Grilled Artichokes

My favorite way to prepare artichokes is to grill them. They really are not difficult to prepare, and are well worth the extra bit of prep time. First, trim the chokes and stems, wash them and slice them in half. Steam them in water, flavored with garlic cloves, lemon slices, peppercorns and salt.



When just tender, and do not let them get too soft, take them out to cool. When easy to handle, use a knife and take out the hairy stuff that resides just above the heart. This should be an easy process at this point as they are halved. Then, cut each one in half again to wind up with quartered chokes. Combine garlic and olive oil and brush the chokes liberally. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Light up a grill and when coals are ready grill each side of the choke, including the “leaf” side, just enough to crisp up the chokes and for grill marks. Sometimes I will throw some mesquite on the coals for a really nice smokey taste. Brush with garlic oil as needed and serve. You will love the flavor and will always want artichokes prepared this way. A great company pleaser as well. These can be prepared ahead and served room temperature as an antipasta or a nice simple side dish to a summer meal. Don’t forget $1 a piece at the Chopper this week.

Hot Market Tip: Lobsters $7.99/lb. at Price Chopper this week. Yum, local corn on the cob and lobster! Sounds like summer.

All Natural Beef Burgers

Last night we grilled burgers using the Grazin’ Angus Acres all natural ground beef we bought at The Berry Farm. The burger was a bit on the drier side, so do not overcook these patties. Mrs. Freak requested skinny, smaller patties this time so that could also have led to the dryness. Anyway, they more than made up for this in taste. They had a rich deep beef flavor, more like a game meat than typical market meat. That packet shown in the previous post cost seven bucks and made 6 patties (four if you like your burger on the thicker side), which I think is worth is for this kind of quality local beef. Especially since the Freak Fam only has burgers about four times a year. I know I’ll be back for more. To learn more about this beef, check out Grazin' Angus Acres.

Hot Weekend Tip:
Artichokes are on sale for $1 each at Price Chopper! This is great since we all know they are usually a rip off selling anywhere from $2-$3 a piece! I’ve got mine all ready for sunday and will share one of my favorite ways to prepare them on my weekend update. Also, since you’re going to the Chopper to pick up artichokes anyway, you may be interested in T-Bone and Porterhouse steak at $6.99 a pound. It may not be Grazin' Angus Acres, but it's a good price.

Weekend Update: Eats, Gem Farms, More Local Farm Stands

Friday EATS was selling sushi grade yellow fin tuna for $15/lb. It looked better than any tuna I have seen in the local markets. Two “lobes” I was able to pick myself (it was hand-cut in to portions by EATS), cost me just under ten bucks. I took it home, sliced it into strips and ate it sashimi style. It was awesome. No trace of funky smell, or any smell for that matter, and the taste was clean and buttery.


Sunday, the Freak Fam took a road trip south-east of Albany to Gem Farms where they raise buffalo. Not only was it awesome to see these beasts, but we were able to buy the meat as well. I bought hamburger patties, filet, flank, and delmonico. Buffalo meat is supposed to be lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than beef. It supposedly has less fat content then chicken, turkey and shrimp. I will update you when I cook it and put the quality and flavor to the test. But definately worth the short, beautiful drive from Albany. Get directions from the Gem Farms website.

We had lunch in Chatham, a very quaint town with a couple of cute gift shops and cafes. Mrs. Freak had an avocado, tomato and brie sandwich at Our Daily Bread that hit the spot on a hot afternoon, but all other lunches were unremarkable. After, we drove up and down route 9, 203 and 28A hunting for farm stands and there were plenty. Everyone is packing corn. Berries, beans, peaches, onions, potatoes were all plentiful. Tomatoes weren’t quite local yet. One stand off Route 203 called The Berry Farm, had a large selection of exotic local produce (baby turnips, baby beets, champagne grapes, gooseberries), but also stocked local chicken, pork and beef. I picked up some awesome looking burger meat which was from anti-hormone, local grass fed angus cows. See the label for yourself.


This was a great run, we left the house just after ten and we were home before two. There are so many farms in our “backyard” and I am just beginning to explore them. I will keep posting the farm stands throughout the summer, you really want to hit them now!

Easy Summer Salad

Here is one of my favorite summer salads that we enjoyed tonight. It is quick and easy to prepare. All ingredients are local and delicious.

Line a platter with sliced cucumbers, tomato, then thinly sliced onion. Top with arugula (from Mrs. Freak's garden). Salt and pepper each layer and drizzle with olive oil and a tiny squirt of balsamic. A great way to start off dinner in the dog days of summer. Also great with sliced avocado on top!

Local Corn Alert!

It's here...!

I saw my first local corn for sale yesterday. Gade farm is just starting in dribs and drabs. There was probably about 30 ears or less on the table when I was there. None looked good enough to buy yet, the ears were all on the small side and kind of dry looking. The Barber's Farm stand, formerly at Stuyvesant Plaza in '05, but now behind Passano Paints on Western Ave, looked fresh and vibrant. The kernels were on the large side, what my family refers to as "cow" corn, I suppose because this means its going to be chewy, but the corn still looked really good and fresh. When cooked, the kernels didn't "pop" right off when you sunk your teeth in (the way I like it) yet were not chewy in the least. The corn had a nice texture and great flavor for early corn. Most of the produce I've picked up from Barber's Farm stand over the years has been excellent. In July & August they are behind Passano Paint Monday thru Friday from 12 - 5:30 pm and Saturday 9 am - 1 pm.

Be on the look out now for it's only going to get better from here on in. Every day counts from this point on. It's corn season!

Enjoy!

Aromi d'Italia = Aromi di Rip-Off

Something just doesn’t smell right at Aroma D’Itlalia, a little Italian restaurant in twenty mall at the crossroads of Route 20 & 155 in Guilderland. Myself, Mrs. Freak and Little Freak went to eat there the other night and decided it didn’t quite come up smelling like roses, not to mention Italy.

Little Freak ordered a sausage orzo soup to start. The sausage was plentiful, and in irregular chunks, like it was hand formed, and was obviously home-made. I found it to be the most redeeming quality about the soup, which was otherwise very salty and contained an abundance of crushed black pepper. I tend to use a lot of pepper on my food but even this was a bit much for me and definitely too much for Little Freak, who rarely leaves soup left behind.

Mrs. Freak ordered a crab stuffed portabello mushroom, which we all agreed had enormous potential but failed miserably in the end. Both the mushroom and the crab were of good quality, but there was so much cheese covering the plate that the food was just lost to it. This appetizer started out in theory as a gourmet treat but dish ended up as a leftover 50’s appetizer that was completely non-committal and unmemorable, over-cheesed and unfinishable. At this point I was feeling pretty good about NOT ordering an appetizer.

For dinner I ordered a grilled pizza. Out of all the pizza on the menu (around 10) one of them was billed as grilled pizza, simply adorned with cheese, fresh tomato and basil. If anyone has enjoyed grilled pizza, it is quite simply a unique smokey treat. However, I came to discover the crusts are pre-made, boboli-type things, and this hard disc of a crust was just thrown on a grill for a second for grill mark effects, then loaded with the toppings, and baked to melt. To make a long story short, I have had better frozen pizza in my time. The crust was dry, hard, and despite someones previous efforts to over-salt everything, virtually tasteless.

Little Freak ordered linguini with white clam sauce, an all-time favorite. Kudos to the chef for the generous amount of whole clams that adorned the plate, around ten in all, however this dish did not stand up to the test as well. Neither little freak nor myself could eat it, other than the clams. The sauce was absoutely tasteless, devoid of any seasoning and sat at the bottom of the bowl, lifeless and unwilling to coat the pasta. This leads me to believe they must rinse the pasta in water, or add oil to the end to keep it from sticking. Mind you the pasta was not over cooked, just not cooked right.

Mrs. Freak’s sausage and sweet pepper penne on the other hand had so much potential. The thin, red-based sauce had a rustic quality packed with flavor and not over-salted at all. The peppers and sausage melded together for an authentic taste but once again, the sauce refused to coat the pasta. Both dishes were bowls of pasta in water and suffered miserably.

We ordered a pint of gelato to go, as I couldn’t bear to stay any longer. With one wine for the Mrs and I, this meal came to over $70 before tip! Yikes and ouch! This was the real kicker! I make pizza at home as well as clam sauce and it’s ten times better than this. This is why I have such trepidation when it comes to dining out. I just can’t stand to waste my money (and my time) in this manner when I can cook these things myself.

I cannot reccommend Aromi d'Italia, unless you are go solely for the gelato, which proved to be quite good, but not that good for $8.99 for the pint. You have been warned by the Freak.

Last Day for Alison's Chicken Sale

I hope everyone had a happy Fourth! I know I did and the rain did not hinder my desire to grill in the least.

I went to the Guilderland (Westmere) Price Chopper and found Alison's all-natural air-chilled chicken to still be on sale for $1.69/lb. They were much bigger than the previous chickens that were in the case earlier this week. They were all hovering around 5 pounds each and looked so much different than the Perdue and Price Chopper brands. First off, Perdue and Price Chopper chickens are vacuum sealed in bags with some sort of liquid. Whether the liquid is just secreted by the birds or added on purpose to somehow keep them fresh I do not know but either way that liquid is coating the bird and adding (or detracting) from the flavor. Alison's chickens are dry in the packet they come in (due to the fact that they are air-chilled) and are a beautiful shade of pale white, unlike the very yellow appearance of other brands. They are all-natural and antibiotic free. Check them out raw for yourself in the following photos.





I prepared a simple spice rub of paprika, onion & garlic powder, cumin, chili power, sugar (regular, brown, turbinado, choose whatever), salt & pepper. I rubbed the birds with a small amount of olive oil and generously applied the spice rub all over, including sprinkling inside the cavities. I lit a charcoal grill and "roasted" the birds whole off to the cold side of the grill, covered. I added some mesquite to the coals before closing the lid to give the chicken a nice smokey flavor. This par-cooking ensures that the chicken is done before you bbq and gives it a great outdoor cooked taste. They came out great.


I brought the birds inside to cool and relit the grill. Once cool, I split the chickens with a cleaver and prepared a simple bbq sauce. Just use your favorite one, however, I have found that bbq chicken lends itself well to sweeter sauces, particularly ones with honey.

Once the grill was ready, I grilled the split chicken directly over the coals, turning before flare-ups, while generously applying the sauce. As the chicken is already pre-cooked, there is no reason to go on forever. Just turn and coat, crisp up the skin, and get a good layer of sauce coated on. That's about it all it takes for sensational chicken and boy it was good.


By the way, these two chickens fed my little family of three for two dinners and two work lunches. Not bad for around fifteen bucks! But act quickly, this sale ends today! If you want to learn more about Alison's chicken visit their site: Alison's Family Farms.