Today we were at Lower Manhattan’s New Amsterdam Market selling some homemade food and showing off the cookbook. The market is a wonderful scene: artisan food makers mingling with farmers, food writers, and foragers. The market is at the very same location as the now defunct, historic Fulton Street Fish Market, and the organizers are hoping to make this gathering of gourmets a permanent fixture on the food scene.

Last night’s blizzard was a bit intimidating; it was hard to imagine standing outside the next day selling food as I watched the snow pile up, but I went to bed hopeful with two huge vats of Black Bean & Butternut Chili cooling on the counter. The next day was sunny and bright, if cold and thick with snow, and we set up shop along with our partners at the market, Basis Foods. Basis is a unique business that connects local farmers with New York City chefs, doing the legwork of coordinating deliveries and exposing chefs to locally grown products so that restaurants can use ingredients that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Basis only sells products that are 100% traceable, including items like soy milk and tofu (that are too often made with genetically modified beans), as well as standard farm fare like meat, dairy, honey, and produce. Basis will soon be opening retail stores in New York, where people can walk in and buy goods directly from farms. And Basis won’t be selling extraneous stuff like paper goods and mass market munchies: just real food. I like that.

Basis asked me to cook up something special for today’s market using some of their local products. Because we knew it would be cold as heck, chili seemed like the perfect dish. With organic black beans, locally grown onions, garlic, and butternut squash, and the guidance of my partner-in-crime Rhoda, a full-blooded Texan (and descendant of Daniel Boone!) I came up with a piping hot pot of spicy goodness that was causing long lines and gasps of ecstasy at today’s market. Here are the key spices that culminated in this taste sensation: chili powder, paprika, nutmeg, cloves, cumin, fennel, cayenne, and sugar. I confess that I cooked by intuition, not design, on this one, so I can’t give you exact measurements for the chili—nor can I even show you a photo, it’s that sensational! But you’ll probably see it turn up in the next cookbook.

Thanks to everyone who came by and bought the book, adored the chili, and helped distract us from the cold. And thanks to the market organizers for providing us with those fun bells to ring, giving us an excuse to make noise and dance around every half hour.

To learn more about the New Amsterdam Market: http://www.newamsterdammarket.org/.

To learn more about Basis Foods: http://www.basisfoods.com/.