foodie nyc

Soft Shell Crab, Corn Shoot and Lovage Salad

I ran into the wonders of corn shoots at the Union Square market recently.    The explosive sweetness of corn, along with a mild hint of anise, are packed into these seemingly innocuous, yellow salad greens.    The corn shoots appear innocent enough, but their intense flavors completely shocked and overwhelmed me. 

I recently picked up a lovage plant, as I've always loved the fresh celery flavor of the herb I first tasted years ago while working in the kitchen at 11 Madison Park.  I envisioned dressing the corn shoots with a fruity olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some of the chopped lovage leaves. 

Considering the intense flavor of this little salad, I immediately began thinking of pairing these flavors with a meaty fish like scallops, but then noticed the first soft shell crabs I'd seen in quite some time.   I can't pass up soft shell crab, so I paired the corn shoot salad with a crispy soft shell crab seared in olive oil, garlic and finished with a squeeze of lemon.  (I rarely enjoy soft shell crab with a thick batter coating.  Pan searing allows a very crispy texture, without masking the crab with a thick crust).

The crispy and subtly sweet crab is a great match for the herbal, sweet and explosive flavors of the corn shoot lovage salad.    Every bite made me thankful for the wonders of Spring that will be in my kitchen for the next few weeks.

Related:   My Technique/Recipe for Seared Soft Shell Crab

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.

Soba Noodles with Tofu, Shitake, Pineapple, Cilantro

One of the single most frustrating aspects about having a passion for cooking is the frequent assumption that cooking is something I do to fulfill my own needs. 

I often hear things like "It's not a big deal, since you love to cook anyway" or "I know you just made a huge dinner for me and friends, but you love it",  or  "I know this was a major effort, but you'd be cooking anyway".   

It's as if cooking is a narcissistic act that solely revolves around fulfilling my passions.   While there is some truth to that, cooks everywhere experience a phenominom once they learn their guests tastes, likes and dislikes.    Cooking for someone becomes thoughtful. 

A friend who adores soup and pho? Hmm, maybe I'll make a rendition of oxtail soup that would have completely different qualities in comparison to pho.   Someone  who loves the clean yet complex flavors of Thai?  Maybe these flavors would be a helpful remedy for her crazy weekend on the road?

What I'm getting at is that cooking is much more than the physical effort of chopping, sauteing and searing.   Beyond the effort,  it can become an extremely thoughtful expression.   Thinking about what flavors or tastes can make someone smile...remembering what ingredients they love and loathe with precise detail...recalling a dish they loved while eating at a restaurant  together.  All of these things are much more than an act of labor.

My point is simply that cooking for someone on a frequent basis becomes much more than a  physical effort.   Believe it or not, sometimes that gets overlooked by eaters everywhere.

Anyhow, I bring this up because that's exactly what inspired me to make this Soba noodle dish (which is the actual point of this post!).   I went to the market thinking about what flavors would comfort someone coming back from a rowdy and sleepless weekend.    She loves the play of sweet, tart and spicy, loves starches like rice and noodles, enjoys the earthy flavors of tofu and mushrooms, and maybe cilantro is one of her favorite herbs.    Done.

I simply sauteed shitakes in olive oil with finely chopped white onion, garlic, ginger and some cayenne.  After the mushrooms cooked down and released their water, I added cubed firm tofu and sesame seed oil and sauteed for a few minutes.   A bit of soy deglazed the pan.   Finally, cubed pineapple, roasted cashews, chopped cilantro and the juice of a whole lime finished the dish.   I added the cooked soba noodles, folded them into the ingredients in the pan, then adjusted the seasoning as necessary.    I added a bit more lime juice and another few drops of soy and sesame oil for balance. 

A delicious and simple dish, which made excellent lunch leftovers the next day.

Cooking sans Cooking

I'm always looking for new cooking challenges.   In fact, I like to put myself in situations that make me slightly uncomfortable.   While it can be satisfying to be the master of what I already know, I am always looking to keep myself sharp.   

I've always believed that over time, I'd learn and appreciate as many new genres of cooking as I possibly could.   Over the years, that usually means learning about other cultures, and the food traditions that stem from them.   

But when a few friends decided to do a raw detox for a week, I couldn't help but wonder what type of raw dishes I'd create.   I researched and read as much as I could on the subject until I was armed to create from my newfound knowledge.   But in my research of raw,  I began down the frightening path of reading about "mock" ravioli and a plethora of "dishes" with a"ridiculous" number of "air quotes".   It made me slightly nauseous and raw started to get me nervous.   And slightly pissed.    I thought I may have met my match.

I then started down a different path - one inspired by the Matthew Kenney, Sarma Melngailis  book, Raw Food Real World.    After consulting with my raw dinner guest,  I realized raw milk cheese and raw fish were sometimes part of the diet.     I realized I didn't need to learn to make a special raw menu.  I do it all the time.

Cooking raw didn't mean following or adapting a new style of cooking, or making compromises by creating food with air quotes.   It meant making raw food within my own style of cooking.

Three Salad Tasting with Truffle Honey

I dorked out at the Union Square farmer's market for about 30 minutes, highlighted by the ten or so salad green varieties I tasted.   As I thought about which I'd like to serve for dinner, I realized it would be a shame to mix the individual flavors together.   So I featured three greens separately in order to appreciate and truly taste their differences.  The pea shoots, the mustard greens, and a wasabi like spicy lettuce (forgot the name)  make up the dish.    I mixed each stack of greens with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice.   I served them with a slice of raw milk Parmigiano Reggiano, some dried figs, and a mixture of preserved crushed truffles and raw honey.

Gruyere with Cilantro Juice and Pomegranate (pictured above)

I figured I'd make a cheese course, choosing a year aged raw Gruyere.   The nuttiness of aged Gruyere is one of my favorite things.   I juiced raw cilantro, added a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and a garnish of pomegranate seeds for texture.

Salmon, pear, pistachio with vanilla bean vinaigrette 

I was into vanilla bean in a major way a few years ago and I've noticed it's coming back into my cooking in the past month.   I simply sliced raw salmon, garnished it with fresh pear, and drizzle a vinaigrette made with olive oil, lemon juice and a the seeds of a fresh vanilla bean.   Not one of my best presentations ever.   I also thought the olive oil competed with the vanilla, so a  neutral oil would have been a better choice.   But the combo of vanilla bean and raw salmon work very well with fresh pear.   I'll experiment with this again.

Tuna, avocado, jalapeno and pear curry juice

I thought it would be interesting to try consecutive raw fish dishes, but with completely different qualities.   I aimed to make a pear juice with a deep, haunting flavor.  Just of pinch of curry with the pear juice took the entire dish to a different level.   A slight showstopper and possibly the highlight of the meal.

Anyhow, I'm sure a few raw zealots will send me an email telling me that my ground curry powder was made with toasted spices or what not.   Please don't.   While I certainly find the benefits of enjoying all of the nutrients and benefits of eating raw, I generally thought that the entire raw experience was a bit extreme.    Though I guess in this case, extremely tasty.

The Many Lives of Focaccia

I have always been a fan of focaccia.    I think my first memories of eating it were with my Uncle Beef, who also taught me and many others how to make it from scratch.

Out of nowhere,  I've had a few different encounters with  focaccia that really opened my mind to the variations in which it's served.   

Wood Oven Roasted Focaccia

You may recall that I spent a week cooking with a chef in his restaurant outside of Florence.    I had a few completely revolutionary focaccia experiences with him that started this focaccia awakening.    On the first night I arrived to work with Chef Claudio,  I helped him prepare for an outdoor party at his bed and breakfast.    I watched him make the dough for the focaccia, pretty much in the typical way I was used to making it (more on that below).    However, he had an outdoor wood oven.   After watching him make a few, I took over and made the focaccia in the wood oven for the rest of the afternoon.     Rolled the dough.   Dimpled it with my thumbs.   Salt, olive oil, then added it to the piping hot wood oven.   Obviously, the wood flavor made this a focaccia experience that I could never forget.    At the same time, there wasn't that soft, spongy interior that I was used to tasting.   Not bad, just different.

Fried Focaccia

The next day in his restaurant kitchen, Chef Claudio made the same focaccia dough, but this time fried it in olive oil in free form pieces.   He served them warm with salt and sometimes rosemary as bread to start the meal.   Fried Focaccia.    Brilliant.

Three Toppings

Around the holidays last year, Uncle Beef made focaccia for us at home, but somehow I was able to weasel my way into making the toppings.   After laying out the focaccia dough onto a sheet pan and dimpling with thumbs, I then applied three different toppings.    The first was a truffle salt (which you may recall I broke up with a few months ago) and rosemary, but my favorite was whole red grapes gently cooked in balsamic.   A bit sweet, a bit tart and a sprinkle of pine nuts for texture.  The third topping was a mojo - a few varieties of herbs ground with olive oil and garlic in a mortar and pestle.

Crispy, Chewy Pizza

My local pizza place, Muzzarella, has a very crispy, thin focaccia crust that is my go to late night neighborhood slice these days.      The copious amounts of olive oil and the super hot oven make the focaccia pizza crust crunchy and chewy at the same time.  Right on.   

Light and Airy

And finally, on the airy section of the focaccia spectrum, I recently bought a slice of Whole Foods focaccia I saw in their bakery.    No joke, the airy interior was something like two inches thick.    Sliced down the middle and layered with salami, goat cheese and truffle oil, it was an airy, soft sandwich that once again made me rethink the focaccia I had in Italy.   

I'm sure someone will write me a passionate email telling me that there's one right way to make focaccia.  But somehow, I'm concluding the best way is every way.

The base recipe for focaccia is below.

The Weekend Tasting Series Menu: October 2007

Sorry for the outage here lately.   I've been recuperating from The Weekend Tasting Series while also taking a bit of a hit at work.   Overall, I thought the experience was a complete success.   Some of you may know that I'm my harshest critic, yet I feel satisfied that the experience lived up to my initial vision.   I thought I'd share the menu(s) and discuss a few cooking highlights for me.   

Coming Full Circle

As I mentioned a while ago, I think the most exciting part about this blog for me is chronicling my cooking adventures for you on an ongoing basis, then seeing my menus come from the ideas on this site.  For instance, you've read about savory waffles here before.   And the idea behind Fig Rockefeller.  And my favorite pork recipe.   Or my thinking behind Vanilla Bean Ginger Bouillabaisse.   

In many ways, it's a full circle interaction with those of you who actually come out and taste the finished result.   I am a big fan of many blogs out there, food and otherwise, but what I often miss is the ability to be able to connect the website to a real, human experience.   I'm excited that I'm posting food ideas and dishes on this site, but also giving readers a chance to actually enjoy them in person.   Integrating the blog with my events wasn't always a goal, but I hope it continues.    It seems to be mutually fulfilling for me and the guests who I spoke with at the events.

The Beauty of Smoked Duck

I'm going to save the smoked duck breast I featured in the third course for another post, but overall, it's certainly going to be part of my future arsenal.    Go out and give it a try.   Hudson Valley has a great smoked duck.   You can even order some  at Fresh Direct.   One evening during the events, I served it warm as an accompaniment to soft cheese pierogies in a sage sauce.    On the other nights, I served the smoked duck as an accent to slices of seared duck breast.    Smoked duck and I are now beyond dating.   We've kind of in lust right now.   We're approaching love, so when it hits that level, I'll do a post.

Williamsburg Felt Like Home

I haven't spent much time shopping or cooking in Williamsburg (Brooklyn, for those of you reading from elsewhere.)  I really didn't go to a big market for much of the ingredients I needed to fill in the gaps on a daily basis during the weekend.   I went to a local, small butcher shop, a fish shop, a produce store, all within a few blocks from each other.   I felt like I was thrown back in time to the quaint, hometown I have in my head, but  seemed to have missed by only a few years before the invention of one stop shopping.   Quite refreshing.

Flavoring Bechamel

You know the traditional bechamel sauce.   I love spiking it with a single, pronounced flavor.    In this case, smoky, spicy chipotle as a drizzle with fresh, warm figs.

Bottlerocket Rocks

I picked up all of my wine for the events at Bottlerocket.   These guys are the real deal.   They have a passion for pairing wines with food and flavors, and I really enjoyed working with them to pair the wine with the menu.   Of the wines we served, I think the consensus favorite was the Clos du Prieur, Syrah, 2003.   Big, delicious but not a crazy fruit bomb.    A great, untraditional pairing for curry and pork.

Hope you can make it to the next set of events.   The mailing list is the best way to find out about them the moment they are announced.

(PS.  For those of you who attended the events, the above is the menu from 10/14.   After the jump are the menus from 10/12 and 10/13.)

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.

Traditionally Untraditional

I struggle with how I describe my cooking style.

Whenever I meet someone interested in the food aspect of my life, they usually tend to ask me what style of food I specialize in - Is it Italian? French? New American? No.  No.  Maybe...but no. The long answer, as you know by reading this site, is that I'm ingredient and technique focused.  After that, I try and create flavors that make sense to me.   Part of this is my desire to express myself creatively with food.  The other part is that I believe once I've mastered cooking techniques, making a dish becomes an expression of what I've experienced and what inspires me.  I make dishes like corn juice soup based on an experience in a restaurant.  I am inspired by trips to Italy, Argentina, Sonoma and sometimes Rockaway, N.J.

Rockaway is a small, middle class town in northwestern NJ.  I grew up there, as did generation after generation of my family.  While I was home for Christmas, I had a typical experience that, in retrospect, allowed me to articulate my cooking style to myself. 

Uncle Beef, Renee and I went to an 80 year old German pork store called Schwind's.  Nothing new here - we've gone to Schwind's plenty of times before. In fact, my uncle, his friend and others have been frequenting Schwind's their whole lives.  They make traditional Weisswurst and sausages that are just phenomenal.  The entire operation has been family run for their entire 80 years and still is to this day.  It shows in the quality of their food but in the fact that this isn't a yuppified foodie like stop to supplement a trip to Whole Foods.  This is their lives and you can taste it.

We picked up some veal sausages and took these treats, some traditional sweet German mustard and rolls to our friend Bob's house for an afternoon snack. Uncle Beef browned our Weisswurst in butter to get a nice brownness to them.  We cut them open to reveal a light, almost airy, rich interior of veal like mousse.  The picture speaks for itself, really.   They were the simplest expression of tradition and flavor I could imagine tasting.  Every bite seemed to remind me of how complicated food can be, especially when I cook it.

But the next morning, I was back at the stove to make myself a simple breakfast before heading back to NYC.  Somehow, like always, I forgot about the tradition of Schwinds, or how other Germans would prepare their Weisswurst.  I only thought about what would make my breakfast as tasty as it could be.

Another part of my Rockaway, N.J. experience is Latin American influenced.  The day before, I was able to pick up some arepas from a Latin American influenced grocery store that is quickly becoming yuppified.  I bought the arepas out of principle, without a real plan on how (or if) I'd use them.   

But I did what was natural to me.  I browned the sweet, yellow corn arepas (almost like a thicker, more savory pancake...or not) and used them as a base for some of the browned Weisswurst.  I fried an egg and perched it on the sausage and arepa.  As I broke the yoke and had an excellent and random breakfast, I realized what a culinary sin I had created.  Decades upon centuries of people have enjoyed the arepa and the Weisswurst in traditional cultural ways, and I just slap them together casually on an instinctual whim.  In Jersey.

In some ways, I felt guilty.  But I also felt inspired (and certainly satisfied) with what I had just eaten.  I then realized what I'd always known - my cooking style is rich with tradition, only personalized based on my own experiences.  For better or worse, I guess I'd call it traditionally untraditional.

How (Not) To Throw a Chateauneuf Party

I buy my fair share of wine.

Most of it, however, rarely exceeds $25 a bottle.  I've been starting to pick up a few $45 bottles, but those are few and far between.  I exceed the $45 range for special occasions, mostly around the holidays.  (This does not count the ridiculous amount of money I spend on wine in restaurants, which fluctuates daily).  I hope to reverse that trend moving forward. But for now, I can only store twenty four bottles due to NYC apartment life realities, so I tend to drink what I own. 

I decided that a Chateauneuf dinner with friends could be rationalized as a wine holiday, so we went for it.  But the pressure was on...such an investment in your wines means that the stakes have been raised.  This isn't a Rachel Ray $10 a Day wine holiday.  We must do it well.

I had an idea in mind about the proper way to conduct such a tasting.  I thought about how Robert Parker, Jr. might organize such a night with friends at home. 

We then did the exact opposite.

Choosing The Wines

Robert Parker would want to personally select a few bottles carefully tucked away in his cellar from years past.  The kind he shrewdly purchased upon release and appreciates in value and flavor over the years.  Parker selects all of his favorites - he remembers the aroma of the barrel tasting of his best Chat Du Pap and remembers the '95 could be starting to show.  He makes wise choices, and chuckles modestly as his guests laud him for his remarkable cellar.

We received an email blast from Acker Merrall with some aged Chat Du Pape for sale.  We scoured the list for the best vintages, producers and values. We called and had them delivered to us when we needed them, not a day before.  A 2000 Charvin, a '98 Pegau and a '95 Beaucastel were our choices. We sat back and tasted, hoping they'd be ready to drink and lived up to expectations.  That they did - particularly the '98 Pegau which was excellent. 

Advanced Planning

A week or maybe even a few days before the tasting, Robert Parker, Jr. would have a general plan for a menu and details such as when guests would arrive.   He would sit on his cracked leather sofa about a week before the tasting and, while sipping an aperitif, would plan his traditional French menu well in advance.  He'd call his truffle jockey days ahead to procure a fresh basket of the truffles just  picked by his friend Jean Luc in France.   He'd ensure his standing caviar order was en route. 

I would leave the menu up in the air until two days before the tasting, until I tried a chocolate pasta with braised lamb at Falai.  I would definitely make a version of that, as chocolate + beef + Du Pape = a great match.  I would then go to Kitchen Arts & Letters the day before the dinner to find some inspiration.  I picked up Michel Richard's new book, but that deserves its own post.  The night before the dinner, I finally sketch out a menu that had nothing to do with France but all about matching the flavors of the Chateauneuf. 

Keep It Simple, Keep It French

When the truffle jockey arrives with the truffles, he has the nerve to ask Mr. Parker if he would be making a pasta or risotto with the truffles for his Chat Du Pap dinner.  Parker signs in disbelief, adjusts his beret, then begins to ramble about his trip to his friend Jean Luc's estate in the Rhone, where he wistfully remembers bathing in '64 Beaucastel while enjoying a traditional cassoulet that was the only pairing with wine from the Rhone.

I would think briefly about making a French focused menu, but I'd quickly change directions.   

I'd caramelize cauliflower and serve it on a cauliflower puree, sprinkled with toasted pine nuts and  currents. I had to do a version of Falai's pasta.  I made thick strands of cocoa infused pasta with braised short ribs and a reduction of the short rib braising juices.  The most well-received dish I am making these days is my mushroom curry crusted pork, which was a nice pairing for the wines.  I made a  creamy chocolate, curry, mint ice cream that I imagined enjoying with our final glasses of the Pap.

Table Conversation, Etc

Overheard at Robert Parker's table:

RP Friend:  "This wine is a blockbuster.  A hedonistic, full bodied bombshell with aromas of tobacco, smoked hickory and a finish of leather, cow hide and freshly picked baby chanterelles in the mourning dew. This wine is just opening now, but could easily be better in 20 years."

RP: "98."

Overheard at our Table:

Erin: "This wine smells like poopy."

Whitney: "Doody!"

Erin and Whitney:  [insert girlish giggling around the words poopy and doody here].

Overheard at Parker's Table:

RP Friend: "The cassoulet is phenomenal, Rob.  Really, just fantastic.  And the truffles! It's as if Baby Jesus just blessed me with a gift from the Rhone!"

Overheard at Our Table:

"No more pork? What do you mean, just enough?"

Background Music and Atmosphere:

Robert Parker selects a soft falsetto phenom from his collection.  He once met the vocalist at a fancy dinner in France.  An inspired, quivering voice, she balances finesse and harmony like the '60 Beaucastel Parker remembers savoring when he first graced her presence. [insert puking noise followed by a toilet flush here].

We go for cooking mixes and football.

Conclusions

You deserve a wine holiday as well, do you? Well, dream on. Save up.  Go to Acker Merrall or another reputable wine shop and buy a few excellent bottles that you would not typically purchase for yourself.  Make it known to your wine professional that this is the case and be very excited.  They will like this.   Make the best possible dinner you can.  When planning the menu, add one more course to what you would normally serve.  Considering adding another.    Invite friends over who would appreciate your wine holiday as much as you will (and possibly bring more great wine). 

And think about what Robert Parker would do. 

Then do the opposite.

And the Winner Is.....

I received lots of great submissions for the Savory Chocolate Contest - thanks to everyone who took the time to submit their work and ideas!

The winner was very hard for me to choose, for a variety of reasons.  We had some fantastic food photography, some excellent creative ideas that made me drool, as well as some interesting storytelling.

I gravitated toward a submission that I very much identified with.  For those of you who read this site frequently and/or cook as often as I do,  cooking is often a labor of love.  As much as we are in the 30 Minute Rachel Ray era, great food doesn't just fall from the sky.  It takes effort to create great food.  In fact, the best food often requires planning, attention to detail, trial and error and sometimes, even 13 hours of effort. The current foodie event I am working on will require about 72 hours of straight work, with breaks only for sleeping and minimal eating.

That's why I have chosen Jake Lemkowitz the winner of the Foodie NYC Savory Chocolate Contest.  I admire Jake's passion and commitment to go all out in the pursuit of great BBQ.  I also enjoyed his experimenting with chocolate and BBQ, something that sounds incredibly delicious to me (smoke, spice, dark chocolate, ribs....).  Jake did his BBQ the right way - low and slow.  And he'd learned from mistakes with temperature from previous BBQ experiences.  Not to mention 13 hours of BBQing in the snowy winter weather of Ohio - god bless him. 

Jake, you (or a friend) are the winner of a night of enjoying the fruits of my labor as well as lots of great wine at a foodie event of your choice. 

Here's Jake's story in his own words, as well as a picture of his creation.

________________________________

Jake Lemkowitz - Chocolate BBQ Brisket

"I'd like to enter the Foodie Savory Chocolate Contest with a recipe for a chocolate infused barbecue brisket that I made for the Superbowl.

The day before I made a dry rub out of salt, pepper, a lot of chile powder,coffee grounds, Hershey's cocoa powder, and powdered mustard. I rubbed it into the two six pound slabs of brisket. Then I let the meat sit in the refrigerator overnight. When I woke up the next morning, there was a blizzard outside my window (I live in Ohio), but I decided to bravely press  on with the most intrepid winterbeque of all time.

In the freezing cold, I managed to light some mesquite coals. I added woodchips and began (indirectly) cook the brisket at around nine a.m. While the coals were still heating up, I made a mop to baste the brisket with over the course of the day. I used a few cups of leftover turkey stock, a teaspoon of bacon fat, some of the dry rub, a shot of whiskey, and a whole bar of Lindt dark chocolate. I boiled it down a little, and then kept the mop warm on the stovetop, basting the brisket with it every forty-five minutes or so.

Usually my biggest problem with barbecue is that it's hard for me to keep the coals cool enough so that the meat doesn’t get dry. Now with the snow storm going on outside, my coals wouldn’t stay lit! It was truly an epic battle, mankind versus the elements. There were moments where I thought that I didn't have the energy to go on, but in the end, mankind, and brisket, prevailed. By the time the brisket was finally ready to eat, it had been barbecued and basted with the chocolate mop continuously for just over THIRTEEN AND A HALF HOURS!

The chocolate worked amazingly well with the flavor of the mesquite smoke and the spicy dry rub. It not only helped the brisket achieve a beautiful caramelized outer crust, but it greatly intensified the flavor of the meat which came out juicy and perfect. The recipe was born when we decided to use cocoa powder as a replacement for brown sugar in the dry rub. After that, adding a chocolate bar into to the mix seemed only natural. To give the flavors their space, we  took out all garlic and onion flavors. That kind of stuff is usually standard in brisket, but the taste ended up being A LOT more dynamic without them.

Anyways, it was the best BBQ I've ever made, and considering the weather and the amount of meat, it was also by far the most ambitious.  Maybe not the greatest food photography (Styrofoam plate of Polish sausage in the background), but you get the idea. Keep up the good work!"

            

My New Wingmen: Shun Knives

Everyone knows that knives are a cook's best friend.  My best friends for roughly the past seven or eight years have been my Japanese Globals.  My Global friends held a sharp blade, fit in my hand nicely and looked amazing when we'd go out and even when other friends came to visit. 

Then Global met a new friend in the cleaver - actually two cleavers brought back to me from China.  The cleaver became my friend for everything rustic.  You know, the kind that would take you to a dive bar, drink you under the table and somehow pick up the best looking woman in the bar even though he wasn't much of a looker himself.  He just gets thing done.  Global and cleaver made a perfect group of friends.

But we now have a new addition to the team, another set of Japanese friends named Shun.  The 7 inch Shun Santoku is one of the best knives I've ever handled.  It goes without saying the blade is amazingly sharp, but the feel in my hand is absolutely perfect.  I actually prefer the wood handle to the steel handles of the Globals.  I am able to perform delicate slices as well as quick, fast slicing and chopping - scallions sliced away perfectly, same for fresh tuna.  The Global friends started this way as well and lasted for about 1 year until I noticed the sharpness of the blade begin to fade significantly, so we'll have to see how long the Shun blade holds up.  Last but not least is the Shun Classic 6" Utility knife.  I've been using this knife for veggies, slicing fish and some light chopping so far.  Again, beautiful edge and love the feel in the hand.   

So while Globals will always have a place in my heart and the cleavers will always be with me, Shuns are my new kitchen wingmen.  Thanks for buying off my new friends, Mom.  You know I need all the help I can get.

A Fresh Start to the New Year

Regular readers of this site know that I had been writing the Eating In column over at Gothamist for something close to a year and half, creating over 70 unique recipes from scratch.  I've recently decided to stop writing for Gothamist and from today on, I'm happy to let you know that you'll be able to find me over at [decentcontent], in addition to here. 

I initially decided to make this move for a few reasons.  As much as I've enjoyed contributing to Gothamist, I wanted to write outside of the Gothamist voice.  I also wanted to have the opportunity to create some new, interesting food content that just wouldn't work at  Gothamist or even here to be honest.  I've really enjoyed collaborating with Heather so far and think you'll start to see some new, refreshing food coverage once we get up and running.  I have one big project in mind that I believe will be fun and exciting for me and hopefully you as well.  I will also be doing what I like best, which is creating recipes that you've (hopefully) been enjoying here and previously on Gothamist.

But on a side note, I wish I had more positive feelings about my departure from Gothamist.  I recently found out in a comment section (!) on the site that writers were being paid, me not being one of them.  Not like I really care about the money.  Food writing and recipe creation is something I am passionate about, but it's not how I currently earn a living.  But it's about the principle of the matter. I created a whole new area of content for them and worked relatively hard to do so.  I guess I expected more dialog and collaboration from Gothamist, considering I'd been contributing relatively thoughtful pieces for them for over a year and half.

Anyway, the New Year starts with me at a new site and continuing to do what I love, in an environment where collaboration will hopefully continue to lead to bigger and better things.

So, back to the food.....check out my first recipe for [decentcontent], a riff from the eggplant nutmeg puree I created recently.  I use it again by folding it into a rich, creamy risotto while adding a crunchy Parmesan chip on the top for some much needed texture. 

Choose the Theme for the Next Foodie Event

When Tse Wei suggested I create a poll for people to vote on a theme for upcoming foodie events,  I immediately thought it was a great idea.  Nothing like a little popular opinion to keep things interesting! So I've chosen five broad themes that interest me for our next foodie, which we'll aim to hold mid/late February (with the holidays and personal commitments it's been a little while since our last event - sorry!).

So click here to vote now.  I'll keep the poll up until we officially announce the next event (most likely early February).

                

Experimenting: Tap and Cheese

Experimenting is what makes cooking fun for me. Ideas just randomly pop into my head, but it's usually when I'm thinking about food the least.

I was walking around the city, doing a little Xmas shopping, happily secluded in my own little Ipod world (The Joggers rawk, by the way).  Then it hit me.  I craved mac and cheese and decided to make a version on Sunday, my big cooking day.  Then later on that night I saw Alex Lee on Iron Chef America make a fontina cheese based fonduta (cheese sauce, dude).  I thought about making my mac and cheese with a fonduta, but maybe holding the eggs that are in a typical fonduta (i guess this could be a fontina bechamel then, but whatever). 

A few hours later I was walking to the subway and bang.  Tapioca.  Tapioca has a neutral flavor to me, but the texture is obviously phenomenal in the mouth.  I would make the tap just as I would a mac and cheese.   Boil the tap until it was just cooked through.  Make a fontina cheese sauce (bechemel-esque, butter, flour, milk, fontina).  Combine the tap with the cheesy sauce in a casserole dish and cover with panko bread crumbs.  Broil the crumbs until crunchy and warm the tap and cheese through.  It was just as I hoped.  The texture added a different element to the dish, which was exactly what I was looking for.  And it had all of the satisfying, creaminess of a standard mac and cheese.  The key here is serving it very hot.  The tap, when it begins to cool, clings together and firms the casserole up a bit too much.  Good thing it's easy to just rewarm and reheat if needed.

UPDATE: I have created a recipe based on Megan's request in the comment section.  It's a bit of an approximation as putting a recipe together wasn't my intention when making this, so I hope my backtracking was successful.   

Full recipe follows.....

Menu From Oct 16 Tasting

              foodie

Gulf Coasting Tasting Menu

October 16, 2005

**

Open Faced Oyster Po’ Boy

aioli, arugula

Mint Julep Tuna Spoons

mint julep syrup, fresh mint

2004 Pepiere Muscadet sur Lie

**

Fig Rockefeller

spinach, bacon, beaurre blanc, bread crumbs

2004 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc

**

Shrimp Creole Pie

old bay crust, poached shrimp, golden beets, fried parsley

2003 Lafond Lirac Blanc

**

A Take on Catfish Hoppin’ John

ham hock basmati, soy beans, carrot reduction

2002 Marionnet Gamay

**

Chicken, Andouille Gumbo

herbed corn bread

2003 Cros Marcillac

**

Bananas Foster

homemade mint ice cream

Massolino Muscato d’Asti

Read tasting notes for each course and wine served after the jump.

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.

Nice Mention on Cityrag

I can feel the rush of the  upcoming event on May 22 coming on as the days get closer.  I'm putting together final touches on the spring menu today, which sometimes get me a little antsy.  In a lot of ways, the menu finalization for foodie is a commitment to myself that I'm going to make each and every aspect of the dishes as perfect as I can.  Yet rather than being a bit anxious about it,  I'm feeling confident after reading the great post by Cityrag about our last foodie.  Reading good things makes me want to do it all over again! 

Crusting and Wrapping

At the Sonoma cooking demo I went to recently, I saw the chef wrap a lamb loin in dried black trumpet mushrooms.  Not a revolutionary technique, but I really liked the effect caused by wrapping the crusted meat in plastic wrap and then kept in the fridge to form before searing. 

Giving the coating time to form and penetrate the meat led to an excellent presentation and helped the flavorful ingredients infuse with the meat.

I am thinking about experimenting with other meats and variations of dry flavorful coatings for upcoming recipes. 

Craving...

...a rich, bubbly, tangy, cheesy pot of creamy fondue.  I am all about the traditional Swiss recipe with a twist. I blend Emmental and Gruyere with some white wine, rubbed garlic and a singular yet magical ingredient -  curry.  The curry creates a yellow hue to the melted cheese, but it ultimately adds an earthy depth that is beyond luxurious.

Best yet, the simple addition of curry makes the range of dippings even more varied and interesting.  Spring makes the best fondue dippings for me.  Roasted whole asparagus.  Creamy morels.  Potato and herb.  Simple cubed bread.  Crunchy fiddlehead ferns.  Garlic Spanish-style shrimp.  OK, ok.  I'll stop this mindless dreaming and publish a recipe soon, as I can't get a curried fondue with Spring dippings anywhere but at home. (Too bad - I'd pay top dollar for one!)

Playing with Pesto

My favorite herb combination for pesto these days is tarragon and parsley.  Along with the standard pine nuts, parmigiano reggiano and extra virgin olive oil, this blend of herbs is less intrusive than the basil standard.  I use it when I need a burst of fresh herbal flavor that could compliment pork, for instance.  Basil just wouldn't work in that instance. I used a similar combination to garnish a smoked ham hock and vegetable soup.  Tarragon was perfect for the pork and the parsley toned it down but gave the soup a fresh burst of the herbal flavor I was looking for...

Menu from Our Last foodie

Modern Takes on French Classics

Six Course Tasting Event

March 13, 2004

                                                

Braised Lentil Spring Roll

truffled gruyere fondue

Pistou Bizarro

vegetable ham stock, garlic confit, glazed veggie spoons, mint tarragon pesto

Skate and Mushroom Paupiote

curry mushroom broth, mushroom puree, haricot vert, charred yellow pepper

Coq Au Coconut

coconut lemongrass braised chicken, celery root remoulade, almond corn cake

Cassoulet, Sort of

braised pork shoulder, braised flageolets, merguez sausage, duck breast, carrot reduction, fried parsley

Homemade Tarragon Ice Cream

Reeses Pieces Madeleine

The Process of Creating Recipes

My process for creating recipes is something that evolves from my spontaneous cooking at home. 

The braised oxtail spring roll recipe I made for Gothamist is a great example.  As you've seen with the spontaneous spring roll dish I made recently, I had been experimenting with this technique and it was on the top of my mind.  Experimenting with the technique allowed me to refine it, make adjustments and understanding cooking times, ingredient amounts - basically perfecting it.

Then, it's just a matter of being inspired by an ingredient.  Braised oxtail is amazingly tender and rich.  After enjoying it recently, I just knew it would make a great filling for the spring rolls I had been experimenting with.  The soft, tender braise is a great contrast for the crunchy exterior texture.  These spring rolls are excellent for a party.  I made this as part of an appetizer course for 15 people and they were a big hit.

This simple little process allowed me to add a new dish to my arsenal.

Click here for my full recipe at Gothamist.

Thoughts on Bouchon

I was lucky enough to receive Bouchon, the new cookbook from Thomas Keller, as a Christmas gift over the holidays. 

I've had plenty of time to go through it in detail and generally recommend it. 

It's Keller as you'd expect - excruciating detail in preparation, with detailed thoughts on technique that are critical to master and hold as a standard.

It's also completely unapproachable to the 30 minute a meal world we live in, which I also like. Let's face it, cooking at Keller's level, even in bitro terms, is labor intensive and doesn't just fall out of the sky. 

But it's set up exactly like the French Laundry Cookbook, which I find to be a drawback.  Why? Well, Bouchon presents itself to be an unfussy Keller instructing on the day to day comfort food he loves.  But to me, it's still ultra-fussy Keller minus the unique pairings, ingredients, garnishes, serving ideas, oils, stocks, etc. that made the French Laundry Cookbook so vital.  So, no reason to make it look and feel like French Laundry 2.  It's just not.

However, the beauty of Keller's detail and elaborate pursuit of perfection is the main takeaway from Bouchon.  It's impossible to go through this and not feel inspired to hit the kitchen and immerse yourself in the French bistro classics.  I already have.  The cauliflower gratin is fantastic.  Keller adds a cauliflower puree made from the stems that takes it to another level.

Plenty of great tips and techniques here for the ambitious.  I'd consider this a must have.

Scallops, Parsnip Puree, Hericot Verts

O