A lot has happened over the past two weeks. Here is a brief rundown: I was dumped, then I assessed my seemingly shattered existence, picked up the pieces, considered moving back upstate, changed my mind, moved out of the apartment in Greenpoint, moved into an apartment in Park Slope, and finally find myself settled in (Update on 9/22: I also got a full time job offer!). I don’t want to dwell on the situation (this is a food blog after all), however I have to say I’m lucky to have such wonderful friends and family—they kept me from going off the deep end and made this transition much easier than I thought it would be.

Now, on to the present. I’ve been living in Park Slope for just over a week, and while I miss my place in Greenpoint, I can now buy cupcakes, have my nails done, go to the movies, go out to dinner, or get on the subway within three blocks of my apartment. It’s the way I imagined New York would be during my high school daydreams, just with a lot more puppies and strollers. The toddlers are hip and neighborhood block parties have both bouncy houses and pony rides. Also, my roommates are great (and love to cook) and my new room is large enough to accommodate a reading nook, complete with an armchair, lamp, and ottoman.

The Park Slope food scene is also vibrant. There are hundreds of restaurants, cafes, specialty shops, and bakeries in the neighborhood and I look forward to exploring them in the coming months. In fact, I started exploring on my first morning here when I woke up early and walked up to the farmers’ market in Grand Army Plaza, where rows of small stalls are set up in the shadow of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch.

More photos after the jump.

(Editorial note: My camera started to die the moment I arrived, so while the quality is not great, the photos will at least give you a sense of the market.)

Things are looking up.

Asparagus is an industrious little vegetable. Its spears can grow up to 10″ over the course of a 24 hour period, shooting above the soil ready for harvest like so. It’s also one of the more unique vegetables to cross my cutting board, as it’s not a leaf, flower bud, or root system, but the stem of the plant itself. Asparagus’ flavor is unique as well and in my experience, it is best served as the star of a side dish…or wrapped in bacon.

I normally just roast the spears with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, but after finding a sheet of leftover puff pastry in my freezer this evening I decided to make a simple tart with mushrooms and gruyere.

Because so much of the ingredient amounts are based on the size of your puff pastry, I’m just going to list the ingredients and leave the rest to you. I prepared the tart using a single pastry sheet and it was enough for four servings.

Asparagus and Mushroom Tart
-Asparagus, washed and trimmed
-1 portobello mushroom, sliced 1/4 thick
-Puff pastry
-Gruyere cheese, finely grated
-Olive oil
-Cream or half & half (optional)
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Pre-heat the oven to 400°

2) Place the puff pastry on a lightly-oiled baking sheet. Fold each side over by 1/4″ and use your finger and a bit of warm water to keep the fold in place.

3) Brush the pastry with olive oil, then drizzle on a few lines of cream or half & half if desired.

4) Arrange the asparagus and sliced mushrooms on the center of the tart and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Top with the grated cheese.

5) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve.

When the temperature dips below 60° for the first time after the summer months, I get a serious craving for roasted acorn squash. I picked up two of the most perfect acorn squash I’ve ever seen at the farmers’ market two weekends ago, still coated in dirt from the farm.

The following recipe is incredibly easy once you get past the cutting of the squash in half. I recommend a sharp knife, patience, and great care not to cut yourself. You may want to have a buddy spot you or have someone on call to ensure you make it through the process with all fingers intact.

I’d also like to take a moment and acknowledge the fact I roast a whole lot of vegetables. I know the majority of my Farmers’ Market Picks have lead to roasting recipes, but I find that it allows the pure flavors of the vegetables to shine through. I promise to have some non-roasting recipes in the near future.

Roasted Acorn Squash
Makes 4 servings
-2 acorn squash
-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
-4 tablespoons brown sugar or real maple syrup
-Salt to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°

2. Cut acorn squash in half length-wise and scoop out seeds and stringy bits. Save the seeds for roasting later if desired.

3. Place the squash halves skin side down in a large ridged baking pan.

4. Rub butter on the squash flesh and sprinkle lightly with salt. Then, place 1 tablespoon of butter in the center of each squash half. Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar or maple syrup to each squash half (add more if you want it to be extra-sweet).

5. Roast for 1 hour or until tender.

Before last weekend, I had never encountered carrots other than your basic orange variety. I stumbled upon a display of carrots including purple, white, yellow, and a red-orange at the Greenmarket and decided I needed to take a bundle home and try them out.

Overall, the flavor of each variety was pretty similar to the standard orange carrot, with the yellow a bit sweeter, the white a little bitter, and the purple tasting almost identical. You can see above that the purple carrot looked almost burnt because the color was so rich around the orange center.

Before moving on to the simple recipe, I should also note that I bought a new peeler from the famous peeler guy. He can usually be found on the corner by the top of the Greenmarket on Saturdays demonstrating a peeler that actually functions better than any other peeler I’ve used. It’s one of the best five dollars I’ve ever spent, but then again, I bought it off of a charming 74-year-old British man that was once featured in Vanity Fair and may be biased.

Simple Roasted Carrots

1. Heat oven to 400°

2. Wash and peel carrots (with peeler from British man). Cut in large diagonal pieces.

3. Place in square pan and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Add a dash of dried sage if desired.

4. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender

Oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
-1 pound fingerling potatoes, rinsed and dried
-Olive oil
-3 cloves minced garlic
-2 tsp dried rosemary
-Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 500°

2. Place potatoes on in a square baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Toss until all potatoes are fully coated and then add rosemary, garlic, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Toss again.

3. Roast until tender, approx. 20 minutes.

There are hundreds of varieties, but they can all be defined by a few key factors: they aren’t genetically modified in any way, no hybrids, they are the result of open-pollination (natural pollination), and the seeds have been passed down for decades, some saying at least 50 years, while some define heirlooms at 100 years.

I picked up a pint of small heirlooms last weekend at the Union Square Greenmarket from Tim Stark’s stand, however the photos above are from this week’s late day remains from another stand. Recipe-wise, they can be used in all of the ways your standard tomato can, but I think any recipe that overpowers their unique flavors is kind of a waste. I like chopping them into 1/2″ by 1/2″ cubes, tossing with a bit of olive oil and small bits of basil, sprinkling with a pinch of salt, and serving alongside any meat or veggie entree that could use a kick of acidity.

Last Sunday, I made the tart below using the small heirlooms and it was a great side dish to a peppercorn encrusted steak. This recipe comes from Heidi Swanson’s amazing online cooking resource, 101cookbooks.com.

Heirloom Tomato Tart in a Parmesan Crust
This recipe will make one 9 or 10-inch tart OR five 4 1/2-inch tarts.

-6 perfect, colorful, medium-sized heirloom tomatoes – washed and sliced 1/6-inch thick
-1 t. fine-grain sea salt
-1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-1/2 cup unsalted organic butter, well chilled + cut into 1/4-inch cubes
-4-ounce chunk of good fresh Parmesan, microplane-grated (you should end up with about 2 cups loosely packed grated cheese. Save any leftover grated cheese for sprinkling on the crusts when they come out of the oven.
-2 T. ice cold water
-2T. best quality extra virgin olive oil
-1/4 cup slivered basil
Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Prep the tomatoes:
To avoid a soggy crust later on, you need to rid the tomatoes of some of their liquid. Clear a space on your counter and put down a double layer of absorbent paper towels. Place the tomatoes in a single layer on the paper towels and sprinkle them with about 1 teaspoon fine-grained sea salt. Top the tomatoes with another layer of paper towels and press gently. Let the tomatoes sit here until you are ready to use them.

Make the tart crust(s):
Place both flours, butter, and Parmesan in a food processor and pulse quickly about 25 times. You are looking for a sandy textured blend, punctuated with pea-sized pieces of butter. With a few more pulses, blend in the 2T of ice water. The dough should stick together when your pinch it between two fingers. Pour the dough into the tart pan (Mo Note: For the tart-pan deprived like myself, you can make this work in a basic round or rectangular baking pan of comparable size, taking care to create a decent rim along the edges. It won’t look as pretty, but will still taste good). Working quickly, press the dough uniformly into the pan by pressing across the bottom and working towards the sides and up to form a rim. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake the tart crust:
Pull the tarts out of the refrigerator and poke each a few times with the tongs of a fork. Cover the tart with a square of aluminum foil and fill generously with pie weights (Mo Note: No pie weights? You can cover the tart crust with foil and then fill with uncooked beans of your choosing. They will provide even weight and are cost effective). Place on a baking sheet and slide the tart onto the middle rack in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, pull the shell out of the oven and very gently peel back and remove the tinfoil containing the pie weights. Place the uncovered tart back in the oven, weight free, and allow to cook for another 10 minutes, or until it is a deep golden brown in color. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little shredded Parmesan (this will act as another barrier to the tomato liquid). Let cool to room temperature before filling.

Assembling the tart: Just before serving, arrange tomato slices in a concentric pattern inside the tart shell. Drizzle with your best quality extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with the slivered basil. Serve at room temperature.