Myra's Kitchen Blog » Night Before Irene

We were among the lucky to have been in Manhattan during hurricane Irene. Still, we didn’t know how hard the storm would hit, but we did know the city would shut down public transportation as of noon on Saturday. It seemed wisest to stock up with eatables. Everyone seemed of the same mindset; the markets on Friday afternoon were teeming, and rumors circulated at Union Square that the greenmarket would be closed on Saturday. Half of the farmers did show up, however, and they did brisk business. Hats off to those intrepid farmers.

It was a good weekend to attend to some home projects without the guilt of feeling I should be out and about. I wanted our food to be quick and comforting – and, of course, delicious and nutritious.

Purée of sweet potato soup: I sweated a couple cups onions in olive oil, then added half a dozen peeled whole garlic cloves, a dime’s thickness of fresh thyme springs, a couple of peeled fingerling potatoes, teaspoon salt and a quart of chicken stock that I had from one of my favorite greenmarket purveyors (Garden of Spice, which are at the Union Square on Wednesdays). I let the soup simmer partially covered

for about 20 minutes until the garlic and potato chunks were tender. I then added a bunch of

beautiful chard (stemmed) and let it wilt in the hot soup for a couple of minutes. I blended the soup, put it back in the pot, added a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkling black pepper, and adjusted the salt.

Meanwhile, I roasted these sweet potatoes (mix of white and orange) in virgin coconut oil and salt. Coconut oil gives the sweet potatoes a delicious buttery flavor.

Roasted White and Orange Sweet Potatoes

I smashed an avocado with a dollop of Dijon mustard and cooked up sweet turkey sausage from Di Paulo farms. The sausage is beautifully spiced and ready to cook. Everyone loves it! http://brooklynbased.net/email/2010/11/where-to-get-your-gobble-gobble/. (This link has a description of the poultry farmers at Union Square. Not all have websites. The link also includes some purveyors that ship pasture-raised poultry.)

Turkey sausage with avocado mustard, roasted sweet potato fingers

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