Sweet Spring Peas

One of the many wonderful aspects of living in the Catskill Mountains over the summer months is the availability to really eat and cook "in season". This week on a trip one afternoon to Barbers Farm in Middleburgh NY I was delighted to discover that the first of the spring shelling peas were harvested that morning. I scooped up a few handfuls with plans to shuck on the lounge chair on the porch. Maybe they would be used to garnish a dish later in the week, so I thought. When I got home, and shucked the peas and ate one raw and the sugary sweet taste hit my tongue I couldn't resist; I had to have them right away. I found some pasta and onion and decided to make a play on the classic pairing of peas and onions. This dish was so tasty and light and refreshing a perfect late spring/early summer treat. I used bacon but it would be just as tasty completely vegetarian.

Penne with Fresh Spring Peas, Sauteed Onion and Pesto
Serves 2

1/4 box of Penne
1/2 large onion sauteed until soft
2 strips of Bacon - diced
1 cup of shelled spring peas boiled in salted water for 4-5 minutes
2 tablespoons of pesto
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil and then salt and add the penne cook until al dente don't drain the pasta water.
While penne is cooking saute bacon and then onion in a pan, add the peas and pesto. Then add the pasta without draining the pasta water. Add a little of the pasta water to the pan to create a starchy sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Subtle Curry

When people think of curry, the first thing that comes to mind is big and bold flavors that are in your face. Recently I ate dinner at Chutney Masala restaurant in Irvington NY and had a bite of a friend's curried tilapia and the curry had a very mild, subtle and well balanced flavor. It was lovely. It's quite an art to be able to extract subtle flavors out of a combination of such bold spices. The skill of being able to transform spices that are bold and forward into something so harmonious on the palate is extremely impressive. Its a reminder that spice doesn't always mean heat, and heat isn't always a necessary component to a successfully spicy dish.

Strawberry Fields

Okay so I promise that this will be my last strawberry blog for the next few days...I'm a little obsessed with them right now. Today I picked strawberries in the field at Bohringer Farm in Schoharie in the Catskills, about 20 minutes from my house. The berries are so incredibly sweet and red right now. But it's not easy to pick strawberries, they are very low to the ground and the ants and other little buggers sometimes get to them before humans do. However, nothing beats making a recipe from strawberries that are freshly picked. I think that tomorrow I'm going to make another dessert with them...but I won't blog about it for a few days, there are other foods to rejoice about!

Easy Strawberry Shortcake

It's strawberry season, so everyday I incorporate strawberries into a meal. Today it was an easy strawberry shortcake made with Bisquick. As you can see there is no picture, I meant to take one, but I was so greedy that I ate the entire dessert before remembering that I was supposed to photo it (oh well). I'm a huge fan of biscuits and berries and dumplings and berries because I really don't like really sweet desserts, I'm generally a "rich but not sweet" dessert fan. Today my mother and I cut up a bunch of strawberries that we got from Eger Bros Farm in the Hudson Valley (I would guess about 3 cups), we then put 1/2 of the berries in a small pot with a tablespoon of sugar and let simmer for about 5 minutes and then removed the berries with a slotted spoon and let the juice reduce with a tablespoon of fig preserves for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickened. Meanwhile I whipped 1/2 cup of heavy cream with sugar and put it in the fridge, and my mother made bisquick biscuits, with bisquick, 1/2 and 1/2 an egg and 2 tablespoons of honey (look on the package and make the equivalent of 4 large biscuits). She spooned the batter onto a greased sheetpan and we baked it for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. When the biscuits were ready we split them in half, spooned the strawberry sauce with cooked strawberries in the middle, put the lid on the biscuits, sprinkled the fresh cut strawberries, and then topped the biscuits with sweetened whipped cream! Delicious and super simple!

Flag Day!!!!

Ok so I'm a NYC girl, so until this year I never even heard of Flag Day. In the city we don't exactly stop 5th avenue for a Flag Day parade...Puerto Rican Day parade? Without question, but Flag Day? Well we moved to Jefferson last Friday for the summer and went to the bar in a nearby town Stamford and all of the locals were very hyped up about the Flag Day parade. Naively I asked, "what the heck is flag day?" (I thought it was a day that the town made up), but low and behold, Flag day is celebrated throughout the nation, and in Pennsylvania it's actually a state holiday. In Stamford they close Main Street for an hour and all of the local towns (and school bands) participate in a parade (think a very pared down Thanksgiving Day parade minus the balloons, celebrities and crowds). We had a great time, and the best part was sitting out and having a Matanzas Creek Chardonnay at Fred's Restaurant in Stamford (sister restaurant to the one on 84th and Amsterdam) with shrimp cocktail and clams casino. This was a true salute to the start of summer! I'm so looking forward to the season.

The Food Advantage of Spending Summer in the Catskills

Every June my mother and I make the transition from living in Riverdale (NYC) to living in Jefferson NY in the Catskill Mountain's Schoharie County. It's much easier to run Catskill Maison our Bed and Breakfast when we are only 1/2 an hour away than from NYC because we are open all the time in the summer and fall. There are definitely some aspects of city living that I really miss from a culinary perspective such as an abundance of ethnic restaurants and easily accessible fresh fish (finding a place to buy fresh fish to grill up here is like trying to find a needle in the haystack). However the benefits of living so close to the farms greatly outweighs the inconvenience of having to drag fish from Whole Foods in NYC every week in our cooler.

We moved up yesterday, and the first thing that we did was purchase fresh strawberries, swiss chard, broccoli, beets and zucchini that were picked that morning from Eger Bros farm in Hudson NY on the way to our house. Then I placed a call to Horton Hill Farm to request a fresh chicken. Horton Hill Farm is right here in Jefferson (less than 10 minutes from our house), and they specialize in heritage breed livestock (chicken, turkey, and pork) as well as eggs and honey. The owner of the farm Bill Parker really believes in producing extremely high quality meat and oversees every aspect of the process of the development of his livestock. Nothing tastes better than a fresh chicken, and in the summer we are so blessed to have access to fresh chickens. Bill had a fresh chicken for us yesterday which made me extremely excited, but we also got another treat; the ability to view 1 day old chicks in their natural environment as well as baby pigs at pasture. There is something so empowering about knowing EXACTLY where your food comes from, and watching the process from day one. I am so grateful to Bill for taking the time out to show us the pastures, food (that he grows himself on his property and all animals freely graze on) and conditions of his livestock. It was an unforgettable experience. Stay tuned for the recipe that I create for the fresh chicken in my fridge.

The lazy way to make Herb Roasted Chicken

There are countless recipes for whole roasted chicken, and for me roasted chicken is a go to meal when I don't want to do a lot of prep work, and I need to feed 4 people. We get all of our chickens from Horton Hill Farm in Jefferson because we swear by free range, free roaming hormone and antibiotic free chicken. But even with the best chicken the challenge is to season it properly and make sure that it doesn't taste dry (or get overcooked). Herbs and garlic are essential to a well seasoned chicken...regardless of which herbs are used to season a roasted chicken, you have to have herbs, oil and garlic. Sometimes I'm just really really lazy and the laziest surefire way to make roasted chicken is to use prepared pesto. Basil runs rampant in the summer, there is so much that we don't know what to do with it, so I make pesto and put it into containers and use it all winter and spring. (Recipe on basil pesto coming later this summer). The cool thing about using basil pesto is that all of the herbs, garlic and oil are combined into a paste so there is no chopping or dicing or prepping at all...and you can even purchase ready made pesto in a jar or container at the supermarket. I defrost my pesto and then generously slather it onto the chicken skin, under the skin of the breast of the chicken and in the cavity. I then roast the chicken at 425 degrees F uncovered for about an hour and a half (for a 3 and a half to 4 lb chicken). If the chicken browns too much then tent it with aluminum foil. I take the chicken out when the meat thermometer reads 165 and let it rest for 10-15 minutes and then I carve and serve. This is the easiest way to make a flavorful succulent chicken because all of the work is done for you!

2 for 1 Friday's at Bistro Brie and Bordeaux in Windham

On Friday nights when Catskill Maison is open it's really difficult for my mother and I to go out to dinner because it's our biggest night for check ins and though our check in time is from 4-7 we sometimes have people who check in at 7:30 or a little later. For the sake of convenience we really try to stay in Windham on Friday evenings because of the very close (a mile at most) proximity to the B&B in case we have to check in a guest or a guest needs us. Last summer we discovered 2 glasses of wine for the price of 1 each Friday night at Bistro Brie and Bordeaux; we were so excited. Brie is possibly the only restaurant in Windham that has decent wines by the glass, so when we found out that they continued this special this summer we were elated. Brie is a non pretentious French style bistro, with outdoor dining and a varied selection of French inspired dishes. This year because I'm incorporating way more vegetables into my diet I have been testing out more of their vegetarian appetizers. The grilled eggplant around goat cheese with a petite salad and olive tapenade on crostini was not only visually appealing (as featured above) but appealing to the palate as well, and it paired perfectly with the Muscadet offered by the glass.

Brie and Bordeaux is one of the best restaurants in Windham for food, service and ambiance. I always am very comfortable recommending dinner there for guests and am so happy it's so very close! If you come to stay with us at the B&B and don't want to drive far when you check in, Brie and Bordeaux is a classy yet very comfortable option that I highly suggest for dinner.

Salad Straight From The Farm - Taste The Difference

I used to hate salad. I'm generally not a cold food person (don't like sandwiches, generally can't stomach cold soup etc), I think my dislike derived from the insistence of my mother that a hot breakfast is very necessary to start the day when I was a child. Regardless, salad for me was the worst of the worst, and until the beginning of this year I only ate it because I felt somehow "obligated" because I knew it was "good for me" and in reality if there was a cooked vegetable anywhere in the vicinity that salad would just wilt on my plate.

Then I decided to make some dietary changes (no I'm not on a diet, I love food too much), but I firmly believe that what we put in has an effect down the road on how our body responds...so I've started making salad a regular part of my daily food intake. I like spicy foods, so I figured I would try spicy salads, so Arugula (translation "Rocket Lettuce" and quite spicy) has become my favorite. Whole Foods has Satur Farms Arugula (they grow it in their hot house in the winter) so every week I've been buying a container and roasting beets and having beet and arugula salad all week long.

Last week I had a discussion with Sandy at RSK farms and she said that her husband Bob (where I get the only potatoes that I will eat, but that's another blog for another day) was cutting the first salad greens of the season. I promptly put in an order for Bob's mesclun mix (which is one of the few salads that I actually could stomach without a fight last summer) and arugula. When I got home I opened the salads and mixed them together and had a bite. OMG, this salad ROCKED!!!! it popped in my mouth! The flavors exploded, I never thought that variations on lettuce could taste so good. It didn't even need dressing! Sorry Satur Farms but you don't hold a wick of a candle to RSK in Prattsville.

I called Bob this morning because I'm heading up to the B&B today and left him a message to place my order for next week and I can't wait to feel that first crunch between my teeth again!

So just an fyi, salad greens and radishes are in season at the local farmers markets right now...Please support the local farmers and purchase some this weekend.

Grappa - Can this be a diet drink too????

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about wine being a "diet drink"...and because I'm a huge wine drinker it was music to my ears that I could drink wine on a regular basis without having to deal with the caloric intake of hard alcohol. I'm not a huge dessert fan, often when out with friends who get dessert I ask for a Grappa instead. Ok I know, this looks really bad and completely reinforces my wino tendencies but most of the time I'd rather sip on a Grappa than have a dessert. Tonight was no exception. My father and I went to Jakes Steakhouse here in Riverdale for dinner. We go all the time, the food is wonderful and it's one of the few places in the general vicinity where you can get a decent glass of wine with dinner. My dad ordered a boston cream pie for dessert and true to form I ordered a Grappa. It would make sense that I'm a huge fan of Grappa because Grappa is simply wine "left overs", generally enjoyed after dinner. It is made from the remaining seed and skins of grapes, known as "Pomacy" or "Pomace", left after the wine-making process, The Pomace is fermented and then distilled, leaving Grappa, an 80 to 90-proof brandy, generally clear in color. Grappa is an acquired taste, some akin it to drano, or windshield wiper fluid...I happen to love it, go figure. Regardless I'm proud to report that Grappa is only 85 calories an ounce WOO HOO!!!!! That means that it's about 1/6th the calories of a molten chocolate lava cake! Therefore, Grappa is a wonderful liquid dessert! Now I can add Grappa to the list of diet drinks!

NYC Ethnic Food - Not to be taken for Granted

Around this time every year I prepare for five months of living full time upstate in the Catskills. As June rolls around and it gets hot and humid and in NYC, I pack up everything and head to the cool, crisp mountains to run Catskill Maison for the summer/fall season. When there are no guests at our Bed and Breakfast I retreat to our summer home in Schoharie County. I absolutely love our family summer place, we have a wrap around porch with mountain views and a really wonderful grill! In Riverdale I really can't practice my grilling techniques on my small terrace with my tiny electric grill, but in the summer I really take advantage of all of the farm fresh meat and produce and I grill at least 4 times a week. (Stay tuned for grilling recipes). It's such a treat to be a stones throw from the farms which produce incredibly fresh ingredients. It's a chefs/cooks dream to have that level of quality on a daily basis.

The only downside to living upstate for a long period of time is the lack of accessibility to ethnic food. Upstate NY isn't the melting pot by a long shot. Good food that isn't American/Italian is few and far between, and unless you go to Albany there is little to no variety and what there is tends to miss some of those authentic ingredients. When I'm in the City I take for granted that I can have excellent food from every corner of the world all within a 20-30 minute drive at the furthest (and that's with traffic)...so for the past month I've been crazed trying to make sure I go to all of the ethnic restaurants for the food that I really can't get upstate.

Last month I tried Yak for the first time in my life. It tastes a lot like wild boar or maybe beef, and not nearly as foreign as the name would imply. A group of us went to Himalayan Yak in Queens for a taste of food that is part Nepali, part Indian and part Tibetan, an experience not to be missed. Above is a picture of Yak tongue, which tastes very much like beef strips. Some of the bread we ordered reminded me of Italian focaccia, other bread reminded me of Chinese Bao. Vegetables reminded me of Thai veggies, and the curries and some of the plate presentations were classic Indian. It was interesting to acknowledge that those "exotic" tastes, when given the chance to really analyze were actually pretty familiar, so therefore really not that foreign after all...however, all of these flavors are foreign to the Catskills, and that's what I'm now coming to terms with. Today I'm excited about leaving NYC next week for the peace and serenity of the mountains, but I'm also a little sad, because I know that experiences like the one that I had at "Yak" will not be repeated for quite awhile. It's so important for those of us who live in Metropolitan areas to open our palates and experience cuisine from different places because there are so many places in this country where that experience isn't possible.