Last week was Cider Week in New York State!
Restaurants, bars and cideries celebrated by stocking up on bottles of bubbly fermented apples. Ever since B and I visited the Warwick Valley Winery, I’ve been fully on the cider bandwagon. Sure, cider isn’t a hoppily delicious IPA, but it has its merits! Not only does it feel champagne-festive, but cider is naturally gluten free, too. Double win!
On Friday night, I joined some friends at Jimmy’s No. 43 for a small joint-birthday celebration: mine (almost a month ago, now!) and my friend Leslie’s. Jimmy’s was participating in Cider Week, and we also got to chat with a rep from Wandering Aengus Ciderworks who hosted an impromptu tasting. Nom nom!
From there, we moved on to Ribalta, a newish neo-Neopolitan-style pizza place with four gluten-free pizza options. B and I split a DOC: red pizza with buffalo mozzarella + basil; we added clams and had it on a gluten free crust. We both agreed that the crust was fabulous and wouldn’t have known it wasn’t “regular” pizza. The only downside: $4 surcharge. Is this going to be like soy milk in coffee shops, where we are forever forced to pay for “specialized” ingredients? (That’s its own rant….)
Now that it’s getting to be a more festive time of year, B and I have been making pancakes for breakfast! Most days during the week we eat oats, eggs, or yogurt, and pancakes are a nice weekend treat. I’ve made this recipe for pumpkin pancakes twice, and love it. They’re gluten free, but unlike many wheatless recipes don’t require several different flours or gums. These just use ground oats!
On mornings I don’t have eggs, I’ve been making breakfast-for-lunch. I was so pleased with the way those brunch eggs turned out, so I tried a similar version using cabbage. This time, I cut a lot of the ingredients and extra steps: I just sautéed a head of cabbage in oil, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and broke five eggs into it the pan. Baked it at 400˚ until the whites were set (about 10 minutes), and voila!
Topped with tomatoes, Shayne’s pesto, and Sofia’s scones (made from this recipe… and they are SUPER addictive).
Another day, I made a one-egg omelet to put on a salad. I’ve finally figured out the trick for a perfect pancake-like omelet: beat in a little water! While the egg cooked, I added some sharp cheddar and pesto.
Atop a bed of baby kale, olives, capers, sundried tomatoes, carrots + celery.
For dinners, I’ve been craving hearty soup that will warm my bones and use up my CSA produce. This recipe for unchowdery chowder called my name, so we went to the fishmonger and got a bag of fresh clams. The soup is brothy, not creamy, and topped with crème fraîche (I used Greek yogurt), scallions and dill. Cozy!
For a fun dessert, I mixed the last of a can of puréed pumpkin with maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger + cloves. Then I pulsed it into banana soft serve with a sprinkling of chocolate chips. Holy holy. Healthy pumpkin pie ice cream? Yes please. May be my favorite new dessert!
In non- food-related news, B and I went to see The Book of Mormon on Sunday night! I’d surprised B with the tickets in Greece, on his birthday… it was nice to have something to look forward to for two months. It was also B’s very first Broadway play in New York! I’m glad I got to share the experience with him; we had a lot of fun. However, I’m not sure B is entirely sold on musicals….