Showing posts with label mozzarella cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mozzarella cheese. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Fulton Stall Market...

First summer Fridaaaaay! :) Went to Fulton Stall Market w/ Julia and Jay. made a pit stop @ the Banh Mi food truck (separate post to follow).

There weren't that many vendors but not many greenmarkets will have 3 little kids play cello and violin so deftly and amusingly :D I was hoping for more offerings, though there was plenty of coverage in terms of greens, baked goods, cheeses, and seafood. I know this looks all fall-y but it was still tasty!
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YAY. These eggs were huge--at least 30% bigger than the EXTRA LARGE eggs at the grocery store. Even those are rather big compared to the regular 'large' ones. Is it just me or is the naming convention a little off? Didn't buy any but was very tempted since I'm also sorta in a fritatta phase. MEHBEH next time.

Onto animals!...
Shore catch only had like 3 types of fish but they were purty and ...substantial looking! I have no idea what the fish were except one might've been flounder since it looked like the underside of what that just went thru the transformation! :) and Scaaaaaaallops! And some fish that was blue with yellow speckled dots!

My favesies was Sang Lee Farms--their asparagus was HUUUUGE but SWEET! and crisp, tasty, vibrant! Not to mention their various sauces--the pesto was "eh" since honestly after bringing back pesto from Liguria, Italy--it's a little hard to readjust my set point. Anyhoo--the ginger scallion dip was surprisingly addictive and "punchy'--u'd think ginger/scallion would be mild which in subtlety it is, but it's a damn good dip.
My only gripe is Sang Lee producs are a little expensive--except the asparagus was $4.50 a bunch and that was enough in one bunch as 2-3 bunches of regular asparagus! And purple asparagus! woohoo! The dips and pesto (which are the same size as those plastic containers of hummus) were $8.50 and $9.50 respectively. Yummay...but hell no I'm not paying that much for dip. :(

The goat cheese chevre and hot pepper jelly the Sang Lee table had out for tasting was REALLY GOOD. I like expanding my palate but hot pepper jam isn't exactly my cup of tea--but this was grrrrrrEAT! :) The goat cheese was milder and a bit creamier than what I identify with goat cheese, which I would suppose make it go even better with the jelly :) YUMMAY JELLAY!
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This is from Breezy Hill Orchard & Knoll Crest Farms--which also had some bad ass apples. I'm partial to their Fuji since I usually prefer fuji and gala apples anywa. BUT, their wine sap was interesting. I forget what the third is.

The apples were smaller than I thought they'd be--I mean I tend to think farm fresh fruits and veggies would end up being smaller than the ish @ supermarkets--but given the ginormity (yes, ginormity :D) of the asparagus and tomatoes etc, I thought they'd at least be a little...bigger. These fit in your palm for the most part =/ Great texture tho!--one thing I dislike about apples sometimes is it has this..disintegrated papier mache feel to it. Dunno how else to describe it--but not crisp! And the supermarket ones are nowhere near crisp and well ripe like these!
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Stony Hill Farm also had some tasty looking fruits. If u click on the photo u'll see one funky lookin' strawberry. Quirky! Me likes. Fairly certain this is also from Stony Hill. They also seemed to be purveyors of italian goods too--there was ur usual offering of Loacker sweets--but there were other biscottis I don't usually see around. Some were more breakfasty type like S'Doro's or whaver they are! EHHHH.

I didn't really care to take pics of the baked stuff but it looked pretty solid. *shrug*. Also ignored a good chunk of the cheese and the wine vendor. OH WELL. wasn't that interesting. There's a photo of Cupcake Express on my flickr but i don't really care about that!

Instead, here's a questionable picture of fresh mozarella cheese from Hoboken Farms, with purveyor of said cheese. hehe.
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Julia and I also go the mozarella--while it was creamy and had that...mozarella musk to it, I might have to say the mozarella @ Whole Foods (whatever it is) might just be a bit better b/c the texture for the Hoboken one is a little firmer and smidge drier than I'd like. Good color tho!

Overall--not sure I'd make the trek all the way down to South Street Seaport so much--but def would come back if I was to hit up Water Taxi Beach and DEFINITELY for those damn apples and scallops and asparagus!! pretty much most of Sang Lee :P... and mozarella (maybe!)

Friday, February 20, 2009

Dinner in Balestrate!...

We're starting w/ Sicily in my....way overdue postings from the Italy trip! Why? b/c I lurved Del Capo market, the sweets in Balestrate & when Angela and Scott (and Karen) made some fantasmic fish and risotto and arancini! and...then the pics from Erice/Trapani! woohoo! and Palermo pizza!

A little..."preview" if u will...(of artsier shots i might not be able to make work in the rest of the entry :P...
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We'll start this all with the dinner in Balestrate complete with my silly "chocolate" tasting with the stash I bought in Pisa. That'll be saved for another post b/c this one is just massive, hehehehe. Now...from the beginning...

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We had lovely fennel w/ grated orange zest plus half anorange but u just can't see it in the pics. Fennel fennel fennel...kind of have an odd relationship with fennel--didn't like them grilled in a salad @ Olive's in Soho, kinda really enjoyed them raw and shaved with the diluted fish sauce aka nuoc cham aka dipping sauce (which btw totally makes badass salad dressing)...

...but here, we sauteed with some stock (if i remember correctly?) with the lemons and orange and pomegranates totally rocked and had a new depth of flavor....which i can't rightly describe since it's been so long :) but it was great with the risotto too :P
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Getting out the pomegranate seeds for the fennel! Easiest way to get it all out tho--is to cut the pomegranate in half and then pat the back of it with a spoon and all the seeds come flying out :) Okay so you can see all that orange half and other stuff here... :)
The ladies workin' hard stirring away @ the fennel & risotto...
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We also had a artisanal porcini risotto from one of the vendors (?) that works with Scott's company (yummers! I took home a pack and Karen took home a pack of saffron risotto!). Here are innumerable pics of that going down too :) Simmer simmering away!
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In the meanwhile...Scott preps the fishy fish with capers, then salt & pepper--olive oil, then garlic! So...I forget what kind of fish we got at the market that day, but it was large and bootiful! Angela broke down the whole thing and descaled it and all!Beautiful fish no? Shame we couldn't figure out what kinda fish it was but it sure was ginormous when it locked eyes with us and the fish-man :P
...and we even tried to go buy tweezers to remove the little bones but all i could remember to say was "Stiamo cercando per una pincetta per a prendere l'osso nelle pesce"...but i couldn't remember how to say "take out" or "remove" and kept making pinching motions and saying "sopraciglia" for eyebrows. Needless to say, my Italian has gotten supremely rusty! Anyhoo--so tons of pics of Scott drizzling the fish in olive oil after patting in some lemon slices, capers, garlic, and sea salt.
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WEEE!! All packed up and ready to go...but see we actually forgot the garlic for a minute so...back open it goes :D...NUMMY NUM NUM...So that was a final "before" look @ our pesce...and....AFTER roasting in the oven! :D So many pictures...so little space hehe.
WOOHOO! so purty...and yummy! Note this is actually ish "other" people make but i'm still super jazzed eh? :P...seriously even putting all these photos back in sequence makes me a little giddy. In the midst of all this, I did a whole chocolate tasting set-up on the table as well and went back and forth stalking everybody in the kitchen and having them re-stage taking things out of the oven etc... :P
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...and this!! yes that's STEAM...lots of it! bootiful bootiful steam! (and not a dirty wall hehe) ^_^
Scott gave us each some risotto from his co. to bring home. VERY VERY excited to crack it open! Anyhoo...back to dinner. Some of these are out of sequence back to the table with just the plates set up! :) To the table! But first some vino!...

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Yes i'm a little crooked with this but I thought it kinda quirky and fun. When i rotated .75 degrees counterclockwise it just kinda looked generic. At least that's the story I'm sticking to anyway :) That and angela looks like a ghost! (do you know how impossible it is for me to keep still sans gorillapod with a b-shot?!)
This is the bottle of olive oil that Scott and Angela had freshly pressed the week prior, using olives from Scott's boss's orchard and pressed in the neighboring town. Apparently...everybody around there does it. WEEEE!! Look how thick it looks and almost opaque! That's how it's *supposed* to be. Nom nom nom...
We also had some fresh mozzarella (just from the supermarket--yeh SUPERMARKET, not the market market...but OMG infinitely better than anything @ the markets here, except maybe Murray's cheeses! or Odika? whatever it is...

AAAAaaaaannnnd done. :) I usuually don't post pictures with people in them on the blog...but Scott and Angela were pretty effin' awesome hosts and fun to hang around in Balestrate and Palermo so...here they are!! Thanks so much guys!! We sure licked the plates clean ;)
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YAY SICILIA!!....oh hell one last look at that fantastic fish :D...