If any of my other 5 readers aside from Brad were finding this blog as 'hard to take seriously' as he was, due to my frequent spelling mistakes and occasional grammatical errors - you are about to be saved:
I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE BLOGGER'S SPELL CHECK.
But I don't have an editor yet and I wasn't an English major. So you'll have to bear with me on the grammar.
While we were in Mexico this spring, one of the highlights of our trip was eating the fish we caught on a deep sea trip. I will note that I was sea sick for 3 out of 4 hours out of that trip, but bringing back bags of freshly caught and cleaned tuna and mahi mahi for the kitchen at our hotel to cook up for us, almost made me all but forget about my earlier discomfort.
Brad has reminded me that in my recent post about the farmer's market and it's prominence in our life at this time of year, I have yet to mention the best part of our new market at Grand Army Plaza - Fish! The line for Blue Moon fish is always long, but worth the wait. Fresh from Long Island, in recent weeks I have not been able to resist the tuna. Although it goes for $13/lb - all it takes is some salt, pepper and a quick sear on each side to taste heaven.
We have also enjoyed scallops, sea trout, steamers and best of all, mussels. This past weekend I couldn't resist the price on their mussels and it was a most rewarding experience. After making the purchase I happen to come across this recipe in Real Simple that was so easy and unbelievably delicious. If you can get your hands on some fresh mussels, I can't reccomend it enough. You don't even need the fries if you've got some great bread.
And since I mentioned it, here is my other favorite photo taken by Shawn Linehan in Mexico, where we ate more fresh fish than we could have dreamed of. A la plancha!
So in this post I will try to address several different topics, seamlessly integrating them under the general subject of "fresca". Read on . . .
Farmer Market Season is in full bloom with the excitement of new seasonal arrivals each week. Strawberries and asparagus are old news already and I just can't get enough of those summer beans. Even more exciting for Brad and I, this year's CSA share has finally commenced! No longer are we eating veggies from the Garden of Eve, but for he next 23 weeks, we will be enjoying both fruit and veggies, from Wildflower Farm, in upstate NY. This week's bounty included such goodies as strawberries, radishes, Tokyo Bekana (similar to both Broccoli Raab and Bok Choy), lots o' greens and even a potted thyme plant!
Last year's surplus of basil from our farm share aided in my perfection of pesto. However, with all the strawberries in my fridge I was excited to stumble upon this recipe for strawberry pesto at chocolateandzucchini.com. What an excellent idea! It brings back fond memories of Nectar, in Mérida, where Brad and I experienced the most amazing dessert, when we were served basil ice cream topped with starwberries and honey. You drooling yet? Well, for those of you who have been in need of new recipes and culinary inspiration like you are probably experiencing right now, but are disapointed by me recent lull in blogging, might I also recommend, some amusment from The Amateur Gourmet and as a resource, Epicurious.com.
But wait, I am still here right now - typing away. And on the subject of summer surplus recipes, the other thing we began to have more than we could handle from our farm share last season was tomatoes. You might ask yourself, what else do you do with tomatoes besides make pasta sauce? Salsa, silly! How surprised I was when I whipped up a batch at a BBQ the other night (hosted by a friend on the roof of a stranger for whom he was housitting - what fun!) and the general public response was "Wow, this is good. How do you make it?" It is so easy, my friends, just check out my recipe below:
Salsa Fresca
to make a party-sized batch
(Ingredient quantities need not be precise, this is just how much I used last time. Experimentation is encouraged.)
2.5-3lbs ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 large or 2 small red onions, chopped
As many jalepeños as you dare, but at least one, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Juice of 3 limes
A few tablespoons of olive oil
Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
One bunch of cilantro, chopped
Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and serve with good corn chips.
That's all there is to it, so make some salsa. And while you're at it - here are some fun "upgrades" reccomended in my most recent issue of Real Simple:
1. Black beans and corn
2. Bell pepper
3. Mango
4. Diced cucumber and sliced radishes.
Oh, and doesn't that remind me of the most delicious sandwich I ate for lunch yesterday from a gourmet deli near my work in SoHo. On a beautiful 7 grain roll I was served, grilled chicken, havarti cheese, endive and cucumber. That's all, and it was deeelicious. So warm and soft and salty the havarti was . . . mmm. It was actually quite a culinary day for me. Brad and I had dinner later in the evening at a local green market restaurant, Restaurant Sorrel, here in Brooklyn where I ate some truly inspiring dishes as part of a three course $25 prixe fixe menu, including braised, organic duck legs. We will be going back!
Lately the work days have been leaving me burnt out and exhausted with little energy left for blogging. So, if you grew tired of seeing the picture of our busted Honda whenever you visited this site over the past two weeks, I'm sorry.
This past weekend Brad and I traveled to NJ to drop off our card to be fixed with salvaged parts and then carried on to Chéz Marold for my brother's college graduation party. We drank beer, played drinking games suitable for such a collegiate celebration, and I ate more pork in the form of various BBQ dishes than any one person should ever be allow to consume in one day - topped only by Brad who later confessed that he ate 3 pulled pork sandwiches, as well as his plates of sausage and peppers, seared pork and onions, grilled chicken, cheese steak, french fries . . . need I go on?
So now I am back to the grind, and a bit worse for the wear. This article is the most fascinating thing I have come across over the past few days and I thought I'd share. I came to me in an email from Brad with a subject line that read, "This will get you riled up" - if you're wondering my feelings about it, Brad was just about right. Do read about all that is good and bad of Walmart's hunger to join the organic craze. When I showed it to my Creative Director, he asked, "What's next, organic Bud Light?" -Gross.
