I Cook, She Eats

We're migrating...

2010-03-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've been working in this space for over 1.5 years now, and I've gotten used to using Blogger, despite my displeasure with a bunch of the features. After experimenting and using Wordpress as part of my professional practice, I've found their interface much more user-friendly and manipulative. Granted, I don't get the CSS customization (for free, anyway) that I get with Blogger, but I'm feeling that it's the way to go.

Hence, this will be the last time that I update this space, and everyone who follows this blog should migrate with me to my new address at icooksheeats.com - clever name, right?

Tinto - 3/13/2010

2010-03-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

Braving the monsoon that is currently striking New Jersey, Stephanie and I headed down to Philadelphia to see my good friend Meghann's show that she wrote, directed and produced, called Chlamidya dell'Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque. It was excellent, and I hope that her and Gigi can have it grow and become more widespread in audience and eventually make millions of dollars because of it.

Aaron and Meghann, my sources for all Philly knowledge, are huge Jose Garces fans, and they had mentioned that one of his restaurants was literally right down the block from the theater. Thank you OpenTable for making reservations so easy!

The concept is small plates, social eating and enjoying lots of different types of food and flavors. Since we ordered a wide variety (3-4 plates per person, to be shared) we didn't try to match wines, but rather ordered the Hombre, which was gin, grapefruit and basil. Steph picked it out, and I decided on one because I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to drink. It turned out to be a good call because the its flavor cleansed the palate between each plate.

Charcuterie mixto - jamon Serrano, saucisson sec, lomo, chorizo Pamplona: Nothing much better than dried cured meats. I found the saucisson sec to be my favorite: spicy and and garlic-y and delicious. Steph liked the lomo, cured pork loin sliced wafer thin (it was practically transparent).

Cheese mixto - Boucheron, La Peral, idiazabal: Steph has been a real champ when it comes to trying foods she has previously decided she has disliked. Cheese is one, especially the smelly and stinky ones. Tonight she gave La Peral, a blue-veined cow/sheep milk cheese a whirl, and liked it! Good, now I can start making recipes with gorgonzola dolce. I was more partial to the Boucheron, myself.

Sopa de Castano - truffled chestnut soup, duck & mushroom hash, fried quail egg, pistachio:  I can't begin to tell you about how amazing this dish was. It started with the tableside service (which I am known to be a sucker for), continued with the breaking of the yolk then ending with a spoon full of a rich and truffle-y chestnut soup, a shred of duck, a slice of mushroom and a sprinkle of pistachio...words can't even describe it. One day, I'm going to try and make this at home, using Nicholas's recipe for the chestnut soup. Best dish of the night.

Pork belly montaditos (canapes) - Berkshire pork belly, honey lacquer, shaved apples:  Crostini topped with slabs of glazed pork belly, apples and herbs. Pork belly is awesome.

Duck montatidos (canapes) - duck confit, Serrano ham, black cherry, La Peral spread:  This is another dish I'd try to recreate at home - the duck confit was pressed into a cube, then topped with a piece of serrano ham and seared to crisp. The flavors were out of this world.

Hamachi a la plantxa, avocado puree, pepper sauce & pickled onions:  Random moment of the night: we leaned over to tell the couple next to us they should order this dish, and it turns that Stephanie had the girl in high school as a student.

Oyster Bocadillo (sandwich) - fried oysters, choricero pepper tartar sauce, sweet onion escabeche:  Our love for oysters is well-known, and this tiny Basque version of a po'boy left us very satisfied. Mind you, I wasn't a fan of having to split this one with Stephanie, as I wanted the whole thing for myself.

Prawn brochetas - prawns, chorizo, grape tomato, espelette chile:  Served with the head and legs attached! A bit more fiery of a course, I'm glad this was the last one served, as to not blow out our taste buds.

Roasted rack of lamb, artichoke puree & lemon: Not only was it perfectly cooked and delicious, the menu didn't mention that it was truffled artichoke puree. Win!

Crema Catalana - caramelized Spanish custard, cinnamon shortdough, poached figs, fig sorbet:  Stephanie really liked the custard and cookie, but wasn't a fan of the figs or the sorbet. Fine with me, I finished both no problem.

Mato y Miel - goat's milk mousse, orange-olive oil caramel, orange blossom gelee, almond lace tuile:  This was amazing. I'd have been happy with a double portion of this. Side note: Meghann had mentioned that she always wanted to order sherry because she thought the people were so cool drinking sherry out of their little sherry glasses...so Steph and I ordered sherry, a not-too-sweet one as per the recommendation of our server. I really enjoyed it, Steph said she wished it was sweeter. Now we know!

Eating at Tinto really hammered home the concept that we have gotten so used to giant plates and portions with massive amounts of food that we are thrown off when a dish arrives and it has 2 crostini on it. I like the idea of cooking a small plates for friends or family, as opposed to the standard holiday meal. We did it at our last Iron Chef dinner, but it's something I'd like to work on more as time goes on. One more thing to put on the to-do list!

The challenge continues...

2010-03-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Oven-Baked Sopes with Zucchini-Corn "Filling"
Original recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Times

My self-issued challenge to use up random stuff in kitchen continued tonight. Here's what I had on hand: an almost full bag of Maseca masa harina flour, a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes, a bag of frozen sweet corn and a can of black beans. I did a little thinking and a little browsing, and I found the basis for tonight's meal on Vegetarian Times. Truth be told, all I was looking for was a recipe for oven sopes (as the last time I had tried making them was somewhat failed initially), but I had what looked like a decent recipe.

However, looking at the recipe, I took a few liberties (I mean...I was being creative...) that would improve the final product. - I used the entire can of beans and I threw in the Ro-Tel into the saute along with the beans - all smart choices on my part. I made a half-recipe of the sopes, which ended up making 9 (as opposed to the expected yield of 12) - could have been that I didn't press them as thinly as they could have been - but I was satisfied with how they came out. I also would recommend against using a drinking glass to make an indentation and form them into a tart-esque shape, like they recommended in the recipe. Just flatten them out and dump the 'filling' on top. Stephanie has declared this one a "repeat", which I suppose means that she liked it. I personally added a splash of Tabasco to each one, but that's me. Maybe next time I'd eschew the Ro-Tel and go with some minced canned chipotles, but that could be too spicy for the wife, and I wouldn't want to be stuck eating the entire dish. Actually, that may not be a bad idea...

This recipe is vegetarian, obviously, so I'd highly recommend it for a Meatless Monday or a Meatless March, like my awesome friends Meghann and Aaron are doing. Either veggie or meat, I'm curious to know: what would you put on top of your corn sopes?

The Clean-Out-My-Closet Challenge

2010-03-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

I've got a pantry filled with all kinds of crazy stuff that I've collected through the course of cooking. I've got some things that I had to buy an amount of to only use a small bit (masa harina, nonfat milk powder, dark Karo syrup, almond flour, unsweetened coconut) or a partial amount (all manners of pasta and grains: rice noodles, ditalini, udon, farfalle, somen). I've got some stuff that I bought, but never ended up using (Ro-Tel tomatoes, inarizushi no moto, whole peeled tomatoes). It's been adding up, and it's been grating on me as the weeks go on. Let's not mention my freezer, which has all manners of frozen meats and vegetables.

Enter the Clean-Out-My-Closet Challenge. Here's my goal - I'm going to make dishes for dinner that can be made using these ingredients - I want them in my belly (and out of my closet). The only stuff I'm willing to buy to make these things is produce. Have I been taking pictures? Of course not, because I feel like these dishes, while delicious, aren't exactly what I'd consider photogenic. Here's what I've been cooking up:

Five-spice pork & shrimp with udon noodles: In the midst of rearranging and such, I found a sad and lonely pork chop in the back of the freezer. I also had on hand like a third of a bag of frozen shrimp, 2 bundles of udon from the pantry, and the end of a jar of five-spice powder. I thinly sliced the pork, added some standard stir-fry ingredients, and dug in. I especially liked cooking the shrimp with the residual heat from the noodles - tasty and easy!

Broiled chicken with tomato sauce & polenta: I always have a glut of chicken breasts in my freezer - they are quick to cook, low on WW points and are always on sale at Wegmans (fact about me: if meat is on sale, I'll probably buy it). I had some Bob's Red Mill coarse ground cornmeal in the closet, a can of whole peeled tomatoes, half a can of tomato paste in the refrigerator, a leftover onion from who knows when (but still in good eating shape), a bag of baby spinach bought last Saturday along with some chicken breasts. Didn't even need to think about this one - whipped up a quick sauce, made polenta (which needed to be a little thicker) and broiled up some chicken. Had leftovers for lunch today, it was delicious.

Honey ginger chicken with rice noodles: I don't know when I picked them up, but I had a box of thin rice noodles all the way in back of my pantry. I defrosted yet another chicken breast, made a sauce using some honey, tamari and fish sauce (!), threw in peppers, onions, and some shiitakes I'd forgotten I'd bought last week. Everything got tossed together, sprinkled with lime juice, and we were ready to go in like 20 minutes. Unfortunately, this one came out a little blander than I'd like, but with the addition of some tasty and amazing sambal oelek, it ended up tasting alright. We'll see how it comes out tomorrow when we have the leftovers for lunch.

I'm pleased with how this is going - it's forcing me to be a bit more creative and less constrained to recipes, which was one of my cooking resolutions for the year. I'm not always 100% successful (like tonight) but it's refreshing to stretch that part of my cooking skill.

Iron Chef Philly

2010-02-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

We've got these friends; let's call them Meghann and Aaron. Let me tell you about them: they are two of the busiest people I know. Meghann is a founding member of the Flashpoint Theatre Company, and is currently preparing to run the show she wrote, Chlamidya Dell'Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque. Aaron, an award-winning theater guy, is a professor at University of the Arts and is currently working on a play called Blue Monster, which he and his friend Fabrizio translated from the mid-18th century Italian manuscript. They are always running and always working. They do, however, know how to slow down enough to enjoy delicious food and good wine, and some of my favorite times have involved the four of us sitting around with a bottle of wine, some tasty foods and going on about god-knows-what (usually food, theatre and sports). This past weekend was no exception.

Since we had hosted Iron Chef Freehold last year, Meghann and Aaron wanted us to come down to Philly to see their place (fulfilling one of Steph's 101) and to host our feast. We both learned our lessons from last year: slower pace with the wine, prior planning, lighter food, less courses and smaller portions, in order to avoid a mid-meal crash like we had last year. Needless to say, not only did we finish all of our food, but we also drank all our wine and stayed awake (mostly) during the entire meal. Props to us! Our culinary adventure begins...

Appetizer: Scallops Two Ways with Lemon & Caviar

This recipe is courtesy of the Michael Mina cookbook, from which I've made a few recipes successfully. I made a variation of this recipe once before and it came out amazing, so I figured that this would be a great starter for our meal. The cold portion is a scallop ceviche, which is a fish preparation which involves marinating the fish in an acid (in this case lemon juice). The fish is still raw - the reaction between it and the acid causes the fish to appear opaque and 'cooked'. The ceviche is topped with caviar and a small drizzle of olive oil. The hot preparation is seared scallops over a potato cake with caviar and beurre blanc sauce. The shallot tried to avoid its fate of simmering in cream and butter by trying to escape behind the refrigerator, but Aaron and I were able to recover it with relatively little bloodshed. Preparation for this one was easy, easy enough to make on a weeknight if I wanted. I'll also admit that I've never actually bought my own caviar before, and my hands were a little shaky when I was trying to plate it as I had such a tiny amount to work with.

How did it come out? Holy cow, it was amazing, with similar flavor profiles with two different temperatures and textures. The ceviche marinated the perfect amount of time, and the flavor was out of this world. The hot scallops could have been seared for like 10 seconds more, but I'm not complaining - they had a nice crust on them. I'd like to point out how happy I was that my sauce didn't break - emulsified sauces can sense fear, and I was trying my best to be confident with it. Did I mention the mountain of caviar on each scallop? I got the highest compliments from my friends and wife: it tasted like it came out of a restaurant kitchen. I'd like to take some credit, but I guess it really goes to the Mina group - they sure know how to write a cookbook.

Soup: White Bean Soup with Bacon and Herbs
Picture to be added when I get one.
Like I mentioned earlier, Meghann and Aaron live in Philadelphia, which means that they revere Jose Garces like many Philadelphia foodies are want to do. They've eaten at every one of his restaurants, and are tremendous fans. They told us a tale of one night, they went to one of his places, and ordered the suckling pig (omg) and they wheeled out the entire pig into the dining room (OMG) and carved it tableside (). Why haven't I eaten there yet? Anyway, according to them, there was this white bean spread that was served as a side, and when Meghann was trying to find the recipe for it online, they found the recipe for this soup. This recipe was another one that was simple in method, which Meghann did easily and quickly prepped and put up to simmer.

How did it come out? Ridiculous. Anything that involves rendering bacon fat, then cooking vegetables in said bacon fat is something that I want a piece of. Light, smoky with awesome crispiness from the bacon and great texture from the beans and the vegetables. It was everything I love in a soup, and will definitely be making that recipe sometime soon.

Salad: Bibb Lettuce, Haricot Vert, Honey-Citrus Vinaigrette
Picture to be added when I get one.
Aaron told us he was trying to emulate a salad they had eaten at another of Garces's restaurants. Tender lettuce, crunchy 'haricot vert' and a tangy and sweet dressing. I believe he said this was the 3rd time he was trying to get the recipe down, playing with different types of vinegar (white vinegar this time).

How did it come out? Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of green beans (though I tried them!), but Steph said they were cooked perfectly. There was a sweetness and nice acidity to the dressing, without being overly tart. Also, the perfect amount to dress the salad - not much more I can't stand at restaurants when they drown the salad in dressing.

Meat: Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank with Israeli Couscous and Tomato-Herb Sauce

Both Steph and I are big fans of lamb, and I've been cooking it more and more of late, as it's a dense, filling and lean protein. Our lamb consumption has been primarily of either rack of lamb or ground lamb loin, so I was definitely intrigued when Aaron said he was preparing lamb shoulder. It should be mentioned that when Meghann went to buy the lamb, they wheeled out an entire lamb and asked her which part she wanted - she went with shanks because it was a smaller portion than the entire shoulder, which they were more than happy to lop off for her. These were seared then put in the slow cooker with carrots, celery, tomatoes and herbs, and left to simmer away in their moist heat. Aaron then toasted the hell out of the couscous and added already-simmering stock to it (a new technique to me, I usually bring the couscous and broth up to a simmer together.) Plating was a cinch.

How did it come out? Let me put it like this - I need to start sourcing lamb shanks ASAP (fortunately, I think Wegmans carries them). It never ceases to amaze me how low-and-slow cooking can break down a tough cut of meat into something that is so tender that it can be eaten with a spoon. The meat was flavorful and the texture was perfect, and the vegetables in the sauce were tender and soft without being mushy. It was a good amount of meat, and the couscous (in place of the pasta that the recipe called for) was a perfect compliment and allowed for all the sauce to be eaten up. This was definitely a win, and I'm going to definitely give this and some other lamb shank recipes a whirl.

Dessert: Mango Lhassi, Coconut Pain Perdu with Papaya-Lime Compote & Cream Cheese Ice Cream

Dessert was put in my court, and I definitely did not want to disappoint. I'd bought the Dessert Fourplay book a while back, and had made a dish from it, but it had been seriously gathering dust on my shelf. I figured this would be the perfect time to brush it off and make something from the "Tropical Fruits Fourplay" for the winter season. The lhassi was a combination of mango puree, yogurt, skim milk, cinnamon and rosewater, then poured over diced kiwi, mango and papaya. The pain perdu is made from challah (I eschewed making my own brioche) dunked in a custard made with coconut milk, heavy cream, eggs and sugar, with a bit of vanilla and coconut rum thrown in. The papaya-lime compote is nothing more than papayas, simple syrup, lime juice and lime zest. The ice cream was made from a base of whole milk, sugar, corn syrup, nonfat milk powder, some lemon juice and a pound of cream cheese, chilled then frozen in the ice cream machine.

How did it come out? This was another course that I was extremely proud of. The plating and presentation was not as refined as the scallops was (I couldn't get carrot juice to form a froth to top the lhassi) but I was exceedingly pleased with the flavors and textures. The lhassi was cool and creamy, and I loved the different diced fruits. The pain perdu came out much better than I expected, and was cooked perfectly, despite the dark color in the picture.

I'm going to dedicate an entire paragraph to the cream cheese ice cream. It was all I could do to not eat this stuff straight from the bowl before I froze it, not to mention after it was done chilling and then frozen in the ice cream machine. This stuff was absolutely amazing, a bit sour, and not overly sweet - when I was done licking the bowl that the base was chilled in, it looked like one of my mom's Great Danes had gotten a hold of it and cleaned it out. Stephanie definitely did her part in helping lick the spatulas and bowls. This stuff was so good that Aaron couldn't get enough, went back to the kitchen and got the rest of it for all of us to nom on. When we woke up this morning, apparently the first thing we all talked about was how good this ice cream was. I can't wait until summertime to eat it with some fresh raspberries. I'm not even upset anymore that I bought 5 lb of nonfat milk powder for .08 lb of the stuff (although I am taking suggestions if anyone knows other stuff I can make with the nonfat milk powder, other than milk of course).

Saturday night we devoured 5 courses and 4 bottles of wine, then partook in some of Harry Potter Scene-It (won by the incomparably knowlegeable Meghann), some Olympics and Costas-bashing before we finally passed out in a blissfully tipsy and satiated haze. This morning, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, french toast and leftover potato cakes before Aaron and Meghann had to run off to be busy theatre people once more. Fortunately, I was only 8 blocks from Pats, so I finished my Philadelphia weekend with some Wiz wid'. I probably used up my entire weekly allotment of WW points, but it was so worth it.

I'm just glad Stephanie and I got to spend such an amazing time with such amazing friends when they were both able to be on 'pause' at the same time.

Can you guess what this is?

2010-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

18 cups all purpose flour
6 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
17 teaspoons baking powder
6 teaspoons baking soda
2 ¾ teaspoons salt
14 ½ pounds unsalted butter
12 cups sour cream
41 teaspoons vanilla
9 egg whites
32 eggs
12 cups sugar
126 ounces bittersweet chocolate
9 cups Crisco
54 teaspoons butter flavor
3 ¾ cups heavy cream
22 pounds powdered sugar
4 tablespoons Crème of Tartar
30 pounds fondant
16 ounces piping gel
Various color gels and edible glitters

Click here to see a picture of the final product.

I will be collaborating with my mother on a blog post sometime either this week or next week. I, for one, am simply in awe of that list of ingredients...

Why I Cook

2010-02-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

Friday, Ruhlman posed a question for other food bloggers to answer: "Why do you cook?" Needless to say, I've been thinking about it for the past day or so, and I think I've got some good answers.

I cook because I enjoy the step-by-step method of following a recipe. Must be the science geek in me. Also, probably why I read cookbooks for fun.
I cook because I love having a pile of ingredients get broken down, chopped, whisked, sliced, measured, diced, trimmed, brunoise and what not for the mise en place.
I cook because with every new recipe, every new ingredient and every new technique, I'm improving myself and honing my skills that much more. I'll never be as good as the star chefs you see on Food Network or the line cooks toiling away in good restaurants, but I'm damn well going to try my hardest.
I cook to bring pleasure to my friends and family. Not much better than hearing the sounds of people trying to tell me how good a dish tastes, but not being able to because their mouths are full. Even better when my uncle keeps the leftover soup from Thanksgiving because he liked it so much, or when my mother comes to me for some of my recipes.
I cook because my friends probably wouldn't be too happy if I showed up empty-handed at parties.
I cook to relax (see item #2 above), but Steph will tell you I'm never relaxed in the kitchen - I just get frustrated when I make stupid mistakes that I shouldn't make.
I cook to eat healthier meals than I would if I ate out every night.
I cook because of the lessons learned from my mother, my grandmother and my uncle - all highly accomplished cooks in their own right who have greatly influenced how I approach meal preparation and planning. I can't ever thank them enough!

Really, in the end, I cook because I enjoy cooking, and my wife doesn't. Enough said.

So that's the question: Why do you cook?

Chocolate-Almond Buttercrunch Toffee or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Candy.

2010-02-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

According to this National Geographic article, 47% of consumers in this country will exchange candy this upcoming Valentine's Day, which totals up to a billion dollars in sales. That's a lot of candy! Instead of spending a bunch of money to buy your significant other some candy, why not impress them with some homemade goodness, made with ingredients readily available in your cabinets and refrigerators?

I'm not entirely why I was looking at David Lebovitz's blog, but I was browsing along and came across this delicious recipe for chocolate-almond buttercrunch toffee. I was hooked by the name alone! However, I was held back by the fact that I've been really good about sticking to my eating plan (and losing 20 lb since Christmas), but with the day off today, I couldn't resist the call of sweet and delicious toffee.

I found a sealed bag of slivered almonds in the back of my freezer, so they went into the frying pan to get lightly toasted, then spread half of them onto a quarter sheet that was extremely lightly oiled with about a 1/2 teaspoon of grapeseed oil. Looking back, I could have toasted the almonds a little more, but I didn't want them to burn.

Into a saucepan goes a stick of butter, sugar, brown sugar, salt and water, then it gets brought up to a nice and toasty 300 degrees. As an aside, I love my digital thermometer, but I need to get me a traditional glass candy thermometer - more reliable and easier to deal with.

After reaching temperature, in goes some vanilla and a little bit of baking soda (which causes the stuff to foam up like crazy). It gets poured out onto the sheet with the almonds, then gets topped with semisweet chocolate. The chocolate sits for about 2 minutes, at which point it gets all melted and then spread over the toffee...

...and sprinkled with the rest of the almonds, cooled and broken into pieces.

To say that it is decadent and delicious would be an understatement - this stuff is just as good (if not better) than anything you could buy in the store, and was made with ingredients that probably added up to about $4 or so. Do yourself a favor - put down the Old Monmouth and go get yourself candy-making tomorrow.

Snowtorious B.I.G.

2010-02-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

Nothing better on a snow day than to make a meal that warms you to the core with one bite. Today would be a perfect day for cassoulet, but my recipe involves massive amounts of meat, sausage, onions, tomatoes and beans, all cooked in delicious bacon fat. Too bad that's not in the cards these days.

Diced tomatoes, white wine, garlic, thyme & a bay leaf, cannellini beans, kielbasa, tomato paste, minced onions and chopped kale...

...all added to the pot at various points in time, along with a bit of chicken stock...

...then topped with torn baguette and thrown into the oven to brown, and you've got one of the better meals you could possibly have on a snow day (except for braised short ribs, of course). For dessert? Brownie sundae, for 7 points!

What did you cook today?

Crusted Bass with Sherry Broth

2010-02-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I attempted my third recipe from the Restaurant Nicholas cookbook, one of the better dishes I've had at Nicholas: Crusted Black Sea Bass with Banyuls Broth. At the restaurant, you get a perfectly cooked fillet of fish (I've had only the bar portion, so it was a very petite fillet!) resting on a sliced fingerling potato, some halved grape tomatoes and a chopped up haricot vert or two. Then, one of my favorite aspects of dining at Nicholas occurs - tableside service! The waiter brings over a sauce boat filled with the most delicious mushroom-Banyul vinegar flavored broth, and pours it around the fish, at which point you get to dig in and enjoy the deliciousness. Sadly, I don't think this measured up to my previous attempt from this book.

First obstacle - finding Banyuls vinegar. Know your food (with some help from here): Banyuls wine vinegar is made from grapes grown in the French region of Banyuls-sur-Mer. Aged in oak barrels, it matures for over 5 years developing a somewhat tart or sour tasting vinegar that develops a complex nutty flavor. It's been ridiculously hard to source locally - I tried Wegmans and Whole Foods (Chef Nicholas's personal suggestion), as well as Delicious Orchards and Sickles Market - all to no avail. Now, you are saying to yourself 'Alex, order it online!' but it was a bit of a stretch when all I needed was 2 tbsp of the stuff. I ended up substituting some tasty sherry vinegar I had in my cupboard.

Second obstacle - finding black sea bass: I had planned on heading to Woolley's after work to pick up fish, but I ended up getting roped into a 'curriculum meeting' with some fellow teachers. Somewhere along the way, I got it in my head that I could get skin-on bass at Norkus, so I went there first.. Nope! I then remembered one of my coworkers told me Top Tomato had an excellent fish selection. Nope! Finally, I ended up going where I had originally intended - Woolley's Fish Market. The only whole bass they had was striped bass, so I bought one, and had the fine workers there fillet it for me - I'm not quite confident of my skills in handling a whole fish just yet.

Third obstacle - crazy shoppers preparing for the Snowpocalypse: It's not a surprise that this snowstorm just popped up, people. Did you think of maybe going to the supermarket yesterday? Also, let me point out the absurdity of buying tons of milk, eggs and bread - you should be buying things like carrots, potatoes and cheap roasts, or beans and tomatoes and chili spices! That's sustenance on a cold day (unless you are planning on making tons of French toast or bread pudding, and in that case I forgive you for buying all that stuff).

First step was to get my broth up and going. Into the pot went mushrooms sauteed in butter, honey, soy sauce, sherry vinegar, lemon juice and some water, brought to a simmer for a decent amount of time.

While that was simmering on a back burner, I prepared the crust for the bass, which consisted of hazelnuts, almonds, coriander seeds, peppercorns and sesame seeds (not pictured) all toasted and then ground in the spice grinder. At this point, the smell of the toasting nuts and spices combined with the odors from the simmering broth were highly intoxicating.

Making 1/2 a recipe of the spice mix made TONS of crust for the fish. I mean, like enough for a double recipe. This is also my screw-up of the evening, where I didn't halve the amount of peppercorns. I couldn't figure out why there was such an overwhelming pepper flavor in the finished dish, then I went and rechecked the recipe, only to realize my blunder, aka Screw-Up #1.

At this point I got a water bath boiling and cooked up my fingerling potatoes, as well as blanched some small green beans and a few grape tomatoes.

I then crusted the fish on the flesh side with the spice mix, and dusted the skin side with Wondra flour. They went into the saute pan with some grapeseed oil. Screw-up #2 occurred at this point, turning off the wrong burner - I couldn't figure out why my fish skin wasn't crispy after 3 minutes - could it be that I had the burner off?!? Idiot me. Anyway, got the heat back, cooked the fish and plated, resting the fillets above my garnish. At that point, I finished my sauce by heating the strained broth with some brown butter (Screw-up #3 - burned 1 batch of brown butter, undercooked another, didn't have enough time to solidify, so my broth broke) and added some chopped oregano and tarragon. Then, tableside service!

The finished dish - I was very doubtful as to the successful outcome of the dish, so I was not as careful to try to get a picture that matched the book. I was also extremely hungry at this point, and I didn't have much of patience to wait to compose a picture!

Stephanie thought the dish was a success, but I am a bit harder on myself (per usual). The dish had way too much pepper in it (see Screw-Up #1) and I wasn't a fan of the way the skin finished up (see Screw-Up #2). I also tend to think that there was too much tarragon in the broth, the flavor was a bit too assertive. Would I try it again? Sure, now that I know where mistakes were made and how I could improve upon the technique. I may very well blow $30 for that bottle of Banyuls vinegar, too :)

Pickles, addendum.

2010-02-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

I could go into some long-winded description about the pickles I made last weekend, but here it is in one word.

Amazing.

Seriously, folks, it is well worth the time and little bit of effort necessary to make your own homemade pickles, finding whatever recipe suits your fancy. In our household, it appears that Stephanie is a big fan of the slightly sweet dill variety, but I'm hoping to experiment with some other recipes that are a little bit more spicy to pair up with the sweetness. I'll probably experiment with some crushed red peppers, or maybe throw some hot long green peppers in with the pickles to marinate.

Things I'd change from the recipe: Chuck the slices, spears are the only way to go. Other than that, I'd also put the dill at the bottom, then stick the onion slices between the spears. Not so much a change in the recipe, but rather the construction.

We're already through 1 jar, and we're working on #2. Something tells me that by this weekend, I'll be making another batch...perhaps to bring along to a Super Bowl shindig?

Oysters a la Nicholas

2010-01-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

Know your food: Oysters are bivalve mollusks, of the family Ostreidae. True oysters (the edible ones) are not pearl-producing, so forget finding a present for your girlfriend at your local raw bar. Like all bivalves, they are filter feeders, which means that they draw water into them, pass the water through a gill or other structure and pull out food and nutrients while expelling the water, which prevents excess algae growth. They're also delicious!

Stephanie and I love oysters. We are partial to the classic accompaniments - a squeeze of lemon for Steph, some mignonette for me. Our favorite place to get oysters is at Dock's Oyster House in Atlantic City, but we are definitely not averse to ordering them at other finer restaurants. Naturally, we've ordered them at Restaurant Nicholas, and we've been amazed at the balance of flavor and texture, generated by what appeared to be a surprisingly small amount of garnish. I was pleasantly surprised as to the secret of their amazing flavor - they are 'marinated' in a pickling brine! I love pickling food!

I get my oysters from Woolley's Fish Market on Route 9 in Freehold - as good of a fishmonger (that's for you, Steve) as you'll find anywhere. The guys there were nice enough to shuck them for me - I'm not proficient with an oyster knife and I didn't want to end up with one sticking out of my palm, unlike the cocky bastard in front of me who bought 10 dozen top neck clams & 2 clam knifes and said that he'd 'figure it out. I rinsed the oysters of dirt and muscle and shell and kept them swimming in their 'liquor', while I cleaned the shells for presentation by giving them a bath in some boiling water and scrubbing the hell out of them to have a smooth and clean inner shell.

The spices in the marinating mixture were star anise, black peppercorns (in place of the Szechuan peppercorns I couldn't seem to find) and whole cloves. Those went into the pot with some rice vinegar, sugar fennel and carrot trim to simmer. The trim came from my semi-awesome brunoise, of which I have another lame stylish-type picture (I'm taking these pictures in Digital Macro mode, and they seem to be alright. It'd be better if I knew what all the numbers and acronyms on my camera meant). The pickling mixture was then strained, combined with the brunoise, poured over the oysters and stuck in the fridge. After they cool, I spooned them back into the shells, topped them with some minced chive and red onion and a dollop of creme fraiche, and prepared to chow down.

Like my blog buddy Rob likes to do, a picture to try and match the book:

I've got to give tons of credit to Chef Nicholas and Peter Zuorick, as this recipe came out exactly the way the dish tastes when made at the restaurant. Everything was in perfect balance, and the flavors were out of this world. Here's Steph and I, toasting the bittersweet end of football season with the hope of even more success for our J-E-T-S next year. You can tell we really love our oysters since we devoured 2 dozen them even though we were stuffed from all the food we ate during the game.

This is definitely a recipe that will be made again (and again and again) in the future!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2010-01-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

Chicken Florentine 7 points.

recipe courtesy of Light and Healthy 2010

When you look at a traditional recipe for chicken florentine, you can't help but get overwhelmed by the richness of the ingredients - tons of butter, heavy cream, Parmesan - some of the tastiest things on the planet. Bring that together with spinach, and I'm a happy man - my mother makes creamed spinach specifically for me on Thanksgiving, because she knows I love it so much.

However, with the new eating plan (I hate the word 'diet'), dishes like that aren't in the cards. Lo and behold, there was a recipe for it in my new Test Kitchen cookbook, and I had to give it a whirl. 2 teaspoons of grapeseed oil, 1 tablespoon of heavy cream, 1 tablespoon of Parmesan - not a ton of heavy ingredients, but this dish had tremendous flavor and a deceptive richness - we didn't think we were eating a 'light and healthy' meal. How much did we like it?

Pickle This!

2010-01-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

After I have make a resolution to be more consistent with my blogging, what do I do? I don't post anything for 20 days. Of course, I could always say that I don't have anything to blog about, as I feel that not doing much of anything awesome and blog-worthy, but then I also resolved that I wanted to post more about my (and Steph's) everyday meals. Damn you, resolutions! At least I can go back and edit posts...

When I first met Stephanie, she didn't like pickles, which was yet another reason why she was the woman for me. You see, growing up, a new pickle jar would last approximately 2.3 days, between Mom, Dad and Rory. We used to buy the giant tubs of dills from Restaurant Depot to keep up with the demand. So when Stephanie told me that she didn't like pickles...I knew I'd never have to worry about going to the refrigerator and finding the pickle jar empty.

Recently, Steph decided that she wanted to try pickles again (realizing that they were a tasty snack that wereworth 0 points) and so she helped herself to some of my Vlasic Zesty Dills. Lo and behold, Stephanie loves pickles...which means I come home sometimes and find the pickle jar empty! Alas, marital bliss. To that end, I decided that a better way (and more fun) way of tackling our now-doubled household pickle habit was to see about making my own refrigerator pickles. I went with a recipe from Epicurious as a jumping-off point for what will probably be a bunch of trials to find a satisfactory refrigerator pickle recipe.

There are the main ingredients, a sweet onion, gherkin pickles and a giant bunch of dill. Note the artistic setup of that photo: my lame attempt at good photography. The onion was thinly sliced, and the gherkins were uniformly cut to 1/4" by my trusty mandoline. (Side note: My backwards cap is a Jets cap. It is entirely apropos that I am making green food. In Rex we trust! J-E-T-S!) From that picture, you can get a good idea of just how little counter space I have. Not the easiest to work with, but I make do.

Those are yellow mustard seeds and white peppercorns, which have a completely different flavor profile than regular peppercorns - do not ever substitute one for the other! I started crushing them with my trusty mortar and pestle, but after a number of mustard seeds tried a daring escape from their eventual doom, I decided to go with the modern convenience of a spice grinder (the purchase of which was inspired from here). The spices got boiled up with some cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt, dill seed then ladled it into my jars - the smells in my kitchen were absolutely out of this world. The end result? Two jars of homemade dill pickle goodness. How do they taste? I'll let you know tomorrow.

Since I was in the swing of things, I also whipped up a batch of pickled peppers. I don't know where I got the recipe from, but they are a snap to make and, best of all, no points!

Mini-sweet peppers + shallots + champagne vinegar + garlic + thyme + sugar + red pepper = the best thing you could possibly put on a sandwich.

Two weeknight meals

2010-01-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

Broiled Snapper with Citrus-Soy Sweet Potatoes & Sesame Spinach

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home

Another year, another Martha Stewart cookbook (thanks Mom!). As I think most know, I'm a big fan of Martha's - she's not as groundbreaking as Julia, but she's done just as good of a job (if not more so) trying to raise the culinary skills of the uninitiated. I like the way this book is put together - seasonal menus!

This meal was an easy one, admittedly, with little active prep. The "hardest" part was probably the timing - making sure that the spinach and the snapper were finished at the same time. For those of you keeping track at home, this meal was 8 points. The best part of this dish was the radishes - normally I am not a fan, but the flavor and texture worked rather well.

Beef Rolls with Spring Salad

Recipe courtesy of Everyday Food

A piece of thinly sliced top round, rolled around a slice of pepper jack cheese, and sauteed onions and peppers - what's not to like here? Combined with a salad (half spring mix, half baby spinach) with some olive oil and sherry vinegar, and Steph and I enjoyed a light dinner for 6 points.

I'm planning on trying to write more about my everyday eating, to outline mine and Steph's goals of eating a bit healthier. Plus, it'll let me take more pictures and try to use my current camera a bit more effectively.

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

2009-12-31T19:09:00.000-08:00

2009 was a good year, for a variety of professional reasons: finishing my Masters degree, passing my licensing exam to be a school principal, starting a successful and popular Forensics Science elective at school, teaching physics, being able to go to work with some of my best friends.

2009 was a good year for a variety of personal reasons: I watched as two good friends got married to awesome ladies. I saw my best friend start a relationship with an amazing girl (and a kickass baker!). I heard amazing news from friends that they are expecting a baby in the new year. I saw my parents, sister and the rest of my family go through another year in health and happiness, along with the addition of 2 new Great Dane puppies to the family.

2009 was a good year for my cooking and blogging: All you need to do is go and read my previous posts. My skills have improved, and I've gotten a bunch of new toys to play with in the kitchen. I've been trying to be consistent in updating my blog. I've been taking more and more pictures of my food, both during the process and the finished result. I'm thankful for all the people from all over the world who have stopped by to read what I've got to say.

All in all, a good year.

While reminiscing is fun, let's look forward. Here's some things I'm hoping to do in the new year, food-wise:

Eat more vegetables: It's always a goal of mine, and I'm doubly-committed to it with Steph's and my new eating plan for the new year. Look for me to be cooking and eating with a wider variety of veggies, even some more esoteric ones. At the top of my list: salsify (OK, it's a root, but it's a vegetable!)
Try to cook more 'on instinct': I like to follow recipes. It's probably because I was a chemistry major, and I am a science teacher, and so I like following procedures. I've read enough cookbooks to know about technique, timing, and flavors that I have the knowledge that I can whip together a meal just by looking at what I've got in the fridge/freezer/closet...I just don't do it as often as I should.
Make more stock: I've done it, I know how to do it...I just want to do it more. I'm going to try the oven method, as I've done the measurements and my giant stockpot fits in my oven.
Ingredients I've never cooked with, but want to: truffles, skate wing, pork belly, duck, bonito flakes, whole fish, liquid nitrogen, salsify, foie gras, rabbit loin, Cornish hens, smoked salt
Eat at the Chef's Table at Nicholas: not so hard to reach this goal, as Steph and I have already decided that we're going doing this for our anniversary.
"Molecular gastronomy": Love it or hate it, it's definitely changed the culinary landscape over the course of the decade. It's not something I'll do often, but I bought the Alinea cookbook because I wanted those recipes, so look for me to do a thing or two from there. I'm also dying to eat at wd-50...maybe for my 30th birthday?
Eat more 'locally': I've got tons of farmers' markets around me, and I'm a lazy ass for not taking advantage of them. I also need to take the time to go up to Red Bank on Sundays when the weather is warmer for their Sunday market at the Galleria.

Here's a some things I'd like to accomplish, blogwise, in the new year:

Write more about everyday eating: my friend Heather's blog is an amazing chronicle of all the healthy things that she eats on a daily basis. Since Steph and I are being really on top of our intake, I want to chronicle that more.
More pictures: I've gotten better at playing with the settings on my camera, and have gotten more adept at editing my pictures. However, I'm hoping the coming year will bring me a fancy new camera.
Play around more with Blogger: There's like tons of things that I can do with this software, I just need to take the time to figure it out.

That's about it for now. Here's two questions for you: What other things do you want to see me try (and blog about) in the kitchen in the coming year? What culinary goals and plans do you have for the coming year?

To everyone reading, a happy and a healthy New Year to you and yours! Eat well in the coming year!

Beef Wellington, for Two

2009-12-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

Beef Wellington with Madeira Sauce

Recipe courtesy of Cooking for Two by America's Test Kitchen

It being the holiday season, Stephanie and I have been indulging quite a bit. We've both made a commitment to get back on track with eating healthier (so expect to see some more Meatless Mondays and maybe even a Meatless Thursday now and again). However, I wanted to have one more decadent and rich meal before I started counting my points and watching my intake...hence, beef wellington.

Traditionally, beef wellington is a tenderloin roast, smeared with foie gras pate and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry and baked. However, there are a few things that can hold a chef back when trying to cook this recipe at home for 2 people, most primary being the cost. A whole beef tenderloin? Too much meat for too much money. Foie gras pate? Wegmans had D'Artagnan Mousse of Duck Foie Gras for $27 per 8 oz tub (quite the markup, don't you think?). The other issue is the actual cooking of the dish: to get the steak perfectly cooked while having the puff pastry baked to completion at the same time is something that chefs go to college for. Not exactly something I was willing to undertake lightly.

The solution, as elegantly presented by the Test Kitchen, is to cook the beef and the pastry separately, then combine them together in the end. Not the most elegant solution, but it still provides all the flavors, if not the perfectly gift-wrapped package.

There's the tenderloin filets, trimmed, tied, and browning. From there, they were destined to go to the oven for a nice 10 minute roast. While the beef was in the oven, I assmebled my sauce ingredients. Mushrooms, shallots, Madeira wine, parsley, thyme, Dijon mustard and lemon juice. All that went into the saute pan after the beef went in the oven.

Those puff pastry squares were made by cutting a sheet of puff pastry into quarters. The more interesting picture is my liver-smeared beef tenderloins. Not spending a boatload on duck foie gras mousse, I called my emergency hotline for all things food - my mother (of course). She recommended that since I couldn't get duck liver or chicken liver mousse, that I just buy a liverwurst and go with that (I chose Schaller and Weber calves' liver pate, since I felt that the flavor should be more complementary to beef than a pork liver pate). The pate melted on the meat while the steaks rested. The pastry squares were split, the meat was plated and the mushroom-Madeira sauce was poured all over. The result?

Snow Weekend

2009-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

If the weather forecast calls for snow, it's a good bet that I'll be busy cooking some tasty goodness. Here's what was on the menu this weekend:

Pancakes at my mother's house. First time I'd made these for her, and she rather enjoyed them, even though she only ate like two of them. She cooked up a bunch of breakfast sausage, and I made eggs as well. I'm supremely jealous of her two-burner nonstick griddle, as it was pretty easy and fun to cook on, especially our eggs (over easy, of course).
A giant pot of chili. My chili is a Cincinnati-style, with chopped sirloin (as opposed to the more traditional ground), onions, garlic, a boatload of spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne, along with some weirder ones like cinnamon and cocoa powder), crushed tomatoes and kidney beans. Topped with a ton of shredded cheddar (and a giant dollop of sour cream for Steph), I'm rather proud of my chili recipe.

A bottle's worth of mulled wine. An easy recipe - a bottle of light red (I spend $7, my Uncle David said I spent too much), 1/4 cup sugar, the zest of 1 orange (in long strips), 6 cinnamon sticks, 12 cloves, 3 allspice berries, 1/2 a cracked nutmeg and a sprinkle of ground ginger. Dump it into a saucepan, heat it over low until warm. Don't let it boil, then run it through a fine strainer into glasses. Delicious on a cold day.
Chocolate chip meringues. Having a KitchenAid makes making meringues the easiest thing in the world. These were easy to make and tasted great. Steph couldn't tell you as well as I could, because I think I ate all but like 3 of these. Not quite your quintessential 'cold weather cookie' but they really hit the spot.
Steph woke up this morning and says "Man, I wish I had asked you to pick up cinnamon buns". Steph, you see, is a fiend when it comes to Pillsbury cinnamon buns - she loves them more than most things I make. However, I didn't pick them up, so I figured I'd look up how to make them. Fortunately, I found this recipe for easy, non-yeast cinnamon buns. They came out more like biscuits than real cinnamon buns, but they were close enough, especially with the icing on top. When I make them again (which will most likely be tomorrow morning...thank you, snow day!), I'll work on making them stick together. I admit - these tasted delicious, but look ugly as hell.

Tomorrow, the plan is to make more cinnamon buns, some ginger cookies, and a deep-dish pizza.

Here's the question: what are YOU cooking on a snowy day when you're stuck in the house?

Hannukah Gifts aka Why My Cousin Caleb is Awesome

2009-12-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

My family doesn't need to work too hard when it comes to me and the holidays - pretty much, anything for the kitchen is a sure way to go. Whether it's a new piece of cookware, some fun kitchen gadget, or a cookbook, it's easy to go shopping for me, even though I'm not the biggest fan of getting gifts. Needless to say, this year has been no exception.

First, a Le Creuset risotto pot from my awesome Aunt Tami. Even though I christened it tonight to make potato latkes a la Nicholas (with quince puree and bacon) as opposed to risotto, I cannot get enough Le Creuset - their stuff is awesome. Technically, this is a gift for both Steph and I, but I get to 'use' it more, while Steph reaps the rewards indirectly ;)

Next, a super-geeky gift from my Uncle David and Aunt Lisa - a Cylon toaster and a set of BSG mugs. I don't know how they could have thought that this would be a hit-or-miss, but this was a WIN. Check out the link for the toaster - how amazingly nerdy is it that I can now have toast that says "Frak Off"?!? I can't wait to make enough toast to destroy all the human toast on the Battlestar Galactica.

Of course, some great gifts from my parents and in-laws. Steph and I have been dying for new plates, and we've been fans of the square plates that we've had out at restaurants, so that's what we decided to go with. We also needed some service pieces, so we picked up a few of those as well. Finally, like some other people I know, I needed a new blender, so I picked out a doozy of one - probably one of the best you can buy before shelling out $400+ for a Vita-Mix.

However, despite all of these gifts, of which I am extremely grateful, my cousin Caleb gave me the best gift this year. My Aunt Tami had told him about my blog and about my skills in the kitchen, so he decided to make me a handmade recipe box. Check this awesomeness out.

Seriously, without a doubt, the best gift I got this year. Plus, a ridiculous recipe for a panettone French toast that I am going to make for Stephanie on Christmas morning. Major props to my cousin Caleb for this one - thank you so much!

Butternut Squash Soup - Pictures

2009-12-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

I finally got my hands back on our camera, so here are some pics from making the butternut squash soup from the Restaurant Nicholas cookbook.

Here's a before/after of the giant butternut squash that I used. The smell that my house had while these were in the oven was absolutely heavenly.

In order, here's a celery root (one of my new favorite ingredients), my aromatic mise en place (carrots, celery root, shallot and onion), my sachet of spices (cracked nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves) and the roasted and mashed squash from the oven.

Finally, one of the finished product - 2 gallons of soup! This was quite the hit, and when I brought up what a hit it was to Chef Nicholas last Friday, he was pleased! Woot!

Sick Chef

2009-12-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

I imagine that in a real restaurant, on the rare occurrence that a chef calls out sick, the other chefs pick up the slack and still turn out great food.

Not in our house.

Since Sunday, Alex has been taken down by the flu. Don't know if it's H1N1, but if it is, I love the irony of my pork-loving husband getting the swine flu.

Anyway. . . what happens when the food-provider in the family is out of commission? TAKE OUT!

Sunday: Ibby's Falafel. Great Middle Eastern restaurant right around the corner from us. I finally gave in and tried Middle Eastern food. . . and LOVED IT. Tried their lamb shawarma. It's my second time trying shawarma and it's not just for me. But I wanted to try Ibby's to see if theirs was different. Their falafel is to die for. And so is their hummus and ghanoush.

Monday: Pizza. It's what Alex wanted - I swear!

Tuesday: Chicken noodle soup from Wegman's for Alex, sushi from Wegmans for me. Of course this means that I had to go to Wegmans. Don't get me wrong - it's a fantastic grocery store. But I HATE food shopping. I NEVER go. And I had to pick up some supplies because Alex was so sick, he hadn't been shopping. Of course, I forgot the granola bars, apples, and Gatorade - all of which were on the list in my hands. I'm just not good at this kind of thing.

Wednesday: Tandoori chicken with Major Grey's chutney and an apple-side-thingy. Yes, I kinda cooked. In his infinite charity, Alex cleaned and cut up the chicken while I prepared the tandoori coating. And then it happened. As I was grating the Granny Smith apples on the grater, the food gods demanded a sacrifice. The top half of my left index knuckle. According to Alex, his grandmother swore that food always tasted better with a bit of flesh and blood in it (especially her potato latkes).

So that's it. I cooked (kinda), and he ate. There's a first (and last) time for everything.

From Average to Awesome.

2009-12-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

Check out the new banner at the top of the page! If you're thinking "Wow, Alex, I didn't think you had that level of artistic skill", you would be 100% correct - I'm good at drawing physics diagrams and molecular structures in MS Office products, but not anywhere near that level of sophistication.

So where did this amazing new banner come from? Major thanks to my blog buddy Rob, who knows a guy. Who doesn't want to be pals with someone who knows a guy?

Now all I need to do is figure out how to do threaded comments and I'll be a happy camper.

Sous Steph: Things I Hear Alex Say When He's Cooking

2009-11-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow foodies! Sous Steph here. Alex has finally decided it's safe to let me blog once and awhile. As the title clearly states: he cooks, I eat. That isn't changing anytime soon. Usually, my activities in the kitchen are simple: stir this, hold that, take this out of the oven, get that out of the kitchen/closet, try this, or just sit-there-and-keep-me-company-while-you're-surfing-the-web. I do it all quite well.

For my first post, I thought it would be interesting to give you an idea of what I hear when Alex is cooking. I am usually an observer, which puts me in the same boat as most of you readers. Without much further ado, Things I Hear Alex Say When He's Cooking:

"This is coming out awful. We're going to have to order pizza." (We had to do this ONCE, but he says this almost weekly.)
"I'm breaking one of Bonnie's Rules."
"Can you read the recipe for me?"
"Expletive!!!"
"It's ruined!" (Again, said often, but never true.)
"I'm a genius."
"I cook this much better than my mother."
"Open the window/door. It's too $%*&)$*$#@ hot in here."
"I don't need any more cookbooks. Look at how many I have. I haven't even cooked out of some of these." (One week later, new cookbook gets added to the collection.)
"We need a bigger kitchen."
"I want to buy a ________ (insert kitchen gadget/appliance here)."
"Quick, take a picture! Where's the camera?"

Edit: more sayings I've thought of:

"Can you get me _____?" (Always when I'm in my comfy chair in the other room.)
"Next time, I'm going to . . . ."
"Isn't this fun?" (I respond with a bored look.)
"Rachel Ray/Bobby Flay is evil."
"Don't you remember, last time this was more/less _____?" (Me: blank stare.)

Butternut Squash Soup

2009-11-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

My uncle had called me up a few weeks ago to let me know he was planning on Thanksgiving dinner at his house, which was nice to hear from him rather than through my mother. When I asked what I could bring, I was expecting the normal response of "just pick up a few bottles of wine", which I was totally fine with since I was going to ask what he was cooking in order to attempt some pairings. Shockingly enough, he replied "well, what do you want to make?" Never have I brought anything to dinner at my uncle's, so I was rather flattered that he would ask. I offered to make soup, he said that would be perfect, and that was that.

I had read the butternut squash soup recipe from the Restaurant Nicholas cookbook, and figured that would be a great recipe to bring to Thanksgiving dinner, as well as an easy first recipe as I attempt to cook my way through this cookbook. I took my time taking shots of my mise and cooking and what not, and of course I left my camera in East Brunswick. Apologies in advance for the lack of prep photos, but if you want to see some amazing pictures (and another account of the recipe), check out Rob's post at Cooking Through Nicholas. No, really, go check it out...I'll wait...

OK, so you're back. I can't even begin to tell you how easy this recipe is. Roast some butternut squash, with butter. Saute your aromatic base of onion, carrot & celery root (my new favorite ingredient). Make a sachet with cinnamon, cloves and whole nutmeg (my new favorite spice). Deglaze the pot with cranberry juice (!). Add broth (I cheated this time and used Swanson Certified Organic, a Test Kitchen favorite) and squash and simmer. Blend (I went with the stick blender, but if you've got a high-powered machine, use a blender). That's IT. Easy.

Here's me making the garnish in my uncle's (the funny-looking one on the right). The garnish is diced butternut squash sauteed in butter, bacon (!) and dried cranberries.

To plate, Steph added a few drops of lemon oil (which are all that is needed - the recipe called for 1/4 tsp, which was way too overpowering), a Microplane of cinnamon, a mound of garnish in the middle, then a large ladle of soup. I had my mom pick me up some microarugula at Delicious Orchards, but they looked like (and in fact, were) the last that they had. We tried it for one plate, then quickly abandoned. Here's the finished product:

How did it come out? The original texture was a bit too thin for some, but (thanks to a suggestion to my blog buddy Rob), we let it simmer for a bit when we reheated it on Saturday night and the texture was much better. As for the flavor, not surprisingly, was amazing - it tasted like autumn, with the earthiness and spiciness really coming through. Fortunately, this recipe makes nearly a gallon of soup, so we were able to enjoy it for a few days afterwords, and my uncle ended up keeping a tubful for himself!

Pumpkin Agnolotti

2009-11-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

First off, I need to thank my sous-Steph, because I could not have been successful in making this recipe without her help. Even though she swears she doesn't do much to help me out in the kitchen, she definitely does. Thanks, honey ;)

My mother has been making some manner of pumpkin/squash filled pasta for Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. In the past, she's used spinach pasta and made square raviolis, both by free-form and by using a ravioli press. Just thinking about standing at the Atlas pasta machine and cranking for an hour is making my right arm cramp up. This year, I was armed with two tools that I haven't had in the past - my mom's KitchenAid pasta rollers, and the Restaurant Nicholas cookbook.

Making the filling was simple - roast a butternut squash and a sweet potato, blend, press through a tamis (which is on my holiday wish list), mix with honey and pumpkin puree and season with salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. (Note: I've never kept whole nutmeg in the house before, I would just buy the ground stuff. Never again - grating whole nutmeg as you need it is the only way to go).

The pasta dough was rather fun to make - make a well in the middle of flour, add egg yolks and olive oil to the center, and mix until the dough comes together. Too bad I miscalculated the size of my well, and my wet ingredients went up and over the sides, literally everywhere all over my work surface. Fortunately, I have cat-like reflexes and was able to save my egg yolks and get my pasta together. Insert about 10 minutes of hard kneading here:

After the kneading, I was left with a smooth and elastic dough, which I dusted and wrapped for 40 minutes (longer knead time = longer rest). At that point it was time to let the KitchenAid do its thing and roll out the dough without causing my arm any undue discomfort or pain.

After my pasta was rolled out to the thinnest possible setting, it was time for filling the agnolotti. I eschewed the pastry bag for a Zip-Loc with the corner snipped to get my filling piped out. The whole idea, based on the book, was that the pasta was to resemble little 'pillows'. After a few mishaps (you can see an oozing agnolotti below) and getting the technique down, I got pretty adept at piping, folding, pinching and cutting the individual agnolotti.

The pasta is finished with a brown butter sauce made from butter and Carrot Stock, which I made a batch of this morning from some frozen chicken stock I found in the back of the freezer. The stuff essentially is a chicken demi-glace, which is then emulsified with 2 sticks of butter and some brown butter to make the sauce. After the agnolotti get boiled up, they get dressed with the sauce, some sauteed butternut squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, thinly sliced sage leaves, and some grated truffle cheese.

How did it taste? Damn delicious! Everything was in balance, even though I swear I didn't get much of the truffle flavor - I think it just all added together into a cohesive dish. Also, the book calls for "pumpkin seeds", but the picture in the book shows that they are green. I've never ever seen unshelled pumpkin seeds sold before, so I went with tried-and-true David brand, and they came out great after a nice toast in a dry skillet.

Even though it was time-intensive, this is a dish I would definitely make again!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

Unlike most people, Thanksgiving is an entire weekend activity for me, which suits me fine since it involves my favorite activities - cooking and eating! I'll be taking lots of pictures and cooking lots of food over the next three days, so expect quite a few blog posts as well. Here's how the weekend is shaking down:

Thursday - Thanksgiving at my uncle's house. I'll be preparing the butternut squash soup a la Nicholas.
Friday - 'Thanksgiving' at my mother-in-law's. Not sure what we're going to be eating, but I'm going to make a spinach salad of some sort.
Saturday - Saturday Thanksgiving at my parents' house. This is shaping up to be the most ridiculous meal of the weekend, because its when my mom and I really flex our culinary muscles. I'm planning on Pumpkin Agnolotti (again, from Nicholas), maybe an hors d'oevures or two, and a dessert from the Dessert Fourplay.
Sunday - Leftovers, leftovers, leftovers...and a Jets game. Awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, both old friends and new - I hope everyone gets to eat well and have a great meal!

Eating Contests

2009-11-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

Earlier this evening, I had the pleasure of helping my pal Glenn with the Colts Neck Battle of the Classes, by serving as a judge for the various events. One of these said events was the ever-so-awful-to-watch eating contest. Glenn had solicited suggestions during the planning phases and I had suggested a bevy of pastry products - specifically Twinkes...

...it should be noted at this point that I myself once ate 18 Twinkes in 2 minutes as part of an eating contest...

...so this evening, the food of choice was Chef Boyardee. Room temperature Chef Boyardee. Yowza.

Here's my question: If you had to participate in an eating contest, what would be your best food?

Nicholas Wine & Cookbook Release Dinner

2009-11-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

Steph and I went to Restaurant Nicholas last night for a cookbook release dinner. I've made my love of Nicholas clear, and Steph and I went into the evening with high expectations. Needless to say, we were NOT disappointed.

We entered the lower dining room (which has such an intimate ambiance) to a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and some passed hors d'oeuvres. Lobster Salad with Grilled Scallions on Crispy Wontons were rich and buttery and had great texture. Potato Pancakes with Bacon and Quince Puree were pretty much the most perfect little potato latke, with bacon brunoise (these were both mine and Steph's favorite of the hors d'oeuvres). Shrimp Tempura with Spicy Soy Sauce were prepared perfectly, although I did not get the 'spicy' in the sauce, but they were still delicious. Skewers of Curry Marinated Lamb with Curry Yogurt was also excellently prepared, especially since they were just bites, and they could have been easily overcooked (props to Steph who tried them even though she doesn't like curry). There were Asparagus Crostini with Parmesan and Truffle Vinaigrette, which I tried and didn't particularly like, but Steph was more than happy to eat my share. All these little bites were perfect to warm up our taste buds and get us ready for the coming feast.

At this point, Chef Nicholas came out and was ever-so-gracious when thanking us for sharing the evening with him, and promised us he'd hurry so we could get home in time to watch the World Series (side note: I'll trust the chef who is a Yankees fan). Turns out he invited one of his friends from Italy, Gianluca Grasso of the Elio Grasso vineyard, who brought a truckload of wine along with him, so we'd be eating food paired with a bunch of his wines, primarily Barolos, but with others in there. While the chef retreated to the kitchen, Gianluca discussed his family's history with winemaking. It was clear how passionate he was for his craft, and it really shone through with the wines we were poured.

The first course was Venison 'Carpaccio', Jicama and Fig Salad, Pine Nuts. Steph is a tremendous fan of carpaccio, but she was especially excited because she had never had venison before and was eager to try. The venison was very rich tasting, without any overwhelming gaminess that sometimes can accompany it. The jicama and pine nuts provided a textural contrast, and the figs brought along some sweetness to balance out the richness of the meat. It was paired with a 2008 Chardonnay that is named 'Educato' since the grapes that Gianluca grows are mostly Nebiollo and they had to 'educate' the chardonnay grapes to grow in an area traditionally ruled by red grapes. An excellent wine - very assertive and stood up well to the strong flavors of the dish.

Next up was the dish I was most looking forward to, and one that I knew I could make my dear friends Meghann and Mike jealous that I was eating it: Crispy Braised Pork Belly, Gingered Pluots, Napa Cabbage and Peanut Salad. In a word - WOW. I love all things pork, and I love bacon especially, but there's not much better than eating pork belly, which is essentially the cut of pork where bacon comes from, but then braised until meltingly tender and crisped up under the broiler. All the garnishes on the plate accentuated and cut through the richness of the pork, especially the pluots (which neither Steph nor I had ever had before). I texted Meghann to say 'I have pork belly in my belly - be jealous!'. Not to fear, MegWow, I have the recipe! This course was paired with 2008 Dolcetto, which had a very fruity and slightly spicy flavor.

The third course had my favorite of all fungi - truffles, in a Hen Egg Ravioli, Black Truffle, Truffle Butter Sauce. This dish was inspired by a dish the chef and his wife had during their honeymoon to Italy (which made me enjoy the dish that much more since I knew his inspiration for creating it). Essentially, this was a ravioli filled with a small amount of ricotta, topped with an egg yolk, then covered and sealed in the pasta, boiled and topped with truffle butter and some fresh shaved truffles. One of the greatest things I've ever eaten, the odor alone made my mouth water, and the flavor...unreal. Every bite was rich and earthy and creamy all simultaneously. This was paired with not one but TWO wines, a 2004 Barolo Ginestra and a 2000 Barolo Runcot. The difference between the two was the soils in the vineyards they were planted in - one was more sandy and one was more clay - with a definite change in the flavor. I don't remember as much about these wines as I should - I just remember they were very strong in flavor (not shocking since they were Barolos) and that I had to slow down because I was going to get rather tipsy if I didn't. The hazards of going to a wine dinner!

The last course, unfortunately, both Stephanie and I felt was the weakest. Even though Sirloin of Veal, Scallion Whipped Potatoes, Royal Trumpet Mushrooms sounds amazing, it fell flat. Don't get me wrong - I love me some baby cow, and the meat was excellently prepared, but I felt that all the components of the dish didn't come together as well as they should have. I don't think it helped that I thought the potatoes were too 'scallion-y', or that I didn't enjoy the mushrooms as much as I should - I also don't think it helped that I had overindulged in the wine. However, the Barolos (two wines again) were also very assertive and strong in flavor. Stephanie liked the contrast between a Barolo in this course and from the last, which were from the same vineyards but different years. Too bad the dish wasn't as great as the others in the dinner.

Finally, some coffee, a quartet of Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Creme Brulee, Pumpkin Hot Chocolate with Mini-Marshmallow, and Chocolate Ganache with Caramelized Bananas and Peanut Cookie. Everything was delicious (minus the banana dessert) and was a great end to a delicious meal.

A note about the cookbook: AMAZING. Easy to read, easy to follow, lots of pictures of the end results. It has recipes for all the dishes I hoped it would: braised pork with cinnamon jus, parisienne gnocchi with artichokes and peas, scallops with truffle-green apple vinaigrette. I picked one up for my mother as a birthday gift, and I'm really excited about this, and add it to the 'autographed' shelf, too!

Preview: Nicholas Wine Dinner + Cookbook

2009-11-04T20:09:00.000-08:00

Just got home a few minutes ago from Restaurant Nicholas. Hors d'oeuvres, 4 courses + dessert, a boatload of wines and coffee. I am satisfied to the nth degree. I'm definitely planning on writing more tomorrow about this - pretty excellent.

Rob - word of advice: pace yourself on the wines. They poured two wines for course 3 & 4 - all Barolos, too. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming at some points. Delicious, though.

Weekend of Cooking

2009-11-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of everything that I prepared over this weekend:

A batch of soboro, which is now frozen and awaiting consumption for lunch. I still use the meatloaf mix from the supermarket when I make this, but I'm contemplating using all-beef if/when I decide to start grinding my own.
2 dozen pan-fried chicken burgers, also frozen for future lunches. I wonder how these would come out if I ground up the chicken thighs, rather than putting them through the food processor.
A Middle-Eastern feast for Stephanie and my parents - ezme salata, baba ganoush (thanks to Deborah Madison), baked falafel and tahini sauce. Needless to say, a fantastic and filling meal. I'm so happy Stephanie has discovered the joys of falafel - she's got a whole new world of culinary exploration open to her now.
3 dozen pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing - thanks to my mother for letting me borrow her pastry bag and 3/8" round tip. Ironically enough, she asked me what I wanted to Hannukah this year...pastry/decorating tools would be interesting, but I'm not that into baking anyway. These cookies were ridiculous - earthy and spicy (but not too sweet) cookies, combined with a rich and nutty icing - there were only 6 left this morning (thanks to my parents, Stephanie and I, as well as Brian and Jenny)...and those didn't even last too long.
Bacon - I thought it would be very apropos to cook and eat bacon while watching the NYC Marathon...I don't really know why. I know a lot of people who were running it today, and I thought it would be funny to post on Facebook that I was eating bacon while they were off being insane.
Asian-style braised short ribs - I *always* forget that after the ribs are done braising, that I have to degrease the liquid (my least favorite step in any recipe), then reduce over 1 quart of cooking liquid down to 1 cup. Honestly, I cheat and use cornstarch, because I don't want to wait to eat my delicious short ribs. Even though I forgot the orange juices at the end, it was still rather tasty (even for an Emeril recipe)

That's it! Tomorrow is "Meatless" Monday (we're having leftovers for lunch) but for dinner: Zucchini-Chayote Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce. Here's my question: What did YOU cook this weekend?

Pasta e Fagioli & Caesar Salad

2009-10-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

No pictures this time. Just a warning.

I'm a big fan of pasta e fagioli - nothing much better than beans, tomatoes, veggies, broth and pasta simmering together to make a filling meal on a cold night. Literally meaning "pasta and beans", this is yet another dish that originated as a peasant dish (much like cassoulet, corned beef, beef stew, etc) that has transcended its humble roots and become something that is served in restaurants and homes all over the world. I've usually made this from a mix of dried beans and seasonings - one of the few times I tend to make soup from a mix (admittedly, because the mix is *really* good), However, like always, I had a Test Kitchen recipe that I wanted to give a whirl and (surprise, surprise) it came out amazing. Combined with a Caesar salad, it was a great meal. I liked it so much, I'm posting the recipe.

Pasta e Fagioli (adapted from America's Test Kitchen)
2 slices bacon, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 celery rib, finely chopped
pinch of salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
pinch red pepper flakes
1 can diced tomatoes w/ juice
1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed (the recipe originally calls for 3/4 c, but I wanted more)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 oz ditalini

Cook bacon in large saucepan over medium-low until fat is rendered and just starting to crisp, 5 minutes. Add onions, celery, pinch of salt and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano and red pepper, cook 30 seconds.
Stir in tomatoes and juice, scrape up fond. Add beans, heat to simmer, reduce to low and cook until slightly thickened, 5 minutes. Add broth, water and 1/4 tsp salt, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

See? 20 minutes for some of the most delicious pasta fagioli you'll ever eat. Trust me on this one, folks.

After last week absence, we're back and better than ever!

2009-10-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Udon with Stir-Fry and Five-Spice Tofu

Recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Last week, I had planned on making a giant pot of pasta e fagioli, using the most awesome Bean Cuisine mix as a base. However, the weather was rather unseasonably warm, and the idea of making a giant pot of bean soup didn't really appeal to me so much. As the week went on, my desire to cook dropped even more, so no true meatless (although I did eat pizza on Wednesday since it was D&D night, technically meatless, but a bit outside of the theme of eating meatless).

In the meantime, I had picked up the Sunday Dinners at Moosewood cookbook, since I've made a dish or two that have come out well from Moosewood. Too bad this cookbook had way too many side dishes and appetizers, as opposed to more meatless main dish recipes that I was looking for. Enter Vegeterian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, which has literally TONS of main dishes that I am all about.

It took me literally 20 minutes to cook this meal from start to finish. I sliced the leeks, peppers, shiitakes and tofu all while the water was boiling for the udon. The sauce was a mixture of vegetable stock, hoisin, soy sauce, tomato paste, garlic, crushed red pepper and lemon zest. Once the udon was dropped into the water, everything was stir-fried together. You saw what the dish looked like plated, this is what it looked like when we were done:

Absolutely delicious - between the textures and the flavors, everything was in contrast but yet still in balance. If I was going to change anything, I'd add even more mushrooms, and I'd cut the tofu into chunks instead of into strips. Other than that - I may just make this again next week.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

2009-10-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

Grilled Cheese with Portobello, Red Onion and Tomatoes, Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Recipe courtesy of the Top Chef Cookbook

There's not much I like more in this world than grilled cheese and tomato soup. I'm a bit particular about it, too - white bread, American cheese, tomato soup made with milk (not with water), and dunking my sandwich in the soup. Awesome. Nothing I want more when the weather turns cold. Stephanie is especially partial to my tomato soup recipe, but I wanted to give this one a try. Plus, it's a great recipe for a Meatless Monday.

First step was to saute and roast some thinly sliced portobellos, grape tomatoes and red onions with some white wine and balsamic vinegar.

Next, I melted some butter with some fresh thyme to get some awesome infused flavor.

Finally, the sandwich assembled on sourdough with some shredded Monterey Jack and provolone, brushed with the infused butter, topped with the roasted vegetables, grilled up in the frying pan.

The red pepper soup is nothing more than a traditional tomato soup base, but with a couple of roasted red peppers and some basil thrown in, then blended. The verdict - AWESOME! Then, for dessert:

Grilled cheese, tomato soup, warm and chewy cookies for the win.

What is your favorite cold-weather comfort meal to cook?

One from Michael Mina

2009-10-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Olive Oil-Poached Rack of Lamb

Harissa Ratatouille, Rosemary-Scented Potatoes, Rosemary Gremolata

Recipe courtesy of the Michael Mina Cookbook

My school is off for Columbus Day for the first time ever, I believe, so I took the opportunity to cook up something a little more involved than my usual Sunday fare. Needless to say, involved doesn't really do this recipe justice, as I ended up using practically all my pots and pans, completely dirtied up my kitchen, and ended up having my entire sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes. Was it worth it in the end? Well, keep reading.

I've had poached fish and chicken before, but this recipe intrigued me: a rack of lamb poached in olive oil, along with traditional aromatics for lamb: garlic, shallots and rosemary. I set up one of my bowls over a simmering pot of water, very much the way I'd melt chocolate, but instead dumped in a half a head of garlic, some rosemary sprigs, a halved shallot and 3 cups of olive oil. I brought it up to heat by bringing the water to a simmer, trying to level my oil temperature at around 135-140...too bad it jumped up to about 160 and I couldn't bring it back down. Alas, I figured it would drop a bit when I put in my lamb, and it ended up leveling off at around 150, which is a little high a temperature for lamb to be cooked to, but I risked it. After poaching for 25 minutes in the oil, I pulled the meat out of its bath, then browned it quickly for a minute or 2 on each side in a screaming-hot skillet.

While the lamb was cooking, I made the harissa sauce (roasted red pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, coriander, caraway, parsley, olive oil, salt) in the blender and the gremolata (lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, chopped rosemary, olive oil, salt & pepper). The potatoes were cooked very similar to the lamb, but at a simmer as opposed to a poach, in a bunch of olive oil with some rosemary and shallots. When they were done, they were fork-tender.

Let me tell you a bit about the ratatouille. Red and yellow peppers, zucchini and eggplant all diced and sauteed, then set aside. In the same pot, some onions, garlic and tomato paste, which is then supposed to get mixed into the vegetables. However, this is where our story turns sour, because I burnt my hands on the pot where I was cooking the onion/garlic/tomato, and dropped the pot, which proceeded to spray tomato ALL OVER my kitchen. I was PISSED (at myself), and I don't do to well when I'm that mad. Fortunately, I still had some red onion and my tomato-paste-in-a-toothpaste-tube, and I was able to whip up some more real fast...but I was still really annoyed. After the ratatouille was made, the harissa got mixed in, and it was time to eat.

How did it taste? Well, the lamb ended up being perfectly cooked, and was flavorful and rich. The ratatouille was interesting but enjoyable - Stephanie kept on saying she was surprised by it because the harissa was such an interesting flavor that was unexpected (but not unpleasant) when eating ratatouille. The potatoes were...well...rosemary-scented and awesome. I did have a Top Chef moment though, because I totally forgot to spoon the gremolata over the lamb - but Steph didn't even notice so I didn't say anything until afterwords.

The verdict: DELICIOUS. Would definitely make it again, and hopefully without the mess ;)

Meatless Tuesday?

2009-10-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Baked Falafel

Lettuce, Tomato, Tahini Sauce

Recipe courtesy of ChowVegan

My cooking schedule got a bit thrown off this week, so we ended up delaying our Meatless Monday into a Meatless Tuesday-into-Wednesday. Oh well, no big concern, especially since we had falafel *again* this week. Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. I would eat falafel every night, I absolutely love the stuff. However, I think Stephanie might not be too happy (although she is a confirmed falafel freak, she did the happy dance when I told her I was going to make it again this week.)

When I was thinking about making falafel, I wanted to avoid the traditional method of preparing it, which is deep-frying. Now, I make no bones about my love of all things deep-fried, but I was looking for a baked version for 2 reasons: eating a deep-fried meal negates the whole point of a Meatless Monday, and I hate deep-frying inside my home. I perused a number of recipes, and settled on this one - even more non-traditional since it calls for canned beans. The only change I made to it was I didn't use as much onion, and I jacked up the oven temperature to 450, so they formed a crispy crust.

My only issue is the pita bread - I'm in need of a good Middle Eastern market to get quality pita, since Wegmans brand just isn't up to snuff. Throw the falafel in a good pita with some shredded lettuce, diced tomato and a heaping spoonful of tahini sauce, and I (and Stephanie) are happy people.

Decadence in a Brownie Pan

2009-09-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Cookies

For my friend Brooke's birthday. She's a sucker for the peanut butter-chocolate combo, so I figured this would be the perfect dessert to bring to a impromptu surprise potluck dinner. My first tray (this one) came out ever-so-slightly overdone, but that's the problem with using a dark baking tray. I'm planning on getting all new bakeware sometime soon...shiny and light is better!

Other than that, this was absolutely ridiculous in terms of flavor, and my friends should be prepared for these to make many appearances in the future.

Top Chef Shrimp & Scallop Burgers...

2009-09-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

As a pioneer with educational technology in my building, I'm continually telling teachers that it is a good thing to struggle and make mistakes with technology, and that it teaches students an important lesson to see us growing and learning, just as they are. In that vein, I'm writing this post, and you will hopefully understand my point by the time you get to the bottom of the text.

As part of my Top Chef dinner, I decided to make CJ's Scallop Mousse and Shrimp Burger with Tangerine. All the ingredients were things that I like: shrimp, scallops, lime, ginger, sugar, chile pepper, citrus...color me stoked. The shrimp were halved lengthwise, and the scallops were pureed into a mousse with some pepper flakes, lime juice, and scallions. Lining one of my Ateco circle cookie cutters with Saran, I layered 6 shrimp halves on the bottom of the ring mold, then spread over some mousse, then topped it again with 6 more shrimp halves.

Here's them wrapped up and ready for the fridge:

A close-up, ready for pan-frying:

Here's a picture of the garnishes, taken by Stephanie (she's rather proud of this photo). Clockwise from the right is thinly shredded radicchio, thinly shredded spinach, and a sauce made from pickled ginger, pickled ginger juice, lime juice, rice vinegar, scallions and cilantro. After that sauce came out of the blender, Stephanie started freaking out because of how good everything smelled. She couldn't wait to eat, and I had to restrain her from just eating the sauce straight from the bowl.

So after the burgers were pan-sauteed, they were placed on a egg twist bun over a slice of tangerine, topped with the radicchio, spinach and sauce. Looks delicious, right?

Problem: I didn't like it. I don't know what it was, but this did absolutely nothing for me, and in fact, I only ate half of it (much to Stephanie's delight, a surprising role reversal with her finishing all the food on my plate). I don't know if it was the texture of the burger, or the flavor combinations, but everything that I had hoped this dish would be. Needless to say, I won't be making it again.

I had not planned on writing about this - who wants to write about a dish that they didn't enjoy eating? Well, Steph pointed out the whole "having people watch you struggle is good" thing to me, and so there you go. What I want to ask of you, my hidden and silent readers, is this: tell me about a time that you thought you would absolutely love a recipe and it came out terrible. I'm curious to hear your stories about this.

(semi)Meatless Monday

2009-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Polenta Pie

Recipe courtesy of The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Welcome to (semi)Meatless Monday, where poor planning and forgetting tortillas at the supermarket yesterday caused Steph and I to have to take our leftovers (Sichuan-style Orange Chicken) for lunch today. Alas, we'll be taking this meal tomorrow, so it's a Meatless 24-hours, I suppose.

Being that this is a challenge to myself to learn to try different vegetables, I decided on this recipe since it includes zucchini, which is a veggie that I have not learned to like, although admittedly I have passed on it so often, I don't think I even remember just why I don't like it. It seemed like a good place to start.

This is a polenta crust that is baked, then set up with a thin layer of mozzarella, some sliced tomato, then a mixture of sauteed onions, red peppers, cremini mushrooms, zucchini, garlic and herbs, then topped with more mozzarella and broiled until nice and melted and toasty. I made the crust with the Quaker cornmeal I had in my pantry, but I think it'd have come out better if I'd used coarse-ground cornmeal like the recipe suggested. I'd add more tomato as well. As for the zucchini, I actually don't think I know what it tasted like, but since I ate two helpings, I must've liked it.

I'd like to mention here that I've gotten really good at seasoning my food, and I take pride in the fact that most things I make don't need an extra dose of salt, but this is the 2nd of Katzen's recipes I've made that are underseasoned. I think I might just write "+1/4 tsp salt" on the cover in Sharpie.

The final word: Good, not great. Might make it again. I'd like suggestions, though - what kind of fillings would you use in a recipe like this?

Dinner with the Chef @ Piccola Italia

2009-09-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: The camera battery died. Damn!

We hit up the most awesome Piccola Italia in Ocean, New Jersey for a "Dining with the Chef" culinary demonstration of using mushrooms, one of my favorite ingredients. A cool experience, with a large communal dining room and the chef up front showing us how to prepare all the food we were eating. I liked the idea of being able to ask questions of the chef as he was talking and cooking, and I'm proud to say that my questions (differences between white/black truffle oil, the best way to save mushroom stems and prep mushroom stock at home) were a little more insightful. Whatever - let's talk about the food.

First Course: Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Strudel, Truffle Butter, Pears
I'm not the biggest fan of working with phyllo, but I'd do it just for this recipe. Sauteed "wild" mushrooms (a misnomer since all mushrooms are cultivated these days) mixed in with some goat cheese (and cream cheese for body), then encased in the phyllo and roasted. Truffle butter provided awesome flavor, and some diced ripe pear was a nice foil. We drank some 2007 Carmel Road Monterey Pinot Noir. Delicious.

Second Course: Cream of Porcini Soup
I love mushroom soup. Absolutely freaking love it. This was even more amazing than my normal recipe for mushroom soup. This is where I was able to sneak in my question about making my own mushroom stock, because I think that it just makes the final dish that much better (you may very well see some for the upcoming Meatless Monday), so now I'm saving all my mushroom stems. Porcini powder? Buying it as soon as possible. I also need to pick up some white truffle oil as well. The end result was a dish that I was sponging every last bit of soup up with bread - my plate was clean, literally.

Third Course: Fresh Perciatelli with Crab, Chanterelles, Roasted Corn and Shaved Truffles
I've paired seafood with corn and truffles in the past, but I would not have thought to add mushrooms to the mix. My shortsightedness - this was absolutely ridiculous in flavor. The truffles didn't add too much to the flavor, but the aroma really kicked the dish up to a whole new level. I don't particularly like corn that much (I know, I'm a bad Jersey kid), but this is the 2nd dish in the last few weeks that has had corn as a component that I've really enjoyed. I'm going to add it to my list of veggies to find ways to like.

Fourth Course: Foie Gras French Toast with Truffle Zabaglione (FTW!)
They should've just called this "Decadence on a Plate". A chanterelle-foie mousse piped into a brioche block, then soaked in eggs/rum/cinnamon/awesome and fried up? Then topped with a Madiera and truffle oil-laced zabaglione? Holy crap. It was everything I was hoping for (and more) when I read it on the menu. Plus, we had a tasting of a ridiculously super-sweet Hungarian dessert wine called Tokaji (or Tokay, in English). Really strong honey flavors in the nose, carried through the the taste, along with a lingering nuttiness. The only way this would be able to be consumed is with a super-rich dish like the foie gras french toast, as it cut through all the flavor nicely.

I find it funny how my own job as a teacher affects my life outside of the job. Every time Brian started talking, all I wanted to do was shush everyone so we could give our attention to the 'teacher' in the room. Every time I had a question, I had such a hard time just yelling it out, I found myself raising my hand at one point, waiting to be called on. Silly me.

Props to Chef Brian and to manager (and our friend!) Andrew for a phenomenal evening! There's a beer event going on in October (natch), but something tells me that Steph and I will be back before then. If you live in the area, you should go eat there too!

Meatless Monday!

2009-09-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

Szechuan Tofu Triangles with Triple Pepper Sauce

Recipe courtesy of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen

Talking with a few people and reading some stuff online has influenced me to try to make a change in the meals I eat during the week. My college friend Heather, at Running Leaner and Greener, as embarked on a mission called Simple Changes September - little things to do to improve ones health and eco-friendliness. Now, I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch, but I do my small part here and there (reusable Sigg water bottles and lunch bags, reusable grocery bags, not driving an SUV, etc). I asked myself - what little change can I do? My answer? Meatless Mondays.

Not so little of a change!. Pretty much everyone who knows me knows there's not much more I enjoy than cooking and eating meat of all kinds. Really, if I wasn't meant to eat animals, then I wouldn't be genetically predisposed to thinking that they are so damn tasty. I'm especially partial to all things pork, pig being the magical animal that practically every part is edible. Even though Steph and I eat a good share of chicken and seafood, there's not much better to me than a delicious pork chop or rib-eye.

Why make a change? As silly as it sounds, it all comes back to being a teacher, the need to model positive behaviors and make good choices as an example to my students. Being a public school teacher, I see firsthand the problems faced overweight children, the extreme eating habits (by both the grossly overweight and underweight) and the generally poor choices that my students make when it comes to food. I can use this choice for a Meatless Monday to live healthier myself, and so in the end I can talk to my students how small changes in their own lives can benefit not only themselves, but others as well. (Wow, I'm such a cheeseball.)

Lastly, I'm looking at this as a challenge to myself. While my palate has grown by leaps and bounds as I've gotten older, I'm still very picky when it comes to my vegetables, and there are plenty of veggies out there that I still don't eat. Doing the Meatless Monday is going to give me incentive and an avenue to try new recipes and find dishes in which I'll be able to (hopefully) learn to like some of those elusive veggies. Currently, I think eggplant is at the top of my list.

So tonight, I made sauteed tofu triangles, stir fried with onions, peppers, and a nice sauce of honey, soy and garlic. I've got to tell you - damn tasty! Everything worked well, and I was satisfied with the texture of the extra-firm tofu, which held up in the cooking. I'd definitely make this one again, although I'd cut the tofu into cubes and cut the peppers into uniform chunks as well, as opposed to strips and triangles. Steph and I are off to a good start!

Next week, I'm thinking it's almost autumn, so that means it's time for the fungi to shine. However, anyone out there have any real tasty meatless recipes they can share? If something catches my eye, I'll definitely make it!

Spice-Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos

2009-09-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

No pictures tonight, kids. Apologies in advance.

Here's the recipe, and I followed it pretty faithfully where I could. The only subs I made was I used Mexican-style hot chili powder vs. ancho chile powder (here's a nice post about the difference), and I used less cumin to compensate.

As I was prepping dinner, I was not happy with some of the individual components of the dish. The poblanos, while prepped easily, came out tasting horrendously bitter, so I didn't use them. The guacamole, usually something I prepare well and enjoy, was a bit too citrusy for my tastes. The slaw was tasty, but had too much mayonnaise than my standard cole slaw recipe. The only thing I was really happy about was the spice rub for the chicken, which was a clever combination of chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

Honestly, Stephanie and I were ~~prepared~~ ~~wanted~~ really wanted to dislike this dish, simply because of the guy who came up with it (I've made my dislike of Bobby Flay very clear). But let me tell you something. This recipe was awesome.

Like every dish that ends up being delicious, it was the perfect balance of sweet/spicy, warm/cool and soft/crunchy. I'd have stopped to take pictures, but it wasn't really photogenic, having chicken, guac, coleslaw and onions jammed and folded into a tortilla. Absolutely delicious, and highly recommended.

Tandoori-Spiced Chicken Breast

2009-09-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

Tandoori-Spiced Chicken Breast

Grilled Tomato Jam, Herbed Yogurt, Grilled Naan

Recipe courtesy of Food Network

Had an amazing inservice today with Will Richardson, pretty much the guru of online social interaction with the aim of improving education. Hearing him speak about the power of the Internet, the goal to have students talk to strangers online, and how people of common interest can get together to exchange information in groups and improve themselves...well, it was really inspiring. Trust me when I tell you, if you are in any way in the education field, you will want to check out his blog. I'm buying what he's selling, and I'm not just talking about his book (which I've read, and is awesome).

What does it have to do with food? Nothing really, but I did get to sneak in my blog address during our discussion. Inspired by Will, I've got a little map on the right side of the blog now. I want to add more dots to my map!

I was looking for some clever ways of using some defrosted chicken breasts, and this seemed to fit the bill, despite the fact that Steph prefers another recipe for tandoori I make more often. The spice paste was rather pungent, and I used a tenth of the cayenne that the recipe called for, and the tomato jam had a nice sweetness from the balsamic vinegar. Even though I used cilantro and mint in the yogurt (two of Steph's least favorite herbs) it was still refreshing and cooled the heat from the spice paste nicely. I was a big fan of this dish - lots of flavors coming together nicely. The only change I'd make (and you should too!) is to halve the spice paste recipe - for 3 chicken breasts, it is far too much.

Would I make it again? Only if I was cooking for myself - I thought it tasted amazing. However, I got the "good, but not great" from the wife, so this is one that won't necessarily be going into the recipe file. If anyone else decides to give it a whirl, please let me know!

Top Chef Dinner

2009-08-26T17:05:00.001-07:00

Corn Sopes with Char Siu Pork and Pickled Asian Slaw

Since Steph and I are celebrating the return of Top Tattoo...err...Top Chef, I've decided I'm going to do my best to make a dish from the cookbook on Wednesday nights. Yes, I'm a geek. No, you shouldn't be surprised. This recipe is from the 1st season challenge that required the cheftestants to fuse two SF cuisines, in this case Mexican and Chinese. It was originally made by LeeAnn and Stephen, so we were expecting greatness, which we eventually reached. However, if all of the recipes are going to treat me the way this one did, I'm going to abandon this idea real quick.

Unlike real char siu pork, which is made with pork shoulder, this was made with center cut pork loin. I used the same marinade as my recipe, instead of resorting to the bottled stuff (longer in the kitchen, I know, but well worth it). The slaw is cabbage, carrot and jicama, cooked in boiling vinegar-sugar solution, then drained and chilled. I really liked the jicama since it maintained its crunch up until we ate. The green sauce is an avocado cream (avocado, sour cream, chili oil, lime juice).

The corn sopes gave me the most trouble. Could it have been that I didn't use fresh masa harina? Possibly, and maybe my lazy ass should've driven to the Mexican grocery...but it didn't. When I put the sopes into the oil to fry, they literally melted away into a mushy, oily mess. Not pleased at all, especially since I had been planning on eating at 6 and it was pushing 7:15. So I busted out a little Martha and found her recipe for corn cakes. Hence, we ended up eating a Southern-Mexican-Chinese fusion dish.

How did it taste? Pretty damn good. Great textures, lots of flavor, with everything in balance. Definitely a keeper, and definitely how I'm going to use up leftover char siu come wintertime.

Why My Wife and Parents Win

2009-08-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's known me for any reasonable length of time knows that I'm pretty apathetic towards my birthday. Don't get me wrong, it's not an age thing - in fact, I am pumped for my 30s and I think they are going to be awesome. Nor is it because my parents never made a big deal about my birthday - my birthday was the night where I got to choose the meal (whether cooked or out) and I always had great parties as a little kid. Here's where my problems lie:

1. My birthday is September 4th, and it's just a downright awful time of the year. Summer is over, and everyone is usually away or chock full of plans for Labor Day Weekend. Also, since I'm in public education (as is my wife and many of our friends) it is a crazy & stressful time as we're all scrambling around getting everything together for the start of the school year. To that end, I'm usually too stressed out to relax and enjoy my birthday with my friends. I used to get really upset by that, but these days I'm usually just worried about other things that I don't need a party/dinner out/get-together/whatever.

2. It's a double-whammy of not really wanting people to buy me gifts, and not really knowing what I'd want when people insist. My theory is this: if I really wanted something, I'd buy it. Simple. Unfortunately, this facet of my personality has driven my parents and Stephanie crazy over the years.

So, why do my Stephanie and my parents win? My mother had made a suggestion for a birthday gift, one that I had blown off due to lack of need and lack of storage space. She seemed surprised, seeing this item is something I've always wanted, and have resigned myself to the fact that I won't buy until we move into a bigger house. However, Steph won when she made a suggestion about clearing out some knick-knacks into storage and giving me room for said present. Needless to say, I'm actually getting excited about getting this present.

Here's the challenge: The only hints I'll give you are that it is something for the kitchen (shocking, right?) and I need a good amount of storage space for it. Can you guess what it is? Steph, Mom, Dad, Rory, Mike & Laurie are prohibited from answering ;)

Top Chef Food Bonanza

2009-08-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Our friends Mike and Laurie, fellow fans of food and Top Chef, had suggested a few weeks ago to get together for the night of the Top Chef Las Vegas premiere and the Top Chef Masters finale, complete with lots of good food and snarky comments about the cheftestants. Having experience with a get-together like this, and the need for pacing and small bites, I planned my contributions accordingly.

Cucumber, Mango, Several Aromatics

This is from the Alinea cookbook, from which I've been dying to try some recipes out. This one has lots of little components (like most Alinea recipes): thinly sliced English cucumber, mango leather (pureed mango & sugar, spread thin and dehydrated), coriander salt & clove salt (salt + ground spices), candied lemon zest, ginger slivers and saffron threads. It also called for juniper berries, which I could not get my hands on, so I just added a few drops of tasty Hendrick's gin. The cucumber takes a 1-minute bath in a vinegar-sugar solution, then gets rolled up with the mango leather, then topped with the aromatics.

To say that this was bursting with flavor is an understatement. When we ate it, we immediately got the tang from the vinegar, followed up by the cool and sweet, but then the aromatics did their thing, and it was amazing that each flavor kicked in distinctly and individually. It really was a wake-up to our taste buds, and an absolutely delicious bite. I'd make them again for sure.

Jicama Slaw

I'd only had jicama a few times before, and I was let down by those dishes. However, this dish provided a nice crunch and a tangy dressing. I liked the addition of the apples, but I still am not a fan of carrots. I'd make this as a side dish for BBQ.

Italian Meatballs with Sweet-Sour Sauce

Mike had found a recipe that had an interesting twist - along with the standard ingredients (meat, parsley, bread crumbs) this recipe contained minced olives. Steph and I are both pretty strong in our dislike for olives (not for a lack of trying, either) but I was not put off by them in this dish at all. I tried the meatball before saucing, and the olive contributed a subtle saltiness and flavor that really rounded out the flavor of the meat. With the sweet-sour sauce (which was good on its own but 10x better with the meat), this was a great course.

Oysters: Raw, then Deep-Fried with Lemon Cream, Tomato, Capers and Bacon

Wegmans loses again because they would not shuck my oysters, nor did they know when the oysters arrived at the store. However, a call to Wooley's allowed me to pick up a dozen oysters delivered that morning, and shucked 5 minutes before I arrived. Win. I only needed 8 for the fried oysters, so we were able to each devour one raw, much to Stephanie's delight. Mike and Laurie had never eaten a raw oyster before, and we were more than happy to open their eyes to this gastronomic delight. They all had a squeeze of lemon, and Mike added a little hot sauce to his at my suggestion. Note: there are only 3 oysters in the picture above because I got greedy and impatient and scarfed mine down almost immediately.

These oysters were deep-fried (not as crispy as I'd like - I blame the batter) then topped with a salad of tomatoes, capers and shallot, and some crumbled bacon. Again, lots of ingredients working together here: briny oyster, tangy lemon cream, smoky oyster - all added up to a delicious bite that exploded with flavor in the mouth. I'd make these again, but (oddly enough) I would not use as much bacon, as the flavor was a bit overwhelming at times.

Lamb "Lollipops" with Saffron Rice

Seared in the pan, then smeared with Dijon and coated with bread crumbs, rosemary and garlic (both from Mike's garden) then roasted to a perfect medium-rare. This preparation, while simple, provided lamb that was ideally cooked, and full of flavor. I've never really cooked lamb like this before, but I'm inspired to try seeing how easy the process was, and especially if it comes out this good when I make it!

Scallop, Potato-Chive Cake, Corn-Truffle Pudding

This was probably the tastiest thing I ate all night, and one of the easiest, too! The potato cake is nothing more than a fancy potato latke formed with a ring mold, then fried up crisp. The scallop is pan-seared until crusty on both sides & about "medium-rare". The sauce was 2 ears worth of juiced corn kernels, heated until thickened, then spiked with some black truffle butter. Sweet, crispy, earthy - great combination of flavors and textures. Did I mention this was also super-easy to make?

Dry Caramel

For whatever reason, I don't have pictures of the result of this Alinea recipe. Essentially, it's a liquid caramel base that gets dried out by mixing it with tapioca maltodextrin, which is a fat stabilizer. What results is small pellets of dry caramel that reliquify in your mouth. These were served in shot glasses with a little bit of salt. A familiar flavor, served in a unique and playful manner that is as surprising as it is tasty.

Dark Chocolate-Peanut Butter Molten Cakes

By the time we got to this course, it was SO late and both Steph and Laurie were fighting off a food coma. However, I was able to convince them to devour this last course. Unfortunately, I did not know where Steph's camera was, so I was not able to snap a picture of this. However, I really do believe that this is one of the best things I've ever baked, and I'm not much of a baker. The batter was very fudge-like, with a big scoop of peanut butter ganache in the middle that melted down in the oven. Served with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream.

By the time we were all said and done, it was 10:30 and we were stuffed! This first Matassa-Rosenwald collaboration was a great success, and we can't wait until the next one to try out some new recipes.

Seafood Risotto

2009-08-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my blog buddy Rob (whose blog you should all check out), I cooked up a bit of risotto tonight. Normally, risotto can be heavy, replete with butter and cheese, but this recipe eschews the cheese, since it would conflict with the deliciousness of the seafood. The broth gets fortified with clam juice to kick up the flavor, while the saffron and basil give it a bright and fresh flavor. I made it with scallops and shrimp, but you could easily add crab or lobster or whatever seafood you like. With some fresh Jersey tomato and some basil chiffonade, Steph described this as one of the best, if not the best, dinner I've ever cooked for her. I'm glad she approved :D

Pimm's Cup

2009-08-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Read about this stuff in a few nerdy cooking magazines a while back, and I got inspired when I saw it again on Epicurious. According to Wikipedia:

Pimm's No. 1 Cup is based on gin and can be served both on ice or in cocktails. It has a dark tea colour with a reddish tint, and tastes subtly of spice and citrus fruit. It is often taken with "English-style" lemonade, as well as various fruits including apples, oranges and lemons. It is 25% alcohol by volume.

Apparently, it's also the official cocktail of Wimbledon, equivalent to mint juleps at Churchill Downs.

Here's how I made mine:
2 oz Pimm's No. 1, 3 oz Saranac ginger beer, a sprig of mint, over ice cubes in a highball glass.

How does it taste? It's kind of hard to nail down...I get tastes of plums, ginger, citrys herbs, with a spicy aftertaste (nutmeg and star anise?)...I don't know, it's just plain delicious. I suggest that you all try one next time you're out at a reasonably stocked bar. Good show, Brits!

Last Night's Dessert

2009-07-28T05:41:00.001-07:00

Blueberry Cobbler with Lavender Scone Topping
Marscapone Ice Cream with Blueberry Coulis

Got this recipe from the Michael Mina Cookbook. I'm pleased with how the cobbler came out. I'm not usually the biggest fan of lavender in my food (as it reminds me of the hand soap Stephanie buys) but this was really tasty. The marscapone ice cream needs to be made wiht light instead of dark brown sugar next time, but all in all, it was still good.

However, my quenelle-making technique for the ice cream obviously needs improvement. Mine came out like a mushy oval, nothing like the way it should look. However, like I've mentioned before, my plating technique needs work (but is steadily improving!).

Places I've Eaten: SeaBlue

2009-07-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

My parents recently took a trip to Las Vegas, where they ate at Michael Mina at the Bellagio. They had the cookbook tasting menu, and thoughtfully brought me back an autographed cookbook. Nice, right? Well, after hearing their rave reviews, Steph and I decided to hit up SeaBlue at the Borgata. Doing some previewing, nothing was really grabbing me off the tasting menu, but I figured that we couldn't go wrong with it, seeing that it was the same one my parents ate.

However, after a late lunch at Continental, and after looking at the tasting menu, Steph and I decided that we would pass and order from the regular menu.

Initial Impressions: Wide open, no intimacy whatsoever. Also, for a restaurant called SeaBlue, I didn't expect the decor to be in reds, oranges and browns. Our server was probably the most scarily perky and happy person I may have ever met. She asked us about drinks, we replied we wanted to figure out what we were ordering first . Her exact response: "I love food, and I love wine, and I love drinking and pairing food and wine!". Yowza.

Appetizers: I had the fried sampler trio, which consisted of lobster corndogs, soft shell crab with papaya salad and rock shrimp lettuce cups, paired with a 2007 Belle Vallee Pinot Gris that was surprisingly fruity. Steph had oysters, of course, 3 each of Kumamotos and Wallfleets, paired with a very tart and grapefruit-y 2007 Manifesto! Sauvignon Blanc. My app was pretty good, with the lobster corndogs being the highlight. It makes me want to go make some lobster sausage. I'll assume Steph's oysters were tasty, as she didn't offer me any (but, in full disclosure, I didn't offer her any of mine either).

Entrees: Steph got the medallions of ahi tuna with foie gras, shallot-potato cake and pinot noir sauce which was paired, unsprisingly, with a Ramsay Pinot Noir that Steph thought very highly of. As for me, I had the trio of steak, which consisted of filet mignon with foie gras and pinot noir sauce, strip steak with bearnaise, and a rib-eye with a lemon-butter sauce. Everything was cooked to perfection, and it was matched up with a 2005 Simi Cabernet that was a little more assertive than I prefer, but it was still tasty.

Dessert: Steph had the chocolate trio of chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate cake with bing cherries and molten chocolate cake with chocolate cookie crumbles. I tried the mousse, it was mellow and subtle, not very sweet. I had blueberry clafoutis, apricot ice cream and caramelized sponge cake. Not bad, the clafoutis was a bit runny, tasty though.

The verdict: Normally, when Steph and I look at menus, we drive ourselves crazy deciding what to order. Not so much at SeaBlue, unfortunately. The food was phenomenal, the wine was fantastic, and the service was great. I'd recommend it, but I don't think I'd dine there again.

Oysters, or How I've Created a Monster

2009-07-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

The highlight of Atlantic City to us is making sure that we get a table at Dock's Oyster House. The first time we went there was almost 4 years ago during the NJEA Teacher Convention, after a good session at the craps table (where we won a combined $1000). I had ordered oysters, but Steph was a bit leery. I'd ordered them a few times since then, and had always offered for Steph to try them, to no avail. I had tried to explain the way the brininess was perfectly complemented by a squeeze of lemon or a hit of mignonette sauce. I had tried to describe the velvety texture as you slurped them out of their shell. All for naught.

Fast forward to our first wedding anniversary at the Fromagerie in Rumson. Seeing them on the menu, I ordered them as an app and finally succeeded in getting Stephanie to try one. It was truly a revelatory experience for her, the single oyster that she sampled. She had taken her first step into a larger world, and she began ordering them whenever she saw them on menus (at restaurants where I would not have issues ordering raw oysters, mind you).

So, we were in AC the past few days, celebrating our anniversary, and of course we went to Dock's. My goal was to eat as many different types of sea creatures as possible, while Steph's was to just eat oysters. So, we started off with a dozen Cape May Salts (which are prized as being environmentally sustainable and have created a resurgence in New Jersey oyster production) and a dozen Wiannos (which were recommended to us by the guy prepping all the oysters behind the raw bar). While I was savoring my oysters and making friends with our neighbors (who had been drunkenly singing by the piano bar while waiting for their table), I look over to find a giant pile of shells on Steph's plate...she had greedily eaten 10 already to my 5, and was not looking like she was going to put the brakes on.

Her response to my protest, completely serious..."Well, keep up then!". I'd created a mollusk-devouring monster.

Anyway, the oysters were absolutely delicious, as well as everything else we'd ordered (tuna tartare, a 1 lb. lobster cocktail, a sampler of oysters Rockefeller, clams casino & grilled shrimp and sauteed jumbo lump crabmeat in herbs and butter).

However, all paled in comparison to the deliciousness of the oysters. Next time we head down to AC, we're ordering THREE dozen and going from there.

Who's coming with us?

Dessert Oneplay

2009-07-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Salt Butter Shortbread
Slow Roasted Apricots, Almond Cream

A few months ago, I picked up Dessert Fourplay by Johnny Iuzzini, who is the executive pastry chef at Jean-Georges, and pretty much one of the top pastry chefs in the country. The book rules, with some recipes I'm going to inflict on my friends (rum and coke ice cream? FTW!). In truth, each dessert is supposed to be a tasting of 4 small desserts that all fit into a theme. Hence, "fourplay"...clever, right? Anyway, I made one from the "Apricot & Raspberry Fourplay".

Shortbread underneath (I cheated and used some Lu Shortbreads). Honey gets infused with lemon thyme. The apricots get roasted with some honey and lemon thyme (courtesy of my good friend Kurt). They get filled with an almond cream (almond flour, butter, sugar, egg) then roasted again. Everything gets stacked and served.

My plating needs work, but I'm not a 4-star pastry chef ;)

Steak - Adorned vs. Unadorned

2009-07-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Had a couple of Wegman's strip steaks laying around. Tried out a new technique I read about in this month's Cook's Country to get a good crust on my steaks. Rather easy - 1/4 tsp each salt and cornstarch rubbed on each steak, then freeze for 30 minutes. This creates a dry exterior on the steak, which is very conducive for creating that awesome crust. Season with salt and pepper, grill over high heat 4-6 minutes per side, rest 5 and serve.

Verdict: Would definitely do this again, the steak came out nice and crusty on the outside and delicious and medium-rare on the inside.

Here's where I failed for the evening: tried out a recipe for blue cheese butter found in Cooks Illustrated. It's got everything I like in it: butter, blue cheese, shallots, parsley. However, in the end, the flavor was WAY to overpowering for my tastes, even with the little bit I used. Alas, not to be repeated.

It begs the question to be asked: what do you put on your steak? Discuss.

Seasoned Skewers = FAIL

2009-06-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

I don't seem to remember how, but I was in the possession of some Seasoned Skewers, I think possibly spending some leftover change from a Sur La Table gift card or exchange or what not. The idea seems interesting: preseasoned with tasty flavors, and all I need to do is skewer up some meat and veggies, and grill. Easy, right?

The flavor I had was Thai Coconut Lime, so I skewered chicken, shiitakes, red pepper and onion and let them sit for 10 minutes on the skewers. Grill until done, and serve with rice and a rather tasty sauce (2:1:1 sweet chile sauce:soy:lime).

I tried the chicken and a pepper without sauce, and I barely got a hint of flavor. With the sauce, not a whiff. Maybe it'd be better to let the food sit longer, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend these - better off making a rub or a sauce and apply yourself.

Gin, my old friend.

2009-06-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my good friend Chris, along with a good word from my blog buddy Rob, I am now a tremendous fan of Hendrick's Gin.

My history of gin pretty much starts with a bottle of Seagram's Extra Dry Gin that my across-the-hall-neighbor (and eventual best friend) Alex were bought our first day of freshman year of college. We neophytes decided the best way to rock it was to do shots - from what I remember, it tasted like burning...needless to say, I avoided the stuff for the most part, always coming back for a taste now and again.

However, thanks to some great advice from smart people, I'm enjoying gin once again. Despite the suggestion, I like my G&T with a twist of lime, as opposed to a cucumber slice, of which I'm not a fan.

Trust me, kids...if a self-avowed gin hater (one Mr. Joseph Fritsche) took one taste and couldn't order one fast enough, then this is something worthwhile for you to pick up at the liquor store.

An old friend, and some new cookbooks

2009-06-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Michael, an old friend from college who I unfortunately catch up with only now and again, has a new blog, Klezmer and Kabernet, that anyone who is reading this should check out. Aside from being way funnier than I am, he knows more about wine than almost everyone I know. Since he's going to be blogging about all things oenological (and yes, I did have to go to dictionary.com to find out if that was a real world), and if you want to know more about wine, then I suggest you check it out.

Since I'm on the road to recovery from my separated shoulder, I promise I'm going to start doing some real cooking again, and I can exercise some creativity since I soon won't have to worry about lesson plans for a few months!

So, some of you might remember I've picked up this odd hobby of collecting signed cookbooks. I've recently added two more to the collection:

Burgers, Fries and Shakes by Bobby Flay: ...I suppose should take this time to say that I really don't particularly like Bobby Flay. It could be the fact that I don't get why he's so damn popular. It could be the the impression of arrogance and smugness I get from him. It could be the fact that I don't think the food he cooks on TV is terribly inspired or original. However, I wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to add to the collection...

...so I get to the front of the line with Steph, and he's there and I'm trying to be all excited (Steph, meanwhile, wants to simply punch him in the face) and I hand him the book and try to engage him and....nothing. No affect, no friendliness, no nothing. Just a mumbled "hi" and some quarter-hearted (more like decimal-place) attempt at conversation. Well, now that I was annoyed, I took great pleasure in telling him that I'd never eaten at his restaurant but instead always ended up at Dock's Oyster House, a must when you go to AC. I figured that he was just like that because maybe he was freaked out by an almost-30 year-old guy waiting on line for his autograph...but he was that awkward and nonengaging with everyone! How is this guy still famous?!?

Michael Mina: The Cookbook by...well...Michael Mina: This one is thanks to my parents, who ordered the "Cookbook Tasting Menu" when they went to Michael Mina at the Bellagio on their trip to Las Vegas. No waiting on line here, just a supplemental charge to the menu got the signed book. Instead of ranting, let me tell you just what a genius Michael Mina is.

You know how on Top Chef, everyone tries to make duos or trios on a dish, only to fail because there's no forethought and poor execution? Not Michael Mina's trios...most of the cookbook is based on making a core recipe then expressing it in three distinct and harmonious ways. Granted, even he says that making just one of the trio recipes is good enough for a meal, but that taking the time to do all three is worthwhile. Scallop ceviche? Olive-oil poached rack of lamb? Butter-poached rib-eye steak? Molten cakes? Sign me up.

Top Chef Masters

2009-06-10T17:42:00.001-07:00

How stoked am I to see real pro chefs face off? Random thoughts on the cheftestants.

- I'm rooting for my boy Wylie Dufresne, natch, but I don't think he's got the broad appeal that will take him far. The judges won't get his food.

- Hubert Keller is going to bring it home for the old-school French-technique style of cooking. He'll show that classic technique is still relevant and important in cuisine today.

- I like Rick Bayless. Yet another reason why I have to convince Steph to go to Chicago.

- I love Art Smith. He promotes healthy eating and good nutrition habits, and yet obviously enjoys his food. This harks back to an important belief of mine - never trust a skinny chef.

- I don't know any of the judges, nor do I care to. Where the hell is Padma, Tom and Gail?

- I think Liz Falkner is the dark horse, because she can do both savory and sweet. She might win one for the people because of this.

Things I Don't Like: Fish Sauce

2009-06-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

I had a recipe in my Barbecue Bible (a must-have for any grilling enthusiast) for Thai chicken lettuce wraps. Essentially, chicken strips marinated in coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, sugar and turmeric, grilled and wrapped in lettuce leaves with a peanut sauce. Sounds good, right?

One roadblock: fish sauce. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about fish sauce:

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Cambodian, and Filipino cuisine and is used in other Southeast Asian countries. In addition to being added to dishes during the cooking process, fish sauce can also be used in mixed form as a dipping condiment, and it is done in many different ways by each country mentioned for fish, shrimp, pork, and chicken. In parts of southern China, it is used as an ingredient for soups and casseroles.

I've made only 1 recipe that has fish sauce, a shrimp recipe that I did not end up enjoying as much as I'd have liked. I usually would substitute soy sauce, but I was feeling adventurous and thought I'd give the stuff a try again.

To say that the stuff smelled like rotten dirty feet would be an understatement. It's got to be one of the foulest smelling substances I've ever encountered (and I went through 2 semesters of smelling particularly horrid organics). Even though I had hoped the flavor would mellow somewhat during the grilling, all I tasted was nasty feet, and that's even through a particularly seasoned and tasty peanut sauce.

The moral of the story? I don't think I'll be cooking with fish sauce again anytime soon.

Infusions

2009-04-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was reading about infused spirits, and was immediately inspired to make some of my own. I've had some good ones, notably Declan's strawberry infused-vodka. To that end, I picked up some booze at the local store, got 4 1-quart Mason jars from AC Moore and some fruit from Wegmans, and here's what I made.

Jar 1: vodka with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries
Jar 2: vodka with pineapple and ginger
Jar 3&4: cachaca with pineapple

I'm going to open up the berry vodka on Thursday when my wife returns from her business trip, and I'm planning on opening one of the cachaca jars on Saturday for Sean's birthday get-together. I'll make sure I post pictures!

Restaurant Review: The Melting Pot

2009-04-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Somewhere Stephanie had been dying to eat for a very long time. Not bad, not outstanding, but definitely not worth the price tag. Don't get me wrong, the food was good, and some of the morsels were definitely interesting (hit the jump for more details), and I enjoyed my meal and the service was fantastic. All that aside, I think I can do it better.

I'm going to do it at home with some bagna cauda along with some shrimp and lobster tail, or maybe a shabu shabu (but with a dashi stock as opposed to water). Definitely something I'm going to have to do with people over, as I find the communal nature of fondue to be rather pleasing.

Hit the jump for details.

So the way the meal works, you do things a la carte or you can get the "Big Night Out" which is cheese fondue, salad, main course fondue and dessert, which is what we went with (complete with a coupon for a free dessert - thank you Internet!).

Cheese - cheddar & Emmenthaler with beer, garlic and Worcestershire: Like I have mentioned in other posts, I am a sucker for tableside service, so I loved it when our waitress made our cheese fondue for us. Granny Smith apples were tasty with it, as was the bread. Celery was not - gross veggies

Salad - It was a ho-hum salad. La dee da.

Fondue - They recommended a cooking time of 2 minutes for all things meat, which was too much for the lobster, shrimp and steak, just right for the pork, and too little for the chicken. Steph and I agreed that the highlights were the "limoncello-balsamic sirloin" (beefy yet tangy) and the "orange-fennel pork tenderloin"... flavor profiles I'm going to try and simulate at home. Too many dipping sauces, too. Oh, they had some porcini purse that was peppery and tasty.

Dessert - Cookies and Cream: Dark chocolate, flambeed marshmellow and crushed Oreos (again, tableside service!). The highlights here was that Stephanie actually ate cheesecake (!!!) and the Rice Krispie treats were the best non-homemade Rice Krispie treats I've ever had (I like mine super-dense and compacted...which these were).

Was it worth the $$$? No. Was it worth it to make Steph happy because we've been trying to try it for a few years now, and we finally were able to get it done without anything mussing it up? Yes.

Nicholas, 3/27/2009

2009-04-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

So Steph and I headed up to Nicholas for her birthday last Friday. Yet again, we were quite satisfied with our amazing meal. After the jump, I'll tell you about what we had, along with my conversation with Nicholas himself!

Unlike last year's anniversary post, I'm way too drained to go into crazy formatting. I'll just talk about what we had, what we liked, what we didn't. Also, I don't quite remember the wines we had, I just remember that they were amazingly paired, per usual. I just wish the wine captain spoke a bit louder, he was a low-talker.

Amuse:
Braised & glazed turnip with minced haricot vert and baby carrot salad
Tasty, and I ate the whole thing, especially surprising since everyone who reads this should know by now I am not usually a fan of vegetables that I don't prepare myself. The turnip was super-sweet, completely unexpected.

Course #1:
Lobster & Blood Orange Salad, Avocado Puree, Grilled Scallion
Right off the bat, they start sauced tableside with a blood orange sauce, which is always a win for me (I am a sucker for table presentation). I am a big fan of blood oranges, and their tartness brought the entire dish together. We didn't order the other choice on the tasting, as it had some things we were a little wary about (octopus, geoduck, jalapenos for Steph).

Course #2:
Seared Day Boat Scallops, Ginger Marshmellow, Pineapple Vinagrette
Parisienne Gnocchi, Sugar Snap Peas, Braised Artichokes
We had the gnocchi previously, and they were just as good now as they were then, if not better. The peas were bright and sweet, the artichokes were amazing, and the gnocchi...well, I need to figure out how to make gnocchi like that, as I only know how to make Italian-style. The star was the scallop, Steph's favorite dish of the night. The ginger and pineapple are a great combo, but there was also a carrot puree that was unreal. I had the scallop with each individual component, and they were all good, but then when I got them all together, it was a winner.

Course #3:
Pine Nut Crusted Halibut, Roasted Garlic Polenta, Balsamic Marscapone
Roasted Monkfish, 24 Karat Gold Nugget Potatoes, Spring Onions, Bacon Butter Sauce
I really enjoyed the halibut, with its Italian flavors. It also was served with a basil foam, which added a nice herb note without being overpowering. The monkfish was prepared excellently, but the potatoes and onions were a little eh, to be honest. Bacon butter sauce? Sign me up.

Course #4:
Braised "Pulled" Suckling Pig, Poached Quince, Cinnamon Jus
Braised Beef Short Ribs, Heirloom Potato Leek Cake, Horseradish Jus
The only course Steph and I really didn't share. She took one bite of my short rib, shrugged her shoulders, then wanted the pig back, which was fine with me. Normally I don't order short ribs out, as I've found that I usually enjoy my own recipe better than what's made out. Not the case here - absolutely amazing. Here's where are story turns fun - when Steph got up to use the lav, who walks over to pick up and refold her napkin but the chef/owner himself, Nicholas Harary. He asked how my meal was going, and I told him my deal with short ribs, but I'd want to eat his dish every night, to which he casually replied "oh, we sous vide them overnight", at which point we lapsed into talking about sous vide at home, how I should buy a FoodSaver rather than use ZipLocs, how they cook their short ribs at 160, and I got a disparaging look about my ZipLoc vacuum seal bags. However, it was fun, if only for an instant, to talk food with such an amazing and talented professional.

Cheese
Brillat-Savarin, Perla Grigia, Muenster, Roquefort
Amazing, amazing, amazing. I loved the perla grigia, with its tasty truffle scent. Steph, didn't eat much (except for the muenster) so I got a double dose. So good, I love cheese.

Palate Cleanser
Yogurt Sorbet with Blood Orange Syrup
3 perfect blood orange segments with a demisphere of sorbet about a quarter-size in diameter. Reminded me of the time my mom made grapefruit sorbet, all kinds of tart and delicious.

Dessert Tasting
A quadruple-tasting of vanilla ice cream on a chocolate tuile, a mini molten chocolate cake, a black currant creme brulee, and a linzertorte. The ice cream and cake were standard the brulee was rather tasty (and excellently prepared) but the star was the linzertorte - I love it and I need to make it more often.

Yet again, the meal started off strong, peaked early, then eased out to a tasty end. I think, next time, Steph and I are going to bring friends along, go to the bar, and make everyone order something different, as recommended by someone previously. Talk about smart thinking.

Edible Flowers

2009-03-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Anyone know where I can get pesticide-free edible flowers somewhere close to central New Jersey?

Tamale Pot Pie

2009-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

I tend to think of pot pie as something to eat on a cold winter evening. Tasty crust, delicious filling...one of those dishes that warms you from the inside out. However, my plans for the perfect pot pie evening were somewhat dashed because it was absolutely *beautiful* and mild out today. Oh well, my pot pie desires were not dissuaded!

I had seen a cookbook while waiting on line for cold cuts at Wegmans one day, called, surprisingly enough, Potpies, which contains some pretty cool takes on pot pie. I've made the individual shrimp scampi potpie before, which was replete with lemony, garlicy, shrimpy goodness, topped with a panko crust. Tonight, tamale potpie. We were not disappointed.

Tamale Pot Pie
from Potpies, by Elinor Klimans

1 tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground pork
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp chili powder (this is not bland cuisine)
1/4 tsp salt
a 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes in juice

1 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt (although Steph and I both added salt to the top after cooking. maybe a smidge more would do)
3/4 reduced sodium chicken broth
1 large egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat to 375. Have ready a 9x2 round baking/pie dish.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium and cook the onions, pepper and garlic until softened, about 10 minutes. Add ground pork and cook until most of the pink color is gone. Stir in cumin, chili powder and salt. Add tomatoes & juice, using a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes into small bite-size pieces. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Spoon the filling into the baking/pie dish and let cool 15 minutes.

After topping is cooled, mix cornmeal and salt together in a bowl, and the broth, egg and oil in another bowl. Add wet to dry and stir until evenly moistened (sorry Laura!) and batter is thin and pourable. Pour topping over the filling on the baking dish, spreading evenly. Bake until topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbly, 35 minutes. Cut with a sharp knife and serve with sour cream and cilantro.

Easy and DELICIOUS. Try it and let me know what you think.

Nicholas must be employing precogs.

2009-02-21T14:46:00.001-08:00

I had broached the topic of where Steph wanted to go for her birthday dinner coming up, and I had floated the idea of hitting up Nicholas again, seeing that we loved the first meal we had there and it's obviously a different season, meaning a different menu. She said she wanted to think it over, and rightfully so, as there are more than enough restaurants we have not dined at and would still like to.

However, Nicholas must have hired precogs or oracles or some way of seeing the future, as today she received a birthday card from the restaurant. Talk about a sign. Needless to say, I'm about to call in 5 minutes and make reservations.

The menu may very well change between now and then, but you should check it out. Well worth the $, if you ask me. Oh, we'll be getting the tasting menu with wine pairings. Can't wait.

Mom's Adventures in Gum Paste

2009-02-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

So anyone who knows me has heard tales of my mother's talent in the kitchen. Anyone who's been lucky enough to enjoy some of her baking...well, it's beyond compare. She started with buttercream, she moved onto fondant, and now she's broken through to a whole new level by teaching herself how to make gum paste flowers.

More pictures after the jump. Check them out and be duly impressed.

That's right, be impressed.

Top Chef + Weeknight Dinner

2009-02-19T16:45:00.001-08:00

In Top Chef news, I really enjoyed Emeril as a judge. I know he was one of the first 'celebrity chefs' and he seems to have his fingers in many pies (TV, houseware line, magazine articles, etc.) but I can definitely say that the tasting menu at the New Orleans Fish House in Las Vegas was one of the finest meals I've ever eaten. He knows how to run a restaurant and make his customers happy, and I've only heard great things about his other places.

As for the actual challenge, I personally think that KitchenKen should've gotten the win, if only for the cocktail. Both his and CrazyCarla's dishes were spot-on, but I think he should've gotten the nod because his cocktail was more complex and matched better than Carla's (then again, I'm judging this by what I see, not what the judges taste). However, I'm a bit iffy about this season - I feel that the producers have more of a say, as BorkBorkBork is still around, giving the audience a villain to root for in the finale (based on last night's challenge, it should be KitchenKen, CrazyCarla and the Prophet in the final).

Prediction: CrazyCarla completes the Cindarella story and takes out the baldies. Put it on the board.

Life has been busier than most, with just less than 3 months to the end of graduate school. It's kept me busy, and my cooking hasn't been super-interesting. After the jump you'll find an easy recipe for prosciutto-sage chicken breasts with sauteed spinach. Even you could make this one, Eric.

Chicken with Prosciutto and Sage (serves 4)
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 sage leaves, whole
4 chicken cutlets
4 thin slices prosciutto
4 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp cold butter
4 sage leaves, minced

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.
Place a sage leaf on each chicken cutlet.
Wrap a prosciutto slice around each cutlet, covering the sage.
Dredge the chicken cutlets in the flour, shaking off excess.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high. Cook 2 cutlets until cooked through and golden brown, 3 minutes per side. Put in a warm oven (lowest possible temp) to keep warm.
Repeat with remaining oil and cutlets.
Add wine and broth, reduce to 1/4 original volume over high heat . Remove from heat, cool for 1 minute, then stir in cold butter and melted sage. Spoon sauce over cutlets on serving plates.

Sauteed Spinach with Raisins
1 tbsp oil
1.5 lb spinach leaves
1/4 cup raisins (I use regular, golden is more traditional)
salt and pepper

Warm oil in a skillet. Add 1/3 spinach, stir and wilt, then add another 1/3, stir and wilt, and add remaining spinach, stir and wilt, 3-4 minutes total. Remove from heat, stir in raisins, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Enjoy!

Pizza

2009-02-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

If you want to see some awesome blogging, WAY better than anything I could ever write, then you need to check out the incomparable Meghann blogging about one of my favorite foods at In Pursuit of Pizza, an ode to all things cheesy and crusty and saucy and delicious.

As far as Top Chef goes, I stopped blogging about this season because I honestly felt that these chefs are nowhere near as talented as the past 2 seasons. I haven't been impressed, and I haven't necessarily agreed with the judges decisions. Homewrecker (aka Leah) should've been gone LONG before last night's episode. However, she is lucky that the producers have a say in this, because BorkBorkBork should have been the one packing his knives last night. A slightly undercooked egg is one thing, because its a personal taste as to how one likes their eggs. A slightly undercooked egg can be frowned upon but forgiven, but overcooking salmon? For everyone? After being so cavalier about how awesome you are at cooking fish? Toast.

Whatever, now we have the good guys of SuperFabioBros (super props for gutting through with a broken finger), CrazyCarla (who has really emerged as the dark horse candidate, and I'm rooting for her) and the Prophet (who started off the season alright, but hasn't been doing anything amazing) against the evil BorkBorkBork for the title. Truth be told, I think the Swedish Chef gets it, because he's been cooking circles around everyone else (save last night).

Snow days mean one thing...

2009-01-28T05:52:00.000-08:00

Not much is better than getting a call at 4:55 AM, looking at my phone, seeing its my buddy Joe, picking up the phone, and saying "What up?" to hear the reply "Duuuuuuuuuuude". I love snow days.

So Steph and I are sitting around, enjoying the fact that we can be mellow in the morning, when she says "Why don't you find a good pancake recipe?" which was surprising, coming from Stephanie. You see, she is a ~~Bisquick~~ Aunt Jemima devotee (as I was just informed), and pancakes is one of the few dishes she is willing to prepare for herself. Whereas I was raised in a house where pancakes were prepared at a thickness that allowed for a nice stack, Steph has always liked ONE BIG PANCAKE. I'll admit, the first time she made me a pancake, I was a bit uncomfortable with a giant, battleship-sized pancake on my plate.

It does need to be mentioned now that watching Steph prepare to eat a pancake is both shocking and hysterical all at the same time. Perfect parallel lines, 1" spaced, rotate 90 degrees, more perfectly parallel lines, 1" spaces. This has got to be how engineers eat their pancakes.

So, I hopped onto eGullet forums, which is a happy home for people who want to talk about EVERYTHING when it comes to food. I found a topic where people were talking about pancakes (92 posts all about pancakes!) and found a recipe that looked both easy and delicious.

Pancakes
taken from paulraphael on egullet

1 1/2 c AP flour
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 whole egg
1 egg, separated
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/8 c milk

Mix together your dry ingredients. Set aside.

Whisk together the egg and egg yolk until frothy, then whisk in the melted butter and the milk. Whisk up your egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gently mix together the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold in the egg whites.
Take a ladle full of batter, put it into a heated nonstick pan, and cook until bubbles form in the center and the edges look solid. When you flip, use a spatula and don't try to be fancy, otherwise you'll end up with results like this:

Fortunately, I wised up.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

2009-01-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I know I've been slack on Top Chef recaps (sorry Katya!) but with the end of the marking period coming up as well as the beginning of the *last semester of graduate school*, I've been slightly busy.

So as those of you who keep track of this thing know, I made myself a big batch of chicken stock the other day. I had asked for some suggestions, and I only had one (thanks guys :-P) from Rob, who's blog you should all check out for some more food blogging and some awesome pictures.

He suggested risotto, which I'll admit I haven't made since before I met Stephanie. How ridiculous is that? Therefore, it was decided - I was going risotto alla Milanese which is risotto seasoned with saffron. However, with saffron being horrendously expensive ($16 for like a tsp) I decided to switch gears and go with a wild mushroom risotto. I also made a simple braised chicken breast, as Steph was hesitant on not having a protein, and I was glad to use some more of my stock in the braise and in the jus. However, the star of the show was the risotto.

Wild Mushroom Risotto (makes 4 servings, I scaled it down)
29 oz chicken stock (2 cans, but homemade is best)
1/2 dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed
3 tbsp butter, cut into 1 tbsp portions
8 oz fresh mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, chanterelle...whatever you can get your hands on)
salt and pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup Carnaroli or Arborio rice (the ONLY rice you can use!)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

In a medium pot, combine the stock, the porcini and 4 cups of water. Bring it up to a boil, and cook the porcini until they are tender. Take them out with a slotted spoon, chop them and set them aside. Put the mushroom stock on low and cover it.

In a larger pot, heat 1 tbsp of butter over medium-high. Add the porcini and the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook while stirring continuously for 4 minutes or so. Dump them onto a plate and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium low, add another portion of butter, melt it down, dump in the onions, season with salt & pepper, and let it sweat for 3 minutes. Pour in the rice, and stir for like a minute until all the grains are nice and coated with fat (this is called the tostatura). Dump in the wine and stir, stir, stir until the wine is mostly absorbed.

Now comes the tedious part. Ladle in a cup of your warm mushroom stock and stir, stir, stir until your stock is almost absorbed. Ladle in another cup and stir, stir, stir (are you sensing a pattern here?). Keep doing this until your stock is gone and your rice is al dente, and your rice is surrounded by a liquid that is the consistency of heavy cream. Take it off the heat, dump in the last portion of butter, the Parmesan and the mushrooms, stir, and serve. If you did everything right, your risotto will spread across the plate but not be liquidy around the edges. Even if you screwed it up, it's going to be delicious!

I'd have had pictures, but alas, the camera was upstairs. Next time, I swear!

Chicken stock, the real way

2009-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, I don't have any pictures, but I did something I've been planning to do for some time now: make stock.

I've been collecting various chicken parts and pieces over the course of the last month or two - thigh bones, wing parts and wings, extra chicken skin, bits of trim and a chicken carcass from my cutting up a chicken into parts this morning. Everything went into the biggest pot I own, turned on the heat, brought it up to a low simmer, then just chilled out while skimming gunk and foam every now and then. Easiest thing in the world.

In the meantime, my parents rung me up to meet them in Freehold for some falafel, and I was mightily impressed. Actually, I ordered chicken shawarma, and it was extremely tasty. Nice break from sitting around and watching The Dark Knight for the 11th time.

Got back, tossed in about a pound or so of mirepoix (that's 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery) and a sachet of peppercorns, parsley, thyme, garlic and a bay leaf. Simmered for another hour (OK, maybe a bit more), then strained through some cheesecloth. Done and done, with Mom taking the chicken and vegetables home for Sidney the Great Dane.

How did it come out? Well, right now it is cooling outside, covered in foil in a giant bowl, while it is snowing...and there's this big circle of melted snow around the bowl on the table. Too funny. Seriously, though, it did come out rather clear, maybe a little more cloudy than I'd have liked, but I don't think it's going to be a big problem. I'll probably go out in a few hours and check to see if its cooled down enough.

What to do with it? Well, I'm making Chicken with 40 Garlic Cloves tomorrow, so that's a start. The rest...who knows? Anyone have any ideas?

Candied Almonds

2009-01-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

A tasty snack, quick to make, delicious to eat. Just whipped myself up a batch. Awesome.

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 cup almonds

Mix the water, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan, and heat over medium until boiling. Dump in the almonds, then stir.

Keep stirring.

Did I say stop?

You're going to want to keep stirring until all the water is gone. That means when it starts to thicken, keep stirring. That means when it starts to turn to syrup, keep stirring. That means when it seems like there's a little bit of liquid left, keep stirring. You want solid lumps of cinnamon-sugar crystals on your almonds and the pan to be completely dry before you stop stirring.

Pour the goodies out on a wax-paper'd plate (I used my quarter-sheet) and let cool for 15 minutes or so. YUM.

Iron Chef Freehold

2009-01-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had received a message from Aaron, the boyfriend of one of my oldest friends, the incomparable Meghann Williams. They wanted to head up to scenic Freehold for an evening of cooking and eating and drinking. Oh please...twist my arm! I met Meghann during orientation during our freshman year of college (10 years ago!) as she lived down the hall from me and I was desperately in love with her roommate, but I lucked out in ending up with a great friend. I don't get to see her as often as I'd like, so I was definitely looking forward to this event. Oh yeah, Aaron's pretty cool, too! (Here ends the sappiness).

So after a bunch of traded Facebook messages and phone calls, we sort of semi-finalize our menu...which of course gets changed a bit when we get to Wegmans, and definitely altered once we realized our stomachs couldn't keep up with our will to keep eating. Either way, it was an absolute blast spending the day with Meghann and Aaron, and we can't wait to do this again soon! After the break, there's a full description of everything that was eaten, with pictures, thank you Stephanie!

Aaron's cooking repertoire resides in Italy, which presented a short mental roadblock to me, as my favorite flavors to work with usually involve soy sauce, citrus and ginger. However, I'm always down for a trip to the Mediterranean, so I scoured some cookbooks and came up with some good ideas. Here's how things went:

Course 1: Haloumi with Peppers and Honey

I'd never eaten haloumi before, and it was definitely a tasty treat. Aaron had also brought some special honey from California to go with this dish, which was simplicity itself. He cut up the cheese into bite-size pieces, then sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil until golden brown, then mixed in some sauteed diced peppers and the honey. The cool thing was that the cheese didn't melt, but maintained a firmness that was pleasant and made this fun squeaky sound when we bit into it. Definitely something I'm going to work into my repertoire.

Course 2: Butter-Poached Garlic Shrimp

Here's an old stand-by of mine. Big 13-15 count shrimp, marinated quickly in a bunch of minced raw garlic, olive oil and some red pepper flakes. A big pan of butter (with some olive oil) heated up over a low flame with 5-6 crushed garlic cloves, until they are nice and golden. In goes the shrimp, and they are poached slowly and carefully until they are tender and delicious. Pour the whole thing out on the plate, and serve with some crusty bread to sop up the sauce. Could've used a bit of lemon to cut through the rich butter, though. Alas, forgot it.

Course 3: Fried Zucchini and Mozzarella

Pretty straightforward course from Aaron, with the tomato sauce being full of onion and garlic flavor. I'm not a fan of zucchini, but I still gave it a try.....and I'm still not a fan of zucchini. I'd have passed the mandoline over to Aaron, as it's way more fun to cut vegetables using the mandoline than with the knife. The mozzarella was tasty and gooey and everything it should've been. A very successful dish!

Course 4: Potato, Bacon and Rosemary Pizza

Something I had read about, and was definitely interested to make. I rendered down the bacon and cut it into lardons (should've reversed that), sliced my red potatoes super-thin on the mandoline, picked some rosemary leaves, arranged it oh-so-artfully over a pizza crust, sprinkled with parmesan, then threw it in the oven. I'd have liked the potatoes to crisp up a bit more, but I was afraid of overcooking my crust. Despite that, a successful dish, one I am definitely going to be making again.

Course 5: Roasted Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Four-Cheese Sandwiches

This was a combination of our efforts, with Aaron making the sandwiches and me prepping the soup, which is a recipe I've made before. I dont' recall the three cheese in the sandwich, but it was coated in egg and parmesan then fried. The combo was delicious, and you can see how much we enjoyed it here and here.

Course 6: Transparency of Manchego Cheese

This was something from the Alinea cookbook, which I've been dying to cook something from. In this case, it was a dish that had a super-thin slice of manchego cheese melted over a pool of olive oil pudding, squares of roasted peppers, cubes of sourdough, some chopped anchovie fillet, roasted garlic and dehydrated olives. I dehydrated the olives at 350 while I roasted the garlic, and they came out crunchy and super-concentrated in flavor (Meghann and Aaron loved them). My first attempt at the olive oil pudding did not work out quite the way I had hoped (as I believe I did not get it up to the proper temperature) but my 2nd attempt came out way better. So on the plate went some of the pudding (squeezed out of a mustard bottle), with the various garnishes over, finished with a super-thin slice of manchego, melted with a blowtorch.

Unfortunately, Steph, at this point, was nursing both a pretty fierce buzz and an upset stomach, so she didn't snap a pic. Meghann, did you? This was really rather interesting, with some cool temperature contrast between the cool pudding and the warm cheese. Each of the flavors was extremely complementary and was all-in-all a delicious dish. I was very happy how it came out...and even more happy that I had made my first recipe from the Alinea book!

Course 7: Gnocchi with Parmesan Cream and Prosciutto

At this point in the meal, everyone was flagging, and this was bad because we still had tons of things left to serve - spinach with cara navels and candied almonds, spincah-ricotta dumplings with pecan-sage-butter, sole with lemon and capers, meatballs with amaretti, sous-vide lamb tenderloin with wine-braised red cabbage, date compote and rosemary (another Alinea dish), chicken stuffed with locatelli and cheese...but this dish was where we drew the line.

The gnocchi were soft and tender, and the sauce set up and thickened very nicely after a few minutes. I'm a tremendous fan of gnocchi, and I never eat it, and these made me very happy to nosh on. What's not to like about starch, cheese and pork products?

So at this point, we decided to call it an evening, even though we had a refrigerator filled with prepped food. That's what we get when we start eating tons of starch and cheese and don't pace ourselves as well as we should. Cooking with Aaron made me reflect a bit on my own practice, as I was amazed watching him just throw ingredients together, without much regard for amounts...simply cooking on feel rather than on strict method. I, on the other hand, am a bit more OCD, making careful measurements and going so far as to use a kitchen scale to portion out my ingredients (something I have become more and more of a fan of as I have grown as a home chef). Steph points out (rightly) that it's the science vs. art dichotomy, where I'm more driven by measurement and precision (as the scientist) whereas Aaron can exercise that creativity and freedom from rigidity (as the artist). I didn't think of it quite like that, but as I've mulled it over, she may be on to something.

Despite the stuffedness and the 3 lb I put on, I had a great time cooking with Aaron and getting to spend time with him and Meghann. Can't wait to do it again!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to whoever it is that happens to be keeping tabs on my little corner of cyberspace. I'm not one for resolutions, but I am going to try to write more and take more pictures. I can promise you that there will probably be an amazingly long and picture-filled post on Sunday because our good friends Meghann and Aaron are coming up, and Aaron and I are going to be cooking up a veritable feast. I'm looking forward to it, as I think I'm pretty talented...but Aaron is that much better. Stay posted.

Steph and I, being the recipients of some generous gifts from relatives, decided we would go out to a really fancy dinner for New Years Eve, before meeting up with friends. We decided on Piccola Italia in Ocean, for a good number of reasons. First off, Stephanie had eaten here over the summer for Laura's bachelorette dinner, and said the food was amazing. Second, we'd met the general manager through Joe and Brian and company a few times, and we'd had some good talks about good food and good eating, and I wanted to renew the acquaintance. Finally, everyone I've talked to (other than Steph) has raved about the food. So away we went...

So we arrive to a practically dead dining room, but I was OK with that because it only meant better service for us! The New Years Eve menu was a three-course prix fixe, with an app, entree and dessert. Very straightforward. We say hi to Andrew (the manager) and talk to our waiter about food and wine, saying we'd like pairings for the dishes we were choosing, but only by the glass. I do have to say up front that Andrew (who I believe also acts as the wine captain/sommelier) did an amazing job. So here's where our meal went (you can see the menu here):

Amuse: A 'gift from the chef', a baby tartlet of asparagus, truffled cheese and mache with basil oil. Creaminess, earthiness and tastiness, all wrapped up in a single bite (which is something those Top Chef people still don't get about an amuse). I'm no fan of asparagus, but this was delicious, and got us warmed up (along with a glass of house prosecco, which definitely helped)

App: Since it was New Years, and I felt like celebrating with my awesome wife, I decided to buck the low-cholesterol diet and order the seared foie gras with apricot corn bread and the cranberry gastrique. If you've never eaten foie gras...there's really nothing like it, and there's no way to describe it. Amazing. Paired with a moscato that was perfect and cut through the richness of the foie. I'd eat this every day if my cholesterol and wallet would hold up. Steph ordered the "Fire and Ice" oysters (paired with a Sauvignon Blanc) which was 3 polenta-breaded fried oysters with a chili sauce and 3 half-shell raw oysters. I am happy to have turned Steph on to eating oysters, as she always enjoys them. Last night was no different.

Salad: A bonus course from Andrew, baby field greens with goat cheese, walnuts...and something something something because at that point I stopped paying attention. However, both Andrew and the waiter were extremely apologetic, and brought me out what was probably the most tasty Caesar salad I've ever eaten. 3 planks of romaine hearts stacked with shaved Piave and white anchovies, with a tomato confit and some garlic croutons. I've never had anchovies when they weren't mashed or blended into a sauce or a soup...but this was out of this world. I am a changed man and am willing to open my mind to the world of anchovies (mind you, *quality* anchovies like these). It needs to be noted that noone else seated around us (as we were observing later in the evening) was brought out salads :)

Entree: Steph ordered porcini-dusted scallops with mushrooms, truffle butter and mache, paired with a Chardonnay (might have been a white Bordeaux) that was unoaked, to let the subtle sweetness really work with the earthiness of the mushrooms and the sweetness of the scallop. Out of this world. I got the double-cut veal chop (out of the norm for me, but tender and delicious) with a chestnut truffle bread pudding (amazing), hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (unreal) and a marrow/truffle reduction, which was just about the most luxurious and amazing sauce I've ever had (the asparagus on the plate sat lonely and ignored). It was paired with a California meritage Syrah/Cabarnet blend, which I really enjoyed, despite the fact that I am usually not a fan of Syrah, as I find it to be far too spicy and bold. In this wine, however, everything was balanced and was an excellent complement to the meal.

Cheese: After our entrees were cleared, our amazing waiter comes back to ask if we would be interested in a cheese tasting before dessert...like he had to ask. Of course we agree, and out comes a plate for 2, consisting of some Piave, Taleggio, aged sharp Provolone and a ball of...well...it tasted like chevre, which was a bit of a bummer seeing we were in an Italian restaurant. Steph enjoyed the Piave quite a bit, as well as the provolone, leaving the good stuff (the taleggio and the chevre) to me. It also should be noted at this point that, even though we paid for the cheese, no other tables were being offered the option of supplementing their meal. Woot!

Dessert: A "teardrop" of chocolate and espresso mousse, with vanilla gelato and a raspberry coulis. Pretty standard stuff, but still delicious. Maybe the portion was a bit too big, but I'm not terribly upset. With a cup of coffee, it was the perfect ending to the meal.

So that was our New Years dinner, one with which we are still extremely satisfied. We will definitely be back to Picolla, hopefully sooner rather than later!

Top Chef Digest

2008-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is delayed a day, I got busy yesterday afternoon. My bad.

A series of accurate predictions and an unfair challenge left me a bit unfulfilled by this week's top chef. Plus, they all pretty much sucked it up.

We start off with the cheftestants relaxing in the morning. SprayTanAriane is happy, the Tryin' Hawaiian is pumped about fighting his way to the top, SuperFabioBros and BorkBork are now referring to themselves as "The Euros" and the Prophet is talking with his sister on his oh-so-obviously placed T-Mobile Sidekick.

At this point, we feel they're setting up Hosea for one of two outcomes - the losing "now I'll have more time to spend with my sick dad" or the "I'm going to win this one for the Gipper!" win. Meghann voted lose, I was pulling for the win.

So here comes the QuickFire, and it's guest-judged by none other than MARTHA, carrying her new book. The IMs were fast and furious at this point, mostly consisting of "WE MET HER!" and "WE HAVE THAT BOOK SIGNED!" and other nerdiness. The challenge was this: make a 1-pot meal, holiday-inspired. Easy, right? Not when you've got the queen of entertaining at home judging your stuff. I'd be freaked-the-hell out.

Here's what everybody made, with annotations:
BorkBork - veal goulash. Martha thinks its tasty and approves.
Prophet - traditional paella. Martha approves.
Melissa - braised pork tenderloin. Martha likes.
KitchenKen - potato "risotto" with pork and brussel sprouts. Martha disapproves, saying that it is too starchy and heavy. Jeff also fails with me because he seems to like to name dishes inappropriately (like last week's "tomato carpaccio")...potato "risotto" sounds to me like lumpy mashed potatoes.
Jamie the Sparkplug - Potato/kale stew with scallops. I say meh, Martha approves. Maybe I'm sick of people cooking scallops, especially her (see below).
SprayTanAriane - Filet with cauliflower puree. Martha approves.
CrazyCarla - brined turkey with cranberry-apple stuffing. Martha says "tasty"
SuperFabioBros - polenta and duck. Sounds awesome, but gets a harsh "Thank You" from Martha.
Eugene - pork stew. He says he doesn't have the time to thicken the stew normally, so he thickens with cornstarch (I immediately cringe). Now, I don't think there's anything criminal in using cornstarch, but I'm also not a professional chef. It really is cheating when you can make a quick roux or some beurre manie.

SprayTanAriane wins...maybe she's more talented than she lets on or the general public believes? Too bad she annoys the crap out of me. Alas, the trials and tribulations of watching this show.

So in walks the Harlem Gospel Chorus Choir Singing People, and thus begins the XMas Bludgeoning, where the producers of Top Chef begin beating all the viewers over the head with holiday campiness, just in case we forgot...even for a microsecond...that this was an Xmas-themed ep. They draw knives, and each get one of the lines from the "12 Days of Christmas". Clever, and Bludgeoning! They have to put together a dish for an event for 250 people, which means that this is yet another episode of Top Caterer. Unfair, if you ask me (and Tom brings this up later)

Everyone goes to Whole Foods, and they're doing their prep, and they're all on point with their kitchen work. There really hasn't been any sort of tradgedies when it comes to prep and service, and they're all rushing around and they all seem to be doing a great job (the sole exception being Hosea's smoking up the kitchen while cooking pork). Except when they all come down the next morning to do some prep, they find the kitchen was warm and left open and OH NO! Hosea and Radhika's dishes are completely ruined. However, the Bludgeoning begins again because everyone helps out with scraps and leftovers and they help them bring it together and put a palatable offering out on this holiday episode of Top Caterer! GO XMAS SPIRIT!

Here's what everyone put out, with annotations, of course:
BorkBork - 12 drummers drumming: chicken pot pie. Meh. I'm sure it tasted great, and the judges thought well of it, but I didn't see how it related to the theme. I'd have made something with duck legs or chicken wings.
Prophet - 11 pipers piping: smoked pork with chipotle mashed potatoes. I think it looks delicious and I would order that at a restaurant for sure. The judges were impressed.
KitchenKen - 10 lords-a-leaping: seared haloumi and kasseri with roasted beets and spices. His idea was he was "leaping" island to island in the Mediterranean. I liked his first idea, though...frog legs! Delicious.
SuperFabioBros - 9 ladies dancing: crabcakes. Bad inspiration, greasy and dense...Fabio is not impressing anyone since the get-go. Steph suggested he could've gone with something from the Nutcracker. Sugar plum faeries? One of the cultural things? Not a bad idea.
Melissa - 8 maids-a-milking: steak with gorgonzola. Excellen idea, but too much gorgonzola wiped out any flavor from the beef. Only a little is needed!
Jamie the Sparkplug - 7 swans-a-swimming: raw scallops "swimming" in vichyssoise. Ew. She definitely not impress in this challenge. Warm raw scallops. Could have done something with sous-vide (you know, it's swimming in water!)
SprayTanAriane - 6 geese-a-laying: deviled eggs six ways. Now I LOVE deviled eggs, and the idea was good...but deviled eggs? That's what I make to bring to a potluck, not to win a professional chef competition. Stick with the egg theme, or do something with caviar. Not quite geese-a-laying, but it's fish-a-laying
Tryin' Hawaiian - 5 golden rings: poisson cru with a pineapple ring. Sounded tasty, despite his terrible story, but it ended up being overtly super-sweet. Alas, keep tryin'!
There were no 4 calling birds! You thought I wouldn't notice...but I DID!!!
Leah - 3 french hens: braised guinea hen on brioche. Not a bad idea, and they liked the taste, but she put it on a dry brioche crouton. Better to have just served it straight on the plate
CrazyCarla - 2 turtle doves: chicken with duxelle and mushrooms. Idea looked good, but they said it was too salty.
Radhika - partrige in a pear tree: duck legs with pear chutney. I still have my issues with Radhika, but man oh man can she cook and really get the theme. Way to go. I was a fan.

Meanwhile, Tom freely admits that this Top Caterer challenge was unfair to other past Top Caterer challenges because it was a solo vs. a team challenge. I personally think its completely unfair, but I'm not the show's producer.

Prophet, KitchenKen, BorkBork and Radhika are tops, with the Prophet winning one for the Gipper! Did I call it or what?!? Tryin' Hawaiian, BoringMelissa and Sparkplug in the bottom. I originally predicted BoringMelissa...well...because she's boring and brings nothing to the show. However, the Bludgeoning finishes off when "in the spirit of XMas we are not sending anyone home"...looks like its Xmas in July!

Tom Ripken Jr. tough-talks the chefs...which is about as predictable at this point as my old swim coach tossing us out of practice and dressing us down at least once in October. No less entertaining. Next week: Free rein in the kitchen! Cook whatever you want! Can't wait!

The verdict

2008-12-16T15:26:00.001-08:00

I say "What a perfectly cooked and seasoned piece of chicken. The very essence of what chicken is supposed to taste like. Moist, tender and delicious."

Steph says "It was boring"

Now, we're both right in this case. Steph was not happy because...well...it was a simple piece of chicken seasoned with salt and pepper. However, since I was following the recipe the first time I cooked it, and all it called for was salt and pepper...so that's all it got!

The important thing was that IT WORKED. I was able to keep my water bath at a consistent temperature (160 - 163) and the vacuum bags did not puncture or leak or otherwise ruin my food. I'm rather excited to try this out and play some more, with attempting chicken that has been premarinated, with some steak (which would be seared after cooking) or maybe try my recipe for balsamic pork, but with some sous vide pork chops.

This was definitely time well spent. I am excited!

Adventures in Sous Vide

2008-12-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a number of things, namely Top Chef, a blog I follow, and the Alinea cookbook, I wanted to try my hand at cooking sous vide. Sous vide is sealing some ingredients in a vacuum bag, then submerging it in a water bath for a given amount of time. I've seen it done quite a bit on TV and I've been reading alot about it (with what seems to be the best and most scientific guide here) and I wanted to get my hands wet (no pun intended) because pretty much all of the recipes in the Alinea book call for meat to be cooked sous-vide before searing/serving.

Things that are awesome about sous vide is the concentrated flavors that you get when you cook with it, and the near-impossibility of overcooking your food (since it obviously can't get above the temperature of the water immersion bath). It also can be relatively low in fat, if you choose (I could've added a tbsp of butter to each bag...but I didn't). The problems are that for consistently good sous vide, the best piece of equipment to have is a thermal immersion circulator, which provides consistent water temperature at all times, as well as a vacuum-sealing system (with options from the moderately pricey to the exceedingly ridiculous).

However, for the home cook on a budget (both money and space), I've taken some shortcuts that should hopefully work...

This recipe was taken from the Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking.

I brined 2 chicken breasts in a 5% salt solution for 30 minutes (that's 50 g salt in 1 Liter of water). After rinsing under cold water, drying and lightly seasoning with salt and pepper, the chicken breasts then went into their own Reynolds Handi-Vac Bag, and sucked out all the air.

Using my awesome cast-enameled Dutch oven (thank you in-laws!) and my handy digital thermometer, I rigged up a water bath at 160 degrees. In went the chicken, where it's been sitting for over an hour. I'm planning on taking it out in 13 minutes, then eating it with some roasted potatoes and shallots w/ olive oil and rosemary, and vegetable du jour (for Steph). I'll report back how it is when I'm done eating and cleaning!

Bonnie's Rule of Cooking #1

2008-12-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is rapidly approaching, which means that many of my friends start to throw holiday potluck dinners for all of us to be together and to eat and drink and be merry. I'm also usually in a bind because I'm never given any sort of limits to what I should make, and I frequently get the "make whatever you want, it'll be delicious" (my culinary skills are held in high esteem by my friends). I also find myself wanting to challenge myself and up my skills, but I'm held up by Bonnie's Rule of Cooking #1:

Never make a recipe for company the first time you are preparing it.

More after the jump to explain my dilemma.

The issue is that I don't have the time to test out a lot of the recipes I want to try, so invariably I end up whipping them for the first time. Blargh. Thankfully the rules are flexible enough that I can get through this holiday season without poisoning anyone and/or ruining anyone's taste buds.

Happy eating, everyone!

Top Chef Digest

2008-12-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

I don't want to come out and play favorites, but I will definitely say I have issues with 2 of the cheftestants so far. Swedish Chef is an arrogant douche, but not in a Marcel/Steven lovable sort of way...he's just an ass. I also can't get behind the sort-of-backwards-trucker-hat look from Melissa. Please. Either wear some tasteful headgear or don't wear anything at all.

This episode had 2 of my favorite things - palate tests and group challenges. All in all, a good episode, and I honestly got my initial projection wrong. More after the jump.

First, we're treated to a quick montage of Swedish Chef being creepy and hitting on/stalking Jamie, who is humored and repulsed at the same time. Note to Stefan: making clothes and putting them on stuffed animals will not win over a lady's heart. You'd have better luck running up to her and screaming BORK BORK BORK! in her face.

The Quickfire this week was a variation on the "palate test" that has been done every season thus far, but this time it was a head-to-head taste test tournament, naming ingredients in a Liar's Dice sort of way. One cheftestant would say how many ingredients they could name, and the other would either up the bid or call bullshit, at which point the cheftestant would have to name their ingredients. A novel idea, especially with Swedish Chef bumping up everyone on purpose and being an arrogant prick. Shrimp and Lobsert Bouillabase for Round 1, Green Curry for Round 2 and Mole Sauce for Round 3. In the end, The Prophet had better taste buds than Swedish Chef, and was victorious.

Can we just agree for a minute though that claiming "salt" or "pepper" as one of the ingredients is a bit lame. Let me see, odds are that since humans put salt in almost everything, there's a REALLY good chance there's salt in this dish! Please.

The Elimination Challenge is presented via knife block, dividing the chefs up into groups "Old", "New", "Borrowed", "Blue" - pretty obvious they're doing something involving a wedding. Out comes Gail (who I admit I think is rather cute) and says they're catering her bridal shower lunch, with a dish inspired by one of the four bridal thingys. The only limitations she puts on them is no veal and no black beans. I can understand the veal, from a certain POV (more on that later) but black beans? Must be a personal thing. Also, one of the chefs mentions (something I noticed immediately) is that Gail probably invited a bunch of her coworkers...who all work for Food & Wine Magazine. Tough crowd, this one.

Here I will describe the trials and tribulations of each group, culminating in service:

Something Old (The Prophet, Swedish Chef, Kitchen Ken): Wisely, they get to Whole Foods and realize "Even though this is going to air in December, we are shooting it at the height of tomato season...let's do heirloom tomatoes!". Swedish Chef rubs everyone the wrong way, telling them how to cook their dishes without worrying about his own. They go with heirloom tomatoes in old-school preparations. Prophet makes a gazpacho, BorkBorkBork makes a tomato terrine (which got panned by someone on-screen) and KitchenKen makes tomato carpaccio with a tomato sorbet, which gets rave reviews. (Can I just rant for a second: tomato carpaccio? Come on!) The dish is successful, with no adverse service problems.

Something New (Tryin' Hawaiian, Chops, Crazy Carla): Chops is going on about pickling spices (which does not say "new" to me), Eugene the Tryin' Hawaiian (thanks Meghann!) wants to make some sort of "new sushi" and Crazy Carla is just keeping everything bottled up. They "settle" on a "surf and turf sushi", but Eugene overcooks the rice, and tries to hide it by adding more ingredients (NOTE: Adding more things to food that has already been messed only ensures one thing - more messed up food). Chops then adds mushrooms at the bottom of the wonton cups under Carla's salad...and she doesn't say anything! To compound everything, Eugene "forgets" to explain how to eat the dish to the diners...nothing made me laugh harder than Dana Cowin flapping 2 nori sheets around her head.

Something Borrowed (Jamie the Sparkplug, SprayTan Ariane, Just Because My Name Is Radhika Doesn't Mean I'm Cooking Indian Food): Can anyone take a guess what THIS group is making? They're "borrowing" Indian flavors from Radhika's cultural background!?!?!?! ARGH!!!!!! Let me just repeat again I would have no problem with this if she hadn't said she didn't want to do it in the first episode! Anyway, they cook up a marinated lamb with an Indian-spiced carrot puree and it looked delicious (even though I thought it was rather raw from a far shot, it was actually cooked perfectly). They had issues with timing and plating was going to be tough, but some of the other cheftestants helped them out with plating and all was well. This should be a lesson to everyone else: better to make sure your main protein is cooked right and rush your plating, rather than having improperly cooked meat and failing miserably. SprayTan Ariane gets the win for this challenge, with a boatload of Calphalon kitchen electrics (LUCKY!)

Something Blue (SuperFabioBros, Leah, Melissa the Trucker): There is no such thing as blue food, as our heroes quickly surmise. SuperFabioBros wants to make something from the ocean...it's blue...good idea. They do a blue cornmeal-crusted Chilean sea bass with a corn puree and some greens. I immediately call that it's a mushy fish, combined with mushy greens and a mushy puree...bad idea (turns out I was right). However, the most inane part of it was when Fabio is explaining how their dish is "blue" and he says "in the color spectrum, yellow and green make blue". You're playing in my sandbox now, big boy, and let me tell you that yellow and green certainly DO NOT make blue. You stick to cooking food and saying silly things, leave the science to the scientists. In the end, the dish is destined for failure because it is too safe and too boring (and Tom Ripken gets a good shot in, telling Fabio it's not that hard to cook 40 pieces of fish. PWN3D!)

In the end, Chops still insists they put out an awesome dish, which ultimately leads to his packing his knives. Alas, Chops, we hardly knew you! Sad though, I thought he could've been a contender.

Frontrunners: Sparkplug, KitchenKen, BorkBorkBork

Next week: MARTHA! Sweet.

Guilt-Free Chicken Parm

2008-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

First, let me just say a few words about Top Chef. I've been a slacker, I admit. All I have to say is this: it should be a HUGE clue to people who watch the show that you can telegraph who is getting the boot simply from seeing whether or not they decide to "show their versatility" by making dessert. Coincidence that the last 2 cheftestants to get the boot have tried their hand at dessert? I think not.

I love chicken parm, there's no getting around it. I eat it so rarely because there's not much worse for you than deep-fried chicken cutlets smothered in salty tomato sauce and gooey cholesterol-laden mozzarella cheese. Comfort food is great, but I always feel so guilty after eating a chicken parm sandwich, I just feel absolutely weighed down with grease and salt and blah. Fortunately, I've got a killer recipe for a lighter chicken parm that has all the taste, without any of the guilt. Stephanie and I housed this tonight, without even breaking a sweat. I also made some Barilla Plus spaghetti and tossed it with some of the leftover sauce. Delicious.

Lighter Chicken Parm
For the sauce:
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
dash red pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp minced fresh basil

For the chicken:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (with more for serving)
1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 egg whites
2 tsp water
vegetable oil spray
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved into cutlets
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/2 tbsp minced fresh basil

Preheat to 475.

Puree the diced tomatoes (with juice) in a miniprep until...well...pureed. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil then cook the tomato paste, garlic and red pepper flakes until slightly brown, about 2 minutes. Pour in the pureed tomatoes and stir and cook until thickened, about 20-25 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.

While the sauce is cooking, combine the breadcrumbs and oil in a large skillet and toast over medium, stirring until golden. Spread the breadcrumbs in a dish and cool. Stir in Parmesan. In another dish, combine flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. In another dish, whisk together egg whites and water. Dip the chicken cutlets in flour mixture, then egg mixture and then breadcrumb mixture. Put on a rack over a baking sheet (sprayed with vegetable oil spray) and spray tops of chicken with...well...the spray. Bake for 15 minutes. Take out of the oven, spread some sauce on the top of each piece, and top with shredded cheese. Put back in the oven for 5 minutes until the cheese is all bubbly. Finish with basil and Parmesan and serve with spaghetti. Delicious.

Almond Butter

2008-12-06T14:20:00.001-08:00

I love almonds, as I can eat a 1/4 cup (which is a surprisingly large amount) per serving, which is quite a filling snack. They also have that added side bonus of (supposedly) helping to increase my HDL and lower my LDL counts, both of which will make my doctor happy. I used to eat the roasted/salted ones, but I've gotten into the habit of buying the roasted/unsalted, since cutting back on my sodium is also a good thing.

Recently, I got the idea that I should make my own almond butter, from seeing a video of someone making their own peanut butter and from when I worked at Godiva when I was 15, where I used to sneak almond butter domes from the back room every chance I could get. So here it is - one of the easiest recipes ever.

Almond Butter
1 cup roasted unsalted almonds
1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Process the almonds and salt in a mini-prep until finely ground and clumping together. Add the vegetable oil in a slow stream while processing. Add more oil to thin out the texture, if you like. Keep covered tightly in the refrigerator.

That's it!

Dirty pans

2008-12-06T03:59:00.000-08:00

Nothing is sadder than waking up in the morning and seeing a pan that I still need to clean. The saute pan that I dirtied beyond belief when I lost track of searing steaks is mocking me from the sink, even after I let it soak in hot water and soap overnight. It's just sitting there, reminding me how I charred the fond and made a huge mess of things.

Blech.

Comfort food

2008-12-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

There's something comforting about a chicken cutlet, coated in some seasoned bread crumbs and quickly pan-fried. With a little Israeli couscous and a salad, it's a perfectly delicious dinner. Yum.

In other news, I was the happy recipient of a double e-mail from my great friend Meghann and her man Aaron, inviting themselves over to our house for a day of cooking and eating and drinking. I can't say that I mind - they're two of my favorite people on the planet. I am PUMPED, and I'm already full of ridiculous ideas. I'm also positively sure there will be pictures and blog postings galore come January 3rd.

Woot.

A big update

2008-11-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hey, to those that still keep track of this corner of the blogosphere. I've been slack lately due to a number of reasons. The end of the marking period just passed, which meant a good amount of extra work. I also was awfully sick on Thanksgiving, running a 100+ fever and having an awful stomach issue (which is why I still haven't gotten around to a Top Chef Digestion for last week). Fortunately for me, my mom is awesome and is making a big meal for today, with all of my favorite foods and sides and dessert. Who says Thanksgiving needs to be on Thursday?

The other issue I've been dealing with over the last week is that my doctor told me my cholesterol is rather high and I need to make some changes in my diet in order to bring that number back down to normal (which should also have a positive effect on my higher-than-normal blood pressure). To that end, I've been doing a bunch of reading and a bunch of research on how to adjust my diet. Here's what I've discovered about the way I eat

1) As much as I profess my love for bacon, I really only eat it every now and again. When it comes to eating meat, I tend to stick to lean cuts, things like chicken breasts, sirloins, pork loin. A big thing item I'm going to have to limit is sausage, whether its sweet Italian or Polish.
2) I eat eggs quite a bit during the week for breakfast. Cooked in a big pat of butter. That's going to be altered for sure, probably going to switch to egg whites, which I am a fan of.
3) More fiber. This is something that is difficult for me, because I don't eat many vegetables, but I'm going to work on eating more whole grains. I just spent an hour in the supermarket reading nutritional labels looking for foods high in soluble fiber. I picked up some Kashi bars and some Wasa crackers, which provide a big fiber punch in a small package.
4) Eating fruits and vegetables. Fruits aren't a problem, and I'm committed to eating my apple every day when I get home from work. Vegetables...I'm still trying to find a way I can hide the flavor of many of them. Blech.
5) Exercise. It starts again tomorrow.

So yeah, that's the scoop. So hopefully, along with lowering my cholesterol, I'll be losing weight, too.

Maybe not the most fun post for you all to read, my friends, but I'm trying here!

Adventures with Roux

2008-11-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

As another batch of gumbo simmers away on the stovetop, I'd like to reflect, for a moment, on the numbness in my right arm caused by 45 minutes of uninterrupted stirring, trying to make sure my roux didn't burn.

For those unsure of just roux is or what it does, it's easy: heat equal parts of flour and oil over medium heat, while stirring continuously. Then it's just a matter of cooking until it reaches the color you want:

Clockwise from top is a white roux, a blonde roux and a brown roux. White roux is used when making things like bechamel sauce when you're cooking macaroni and cheese. Blonde roux is used for cooking...well...I honestly don't know. Brown roux is used in old-school things like espagnole sauce, but is used commonly in Cajun cuisine.

The thing about roux is this: the darker it gets, the hotter it becomes. When I was stirring up the roux when it was at the white roux stage, a couple of drops would splatter on my knuckles, with no harm done. However, by the time I was getting into the blond/brown transition, every tiny drop was absolute agony! Needless to say, my stirring became much more deliberate and careful.

The other problem with making dark roux is the fact that it takes forever, which has led to my arm being numb and my right hand barely able to type because it's so cramped up from holding a wooden spoon. Not fun.

On a side note, I reread my Top Chef recap from yesterday, and I realized I need to clean up a few things, namely repeating words in the same sentence, and fizzling out at the end of the post. I'll lock it down better next week.

Top Chef Week 2 Digestion...

2008-11-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

...aka "How to Step Into Obvious Pitfalls"

Last week, Team Rainbow was whittled down to the Rainbow Duo (thanks Wow) when inexperienced Patrick was sent packing. Richard the Teddy Bear was bummed, and Spray Tan Ariane went on about how she deserved to stay because she's older. Spare us your whining!

I would like to, at this point, declare that Fabio needs to get as much camera face-time that the editors can give him. He said some sort of crazy saying about slaying a dragon and rescuing a princess...and all I could think about was him wearing a red cap and some overalls, jumping and breaking blocks with his head. More on this later, because it's time for.......Quickfire Challenge!

Joined by Donatella Arpaia (she of David Burke & Donatella), Padma declares that the challenge will involve a food that New Yorkers love and spend bucketloads of cash on each year. Immediately I think hot dogs and pizza, and lo-and-behold, I am correct...hot dogs! They also bring in some famous lady from Brooklyn who has a hot dog cart, and it is supposed to be head-to-head judging against her hot dog, but it is simply for novelty effect, nothing more.

Here's my take on the Quickfire:

Putting something in the middle of rice or a wrapper does not make it sushi or a summer roll, Jill and Eugene (who let me down here, I think he's really talented)
Swedish Chef and Dan (aka Chops) all made boring dogs. Something inspiring and original was needed, not making a hot dog panini or topping it with sauerkraut.
Radhika "I don't only cook Indian food" served up Indian-style food again with her kebab-style dog. I don't mind if she goes with the flavors and techniques that she grew up with, but don't come out right away and say "I don't want to be known just for cooking Indian food"
First, FabioBros says "I love hot dog! Do I know how make hot dog? I not know how make hot dog. I know how make sausage!", then he eats a mushroom to turn into SuperFabioBros. Excellent - keep talking. He makes what sounds to me like the best of the bunch: andouille sausage with goat cheese and roasted pepper. Damn, I might just have to make that for myself (or at least attempt to)
Jamie goes with a pork/beef combo, and ends up with a bit of ground bone in the dog. Epic fail.

In the end, despite my displeasure with her, Radhika takes the win and gets immunity. Lucky for her...

So the Elimination Challenge is this: the entire team needs to make a 3 course lunch menu in the "New American" style: old-school dishes made with a cultural twist, peasant fare made with primo ingredients, things like that. Here's some reflections from that:

KitchenKen (Jeff) helps "the children" (his words, arrogant ass) divide up into three groups: apps, entree, dessert. I am shocked that people were actually volunteering for dessert - usually it is the kryptonite of Top Chefdom
Hosea wants to make a Dungeness crab salad, but it is summertime, and Dungeness season does not start until November, so all the have is canned crab (inward cringe). Hosea decides (unwisely) to attempt his dish with canned crab. Now I can pull off using canned crab when I'm making crabcakes for my friends and family at my house. However, his dish wasa delicate crab salad dressed with citrus and vanilla, where crab is supposed to be the showstopper. Not looking good for the Prophet.
SuperFabioBros orders the butcher just to give him the entire untrimmed filet and he'll butcher it himself. Right on! However, I'm worried because his planned carpaccio isn't really "cooked" per se.
Eugene is no-nonsense. I like his style, and I'm rooting for him and his deconstructed meatloaf. I also like Jamie's style as well - chilled sweet corn soup sounds tasty.
Jill decides she wants to make an asparagus quiche, which is tasty for Sunday brunch fare, but is not "New American". Compounding the issue is she decides to make her quiche with ostrich eggs. I've never cooked with ostrich eggs, but why wouldn't you make your quiche with chicken eggs? Not a good plan.
SprayTan Ariane is bemoaning that she is not a baker or a pastry chef. Why would you volunteer to make dessert (a lemon meringue martini? what is that?) if you're not a pastry chef?

Chef Tom Ripken Jr. comes in, and SURPRISE! Not only are the cheftestants cooking at Craft, but the diners are going to be 50 Top Chef rejects! One such reject proudly announces that he doesn't cook with animal fat or butter in his restaurant, which is precisely the reason why you were not chosen in the first place! Tom is going to expidite and be in the kitchen with the people when they're busy getting their dishes together.

There were no issues to speak of during service, so here's a rundown of what everybody whipped up:

Jamie: chilled sweet corn soup w/ mint and chili oil - I'm not a big fan of corn, but it looked tasty
SuperFabioBros: carpaccio with traditional accompaniments, and a cool olive "ravioli" made from mixing olive puree with sodium alginate then submerging it in a calcium salt solution. It creates a "skin" around the liquid puree which then bursts with a little bit of pressure. A really cool technique, and it made the dish.
The Prophet: Canned cab salad with vanilla citrus, avocado & mango - failed on many levels, mainly because of the canned crab
Leah: Scallops on Potatoes - not much mentioned, sort of boring
Melissa: Avocado & peaches, grilled - BORING
Jill: Ostrich egg asparagus quiche - awful and uninspiring
Eugene: Deconstructed meatloaf - looked promising, but reports were poor. The presentation was poor.
Swedish Chef: Halibut with champagne sauce and ravioli - no complaints, I'd definitely order it at a restaurant.
KitchenKen: Chicken with chorizo spoonbread. I liked the presentation alot with the little cast iron pot. I don't order chicken at restaurants, but that looked tasty.
Alex: Pork tenderloin with mushroom demi - boring and uninspired
Rahdika: Avocado mousse with chocolate wontons - this looked absolutely terrible. Avocado mousse? That sounds absolutely terrible.
Chops: Ricotta poundcake with a strawberry-lemon coulis. Awesome, especially since he'd never made it before. Looked awesome and would definitely order it.
Spray Tan Ariane: Lemon meringue martini - she ran around having everyone try it, they all told her that it was a little too sweet...gamesmanship since they all knew it was awful. Padma spit it out!
Richard the Teddy Bear: Banana bread with peanut butter and banana brulee - I agree with Gail, this was more of an afternoon snack than a New American dessert.
Crazy Carla: Apple tart with cheddar - the tart was excellent, the cheddar looked out of place, even though I love apple pie with cheddar cheese. She was worried about her pastry crust, came out excellent.

Tom tasted all the dishes in front of the chefs, talk about intimidation. I like the new method of calling the winners and losers into the Judge's Table - creates some more suspense. SuperFabioBros wins the day with his amazing olive alginate balls. Jill can't mount a good defense (or a coherent sentence for that matter) for her dish, and gets her knives packed.

My front-runners (in no particular order): SuperFabioBros, Jamie, Swedish Chef

Next week: FOO FIGHTERS!

Top Chef: NYC!

2008-11-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Last night was the premiere of Season 5 of Top Chef, this year taking place in New York City, which has got to be the greatest place to eat in the world simply because of the variety of food you can get (a theme which was used effectively in this opening episode) I'm telling you, you can get ANYTHING in New York, which makes it a very interesting backdrop for this season.

I'd like to just make a disclaimer out there that this is the first time I'm doing something like a TV show recap, and I've learned from the best blogger I know, Mrs. Meggie Wow, but bear with me - my notes are practically illegible!

Here's a quick rundown of some of the cheftestants and my first impressions:
Fabio: First time in NYC, funny accent
Jamie: Yet another local/seasonal American cuisine gal, founding member of Team Rainbow
Eugene: Dishwasher turned chef, will make Bourdain proud
Jeff: Narcissistic tool. I have no time for him. His new name is Kitchen Ken. Ass.
Radhika: Don't pigeon-hole me because I'm Indian in descent!
Lauren: Hot Army wife
Ariane: Why New Jersey folks have terrible reputations. Awful spray tan, awful accent.
Danny: Total meathead, in the same mold as Joey and Howie from Season 3
Patrick: School kid who barely needs to shave, and I'm expecting recipes straight from the CIA textbook
Stefan: Born in Finland, that's close enough to Sweden for me. Bork bork bork!
Richard: Founding member of Team Rainbow, already cracking jokes
Leah: Girls Don't Cry!!!

Padma quotes a little bit of the Chairman ("If I can make it there...") and Tom already starts up with the tough talk, and it's time for an immediate QuickFire. All the cheftestants react with shock...and I am forced to wonder whether or not they have seen this show before. Fools!

The Quickfire is broken into 3 stages, with the top finishers from each stage moving on to the actual show. The first task was to peel 15 apples with a paring knife, which is no small task considering the advent of the vegetable peeler (Tom gleefully announces "They'll be here for a while!"). Someone gashes a thumb (Richard, I believe) but keeps on peeling. Eventually, the Swedish Chef calls out he's done, gets his work OK'd by Tom, and gets immunity from elimination. He handles it in a most non-humble manner. Eventually 8 others finish. The 2nd stage was to brunoise some apples - eep! Brunoise means perfect little 1/8" cubes - which means all those lovely curves need to be squared off. Not the easiest thing to do, as demonstrated by Jill who gets her work dismissed by Tom...but eventually all but 4 of the cheftestants accomplish this task.

The last stage was to take some random ingredients and make Tom a dish with apples in it. The one he likes the least packs their knives and goes home. Nothing notable here, except that Radhika, for not wanting to be pigeon-holed for making Indian cuisine, makes CHUTNEY. Really? Chutney? Whatever, Tom liked it, and sent Lauren (with a boring salad of apples, spinach, pears, bleu cheese and bacon) home. Good riddance, that's a salad straight out of Better Homes and Gardens (not that I'm mocking that magazine, I just expect better from a potential TOP CHEF).

So its time for the Elimination Challenge, and (gasp) it's time to draw knives! They all draw out neighborhoods around NYC, which correspond to ethnic cuisines (I called it as soon as they pulled Brighton Beach). It's a head-to-head cook-off, creating a dish inspired by the neighborhood and the ethnic foods. However, before they go out the next day, we get to see them all giddy and drinking in their new pad, and already the Swedish Chef is pissing poeple off by being all arrogant and a soccer fan (A vinaigrette is not an emulsion? Suuuuuuure, says the chem major). Team Rainbow is all giddy!

Here's a list of some stuff that I noticed during the shopping/cooking, taken straight from my notebook.
- Carla (who is tall and scaring me) is asking her spirit guides for knowledge in Russion cuisine
- Ariane has no clue about anything in Middle Eastern food
- Jeff (aka Kitchen Ken) is cocky because he's from Miami and knows Latino food
- Patrick took a course in Asian cuisine
- Danny is a meathead who uses football metaphors for cooking
- Neither Alex or Eugene have cooked Indian food, which smells disaster
- Jeff wants to use lots of garnishes (never a good idea, because you either run out of time of forget 1 or 2 of them)
- I didn't know anyone could murder an animal that was already dead...until I saw Carla totally destroy a smoked fish
- Ariane choosing farro is going to be a poor choice because it takes longer to cook than rice does (an eerily prophetic note, as it leads her to be in the bottom two later on)
- Rice noodles can be very gummy, if you wanted soba noodles, you should've bought soba noodles, Patrick.

So the judges come in, with Padma, Tom, Gail Simmons (who, despite her dress, is still a cutie) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, one of the greatest chefs alive. Here's what each cheftestant prepared, briefly. You can follow along with pictures at Rate the Plate by Bravo:
Middle Eastern: Ariane makes lamb with farroto and dates, Swedish Chef makes lamb with hummus & a beef skewer. Farroto is undercooked (duh!), Swedish chef wins
Greek: Richard makes lamb sliders (which sound absolutely delicious), Jamie makes deconstructed Greek salad (I hate things "deconstructed" - they taste good together!). Richard overcooks his lamb (doh!) so he loses.
Jamaica: Jill makes jerk scallops, radhika makes jerk halibut. Jill wins.
Latino: Fabio makes pork with mango sauce, Kitchen Ken makes pork with beans and rice. Kitchen Ken wins.
Russian: Hosea makes trio of smoked fish (some of which he smoked himself, excellent technique), Carla makes smoked trout cakes (which was all she could do after absolutely shredding the fish). Tom the Salt King finds her dish underseasoned, so she loses.
Italian: Leah makes farroto with snapper, Melissa serves rib-eye with tomato sauce (which sounds like a bad Italian special at my local pizzaria). Again, Melissa does not add enough salt for Tom's palate, so she gets the L.
Chinatown: Both dishes are terrible, in both my opinion and the judges. Patrick makes a glazed salmon with bok choy straight out of an "Asian Food for Dummies" book, Danny makes a poached chicken salad. Both were boring, but Patrick's moreso.
Indian: Alex makes lamb chops with a spicy ragout, Eugene makes more lamb with a yogurt sauce. The judges are really impressed, but Eugene gets the win for making a traditional Indian dish without realizing he was making it. Not sure if I agree, but I wasn't there tasting the food.

In the stew room, Fabio says what everyone who has been watching Top Chef for years knows already - Tom wants his food salty. I've watched them dump big pinches of salt into food over the years, and I am convinced it is just his own personal taste to like his food salty. Everyone who is on the show should know this!

Swedish Chef gets the win over Eugene and Leah for his duo of grilled meats. Not awful, but I prefered Eugene's I think. The bottom 2 are Patrick and Ariane, Patrick for not showing any originality or vision, Ariane for just not knowing. In the end, Patrick's inexperience cannot be denied, and so he is told to pack his knives and go! Goodbye!

It's too early to name a few frontrunners, so I won't. Next week will better I'm sure, in terms of my recap. I hope you enjoy this one!

Tomato Soup and Top Chef

2008-11-11T16:14:00.001-08:00

Is there anything better than tomato soup and a grilled cheese? I think not. When the temperature gets chilly and the sun sets ridiculously early, there's not much better. That's why I made it tonight for dinner (and had enough leftover to freeze)

Also, before I give you my soup recipe (adapted, of course, from an America's Test Kitchen recipe), let me remind everyone who reads this wonderful blog that tomorrow night is the season premiere of Top Chef on Bravo. I'll be providing commentary and opinions and generally trying to emulate my awesome friend Meghann, her blog and her reviews of Project Runway. I hope I am as good of a writer as she is!

Recipe after the jump!

Cream of Tomato Soup
2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes in juice
1.5 tbsp dark brown sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter
4 large shallots, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
pinch of ground allspice
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1.75 c chicken broth
0.5 c heavy cream
2 tbsp brandy
salt and cayenne pepper

Preheat to 450, and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a strainer over a bowl, push the seeds out of the tomatoes, letting the juice fall into the bowl, and straining the rest of the juice. (You should end up with 3 cups) Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roast in the oven until all liquid is evaporated, about 30 minutes. Let the tomatoes cool.

While the tomatoes are roasting, heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foamy. Add the shallots, tomato pate and allspice, cover and cook (sometimes stirring) until the shallots are soft (8 min or so). Add the flour and stir constantly for about 30 seconds, then whisk in the broth in a gradual stream. Add in the reserved tomato juice and the roasted tomatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the mixture into a bowl and rinse out the saucepan. Puree the solids in a food processor with 1 cup of the strained liquid. Put the strained liquid and the puree back into the saucepan, add the cream, stir and heat on low until hot. Off the heat, add the brandy. Season to taste with the salt and cayenne and with a delicious grilled cheese sandwich.

*Note: When I made this tonight, I only ended up with about 2 cups of juice from the tomatoes, so I used water to bring the volume up to 3 cups, and I added an extra tbsp of tomato paste...came out delicious. DO NOT be afraid of the cayenne pepper. You literally need a pinch per serving, and it really brings out the tomato flavor, without adding any amount of heat or spice.

Football Sunday!

2008-11-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

So when it's time to have people over for an afternoon of football watching and relaxing, here's how my thought process tends to go:

1) Lots of snacks to whet everyone's appetite before serving food
2) Make something that is forgiving in terms of cooking error and cooking time
3) Make one main dish that I am positive everyone who is coming will like
4) Make something that can be served family-style

So, planning on having 10 people over, here was the menu as I planned it:

Veggies, potato chips and dip
Guacamole and tortilla chips (as I knew my friends would be demanding of the guac)
Hot artichoke dip
Chicken wings (honey BBQ and buffalo)
Pulled pork w/ sandwich slaw

Needless to say, we ended up only having 5 people over, so I ended up not making the hot artichoke dip, nor did I make the chicken wings. However, I presented a delicious spread of yellow & red peppers, carrots, celery and broccoli, with some old-school sour cream-Knorr vegetable soup dip. Also, the guacamole made its appearance and its equally quick disappearance, thanks to my wife and friends that can never get enough of it - they inhaled 6 avocado's worth in about a minute or two. It was then time for the main course - the magical animal!

I am a huge fan of slow-cooked shredded meat, and pulled pork is my absolute favorite. Normally, my recipe involves a dry rub and smoking and a finish in the oven and a long rest. Also inherent in my recipe are two sauces, a seriously spicy no-nonsense vinegar/sugar/ketchup/cayenne that gets mixed through the meat, and a thick and spicy BBQ sauce that goes on the buns. Topped with a sandwich slaw, it's the most delicious stuff in the world.

Looking for a recipe that I could make in the oven, I flipped through my CIA Professional Chef textbook, and I found an extremely simple recipe that looked delicious, and came out even better. It also had recipes for two sauces that were similar to my sauces. I decided to roll the dice and violate Bonnie's Rule of Cooking #1. Everyone were fans!

Recipes after the jump.

Carolina Style Pulled Pork
12 lb of pork shoulder
1 oz of salt (don't be scared if it looks like alot)
1/2 oz of freshly ground pepper (again, don't be scared)

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Sprinkle the pork shoulder all over with salt and pepper. Put a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet, put the pork on it, then put it in the oven. Roast for 5 hours. Take it out, let it cool until you can handle it, then pull it apart with your fingers. EASY.

Just make sure you don't overcook the pork, as it will not pull apart as easy as you'd like it to. When you're done, serve with your sauces (which I'll post tomorrow) on split buns, with sauces and coleslaw. The perfect meal to please a crowd.

Flavored Iced Teas

2008-11-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays yesterday with Steph and the in-laws, and they've got a list of like 40 or so different flavored iced teas. Steph ordered the pomegranate iced tea, which was out of this world.

So, to experiment, I bought a bottle of 100% organic pomegranate juice and we've mixed it with our standard fridge-brewed iced teas. 1 part pom juice, 4 parts iced tea and 1/2 an Equal. Delicious. Anybody have any other ideas?

Also, I'm apparently going to have people over on Sunday to watch the Jets game. Menu planning awaits...

Gumbo!

2008-10-27T14:42:00.001-07:00

Now that the weather is starting to get colder, and the days are starting to get shorter, it only means one thing: it's time to start making soups and stews in the house again.

I try my best to be a "seasonal cooker", not just in trying to use ingredients that are in season, but cooking techniques as well. During the summer, I refuse to turn my oven on, and I barely use the stovetop. However, now that cold weather is creeping in, I *love* making soup. One of my favorites is old-school, no-nonsense chicken and sausage gumbo. There's nothing more satisfying than a delicious bowl of gumbo with some fluffy rice...I'm so happy I have some waiting for me in the refrigerator (leftovers from last night).

One of the simplest recipes ever. Just make sure your arm is rested.

2 tbsp oil
3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lb smoked sausage (andouille is best, but it is too spicy for Steph's taste so I use kielbasa), cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
4 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped green pepper
8 cups chicken stock (at room temperature)
salt
cayenne pepper
sliced green onions (for garnish)

Film the bottom of a heavy Dutch oven with the 2 tbsp oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken, then brown the sausage in the pot. Remove the meat from the pot, and wipe with a paper towel to clean out any excess moisture. Add the 1 cup oil and heat over medium for 2 minutes. Add flour and stir, stir, stir until combined. Do not stop stirring! This is making the roux, which is the thickening agent for the soup. DO NOT burn the roux! It will be shiny and should be "like sand at low tide" (according to the CIA), and will darken in color and become nutty in aroma. Keep stirring until the roux is the color of a penny, then add the vegetables and keep stirring until they are completely coated in roux and softened nicely. SLOWLY pour in your stock and stir continuously until all your stock is added. Increase heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour (or more). Serve with fluffy white rice.

DELICIOUS!

Panini Wednesday

2008-10-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I made chicken with bacon, rosemary and lemon, and it was just as good this time around as it was the last time. I was able to save some time by making cutlets out of breast halves, and it was still delicious. I also added more bacon (is there any other 2-word combo better than 'more bacon' in the English language?) so it was even more delicious.

However, I want to talk about last night. Wednesday night is usually grad school night, and this semester I've fallen into the habit of making panini for dinner. This time around, I picked up "panini rolls" from Wegmans to use, as opposed to the traditional peasant-style boule I'd snag. I was picking up some roast beef and provolone for Steph's, but then I saw they had some roast pork and all I thought was "cubanos". So I helped myself to some sliced roast pork, ham and swiss, picked up a jar of dill pickles and was on my way to tasty deliciousness. We've become fans of the Kettle Brand Lightly Salted potato chips - not greasy and not overtly salty, but still a tasty accompaniment.

Seeing that I want to add more pictures to my blog, I had my wonderful wife Stephanie (who was not eating yet, and therefore free) snap some pictures as I was preparing dinner. Here we go.

Here's me spreading some sun-dried tomato relish onto both sides of Stephanie's panino. Sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and some McCormick Italian seasoning in the Cuisinart Mini-Prep.

This is Stephanie's sandwich, before closing and pressing.

This is my cubano, layered from the bottom, with mustard, ham, roast pork, dill pickle slices, swiss cheese and mayo. Absolutely delicious.

This is my "panini press". I've gotten into the habit of using a heated quarter-sheet pan, with all my pots stacked on top. It's honestly alot easier than pulling out the Le Creuset. It makes a great sandwich, that's for sure.

I Melted the Ice Queen

2008-10-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Mom and I trekked up to Short Hills Mall (or The Mall at Short Hills for you snobby folk) to meet up with Katya and get some cookbooks signed by Martha Stewart. First off, just to get the sappiness out of the way - it's great when you're friends with someone, you don't see someone for, literally, years, but when you hang out again, you can just pick up where you left off without a hitch. So glad to see Katya last night, can't wait to meet up again!

So we're standing on line, BSing about food and constitutional law and cake decorating and other randomness, and all of a sudden there were carts with refreshments getting wheeled up and down the line. Shortly after, they brought around a snack - creamy tomato soup (recipe from the new cookbook) for all to enjoy. It was better service than I've ever had on an airplane - so friendly...and delicious soup!

So finally, after like 1.5 hours, the moment arrives, and we head into Williams-Sonoma to get our books signed. I walk in, Mom goes first and says something to Martha about how all her recipes come out great and what not, then it's my turn. I tell her it was great to meet her and how happy my wife is going to be that I'm going to have new recipes to cook - she responds that it's great that I do the cooking in the house, and then asks if my mom (pointing over to Mom) is a good cook...I respond "she's good...but I'm better!" At that point...I get a wink and a chuckle...from Martha Stewart. Talk about shocking, I was not expecting emotion! I melted the ice queen!

So after getting our books signed and ogling all the cookware we don't need/can't afford/don't have storage space for, we went off to California Pizza Kitchen for some tasty pizza. We had the Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Pizza and the Mango Tandoori Chicken Pizza. The first one was pretty good, but the Mango Tandoori was UNREAL. Spicy and sweet and delicious - I'd definitely order it again.

Eating tasty pizza and hanging out with an old friend, and meeting Martha and making her chuckle. All in all, a great night.

Katya > Martha

2008-10-20T10:18:00.001-07:00

I got a Facebook message from my friend Katya, asking if I wanted to go to a Martha Stewart book signing. Like she needed to ask - I'm always on the lookout for additions to my collection of autographed cookbooks. She replied she figured I would say yes, and she had picked me up a ticket when she had stopped by to get hers before she even asked me if I wanted to go. Talk about a great friend - THANK YOU KATYA! Tomorrow I'll be the proud owner of a brand-new autographed copy of Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook. Totally wicked - can't wait to use it.

So here's my list of autographed cookbooks - yes, I am a huge nerd:

Louisiana Real and Rustic - Emeril Lagasse (Mom got this at a local B&N book signing some years ago)
Fork in the Road - Paul Prudhomme (this was my grandmothers', it's addressed to her)
Express Lane Meals - Rachael Ray (no personalization - I HATE YOU - this is a story for a for a whole different post)
Williams-Sonoma Mustards - Chuck Williams (wandered into the opening at the Short Hills mall when I was 14 years old, walked away with this!!!)
Farallon - Mark Franz (from Farallon in San Fran, a gift from the parents when they were out that way a few years ago - still haven't made anything from it yet)

Almond-Fruit Balls with Coconut

2008-10-20T09:51:00.001-07:00

I'm home sick with the gout today, so I'm not doing much in the way of walking around. Fortunately, I've got flank steak marinating in the fridge (2:1 lime juice:soy sauce, chopped garlic, ginger and scallions) and Steph is going to stop for some Wegmans premade potatoes (she likes their roasted yams or their sweet mashed, but I like their garlic mashed.) Good time to write about my Sunday morning.

So I had this recipe that I can't remember where I got it from, but it was intriguing to me because A) it required no cooking and B) it was full of tasty and relatively nutritious stuff and C) I've been looking for something tasty to nosh on when the sweet tooth comes calling. Hence, Almond-Fruit Balls:

1 cup almonds (the recipe called for raw, I only have roasted and salted)
1/8 tsp salt (I omitted this since the almonds were salted)
1/4 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (I used, 3/4 tsp extract)
4 oz dried pineapple, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
4.5 oz soft Medjool dates, pitted (about 1 cup)
2 tbsp dried cranberries
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (I only could find sweetened at Wegmans)

Pulse the almonds in the Cuisinart until finely ground (you're supposed to add the salt and the vanilla seeds at this point. Obviously, I did not follow Bonnie's #2) Add the pineapple and dates (I added the vanilla extract) and process until the mixture holds together. Transfer to a bowl, stir in cranberries, roll into 1" balls and roll into coconut. Enjoy.

What worked: The final product is absolutely delicious. They're chewy and 2-3 are very satisfying in terms of flavor and sweetness. They have a texture that is similar to a dense DD chocolate Munchkin.

What didn't: After the processing of the dates and pineapples into the almonds (which took longer than I thought it would, I had to keep the processor going), the final 'dough' was VERY oily. As I was rolling them into balls, I had oil literally dripping off my hands. I don't know if maybe I overprocessed, or if it had to do with the fact that I was using roasted almonds as opposed to raw almonds. It was just something I wasn't expecting - although my hands were super-soft when I was done and all cleaned up. Also, the coconut did not stick to the outside of the balls as well as I'd have liked, another symptom of the excess oil on the 'dough'.

What I'm planning for next time: Raw almonds, vanilla bean (not extract), lower processing time, chopping up the cranberries before stirring them in.

It's definitely a repeat recipe, and they'll last a while since I don't have to worry about Stephanie noshing on them - she's not the biggest fan of dates or almonds.

Photos

2008-10-20T04:58:00.003-07:00

Steph said I should have more pictures on my blog. I think its a great idea. I just don't know how to take pictures while cooking at the same time. Help?

FUDGE

2008-10-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

How can you go wrong? It's easy - you can't with this awesome recipe I made earlier (again, courtesy of my favorite source for recipes)

15-Minute Fudge
16 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Toss the chocolate with the baking soda and salt. Add the sweetened condensed milk and tha vanilla and stir to combine. Melt over a double boiler, while stirring until most of the chocolate is melted*. Remove from heat, and keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted. Fold in the nuts, then pour and spread into an 8" baking pan, lined with foil w/ overhangs. Refrigerate for a while, then serve.

*Be careful here. If you overheat the chocolate (like I did), some of it starts to break and the oil separates out, leaving you with a greasy top on your fudge. I ended up having to blot the top of the fudge with paper towels to drain off some of the oils from the chocolate.

Delicious.

Chris Kimball GOOD, Bowties BAD

2008-10-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

I think if I ever met Christopher Kimball, I'd probably give him a big hug. The man sure knows how to run a company, and that company sure knows how to write a cookbook. The bow tie, however, has to go...I'm a huge nerd and I don't wear bow ties regularly.

Anyway, tonight's culinary delight was another offering from the Best of America's Test Kitchen 2007, which was Chicken Breasts with Bacon, Rosemary and Lemon. Honestly, you had me at bacon. As always, I followed Bonnie's Rule of Cooking #2 (since I was making it for the first time) but I halved this recipe. I'll give the method I followed, with the recipe halved, then reflect (oooooh! reflective practice!) on what I'm planning on doing differently next time. Here we go...

2 slices thick-cut bacon
1/8 c flour
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, sliced very thinly
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, chopped (the recipe called for fresh, so much for the rules!)
dash red pepper flakes
1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (NEVER EVER use the bottled stuff!)

In a non-non-stick skillet, fry up the bacon over low until crispy and the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes, and transfer it to a piece of paper towel to drain off the fat, and chop into small pieces. While the bacon is cooking, season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken in it, shaking off the excess. Pour off all but 1 tbsp of bacon fat, add the butter and heat to medium-high. When the butter stops foaming, add your chicken, and cook 5 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken, tent with foil. Lower the heat to medium, add the garlic, rosemary and red pepper, and cook until the garlic is golden brown, about 1 minute or so. BE CAREFUL not to let your garlic overcook - it will turn disgustingly bitter and ruin the entire dish. Add the broth and lemon juice to the pan, scrape off all the tasty fond from the bottom of the pan, and simmer for 3 minutes until thickened. Add the chicken back to the pan and cook until the sauce is thick, another 3 minutes, while turning once or twice. Serve (we had egg noodles).

What I'm going to do differently the next time I make this (and there will be a next time):
1) Chicken cutlets - the time you put in on the prep end by cutting the breasts into cutlets gets realized on the cooking end with quicker cooking times. As always, cutlets need to be monitored carefully to make sure they don't dry out.
2) When the chicken came out of the original saute, it had a bit of a crust from the flour, which turned soggy when it was put back into the sauce to simmer. I think next time I'm just going to saute off the chicken, make the sauce, then add the chicken back to the sauce *right before* I'm about to serve.
3) More bacon. Can't go wrong by adding more bacon (as Stephanie just reminded me)

Pork w/ Apple-Sage Sauce

2008-10-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

In preparation for writing this post, I say to Steph "Hon, can you go get me my cookbook from the kitchen?" Needless to say, I could feel the look of incredulity burning itself into the back of my head before I appended "Hon, can you go get me my America's Test Kitchen cookbook from the kitchen?" I am so smrt. (Note: Steph just asked me "you're rooting for Tampa?" before quailing under my look of incredulity. We're both smrt.)

So the exact recipe name from the cookbook is Roast Pork Tenderloin with Lowfat Apple and Sage Cream Sauce. Here's the full recipe (I halved it because I'm cooking for 2):

2 12 oz pork tenderloins, trimmed (and halved crosswise if it doesn't fit into your saute pan)
salt & pepper
vegetable oil
1 Granny Smith, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup apple cider
3 tbsp brandy
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh sage, minced
3 tbsp light cream cheese
2 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat to 450. Pat the tenderloins dry and season with salt and epper. Heat enough oil in a saute pan to film the bottom, and brown the tenderloins on all sides, about 8 minutes. Be careful to watch your heat so you don't burn the fond! Remove the pan from the heat, put the tenderloins in a baking dish and roast for 12 minutes, flipping the tenderloins halfway. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and tent.

While the pork is in the oven, add the apples, onions and salt to the saute pan and heat, covered, over medium-low heat until the onions are soft and the apples are tender, about 8 minutes. Off heat, add the brandy* and cider, then return to heat and scrape all the tasty fond from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the broth and sage, raise the heat to medium-high and simmer, reducing until thickened, about 5 minutes. Pour any pork juices from the pork into the pan, reduce heat to medium-low, whisk in the cream cheese and cook until thickened. Off heat, stir in vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Slice the pork thinly, spoon the sauce over the pork, and serve.

I was trying to figure out what to serve this dish with, and sweet potatoes is usually my go-to starch with pork, but I figured that it would compete with the flavor of the sauce. Instead, I went with wide egg noodles, which was a great choice because they were delicious when I spooned some of the sauce over them on the side. I caught Steph wiping extra sauce from the pan with her fingers - proof positive this recipe was definitely a keeper!

*Even though the pan is not hot enough to ignite the brandy, I've gotten into the habit of always adding brandy off-heat, just in case.

Busy Saturday

2008-10-11T10:43:00.001-07:00

Just got back from Wegmans, the greatest supermarket in the world, ready for a full Saturday afternoon of culinary delight. I'm fixing up freezer rations of soboro, mini-chicken burgers, onigiri and rice portions. I'm also trying a new recipe from Just Bento, which is for savory pumpkin-miso mini-muffins. I'll definitely let you all know how those come out. In case you all hadn't figured it out, I'm a huge fan of Just Bento and everyone would do well to check out that amazing site. It's full of great recipes for bento lunches, and is an excellent source for all things bento.

Dinner tonight is pork tenderloin w/ apple-sage cream sauce (courtesy of America's Test Kitchen). Tasty.

I'm also planning on whipping up a batch of white-chocolate chip cookies, straight from the back of the Nestle bag, if I have the time later.

All in all, should be a good afternoon/evening!