Next Food Network Star -- Wishful Thinking

Well, with Mario and Emeril off the main stream of things at the Food Network, they need a new "star"....the heck with spending millions of $$$ on month-long competitions. Here she is!! Well, "wishful thinking" : )

Hopping, Shopping and Turkey

Last Saturday was a fun-filled day of restaurant hopping around town and also a little bit of shopping thrown in. It was the start to a busy week.

First, we started off having brunch at The Little Owl, Joey Campanaro’s place in the west Village. It’s funny because we saw him on a chef’s thanksgiving competition show that aired on the Food Network Sunday afternoon. Obviously, that was an older show because he was performing construction on the restaurant. He won the competition and $10,000.

There has been a lot of hype about the Little Owl and now I know why. It’s a nice, intimate size with only 27 seats for a small, neighborhood restaurant. It was a crisp, fall day, and my seat was next to the heat vent, so that added to the cozy feeling of the restaurant.

Since the menu was very limited, and brunch usually consists of dishes that include meat, bacon or ham, my choices were limited to two choices. So a white omelet with spinach and Portobello mushrooms is was what I enjoyed. My friend had poached eggs on a sausage brioche. The service was attentive and the food was very good. I would like to try and have dinner there one night because brunch is brunch.

Since we opted not to have a cocktail at The Little Owl, we walked to 7th Avenue South to CentroVineteco for one of my favorite weekend brunch drinks, a Bloody Mary. My rule is that the only appropriate time for a bloody Mary is between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., and it was 1:45 p.m., so we were within the time constraints. We sat at the bar, and relaxed as we planned (sort of) the rest of the afternoon. I’ve been spoiled by the drinks made at home, so observing a “pre-mixed” tomato solution poured into a glass of vodka was somewhat disappointing. However, the taste was “sort of” there.

Bottlerockets was offering a Thanksgiving workshop that afternoon, so we opted to drive toward Union Square and check out what was going on at the store. The setup was traditional dishes and wines offered as pairings and suggestions for Thanksgiving dinner. There was roasted heritage turkey, vegetables prepared from the Union Square Green Market, and desserts prepared by The City Bakery. Chefs from Dani, Gramercy Tavern and Mas Farmhouse were available to answer questions. We sampled a few wines and had a tasting of heritage turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and dessert nuts. I bought a dessert wine, and some spicy nuts.

Given that we had gotten parking space in front of the store, we kept the car there and decided that venturing on foot is what we would due. Next was a stop at Coliccio’s Craft Bar for a Manhattan. Since it was cold outside, that was a nice pick me up. After leaving Craft, it was off to do some shopping at the Union Square Green Market. I enjoyed shopping where the chefs from the NYC restaurants go. After buying about 15 pounds of various produce, it was off to the car to drop the stash. At this point, we decided to head over to Craft for some oysters.

As we started to venture toward Craft, we noticed a Japanese restaurant called Haru on Park Avenue South. The menu looked good, so in we went. We did not want to eat a lot of food, so soup and a quick appetizer did it for us. I had the lobster miso soup, and my friend had the lemongrass hot and sour soup, which smelled and tasted like the soup I make at home. Anyway, a quick appetizer for each of us, then we were off to Craft for oysters.

After finishing kumomoto oysters at Craft, we decided to head to the meatpacking district to visit Morimoto’s, “if” we could get parking. We did, so a quick stop there completed the City hopping for the day. But we were not done yet.

It was time to head back to Jersey, but I wanted to make another stop and check out a Cuban Cigar Bar in Jersey City (right outside the Holland Tunnel). We parked the car, and then ventured into a place called Azucar. That place was hopping. The first floor had a Spanish band playing music with a crowd of folks dancing. We went upstairs to the “cigar” lounge. Actually, it looked like two or three living rooms with a “bar” in the middle. Service was extremely slow. After waiting about 10 minutes, we left to find a server. I also wanted to buy a Remy Martin cigar.

After smoking our cigars and enjoying a Mohito, it was time to head home. It was a long day of hopping and shopping and now we were heading into a busy week ahead—The Big Smoke and Thanksgiving.

The Big Smoke – Tuesday night we attended The Big Smoke at the Marriott Marquee in New York. There were about 1,500 guys in attendance, four other women and me. What a night! I’ve been to the Big Smoke before, and was surprised to hear that they still are allowed to run the show in light of the new non-smoking laws in the City. Obviously, they could. So a $200 ticket for admission gets you 35 cigars from major manufacturers, and the opportunity to sample every cognac, rum, bourbon, scotch and beer on the planet. Needless to say, they allowed smoking during the show…and the guys smoked…and smoked…and smoked. It was a good start to a long holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving was a fun day of cooking good food, having good wine, and being with a good friend. We started our gathering first with a cold, spicy Bloody Mary as I continued with my preparation of the meal. Then it was lobster cocktails as an appetizer. My final menu decision turned out rather simple. I decided to make a citrus roasted turkey with shiitake mushroom gravy. I bought a fresh kosher organic turkey, so I didn’t have to brine it the day before. The stuffing was a combination of mushrooms—shiitake, cremini, and porcini, with Asian spiced nuts that I bought last Saturday. Sides were roasted white organic yams, sweet and sour cipollini onions, and a medley of vegetables, including turnips, Belgian white carrots, red carrots, and salsify. No green bean casserole here.
After dinner was over, it was time to relax and smoke one of the 35 cigars gathered from the Big Smoke the other night. Also, watch one of my favorite Hitchcock movies, The Birds. No football here, either.

Thanksgiving Menus from the Past - Nothing Yet for Next Week

Still no bird plan yet for next week...and it's less than a week away. I thought I'd pull out some of my menus from "Thanksgiving past" to give me some ideas, and maybe replicate a few of the dishes...nada...

All recipes below were very good and turned out really well, but I'm not anxious to get behind the stove and rattle those pots and pans to any of them, again. I'm bored.

Thanksgiving Menu 3

Baby Romaine Salad with Pears, Oven-Dried Grapes and Roasted-Shallot Vinaigrette

Herb and Citrus Glazed Roasted Turkey with Chardonnay-Wine Sauce

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Wild Rice and Mushrooms

Honey-Glazed Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

Steamed Edamame with Lemon, Garlic and Parsley

Cranberry Sauce


Thanksgiving Menu 2

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms with Crab

Boisenberry and Citrus Glazed Roasted Turkey with Port Wine Sauce

Wild Rice, Apple and Dried Cranberry Stuffing

Brandy and Orange Pureed Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups

Snow Peas with Lemon Herb Butter

Cranberry Sauce


Thanksgiving Menu 1

Stuffed Mushrooms

Tower of Roasted Red Peppers, Fresh Basil, Tomato Confit, Mozzarella Cheese and Marinated Eggplant

Roasted Turkey with Pear and Port Wine Sauce, and Wild Rice Stuffing with Pearl Onions, Dried Cherries and Apricots

Pureed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Sherry

Green Beans with Shallots, Rosemary and Roasted Hazelnuts

Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Dried Cherries and Cloves

White Pepper Ice Cream & Assorted Fruits

Mai House Restaurant - No Hopping Afterwards

This past weekend the idea was to do “restaurant hopping” in the City, so we had planned to visit several restaurants Saturday evening. That morning, it was working out and getting the normal weekend errands out of the way, then getting ready for the evening. It did feel odd not purchasing any food items when I visited the store earlier that day. Nonetheless, I would make up for it on Sunday.

We had dinner reservations at Mai House, a Vietnamese restaurant in TriBeCa and part of Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Restaurant Group. Drew’s famous flagship restaurants include Tribeca Grill and Nobu, to name a few, all of which are located within one city block. I like to eat dinner early, so the reservation was for 5:45 p.m., and since we were about 45 minutes early, we headed to Tribeca Grill for a cocktail first. I was surprised that the bar at the Grill was so crowded, but it started to clear out after 5:30 p.m. After enjoying a quick cocktail and watching a group of people finish a tour of the restaurant, we were off to Mai House.

We were the first patrons to arrive—and were the only diners in the restaurant for the first forty-five minutes. I’ve noticed that the one drawback of eating dinner early in a New York City restaurant is that the only “people watching” going on is the servers watching us. I guess it’s different in the theater district where they’re used to having more of a crowd early in the evening.

The restaurant’s entire menu was very appealing. They have a listing of specialty cocktails called “Mai Cocktails,” where they do a take on the traditionally named drinks, such as a Mohito or a Manhattan. An ‘jito is where they add lemongrass, kaffir lime juice, and curry leaves to the rum (versus the traditional mint); or the ‘hattan includes hibiscus, ginger and palm sugar with the bourbon. I couldn’t resist the ‘jito.

Since I have done a lot of Asian cooking, I recognized virtually every ingredient as it described the various dishes on the menu, including the drinks discussed above. For example, I’ve worked with kaffir lime leaves, tamarind pulp, lemongrass, ginger, chilies, pandan juice, quail eggs, and glass noodles… the list goes on—you should see inside my kitchen cabinets. Getting back to the meal. For an appetizer, I ordered the barbecue quail with sticky rice, kaffir lime and crispy shallots—Again, things I’ve made in the past—the quail, the sticky rice, and crispy shallots. (Currently, I have quail in my freezer—as I like to say, “quail on call” for when I’m in the mood for it at home). My friend ordered the wild boar nem sausage with a tamarind sauce accompaniment. Since I don’t eat anything that has hooves, I didn’t taste the boar.

Prior to bringing our appetizers, the server brought over an amuse bush, compliments of the chef. The muse was an order of seared scallops smothered in a citrus, yet spicy, vinaigrette. It was a nice start to what would become a very good and tasty experience.

For my entrée, I enjoyed roasted black cod, which was served smothered in a sweet miso glaze. The accompaniment was heart of palms, pickled watermelon and a kumquat vinaigrette. To my surprise, the fish was prepared perfectly. The cod glistened and the layers fell apart as I sliced each piece. Lately, I’ve been getting overdone fish at restaurants, so this was an extremely flavorful, pleasant and enjoyable dish.

My friend ordered the kaffir lime duck, served over a daikon pancake with an order of duck hash. I tried the duck (ducks don’t have hooves), which was prepared very well and tasted great. As a side, we ordered the duck fried rice, which was spectacular. The rice was made with a combination of duck confit, smoked duck, and a scrambled duck egg. We also had the sautéed water spinach and sautéed chayote as two side dishes, which were also compliments from the chef.

When finished with the main meal, we ordered the Vietnamese coffee. The coffee was served in individual glasses with a sterling silver single cup slow drip filter that slowly dripped the hot coffee into the glasses, where the bottom contained cream and sugar. A complimentary tart was served, so we finished the meal on a sweet note.

After leaving the restaurant, we made the mistake of moving the car out from a perfect parking space right outside of Nobu. (That’s one of the positives about going into the City early for dinner on the weekend—parking spots could be found on the streets—sometimes). There were two other places that we wanted to visit. First, we drove to Annisa, the latest restaurant to gain a Michelin star, on Barrow Street. After noticing the crowd, we didn’t bother to pull into the parking lot across the street that cost $45. We then drove to Ninja on Hudson Street. Ninja is the latest in “theme restaurants” where Ninjas jump out at the patrons while dining. There was more of a crowd lurking in the lobby waiting for the elevator, and that crowd most likely had kids attached to it. Let’s pass on that one.

It had been about 40 minutes in the car since we left the nice parking space in TriBeCa, and I was getting restless (and a bit tired). It was time head home and call it a night.
That was it for “restaurant hopping” this weekend. Although we didn’t visit three or four establishments, the two places that we did go to were fun. Then, again, there’s always next week!

Next Week is Thanksgiving, and Still no Bird Recipe

Thanksgiving is next week and I “still” haven’t decided on my final bird recipe and menu. Actually, I’m a bit “bored.” The television and cable stations have been bombarding us with celebrity chefs preparing turkeys utilizing various methods of cooking—roasting, deep frying, smoking, or poaching. Poaching? They’re also making a variety of stuffings ranging from the simple bread, celery and onions, to exotic bird fillers that contain $2,000 per ounce truffles. Well, I haven’t actually “seen” this but I’m sure it’s out there! Or, they are constructing so many different side dishes, mixing up unique drinks, and creating the typical and, in some instances, atypical desserts. The list is endless. Also, the Internet and newspapers have been overflowing with articles and recipes doing the same thing. The November issues of the food magazines that I received last month seem old and out of date now. But I’m still bored.

I am someone who loves food—I love to read about it, watch it on TV (that’s all I watch on TV) go shopping for it, really love to cook it, enjoy eating it, and (sometimes) love to dine out to eat it (that’s another story – see other postings).

Since I have a full time job, my extensive cooking is limited to the weekends where I could spend hours researching, shopping, prepping in the kitchen and then cooking the actual meal. Sometimes I spend the entire weekend just cooking. Many dishes I prepare involve a number of various ingredients and extensive prep work. Looking back on some of those meals and the work involved in preparing them, makes the thought of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner seem like making a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Nonetheless, I still chuckle about the numerous articles depicting that the preparation of the Thanksgiving dinner is a major undertaking. But I’m still bored.

I grew up enjoying the famous “Butterball” frozen turkey every year. I never even knew what a fresh turkey was. How times have changed since then. Today, we have fresh or free-range or egg-free or grain-free or wild, or tame, or a bird whose bloodline dates back to the Mayflower days. Well, that’s what “they” say. Not my mother’s turkey.

Every year, my mom would buy a frozen turkey the weekend before Thanksgiving and keep it in the freezer until Monday morning when she would take it out and move it to the bottom of the fridge so it would thaw in time to be stuffed on Wednesday afternoon. Yes. Wednesday. (Don’t EVEN think about doing that today!). We did not have an oven large enough, or one that worked, so the turkey was not roasted at home. It was roasted at a local bakery every year. My mother would stuff the turkey Wednesday afternoon. She always made a traditional stuffing with bread, celery, onions and the turkey giblets. After the bird was stuffed, she would place it in the black-speckled traditional turkey roasting pan that had it's own cover. Later that evening, my dad would transport the turkey to the bakery that “roasted” Thanksgiving turkeys for customers. At first, the cost was $1.50, then the price gradually rose to $2.00 throughout the years. On Thanksgiving morning, my dad would pick up the perfectly-roasted bird. The end result was that we “always” had a “clean,” oven, although it never worked. My mom prepared the side dishes (the stove top worked), which consisted of turnips, mashed potatoes, peas/carrots, and cranberry sauce, one of my “favorite” items.

Cranberry sauce was always Ocean Spray, which continues to be “popular” today. I still believe that the "only" way to serve cranberry sauce right out of the can in one whole piece, sliced with a knife. But, there was a “trick” to this method. After opening one side of the can and discarding the metal top, the can would have to be turned upside down and, using a channel-knife opener, two openings would be made on the bottom. This was done so the suction could help release the glob of cranberry sauce. Then, the can would have to be gently shaken up and down until the jellied cranberry glob slowly eased out of it. It would land on the plate with thump and slide around and continue to jiggle for a few seconds before finally settling in one spot. To serve it, we would simply “slice” it with a knife. I never understood why we used a serrated steak knife, but we did. No one ever ate it.

Both parents have long passed on almost 30 years ago. Since then, my Thanksgivings have been a discombobulated series of “events.” During a period of time, I was married for a while but never prepared Thanksgiving dinners. My ex-husband only ate animals with hooves. I, on the other hand, only ate fish and fowl (still do). So, for the five years that we were together, I never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. Then, for many years to follow, I would cook meals, but never made a full-fledged turkey dinner with all the trimmings. That was then. About ten years ago, I started a new tradition of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner (almost) every year now. Since then, I “cheated” a few times where I bought “prepped” meals, but the bulk of the past decade was making a full Thanksgiving-type of meal.

I must admit that first it was frozen Butterball turkeys, usually a free one from the supermarket. Then two years ago, I discovered the Whole Foods Market and the fresh, free-range bird. What a delightful and flavorful turkey. Last year, the newly-discovery world of having a fresh bird came from Esposito’s, the butcher who has been around for over 100 years, on 9th Avenue in New York City. Butterball will never be the same.

Enough said about the bird. Let’s not forget about my other favorite item, the cranberry sauce. Since I commenced making my own “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner a decade ago, I still buy the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce every year and continue to use the same technique to release it from the can, and present it on the plate with a knife (not a serrated steak knife). But, no one ever eats it.

About five years ago, I was extremely creative and made cranberry sauce from scratch using real cranberries and spices. Since no one ate that either, I reverted back to buying the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce since then. However, last year I got bold (again) and decided to try the “365” brand of cranberry sauce from Whole Foods. Although I opened the can the same way, it just “wasn’t the same.” Or...maybe it was. No one ate that either.

What gives for this year? Should I buy the traditional Ocean Spray, make cranberry sauce from scratch, or go for the 365 Whole Foods brand, which is piled up in a big display section at the Whole Foods Market in Edgewater?

I Don't know what do do. I still don't have a recipe that excites me for a bird. I really am bored this year. Maybe I should call the bakery?

"Restaurant Hopping" at Home

I had another fun weekend of “restaurant hopping,” one of my favorite things to do. However, it wasn’t in the City but in my own kitchen where, for both days, I prepared dishes from Spice Market, the Union Square Café, Vong and Le Bernardin. I also enjoyed them without having to get dressed up or travel anywhere. Consequently, I had to wash pots and pans and load the dishwasher.

On Saturday, I made two of the dishes served at Spice Market that were featured in Jean-Georges’ new cookbook, Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges: “Black Pepper Crab Dumplings” and “Lime Noodles with Vegetables, Basil, and Sesame.” I also prepared the “Grilled Marinated Fillet Mignon of Tuna.” This is one of the most popular dishes served at the Union Square Café since the restaurant opened in 1985. The recipe was from Danny Meyer’s and Michael Romano’s cookbook, The Union Square Cookbook. Typically, I make three courses per meal (no dessert).

Since my friend bought over two pounds of tuna on Saturday (two pounds for two people), I would have one pound left over for Sunday. NOTE: Whenever an Italian goes food shopping—they always overbuy. Also, my request to “pick up ½ pound of shrimp” turned into a pound of jumbo shrimp being delivered—again just for two people.

Anyway, on Saturday, I started by making the marinade for one pound of the tuna which I cut into two 3” by 3” squares and placed it all into the fridge. Then I made the crab dumplings. I prepared the crab mixture for the filling, which was a béchamel sauce folded into the crabmeat—quite different from any other crab dumplings that I’ve ever made (or have eaten). I filled the mixture into store-bought wonton wrappers using my new dumpling press for the first time. The press makes preparing dumplings a snap (literally). I also made the spicy, black-pepper oil and a sweet-soy reduction sauce to accompany the dumplings. Both complimented the creaminess of the crab filling.

The lime noodles were also fun to make and were very good to eat. The recipe consisted of making a simple lime syrup (fresh lime juice and sugar) and putting together a “pesto” which consisted of fresh basil, fresh mint, garlic, grape seed oil, and toasted white sesame seeds. I softened dried ¼-inch wide rice noodles in warm water, boiled, drained, and then sautéed them in butter and the lime syrup. The pesto was then folded into the warm rice noodles and everything was mixed together. I shredded carrots, shredded parsnips, thinly sliced raw red peppers and shredded broccoli stems as a combination of vegetables for the noodles, which I garnished with toasted sesame seeds. A crisp glass of Beringer Sauvignon Blanc complimented the spicy, sweet, creamy flavors of both dishes—which were served together, a la’ Spice Market style. Having dined at Spice Market, both dishes tasted identical to the restaurant.

The next dish was the Union Square Café tuna. I had marinated the fish in a combination of sherry, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, fresh ginger, scallions, garlic, cayenne, black pepper and lemon juice for more than three hours. After removing from the fridge, the fish was brought to room temperature, which I then added to a very hot grill pan for about 30 seconds per side, cooking it to perfection (we like our tuna very rare). For plating, I placed several pieces of pickled ginger on the top of each piece of tuna and served soy sauce as an accompaniment for dipping. Louis Jourdan St. Georges red burgundy wine went well with the fish. (Okay, it’s not a white, but does it matter?)

After dinner (and loading the dishwasher) it was time for a martini and a Monte Cristo cigar. That was Saturday.

On Sunday, another day of cooking, I “visited” Vong and Le Bernardin.
Recently, I started a tradition of making a soup every Sunday and wanted to keep the Asian theme going on, so I opted for a soup from Vong and one that I’ve made several times before, “Chicken With Coconut Milk Soup.” I used the one-pound of jumbo shrimp to make a “Shrimp and Bean Sprout Salad,” which was another Vong recipe featured in one of my older cookbooks, Superchefs by Karen Gantz Zahler, about New York City restaurants. And since I had to make another tuna dish to use up the one-pound of tuna left-over from Saturday, I decided to make the “Seared Tuna With Sichuan Pepper and Soy-Mustard Sauce” as the entrée, another Vong dish from the Asian Flavors book.

First, I made the soup, which was a combination of minced garlic, minced ginger, red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, nam pla (fish sauce) and fresh lemon grass, all combined and cooked in an organic free range chicken broth purchased from the Whole Foods Market (I “cheat” with the broths). I altered the recipe a little by pounding the chicken with a mallet to tenderize it a bit more. After I added the chicken to the broth and it was cooked through, I added the coconut milk and chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice. This soup always tastes better after it sits for a while, or better yet, a day or two.

Next, I prepared the salad. I peeled, washed, dried and sautéed the shrimp. When done, I placed them on a bed of sliced chanterelle mushrooms layered in a light cream citrus sauce, which I made using light yogurt, cream and fresh lemon juice. The vinaigrette that I made consisted of fresh garlic, ginger, nam pla (fish sauce), soy sauce and scallions. I tossed this with the bean sprouts and placed the mixture on top of the shrimp and mushrooms. I used sliced cilantro as a garnish.

Cutting the Tuna into perfect 3” by 3” squares for the Sichuan dish yielded a lot of scraps (Additionally, I had “scraps” left over from the day-before dish which had to be cut into perfect squares, as well). I did not want to discard the remnants of tuna that cost $24 per pound, so I figured a “tartar” would work well and put together a fourth “dish.” I made the “Asian Tuna Tartar” from Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin cookbook, another “favorite” of mine (the recipe, the chef and the restaurant, that is!). I minced the leftover tuna scraps and combined them with fresh coriander, diced jalapeno, wasabi powder, sesame seeds, finely diced scallion, lemon juice and sea salt. I then placed the mixture into a round mold and served it as an appetizer before the soup.

Finally, I rolled the tuna squares in the Sichuan spices and let them rest until reaching room temperature until ready for the (hot) pan. First, I cooked the tuna about one minute on one side and then 30 seconds on all other sides. Again, the fish was done to perfection (two days in a row!) I prepared the soy-mustard sauce using Dijon mustard, soy sauce, minced ginger, shallots, lime juice and grape seed oil. I drizzled the sauce around the tuna, which I served sliced on a nest of alfalfa sprouts. A bottle of Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc wine was the perfect accompaniment to the fish. Remember, the day before we enjoyed a red wine with the tuna prepared a different way. Ah…the beauty of tuna.
At last, it was time for coffee, chocolate truffles (that were purchased as a “treat”), and a good cigar. Sunday’s over and it’s time to start getting ready for the week. Uh oh – have to clean up first. Check, please? No. Not here. Have to load the dishwasher.