Lemon-scented Thumbprint Cookies

Cooking for people still terrifies me. When my editor asked me to bring dessert to a small gathering the other night, I was momentarily paralyzed. Should I bring out the old show stopper poached pears? No. She has a favorite recipe of her own, and I probably shouldn't challenge it. Something with chocolate? Maybe. But what? But what.

I only had a few hours, so that killed the [amazing] chocolate ganache tarte [picture]. After a few minutes, I remembered a conversation we'd had a few weeks before about thumbprint cookies. I bought one from the Continental Bakery for a dollar apiece, was rightly annoyed and vowed to make some myself. [Don't get me wrong, I think Continental and Chez Lulu do some great stuff but their prices are highway robbery].

Bingo. Thumbprint cookies. I figured it would be better to totally rock a simple recipe, so I found one from Bon Appetit. The lemon peels and incredibly short procedure helped it stand out from the rest.

Assembly was easy but would have been better if I'd let the butter soften more. Ingredients went everywhere when I creamed the butter and sugar. I filled half of the cookies with peach-raspberry jam, my favorite from Long Island's Briermere Farms, and the rest with Favorit apricot jam. I'm not sure what it was about the apricot jam, but I wasn't crazy about it. I opted for the chewier filling and jammed the cookies before baking.

They were a total hit: buttery, lemony, and as-sweet-as-you-like (depending on your jam). The reactions were almost over-the-top; it took me a few seconds to decide whether the other guests were being sincere. I knew for sure when they'd each eaten about six cookies a piece.

Cheap/Tasty: Penne Alla Awesome

"Oh. Heavy cream? Skip, is there anything I can substitute?"

"No. Absolutely not. Please Robin, don't substitute anything for the heavy cream. We're talking 1 tablespoon (per serving). Please. Just have a little less and eat a salad."

This story started last week when I didn't feel like making dinner. I'm still settling into Birmingham, and cooking sometimes feels a bit overwhelming. It's getting better, though. Anyway, I decided to walk over to Chez Lulu for something light.

I ended up ordering penne alla vodka. It rocked. I was very pleased. Good sauce. Pleasantly spicy. It was everything I'd hoped for and the dish helped me figure out how I gage restaurants: if I can make it better than the restaurant, it wasn't worth it. When I finished my pasta, I decided that it was at least as good as something I could have put together.

And then I got the bill. Sixteen dollars for a smallish plate of pasta without any meat. I was not happy. Right, and they don't take American Express. Ugh.

On the walk home, I decided to make the pasta for myself. The next day I found Lidia Bastianich's recipe, gathered the ingredients, and rocked it out. I cannot remember a dish I've prepared that tasted so good, came together so quickly with so few ingredients. I ended up using a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes (instead of whole) and didn't puree them (because I still don't have a food processor larger than 1/2 cup). And since Lidia didn't give any kind of direction with the red pepper flakes, I used three large pinches (which I estimate at around 1 1/2 tablespoons). The result was at least as good as Chez Lulu's, a pleasant spice level (though next time I may put a little more), and, as you'll see in a moment, incredibly cheap.

It wasn't much more than 35 mintues from boiling the water to sitting down at the table. So worth it.

Final cost per portion - $2.05 per serving.

Beets Rock!

Tonight, I figured it out. I hadn't realized it before leafing through the August Gourmet (trying to find some great skillet-cooked potato recipe). I hadn't thought about my blogging muse before a colleague of mine asked earlier today. Naiveté. Youthful exuberance, perhaps. I came across a recipe for beet carpaccio with goat cheese and arugula and was instantly overjoyed by the fact that I had all three of those ingredients sitting in my fridge. Right then I knew it was a post.

I suppose when I spend $50 per Whole Foods trip I shouldn't be so surprised to find myself with ingredients, but at that moment all the planets had lined up and that beet carpaccio and I were destined to be together, for however short a time.

Local chevre, even local-er arugula, and golden beets. Man, it rocked. I don't even know where to start. Alabama, I've got to hand it to you. Y'all's got some good produce. The arugula from Jones Valley Urban Farm was the most assertive green I've ever eaten. Arugula is typically peppery, but this batch lit my mouth on fire (in a not unpleasant way). And the Belle Chevre goat cheese is available nationally at some specialty retailers. The effusive arugula heat matched the sharp chevre and the mild beets.

Tonight, I repurposed a drink shaker to make my salad dressing. perfect.

Quick Balsamic Dressing (serves 1)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/8 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary (more like a heaping 1/4 fresh rosemary)

Shake and pour. Come on, who needs to buy salad dressing. Remove the strainer from the shaker when pouring. May as well get the herbs.

Fake sausage makes a real tasty snack

Elizabeth and I had planned on making Enchiladas tonight, but well, one thing led to another and with neither of us being terribly hungry, I wound up unfed at quarter to ten. I wanted to eat something, but having little in the cabinet and not really wanting a lot, I was left cobbling together a snack from the fridge. I walked over to the stairs, telling Elizabeth, “I’m going to make myself something to eat.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“Nothing you’d like.”

That was enough. She's notoriously unadventurous with food. When we started dating, she considered Italian food to be exotic. I, on the other hand, still feel the need for adventurous cooking instilled in my brain by “Ratatouille”. It was 9:55, time to play.

I should preface this by saying that there are certain things about my own eating that make me a bad foodie. First off, I try to keep semi-kosher. I’m not religious per se, and my own kitchen is as unkosher as all get out, but it makes me feel more connected with my cultural heritage. Even before I decided to abstain from swine, I’d gone away from seafood of any form. I don’t like things that swim, though I wouldn’t be disinclined to trying dolphin at some point. I'd like to take a bite out of every endangered species on the planet, you know, so I can try them before they're gone. Now that the bald eagle is no longer on that list, it’s sort of lost it’s mystique.

On the other hand, I love fake meat, and am willing to try just about any form of it. My current favorite is the breakfast sausage from GimmeLean. The really nice thing about it is that it comes in this big tube and you sort of have to just wrench out a chunk of it when you want some "sausage". Because you have to work it in your hands a bit to put it in the shape you want it, it feels a bit less like heating up a frozen snack, and more like actually making something.

Anyway, back to my experiment.

The counters had just been wiped down, and since GimmeLean is pretty sticky, I put down a piece of wax paper. I took out three chunks of GimmeLean, about a teaspoon or so each, and rolled them into balls. Afterwards, I smashed them down hard. Once they were flat, I took out a bit of adobo sauce saved from last time I made chipotle sauce, and spread it thinly onto each patty.

I should mention here that this might have been a slight mistake. Adobo sauce is extremely spicy. It’s what really keeps in the heat in a canned chipolte. If I’d had any chipotle sauce left, that would probably have made these better. But I didn’t, and this was supposed to be a quick snack.

After the adobe was down, I stuck a bit of sharp white cheddar into the middle of each sausage and folded the whole patty up, smoothing out the edges. One of the nice things about working with GimmeLean is that, since it is so sticky, it comes back together very well. It’s sort of like working with clay that way. Afterwards I just heated up some olive oil in my iron skillet and fried the sausages lightly for 30 seconds on each side. Finally, I drained them on paper towels for a bit. (Total cook time, for those that haven’t noticed, was about three minutes.)

Though I warned you about my mistake with the adobe, I actually think they came out pretty well. There’s a good kick to them, and anyone who’s afraid of spice should stay away. I think the best one was the one with the most cheese, so feel free to put a big 'ol chunk in there. Just make that you don’t put in so much that you can’t close the sausage again. You’re trying to heat it through, not fry the cheese. Besides the high degree of spiciness, they ate very easily. Especially when just off the paper towel, when the cheese inside was still hot and melted. Though I think a real salsa would have done better than what is basically hot sauce paste, I’m glad the adobe was there. It gave the sausages that great tongue-burning kick, a nice smoky flavor, and a third flavor that didn’t overpower the rest of the snack or stay so mute that you couldn’t tell it was there. The cheddar worked well with the sausage. The flavors are similar but distinct, so you can’t always tell where the one ends and where the other begins. The sausage definitely was the principle flavor, but if you like fake sausage, it was a good flavor to be in the lead.

On the whole, I’m proud of my little snack. Proud enough that I’m going to keep on working on it until it’s perfect, and when it is, I’ll update this post and tell you. For now though, if you find yourself not really starving but a bit peckish, and it’s late so you don’t want to be in the kitchen for a while, you may want to give it a try. Your tongue will have mixed feelings, but ignore Negative Nancy, the spice hater. Enjoy.

Cheap & Tasty: Tortilla Espanola

If you've been to any of the trendy tapas places around DC - or any other urban area - you've probably seen Tortilla Espanola on the menu. It's very simple dish, basically a Spanish omelet/quiche hybrid. Cooking it is a breeze and leaves your house smelling of hash browns for a day afterward, which is a major bonus. Plus, it's SUPER cheap and is a classy way to make the those last few days before the paycheck go faster.

And though cheap and tasty, still swanky: Mario Batali made a Tortilla Espanola as part of his tapas plate in Iron Chef America's "Battle Garlic." So garnish with pride and pretend you're at Babbo.

I referenced recipes from the Washington Post and Epicurious in making this, but here's my version:

Tortilla Espanola

Approx. 8 eggs, beaten
6 cups peeled and diced (1/2 in.) potatoes
2 medium diced yellow onions
salt & pepper to taste

lots of olive oil

Heat about 1/2 cup of the olive in a 10 inch nonstick skillet (if your pan is slightly larger or smaller, it's fine) over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add half of the chopped onion & potato mixture. Cover and cook over medium heat until mixture is browned but not mushy; stir periodically to keep it from burning. Dump the cooked potato & onion mixture into a large bowl to cool; add more olive oil to the skillet and cook the rest of the batch in the same manner. (Note - you can cook them all at once, it's just a LOT easier and less messy this way. Unless you have a gargantuan skillet pan, in which case, go for it!)

Add the second batch of cooked roots to the first and let cool. Add the beaten eggs, salt, and pepper and thoroughly coat the potatoes. If you feel the need, add more beaten eggs. I wouldn't go above the Epicurious' suggestion of 10, but you're definitely going to need at least 6.

Back to your skillet - add 1/4 cup of olive oil and heat it up to medium. Pour all of the eggy mixture into the pan and smooth out the top with a spatula. Keep heat low-ish to prevent burning - from experience, it will still taste good, but the tortilla is much less pretty when it's black. Cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally running a spatula along the rim of the skillet to loosen the tortilla.

Now comes the fun part - when you can feel the tortilla slide around a bit on the skillet, ensuring its doneness, get out a big plate. Invert the plate on top of the skillet and flip the tortilla onto the plate. Slide the not-as-cooked side of the tortilla back into the skillet and cook for about another 5 minutes, until the tortilla is solid. You're done!

For serving, there really is no "right" side up. The skillet side is usually rounder and prettier, but the non-skillet side give a better view of the potatoes and other tortilla innards.

Some other notes:

You must use a nonstick pan. I tried cooking some of the potato/onion mixture in an iron skillet and it was much messier. Had I attempted to add the eggs, the tortilla would not have stayed intact.

Do not be afraid of the salt! I grew up in a salt-fearing household, so I am conditioned to undersalt, but go ahead and pour it on (the pepper too, and any other spices you deem worthy) to make sure you're getting the most flavor out of your potatoes.

Oh, and if you're feeling decadent, add some bacon to the mix and make your kitchen smell even better. Just cut back on the olive oil a bit.

Technorati Tags: Food, Recipes, Eggs, Cooking

Cheap/Tasty: Pasta Salad with Vinaigrette

Because of my weird hours, I often cook for myself in bulk. Around the middle of last summer I began to get tired of the sauteed chicken breast combinations I'd been coming up with (rosemary/olive oil, chipotle, plain, garlic), so I went to the Union Square Greenmarket in search of something inspiring.

Luscious vegetables lead me to throw together this incredibly healthy and inexpensive meatless pasta salad (did I mention the robust flavors?). It's evolved over the year to its most recent incarnation last week, when I threw about every vegetable I could find into it:

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course

1lb pasta
1 lb (about 2 bunches) kale, tough stems and center ribs cut off and discarded
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 bunch radishes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 10-oz package frozen petit peas
4-oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 16-oz can chick peas, rinsed, drained, and picked over

Simple mustard vinaigrette (recipe below)
--
Boil pasta in salted water, according to package instruction. While pasta boils, cook peas according to package instructions and prepare kale based on this recipe, using these reduced quantities of olive oil and the garlic (and ignoring, as I did, the other greens.). While that cooks, chop the radishes, bell pepper and onion.

Drain cooked pasta and place in a large bowl. Top with cooked kale, chopped vegetables, cooked peas, goat cheese, and chick peas. Top with mustard vinaigrette (recipe still below).

And finally, the simple mustard vinaigrette recipe:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinaiger
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dijon mustard

All in all, it's a great weekday recipe: healthy, fast, and filling. Oh, and if you're a unabashed carnivore, throw up to 1 lb cooked sausage in there. Or maybe some chicken, or steak. You can get your meat in there, don't worry.

Cold morning, City Bakery Hot chocolate.

Kimberly, sitting in the City Bakery, holding her cup of hot chocolate with homemade marshmallow:
[sips] Oooh.
[pause, sips] Oooh.
[pause, sips] Oh, my God.
[pause, sips] Wow.

-

I sit in front of my pretzel croissant, fruit-nut muffin, and cup of the same and am relieved. Completely relieved, since I'd promised a memorable breakfast and it's a drizzly, cold, early morning.

The rest of the meal goes mostly along those lines. We sit, catch up and take in the awesomeness. The hot chocolate, drinking chocolate, really, is an intense warm, thick, cocoa-y consistency. Instead of rose water Swiss Miss, this chocolate feels as if the bakery had melted a bar of milk chocolate right into our cups. The marshmallow is a bit overly sweet and vexingly dense (it never melts, just sits, iceberg-like, on the molten surface).

Pretzel croissants, to me at least, are the star of the pastry show at City Bakery. Kimberly's chocolate croissant and my fruit-nut muffin (which may have contained apples, cranberries, raisins, and possibly, pecans) were all right, but the pretzel croissants are what keep me coming back. They really do blend the best of both of their namesakes - the flakiness of a croissant and the salty pretzel chew.

I love the City Bakery for early morning breakfasts, but need to get there before it gets crowded (by 9 a.m.). Between 7 and 8:20 it's peaceful.

Cheap/Tasty - Butternut Squash Chili

In winter's depths last week, I thought it high time to try out some chili. I went to the usual suspects, epicurious, Southern Living, Cook's, etc., and found only two recipes that looked promising: a beef-and-butternut squash chili from Southern Living and a traditional chili con carne from Gourmet. Feeling adventurous, I went with the former.

Honestly I don't think I've ever prepared a recipe that called for so many canned goods, and considering I made a double batch, my poor decrepit can opener had to grind through (yes, grind) seven cans of tomatoes, 'chili with vegetarian,' and broth. The thought of the creamy, dreamy butternut squash got me through the miserable sound of my dying can opener.

The recipe was incredibly straightforward to prepare, but I ran into problems in the supermarket finding the ingredients. After going through three or four markets looking for canned 'chili beans,' I eventually settled on Hormel chili with vegetarian beans. Afterward, my roommate put forth the suggestion of canned kidney beans, but by then I had decided to go with my gut.

And I was rewarded. Except for an unfortunate blandness, which was remedied by last minute adjustments, the chili rocked. The sweetness of the squash played beautifully with the spices and the texture proved a compliment to the mix.

It was versatile, too. I served it alone, topped with cheese and sour cream. My favorite, though, was mixing it up with rice. Hearty and filling. And, according to Southern Living, the chili is full of vitamins B, C, as well as zinc and beta-carotene. (!)



Technorati Tags: Food, Chili, Butternut Squash, Cooking
Special thanks to me for the photo. It isn't pretty, but it's good stuff.

Baked Ziti Redux

This one'll be short but there will be more this week. I swear. Working 60-plus hours a week will not stop this gourmetro. (mono might, but we'll cross that bridge when we're forced onto it)

Last week I made one of my favorite fall/winter meals, baked ziti. It's near and dear to my heart and I tore it up when I made it last week. Oh, and tearing it up is like ripping it apart. It's a good thing, I think.

When I decided to eat ziti for the week I had a momentary epiphany: why am I adding 3/4 cup of water when I could be adding 3/4 cup of wine? That's it. Red wine made that kickin' ziti even better. I used a Cabernet Franc, but any full-bodied red should do. If you're a purist, use an Italian red like Chiante or Barolo.

My other alteration was that I shredded my own block of mozzarella. It made a big difference, much more stringy and moist than the pre-shredded stuff. And I used Polly-O, so nice, fresh mozz would be even dreamier.

Oh, that and a pound and a half of mild sage sausage (most of the fat reserved ;) ).


Technorati Tags: Food, Ziti, Recipe, Cooking
Special thanks to viamarisol over at flickr for the extreme close-up.

Buns of Steam

Ever since I first partook of the steamed pork buns at Momofuku—light, doughy and stuffed with perfectly tender Berkshire pork—they’ve been on my short craving list. After sampling similar wares at a few other Asian spots, I could safely say no one else could touch those buns.

Then, lo and behold, New York magazine raved about Tribeca newcomer Province, even going so far as to compare its mantou bread sandwiches to the steamy excellence at Momofuku. New York hasn’t steered me wrong yet, so we headed down to Tribeca for a “cheap date night” with high expectations.

Province (305 Church St., 212-925-1205) is easy to miss among the trendy cafes populating this stretch of Church, but while seated at the window we noticed plenty of intrigued looks on the faces of worker bees passing by. The sparse design is a bit IKEA meets diner, with unadorned cement floors and blond wood benches with odd, Swiss cheese-looking “privacy” walls. It was pretty empty on the Wednesday evening we visited, but the staff was friendly and efficient.

Not knowing how large the sandwiches would be, my friend ordered two—spicy pork ($3.75) and braised pork shoulder ($3.75)—and I chose the pork shoulder and side salad with ginger dressing. In short order, the buns arrived wrapped in wax paper and still steaming. Unlike Momofuku, Province’s buns are sprinkled with black sesame seeds and the mantou isn’t quite as light and doughy, but it is still slightly chewy and with one “déjà vu” bite I knew I’d found another craving. The pork shoulder, seasoned with just the right amount of sauce to avoid a mess, was a tender affair layered with thinly sliced pickled cucumbers. The spicy pork was a little perkier in taste with a dash of hoisin, but I preferred the sliced texture of the shoulder over the traditional pulled pork. One sandwich left me wanting a little more, so next time I will probably split a second or just indulge in two all to myself. At these prices, it’s not the worst thing I could do.

Oh yeah, and plan to head over to Province early--it closes at 7:30 pm.

Technorati Tags: Food, Asian Cuisine, NYC

I'll take my fried chicken dirty, thankyouverymuch.

I've been thinking of a title for this post for about a week and couldn't come up with anything that would be even remotely acceptable for the connotations inspired by The Dirty Bird To-Go, the NYC's newest take-out free-range authentic double-dipped buttermilk-fried chicken shack.

The Bird has gotten an incredible amount of press since its opening earlier this year (some of the most hype/square foot I've seen; pretty much on par with the Shake Shack). Perhaps the best recommendation for it came while I was speaking with some Southern Living editors; I mentioned New York soul food and they immediately started prolificating about DBT-G. And the best part was that none of them had even been there (for all you non-Southern Living readers, the mag is based in Birmingham, Alabama). Anyway, so hearing Southerners completely rapt about fried chicken, fried chicken from the godless North no less, they hadn't even tasted, I knew I needed to head down to 14th St. and partake.

Two weeks ago a Southern friend of mine and I gave it a shot and DAMN it was mighty fine. After some chicken fingers v. 2-pc fried debate, my friend decided on the latter, with a side of mac 'n cheese, and I myself went for the 4-pc fried with two sides - mac 'n cheese and the napa cabbage cole slaw.

Each basic element of fried chicken was not only having a party in my mouth, they were all examples of how fried chicken is done. Every bite had the perfect crunch and aroma of buttermilk dipped batter, the salty juiciness of brine, and a most tender chicken-y texture. The scallion cornbread was good, the mac 'n cheese fine, and the napa slaw got an unenthusiastic 'yeah whatever'.

Four pieces was way too much, but if I'd only gotten two I never would have picked any white meat Typically dusty, dry and tasteless, I was not about to spend my 14 hard-earned dollars on a longshot. To say that it was incredibly moist and tender would be an understatement, so I'll just say that I may only get white meat there in the future.

There's no feeling in the world quite like being stuffed with fried chicken. Mmmm fat.

And here are some synopses of what some other people have said Bird:
We love it, we hate it - New York Magazine
Greatness in the making - Eater
And of course, everyone else at eGullet.

Technorati Tags: Food, Restaurant, NYC, Fried Chicken

Holy sweet tomato

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, I was only a little bit nauseous for lack of sleep, and there were tomatoes. Oh there were tomatoes...

That was how a post I started three weeks ago began. Get yourself to a Farmer's Market and get some heirloom tomatoes. Get them.

I'm sorry for the month-long hiatus; it's been a crazy one. I'll do my best to synopsize.

RESTAURANTS:

Restaurant week: Indochine (6/10 - solid food, fun atmosphere), Terrace in the Sky (7/10 - good food, awesome view), Osteria del Circo (7/10 - probably a good intro to Maccioni's style)

Other: Ivo & Lulu (8.5/10 - lovelovelove French Caribbean, BYO wine), Cubana Cafe (6/10 - fun, sweet sangria, good pulled pork)

COOKING:

I got into salads. Steak salads, chicken salads, pasta salads. They were all pretty damn good and cheap. You'll see recipes an soon as things calm down (September?).

PICTURES:

At least you get some pictures from the Union Sq. Greenmarket.






Technorati Tags: Food, Market, Restaurant, Cooking
Special thanks to my camera for the pictures!

Oh Mister Dumpling Man...

After fighting failure all day (finding a new apartment sucks. Does it ever), I tried to make my way back to the subway from the depths of the Lower East Side (or the East Village, I can never tell where the one and and the other begins - regardless, there weren't really any subways around, so that's why I think it's the Lower East Side). And anyone who knows the LES area knows the profusion of restaurants. All those restaurants and stands, with their siren calls, leading haphazard diners to their death on the rocks. Or something.

Over the last few weeks I've been trying to eat out less. Well really to spend less money, but eating out less is perhaps my key to spending less.

But I can't help but look at menus. I mean, they're right out there on the street waiting to be read. And on this hot, hazy (smoggy, disgusting) summer day, what better than a slow walk through the Lower East Side, reading menus. (Of course I can think of some better ways to spend said day, but they involve sangria and sitting in a window overlooking poor saps outside reading menus)

And I was doing reasonably well until I hit the Dumpling Man on St. Marks Place.

Oh spicy, salty rapture.

I let the cashier order for me and ended up with six seared pork dumplings, monster sauce, and an Izzie pomegranate soda. They took their time and it was so worth it. The slightly crisp dumplings went very well with the sauce (an extra $1.50, on the side), and the sauce was something else. It had Asian chives in it and was exceptionally spicy and garlicky, but too much so. On the Burn-Your-Face-Off scale, where spicy Thai is the hottest (leaving me with tingly lips for 45 minutes and bringing tears to my eyes), this sauce was a 4 (meaning that it brought a tear to my eye when I accidentally inhaled some, and that it made my lips tingle for a few minutes).

Oh, and the atmosphere. It's a small place, modern-looking with glass windows into the dumpling assembly line. The trays look like bamboo.

I left happy and full.

Technorati Tags: Food, Dumpling, New York, Restaurant
Dumpling shot by missdju at flickr. Thanks.