Eat First

From the field to the parking lot at Salina and W. Washington Streets

Living in the moment means seizing the day, loving the one you're with, stopping to smell the roses and calling that someone who crosses your mind.

It also extends to what we eat -- eating fresh, seasonal and local.

On Tuesdays, if you work or otherwise happen to be in downtown Syracuse, it means walking to the Downtown Farmers Market, in the parking lot at South Salina and West Washington Streets, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin and the breeze in your hair, and seeing what the farmers have to add to your supper that evening.

The last several weeks, there has been mainly rhubarb, spinach, strawberries and other late spring-early summer produce, plus herbs, bedding plants and hanging baskets.

Last week saw the first of the season's peas and potatoes.

And garlic scapes -- the curly shoots of the garlic plant that grow above ground. At $2 a basket, they're a great deal. Especially when you consider that you can use them raw (sliced, in salads, for instance), saute them, stir-fry them or add them to soups and sauces for mild garlic flavor.

I haven't tried it, but I hear you can use the scapes to make a terrific pesto.

If you don't have a use for the scapes now, no problem. Toss them in a zip-top bag and stow them in the freezer for later use.

New this year at the Downtown Farmers Market is a stand selling Gianelli sausage sandwiches, a slot for Pasta's Daily Bread and sauces (fresh from the bake shop on South Franklin Street), a vendor selling pasture-raised meats, maple products and honey from North Country Farms.

The honey at your favorite supermarket could come from as far away as Canada and Argentina, but this honey comes from family-owned operations in the Lake Ontario and Watertown areas, and in the Adirondacks.

Sweet!

Need more reasons to seek out a local farmers market (there's one every day of the week in the Syracuse area,  except Monday)?

Here's three:

• Locally grown food tastes better because it hasn't traveled thousands of miles to reach your plate.

• The produce was picked that morning, before your feet even hit the floor.

• Supporting your local farmer is good for the local economy.

So eat local as often as you can!

My big, fat Greek belly

What do you do the afternoon after you've been to a birthday dinner, replete with drinks, passed hors d'oeuvres, a main course of roast lamb, and strawberry cake with whipped cream icing and almonds for the guest of honor?

Head over to the 36th annual Greek Cultural Festival at St. Sophia's Church in DeWitt, of course,  and cue up for lunch.

This is what the food line looked like at about 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, two hours before the conclusion of the four-day festival. Festival organizer Chris Tzetzis shouted to late-comers not to be intimidated by the long line. You will be feasting in 10 minutes, he promised. And he was right.

One of us took a spot in the food line while the other went to the beer tent and came back with two cold ones. As we moved forward in the line, I darted out for a slab of spanakopita, a savory Greek delicacy made with layers of flaky phyllo dough stuffed with spinach and feta cheese, and two forks.

A trip to Greek Fest wouldn't be complete without gyros, the sole reason for wading into that line in the first place.

Gyros are pockets of warm pita bread stuffed with shaved, roasted lamb, onions and tomatoes and topped with tzatziki, a sauce/dressing made with cucumber, Greek yogurt and garlic. They're sort of a sloppy mess of a sandwich, but in a really good way.

If there is a downside to attending Greek Fest on its final day, it's that the previous days' hordes had eaten their way through all the baklava, diples, kataifi and other traditional, honey-drenched pastries lovingly prepared each year by the women of St. Sophia's.

That gave us pause: Pause to remind ourselves that the last thing we really needed right then was a honey-soaked sweet.

And pause to remind ourselves that there is always next year. Thank you, St. Sophia's, for the great food and glimpse of Greek culture.

Christmas in June

I don't really want to hear the C word -- Christmas -- until Halloween or after, but who among us doesn't love Christmas cookies?

The French Butter Cookies and Gingerbread Sandwiches shown here are recipes from the 2001 edition of Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies special issue. Like many of the cookies Martha features, they can be enjoyed any time of year.

I made both cookies (plus a pan of Nick Malgieri's "Supernatural Brownies'') for the "pre-party" for my friend Frank's 50th birthday last night. Knowing there would be a big, fancy birthday cake today, we just wanted to offer a bite of dessert.  I'm not sure what makes the French Butter Cookies French, exactly. They don't  call for European butter or any fancy ingredients, but they were definitely "ooh-la-la.''

What they are, really, is old-fashioned refrigerator cookies: Make the dough, roll it into logs, refrigerate or freeze until ready to use, then slice and bake. The recipe is below.

If you opt to freeze the dough: Defrost in the refrigerator then roll each log in one-quarter cup of decorative sanding sugar, gently pressing the sugar into the dough. Return the dough to the fridge for 30 minutes or more, then slice and bake.

French Butter Cookies

(Makes about 5 dozen)

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

Three-quarter cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

One-quarter teaspoon citrus or almond extract (optional)

2 and a half cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

Half a cup of decorative sanding sugar

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and extract(s) and mix to combine. Add flour and salt and mix on low speed until flour is incorporated.

Divide dough in two and roll dough into two logs (1.5 inches in diameter). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, one hour or overnight. Or, double-wrap logs and freeze for future use.

Just before baking: Roll logs in sanding sugar, coating evenly and pressing sugar gently into dough. Return to refrigerator for 30 minutes.

To bake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice dough into thin rounds (about one-quarter inch thick). Place cookies on baking sheet about one inch apart.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown, rotating halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire racks.

Enjoy!

Mmmmmmmmm pie! Rhubarb pie

When we were growing up, it was customary for my mother to make at least one rhubarb pie in the springtime.

She's 88 now, in remarkably good health but with wobbly knees and feet that get achy when she's been on them a while. Not so good for laboring in the kitchen over pie crust (from scratch, made with lard) and fillings.

So it's my turn.

Robert picked out a fine looking bunch of rhubarb at the Regional Market Saturday morning. To refresh it, he thoughtfully trimmed the ends and plunged it into a container of ice water. I made the pie this morning using cheater's favorite Pillsbury crusts. I make the real deal when time allows (no lard!) but the Pillsbury crusts are easy to handle and taste great.

Here's what the filling looked like before going into the pie shell.

The pie is cooling now, and in a couple hours I'll cut a nice slab and make a special delivery to Mom. What goes around comes around.

It's not humid today, so the nice crackle on the crust, which comes from brushing it with a little cream and a sprinkling of granulated brown sugar, should hold up until suppertime (when it will be topped with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt).

Taste of Syracuse: a little of this and that

Who can resist an annual foodie event that unfolds the first Friday and Saturday of June each year right outside your workplace door?

Taste of Syracuse features dozens of Central New York restaurants and food producers, each offering $1 samples (like a a miniature kielbasa sandwich from Eva's, in Solvay, above)  and  several other moderately priced menu items.

Getting a beer can be a bit of a hassle, and cruising the food stands with thousands of other people on a Friday evening when the weather gods smile on you can be a challenge, but definitely worth the effort.

We waded into the thick of the Taste following a TGIF pint at the world-famous Dinosaur Bar-B-Que 

and found the food pickings to be excellent and the people watching superb.

Syracuse has a reputation as a red-sauce Italian town in terms of its cuisine, but the Taste served as a good reminder of the melting pot of restaurants that the region has to offer. Three of us sampled foods from from Mexico, Latin America, Greece, Poland, Vietnam and Italy, plus delicious all-American comfort food in the form of a melt-in-your mouth pot roast sandwich from JJ's, a stand operated by our friend Joe Todisco.

The $1 sample from Mai Lan restaurant, a small spring roll stuffed with shrimp and vegetables and topped with grated carrots, crushed peanuts and a zippy sauce, reminded us that work is just blocks away from the North State Street restaurant and we should get ourselves there more often.

Mai Lan's slender, crispy fried eggrolls were a treat, too.

We're on a strict diet until next weekend, which brings the annual Greek Cultural Festival at St. Sophia's Church Church in DeWitt.

Time for Greek beer,  baklava, gyros and spanakopita. Not necessarily in that order.

Expect to see some more of this action.