Travels with a Culinary Artist

Movin' On!

2011-07-18T23:07:00.000-04:00

Travels with a Culinary Artist has moved!

I have taken the blog over to Wordpress and created what I think is a clean and slick looking blog!
It's a step towards learning more about the nuts and bolts of blogging, including some of the behind the green door aspects of programming etc. That's all in the future but meanwhile check out the new and improved Travels with a Culinary Artist! Be sure to sign up for email alerts or add us to your Google Reader. Enjoy!

Eat Well....Be Well!
Chef Jim

I know, I know its summer….but…

2011-06-24T21:13:00.004-04:00

When I woke up yesterday to move the car for alternate side parking, I decided to go get a much needed haircut. After the haircut I visited my favorite store: The Natural and roamed the aisles trying to plan dinner. It was cooler that morning than it had been and at the butcher counter the boneless pork loin roasts were calling my name. Logic said that it wasn’t going to be 90º today so it might not be a bad day to roast some meat and have the leftovers for a few meals. Along with my new best friend, the tied boneless pork loin, I grabbed some sweet potatoes and some broccoli crowns and shallots. No exact plan in mind, but I figured it would come together at home utilizing pantry items.

Once home, I was still less than inspired, so I turned to Mastercook, the recipe storage program I use for my business and searched for Roast Loin of Pork. I got a gazillion recipes for everything pork and roasted. Narrowed the search and it was a much more manageable list.

Read several interesting recipes and eliminated them as most would require a return trip to the store to procure at least one missing major ingredient. Then I stumbled on one from The Too Hot Tamales, AKA Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken from the Food Network TV show of the same name. The recipe is from 1997 and is below for your perusal. It requires the pork to be marinated for 8 hours or overnight. So I instantly scrap the plan for that nights dinner and go "freezer-diving" for some scraps and ended up with 5 Sea Scallops and 1 boneless chicken breast. I broiled these with lemon butter shallots and a healthy sprinkle of Hungarian Paprika. Found a small amount of tri-colored Israeli Couscous and made Succotash with Yellow & Shoepeg Corn, Edamame, Onion, Red Pepper, Dill and fresh tomatoes, not a bad slap-dash meal.

So for the Pork I prepped the marinade while cooking dinner. Here’s my twists on the recipe:

*I’m not a big fan of reserving marinades that meat has spent some time in to use for a sauce. Sometimes I’ll make extra marinade and put it aside before adding the meat to the balance. Other times I figure out a sauce later.

*The only beer in the house was some old Pumpkin Ale I had purchased to make Pumpkin Chili with and to enjoy while eating that Pumpkin Chili. So it was anything but new, but I figured since it’s a marinade and possibly a sauce it’ll be cooked enough to not worry about its flatness!

*I had a jar of basic organic Dijon Mustard, next time I’ll use something a bit more exciting, even if its only country style.

*I browned the roast in my cast iron frying pan and transferred it to my 12” All Clad skillet for roasting in the oven and I added some water during the cooking time to keep the pan drippings from burning.

* When it was done I pulled the meat out to a sheet pan covered it with a foil tent and put the All Clad Skillet on the stove. Heated it up and added chopped Shallots. Then I added 1 tablespoon of Mustard, a pinch of Herbes de Provence and reduced the liquid to a nice sauce, which I mounted with butter to finish. After the usual 10 minute wait I sliced the roast and napped the slices with the sauce making sure that we had a substantial amount of the shallots.

*We enjoyed it with Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Dried Chili Flakes and Lemon and Simple Baked Sweet Potatoes. Delish!

* Exported from MasterCook *

                    Roasted Pork Loin With Beer Sauce

Recipe By     :Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken
Serving Size : 6     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dish                       Pork
Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2        tablespoons Butter
1              large Red onion -- thinly sliced
2                     Garlic cloves -- minced
1           teaspoon Ground cumin
     1/2      teaspoon Ground cinnamon
     1/4      teaspoon Ground allspice
2            bottles Beer - (12 oz ea), not dark
     1/2           cup Dijon mustard
     1/4           cup Honey
3 1/2         pounds Boneless pork loin, tied
2        tablespoons Vegetable oil
                        Salt -- to taste
                        Freshly-ground black pepper -- to taste
1         tablespoon Butter -- room temperature
1         tablespoon All-purpose flour
   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, cinnamon and allspice and stir 1 minute. Add beer, mustard and honey and bring to boil (sauce will foam). Remove from heat. Puree in batches in blender until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Pour into baking dish. Add pork loin; turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   Remove pork from marinade; pat dry. Reserve marinade. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and brown on all sides. Transfer to baking sheet with rim. Roast in oven for 3/4 to 1 hour or until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 155 degrees. Transfer pork to work surface; reserve any pan juices.
   Combine pan juices and marinade in saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Mix butter and flour in small bowl until smooth paste forms. Add to sauce and simmer until sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut pork into slices. Pour sauce over.
   This recipe yields 6 servings.
   Recipe Source:
TOO HOT TAMALES with Susan Feigner and Mary Sue Milliken
From the TV FOOD NETWORK - (Show # TH-1E07 broadcast 10-27-1997)
Downloaded from their Web-Site - http://www.foodtv.com
Formatted for MasterCook by Joe Comiskey, aka MR MAD - jpmd44a@prodigy.com   -or-   MAD-SQUAD@prodigy.net
     10-27-1997
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Enjoy, we sure did!!

Travels to Rhode Island In June

2011-06-20T16:39:00.001-04:00

We spent a wonderful week in Rhode Island with our Grandsons. We attended the youngest ones graduation from Kindergarten at Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School! We’re so proud of this little champ he let the proceedings in Our Father! He stepped right up to the microphone and spoke very clearly into it!

He participated in several other group presentations and never missed a line of any of their recitations or songs. He was amazing with just the right amount of “haminess” !

Sister Andrea says he’s a natural leader and many of his fellow classmates enjoy following him, not always the right way but more often than not with respect.

He listed his favorite things about school were: 1. Being a Door Holder 2. Free Play on Fridays 3. Music Class

We were just beaming with pride as were his parents, older brother and Grandpa Mario!

The next day was spent at the Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School’s Field Day @ Grist Mill Pool & Tennis Club! It was tough work being a chaperone, but we managed to suffer through all the fun and frolic! What an amazing time! What lucky students to get to spend a day there and it was glorious weather to boot!

We also spent time at the Soccer Field where the boys attended a soccer clinic which ensured they’d sleep well that night!

It was a great week and we enjoyed ourselves getting to be the spoiling Grandparents for 5 days!

Of course Poppa cooked and made a variety of dishes including Spaghetti and Meatballs; Grilled Chicken with Tomatillo Salsa; Marinated Grilled Steaks; Asian Style Chilean Sea Bass; Roasted Balsamic Glazed Vegetables; Rice; Roasted Potatoes w/Cheese; Farfalle Pasta Salad; Corn and Lots of Salads!

We ate well, and played hard!

We grew up with Croque-Monsieur, progressed to Croque-Madames and now Croque-Uncle Jimmy!

2011-02-27T12:40:00.003-05:00

Sunday mornings have become rather lazy around here so even though I may rise early, it doesn't mean I'm moving around early. Today was perfect example, up @8, surfed the internet; read emails; created and emailed a client's menu and read some news. Finally, around 11 o'clock I got up from the computer desk and exercised on the elliptical. Once I was done I realized I hadn't eaten breakfast and was now famished. So instead of our typical breakfast of fruit, cereal and toast, I opted to make brunch! Had watched Melissa D'Arabian make Croque Madames, while exercising, so wanted something substantial like that based on what ingredients I could find.

Check out this Wikipedia list of different Croques!

The results of my search:

Bacon; Gruyere Cheese; Eggs; Whole Wheat Tuscan Pane; ingredients for a mustard dressing; a variety of fruits for a Fruit Salad.

First while the bacon was baking with fresh ground black pepper on it, I made the fruit salad: Pink Grapefruit, Orange, Sliced Strawberries, Blueberries; Blackberries and sliced Banana. Easy to prep, very tasty, sweetened the grapefruit and orange juices a bit with raw sugar, tossed all together, see the pretty bowl it made!

All the other ingredients were for Paninis. To make the dressing I used a simple to remember proportioned recipe: 1/2 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon, 2 tablespoons, 3 tablespoons.

!/2 teaspoon fines herbes
1 T Capers chopped
2 T Dijon Mustard
3 T Mayonaisse
if it's too mustardy for your taste just add more mayo!

Brushed the dressing onto one side of each slice of bread, topped one side with 3 bacon slices and 3 planks of cheese, fried the eggs in butter with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper placed one egg on top of cheese and covered with the other slice of bread. Spray outside slices of bread with Pam and place on Panini Grill.

Simple yet tasty, served them with additional dressing as desired.

So that takes care of breakfast and lunch---now dinner? Leftovers or something new and fresh? Hmm, there is grilled Flat Iron Steak, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Fava Bean & Corn Succotash and Salmon Croquettes from last night's dinner with Tiff & Howie! Or maybe save that for Monday after cooking all day!

Need to read a cookbook for inspiration! Enjoy the day, and don't forget the evening will be all about Oscar night!

BACON, EGG & ASPARAGUS PIZZA

2011-02-19T23:50:00.003-05:00

Feeling lazy today, mired in business paperwork, not really looking to cook something complicated I opted for a pizza using the Trader Joe's Ciabatta Flat Bread I had in the freezer. Stumbled across this recipe while downloading other Mediterranean Recipes for clients from Eating Well's website.

So besides subbing in the flat bread for the dough I decided Gruyère would be interesting in place of cheddar!

If I were to use dough in the future, I'd probably stretch it to fit the sheet pan and make the edges push up the sides to help contain the egg. I also heated the bread for 3 minutes before adding the toppings.


* Exported from MasterCook *

   Bacon, Egg & Asparagus Pizza

Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00

  Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
  1 pound prepared pizza dough -- preferably whole-wheat
  2 strips bacon
   3/4 cup sliced shallots
  1 pound asparagus -- trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
  4 large eggs
   1/4 teaspoon salt
   1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  1 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar

Preheat oven to 500°F. Coat a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about the size of the baking sheet (see Tip). Transfer to the baking sheet. Bake until crisped on the bottom, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on a paper towel. Add shallots to the pan and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Spread the vegetables over the crust and crumble bacon on top. Whisk eggs, salt and pepper in a medium bowl until combined; slowly pour over the vegetables, trying not to let any run off the crust. Sprinkle the pizza with cheese. Bake until the eggs are set and the cheese is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.

Description:
  "This pizza, topped with bacon, eggs and asparagus, was inspired by a wood-fired-oven pizza served at the Montpelier, Vermont, farmers' market. Serve with: Mixed green salad."
Source:
  "EatingWell: March/April 2010"
S(Internet Address):
  "http://www.eatingwell.com/print/15515"
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We enjoyed it with a green salad. We spent a good amount of time discussing the variations that could be concocted. It's a versatile as a frittata!

Enjoy!

LUNCH @DEL POSTO

2011-01-13T16:42:00.003-05:00

This year's Fine Dining Christmas present to ourselves was lunch @Del Posto. The magnificent darling of the famous trio of Lidia Bastianich; Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali!

We decided on this venue after reading about the wonderful Prix Fixe Lunch they serve for $29.00! Yes, you read that right: $29.00!

It's a choice of Antipasto; Primi or Secundo; and Dolce. See the menu here.
They also offer a 6 course tasting menu with or without wine pairings, it's listed at the bottom of the menu.

Of course it was a big question if we would even make it there Wednesday, as we had a lovely snowstorm overnight! We went to bed resolved that we'd wake up and make the decision if we would trek in or cancel and reschedule. We woke up and saw that traffic was moving and planned our trip via subway and foot. We left our warm apartment around 11 a.m. and traversed the worst part of our trip, walking down our hill to the subway. Due to a construction project, that just started last month and will last 2 years, we had to walk a block out of our way to get to a different subway entrance, as the one we've used for 33 years is closed as part of the reconstruction of the overpass of Queens Boulevard.

Once in the city, the streets and most of the sidewalks were perfectly cleared, even the slushy corners weren't as bad as we expected. We had booted up to protect our feet so while not elegant we were at least dry!

Upon arrival we were greeted by the coat check in the vestibule of the grand restaurant. We gladly gave her our coats, hats and scarves. Next we moved into the wonderful space. I grabbed these pictures from the restaurant's Google Place Page, they don't do it justice, in a word the space is gorgeous.

We were seated on a leather banquette with beautiful throw pillows! Actually in the picture there are three tables ours was at the top of the section. Our table was a corner of the banquette so we sat adjacent to each other vs across from or next to each other.

Water was the first offering, we chose tap, as we do most often now that I'm limiting my intake of carbonation. Next drinks or wine list was offered, wine list was requested. Having not decided on what to eat we chose to have a glass of VERMENTINO by Terenzuola Fosso di Corsano 2008 from Toscana. We had enjoyed a similar one before and selected it based on it's refreshing qualities. It's a full-bodied dry White and was a perfect foil to our first food.

Now comes the menu. The choices were all very interesting and inviting.

Before we could decide along came an amuse bouche! There was a trio of delicious looking bites. First a shot of an Italian version of Egg Drop Soup, a salty broth that warmed us nicely. Next were gourgeres-like morsels filled with Mortadella which reminded us of deviled ham, only sooooo much better! And finally crispy rice crusted mozzarella balls. Unbelievably delicious!

For our antipasto we chose:

Roasted Winter Vegetables w/Robiola Sformato & Truffled Hazelnuts

and

Warm Cotechino w/Umbrian Lentil Vinaigrette & Dried Fruit Mostarda

We each ate half and switched plates. The Cotechino was a beautiful pink color and perfectly prepared. The Lentils were tiny and cooked al dente and the dried Fruit Mostarda had just the right amount of heat to brighten your taste buds. The roasted vegetables were tiny morsels of winter root veggies and pears. Each crunchy bite was better than the last.

For Entrées we ordered:

Grilled Pork ode to Emilia-Romagna with Sunchoke Crema

& Aceto Conserva

and

Slow Baked Lamb alla Puttanesca & Garlic Tatsoi

Prior to receiving our entrées we consulted with the Captain about selecting glasses of red wine to compliment our meal. He asked what our entree choices were and suggested two different wines. For Nana's Pork he recommended Valpolicella Superiore Marion 2004 from the Vento a very fruity red wine with medium body. And for my Lamb Dish he suggested AGLIANICO DEL VULTURE Laluce Zimberno 2006 from Basilicata also a medium bodied smooth palate pleasing wine. We enjoyed them immensely. His recommendations were based on being from regions close to where the style of the dishes we were enjoying them with were created.

The Lamb was three good sized morsels topped with the Tatsoi and draped with the Puttanesca. So in each bite you got a mouth explosion of flavors. It was truly the tenderest chunks of lamb you could imagine. The sauce was rich and full of flavor but didn't taste overcooked, the olives and capers and tomatoes had distinct texture and nowhere near mushy.

The Pork was a lovely piece of meat, also very tender and yet held together with just the right amount of chewiness. The Sunchoke Crema was impossibly perfect. The only disappointment would be that it wasn't a bowlful serving! And what dish isn't elevated by garnishing it with the Balsamic reduction.

Both of us were over the moon with these choices and how well the wines complimented the meal. We truly thought it couldn't get any better! But...read on my friends!

Next: onto dessert.

We knew we would be pleased, but wait there's more! There were no bad choices to eliminate easily but finally we selected:

Chocolate Ricotta Tortino Toasted Sicilian Pistachios

& Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato

Butterscotch Semifreddo Melon Agrumata, Crumbled Sbrisolona

& Milk Jam

I can't even begin to describe how delicious and beautifully presented these desserts were! I had the Chocolate Ricotta Tortino especially since I am a fan of Olive Oil Gelato, ever since I had it @OTTO! Nana loves all things Semifreddo so the Butterscotch version sounded incredible.

Along with our desserts, coffee. and tea came a surprise. On a cheese grater embedded in a wooden box with a drawer came two mini Bombolinis and yes, we could have devoured a plate of these! Perfectly cooked, sugared and filled with a cream filling to die for! Also on the grater were two Nut Crusted Chocolate Lollipops with more Olive Oil Gelato centers!

Then, Voila! Open the drawer and find four more awesome bites, two small mini-citrusy tarts, smaller than a vanilla wafer, and two of the most decadent cocoa powdered truffles! Yummmmmmmmmmm!

Satisfied would be an understatement. We were there for 2 1/2 hours enjoying our experience. It's pretty obvious to me, that the whole concept is to entice you to rejoin them for dinner, which of course would be a bit more then $29! But what an awesome meal we had and we certainly are saving our pennies for a return trip. Our glasses of wines comprised 50% of the meal, but that was our expectation. They were neither the least expensive nor the dearest glasses on the menu! The bill is presented on Letter Head, what a novel idea! Two could dine here for an elegant leisurely paced lunch for less than $90 with no problem.

The service was impeccable and never intruding. We sat in a very comfortable banquette where we had ample room for a jacket and bags. We observed that at the freestanding tables they provided an ottoman for the diners to place their handbags on. Now that's classy! Every person who came to our table smiled and politely asked to clear or pour water or crumb the table, when asked where the restroom is, they do not tell you or point, they take you to the restroom alcove which is located behind this staircase. We also took a quick look downstairs at the private dining rooms and seemingly endless walls of cellared wines!

Del Posto, never change, we had such a wonderful lunch and truly want to enjoy another meal there very soon! I truly recommend Del Posto for a great dining experience!

The Cookbook Collection is Swelling!

2011-01-08T23:21:00.004-05:00

19 New Cookbooks!

I keep saying it's hard to keep up with my desire for more recipes, but seems I've really overloaded this season! Count them! Nineteen, yes 19 new books, plus two on backorder!!

First, lots of new books came out this fall that I really wanted. Second, the Good Cook Book Club had some awesome deals and of course I got some as gifts!

So I'm vowing to review each one here or at least comment on a recipe or two that I make from these new tomes!

Here's the official list:

THE ILLUSTRATED COOK'S BOOK OF INGREDIENTS
COOKS ILLUSTRATED 2010
FOOD & WINE ANNUAL COOKBOOK 2010
FAMILY MEAL by Tyler Florence
BAREFOOT CONTESSA HOW EASY IS THAT? by Ina Garten
EATING WELL 500 CALORIE DINNERS
FEZ TRADITIONAL MOROCCAN COOKING by Z. Guinaudeau
MORE FAST FOOD MY WAY by Jacques Pepin
FALLING OFF THE BONE by Jean Anderson
CHEWY GOOEY CRISPY CRUNCHY MELT IN YOUR MOUTH COOKIES by Alice Medrich
LOOK + COOK by Rachael Ray
COOK THIS NOT THAT by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
BON APPETIT DESSERTS by Barbara Fairchild
NIGELLA KITCHEN by Nigella Lawson
AVEC ERIC by Eric Ripert
COOK WITH JAMIE by Jamie Oliver
THE ESSENTIAL NEW YORK TIMES COOKBOOK by Amanda Hesser
JAMES BEARD'S AMERICAN COOKERY by James Beard

The two on back order are:

AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE by Dorie Greenspan
HEART OF THE ARTICHOKE AND OTHER KITCHEN JOURNEYS by David Tanis

A few quick notes:

Food & Wine and Cooks Illustrated are annuals from the magazines and will be good reading for technique and recipe development.
Avec Eric follows the TV program which I have enjoyed watching, looking forward to reading and cooking from this book.
Cook with Jamie is my first Jamie Oliver book and I've already enjoyed reading through it, now on to making some of his recipes.
James Beard's, NY Times, Book of Ingredients are more reference books, but I'm sure I'll find some interesting recipes to cook.
Nigella, Barefoot Contessa, Rachael Ray, Cook This, Family Meal, More Fast Food, Falling off the bone, all will have very Client Friendly recipes and will get lots of use for sure!
Desserts and Cookie books will be perused and used more by the baker in the family but I'm sure I'll point to some great recipes in them!
Have finished reading 500 Calorie Dinners, and will be installing these recipes into our personal repertoire along with an exercise regimen!
And finally, FEZ was a gift along with lots of spices from Morocco, it includes instructions on how to use Camel meat in place of mutton, beef or lamb!

Check back often for more pearls of wisdom and comments on recipes and overall reviews of the books. However, don't hold your breath till you hear about any Camel being used!

The Holidays are over!

2011-01-08T21:30:00.001-05:00

Wow, we had lots of great times during the holidays and thankfully, were very busy with cooking for clients both regular cookdates and special parties!

We enjoyed a New York Christmas this year! Spent Christmas Eve with our Daughter and Son-in-Law in the City, having a magnificent meal at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. The room is very modern but warm in feeling, there's an open kitchen/raw bar on one side and a bar on the back wall. We sat in the mezzanine with a comfortable view of the buzzing below us. The food was outstanding everyone loved their choices and the bites of each others that we shared. YUM!

After dinner we did the typical and walked to Rock Center to see the Tree and watched the light show reflected on Saks Fifth Avenue's Walls. It was a chilly night and it was crowded, but not awful.

Christmas Day they came over for dinner and exchanged presents, we had a great time. Simple Meal with Roasted Garlic Shrimp Cocktail; Glazed Spiral Cut Ham; Macaroni & Cheese; Corn and Edamame Succotash;, Green Peas; Pickled Red Beets, Cornichons and Deviled Pickled Red Beet Eggs. Apple Pie and Ice Cream rounded out the meal and everyone was very pleased.

The Rhode Island contingent came down for New Year's Day Dinner and the locals were able to rejoin us. We had sent our gifts to RI for the Grandsons but they brought ours to us on New Years. The five year old was so proud to present us with each gift one at a time! It was adorable to see him get as much pleasure out of giving gifts as he certainly enjoys receiving! His eleven year old brother was happy to help out from time to time but very careful not to steal his thunder!

When Daughter and Son-in-Law arrived we had Hors d'oeuvres while they opened gifts and spoiled the nephews! We had Brie en croute; Spanakopita; Parmesan Palmiers; Shrimp Cocktail and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.

Dinner was awesome, Roasted Tenderloin of Beef with herbed tomato halves and wild mushroom sauce; Potatoes Au Gratin; Peas w/pearl onions; Corn; Rice; Salad with roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette.

Dessert was Red Wine Poached Pears w/Espresso Whipped Mascarpone Cream; Pecan Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream.

No one left the table hungry! We started the evening with Proseco & Casis Kirs continued with Red and White Wines, Beers for those who preferred and finished with Godiva Chocolate Licqueur!

As you can see we had some great food and great times with our wonderful family!

Our hope is that everyone enjoyed their holidays as much as we did and that the New Year brings everyone good health and happiness.

More Cathching Up: Rhode Island Weekend

2010-09-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we trekked to Rhode Island to cater a surprise Birthday party for our son, the oldest!

It all started very innocently, by asking our daughter-in-law what the plans for the weekend were. We suddenly had more free time than we had expected and figured we'd drive up on Friday, and depending on their plans, have a barbecue on Saturday. Within a few hours and a ton of back and forth emails it turned into a surprise party of 20 on Friday. That way our presence would also be a surprise!

Meanwhile the Birthday Boy is inviting people over for Saturday night having no clue as to what's going on. His wife convinced him to come home from his extra job and they'd go out to dinner for Date Night, after dropping the grandsons with a friend! We did successfully surprise him, even though as he's pulling up (the ONLY time in his life he was actually early) he spotted one of the guests walking towards the house carrying wine! Bobby's response was great, he acted confused and said he thought Burke had invited him for Friday not Saturday. Burke's thoughts were that Monica had switched days to surprise him, but still only imagined Bobby and his family were inside!

It was text book surprise, when he walked into a room full of friends and family and the bonus his NY parents! It was great fun, the house had been quickly decorated in a tropical theme to signify the true end of summer!

Here's the menu:

SPINACH BALLS

TEQUILA LIME CHICKEN THIGHS W/ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE

TACO & TORTILLA FIXIN'S:

BEER MARINATED GRILLED SKIRT STEAK

PULLED PORK

BARBECUE SAUCE

PERUVIAN AJI VERDE SAUCE

COLESLAW

SHREDDED LETTUCE, TOMATOES, GRATED CHEESE

MINI SCALLION CORN MUFFINS

CUBAN STYLE BLACK BEANS & BROWN RICE

WHITE RICE

SMOKED PAPRIKA ROASTED BABY POTATOES

MEXICAN CREAMED CORN W/CREME FRAICHE & COTIJA CHEESE

TOSSED SALAD W/SHERRY VINAIGRETTE

BROWNIE BITES

STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE

CHOCOLATE CAKE

We all had a great time, good food, wonderful family and friends to share it with! Even the Grandsons were excited to surprise their Dad!

The picture to the right are Nana's Favorite Boys!

The Great Fire Pit

And we even managed to take some leftovers for an impromptu tailgate party at the beach on Saturday night, with cool ocean breezes, crisp salt air, sunset, kite flying and glorious fire pit, what could cap a great weekend better?

Cold Chef Eating

Sunset @ the Beach

Tailgating!

Tailess Kite Flying

Catching up!

2010-09-18T15:13:00.001-04:00

Wow, where does the time go, it's been too long since I sat down and wrote and so much to write about!

First we had a wonderful breakfast two weeks ago at Danny Meyer's Maialino located in the Gramercy Park Hotel. We started with Donuts and Cream and Toffee Glazed Brioche. Both were heavenly pastry beginnings! Next we enjoyed Ricotta Pancakes with Peach Compote and Maple Syrup and Baked Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce & Guanciale, both of us chose roasted potatoes with rosemary for our side dish. The food was amazing, the room is bright and open with huge windows overlooking Gramercy Park. Service was relaxed and sufficient. All in all a very good experience. Want to return for Dinner soon!!

From there we browsed through Fishes Eddy, on of all time favorite places, to stroll the displays of dishes we don't need! If you've never been go, or visit online it's always tempting!

After Fishes Eddy we went to Paragon Sports to do some sneaker shopping. Got a new pair of high top Nikes. Haven't even had a chance to break them in!

Now we trek up to 23rd and Fifth to check out the newly opened Eataly. It literally had opened the previous afternoon @4 p.m. First impression: WOW! You can read the details in an article from EATER, NY here. It is truly a sensory overload! Of course it was busy, and we arrived a little after 11. We marvelled at all the food counters and amazed and the fresh products then strolled the "grocery aisles" filled with wonderful imported Italian products from dried mushrooms, to dried pasta, to the Olive Oils and Vinegars! By 12 the place was jammed with lunch-goers snapping up tables and ordering from the various venues!

We walked around in awe and decided to take it all in this trip and come back prepared to shop in the near future! We did succumb to temptation in the wine store and brought home two bottles of Bastianich wines, one a Rose, that we weren't overly impressed with. We drink Roses in the summer a lot and this year discovered some awesome Spanish versions to join our usual French favorites. But the Bastianich was weak in comparison. Have higher hopes for the white we brought home. Will report on it after we've drunk it.

Nana got to shake Joe B's hand, that was the only sighting we had, Mario and Lidia were not there or at least not visibly. It's a very exciting market and we all hope they do very well. Already planning to add it to our out of towners lists of must dos on their next visits.

Here are some random pictures and you can see more in the article referenced above.

Drooling for our return trip! More "cathcing up" to come, stay tuned!

Celebratory Dinner

2010-08-29T10:46:00.001-04:00

Tonight we had Tiff & Howie over for dinner to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. Seems like yesterday we were in Las Vegas attending their wedding which ended with dinner @Tom Colicchio's CraftSteak in the MGM Grand Hotel. Maybe by next year I'll figure out how to embed the Internet broadcasted video of their ceremony on this blog!!

We started out the day trekking out to Old Brookville to go to Rottkamp's Farm for corn and tomatoes. Of course we never come away from the Farm with only what was on our list! We got Field Tomatoes, Corn, Purple & Red Potatoes, Red Onions, Red Bell Pepper, Cucumber and Yellow Grape Tomatoes all for dinner. And just cause we couldn't leave them there a few peaches and a couple of Heirloom Tomatoes.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's for the other ingredients and general grocery shopping.

The menu turned out to be:
Hors d'oeuvres
Guacamole/Chips
Roasted Yellow grape tomatoes & goat cheese tarts
Prosciutto wrapped Bread Sticks
Mixed Nuts
Trader Jose beers with lime

Dinner
Purple & Red Potato Salad
Salad Plate: Field Tomatoes, Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Cucumber, Radishes and Deviled Eggs w/capers
Pickle Plate: Pickled Cauliflower, Green Cherry Tomatoes & Brussels Sprouts
Oven Roasted Corn
Marinated Filet Mignon Roast
Grilled Chicken Breasts w/Barbecue Sauce
Rosado Rioja Wine/Sauvignon Blanc/Iced Tea

Dessert
Glazed Chocolate Cake
(a Martha Stewart recipe you can find here.)

Pickles

Salad Plate

Potato Salad

Dinner Table

BBQ Chicken/Corn/Filet Mignon

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Cake

Odds and Ends

2010-08-27T00:12:00.000-04:00

Scrolling through some pictures on the memory card, I discovered that my sous chef/master photographer, Nana, has a few pics I'd forgotten about.

So here's quick descriptions of what you are seeing:

Lamb Cubes with Eggplant and Tomatoes served with Herbed Couscous with Raisins. This is one of those dishes that I make for clients and never got around to making it at home. It was well received here as it is with clients. Works very well in the pressure cooker!

Another Naan Pizza for lunch, Chopped Ham, Provolone Cheese, Trader Joe's Garlic Mustard, Fresh Figs and a drizzle of Balsamic Reduction. Simply delish!

New Orleans inspired Shrimp and Rice dish:

Rice/Broken Spaghetti/Red Onion/Red Pepper/Corn/Garlic/Capers/Cilantro/Saffron tossed with Shrimp w/Cajun Spices, Sauteed with Cherry Tomatoes and splash of Vermouth.

Impromptu Dessert: Toasted Pound Cake, Sliced Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream and uncooperative Nutella!

Enjoy!

One heckofa Summer Party!

2010-08-22T02:05:00.000-04:00

The team from Traveling Culinary Artist pulled off another fabulous party. The team includes Darling Daughter Tiffany, Darling Son Burke, Darling Daughter-in-law Monica, and of course the World's greatest Sous Chef Nana! The party is an annual event for a very creative client that has had us back for the fourth consecutive year now.

Here's the menu with pictures of some of the hors d'oeuvres. Sadly, the photographer was too busy being the Sous Chef to successfully make an album of all the dishes served!

Hors d'oeuvres:
Roasted Garlic Shrimp Cocktail
Red Pepper Hummus, with Flat Breads, Pita Chips & Celery
Sun-dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Rollups in Spinach & Tomato Wraps
Shrimp & Asparagus Dijon Tarts
Steak Tartare with Mini French Toasts and Flat Breads
Chilled Avocado Soup Shooters with Crabmeat
Roasted Cherry Tomato & Goat Cheese Tarts
Grilled Teriyaki Beef Skewers
Barbecue Chicken Skewers
Grilled Lemon & Rosemary Lamb Chops

Dinner:
Beef Tenderloin w/Gorgonzola Sauce
Roasted Asian Chile Spiced Sea Bass
Rice & Mushroom Pilaf
Orzo Salad
Green Beans with Crispy Shallots
Creamy Roasted Corn & Red Bell Pepper Toss
Mesclun Salad with Pine Nuts & Cranberries and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Desserts: (Purchased and gifted)
Assorted Cheese Cakes
David's Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
Rugaleh
Assorted Cookies
Sorbets
Coffee

Many compliments on the great food and of course the impeccable service! Thanx to my team we had another very happy client!!

Red Pepper Hummus

Shrimp & Asparagus Dijon Tarts

Roasted Garlic Shrimp Cocktail

Sun-dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Rollups

Cookies from Heaven

2010-08-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

Nana cooked dinner for me Wednesday night, and it was delish! She always apologizes for how simple her efforts are but let me tell you she nailed the Chicken Picatta, Parsley Potatoes and yes simple Green Peas. It was beyond tasty it was delicious and even better because I didn't have to make it. Sadly, she didn't photograph her efforts, she was too nervous about the timing!

After dinner there was one more surprise that truly blew me away! It was the cookies you see in the pictures! The story is I saw them on the Simply Recipes blog. Turns out that they were posted by Garret McCord as a guest poster on Elise's blog. Thanx to both of you!!

They sounded awesome, so I copied the recipe into Mastercook, printed it out and dropped it on Nana's laptop on my way out the door with a note that we should try them someday! I had no idea that she would pretty much run to the store to get the ingredients and surprise me with them!! But boy am I ever glad she did. They are sinfully good, they are the best chewy chocolate, chocolate chip, hazelnut cookie ever, oh did I leave out the Nutella?? What could be bad with those ingredients?

If you like any of those ingredients you must make these, then buy a cookie jar with a lock and key! I'm serious, I can usually stop eating cookies after two, but these are in danger of disappearing all too quickly! Here's the actual post on Simply Recipes and here's the recipe:

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

Recipe By : Garret McCord via Simply Recipes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter -- room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup Nutella
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups -- plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and Nutella and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2 Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each. Add the vanilla and mix for 10 seconds.

3 Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda (do not skip this step as sifting eliminates clumps of cocoa). Mix into the butter mixture on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the bottom and sides at least once to ensure even mixing. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts and refrigerate the dough for ten minutes.

4 Spoon tablespoon-sized drops of cough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheets for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 6 dozen.
Source:
"Simply Recipes http://simplyrecipes.com"
(Internet Address):
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_nutella_cookies-print/

Enjoy!

Fast, Fast, Fast Fresh Summer Meal

2010-08-16T09:59:00.000-04:00

This is a really quick post for a quick light meal. It's all in the picture!

Grilled Galena Street rubbed Chicken Breasts
Grilled Romaine halves
Quick Grilled Grape Tomatoes
Grilled White Onion halves
Crumbled Blue Cheese
Blue Cheese Dressing
Drizzle of Balsamic Reduction
Garlic Bread Sticks
Olives for the heck of it!

That's it! So tasty, so easy, somewhat healthy!

A Purely Adult Slushie!

2010-08-14T17:20:00.002-04:00

Reading some of my favorite blogs this morning, catching up, and smitten kitchen had this post titled raspberry limeade slushies. Her entry talks about the famous drinks from 7-11 and her associated memories. Which of course, just sparked them for me as well, especially brain freeze and the reason I gave up the indulgence long ago. Then I remembered the frozen drink craze and how I tried to like them, but never really got into that one! Too cold, too sweet, too easy to over indulge!

But, as a lover of all things lime and key lime, I've always enjoyed the combination of raspberry and lime so this recipe sounded perfect to me. As we were shopping for ingredients needed for some recipe testing I'll be doing tomorrow, I grabbed the limes and raspberries with the intention of making this the first recipe test!

Once we returned home I pulled the ingredients together remembering that, no, we don't have any soda water, but that's OK, I'll make it without. Then I remembered at the end of Deb's post she commented how good this ~~might~~ would be with some alcohol! So I came up with Chambord, added a splash and it's officially a very refreshing adult beverage! YUM! We enjoyed ours with straws in tall glasses (next time I'll definitely use freezer frosted glasses). Good thing it's a comfortable 76º here in Queens! If it was hot and steamy one might want to have more than one, and that could be very dangerous! Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Limeade Slushies

Serving Size : 4

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup raspberries
1 cup water
4 cups ice
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup soda water
Lime wedges -- for serving
4 chilled glasses -- if you’re feeling fancy (or are interested in your slushie staying slushy longer)

In a blender, blend the lime juice, raspberries, water, ice and sugar until slushy. Pour into glasses. Top off with about 1/4 cup soda water and garnish with a lime wedge.

Source: "smitten kitchen"
I'm thinking it might make a very interesting adult punch with sparkling white wine, Proseco or even Champagne! Dangerously smooth!

Thanx smitten kitchen for the temptation! It is delish!

Corn finally cooked!

2010-08-11T23:31:00.003-04:00

Finally, got around to cooking the corn we bought at the farm over the weekend! I wasn't feeling like corn before today and kept wavering back and forth as to what I wanted to do with it. This morning Mark Bittman was on the Today Show with fresh corn recipes which you can find here. They include Corn Salsa; Guacamole with Corn; Cornbread; Corn and White Bean Salad and Corn Chowder! That's it, I want Corn Chowder. He took the corn cobs and boiled them in water for broth and cooked other ingredients adding the broth and half and half.

Chicken Corn Chowder is another childhood memory of a visit to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania summer fair where the volunteer fire department served the best soup I'd ever had at that point in my young life! It was Chicken Corn Chowder, my Mother's Uncle was instrumental in making sure we got a good serving. I've followed bunches of recipes over the years and while nothing was ever inedible nothing was star quality. Even ones from "authentic" Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks!

Tonight that is all changed. Yes, I have learned a thing or two over the years about cooking, proper seasoning, how to combine flavors etc. But, also, I have learned that trying to duplicate taste memories is folly for the most part! So I've begun focusing on making a good quality, fresh tasting, well seasoned version of whatever I'm creating. So I read another recipe of Mark Bittman's for Corn Chowder, from August 2008, and went to the kitchen.

Here's what I did: I stripped the corn from the cobs and put the cobs in 4 cups of water and simmered them with some salt for 20 minutes. Sauteed a diced yellow onion and 2 diced white potatoes with salt and pepper. Added the corn kernels and sauteed a bit, added a pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of flour. Strained the corn broth and added to the pot, stirring to fully mix. Simmered this for awhile to thicken a little. I might suggest a little more flour for a thicker soup, if that is your preference. I added 1 1/2 cups half and half and heated through, did not let it boil. Tasted and adjusted the seasoning, adding salt and white pepper. Meanwhile I poached two boneless skinless chicken breasts simply in chicken broth with salt, pepper, sprigs of parsley and rosemary.

For serving I pulled the chicken out of the broth cut into 1 inch cubes and placed in soup bowls, ladled the corn chowder over the chicken and garnished with chopped scallion and chopped roasted red pepper. The tasty result can be seen here:

It was very good, and made a wonderful meal with a sliced heirloom tomato with Russian Dressing and garlic bread! Can't beat summer farm fresh ingredients!

Road Trip: Farmstands in Old Brookville, NY

2010-08-09T00:41:00.000-04:00

We drove out to Old Brookville on Long Island's "Gold Coast" on Saturday to visit two farms that we love. Purchased lots of goodies. The first one is Rottkamps on McCouns Lane see here:

View Larger Map

Here we bought wonderful Tomatoes, yellow, green and red heirlooms; three colors of Eggplant: lavender, white and graffiti;. Yellow and Green Zucchini; Pale Yellow Hungarian Bell Peppers; Corn; Basil and Yellow Melon; Peaches and Nectarines.

Next we went to Young's Farm on Hegeman's Lane here:

View Larger Map

At Young's we bought Blueberries, Blackberries and Red Onions in the produce section and in the Annex we got a delicious Dark Cherry Pie, Tangerine Shortbread Cookies and a jar of Tart Cherry Jam.

On Sunday I got busy cooking these wonderful finds. First I made a gratin inspired by Claire Robinson on the Food Network show: 5 Ingredient Fix. Her recipe was with Green Tomatoes & Caramelized Onions with a Breadcrumb & Bacon Topping that you can find here.

In my version I cooked two strips of Bacon, removed them for later, caramelized a sliced Red Onion in the Bacon Fat and drizzled them with Balsamic Vinegar. Placed them in the bottom of a glass deep-dish pie pan and layered thinly sliced Green and Yellow Zucchini on top.

Then I sprinkled with Dried Oregano, Olive Oil, Kosher Salt and shredded Parmesan Cheese.

Next I sliced the Green Tomatoes and seasoned them with Kosher Salt, Dried Basil, Olive Oil and placed them atop the squash layer.

I toasted Bread Crumbs with a chopped Garlic Clove in the remaining little bit of Bacon Fat and added the crumbled bacon.

I placed this on top of the tomatoes and put it into the oven for 40 minutes and then topped with shredded Parmesan Cheese and baked for another 5 minutes. The aromas were incredible!

While cleaning up I went to pour the remaining bread crumb mixture into a ziploc bag for storage and had a slight mishap as you can see here:

My beautiful breadcrumbs literally down the drain!

This was dinner along with a salad of Roasted Yellow Beets, Crumbled Goat Cheese, toasted Marcona Almonds and Arugula. My vinaigrette was Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar, dry mustard, chopped shallot, sugar, olive oil. It was very tasty and good pairing with the cheese and Arugula. Found some frozen Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia in the freezer and heated it up and served it with a dollop of basil pesto sans Parmesan! Another highly flavorful summery meal!

I also made roasted vegetables using the Lavender and Graffiti Eggplants, Green & Yellow Zucchini, the Yellow Pepper, Red Onion, and Garlic. Will use these as side dishes and on top of grilled Polenta Squares as an accompaniment to the Sun-dried Tomato Sausage and Diced Tomato Saute I cooked up.

Used the Basil for a batch of Pesto most of which I froze without the Parmesan Cheese added. This way it's more versatile when used in the future.

Need to cook the Corn tomorrow, still considering what I want to make with it, am leaning towards a Corn, Red Pepper Risotto! Sounds interesting! Or maybe a corn puree like we had @The Mermaid Inn on Friday night! It was under Grilled Scallops with cubed Bacon and Fava Beans! Awesome dish!

Although, honestly, I have been really craving old fashioned Corn Relish! Stay tuned, I'm sure it'll be interesting!

Summer Lunch @Home

2010-08-04T15:40:00.001-04:00

Do you think maybe, watching DVR'd cooking shows while working out on the Elliptical is a bad thing? Today I caught a dated Molto Mario where he made a salad with a frittata. It's called:
Frittata Salad: Frittatine Verdi in Insalata it sounded wonderful. But I didn't give it a second thought as I didn't have a lot of those ingredients on hand. After exercising I watched another stored episode where he stuffed a veal roast--saved that idea for the winter!

However, when I went foraging through the fridge for lunch fixins' I thought of the frittata and wanted a salad with eggs. The herb drawer proved to be a big disappointment today, so much for Mario's inspiration. So I grabbed Arugula, two Eggs, Sun-Dried Tomato Gouda Cheese, a small remnant of Parmesan Reggiano, and a Cantaloupe. Still not sure where this is all gonna fit, and at the last second before closing the fridge door I grabbed bacon. Cause everyone says everything is always better with bacon. Also the left over piece of French Baguette, which is hard as a rock! Think like a "Chopped" market basket of ingredients! I was up for the challenge!

First I rub the baguette with water and tightly wrap in foil. Preheating the oven to 375 and prepping the bacon, I decide not to go the brown sugar route and used freshly ground Black Pepper. Pressed the pepper into the bacon placed on small rack on small sheet pan and put into the oven along with the bread.

Thinking of what to do with the eggs I plan to add Fines Herbes from the dried collection to the lightly beaten eggs. Heated butter and olive oil in nonstick skillet and added eggs gently pushing the edges to the center until a nice "pancake" is formed. Drizzle on some shredded parm, flip the frittata when I feel the center is almost completely set and finish less than one minute later! Set this on the cutting board to cool before cutting into strips. Why? Because Mario said frittata's are good warm, room temp and even chilled.

The Cantaloupe is cut in half, one half wrapped and stored for later use, the other peeled and cut up into pieces and served as a side dish to the salad rather than in it. Since now I've decided to grab a lemon and make a quick vinaigrette with lemon, dijon mustard, fines herbes, black pepper and what else? Bacon Drippings! Cause everything goes better with Bacon!

Plating--Sliced the Frittata into strips tossed with arugula and chunks of the still warm bacon and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Two slices of Sun-dried Tomato Gouda and several very thin slices of the crunchy baguette. I was using the soup and sandwich plates we have from IKEA, for this so I placed the melon chunks in the bowls and sprinkled them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. I know, never heard of seasoning your Cantaloupe? This is the way we ate it at home with biscuits and butter, and it was perfect following to the peppered bacon and pepper in the vinaigrette! See, a peppery theme!

Lunch was greatly appreciated and once again the opportunity to utilize ingredients on hand saved a trip to the store in the heat! Now I need inspiration for dinner!! To quote a chef friend: "...chef advantage, we can always come up with something!" Thanx for that tidbit Christine!

Another No-Recipe Meal

2010-08-03T23:04:00.005-04:00

Last night I started with the Trader Joe's Ciabatta Flatbread and some desire for Mexican flavors. Next I pulled together a quick homemade salsa with black beans, orange bell pepper, red onion, garlic, jalapeno, drained canned diced fire roasted tomatoes, cilantro and lime juice.

After that I marinated shrimp in lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, garlic and jalapeno. Sauteed the shrimp quickly in hot pan.

Brushed the flatbread with olive oil, spread the salsa over the bread, topped with shrimp sprinkled with chopped scallions and cilantro then shredded Mexican cheese blend.

Awesome: Mexican Shrimp Pizza!

Pulled out of the oven added more chopped Scallions and Cilantro!

On the side we had Corn, Tomato, Cucumber, Radish & Avocado Salad over Romaine.

Recipe free, but a little bit labor intensive, yet a great light summer dinner! Worth the effort, leftovers very welcome for lunch today! The leftover salad was served like a salsa with grilled chicken breasts for tonights dinner.

Fresh Figs Calling My Name

2010-08-02T00:38:00.000-04:00

Can't even begin to think of how many times I've purchased figs at the Natural Food Market in Forest Hills, or Fairway in Red Hook, Brooklyn, or anywhere I stumble across them, and put them in the fridge and forgot about them until they were well past their prime! It's probably the one ingredient that I've thrown out unused more times than any other! Though, I must confess that this is one area in which I have improved greatly. I buy less for "experimentation" just because I saw it! Or maybe I've just gotten better at follow through in using things quickly after purchased.

Anyway I purchased a plastic container of figs the other day where they are sitting individually separated, think egg carton! This promotes freshness as when they are touching each other in those little berry baskets if one decides to over-ripen before you separate them the whole inventory is doomed!

On Saturday I used the first of them to make Fresh Fig and Goat Cheese Naan "Pizza" for a yummy Saturday Lunch. You can read about it on The Amateur Gourmet's Community Blog here.

So today I set out to use the rest but am bored with the typical: fig and goat cheese on arugula; fig and prosciutto; fig tarts; etc. This spurned me to search the Internet for some fresh fig recipes that I've never heard of, or much less tried. I must have found 40 that called for chopping and mixing with goat cheese and stuffing chicken breasts! Also found 100's using dried figs, even though I put in Fresh Figs for my search!

Then I found one that really piqued my interest. It is on a blog called Kitchenelly and the specific recipe with detailed prepping pics is here. My search was looking for fresh fig and chicken breast recipes. This one came up from October 2009 and intrigued me immediately. I liked the idea of the combination of ingredients salty and sweet. I probably would never have thought of using Capers (undrained, no less) with Honey in the same recipe. Capers, wine, onions, garlic, figs sounded fine. As did Wine, onions, figs, honey. Now add Stilton and Rosemary to either but to both? I really needed to try this to see what's up with this combo!

Only went to The Natural today, after all it is Sunday, and the stores are crazy busy. They didn't have plain Stilton, only mixed with apricots or cranberries or walnuts. Standing at the cheese counter mulling over my choices I remember reading a few decent recipes using Blue Cheese so I selected a Buttermilk Blue Cheese from the good ol' USA. I figured that the other ingredients were an eccentric blend how far off could this cheese be?

At home, a quick taste test of the cheese proved to be an excellent Blue Cheese, the buttermilk tang works so well you find it hard to distinguish from the tang of the blue veins.

Pulled the dish together easily using 3 very small boneless, skinless chicken breasts and the remaining 6 figs. The smells were awesome. I didn't reduce the quantity of sauce makings proportionately to the lesser amount of chicken and thusly did not have to baste more than twice during the 20 minutes in the oven. Pulled the chicken and other solids from the sauce and reduced to a medium bodied gravy/glaze and served over the chicken breasts, figs, onions, etc. On the side was Riced Potatoes w/olive oil and parsley and a salad of Baby Arugula, Matchstick Radishes, Sea Salt and a drizzle of Miso Salad Dressing. A french Baguette and a bottle of King Estate Pinot Gris and we'll call it another fabulous dinner @ the NY Huff's!

BUTTERMILK CHANNEL

2010-07-26T16:01:00.004-04:00

This restaurant in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, has been on my list to try for quite some time! So last Friday, after an impromptu trip to DUMBO to surprise Nana with a Chocolate shopping spree @ Jacques Torres, we decided to explore some more neighborhoods in Brooklyn. When I crossed Court Street I remembered that I've been thinking about checking out a lot of restaurants nearby, so we drove up Court Street and located a few on the way then found Buttermilk Channel.

From the outside our impression was that it would be an enjoyable place to dine, ambiance-wise, and if the food was as good as it's been touted to be. that would be a great bonus. Kept on driving discussing the reviews and dreaming about a day when we would go prepared to eat there.

Now neither of us is hungry so we do the IKEA shopping experience: (strolling the showroom and then hitting the marketplace) purchased one package of lime green cocktail napkins! I've never, ever, left Ikea having spent less than $3.00! Unless I was only there to measure and design!

At this point it's a little after 7 and the thought of going all the way back to Queens in Summertime Friday City-exiting traffic and then to start dinner was not a happy one. So we drove around Red Hook for awhile and found the Red Hook Lobster Pound, perfect! A Lobster Roll is just what the Doctor ordered! Whipped the car around to see that they were locking up....they close @7 p.m. Arghhhhhh!

Now we figure we're dressed OK for an outdoor cafe and we'll head back to Carroll Gardens and find something casual on Court Street or a side street.

As fate always plays it's hand at the most opportune times, I drove up Huntington Street to Court forgetting that Court is one-way! At the light of Huntington and Court we notice that we're at Buttermilk Channel--AND--there are empty tables outside--and better yet an EMPTY parking space directly across Court Street. I say--let's go for it! Nana agrees and I make a rather illegal maneuver with the car to snag the parking spot and we are now justifiably excited for dinner!

Buttermilk Channel is named after a tidal strait between Brooklyn and Governor's Island you can read the legends here. And a great interview with Doug Crowell, owner here; and of course one with Chef Ryan Angula here.

The biggest buzz about this restaurant is the Fried Chicken w/Cheddar Waffles and Savory Slaw. And all that Buzz is deserving! This is picture from their site:

We started with Grilled Flatbread with House-Made Buttermilk Ricotta, Squash Blossoms & Lemon Oil. It was a slice of heaven on our plates. The Creamy Ricotta had just enough body to keep the Flatbread crispy underneath the generous bed of cheese! And Squash Blossoms and Lemon Oil were the perfect bonuses! Score two points! Pictures are not great as they are from my Blackberry and photog I'm not!

Nana ordered the Caputo's Fresh Linguini with Sweet Corn, Roasted Mushrooms, Brown Butter & Pecorino and she loved it! It was a very healthy portion and provided her with enough for lunch!

I was really torn-the Duck Meatloaf was calling my name but ultimately I had to try the Fried Chicken. I was pretty sure that was the way to go but I still asked the advice of our waiter. He pointed out that we were dining outdoors in 90º weather and what better way to enjoy Fried Chicken and save the meatloaf for when we dined indoors or in the fall! And really, honestly, truly I was a very happy "picnicker" The chicken was crunchy on the outside and perfectly cooked, moist and tender on the inside. The waffle was a great foil for the chicken and the slaw just enough to ensure you ate your vegetables! Good thing Buttermilk Channel isn't on the corner of our block!

We drank a wonderful bottle of Vino Bianco from Channing Daugthers Winery from the Hamptons on Long Island. This blended table white wine as perfect for a hot day, very sippable al fresco, and excellent with our food choices. It's made up of: The 2007 version is made up of 32% Tocai Friulano, 25% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Pinot Grigio, 9% Chardonnay (Dijon clone 96) and 17% Chardonnay (“Musque” clone). Crisp and golden in color, lots of tropical fruit flavors and a very slight hint of oakiness. Good thing, cause I'm not a big fan of any Chardonnay that is very Oaky.

We topped off our meal with one scoop of Van Leeuwan pistachio ice cream! Couldn't pass it up on a hot night. The perfect end of a great meal...another impromptu adventure and part of Nana's extended birthday celebration!

Our server, Doug, was quick, bright, efficient, friendly and just chatty enough to make our experience enjoyable beyond the setting and great food. Everyone we had contact with here were professional and friendly. We observed the hostess telling many people about the wait for tables inside and she always smiled and maintained her excellent demeanor while some of the potential guests expressed their frustration at least with visual facial expressions! Kudos to all for providing us with a great evening.

Throughout our time dining outdoors we watched the sky darken with clouds and become a bit threatening. Eventually, by dessert, there were some lightening flashes in the dark sky and we had joked with our waiter that we'd be grabbing and running inside if it started to rain. We asked for our check and it was brought with promptness. The second it was signed the first of many large drops of rain fell onto us. Nana grabbed the check and ran inside to return it to our waiter and thank him again, while I dashed across the street and got the umbrella out of the car. I went back to the restaurant and got Nana to the car in a dry state (for the most part). By the time we were a block away the downpour had lightened up to a drizzle. Listening to the radio on the ride back to Queens we heard all the reports of wind damage, rain-caused accidents AND that Manhattan had been under a tornado watch much of the time we were dining outdoors in Brooklyn! They also said the storm hit the Bronx, Queens and Long Island the hardest and seemed to barely skim over Brooklyn! Chalk that up to the same fate that provided us with a parking space and empty table at our new Favorite Brooklyn restaurant: Buttermilk Channel!

We'll be returning to Buttermilk Channel soon!

Ratatouille Flatbread Pizza

2010-07-21T22:25:00.000-04:00

We loved Trader Joe's Ciabatta Flatbread as a pizza base, see the original post here, so we grabbed one last week thinking they might get popular and then be in short supply. We weren't sure when we would use it so we threw it into the freezer to test the frezzeability. Defrosted it today for dinner and used up the last of the Ratatouille as a topping. Added some fresh oregano, bufalo mozzarella, shredded pecorino romano and chopped parsley. Ten minutes later we enjoyed some awesome pizza! It was just as good defrosted as the first one that we made fresh.

Finished Pizza

Today's salad accompaniment was Jersey Tomato on Butter Lettuce with Tzatziki for a dressing. Simply delish!

And look is that all that's leftover??? MMMM lunch tomorrow!!!

Simple Summer Dinner

2010-07-18T10:43:00.001-04:00

Another fridge cleaning turned up some great morsels for dinner. We had been to Trader Joe's and bought boneless skinless chicken breasts and corn on the cob. The first planned part of the meal was the grilled chicken breasts with roasted pepper coulis. This came to me while standing in front of the jarred roasted peppers in Trader Joe's trying to remember if I had any at home! So I bought a jar just in case and sure enough it was a good thing I did.

I used two whole peppers from the jar, two cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped basil. Pureed it all in the blender. Simple right? And yet so tasty!

Used Penzey's Galena Street Rub on the chicken breasts, marked them in my enameled grill pan and finished them in a hot oven. Napped the finished chicken with sauce when plated. I grilled 5 chicken breast halves and saved 3 for future salads, easier than heating up the kitchen every night!

Next I stumbled upon a nice bunch of late asparagus I had bought with the intention of making an asparagus salad, but forgot! So I was lucky enough to catch them in time before they went south!
Spread them on a sheet pan tossed with kosher salt and pepper and olive oil and roasted for 10 minutes next to the finishing chicken breasts!

For the third dish I had the 3 ears of corn we purchased, so I cut the kernels off the cobs. Then sauteed red onion, red and green bell pepper, and corn seasoned with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper for 5 minutes. I steamed a few broccoli florets in damp paper towel in the microwave for 1 minute. Tossed the broccoli in the saute for 2 minutes then added quartered Campari tomatoes, 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 6 leaves of basil chiffonade. Sauteed for another minute or two and served immediately. All the ingredients other than the corn were leftover scraps from other recipes throughout the week. We're really getting better at using up the odds and ends, finding them before they become refrigerator science projects!

Doesn't it look fresh and inviting? Simple yet so delish!

More Summer Soup

2010-07-16T23:19:00.001-04:00

Can't believe I haven't posted since the weekend! Where did this week go?? After catching up on my blog reading I decided to try this recipe from the blog 101 Cookbooks for Buttermilk Squash Soup. It truly wasn't difficult to make at all. The reward for the easy labor is a wonderfully refreshing soup. I didn't make the cumin butter that she includes in the recipe, but I did garnish it with lots of chopped chives. The side was a spring mix with raw veggies, bacon and chunks of blue cheese.

Here's the recipe

Buttermilk Squash Soup Recipe

Recipe By :101 Cookbooks

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 cup unsalted butter
fine grain sea salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions -- chopped
2 cloves garlic cloves1 pound / 16 oz / 450 g potatoes
1 pound potatoes -- cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 1/2 pounds yellow summer squash -- cut into 1/2 inch slices
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup buttermilk
1 bunch chives -- chopped

In a skillet, over medium heat, toast the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. Just a minute or two. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the seeds into a fine powder. Alternately, you can use an electric spice grinder. Set aside. In the same skillet, melt the butter and cook until it's brown and gives off a deliciously nutty aroma. Remove from heat, stir the cumin into the butter along with a generous couple pinches of salt, then set aside in a warm place. You want the butter to stay liquid until you're ready to use it.

To make the soup, heat the butter in your largest pot or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and a bit of salt. Saute for a few minutes, or until the onions start to get translucent. Stir in the potatoes and squash and cook for another 7-10 minutes, or until the squash starts to soften up. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the stock (most of it) - the stock should just barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, roughly another 25 minutes. Remove the soup from heat, puree completely with a hand blender, then stir in the buttermilk. If you need to thin the soup out with a bit more stock, you can do so. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve each bowl topped with plenty of the cumin butter, and a sprinkling of chives.

Source:
"http://www.101cookbooks.com/"
S(Internet Address):
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/print/buttermilk-squash-soup-recipe.html

Enjoy! The second night we enjoyed it with Ratatouille/Bufalo Mozzarella Panini's! A great summer soup and sandwich combo!

Things I learned this weekend!

2010-07-12T00:31:00.000-04:00

I was a bachelor this weekend, Nana took a trip to Rhode Island and joined up with our Daughter-in-law and her posse and they all went to Cape Cod for a Melissa Etheridge concert.

So Saturday I had made a plan to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market to check it out but the TV weatherman was reporting thunderstorms in New Jersey were moving in and flash flooding warnings were posted. So I figured I'd stay in and avoid getting wet. PS we had a 20 minute shower around 6 p.m.

After collecting some new recipes from the Internet and putting them into Mastercook, I decided to clean the kitchen. I started by scrubbing a grill pan that didn't get a good cleaning last week. I heated up some water and baking soda in it and it boiled over making a mess on the stove top. So once the pan was clean I cleaned the stove top. Then I started on the counter top, put all the utensils and their crocks into the dishwasher and scrubbed the counter top and the stainless steel back splash. A few hours later I was done and made dinner. After dinner I unloaded the dishwasher and put everything back together the way it should be and made a plan to wash the floor in the morning.

Today, I decided to try out the new Beer Can Chicken Roaster I got via UPS on Thursday. I'd make a nice roast chicken for Nana's return home dinner. So off to the store I go, returning with a bounty of food and a plan to spend the afternoon cooking. I started by brining the chicken with Herbes de Provence added to the salted & sugared brine.

Then I started to make Ragu Bolognese from a Mario Batali recipe. I had printed it out but hadn't made the adjustment for smaller quantity so I was dickering with the calculations in my head. I rarely measure out olive oil but decided I'd better make a perfect mis en place so I didn't need to continuously recalculate the measurements as I was cooking. I put the needed 1/4 cup of olive oil in a small prep bowl and set it onto the cutting board.  Just as I was putting the last two items for my mis en place in their containers I bumped the little bowl of olive oil and it spilled onto the counter. Since my bamboo cutting board sits on feet, the olive oil ran under it.

So here's what I learned: always resize the recipe before printing; don't bother measuring out olive oil, since I'm a klutz and will probably spill it; and the kitchen counter is not level as the oil ran down the entire length of the counter towards the sink.  Once it was spread out it looked like a lot more than 1/4 cup!!

I debated about cleaning it up, which would now require removing all the mis en place to another location. I decided to blot up only the section of counter nearest the stove, (possible fire danger) and start cooking, and once all the mis en place was used, and the sauce simmering then I could clean up the mess!

Eventually, I was able to get this accomplished and moved onto making a big batch of Ratatouille; a Summer Squash & Buttermilk Soup to be eaten cold tomorrow night; and the Roasted Chicken we enjoyed for dinner. I filled the container with red wine and a fresh bouquet garni of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme. Along with the chicken I roasted onions, potatoes and baby carrots. With a salad of Spring Mix Greens and thin slices of Ciabatta toasted we had a very satisfying meal!

And the other thing I learned, I probably shouldn't deep clean the kitchen the day before I'm cooking four meals for the week!

Chicken (under a brick) with Black Pepper Maple Sacue

2010-07-10T10:00:00.002-04:00

This is another recipe from Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie that I was inspired by while working on the elliptical! They used two cast iron skillets and cans for weight. Since storage is an issue in our NY apartment I've never invested in a second Cast Iron skillet--especially since I'd probably only ever use one at a time anyway! So I decided to finally go buy two bricks from Home Depot. Bonus: they only cost 65 cents each! A lot cheaper than another skillet!

Now wrapped in foil. I didn't have heavy duty so I double wrapped them to in case the foil ripped:

First you Spatchcock the chicken:

If you've never done this along with the description in the recipe this site Cookthink has beautiful step by step photos!

I used a combo of canola oil and butter in place of all butter.

Cooking the chicken this way was awesome, filled the apartment with a delicious aroma. There are many recipes for this process and many will have you start it on top of the stove and finish in the oven, which I do with lots of recipes, but I followed the recipe and cooked it on top of the stove the whole time. Didn't need to heat up the kitchen more than it was! Also listening to the crackling of the chicken was complimentary to the wonderful smells! I did cook my chicken a little longer based on my instant read thermometer checks.

The sauce is amazing! Nana, who isn't the biggest fan of Chicken on the bone devoured her portion including the wonderful crispy skin! Enjoy!

Chicken with Black Pepper-Maple Sauce

Recipe By :Paul Grimes and Ruth Cousineau

Serving Size : 4

1 whole chicken -- 3 1/2 lb
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 sprigs rosemary
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 cup dark amber or Grade B maple syrup
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Special equipment:kitchen shears; 2 (10-inch) heavy skillets (one well-seasoned cast-iron or heavy nonstick); a 10-inch round of parchment paper; 5 to 6 lb of weights such as 3 (28-oz) cans of tomatoes

Cut out backbone from chicken with kitchen shears and discard. Pat chicken dry, then spread flat, skin side up, on a cutting board. Cut a 1/2-inch slit on each side of chicken in center of triangle of skin between thighs and breast (near drumstick), then tuck bottom knob of each drumstick through slit. Tuck wing tips under breast. Sprinkle chicken all over with salt and ground pepper.

Heat 3 tablespoons butter in 10-inch cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Add chicken, skin side down, and arrange larger rosemary sprigs over chicken. Cover with parchment round and second skillet, then top with weights. Cook chicken until skin is browned, about 15 minutes. Remove and reserve weights, top skillet, parchment, and rosemary, then carefully loosen chicken from skillet with a spatula. Turn chicken over and re-place rosemary sprigs, then re-cover with parchment, skillet, and weights. Cook until chicken is just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more.

Make sauce while chicken cooks:

Toast peppercorns in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, shaking pan occasionally, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a clean cutting board and coarsely crush with a rolling pin. Return peppercorns to saucepan and bring to a simmer with syrup, 1/2 cup broth, and small rosemary sprig, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a platter and loosely cover with foil. Add vinegar to skillet and deglaze, boiling and scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in maple mixture and remaining 1/4 cup broth and boil until slightly syrupy, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and swirl in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Season sauce with salt and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Serve chicken with sauce.

Source:
"Diary of a Foodie: Season Three: Montreal: Cooking on the Wild Side"
S(Internet Address):
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2009/04/chicken-with-black-pepper-maple-sauce

A Confluence of Summer Salads

2010-07-07T21:16:00.001-04:00

I've been saying for years that most people find it hard to eat in the summer heat and tend to loose weight, but I'm the opposite. Since everything is so fresh, and usually has less fat involved I tend to eat more! So as I approached the kitchen tonite to make something with Shrimp from the freezer I knew I'd like to make a plated salad with avocado and an heirloom tomato I'd just purchased while out today. Other than that I had no plan.

I created a rub for the shrimp with a plan to marinate for awhile and then grill in the grill pan. So instead of following a recipe I found calling for lots of dried herbs I subbed lots of fresh herbs that I had on hand. I combined Cilantro, Oregano, Chives, Lime Zest with Garlic Powder, Ancho Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika, Ground White Pepper and Kosher Salt. Tossed the defrosted and dried peeled and deveined shrimp with the rub and drizzled with olive oil.

Next I combined shredded carrot, julienned jicama, celery, red pepper, and cucumber and chopped cilantro. Salted with kosher salt and dressed with rice wine vinegar combined with small amount of sugar and a dash of olive oil spiced with chili pepper.

Digging through the fridge I found some frozen Edamame and decided to combine them with the extra Farfalle pasta I cooked and cooled with only a drizzle of olive oil. So chopped red onion, red pepper and celery combined with the pasta and edamame needed a dressing. Aha, let's make a Miso dressing! A quick Internet search turned up this one on Recipezaar! It was perfect adding a healthy helping of chopped cilantro, see the theme?

Sliced up the heirloom tomato and avocado tossed them with lime juice, lime zest, cilantro and kosher salt. Grilled the shrimp and plated all over a bed of torn romaine! A very filling meal!

Beet Gazpacho

2010-07-06T10:55:00.002-04:00

One of the DVR'd shows I enjoy while I'm working out on the elliptical is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. I'm always trying to make a mental note to go grab certain recipes from thier site on the Internet but then forget after the workout and a shower. Last week I finally sat down and reviewed the recipes online for two seasons worth of shows. Grabbing some I didn't even remember seeing!

This one for Beet Gazpacho was one of those that I only have a vague memory of seeing on the show. But as I read it I imagined the glorious color it would be and thinking the mouthfeel would be awesome so I decided it would be worth the effort.

On Sunday I hit the kitchen to make a few things, Beet Gazpacho, Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia, English Muffin Bread, and Chicken en Papillote. My theory being that if you're gonna be hot, might as well cook a bunch of stuff and get it over with!

The plan was for the soup to be Monday's dinner with a Chef's Salad after cooking in Manhattan. It's a very simple preparation here's a picture of the sauteing of the ingredients:

Two adjustments to the recipe that I made: 1 cup of vegetable broth and 3 cups of water in place of 4 cups of water. And the garnish--remembering the many gazpachos we've enjoyed over the years one of our outstanding favorite things to do is add some cut up veggies at the table. So I chopped some cucumber tossed it with sea salt, white balsamic vinegar and lots of dill, after 10 minutes I combined this with Greek Yogurt and placed dollops in the center of the bowls. YUM!!!

Here's the original recipe:

Beet Gazpacho

Recipe By :ADAPTED FROM CHEF JAIR TÉLLEZ, RESTAURANT LAJA, VALLE DE GUADALUPE

Serving Size : 6
1 medium leek (white and pale-green parts only) -- halved lengthwise and coarsely chopped
2 beets (3/4 lb without greens) -- peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 medium onion -- sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 Granny Smith apple -- peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar -- or to taste
1 bouquet garni (2 large sprigs fresh parsley and 2 large sprigs fresh thyme tied together with kitchen string)
2 tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped dill

Wash leek in a large bowl of water, agitating it, then lift out and drain well.
Cook leek, beets, onion, and apple in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add water, vinegar, bouquet garni, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, until vegetables and apple are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Discard bouquet garni.
Puree soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), then chill, covered once cool, until cold.
Just before serving, season soup with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Serve cold, drizzled with yogurt and sprinkled with dill.
Cooks' note: Soup can be chilled up to 3 days.

Source:
"Diary of a Foodie: Season Two: Baja: The New Provence"
(Internet Address):
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2008/02/beetgazpacho

Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia

2010-07-05T20:16:00.005-04:00

As promised here's the story: I don't bake great bread, but I will put the ingredients into the breadmaker and enjoy whatever comes out! A year or two ago I discovered this recipe for Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia and I attempted it and it (surprisingly) came out great. So I've made it a few times since. It uses only the dough cycle on the machine, plus 1 minute of hand kneading, a short time in an oiled bowl, then rolled out onto the baking pan for another rise and finally baked after brushing with olive oil and adding cheese and seasoning. I did something different this time, I used Napastyle Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt on top with the cheese, in place of garlic salt and rosemary and it is amazing!

Sun Dried Tomato Foccacia

1 cup water -- plus 1 tablespoon water
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons powdered milk
3 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
Olive oil
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Place water, flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, butter or margarine, tomatoes, and yeast into bread machine in the order suggested by the machine's manufacturer. Set to Dough cycle, and start the machine.

When the bread machine has finished the Dough cycle, take the dough out. Knead for 1 minute by hand. Place in an oiled bowl, and turn a few times to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for 15 minutes in a warm place.

Dust a 10- by 15-inch baking tray with cornmeal. Roll out dough to fit the pan. Make indentations in the dough with your finger tips. Brush top surface with oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with Parmesan, rosemary, garlic salt, and mozzarella. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Cool slightly, and cut into squares for serving.

Source:
"Bread Recipe.Com (ABM recipe collection) at http://www.breadrecipe.com"

As in Life: you need to Try It so I can say---He Likes It--Hey Mikey!!

Saturday in the City

2010-07-05T00:15:00.002-04:00

We trekked into the city on Saturday afternoon, in the heat! Our theory was that Sunday was promised to be hotter and more crowded! Nana wanted to head to Central Park to snap some pictures of Victorian Gardens so we strolled through the park, something we haven't done in a very long time. After the gardens we hit the Carousel; The Mall with many performing street acts; Naumbung Bandshell; Bethesda Terrace and Fountain; the Lake and checked out the menu at the Loeb Boathouse; and finally on to the Conservatory Water pool where they sail model sail boats and we rested near the Alice in Wonderland statue. It was a great time revisiting sights we remember seeing for the first time 40 years ago and then showing them to our kids 20 years ago.

We exited the park at 76th Street and caught a bus down 5th Avenue to the Plaza Hotel. Walked to 57th window shopping in Bergdorf's and across to 6th Avenue. Our destination was Rue 57 Brasserie Parisienne et Sushi Bar. We had stopped here a few years ago after a Saturday Matinee on Broadway for drinks and ended up having a few appetizers at the bar. This time we were going to have a proper meal and a bottle of wine. We sat on the Sixth Avenue side in the open window just one table from the sidewalk cafe portion. Thus taking advantage of the airconditioning but enjoying the ambiance of alfresco dining!

The restaurant bills itself as: The city's only brasserie-sushi bar! Not sure why they went with the combo, but it seems to work. They offer a good amount of seafoods in addition to the sushi. As we are much more into Francophile favorites we chose to stick with the Brasserie side of the menu.

We shared the BUTTER LETTUCE SALADE sliced pear, sundried tomatoes, parmesan, house vinaigrette. The vinegar pronounced dressing complimented the sundried tomatoes and sparked up the butter lettuce and pear slices. A very good choice on such a hot day. The wine of choice was a Californian Fume Blanc with just the right amount of crispness to be cooling and refreshing.

Nana's entree was the Plat Du Jour: SEA SCALLOPS with truffle mashed potato, spinach and asparagus and crispy onion garnish. She said it was great, I tasted the truffle mashed potatoes and could have made a meal of them!

My dish of choice was: POTATO CRUSTED SALMON with melted leeks, crimini mushroom ragoût and barolo sauce. It was really very good. The Barolo sauce was perfectly reduced to that just before syrup stage and added a nice depth to the dish.

While this is no 5 star establishment, we found the food tasty, well cooked and beautifully presented. Our server was friendly and attentive and plates were cleared by staff efficiently and only when we both had completed our courses.

We skipped dessert and decided to walk over to the Time Warner Center for some retail therapy. Our two favorite spots there are of course Williams-Sonoma and Borders. No purchases this time, just loads of drooling!

From there we trekked home on the subway, air-conditioned thankfully! It was about an 8 hour visit to the city starting around 2:30 and returning home just after 10:30. We always enjoy our holiday treks, seems like so many depart the city and we invade it!

Teaser!

2010-07-04T23:05:00.000-04:00

Keep an eye out for these reports:
Chicken cooked under a brick with Black Pepper Maple Sauce
Chicken with Mustard/Lemon/Shallots en Papillote
Beet Gazpacho
Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia
English Muffin Bread

Flatbread Pizza----Oh Yeah!

2010-06-30T23:04:00.001-04:00

We were strolling through the aisles at Trader Joe's trying to decide what we wanted for dinner tonite when we stumbled upon Ciabatta Flatbreads shaped like a pizza. It was covered with a sprinkling of herbs and had dimples in it similar to Focaccia Curious, I quickly looked at the ingredients list and there were no preservatives and it is recommended that you refrigerate it if not used by the date on the outside of the package.

So at home I pulled together some ingredients:

Sweet Italian sausages (2 links)

1 red bell pepper

1/2 red onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers
Kosher Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Chunky Slices of Mozzarella
Shaving of Pecorino Romano
Trader Joe's Jarred Pizza Sauce (I know coulda made my own, but after a wonderful day at the beach, easy peasy, was the priority)

So I made a quick version of sausage and peppers, browning the sausage bulk style with veggies and adding chiffonade of basil. Brushed the flatbread with EVOO and then spread thin layer of pizza sauce; topped with the sausage & peppers mixture; dotted with chunks of mozzarella and a nice shaving of Pecorino. I slid the pizza onto the pizza stone in a 425º oven, then I switched the oven to Convection Roast. The stone crisps the flatbread like a pizza crust and the convection circulates the heat over the toppings melting the cheese and heating them properly. After 8 minutes I turn off the oven and let the pizza rest for 2 more minutes on the stone. Pull it from the oven and sprinkle with more basil chiffonade and serve! YUM! We have a winner! So great for an easy meal accompanied by a salad. While I love traditional Pizza dough, I'm always challenged by the handling of the dough and get frustrated that my shapes are more than rustic!!

Can't wait to try the next version! Hope the leftovers heat nicely!

Finished Pizza:

Pork Tenderloin a l'Orange

2010-06-25T23:41:00.003-04:00

Inspired by the recipe I made for a client, I duplicated it at home for our dinner tonite. I knew it would be good, but wow, it's really great and not terribly difficult.

It uses sliced pork tenderloin pounded to about 1/4 inch thickness and quickly sauteed, the sauce ingredients get combined and added to the pan and simmered, dinner is done!

I added ground ginger to the sauce ingredients, deglazed the pan with 1/3 cup white wine then added the sauce and after reaching a boil added back the meat and simmered for 4 minutes. Sprinkled the finished dish with chopped parsley, chives would also be great!

Here's the original recipe, which by the way if from a fellow Personal Chef:

Pork Tenderloin à l’Orange
Recipe By :Christopher Macartney
Serving Size : 4
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 1/2 pounds Pork Tenderloin
1 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/4 cup Orange Marmalade
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Prepared Horseradish
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 jar Mandarin Orange segments -- (10 oz) drained

Slice Pork Tenderloin into 8 pieces. Using a meat mallet, flatten each piece slightly.
Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add Pork slices and brown quickly for 1 minute on each side.
In a small bowl, thoroughly mix remaining ingredients, except Mandarin Oranges. Add to pan and cook over medium heat.
Stir constantly until sauce thickens. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Transfer to warm serving platter and garnish with Mandarin Orange segments.

I served this with Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley which has Black Barley and Daikon Radish Seeds, very fibrous good nutty flavor.
And a just created recipe: Not Your Mother's Peas & Carrots:

Not your Mother's Peas and Carrots
Recipe By :Chef Jim
Serving Size : 4
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 large Shallot -- peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
10 ounces frozen peas
1 large pinch kosher salt
4 grindings black pepper
1/3 cup water

Melt butter in oil in med sauce pan over medium heat; add shallots and salt and pepper; caramelize shallots.
When shallots are nice and brown toss in shredded carrots and toss to coat. About 30 seconds.
Add frozen peas and water, toss and cover, simmer for 2 minutes or until water is boiling, turn off and steam 5 minutes.
Taste for seasoning, add salt and/or pepper; Reheat over high heat and serve immediately with additional butter if desired.

Friday Roundup

2010-06-25T23:03:00.002-04:00

Had a very busy week cooking, all clients were in town, had a full schedule!

New to me recipes included:
Asian Turkey Loaf
Red Wine Braised Lamb Chops
Asian Beef/Turkey/Rice Meatballs
Pork Tenderloin a l'Orange

Reworked dishes:
Eggplant/Feta/Sun-dried Tomatoes
Glazed Carrots w/Honey & Ginger
Lemon Couscous w/Summer Squash & Red Peppers
Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash w/Tomatoes & Herbs

The Asian Turkey Loaf is chock full of veggies, scallions, carrot, celery, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic. Flavored with soy sauce, dry mustard and cilantro and bound with eggs and panko.
The glaze is ketchup, honey, soy sauce, ginger and dry mustard!
Excellent recipe, flavor packed to boost the fairly bland ground turkey!

Red Wine Braised Lamb Chops, tasty but probably not really worth the effort compared to seared chops with a great sauce.

Combining Beef & Turkey & Rice in meatballs really makes them a tasty lower fat version. The meatballs combined scallions, ginger, water chestnuts and flavored with dry sherry, soy sauce, bound with eggs and rice. The sauce was simple sauteed ginger, chili flakes & garlic in sesame oil, reduced with white wine, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, dash of splenda. Very tasty results.

Will do a separate post for the Pork a l'Orange, as we just had it for dinner and it was awesome!

Most of the reworking was minor to accommodate dietary issues, so nothing earth shattering.

At home the highlights of the week were grilled & barbecued chicken breasts over tossed salad w/creamy peppercorn dressing and grilled french bread; beef tenderloin tips w/onions and peppers; arugula salad with blue cheese, toasted Marcona almonds, dried cranberries w/sherry vinaigrette; baby potato, green bean and pesto salad. And tonight's dinner which will be the next post!

Here's a picture of the chicken over salad dish:

CROQUE MONSIEUR BAKE

2010-06-23T14:30:00.002-04:00

Searching for something different and easy to make for Father's Day breakfast I stumbled on Nigella's book: Nigella Express. I found a few recipes including and orange french toast that's now on my to be tried list. But it was this recipe that caught my fancy. What could be better than CROQUE MONSIEUR soaked overnight with eggs? Yummy! And also great leftover! Reheated one in a non-stick pan w/a small amount of butter. Since the bottom bread doesn't brown, it gives an opportunity for some caramelization of the egg side similar to french toast crust. Also wrapped two pieces in foil and heated in oven for 10 minutes. Both versions were tasty. But the original on Sunday morning was awesome.

Here's the recipe:

CROQUE MONSIEUR BAKE

Recipe By :NIGELLA LAWSON
Serving Size : 4 (makes six 1/2 sammies)

Ingredients:
6 slices ready-sliced multigrain brown bread
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
6 slices Gruyère slices
3 slices ham
6 eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons grated Gruyère -- Emmental or Cheddar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Spread each slice of bread with mustard. Make sandwiches by putting each slice of cheese against the mustardy bread, and a slice of ham between them. Cut each sandwich in half to make two triangles.
Squish the sandwich triangles into an ovenproof dish approx. 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 and 2 1/4 deep
Beat together the eggs, salt and milk pour over sandwiches
Cover the dish with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.
Next morning, preheat the oven to 400°f. Take the dish out of the fridge and remove the clingfilm.
Sprinkle with the grated cheese and Worcestershire sauce and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Description:
"Like grilled ham and cheese baked in egg custard for a fantastic breakfast casserole!"
Source:
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=104

Here's a picture of the table:

The rest of the menu:

Home Fried Potatoes w/Onions & Red Peppers

Sugar-glazed Bacon

Date Nut Bread with Orange-scented Cream Cheese

Toasted Mini Bagels

Watermelon Sticks, Pineapple Chunks and Sliced Strawberries

Assorted Juices, Coffee & Tea

And of course, Joe's O's Nana's favorite cereal for the youngest grandson!

Breakfast was enjoyed by all and the RI Huff's went to da Bronx to attend the final game of the Subway Series, between the Yankees and the Mets--they go every year and have divided loyalty, so two root for the Mets and two for the Yankees! Very Democratic of them I think!

Friday Roundup

2010-06-19T17:17:00.000-04:00

This week went by too quickly! Cooking highlights were a new Rabbit recipe. Used an English recipe for Rabbit and Leek Pie, but only made the stewed Rabbit with Leeks and added lemon zest & juice for the sauce. It was very yummy! The rabbit was boneless, the first time I've dealt with boneless rabbit! Most of the other dishes were repeats.

At home we had the Veal Rolls! Double Yum and Nana asked for a Mario Batali dish she saw him produce on Rachel Ray's Show: Stuffed Manicotti with Beef. I made a basic tomato sauce for it then prepared the beef ragu. We cooled these and stored them overnight. Nana finished the recipe the next day for our dinner. It was really good, I can't wait to make the Ragu again, so tasty.
I'm posting the cleaned up version of the recipe here. There were a few issues with the recipe on the site, some typos and one major issue was that it told you to make the stuffing while you were heating the water for the pasta, meanwhile the stuffing needs to cook for 1 1 /2 hours! So I rearranged the directions just a bit! Here's two pics of the process and plated:

On Friday we lunched in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with our Daughter @Dumont Burger we sat outside as it was a gloriously beautiful day, a tad warm but not scorching. It was a great meal, Nana had the Mini Burger w/Fries; Tiff had the Chickpea Burger with Onion Rings and I had the Turkey Burger with Salad. All were delicious. But the real star was the Fried Pickles we enjoyed for an appetizer:

After a walk of the neighborhood and a bit of shopping, we found our way to the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck! Diets beware! We tried three flavors-Mint Chip--Chocolate--Pistachio. All were perfect and refreshing! We had them in cups and no one spilled any on their clothes, therefore enjoying every last drop! Triple YUM! It's just a good thing the truck doesn't come to our neighborhood, we'd embarrassingly be chasing it down the block!!

While I was at the Queens Health Food Emporium on Thursday, shopping for ingredients for my client, I saw the most gorgeous English Peas. So on Friday Nana and I went back and bought a bunch along with Ricotta Cheese. Came home and made Farfalle with Pea/Ricotta/Mint puree tossed with sauteed shallots and extra peas. Served this as a side dish along side of grilled boneless chicken breast. Here's the yummy picture:

Not a bad week for Foodies eh?

Top Chef

2010-06-17T08:10:00.000-04:00

We watched the season premiere of Top Chef last night. I won't give away the loser in case you haven't watched it yet, but just a few comments on the overall. First off I gotta say I'm so spoiled by watching shows on DVR that I kept wanting to fast forward through the commercials, which seem longer and longer all the time! Anyone agree with this?

Secondly, a bit of a motley group, I must say! Including an instructor from the Culinary Institute of America! Should be an interesting season, egos are already defining themselves and show promise of lots of time will be wasted on stroking them!

Hopefully we'll get to see some inspiring cooking, not so much last night, not that they were awful, just a bit underwhelming. The premise for elimination was to cook a dish that represents your hometown roots. Some were way more successful representations while others were just all over the place!

Of course, I still admire anyone who is willing to put themselves and their food up to this challenge. I'm quite happy to play armchair food critic! Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be plenty more to chat about!

Stuffed Veal Rolls

2010-06-15T23:33:00.002-04:00

Such a yummy meal tonight. Couldn't decide what to have and finally decided on Veal Picatta at the store. Bought the Veal, Green Beans, Roma Grape Tomatoes and Shallots. But by the time I got home I'd decided to try something else. So I started with the veal, pounded it out for easier rolling. Sauteed a few chopped Portabello Mushroom caps, Shallots, Sun-dried Tomatoes in 2 teaspoons of oil from the sun-dried tomato jar. After that cooled I combined it with chopped Basil and Goat Cheese. Seasoned the Veal pieces with Kosher Salt and Black Pepper, placed a piece of Prosciutto on each and a dollop of the Goat Cheese mixture, rolled and secured with toothpicks.

Next, I browned the rolls in olive oil, probably a total of 5-6 minutes.

Then I placed them in the oven while I prepped the sauce. I used a jar of Acetum Cipolline Onions in Aceto Balsamic di Modena that we had purchased on our Italian Market trek in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. So my process was to add the drained onions to the pan, along with a squirt of Tomato Paste from a tube of double concentrated tomato paste. Deglazed with 1 cup white wine and reduced by 1/2 then added in the reserved balsamic vinegar liquid from the Cipolline.

Added rolls back to pan with additional shreds of basil and simmered for a few minutes.

Meanwhile I sauteed another sliced shallot and a minced clove of garlic, tossed in blanched green beans, until the shallots are lightly caramelized. Add halved cherry tomatoes and season to taste. Serve immediately or dress with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve room temp over a blend of baby lettuces for a great salad.

Here's our plated meal:

Very tender veal, lots of depth of flavor, the stuffing was permeated throughout the veal roll and the sauce was just acidic enough to complement the veal and the goat cheese. Think I might leave out the Prosciutto and add chopped Pancetta to the saute of stuffing vegetables. You could easily sub olives for the sun-dried tomatoes.

Baby Artichokes

2010-06-13T23:11:00.001-04:00

Stumbled across them at the grocery store the other day and couldn't remember the recipe we had wanted to make with them but figured I'd find it somewhere in my collection of to be tried!

Turns out it was a Rachel Ray Recipe, we had seen her make on her daytime TV talk show. It contained pancetta, so my ears perked up immediately! The title to the recipe is: Springtime Spaghetti with Baby Artichokes and Herbs and can be found here.

I followed the recipe perfectly, I know, I know, highly unusual, but here's what I will do differently next time: A little more wine and braise the chokes a little longer; peel them better left a few tough petals; saute some crushed red peppers along with the garlic. And maybe a generous squeeze of lemon for brightness just when plating. Otherwise it was a great meal! Similar to a stir-fry, have all your ingredients prepped ahead lined up and ready to go.

We enjoyed a few slices of thinly sliced whole wheat Ciabatta bread toasted, just like we had at lunch. Nice meal for two with enough leftover for a lunch.

Sauteing the ingredients:

Plated:

A Summery Sunday Lunch

2010-06-13T13:44:00.001-04:00

Just like in the winter when I make the refrigerator frittata, in the summer I make refrigerator chunky salsa. The chunks are really too big for dipping chips, so I like to use it over grilled meats or on top of greens for a salad.

Today's produce on hand yielded Avocado, Mini Plum Tomatoes (larger than grape and cherry) Red Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Celery, Parsley and Lime Juice. Added ingredients Kosher Salt, freshly Ground Black Pepper, splash of olive oil; pinch of sugar and a wee dash of Dried Ancho Chili Powder. Tossed everything together and let sit @ room temperature for 10 minutes. Check taste for seasonings add as desired. Served over mixed baby lettuces with two Melba Toast sized slices of Toasted Whole Wheat Ciabatta Bread. So refreshing!

Lots of great possibilities to add including Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Fennel, Mango, Peaches, Pineapple, Papaya, Jicama, Tomatillos, whatever you like or have on hand!

Cilantro and Mint are also good herbs for this and it can be as hot as you like, smoked paprika gives a nice smokiness to it, use sparingly or go all hot and add a chopped Chipotle in Adobo with a small amount of the adobo sauce!

To make this a dinner meal add a piece of grilled chicken breast, sliced leftover grilled steak or even a piece of grilled fish, salmon, swordfish or shrimp! When ever I'm in Rhode Island visiting family I'm always told that I don't make enough of this! Last time I used 5 avocados and generous amounts of the rest of the ingredients! Some are known for just taking the bowl out of the fridge and eating it with a fork, no accompaniments! Tasty and healthy at the same time, in moderation of course! Here's the pic:

Fridge Salsa Salad

Friday Roundup

2010-06-11T11:22:00.003-04:00

Where oh where did this week go? We came home from Rhode Island and haven't stopped since! After a very hectic weekend recuperative sleep-in, Monday morning was spent, attaching the new wireless keyboard and mouse to the desktop computer, this involved rewiring the whole back of the computer desk, got rid of cables that were just hanging out from discarded equipment. This all started because the cable guy moved the desk to repair our cable connection and the printer was unplugged in the process and the cords dropped behind the desk unobtainable after the desk was returned to it's normal position. The good news is cabling is more efficient and all computer dust bunnies have been vacuumed away! The afternoon we rearranged the furniture and storage area of the Guest Bedroom. We were preparing the space for the delivery of our newly purchased Elliptical Exercise Machine!

This entailed moving the book shelf that was home to over 100 of my treasured cookbook collection and 3 years worth of Food Magazines! This past December I culled the mags to a rotating 3 year plan. One year out when new year goes into the magazine boxes sorted by month. It's been a good system, but honestly with the Internet who needs all these hard copies?
My new process is to read the issue, dog ear any recipes I think might work for a client or personal test, then I gather all the magazines from a specific month and sit at the computer searching for them online. Experience has taught me to wait at least a month and they all appear either on the magazine's site or someones blog! Once they are found I download them to Mastercook to be tested and tweaked and/or to be used for clients' menus.

So I took a deep breath and tossed 2007-2009 issues of most subscribable food magazines! Ahhh, still feeling a bit light headed with withdrawal pangs! But progress, needed to lighten up the room as well as the body!

We moved all the books onto shelves on another piece of furniture and then decided that that piece of furniture needed to be moved! Duh! Unloaded the books and moved all the furniture then reloaded. These books got more handling than they've had in years!

Meanwhile we were on the phone trying to determine the footprint of the elliptical machine, can you believe it's not listed on the web page for the manufacturer? Next we called Dick's where we purchased it and the salesperson couldn't find a tape measure! He called a few hours later and said he found a brochure and gave us the measurements. We'd successfully cleared the right amount of space with extra.

All this cleaning was as good as a workout, I was actually too exhausted to cook. We decided to have Deli for dinner!

Tuesday, we cooked and made 3 new to me entrees:

Penne with Eggplant & Pesto with tomato sauce
Braised Chicken Thighs with Shallots
Turkey Sausage & White Bean "Cassoulet"

All three were amazing. The Eggplant is cubed and roasted then tossed with homemade basil pesto. This is then combined with Chef Jim's 20 minute tomato sauce. Served with Penne it's a wonderful meaty, meatless, meal.
For the Braised Chicken Thighs I used boneless, skinless thighs and reduced the cooking time a bit. The sauce is punched up with Dijon mustard, I'm thinking next time of using a tarragon mustard to give it a little more flavor.
The "Cassoulet" was tasty as written and so easy!
Side Dishes were:

Brown Rice Confetti;
Green Beans with Portobello Saute;
Fennel Layered with Potatoes and Bread Crumbs.

Wednesday the elliptical machine was delivered and assembled. We both tried it out for 2 minutes each, still sore from Monday's moving activity! Just wanted to get a feel for it. I did another 5 minutes later in the day. I can see that it'll take us some time to get up to the 30 minute workouts suggested. But very excited about the low impact it will provide this old body!

Thursday I cooked in Manhattan:

Roasted Lemon/Garlic Chicken Legs;
Classic Beef Stew;
Roasted Salmon with Orange Dill Sauce;
Brown & Wild Rice Pilaf;
Roasted Slices of Japanese Yams with Dill;
Two Color Cauliflower Vegetable Medley.

Our meals have been simple this week, Deli; Pasta w/Chef Jim's 20 minute tomato sauce; Stir-fry Orange Pork & Broccoli; Roasted Chicken Sausage, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions and Garlic.

The highlight dish this week was dessert! Nana made Lemon Pudding Cakes from Cuisine at home. You can see the recipe and picture here. These were delicious, pretty light as in not overly filling, great follower to the Stir-fry meal. These will be added to the Tried N True list! Check them out, very basic prep, we will add more blueberries next time, I'd like them in every bite, wondering if raspberries might be a good sub or maybe in addition to the blueberries!

Relay For Life

2010-06-07T23:26:00.001-04:00

As mentioned earlier, we participated in the Relay for Life event in East Providence, RI Friday night. As a survivor I was being honored by my Son, Daughter-in-law and two Grandsons who reside in East Providence. They joined a team of friends and created a team called The Roadrunners (coincidentally my favorite cartoon character). The latest numbers I heard were our team raised close to $9,000 and the East Providence chapter of the American Cancer Society reported that so far they have received $54,000 before the matching that some employers will be adding. They believe they will exceed their goal of $60,000! Very impressive.

Here's a quick synopsis of the event:

It went very well, it was fantastic. We were one of many teams of course and called the Roadrunners! (my favorite cartoon character) We had one other survivor on our team and both of us were interviewed on ABC 6 the local Providence station. Turns out they were participating and sponsoring this year due to a producer losing her Father to Cancer, so the station covered the event for the first time in 7 years!

My teammate was a bit more shy about talking w/o getting choked up, but I was glad to speak out for her and for me and countless others who are survivors!

We did the opening survivor's lap then had caregivers join us for the second lap and I walked with my family specifically my Grandsons holding my hands! That was awesome!

My wife and I lasted until Midnight, we must have walked about 40 laps, especially enjoyed the luminary silent lap which we walked with a bagpiper and drummer playing! Very emotional!

My family remained all night! We had planned to return early in the a.m. and attend at least two or three of the special laps in the morning before the closing ceremonies. It was held on a beautiful football field 3 blocks from my son's house so it was going to be a pleasant walk there in the cool of the a.m. However @6 a.m. we had a terrible thunder storm that woke us up and we ended up not leaving the house. They told the remaining participants to leave that it wasn't safe under their tents with the lightening, but it was raining so hard they couldn't really pack and go. They all ended up huddling in the concrete restrooms away from the chance of lightning strikes. Around 8 a.m. they were able to drive their cars onto the track surrounding the field and load up and leave. My son texted me that they'd be home in 20 minutes and I answered him to bring coffee and eats as we had no electricity! He had to drive to the next town to get Dunkin' Donuts and got the last 2 croissants and a couple of donuts! Seems others had the same idea and their first choice Dunkin' was hit by the same outage!

We enjoyed our participation and won't have the final figures regarding which team won for a few days! Our team raised a lot selling luminaries, procuring pledges from family and friends, selling stars, and having 6 great raffles! I believe my DIL said they added over $900 during the event to their original figure of over $7000!

All in all, it was a very rewarding experience. We had a celebratory party at my son's house Saturday night! Guess who cooked?

Nana and I made a wonderful meal that everyone enjoyed immensely. Here's the menu:

Homemade Avocado Salsa & assorted jarred salsas and chips

Roasted Beef Tenderloin w/Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Honey Glazed Chicken Wings

Grilled Hamburgers & Hot Dogs

Coleslaw

Pasta Salad with toasted garlic vinaigrette

Marinated Mozz balls w/roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes and basil

Corn & Baby Zucchini Toss

Warmed Baguettes

Desserts provided by guests:

Strawberry Short Cake

Assorted Cheese Cake slices

Ice Cream Sundaes

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Picture is of the Beef and Wine Sauce: There were NO leftovers!

FRIDAY ROUNDUP

2010-06-04T16:38:00.000-04:00

Today we are in Rhode Island for the Relay for Life event in East Providence, So I'm suspending the roundup for this week. Will report more on the weeke
nd events later!

Remember to support your local events for the American Cancer Society so we can celebrate more birthdays and less losses!

Greek Meal on Northern Blvd!

2010-06-03T00:08:00.002-04:00

We had dinner plans with our daughter and son-in-law tonight and she suggested we try a restaurant she's passed a million times not far from their apartment. We went to Sala on Northern Boulevard in Auberndale, Queens. The approach to the restaurant is very odd the building looks like a large house with a grand entrance and a walled courtyard in front. As you enter through the open iron gates you realize that the courtyard is set up for outdoor dining. A server met us and asked if we preferred to eat indoors or out. We chose to eat out as it was a wonderful low humidity evening in Queens. We sat a a table for four near the staircase that led to the interior sections of the restaurant.

We perused the menu and noticed many things we'd enjoy. They have a page of 10 for 10. They have ten of their entrees available for $10 and will add an appetizer platter of cheese pies and house salad for an additional $4.95. We chose to order appetizers and share. First lesson: their appys are similarly priced to their entrees and as it turns out they are huge servings. We shared a plate of mussels, a sampling of 5 traditional cold spreads w/grilled pita triangles, eggplant and zucchini chips and grilled portabella mushrooms over field greens. Every dish was outstanding and way more food than we expected. I was figuring that the entrees had to be smaller! Wrong!

Our entrees were another plate of Mussels with the tomato/feta sauce and orzo; Lemon Chicken; Shishkebob; Pastichio. The food was tasty, beautifully plated and abundant. All but the mussels had a side of rice. We had the leftovers wrapped to go. After a lengthy discussion we determined there was very little room for dessert. But one baklava and some coffees were in order. By the time the waiter returned to take our order somehow we were ordering yogurt with black cherries and honey.

When our waiter returned to the table he had 4 desserts! He announced to us that two were on the house! We shared them, even though we said we didn't need them! So we had Chocolate Mousse cake and Apple Strudel that were both out of the world, now the two we ordered were excellent and met their expectations but these two tasted were wonderful additions, took home the balance of the chocolate and the baklava.

They have a short wine list with some excellent choices, and a majority of them available by the glass. A special drink list had a nice variety including the Mojito that was enjoyed by our daughter.
I did glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and Nana had Malbec. Son-in-law indulged in his once a year Heineken. It was a great evening, good company great food, good service, perfect surroundings, great weather, what more could you ask for?

Our plan to return includes drinks and tons of appetizers! And maybe share an entree! Went on our own volition without and preconceived notions, no read reviews in hand or recommendations of previous diners. This always makes it a great find!

Go, enjoy, be prepared to bring food home!!

Off Topic: Relay for Life

2010-06-01T09:41:00.002-04:00

Just a little off topic here, but you may notice I've added the badge for Relay for Life to the blog.

As a Cancer survivor (Prostate 2001) I have been honored twice in Relay For Life events. Once with my daughter Tiffany's, restaurant Uno's in Fort Totten. And once in Rhode Island with the whole RI Huff's family participation. This year is a little different in that I am proudly attending the relay in RI with the RI Huff's. We are looking forward to doing the relay walks throughout the night! The event is this coming Friday, June 4th. The RI Huff's have been very instrumental in raising money for this event on their local front and have made me very proud!

I truly believe that there are very few people who haven't been touched, in some way, by this disease and we need to do everything we can to improve the survivor rate along with preventing Cancer altogether!

These lyrics from Melissa Etheridge resonant with me so much:

"It`s a blur since they told me about it

How the darkness had taken its toll

And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body

But they will never get a piece of my soul

And now I`m still learning the lesson

To awake when I hear the call

And if you ask me why I am still running

I`ll tell you I run for us all"

So I'm just here to say that I'm hoping everyone, who has or has not been touched by the big C, can do something to help this cause. If you wish to contribute via the Relay for Life Event, you can go here!

Thanx for reading and for doing whatever you can to help this cause. We need to raise our voices and battle this disease!

Ravioli Mishap

2010-06-01T00:16:00.000-04:00

I've been inspired to try my hand a pasta-making again and decided to try Ravioli. Everyone on TV makes pasta like it's nothing, so I figured it was time (once again) to get into the game. Got out my copy of Lidia's Family Table and reread the section on making the dough in the food processor. Then proceeded to review her instructions for making large ravioli. Picked a great filling recipe from Giada De Laurentiis with Prosciutto, Spinach, and Ricotta. Made the dough and wrapped it up and stored in the fridge. Later, pulled it out made a quick tomato sauce and the filling. Nana helped by setting up the dining room table for production. Dug out the hand cranking pasta machine and proceeded to prove easy is not my strong suit!

Created 20 LARGE ravioli, mind you no two were the same size! Added them to the boiling water and waited for them to float to the top. Selected the best looking 8 and sauced them up in pasta bowls and served with Poached Pear and Arugula Salad w/Champagne Pear Vinaigrette. These ravioli were visually an abomination to the Italian Culinary World! They didn't taste awful, they just weren't perfectly shaped and delicate as they should be! So that's the story, sad, funny looking ravioli in the bowls and I wouldn't let Nana snap a picture! Was afraid someone else would see them! Stay tuned, I'm determined to get it right, someday! Then there will be beautiful pictures! Meanwhile enjoy the salad picture!

Monday Lunch

2010-05-31T14:09:00.003-04:00

Rummaging around in a "Chef's" refrigerator can muster up an odd bounty of bits of ingredients. Occasionally, there's a way to pull several of them together for a truly impromptu dish.

Case in point:

Today, I started tackling the pile of Magazines with turned down pages, to enter marked recipes into Mastercook. Since I haven't done this since January, so there's quite a few to deal with. In the background I have the new Cooking Channel on, they are running a marathon of shows, each one seems to have two episodes back to back, sort of an introductory tasting of each personality. After finishing Everyday Food issues I realized I was starving. Craving so many different tastes I knew I'd never be able to match the craving with a planned peanut butter and jelly sandwich!! Albeit on Eli Zabar's Manor House bread!

So a-rummaging I went. Found the container of leftover roasted tomatoes used for:Long Fusilli with Roasted Tomatoes what to make, what to do? Don't want to cook pasta, after all, we had homemade ravioli for dinner last night (will write about that disaster later). Eggs, beautiful cage free brown eggs! Slice of the Manor House bread toasted with two scrambled eggs a healthy spoonful of the heated roasted tomatoes, a dollop of ramp pesto and a few shavings of Parmesano Reggiano! Yum Yum!
I apologize for the picture quality it's from my crackberry, Nana, the photog was in the laundry room and I couldn't find her camera. And I really wanted to eat it while it was hot!! But you'll get the idea from the fuzzy rendition!

Sunday Breakfast

2010-05-30T11:46:00.000-04:00

Toasted Manor House Bread by Eli Zabar, with goat cheese and fig preserves! YUM!

--
Chef Jim
TRAVELING CULINARY ARTIST
traculart@gmail.com
http://www.travelingculinaryartist.com/

Spice & Easy

2010-05-29T22:55:00.005-04:00

Food Network has a new show called SPICE & EASY. I keep missing it and forgot to set the DVR for it for several weeks now! Finally, today I made sure I watched it. It is a pretty good show, the hostess is Janet Johnston, who with her husband are the owners of three spice shops in Colorado called Savory Spice Shops. Actually, a friend from Cookstalk forum has visited the shops in Denver, and told us about the show! You can also order from their website.

Janet has a passion for herbs, spices and cooking so she's a natural for explaining how to "spice" things up! Today's show was about a barbecue blend that they make from a recipe submitted by a customer during a contest held in the stores. She made Ribs with Peanut Barbecue Sauce made with Chinese five spice; Chile Glazed Shrimp with Pineapple Ginger Salsa; Celery Root Slaw with wasabi and honey. And her dessert was Grilled Spiced Sugar Bananas with Spiced Nuts.

She used a brine to prep racks of ribs and then after slow baking them she basted them with the Peanut Barbecue Sauce. This got me thinking, I had boneless chicken breasts that needed to be cooked today in the fridge, why not use this brine and sauce for them? I had all the other ingredients as well and love Chinese five spice! I also had broccoli/carrot slaw mix, so I'd make the dressing from her slaw too! Yeah, two new recipes to test out today, admittedly tweaked, but still new!

Brined the chicken breasts for 1 hour then baked @375º for 10 minutes; basted with Peanut Barbecue Sauce and baked for another 20 minutes until done! Very moist and delicious! I cut back on the wasabi as Nana is not a fan, and probably will go full on next time, it was so mild she didn't even notice it was there! Also looking forward to trying the Celery Root version! I used the broccoli, carrot slaw mix and added scallions, we finished it all!

I think I'll make the shrimp in Rhode Island next time we visit, they would love it! And maybe the bananas too!

Check out the show and definitely try the recipes!

Long Fusilli with Roasted Tomatoes

2010-05-28T21:42:00.003-04:00

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of big, bold flavors and recipes with a long list of ingredients to accomplish that boldness! But, honestly, I am also a practitioner of simple flavorful cuisine. Today's dinner was a perfect example of that method.

I started out by receiving a request for Pasta for dinner from Nana. So I headed to the kitchen to see what pasta would inspire me. I found plenty of choices in the pantry: Farfalle, Penne, Spaghetti, Orzo, Faro Linguine and Long Fusilli. We bought the fusilli in Philly's Italian Market at Claudio Specialty Food. From the kitchen I headed to one of the many cookbook shelves and selected all three of my Lidia Basitanich tomes. Quickly scanned the indices for Fusilli and came up with: LONG FUSILLI WITH ROASTED TOMATOES in Lidia's Italy. I posted the recipe on facebook here.
It was delicious and fairly simple. Only a few tweaks (I know you're not surprised) I used more basil than called for, adding some chopped to the olive oil that is infused with garlic slices and I also heated the oil to just below the bubbling point before tossing it with the pasta! Also, used Sapore Sweet Cocktail Tomatoes as the plum tomatoes weren't that good at the store today! The Sapore are packaged on the vine and smaller than the Campari but bigger than grape or cherry tomatoes. Cooked them just a little bit less time wise and didn't slice up the halves, tossed the whole halves onto the pasta! Next time I'll add shavings of cheese to the finished dish rather than grated, I love a bite of cheese with my pasta!

This is a light appearing dish, but we both felt is was just right for a summery supper! Enjoy! Here's the pics: before, during and after!

Do It Your Way recipe!

2010-05-26T00:32:00.002-04:00

Dinner Tuesday night was a creation that could be tweaked many ways!

We had Barbecue Pork Tenderloin Strips with Onions and Peppers on Ciabatta Rolls; Broccoli Slaw with Cider Vinegar & Sugar dressing; Salt and Pepper Potato Chips.

Was kinda craving pulled pork sandwiches but didn’t have the time for nice slow cooked pork shredded and sauced on a roll!

Brought home a Pork Tenderloin, trimmed it up and cut it into strips, the size I’d use for beef tips. Then I seasoned with Roasted Garlic Gray Salt, Aleppo Pepper and Black Pepper; vertically sliced ½ yellow onion and julienned one red pepper. Sauteed pork for 2-3 minutes set aside; added onion and peppers to the pan when lightly caramelized added one tablespoon tomato paste sauté for 1 minute longer; deglazed with 1/3 cup white wine; added back the meat and ½ jar of Bone Sucking Barbecue sauce. Simmered for 10 minutes; served over toasted Ciabatta Rolls.

Options: Red Onion, Leeks, Green Pepper or a combo of the colored bell peppers, Jalapeno, Minced Garlic, Kosher Salt, Paprika, Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne, even Taco Seasoning could be good, Red Wine, Beer, Broth or just Water, Any Barbecue Sauce and Your Favorite sandwich rolls.

My plan for the slaw was to add apples and use a Champagne/Pear Vinaigrette, but the apples weren’t up to par. Any version of coleslaw would have been appropriate, Red Cabbage and Fennel is one of my loved versions. And of course any of the millions of flavored potato chips would be perfect.

Love the adjustability of this meal. Will prepare this again, varying different elements each time. It’s one of those recipes that Nana will say: Didn’t you write down what you did last time?? Enjoy!

SONO BAKING COMPANY & CAFE

2010-05-22T12:29:00.005-04:00

Traveled to East Providence Rhode Island, on Friday, to attend the celebrations of the 5 year old grandson's birth! We started out a bit later than usual and immediately joined the millions of trucks on the road and crawled across the Throg's Neck Bridge into the Bronx. Finally on I-95 in Westchester County we were able to travel at the speed limit. Then, as usual, we slowed down in Connecticut. So, since Nana was driving I pulled out the Blackberry and did a search for something to eat in the Norwalk area.

Suddenly, I remembered SONO Baking Company and Cafe. Got onto the GPS and let it navigate us to the Bakery in SONO (South Norwalk). We had attended the Martha Stewart show on the day they taped the episode where John Barricelli brought out his new book entitled: The Sono Baking Company Cookbook, and as audience members we received two copies!

The book is great, I really enjoyed reading it and will start testing some of the sweet recipes soon! In the book he talks about the Cafe and the breakfast and lunch menus, they sounded interesting, so we set out to see what it was all about! You can sit inside with picture window views of the staff working in the bakery preparing pastries and baking breads. Or there are a few umbrellaed tables outside to dine al fresco.

Meanwhile we enjoyed our lunch at the cafe! Nana had the Club sandwich with Turkey, Ham, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado with Horseradish Mayo! I had the special salad with Grilled Salmon, Romaine, Tomatoes and Blueberry/Balsamic Vinaigrette. We also bought a loaf of Seeded Semolina bread for our planned Spaghetti & Meatball dinner and two Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies for the car! The cookies were awesome and the bread was perfect.

Of course now we're trying to figure out how early we have to leave RI on Monday to make it back for lunch on the way home!!!

Friday Roundup

2010-05-21T09:54:00.004-04:00

Decided to post quickly before our trip to RI.

Will post a weekend roundup on Monday! Looking forward to a great time in RI, tonite we're having Italian Grandma's Spaghetti and Meatballs! Haven't planned the rest of the weekend's menu as of yet, will be feverishly catching up on Food Magazine reading in the car on the way to RI and hopefully get inspired!! (Like that's ever a problem!)

Here's two pics of meals we made this week at home.

First is the Roast Chicken with Tapenade from Alex's Day Off on the Food Network. It's from Chef Alex Guarnaschelli who says it's from her fond childhood memories of the food she ate at home. You can get the recipe here, the only things I did differently was to add a clove of garlic in the cavity of the chicken and I started it by roasting breast side down for 15 minutes then turned it over. The tapenade was plentiful and we ate it later in the week with little baguette toasts. The side dish was steamed baby carrots and asparagus with ramp pesto! Awesome way to use ramps!

Yummy, yummy!

Second Picture is of my own version of Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup. Simple ingredients list:
Roasted yellow peppers, peeled
White onion chopped and sauteed
Chicken broth
Heat all then puree
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and chopped chives.

The inspiration came from the soup I had at Motorinos earlier in the week! Delish, and soooooo easy! Really just try it!

This was Nana's plate with a slice of her leftover

Brussels Sprout Pizza!

Field Trip: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

2010-05-17T16:26:00.002-04:00

As Sunday was a beautiful day we decided to head back over to Williamsburg to check out two points of interest. Meat Hook a store within a store. Meat Hook is a wonderful butcher shop inside the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs' new digs at 100 Frost Street right under the BQE. We had been to The Brooklyn Kitchen's original store on Lorimer but have been hearing great things about the new location, so we went to check it out. Great space, they have two working kitchen labs where they conduct classes, and are available to be rented, and of course the awesome Meat Hook butcher shop in addition to a very culled array of kitchen necessities.

Perusing the meat cases we thought the handmade sausages looked amazing and we'll be returning to make a few test purchases! Some awesome looking aged beef, lots of hams, pork tenderloins & chops; some lamb and chickens and rabbits were in the meat cases as well. They also carry a variety of frozen homemade stocks that I bet are amazing! A few dairy products and a handful of produce like purple and pink radishes! All products are from local farms.

Next we went to Marlow & Daughters @95 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This butcher shop is located right down the street from the Famous Peter Luger Steak House. Another block away are Marlow & Sons and Diner Restaurants owned by the proprietors of Marlow & Daughters. Here also, were amazing looking cuts of meat and some special cheeses, along with some pantry stables, selected produce, bread and dairy products. As it was now getting late and we needed to get something for dinner we opted to purchase the Lamb and Black Olive Sausage for dinner Sunday night and a chicken to roast with lemons and olives from Alex's Day Off. The recipe is here. Picked up some ramps, baby carrots and asparagus to go with the roast chicken. Got the olives we needed and a chunk of sourdough artisan bread! Once we were home, I browned the sausage and braised it with onions, fennel and cabbage, using a grainy dijon mustard and white wine. Served it with simple parsley new potatoes. Another great meal.

After dinner we were discussing the blog and decided we should have grabbed some pictures of our journey, so since we had Monday off this week we returned to Williamsburg to grab the pics and went to Motorino for lunch! Motorino's is located @319 Graham Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We've been hearing about the wonderful Pizzeria Napolitana and wanted to give it a try! We decided on the Prix Fixe lunch @ $11! I started with today's soup: Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Nana had a mixed green salad. She ordered the Brussels Sprout Pizza which had: fior di latte / pancetta afumicatta / garlic / parmigiano reggiano. I had the Margherita tomato / fior di latte / basil. Both were delish! Lunch was $22! Well worth it! We were very satisfied and look forward to returning soon!

Fridge to Table Fritatta

2010-05-16T12:24:00.006-04:00

For a delicious lazy Sunday morning Breakfast the first step is to go stand in front of your refrigerator with the door(s) wide open for a full assessment! Then you pick out your ingredients at least some leftovers (potatoes, veggies, meats whatever), fresh eggs, butter, cheese, and maybe the ends of jars of condiments like artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, etc. Don't forget to check the Deli drawer, there's often some wonderful bits in there!

Today's version had cubed leftover roasted sliced Japanese Yams; a few slices of prosciutto; 1 shallot; 1/2 yellow pepper; 2 jarred roasted red peppers, pepper jack cheese and parsley.

Started by melting some butter and olive oil in cast iron skillet and adding potatoes, shallot and yellow pepper all sprinkled with paprika and kosher salt.

Next I added chopped prosciutto and roasted red pepper; tossed a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley into the 6 eggs (I prefer to use 6 eggs and 2 extra egg whites for more fluff, but only had 6 eggs total) and a splash of ice water, then poured this mixture over the lightly browned veggies:

As the eggs were setting on the bottom, I tossed the cheese on top

Once the bottom was set and the center was starting to bubble I placed the pan in the preheated oven under the broiler, cooked until puffed and browned, let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving, good time to put down the toaster!

And finally plated with a dollop of ketchup, and fruit drawer bounty: orange wedges, blackberries & blueberries

Now there's leftover for lunch tomorrow!

YUM!

FRIDAY ROUNDUP

2010-05-14T11:33:00.002-04:00

Just the quick list of this week’s recipes, culinary adventures, etc.

Top Cooking Faves from this week:

Pork Loin with Fennel and Mashed Potatoes & Celeric from our Mother’s Day Cooking Project.
Chicken Breast Marbella the updated version of the now classic Silver Palate recipe.

Eggplant Relish with Sliced Roasted Pork Tenderloin—the relish is going to become a new condiment in the repertoire.

Braised Rabbit with Carrots and Leeks a wonderful stew and yes, it did taste like chicken! LOL!!

Pan Roasted Split Chicken Breasts in Cast Iron Skillet—Simple? Yes! Tasty? Double Yes!

This week’s Leftover Winner: Sliced Loin of Pork with Fennel

Things I learned:

Out of necessity I learned how to butcher rabbits! Not necessarily the most fun I’ve had. The butcher didn’t cut them up as ordered but sent whole skinless (thankfully) rabbits complete with heads and some internal organs still attached! Gives new meaning to minimally processed!

Glitches and/or disasters:

One of the wheels on my Rolling Contractor’s Tool Kit broke off!! Of course this was on the way into a clients’apartment! Required me to carry it from the kitchen to the elevator, then out of the building and down the block to the parked car! UGH! Guess I’m going shopping!

All the other Ingredients:

Looks like we’re finally getting to the end of the Aero Garden’s harvest of Basil, Thyme and Chives. Time to start thinking about the next project for the 3 pod herb garden. The basil was great the thyme a little milder than expected and the chives a complete waste of time! Used a good amount of the basil in a pasta dish this week, just sautéed garlic and heirloom cherry tomatoes mixed with basil and Parmigiano Reggiano! Honestly the basil and cheese were awesome, the tomatoes not so much!

BOOK REVIEW: Michael Symon’s Live to Cook

2010-05-12T00:46:00.001-04:00

This book was acquired with a GC that I got for Christmas. I first became familiar with Michael Symon when I watched him defeat John Besh for the title of Iron Chef on The Next Iron Chef Season 1. His infectious laugh made me think his food might not be so serious and yet it was all I could do to keep from running to the kitchen to duplicate his efforts.

Next, while reading Michael Ruhlman’s book Soul of a Chef, I really enjoyed his insight into Symon’s restaurant Lola. He portrayed a hard working, mid-western chef with high standards that understands the balance between eating local and seasonal and producing dishes that appeal to his audience in Cleveland, Ohio. The message was that he cooks from his soul.

Symon’s book takes up where Ruhlman’s story of Lola leaves off, he brings you into his life and points out the influences that brought him to where he is, at the point of writing this book.

His narratives entertain and educate at the same time and then there’s the recipes and the bonus of the Symon Says tidbits.

While he believes a dish should be started and finished in one pan he refers to his style as “heritage” cooking. Based on the foods of his family, he has been influenced by Greek-Italian-Eastern European and American recipes.

He writes pages on Fresh Sausages, Vinaigrettes, Confit, Braising, Roasting & Grilling, etc. giving his take on technique. And, he gives us pages on Humility, The Power of Cookbooks and Family explaining his connection to the world.

This book is a cover to cover read; more cookbooks are going in this “novel” direction these days. Michael mixes it up with personal revelations, descriptive techniques and specific tried and true recipes.

It is written with Michael Ruhlman and you definitely feel his guidance and style in the narrative…never a bad thing!

I highly recommend this book and of course have many dog eared pages for recipes I’ll be trying out!

Three New (to me) recipes

2010-05-11T21:59:00.002-04:00

I cooked today for a client where I make 3 entrees for two weeks worth of meals. So when Nana asked me what we were making today I realized I'd chosen 3 new recipes. One, the Meatballs, is a similar dish to things I've made in the past but was just a bit twisted. So, thinking about the blog, I asked her to bring her camera and shoot pics of the new dishes. All she needs is an excuse to carry her camera! And who knows how long I'll be able to enjoy having her as sous chef/photographer, someday she'll get a new job and be unavailable for weekday cookdates!

The three dishes were: Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Eggplant Relish; Thai Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Peanut Sauce and Chicken Breast Marbella. The chicken dish is a modernized version of a famous recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins. The original recipe uses a whole chicken cut into pieces, the updated version is from Eating Well Magazine and uses boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

All three turned out very well. The Meatballs in the Spicy Peanut Sauce are too hot for Nana and the bit of heat in the Eggplant Relish for the Pork Tenderloin wasn't her favorite either. But the Chicken Marbella received a favorable review. The clients prefer lots of heat, in fact their fridge is better stocked with a variety of hot sauces than most grocery stores!

Side dishes included Honey Ginger Baby Carrots; Scallion Rice and Roasted Cauliflower, Chick Peas and Olives. No pics of the sides, as we get more accustomed to taking pics we'll be more mindful, especially since they were very colorful today!

Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Eggplant Relish

Thai Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Peanut Sauce

Chicken Breasts Marbella

Another good day of cooking! I always feel so lucky to be getting paid to fulfill my own personal passion: cooking for others!

Mother's Day Cooking Project

2010-05-09T23:52:00.005-04:00

So it was decided that Nana would pick out a recipe from her favorite TV chef: Ina Garten and we'd cook it together. She chose Loin of Pork with Fennel from Barefoot Contessa at Home. We decided to have it with Mashed Potatoes and Celery Root and Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon. We also baked a Meyer Lemon Cake w/Cream Cheese Frosting.

We went shopping at the Natural in Forest Hills, which was so busy with Flowers for Mom's Day! We bought a 2 1/2 lb. Boneless Loin of Pork and I butterflied it, stuffed it with the fennel, onions, breadcrumb mixture and then retied the roast. While it roasted we tackled the truly ugly celery root aka celeriac or celery knob. (See the picture below) We also prepped the potatoes and green beans and made a gravy with onions, toasted and ground fennel seed, white wine and chicken broth, lightly thickened and reduced.

Celery Root:

The table for two:

The finished dinner plate:

The Meyer Lemon Cake:

And the plated slice:

It was a delicious meal and a great day cooking together!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY NANA AND ALL THE MOM'S NEAR AND FAR!

Philly Phood!

2010-05-08T11:28:00.005-04:00

Here's the rundown of our culinary adventures in Philadelphia. We spent the first weekend in May in Philly to belatedly celebrate our 40th Anniversary with my Sister and Brother-in-Law. We had a great time, warm weather and a need to return to our diets!

READING TERMINAL MARKET

PEARL'S OYSTER BAR

On Friday we arrived around noon, checked in and walked over to Reading Terminal Market a few short blocks from our Hotel! This Market is definitely a Food Sensory Overload! After 5 minutes I was convinced it could take a few weeks to eat and savor the tastes available here! With four people all with unique ideas as to what lunch should be we finally decided to go to Pearl's Oyster bar. We secured a great table next to a window looking out onto the street. It is located on the perimeter in a corner of the building and would become the area from where we launched our search for everything food! Three of us enjoyed fried oyster platters and one had the Deviled Crab platter! The oysters were huge and well breaded and not greasy at all! Delish! Strolled through the entire market not missing a single booth, made some purchases of jarred items, like green tomato pickles and pickled brussels sprouts, jams and homemade ginger snaps for dessert!

PARC RESTAURANT

Our choice for dinner was Parc located across from Rittenhouse Square a beautiful metropolitan green space. Parc is a French Brasserie and as such has all the typical Brasserie dishes. (And as an amateur Francophile I couldn't fault that!) We enjoyed the following: Kir Royale or Stella Artois. I had Pissaladiere and Skate Grenobloise and for dessert Apple Tarte Tatin. Kathy had Tomato Tarte and Beef Bourguignon; Debra enjoyed Escargot and Bouillabaisse and Profiteroles; Fred tried Steak Tartare and Braised Lamb Shank. Felt like we were in Paris! Food was outstanding and the atmosphere was perfect, large open doors to the outdoors, very busy bustling dining rooms and friendly, warm service! What more could you ask for? Just a great night out.

CARLUCCHIO'S

On Saturday we hit the Italian Market after riding the ducks sightseeing tour. First stop was Fante's Kitchen supplies, shopped till we were starving, on recommendation of one of the managers we seeked out Carlucchio's a small Italian restaurant one block south of the Italian Market--where else should you eat a wonderful Italian meal if you couldn't get to the south of Italy? Kathy had the most amazing Asparagus Risotto, Debra Chcken Parm Sandwich, Fred Rib Eye Cheesesteak Sandwich w/sweet peppers and I had a Chicken Cutlet Panino with Broccoli Rabe! SOOOOOOOOOOO Good! The restaurant is new in 2010, only 26 seats and is BYOB!

LA BOURSE

A beautiful respite of a Lobby Bar in the Sofitel hotel for drinks before dinner! White Sangria or Sauvignon Blanc, all very refreshing.

TINTO

Saturday night's choice was Jose Garces' restaurant off Rittenhouse Square for Spanish style small plates. We enjoyed this experience as well! The food is over the top, each dish was better than the last and the only thing we decided was just great not over the top was one they put on the table that didn't belong to us: Crab Crostini! Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't up to the par of everything else. I'll just list the many things we had:

Mixto Charcuterie and Mixto Cheese Platters

Rodaballo a la Plantxa (Turbot, sauce pastis, baby fennel, citrus

Diver Scallops, cider demi-glace, benton's bacon, shaved apple

Duck Confit, serrano ham, black cherry, la peral spread

Kobe Beef, pisto lilbaina, romesco

Asparagus, smoked tomato compote, mahon espuma

Wild Mushrooms, roasted potato, shallt, parsley

Organic Chicken, truffled whipped mash, brussels sprouts, smoked bacon

Reveuelto De Cangreho, soft scrambled egg, jumbo lump crab, benton's bacon, english peas, herbed toast

No room for dessert! Wonderful Tempranillo wine! Talk about sensory overload!

AMIS

We were unable to return to our first choice for brunch on Sunday due to an MS Run taking over Broad Street preventing us from getting across town. So we went to Mark Vetry's newest restaurant and Roman version of small plates. Kathy had Artichoke Alla Giudia and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. Debra: Homemade Italian Cornetti with marmellata and Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup. I had Escarole Salad with apples and radish and Polenta Pasticciata with fennel sausage and provolone and Fred had: Warm Belgian Waffles with maple syrup and Frico (montasio cheese and potato tart) and assorted marmalades. While the food was very good and unusual it wasn't what we'd been expecting to eat @Parc.

RIDE HOME IN MR. GRAY

From Whole Foods on South Street: Apricot Ginger Muffin, Orange Cranberry Scone, Fruit salad, Bottled Water!

We truly enjoyed our Culinary Adventures in Philadelphia, can't wait to return!

Blogging Revisited

2010-05-07T23:18:00.001-04:00

I am finally getting up to speed on blogging, and the plan is to work at it to keep it up! Wish me luck! So I'll probably spend less mindless time playing solitaire late at night and more time being productive here! Stay tuned for some good reading (hopefully, it will be enjoyed)!

Weekend Experiments

2006-07-10T13:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday--Pasta with Sausage, Fennel & Onions from Lidia's Family Table. I have borrowed the book from the Library and will now add it to my Cookbook Wish List! Lidia is very "instructional" as she is on her TV show. Her recipes are pretty straight forward and her directions are explicit. Great book for novices as well as seasoned cooks looking for some specific Italian dishes both innovative and traditional.

Sunday was big experiment day! First, baked a Pineapple Upside Down Cake in my cast iron skillet using the recipe on Cook's Illustrated. Used fresh pineapple and it turned out very nice, good caramelized topping with cherries and pineapple pieces arranged in a mosaic style vs. the canned ring/cherry center version!

Sunday dinner was the Spring Roll project! Chose a Vietnamese recipe found in PERFECT ASIAN COOKING by Anne Willan A Barnes and Noble publication.

I have a new appreciation for spring rolls. What a labor intensive dish! But when all was said and done....Quite tasty! Of course I went over the top and created three dipping sauces and served two bottled chili sauces, one sweet and one hot, with them as well! One of the made sauces was the typical dipper of Fish Sauce, Lime Juice, Sugar, Rice Vinegar, Chilis and Garlic. Then there was the Tamarind paste & Cilantro version also with Fish Sauce, Soy Sauce, Lime Juice and Sugar. And then I also made a Mint/Cilantro chutney, which was the least favorite.

Back to the beloved spring rolls: boneless chunks of pork (poached), boiled shrimp, marinated carrot julienne, cabbage leaves, rice stick noodles, Japanese cucumber, bean sprouts, leaves of mint and cilantro.

Just prepping the ingredients is time consuming. Adding to that fact it's also a very tedious process to layer and wrap. Of course realizing that I had 6 1/2 inch Rice Paper versus the 8 1/2" called for in the recipe after the fact was a problem. With the variety and quantity of ingredients those extra two inches would have made a very big difference! Also larger = easier handling.

For alongside our Spring Rolls, we tossed together a vegetable stir-fry using Japanese Eggplant, Red Pepper, Garlic, Ginger, Bean Sprouts and Chinese Cabbage and served it over the extra Rice Stick Noodles.

So the experiment was a success, learned a lot and will plan to make spring rolls again, however limiting the number of ingredients until we have used up the 6 1/2 inch rice paper! Also if making for a crowd, will definitely make sure the rest of the menu is do-ahead items! Although, I must say, these held nicely in the fridge with a damp kitchen towel over them while we cleaned up and made the stir-fry.

Have to plan tonight's follow up meal, we have two rolls leftover, used in the photos--but have some extra cooked shrimp, maybe a cool salad platter to pick from! MMMMMMM-just remembered I got some red fingerlings, maybe a warm potato salad with some French flavors or mint and shallot vinaigrette!

Weekend Movie Notes: Rented Capote and Firewall this weekend, Capote was VERY good, Philip Seymour Hoffman became Truman Capote, amazing portrayal. Firewall was a good suspense flick, just not history making!

Enjoy!
EAT WELL...BE WELL!

Partly Cloudy, about to rain!

2006-07-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

For the quiet Fourth of July I had planned on grilled chicken breasts with lime and tequila salsa with a side of Tortilla chips and avocado salad on torn greens. And homemade Strawberry Ice Cream! However the weather turned ugly, which shouldn't have made any difference since the grill is located on the stove in the apartment kitchen! But somehow on the way home from a quick Target run the mood changed and I grabbed some mushrooms and white wine and decided a sauteÃ© of sorts would be good. Once home I decided to use up some bits of egg noodles and spinach pasta. So what would go good with them? Well, Sauteed chunks of boneless chicken breasts, shallots, and mushrooms in saffron cream sauce!

It was a fairly straight forward process--sauteed the brined chicken breast cubes in half olive oil and half butter, pulled cubes to rest, added chopped shallots and sliced mushrooms meanwhile soaking threads of saffron in 1 cup of chicken broth. Added chicken cubes back to pan and deglazed with 1/3 cup of white wine and reduced to thicken. Then added saffron infused broth and reduced in half, adding one cup of cream and brought to boil. Continued cooking for 3 minutes and served over cooked pasta combo! Sprinkled with chopped parsley, grated Parmesan and freshly ground white pepper! Very good meal with our favorite skinny, crunchy bread sticks.

Dessert was while watching the Boston Pops and fireworks! Strawberry Ice Cream the Philadelphia style, simple pure cream and berries!

Hope everyone else had a great Fourth! Ours was quiet and tasty!

Shredded Chicken Barbecue!

2006-06-25T18:54:00.001-04:00

Here's an awesome method for making your own easy Chicken Barbecue Sandwich!

5 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs--trimmed of excess fat pockets
1/2 bottle of your favorite Barbecue Sauce
1/2 bottle of your favorite Beer
1 Medium onion cut in half and sliced
1 Green Pepper cut into 1/2 chop
1 Garlic clove chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp dried hot pepper flakes (unless you are using a hot suace)

Add all ingredients to crock pot cook on low for 6-8 hours. If sauce is still soupy transfer to pot on stove and bring to gently boil and simmer till thickened. Shred the chicken pieces with two forks.

Serve on nice and thick pita's with a dollop of coleslaw on top! Yummmmmmeeee!

Tomorrow roasted asparagus with Pancetta!
Later in the week roasted tomatoes w/onions and pancetta over Penne!
Stay tuned for results!

Boneless Leg of Lamb revisited!

2006-06-22T20:48:00.000-04:00

Dinner was sauteed mushrooms, red onion pieces, garlic, oregano, leftover cubes of lamb with lemon juice, reduced chicken stock and a splash of Balsamic vinegar served on a pita with Tzitzaki with cucumber, red onion and dill. We had Couscous salad with olives, green pepper, celery, roasted red pepper, and chopped Campari tomatoes, dressed with a lemon parsley vinaigrette and sprinkled with sun-dried tomato flakes!

Simple, quick and fresh tasting! Excellent was the compliment!

WHAT’S IN YOUR DINING ROOM?

2006-06-22T13:23:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows that living today’s “world wide web” lifestyle has resulted in the loss of many daily routines. Most have taken a back seat to the electronic composition that clutters our lives. As a Personal Chef, I tend to get a birds eye view of the processes that overtake a household with career-minded parents and over-scheduled children.

First we know that electronic gadgets abound!

Stodgy briefcases, fashionable tote bags and overstuffed back packs all contain a variety of electronic devices ranging from the quintessential lifeline, (the how did we ever do without it) cell phone, to handheld computerized organizers, key chain memo recorders, portable video game consoles, at least one music reproducing apparatus, carry-along DVD players and a cache of spare batteries to ensure continuous optimum performance. In bygone days the contents would have been three books: an address book, matching calendar book, and a paperback book! Yes, we used to read books printed on paper!

Is it any wonder then, that the dining room table has assumed a new life itself?

All too frequently it is covered with a table cloth (preserving the surface, of course) and more of life’s present-day necessities. OK, even I admit that one end of my dining room table has the laptop on it! So in some households it may be the desktop computer that sits on the table, or at best, on a computer desk where the buffet used to be! Typically a build-it-yourself piece of furniture freed the table to hold the overflow of computer accessories and supplies. You might find piles of CD’s, a variety of printer paper, including several sizes of photo paper, possibly the new printer that is dedicated to family photo printing and a seldom used scanner under the never ending pile of magazines and catalogs of all things electronic!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but somewhere back in the 80’s didn’t I hear a projection that every household would become more organized with the installation of a Home Personal Computer? Did we just not take into consideration the clutter that would accumulate along with this phenomenon?

So, stay with me now, what happened to the dining room?

It conveniently became unavailable for sit down dinners at about the same time that we lost the time to sit down to those dinners. With soccer practice, after school tutoring, piano lessons, school club meetings, social events, etc. many kids are in and out of the house as if they were only visitors and not dwellers. If the parents aren’t working late or entertaining business clients, they’re taking an exercise class, volunteering for a charity or attending any number of community meetings or events.

There doesn’t even seem to be time for asking this question anymore. So that the infrequent opportunity to have a sit down family meal is wrought with all kinds of expectations just adding to the stressful aspects of planning, shopping, preparing and serving! Deciding to take the whole family out is another disastrous fiasco as now you are dealing with everyone’s opinion of where they should be eating on that particular night, because as we all know, what’s not in today will be totally hip-happening tomorrow!

The point I’ve realized is that the service we Personal Chef’s are providing for our clients is the ability to ensure that there are tasty healthy alternatives available in the freezer for them to dine on. Frequently, my family clients want every entrée packed in individual servings so that they can determine how many will be home for a meal, and defrost only the necessary quantity. Whether it’s consumed individually, in partial groups or by the whole family this convenience is a simple accommodation.

It’s all starting to make sense.

My only consternation came about when I arrived at my bi-weekly clients’ home, the one with the spacious eat-in kitchen, to discover that the paraphernalia over-taking the dining room had now begun to encroach onto the kitchen table. I had assumed this was the place that they currently, occasionally, dined together as a family! And we thought rabbits reproduced rapidly!

Time to put the laptop away (just to the end of the dining room table) and eat dinner! Of course, in my case, according to my accountant, the end of the dining room table constitutes an office making it a tax deduction.

EAT WELL…BE WELL
Chef Jim

Summer's Upon Us

2006-06-22T01:09:00.000-04:00

Well it seems that we've finally reached the point in this season of no return. The temperatures will stay above the 70 mark through the night and the A/C is keeping the bedroom cool enough to use a blanket!

So too, the menus at home lighten up somewhat. But this week I did roast a boneless leg of lamb that's been around in the freezer. Made a quick reduction of stock and white wine with fresh thyme to drizzle over the slices and we had green and yellow zucchini toasted orzo with parmesan for our side dish! The veggies came from Young's farm in Brookville, Long Island, that we used to visit regularly when in Glen Cove. Also got some greenhouse tomatoes there that were surprisingly good. Not like true August beefsteaks but nicer than anything shipped in! Tomorrow's dinner will be more of the Lamb mixed with sauteed Mushrooms and Red Onion on Pita Bread and fresh Tzatziki, using Greek Yogurt and English Cukes, and maybe some Sundried Tomato and Lemon Zest Couscous! Tonight we had roasted corn, from Florida, with our burgers and salad. Last night was just a huge plate of salad, roasted golden beets, potatoes, green beans, roasted red pepper, hard boiled egg, crispy bacon, slices of left over London Broil, Campari Tomatoes and dressed with Honey Mustard dressing.

Have been scouring through the summer issues of the food mags and have a list longer than summer itself of recipes I want to try! I'm really into adapting lots of the Grilling recipes for my indoor cast iron grill pan this year! We've enjoyed a few nice things on it already, steaks and lamb chops and of course chicken breasts.

Have been thinking it's time for a party, something with a theme, and lots of cool summertime foods. Maybe Greek? Definitly Middle Eastern! Do a variety of salads with Mid-Eastern twist--serve some sliced cold chicken that was roasted with garlic, lemon and oregano--Israeli Couscous and roasted vegetable salad--Cucumber salad--Shrimp marinated in Horseradish Mustard--Octopus salad--strips of rare Tenderloin of Beef with lemon caper dressing, platter of cheeses and garlicky hummus with toasted pitas! Minty Iced Tea, Proseco, and Sangria for refreshment. Desserts, whatever will I make? Baklava? Lemon Ice? Both? More? Stay tuned I'm sure there'll be dessert drama!

I'm off to add to the list of recipes I want to try, Cooking Light just arrived!

Grandson's Celebrate their Birthdays

2006-06-08T00:02:00.000-04:00

Well the 7 year old and the 1 year old came from Rhode Island to celebrate their birthdays. They and their parents passed through NY on their way to Disney World. We celebrated with a Sports Theme party including a Snack Bar Menu!

We had bags of popcorn, peanuts and assorted chips for starters. Then we moved onto the MVP's with Mini Cheeseburgers, Chicken Nuggets, Mini Hot Dogs (actually pigs in blankets) French Fries and cups of Coleslaw. Beverages included Lemonade, Iced Tea, a variety of sodas and for the adults Beer Here!

In keeping with the theme of everything you could get at the stadium's concession stand desserts were Popsicles, Heath Bar Klondike Bars, Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches and Watermelon Cups.

Everyone had a great time and Kris was surprised with a great present from his parents, a PSP to play with on the plane. Connor got some great toys and books and both boys recieved new duds to wear in Florida.

Look Everyone! I'm blogging!

2006-05-07T22:47:00.000-04:00

This is the first post of my first blog! I'm very excited to have a chance to share my thoughts on food and other viable subjects. I'll frequently just post menus, details about ingredients or give a tried and true recipe. Other times I might go on about whatever is going on in my world, the world of food, especially the New York food scene, or even the whole real world. I can only hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it.

So here goes a quick one on last night's dinner. After shopping until dinner time we grabbed two Boneless New York Strip Steaks at the butcher's and some Endive to go with the Boston Lettuce we knew we had in the fridge. At home, I applied a quick rub onto the steaks while I crisped up the lettuce and chopped the endive and a ripe red pair. Put the steaks on the cast iron grill and marinated the pear in Pear infused White Balsamic Vinegar. When I flipped the steaks I assembled the salad with the lettuce, endive, pear, crumbled gorgonzola cheese and walnuts. Drizzled olive oil over the salad and let the steaks rest. Opened a bottle of Bogle Petite Sirah from Clarksburg, California and sat down to a quick and delicious meal. The wine is a repeat with the original bottle brought by a dinner guest last year. It's a great oaky flavored red with high berry notes, a perfect companion to red meat and strong cheeses.

Dessert was unnecessary since we ate so late and the steaks were very satisfying. Sipped the last of the wine while we watched The Game a movie with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.