A Good Dish

making food simpler

A Healthy Birthday Celebration and a (Kale)Variation of a Greek Salad

Kale Greek Salad
Porcelain Bowl by Nick Moen at The Bright Angle

My mother had a big birthday this summer and it needed celebrating. We had done both small and large parties in the past and no one, including my mother, was up for that again. A short but special trip seemed like a good solution. I rented a car, picked her up in Connecticut and we drove north to Kripalu, an educational yoga center and retreat in the Berkshires.

View of the Stockbridge bowl and Berkshires over the Kripalu lawn

Kripalu is located in a former monastery and the rooms are nothing to write home about, but  you don’t go to Kripalu for the rooms. You go for the classes, the treatments, the pervasive zen feeling of the place. While we were there, Mom took an introductory yoga class, a fairly wild yoga dance session, attended several informative and relevant lectures, had three different kinds of massage and walked the beautiful grounds which overlook the rolling green hills and the placid waters of the Berkshire Bowl. But I am certain that her favorite part of our time there was spent at the 3 times daily healthy meal buffets!

So many veggies on the Kripalu Buffet!

My mother was an early adapter of healthy eating. In the 70’s, she started attending Nathan Pritikin’s longevity programs and we all learned about brown rice, legumes and eating less meat and cheese. So while some people would flinch at the healthy, primarily vegetable, grain and bean offerings at Kripalu, Mom was thrilled. She wanted to taste every dish and some days I think she succeeded. I must admit part of what is so relaxing about the Kripalu buffet is that you don’t have to ever think about what you are going to eat but know there will always be something fresh and tasty. It takes a big piece of stress out of vacationing.

Abundant portion of lunch at Kripalu

One of the best tasting cold dishes I remember from this trip was a greek salad. Fortunately, a version of this recipe with kale was published in the new The Kripalu Kitchen: Nourishing Food for Body and Soul by the current chef, Jeremy Rock Smith. It is especially useful now if you are craving a greek salad but feeling a little squeamish about using Romaine lettuce with all the bacterial scares. I tried arugula when we were out of kale and liked it, too, but the kale offers a more satisfying chew . If you do make it with kale (lacinato or dinosaur only, please), be sure to massage it with the dressing to help break down the vegetal fibers and to make it both more digestible and palatable. Other additions that could work in this salad are avocado, nuts or seeds, artichoke hearts, sliced celery, shredded carrots, chopped parsley or even leftover pasta. I didn’t have fresh oregano so I used dried and it was fine. And I don’t like to add raw onions to a salad so I marinated them in a tablespoon of wine vinegar which I think improved the whole dish.  And you could serve all of the additions (other than the kale) in separate dishes for people to add in as they please so that everyone gets the salad they want.

The new Kripalu cookbook is full of tasty vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian recipes such as Kitchari (a soothing Ayurvedic rice and bean dish), roasted harissa cauliflower, polenta with mushroom sauce, pan-roasted pollock with chimichurri, pea, leek and potato cakes and the Kripalu house dressing with tahini and tamari. I look forward to trying many but for now, while we still have no oven, I will be making my adaptation of their greek salad over and over this summer and remember our lovely days in the Berkshires. Happy Birthday, Mom and I hope you are out walking soon!

Kale Greek Salad
Porcelain Bowl by Nick Moen at The Bright Angle

Kripalu Kale Greek Salad, adapted from The Kripalu Kitchen

  • 2 TBs fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Pinch each kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 TBs chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
  • 6-8 loosely packed cups thinly cut strips (chiffonade) lacinato kale (1 generous bunch, stripped away from center rib)
  • 1 cup sliced or diced cucumber (about 2 Persian or Kirby)
  • 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup bite sized slices of red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup very thinly sliced red onion, marinated in 1TBs red wine vinegar
  • 4-6 ozs feta cheese
  • 8-10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
  • 1/4 cup raw pine nuts or walnuts (optional)

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano

Add the kale, coat completely and use your hands to massage the dressing into the kale.

Just before serving, add all the other ingredients and toss.

Serves 4-6

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It Is Getting Much Easier To Find A Great Grass-Fed Burger In New York And Beyond

Grass-fed burger from The Double Windsor
Plate by Adero Willard

Even though I try to eat clean, healthy food most of the time, sometimes I just crave a big, juicy burger. When I do eat meat, I want it to be from a grass-fed, well raised animal. It used to be almost impossible to find a good grass-fed burger in Manhattan but that is changing quickly. There were plenty of good tasting burgers, always have been. Now you can find great grass-fed in most neighborhoods, even in some chain restaurants (Bareburger and Umami Burger, for example).  

Grass-fed Umami Burger

There are many reasons to choose grass-fed, including your health and the health and welfare of the animal supplying your meals. Cows are ruminants, which means they are constituted to eat grass, not grains. The fat they produce eating grass is different (and healthier) as is the quality of their lives than when eating grain, which causes them a lot of gas. Even if you don’t care about animal welfare, you might care about global warming (think about all that additional methane from grain-fed animals) or your own longevity, in which case, you would be choosing better (read completely grass-fed beef and eat it less frequently. It is lower in calories since it is leaner and it provides more omega 3 fatty acids – the kind we want.

Grass-fed burger at Cleaver Counter (formerly The Green Table)

I’ve read that all the meat advertised as grass-fed may not be, so it is worth asking the restaurant or your server where you eat your burger where they get their beef. Organic, Wagyu and Angus don’t necessarily mean grass-fed and, in most cases, are not (organic refers to the quality of the feed, usually corn and Wagyu and Angus are types of cattle). Hopefully, disclosure in restaurants and markets will get more transparent as better grass-fed beef becomes more widely available. 

Grass-fed burger at Smorgas Chef

Okay – lecture over – now to the burgers. There are certainly many great grass-fed burgers I haven’t tried but these are the burgers I can recommend, including a few in other cities. Many of these places also serve a good bison or veggie burger and often serve delicious French or sweet potato fries or a  salad with the burger. I’ve found the best way to order (or cook) grass-fed meat is medium rare. If you overcook grass-fed beef, it tastes, well, too grassy.

Grass-fed burger from Community Food & Juice
Grass-fed burger in a collard green wrap at Bareburger

New York Burgers I Have Known and Loved:

  • Bareburger (multiple locations including Upper East and West Side and West Village)-Good tasting and if you aren’t eating bread, you can get this served in a collard leaf
  • Buttermilk Channel (Carroll Gardens)-tasty and juicy in a hopping neighborhood cafe
  • Cleaver Counter (Chelsea Market- used to be The Green Table)-now served not with kimchi but with bacon jam-yum
  • Community Juice and Wine (Morningside Heights)-with caramelized onions and cheddar
  • Cookshop (Chelsea near the High Line)
  • The Distillery (formerly the Brickyard Gastropub in Midtown West)-with sautéed onions and avocado (very reasonable price) and a very good veggie burger – great lunch specials
  • The Double Windsor (Windsor Terrace)-with cheddar and pickles in a neighborhood tavern with a great selection of draft beer, cider and whiskey
  • Ella Kitchen & Bar (Upper West Side)-big well-salted patty with sautéed mushrooms and mozzarella – open for lunch and dinner
  • The Meat Hook (Gowanus in Threes Brewing)-a kitchen outpost of a well-respected, conscientious  Brooklyn butcher shop in a bar with a big draft selection and a garden
  • Smorgas Chef (Midtown East in Scandinavia House)-a quiet respite south of Grand Central with a very good burger
  • Tessa (Upper West Side)
  • Umami Burger (all over) really tasty, especially with Parmesan fricco (a yummy fried cheese crisp) and mushrooms or salsa 
  • Upland (Park Avenue South)-with avocado and peppadew peppers in a big, bustling brasserie
Grass-fed burger at Ella Kitchen & Bar

Beyond New York:

  • Allen Street Hardware Cafe in Buffalo-plus an amazing bison burger
  • Busboys & Poets, DC (and good salads)
  • Toups South in New Orleans-everything delicious (sit at the counter to watch the cooks)
  • Village Whiskey, White Dog, Tired Hands (actually Ardmore) and Standard Tap in Philadelphia
  • BelCampo Restaurant in Larkspur (Marin County, CA) with restaurants in SF, Palo Alto, Santa Monica and LA – delicious burgers made from beef from their own farm/ranch
  • Farmburger, Asheville (amazing onion rings)
  • Sweet Pea Cafe, Mount Desert Island, ME
  • The Table in London’s Southwark (across from Tate Modern)
  • Row 34 in the Seaport District in Boston
Grass-fed burger at Village Whiskey in Philadelphia

The Holiday Pottery Sales Are On!

A detail from the wall of cups available for sale at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia

Some people wait all year for the Black Friday sales. I wait for the holiday pottery sales. Just as September always feels like the beginning of the year to me because of the start of school, the holiday season starts off with pottery sales. I hosted a sale for decades but always managed to get to some of the others. Now the season is here – the clay sales have begun!

A corner of Melissa Weiss‘ booth at the PMC this month
Pots by Nick Moen-The Bright Angle
at the PMC show earlier this month
Bryan Hopkins Pots at this year’s PMC
Paul Eshelman Pottery at the recent PMC show

The PMC (Philadelphia Museum Craft Show) has come and gone (it was a beauty this year) and every weekend from now until the end of December, there will be wonderful exhibitions and studio sales of ceramics and other media all across the country. Not only do you get to see and buy pots but you also get to meet and chat with their makers!

Donna Polseno pots at the Old Church Pottery Sale

One of my favorite shows (and these are really exhibitions as well as sales – a chance to see new work as well as buy it) is the annual invitational Old Church Pottery Sale in Demarest, New Jersey. We have been going for more than 25 years and a number of our favorite pots were purchased there, including some early Ayumi Hori mugs, Bernadette Curran tumblers, Silvie Granatelli bowls and Matthew Metz cups. This year a number of young potters will be exhibiting there and I can’t wait to see their work!

Peter Beasecker pots at the Old Church Pottery Sale
Some of Adero Willard‘s pots at the Old Church Pottery Sale
Mark Pharis pots at the Old Church Pottery Sale

Of the many terrific group shows I can’t get to this year but wish I could, the 16 Hands tour that takes place this weekend in Floyd, Virginia seems particularly appealing. And I would love to peruse Art Providence and the Foundry Show in Pawtucket the 2nd weekend in December. I have listed below the group sales I know about but there are certainly plenty more. If you have favorite potters, contact them to see when their sales are or in which group shows they will be participating. Many college and university ceramics departments hold holiday sales as do clay galleries, both brick and mortar and online. If only we could get to them all…..Happy hunting!

Holly Walker Pots at
Society for Arts & Crafts in Boston

(A little consolation if you can’t get to some of the shows or miss the pieces you desire online – there will be another batch of sales around Mother’s Day).

A favorite mug by Perry Haas purchased at the Old Church Pottery Sale

National Farmers Market Week – What Better Time To Find A Market Near You?

Zinnias from Ray Bradley Farm
Porcelain tumbler by Gwendolyn Yoppolo

Did you know it was National Farmers Market Week? I found out from a Union Square Greenmarket post yesterday. As those of you who follow A Good Dish know, I am a devotee of our local markets and always seek out a market when I travel. With the internet, it is easy to find a market near you. This time of year, markets are bursting with tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, leafy greens, melons, peaches and nectarines, plums, flowers and herbs as well as the year round offerings of meat, dairy, bread, pickles, onions, potatoes and root vegetables. If you don’t already shop at your neighborhood farmers market, find one near you and go weekly. There is no fresher produce to be had unless you actually go to a farm or grow it yourself. Check out these photos and then tell me, how can you resist?

All these images are from the Friday 97th Street Greenmarket in Manhattan.

Rainbow carrots, cabbages, leafy greens, herbs (even lemongrass) from J&A
Vermont cheese and syrup from Consider Bardwell Farm
White donut peaches actually are “very sweet”
Grass-fed beef and bones are available year round at Sun Fed Beef
Ray Bradley’s heirlooms have intense, sweet tomato flavor
Pickles, sauerkraut, eggs, cheese, sausages and butter from Amish Millport Dairy

 

 

 

 

Cherry tomatoes in every hue! 

 

 

Our Local Mani Market Will Survive Even Though a Trader Joe’s Just Opened Across the Street

Organic domestic strawberries from Mani Marketplace are on sale this week
Leaf plate by Linda Huey

Trader Joe’s opened a store in our neighborhood and I have mixed feelings. I had hoped for a local branch for more than 20 years, since I first shopped at one in Connecticut. But now I feel conflicted because of what I fear it will do to our local grocers, who have been fantastic neighborhood vendors for decades. (And I wonder why they couldn’t have opened in a needier neighborhood (actual food deserts still exist in NYC) instead of our already over gentrified Upper West Side). Wherever you live, this is a problem for everyone in the face of rapid expansion by chain stores. I do shop at Costco, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s but I also shop, almost daily, at our local Mani Market Place.

Trader Joe’s on Columbus Avenue on opening day
Taki, and his brother Taso, keeps the store stocked and customers happy

There are different reasons to shop different stores. Trader Joe’s has many quality organic items at very reasonable prices, offers paper shopping bags, takes things back if they are bad and has great deals on flowers and orchids. On the other hand, Mani’s, run by two kind, personable and generous brothers, Taki and Taso Mastakouris, sells seasonal produce and plants from nearby farms, stocks all kinds of specialty, organic and hard to find items like Halloumi cheese, locally roasted coffees (at great prices) and imported European butters, has a fresh deli with helpful countermen and in house-made salads and is open early, late and on holidays. If you’ve burned your Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, Mani’s will have a delicious replacement for you from a local farm bakery. If you get to the cashier and realize you’ve forgotten your wallet, Taso will tell you to pay them tomorrow. If you are eyeing the fresh figs but wondering if they are as tasty as they look, Taki will offer you a taste. It is about as perfect a local market as one could imagine.

Mani’s deli is the place for made to order sandwiches and in house made salads
Mani’s stocks a big selection of cheese and snacks
Freshly roasted in Brooklyn coffees

Although Mani’s has good prices, how will they be able to compete with the kind of volume pricing that Trader Joe’s offers? Well – they already are better priced on many items. At Mani’s, I have seen mangoes for $1 and grapefruit at 3 for $2 as well as fresh bread from Arthur Avenue for $4 per loaf. This week domestic strawberries are 2 boxes for $4, organic strawberries are 2 boxes for $7 and pineapples are 2 for $5. These are prices you can’t beat anywhere. Their fresh produce and the high quality of their deli (including fresh roasted turkey everyday) along with their distinct products (truly delicious olive oil direct from their family in Greece, boxes of tamarind pods, fresh green herbs all year, fresh turmeric and horseradish roots in season) and personal service gives Mani’s an individual profile that makes them stand out among Upper West Side groceries.

When you need a specialty item, like fresh turmeric, Mani’s has it
Amazing produce prices at Mani Marketplace

There are other neighborhood stores I think will feel challenged but will also survive (if their landlords don’t escalate their rents) because they are distinctive, accommodating and have built a loyal following. Besides Mani, these include Ivan Pharmacy which has competitive prices and offers quality lines (like Mrs. Meyers cleaning products and Playmobil toys) and Columbus Natural Foods, our local health food store which shines for its bulk items, prepared foods (especially delicious soups) and juices, medicinal products and the knowledgable advice of its proprietor, Ann. All three of these stores and their owners are local treasures. I think they will survive and thrive now that Trader Joe’s is open. We will certainly continue to support them, as I hope everyone else in the neighborhood will, too.