Walking through the Union Square Greenmarket, I often feel like such an amateur. Dumfounded by the varieties of potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, squash, or heirloom tomatoes on display and what to do with them, I often beat a retreat to the bakery stands. Here among the pumpkin tea cakes, gingerbread, and sourdough breads, I feel like an authority. I'm also good with flowers. Nevertheless, members of the health establishment have recently urged me to become more friendly with the vegetable and fruit displays, and accordingly, I'm getting acquainted with the edible natural world. Man or woman does not live by pumpkin raisin bread alone. In the spirit of knowing my vegetables, I've recently learned that the rutabaga, for example, came about as an random hybridization, i.e. love child, between a cabbage and a turnip. Talk about companion planting!
Even if I'm not bringing home pounds of butternut squash or purple potatoes, I do enjoy the bounty of the fall season on display at Union Square Greenmarket. The colors we most associate with autumn- golds, dark greens, crimson reds, and oranges, mix well with touches of purples and plums. Ornamental kales are a good example. The stacks of fruit and vegetables make a beautiful sight. Often musicians are on hand to set the mood. On the day I visited a woman played nice country fiddle, and a guy known as the Renegade Accordion, a fellow who bills himself as "New York's only musical bounty hunter," entertained the shoppers from behind the slits of his Boba Fett helmet. He happens to be a wonderful musician, too. After spending a full hour at the market I returned home with hot turkey sausage, Santa Fe peppers, German butter potatoes and advice from DiPaola Turkey Farm about how to put it all together for dinner. For dessert and breakfast the next morning I picked up a vegan carrot raisin cookie, a small pumpkin cake and a square of pumpkin gingerbread. My apartment smells great.
More information: Union Square Park, 17th St. at Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 8am-6pm; Closed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. See the website of the Council on the Environment of New York City for more about greenmarkets in the city.
Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from November 11, 2009. To prepare a classic dish made with hot turkey sausage, brown the sausage with chunks of potatoes, a diced onion, a little garlic, oregano and green peppers in olive oil. Transfer to a casserole dish and heat at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour.
6 comments:
Oh, dear! There you go again! Teri it is so frustrating not to be strolling in New York! We saw the Greenmarket for ourselves. Besides the veg, I remember the bread loaves on sale the morning we went. It's a lovely memory, and the people were charming. We learned from one dear we spoke to that some of the vendors set off before the crack of dawn to make the trip. She also confided (people don't do that much any more do they?) that she had seen chefs from very posh restaurants making their rounds of the stalls ... So there!
Hi, Anton. Thanks so much. If it makes you feel better, the weather today is far less pleasant than yesterday's (when I took these pictures). The people at the market are very nice, I find, especially when I ask about recipes for the vegetables and so forth. I have seen celebrity chefs there, too. The area around Union Square and by extension, Gramercy Park and the Flatiron, is home to many top restaurants.
Oh boy, do I miss that place...
Once more, thanks for these pictures !
Great photos, Teri! You've given me acute farmers market envy. BTW, there was a recent article in New York magazine about Union Square's micro-economy. The Greenmarket is a major driver, no surprise.
Dear Teri,
When we read a sentence like:
• Another rainy day today, with patchy fog. In the early morning I could hear the swoosh of taxis swishing through the streets..., we ARE right on the spot.
Thank you for that!
T&NOK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Terry- Thanks so much for the suggested reading about the market's microeconomy. I'll read it.
T & NOK- Yes, that was something I wrote in the Updates sidebar a few days ago. Taxis tend to make their own sounds on the pavement. They sound very cool on cobble stoned streets. Ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump.
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