Greenmarket, your organic friend

Welcome to the inaugural post! In this blog, I'll explore the New York City music scene as well as its vibrant food scene. Also, I'll share with you some of my personal favorite recipes, including my own creations.

What's really fantastic about living in the New York metro area is I have access to amazingly fresh ingredients at the myriad of farm market opportunites offered in Manhattan. One of those outlets is the Union Square Greenmarket, held every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8am to 6pm, 365 days a year.

The Union Square Greenmarket offers locally grown, and often organic produce, dairy and even meats. You can get hard-to-find mushrooms, incredibly fresh tomatoes, crisp salad greens, artesanal hand-crafted cheeses, locally brewed wines, even cider that was pressed only hours earlier! Virtually anything you need you can find there.

This morning I set out for the Greenmarket to see what they had to offer and, to my immense delight, I was able to get a variety of wild mushrooms for a fraction of what I'd spend at Whole Foods. I was also able to pick up some very fresh parsley, rosemary, garlic and onions as well as locally made organic butter and a few bottles of wine from the Finger Lakes. On a dreary and somewhat chilly day like today, something I enjoy is an earthy wild mushroom risotto and the Greenmarket was able to give me what I needed to make this customarily Fall dish.

Armed with a canvas bag of wonderfully earthy delights, I set off for home to prepare my wild mushroom risotto; a great comfort food for a chilly Spring (or Fall) evening!

Wild Mushroom Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in 1/4-inch dice
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 pound wild mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
Leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups risotto rice

1/3 cup dry white wine
4 c. vegetable stock, warmed
1 T finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 T butter

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion until translucent then add the garlic, mushrooms and rosemary. Stir to mix well. Add the rice and stir to mix. Sauté briefly (a minute or two) until the rice is shiny and appears translucent. Add the wine and stir until completely absorbed. Add the stock gradually in half-cup increments. Stir regularly until the broth is nearly absorbed (you can hear a faint sizzling noise) before adding more.

When done, the rice should be al dente; tender with just a hint of firmness in the center. If you've run out of broth and the rice is still not done, you add additional water or vegetable stock in half-cup increments until the rice is done, which is approximately 35 minutes. Add parsley, butter and parmesan cheese, stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

One last thought: If you have some hiding in your pantry, a small drizzle of white truffle oil would be an amazing finish to this dish. Serve this along with a crisp, chilled pinot grigio (preferrably the same pinot grigio you used in the preparation). Enjoy!