Blanca Lilia Narváez from Tropisec accepting the award for Best Dessert at Queens Taste 2012 (Photo: P. Conti)

I would not hesitate to say that Queens is the best borough to have dinner in. Or lunch. Or breakfast for that matter. Whether it’s Chinese food in Flushing, Mexican in Corona, Korean in Douglaston, Indian in Floral Park, or the lesser known Bukharian restaurants of Forest Hills, it’s no secret that the streets of Queens are teeming with authentic ethnic eateries. In addition to brick-and-mortar restaurants however, Queens is churning out exciting high-quality artisanal food from passionate entrepreneurs cooking out of a 5,000 square foot kitchen in Long Island City.

The Entrepreneur Space (referred to as the “E-Space” by those in the know) is a joint venture between the Queens Economic Development Corporation and Mi Kitchen es su Kitchen. This past Tuesday night, I had the privilege of attending the QEDC’s 10th Annual Queens Taste 2012, an incredible evening where over 1,000 people celebrated the food of Queens at Caesar’s Club at Citi Field. The 47 vendors included many businesses from the E-Space, and I was thrilled to be able to talk to the chefs and visionaries behind the ventures.

Beyond Kombucha: Astoria, NY

It doesn’t get more sustainable and local than the Astoria-based company Beyond Kombucha. Started by Astoria-native and self-proclaimed “Tea Snob” Spiro Theofilatos, the kombucha churned out by this company is powered by the 3rd largest private solar field in NYC! Kombucha is an effervescent fermented tea beverage made with tea leaves and herbs. While most comercial kombucha is formulated to remove the alcoholic byproduct of the fermentation process, Spiro being the purist that he is refused to compromise the integrity of this ancient beverage, and instead went through the process of becoming the first NY State and federally-licensed kombucha brewery on the East Coast. Now the very slightly alcoholic (1.5%) drink can be sold legally with it’s authentic flavor intact…And that flavor is delicious! Tuesday night, he and his team were offering 2 of their spring 2012 flavors to taste including Yerba Mate and Vanilla Rooibos. While both were refreshing, I preferred the Yerba Mate’s herbaceous and appley profile, but I can imagine sipping on the Vanilla Rooibos with dessert. Kombucha is a naturally fermented and “live” product, and all the good bacteria (probiotics) inherent to the fermentation process are wonderful for your digestion. I often suggest incorporating fermented foods to my patients struggling with digestive issues, and I will definitely include Beyond Kombucha in my recommendations moving forward.

Josephine’s Feast: Long Island City and East End of Long Island

Josephine’s Feast is a small-batch jam and preserve maker. I had heard about the company a few years ago, when Food Curated made a 6-minute video about the founder Laura O’Brien’s thoughtful and artisinal approach to preserving seasonal fruit. I had the chance to speak with Laura’s husband, Sean, and was thrilled to hear how the company has expanded in the past few years. They still have the sweet jams, but have branched out into a variety of marmalades and mustards. While they source as much fruit as possible from farms near their home on the East End of Long Island and in upstate New York, they were tasting 4 marmalades made from seasonal winter citrus form California. Of the four marmalades that Sean was sampling, I enjoyed the Thick Cut Blood Orange Marmalade the best. The marmalade was a beautiful, rich and vibrant scarlet color which would pair wonderfully well with a sweet butter or soft cheese. Of the mustards, I loved the whole grain mustard with lemon, sage and chablis. Throw a bit of that in a vinaigrette, and you’ll immediately be transported to Provence!

Tropisec: Long Island City

If being transported to a tropical paradise sounds more like what you’re after, I recommend snacking on the dried fruit creations of Blanca Lilia Narváez’s Tropisec. Based out of Long Island City’s E-Space, Blanca was inspired to start Tropisec when she missed the natural, sun-sweetened dried fruits of her native Columbia. She sources her raw ingredients from a Columbian co-op that supplies her with all organic, dried fruit, which she artistically arranges into edible sculptures. She employs women in Columbia, many of whom were displaced by domestic violence, to make her natural banana-leaf packaging. Once you’ve tasted these sweets, you will understand why the Queens Taste 2012 jury awarded Tropisec the best dessert. I tried a sundried banana bite dusted with cocao powder which packed real intense banana flavor, and a whimsical papaya flower. Both were unique and delightful.  If you are looking for something unique for the moms in your life, you can order Tropisec’s fruit creations on their website.

Overall it was a fantastic event, and it was inspiring to see the many diverse food pioneers right here in my back yard, as they work to uphold Queens’ reputation as the BEST food borough.

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Garam masala is a Indian spice blend which is an essential flavoring in many North Indian dishes. Garam means “hot”, yet traditionally there is no chili in the blend, the heat instead coming from warming spices like cumin, cinnamon and clove. “Masala” just means blend, and technically, even a blend of 2 spices can be characterized as a “masala”. With these kind of spice blends, everyone claims the authentic recipe, yet in reality there are endless variations of spice combinations.

When I looked down at what I had pulled off the shelf I saw coriander, cinnamon, clove, cumin, fennel, cardamom, star anise and black pepper, a realized that most of them are used in Chinese herbal formulas to treat a variety digestive issues. In Chinese medicine, the digestive process requires an activating, warming force since it’s the combustion engine of the whole body – turning the food that we eat into essential substances like Energy and Blood. When our digestion slows down, or we feel sluggish, weak or cold, all it may take to get us back on track is a little activating, fragrant nudge, accomplished in traditional Chinese herbal formulas with herbs like cardamom, fennel, cinnamon and star anise. The remaining ingredients, brown sugar, salt and the almonds themselves, have their own medicinal properties. The sweetness of brown sugar strengthens the function of the digestion, and salt and almonds promote bowel function. Annnddd, recent research suggests that using spices like these cut fat levels in your blood after a heavy meal…All in all, pretty impressive for “bar nuts”, huh?!

Garam Masala Bar Nuts

• 1 cup blanched almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon each: cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon stick
• 2 pods from star anise
• 1 cardamon pod, crushed to remove the 3 inner black seed clusters
• 1 teaspoon butter (melted) or olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• Salt

1. Toast spices: In a hot dry skillet, add cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel, black peppercorns, star anise, and cardamom and toast, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until spices are fragrant
2. Grind spices: Transfer toasted spices to a clean, dry coffee/spice grinder – grind until fine powder. Transfer to a small bowl, and add cinnamon. Mix.
3. Roasted almonds: Wipe out skillet, and add almonds. Toast while tossing constantly, until browned slightly. Remove to a plate.
4. Toss nuts: Mix butter or olive oil, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala until a paste is formed. Add roasted almonds and toss until well coated. Once coated evenly, add 1/4 teaspoon more garam masala and 1 hefty pinch of salt; toss again. Turn nuts out onto parchment to cool completely.

Eat immediately, keep at room temperature in a mason jar for up to a week, or store in freezer (bringing to room temperature or warming before enjoying). Note: Feel free to modify the amounts or omit a particular spice if you have an aversion to it or it’s out of stock in your pantry. 

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Did you notice the tasty-looking side-dish I paired with the previous post? I first tasted this salad at a cooking demonstration last fall, given by my good friend and talented chef Hilla Abel. I was immediately hooked. So I started making it – a lot – and I haven’t stopped. It has everything you can ask for: it’s a cinch to make, has a little spice, a little sweet, it’s healthy, it’s filling…and it’s DELICIOUS! While you can use any hearty green, I’m partial to collards. Collard greens are a little over-looked these days, with all the incredible press kale seems to be getting, but I would advise you to try them for this dish. Once the leaves are washed and de-stemmed (see the brilliant “quick and dirty method” Hilla demonstrates here) chiffonade into wide ribbons.

Toast a handful of nuts in a dry skillet. I’ve used all different nuts, depending on what I have in the freezer at the time. In an ideal world, I would use sliced almonds or pine nuts, but walnuts or pecans work as well.

In the mean time, make the dressing by mixing together 1 minced garlic clove, and 2-3 T each of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and honey. Add a hefty pinch of red pepper flakes (of course you can use less if you’re sensitive to heat). Toss the greens with the dressing and a handful of raisins.

When the nuts are fragrant, golden brown and hot, toss into the bowl. I like how the hot nuts wilt the greens. On one hand, it’s best if the salad marinates for a bit before serving, but on the other hand, I like when the greens are a bit tough. Either way, the salad keeps wonderfully, and can be made ahead of time. Thanks Hilla for a great recipe that is now part of my rotation!

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Vefa’s Kitchen is one of my favorite cookbooks. I often pick it up and marvel at the pictures, and the simple, fresh ingredient-inspired Greek recipes. As I was leafing through the book the other day, I came across this recipe for “Baked Giant Beans”.  The recipe called for dried lima/butter beans, and remembered that I had a bag of dried fava beans in the pantry, so I went about making the dish. It’s a real country/rustic dish, best served with greens and a thick slice of wheat bread.

Baked Gigante Beans (adapted from Vefa’s Kitchen)

• 1 pound dried fava beans, soaked over night in cold water and peeled
• 1  celery root, peeled and diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 onions, sliced
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound chopped roma tomatoes (I used tomatoes I peeled, diced and froze in August, but you can use canned tomatoes here, too)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (I used tomato paste I made this summer and froze in ice-cube trays)
• Fresh parsley and/or dill, chopped, to taste
• 2 sliced roma tomatoes
• Olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes

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I threw on a pot of water to cook the lentils, and heated a skillet to sauté some vegetables as a base for the lentils. I ended up with a great quick braise of onion, garlic, carrot and rutabaga (from our CSA) with white wine and herbes de Provence, to which I added the cooked lentils and a little balsamic vinegar. Thrown on the re-heated cooked pasta and garnished with crumbled goat cheese, another episode of clean-out-your-fridge-dinner is complete!

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Steel-cut oatmeal has been a long-time favorite Winter breakfast for me, but lately I’ve been branching out, inspired by the fact that we have a ton of other whole grains in our pantry such as oat groats, spelt berries, wheat berries, farro and rye berries.  These grains all came from Cayuga Pure Organics, a bean and grain farm located near Ithaca, NY that is a provider for our CSA.

I’ve been treating these grains the way I would treat steel cut oatmeal, and it’s my new favorite way to start off the day! Follow these instructions to turn any whole grain into a warm, hearty breakfast flavored just to your liking.

Instructions:

Heartier whole grains such as rye berries and wheat berries cook quicker if you soak them overnight prior to cooking. A single serving is about 1/2 cup of dried grain. Just measure out the grain and put it in a bowl covered by at least a couple of inches of water (preferably filtered). Cover, and leave overnight.  The next morning (or some hours later), strain the grain and put it in a heavy pot with water in a 2:1 water:grain ratio.  Don’t worry about using too much water as this type of grain doesn’t turn into a porridge, the individual rye berries retain their integrity so you can just strain the grain when it’s cooked through, or fish it out with a slotted spoon.

Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until they tastes done.  These rye berries took about 40 minutes. They’re still al dente even after all that cooking, and they’ll pop in your mouth when chewed. At that point, you can add whatever flavorings you want, sweet or savory.   I like a touch a sweetness, so here I grabbed a small handful of raisins and sunflower seeds and it was perfect. Other great sweet options include maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, walnuts, almonds, cashews, fresh apples, bananas, etc.  For the more savory side, Alexa adds things like sesame oil, soy sauce, steamed vegetables, balsamic vinegar, and pine nuts.  What flavor combinations come to your mind? We’d love to hear your favorites, it’s going to be a long Winter and we’ve got a lot of grain to get through!

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I am a sucker for the polenta/mushroom combo, a flavor profile you’ve probably seen before on this blog. In terms of the mushrooms, I often choose shitake and maitake, which can be expensive, but worth it when you factor in the immune-boosting properties. Just chop them up, and sauté over medium/low heat with the tips of the garlic,  salt and pepper, thyme (if you have it) and olive oil. Mushrooms give of a lot of moisture when cooking, and I find that cooking slowly over low heat insures they soften up without burning.

The Tuv Ha’aretz Forest Hills CSA we belong to also organizes shares of grain, bean and flour from Cayuga Pure Organics, an Ithaca-based company. They offer both cornmeal (finely ground) and polenta (coarsely ground). If I’m planning on keeping the resultant cornmeal soft and smooth, I use the finely ground cornmeal. If I’m planning on baking it or cutting it into squares (like this other mushroom polenta recipe), I use the coarsely ground cornmeal. Either way, cornmeal is something you want to try to buy organic, since corn is often genetically modified and sprayed with tons of pesticides. It also keeps pretty much forever, so you don’t have to worry about it going bad if it’s kept either in the fridge or freezer. I find the ratio for creamy polenta is a little more than 2:1, so if I’m cooking 1 cup of cornmeal (which will serve 2 for a main course), I use about 2.5 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, and whisk in the polenta. I like to use a flat whisk, but whatever you have that you can keep whisking with will be fine. If there are clumps, keep whisking, and it it becomes too think, just add more water. When the cornmeal has thickened, add the roasted garlic, salt, about a tablespoon of olive oil and more water if needed. Whisk until smooth, top with sautéed mushrooms, and voila – a delicious, vegan side dish!

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This is a synergistic salad, meaning the resulting dish is much greater than the sum of its parts. Not that the ingredients on their own aren’t fabulous – I love them all. But together, they meld into a salad that is just out of this world.  The first time I had this dish I fell in love with the flavors. The salad is based on a recipe from my dear friend Victoria, whose mother Josiane is Moroccan. In the original version, the carrots are par-boiled and chopped. While it’s not an extremely complicated step, I’ve removed the need to cook the carrots, and instead rely on The Cuisinart, and possibly my favorite attachement – the shredder. Once you peel the carrots, a quick zip through the shredder creates a beautiful confetti of orange.

This salad is a perfect combination of bold flavors, and you can really play with and vary the proportions of each: GO CRAZY!  If you want to use a whole bunch of parsley, go for it! If you’re feeling like you want it more garlicky, as you wish. You won’t be disappointed, as I have yet to use any measuring utensils when making this salad, and all times it’s come out perfectly. The one thing I will say, is that it is essential that you use a good amount of whole cumin seed and toast it before tossing with the salad. This will give the spice a warm earthiness that contrasts nicely with the freshness of the other ingredients.

Moroccan Carrot Cumin Salad

• Carrots, peeled and shredded
• Garlic – diced or put through a press*
• Parsely – cleaned and chopped
• Cumin seed – toasted
• Lemon juice
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients. If you make this salad the evening before, hold off on the olive oil and store in the fridge. Toss with olive oil an hour before serving. Serve cold or room temperature.

* I used to be majorly anti-garlic press. I was ridiculously rigid about having to chop or dice my garlic by knife, on a board…until one day, I took note of Cooks Illustrated’s review of the best garlic presses. The next time I was at a kitchen supply store, I bought their recommendation, and (let me tell you) it kinda changed my life. Sure, there are still times when I want to be intimate with my garlic, but on a day-to-day basis, I just smash a clove with my knife, peel the clove, throw it in my press, and squeeze. It’s a breeze.  (Couldn’t resist!)

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