foodie nyc

Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli, Corn, Tomato

One of my favorite ways to cook is to just have a pile of ingredients land on my kitchen counter and spontaneously prepare a meal from them.  I find this challenge rewarding, as I get a chance to rely on creativity and spontaneous instincts.

Here, I roasted potato wedges in a 400 degree oven until browned and just a bit crispy. I blanched the broccoli while the potatoes roasted.  When these tasks were completed, I chopped two cloves of garlic, took the kernels off an ear of corn and diced a small tomato.  I tossed the garlic and a dash of red pepper flakes in a hot pan with olive oil, then combined all of the above into the pan in order to coat them in the garlic and chili infused oil. Salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and you're ready to eat.  Add some herbs, chives, curry, cheese or anything else you think would work.  I served this as a side dish for a steak, so I wanted to keep it pretty simple. 

A Tasting for the Gulf Coast

I've finally announced our 13th foodie event, which will be held on October 16th.   This is a very special foodie, as the event will raise funds for Habitat for Humanity to aid reconstruction for the Gulf Coast area.  We've been lucky enough to receive sponsorship from Crush Wine, Gothamist, Divine Studio and friends from the Brookyln farmers market to help us donate as much as we can to the relief effort.

I'll be working over the next few weeks to finalize a Gulf Coast inspired menu and welcome all thoughts and recipes for inspiration. I'm open to any of your ideas!

In the meantime, read the announcement about the Gulf Coast foodie event here.

Pigskin Sundays

Back in the day, I used to kickoff Sunday football with wings and beer.  If I weren't concerned about keeling over in an unhealthy state of nastiness, I wouldn't deviate from this successful formula of football satisfaction. But it's not like I'm starting the 2005 season with salads and tofu dogs because let's face it - pork, football and beer is a perfect combination.

I've recently been enjoying putting platters together that can last an entire game.  Last week, I had some mortadella, hot soppressata, brie, an aged cheddar and some crackers. Of course, I needed some of my beloved hot sauce - not the sriracha I normally reach for - but the chili garlic sauce from the rooster company.  The perfect bite is pictured here - a bit of creamy brie, a slice of deep mortadella porkiness, a touch of the chili sauce and a crispy cracker. 

Petit Verdot from Alexander Valley

The 2001 Murphy-Goode Petit Verdot was a wine we picked up from a recent trip to Sonoma.  I haven't since seen it in retail shops here in NYC, but would jump on the chance to pick up a few bottles again.  I generally agreed with the winemaker notes, including the fact that it had a really long, nice finish:

Winemaker, David Ready Jr. notes:
“Here is a well structured wine with uncommon breadth and depth, a concentrated mouthful of cocoa, black cherry and plum flavors. The silky smooth tannins, lasting finish and weight of this wine promise a long life.”

We had this with a beefy ribeye steak - stood up to the flavors perfectly.

Roasted Okinawa Purple Sweet Potato

I haven't been able to find these purple sweet potatoes from Okinawa on a consistent basis, but they are indeed worth hunting down.  They are sweet, earthy and pretty much taste like a yam.  They obviously look incredible on the plate - I only wish I could experiment with them more often.  I've only roasted them - wish I could try them mashed, in a multi-layered and colored gratin, etc.

Here's an informative look at the Okinawa purple sweet potato.

Red Mullet, Creamed Spinach

I like red mullet as a simple first course, mainly because it's the perfect size for a few bites.  I like to pan sear it, skin side down, for a few minutes until the skin is crispy. I paired it here with the rich, simple taste of creamed spinach and toasted pine nuts for a little crunch.  A squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of sea salt and this simple starter is out on the table with only about 15 minutes of cooking.

Pintxos in San Sebastian

After spending a morning on the beach or walking around the gorgeous San Sebastian waterfront, we'd naturally start thinking about lunch.  On the first few days of our trip, it was hard to adjust to the pintxos (Basque tapas) way of life.  We knew that small bites was the way we'd be eating (in fact, something we were looking forward to) but the issue was that everyone in the city jams into these tiny bars during the lunch time and dinner hours. Everyone is standing and jostling for position at the bar.  It's chaos, with lines maybe three to four people deep.  When you'd finally wedge your way to the bar, you'd fill your plate with a variety of treats and the bartender would count your tapas and somehow remember them later.  Without a doubt, my favorites were the hot options.  In this picture, you see the raw mushrooms and green peppers, aka pimentos de padron.  If you ordered either of these, they'd fill up a plate and take it to the back for cooking.  The black trumpet mushrooms and porcinis in this picture came out briefly sauteed with butter.  The green peppers were indeed what I have been looking for in the States when making this recipe. They were briefly fried and sprinkled with sea salt.  Once in a while, we'd get a hot one, but that was fine by me - just an excuse to have a refreshing beer before going back to the beautiful Basque summer.

Parmigiano Crisps with Lump Crab Guacamole

One of the first ideas I picked up from The French Laundry Cookbook years ago was Thomas Keller's Parmigiano Reggiano crisps shaped into little cups.  Any creamy filling is a perfect balance to the salty, crispy cheese. Keller's original recipe for the crisps is here.

I was in the mood for fresh lump crab meat, so I steamed it and mixed it with a mash of avocado, red onion, chili, mint and lemon juice.  We enjoyed these with this Neyers Chardonnay, but a crisp Sav Blanc from NZ would have been the other choice. 

Curried Scallops, Edamame Succotash

I really enjoyed making this bizarre version of a succotash.  The deep flavors of the hazlenuts and bacon are a phenominal pairing with earthy edamame and sweet, fresh corn.  I dusted the scallops with curry before searing, as I love curry with roasted nuts and corn.  As mentioned in my Aleppo pepper post, I tossed in some of these dried chili flakes and added a deep, almost mysterious flavor to the succotash.

Check out my full recipe here.

Mahon in Spain

One of my favorite dishes we had during a recent trip to Barcelona was a beautiful fresh tomato salad featuring little else but a cheese called Mahon.  At the time we hadn't known this cheese, but later found it at the famous and oldest food market in Barcelona called La Boqueria.  I took this picture to remember it when I came back to the U.S. 

Mahon is a cow's milk cheese from the small island of Minorca, which is a popular vacation spot located in the Western Mediterranean off of Spain.  After looking at the different kinds of Mahon in this picture, I have learned that Mahon fresco comes aged only ten days, while Mahon tierno is aged about 1-2 months.  The oldest seem to be about 10-12 months and apparently achieves a hard consistency with flavors becoming more intense.  Based on this info, the Mahon we had must have been the tierno, as I remember it to be soft, creamy and just a touch pungent. The dark red rind is traditionally made from paprika and oil.  Fellow NYC readers can find it here.

Aleppo Pepper

My family has been into Aleppo Pepper for years.  I am just starting to use it frequently and I do indeed love it as well.  Aleppo pepper flakes are dried and crushed red pepper from the Turkey region.  They have a deep, almost smoky chili flavor.  It's not that spicy - certainly much more mild than red pepper flakes. Some liken the flavor to ancho chili, which I find pretty accurate. I like to use it by infusing the Aleppo pepper flakes into olive oil or butter before sauteing, releasing their oils into whatever I am making.  When making a succotash of corn, soybeans, red bell peppers, garlic and onions recently (I'll post the recipe tomorrow), the Aleppo added a deep, almost mysterious flavor to the dish.  Try it out - you can pick up a bottle at Pensey's.

Pan Con Tomate

This time of year, you may have a leftover piece of a juicy, fresh, beautiful tomato lying around.  What to do with it?

In Barcelona, we had a traditional tapa called pan con tomate. (This picture is from a tapas restaurant from a trip a few weeks ago).  A country bread is sliced and broiled (or grilled) until toasty.  While hot, they slice a garlic clove in half and rub the bread with the clove, imparting a nice garlicy flavor to the bread.  Take your halved small tomato and rub the cut side onto the bread until the tomato is basically mutilated on the toast. Drizzle with olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt and you've got an easy and tasty way to use a leftover juicy tomato.

Watermelon, Goat Cheese, Spinach Salad

This isn't the best picture, but I wanted to document this random salad I made the other night for a few reasons.  First, the combination of creamy Coach Farms goat cheese and watermelon is a great combination in a salad.  Crunchy kernels of fresh summer corn and toasted pine nuts also contributed to the crunchy texture of the salad.  After setting the ingredients into a bowl with fresh spinach and some Thai basil, I created the dressing by adding some lemon juice and olive oil into a small bowl along with a few chunks of the goat cheese.   Mashing the goat cheese into the olive oil and lemon juice created a creamy goat cheese dressing that gently coated the greens and tied eveything together.