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| PR Style Roasted Chicken |
| Wednesday, September 26, 2007 |
I made this for my Mabon dinner and it was met with good reviews. I used a Puerto Rican traditional seasoning for pork and the smell was amazing. The meat turned out tender and moist.
Ingredients
1 roasting chicken
Goya Adobo
1 large bunch of cilantro
2 heads of garlic
Olive oil
1 lemon
1 onion
Procedure
1. To make the marinade, chop the cilantro, put into a glass jar. Peel and chop all the garlic (that's two heads, not cloves). Add the garlic to the jar and pour enough olive oil in to cover the garlic and cilantro, then shake in a generous amount of Goya Adobo. This marinade is best after it has set at least a week, but you can use it immediately, also.
2. Now, with the chicken, make sure you take out the giblets. There's an oft-repeated family story about my aunt not taking the giblets in their sack out of a turkey at her first Thanksgiving--it was a mess, but fabulous fodder at family dinners. Slip your hand under the skin and add the marinade beneath the skin, as much as you can. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and season with a little more Adobo. Squeeze lemon all over the chicken, then put the lemon halves and quartered onion into the chicken cavity. Let sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours, 24 is better and 48 is great (if you do the 48 hour soak, wait until the last 24 hours to squeeze the lemon over the chicken).
3. Roast the chicken in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, then turn down to 350. It'll take anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to cook. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the bird is 165 degrees internally before taking it out. Let it rest about 20-30 minutes. Then carve and serve.
Just a note: make sure you roast the chicken breast side up. Also, this will make good chicken salad, if you have leftovers. And, of course, if you're roasting the chicken, might as well make chicken stock from it, too! |
posted by Rose @ 9:00 AM  |
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| Wooster Park Market: Everything Promised and More! |
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 I hit up the Cityseed Wooster Park Market last Saturday for ingredients for my Mabon dinner on Sunday. And it was everything and more that had been promised. Parking was difficult, but I managed it just fine (I'm a horrible parker, so if you're good at parallel parking, have no fear). It's in Russo Park on DePalma Court, which I found by driving around a little in the Wooster Park area, but which I have now found for you and you can just Mapquest it.
I walked the whole block of stands, just to get a handle on what was there (a trick I learned at the Edgewood Park Market). There was everything: honey, cheese (goat and cow and sheep!), milk in glass bottles, eggs, lamb, beef, a million vegetables, bread--and even places selling dips, spreads and hot breakfast.
I ended up with local honey, a wildflower variety (by the time I bought honey I was low on funds, so I didn't even try the buckwheat and other honeys available. It came in handy this week, when I needed to make some tea for Lenny's sore throat. In fact, when I showed it to Lenny, he hid the honey in the pantry closet, so that no one would "accidentally" walk out with it.
The milk was amazing (it's from Trinity Dairy Farms in Enfield, CT). Honestly. I love the glass bottles and Lenny says the 1% milk tastes like whole. The milk lasted less than 24 hours in my house, so I'll be back next week to return my bottles and get some more. I also bought cream, for my butternut squash soup.
I purchased half a pound of Pleasant Cow cheese (from Sankow Beaver Brook Farm in Lyme, CT), which I put out as a munchie on Sunday. It literally disappeared. At $16 a pound, I'm glad it didn't get a chance to go bad, but it's definitely a special occasion luxury. It has a little sharpness to it, but it's not a cheddar sharp at all. It would make amazing tomato and grilled cheese sandwiches and would be a welcome addition into fondue or baked macaroni and cheese. It actually was featured as one of 50 in the article "Our Favorite American Cheese" in the April 2005 issue of Saveur magazine.
The stand for Starlight Farms in Durham, CT lets you mix your own salad greens in a bag and it's perfect. I got a lot of comments on Sunday about the salad, which had a little heat to it, due to one of the greens I picked up. Oh, if you find Sun Gold tomatoes, buy them! They're tart and sweet and not like ordinary cherry tomatoes. I can't remember which stand I bought them at, but they're yellow and labeled, so dig in.
The kielbasa from Four Mile River Farm is excellent (I bought this at the first market I went to and was requested to buy more). It went into the stuffing on Sunday, along with good bread (bought at the market) and cutting celery (amazing fragrant, but less crunchy, stuff from the Yale Sustainable Food Project), and again, well received. And speaking of good bread, the Sourdough Boule is amazing and makes a great bread bowl, especially for Spinach Artichoke Dip.
Northfordy Farm had fresh cilantro, with roots, and I was hit with a little homesickness. That cilantro went into the roast chicken and I can't tell you how that smelled while cooking.
Again, no photos of the market or the goodies--but when I go back this weekend, I will take photos. The light was kind of crappy when I went--it was cloudy and dark.
This market is by far the best and most bountiful and it also goes until December, so I'm happy with that.
The only problem is that I dropped quite a bit of cash this time (and every time). Sigh. I will have to be a little more frugal, but I'm a convert to this market, so I'll survive. Hey, at least I don't buy $100 shoes or $75 sweaters (and speaking of sweaters, I believe it was Barberry Hill Farm in Madison that had wool sweaters and wool).
Anyone want to come this Saturday? I could use someone to help me carry things.
I'll be posting recipes from Mabon dinner over the next few days. |
| posted by Rose @ 7:28 AM |
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| Butternut Squash Soup |
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 So this soup was the hit of my Mabon dinner on Sunday night (to celebrate the first day of autumn). I've been asked to post this a couple times, so, being the generous and obliging blogger that I am, I will. Please be careful with the white pepper, because it really has a kick that I wasn't expecting. I've never used it before and just assumed that white pepper (like vanilla and white chocolate) would be a milder version of black pepper. Nope. It's hotter, but it leaves a nice warmth in the back of your throat. Really great soup overall and, of course, I used mostly local ingredients. I adapted this Butternut Squash Soup recipe at Fine Dining (please ignore the obnoxious ads on that page). I had a vegetarian coming to dinner, so I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock and it was totally fine.
Unfortunately, by the time dinner was served everyone was hungry and I didn't get pictures!
Ingredients
*3 fair-sized butternut squash (I think it was about 7 lbs)
3 tbsp butter
*1 large sweet onion, or 2-3 medium ones
*3 garlic cloves sliced
2 boxes (about 8 cups) vegetable broth (you can use a little less)
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
*1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream (this depends how "creamy" you want it)
Procedure
1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Roast the squash to enhance the flavor on a baking sheet at 400° for at least an hour (it doesn't have to be falling apart, because the later steps will do that). Remove from the oven, scrape the flesh into a bowl; discard shells.
2. In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium high heat and sauté the onion until tender (this could take 5-15 minutes), then add garlic, letting it cook up for a couple minutes. Stir in the squash, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes to an hour (until all the flavors meld and the squash is very soft).
3. Puree in a food processor until smooth; return soup to the saucepan; add cream stirring constantly without boiling until heated through.
*Local ingredient
You can modify the recipe, as well, for a thinner soup. This one was fairly thick. Add more stock or water after pureeing and adding the cream if you feel that it's too thick. I made this the day before and let it sit overnight before pureeing, which I think added to the layers of flavor. I also probably added some Goya Adobo at some point, because I always do.
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| posted by Rose @ 7:06 AM |
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| Salsa Verde |
| Friday, September 21, 2007 |
 A recipe made because I had a pound of tomatillos from the Farmers Market and I wanted to dress up my chili. It was met with a curious response--reluctance to try something so incredibly green and then people started digging in. I riffed off this Epicurious recipe, changing a few things, like skipping the cream (I thought the consistency was fine), omitting the Anaheim and serrano chiles (I didn't have any) and adding a whole bunch of cilantro from the grocery store, instead of only a 1/4 cup (oh, to get it fresh from my yard in Puerto Rico!). I used green peppers, too, mostly because they were some more local-ness I had around. My changes, of course, make for a non-traditional salsa, but it was incredibly good.
Ingredients
2 large sweet onions, chopped
1 pound of tomatillos, diced
2 green peppers, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 cups of chicken stock
1 jalapeno (add more for heat)
Procedure
1. In a medium pot, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and brown the onions.
2. Toss in the tomatillos and green peppers, giving them a stir to start drawing out the flavor.
3. Add garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and chicken stock. Simmer on low heat until reduced.
4. Toss the whole messy thing into a food processor and let it rip until the salsa is smooth.
5. I recommend serving this sauce warm, with some natural tortilla chips like Garden of Eatin' Pico de Gallo chips.
Mine ended up looking like this:
 The Epicurious recipe also recommends this over salmon and eggs. I didn't try it over salmon, but I imagine making huevos rancheros would involve some of this and Lenny (the guinea pig) liked it over his eggs (see Farmer's Breakfast, Local Style). Or at least, I can imagine that a breakfast of fried eggs with Mexican cheese melted over them, refried beans and this sauce over everything would be pretty good, especially with a couple of warm, buttered tortillas on the side. It's actually a fairly healthy dip, too, being made of veggies. Even if I would have added the tablespoon of whipping cream, I think that it would still be a lot healthier than, say, a gooey cheese dip. Not that gooey cheese dip isn't amazing.
*By the way, I had my friend Evelyn try this last night. She's Mexican, so I wanted to see what she thought. She doesn't like really hot stuff, so the lack of chiles was fine with her. She thought it was pretty good. Yay!
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| posted by Rose @ 8:05 AM |
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| Peach Pie |
| Tuesday, September 18, 2007 |
 I always turn to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook when it comes to basic recipes and baked goods. I've been making pies from there for years and I always get good reviews. I had a pile of peaches from the Edgewood Park Farmers Market and a dinner to attend, where I wanted to bring something, so peach pie it was. To get the peels off the peaches, start at the bottom (not where the stem is) and cut an X all the way to the stem (so, four lines down the peach), not cutting too deep into the flesh. Then throw them into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, until the peel begins to curl. Shock them in ice water and it should be fairly easy to peel them.
DO NOT skimp on peaches, because they will cook down. And although I use prepared pie crust from the grocery store (I used to make the crust, but it's very time consuming), I've included Fannie's pie crust recipe, in case you are ambitious, or, like I was years ago, stubborn when it comes to making absolutely EVERYTHING from scratch. Also, this is a little edited, in that I combined Fannie's deep dish and regular peach pie. It may seem like a lot of peaches for a pie, but you really think it's too much, make pancakes the next morning and top with peaches.
Peach Pie
Ingredients
1 recipe (bottom and top) of Basic Pastry Dough for 9-inch pie shell (see below)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
6 cups peeled, pitted, sliced peaches (about 8 slices per peach)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (that's Fahrenheit). Prepare the pastry dough and set it aside.
2. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the peaches in a large bowl.
3. Mix 1 1/4 cups sugar with the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and flour, then add to the peaches and toss until they are evenly coated.
4. Line a 9-inch pie pan with half the dough (rolled out to 1/4 inch thickness). Pour in the peaches (be generous!) and dot with the butter (this makes it taste very, very good, but you don't have to use four tablespoons, if you think it's overkill).
5. Top with the rest of the dough, rolled out. Pinch and flute the edges. Cut at least three vents (I like to do five, resembling a star). Sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30 minutes to an hour, or when the crust is yummy golden brown.
Pie Crust
Ingredients
2 1/1 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
6-7 tablespoons water
Procedure
1. Mix flour and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives.
2. Combine shortening and dry ingredients lightly, until the mixture resembles coarse meal or very tiny peas. Basically, you want a mix of bits and pieces.
3. Sprinkle water over the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with a fork until the pastry holds together in a ball. Use only enough water to achieve this state.
4. Divide the ball into two and roll out one ball two inches larger than your pie pan--this will be the bottom. The top can be rolled out or turned into lattice strips. Always vent your pies!
Fannie's tips:
Don't handle this pastry dough any more than necessary or it will be tough: treat it firmly, not timidly, but don't fuss with it. The flour and shortening should not be blended too well: it is the bits of shortening left in the dough that puff and expand during baking and give the pastry its flaky identity. For that reason, the dough cannot be mixed as successfully in a food processor.
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| posted by Rose @ 6:50 AM |
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| Farmer's Breakfast, Local Style |
| Sunday, September 16, 2007 |
 Sunday morning is the only time I actually get to make breakfast and it's usually for Lenny. Otherwise, omelettes are relegated to dinner. And I've been known to make pancakes for the same. But this morning, Lenny was home (which was a nice surprise, because he was supposed to work) and I had my bounty from the market (more about that in another post), plus new Calphalon cookware. So I made a fairly basic breakfast, all dressed up: local kielbasa and three eggs over easy (from Four Mile River Farm), with a salsa verde (I have to post this recipe, because it's amazing--plus, I made it with local tomatillos) and a little hot sauce, with local bread toasted and buttered on the side. I really wish I had local butter.
The Calphalon omelette pan was amazing. I have never made such perfect fried eggs. No busted yolks. I was able to flip them just right. Honestly, they were fairly expensive, next to all the other sets in Target, but a good friend gave me a $100 gift card, which defrayed the cost. I was so impressed with their performance, though. I've been using a cheapie set for years, so to have something with some heft and quality is amazing.
Here it is, Lenny's local breakfast:
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| posted by Rose @ 11:35 PM |
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| Eating At Miya in New Haven, CT |
| Saturday, September 15, 2007 |
More Than Just A Dragon Roll
Eating at Miya at 68 Howe St, New Haven, CT
 Miya in New Haven is one those kinds of restaurants that even the New York Times has noticed.
I saw Becky today, in one of our rare "New Haven Days," and she was hungry, feeling on some sushi. So I said, "Miya?"
It was a crisp fall day (a week before the equinox) that started rainy and then blue-skyed up, sun falling all over the place. I was excited to see tables out in from of Miya, because sitting outside sounded perfect.
We were handed menus and Miso Soup, like any good sushi place. I love the tradition of hospitality I've found at all the sushi places I go to. Becky was a little overwhelmed with the all the choices, but our lunchtime budget made the decision a little easier. There were very different ingredients in the rolls--papaya, goat cheese, coconut, cranberries and more. The menu is pretty quirky, with humorous roll names and hilarious descriptions.
I ended up ordering a regular salmon roll with a Water Piglet Roll, which consisted of rare-fried tuna, goat cheese and cranberries. Becky ordered the Kwanzaa Bananza Roll and a seaweed salad. Well, the salad showed up and it was not your ordinary pile of seaweed on a plate, but a huge, Italian-sized bowl of greens, tomatoes, seaweed and a sweet vinaigrette. Becky looked up at me and I dug my chopsticks in, as it was way too big for her to finish alone. I really like seaweed, so I wasn't sad at the added appetizer.
My meal is in the pic above. In the background is the plain salmon roll. Since I was ordering something complex, I went with a simple roll for balance. Salmon rolls are good, because salmon is good. I really appreciated the toasted black and brown sesame seeds, especially when I was all done with the meal and the nutty, roasted flavor lingered on my tongue.
Now, the Water Piglet Roll was amazing (that's it in the foreground of the above pic). I learned somewhere that goat cheese and cranberries go well together and have made an appetizer of said ingredients on toast, warmed in the oven. In a sushi roll it was amazing. The goat cheese certainly grabs your tongue first, but when you get to the tuna the meaty taste of the fish really melded. The sweetness of the dried cranberries popped and I enjoyed every bite of my roll.
 Becky's Kwanzaa Bananza Roll was almost ridiculously huge (pictured at left). It had avocado, papaya, cream cheese, shrimp and rolled with shredded coconut. I'm sure it had more stuff in it that I can't remember. I didn't try it, because we were very possessive with our rolls. I should have traded her a Water Piglet piece, but I didn't. I was really greedy with my goat cheese.
Thankfully we were walking around after lunch, because we were pretty stuffed. And all for 26 bucks. Not a bad deal. The only thing I regret is that I couldn't try one piece of everything on the menu, but I suppose that's what brings you back again.
There's very little traditional at this sushi place (aside from the many, many kinds of sake), so if that's what you're going for, you might steer clear of this spot. But I highly recommend otherwise. Eating at Miya is an adventure, especially if you're craving sushi and creative cuisine.
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| posted by Rose @ 10:58 PM |
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| Simple Turkey Chili (Low Calorie Style) |
| Tuesday, September 11, 2007 |
I felt like chili, but didn't want the calories or the work. I was surprised this tasted as good as it did. It really filled me up and left me with warm, sweet chili mouth. This is quick and simple and goes well with a little Mexican blend shredded cheese.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped onions
4 oz. ground turkey patty
1/2 cup of pink beans
1 tablespoon Goya Recaito (or 1 tablespoon of dried cilantro)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup of tomato juice
1 pack of Goya Sazon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
Procedure
1. Saute the chopped onions.
2. Throw in the turkey patty and break it up, until browned.
3. Add beans, garlic, tomato juice, Goya Sazon and chili powder. Stir and simmer.
4. Honestly, it's that easy.
Calories and Fat
295 calories, 8 grams of fat |
| posted by Rose @ 11:14 PM |
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| Eat Local Challenge and Me |
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 I've decided to tackle the Eat Local Challenge, albeit in my own way. The September 2007 Challenge suggests eating only local foods for 30 days, to encourage creativity, research and awareness about local eating. I've decided that I am not going the hard-core way on this one, but am, instead, going to eat more local foods, because I don't eat very many at the moment. I am going to commit to being creative, researching options and sharing my local meals with friends. This way I'll be working in the spirit of the challenge. One big challenge I am making for myself is to do an all-local Autumnal Equinox dinner on September 23, since I am pagan and do celebrate these things--not to mention, local and organic foods are very in tune with pagan beliefs about being good to the earth.
I'll also be posting recipes here made with local foods and tagging each one with the Eat Local Challenge Logo, as well as creating a section in the sidebar with all Eat Local Challenge posts, both from this blog and my daily journal blog, Starry Saltwater.
I'm really excited to push myself to eat local, especially since my experience at the Edgewood Park Farmers Market was both bountiful and communal. My boyfriend grew up in extreme-northern, rural Maine and often ate locally, due to all the farms in the area. In fact, his first job was shoveling cow manure at a dairy farm. He loves farm eggs and vegetables, so this will not be difficult for him at all.
I encourage everyone to find a way to participate in the challenge, even if it's only in small ways. Be good to the earth, local economies, yourself and your friends. |
| posted by Rose @ 9:30 AM |
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| Edgewood Park Farmers Market |
| Sunday, September 09, 2007 |
 So I finally made it to a Cityseed Farmers Market this year. I went to the Edgewood Park Market (click here for info on the vendors and farmers). I grabbed forty dollars and went local. I went specifically for eggs, but I arrived too late (around 1pm and the party had been going on since 10am) and they're weren't any left. As you can see from my photo at the bottom of this post, though, I did grab some really great stuff.
 I stopped by the Common Ground stand first, since I've met a lot of the staff over there when I used to work in that neighborhood. It's a high school run by the New Haven Ecology Project and I love the idea of purchasing both organic and educational vegetables. I bumped into Gammy at the booth, an old co-worker and we caught up. I loved the communal feel of it. I zoned in on eggplant (which will be an eggplant parmesan later this week, which will not be mushy because Alton Brown has taught me how to purge eggplant), then green peppers (I always buy these) then my eyes lit on the hot peppers. My big plan is to make chili soon, because I'll have enough tomatoes in another few days. So, I picked up a habanero, jalapeno and (I think) a cayenne. But it was the sweet nardello peppers that were the first score of the day (here's this Bon Appetit Editor's blog on them at Epicurious). I sort of gestured to them and asked, "Sweet peppers?" And the girl at the booth said, "Yeah, have you had a nardello?" I shook my head. "Here, try one." They had little bits of pepper on a plate and I tasted one. "Wow. Yeah, I'll take three." It's very sweet and roasting should bring out the sugars, so I'm very stoked to try these in something.  I peeked a couple pounds of ground beef in someone's basket (a real wooden one!) and asked her where she got them. She pointed to the booth and I went right away. It was the Four Mile River Farm and the owner was chatting with a small crowd about livers and kidneys for dog food. He turned to me when he was done. I knew I wanted ground beef, but I had read his list while he was chatting and was curious about a cut called petite tender. So I asked him about it and he explained it would eat like a tenderloin but was cut from the chuck area, so you couldn't overcook it. He cut me a tiny deal on two packages of them, plus the ground beef. Second score!  I wandered through the other booths, seeking eggs and finding peaches (for a free-form peach and raspberry tart) and tomatillos (salsa verde and fried up!). Then I saw Debbie, who makes Voda Soaps. I met her when I was a more regular installment of the Westville/West Rock neighborhood (when I used to work there), through a co-worker and a festival. I got a present of four soaps and loved them. So I took advantage and picked up a bar of my favorite, Medicine Woman (score number three!). I chatted with her for awhile and she mentioned that the Wooster Park Farmer's Market on Saturdays is huge and fun and cool. I think I'll have to make it out there with Becky, my fellow foodie, next week. Then it was time to take my bounty home.    Some of Debbie's Voda Soaps From left to right, Top: Petite tender steak, Ground beef, Eggplant, Green peppers, Peaches;Bottom: Tomatillos, Cayenne pepper, Jalapeno pepper, Habanero pepper, Sweet nardello peppers, Voda Medicine Woman soapI seriously can't wait to cook this stuff up. Expect more recipes up (and this time I'll take pictures)! |
| posted by Rose @ 9:03 PM |
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| Cheesy Risotto (Low Calorie Style) |
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Something I missed when dieting was a big bowl of cheesy risotto, so I modified the recipe and have had at least two bowls of this yummy stuff in the last week.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 slices of Hebrew National Lean Beef Salami, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of arborio (risotto) rice
1 cup of chicken stock (I used Emeril's because that's what they had)
2 teaspoons of Reduced Fat Kraft Parmesan
1 Kraft Polly-O 2% String Cheese
Procedure
1. Give a small saucepan a little spritz with cooking spray.
2. Saute the chopped onions until they caramelize. If you're using the salami, crisp it up after the onions have started to caramelize.
3. Throw in the risotto, give another spray and just let it become a little transparent.
4. Pour in half the cup of chicken stock, stir, turn stove down to simmer. Add a couple shakes of the saltshaker. Stir every once in a while until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Add 1/4 cup of the chicken stock, stir, keep an eye on it until it's almost all absorbed. Repeat with the last of the stock.
6. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, add the parmesan cheese and string cheese. Stir until melted.
7. Serve it up in a bowl and chow!
Calories and Fat
Without salami: 305 calories, 5 grams of fat
With salami: 350 calories, 7.5 grams of fat
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| posted by Rose @ 8:46 PM |
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