This little angel lives at the 96th st. Subway Station in the Station Operator's booth; isn't it fantastic? Kinda looks like it's rockin' out.
The market itself is small, so don't come uptown expecting some kind of huge gathering of tents. However, there are a bunch of stalls, and they offer a pretty wide variety of things. I would go so far as to say that Mt. Sinai is a small market done right.
It may be small, but it's tough.
It had some missing pieces; no plants, no real "bake" shop, and no fishmonger, so if you're looking for those components you might want to look elsewhere.
However, it did have a very wide selection of both fruits and vegetables, with several varieties of fruit that I haven't seen at a small market before. The presence of a dairy vendor was especially welcome, as I'd exhausted my butter supply last night on browning butter for the fish and pasta I'd made. That recipe will get posted eventually, don't worry.
The dairy stall was actually pretty good; yogurt, cheese, and butter available from both sheep's milk and cow's milk. Ravioli and gnocchi made with sheep's milk. Cave-aged cheeses. An amusing French staffer. They had a wide variety of cheeses, and something that I simply had to buy; fresh mozarella that was ready for sale yesterday. A recipe for how I used it appears at the end. One warning, though, is that their butter is made from both sheep's and cow's milk, and so you need to be careful that you like the flavour of sheep's milk, as it may be different from what you're used to having.
While there was no bake shop, there was a little fruit vendor who also had some wares that were made from his fruits, like pies and cider, so if you're looking for a good pre-made apple pie, this might be your place. I, however, went straight for the cider because it had been pressed only a few days before and is super-fresh. Given that the apple crop is making its way to market right now, it's pretty fantastic.
The vegetable selection is pretty worth it, but the corn is really the best part of this market. It is consistently good. Personally I'm not sure that this market is worth it for a person like our NYU student Amelia, since the market is so far uptown, but for people living on the middle-to-upper East Side this is a place that I would strongly recommend visiting if Union Square is less convenient.
I ended up buying some Roma tomatoes, the fresh mozarella, and the cider. I couldn't resist the idea of doing an insalata caprese for lunch, seeing as I knew I had some leftover basil from the fish I'd made the night before, and if you don't use up basil quickly, it becomes a green and black mess of rot. It turned out fantastically:
This dish is a breeze to prepare. It has all of five ingredients (six if you're feeling like adding a little excitement), and there is no actual heat involved, just chopping. To prepare it as a light lunch for one person, you'll need:1/2 lb mozarella cheese, fresh. Don't use the hard, rubbery mozarella from the supermarket here. You want your cheese the freshest possible, as its very delicate flavours are what will tie this entire dish together.
1/2-1 lb Roma tomatoes. I use Roma tomatoes because they have more meat than seeds, and so you don't end up with tomato seeds all over eveything and a lot of the flavour translates to the dish itself rather than running off in juice.
Basil; the amount of basil that you use should be based on your own preferences, but I recommend at least one leaf per slice of cheese/tomato that you produce so that you can mix all of the flavours appropriately.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, again to be added based on your preferences. Do not use "pure" or "light" olive oil, or olive oil that is too old, or has been heated; all of these lack the fantastic flavours of Extra Virgin olive oil because heating or time has destroyed the volatile oleic acids that make the magic happen. Use first press oil if possible.
1 tsp-1 tbsp Salt, again varying to taste
Balsamic Vinegar (I do not actually recommend using this at all; lots of places will give it to you with a caprese salad, but there are a few gastronomy reasons not to apply it. For one thing, its astringency totally masks the taste of the cheese. Second, the fats and oils from the cheese and olive oil block out the less astringent tastes of the vinegar and both worsen the effect while removing its advantages. I suggest only using this if you have cheese that is getting a bit old and losing its flavour, and even then, sparingly. In Italy you will rarely see this served with Caprese, especially because the cheese there has an even more distinct flavour as it is made as intended, from bison milk)
Preparation is simple. Cut the tomatoes and cheese into 1/4 thick slices. Ideally the slices should be able to fit in the palm of your hand, unless you have especially small hands. I suggest cutting both on the plate you intend to use for serving; runoff from the cheese and tomatoes will mix on the plate and soak into the cheese for a nice effect. Arrange the slices along with basil leaves so that the cheese, tomatoes, and herbs cover the plate, are layered, and overlap each other. The whole point of this salad is to make sure the flavours and tastes interact. I tend not to overlap my basil, but that's done mostly for presentation purposes. Sprinkle salt on to taste, but try not to overdo it. Salt can really overpower the mozarella's flavour and turn this into the equivalent of chewy, freshly washed, salted basil. Then, drizzle on the olive oil liberally. I use about 4-6 tbsp of oil, though I've never measured. I tend to just eyeball it, since I'm pretty sure you can go wrong unless you completely coat everything on the plate in oil. Don't do that.
This salad is a very refreshing lunch. Enjoy!
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