I love living in Brooklyn, but I crave open, outdoor spaces (I mean I did grow up in Western Pennsylvania and my family lives on 13 acres of woods), so I was so so SO excited when Matt’s parents said they wanted to take us up to Stone Barns in Westchester. I learned about the Center when I worked at Inhabitat, and since then, it’s been on my Must-Do list.

Stone Barns is a sustainable 80-acre farm in Tarrytown, NY. It was originally part of the Rockefeller estate, and the stone barns (it’s an aptly named place) were originally used as a dairy farm by John D. Rockefeller. It fell into disuse in the ’50s and the Rockefellers used it to store their car collection, but in the ’70s, David Rockefeller’s wife Peggy began cattle breeding on the farm.

After Peggy died in 1996, the farm was turned into the Stone Barns we know today by David and their daughter. When we visited, our tour guide told us that David, now 96, still lives on a different part of the estate, and he often takes horse-drawn carriage rides through the farm. Amazing, right?

Today, Stone Barns is a four season, educational farm that uses all organic practices (although they are not certified organic) for growing produce, and they raise, pigs, chickens, turkey, geese, and sheep using humane methods closely aligned to the animals’ natural habitats. When we visited, the veggie fields were mostly frozen, but there were a few hearty rows of kale holding steady, along with a few tented beds. They use a giant greenhouse that our guide described as a giant robot to grow veggies year round. They also use the greenhouse to do fun things like experiment with cross-pollinating purple snap peas and regular snap peas to try to create a delicious purple pea.

Even though not much was growing, they still taught us about the fields. They operate on a strict rotation of crops and grazing animals so that no pasture gets the nutrients sucked out of it and they all get equally fertilized. Much of the food on the farm goes to the on-site restaurant, Blue Hill, and all of the scraps are composted. This ultra-rich compost is also used to fertilize all of the vegetable fields. One day, when I find buckets of money, I will dine at Blue Hill, but for now, I will just dream about the food, which is served as a special tasting menu only, with the cheapest meal being $108 per person, before wine.

Speaking of wine, the restaurant’s wine cellar is an earthen cave that the Rockefellers used as their cold storage.

The best part of our trip, obviously, was getting to see the animals! We first stopped by the sheep house (usually they are out in the fields, but not during the winter). The sheep are constantly accompanied by two beautiful (and massive) guard dogs called maremmas. They are Italian sheepdogs and damn are they good at their job. A couple in our group brought their cute little dog, and the maremmas started barking at it from 50-feet away. I am extremely glad they were locked up with the sheep and didn’t come charging at us. Stone Barns breeds lambs, and to keep track of which sheep have been impregnated, they attached a belt with a blue crayon to the rams so they know which sheep they have mounted! Several sheep we saw had blue spots… how scandalous!

We saw the egg-laying chickens, too. The phrase “ruling the roost” took on a whole new meaning for me because there are actually chickens who are more powerful and do rule the roost. Apparently chickens can be quite viscious to each other and peck each other until they die! We saw quite a few that had bare butts. The egg-laying chickens at Stone Barns live for about a year, then they become stews, soups, and stocks. The meat chickens are killed at a much younger age, or else the meat gets tough. All butchering happens on site.

The most entertaining animals we saw were the pigs. Even when they were just eating from their feeders, they were adorable. Pigs are so smart and love to play with each other. They kept squealing and chasing each other around. A lot of the pigs were in houses like you see above because it was so cold, but they are much happier when they are out in their mud pit in the woods.

The male hog, on the other hand, is the opposite of adorable. He’s quite beastly. He had massive teeth, and he weighs 800 pounds! He’s actually getting too heavy to mount the ladies, so he’ll soon be turned into sausage.

We also saw the geese, which the Blue Hill chef Dan Barber has been experimenting with ethical foie gras. I really dislike the taste of foie gras, but I dislike how foie gras is made more, so this is pretty awesome. It’s cause a pretty big uproar in the food industry, but it’s also incredibly revolutionary. You can learn more about it here, here, and here.

Even though it was freezing cold, it was one of the best day trips I’ve had in a long time — and the first time I was ever in Westchester! I can’t wait to go back when it’s warm. Hopefully in April to see the newborn lambs!

We’re in Week 8 of our CSA, and I’ve been horrible at posting about all the delicious veggies we’ve received. So in light of today’s pick up, I figured I would do a recap of what we’ve had and some of the things we’ve made:

Lots of different lettuces, about ten bunches so far: red oak, red leaf, green Boston bibb, red Boston bibb, romaine, iceberg, you name it.

Lots of bok choy, both baby and regular! Our farmer is of Chinese decent, and they grow a lot of specialty Asian greens, like bok choy, sometimes called Chinese cabbage. We have come to really love bok choy, and Asian-inspired dishes are a staple in our diet. Not only do stir fries and sautees lend themselves wonderfully to vegetables, but you get so much flavor from the spices and sauces: ginger, garlic, sambal oelek, sriracha, hoison, soy, miso, I could go on and on.

Some of the other Asian greens we’ve had so far:  U choy (sometimes called yu choy) and guy lon. U choy is related to spinach, and I simply sauteed it with ginger and garlic. Guy lon is Chinese broccoli, and it look and tastes similar to a combination of broccoli rabe and broccolini. Again, I simply sauteed it with garlic and red chili flakes.

Lots of squash! Big green zucchini, little yellow zucchini, baby yellow squash, patty pan squash. We’ve made several frittatas (a go-to summer dish for us), and with the rest, I’ve just sauteed in olive oil.

Quite a few cucumbers — kirbies, field, and the biggest greenhouse cuke I have ever seen. I haven’t done anything fancy with these, we’ve just had them in salads and sandwiches.

Fresh bulb onions. These are milder than regular white or yellow onions, and they have to be stored in the fridge.

Scallions, which are a must-have in my kitchen. We make so many Asian dishes that they are used up quickly. Plus, I love chopped scallions sprinkled on my fried eggs.

Some herbs: chives, parsley, cilantro.

A few bulbs of kohlrabi. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s in the cabbage family, but the bulb has an interior texture that’s similar to sliced ginger. We usually use it to make different types of slaws, but this time we also pickled some. The leaves you can cook just like any other leafy green.

Small keuka potatoes and fingerling potatoes. Since the keukas were the cutest little potatoes I ever saw, we made this delicious new potato salad. With the fingerlings, I made a breakfast hash with some onions and a little bit of bacon, topped with a fried egg (fyi: topping just about anything with a fried egg makes it more delicious).

Fruit! We rarely get fruit in our share (the CSA also offers a fruit share, but we don’t participate), but in our first week, we got strawberries. Then when I had my volunteer shift last week, there were a LOT of fruit shares leftover, either extras or people forgot to pick theirs up, so the volunteers were allowed to take some! So we got half a peck of the most juicy and delicious peaches. It was heavenly. We gobbled down most of them just by themselves, but for fear they would go bad before we could eat them all, I caramelized a few on the stovetop. Talk about drool worthy. Just cooked in some brown sugar, a little butter, and cinnamon — SO good. Like the inside of a peach pie. We had them on top of frozen vanilla bean yogurt.

Sugar snap peas – possibly the most delicious type of pea. I had to stop Matt from eating them all raw so I could use them in a stir fry.

Some root vegetables: carrots and beets. The carrots I just ate raw and in salads. The beets we haven’t cooked yet because it’s been approximately 1 billion degrees since we received them and there is no way in hell I’m turning on the oven or cooking something for 45 minutes when it’s that hot. We did eat the beet greens, though, sauteed in oil and finished with balsamic vinegar.

Asparagus, which we got in the very first week and I think it may have been our first asparagus ever from the CSA. I truly do not remember how I cooked it, but my favorite way is to just roast it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Wow! Writing this up makes me see that we’ve had quite an awesome variety of vegetables so far. Sometimes it seems like we’re getting the same things over and over again, but clearly that is not the case.

First, I’m not even going to bother saying this is a recipe post, because we literally followed this Slate recipe verbatim. Second, have you ever had banh mi? It’s basically a Vietnamese hoagie (or sub, if you prefer that term, but I don’t. I’m from Pittsburgh.) Anyway, there is this place. It’s in Little Italy. It’s called Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli. It used to be called Saigon No. 1. They’ve expanded a bit and apparently changed their name since we first went there three years ago. Not that we were the first people to go there or anything because we most definitely weren’t. But clearly business has boomed since our presence was had. But back to the point: their sandwiches. Banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich on a baguette that has warm, sweet pork and rich pate, served with slices of cool cucumber, crisp pickled carrots, and a spicy chili sauce. It’s an amazing combination of sweet, savory, fatty, spicy, cool, and crunchy. Totally amazing.

BUT. This post is obviously not that. This post is about our imitation of that amazing sandwich. Matt found this recipe on Slate for a tofu banh mi. We’ve both had tofu before, but we’ve never cooked it before. But since we’re always looking for more vegetarian recipes to make, and we got all of the veggies necessary for this in our CSA baskets, I was all about making this. Also, the tofu cooking method is from Mark Bittman, and he’s basically our recipe god.

Local highlights: Carrot, cilantro, and kirby cucumber from Sang Lee Farms via the Crown Heights Farm Share

I became even more about making this when I discovered that a 14 oz. package of Whole Foods brand tofu is $1.79. Imagine me shouting that number. Because I am. It’s SO CHEAP. Fourteen ounces of pork would cost like $15 at Whole Foods. If I didn’t love cheese and steak, I’d sign up to be a vegan right this second.

And now that we have made and consumed this magical sandwich, I can tell you that it is very, very high on our “make-again-as-soon-as-humanly-possible” list. In fact, I just made that list up, so it’s the only thing on there. It seriously tasted exactly like a real pork banh mi (although Matt’s disagrees that it tastes “exactly like” a real pork banh mi [even though he is the one who said it as we were inhaling them], which is probably true, but you know what I mean). As I said before, we used this Slate recipe exactly so I’m not going to bother walking you through it. Plus, I didn’t take any photos besides the ones that are in this post. And as you can see, these photos were only taken after I had already had a bite. Bottom line: make this sandwich today. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

I know what you’re thinking. “Garlic scapes? Jess, you did not get garlic scapes in your first CSA.” I know, I know. If you haven’t noticed, I’m quite slow at posting (this pesto is long gone by now), and we’re already on our third CSA delivery. Just bear with me. I promise CSA veggie recipes will be on the way.

But right now, let’s talk about this pesto. Have you ever had garlic scapes? Have you ever seen them? You may have thought, “what the heck are these crazy curly things?” Well. I will tell you.

Local highlight: Garlic Scapes from Phillips Farms in Hunterdon County, NJ

Scapes are the fresh green shoots that grow out of hardneck garlic, and they are cut off because, if left on, they’d just take away from the formation of a nice plump garlic bulb. And that’s the last thing that anyone wants. Me, especially. Garlic scapes are garlicky, vegetal, and slightly herby, so they can be used in so many ways. The best way (at least in my book) to use them is to make a pesto, but my parents love them just sauteed or grilled.

This pesto, like most pestos, is best with a pasta; something with curves or crevices, like fusilli, shells, or penne, so the pesto gets really stuck to it. To make the pasta into a heartier entree, consider adding other veggies and a protein. We threw in some sauteed crimini mushrooms and a can of sardines (canned sardines may not be local, but they are super sustainable and a staple in our diet). Another favorite use of mine is to spread it on toast and top it with a fried egg. Or you could spread it on crackers. Or use it as a dressing for an antipasto salad. Or just eat it with a spoon… not that I’ve done that. But if you happen to do that, make sure you chew a lot of gum after.

Ingredients*:

• One large bunch garlic scapes cut into 2 inch pieces. This is about 20 scapes, 2 cups chopped, or a 3-inch diameter bunch.
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts. Pine nuts are also a good choice, but walnuts are cheaper. I’ve also seen recipes that use pistachios.
• 1/2 cup packed grated parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• Salt to taste. You don’t really need to add any pepper because the scapes have a nice spicy bite.

*This makes about 2 cups pesto, which goes a long way. This could easily be halved and you’d have plenty for a pasta dinner, with some leftover. Also, you may want to add a bit of lemon zest. I did not, but our pasta dish was really enhanced with a bit of fresh lemon juice, but then again, we also had sardines in our pasta and lemon and sardines go together like PB & J. I digress.

Recipe:

• Pulse scapes, walnuts, and cheese in a food processor until the mixture is finely chopped
• Add the olive oil, a bit at a time, pausing the machine to scrape down the edges to make sure everything gets evenly incorporated and pulsed.
• Season with salt, as needed.
• Enjoy!

Isn’t it beautiful? I’ve been counting down the days to our first share, and I literally let out a “woop!” last night when the veggies were posted. And as you can see, we got strawberries, too! I love when our share includes fruit. Here’s what we got: one bunch of red oak lettuce, one bulb kohlrabi, parsley, 1/2 pound asparagus, 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, and 1 pint strawberries. Remember, this is a partial share, so if it seems like a small amount, that’s why. We didn’t cook with anything last night because I got home quite late, but I’ll definitely be posting recipes, so stay tuned!

One of Matt’s hobbies, much to my delight, is to make cocktails. He loves experimenting with new bitters and liqueurs, and I love drinking whatever fancy concoction he whips up. Over Memorial Day weekend, we visited his parents in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and their garden inspired him to brighten up one of our favorite drinks with some fresh herbs. Gin is our liquor of choice in warm weather, and a lemony, fizzy Tom Collins is our preferred method of consuming said liquor. To fancify things, Matt muddle a few sprigs of fresh (like plucked-from-the-plant-five-minutes-ago-fresh) thyme in the bottom of each glass before adding the drinks, and I garnished each with a bit of thyme flowers (I didn’t even know thyme had flowers!). Thus was born the Thyme Collins.

 Recipe, per drink:

• 2.5 oz. gin
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. to 3/4 oz. simple syrup (recipe below)
• 2 to 3 sprigs thyme, vary depending on taste
• Club soda or seltzer water
• Ice

Directions:

• Muddle the thyme sprigs in the bottom of the glass. If you don’t have a muddler, any blunt-ended object, like the handle of an ice cream scoop, will do.
• Stir in gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
• Fill the glass with ice. It’s best to use large ice cubes for cocktails, so you only have a few pieces.
• Top with club soda and garnish with a flowering thyme sprig or lemon wedge or both!

Simple Syrup recipe: Heat 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water until sugar is disolved. It keeps in the refrigerator indefinitely. We put ours in an empty liquor bottle.

My dad, much like most dads in Western Pennsylvania, is a hunter. All my life, the Monday after Thanksgiving has been recognized as something of a holiday, as it’s the first day of deer season. Every year, my dad packs his gear and heads for the woods. For him and my family, getting a deer, or two, is not just for sport — venison has always been a regular source of protein for us. So much so that my mom never needs to buy ground meat. When I was little, my dad would send his deer to a local processor, but now he does the whole thing himself, from skinning to grinding. He shoots the deer on my family’s 13 acres, and makes ground meat, jerky (the BEST jerky, I might add), breakfast sausages, hot italian sausage, snack sticks, chops, and steaks in our house. How much more local can you possibly get? And it’s most likely organic, unless someone is spraying down our woods with pesticides.

When Matt and I lived in Pittsburgh, we’d get a couple frozen packages of venison from my parents every few weeks, saving us poor college kids a lot of money and providing us with delicious, lean meat. It’s something that we’ve really missed, now that we’re 400 miles away. Local, sustainable meat is so expensive, and we only really buy it for special occasions. But my parents, God bless them, always bring a cooler full of home-grown venison when they come to visit. My mom and sister delivered the latest batch over Mother’s Day weekend, when they came up for an impromptu visit. Our first recipe from the supply made use of the super flavorful sweet italian sausage, which we served in a pasta with a bunch of fresh broccoli rabe that Matt picked up at the farmers market.

Local highlights:
- Venison Sausage from Dailey Acres (it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?)
- Broccoli Rabe from Lani’s Farm Stand at the Union Square Greenmarket

The bitter rabe paired perfectly with the sweetness of the slightly gamey sausage, which we browned with olive oil, a hearty helping of garlic, and a few dashes of crushed red pepper. We used a hearty whole wheat penne (well, half whole wheat, half Barilla plus multigrain because we didn’t have enough of either), and we generously topped it parmesan cheese. It was one of the simplest, tastiest recipes we’ve made in a long time. Between forkfuls, we kept mumbling things like, “oh my gosh, this is so delicious.”

The recipe was more on-the-fly than step-by-step, but this is generally what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground venison sausage. I’m not honestly sure where you can buy it in New York City (I’ve never even looked), but this forum looks like it may have some places where you could buy it. But really, any lean, locally-sourced italian sausage would work.
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped into even pieces, about 1 inch long. Look for bunches with buds, flowers, and leaves. Our bunch was probably about 4 inches in diameter.
• 1 to 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, depending on your tastes
• About 2/3 or 3/4 pound of whole wheat penne. We like pasta dishes with a higher stuff-to-pasta ratio, so we usually use less pasta than recipes call for, but forgive me, I never measure pasta and I don’t really remember how much we used.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese to top

Directions:

• Cook pasta about one minute less than package directions in salted water.

• Begin to brown the sausage in about 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet.
• Add the minced garlic and crushed red pepper when the sausage is about halfway done. Cook until garlic is soft.

• Add the chopped broccoli rabe and salt to taste, sauté until tender and wilted, but still bright green. Stems should be crisp to the bite, but not fibrous.
• Add the pasta to the skillet, cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add a half ladle or so of pasta water if the dish looks dry. It should be shimmery, but there should be no liquid pooling.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.

• Serve with a hearty shaving of parmesan cheese. The leftovers reheat extremely well. In fact, it may have been better the second day.

All my life, I have loved pizza. Now, everyone says they love pizza, but when I say I love pizza, I mean that I love pizza. It is truly, honest to goodness, my favorite food. And I don’t discriminate when it comes to pizza. I’ll gobble down a greasy late night slice just as soon as I’d make reservations at the newest gourmet pizza restaurant. So when I finally got my own pizza stone for Christmas, I was over the moon. Finally! I can make delicious, non-pita bread pizza (my specialty) whenever I want!

But then came the problem of the dough. Everyone says frozen dough is the quickest, easiest way to whip up a pie, but guess what? My city grocery store (read: not a suburb supermarket wonderland that has 17 types of every product) does not carry frozen pizza dough. Plus, why buy the frozen stuff when homemade dough only calls for about four ingredients?

For the first couple tries, I made a rather sticky dough based off the recipe in the instruction booklet that came with the pizza stone. It tasted ok, but it didn’t crisp up very well, yet still wound up being kind of hard and chewy. The week before I embarked on my clam pizza, I found Mark Bittman’s simple pizza dough recipe that used the food processor. I don’t have a stand mixer (you may have heard something about apartments in NYC being small…), and I love my food processor almost as much as I love pizza, so I knew I needed to make this dough. And the simple toppings of a New Haven-style clam pizza were actually perfect for being able to really taste the dough. It was thin, crispy, and the crusts were beautifully golden on the outside while still light and soft on the inside.

I highly suggest you make it, and I highly suggest you top it with oodles of garlic and olive oily, freshly grated parmesan reggiano, a dusting of oregano, and fresh, salty, oceany, buttery clams. The olive oil soaks into the crust creating a luscious garlicky, cheesy sauce, and the clams, oh the clams. So sweet, so tasty. The perfect complement to the rich oil and cheese. We added capers and crumbled bacon to half of the pie to give it a little extra zing, but honestly, this pizza doesn’t need it.

Local highlight: littleneck clams from Blue Moon Fish

Ingredients

Pizza dough (adapted from Mark Bittman)

• 3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for kneading (next time, I’m buying Cayuga’s organic flour from the farmer’s market. It’s crazy expensive for flour, but I want to try it, despite the fact that my palate probably won’t be able to tell the difference)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup water, divided
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. sugar, depending on your tastes
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

New Haven Style Clam Pizza (adapted from Epicurious)

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 24 littleneck clams, liquor reserved (we used about 20, but I will definitely use more next time)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup or more parmesan reggiano cheese
• Optional: capers, crumbled bacon

Directions

• Proof yeast in 1/2 cup warm water mixed with the sugar for about 10 minutes. Water should be about 100°F. When a nice layer of foam appears, you’ll know your yeast is active.

• Place flour, salt, and yeast water into the food processor. I used the dough blade, but I’m sure the regular blade would work fine, too.
• Turn the food processor on low. While running, pour in the remaining 1/2 cup water and the olive oil. Process for about 30 seconds, until the dough forms a nice ball that’s slightly sticky to the touch. If it is still dry, add another tablespoon or two of water and process for another 10 seconds. (In the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time.)

• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few seconds to form a nice smooth ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tight lid or plastic wrap, and let rise until it doubles in size. I let mine rise slowly in the refrigerator for about 6 hours, but left on the counter, it will rise in about 1 to 2 hours.
• Place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 475°F. Make sure the pizza stone has about 30 minutes in the oven after it’s preheated. This ensures a crispy crust, as the stone cooks the pizza from the bottom.
• Place the garlic and olive oil in a small bowl, cover and chill while the dough rises.
• When the dough is ready, punch it down. Lightly kneed the dough and shape each ball into a 15 inch circle (or you can divide the dough in half and make two smaller pizzas. We made one larger pizza, but moving the crust from the counter to the pizza stone without one of those wooden paddle things was incredibly difficult, so next time, I’ll make two smaller pies).

• Place the dough on the preheated pizza stone. Brush evenly with the garlic oil. Top with the clams, a teaspoon or two of the reserved liquor, the oregano, and cheese.
• Bake on the middle rack for about 15 minutes until the crust is golden. If you want to check the clams, pluck one off the pizza to see if it’s tender. Our clams were perfect and the crust was golden after 15 minutes.

So, about those beautiful littleneck clams I bought from Blue Moon Fish…

I had big plans to make a New Haven-style clam pizza with Mark Bittman’s food processor pizza dough (recipe to come!), and the fact that I didn’t know the first thing about preparing fresh clams wasn’t going to stop me. It was only when we were hacking away at the stubborn little guys with our butter knives did I think, “Hmm, perhaps I should have bought a shucking knife before I bought the clams.” But nevermind that. We (ok, Matt) got them all open without losing any fingers, and let me tell you, they were delicious. It was like eating the ocean.

Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of getting too caught up in my food preparations and forgetting to take photos, so I don’t have any pictures of the fresh juicy clams swimming in their little pool of liquor on their half shells. But, in all honesty, most of our clams were a bit mangled and the shells were cracked and broken thanks to our amateur shucking job. In fact, when I slurped one down raw with a bit of hot sauce and a spritz of lemon, I crunched down on a piece of shell. There is a reason why every “How to Shuck Clams” video says you should not use anything but a clam knife.

The clams smelled exactly as fresh clams should, like the salty waters of the Atlantic. Raw, they were slightly sweet and salty, soaking in their briny liquor. Cooked, they were tender, sweet, and almost buttery. Combined with garlic, parmesan-reggiano cheese, oregano, and copious amounts of olive oil on a pizza… oh. my. god. It was perfect.

I’ll be ordering a couple of shucking knives this week so we can do it all again as soon as possible, minus the risk of slicing off our fingers.

Every Saturday at the market, without fail, Blue Moon Fish has a line a dozen people deep at all times. And every Saturday, without fail, I think, “Next week, I’m going to come prepared and definitely buy some some fish from them.” Well, after nearly three years of thinking that, I finally followed through.

Instead of purchasing a cut of fish that I’m familiar with, I bought littleneck clams, a product I’ve never worked with. But before I tell you all about my clams, a little about Blue Moon Fish. Alex Villani started Blue Mood Fish in the late ’70s, docking his 36-foot-long boat at the Mattituck Inlet on Long Island, where he still is today. He started selling his catch at the Tribeca Greenmarket in 1988, and quickly expanded to Grand Army Plaza, where he would sell out most of his catch. He met his wife at the Grand Army Plaza market in 1990, and today, the two of them still sell at both those markets, plus Union Square on Wednesdays.

Throughout the year, Blue Moon Fish offers more than three dozen different types of fish and seafood, ranging from whole bonito and butterfish to  scallops, mussels, and oysters. In the summer months, a typical day’s catch is between 400 and 600 pounds of porgies, blackfish, bluefish, fluke, squid, and at each market, about a dozen different products are available. The fish is widely considered the freshest fish one can buy in New York City, and the Villani’s one-boat, fisherman-to-table operation really sets them apart from other local fisheries.

Instead of selling wholesale to the Fulton Fish Market, where they would just box up their fish on the dock and ship it out, the Villani’s see their customers every week and can share recipes and tips with them. Plus, their model lets them sell fish that other fishers waste, like sand shark or sea robin, because those fish aren’t the target of the larger boats. Blue Moon has the freedom to sell whatever they catch so nothing goes to waste.

For a really great article on Blue Moon’s operations, read the two page piece by Edible Brooklyn from 2006, linked on Blue Moon’s website.

Clam details and a clamlicious recipe to come!