foodie nyc

Ham Hock Brussel Sprouts, Rosemary, Toasted Sesame

Before brussel spouts became a trendy menu item in restaurants last year, I wasn't sure how I felt about them.  They seemed a bit one dimensional in flavor, and I didn't consider them an ideal flavor receptor beyond the obvious bacon and pork partner. 

But then the brussel sprout menu trend exposed me to the complex flavors brussel sprouts reveal when they are briefly pan seared and develop a slightly caramelized exterior.  The pan sear adds a depth of flavor that takes them to another level, in my opinion.   

The trick with adding this cooking method to the preparation of sprouts is avoiding the loss of their green color and nutrients (ick..i just pictured this random know-it-all out there smirking at this nutrient comment.  Stop smirking, know-it-all.  And don't send me any more colored graphs about how healthy brussel sprouts are.  Charts + food =  nerdy).   Recently, I decided to cook the spouts in boiling salted water until about 3/4 of the way cooked.  After draining them, they went into a pan with hot oil to develop the sear I love so much.

I'd be willing to wager that 75% of the brussel sprouts that appear on menus involve some type of pork item.    Bacon and pancetta are the obvious choices (and completely delicious, of course).    There's also the added benefit of rendering the bacon and pancetta until crisp, then searing the sprouts in the pork fat. 

But on this given day, I was serving a ham hock soup that you've most likely read about.    OK, ok.   I will not try and deceive you about my hidden intentions of this post.   I really want you to make smoked ham hock stock.    And as an added benefit, I want you to realize that you'll be able to use the tender,  fall-off-the-bone meat from the ham hock stock as an ingredient for another dish.   

I simply chopped the ham hock meat and added it to the pan after searing the sprouts in oil.   To bring out the earthiness of the sprouts, I finished them with a drizzle of toasted sesame seed oil, which I thought turned out to be an excellent flavor combo.   Chopped rosemary and squeeze of lemon rounded out the flavors.

Now go and make a ham hock stock brussel sprouts before the winter gloom fades.

Peanut Butter Dulce and Pork Belly? You Had Me At Hello!

As you may recall, I  asked you to send me your favorite dishes you've recent cooked at home.   As a prize for the winning selection, I'm giving away a free seat to my upcoming Foodie NYC tasting on 3/30.   

I received many interesting and delicious dishes, so this choice was very difficult to make.   Thanks to all of you that sent in your entries!   

But, in a sense, the winner came down to the fact that I may have drooled on my keyboard when I saw Chicken Fried Gourmet's Peanut Butter Dulce De Leche paired with Pork Belly.    Not only did the pairing completely intrigue me,  but the utter deliciousness of Michael's dish speaks for itself.

From the words of Michael himself, via his blog Chicken Fried Gourmet:

I wanted to do something different with the Peanut Butter Dulce De Leche (surprise) and not follow the usual theme of making a dessert.....My first thought was pork belly. The inspiration came from Sam Mason's Tailor, where he does a miso-butterscotch pork belly. As you can tell from previous posts this is one of my favorite meats to prepare recently. I wanted to do just simple flavors with the PBDDL so there is really not a lot of things going on with this dish other than the usual accompaniments.

I started by marinating the pork belly in a mixture of PBDDL, bourbon, fresh garlic and olive oil. I then vacuum sealed it and put it in the fridge for 3 days. From the start the dish was made to be of smaller proportion. Originally we were going to have this on Saturday night with friends where we all made two small dishes. It would sort of be like Tapas but not Spanish themed. Everything was on track till Louisiana’s crazy weather sidelined two of the couples with flu like symptoms. Since I had already spent so much time on the dish I decided to just go ahead and make it the main course.

I wanted to have as few ingredients as possible in order for the PBDDL flavor to come through. I settled on some micro arugula dressed in balsamic dressing with crushed peanuts to top it off. I added a “paint” of the PBDDL under the belly and added 3 drops of balsamic syrup to cut the sweetness of the PBDDL. All day Friday I kept obsessing on if I should add a “base” to the dish..... The 2^nd idea, and the one I went with, was a sweet potato ice cream. It follows a basic ice cream recipe but I add two roasted sweet potatoes then strain before making the custard. Looking back I would have added more sweet potatoes for a more pronounced flavor. It was still good though.

This dish was a hit.   It was filling but not to the point where you felt like you had to save up to go see your cardiologist.   The ice cream played well with the sweetnees of the PBDDL and the savoriness of the pork belly.

To thank Michael for this delicious bit of inspiration, he'll be receiving a complimentary seat to the Foodie NYC 3/30 tasting event. 

Be sure to check out Chicken Fried Gourmet for more pictures of the winning dish here.

Thanks to all those who participated and congrats, Michael.

Rosemary, Ginger, Smoked Paprika Bloody Mary

As certain people in my life know, I'm a little obsessed with the Bloody Mary. 

I always seem to wake on a weekend morning with a crazy desire for the perfect Bloody.  Sure, it's about the flavor.   But it also symbolizes the the celebratory, unburdened sense of freedom I associate with a weekend morning.    

My Bloody partner in crime and I are fascinated with how inconsistent the classic Bloody Mary tastes from bartender to bartender.    Sure, food and drinks are always subjective, but doesn't the classic Bloody always have the same qualities in common?  It's crazy that maybe 4 out of 5 Bloodies we consume don't exhibit all the traits we crave.

What makes the perfect Bloodie for me?  First, there's the balance between vodka and tomato juice.   Many Bloodies I get are overly watery - the tomato flavor just doesn't come through.   After that, it's all about the ingredients in the mix.    I recently caught my Bloody partner in crime looking through the side of the glass, evaluating the ratio of horseradish, cracked pepper and such within the liquid.  Sometimes you can tell if it's going to be a good Bloody just by looking at it.   

Finally, the  balance of flavors comes next.   The squeeze of citrus, the multiple levels of spiciness (pepper, chili, horseradish, etc) and intangibles like freshness (fresh horseradish makes a huge difference, of course) are certainly factors.

So, considering all this, I felt a bit of pressure when making Bloody Mary's one weekend morning.  Could I live up the standard that I felt so adamantly about?  I hadn't really made a Bloody Mary before, so the pressure was on.

To start things off, I couldn't get my hands on fresh horseradish or Worcester sauce as quickly as I needed to whip up the Bloodies.  To compensate,  I thought about how I could replace the peppery heat of horseradish without substituting with more Tabasco or adding cayenne.   Since the horseradish adds a different sort of heat than a chili, I thought I'd opt for freshly grated ginger.   For a bit of that meaty earthiness that the Worcester normally provides, I broke out the smoked paprika - not enough to overpower the drink, but just a pinch to add a depth of smokiness and complexity.

All I did was grate some fresh ginger on a microplane, which after a few batches (!), ended up being an  essential way to avoid taking big bites of ginger.   The rosemary needs to be be chopped as finely as humanly possible, again to avoid the sometimes unpleasant texture of the herb in the mouth.    A very fine dice of celery was a welcomed bit of freshness in the drink, as was the spicy vinegary kick of Tabasco and the fresh squeeze of lime juice.    The garnish, a wedge of candied ginger, added another welcomed addition of aggressive flavor.

P.S. -  My favorite Bloody Mary these days (actually a Bloody Maria) is at the East Village restaurant Mercadito.  I think its outrageous - cucumber muddled with a smoky, chipotle tomato juice and just the right amount of citrus.  Of course, there's Prune...but sometimes the wait doesn't make sense for me.   

Send me a note or comment on a great Bloody Mary I should try in NYC or Williamsburg, and I'll be sure to tell you what I thought.   

I Want to Cook For You (And Serve You Wine)

I sometimes feel guilty that most of the food I discuss on this site is mine. 

OK, I guess I don't.  I mean, it's my site, right?

Just kidding.  I'd love one of your dishes on this site.    Plus, I've done these contests in the past with the hopes of meeting a long time reader in person...and it's worked out well. 

So, I'm giving away a free seat to the upcoming March 30th tasting, which you can read about here.

So what do you have to do to win?

Just submit a favorite  dish you've made at home with a general method of preparation and a few sentences about why you made the dish.  While a photo of your submission is not required, it will count in your favor when choosing the winning entry. 

Entries must be received by midnight on March 16th.  I will announce the winner on this site on Monday, March 17th.

I'll be choosing the winner based on creativity and your ability to make me either drool or laugh,  which believe it or not, is not very difficult to do.  (I drool frequently.)

If you live in another state or cannot attend the tasting on March 30th, you will be given the option to receive a seat to a future event or pass your seat onto a friend that can attend the tasting in your place.

Please send all submissions to me at joe at foodienyc dot com.

Have fun!

Beets Vinaigrette, Cashews, Cilantro Goat Cheese Sauce

When I'm bored (with myself), I make up little challenges to break up my standard routines.   

At the market recently, I gave myself a four ingredient maximum for a salad that I'd serve before  a sobu noodle dish I was making for a main course.

I started with beets in mind and then found myself drifting toward the obvious goat cheese accompaniment.   But rather than incorporate the goat cheese in a traditional manner, I thought I'd puree the goat cheese with a bit of milk, chopped cilantro and lemon juice, creating a bit of a sauce to spoon around the roasted beets.

Roasted cashews and some orange zest would round out the dish, but something was missing from my plan.   I stared at the leaves of the beets greens and the red veins of the stems, wondering if I could juice them and create a beet vinaigrette. 

I pictured a vibrant green vinaigrette made from the beets tops.  But after blanching and juicing them, I came away with a gray, icky looking liquid that I wasn't interested in looking at, let alone eating.

As plan B, I picked up the vivid red beet stems and decided to juice them.   Sure enough, I had the essence of the beet in a viscous liquid that solely needed a whisk of olive oil and lemon juice.   The beet vinaigrette  lent an acidic element that balanced the sweetness of the whole beets and the creamy tang of the goat cheese sauce.

Just like me to turn a four ingredient appetizer into a process, but the results were worth the trial and error, as I now have a new use for beet stems.

Related:   Blood Orange Beet Salad with White Chocolate