Low Fat Cheese is a Commodity

After too long of a blog hiatus, I'm back. Back from spring break, which I spent in the lovely city that I live in, that I never get to spend time in. Ever pass a store or restaurant 100 times and never even peak in?! I had a very dear friend of mine, Rachel, come visit me all the way from London, so I had a great excuse to explore the city and just hang out.

Whenever Rachel comes to town, I love probing her with questions about English culture and politics, and we have great conversation. Since we had such a great week, I thought I'd share some of the fun things we ate.

Last year when Rachel came to visit, I brought her to one of my favorite restaurants in all of New York City, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria & Restaurant.


(pic from www.ottopizzaria.com)

Needless to say, she jumped off the plane and wanted to head right to Otto! Located right above beautiful Washington Square Park, Otto is owned by celebrity chef and one of my favorite Food Network rock stars, Mario Batali. Otto is not a restaurant for the non-wine lovers crowd, mainly because the food menu is 1/4 of the wine menu. I've never had anything off the food menu (or wine for that matter) that was less amazing, but one of my favorite things to do at Otto is to go with a few friends and order a nice bottle of wine and a cheese plate:



This is a cheese plate with a goat cheese and two other cheeses that had fancy names that I don't remember, but all were incredible. Each cheese plate (you can order them in 3 cheese, 5 cheese and 7 cheese platters) comes with crusty bread and three exquisite dipping sauces that have matched every cheese I have ever tried (and let's just say, I'm quite a veteran Otto cheese plate-er). The sauces are honey with truffles, white wine with apricots and brandy with cherries. I highly recommend a wine and cheese plate any time of the day. If you're not a seasoned cheese picker, ask your waiter. I have never been steered wrong! I always choose my wine at Otto based on price (umm yea, I'm graduating in 7 weeks), but I'm not too picky. I've never met a wine I didn't love. Visit to see the rest of the menu. They are very accommodating and it's a great place to have a large group or it's def intimate enough for a date or a night out with a few friends.

In discussing cheese, I love hanging out with Rachel, for the pure conversation fun of making fun of each other's accents and talking about things we have here and that she has in England. One thing that rocked Rach's world was the low fat cheese selection in my refrigerator. And..international food fact of the week, tator tots and chocolate chips are also two foods not found in such abundance in the UK. Who knew!? A world with limited low fat cheese, tots and chocolate chips?? EK! So, if anyone is going to London in the next few months, holler at me for Rachel's contact so you can bring her and her family some more chocolate chips!!

I'm going to feature a lunch time snack I made last week which was a big hit as my RECIPE OF THE WEEK!

'Make it in the Bowl' Italian Bread Salad



4 Servings*

4 cups of cubed, stale, whole wheat baguette or crusty bread
2 packages of cherry tomatoes
10-15 basil leaves
8 oz of Mozzerella Cheese
4 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

To taste:
Oregano
Salt and Pepper

*Prepare this salad 30-60 minutes before serving

Grab the serving bowl of your choice, preferably the one you usually use for a big salad. Cube the bread (the smaller the pieces, the better) and throw the cubes in the bowl. Slice the cherry tomatoes once down the center and throw them in the bowl too. Rip the basil leaves a few times (you can chop the leaves, but it's not necessary), throw them in. Cut or grate the mozzerella to your liking and toss that in along with oregano, salt and pepper to your liking. Pour the olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the salad mixture and toss. Make sure you toss the salad so that the bread cubes are in position to grab most of the moisture from the tomatoes, oil and vinegar. The salad needs to be prepared 30-60 minutes before serving so that the flavors can blend and the oil and vinegar can be absorbed by the bread.

(recipe improvised from 'bread salad' recipe from )

Vegan friends, omit the cheese! And Voila! A great apetizer or side dish for your meal! Easy, inexpensive and only one dirty bowl!!

All this talk about cheese, salad, chocolate chips and tots has my mouth watering after a busy day of not too much eating. So, fellow friends and foodies, have a great week!

Peace, love and good food,
Jeanette
xx

Green Market. Red Soup.

I'm working on formulating a 'Jeanette's Top 10 List of NYC' (which if you know me, will be an eternally running list of drinking games, staying away from tourists, eating and shopping). Until I can get a list going, I would love to share one of my permanent top ten spots with you all: The Greenmarket (In union square). This spread of everything from bread to wine, green beans to cookies, and pears to plants is so much fun to walk and browse through. An added bonus is the satisfying feeling of supporting the local vendors doing what they do.

I love the market so much because the fruits and veggies are very inexpensive. I bought 2 large red onions for $.64! In Whole Foods, across the street, I would have paid at least $1.00. Leaving the green market with bags of stuff never leaves you in too much debt (unless you're my friend Kaitlin who buys obscene amounts of plants on every visit to the market!). Here are some pictures from my lovely Saturday afternoon:






The Greenmarket is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays year round. The best and worst day to go is on Saturday. Best because all the vendors are out in full force, Worst because everyone and their mother is there with dogs and baby strollers and on skateboards. So just be careful.

In returning home in a Spring-y spirit (It was such a gorgeous day on Saturday...It even hit 60 Degrees!) from the market with all my fresh veggies, I was craving my favorite summer soup-Borscht! My mom used to make it when I was younger and I used to love it. I called her up and now (drum roll please) here is my fav summer soup to share as my recipe of the week!

Momma Joy's Cold Red Soup (aka her recipe for Borscht):
(4 Servings per recipe)

4 Large Potatoes
1 Bottle of Manischewitz brand Borscht (this is only the base, I didn't get all semi-homemade on your asses)
1/4 cup White Vinegar
1 Large Red Onion
1 Large White Onion
6 Beets
1 Large Seedless Cucumber
As much Sour Cream as your little heart desires

(Jeanette Tip: Start some boiling water before you gather your ingredients so that by the time you chop up all the potatoes, you'll have a place to throw them. not that genius, I know, but whatevs)

Chop the potatoes and throw them in the boiling water. Leave them until tender. (Note: the smaller you chop them, the quicker they will cook!)

Dump the container of Borscht into your serving dish or tupperware (The best part about cold soup, is that you can make it directly in your serving dish or tupperware!). Add the vinegar little by little. Make sure you don't make it too strong, you can always add more, you can't take it out once you've gone too far!

Chop up the remaining veggies and throw them into the borscht.

That's it for prep. The rest of the magic lies in the presentation. Take a good few spoonfuls of potatoes and put them into the bottom of a bowl. Ladle in the cold borscht mixture over it. Top with sour cream and stir. Enjoy!



Thank you momma Joy for this one. I think I am subconciously hoping that by putting up a summery recipe of the week, spring will get here faster. One can only hope.

until next time, snack well and peace on earth.

xo
Jeanette