Go Green East Harlem Cookbook

I'm feeling a bit sentimental that tomorrow marks the first anniversary of TheCityCook.com.

When I began this web site and these weekly letters, I did so with the belief that I wasn't the only one who wanted to cook often, with more pleasure and better results.  You proved me right:  I've heard from so many of you who have written to share your sources for ingredients, favorite recipes and triumphs in your kitchens.  In a city that is proud of its independence, diversity and competitive swagger, it's been notable to see how making a meal is such a common pleasure.

I'm also an unabashed cheerleader for New York City, so I designed this site to also be a place to share what I know about buying ingredients in our town.  Our database now has 284 stores from across the city and we are shopping new sources all the time.  We've spent time with merchants in four out of the five boroughs (sorry, Staten Island, we'll get there soon) and have information about markets that proudly sell a rich range of flavors and at all prices.

One of my favorite tasks is to spend days walking neighborhoods, talking to shop keepers and customers.  Even though a stereotype of New York living is eating in restaurants, I am impressed by how for so many of us, making dinner is a centerpiece of every day life.  That's why when I recently learned about a very special New York cookbook written by, and for, one of our most distinctive neighborhoods, telling you about it seemed a perfect way to mark our anniversary.

Go Green East Harlem

Go Green East Harlem (Jones Books, softcover, $17.95) is very special and gorgeous 272-page book (actually 136 pages times two; I'll explain in a moment) that was put together by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer as part of his "Go Green East Harlem" health initiative. 

This cookbook is much more than a collection of recipes.  It's a celebration of, and a window into, one of our most vibrant and proud neighborhoods, but one that until recently had been so very environmentally neglected.  As Borough President Stringer points out in his introduction, "Residents of East Harlem are ten times more likely to have diabetes than their neighbors 40 blocks to the south on the Upper East Side."  That's why in addition to creating a new asthma center, planting hundreds of street trees, and opening a new farmers' market on East 106th Street, Mr. Stringer's "Go Green East Harlem" initiative led to dozens of East Harlem community residents and restaurateurs sharing mealtime favorites from their own kitchens. 

Why did I say the book is 136 pages by two?  Because it's bilingual by being two books in one:  open the cover and it's totally in Spanish but then flip it over, and it's precisely mirrored in English.  It's a beautiful book and a pragmatic one, with 68 healthy recipes and practical advice for cooking in real life in a neighborhood that has more fast food restaurants than supermarkets or produce stands. 

The book is organized into four recipe categories:  Appetizers & Sides, Soups & Salads, Entrees, and Desserts.  But unlike most cookbooks that just have recipes, this one also has a guide to healthy cooking from the experts at The Integrative Nutrition Institute who also vetted every recipe in the book, flagging ingredients like whole grains.  Dr. Adam Aponte, Medical Director of North General Hospital's Diagnostic & Treatment Center, has contributed a section on obesity, exercise and diet.  Kysha Harris of SCHOP! (a personal cooking service), and a weekly food columnist for the Amsterdam News, has a fantastically useful section on how to inventory, stock and equip a city kitchen. 

My favorite part of the book really has nothing to do with cooking:  Borough President Stringer, an avowed non-cook ("I couldn't tell you how to boil an egg"), offers his "Top Ten Takeout Tips" for those times when we do start dialing instead of going to the stove.  He's being realistic.

All the photographs, which are primarily of the contributors but also include gorgeous food details and East Harlem locations, were taken by volunteer photographers from the International School of Photography in Midtown Manhattan.

Recipes and their contributors include: 

• "Honey Baked Chicken" -- Community Board 11 Chair Robert Rodriguez
• "Cream of Fruited Chicken -- Wagner Tenants' Association President Katie Harris
• "Sicilian Fava Bean Stew" -- Settepani Bakery owners Leah Abraham and Nino Settepani
• "Summer Squash Medley" -- Maritza Owens, of Harvest Home Farmers' Market, who also graces the book's cover
• "Gingerbread with Apricot Sauce" -- John S. Roberts Middle School 45 Environmental Club
• "Rao's Famous Lemon Chicken" -- Rao's Restaurant
• "Atakilt Wett" (Vegetable Stew) -- Henock Kejela, owner of Zoma Restaurant
• "Fish and Watercress Soup with Glass Noodles" -- Wei Xiong Hug, executive chef, Ginger restaurant
• "Vegan Morning Muffins" -- Jewel Aja Johnson
• "Jini Mac's Stuffed Sweet Potatoes" -- Virginia Montague

There are 58 others, each with an authentic stake in East Harlem and inspired by the rich diversity of this neighborhood.

I went to the book's launch event and got to speak with Carmen Vasquez, deputy executive director of Home Community, Inc., an organization that promotes, builds and manages affordable housing in East Harlem, about her recipe for Pasta Chicken Salad.  "I'm a busy working woman and I make a lot of salads.  While the truth is that my friends and family always ask me to make my arroz con pollo, I knew it would be more practical to contribute a recipe that was more universal and frankly easier to make at the end of a busy day.  But most of all, I was honored to be asked to be a part of this."  It was easy to admire her commitment.

One of my favorite recipes in the book was contributed by Julian Zugazagoitia, director of El Museo Del Barrio.  His "Ceviche Troncones" is raw fish that is "cooked" with the acidity of fresh lime juice.  With pieces of marinated raw sea bass combined with diced avocado, tomato, red onion and jalapeno, the dish is a robust combination of flavors.  We appreciate that they have let us publish it here at The City Cook.

Proceeds from the sale of Go Green East Harlem will go to the Community Fund for Manhattan, a 501(c)(3) organization established by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President to support public/private partnerships that benefit residents of Manhattan and the City of New York.

Book Signing at Rizzoli

If you want to know more about Go Green East Harlem, Manhattan Borough President Stringer will be doing a book signing on Wednesday, February 6 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Rizzoli Bookstore, 31 West 57th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues) in Manhattan.  The cookbook is also being given free of charge to many residents of East Harlem.  To buy your own copy, you can find the book for sale at Rizzoli, Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble.

It's sometimes easy to let the notion of home cooking in New York get taken over by our city's glamour.  Specialty food shops, small farm organic produce, and artisanal ingredients can all too quickly become a kind of fancy metaphor for the urban kitchen.  But that's really not what city cooking is about.  Instead, for most of us, it's simply a daily event.  Sometimes a pleasure.  Sometimes a chore.  Always uniquely personal.

We cook for taste, and we cook for health.  We cook whether we have children or live alone, whether we can splurge on ingredients or we're on a tight budget, whether we barely know how to hold a knife or have well worn pans on our stove top.  Whether we live in East Harlem, Williamsburg, Tribeca, Astoria, or anywhere else in this city or another:  We simply cook.

Thank you for giving me a year of cooking in public and writing about it.  There's more to come.

Kate McDonough, Editor

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