A few weekends ago, the Hubs and I decided on a lark to walk from the Borough Park area of Brooklyn, where we were shopping for baby stuff, over to Bay Ridge to see what Middle Eastern delicacies we could find for dinner. Along the way, and quite by accident, we happened across the bustling Circus Fruits (who I was shocked to learn have a website!), located on Ft. Hamilton Parkway. Having no decent vegetable market in or neighborhood, we were drawn to it like the most seductive of siren songs.
It was truly a wonderland of not just fruit, but all sorts of vegetables, with in-season goodies prominently displayed. Baby artichokes were 99¢ a pound. They were in really good shape, though, unfortunately, the stems were cut to the quick, but hey, whaddya want for 99¢ a pound? We bought about 8 of them. They also had some gigantic–I mean larger than a large grapefruit–purple globe artichokes that were gorgeous and perfect. We picked up one those as well. They also had some lovely, slender, spring asparagus. (By the way, when you are at the store, go for the slim stalks of asparagus. The American credo that “bigger is better” does not hold in the case of asparagus–trust me, I am from the asparagus capital of the world, or maybe the country, or at least California. Oh, just trust me on asparagus, ok?. Thick stalks of asparagus are woodier and not as green and flavorful as young, thin asparagus. So I guess you should stick to that other American credo that young and thin is better.) We bought a bunch of that as well. Our total bill came to $2.70. What a deal!
Off we went to Bay Ridge, where we stopped into a store that sells nothing but Middle Eastern sweets, from baklava to pistachio nougat. We bought more than we should have and munched on a couple pieces of nougat as we moved up 5th Ave. We stopped into a simple grocery and bought some Cypriot haloumi cheese, and were intrigued by a haloumi-style cheese that was made in California of all places, and so picked up a package of that too, along with a can of fava beans and some pita for our meal that night.
By the time we got home we were starving, and so we got down to cooking right away. I started a pot of water boiling as I cleaned the tiny artichokes. Not much needed to be done, just a quick trim of the outer leaves and the brown base. Then I sliced them in half, and cleaned out (using a grapefruit spoon–one of my favorite kitchen tools!) the nascent choke that had formed in a couple of them. before dunking them in acidulated water to keep them from browning. After the water boiled, I fired up our cast iron stove-top grill, boiled the ‘chokes for a few minutes, drained them, tossed them with some olive oil, and threw them all on the grill. I also put some sliced haloumi on the grill to brown up. After the baby artichokes had browned a bit on each side, I tossed them with a mustardy vinaigrette I made while they were grilling. (A note: next time I would toss the artichokes with a dressing made without oil, as the oil from grilling added enough to serve as that component in the dressing.)
We ate the haloumi and baby artichokes (above) with the fava beans that the hubs had heated up with some olive oil and spices, some pita, and (store bought) hummus, then baklava for dessert. We started out our day with no thought to what would be for dinner that night, but ended up with a simple and delicious meal, all thanks to our serendipitous discoveries of some of the gastronomical gems that Brookyln has to offer.
Circus Fruits
5916 Ft. Hamilton Pkwy
Brooklyn, NY 11219
718-436-2100
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