You Otto Go!

Our friend M’s 24th birthday was this past weekend so we went to Otto Enoteca (pronounced Oh-toe een-oh-TEK-uh, not Ah-toe like my title suggests) on Saturday to celebrate. Jason and I have been to Otto quite a few times before because we love the atmosphere, the food, and the extensive wine selection. It is a great place for groups because the dining area is spacious and the service is friendly. The prices are also extremely reasonable and mirror the casual experience.

The Otto experience is great even before you go to the restaurant. As opposed to other establishments in the Batali-Bastianich restaurant empire, it is fairly easy to get a reservation - no 30 day waiting periods and constant busy tones. I called on Thursday afternoon for a 6 person, Saturday night reservation and was told they had most times available.

That night, Jason and I arrived 15 minutes early for our 8:00 PM reservation and decided to head in even though M and the rest of our friends hadn’t arrived yet. The front of the restaurant doubles as a waiting area and standing wine bar; obviously we took advantage of its dual purpose. We ordered the olive sampler and a bottle of white wine to enjoy while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive and our table to become available. Upon check in at the hostess stand, the hostess handed us a piece of paper that had the Italian town of Lucca printed on it. As you’ll see in the pic below, there was a big schedule board that would announce our town as soon as we could be seated. That is a great touch because it makes waiting much more interesting!

If you have a keen eye, you may notice from the time on the board that we were seated 30 minutes late. The hostess was very apologetic though and honestly, it was the first time we had ever been there that they did not seat us at our reservation time. Thank goodness for our wait because if not for that, I wouldn’t have been standing in a prime location to see Mr. Joe Bastianich strolling in. This wasn’t the last I’d see of the restaurant mogul, but a bit more on that later.

Once we were seated, our waiter apologized for our late seating and to get in our good graces, gave us free booze. We were each poured a generous glass of prosecco and needless to say, we forgave him fairly quickly. After a birthday toast to M, we delved into the menu.

The menu at Otto is different every time we go because they use seasonal vegetables as much as possible. This past Saturday was no different. The menu offered side dishes with corn alongside pasta with late summer/fall greens like Swiss chard. Even their pizza toppings vary season by season! I appreciate the use of seasonal vegetables and try to do the same as much as possible when I prepare food at home. I have to admit, it’s hard not to shop out of season when I see something I really want, like strawberries in December. I consciously remind myself that they probably wouldn’t be that good, would be shipped from halfway across the country if not the world, and perfect strawberries are worth the wait.

But I digress…we ordered a host of appetizers, side dishes, pastas, and pizzas to share, so without further ado, pictures of our meal!

The heirloom tomato caprese was fresh and delicious. M along with another friend S both agreed that though they normally don’t like tomatoes raw, the tomatoes used in this dish were exceptional. Again, there’s nothing like eating foods that are appropriate for the season and I’m willing to bet that if we go to Otto in a week or two, heirloom tomatoes will no longer be offered. Complementing the tomatoes perfectly, the mozzarella that dotted the tomatoes was creamy and flavorful, unlike the often dry and bland cheese-like substance some restaurants claim is mozzarella.

The salumi platter featured all of their cured meats and was rustically presented on a wooden board. Everybody had their own favorites but my personal favorite was the prosciutto di Parma which was salty and sweet but not overpowering in the mouth. And it might go without saying that Jason loved the lardo the best.

Luckily, I captured a picture with the two kinds of pizza we ordered (marghetrita and mushroom with taleggio) before it was devoured. Also in the picture are views of half eaten plates of the pasta we ordered (bucatini with guanciale, rigatoni with Swiss chard and sausage, and penne puttanesca.) Of the pastas, the puttanesca was my favorite with the flavors of capers and olives adding their distinct flavors to each bite.

Having been to Otto a number of times before, I have an opinion of their pizzas and pasta that is affirmed each time I’ve gone to dine there:

1. I can’t say that the controversial griddle pizzas at Otto are my favorite pizza in all of NY, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s tasty and consistent every time. It is more reminiscent of pizza made with flatbread than pizza dough and it doesn’t have the crunch factor I like exhibited by most flat pizzas.
2. True to Batali style, the pastas at Otto are cooked to al dente, the sauces are used sparingly, and the flavors work together perfectly. The combinations at Otto are traditional ones that cannot be categorized as elegant or particularly inventive; however, I don’t think that’s the purpose of this casual restaurant. I imagine that any one of the pastas offered here would be served in an Italian home on any given weekday night and that’s the point.

Back to our meal, naturally it ended with a dessert. For me it was a cup of three homemade gelatos: pistachio, hazelnut stracciatella, and their ever popular olive oil sprinkled with sea salt. I love the olive oil gelato there and if I could, I would eat it every day. However, the flavor of olive oil in the cream based gelato wasn’t as prominent this past Saturday. It tasted more like sweet cream gelato with olive oil flavoring versus olive oil gelato. This won’t deter me from continuing to order it in the future because it was still delicious.

As for Mr. Bastianich, the closest I got to him that night was when he walked behind me to go to the bathroom. I smiled at him and he smiled back but by the time I got up the nerve to ask him for a picture, the most I could do was grab his arm as he was walking away. Thankfully, he thought it was a waiter bumping into him versus me, a psycho food groupie trying to attack him. On his way back he walked the other way (perhaps he did know it was me?) and I had to resort to asking the waiter if he thought Joe would mind taking a picture with me. Unfortunately, he told me the restaurateur was in the middle of a business dinner so he thought it would be a bad idea. Oh well, perhaps next time you will be so lucky as to get a picture with me Mr. Bastianich.

Lastly, much thanks to “J Man” for showing what a classy guy he is, and sending a bottle of wine our way. It was thoroughly enjoyed and though you couldn’t be there in person, you were with us in spirit!

Salut and happy 24^th birthday M!

4 Men and a Strata

Last Saturday, Jason had plans to play a round of golf with our friends J, R, and S so I willfully volunteered to feed them before their tee time at 10:40 AM. I came up with a game plan Friday night because waking up at 8:00 AM, deciding on breakfast for four, then cooking it in an hour is not my idea of a relaxed Saturday morning.

A couple of months back I discovered a show on PBS called Everyday Food and it has been a recorded series on my DVR ever since. It is a simple show hosted by 5 cooks and while none of them have a particularly captivating stage presence, the show itself is very straight forward and great for the at-home cook. They showcase “nutritious, delicious recipes that are simple to prepare and easy enough to cook everyday.”

The Canadian Bacon Strata prepared on one episode stuck out in my mind because the cook suggested that it be prepared the day before and sit overnight in the fridge. I am always looking for dishes that I can prepare ahead of time and this meal was no exception - especially since it was breakfast!

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Canadian Bacon Strata
softened butter, to grease baking dish
4 English muffins, split, VERY toasted, and cut in half (creating semi circles)
1/2 pound sliced Canadian bacon, about 10 slices, cut in half (creating semi circles)
1 1/4 cup (5 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 large eggs
3 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco

Use the softened butter to grease a 2 quart baking dish and then set aside.

Alternately arrange the muffins and bacon, cut side down, in the baking dish and sprinkle both cheeses over the top.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, mustard, salt, pepper, and hot sauce until combined. Pour the custard into the baking dish slowly so that the arrangement of bread and meat stays in place and everything remains standing up.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refigerate for AT LEAST 2 hours and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove the plastic wrap from the baking dish and place the entire dish on a baking sheet. Bake until the strata is puffed in the center and when a knife is pierced in the center, it feels firm and the knife comes out clean. This will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes. If the top of the strata is getting too toasted for your preference, tent loosely with aluminum foil for the rest of the baking time.

Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting and serving to set.

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The finished product is extremely rich and creamy and the taste of Canadian bacon permeates throughout the dish. As soon as you take a bite of the custard, you taste the smoky, salty flavors of the bacon that may be imitated, but cannot be duplicated. This dish is also great to entertain with because it is easy to portion out. The English muffins layered with the bacon stand up throughout the entire process.

Letting it sit overnight in the fridge prior to baking is crucial. The recipe says that 2 hours is enough time but personally, I don’t think the English muffins will absorb enough of the custard to create the creamy texture after baked.

These are some modifications I could think of for this recipe:

• Omit the Canadian bacon or swap it with Chinese Vegetarian Ham. If you choose to completely eliminate the meat and don’t substitute it with a comparable product, I would be more heavy handed with the salt since it might be a bit bland.
• Use egg substitute instead of whole eggs.
• Combine other melting cheese to create a different flavor profile (i.e.; smoked Gouda or Swiss). I’m sure this goes without saying but I would not recommend using a moldy cheese like Bleu.

I encourage you to make this easy dish if you’re entertaining breakfast or brunch guests and if you do, please share your results. I am eager to hear of any updates you make!

Bananas for bananas

“Will you always go grocery shopping with Jacquie so she doesn’t have to go alone?”

Yes, that was actually a line from Jason’s vow to me on our wedding day. I must concede that there has been some attempt on Jason’s part to keep his vow but there always seems to be pesky things that get in the way. Things like golf games, golf lessons, college football, pro football, and Tiger Woods winning yet another championship. Sense a pattern?

Every time he does manage to go with me though, I wish I could go back in time and change the vow to read, “Will you always go grocery shopping with Jacquie and never complain while you are there?” I admit that the amount of time I spend at the grocery store is inhumanely long but some women drag their husbands to the mall and spend hours shopping for clothes and bags. I like to spend an hour or two browsing the produce section at the supermarket or looking for farmer’s markets. At least my habit doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars and Jason gets to reap the benefits of my cooking!

There are three main parts to grocery shopping that captures Jason’s interest in the slightest:

• Eating at the pizzeria that shares a shopping complex with the supermarket
• Choosing the cuts of meat for his homemade burgers (ground at home with our nifty food grinder of course)
• Picking up the cheapest, most overripe bananas he can find from the discount rack.

                                                              

Wait a second — at this point you may be questioning my judgment in asking Jason to help out. See, he discovered the discount rack near the back of the produce section last year so he makes a beeline for it every time. No, he’s not cheap The discount rack is where the neglected, bruised, battered, and brown bananas are sold at a low low rate of 15 bananas for $1.50.

I must admit I have gotten stares from people at the checkout line when I put the ugly bananas onto the conveyer belt. However, if they were so bold as to tap me on the shoulder and ask what I do with the “bad” fruit, I’d proudly say, “Make banana muffins!” and offer up this delicious recipe.

The banana nut muffins produced from this recipe are Jason’s favorite muffins and as such, our fridge is rarely without at least a dozen bananas sitting in the back of the fridge - turning black - just waiting to be made into these babies.

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Banana Nut Muffins
3 large VERY ripe bananas (see above picture), peeled
2/3 cup sugar
5T butter, melted
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 ½ cup flour
½ cup chopped walnuts, or more depending on your preference (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add sugar, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until well combined.

                                                            

(gratuitous butter shot)

4. Stir in baking soda, salt, and flour until just combined. Try not to overmix.

5. Fold in walnuts.

                                                                

6. Pour into muffin tins (regular sized or mini) lined with muffin liners or lightly greased. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on how hot your oven runs. Your best bet to ensure doneness is to use the trusty toothpick method. Stick a toothpick into the center of the muffin and when it comes out clean, they’re done!

                                                            

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This is a pretty foolproof recipe that turns out moist and flavorful muffins every time. I have often doubled and tripled the recipe to accommodate the amount of bananas I have on hand and it has always scaled well. In the batch pictured, I made 24 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins in the time it would have taken me to make a dozen regular sized muffins. I made mini loaves and whole loaves with the same recipe in the past and they turned out just as delicious - albeit not as portable.

It seems that banana muffins are a crowd pleaser no matter how I’ve made them. I whipped up a couple of batches when Jason’s family and a bunch of out-of-town friends (expected and not expected!) stayed with us the week of our wedding. Jason has given batches to his one employee as a ‘thank you’ gift, I have brought them in to share with coworkers, and we have also shipped them to my sister up at Cornell. While I appreciate compliments as much as the next person, the fact that the muffins go so quickly is proof enough that everyone loves them.

In the batch pictured, I substituted ¼ of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and it had virtually no flavor impact. Next time I will use ½ all purpose and ½ whole wheat flour to see if I can up the health factor a bit more. If not that, I will sprinkle flax seed over the muffins prior to baking.

The mix-in options are limited only by your imagination and taste preference. I normally stick to walnuts but have added chocolate chips and raisins in the past. Much to Jason’s chagrin, I haven’t made the chocolate banana muffins in a while in an attempt to be healthy. Perhaps next time sweetie!

I have been meaning to use fresh blueberries in the muffins but if I don’t get to that soon, I’ll have to try it with frozen. Thankfully the blueberry season lasts into mid-October so I still have one more batch of muffins left before I have to resort to frozen.

There are some fall fruits that could work with bananas as well. With the sweetness of the bananas, a tart fruit like Macintosh apples might go well. Some time in the coming months I will try the banana muffins topped with thinly sliced apples and a crumb topping. Yum!

The first person to comment on how many times I said banana in this post will get a batch of muffins with his/her choice of add-ins

$10K dessert?

                                                  
Our friends J and C are the one of the cutest, and probably most insane, couples we know. With the amount of bickering they do, you’d think they have been married forever! In actuality, they have been together for a few years but are only dating for now. They will be moving in together soon though and we wish them luck in their search for an apartment together!

The topic of their possible future engagement has come up in the past and J has even joked that he would propose by hiding the ring within a scoop of C’s favorite dessert, sorbet. While that is a valiant attempt on J’s part to be romantic, C and I both agree that it would an awkward proposal at best. There are two possible scenarios I can envision:

• In her delight with the sorbet, she swallows the ring whole without even realizing it was there. Unlikely as sorbets are one of those “roll it around on your tongue” type desserts; but hey, it’s possible so I’m putting it down as a scenario. In this case, do you tell her what she just did? Getting the ring back either by regurgitation or otherwise (ahem ahem) would totally put a damper on the occasion. Would she ever look at the ring on her finger the same??
• She takes a bite with the ring in it, discovers the ring in her mouth, takes it out of her mouth, and then what? Does J take it out of her hand, dip it in water to off wash the residual saliva and sticky sorbet, and then get on one knee? 

Perhaps J will throw caution to the wind though and forge ahead with his future proposal idea anyway. In preparation for that, I am taking it upon myself to perfect my sorbet making just in case I should be asked to be a part of the happy occasion. :) 

Last Saturday, Jason and I made plans with J and C to watch the U of L versus UK football game at a local bar to represent Jason’s favorite home team. I wanted to make something to share with them and seeing that I had two large mangoes sitting in my fruit basket for a week that had not yet been eaten, I decided to make C’s favorite dessert!

I did a quick search and saw that Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini posted the mango sorbet recipe from the great Mr. Lebovitz’s new book, The Perfect Scoop. Imagine my good luck that what I wanted to make was from a book that I’ve been meaning to get! I have wanted to get this much lauded book and even though it’s almost fall, I am not deterred. I am not of the camp that ice cream can only be eaten in warm weather and personally I don’t understand anybody that subscribes to that belief.

                                                 

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Mango Sorbet á la The Perfect Scoop
2 large mangoes (I used the larger red skinned mango variety though I normally prefer to eat the smaller orange kind), pitted and peeled
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
finely grated lime zest
juice from 1/2 lime, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon tequila, plus more to taste
a pinch of salt

Prepare your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s instructions. Personally, I keep my ice cream bowl in the freezer all the time. Who knows when I’ll have the craving for homemade ice cream? When I do, I certainly can’t wait 24 hours for the bowl to freeze thoroughly. It’s definitely a trade off in terms of freezer space but well worth it in my opinion.

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth. Unfortunately, the mangoes that I used were a bit on the fibrous side and although I am the first one to promote proper fiber intake, I don’t think via mango sorbet is the right way. I pulled out the nifty little food mill that my brother-in-law bought us and the resultant mixture was super creamy. If you don’t have a food mill, pouring the mixture through a strainer would produce similar results. I definitely suggest doing one or the other to ensure you don’t have to provide toothpicks along with your sorbet.

Place the puréed mango mixture in the fridge and chill thoroughly, about 1 hour should be fine. Pour mixture into the ice cream bowl and freeze per the manufacturer’s instructions.

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For the sake of being thorough, I will elaborate on my inputs/modifications to the recipe. Instead of regular granulated sugar, I used a vanilla sugar that I made with beautiful Tahitian vanilla beans, which I brought/smuggled back from our honeymoon a couple of months ago. I also used the juice from 3/4 of the lime versus only half since I love the piquant taste of citrus. 

The sorbet was easy and quick to put together and it turned out beautifully - not overly sweet like some sorbets tend to be and very creamy. I think next time I could even cut down on the sugar a bit and maybe go an extra tablespoon on the tequila For creaminess sake of course, not because I like alcohol or anything! In all honesty though, 1 tablespoon was more than enough to keep the sorbet from getting icy.

We packed as much sorbet as could possibly fit into a plastic container and happily brought it to the bar with us. There was no ring in the sorbet this time but I think C enjoyed it regardless. There is still some leftover sorbet sitting in my fridge and just posting about it makes me want to rush home from work and enjoy a scoop myself!

                                                    

Under the Tuscan Sun…

Except we were in Forest Hills and in our living room. A girl can dream, can’t she?

As you can see from my recent post on Del Posto, Jason and I have a serious relationship with Italian food. Oftentimes our craving for it is as insurmountable as the love we have for each other! Cheesy and a bit sad, but true nonethless.

It all began with a search for good fresh ricotta that I used to be able to buy at a local deli when I lived on the UES. I had no specific intentions for this mozzarella by-product at the time that I launched my search, I just knew I wanted it. More than that, I wanted know that should there be an emergency where fresh ricotta would be needed to come to the rescue, I would have instant access to it.

Forest Hills, while not totally devoid of culinary finds, certainly lacks in specialty food stores so I knew I’d have to expand my search area. Imagine my good fortune at having stumbled across a specialty Italian gourmet shop named Iavarone Brothers that is a more-than-worth-it 10 minute drive from our apartment! It received rave reviews online so I enlisted Jason to go with me the very next day. The promise of a salumi selection, which according to him is its own food group, certainly offered up enough incentive.

Upon arrival, I was a bit disappointed at the size of the store. However, I came to realize that what IB lacks in size, it makes up for with its wide selection of yummalicious goodies. There is a deli section with prepared foods ranging from eggplant parmigiana to arancini to a wide variety of olives. They have a butcher section that offers numerous types of homemade sausages as well as different cuts of beef, pork, and lamb. Their seafood case is not as varietal but what they do have is extremely fresh. The beautiful day-boat scallops were destined to be prepared with a lemon beurre blanc sauce but that’s a different day and a different post.

They do in fact showcase a respectable selection of cured meats and not surprisingly, the bulk of our purchase that day was from that counter and the cheese section that I covet. And yes, fresh ricotta packaged in something appropriately called a “traditional ricotta tin” is sold there as well. Our apartment is now safe.

This little picnic is the result of our happy day at Iavarone Brothers:

                                                

Going counter clockwise from the bottom half of the plate there are slices of mild black peppercorn flecked pepato cheese made by IB, sweet sopressata, and imported prosciutto. The crackers we already had in our pantry at home. Then there are slices of heaven from a wheel of fresh mozzarella rolled with prosciutto. The last item on the upper left hand corner is a caprese salad I put together using IB’s homemade lightly salted mozzarella. I layered thin slices of mozzarella with thin slices of vine-ripened tomato, basil, and a tiny sprinkling of salt and pepper. As with most salads in our house, I finished the stack with a drizzle of golden La Mozza olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
                                                    

I’d have to say, there are few indulgances better than having an Italian inspired picnic in the middle of the day with a glass of wine and my husband. Except (hint hint to Jason) maybe if it really were under the Tuscan sun

                                                

Roasted and somewhat toasted

Last year Jason started his own company (insert shameless plug here) and moved his daily grind out of the city. With all that he has gained from starting his own company, he not only had to give up working with his wonderful wife, then fiancée, but he also had to give up the luxury of walking out the front door and having a surfeit of breakfast/lunch choices, not to mention 5 Starbucks shops within a 2 block radius. Luckily, Jason abhors Starbucks coffee so that wasn’t too big of a sacrifice. However, not being able to grab lunch at our much beloved “chicken man” or make-your-own salad joint has taken a toll on Jason’s daytime satiety.

We have taken measures to alleviate his pain by doing the following:

1. COFFEE: Brew coffee every night, refrigerate the pot overnight, fill portable coffee mug, and consume in the car/at work in the morning. ISSUE: We have been known to forget to brew the coffee altogether. Luckily there is a Dunkin Donuts he can stop by on the way to work though the consistency, or lack thereof there has led Jason to write up a complaint. The necessity for morning caffeine however has superceded the frequently poor quality.

2. BREAKFAST: I wake up in the morning at 7  AM while Jason is in the shower and scramble or fry up two eggs with salt and pepper, finished with a squirt of ketchup or hot sauce. ISSUE: As mentioned in previous posts, I am not a morning person and many weeks, I only do this 2 or 3 times. I am a bad wife. I have attempted at times to get out of getting up in the morning to make breafast by making a batch of muffins on Sunday to be consumed for breakfast all week. This too is not consistent. Again, I concede, I am a bad wife.

3. LUNCH: Herein lies the the meat of this post, literally. There are three possible lunch situations situations.

• Jason takes leftovers from the night before
• I pan fry him 6 or 7 frozen dumplings in the morning while I make the eggs (this has happened twice)
• Something is made on Sunday night intended to be eaten for lunch throughout the week
• A regrettable occurrence which only happens in the most extreme of circumstances, he starves

For a while the pre-preparing of food on Sunday for the week was the norm but lately, it seems the leftover route has taken over. Was I getting lazy? I’m not sure if it was that or just a lack of creativity. Well last Sunday, I decided to bring homemade lunches back and bought an organic whole chicken from my local Super Stop n Shop. My plan was to roast the whole chicken and use the meat for various lunches throughout the week.

I have roasted chicken before so it wasn’t as intimidating as it might be for a newbie. Making roasted chicken requires more of a knowledge of method than recipe since you can make it pretty much with whatever you have on hand. Plus it’s super easy so really, don’t fret and forge ahead because roasting your own chicken at home is supremely satisfying. 

In this case, I focused the flavorings around citrus salt which I have been meaning to make with inspiration from a post on finishing salts on SK.

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Lemon-Ginger Roasted Chicken
1 3.5 pound chicken, preferably organic
2 stalks of lemongrass, cut into three inch pieces
2 lemons, zested for the finishing salt and cut in half
2-4 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
handful of cilantro, leaves and stems
citrus flavored salt (grated zest from 2 lemons and 1 lime, dried on a paper towel for about 20 minutes, mixed with sea salt)
freshly cracked black pepper
olive oil

                                     

As you can tell from the ingredients list and picture, the amounts are really just guesstimates because it is not a big deal if you have more or less of any one thing. If I had oranges around, I’d probably add one or two of those as well. I used the combination of lemon and ginger b/c I think it’s a classic one and works well. I would have used flat leaf parsley if I had any but I didn’t so I used cilantro instead.

After prepping all the ingredients and preheating the oven to 425F, I washed the chicken and patted it dry with paper towels. Then stuffed the bird with all of the ingredients except for the salt and pepper. These two should be rubbed somewhat liberally (please see conclusion on the bottom) on the outside of the bird along with the olive oil. Instead of trussing the chicken, I simply tied the legs together with butcher’s twine so quite frankly, nothing would fall out of its butt during the roasting. That would have been quite unlady-like.

I placed the bird in the oven and roasted it for about 40 minutes. I say about because due to an errand I had to run at the last minute, I asked Jason to shut the oven off when the oven timer went off. Apparently with the oven fan buzzing coupled with the necessity for high TV volume when college football is on, our oven timer is rendered inaudible. Fortunately, the resultant roast didn’t burn but it was definitely a bit more toasted than I had intended.
                                              
After cooking the bird, or any meat for that matter,  it’s best to let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing into. Patience is a small price to pay for juicy and delicious meat. 

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Being a blogging amateur, I completely forgot to take a picture of the whole bird and carved it up before I could remember. Oh well…perhaps next time! Here are some picture of the pieces in the meantime!

                                        Leg and thigh

                                      Breast

The meat was very flavorful but a tad salty for my taste. I think I may have been a bit excited and too liberal with my use of the citrus salt. Next time I’ll hold back a bit more

The chicken pieces were taken and enjoyed for lunch throughout the week.

My mother asked me why why I was “going through the trouble” of roasting my own chicken versus just buying the ubiquitous rotisserie chickens cheaply offered up by our local Stop n Shop, Costco, or Boston Market. I’m not sure if in this day and age, I need to extol the virtues of buying organic but I needn’t say anything other than PLEASE READ this book. It will at the least make you think twice about almost every single thing you buy at the supermarket. By roasting the chicken myself, I have the piece of mind of not only being able to control the inputs in the roast (ie; lower sodium levels…maybe not in this case but usually!), but I can also choose to buy organic which is becoming more and more important in my life and hopefully will in yours as well.

CRAFTy? BARely.

Last Friday night, Jason and I were invited out to dinner with two good friends, G and K. We were up in the air about where we’d like to go but decided upon Craftbar since G and K are big Top Chef fans. Craftbar is one of the many restaurants under the “craft restaurant family” started by head judge of Top Chef and more prestigiously, James Beard award recipient, Tom Colicchio.

We had a reservation at 8:15 PM, arrived not a minute later or earlier, and were seated promptly. The general feel of the space is typical of the Union Square area restaurants. I would summarize it as modern and sleek with dim lighting, high ceilings, spacious tables, etc… The tablecloth is paper over cloth, the menu is printed on a single sheet of paper, and the servers wear casual clothes emphasized through the ubiquitous appearance of jeans. I guess the point is to differentiate Craftbar from the Craft family’s more upscale ventures like Craft and Craftsteak at which I’m sure I would not find a single piece of denim, worn or otherwise.

The menu is divided into multiple sections and while the offerings are extensive and mostly all sound delicious, I find the concept a bit confusing.  Raw oysters, salumis, gazpacho, chilled pea soup, paté, pastas… I suppose Mr. Colicchio is simply offering what he knows people like to eat rather than focusing on any single type of cuisine. I can’t fault him for that but restaurants that focus more on one regional cuisine are my preference.

We decided to share a bunch of first courses instead of ordering individual appetizers. Our selection included chickpea fries with black olive aioli, pecorino-stuffed risotto balls, bruschetta with field mushrooms, roasted tomato, and mozzarella, and calamari with arugula and lemon confit.

The texture of the chickpea fries were completely different than what I had anticipated. They were perfect rectangular blocks and did not have a crisp at all. The inside of the “fry” had the consistency of mashed potatoes. The flavor was fine if not a bit bland but the name fry is a bit misleading. The black olive aioli was a nice condiment but would have benefited from a bit more olive flavor.

The risotto balls were perfectly crunchy in comparison to the fries and the pecorino was very pleasantly subtle. The balls were served atop a light tomato sauce and the acidity was a welcome addition to the otherwise rich dish. This appetizer was well accepted amongst our group and definitely the star of the first course bunch.  

Surprisingly, nameko mushrooms made an appearance in the bruschetta topping. I enjoy nameko mushrooms a lot and was glad to see it used in a non-Japanese dish but whilst they are a delicious fungus and cute to boot, the small round caps were reluctant to stay on the bread. Despite the messiness, the bruschetta was delicious and very fresh.

The calamari which was either poached or lightly sautéed paired very well with the bitter arugula. The lemon confit in the description on the menu tasted very similar to just freshly squeezed lemon juice which I actually appreciate very much. The lightness of the dish called for a simple dressing like that.

K ordered the Bucatini with Pancetta and Fried Egg as a main course though she was debating between that and the wonderful sounding sandwiches they offered.  I don’t blame her for debating - the Coppa with Buffalo Mozzarella was calling out to me as well. I only tried a tiny bit of her pasta which I can report was a pleasant al dente. That’s really the most important thing to me when it comes to pasta

G opted for the Veal Ricotta Meatballs with pasta that was deservingly popular. I saw it being brought out of the kitchen many times throughout our meal. The ricotta imparted a very light texture to the meatballs and you could definitely taste it in every bite. This was an impressive dish. I would have never thought to mix ricotta with the meat when making meatballs but this will definitely be experimented with the next time I go to my favorite local gourmet Italian shop and pick up their fresh ricotta.

Jason ordered the Hanger Steak with Heirloom Tomatoes and Bread Salad. The steak was served rare as per Jason’s request and thiny sliced over the salad. I am not particularly fond of restaurants that serve steaks pre-sliced because I feel like that is a way for them to get out of truly representing how much meat they give per plate. When it’s thiny sliced and fanned out, 2 ounces of steak can look like quite a bit. The heirloom tomatoes were delicious and have definitely convinced Jason and I that next summer we must take advantage of the bounty at our local farmer’s market. The dish as a whole though was quite everyday and not much to rave about.

I chose the Spicy Fish Stew with Red Pepper Aioli which came out like a bouillabaise. I was not really expecting that because the image that stew conjures in my mind is one of hearty chunks of meat in a thick broth. This “fish stew” contained small dices of salmon and white fish, tiny cockles, thiny sliced bits of calamari, and baby shrimp the size of which I’ve never seen, and not in a good way. These shrimp were no larger than the eraser on the back of a #2 pencil. Though the bouillabaise lacked in scale and portion, the flavor did make up for it a bit. It was was not spicy as the name had led me to believe which was also a disappointment. It’s the first word in the dish for heaven’s sake! To be fair, the broth did permeate with sweet red pepper flavor and what little fish was present, was fresh and flavorful. However, I can’t excuse the tiny portion for $20 in a “casual restaurant.”

For dessert, we chose to share the Crispy Chocolate Cake with coffee gelato and the Almond Semifreddo. I did manage to snap some pictures at the end for your viewing enjoyment. Please excuse the dark lighting.
                                         

The Crispy Chocolate Cake is the main focus of the first picture and the Almond Semifreddo is in the background. I could not manage to take a picture of it prior to K understandably taking a big forkful. My espresso macchiato on the right was enjoyably strong with a wonderful froth on top. Too many places I’ve been to serve me espresso macchiato’s with what looks like the sorry excuse for froth Starbucks serves.

Of the two desserts, I enjoyed the Almond Semifreddo the most as it reminded me of the wonderful almond cookie ice cream served at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

I wanted so much to like the first Tom Colicchio restaurant I had ever been to simply because I have heard such good things about Top Chef. I don’t think I’ll be returning to this one any time soon though. There is nothing overtly wrong with Craftbar. The service was pleasant though there were a couple of times our waiter seemed to be absent. We finished every single dish we ordered so I can’t say that the food was bad. It’s just that everything seemed so banal, which didn’t do anything at all to justify the price tag. Overall, with all the other choices in NYC, I’m ready to move on to another restaurant. The question of whether it will be another Tom Colicchio restaurant is left to be seen. If it is though, it will most likely be his sandwich bar ‘wichcraft. I think I still hear the faint sound of the Coppa and Buffalo Mozzarella sandwich calling me…

Let us eat cake!

German Pancake that is…but this time it was eaten more as a lunch since Jason and I got up uncharacteristcially late on Saturday morning. Since it was 12 PM, I can’t even say for sure that we could still refer to it as morning.  We were both feeling quite lazy so I decided it would be a perfect morning for the easy German Pancakes I had made a couple of weekends ago. 

I had a bit of a chocolate craving so wanted to add chocolate chips but decided to go the healthier route of adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder instead. I also decided to experiment with the oven settings like I said I would. I preheated and started off the pancake in a 400F oven on the convection setting.

After about 7 minutes, I looked into the oven and not only was the pancake not puffing up, it looked barely dry on top. I decided at this point that I needed to take action. I cranked (more like pushed the buttons on) the oven to increase the heat up to 425F like the original recipe had specified. As the temperature passed the 415F mark, the pancake started to rise up the sides finally! 10 minutes later, the temperature worked itself up to 425F and it looked perfect (except for a tiny hole). I let it brown a bit more for a minute or two and then pulled it out.
                                         

As you can see, it looks quite different from the first one I made. It had a very different texture as well. It was slightly less eggy and definitely a bit more dry, most likely due to the longer time in the oven at a lower temperature. The taste profile was very similar despite the addition of the cocoa powder which leads me to the only logical conclusion, more cocoa next time! 

We didn’t eat it plain this time either. I melted 1 teaspoon of butter in a small sauté pan and added three sliced bananas. After they softened a bit, I added 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. This is the delicious finished product (sans a bit of the pancake that was ripped off and tried by my mother who gave it a thumbs up):
                                                      

Toppings aside, Jason likes the second pancake better whereas I would have liked something in between. We both definitely prefer the banana topping.

I think that next time, meaning most likely this weekend, I will start the pancake at 425F and then lower it to 400F after about 7 minutes. We’ll see how that turns out…hopefully it will be the perfect blend!

A posto for Del Posto

Last month Jason and I were gifted a prime time reservation at Mario Batali’s restaurant Del Posto in the Meatpacking District. The avid Mario fans that we are, we jumped on a chance to try out one of the few Batali joints at which we have not yet feasted. As you can see, we couldn’t have been happier in our anticipation as we drove into the city.
                                                      

After some initial trouble finding a space, we proceeded onward and punctually entered the restaurant. The space is hands down the most elegant of all his restaurants. It’s large and spacious relative to his other outposts, most likely due to the less than central location all the way on the west side almost in the Hudson. Table stalking while we waited to be seated, I made a couple of initial observations:

1. The decor of the restaurant reminded me very much of Christmas time even though it was the middle of August. I think this was owed much to the string-light ornamented topiaries and the wooden banquettes. It seemed a bit anachronistic but warm nonetheless.

2. Instead of the much-loved Italian bread served wrapped in parchment paper that patrons are given at Batali’s other eateries like Babbo and Otto, each table had a bread basket with mini Baguettes and rolls.  Also, instead of the beautiful La Mozza olive oil used as a dipper for the bread, there were little ramekins filled with what looked to me at the time like butter and anchovy butter which as will be explained in a bit, turned out to be so much more.

We were shown to our table about 15 minutes after our arrival and much to our delight, were seated on the second level which is basically a lofted area overlooking the first floor.  We were then given our bread basket and it was explained to us that there was a spread of homemade sweet cream butter and a spread of lardo that was melted down with garlic and rosemary. Imagine our surprise (and Jason’s excitement!) when we heard that! Lardo is Jason’s favorite part of the Babbo salumi appetizer and to have it in spreadable form with garlic and rosemary was like music to our ears. I willfully passed up the butter for the lardo which was a bit salty, very creamy, and subtle on garlic and rosemary flavoring. I had to refrain from eating the entire bread basket which isn’t actually much of a shock but it took much more will power this time than most.

* side note: I apologize but despite the beauty of the food we ate, I didn’t take pictures because the restaurant was quite dark and the flash would have more certainly drawn unwanted attention onto ourselves. Going forward, I will throw caution to the wind for the sake of proper documentation. Back to the restaurant…

We were then showered with gifts of amuse bouches presented to us on three mini plates. There was a chilled vegetable broth with pesto, mini arancini,  and both Jason and I cannot for the life of us recall the third one. The soup would have been better warm but was refreshingly simple. The mini arancini were perfectly fried and we would’ve requested more had we not thought they would thinkg us odd.

We ordered the yellowfin & tail susci with radish, fennel, snowpeas & violets to share as a starter. I feel ambivalent about this dish which came out tossed much like a salad. The fish was naturally of excellent quality, as were the accompanying vegetables but I’m not 100% sold on the combination. I feel the radish competed with the subtle sweetness of the fish but that could be due to my general distaste for radishes. The violets added a slight bitter flavor which was enough of a complementary flavor that the radishes were unnecessary. Overall the dish was enjoyed but I would not order it again.

The two pastas we ordered were the Del Posto Agnolotti Dal Plin and the Crisped Potato Gnocchi with Braised Pork Shoulder, Celery, and Nepitella. The agnolotti (pronounced anneeolottee) were stuffed with three kinds of braised meats and was in a simple brown butter sauce. This dish was divine and will definitely be ordered again on a return trip. The gnocchi  (pronounced nyo key) was delicious as well but not particularly exceptional. The highlight of that dish was the pork shoulder which Jason thoroughly enjoyed.

We shared the secondi which we are apt to do and ordered lamb cooked two ways though now I cannot remember the two ways! I do recall that it was delicious though and had a texture unlike any other lamb dish I’ve ever eaten. It was very soft and not at all gamey.  We enjoyed this dish but would most likely try another meat next time. The whole fish ordered by a table below us looked scrumptious as it was being de-boned by the waiter. See what I mean by table stalking?

For our desserts we ordered espressos and the assortment of gelato. The flavors were milk, vanilla, and coffee. The espressos were strong and yummy but the gelatos were a bit disappointing. The vanilla and milk tasted very similar and the coffee tasted very generic, unlike the wonderful and popular olive oil gelato served at Otto which is sublime. We did receive the customary plate of complimentary cookies with our coffee. It was delicious but I prefer the cookies in the Babbo cookie plate.

All in all, we enjoyed our night out at Del Posto where the food and service were both excellent. I have read reviews of the restaurant with complaints of over-priced food. I too would agree with those reviewers if ambience were not taken into the equation. The food and service was on par with both Babbo and Lupa but when it comes to environment, Del Posto is definitely more upscale. When that is factored in, I suppose one could say that Del Posto has a fair price to value ratio. Our overall assessment is that we would return here for another special date night, but definitely not before a couple of trips to our reigning Batali favorite, Babbo

Finally, I leave you with a picture of Jason acting like the boss he is in the wine cellar.
                                              

Worth the effort?

A couple of weeks ago I saw a package of baby artichokes at my local Super Stop n Shop. Not armed with the knowledge that the height of baby artichoke season is generally early summer (ie; May or June), I scooped them up. Baby artichokes are a novelty to me so I read up on them from the website on the packaging and surprisingly, they are not a completely different type of artichoke than the bigger ones we’re used to seeing. You can read more about them here as well as see a step by step instructional on how to prepare the baby artichokes. The website also include some various cooking methods.

I don’t have any pictures of me actually preparing the artichokes as it is quite a messy ordeal. I don’t think the hubby would’ve appreciated me man-handling the precious that is our camera with my dirty hands. I believe the process was rendered even more complicated because my artichokes may not have been at their best. When I cut open the choke, I found tons of spiky purple leaves as well as fur that is not present at all in the pictures on the Ocean Mist website. Of course these unsightly features had to go and as such, I was left with fairly little meat from each choke and artichoke fur all over my hands.

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Sautéed Baby Artichokes
12-14 baby artichokes, prepared according to above link
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 lemon, juiced along with peel
salt and pepper

 Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, slice each artichoke into four pieces lengthwise. Add shallot and red pepper flake to the oil and sauté for about 1 minute or until shallot is translucent and fragrant. Add baby artichokes to pan without overcrowding the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. I had to do this in two batches. Do not flip or touch the artichokes for about 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, flip the artichoke and let the other side sear for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and add the next batch as necessary.

After all of the artichoke is done, pour the lemon juice into the pan to scrape up any bits of artichoke that may be left sticking to the pan. Heat through and then pour the lemon sauce over the artichokes. Using a microplane grater, grate the lemon peel over the dish. At this point I also finished the dish off with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
                                     

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Overall, the dish was delicious and served two nicely for lunch. My verdict is that it was worth it at least to have gained experience in how to prepare these babies which I think many feel are intimidating. I think next year I will prepare a baby artichoke in May or June when they are more in season. Anybody have any must-try recipes?

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