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Archive for 'Union Square Greenmarket'

WINTER KOHLRABI—A (QUICK) MARKET STORY

On a frosty February morning, what brings me to a screeching halt is the sheer richness of color—ravishing purple and celadon green. I’m looking at kohlrabies*, shorn of the whirligig leaves that grant them an interplanetary status for much of the year. I do not have time for this. For cooking, that is, let alone mooning over […]

NEW YORK STATE SORGHUM: A MARKET STORY

About six years ago, I’d heard that a couple of farmers, two brothers, from the Catskills region had started making sorghum syrup, a tangy, deep-flavored sweetener better known south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I filed the information away, then forgot about it; I always seem to have a jar of the stuff, lugged back from […]

KITCHEN ALCHEMY: SLOW-ROASTED TOMATOES

I wish you were here, because our apartment smells wonderful. It’s the tomatoes I’m roasting; after five hours in a low oven, they are well on their way to a mellow, deep-flavored sweetness. In another hour, their texture will be meaty, lush, and a little chewy around the caramelized edges. Magical. Slow-roasting is more of […]

SPRING’S GARLIC, ONIONS, & SHALLOTS

Every season has its stars. This time of year, people queue at farmers markets for ramps, one of the most pungent members of the vast Allium genus. I’m far more interested, however, in the heaps of fresh garlic, onions, and shallots I see, and on my last few visits to the Greenmarket, I slope off […]

QUICK-BRAISED PEAS AND LETTUCE

Something about garden peas makes me nostalgic for … I don’t know what. At their best, picked when small and young in the pod, they are what spring has always tasted like. I see gardeners, kneeling in the earth, working hard, being patient. Waiting for the world to wake up. That’s why, last month, I […]

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

Some soups require a lengthy list of ingredients and plenty of time on the back burner—they are worth preparing in a big batch so you can freeze a couple of quarts for another day. Leek and potato, however, does not need this sort of commitment. It’s an uncomplicated, almost austere, farmhouse soup that makes the […]

SCRATCH SUPPER: WILTED DANDELION SALAD WITH PINE NUTS AND PARM

Young, tender dandelions are as green as spring itself. And their flavor, clean and sharp like the air at dawn, is what I crave now. Although the greens are found around the world today, their use in the kitchen developed a very long time ago in the Mediterranean. You can trace the name “dandelion,” in […]

TURNIPS IN VERY EARLY SPRING: A MARKET STORY

It took me a long time to come around to the idea of turnips. Although the root vegetable has always been part of the southern culinary repertoire, I’ve often found it tough and woody, preferring instead its spicy greens, added to whatever other pot greens I had on hand. Eventually, I acquired a taste for […]

OBSESSION: NORDIC RYE BREAD

My obsession with rye bread began when I was a little girl. My grandmother would help me make dainty sandwiches on pieces of cocktail rye and cut them just so. I served them with tea on the lawn to a motley collection of dolls and stuffed animals. Other offerings included corn-silk or asparagus-frond spaghetti and […]

FROMAGE FORT: GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

When does collecting become hoarding? At what moment does ripeness slip-slide into decay? Funny, the things that go through my mind while editing the contents of the refrigerator, especially when I get to the designated cheese corner. It’s heaped with rather too many odd-shaped little parcels—our entertaining and general all-around indulgent spree began at Thanksgiving—and […]