Bangers & Mash

When the skies are misty and the air is chilly, New York could almost be London. When I went to London five years ago, one of my favorite meals was at Sausage and Mash in Knotting Hill. Simple, fattening, and oh so yummy. Since then, sausage and mashed potatoes has been a staple meal for me.
It's really easy to make, cheap and you'll have leftovers that you can reheat or turn into something else. All you have to do is buy some fat sausages, onions, potatoes and some kind of vegetable for health. Trader Joe's and Fairway have pre cooked sausages that are good if you're short on time. I also like the fat sausage you can get at the the farmer's market. They are pricier than the fresh sausage at the Whole Foods, but they're often a little bigger and the vendors often give out samples, so you can taste before you buy. So throw the bangers in a pan with some sliced onions. I like to get one side browned for looks before I dump water in to speed up the cooking and prevent burning. Cover the pan and put potatoes in a pot of water for mashed potatoes. If you have green beans for a green, you can steam them while the potatoes boil. Push on the sausage, if it feels like the cartilage on your nose, then it's done. If the onions are the color you like, and the pan's bottom is browning, and you're drinking a beer, pour some of the beer in the pan for a nice pan dripping sauce. Add butter if you want it to be richer. Mash potatoes, add butter, milk and salt and you should be good to go.
Tonight, I made sweet potato mash and then braised some red cabbage with onions and apples for the healthy part.

Stricha or Streecha

Saturday morning, Brian and I met up at noon for the comfort food of his people. Varenyky!
That's Ukrainian for boiled thing, but I kept on calling them pierogi before Brian schooled me on the pronunciation. This New York Times article alerted us that the ladies who make the dumplings were back in business after a summer off. There's also a fantastic video that interviews the feisty ladies that make varenyky to support the church.
We were confused momentarily about the new underground location, it had moved to the south side of East 7th St (bw 2nd&3rd Ave), but once we saw the handwritten sign we hit comfort food gold. Again, this is the best kind of a food — humble ingredients worked into something delicious by someone's mom and bought for a couple of bucks. We ordered every dish offered. Ten potato varenyky served with buttery onions (50 cents each); a cup of hot borscht ($1); a cabbage roll filled with rice and meat ($2). We had to try all the desserts, a beautiful powdered donut ($1.25) filled with berry jam that I swear had rose water in the filling. A piece of apple cake and a piece of honey cake. Yeah, we ate like pigs, but since we were eating for Jesus, I have a feeling our gluttony will be forgiven.

Cheap tip # whatever

The best time to go to the Greenmarket is a little bit before it closes for the day, around 5:30, when the farmers pack up for the day. That's when you're gonna get the deals. Here we got a dollar off of the Ronnybrook rice pudding for 2 bucks.
The only problem is the Lower East Side Ecology people sometimes pack it in early and you're stuck throwing away bags of compost that you've collected in your freezer for weeks on end. That part sucks. The pudding helps the guilt of adding to landfill matter.

Shrimp Soup

So I've decided I must lay off the fried pastelitos. They are delish, but the left side of my face looks like a slice of pepperoni pizza.
Seriously. Ed and Erin take fish oil capsules for skin health, so I was thinking if I ate seafood that the guy on 135th St. and Broadway sells, then my skin would clear up. He and his mom have a shopping cart each filled with those orange drink coolers. She takes the corner on 145th and he's 10 blocks down on Broadway. They both sell the soup and ceviche that she makes in their kitchen everyday. Not sure about the times, but I caught up with the duo around 2pm.
I haven't had the ceviche yet, but if it's as good as her shrimp soup, then I won't be disappointed. Here is another delicious case of taking humble ingredients—shrimp (24 in my serving!), carrots, potatoes, spaghetti and making something wonderful. At only 5 bucks, this is comfort in a plastic tub. And it came with half a lime and a pack of crackers.

Empanada or Pastelito?

Ed told me a couple of months ago that he ate the most delicious chicken empanada from the man on the southwest corner of 136th St. and Broadway. The man started to give him the chicken and an additional beef empanada, but then Ed corrected him and only got one. Once he tasted it, he wished that he had gotten a beef, too. When I see this man, I try to walk to the other side of the street because I know that once I try one, it will become a habit. Since I ran around the track yesterday, I finally earned the right to eat a yummy fried meat treat.
I've tried his kipe, the Dominican version of kibbeh, those pointy fried balls of bulgar wheat dough stuffed with meat. The one I ate had seen fresher times, but those empanadas, man were they good! The crust isn't bready, it has a texture and yellow color, so maybe it was made with cornmeal or some other kind of masa. The man has a little fryer right in the cart, so they were still hot and the crust is crispy on the edges, but nicely chewy around the filling. The shredded chicken filling had bits of green olive adding a subtle bite of vinegar. I also spurged on the queso version which was less revelatory, it's filling was straight up white cheese. Empanada means to wrap or coat in bread, so these might be called pastelitos, little pies.
Whatever you call it, these babies are going on the list of best snacks for a dollar.
When I was taking the picture of the cart, there was a group of kids that started talking about me taking pictures, so I crossed the street without getting a clearer picture from behind the plexiglass that shows how the pastelitos are strung up on metal skewers which hang from a wooden dowel. The bubbly oil from the frying tray keeps the pies warm. As I was crossing the intersection, I saw a scene like this, so I went back to the middle of the street to the benches. Those benches in the middle of the street always remind me of "Panic in Needle Park" because that's essentially where the characters in Panic would hang out, although sixty blocks down and in the 1970s. The guy sitting a bench over looked like he could have been an extra in Panic, so I ate my snacks and took the snapshots quickly.
There was some trouble up here a couple of weeks ago, but bad stuff happens everywhere. Upper Manhattan gets such a bad rap. Someone has to make a really good movie set in over here that's a definate positive. If it were up to me, Breakin' 3, set in NYC! We need something to balance out the lack of moral center on stuff like American Gangster. Don't get me wrong, I worked on AG, it's a terrific looking movie—all the props look real; the sets look great; the womb to tomb montage is fantastic. We did a great job. The story basically shows how drugs make you rich and you'll kill along the way. You might go to jail, but get a good lawyer, you'll get out eventually and have a movie made about how you ruined many a life. Don't worry, though, those folks are probably long dead.
If you like French Connection and The Godfather or Scarface, AG tries to be like those movies. I know it's morally wrong, but I couldn't help it. I got a kick out of it. Just like I know eating fried meat pies is bad for my cholesteral and waistline. Is that so wrong?