Doughnut Heaven

I’ve been trying to get myself over to Doughnut Plant for FOREVER! The Travel Channel loves it, the Food Network loves it, food bloggers love it and now I can finally say I love it too.

Doughnut Plant is run by Mark Israel and has been located way in the east of lower Manhattan for the past 10 years (full history available here). Their menu changes seasonally and each doughnut is crafted with high quality ingredients.

After shoving through locals and tourists on Grand Street for about 15 minutes, Lily, Irina and I finally made it to this tiny shop. Irina and I split a white peach glazed yeast doughnut and a coconut cream coconut glaze square doughnut – Lily doesn’t like sweets, that silly girl.

We “ooh”-ed and “ah”-ed and “nyam, nyam, nyam”-ed as we bit into these confections. The doughnuts were fluffy, light and chewy. The coconut one tasted like the tropics exploded in my mouth – the cream inside was divine (…refrain from dirty jokes here).

The white peach was aromatic and delicious.

Joy.

Find yours at:

379 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002

Grilled Vegetable Salad With Yogurt Dressing

Hello all : )

I’m not sure how the idea for this salad was born but I’m glad that it was.

What I love most about this dish is the contrast of the warm vegetables and the cold dressing. Also, I’m fond of how quickly it comes together.

(Yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:

About 3 c mesclun greens

1 large purple onion, sliced

1/3 c balsamic vinegar

4 plum tomatoes, quartered

Olive oil

Salt/Pepper

Dressing:

3 tbsp plain yogurt

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped dill

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/3 tsp salt

1/3 tsp black pepper

Toss the onion in balsamic vinegar and ½ tsp black pepper. Marinade for 20 min.

Lightly grease a grill pan with olive oil and heat on medium heat. Place onions on half of the pan in a single layer. After three minutes, stir onions, and place tomatoes, flesh-side down, on the other half of the pan. Grill 3 minutes on each side, until tomatoes are warmed through and grill marks have appeared. Stir onions as well.

Place greens on a large serving platter. Then layer onions on top. Then tomatoes. Combine the ingredients for the dressing in a separate bowl and pour over salad. Enjoy immediately.

P.S: I hope you, my fellow food bloggers, are as excited for fall cooking as I am. Soups, stews, roasts, oh my!