Weekend Carnivore

Welcome to another one of those really long posts I make after I visit a foodie destination with my camera in tow. I am sure that most people find it strange that I enjoy taking photos of food markets and foodie hangouts when I travel. I can’t explain why I do but I think it is because I find that, for me, people make a city rather than the buildings. While I will very happily take the usual travel shots of monuments and statues, I get a lot more personal satisfaction by taking shots of the real people of a city. Plus, I also get to try out some really great food!

As I mentioned in my last Weekend Carnivore update, I am currently visiting my sister in the Philadelphia area of the United States. I grew up in this area before moving to London in 1996. Whenever I go home it is as much about getting the chance to have all the food I grew up with as it is seeing family and friends. Anybody that lives in a different country or even city than where they grew up will certainly understand.

Whatever city you visit, they are going to claim to have the best food. Well, let me just put my cards on the table and say flat out that Philadelphia and the surrounding area has the best food of any city in the United States. After all, there has to be a reason I ate so much and got this fat and I am more than willing to point the finger straight at the amazing food that the Philadelphia area has to offer.

Today, I paid a visit to one of the top foodie destinations in Philadelphia – Reading Terminal Market.

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market is an indoor food market that holds a lot of historical value for the Philadelphia area. The market first opened in 1892 after a push to move the hoards of outdoor street merchants into one – less obstructive – location. Reading Terminal Market was one of the first places to operate a commercial refrigeration facility. It was a huge refrigeration system that allowed for the safe storage a wide range of produce even in the sweltering heat of a Philadelphia summer.

Location was key to Reading Terminal Market. It is called Reading Terminal Market because it was located alongside the train depot from the, then significant, Reading Railroad. This location meant that farmers from the Pennsylvania farmland could use the train to take their fresh produce to city for sale. As history marched on, it also meant that suburban housewives, could have the merchants at Reading Terminal Market put together baskets of shopping for them. They would then put the baskets on the trains and the housewives would collect them at their nearest station.

The origins of Reading Terminal Market are still echoed in it today.There are still a number of fruit and vegetables stalls that offer those living and working in the big city the chance to enjoy fresh produce from the Pennsylvania countryside. Certainly, I am always impressed with the stacks and stacks of fruit and vegetables for sale. It ranges from exotic fruit to things as humble as the tomato. Yet, even those humble tomatoes look great, don’t you think?

Tomatoes at Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia

Just about all the fruit and vegetable stands at the market look great but one of them really stood out for me on today’s adventure was the Fair Food Farmstand. They aren’t solely a fruit and vegetable stand, as they do sell some meat too, but I really liked the whole idea behind their business.

Food miles is such a buzz topic in the UK at the moment. If these folks are anything to go by, it looks like there are plenty of people in Philadelphia that feel the same way about eating local food. They source their food from sustainable farmers in the surrounding Philadelphia area. To me, that is keeping the spirit of the original merchants alive. I especially liked that fruit that had gone a bit too soft aren’t thrown away. Instead, they are offered up at a reduce price. It might be ugly but it will still make some yummy jam!

Cranberries at Fair Food Farmstand

Leeks at Fair Food Farmstand

Another echo from the founding days which can still be seen in the modern day Reading Terminal Market is the influence of the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Pennsylvania Dutch are actually German in ancestry. In fact, many people call themselves Pennsylvania German instead. The confusion comes from the word ‘Deutsch’ which means German but eventually came to be written as ‘Dutch’. Most people outside of the United States will think of the Amish when they think of Pennsylvania Dutch. They are just one group of people that fall under the PA Dutch umbrella. My own family background is ‘Dutchie’ but not Amish.

The Amish do play a large role in the modern Reading Terminal Market. They bring products from their Lancaster County farms into the market to be sold. The things they sell range widely from freshly butchered meats to preserves and even to amazing Amish baked goods. I told you it was this food that made me fat!

Amish man selling dried food at Reading Terminal Market

Wherever you go in Reading Terminal Market, you are going to run into Amish or Mennonite people selling their food items right next to the most outlandishly modern food stalls. I have to admit, I loved seeing that clash of cultures living to peacefully together.

This Amish run stand caught my eye because of the freshly ground peanut butter they were selling. It doesn’t get much more fresh than that! Even as I am typing this my mind is drifting off to fantasies of a peanut butter sandwich made with their freshly ground variety and washed down by their fresh pressed apple cider. Apple cider in the USA is non-alcoholic but I am sure I would be left in a food coma nonetheless!

Freshly ground peanut butter at Reading Terminal Market

It isn’t all Amish and fresh vegetables though. The selection of food temptations at Reading Terminal Market is nearly endless.

Those looking for vegetarian friendly goodies with a bit of sophistication, can head to the gourmet themed stalls. Oils and cheeses from around the world are in no short supply.

Fancy oil for sale at Reading Terminal Market

Sweet tooth’s are well catered for too. There is chocolate, cakes and candy to be had throughout the market. However, for me the one chocolate stand that stands out miles apart from the rest is Chocolate By Mueller. In fact, when I am far away in London, when I close my eyes and think about Reading Terminal Market, their stall is the first to dance in my mind’s eye.

If you can cover it in chocolate then these guys have probably already done it. They combine expert chocolate and candy making skills with a (in)famous sense of humour. This comes out in the different chocolate molds they do that range from chocolate teeth to chocolate ears and lungs and even chocolate mice.

Chocolate noses

Big candy suckers for sale at Reading Terminal Market

I satisfied my own sweet cravings by taking one some of these chrystalized cream waffers. They are a light, but solid, candy that melts in your mouth. Most varieties are some sort of mint but there are cinnamon and orange varieties too. I never really see these outside of the Philadelphia area. So, I grabbed a few to munch on the train ride back to my sister’s house.

Reading Terminal Market candy

With all these foodie goodies around, it is only a matter of time before tummies start to rumble. Reading Terminal Market has that covered with rows and rows of restaurant stalls. Near enough any cuisine you can think of is represented but it would be a lie to say that the market is put together with vegetarians in mind. Most of the restaurants are based around a meat product but there are often vegetarian options on their menus too.

For example, I saw this really yummy looking vegetarian sandwich on sale at a really busy cheesesteak stand. I have to admit that part of the reason I took a photo was that it was called the ‘Euro’. I am not really sure what makes it a ‘Euro’ sandwich other than maybe some of the ingredients have an Italian slant. Either way, it really looked yummy. If I could ever find broccoli rabe in the UK, I would try my hand at making my own version.

Euro vegetarian sandwich

Speaking of cheesesteaks, my biggest discovery on today’s trip to Reading Terminal Market was a vegetarian cheesesteak. For those of you that don’t know, the cheesesteak is the signature dish of Philadelphia. It is thinly sliced beef quickly cooked with onions and topped with cheese. All of that is then served on a long roll to make a sandwich. It is so good and I am not sure you are allowed to live in Philly if you don’t like them. They are without a doubt the one food item I miss the most now that I live in the UK. The fact is though, they just are never going to be a vegetarian food.

That is what I thought anyway until today when I found the Basic 4 Vegetarian Snack Bar at Reading Terminal Market. I have been following them on Twitter for a bit now and was interested in seeing what was on their menu.

Basic 4 Vegetarian Snack Bar

I read their menu and there amongst the various veggie burgers was the vegetarian cheesesteak. Not without my reservations, I felt I wouldn’t be doing my duty as a vegetarian food blogger if I didn’t at least give it a try. I asked the counter staff a bit about their vegetarian cheesesteak. The ‘meat’ part of it is made up of seitan (something I haven’t ever actually seen in the UK but have heard about.), and the cheese is soy cheese. So, in theory this is a vegan cheesesteak.

I placed my order and watched as the woman prepared my vegetarian cheesesteak on the grill. At this stage I was still really unsure and looking around for which stall I would order from next if I turned out to hate this veggie cheesesteak.

Vegetarian Cheesesteak

What a fool I turned out to be because in the end the vegetarian cheesesteak was down right yummy. The seitan had a texture that took a little bit of getting used to but was more like actual meat than many of the other meat substitutes I have tried. The taste was spot on though. If there was one thing that could have made it taste more authentic it would have been to add a bit of grease into the mix.

I grabbed a shot of the cheesesteak before I devoured it.

Vegetarian Philly Cheesesteak

I felt so pleased with myself that I rounded off my vegetarian lunch at Reading Terminal Market with a white chocolate and raspberry brownie from The Flying Monkey Patisserie. Apparently, Rachael Ray would have approved.

Rachael Ray approved brownies

Before I finish this ultra long post, I wanted to share two things I saw around the market that might be of particular interest to my British readers.

On the one wall of the market, there is a showcase of the work of a photographer that has photographed food markets around the world. He is obviously a man out of my own heart. I smiled knowingly when I saw that one of the markets featured in the showcase was Borough Market in London.

Borough Market

Lastly, I was browsing the shelves of a gourmet grocer in the market. I looked up and saw this on one of the shelves. Now, keep in mind that this is a gourmet shop and everything there sells at a premium.

Exotic brown sauce for sale

I was a bit amused that they were carrying so many more bottles of the fruity variety than the normal. Even so, it shows that what is exotic and gourmet is all relative!

I hopped across the Atlantic again this week. My younger sister gave birth to her first child on the 14th. That was followed closely by me buying transatlantic ticket to meet my nephew and help out a bit. When I spoke to my sister on the phone shortly after she had given birth, she met my call with “you have to make me cookies”. Drugs, are a wonderful thing.

After a bit of probing, we established that it was oatmeal raisin cookies that both my sister and her husband were craving. Of all the cookies in the world they could ask for, they picked one that I had never actually made myself. I went on a hunt to try to find what I thought would be the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to celebrate the birth of my nephew.

After all that searching guess what oatmeal raisin cookie I finally ended up making? The oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the back of the Quaker Oats box! You know what though? It was a pretty outstanding cookie recipe. I guess they really do know their oats!

The best thing out them is that since they include oatmeal, you can make a fairly convincing argument that they are acceptable as a breakfast food. At least that is what I am telling myself!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Oats, uncooked
1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Makes: 4 dozen cookies

As I have said, I am not all that much of a baker. So, when Christmas baking season comes around, I am not afraid to reach for recipes that others have perfected. In fact, I think that is part of the fun of holiday baking. It is great to try out the recipes that other people love to bake. For the next few Weekend Carnivore updates, I am going to share the love and show some great Christmas baking recipes that I have learned from other people that share their recipes online.

Kahlua chocolate chunk cookie recipe

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas cookie? They don’t have to be just for the kiddies either! This Christmas cookie recipe for Kahlua chocolate chunk cookies, is one which I have been making for the past few years. I got the recipe from the lovely Kittencal over at Recipezaar. Part of what I love about her The Big Kahlua Vanilla Cookies recipe is that it is so versatile.

In the original cookie recipe, she uses white chocolate. Through the years, both through necessity and through experimentation I have tried it with all sorts of different types of chocolate but keeping the base of the cookie the same. In the end, I have settled on using a combination of milk chocolate and white chocolate. Instead of chips, I get really good chocolate bars and use a knife to make chocolate chunks.

They are a luxurious tasting Christmas cookie that has just a hint of extra richness from the Kahlua. Which means you can take something comforting and familiar and jazz it up to be something extra special for the Christmas period. A real treat just at the time of the year you want it most!

I love cooking and baking for parties because it means I get to try out new recipes and share out the calories. Otherwise, the baked goodies would just sit here willing me to allow them to jump straight on to my, already too big, belly.

Since the Christmas and New Year period is the season of parties, now is the point in the year where I do most of my baking. I save up recipes from magazines and websites all year round just for this time when I can bake and taste without feeling all that guilty about it. Though, I am fully aware that my diet will return with a vengeance in the New Year as a sort of culinary rehab.

In addition to baking and cooking the Christmas recipes of others, I also enjoy creating my own Christmas baking recipes. I am much more of a cook than a baker and I always feel a bit of shock when a baking recipe I have devised actually turns out okay. This weekend, I was met with just such a moment of shock when these mocha chocolate cupcakes turned out to be pretty darn good!

The recipe is based on the idea of a black coffee cake recipe which is in a copy of an American church cookbook from 1980 that my Nana gave to me when I turned 18. The original cake isn’t decorated at all. It is simply a cake with no topping. So, not only was I nervous about turning it into cupcakes but I also wasn’t certain a topping was going to work. Yet, it turned out to work very well indeed.

Since I was making them for a Christmas party, I used food colouring to turn the buttercream frosting festive red and green. However, you could very easily skip that stage and just use the white buttercream frosting. In fact, I think if you did that and just dusted the top lightly with cocoa powder you could call them espresso cupcakes.

For these though, I carried through the coffee theme to the top of the mocha chocolate cupcake recipe by topping each off with a chocolate covered coffee bean. That may sound a tad posh but I found a whole big bag of them on sale at lidls for £1.99. Your party guests never need to know!

Mocha chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting

Mocha chocolate cupcake recipe

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup milk (I use semi-skimmed)

For the buttercream frosting:

1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups icing sugar (same thing as powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

To decorate:

Chocolate covered coffee beans (optional)
Assortment of edible sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 35Of/180c/gas mark 4
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs, oil, coffee and milk to the dry mix and beat on a medium speed until well combined.
4. Line a cupcake pan with papers and pour the batter into each paper. Fill about half way up or it will spill out over the top of the paper while cooking. I got 15 cupcakes from this mix. So, you may have to bake in batches depending on how many holes there are in your tin.
5. Bake for between 15 and 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the chocolate cupcakes comes out ‘just moist’.
6. Take out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. They need to be completely cool before you add the frosting.
7. When the mocha chocolate cupcakes are cooled, start making your buttercream frosting by putting the butter, sugar and salt in a large bowl and beat until blended.
8. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for another 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
9. If you want to make coloured frosting, divide your buttercream frosting recipe into as many bowls as you want colours. Then add a few drops at a time to each bowl and beat on low until combined. If you want a deeper colour add more drops until you get what you require.
10. Spread an equal amount of frosting on top of each mocha chocolate cupcake.
11. Decorate each mocha chocolate cupcake with a chocolate covered coffee bean and sprinkles, if using.

Makes: about 15 cupcakes depending on the size of your tin