Tag Archives: grand central market

More Grand Central Market and Fresh Direct Goodies

21 Dec

I’ve already written about the Veal Bratwurst from the Market in Grand Central Station twice.  I really like them.  They’re sweet and flavorful without being over powering.  We picked up some more on our last adventure home from Westchester and decided it was time to spice them up a bit… so we cooked them in beer and onions and then grilled them on our stove grill top.


It was very easy to do.

Next up I had some miniature sweet potatoes from a recent Fresh Direct order.  I love fingerling potatoes, and I love sweet potatoes, so I was hoping the merger would work in my favor.

I decided to roast them the way I did the purple potatoes last time that went so well with the brats.

To complete the meal, Mike suggested we make a cold bean salad in a vinegar dressing.  I was game and we picked up green beans and wax beans from a stand at the Grand Central Market.

We blanched them for just about 3-4 minutes and then stuck them in a bowl of ice water.

Then we dressed them up with shallots, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

The completed plates were quire pretty.


As it turns out, I much prefer these brats just cooked on their own.  The beer and onions gave it a flavor that I thought I SHOULD have liked,but just didn’t.  It took away from the naturally good flavor of the brat itself.  Oh well!

The sweet potatoes were also good but not as good as those purple potatoes.  I also can’t seem to get them browned in the same way.  That first time was definitely the best and I haven’t been able to repeat it since.

The best part of the meal was definitely the bean salad.  Props to Mike for the idea and execution.  Nom Nom Nommy.

Colorful Market Cooking

29 Sep

One of my dear friends, Noa, introduced me to the market in Grand Central Station.  Prior to that, I didn’t think shopping for fresh goods in a train station was rational, but boy was I wrong!  She introduced me to the market a few months ago and I wrote about it here.  This time, I went back to Koglin Royal Hams and got the same delicious veal brats as last time as well as the Swiss cheese filled hot dogs.  As we were exiting I decided I had to have a pluot(cross between a plum and an apricot) and noticed that this stand had beautiful looking purple potatoes.  I thought these would be a lovely compliment to falic looking meat so I went with it.  I tasked Mike to pick up whatever veggie he wanted to complete the meal.

I decided to go with roasted purple potatoes with roasted garlic.  It was a good decision. They were easy, amazing, and I highly recommend them.

Going into the oven:

Coming out of the oven:

Mike’s selection was broccoli with parmesan cheese.  I steamed it first, then put the shaved parm over it and put it in the oven with the potatoes for 5 minutes to get the cheese nice and melty.

I was much more careful not to explode my brats this time and went with a slightly different preparation method.  I put them into a pan with about 1/2 inch of water and let it simmer slightly for 10 minutes (no boiling… except when I left the heat on too much). 

I still preferred the veal brats over the Swiss cheese dogs, but the dogs would be great on a grill. The Swiss cheese filling was quite yummy.

It made for a colorful (and delicious) plate:

I’m not the biggest broccoli fan but with melted cheese it is absolutely delicious.   The potatoes were, by far, the stand out on this plate.  I want to eat more right now just looking at the pictures.

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RECIPE
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Roasted Purple Potatoes

Ingredients:

  • Purple potatoes (we got 1 pound, but more would have been better)
  • Head of garlic (all garlic peeled and removed whole)
  • 1 Tbs. Olive oil (or more, whatever is needed to coat)
  • 1 tsp. Rosemary
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Cut up potatoes into wedges or slices about 1/2 inch thick
  3. Toss potato pieces, whole pieces of garlic, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste in pan with olive oil
  4. Cover with tin foil and put in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes
  5. Serve

It’s that easy!