Restaurant Recipes from the Restaurant Capital
New York is one of the best places in the world to find great food, but it is not a good place to easily find a parking spot. I am slowly driving across several states, looking for interesting restaurant recipes to bring back to my small hometown in New England. There are so many wonderful places to eat in New York that six months would not be enough time to visit even half of them. One of my friends gave me several suggestions to help me use my time and money wisely in this wonderful city. Though New York is always busy, there are neighborhoods with small bakeries and cafes where neighbors can see each other daily, just like any other town.
Regulars show up every morning at seven for a coffee and a croissant, or sit at the same bench at the park at their usual lunchtime. The key to seeing New York as a small community is to keep a regular schedule. Ralph and I are only here for four days, so I only get a small glimpse of that, but I have it on good authority from long time residents.
One of the restaurant recipes that I just love might have come from a neighborhood in Italy. It is a polenta served at the Union Square Café, and it is so deliciously creamy that I think I might drive an hour just to order it. The reason that it is so creamy is the use of milk in the recipe, as follows.
4 cups milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup polenta (coarse yellow cornmeal)*
1 1/2 cups crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, lightly toasted walnuts
Bring milk and whipping cream to boil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk polenta into milk mixture in slow steady stream. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook polenta until creamy and tender, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat broiler. Transfer cooked polenta to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over polenta. Broil until cheese melts. Sprinkle with chopped toasted walnuts and serve immediately. Makes six side dish servings.
(If polenta is unavailable, substitute 1 cup regular yellow cornmeal, and cook mixture for about 12 minutes rather than 20 minutes.)
As I sit at the bar during lunch and eat this wonderful food, I think how this room symbolizes New York to me. The rooms in the café are small, murals are painted on the walls, and the lady sitting next to me is a vegetarian. She is dressed extraordinarily well, as many in New York are, and talks at length about the food here, and how she always finds something to fit her mood.
Apparently desserts here are not to be missed, but I have indulged too much just sampling items as I walked the streets of New York, so those treats will have to wait for another day. It's time for me to take the newest of my restaurant recipes back to my hotel room, and for me to plan my last day in this great city.