Nov 21 2012
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Drink, Eat - Restaurants, Life

New York Bites — Day Two — Top Chef Kitchen

During our honeymoon in New York City in 2011, we visited all the “big” museums and did all the major tourist attractions, so this time around we decided to visit a few lesser known places. We were staying close to Broadway and Times Square and, to be honest, the restaurant selections around there can be pretty slim if you’re looking for something outside of the chain restaurant zone (and no, we did not visit Guy Fieri’s restaurant). K did a search on LocalEats.com and found a highly rated Korean restaurant not far away so we were off.

Tiny, spare and beautiful Danji was *exactly* what we needed after a night of fitful sleep punctuated by the honks, yells and sirens of the city that never sleeps. I want to *live* in Danji — it’s that pretty. From the crafty Edison bulb lighting fixtures, to the white brick, to the wall of spoons…

danji spoons …down to the amazingly clever menu drawers that conserve precious space.

danji menu drawer

Even more beautiful was the food. Simple tofu with ginger scallion sauce was simply the most exquisite bite of tofu I’ve experienced. It was clearly homemade, layers of light and fluffy beauty with a little crisp and a sprinkling of fairy dust. Seriously, I don’t know what this stuff was, but I would like to put it on everything I eat from now on because it’s magic.

danji tofuK had the dup-bob over rice with brisket bulgogi and I got the dup-bob over rice with spicy pork belly. Both came with kimchi (which tends to be a bit too spicy for my Minnesota palate) and a lovely, warm daikon beef soup. The pork belly was tender and the spicy sauce was just spicy enough for me, served over fluffy rice it was the perfect lunch in a bowl.

danji bulgogi dup-bobCelebrity spotting: As we were getting onto the subway, who else but Matthew Broderick was hopping off?! He’s starring in “Nice Work if You Can Get it” on Broadway — right across the street from our hotel — so we’re, like, practically next door neighbors. And yes, he’s still adorable.

We spent the afternoon exploring the New York Historical Society. They had an extensive WWII exhibit that was interesting and some lovely paintings of the Hudson River Valley, but the real score was on the fourth floor. Hundreds of years of art, artifacts and ephemera piled behind glass — statues, furnishings, medals, toys…history. It was wonderfully overwhelming and every layer you peered into you saw something new and amazing. Mind boggling fun. Then we took a chilly autumn afternoon walk through Central Park.

After a snack and a cat nap under 50 layers of blankets so I could warm up, we put on our fancy pants and headed to our big dinner at Top Chef Kitchen — the pop-up restaurant in Tribeca. The place was positively packed, but chefs Antonia Lofaso and Fabio Viviani circulated through the guests, greeting people and making sure everyone was happy with their food and beverages. The ceilings were high and flocked with stringy white chandeliers and the walls were lined in Top Chef orange. We kept it simple and I ordered Fabio’s tasting menu while K ordered Antonia’s tasting menu and we split each dish. We were also treated to the wine pairings that came with both.

Our amuse bouche was the opportunity to meet Fabio Viviani, who kindly welcomed us. Our first course was burrata, a sun-dried tomato and chipotle pesto (Fabio) and a crudo of fluke with grapes, pickled fennel and dill (Antonia).

Fabio Viviani Burrata Top Chef Kitchen

Fabio Viviani’s Burrata – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo

The cheese was fresh, smooth and filled with cream and was nicely complemented by the sweet tomato and the spicy, smoky bite of the chipotle. The bubbles from the prosecco sweetly cut through every rich bite. The fluke was delicate and the warm taste of the grapes paired beautifully.

Our second course was lobster ravioli with tarragon, tomato and a crispy squash blossom (Antonia) and gnocchi with duck sausage (Fabio). The gnocchi were tender little pillows of wonderful with the savory duck sausage ragout sauce coating every bite.

Gnocchi with Duck Sausage - Fabio Viviani - Top Chef Kitchen

Gnocchi with Duck Sausage – Fabio Viviani – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo TV

The ravioli were elegant and the lobster filling and tarragon played together gracefully. The crispy squash blossom was filled with herbed ricotta and was a delightful surprise.

Lobster Ravioli Antonia Lofaso Top Chef Kitchen

Lobster Ravioli with Tarragon – Antonia Lofaso – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo TV

Our third course was beef short ribs with carrots and braised pistachios (Fabio) and braised veal cheek with polenta and roasted mushrooms (Antonia).

Both the veal cheek and the short ribs were fall apart/fork tender and luscious. Oddly, the braised pistachios were my favorite bit of the short ribs — I’ve never had them before and they had a distinct pistachio flavor, but were very soft and almost feminine.

Short Rib - Fabio Viviani - Top Chef Kitchen

Short Rib – Fabio Viviani – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo TV

The creamy polenta and tasty mushrooms paired with the veal cheek were darn near the perfect bite.

Veal Cheek and Polenta - Antonia Lofaso - Top Chef Kitchen

Veal Cheek and Polenta – Antonia Lofaso – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo TV

For dessert we enjoyed a chocolate torte with Nutella ice cream (Antonia) and a truffled Tiramisu (Fabio). The Tiramisu was rich and creamy and the torte was even richer and absolutely lush when paired with the ice cream.

Chocolate torte - Antonia Lofaso - Top Chef Kitchen

Chocolate torte – Antonia Lofaso – Top Chef Kitchen – Photo courtesy of Bravo TV

Special thanks to Bravo for use of the photos from their website. The lighting in the Top Chef Kitchen was very low and our photos certainly did not do the amazing food justice.

After we filled up on flashy food, we made a stop at Geoffrey Zakarian’s Lamb’s Club for cocktails — wonderful concoctions made with elderflower, gin, citrus, ginger, egg whites, bitters and more. Because an evening in New York City is certainly not complete without a stop for very glamorous, late night cocktails. Stay tuned for our final day in our whirlwind trip to NYC!

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Nov 20 2012
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Drink, Eat - Restaurants, Life

New York City Bites – Day One

To recap: We entered Open Table‘s Twitter contest and won a trip to New York City. They flew us to the Big Apple, they put us up in a hotel and the sent us out to dinner at Top Chef Kitchen. We didn’t want to waste a moment of our good fortune so, when we landed around lunch time, we were hungry and on the hunt for a great place for a midday meal in Manhattan. Fortunately for us, Lidia Bastianich’s restaurant — Becco — was just down the street from our hotel.

Becco is everything you’d expect a New York City Italian restaurant to be — rustic, small and intimate, bright, warm and friendly. We were led to the back, to a tiny table under a glass canopy. We were up early in the morning for our flight, we’d had a long cab ride from the airport, it was past lunch time and we were *hungry*!! Thankfully, a bread basket, some roasted red pepper hummus and olives were delivered to us right away. The crispy, skinny bread sticks were perfect dipped in that hummus and I’m pretty sure we ate about 100 of them.

K couldn’t say no to their veal Parmigiana and I saw all the tables around us getting served up course after course of Becco’s three daily pasta selections, so I went with that. While snacking on bread and olives, we made quick friends with the two gentlemen sitting at the table next to us (and by “next to us,” I mean about six inches away from us). They owned an Italian restaurant and event center in New Jersey and were in the city for a trade show. They were supremely kind and awesome and could have come directly out of Central Casting — bada bing!

Then…our lunch arrived. As you can see, K’s veal was quite literally dinner plate-sized.

veal parmigiana beccoJuicy, crispy, meaty, tender, not at all greasy — perfect Italian red sauce food with lots of gooey melted fresh mozzarella.

My daily pasta specials were penne with meat sauce, fresh pasta ribbons with a simple tomato sauce and mushroom ravioli.

becco pasta special Every single bite was phenomenal. The pasta ribbons were clearly very fresh as was the simple tomato sauce, redolent with basil. The meat sauce that accompanied the penne was elevated with warm spices (cinnamon definitely, possibly nutmeg as well). It was almost sweet, but was offset by the meatiness of the sauce (probably lamb, but I’m not 100 percent sure). The mushroom ravioli was just pure indulgence — thyme and butter — sweet, sweet butter. No seconds for me, I was conquered by one giant serving. We did, however, share a few scoops of frosty sorbet to cap off the meal.

Becco was so warm and homey, I didn’t want to leave, but we were soon off to unpack, explore a bit on foot then head off to visit cousins and their brand new sweet baby girl in Jersey City. We all enjoyed dinner at Thirty Acres, where K’s duck dish won the evening. The light was low and we were having too much fun and good conversation to document dinner, sorry. In fact, we chatted so long we almost missed the train back to New York City!

Stay tuned for day two and our dinner at Top Chef Kitchen.

 

 

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Oct 31 2012
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Eat - Cooking, Life

Ricotta Gnudi with Oxtail Sauce

Sooooooo our one in a million trip to New York City was postponed by a one in a million super storm known as “Sandy.” We are now scheduled to visit NYC and dine at Top Chef Kitchen in two weeks and will be there during our two-year wedding anniversary! What are the odds?!? For the record, I would now like to stop saying, “What are the odds?” in reference to this trip because I do not want to be saying, “What are the odds that the plane crashed and we survived?!”

Because Top Chef Kitchen is a pop-up restaurant and the chefs change weekly, it appears that we’ll now be enjoying dinner prepared by chefs Antonia Lofaso and Fabio Viviani. In honor of that, we celebrated Top Chef Night this week with a dish from Antonia’s past — ricotta gnudi with oxtail sauce (original recipe here). Here’s how we made it into a crock pot (aka slow cooker) and home cook-friendly dinner.

Serves two *very* generously.

Get yourself an oxtail. We generally get ours from a vendor at our local farmers market. They’re super cheap because they’re not exactly considered a sought after piece of meat. I can’t imagine why this is.

Oxtail
1 oxtail
2 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
1 small onion
2 TB garlic
1 TB thyme (dried or two sprigs fresh)
1 TB rosemary (dried or 1 sprig fresh)
2 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
1 TB tomato paste
1 cup red wine (we used Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1 large container chicken stock*
2 TB veal demi glace*

* If you don’t have veal demi glace on hand, substitute the chicken stock for beef stock and skip the demi glace.

Rough chop the carrots, celery and onion. Saute in a large pan with extra virgin olive oil over med-high heat until slightly softened and just browned. Add garlic and saute until just browned. Put in crock pot (slow cooker). Deglaze hot pan with the red wine and brandy (or cognac). Let simmer for about two minutes just to burn out the alcohol and the sharp taste. Add to the crock pot. Add herbs, tomato paste and veal demi glace (if using) to crock pot. Heat a bit more olive oil and put oxtail in the pan, saute until browned on both sides.

oxtail Put the oxtail in the crock pot and cover with stock. If not entirely covered by stock, add water until covered and add 1/2 tsp salt. Set crock pot (slow cooker) to low and simmer for 6-8 hours.

Basil pesto
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt, to taste

Blend basil, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Set aside. Wash and dry a small handful of arugula, toss with a bit of the pesto. Reserve remaining pesto.

Gremolata
1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (we used panko)
1 TB fresh Italian parsley
1/2 tsp lemon zest

Use a food processor to pulse bread crumbs, parsley and lemon zest. Set aside.

gremolata

 

Before making the gnudi, use a ladle to remove 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the crock pot. Strain into a small sauce pan and reduce by half and let thicken (you may need to skim some fat/oil from the top). Remove oxtail to large plate and separate fat, collagen and bones from the meat. When the sauce has reduced, add the meat to the sauce and keep warm.

Ricotta gnudi
1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
approximately 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste

ricotta mixture

Mix ricotta, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Parmesan in a medium/large bowl. Add flour, little by little, until mixture holds together and isn’t sticky. Remember to add the flour! Failure to do this will lead to a pot full of ricotta bits (this was our first unfortunate batch). Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop large spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the water. When the dumplings float on the surface, let them boil for 30 seconds longer, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on a paper towel.

Place the gnudi dumplings on a plate and spoon the oxtail and sauce over. Drizzle everything with pesto, place the arugula on top and dust the entire plate with gremolata. Boom — dinner.

Ricotta gnudi with oxtail sauceWe love oxtail. We LOVE it, have I mentioned that? It’s rich and tender and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. The ricotta gnudi were fluffy and cheesy and the fresh basil and tart hits of lemon offset the full-bodied flavors.

Would we make this again? Yes. The ricotta gnudi is a great alternative to the traditional pasta or potatoes and we’ll never turn down the opportunity to have supple oxtail.

Make oxtail. You won’t regret it.

 

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Oct 24 2012
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Drink, Eat - Cooking, Eat - Restaurants, Life

Squab with Soy Maple Stuffing, Mushrooms and Roasted Grapes

So…here’s a fun thing: We just won a contest from Open Table. They asked people to tweet something along the lines of “I want to win dinner in NYC at Top Chef Kitchen.” So I did. And I won. What are the odds of two people who’ve cooked their way through three years of Top Chef, have a blog about cooking Top Chef food and who honeymooned in New York City winning this contest?!? I’d say a kajillion to one. But there you go, we won and I’m so excited to go to New York City next week I’m like a little kid the night before Christmas. Top Chef Kitchen is a temporary pop-up restaurant in Tribeca and different Top Chef contestants cook each week. The evening we’re there, we’ll be treated with four courses (plus wine pairings) by Tiffani Faison and Jennifer Carroll. In eager anticipation of our whirlwind adventure next week, we did an adaptation of Tiffani’s soy maple-stuffing with quail, mushrooms and grapes (original recipe here). Here’s our version: Squab sous vide with soy maple stuffing, mushrooms and roasted grapes.

First things first, spatchcock. Not only is it fun to say, it was pretty necessary to make sure the squab cooked evenly, fit in the sous vide bag and was easier to eat. Spatchcock simply means to cut out the breastbone and backbone so the bird lays (relatively) flat. Use a super sharp kitchen scissors to cut out the breast bone. Then carefully and under the skin, cut out the backbone.

Our spatchcocked squab:

Heat the sous vide machine to 148 degrees F. Load the squab into a sous vide bag and add the marinade.

Squab marinade
3 TB maple syrup
3 TB soy sauce
1 TB sesame oil
1 tsp Aleppo pepper (or crushed dried chili pepper)

Seal up the bag and pop everything into the sous vide machine to cook for 6-8 hours.

Gather your ingredients for the rest of your meal.

Stuffing
2 Ciabatta rolls (or 1/2 loaf Ciabatta bread)
2 TB maple syrup
2 TB soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs
1/8 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (or chili flakes) (more or less depending on your spice preference)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TB toasted pine nuts
2 TB fresh Italian parsley

1/2 pint baby bella mushrooms
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp thyme (fresh or dried)
2 cups seedless grapes (red or green is fine as long as they’re seedless)

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the stuffing: Tear up and toast the bread until it’s golden on the outside, but still tender inside. Beat the eggs and mix into all the wet ingredients and spice. Put bread into a baking dish and pour the wet ingredients over. Mix until the bread is well coated (it’s easiest to use your hands for this). Sprinkle the pine nuts and parsley over the top.

To roast the grapes: Thoroughly wash the grapes and place individually (not in clusters) on a baking sheet.

Bake the stuffing and roast the grapes at the same time. If the stuffing is getting too brown, turn the heat down to 350.

Remove the squab from the sous vide machine and take out of the bag. Your home will smell like Thanksgiving at this point.

Place squab on a foil-lined baking sheet and put under the broiler until dark brown and crispy (8-10 minutes, but keep an eye on it — cooking time depends on the broiler).

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and slice the mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms with the thyme until browned.

When everything is ready, place the stuffing on your plate and scatter the mushrooms over it. Lay the squab over the stuffing and add the roasted grapes to the side of the plate. Salt and pepper everything to taste.

squab with soy maple stuffing, mushrooms and roasted grapes

Would we make this again? Mmm, ummmm, mmmmm…sorry, I was too busy enjoying this fabulous meal. The grapes were soft and sweet, the stuffing crunchy with layers of flavor. The crispy skin of the squab concealed tender and rich dark meat. It was like super fancy Thanksgiving dinner. So if we happen to have a few squab hanging around in the freezer, yes … we would make this again.

Stay tuned for a report on Top Chef Kitchen and New York City fun!

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Oct 10 2012
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Eat - Cooking, Life

Wild Goose with Soba Noodles and Roasted Bok Choy

It was 3:36 pm when I got the call — my uncle, a duck hunter, had bagged a wild goose and they don’t care much for goose meat. Did we want a goose breast?

Neither of us have ever cooked, much less eaten, goose. But we love duck breast, so we figured it couldn’t be that different, right? So we did take that goose breast. And we learned several things:
1) Geese have HUGE breasts. Like DDD Playgoose-sized breasts.
2) Cooking goose is much different from cooking duck.
3) Taking a goose breast off the bone and cleaning it is profoundly gross.

But we did it and, if you happen to have some wild goose on hand, here’s how you can do it too.

First we did some research and found that a slow cooking method is best for goose. We decided on sous vide (vacuum sealing the breast in marinade then cooking it in a warm water bath) because it’s a low and slow way to tenderize meat and infuse flavor. But also because we have a sous vide machine that needs to get more use. (ahem, husband…) Then I consulted with Jamie Carlson of You Have to Cook it Right. He gave the thumbs up to sous vide and recommended a marinade of equal parts maple syrup and soy sauce with a little crushed hot pepper. Armed with new goose knowledge, we were off and running.

My uncle had taken the skin off the goose breast because he said it made it taste really gamey and not in a good way. With a really sharp carving knife, I cut the GIANT goose breasts off the bone and was left with two of these:

You can see the thin, but tough, silver membrane that covers the breast. You CANNOT see (and be thankful you can’t) the wet feather things that were left in the goose “arm pits” or the wiry black feathers that made the breast look like a sparse, but hairy chest. The membrane was attached very well so I kind of did a hack job trying to get it off.

See, hack job. No judging.

Because the goose breast is so large, we made one to split between us.

Marinade
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 TB Aleppo pepper
1 TB Chinese five spice powder

Add the marinade to the plastic sous vide bag, put the trimmed goose breast in and seal the bag using the vacuum sealer. Heat the water in the sous vide machine to 130 degrees F and cook the goose breast sous vide for 6 to 8 hours.

To accompany our goose breast, we made soba noodles with roasted baby bok choy.

Roasted Baby Bok Choy
Two heads of baby bok choy
1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degrees F. Pull apart the baby bok choy, clean and lay out each individual leaf on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil.

Roast until golden brown. Cut into strips, the leaves will be crispy.

Soba Noodles
1 1/2 bundles of soba noodles
2 TB hoisin sauce
1 TB ponzu
1 1/2 TB sesame oil
1 TB sesame seeds

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water until tender. Mix sauce and toss noodles in sauce, distributing evenly. Mix in the roasted baby bok choy and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

To finish the goose breast, we sautéed it in 1 TB duck fat until it browned, about 2 minutes per side. Slice, place on the soba noodles and serve.

It was interesting — good, not great. The goose looked a lot like flank steak or roast beef, but it wasn’t as tender as we thought it would be. There was a distinct five spice flavor that was nice and the goose breast seemed well cooked, but it was a bit tough. The soba noodles were a little bit spicy with a nice roasted sesame flavor. The baby bok choy added just the right amount of bitter and slight char.

Would we make this again? We have another goose breast, so we’ll make that again. Given its similarity to thickly muscled beef, we’re thinking of using the crock pot (slow cooker) to do a slow braised goose breast. What should we braise it in, thoughts?!?

There you have it. And I got through the entire post without using the phrase, “Our goose is cooked.” HA!

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Oct 03 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs and Potato Fennel Gratin – Top Chef Masters Night

Well, another season of Top Chef Masters has passed and we think the judges made the right decision with chef Chris Cosentino. His winning dishes truly reflected his style — offal all the way. Which meant we were unlikely to make them into our dinner. K is all about the offal. I’ll taste just about anything, but I’m not too keen on making an entire meal out of heart and liver — too much for me. So we decided to go with a runner-up dish that looked delicious: Red wine-braised short ribs with potato fennel gratin (original recipe here) from chef Kerry Heffernan. And so much for cooking together! This is a make-ahead dish all the way. Here’s how to do it up for your own dinner.

Serves two.

The night before your dinner, marinate your short ribs.

2 lbs beef short ribs (bone-in)

Marinade
1 large container beef broth (preferably organic)
1/2 bottle dry red wine (doesn’t have to be super great, but never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink!)
1 TB dried thyme
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 dried bay leaf
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and marinate short ribs, covered, overnight.

The next day, your short ribs will have absorbed lots of wonderful flavor and will look like this:

Prepare your crock pot fixins.

Braising ingredients
1/2 cup celery, cut into large chunks
1/2 cup carrots, cut into large  chunks
1 small onion, cut into large chunks
1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Heat oil in a large pan. Saute carrots and celery until softened and browned. Add to crock pot (aka slow cooker).

 

Add a bit more oil to the hot pan and saute onions until softened and browned. Add to crock pot. Add a bit more oil to the hot pan and sear the short ribs on all sides. While the short ribs are searing, pour the marinade into the crock pot. When the ribs are browned on all sides (just 1-2 minutes per side), add to crock pot. If cooking for more than 4 hours, set slow cooker (crock pot) on low. If cooking for 4 hours or fewer, set slow cooker to high.

Potato Fennel Gratin
1 small russet potato, peeled
1 large fennel bulb
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TB garlic, minced
1 TB thyme (fresh or dried)

Thinly slice fennel bulb on a mandolin (or carefully and as thinly as possible with a knife). Thinly slice potato on the mandolin (or carefully and as thinly as possible with a knife). Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray (or butter, if you’re feeling indulgent). Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the baking dish. Add a pinch of salt, some of the garlic and some of the thyme, add a layer of fennel, add 1/3 of the cream. Repeat (potato, garlic/herbs, fennel, cream) until you run out of potatoes/fennel, ending with a layer of potatoes on top (and a sprinkle of thyme and a splash of cream). NOTE: Gratin can be made to this point a few hours before serving and refrigerated. If gratin has absorbed a lot of the cream, add another splash right before cooking.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook gratin, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until top is browned and crispy.

When ready to serve, remove short ribs from slow cooker (crock pot), add to plate and sprinkle with chopped herbs (optional). Cut gratin into squares, salt to taste and serve.

The verdict? This was good, not great. The short ribs had a nice, mellow wine flavor and were fall apart tender. But the gratin was underwhelming. The fennel was too subtle and the cream was pretty blah — not worth the calories. We both agreed that if we’re to make gratin again, we’d do a creamy cheese sauce instead of just straight cream.

Would we make this again? We’ve braised short ribs before and we’ll certainly do it again. Red wine is a great and flavorful braising liquid and the crock pot (slow cooker) is a fantastic vehicle for this. But when it comes to gratin, we’ll go the cheesy route in the future and/or just do straight fennel.

Cheers to another successful season of Top Chef Masters! Stay tuned for some new and exciting cooking adventures!

 

 

 

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Sep 12 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Parmesan-Crusted Beef Filet with Wilted Greens – Top Chef Masters Night

If you’re following this season of Top Chef Masters, this is for you (if you’re not, feel free to skip to the food): SPOILER ALERT :: We’re so sad Chef Takashi was sent home! Justice was not served when such a talented chef was bounced while the Taco Bell chef stayed. Boo. That said, we’ve been surprised by the quiet sneak-up by chef Kerry Heffernan. He wasn’t originally on our radar, but he’s been rockin’ it lately. Case in point? His Quickfire winning dish of Parmesan-crusted beef filet with wilted greens (click here for original recipe). Can you go wrong with meat crusted in crispy cheese?!? Here’s how we made the recipe home cook-friendly to find out.

Serves two.

 

Meat
1 lb. grass-fed/pasture-raised beef filet (two pieces  per person)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
2 TB high heat oil (like canola or safflower)

Wilted greens
2 cups bitter greens (arugula, baby kale, etc.)
2-3 pieces bacon
1 medium Yukon gold potato
2 tsp red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar)

Sauces
2 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB butter
2 tsp sage (we used dried)

If you have one large beef filet, cut it into four pieces. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Dip one side only in flour, dip the floured side into the beaten egg then dip the same side into the Parmesan cheese.

 

Cut the potato into a small dice. Cook the bacon in a saute pan. When crispy, remove and drain on paper towel. Keep the bacon fat on med-high heat and cook the potatoes until crisp. Season with a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. When potatoes are browned, remove and drain on paper towel. Keep the bacon fat on med-high heat and wilt the greens.

Heat the canola oil (or other high heat oil) in a large saute pan. When the oil is hot (medium heat so not to overcook), place the beef in, cheese side down. Cook until golden brown (about three to five minutes, depending on thickness of meat).

While cheese is browning, make the balsamic syrup. Place balsamic vinegar in a small saute pan and reduce until it thickens into a syrup. WATCH IT CLOSELY! It can overcook quickly and become sticky, gummy balsamic “candy” (not good candy).

When the cheese has browned (like this):

Flip the meat over to the non-crusted side and cook for two to three additional minutes.

Turn the heat back on the wilted greens, add the red wine vinegar and stir. Add the potatoes and bacon and toss together thoroughly. Melt butter in a small saucepan and when bubbling lightly, add the sage and stir.

To serve, place the wilted greens and potatoes on a plate, stack the Parmesan-crusted beef on top. Drizzle the balsamic syrup around the plate, drizzle the sage butter on top of the meat.

 

So, can you go wrong with meat covered in crispy cheese? No, no you cannot go wrong with this. The beef was perfectly cooked and the crust unctuous, salty and crunchy. The sweet, herby butter was nicely rich and the balsamic syrup cut through all the decadence. The greens were bitter, but it was offset by the deep saltiness of the bacon and the tart vinegar. Lovely. Note: We reduced the beef stock and also drizzled that on the plate, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Would we make this again? Yes. In fact, we have decided to crust all future beef filets in cheese because we enjoyed this so much.

Soundtrack: Everything from Flight of the Conchords to Journey.

 

 

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Aug 30 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Agedashi Tofu and Eggplant with Chicken, Ginger and Mushrooms – Top Chef Masters Night

We both believe chef Takashi Yagahashi is a dark horse contender to win this season of Top Chef Masters. We had so many amazing-looking dishes from which to choose, but ultimately it was our need for speed that led us to make our version of chef Takashi’s agedashi tofu and eggplant with chicken, ginger and mushrooms (click here for original recipe). We were making Top Chef Masters Night food and then going dancing at DJ Jake Rudh’s Transmission tribute to John Hughes. So it was time to get fryin’!

Serves two.

Sauce

2 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB mirin
2 TB sesame oil
1 TB sugar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp chili oil
1 tsp lime ponzu sauce (or lime juice + soy sauce)
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp fish sauce

Proteins

1 small eggplant
1/2 lb ground chicken (or pork)
1/2 package extra firm tofu
2 tsp dried ginger (or 1 TB fresh minced ginger)
1 small package Enoki mushrooms
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
2 green onions
1 TB minced garlic
Olive oil, as needed
Approximately 1 cup vegetable oil (or other high heat oil such as safflower oil)
Corn starch

1/2 cup Jasmine rice

Slice your eggplant and tofu about 1/2-inch thick. Gently press the tofu between paper towels to remove some of the moisture. Dredge in corn starch.

Make your sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together. Taste as you go along to make sure there’s a good balance of sweet, sour, salty and depth.

Cook your jasmine rice (we use a rice cooker, but you can easily cook it on the stove top as well).

Begin heating your vegetable (or canola or safflower) oil to about 350 degrees. While oil is heating, put a bit of extra virgin olive oil into a saute pan and start cooking your ground chicken (or pork). When about 75 percent cooked through add ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for about one minute. Add mushrooms and onion. Stir and cook for about one minute. Add half of the sauce to the saute pan. Cook for about two more minutes to let sauce thicken. Turn off heat, but leave in pan.

When your oil is up to temperature, drop the tofu in. Don’t put too many pieces in at a time or they’ll be overcrowded and the oil temperature will drop.

When it’s golden brown, remove tofu with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt the hot tofu. Working quickly, fry the eggplant. When it’s golden brown, remove tofu with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt the hot eggplant. During the last batch of eggplant, put the meat back on low heat to make sure it’s warm.

Put your rice down on a plate, pile on some of the meat and mushroom mixture, stack the hot tofu and eggplant alongside. Serve the remaining sauce in a bowl on the side so nothing gets soggy.

Hoo-ah, this hit the spot! Anchored by the fragrant rice, the gingery ground chicken and funky mushrooms were mild and lovely. The stars were, of course, the melt-in-your-mouth fried eggplant and tender fried tofu. When dipped into the sweet/salty/sour sauce, we just wanted to keep eating and eating! I’d highly recommend eating the eggplant first because it’s best piping hot.

Would we make this again? Absolutely. It was actually a pretty quick dinner with lots of protein and just a little starch. We don’t fry food very often, but this is a great and easy treat.

Soundtrack: K’s ode to John Hughes as a warm up to our big dance night (fueled by agedashi tofu and eggplant, of course).

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Aug 22 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Rabbit, Sweet Potatoes and Agrodolce — Top Chef Masters Night

Rabbit is a depressingly delicious thing to cook because it looks like … well, a rabbit without feet or a head. It also (strangely) looks a bit like chicken. We’ve both eaten (and enjoyed) rabbit before, but have never cooked it. So when chefs Chris Cosentino and Patricia Yeo fired up their wild outdoor cooking station for this rabbit dish, we knew it was time. Here is the original recipe for his rabbit and its bits, acorn squash and agrodolce (click here for recipe). Here is how we made it home cook-friendly (and took out the squash because Fun Fact: I HATE squash. Beets too.)

Serves two generously.

Braised rabbit

Rabbit legs/thighs (four pieces in all)
Chicken stock
1 shallot

Grilled rabbit

Rabbit loins (two)
Rabbit bits (liver, kidneys, heart)
2 pieces of bacon

Potatoes

1 medium sweet potato
rosemary (fresh or dried)
thyme (fresh or dried)
extra virgin olive oil

Agrodolce

1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 shallot, diced

I found a whole rabbit (already cut into pieces) at the local upscale grocery (Byerly’s), but they are generally also available at specialty meat/butcher shops. Early in the day, I took it out of its packaging, rinsed it, dried it with paper towels and separated the legs from the back/loin and bits.

I refrigerated the back/loin and bits and seared the legs in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil.

When the legs are browned, pop them in the crock pot and cover them with chicken stock (or generously salted water). Slice a shallot in half and put it in the liquid. Cover the whole thing and let it simmer for several hours.

Later, thinly slice the sweet potatoes, toss in extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary, thyme and salt. Put into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until brown.

Make the agrodolce sauce by caramelizing the diced shallot in a little olive oil. Add the other ingredients and simmer until the liquid reduces by about half — about 10 minutes. If it starts to get too thick, turn off the heat before it turns into candy!

De-bone the back/loin and sprinkle with pepper. Wrap the meat in bacon. Heat a grill pan (or grill — we didn’t use our grill because the bacon fat causes flare ups) and sear the bacon-wrapped meat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, add a little extra virgin olive oil to a saute pan. Generously salt and pepper the rabbit bits and sear them in the saute pan 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to over cook or they’ll get too tough.

Put your warm sauce on the plate, take the legs from the braising (crock pot) liquid and put onto the sauce, put the grilled loin/back next to the legs, add the bit and sweet potatoes and dinner is served.

This was truly a gourmet meal. The legs/thighs were so tender they fell apart, the back/loin was meaty and bacon-y flavorful. We were worried the raspberries in the sauce would be too sweet, but agrodolce literally means sweet and sour and the sauce was exactly that. It didn’t overwhelm the delicate meat, but instead complemented every bite. The potatoes were crisp and chewy and had a lovely blend of herbs.

Would we make this again? Yes! We don’t always make rabbit, but when we do … we’ll use this preparation again.

Soundtrack: Everything from the Evening Rig to the Wombats.

 

 

 

 

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Aug 15 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Chicken Fried Rice with Orange Guava Sauce – Top Chef Masters Night

Pardon me for being a food snob, but I feel that if Chef Lorena Garcia is going to compete on Top Chef Masters, she should NOT have a line of menu items at Taco Bell. The words “Top Chef Masters” and “Taco Bell” just don’t fit together. Taco Bell is about dehydrated not-quite food that gives you food poisoning (I can personally and painfully attest to this) and, as of the last episode at least, Garcia didn’t use fake soy and oat binders and fillers and rehydrate them to make a winning meal. Guess she only does that for Taco Bell.

While she might have sold out and be a shill for YUM! Brands (if you have to YELL it and include an exclamation point, odds are it’s NOT YUMMY!), we were interested in her take on fried rice with a twist. So we used *real* food to make her chicken fried rice with orange guava sauce (original recipe here). Here’s how we made it home cook-friendly.

Recipe serves two very generously.

Gather your ingredients.

For the rice:

1 chicken breast
1 orange
1 lime
1 egg (optional)
1 cup jasmine rice
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms
2 TB garlic, minced
1/4 cup red peppers, diced
1/4 cup yellow (or green) peppers, diced
1/4 cup asparagus, chopped into large pieces
2 TB dried cranberries, chopped

Cilantro for garnish

For the sauce:

1/8 cup scallions, chopped
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup orange juice (from the orange in the rice ingredients)
1/8 cup guava juice (can be found in the juice aisles of most grocery stores)
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (or finely grated)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil

Using rice cooker or stove top, cook jasmine rice.

If your chicken has skin and bones, remove them so you’ve got a skinless, boneless chicken breast. Tip: Skin+bones=very inexpensive organic chicken breast.
Using a fine grater, grate orange and lime zest over the chicken and pat into both sides. Season with salt.

Using a wok pan or a large saute pan with deep sides, add a bit of oil and scramble your egg (if using). Remove egg, add a bit more oil. Let the oil get hot and saute the chicken breast until cooked through. Remove and let cool. When chicken has cooled, chop into bite-sized pieces.

Combine all ingredients for the sauce and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Chop mushrooms, asparagus, peppers and dried cranberries. Blanch asparagus in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain.

With all your ingredients prepped, you’re ready to rock. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in the wok/pan and add veggies. Saute until crisp tender and just starting to brown.

Add chicken and saute for 1 minute. Add cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Let saute for about 4 minutes.


Mix in scrambled egg, if you’re using it. Add sauce and mix thoroughly. Let heat through for about 2 minutes, mixing the entire time.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Season with salt to taste.

With about 20 minutes of prep and five minutes of cooking, you’ve got dinner.

Despite my early reservations about the cranberries and guava being too sweet and Lorena Garcia selling out, this was really, really good. Lots of color and fresh vegetables, nice bite from the garlic and ginger, a little bit of funk from the mushrooms and just the all around tastiness that comes with a good pile of fried rice. A little sweet, a little savory, a little crisp, a little sticky — hits all the right notes.

Will we make this again? Yes. In fact we already have plans to make it again because we’ve got guava juice to use up (and because it’s that good)!

Soundtrack: K’s tribute to MTV’s 120 Minutes.

Are you keeping up with this season’s Top Chef Masters? Who’s team are you on?

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