This one is going to be short. In my monthly (or maybe less often) ritual of Chinatown shopping I make sure to purchase vegis which will last for different periods of time. Always included in my purchase is cabbage --- both heads of cabbage and Chinese cabbage. These items last extremely long without any marked decrease in flavor or quality. So, since its been a little over a month since my last purchase trip to Chinatown, I'm getting to the point of cabbage. This is the point at which all of the greens in my fridge have disappeared, and my meals begin to draw more heavily on my remaining supply of cabbage. Having bought a good amount, this period usually lasts for about a week.
So, today I made a cabbage side dish which was simple, fast and really yummy.
I used semi-heading chinese cabbage (http://www.evergreenseeds.com/semchincab2.html). Here's the recipe
Sesame seeds
Red pepper flakes
Garlic Powder/ Onion Powder/ Salt/ Pepper (I used a Steak seasoning I like)
Semi-heading chinese cabbage
A little honey
Olive Oil
Heat the olive oil and then add the sesame seeds and pepper flakes. Let the seeds start to toast. Meanwhile chop half in wide slices of the cabbage (chop more than you think you need, since its gonna lose volume a lot). Throw the cabbage into your pan and after a little sprinkle some of the seasonings (be sure to include some salt at least) onto the cabbage. Once the cabbage has cooked add a little honey and finish cooking for just a drop more. Thats it.
I'm sure there are lots of good variations on this, so if you try it I'd like to hear what your try differently.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Diners and brunch
This weekend I went up to Boston to see many of my college friends who were around Harvard for the Harvard-Yale football game. I have very little interest in Harvard football (the Giants an Jets are more fun), but this was a good chance to meet up with many of my friends I haven't seen recently. As typical of these type of visits, the main meal everyday was brunch, generally eaten at a local diner. I've been thinking recently a lot about breakfast/brunch foods, since there is an NYU cooking competition I would like to apply for, which requires a submission of a breakfast menu to be prepared in the first round of the contest. I applied last year, but offered a somewhat stupid menu (I'll paste it in at the bottom of the post). This year I am trying to find a more traditional breakfast approach, so I really valued the chance to eat at the diner. My Jewish gene kicked in for the first brunch I had, and after just a little bit of wavering, I purchased a bagel with lox. I should have thought a little more critically about this: I was in Boston and the lady I ordered from did not know what lox was... and needed me to restate my order as "smoked salmon". The meal was nothing special, and there wasn't really enough lox in the sandwich. Today however I wised up and got a breakfast combo. But here in lies the beauty. For the same price as a bagel and lox, I got 2 slices of french toast, 2 eggs, and some home fries. Plus, the combo came with meat. I can't eat the meat, so I asked the waitress if she could substitute lox for the meat. She obliged and I received more lox than I had in my sandwich the previous day. I reserved this lox, and at the end of the meal ordered an everything bagel with cream cheese, and made myself a bagel with lox sandwich, for a third of the menu price.
Now that I have told everyone of my craftiness, I want to solicit people for breakfast/brunch ideas. The constraint is that I have just 1 hour to make the meal in the competition. Last year, prior to settling on the "Breakfast Bento Box" below, I toyed with making some sort of Dosa like crepe. This was a complete failure and involved me running rice and lentils through a blender, and then making a mess out of my pan when this mixture failed to cook.
Ideas I have had so far this year:
- Making a nice omelet with just fresh spices and a little cheese.
- Crepes
- Eggnog french toast. I'm not sure if I can get eggnog in the competition (note about eggnog -- I will, in about a month, need to write a posting about eggnog, since my brother gets the worlds best eggnog enmasse every Christmas time).
- Salmon bacon (again I don't think I can actually get this, and again this deserves its own post)
- Blintz
The problem I have with breakfast food is that I very seldom eat breakfast food for breakfast. My usual breakfast involves eating the same food I had the night before. In fact, aside from my granola experiment and an occasional omelet, I have not made any breakfast food in quite a while. The most common meal I make at breakfast time ----- roasted chicken. I cook this for after a morning run.
Anyway, I need some help thinking of breakfast foods that will be good for this competition.
********************************
Breakfast Bento Box
Lightly Browned Vegetable, Bean and Egg Burrito with Cilantro Salsa
-Take a large soft torilla and cut it into a square. Then lay a thin layer of white rice. Meanwhile make an omlet with some pepper and garlic in the mix. And saute large slices of onion and red pepper til tender. Heat black beans. On the layer of rice, in the middle lay a 1.5 inch row of beans. On that place in pattern long slices of egg, pepper and onion. Then using a sushi rolling board, roll into a roll. Cut into pieces and dip in tempura batter and fry.
Blueberry / Apple Blintzes with Sour Cream
Form blintzes skin mix and then pan fry to form blintzes. Use Ricotta (or farmers if available) plus creamcheese and sugar. For blueberry just add fresh. For apple, saute apple with cinnamon and nutmeg. Then fill and roll. Then pan fry till brown. Sour cream on the side.
Mango and Smoked Salmon Lettuce Boats
Take medium piece of lettuce --- optimally bib. Make balsamic vinager, brown sugar and olive oil dressing. Dice mango, smoked salmon and red onions and put in lettuce boat. Dressing on the side.
Thin Strawberry fruit soup with treats of mango and raspberries
Blend strawberries with lemon juice and orange juice, squeezed, plus some water. Drop in small chunks of mango and raspberries. Garnish with mint if available.
Traditional orange slices.
Arrange as a bento box. The soup is like a miso soup --- serve with similar spoon. The burrito like temura sushi rolls, the blintze like sashimi and the lettuce boat the salad.
Now that I have told everyone of my craftiness, I want to solicit people for breakfast/brunch ideas. The constraint is that I have just 1 hour to make the meal in the competition. Last year, prior to settling on the "Breakfast Bento Box" below, I toyed with making some sort of Dosa like crepe. This was a complete failure and involved me running rice and lentils through a blender, and then making a mess out of my pan when this mixture failed to cook.
Ideas I have had so far this year:
- Making a nice omelet with just fresh spices and a little cheese.
- Crepes
- Eggnog french toast. I'm not sure if I can get eggnog in the competition (note about eggnog -- I will, in about a month, need to write a posting about eggnog, since my brother gets the worlds best eggnog enmasse every Christmas time).
- Salmon bacon (again I don't think I can actually get this, and again this deserves its own post)
- Blintz
The problem I have with breakfast food is that I very seldom eat breakfast food for breakfast. My usual breakfast involves eating the same food I had the night before. In fact, aside from my granola experiment and an occasional omelet, I have not made any breakfast food in quite a while. The most common meal I make at breakfast time ----- roasted chicken. I cook this for after a morning run.
Anyway, I need some help thinking of breakfast foods that will be good for this competition.
********************************
Breakfast Bento Box
Lightly Browned Vegetable, Bean and Egg Burrito with Cilantro Salsa
-Take a large soft torilla and cut it into a square. Then lay a thin layer of white rice. Meanwhile make an omlet with some pepper and garlic in the mix. And saute large slices of onion and red pepper til tender. Heat black beans. On the layer of rice, in the middle lay a 1.5 inch row of beans. On that place in pattern long slices of egg, pepper and onion. Then using a sushi rolling board, roll into a roll. Cut into pieces and dip in tempura batter and fry.
Blueberry / Apple Blintzes with Sour Cream
Form blintzes skin mix and then pan fry to form blintzes. Use Ricotta (or farmers if available) plus creamcheese and sugar. For blueberry just add fresh. For apple, saute apple with cinnamon and nutmeg. Then fill and roll. Then pan fry till brown. Sour cream on the side.
Mango and Smoked Salmon Lettuce Boats
Take medium piece of lettuce --- optimally bib. Make balsamic vinager, brown sugar and olive oil dressing. Dice mango, smoked salmon and red onions and put in lettuce boat. Dressing on the side.
Thin Strawberry fruit soup with treats of mango and raspberries
Blend strawberries with lemon juice and orange juice, squeezed, plus some water. Drop in small chunks of mango and raspberries. Garnish with mint if available.
Traditional orange slices.
Arrange as a bento box. The soup is like a miso soup --- serve with similar spoon. The burrito like temura sushi rolls, the blintze like sashimi and the lettuce boat the salad.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Borracho Beans or Meshugas Lentils
My girlfriend (yes... for all those online admirers of mine, I do have a girlfriend) suggested a recipe to me a few days ago called Borracho Beans. As I understand, Borracho means drunk, and Beans is pretty clear. Her recipe called for certain parts of certain animals which I am certain not to use. However, it seemed like the major component in the mixture was the inclusion of beer.
So, last night, as the weather became cold, I decided I would make myself something warm to eat today. Out came the crock pot (my dairy one) and into it went:
1 lb lentils
1 chopped red onion
one head of garlic
3 chopped carrots
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs of rosemary
lots of chopped hot pepper, and some dried whole red hot pepper
cumin
dried parsley and dill and savory
1 can tomato paste
salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
1 beer
3 or so quarts water
I turned this on last night before going to sleep, and this morning awoke to a wonderful smell of meshugas (Jewish for drunk) lentils. The beer actually had a pretty good impact. Often lentils have a little too much of bland flavor. The cooked beer modifies that flavor just enough. I eat this before teaching this morning. I think I will add a little more salt into my next bowl of soup, since it still was a little on the bland side.
On a related note, I have come to appreciate the quality of my mothers soups (and generally every meal she made) as I have been cooking more and more. It seems like through my experimentation and inventivity with cooking, I often end up roughly approximating her previous sucesses.
So, last night, as the weather became cold, I decided I would make myself something warm to eat today. Out came the crock pot (my dairy one) and into it went:
1 lb lentils
1 chopped red onion
one head of garlic
3 chopped carrots
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs of rosemary
lots of chopped hot pepper, and some dried whole red hot pepper
cumin
dried parsley and dill and savory
1 can tomato paste
salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
1 beer
3 or so quarts water
I turned this on last night before going to sleep, and this morning awoke to a wonderful smell of meshugas (Jewish for drunk) lentils. The beer actually had a pretty good impact. Often lentils have a little too much of bland flavor. The cooked beer modifies that flavor just enough. I eat this before teaching this morning. I think I will add a little more salt into my next bowl of soup, since it still was a little on the bland side.
On a related note, I have come to appreciate the quality of my mothers soups (and generally every meal she made) as I have been cooking more and more. It seems like through my experimentation and inventivity with cooking, I often end up roughly approximating her previous sucesses.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Free cheese necessitates pizza
Two years ago, while I was still flying high in the world of finance, my fund had a Halloween party accompanied by far too much cheese. My roommate at the time and myself were catching a ride up to Boston for the weekend, but because of traffic (or some other forgettable delay) we were left at work pretty late. With our extra time alone with the massive amount of cheese left over from the party, we hatched a plot. We would bag it up and bring it home. So, into two gigantic ziplock bags went a mixture of fancy cheeses --- some hard, some smelly, some blue... While we were at it I think we also took a case or two of the left over wine :>
In any case, someone the cheese survived the weekend. This is surprising because as I recall, we almost didn't. While driving up to Boston we hit traffic -- literally. The drive was slow to respond to the changing traffic conditions and we were not able to stop fast enough to keep from hitting into the back of the SUV in front of us. Damage done. Then, on the way back from Boston, just a mile outside of Cambridge, the hood of our friends car (which had been damaged in the prior accident) became unhinged and flew up and smashed into the windshield. This left us blind to the highway traffic. We were able to navigate to the side of the road thankfully.
Needless to say, the next day (I took a train home rather than chance a drive in that hell car) when my roommate and I got back from work we were faced with like 5 pounds of random cheese. The answer was to make pizza. We experimented to our hearts content with different types of toppings and cheeses. Even the stinky cheese became manageable once baked in the oven.
Now, in graduate school, the parties are not quiet as decadent, but there still is cheese. Courant, for most of their parties, gets really good cheeses from Murrays Cheese shop in Bleeker near 6th. Yesterday was such a party, but unfortunately it was not well attended. The result was that I was able to bring home two large chunks of cheese: One of Asagio and one of Piave. Asagio is a cheese which is used in some of the more famous pizza joints in NYC and is kind of like Mozzarella when cooked. Piave is a harder cheese, like a young Parmigiano Reggian. In any case, the obvious thing to do today was to cook pizza.
My mother makes a very nice dough, a mix of whole wheat and white, just made with yeast, flour and water. I've been making my pizzas using moms recipe for a while and it is very good. It comes out pretty crunchy and keeps its shape well. However today I wanted to try something different. Yesterday my office mate told me that when he makes pizza he uses an egg, milk and sugar in addition to my three ingredients. I figured that I would try to include that, plus use beer instead of water. I have heard that this makes for very yummy dough.
Well, I warmed up some McSorrley's Ale (1 beer) and then mixed some of it with a single packet of yeast and some sugar. The yeast was a little old so it took like 10 minutes to start to bloom. Meanwhile I mixed one egg and the rest of the beer, plus some powdered milk in another container. This all got mixed together, as well as a ton of flour, some salt and some dried Italian spices. I used too much liquid and as a result needed to use about 5 cups of flour (mixed whole wheat and white). Eventually this formed a reasonably springy dough. This went into a bowl and sat for about an hour.
Meanwhile I threw together a pizza sauce. I was tempted to try to use Persimmon in the sauce, but my sense of propriety got the best of me - darnit. The base was one large onion diced, one head of garlic diced, and one large red chili pepper diced cooked in olive oil with some Italian spices. Once translucent, I threw in a large can of whole tomatoes and their juice, plus one can of tomato paste and one of tomato sauce. The usual suspect spices went into the mix, plus I threw in some grated Piave cheese. This stewed until nice some of the excess water cooked off.
The pizza dough was way too much for me to cook tonight. In all there seem to be 6 pizzas worth. So I cut it and froze four of the balls. I cooked one tonight and will do another one in a day or two. The dough was not as stretchy as I would have hoped and I needed to roll it rather than pull it into its shape. Still it was pretty resilient and it didn't tear. When shaped I threw it onto a pizza pan with some corn meal to keep it from sticking. My oven is great for pizza because it gets really hot. I usually cook the pizza dough without sauce until it is a little crunchy. This time I didn't give it as much precooking time before saucing it. I regret this because the inside part of the dough didn't hold its shape as well as usually. About two minutes before the pizza was done I threw the cheese and some chopped fresh Basil, Oregano, Thyme and Rosemary onto the pizza. Once melted, the pizza was done.
I wish my old (a different old roommate) was hear, because I think he would have really liked this pizza. He was a really pizza snob, but I made this pizza with his tastes in mind. The cheese went really well, and the sauce was a little sweet. I needed to add a little salt to bring out the full flavor. My only change (and I have five more chances to do this) is that I would have cooked it more before adding the sauce. I really did like the dough, though it was nothing like what I expected to get. From the springyness of the dough, I expected that it would be a pretty springy pizza. Maybe I need to let it rise some after rolling it? The dough was very thin and crunchy, and aside from having a little more flavor than my mothers, pretty similar.
Maybe this is evidence that it is the hands that make dough and not the ingredients.
In any case, someone the cheese survived the weekend. This is surprising because as I recall, we almost didn't. While driving up to Boston we hit traffic -- literally. The drive was slow to respond to the changing traffic conditions and we were not able to stop fast enough to keep from hitting into the back of the SUV in front of us. Damage done. Then, on the way back from Boston, just a mile outside of Cambridge, the hood of our friends car (which had been damaged in the prior accident) became unhinged and flew up and smashed into the windshield. This left us blind to the highway traffic. We were able to navigate to the side of the road thankfully.
Needless to say, the next day (I took a train home rather than chance a drive in that hell car) when my roommate and I got back from work we were faced with like 5 pounds of random cheese. The answer was to make pizza. We experimented to our hearts content with different types of toppings and cheeses. Even the stinky cheese became manageable once baked in the oven.
Now, in graduate school, the parties are not quiet as decadent, but there still is cheese. Courant, for most of their parties, gets really good cheeses from Murrays Cheese shop in Bleeker near 6th. Yesterday was such a party, but unfortunately it was not well attended. The result was that I was able to bring home two large chunks of cheese: One of Asagio and one of Piave. Asagio is a cheese which is used in some of the more famous pizza joints in NYC and is kind of like Mozzarella when cooked. Piave is a harder cheese, like a young Parmigiano Reggian. In any case, the obvious thing to do today was to cook pizza.
My mother makes a very nice dough, a mix of whole wheat and white, just made with yeast, flour and water. I've been making my pizzas using moms recipe for a while and it is very good. It comes out pretty crunchy and keeps its shape well. However today I wanted to try something different. Yesterday my office mate told me that when he makes pizza he uses an egg, milk and sugar in addition to my three ingredients. I figured that I would try to include that, plus use beer instead of water. I have heard that this makes for very yummy dough.
Well, I warmed up some McSorrley's Ale (1 beer) and then mixed some of it with a single packet of yeast and some sugar. The yeast was a little old so it took like 10 minutes to start to bloom. Meanwhile I mixed one egg and the rest of the beer, plus some powdered milk in another container. This all got mixed together, as well as a ton of flour, some salt and some dried Italian spices. I used too much liquid and as a result needed to use about 5 cups of flour (mixed whole wheat and white). Eventually this formed a reasonably springy dough. This went into a bowl and sat for about an hour.
Meanwhile I threw together a pizza sauce. I was tempted to try to use Persimmon in the sauce, but my sense of propriety got the best of me - darnit. The base was one large onion diced, one head of garlic diced, and one large red chili pepper diced cooked in olive oil with some Italian spices. Once translucent, I threw in a large can of whole tomatoes and their juice, plus one can of tomato paste and one of tomato sauce. The usual suspect spices went into the mix, plus I threw in some grated Piave cheese. This stewed until nice some of the excess water cooked off.
The pizza dough was way too much for me to cook tonight. In all there seem to be 6 pizzas worth. So I cut it and froze four of the balls. I cooked one tonight and will do another one in a day or two. The dough was not as stretchy as I would have hoped and I needed to roll it rather than pull it into its shape. Still it was pretty resilient and it didn't tear. When shaped I threw it onto a pizza pan with some corn meal to keep it from sticking. My oven is great for pizza because it gets really hot. I usually cook the pizza dough without sauce until it is a little crunchy. This time I didn't give it as much precooking time before saucing it. I regret this because the inside part of the dough didn't hold its shape as well as usually. About two minutes before the pizza was done I threw the cheese and some chopped fresh Basil, Oregano, Thyme and Rosemary onto the pizza. Once melted, the pizza was done.
I wish my old (a different old roommate) was hear, because I think he would have really liked this pizza. He was a really pizza snob, but I made this pizza with his tastes in mind. The cheese went really well, and the sauce was a little sweet. I needed to add a little salt to bring out the full flavor. My only change (and I have five more chances to do this) is that I would have cooked it more before adding the sauce. I really did like the dough, though it was nothing like what I expected to get. From the springyness of the dough, I expected that it would be a pretty springy pizza. Maybe I need to let it rise some after rolling it? The dough was very thin and crunchy, and aside from having a little more flavor than my mothers, pretty similar.
Maybe this is evidence that it is the hands that make dough and not the ingredients.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A kosher foodie?
I want to bring up a question I have been asked and thought about a lot. How can I really be interested in food, but still keep kosher. At the cost of sounding like I'm rationalizing being kosher, I'd like to venture an answer.
First of all, let me outline the restrictions which being kosher imposed upon me food wise.
1. Ingredients: I can not cook with any pig ingredients, nor can I cook with any seafood ( lobster, crab, scallops, clams, oysters, ect). I can only cook explicitly kosher meat, and even then I can not mix it with dairy ingredients. In general I try to only buy things with kosher marks on it (though this I sometimes disregard).
2. Restaurants/Friend dinners: When I eat out I only eat fish and vegetarian. For instance, today I went to the Jets football game (J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets ---- nb. I'm more of a Giants fan) and was surrounded by amazing looking tailgating meats. I eat carrots and celery, and a rather ill-made bagel and lox sandwich from a kosher breakfast place (B&H breakfast on 2nd sucks --- they don't have good bagels and don't know how to make a lox sandwich). My restrictions also keep me from eating lots of interesting ethnic foods, street foods, and great foods my friends make.
3. Equipment: In my kitchen I have two separate sets of dishes and pots and pans and utensils. If I want to have a meat meal, I can only use my meat tools, and likewise for dairy. This is actually difficult because of the limited space in my kitchen, plus since I don't cook too much meat, I don't have nearly the same options of cookware as I have with dairy. Also, this can be tough with non-kosher roommates since I need to ask them not to use any of my stuff, and also I need to be careful about them washing their dishes with my stuff in the sink. Luckily this has always worked well for me.
Ok, so I may have left some stuff out, but as you see, its pretty restrictive being kosher. I should mention one aspect which I do not follow is that I freely drink unkosher wine (the kosher stuff really sucks).
So, why would I impose all of these restrictions upon myself, and how does it not significantly detract my from ability to appreciate food? The why is relatively simple: I grew up kosher, its comfortable, and its part of my way of following Judaism. As to the second part of the question, I believe that by restricting myself I do lose out on many culinary experiences. However I think that there is worth in limits.
Lets see if I can articulate this idea. I will never taste bacon, nor will I ever have crab or scallops or street-meat. From what I have heard, these foods have exceedingly great flavor. To me this creates a challenge --- how can I attain the same level of flavor and enjoyment from food, without resorting to eating these items. It becomes something worthy of a quest. I imagine that if I ate bacon, and it really did live up to my expectations, then it might all be spoiled. I would have reached culinary nirvana and would have no where more to go.
This quasi-argument is, of course, dependent on my having been kosher for quite a while. If you didn't grow up kosher, I don't suggest you start. But given my history, being kosher and limited in my cuisine has certainly driven me towards culinary exploration.
Hmm.. maybe I need to think more about this. Thoughts?
First of all, let me outline the restrictions which being kosher imposed upon me food wise.
1. Ingredients: I can not cook with any pig ingredients, nor can I cook with any seafood ( lobster, crab, scallops, clams, oysters, ect). I can only cook explicitly kosher meat, and even then I can not mix it with dairy ingredients. In general I try to only buy things with kosher marks on it (though this I sometimes disregard).
2. Restaurants/Friend dinners: When I eat out I only eat fish and vegetarian. For instance, today I went to the Jets football game (J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets ---- nb. I'm more of a Giants fan) and was surrounded by amazing looking tailgating meats. I eat carrots and celery, and a rather ill-made bagel and lox sandwich from a kosher breakfast place (B&H breakfast on 2nd sucks --- they don't have good bagels and don't know how to make a lox sandwich). My restrictions also keep me from eating lots of interesting ethnic foods, street foods, and great foods my friends make.
3. Equipment: In my kitchen I have two separate sets of dishes and pots and pans and utensils. If I want to have a meat meal, I can only use my meat tools, and likewise for dairy. This is actually difficult because of the limited space in my kitchen, plus since I don't cook too much meat, I don't have nearly the same options of cookware as I have with dairy. Also, this can be tough with non-kosher roommates since I need to ask them not to use any of my stuff, and also I need to be careful about them washing their dishes with my stuff in the sink. Luckily this has always worked well for me.
Ok, so I may have left some stuff out, but as you see, its pretty restrictive being kosher. I should mention one aspect which I do not follow is that I freely drink unkosher wine (the kosher stuff really sucks).
So, why would I impose all of these restrictions upon myself, and how does it not significantly detract my from ability to appreciate food? The why is relatively simple: I grew up kosher, its comfortable, and its part of my way of following Judaism. As to the second part of the question, I believe that by restricting myself I do lose out on many culinary experiences. However I think that there is worth in limits.
Lets see if I can articulate this idea. I will never taste bacon, nor will I ever have crab or scallops or street-meat. From what I have heard, these foods have exceedingly great flavor. To me this creates a challenge --- how can I attain the same level of flavor and enjoyment from food, without resorting to eating these items. It becomes something worthy of a quest. I imagine that if I ate bacon, and it really did live up to my expectations, then it might all be spoiled. I would have reached culinary nirvana and would have no where more to go.
This quasi-argument is, of course, dependent on my having been kosher for quite a while. If you didn't grow up kosher, I don't suggest you start. But given my history, being kosher and limited in my cuisine has certainly driven me towards culinary exploration.
Hmm.. maybe I need to think more about this. Thoughts?
Friday, November 7, 2008
Perogi's at Streecha
I'm now going to do what so many New Yorker food bloggists (and the NY Times) have done before me and praise the little know Perogi cafeteria by the name of Streecha. I first heard of this when my roommate from two years ago read about it, just weeks after moving from NY back to Boston. I was very excited and planned to go... but nothing materialized until today, my office mate and I decided to check it out. The place (on 7th street, between 2nd and 3rd, in the downstairs of a building) resembles a small cafeteria you would see in a religious center (probably because that is what it is). The food is awesome. Perogi's (potato dumplings) go for .50$ each, and stuff cabbage is 2$. They also have desert (apple cake) and borscht. Its only open fri-sun, and the money goes to the Ukranian Church near by. I'm definitely going to be going there again. My one reservation was that the onion mixture which came on the Perogi's was a little too heavy with the butter and oil. I might, next time, ask for just the Perogi's.
Dinner Club 2
Last night was the second meeting of the famous dinner club (recall Flounder and Asparagus Risotto posting). This time around we went to the upper west side to my friend sweet apartment. I'm gonna try to get the recipes which were cooked there and post them, because they were all really really good, and more over they were recipes and preparation techniques I would have never thought to use.
There were three dishes. The main dish was tuna steaks, prepared in a Sicilian manner. Since I don't have the recipe, I'm gonna make some guesses as to exactly how this was done. The tuna was lightly floured. In a large skillet, red onion was cooked until translucent. Then the tuna went onto the pan, and once cooked a little a mixture of white wine, vinegar, bay leaves, olives and yellow raisins was added to the skillet, and the tuna continued to cook in this. The tuna was cooked to medium well done, with still a little pinkishness inside. This preparation was wonderful, as the tuna and onions really took up a lot of the flavors of the mixture. In the past I held the belief that the only good way to prepare tuna is rare, but this would not have been as good if the tuna was rarer.
The second dish was really cute and the most flavorful of the dinner -- it was mushroom bundles. I'm a little sketchier on exactly how this was made. I believe that small mushrooms were precooked until tender, perhaps with some accompanying flavors. Then large collar green leaves were cooked until tender in boiling water. Once cooled, the mushrooms were placed into each leaf, and then a little bundle was constructed. These were placed in the oven sitting on some sort of flavorful sauce and cooked. These bundles were brimming with flavor, and the mushrooms were really tender.
The third dish was brussel sprouts, cook with pistachios until green, but not mushy. The more I have them, the more I like brussel sprouts. They can be great cooked in a wine sauce, or braised, or sauted.... just as long as you don't over cook them, they are really very nice.
Anyway, the dinner was topped off with a watermellon pudding desert, served in a small tea cup with chocolate chips placed around the sides. The flavor was very good, though I do agree with the hosts that arrowroot would have yielded a better consistency. There was a little too much of a corn starch flavor at times. However, I'm a fan of any use of watermellon since its my favorite fruit.
I was very impressed by the quality of food and also by the presentation. When I make food it usually ends up in a large pot.... nothing too pretty. Here the food was in three different serving devices, plus the bundles were a secondary form of food serving device.
I hope that we are not peaking too early with the dinner club. For the next meal I cook, I'm going to really dimish peoples expectations for how good food needs to be ... maybe some food poisoning, or I'll use some spoiled cheese, or maybe I'll try to just use Persimmons, and nothing else.
In any case, I'll try to get the recipes and post them.
There were three dishes. The main dish was tuna steaks, prepared in a Sicilian manner. Since I don't have the recipe, I'm gonna make some guesses as to exactly how this was done. The tuna was lightly floured. In a large skillet, red onion was cooked until translucent. Then the tuna went onto the pan, and once cooked a little a mixture of white wine, vinegar, bay leaves, olives and yellow raisins was added to the skillet, and the tuna continued to cook in this. The tuna was cooked to medium well done, with still a little pinkishness inside. This preparation was wonderful, as the tuna and onions really took up a lot of the flavors of the mixture. In the past I held the belief that the only good way to prepare tuna is rare, but this would not have been as good if the tuna was rarer.
The second dish was really cute and the most flavorful of the dinner -- it was mushroom bundles. I'm a little sketchier on exactly how this was made. I believe that small mushrooms were precooked until tender, perhaps with some accompanying flavors. Then large collar green leaves were cooked until tender in boiling water. Once cooled, the mushrooms were placed into each leaf, and then a little bundle was constructed. These were placed in the oven sitting on some sort of flavorful sauce and cooked. These bundles were brimming with flavor, and the mushrooms were really tender.
The third dish was brussel sprouts, cook with pistachios until green, but not mushy. The more I have them, the more I like brussel sprouts. They can be great cooked in a wine sauce, or braised, or sauted.... just as long as you don't over cook them, they are really very nice.
Anyway, the dinner was topped off with a watermellon pudding desert, served in a small tea cup with chocolate chips placed around the sides. The flavor was very good, though I do agree with the hosts that arrowroot would have yielded a better consistency. There was a little too much of a corn starch flavor at times. However, I'm a fan of any use of watermellon since its my favorite fruit.
I was very impressed by the quality of food and also by the presentation. When I make food it usually ends up in a large pot.... nothing too pretty. Here the food was in three different serving devices, plus the bundles were a secondary form of food serving device.
I hope that we are not peaking too early with the dinner club. For the next meal I cook, I'm going to really dimish peoples expectations for how good food needs to be ... maybe some food poisoning, or I'll use some spoiled cheese, or maybe I'll try to just use Persimmons, and nothing else.
In any case, I'll try to get the recipes and post them.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Indian patties and curry (with persimmon)
Yes, I have found another use for the 50 some-odd persimmons I bought last week --- its as a sauce thickener (and slight sweetener). I was have been contemplating this for many days and finally, yesterday, decided to chance disaster and mix persimmon with tomatos as a base for an Indian curry. I dare say it went off without a hitch. I also found use for much of the 1.5 kilogram brick of goat cheese I got at the cheese shop for a measly 6$. Stay tuned and you too will learn how to cobble together a meal out of stuff you bought on impulse without thinking.
That premise of dinner last night was that my cousin Johanna (who was very helpful in the kitchen) was visiting (I got tickets to the Daily Show and she was coming with) and we had decided to have my other cousin and my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner. Cooking didn't commence until like 8. The menu was to be Indian vegi and cheese patties, rice, and a thick curry sauce. Think Malia Kofta... but don't think that too much.
Highlights of the evening were:
1. Tricking everyone into thinking that they were drinking Johnny Walker Blue Label and listening to their high praise (it was really old Canadian club in a Johnny Blue bottle).
2. Realizing that despite trying to make Indian patties, I was really just making Indian Latkas (no potato, but they really look the part).
3. The success of Persimmon as a thickening/creamening agent.
4. The use of a significant portion of my goat cheese.
Wow, as I write about the evening I realize that what I am saying is pretty boring. So rather than blabbing more, here's the recipes.
Indian Patties. (I'll try to make this a recipe for 4 or 5)
1 can chickpeas
2 carrots
1 zucchini
1 cup goat cheese
1 cup crushed cashews
some flour
1 long hot pepper
1 or 2 eggs (depending on size)
1 small onion
4 cloves garlic
Curry mixture (red pepper powder, cumin/ coriander, tumeric, or curry powder)
Drain and was chickpeas. Add to large glass bowl, with the cheese and eggs and cashews. Peel and julienne carrots, zuchinni and pepper into almost thick pieces (the thinner the better). Mix in with diced onion and well crushed/chopped garlic. Spice with indian spices and salt/pepper. Then add in a few spoonfuls of flour to thicken up the mixture. Let sit for a little. Take you favorite cast iron skillet and cover bottom with oil. Heat and then (just wait until Hannukah's post) shape into latka like patties (maybe 2-3 inches in diameter) and place into the pan. Let these get browned before flipping and repeating. Occasionally add more oil, and when cooked place them on paper bags for draining. Yum.
Curry sauce (also with 4-5 people)
2 Persimmons, ripe (if you don't have these, no big deal... it just makes it a nicer, creamier consistency)
1/2 cup goat cheese
1- 1.5 large can of whole tomatoes
1 cup peas
1 cup cauliflower
2 carrots
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
bayleaves
dried whole red pepper
crushed cardamom
garma masala
tumeric
mustard seeds
Heat oil in a deep pan. Add bay leaves and dried whole red pepper and let sizzle for 30 seconds. Add mustard seeds, sizzle another 30 seconds, then add powdered spices and crushed cardamom. After about 15 seconds add medium sized pieces of chopped onion and garlic and hot pepper. Cook for a few minutes until onions start to get a little translucent, but not browned. Add in vegis and cook until they get a little tender. Meanwhile take 1 can of tomatoes and the two persimmons and blend in a blender to a slurry. Pour into the pan and add any additional tomato. Cook for 10 minutes or so then add in goat cheese and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper and any additional spice to taste.
Rice
Cook Indian rice.
Eat.
That premise of dinner last night was that my cousin Johanna (who was very helpful in the kitchen) was visiting (I got tickets to the Daily Show and she was coming with) and we had decided to have my other cousin and my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner. Cooking didn't commence until like 8. The menu was to be Indian vegi and cheese patties, rice, and a thick curry sauce. Think Malia Kofta... but don't think that too much.
Highlights of the evening were:
1. Tricking everyone into thinking that they were drinking Johnny Walker Blue Label and listening to their high praise (it was really old Canadian club in a Johnny Blue bottle).
2. Realizing that despite trying to make Indian patties, I was really just making Indian Latkas (no potato, but they really look the part).
3. The success of Persimmon as a thickening/creamening agent.
4. The use of a significant portion of my goat cheese.
Wow, as I write about the evening I realize that what I am saying is pretty boring. So rather than blabbing more, here's the recipes.
Indian Patties. (I'll try to make this a recipe for 4 or 5)
1 can chickpeas
2 carrots
1 zucchini
1 cup goat cheese
1 cup crushed cashews
some flour
1 long hot pepper
1 or 2 eggs (depending on size)
1 small onion
4 cloves garlic
Curry mixture (red pepper powder, cumin/ coriander, tumeric, or curry powder)
Drain and was chickpeas. Add to large glass bowl, with the cheese and eggs and cashews. Peel and julienne carrots, zuchinni and pepper into almost thick pieces (the thinner the better). Mix in with diced onion and well crushed/chopped garlic. Spice with indian spices and salt/pepper. Then add in a few spoonfuls of flour to thicken up the mixture. Let sit for a little. Take you favorite cast iron skillet and cover bottom with oil. Heat and then (just wait until Hannukah's post) shape into latka like patties (maybe 2-3 inches in diameter) and place into the pan. Let these get browned before flipping and repeating. Occasionally add more oil, and when cooked place them on paper bags for draining. Yum.
Curry sauce (also with 4-5 people)
2 Persimmons, ripe (if you don't have these, no big deal... it just makes it a nicer, creamier consistency)
1/2 cup goat cheese
1- 1.5 large can of whole tomatoes
1 cup peas
1 cup cauliflower
2 carrots
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
bayleaves
dried whole red pepper
crushed cardamom
garma masala
tumeric
mustard seeds
Heat oil in a deep pan. Add bay leaves and dried whole red pepper and let sizzle for 30 seconds. Add mustard seeds, sizzle another 30 seconds, then add powdered spices and crushed cardamom. After about 15 seconds add medium sized pieces of chopped onion and garlic and hot pepper. Cook for a few minutes until onions start to get a little translucent, but not browned. Add in vegis and cook until they get a little tender. Meanwhile take 1 can of tomatoes and the two persimmons and blend in a blender to a slurry. Pour into the pan and add any additional tomato. Cook for 10 minutes or so then add in goat cheese and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper and any additional spice to taste.
Rice
Cook Indian rice.
Eat.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Dosas 2
So I let the remainder of my Dosa batter ferment over night. When I got to it this morning, it looked like it had fermented a fair amount more (it was more murky). I whipped it up a little and added a little more water to it and some salt. This time around the Dosas came out a lot better. In fact, my last attempt (I made three this morning) actually looked and tasted like a proper Dosa. My conclusion (and I will test this in the next few days) is that in our climate you need to let this ferment for at least a day, and then you also need to give it enough water. This aside, the Dosa cooked up pretty well.
I'm going to make another batch for Wednesday as a post election celebration (hopefully).
I'm going to make another batch for Wednesday as a post election celebration (hopefully).
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Dosa making take 1 (or 2 perhaps)
This morning, before heading off to watch the NY Marathon, I started on the path to making Dosas. Knowing that this would likely not work well, I used only a small amount of ingredients. The directions I found online where to mix 1 part Urad Dal, 2 parts rice (short grained), and 1/4 part Channa Dal, plus some Metha (Fennigreek) seeds. You wash them and then soak them in water for at least 6 hours. Then you blend them to a course batter in a blender. I did this. In my first attempt at actually cooking the Dosa I used a large cast iron skillet with some oil, and poured the batter into the middle, then used my pouring cup to spread the batter. Unfortunately, the batter was too thick and didn't spread. It also didn't cook that well. I ate the creation with some of my indian/bangladeshi greenbeans I made earlier, but it was not particularly good.
With this failure under my belt I figured I should add a little more water and let the batter continue to ferment. I did this for about 3 more hours an then just a few minutes ago made another Dosa. This time the batter spread better, and it cooked better. However, it still seemed a little to course and in my opinion there has not been enough fermentation. I still have some of the batter left, so my plan is to let it ferment over night, and then blend again in the morning and try once more.
This exercise in Dosa making today reminds me of my first Dosa attempt about a year or so ago. My friend Evan and I decided to apply for an NYU iron chef type contest. The application was to design a breakfast menu. I had the idea of making Dosas. There was a problem though. Most importantly you only had an hour to prep and make the breakfast. Secondly, they didn't have the right types of lentils. Still, I persevered and figured that ingredients and time are only in the mind (a common act of hubris I suffer from). So, I took my lentils and my rice and threw it in the blender with some water. Sure enough I got a nice paste which looked kind of like Dosa batter. The only issue was that when I tried to cook it, IT TASTED and FELT HORRIBLE. It was all gritty and I'm pretty sure my body was unable to make anything of the protein locked deep inside of the ingredients. An utter failure, I just tossed the mix. In retrospect I should have just let it ferment for a day and then tried again.
With this failure under my belt I figured I should add a little more water and let the batter continue to ferment. I did this for about 3 more hours an then just a few minutes ago made another Dosa. This time the batter spread better, and it cooked better. However, it still seemed a little to course and in my opinion there has not been enough fermentation. I still have some of the batter left, so my plan is to let it ferment over night, and then blend again in the morning and try once more.
This exercise in Dosa making today reminds me of my first Dosa attempt about a year or so ago. My friend Evan and I decided to apply for an NYU iron chef type contest. The application was to design a breakfast menu. I had the idea of making Dosas. There was a problem though. Most importantly you only had an hour to prep and make the breakfast. Secondly, they didn't have the right types of lentils. Still, I persevered and figured that ingredients and time are only in the mind (a common act of hubris I suffer from). So, I took my lentils and my rice and threw it in the blender with some water. Sure enough I got a nice paste which looked kind of like Dosa batter. The only issue was that when I tried to cook it, IT TASTED and FELT HORRIBLE. It was all gritty and I'm pretty sure my body was unable to make anything of the protein locked deep inside of the ingredients. An utter failure, I just tossed the mix. In retrospect I should have just let it ferment for a day and then tried again.
Persimmon Smoothies
I wasn't sure if I had slept through Persimmon season and missed out on my favorite exotic fruit buy of the year, but just a few days ago I saw my first persimmon being sold at a fruit cart. Yesterday, after a month and a half of eating my previous chinatown cache of vegis, I took a trip to the outdoor markets under the Manhattan bridge. As providence would have it, it was a great day for shopping: Not too warm or cold, lots of stands with nice looking food. There was even a man selling freshly caught fish from the east river (I had heard people do this, but yuck). After making countless purchases of vegis, plus a nice ripe pineapple, I came to the persimmon selling. The deal was 6$ for a large box of smaller sized ones, or 8$ for a large box of larger sized ones. So as not to be bothered with regrets about getting the wrong size, I bought both boxes, a sum total of 14$ for approximately 50 persimmons.
You should ask yourself (if you didn't bother reading the title of the posting) why I would ever want to buy 50 persimmons. The answer comes in the form of the silkiest, creamiest, best smoothies ever. I happened onto persimmon smoothies after a similar purchase of a box of persimmons last year. I tasted them and was not particularly smitten with their flavor --- a little honey tasting, but nothing special for me. Left with a bunch of their fruits I figured that I'd throw them in with some yogurt, and some juice or other fruits. To my surprise, the persimmon, when blended, yielded the aforementioned attributes to my smoothie.
So, I have begun my daily smoothie regiment. A few spoonfuls of plain yogurt, a persimmon or two skinned and cut in half, some orange juice, or strawberries, or blueberries, or mango etc, and some ice. Blend it up and enjoy. In fact, since I have so many, I might just freeze some for a warmer day (yes... smoothies in the late fall are not optimal, but still with ny apartment heat they way it is, you sometimes need a smoothie to cool down).
I've been considering trying to use my previous thoughts on bok choy to make a citrus smoothie with persimmon. I'll update if I do.
Also, I have been toying with using persimmon to create creamier sauces.
Lastly, as I type I have a bowl of fermenting urad dal, channa dal, and short rice sitting five feet from me. In a few hours this will be blended and hopefully will become Dosas. I will post as to the success, and more likely failure of this exploit.
You should ask yourself (if you didn't bother reading the title of the posting) why I would ever want to buy 50 persimmons. The answer comes in the form of the silkiest, creamiest, best smoothies ever. I happened onto persimmon smoothies after a similar purchase of a box of persimmons last year. I tasted them and was not particularly smitten with their flavor --- a little honey tasting, but nothing special for me. Left with a bunch of their fruits I figured that I'd throw them in with some yogurt, and some juice or other fruits. To my surprise, the persimmon, when blended, yielded the aforementioned attributes to my smoothie.
So, I have begun my daily smoothie regiment. A few spoonfuls of plain yogurt, a persimmon or two skinned and cut in half, some orange juice, or strawberries, or blueberries, or mango etc, and some ice. Blend it up and enjoy. In fact, since I have so many, I might just freeze some for a warmer day (yes... smoothies in the late fall are not optimal, but still with ny apartment heat they way it is, you sometimes need a smoothie to cool down).
I've been considering trying to use my previous thoughts on bok choy to make a citrus smoothie with persimmon. I'll update if I do.
Also, I have been toying with using persimmon to create creamier sauces.
Lastly, as I type I have a bowl of fermenting urad dal, channa dal, and short rice sitting five feet from me. In a few hours this will be blended and hopefully will become Dosas. I will post as to the success, and more likely failure of this exploit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)