Francois Payard Bakery -- FPB

On my first day of pastry school, our chef asked us if we knew who Francois Payard was. She was rather upset when not one person raised their hand. Apparently Chef Payard is a legend in the New York dessert scene -- his croissants and pastries were frequently named the best in the city. He used to own a pastry shop on the Upper East Side but was forced to close it after the rent was hiked up so high that he could not longer afford to do business. Enter Francois Payard Bakery -- FPB:

Fetching awning, no?

Earlier this week his new bakery opened near enough to our house for Collin Murray and I to stop by and get a taste. Boy are we glad we did. Collin Murray had the croissant, me the pain au chocolat. Really, the pastries are technically almost the same -- the same dough is used but each pastry is rolled differently and the pain au chocolat has a chocolate baton (read: fancy term for little stick of chocolate that don't melt at high temperatures) inserted into it prior to baking.

Collin Murray's croissant

Pain au chocolate Before

After

The store also sold breads and lovely little cakes and tarts as well as sandwiches and an array of specialty drinks that look positively delightful.

I'm a little obsessed with the strawberry tarts

Francois Payard Bakery is located at 116 West Houston (between Thompson and Sullivan). For more information about the bakery, click here.

Photos are by Collin Murray, once again.

Billy's Bakery

Ever just crave a cupcake? It happens to me all the time and honestly even though I went to pastry school and everything, I rarely make them and I know it might sound crazy eqaully but I also rarely eat them. However, when the cupcake craving reared its ugly head today, it seemed like the perfect day to try out Billy's Bakery, a charming little bakery in our neighbourhood.

In the flesh! Billy's!

I had long been told of Billy's. One of my chef-instructors made the bold claim that Billy's made the best cupcakes in the city -- a claim that had me curious as I have had some tasty little cakes in New York. If you are wondering, there is actually a Billy. He used to work at the famed Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker street (you know, the one that you see in Sex and the City...) and when he left Magnolia, he set up his own shop. As a result, the cupcakes at Billy's are strikingly similar to Magnolia's -- both are heavily topped with buttercream and dotted with old-school sprinkles.

Our selection (Chocolate, Red Velvet, Chocolate, Carrot Cake)

Collin Murray and I tried the chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake and were reasonably pleased with our cupcakes. The chocolate and red velvet were pretty dry but the carrot cake was absolutely delicious. It was moist and tender and the perfect balance of carrot and spice. Topped with cream cheese icing that was the perfect dose of sweet and sour, this cupcake was by far the favorite of the day.

Carrot Cake deliciousness...with a little bit taken out of it!

Billy's Bakery is located at 184 9th Avenue and there is also a location in Tribeca. Either way, you can also visit their website by clicking http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/.

We ate them all...almost...

Pssst...I forgot to mention, Collin Murray was our photographer today! I think he did rather well!

The New Fulton Fish Market @ Hunts Point

I was up in the wee hours this morning in order to take a little field trip with my culinary management class to the New Fulton Fish Market at Hunt's Point in the Bronx. Fulton is one of the largest fresh fish markets in North America, as such, it was an incredible experience that I didn't mind having to be up so early for! Our large, and I must say, fairly rowdy group for the time of day, left the school on a "party bus" at 4:30 to be at the fish market by 5am. Ironically, as early as it was, we were actually getting there a little late -- the fish market's prime hours are from 1am to 5am. Being "late" meant that we had missed a lot of the serious buying action from the city's various purveyors but I still got to hear a little haggling and bargaining which was rather delightful. 

View down the market

I can't even begin to list all the different types of fish that I saw at the market. One of the chefs from school accompanied us on the trip and was able to tell us about certain types of fish but the fish mongers themselves were not at all shy if we had questions, in fact, they were quite the characters. They were also incredibly skilled. We watched one gentleman fillet fish in less then 10 seconds. He made four cuts, flipped the fish over and before we knew it, he was on to the next one! It was fascinating. 

Sassy fish monger

What surprised me about the fish market was how many purveyors were selling shark(!) and swordfish -- it was pretty crazy to see whole sharks and headless baby sharks just hanging out. Who knew there was such a demand for them? The market also had a ton of red snapper, blue crabs, tons of different white fish, lobster, tons of catfish, sea urchin, scallops, monk fish, mussels, clams (of literally every size), salmon, tuna, prawns...you get the point -- they have everything.

Baby shark and half of a larger shark

Here are a couple more photos of our fishy morning:


Sea Urchin



Hungry?

Enormous catfish

Fish hook -- what the fish monger's use to move the fish

The big buckets are attached to scales and used to weigh the big fishes

The City Bakery Pretzel Croissant

I experienced a marvelous thing today. The City Bakery Pretzel Croissant. I've been lusting after it for weeks and weeks. I've been told dozens of times by many different sources that this NYC original was not to be missed and ya know what, they were right.


The recipe is closely guarded. In fact, a few rounds of googling turned up nothing but myths and failed attempts of the many people who have tried to recreate it. If I had to guess, I would say that they make a pretzel dough and then fold and pound it, the same way that croissants are made. The taste is quite salty but also buttery and moist. The texture is not as dense as a pretzel but not as flaky as the croissant. In a word, it was delicious and I am definitely going to go back for more.

Holy Hot Pepper!

I'm not very brave when it comes to hot peppers. Honestly, I'm actually kind of a wimp. Collin Murray and my step-brother Russell seem to have iron mouths but I'm just not that brave. Lately, since it's pepper season, there have been a whole 'lotta peppers at the market and though I've been working up my courage to try them, I just haven't gotten there yet...maybe next week...


You can understand why I'm not so brave...with a warning like EXPLOSIVE HOT, you would be crazy not to be scared!


Maybe I could get on-board with a Chocolate Hot Pepper...


Sorry for the blur, the array of hot peppers made me dizzy!


These little lovelies are just so pretty, but I think I'd rather try those lovely sweet peaches behind the peppers instead.

Feast of San Gennaro...And Zeppole!

Collin Murray and I took a little walk today, a walk that ended in Little Italy and the 84th annual Feast of San Gennaro. I have to admit that though the festival is supposed to be religious (in fact, the festival's website claims that it is the longest running and most revered religious festivals in the United States), I certainly didn't find it all that church-y...unless we're talking about worshipping food. I swear, I have never seen more sausages and peppers in my life. Sacks of onions, vats of oil, and wood-fired pizza ovens right on the side of the street! It was a little insane -- especially when considering how absolutely packed with people Mulberry street was.


See! It was just a wee bit busy...


Crazy enormous sausage rolls!


They also had a fresh and fried seafood booth that smelled amazing.

Collin Murray and I didn't even make it to the end of the festival, it was just too nutty but what we did manage to snag was a steaming hot, confectioner's sugar dunked, huge paper bag of zeppole or fried bits of dough -- Italian-style.



A common pastry of Rome, Naples and Sicily, zeppole are normally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe (The Feast of Saint Joesph) in March but I was very excited to find them in September. Occasionally the little bits of dough are sprinkled in granulated sugar and can be filled with jam or pastry cream but ours were "served" plain and I was quite ok with that...



Click here for more information on the Feast. It will continue to run, this year, till September 26.

UPDATE: The Queen's Strawberry Fool

I got a little message from The Queen today and it turns out that the dessert that she made and I so loved was not a fool -- that was me, the dish was actually called an Eton Mess. Opps. Turns out you don't learn everything that you need to know in pastry school.

I also changed things up tonight with the "Eton Mess". I had some peaches that were so delicious and juicy and perfectly ripe just sitting on the counter so I decided to put them into the cream instead. I simply cut the peaches into a small dice, dusted them with a sprinkle of sugar and a tiny bit of lemon juice and then followed the same procedure as yesterday (whipped some cream, mixed in the peaches, and topped with crushed meringue cookies). I have to say, and Collin Murray agrees, this Eton Mess was even better than yesterday's fool. The lesson to learn here, use the fruit that is in season and don't do a whole lot to it; cause really, you don't have to!

Easy Wine and Cheese

I have to say that one of my all-time favorite dinners is a wine and cheese and I know that it sounds like a super snobby, ridiculous, and kind of over-the-top dinner but I promise you, the way I hook up a wine and cheese is anything but. Follow my simple "suggestions" and I bet you'll be wining and cheesing every chance you get!

For the cheese, I don't tend to follow any of those rules about hard cheeses, soft cheeses, blues and goats: I go with what I like. Generally, I have a cheese that is really salty like a pecorino, parm or manchego. I have a softer cheese like a saint andre or brie, a semi-soft cheese like a fruity tallegio or firmer fontina, and then I like a cheddar. I know it's not the way that the experts say to do it, but it's what Collin Murray and I like. If you are shopping for cheeses, go to a specialty store where the people behind the counter will let you taste and you can begin to figure out what your favorites are.


I know I just told you I never follow the rules about goats and blues and here they are on the platter...all I can say is that Collin Murray and I are trying our best to get out of our cheese comfort zones. Trying.

I know it's called a wine and cheese but I like to serve a nice thinly slice prosciutto or salami along with the cheeses. I also like to put out crackers or toasted bread, walnuts or almonds, dried fruit, fresh fruit like grapes or granny smith apples and also a few grape tomatoes. Think about the different tastes and textures that you like and be a little adventurous with what you eat your cheese with. One of my favorite combinations is a dried apricot with soft not-too-goaty goat cheese, wrapped in some lovely prosciutto. Crazy, right? Uh huh, but also crazy good.



For the wine, I really am no expert. Drink what you like. Seriously: Drink. What. You. Like. Sometimes Collin Murray and I have bubbly, sometimes we have red, it just depends on what you're craving. True, not everything you eat is going to go with your wine, but really, who cares? Just have fun and enjoy.

The Queen's Strawberry Fool

A long time ago, The Queen fed me a delicious dessert and I've never forgotten it. It was a simple dessert: slightly sweetened whipped cream, strawberries marinated in a wee touch of sugar and a tiny bit of balsamic and a sprinkling of crushed meringue cookies but it was profoundly good.

At the grocery store today, I saw a package of pre-made meringues and I had to have them. My idea was to whip some cream, stuff it into the meringues and top it off with some wonderful diced peaches from the market. However, after dinner, when Collin Murray was not-so-subtly poking around for dessert in the fridge, I remembered that I had some strawberries that were about to go bad and so I used them to recreate the The Fool instead...

The recipe for The Queen's Strawberry Fool (which is probably not the same recipe that she used because it came from my memory and I didn't measure...) is simple.

Slice a few strawberries, sprinkle them with a little sugar (depending on how sweet they are), and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze (you only need a tiny, tiny bit -- the flavor of the vinegar is very strong).


Then, whip some cream with a little sugar till it reaches stiff peaks.


And then, mix the strawberries and the cream together and take a meringue and crumble it on top...


Eat immediately and enjoy!

Damn Jam

Sometimes things don't go as planned in the kitchen...like the time we made jam. Rod gave me the recipe over the phone, he is, after Grandma Mary of course, the jam-aficionado of the family. But even though we followed his "directions", sometimes things just don't work. Maybe it was the fact that we were trying to make jam in too tiny a pot on our tiny stove in our tiny New York apartment. Maybe it was the fact that our stove was either pumping at full blast or refusing to stay lit. Or maybe Collin Murray and I just suck at making jam.


I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because I took this picture in the brightest of bright lights. In reality, the jam is dark and tastes like apricot caramel...really, not good. Good thing we will be able to try again next year!

The World's Tiniest Cucumber?

I realize that it probably sounds repetitive but I really can't stop raving about the Greenmarket in Union Square. Today Collin Murray and I found the cutest little cucumbers there that I have ever seen.


Hello? How cute are they?

The cucumbers are called Sour Mexican Gherkins or Sanditas and they are truly adorable. I found them to have a very lemon-y taste and to be really quite tart. I wasn't a huge fan of their taste but I was exceedingly delighted by their size. Collin Murray thought they were "different" and tasted a little like a "pickled watermelon" but they were a neat market find nonetheless.


The whole lot of 'em

A little bit of googling didn't bring up too much information of the Sanditas origin or growth season, but the farmer told us that they are great on salads, pickled as you would other cucumbers or even in pastas. I'm a little skeptical on how they would be in pasta but hey, if you're that cute, who am I to judge?


A look inside -- kind of like a cucumber, right? Just in really, really tiny packaging!

Momofuku Milk Bar

I've talked about Momofuku Milk Bar before. Collin Murray and I went there in the early days of our New York experience. We had their cookies and their steamed pork buns and we were less than impressed. Momofuku is a brand that has got a lot of press in the foodie community. Led by Chef David Chang, there are now several restaurants within the city that fall under the company's umbrella. It is supposed to be a great place, with really cool, hip food and inspired homey desserts -- that may be true but as far as Milk Bar is concerned, I can't say that all the desserts are delicious.

My friend Jenna and I went today for a little Momofuku Milk Bar experience and it was just so-so. She had a cookie and a cereal milk flavored soft serve. I had a cookie and a chocolate milk flavored soft serve. My soft serve was good enough, hers was too artificial tasting for me.


Cereal milk soft serve


Chocolate milk soft serve

We both had the same cookie, corn flake, marshmallow and chocolate chip flavored and it was ok, not great. It was, as she and I both said, really break-y apart-y. I liked the sweet/salty taste of it well enough but I think that my real issue with the cookies was that it tasted overly manufactured. Since the restaurant group has a number of locations, my guess is that one kitchen is doing all the baking and then shipping them around the city. The first time I went to Milk Bar, the cookies were not pre-packaged, they were taken out of a case, clearly having been freshly baked: this time, they were pre-packaged and a little but old. As I told Collin Murray, I think there is a distinct drop in quality that came with a quick expansion of business and that's just not a tasty thing.


Cookie dressed in packaging


Undressed cookie

The original Momofuku Milk Bar is located at 207 2nd Ave in the East Village. Click here for the website.

Yellow Watermelon! That's Just Crazy Talk

I'm not a huge fan of watermelon. I like it well enough but it's not a fruit that I have to have. However, when I learned that there was a variety of watermelon out there that had yellow flesh, I had to check it out. I mean really, yellow watermelon, doesn't that just sound crazy! Sure enough though, today when I dug my knife into the tiny yellow watermelon that I picked up at the Greenmarket yesterday, it was as yellow as yellow could be and I was rather excited. The crazy thing is that the outside of the watermelon looks eerily similar to the regular old pink watermelon but inside, BAM! yellow!


Melons at the market


My little nugget


BAM! Yellow flesh!

I have to tell you that in terms of taste, there isn't any difference. My little watermelon was pretty small, no bigger than a large grapefruit, but it had a ton of seeds in it. I didn't really mind though, I was still too delighted about the color to really care!


Yum.

Greenmarket Round Up

One of the most exciting things about living in New York, which is something that I'm positive I've said before but I'm going to say again, is having access to a farmer's market like the Union Square Greenmarket. Since we moved in March, the market has changed so much. I've seen varieties of produce that I never thought existed, I've tasted new things and experimented at home with all sorts of produce. It's been really exciting for me and for Collin Murray too: it's something that we are grateful for and it is also something that is important for me to share with y'all too. So without further adieu, here's a taste of August!


Baby artichokes


Green Zebra Tomatoes


Mix of Peppers


Delicious New York state grapes


Little birds enjoying some corn