phood adventures

snowy night in new england

my housemates and i had planned to have a few friends over for a nice little dinner, but unfortunately the weather got in the way and only one guest showed up.

here’s what we made:
as an appetizer we had an époisse cheese with baguettes and champagne.

janice made a vegetarian french onion soup from scratch, so no beef stock since she and the guest are vegetarians. the soup was amazing, you could taste the cognac and the gruyère was melted just right.. i could have melted gruyère anytime, let me tell you. we paired this up with a nice beaujolais nouveau.

the salad was a quick all organic salad that the guest brought over. lettuce, colored peppers, radishes, tomatoes, covered in feta cheese. she made a balsamic vinaigrette with a touch of maple syrup. the dressing was just amazing.. need to remember to get the recipe from her for the summer greens that we grow in the garden!

the main course was a “paella” of sorts. i made an asparagus risotto with leeks, shallots, orange zest, saffron and garlic. i used white wine (chardonnay, i think) and lobster broth and got it nice and creamy. daniel made the other part of the “paella,” a bouillabaisse of sorts. he made it with different types of clams, scallops, shrimp in a leek, garlic, shallot sauce. we then combined the bouillabaisse on top of the risotto and voilà! the wine was a nice, crisp sauvignon blanc.

for dessert we had a nice crème caramel that janice made all day. it was nice, creamy and had a nice subtle vanilla flavor; it was paired up with a sauternes i had bought earlier in the year just to have with this dessert. amazing.

this dinner definitely made up for having to shovel the driveway with all that snow, let me tell you.

What to do with all the basil?

I harvested a load of basil from the Aerogardens today, and it’s now too cool to just make salads out of the stuff, so I decided to do soups. I made a HUGE pot of tomato basil soup. I found this recipe that emulates La Madeleine’s soup. It’s a pretty close approximation. Yummy! I also made a vat of coconut basil soup. I glanced at a few recipes online, but none of them were exactly what I wanted. Ultimately, I ended up dumping in a couple of cans of chicken broth, a couple of cans of coconut milk, a can of evaporated milk, basil, ginger, cilantro, coriander, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, cumin, and lime juice. My Braun hand blender came in very handy for making these soups. I was able to puree them until they were silky smooth.

Cups of the soup went down nicely with slices of the Sally Lunn bread I made in the bread machine last night. I cheated and used a mix that we bought in Williamsburg last year. Made things simple.

I’ve made gallons of these soups, so I’m going to package them up in individual serving sizes using my food sealer and toss them in the freezer for consumption at a later date. They’ll make great lunches!

I am supposed to make my three bean salad for Turkey Day at my cousin’s house, so I bought kidney beans and garbanzo beans. I put the garbanzo beans in the pressure cooker, but I let them go too long and they got all mushy. So I just broke out the hand blender again and whirled them up with garlic, parsley, paprika, tahini, olive oil, and lime juice and made a big old bowl of hummus. I suppose I’ll either have to freeze that, too, or I’ll have to take it to Thanksgiving. The thing is that I’m not sure that either my family or Lex’s likes hummus. Hrm.

Believe it or not, but after all this cooking, I still have basil left over. I suppose I should just make some pesto. I bought some walnuts today, but I’m running low on olive oil. Hrm. We’ll see what happens, I reckon. I should make ice cubes from pureed herbs and water and freeze them for use in soups and stocks. That’s the way to do it!

I'm in foodie heaven, and everyone here seems to be Japanese!

My girl bought me early birthday/Christmas gifts last Friday. I received an amazing new rice cooker, the Zojirushi Micom NS-TGC10 fuzzy-logic cooker. It’s incredible! It has settings for brown, white, sticky rice, and porridge (risottos, puddings, cereals). It will even bake a cake! A cute feature: it plays the “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” melody when it starts and “Amaryllis” when it stops. So far I’ve made brown rice, sushi rice, basmati rice, and steel-cut oats, and that’s only since Friday!

The other gift I got was a Mr. Bento Japanese lunch jar. The Mr. Bento is a stainless steel thermos with little Tupperware-like containers inside. One is made just for rice, another just for soup (has a no-leak gasket), and the other two are for side dishes. It even came with its own metal spork and spork cover! I packed my first bento today. It had a couple of rice balls, baby carrots, a sliced up orange, and a bowl of miso soup. Now I’m fascinated by the art of bento and am collecting little cutters, molds, and other goodies to help me build a better bento. Geeky, maybe, but fun!

Making pizza

A few days ago, I made a luscious homemade pizza. I cheated a bit, though. The Italian deli down the street makes and sells dough balls, so this is what I used for the crust. I also picked up some of their fresh mozzarella (didn’t feel like making my own). I sliced some roma tomatoes that I picked up from the farmer’s market, harvested and washed some of the basils that we’ve been growing in the Aerogarden, and grated some Parmasean. I brushed the crust down with some good olive oil, sprinkled some oregano over it, spread the tomatoes and basil all over, and then heaped mozzarella and parmasean on top and basked it on Lex’s pizza stone.

It was soooo good! We gobbled it right down.

Sprouting

Once upon a time, I used to grow my own sprouts. As it turns out, I have managed to hold onto my old sprouting jar (a glass quart jar with a screened lid on top). There’s a natural foods store just up the street, and I found a package of sprouting seeds that includes clover seeds, alfalfa seeds, fenugreek seeds, and radish seeds. I’ve just harvested my first batch.

Now, what to do with them? Does anyone have a favorite use for sprouts?

I like to make a sandwich from mashed avocado, sprouts, red onion, and swiss cheese on a good wheat bread with brown mustard.

As I’m currently fresh out of red onion, avocado, and swiss, I suppose I’ll have to come up with something different.

Fresh mozzarella

Thanks to Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,  which I’m currently reading, I was inspired to make fresh mozzarella cheese. She claimed it took only half an hour and offered a recipe on her book’s companion website.

I went to a nearby natural foods store and picked up a tiny bottle of rennet for about $6, and I already had a bag of citric acid (from making homemade Lucas for fruit cups). Even if I hadn’t had the citric acid on hand, it would have only cost about $4 or $5. I have enough of both key items to make many gallons’ worth of cheese.

I picked up a gallon of whole milk (homogenized and pateurized, but NOT ultra pasteurized…a no-no). I heated the milk to 55 degrees, added 1.5 tsp of citric acid that had been dissolved in a quarter cup of cool water, then I stirred gently and heated the milk up to 88 degrees, at which point it’s good and curdled. Then I added 1/4 tsp of rennet which had been mixed into a quarter cup of cool water and continued stirring and heating up to 100 degrees.

At this point, the heat is turned off, and the whey is poured off the curds. I used cheesecloth (which we had already) draped over a colander to drain the cheese initially. Then I put the wad of curds into a glass bowl and tossed it in the microwave for a minute. This helps bring out more of the whey, which I drained after pressing as much of it from the cheese as possible. Then I reheated the cheese for another 35 seconds, pressed, drained, and repeated the process once more.

Now the cheese is ready for kneading. When it starts to get glossy, as above, it can be stretched into taffy-like ropes. If it breaks, it’s just reheated for a few seconds in the microwave. Within minutes, it’s done!  If you click into my Flickr, you can see more pictures of the cheese.

Disclaimer:  Even if it burns your hands, it’s probably best not to make the cheese with rubber gloves.  They tend to effect the flavor of the cheese a tiny bit.

Persephone's Lemonade

I just entered the following recipe into the Bigelow Teas iced tea contest. Winners receive either a gorgeous lead-crystal pitcher and goblet set or chests of Bigelow teas:

Persephone’s Lemonade*

5 Pomegranate Pizazz herbal teabags
5 I Love Lemon herbal teabags
1/4 cup lemon juice (reconstituted or fresh)
2 cups sugar
2 quarts boiling water
1 quart ice water
crushed ice
1 gallon container (plastic or glass)
sprigs of mint and slices of lemon for garnish
chilled glasses

Place Pomegranate Pizazz and I Love Lemon teabags into 1 gallon container. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and pour over teabags. Allow teabags to steep for 15-20 minutes. Remove teabags and add 2 cups of sugar and lemon juice, stirring vigorously until sugar dissolves. Tea will be highly concentrated. To dilute, top off gallon container with 1 quart of ice water and plenty of crushed ice. Stir until most of the ice is dissolved. You may adjust the amount of cold water, ice, sugar, and/or lemon juice to suit your tastes.

To serve, add crushed iced to chilled glasses, pour tea into glasses, and garnish with lemon slices and sprigs of fresh mint. You may wish to add the lemon slices and mint sprigs to your pitcher, too. This tea is as beautiful as it is refreshing, possessing a lip-smacking, sweet-tart flavor and a hue that varies from deep red to dark pink, depending on the length of time the tea is steeped and how much cold water is added.

*Named for the Greek goddess who is said to have eaten pomegranate seeds on her visit to the underworld.

Pineapple upside-down cake

It’s the first pineapple upside-down cake of the year, so it must be springtime!

Grandma's Seven-Up Poundcake

As anyone who’s actually tasted this will tell you, this is some damn good cake.

In my good spirits I’ve decided to divulge the recipe..

1 cup butter (2 sticks – room temperature)
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup 7-Up or Sprite

1. I cannot express how important it is that the eggs and butter are at room temperature. I also will recommend you use a good mixer for this. Heavy-duty is what my grandmother says. Scrape down the bowl regularly.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Use Baker’s Joy if you trust it. I don’t.

4. Put the butter into the mixer. Turn it and let it run til it’s all smooth and silky.

5. Add the shortening – mix til uniform.

6. Add in the sugar one cup at a time.

7. Once that is incorporated, turn the mixer on medium-high and whip the shit out of it. You want to let it run until the mixture is no longer yellow-white, but all white. And fluffy – this takes about 3-5 minutes. Feel free to walk away for a bit. Watched pots and all that.

8. Add the eggs one at time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl halfway through.

9. Add in the flavorings. I gave you my grandmother’s measurements, but I can’t make up my mind on this. I tend to go 2-3 teaspoons of vanilla and at least a full teaspoon of lemon extract and up to 1 1/2. I’ll say to taste.

10. Here is where some care needs to taken in terms of your mixing. If you overmix the flour, you’ll get a brick. It is called a poundcake but we still want a kind of lightness to it and being mean to the flour won’t get you anywhere good.

11. Add the flour one cup at a time, wait until it is almost incorporated before adding the next – Don’t worry so much about scraping down at this point. You want it mixed in as few passes of the paddle as possible.

12. After adding the last cup, only mix it a few passes. Most of the flour should be mixed in, it’s okay if it’s not. It’s thicker than you’d expect for a cake batter. Don’t trip.

13. Take the bowl off the mixer and add the soda. Using your spatula, fold the soda into the batter, lifting from bottom to the top – be gentle, but thorough. It’s gonna be nice and satiny.

14. Put it in the bundt pan. Spread it out evenly. I give the pan a wiggle, like my grandma does. Is it important? I dunno.. but grandma does it, and as such, so do I.

15. Bake it for 30 minutes at 350. Then reduce the heat to 325 and bake for another 60 minutes. If a toothpick comes out clean – take it out of the oven.

• If your oven is whack, check the cake after first 15-20 minutes – if you see brown edges already, reduce the heat asap. If your oven has a glass window and a light – use it. If not, do not open the door anymore than you have to – it fucks with the heat. My grandma also insisted on us not making a bunch of ruckus around the oven. . . “you’ll make my cake fall.” Is it true? No idea, but I’m careful not to make a ruckus around the oven while my cake is baking.

16. Let it cool 10 minutes, then flip it out of the pan. If it sticks – stop using Baker’s Joy and go back to Crisco and flour.

17. Mom-mom always uses a nice coating of powdered sugar, and as such, so do I. What you do with it is really none of my business.

Now.. Sprite vs. 7-up? I don’t like 7-up, so why would I use it to bake when I’m going to end up with leftover soda I won’t want to drink.

Where I ate in NYC

Nino’s Tuscany Ristorante Italiano

My rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Why: Food, service, ambience were all stellar. I’ve never had a pasta dish as good as the handmade spinach papardelle with truffles and truffle oil with steamed asparagus. All four courses were consistently excellent, and the service was clearly a cut above anything I experienced while in New York.

Wild Ginger

My rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars
Why: There was a lot of food and the price was low, but the fdishes weren’t beautifully presented nor were they particularly tasty. The service was solicitous and the restaurant was lovely, however.

Thalia

My rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Why: Very trendy, hip place. Too much so for my comfort, actually. Food was beautifully presented and delicious, too. Prices weren’t bad considering the rent they must pay. Service was quite good given the high traffic.

Sardis

My rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Why: This restaurant gets the benefit of the doubt for sheer history and ambience and for the European-quality service. They do not, however, get any extra credit for high-quality food, because that was notably absent. I didn’t see anything on the table that I couldn’t get at any fine Italian dining establishment. You go for the cariactures and potential celeb sightings, not extraordinary food.

Maria Pia

My rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars
Why: Reasonable prices, good food, solid service, but nothing worthy of real note here. I rather liked the hazelnut gelato offered for dessert, though.

New York New York Cheesecake

My rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Why: The desserts really are good, but the best in the world? Nah. Not really. The counter girls are appropriately surly, and they don’t accept credit cards. Take your cash with you.

Magnolia Bakery

My rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Why: The buttercreme frosting is quite yummy yes, but are those cupcakes worth $2 a pop? I don’t think so. The cakes themselves are unremarkable.

Bagel Stix Cafe

My rating: 2 out of 4 stars
Why: You guys just aren’t that busy. Wipe the tables down! The bagel with cream cheese and lox was pretty tasty, though.

Hilton New York Marketplace

My rating: 1.5 out of 4 stars
Why: I can’t remember anything about this meal (what I ate, what it tasted, looked, or smelled like) except the service. They took too long to take our order, but once they did, they were extremely attentive. The theme of my trip to New York was high quality food servers, and this place was no exception. Since I can’t remember the food, I’m going to assume that it was forgettable and rank my meal accordingly, however.