Asparagus Omelette & Roasted Blue Potatoes

This past Saturday was my inaugural visit to NYC's Union Square Farmer's Market. Actually, it was my first time ever at a farmer's market, and it was amazing! I perused the stands and saw some unbelievable produce. I spoke to several of the farmers/sellers about their goods and everyone was so knowledgeable. Impressive! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this momentous occasion, as I left my camera at home since it was supposed to thunderstorm on Saturday. Of course it didn't. I don't want to talk about it.

Let's talk about the goodies I scored instead. I was lucky enough to pick up some blue potatoes, asparagus, sugar snap peas, mesclun, ramps, green garlic, and Bosc pears.

Growing up in the Bahamas, I've had the opportunity to eat fruits and vegetables which are fresh from the garden. It's been a while since I've done that, which must account for my forgetfulness when it comes to washing things such as lettuce. I taste tested one of the lettuce leaves and was shocked to feel grit in my mouth. It immediately dawned on me that maybe I should thoroughly wash everything before I start the cooking process. Just a thought.

The moment I got home, I broke out the mesclun and sugar snap peas and made myself a quick but simple salad. I drizzled some balsamic vinaigrette over the greens and tossed. Afternoon snack? Check.

The lettuce was crisp, yet tender. The mesclun I purchased had a slightly bitter taste to it, but it was well rounded out by the sugar snap peas. I love crunchy things, so the peas were an awesome purchase. I'm tempted to go back to the market just to snag another bag of these pods!

On Sunday morning, I woke up to a beautiful bunch of asparagus staring me in the face. I'm always trying to come up with new ways to eat asparagus so that I'm not bored by it. Since I love omelets, I figured it would be appropriate to make an asparagus omelet.

Asparagus Omelet
Serves 1 person

• 4 stalks asparagus
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt & pepper
  
• 1 small ramp, diced
  
• 1 small green garlic bulb, diced
  
• handful Fontina cheese, grated or in small pieces

1) Blanch the asparagus stalks in boiling water for ~3 minutes. Remove and chop into thirds

2) Meanwhile, add the diced ramp and green garlic to the beaten eggs. (See comments below.) Add salt and pepper to taste.

3) Add egg mixture to a small, buttered frying pan. Swirl the egg mixture so it covers the bottom of the pan.

4) After a minute or two check to make sure the bottom of the omelet has set. Flip the omelet over so the other side can cook as well.

5) Add the asparagus and Fontina cheese on the top of the omelet, to one side.

6) After another minute or two, slide the omelet out of the pan and onto a plate. While the omelet is still warm, fold in half.

As my friend Anjelika would say, Bon Appetit!

This omelet was so fresh and satisfying, even though the ramps almost threatened to overpower the eggs and asparagus. Ramps are similar to an onion. They are almost out of season so I was lucky to snag some at the only stand still selling it at the market. When I make this again...because I will make this again...I would saute the ramps prior to adding the egg mixture. That way, they will have a more mellow presence in the omelet. The green garlic could have been more prominent as well. Green garlic is a young garlic clove, so the flavors are not as developed as a mature garlic bulb. I could have used maybe two small bulbs instead of just one. But I will still say that this omelet was amazing. And since the asparagus was really thin, it was much sweeter and tender-er than a thicker stalk. (I know that tender-er isn't a word, but work with me here.)

Here's a tip for making omelets extra fluffy. After pouring the egg mixture in the frying pan, wait about 20 seconds for the egg to begin to set. Then, with a spatula, begin pulling back the edges of the omelet gently. When you can see the bottom of the frying pan, tilt the frying pan in that direction so the "non-set" egg mixture can fill the empty space. Continue to do this until the egg mixture is gone or you are ready to flip. You should have a nice fluffy omelet now!

While I was at the farmers market I happened upon a sign that advertised blue potatoes. Um, yes please! I love those blue Terra chips that Jet Blue serves on its flights. I hate that they only have 6.5 potato chips in each bag, but that's another story.

I wasn't sure what to do with the potatoes so I thought I'd go au natural and just roast them. I wanted to enjoy that beautiful blue color.

Roasted Blue Potatoes

• ~10 small blue potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
  
• olive oil for drizzling over potatoes
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1 small ramp, diced
  
• 1 small green garlic bulb, diced

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) Place potatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil.

3) Chop up rosemary and thyme if they're fresh. (I used dried herbs so I crushed them in my palm before sprinkling them on the potatoes.) Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Sprinkle the diced ramp and green garlic over the potatoes.

5) Use fingers to evenly spread the olive oil, herbs, ramps and green garlic over the potatoes.

6) Bake for ~45 minutes. The time will vary depending upon your oven, the size of your potatoes, and how soft you like your potatoes. Use a fork to test whether or not they are done.

Ahhh blue goodness! I began eating these potatoes as soon as they came out of the over, irrespective of the fact that they were a scorching 350 degrees. I'm a visual eater, so even though they tasted just like regular potatoes, they were definitely a notch higher on my rung because of their gorgeous color. Pretty soon, I also discovered that these are great snacks. About 3/4 of the potatoes were gone about an hour and a half after they came out of the oven. Oh well, I'm trying to support our local farmers here!

Thus, I consider my first visit to the farmers market a raging success. I can't wait to go back as soon as possible so that I can show you what else I find!

Compost Spaghetti Sauce

This "recipe" was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Cupcake Project. Of course, Stefanie made Compost Cupcakes, but why couldn't I make Compost-Something-Else? A compost recipe is basically a mixing and matching of your favorite items in a batter/sauce/etc...So I thought about the ingredients I had around the house already and improvised.

Here's what I came up with...

Compost Spaghetti Sauce

• olive oil (for sauteing)
• 1 shallot, diced
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 24 oz jar of spaghetti sauce (I used a store-bought Cabernet Marinara sauce)
• 1/4 cup basil pesto
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• dash of hot sauce
• salt & pepper (if necessary)
  

1) In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over high heat. Add the shallots and the garlic and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.

2) Add the spaghetti sauce and stir. Allow the sauce to heat up for a minute or two.

3) Add the pesto into the sauce and stir. Allow the sauce to simmer for a few minutes.

4) Add the ricotta and stir. Allow the sauce to simmer for a few minutes (yes, again).

5) Throw in a dash of hot sauce and salt and pepper, if you think the sauce needs it (mine didn't).


Ladle over some pasta and you're ready to go!

I realize that I didn't really provide very many instructions for this recipe/process, but it's really super simple. The next time you want to pump up your spaghetti sauce (or just get rid of items that are chillin' around your kitchen), you can make your own personalized version of this.

Asparagus Risotto

I'm back to being a good Food Network magazine subscriber. It's taken me a while to read through all the latest issues, but now that I have, I'm inspired once again. So in honor of this inspiration, let's cook!

It's finally spring and this year, I have a newfound love of asparagus. I've had a lot of grilled asparagus in the past few weeks, but I've been looking for a new way to enjoy it. I couldn't believe it when I opened April's Food Network magazine and stumbled upon a recipe for Asparagus Risotto.

Let me state the obvious: I'm not Italian. But I love risotto all the same (especially my Butternut Squash Risotto, which I have yet to make for this blog but it's sooooo good!). So I just had to make this. Upon first glance, this recipe seemed to be complicated (at least for me), but after I read through it a few times and actually made the dish, I realized that it's relatively easy.

Risotto with Asparagus

• 2 bunches thick asparagus (about 2 pounds)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme or lemon thyme (I used two pinches of dried thyme, since I didn't have any fresh thyme)
  
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 2 cups arborio rice
• Salt
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 head Bibb lettuce, cut into strips
• 8 ounces Robiola or Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1) Peel the bottom third of the asparagus stalks with a vegetable peeler. Snap each stalk where it breaks naturally.

2) Thinly slice 6 asparagus bottoms.

3) Place the rest of the bottoms in a saucepan with 8 cups water and the thyme to make asparagus broth. Bring to a simmer.

4) Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 2 minutes.

5) Add the rice and cook, stirring until glossy, about 1 minute.

6) Add 1 1/4 teaspoons salt.

7) Pour in the wine and stir until absorbed.

8) Stir in 1/2 cup of the asparagus broth until absorbed. Continue to add broth in 1/2 cup increments, stirring constantly and allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding more, about 10 minutes. (You should have about half the broth left.)

9) Stir in the sliced asparagus bottoms and the lemon zest. Add the remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, until the rice is just tender, 5 to 8 more minutes.

10) Meanwhile, place the asparagus tips in a large skillet, cover with water and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over medium-high heat until just tender, about 5 minutes.

11) Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, the Parmesan and lemon juice to the risotto.

12) Stir in the lettuce, remove from the heat and season with salt.

13) Divide among bowls, top with the Robiola or Taleggio and season with pepper.

14) Drizzle the asparagus tips with olive oil and spoon over the risotto.

OK, so now that you've seen the entire recipe, let me tell you that I was unable to follow all of these directions. This should not be a surprise, as we all know that I have a slight problem with recipe directions. If you have any doubts about this, you can check out my first few blog posts where I happen to falter in either Step 1 or 2 of the recipe. History kind of, sort of repeated itself again:

1) I forgot to peel all of the asparagus stalks when making the asparagus broth. Well, I didn't really forget. I just didn't read the directions correctly.

2) I got so excited by time this dish was almost finished that I forgot to season it with pepper and drizzle the asparagus tips with extra virgin olive oil.

BUT...I bring up this point only to show that it doesn't matter if you try to screw up your dish. It will still turn out fine. Like mine did!

The asparagus risotto was creamy and delicious. The asparagus flavor from the broth could be detected underneath the tang from the melted Parmesan and lemon juice. The Bibb lettuce has a buttery flavor and it wilted nicely into the risotto.

Of course I used more Parmesan cheese than the recipe called for. I added 1/2 cup Parmesan instead of the 1/4 cup the actual recipe calls for. You know I can't resist doing this. I also wasn't able to find Robiola or Taleggio cheese in my neighborhood grocery store, so I used Fontina instead. It worked like a charm! I also didn't have any white wine on hand (I'm a red wine drinker) so I created a mixture of 1/2 cup water and 2 tbsp lemon juice. I used this instead of the white wine. Good things come to those who are creative! Bon appetit!

I also apologize slightly for going wild with the camera, but who ever gets tired of looking at food anyway.

Pina Colada Cupcakes

I've been away from my poor blog for too long! But I'm back just in time for Cinco de Mayo!

A few weeks ago I ventured into the new Hoboken 7-Eleven store. I headed straight to the back of the store for a Slurpee. As I was reaching for my favorite flavor (Cherry) I caught a glimpse of another flavor: Pina Colada. What was this? Is this new? Considering I haven't had a Slurpee in years, I had no idea if it was a new flavor or not. But I did know that I needed to try it. And it was delicious. Could I make this into a cupcake? Why not...

Pina Colada Cupcakes
(adapted from Wilton Pineapple Cupcakes recipe)
makes ~24 cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained

1) Preheat oven to 325°F.

2) In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

3) In separate bowl, whisk together oil, coconut milk, eggs and coconut extract.

4) Stir in sugar.

5) Add flour mixture and mix well.

6) Fold in crushed pineapple.

7) Pour batter into cupcake liners until about 3/4 full.

8) Bake ~17 minutes. (I rotated my cupcake tins about halfway through the baking, so that they would cook more evenly.)

Pina Colada Frosting
(adapted from Gale Gand's Quick Vanilla Frosting recipe)

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  
• 2 teaspoons coconut extract
• 2.5 tablespoons pineapple rum
  
• 1 tablespoon milk (the real recipe calls for whipping cream, but I didn't have any)
  

1) In a standing mixer, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2) Add coconut extract, rum, and milk. Continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more.

3) Frost cooled cupcakes.

I thought the cupcakes were very moist. This is probably due to the use of oil and crushed pineapples in the batter. I couldn't use the toothpick method to tell when the cupcakes were done, but a cupcake sprung (spring, sprang, sprung?) back when I pressed gently on it. So ta-da! They were done.

I really liked the flavor combination of the coconut and pineapple, but alas, the flavor as a whole did not really represent a pina colada. Back to the drawing board I guess. Maybe I need to use pineapple extract as well next time?

The crushed pineapple was sweet and could be detected in the cupcake. Although I described the cupcake as quite moist, I didn't say it was bad! Very, very unfortunately, the pineapple rum really didn't play a leading role in the frosting. On the bright side, the frosting itself was amazing. It is seriously my new most favorite-est frosting ever. The coconut rum was prominent, and the texture was as smooth as silk. (Hint: Make sure to add the confectioner's sugar slowly to the butter when making the frosting. This will give you a really smooth and light frosting.) I could eat this frosting on its own. And I may have tested a spoonful or two of the extra frosting once I was done with the cupcakes. Just maybe.

Another successful cupcake. (Hey, let me toot my own horn once in a while since I do have cupcake flops sometimes.) I force fed them to my roommate and her family this past weekend and they didn't seem to mind at all, which was awesome of them!

So let's raise a glass, or a cupcake, to Cinco de Mayo. These may not be margaritas, margarita cupcakes, or anything remotely Mexican, but we can still celebrate as if they are!

Vidalia Onion Pie

I could eat onions all day long.

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. But I really do like onions.

I looked in the freezer the other day and realized that I still had 5 frozen pie crusts waiting to be used. (For some reason, I thought I needed 6 pie crusts to make the Leek Goat Cheese Quiche. Look forward to lots of pies in TBK's future!)

So I decided to make an onion tart. I'd been looking forward to making an onion tart for a while, but I'd just never gotten around to it. Too many cupcakes got in the way! So last week I decided to rectify that situation. I found an All-American Pie Championship recipe on the Food Network website. The recipe isn't very complicated, and since I didn't make the crust myself, I was able to save even more time. I prefer to relax in my free time, not make pie crusts that I can purchase at the grocery store. Sorry if that's shocking!

*Side-note: I finally conquered the elusive photo collage!!! Thanks Anjelika!

Vidalia Onion Pie
slightly adapted - makes 1 9-10" pie

• 1 9-10" frozen pie crust, thawed
  
• 1/4 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 pounds Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher or Hawaiian salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan
• Habanero sauce
  

1) Brush egg wash on the inside of the pie crust.

2) Place crust in the refrigerator until filling is ready.

3) Over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and saute until translucent. Do not brown.

4) Combine eggs, sour cream, flour, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and a splash or two of habanero sauce.

5) Add onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper and pour into chilled pie crust.

6) Top with Parmesan cheese.

7) Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F for another 20 minutes or until center is set.

Yum yum yum! First of all, let me warn you (unnecessarily) that you need to love or really really really like onions to enjoy this pie. The pictures I took of the individual pie slices looked pretty messy (I think I tried to take pictures when the pie was still too warm.). But when I tasted the onion pie, my taste buds were delighted with the creamy flavor and the slight tartness of the onions. I would have liked to have more cheese in the pie itself, but if you don't like cheese as much as I do, you can stick with the 1/2 cup of cheese mixed into the pie. Or you could eliminate all of the cheese in the pie. It's up to you.

I could eat this onion pie all day long. Yeah, really.

Sweettart Jellybean Cupcakes

It's a little late for Easter cupcakes. But better late than never!

I started thinking about these cupcakes as I was munching on my favorite Easter snacks: Sweettart Jellybeans. These are the best Easter candies ever. Come to think of it, these may be the best candies ever.

Then, of course, I began to think about cupcakes. If you can add other candies to cupcakes, why not jellybeans? I'd never heard of this before, so I figured I'd head to the store and stock up on a few more bags of these jellybeans. You know, just to squeeze some more "research" in before, during, and after the cupcake-making process.

Sweettart Jellybean Cupcakes
Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from William Sonoma (The recipe has been doubled from the original recipe. The recipe below makes ~24 cupcakes.)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 whole eggs plus 2 egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

1) Preheat an oven to 350°F.

2) In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

4) Reduce the speed to low and add the egg and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.

5) Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat just until no traces of flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not overbeat.

6) Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full.

7) Bake the cupcakes for ~5 minutes, then add 4-5 jellybeans in each cupcake.

8) Bake until the cupcakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 - 25 minutes.

9) Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
slightly adapted from Food & Family's Spring 2008 magazine

• 1 package (16 oz.) powdered sugar
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
• 4-6 Tbsp. lemon juice

1) Beat powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and lemon juice together with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended.

2) Frost cupcakes. Simple!

The cupcakes reminded me of a typical "birthday cake". The vanilla flavor really stands out against the rest of the cake, and the texture was light and airy. The jellybeans provided a tasty, chewy surprise in the center of the cupcakes. I found that I preferred the jellybeans when they were placed in the center of the cupcakes. The jellybeans which were placed near the edge of the cupcake melted onto the cupcake tins and also glued themselves to the cupcake wrappers. In my defense, those jellybeans ended up near the edge of the cupcakes because I didn't want to burn myself in the oven. But I would have tried harder to position them in the center of the cupcake, had I known the outcome. As the day progressed, I noticed that the jellybeans became much chewier than when I had initially pulled them out of the oven. This is probably why people don't bake with jellybeans.

For some reason, my cupcake frosting was very runny. I was looking for a fluffy, buttercream but I got a glaze instead. That was a bit disappointing, even though I love anything that's lemon-flavored. Maybe I overbeat the frosting? Does anyone have any idea why this happened?

I don't care though. The cupcakes were still great. And I still love these jellybeans. It's now time to stock up on them at the 1/2 price after-Easter sales!

Cola BBQ Pulled Pork

Drop everything!!! Did someone say Cola BBQ Pulled Pork? Whoa.

I was immediately all over this recipe. I had thought about making pulled pork before, but all the recipes I found at the time called for at least 15 ingredients. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend 2 hours in the kitchen preparing a meal that's going to take 8 hours in a slow cooker anyway.

While scouring my favorite food websites (which I do routinely each week, since I'm a food dork) I stumbled across a post on Tastespotting which depicted a beautiful plate of pulled pork. After wiping the drool from my mouth, I clicked on it and discovered Iowa Girl Eats' recipe for pulled pork. Kristin clued me in to a well-kept secret. So well-kept, in fact, that I had never heard of it before.

This pulled pork was made with less than 5 ingredients. AND one of those ingredients was cola.

Huh? This is something I had to try.

I looked over the recipe that Kristen had posted. It seemed pretty simple, but just to make sure, I also headed on over to the Sweet & Savory blog, where Ally had posted a similar recipe. In the end, I came up with more of a guideline than a recipe. Screw measurements for just one day. You'll get the idea:

Cola BBQ Pulled Pork
slightly adapted from recipes on the Iowa Girl Eats & Sweet & Savory blogs

• Pork Butt (I used ~3lb but you can upgrade or downgrade as you see fit)
  
• Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning
• Coke or Diet Coke or any cola that you like to drink
• 1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce

1) Generously coat the pork butt with a mixture of the Lawry's Seasoning Salt & Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning. I used these seasonings just because I like both of them and didn't feel like choosing. You can be liberal with your own choice of seasonings.

2) Place the pork butt in a crock pot and pour in enough soda to almost cover the meat.

3) Add the BBQ sauce to the meat/soda mixture.

4) Cover and cook on low for ~6.5 hours. If you have a larger piece of meat, it will probably take longer.

5) After ~5 hours, begin to shred the meat into pieces with 2 forks. Let it continue to cook sit in the juice to soak up all the flavor for the next 1.5 hours. In my case, the center of the meat was tougher to shred so I completed the shredding job in several batches.

6) The meat can stay on warm in the crock pot while serving, and can easily be reheated the next day. I personally enjoy eating the pulled pork on a wrap with extra barbecue sauce and shredded cheddar cheese. But you can serve on a roll if you want to be more traditional.


Did you blink and miss the recipe? Yeah, I thought so. It's that short.

The hardest part for me (other than waiting 6.5 hrs to eat the darn thing) was shredding the meat. Once the cooking and shredding was done though, it was time to dig in. And dig in, I did. The meat was tender and tasty. If I hadn't made it, I wouldn't have guessed the ingredients at all. The meat was flavored perfectly, thanks to the salt rub. The cola provided a syrup-y, liquid marinade in which to slow-cook the pork. And let's face it, BBQ sauce is just awesomeness in a jar. I'll admit that I sort of indulged in a few extra dollops of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, which by the way, is my new favorite 'cue sauce. I won't be buying anything else in the future. I could eat it with a spoon. Or my fingers. Not that I've done that or anything.

Try leaving the pork in the refrigerator overnight. (I would suggest extracting the pork from the marinade, because the cola-BBQ sauce mixture tends to be a little fatty after the slow-cooking process. Fat and cold temperatures are not friends. But if you're adventurous, feel free to do what you prefer.) The next day, the pork will be one thousand times better than it was the first day, if that's even possible.

Mmmmm I'm hungry. Let's see if I have any pulled pork left over.