this is a test.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Monday, May 4, 2009
Grilling at home - Beer Can chicken
Beautiful Chicago weather (finally) led to a desire to cook something outside and have some friends over. Thus my third trip down beer can chicken lane.
I have a very reliable recipe from the folks at Cooks Illustrated, and proceeded to make three chickens, braised kale, broccoli salad, German potato salad, sour cream muffins, and blondies for dessert.
Everything was pretty good, but there were nine people, and the completely devoured all three chickens. In a very short amount of time. The kale was great. I always forget how much I love kale. The muffins were a first try and were surprisingly good for having only 3 ingredients. The chicken was delicious and moist, but I need to get the skin crisper all the way around. there were some non-crisp skin sections, but the chicken was still good.
And blondies are my go-to dessert on short notice. I always have the ingredients, and I can make them in 30 minutes including baking and oven heating time.
Good times.....
I have a very reliable recipe from the folks at Cooks Illustrated, and proceeded to make three chickens, braised kale, broccoli salad, German potato salad, sour cream muffins, and blondies for dessert.
Everything was pretty good, but there were nine people, and the completely devoured all three chickens. In a very short amount of time. The kale was great. I always forget how much I love kale. The muffins were a first try and were surprisingly good for having only 3 ingredients. The chicken was delicious and moist, but I need to get the skin crisper all the way around. there were some non-crisp skin sections, but the chicken was still good.
And blondies are my go-to dessert on short notice. I always have the ingredients, and I can make them in 30 minutes including baking and oven heating time.
Good times.....
Afternoon weekday dining - Hop Leaf
Sorry for the time between posts. Life gets in the way sometimes. Luckily I have a number of posts to make, I just have to go through and write them. Last Monday night I had a visit from Jayadev, one of our writers from Connecticut. He got in to Chicago around 4, and neither of us had eaten lunch. This means that we could get to one of the great Chicago food and drink establishments before the after work crowd.
The Hopleaf is a "gastropub" in the traditional sense of the word. Large and varied beer selection, well prepared upscale bar food with a European spin. They have a few good things on their menu. The brisket is fine, the ham and cheese sandwich is great, and the frites with aioli are AMAZING. But I'm trying to expand my seafood horizons. I've never been a fan of fish or seafood (perhaps because I've only lived in Idaho and Chicago, both rather landlocked), but I really like the preparation of fish and seafood. So I'm trying to force myself to like more of it. I had a decent mussels experience a few months ago, so Jayadev and I got the mussells and frites for two. I know the Hopleaf is famous for their mussels, so I thought it might work out. if not, I had the frites to fall back on.
I started with a cold asparagus soup. Forgettable. Only mentioning for completeness.
Then the mussels and frites. Frites were awesome. No surprise. The mussels had the right texture and flavor, and I was able to finish my portion. I still don't love them, but I do love dipping bread in the broth left over. I have been made to understand that everyone loves the broth, and there may be other people who only eat mussels to get to the bottom of the bucket. I do think I had a bit of "mussel fatigue" (sorry about the pun) as I got towards the bottom. Just got a little tired of the experience, but I definitely filled up on them, and will do so again I'm sure.
The Hopleaf is a "gastropub" in the traditional sense of the word. Large and varied beer selection, well prepared upscale bar food with a European spin. They have a few good things on their menu. The brisket is fine, the ham and cheese sandwich is great, and the frites with aioli are AMAZING. But I'm trying to expand my seafood horizons. I've never been a fan of fish or seafood (perhaps because I've only lived in Idaho and Chicago, both rather landlocked), but I really like the preparation of fish and seafood. So I'm trying to force myself to like more of it. I had a decent mussels experience a few months ago, so Jayadev and I got the mussells and frites for two. I know the Hopleaf is famous for their mussels, so I thought it might work out. if not, I had the frites to fall back on.
I started with a cold asparagus soup. Forgettable. Only mentioning for completeness.
Then the mussels and frites. Frites were awesome. No surprise. The mussels had the right texture and flavor, and I was able to finish my portion. I still don't love them, but I do love dipping bread in the broth left over. I have been made to understand that everyone loves the broth, and there may be other people who only eat mussels to get to the bottom of the bucket. I do think I had a bit of "mussel fatigue" (sorry about the pun) as I got towards the bottom. Just got a little tired of the experience, but I definitely filled up on them, and will do so again I'm sure.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Weekday dining - Tweet
This is hopefully the first in a somewhat regular series about dining in Chicago... On weekdays... At popular breakfast and lunch spots... When the rest of the city is working. I work on most weekends, leaving me with two weekdays off each week. Chicago has a great roster of breakfast / brunch and lunch places that get PACKED on weekends. Lines out the door and around the block. But for most of these places, if you show up on a Thursday at 10am, there's no wait. Not bad.
Even though I went last week, I went to Tweet again this week. How else can I devote an entire post to a restaurant if I do it from memory? I met up with Ryan, Michelle, and James, who had just finished walking around Montrose beach. (Yes, i should have walked too. I didn't.) Our servers were the 2 guys who are always there on Thursdays: Ted, and another very nice competent server whose name I don't know. After the usual jokes about having no biscuits and gravy available, we got down to business.
First, coffee. I am only recently a coffee drinker, and I use way more cream and sugar than most people can handle, but I do like good coffee. And they brew good coffee. And there's a fresh cup of cream that appears on the table when you order the coffee. I do like that better than plastic cups of half and half.
They do LOTS of things well at Tweet. Literally every time I go, I get the biscuits and gravy.
And I usually 2 eggs on the side, and hashbrowns. I didn't bother with a picture of the eggs:
The biscuits are always fresh, the gravy is well seasoned and has lots of sausage, and the hash browns are amazing. The pictures don't do any of it justice. The hash browns look rather ordinary, perhaps like they were frozen. Let me assure you this is not the case. They are just cooked to a perfect golden brown, and have this amazing richness to them. I finally asked why they were so good. The answer: cooked in 100% clarified butter. Hmm. Naturally.
How do I know the other stuff is good? Because I eat of of other plates, obviously. I can say that Tweet has the best French toast I've ever had in Chicago. This is what Michelle's order looked like today. Sorry about the shadows from the sun.
Looks good, right?
Ryan always gets the vegetarian biscuits and gravy. I've never tried them. I can't wrap my head around vegetarian gravy. Don't you need animal fat and pan drippings for gravy? But he seems to like it:
And James got some sort of a breakfast burrito. They have a whole list of them. You order by number. This might have been # 5:
I must say, it was a great meal. Ted brought us out some complimentary fresh squeezed orange juice. It's part of our VIP treatment. I would highly recommend that anyone in the area try out Tweet for breakfast or brunch. Just be forewarned, if you go on a weekend, you WILL wait quite awhile.
Even though I went last week, I went to Tweet again this week. How else can I devote an entire post to a restaurant if I do it from memory? I met up with Ryan, Michelle, and James, who had just finished walking around Montrose beach. (Yes, i should have walked too. I didn't.) Our servers were the 2 guys who are always there on Thursdays: Ted, and another very nice competent server whose name I don't know. After the usual jokes about having no biscuits and gravy available, we got down to business.
First, coffee. I am only recently a coffee drinker, and I use way more cream and sugar than most people can handle, but I do like good coffee. And they brew good coffee. And there's a fresh cup of cream that appears on the table when you order the coffee. I do like that better than plastic cups of half and half.
They do LOTS of things well at Tweet. Literally every time I go, I get the biscuits and gravy.
And I usually 2 eggs on the side, and hashbrowns. I didn't bother with a picture of the eggs:
The biscuits are always fresh, the gravy is well seasoned and has lots of sausage, and the hash browns are amazing. The pictures don't do any of it justice. The hash browns look rather ordinary, perhaps like they were frozen. Let me assure you this is not the case. They are just cooked to a perfect golden brown, and have this amazing richness to them. I finally asked why they were so good. The answer: cooked in 100% clarified butter. Hmm. Naturally.
How do I know the other stuff is good? Because I eat of of other plates, obviously. I can say that Tweet has the best French toast I've ever had in Chicago. This is what Michelle's order looked like today. Sorry about the shadows from the sun.
Looks good, right?
Ryan always gets the vegetarian biscuits and gravy. I've never tried them. I can't wrap my head around vegetarian gravy. Don't you need animal fat and pan drippings for gravy? But he seems to like it:
And James got some sort of a breakfast burrito. They have a whole list of them. You order by number. This might have been # 5:
I must say, it was a great meal. Ted brought us out some complimentary fresh squeezed orange juice. It's part of our VIP treatment. I would highly recommend that anyone in the area try out Tweet for breakfast or brunch. Just be forewarned, if you go on a weekend, you WILL wait quite awhile.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Philly: Checking In, Dining Out
I feel terrible. I haven't posted to this site in too long, and it's not like I haven't been eating. I don't have a good excuse, but I promise to try to do better in the future. So, back to the eating and reporting. I don't have anything amazing on the burner (ha HA!) so to speak, mostly because I'm sitting in class and can only remember the bowl of cereal I had for breakfast. BUT...I have plans. Stay tuned for upcoming editions of Scrumptudelphia on topics including:
*Inexpensive-yet-invaluable Mexican food delivered rain or shine by bike from El Jarocho.
*Luchalibre masks and white pants juxtaposed with myriad ceviches, tongue tacos and savory bone marrow from DISTRITO.
*The new and improved Drew Coursin Cookies (now with TWO POUNDS OF M&Ms per batch!)
*The merits of Belgian street waffles eaten neither in Belgium nor on the street.
*And more!!
In addition to new content, be prepared for the stellar input of co-gormands including Jax, Smash and the lovely M. Hurray!
*Inexpensive-yet-invaluable Mexican food delivered rain or shine by bike from El Jarocho.
*Luchalibre masks and white pants juxtaposed with myriad ceviches, tongue tacos and savory bone marrow from DISTRITO.
*The new and improved Drew Coursin Cookies (now with TWO POUNDS OF M&Ms per batch!)
*The merits of Belgian street waffles eaten neither in Belgium nor on the street.
*And more!!
In addition to new content, be prepared for the stellar input of co-gormands including Jax, Smash and the lovely M. Hurray!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
... The next night
You should all read the previous post. The food is much more interesting, and there is a brief discussion of my return to food blogging.
But this is what pushed me into posting again:
Nothing exciting there. It's four Vienna Beef polish sausages that I grilled along with some onions. Got home from work Saturday, wanted to fix something quick, saw the sausages in the fridge, and literally 9 minutes later had this plate of food ready for Akira and I to eat. Had some leftover collards greens, some jalepeno krunchers chips, and some rather turgid grape tomatoes. There was nothing special about the meal, but that plate of food looked good. So I took a picture. And decided I wanted to share it somewhere.
And I remembered the blog.
Not sure when I'll post again. We'll see.
But this is what pushed me into posting again:
Nothing exciting there. It's four Vienna Beef polish sausages that I grilled along with some onions. Got home from work Saturday, wanted to fix something quick, saw the sausages in the fridge, and literally 9 minutes later had this plate of food ready for Akira and I to eat. Had some leftover collards greens, some jalepeno krunchers chips, and some rather turgid grape tomatoes. There was nothing special about the meal, but that plate of food looked good. So I took a picture. And decided I wanted to share it somewhere.
And I remembered the blog.
Not sure when I'll post again. We'll see.
**Tap Tap** Is this thing on?
Is it possible to resurrect a food blog, even one that never had a high readership?
No idea.
But I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the great food city that I live in.
It's Chicago, for those of you who don't know...
In any case, I have had some money concerns recently, and I've realized that I still eat some pretty amazing food. Mainly because I live in a great food city, probably also because I prioritize food as an essential expense. There are SO MANY great food options here, even on a tighter budget.
So I thought I'd explore some of those, and maybe try to entice a few of my co-bloggers back.
They don't know that I am posting right now, and all of their lives have changed quite a bit since they last posted. However, I'm pretty sure they are all eating interesting things.
I work an odd schedule. I only worked a partial day on Wednesday, then had Thursday and Friday off, and worked all weekend. As I described the gluttony of Wednesday through Friday to my boss, it hit me that I enjoyed that span of eating so much, I should probably tell the world about it. The world, in this case, consists of my co-workers and my roommates. That's a small group, so I thought I'd post it here.
Wednesday. 4/1/09. As a tribute to my mom, who is from Wisconsin and whose birthday is on April first, I had to leave work early so as to avoid going into overtime for the week. Since I was heading through the southwest suburbs back to my apartment, I realized that if I took a certain path home, I would go by a Culver's. This place is a Wisconsin based fast food chain that has started to spread out quite a bit. To my palate, they tie with In-N-Out for best fast food burger ever. So I had a late lunch there around 2 pm. Double Butterburger with cheese basket is only $4.99 right now. Great food, great price. Called my mom to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was jealous, and then gave me a guilt trip for not flying to Boise to surprise her for her birthday. Serves me right for going to Culver's alone. That experience should be shared.
Thursday. Woke up. Roommate # 1, the Asian one, was off last week, and roommate # 2, the student, doesn't have class on Thursdays. I arranged to meet up with Rick, the new dad, for an early lunch at Hot Doug's. Akira (roommate # 1) and Joe (roommate # 2) both agreed to come. So we went to Doug's at 10:45 am. It's been discussed on this blog before, but I'm too lazy to look for it and link to it. Hot Doug's is one of the best restaurants in Chicago. No one will agree with this until they actually go there, but trust me. Or trust the internet. Do a google search, or just go the link I included a few sentences ago and look at the specials menu. His food is REAL. His food is CHEAP. His food is AMAZING. Best fries I've ever had. Anyway, I had the Cinci style chili dog, 'cause everyone was doing it, and I had the Burgundy Wine Pork Sausage with Bacon-Garlic Mayonnaise and Camembert Cheese. And shared some fries. It was unspeakably good. Anyone who wants to visit Chicago, this place has to be on your itinerary. Get in touch with me. I'll take you.
After lunch, I realized I wanted to make Collard Greens. I like the idea of greens. I have a fascination with "Southern Food." I watched the Good Eats episode about greens. So I wanted to make them. Couldn't make them as a meal unto themselves, so I plotted what else to make. I realized I wanted something grilled. Joe's mom provided us with some home grown ground beef. So I thawed that and made an America's Test Kitchen-based recipe for Well Done burgers. (I have a slight fear of underdone ground beef unless it is ground to order). I also made the oven baked onion rings from the same ATK episode, and sour cream and onion smashed potatoes. Not the healthiest of meals, but it was REALLY good. The burgers were superb, the onion rings were surprisingly good, the potatoes were a little runnier than I usually like, but definitely delicious, and the Collards were GREAT. I need to investigate these hearty greens a little more. Usually if I go down that route it's just kale, but mustard greens and turnip greens are now calling ti me. As for the burgers, home grown ANYTHING is so amazing, and that includes beef. Can't say enough about it. And it was a relatively cheap meal. The beef was free, for us, and then everything else was less than a dollar a pound. Potatoes? Collards? Onions? Cheap! The most expensive part of the meal was the ham hock that went into the greens! Oh, yeah. I almost forgot the chocolate mocha cake with chocolate marscapone mocha frosting that I made. It was pretty good, too. All of the roommates joined me for dinner (Akira, Joe, Dane and Hensley), and Leo made an appearance as well.
Friday I woke up and went for an 11 am brunch at Tweet. Tweet may have made it on to the blog before, too, but just in case, let me tell you something. They have the best biscuits and gravy in Chicago, as well as the best hash browns. (I use hyperbole a lot, but they really are that good). They also have a cool space to work in, and very nice waitstaff. Went with David, a friend I used to work with. It was a great time, and we had some great food. Truth be told, I go to Tweet almost every week, so it will make a return appearance here at some point I'm sure. It's not the cheapest breakfast in town, but for quality AND quantity, it can't be beat. Another place I would travel a long way to visit.
Friday night some friends wanted to go to That Little Mexican Cafe. It's a cool place with great margaritas, very good guacamole, and a grilled pork tenderloin entree that really makes me happy. Good company with David, Ryan, James, and Alan. Good food. Easily the most expensive meal I ate over the past few days, but it was worth it. Plus David paid because I agreed to drive him to my place, give him some chocolate cake, and then drive him home. Definitely worth it.
All of that eating in the span of two and a half days made me realize that I missed writing about food, even for the small audience, but the meal that made me sit back down and start typing again came the next night...
No idea.
But I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the great food city that I live in.
It's Chicago, for those of you who don't know...
In any case, I have had some money concerns recently, and I've realized that I still eat some pretty amazing food. Mainly because I live in a great food city, probably also because I prioritize food as an essential expense. There are SO MANY great food options here, even on a tighter budget.
So I thought I'd explore some of those, and maybe try to entice a few of my co-bloggers back.
They don't know that I am posting right now, and all of their lives have changed quite a bit since they last posted. However, I'm pretty sure they are all eating interesting things.
I work an odd schedule. I only worked a partial day on Wednesday, then had Thursday and Friday off, and worked all weekend. As I described the gluttony of Wednesday through Friday to my boss, it hit me that I enjoyed that span of eating so much, I should probably tell the world about it. The world, in this case, consists of my co-workers and my roommates. That's a small group, so I thought I'd post it here.
Wednesday. 4/1/09. As a tribute to my mom, who is from Wisconsin and whose birthday is on April first, I had to leave work early so as to avoid going into overtime for the week. Since I was heading through the southwest suburbs back to my apartment, I realized that if I took a certain path home, I would go by a Culver's. This place is a Wisconsin based fast food chain that has started to spread out quite a bit. To my palate, they tie with In-N-Out for best fast food burger ever. So I had a late lunch there around 2 pm. Double Butterburger with cheese basket is only $4.99 right now. Great food, great price. Called my mom to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was jealous, and then gave me a guilt trip for not flying to Boise to surprise her for her birthday. Serves me right for going to Culver's alone. That experience should be shared.
Thursday. Woke up. Roommate # 1, the Asian one, was off last week, and roommate # 2, the student, doesn't have class on Thursdays. I arranged to meet up with Rick, the new dad, for an early lunch at Hot Doug's. Akira (roommate # 1) and Joe (roommate # 2) both agreed to come. So we went to Doug's at 10:45 am. It's been discussed on this blog before, but I'm too lazy to look for it and link to it. Hot Doug's is one of the best restaurants in Chicago. No one will agree with this until they actually go there, but trust me. Or trust the internet. Do a google search, or just go the link I included a few sentences ago and look at the specials menu. His food is REAL. His food is CHEAP. His food is AMAZING. Best fries I've ever had. Anyway, I had the Cinci style chili dog, 'cause everyone was doing it, and I had the Burgundy Wine Pork Sausage with Bacon-Garlic Mayonnaise and Camembert Cheese. And shared some fries. It was unspeakably good. Anyone who wants to visit Chicago, this place has to be on your itinerary. Get in touch with me. I'll take you.
After lunch, I realized I wanted to make Collard Greens. I like the idea of greens. I have a fascination with "Southern Food." I watched the Good Eats episode about greens. So I wanted to make them. Couldn't make them as a meal unto themselves, so I plotted what else to make. I realized I wanted something grilled. Joe's mom provided us with some home grown ground beef. So I thawed that and made an America's Test Kitchen-based recipe for Well Done burgers. (I have a slight fear of underdone ground beef unless it is ground to order). I also made the oven baked onion rings from the same ATK episode, and sour cream and onion smashed potatoes. Not the healthiest of meals, but it was REALLY good. The burgers were superb, the onion rings were surprisingly good, the potatoes were a little runnier than I usually like, but definitely delicious, and the Collards were GREAT. I need to investigate these hearty greens a little more. Usually if I go down that route it's just kale, but mustard greens and turnip greens are now calling ti me. As for the burgers, home grown ANYTHING is so amazing, and that includes beef. Can't say enough about it. And it was a relatively cheap meal. The beef was free, for us, and then everything else was less than a dollar a pound. Potatoes? Collards? Onions? Cheap! The most expensive part of the meal was the ham hock that went into the greens! Oh, yeah. I almost forgot the chocolate mocha cake with chocolate marscapone mocha frosting that I made. It was pretty good, too. All of the roommates joined me for dinner (Akira, Joe, Dane and Hensley), and Leo made an appearance as well.
Friday I woke up and went for an 11 am brunch at Tweet. Tweet may have made it on to the blog before, too, but just in case, let me tell you something. They have the best biscuits and gravy in Chicago, as well as the best hash browns. (I use hyperbole a lot, but they really are that good). They also have a cool space to work in, and very nice waitstaff. Went with David, a friend I used to work with. It was a great time, and we had some great food. Truth be told, I go to Tweet almost every week, so it will make a return appearance here at some point I'm sure. It's not the cheapest breakfast in town, but for quality AND quantity, it can't be beat. Another place I would travel a long way to visit.
Friday night some friends wanted to go to That Little Mexican Cafe. It's a cool place with great margaritas, very good guacamole, and a grilled pork tenderloin entree that really makes me happy. Good company with David, Ryan, James, and Alan. Good food. Easily the most expensive meal I ate over the past few days, but it was worth it. Plus David paid because I agreed to drive him to my place, give him some chocolate cake, and then drive him home. Definitely worth it.
All of that eating in the span of two and a half days made me realize that I missed writing about food, even for the small audience, but the meal that made me sit back down and start typing again came the next night...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Back in the Have
So I'm back in New Haven now. I have a new apartment, and a gorgeous new kitchen. I have been going a little nuts with summer farmers market bounty and just enjoying cooking in the big, open, kitchen with two large windows. Also, Mark Bittman's blog, Bitten, has been providing some delightful recipes.
Some of the things I've made:
-Tilapia with cilantro, lime, tomatoes, and crispy garlic (apparently this is Yucatan-style, according to Bittman).
-Scallops stir-fried with green and red pepper and eggplant.
-Cold eggplant salad with sesame dressing.
-A bread salad with cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and fresh basil.
-pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil
-A nice simple yellow dal (Indian lentils) with onions and cilantro
- Molaha Mangai- a south Indian mango relish- basically raw mango with asofoetida, chili powder, and a little bit of toasted mustard seeds.
-fresh guac
-fresh peach salsa
-Blueberry/raspberry cheesecake bars (no-bake, no less).
-mango milkshakes
-Sauteed cherries (some of them poured on ice cream, some put in a pie)
Here's a picture of the cherries on top of some blackberry ice cream, and one of the cheesecake bars:
Some of the things I've made:
-Tilapia with cilantro, lime, tomatoes, and crispy garlic (apparently this is Yucatan-style, according to Bittman).
-Scallops stir-fried with green and red pepper and eggplant.
-Cold eggplant salad with sesame dressing.
-A bread salad with cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and fresh basil.
-pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil
-A nice simple yellow dal (Indian lentils) with onions and cilantro
- Molaha Mangai- a south Indian mango relish- basically raw mango with asofoetida, chili powder, and a little bit of toasted mustard seeds.
-fresh guac
-fresh peach salsa
-Blueberry/raspberry cheesecake bars (no-bake, no less).
-mango milkshakes
-Sauteed cherries (some of them poured on ice cream, some put in a pie)
Here's a picture of the cherries on top of some blackberry ice cream, and one of the cheesecake bars:
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Honey
So, I guess this my own personal fiefdom of a food blog now...
In any case, made 4 recipes featuring honey this weekend- first, Alton Brown's homemade Protein bars and granola bars, which are quite good, and helpful because I'm at least temporarily back on the workout wagon, and they taste a hell of a lot better than their commercial alternatives.
Second, I made a Honey-topped salmon fillet, inspired by my friend Roja. The recipe is from her entertaining cooking blog, Tameshk in Kitchen. I ended up cooking carrots and potatoes in the same pan as the salmon, as well as an onion, and at the end, I threw in some red and yellow peppers. This was very good with a side of salad, some bread, and a glass of white wine.
Finally, I currently have roasting in the oven a leg of lamb, prepared in a Kashmiri style. It's called Raan, and you first rub the lamb (after removing excess fat) with a spice mixture of garlic, ginger, chili powder, cumin powder, tumeric, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt (I didn't have the cardamom, so I didn't use any), then marinating it with yogurt blended with almonds and pistachios and honey. It smells terrific right now, and I also added some cilantro to the marinade. It's roasting with some onions and green peppers, which will hopefully caramelize.
In any case, made 4 recipes featuring honey this weekend- first, Alton Brown's homemade Protein bars and granola bars, which are quite good, and helpful because I'm at least temporarily back on the workout wagon, and they taste a hell of a lot better than their commercial alternatives.
Second, I made a Honey-topped salmon fillet, inspired by my friend Roja. The recipe is from her entertaining cooking blog, Tameshk in Kitchen. I ended up cooking carrots and potatoes in the same pan as the salmon, as well as an onion, and at the end, I threw in some red and yellow peppers. This was very good with a side of salad, some bread, and a glass of white wine.
Finally, I currently have roasting in the oven a leg of lamb, prepared in a Kashmiri style. It's called Raan, and you first rub the lamb (after removing excess fat) with a spice mixture of garlic, ginger, chili powder, cumin powder, tumeric, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt (I didn't have the cardamom, so I didn't use any), then marinating it with yogurt blended with almonds and pistachios and honey. It smells terrific right now, and I also added some cilantro to the marinade. It's roasting with some onions and green peppers, which will hopefully caramelize.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Quiche and Brie
So, I got some bloodwork done recently, mainly because of my family history of cardiac issues, and it showed some lipid factors were elevated- so my doctor has asked me to try to reduce the fat in my diet- in particular, to try and eliminate, for a while at least, cheese, red meat, ice cream, and butter (among other things). Now, I love all of those things, and have (or had) a lot of all of those things in my fridge. Instead of throwing them away, I decided to have a blowout weekend before embarking on the diet. Nicole was in Princeton, and we cooked two superb meals on Saturday: lunch was quiche with bacon, mushrooms, scallions, red and green peppers, jack cheese, and italian parsley, served with a mixed green salad with oil and vinegar and slices of blood orange; and dinner was brie baked in pastry with honey and pecans, served with red pears and green apples. Pictures:
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Breakfast at the Taj
Let's not let this space die, boys and girls. It's holiday season- people must be eating and drinking well- so let's post about it.
I'm in Mumbai, India right now, for a conference, and have the amazing good luck to be staying in the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, one of India's oldest and best known luxury hotels. I'm still a bit jetlagged, so I've been up at 5am the last two day, and have gone down to the gym for a workout. Not really so that I can stay in shape, but more so I can sharpen my appetite for the amazing breakfast buffet here. Now, I'm not usually a huge buffet fan, but this place is cartoonishly good.
Here's what I had for breakfast this morning:
(1) Rava Idli and Sambhar with chutney: a steamed, spiced wheat dumpling with lentil-tamarind stew, served with several different chutneys: coconut, cilantro, tomato, and peanut. Classic South Indian breakfast.
(2) Grilled veggies and cheese: I love grilled cheese, and the grilled veggies went really well with it. Very simple, very tasty.
(3) Smoked Salmon: just amazing to me that I can get this in India, and that it is good smoked salmon at that.
(4) Fruits: papaya, chikku (a sweet brown fruit that looks from the outside a bit like a potato, tastes much better), honeydew melon, watermelon.
(5) French toast with caramelized bananas: perfect dessert to the breakfast, washed down with a mug of hot, milky coffee.
Also a glass of fresh sweetlime juice (sweetlime = a citrus fruit somewhere in between an orange and a lime)...
Of course, for Rs. 1000 (roughly $25), the buffet ought to be good :-)
I'm in Mumbai, India right now, for a conference, and have the amazing good luck to be staying in the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, one of India's oldest and best known luxury hotels. I'm still a bit jetlagged, so I've been up at 5am the last two day, and have gone down to the gym for a workout. Not really so that I can stay in shape, but more so I can sharpen my appetite for the amazing breakfast buffet here. Now, I'm not usually a huge buffet fan, but this place is cartoonishly good.
Here's what I had for breakfast this morning:
(1) Rava Idli and Sambhar with chutney: a steamed, spiced wheat dumpling with lentil-tamarind stew, served with several different chutneys: coconut, cilantro, tomato, and peanut. Classic South Indian breakfast.
(2) Grilled veggies and cheese: I love grilled cheese, and the grilled veggies went really well with it. Very simple, very tasty.
(3) Smoked Salmon: just amazing to me that I can get this in India, and that it is good smoked salmon at that.
(4) Fruits: papaya, chikku (a sweet brown fruit that looks from the outside a bit like a potato, tastes much better), honeydew melon, watermelon.
(5) French toast with caramelized bananas: perfect dessert to the breakfast, washed down with a mug of hot, milky coffee.
Also a glass of fresh sweetlime juice (sweetlime = a citrus fruit somewhere in between an orange and a lime)...
Of course, for Rs. 1000 (roughly $25), the buffet ought to be good :-)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
What I've done
With my farmer's market bounty:
Beets: roasted them in the oven, ate one of them just with salt, delicious. The others are in the fridge (they store well after roasting), may slice them thin and dress them with oil and vinegar.
Beet greens: stir-fried with potatoes, mustard seeds, and green chili. Very tasty, very typical Assamese dish.
Broccoli: steamed, then put into penne with alfredo sauce (made with the romano I got at the market).
Bacon: still got plenty of it. Had a big French toast and bacon breakfast the other day, which also used up the baguette I bought.
Bell peppers (red and green): some were roasted and mixed with pasta, and home-made tomato and garlic sauce. Others were chopped, lightly stir-fried with mustard seeds and asafoetida to mix in with yogurt and rice- a classic South Indian combo.
Eggplant: made Baigan Bharta, a typical North Indian dish. Roast the eggplant in the broiler, then mash the roasted flesh, fry up some tomatoes and onions with cumin powder, coriander powder, and garam masala, maybe a green chili or two, add in the mashed roasted eggplant, mix it all up, turn the heat down a bit, and at the end, add a bunch of cilantro. Delicious.
Beets: roasted them in the oven, ate one of them just with salt, delicious. The others are in the fridge (they store well after roasting), may slice them thin and dress them with oil and vinegar.
Beet greens: stir-fried with potatoes, mustard seeds, and green chili. Very tasty, very typical Assamese dish.
Broccoli: steamed, then put into penne with alfredo sauce (made with the romano I got at the market).
Bacon: still got plenty of it. Had a big French toast and bacon breakfast the other day, which also used up the baguette I bought.
Bell peppers (red and green): some were roasted and mixed with pasta, and home-made tomato and garlic sauce. Others were chopped, lightly stir-fried with mustard seeds and asafoetida to mix in with yogurt and rice- a classic South Indian combo.
Eggplant: made Baigan Bharta, a typical North Indian dish. Roast the eggplant in the broiler, then mash the roasted flesh, fry up some tomatoes and onions with cumin powder, coriander powder, and garam masala, maybe a green chili or two, add in the mashed roasted eggplant, mix it all up, turn the heat down a bit, and at the end, add a bunch of cilantro. Delicious.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Farmers markets and fishmongers
So, I finally went to the on-campus farmers market here in Princeton. It was quite small, but very nice. I picked up some very nice sheep's milk cheese (one blue and one pecorino), a duck breast, some bacon, beets, red, green, and hot peppers, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, cider, honey, and a baguette. So I went a little crazy. But I'm excited to have a fridge full of excellent raw materials to cook with.
Funnily enough, the beets might be what I'm most excited about. I'm planning on roasting them, and serving them with the greens on the side. The greens I'm planning on just wilting with a little bacon and garlic and onion. Other suggestions?
It's also nice that I have a good fishmarket just down the street. I've now twice picked up a piece of fish on my way home from work (opa once, rainbow trout once), marinated it briefly in soy sauce and ginger, and then grilled it and served it with a little pineapple salsa. A nice luxury.
Funnily enough, the beets might be what I'm most excited about. I'm planning on roasting them, and serving them with the greens on the side. The greens I'm planning on just wilting with a little bacon and garlic and onion. Other suggestions?
It's also nice that I have a good fishmarket just down the street. I've now twice picked up a piece of fish on my way home from work (opa once, rainbow trout once), marinated it briefly in soy sauce and ginger, and then grilled it and served it with a little pineapple salsa. A nice luxury.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Please help me eat good food
So, I bought some clams today. Littlenecks, quite nice looking. And I would like to eat them.
Here's the trouble: clams are really hard to shuck. I've googled around, and somehow the instructions on eHow and the like just aren't doing the trick. (Also, I don't have a clam knife. But I was hoping to maybe do this without one...)
Anyone have any secrets for me? Anyone? Post in the comments if you do. I beg you...
(As a totally random aside, the three biggest entries in eHow's "cloud" at the moment are, in order, "lose weight", "get pregnant", and "get rid of fleas". Really? Okay...)
Here's the trouble: clams are really hard to shuck. I've googled around, and somehow the instructions on eHow and the like just aren't doing the trick. (Also, I don't have a clam knife. But I was hoping to maybe do this without one...)
Anyone have any secrets for me? Anyone? Post in the comments if you do. I beg you...
(As a totally random aside, the three biggest entries in eHow's "cloud" at the moment are, in order, "lose weight", "get pregnant", and "get rid of fleas". Really? Okay...)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Chautara Reminds me of Thundercats
Okay, so, I lied about completing my Brussels profile. To be honest, though, the cuisine in Belgium left a little to be desired, and the pizza really was the high point. Seriously, show me another place where you order pie by weight and a pair of cute girls with dangerous-looking shears mangle the prosciutto-pesto flatbread to your exact specifications.
In any case, I'm back in Madison for the time being. What can I say? I was having a coffee in Philly a couple weeks ago, and I was bored, so I got in the car and drove to Wisconsin. What? It's not like you've never taken an impromptu Midwest road trip. You're so judgmental...
Right. Madison. Home sweet home. I had the pleasure of dining with my dear friend Jana, an old college chum (which always makes me think of Jaws, for some reason...the word "chum," not Jana) with whom I spent countless hours studying literature, complaining about studying literature, and drinking heavily to punctuate our complaints about studying literature. I attribute my success in college to our mutual support and copious amounts of Tanqueray. It was my honor, then, to welcome Jana on her first night in Madison.
I opted for a tried-and-true Madison favorite, Chautara. Aside from being my favorite of the two good Nepalese restaurants in Madison, Chautara is also a touch classier than its sister down the street, Himalchuli. I'm pretty sure "Chautara" refers to a city in Nepal, while "Himalchuli" is definitely a mountain in the Himalayas...in case you were wondering.
We sat at a cozy table for two, looking out on State Street, Madison's still-dormant pedestrian mall. Don't get me wrong; there were plenty of people out, but the walkers-only thoroughfare will be flooded with red and white-clad coeds and douchebag frat boys with backwards "W" caps on within a couple weeks. I always love Madison during its down times, when the teeming sea of students has abated and only the charmingly familiar buskers and harmless-compared-to-Philly's-crazy-ass homeless people are out.
Jana and I talked about her imminent matriculation to law school, and it wasn't for twenty-five minutes that we realized nobody had brought us water or greeted us. Finally our server materialized, all apologies and promises of ice water and all kinds of Nepalese culinary delights. Jana went with the lamb korma, and I, in my infinite love for variety, chose the vegetarian thali.
The food appeared in what seemed like a short time, although we had already drunk most of our bottle of wine. Jana's lamb looked and smelled delicious, and I'm assured that it was, in fact, tender and tasty. My thali was a bit overwhelming, if only because of the plethora of chutneys and sauces that accompanied it. Although our server seemed a bit lackadaisical at first, she was very firm as to the application of the yogurt sauce and tamarind chutney to my samosa, and the required pairing of veggie momo and tomato chutney.
As usual, the thali was delicious. The giant, circular silver platter held a flight of meatless Nepalese classics. A perfectly-formed bowl scoop of rice, dusted with paprika, rested in the middle, surrounded by savory potatoes, eggplant, seitan and spinach, and punctuated by one each of the samosa and momo.
Although neither Jana nor I finished our dishes, we agreed that Chautara was an excellent place to begin the Welcome to Madison Pub Crawl 2007. The starchy, delicious Nepalese food was the perfect base upon which to pour dry Tanqueray (or dirty Grey Goose, if you're me) martinis, Spotted Cow beer, 14 year Oban, and something that resembled sewer water but tasted just like one of those chocolate oranges.
Chautara: Highly recommended.
Chautara
334 State St
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 251-3626
In any case, I'm back in Madison for the time being. What can I say? I was having a coffee in Philly a couple weeks ago, and I was bored, so I got in the car and drove to Wisconsin. What? It's not like you've never taken an impromptu Midwest road trip. You're so judgmental...
Right. Madison. Home sweet home. I had the pleasure of dining with my dear friend Jana, an old college chum (which always makes me think of Jaws, for some reason...the word "chum," not Jana) with whom I spent countless hours studying literature, complaining about studying literature, and drinking heavily to punctuate our complaints about studying literature. I attribute my success in college to our mutual support and copious amounts of Tanqueray. It was my honor, then, to welcome Jana on her first night in Madison.
I opted for a tried-and-true Madison favorite, Chautara. Aside from being my favorite of the two good Nepalese restaurants in Madison, Chautara is also a touch classier than its sister down the street, Himalchuli. I'm pretty sure "Chautara" refers to a city in Nepal, while "Himalchuli" is definitely a mountain in the Himalayas...in case you were wondering.
We sat at a cozy table for two, looking out on State Street, Madison's still-dormant pedestrian mall. Don't get me wrong; there were plenty of people out, but the walkers-only thoroughfare will be flooded with red and white-clad coeds and douchebag frat boys with backwards "W" caps on within a couple weeks. I always love Madison during its down times, when the teeming sea of students has abated and only the charmingly familiar buskers and harmless-compared-to-Philly's-crazy-ass homeless people are out.
Jana and I talked about her imminent matriculation to law school, and it wasn't for twenty-five minutes that we realized nobody had brought us water or greeted us. Finally our server materialized, all apologies and promises of ice water and all kinds of Nepalese culinary delights. Jana went with the lamb korma, and I, in my infinite love for variety, chose the vegetarian thali.
The food appeared in what seemed like a short time, although we had already drunk most of our bottle of wine. Jana's lamb looked and smelled delicious, and I'm assured that it was, in fact, tender and tasty. My thali was a bit overwhelming, if only because of the plethora of chutneys and sauces that accompanied it. Although our server seemed a bit lackadaisical at first, she was very firm as to the application of the yogurt sauce and tamarind chutney to my samosa, and the required pairing of veggie momo and tomato chutney.
As usual, the thali was delicious. The giant, circular silver platter held a flight of meatless Nepalese classics. A perfectly-formed bowl scoop of rice, dusted with paprika, rested in the middle, surrounded by savory potatoes, eggplant, seitan and spinach, and punctuated by one each of the samosa and momo.
Although neither Jana nor I finished our dishes, we agreed that Chautara was an excellent place to begin the Welcome to Madison Pub Crawl 2007. The starchy, delicious Nepalese food was the perfect base upon which to pour dry Tanqueray (or dirty Grey Goose, if you're me) martinis, Spotted Cow beer, 14 year Oban, and something that resembled sewer water but tasted just like one of those chocolate oranges.
Chautara: Highly recommended.
Chautara
334 State St
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 251-3626
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Make Your Own
I've been pretty uninspired by food for most of the summer. Not enough time to cook, lack of desire to do the dishes, and other lame excuses have kept me from cooking, and eating out has been for convenience rather than for quality. But this past weekend, I broke out of that, perhaps only temporarily. Friday night, with Flynn in town, we went to Kuma's. Long wait for the food, but good conversation, good beer, good food. Saturday I woke up early, went to the Evanston farmer's market, bought some nice tomatoes, some corn, some carrots, and some zucchini / summer squash. At 1 pm, I started the cooking.
St. Louis cut spare ribs on the smoker.
Homemade fresh mozzarella.
side dishes: Steamed and chilled green beans tossed with Olive Oil
grilled squash
corn on the cobb
fresh tomatoes, including a few from the garden. Those were REALLY good.
dill pickles and pickled green tomatoes from a Michigan farm.
All together:
All of that took awhile, but it all turned out ok. The ribs were definitely good. Perhaps a bit salty, and I could have taken them off the smoker 30 minutes earlier and the texture would have been a little better, but they were a success.
The mozzarella was a bit of a process. It's not hard, but on my first try the curd didn't set up enough, so I had to try again. The second time I ended up with two mounds of fresh cheese. Not bad for a first or second try. Didn't make enough to serve at dinner, but Joe, Timmy, Liz and Thor all got to try it. The really nice heirloom tomatoes made the cheese taste that much better. I also made tres leches, which was really good. Not hard to make, either. But I didn't take a picture of it.
Then, late lunch Sunday at Los Nopales with Flynn. So, for the weekend, I ate at a couple of great local restaurants, and Saturday was full of local produce, fresh cheese, real home smoked ribs, and fun people. Not bad at all.
St. Louis cut spare ribs on the smoker.
Homemade fresh mozzarella.
side dishes: Steamed and chilled green beans tossed with Olive Oil
grilled squash
corn on the cobb
fresh tomatoes, including a few from the garden. Those were REALLY good.
dill pickles and pickled green tomatoes from a Michigan farm.
All together:
All of that took awhile, but it all turned out ok. The ribs were definitely good. Perhaps a bit salty, and I could have taken them off the smoker 30 minutes earlier and the texture would have been a little better, but they were a success.
The mozzarella was a bit of a process. It's not hard, but on my first try the curd didn't set up enough, so I had to try again. The second time I ended up with two mounds of fresh cheese. Not bad for a first or second try. Didn't make enough to serve at dinner, but Joe, Timmy, Liz and Thor all got to try it. The really nice heirloom tomatoes made the cheese taste that much better. I also made tres leches, which was really good. Not hard to make, either. But I didn't take a picture of it.
Then, late lunch Sunday at Los Nopales with Flynn. So, for the weekend, I ate at a couple of great local restaurants, and Saturday was full of local produce, fresh cheese, real home smoked ribs, and fun people. Not bad at all.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Mixed grill
So, that's a menu board of a restaurant, just down the street from where I was staying in Jerusalem. Couple of things to note:
1) the skewer of Biz/Udder. Didn't really know that former Briefcase intern Biz Silverstein was available in skewer form.
2) the skewer of Turkey Testicles. Wow.
For the record, I wasn't brave enough to order either of these items, sticking to chicken skewers and kebabs (both very good- fresh grilled meat is delicious). However, the previous night, I had eaten across the street from this place at a little food stand, where I had managed to communicate in broken Hebrew my desire for a pita filled with whatever they were grilling, which was some sort of mixed grill with onions. It smelled terrific. I got greviously overcharged (44 shekels, like $10) for a small sandwich, but it was damn good and I had been starving.
What was in it? Well, definitely some liver and other assorted organs, onions, some regular meat, and well, other assorted organs. Probably turkey testicles. I was later told that this type of mixed grill is called a "Jerusalem grill".
So, next time you go to the Holy Land, try the West Bank Oysters.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Marseille
One thing that's interesting about traveling is how the food culture changes from place to place. In Pisa and Marseille, and really, Tuscany and Provence in general, it's very similar, a Mediterranean culture that really takes pride in its cuisine and time over meals- often to the exclusion of other cuisines- i.e., you're not going to find many ethnic restaurants - maybe one or two Chinese, one or two Indian, and a few middle eastern places, usually all pretty mediocre.
In the two day interlude I had in Geneva in between, I ate mostly at the home of my mom's old school friend (man, was it nice to eat home-cooked Indian- watching the Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final, eating pakoras [deep fried vegetable fritters] with spicy chutney and drinking beer is about as good as it gets) and at ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian)- so I didn't really get much of a sense of the food culture.
Israel, where I am now, is still on the Mediterranean, has a much more "American" food culture- fast food being very popular- of course fast food here is mainly falafel, pita, hummus, kebabs, shawarma, etc. I don't really know what the ethnic food (i.e., other than middle-eastern) situation here is, but I did have some mall food-court Chinese, which was oily, gross, but somehow very satisfying at the time.
Anyway, wanted to describe a very, very good meal I had in Marseille at a small restaurant called Resto Provencal, which serves, as you might have guessed, typical Provencal food. It's in the Cours Julien neighborhood, which is a big open-air pedestrian plaza with lots of bars and restaurants, and a lot of children playing and in general people enjoying themselves.
The restaurant itself is unassuming, but I remembered it from when I had gone to Marseille in 2003, and hell, if a meal sticks in your mind for 4 years, it must have been good (or possibly very bad). I went with my colleague and friend Erwan Lanneau and his girlfriend Vacianne, and we all decided on the 3 course prix-fixe menu, and a bottle of rose, which is what you drink in Provence in summer (in Tuscany, of course, you drink red wine. Delicious, full bodied chianti, for the most part. Mmm...red wine).
I started with the onion and anchovy tart, called Pissatiere, which was really fantastic- the salty anchovies and olives nicely complemented by the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the rich, very buttery pastry. I also tried a bit of Vacianne's salmon tartare, which I had back in 2003- still very good. Erwan's soupions (squid, I think, but I'm not sure), grilled, tasted fresh and firm, as they should be in a coastal town.
For the main course, I stuck to what I had eaten 4 years ago- filet de dourade en bouillabaisse- a filet of the fish dourade served in bouillabaisse, the famous Provencal seafood stew. On the side comes little toasts with an aioli-like spread called rouille. I hate to keep using the same words, but the fish was clearly fresh, and the soup surrounding it was delicately flavored- though it could have use a little more salt.
Dessert was an absurd chocolate mousse. Dark, dark, almost black, and thick, rich, and probably more calories than in the rest of the meal, it sent me almost into a stupor- luckily E. and V. then took me out for a digestif, a fiery pear brandy, which was the perfect restoring tonic.
As you can see, I'm missing being in France.
In the two day interlude I had in Geneva in between, I ate mostly at the home of my mom's old school friend (man, was it nice to eat home-cooked Indian- watching the Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final, eating pakoras [deep fried vegetable fritters] with spicy chutney and drinking beer is about as good as it gets) and at ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian)- so I didn't really get much of a sense of the food culture.
Israel, where I am now, is still on the Mediterranean, has a much more "American" food culture- fast food being very popular- of course fast food here is mainly falafel, pita, hummus, kebabs, shawarma, etc. I don't really know what the ethnic food (i.e., other than middle-eastern) situation here is, but I did have some mall food-court Chinese, which was oily, gross, but somehow very satisfying at the time.
Anyway, wanted to describe a very, very good meal I had in Marseille at a small restaurant called Resto Provencal, which serves, as you might have guessed, typical Provencal food. It's in the Cours Julien neighborhood, which is a big open-air pedestrian plaza with lots of bars and restaurants, and a lot of children playing and in general people enjoying themselves.
The restaurant itself is unassuming, but I remembered it from when I had gone to Marseille in 2003, and hell, if a meal sticks in your mind for 4 years, it must have been good (or possibly very bad). I went with my colleague and friend Erwan Lanneau and his girlfriend Vacianne, and we all decided on the 3 course prix-fixe menu, and a bottle of rose, which is what you drink in Provence in summer (in Tuscany, of course, you drink red wine. Delicious, full bodied chianti, for the most part. Mmm...red wine).
I started with the onion and anchovy tart, called Pissatiere, which was really fantastic- the salty anchovies and olives nicely complemented by the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the rich, very buttery pastry. I also tried a bit of Vacianne's salmon tartare, which I had back in 2003- still very good. Erwan's soupions (squid, I think, but I'm not sure), grilled, tasted fresh and firm, as they should be in a coastal town.
For the main course, I stuck to what I had eaten 4 years ago- filet de dourade en bouillabaisse- a filet of the fish dourade served in bouillabaisse, the famous Provencal seafood stew. On the side comes little toasts with an aioli-like spread called rouille. I hate to keep using the same words, but the fish was clearly fresh, and the soup surrounding it was delicately flavored- though it could have use a little more salt.
Dessert was an absurd chocolate mousse. Dark, dark, almost black, and thick, rich, and probably more calories than in the rest of the meal, it sent me almost into a stupor- luckily E. and V. then took me out for a digestif, a fiery pear brandy, which was the perfect restoring tonic.
As you can see, I'm missing being in France.
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