Saveur's 2011 Best Food Blog Finalist and Photo Feature On Nona Brooklyn

This week I have a couple nice things I'd like to share with you...First I was very honored to find Eating Brooklyn was chosen by it's editors as a finalist for Saveur's 2011 Best Food Blog Awards in the category of Best Original Savory Recipe, what a cool surprise! I am very thankful for all the nice comments and new followers I have received here as a result, I really look forward to hearing from you. You can vote here for Eating Brooklyn's Farro Salad with Roasted Red Grapes, Kale and Swiss Chard recipe to win in this category and you can also check out seventeen other categories and fantastic bloggers the culinary world has to offer. 

All images © Valery Rizzo

I would also like to let you know I will be shooting a monthly photo feature for a wonderful website and blog Nona Brooklyn. They are a resource for Brooklynites looking to discover local, artisanal, sustainably-produced and just plain good food in Brooklyn. 

My first photo story for them is about Brooklyn's urban farms and gardens. To see the full feature and photos on Nona Brooklyn click here. 

Banana Bread with Walnuts and Flaxseed Crust

I went to see a friend of mine, who lives in a great loft apartment above an old cement company, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Heather, a.k.a. camera girl, is a photographer and lives with her playwright, musician husband, their two dogs and a black cat, Arturo, Gertrude and Kitten.

Heather had me over so I could see for myself how she makes her delicious banana bread recipe which includes over ripe bananas, walnuts, whole-wheat pastry flour, Turbinado sugar, whole fat yogurt, a flaxseed crust and as Heather calls them walk around chicken eggs (free-roaming). Each time she’s left with an over ripened banana from a bunch, she stores it in the freezer. When she has enough of them collected she takes them out to thaw and they are then perfect for making sweet banana bread. This sort of reminded me of how Latinos make maduros with very ripe brown to black plantains.

We had a great afternoon, baking, talking and finally sharing some banana bread with coffee and tea. I’m not sure if your as crazy about flaxseeds as I am, so they might seem strange to you, but the flaxseed crust was truly the best part, giving a nice crunch to this very rustic recipe. 

All images © Valery Rizzo

3 over ripe (brown-black) bananas

½ cup butter, at room temperature plus more for the pan

1 cup Turbinado sugar

2 walk around chicken eggs (free roaming)

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup whole fat plain yogurt

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup flaxseeds

Remove your over ripened blackened bananas from the freezer and let them thoroughly thaw.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter your loaf pan and then coat the bottom and sides with your flaxseeds. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until they are fluffy, then add your eggs and mix everything together.

Using a large wire strainer sift to integrate the flour, baking soda and salt over a piece of parchment paper. If some coarse wheat bits get sifted out just toss them back in afterwards. Picking up the two sides of the parchment paper pour the whole mixture of dry ingredients your bowl with the butter, sugar and egg mixture and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, peel your thawed bananas and using a wooden spoon mush them up so they are more of a mixable substance rather than being banana pieces. Then add them as well as your yogurt and vanilla to your batter mixture and mix to combine and remove from your electric mixer. Then take your walnuts and using a large knife chop them into bits and then stir them into your mixture in your bowl.

Pour your entire mixture into your prepared loaf pan, leaving the batter rough and rustic. Bake for about one hour and 10 min. Test it’s readiness by inserting into the center of the cake a toothpick or cake tester, and if it comes out clean it’s ready. Let the banana bread rest in pan for 10 min. Then you can turn it out onto a rack to cool.

Slice into large scrumptious pieces and enjoy with your favorite hot beverage. 

Brooklyn Photo of the Week

Photograph © Valery Rizzo

Annie Novak, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Interesting Finds at the Food Coop

I love when I find new and interesting things at the food coop. This week for me it was assorted organic fingerling potatoes in all different shapes and colors. I love the dark purple almost black ones, which when you slice into them the color inside is so unbelievably vivid and juicy, its as if they could be used as a natural paint or dye color.


I also found some green radishes, which I later found out are also called watermelon radishes. I had planned to add them to a salad with walnuts and Parmesan cheese. After slicing one of them open and admiring the beautiful bright centers, each individually different in pattern, I tried one and was a bit shocked at the taste and not in a good way. I quickly did some research and found these radishes are primarily used in Asian cuisine and needed some soy sauce to make them tasty. So I abandoned the Parmesan cheese and instead thought a carrot ginger dressing would be perfect… so for the first time I used my blender and made a carrot ginger dressing, made with soy sauce and olive oil and sprinkled that on top of a salad made with organic green leaf lettuce, mustard greens, pulled pieces of roasted chicken, walnuts and watermelon radishes. The salad together with some elderberry juice was a perfectly beautiful lunch.

I have also been crazy lately for simple alfalfa sprouts salads. A simple recipe to throw together in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, soy sauce and a bit of salt and pepper. I make sure to get the organic kind because all the talk about genetically modified alfalfa lately is really scary. I like to then pair it with something just as simple to make, like some kabocha squash, roasted with garlic cloves, sage, extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper. Another great lunch.

All images © Valery Rizzo

Madeleines, Lemon Squares and Taxes

All images © Valery Rizzo

During her daughter’s week off for spring recess, a good friend of mine next-door Catherine decided to use the same week to organize, prepare taxes and bake. The baking I’m sure was to add some fun to all the organizing and tax preparation. Catherine’s plan was to make lemon or pineapple squares like her mother used to make and her daughter Indigo wanted to make madeleines. I thought they were pretty ambitious plans because after all don’t most mothers bake chocolate chip cookies or brownies with their daughters. I was really impressed.

Both recipes seemed to me to be very classic things to bake. The madeleines made me think of my grandmother, Agnes. She was from Brittany an area in the north-west of France and was a strong French influence in my life. I would have loved to have gone to Paris together before she passed away, but of course I was too young and busy to know how special and important that would have been to me. It made me think of the goûter or the 4pm snack we used to share with my sister and grandfather. My grandmother would always have two cups of black coffee and my grandfather would have tea with some sort of toast or sweet. Then there were those sugar cubes, I always remember the sugar cubes. Sometimes my grandmother would poke my shoulder bones in to make a point about the importance of good posture and once she even smacked me in my forehead which I later found out was so I would relax my face and not develop wrinkle lines…funny. My grandparents were also big world travelers. I pulled out a bunch of old postcards she had sent me over the years from all their many voyages and read them as I enjoyed a madeleine and some tea. The flavor was similar to, but somewhat lighter than sponge cake.

The lemon squares made me think of a very classic American recipe they would serve in a retro diner or something June Cleaver would have made in her kitchen. The strong tart flavor from the lemons covered with a bit of sweet confectioners' sugar, on top of a buttery crust and served with some fresh organic blackberries and a hot cup of coffee, was really something special.

Well, the day did not go exactly as planned. They thought the mission would be an easy one, but instead they found themselves not knowing what they were doing, they threw pans and bowls around the kitchen, did a lot of yelling and then the math tutor called and thirty-six madeleines were burned in the process. In the end after many hugs and apologies their creations were unbelievable and just as I had imagined.

Both recipes were adapted from Martha Stewart's honey madeleines and lemon squares.

4 table spoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon pure almond or vanilla extract

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

1. In a small saucepan melt the butter over low heat, making sure it doesn’t Brown. Remove from heat, and stir in the honey and vanilla extract. Let cool.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then in a medium bowl beat the eggs and sugars with a rubber spatula until combined. Gently fold in the flour mixture until just combined add the butter mixture and gently fold in. Make sure to fold and not mix. Save some melted butter to brush the madeleine molds later. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 425° with rack placed in center of oven. With a brush coat the madeleine molds with melted butter and set aside.

4. Using a spoon fill each mold three quarters full with batter. Bake until madeleines have puffed and the edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 min.

5. Remove from oven and let madeleines cool until pan is just cool enough to handle. Unmold cookies, and serve warm or at room temperature. If serving at room temperature you have the option of sprinkling some confectioners' sugar on top. Makes 1 dozen.

For the crust

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, frozen

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup confectioners' sugar

¾ teaspoon coarse salt

For the Filling

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

¾ cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 lemons)

1. Preheat oven to 350° then butter a 9 by 13 inch baking pan and line with waxed paper.

2. To make the crust, grate the frozen butter with a cheese grater using large holes then set aside. Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and stir with a wooden spoon until combined and mixture looks crumbly.

3.Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Press mixture evenly onto bottom with your hands. Freeze crust for 15 min. Then bake until slightly golden, 16 to 18 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the filling by whisking together eggs, sugar, flour and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in fresh lemon juice and then pour over hot crust.

5. Reduce oven temperature to 325° and bake until filling is set and edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes.  Let cool slightly on a wire rack.  After slightly cooled lift out by gripping waxed paper underneath and let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar on top and pair with fresh organic and blackberries.

Tri-colored Carrot Salad with Goat Cheese, Mint and Peas Tendrils

photo © Valery Rizzo

I am starting to feel like spring is finally in the air… a time for rebirth and renewal. Seeds will be planted and flowers will bloom and we can start to think about the summer approaching soon after.

 

There are still two more weeks left to see my photograph, “ Rooftop farmer ” in an exhibition at Soho Photo in Tribeca. A photograph from my Brooklyn book project I took at the Eagle Street rooftop farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The exhibition runs from March 1 - April 2, 2011.


On the shoreline of the East River and with a sweeping view of the Manhattan skyline, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is a 6,000 square foot green roof organic vegetable farm located atop a warehouse rooftop. During New York City’s growing season, the farmers at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm supply a community supported agriculture (CSA) program and bicycle fresh produce to area restaurants. It is a wonderfully amazing place where you can volunteer to work on the farm, attend one of their many farm-based educational programs or just visit and buy some of the produce from their farm stand. They also have chickens, rabbits and beehives. Photographer Nicole Franzen has also taken some really beautiful photographs of the Eagle Street rooftop farm.

The sun and warmer temperatures outside also made me feel like making a light spring salad.  A bunch of purple, yellow and orange carrots and special little pea tendrils I found at the Food Coop inspired me to create the perfect lunch. 

All images © Valery Rizzo

6 carrots, two purple, two yellow, and two orange

4 sprigs of mint

Goat cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Pea tendrils

Cracked black pepper

Salt

 A loaf of fresh baked bread

1. With a vegetable peeler, peel all carrots in long strips from bottom to top and from dark to light in color. Be forewarned if your purple carrots are as fresh and juicy as mine were, the purple juices will splatter, so its best to use a large bowl.

2. Break off leaves of mint from your sprigs and break into smaller pieces, then add on top of carrots. Dress the carrots and mint with your extra virgin olive oil and just a touch of balsamic vinegar. Using your pepper mill crack some black pepper on top and add salt to taste.Then toss all ingredients in bowl together.

3. Plate the carrot salad separately. On top of the salad break up pieces of goat cheese, mine was a goat cheese from Spain I found at the Food Coop. Then to finish it off add about 5 or 6 pea tendrils on top and eat with a piece of your favorite loaf of bread. Don't forget to save a piece of bread at the end to soak up all those delicious flavors at the bottom of the plate. This recipe serves two.

Caffè? Caffè?

 

All images © Valery Rizzo

Café Regular in Park Slope, I have to say is my favorite place to pick up my morning decaf cappuccino with skim milk. It's the most similar in feeling to the cafés in Europe, where you order and either stand or sit at the bar. The coffee is also the best tasting and fresh and doesn't give you that been sitting around for hours burnt taste in your mouth. They have newspapers you can read, fresh squeezed orange juice, pastries and even hard-boiled eggs as I imagine one would get in France. They also have a selection of specialty Tumbador chocolates made right here in Brooklyn. One morning I placed my order alongside author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.

While I am too young to remember the last and only time I was in Paris, it also reminded me of the bars in Italy. There was the time my cousin Antonietta’s husband Antonio and a friend took us for a drive down the Amalfi Coast one evening. We stopped in every town along the way, in each one we would step into a bar and Antonio would turn to us and say very fast, pointing at each one of us, caffè? caffè? We would bang it down and then be off to the next town. Not wanting to be the American that would instead ask for water I went along and by the end of the night between all the espresso and the curves in the road I thought I might have heart failure :-)


Café Regular du Nord, 158A Berkeley Place, between 6th and 7th Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Tres Hermanos

All images © Valery Rizzo

My husband and I went to an opening at the Arch Collective Gallery, part of Beat Nite in Bushwick last week. After viewing paintings, photography, installations and mingling for a while we decided to leave to hunt for something light to eat. One of the artists in the show, also a friend, directed us to a place just around the corner where his girlfriend had gone with family to have a bite.

Upon entering, the place was filled with a mix of hipster and neighborhood locals, happily eating in this neon surrounded casual style restaurant. As we spotted our friends we searched for chairs to pull over to join them at a small table. Looking at the menu the first thing you’ll notice is wow! the great prices. Taquitos, tacos, tostados, tortas, picadas and quesadillas all with several varieties of fillings, chorizo, enchilada, carnitas, chicken, steak, cecina and vegetarian all with prices between $1.50 and $3.50. Run by a few Mexican women, two behind the grill and one behind the counter there seemed to be an honor system in place. You place the order, choose your own drinks from the freezer and they bring you your food and then afterwards before you leave you can tell them what you had to eat and they ring you up. I have not seen that since I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn. As our friend raved about how good the food was, another group of people entered with nowhere to sit. Before you knew it, a few tables and mismatched chairs were set up in the adjacent tortilleria (tortilla factory) which was on the other side of a glass wall and at the moment looked more like an empty garage.…e viola! a table for eight. This restaurant is fancy in no way, but I loved the laid back fun atmosphere, and the authentic Mexican vibe and cuisine. Tortilleria Taqueria Tres Hermanos, we like it so much we decided to go back this past weekend. We had the vegetarian tostadas, a Carnita Torta and some Guava soda, really fresh and simple. Tortilleria & Taqueria Tres Hermanos, you have to see the video on their website.

As an extra bonus if you are into thrift stores or prop hunting like I am, there is this crazy thrift store called Green Village, directly across the street from Tres Hermanos. I nearly died when I walked in and saw this enormous space packed with rows and rows of used clothing, furniture, books and yes! three rows stacked to ceilings with kitchen utensils, baking supplies, dishes, glasses and more. It’s like one big giant estate sale or more like digging through someone’s messy basement, but I found some good things. So if you are into that sort of thing I recommend a day of thrift shopping and tacos.

Dreaming of Pizza

Domenic, Di Fara Pizza, Midwood, Brooklyn, 2010.

Sink planters, Roberta's, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 2010.

All images © Valery Rizzo

( From my Brooklyn book project )

Five years ago when I was in southern Italy, I remember my cousins taking me out for many pizza dinners. There was the place at the agri-tourismo on a mountaintop overlooking a pool glimmering in the moonlight. The pizzeria at the top of the promontory in old Agropoli, overlooking the ocean. The place out in the countryside where we had to drive up through unpaved country roads, almost hitting a family of foxes, the pizza was made outdoors in wood fired ovens and there were wasps as big as my entire thumb. Then there was the local place where you saw everyone in town and all the gossip happened. 

When I returned home, pizza was never the same again. I was dreaming about the pizza I had eaten in Italy. The image that still remains in my memory is the one of myself one evening staring down at a pizza pie with large pieces of local proscutto and ginormous whole green olives, as I sat looking over the pool and the valley of olive groves and countryside below. To this day I cannot eat pizza unless it is extraordinary.

Over the last couple of years some new places in Brooklyn and some not so new but newly discovered, have started making pizza just as good if not better than what I remembered from Italy. Two of my favorites are Di Fara on Avenue J and Roberta’s in Bushwick. I also like Franny’s and Totonno’s.

Roberta’s has to be my favorite at the moment. It is all about the vibe and the fresh ingredients. The pizza there compares to the type of pizza I had while in Italy because of its use of local products and taste. They have an outdoor patio with lots of interesting surroundings. A glass-walled radio network housed in a shipping container, a deejay spinning great music, a rooftop and backyard garden, where they grow their own produce.

Di Fara Pizza on Avenue J in Brooklyn is all about the experience. At first glance this hole in the wall with its five dollar slices is puzzling (yes, I said five dollars a slice) but this long line of people had to know something I didn't. Once inside, this Brooklyn gem has you captured. Each pie is hand made by the owner Domenic, who crafts each and every pie himself using quality imported ingredients prepared on the spot. A chunky tomato sauce, two types of freshly grated cheese (regular mozzarella and grana padana), extra-virgin olive oil, and chunks of Mozzarella di Buffala. When the pizza comes out of the oven its placed in front of you and more olive oil and more grated cheese is then sprinkled on top. Finally Domenic holds a bunch of fresh basil above the pie and with a scissor cuts large pieces onto the pizza. All the while people stand around with their eyes wide and their mouths watering, waiting as long as it takes, and it can take up to 20-45 minutes or longer, so if your in a rush this place is not for you. Finally you get to eat the pizza and WOW! is it good. 

Farro Salad with Roasted Red Grapes, Kale and Swiss Chard

All images © Valery Rizzo

One of my very favorite places to shop for produce without a doubt is the Park Slope Food Coop. Actually, most of my inspiration comes from just browsing all the beautiful and interesting items they carry. Now your either a coop person or not, to be a coop nut or not? I am proudly a nut! Personally I think food coops are a necessity given the scary ways food is produced in this country. In Brooklyn, coops are popping up all over, in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bushwick, Bay Ridge, Lefferts and Flatbush, most of them in start up mode. Where else can you find a group of people collectively ecstatic over how beautiful the kale looks that day? It’s true, as I stood staring in awe of how unusually gorgeous the kale was that morning, a woman stopped and looked at me and said “wow how beautiful the kale looks today”, she exclaimed in amazement and then a man also stopped as she turned to him to repeat “ doesn’t the kale look beautiful today?” I admit it was a funny moment. So I needed to make something with that extraordinary kale.

I had always been curious about farro and how to make it. Farro is a grain and although some people choose to soak theirs, it is basically prepared similarly to brown rice and cooked until it’s soft but crunchy. Inspired by a recipe from Martha Stewart Living which I then improvised, the grain is cooked with rosemary and tossed with oven roasted red grapes, red onions, kale, swiss chard, olive oil, coarse ground pepper and sea salt. So yummy, nutty and good for you.

3   cups seedless red grapes (about 1 pound)

8   ounces farro  (about 1 ½ cups)

2    tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

¼  cup extra-virgin olive oil

2   small red onions, chopped 

1   tablespoon red wine vinegar

4   cups mixed kale, swiss chard and other baby greens of choice

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1.  preheat oven to 250°. Cut  grapes in half and lay in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with ¾ teaspoons salt. Bake until grapes have shrunk to about half their size but are still juicy, about 1 hour and 30 min. Let cool.

2. Combine farro, 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1 ½ teaspoons salt in a medium saucepan. Cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until tender, about 25 min.  Drain if necessary and transfer to a bowl.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions and remaining tablespoon of rosemary for 2 min. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until onions are golden brown.  Add 1 tablespoon oil and a pinch of salt, cook, flipping until onions are tender and browned on both sides, about 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Pour mixture over Farro, toss.  Season with salt and pepper. Stir in red grapes. Let stand for 20 min. Gently stir in kale, swiss chard and other greens just before serving, plate and enjoy!