The Best Burger in New York

My all-time favorite burger, hands down, is the one served at a hole-in-the-wall place on Roosevelt Island called The Terrace Restaurant. Maybe it’s the fries, which are also fabulous, or the fact that the bun is always perfectly toasted. I’ll put it up against Jackson Hole anytime.

I’ve had the burger at least a dozen times over the years, and only once was it sub par. That was when a new waiter, whose English was poor, got my order wrong and the burger was well done (the kiss of death to any burger.) Don’t worry – he’s got it now. Medium-rare. The only way to go. Make sure you order the burger deluxe platter.

We ate at The Terrace Sunday night before seeing “Short Shorts”, a reading of one act plays written by the teen playwrighting class at the Main Street Theater and Dance Alliance across the street. Truly amazing what these kids have written.

Corn Chowder and Scallops

A cold Saturday in New York City and the kids were off ice skating in Central Park. That meant it was time to make some soup.

I had discovered a bag of this past summer’s corn in the freezer last night, so corn chowder it was. But I had also just discovered Oswego Tea’s site yesterday, and couldn’t get her beautiful picture of seared scallops out of my head. And for some reason, I had tarragon on the mind.

So I made up a corn chowder recipe using tarragon (which really lightens up the flavor of an otherwise potentially heavy tasting soup), and found a great recipe for scallops with tarragon vinaigrette at Teri’s Kitchen. I also served a warm herb bread topped with olive oil and onions that I got at Fairway.

CORN CHOWDER WITH FRESH TARRAGON AND A SCALLOP
I would have preferred using chicken broth and cooking up a few slices of bacon to use the fat for cooking the onions, etc. But my daughter doesn’t eat meat and she loves soup. As it was cooking, she declared it, on smell alone, to be her favorite meal, and asked that I cook it again on her birthday. I’d say that was worth giving up the bacon.

1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 large clove garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1 qt vegetable stock
1 qt half and half
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 bag of frozen cooked corn kernels (I think it was about 2 1/2 cups total)
1-2 sprigs of fresh tarragon (Depends on your taste. I used 1 large sprig and a few leaves)
1 small sprig of thyme (I used about a half of a normal stem)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste (I used a fair amount of both)

In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and sauté onions, carrot and celery, stirring occasionally, till tender. Add the garlic about halfway through to avoid it burning.

Add wine and cook till it’s evaporated (just a minute or so).

Add vegetable stock and potatoes, bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, then add half and half, corn, tarragon, thyme and cayenne. Cook until the potatoes are tender (It took about 30 mins). Watch so it doesn’t boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

When done, remove the tarragon sprig and thyme. Pour into bowls. Top with a fresh tarragon sprig and a seared scallop (see recipe that follows).

PAN-SEARED SCALLOPS ON GREENS WITH TARRAGON VINAIGRETTE
This past summer, I made tarragon vinegar, which I wished I still had around to use for this recipe. Instead, I used the fresh tarragon as asked for in the original recipe. I love the idea of making the warm vinaigrette using the oil the scallops have been cooked in. If your pan is small and you have to do the scallops in batches, you may need a little more oil for the second batch. I found I needed to add a little oil to the pan at the end to get enough vinaigrette.

1 1/2 lbs large scallops (I found bay scallops)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
Mixed salad greens
2 large garlic cloves put through a garlic press
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tsp honey
1 tbsp sherry wine vinegar
2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

Rinse scallops and dry very well between paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet until very hot but not smoking. Add the scallops and sauté until nicely brown, about 3-4 mins. Turn to the other side and cook one more minute.

Arrange the greens on a platter. Combine the remaining ingredients, adding the remaining 1 tbsp unused olive oil last, with a whisk in a small bowl. Arrange the scallops, browned side up, on the bed of greens. (Set enough scallops aside to garnish the corn chowder if you are making it.) Take the skillet off the burner and add the vinaigrette. Stir briskly, just until hot. Drizzle vinaigrette over the scallops and greens. Serve immediately.

Category:

Monte Cristos

monte cristos tbtamSometimes it’s enough just to get dinner on the table (and a post published). Mr TBAM picks up a really nice bread, Black Forest ham, turkey and cheese at Fairway on the way home, and by the time I walk through the door, it’s ready. He likes to try different cheeses – sometimes a nice Gruyere, othertimes straight Swiss.

Slice the bread, pile on ham, turkey and cheese. Whisk a couple of eggs in low flat bowl with a bit of salt and pepper, dip the sandwiches in the eggs and cook on hot greased griddle.

While they’re cooking, toss a salad of plain greens in vinaigrette. Grab a beer and sit down. Never use anything but real maple syrup.

I Love my Blog

It’s true. I love my blog.

No, you don’t get it. Yeah, I love blogging, and love reading and sharing blogs, having a blog, blah, blah. But what I mean is – I love my blog. Really love it.

Oh, all right, I’ll just say it. I am in love with my own blog.

As in the I can’t wait to see you, you’re the last thing I want to see before I go to bed and the first thing I want to see when I wake up kind of love. The I can’t get enough of you love. The what did I ever do before I met you kind of love.

And the worst thing is, I can’t stop looking at my blog. Any excuse I can make –“I wonder if there are any comments?” “Did I spell that right?” “Oops – didn’t realize it was still loaded in my browser.”

Yeah, right. Just another excuse to look at your own blog. Read that last brilliant post just one more time. Stare in astonishment at this thing you have created. This wonderful, marvelous, one-of-a kind expression of everything you are. But not the way a parent might stare at their child sleeping like an angel in the crib. No. That would be normal.

More like Narcissus staring into the pool at his own reflection all goddamned day long. IN LOVE WITH HIMSELF. Pitiful, isn’t it?

And don’t get me started talking about my relationship with statcounter. How many hits today? Any hits since I last looked 3 minutes ago? It’s like asking everyone you know to stand around the pool and stare with you, then looking up every 2 seconds to see how many are still standing there.

Well, it has to end. And soon. I’m starting to ignore my kids and husband. Letting work pile up on my desk. At this point, I’ll be here till 8 pm tonight getting caught up. My kids won’t get a proper dinner and I’ll be an even worse mother than I already am.

It’s sick, I tell you. Sick.

Look, I gotta’ go. But don’t tell this to anyone, ok? And don’t worry. I’ll be all right. I just had to get it off my chest.

(Photo: Caravaggio. Narcissus, (1598-99). Web Gallery of Art)

Category:

How to Get Pregnant – Part I

My patients who have decided to have children almost invariably ask me, “What should I do to get pregnant?” What books should they read? How do they take their basal body temperature? Should they use an ovulation predictor test?

Now, these are women with regular menstrual cycles, and no health problems. For these women, asking “How do I get pregnant?” is a little bit like asking “How do I breathe?” We are baby-making machines, after all. And the human race pretty much populated the entire world without using a single ovulation predicting kit.

Procreation is like Windows Explorer – it’s built into the operating system. (Weren’t you starting to wonder if Bill Gates was God?) The default mode is pregnant. And here’s the thing – You’ve been using the pop-up blocker! So turn it off already. Stop your pills (or your condoms, or whatever it is you have been using all these years to keep from getting pregnant) and let nature take its course.

By the way, if you happen to be orthodox Jewish, you don’t need my advice. Because the Jews have designed a system to maximize the odds of the natural process working. (Maybe God gave them the source code.) According to their rules, men and women are required to avoid each other until the most fertile time of the month, by which time they are all hot and bothered and you know what that means…. “Hi honey, I’m home from the Mihkvah!”

But I digress. Here’s what I tell my patients. You wanna’ get pregnant? Just step out of the way. All you have to do is relax, trust your body and let it do what it is designed to do. Get your mitts out of there and stop trying to control things. Cro-magnon man had no trouble with the process, and neither should you.

Oh, right. There is one more thing…HAVE SEX.

Of course, if you have decided to wait until you are 40 to start the process, that’s another story (After all, Cro-Magnon man was DEAD by 40). But that’s another post for another day.

Next: The Biological Time Clock

Category:

ENRON – Your Global News Source?

Follow the web links with me, won’t you?

So, I’m reading the NY times on the web the other day. Some article about the unfolding Bush wiretappings. And I ask myself, “I wonder how Fox is playing this one?”

So, I head on over to Foxnews.com. Not much new there.
But at the bottom of the page I see a link to something called Fox news Country Watch. “Learn everything you need to know about any country in the world.” Interesting. I click on the link. Wow– There’s a world map, you choose a country and get profiles on it. You can read about that county’s history, economy, government, security. Cool.

There’s a link on that page called Global News Update. “Key stories from the Country Watch Country wire on Global Hot spots”. I click it, and am taken to “The Political Intelligence Briefing. A report on significant political developments across the international spectrum.” This week’s briefing is written by Denise Youngeblood-Coleman, executive vice president and editor in chief of CountryWatch. She has written what appears to be a complete report on the wiretapping issue in the US, citing both sides of the issue impartially as an outside observer might. (I had my husband, who is rabidly anti-Bush, read the article, and he agrees it is a well-written and objective view of the current issues as they stand.)

Wow – I wonder who these CountryWatch guys are? I click on the “About Us”, and come to find that the Chair, CEO and Founder of CountryWatch is Robert C Kelly, “B.S., United States Military Academy; MPA, Ph.D. in Economics, Harvard; former CEO of multinational company subsidiaries; Tenured Professor at USMA; international business experience in 60 countries.” Did you catch that as it went by? “Former CEO of multinational company subsidiaries.” Now that’s odd – he’s pretty vague about his business past. I wonder why? So I Google him.
HELLO- Robert C Kelly is formerly the chairman and chief executive of Enron Renewable Energy (which, according to Forbes, he left in 1997), and is now one of the four principles in DKRW Energy, an energy company “focused on moving the market for energy forward into clean, market competitive resource options designed to meet North America’s energy needs while creating substantial wealth for its investor”. DKRW is building natural gas pipeline in Sonora, Mexico. They also are involved in coal liquefaction and wind energy. DKRW made internet news in June, when it was noted by Public Citizen, a Ralph Nader watch group, that specific provisions in the house energy bill were so specific that they would benefit only one company known to have projects in that area – DKRW. Public Citizen has since published that the Senate asserted that there may in fact be additional beneficiaries, but that these were secret projects that as yet have not been announced.
CountryWatch’s second in command, Robert Baldwin, is also, coincidentally, a “former CEO of multinational company subsidiary”.According to a 2000 Forbes.com, Baldwin “rose to the top executive ranks at Enron, where he still does some consulting work for Chairman Kenneth Lay.” (This was in 2000)
“So basically”, you say, “what you’re telling me is that a company run by two former Enron execs, one of whom is now running an energy company that may be a beneficiary of guaranteed government loans, is writing news content for Fox News.”
Well, technically, I don’t know. They are writing it for FoxNewsCountry Watch. It’s a “partnership project”, according to CountryWatch web site. Whatever that means.
Country watch also provides country information to Yahoo!, and is subscribed to by libaries and universities. They also have a subsidiary called CountryWatch at School, providing “curriculum-based resources, which include country-quizzes, as well as activities and lesson plans”.
Look, I have no idea who Robert Kelly really is. Read the Forbes.com article about CountryWatch. He sounds like a really smart guy. I like the idea of renewable energy, and he’s into wind energy. That’s cool. He also gave $1000 to Bush’s 1993-4 campaign, according to the Texans for Public Justice Website. So, probably, did my brother. He wrote a book called Reconstructing Eden: A Comprehensive Plan for the Post-War Political and Economic Development of Iraq.
But Kelly has also written a book called The Carbon Conundrum that outlines his economic plan for the future of the world energy crisis. According to Climate-L News, a publication of The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Kelly notes that “the Bush administration has good reasons for its exceptions to the Kyoto protocol”. Kelly proposes the formation of an International Carbon Fund (ICF), whose member countries would agree to levee a “carbon tax surcharge”, 50% of which would be returned to the country of origin for income tax relief, with the rest being divvied out by the consortium to develop clean development projects in the developing countries. According to Climate-L, “To further mitigate the burden faced by developed countries, Kelly suggests that some of the funds they had contributed could be recycled to their private sector entities for construction of projects in developing countries.” Hmm. “Private sector entities.” You mean, like Enron? Of wait, they’re bankrupt. Oh, well, then how about DKRW?
Don’t ask me. I’m no political expert or energy maven. I’m just a blogger who likes to read the news and surf the web. But when you follow the links, you sure find some interesting things.

Category: Considerations

Red Pepper & Pesto Crostini, Paul’s Barbecue Chicken

new years eve 2005
First of all, I want to thank my friend B for bringing the champagne and raspberry framboise. There is nothing like ringing in the New Year with old friends and getting to know new friends (and new mixed drinks).

Interesting how the meal evolved. I spent all last week perusing Gourmet magazines and Epicurious, huddling with Irene and trading recipes, with plans to do another elegant haute-gourmet meal like the braised duck breasts with port wine reduction I had served last year. (Oh, my God, was that good…) But two things gave me pause: L remarked that the kids never eat the great meals, and B found some beautiful avocados and wanted to bring guacamole. Suddenly, it was all very clear. Make barbecue chicken, a dinner that everyone, including the kids, would love. And we did. Here’s what we served:

Appetizers
Guacamole with corn chips
Bell Pepper and Onion Crostini with Pesto
Fresh Corn Madeleines with sour cream and caviar (Gourmet)
Assorted cheeses (including B’s pistachio-crusted goat cheese log)
Assorted olives

Dinner
Irene’s Roast chicken with Paul’s barbecue sauce
Roasted Garlic and Basil Smashed Potatoes (Sara Moulton)
Green salad with cranberries, goat cheese and honey vinaigrette
Steamed green beans with butter

Dessert (Thanks, L)
S&S Cheesecake (NY’s finest)
Chocolate chip brownies

BELL PEPPER AND ONION CROSTINI WITH PESTO
I vote this number one in the “Best Appetizer to Serve or Bring to a Party” category. I use the recipe from Epicurious, but the pesto is Irene’s recipe (usually made by me in batches in the summer and frozen for the winter), and I use sherry vinegar instead of red wine vinegar because it is sweeter. (You could use balsamic if you want that flavor.) I also peel the peppers before cooking, because otherwise you end up with sharp little bits of pepper peel in the mix. Warning: the peppers and onions take a lot longer than Gourmet says to caramelize perfectly. Take your time, it’s worth it. You can make the pepper mixture ahead of time. They taste just as good reheated in the oven next day, if you have any leftovers.

1 long baguette, cut into (1/4-inch-thick) slices
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 red peppers and 3 yellow peppers, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips
2 large Vidalia onions cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry-wine vinegar
Irene’s Pesto (Recipe follows)

Brush tops of baguette slices with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake at 350° till pale golden, about 10 mins. Cool.

Cook bell peppers, onions, and garlic with salt in oil in a 14 inch sauté pan over moderately low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until softened (20-25 minutes). Cover pot and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender and just starting to brown (for as long as it takes – for me it was 45 mins.). Stir in vinegar and remove from heat.

Put about 1 tablespoon pepper mixture on each toast and top with about 1/4 teaspoon pesto. I don’t assemble till 30 mins. before guests arrive. The kids do it for me while I take my shower and get dressed for the party. They haven’t ruined it yet.

IRENE’S PESTO
2 cups fresh basil leaves
½ cup olive oil
2 tbsp roasted pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 tsp salt
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp butter, softened

Pulse basil, nuts and garlic in food processor or blender with olive oil till evenly blended. Stop from time to time to and scrape ingredients toward bottom with rubber spatula. When evenly blended, pour into bowl and mix in grated cheese by hand. When evenly incorporated, beat in softened butter. Before spooning over pasta, add tablespoon hot pasta water. (Officially, if you are planning to freeze the pesto, you are not supposed to add the cheese or butter till after you thaw it. I just make it all and freeze it and it tastes fine.)

IRENE’S BAKED CHICKEN
I keep a large shaker jar with the spice mix in my spice cabinet, just like Irene does, with the recipe taped on the jar, so I always have it on hand.

Chicken parts (we use thighs and legs exclusively)
Spice mix
2 parts paprika
3 parts kosher salt
1 part Old Bay Seasoning
½ part lemon pepper mix (whatever brand you like)
1 part garlic powder
1 part sugar

Rinse chicken well and pat dry. Sprinkle spice mix on both sides of chicken and place on broiler pan. Broil 6 inches from heating element, 8-10 minutes on each side. Check frequently to keep browning even. Lower rack to middle of oven, and bake 20-30 mins. at 350° till done. Remove from oven and let sit a bit before serving. Serve with Paul’s Barbecue Sauce.

PAUL’S BARBECUE SAUCE
My husband, Paul, makes a mean barbecue sauce. The recipe varies a bit depending on what he has on hand, so no two batches are ever the same, but they are always delicious. He serves it on grilled chicken every year at his annual tennis team barbecue, and word is starting to spread….

1 tsp oil (olive or vegetable)
3-4 clove garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
2/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
Something sour (balsamic vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice)
1 tsp mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup beer
If you are in the mood, you can also add 1 tbsp brandy or bourbon
If you are really in the mood, throw in a little hot sauce

Sauté onions and garlic in oil over medium low heat for a few minutes. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Cook over medium low heat for 15 mins. or so (As long as it takes for you to finish the rest of the bottle of beer). Taste towards the end of cooking time and tweak as needed.

SHERRY VINAIGRETTE (Gourmet)
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
2 to 3 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small garlic clove, minced and mashed to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
Whisk together all but the olive oil in a small bowl. Pour olive oil in a stream, whisking well to emulsify.

Category:

The Dangers of Blogging

The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Michaelangelo

While browsing the food blogosphere recently, I learned that a Chicago-based blogger, Don Baiocchi, had been fired from his job for his post entitled “Rachael Ray is Not God“. Although he does not name his employer, everyone assumes it was Sur La Table. Apparently, Don was not fired for the post itself, but for the comments that he allowed to be posted on his site. Whatever the reason, I encourage you to read Don’s piece. It is well-written, funny and in no way offensive to Rachael (as opposed to the Rachel Ray Sucks Community Blog or Rachael’s own Oct 2004 pinup spread in For Him Magazine). Nor is it critical of Sur la Table.

I actually learned a lot from Don’s post. I had no idea that Rachael was an industry unto herself (Eleven books to my count, two food-TV shows, now a talk show and a magazine?). Or that she had touched the lives of so many people. Wait, let me restate that – that she had touched so many people who have no lives. C’mon, now – Who else would stand in line for hours for a Rachael Ray book signing, then actually cry when they see her? Maybe they were homeless starving people who in their delirium of hunger misread the poster, thought she was serving up one of her signature 30-minute meals and then cried when they realized it was just her signature….

Back to the issue at hand, namely the dangers of blogging. From what I can tell, the number of bloggers in the unemployment line is growing daily. Some, I think, deserved to be canned. For instance, Jennifer the Washington aide-slut, who was fired for revealing the details of her simultaneous affairs with married government types. And Bizgirl, a librarian who was fired after she revealed in her blog that she had been pirating CD’s on the job.

For other ousted bloggers, the posts-at-fault contained comments not unlike those shared between disgruntled employees at the water cooler or after they’ve had a few drinks at happy hour. These range from mildly objectionable nicknames (Joe Gordon called his employer Waterstones bookstore “Bastardstones” and created a character called “Evil Boss”) to out-and-out offensive slurs (Heather B. Armstrong referred to an unnamed higher up as “The Vice President of Enabling his Fist up your Ass”. Ouch! That’s particularly harsh, Heather).

For ex-Google employee Mark Jen, the crime appears to have been revealing too much about the internal goings-on in a corporate culture based on secrecy. And in some instances, the reason for firing is totally unclear, as was the case of Meg, who was fired from DeVry University without any explanation, and Troutgirl, who was fired from Friendster for only-god-knows-why. Her very brief posts discussed technical issues of programming that apparently were public knowledge at the time. I read them and have no idea what she was talking about.

Why am I discussing all this? Well, as a blogger-newbie, I really am trying to learn the lay of the land and the rules of the game. Already, only three posts into my blogging career, I have been asked (understandably) by a friend to remove his last name in a post I had made. I had mistakingly assumed that since he had a web presence, his name was already out there. All of which got me to thinking very seriously about the potential privacy issues related to blogging.

There are so many things I’d love to write about in my blog, but as I consider the various venues (work, personal life, medical practice) I can see that there are land mines everywhere. Which may be why I started with what seems to be the safest topic – Food. But I do want to expand my blogging horizons, so I decided to seek out guidance in the place I love best – the Web.

Fortunately, others have considered these issues and there are some helpful guidelines out there. For instance, this article from the BBC, and another at the Electronic Frontier Foundation website (check out the links at the end of their article). Reporters without Borders has a two-part PDF handbook loaded with good information. Even Blogger has a guide. Looks like I’ve got some reading to do before I venture away from digestive topics.

Do I seem overly concerned to you? It may help you to know that I am one of those people who never keeps a diary because I am worried that if I die unexpectedly, my husband or kids or family would find it and read my secret thoughts, and god knows what would happen. And that I was raised Catholic, so I tend to feel guilty long before I’ve actually done anything.

Well, stay tuned and we will see where this blog thing takes me. Maybe straight to hell.

FYI- The official word for losing one’s job because of one’s website is “dooced”, coined by the above-mentioned Health B. Armstrong. Her site, Dooce.com, is the most hilarious damned thing I’ve read in a long time. She is more daring, brasher and yes, funnier than Jon Stewart (who, by the way, I have the serious hots for – we’ll talk about that another time…). Go read her site and laugh your head off.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Category:

Shrimp Pad Thai

Shrimp Pad Thai Pic

Now, I am the first to tell you that I am no expert on Asian cuisine, and I have no great wisdom to impart on the making of Pad Thai. I can tell you, though, that Pad Thai is the sole Asian dish that I have incorporated into my regular repertoire (you know, the things you cook all the time for your family and friends), and I probably make Pad Thai as much, or more often, than I make spaghetti and meat sauce. Pad Thai is also an easy dish for a dinner party. All of the ingredients can be prepared ahead, and when everyone is ready, it can be cooked and put on the table in minutes.

Once you’ve made Pad Thai a few times, the ingredients that once seemed so unusual (like tamarind paste) are just another ingredient in your cupboard, so all you have to do is pick up fresh shrimp, tofu if you are using it, and the veggies. Tamarind (which I buy in a block, seeds and all), dried shrimp and dried turnip come in quantitities enough for about several batches of Pad Thai. I store these in a jar labelled “Asian miscellaneous”, each ingredient bagged in a zip lock to keep the odors separated. I always have fish sauce and rice wine vinegar. (Can anyone tell me if I am correct that fish sauce doesn’t need refrigeration?) I don’t have a regular source yet for the rice noodles. The Asian market in our neighborhood only carries the real thin ones (which are what I used tonight). However, I just now seached Fresh Direct, and they carry “A Taste of Thai” noodles in the several widths, so I think I will get some with my next order and keep them in stock. (I wish I were one of those cooks with time enough to head to China Town on a regular basis, but my life is just too busy. Maybe in my next life…)

I pretty much stick to this recipe barely modified from Cook’s Illustrated. Sometimes I add tofu. I don’t always use cilantro. Enjoy!

PAD THAI

2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
¾ cup boiling water
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
8 ounces dried rice stick noodles
2 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
12 ounces medium (31/35 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1 medium shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons dried shrimp, chopped fine
2 tablespoons chopped Thai salted preserved radish
6 tablespoons chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
3 cups (6 ounces) bean sprouts
5 medium scallions, sliced thin on a sharp diagonal
¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

1. Rehydrate the tamarind paste in boiling water. Press through a sieve, discard seeds and rind. Stir the fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, cayenne, and 2 tablespoons oil into the tamarind liquid and set aside.

2. Cover the rice sticks with hot tap water in a large bowl; soak until softened, pliable, and limp but not fully tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the noodles and set aside. Beat the eggs and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet (preferably nonstick) over high heat until just beginning to smoke. Add the shrimp and sprinkle with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt; cook, tossing occasionally, until the shrimp are opaque and browned about the edges, about 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a plate and set aside.

4. Off heat, add the remaining tablespoon oil to the skillet and swirl to coat; add the garlic and shallot, set the skillet over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown, about 1½ minutes; add the eggs to the skillet and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until scrambled and barely moist, about 20 seconds. Add the noodles and the dried shrimp and salted radish (if using) to the eggs; toss with 2 wooden spoons to combine. Pour the fish sauce mixture over the noodles, increase the heat to high, and cook, tossing constantly, until the noodles are evenly coated. Scatter ¼ cup peanuts, bean sprouts, all but ¼ cup scallions, and cooked shrimp over the noodles; continue to cook, tossing constantly, until the noodles are tender, about 2½ minutes (if not yet tender add 2 tablespoons water to the skillet and continue to cook until tender).

5. Transfer the noodles to a serving platter, sprinkle with the remaining scallions, 2 tablespoons peanuts, and cilantro; serve immediately, passing lime wedges separately.

Category:

Butternut Squash Lasagna

We spend out holiday eves with our friends Andy & Linda and kids (check out Andy’s podcast site http://andy.libsyn.com/) , and this year was no exception. We had decorated the tree that morning, and I used the leftover greens from the tree to line the stair railings, along with white lights. We put candles on every shelf and table, and the place looked festive. Next year, I vow I will do this a full week prior to Christmas, and every night I will light the candles and the lights, and make this feeling last longer.

Here’s the menu:

Appetizers: Roasted red pepper dip (recipe follows) with bagel chips, baby carrots and celery sticks / Cheese / Warm apple cider with cinammon / pinot grigio

Dinner: Mushroom soup (ala’ Anthony Bourdain) , butternut squash lasagna (recipe follows), tossed greens with sherry vinaigrette, warm bread, white wine.

Dessert: None. We were all too full.

ROASTED RED PEPPER DIP
2 red bell peppers roasted, peeled and seeded
1 whole head roasted garlic, pulp squeezed and skin removed.
8 oz. of cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tablespoons virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Pulse garlic and red peppers in food processor till smooth. Add remaining ingredients and pulse till mixed.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNA
Warning: this is a lot of work, but well worth the effort. I combined two great recipes, one from Gourmet and one from Napa Style, and threw in a layer of carmelized onions. Luckily the sage in the garden survived the first snow. What I ended up with was delicious, but a bit heavy on the butter and Bechamel, and not enough onions. So the recipe that follows is not exactly what I made, but what I plan to make next time I do this dish (which I will do again)….The picture is what I actually made. Get it?

For the squash filling:
2 large butternut squashes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
3 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tsp ground cinammon
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp pepper

For the sauce:
1 quart (4 cups) whole milk
3 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp fresh gound nutmeg

For the carmelized onions:
3 vidalia onions, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

Plus: 1 cup hazelnuts (4 oz), toasted, loose skins rubbed off with a kitchen towel, and finely ground (or chopped, whichever you prefer.)

For assembling lasagne
1/2 lb fresh low fat mozzarella, coarsely grated (2 cups)
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 oz)
12 (7- by 3 1/2-inch) sheets no-boil lasagne (1/2 lb)

Make filling:
Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Grind the fennel seeds in spice grinder. Mix with cinammon, salt and pepper. Peel squash, trim ends and cut in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and coarsely chop the squash into 1/2-inch chunks. In a bowl, toss the squash with the olive oil, sage, and the spice mixture. Spread the squash in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast the squash, stirring once or twice, until very soft and beginning to brown, about 50-60 minutes.

Carmelize onions:
Melt butter in large skillet or saute pan. Add onions, and cook, covered on low heat for 30 minutes. Take off lid, raise heat a bit and contiue to cook, stirring as needed, till light brown and delicious. Add a little salt and pepper
.
Make sauce:
In a large saucepan, warm the milk. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the sage and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute. Do not let garlic brown. Add the flour and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to combine well with the butter. Do not allow the mixture to color. Add the milk, whisking vigorously to prevent lumps, ultil thickened. Add salt and the nutmeg. Remove from the heat.

Assemble lasagne:
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Coat the bottom of a buttered 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish with the sauce. Cover with 3 pasta sheets, leaving spaces between sheets. Layer as follows (try to get 4 layers total): Lasagna, squash, onions, hazlenuts, mozarella, sauce, parmesan. Tightly cover baking dish with buttered foil and bake lasagne in middle of oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let lasagne stand 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Meat Loaf

The Best Meatloaf He's ever had

It’s been freezing cold for several days now. The New York Times says it is in the 30’s today, but here on the far East side of Manhattan I’d say it feels well below 20. The blustery winds from the East River whip up and down York and First Avenues, giving us our own litle microclimate, similar to, say… Siberia. Even my 9 year old daughter caves in and wears a scarf.

Well, when the weather gets tough, the tough make meat loaf. The great American comfort food, that, with its faithful companion the mashed potato, can warm the cockles, sooth the savage beast and ease the way into a long winter’s night.

Now, I know how to make meatloaf, you know how to make meatloaf…everyone knows how to make meatloaf. I even have a great recipe for meat loaf, thanks to my mother-in-law, The Greatest Home Cook in the World. (Irene, when are you going to start a food blog?) But Irene’s recipe calls for whipped cream cheese and motsa meal (Aren’t you curious? Sorry, some other time..), and I had neither. But I did have some ground siroloin and some Italian sweet sausage, plus some great homemade bread crumbs pining away in my freezer. So, off I went to my usual starting place, Epicurious.com (always sorting the search by fork rating to avoid wasting time on the duds). And there, three down from the the top on the search for “meat loaf”, I found it – Old Fashioned Meat Loaf (Gourmet, 1994). Of course, I made a few changes. But when it was done, it was, according to my husband (who of course has had his mother’s meat loaf), THE BEST MEAT LOAF HE’S EVER HAD.

I served it with mashed potatoes that I made from red bliss potatoes. I’d never used these particular type of potato in mashed potatoes before. Wow, they are so creamy, you barely need any milk (I used about a tbsp or so of half and half). I also made haricot verts. Easy recipe (again from Irene). You put the beans in a baking dish with olive oil, salt, pepper, and zest of one lemon. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Delicious!

The Best Meat Loaf He’s Ever Had
Cook 1 small finely chopped onion and 1 finely chopped shallot, along with with 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, 1 finely chopped celery rib, and 1 finely chopped carrot in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter over moderate heat until vegetables soften (5 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, and 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce and cook another 5 minutes, covered. Cool slightly.Add mixture to large bowl, into which you have alreay placed 3/4 lb ground sirloin and 3/4 lb italian sweet sausage (casings off). Add 1/3 cup ketchup, 1 cup bread crumbs, 2 large eggs (beaten lightly) and 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves. Form into loaf in a meat loaf pan (I used a glass pyrex dish). Top with another 1/3 cup ketchup and arrange thin slices of mushroom over top (about 2-3 mushrooms, total).

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 1 hour, or until meat thermometer reads 155 degrees fahrenheit.

Serve tonite with mashed potatoes and green beans. Tomorrow, you’ll have a great meat loaf sandwich.

Split Pea Soup

I was in the mood for a bowl of great pea soup. I had been ordering pea soup in at lunch from various delis in the neighborhood, but the soups were all hastily put together and looked like chicken soup with peas floating in it. (I guess when you’ve got to make soup and serve customers, slow cooking is not your forte.) 

Because E is vegetarian, decided to forgo the ham bone and headed to my reliable old Moosewood Cookbook. Nice recipe, but looked a little dull. So to the web, where I found Haverchuck’s variation on the Moosewood recipe. Looked pretty good to me. Got me thinking about Indian food and Indian spices. So back to Google, which led me to Moosewood’s African Split-Pea and Rice Soup (Thanks, Jan Gordon, whoever you are). Now, that’s the kind of spice I was looking for. But P had already bought a nice baguette at Gourmet Garage, so the rice was out. Plus, I had only 2 cups of split peas and one sweet potato that somehow got overlooked when I was making mashed sweets for Thanksgiving. So, I got creative and melded all three recipes plus a little more. Here’s what I did:

Split Pea Soup

Rinse 2 cups dried split peas and place into Dutch oven with 6 cups cold water and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop up 2 stalks celery, 2 medium carrots and 1 sweet potato. Add to the soup and simmer gently another 40 minutes with occasional stirring. Add water if necessary.

Meanwhile, mince 3 onions and 3 cloves garlic. Saute in 1 tbsp butter till onions are transcluscent. Add 2 bay leaves, 3/4 tsp cardomon, 3/4 tsp cinammon, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tsp salt. Cook, stirring to prevent burning, for 5 minutes. About half way through, add 1/4 cup white wine and continue cooking till onions are wonderful. (Keep your fingers out – no tasting!) Add onion mixture to the soup and cook a little longer till peas are soft and the soup is done.

Now here’s where I screwed up. Per Haverchuck’s suggestion, I pureed the soup (well, part of it). I immedately regretted my decision. I forgot that pea soup, when pureed, looks like, well…. meconium, if you really want to know. (Guess what I do for a living….more on that another time). Way too thick and it dries on the edges of the bowl and looks like green glue. So I stopped there and put the pureed soup back in with the rest of the soup (which in retrosepect I now know looked and tasted just fine). Next time, I won’t puree. The soup was gorgeous just as it was.

Season with salt and pepper. If you want, cook up some extra onions and spices and instead of adding them to the soup, crisp them up and put on top as a garnish. (I tried this, but accidentally burnt the onions.)

I ended up serving it with toasted baguette slices (drizzled with olive oil) and a nice green salad. I like this salad from Epicurious. The dressing is perfect. I used goat cheese instead of gorgonzola, and also added some pears and spiced pecans.