The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 12

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 12

Breakfast: Poached Knoll Crest eggs over whole wheat toast

Lunch: Rotini salad with green garlic pesto and sugar snap peas

Dinner: Polenta with green garlic pesto, chorizo, and roasted asparagus

And with that, my Greenmarket Challenge is over! I was hoping to end the challenge with an interesting, celebratory meal of Greenmarket ingredients, but alas, I had very little of my Greenmarket purchases from two weeks ago remaining.

All in all, the past twelve days have been incredibly rewarding, both as an amateur cook and as a proponent of locally-sourced ingredients. Not only have I challenged my culinary creativity, but I have also learned how to make the most of my food budget. While I doubt that I will continue to try to source my meals entirely from the Greenmarket, my Greenmarket Challenge has taught me some valuable lessons in both budgeting and cooking.

With the completion of my Greenmarket Challenge, I have a couple celebratory meals planned for the weekend. The first will certainly be a restaurant meal, as I have cooked non-stop for the last twelve days and am in need of a meal out. For my second celebratory meal, I will return to the theme of the past two weeks and cook a meal consisting entirely of local ingredients. Check back to read about my meals!

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 11

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 11

Breakfast: Leftover chorizo tortilla

Lunch: Turkey sandwich

Dinner: Polenta mixed with green garlic pesto, topped with sauteed kale and a fried Knoll Crest egg

As I reach the penultimate day of my Greenmarket Challenge, I am off icially running out of food. I had to cheat on lunch, bringing in non-Greenmarket turkey sandwich. Dinner was a compost pile of leftover polenta topped with other leftovers from my refrigerator. Here is some proof that locavore cuisine ain't always pretty:

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 10

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 10

Breakfast: Leftover chorizo tortilla

Lunch: Rotini salad with green garlic pesto and sugar snap peas

Dinner: Leftover Flying Pigs Farms spare ribs, polenta, roasted asparagus

I'm up to Day 10 and maximizing my use of leftovers. Only two days left of my Greenmarket Challenge!

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 9

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 9

Breakfast: Poached Knoll Crest eggs over whole wheat toast

Lunch: I cheated and went out for burger with my co-workers

Dinner: Leftover chorizo tortilla, spinach salad

My meals are beginning to become monotonous as I scrounge around for the last of my Greenmarket Challenge ingredients to make it through the final 4 days of the challenge. My boss treated my team to burgers for lunch today, so I was relieved of having to cook one meal. The last 3 days of the challenge will force me to be creative with leftovers. What is keeping me going through the monotony of leftovers is the anticipation of my post-challenge celebratory meal. Stay tuned...

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 7

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 7

Breakfast: Poached Knoll Crest eggs on whole wheat toast

Lunch: Rotini salad with sugar snap peas and spring garlic pesto

Dinner: Knoll crest egg tortilla with Flying Pigs Farm chorizo (recipe below)

As I go into the final week of my challenge, I'm having to get creative with my proteins as supplies are beginning to run out. While my produce supplies should last me well over 12 days, I am anticipating some vegetarian meals coming up. Or, as was the case today, I will have be on egg overload. Fortunately, the tortilla I made with Knoll Crest eggs and Flying Pigs chorizo was unique enough where I could forget about the poached eggs I had already had for breakfast.


Chorizo Tortilla

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• Salt, to taste
• 1 cup olive oil
• 5 small to medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 link fresh chorizo sausage, casing removed

Directions:

1. Beat eggs in a bowl. Add salt to taste and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet (or frittata pan) over medium heat.
3. Layer potatoes and onion slices in skillet. Sprinkle each layer with salt. Cook, flipping layers every five minutes, until potatoes are soft, 15-20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, saute chorizo in a small skillet over medium heat. Break up sausage with the back of a spoon and cook until browned. Drain sausage and add to eggs.
5. When potatoes and onions are cooked, drain them from the oil (save olive oil for another use). Add potatoes and onions to bowl containing eggs and set aside for 15 minutes. Wipe off the skillet.
6. Add two tbsp of reserved olive oil to skillet (or bottom of frittata pan) and heat over high. Add egg, sausage, and potato mixture and reduce heat to med-high. Jiggle pan to prevent sticking.
7. Cook egg mixture until potatoes begin to brown, about five minutes. Flip eggs (either by using a plate or with a frittata pan) and cook other side until potatoes brown, another 3-5 minutes. Flip tortilla a few more times to give it a nice shape. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 6

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.


Day 6

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Tonjes Farm Dairy ricotta, Cherry Lane Farm strawberries, and local honey

Lunch: Rotini salad with sugar snap peas and spring garlic pesto (recipe below)

Dinner: Leftover Grazin' Angus Acres roast chicken with baked Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans

I'm now halfway through my Greenmarket challenge. I've been subsisting on leftovers the last few days, but with today's meals, I have finished my leftovers and will start cooking from scratch again with the rest of my Greenmarket goods.

I find it interesting that the New York Times is running this story from Pete Wells in this Sunday's magazine section. Mr. Wells' $35 5lb. chicken is almost certainly from Grazin' Angus Farms (the only farm at the Greenmarket charging $7 per lb. of chicken). While I found the price of the chicken to be just as jaw dropping as Mr. Wells did, I was quite pleased with the flavor of the chicken. As Mr. Wells mentions, the Grazin' Angus chicken is somewhat tough, but not to the point of being inedible. I have found that freshly-killed pasture-raised chickens tend to be tougher than most chickens due both to the muscles they have developed from running around the farm. Also, meat tenderizes days after it is slaughtered; unlike supermarket chickens, the chickens sold at the Greenmarket are generally sold shortly after they have been slaughtered, so they are not as tender.

While Mr. Wells is correct in writing that purchasing a $7/lb. chicken is not the best strategy for surviving the depression, one need not give up shopping at the Greenmarket to save money. Just as you cannot mindlessly throw items into a shopping cart at the supermarket, you cannot shop for local ingredients at the farmers market without a budget and a shopping plan in mind. Twenty-one dollar chicken aside, I hope that my Greenmarket challenge is proving that anyone can go local to some degree.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 5

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 5

Breakfast: Poached Knoll Crest eggs over whole wheat toast

Lunch: Rotini salad with sugar snap peas and spring garlic pesto (recipe below)

Dinner: Leftover Grazin' Angus Acres roast chicken with roasted asparagus


Spring Garlic Pesto
Adapted from United Taste with Richard Ruben

Ingredients:

• 4 scallions
• 3 spring garlic
• 2 tbsp walnuts, toasted
• 1 tsp salt
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup oil

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop scallions and garlic and place into bowl of food processor.
2. Add walnuts, salt, and pepper and begin to process. Drizzle in oil and process until smooth. If necessary, add more oil to reach desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper and serve.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 4

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.


Day 4
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Tonjes Farm Dairy ricotta, Cherry Lane Farm strawberries, and local honey

Lunch: Cherry Lane spinach salad with Grazin' Angus Acres roast chicken, hard-boiled Knoll Crest egg, and sherry vinaigrette

Dinner: Leftover Grazin' Angus Acres beef sliders with leftover Rancho Gordo baked beans

My Greenmarket challenge continues as I eat my way through some leftovers over the next few days.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 3

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 3

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Tonjes Farm Dairy ricotta, Cherry Lane Farm strawberries, and local honey

Lunch: Pasta salad with Eckerton Farm sugar snap peas and spring garlic pesto

Dinner: Roasted Grazin' Angus Acres chicken with Cherry Lane asparagus and leftover Rancho Gordo baked beans


The $21 chicken was by far the biggest splurge on my Greenmarket Challenge, but I could not resist purchasing it since all of my other purchases from Grazin' Angus (eggs, flap steak, ground beef) have been superb. How was the chicken? Well, it didn't taste like foie gras, which one might expect from a $21 chicken, but it was pretty darn good. I roasted it using the minimalistic (and Greenmarket Challenge rule-abiding) Thomas Keller method. It turned out perfectly, with succulent meat and a crispy skin. Not to say the chicken was worth $21 dollars (no chicken is worth $21), but I did feel great for supporting a great local farm in Grazin' Angus Acres.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 2

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 2:

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Tonjes Farm Dairy ricotta, Cherry Lane Farm strawberries, and local honey

Lunch: Salad with Cherry Lane spinach Flying Pigs Farm chorizo and Knoll Crest hard boiled egg

Dinner: Grazin' Angus Acres beef sliders with Rick's Picks Slices of Life and Rancho Gordo baked beans

On Day 2 of my Greenmarket Challeneg, I turned the locavore movement low brow by making sliders with local, grass fed beef from Grazin' Angus Acres. I seasoned the tiny beef patties with salt and pepper and seared them in a very hot skillet for two minutes per side. They were very rare in the middle, but that's the way to eat such fresh grass fed beef. I served them on Parker House roles from a local bakery. I topped the sliders with Rick's Picks Slice of Life pickles which were amazing; high praise coming from a non-pickle lover.

On the side, I baked Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans using the recipe from his book Heirloom Beans. Grown in California, the beans aren't quite local, but I did already have them on hand, so they are allowed by my Greenmarket Challenge rules. Plus, if any food should be allowed break the rules of the challenge, it would be beans from Rancho Gordo, who's farming practices are locavore in philosophy if not by geography. His baked beans recipe, I should add, was unbelievable, making the my slight breakage of the rules well worth it.

The Greenmarket Challenge: Day 1

Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I bough all of my purchases from the Greenmarket this week. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods. Follow along with me as I document local my meals over the next twelve days of my Greenmarket Challenge.

Day 1

Breakfast: Poached Knoll Crest Eggs over whole wheat bread

Lunch: Cherry Lanes spinach, Eckerton Farm sugar snap peas, and Flying Pigs Farm chorizo

Dinner: P.E. & D.D. monkfish with chorizo, sherry, saffron vinaigrette (recipe below) and Cherry Lanes asparagus, and sauteed Paffenroth potatoes



Monkfish with Chorizo, Sherry, and Saffron Vinaigrette
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. piece of monkfish, cut into two equal pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup tbsp olive oil
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1 chorizo sausage, casing removed
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• Sugar, to taste
• pinch of saffron
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Dry monkfish pieces and season with salt and pepper. Place in an ovenproof skillet. Drizzle fish with 1 tbsp olive oil and top each piece with a sprig of thyme. Roast in oven for 10-12 min., until cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, heat skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, and cook slowly, allowing the oil to sweat out of the chorizo. As it cooks, break the sausage up with the back of a wooden spoon. Once the sausage is brown and has released much of its fat, add half of the remaining olive oil. Reduce heat to low. Add sherry vinegar, a pinch of sugar, and saffron to pan and whisk until well blended. Taste the vinaigrette and add sugar, oil, and/or vinegar according to taste; the dressing should have a mild acidity from the vinegar and should not be too sweet.
4. Remove fish from oven. Spoon vinaigrette over fish and serve.

The Greenmarket Challenge

The locavore movement is often dismissed as idealistic philosophy that cannot be practiced by anyone but the very well-heeled. There is a certain degree of truth to this: go to any farmer's market and you will be shocked at what people will pay for local foods. However, one does not need to break the bank in order to eat locally.

This weekend, I set out to the Union Square Greenmarket to conduct that experiment for myself. Rather than supplementing my Greenmarket purchases with purchases from the supermarket as I usually do, I would buy everything from the Greenmarket. I set myself a budget of $110, which is only slightly more than what I normally spend for two weeks of groceries. Keep in mind that this budget will cover my breakfasts, lunches, and dinner for the next 12 days; that's $11 a day, a fair budget considering my average lunch in midtown Manhattan is $8. Some of these items should last me even longer than 10 days, as well. I have allowed myself some leg room to use ingredients such as grains, sauces, and garlic that I already had on hand, but other than that necessary allowance, my entire diet for the week will consist of local foods.

Shopping for this week's meals was certainly challenging. Due to my price constraint, I will have to decrease my meat consumption during the week and may have to eat more vegetables (gasp!) in order to fill myself up. Also, as few recipes include only ingredients that can be sourced from New York in early June, this week will challenge my culinary creativity in order to use only the ingredients I purchased at the Greenmarket. These challenges will help me to eat more healthily and force me to be think outside the box when I cook.

I did have a weekly menu in mind while shopping as doing without it would be nearly impossible to stay within budget, but I won't be posting it (what would be the fun in that?). Instead, stay tuned throughout the week to see what I cook for my Greenmarket Challenge.

Here's what I bought (prices are from my recollection). Note that the pictures contain a few items that my significant eater bought, and are not included in the below list:

- Milk Thistle Farm Milk ($4)
- Cherry Lane strawberries ($8/qt)
- Cherry Lane asparagus ($8 for a large bunch)
- Cherry Lane spinach ($3)
- Knoll Crest eggs ($4)
- Grazin' Angus Acres ground beef ($8)
- Grazin' Angus Acres chicken ($21, by far my biggest splurge)
- Paffenroth yellow onions ($1.50)
- Paffenroth thyme ($1)
- Paffenroth potatoes ($4)
- Eckerton Farm sugar snap peas ($2.50)
- Eckerton Farm kale ($4)
- Eckerton Farm scallions ($2.50)
- Mountain Sweet Berry spring garlic ($2.50)
- Tonjes Farm Dairy ricotta ($2.50)
- Flying Pigs Farm pork spare ribs ($10)
- Flying Pigs Farm chorizo ($10)
- Rick's Picks Slices of Life ($6)
- P.E. & D.D. Fish monkfish ($10)