Souper Star!

When my elders raised me to finish what was on my plate based on the idea that there are starving children in Africa, it really stuck with me. I've always felt terribly guilty not finishing my food. It was this same sentiment that attracted me to the idea of making chicken stalk out of my leftovers. I had never made my own stalk before, but after listening to my good friend Matzo Ball talk about how easy it was to turn a large turkey leg into a delicious soup broth, I decided to give it a go. I threw the bones of my bird into a large pot and covered it with water. I chopped up some carrots, celery, onion and garlic and tossed it all in with the chicken. I put the pot over a medium flame and added some fresh thyme and sage, and a bit of black peper. Once everything is in there, I just let it sit there for four hours while I did some work and watched some old 30 Rock episodes. One of the best things about this venture was how good it made the apartment smell. It was like what a grandma's kitchen should smell like - a warm herby steam.

The delicious aroma made me decide it was too tasty not to make into soup, so after pouring some of the stalk into a tupperware and freezing it for later, i gathered the veggies and chicken meat that had fallen off the bone and chopped them into more bite-sized pieces, threw in some more onions, celery and carrots. Added salt and seasoned salt and some oregano. I brought this mix to a boil and then threw in some egg noodles care of Won Ton. After letting it all simmer together until the noodles were soft and mm mmm goood, I got Campbells beat. So, African children, if you're hungry, I got some soup!

Ratat Eggplant

The cold has started to infiltrate the neighborhood of NYC, so when I came home from work yesterday I felt like some cozy food. 'Cozy food' for me is generally something roasty, tasty and squishy (like its giving your mouth a hug). I had a lovely purple eggplant in the fridge which made me instantly think 'mmmm Ratatouille'. Ratatouille is wonderful because it is colorful, full of lovely vegetables, and can be coupled with an array of meats and/or carbs. I had to once again work with what I had to throw this together, so I changed the traditional recipe a bit.

I kicked off with the essentials for any good meal: sauteed onions and mushrooms. It is key to get the olive oil nice and warm in the pan before you throw in your veggies. I threw some yellow pepper in with the onions and mushrooms to add a little extra crunch and let them all get slightly golden. Its best to keep the pieces about a couple square inches so that your Ratatouille is good and chunky.

Before I started I had laid out some large rounds of eggplant on some paper towel with salt on one side to help take the moisture out. I tend to get lazy with eggplant and skip this step, but if I do I usually need to use more olive oil and keep a cover on the pan if I don't want the eggplant to burn, so if you don't want an olive oil OD, pre-salting is best. I decided to use a separate pan to bronze the eggplant so I could maintain the different flavors that each veggie has to offer. I cut the eggplant into cubes and threw them in the other pan with a drizzle of Olive Oil.

While the eggplant browned a bit on each side I threw a large clove of chopped garlic and canned chunky tomatoes onto the onion/mushroom/pepper mixture. Make sure to drain the tomatoes over a bowl before you throw them in so that you can use some of the excess tomato juice to remoisten your mixture if need be. I put a lid on the Onionmush pan to let it all blend together nicely and after about 5 minutes at a high simmer, removed the lid to let the moisture evaporate for about 10 minutes. Once most of the moisture was gone I gave it a good stir and then threw the slightly browned eggplant on top. I flavored with some salt and pepper and chopped up a handfull of fresh basil leaves to toss on top. I covered this deliciousness for a couple minutes then added a little more of the tomato juice and gave it a little stir. I let the whole thing cook for a few more minutes until it had the right balance of squish and crunch, and voilà Ratatouille!!

I decided to couple it with a little goat cheese and sundried tomato ravioli sprinkled with pesto and parmesan. Tasty deliciousness accompanied me for a cozy night at home. Pork Buns - I forgot to take a picture, but here is someone else's pic for your viewing pleasure...

Watchout Bird, I’m Gonna Eat You..

I‘ve really developed my inherent Jew skills since I’ve been living in Brooklyn making the most of my measly salary by finding cheap deals and going to free events around the city. Having Trader Joe’s just 5 blocks away has made this feat incredibly easy for me. It had been a couple weeks since I had strolled over. It was a lovely autumn evening so I grabbed my canvas bags and headed up the street creating a shopping list in my head I would instantly forget when I walked through the doors and headed straight for the cheese Isle. After starring at a chunk of Saint André for too long and deciding I could go without this week, I mosey around the corner to the meat and veggie display. I grab my lettuce and broccoli and find myself starring at the sausage and remembering my Jewish Mother sent me back from California with a Costco stash of Aidell's Chicken Apple Sausage just a few weeks earlier. I contemplate going over to the frozen food section and grabbing a bag of chicken breasts when my eye falls upon a lovely display of plump little whole chickens ready for the roasting. I think to myself, 'why only grab some breast when you can get some thigh and wing". After continuing my rounds I stumble home with my overflowing bags and get ready to cook for the week.

The thought of cooking a whole chicken can be intimidating, but if you aren't squeamish about the fact that you're eating an animal, there is really nothing to be afraid of. I unwrapped my little friend and placed it in a pan. After pulling out the gizzards that are neatly wrapped in a paper sack (thank you food processors), I start to flavor my bird with goodness. First, yes Julia Childs, that is correct, BUTTER! I cut up a couple tablespoons and stick it inside, on top and around the chicken, even under the skin. I throw on some salt, black pepper, thyme and dried basil and massage it into the hide. I decide I want this to be wonderfully juicy so I chop up some onions and garlic and stuff them in the gizzard hole. I top it off with some of the apples that are still plentiful from apple picking by slicing them up and placing them in and around my once feathery friend. As a finishing touch I sprinkle some olive oil over her for a nice little shine and throw her in the oven at 350 - 400 degrees. While she roasts for about 1.5 hours I ready some couscous and steamed broccoli to round out the delicious meal. Side note: basting is key, don't forget to re-juice your bird at least twice while she's cooking.

I pulled her out after cutting in to see if she had lost her pink hue and voilà! Dinner is served. The best part about this roast chicken extravaganza is lunch and dinner for the rest of the week are taken care of in the form of sandwiches, salads and any chicken dinner combo that might tickle your fancy. My belly will be ecstatic while I sit with Won-ton as we watch the Giants win the World Series. HOLLER!

When life gives you lobsters...

You eat the shit out of them. Am I right?

lobster canoodling

Set the scene: Underneath the desk of my cubicle is a box labeled "LIVE SEAFOOD" encasing three fresh and deliciously plump lobsters. How did I get them, you ask? You see, having a Chinese mother has its many perks. The most important being that she will always bring you food - even if it means checking her purse when she gets to the airport so she can instead carry-on her bounty of live crustacean. Thanks mom (and United airlines for your spacious overhead compartment space!) Finally the work day is over and it's time to go home and boil some lobstah! After I obtain my note from the facilities department allowing me to take my sea friends out of the building, we hop in a cab and head to Brooklyn. A quick trip to Union Market to pick up some corn on the cob (gotta have corn when you're eating lobster) and some bread, cheese and pate (gotta have snacks while you're cooking), and we're home at last. Open the box et voila - lobster party! 

DIRECTIONS FOR LOBSTER FEAST:
When it comes to handling live lobster, there are many ways to go about it. Personally, I prefer the scaredy cat approach of using long barbeque tongs and girlish screaming to take it out of the box. Other - some say braver - lobster wranglers use the hands-on approach of simply grabbing it by the torso (the claws are, after all, tied with rubber bands). But really, either way...either way. 

Now, to cook these bad boys you'll either need a large pot or wok (jigga what!) filled with water and brought to a boil. In our apartment, our stove only has one large burner that produces a big enough flame so we don't have the space to cook more than one lobster at a time. But if you're so fortunate to have a chef's kitchen and a spacious stovetop then by all means, cook those fellas altogether. Once the water comes to a boil, place the lobster inside and cover immediately - and be sure to hold on to the lid as those suckers can flail quite wildly during their last grasp at life (awww...so sad). Now one of the most important things to note is, DO NOT overcook your lobster! Many online recipes or misinformed folk will say to cook the lobster for an hour, but if you cook it too long it will lose all flavor. Ours were done in about 30-40 minutes or so. You can always take a little peek under the lid and check on its progress. 


While the lobster is cooking, it's time to prepare the garlic butter. All you need are the essentials: garlic and butter. Depending on how many lobsters you have/how much you love butter the amount will vary. For the three lobsters we cooked, we melted just about a stick and a half and had plenty to go around! Arteries, run for the hills!! In a small saucepan, melt down the butter on low heat. While the butter is melting, take two large cloves of garlic and mince. This will later be added to the butter to add an extra yumminess to your dippin' sauce. After the butter is completely melted down, take a small spoon and skim the cloudy white layer off the top of the butter. This is a lot of unnecessary fat and let's be honest, we're all trying to watch our figures here eh? Now that we're all in agreement, add the garlic to the butter and stir. Your dippin' sauce is now ready. Just get your corn on the cob boiling and you should be good to go as soon as those lobsters are done. If you're still waiting on your lobster to cook, maybe you should take some of that bread, pate and cheese you bought earlier and snack a bit. What? You didn't get any of your own? Well sorry, you certainly can't have any of mine. That was just bad planning on your part.

Once your lobster(s) is cooked, corn is done, butter is ready...you're dinner is served and should look - in some variation or another - like the image above (flowers and champagne are optional). Now, close the computer and eat foo!

PIZZAAAA they say it’s the best in New York. I was raised partial to Chicago style deep dish care of Zachary’s Pizza (I love me some chunky tomatoes), but if you’re looking for some real Italian thin slice goodness, New York really knows how to do it. We finally made it down to Lucali’s, supposedly the fav pizza spot of Hip-hop royalty HOV (shout out to Candygraham), and Beyoncé conveniently located down the street from our apartment. Instead of waiting for a table we grabbed a pie and headed back to our nest.

The pie did not disappoint. Freshly made dough thinly rolled out and covered with ripe tomato sauce that tasted like it was just plucked from the garden and poured onto our plate. This delectable base is covered in rounds of fresh Mozarella, seemingly brought over from the Italian country side only minutes before. We chose to keep it simple and requested a ‘Margherita’ style pizza. When we opened the box there were mounds of fresh basil leaves surrounding the pizza for us to do with as we chose. The scent was mouthwatering.

After finishing off the Italian masterpiece we dug into a lovely assortment of cookies from a charming little bakery around the corner. Every once in a while eating a tasty treat in the shape of a little man covered with sprinkles is just what you need.