cider and babes

 This morning as I look out on the grey city skyline, I am anticipating some extreme weather. I can't help but think what a perfect sky we had last Saturday as I headed up to a small town in Western Massachusetts to visit friends and babes. The remnants of summer’s leaves had turned a brilliant yellow and were positively glowing and illuminated. We did not even wear coats as the weather was so unseasonably warm.. It was pretty much the perfect fall weekend. Plans were a little loose, as they have to be with so many little ones around. So we kept things mellow and cooked quite a bit. On Sunday, we made a big brunch and went to a fall festival at a local CSA, Natural Roots, which is a horse powered small family farm on The South River in Conway. At the festival, the kids participated in feed sack races and beet in spoon races, which was pretty cute. We all climbed up onto the wagon for a horse drawn ride through the river and into the woods beyond the farm. We bought local apples and when we got back to the house I hunkered down and made a pie with Odette, one mini one for her and one big one for us. We were a little short on the crust due to the mini pie and a little underestimating on my part, so I winged the top and just made triangle shapes, something I picked up from the blackbird girls during our book shoot.

In the afternoon, Anna arrived to make cider with her recently purchased cider press. We started with five bushels of apples of a mixed variety. In the end after an hour or so we had ten gallons of cider. We bottled it up in a hodgepodge of old bourbon bottles and mason jars. After one last meal, we headed out into the early blue evening and wound our way back to the city.

 

 

roasted concord grape two ways.

 Oh dear, I have been so delinquent in keeping up the blog lately! Life is getting the better of me and the days are flying by. Here we are mid October already! I want to share some of the things I have been making and eating lately. There are no recipes to accompany these as they are meant more for inspiration. The first is Roasted Concord Grapes With Olive Oil Maple And Sea Salt, on top of Greek yogurt with maple and flax seeds.. You can do it with any fruit as I been doing since the first stone fruits arrived in the Summer and unless you are really wild about Concord grapes like I am you might be better off with a simpler fruit like apple or plum The Concord grapes are real pain with the seeds and they require some serious work to get them out!breakfast I know I said I wasn't going to give a recipe but here is the gist of it in the loosest sense; Take whatever fruit you decie to use and spread it on a lined sheet pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and top with a touch of maple syrup. Pop the whole tray in the oven and slow roast the fruit at 350 degrees until it is soft. (With the Concord grapes, you must carefully split the grape and remove the seeds once they are soft and roasted... this takes patience and diligence and a small sharp knife!)

Once your fruit is roasted, Place a generous portion of it on top of your bowl of Greek yogurt and drizzle with a little maple, a tiny hit of sea salt and a good heaping tablespoon or two of flax seeds!

My other grape inspired recipe is Concord grape and Hen Of The Woods Crostini.

Place a generous amount of hen of the woods mushrooms on a lined baking sheet or in a big cast iron frying pan. Drizzle with olive oil, seas salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Cut a handful of concord grapes in half and gently remove the seeds. toss the Concord grapes with the hen of the woods and olive oil mixture. Throw the pan in the oven and roast at 350 degrees until the mushrooms are soft and some of the edges are a touch crispy.

Toast some really good bread and brush with olive oil after toasting. Top the bread with the roasted mushrooms and grape mixture. Shave some Pecorino Romano on top and get to eating! 

That's it! 

Have lovely Tuesday friends!!

I promise to be back sooner than later! 

where the wild things are. hello fall.

Hello friends. It's been a while and though this is not quite going to be a proper blog post, I am getting there!

It is hard to get back into the swing of posting. The last two months have been super busy with work and travel. I am not complaining, as I do love both! As soon I got back to New York, I made a visit to The New Amsterdam Market, one of my favorite city markets. Les and Nova of the Wild Food Gatherers Guild of Vermont, were there with pounds of mushrooms in all shapes, sizes and colors. I couldn't resist. I dried some and plan on making a Chanterelle vodka and a mixed mushroom ragu with the others. Those posts will hopefully be up soon. For the moment, all I have to offer are these lovely wild mushrooms from Les and Nova and some gorgeous walnuts I picked up off the ground in France. Yes, I did smuggle the walnuts back. Bad, I know. I am hoping they will make their way into a french inspired cake very soon!

Have a lovely Wednesday!

X

lunch for one. tomato and celery salad with shaved baby fennel and dill flower.

I am working from home today, and found myself making my go to summer salad for lunch. It is super similar to the one I made a few weeks back but tastes surprisingly different with just a couple substitutions. There really is no recipe, it is just thrown together based on whatever I had in the house. I can't seem to get away from this tomato celery combo this season... it is so good! This salad was a melange of  tiny summer tomatoes. I picked up a couple of mixed quarts of them at the Union Square Green Market along with some fresh dill flower, baby fennel and my favorite red celery. I went to my trusty mandolin for perfectly thin celery and fennel. It is my favorite kitchen tool hands down.  I have a really good French mandolin but I prefer a simple Japanese one (I use one from MUJI) I use it through all the seasons! You can also find nice Japanese ones at a Japanese hardware store or a Japanese Mart.  I hope you are inspired to get the Greenmarket and make a version of this salad. Add a little fresh goat cheese if you would like to make it a bit more substantial.

x

Lunch For One ; Tomato and Celery Salad with Shaved Baby Fennel and Dill Flower.

A 1/2 quart of mixed cherry tomatoes

One stalk of red celery ( I used the nub end as all my celery was previously devoured.)

One baby fennel bulb

A couple sprigs of fresh dill flower

Juice of half a lime

Good Extra Virgin olive oil

crunchy sea salt

METHOD

Chop the tomatoes into halves or quarters depending on size

Shave the celery over the tomatoes with the mandolin

Shave the fennel bulb over the celery with the mandolin

Add the sprigs of dill

Squeeze the 1/2 of lime over the salad

Douse with some extra virgin olive oil

Top off with a little crunchy seas salt and toss the whole salad.

EAT. SMILE. EAT SOME MORE.

summer.

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