CHELSEA — With dozens of restaurants and food shops — not to mention roughly 22,000 visitors every day — it's about time Chelsea Market had its own cookbook.
The Chelsea Market Cookbook, which will be available in stores on Oct. 1, collects 100 eclectic recipes for appetizers, main courses, desserts and drinks from chefs working in the neighborhood's indoor food hall.
The recipes were collected by Michael Phillips of Jamestown Properties, which owns the historic market at 75 Ninth Ave., and cookbook writer Rick Rodgers. It is inspired both by what's on the menu at restaurants there and by the many culinary events held at the foodie hot spot.
"I think, for all of us, this is a public experience, working in this market," Phillips said at the book's launch on Tuesday at The Tippler. "I think the book is really personal on that level."
Like the different shops and restaurants in Chelsea Market, the recipes in the book run the gamut — including a watermelon, arugula and pecan salad by the Manhattan Fruit Exchange, crab cakes by The Lobster Place, and a triple-chocolate pudding by Sarabeth's Bakery.
"I've been making it for 20 years," said Sarabeth Levine of the pudding, which is made with generous portions of butter, heavy cream, chocolate and dark rum. "It's really pretty rich."
Jamestown also invited celebrity chefs to contribute their own recipes, inspired by their experiences at the market. Those extras include a roast turkey with jalapeno sage-orange butter and red chile gravy by Bobby Flay and a shrimp and sausage cioppino stew by Giada De Laurentis.
The cookbook will be available on store shelves — and at Chelsea Market — for $29.95, with profits going toward two charities: Wellness in the Schools, which brings health food to public schools, and Charity: Water, which is devoted to bringing clean drinking water to developing nations.
"For us, the message of the recipes was important, but also using them as a vehicle to improve other peoples' lives is also important," Phillips said.
