foodie nyc

A Weekend of Tastings

I always wanted to do my Foodie NYC tasting events on consecutive days.     In my grand plan, my tasting events would pop up at different locations for an entire weekend a few times a month.   My mailing list would receive notice a few days in advance of the next tasting weekend and...voila.   We'd have a mini restaurant up and running for the weekend.    Not a restaurant, per se, because it would have a more intimate vibe and personality all its own. 

And now, it's finally coming to fruition.    I had been holding out on doing events for the summer, mainly because I was enjoying my personal life.  But in reality, I had been waiting to execute this weekend tasting series idea.   I had also been hoping to launch a new name and website with the new weekend tasting idea, but that could take a while.  That plan is still in the works, however.

In the meantime, I'm happy to announce the launch of The Weekend Tasting Series on Oct 12th.   All of the details are located here.  I'm sure I'll be posting cooking ideas as I prep for the event and will most certainly share the menu and pictures afterward.      

Smoked Paprika, Tarragon Compound Butter

One of my favorite ways to roast a chicken is to stuff the skin with a compound butter.   A compound butter is simply softened butter mixed with additional flavors and reformed back to its traditional state.

I make all different kinds of flavored butters.   One of my favorites is smoked paprika and tarragon butter.   But I've made so many others that I equally love.   Chopped mushrooms and thyme, which had been previously sauteed and cooled.    Toasted pink peppercorn, ginger lemon, roasted garlic butter....the list is endless and essentially left up to your creativity. 

The technique is very simple.   I like to get a stick of butter at close to room temp, just soft enough to be able to mix thoroughly with your additional ingredients.   When adding your ingredients, always make sure they are room temp and relatively dry.   I like to lay out the butter on plastic wrap, add the ingredients, mix together with my hands, then roll the butter into a tight sausage like object in the plastic wrap.    I then toss the butter into the freezer to harden and become one.    Simply slice and use as you'd like.   I love how the butter and ingredients baste and flavor the meat of roasted chicken, but you can use this technique for almost anything.

The Base for Ginger, Vanilla Bean Bouillabaisse

I'll never forget the night I had one of my first grown up meals in New York City.    Laurent Tourondel, the LT of the BLT restaurant empire in NYC,  was at the time the chef of a restaurant named Cello.   My Uncle and his friend Joe took me to the restaurant, right around the time I was graduating from college. 

I'd had only a handful of high end meals at that point in my life.  After the dinner at Cello, I realized the immense pleasure that would be awaiting me as I grew into a cook.    I'll never forget the entree I had that night - a classic bouillabaisse.   It was outrageously good.   In fact, I ordered bouillabaisse anytime I saw it for almost a year afterwords, just to confirm what made a great bouillabaisse better than all the rest.

As you've gathered by reading this site by now, I have no desire to make the classic bouillabaisse perfectly.   I've had it and it's delicious.   Instead, I wondered how I can stay true to the classic technique, while adding a flavor profile that was delicious yet captivating.   

The bouillabaisse is all about making a delicately flavored fish stock.    Making a fish stock is not as much of an effort as you'd think.    The fish bones and scraps that it takes to make a stock are often available at your fish market - just ask.    Markets like Fresh Direct have them ready to put right into your stock pot.   A fish stock only needs to simmer for about thirty minutes, so it doesn't take all day to make either.

I love a hint of vanilla bean with a meaty white fish.   Nothing overwhelming, but a bit of the floral, exotic  vanilla bean gently permeates the stock and adds a sense of richness that is striking.   I add a large quantity of chopped ginger to the stock as well, giving it more depth of flavor and bit of that peppery gingery bite.  The rest of the ingredients are expected - celery, carrot and some tomato paste for a pinkish, rosey color.

The recipe for the base of my ginger vanilla bean bouillabaisse follows....   

A Drink to Celebrate Unprincipled Veggies

After a tough year, I began 2007 with a few challenges for myself.   

One of them was to open my mind beyond the preconceived notions of what I thought I needed to be fulfilled and satisfied.  As I had a new social life that I needed to build again, I promised that I wouldn’t be looking for carbon copies of myself to spend time with, which unfortunately had been the standard upon which I measured compatibility. The 2007 version of myself was all about having an open mind, open plans, open to sharing anything.

On the dating front, that turned out to pose interesting dilemmas.  Take, for instance, the fact that I’ve been on dates with three vegetarians.   That’s something I wouldn’t do before this year. I mean….do you read this site?

But being open minded means giving people a chance, even if that means challenging yourself to look beyond what on paper could be a bad match.  Of course, all of them turned out lame.   The last and most recent social experiment was the most ironic of all.   I had to dig deep and attempt to be open minded on a variety of major issues, many of which were way deeper than being a veggie.   It turned out to be an unappreciated attempt, which was slightly comical to me.   I thought people could see when they were asking more of someone and would value the effort.   Weren’t veggies usually the incredibly thoughtful, principled, types?

Despite popular opinion, I’m not against being a veggie.  I love vegetables more than anyone, so I could imagine celebrating them above all else.   But I love bacon, and that’s just in my DNA.  What I can also respect about being a veggie are life decisions based on principles or health related goals.   If someone wants to live a lifestyle free of animal fats and what not, I kind of get that.   Kind of.    Humanitarian issues?  Certainly a point for debate, but one I respect and admire.

But every veggie I’ve met had nothing of substance supporting their lifestyle choices.   The most frequent explanation I’ve heard was “texture” – they didn’t like how certain proteins felt in their mouths.   In fact, this last person wasn’t even committed to being a vegetarian.  She could be talked out of it seemingly at a whim, which I would say ended up being metaphor for issues of greater substance.   Commitments can be tricky, especially when they seem to be rooted in whimsy.

So after the latest and most recent veggie debacle, I’m at the crossroads of whether I’d bother going on a date with another veggie.   Gut instinct says bad match.   But the open-minded me says that would be a shallow move.  When it comes down to it,  it’s not about eating veggies, bacon, or foie gras.  It’s about the substance that lies behind the choices we make.   Veggies with principle and conviction, you still make the cut.   Lucky you (?).

To celebrate the failing of my new open-minded romanticism, I offer you a drink that I’m making at home to ponder my recent veggie follies. Velvet Falernum is an amazingly aromatic simple syrup/alcohol concoction.   You need to track it down – it’s shockingly delicious and completely challenges what you’d expect from a spirit.  It’s almost like a little taste of Fall - bursting with spices, nutmeg, cinnamon and all things that remind you of pumpkin pie, falling leaves and unprincipled vegetarians. 

A recipe for my favorite drink with Velvet Falernum is below.

Strawberry Tomato Gazpacho

In what seems like an eternity ago, I went to 11 Madison Park and had an amazing strawberry lobster gazpacho to open our meal.  It was a confounding gazpacho to say the least - I could certainly taste a shellfish reduction, but the strawberry puree balanced seemlessly with the pureed tomatoes.  Little chunks of lobster and vegetables provided the only texture in the soup.   

While I found the shellfish reduction interesting, I left this technique behind while making a strawberry tomato gazpacho at home.   I found bursting at the seams heirloom tomatoes, which would serve as the base of the soup.    I pureed the tomatoes with some chopped carrots, red onion, a nugget of ginger, celery leaves, salt, pepper, lemon juice and a few chopped strawberries.  The strawberry to tomato ratio is the entire key to success for this dish.   One and a half large tomatoes took only about a handful of  strawberries.   I generally thought about the strawberries as I would an herb.   You don't want to overwhelm the tomatoes with strawberries, so add less and keep adding after tasting. 

An unexpected technique that made this dish was straining the puree.  After removing all of the pulp and chilling the remaining juice, I garnished the soup with a very fine dice of each of the ingredients in the puree to garnish the gazpacho.  I also added some chopped smoked almonds, a nice wedge of avocado and a drizzle of olive oil to finish.

Whatever you do, don't toss the puree pulp once you strain.   I brought it into work and served it as a salsa with chips.   Gazpacho salsa?  Totally works.