Rye Cooks

Impressed? why yes!

We are so on-target now!  The fourth show is about to air this Friday, the one about fresh spring foods and getting into shape.  And it is still spring!!  

It features lots of local talent so if you live in Rye and want to see it on the big screen, tune in to channel 76 (or 33) on Fridays and Saturdays at 9am, 12am, 3pm and 6pm.  

On top of that, we are already two segments into our next show.  The theme here is "thrifty"; we visited the Rye Presbyterian Church Thrift shop today, which donates thousands of dollars to charities in lower Westchester.   

We are featuring a local favorite, homemade doughnuts from Jerry's Post Road Market, baked into individual ramekins of Banana Foster.  These goodies were topped with a mixture of Goya mango nectar and dulce de leche in an unbelievable flavor combination, all orchestrated by Stephanie Hammer, caterer and personal chef of Rye.  It was a really fun shoot and we are so excited to be stepping up to this faster pace.  

There is serious thought to a fishing segment.  What could be thriftier than catching your own dinner?  Stay tuned, friends!

 

Jelly Donuts

In past years, we would pick up the kids on the last day of school and head out to the Atlantic Terrace in Montauk, NY.  Otherwise known as The End.  Montauk is the laid back, shoes not always required, part of the east end of Long Island. I did recently read in the Times that even Montauk is becoming an address to have. Hard to believe, but I digress.

My focus here is the Montauk Bake Shoppe.  Inexplicable, that extra pe.  Anyway, the most amazing jelly croissants are sold here.  Or really, jelly twists, with some of the extra crispy sugar getting caught in the twist.  The jelly is a lurid pinkish red.  It is almost unappetizing in its brightness.  However, one bite and you can lose your mind in the sensational taste.

A good friend is currently out in Montauk and (hilariously), called me for DIRECTIONS to the Montauk Bake Shoppe.  I did my best (it's a little past that bookstore, not yet at the really big surf shop) and I truly hope we did not lose cell phone contact when I answered YES, I would love you to bring some home for me.  YES!  I will pick up your newspapers, water your plants, etc, just bring me back some of those psychedelic jelly twists!!

Metal Day

On Tuesday, I had an adventure with two friends up to Woodbury Commons Outlet Center. We met at the Williams Sonoma store and spent forever admiring the rows and rows of shiny kitchen utensils, printed tablecloths, gadgets and bottled sauces.  

It was fun to debate the necessity of items. We were divided on the following: silpats for baking, salad shears, salt cellars.  We were united on self mixing salad dressing bottles, extra spatulas, and Provence-style tablecloths.

I purchased a replacement 6 quart All Clad saute pan.  It is sizable, hefty and fabulous.  I have enjoyed my original until it warped, causing uneven heat. Even with 50% off, it was expensive.  I don't like to spend three digits on anything, except maybe a vacation.  ,

I was feeling guilty, until I woke up with relief when I realized it was Wednesday. Wednesday is the day that Rye Public Works collect metal from homeowners thoughtful enough to call ahead to request the pick up.  Then it is brought to the recycling center behind Disbrow Park.  You are allowed to drive up and take what ever you want. 

Well, at least I think I am allowed. I always wave cheerily at the workers driving the huge trucks,  I act like it is totally normal to be checking out the merchandise with an intensity some women save for places like Loehmann's or the Vera Wang wedding dress sample sale.  

This week I scored.  I found a perfectly wonderful vegetable basket for the grill.  It is useful and timely.  Would make a great Father's Day gift.  Now I can average the price of my two new cooking utensils, and it's totally reasonable.  Right, honey?

Go Bananas

Bananas and whole-wheat bread.  ©Rye Cooks

Today I had the pleasure of a simple and delicious lunch, quite by accident.  I dropped by at a friend's house, unannounced.  I do know where that lies in the etiquette books but I'm certainly not going to be stopping that any time soon, after my luck today.  

Happily, a third friend, appeared, (invited,I suspect), just as the sandwich was being made. It was sliced banana mashed a little, between two pieces of bread.  Toasted bread? No.  Peanut butter?  No.  Salt? Sugar? No. and no.  Just the two ingredients.

Unbelievably good, and the bananas were not even all that ripe.  The bread was Italian, and sold in the local delis with "Zurro" on the label.  Please, please for love of god, try one, it's brilliant.  

Tiny.

Tiny tiny desserts in the press dining room at Yankee Stadium.  ©Suzy Allman

This morning I am shooting the Yankees but my mind is elsewhere -- we started shooting episode two yesterday! 

Can it be two episodes already?  How did five months fly by like that?!

Our theme for the second show is "tiny", and yesterday we shot a segment in a wee kitchen.  Lacking a warm body to hold up the boom mike, we had wedged it briefly between the rungs of a wooden step-ladder.  Help came later, in the form of a neighborhood friend of Paula's.  She was regular-sized. 

Afterward Paula, the owner of the wee kitchen, and the grip sat down at the little kitchen table and ate the proceeds of the cooking lesson.  Pretty soon they forgot the camera was on and starting talking about things other than the show: divorces, tag sales, teenagers.  I like those moments, when the tone becomes casual and conversational; I am pretty sure about cutting out the divorce segments but hope to leave some of that tape in.

Croissants and French Toast, Patisserie Salzburg

Croissants from Patisserie Salzburg on Purchase Street.  ©Suzy Allman

Mother's Day morning, waiting for the teens to get up and start cooking.  But I'm thinking about breakfast yesterday (see pictures).

Saturday morning.  Patisserie Salzburg is open, and I have a pile of rhubarb at home, because it's hard to pass it up when it's sold in town.  My father always grew a big patch of it in his upstate New York garden, and we had strawberry rhubarb compote starting in early summer.

Here's a fantastic, easy weekend breakfast, for Mother's Day or any other reason:

1. Get your warm croissants at Patisserie Salzburg.  Grab a Viennese coffee, just because;
2. Get your strawberries and rhubarb stalks (five of them) at June and Ho, or anywhere else;
3. Cut the croissants in half down the spine and split them.
4. Dip them into a mixture of four eggs, a good shake of cinnamon and a little vanilla;
5. Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a pan and fry the dipped croissants on each side until they're puffy and golden.
6. Serve with strawberry-rhubarb compote (below), whipped cream or plain yoghurt, or fresh sliced-strawberries.

The rhubarb stalks at J&H are huge.  For the compote, cube the stalks and throw them in a saucepan with a pint of chopped-up strawberries, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of any citrus juice you have around (orange juice, lime aid, lemonade).  Boil and simmer this until you have a nice hot compote to pour on your french toast.

Stirring strawberry-rhubarb compote; croissant french toast with strawberry-rhubarb and cream.  ©Suzy Allman

Excuse: Thursday Morning Meeting

Another excuse for a morning meeting:  the carrot cake fingers from the Cornerstone Bakery, on Milton Road.

Like eating a slice of fabulously moist and flavourful, not-too-dense cake, only teeny-tiny.

That's also the theme of Rye Cooks, Episode 2: Very small.  The tiniest kitchen in Rye?  It's probably on a boat, so we'll be breaking into one.  We also have a bunny wedding (honestly), and our new favorite segment, Guy Cooks, in which our cameraman uses any excuse to get away from two women to go cooking on his own -- as IF! -- and this time, he's using the engine of his car as a hotplate.

And our slide show of pictures from the new On the Way Cafe is coming tomorrow -- they just don't know it yet.