Category: Local Food and Seasonal Ingredients

A collection of local food and seasonal ingredients, recipes, food and culinary exploration within New York and around the world.  With a focus on using local, seasonal ingredients or cultural specialties, Full Access is excited to highlight some of our favorite dishes for you.

Local Food and Seasonal ingredients include ramps, fiddlehead ferns and asparagus in the spring.  Summer is filled with stuffed squash blossoms and the transition into fall brings venison and slightly heavier fare.  Our winter recipes are filled with stews, soups and filling risottos.

Additionally, our category will highlight growing your own food in local community gardens, baking your own bread and getting a taste of the city.

Pork and Spinach Salad with Fresh Blueberries and Grilled Pineapple

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The pineapple is one of those perfect ingredients (alongside avocados and mangos.)  So why mess with perfection?  I would say it is more about taking a different approach to something you are familiar with than a detraction.  The heat concentrates and enhances the natural sweetness of the fruit and the caramelization on the outside is just delicious.

I originally put this together for my paleo friends.  Aside from that, I wanted to play around with temperature and texture.  The raw and cooked ingredients play well off each other.  This is also a really simple salad and you can put it together in about 20 minutes.

Ponzu and Hot Italian Pepper Marinated New York Strip

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It’s Summer so there are only two things you need to concern yourself with; some type of fire powered grilling device and ingredients to sear over aforementioned fire.  If you live in New York, there are actually designated areas you can bbq in the city.  You can also make due with a broiler in your oven or grill pan.

The Ponzu in this marinade has a salty-citrus flavor that pairs well with the heat from the Italian peppers.

Ostrich Meets Bacon Burger

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Not to be outdone by Bareburger (which I really like by the way and highly recommend) and all their burger choices: beef, elk, wild boar, duck, quinoa and more, I put together my own at home Ostrich burger.

There is a local vendor at the green markets around New York who only sells Ostrich so finding the ingredients wasn’t too difficult.  Next up was thick cut bacon, which also isn’t a problem (if possible get the one from the meat counter where they cut it for you and not from the package.)

Cherry Tomatoes Have Arrived

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While contemplating what to plant in my garden box, tomatoes seemed like a natural choice.  But what type of tomato should I plant?

I could have gone the heirloom route because few things in a garden are cooler than zebra tomatoes.  San Marzano were next under consideration because this Italian gem is one of my favorites.

Organic Garden Snacks

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There was a raspberry bush in a park near my house where I grew up.  I’ll point out this was very much a suburban park but we would go pick those raspberries during the summer months.

What is so immensely satisfying about this little act of foraging.  Perhaps it takes us back to our original days searching for seeds and fruit to sustain us?  Perhaps it is just simple pleasures that allow one to take something off a vine and be rewarded with that little pop of natural sweetness.

Hyper Local Kale Chips

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I thought of this episode as I walked down the block to my local community garden and picked some hearty Red Russian Kale from my little 4 ft. x 4 ft. garden plot.  But what to do with this bounty (of 6 leaves?)

Kale carpaccio, kale salad, kale smoothie, raw?  I actually don’t know if kale carpaccio is a thing but it sounded cool so someone should do that and send me a pic.

Reap the Rewards: Harlem Grown Garden Salad Two Ways

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Every week the plants in my garden seem to grow 30% bigger.  This city guy is learning a lot about plant care (and that my garden neighbors are probably going out of their way to help me out – I really shouldn’t have this much success….)

The first of the crop that I can actually use are my herbs (cilantro and parsley) Butter Lettuce and some Red Russian Kale.  Again, my neighbors reminded me to start harvesting the lettuce leaves from the outside so new growth can come in.

Wilted Kale Salad with Poached Duck Egg

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I think cauliflower might have replaced kale as the new ‘it’ vegetable (Nashville for example has all the cauliflower dishes you could ever hope for.)   But don’t worry, kale had it’s time in the sun and in case you aren’t ready to make the switch I put together a kale salad for you below.

The kale in this dish is lightly cooked so it retains a little bite and is complimented with the slightly sweet shallots.  You can pick up some duck eggs at the Union Square farmers market.  They have a rich yolk which is the perfect compliment to the salad and brings the whole dish together.

Warm Weather Meals: Mahi Mahi Lettuce Wrap

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No surprises here but New Yorker’s talk about food a lot…..like a lot a lot.  Where to get the best sandwich, why we are refusing to eat carbs, where there is a new gelato spot that imports their milk from real Italian Tuscan cows.  The Tuscan cow thing peaked your interest, right?

I was eating a banh mi sandwich and wanted to do a version that used all the flavors of the fresh veggies and cilantro.   I decided to use Mahi-Mahi and in place of the baguette picked out some butter lettuce leaves.  The result is a dish that would be perfect for a NYC rooftop bbq (if that is permitted) or get your cast iron skillet.

Pkhali: Georgian Vegetarian Spinach Dip

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The diverse cultural influences reflected in food and restaurants across the city are astounding.  Taking weekend trips to deeper parts of Brooklyn and Queens pays dividends to the traveler willing to sit on the N train for an extra 20 minutes.  Included below is an example of one of the great dishes available when you are in the city.