Tuesday, October 23, 2007

What I've done

With my farmer's market bounty:

Beets: roasted them in the oven, ate one of them just with salt, delicious. The others are in the fridge (they store well after roasting), may slice them thin and dress them with oil and vinegar.

Beet greens: stir-fried with potatoes, mustard seeds, and green chili. Very tasty, very typical Assamese dish.

Broccoli: steamed, then put into penne with alfredo sauce (made with the romano I got at the market).

Bacon: still got plenty of it. Had a big French toast and bacon breakfast the other day, which also used up the baguette I bought.

Bell peppers (red and green): some were roasted and mixed with pasta, and home-made tomato and garlic sauce. Others were chopped, lightly stir-fried with mustard seeds and asafoetida to mix in with yogurt and rice- a classic South Indian combo.

Eggplant: made Baigan Bharta, a typical North Indian dish. Roast the eggplant in the broiler, then mash the roasted flesh, fry up some tomatoes and onions with cumin powder, coriander powder, and garam masala, maybe a green chili or two, add in the mashed roasted eggplant, mix it all up, turn the heat down a bit, and at the end, add a bunch of cilantro. Delicious.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Farmers markets and fishmongers

So, I finally went to the on-campus farmers market here in Princeton. It was quite small, but very nice. I picked up some very nice sheep's milk cheese (one blue and one pecorino), a duck breast, some bacon, beets, red, green, and hot peppers, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, cider, honey, and a baguette. So I went a little crazy. But I'm excited to have a fridge full of excellent raw materials to cook with.

Funnily enough, the beets might be what I'm most excited about. I'm planning on roasting them, and serving them with the greens on the side. The greens I'm planning on just wilting with a little bacon and garlic and onion. Other suggestions?

It's also nice that I have a good fishmarket just down the street. I've now twice picked up a piece of fish on my way home from work (opa once, rainbow trout once), marinated it briefly in soy sauce and ginger, and then grilled it and served it with a little pineapple salsa. A nice luxury.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mmm...dosas

Great article on NYC street food.