tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55037108524390107222024-03-05T08:23:33.665-05:00cook or be eatenJennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-39560773668016775822009-12-21T12:45:00.000-05:002009-12-21T12:50:46.482-05:00Oven Roasted Stuffed Porchetta<div><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Hl--fYLVoOogNkoX47fDaw?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQMluqNM-ZDAxmXsJXwMYTARq0PZLMW7feuFGT1zS5p_0GI9Y3e0zb-MTfdBbONNPfzyiXYo3Lkw_nzPfSPRPGuWjS2IYUwmJwI6rTIzpN2mEGmmqQchjOMXMur_zj0Ql81VfEQ75OAvk/s800/DSC07874.JPG" /></a><br />Sorry I've been gone for so long! I keep thinking I'll write up this recipe or that recipe. But it all seems boring. I know there have been a million people that wrote up their recipe for gyoza or lasagna. How is mine special? This time I'll write something great ... something everyone will look up. I know ... Porchetta!!!!<br /><br />So our group of school friend decided to have a holiday party with gift exchange this year. And of course I think of this as my opportunity to try a new recipe! And since one of my girlfriends was going on and on about how she wants a porchetta recipe, I decided, why not? Everything is findable on the internet. But not really ... I found maybe two recipes online (in English, I bet there are a ton in Italian!). Everyone was reviewing the famous place in the East Village, NYC called <a href="http://www.porchettanyc.com/">Porchetta</a> ... But no one really making it. Its pretty expensive to buy ... $10 for a sandwich. Luckily the meat used for this roast is an inexpensive cut. These guys are making a killing! I should open a porchetta store ... though somehow I don't think a Japanese making porchetta would be considered authentic to any of my potential customers!<br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SOqbV06xI4RtDZ9zVeM5QA?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz74Y2taA57hfVeGcRfhvb374zuP-rUQEPYZZnn5Z8AideMahHCINkvXuTCboA1fo1rmxDkqxX_UnfYV9Kbs3gbdxPLMvJuWO9-UXd7w-fQ-iXD7HFsfQUSlmzXcmhCKIUrzqL3Nb4hs/s800/DSC07880.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5WwZABIxcpY2_tJt-5kchw?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRJDWYWLCEaU8M6ii4mB55CoqH37qDIQ3tTzXOKRImohMsGiYbN6ozZoI2m_lE6ZzlzdCaIfgcuokdNOkE4xMnqHP42UyykOMwRjV-ZBReeBdAQmGq-PF8IPpqXgjC-K2cX7sx9A1ULU/s800/DSC07881.JPG" /></a><br />Our holiday dinner was a feast as always!<br /></div><div><br /></div>Oven Roasted Stuffed Porchetta Recipe<div>Serves 18 </div><div><br /></div><div>1 T butter or olive oil</div><div>1/3 fennel bulb, chopped</div><div>1 small onion, chopped</div><div>1 shallot, chopped</div><div>1 head garlic, chopped</div><div>1/4 pound ground pork </div><div>1/3 pound chicken livers, soaked in milk 2 hrs, veins removed, chopped fine*</div><div>1 bunch sage leaves, chopped</div><div>1/2 bunch rosemary, minced</div><div>1/3 cup currents</div><div>splash of white wine</div><div>salt and pepper to taste but should be aggressive</div><div><br /></div><div>13 pound pork shoulder, bones removed and butterflied with skin in tact</div><div>salt</div><div>pepper</div><div><br /></div><div>kitchen twine</div><div><br /></div><div>2-3 days before planning to roast the porchetta, make the stuffing. Saute fennel, onion, shallot, and garlic over medium high heat until translucent but not browned. Add ground pork and chicken livers and continue cooking until everything is cooked, but not browned. Turn heat to low and mix in sage, rosemary, currents, and white wine until incorporated and not too wet. Salt and pepper this mixture. The flavor should be aggressive. Set aside and allow the mixture to cool.</div><div><br /></div><div>Take the pork shoulder and score the skin and fat so it is easy to cut the cracklings when it is done roasting. Turn the roast over, and aggressively salt and pepper the inside of the roast, massaging the seasoning into the pork. Then place the stuffing in a nice even layer, leaving a one inch margin so the roast can easily be rolled and tied without the stuffing falling out. Roll the roast up. Using kitchen twine, tie up the roast. Starting from the center, very tightly tie up the roast. Then tie up a couple more times on either side of the center. Additionally tie up the length of the roast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Allow the roast to marinate for 2-3 days in the in the frig.</div><div><br /></div><div>The day you are roasting the porchetta, remove the pork from the frig two hours prior to roasting. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place porchetta in oven, skin side up. Allow to roast for approximately 30 minutes per pound (weight after the bones have been removed) until it reaches an internal temperature of at least 160-165F. It could take less time with a large roast such as my approximately 10 pound final weight pork shoulder. It took about 4 1/2 hours, so please periodically check the temperature of your roast. It does not need basting, since there is a large fat layer around the pork and the crackling skin needs to be dry to harden and crisp up. Remove the roast from the oven when it reaches the proper temperature of 160F and allow it to rest at least 30 minutes to let it redistribute all the juices. To slice, remove crackling first, and slice extremely thin. The thinner the better!<br /><br /><br />*Before this party, I had a bit of a dilemma with the roast. Originally got a much smaller roast, so I told my friend I'd make chicken liver pate so we'd have an appetizer. She answered "ew! I'm so not going to eat it!" I told her she's be surprised, she might like chicken livers and not know it. Most people just don't prepare chicken livers properly. Anyways, at the party she was going on and on about how much she loved the stuffing. I snickered and told her the stuffing is half chicken liver! She doesn't like being proven wrong!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-91377458867884703902009-12-07T16:31:00.001-05:002009-12-07T16:34:28.689-05:00Essex Restaurant and Sugar Sweet Sunshine CupcakesSo a couple of you readers can tell by my blog that I always seek out good deals (read: poor and frugal) ... Some of my readers that actually know me in real life and are probably students much like me. With my graduate student stipend going up slower than inflation, my pay is less and less every year, so going out to a decent dinner, much less any dinner is a stretch for me considering I'm saving to attend at least two destination weddings next year (so far), one of which I'm a bridesmaid in. But eating at home gets pretty boring ... Come on, let's be honest, no matter how many different recipes we try from different countries, it kinda all tastes like my cooking! I can make Italian or Japanese, and it tastes like my cooking ... Ha ha! Even my boyfriend admits if I gave a bunch of my friends a recipe, and we all made the same thing, he would be able to tell which one I cooked ...<br /><br />So anyways, the point to this little speech is ... I DO go out to dinner sometimes. I love eating out. I love the atmosphere of it. It doesn't hurt that I don't have to do a sinkful of dishes either! I hate dishes!<br /><br />One of my favorite little outings is one I do with my very close friend from graduate school (well, she's actually a postdoc). We hike all the way down to the LES, which is a good 45 minute to one hour train ride from my lab. First we hit <a href="http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/">Sugar Sweet Sunshine</a> for the best cupcakes in NYC. Oh, please don't tell me you're a fan of the dry cupcakes at Magnolia! And then <a href="http://www.essexnyc.com/">Essex Restaurant</a>.<br /><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Oy5HbsYrbB2z2TKm2C0huA?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-I15okc3cvgdCWd3tYRw6AvYopuVLQR9dJDopJWeZYD8hINKLDhdp7a6WkUPLQ1Q9UnmUayuSVQuX5fHniDJV3KrbBGVKeT7AnwZIAMlZZCiQstaK3SMWr6iM6y73LuLRyjVj_ukGYK0/s800/DSC07714.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a little bake shop in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC. Their decor is just so warm and inviting with comfy couches and little tables. But their real draw is their super moist cupcakes. My all-time favorite is their Pistachio cupcake. I can just order 4 of these for a full box and be happy! My second favorite is their pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting. And then its the Sexy Red Velvet with their "the Moose" frosting. Though sometimes their Red Velvet is a bit dry. One of my other school friends likes the Lemon Yummy. Sometimes I'm in the mood for their yellow cake. Their frostings aren't as buttery as Magnolia, but the cake is way moister plus there are more flavors to choose from. BTW, if anyone has an awesome moist recipe for pistachio cupcakes, please let me know. I've seen a couple recipes, maybe I should actually try one. I even bought a box of pistachio pudding mix to try one, but never got around to it ...</div><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_cQMH6hnyhesMXwgwwxC8g?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzybpKFr1qGVXDQp6SVFcidy7w63ge3hUX1F2SNK4vbcEIc5E7XoxELywUgpCd728qrKvFu5-1hHvg9qqtqIASGgTjI5m0IL0sx8wCTIXWZb3zeoHfTkFcK3oq4Ekyc_3sjmQ9saLOnH0/s800/DSC07717.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table><br /><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/awZPpmUvZz6wWll7U4BNvQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezTk7c7KFdyBZSDvVtCviE2yoy_GaHmlzWy9tCDRdrN5s_3ov3EmUNcYcUtjTdscKumGMU3n0McTJAN58NiGod9GSIFMU4Du7fknrX4G-ctHWFwwZpVz72KUyU8XL0n_QikXzRW97TK4/s800/DSC07716.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Next we hit <a href="http://www.essexnyc.com/">Essex Restaurant</a> for dinner. Actually, we just order cupcakes, not eat them, and then have them for dessert after Essex. Why do I love Essex so much? Why do I travel one hour on the train to get all the way down here just to eat here? First of all, they have this unreal $16 lobster deal on Wednesdays. A lobster with two sides for $16! They have other daily specials including $1 oysters (Mon and Th) and unlimited mussels $16 (Wed). </div><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ABKIOHMK_Zc46an_HVKgtQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYhtP0YOOWWeNt-vIaAqUX2iGwKb04Y6qdnGM0C19Er2KlAeYF2x_WK03RjtwTjV3t0-fmuI1_S9oYtXNS__z2XGeH5jNHlTVpbJsZGRZjl7rkru1np52wAvbVC6D9i1c635z3aYwCXb8/s800/DSC07721.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Then there's the fact they have happy hour with half priced drinks from 6-9pm Monday through Thursday. So I can get a Stoli tonic or decent glass of wine for only $5! And, to top it off, if I'm I decide to go Sunday through Tuesday for dinner, I can use <a href="http://www.kqzyfj.com/sd70ox52x4KORUOUNMKMLRRQNUQ" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.restaurant.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">Restaurant.com</a><restaurant.com> to get a $25 Gift certificate (must spend at least $35 on food) there for only $10. But generally they have a discount code. So currently its 70% off, so you can get a $25 Gift Certificate for $3. So if you calculate this out, you can get a $35 for only $13! Plus whatever drinks you decide to have. Its a great deal. Just so you know, <a href="http://www.kqzyfj.com/sd70ox52x4KORUOUNMKMLRRQNUQ" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.restaurant.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">Restaurant.com</a><restaurant.com> also has GC to other restaurants, but sometimes they don't let you use them. I think restaurants use it as a ploy to get you in the door and then you're too embarrassed to leave, so you just end up eating there. So, If I were you, I'd call before you buy the certificate, because this has happened to me twice already. I've never had a problem at Essex Restaurant. The only thing is you can not use the gift certificate/coupon for their daily specials, which means you can't use it for the $16 lobster deal.<br /></restaurant.com></restaurant.com></div><div><br /></div><div>As for recommendations at Essex other than their lobster deal:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Appetizers</span><br />warm goat cheese salad with roasted beets, walnuts & arugala $7<br />fried calamari with habañero-avocado dip $8<br />jumbo lump crabcake over hearts of palm salad $10<br />braised short ribs & polenta in a porcini mushroom sauce $11<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Entrees</span><br />herbed Colorado lamb chops over sautéed spinach & ricotta gnocchi $21<br />manchego macaroni & cheese with edamame, haricot vert & citrus salad $12<br /><br /><br /><br />Sugar Sweet Sunshine<br />126 Rivington Street<br />New York, NY 10002-2300<br />(212) 995-1960<br /><br />Essex Restaurant<br />120 Essex Street<br />New York, NY 10002-3211<br />(212) 533-9616<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-34403793680977641522009-12-01T14:20:00.001-05:002009-12-02T12:09:10.877-05:00Herb Brined Turkey<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Dgm8pTOso6zg8xs_2Pr1LQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL19GSlJ1vbPrryN50yG1kdY4VgiXVF8armV9QUEJ0ttoENkFwJecOzmK1BV4RWBI2plLiZgkFzO3vFGzEmBrhQzlhHy-uDl3i8t-ON7T5PmEgg9xxzMdAv2dQY2BEQt5SurjoawLYmis/s800/DSC07647.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Why do I brine my turkey? Because the first time I ever liked white meat turkey was a turkey brined by my friend's mom almost a decade back. This was the first time I ever heard of brining a turkey. Sure I heard of extracting compounds in a brine solution ... Sorry, I used to work in an organic chemistry lab! Brining is all the rage now. You can even buy a ready brined turkey ... But really you don't want to buy a brined turkey becausing brining a turkey is not that hard and the cost of pre-brined turkey is ridiculous.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(If you hate science skip this paragraph! If you like to think of yourself as a nerd, please continue reading!)</span><br />So how does brining work? You soak your turkey in a solution of sugar and salt. The sugar and salt move from region of high concentration (the brining solution) to lower concentration (your turkey). Salt which is a ionic (very polar) molecule holds onto water very tightly (slightly polar), keeping water in your turkey. This is one reason you don't want to buy a brined turkey. Not only are you paying twice as much for the same turkey, you're paying extra for the water that plumped up your turkey from the brine solution. So then you throw your turkey into a hot oven, which cooks your bird, but also causes the water in your turkey to evaporate. If you have a brined bird, not only do you have more water to start with in your turkey, its harder to evaporate the water because salt in your turkey likes to hold on to those water molecules due to a phenomenom called boiling point elevation. Therefore, less dry turkey! And don't forget that salt can denature proteins, which works to make the turkey more tender. With all these benefits, why wouldn't you brine your turkey?<br /><br />This year was our biggest Thanksgiving party yet. Over 20 guests! We had a large turkey last year, but even with brining I thought it could have been a moister turkey, so we decided to two small turkeys this year. I bought this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B67QN6?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001B67QN6">KitchenAid Roasting Pan</a> from Amazon thinking it was larger than it was but the dimensions listed on their site is for the box, not the pan itself. Luckily it barely fit the two almost 10 pound turkeys. The only problem is you have to turn your turkeys part way cuz the inside facing legs need more heat.<br /><table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yWudUcMjKR82n_qJCsXRzw?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmtsda5l4X5nwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ssESeY7qlfCh0Zh_680jgoC7ELUqd8EWHRpbvF9OFyAEKAuwJcKSlMmvNFZWT9cqp-dmtvpOqvtNmigpLLTurd6FJj030iX7qiChxrvXRnPayzTg_47FvCnSCA_SV78WCsZ-c2pR9_M/s800/DSC07663.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Recipe for Herb Brined Turkey<br />Loosely based on <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Molasses-Brined-Turkey-with-Gingersnap-Gravy-107284">this recipe</a> from Epicurious<br /><br />Brining solution (for each turkey)<br />2 cups kosher salt<br />1 cup brown sugar<br />4 cups water<br />3 cups cool water<br />2 quarts ice<br />2-3 T black peppercorns<br />1 lemon<br />small bunch of thyme (6-10 stems)<br />small bunch of sage (5-10 leaves on their stems)<br /><br />Up to 20 pound turkey (I used two 10 pound turkeys)<br />2 trash bags<br />extra ice<br />freezer packs<br />brining box if it doesn't fit in your frig<br /><br />2 carrots, cut in half<br />2 celery stalks, cut in thirds<br />1 head garlic, cut in half so all the cloves are exposed<br />bunch of thyme<br />bunch of sage<br />1 onion, cut in half<br />1/2 lemon<br />1/2 stick butter<br />olive oil (optional)<br />1 quart chicken broth or white wine or water<br /><br />To brine your turkey:<br />Remove neckbone (usually found in the cavity, up the butt) and keep to make stock for Turkey Sage Gravy. Remove bag with the gizzards (usually found where the head was, up into the breast). Take plastic handcuffs off the turkey. Place ice or freeze packs on bottom of brining box. Line with two trash bags.<br /><br />Mix in salt, sugar, peppercorns, lemon with 4 cups of water over low heat until dissolved. Add 3 cups of cool water to cool down. Once this is cooled, add 2 quarts of ice. Place turkey, breast side down, in the double lined trash bags. Place the sage and thyme inside the cavity of the turkey. Pour the brine solution into the container. Make sure there isn't air inside the cavity by tilting the turkey so air can escape. Tie up the bags so there is little to no air in the trash bags. Place more ice and/or ice packs on top. Brine for 12-24 hours. Check turkey every 4-6 hours to make sure the brine is still cold. Change ice or ice packs if necessary.<br /><br />To roast turkey:<br />Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.<br /><br />Remove turkey from brine. Allow it to drain. Pat dry. Place on roasting rack. Tie legs together and tuck the wing tips. Place carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, sage, onion, and lemon into the cavity of your turkey. I also placed some of this into the neck area cavity. Loosen the skin in the breast area, and place a pat of butter with a sage leaf into this area (this will help keep the breast moist and flavorful). Drizzle whole turkey with some of the butter melted or some olive oil. I covered the breast area with some foil to keep it from cooking as quickly since it tends to get dry more easily than the thigh meat. Place in oven, do not touch for one hour. Remove foil and baste with melted butter every 20-30 minutes until you are out of butter. Next baste with chicken broth, white wine, or water every 20-30 minutes until you use up the liquids. Then baste with the drippings until the turkey is done. Here is a <a href="http://www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/tips/calculators-and-conversions">turkey roasting time calculator</a> to get an idea of approximately how long your turkey needs to roast. If you have two turkeys like I did, turn your turkeys at what would most likely be your halfway mark timewise, otherwise the dark meat facing the inside of the pan will be underdone while the outward facing dark meat will be overdone.* I have seen various recommendations of internal temperature, but <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Molasses-Brined-Turkey-with-Gingersnap-Gravy-107284">the original recipe</a> says 175 degrees F in the thigh as acceptable. Another article tested <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/11/17/FD99547.DTL">28 ways of roasting a turkey</a> and they concluded that 165 degrees F gives the best turkey.<br /><br />Once the turkey is done to a temperature of you liking. Remove from oven and allow it to rest at least 30 minutes under a tent of foil. This will allow the juices to redistribute into the turkey. It also gives you time to throw in your millions of sides into the oven that was hogged by your turkey!<br /><br /><br />*I actually had to re-roast part of the dark meat because I turned it too late.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-41341454218325090132009-11-23T11:26:00.016-05:002009-12-02T14:05:30.786-05:005th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1ByDzpl3_EMYCu_ziTyOeXwzHq_Asx0leV6rXKvHvyybkTCoJioZkrpmuFZn4j9-eWkt5t_6B4i0SIEiDI4unVnROWw2g_0cKiLAMzEpae_-2FJ02dnshq0MU30uPi9yLSj_QuwryN0/s1600/DSC07647.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 520px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1ByDzpl3_EMYCu_ziTyOeXwzHq_Asx0leV6rXKvHvyybkTCoJioZkrpmuFZn4j9-eWkt5t_6B4i0SIEiDI4unVnROWw2g_0cKiLAMzEpae_-2FJ02dnshq0MU30uPi9yLSj_QuwryN0/s400/DSC07647.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407342174333109778" border="0" /></a><br />I've noticed as I've gotten older, its been harder for me to make new friends. Maybe I've become too set in my ways. Or maybe I'm just too satisfied with the friends I already have. As I've mentioned before I moved to New York a little over 6 years ago. I thought making new friends here would be as easy as it was when I lived in Japan back when I was 20 years old. Don't get me wrong, people out here are very friendly and always wanting to go out. Most of New York City is populated by transplants, so we all want to make new friends here. But there is a big difference between someone that wants to go get a drink with you every night and someone you know you'll keep in touch with for years to come ... someone that is like family to you in this big overpopulated lonely city called New York.<br /><br />In the early years of grad school, we hung out almost every night. The stress of being in grad school can really only be understood by someone else in the same boat. And so we may have all started as a group of people that drank together every night, but we evolved into a small family. As the years have passed, we've all gotten more busy. Our gatherings have dwindled down to big events like departmental retreat, weddings, and engagement parties. The one big event that always brings us together is our annual Thanksgiving Dinner held the Sunday before real Thanksgiving. This is highly anticipated event for us. We take days to prepare. I usually do shopping on Friday night, brine the turkey and other prep on Saturday, and then the actual dinner on Sunday. All my friends are excellent cooks. Science benchwork is so similar to cooking, you shouldn't be surprised how good everyone is. Its so good, we all think our group Thanksgiving outdoes our own family Thanksgiving dinners.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBApUK1OVjnUjlqBNaThpn5o4BfplH4A4R1dGItLdPXiJ3G7Rk3h70JMSgUasz5Qddid1ljuSA9DAmY1n6WgCShUIPM66NyiqD9fpI8X4zDb89CK9YjERpAaIhH0EiYpoqoRx1Qr4hmW4/s1600/DSC07652.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBApUK1OVjnUjlqBNaThpn5o4BfplH4A4R1dGItLdPXiJ3G7Rk3h70JMSgUasz5Qddid1ljuSA9DAmY1n6WgCShUIPM66NyiqD9fpI8X4zDb89CK9YjERpAaIhH0EiYpoqoRx1Qr4hmW4/s400/DSC07652.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407342192632638946" border="0" /></a><h3><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPO-Gcl0XMoZIy3PFOV6wNpzNlNl4FJbrxVUmfMGBZdSouzz4AgrScV3b995RhgtXWnxn1yipNPHTkyo7fihs_xEBmA1SBf46X3q2DoUpISXfOMnn63kmnlequV7x-ZYIBg6dzDwhzc4/s1600/DSC07650.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPO-Gcl0XMoZIy3PFOV6wNpzNlNl4FJbrxVUmfMGBZdSouzz4AgrScV3b995RhgtXWnxn1yipNPHTkyo7fihs_xEBmA1SBf46X3q2DoUpISXfOMnn63kmnlequV7x-ZYIBg6dzDwhzc4/s400/DSC07650.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407342185463304802" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oh3cXEB3rI0VwHisvrXB5H9wgt_tIelMzJkl2itszxhzeOQCHEgSGKQwjH_k-MmMw_C7OUa9uJmUlPVZsABptiqPeAfEjUqW7wH4LedusOuPJHibkNA6BPwRp4YYWOQFIekEkBZDuZw/s1600/DSC07663.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oh3cXEB3rI0VwHisvrXB5H9wgt_tIelMzJkl2itszxhzeOQCHEgSGKQwjH_k-MmMw_C7OUa9uJmUlPVZsABptiqPeAfEjUqW7wH4LedusOuPJHibkNA6BPwRp4YYWOQFIekEkBZDuZw/s400/DSC07663.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407342180827575954" border="0" /></a></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv51vaFoBH2L9CVla4Qgfqv3Xd8TR_zsbQb8iN0e-MWWD_vNHEwg_1HFPBE1tU2s-eT6EcGFqLIQX1XeO9sdKQSwvhygqwZubUE-3W1V8LtQM_N460Xt6P2u9Srk9DZkIUgyIZPGPZ3C0/s1600/DSC07664.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv51vaFoBH2L9CVla4Qgfqv3Xd8TR_zsbQb8iN0e-MWWD_vNHEwg_1HFPBE1tU2s-eT6EcGFqLIQX1XeO9sdKQSwvhygqwZubUE-3W1V8LtQM_N460Xt6P2u9Srk9DZkIUgyIZPGPZ3C0/s400/DSC07664.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407342198080970466" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMxRep0KqCpL8HWrngpzXuJpic3HqVuhHE46bmlWRHXjNd5QHabq4rUHIwSA2i2XCCePLbBPE2ScN0cwiSnKrlirAqdoNy2ICmXc3gWtvGrcFvbC2WCw8cUPjTjPB9FZ7D-NTVvy2H2A/s1600/DSC07665.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMxRep0KqCpL8HWrngpzXuJpic3HqVuhHE46bmlWRHXjNd5QHabq4rUHIwSA2i2XCCePLbBPE2ScN0cwiSnKrlirAqdoNy2ICmXc3gWtvGrcFvbC2WCw8cUPjTjPB9FZ7D-NTVvy2H2A/s400/DSC07665.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407343064105781362" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl_3DqZy-zqoLG36UfySi70dpTEyQZp8lA4W84azvqhAOLb5O2k9h2ntEVJJ3cGhedwkEnTSt3wzB26a99gFfVObcG6xHU0-J1DQ99IEuxPDlbfrBXD6M9EwWJA9BlYN2E74oRq40Z1c/s1600/DSC07666.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl_3DqZy-zqoLG36UfySi70dpTEyQZp8lA4W84azvqhAOLb5O2k9h2ntEVJJ3cGhedwkEnTSt3wzB26a99gFfVObcG6xHU0-J1DQ99IEuxPDlbfrBXD6M9EwWJA9BlYN2E74oRq40Z1c/s400/DSC07666.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407343189389519330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">Menu</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Recipes to come</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Appetizers</span><br />Warm Spinach Artichoke Dip<br />Marinated Mushrooms<br />Deviled Eggs<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dinner</span><br /><a href="http://cookorbeeaten.blogspot.com/2009/11/herb-brined-turkey.html">Herb Brined Turkey</a><br />Turkey Rollatini Stuffed with Wild Mushrooms<br />Sage Gravy<br />Spiked Cranberry Sauce with Apples<br />Garlic Mashed Potatoes<br />Sweet Potatoes with Candied Pecans and lots of Marshmallows<br />Peas with Bacon and Onions<br />Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta<br />Cornbread Stuffing<br />Bread Stuffing with Sausage<br />4 Cheese Mac and Cheese with Bacon<br />Glazed Carrots<br />Green Bean Casserole with Shitake Mushrooms<br />Corn Casserole<br />Broccoli and Cheese Casserole<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dessert</span><br />Pumpkin Bread<br />Pumpkin Cheesecake<br />Pumpkin Pie<br />Blackberry Pie<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESE8rhDMF9xYZNbtMd6fJhELhF3rf8HXBhUNsd_GXxjYJdKR6c4e7NpQCXTBoQ29QUH_zcmOvY86kxIltYKOvkZ9EHUtojY7da56viTW4nhsPqody_f3zw4h_ypbfbthkSP_z4sSaph8/s1600/DSC07713.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESE8rhDMF9xYZNbtMd6fJhELhF3rf8HXBhUNsd_GXxjYJdKR6c4e7NpQCXTBoQ29QUH_zcmOvY86kxIltYKOvkZ9EHUtojY7da56viTW4nhsPqody_f3zw4h_ypbfbthkSP_z4sSaph8/s400/DSC07713.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407379470380787330" border="0" /></a>And of course plenty of wine!<br />Cheers to my New York family!<br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-50674066854944931982009-11-20T12:40:00.006-05:002009-11-20T13:37:12.078-05:00Pasta with a Spicy Peanut Sauce<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsdtiQt9tJRm8-HjJzlTjntBTyaWaKbzSLrIQzQtNLt37ydqQHpYKz_7UHdf5KOg-_nGTG_mLm_WDbWjuvToMjZozZFLy8Z3OQz1SMvKd3idfAgRlOdELGyJQn8fwPMXf98EJhA3I0Gc/s1600/DSC07636.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsdtiQt9tJRm8-HjJzlTjntBTyaWaKbzSLrIQzQtNLt37ydqQHpYKz_7UHdf5KOg-_nGTG_mLm_WDbWjuvToMjZozZFLy8Z3OQz1SMvKd3idfAgRlOdELGyJQn8fwPMXf98EJhA3I0Gc/s400/DSC07636.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406256657827198578" border="0" /></a><br />Peanut butter is one of those things, you either love it or you hate it. And the funny thing is, these people that love it or hate it usually love it or hate it for the exact same reason ... because they ate it everyday as a child for lunch! What American didn't eat PBJ sandwiches as a kid? I qualify it as "American" since I'm starting to realize some of my blogging audience is not American.<br /><br />Speaking of Americans and peanut butter. When my BF lived in Japan for a year, he made sure to take a huge container of PB with him. He knew it'd be difficult and expensive to get ahold of his beloved Skippy while he was out there. Although his Japanese is quite fluent with very little accent, he could still shock his Japanese friends and colleagues with his American-ness. And of course his love for PBJ sandwiches was a dead giveaway he wasn't "one of them" ... Though, I get this feeling his love for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D">natto</a> might have tricked them into thinking he was actually Japanese! (I love natto too!) You rarely meet a non-Japanese that loves this stuff. According to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060899220?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060899220">Anthony Bourdain</a> its the vegemite of Japan!<br /><br />Anyways, I've been trying to clean out the frig of random leftover ingredients. I had some napa cabbage, onions, carrots, scallions in the frig ... a chicken thigh in the freezer ... we always have a ton of pasta in our cabinets ... and of course PEANUT BUTTER! So I threw together this chicken pasta with a spicy peanut butter sauce.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Pasta with Spicy Peanut Sauce<br /><br />1/2 pound of a thin spaghetti<br />1 onion, thinly sliced<br />2 garlic cloves, chopped<br />1 chicken thigh, cut into bitesized chunks*<br />1/2 cup napa cabbage, thinly sliced<br />3 small carrots, cut into batons<br />1/3 cup peanut butter<br />2 T hoisin sauce<br />2 T sugar<br />2 T sake<br />2 T mirin<br />1 t soy sauce<br />1 T roasted sesame oil<br />2 T sesame seeds<br />red pepper flakes to taste<br />1 bunch scallions, chopped<br />1/4 cup cilantro, chopped<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Before draining the pasta, keep a cup of the pasta water for later use.<br /><br />Using the large pot you boiled your pasta in, saute the onions, garlic, and chicken in sesame oil over high heat. After the chicken is cooked, turn the heat down to medium, and add the napa cabbage and carrots**. Mix in the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sugar, sake, mirin, soy sauce, additional sesame oil, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. The sauce will be pretty thick. Taste it to check the flavor, adjust to your liking. Turn the heat to low, and add the pasta and pasta water until it is at a consistency you prefer. If the sauce is still too thick to mix, add more water. Make sure to check the flavor since it will get watered down by the pasta and water. Turn off heat and serve with more red pepper flakes and chopped scallions. I usually love cilantro, but since this was a frig clean out, I didn't have any! But please add some if you enjoy cilantro.<br /><br />*This can easily be made a vegetarian meal by not adding chicken or replacing it with a firm tofu.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">**I add these later because I prefer these veggies tender crisp.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-51867448235472148322009-11-14T06:22:00.000-05:002009-11-14T06:22:00.439-05:00Curried Mac and Cheese<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTA2sg8FzcDO98tf4pBnS28jOebndNQGV37gRdqeZzjxCaW5PYG6rvEJYvs44zr2_Ke89NY_KszopQUv3VqdR85i6QHnlTSwRP9Sq7dYXMSbgohD4N_Kw6M9m_0PunRTxjtl1HsfGGf0/s1600-h/DSC07610.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTA2sg8FzcDO98tf4pBnS28jOebndNQGV37gRdqeZzjxCaW5PYG6rvEJYvs44zr2_Ke89NY_KszopQUv3VqdR85i6QHnlTSwRP9Sq7dYXMSbgohD4N_Kw6M9m_0PunRTxjtl1HsfGGf0/s400/DSC07610.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402619850115300834" border="0" /></a>I'm not the type of person that can eat the same thing everyday. I've learned through trial and error that one dish three times in a row is my limit! I was discussing this with my boyfriend, and he said it depended on the dish. Japanese food is definitely a cuisine he doesn't get sick of as easily. I guess being Japanese American, eating Japanese food growing up makes it easy for us in that aspect. He did mention that he can probably eat curry for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it. The way he said this made me think is that he knows this fact from experience not just a "what if" situation.<br /><br />When I saw this recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese on the blog <a href="http://withinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/11/curried-macaroni-and-cheese-casserole.html">Within the Kitchen</a>, I thought "Wow, how can I go wrong? My BF loves curry ... and Mac and Cheese ... What guy doesn't love Mac and Cheese?" He loved it! As he was happily munching away on the the Mac and Cheese he said "I feel like a kid eating dessert!"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7mzXUWtB68egMdjIPj1ZGzNF3pgJpf8cP4pCeSddKtKkHqVnb7FSK_PMJCCX0DTOSAIxDD-WjHD3UnlVAxjE9Ji5L1kJ97hzKaQVCXzd6Oe9raQJF3gGmt7OYqe6Pj44nL3I1B54WRI/s1600-h/DSC07606.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7mzXUWtB68egMdjIPj1ZGzNF3pgJpf8cP4pCeSddKtKkHqVnb7FSK_PMJCCX0DTOSAIxDD-WjHD3UnlVAxjE9Ji5L1kJ97hzKaQVCXzd6Oe9raQJF3gGmt7OYqe6Pj44nL3I1B54WRI/s400/DSC07606.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402623216513699922" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese<br /><br />3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni<br />4 T butter<br />1 onion, chopped<br />4 T flour<br />2 T white wine (optional)<br />2 c whole milk<br />2-3 cups shredded cheese*<br />1-2 t curry powder**<br />1/2 t paprika<br />salt and pepper to taste***<br />1/8 cup breadcrumbs (from the tin)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni according to directions on the package. Do not salt the water since you do not know how salty the cheese sauce is yet.<br /><br />Saute butter and onions in a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000936JZ?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000936JZ">medium sized saucepan</a> over medium heat until softened. Add flour to make a paste, and allow to cook a bit to get rid of the floury taste. Add wine and mix until smooth. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until smooth before adding more. Add all but one cup of cheese and mix until melted and smooth. Then mix in the curry powder one teaspoon at a time and tasting to check the flavor. Add paprika, salt, and pepper to your liking. Mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni.<br /><br />Grease or use cooking spray**** a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SZ7K?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004SZ7K">8 inch square pan</a>. Put the mac and cheese mixture into the pan. Mix the remaining shredded cheese with the breadcrumbs and about 1/8 teaspoon of curry powder. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the mac and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and warmed through. If the top does not have a nice crispy top, place in broiled for about one minute.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">*I used mostly sharp cheddar and some havarti, since that's what I had in the frig and needed to use up.<br />**Depends on how strong your curry powder is. Be careful not to use too much, you'd like it to subtly taste like curry ... think curried mac and cheese, not curry with a hint of mac and a sprinkle of cheese. Curry flavor also starts developing more as it cooks<br />***Also be careful with the salt since some cheese tend to be extremely salty. You can always add more salt, but you cannot unsalt a dish.<br />****I really like to use those floured cooking sprays for baking for casseroles. It really keeps the creamy sauce from sticking to the pan.<br /></div></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-9200704498569343412009-11-12T06:27:00.001-05:002009-11-12T06:27:00.275-05:00Yuzu Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken Wings)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGJYcl8wbXjWBbkV0fAV0tZ0078XEyM36oX2McnB49nHVDSI_-3iSttxsTT96UMRstp03EZdA6QHrTB23OkDzjc8VoyitvKT1sCNFKUXIploodfZ_srsSwnjuQ7wUVG9r5itlyaHMP8M/s1600-h/DSC_0010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGJYcl8wbXjWBbkV0fAV0tZ0078XEyM36oX2McnB49nHVDSI_-3iSttxsTT96UMRstp03EZdA6QHrTB23OkDzjc8VoyitvKT1sCNFKUXIploodfZ_srsSwnjuQ7wUVG9r5itlyaHMP8M/s400/DSC_0010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520334005250274" border="0" /></a>I know this may sound shocking, but my boyfriend actually enjoys eating healthier than I do. Well, okay, enjoyED eating healthier. Whenever I'd come over, he'd always have salad already cut and ready to eat in his frig. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy salad, but we like different types of salad. He likes a MAN salad, romaine cut into big chunks, carrots, mushrooms, chunks of regular tomatoes, raw onions, italian dressing ... while I like my salad all GIRLY, musclin with either fresh pears or dried cranberries, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes cut in half, oven roasted beets, steamed asparagus, shallots, balsamic vinagrette. I mostly don't eat salad cuz the ingredients for the type of salad I like don't keep in the frig very long.<br /><br />So my BF thought he'd be a good influence on my eating habits. At first he made a gallant effort. He always prepped a salad for our dinner. And I dutifully ate it. Its healthy, its good for me. It'll counteract all that <a href="http://cookorbeeaten.blogspot.com/2009/11/butter-nyc-butter-sale.html">butter</a> I love! But after a while, it just sat there wilting and being ignored in exchange for more unhealthy fattening dishes like <a href="http://cookorbeeaten.blogspot.com/2009/10/mussels-in-saffron-tomato-cream-broth.html">mussels</a> or the fried chicken I made this past weekend. My boyfriend didn't even want to eat rice since it took up too much stomach space with so much chicken available to eat. When I do bother to make a salad, it just its on the table ... He calls it the "bouquet", you know, the flower arrangement ...<br /><br />Don't worry baby! I put veggies in this fried chicken dish ... uh, there's scallions on top ... and I lined the plate with romaine lettuce so it looks pretty. At least the romaine lettuce in the frig didn't completely go to waste!<br /><br />I used a couple ingredients not usually found in an american supermarket. So I thought I'd take a picture, so you know what it looks like if you can find these at a Japanese or Asian market. I'll give alternate ingredients just to make regular Japanese chicken wings if you can't get ahold of these ingredients.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFrHEFz2K7H8AA6fvcdNom1EfZjUe1GYUVPZlrO_c2QbR7HzPvUeXbuS-N-_P69aRqMHN0Q57eQsED0dZEvA7NhSkdGjOXOSDSBbv3YU76g-eTn_vtJqceBj01FccsBpZSqJDK9KJnb8/s1600-h/DSC07602.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFrHEFz2K7H8AA6fvcdNom1EfZjUe1GYUVPZlrO_c2QbR7HzPvUeXbuS-N-_P69aRqMHN0Q57eQsED0dZEvA7NhSkdGjOXOSDSBbv3YU76g-eTn_vtJqceBj01FccsBpZSqJDK9KJnb8/s400/DSC07602.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402520148289398914" border="0" /></a>Left: Yuzu Kosho in tube<br />Center: Katakuriko (Potato starch)<br />Right: Yuzu Kosho (dehydrated skin of a yuzu)<br /></div><br />Marinade:<br />2T yuzu koshou from tube<br />1 lemon, juiced and skin cut into chunks<br />1/8 cup salt<br />2T sake<br />2T mirin -OR- mixture of sugar and sake<br />1T yuzu ponzu -OR- regular ponzu or more lemon juice<br />1T soy sauce<br />1/8 t sansyo (optional)<br />thumbsize piece of ginger, grated, and juiced (keep only the juice)<br /><br />1 large package of chicken wings (about 3-4 pounds), tips removed, broken down to wings and drumettes<br />1-2 cups katakuriko -OR- mixture of flour and cornstarch<br />cooking oil<br />yuzu kosho powder (optional)<br />1 bunch scallions, chopped<br /><br />Dressing:<br />1 lemon, juiced -OR- 2 T rice vinegar<br />2 T roasted sesame oil<br />1 t yuzu kosho from tube (optional)<br /><br />Mix all ingredients of marinade together. Place chicken wings and drumettes in marinade. Allow to soak in flavor at least 2 hours, up to overnight.<br /><br />Heat cooking oil in large pot over high heat to fry chicken. You will want to cook the chicken at least 375 degrees F. The oil may get hotter than this since when you add the chicken to the oil, it will lower the temperature of the oil. Take the chicken out of the marinade and light dust the chicken with katakuriko. Fry in small batches for about 3-6 minutes depending on the size of your wings, until the chicken wings have a nice color. Drain chicken on newspapers lined with paper towels (cuz don't you think those newspapers are really dirty?).<br /><br />After all the chicken has been fried. Line a large plate with romaine lettuce. Place a layer with half the chicken, sprinkle with the powdered yuzu powder and half the scallions, then do another layer and add more yuzu powder and scallions. Whisk together the lemon juice, roasted sesame oil, and yuzu kosho from tube. Pour the dressing over the chicken immediately before serving.<br /><br />Note: The lemon in this recipe is to bring out the subtle yuzu taste. Do not substitute out for rice vinegar unless you are not planning to use the yuzu ingredients.Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-41552822649260266832009-11-09T07:48:00.000-05:002009-11-09T07:48:00.601-05:00Hearty Beef Stew with Mushrooms<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLvVGzz_1fXLKHY1AiZ-FzFiZfga6edJWnDUP1u5ItxTyok_Npx_HPnY2aleaVFKgYTq-4i5OpXEkaE158ycdf7yC5z8KvTbAz3unSLctnwkKmrrytUuMLzewuRUCfBakSHC8-1ccEF4/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLvVGzz_1fXLKHY1AiZ-FzFiZfga6edJWnDUP1u5ItxTyok_Npx_HPnY2aleaVFKgYTq-4i5OpXEkaE158ycdf7yC5z8KvTbAz3unSLctnwkKmrrytUuMLzewuRUCfBakSHC8-1ccEF4/s400/009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400760241805624722" border="0" /></a>I remember my first year here in New York City. I moved to NYC end of August. It was so hot and muggy, the air felt heavy around me. I didn't have an A/C for the first few days, so I had to suffer through that oppressive heat. By end of September, the temperature was already down into the 40s. Being from Los Angeles, I thought I was going to die from cold. 40s! That's colder than winter for LA! My classmates laughed hysterically when they saw me wearing gloves at 40 degrees. "Wait til it actually gets cold!" Boy were they right, that winter, the winter of 2003/04 was COLD! With wind chill it was subzero for about 2 weeks after New Years. I remember when the weather hit 14 degrees, I saw joggers outside cuz it was "warm" out!<br /><br />Now that I've been here for a couple years, I've acclimated to the cold. I don't even wear gloves. I just shove my hands into my big puffy down jacket. But I still get cold pretty easily. My boyfriend is from Alaska, so we're polar opposites when it comes to weather. We can sit in the same room, (obviously) at the same temperature, but I'll get colder and colder, while he gets warmer and warmer. He would feel my hand and it'd feel like ice, while his felt so warm to me. We'd always joke about this fact.<br /><br />As the weather has been getting colder, I've been craving warm hearty stews. We had a couple chuck steaks in the freezer from when I <a href="http://cookorbeeaten.blogspot.com/2009/11/butter-nyc-butter-sale.html">stockpiled</a> it during the previous sale, so I decided to make beef stew. I also like making food in large quantities and throwing a couple aliquots into the freezer for rainy day. Beef stew was the perfect candidate for my rainy day freezer meal stockpile.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRrK8Y9OVLPENJofRtFxzI3yn3bKMIGcUw-3yqh4B7eMvbdJeehgtUYHqGVsalH-OjKLCP2Y595VgrMIuLnodgMmeu2kugltjfSmmsAE8wpQFrlm6baRNSI0eAWcZwy0asuLvIBnTf4o/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRrK8Y9OVLPENJofRtFxzI3yn3bKMIGcUw-3yqh4B7eMvbdJeehgtUYHqGVsalH-OjKLCP2Y595VgrMIuLnodgMmeu2kugltjfSmmsAE8wpQFrlm6baRNSI0eAWcZwy0asuLvIBnTf4o/s400/012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400760386622301010" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Hearty Beef Stew with Mushrooms<br /><br />3 pound Chuck Steak on the bone, deboned, cut into large chunks, keep the bones<br />Flour<br />Salt<br />Pepper<br />Garlic powder<br />Vegetable oil<br />4 T butter<br />4 or more cloves garlic, roughly chopped<br />2 onions, cut into large chunks*<br />1 carrot, shredded<br />3 ribs celery, finely minced**<br />2 cups red wine<br />1 can lager beer<br />water or beef broth<br />2 bay leaves<br />2 T tomato paste<br />1 t Worcester sauce<br />1 T Balsamic vinegar<br />5-8 potatoes, peeled cut into large chunks<br />4-5 carrots, cut into large chunks***<br />2 large packages mushrooms, cut in half<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Mix flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Dredge beef in mixture. Heat vegetable oil over high heat in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004T4VJ?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004T4VJ">large dutch oven</a> (at least 5 quarts) or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SUHV?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004SUHV">pressure cooker</a>. Brown beef in small batches, careful not to overcrowd, place in separate bowl. Lower heat to medium, throw butter into dutch oven or pressure cooker, and saute garlic, onions, shredded carrots, and celery. After this has softened, add the meat back into the pot along with the meat bones. Then add red wine, beer, and water until it barely covers the beef. If you are using a pressure cooker, bring to high pressure for 12 minutes and then use natural release (Tho I got impatient waiting for the pressure to release, so i ran it under cold water after waiting 15 minutes). If you are using a dutch oven, cook over medium heat until the meat has softened but not melting, approximately 1-2 hours. Add the remaining ingredients and allow to cook until the vegetables are cooked and the stew has thickened. At the end you can season to your liking.<br /><br />Generally the stew is best when you use a drinkable wine for the recipe and stew always tastes better the next day. Serve with crusty bread. Or if prefer, serve it over rice with an egg on top, which is how we had it for breakfast the next day. Also if you decide to freeze leftovers, I would keep the size of the carrots small and fish out any potatoes before freezing because the texture after freeze thawing is not appealing.<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">*If the onions are too small, it'll completely melt into the stew.<br />**I don't like eating celery, but I like the flavor it imparts on the stew, so i finely mince it, so I get the flavor, but don't have to eat celery. It also melts nicely into the stew making it thicker.<br />***I added shredded carrots to the earlier cooking with the meat to melt into the stew, and larger chunks later so they don't get too soft and mushy.<br /></div></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-67750622812213358412009-11-04T17:27:00.011-05:002009-11-05T16:37:44.794-05:00Butter~~~~ (NYC Butter Sale)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMkMFfz9xlPFFgmAXF8N4mRrH7j9Mcfz0RTE1aiswVsQ_9Qi0bUMni1PoTkGV9E_eEQqQ1USQaUCqpje4gSzIMpunMSD6Ua9v-UA_SI_Ade0jQ-9Mw6_WqJDuAebulTCBO1chMikaY1A/s1600-h/DSC07584.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMkMFfz9xlPFFgmAXF8N4mRrH7j9Mcfz0RTE1aiswVsQ_9Qi0bUMni1PoTkGV9E_eEQqQ1USQaUCqpje4gSzIMpunMSD6Ua9v-UA_SI_Ade0jQ-9Mw6_WqJDuAebulTCBO1chMikaY1A/s400/DSC07584.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400450750169536818" border="0" /></a><br />Let's be honest, I love butter. Not just love, but LOVE!!! butter. (I sound like Paula Deen don't I?) Its the MSG of real chefs, it really does make food taste better! As Anthony Bourdain mentions in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060899220?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060899220">Kitchen Confidential</a>, to make your food taste and look like restaurant quality, use such ingredients as shallots, garlic, fresh herbs, garnish your plate, and use BUTTER! He even says that Italian chefs throw butter into their marinara! Believe me, I tried it ... butter makes your marinara taste better. It mellows out the acidity in marinara, I was quite amazed ... and converted!<br /><br />Okay another confession ... Being a poor starving student, I am very careful with my money. People can call me frugal. But you try living off my grad student stipend, in NYC, while still wanting to go out and party with your friends, or your BF's friends, who have real jobs that make real money!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082109s.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 260px;" src="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd082109s.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:78%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span">Borrowed from: "Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham</span></span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:78%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span">www.phdcomics.com</span></span></span><br /><br /></div>My family didn't raise me to be in debt. Its just against my nature. I'll be in my mid 30s when I finish grad school, who wants to crawl out of debt at that age? I walk over a mile one way to work to save subway fare (unless its raining or I'm very late), cuz it seriously cuts into my budget. So how do I eat the way I do? Honestly, I watch the supermarket sales, and stock up when prices are down. I don't coupon cuz New York Times weekend edition is $4, I'm not sure if I'll get enough coupons to recover my losses, so if you know of other newspapers in NYC that you can get coupons for cheaper, let me know! Anyways, so butter, my love, when its on sale in NYC, its $1.99 a pound, sometimes $1.79, and the cheapest I've seen it, but only once, $1.49. Its not the good stuff like Purga ... But for everyday cooking, buttering the pan for eggs or chocolate chips cookies, generic butter is fine. Though I guess if you want really good butter for cheaper, you can <a href="http://tastytrix.blogspot.com/2009/11/homemade-butter-radishes-salt-love.html">shake heavy cream until it makes butter</a> ... or "overwhip it" in your <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DEKCA?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000DEKCA">KitchenAid Mixer</a>.<br /><br />Time to stock up on butter for all that Holiday baking and cooking! Just throw it in your freezer to keep it fresh if you decide to stock up!<br /><br />Butter is currently on sale at the following stores in NYC for $1.99 a pound.<br /><a href="http://metfoods.mywebgrocer.com/Circular.aspx?c=48960&n=1&s=63100791&g=ebd02ff9-6e07-4423-b9c6-7d94d2ea417e&uc=009BB71">The Met Supermarket</a> until Saturday, November 7, 2009<br /><a href="http://www.ctownsupermarkets.com/Circulars/N041UP4.html">C-Town Supermarket</a> until Thursday, November 5, 2009<br /><a href="http://www.mortonwilliams.com/mw-circular.pdf">Morton Williams Supermarket</a> until Thursday, November 5, 2009Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-68216760186054962982009-11-03T08:09:00.003-05:002009-11-03T17:14:50.778-05:00Tsukune (Japanese-style Chicken Meatball)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0U-35J0Efc-c1zDbCwWjN-abOLEzu2LLpv2PFQvzb4cMT_pBl7IcGR1A7BkWyWCiEbNlrRsRVAWLL836dtYGF9z1_uIWmV4lOo_qC7SBsE8f8Lj3rdwCmOpKKp8FuPL-klb4lAtn5Q0/s1600-h/056+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0U-35J0Efc-c1zDbCwWjN-abOLEzu2LLpv2PFQvzb4cMT_pBl7IcGR1A7BkWyWCiEbNlrRsRVAWLL836dtYGF9z1_uIWmV4lOo_qC7SBsE8f8Lj3rdwCmOpKKp8FuPL-klb4lAtn5Q0/s400/056+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399899593893778626" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">A while back, I went to go eat at <a href="http://tottonyc.com/">Yakitori Totto</a> with my BF. If you are unfamiliar with yakitori and live in NYC, I highly recommend this spot in Midtown West. Yakitori is Japanese chicken grilled on skewers over charcoal. The chicken they use at Totto is organic and very juicy. One of my favorite skewers to order is tsukune which is a chicken meatball.<br /><br />I recently attempted to make tsukune at home on a frying pan. Came out pretty okay, but no where as good as the ones at Yakitori Totto unfortunately. My BF must have thought they were damn good, evident by the fact a whole pound and a half of tsukune was gone in a day! I made mine as a donburi with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaimo">yamaimo</a> and scallions.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Tsukune<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Chicken meatballs:</span><br />Package of ground chicken, appx 1.5 lbs<br />1/3 cup breadcrumbs<br />juice squeezed from thumb sized piece of ginger thats been shredded<br />1 small onion, grated or finely minced<br />1 egg<br />1/2 t salt<br />splash of sake<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Tare (sauce):</span><br />4 T sake<br />5 T soy sauce<br />1 T mirin<br />1 T sugar<br />1 T cornstarch mixed well with 1 T water<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">To make sauce, mix the sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small pan. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cornstarch and water mixture and continue to simmer until thickened. (I actually didn't make the tare, I was given some from someone so I cheated!)<br /><br />Gently mix all the ingredients for the chicken meatballs. Form meatballs somewhere between the size of ping pong ball and a golf ball.<br /><br />Heat a non stick pan over medium high heat with some oil. Fry the meatballs until lightly browned, approximately 3-5 minutes, then flip over. Brush tare sauce on the cooked side. Allow to cook the meatball another 2-3 minutes. Flip over onto a plate, and brush additional tare on the other side. Be careful not to overcook these meatballs since it is chicken and it tends to get dry. The breadcrumbs help in keeping the texture soft and preventing it from drying out as easily.<br /><br />Serve over hot rice with extra tare and scallions. We served it with some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaimo">yamaimo</a>, a sticky mountain potato.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-66154159246249028712009-10-29T11:27:00.003-04:002009-10-29T12:30:13.335-04:00Mussels in a Saffron Tomato Cream Broth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPYjvUgaV-l4O6G1Mkej1gYxnvP5vWD6ywUSyjdOFjVhjc6A35hojx2DT_b77WatosU4u3_2H9uLxLTfwtKaKuyLvzB22okMH424vXFmnKMEqAueLLcs-EWT4PLFC0Dh6esX2NFVXQ3I/s1600-h/020.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPYjvUgaV-l4O6G1Mkej1gYxnvP5vWD6ywUSyjdOFjVhjc6A35hojx2DT_b77WatosU4u3_2H9uLxLTfwtKaKuyLvzB22okMH424vXFmnKMEqAueLLcs-EWT4PLFC0Dh6esX2NFVXQ3I/s400/020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397690254168929794" border="0" /></a>I'm sure everyone has a similar story ... But when my boyfriend was a little boy, he got a blue highlighter (blue is his favorite color) that he was so excited about that he wanted to save it for a special occasion. He kept saving it and saving it. By the time he tried to use it, it was all dried out. :( So whenever we have something we're trying to save for a "special occassion", we have to tell ourselves "highlighter!" and make ourselves use it. I tend to do this alot when it comes to meats in our freezer or other special ingredients. Then I end up with freezer-burned meat. Yuck! It would have just been better to use it when I thought of it. I also have some free Starbucks coffee coupons from the VIA challenge that I should use, especially since those expire mid November. Anyways, back in August, I went to Greece and picked up some Santorini tomato paste and Greek saffron, but have been saving it to try make Bouillabaisse. "Highlighter!!!!" ... So since I had a bunch of leftover chopped shallots and garlic from my boyfriend's birthday dinner, I decided on a quick mussels dinner. As long as I'm at it, I ended up throwing in some spinach leftover from a week ago that still looked fresh enough.<br /><br />Mussels are a great for a quick inexpensive dinner. It only takes about 5 minutes to steam open. Seriously easy! It looks impressive to make for guests, but it only costs about $3/lb at any decent Manhattan market. But if you're close to Chinatown, or already there, its only $3 for a 2lb bag! Though I've noticed that Chinatown ones are a bit gritty, so you have to make sure to incubate them with some cornmeal for about 30 minutes to get rid of the dirt in the mussels (when you do this the mussels will exchange will spit out the dirt and exchanges it for cornmeal).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Xagb5qcW2-0tXC4UOxJ7Mm-AtIHu2vVk3JhqhWeck3pdnhHd6gotE_viXaEwOo2UR8qpYsUtLNMZSH2G48Vti4rxP64oyXNEuUZDXtHtFalgq-67LfdxdGQXU8xzpEFn6MVlCASGcbI/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Xagb5qcW2-0tXC4UOxJ7Mm-AtIHu2vVk3JhqhWeck3pdnhHd6gotE_viXaEwOo2UR8qpYsUtLNMZSH2G48Vti4rxP64oyXNEuUZDXtHtFalgq-67LfdxdGQXU8xzpEFn6MVlCASGcbI/s400/012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397690402636498706" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV147kyzTbTQwJ2kOzxZ8-faFmOQoJUrco9uQnYy0fP_Hf9dTD528nNNxOQnmdGJkoQpMzanNB-72EM7mFtT6HCjcTkpXuQzeHCandK9pvu4YjX7uqwjQs-DewK_VTKarRvIBhlIGGngM/s1600-h/022.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV147kyzTbTQwJ2kOzxZ8-faFmOQoJUrco9uQnYy0fP_Hf9dTD528nNNxOQnmdGJkoQpMzanNB-72EM7mFtT6HCjcTkpXuQzeHCandK9pvu4YjX7uqwjQs-DewK_VTKarRvIBhlIGGngM/s400/022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397690832089529618" border="0" /></a>Recipe for Mussels in a Saffron Tomato Cream Broth<br /><br />2 lbs Mussels<br />2 T butter<br /><div>2 large shallots, chopped (appx 1/2 cup)</div><div>2-4 cloves garlic, chopped</div><div>1 cup white wine</div><div>1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed</div><div>2 T double strength tomato paste<br />1 T or more Red Pepper Flakes</div><div>1 tomato, chopped<br />1 T Soy Sauce (optional)<br /></div><div>1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half</div><div>Salt and Pepper to taste</div><div>Bunch of spinach (optional)<br /><br />If you think the mussels are going to be sandy/gritty, place mussels in large bowl or pot cover with cold water and about 2 T of cornmeal. Leave for at least 1 hour. Then drain and rinse with cool water.<br /><br />Saute shallots and garlic in butter over medium heat in a pot large enough to hold all the mussels. I usually throw in some salt so that these sweat instead of brown. Cook until softened. Add white wine and cook down until reduced to half the volume. Add saffron threads, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, and chopped tomato. Cook until bubbling again. Then add mussels, mix around, and cover pot. It should not take too long for the mussels to open. I usually check every two minutes and then mix it around so all the mussels can be closest to the bottom (heat source) and open up. If you cook mussels too long, they shrink alot and get a bit chewy. After most of the mussels have open (about 4 minutes on my stove), mix in the soy sauce, cream, and spinach. Mix until the spinach has just wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. I tend to like my mussels salty, since it gives a briny ocean taste to the plate. My boyfriend doesn't like "American" salt, but can take alot of soy sauce, which is still high in sodium, but okay since he's Japanese. This explains the soy sauce in the broth!<br /><br />Serve over pasta or with a crust bread to mop up all the yummy sauce!<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7MoNpty5vdKWhvN_tvdB0YTDyCD9b24a0Qlh7W7BFaD8usT12lGHeOvSANFDFV3nvkzHfixoATIjoIEEczSjhF-MfN6xMYCVJunXgQrNlMydfuB2FyGWRtxhheoWNS92yN_1i9-REE4/s400/024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397691103869846626" border="0" /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7MoNpty5vdKWhvN_tvdB0YTDyCD9b24a0Qlh7W7BFaD8usT12lGHeOvSANFDFV3nvkzHfixoATIjoIEEczSjhF-MfN6xMYCVJunXgQrNlMydfuB2FyGWRtxhheoWNS92yN_1i9-REE4/s1600-h/024.JPG"></a><div style="text-align: center;">All done! Gochisousama deshita~~~!<br /></div><div><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-67838665913759839302009-10-26T14:54:00.010-04:002009-11-03T17:21:09.104-05:00Happy Birthday to You~!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukmtnV5PCTQtAUq281BcDBIW8mXzvA3pzHWmrUBqUVKyckZsmvFyGg-XdKGdtK8GcMUlkLSN-cHUtJ_xjbAVFmApkP9PTyoFnM8MKTn6-Uej8S72mkzriK5pF2NLrWcZdAvocZr3xcWI/s1600-h/071.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukmtnV5PCTQtAUq281BcDBIW8mXzvA3pzHWmrUBqUVKyckZsmvFyGg-XdKGdtK8GcMUlkLSN-cHUtJ_xjbAVFmApkP9PTyoFnM8MKTn6-Uej8S72mkzriK5pF2NLrWcZdAvocZr3xcWI/s400/071.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396984617277846514" border="0" /></a>So today is my BF's birthday. More than expensive material gifts, he appreciates gifts that are homemade or have alot of thought put into them. Last year I baked him chocolate cupcakes with PB icing (he doesn't like sweets, but he does adore PB) and surprised him at the bar after his hockey game. He was so happy! I know that surprises like this make him really happy, so I wanted to make sure to surprise him again this year too! It was a bit harder this year since I practically live with him. So I had to pretend to be in lab everyday this weekend to assemble this cake. Its a chocolate cake with whole strawberries and strawberry mousse. I also put chocolate covered strawberries on top, but my friend has the picture in her camera. I'll fix this post when I get that photo! Then I purposely went late to his hockey game so I can drop off his cake at the bar his team usually drink t after the game. Luckily the bartender that was working knows my BF and was sweet enough to store the cake downstairs in the frig and help me out with the surprise.<br /><br />The cake was more looks than taste. I didn't like how it came out, but it definitely was very pretty. Next time I attempt this cake, I'll try a chocolate sponge cake and less gelatin in the mousse layer. I was too scared that if I used less gelatin, that the mousse would be runny and collapse. Well, couldn't have been too bad, at least the hockey team politely finished the cake! :)<br /><br />More than the work that was involved in making the cake, my boyfriend should be most surprised that I was able to carry the cake all the way to the bar from my apartment 100 blocks uptown without tripping and falling! I'm notorious for my klutziness! Luckily one of my friends came to the rescue and carried the cake up the stairs for the final surprise. There was no way I would have made it up a staircase with a big cake without dropping it!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaa_bwz8t7nuUr9jk9X-jKfEQH03gymQq7vBFFlznna_Ao1Jxjue_Lm3YCRpXeYos9el9arGQGLa1unhO31yNDTxNCwu7dwbaV5wNQ4LTHF7jnBgjLq404lig8BrqJMCrTbnzQgr7ou_M/s1600-h/057.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaa_bwz8t7nuUr9jk9X-jKfEQH03gymQq7vBFFlznna_Ao1Jxjue_Lm3YCRpXeYos9el9arGQGLa1unhO31yNDTxNCwu7dwbaV5wNQ4LTHF7jnBgjLq404lig8BrqJMCrTbnzQgr7ou_M/s400/057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396993395071720210" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQt22YS7LrOq3gzPaH-Ta2e-D_-IYmqpnblVn31eCOrGBH1Iix3Qb4NPj4Qmi2peZYQLOX8EHJKgObpLo68MR1ux5xGKc6Y7Fs_4NUmyQ7Vf_eaXW-G309pZEk9z2sP8FZRdtyf4AuGM/s1600-h/060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQt22YS7LrOq3gzPaH-Ta2e-D_-IYmqpnblVn31eCOrGBH1Iix3Qb4NPj4Qmi2peZYQLOX8EHJKgObpLo68MR1ux5xGKc6Y7Fs_4NUmyQ7Vf_eaXW-G309pZEk9z2sP8FZRdtyf4AuGM/s400/060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396993705743228786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNoKjb9pfdfPrPj7i7r4Gz4MQHoz6ks1rQHAvJMBoC_CmCmMV1K3vab97NZLU-nikcQ7Gwk2hnded3nwNrsgNIPAARoq6H2O4wkndWFKm1fz-Jdid28s_c2O0GMlQ6A-s_4UyE2Mi7_s/s1600-h/065.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNoKjb9pfdfPrPj7i7r4Gz4MQHoz6ks1rQHAvJMBoC_CmCmMV1K3vab97NZLU-nikcQ7Gwk2hnded3nwNrsgNIPAARoq6H2O4wkndWFKm1fz-Jdid28s_c2O0GMlQ6A-s_4UyE2Mi7_s/s400/065.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396993836112506978" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMuJQMYQFNnrO8LC9FiArFvS6Ok2F7RETvGF2tBEyAk8VqyObyS-AXz4vcXvHuWiO-jU-qkTa7zgosXywdRoR4TlBmg5x87W4casNCa1fgaP1eeVWdXl2y1xho7p7p0ihlAc9Dil5rf4/s1600-h/066.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMuJQMYQFNnrO8LC9FiArFvS6Ok2F7RETvGF2tBEyAk8VqyObyS-AXz4vcXvHuWiO-jU-qkTa7zgosXywdRoR4TlBmg5x87W4casNCa1fgaP1eeVWdXl2y1xho7p7p0ihlAc9Dil5rf4/s400/066.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396994363853271634" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0KNhjgdJpZ7zL6YEFQ3K_GhZr90HKdD5fj6Vi07W4Cj6i1_LWQ8HAQQW_glgIPicPxTsDBV-uGO6htT01A9Nh_Yhn6ydtvNhwQPnEomZ-T1yuc90hQjtO9EMwsaxapaEnWYkPOtmMoM/s1600-h/067.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0KNhjgdJpZ7zL6YEFQ3K_GhZr90HKdD5fj6Vi07W4Cj6i1_LWQ8HAQQW_glgIPicPxTsDBV-uGO6htT01A9Nh_Yhn6ydtvNhwQPnEomZ-T1yuc90hQjtO9EMwsaxapaEnWYkPOtmMoM/s400/067.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396994670400899394" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberry Mousse<br /></div><br />For Chocolate Cake Layer*:<br />2 1/2 cups all purpose flour<br />2 cups sugar<br />6 T cornstarch<br />1/2 cup cocoa powder<br />1/2 t salt<br />3 t baking soda<br />3 t baking powder<br />2 eggs slightly beaten<br />2/3 cup vegetable oil<br />2 T Kahlua or vanilla extract<br />2 cups boiled water<br /><br />For Strawberry Mousse layer:<br />2 quarts of stawberries<br />2 T balsamic vinegar<br />6 T sugar<br />1 pint heavy cream<br />2 1/2 packets of knox gelatin (appx. 18g)**<br />1 T rum***<br />2 egg yolks<br /><br />For Decoration:<br />5 oz. dark chocolate<br />2 oz. milk chocolate<br />1 pint strawberries<br /><br />To make chocolate cake layer:<br />Preheat the oven to 350C. Sift together first 7 ingredients. Then mix in the remaining ingredients adding the hot water in two parts. The batter should be thin. Put batter into greased and floured <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004RC48?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004RC48">10-Inch Springform Pan</a>. Bake for 30-40 minutes until when you insert a toothpick and it does not come out wet. Cool completely.<br /><br />To make strawberry mousse layer:<br />Cut up one quart of strawberries and allow it to macerate with the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Let it sit for approximately 30 minutes and then puree using a blender or food processor. Heat 1 cup of the heavy cream and gelatin over medium low heat until the gelatin is completely melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the rum and egg yolks. Then one tablespoon at a time, add the strawberry mixture into the gelatin mixture. Whip the remaining heavy cream until it thickens but does not form peaks. Slowly mix the thickened cream into the strawberry cream gelatin mixture.<br /><br />To assemble the cake:<br />Cut the top rounded part of the chocolate cake off (you can either throw this away or snack on it). Clean and hull the strawberries and choose the largest prettiest ones for the outer rim. For the outside section, cut the strawberries in half and place the cut side them against the outside rim of springform pan. Place the rest of the hulled strawberries pointed side up on top of the chocolate cake. Trim the strawberries to be shorter if it sticks out too far past the rim of the springform pan. Pour the strawberry mousse into the pan on top of the strawberries and allow to harden overnight.<br /><br />To decorate the cake:<br />To make chocolate covered strawberries: Clean and dry the strawberries, leave the hulls on. Chop the dark chocolate. Microwave for 30 seconds, mix using a spatula, and repeat until the chocolate is completely melted. Dip the all the strawberries into the chocolate and place onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place in the frig or freezer to allow to harden. Chop the milk chocolate. Microwave to melt. Then take a fork and drizzle stripes across the dark chocolate using a slight flicking action with the wrist to make a striped pattern across the chocolates.<br />To make chocolate design on top of the mousse cake: Using a fork, drizzle the remaining dark chocolate across the cake to make a pretty pattern as seen in the pictures above.<br /><br />*I would try a more <a href="http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateSpongeCake.html">chocolate sponge cake</a> like layer.<br />**Next time I would try less gelatin, maybe as little on only one packet. This layer came out way too stiff.<br />***I used Captain Morgans cuz that's all I had in my freezer. YUM!Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-70918238981619865752009-10-13T14:27:00.002-04:002009-11-03T17:21:39.927-05:00Kimchi Quesadillas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EGJPSbkRTkLtawIt2-2br8BzRmIJrm-Ia24APGXwniQdxNDo7i-zc_KYHmvZBLLs7NX4GStGdBT0ia0NR4QSu-qOMvASgFF-FhDw0keLZUsu_pWX3WeGoglHHz5M6bbQ79KQOX8-J24/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EGJPSbkRTkLtawIt2-2br8BzRmIJrm-Ia24APGXwniQdxNDo7i-zc_KYHmvZBLLs7NX4GStGdBT0ia0NR4QSu-qOMvASgFF-FhDw0keLZUsu_pWX3WeGoglHHz5M6bbQ79KQOX8-J24/s400/009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389656694431938818" border="0" /></a><br />So, I've been reading all over food blogs that <a href="http://kogibbq.com/2008/11/24/korean-short-ribs/">Kogi truck korean short rib tacos</a> are really popular in LA. It looks so delicious online. I'm originally from LA, but they didn't have these when I lived there. And now I live in NYC (uh, for 6 years now!), and we don't have a korean taco truck! I just didn't have the ingredients or time to make Kalbi tacos right now ... but, hmmm ... but what do I have in the frig? ... tortillas, kimchi, cheese, onions, scallions, and frozen thinly sliced pork belly ... Quesadila! I saw kimchi quesadillas on the Kogi truck are popular too! Brilliant! Boy did my man love these! We made it enough times to use up a large jar of kimchi just from making a bunch of these.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Kimchi Quesadilla Recipe<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(for one quesadilla)</span><br /><br />1 8-inch tortilla<br />1/2 cup shredded cheese (used pepper jack)<br />1/2 onion sliced<br />1 slice thinly sliced pork belly or bacon, chopped bite sized<br />1 stalk scallion sliced<br />1/2 cup kimchi, chopped and drained on napkin<br />roasted sesame oil or rayu (red pepper oil)<br />Sriracha for serving<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In a 10-inch fry pan, fry sliced pork belly or bacon over medium high heat. After some of the fat has melted into the pan, throw in the onions. Remove pork/bacon once cook to perferred crispiness. Continue cooking onions until lightly browned. Remove onions, and wipe down the bacon fat so there is a small amount to cook the quesadilla in.<br /><br />Assemble the quesadilla by putting half the cheese on half of the tortilla. Over the cheese, layer on kimchi, pork/bacon, onions, scallions, and then the other half of the cheese. Fold the empty half over the filling. Put a touch of roasted sesame oil or rayu on the pan over medium high heat. Once the pan feels hot, put the quesadilla on the pan. Fry until it is browned and crispy. Flip over and brown on the other side. Remove from pan and cut into 3 wedges. Serve with sriracha hot sauce.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-64210470069099005482009-10-08T13:04:00.000-04:002009-10-08T13:04:00.423-04:00Malbec with Castello Blue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKb9rUnNAC_ZD55R8rN9TshrDpiyp_QQ3tscjfy5eceQBfXx3UUABtmgOQJ9V0gI8q6t9hIx8g-qloLGxqzhAohSA-bs2wd7DVRfn-vYNwKeIh5V8rhbdzSeIRPyYtOpLfHUxKFU2n9Gk/s1600-h/019.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKb9rUnNAC_ZD55R8rN9TshrDpiyp_QQ3tscjfy5eceQBfXx3UUABtmgOQJ9V0gI8q6t9hIx8g-qloLGxqzhAohSA-bs2wd7DVRfn-vYNwKeIh5V8rhbdzSeIRPyYtOpLfHUxKFU2n9Gk/s400/019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388897693328777362" border="0" /></a><br />So my boyfriend has the most incredible memory ... wait, let me qualify that ... my boyfriend has the most incredible visual memory. He will remember anything you email or IM him. But he has a terrible audio memory. Here is a fine example ... We were out at the local bar and for some reason he felt like having red wine. He ordered the Cabernet from the bartender, but she poured him a Malbec since she thought it was better. My boyfriend loved it. So he ordered another one, but couldn't remember the name of the wine. He kept asking me "Whats the name of that wine again?" ... "Malbec" ... "Hey, whats the name of that wine again?" ... "Malbec" ... "Whats the name of that ..." "MALBEC!" ... the whole night, a good 6 or 7 glasses, if not more ... and yes, he CAN drink that much ... So, when I got home I emailed him the name of the wine. And of course the next time he was out to dinner with his friends when the waiter asked him his drink order ... "Malbec" automatically falls out of his mouth! Its become a habit for me to text him whenever we come across something we really like at a restaurant, particular wines or cheeses.<br /><br />One of the best things about Malbecs is it is a great value. Malbecs are mostly produced in Argentinia and America still has a good exchange rate with them. So you know when you're spending $15 on a bottle of Malbec, its one good wine! It'd be like spending $50 on a Napa wine. Our favorite Malbec is Carlo Basso Reservado. And we've tasted at least 20 different Malbecs.<br /><br />When we do these nights in with some wine, we always have cheese. Castello Blue cheese with our Malbecs. I know this sounds like a strange pairing. Blue cheese is never to be eaten with red wine since it causes the wine to have a metallic taste in the mouth. But for some reason Castello Blue goes great with Malbec. We discovered this when we were eating natto and then drank some Malbec. It was terrible, made the Malbec taste rotten (uh, duh!) ... but then we cleared out that taste by eating Castello Blue and couldn't believe how much it improved the wine. And yes, I know, most people don't like blue cheese. Many people despise blue cheese. But you'd be surprised with this cheese, its not that blue, and its super creamy, it is a triple cream blue cheese. This is the one blue cheese my man can eat, and he's more a white american cheese guy. Though I did discover he may not like all cheeses, but he does usually love triple cream cheeses. Anyways, back to the pairing ... Somehow Castello Blue and Malbecs just go amazing together. Its my favorite pairing. I've never had anything improve the taste of Malbec like Castello Blue. Everyone says steaks, but seriously, Castello Blue with Malbec is just amazing. And it doesn't work with other reds, we did try it with a Carmenere and a Cabernet and it just didn't help. We also tried the Castello Black, a higher end version of Castello Blue, with the Malbec, and that didn't work either. Try it sometime. Or if you're ever over for dinner at my place, I'll make you try it ... ha ha!Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-60583263888206588072009-10-05T12:01:00.004-04:002009-11-02T11:46:52.588-05:00Mushroom Omelette<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwWzU5bZmOud1GLW9wWQho_or9R97Gx7xhhlY6iBoKscKZLwR2gOJDeQGpjEVhXeO6zfkrBhOKU2J8lUmxd3v8A_WbBPV11k6rIWXsTXf9HFhjE2liCUQDTLCfj1-ua_KIaZB1TaEgw8/s1600-h/007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwWzU5bZmOud1GLW9wWQho_or9R97Gx7xhhlY6iBoKscKZLwR2gOJDeQGpjEVhXeO6zfkrBhOKU2J8lUmxd3v8A_WbBPV11k6rIWXsTXf9HFhjE2liCUQDTLCfj1-ua_KIaZB1TaEgw8/s400/007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387816958252897698" border="0" /></a><br />Weekends are for sleeping in late ... and lounging around after eating a nice breakfast. Sure in the summertime when its warm, we like to go out around the area and have a nice bunch outside. But as the weather changes, we like just sitting around in our PJs sipping coffee (OK, I sip my coffee, he downs it like its a Jameson shot!) and having a home cooked breakfast. And boy does he love eggs ... I happened to have some mushrooms left in the frig, so I threw together a mushroom omelette last weekend.<br /><br />I can pretend I do all the cooking in this relationship, but its not true. We definitely have our "jobs" ... He does the deep frying, peeling and chopping of garlic,onions, and scallions, boils the pasta, makes the curry, makes the coffee and makes fantastic breakfast foods. And I, uh, do everything else which doesn't sound like much after that list, but once I add more entries to this blog, you'll see. So even the eggs are separated (pun intended?!?) ... He makes the fried eggs (sunny side up for me, over easy for him), while I tend to make omelettes, scrambled eggs (cuz I like mine particular soft), and frittatas. Omelettes are pretty much my specialty because thats the VERY FIRST thing I learned how to cook.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Mushroom Omelette Recipe<br /><br />2 T butter<br />1 T cooking oil<br />6 Button Mushrooms, sliced<br />2 cloves Garlic, chopped<br />worchester sauce<br />dry sherry or dry white wine<br />salt and pepper<br />3 stalks Scallions, chopped<br />2 slices White American Cheese, cut into 4 squares each<br />2-3 eggs*<br />1 T milk or half and half<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">To cook the filling, heat pan to high with cooking oil and 1 T of the butter (mix the butter with oil so it doesn't burn/smoke as easily), once the foaming from the butter subside and the pan feels hot, throw the mushrooms in the pan. Allow to brown. Add chopped garlic, worchester sauce, sherry or wine, salt, and pepper to taste. Allow the mushrooms to soften and cook down to get the umami flavor. Put the mushrooms into a bowl.<br /><br />*Depending on how you like your omelette, a thin omlette use only 2 eggs with no milk, or thick and fluffy omelette use 3 eggs with milk in a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006U652G?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0006U652G">10-Inch Nonstick Pan</a>. In the omelette pictured above I used 3 eggs with milk. Beat the eggs and milk, if using, well with a fork or whisk. You need to beat air into the eggs, so while cooking the pockets of air expand making the omelette fluffy. Heat 1T of butter in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006U652G?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0006U652G">the pan</a> over medium heat. Once the foam has subsided, pour the beaten eggs onto the pan. Allow the eggs to set. After the bottom of the omelette has set, using a spatula lift the omelette, and allow the uncooked egg to get under the omelette, so it can cook faster. Distribute the cheese slices all over the top of the omelette, then the scallion slices, and finally place the mushroom mixture on one half of the omelette and fold it in half. Continue cooking the omelette until the cheese has mostly melted. Then transfer the omelette onto a plate. The cheese will continue melting from the residual heat.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-7551062400911242002009-10-02T10:57:00.005-04:002009-11-06T12:26:24.692-05:00Spicy Glass Noodles with Beef<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gCIdz4TLTKGIPrbW38X8ToWXcI9_-HePSR5l6nuASEHwvFugDDKVimQ0P18_IVnPp3Bp9qy6HRdYb1RG08JiMhqhQZNWkloTUfdYIUiz-djYp7iO8PwwzDm1Sb4wv29nuPy0qb-0804/s1600-h/016.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gCIdz4TLTKGIPrbW38X8ToWXcI9_-HePSR5l6nuASEHwvFugDDKVimQ0P18_IVnPp3Bp9qy6HRdYb1RG08JiMhqhQZNWkloTUfdYIUiz-djYp7iO8PwwzDm1Sb4wv29nuPy0qb-0804/s400/016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387295239174940946" border="0" /></a><br />More than a dozen years back, I took a year off undergraduate to "study" in Tokyo. While my Japanese reading and writing abilities aren't at a level where I can work at a Japanese company, I can read enough to eat at a standard izakaya (Japanese pub). My parents are so proud that I went to Japan for a year, and learned enough Japanese to sing karaoke and read bar food menus! I can read the kanji for "love", "heart", "tears", "pork", "tofu", "noodles"... Luckily since I can read minimal Japanese to feed myself at a bar, it also means I have the skills to figure out recipes written in Japanese. See, Mom and Dad, my year wasn't wasted! My favorite page to get recipes off of is <a href="http://www.orangepage.net/">Orange Page</a>, which is the website to my favorite Japanese cooking magazine.<br /><br />I had all these leftover ingredients from when I did seafood hot pot with my friends visiting (we had a mini Waseda reunion!). I bought a bag of glass noodles (mung bean noodles) for the hot pot that I never used, so I wanted to try a new recipe since I never worked with this ingredient before. Obviously I used some of it in my nikujaga recipe. So when I did a search through <a href="http://www.orangepage.net/">Orange Page</a>, I found this recipe for <a href="http://www.orangepage.net/recipe/detail/detail.do?tpid=6&id=118570&mk=%8F%74%89%4A%2C%8B%8D%93%F7">spicy glass noodles</a>. I adjusted it slightly since I wanted to use up other veggies in the frig ... and I'm not a fan of ginger, so I tend to cut that out of my recipes! Shhh! Don't tell my BF!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Spicy Glass Noodles with Beef Recipe<br /><br />200g Mung Bean Noodles (dried)<br />1/2 lb thinly sliced sirloin, chopped to bite sized pieces<br />3-5 garlic cloves, chopped<br />1/2 onion, thinly sliced<br />10 baby carrots, thinly sliced<br />4 leaves napa cabbage, thinly sliced<br />2-4 tsp <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WOSQY?ie=UTF8&tag=cookorbeeate-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0001WOSQY">Toban jan</a> (depends on how spicy you like it)<br />2 tsp chicken stock granules<br />4 T soy sauce<br />4 T sugar<br />1 T cooking sake<br />2 T mirin<br />3-5 T roasted sesame oil<br />2 T cooking oil<br />4-6 stalks of scallions chopped<br />3 T white sesames<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Boil a large pot of water. After the water is boiled, turn off heat and put the mung bean noodles in the water to allow it to soften. After 4-5 minutes, drain noodles.<br /><br />In a large wok, over medium heat cooking oil, 1T of the sesame oil, toubanja, garlic, and onions until fragrant. Make sure to turn on a fan because the air will become pretty spicy making it hard to breathe! Turn heat to high and add sliced beef and allow to brown. Then add carrots and napa cabbage allow to soften slightly. Turn the heat back down to medium, then add the flavoring ingredients, chicken stock granules, soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin. Rinse the glass noodles with water to loosen, and add to the wok. Mix until all the ingredients to coat the noodles and simmer for a bit until the noodles absorb the liquid in the pan. Toss with sesame oil, white sesames, and green onions. Taste the noodles, and adjust according to taste. This actually taste better next day since the noodles get an opportunity to absorb the sauce.<br /></div><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-71825411333203461772009-10-01T19:31:00.003-04:002009-11-03T17:20:42.000-05:00NYC UWS Oyster DealSo I guess everyone's figured out I live in the UWS (New York City). This is why I keep mentioning different groceries stores in this area ... Well, being a hard working graduate student, or the fact my boss chains us to our benches, ... I don't get out of this area very much. Not that I have to ... UWS has everything. Cheap bars, great grocery stores, and awesome dining deals. One that I am yet to try ... is <a href="http://puddingstoneswinebar.com/PuddingStonesWest/main.html">Puddingstones UWS</a> $11 oyster deal on Thursdays nights. Its half a dozen oysters with a glass of champagne. Not too bad ... I can probably do one or two ...Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-41902064360876302452009-09-21T15:48:00.001-04:002009-09-28T21:30:43.868-04:00Nikujaga<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP58FChF6WH9pp5Jm_8prtLdUcwI431QakJ_WoBh2KLcuq3WhjS4jkvgn-_oYQxHCZYduQylpzyGT__oG3EYKgyNZmQgEwTz5k-GHn76KmxaS2J0iqXmZJm24J3ccH83ybstsweviJ2Nk/s1600-h/040.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP58FChF6WH9pp5Jm_8prtLdUcwI431QakJ_WoBh2KLcuq3WhjS4jkvgn-_oYQxHCZYduQylpzyGT__oG3EYKgyNZmQgEwTz5k-GHn76KmxaS2J0iqXmZJm24J3ccH83ybstsweviJ2Nk/s400/040.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386695123121751634" border="0" /></a><br />In Japanese there is a term for food that Japanese men love ... "Otoko ryori" ... which literally means "Men's food". If you can cook any item if not every item on this list, you will make a Japanese man very happy! Men love home cooked food. Standard food on this "otoko ryori" list is Curry, Tonkatsu (Bread and deep fried pork cutlet), Ramen, and ... NIKUJAGA ... Nikujaga translates to Meat and Potatoes. I remember reading somewhere that Japanese tried to make Beef Stew and came up with Nikujaga.<br /><br />My boyfriend, being a Japanese male, adores Nikujaga. I recently made a huge pot of nikujaga. I am very glad that I ate my portion and packed my own lunch before he came back from the bar. He didn't eat dinner, so he devoured a good 2 quart container of nikujaga at 2am. He insisted it was delicious. Though, since he basically inhaled it, I'm not very sure if he tasted any of it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Nikujaga Recipe<br /><br />1 lb thinly sliced beef<br />2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks<br />2 small onions, thickly sliced<br />15 baby carrots<br />50g harusame (glass noodles)<br />cold water<br />hondashi granules<br />soy sauce<br />sugar<br />mirin<br />sake<br />roasted sesame oil<br />cooking oil<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Saute the onions in oil over medium high heat in a large pot until softened. Add thinly sliced beef, sprinkle about a teaspoon hondashi granules and a teasoon of soy sauce. Cook until browned.<br /><br />Add potatoes and enough water to cover potatoes. Keep heat at about medium to medium high, we want the potatoes to heat and then cook evenly. If you have the heat too high, the outside of the potatoes will cook and melt before the inside is cooked. Season the water with approximately another 3-5 T of hondashi (the correct amount of the amount of water added to the pot), 2 T soy sauce, 3-5 T of sugar, 2 T mirin, 1 T mirin, and 2 T of roasted sesame oil. Taste the cooking liquid. It should be fairly aggressively salty and sweet, since the meat and potatoes will absorb alot of the flavor. Adjust taste according to liking. I actually never measure these ingredients, so these are approximations. The most important thing with cooking is to taste your food as its being made. Add carrots after the broth is seasoned. Since the carrots are smaller than the potatoes, it will cook mush faster. You don't want mushy carrots.<br /><br />Skim any foam that arises. The nikujaga is done is when the potatoes are done cooking. Pierce the potatoes with a sharp knife to check for doneness. Turn off heat and add the harusame glass noodles into the broth. Allow it to soften and absorb the sauce for about 15 minutes before serving.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-56065884816316569402009-09-13T14:08:00.002-04:002009-09-30T14:19:11.978-04:00Seared duck breast in red wine reduction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy1RZ1TE-dh8fQXDV75T0NYRrUfrTVdn07G_l9EXSuRwVYqe-H1GXxcv1T1udIBKMfHKIdF8hcWsAwstDvBvLjBMsdxJzIV8ECs1mva9YOXooqm6rR9t1xHUZHd0PkDvX_r-AQe9UGxFI/s1600-h/738.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy1RZ1TE-dh8fQXDV75T0NYRrUfrTVdn07G_l9EXSuRwVYqe-H1GXxcv1T1udIBKMfHKIdF8hcWsAwstDvBvLjBMsdxJzIV8ECs1mva9YOXooqm6rR9t1xHUZHd0PkDvX_r-AQe9UGxFI/s400/738.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386917252742806914" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Did I ever tell you I was dyslexic? ... Uh, yeah that's why the fork and knife are on the wrong sides of my plate ... yeah, that's it ... (tho I really am slightly dyslexic)<br /><br />Seared Duck Breast is one of those foods I always ordered at restaurants because I thought it was something I could never make myself at home. And then I found out, its pretty damn simple to make. Living in New York City makes it pretty easy to find also. Its always available at Fairway. I'm pretty sure I've seen it at Westside Market. And it is definitely available at the high end supermarkets such as Whole Foods and Citarella. And although duck breast is a bit pricey, about $10 a pound, its also rich that one duck breast can feed two in entree size portions, or 4 people when using it as an appetizer. It goes great with our favorite red wine, Malbec.<br /><br />My recipe is a combination of two recipe: this recipe from <a href="http://www.justhungry.com/duck-breast-pan-fried-poached-and-marinated-booze-kamo-ro-su">Just Hungry</a> and another one from <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Duck-with-Wild-Mushrooms-and-Fig-Sauce-2457">Epicurious</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Seared Duck Breast with Red Wine Reduction<br /><br />Duck Breast, appx 1 lb<br /><br />Red wine reduction:<br />1/2 c Red wine<br />1/4 c Balsamic vinegar<br />1/2 c Chicken Broth<br />2 T Soy sauce<br />Handful of dried fruit*<br />Cinnamon stick<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In a small saucepan, add all ingredients for the and simmer on medium until the dried fruit is plump and the sauce is slightly reduced.**<br /><br />Score the fat on the duck breast in a diamond shaped pattern. On a saute pan over medium heat, cook the duck until alot of the fat is rendered and the top of the duck has a crispy skin. Turn over the duck and allow the non-fatty side sear for about a minute. Remove the duck from the pan. Dump the fat into a bowl to either keep for another purpose (for example duck fat fried potatoes) or to throw out later once its solidified again. No need to wipe the pan after, a little duck fat left will flavor the sauce. Add the red wine reduction to the still warm pan over medium heat and add the duck breast fatty side up. The sauce should simmer over the heat. Allow the duck to cook about 8 to 10 minutes for medium rare. <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/">Simply recipes</a> has a great guide on how to check the <a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/the_finger_test_to_check_the_doneness_of_meat/">doneness of meat</a>. Place duck and sauce into a bowl and cover with foil. Allow the meat to rest for 10-30 minutes before cutting. Thinly slice the duck and serve with the red wine reduction sauce.<br /><br />* I've tried using figs, dried cranberries, or currents for the dried fruit. All came out equally well. You can probably also use dried cherries or raisins. Please let me know if you discover a dried fruit that works really well other than what I mentioned above.<br />** Its funny, the first time I made this sauce before eating the duck, I thought it tasted gross, but it pairs well with the duck or maybe the duck fat! So well that my friend doesn't care much for duck, but kept basically drinking ... uh, i mean using bread to soak up as much sauce possible.</div><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-47210426830249524092009-09-08T15:29:00.002-04:002009-11-03T17:22:00.611-05:00Homemade Naan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQdizqaUglj_kSJkeBDmP1HQkkliOYfA_XZWa2qTr-EckJlovmRgFvrswEsgA_oHHfOgMsxzZorS9AjV6gvy6X41_jL-0zXr1dKkKDlAB1KS8DUNU7MBBSxHUAeptE1KoBK77iauGO9YI/s1600-h/003+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQdizqaUglj_kSJkeBDmP1HQkkliOYfA_XZWa2qTr-EckJlovmRgFvrswEsgA_oHHfOgMsxzZorS9AjV6gvy6X41_jL-0zXr1dKkKDlAB1KS8DUNU7MBBSxHUAeptE1KoBK77iauGO9YI/s400/003+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379182912425766626" border="0" /></a><br />I really like Indian food, especially Chicken Tikka Masala. The only thing is that I prefer dark meat chicken in my curry, but most Indian Restaurants cater to the American palate and use white meat chicken. Unless the chicken is really well prepared, I find white meat chicken pretty dry. Since I have no confidence in my Indian food cooking skills, plus I'm just lazy, Indian food involves alot of prep and tons of spices ... I buy <a href="http://mayakaimal.com/products.html">Maya Kaimal Simmer Sauces</a> to make Indian curry. My boyfriend and I have gone through and tried every flavor, but our favorite is the Tikka. To make it a bit spicier, we add in a chopped jalapeno to our mix of chicken thigh chunks, onions, and extra garlic.<br /><br />Since we both prefer naan over rice, I recently decided to try making homemade naan. The dough itself is very simple to make. Pretty similar to pizza dough. But its a bit harder to make the naan. Its stickier, so its hard to work with. And, you need to fry each one on the pan separately, so it can be pretty time consuming if you want to make a big stack of naan.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Naan Recipe<br /><br />1/2 package dry active yeast<br />1/2 cup warm water<br />2 T white sugar<br />2 T milk*<br />1 egg beaten<br />2 C all purpose flour<br />1 clove garlic minced<br />2 T butter**<br />butter/oil for cooking<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Mix yeast into warm water, allow to incubate until frothy, about 10 minutes<br /><br />Mix the yeast/water into sugar, milk,egg, flour mixture. Usually, my doughs are too wet, so add extra flour until it makes a soft dough that comes together but doesn't stick to your hands too much. You don't want to add too much flour or the dough will be dry and tough. Knead for 6-8 minutes.<br /><br />Place in oiled bowl and cover with clean damp towel. Allow to rise until doubled in size. About 1 hour.<br /><br />Punch down dough and break into about golf sized balls. Melt 2T butter with the chopped garlic in the microwave for approximately a minute. To cook the naan, heat a frying pan over medium high heat with a mixture of butter and oil. Roll out each ball of dough on a flat surface with flour on the outside of the dough and on the surface and the rolling pin to keep it from sticking, it sticks really easily. Try not to add too much flour at this point, since it will make your naan taste floury and dry. Roll it out as thin as possible. Fry it on the pan on one side for 2-4 minutes, it should start forming bubbles in the dough (this is caused by moisture in the dough forming steam pockets in the naan). Drizzle the the top with the melted butter (no garlic cuz it'll burn on the pan), flip, and fry another 2-4 minutes. Where the bubbles were should form nice dark spots like naan at Indian Restaurants.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">*The original recipe calls for milk, but I just used half and half cuz thats what I have around for my coffee. It makes the naan very rich tasting. Yum!<br />**I'm sure real naan uses ghee (clarified butter), but once again, I'm lazy. I don't know the difference enough to make an extra effort to clarify my butter!<br /></div></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-58257877310956370822009-09-03T11:31:00.001-04:002009-09-03T12:22:41.035-04:00Back from Greece<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggF8PQQIV9qizbletRyu8ORHBivnExsNUilerdvaKayhQcJ1ugSrg3GtE1n3w09KalkAIk88H_IFOYN-ISje3iQqt-54euzRFtRmgyiUxtzVS46_AjGMKwMo9QVmfKrywwQ8AsNqPaM7c/s1600-h/DSC_0234.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggF8PQQIV9qizbletRyu8ORHBivnExsNUilerdvaKayhQcJ1ugSrg3GtE1n3w09KalkAIk88H_IFOYN-ISje3iQqt-54euzRFtRmgyiUxtzVS46_AjGMKwMo9QVmfKrywwQ8AsNqPaM7c/s400/DSC_0234.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377264649263822898" border="0" /></a><br />So I guess I've been a bit lazy this with blog. I had plans to go to Greece on vacation, but needed to get some data in lab, so I worked crazy long hours and just couldn't squeeze in the extra time to write stuff up.<br /><br />My vacation in Greece was unreal. Santorini was absolutely gorgeous. Words cannot describe the beauty of this island. I ate so much yummy food in Greece, especially in Santorini. I have some great recommendations if anyone wants to hear them. :) I did love their cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Their white wine was delicious and crisp. I wish I actually took some pictures of the food. But to be honest, I was so hungry by the time the food was served. And I am VERY AWARE of the fact that if I spent time taking pictures, my fast-eating food-loving boyfriend will eat everything before I get chance!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1B9Mz_7dEOPF-sbyjItAhlQVT1SHiBmC1fOwjAdrFuORNqMdvT1CZp1Uawz-u9zpPFN_Q3evgb0bq7ZVjo8928EjDRzmOmej-MU1n0GU5gDbYryPArjYFeI9do4VuINAsLhcwzoI4iZA/s1600-h/DSC_0273.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1B9Mz_7dEOPF-sbyjItAhlQVT1SHiBmC1fOwjAdrFuORNqMdvT1CZp1Uawz-u9zpPFN_Q3evgb0bq7ZVjo8928EjDRzmOmej-MU1n0GU5gDbYryPArjYFeI9do4VuINAsLhcwzoI4iZA/s400/DSC_0273.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377266597056359074" border="0" /></a><br />The sunsets were unreal in Santorini. We had a great view from our hotel room balcony. I highly recommend this hotel, <a href="http://www.sunnyvillas.gr/">Sunny Villas</a> in Imerovigli of Santorini Island. We grabbed a nice bottle of white wine and had some snacks of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and garlicky salami from the nearby store. The wine was the <a href="http://www.hatzidakiswines.gr/index.php?id=homepage1&L=0">Hatzidakis Winery</a> Santorini 2007. It was so good that when we finished the bottle, my boyfriend ran back to the store right before the sunset to grab another one. We did some wine tasting and also really liked the <a href="http://www.boutari.gr/?TGVmdE1lbnU9Niw5JkxBTkc9RU4mUGFnZUlkPTEy">Boutari Winery</a> Santorini 2007. The best thing about drinking these white wines is that these Assyrtiko grapes are indigenous to Santorini, unlike some of the other grapes that were brought over from other wine countries.<br /><br />Those who haven't been to Santorini, you have to go ... This was seriously my first vacation that I wasn't happy to be home in New York City! I still miss you Santorini!Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-38478662589201395132009-07-31T14:13:00.000-04:002009-09-03T15:29:46.556-04:00Roast Beef Sandwich<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIgY1ya3u0ciK5GJP5KiXhIG_LLDVps-cS6XiAG7RnsJuS5axZcO3zlG5EdWERJUiWvZGVhBu3Bdew_mZmPJJYYCObD3n5fqF-hnnwcMOZt2VZ_T6WCaM4ILmWhjbvU6gc9Oz0i3hUQw/s1600-h/030+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIgY1ya3u0ciK5GJP5KiXhIG_LLDVps-cS6XiAG7RnsJuS5axZcO3zlG5EdWERJUiWvZGVhBu3Bdew_mZmPJJYYCObD3n5fqF-hnnwcMOZt2VZ_T6WCaM4ILmWhjbvU6gc9Oz0i3hUQw/s400/030+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377319719898194210" border="0" /></a><br />I've never been a big fan of plain sandwiches for lunch. I get bored. I rarely want a PB&J, its just not nostalgic for me. Though, I can't complain when my BF makes me a PB and Fluff ... even if I never grew up with it. But I have always loved fancy frou-frou sandwiches with all the bells and whistles. One of my favorites is a Roast beef on sourdough bread with blue cheese, balsamic marinated onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. I also like using a tangy whole grain mustard and lots of mayo. I love marinating onions in vinegar with a little salt and sugar to eat with fatty meats, it helps balance out the flavor.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Balsamic marinated onions*:<br /><br />1/2 of onion, thinly sliced<br />1/2 t salt<br />1/2 t sugar<br />2 T balsamic vinegar<br /><br />Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and allow to marinate for appx 30 minutes.<br /><br /><br />Assemble sandwich:<br /><br />2 slices sourdough bread<br />whole grain mustard on bottom slice<br />1/6 pound prime roast beef, thinly sliced**<br />crumbled blue cheese*** to taste<br />balsamic marinated onions<br />Thinly sliced tomatoes<br />Salt and pepper the tomatoes<br />Lettuce<br />Mayo on top slice of bread<br />Cut and half<br />Eat!!!!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">* I like to do variations on these onions depending on what I'm eating the onions with. You can choose between different vinegars: white vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, etc. You can also add some grainy mustard to the mix.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">** My favorite place to get good quality prime roast beef is from Milano Market in Morningside Heights. You can definitely taste the difference in quality!<br />*** I don't like really strong blue cheese, so I use a creamy danish blue cheese.<br /></div><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-27945639871908233812009-07-30T01:00:00.000-04:002009-07-30T12:23:17.517-04:00His FAVORITE Banana Bread<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnBqHPSpY5XSAISLzZVddBMHZ3Si2AAzUWw7IUywQ0DqIHfXLlobDmRp1tNUeMZgah5VcgmuVlg8uCnkUnJ6EV_pGMhpFXFPkl1lF90eej_YFp8iGbsy5o0XE7y7HSX6Mle4oeOsfPe0/s1600-h/006+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnBqHPSpY5XSAISLzZVddBMHZ3Si2AAzUWw7IUywQ0DqIHfXLlobDmRp1tNUeMZgah5VcgmuVlg8uCnkUnJ6EV_pGMhpFXFPkl1lF90eej_YFp8iGbsy5o0XE7y7HSX6Mle4oeOsfPe0/s400/006+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364278613692870658" border="0" /></a><br />If I fell and broke my head and forgot how to make this, I seriously think the boy will break up with me. This is his all time favorite ... I asked him to rank everything I made for him and this always shows up in the top 3. And he doesn't even like sweets, but he loves this banana bread ... in the morning ... with his coffee. There have been times when he'll eat the whole loaf in one sitting, like its a muffin. One huge muffin for him and him only. Of course, I think he was drunk.<br /><br />I actually found this recipe on another <a href="http://noteatingoutinny.com/2007/02/15/sour-cream-banana-oatmeal-crunch-bread/">blog</a>. Its very moist and the crumb topping is the best. I'm not sure I want to give away this other secret but, you can frequently find overripe fruit sold in bags for $1.50 at Westside Market in Morningside Heights. Its outside on the lower shelf below the newer fresher veggies. Every now and then I can find a whole 5 or 6 pound bag of bananas. I just throw it into the frig and let it overripen even more. Banana bread is best made from black bananas.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Banana Bread<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dry ingredients:</span><br />1 C flour<br />1 t baking powder<br />1/2 t baking soda<br />1/4 t salt<br />1/4 C rolled oats<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Wet ingredients:</span><br />1-2 very ripe banana, mashed with some chunks<br />1/2 c brown sugar<br />1/4 c white sugar<br />1/4 c sour cream<br />1/4 c cooking oil<br />1 egg<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Crumb topping:</span><br />2 T butter, softens<br />1 T flour<br />2 T rolled oats<br />1 T brown sugar<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Preheat oven to 350C.<br /><br />Make the crumb topping first by combining the ingredients with a fork. Should make little chunks and balls that look like crumb.<br /><br />Sift together first 4 dry ingredients. When measuring flour, be sure to aerate (fluff) it and scoop it into a measuring cup with a spoon, otherwise it'll be too dense and you'll get more flour than you want and the final product will be too heavy. Add in the oats and mix together.<br /><br />In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients in the order listed. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do this by hand (not a mixer), and do not overmix because it will cause glutens to form and make the banana bread chewy and heavy.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Grease a loaf pan. I usually use a cooking spray that's got flour and oil in it. Pour the banana bread batter into it. Then crumble the topping evenly over top. Bake for approximately 50 minutes until a toothpick shoved in the middle comes out clean.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-58325727751158073232009-07-25T14:13:00.001-04:002009-07-28T14:29:05.447-04:00Eggplant Parmesan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqi23aW_ih9FMz6tGhmdpb41xb5g2cN6x128cI97IHxhojyGshKx6kFXpx2uv5YwXUqgqyJM-wEwnhc4rGW8FOqteQBrin-03vZ38Ji0gcHNyaC1BnhKFara5Xb1Lraom_cyHnm7ENLk/s1600-h/028b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqi23aW_ih9FMz6tGhmdpb41xb5g2cN6x128cI97IHxhojyGshKx6kFXpx2uv5YwXUqgqyJM-wEwnhc4rGW8FOqteQBrin-03vZ38Ji0gcHNyaC1BnhKFara5Xb1Lraom_cyHnm7ENLk/s400/028b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363579192792399410" border="0" /></a><br />So most people that know me know that I don't go out to eat too often. I'm a student, so I'm on a limited budget. Besides, cooking is very similar to lab experiments. You get a protocol and tweak it until it works for you. After working in lab with failed experiment after failed experiment, it feels good to go home and cook a successful "experiment" (successful = edible). Sometimes its even publish-able data ("Publish-able" in science talk ... a piece of data that makes a difference in science, will show up in a reputable scholarly journal, uh, eventually after years of review. "Publish-able" is my cooking talk ... its showing up in my blog ... or my bf praises my cooking and remembers why he's still dating me!)<br /><br />I really like eggplant parm, but I personally think most local places cut the eggplant way too thin. You can't even taste the eggplant, it just tastes like goo in the middle holding two pieces of breading together. I prefer my eggplant parm with a nice "meaty" not mushy center.<br /><br />One note I should mention about picking an eggplant. I believe I learned this from watching Alton Brown on the Food Network. On the bottom of the eggplant, there is a dimple. This can be shaped like a dash or a dot. The dashed dimple is a "female" eggplant, while the dot dimple is a "male" eggplant. "Female" eggplants tend to have more seeds, which makes the eggplant bitter. Be sure to pick a "male" eggplant with the dot dimple. Also eggplants should still look glossy without any blemishes. Older eggplants are also very bitter. Freshness matters when it comes to eggplants.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Eggplant Parmesan<br /><br />Breading the Eggplant<br />1 Italian Eggplant<br />Salt<br />Flour<br />Pepper<br />2-3 eggs<br />Breadcrumbs (either Italian, or if you prefer the parm crispier, Panko)<br />Parmesan (preferably freshly grated Parm)<br />Cooking oil<br /></div><br />Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds. Lightly salt the eggplant and place in a colander over the sink for 30 minutes to 2 hours. This takes out some of the bitterness and water from the eggplant. It also prevents the eggplant from getting too oily when fried. (Basic organic chemistry: Salt is very polar (ionic), and cooking oil is very non-polar. They don't like each other much.). Rinse off the excess salt with cool water and pat dry.<br /><br />Set up three large wide bowl. Place flour mixed with some pepper in one bowl. Beat the eggs second bowl. And make a 1:1 mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan in the last bowl. Bread the eggplant in the order: 1) Flour, shake off extra. 2) Egg. 3) Breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture, shake off extra. I read you can let the unfried breaded eggplant dry in the frig for a bit (30 minutes to an hour?) which results in a crisper product.<br /><br />Shallow fry the eggplant parmesan. Heat about one inch of of oil in a large frying pan to about 400C, this should fall to the correct frying temperature of 375C when the eggplant is added to the pan. (Some people insist on using Olive oil since this is an Italian dish. I don't think its necessary to use expensive extra virgin olive oil. Besides all the beneficial monounsaturated fats will be oxidized by the high cooking temperature and EVOO has a low smoke point. You can use light olive oil which comes from a later pressing of olives which has less monounsaturated fats. I personally use corn or vegetable oil.) Fry on each side until nicely browned. Drain on paper towels.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Baking the Eggplant Parm<br /><br />Breaded Eggplant Parmesan (from above)<br />Marinara Sauce (jarred or homemade)<br />Fresh Lightly Salted Mozzarella Cheese (about 1 lb)<br />Fresh basil leaves (optional)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I don't like my eggplant parm too soggy, so I usually just place it under the boiler to brown the cheese. Lightly grease a pan with olive oil or cooking spray. Place fried eggplant in single layer. Spoon warmed marinara sauce on each eggplant and place a slice of mozzarella cheese. Thickness of slice depends on how much you like mozzarella, but I can tell you fresh real mozzarella is way better than that supermarket rubbery stuff. Place under broiler until the cheese has a nice toasty color.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikRyuwNg-HQkvCzdlxEwDx-H9S6DdzJmm2aCgjLdthQ7_qH6XSbwkMvrNF5ZDZHn5KY0ILsPkvVG3_b1DQlmRFUqquzQQLz6Sss8dciEDP9pTbDA81QyhukYV4RNjZLJzJRnbzk7vcphQ/s1600-h/027.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikRyuwNg-HQkvCzdlxEwDx-H9S6DdzJmm2aCgjLdthQ7_qH6XSbwkMvrNF5ZDZHn5KY0ILsPkvVG3_b1DQlmRFUqquzQQLz6Sss8dciEDP9pTbDA81QyhukYV4RNjZLJzJRnbzk7vcphQ/s400/027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363579526455802690" border="0" /></a><br />Eat over pasta with extra marinara and freshly torn basil leaves scatter on top.<br /></div><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5503710852439010722.post-24899675179615566382009-07-24T21:09:00.001-04:002009-07-27T10:45:40.207-04:00Buta no Kakuni<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpshESGJFPz8dAZzZv1DQkgIMhmhMBTlGIl0c9fe1ONl5lIhCQeOLteXGlGCSDpKAdQwronLj_MzxtAXpb2YO3yEr2zyMgRgvh5tlOQYdhxbRvmv5Cz2-GFxzeQZ9JvxzcXGcNKOx-nVk/s1600-h/053+-+Copy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpshESGJFPz8dAZzZv1DQkgIMhmhMBTlGIl0c9fe1ONl5lIhCQeOLteXGlGCSDpKAdQwronLj_MzxtAXpb2YO3yEr2zyMgRgvh5tlOQYdhxbRvmv5Cz2-GFxzeQZ9JvxzcXGcNKOx-nVk/s400/053+-+Copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362198926171185154" border="0" /></a>Buta no kakuni is Japanese braised pork belly. Since Japanese food is considered healthy (we do have the longest average life expectancy in the world) and bacon is made from pork belly, this is the healthy version of bacon. Yay! Healthy bacon! I'll keep telling myself that! I usually make enough so that I can freeze enough for when I want a small portion for my ramen.<br /><br />On to the recipe ... So let me be honest, I rarely measure anything when I cook. This is just my disclaimer. I will list the ingredients with approximate volumes, but just go by taste. Besides, you might not even like my cooking since all most of you guys are seeing are pictures but have never tasted my cooking. Btw, this is a recipe using a pressure cooker. You can simmer it slowly over the stove, but I don't have any idea how long it will take to cook, maybe 2 hours or so?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Recipe for Buta no Kakuni (Simmered Pork Belly)<br /><br />Ingredients:<br />1 package Pork Belly (about 2 lbs)<br />Thumb sized chunk of ginger, unpeeled, but smashed slightly under knife<br />2 cloves of garlic, smashed under knife<br />1 Leek, cleaned of all sand and cut into 3 chunks<br />1/2 c Soy Sauce<br />1/4 c Cooking Sake<br />1/4 c Mirin<br />1/4 c Sugar<br />2T vinegar<br />water<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Cut the pork belly into 2 inch cubes. Rinse the pork under cool water. Place the pork belly into a large pot with water filled until its covering the pork. Bring this to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Skim any of the foam that floats to the top. Drain the pork in a colander and rinse with cool water to rid the pork of any coagulated foam, yuck!<br /><br />Brown the each pork belly piece on all sides in some oil over medium heat. (This is optional, I was being lazy and didn't do this for the pork belly pictured above. Its suppose to taste better and it keeps it from falling apart as easily.) Place the browned pork belly pieces and all the remaining ingredients into the pressure cooker and cover with water until almost all pieces are covered. The cooking liquid should be pretty dark in color. Taste the cooking liquid (the pork is already cooked so it should be safe), make sure it is salty enough with a touch of sweetness. If not, add more soy sauce and/or sugar. Bring to high pressure and cook for 15 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. The meat should be pork tender, but not falling apart. If it is not ready, cook it a bit longer. If you like hard boiled eggs in the kakuni, after the pressure is released, place peeled hard boiled eggs into the cooking liquid and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger, garlic cloves, and leeks, do not eat, it was only to flavor the liquid and pork.<br /><br />Eat with a squeeze of lemon (this cuts the fatty taste) and karashi (Japanse mustard). The kakuni tastes even better if left overnight to absorb more of the sauce. If you make alot, freeze aliquots of 2 or 3 pieces of pork wrapped in saran wrap to use in ramen.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div>Jennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01104735083851808565noreply@blogger.com0