garden on fire escape

On Saturday, I am hanging with Hot Rod(ney) Ramirez, we wanted to cook something for our friends.  Decided to hit the Farmers Market on 14^th Street (Manhattan).   Hop on the bikes, always the fastest way to get around in NYC – either that or the subway!

So what did I find:

-       Lemon Thyme

-       Thai Basil

-       Chives

-       Fingerling Potatoes.

-       Beets

-       Vidalia Onions

-       Shallots

-       Spinach Pasta

-       Mussels

-       Flounder

Thought that I could make a quick dish for my friends while we were enjoying come great comradery and cigars.

You can watch the video and see how everything was made.

It is important to take your time and heat your pans.  Some funny moments were left in the video.  Yeah I did heat the pans and got popped with some oil. Oh yeah, forgot to take the top off.

Root Vegetable Medley

-       Cut the potatoes, onions and beets into squares.

-       Season with salt, pepper, garlic (as shown in the video).

-       Brown them in the pan.  Don’t worry that the beets will have a lot of liquid.

-       After the vegetables have brown, add the garlic and a water to cover.

-       Place a cover on the pan.

-       15-20 minutes, uncover.  Top off with butter or olive oil.  DONE!

Pasta with Mussels.

-       Make sure your water is well salted and has olive oil (extra virgin if you can).

-       I am using fresh pasta. It cooks fast.  4-7 minutes.

-       Strain it off.  Add some olive oil to make sure the pasta want strip.

-       In the same pot, add onion, garlic, and thyme.

-       Let them sweat until onions are translucent.

-       Add mussels, salt, pepper. Cook until they open.

-       Now slowly add butter (wine and cream also work) be sure not to use too much. Just need enough to coat the pasta.

-       Add back the pasta. Taste. Might need a pinch of salt.

Flounders with Herbs.

-       Season flounder with salt and pepper.

-       In a frying pan, add olive oil.

-       Place the fish. Brown off.  Be careful the fish is delicate.

-       After it is browned, you can squeeze some lemon and add a little olive oil.

-       Now coat with the fresh herbs.  We have lemon thyme and Thai basil.

-       Entire cooking time is 5-7 minutes.

Watch how we plate everything!  Great dish. Thanks to Hot Rod for the cigars and the kitchen.

- 1 pack of Linguini imported from Italy (Barilla or DeCecco)
- 5 medium-sized vine tomatoes or 7 small vine tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves
- 5 miniature spanish white onions
- 1 1/2 fresh Mozarella di Buffalo imported from Italy
- Romano, Pecorino or Parmigiano Grated Cheese
- Salt
- Dry hot pepper
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil imported from Italy
- 1-2 leaves of Fresh Basil

Preparation:

Chop oinions in small pieces and slice each garlic cloves in 3-4 pieces. Simmer in the olive oil over high heat until garlic and oinions are about to become sligthly golden. Chop tomatoes in 4 and add to pan when garlic and oinions are slightly golden. Add salt and lower the heat to low. Add fresh basil.

Bring water to boil in a large pot with salt. Boil pasta until it is a bit less cooked than ‘al dente’. Drain pasta. Place back in pot, add olive oil and hot pepper.

When sauce is ready, add to pasta. Slice mozzarella into small pieces and add to pasta so that it melts in the pasta. Add Pecorino, Romano or Parmigiano cheese to pasta and toss.

Pasta is ready to serve. More Parmigiano, Pecorino or Romano can be added according to taste.

Hello Guys…..this is a great soup for a nice cold night. Don’t forget the red wine ok!!!! (lol)

Ingredients:

- One whole Chicken;
- Garlic;
- 1/2 Onion;
- Salt;
- Fresh Parsley;
- Angnolini.
- Table spoon of flour.
- Olive Oil.

Preparation:

Get a nice sized pan or pot…..get the chicken, cut in pieces throw inside the pan with the olive oil, garlic let it fry, add salt as you like…..let it fry till the pieces are getting golden….add water to help cook the chicken…..then when the chicken is ready nice cooked and fried add water till get full….let it boil for few minutes…..then add the Angnolini let it cook add the fresh parsley…and a gup of water with a table spoon of flour to get that water a lilttle thicker. Let it cook a little bit more…and it’s ready to serve!!!!

For addtional taste add on you dish some parmesan cheese.