In our current issue Paul Greenberg, author of the James Beard-award winning New York Times bestseller Four Fish, recalls the time he caught 50 pounds of mackerel on a boat from Sheepshead Bay. Having no idea how to preserve the highly perishable fish, he called on the wisdom of the East and Far East and ended up with enough sushi and pickled fish to last two months.
Soon, very soon, growing edible things will emerge from the soil, spreading locavore joy throughout the land. Among these early crops, ramps–those garlic-scented slender bulbs that taste like onions and make a million dishes more delicious–have garnered such a following, there’s a whole festival dedicated to celebrating their arrival.
With the burst of warm weather earlier this week, it feels like something must be growing out there, right? Sadly, it’s still a bit soon for those first spring crops to hit the Greenmarkets. Until they do, here’s a terrific recipe that will tickle your taste buds and get you through the last, long stretch of early spring.
Squid tastes great just about any way you serve it, whether boiled, grilled or fried. Flexible in the kitchen, abundant in the water–what’s not to love?
In 1985, the sweet, firm Peconic Bay Scallop all but disappeared. The culprit was a giant algae bloom that turned the waters of the bay a murky brown and choked out life on the sea floor, including the delicate eelgrass that the scallops fed on.
If you haven’t signed up for a CSA yet, you should consider joining one of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger’s sites, which make healthy, organic, fresh vegetables particularly affordable and accessible to community members of all income levels.
If this warm, then cold, then warm, then freezing weather has affected you like it has us, your throat is aching and you feel more like cuddling up under a blanket than picnicking in the park. This recipe for Warm Spiced Ginger Tea is the perfect remedy for the where-is-spring blues.
Friends, seriously, quit your day job now. Anne Saxelby is looking for someone to become the newest cheesemonger at her Essex Street Market shop and that someone could be you.
In the wake of California’s failed Proposition 37, which would have mandated the labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (aka GMOs), the debate over the consumer’s right to know is getting heated.
Educators at the Learning Garden on Randall’s Island work to help kids born in a land of pavement understand that most food starts in the dirt, not the supermarket. Beyond the usual carrots and tomatoes, they decided in 2010 to add one of the world’s most ubiquitous foods to the crops they grow: rice.
This recipe for Grilled Squid with Chickpeas and Arugula comes from Mark Usewicz, half of the husband-and-wife team behind Brooklyn’s very first community-supported fishery, Mermaid’s Garden. If you don’t have a grill, there’s a sauté option, too.
United City Ice Cube, a fourth-generation Hell’s Kitchen ice business, began in the early 1900s—back when ice was delivered to tenement kitchens by horse-drawn cart and came in 100-pound “cakes.” Today David and Donald Palmadessa keep the family business up and running, even in the face of widespread ice makers.
