an open cupboard

My favorite online comic recently ran a food-related strip. Anne, this one’s for you :).

I had completely forgotten that Derrick recently wrote about the cruelty inflicted on commercially grown turkeys. Do have a look.

If your stomach is strong and you’re not eating lunch, check out the undercover PETA video that Derrick references.

Would you believe it’s not too early to order a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving? Heritage Foods USA is offering a $10 discount on orders of fresh heritage turkeys delivered to your door two days before the national holiday of compulsive overeating.

What is a heritage turkey and how does it differ from an ordinary turkey? Heritage turkeys are descendants of any of several old breeds registered with the American Poultry Association. According to William Rubel, these breeds are crosses between domesticated European turkey breeds and North American wild turkeys. Heritage turkeys are often pastured, meaning they have access to open spaces outdoors where they can run around and happily munch on grass and bugs before they’re slaughtered for the benefit of our holiday table. Their meat is purported to be much more flavorful and juicy than that of their commercially-bred cousins.

In contrast, your typical Broad Breasted Bronze or Large White is bred for enormous size and large breast. A commercially raised bird might spend its entire life cooped up in a crowded building before it is slaughtered and processed. The result is turkeys that can’t walk or naturally mate, and dry, flavorless meat.

Last year I roasted an organic, free-range turkey, courtesy of Mary’s Free Range Turkey. It was pretty good, certainly juicier than the usual supermarket variety. This year I’ve pre-ordered a heritage bird, which I’m curious to try. A heritage turkey seems like one of those foods that, once you’ve tasted it, might redefine, for you, the very meaning of turkey.

Aside from their superior taste, heritage turkeys revive breeds that would have otherwise faced extinction. As they say at Slow Food, you’ve got to eat ‘em to save ‘em, a cringe-worthy paradox for any vegetarian, but sadly, true, nonetheless.

This contradiction is a little hard for me to swallow, pardon the pun. I like the idea of raising animals humanely on small farms, and feeding them according to their natural diet (think of cows munching on grass instead of feeding on soybeans, for example).

Put simply, wouldn’t you be happier roaming around outdoors than being penned in a space so small you can barely turn around, surrounded by hundreds of noisy neighbors? (What’s that? You work in a cubicle too?) I certainly would. As such, I try to support humanely raised animal products as much as I can.

But I can’t shake the odd irony that these animals who are raised in a pleasant environment, fed healthy foods, and given space to roam and play, are summarily killed so that I may eat them. I’ve gone the vegetarian route (seven years), and frankly, my palate is much too selfish to go back. Waiter? I’ll have the cognitive dissonance, please. Pass the heritage turkey!

When I’m feeling lazy and the weather is warm, a light dinner of assorted mezze is very satisfying. Here are some ideas for small dishes, followed by a couple of recipes. Combine a few of these dishes with toasted country style or flat bread and cured meats and cheeses for a light supper or lunch.

• Halved tomatoes, fried in olive oil with sliced garlic, sprinkled over with salt & pepper and a basil leaf
• Zucchini blossoms lightly sauteed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Steamed stinging nettles (or spinach), mixed with butter, sauteed garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper and garnished with grated parmesan

chickpea and fennel mezze

1/4 can chickpeas
1/4 large fennel, diced
1 clove garlic
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper

• In a bowl, lightly mash the chickpeas. Toss in the fennel.
• Press the garlic clove and squeeze the half lemon over the mixture.
• Pour olive oil on the meze and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 2-3 (small, mezze style portions)

cucumber, yogurt, and blueberry mezze with lemon thyme

1 large Persian or other long cucumber, finely diced
2 tsp fresh lemon thyme, pounded in a mortar and pestle or finely chopped fresh mint
about 1 c natural, unflavored, full fat yogurt
about 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
1/4 c fresh blueberries
salt and pepper to taste

• Put the diced cucumber and herbs in a medium bowl.
• Pour over some of the yogurt, then squeeze in the lemon juice and toss. You want to balance the acidity of the lemon juice with the tartness of the yogurt, but you don’t want the mixture to be too runny. Add more yogurt as needed and taste as you go.
• Add in the blueberries and toss carefully, so as not to smash the fruit.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 2 as part of a mezze style meal

P.S. Stay tuned for more reports on NYC and Stockholm…

I must have some sort of weird magnetic aura that attracts Israeli Knesset members. The other day I walked right past Silvan Shalom—former Israeli Foreign Minister—in the crowded theater district after seeing “The History Boys.” It’s pretty common to spot celebrities casually walking the crowded streets of New York, but I would sooner have expected to run into David Bowie buying a carton of milk than an Israeli MK looking anonymous among the post-theater throngs.

On the food front, I ate dinner at Four Food Studio and Cocktail Salon last night (no seriously, that’s the actual name of the place). Contrary to what you might think, the wait staff does not cut and style guests’ hair before, during, or after dinner. Rather, Four specializes in fusion style cuisine based on the seasonal foods of Long Island, a laudable concept for a local restaurant.

We started our meal with a basket of warm country style bread with soft butter, followed by the fairly pleasant house cheese fondue. The market salad, punctuated by kernels of fresh corn, and bits of chevre and bacon, was quite good.
For the main course, I had cappuccino dusted rare ahi tuna with jasmine rice pilaf and a sweet eggplant concoction consisting of small, meltingly soft chunks of eggplant. The tuna steak was perfectly seared a thin pale beige on top and bottom, remaining dark pink within. The steak, beautifully speckled with cappuccino (finely ground espresso?), was both delightfully meaty and soft, as you might expect a tuna steak to be.

The dessert menu included such whimsical offerings as “Chocolate Coca Cola Cake with Tahitian vanilla ice cream” and “Coffee and Donuts,” comprised of bread pudding made from donuts and Turkish coffee ice cream with caramel sauce. I don’t care for very sweet desserts, so I ordered a scoop of the vanilla and Turkish coffee ice creams. Both were excellent.

Service is attentive and generous. Our waiter Josh kindly arranged a vegetarian dish with the chef in order to accommodate my veggie brother. Be sure to take some money with you to the restroom, as there’s a nice person there whose job it is to open the tap for you and hand you a paper towel (a bit much for me, but hey, it’s a job). Similarly, several valets are available to park your car for you when you arrive, not that parking is particularly difficult in Melville.

Following dessert, Four serves a large, fluffy ball of pink cotton candy along with the check. The candy floss symbolizes the ethos of the place: deliberately silly, but fun, and pretty tasty, if a little sweet. That the giant wad of fluffy sugar arrives atop a large wine glass points to the restaurant’s ultra-trendy vibe. In all, a fun place to eat on Long Island.

Four Food Studio and Cocktail Salon
515 Broadhollow Road (Rte. 110)
Melville, NY 11747
631.577.4444

I’m on vacation in NYC, hence the slowdown of posts. Foodwise, I’ve had:

• A corned beef sandwich on rye with mustard at Katz’s, which, I’m sorry to say, was better than the corned beef I make at home.
• Some sort of rice and red bean pastry from a Chinese bakery in Nolita. It was covered in sesame seeds, slightly crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside. The pastry was filled with sweet red bean paste.
• An H&H bagel with cream cheese and Scottish lox, which is almost as good as Norwegian lox. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a proper, boiled bagel, rather than a bun with a hole in it. I recommend the pumpernickel bagel.
• Chocolate cake at My Most Favorite Dessert Company.
• Perfectly grilled, rare lamb chops at Blair Perrone steak house, courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law (thanks, guys!).

Other than eating, I’m doing the usual New York City thing—museums, shows, taking photos of buildings like a crazed tourist.

That’s about all the news that’s fit to print. I’m going to go polish off the rest of my corned beef sandwich for breakfast.

Not far from the farmer’s market is Söderhallarna, Södermalm’s answer to the grand Östermalms Saluhall. Like Östermalms Saluhall, Söderhallarna features a number of small specialty shops, restaurants, take-out shops, and coffee shops all conveniently located under one roof.

Outside Söderhallarna is Medborgarplatsen, the nucleus of Södermalm nightlife. By nightfall, the square is overflowing with well-dressed people having a drink, standing in line for a show at the Debaser, or on their way in or out of one of the myriad clubs in the area. Beer is everywhere, especially in the Tunnelbana station, where patient police officers confiscate bottles and pour their contents out over the tracks. A Greek fast food truck and a hot dog stand provide quick snacks for what appear to be the two hundred people queuing up to the Debaser.

In the morning, the fast food stands are the only remnants of last night’s scene. The square is now home to shoppers, families, and political parties lobbying for votes in the upcoming elections with their cabins and posters.

A bakery, featuring central European style breads. Note the poppyseed challah second to the left.

The poultry section of a butcher shop. The yellow-skinned chickens on the left were raised on corn.

A confectioner’s shop.

Fresh torteloni and canneloni.

The meat shop where I bought dried reindeer sausage.

The butcher shop’s takeout section, featuring pana cotta with cloudberries, various types of terrines, pâtés and mousses, as well as truffles.

Cured meats at the butcher shop. The long, brown sausages in the middle are dried reindeer sausages.

I love the old-fashioned packaging used to wrap these sweets. The yellow ones are cloudberry candies.

An array of sauces and dressings at a gourmet shop.

No, it isn’t matzah. It’s Swedish flatbread!

A greengrocer’s. The weird-looking pipes above the apples and lemons are misters.

A row of political party “cabins” in front of Söderhallarna and an outdoor nursery.

Tables from a restaurant in Söderhallarna and political party cabins. According to Anne, people bid for the cabins after the elections and use them as sheds in their back yards.

Medborgarplatsen at night, with Söderhallarna in the background.

Outdoor restaurants and pubs in Medborgarplatsen.

Links:

• Söderhallarna
• P & B Delikatesser—Spices, oils, sauces, jams, and sweets.
  
• Lulles FÃ¥gel & Vilt—Deli and butcher shop.

It’s been over a week since Blog Day 2006, but I figure, what the hell, why not participate?

Here are some of my new favorites:

1. Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook—An elegant little blog by an American living in Lyon, France. The photos are positively Pavlovian, you find yourself leaning in to eat the image on the monitor, stopping yourself just in time to wipe a reflexive bit of dribble from your chin. Then you notice the prose: “The market is the element of the French way of living that… has so completely wrapped itself tightly around my heart.” You’ll need a cigarette after reading this one.
2. The Laughing Gastronome—Gorgeous photos and adventurous recipes from New Zealand.
3. Vegan Lunchbox—Having formerly been a vegetarian for seven years, I have a soft spot in my heart for vegetarian recipes. This site isn’t all that new, but I really enjoy it now and again. Jennifer documents the cute, tasty vegan lunches she prepares for her son, complete with a culinary review by “shmoo.” This site is proof that vegan food can be delicious, as can school lunches.
4. Mahanandi—This site has been a great source when attempting to create Indian-style dishes. The photos are always colorful and appetizing, and the recipes never fail to inspire.
5. A Blithe Palate—Reading Cath’s site feels like curling up with a good book. And she quotes M.F.K. Fisher on her About page. I’m hooked.

I happened upon a lovely outdoor market near the Medborgarplatsen area of Södermalm on Saturday. Södermalm is sort of Stockholm’s answer to the Village in Manhattan, or Haight-Ashbury before it became a completely gentrified parody of itself. In Söder—as it’s called by Stockholmers—you’ll find strange characters and hipsters, artists and boutique owners, and some of the coolest clubs and bars. (I’m amused to no end by the names of some Stockholm establishments. For example, a bar called “Dickens” featuring a likeness of the famous writer on its sign and a menu completely unrelated to England in the Industrial Age). That said, Södermalm is actually composed of a number of neighborhoods, only a couple of which I’ve really explored.

Getting back to the market near Medborgarplatsen… I was on my way to my favorite little Södermalm boutique when I spotted a stall selling fruits and vegetables. Aha, an outdoor market! Naturally, I had to check it out and take surreptitious photos when nobody was looking.

Södermalmers are a lucky bunch. The market includes both organic and conventional foods, including produce, meats, cheeses, sausages, seafood, bread, honey, natural body care products, and wool rugs. Everything is meticulously fresh and appetizing, and the shoppers are amusingly organized in their browsing. When the market gets a little crowded, people instinctively queue up to get through the long, relatively narrow row of market stalls. No elbows are used here, and the sellers quietly explain their wares to curious customers.

Had I stayed longer in Stockholm, I could have easily bought quite a lot. Here are my photos:

Gorgeous green beans.

This is the bread guy, captured from an angle because I was too embarassed to photograph him head on. He sells delicious whole grain rye breads, which I was tempted to take back to California. These very fresh breads probably wouldn’t have survived the trip.

Beautiful fresh carrots. Swedish carrots are the best I’ve ever tasted.

This fellow only sells fresh corn, and he’s got a large corn plant to prove it. Passing his stand, I wondered whether his corn is non-GMO.

Pickled crayfish, just the thing for a weekend crayfish party. In Sweden, crayfish season is greeted with crayfish parties, where crayfish is consumed by revelers wearing crayfish hats.

The goat cheese stand. The cheese tastes like a mild chevre, but is packed in olive oil labneh-style.

Squash, heralding the arrival of autumn.

Herbs for your kitchen garden.

The outdoor market includes several meat stalls, each focusing on a different type of meat, among them turkey and pork. These charcuterie are made of wild boar (vildsvin, right?).

Fresh jams and juices made from a variety of berries.

A variety of preserved vegetables, probably an important staple in the old days before refrigerated imports. It’s nice to see this tradition alive and well in an outdoor market.

I’m just doing a little web surfing while waiting for my connecting flight to San Francisco. I thought I’d peruse some foodblogs and see what’s been going on in the blogosphere lately. Of course, it completely slipped my mind that August 31st was Blog Day. Lo and behold, Anne from Anne’s Food and Bonnie from Daydream Delicious both kindly mentioned an open cupboard as one of their favorite new blogs. How sweet!

I had intended to compile a list of my own, but what with work and stumbling around Stockholm taking photos like the food-crazed dork that I am, I forgot (insert sheepish smiley here). Next year, I’ll put a reminder in my Google Calendar so I don’t forget, assuming I remember to check my Google Calendar. *Sigh*. Did I mention that I’m a dork?

Thanks again to Anne and Bonnie for their kind comments and links!

Stay tuned for more Stockholm photos…