Tasting mushrooms this week, what a great addition to the Thanksgiving table these would be! Apples, like landscapes, change from place to place, defining local in autumn farmers markets. October was a month of travel, and one of my great pleasures was checking out the different varieties of this fruit from city to city. Thus I found myself at a small New York City farmers market across from Lincoln Center on a rainy October market lingering among the Jonamacs and Jonagolds, Idareds and Mutsus, Macouns and McIntoshes, Spartans, Cortlands, and Empires, and a week later doing the same in Cambridge, where I saw some varieties that were new to me, Brocks, Spencers, Blushing Goldens and Golden Russets. The West Coast apples I work with are excellent (Braeburns, Galas, Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith), but there are fewer varieties to chose from in Los Angeles, and there is something about the tart, juicy crispness of a New England apple on a cool day that can’t be outdone.
Inspired, I worked on apple recipes with Thanksgiving in mind. I didn’t work on pies -- there are plenty of great apple pie recipes in the NYTCooking data base. I worked on salads and sides, scones and some other desserts, all coming up on Recipes for Health.
New York and Boston were two stops on my way to Paris, where every meal I ate reminded me that it was wild mushroom season. Cèpes or girolles, or both, were on all the menus and I never resisted a dish that featured them. At the wonderful Ecailler du Bistrot in the 11th arrondissment, where the fish is so fresh it glistens and melts in your mouth, I reveled in a roasted barbue (brill) garnished with a girolle-studded parsley sauce; at a nondescript Italian place in the 6th I took a chance on risotto with cèpes (I usually avoid ordering risotto in restaurants because it is so often overcooked) and bet right; a ravioli with cèpes at Z Kitchen Gallerie was stunning. I bought as many wild mushrooms as I could afford (not many) at the marché on the Boulevard Richard Lenoir with the intention of making a risotto with mushrooms and pumpkin; but the guests I had hoped to cook for weren’t available and as the week began to get away, fearing my mushrooms would too, I nipped home between outings one day, cooked them quickly in a pan with garlic and wine, piled them onto toast and crumbled on the Parmesan I’d bought for the risotto. That was a perfect lunch.
Inspired, I worked on apple recipes with Thanksgiving in mind. I didn’t work on pies -- there are plenty of great apple pie recipes in the NYTCooking data base. I worked on salads and sides, scones and some other desserts, all coming up on Recipes for Health.
New York and Boston were two stops on my way to Paris, where every meal I ate reminded me that it was wild mushroom season. Cèpes or girolles, or both, were on all the menus and I never resisted a dish that featured them. At the wonderful Ecailler du Bistrot in the 11th arrondissment, where the fish is so fresh it glistens and melts in your mouth, I reveled in a roasted barbue (brill) garnished with a girolle-studded parsley sauce; at a nondescript Italian place in the 6th I took a chance on risotto with cèpes (I usually avoid ordering risotto in restaurants because it is so often overcooked) and bet right; a ravioli with cèpes at Z Kitchen Gallerie was stunning. I bought as many wild mushrooms as I could afford (not many) at the marché on the Boulevard Richard Lenoir with the intention of making a risotto with mushrooms and pumpkin; but the guests I had hoped to cook for weren’t available and as the week began to get away, fearing my mushrooms would too, I nipped home between outings one day, cooked them quickly in a pan with garlic and wine, piled them onto toast and crumbled on the Parmesan I’d bought for the risotto. That was a perfect lunch.
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