: long-lasting Fall and Thanksgiving centerpieces with dried fruit, grains and greens
• Hudson-Chatham Winery: desert wines packaged in distinctive bottles for holiday gift giving
• Ambition Cafe and Eatery: omelets, coffee, egg sandwiches
• Saratoga Peanut Butter Company:  sample the new gingerbread peanut butter–Catch me if you can!
• Merry Hill Farm: alpaca yarn, fiber for spinning and crafts, and hand knit alpaca accessories and NEW sock and scarf knitting kits!

You can find the latest info about the Schenectady Greenmarket by visiting their website or their group on Facebook.  You’ll find updates, recipes, links, and lots more.

I hope to see you there!

I just got a message from a friend:

My husband, needs to make a restaurant recommendation to a friend who is coming in from out of town with family. They want to go somewhere nice but not necessarily fancy. Here’s the hitch, a couple of them are vegetarians and one has some health complication that means they need vegetarian choices (no onions, can you imagine?). Me, I’m a meat eater. Heck, I’m an everything eater. So I came up almost blank. Being the foodie you are I thought you might have a suggestion. Any ideas?

I’m drawing a blank as well…does anyone have any suggestions?  I’m assuming that the restaurant would preferably within easy driving distance from Schenectady.

Last night, Bob and I went to eat at our usual weekend quick-dinner place, the Halfmoon Diner on Route 9.  I’ve mentioned it here before, and I’ve always had good things to say about it.  After last night, however, I’m rethinking a few things.

Dinner was fine – tuna melt for me, pot roast for Bob.  Uneventful.  As usual, Bob ordered a piece of chocolate mousse cake to go.  Feeling frisky, I ordered  a piece of coconut cream pie to go.  I’ve raved about their coconut cream pie here before, and was looking forward to its creamy goodness.

About halfway through the piece of pie. something began to taste a little off.  I looked down, and found 3 or 4 pea-sized pieces of bright green mold in the pie.  I immediately spit out what I was chewing, dumped the rest of the horror pie in the trash, and went upstairs to brush my teeth.  It was all I could think about all night.  I even dreamed of eating the moldy pie again.

That pie must have been sitting in that cooler for more than a WEEK, or not kept refrigerated, in order to get mold like that.  Either way,  it was nasty.  I didn’t bring it back, because it was late and I was in my pj’s.  I also didn’t call them, because I didn’t retain the evidence.  All I know is, I’m never eating dessert (or probably even dinner) there again.  Ick.

I’m so excited for my buddy Chef Mark!  Today is the day he and his chef buddies (Jaime Ortiz from Angelo’s 677 Prime, Larry Schepici from Tosca, and Jackie Baldwin Russell from Sage Dining Hall at RPI) are cooking for a dinner at the James Beard House in NYC.  It’s called Upstate in the Big Apple, and it’s the culiminating event in the team’s 4×4 Dinners series, “a gathering of 4 of the top chefs in the area creating 4 fabulous dinners paired with 4 great wines at 4 phenomenal restaurants” (it all happened this summer).   Here’s the team:

Left to right: Jackie Baldwin, Jaime Ortiz, Mark Graham, Larry Schepici

So, today’s the day they all get to cook for about 80 guests at the James Beard House, a vertitable Mecca for gastronomes. 

Mark left at about 8 this morning, and sent me a few photos when he got there:

Here it is!

Here We Go!

Can’t wait to hear how it went!  Best of luck to all of the Capital Region chefs in NYC tonight – show ‘em what you’ve got!

Today was a great day.

I spent the morning at the Schenectady Greenmarket, picking up lots of great vegetables, bread, vegan hummus, and wine from the Hudson-Chatham Winery.  I probably would have forgotten to go the market, had I not been reminded by my neighbor and buddy Chef Mark that he would be cooking at the Greenmarket today.

Sprouts

Popcorn and Taters

Onions, Red and Yellow

Brussels Sprouts

Chef Mark Graham cooking at the Schenectady Greenmarket

Part Two of today’s excitement after the jump…

After the market, I headed out to indulge in a foodie’s dream.  Yesterday afternoon, Mark invited me to partake in a unique opportunity…to help him prep today- in his restaurant kitchen – for the James Beard Foundation’s “Upstate in the Big Apple” dinner at the Beard House!  That’s pretty huge, believe me.  To gourmands, James Beard is bigger than Oprah, literally and figuratively (well, mostly just figuratively now, since he’s dead).  Anyway, the dinner is Wednesday evening in NYC, and Mark needed help prepping the courses he would be serving.  Of course I said yes.  Bob was excited, too, but I think it was mostly because I wouldn’t be home to bother him during football.

I had no idea what to expect.  I had been to Mark’s restaurant before (MezzaNotte Ristorante in Guilderland), but only as a customer.  I was thrilled to get a behind-the-scenes look at a restaurant kitchen after having spent countless hours reading about them.  When I got there, Mark set me up with a chef coat and apron, and put me straight to work in the prep kitchen making meatballs, for his appetizer: Duck Confit Meatballs with Honey-Poached Cranberries and Dijon Soubise. I would be forming the mixture of duck meat, veal, roasted pureed fennel, bread, and eggs into tiny bite-sized meatballs (about a teaspoon of meat per ball), that would later be made into a conft with rendered duck fat.  Basically, duck meatballs soaked in duck fat.  Doesn’t get any better than that.

After I made about a zillion meatballs, put them in the walk-in cooler, and labeled them (“Duck Balls, small”), I went upstairs to help Mark cook some stuff on the line.  First, we tasted the meatballs that I shaped – they were BEYOND GOOD.  Heaven on earth.  And that was even before they got confited.  I can hardly imagine how good they will be when they’re served on Wednesday evening (and we only made enough for ONE MEATBALL PER PERSON).  I also watched Mark roast some quail wings, to make a stock.  Those were the tiniest things I’ve ever seen.  But they smelled divine.  I wish I were going to this dinner, to taste all this amazing-sounding (and smelling) food.

Having a bit more time before I had to leave, I chopped shallots, and sweated them.  Then it was time to go home.  Damn Bob and his daily need to eat dinner.   Mark assured me that he would have me back again sometime, to help him prep something else.  I cannot wait.

Me and Chef Mark Graham at MezzaNotte, preparing for the James Beard House dinner on November 4 in NYC

I had lunch yesterday with my friends Gail and Nell, at Schenectady County Community College’s Casola Dining Room.  The Casola is the college’s restaurant “laboratory,” where the culinary students get real life experience cooking and serving in a restaurant.  SCCC is just one of five colleges in New York State that is accredited by the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute.

From SCCC’s website:

Since Spring of 1993, the Casola Dining Room has been serving gourmet meals to the patrons of the Capital Region of Upstate New York. The Casola Dining Room is open for business during the college school year, generally from the first week of October to the first week of December and from the last week in February to the first week in May. Reservations are required.

Menu selection and themes are changed weekly. In the fall semester, menus are themed for Regional American Cuisine. In the spring semester our students prepare International classics. Guests choose one appetizer, a main course and a dessert from the choices. Guests are encouraged to bring in their own wine to compliment the meal experience.

Gail and I had a meeting at SCCC last week with Chef Chris Tanner, to plan the upcoming Culinary Boot Camp (details coming VERY soon), and Chris told us that this week’s cuisine was Puerto Rican.  We were very intrigued – neither of us had ever eaten Puerto Rican food – so I called to make reservations for the three of us (details about making reservations can be found here).

The Casola Dining Room has undergone extensive renovations over the last few years, and it has truly become an elegant space.  The walls are a lush chocolate-brown, the pillars and moulding are off-white, and the walls are decorated with colorful and intricate pieces of fiber art.  I forgot to find out if they were produced locally – I’ll have to make phone call.

It isn’t a very large dining room, with only about 10 or so tables, but it is very warm and welcoming.  The chairs have rounded backs, and are comfortably upholstered in moss-green fabric.  The tables are set with crisp white linens, and are complete with a full flatware service (including soup and coffee spoons).  The decorator was obviously looking to recreate a fine dining experience, and it definitely works.  So far, so good!

We were seated immediately, and one of several servers welcomed us, handed us menus, and took our drink orders.  It was a while before he came back.  When he did finally return, we placed our appetizer and entree orders:

Gail ordered Ensalada De Pulpo: grilled octopus sliced thin and tossed with Spanish onion thinly sliced into rings, crushed garlic, lime juice, virgin olive oil, white vinegar, chopped celery

Nell and I ordered Sacocho: A classic Puerto Rican stew that features the tropical life with yucca, yam, cassava, plantains, corn, beef short rib, and ham with tomato sauce and broth.

We all ordered the same entree: El pargo de cacerola-quemó con Salsa de Criollo, which is pan seared red snapper fillets with pumpkin fritters and avocado-tangerine salad, accompanied by yellow rice and pigeon peas garnished with plantanos.  (don’t normally order fish, but the thought of pumpkin fritters was so enticing that I thought I’d risk it.)

More after the jump…

The dining room was a bit chilly, but seemed to warm up a bit the longer we sat.  And sit longer we did.  We did enjoy some of their homemade bread while we waited.

Our server brought us our appetizers after a bit, and they certainly looked appetizing:

Sancocho

The sancocho was very good – though it was very underseasoned and benefited tremendously from the addition of salt.  I understand sometimes chefs are afraid to overseason, so they err on the side of caution.  And the fact that these chefs were students (and probably unsure of themselves) likely made it worse.  The soup was light and tomato-ey, with generous chunks of beef short rib and ham.  There were 4 or 5 of what appeared to be meatballs sitting in the middle, and neither Nell nor I could ascertain what exactly they were made of – though we did agree they were quite bland.  I think the soup would have been enhanced by a bit more of the exotic ingredients – yucca, casava, and plaintain.  The cilantro garnish added a nice refreshing element to the soup.

Ensalada De Pulpo (octopus salad)

Gail assured me that the Ensalada de Pulpo was delicious, and I took her word for it.  I do not eat octopus.  The presentation was lovely – a neat layered stack of ingredients.

Our entrees soon (well, not really “soon”) arrived, and I was pleasantly surprised with the dish.  As I mentioned above, I do not normally eat fish, so it has to be very good for me to enjoy it!

El pargo de cacerola-quemó con Salsa de Criollo

The snapper filet was seasoned with a *very* spicy rub, and it was perfectly cooked – the crust was crispy, and the flesh was white and flaky.  Yum.  The pumpkin fritters, the very reason for my ordering the fish, were disappointing.  They were very chewy, with an almost leathery texture.  The flavor was excellent, but I think they had been deep-fried much earlier and sat out too long.  Nell had never had pumpkin fritters before, and she really enjoyed them.

The plantains were wonderful – I love their pasty texture, and unassuming flavor.  Gail did not care for them.  The yellow rice with pigeon peas was quite tasty.  I’ve never before tried pigeon peas, and was surprised by their nuttiness and “al dente” consistency.  They worked very well with the rice.

Perhaps my favorite part of the entree was the Salsa de Criollo: the tangerine/avocado salsa.  It was bright, creamy, citrusy, and sunflower seeds added just the right amount of crunch.  Spectacular!  I’m on the hunt for the recipe, and will be making it at home!

On to dessert.  The server wheeled the dessert cart over, and this is where it got…interesting.

The Dessert Cart

Our choices were:

Chocolate Tres Leches: A light chocolate sponge soaked with a trio of chocolate milks topped with a meringue crisp

Banana Torte: A rich banana flavored butter cake filled with fresh banana slices and topped with a coffee flavored butter cream

Mango Sorbet: Mangos pair with simple syrup for a light refreshing ice served with a coconut cookie

The waiter tried valiantly to explain each of the desserts to us, but it was painful to listen to him try to pronounce “meringue” and “sorbet”.  It was apparent that his teachers sent him out into the dining room very unprepared.  Oh, well.  He will learn!

It was a pleasant surprise when we each ordered something different.  I had the Banana Torte.  Overall, it was very good: the cake was a tad dry, but the coffee-flavored buttercream was great.  I think that perhaps the kitchen did not let the cake rest long enough out of the refrigerator, because the icing was a bit hard.

Banana Torte

Gail had the Chocolate Tres Leches.  It was very chocolatey, with a very light spongey texture.  The presentation left something to be desired.

Chocolate Tres Leches

Nell ordered the Mango Sorbet, and while it looked delicious, I didn’t try any because I am not a fan of mangoes.  For some reason, I think they taste like dirt.

Mango Sorbet

Overall, a good meal.  And a GREAT value – the price per person was only $16 (coffee was also included), and tips are not permitted.  If you came for dinner, you would only be out $22.  The college does not serve alcohol, but you can bring your own bottle and the servers will pour for you, for only a $3 corkage fee.  It’s an incredible deal – you should get there if you get the chance.

Lunch is served Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with seatings at noon and 12:30 p.m.  Dinners is served Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with seatings at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  Reservations are taken exactly 2 weeks in advance of the date you wish to reserve, beginning at 10am.  The number to call is 518-381-1391.  Seatings fill up quickly, so plan ahead.  The dining room schedule is available here, and menus are available here.

Bon appetit!

The results of the Comfort Food Election have been tabulated, and here’s the breakdown:

Total Number of Votes: 24 (thank you – that’s certainly better than 7).

Here is a list of the ‘other answers’ that people wrote in:

• “Bread Pudding – Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce”
• “Pizza. How is this not on the list?”
• “Mashed potatoes”
• “Chocolate” (2 write-in votes)
• “Clam chowder”
• “Chili”

Interesting findings.  What’s my favorite comfort food, you ask?  If I had to choose from among the choices I gave, I’d have to say Macaroni and Cheese.  I used to make this KILLER mac & cheese, using a recipe I got from Cooking Light magazine a bunch of years back.  It was four-cheese thing, using fontina, Parmesan, cheddar, and Velveeta Light.  They don’t make Velveeta Light anymore, so I’ve been too afraid to make the recipe with the full-fat version – it might end up to be too good, and I’d eat the whole thing.  The recipe called for crushed melba toasts, to give it a nice crunchy topping.

Oh! I just found the actual recipe, from MyRecipes.com (this blog happens in REAL TIME, my friends – no preplanning):
Creamy Four-Cheese Macaroni Recipe – MyRecipes.com

I may have to revisit that old favorite. Except my husband does not like macaroni and cheese. Luckily, he travels a lot.

Election Update: With only 7 votes counted (that’s it?  SEVEN?  That’s pretty lame, folks), Macaroni & Cheese has a decisive lead with 3 votes.  In a tie for second (1 vote each) is Grilled Cheese, Chicken Soup, Pot Roast, and Chili (with a write-in vote).

All you have to do is step outside to know that autumn has begun to bear down upon us here in the Northeast, bringing chilly winds, falling leaves, and possibly even some snow this coming weekend (what??).  Of course, there is a upside or two to the fall weather: a roaring fire, snuggling with your honey, and comfort food!

You know you have one.  The food that always seems to make everything all better, snow or no.  The food that Mom would give to you, and all would become right with the world.  Well, I’m nosy and I want to know what your favorite comfort food is.  Vote now!

You can only vote once, though.  And if your favorite isn’t on the list, feel free to fill in the blank!

This past Sunday, I spent a very chilly 40 minutes at the Schenectady Greenmarket, filling up my (reusable) bag with the last of the summer fruits and vegetables.   I had yesterday off work, and I planned to spend the entire day (if possible) in the kitchen.  My idea of a vacation.

Here’s the rundown:

Seckel (sugar) Pears

Seckel pears.  Beautiful, tiny, and reportedly “as sweet as a candy bar” (that’s what the guy told me!).  I’ll do a report as soon as a few of them ripen enough to eat.

Winter squash – acorn and butternut.  I know I’m probably the only person who didn’t know this, but winter squash are so named NOT because they are only available in winter, but because the skins are sturdy enough to allow them to hold through winter.  According to my friend (and Cornell Cooperative Extension Director) Chris Logue, if you keep your squash in a cool, dark place like your basement (as long as the temps don’t go below freezing), you can likely keep squash from now until January.  Nice.  Since I don’t have a basement, he suggested a cooler in my garage.

Freshly dug baking potatoes.  They went into last night’s Pot Roast.   Recipe for that soon.  I didn’t take photos last night, but I make it often enough that I should be able to put up a recipe with pix pretty soon.  I think I have finally perfected that pot roast.

A fresh-baked Morning Glory muffin from Our Daily Bread.  It was pure heaven – filled with carrots, raisins, apples, and coconut.  I jumped on my BlackBerry and found a recipe, bought a quart of Cortland apples at Buhrmaster Farms, and bought the rest of the ingredients on my trip to the grocery store later that day.  Here’s the recipe I found, with a few of my modifications – it makes DELICIOUS muffins, that are really filling and really good for you:

Whole Grain Morning Glory Muffins

• 1 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed natural brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  Cortland  apple, cored, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dried flaked sweetened coconut, divided

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; break up any brown sugar lumps with your fingers or a wooden spoon.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla, then add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add apples, raisins, carrots, walnuts and 1/4 cup of the coconut and stir gently until well combined.

Spoon batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Top evenly with remaining 4 teaspoons coconut and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through.

Tomato Sauce

About 5 pounds of tomatoes – the LAST of the tomatoes.    I was feeling pretty ambitious, and bought a ton (for me, anyway).  A friend mentioned a few weeks ago that she wanted to learn how to can.  Feeling inspired by that goal, but not quite ready to start canning myself, I thought I’d take the first step, and at least learn how to make homemade sauce that would be suitable for some eventual canning.  I found a very loose recipe for sauce online, and threw some great sauce together in about 2 hours.  It sounds ridiculous, I know – I mean, who doesn’t know how to make their own sauce?  Well, me.  I have not one drop of Italian blood, so sauce-making does not come hard-wired into my DNA.  But, I think I managed to create a respectable sauce.  Here’s what I did:

• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• a whole mess of tomatoes, peeled but NOT seeded, then quartered
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp dried Italian herbs
• Salt and pepper

Briefly sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil.  Dump the tomatoes in, and let cook over medium-low heat until they break down.  Add in tomato paste and herbs, let cook for another hour or so, breaking up tomato chunks as it cooks.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  That’s it!  Makes enough to serve at one meal, and freeze some for later.

Many delicious items from one trip to the market!  Can’t wait to see what’s cooking next week.

In a couple of recent statements (interview on NPR and an op-ed in the NY Times), my guy Michael Pollan made the assertion that if the US doesn’t get a handle on the way we eat, any healthcare system overhaul is going to fail:

[T]he fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter…That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry. …Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future. There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.

Well, it looks as if the Feds have finally wised up a bit to MP’s wisdom:

1. USDA has awarded $4.8 million for community food products, as part of the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative. This collaboration hopes to “connect people more closely with the farmers who supply their food and increase the production, marketing and consumption of fresh, nutritious food that is grown locally in a sustainable manner.”
2. The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) granted $650 Million to the Recovery Act Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative, which will “[create] ways for healthful lifestyle habits to be the natural first choice for Americans…The funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to increase physical activity, improve nutrition (emphasis mine), decrease obesity, and decrease smoking in U.S. communities.”  From the release: “Funded projects will emphasize high-impact, broad-reaching policy, environmental, and systems changes in schools (K-12) and communities. For example, communities will work to make high-fat snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages less available in schools and other community sites and to use media to promote healthy choices.”

Well, it’s a good start.

In related news, last weekend saw the release of the new Matt Damon film “The Informant!”.  It’s the true story of a bumbling executive at Archer Daniels Midland (“Supermarket to the World”) who becomes a double-dealing FBI informant, providing recordings of secret meetings at which ADM and other global agrichemical producers colluded to fix worldwide prices of the animal feed additive lysine.  This American Life ran an encore of an episode they did in 2000 (called “The Fix Is In”), with the case’s major players.  The podcast is available right now on iTunes.