new at the market.

Obsessing over these incredible teeny-tiny baby tomatoes. 

They are so small yet intensely tomato flavored and best served with burrata, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of the best flaky sea salt.  

A wedge of really good bread really rounds out the meal.  

Or you can do as I do which involves popping them into your mouth like candy each time you pass the container of them sitting on the counter.  

Hoping I can find some more next week because I am in love with them.

Tomato season stole my heart.    

new at the market.

The jewels of summer have arrived.  Fruits and vegetables in every shade.  Ruby red cherries, plums so golden yellow they appear to glow, apricots the shade of orange that only appears right as the sun sets beyond the horizon.  It's as if the sky came to light in the bins and baskets at the farmers markets.  

I've been stuffing my face with all of these fruits, the juices dribbling down my chin and pooling on whatever surface happens to be under me at that moment.  I've been reminding myself that their seasons are short lived and that I should get my fix in while I can which is why I continue to gorge.  

I've been obsessed with pairing fruits with more savory flavors.  Seared steak with grilled peaches.  Chipotle chicken quesadillas with apricot, cherries with cheddar and ham (a la The I Love New York Cookbook).  It's unexpected and feels gloriously right this time of year.  

new at the market.

Salted butter.  There isn't much else that is needed to accompany a grilled ear of corn.  

While I can't get enough of corn with butter dribbling down my chin and pooling (hopefully) on my plate instead of on my leg, sometimes I want a little something more.  

So this summer I plan on making cheesy polenta with corn and tomatoes (as seen on Not Without Salt's Instagram), corn pizza with bacon and scallions, corn ice cream (or at least making a trip to the Bent Spoon for their version of corn ice cream), and a corn and farro salad with avocado and chipotle.  

But let's be honest, my goal is to get my hands on Thirty Acres grilled corn with miso, browned butter, and lobster mayo and figure out how to recreate it.  ASAP.  

new at the market.

Cherry red cherries have arrived.  

I fall hard for cherries.  They are the first of the seasonal fruits that work exceptionally well in both sweet and savory applications.  

For sweet you have cherry pie, cherry almond clafoutis, cherry cornmeal upside down cake, cherry breakfast crumble, .

For savory you have pickled cherries to be thrown in salads, roasted cherry compote atop goat cheese crostini, pork chops with cherry sauce.  

Or you can eat them on road trips.  Popping them in your mouth and shooting the pits out onto the open highway which is how I will be consuming them tomorrow as the boy and I road trip up to Maine.  

new at the market.

Berries!  Cherries!  Fruits galore!  The markets in New York are bursting with beautiful things.  

It's that time of year where desserts should consist only of pies, fruit crumb bars, and fruit compote topped ice cream sundaes.  Breakfast should consist only of fancy fruit and yogurt parfaits, chock-full-of fruit muffins, and berry filled french toast.  

The first batch of fruit from the markets is always eaten by the handful.  I usually find myself shoveling berries in my mouth until my fingers are stained with their juices.  After that I move on to baking (and jam making).  A blueberry pie has been requested by the boy (with a ginger strussel topping) and I plan on remaking the rhubarb crostata with raspberries as was suggested in the original recipe.  

It's officially summer.  

new at the market.

Garlic scapes are the new ramps or so I decided today as I was purchasing handfuls of them before 8 AM.  They are one of those obscure things that everyone who blogs about food raves about and once someone raves about something it only intensifies my desire for them until I reach that point where I find myself spending an endless number of hours trying to figure out how to get my hands on them.  Surprisingly these were fairly easy to procure which considering their aforementioned hype, I am still shocked about.  

Scapes smell like garlic and look like curly chives.  According to the blogosphere they make for a fine pesto.  But I am envisioning them as a topping for pizza or as a lovely spring addition to pasta carbonara. Personally I find them rather beautiful to simply look at.  Their curling nature makes them look like a tangled mass of green hair which is utterly mesmerizing   

new at the market.

Peas!!

I am one of those strange people who simply adores shelling peas.  Opening a pod and seeing all of the little peas lined up like soldiers is utterly adorable.  

Fresh peas are a beautiful thing.  I love using them for a creamy pesto to coat strands of spaghetti.  They are wonderful tossed in crunchy salads with a miso dressing.  They are magical in spaghetti carbonara.   

I am most excited to eat them in guacamole.  I imagine you are wondering how guacamole and peas go together but I promise you they do.  I had a guacamole like that at ABC Cocina when I was there for my birthday dinner it was absurdly good. I am now smitten.  

Recipe is coming by the end of this week...

new at the market.

Baby, it's summer.  

There are still a few lingering streaks of light pink and orange evening light that I can catch over the high-rise buildings behind my apartment.  

The days are finally shifting.  They are longer, lazier.  

The market had a lot of surprises today - quarts of jewel like ruby-red strawberries that with one bite released the most intensely tart-sweet juice (it's jam making time), more tall stalks of purple and green asparagus, and the crispiest, crunchiest sugar snap peas I have ever tasted.  

With the temperature on the rise I see lots of sugar snap pea salads in my future (sliced thin with a spicy chili oil dressing) followed by bowls of strawberries macerated in bourbon smoked sugar and topped with barely sweetened whipped cream.  Recipes coming...

new at the market.

Today marked the (official) arrival of spring for me since asparagus were finally at the farmer's market.  Nothing says spring like them.  I see a shaved asparagus pizza in my future as well as a slew of other dishes.  

Rhubarb was also found! Rhubarb if you are unfamiliar with it is a tart and crunchy vegetable that is traditionally used in sweet dishes.  I love rhubarb jam and strawberry rhubarb pie but I am envisioning this first crop to be used for a compote for a yogurt panna cotta (reminiscent of the one I had a Baco Mercat) and also in a muffin.  

Spring garlic looks like a scallion but don't be fooled because it is not a scallion!  This is garlic before the bulb is formed.  It's milder and sweeter and delicious   You can eat it raw on salads but it would also be wonderful on top of pizza (but really what isn't wonderful on pizza).

Last but not least I finally got my hands on some ramps.  I've been searching for them for a while now and low and behold I found them at the Union Square Greenmarket this morning.  The ramp pizza the entire food blog world raves about will finally be something I can make.  Words can't describe my excitement.  

new at the market.

Something other then root vegetables has finally shown up at the farmer's markets and upon seeing this I practically wept.  (There is something about the first site of green.)  After a winter that felt longer then most, the arrival of spring (and fresh local produce) has been particularly thrilling.  I live for farmer's markets. (I have on occasion screamed bloody murder for Tyler to stop the car at any sign that advertises berries, tomatoes, and corn (totally normal, right?).  I am also probably the only person who takes the subway during the middle of the work day to our old office in Brooklyn so I can visit my friends from Phillips Farm.  They love me.  The feeling is mutual.)  Considering my downright obsession I figured it seemed only fitting to start documenting the food I purchase each week so people who may not be as familiar with the markets will know what to expect and what they can find.  (Hopefully this will make shopping easier!)  I will also be including as many seasonal recipes as possible (because the whole point of excellent produce is having excellent recipes to use them in.) 

This week marked the arrival of spinach (!!), broccoli rabe, wild arugula, and leeks (how I love thee).  So much green is beautiful.