Simple Seasonal Perfect - Harvest on Hudson

There are days when you want go out and have a special meal, but want simplicity in the cuisine, well heeled but country styled settings,. particularly when the whether has this nip in the air. This is when you want to head off to a tested a tried place like the Harvest on Hudson.

I have eaten there a few times and this picture was from a meal about a year back. I was just was waiting for the right time to write about my wonderful experiences here.


 Late fall and winter, the garden action in my life is slower, allowing me the time to catch up on old posts.

Anyhow back to my dinning experience, this meal was a perfect simple pan fried cod, and you can see from the amazing golden coloring and flaky finish how nicely done this was. The other item that we had ordered was gnocchi tossed in brown butter and sage. I have been here at least a couple of times, when I was working in the area. What is also worthwhile is the beautiful view that is pretty all around, since it is on the edge of the Hudson and overlooks the Palisades. So if you are looking for a place that will not disappoint and is set and done up nicely with absolutely perfectly done foods that is interesting but not dauntingly complex, give this place a try.

Harvest On Hudson

1 River Street

Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706

914 478 2800

A messy tasty vacation dish

Remember I told you about the kids little two by two plots, well low and behold they did deliver the radishes as promised. Interestingly enough, a few years back my friend Ken was actually telling me about his daughter (then probably my older one's age say 7) wanting to grow their own and how radishes had a short turnaround. I was kind of half listening to all of that, well now I can relate. I shall tell you all the fun stuff we did with the radishes at some later time. Actually, we have been up to all kinds of fun stuff - apple picking, raspberry picking, I shall tell you about it by and by during those cold winter months when there shall not be any garden stories to share.

 Well, I wanted to actually get to telling you about this really simple recipe I had created when we were visiting my brother in Seattle. Despite some reservations I actually have posted this somewhat messy looking picture, since it capture the spirit of both the dish and the wonderful vacation that we had. It took us some time to figure out how to expand his drop leaf table, to fit all the food we were cookig. It is important to let you know that my brother does not really stock a spice cabinet or actually any pantry of sorts. The deal is that I send him a list before I visit and he is exceedingly dill.igent about getting anything I ask of him, so how can I complain?

To keep up my side of the deal, I carry a minimal amount of spices and we are happy. So now back to the shrimp, or should I say the accidental shrimp, since it came from a small container of tamarind chutney that had accompanied some Indian takeout and was sitting on a kitchen counter waiting to be converted to my tamarind shrimp.

Tamarind Chili Shrimp

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 18-20 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5 pounds of extra large shrimp

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chat masala

1/3 cup tamarind chutney

2 tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons grated ginger

2 shallots thinly chopped

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

4 green chilies, cut into thin lengthwise slivers

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Shell and clean the shrimp and pat dry.

2. Place in a bowl and mix with the salt and chat masala.

3. Mix with t. he tamarind chutney.

4. Heat the oil and add the grated ginger and the shallots and cook for about 2-3 minutes.

5. Add in the mustard seeds and wait for them for pop slightly.

6. Add in the shrimp  and tamarind chutney cook for about 2-3 min utes and mix well.

7. Add in the green chilies and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the shrimp is pink and cooked through.

8. Garnish with cilantro and serve over steaming rice or couscous

Broiled Thai Red Curry Fish

I think something that I find very pai nful, is to go back to recipe notes and re-write it. In other words, if I can capture a recipe into words right away, it remains, if not it is usually  lost. The camera helps, I often go back to old picture and if and only if the recipe is worth it, I go back to the notes.

Well, this one certainly was in my opinion worthwhile, also I think it was about time to remember that I had the blog and actually get back to writing on it. Actually, I have been inundated with several things, and the classes have been keeping me busy.

Anyhow, this recipe first started out with a Thai red curry paste recipe, that I had adapted from this site. The paste stores well in the refridgerator for 2-3 weeks or more.

Thai Red Curry Paste

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dried chopped lemon grass
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coariander seeds
2 tablespoons crushed palm sugar or jaggery
5 whole dried red chilies
1 lime

Method of Preparation

1. Place the onion, ginger, garlic, paprika, fish sauce, chopped lemon grass, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, palm sugar or jaggery in a blender.
2. Add in the whole dried red chilies. Cut in squeeze in the lime juice.
3. Blend the mixture until smooth, now, I should mention that the traditional texture for such a recipe should be a little grainy.

Broiled Thai Red Curry Fish

Prep Time: 45 minutes (mostly to marinate)
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5 pounds of fish (I used steel head trout, in this recipe)
3-4 tablespoon red curry paste
1/3 cup coconut cream
3-4 kafir lime leaves
10-12 thai basil leaves
Extra lemon to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Prepare the fish into 4 pieces, rub with the thai curry paste and set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Place in a baking dish, brush generously with the coconut cream, mince the kafir lime leaves and scatter over the fish.
3. Broil the fish lightly for 6-7 minutes on each side.
4. Carefully place on a serving plate, garnish with the thai basil leaves and serve with lemon slices.

Actually one of the highlights of this summer was growing Thai Basil leaves, what an amazing powerhouse of flavor in just 3-4 small leaves. We enjoyed the fish as is, but it would be wonderful over jasmine rice.

A homey lentil dish

I made this very basic lentils about a week back, actally right after I returned from India. I was rather tired, I had gone into work right after I came in however the lagged exhaustion hit later, I came back in around 3 pm and went straight to bed. I was woken up a couple of hours later by two excited people jumping on my bed. It was actually wonderful to see them. It was a nice break but a really conflicted one without the little ones.

All in all, I caught up with some old friends thanks to Facebook, and also bought a lot of reading material. I am looking forward to reading some of the books, the cool weather is just right for that. I made this immensely simple lentils and was really stunned by the flavor, I did not even temper it, all it had was the goodness of toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas), tomatoes, garlic, lime and cilantro. I finished it off by melting some butter into it. It was pure and simple wonderful.

Homey Yellow Split Pigeon Peas  - Toor Dal with Tomatoes and Garlic

Prep Time: 3-4 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes (in a pressure cooker)

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal - (Yellow Split Pigeon Peas)

2 cups water

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

2 pods garlic

2 tomatoes, chopped

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 lime

Freshly ground black pepper

Additional chopped cilantro

1 tablepsoon butter

Method of Preparation

1. Place the toor dal, water, salt, garlic and tomatoes and cilantro in the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 10 minutes.

2. Cool and remove the pressure and mix the lentils well.

3. Cut the lime and squeeze in the juice, add plenty of black pepper, stir in the cilantro and butter.

4. Enjoy by itself or with plenty of steamed white rice.

An early fall weekend...

The start of September this year, could not pronounce more loudly that Fall was here. It was almost like Mother Nature had come in with a big magic wand and waved it around us, “Ok folks, it’s back to school time and my favorite season fall is here!” Aadi started kindergarten this year, stealing the thunder a little from Deepta. His first day went well he is missing his old pre-school and friends. I shall miss it too! It has been a part of my life for almost seven years, since it included the daycare for Deepta. My son is a lot like me, he needs to ease into change but once settled he does well.

It is cooler in our little backyard, but the garden is still prolific. This weekend’s catch was – green bell peppers, fresh fragrant orange carrots, little spicy habaneras and of course loads of tomatoes.  The habaneras a special gift, grown from a plant that was being discarded by the nursery. So while I am not a huge fan of super spicy peppers, these ones are special.
I had loads of fun, earlier in the week with cucumbers and realized that I can do more with them than just salads.

The kids have planted radishes in their little 2 by 2 plots and they have been growing, they have promised me radishes for thanksgiving. It is good to see the working farm grow! Actually the kids garden project was quite a production, starting with digging the hole and getting the planks assembled and then of course moving onto to the more hands-on aspect of it. Nonetheless, they had started their own version of it in various places such as the center of the lawn, so this is much better. Of course, one has to keep reminding them to water their plants!

Thanks to Rosh Hashanah, I had the benefit of a long weekend and the time to cook all this lovely bounty, not to mention being able to sleep in. Actually, one of the days we had the kids signed up for the entire day at the afterschool program which offers holiday coverage and I took off with the husband to explore a few of the wineries on the CT wine trail. I shall be telling you about our “finds” and travels shortly.

One of the things I have learnt with my household is that whenever I get organized to put together a meal I think takes a little more thought and time, they get “hungry” even before I start.

To nip these preliminary hunger pangs in the bud, I made the carrot salad and kept that available, to stave of all the hunger and snack cravings. A simple salad with some sweet and sour flavors designed to bring out the best of the crisp carrots. While this salad is lovely plain, it works well as an unusual slaw with pan fried fish or a complement to sandwiches, I have tried them with egg salad pita pockets, looks as good as it tastes.
I have also tried adding some Thai basil to the mixture to give it an interesting taste.

Carrot and Ginger Salad

Prep Time: 30 minutes (15 minutes to let the flavors settle)

Serves 4

Ingredients

7-8 medium sized carrots, tops removed
1 teaspoon, freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon chat masala
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup sliced almonds (could be pistachios)
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Peel the carrots and grate and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the ginger, chat masala and salt.
3. In a separate small glass bowl add in the honey (I place this in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds to let it liquefy, since it coats the vegetables more easily this way).
4. Add the vinegar and black pepper to the honey and pour the dressing over the carrots and toss well.
5. Stir in the cilantro.
6. Let the salad sit in room temperature for about 15 minutes to let the flavors settle and add in the almonds, (note, I would have preferred pistachios, for the contrasting color, but my son is allergic to them, hence the almonds). This salad works well up to 1-2 hours outside on a cool day, if you plan on serving it later, just place in the refrigerator where it stays up to a day.
7.Enjoy the lovely medley of colors and tastes.
Well, now that I managed to find something to entertain the husband, when he complained about being hungry, I went on to cooking the rest of the meal. This is what I enjoy, chopping and savoring the fresh fragrances while food cooks and turns into nourishment.

The lamb chops needed to be braised slowly before I broiled them, so I started this process in a slow cooker and did a bunch of other things for a couple of hours. I love the slow cooker for Indian meals that way it takes longer but does not really need any hands on attention. I was then ready to get back to the cooking, the lamb got finished off and then the lentils and saffron rice. I do have to tell you, (ok, so I am making excuses for the bad pictures), simple food like this, looks plain but the tastes are well worth the effort!

Braised and lightly crisped spicy lamb chops

The lamb chops are slow cooked in a robustly spiced sauce, which is then dried off and lightly crisped in the broiler. This preparation would work well with baby back ribs as well.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 31/2 hours (mostly in the slow cooker)

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

4 tomatoes
4 pods of garlic
1 medium sized (1.5 inches) piece of peeled ginger
1 small habanera pepper (can be substituted with 5 green serrano chilies)
2-3 dried red chilies
1.5 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
3-4 pods cardamom
10-12 cloves
1 large stick cinnamon
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
3 pounds of lamb rib chops
1-2 tablespoons of oil

To garnish

Cilantro and sliced red onions

Method of Preparation

1. Cut the tomatoes into half, place in a blender with the garlic, ginger, pepper, red chilies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.
2. Add in the vinegar, sugar and salt and grind for about 5-6 minutes until well blended.
3. Place the lamb in the prepared cooking sauce and cook in a slow cooker on high for about 3 hours.
4. By this time, the lamb should be fair soft and the sauce should be rather thin.
5. Place the lamb and the sauce in a skillet and cook for another 10 minutes on high to allow the sauce to cook down till is fairly dry and coats the lamb. The now thick sauce shall be rather unevenly clinging to the meat.
6. Place the lamb chops in a single layer on a baking tray and drizzle with the oil and broil for about 5 minutes on low, till very lightly crisped.
7. Serve garnished with cilantro and red onions.

Yellow Moong lentils in a tomato green bell pepper base (Sookhe Dal)

The lentils were prepared slightly differently in that I actually cooked the moong lentils separately until they were cooked through but still separate and dry and folded the lentils into to the separate sauce base, much like a pilaf, using lentils instead of rice. The worked well with this meal, but would also be nice with toasted pita triangles on their own as a simple light lunch.


Prep Time: 5-7 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1 cup of yellow moong lentils
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups water
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 large green bell pepper cut into a dice
1 small red onion, cut into a dice
1 large tomato, cut into a dice
½ teaspoon red chili pepper
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
Chopped cilantro to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Place the lentils in a cooking pot with the turmeric, salt and water and bring the water to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes on low heat, until the lentils are cooked through but still separate. It is important not to overcook the grains. This should take about 15-20 minutes
2. While the lentils are cooking heat the oil and add the bell peppers and the onions and sauté for 5 minutes, add in the tomato and ginger and cook stirring gently until the tomato is soft and breaks down into a soft pulpy sauce.
3. Stir in the lentils gently into the mixtures and add 1/3 cup water and cook till the water cooks down.
4. Add in the cilantro and serve with the rice.

I combined all of this nicely with some saffron rice. This is my comfort food, my festive food and in general food that I cannot live without. A simple rice variation like this is something that can also be thrown together in the rice cooker. The rice cooker can be quite useful for baseline simple rice dishes and it keeps the rice warm while the rest of meal is being brought to the table, however I would also just as easily put this together in the usual way.

Saffron Cardamom Rice

Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1.5 cup of basmati rice
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon saffron strands
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cardamoms
1 tablespoon butter

Method of Preparation

1. Place the rice and water in a cooking pot or the rice cooker.
2. Add in the saffron, salt and cardamoms and bring the water to a simmer.

3. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

Next week, I shall be in India! Hopefully time permitting I shall try to sneak in a post about food, sights and sounds of India. When I back I shall be cooking the butternut squash growing nicely on its little tree.

Bengali Stir fried carrots and beans with caramelized onions

This past weekend was wonderful, we had friends over, sneaking in the last spurt of summer before school and the somewhat faster pace of things hit. What was especially fun was, that most of the food with the exception of some shrimp and tofu were all from the backyard. The menu was simple -fresh cucumber dip, a tomato eggplant and mushroom curry, lentils with spinach, grilled shrimp (in a chili mint marinade) and tofu (soy honey glaze and this stir fry. For whatever reason, I have not done a lot with beans, just not too sure why, but this year we seem to have a bean bonanza.

This simple saute is colorful and would complement almost all meals. What is nice is that people picked on it just by itself like a warm salad. This recipe is close to a weeknight dish that my mother often made, except she used potatoes instead of the turnips and cut the vegetables smaller. I have used a combination of the yellow wax beans and the green beans to offer a nice contrast of colors.

Stir fried carrots, turnips and beans with caramelized onions

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

3 tablespoons oil (mustard or olive)

1 teaspoon panch phoron (Bengali 5-spice mixture)

1 red onion, cut into a fine dice

2 pods garlic, minced

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

2 turnips, peels and cut lengthwise into 1-inch pieces

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into length wise pieces

2 pounds green and yellow beans, trimmed and either left whole or cut into halves

(not the intent here is to have some symmetry between the vegetables in terms of sizes)

2 green finger chillies, trimmed and slit

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add in the panch-phoron and wait for the seeds to crackle.

2. Add in the onion, garlic and ginger and reduce the heat and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring the mixture frequently. At this point the onions should wilt, soften and begin to turn softly golden in the edges.

3. Add in the turnips and the carrots and mix well and cover for 5 minutes.

4. Add in the beans, chillies, sugar and salt and mix well. Cover the mixture and cook on low for another 10 minutes, the vegetables should be reasonably soft but retain just a little crunch.

5. Check the seasonings and stir in the lemon juice and serve.

Kathleen's Tea Room

LT on Whole Wheat Toast

Earlier this year, when the whether was cooler, I ventured one lunchtime to try out Kathleen's Tea Room. I think my love for tea competes very strongly with my love of wine. This visit turned out to be a fairly costly one, since I actually ended up with a ticket for parking incorrectly. Fortunately, the tea room was a lovely place to visit. A small place somewhat bring forth the appearance of an old english cluttered service room.

There tea selections were not very extensive but adequate, their service came in mismatched (as in different cups and plates for different tables) completing the atmosphere of a down home feeling.

In general, had this place been closer it would have been a good place to take a book and read on a quiter day. The tea was brewed in piping hot water (one of the most essential elements of brewing black tea). Actually a simple fact that most people overlook.

`A somewhat lopsided view of what the place looks like.

The sandwich that I ordered was nice and substantial, in fact my only complaint with it was it was too much like a good lunch sandwich rather than a  teatime sandwich. It came with a side of potato salad, healthy but a better option than potato chips.

So if like me you want something warm when there is a nip in the air, a quaint place where you can while an hour or two with friends or even your favorite book, try to take a ride up county and check this place out. If you like to collect tea and try some later, they also sell loose tea like most tearooms.

Kathleens Tea Room

979 Main Street

Peekskill, NY

914 734 5420