The Girls Who Ate Everything

WATCH THIS SPACE

2009-10-06T06:41:00.002-04:00

To the loyal friends who still check to see if I've tapped anything into the blogosphere: hang on, something new and better is coming.

Heresy! I hear you roar. And true enough, I could never improve on the quality and caliber of my collaborators: Angela, Erin, and my original globe-trotting partner-in-crime Aleks (alias Cinnamon Jones, Tsinamin Djonz). Thank you very much ladies for eating everything from the ultimate chocolate chip cookies, Mexican breakfasts, and naan bread in Kabul. Your appetites have enriched us all.

Yet all by my lonesome in London, and out of deference to the fact that I cannot replace the original Girl Who Ate Everything (will have to fire my researcher for that embarrassing branding clash!), a new opportunity has emerged. No hints, though. You'll have to wait and find out.

Borough Market Resilient

2009-10-06T06:31:00.002-04:00

Fear no more: Borough Market is alive and well despite construction on the historic site. Network Rail has begun work on a new train line into London Bridge station, which will close the old market hall for at least two years. Vendors in that location have been redistributed primarily to the new Jubilee Market, located in the formerly barren space on Winchester Walk between the wholesale market and The Rake pub.

The future of the market seemed in jeopardy as the forced relocation of these stalls, comprising about a third of all vendors, occurred at the same time as a rent increase. Concerns still exist that the Network Rail Thameslink project, which demolishes a few surrounding buildings, will over-gentrify the area and cause the market to lose its Dickensian character.

Yet the hungry hoards still descended and thronged the market stalls these past couple weekends since the move. Confusion has been eased by new information stands that direct customers to the new location of their favorite vendors. Since the Jubilee Market is around the corner from the rest of the market it remains undiscovered by some market-goers and is less crowded even on a Saturday afternoon.

Borough Market is one of London’s most famous foodie destinations comprising both a wholesale market for fruits and vegetables that occurs every night (except Saturday) and a specialty food bazaar open to the public Thursday through Saturday. Its origins can be traced back 1,000 years to when the Romans first built London Bridge.

This will be sent to the ilovemygrub.com team as part of an application to be their intern - and try to spin this food writing gig into the realm of paid professionals.

Fish!

2009-07-06T09:14:00.002-04:00

Hullo from Cheery England!

These past three years, under Marcus' careful tutelage, I have been learning to enjoy fish again. Ever since a fateful fish sticks snack 16 years ago, I have avoided any sea life. Yet as I grew older and more curious in my eating (and let's face it, there's no where to go but up after considering frozen fish sticks and ketchup a lunch par excellence), I knew I had to face my fears. Yogurt is still another story for another time.

Happy am I to report that Haddock has now been added to the list of fish I eat! Saturday Marcus introduced me to Borough Market, London's premier wholesale market also open to the public certain days. It's already become my new Chelsea Market, my London replacement for the place I loved best in NYC.

Fish! is a Borough Market establishment already thoroughly documented in the foodie press for its high quality fish exquisitely cooked. Skip the indoor market and stand in line to buy fish and chips more cheaply at the outdoor stand. Haddock and cod are always offered, but other varieties of fish may be possible according to seasonality and availability.

The Haddock fish and chips tasted like butter, exquisitely delicate as it melted on my tongue. The tartar sauce was nice but not necessary. The thick-cut chips were undersalted to my tongue, but salt and vinegar (and yes, ketchup) are there to season to taste. Another British standard, mushy peas, tasted of my grandmother's Pennsylvania Dutch split pea soup except thicker.

If you're in London I can't recommend the place more heartily! Have you got any other food treasures in London or greater Britain? I've just moved here and look forward to your thoughts!

On Not Posting

2009-06-09T21:05:00.003-04:00

Absence teaches me hard facts about myself I never learn in times of abundance. The Love of my life, my boyfriend, has been working across the ocean for the past month. Without him, my hunger has vanished.

In this barren space I find no inspiration to write about food. I cook, but it's out of necessity. Recession cooking. Cooking to lose weight. Nothing intricate or elaborate out of my meals anymore, only monosyllabic thoughts. Avocado, beans, rice, lots of wine. Tonight I will combine a dehydrated Red Enchilada Stew mix from a company called Desert Gardens with chicken.

Rather than eating my emotions I have fasted from the joys of sensuality in food and drink, and even from the pleasure of crafting words. I want to find solace in these things instead.

Declaration on How To Eat Avocados

2009-05-23T15:54:00.003-04:00

Wherefore: I love recipes that set us free to be our own creative geniuses in the kitchen.

Whereas: Organic avocados at Whole Foods come in a bag of 4 for $4

Whereas: Guacamole should not be a beautiful mystery strictly confined to Mexican restaurants

I do hereby resolve: All that is needed to make avocados go from good to spectacular is

1) salt
2) acid
3) onion

Therefore these truths becomes self evident:

- Classic Mexican: salt, lime, chopped white or yellow onion
- Italian Iconolast: salt, lemon, chopped garlic (which is a member of the onion family, Alliaceae)
- French Flair: salt, sherry (or red wine) vinegar, finely sliced shallots

James Beard Foundation Awards 2009

2009-05-10T21:42:00.004-04:00

Attending the JBF Awards was a dream come true, and I've been walking around in a trance ever since. Still, I was determined to pay homage to the experience, better late than never.

May 4 saw the peacock's plummage of the food world arrive at Lincoln Center. It was fun, slightly glamorous, and the odor of desperation permeated the awards hall like crushed garlic from a kitchen. JBF President Susan Ungaro hammered home a message to resounding applause:

"We are going to cook, dine and drink our way out of these tough times"

Here, here for more hedonistic pleasures in our lives!

My hosts for the evening were the thoroughly charming Mireille Guiliano of French Women Don't Get Fat, and Dr. Edward Guiliano, President of the New York Institute of Technology. They met in Istanbul, which is why I know their love is the enduring kind. All couples I know whose stories revolve around Istanbul remain happily in love even decades after the fact, celebrating anniversaries in the high double digits with fountains spouting champagne. But fill me with as much good wine as they did and I'll make grand proclamations for your love too...

A predictable hour late after a long awards ceremony, the magic of the food at the VIP dinner had evaporated under too many heat lamps, but there were some notable exceptions.

The cheese course was truly extraordinary for its quality and gutsy simplicity. No crackers, no fruit or other accoutrements to distract from the bliss of complex flavors that can be coaxed from simple dairy. Thank you bacteria!

Kunik from Nettle Meadow Farm,

Laurier from Vermont Butter & Cheese (my favorite, a chalky goat named for its laurel leaf wrapping),

Blanca Bianca from Mozzarella Company, and

Kirkham's Lancashire from Rocca Family Vineyards.

Debbie Gold's (The American Restaurant, Kansas City, MO) cured bone marrow on mustard croutons with parsley and ramps punched up the flavor, as did Lidia Bastianich's (no introduction necessary I presume) herb crumb encrusted veal cheeks with spring begetables and quinoa salad. Looking back, it makes sense that the only dishes whose flavor survived the evening's delays were those with plenty of fat.

Best blow-by-blow account of the evening can be found on New York Magazine's website's Grub Street.

As a Barnard woman and youngun to the food world, I appreciated this year's theme honoring women in the culinary scene, be they chefs, writers, bartenders, artisans, or sommeliers. Let's hear it for women not only surviving but redefining a man's world - requisite jokes about a woman's place being in the kitchen and all.

Not a very good photo

2009-05-06T23:40:00.003-04:00

Not a very good photo (this is the end of my 4-year-old digital point and shooter), but this is the magnificent pici with fennel and cinnamon sausage and caramelized brussel sprouts. Falai's pasta is all made in-house, and these pici had the most delightful springy, light yet simultaneously dense texture.

Best Burger in NYC

2009-05-06T23:14:00.004-04:00

Today's New York Times highlighted a group of men in New York City dedicated to discovering and rating the city's best burgers.

I applaud their efforts, but should point out that they missed the beauty of a homemade burger. Having eaten at Peter Luger (their #1), Burger Joint (#6), and Genesis (#8), I can say unequivocally that my boyfriend's Marcus' burgers are the best, and I am proud to have played the crucial role of meat purchaser.

The best burger of my life (pictured) was made of a combination of ground pork, veal, and grass-fed beef bought at the meat counter in Grand Central (Ceriello Fine Foods). Marcus mixed this with an egg or 2, a sizeable grated onion, a bit of panko bread crumbs, and salt and pepper. These were cooked to perfection on top of the stove, and finished under our oven's broiler to melt a good chunk of New York State-sourced cheddar. On top of that went a slice of thick-sliced bacon from our butcher at Eli Zabar, a good slice of tomato, and beautiful lettuce. I forget what sauces we used... Was it a homemade mayonnaise or the reduced-fat stuff lurking in the fridge? A bit of mustard. Perhaps some ketchup or Pio Pio's addictive green sauce. All this on Eli Zabar's brioche hamburger buns, toasted. Despite all this luxurious shopping, we still paid less per burger than the typical $10+ charged in restaurants.

Served alongside was a coleslaw of red and savoy cabbage and carrot, sauced with that magical verdant liquid from Pio Pio again (couldn't resist, not strictly necessary), vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, crushed garlic, and a bit of salt and pepper. Not bad at all, especially on a warm day.

Falai: Best of NYC

2009-05-01T09:52:00.011-04:00

Falai serves the top Italian food in NYC, so extraordinary that it would hold its own as a top restaurant even back in Rome (hometown to its chef and waitstaff - and me).

The only problem remains its out-of-the-way location in the Lower East Side at 68 Clinton Street (although it is an interesting, gentrified yet gritty neighborhood).

Three visits over as many years reveal consistent high quality, seasonal, imaginative dishes. Exceptional service reminds me of my old haunts in Rome where waiters approached their job as a profession if not a calling. Their wine list is excellent too, full of small Italian producers focusing on region-specific grapes and sustainable agricultural practices.

Best flavor combinations of the night:

Fennel and cinnamon sausage with pici.

Granny Smitch apple, curried potato, squid ink black rice with olive oil and herb-marinated baby octopus tentacles.

An omniverous wine (mostly verdant, bits of animal, and slightly mettalic) from Puglia. Very smooth and well-balanced, it actually reminded me more of a French wine than Italian.

Cacc'e Mmitte di Lucera of Alberto Longo 2005

It's a blend of Nero di Troia, Montepulciano and a white variety, Bombino Bianco

Favorite Food Blogs

2009-04-30T15:48:00.004-04:00

The UK's Times Online posted a list of "50 of the world's best food blogs". I chose to view the ommission of my own blog as an oversight. There's always next year to correct the mistake...

In the meantime, I love to patronize the blogs of fellow "food enthusiasts" as Matthew Wexler would say. (Matthew has a new blog called Roo de Loo).

Here are a couple that didn't make the list but should.

My favorite is Ms. Glaze's Pommes D'Amour; she's so damn readable. A graduate of gay Paris' Le Cordon Bleu by way of Cornell University, she's a pedigreed chef in a fancy New York restaurant. Her personal life, the travels to and from Paris, her native California, and new home in New York, and beautiful recipes all feed into the strong narrative of a girl trying to make it in the man's world that is the world's top restaurants. It could be turned easily into a novel, TV show, or movie (revealing her Cali show biz instincts?), and I read it as such for its feeling of escapism.

Tea and Food is more of a mixed bag as it's sometimes more preachy than pleasurable, but I do love how it often showcases out-of-the-mainstream ingredients. His Boston focus also means that he sometimes has food stories I haven't come accross before. The bottomline is that I keep on coming back for more, which is the ultimate mark of a good blog.

Twitter Cookbook Magic

2009-04-30T15:22:00.003-04:00

Although I've resisted the Twitter bug, I succumbed to the charms of this New York Times article by Lawrence Downes.

Maureen Evans, a British Columbian living in Belfast, condenses a range of interesting, complex recipe into the 140 character formula of Twitter. As Downe writes, they read like haiku, teensy gems, or Faberge eggs. It's a brilliant food writing innovation, especially when there's a certain sameness to all the prose written out there (a critique I apply to my blog as well).

Find the link to her Twitter page here.

Samples recipes:

Chevre-Pomegranate Portobellos: stem/oil 4shrooms; stuff w 8T chevre/s+p. Wrap w 4pce prosciutto (opt). 25m @375F/190C. Top w pomegranate.

Brown Dal: fry T oil/t cumin; +c onion/2t garlic&ging&chili&curry. Simmer20m+c brwnlentil/3c h2o. Blend+2T lemon&buttr. Srv w cilantro/rice.

New Eggplant Parmesan: cvr3tom/s+p/3T wine@low7m; puree. Slice/oil2eggplant; 15m@400F/205C. Dip w egg/crumb&s+p. Broil+c parm. Srv on puree.

Surprisingly intelligable, no?

Sam's Falafel

2009-04-29T13:26:00.003-04:00

Just off Broadway on Cedar Street, way down at the tip of Manhattan near Wall Street stood the largest line for falafel I've seen in a good while. Naturally, I dragged a friend and went to try it. 20 minutes later, sandwich bag in hand and out of lunch break time, we had to bolt back to the office.

Sam's Falafel is no amateur. He hands out fried pita chips to keep us waiting in line (wedges of nearly stale pita that still held the nice granular texture inherent to grain, and the taste not of salt but of well-salted dough). What's more, for a $3 sandwich, it's hard to go wrong.

While perhaps not the best I've ever had (and in fairness, I've eaten a lot of falafel in my day, in many countries), this one was both credible and delicious. The falafel was toothsome and freshly fried, doled out in a generous portion. The chickpeas constituting it were coursely pureed and well seasoned. I especially enjoyed the addition of slices of fried eggplant, which were thick-cut and not too greasy. Sam's hot sauce is the spiciest I've ever come accross in Manhattan, which is a good thing! Instead of the fried onions, though, I would have prefered hummus or baba ghanoush to echo the fried eggplant slices. Worthy of a repeat? Definitely.

BACKSTAGE PASS: Food Bank Can-Do Awards 2009

2009-04-22T20:13:00.006-04:00

Food and celebrities united for a good cause made for a fine evening yesterday.

Since it was a glitzy fundraiser for the Food Bank For New York City attended by many consciously skinny people, the emphasis wasn't necessarily on the dinner. I, however, couldn't be so easily distracted and caught this appetizer waiting for CEO Lucy Cabrera in our volunteer's lounge. Without the benefit of a menu, I can only tell you that it was a breaded , fried jumbo shrimp on top of a bed of shredded carrot and a plantain crisp. Some sort of risotto formed the base. I appreciated the orange sauce on the plate, the official color of the Food Bank. I will have to dig deeper with my informants at the organization for the exact description.

For the main, a seared piece of white fish served alongside baby leak or a steak with potato purée was the choice. Neither looked particularly interesting, and I'm suspicious of the kitchen's ability to cook such finicky proteins for a few hundred people at a time. Fish and steak are so easily overcooked, and judging by the paste-y, wilted vegetables accompanying the meat, it was probably inevitable in this case.

At any fundraiser it's well recommended to keep the booze flowing in order to open up people's wallets. Can-Do did not skimp in this regard. Every moment of the 6pm-1am event featured not only an open bar, but roving waiters with wine and pre-mixed cocktails. The Food Network hosted a dessert buffet which I did not witness. Sweets never hold my attention. The accompanying champagne, however, I was sad to miss.

I enjoyed spotting Bill Clinton (who showed up at 11pm dead tired, not his usual self), Anthony Bourdain (doting heavily on his wife, Ottavia Busia), Mario Batali (the life of the party), Tom Collicchio, Anne Burrell, Susie Fogelson, Katie Lee Joel, Emeril Lagasse, Jimmy Fallon, Isaac Mizrahi, Kenneth Cole, Bono, and Jon Bon Jovi (the honoree of the evening). My more music saavy friends spotted various members of REM. Of course those are only the people recognizable to me. Check out the various paparazzi sites of the event for other famousity:

PR photos
UPI
Getty Images

Unfortunately no original photos from this photographer as I was working the event in an official capacity.

Which reminds me, I need a new camera for taking pictures of food - after 4 years of service this one isn't cutting it anymore. Any suggestions?

Making Stock / Dancing with a bag of Peter Luger Cow Bones

2009-04-20T13:24:00.001-04:00

I took my bag of Peter Luger steak bones out to dance at the Alphabet City Lounge after dinner. It was worth it, and it was surprising how little shame I felt in the act. Good meat will do that to me.

The ultimate payoff, though, was in the stock. With little more than the 2 T-bones of gnawed-on bones and half a large onion, I boiled up a delicious stock in just 2 hours.

There's a lot of pride in good homemade stock. I always feel a safe (and a little smug) knowing I have some in the fridge. It's the fact that it turns what would have been trash into culinary treasure.

The key, I've found, is to keep a sturdy container in the fridge or freezer for each prospective stock after a meal of meat on bones (chicken, beef, lamb, whatever). Then, as you chop up vegetables for other dishes as the week goes on, save the bits you would have thrown away (especially things like onion peels), and add them to the stock pile. Once the container's full, shove everything into a pot, cover with water, and simmer for as long as you can manage - 2 hours is just fine. Cool, strain into another container, and put it in the fridge (or freezer) until you need it. Magic!

Peter Luger Steakhouse

2009-04-19T23:15:00.002-04:00

First of all, thank you to the person who posted this exquisitely evocative photo of Peter Luger's facade on Flikr. Last Saturday was my second visit in as many years to the steak shrine - about the right frequency necessary to keep cardiac arrest at bay. Peter Luger is one of the few New York institutions that still garners respect. I've gotten yawns when bragging about multiple trips to 3 Michelin-starred Per Se, but everyone musters up some interest in Luger's extreme steak.

They cook only the Porterhouse cut, USDA Prime, selected by Luger staff, aged on premises for up to three weeks. After that, our waiter intimated, the stink isn't worth it. A real Porterhouse is a thing of beauty, the buffet of steak. The T-bone of our 4-person-sized steak stretched for half the table. The cut includes the New York Strip (my favorite for its texture and flavor), the filet mignon (could live without that - it's what non-meat eaters think of as good steak), as well as beautifully long strip of tenderloin. Eating a Porterhouse makes me want to apprentice to a good butcher.

I can cook an amazing steak (if I say so myself), but even my best effort looks wimpy next to a Luger's Porterhouse. Their crust sets it apart. It is crunchy, salty, and thick like a hand-made potato chip. Yet it doesn't compromise the rare meat inside.

The key is the oven. Heat inside reaches 1300˚F, according to our waiter. The crust's complex flavors emerge with no more coaxing than a good sprinkle of iodized table salt. It's the aging and quality of the meat that make the difference.

And their bacon! It's almost worth the schlep to Brooklyn in itself. Served as an appetizer, it comes as a thick-cut steak of ham with a minimum of fat marbling. Again, the searing gives it a great toothsome quality while preserving the meat's integrity.

I would hand over a ransom to learn who their bacon supplier is. Any ideas?

Back after a cold winter's night

2009-04-13T13:04:00.002-04:00

It's been a rough two weeks! I've made and consumed two chicken stocks to finally defeat a long and nasty cold that's been circulating around NYC and hit me twice.

The last stock I made was particularly good: made with the left-over bones from a dinner at Pio Pio, carrot, and garlic, and boiled for 2-3 hours over a low heat.

I like chicken soup with a base of finely diced carrot, onion, and red chili flakes, sauted in olive oil. A good homemade broth always makes me happy, as does filling out the soup with bite-size chunks of potato. Lemon and cilantro or parsley lift the flavor at the end. Rarely do I actually add chicken to the soup, prefering the essence and flavor in the broth to the actual meat. However, a chicken soup as described above with the addition of thigh meat and a bag of frozen corn kernals was a delicious treat worth repeating. Corn in chicken soup is a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty, and reminds me of the small town of Middletown, PA where my mother was raised.

Portrait in a new (food) economy: Matthew Wexler

2009-03-29T15:03:00.006-04:00

It can feel a little crushing if you're caught too close to the fall-out of this economy, like a bad hangover. This is why the effervescent spirits (the alka seltzers for this hangover) of those few entrepreneurs still emerging as if nothing's wrong capture my imagination.

One such character I met as he left his managerial job at the Food Bank For New York City's offices, just as I found my way in. Matthew Wexler has bid adieu to the 9 to 5 grind and immediately stepped into a new world of freelance work as a personal chef and marketer extraordinaire. More zen than brazenly confident, his fearlessness is centered on a desire for quality of life. He cares about being able to go to the Union Square Farmer's Market during the weekday so that he can meet the producers. He plans to spend time exploring the many niche Asian markets in Queens among the burgeoning immigrant populations. Most of all, he's going to enjoy himself.

He is associated with Good Commons, a eco-friendly, relaxation heavy, gastro retreat in Vermont. Guests can request him as their personal chef, lured by his promise to deliver comfort food with inspiration from around the globe. The owner, an old friend, actually inspired him to go to culinary school in the first place, and continued to be an inspiration as he kicked into gear his own, alternative career.

As I finish interviewing him, Matthew hands me his new card. It is brilliant, and I immediately want to steal the idea for myself: a substantially smaller him, grinning ear to ear with chocolate ringing his mouth, a greedy fist clenching what looks to be a glazed profiterole. Below the photo, a very simple job decription. Food Enthusiast.

Donate to the Food Bank

2009-03-29T14:51:00.003-04:00

The state of the economy is such that it permeates every topic and every conversation, especially since I began to work at the Food Bank For New York City. They experienced a food shortage last year as wholesalers and grocery stores began tightening their belts, and this year donations are down.

If you're looking for a worthy cause to donate to, is a compellingly efficient charity. Nearly 96 cents out of every dollar donated goes directly to support their programs and provide food to 1,000 food bank, pantries, and soup kitchens around the city. For every dollar donated, 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need. Donate here.

How to get creative with the kitchen cabinet

2009-03-23T23:32:00.005-04:00

A friend asked how I create meals on the spur of the moment with a limited pantry. It's a good question, one I've considered at length.

- Read lots of cookbooks, cover to cover.

- Get comfortable with basic techniques and recipes: risottos, soups, omelets, boiling water...

- Pay attention to classic flavor combinations. This is the surest way to ensure success when experimenting. Tomato and basil, pork and apple, and garlic and parsley to just scratch the surface. I'd love to hear readers' favorite combos.

- Most importantly, you can't be too hard on yourself, because ultimately it's a hit or miss endeavor. You'll get better at the techniques and flavors, but only if you get started in the first place. Here's a tip: never combine fig and blue cheese on top of pasta. Don't know what I was thinking that night!

Pea Pesto!

2009-03-19T18:31:00.007-04:00

A pasta aficionado like myself should not have waited so long to spread this gospel:

If it's winter or you don't have a garden full of basil, don't give in and buy the jarred stuff. It's always depressing compared to real Genovese pesto. Instead, make pea pesto!

Peas, parsley, onion, lemon. It all never tasted so good.

- put on a big pot of water to boil
- sauté finely diced yellow or Spanish onion in olive oil w/ salt & pepper until golden in another wide pot.
- pour in a pound bag of frozen peas (NOT sweet garden peas - too sweet for pasta), stir and break up until nearly cooked through on its own steam
- water should be boiling now (put a lid on it to hurry it up), salt well, and add a pound of your favorite pasta shape
- just before the pasta is done take up to 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid and pour it over the peas. Turn the pasta off.
- add a big handful of loosely chopped flat parsley, juice of 1-2 lemons, and a lot more salt and pepper to the mixture
- *special equipment notice* use a handheld immersion blender (or a food processor or regular blender in a pinch) to purée the pea mixture very well. Taste for seasoning.
- transfer to the pasta to the sauce with tongs or a slotted ladle (the bit of extra liquid is good for the sauce)
- serve pasta with a good snowfall of parmigiano reggiano and a bit more fresh, coarsely ground black pepper

Flatbread 101: Bread that is Flat

2009-03-18T20:10:00.006-04:00

I'm fascinated by making things from scratch as much as I can. It is my life's greatest tragedy that I live in New York City instead of on an organic farm on the Amalfi Coast or somewhere in Proven ce. Not even having the logistics for a window box really cramps my style, if you know what I mean. I've always wanted to learn to make truly great bread, but so far have been intimidated by the amount of counter space and time necessary.

Enter this wonderful recipe for flatbread found in the River Cottage Family Cookbook. Easily created within 45 minutes from start to wash-up (and 15 of those minutes you're resting), these taste better than anything I've had at any Lebanese or similar Middle Eastern restaurant.

Eat it naked and warm or with nearly any topping. Perhaps you'll like it with a homemade hummus: purée a drained can of chickpeas with a bit of sesame or olive oil or tahini and two very juicy lemons. Add parsley before you purée and garnish with chopped tomatoes to make it pretty. Or roll a flatbread around a salad of chopped tomato and cucumber (seeds removed), served with feta cheese (or any cheese like it), chopped parsley, a bit of red wine vinegar (or more lemon juice), and a bit of olive oil. Make a sandwich with a smear of hummus and top it with any leftover meat.

River Cottage Flatbread

To make 8:

- 1 and 2/3 cups all purpose or white pastry flour (plus extra for dusting work surface)
- 1 heaping teaspoon of salt
- 1 Tablespoon olive or sunflower oil
- 2/3 cup warm water

1) Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. (Sifting means shaking through a fine-mesh sieve)

2) Add the oil in the measuring cup with the water and pour the liquid into the flour in a thin stream with one hand while using the other hand to stir it.

3) Form the flour and water into a soft ball of slightly sticky dough (you may have to add a little extra flour or water to get the texture right). Rub off any dough that sticks to your hands

4) Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and start kneading the dough by pushing the heel of your hand (where the palm meets the wrist) into the dough to stretch it. Fold it over, give it a quarter of a turn, and then stretch it again. If the dough starts to stick, simply sprinkle it with more flour. Keep kneading for 5 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and plump. Again, the longer and more aggressively you knead, the better the dough.

5) Cover the ball of dough with the upturned mixing bowl and let it rest at least 15 minutes (longer is better but not strictly necessary)

6) When ready, roll the dough into a sausage shape and divide into eight pieces. Flour the work surface again, and with a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a very thin round roughly the size of a small plate.

7) Get a frying pan very hot over a high heat, and then turn the flame down to medium-low.

8) Shake off excess flour from the rolled-out piece of dough and put it in the pan for about 30 seconds to a minute each side, until bubbles form. Roll out each piece of dough individually and cook one at a time.

New Mexico: a menu

2009-03-09T20:01:00.015-04:00

From Mexico to New Mexico. My 2 favorite New Mexicans put together a truly stunning dinner party this weekend. The food was killer, but what impressed me just as much was the concept. They created a symphony of a menu. Some people say success lies in writing what you know. I say, cook what you know. They certainly did, with a classic menu of enchiladas, rice, black beans, tomato and spinach salad (interesting: no dressing, and the better for it), and of course, Angela's famous chocolate chip cookies. Pay careful attention to this photo essay on assembling Frank's enchiladas. Note to us gringos: there's no tomato in enchilada sauce. Admittedly, he cheated a bit by using a prepackaged seasoning mix, but it consists mostly of paprika, chili, onion, and garlic. First fry the corn tortilla in a bit of oil, then submerge it in the sauce before assembling it in the pan. After each layer of tortillas, add a good handful of cheddar and asiago cheese (the mixture is crucial to my mind). Frank divulged that his enchiladas have become even better since he's doubled the amount of cheese. No surprise there.

Eating seasonally is easy in Mexico City

2009-03-04T13:30:00.001-05:00

Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
80° F \| 42° F	80° F \| 42° F	78° F \| 46° F	80° F \| 50° F	80° F \| 48° F
Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear	Scattered Clouds

Mexico City, 16:01

2009-03-03T16:01:00.002-05:00

March 3, 16:01

It's essentially an octopus and shrimp stew. So good. The crab was fried simply, topped with shallots and cilantro and served with very very thin tortillas. Truly excellent. And a simple tomato and basil salad to finish. I am satisfied!

Mexico City, 15:39

2009-03-03T15:39:00.001-05:00

March 3, 15:39

The best yet: octopus and shrimp tacos. The seafood in a clinging, spicy deep red sauce, with slivers of avocado to give a little calm in the sloppy spicy delight. I never knew octopus could be so tender. My fried soft-shell crab just arrived. More later...

Mexico City, 12:29

2009-03-02T12:29:00.005-05:00

March 2, 12:29

Hello! I'm just sitting digesting a heartbreakingly good breakfast and thought I'd continue the updates! I just ate toasted local bread spread with refried beans and topped with melted cheese, served with a fresh tomato salsa. (Note: every country has its own version of cheese on toast). Carrot, beetroot, and papaya juice, and stunning coffee. In a huge atrium of a restaurant. Thinking more on the crab yesterday, I think you're right. Shrimp would have been better. There is nothing you can do with crab that's better than cracking it open and picking every last fibre of unadorned meat out, in my opinion.

Mexico City, 22:59

2009-03-01T22:59:00.006-05:00

March 1, 22:59

I received your email while eating dinner in the 55-year-old restaurant my driver insisted I come to instead of the 'nouvelle mexican' hipster bar I asked for. And I am glad! Just had more guac (I figure try it everywhere) which wasn't half as good. I like it lumpy, clay-like and with a surprise kick. This is sloppy and had too much lime juice in it, so the avocado becomes just a material, not a taste. But I guess everyone has their own recipe. They brought me fried cheese with salsa verde and tacos to diy - delicious - and I'm just tucking into a cheese-stuffed pepper topped with tom sauce. Good, not great. But the true winner here is the margarita. Served in what's essentially a shot glass, heady, sweet, almost creamily dense. Divine! I'm staying at the W and am saving some space for their molten- middle chocolate-chili cake when I get back. Mole sauce is top of my list but only seems to come with meat sadly. Anyway, shall eat before all is cold. Check out my hotel though. I have a hammock in my room. A HAMMOCK.

Mexico City Food Correspondent

2009-03-01T17:38:00.007-05:00

Friend and fellow blogger extraordinaire, Erin Newby of O-Absalom, sends us dispatches from the Federal District's food scene. Unfortunately her camera's broken. Fortunately, she's a lyrical writer with a degree in English from Oxford under her belt. It really shouldn't be any problem to imagine these dishes. Her favorites, you will see, often center on guacamole, margaritas, and seafood. This is all a lead-up to a guest blog she will write upon re-entry in New York, so stay tuned!

March 1, 17:38

Just arrived and went for lunch at a place the concierge recommended. Amazing! Star was the zucchini flower quesadilla, along with the spicy, delicious guacamole, and there were also some wonderful crabmeat tacos that had been cooked in banana leaves. And a zesty, sweet margarita, or course!

Polish Nostalgia

2009-02-22T22:01:00.006-05:00

The lovely Nicole Galpern had me over for some Polish TLC after a meeting at Food and Wine Magazine. We bonded the first year of Barnard College over shared memories of Poland and its food. She's first generation New Yorker, with the luck to have been brought up in part by her wonderful housekeeper from Bialystok who cooked us this beautiful meal. The borscht was especially good - I'm hoping to get the recipe. I make a very simple version by cooking beets, and using the resulting liquid to boil chopped potato with salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar. Sometimes I like to add a bit of ground coriander if I don't have fresh dill. Djenkuje bardzo!

Salads of the Non-Lettuce Kind, Winter Version

2009-02-22T21:27:00.004-05:00

Spending my early childhood in Rome meant that my craving for delicious vegetables were constant. Yet the large portion of my life spent in Poland during nineties also taught me that vegetables are a purely seasonal affair. I had been thinking of life in post-communist Poland a lot these past couple months as the vegetable offerings at my markets began looking depressed. My mom used to make us salads of cabbage when she couldn't find anymore lettuce: slice very finely, dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, minced garlic, and red wine vinegar. If she had any parsley, that would go in too.

I finally broke out of my sulk about the lack of fresh, crisp veggies this winter when I remembered a classic: fennel and orange. Both are seasonal, and it's particularly nice with the blood oranges that I've been seeing in the markets since January. It's amazingly refreshing - a palate cleanser from all of winter's heavy dishes.

- 1 fennel bulb
- 1 blood orange
- good Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- Sherry vinegar
- Maldon salt to taste (spectacular for its huge, textured crystals if you haven't tried it yet)
- fresh ground pepper to taste

Wash the fennel bulb, save the fronds, and peel the outside layer of the fennel bulb. Slice the bulb finely. Mince the fronds to use as a garnish. Peel and slice the orange into thin wedges. Combine it all in a bowl, squeezing the orange sections with your fingers as you toss to help it release some of its juices. Drizzle well with EVOO and the sherry vinegar, and toss again with plenty of salt and pepper, to taste.

Ray of Light Beef Tacos

2009-02-22T20:49:00.005-05:00

I have decided that Tyler Florence is the only ray of light left on the Food Network. When I first started receiving cable TV two years ago, I spent hours on end watching all of Food Network's stars and their various shows, and felt impressed by the overall quality; I learned techniques, flavor combinations, and menu ideas. These days though, I am more inclined to agree with the gourmet food establishment's verdict that Food Network isn't an interesting foodie venue. Now that I have Bravo on my lineup of channels, I too will move on to the show, Top Chef. Food Network has stumbled by bringing on new faces with no aura of expertise (Ask Aida, and all those Next Food Network Star winners), repeating too much content from their established stars (Giada's gotten downright boring), and dumbing down their content rather than moving on to new heights for their more seasoned viewers.

So why do I still like Tyler Florence's show? He cooks recipes I'd like to eat, and always arranges the show into a cohesive menu that usually involves a challenging element - whether it's an unusual ingredient, or a new technique. I enjoy watching to see how he layers flavors in particular. This weekend Marcus and I cooked his ultimate beef tacos, which turned out sublimely. We made a double batch to last all weekend. Sear a salt and pepper-seasoned shoulder of beef in garlic infused oil, caramelize with Spanish onion slices, then cook down for almost 2 hours in a mixture of canned tomato and water (just enough to cover the beef) with bay leaves, red chili flakes, paprika, cumin, coriander - whatever looks good in your spice rack, really. This served alongside homemade salsa and guacamole was perfect. We didn't do the elote asado (grilled corn with cheese, lime, and chili powder) because it didn't look fresh at the market. I'll be good and wait until summer. With all this how could we choose anything else but a Negra Modelo cerveza to drink.

This isn't the first time TF has come through with excellent inspiration either - his brined pork chops with pan apple sauce is still a staple in my repertoire, and the perfect complement to my favorite original cocktail, the Apple Crisp.

Hungry in Afghanistan with No Time to Cook?

2009-02-11T00:52:00.004-05:00

Find out what the Expats in Kabul are eating: http://easyfood.af/

Someone's making brisk trade on Westerner's time and security concerns... $10 for an Afghan kebab? Really? The menus read like a middling airport's food court offerings, which makes sense if most of the food is imported.

Our Kabul Correspondent, a.k.a. Cinnamon Jones, keeps a stiff upper lip even when faced with these unpalatable options. She subsists on my all-too-infrequent care packages of Stumptown Coffee Roaster's Hair Bender beans that I can pick up from their Chelsea Market outpost. The true gourmand that she is, she brought out her own French Press and bean grinder among her limited luggage.

Here's why she likes it so much:

"Our Hair Bender is a complex espresso blend featuring coffee components from the three major growing regions of Latin America, East Africa, and the Pacific Rim... The aroma demonstrates floral notes of jasmine while the flavor is a combination of sweet citrus, milk chocolate and caramel."

Oops...

2009-02-06T22:20:00.002-05:00

What’s your greatest kitchen mishap? I’m not talking about the unfortunately ubiquitous slivered finger, but the more dramatic events. Last night, in the midst of creating an amazingly complicated dinner, I managed to make my railroad-style kitchen so hot that the plastic exterior of my electric kettle melted into a solid block. This is the second electric kettle I’ve ruined in as many months (the last one I submerged in water while attempting to clean – apparently that’s a no-no).

One of my favorite mistakes, however, was arriving home after an epic night bartending to find Marcus and Frank sitting calmly in the living room, watching TV. Their Zen-like quality could only be fully appreciated seeing the thick film of vegetable oil they had managed to spread over the entire 450 square feet of our apartment. Apparently they had wanted steak frites, but never really knew how to fry on the stovetop. For weeks afterwards we walked on crunchy kosher salt, soaking up the remains. Our hardwood floors never looked so good.

David Tanis' North African Comfort Food

2009-02-06T14:22:00.006-05:00

On a day when I had no idea what I wanted to eat, much less cook for a dinner party, Tanis' cookbook, A Platter of Figs, solved everything and let me create one of my best meals to date. I tweaked his menu to fit what looked good at the grocery store.

spiced carrot salad
warm chickpeas
chicken tagine with butternut squash
harissa oil
couscous
and although he recommends walnut cigars, which did look wonderful, we enjoyed a fantastic chocolate cherry cream cake brought by Erin instead.

The Recipes, Basically (with a bit of my own spin)

For the chickpeas

1 pound dried chickpeas, picked over and soaked overnight. The next day, drain them, and put them in a pot with 3 quarts of water along with an onion chopped in quarters, 1 cinnamon stick, a few cloves, a splash of olive oil, and some salt. Bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer until the chickpeas are tender, about 1 hour. If you usually use canned beans, you'll notice this method produces meatier, more flavorful beans. Leave it to cool. You'll use the cooking water for the tagine. When the tagine's almost done cooking, reheat the chickpeas in whatever liquid's still in the pot. Drain, reserving the liquid for lubricating the couscous (if you want). Dress the chickpeas to taste with butter, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and chopped parsley.
For the tagine

Peel a 2 lb+ buttnernut squash (or any other winter squash like pumpkin), remove seeds, and chop into large slices. Season them all with salt, pepper, and ground cumin (toast and roughly grind the seeds yourself if you can. you know when they're toasted when they fill your kitchen with fragrance). Then season 2 lb+ of chicken legs (with thighs) with salt, pepper, fresh mashed ginger, and more ground cumin. Dice 3 large onions, and sauté them in a combination of olive oil and butter (2 Tb each), seasoning with salt. When golden, turn off the heat and add a large pinch of saffron (crumble between your fingers), and 6 sliced cloves of garlic. Season to taste with red chili flakes. Spread the onions in a bottom layer in a shallow earthenware casserole (but a glass one can work too), then top with the slices of squash. Arrange the chicken, skin-side up on top. Add 3-4 cups of the chickpea cooking liquid, barely covering the chicken. Cover the casserole (tin foil works), and bake for 30 minutes at 400˚F. Uncover, and cook at 375˚F until the chicken in golden brown on top.

** It's great vegetarian too. Simply omit the chicken and take 5-10 minutes off both ends of the cooking time.

harissa oil

Toast a tablespoon each of cumin, coriander, caraway, and fennel seeds (however I only had the first 2, and augmented it with sesame seeds) over medium heat until they are fragrant. With a pestle and mortar, smash 2 garlic cloves with a tsp of salt so that it forms a paste. Add the toasted seeds and grind them up. Add 3 Tb. sweet paprika, 1 tsp red chili flakes, a bit of red wine vinegar, and up to a cup of olive oil. Stir well. This keeps in the fridge for up to a week. Spoon the oil over the tagine, couscous, and chickpeas to taste while serving. It adds the essential North African spice kick.

spiced carrot salad

Take a bunch of beautiful, peeled carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, turn all the carrots into long curls. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Add 2 cloves of finely minced garlic. Add 2 tsp. each of toasted and ground cumin and coriander seeds. Season to taste with red pepper flakes, lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and chopped parsley. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

coucous

Cook couscous according to the packet instructions. Or: toast it lightly in a large pan or pot, pour an equal amount of already-boiling water in the pan and stir while the couscous boils and asorbs it. Add more water as needed until the couscous is tender and fluffly, yet still has a nice bite. You may also want to cook the couscous in any left over chickpea stock!

** We're drinking an excellent Chilean Cabernet-Sauvignon: Veramonte, a 2006 Riserva from the Colchagua Valley. It's $11 at my wine store.

Homemade Crème Fraîche

2009-02-06T13:52:00.004-05:00

I spent the day in the Strand Bookstore's cookbook section, reveling in the many, heavy shelves of food writing. While I wanted them all, I restricted myself to 3: David Tanis' A Platter of Figs, The River Cottage Family Cookbook, and James Beard's Fish Cookery (a bargain at $1!).

Each fulfilled a different desire. I stumbled on Tanis' book in a display, attracted by the appearance of 2 quotes from Micheal Pollan and Alice Waters on the cover. While I didn't know yet that Tanis was the other creative genius behind Chez Panisse, I certainly try to get my hands on anything by Alice Waters, and I am beginning to warm up considerably to Pollan's unique point of view on food. His cookbook really sold itself, though. Divided by menus, organized by season, I felt compelled and attracted to the book. I enjoy cooking the main plats de resistance, and this bias leaves me well aware of my short comings in planning complete, multi-course meals. Tanis provides ample inspiration with what Waters calls "incomparable menus, each a little masterpiece". That he included a simple recipe for making crème fraîche at home tipped me over the edge:

Heat 2 cups organic heavy cream, not ultrapasteurized, to just under a boil
Cool to room temperature
Stir in 1/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
Transfer to a glass, ceramic, or stainless steel bowl and cover with a clean towel
Leave at room temperature for about 12 hours, until slightly thickened. For a tarter flavor, let it stand for 24 hours.
Cover well and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks

I only find useful those cookbooks that instruct how to make every single component from scratch - books following Julia Child's pioneering writing. Why would I need a book to tell me how to combine pre-made components? That takes all the fun out of it!

For that same reason I fell for the River Cottage cookbook. It's beautiful, whimsical, and focuses on the origins of all the ingredients. There's actually a chapter entitled "The Magnificent Potato" with a momumental photo of the baking variety on the opposite page. It also includes one of the most practical set of instructions I've found for making bread.

2009-01-29T19:23:00.004-05:00

Modern Taste of Charleston: Chef Aaron Deal of Tristan

(figure in far right, pondering)

My first taste of a James Beard Foundation dinner did not disappoint. It was intimate, lively, extravagant.

The appetizers packed the most lively punch of flavor:

- "Charleston She-Crab Soup with Parsnip Crème" with a thick texture that melted in the mouth. Served in espresso cups.

- Winter Radishes under a lemongrass vinaigrette served alongside a White Miso Sauce captured even veggie-phobic Marcus's attention. The radishes themselves were gorgeous. Two varieties of pure white and then (if I remember correctly) "watermelon radish", apparently named for its marbled fushia coloring. The miso sauce was very thick yet light, letting the radish stand on its own.

- Duck Confit with Organic Maple Syrup and Toasted Pecan stole the show. The maple syrup was complex and not too sweet - it had been aged in bourbon casks. It may have been the best duck I've ever eaten, which says a lot. Served on a crisp of polenta, with the duck confit shredded on top.

The butternut squash terrine beginning the meal was a little lifeless, but things picked back up with the "Kilroy was here" sparkling Shiraz (2006, Barossa) served alongside a nice if unimaginative beet and chèvre salad.

The white tuna was incredibly meaty, no doubt augmented in its punch by its envelope of pancetta. The accompanying Tahitian Vanilla Broth was delightful. Chef Deal's adeptness with meat was confirmed with his veal short rib, proving that even a notoriously delicate meat can stick to one's ribs (provided some form of bacon is involved). The wine pairing here was also good: Clarendon Hills "Sandown" Cabernet Sauvignon (2004, Clarendon). Smelled and tasted mostly of chlorophyl-rich grass.

Finally, the foie gras pot de crème defied this blogger's low expectations (as neither foie gras nor sweets are her favorite thing). Yet the foie gras was subtle and heightened by crunchy sea salt. The accompaniaments of Cashel Blue Cheese and pickled grapes (pickled for 3 weeks in a long list including red wine vineager, star anise, black pepper, and cloves) lifted it out of the sugar doldrums.

I feel an affinity to Chef Deal's palate: meaty goodness, crisp heirloom veggies, and a less is more attitude with sweetness. My good opinion of him was confirmed when I asked for his favorite cocktail.

"Grey Goose on the rocks"

Showing a certain similarity to Rachel Ray's answer to the same question, and the truism that a chef also must be an alcoholic on some level. I'm not sure if the inverse is true for me, however. My own taste for quality, straight liquor probably only signifies my rearing in Eastern Europe.

Angela's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-16T18:00:00.001-05:00

A guest article by Angela Williams, who makes chewy yet crispy chocolate chip cookies of a special magnificence. I especially like how the taste of salt emerges through the sweetness, and the depth of the dark chocolate. She may be a poet, but I'm trying to convince to make these cookies full-time. Enjoy!

The only reason I can think of that people like my cookies so much is due to the butter, salt, and quality of the chocolate chips. I use more butter than is advisable for human consumption. Not really, but to make four dozen chocolate chip cookies you have to stir in two sticks of butter (and I use salted even though unsalted saturates more of the flavor but I looove salted butter). In fact, salt is a necessary ingredient—salted butter and half a teaspoon of salt. It'll offset the sweetness of the granulated and brown sugar.

Next, the chocolate chip issue. Use quality chocolate. I use Ghiradelli's because its chocolate is the closest to gourmet. You can use Tollhouse or Hershey's, but let's face it, those are run-of-the-mill blah chocolate chips and most likely use bad, bad ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup (even regular corn syrup makes the chocolate heavy). You want to taste chocolate, not sweetener. If the chocolate doesn't match the dough's quality, you'll have an uneven cookie. I like to use milk chocolate chips but bittersweet is the best chip to satisfy everyone. That said, I think I made Christie and Marcus worship this particular batch of cookies because I specifically used dark chocolate (60% cocoa).

Last, always understand your oven and its settings. Never leave the cookies in for too long because then they'll dry out. If the recipe calls for 375 degrees (such as mine), then put your cookies in for 9-10 minutes only. The edges should be so lightly brown you can barely tell. The chewier the cookie, the yummier. And always, always hand mix! You'll get a much better texture and you'll burn calories, all at the same time. What could be better than that?

The Best Steak Sandwich

2009-01-16T16:26:00.003-05:00

Last night we ate NY Strip Steak (my favorite cut for its big flavor and chewy texture) with oven toasted, rosemary and thyme-rubbed potato wedges. It tasted as good as it sounds. Today, however, I was blown away with the power of the leftovers, transformed into a steak sandwich.

First, as to the meat: I firmly believe that the only good-tasting meat is happy meat. Meat needs to be happy throughout its chain of being, meaning that it needs to be raised in reasonably clean and comfortable environment, slaughtered humanely, and cooked with the utmost respect. I got the four gorgeous examples in the picture from our butcher's at Gourmet Garage. I first let the meat become comfortable at room temperature, and sealed it up on both sides with a simple yet heavy seasoning of Maldon salt and fresh ground pepper. A smear of of extra-virgin olive oil on top helped it both brown in the oven and not stick to the pan. After the meat seemed relaxed and feeling good in its salt and pepper dressing (I let it sit out for maybe 45 minutes, which was fine in our cold winter apartment, but might not be recommended by food safety experts), I stuck it into a searing hot broiler, cooking it for about 3 minutes on both sides, to a nice medium rare. (I typically eat my beef on the bloody side of rare, but I was looking for something more like comfort-food this time) Crucially, it rested for at least 5 minutes while I was setting the table. This all resulted in extremely flavorful steaks. I served it with a dallop of compound butter (thyme, shallot, lemon juice, salt, pepper, unsalted butter) to smear into the meat. So simple.

Today the steak's punch of flavor was intensified as the compound butter had worked its way through the meat overnight.

I sliced the left-over steak up and toasted the remaining leg of yesterday's baguette. A smear of the aioli (garlic, salt, egg, and good oil, emulsified) kept everything moist and flavorful inside. On top of the steak went slivers of Castellano cheese (like an aged Manchego), and a handful of peppery and crisp arugula. It's the best thing I've tasted in a long time, if I may say so myself, and I highly recommend it. Now I just need a glass of Chianti to call it a meal...

White House Chef: Walter Scheib

2009-01-15T00:20:00.004-05:00

The James Beard Foundation is my new favorite organization. It's dedicated to excellence in American cuisine. Need I say more?

In addition to their famous dinners, they host a series called "Beard on Books", bringing in interesting food writers on a variety of subjects.

Today master storyteller Walter Scheib graced the upstairs dining room of the James Beard House with at least 40 audience members crammed in like anchovies in good olive oil. He kept us in cahoots with tales of the antics and sometimes strange palates of the Clinton and Bush families. W ruined one of his first state dinners by not knowing dining protocol; having rejected a far-too avant garde green soup, all of his guests had theirs taken away mid-bite. Scheib ran a mini cooking school for Chelsea Clinton prior to her first classes at Stanford. Pick up his book if you find politicians and/or food interesting. It's a thoroughly entertaining read, although I wish after hearing him today that there was an audiobook version.

Battered Sausage and Chips

2009-01-07T21:18:00.003-05:00

Salt, vinegar, and lots of brown "chippy" sauce cover my deep fried sausage and fat, golden chips. Edinburgh's Royal Mile includes a tiny techno shack run by lovely Poles that happens to make the best version in the downtown. Its warming effects lasted all the way to the Mound, nearly to Princes Street. Frankly, this is the only way to follow up a visit to Per Se...

January is the happiest month

2009-01-07T12:04:00.002-05:00

Let the celebrations begin! January heralds much rejoicing: finally being home again after too much family time, Obama's inauguration in thirteen days, and lovely presents and house guests over New Years have left us champagne, wine, and Whiskey Galore! (Which is a fun old movie if you've never seen it)

Pictured from left to right: Macallan 12-year-old single malt, W. & J. Graham's Malvedos 1996 Vintage Port, Tattinger, Sassoalloro Jacopo Biondi Santi (a 2005 Supertuscan), Booker's Bourbon, Ö Oregon Pinot Noir NV, and a Bollinger Special Cuvée. Central is a beautiful present of a hand-blown glass turn decanter.

New Year, Fresh Faces

2009-01-05T20:14:00.003-05:00

Different household names I've discovered this holiday season in the UK:

1. Tamasin Day-Lewis and her spectacular memoir, Where Shall We Go for Dinner? I haven't finished it yet only because I intend to draw it out and savor the stories for as long as possible. So far the story brings in a cast of characters that reads like a Who's Who of both the culinary and literary worlds. She includes interesting recipes at the end of each chapter.

2. Gino D'Acampo's cookbook, Buonissimo! (Italian food has never been so sexy) has great photographs and comprehensive yet creative recipes for Italian classics and staples. I'm a sucker for Italian (having spent my early childhood in Rome) and beautiful men, this fits both points to a T.

3. Tessa Kiros's wonderfully illustrated cookbook is based around colors, a truly charming philosophy of food. She's half Cypriot, half Finnish, but there are also strong Italian influences from her husband's family. I cannot recommend her whimsical book enough: Apples for Jam

Per Se Menu: December 11, 2008

2009-01-05T16:48:00.004-05:00

December 11, 2008
Happy Birthday Christina and Marcus
Chef's Tasting Menu

The meal begins with two amuse-bouches: a crisp brioche ball filled with melted gruyère that disappears in one bite, and a miniaturized play on the ice cream cone with a scoop of minced smoked salmon and crème fraîche filling the cone.

1. "Oysters and Pearls" for Marcus
"Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar

White truffle custard topped with black truffle ragu served with a chive potato crisp for Christina

2. "Carnaroli Risotto Biologico"
White Truffles from Alba and "Castelmagno" Cheese

3. An extra course of a Floridian crab claw simply served on a hunk of ice with an aioli dipping sauce

4. Grilled "pavé" of Covia with Tokyo turnips, broccolini florettes and pickled mustard seed vinaigrette

5. Scottish Langoustines "à la plancha" with "boudin blanc", heirloom beets, and "mousseline au raifort"

6. "Aiguillette" of Liberty Farm's Pekin duck breast with sunchokes, Piedmont hazelnutes, and garden mâche with duck jus

7. Rib-eye of Elysian Fields Farm's lamb "en persillade" with "mousse au Pimenton", "socca" crêpe, Holland eggplant, and sweet peppers with lamb sauce for Christina

Pan roasted sirloin of Blackmore Ranch's Wagyu with crispy bone marrow, forest mushroom-potato "mille-feuille", and braised rainbow swiss chard with "sauce bordelaise" for Marcus

8. "Le Sarlet" with globe Artichokes, haricots verts, and young lettuces with black winter truffle "aigre-doux" (a dish that neither of us remembers eating)

9. Red verjus sorbet with per se raisins, grape tuile, and gingerbread crumble

10. "Banoffee" with devil's food cake, chocolate "marquise", and malt "crémeux" with banana-crème fraîche sherbert for Marcus

"Pomme-beurre noisette" with a "confiture" of granny smith apple, "financier", and Tahitian vanilla "bavarois" with "glace au beurre noisette" for Christina

11. "Mignardises" of chocolates and other confections that went on for at least four more courses.

To drink we had René Geoffroy's "Empreinte" champagne from Cumières, a 1er Cru to start. We moved on to the Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir "Laurène" from Dundee Hills, Oregon. Our third (half bottle, that is) was an Australian with a cool story called Lost Highway "Torbreck-Shiraz/Roussanne" from Barossa Valley. We finished with the 2005 Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

We wet our whistles with sparkling wine and finished with espressos and mint tea.

The portions were definitely too big this time around. Ideally each course should be finished in two to three bites, leaving you wanting more.

Per Se, Part Deux

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

It took a long time to digest my second visit to Thomas Keller's Per Se. Marcus and I had prepared for the grand event by saving every last quarter in a single malt 12 year Balvenie box for about a year, and we then made the reservation exactly two months before the date (as normal people must). We had last visited the restaurant in July 2007, and it had been the culinary apex of both our lives.

Throughout the entire meal I felt a certain resistance to the song and dance of three Michelin starred dining, a feeling which I am now able to identify mostly as a fear of falling too far down the rabbit hole into utter dependency for tastes I cannot regularly afford. Yet it also had to do with the meal not quite living up to its former glory. Marcus agreed that the execution of this December meal didn't seem nearly as thoughtful or impressive as what we had experienced before.

It perhaps speaks to this diminution in attention to detail that the chefs no longer hold a nightly meeting about the next day's menu; planning now happens the morning of the same day. Whereas I can still recite from memory the first menu from a year and a half ago, my recollection of the meal from a couple weeks ago is much more spotty because it simply wasn't as memorable, with a couple of exceptions. There was the fresh crab claw flown in from Florida that we were rewarded with after we revealed we were friends with author Phoebe Damrosch, the author of the thoroughly entertaining memoir Service Included chronicling her time as a waiter there. There was also the extravagant white risotto served with a snowstorm of white truffle from Alba. I found it instructive how little it was cooked; the grains were largely a chewy, al-dente core, and the overall texture was very liquid rather than gooey. Marcus had an incredible piece of Wagyu beef, perfectly achieving that ineffable designation of au point.

On the other hand, my Elysian Fields lamb dish definitely didn't make the cut. The minced smoked salmon topping Keller's signature brioche cornetto smelled and tasted fishy, like it had been out of the sea and in the fridge for too long. It's also a little odd that neither Marcus nor myself remember having one of the dishes listed on our menu, the "Le Sarlet" of globe artichoke and black truffle that was supposed to have been served between the red meat and sorbet courses. Finally, I made a mistake in choosing a half-bottle of champagne that turned out to be too sweet over the single glass of Krug I had been craving to start off the meal.

It would be disingenuous only to bitch about the short fallings of what is still an impressive and enjoyable restaurant, but based on our night it seems that quality control at Per Se, once militant, is now relaxed. While it's true that everyone has bad days, I am less inclined towards leniency in judging an establishment with pretensions to perfection. I left wishing that the kitchen would wake up from its nap. Our head waiter was terrific, going out of his way to fulfill my wish for the evening to come out understanding the taste of truffles. However, the food verged on lazy, lacking an injection of energy and imagination. No new scotch box is being filled for our next visit, we're taking a break from Per Se... at least until someone else offers to pay for it.

Happy New Years!

2009-01-01T19:36:00.003-05:00

Greetings from the heather-colored countryside of bonny Scotland, in the outskirts of the small Borders town of Jedburgh, where Marcus's family lives in an ancient converted farmhouse. My, but it's cold.

Hogmanay was spent steeped in cava (a Recession alternative to champagne), and finished with an elaborate feast in the style of Nigella Lawson's Christmas recipe book. We began with parma ham bundles filled with fig, and brown bread canapés topped with horseradish mayonnaise, smoke salmon, red cabbage, and a single sprig of dill. Next came ginger ale soaked roast ham, red cabbage cooked with blackberries, fresh lasagna noodles filled with butternut squash and nutmeg scented creamy ricotta, and incredible potato skins filled to the brim with cheesy goodness and even a bit of bacon. A chocolate "Christmas log" cake decorated with powdered sugar "snow" rounded it out.

Have you sung Auld Lang Syne yet? I propose that to counter the many problems spilling over from 2008, all New Years Resolutions for 2009 should focus on increasing joy and pleasure. Somewhat selfishly, mine is to take a professional massage course with my partner.

I am sending a particular bit of holiday cheer to this blog's creative partner, Miss Aleksandra Markovich. Thanks to her, The Girls Who Ate Everything is the only foodie blog with a correspondent in Afghanistan. Although security is obviously an issue, she brought us a description of a cuisine influenced by India with appearances of both naan bread and lassi drinks. I am certainly looking forward to hearing more as she enjoys the rest of her tour in Kabul.

Happy Christmas and Hogmanay!

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Christmas and Hogmanay!

A Single Fragrant Korean Pear

2008-12-22T13:04:00.002-05:00

Like most New Yorkers, my apartment building is bare-bones. Thus, I enjoy the luxury of having someone else take care of my dirty laundry (which sounds like a metaphor, but it's not). A friendly Korean family runs my cleaners, and today the manager presented me with the perfect Christmas present: a Korean pear. It weighs about 2 pounds and is a little larger than a softball. Juicy yet unfailingly crisp in texture, its sweetness tastes most like a sweet rice bun sold in Chinatown. It has an entirely different fructose taste than American or European varieties, bringing to mind a light Asian pastry. What a delicacy!

Panamanian Fiesta

2008-11-26T01:16:00.002-05:00

Cooking lessons from Panamanian matriarchs:

1. Only deep fry in vegetable oil. Canola tastes too heavy, and olive oil is too dangerous!
2. Deep fried plantain chips should always be made while still green and need no other seasoning than love.
3. Time is the real secret ingredient, so wherever you can, marinate for days, braise for hours, and allow ingredients to reduce over heat until they have been distilled to their essential goodness.
4. Fried pork is perhaps the naughtiest appetizer invented
5. Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, onion, garlic, salt, and season-all can and should be applied in all meat situations.
6. Flan should be drunker than the cook: steeped in rum for a week
7. Dried-out beef slow cooked in tomatoes and Panamanian spices is a treat from meat heaven.
8. Always save your cooking oil from frying plantains and pork to flavor rice or any other dish.
9. Never underestimate the deliciousness of rice and beans.
10. Beauty is possible well into one's eighth decade with enough good food, alcohol, and company.

Thank you Maria and Tia Venus for your fabulous cooking and hospitality!

At long last the Frontier!

2008-11-25T11:00:00.001-05:00

Angela Williams, a UNM grad, took us to a favorite student hangout called Frontier. This large diner has remained largely untouched for the past several decades (except for a new electronic system that calls out filled orders), and that's the way Albuquerque likes it.

Their breakfast burritos are superb primarily because of the fresh, handmade tortilla. It's filled with a scrambled egg, shredded cheddar cheese, hash browns, and green chili. Meats ranging from carne adovada to bacon can be added, but I had mine classic.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is a cheap citrus fix. Cinnamon rolls are dangerously good when drowned in hot, sweet, and spicy butter.

Red or Green?

2008-11-24T19:18:00.000-05:00

Dispatch from Albuquerque, NM:

Sadies on a Monday night was packed. Frank's parents said we were lucky to get a table so quickly. Since we had been fasting in preparation of a week of New Mexican, Panamanian, and Texan feasting, the complimentary chips served with a surprisingly hot red salsa (every last seed in those peppers was added) were gobbled up, as was an order of guacamole, which was interesting for its very clean flavors. It tasted as though it was made only with avocado, a bit of lime, salt, and tomato - not even any cilantro or jalepeño.

Sadie's salsa is so popular that they sell it across the country. A variety of other New Mexican foods are sold on their website, including chili sauce, enchilada sauce, and sopapilla mix.

For main courses I had enchiladas (as Sadies was once rated to have the best enchiladas in NM), filled with their specialty of carne adovada. The waiter asked if I wanted them flat or rolled, and the perennial NM question of red or green chili? Rolled, both.

It came on a magnificently large platter, the heaps of food allowing no plate to peek through. There are two enchiladas to an order, smothered in cheddar cheese, swimming in its sauces and frijoles (beans). The carne adovada filling the corn tortillas turned out to be slow-cooked chunks of pork in a mild adobo sauce. It melted in my mouth.

The only slight disappointment was the thoroughly plain "Special House" margarita; I should have upgraded to a better tequila, and they should have used fresh lime juice.

More updates to follow: now we're heading out for Breakfast Burritos...

Turkish Feast

2008-11-22T20:33:00.009-05:00

I promised a Turkish friend to write a column devoted to the cuisine of his country after we both bemoaned its relative obscurity in New York. Turkish food is too good to remain unknown! If you are lucky enough to have a specialty shop nearby like I do (92nd and 1st Avenue for any of you who live on the UES), then you can buy actual Turkish bread with sesame seeds baked in, Turkish feta (which is creamier and less salty than most other styles), and the Turkish yufka pastry (which is a bit drier and thicker than typical Greek-style phyllo pastry). However, pita bread, Greek-style phyllo, and any kind of feta will work in a pinch, so there can be no excuses for not trying this heart-warming meal.

The cigar bureks are best when eaten right away, and the meatballs are well served with both the tomato and yoghurt sauce inside a sandwich of Turkish bread, garnished with chopped, long green Italian peppers (which are close to a popular kind of Turkish pepper), with lemon wedges squeezed over everything.

Cigar Bureks (Sigara böreği)
- 1 package of yufka pastry (or phyllo pastry), defrosted and stored in the fridge
- 1 ½ cups feta cheese (Turkish feta if you can find it)
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped finely
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp. ground black pepper
- enough vegetable oil for shallow frying in a heavy pan
- Lemon wedges for serving

• Mix the feta, parsley, egg, and black pepper in a bowl
• Using defrosted pastry, carefully peel off only one sheet per burek. Have a cup of water handy for later when you roll it.
• If you’re using yufka, the sheets are cut in rounded triangles, while phyllo comes in retangles. The goal is the same: fold them up so that no filling can escape, in the shape of cigars (like egg rolls, but thinner):
• Spread about 2 Tb. of the filling into a parallel line 2 inches from the bottom of the round edge on the yufka, or the shorter edge of the phyllo
• First fold the left and right edges over to hold in the filling on the sides
• Fold the bottom edge around the filling tightly, rolling it over and over to the end of the sheet.
• Seal the end of the roll with a bit of water on your finger
• Repeat until you run out of filling.
• Heat vegetable oil in a big, heavy pan so that it is less than an inch deep. (about 350˚F if you have a cooking thermometer). Be careful when doing this! Use tongs.
• Fry each burek until golden-brown on the outside, without crowding the pan
• When done, transfer the bureks to a plate covered in paper towels to blot the excess oil
• Eat while still warm, with lots of lemon juice squeezed on top.

Tomato Meatballs (Izmir kôftesi)
For the Meatballs:

- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 handful of breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped finely
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. red chili flakes
- generous salt and pepper, to taste

• Preheat oven to 350˚F
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mixing well.
• Form large balls, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, turning the meatballs at the 20 minute mark.

For the Tomato Sauce:

- 28 oz. can of tomatoes
- 1 tsp. red chili flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste

• Mix all ingredients in a medium pot, crushing the tomatoes if they are whole
• Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, so that it is ready in time if you make it right after the meatballs.

Garlic Yogurt Sauce
- ½ pint plain thick yogurt
- ½ lemon’s juice
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced into a fine pulp

• Mix all ingredients together either directly in the yogurt carton or a pretty bowl. That’s it!

Exclusive Interview with Rachael Ray!

2008-11-14T14:40:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, 12 November 2008
222 E. 44th St., around 2pm.

*this is a rough approximation of a transcript since audience members are not allowed recording devices*

CB: Hi Rachael, my name's Christie.
RR: Hi Christie, welcome to the show!
CB: Thanks! My question to you is, what's your favorite cocktail?
RR: (smiles) I'm not picky! (pauses to consider it a little longer) My friend Nick makes a gorgeous cocktail called Sage Advice. I love them. I have no idea what's in them, although it definitely uses the herb sage; but he has his own cocktail recipe book, and it's probably in there. Nick Mautone. His book is called Raising the Bar. Of course, when I go out, I usually just order a vodka soda - it gets the job done! (broadest smile yet)

Rachael Ray then recounted some stories from her days as a bartender (many years ago), when she bartended on a boat on Lake George. I simply can't do them justice: from winging Slippery nipples and Long Island Ice Teas for the drunks who don't know any better, to licking the ice cubes of mean Canadian tourists who skimp on tip... RR in person is not relegated to the same PG rating as is her host persona on the daytime show; after all, she's now been in FHM twice (according to the Boyfriend who regrets not having bought those issues).

Eating Middle America

2008-11-13T00:49:00.008-05:00

It started out so well.

We arrived at the Sunrise Inn at about 9pm on Halloween (the Friday before elections), ravenous after an interminable road trip from Manhattan, NY to Warren, OH. Marcus (in the blue stripes) and Frank (in the green) had especially craved this food, the down-home taste of campaigns past. Just look at those pictures! Marcus with Sunrise's specialty, Garlic Chicken, and Frank contemplating a sausage hoagie twice the size of his head. Erin and I remain unphoto-ed at this point because we were too busy stuffing ourselves silly with crab cakes and cheeseburgers, respectively. Sunrise Inn epitomizes everything a simple American restaurant should aspire to be: diner-style with booths in the back, every dish cooked to order, several beers on tap. Their menu is gigantic, drawing on cuisines as diverse as Greek and Chinese, showing absolutely no shame in bastardizing culinary traditions in order to smother everything with a bit more cheese, a bit more sauce, making it all that much more comforting. For lunch the next day, we ordered their deep dish pizza, which was twice the depth of a quiche, and filled with as much meats (sausage, pepperoni, and meatball) as with tomato and cheese! I am only a little ashamed to say how much I liked it. It is food that gets the job done: filling and warming you. It is outgoing, friendly, and generous, just like Americans.

Then the problems began.

Restaurants outside of NYC close before 10 on weeknights! Election night, after much breathless watching of the results rolling in, we (spoiled New Yorkers that we are) were stunned to discover that no amount of money could rouse our beloved Sunrisers to bring us take away. With no food left in the house, our only option was Pizza Hut. It was so bad that I didn't even bother to photograph the depressing mounds of food we ordered. The crust on the pizza tasted of fake butter, the macaroni and cheese of something more plastic than Velveeta. Cheese sticks turned out to be the same awful pizza dough with a meagre sprinkle of fake Parmesan. Chicken wings were suspicious, and its dipping sauce tasted like a sewer of chemicals. Do places like this keep in business only because they capitalize on stranded late night eaters?

On our ride back from Ohio, the most palatable option was McDonald's - a pretty swank one actually with free wi-fi and cappuccinos. Yet the sadness imbued by the fried silly putty molds of food they served was best expressed by Erin's downcast gaze as she contemplated her french fries. (Never mind Marcus' gusto - he'll eat anything when hungry - both a chicken sandwich and Big Mac in this case). It's been at least a year since my last meal at the Golden Arches, and my bite into a Big Mac surprised me: the flavor formula remains just as addictive as I remembered. McDonald's is an incredibly successful business, having fed billion s of meals to Americans over the years. It does it by being incredibly convenient, cheap, and ruthless in its addition of addictive fats, salts, and sugars in every item sold.

Having spent my childhood abroad, I remember the McDonald's in Rome my parents would take us to after church if we had behaved. It was at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, and the interior looked like a grotto with waterfalls trickling down glittering black marble walls. The succulent chicken sandwiches came as full breasts, slathered in beautifully flavored mayonnaise. Big Macs came in substantial sesame buns, and the meat was not so mysterious. My point is that higher quality food is possible even for the mass market - and that the Italian model is a great model when considering a new food policy for America. In Italian public schools, sub-par ingredients are banned. If children will be fed Parmesan, it must be the real deal: Parmigiano Reggiano; fewer fresh ingredients are bought more frequently; and quality pasta is used instead of limp macaroni. This means with a little loving preparation, every cafeteria can be proud of its food. I still remember the food from my elementary school in Rome as something I looked forward to, and how we were taken on a field trip in second grade to see how buffalo mozzarella is made.

It does take more money to cook better food, but a shift in attitudes is even more important. It's as simple as remembering that quality ingredients make good meals. Americans spend the smallest portion of their budgets on food of any other country, which shows how little we value our food. But good food has the power to raise our quality of life enormously! How can we expect to be nourished bodily, socially, and spiritually, when the major restaurant brands that rule the way our country eats put in minimal effort as to the food, but spends millions on elaborate advertising campaigns? It seems that much like tobacco companies, giant American food producers care more for finding the most addictive formula than for the consumer's welfare. The point of a business to to make money, after all. However, with the interest shown in more recent years for organic foods and celebrity chefs, I wonder if American tastes are turning for the better, and if the power of a new, educated consumer will win a higher standard of food in all venues?

Cooking on the Campaign

2008-11-12T23:07:00.007-05:00

I was granted the honor of designated Comfort Captain for the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) operation in Warren, Ohio. Although it may sound a little dirty, it actually entailed the dual responsibilities of baking and cooking dinners for our team campaigning to turn Ohio blue - what a dream job! One Katie Lyle (the extraordinary volunteer lead organizer of GOTV in Warren) had the premonition for putting me on that task even before she met me or knew my culinary proclivities; those kind of instincts make her a natural leader.

For excellent campaign coverage including details of our victory in Warren and across Ohio, turn to Marcus Roberts' blog, Vom Politik. Though as Scot, Marcus has packed up his bags and campaigned in Warren for the '00, '04, and now the '08 presidential elections; he knows the terrain like few other people. This was my first time accompanying him, and I was primarily struck by the huge disparity of wealth evident even in this factory town. From trailor parks to McMansions (many of them which were under foreclosure), we spent five long and grueling days knocking on doors and getting people to the polls. The long haitus in my blogging since October can be explained by the extreme physical exhaustion that follows such work, a numbing crash resulting from running on adrenaline for so many consecutive days.

I have ministered Marcus back to health after many similar endeavors (such as after the DNC convention), and so had many ideas to implement straight away in my Comfort Captain role, including a policy of primarily home-cooked meals incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables wherever possible without sacrificing the comfort factor. A sample of the menus:

Dinners:

1) Meatball and roast vegetable hoagies, toasted in the oven with melted mozarella.
2) Pasta Alio lio: my mother's recipe of spaghetti in a garlic and olive oil sauce, heated up with red chili flakes, and brightened with lots of chopped fresh parsley on top - no anchovies for this crowd.
3) Meat and bechemel, roast vegetable, and tomato and mozarella lasagnas, homemade down to the tomato sauce (since I'm picky about that sort of thing).

Snacks:

1) The required morale-boosters of brownies and chocolate cookies (both of which, I must admit, tasted better from a mix than from a recipe of my own devices. I especially recommend Ghiradelli for the brownies!)
2) Banana bread & muffins - the sleeper hit despite my limited baking skills!
3) Crisp apples (an item that I enjoyed even though they were snubbed by most in favor of snacks 1 & 2...)
4) Bagels with cream cheese and peanut butter
5) Lots of granola bars

We supplemented this with a dinner out at the Sunrise Inn (which was great) and some take out from Pizza Hut and McDonalds (not so great): experiences of readily-available American food which spoke volumes as to the advantages and disadvantages, trial and error of trying to eat well in this country. It also led to a revelation mid-way through Pennsylvania on our drive back to New York that there should be a Federal Restaurant Czar to set standards for acceptable ingredients and recipes in the chain restaurants that dot our country alongside the highways. No wonder America is obese when all the food readily available enough to fit into our busy lives leaves a sickly sweet aftertaste of overprocessing. It's a plastic coating that covers your tongue, leaving dead taste buds in its wake that confuse sugar withdrawals for hunger pains.

Not to end on a negative note, however, I need to give my many thanks to the gracious and interesting people we met and imposed ourselves upon during our stay in Ohio: especially to Katie and her new husband, Adam, who were saints when it came to having so many people invade their home (and kitchen)! You both are fabulous - congratulations on electing Obama as our 44th president!

Autumn in Provence with Bruno Ungaro

2008-10-30T14:56:00.005-04:00

With the encroachment of cold weather upon us, I have become fascinated by slow cooking meat into tender, savory stews. In this post I shall treat my wonderful, loyal readers to the best meal of my Provençal cooking course with renowned Chef de Cuisine Bruno Ungaro. Ungaro has been featured on Rachel Ray's TV show's feature on Provence, and he hosts a weekly cooking show by radio in addition to running his famous and magnificent restaurant in downtown Aix-en-Provence, L'Amphytrion. Most importantly, as my Manhattan kitchen has many shortcomings when it comes to space, no special equipment is necessary in the preparation of this feast. The only requirement is to consider dinner a few hours earlier than normal, and the results are well worth the effort!

The meal is presented in the order in which you will need to cook it. It took our class a little under 3 hours (with wine-tasting breaks) to put it all together, but the timing is so well planned that as soon as the appetizer is ready, you can simply eat and forget about rushing back to fidget in the kitchen. This meal is about leisure: a Provençal way of life.

Provençal Lamb Stew
(with apologies to Matthew Knouse for being so slow about it)

Instructions as to the meat:
- go to a reputable butcher
- look for a fatty, cheap cut of meat, cut off the bone for this preparation
- 1/2 pound per person should suffice

Unfortunately, I forget what cut of lamb Bruno used, but something from the leg or the shoulder should do well.

For 2-3 pounds of meat:

Trim off most of the excess, hard layer of fat on the meat (if any)
Cube into large, bite-size chunks
Chop 3 carrots, 1 large onion, and one head of garlic, not too finely.
Add the vegetables first to a large pot, cooking it over medium heat with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste, until the onions have gone transluscent and the carrots have begun to soften
Add the pieces of lamb to the pot, turning the heat up to high, so that the pieces sear on all sides
Turn the heat right back down to low, and add an entire bottle of red wine (something from the Côtes du Rhône or Provence obviously compliment this recipe the best). Stir in a heaping tablespoon of black tapenade, and if necessary, add water so that the meat is completely covered with liquid.
Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat down to as low as it goes, and cook it "slowly and gently" (Bruno says, "lentement et doucement") for 2-3 hours.

By the time it's ready the kitchen will be filled with the intoxicating smell of wine-braised meat. Eat with a warm baguette to sop up all the juices.

To turn this into a 3-course meal, like we did during Bruno's class, as soon as the stew has been set to simmer, prepare the dessert, which will need to be chilled for at least an hour:

For dessert we had the most fabulous Mousse au Chocolat:

In a heat-proof mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water, melt 250 grams of a dark chocolate bar.
Incorporate 100g. of unsalted butter with a spatula
Taking the mixture off the stove, and mix in 3 egg yolks.
In a separate bowl, beat 6 egg whites with 50g. of icing sugar until the egg whites stiffen (it's much easier if you do this with a hand mixer)
Delicately, incorporate the egg white mixture into the melted chocolate
"Perfume" the mixture - that is, add a few drops - of Grand Marnier liqueur
Fill small mugs or tea cups with the mixture, and let it chill for at least an hour in the fridge.

With the meat now simmering away to tender bliss, and the chocolate mousse chilling into a frozen dream cloud, now focus on the appetizer, which will be ready to eat enjoy just as the smells of the Lamb Provençal start to drive you mad with desire:

Chèvre Tartine

In a small bowl, combine 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 log of chèvre (goat's cheese), and a small pot of crème fraiche
Cut a loaf of rustic peasant bread into large slices, and smother each one generously with the chèvre mixture
Decorate each slice with a whole sprig of rosemary (which looks festively like a Christmas tree on a white, snow-like background)
Place the slices of bread into a pre-heated oven at 375˚F for about 15 minutes, or until the chevre starts to bubble and turn golden brown.
Serve the tartine with a salad of thinly sliced endive and a homemade vinegrette of balsamic vinegar (whisk together 3 Tb. balsamic vinegar, 1/4 C. olive oil, salt and pepper to taste)

Now you start eating! With careful planning, this meal can now look after itself. Once you've finished your appetizer, the main should be ready to go, and the mousse should be perfectly chilled after a leisurely feast topped off a red wine from the Côtes du Rhône.

Dirty Martinis: A Review of Dirty Sue

2008-10-19T11:53:00.006-04:00

You are looking at a professional dirty martini drinker. I was intrigued when Eric Tecosky, cofounder of Dirty Sue, offered to send me a bottle of his premium blend olive brine, promising to change my mixology method forever. His website features testimonials of celebrities praising this product for filling a void in the bartending market. While I do not think Dirty Sue replaces olive brine altogether, it is an interesting and valuable addition to any bartender’s liquor cabinet.

A dirty martini tasting party was promptly organized with a panel of like-minded friends in order to gain the broadest spectrum of tastes and opinions. I gamely tried both gin and vodka varieties, using Plymouth Gin and Stolichnaya Vodka. Plymouth is said to be the style of gin called for in the original recipe for a martini; it uses fewer botanical flavors than its cousin, London Dry Gin. Real olive brine from pitted green olives purchased at a gourmet pickle and olive store at 86th St reet and First Avenue in Manhattan stood as the challenger to Dirty Sue. Some drops of Martini-brand dry vermouth were swirled around in each glass to give our martinis’ dirtiness the veneer of the classic’s respectability. Once the formalities were dispensed with, the real order of business for the evening began:

GIN & OLIVE BRINE

Tasted soapy, as the salty astringency of brine drowned out the subtle flavors of gin. No requests for a second round.

GIN & DIRTY SUE

For a true gin martini-lover, this is a way to make things dirty. The botanicals in the gin came through, with Dirty Sue adding a light complementary flavor of salt and olive. Truly an aficionado’s drink.

VODKA & OLIVE BRINE

The typical recipe for a dirty martini, it is a drink with heft that quenches an appetite, although drinking it on an empty stomach is not recommended. A silver bullet for salt cravings.

VODKA & DIRTY SUE

Very clean and subtle. It lacks the meatiness of regular olive brine, but the olive flavor does emerge triumphant. As Dirty Sue is twice distilled, the martini appears crystalline, without the characteristic cloudiness of a dirty martini.

IN CONCLUSION

Dirty Sue has the potential to make a very sophisticated drink, squeezing into niches where olive brine otherwise would be too brutal on the palate. It will not replace olive brine in my usual Stoli dirty martini because it lacks the satisfaction of brawn and meat; I order a dirty martini when I crave a liquid meal, a hunger that Dirty Sue does not quite gratify. Notably however, with Dirty Sue gin-lovers can enjoy their martinis dirty too – and I can’t wait to add it to a Bloody Mary. When choosing between olive brine and Dirty Sue, the difference lies in the desired type of drink: whether full-bodied or refined, both have their place and time. I will look for Dirty Sue in specialty, higher-end bars, where I hope that its flexibility to add saltiness to unexpected drinks will be explored and enjoyed.

Per Se Countdown

2008-10-13T18:35:00.003-04:00

Marcus surprised me today with a reservation to Per Se! We will be celebrating both my own birthday and his, as we're only 4 days apart. We have been once before, in July 2007, and it was without question the best meal of our lives. I am especially excited to try one of their winter menus, with its promise of lots of red meat and hearty flavors.

Inspiration for Autumnal Aphrodisiacs

2008-10-06T00:38:00.002-04:00

Apples are back in season!

I'm looking forward to:

Apple cider
Baked apples
Apple pie
Apple cocktails
Apple rakija
Latkes with applesauce

The Honeycrisp variety are my favorite this year as they are tart yet sweet, and always as crisp as biting into a frozen popsicle.

Yellow Grape Tomatoes

2008-10-06T00:34:00.001-04:00

This time in Provence last year...

Autumnal Aphrodisiacs

2008-10-06T00:19:00.005-04:00

There’s nothing quite as welcoming as a well-conceived cocktail after a long day. As the weather turns crisp, the warming effect of alcohol becomes especially comforting. Invite friends and take an evening to unwind with a reinvented happy hour.

Apple Crisp
Serves 4

- 1 tart, crisp apple, like Granny Smith
- Gin (Tanqueray has subdued floral and fruity notes that fit this drink perfectly)
- 1 small bottle of St. Germain liqueur (relatively new on market - flavors of apple, citrus, and even lychee!)
- 1 pint apple cider
- 4 large tumblers or “rocks” glasses

• Wash and cut the apple into 8 wedges
• Place two wedges of apple in a glass, fill rest of the way with ice cubes
• Fill the glass a quarter to a third full of gin, depending on desired strength
• Add 2 splashes of St. Germain, about 2 teaspoons
• Fill with apple cider, and mix with the end of a teaspoon or chopstick

After consuming the drink, the slices of apple at the bottom of the glass become frozen, intoxicating snacks. Serve with a cheese platter (Roquefort, sharp cheddar, brie), more slices of apple, and French baguette warmed in the oven.

As guests linger after savoring their drinks, consider making supper together by repeating many of the flavors from the cocktail. This recipe is for the world’s most tender pork chops, finished with a homemade applesauce. Serve alongside wild and long-grained rice simmered in chicken broth instead of plain water for a complete meal.

Pork Chops with Pan Apple Sauce (with thanks to Tyler Florence, but my tweaks make it even better!)
Serves 4

Pork Chops:
- 4 extra-thick, bone-in pork chops (about 1 pound each)
- 1 bunch of thyme
- 1 can of apple concentrate, thawed
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
- 1 cup Kosher salt
- 2 Tb. olive oil

Spiced Apple Sauce:
- 3 tart, crisp apples, like Granny Smith
- ¼ cup red currants
- 2 tsp. brown sugar
- ½ tsp. whole cloves
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 lemon
- 2 Tb. butter

To make the pork:
• Preheat oven to 350˚F
• For unbelievably tender and flavorful meat, make a brine by filling a large mixing bowl with a gallon of water, ½ cup brown sugar, black peppercorns, 4 sprigs of thyme, apple concentrate, and 1 cup of Kosher salt. Add the pork chops, cover with plastic wrap, and let it sit in the fridge for anywhere from 30 minutes up to 2 hours
• When ready, take the pork out of the brine and pat dry with paper towels
• In a large frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat, brown the chops on each side for 4 minutes
• Lay the pork in a baking pan, and cover each with a sprig of thyme from the brine
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes
• Let the meat sit for 10 minutes
• Serve 1 pork chop smothered in applesauce per person, with rice on the side as a perfect accompaniment

To Make the Sauce:
• Start the sauce 5 minutes before the meat comes out of the oven
• Core, deseed, and cut the apples into 8 wedges
• Using the same pan as for the meat, melt butter over medium heat. Add the apple, currants, cloves, mustard, cinnamon, 2 tsp. of brown sugar, and juice of one lemon to make the accompanying applesauce
• Simmer for 10 minutes, until the apples begin to break down. Before serving the sauce, discard the whole cloves

In Honor of Janet Adam Smith

2008-10-02T18:45:00.005-04:00

Janet Adam Smith: mountaineer, comic versifier, literary critic, and Marcus' granny. Also, a legendary hostess who understood the value of the civilizing institution of cocktail hour. Tonight I raise my glass to her memory as I enjoy her favorite: Canada Dry Ginger Ale and whiskey, ice cold. Without the benefit of her wit to give the drink a name, I have dubbed it Ginger Whiskey. It is delicious; heathens may like to add a lime to it, but I think it superfluous.

=======>>>

To Janet: may your influence on our drinking as well as our reading (she discovered T.S. Eliot) continue forever more.

The Perfect Bar

2008-10-01T00:04:00.004-04:00

Simone Martini Bar has it all. Its merits are multifaceted, as witnessed by my visual aids: to the left, the outdoor kafana (multipurpose café, a watering hole for talking politics and gossip). To the right, the trendy NYC bar scene that brings out the fabulous glittering side in everyone (this one's for you, Cinnamon Jones!).

1) They consistently have best dirty martinis in Manhattan. Only word of caution: as in any bar, placing a martini order with a waiter rather than a bartender is always a risky business. For best results, go up and make a friend behind the bar.

2) They label themselves as a "martini and espresso bar", which means that the bar is good at any time of day, whether you want coffee, a drink, a meal, or all three!

3) A manageable noise level and unobtrusive music means that you will always be able to have a conversation as you sip that martini.

Atmosphere, better booze, camaraderie: the ABCs of the perfect bar.

Overheard at the Farmers' Market

2008-09-28T22:37:00.003-04:00

"I can't wait for the first frost to hit and kill all the damn tomatoes"

Fall has officially arrived, and I noticed definite fatigue from my friendly farmers at the Sunday market at 91st and 1st Avenue. The quote above came from a woman at the first stall, gripping a a perfectly plump, red specimen dangerously hard. Eighty hours of tomato picking a week can do that to even the best of us.

Babbo, like you've never read it before

2008-09-26T05:31:00.004-04:00

Last night Marcus and I celebrated our anniversary at Mario Batali's famed restaurant, B abbo. In case you didn't know, Batali is the darling of the restaurant world, and particularly in New York, his food is considered to be extraordinary - both crowd pleasing and culinarily innovative. Most critics and fans consider Babbo to be his flagship, the ultimate incarnation of the Batali brand.

Here is the bottom line: Babbo does not live up to its hype. I expected to discover another level to ethereal Italian cooking, and was let down to discover the food was hit-or-miss.

I am getting ahead of myself, however, as Babbo did get some points very right. The atmosphere was polished without being formal, and the service very well trained (although the discipline instilled in the staff was perhaps a little too stiff). Our waiter was friendly and helpful in navigating the menu, even if he pushed the wine on us a bit too fast. The wine list was comprehensive in both price points and varieties; I was particularly impressed by their two whole pages of Super Tuscans. We were both very pleased with our starters: the salumi platter with dense soppressata and aromatic lamb prociutto (although it tasted strong enough to have come from a mutton), and divine carciofi alla romana where the artichoke hearts were actually outshone by the spicy and garlicy outer leaves.

On the other hand, our main courses did not live up to the legend. My "chianti stained pappardelle with wild boar ragu" was disappointing: the shaved pecorino cheese on top, not the sauce, provided its punch of flavor. It was a recipe without finesse: the soffritto was too coarsely chopped and under seasoned so that the flavors (the holy trinity: carrot, onion, celery) did not melt together and intensify. The wild boar was not succulent enough to fall apart meltingly into the sauce, as it should. The tomato did not coat each strand of pappardelle sufficiently, so that as soon as it began to grow cold, the noodles molded together in an unpleasant block. Although the sauce of Marcus' linguini with cockles, salami, and chili was much tastier, I again found the the preparation sloppy: one of my cockles was full of grit. And why would they import them from New Zealand right when shellfish season is beginning for North America?

Worst of all, I awoke in the night with a mild case of food poisoning lasting all day; I believe the long-traveled cockles to be at fault. An update will follow as to whether and how the general manager returns my phone call... I wouldn't mind a token for dinner at another of Batali's restaurant, Casa Mono. With the facts of this little Catalan tapas joint surpassing his Italian flagship, and his recent and well-publicized tour around Spain with Gwenyth Paltrow I wonder if Batali's allegience has changed from Italiano to Español.

Pleasure Shared is Pleasure Multiplied

2008-09-14T22:59:00.005-04:00

I've received a surprising amount of flak in recent months for keeping a blog. At first I found it simply surprising that others would care that much, but then grew perturbed by the closed mindset of these critics. Having grown up in Poland at various points during the 1980s and 1990s, my mother describes the political environment as epitomized by how even the cookbooks lied. Blogs tend to keep people truthful, and allow for the circulation of new ideas that would probably not get space or time in traditional media.

Particularly on such a creative subject as food and drink, nothing is more worthwhile than gathering information across as many sources as possible to keep inspiration flowing as fluidly as a zesty Zinfandel at a cocktail party.

This weekend, for example, I had a ball of a time bartending at a private party in Park Slope. The couple were celebrating their combined 100th birthday, and dozens of close friends had congregated in their gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone to celebrate. These people lived luxuriously and took their hors d'oeuvres and alcohols seriously. A friend of an editor at Food & Wine magazine described a gorgeous vodka and latke party: he hollowed out red new potatoes to serve as shot glasses for the Belvedere. The vodka soaked through, which made the vessels pleasant to munch on afterwards.

Our host proved a conoisseur of single malt Scotch. He broke out some excellent bottles from his collection at the party, my favorite of which was an 18-year-old Bowman. It tasted very smooth and full of peat; like a hand rolled cigarette with excellent tobacco. Back in Eastern Europe, where cigarette fumes are like incense as opposed to bigger air pollution problems, I grew to be very fond of tobacco. I found a peaty single malt gave me the flavor of cigarettes I like, without the congested lungs associated with the latter. Nice. Behind that was an 18-year-old Caol Ila. It was also nicely peaty, but it had the astringency of vodka. Not nearly as smooth. This wonderful man paid me to tend his bar, then sat down and chatted for over the course of an hour about the east versus west coast of Scotland, accompanied by this tasting.

Food for Thought

2008-09-08T16:37:00.006-04:00

"And it became clear to me that things which are subject to corruption are good" (Augustine's Confessions, Book VII, Chapter 12)

Put another way, if things are capable of going bad, they must have been good at some point before. Truly this is the same with food.

Right now in my fridge lurks a container of Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Dark Chocolate Fudge icing that I'm sure will long outlive me if I just gave it a chance. This is an example of very bad food, as its ingredient list long with various preservatives testifies. It certainly has already outlasted 3 trips to the farmer's markets and all the produce purchased, all the while lurking in the back of the fridge and intimidating a fresh bunch of radishes into shriveling. I worry slightly whenever I get a craving for this chocolate bad boy in a tub, and I am on the lookout for an easy recipe for chocolate icing to whip up in its place - a recipe preferably that includes a whole lot of perishable food items...

A Tale of Two Dinners

2008-09-06T00:41:00.011-04:00

Manna from Heaven or colossal bomb: two restaurant reviews in and around New York City. Both restaurants had been rated 4 out of 4 stars by the New York Times and topped the Zagat charts, yet only one lived up to its billing. It made me wish restaurant reviewers were more anonymous in this town...

Per Se: Subjective Memories of an Objectively Perfect Supper

After a year of stashing away our change inside an old Glenmorangie scotch box, my boyfriend Marcus and I took our savings to the most expensive restaurant in town, Per Se. Zagat’s concise review, “you’re worth it”, definitely piqued our interest. Their tasting menus were to be the ultimate indulgence of our enormous and curious appetites, and a peek into the lives of the fabulously wealthy who unlike ourselves, did not need to crack open their piggy bank for their dinner. It was hard not to be intimidated the night of our reservation as we dressed up for the evening. A student and a young professional were about to blow a quite substantial sum of money for one night’s experience, and we feared disappointment. Could it possibly live up to our hopes of unadulterated gastronomic bliss?

We held hands as we walked through Keller’s famous blue door, into a cavernous entryway. A dark, Zen-like interior immediately cooled us down from a sticky summer’s night: a sophisticated décor appealing to men in expensive suits. Marcus immediately loved it. The hostess and wait staff greeted us as if they had been expecting us for a long time – I suppose not so surprising given the mandatory 2 month advance notice on the booking. Our worries started to melt away once seated at our centrally located yet private table on the lower level, offering a panoramic view of the southwest corner of Central Park. To our right sat three generations of a family celebrating with tasting menus and many, many bottles of expensive wine. The elderly gentleman who paid for the evening seemed to enjoy it the most. On our left a table of four regulars flitted in and around, greeting each other and the staff with air kisses and laughter. They seemed to hardly taste their meal.

Marcus and I, on the other hand, were eating it all up. The evening started with a vintage year Rosé champagne served from an old-fashioned, wide-bottomed bottle, followed by their signature hors d’oeuvre that I feel epitomizes Keller’s dining experience: a miniature savory ice cream cone presented on a custom, solid silver tray that held the cone upright, like you might find at an ice cream parlor. Ethereally fresh smoked salmon minced and formed into a tiny scoop rested on whipped crème fraîche encased in a thin and crispy brioche cone. It’s been almost a year since I’ve tasted it, and I forget now whether it was chives he mixed in with the salmon, but I’ll never forget its cool, crisp, and creamy texture and the way it melted and then evaporated in my mouth. Yes, food in a three star Michelin restaurant is highly conceptualized, but it doesn’t have to stop being fun at the same time. There is no way anyone could eat this dish with a knife and fork. Keller was like an indulgent uncle, allowing us dessert before dinner.

Full disclosure before heading onto the next course: my last piece of seafood had been a fish stick at age seven. However, going into this meal I knew that if I was ever to overcome my phobia of seafood, it would only come from one of the most extraordinary kitchens in the world. Thus, although I opted out of the show stopping “Oysters and Pearls” with Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar, I devoured with relish the kitchen’s milder play on another caviar classic. They served me tender slices of the sturgeon itself, wrapped up in tiny, light blinis, accented by the smallest dollop of crème fraîche. I hardly allowed Marcus a taste I enjoyed it so much. In fact, and to my great surprise, by our unanimous vote of two the best dish of our entire four-hour meal was the “Crispy Skin Fillet of Royal Dorade” served with sungold tomatoes, summer squash, cipollini onion and marble potatoes with banyuls vinaigrette. I still dream of it. The flesh flaked off into substantial chunks that simply dissolved after a couple chews. The skin had not an excess drop of grease, with the texture of a very thin potato crisp possessing an innate sea salt flavor. It’s an accomplishment that I even remember the vegetable side, which I attribute to the intensity of its pan-roasted flavor.

We both had the “Peach Melba” Foie Gras, which served with peach jelly, glorified Rice Krispies and Melba toast, transported me back to childhood breakfasts of charred bread slathered with butter and jam. A succulent piece of lobster tail meat poached in butter followed. It was the first time I had ever enjoyed this crustacean, and the counterpoint of barely steamed baby peas and carrots served as the perfect counterpoint to highlight the meat’s inherent sweetness. The next plate of duck breast with slow baked beets, red current, jelly, and bulls blood greens in juniper wood aged balsamic vinegar sunk deep into our bones after this lighter fare. It was a pleasure to have a meat I could chew on as I sank even deeper into my hedonistic trance. Marcus and I went our separate ways on the next course, as I had roast lamb with corn, fava beans, polenta, and a fig and truffle sauce, and he couldn’t resist upgrading to a pan roasted sirloin of Blackmore Ranch’s Wagyu beef. We each insisted that our respective dishes won that round.

The five courses of dessert might have just passed me by, save by the sheer stunning skill of their pastry team. They left us with a goody bag of the most decadent, fudgy brownies of my life, which Marcus and I rationed well enough to last for a whole week of dark chocolate paradise. The evening, the meal, was a stunning leap above even what we had fantasized about the past year, to which my limited word allotment cannot do justice – never to be surpassed, except, perhaps until we go back again.

A Meal from Hell: Sinking my teeth into Xavier’s at Piermont

“This will be the perfect romantic weekend!” Marcus was so hopeful. We both desperately needed a break – him from his job, and I from the confines of the city. He pored through guidebooks, train, and bus schedules, using all of his networks and resources to surprise me with the perfect plan. Eventually he settled on Peter Kelly’s restaurant, Xavier’s at Piermont. We had watched Peter Kelly win on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef” reality television competition, and the Zagat review couldn’t have been more complimentary, with a food score higher than Per Se! An extremely rare score of 29 out of 30 for food! Not only was this a sure bet for a candle-lit dinner, but he also had found a cute B&B within walking distance so that we could turn it into an overnight trip. He could hardly believe how both clever and thoughtful he was.

When he had made our reservation for Friday evening, he had already requested the nine-course tasting menu with an accompanying wine pairing. We found it strange, then, when we sat down at our table in the tiny dining room, that the waiter and sommelier audibly whispered, debating whether to check our IDs. We should have known better at that point than to leave ourselves in these tactless and incompetent hands, but we were young (an over-21-type young I might add), and naively assumed the wait staff at such a fancy and expensive restaurant would have our best interests at heart.

Turns out they should have checked our liver function instead of our IDs as they increased the pour count on our wine and cognac with each grimace we made at the food. We were incredibly drunk by the end of the meal as glass after glass was pushed on us. Service could not have been more bored and indifferent. Our waiter could not be bothered to pay me any attention. He turned and walked away from our table in the middle a question I was asking him – twice! He showed up only to rush us into each successive course and glass of wine, urging us to gulp down the last dregs of the previous glass so that he could get on with the next. We were slurring our observations on a remarkably disappointing meal when we stumbled our way to the hotel that night. However, as is often the case with suffering through a traumatic event, we learned some valuable, practical lessons on fine dining:

1. When ordering a tasting menu, always specify your tastes and dislikes ahead of time and send back any dishes that do not cut muster.

Both Marcus and I prefer robust, savory flavors that pair well with red wine. After the meal began with 3 relatively interesting fish courses, we were excited to get to the main, hearty elements of the tasting. Yet the dishes grew progressively more forgettable and tasteless. A piece of steamed cod encrusted in plain, black poppy seeds was followed by a blanched chicken breast that had hardly even been seasoned with salt and pepper. I bit my lip to stop from laughing out loud when the waiter proudly announced, “This is the finest Murray chicken!” We buy Murray-brand chicken at our local store because they are the cheapest humanely raised birds available. The idea that his chest would swell with pride while serving me an unimaginative dish I could have cooked better at home was ludicrous and epitomized this failed dinner. At least that taste of my lipgloss temporarily woke up my bored taste buds.

I had previously assumed that I would always follow the kitchen’s lead with a tasting menu, using the opportunity to expand my palate and try dishes I wouldn’t normally. However, after suffering through 5 fish courses even after mentioning that I wasn’t too fond of fish or seafood, I have decided from now on to take a much more active role in deciding my next tasting menu. Any restaurant worth its grey sea salt will welcome feedback to create an unique menu.

2. Read reviews of restaurants outside of the New York metropolitan area with a skeptical eye.

While I am sure that there are some wonderful destination restaurants outside of New York City, I have yet to meet one. I was shocked at the disparity between the several reviews we had read and the reality of our evening at Xavier’s. I have come to realize that the only way to ensure the quality of a restaurant is the presence of vibrant competition. Xavier's would never have gotten away with such a substandard experience in Manhattan. It would have been more recently reviewed, its substandard quality exposed, and pushed out of the market by much more reliable competitors of the same bracket, such as Jean Georges or Gramercy Tavern.

I also have to consider the possibility that Xavier's does live up to its reviews – but only for special guests, including reviewers who must find it hard to be anonymous and drop by for a surprise repeat visit in such a small, out-of-the-way town. I sincerely hope this is not the case, and that Peter Kelly would never intentionally gamble his reputation while swindling a young couple of both their savings and a valuable Friday night.

3. Choose your dinner partner wisely

Peter Kelly’s magnificently underwhelming dinner would have been unbearable had I not had so much fun rolling my eyes, nudging, and whispering to Marcus about the surprising mistakes we endured at the hands of the wait staff and kitchen. The restaurant seemed frayed at the edges with lack of attention to details: no one folded our napkins when we got up to use the restroom, and we were given the wrong cutlery for a course. Since Marcus enjoys the pampering and attention to detail of a fancy restaurant as much as I do, we could marvel at this evening’s incompetencey together, turning it into an extraordinarily funny-if-it-wasn’t-so-expensive joke. We laughed about each different observation as we supported each other all the way to our bed. Dining and food is ultimately a social act, and although I still feel gypped out of a great meal, at least I didn’t waste my time as well.

[These and future restaurant reviews can be found on http://www.at-largemagazine.com/]

Simple Vegetarian Pleasures

2008-09-03T00:51:00.005-04:00

Day 2 of the Detox Diet.

One might imagine that trying to rebalance the body would require a bland palate of steamed vegetables and fish. Not so in this household.

Dinner was thrown together with the treasures of yesterday's market:

ELOTE ASADO - a stolen recipe from our favorite Mexican down the street. Roast the corn inside its husk in a 375˚ oven for 25-30 minutes. After allowing it to cool for a few minutes, peel back the husk into a convenient eating handle, pull off the silk strings at the tip of the ear in one tug. Season with a chili/paprika mix (a fajita powdered mix works really well), and grate cheese (I used parmesan here) over the still-hot cob to melt. Finish with several squeezes of lime.

TURKISH BREAD, AJVAR, FETA, AND TOMATO AND RED ONION SALAD - the Turkish market around the corner is a real find (92nd and 1st Av). Their bread is great, and I've already rhapsodied over ajvar in an earlier post, so I won't repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that simplicity is bliss, and that all this with a squeeze of lemon is even better.

...Today at Gourmet Garage NY Strip Steak was $11/lb on sale, Berkshire pork chops $5/lb... this diet may be over sooner than it began! More later.

Post-DNC Eats: Vegetables are in again!

2008-09-01T20:19:00.004-04:00

The Democratic National Convention inspired many of us to improve both ourselves and our country. To be better citizens. To make our voices heard. To eat better.

Campaigners and conventioners are notorious for both their long hours and poor diets: chips, donuts, and endless cups of coffee with the odd pizza thrown in. I shouldn't have been surprised then to have Marcus coming home craving nothing but raw vegetables. (You can read about his exploits and enjoy photos from his inside-access vantage point on his excellent blog on politics). I quickly hit the farmer's market and we made his recipe:

FEEL-GOOD COUSCOUS
- 1 each red, yellow, and green bell pepper
- 1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 small to medium red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 8 oz. feta (this recent batch used Turkish feta, which is less briny and more creamy than the Greek or French styles)
- 2 lemons
- 1 bunch cilantro, washed, and chopped
- 2 cups dry couscous

Removing the stems and seeds, chop the bell peppers into small, bite-size, 1/2 inch pieces. Dice the onion into pieces the same size. Mince the garlic cloves roughly. Boil 2 Liters of water (I highly recommend owning an electric kettle). Just before the water's boiled, toast the couscous lightly in a large skillet, then add the water gradually, letting it cook in the skillet, for about 5 minutes or until the couscous grains have plumped up and are tender to bite.

Put everything into a big wooden serving bowl. Garnish with crumbled feta, cilantro, and lemon wedges.

Namaste

2008-09-01T10:10:00.002-04:00

Today, after weeks of Afghan rice and some kind of meat, I had more of the same- only this time it was Indian!

There is a little place in Kabul that serves some delicious Indian cuisine. For lunch I had Spinach Mutton. The spinach was pureed and had a lovely, subtle aroma of cardamon and cinnamon that gave the lamb a lovely kick. I mixed in some steamed basmati rice and enjoyed!

I was very excited about the garlic naan I ordered but it was soggy and too chewy. Ew!

I forgave them for the naan once I (bravely) drank my sweet lassi from the plastic water bottle they put it in. It was only slightly sweet and was a great, soothing finish to a filling meal.

The lassi bottling technique reminded me of the brandy Serbian grandfathers make and put in 1.5 liter Coca-Cola bottles. Classy!

Until we meet again,

Cinnamon

A Disappointing Meal at Cipolla Rossa

2008-08-31T21:57:00.003-04:00

Being owned by a genuine Tuscan gentleman with such accolades as catering for the Italian Ambassador to the UN more than 200 times, Cipolla Rossa should have been great - but instead it was another mediocre Italian only distinguished by a more interesting menu than most.

Situated on 1st Avenue between 92nd and 91st, the restaurant has transformed its tiny dining room with a bright and pretty copper ceiling. It has the added bonus of being a BYOB joint - at least for now. I had high expectations for the place because its menu was so specifically Tuscan, with a special emphasis on everything to do with wild boar (boar meatloaf, boar prosciutto, parpadelle with wild boar ragu, wild boar sausage...). It should have been a great night out.

Marcus and I ordered the grilled calamari, and two of their daily specials: double cut wild boar chop, and spaghetti with pancetta, wild boar sausage, and red onion (the restaurant's namesake - "cipolla rossa" is a red onion that grows especially around Tuscany). We felt this gave us a good spectrum of their different dishes. We brought along half a bottle of 2006 Santa Cristina sangiovese we hadn't finished last night with our pasta pomodoro.

The main problem with our meal was that everything was overcooked. The calamari was too charred from the grill and too tough, and the pasta was mushy! I can't forgive an Italian place for overcooked pasta. It's a cardinal sin and the ultimate sign of sloppiness in the kitchen. Marcus's boar chop was nice and rare as he ordered it, but the actually cut was not top quality - a little sinewy. Perplexingly, every dish we ordered was doused in a garnish of dried parsley, which I found detracted from both the flavor and the texture of each dish. Positively, the flavors in the were generally well done - the sauce on the pasta was excellent, and I ended up eating it around the spaghetti.

Cipolla Rossa has unfulfilled potential. The one waiter/host taking care of the small dining room kept on forgetting napkins, but was friendly. I think he and the restaurant are having a shaky start, but if they try a little harder and live up to higher standards in the kitchen, they could do quite well. However, I'm not willing to waste my money in the meantime when I can cook their menu better at home. I recommend Bianca or Falai instead for an authentically Italian meal in NYC.

My No-Fail Meal: Pasta Pomodoro and Green Salad

2008-08-31T18:42:00.004-04:00

Every cook has a no-fail meal: comfort food we're really confident cooking anytime. I first started cooking at age 7, while living in Rome. Hence, pasta will always be my comfort zone. My menu is a green leaf and garlic salad with homemade pasta pomodoro. Buon Appettito!

ULTIMATE GREEN SALAD

- 1 head of romaine or red leaf lettuce (washed, dried, torn into bite-size pieces)
- 1 garlic clove
- sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 Tb EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
- 1/2 C. balsamic vinegar

My mom taught me how to make the ultimate salad, and its greatness rests on the specific way you dress it. She claims to have been instructed by an Italian housewife, who set down in no uncertain terms these mandatory steps:

1. Use a wooden bowl. It is unrivaled for capturing and transferring flavors, particularly garlic. Take a large clove of garlic, and crush it under the handle of your knife. This makes the skin very easy to pull off, and eliminates the need to mince the garlic. Mash the garlic into the bottom of the bowl, swirling its guts all across the wood to allow the bowl to soak up its flavor.

2. Put all your lettuce into the bowl. The two varieties I specified are my favorite, although you can certainly use arugula, baby greens, or any mixture of your favorites.

3. Drizzle the great-quality EVOO over the top, and toss the salad so that every leaf is coated. You may need to add more, based on the size of your salad. Just keep in mind you want it very lightly coated, not drenched.

4. Next add a good few pinches of sea salt, and toss the salad again.

5. Now you drench the salad in balsamic vinegar, and once again toss the entire salad, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate the pieces of garlic. Finish with some freshly ground black pepper.

I guarantee this is the biggest punch of flavor you will ever taste, especially from a salad! When I have a stuffy nose, I like to add a teaspoon or two of dijon mustard at the end. It clears the sinuses like nothing else.

NO-FAIL PASTA POMODORO

- 1 lb. spaghetti (Barilla's great)
- 42 oz. whole peeled plum tomatoes in a can (look for the Italian "San Marzano" variety)
- 1 small yellow onion, diced very finely
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 4 tiny dried pepperroncino, crushed (or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes)
- 2 Tb EVOO
- salt & pepper to taste
- a large handful of fresh basil, chopped coarsely
- parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated on top of pasta just before eating.

Put on a very big pot of water to boil. In the meantime, in a 14-inch frying pan, make your soffritto by heating the EVOO and sautéing the onion, garlic, and pepperoncino, seasoned with salt & pepper, over medium-low heat until onion is translucent, and the entire mixture starts to gain a golden color. Only after this point do you add the tomatoes. Turn up the heat to medium, and crush the tomatoes with a potato masher in the pan.

At this point, taste the tomato sauce for seasoning. It usually needs another teaspoon or two of salt and some more pepper. Let the sauce simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes. Only stir periodically.

By this time, the pasta water should be boiling. Salt liberally - it should taste like sea water! Add the spaghetti and boil for 3-4 minutes. Why so little? Because the trick is to finish off the pasta in the sauce! After 4 minutes MAXIMUM, use tongs to transfer the still-very hard pasta to the bubbling tomato sauce. Ladle out about 1/2 c. of the pasta water and add it to the tomato sauce. Keep stirring the pasta around the sauce, letting it finish cooking. As soon as the pasta is al dente (meaning it has a good bite in the texture - not mushy at all), turn off the heat and stir in the basil. When you transfer the pasta to a serving bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes, you will be amazed how the quite liquid sauce congeals into the perfect consistency.

Top each bowl with a bit of basil, parmesan, and black pepper

Perfecto!

Pleasure Reading

2008-08-30T12:48:00.002-04:00

Have you ever read a cookbook from front to back? I do, especially when I am either a) hungry with an empty pantry or b) burned out of ideas in the kitchen.

My all time favorite is Mary Contini's Dear Francesca. She was one of the founding members of one of the best Italian specialty food stores in the world, Valvona & Crolla's, and her cookbook-cum-novel explains the principals of Italian cooking with all the love of a Mamma. Having lived in Italy for 6 years (I was born there!), I had always known how good food was supposed to taste. Thanks to Contini, now I actually know how to make it. The biggest game-changer for me was learning to make a soffritto as the base of all my dishes. To build a big and memorable flavor, now I know to slowly sauté (sweat, really) finely diced onion and minced garlic with salt & pepper in EVOO as the base to everything from my no-fail tomato sauce, to chicken noodle soup.

Her book was actually written with the intention of being read cover-to-cover, but I encourage you to read every cookbook this way. I find I am able to pick up subtleties in technique best as I compare recipes, and it's a great way to brainstorm new flavor combinations. The best ones explain their cooking as a single narrative. Try Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, and Nicholas Clee! These hyperlinks take you to my favorite books of theirs.

Delaware

2008-08-25T13:05:00.006-04:00

"August is the best month for eating in Delaware"

My sister and I enjoyed a weekend with the best this cozy state has to offer: politics and peaches.

The state was buzzing the morning after we arrived with the news that Obama announced Joe Biden as his running mate as we made our rounds to the local farmers markets. At the upscale, established Fifer Orchards in Camden we bought everything from wasabi and sesame infused oil, to peach ice cream made from the fresh produce of their orchards. Even though it was a chic foodie establishment, I was relieved that prices had not caught up with those in New York.

Down the road we stopped in an Amish food emporium. Their barbecue smelled tempting, but remembering our imminent dinner plans, we satisfied our cravings with dill-laced havarti and an herb-infused baguette instead.

Staying with our old family friends, Chuck and Jeanine, we talked Delaware state politics (with which Jeanine is involved) while eating freshly steamed corn on the cob, tomato and lettuce salad with a lemon vinaigrette, and barbecued chicken. As Jeanine pointed out, all the produce had never seen the inside of a refrigerator. Dessert was a dense and egg-y chocolate cake she made the day before with an icing that evaporated like cotton candy in our mouths, leaving only molecules of dark chocolate on our tongues. We washed it down with bellinis made from whizzed up peaches and dry prosecco. Breakfast the next morning was waffles with ripe Delaware peaches and blueberries. On our ride home we munched tomatoes picked from a friend's garden, sprinkled with a few crystals of gray salt.

Bliss.

Hungry in Kabul

2008-08-25T12:45:00.002-04:00

After a wicked bout of jet lag, I found myself starving in Kabul with no place to go! Luckily, the city is flooded with little bread shops, selling warm, fresh naan the size of small children. They cost 10 Afghanis, or roughly 20 American cents!

I start by peeling the outer edges and shoving them in my face...it is divine! So warm and comforting and filling. I have found the perfect breakfast- if I ever feel the plain naan isn't enough, I can buy a small tub of cream cheese for 65 cents (some people avoid any dairy products here, but I have not had any issues).

Though the size of the bread is intimidating- it can be eaten in one sitting. Trust me.

Aquavit: An Initial Review

2008-08-21T15:14:00.005-04:00

Sexy chef Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant, Aquavit, appeared unexpectedly in the midst of Midtown skyscrapers. I was meeting Emily for a spur-of-the-moment chic dinner in honor of the extension of Restaurant Week.

How fitting for us to choose a foodie-haven restaurant named after Sweden's version of moonshine! For me, 'fine dining' is the culmination of gastronomic bliss while unwinding with friends. No way better to achieve this than by pairing food with interesting and tasty alcohols and wines! Aquavit is all the more remarkable for brewing 14 of their own flavors of the traditional Swedish spirit - delicious.

Aquavit has two dining sections, organized much like Gramercy Tavern: a formal dining room with prix-fixe menus in the back, and a much more accessible (both in location, reservations, and price) front café. I was pleasantly surprised at the comfortable atmosphere in the front café, which rather than trigger my Adverse Midtown Reaction, made us both excited to try something new on the Swedish menu.

The polite yet hip waiter informed us that Aquavit does not actually participate in Restaurant Week, but he spoke with the chef to create a menu to accommodate us with a very boring garden salad and meatballs menu for $35. Actually, the prices were reasonable enough that we eschewed that option, deciding instead to create our own tasting of Sweden. First, we ordered from their deliciously inventive cocktail list ($14/each): a Midtown Martini for me in honor of the neighborhood (cucumber aquavit, dry vermouth, salted cucumber garnish), and Emily celebrated my new post on Leblon with a Cranberry Caipirinha (Aquvit NYC, lime, cranberries).

To start we shared the Crayfish Bisque. It was one of those dishes so dazzling that it boggled our tongues and tastebuds! The creamy broth seemed to be made from crayfish broth and butternut squash. It was spicy like a pumpkin pie. In the middle a giant mystery dumpling supported three large and succulent pieces of crayfish. The texture was even more amazing than the flavor. We could not wrap our heads around the dumpling - the dough part had the consistency of a Chinese bun, yet was savory and complex. The waiter approached our table with a secret smile that knew we were stumped.

"It's white bean purée!" he announced triumphantly. Turned out our "dumpling" dough was actually a mixture of white beans and shimp, cradling slivers of foie gras. This dish captured the genius of Samuelsson: he turned a Scandinavian comfort food classic on its head, making it even more interesting by borrowing ingredients and techniques from other cultures.

For our main course, we both couldn't resist ordering the Swedish meatballs. While it was an improvement over what I have had at the Ikea cafeteria, it was a little boring as Samuelsson colored inside the lines on this one. He served a mountain of slightly dry meatballs over creamy mashed potatoes, complemented by a traditional lingonberry sauce and cucumber salad with dill. Very filling, but his meatballs needed both more breadcrumbs to retain moisture and gravy. It was exactly what we ordered, which after the inspired bisque was disappointing.

I look forward to going back to sample more of the seafood items on the menu. The restaurant is a marvelous dining experience I recommend for its originality and inviting atmosphere. A gourmet experience both in the dining room and on the plate, which in the front café, doesn't have to cost you an entire paycheck.

Party Food!

2008-08-14T13:38:00.003-04:00

Last night Marcus, Frank, Angela, and I celebrated the fabulousness of Joanna and Jessica. They have spent their valuable summer months working with Frank and Marcus to bring a new vision to the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce), somehow keeping everyone organized and on track.

To balance the hot weather with the need for a luxurious party feast, Marcus and my Chicken Caesar Salad was on the menu, accompanied by his delectable cheesy garlic bread. As usual, mojitos were to be had. But they were only the start of the many toasts during cocktail hour! We paired the Caesar Salad first with a blanc de blancs champagne, Comte de Gascogne, to tickle our noses. Transitioning with the heavily spiced chicken, we moved onto a 2006 Beaujolais-Villages, and finally to a very ripe and explicit 2002 Australian Shiraz.

I found it fun to try to pair these three very different wines to the meal. Wine pairing is a lot like using complementary colors. The food and wine should work together to make both elements more vivid in your mouth than if they had been alone. The blanc de blancs didn't work as well here, I picture it better with lighter fare. However, the both reds were great with the spices already in the salad.

For dessert J & J transformed a pavlova (lighter than a meringue!) into a 2-layer cake of beauty, sandwiched with whipped cream and strawberries. The trick is you have to eat it fast, before it melts away.

Selfishly, I must admit that one of the highlights of the evening was finding out I had a reader who was not obligated out of love to read this blog! You go Jess! Here, for you, is my Caesar Salad Dressing (for 6 people):

CAESAR, DRESSED UP.
- 1 oz anchovy paste (about 3 tsp.)
- juice of 4 lemons
- quarter cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
- EVOO

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients until smooth. Slowly add EVOO with one hand while whisking all the time with the other until the dressing reaches desired consistency (usually somewhere between a quarter and a third of a cup)

Salads of the Non-Lettuce Kind

2008-08-13T13:56:00.004-04:00

Having been raised by a health freak, salads are of paramount importance to me. Nothing offends me more than a heaping mess of unappetizing iceberg drowned in a chunky store-bought sauce! Done right, salads can steal the show at a meal. While I am huge fan of a simple, crisp and fresh lettuce salad, I have been enjoying the ones without even more. Here are 3 of my favorite concepts:

1) There are vegetables that are delicious, but are hard to eat with a fork (take carrots, radishes, or fennel for example). It's funny how cutting these types up very finely instantly makes them a thousand times better. My favorite recipe right now uses carrots and radishes

CARROT AND RADISH SUMMER SALAD
- 4 carrots
- 4 radishes
- 1 small onion
- 2 crushed cloves of garlic
- half a handful freshly chopped coriander
- 4 Tb balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tb EVOO
- salt & pepper to taste

The key here is how you present it: after peeling the carrots, keep using your peeler to cut the carrots into long thin strips. You can keep the skin on the radishes, but peel it into strips the same way. I like to keep the strips of both veggies roughly the same size. Very thinly slice the onion. Combine the veggies in a large salad bowl and dress with crushed garlic, chopped coriander, EVOO, and salt. Mix this around to coat everything, THEN douse it with several healthy splashes of balsamic vinegar and freshly ground pepper.

This is a very hearty, meaty salad. Great if you're a veggie feeding meat-eating friends.

2) I can't claim credit for this recipe, but I can popularize it! This is Ina Garten's completely fantastic Beets with Orange Vinegrette. I find her flavor combinations here mind-blowing: roasted beets, orange, raspberry vinegar, and red onions. Try adding a handful of chopped basil! It enhances beets' natural sweetness, while the vinegar and the onion give it a great acidic kick in the pants.

3 (15-ounce) cans baby beets, drained
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
2 large seedless oranges, zested
Segments 2 large seedless oranges
(I suggest a handful of chopped basil added at the end)

Drain the beets and dice into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the beets in a mixing bowl and add the raspberry vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and red onions. Zest the oranges and then segment over a bowl to catch the juices. Add the orange zest, orange segments, and any juices and mix well. Taste for seasoning and serve cold or at room temperature.

3) Add some unexpected lusciousness into veggies by sprinkling in some browned pancetta pieces, or hunks of your favorite cheese - soft and semi softs work really well, such as blue cheeses, brie, or goat cheeses. The key here is to make your veggies taste like a luxury. Even my salad-averse boyfriend relishes and regularly demands this chèvre salad:

CHÈVRE SALAD
- breadcrumbs
- either an herbs de provence blend, or handfuls of fresh parsley, rosemary, and basil
- as big a chunk of chèvre as you want (goat's cheese, typically found in the log form in the USA, but exquisite when found in the shape of a thick disk... on a tangent, but if you're in Provence, look for a cheese called Pelardon)
- 2 small heads of Boston Lettuce (Bib or Butter Lettuce work too), washed, torn into bite size pieces
- as big a chunk of pancetta as you want, diced... you can also get the pre-diced variety
- good sherry vinegar
- EVOO
- salt & pepper

In a large mixing bowl, combine a little less than a cup of bread crumbs with 2 Tb of herbs de provence - or even better, chopped handfuls of fresh parsley, rosemary, and basil. Season with salt & pepper. Cut the chèvre into individual pieces and coat them well with the breadcrumb mixture.

Heat up your frying pan and drop in the diced pancetta. Once it's thoroughly cooked, place on a paper towel to drain to one side. In the same pan, taking advantage of the fat left over from the pancetta, fry up the breaded chèvre until golden brown and oozing.

In the meantime, heap up the lettuce inside individual bowls. Dress with a drizzle of EVOO, sherry vinegar, salt & pepper. You don't even have to mix it all together, as your very happy diners will soon be mixing it themselves to take full advantage of the pancetta and cheese.

Garnish heartily with pancetta and the fried chèvre slices.

Where Have All the Cafés Gone?

2008-08-13T13:28:00.004-04:00

I lie in bed at night worrying about the state of the Manhattan Artist. A breed all but extinct in its nascent form as the young ones just can't afford the island in 2008. Gone are the '60s when anyone could live in Chelsea or the West Village on $70/week, including rent. But even more troublesome than gentrification is this city's dearth of cafés! Allow me to explain:

While enjoying my newfound freedom as a freelance writer, I have come to the conclusion that cafés are a way of life, the lifeblood of any town. Consider the impossibility of the Avant Garde movement had not the Left Bank of Paris been populated with cafés! Where would the Lost Generation abroad have gathered? Cafés nurture business as well as artists by providing a venue where for as little as a cup of coffee anyone can stake out a table for hours at a time, socializing, working, usually the two at once… which leads me to be concerned for New York: we simply do not have anywhere near the kind of Café Culture needed to retain creative types.

Cafés release us from the confines of our too-small apartments, provide a sense of community, and cocoon us with a sense of well being from simple, comfortable habits. It’s free office space, at its best an extra living room where you and all your friends know you can always meet. Café Culture means a slower pace of life where enjoyment of our single tour of this world comes first. It escapism, elbow room, breathing room, and a guaranteed pick-me-up.

There are a few bright spots in this city still: Choux Factory on 87th and 1st Avenue is a haven with wall sockets, free wifi, and plentiful comfortable seating. Their coffee is cheap and strong, and puff pastries filled with flavored cream fillings hold you over until you meander out to the rest of your day. More than any of this though, I love how the staff lets anyone sit as long as they want, the bathroom is clean, AND there is always a stack of old magazines to flip through when my attention flags from writing. This is definitely the exception to the rule as I find that New York has become too bent on making a profit, meaning that few places will leave you in peace - even if you are lucky enough to find a seat in the first place.

Trendster Alert!

2008-08-13T13:21:00.003-04:00

Originally only offered in California, VeeV (a liquor made out of powerful antioxident berry açai) has made it to New York! I bartended for the founders (also Columbia grads) a couple years ago. It's a very of-the-moment drink: they tout it as having more antioxidants than pomegranate juice, and they harvest the açai berries in a sustainable way, having set up a charity to protect the land. I have yet to try the stuff, but here's their mailer announcing the New York debut

Feeling nice

2008-08-12T15:26:00.005-04:00

It seems more boutique liquors and liqueurs are being introduced this summer than ever before. This part-time bartender is rejoicing at all these new mixing opportunities! I've particularly been impressed by the high quality and interesting flavors.

First, Absinthe has finally been legalized in the USA, and I had the pleasure to sample Lucid - which claims to be the first legalized brand - at my favorite neighborhood wine store, Mr. Wright. I've tried Absinthe twice, but this was the first time I had it prepared properly: no burning of the sugar cube, and diluted with ice cold water. (The Lucid website has a nice instructional video). Lucid strongly reminded me of the popular Provençal drink, Ricard, with its predominant anise flavor. Lucid is greener in the bottle than Ricard's chartreuse color, but both turned the same cloudy yellowish-white when mixed with water. It's fun to prepare, especially if you've got one of the gorgeous glass fountains and ornate absinthe spoons. I'm inclined to believe that most people drink Absinthe simply for the promise of hallucinations, very rarely for the taste. However, I've never felt anything more exciting than tipsy while drinking the stuff, so please sample with curiosity as to its taste... and if you like it, give Ricard a go!

Interesting drink #2 is the liqueur, St. Germain. Made from wild elderflower blossoms harvested by hand only a few days of the year, this is a really fun with a very nice kind of sweetness that kicks up inexpensive prosecco a notch. To my tongue, it tastes quite a bit of lychee, with perhaps a bit of very ripe pear - the type that is granular and sugary when you bite into it. It's packaged in a beautiful beaux-arts style bottle, making me feel pretty and girly whenever I use it... much like how Paris makes me feel when I visit! Store it in the freezer alongside your vodka for an optimal drinking experience.

Finally, as my post on mojitos revealed, I am a big fan of dark rum. Only in the past few weeks have I been exposed to Brazil's version of rum, Cachaça, a brilliantly delicious light-colored liquor. According to Wikipedia, "Cachaça differs from rum in that it is made from sugarcane juice while rum is made from either molasses or sugarcane juice then aged in oak barrels." Down at the Chelsea Wine Vault the other day, a nice representative from Leblon made me fantastic Caipirinhas (apparently Brazil's national cocktail), and helped me discover that a light sugar cane liquor could taste just as flavorful and have as much depth as a dark rum. My favorite was based off of smashed ripe strawberries, muddled in a mixing glass with mint, lime, and a bit of sugar. The Cachaça was added, the the drink shook. Served over ice. It was even better than a Pimms cocktail on a summer day!

New Potato Frittata with Ajvar

2008-08-07T13:15:00.003-04:00

My favorite way to cook is to use the freshest ingredients I have on hand from trips to farmers markets and specialty stores and combine them in unexpected ways. To get there, I rely on the storehouse of recipes and techniques in my head, compiled from years of cooking, eating at great restaurants, and learning from clever friends who also like to obsess over food.

This particular dish, New Potato Frittata with Ajvar, I made last night in addition to the green salsa and mojitos (recipes found in last post). The point was to use up what I had in my cupboards, while also blending the flavors of the salsa into the frittata so that the transition from the Mexican appetizer to my French-inspired dish made sense on the tongue.

The technique for this dish is adapted from a dish my host mom in Aix-en-Provence, the lovely Danielle Lellouche, made for supper several times. I learned so much by watching her in the kitchen. A deeply practical woman, she was traditional French only when it came to cooking for her family every night. To make it happen, she had no qualms taking shortcuts. In her version, she would use pre-diced frozen potatoes and pre-grated gruyère cheese, and would serve it with a simple salad and crusty baguette. It's the simplicity of French food that makes it so great.

Since this is such a comfort food, I somewhat arbitrarily paired it with one of my favorites side dishes from another one of my home countries, Serbia. Although the combination of Mexican, French, and Serbian sounds a bit strange, it works because the flavors of each ingredient blends so well with the rest. Really, this kind of cooking is a way to celebrate being a citizen of the world by recognizing the common threads that hold otherwise disparate traditions together.

Ajvar (pronounced: EYE-var) is a gorgeous vegetable spread primarily made from red peppers, augmented by a crush of other flavors such as garlic, chili peppers, eggplant, and sometimes zucchini. It's all blended together into a relatively smooth but thick sauce that's great with bread for a snack or as a delicious complement to other dishes. Here's the wikipedia article on it. I first ate it while living in Serbia, where every grandmother has her secret recipe. It's found all over the Balkans, and a Russian friend told me they have their own version too. It sent me over the moon to find a jar of the stuff at a local grocery store yesterday! The 19 ounce jar is already almost empty... Yet I feel far from guilty as it's made primarily out of vegetables. The jar I have cites that each serving contains a measly 10 calories - yet it's so satisfying! The taste is as vibrant as its bright orange-red color, and it's usually found slightly piquant, although mild and very spicy varieties are also available. It's perfect for perking up any dish (and having more veggies in your diet). One of these days I want to try making my own homemade version. Perhaps Cinnamon Jones and and I can convince her Serbian grandmother or aunts to give us their recipes...

NEW POTATO FRITTATA WITH AJVAR
- Start with 2 pounds of new potatoes. Wash them well, and keep the skin on if you can, the taste and texture is great. I used a mix of the red and white skinned varieties and cut them all into irregular, 1-inch pieces.
- half a large yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped irregularly
- 2 small jalepeños, chopped finely
- 5 eggs
- a loosly packed cup of grated cheese of your choice. I used an extra sharp cheddar because I had it on hand, but a monterey jack or gruyère would also be tasty in here.
- a handful of chopped cilantro to garnish the top
(also needed: olive oil, salt, pepper, water)

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, and parboil the cut potatoes for 3-4 minutes. You want them almost cooked all the way through. Drain them and let them sit in the colander for a few minutes to steam dry.

Preheat your oven to about 425˚F at this point

Meanwhile, heat up about 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, ovenproof skillet. (We're using more oil than usual to have enough to brown the potatoes beautifully later). Over medium heat, cook the onion, garlic, and jalepeño along with a seasoning of a couple pinches of salt until the onions are translucent and the ingredients have started to melt together. Spread the potatoes evenly across the bottom of the pan, turn up the heat, and let them sit there untouched for a minute or two until they are golden brown and crispy on the underside and you can flip them over.

While you're waiting for the potatoes to crisp up on all sides, beat together 5 eggs with 2 tablespoons of water, all the cheese, with salt and pepper to taste. Once the potatoes are ready, pour the egg mixture into the pan to fill in the gaps between the potatoes, binding it all together. Let cook for a few minutes.

Now, because the top layer of egg in the frittata can't cook when the heat source is at the bottom of the pan, we transfer the pan to the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes, until the top is just beginning to get a crisp to the fluff of the egg and cheese mixture. My dad would always finish his famous omelettes this way in the oven with an extra handful of cheese. As soon as you take the frittata out of the oven, sprinkle the coriander on top, so that it can melt into the top crust that will continue to congeal in the next 2 minutes.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor cut into wedges with a generous dollop of ajvar!

2008-08-06T23:53:00.005-04:00

The title of our blog is a direct homage to Jeffery Steingarten's book, The Man Who Ate Everything. It, and former NYTimes restaurant critic Ruth Reichl's book, Garlic and Sapphires, are two of my all-time favorite food books (not to be confused with cookbooks, which I will have to write about later). Like Reichl, Steingarten augments his scientific discovery of different food topics with recipes that allow you to transfer the written word into a very enjoyable tactile experience. Both of these books are highly practical affairs, and the cooking advice from the recipes are always a value-add. Even 11 years post-publishing, his chapter on cooking with a subsistence budget, "Staying Alive", remains relevant and delicious during our yet-to-be-declared American recession with recipes like Perfumed Rice with Lamb and Lentils and Swiss Chard and Bean Soup with Ricotta Toasts.

But what I appreciate even more than his wisdom-compiling-recipes is his culinary spirit of adventure. Try everything, and if you don't like it, eat it 3 more times prepared by the greatest chefs before you write it off! I have been a practicer of this method even before I knew Jeffrey had made it famous simply because my gluttonous appetite made me curious even about the food I detest: fish, all manner of seafood, and yogurt. Dining at Per Se last year (Chef Thomas Keller's New York version of French Laundry), I was delighted to find that my favorite dish was the Mediterranean fish, dorade. His kitchen found the happiest point between succulent, flaky white flesh and a potato-crisp-like skin. The fresh lightness of its flavor was miles away from the fishy flavor I started detesting back in my fish-stick days. I have also begun to eat all manner of shellfish, but my earlier aversion (perhaps happily) means that I only eat it when at its best. Yogurt I have yet to befriend. It's a texture thing. If you have any suggestions of what restaurants or yogurt dishes may change my mind, do let me know!

For me, the love of creation and The New has drawn me to the kitchen from the start. I began cooking around the age of 6 out of self defense from my mother's pregnant and hormonal taste buds. I believe I began with pasta (which remains my specialty) but it wasn't long before my parents found me early in the morning up to my elbows in flour, baking from a complicated recipe involving stiff peaks of egg whites that I had beaten by hand, not knowing how to operate the mixing machine. This all meant that I was incredibly good at fractions by the time I entered elementary school from learning to divide and multiply recipes. In addition to this early self-interest in cooking, I grew up in Italy, Poland, Serbia, and Germany, which allowed my food explorations to begin early. My mother, a frustrated gourmet trapped cooking for immature palates, taught me from the earliest age how to navigate open-air farmers markets in each of these countries to find the freshest bargains. From the toothless farmers in Poland to the suave negotiating of the Italians, it all fascinated me, and I still go to farmers markets just to enjoy the sounds, smells, and noises. They are constant sources of inspiration. Now in New York, it is easy to continue to enjoy the foods of my youth, and also become acquainted with more sophisticated techniques and diverse palates. Presently I am on a chili binge in defiance of the hot weather, cooking up green salsa every week with tomatillos and jalepeños bought from Angel at our Yorkville Sunday farmer's market at 91st and 1st Av. If you're unfamiliar with tomatillos, they look like green tomatos with corn husks attached. According to Angel, they come in several varieties, which to my eye are only differentiated by size. Here's the recipe:

ANGEL'S FARM GREEN SALSA
- enough tomatillos to make about 2 cups when mashed (about 5 large or 10 small.)
- 2 jalepeños (if you don't like to burn your mouth, do 1 or omit the seeds)
- 2 limes
- 1 bunch coriander (cilantro)
- salt to taste

Over your the open flame of your gas range, roast the tomatillos until their skin is charred black. If you're cooking with the small tomatillos, the open flame method is impractical, so try putting your heavy-duty pan over very high heat and toasting the tomatillos in there until charred. Allow them to cool before peeling off their skins with your fingers.

Mash up the flesh of these gorgeous green guys, mixing the very finely chopped jalepeños, juice of the limes, chopped coriander, and salt. If you prefer a medium heat to your salsa, scrape out most of the seeds from the jalepeños before chopping them up. Be sure to wash your hands with soap straight afterwards! My skin is still tingling from an ill-timed scratch post-jalepeño chopping tonight. The proportions here are very flexible to your tastes, but the flavor combinations are crucial. Good to eat with anything from corn chips to eggs.

----

Another way I especially like to explore flavors is through mixed drinks. I am a part-time bartender at private parties through Columbia's Bartending Agency (www.columbiabartending.com), where I not only get to peek inside gorgeous and sometimes hip apartments, but experiment with my classical mixology training on willing guinea pigs. Having come of age in Eastern Europe, I have a taste for straight hard liquor, especially good vodka. My go-to is Stolichnaya, although I love to try all the new boutique brands that have been coming out lately. I cannot wait to try the traditional vodka made from potatos! Gin I feel is highly underrated, and the refreshment of its herb-y, botanical infusements are particularly good in the summer. What I have been using most in my liquor cabinet this summer, however, is my dark rum as Boyfriend Marcus is addicted to my mojitos. I insist on dark rum instead of the light rum Columbia Bartending School lists in its mixology manuals because the flavor is so much more satisfying: mellow and spicy. I have yet to taste a light rum that doesn't remind me of Bacardi's chemical after-taste. Disgusting swill. My recipe focuses on ease of preparation as I am typically making these in our sweltering apartment with sweat running down my nose, hence the short-cut of using Sprite or 7-Up instead of a more traditional blend of soda water, simple syrup and lime juice.

CHRISTINA'S MOJITOS
- a good dozen mint leaves, preferably still attached to their stalks
- at least half a lime per serving
- your favorite dark rum (I've been using Havana Club and Bacardi's 8 year old lately)
- Sprite or 7-Up
- lots of thick chunks of ice - as big as possible so they will melt slower

In a heavy-bottomed glass, muddle the mint with the a wedge or 2 of lime squeezed over it. (For non-bartenders, muddle means to mash your ingredients together. A wooden kitchen spoon works well in place of a dedicated muddler.) Only give it 5 bashes at a maximum: enough to make the flavors stick together, but leave the mint relatively intact.

Now fill up you glass to the rim with the biggest ice cubes you have on hand as nothing's worse than a watered-down drink. Some really great bars are so focused on minimizing meltage that they have special ice cubes frozen in the size of the whole glass, or will double-freeze the ice. Depending on how badly I need the drink I will make the ratios 1:3 or 1:4, dark rum to Sprite.

To finish, rub a lime wedge around the rim of the glass to flavor, squeeze the juice, and drop it in. Use a long-handled spoon to mix the drink within the glass and distribute the mint leaves and lime wedges prettily.

Enjoy!

At-Large Magazine Publishes Me!

2008-08-05T13:35:00.004-04:00

Back to the basics:

After two posts that arrived from pure inspiration, we hope to tie on our aprons and provide you with more regularly-timed fare.

Our lives have been changing lately: we now present to you the only foodie blog with a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan! Cinnamon Jones is still settling into her new digs, but we all salivate for her upcoming reviews on Afghan food. (Note: Afghan is the adjective, Afghani the currency)

I, on the other hand, have found myself with a lot more time this August and will stuff this blog full of restaurant reviews, recipes, and other general pieces of advice on what my Provençal friends call bien-être. After 10 weeks frenetically investigating and living as a New York financial services employee, I am looking forward to getting back to a slower pace of life where food and drink is the centerpiece for romance, friends, and exploration.

Check out Angela Williams and Rohin Guha's online literary magazine, At-Large!

They were kind enough to publish my very first article, a review of Thomas Keller's New York restaurant, Per Se. I look forward to the day when I will be able to spend other people's money to review restaurants... a warning for weak stomachs: descriptions of the food are pornographic.

The Perfect Bowl of Soup

2008-06-30T13:59:00.003-04:00

The Green Table at Chelsea Market.

Those long hours between lunch and dinner can be very excruciating without some delicious food to keep you going. After hours of perusing the market this past weekend, we decided to have some "snacks" at the Green Table in order to quell our hunger. The first thing on the menu that caught my eye were the Duck and Cherry Dumplings. There were five dumplings to a portion and the succulent bits of duck mingled beautifully with poached sour cherries. We also had a chilled Fennel and Coriander soup. I cafefully blew on my spoon to cool off the soup, forgetting that it was served cold. The suprise of the coldness mixed with the incredible, slightly gritty taste of the soup was unforgettable! We could not get enough of the soup -we carefully stared at spoons of it, trying to guess all of the ingredients used. Alas, we were not told the recipe but the memory of the glorious green soup will remain in our thoughts.

A Day in Chelsea Market

2008-06-29T11:40:00.002-04:00

Phile Girl and NYC Girl together again! In the turmoil of the city, Chelsea market is my Happy Place, and Phile had yet to see it. We spent a glorious four hours among the food shops, having endless samples of chocolate, wine, and cheese. A dark chocolate bar with macadamia nuts and a gentle hot cayenne pepper kick in the back of your throat after its melted in your mouth. Who knew that parmigiano reggiano has a pineapple aftertaste? Phile girl does not like cheese to taste like fruit. "I found it unsettling. I prefer the pungent, bold flavors that a brine washed cheese typically have. Cheeses that smell like cave...or barnyard!"
Just between you and us, gentle reader, there is an incredible Argentinian Malbec, a limited edition of only 4500 bottles: Hacienda DL Plata, the 2004 Reserve. It isn't too jammy, very subtle red fruits, and some great spice on the nose.
Up next: The Green Table