Cookin' in the 'Cuse

Back in Gear

My distractions continue--swimming and triathlon training are a bit off topic from this blog but that's where I've been. But a drive through the Finger Lakes and one of my last days of vacation have brought me back to my senses--meaning the smell, taste, and beautiful sights of our region. Don't tell my tri coach but I just had a dish of salted caramel ice cream at Cayuga Lake Creamery chased down by a wine tasting at Eleven Lakes Winery--both on route 89. Don't worry, because I'm still in training (taper no less), I took full advantage of the spit bucket. I hope to post more on Eleven Lakes soon but had to post a little something from the road. I love what they are doing--it was their Cab Franc that we used to wash down the amazing Zach pizza from Niles Country Bistro. We left today with a bottle of their Crooked Lake Red, a semi dry red blend. This one year old winery is one to watch.

Green Planet Grocery Opens in Fairmount!

Consider this Grocery News Week.  This is the first of several postings on all the exciting news happening on the grocery store front.

So you know "these times they are a-changin'" when an independent grocery store specializing in healthy, local, and organic opens on the west side of town.  This one caught me off guard but I couldn't be happier about this new addition to the food scene here in Syracuse.

Located on West Genesee Street in Fairmount (across from the Wegmans, Target, etc.at Fairmount Fair and next door to Metro Mattress) Green Planet Grocery opened last Saturday.  A quick run through yielded some pics and the following observations about what is on the shelves:

• Shelf space for Flour City Pasta--now you can get them every day of the week!
• A bulk selection with more flours than I've seen in one place  in a long time (it could go toe to toe with Whole Foods and even the Berkeley Bowl on that front).  There were flours I'd never seen in bulk.  They have panko bread crumbs in bulk--I'm impressed.  As for cereal, they carry Mu Mu Muesli in bulk too.
• Remembrance Farm greens (Trumansburg)

• Other things of note:  A juice bar is on the way and a raw food chef is on deck so I'm imagining delicious juices and smoothies!  Also, lots of parking (which given the area, matters a lot.) 

Their hours are Monday-Saturday, 8am - 10pm and Sundays 10am - 8pm.  Check them out!

The store has a bright and airy feel.

Do you see this bulk aisle?  Those are the flours on the bottom--makes me want to bake like crazy!

Recess Coffee is among several roasters they carry.

There it is--Flour City Pasta--now you can get it when you can't get to the Regional Market--any day of the week!

Love the chalkboard signage.

Green Planet Grocery, 3514 W. Genesee Street., Syracuse NY 13219

Foodie Town? This is part of what it takes...

 

Take a look at any city where there is a high appreciation of food and wine and you'll find some common elements:  access to great ingredients, diners with curious palates, risk-taking chefs, and places to learn and experiment.  Believe it or not but Syracuse has all of those things.  The Syracuse Community Test Kitchen is the special place where all of these come together.

Since its opening in March 2008 the Test Kitchen, located in the South Side Innovation Center, has been an incubator for entrepreneurial cooks looking to take their favorite home recipe to the big time of retail sales.  More recently, it seems, its mission has expanded to get as many people in the doors to learn, experiment, and get access to the great food resources of Central New York.

First, there are the cooking classes.  Abigail Henson, a sous chef at the Restaurant at Elderberry Pond in Auburn (and writer for Edible Finger Lakes magazine's Syracuse section) is on tap to teach a class Thursday night featuring healthy recipes made with whole grains and seasonal vegetables. 
Her menu includes Quinoa Swiss Chard Casserole, Cilantro Pesto Potato Salad, Zippy Greens with Horseradish Dressing and the "Not so Deviled Egg".  How great is that?  Well, what's great is that she'll be teaching to a capacity crowd and that there are 32 more classes featuring 11 chefs slated for late summer/fall.

Second, the Test Kitchen is the latest pick up spot for CNY Bounty.  In fact, it is the only pick up spot in the city of Syracuse at this time.  CNY Bounty brings some of the best dairy, baked goods, meats, and prepared foods straight to you.  Several years ago I remember having to drive all around the region to get some of these products.  Now all you have to do is place your order and pick up your haul.  Place your order by Monday the 21st and you can pick it up at the Test Kitchen on Thursday the 24th.

This is all such great progress.  I began this blog over 5 years ago and am constantly amazed at how much growth there has been in that time.  The Test Kitchen is just one more critical piece of the puzzle of what it will take to transform and strengthen our food scene.  Sign up for a class, pick up your Bounty, download a recipe from previous classes, and check out the cool things that are going on there.  And Believe.

Syracuse Test Kitchen, 2610 S. Salina Street Syracuse, NY 13205 (Salina at Brighton--next door to the Dunk and Bright showroom)

Delicious Karma

I like good karma as much as anyone but what I'm all about these days is the delicious karma!  Behold my latest obsession:  Karma Bakery's chocolate chunk walnut cookie.  You can meditate on it or you can get yourself one of their cookies and experience true bliss.

Karma Bakery, out of Auburn, is a small operation run by Karmen Canestaro.  With a mission that is all about good health, local and organic ingredients, and putting out real, delicious food, Karma Bakery is quickly becoming the darling of the CNY Regional Market.

I've not had one of the beautiful multi-grain loaves they sell but I'm all over the cookies.  I love the banana nut and peanut butter versions but the chocolate chunk walnut cookie is so good, it has me at the market before 7:00 am to pick up or reserve my stash before they sell out.  There is something about the slightly nutty taste of spelt flour, ground oats, walnuts and slabs of dark chocolate chunks that takes me to a happy place.  There are other healthy ingredients in there like flax meal and maple syrup (no refined sugar or agave--check out their website to read why). I can serve them to my vegan friends without worry and to my non-vegan friends without apology.

All I know is that after a busy day of work, a long run or other training session, and the other things life throws my way, sitting down to a cup of tea and a bite of one of these cookies is the best karma there is.

You can buy Karma Bakery's cookies and breads at the Regional Market on Saturdays from 7am-1pm and beginning this week you should also be able to find them at the Syracuse Real Food Co-op.

10 Things I'm Loving about Syracuse

Lately I've been walking and biking around Syracuse exclaiming--"What a great place to live!"  While it can be too easy to be the jaded and cynical Central New Yorker who complains laments that there is nothing new under the sun here there is a lot that is quite exciting.  So here's a little 'Cuse love (and no, I'm not collecting a paycheck from the Convention and Visitor's Bureau).

1.    In the last few months 12 restaurants have opened up in downtown Syracuse.  Not across the city--just in downtown alone!  I ducked into a couple of them today and can't wait to get back for a proper meal.  I'll post first impressions as I do.  These tiny, and not so tiny, eateries span the gamut from diner to Lebanese to real Brooklyn-style Pizza (with 1970s era pinball machine to match).  

Darwin on Clinton is an off-shoot of Riley's (the neighborhood restaurant every neighborhood wants to have).  David and Daryl have put together an extensive sandwich menu that will change often.  They're open from 9am -2:30 pm Mon-Fri--and later on Fridays when do their Fish Fry Frydays).  I'm looking at those cafe tables on a nice day like today and thinking "this is THE spot!"

It is easy to forget how large an area the Mediterranean really is.  For Byblos, it is centered on Lebanon so their menu not includes baklava and spanakopita but Labneh, a delicious Lebanese cheese dip made from yogurt.  They also brew up Turkish coffee.

2.  The Downtown Farmer's Market is now at Clinton Square.  On a day like today, with bright sun and a nice breeze, Clinton Square seems like the best place to be for Tuesday market shopping.  Actually, the market was a Clinton Square a couple of decades ago so this is a bit of a homecoming.  Today I picked up some early season, local, strawberries and was delighted to discover that Second Story Cafe will be at the market this year.  They are serving up delicious iced Gimme! coffee (and selling bags of Gimme's latest roasts), cookies, fresh, cool, salads, and Ciao Bella gelato sandwiches (ice cream sandwiches for grown-ups).  

3.  Cycling.  I went out with a friend yesterday and biked from downtown, to the Westcott Nation to the Jamesville quarry and then back home to downtown and it was glorious!  That I could be out in what at times felt like the middle of nowhere with incredible views of hills and valleys and then down in the Monday morning rush hour of commuting traffic downtown in the space of 30 minutes just stuns me.  

4.  There are places where people know your name.  I walked into Sakana-Ya (downtown) for lunch yesterday and was greeted like a long-lost friend by Yurah--it was like coming home.  She said it had been a long time since I'd been in and she was right--a month is WAY too long to go without their delicious sushi--never again!  And the new Korean fusion place next door, Namu, is owned by the same family.

5.  As a rule, I'm picky about my sausages and hot dogs.  But there was one at the Taste of Syracuse that I absolutely had to try--it was Lieh's and Steigerwald's chicken wing sausage.  Because you know, one has to wonder how they get the wing in there.  But OMG--what this is is the best of a buffalo wing with the blue cheese dipping sauce folded right in.  It sounds crazy and it totally works.  You all have probably been eating these for years so I'm a little late.  I must get a pack of them right away!

6.  The Saturday CNY Regional Market.  I know--I haven't always shown the love for this market but though it can still be tricky to navigate, there is a lot of wonderful stuff there.  Like Keeley's farmstead cheese.  I let a slice of this Brida melt on top of a burger that rested on a toasted English muffin slathered with caramelized onion fig jam--incredible!

7.  This is a community that rallies when help is needed.  I recently received a Facebook message that the grant program that puts fresh food into one of our local public schools was being threatened because the school didn't meet the new criteria for poverty.  What?  Farmer and school teacher Megan Luton is trying to do something about it.  Become a friend of Stones Throw Farm on Facebook and find out how you can help.

8.  Stretch Bread.  There's nothing like it.  And it's ours. 

9.  Onondaga Lake.  Yes it still has a long way to go to get cleaned up but how lucky are we to have such a beautiful body of water in the midst of our city?  I've been spending Saturday mornings cycling around the lake and have even gotten out there on a Sunday at 7am to "Listen to the Lake" as a form of meditation and healing for this precious resource.  As I watch what is going on with the gulf oil spill, I'm especially thankful to those who have been working tirelessly to correct the environmental wrongs we have done to Lake Onondaga.  And if you watch and listen carefully you'll see there is reason to be hopeful.

10.  The Syracuse Real Food Co-op is really moving!  Have you seen the preliminary store drawings?  I know they'll change but my it is exciting.  Go Co-op!

For a Bottle of Riesling, any Excuse will do

When I woke up to snow and frost this past Sunday, all I could think of was bundling up with a good book and some warming comfort food.  Alas, I had to get up at 5:30 am (as is my habit) and go to work.  But the notion of making one last big pot of comfort food stayed with me.  After skimming a recent issue of Jamie Oliver's magazine, (okay, it was the Feb/March issue but it was SNOWING) I kept coming back to the notion of a coq au Riesling.

The idea of cooking chicken in wine--Riesling in particular--seems to be quite popular right now.  I made a dish with similar ingredients from Sunset magazine around the Christmas holiday.  But frankly, even more than the weather, Jamie Oliver's recipe offered one delicious excuse to let a chicken drink up a bottle of Finger Lake's finest. 

So I went out to the raised bed (through the blowing snow) and cut some thyme sprigs, brought up two bottles of Red Newt Riesling from the basement, made a bouquet garni with what I had in the vegetable crisper, and proceeded to pour one of the bottles of wine over the cut up chicken.  Ideally, it would marinate overnight, but I figured 6am would allow for enough time--nearly 12 hours. 

And oh my was it good!  The dish was easy and uncomplicated and truly, there is nothing like having the sweet aroma of chicken soaked in Riesling permeating the house.  Top it off by pouring a glass of Riesling for yourself and break off some crusty bread to soak up the sauces and, who cares what the weather is doing outside?  

Coq Au Riesling (adapted from Jamie Oliver Magazine)

• 1 chicken, cut up into 8-10 pieces (I like to cut my chicken breast pieces in half)
• 1 bottle of Riesling wine
• 1 bouquet garni (celery stem, bay leaf, and a sprig each of flat-leaf parsley and thyme, tied with kitchen string)
• olive oil
• 3-4 slices of thickly sliced bacon (cut into cubes). 
• 8 oz of button mushrooms (white or cremini will work)
• 12 small pearl onions, peeled
• 1 tablespoon flour
• egg noodles to serve--garnished with finely chopped parsley

1.  Marinate the chicken overnight, or at least 12 hours, in the wine and bouquet garni.

2. Heat oil (enough to coat) in large frying pan.  Remove chicken from the marinade (reserve marinade and bouquet garni), pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper, add to pan and brown pieces on both sides.  Remove from pan and set aside. 

If necessary, add more oil to pan.  Add bacon and saute for 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and onions and saute another 5 minutes, or until softened.

3.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Transfer bacon-mushroom mixture to a large, cast-iron casserole with a lid.  Add the chicken, place on medium heat, then add flour and stir with a wooden spoon for a few minutes.  Add wine and bring to a boil. 

(If you don't have a dish that can take heat on top of the stove, make a slurry with the flour--in a small bowl add flour with a couple tablespoons of juice from the frying pan, stir till incorporated-- and pour back into frying pan.  Add reserved wine to pan and bring to a boil.  Then pour the wine mixture into your casserole pan with the chicken and continue.)

4. Season, add bouquet garni and stir well.  Cover, transfer dish to oven and cook for 45 minutes or until chicken is tender and sauce has thickened.  Alternatively, simmer over low heat for same amount of time.  If the chicken is tender and cooked but the sauce needs thickening, take the chicken out of the sauce and boil to reduce.

5. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with egg noodles. 

Cheating and other Distractions

This is me, and a bike, at a winery not in the Finger Lakes. 

So what's cookin' in the 'Cuse?  Lots--I've just been too busy preparing for a triathlon, cycling through Sonoma wine country, midwifing the inaugural edition of Edible Syracuse (you did get the latest Edible Finger Lakes magazine didn't you?), and doing my job at church and campus to post about it.  So what's the cheating about?  It's about enjoying far more meals and wine in NYC and California than I have at home.  And the distractions?  Well, that's just called life.  But here, in a few photos, are the standout moments of the past month and a half.

Inpatient for the food truck craze to hit Syracuse, I keep my eyes peeled for them when I travel.  If you see this ice cream truck on the streets of NYC--run toward it as fast as you can.  You'll be rewarded with artisanal ice cream combinations and perfectly pulled espresso shots.  

While in Sonoma I got off the bike long enough to participate in a cooking class at Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg.  Here, Chef Victoria Blumenstein shows me a new way to fry up calamari.  And yes, I was (and remain) skeptical, prefering Danny Meyer's method instead.  Still, it was a fun afternoon and I learned a lot with the other dishes she prepared.

This delicious, locally raised (Sonoma County) pork cheek sandwich is only half of this happy moment at Bovolo cafe.  The other half is that this locavore bistro is in the back of a fabulous bookstore on the square in Healdsburg--good food AND books!  Now we're talking!

The meal that welcomed me home:  pizza at Niles Country Gourmet near Skaneateles.  Now first understand--this picture may not look like much--it was taken by my phone at night.  And the pizza may look like it has a whole bunch of stuff just dumped on it.  And I know I'll lose you when I say that it was a $58 pizza pie.  No--that isn't a typo.  But let me tell you:  it was INCREDIBLE!  Sandie Becker calls this the Zach pizza and with ingredients like bison lardons, pistachios, artisanal cheeses, hand made whole wheat crust, proscuitto and other charcuterie made of local, organic meats, arugula, spring onions, spinach, and on and on--I'm just sayin':  You Want This Pizza.  It fed three of us with leftovers--a bottle of red wine washed it down and we were happy happy.  Call the restaurant ahead of time to let them know you're coming, bring a big appetite (it will help to have run a few miles before hand) and prepare to be amazed.

It is good to be back.

Wine, Cheese and Good Food for a Good Cause

Gary Decker is kissing this bottle good bye for a good cause.

Grace Church, Syracuse hosts a Wine and Food Benefit--Friday, March 26, 6-8 pm

Back in December, just days before Christmas, the copper downspouts were stolen from the exterior of our historic sanctuary.  In response, one of our friends in the community, Gary Decker of Vinomania wine shop, offered to host a fund raiser to help us replace them. 

So on Friday, March 26, from 6-8pm Grace Church is hosting a wine tasting and silent auction featuring some incredible wines, gourmet foods made by some of our local culinary stars, and a silent auction.  Tickets are $25.  Far from being just cheese and crackers, we will be serving some incredible food, tasting international artisanal cheeses, and generally having a great time. 

Some of the silent auction items include a magnum of Raymond Cellars 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley, gift certificates from area eateries including bc restaurant in Armory Square, and a gourmet dinner prepared by Steve Kern, director of the Everson Museum and his wife, Josephine.

Please join us for what is sure to be a fun evening. 

To buy a ticket contact Nancy Radke at 491-3211 or nradke@CiaoLTD.com
Grace Church is located at 819 Madison Street, Syracuse, NY
www.gracesyracuse.org

If you see my Moleskine...

Photo courtesey of Molecover.

Or my black checkbook/wallet for that matter--please let me know.

I love the 'Cuse, and I know these are tough times, but I'm getting weary of things being stolen from my church.  Back in December it was our copper-lined downspouts (I'll be posting about a fund raiser we're having to help replace those, later).  But tonight, it was more personal.  My wallet was taken--I canceled all my cards, and will take a loss on the receipts, the work-related expenses for which I now won't be able to get reimbursement.

But it's my Moleskine that is making me cry.  It was covered in a leather cover like this one and it contained my training log, prayers, poems, and other bits of inspiration.  I was never without it. 

I'm assuming that it is utterly useless to the thief (unless they want to sit down and pray and read about what I've been eating for the past few months).  If they toss it somewhere around the University neighborhood--and you find it--please drop me a comment and let me know.  Or drop it off at Grace Church at the corner of University and Madison.  I'll be forever grateful to the person who can reunite me with my beloved journal.

Syracuse Delivers

First the Orange clinch the Big East title (we're talking basketball) and now this!  Remember how I said I wanted one of these for the 'Cuse?  Well thank our guy Chris Fowler and the great work he's doing with Syracuse First.  Way to go Chris--and thanks! 

I got mine at Sparkytown.  Now get yours!