The new Edible Queens has finally hit the stands. I’m so excited my borough has its very own Edible Community! Pick up your copy around the NYC area. I was also recently told that Edible Queens has “the best online presence of all NYC Edible communities hands down.” Awesome! I’m proud to contribute to that presence.

Have a great weekend and if you’re in NYC, don’t forget to pick up your free hard copy of the magazine this weekend.

My CSA share week #1 (last week, June 4) Photo from the Golden Earthworm Organic Farm (my CSA provider!)

I’m blogging for the newest Edible community– Edible Queens, set to launch its first paper issue September 2009. I have to admit I was feeling a little neglected. It’s about time there was an Edible community in my very own ‘hood, so I’m happy to be a part of it! I think the first issue is going to be fabulous and until then, you can read more online.

I have a weekly post about what I receive in my Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) box. I also include all the recipe ideas my heart can throw out for whatever the box contents are. So instead of just one recipe with one or two of the ingredients, I’ll list a few different ideas (with no promises I’m actually making any of them!).

The blog is called Astoria Feed.

One, because it’s about the food from the Astoria CSA, two, because it’s the feed I’ll be eating all week, and three, because it’s also a news feed of all of the above and more. You can follow the link: www.ediblecommunities.com/queens/view-by-tag/66/ to see more.

If you’re in a CSA, or ever thought of what the experience might be like, the blog will be a fun place to follow my adventures. If you’re in a CSA on the northeast (or even midwest) the blog will be fun to follow along with because you’ll probably receive many of the same items around the same time. If you’re in a CSA in the south or west coast I despise you for your extended growing seasons while you sit there practically eating watermelons this time of year because and you’ve seen this produce come through long ago (I know because I was in California two weeks ago eating local cherries like a banchy (re Urban Dictionary: A wild creature with snarly brown hair that is excessive in all its activities.). (As an aside, I’m not really sure why a banchy has to have snarly brown hair, but I suppose it fits.) Please note I have to wait another month for local cherries! If you’re not in a CSA, have been there/done that, can’t join, or won’t be joining, it’s still a fun place to follow along and if nothing else, maybe you’ll be inspired by some recipe ideas!

Here’s last week’s post as a sample of what you get if you read:

WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
1 bunch baby bok choi
1 bunch beets
1 bunch French breakfast radishes
1 bunch rhubarb
1 bunch Japanese white salad turnips
1 bag arugula -or- spinach
2 heads of lettuce  or 1 head of lettuce and 1 bag salad mix

I love the freshness of spring greens! Our shares this time of year are so plush. Part of the fun of a CSA is that you receive whatever is in season. It’s like Iron Chef– you don’t get to pick what you want. It’s sometimes a challenge to come up with interesting recipe ideas, but it’s worth it to try new items and vary your diet. One thing to remember is that while the above list of vegetables is what is posted as what we’ll receive at the beginning of the week, the list often changes depending on what comes in from the fields (sometimes creating a bigger challenge!). For example, in addition to the above, we also received strawberries in our share.

Here are my recipe thoughts for this week:

Rhubarb- We received strawberries too so strawberry rhubarb pie is a given. But I love making a simple syrup with the rhubarb and whipping up mixed drinks (with alcohol or not). Bourbon goes well with rhubarb, as does tequila, but rhubarb lemonade, or rhubarb-mint with seltzer is equally refreshing.

Lettuce, Turnips, Radish- We get large glorious heads of lettuce. Really, some of our members wait all year for the lettuce! My box contained 2 billowing heads of butter lettuce– one red, one green. Golden Earthworm’s Butter Lettuce is my favorite. The white salad turnips are also spectacular. So sweet raw! I’m thinking some fish wraps in lettuce with a chipotle mayonaise (mix some mayo with chipotle in adobo sauce) and top with slice turnips and radish. You can even add shredded beets on top. Other proteins like shrimp, beef or shredded chicken would be good too.

Beets- It’s still cool enough to wrap beets in foil and roast them until tender(about 45 minutes). Or… peel and shred raw beets. Toss with some lemon juice, goat cheese, pine nuts (walnuts, pistachio work too), salt/pepper and fresh herbs– mint, cilantro, parsley. Whatever is around, just pile it on.

Bok Choi- My favorite for the bok choi is a quick stir fry. I like to add beef or chicken marinated in OJ and soy sauce and cook it up. Once done, boil down the marinade, add some fresh orange zest and toss it as a sauce for an orange beef in bok choi. Serve over brown rice.

This totally slipped my mind until D reminded me tonight! I alluded to it before, but I’ve been so busy and now proof is in the pudding. If you live in the New York City area, join me for a culinary walking tour of my fair neighborhood, Astoria, Queens!

More details and sign up can be found on the Institute for Culinary Education’s website (see walking tours: Astoria).

2 dates are available (more if they fill up- so ehem, fill them up!): June 20 and August 29. Both are 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Here’s the teaser (from ICE’s site):

Culinary treats reach beyond Grecian shores in Astoria, as you will sample during a flavor-packed stroll through the Queens neighborhood. Each stop of the tour features a demonstration, shopping opportunity, or nibbles, such as honeyed baklava, nutmeg-laced bureks, fried haloumi, house-cured salumi, apple sheesha, and cardamom coffee. You will start the morning with Greek pastries and coffee, before sampling Bosnian bureks. You will continue to a Mediterranean grocery, where you will be able to fill you bags with assorted feta, olives, nuts, oils, and other culinary delights. You will walk by “old world” fish mongers and butchers whom locals favor, and enter an Italian market for a demonstration in sausage stuffing. A turn into the heart of Egyptian, Moroccan, and Lebanese cultures will set you among hookah bars and Middle Eastern specialty shops. You will rest our feet at a favorite funky Egyptian restaurant, to sample small plates. Join food writer and recipe developer Stacey Ornstein through the neighborhood she calls home. Bring your appetite and walking shoes…

Adventures in Fermentation is my new blog series over at Sustainable Table. Apparently it was Twittered too (I’m not familiar) and placed on their RSS feed. I’ll be posting a fermentation adventure about once a month. Goal #1: Set Goals. Goal #2: Stick to Goals.

Throughout the Adventure I hope to cover:
Wild Fermented Pickles, Ginger Beer, Sauerkraut, Beer, Kombucha, Kefir, Kimchi, Bread, Olives, Miso and more! The next installment will speak more about fermentation in general, and perhaps provide a report back of an upcoming fermentation party I’ll be attending (I received the invite 3 months ago so I could ferment on my attendance).

I realize most of my readers are the quiet lurking type, but I would love to get some comments going about things you like to ferment, recipes you have, or funny fermenting stories.

The post is below, or head over to Sustainable Table to read it, and other great stories!

Welcome to the first installment of Adventures in Fermentation. In these postings we’ll explore the universe of fermented foods, happenings in the fermentation world, and delve into some recipes to try.

Fermented food and drink are not just wine, beer, and pickles! There is a whole universe of fermented foods to explore. In the next issue, I’ll talk more about what fermentation is exactly and its many positives, but until then, let’s jump right into something soft and cloudy: yogurt.

That’s right, yogurt is a fermented food (remember the term probiotic for the next posting). It is one of the simpler fermented foods to make, requires few supplies, and is something most of us are familiar enough with that you might be willing to try it.

Here’s a kicker that might get you making your own yogurt:
Yogurt on the market most of us are accustomed to has added thickeners (tapioca, citrus pulp, cornstarch, or other synthetic agents) added to make the end product a thick and even consistency (there are also a lot of sugars added). We sometimes also see “with probiotics” stamped on the container. Yogurt naturally is a probiotic food, so forget that claim. The real question is: Why eat all those extras if all you want is yogurt?

Yogurt that does not use thickeners, is much thinner, sometimes even lumpy. To make the consistency weightier, without thickeners, producers often drain the product losing a lot of whey in the process (which can be used to bake bread with). I have heard if you heat the milk to a higher temperature before adding culture you can thicken your yogurt further, but if you are using raw milk products, you run the risk of killing heat sensitive bacteria that makes milk digestible.

I enjoy homemade goat yogurt (made with goat milk) topped with granola, a scoop of homemade preserves, or simply as a yogurt beverage similar to kefir (another fermented food) full of all those great probiotics.

If you are interested in making your own yogurt, it is fairly simple. (read on for the details!)

You will need:
• raw milk or high quality organic milk
• yogurt cultures
• a large pot to heat the milk
• a cooking thermometer
• a glass jar to store your yogurt
• cheesecloth

If you have a friend with a batch of yogurt going, you can grab about 2 tablespoons of their finished yogurt per gallon of fresh milk to make your own yogurt. If not, I recommend purchasing cultures (both a thicker European culture or “tangy” culture) from New England Cheese Making Supplies.

The final yogurt recipe is dependent on the culture you use.

If you don’t want to bother with cultures, you can try using store-bought yogurt as your starter:

1/2 gallon organic (or raw) whole milk
1 cup organic yogurt

Heat the milk on medium-low heat in a saucepot to 165 F, do not bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow milk to cool to 110 F. Add yogurt, stir to incorporate, cover with a clean kitchen towel and secure with a rubber band or tie. Place in a warm location, undisturbed, overnight (inside a turned off oven works great). The next day, transfer to storage container and refrigerate. To thicken the yogurt, strain it through multiple layers of cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Reserve whey that drains for baking.

More ideas:
Use goat or sheep milk for other tangy yogurt creations
Sprinkle with cinnamon and a drizzle of honey

Yogurt is not just for breakfast or a snack! Try some of these ideas:
Blitz your yogurt with chickpeas or white beans for a delicious spread
Serve a dollop over grilled lamb
Use on your sandwich instead of mayo
Mix with garlic and a chipotle pepper and top a quesadilla
Add a dollop to soup
Use it in baked goods, or whip it with powdered sugar as icing
Make a fruit smoothie

If you are looking for some light (milky) reading, head over to Sustainable Table. I revamped the Dairy Page (http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/dairy/) a while back and its finally posted. (Sadly, the last line was altered– raw milk and raw milk products are illegal in most states.)

I also edited their page on RBGH, you can find by following this link: http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/rbgh/ 

The other night D and I were at Cooper Union’s Great Hall to hear a group of activists discuss today’s food crisis. Sponsored by World Hunger Year, Step up to the Plate: Ending the Food Crisis, brought together a panel of speakers to discuss, what else, our world food crisis. The forum could have been a day-long event, packed into 3 short hours, provided speakers roughly 15 short minutes of talk time. It’s worth a listen to the sound bites below.

The first video is Gerardo Reyes Chavez, leader of the Immokalee worker movement, fighting for rights of tomato pickers in Florida. A very powerful speaker who has already done so much and is sure to keep strong. The second link is to author Raj Patel, who recently published a great book, Stuffed and Starved. Others follow, including Alice Waters.

The event was video taped by Philanthromedia and clips of the evening can be viewed on their blog – www.philanthromedia.org, or on You Tube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT-CIr16G-8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Mldx3r2rQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu_c5jJ0P6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu_c5jJ0P6M

Stay hydrated this summer with my summer drinks! Check out my latest article for some cool and spicy non-alcoholic drinks to liven up your summertime fun.

Recipes include:
Blueberry-Jalepeno Spritzer
Berry-Herb Lemonade
Fruit Ice
Rose Spritzer

Get Wet With These Summertime Drinks. July 24, 2008.

It’s a tad late, but better late than never. I wanted to post my berry madness before I got this up. Head over to my Queens Chronicle piece about Food for the 4th. Really, it’s good food all summer long, so it’s still worth a glance. Cheese filled burgers, cucumber coolers and easy fruit ices await you…

Queens Chronicle, Food for the 4th. Published July 3, 2008. 

It has been forever…

The New York City school year wrapped up this week and I’ve been busy planning a farm-to-school nutrition education program for public school 4th graders, starting in fall 2008. This project, a one-month food advocacy course, led by the local organization Just Food, a visiting 17-year old cousin from Tennessee and weeding my garden– despite D’s assurance that gardens need no work once planted, consumed my energies these past weeks. (And the beautiful weather, of course.)

Food is to come and perhaps a special appearance by D describing his new kombucha project.

In the meantime, you can see the above picture of how much the City Garden has evolved from week one and check out these interesting links below.

In the picture, corn at back, silks are already starting to show! This past week we planted beans at their base. To the left of those (off camera) are my tomatoes, basil, Brussels sprouts and D’s tobacco. Already making excellent headway. Just in front of the corn is eggplant, and mixed peppers (sweet, hot and paprika) are in front of that. Then winter squash to the right, lots of grass yet to be pulled, and the two lighter plants in the front are watermelons.

Links…

My food advocacy class provided this great link, On Day One. What do you want the new president to do on his first day in office? My favorite is linked here: turn the white house lawn into a garden, providing local food to the white house and local food pantries. You can place your vote, or submit your own, on a number of topics.

As a reaction to turning all our lawns into gardens, here’s a piece from Alternet: Turning Your Lawn into a Victory Garden Won’t Save You– Fighting Corporations Will.

A taste of what’s to come:

Homemade goat yogurt
Strawberry madness
Berry crepes
Simple Summer Appetizers
July 4th Food ideas

Many people I know have a funny relationship with food: they are on constant diets, yet continue to gain weight. I’m not counting people with real health problems, but those consistently obsessed with weight loss and dieting (although I suppose this could be considered a real health problem psychologically).

We are a nation obsessed with our image and one of the most obvious ways to control our look, short of surgery or buying new clothing, is to control what we ingest. The problem as I see it, is that when we stop listening to our bodies and rely on special diets, we deprive ourselves of what our bodies actually need. If you don’t have strict enough control, you end up bingeing when you are confronted with the food your body craves.

Each of us is in fact a unique individual with special needs only our bodies understand– not a diet book that can supposedly work miracles on millions. If we can stick to real foods (fruits, vegetables, grains), without too much added salts and sugars, staying away from processed goods (which just make you crave more), our bodies eventually regulate and notify us about what is required for continued function. Of course, I’m no nutritionist.

There is one woman in particular I run into every month or so on the street: oh Stacey! You look like you’re losing weight!

It may or may not be true. This greeting, or, “Wow, you’re looking great,” are two common conversation starters people like to provide when it has been a while between sightings (and continues our obsession over our bodies). Every time I see this particular woman it is the same statement, followed by, are you on a special diet? Every time I see her I provide the same secret answer.

She asks, one because it is polite I suppose, but two, because she has a litany of legitimate health problems, many of which can actually be solved if she can create a healthy relationship with food. She is looking for the secret. Sure, I tell her. I’ve been frying my eggs in leftover bacon fat. I eat pork chops, roasted chicken, yogurt, cheese and a lot of vegetables, raw or sauteed in olive oil… You know, whatever is around.

Well you must cook a lot, she counters. I make lasagna, that’s it.

Well, that’s good, I say, that you cook. But in my mind I’m reminded of weekly food calendars, with hers looking something like this: Monday, lasagna; Tuesday, lasagna; Wednesday, lasagna… In the time it takes to make lasagna for a week, could she make, say maybe some chicken? Or in even less time some fish? Or really, anything other than lasagna?

Sure I cook (not as often as most people think), but most of what I make are quick meals that take just as long as opening a can and setting the microwave– and even faster than heading to a restaurant and placing an order. If it’s a food that takes longer to prepare, I make enough for leftovers I don’t mind eating cold or which can be reheated easily on the stove top (I don’t have a microwave).

So the secret special diet is that it is not a secret at all. It’s one people generations before us followed because there was no alternative: eat foods with ingredients you can name, know where they come from, or how they are produced or grown. Avoid processed and packaged food and drink, stay away from corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and bypass the advertisements telling you to load up on sugars, starches and new “low-calorie,” “all natural” treats… And maybe one other thing: Follow the variety seasons offer.

As I ate my breakfast this morning I thought about her question and was inspired to take a picture. Was I glad I was not eating lasagna? Yes. Was I glad this meal took all of 8 minutes to prepare? Yes.

There is no recipe to this meal because by the picture I think it is pretty straight forward:
sauteed asparagus
an egg, however you like it
a piece of cheese
slice of whole grain toast with butter
some other veggies or fruit, if available
fresh herbs, if available