Rare Food Finds

Yesterday's culinary finds at Russo's Market were quite thrilling - the store transforms every season with epicurean delights; our last trip in the fall yielded pumpkins and gourds, and this time around they had moved on to winter squash and citrus fruits galore (someone may have gone overboard and bought a bushel of oranges ...) A winter wonderland of food - what more could you ask for?

Among yesterday's rare food finds were:

• Ugli fruit: a Jamaican tangelo, a citrus fruit created by hybridizing a grapefruit or pomelo, and orange and a tangerine. It is actually quite ugly:

Culantro: not to be confused with cilantro, an herb of Latin America and the Caribbean:

• Yellow chives: popular in Chinese and Japanese cooking, yellow chives are milder and sweeter than their common green counterparts.





Black trumpet mushrooms: black chanterelle mushrooms are popular in French cuisine because of its unlikely flavor: these fresh black beauties can actually taste like apricots!




Shusie leaf: frankly I'm stumped on this one. I found it near the Asian herbs and I can't figure out what it is or how to use it! Now that's rare.

Autumn Produce Fest

We went for our fall trip to Russo's and stocked up on all the fabulous autumn produce, getting pumpkins, three kinds of squash, apple cider, leeks, walnuts (as we are squirrels stocking up for the winter, or so it would seem), an assortment of rare mushrooms and peppers, and at the deli exquisite meats and cheeses, and more ...

My festive autumnal centerpiece for our kitchen table, with leaves I collected outside:

The squash, now decorating our dining room, to experiment with by cooking in fantastic ways:

An assortment of cheeses (clockwise from left: gouda, goat cheese, gorgonzola, scamorza, pecorino romana, fontina - center ):


We even got a star fruit! Went a little wild at the market again, as always had a fabulous time.

Fun Food Finds at Russo's

Yesterday we went to Russo's in Watertown, a specialty food market with one of the best selections I've ever seen in the region. They had an extensive produce section, with eggplants larger than my head and a variety of fresh greens, including some more obscure Asian plants that are great for vegan cooking. My first find:

Daikon, an east Asian radish used in Japanese cooking. It can be pickled for carrot salads or braised to create a scallop-esque consistency, having a mild flavor that retains the outside flavors of a dish.

My next find:

Dried kiwis! I love dried fruit as a healthy alternative to feed my sweet tooth, trying dried pinapples, mangos, apricots galore, but have never found dried kiwis before. They were really delicious (and addictive ...)

Russo's also has a great gourmet cheese selection so we got some gorgonzola dulce, "sweet" gorgonzola with an almost tangy flavor to the creamy cheese, and some ricotta salata, a more unusual sheep's milk cheese. I liken the stiffer texture and saltiness to feta - perhaps the Italian version of Greek feta, one could say - unlike the soft ricotta cheese that Americans associate with the name. We bought a bunch of fresh basil and made fresh pesto with pignoli and some ricotta salata as a spin on the traditional Parmesan, having a lovely pesto pasta for our Sunday dinner. I'm officially hooked on Russo's and will definitely be back.

Pasta

Fresh pasta makes an incredible difference to a dish, and it's not easy to find good quality pasta in the States. My recommendations for the best places to buy pasta in the Boston area are:

Dave's Fresh Pasta: (Somerville) food and wine shop with handmade fresh pasta and ravioli, including spaghetti, linguine, angel hair, fettucine, pappardelle and lasagna noodles. Choose from whole wheat, spinach, pumpkin, black pepper, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, lobster, and basil pasta. Truly authentic.

Russo's Market: (Watertown) "the food lover's food store," Russo's has fresh produce, artisan cheeses, meat and charcuterie, and imported specialty products. My international friends swear by it.