"Coulda been chicken..."

[First and foremost, to understand this title reference please refer to 11:20 in this YouTube clip] 

Spring has officially sprung and it's time to get this blog back into action. To be quite frank, I'm embarrassed at how long it's been since the last post. Big thangs have popped since 2011. Latke has left and returned from Africa and is back in NYC to pursue post-grad achievements at Columbia. Lil Wonton has since moved to Chicago for personal pursuits. But despite her neglect for this food blog, her love (obsession, really) for food never waned. For you and I, dear food, are meant to be together. It's written in the stars....(OK, enough. Please don't get scared and close this tab.)

Part of me thinks the first post in two years would warrant something a bit more "special" than your average chicken. However, a few beers in and I felt compelled to cook/clean out the fridge which also lead to the this-would-be-the-perfect-time-to-crack-back-into-that-food-blog-I-once-had-many-moons-ago thought. So yes, we find ourselves here. With a six pack of Racer 5 and my guilty conscience for a neglected blog and fear of spoiling perfectly good chicken breast.

We start with the Israeli couscous salad. As the weather rises, I refind my love for salads. I'm not really talking about lettuce, but cold noodle salads, couscous salads and the like. (FYI - sesame noodle salad post coming shortly so get ready.) At first thought, Israeli couscous might sound a bit too exotic, but really, you can find it at any Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. The one I buy is from Trader Joe's in the purple box. What you want to start with, is browning it on the stove with a bit of olive oil so you get a nice color. While that cooks and then cools, prep your veggies. My go-to's are diced Persian cucumber, red onion, Italian parsley, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts/almonds and your favorite salad dressing (nothing creamy or too heavy - you want to keep it light and fresh for Spring/Summer). Prep is the most time consuming part. But when you're done, it sure is purdy (see below)

Mmmm Racer 5....

And den....once the couscous is done and cooled, mix all that together with your favorite dressing. Sometimes I make a simple vinaigrette but tonight I used a rosemary lemon vinaigrette I picked up at Whole Foods. Toss it together, and add the nuts last. It's best to keep them toasty and crunchy. I took my pine nuts and broiled them for a hot minute in the oven, then diced them up and added them to the mix. End product...

Next stop....chicken. I had some frozen chicken breasts that I recently defrosted then forgot about. So before they went foul (teehee), I felt like I needed to do something with them. I also had some leftover bacon (seems weird to say, no?) so decided to bacon-wrap the chicken breast because....well, because that's just what you do. I really should have just stopped there. But then I remembered I had breadcrumbs and grated parmesan in the fridge. So we breaded that sh-t. (MMHMM!) Before wrapping the bacon around the chicken, I lightly season-salted and peppered the chicken breasts. Then, the exact order I executed was wrapping, egg washing, breadcrumb/parmesan mixture dabbing/patting. Not sure if this order is traditionally kosher, but this is what seemed to make sense in my head. Ok, so wrap that chicken like a lil babay. Bake in the oven at 425 for about 30 min and you shall have a lil sumpin sumpin that looks like this:

So there you have it! Chicken and Israeli couscous salad. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but uh...

Simple pleasures in life...

gnocchi with pork sausage, spinach and pesto. 
thanks Trader Joe's!

  I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but it turns out the Trader Joe's gnocchi is...not so bad. I've been craving gnocchi lately but have been too lazy to make it from scratch. While I was on the train coming back from work, I started brainstorming ideas for dinner (as I often do). Gnocchi with fennel sausage, pesto and spinach perhaps? Luckily we live 2 blocks away from a legit Italian butcher. Shout out to Los Paisanos on Smith Street! Woot woot! (Can I have some free meat now please?) Los Paisanos doesn't mess around. These guys have nearly every kind of meat and cut that you would ever want, and their prices are pretty damn reasonable. I picked up some Italian berkshire pork sausage meat to go with the gnocchi, and two extra sausage links. Cause, you know. Why not?
  This is a fairly simple meal to throw together. The gnocchi cooks in about 5 minutes so while I was waiting I sauteed up some fresh minced garlic and diced onion, then threw in the sausage meat. When the sausage is cooked through, I turned off the heat and added three big handfuls of spinach and stirred until it was completely wilted. Then I added just a touch of marinara sauce for liquid and a bit of acidity. But I wanted the base of the sauce to be pesto, so I added some of TJ's jarred pesto and mixed that all together.
  At the end, I threw the gnocchi into the pan with the sauce  to fully coat each little gnocchi baby, and finally plated with some freshly grated asiago and some basil leaves. Not bad for a 10 minute meal. Do eet!

Hot Child In The City

Summer is officially here. It's currently 95 degrees in the city, and climbing to 102 tomorrow. The smell of summer (stench of garbage, really) is wafting through the streets of New York City. But with the heat, comes the sun and the instinctual urge to grill.

So far, this summer has been all about grilling and squeezing in as much outdoors/beach/pool time as possible. Fourth of July was a beautiful day this year. Perfect for making ribs two ways! I decided to buy a rack of baby back ribs, and another rack of spare ribs just to spice things up a bit this year. I chose to slow cook the baby backs in the oven with some yellow onion and a simple dry rub of salt, pepper, herbs de provence and a touch of garlic powder. I started in the afternoon, putting them in the oven at 300 with the door slightly open. If your oven can be set lower than this, I'd recommend setting it as low as 200 and just letting it go for 4 hours or so. To conceal all the juices, wrap the ribs with parchment paper so they're nicely bundled and then cover with tinfoil. The end product will be a deliciously juicy, fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth party. I personally don't like to cover my ribs in BBQ sauce, but if that's your thing, go ahead and slather on your favorite sauce at the end to give it a nice coating.

The spare ribs I decided to experiment with, using a hodgepodge of assorted sauces and ingredients from the fridge. I started off with a base of Soy Vey (the most essential ingredient to the mix), blended with some leftover kalbi Korean BBQ marinade, Worcestershire, freshly minced ginger, green onion, spring onion (I picked up from the Farmer's market that weekend), salt and pepper. Luckily in New York City, every apartment is equipped with a balcony (or fire escape, whatever you like to call it), which helps create the illusion of a temporary escape from the metropolitan smog and congestion of the city. Your personal BBQ oasis should look like some version of this:

contrary to some comments, those are onions. not noodles. i'm not THAT asian.

Plated with some veggies and a side - my favorite is Israeli couscous salad with fresh veggies and a light vinaigrette - and your meal is complete. Mmmmm ribs....

spare ribs with swiss chard, israeli couscous and, of course, a sierra nevada summer ale. 

Last weekend we had the privilege of joining some friends to their family's summer house at Fire Island. The island was sublime, complete with personalized wagons and beach cruisers to ride from shore to shore. And like any perfect beach house, they had a gas grill that we took full advantage of. Aside from the amazing wonder that is meat, vegetables are also a lovely summer treat to grill. Veggies are so in right now. Particularly asparagus. One of my favorites that often gets overlooked due to its notoriety for creating foul smelling...breath. There was only one general store on the island so we made sure to bring appropriate groceries and meats to grill. Our mothers would all be proud to see that we did NOT neglect our veggies!

Someone also had the brilliant idea to slap a fried egg on top of our burgers. The result, was bliss.

In addition to stuffing our faces, we also tanned on the beach, swam in the bay and amused ourselves with a diving board for several hours. It was a successful weekend getaway from the city, and a very much needed break from life. But most importantly, what we took away from this mini vacation is to not take yourself too seriously. And to ALWAYS play with your food.

Til next time...

Meatball Crawl 2011

Scouring the city for the finest ball in New York...

The meatball. A delectable meaty star that is often overlooked and under appreciated. This weekend we decided to go on a hunt for the best meatballs in New York City. We chose three locations to explore the plethora of meatballs the city had to offer. We began in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn at one of the oldest butchers/delis in New York, G. Esposito & Sons. They had some delicious looking meats and baked ziti in the deli case, but of course we opted for, "three meatballs please!" Each ball was about the size of a baby's fist - they really don't mess around here - and were drenched in their homemade marinara. The first bite and you're immediately overwhelmed with flavor. The meatball itself is quite dense but the quality of the beef keeps it tender and juicy. And the marinara added just enough contrast and acidity without overpowering the star of the show. The sauce was sweet but not too sweet and complimented the meatball ever so delicately. 

A Moose Bouche - Shout out to Idle

I planned a trip home to California in February in the hopes of skiing for a few days and holding on to a tradition I love. After buying my tickets, my brother announced that I was conveniently going to be back for the kick off dinner of A Moose Bouche, a culinary masterpiece event. The five course meal was held in a secret location disclosed the night before the event. The event was a five course meal, each course paired with one of my brother's wines. My brother is one of three wine makers at Idle Cellars, a small wine label he created a few years back. I am terribly spoiled, his wine is amazing. His experience has truly led me to believe in the hipster motto that "the bigger the mustache, the better the mentor". OK, that's not a real thing, I made it up, but it wouldn't surprise me. The vintner he learned from did have the best mustache I have ever seen.

http://www.deerfieldranch.com/Winery/Winery.index.html

The event was 'dress to impress' so after getting all done up in my best cocktail dress and heals, we set out for the anonymous location. We arrived at the address given and were directed through a motorcycle garage complete with mechanics waxing down some bikes. After being guided by the man of the hour through a side door we found ourselves in an old Biker bar with three very large dining tables, a bar full of Idle wine and flamenco gitarists in windows above. After greeting friends and being handed a glass of champagne, we sat down to a table where we were presented with some communal plates of grapes on the vine sauteed in olive oil and rosemary couple with a delicious local sheep's milk cheese. The meal went on from there in flawless fashion as described on the idle cellars blog:


http://idlecellars.com/blog/moose-bouche-underground-dinner

I hope I can make it to the next A Moose Bouche event, it was a huge success!

Buffalo "I Ain't No" Chicken Mac N' Cheese

Warning: This might potentially give you a heart attack, but it would be well worth it...

I came across this recipe online on a site called the Noble Pig. The name alone is what drew me in. Mmmm...pig.... But the photos were what kept my eyes glued to the screen. In my opinion it's really hard to make a bad mac n' cheese. Much like it's difficult to make a bad mashed potato (which surprisingly I've had, and is not a pretty sight). But there are some mac n' cheese recipes that completely blow your mind that you just have to have it right then and there. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of those recipes.

Here's what you'll need for your gluttonous fatty fat fest: (easily serves a family of 12-14, or 4 hungry fatties)

7 tbsp of unsalted butter (that's right, 7tbsp + extra for greasin')

1 lb of pasta (you could go traditional here and do elbow macaroni, but I chose pasta shells)

*1 large chicken breast, seasoned and cooked (10-12oz)

1 lb of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 lb of shredded pepperjack cheese

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 cloves of garlic

3/4 cup of buffalo wing sauce [or bbq sauce mixed with Tapatio, which is what I used]

2/3 cup of sour cream

2 tsp dry mustard

2 1/2 cups of half and half

2 tbsp of flour

1 cup of panko crumbs

2 tsp of parsley, diced

1/4-1/2 cup of blue cheese, parmesan (or whatever topping cheese you'd like)

*The original recipe called for 1 lb of rotisserie chicken but I wanted to season my own chicken and I actually thought 1 lb of chicken was a bit excessive for this recipe. So I bought a skinless boneless chicken breast and seasoned it with seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper and a dash of herbs de provence. Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes at 400F. When it's done, take a fork, shred the chicken and set aside.

When you're feeling ready to gorge yourself, grease a 9x13 baking dish with some butter and preheat the oven at 350F. Boil the pasta in a large pot until it's a nice al dente and then drain and set aside. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat with 3 tbsp of butter. Throw in the garlic, celery and onion and cook until soft (don't completely overcook it though because you still want some crunch to the celery). After a few minutes, add in the shredded chicken and cook until the chicken heats up again. Next, throw in 1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce and stir until the chicken mixture thickens. Set aside when finished.

Here comes the cheesy deliciousness. Take a large saucepan and melt 2 tbsp of butter over low heat. Add in the flour to make the roux and stir until it creates a paste. Add in the dry mustard and mix til it's pastey yellow. Stir in the half and half with a whisk, and slowly add in the cheddar and pepperjack and heat on medium until all the cheese is melted down. When the shredded bits start to disappear add in the sour cream and stir until smooth. Finally, throw in the remaining 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce.

And now, it's bakin' time! Take half of the pasta and spread it across the baking dish. Top with the shredded chicken mixture and then the rest of the pasta. Now, take your saucepan and pour that hot cheese lava all over that bad boy. Bowchicka bow wow! For the topping (the best part), melt the remaining 2 tbsp of butter in the microwave and toss with the panko crumbs, parsley and cheese topping and sprinkle that on top of the dish.

my heart hurts just looking at this, but it's oh so good...

When you're finally done taking photos/drooling over/ogling the mac n cheese, place it in the oven on the center rack and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cheese starts a-bubblin'. If you take it out of the oven and the sheer sight of the slightly browned and deliciously melty cheese mixture makes you want to immediately face plant straight into the dish, then you know it's done. But please resist for 5-10 minutes before serving. A burned tongue (not to mention burned face) would ruin your entire evening, so proceed with caution. Once you assess that the cheese is no longer boiling lava hot, dig in and enjoy!

The Secret to Happiness

Not so much food related, but life related nonetheless. Thanks Latkewitz for this enlightening article! I'll take this as a sign that we're one step in the right direction: The Happiest Man in America