Speaking of Eating Locally...

Photo by Haraz N. Ghanban for the Associate Press

Today I noticed an article in the New York Times about Michelle Obama giving a White House kitchen tour before their first official dinner. She also gives her views on why it is important to eat locally. Click here to read!

CSA!

Photo by x-eyedblonde via flickr

Last year I moved from Kansas to New York. Although at times it feels like I am living in a concrete jungle, there are some wonderful spots to remind me that there is greenery here. Besides Central Park, there are a variety of Greenmarket Farmers Markets throughout the city. At the markets, vendors sell fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, as well as baked goods, jam, and even yarn. The markets I most frequent are at Union Square (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday - All year round) and Morningside Park (Saturdays - June through November). Every Saturday I would wake up and head down to Union Square to get some apple donuts and hot cider and then buy whatever fruit or vegetable suited my fancy. At Union Square it is pretty crowded, but it is still worth going and meeting the people that made, raised, or grew your food. When you go to a farmers market, you know that you are getting the freshest produce and eating in season.

Tortilla Soup in a Flash

Sometimes when I get home from work I am really tempted to ordered something in. When I give into temptation, I end up with a mediocre meal that just leaves me with a stomach ache and greasy Styrofoam. Now, when I feel that urge I think about the simple recipe of Black Bean Tortilla Soup. I found this soup in Everyday Food a month ago, tried it out, and have made it a few times since. Besides being quick, hearty, and great leftovers, the best part about the soup is that I usually have a lot of the ingredients in my cupboard. The recipe calls for chicken broth, but I use vegetable and I add a lot more lime than it calls for because it really freshens up the soup.

Adrienne's Pizza Hut

A couple weeks ago, I ventured down to Wall Street to eat at Adrienne's Pizzabar. I had read about the restaurant on roadfood.com and had to try it. I love pizza, especially New York style. So I was really excited to go, plus I have never been down to Wall Street. I went on a late Sunday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by the quiet charming area. The buildings were tall, yet still adorable and unique, and the streets were narrow, crooked and cobble stoned. I was pretty enamored.

Tomato Soup

Last weekend I made Pecorino Romano crackers (I will post that recipe at a later date-I am still working out the kinks). The crackers weren't as crisp has I would of hoped for, so I started thinking of the crackers as more of a garnish. They would be great on salads, but they sounded even better in tomato soup. An ode to grilled cheese if you will.

I have been wanting to make something out of Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook and tomato soup sounded like a good place to start. The recipe was really simple, which is the whole point of the book (good ingredients, straight-forward steps, informative techniques).

The soup contains the following ingredients:
-1 can (28 oz.) of whole tomatoes. (You can use real tomatoes and blanch them, but tomatoes are not in season so I wouldn't waste your time).
-1 medium onion - diced
-3 cloves of garlic (peeled, but left whole)
-1.5 cups of vegetable stock or water (I used Better Than Bouillon stock)
-2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Note: You can use less garlic, Martha only called for 2 cloves)

First, melt the butter on medium high heat, then add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onions have softened and are translucent. Stir frequently so that the garlic does not burn.
Add the can of tomatoes with juice and the 1.5 cups of vegetable stock. Let simmer covered for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down.
Now it is time to blend your soup. You can do this in a blender, food processor, or an immersion blender. The blender creates the smoothest soup, then the food processor, and then the immersion blender last. Reserve 1 cup of liquid from the soup before you blend. The reserved liquid is for thinning your soup to the consistency you prefer.
After you blend the soup, place back in the pot and reheat through and add the remaining liquid if you want. I blended mine in a blender and the soup was pretty smooth, but there were still some chunks of onion. Next time I will use a sieve when I pour the soup back in the pot to reheat.

Martha suggests adding cream if you want a richer version. The great thing about this recipe is that is a wonderful starting point to a more interesting tomato soup. You could add herbs and spices, but honestly I like it just the way it is :)

Ahhh Sugar Sugar

For Valentine's Day I made sugar cookies to go along with the Valentines I made for my coworkers. I love sugar cookies for a lot of reasons: they are thin and crispy, can be made in many different adorable shapes, and can be decorated in a variety of ways. I found this Crisp Sugar Doily Cookies recipe in Martha Stewart Living December 2008, and made them during the holidays and thought they turned out well. This sugar cookie recipe calls for the cutout dough to be placed in the freezer before being placed in the oven, but this time I skipped this step and I felt like the cookies were just as good. I think those instructions were only added if you were dealing with a delicate cutout (Martha's cookies are beautiful - but seriously, who has that kind of time?). For my batch, I made heart shaped cookies and decorated some with colored sanding sugar and others with royal icing (icing recipe to follow below).
Ingredients (makes about 55-60 2x3 inch heart-shaped cookies):
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
-1 cup sugar
-1 large egg
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To begin, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.Blend butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy. Add egg and vanilla, mix until just combined. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Divide dough in half so it is easier to work with. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out dough to slightly thicker than an 1/8 of an inch. Cut out your shapes, leaving little space between each cut. Place cutouts on baking sheet 1 inch apart. If you want sprinkles, add before baking the cookies. Bake for about 8 minutes until slightly golden brown on the edges. Let cool completely on cookie rack before icing.

To make royal icing, you can use meringue powder (which is the simplest way) or egg whites (which you should only do if you are not serving pregnant women). I used egg whites because I didn't have meringue powder. I based my recipe on Alton Brown's Royal Icing.
Ingredients:
-2 cups powdered sugar
-3 tablespoons of egg white (about 2 eggs)
-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (you could add other flavorings such as mint, etc.)
-water (depending on how thick or thin you want your icing)

Combine the egg whites and vanilla and mix until frothy. Gradually add powdered sugar and water. When the icing is the thickness you desire, add the food coloring. I used a food coloring paste to create pink. Red food coloring gives the icing a bit of a bitter flavor so I added a squeeze or two of lemon juice to mellow the taste.I made my icing thick and then placed half of it in a piping bag. My plan was to pipe the edges of the cookies to create a border and then thin out the remaining icing by adding more water and flood the cookies. I had a bit of an accident with the thinner icing (it poured out the wrong end of the pastry bag and went everywhere - I recommend having a friend help you fill the bag). That said, I only filled a handful of cookies, but the rest just had the edges iced.
I ended up packaging the cookies in glassine bags (my favorite). Sugar cookies are so simple and delicious - sprinkled, frosted, or just plain. Any way you make them, they are a perfect homemade gift to spread the love.

Veggie Love

Just a quick post about an awesome card I found on my favorite card website Red Stamp. Red Stamp is based out of Minneapolis, and if you haven't checked them out - you should. I found this food related Valentine's Day card by Seltzer and knew it would be perfect for my bff. Enjoy!