On our trolley tour of Philly, the guide mentioned that the Reading Terminal Market was a foodie paradise. So when Mike and I found ourselves close and with a few hours to spare, we ducked in and checked it out. I took pictures of the things I liked, and while we ate nothing from the market, we sure enjoyed looking around. I hope you enjoy this photo-only blog of the Market…
One thing I really enjoyed when I was last in LA was the Farmers Market. It’s a bustling set of stands in an enclosed building that is filled with energy and food. Last time I was there, I had some crazy meat from a place that I think was Brazilian… and it was AMAZING. I found that place again, however, it had a line around the corner and I was short on time. I took a quick jaunt around and settled on dinner at The French Crepe Company.
Why The French Crepe Company? I have no idea… I used to REALLY love crepes, however, lately I have been disappointed. Or perhaps I just previously only had crepes filled with nutella and berries? Hmmmm….
Anyway… I was stumped on what to order, but eventually decided on the “La Poissoniere” – Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs, Sour Cream, Capers, and Chives. (I only hesitated a bit on the fact that it looked like it was called The Poison and figured it either meant something different or the French are weird… My apologies to the French!)
It was good… but just not great. And the smoked salmon didn’t taste smoky enough for me. I need to remind myself that all smoked salmon is not NY deli lox.
I think one of the problems was that everything was overcooked and there was 0 sauce or liquid to be found. I expected the sour cream to make it a bit more interesting, however, I tasted none. The whole thing was just a little too dry, a little too fishy, and a little too boring. Oh well! I enjoyed the Market anyway.
And next time I am totally going back to that meat place!
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:
Directions:
It’s that easy!
I love Markets. Farmer’s Markets are my favorite and I’ve always loved Chelsea Market. I like walking into a place having no idea what I’ll cook and selecting my dinner based on what looks the best that day. The only problem I have with NYC markets is that they’re crowded and it can sometimes be very annoying to have to push through everyone. Nothing in Union Square Market was calling out to me, especially not enough to go through the crowd any more, so Mike and I made our way to Chelsea Market for the fish at The Lobster Place.
I felt overwhelmed at the fish counter, however, I wound up selecting the Turbot. Why? I have no idea. It just called out to me (and perhaps had the word “buttery” on the description) and was something I had never tried. The sign also mentioned that it resembled halibut, so when struggling to find a yummy sounding turbot recipe, we looked into how to cook halibut and found an easy butter/shallot sauce that sounded good (so much for eating healthy with fish)! We added the homemade pasta bought from the Italian market and made our favorite brussel sprouts recipe once again. The scallops also looked great, and are always a favorite, so we cooked some of those up for an app (just a touch of egg, then flour, then pan seared). It was a hearty and rich meal that we thoroughly enjoyed. We also picked up some of my favorite Fat Witch brownies for dessert. YUM!
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Shallot Butter Sauce
· Pound Butter — softened
· 2 Shallots — chopped
· 1 Cup White Wine
· 1/2 Cup White Wine Vinegar
· 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (we went without)
· Salt And Pepper — to taste
Directions
Saute shallots with the wine & vinegar. Reduce the liquid for 10 minutes until the pan is dry, and only shallots remain. Whisk in butter. After butter is totally melted, add remaining ingredients, bring to boil. Remove from heat, keep warm.
For our 6 month anniversary, I gave Mike a gift certificate for us to take a Culinary Walking Tour of Greenwich Village. Over 9 months later, we finally scheduled a date to go.
Last Sunday we began our culinary adventure by meeting at Murray’s Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street. I was excited to start this adventure with cheese, however, that had to wait for later in the day.
Our guide was a perky wannabe Broadway star with terrible hair and a cute smile. She talked a bit about the neighborhood, buildings, and history and then we went walking.
Our first tasting was at Famous Joe’s Pizza. Our guide described it as being back to basics with fresh tomatoes, cheese, and crispy crust. It was good, but not great. As she said, very basic.
Our next stop was O & Co, a Meditteranean Food Merchant specializing in gourmet olive oils and balsmic vinegars. One taste and I knew I had to come back to buy (the 20% discount for people on the Walking Tour that day was also incentive). The balsamic tasted like candy!
We talked a lot about the character of the area, the history, and the buildings. This carriage house is not only huge, but happens to also be where they housed the cast of “The Next Food Network Star” for a season:
One of my favorite stops along the way was Palma. It’s a more classic version of Meditteranean food that is more Italian/French. The restaurant itself was charming with a nice patio out back, and I cannot wait to go back to try the fried artichokes that looked and smelled delicious as we passed through. We were told they had great sangria, but when we stopped in after our tour, we were informed that they didn’t have it at the time. Shame. The coolest part about the restaurant, however, is that there is an urban farm house behind it where they host private parties. We got to peak inside and I couldn’t help but dream of a day when I could set up a party for my friends in a place like that. It’s not something you find everyday in NYC!
Our next stop was Faicco’s Italian Specialites (formerly Faicco’s Pork Shop… but I guess “pork shop” has less mass appeal). We tried the risotto balls which were delicious (though not quite as good as the ones from CraftBar). The place itself had beautiful cases of meat and prepared foods.
We then walked down the street to Aphrodisia Herb Shoppe, which I think they said has been around since the 60s. We were greated with the smell of spices and a cat who everyone took a moment to pet… before reading the sign on the other side of the store informing us that petting the cat was not advised. While there, we tried some tea and I noticed that they had some special “sore throat” tea recipes. As a fan of the mass market Throat Coat Tea from Traditional Medicinals, I regretted not buying some of this special tea while we were there.
We passed by one of my favorite NYC bars, The Blind Tiger. We stopped in there afterwards for a drink as well, however, much to our dismay there was a private party going on and it was too packed.
The next tasting was around the middle point in the tour and allowed us 10 minutes to sit down and use the rest rooms. We went to a modern Italian wine bar called Centro Vinoteca. This happens to be the restaurant where Leah Cohen (of Top Chef Season 5 fame… the one who made out with Hosea) is chef. They serve small plates called “piccolini” and quartinos of wine. I’m not sure what the dish we sampled was called, however, it was a whole grain with squash, mushrooms, and some other delicious things prepared risotto style. I really enjoyed it. The menu also looked fantastic (and I want to go back to try the braised veal cheeks with cauliflower puree & artichokes) and this is where we wound up settling on for our post-tour drink. I saw that they had a honey chestnut gelato on the menu that I just had to try. It came with dark chocolate and creme de fresh gelato as well and we thoroughly enjoyed it while drinking my wine and Mike had a St. Germaine cocktail. I enjoyed it so thoroughly, that I forgot to photograph it.
We passed by a really adorable court yard called “Grove Court” while walking around. It used to be called “Mixed Ale Alley,” however, they changed it during prohibition. Interestingly, it used to be a sign of wealth to live close to the street, so these beautiful houses pushed back off the road with these court yards were actually where the poor used to live. I can only imagine how pricey these are now!
Our next stop and tasting was a place I have been wanting to go for a while: Milk & Cookies Bakery. They specialize in the basics, but you can also select from a list of ingredients and custom create a recipe that they will bake for you (great for people without big kitchens or baking skills). We tasted a chocolate chip, oats cookie that was still warm from the oven. It was absolutely delicious.
At this point in the tour, we finally got to return to our original meeting spot: Murray’s Cheese. We had a sampler of 3 cheeses, a cheese baked good that was delicious, and a hard salami. All were delicious, and I was thrilled to see they offer a cheese class AND a cheese of the month club. Their mac and cheese also looked amazing.
Our last stop was Rocco’s, a pastry shop specializing in Italian. We tasted DELICIOUS canollis and then bought a humantashin to carry on our Purim tradition. We enjoyed eating the humantashin on our way to the subway.
All-in-all, an absolutely delicious and fun day!
This year for Valentine’s Day, Mike and I decided we would cook together (one of our favorite activities). We decided on Surf and Turf and went to Chelsea Market, one of my favorite places in NYC.
Chelsea Market was the old Nabisco Factory. Now it is home to multiple bakeries, food stores, wine merchants, and restaurants as well as the home of a few marketing companies and Food Network TV studios.
(<— LOOK! DEATH!)
I love the look of the building. It’s industrial and artsy at the same time. They left certain pieces from what it was and made it into something completely reimagined.
There are many performers that entertain there as well.
While walking around the market, we spotted Whitney Port (from “The Hills”/”The City” on MTV). She had the longest, thinnest legs I’ve ever seen.
Mike and I went specifically for The Lobster Place. They specialize in wholesale to some of the best restaurants in Manhattan, but they also sell to commoners like me. After a lap around the store (and our comments in stereo: Sara- “It smells like Maine” and Mike- “It smells like Boston”), we decided on a half pound of jumbo scallops and a 1.5 pound lobster (live). We proceeded to name the lobster “Whitney Port” in honor of our celebrity spotting.
On the way home, Mike and I stopped at a Meat Market and bought a very large flank steak and some pancetta. As soon as we got home, we set the steak to marinate in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey, vinegar, and oil. A few hours later, we whipped up the scallops in butter, garlic, and shallots. It was tasty! So tasty, in fact, that I forgot to take pictures. But we did pop the wine that we went on an adventure to find. This is a wine from 1990 and it is just very, very good.
Next up we started boiling the big pot of water for Whitney and then browned the pancetta for the brussel sprouts. We originally fell in love with a similar recipe that we ate at Babbo, and then saw Guy Fieri cook a similar version on The Food Network. We altered it slightly, however, and loved it so much last time we made it that we added it to the Valentine’s Day meal.
While the Brussel Sprouts were baking, we started the steak on the grill. We proceeded to set the fire alarm off, almost burn the steak, then threw WAY too much oil on the grill top (my fault) to prevent the other side from burning. WHOOPS! It unfortunately turned out a bit tough, but delicious. (And even better the next day when the meat had time to absorb more of the marinade and garlic!)
Of course, we set Whitney to boil as soon as we could, and then I hacked her to pieces.
The completed meal was absolutely delicious! Yet again, somehow, the brussel sprouts still prevailed as the highlight. Go figure!
After dinner we went to see Guys and Dolls on Broadway (good, but not great… though definitely a classic). Our plan was to go to Marseilles on 44th Street and 9th Avenue for dessert. We went in around 10:30pm and there were at least a dozen empty tables with no one waiting. The hostess proceeded to inform us, however, that they were booked solid for the next hour and we were welcome to take a seat at the bar (the seats were a single on either side). I asked her if she was kidding and she regretted to inform me she was not. We incredulously left and decided we’d be better off with dessert on the couch. We picked up 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s and I have decided that their Pumpkin Cheesecake may just be my favorite ice cream ever. It’s on Limited Batch right now, however, so I will shed a tear when it is gone.
All-in-all, it was a fabulous Valentine’s Day!
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Here are the recipes from the evening:
Steak Marinade:
Blend, Spear steak with fork, Marinate for many hours (we did 4, but I think it would benefit from at least 8), and Grill.
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Brussel Sprouts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium pan over medium heat cook the pancetta. Remove from pan, reserving a little of the pancetta fat in the pan. Add the Brussels sprouts to the pan and cook over medium heat to begin to brown. Dress with balsamic and olive oil, a little salt (pancetta are salty) and pepper. Place into the oven and roast, tossing a couple of times, until nicely caramelized, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Put the pine nuts in a small, dry, saute pan and toast over a low flame, tossing a couple of times, just until lightly browned, 3 or 4 minutes. (we used some oil to prevent burning, but it probably wasn’t necessary)
Once the sprouts are ready, remove them from the oven and put into a big serving bowl. Add the pancetta and pine nuts. Toss and check for seasoning. Serve.
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Lobster
Boil water with salt
Put lobster in head first for about 8-10 minutes per pound
Remove and hack (or if you have nut crackers, skip the hacking)
