hurricane fudge brownies

When there was a possibility our power would be shut off by ConEd due to flooding, my first thought was, what should I bake? Can you tell I’m a baker at heart and have a HUGE sweet tooth?

I said this while we were over at our friend’s apartment and right away, I heard, “cookie dough!”

While chocolate chip cookie dough is wonderful (and I am partial to my own), if we did lose power, I didn’t think raw eggs would be a good thing to play around with without refrigeration- a baked treat was the way to go.

Because I love chocolate and a good brownie has been on my radar lately, I consulted one of my favorite books, BAKE! by Nick Magierli. His classic, flawless recipes are something I’ve always respected. I’m hoping to bake through the entire book in the next year, but Saturday night, frazzled, I just wanted something comforting that I knew would turn out. With butter and eggs from my CSA, my chocolate stash (which I’ll save sharing for another time as to not embarrass myself too much yet), and some liquor additions to play off of the “hurricane” theme, these came together in no time with a deep chocolate flavor I was looking for with a few sparks of warmth in the background.

Luckily we didn’t lose power, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your own stash of “hurricane” brownies… you know, just in case 😉

Hurricane Brownies (makes 1 9×13 pan or 18 squares)

adapted from Nick Magierli’s Truffle Brownies on page 199 of BAKE! 

2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter

12 oz chocolate chips

2 cups of organic brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of rum + 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (or fresh orange juice with an added 2 teaspoons of zest) for the hurricane version 

1. Preheat the oven to 350*. Butter a 9×13 pan and set aside. (Hint: since you’re using butter in this recipe, don’t throw away the wrappers after the next step. Use them to butter your pan.)

2. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat until it starts to foam and sizzle. Turn off the heat and immediately add all of the chocolate at once into the pot. Let it sit for the next few steps.

3. Put the flour, brown sugar and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to remove any lumps.

4. Add two eggs to the sugar mixture. Stir until they’re blended in before adding the other 2 eggs. Add the vanilla and other flavoring if using and again, blend until smooth.

5. Now take the warm chocolate and butter mixture and whisk it until fully combined. Pour it into the sugar and flour mixture and fold the two mixtures together with a large spatula until it’s just combined.

6. Pour into your baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the edges are set and a toothpick or paring knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

7. Cool completely (or at least try to) before cutting and serving.

These are great the day they’re made, but as Malgieri says in the book, they’re even better the next day. No one’s complaining here!

the aftermath

As I said earlier today, the eye hit us directly so the damage that could have been, luckily wasn’t. There was some flooding, but by the morning, most places in the city had retreated. Transportation will be the one thing that may take longer to get back together as flooding waters underground are not good for the system and there was more damage in the outlying areas of Jersey, Long Island and Staten Island. For that reason, we’re happy we stayed since worst-case scenario is that we’ll just get more exercise getting to places the next day or so, but still able to keep our schedules. Like yesterday, we went out late morning to go see the neighborhood before coming back and breaking into the hurricane brownie stash I made in fear that the power would go out. You can never be too prepared 😉

These stairs were underwater last night. All clean now with the Brooklyn Bridge is standing straight in the background.

This two was flooded last night. You could see the news crews wrapping up exhausted.

Gone fishing?

One of many puddles... splish...

...splash!

Some trees have collapsed, but luckily none in the area hurt anything in it's path down.

But the extra rain has definitely made everything more green 🙂

One World Trade Tower with the crane still intact. The memorial will still open on time for the anniversary in 2 weeks.

Now who wants brownies? Recipe coming tomorrow!

the calm before the storm

Living downtown made this weekend an adventure. Neighboring buildings were in the evacuation- literally my back door was zone A- and thoughts of possible power outages made me bake in a frenzy.

Before the rain started last night, my roommate and I went walking around to take some pictures documenting the calm before the storm so to speak. It was extremely humid- I felt like we were in the Caribbean so the curls were definitely coming out- and very quiet, but in more of a peaceful way.

At least our investments are safe... the Stock Exchange

All transportation closed at noon.

The bull was ready for Irene! (with it being so quiet, it definitely made for a good picture without tourists)

The AP getting the news out to the other stations from Battery Park City

In case you didn't know... things are closed because of the hurricane.

For my parents: my dad, who loves roses, and my mom, who loves taking pictures of them 🙂

I've never seen NYC silent.

I couldn't but take this picture for its irony.

Luckily Water Street is not under water like it could have been. The spiraling pole behind it was from the news van covering a story.

I’ll post pictures later show you some of the aftermath, but luckily the eye went right over us so it was a lot calmer than it could have been 🙂

prepared

For someone who has been naturally dehydrated for most of her life (I don’t crave water, I’m weird like that) and thus, uses a water bottle to count the number of cups of water she gets a day…

I have never stored this much water in my life. That’s 18 quart containers of water, my friends, and should get me through the week if need be.

To all my friends and family along the east coast, stay safe! Luckily, I haven’t had to evacuate, even though the street right behind us has, and live with my best friend who I consider family. We made our prep list (which you can see below), checked it off and as long as the three of us (her dog makes three) are together, we’ll be fine.

Ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter crispy bars help too 😉

_____________________________________________________________

In all seriousness, here’s a list that my roommate and I did to make sure we’re both comfortable in a worst-case scenario:

1. Have a battery powered radio and flashlights WITH extra batteries. It was weird when I went to buy a new flashlight, I got one of the last ones; however, batteries were plentiful. Buy them too! If it’s your main power source, you’ll be happy you did.

2. Buy water! They say to have 2 gallons per person per day for 5 days. Ok, so obviously I don’t have enough water for myself for more than 2 days technically but let’s not talk about that. With water being one of the first things to go, buy it quickly or figure out a way to store it. I had a bunch of restaurant quart containers so I just used my water filter and filled them up. Cheap and easy. Filling your bathtub is recommended too (after you clean it obviously) since that water could be used for the toilet, cooking or drinking if needed.

3. Think about how you eat and plan accordingly. My roommate and I eat very differently with me heavy on produce. If our electricity goes out, I may have to throw some things away but we’ll also keep the door closed as much as possible.

Despite that, I also made sure I had some of my favorite things that would get me through meals without power. That includes peanut butter, spiced nuts, dates (I love these filled with peanut butter), beans, grains (bulger can just eaten raw after being soaked in water for about 30 minutes. I also made a quart of brown rice.) and pantry stable vegetables like tomatoes, avocadoes, peaches, plums and apricots. Lettuce can be washed ahead of time and stored either in your salad spinner for paper towels in a plastic bag too so making a salad isn’t hard in low light.

4. Get cash just in case. I hadn’t thought of this, but if the power goes out, so do ATMs and credit cards. Now most things are also closed around here, but just in case of an emergency, it’s better to have a safety fund.

5. Along with the above, in a plastic baggie, make sure you have all of your informations regarding yourself such as insurance cards, renter’s insurance, any IDs, your lease, photos of your place, etc. It’s best to carry these on you and in plastic, they’ll be safe.

6. Charge all of your electronics like your cell phone, laptop, etc. and a back-up battery if you have one.

7. If necessary, tape your windows, remove pictures and other knick knacks from places that could fall or rattle. Both the windows in our apartment are in my room so last night I packed up the things on my shelves, sills and desk that could be a problem if anything happened to the windows. Unlikely but if you hadn’t noticed yet, I’m type-A and prepare for the worse (but hope for the best!).

8. Be with friends or family. With a storm like this and not knowing how the city will react to it, it’s a lot more comforting to be with someone than to be alone. Even though I have my roommate, we have a plan with other friends in our building too that if the electricity goes out, we all stay together. Power in numbers is a good thing here.

9. Have fun! You may not be expecting this, but if you worry too much, it’s just going to make you miserable while you ride this storm out. Relax. By now, you’re prepared, and with people so there’s so reason to have a hurricane party! Open up that wine, eat those baked goods you made (or purchased), play board games or cards if you lose electricity or read with your flashlight. At the end of the day, it’ll pass and everything will be ok 🙂

creamy, crunchy, sweet, salty, smoky

What more could you want?

lightly browned herbed focaccia with Salvatore Bklyn smoked ricotta, spiced almond dust and buckwheat honey from 61Local

corn ice cream with caramelized corn and raspberries

Remember when I told you to save the corn cobs if you could? This is why!

Corn ice cream, oh yes I did. (I’m obviously not the only one who has done this, but it was a first for me!)

Farm-fresh creamy milk infused with the “milk” of the inner cob, the warm cinnamon complement this sweet ice cream and will please your guests after a Labor Day crab feast (if you’re from Maryland like me) or just on the terrace of your apartment building (if you’re like me living in NYC right now). I added caramelized corn and fresh raspberries my friend David from Z Food Farm gave me on top, but for a more savory flavor, some spiced pecans or a bit of ancho chili and candied bacon would also work. Right Jessica?

Corn Ice Cream (makes 1 quart)

3 cups of whole milk, separated

3-5 corn cobs

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 cup honey

pinch of salt

6 egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

for caramelized corn:

1 cup corn

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of salt and pepper

1 cup of fresh raspberries, blueberries, blueberries or spiced pecans

1. Scrape the corn’s “milk” into a medium pot. Cut or snap the cobs in half and fit into the pot and add 2 cups of milk to the pot. Bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn off the heat and let the milk steep for 1 hour.

2. To set up for the custard base, make an ice bath with ice and cold water in one large bowl. Fit another small bowl into it with 1 cup of milk in it and a sieve on top.

3. Once the milk mixture has steeped, remove the cobs, scraping any milk that may have gone into the kernel grooves. Add the sugar and honey to the milk. Warm the milk to almost a simmer.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Add about 1 cup of the warmed milk mixture to the egg mixture whisking constantly. This is tempering and warming the yolks so when you add it back to the milk, you won’t get scrambled eggs. Leave that for Sunday morning.

5. Add the tempered egg and milk mixture back to the pot and continue to stir until it thickens. To check to see if it’s done, see if it coats the back of a wooden spoon. If it does, you’re good!

6. Strain the mixture through the sieve into the cool milk. Let this mixture cool in the water bath. When cool, transfer to a container and chill for 8 hours or overnight until cold.

7. Once the custard is completely cold, add to your ice cream machine and process as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze until serving.

8. For the caramelized corn, add the corn, maple syrup, spices and 1 tablespoon of water to a medium saute pan. Cook over medium low heat until the syrup dissolves and the corn is coated with the spices and the syrup’s sticky.

Serving: If you want to freeze it with the corn and raspberries in the ice cream, layer the parts together when you transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container. On the other hand, and what can give a fresh flavor, when you serve it, layer the parts or just sprinkle the corn and berries on top.

how to: roast beets

Earthy and hearty, beets might be thought of as more of a fall root vegetables, but they’re actually plentiful in the summer too. Their jewel-like bulbs with crisp green tops are filled with vitamins and also three properties that help to detoxify your system.

In my opinion, roasting them is the easiest way to prepare them so I thought I’d do a quick how to since they’re in the salad I shared with you yesterday.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut the beet greens off from the bulb. Save these! They saute up just like spinach or swiss chard.

3. Take a sheet of aluminum foil (or two depending on how many you have) and lay it on the counter.

4. Put 3-5 beets in the middle.

5. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of water on top and wrap the aluminum foil around the beets like a package.

6. Roast for about an hour, or until a knife can slide easily in and out. Cool completely.

7. After they’re cool, the skin and stems will peel straight off without a problem. Store until use.

I love to cut them up and throw them on to a salad, a omelet (with some goat cheese or ricotta and chives) or even grate them with pasta and pesto and some of their sauteed greens. The possibilities are endless!

Do you like beets? How do you like to eat them?

late summer salad

August is one of my favorite months for the farmer’s market. While it’s hot outside, it also means that most fruits and vegetables are at their peak making the tables stretch long with the brightest colors you’ll ever see. However I will say that red, orange and purple, green are my favorite colors during this time. Why? To start, heirloom tomatoes come into all of those colors. They are my vice, obviously, during the summer.

For orange, peaches are on top. Messy, sticky and sweet, there’s really nothing better than to bite into a ripe peach and have the juices just spill out… and green? Ok, so that may not have been as creative as the first too, but can we just talk about all the different greens that all available? From pea shoots and baby lettuces to more succulent curly kale to swiss chard, you can make so many great things with these peak items and for not a lot of money (which is personally my favorite when under a budget.

After a walk through the market, I picked up some curly kale which while curly had a loose, lighter feel to it. Thinking of what I had at a apartment, this salad became a quick and delicious way to enjoy a Friday afternoon.

Massaged Kale Salad with Tomato and Peach (Serves 2)

1 bunch of kale

2 tomatoes

1 peach

2 ears of corn

about 6 roasted baby beets

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a bowl, mix the dijon mustard, honey and vinegar together. Season salt and pepper to taste. To mellow the dressing out, you can add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I don’t just because I love my dressings a little zippy, but it’s just based on preference.

2. Tear the leaves off of the kale stems and wash cold water to get any dirt or grit from in between the leaves. Spin dry (or pat with paper towels) and add to the dressing mixture. Massage for about a minute to get all of the flavor  into the kale. Let sit for about 30 minutes until it slightly wilts.

3. While the kale is relaxing, cut the corn kernels off of the cob. (PS: save the cobs if you have room in your fridge. There might be another recipe coming up to use them 😉 )

4. For the rest of the vegetables, dice the tomatoes and slice the peach and beets into wedges.

5. When you’re done slicing the rest of the ingredients, your kale should be ready so just top the kale with all of the yummy things you just cut. Toss. Add salt and pepper if necessary.

6. Serve! I had this after I tried the padron peppers which I was very happy about since the peach and tomatoes were very cooling as the beets and kale were mild and earthy to balance the heat.

Yum! and I promise, the combination may sound weird, but it just works. Thank you summer!

the good batch

The thing I love most about going to the markets isn’t the food. It’s fabulous and of great quality, but the best things are the relationships I have made with some of the vendors. I could make a list of my friend who make the best _______ in my opinion and maybe I will one day, but for now let’s talk about my friend, Anna.

Anna, the owner of The Good Batch, is mainly known for her Dutch stroopwafels, a thin waffle-like sandwich cookie, in both classic and cocoa flavors, but she also makes 2 other kinds of cookies. Oat chocolate chunk with sea salt are not a substitute for a classic chocolate chip cookie, but one that’s hearty from the oats, sweet from the chocolate with a salty crunch on top. Honey bears are also hearty from their oat and peanut butter base, but filled with honey and peanut butter making this dairy-free cookie a comfort food.

However, at Smorgasburg on Saturday and the Brooklyn Flea on Sunday, you do not want to miss out of one of her gourmet ice cream sandwiches. Using her cookies as a base and Adirondack Creamery ice cream, these are one of the best treats I’ve found to help cool down under the summer sun.

Have I mentioned that I like ice cream?

This weekend, the options were the goodwich (her spin on the classic with vanilla ice cream and fudge between oat chocolate chunk cookies),

the hazelnut heartbreaker (chocolate chocolate chip ice cream, hazelnut buttercream and crushed hazelnuts between cocoa stroopwafels),

and the cherry bomb (vanilla ice cream and bourbon-soaked cherries between cocoa stroopwafels).

While the goodwich is my favorite, I did try all of them and you truly can’t go wrong… and when I mean try, I mean I ate a goodwich and 1/2 of the other two. I didn’t want to steer you wrong 😉

If you’re in NYC or Brooklyn, head over and say hi to her and her fiance, Steve, one weekend and try them for yourself. Let me know what your favorite is.

If you’re not in the city, but want to try her cookies, please visit her website and order them here. You won’t be disappointed!

New Amsterdam Market’s Ice Cream Sunday

Ice cream is one of my many food vices. I have a lot of them, and no, I’m not sorry for it, but I honestly, I can’t get enough of the cool, creamy delight that’s only made of a few base ingredients and comes in so many flavors.

Especially when you go to an event like this and see what the many talented ice cream makers are thinking up. Remember when I tweeted that I made corn ice cream? Well that recipe is coming up this week and while it sounds odd, there were 3 places this afternoon that had corn ice cream! 3!

With so many to choose from, my 10 tickets went by quickly, but I’ll recap some of my favorites.

Oh, and the winner? Hay ice cream from Early Bird Cookery. I told you the creativity of these vendors was amazing! I did try it and it was interesting, but in a good way. Earthy and somewhat floral, it was sweeter than you’d expect.

My favorite though was the beet and goat cheese ice cream  beach plum and nectarine sorbet  chocolate cippolini onion ice cream ricotta lemon ice cream from The Bent Spoon. I just love cheese in ice cream.

Gabrielle of The Bent Spoon makes the best ice cream in the most creative flavors. Some that you’d turn your head about- um, chocolate cippolini onion?- but she finds a way to make it taste so craveable. For instance the onions are slowly caramelized for a more molasses-like sweet flavor than a bitter taste and complements the dark chocolate perfectly.

Plus, she’s so nice and passionate about her flavors, even picking beach plums herself for the sorbet. I’m so glad I got to meet her after being a fan of their ice cream from past markets and tweeting with her.

Another worthy mention is La NewYorkina. Now I’m partial to her because she works in the kitchen that I help at every week so I know her personally, but spinning her own Mexican heritage yields some pretty fabulous flavors. The piloncillo was a sugar base ice cream with roasted peaches. Think local, summer and a burnt sugar creme brulee. Mmmm!

Two other great flavors were the peach lavender from KINGLeche Cremes and the mint chocolate chip from Blue Bottle Coffee. The peach was sweet with a floral flavor of the lavendar, not too overpowering, but light and refreshing. It’d be perfect after a great summer meal, sitting on a terrace overlooking the water… if you have access to that kind of thing.

And while mint chocolate chip isn’t the most creative, let me tell you, real mint ice cream is so much better than the green commercial stuff many of us grew up on. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still eat the green stuff (ok, I really haven’t in a long time, but we won’t tell anyone), but the fresh chocolate mint from Lone Acres Farm and the bitter Mast Brothers chocolate was the childhood flavor you’d want as an adult.

Thank you so much to all the vendors for coming out today. I was truly in heaven talking with you all, learning and tasting your products.

Thank you to the New Amsterdam Market as well for putting on this event. I can’t wait until next year’s!