A Good Dish

making food simpler

To Buy Or Not To Buy Organic? – A Little Help With That Perpetual Question

Asparagus is on the Clean 15 list
Mug by Bandana Pottery

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and with it comes the fresh fruit and vegetable season – finally! For those who have been scouring the markets for something green and fresh, local spring asparagus and strawberries are cause for celebration. I was at our farmer’s market on Friday and there were fresh herbs, lettuces, Asian greens and green garlic alongside said asparagus and berries and much of it was organic.

Fresh Pac Choy at the 97th St Greenmarket

Buying organic vegetables is one easy action we can take toward healthier eating. There are reasons beyond health to buy organic. Every time you buy organic produce, especially local, you help keep family farms thriving, protect workers and water and keep deadly pesticides away from land, animals and people. Organic is more widely available than even a few years ago and, in many cases, not so expensive as it once was. Our neighborhood market carries organic produce at reasonable prices to say nothing of Costco and Amazon. But does all the produce we buy need to be organic? The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization acting to protect the environment and human health, publishes an online “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” which includes the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean 15” lists of the most and the least pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables. I rely on their research to know what I must buy organic and what I don’t have to and you can, too.

Spring garlic from J&A Farm

The EWG’s lists are a big help toward understanding where we can be flexible in our shopping choices. According to them, we must choose organic strawberries, spinach and peaches but not necessarily avocados, onions or pineapple. Go to their website (I’ve linked to them above), print them out and put them near where you make your grocery list. Their recommendations will make your fruit and vegetable shopping much easier.

Lilacs blooming in Central Park – warm days are here!

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.

What to Cook in Spring When Local Still Means Root Vegetables

Golden beets with dill vinaigrette
Plate by Mary Barringer

Local asparagus is coming. So are ramps, fiddleheads and green garlic. But until they get here, we still need vegetables to eat. I am cleaning out my fridge and freezer this spring, trying to use up the jarred, frozen and preserved fruits and vegetables I stocked it with last fall. And then there are the roots.

Carrots (and beets) are available in several colors

Beets, watermelon radishes, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas and celery root are still available at our local markets as are potatoes and sweet potatoes. While the weather is still cool enough, and before the local greens arrive, I will continue to roast, steam, mash and sauté them, as suitable, and add them to soups. Root vegetables are quite nutritious, if grown in good soil, and usually quite inexpensive. If you browse social media, shots of root vegetable roasts seem to be trending. Perhaps roots are the new kale. Don’t forget horseradish is a root, is available right now and preparing it couldn’t be much easier (see recipe). Remember that roots also make wonderful salads which even improve after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

Horseradish roots

I have linked below to several past posts that included root recipes. I keep linking to them in the hope that they will help you use up the contents of your crisper or give you some inspiration when you go to the market. Local greens will be here soon. But until then, don’t forget your roots!

 

Plate by Margaret Bohls

Cooked Carrots

 

Oval bowl by Emily Schroeder Willis

Carrot Salad

 

(top) – oval bowl by Robbie Lobell
(below) – Shino glazed bowl by Malcolm Davis

Beet Salad Two Ways

 

Glazed Porcelain Dish by Andrew Martin

Roasted Parsnips

 

Squared Bowl by Silvie Granatelli

Sautéed Watermelon Radish

Trash Talk – Making Good Use of Garbage

It is easy to collect compost when the container is as gorgeous as this raku vessel by Liz Rudey

Composting, the act of transforming food waste into a nutritional soil booster through decomposition, is a way of turning garbage into something good. Not only does the act of composting reduce our volume of trash but it also creates a nourishing substance for plants, soil and crops. It is a cyclical process that appears to be a win win for everyone and isn’t hard – all it takes is the will to do it (and a sturdy lidded container that is washable and easy to transport). Really.

Information on how and where to compost is available at farmers markets throughout the city.

Mayor Blumberg proposed mandatory composting as far back as 2013 but so far curbside collection happens only voluntarily, with some 3 million New Yorkers participating, according to the Department of Sanitation. Unlike other programs (I’m thinking Citibike), regular curbside pickup is starting in the outer boroughs on a schedule. In Manhattan, residents (or management agents) can request curbside pickup of compost from the NYC Department of Sanitation, who will provide bins to buildings. Otherwise, you can simply keep a bucket for your food scraps and empty it at the farmers market weekly. Stuyvesant Town is a shining example of a building complex where thousands of residents compost enthusiastically, according to GrowNYC, the city organization that runs the Greenmarkets as well as textile and food scrap collection programs. And if you have a yard, you can have your own compost pile – my mother has been doing it for decades!

Jerry (in navy) runs the compost collection at the 97th St Greenmarket. Ask him for a bucket!

What goes into a compost bucket? Compost is the perfect place for all your carrot ends, lettuce cores and stale bread as well as the lemons that have petrified in the crisper and that dry pasta from the back of your cupboard that you forgot you bought 5 years ago. I don’t feel so wasteful if I know my old or rotting food is going to be turned into “black gold”. You can also compost cut flowers or house plants (as long as they aren’t diseased or infested with bugs) including soil, and any dried beans, grains, cereal, bread or seeds that are too old to cook, wooden toothpicks, skewers, matches or chopsticks, corks, leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds and paper filters, egg and nut shells and teabags, even dairy products. You can also add any food-soiled paper that is uncoated like paper napkins, paper towels, paper bags and uncoated paper packing material. Please no litter, no fat, no charcoal, and no coconut.

Food and garden scraps in a compost bin that would have otherwise ended up moldering at the dump!
Countertop pails with charcoal filters are easy to find. This one was at Home Goods.

There are a few tricks that make it go smoother. A piece of brown paper (like a paper bag or a shredded sheet of newspaper in the bottom of your bucket will help prevent the food scraps from sticking when you empty it each week. Big plastic buckets are readily found from bakeries, supermarkets and in dumpsters (as all potters know who need glaze containers) and are easily washed out. Jerry, the helpful man who oversees the compost drop off at our Friday Greenmarket on 97th Street, often has empty buckets on hand that he offers to composters who are still bringing food scraps in plastic bags. I wash out my buckets with dish soap and let them dry before starting to fill them again, just to make sure they don’t smell. You can use a countertop collector (one more use for ceramic jars or urns) to collect scraps before dumping into a larger covered container, if it makes the job easier. Usually I just put everything directly into the buckets I keep near the sink.

People bring food scraps to compost in all kinds of containers.
Full bins waiting to be picked up on Columbus Avenue.

Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of trash we produce. (Of course, not buying what we don’t need and using up what we do buy is the best way to cut down on trash). It only takes a little effort put scraps into a compost bucket instead of the garbage can and then to put your bucket in a shopping cart and take it along when you go to your farmers’ market. You’ll be amazed at the reduced amount of trash you will have each week. With composting and recycling, we are down to about 1 bag. Compost happens easily but we have to make the effort!

Don’t Hold Your Nose! Cabbage Can Be Your Go To For An Early Spring Salad

Purple Cabbage Salad with Umeboshi Dressing
Wood Fired Bowl by Perry Haas

Cabbage may not be the first thing you think of when planning a meal but it is your friend when it comes to making a winter salad. Especially at this time of year, when you are tired of shredded beets or carrots or kale but you still want some crunch, reach for cabbage instead. Cabbages last remarkably well in cold storage through the winter, providing vitamins C and K and a good amount of fiber when other green (or purple vegetables) are wilted and well past use.

Cabbage is delicious sautéed and fermented but can also make a remarkably fresh salad in these early spring months. Cole Slaw is a typical use but shredded cabbage with a vinaigrette is preferable, in my opinion, since it eliminates the use of mayonnaise. There are wonderful recipes for Indian and Thai cabbage salads with coconut and spices but my perennial favorite is made with orange juice and umeboshi paste, mashed pickled plums found at markets that carry Japanese products.

This salad is the decendant of a recipe I learned in one of the first cooking classes I ever took. It was created by Minx Boren, who taught at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in it’s early years and is now a life coach in Palm Beach. Natural Gourmet is a cooking school with a chef-training program focused on healthy eating. It is where I learned basic knife skills, a focus on nutritional balance and how to prepare global specialties from tamales to nori rolls to dosas. When learning to cook, I thought umeboshi paste and avocado oil were such exotic ingredients and, at that time, you really did have to search them out. Now even Costco sells avocado oil and Whole Foods and Fairway carry Umeboshi plums. If you really don’t like cabbage or don’t want to use it for some reason, this salad would also be good made with kale (massage it first) or shaved brussel sprouts, fennel or even blanched broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.

I have adjusted the original recipe only slightly in proportions, deleted and added a few ingredients. You can adjust it to suit your tastes. If you don’t want to add parley or cilantro, don’t. If you prefer cucumbers or red peppers to carrots, please use them. If you want to add some toasted sesame seeds instead of pumpkin, go ahead. Combining some purple cabbage with the green, or going all purple, will make the salad even more appealing. One of the beauties of this salad is that it tastes even better the second day, after the flavors have melded in the refrigerator, and it holds up well in a lunch box. If you find your cabbage tasting too strong or a little sharp or wilted after a winter in the fridge, just soak the shredded cabbage in cold water (before dressing) and it will sweeten and plump up.

Green Cabbage Salad with shredded carrots and toasted pumpkin seeds
Whiskey cups by Perry Haas

CABBAGE SALAD with UMEBOSHI DRESSING

Toss together in a large bowl:

  • 1 head cabbage, shredded
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 cup parsley or cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (add when serving)

     Optional alternatives or add-ins: red or green pepper pieces, sliced red radish, orange segments (cara cara or blood oranges look great), chopped apple, chopped cucumber, toasted sesame seeds, walnuts, thinly sliced celery 

Dressing:

  • 1 TBs minced red onion
  • 2 TBs umeboshi plum paste
  • 2 TBs Dijon mustard
  • 2 TBs avocado oil
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Toss vegetables with dressing and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Top with seeds before serving.

Purple Cabbage with Cara Cara orange segments, parsley and walnuts