When The Meat Hook left the back of The Brooklyn Kitchen earlier this year, the owners, Harry Rosenblum and Taylor Erkkinen, decided on a little redesign to fill up the vacated space. They moved a few shelves around, installed a new butcher counter and along with it, a custom-made fish counter. As long-term area residents—The Brooklyn Kitchen itself developed out of a lack of kitchen supply stores in Greenpoint/Williamsburg—they remember the days of illicit sidewalk fishmongers and know that, besides Greenpoint Fish & Lobster, there are now no places to get local, sustainable fish while also supporting a local business. Now, The Brooklyn Kitchen thoroughly succeeds in its goal of being a one-stop-shop for all your kitchen needs.Continue reading →
Warning: This is not your traditional tomato soup.
Sure, it’s hearty and comforting, and it is definitely chock-full of tomatoes, but it also offers a unique richness that allows it to stand apart from others of the variety.
Thickened with creamy coconut milk and protein-packed chickpeas, this soup is just right for a rainy afternoon, lazy evening meal, or any time you need a few spoonfuls of home.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
Extra virgin olive oil
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of cooked chickpeas
1 can of full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup water (more if you want soup to be thinner)
Kale
Instructions:
Heat oil and add onion and garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add salt, pepper, and paprika.
Stir in tomatoes, then add chickpeas, coconut milk, and water.
Add red pepper flakes and any additional seasoning.
Simmer on low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer contents to blender and pulse until soup turns thick and creamy.
If you’re like me and enjoy a little crunch with your meals, you can lightly coat some small pieces of kale with extra virgin olive oil and put them in the broiler on high for four to six minutes. Top your bowl of soup with crunchy kale and enjoy.
Hearty beef & Guinness stew with carrots and mushrooms, over mashed potatoes
My mother is born-and-raised solid country stock from County Westmeath, Ireland. She remembers St. Patrick’s Day celebrations as chiefly religious, with the country going to mass with freshly-picked clovers pinned to buttonholes to honor their patron saint. Then there would be a shared family meal with special-occasion ingredients like beef or lamb, usually presented in roasts or stews.
Regardless of how you choose to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (or whether you want to avoid all related shenanigans entirely), this traditional Irish dish is straight-forward, nourishing, rich, and perfect for spooning out among any group of friends and family (though with all due respect to my grandmother and her preferred method of just dumping everything in a big pot and leaving it, I’ve added and tweaked some steps to improve texture and flavor).
Finished carrot salad plated at one of my recent pop-up dinners!
Is anyone else getting to the point with their winter CSA where they’re drowning in carrots? To keep dinner fun (instead of “again??”), I’ve been dipping into other cuisines for inspiration.
With the expansion of the compost program to Greenpoint last year, it became easier than ever to send our food waste to the fertilizer lot, instead of to the landfill.
This was a majorly positive step. But as I collected my scraps each week, I suddenly became acutely aware of just how much of the food I bought ended up as waste in the bin.
Was this actually consciousness, or was I just going through the motions? I set out to find ways to incorporate these misunderstood ingredients into my meals, and subsequently ended up putting together some of my favorite recipes.
This golden beet dish is tangy yet sweet, and is perfect as a both a main or side dish. Best of all, it uses the entire plant, which means no more tragically forsaken greens.
Spanish tortilla with cubed potatoes, onions, garlic and winter greens!
The McGoldrick Park Winter Market started at the end of last month! Its now-indoor location is Lutheran Church of the Messiah, at 129 Russell Street. The market will also be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on February 21st and March 20th.
Its produce-focused vendors are D&J Farm, Garden of Eve Farm and Jersey Farm Produce. I definitely recommend checking out the Down to Earth Markets website if you wanna see what’s fresh and likely available from these farms ahead of time! Or else just feel safe knowing this is a totally delicious recipe that is totally adaptable to pretty much whatever fresh veg you find.Continue reading →
Stew served with a side of blue corn chips for dipping.
Slow cooker veggie stews top my list of minimal effort, maximum nutrient recipes. Not to mention they are extremely delicious.
This one uses seven different vegetables with a focus on the roots, including my personal favorite, rutabaga. Rutabaga is the child of turnip and cabbage, and when cooked, it is sweet and savory with the texture of a potato. (Turnip and cabbage are also in this stew, because who am I to separate a family?) I have found rutabaga at the McCarren Park Greenmarket recently, and it is always available at the Union Square Greenmarket.
I use arrowroot powder to thicken my stews as a healthier alternative to corn starch. It is flavorless and very nutritious.
Every summer, someone I know calls for an impromptu celebration of a sunny Greenpoint day in the form of a picnic. Each time, I always show up with the same thing – Watermelon Soju, a boozy pureed watermelon punch that is dangerously (or gloriously) stronger than it tastes.
Watermelon Soju is no secret to anyone familiar with Koreatown’s best offerings but since many people have asked me what goes in it and how I make it, I decided to quench all your curious minds here on Greenpointers. Continue reading →
Feeling like a bit of a sloth this morning? Suffering perhaps from a case of the Mondays? I concur. It’s more than a little tough to feel energized knowing that you’ve got a solid work week ahead of you. Memories of leisurely bicycling, beers with buddies, ice cream in the park, strolling in the sunshine, and other weekend-ish whims linger as you fill up your “world’s best” (fill in title here) mug. No time for daydreaming now. Time now to focus, to work, to make the donuts. How can one muster the energy and positivity in a healthy way? Thanks to Karolina Gumpert of Awakening Café (on Manhattan Avenue), I’ve found a lovely way to get that healthy boost. A bit of background about Awakening if you haven’t popped into this little spa and café yet, they’ve got a wonderful fresh juice and smoothie bar as well as an extensive menu of wellness services such as craniosacral therapy, Reiki, sound therapy, and yoga. I recently ran into Karolina from the café, and she recommended this lovely recipe to me as an energizing way to start the day, so I whipped it up in the blender and gave it a go. Delicious and clean-tasting, this nutty, vegetal, sweet treat was supremely satiating as well. A nice, clean, and simple start to the week! Now, I beseech you. Go forth and blend! Continue reading →
Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and perhaps you’re looking for something fun and brunchy to make for that special lady in your life. Waffles topped with caramelized bananas? That’s been done. And she already knows you can poach an egg. So how about Toad in the Hole! No, no, no… I am NOT talking about one of those predictable (but tasty none-the-less) pieces of toast with an egg-filled hole in the middle. The recipe I’m in fact referring to is the BRITISH version, which is essentially a family-sized Yorkshire pudding topped with little breakfast sausages. And if you really want to say I love you with breakfast, top that toad with onion gravy and add a side of beans. It’s quite simple, really , I say with an unconvincing British accent. This week I went to Kate Coats, lovely Brit and mother of the ridiculously entertaining Avery and Oliver, to find out what her brood’s been eating these days. Thank god the word “nuggets” was not uttered. With a smile, she answered that Avery’s favorite dish is Toad in the Hole. Says Kate, “Avery normally makes the batter for me. It’s his favorite meal to make AND to eat. Plus we pretend that it’s real toads that we’re eating.“ You know what? Eatin’ toads with some cool kids sounds pretty fun. So grab your whisks, you Yankees, and ready yourself for a British breakfast invasion. Continue reading →
