Five Spice Duck

Moving..

2010-07-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

to a new site, Wanderlust

Okuribito (Departures)

2010-05-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm done(!), graduating from residency in a few weeks. Starting Monday we're traveling for the next two weeks in Europe, checking out Paris, Barcelona, and the coast of Italy and France. There's lots to check out and I'll feature our gastronomic adventures when I return back.

Recovery Time

2010-04-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

I've been away from blogging mostly because I've been pretty sick. Not due to an infection like in most cases, I became sick secondary to stress and malnutrition. I overworked myself and I haven't been eating well as a result, which has resulted a myriad of ulcers in my mouth, throat and lip. It's perhaps the worst thing to happen to a foodie. In the meantime I really can't tolerate much because of these ulcers, I've been eating chicken soup, ice cream and swallowing handfuls of multivitamins. This is definitely not a pleasurable experience. Currently I'm reviewing ways to receive nutritional supplements the more edible way, starting with Vitamin E:

Food sources of Vitamin E

Asparagus
Avocado
Egg
Milk
Nuts, such as almonds or hazelnuts
Seeds
Spinach and other green leafy vegetables (2 mg -13%)
Unheated vegetable oils
Wheat germ
Wholegrain foods

Roast Me...

2010-03-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

Found in the latest issue of Martha Stewart, a very easy roasted duck served with marmalade glaze.

Pho Sure..

2010-02-28T17:45:00.001-08:00

..a pretty bowl of chicken pho. adorned with watermelon radish and chive blossoms.

Pizza is for Lovers

2010-02-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

The way to touch my heart...is to go to Pizza Box for Valentine's. :)
Today we decided to celebrate V Day at one of the best pizza restaurants

in the Philadelphia, possibly the best of the East Coast area. Although

I'm a native Chicagoan and grew up with the thick crust/pie pizza, I've

tried numerous pizza joints in the NYC, New Haven, New Jersey, and

Philadelphia area... And no one beats Pizza Box. :)

And how appropriate is their logo for the occasion?

My favorite of all their traditional and specialty pizzas,
a thin slice of Margarita Pizza.

Pizza Box
43 Limekiln Pike
Glenside, PA 19038
215-576-5281
http://www.pizzaboxpa.com/

1..2..3..4..

2010-02-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

Being snowed in this weekend we decided to bring some color in the kitchen, using a little inspiration from Feist's video

Rainbow Chard

Whole Wheat Pasta

Kielbasa with whole wheat pasta and rainbow chard

Presenting the ever so stunning ~ Watermelon Radish ~

Watermelon Radish with Cucumbers

Just Like Heaven..

2010-02-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

Roasted Bone Marrow with Herb de Provence, dip each center with thinly sliced french baguette bread and you'll be in heaven. :)

Confession Time: A Few Of My Guilty Pleasures...

2010-02-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Just a few of my guilty pleasures in life...

1) Pop Tarts - sounds strange but I'm addicted toasted pop tarts.. I used to eat one for breakfast, and then another for lunch, sometimes I'll indulge an eat an extra one for dessert. I love the smores flavor, blueberry creme, cinnamon sugar, sigh..

2) Chocolate Creme Doughtnuts from Dunkin Donuts - If I could I would grab two of these for breakfast every morning, along with a hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar.

3) Doritos - a very easy lunch to pick up from the vending machine. Goes down great with a diet pepsi.

4) M&M's - I eat them by the handfuls at work whenever I'm between patients. I especially love peanut M&Ms.

5) Mozzarella Sticks - deep fried goodness! I've loved them since junior high and I can't stop the craving for them..

6) Pretzels - I'm not a big fan of the Philly pretzels but I love the flavor in general. I've perfected the texture by toasting them in the oven, and they're so delicious with mustard.

7) Lox and Bagels - There's a fabulous jewish bakery near my place and I get the lox and cream cheese sandwich, with lettuce onions and tomatoes. It's something I'll reward myself whenever I'm in a good mood, or had a great workout at the gym..

8) 3 Layer Hummus from Trader Joe's - sounds healthier than the rest, but I tend to eat the entire tub quickly, within a few hours sometimes! They make a lovely combination of cilantro, red pepper and garlic hummus. Goes great with pita bread or any kind of flatbread.

9) Wine - filled with goodness and high in calories. It's something I indulge in almost every night to help me fall asleep..

10) Fromager d'Affinois - possibly the best cheese made on earth. It's quite stinky but it's far better than your average brie. Fat Content of 60%! OMG! But a taste of this makes me feel like I'm in heaven~!

So what are your guilty pleasures in life? Feel free to share..

Dark Chocolate and Cayenne Pepper..

2009-12-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

..are an unusual yet perfect combination. I added 1/2 teaspoon to this following recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats). Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, and 1 cup brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined between additions. Add vanilla; beat to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients; mix on low speed until fully combined. Add chocolate chips; mix on low just until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill until firm, about 1 hour.
In a small bowl using a rubber spatula, stir together peanut butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Drop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill thumbprint with 2 teaspoons peanut butter mixture. Top with a second tablespoon of flattened dough. Carefully mold dough to cover the surprise.
Bake until firm, about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets, and let cool completely on wire racks.

Labor Day Weekend Dinner

2009-09-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

I did a little improvising in the kitchen this weekend with whatever ingredients were in the fridge.

Here's lamb tenderloin on top of israeli couscous, garnished with pomegranate seeds and lamb's ear/frisee, drizzled with saffron yogurt and port reduction.

Momofuku Style..

2009-08-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here's my version of a Momofuku style sandwich. Rather than using pork belly I marinated boneless chicken thighs in fish sauce, brown sugar and fresh lime juice. Add a few slices of green onions and cucumbers, hoisin sauce if you'd like..

Hong Kong Style Curry Cuttlefish

2009-08-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

Nowhere in Philadelphia can we find this wonderful dish. We love the curried cuttlefish that's served at Happy Chef Dim Sum House in Chicago. Notice how A and I ordered two portions of cuttlefish, it's really that fabulous.

Returning back to Philadelphia, we decided to try to replicate this dish at home. The closest I could find is on Eating Club Vancouver's post. The results from our kitchen are captured below, this may be as close as I can get to the original.

Hong Kong-style Curry Sauce
adapted from Maddhur's Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

3 Tbsp corn/peanut oil
1 Tbsp chopped shallots
5 cloves garlic, chopped
chili flakes, to taste
2 Tbsp curry powder mixed w 4 tspn sesame oil (curry paste)
1/2 cup water/broth
4 Tbsp canned evaporated milk
1 tspn sugar (to taste)
1 tspn salt (to taste)
1 tspn cornstarch dissolved in 4 Tbsp water (cornstarch slurry)

In a pan, heat oil. Add shallots, garlic and chili flakes. Cook until fragrant, a few seconds. Add curry paste and cook for a few more seconds. Add water/broth and evaporated milk and stir until paste has completely dissolved. Add salt and sugar to taste.

For quick cooking items like shrimp or squid, add them at this point. When they are to the doneness of your liking, proceed.

Or, alternatively, one can first stir-fry any meats (sliced thinly) or seafood before making the sauce. Set them aside to make the sauce in the same pan. The stir-fried items can then be added at this point.

If the sauce is not to the thickness of your liking, add cornstarch slurry to the hot/boiling sauce and stir in. The sauce should thicken in a matter of seconds.

Serve.

Hot Doug's in Chicago

2009-08-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

On our first day back in Chicago we headed over to Hot Doug's. It was pouring and the line was quite long, about a 2 hour wait. I almost gave up and returned back to the car, but A convinced me to stay. He thought it would be worth the wait for this unique experience eating duck fat fries and a foie gras hot dog. And after having this experience, I feel it was truly unique, a few highlights:

Game of the Day: Elk Sausage! We tried it and it was the best of the three.

Doug himself who takes all the orders from customers.

From Top to Bottom: The Elk Sausage, Smoked Crayfish and Pork Sausage with Cajun Remoulade and Smokey Blue Cheese, and Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris.

Avec: Abstinence from Absinthe

2009-08-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

We returned back from our Chicago trip, it turned out to be a wonderful weekend exploring all the old and the new.

One of the new restaurants we checked out in the West Loop area is Avec, which is very similar to Tria in Philadelphia.

{Minimalistic ambience with the Matrix-like wall, a style you'll commonly see in the latest Chicagoland restaurants. }

It's like a casual wine bar offering a pretty extensive rustic mediterranean menu of small dishes, mostly food you would have to share with another. '

They also have absinthe here, I loved the experience but the drink itself isn't too impressive. No hallucinations, thank goodness!

{The neat little setup, with the sugar cube and slow drip absinthe fountain.}

Cooking Light..

2009-07-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

We're making our first attempt to cut down calories and this is what we came up with. :) Not exactly a low carbohydrate meal, but definitely a lighter rendition of my cooking. Instead of doubling portions we shared this meal and it was quite satisfying.

We'll be holding back calories for a few weeks, and then we're off to Chicago!
Duck fat fries, dim sum, and delicious pork belly goodness.

Who Says You Need to Travel to LA for Korean Tacos?

2009-06-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

With a little inspiration from immaeeatchu and Kogi's BBQ korean trucks, we made korean tacos this weekend. They were so good! :) Here's a photo of a bulgogi and kalbi taco topped off with quail egg and manchego cheese.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Freudian Feast - Devouring All the Stages of Development

2009-04-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

Every so often our residency gets together for a potluck dinner and this month I was to host the dinner. Instead of the usual potluck dinner we usually have, I decided to try something different and fun for a change. Thanks for Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 for sponsoring this event, I was able to do a fabulous celebration theme titled "A Freudian Feast, Devouring All the Psychoanalytic Stages". The menu is based on Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory, and with these stages I was able to bring out some of my culinary creativity.

For those who are not familiar, the stages of psychosexual development include the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages. To make the dinner more appropriate for our guests and the general audience, I presented the stages in a rather discreet manner, utilizing subtle nuances reflecting the theme.

We had approximately 12 guests and to make it easier for our guests to identify their wine glasses, we created name tags featuring well known psychoanalysts. It was quite fun and interesting to see which psychoanalyst our guests identified with.

The dinner turned out to be a success and our guest found the theme to be quite entertaining, perhaps this may continue with our future potluck dinners.

The Freudian Feast Menu:

To start off the stages, we served a wide selection of beer and wine that fit well with the theme.

Six different wines from one of our favorite wine shops, Moore Brothers, and a pitcher of prosecco with pomegranate juice. To keep the prosecco cool, I added slices of frozen meyer lemon slices and raspberries.

The first stage of psychosexual development is the oral stage.

For this stage I featured appetizers that were a perfect "mouthful". One appetizer would be enough to satisfy the guest, and then they would move onto the other stages.

A favorite amongst the guests were the aromatic lamb meatballs, adapted by Nigella Lawson's recipe.
To stabilize the meatballs and to bring out more flavor, I added a dollop of greek yogurt

to the bottom of each meatball.

Other appetizers I featured were skewers of cubed cheese, olive and quince paste:

and melba toasts topped with creme fraiche and allagash cherries:

Moving onto the next two stages of psychosexual development, here is the table spread:

The Anal stage: This is the "noir and blanc" stage, which is where I featured a wide array of black and white food. Guests had a choice to tasting the "blanc", which includes a wide array of imported cheeses:

Fromager d'Affinois:

Taleggio:

Tete De Moine, which is a cheese from Switzerland that is thinly shaved into a beautiful form using a girolle.

Some leaned towards the "noir", darker delicacies such as the black olves, chocolate and dulce and leche spread, mission fig preserves, and black truffle spread.

As suggested, a lot of our guests dabbled in both, and they were adventurous enough to try the Cahill's Porter Cheese.

For the phallic stage I made honey glazed cocktail sausages.

and dill roasted fingerlings..

To add to the theme, I filled our cow creamer with little gerkins and a Tete De Moine flower.

We're reaching towards the end, onto the latency stage.

Pretty much this stage is dedicated to main entrees. A few of our residents are

vegetarians, and the pasta primavera turned out quite well:

Ingredients

3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 medium zucchini or 1 large zucchini, cut into thin strips
2 yellow squash, cut into thin strips
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or herbes de Provence
1 pound farfalle (bowtie pasta)
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

On a large heavy baking sheet, toss all of the vegetables with the oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs to coat. Transfer half of the vegetable mixture to another heavy large baking sheet and arrange evenly over the baking sheets. Bake until the carrots are tender and the vegetables begin to brown, stirring after the first 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Toss the pasta with the vegetable mixtures in a large bowl to combine. Toss with the cherry tomatoes and enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve immediately.

We love vietnamese food and Sunday Nite Dinner posted an excellent recipe on Ga Ro Ti, a vietnamese roasted chicken.

For those who reached the final stage, we rewarded them with the most decadent dessert, a dark moist chocolate cake topped with strawberries:

Ingredients:

16 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 extra-large eggs

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Line the bottom of an 8 1/2-inch springform pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Coat inside of pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Chop chocolate into pieces. Cut butter into small chunks. Place chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a large metal bowl over simmering water, making sure bowl doesn't touch water. Melt, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat.

Whisk eggs and a pinch of salt in bowl of an electric mixer, until mixture triples in volume, about 8 minutes. Fold chocolate mixture into egg mixture with a flexible rubber spatula until completely incorporated.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. The center will still be a little soft. Remove from oven. Let cool at least 30 minutes before cutting. The center will sink a little as it cools. You can refrigerate the cake for up to 2 days (let sit at room temperature for 1 hour before serving).

Tartine Bakery

2009-03-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

We just came back from a wonderful trip to San Francisco, and there's a lot to share from our one week experience there. I'll first start off with breakfast at Tartine Bakery, a lovely cup of cappuccino pairs well with..

the most heavenly banana creme tart with dark chocolate crust oozing with caramel filling.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Macarons Made 24 Ways

2009-03-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Macarons are perhaps one of my favorite desserts coming from Paris. Take a bite into a macaron and you’ll discover that the deceivingly hard exterior melts into your mouth into a soft almond meringue filled with decadence. They come in a multitude of flavors, and I usually prefer the classic fillings such as dark chocolate and dulce de leche. In Paris macarons are so popular that you even find them at McDonald's, which is featured in the photo above. :) After tasting so many macarons in Paris, I wanted to see if I could recreate macarons at home. It seemed like a simple recipe, involving only a few ingredients for making the macarons, and the results proved that it wasn't an easy recipe after all.

Of all the recipes I've attempted so far, I think that macarons are perhaps the one and only recipe that just never turns out the same. You can literally make 24 batches of macarons and your results will turn out to be 24 different macarons. For me no macaron turns out the same.

I decided for this month's Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24, I will make several more attempts to find out if an ideal macaron recipe exists. I have done extensive research on the internet about how to make macarons, surprisingly I discovered that every recipe is different from the other, which makes me curious to see which recipe would work best.

I have made my first macaron a few years back using David Lebowitz's recipe:

I filled the macarons with a dulce de leche filling. The macarons turned out pretty delicious, especially with the filling, but the texture was not at all like a true french macaron. I realized after making this batch that the egg whites were underbeaten, which might have resulted the flat, denser texture.

My second attempt using A La Cuisine's macaron and buttercream recipe. This macaron turned out to be very pretty, notice no cracks on the exterior. Looking even closer into the innards of the macaron, I realized all of them were very hollow. They lacked the chewiness that a macaron should have, and after a few hours they became quite hard and difficult to last for the upcoming days.

Recipe #3 comes from Epicurious' Raspberry Chocolate French Macaroons Recipe. This attempt was perhaps one of the most disastrous, almost all of the macarons were cracked and fell apart as I tried to remove them from the parchment paper. As you can see, I made the macarons smaller and this prevented the macarons from cracking as much as the previous batches. One notable mistake I made with this recipe was the egg whites were over beaten, which from my internet research may be the cause of the cracked macarons.

More research on the internet, I recently discovered a "fool-proof" way of

making macarons, which is very similar to a recipe I found on Tartelette's website for an espresso macarons. I substituted the espresso powder with matcha powder to make green tea macarons.

Matcha (Green Tea) Macarons
120 gr. egg whites, divided
35 gr. sugar
150 gr. almond meal
150 gr. powdered sugar
2 tsp. matcha

For the syrup:
150 gr. sugar and 50 gr. water

Sift the ground almonds and powdered sugar.

In a stand mixer, whip 60 gr. egg whites to soft peaks.
In the meantime, in a saucepan on high heat bring the water and sugar for the syrup to 230 F. on a candy thermometer.

Slowly add the boiling syrup to the egg whites and continue to whip on medium - high speed until they are completely cooled and you have a shiny meringue (10-15 minutes).

Mix the remaining 60 gr. of egg whites and the sifted almond/sugar and carefully fold into the meringue. Add the matcha powder as you mix.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the mixture and pipe macarons about 3 inches in diameter on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
You can let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes if desired. This is often done to assure those little feet at the bottom but I found that I can skip this step with this recipe and still end up with the same result. Bake at 320 for 15 minutes. Let cool.

Here's an example of a perfectly formed macaron..

Here's a photo of all the macarons I made for this recipe. I made 3 batches of these macarons and you can tell the difference from each batch. The first round I didn't fold the mixture enough, which resulted a batter that was more stiff. After piping the mixture to the pan, the macaron didn't settle and still had a piped form to the center. Realizing that the mixture may be too thick, I mixed it a few more times and did a test, piping a small amount on the pan to see if it fell without any remaining form. Here's an example of how the macarons should form on the parchment paper:

Firmly tap the cookie sheet pan a few times to ensure that the macarons form a firm base or "foot" and you can immediately bake the macarons without having to wait 20 minutes or up to an 1 hour.

Recipe #4: La Tartelette's Red Tamale Macarons:

For the Macarons:
3 egg whites (I like to use 2-3 day old egg whites)
50 gr. granulated sugar
200 gr. powdered sugar
110 gr. ground almonds
3 Tb hot red powdered food coloring, divided
sparkling sugar

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glosy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry and your macarons won't work.

Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almond with it evenly. Add them to the meringue along with 1 TB food coloring and fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon.

Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small round onto parchment paper baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 315 F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shell a bit and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool completely.

So after all of these attempts, have I discovered the perfect macaron recipe? I definitely have, and I think all of the recipes featured above can be considered to be the perfect macaron recipe. I feel that all of the recipes have the potential to create perfect macarons, and it seems like what causes each macaron recipe to be different is what you make of it. For my last recipe attempt, I made closer observations and made sure I didn't overbeat the egg whites, mixed the macaron mixture to the right "magna flow" consistency, and ensure "feet forming" of the macarons. I predict in the future when I make macarons that I will never quite make a perfect macaron, and that's what makes these recipes interesting and challenging. Perhaps I will continue to add more version to the 24 or so different macarons I've created so far, and I'll never be disappointed with the results. They are always delicious.

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Food for the Seoul

2009-01-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

I am honored to be selected as one of the bloggers for Foodbuzz's 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Posts this month. I decided to dedicate my theme to korean food, featuring my experiences from a recent trip to the South Korea and a dinner I made using a little inspiration from my trip.

Street food in Korea is quite abundant and there's quite an extensive variety every street corner you turn. We discovered the most street food around Insadong, which is a popular part of Seoul, and Busan, Korea. Around Insadong, there were more sweets such as pul bbang, which is a small cylndrical cake filled with sweetened red bean paste. Busan is well known for their fresh seafood since the city is located right along the east coast, we found most of the street food consistent of seafood such as oden, which is fish cake served hot and dipped in red hot chili paste.

Bungeo bbang, carp shaped red bean cakes, are my mom's favorite. It's quite similar to pul bbang but it has a more exotic shape.

Yut is a popular traditional rice/malt candy that resembles the texture of taffy. In most cases you'll find pumpkin flavored yut but there's also peanut flavored yut which has a richer and chewier texture. You can easily find yut just by hearing the clanging sounds the a yut candy maker makes:

On the weekends especially when there's a festival you can find ddeok, korean rice cake or mochi, being made fresh the old fashioned way.

First the glutinous sweet rice is steamed until completely cooked.

Once the rice is cooked, the rice is ready to be pounded by a wooden mallet. The woman in the photo is splashing hot water to prevent the rice from getting too sticky or cold for the mallet surface. The rice cake is dusted with roasted soy bean powder and sliced into square pieces. In comparison to ddeok I've tried from the supermarkets in the states and Korea, this ddeok has a softer and chewier texture, definitely worth trying if you're in the Insadong area on a weekend.

We also traveled to Jeju Island, which is right off the mainland. There we discovered some unique food that is well known to the island along with some unusual twists on American food.

Not exactly considered to be street food but worth mentioning is the fresh seafood served right the coasts of the island. Jeju is the home of woman deep sea divers where for many years women would dive for octopus, squid, abalone and other sea creatures.

Here are some of the varieties offered near the ocean, you can actually eat extremely fresh octopus that's still moving on your plate.

We decided to go with the less adventurous option, a plate of cooked octopus, fresh abalone and conch.

Not only does Jeju have the freshest seafood in Korea, it also has some of the most unusual street food I've discovered.
I've created a mosaic demonstrating what I've seen, which includes ddeok with the most intense colors, corn dogs that are chocolate and strawberry coated with sprinkles and butterscotch flavored with walnuts. Steamed multicolor corn and silk worms and snails, which is a popular snack in Korea but definitely something I didn't have enough courage to try. :)

Other than street food, there's a lot of restaurants that we checked out in Seoul and surrounding cities. One of my favorite finds was barbeque duck, which is served like kalbi but instead there's sliced fresh and smoked duck breast. I never had duck at a korean restaurant and I became more intrigued to see what else other restaurants were serving using this rare yet delicious meat.

(photo credit: minna883)

In addition to barbecuing duck, there are restaurants that serve duck roasted and stuffed with glutinous rice, and smoked duck in kabocha squash. On the left is an example of both on one dish.

I've never tried the roasted duck and it would be difficult to find such a dish in the Philadelphia area, I decided to make an attempt to create something quite similar at home.

You can find frozen duckling at any frozen section in a korean grocery. For roasting the duck, I used
Tyler Florence's roasted duck recipe and stuffed the duck with a korean sweet rice called Yak Shik.

The recipe for Yak Shik is quite simple. Soak two cups of sweet rice overnight. Clean the rice by rinsing with water several times. Add pine nuts, chestnuts, jujubes (korean dates) to the rice, along with 1 cup of water, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and 3 tbsp of soy sauce. Cover pot and cook on medium high until rice is completely cooked.

Once you are done steaming the duck for 45 minutes, stuff the sweet rice into the duck until it's completely filled. Roast duck for 1 hour, glazing the duck with the honey/rice vinegar sauce ever 10 minutes.

The results are beautiful, the steaming removed some of the fat which results a wonderfully crispy texture to the skin.

Cracking open the duck, the sweet rice emerges and brings out a rich aroma. I'm not sure if this is exactly how the clay pot roasted duck tastes like, but I have to say this is quite a good version to try at home.

One of my favorite side dishes is ganjang gaejang, which is raw blue crabs marinated in a spicy red chili sauce. My husband wasn't too excited of trying raw crab because of the risks of deadly infections such as Vibrio vulnificus, so I recreated a version with cooked crab.

I have to say that the cooked crab version really didn't hit the spot, the raw crab version has a sweeter flavor that goes so well with red chili sauce.

Banchan:

Banchan is pretty much a bunch of appetizers served along with the main course and rice. The most popular of all banchans in kimchi, and there's quite a large variety of what else you can create. I'll be starting with some of of the easiest banchans first, which all have the same additional ingredients added to the vegetable.

(from left to right: kong {bean sprout} namul, gosari {braken fiddlehead fern} namul, sigumchi{spinach} namul)

Spinach and bean sprouts can be easily found at any korean grocery, but this doesn't fall true when it comes to finding braken fiddleheads. It took me several grocery store trips to finally find the dried version. They usually come dried or you can find them already soaked and packaged in the refridgerated section. I prefer the dried version which brings out a more intense flavor. To prepare these ferns, first soak them in water for about 1-2 hours. Once they become soft and flexible heat the fiddleheads in water on medium high for approximately 45 minutes. The ferns should be easy to shred apart at this point. Drain and add thinly sliced scallions, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp of sesame seeds to the ferns.

Follow the same directions for the spinach and bean sprout namul. It's quite easy to create all three side dishes since you don't have any change of ingredients and can use the same bowl to mix all the ingredients.

Featuring more banchan, from left to right: purple sweet potato dressed with light mayonnaise, radish kimchi (for a great recipe, check out Maangchi's website), and sea tangle noodle salad.

Sea tangle noodles are made out of kelp and they're free of almost everything, fat-free, gluten free, very low in carbs and calories. To create this salad, I added 16 ounces of sea tangle noodles, 1/3 cup of mayonnaise, thinly sliced onions, carrots and cucumber. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and the salad is ready to serve. The noodles are extremely crunchy, if you want them to be softer you can soak the noodles in warm or boiling water for 10 minutes.

Kongjaban is perhaps the only banchan I ate as a child. It is black beans glazed with soy sauce and sugar, it is still considered to be one of my favorites because of its sweet and nutty flavor. This is my first attempt making this dish and it was very simple:

Ingredients
1 cup black beans (I ended up with slightly more than a cup)
3 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Add the black beans, water, soy sauce, sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Cook on medium high and continue to boil the beans until the liquid evaporates to leave a thick, syrupy consistency. Add 1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water to the beans which will help thicken the sauce even more. Add 1/2 sesame oil and sprinkle approximately 2 tbsp of sesame seeds.

And finally, the dinner spread after an entire day of cooking. My husband almost ate the entire duck, it was so good and the sweet rice went so well as a stuffing. After being stuffed with dinner for a few hours, we moved on to dessert!

Patbingsoo

This dessert is perhaps the best dessert in Korea. My mom used to make this at home during the summer time and in Seoul, I had the ultimate version with shaved ice and ice cream, topped with candy jellies, mochi, red bean, kiwi, and yes, cherry tomatoes. In most asian countries, they have their own version of patbingsoo and they add all sorts of toppings that are sweet, such as beans, cherries, mochi, natto de coco, and whatever you can imagine.

Examples of patbingsoo in all other asian countries.

(photos source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/81226325@N00/205291091/)

Pretty much you can add anything you please to patbingsoo, so I decided to make my version at home. I used a friend's recipe for "pinkberry" yogurt:

"Pinkberry" Frozen Yogurt:

32oz plain non-fat yogurt or greek style yogurt
1/2 c. light corn syrup
2 mini yogurt drinks
1/2 can Milkiss (original flavor)

Mix all ingredients until the mixture becomes smooth, add to an ice cream machine and you're done. I also made matcha kudzu mochi using the following recipe below.

I sliced the mochi into cubes and added jellies, white mochi, pomegranate seeds and sweet red bean paste to the yogurt. There were so many ingredients that you couldn't see the frozen yogurt! The dessert turned out great, next summer I'll experiment and try all sorts of ingredients with patbingsoo.

This was quite an experience for me to cook all these korean dishes since I still consider myself a novice when it comes to cooking korean food. Thanks to Foodbuzz for allowing me to share my experiences in Korea and cooking korean food! I will leave everyone with a lesson on dancing to K-Pop music, thanks to Simon and Martina:

Hagi: Ramen Perfection

2009-01-18T20:30:00.001-08:00

After many years of eating instant ramen, it's hard not to appreciate a really good bowl of tonkatsu ramen. We discovered a bowl of perfection at Hagi and I tried to replicate the dish at home.

Here's Hagi's version: check out the milky consistency of the broth, which is created by simmering pork bones for many hours.

..And here's my version.

As you can see in my version, it's not exactly the same as Hagi's version. I used beef bones instead which would produce a similar milky effect as seen in seolleongtang. I cooked the broth for approximately 8 hours and I wasn't able to achieve the cloudy broth effect seen in both dishes. Perhaps I need to simmer the bones for several more hours, some say for an entire day to extract all the flavor and color from the bones. After watching the broth for hours, I felt that the appearance and flavor wasn't changing significantly, so I gave up and accepted my broth as it was. The results were still very good, but creating the broth is still a mystery to me. Does anyone know how to achieve this effect?

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Ojingeo Soondae

2008-11-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

Saffron Squid stuffed with "galbi jjim" sticky rice, quite delicious and we couldn't tell it was made from leftovers. :)

A Korean Thanksgiving Dinner

2008-11-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

It's been quite some time since I've blogged.. :) This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our place and I invited the in-laws over. I created a korean style dinner, which includes my favorite dishes that I've learned from my mom and her friends.

Galbi jjim (braised short ribs)

My mother's best friend in Korea taught me how to make galbi jjim. Maangchi has a very good recipe, I like to marinate the short ribs overnight and I added crush apple pear to sweeten and tenderize the meat.

Soon dae (blood sausage)

After making these sausages our place literally looked like a slaughterhouse. There was blood everywhere, on the sink splattered on the kitchen cabinets and on my clothes.. I've seen my mom make blood sausages a dozen times but I had no idea it was so challenging. The results were delicious and better than what I've tasted at the supermarkets. Is it worthwhile to make soondae? Perhaps, but I definitely won't be making this dish again anytime soon. The recipe is as follows:

Soondae:

3 feet beef or pork small intestine or sausage casing

Stuffing:

2 cups of sweet rice

6 ounces of sweet potatoe vermicelli

few slices of garlic
1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp sesame seeds

6 scallions

2 cups of cow's blood

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak sweet rice for 30 minutes and rinse with cold water several times. Cook the rice in a rice cooker until it becomes firm.

Clean the intesting by running gentle warm water through one opening and allow the water to run through the entire length of intestine. Soak the entire intestine in solution of 2 tbs salt and small bowl of water for approximately 30 minutes.

After soaking for 30 minutes, cut the casing into 1 foot segments and tie one end closed with a cotton string or simply double knot the end.

Soak noodles in warm water until they become soft. Roughly chop the noodles and place them in a large bowl.

Place sesame seeds, ginger and garlic in a mortar and combine all until they become a thick paste. Finely chop scallions and add all other ingredients including the 2 cups of blood to the large bowl. Mix well.

To create soondae, it's best to use a funnel to stuff the casings. Make sure you add enough blood to the sausage, which also helps the noodles squeeze through the funnel with ease. Don't overstuff the casing or else you'll have a ruptured intestine, which is a bloodier mess to deal with. :) Once you're done stuffing tie off the other end.

Place sausages in cold beef broth solution and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for about an additional 40 minutes.

Banchan: ho bak jeon (fried squash), dubu chorim (fried tofu), gaji namul (steamed eggplant), roasted kabocha with mayonaise (something I discovered from a korean restaurant in Seoul), hamul pajeon (seafood pancake), spicy dried cuttlefish,

Oisobagi Kimchi (cucumbers stuffed with spicy goodness)

Turkey neck soup with lotus root and shiitake mushrooms

This is a recipe my mom taught me and it's soo good. I place two turkey necks in a slower cooker and let it slow cook along with shiitake mushrooms and lotus root.

Rice cakes stuffed with red bean paste

Excellent recipe can be found here.

I didn't take photos of the entire spread but here's what we have left the next day:

It was quite a dinner and luckily everything turned out okay, other than the bloody massacre I created in the kitchen. There's still a lot of korean food I've discovered in Korea and hopefully I'll feature the recipes in future posts.

Chocolate Guinness Extra Stout Cake

2008-09-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Never thought beer would go so well with chocolate cake. :)

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Ingredients

Cake
1 cup Guinness stout
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar (superfine, if possible)
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Icing
8 ounce cream cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in flour and baking soda.

Pour cake batter into greased and line pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When cake is cold, gently peel off parchment paper and transfer to a platter or cake stand.

Place cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip with an electric beater, until smooth

Add cream and beat again until you have a spreadable consistency.

Ice top of cake, starting at middle and fanning out, so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Yields about 12 slices.

Mutter Lamb and Paneer

2008-09-28T20:34:00.001-07:00

Quite a simple dish. Cube boneless leg of lamb and paneer, pan fry together with crushed garlic and vegetable oil or ghee. In another pan cook frozen peas, peeled whole garlic pieces and 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of tumeric, 1 teaspoon of garam masala, 1 teaspoon of corriander. Combine all ingredients and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve along with saffron rice and naan.

Simple, Sweet & Savory..

2008-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple & quick recipe for creating rustic sweet & savory tarts:

Ingredients:
store bought frozen puff pastry
8 ounces of ricotta cheese
figs and heirloom tomatoes
olive oil (for the savory tart)
3 tbsp of melted lemon curd (for the sweet tart)
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Drain ricotta cheese into a fine sieve for approximately 30 minutes,
if you want to cut down the time add pressure to the cheese so that
the liquid drains through. Defrost frozen puff pastry for 10 minutes
and lightly brush the edges with egg wash. Spread a thin layer of
ricotta cheese to the puff pastry.

Thinly slice fresh black mission figs and heirloom tomatoes and arrange
on top of the ricotta cheese. For the savory tart, drizzle olive oil
and sprinkle the tart with crushed sea salt. For the fig tart,
lightly brush the figs with melted lemon curd. Bake both tarts for
approximately 15 minutes and you're done!

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé

2008-09-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

August's Daring Bakers Challenges was quite an exciting challenge, to create chocolate eclairs! Making the choux pastry was quite an interesting experience. I had to make them twice because initially the cream puff pastry didn't puff up nicely. I noticed that the dough baked quite like a popover batter, and for the second batch I baked the choux pastry at 400 degrees for the first 10 minutes, then lowered to the recommended temperature. The second batch puffed up perfectly without having to crack open the oven.

The pastry cream and chocolate glaze was easy to create, putting them all together the results were quite delicious!

Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Hermé

½ c. whole milk
½ c. water
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
¼ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature

Pastry Cream
Recipe from "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

2 c. whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cornstarch
2 TBL dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla
3½ TBL unsalted butter, at room temperature

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Hermé

1/3 c. heavy cream
3½ oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 tsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
7 TBL Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

Cream Puff Dough:

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Baking Cream Puffs:

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Pastry Cream:

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Chocolate Glaze:

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly? in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Just Desserts: Chilled White Peaches Poached in White Wine

2008-08-25T20:20:00.001-07:00

Peaches are in season, here's an easy dessert to try with any variety of peaches and white wine of your choice.

Chilled White Peaches Poached in White Wine

Ingredients:
4-5 large white donut peaches
2 cups of white wine
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of sugar
one cinnamon stick

Add wine, water, sugar and cinnamon stick to a medium saucepan, stir and bring all to a simmer.
Add white donut peaches and cook for approximately 15-20 minutes until they become tender.

With a wooden spoon, transfer peaches to a bowl and allow them to cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin.

Pour wine poaching liquid through a sieve and cool for approximately 15 minutes.
Serve wine along with peaches.

Straight from the Farm: Chestnut Hill Growers Market

2008-08-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the Chestnut Hill Growers Farmer's Market last weekend and picked up some fruits and vegetables.

I love how they braided the stems for the onion bunches, quite a lovely display.

The next booth sold a unique variety of dried and fresh wild flowers and a large selection of zinnias.
I kind of got shooed away for taking this photo. :)

Purple and green bell peppers. The purple bell peppers adds a beautiful color to a fresh salad.
I added them to my curried chicken salad.

My favorite out of all the tomatoes displayed here are the dark red cherry tomatoes. They have such a sweet and delicious flavor that you don't find in tomatoes purchased from the local grocery store.

Chestnut Hill Growers’ Market
Winston Rd. and Germantown Ave.
Saturdays 9:30am – 1:30pm; Mid-May – November

Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest

2008-08-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Exciting news, my No Churn Lychee and Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream is featured on The Kitchn! Place your votes for your favorite ice cream, there's 17 varieties so far! :)

Click here for the recipe.

I Heart: Slow Roasted Grape Tomatoes

2008-08-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Recipe found on Smitten Kitchen:

Cherry, grape or small Roma tomatoes
Whole gloves of garlic, unpeeled
Olive oil
Herbs such as thyme or rosemary (optional)

Preheat oven to 225°F. Halve each cherry or grape tomato crosswise, or Roma tomato lengthwise and arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet along with the cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, just enough to make the tomatoes glisten. Sprinkle herbs on, if you are using them, and salt and pepper, though go easily on these because the finished product will be so flavorful you’ll need very little to help it along.

Bake the tomatoes in the oven for about three hours. You want the tomatoes to be shriveled and dry, but with a little juice left inside–this could take more or less time depending on the size of your tomatoes.

More on Manila Bay Restaurant..

2008-08-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

Another night at Manila Bay Restaurant:

Lumpia Shanghai for only $3.95, perhaps my favorite appetizer at Manila. I usually don't go for anything deep fried, but this is something I cannot resist!

The lumpia goes really well with a sweet plum sauce.

This is a fantastic version of chicken and pork adobo. The version is considerably healthier than what I've tried previously. The meats are extremely lean and tender, there's also a lot of flavor within the vinegar-soy sauce blend.

Manila Bay Restaurant
6724 Castor Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
http://www.manila-bay.com/

Savory Madeleines: Walnut, Pear and Roquefort Madeleines

2008-08-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Looking through my refrigerator at the end of the week, I still have a lot of leftovers and I would hate to see them all go to waste. I found an excellent recipe for savory madeleines from Chocolate and Zucchini. These compliment well with a light salad or soup.

WALNUT, PEAR AND ROQUEFORT MADELEINES

Unsalted butter, for buttering the molds
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 ounces Roquefort, crumbled
1 ripe pear, peeled, cored and diced
1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter 24 madeleine molds or mini-muffin tins (bake in batches if needed).

Combine the flour and baking powder in a small mixing bowl.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper. Add the oil, buttermilk and cheese, and whisk again until well blended.

Sift the flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated - the batter will be thick. Don't overmix; it's O.K. if a few lumps remain. Fold in the pear and walnuts and stir to combine. Spoon the batter into the molds, filling them by two-thirds.

Bake until puffy and golden, 12 to 16 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for a few minutes, unmold and serve warm.

Makes 24 madeleines

Mercato Restaurant

2008-08-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just looove BYOB restaurants and we discovered a really good one called Mercato Restaurant which is pretty close to Jefferson. For this dinner we brought along a bottle of red wine we purchased during our trip in Madeira.

For starters we ordered a plate of artisan cheese and cured meats. Two of the cheeses perked our interests, a Northern Holland cheese called Beemster and a cheese from France called Pierre Robert. The Beemster was served with an interestingly sweet combination of chocolate and caramel. Pierre Robert, which had a wonderfully decadent and sweet cream texture, was served with sweet strawberry seed compote. The contrast of the sweet and savory flavors was just simply divine! Along with the cheeses we sampled the Sopressatta spiced dry salami.

My better half ordered the short rib ragu, which consisted of a braised short rib sauteed with fresh tomatoes, broccoli rabe and homemade ricotta gnocchi. The dish was so good, I couldn't stop myself from stealing more of the tender pieces of short rib!

My pasta dish was quite intriguing, it was a pyramid ravioli filled with shrimp and lobster, served with asparagus in a parmesan butter sauce. The filling could be better if it was less pureed, otherwise I love how they used fresh pasta to make the ravioli and the asparagus was a nice compliment with the sweet seafood filling.

Mercato Restaurant
1216 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA
215.985.BYOB
Cash Only

Seared Five Spice Duck Breast Salad

2008-08-19T20:24:00.001-07:00

Oh my, how dare I devour myself?

I have to confess that I'm in love with duck meat and I especially enjoy seasoning it with a bit of five spice powder and sea salt.

Duck breast at any specialty food markets is the best for using in a salad, I especially like when the duck fat is included because it creates a lovely crispy texture.

For the ingredients you only need five spice powder and sea salt. Rub the meat on both sides and sear with the skin down in a frying pan for approximately 3 minutes. Cook the opposite side for about 6-7 minutes and you're done.

For a complimentary salad dressing, I mixed 1 tsp of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of each sesame oil and rice vinegar. Add 2 heaping tablespoons of granulated sugar and mix until the sugar completely dissolves. Add sesame seeds to the salad dressing and pour over the salad.

Roadside Eats: The Waffle House

2008-08-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Stopping by in the Harrisburg area, we discovered the ever so popular Waffle House restaurant. Most locations are located in the southern states but there's a few west of Philadelphia.

The coffee was mighty fine and waffles weren't exactly as good as belgium waffles, but the blueberry syrup and whipped cream made them simply divine. My better half had more of a savory breakfast with consisted of cheesy grits, cinnamon & french toast, and scrambled eggs.

The Waffle House
4701 Lindle Road
Harrisburg, PA
(717) 985-1910

Passionate about Figs

2008-08-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'm obsessed about fresh figs and until the season is over, I'll be featuring more recipes and ideas about this lovely fruit.

So far I've sampled three different types of figs and I'm on the search for more!

Pictured here are black mission figs, conadria figs and brown turkey figs.

I've never seen these around the Philadelphia area, here's a yellow and green striped fig called Panachee. It has such a beautiful strawberry colored pulp and it grows primarily in the California area.

For the larger brown turkey figs, create a cross section cut and stuff the figs with prosciutto and blue cheese.

Tyler Florence has a great recipe for a salad of chicken, figs and salad greens. The black mission figs go well with a salad because they are petite, more firm and they have this gorgeous raspberry colored flesh. Add any kind of chicken breast to the center of the dish and adorn the surrounding with salad greens, figs, heirloom tomatoes and roasted fingerlings or baby potatoes.

Curried Chicken Salad

2008-08-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a low fat/low carbohydrate recipe that's quite satisfying and easy. I followed one of Clotilde's recipe for curried turkey sandwich in her cookbook . To make things simpler I bought a rotisserie chicken (Wegman's has a great deal, $4.99 for a whole chiken!) and chopped in cubes the entire breast portion. I added purple and white bell peppers and red grapes. Squeeze 1/2 a lemon over the mixture. Add 2 teaspoons of curry powder and about 2/3 cup of nonfat yogurt. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate. You can make a sandwich out of this salad, or for a lower carbohydrate version spoon the salad onto endive.

No Churn Lychee & Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream with Merlot Poached Pears

2008-08-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Who says you can't make ice cream without an ice cream maker?

Recently I purchased a copy of Nigella Lawson's latest book and found a very simple and delicious recipe for no churn pomegranate ice cream. With some of her inspiration, I created my own unique recipe with an exotic blend of lychees, black raspberry liquor and luscious pears soaked in merlot.

No Churn Lychee & Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream with Merlot Poached Pears

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of fresh or canned lychee juice
1/4 cup of Chambord black raspberry liquor
1 crushed pear (preferably a ripe Taylor's Gold or Bosc)
8 ounces of mascarpone cheese
2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
fresh raspberries

For Merlot Poached Pears

3-4 ripe pears
a bottle of your favorite merlot

Crush one ripe pear using a grater or processor and collect all the pulp and juice into a measuring cup. Add to the pear 1/4 cup of Chambord black raspberry liquor and 1/4 cup of fresh or canned lychee juice. You can go with either fresh or canned, I find that the canned lychee juice has more sweetness and flavor.

Stir all ingredients together and place into a large bowl or stand mixer bowl. Add heavy cream and mascarpone cheese and whisk until soft peaks form.

Mix in fresh raspberries and spoon the ice cream into a plastic container with a fitted lid.

Top the ice cream with pieces of dark chocolate and freeze for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Peel pears, cut each in half and remove the core using a melon ball scooper. Place them in a saucepan and pour a bottle of merlot over pears until they are fully immersed in wine. You can add a 1/2 cup of orange juice to add more flavor to the wine, but the merlot alone is just fine. Add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and heat to a simmer.

Cook pears until they become soft, approximately 30 minutes.

For serving, allow the ice cream to soften for 5-10 minutes at room temperature.
Add a poached pear to the ice cream dish and add several spoonfuls of the merlot syrup. Add ice cream to the center of the pear and top the ice cream with lychees and rasbperries.

It's wondeful to add the ice cream to a warm poached pear because it melts all the flavors altogether, definitely a fantastic combination.

The Sweetest Fig

2008-08-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Now is the perfect time to find figs at your local grocery, there's so many varieties and they go well solo or in any kind of dish

Add figs to a salad along with heirloom tomatoes and haloumi cheese.

For more of a dessert flair, add gooseberries and currants along with figs. Nestle the figs in a bed of thinly sliced prosciutto.

Figs also go well with saffron chicken and asparagus.

Dried figs are perfect along with lamb cooked in a tagine.

There's plenty of ideas for main dishes and desserts that I haven't mentioned, how do you like to eat your figs?

Truly the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

2008-08-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my guilty indulgences and it's definitely a favorite surprise amongst my coworkers. I tried Tyler Florences Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it turned out quite nicely. I made a few tweaks to the recipe, I added a little less salt and I used jumbo eggs instead of large eggs.

Ingredients :

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (8-ounce) block dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Place the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and continue to mix until a smooth batter forms. Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks using the spatula.

To form the cookies, scoop about 1/4 cup of cookie dough into your hands and roll it around into a ball; place them about 3-inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets; you should get about 4 cookies on each pan. Press down the tops of the dough slightly and bake until the cookies are light brown, 12 minutes for chewy cookies, or about 15 minutes for crispy cookies.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough/cookie sheets.

Food for the Seoul: Jap Chae

2008-08-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to learn how to make korean food and so far the results are pretty good, not exactly as delicious as my mom's cooking but it comes very close to it. One of A's favorite dishes is jap chae and I found a pretty good recipe that's worth featuring.

Ingredients:

4-5 oz tang myun- soak in hot water for 30 min, drain, and cut briefly with scissors
1 medium carrot- julienned
1/2 medium onion- julienned
2 scallions- sliced on bias
1 bunch spinach- blanched, cut into thirds
1/4 cup chadolbaegi (thinly sliced frozen beef)- sliced
6 dehydrated shiitake mushrooms- soak for 2hr, slice

tang myun marinade
1/6 cup light soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp water
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic- finely minced
3 tbsp mirin

1 tsp garlic/parsley mix
sesame seeds
fresh ground pepper
vegetable oil

Directions:

-Set pan on medium high heat. Coat pan lightly with oil. Pan fry chadolbaengi until cooked. Remove from pan and put into a large bowl.

-Reset pan on medium high heat. Add more oil if necessary. Cook button and shiitake mushrooms. Remove from pan and set aside in the same bowl as the cooked beef.

-Repeat and cook carrots and onions. Toss thoroughly until cooked, about 3-4min. Remove from pan and set aside in the same bowl.

-Repeat and cook spinach. Spinach will cook quickly, about 2-3min. Remove from pan and set aside in the same bowl.

-Repeat and cook fish cake and scallions. Toss for about 2-3min. Remove from pan and set aside in the same bowl.

-Reset pan onto medium high heat. Lightly coat pan with oil. Add tang myun to pan. Add tang myun marinade. Toss and mix thorougly. Cover for 2min. Uncover, toss, add garlic parsley mix, toss again. Taste. When liquid has fully absorbed into tang myun, remove from pan and into the same bowl.

-Generously add fresh ground pepper, toss mixture thorougly. Finish with sesame seeds.

Sur La Table

2008-08-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of my favorite places to shop for baking accessories is Sur La Table. I used to live down the street of one of their locations in Chicago, and since moving to Philadelphia I found one location in the Cherry Hill area. There's so much crammed in this store, it's ridiculous.

They have all sorts of pans for tarts, sweet and savory in round, oval, rectangular, square and heart shapes.

Just one of the many lovely stacks displayed throughout the store.

A neat display of strainers of all kinds of sizes.

They have silver french dragees and they cost a jaw-dropping freakin' $13! I couldn't resist..

Mustard spoons, Salt spoons, Sugar spoons, Oyster Fork, Escargot Forks.

They also have an amazing selection of extracts from all over the world. The prices aren't too bad, I found whole vanilla beans they cost 1/2 the price you'll pay at Whole Foods.

Sur La Table
The Promenade at Sagemore
Marlton, NJ 08053
(856) 797-0098

Local Farms: SIW Vegetables

2008-08-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was driving through the Brandywine Valley area and discovered this really interesting vegetable stand right off Route 100. SIW Vegetables has 65 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and a vast assortment of cucumbers, eggplants, squashes, corn and peppers. What's unique about this farm is that it's drip irrigated, which saves more water and reduces manpower. What's also great about this stand is the prices are reasonable in comparison to other markets in the Philadelphia area.

$1.79 per pound for any of the green, graffiti, chinese and purple eggplants.

Gorgeous Heirloom Tomatoes

Here's what I bought from SIW, I'll be featuring how to cook the different types of eggplants that shown here.

Turkey Sausage and Basil Pasta

For today's meal I created an quick and simple pasta dish which includes the grafitti eggplants.

Ingredients:
1 lb of turkey sausage
1 sweet onion
2 graffiti eggplants
2 cups of canned whole plum tomatoes
cooked pasta of your choice
fresh mozarella & parmesan cheese
a handful of basil and parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove turkey sausage from casing and cook meat in a skillet on medium high. Add large slices of sweet onion and chopped eggplant to the skillet along with the sauage. Add the 2 cups of canned tomatoes to the skillet and simmer altogether for approximately 5 minutes.

Add cooked pasta to the casserole dish first, then add the turkey sausage mix. Add basil leaves, parsley, fresh mozarella and parmesan on top of the pasta dish. Bake for 15 minutes and serve.

Stuffed Eggplants:

I reserved one of the eggplants for a stuffed eggplant dish. Scrape out the innards of the eggplant and stuff the eggplant with remaining meat sauce from the pasta dish. I topped each with chopped onions, heiloom tomatoes, and gouda cheese. Lightly coat each eggplant piece with olive oil and bake along with the pasta dish for 15 minutes.

Turkey Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Goodness

2008-08-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

This recipe from Pioneer Woman is fabulous, the combination of cream cheese, bacon and jalapeno peppers is just heavenly..

I decided to make a lighter version by substituting the bacon with turkey bacon and the cream cheese for a lower fat version.

The results were delicious and very addicting.

Beau Monde!

2008-08-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary we decided to celebrate at Creperie Beau Monde, perhaps the most fabulous place for crepes!

Milk spilling out the wrong end! They have the most adorable cow shaped creamers.

We had both a savory and a savory, the cajun gumbo w/ andouille sausage and the purely decadent pears, chocolate, & creme anglaise crepe.

Creperie Beau Monde
624 S 6th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 592-0656

Daring Bakers Challenge: Danish Braid

2008-06-29T19:03:00.001-07:00

This is my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I'm quite excited how the results turned out! Making the braid was a two day process and I had some difficulties managing the dough. I made the braid strips thinner than what was recommended in the recipe, which resulted a french braid-like effect to my pastry. The dough was also very sticky as it became warmer so I had to braid really fast. This was quite a challenge and I'm glad that I participated this month.

DANISH DOUGH

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

For the butter I used a higher quality butter from France.

(Honestly after tasting the danish I couldn't tell the difference! Perhaps my baking skills are not advanced enough for the quality of butter to matter? I'll have to see in future recipes..)

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

I added a chocolate marzipan filling I found from the Frog Commissary Cookbook. The recipe includes almond paste, egg whites, almond extract, dark chocolate and butter. The filling was quite decadent and I loved the almond flavoring.

I had enough dough to make a second braid, this time I made it a savory one. I added scrambled eggs and ham, topped off with black sesame seeds. The braid was quite delicious and addicting.

Fuji and Sagami: The Art of Fine Sushi

2008-06-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Allen and I love to watch movies and we especially enjoy movies about food. Tampopo is one of our favorites, I'll never forget the scene of the old man teaching how to eat ramen the proper way. There were so many excellent scenes in this movie, and unfortunately we let it go into the wrong hands.. One of our friends loved the movie so much that he refuses to return it back, currently it's in Corpus Christi, Texas and I hope one day I'll get it back into my possession.. :)

Shota No Sushi is another favorite which is an extensive japanese dorama series about the art of making good sushi. I'm not a big fan of japanese doramas but after seeing the first episode of Shota No Sushi, I had the watch the entire 10 hours series. It was seriously that good. After watching Shota, you'll know what makes excellent sushi. (*click on the above image for a preview!)

So since moving to Philadelphia, Allen and I were on a mission to find authentic Japanese food. We searched high and low and discovered two restaurants in the New Jersey area, Fuji Restaurant and Sagami Restaurant.

Fuji Restaurant is definitely my favorite for sushi. The sushi is so fresh and the preparation is extraordinary.

Here's the owner and chef Matt Ito. Check out that knife!

Love these huge slices of mackeral. The rice was perfect and it didn't fall apart like our experience from Morimoto.

Looks are quite deceiving in this case. This spider roll looks quite simple but it's loaded with soft shell crab. Yum!

The beautiful rainbow roll. Every piece was quite delightful!

The ambience is quite romantic and the restaurant gets quite crowded every day of the week. Reservations are highly recommended. Haddonfield is very close to the Cherry Hill area so it's about a 20-30 minute drive from the city.

FUJI Japanese Restaurant
116 East Kings Highway
Haddonfield, NJ
856-354-8200

Sagami Japanese Restaurant

Sagami has been around for about 20 years, located in the South Jersey burbs of Collingswood, New Jersey. We arrived at the restaurant around 5:30 pm and the place was completely packed. The owner Shigeru Fukuyoshi is seen working hard behind the sushi bar along with his sushi chefs creating the most beautiful pieces of sashimi I've seen so far.

Seeing the menu for the first time, you might think the selection is somewhat limited and simple menu descriptions leave you with little imagination of what to expect. We checked out a few items that people ordered and the food looked amazing and the portions were huge!

For dinner we tried a few pieces of sashimi and the following:

Agedashi Tofu

and then we had the yosenabe, which is a japanese seafood hotpot.

The food was extraordinary and very authentic, we also loved the BYOB option at this restaurant.

Sagami
37 Crescent Boulevard (Route 130)
Collingswood, Camden County, New Jersey
(856) 854-9773

Live Soft Shell Turtles at HK Market

2008-06-09T03:30:00.000-07:00

Allen and I stopped by HK Market on Adams Avenue after having lunch at one of our favorite vietnamese restaurants next door. We discovered soft shell turtles on sale for $8.99 per pound. I thought these turtles were considered rare and to see them on sale at the market was so disturbing..

I do love their candy/snack aisle. There's a good variety of chinese, vietnamese and japanese food in this market.

And here's my favorite, pocky sticks! :) I love the strawberry and tiramisu flavors. Here's my version of a Gurskification.

Manila Bay Restaurant

2008-06-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

My husband Allen and I love discovering new restaurants and we especially love Castor Avenue for all the diversity it offers! Just north a few blocks from Picanha Brazilian Grill is an authentic filipino restaurant called Manila Bay Restaurant.

For starters we ordered an array of appetizers, which included lumpia, fried chicken wings and dumplings. The lumpia was to die for, filipino families come here to order bulk amounts of frozen lumpia because they make it so good here!

Binag. Binagoonagan? Binagoongan.. your tongue might tied up just saying the dish! It's spare ribs sauteed in shrimp paste sauce. Allen loved this dish but I wasn't too fond of the saltiness of the shrimp paste sauce.

New items on the menu include traditional filipino breakfast entrees. I ordered the langonisa (filipino sausage) with eggs and garlic rice. This dish really hit the spot for me, I love breakfast and the sausage was so good along with the garlic friend rice. It was so good that we had to order seconds to take home.

Service here is excellent and the owner is extremely friendly and will explain any questions you have about the authentic dishes they offer on the menu.

Manila Bay Restaurant
6724 Castor Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
http://www.manila-bay.com/

Daring Bakers

2008-06-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

Woo woo, I just joined Daring Bakers! :)

The Pizza Box: Pizza is for Lovers

2008-06-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

Who said you can't find good food in the Glenside area? Allen and I were passing through Glenside on Easton Rd after checking out the Grey Towers Castle at Arcadia University (which is a must see if you happen to be in the area!). There's not a lot of restaurant choices around the campus but we did find a pretty good pizza restaurant a few minutes away from the campus. It's called the Pizza Box and it has perhaps the best thin crust I've had so far in the Philadelphia area.

My husband is originally from the east coast so he knows what a good slice of thin crust tastes like. He offered me the first bite out of the slice of sausage pizza and I was really surprised that the crust was very crispy even at the center of the pizza. The crust was fantastic and so addicting. They also make handmade cannoli here and I'll definitely have to try it next time.

There's also a variety of hollywood specialty stuffed pizzas such as the Stallone (pizza stuffed with philly cheesesteak), the Al Capone (stuffed lasagna), Sophia Loren (white pizza with chicken, broccoli and mushroom), and the Cheech and Chong (taco pizza). There's about 20 celebrities on the menu and you'll need to call ahead of time to order any of these specialty pizzas.

I'm continuing on my adventure to find good thin crust pizza around the Philadelphia area, for any of the locals feel free to drop me any recommendations!

The Pizza Box
43 Limekiln Pike
Glenside, PA 19038
(Dine in and Pick Up only)

Eric Kayser's Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

2008-05-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law has a sweet tooth and for his birthday I decided to make something he might like. He tends to like desserts that are not too dense and sweet, I searched around and discovered this recipe, Eric Kayser's Milk Chocolate Mousse and Caramel Tart. Sounds like a divine combination.

The recipe makes up to two tarts so you can make a fraction of the recipe as desired.

Memorial Day Weekend: New Hope and Lambertville

2008-05-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

The weather was awesome during Memorial Day weekend. We traveled to Princeton to visit my in-laws and afterwards we strolled around New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey. Both towns are quite charming and very close to each other even though they are located in different states. At this location both states almost kiss, connected by a small bridge that allows you to go back and forth from each town.

There's a lot of interesting boutique shops around New Hope, here's a few mannequins at one of my favorite stores that sells all sorts of retro trinkets.

At the New Hope & Ivyland railroad station. One day I would love to take a ride on one of these trains, they travel through the hills and valleys of historic Bucks County. Some of the views are just so breathtaking, definitely worth checking out if you're in New Hope.

The bridge that connects Pennsylvania to New Jersey. It only takes a few minutes to reach to the other state!

Vintage clothing and lots of antique furniture stores.

Here's a really good coffee shop, they sell whole beans from all over the world and they're quite good in comparison to the shops I've discovered around Philly. I bought a 1/2 lb of Ethiopian Longberry Harrar and the coffee is quite smooth and delicious.

A view from the bridge.

There were so many ducks in the river, I found this one to be quite a character.

One of my husband's coworkers lives in New Hope and he recommended this restaurant for the riverside view and the food.

The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating, the indoor is quite quaint but

The restaurant is quite popular, waiting time is around 15 minutes up to 45 minutes for larger groups.

The food was pretty good but the presentation was terrible.. I ordered the vegetable pasta which includes roasted zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, red peppers, onions, topped off with grated parmesan. Look towards your left of my dish and you'll see a snow pea that was accidentally thrown into my pasta. Otherwise the pasta was decent. A's dish was more impressive, he got the spicy sausage ravioli with vodka based creme sauce.

Heading back to Lambertville.

One of the many antique stores selling beautiful furniture and chinaware.

More antique and art gallery shopping...

Finally, heading back to Philadelphia.

Portuguese Custard Tarts

2008-05-19T20:13:00.001-07:00

From our Madeira, Portugal trip I fell in love with these tiny portuguese custard tarts sold at the many local cafes and bakeries in the city of Funchal. The pastry crust is unbelievably light and flaky and I adore the golden brown top of the egg custard filling.

I searched online to find a recipe that can replicate this unique tart, and I think I'll give this one a try.. :)

Keftka Kabob and Persian Jeweled Rice

2008-04-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to make lamb meatballs and persian jeweled rice for a recent potluck dinner. This recipe was found on Epicurious and I'd like it over Nigella's lamb meatballs. There's less of a cinnamon flavor and I love the spiciness from the cayenne pepper. I added a few pieces of prunes to some of the meatballs, an inspirational idea I got from Chocolate and Zucchini's cookbook.

I used this recipe from Epicurious:

With these distinctly Middle Eastern kebabs, the minty coolness of the yogurt sauce offsets the allspice, pepper, and cinnamon in some of the most succulent and juicy meatballs you have ever tasted.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 hr

Servings: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients

For sauce
1 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole-milk)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt

For zucchini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium zucchini (1 1/4 lb total), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices

For kefta (lamb meatballs)
2 slices firm white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 lb ground lamb (from shoulder)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and finely chopped

Special equipment: 12 (10-inch) wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes

Preparation

Make sauce:
Stir together yogurt, mint, garlic, and salt in a small bowl and chill.

Prepare zucchini:
Whisk together lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and oil in a large bowl and stir in zucchini slices. Marinate at room temperature while making meatballs.

Make meatballs:
Cover bread with water in a bowl and soak 10 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of bread to remove as much excess water as possible, then transfer to a bowl.

Pulse onion and herbs in a food processor until finely chopped, then add to bread along with lamb, salt, spices, and pine nuts. Mix with your hands until well blended. Form lamb mixture into 36 balls (1 scant tablespoon each).

Assemble and grill kebabs:
Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate heat for gas; see cooks' note below). Thread 6 meatballs 1/4 inch apart onto each of 6 skewers. Thread zucchini lengthwise onto remaining 6 skewers (5 slices per skewer), so cut sides are on the grill, leaving 1/4 inch between slices. Grill zucchini and lamb on oiled grill rack, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve warm, with yogurt sauce.

Cooks' notes:
Kebabs can be broiled on 2 large shallow baking pans 5 inches from heat, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes.

Grilling procedure:
• Charcoal grill: Open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. When charcoal turns grayish white (about 15 minutes from lighting), hold your hand 5 inches above grill rack to determine heat for charcoal as follows. Hot: when you can hold your hand there for 1 to 2 seconds; medium-hot: 3 to 4 seconds; low: 5 to 6 seconds.
• Gas grill: preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then, if necessary, reduce to heat specified in recipe.

For the side along with the rice I decided to make persian jeweled rice. Compare it to the website's version of the recipe, it looks pretty good! I made a few tweaks, I didn't have barberries so I soaked dried currants, cherries and golden raisins. I wish I had some pomegranate seeds because they make the dish truly like a gem, but unfortunately this fruit is not in season now. I searched everywhere and no pomegranate to be seen! :(

The recipe can be found here and the ingredients in the dish are as follows:

Persian Jeweled Rice Javaher Polow
For 6 as a royal side dish
3 cups Basmati rice
2 organic oranges
1 large carrot
1 cup dried barberries
1/2 cup raisins
1 onion
1 cup blanched whole almonds or almonds and pistachios
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp dried rosebuds
3 tbsp green cardamom pods
pinch of saffron diluted in 1 glass water
150 gr butter
2 tbsp yoghurt

Barberries (Berberis, épine-vinette) are dried tart berries with an intense red color. They become stale and dark after a few months so you could substitute them with fresh pomegranate seeds and keep, in my opinion, with the dish's spirit.

Cut the rind of an orange in long strips. Try to leave out as much of the bitter white underlayer as possible. Use an organic orange or you'll eat the pesticide, soap and wax found in the rind of regular oranges.

Peel a large carrot and continue to peel the flesh to obtain long, flat carrot strips. You can also use a very flat knife with a very steady hand or a mandoline.

Cut the orange strips sideways into tiny sticks. These will stand out on the rice like tiny orange jewels. You could also cut them in diamond shapes - that would be in the dish's spirit.

In a small saucepan combine the orange rind with 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Strain. This step helps getting rid of the rind's bitterness.

Combine one cup sugar with one cup water (picture), bring to a boil and add both orange rind and carrot strips. Boil gently for 10 minutes, strain and reserve. This process partially candies the orange and carrot.

Jeweled rice called for a magical spice mix called advieh, which you can easily make by grinding together 2 part cinnamon, 1 part cumin seeds, 2 part rose petals and 3 part cardamom pods. Remove the pods. Here I used spices bought at Istanbul's spice market. The resulting powder is intensely fragrant.

Wash the rice in twice its volume in water, wash and strain. Do this as many times as needed for the water to be totally transparent. Like for the Pakistani Pulao, This process gets rid of the microscopic rice dust that would turn your royal dish into Vietnamese sticky rice. It takes only a few minutes.

Boil the rice in salted water until it softens but remains slightly crunchy, 9-12 minutes. Stir to ensure grains are fully separated, strain and reserve.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large pan with a tight fitting lid. This is important as it will prevent the rice crust from sticking - add more rather than less. Mix 4 tbsp of the partly boiled rice with 1 tbsp yoghurt and a drop of saffron water. Spread this mixture in a layer at the bottom. It will turn into a delicious golden crust, the hallmark of Persian rice dishes.

Cover the rice-yoghurt layer with two ladles of rice and add a fourth of the orange-carrot strips. Sprinkle some advieh (the spice mix) on top, and add another layer of rice and continue like before until you run out of ingredients. Try to shape the rice into a hill inside the pan so it will have room to expand.

Add a generous amount of advieh on top and pour the rest of the melted butter and saffron water and half a cup water. Cover tightly, possibly using a towel wrapped all around the top of the pot to prevent any leakage. Cook over low heat for about 45 minutes.

While the rice finishes cooking, prepare the garnish.

Soak 1 cup barberries and half a cup raisins into 2 cups warm water for 20 minutes. Thinly slice an onion and gently fry it in 2 tbs/25 gr butter until soft and brown.

Add the strained barberries and raisins and cook for one more minute. Reserve.

Toasted nuts have a more intense flavor but too much toasting can ruin their appearance and make their taste overwhelm the rest. In a baking tray place the almonds and, if you want, the pistachios. Toast for about 10-15 minutes at 180°C while watching them continually. Nuts are easily overtoasted! Alternatively, you can gently fry them in a non-stick pan with a little oil or no oil.

Prepare a large serving platter, if possible of Persian or at least Arab origin. Carefully pile the rice in a nicely shaped mound and garnish with the Berberis-raisin-onion mixture and nuts.

Above another version with pomegranate seeds and rose petals on top although the composition can become visually cluttered.

A good deal of what makes this dish royal is its presentation. Be careful when laying the berberis on top and take some time to make a nice ring of nuts all around the rice.

Above you see the first time I tried this recipe, with a roasted chicken cut in pieces around. The berberis bays were probably over the hill and quite dark, but a very convincing dish already.

The rice at the bottom of the pot will form a delicious golden crust, crunchy and flavored with saffron. This is the part Persians all desire, the gratin, the duck skin, the crust on a leg of lamb. They call it tah-dig. Scrape it and serve one piece on each plate.

Picanha Brazilian Grill

2008-04-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Is this a dream come true or what? I first heard about brazilian barbeque back in the days I was living in Chicago. Fogo de Chao opened up in the downtown area and then there was Sal Carvo, each costing about an arm and leg for an all you can eat buffet. I guess if you can manage to eat about $50 of protein and a mix of carbs/fiber, it's a worthwhile experience. In my case a plate of food is enough to satisfy me for dinner and at Fogo de Chao that would be a rather expensive meal. Since moving to Philadelphia I will still on a mission to find a brazilian barbeque restaurant. We discovered a lot of interesting restaurants scattered along Castor Avenue, which is located in the Northeast Area. One of the restaurants being Picanha Brazilian Grill is perhaps our favorite.

This restaurant is exactly what we were looking for, it offers an all you can eat buffet for $17.99 on weekdays and $19.99 on weekends. If you rather not go for the buffet option, you can choose to weigh your plate and pay by the pound. In most cases, we choose the weigh our plate option and the price always turns out reasonable.

Here's one of the meat carvers explaining the various cuts of meats. He offered a sample of the sirloin steak displayed above, and there's also chicken/pork sausage, short ribs, brisket and chicken wings. For dessert they also offer a skewer of whole pineapple that is drizzled with honey.

There's also a salad/hot bar offering fresh salads and stewed meats, rice and beans, fresh fruits.

This is what we ended up eating for the night and the cost was only $18 for both plates. That's quite a deal in comparison to other brazilian restaurants! Another plus, the restaurant is BYOB and the service is extremely friendly.

Picanha Brazilian Grill
6501 Caster Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149-2708

Skate Wing and Coconut Madeleines

2008-04-13T10:56:00.001-07:00

Today my husband and I checked out the Reading Terminal Market and bought a very unusual fish: Skate

I have seen it prepared in several cookbooks and with the price being only $4.99 per pound, I decided to take all risks and buy a skate wing. To my surprise there was a lot of cartilage and I had fillet the fish which is something I've never done before. I looked at the fish and came up with a bright idea, why not dissect the fish like I would in gross anatomy? So I ended up removing as much meat I could from the cartilage, keeping my knife close to the cartilage as I pulled on the fillet. It was surprisingly easy and the fillet looked beautiful

A view of the skate wing before filleting.

After filleting the fish, I added a small amount of all purpose flour and dried herbs to the light surface, sauteed the fish in one teaspoon of olive oil and added chopped up pieces of pine nuts to the top of the fillet.

Coconut Madeleines Dusted with Powder Sugar

This recipe was literally a "piece of cake". They taste so much better than the ones I've had at Starbucks and you can add so many other ingredients, such as ground pistachios, matcha powder, chocolate, almond powder, hazelnuts. I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks, Barefoot in Paris.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter, to grease the pans,
plus 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Confectioners' sugar, optional

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Thoroughly butter
and flour the madeleine pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs,
sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for 3 minutes, or until light yellow and
fluffy. Add 1/4 pound of butter and mix. Sift together the flour, cornstarch,
baking powder, and salt, and stir into the batter with a rubber spatula. Stir in
the coconut.

With a soup spoon, drop the batter into the pans, filling each shell almost full.
Bake the madeleines for 10 to 12 minutes, until they spring back when pressed. Tap
the madeleines out onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper and allow to cool.

So delicious and great for dipping in coffee!

Aromatic Lamb and Prune Meatballs

2008-04-07T06:23:00.001-07:00

Another interesting recipe I found from one of Nigella's cookbooks, savory lamb meatballs. It's a perfect one to try if you love persian or moroccon lamb dishes. I also found a similar recipe created by Chocolate & Zucchini, which adds prunes and orange zest to the ground lamb. I only had prunes available in my cupboard so simply added them to Nigella's recipe. The results are so good and even better the next day as leftovers.

Aromatic Lamb & Prune Meatballs

1 pound ground lamb
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons semolina
1 egg
Vegetable oil, for frying

Put the lamb into a bowl and add the scallions. Sprinkle over the spices, salt, and semolina, and then beat the egg adding to the bowl. Work everything together thoroughly with your hands, and then cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and scoop out a scant teaspoon of the mixture. Roll in your hands to form the meatball and place on the lined baking sheet. Have a bowl of cold water beside you to dampen your hands with; this helps them not get too sticky for rolling the meatballs.

When you are ready to cook them, heat about 1/2-inch of oil in a frying pan. Line another baking sheet with kitchen towel, and when the oil is hot, fry the meatballs in batches without overcrowding the pan. Cook them for about a minute a side, or until golden brown all over.

You can serve them with couscous or in my case, Trader Joe's Harvest Grains blend which includes Israeli style couscous, orzo, garbanzo beans and red quinoa.

Homemade Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima Style

2008-04-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

I found a pretty good recipe on Apartment Therapy The Kitchen, and I decided to go beyond the recipe and make the Hiroshimi Style which involves using udon noodles.

Kewpie mayonnaise and okonomi sauce

okonomiyaki flour

frozen udon noodles: these are perhaps my favorite kind. they're so much better than the refridgerated version.

nagaimo root - found in most Asian markets, not limited to Japanese groceries.
shaved bonito (fish flakes) <----
thin slices of beef and seafood (octopus, shrimp, oysters)
eggs
green cabbage
pickled red ginger

Step 1: Add 3/4 cup of okonomiyaki flour to a mixing bowl, and add 2/3 cups of water. Mix well. Add two eggs.
Step 2: Take the nagaimo root and trim off one end. With a sharp knife, peel off the light brown skin. Underneath is a slimy, white flesh. Grate about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of nagaimo into the bowl. Take care not to slip and accidentally grate your knuckles; the nagaimo has a very slimy consistency.
Step 3: Grate about 1 cup of green cabbage. Add this to the bowl. Now, add your fillings of choice and mix well.
Step 4: Heat a large, flat skillet or griddle. Evenly spread 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil on the surface. Take your okonomiyaki batter and spread it in a circle that is about 6 inches across and 3/4 inch thick. You will get several okonomiyaki servings out of your batter, so don't use all the batter at once. Remember, you have to flip this like a pancake, so don't make it so big that your pancake turner can't handle it.
Step 5: Let the okonomiyaki cook on one side on medium heat (350 degrees) for about 7 to 9 minutes. The trick is to not turn it too soon; doing so will break the pancake. By the time you flip it, it should be nicely browned on one side.
Step 6: Flip the okonomiyaki and cook the other side for 7 to 9 minutes. Flip it over and cook for 3 minutes more.
Step 7: Remove the okonomiyaki to a plate and with a pastry brush, brush the brown okonomi sauce over the surface. Take the bottle of Kewpie and squeeze lines of mayonnaise across the surface in a criss-cross pattern; it should look like lattice. Sprinkle about 2 to 3 tablespoons of fish flakes on top and 1 tablespoon of aonori on top. Place a tablespoon of pickled ginger smack dab in the middle.

For the Hiroshima style, you'll need to boil then stir fry the noodles beforehand. After cooking one side of the pancake, I removed the pancake from the frying pan and rested it on a large plate. I added udon noodles, thin slices of beef and shrimp to the pan. To keep all the ingredients together, I poured two egg whites over the top and cooked everything until the noodles developed a slightly burnt and crispy texture. Last step in the cooking process is to place the pancake on top of the egg/udon noodle layer and let it cook for several more minutes

It was actually a lot easier than I thought, the trickiest part was flipping the pancake because it has a tendency to break apart easily. What really worked best for me was to use two spatulas to support the base and quickly flip the pancake. .

and here you go.. grilled as you like it. :)

Cafe Habana

2008-04-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Before visiting our friends in the Manhattan area we decided to do a little shopping in the Soho area, where we discovered a tiny restaurant called Cafe Habana. There's two parts to this restaurant, a diner style area and next door there's a carry out area where you could dine if space permits. The diner area was completely packed and the waiting time was about 30 minutes for a table for two, so we check out what was available next door. Surprisingly, it was pretty spacious considering that they just opened up that portion of the restaurant. We also noticed they offered the same food for cheaper prices, obviously something we woudn't complain about. :)

Out of the fairly extensive menu options, we decided to order the grilled corn and cuban sandwich. If I had to say what tasted the best, I would vote for the grilled corn. It was so good, I love how they smothered it with mayo and lightly coated with cojito cheese. chili pepper powder and a squeeze of lime juice. The cuban sandwich was also very good and authentic, tender pieces of roast pork and ham, swiss cheese and thinly sliced pickles all wrapped up nicely in a toasted cuban bread.

What can I say about this place? The corn is unforgettable. :)

Cafe Habana
229 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 625-2002
ecoeatery.com

Roasted Cornish Hen with Rosemary and Herbs de Provence

2008-04-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I created using a few spices I already had in the kitchen along with whatever I could find in the fridge.

Prepare aproximately 3-4 cups of your favorite rice. I decided to use basmati rice with small handful of saffron rice. To give the rice more flavor, I added whatever leftover ingredients we had from last night's dinner: chopped onions, zucchini, shredded pieces of smoked turkey and seasonings.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean each cornish hen and take out all the gizzards. Lightly brush each hen with melted butter and season with fresh herbs, ground pepper and salt. Stuff each hen with a small amount of rice. Roast in oven for about 50 minutes, remember to baste the hens every 15 minutes to keep the meat from drying up. After roasting for 15 minutes I stuffed each hen even more with rice. Cook until hens reach a internal temperature of 175 degrees.

Anise Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti

2008-04-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

A few years back while we were living in Chicago my husband lived in the Little Italy neighborhood. There was a small italian bakery that made the best biscotti I've ever had, and the key ingredient was crushed anise seeds. It really adds an exotic flavor to the cookie and it's goes so well dipped in hot chocolate or in cappuccino. I found a recipe from Epicurious on Smitten Kitchen for the perfect anise biscotti. I decided to add some cranberries and pistachios that I had leftover in my cupboard.

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons aniseed, ground
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped

1 large egg white

Preparation

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract and ground aniseed in large bowl. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Mix in almonds.

Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Transfer both logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Whisk egg white in small bowl until foamy; brush over top and sides of each dough log.

Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 30 minutes. Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 25 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake until just beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea

2008-04-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

We stopped by Dean & Deluca last weekend. The place was so packed and they had an interesting variety of coffee bags, including some from my favorite coffee roasters in the Chicagoland area, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea. There were so many to choose from, I chose a classic one, the Tres Santos Columbia. The coffees not only have a less acidic flavor, they have a very smooth and a hint of chocolate and fruit flavoring. Here's the description of the Tres Santos, Columbia:

Region: Cauca
Varietal: Caturra, Typica, Colombia
Altitude: 1600 - 1900 m
Harvest: April - July

Description

Flavor: Fruit forward, candied citrus, cane sugar
Acidity: Crisp, juicy
Finish: Short, clean, resonant

Tasting Notes

Like a happy reunion with an old friend, tasting the incoming crop of Tres Santos is always a joyous event. This year's crop from Cauca is fruit-forward, bursting with flavors of candied citrus and cane sugar underscoring its juicy acidity. The body is smooth and supple as it leads into a clean but resonant finish of caramel and milk chocolate. The coffee's clarity and complexity blossom as it cools, displaying its polished integration of flavors that make it both enchanting and approachable.

I'm checking out the website now and I have a few that I might consider trying, such as:

FLOR AZUL™, NICARAGUA

Regions: Jinotega/Matagalpa
Varietal: Caturra and Catuai
Altitude: 1200-1350 meters
Harvest: December - March

Characteristics

Acidity: round, gentle, friendly
Body: medium-full
Flavor: cocoa, caramel, apricot, taffy
Finish: chocolaty and sweet

Tasting Notes

A coffee with impressive structure, the Flor Azul stands upon a foundation of cocoa and tree nuts adorned with an array of sweet fruits: pear, apricot, and melon. It is completed by a finish of light molasses and a touch of cinnamon. The body is round, silky, and smooth making it an ideal accompaniment for a tranquil afternoon.

FLOR AZUL™, NICARAGUA

Flavor: Sugar cane, red fruit, milk chocolate
Acidity: Balanced, round, invigorating
Finish: Chocolatey, clean

Tasting Notes

It’s exciting to find a coffee this balanced and composed and yet still so enlivening. El Cuervo offers a full spectrum of flavor ranging from red fruits like apples, berries and plums to sweet sugar cane, marshmallow, and rich milk chocolate. It exudes confidence in a way that very few coffees can.

LAS TERMOPILAS, NICARAGUA

Location: Esteli, Nueva Segovia
Varietals: Caturra
Altitude: 1400 meters
Harvest: December - February

Characteristics

Flavor: Fresh raspberries, lime, tropical fruit
Acidity: Crisp, refreshing
Finish: Clean, soft milk chocolate

Tasting Notes

From one of the same producers as our Organic Los Delirios, this 4th place Nicaragua Cup of Excellence winning lot is impeccable. The coffee introduces itself with an abundant sweetness that indicates just how careful Sr. Canales was in ensuring the selection of fully ripe coffee cherries during harvest. Notes of fresh raspberries and lime blossom on the back of a crisp acidity as it finishes into a clean milk chocolate denouement.

LOS INMORTALES™, EL SALVADOR

Location: Santa Ana
Varietal: bourbon
Altitude: 1450-1700 m
Harvest: January - March

Characteristics

Flavor: Black grapes, milk chocolate
Acidity: Citrus, balanced
Finish: Dates, chocolate

Tasting Notes:

Delightful! The aroma of black grapes and chocolate sustain through the entire drinking experience. This medium-bodied coffee has a velvety mouthfeel and juicy sweetness typified in the date-like, dark grape flavor notes. Don’t be surprised if floral and Anjou pear nuances reveal themselves in the cup.

FINCA MALACARA, EL SALVADOR

Location: Santa Ana, El Salvador
Varietal: bourbon
Altitude: 1400-1500 meters asl
Soil: sandy-loam

Characteristics

Acidity: bright, round, balanced
Body: full, juicy
Flavor: ripe berries, baker’s chocolate, complex
Finish: clean, very sweet, articulate

Tasting Notes

This coffee is a wonderful example of what the bourbon varietal can taste like when harvested and milled with extreme care. Round, juicy acidity that is stimulating without being aggressive. Lots of nuance-flavors of ripe red berry, dark cherry, caramel, nougat, and baker’s chocolate tickle and intrigue the palate. The body is full, silky, and seamless. Sweet chocolate and ripe fruit persist through the finish and fade cleanly away into memory. The Malacara is an exceptionally elegant coffee-complex and satisfying without sacrificing any degree of drinkability.

Sounds so delicious to have coffee taste like ripe berries, chocolate, apricots, and taffy.

Gourmet Pizza Made Simple

2008-03-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I'm seriously addicted to carbs. I can't go without it any day of my life. I'm in love with all forms/shapes of breads and grains, especially ones that have a wonderfully cripy and chewy texture. I've always loved naan and TJ sells a great garlic version in the freezer section.

They also have this amazing red pepper/eggplant/garlic spread that's only 15 calories per serving. It goes great with pita chips or as a spread for a sandwich. For this recipe I decided to use it as the sauce instead of using tomato paste.

The recipe is pretty much up to you, depending on what ingredients you want to put on your pizza. I decided to add roasted tomatoes and butternut squash, fresh mozarella, slices of red onion, spinach, and various herbs.

The roasted butternut squash and cherry tomatoes

The pizzas before they head off to the oven.. Bake in the oven at about 375-400 degrees for about 5 minutes.

The naan is so perfect as a pizza crust. It's simple and quick, it's also healthier than your typical pizza that you'll find at the grocery.

You can modify the recipe any way you like, such as substitute the naan for pita or flat bread.

I Heart Chicken Marsala

2008-03-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

My first time having Chicken Marsala was at a restaurant called Dave's Italian Kitchen in Evanston, Illinois. The dish was quite good and not your usual italian style dish. I found a spectacular recipe in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook, and by special request I made a few tweaks.

Chicken Marsala

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

salt and ground black pepper

2 Tbsp oil

8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced (about 2 c.)

1 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp tomato paste

1 ½ c. Marsala

1 ½ Tbsp juice from lemon

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Directions:

-Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position, place a heatproof plate on the rack, and heat the oven to 200 degrees.
-Pat the chicken breasts dry. Place flour in a shallow baking dish

(*Here's where the little tweak comes in:

Allen wanted the chicken breasts stuffed so I added swiss cheese and several fresh basil leaves in the center of each breast. The results turned out pretty good.)

-Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.

-Working with one at a time, coat both side of chicken with flour.

-Lift the breast from the tapered end and shake to remove excess flour and set aside.

-Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large 12-in heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.

-Place the floured chicken in a single layer in the skillet and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

-Using tongs, turn the cutlets and cook on the second side until golden brown and the meat feels firm when pressed with a finger, about 5 min longer).

-Transfer chicken to the heated plate and return plate to the oven.

-Add the mushrooms to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high.

-Sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom, until the liquid released by the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms begin to brown, about 8 min.

-Add the garlic and tomato paste, stirring constantly, until the tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 min.

-Off the heat, add the Marsala.

-Return the pan to high heat and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from the pan bottom, until the sauce is slightly syrupy and reduced, about 5 min.

-Off the heat, add the lemon juice and accumulated juices from the chicken.

-Whisk in the butter, one Tbsp at a time, until incorporated.

-Season with salt and pepper to taste.

-Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.

:

Very delicious and great served on top a bed of pasta or rice.

Seared Scallops and Nigella's Cheddar Cheese Risotto

2008-03-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

I take a lot of mini-study breaks while I'm at the local bookstore and I discovered a really good recipe for risotto in Nigella's latest book:

Nigella Lawson's Cheddar Cheese Risotto

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 baby leeks or 2 fat scallions, finely sliced
1 ½ cups risotto rice
½ cup white wine
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 cups hot vegetable stock
1 cup chopped cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives

Melt the butter and oil in a medium-sized pan and cook the sliced baby leeks or scallions until softened.

Add the risotto rice and keep stirring for a minute or so, then turn up the heat and add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed.

Start ladling in the hot stock, letting each ladleful become absorbed as you stir before adding the next one.

Stir and ladle until the rice is al dente, about 18 minutes, then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts.

Take the pan straight off the heat, still stirring as you do, and then spoon into warmed dishes, sprinkling with some
of the chopped chives.

I made a few changes for this recipe. I added less cheddar cheese and I didn't add the dijon mustard. Instead of adding scallions in the very beginning, I added chopped garlic to the butter. To make a prettier yellow color for the risotto I crushed a few threads of saffron. You could also consider substituting the cheddar with butternut squash or sweet potato.

This is an excellent and affordable wine that goes well with seafood, it has a light and fruity flavor of white peach, jasmine and pear. I think I spent more time drinking the wine than eating my dinner. :)

Overall the recipe was very easy and the risotto turned out to be very delicious. I'll definitely trying a few more of her recipes in this book.

An Acquired Durian Essence

2008-03-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe they sell this stuff, we found this essence bottle in a vietnamese grocery today. I wonder how you would use this in dishes or desserts.

After a little browsing we dined at Nam Vang and had a delicious bowl of seafood pho and a charbroiled pork and shrimp vermicelli dish. The flavors kind of remind me of korean food, especially the bbq meats and the noodle soups, but there's an interesting twist with the addition of cilantro, mint and thin rice noodles. We've tried numerous vietnamese restaurants in the NE Philly area and hands down, Nam Vang makes the best!

Nam Vang Restaurant
571 Adams Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19120
(215) 742-9488

The Celebration

2008-03-03T06:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend we celebrated my husband's birthday and his parent's anniversary at our place. I prepared some of my husband's favorite dishes and special requests made by my in-laws.

One of my husband's favorite dishes comes from a restaurant in Chicago called Wildfire. He absolutely loves their filet medallion trio, which has three medallion portions of beef tenderloin with a horseradish crust, dried mushroom crust and a parmesan crust. Epicurious had a pretty good recipe and I did some improvisaton with each medallion's crust using whatever we had in our kitchen.

Blue Cheese Crusted Steaks:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) chilled butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3/4 cup low-salt beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup coarsely crumbled Maytag blue cheese (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)*
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

4 1-inch-thick filet mignon steaks (each 6 to 8 ounces)

Preparation

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, shallot, and thyme. Sauté until shallot is tender, about 5 minutes. Add broth and wine. Boil until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 12 minutes. Set sauce aside.

Blend cheese, panko, and parsley in small bowl to coat cheese evenly with panko. (Sauce and cheese mixture can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)

Preheat broiler. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Add steaks to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to rimmed baking sheet; reserve skillet. Press cheese mixture onto top of steaks, dividing equally. Broil until cheese browns, about 2 minutes. Transfer steaks to plates.

Pour sauce into reserved skillet. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Boil 2 minutes. Whisk in remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce around steaks and serve.

Herb Gnocchi ~ Gnocchi à la Parisienne

(Note: This recipe turned out great but it was a real pain to prepare the gnocchi pieces. The consistency of the dough was difficult to manage and cutting the gnocchi was a real mess during my first few attempts. I thickened the dough with an additional cup of flour and it turned out great)

1 1/2 cups water
12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped chervil
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
1 cup loosely packed shredded Comté or Emmentaler cheese
5 to 6 large eggs

Preparation

Set up a heavy-duty mixer with the paddle attachment. Have all the ingredients ready before you begin cooking.

Combine the water, butter, and the 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the flour all at once, and stir rapidly with a stiff heatproof or wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and the bottom of the pan is clean, with no dough sticking to it. The dough should be glossy and smooth but still moist.

Enough moisture must evaporate from the dough to allow it to absorb more fat when the eggs are added: Continue to stir for about 5 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent the dough from coloring. A thin coating will form on the bottom and sides of the pan. When enough moisture has evaporated, steam will rise from the dough and the aroma of cooked flour will be noticeable. Immediately transfer the dough to the mixer bowl. Add the mustard, herbs, and the 1 tablespoon salt. Mix for a few seconds to incorporate the ingredients and release some of the heat, then add the cheese. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating until each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next one. Increase the speed to medium and add another 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Turn off the machine. Lift some of the dough on a rubber spatula, then turn the spatula to let it run off: It should move down the spatula very slowly; if it doesn't move at all or is very dry and just falls off in a clump, beat in the additional egg.

Place the dough in a large pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch plain tip and let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature. (If you have only a small pastry bag, fill it with half the dough two times.) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a simmer. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.

Because this recipe makes such a large quantity of gnocchi, your arm may get tired: An easy way to pipe the gnocchi is to place a large inverted pot, canister, or other container that is slightly higher than the pot on the right side of the pot (left side if you are left-handed) and set the filled pastry bag on it so that the tip extends over the side and the container serves as a resting place for the bag. Twist the end of the pastry bag to push the dough into the tip. (From time to time, as the bag empties, you will need to twist the end again.) As you squeeze the back of the bag with your right hand, hold a small knife in your left hand and cut off 1-inch lengths of dough, allowing the gnocchi to drop into the pot. Pipe about 24 gnocchi per batch. First, the gnocchi will sink in the pot. Keep the water temperature hot, but do not boil. Once the gnocchi float to the top, poach them for another 1 to 2 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon or skimmer and drain on the paper towel–lined baking sheet. Taste one to test the timing; it may still seem slightly undercooked in the center, but it will be cooked again. Repeat with the remaining dough.

When all the gnocchi have drained, place them in a single layer on the parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to a day. Or, for longer storage, place the baking sheet in the freezer. Once the gnocchi have frozen solid, remove them from the baking sheet and place in a freezer bag in the freezer. Before using frozen gnocchi, spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and defrost in the refrigerator for several hours.

The entire table presentation with an exceptional bottle of merlot.

For dessert I decided to bake a cake for my husband's birthday. He always refers to me as a duck for my lack of grace and patience, I thought he would love the idea if I decorated the cake with little ducks floating on the chocolate buttercream frosting.

Vanilla Chiffon Cake
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour two 10-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Sift flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup lukewarm water into dry ingredients; beat in oil, egg yolks, both extracts, and peel. Using clean dry beaters, beat whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 3 additions. Measure 4 2/3 cups batter into 1 prepared pan and 3 1/3 cups batter into second pan.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes for thinner cake and 30 minutes for larger cake. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Cut around cakes and turn out onto racks; cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup milk

1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want

The dinner was a huge success! I have to admit it was a lot of work to plan and prepare all these dishes, but the affordable cost and the challenge/excitement that comes with making a home cooked meal makes it totally worthwhile.

Gruyere Popovers

2008-03-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

This recipe is so simple and delicious. The Gruyere cheese topping brings out such a rich flavor and it's best served piping hot!

Gruyere Popovers

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère cheese (about 6 ounces)
Place one 12-cup muffin pan and one 6-cup muffin pan in oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend. Heat milk in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until very warm, about 125°F. Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk warm milk into eggs. Gradually stir flour mixture into milk mixture just to blend (batter may still be slightly lumpy).

Remove hot muffin pans from oven. Spray pans with nonstick spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 16 muffin cups. Top each with 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese. Bake until puffed and deep brown, about 40 minutes. Remove popovers from pan.

Dinner Impossible: Celebrating with the Parents

2008-03-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

Today we're celebrating my husband's birthday, his parents' anniversary and his recent fellowship acceptance. I've never cooked for his parents so this is a very challenging dinner to prepare. There's certain things that they prefer to eat so I've tailored a menu for my in-laws and my husband, here's a preview:

Gruyere Popovers

Gnocchi à la Parisienne

Parmesan & Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon Steaks with Red Wine Sauce

Chiffon Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I'm definitely up for the challenge, wish me luck! :)

Moroccan Lamb Tagine Recipe

2008-02-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

Definition of a Tagine taken from Wikipedia:

A tajine or tagine (pronounced /tɑːˈʒiːn/; Arabic: طاجين, IPA: [tˁaːdʒiːn]) is the name of a type of North African dish (Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia) as well as the special pot in which they are cooked. The traditional tajine pot is formed entirely of a heavy clay which is sometimes painted or glazed. It consists of two parts; a base unit which is flat and circular with low sides, and a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking. The cover is so designed to promote the return of all condensate to the bottom. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving.

I discovered this fascinating dish while I was watching Bobby Flay on Food Network. He created a lamb tagine the traditional Moroccon way by using tender pieces of lamb, exotic spices and dried fruits. I just love the deisgn of the tagine clay pot. It has a triangular top that traps and condenses all the flavors towards the bottom of the pot. I thought it was initially like a cast iron pot but after cooking with it I feel that the tagine clay pot brings all the flavors better together than a cast iron pot. Perhaps there's something behing the physics of the design of the triangular top. :)

Anyways, I've been looking around for a tagine clay pot and I'm excited that I found one for a very good price at Home Goods. The design is so hideous, the triangular top looks like a psychedellic circus top or something only Jerry Garcia would create for a tagine.

Well, at least it serves it's purpose and the size of the pot is just perfect.

The recipe I used for the lamb tagine comes from Bobby Flay: I made a few substitutions, instead of using raisins I added prunes, cranberries and figs. Dates and apricots also go really well with this dish too.

2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Pinch of saffron threads
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste
Salt and pepper
2 potatoes, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 yellow onions, peeled and cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup golden raisins

Mix together the garlic, honey, olive oil, cilantro, saffron, paprika, cumin and tomato paste in a large bowl. Add the lamb and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put the meat and the marinade into a tagine or Dutch oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, stock and cinnamon and stir together. Place the tagine lid on or Dutch oven lid and bake for 1 hour. Stir the chickpeas and raisins into the tagine and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid or foil and cook an additional 30 minutes to brown the vegetables. Garnish with cilantro springs.

Harissa:
2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped
1 small red chile, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspon coriander seeds, toasted in a pan
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Basmati Rice:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom seeds, crushed
2 bay leaves
2 cups basmati rice, washed well and drained
3 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepperHeat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Ad the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cardomom seeds and bay leaves and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and toss to coat with the mixture. Add the water and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium low, cook for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender and water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and leave covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Yield: 4 servings

Right out of the oven, the tagine looks like a clown's hat.

The view inside looks a little more sophisticated and the aroma is just unbelievable. The dish goes really well with basmati rice or with couscous. Add a few threads of saffron and dill weed to the rice to bring out more flavor and color.

The Country Cooking of France

2008-02-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased Ann Willan's The Country Cooking of France book. I've been eyeing this book for some time and finally I decided to buy the book. There's so many recipes that I'm dying to try and I can't wait to post the results! Stay tuned..

Celebrating Valentine's Day at Home

2008-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

I checked my call schedule for this month and realized that I'm on-call on Valentine's Day! Blah. :) I guess I wasn't too disappointed about having to miss out on Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate a little earlier over this weekend by staying home and cooking together some of our favorite dishes.

Inspiration for our dinner preparation comes from the movie Mostly Martha. If you're familiar with No Reservations, Mostly Martha happens to be the original movie. It's a perfect movie if you and your fiance/husband are passionate about food and want a romantic comedy to watch over dinner.

My husband surprised me with a large bouquet of pink flowers, they're all so pretty! I used a few of the flowers from this bouquet to make the floral heart arrangement seen above.

As for our dinner we prepared three dinner entrees: Jamie Oliver's Blackened Pork Tenderloin , Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Bacon, Sage and Gruyere Cheese (w/ some substitutions), and my recipe of Sweet Paprika and Crushed Peppercorn Shrimp. Mr. Bell Pepper helped me peel the shrimp and marinade the pork tenderloin as I prepared

For dessert we decided to relax and simply purchase individual desserts from Wegman's. They were so delicious and I especially loved the toasted marshmallow and the chocolate cappuccino cup.

Our entire dinner was fabulous and we had so much fun cooking together, it's definitely something we look forward to doing again for Valentine's Day next year or in the near future.

So what are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Baking Recap: Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cupcakes

2008-02-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

It was my last day on an inpatient service and I decided to bake some cookies for the nursing staff and attendings. I've baked cookies so many times and I never could find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Either the batter was too cake-like or too crispy, and I searched around the internet to find something that reviewers really raved about. This time I tried Alton Brown's recipe and it was such a hit! They were so easy to bake and the cookies turned out to be so soft and chewy. To keep them extra soft for the next day, I place a tiny piece of bread or a slice of apple to retain some moisture.

Cupcakes!

For my friend's birthday I decided to make some cupcakes in her favorite color scheme, pink & green!

I used this recipe and it was kind of difficult to work with. After baking the cupcakes, you need to invert and cool them upside down so that the cake stays fluffy. I created a light buttercream frosting and swirled them onto the cupcakes, topped each with a marzipan flower.

The Birthday Girl!

I love this photo, just look at her face! She's sooo adorable and she was dying to have the first slice of cake!

A Basic Pot Roast Recipe

2008-01-28T21:29:00.001-08:00

I really love my slow cooker. A few months ago I found a great deal on an All Clad slow cooker at Bloomingdale's for $39.99! It was such a deal, considering I needed a larger one for my soup and braised meat dishes. My mom used to make pot roast a lot when I was young and I wanted to create my own version, here's the recipe I used.

Sagami Restaurant

2008-01-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

I finally found an authentic Japanese restaurant, thanks to Philadelphia's Chowhound board recommendations. Sagami has been around for about 20 years, located in the South Jersey burbs of Collingswood, New Jersey. We arrived at the restaurant around 5:30 pm and the place was completely packed. The owner Shigeru Fukuyoshi is seen working hard behind the sushi bar along with his sushi chefs creating the most beautiful pieces of sashimi I've seen so far.

Seeing the menu for the first time, you might think the selection is somewhat limited and simple menu descriptions leave you with little imagination of what to expect. We checked out a few items that people ordered and the food looked amazing and the portions were huge!

For dinner we tried a few pieces of sashimi and the following:

Agedashi Tofu

and then we yosenabe, which is a japanese hotpot.

The food was extraordinary and very authentic, we also loved the BYOB option at this restaurant.