What I Made After a Trip to NYC’s Best Farmers Market

Come with me to the Union Square Greenmarket to find the best ingredients to create a fresh, farm-to-fork dinner. Back in my tiny NYC apartment kitchen, we’ll turn the haul into a vibrant ramp and asparagus risotto with seared scallops topped with a little basil oil and pretty little chive blossoms. We’re keeping things seasonal and approachable with plenty of room for fun, imperfections and organized chaos.

If you’re into cozy kitchens, hosting friends and market-inspired meals, hi, I’m Jillian, and I’d love for you to stick around for our next NYC culinary adventure! Subscribe for more hauls and tiny kitchen cooking.

Chapters:
00:00 Visiting Union Square Farmers Market
01:04 Farmers Market Haul
02:12 Cooking Ramp & Asparagus Risotto
08:28 Prepping & Searing the Scallops
12:18 Plating

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It’s a beautiful spring day after many days of rain. So, we’re going to go take advantage of it at the Union Square Farmers Market. See what they have. Not sure exactly what direction we’re going to go today in our meal. Maybe some peas would be fun. Maybe some asparagus. There’s always a lot of great like seafood I see at the market, too. So, maybe I’m almost interested in like some scallops. Maybe little pe risoto. I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re going to have today, but there’s only one way to find out. So, let’s head to the farmers market. [Music] Welcome back to my kitchen. I’ll be honest with you, it is the next day. It’s now Sunday. I went to the crawfish boil. It was so much fun. Lots of crawfish, lots of sun, couple drinks, and I got back to my apartment and I was like, you know what? Let me have my farmers market meal on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Can devote all my time and effort to it because I was sweaty. I was sunburnt. I was tired. I took like a 4-hour nap. And I’m happy I did that. That was a good decision. But now, let me show you all of the gorgeous produce that I got from the farmers market. I think these were chive blossoms. I could totally be wrong on that, but that’s what I believe them to be. Gorgeous. They stopped me in my track, so I was like, I have to get some of those. I think these will be a good garnish. I also have very exciting some ramps. Never actually cooked with ramps, but I know that there’s a lot of excitement over ramps in the cooking community. And it seemed like this was the last weekend to get them. So, I was like, “Okay, I got to jump on that.” And then there’s just so much asparagus, guys. I can’t even tell you how many stands had like just layers and layers of asparagus. And then I got some basil. It was a little sad looking when I got it, but what we’re using it for, it’s not going to matter. And then I got scallops to go with this dish. Those are in the fridge, but they looked really nice. So, I’m very excited. So, like I said yesterday, I was kind of interested in doing some kind of like scallops and risoto dish. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. So, these ramps are gorgeous. Ramps are like wild garlic, I believe. And they’re nice and bulbous at the bottom and have these leaves, these leaves are all cut off of this one. I’m wondering what happened there. If there was like a ramp pirate or what? I don’t know. But I’m going to use the bottoms of these ramps as our like alium in the risoto in place of like a shallot onion. Um, and I’m just going to leave it at that because I want to keep this like pure to the ramps. That way I can like really enjoy the flavor. And then we’re going to take the stems, the tops, blanch them, blend them into like a little puree to add into the risoto. Originally, I was going to do the asparagus roasted like as a side, but then I just decided can chop them, blanch them, throw them in the risoto, too with some water boiling, ready for the blanch. With this basil, we’re going to do a nice basil oil to drizzle on top. And then the chives, I think, are just going to be a garnish. So, I’m going to get all of my prep laid out first, and we’re going to do any of the minimal chopping that I’m going to do today. I’m keeping everything really simple today. I’m not like sweating the small stuff. I’m not doing all the right techniques honestly because as I’ve started to like kind of cook professionally, I’ve just finished up an extership at a restaurant in New York and then also I work at a food magazine now. I just want to make sure I’m still cooking at home and like enjoying myself. And if that means like not doing all the right things and just being super rustic with it, I’m cool with that. I’m not going to cut up a ton of asparagus because I’m only making like a few servings of risoto and I just want it to be like a little pop of green, not the whole dang thing. I want it mostly to be a ramp risoto with like asparagus for fun. Also, cooking in my tiny New York City apartment has had its challenges. I don’t have a lot of space. I don’t have a lot of storage. Don’t have a dishwasher. What else is important? Oh, I don’t have a plug in the kitchen. So, when I’m cooking at home, I just allow things to be imperfect because that’s how I keep it fun. When you’re blanching things, you really want to salt the water well. Kind of like when you’re cooking pasta, because that’s your opportunity to get some extra flavor in whatever you’re blanching. So, what order should I do this in? This basil, I’m just going to throw in whole uh stems and everything because it’s going into an oil. No biggie. And I guess the ramps need to be cut down. These ramps smell fantastic. It’s like garlicky, really punchy garlicish smell, but it’s more spicy. Spicy is probably the wrong word, but it has like a a really sharp kick to it. This is going to be good. I’m blanching these, but I am of the belief that like if a step like blanching and shocking or anything like that is keeping you from cooking, you have full permission to skip it. Like anything that keeps you from having fun in the kitchen, skip it. It’s your meal. It’s your dish. Like I’m cooking only for myself right now. Actually, I might have a friend coming over. But like, you know, I this is for you. If something seems too unobtainable, just skip it. It’s fine. Like it’s your kitchen. I am going to bleach these leaves and stems today though because I want to soften them up just a little bit. That way they blend nicely. And then also that’s going to help lock in the color and keep it nice and green, which is something I would asleep in the box now. Okay, I’m just going to keep it nice and green. Okay, little tiny ice water bath. Just squeezing all the water that I can get out of it. Going in with the ramp tops. Then I do want the asparagus to go in a little bit longer because this is really the only cooking it’s going to get except for like a little bit of simmer in the risoto process. One way to see I’m happy with it. It’s crazy what a difference getting like good quality vegetables make. I wasn’t the hugest that’s not a word hugest veggie girl if I’m being honest most of my life. But then my extership, I worked at a vegetarian restaurant and I just learned so much about how cool veggies can be and all of the opportunities you have to like I don’t know just do fun stuff with them. And that opened my eyes a lot. So I’m so glad that I externed there over something that might be like a little more like what I’m used to. I poured out our ice bath. So we’re just going to run it under cold water. Turning my attention to chopping these. I think I’m just going to do a little mints. Actually, I really don’t want to hide any of these ramps in the dish cuz they’re so beautiful and special. I’m just going to do little rounds. I mean, they’re going to cook down and kind of like become one with the risoto anyway, but this will give them a fighting chance to be seen. Cutting board can go. So, here’s my mixer. Like I said, small kitchen making it work. I’m going to make a basil oil first because if there’s basil oil in my ramp puree, I’m cool with that. But there probably shouldn’t be ramp puree in my basil oil. You know, neutral oils are best for herb oils because they don’t impart their own flavor. But this is a dish that lends itself well to olive oil. I’m cool with it. Why not? I’m going to go blend this in my living room cuz like I said, I don’t really have a plug in my kitchen proper. So, BRB. Just going to strain that into a deli container. I’m going to keep this little basil puree byproduct. You’re kidding. You’re kidding. Anyway, I’m obviously going to keep this like basil puree byproduct because this would be amazing to add to any pasta dish or like really anything throughout the week. The decision now is what to cut the ramps with to make them blend. Let’s just do chicken oil. Chicken oil. That would be good, too. Um, but let’s just do chicken stock. Okay, back to my blender. Nice. That’ll be good. Okay, I think we’re all prepped. So, I’m going to reset the kitchen, do all of the dishes, make sure everything’s good to go to knock it out once it starts. Told my friend that dinner would be ready at 6:30. Oh, it’s 5:30. We are so golden. Okay, everything’s prepped. The dishes are cleaned and put away. So, now we’re going to bake more dishes. I pulled out the scallops that way they can come to room temp so we can get a really nice sear. And to like even smell them, I have to like put my nose all the way to them. There’s no seafoody smell rating off of them. They look really nice. I I’m happy with the texture. All signs are pointing to these are good scallops. And of course, I did the same whenever I bought them. I’m going to cook the risoto start to finish. That way, I’m not trying to like multitask while I’m cooking the scallops, and I can just focus on getting a good crust. Ramps are going in. Yay. You know what? I’m going to add a little bit of that basil paste from the oil into Why not add a little extra basil flavor. Just a tad. I don’t want it to overpower. The ramps have softened up a little bit. I don’t want to take them too far. I want to keep them wholeish. I just added in a little less than a cup of our boreo rice. That number is not on purpose. Uh I thought I had a cup. Turns out I had like a little over 3/4 of a cup. So it’s enough. I need risotto for two. So we’re just letting that toast a little bit. Just a tad till it gets a little nutty, a little toasty. Then I have a nice little subl should never add from the bottle to the pot. That’s dangerous. I always do. You know, I’ll be good today. Pour a little in here. Toast it for a little bit. Adding about a four of a cup of white wine. We’re just going to let that simmer away until the rice has soaked up most of the wine. Debating if I should put the ramp puree first or if I should start with a little bit of chicken stock, let it cook. Add the ramp puree towards the end. Obviously, I want to make sure all of this puree goes in and not like unramped chicken stock, if that makes sense. But I also don’t want to overcook this and make it turn brown. I don’t know. I’m going to do a couple ladles of chicken stock first. [Music] Hot stock is in. I’m just going to keep stirring and adding stock as it absorbs until our risoto is cooked. Second round of broth has absorbed. So, I’m going to go in with the ranch juice. Oh, it’s so green. Meanwhile, I’m going to salt both sides of these scallops generously. Also, at this stage, I’m going to add in the asparagus. That way, they have time to kind of cook a little more and warm through. Okay, our risoto is looking nice. I’m really happy with the consistency. So, I shut the heat off. I’m just going to let that chill out so we can cook the scallops, which will not take long. Okay, oil looks ready. So, I’m going to put these in presentation side down. I’m going to let these cook until they naturally release themselves from the pan and no sooner because then they will not release from the pan. At that point, I’ll flip them over, turn the heat to low, add some butter, do some basing. If I was feeling fancy, I could put some aromatics. I don’t feel like doing that, but you could. I guess the pan wasn’t hot enough because that went horribly. I’m really sad. This is really depressing. I’m going to cry. Like, why did that go so bad? I’m actually so sad. I swear I know how to cook scallops. Okay. Well, let’s plate up the ones that didn’t absolutely fall apart. Finishing off the risoto with a little bit of butter, a little more stock, and we’re going to put a lot of Parmesan cheese. Okay. Well, this just shows cooking doesn’t always go perfectly. Like, are you going to throw away those perfectly good They scallops taste great. I had a bite of one. Well, let’s plate it up. I love the look of this risoto. [Music] Then our little scallops. Our dinner guest is here. We’ll do a nice little What’s What’s the drizzle rate of this? [Music] Okay. I don’t hate the way this looks. If you just, you know, second plate, second plate could be for me. It’s going to be a little little bun. Ah. And then we have our beautiful Come on in. Wait, it’s locked, actually. Is she happy to see you?
Yeah, she’s sniffing.
A
Wait, they look yummy. They’re yummy, but they’re
They’re just a little
It’s fine. It’s fine.
This one looks wonderful.
Here is our farm tot dinner all plated up. Scallop incident aside, I’m pretty happy with it. I think it looks nice. I think I got creative, which is always what I’m going for. I hope this inspires you to go to your farmers market, see what’s good, make a good meal with it. Don’t get too upset if something goes wrong. Just have fun with it. And I guess now we’re gonna pour ourselves a glass of wine and