Foodie on the Hudson

SPAC Wine and Food Festival 2010

2010-09-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we decided to shut down Catskill Maison because we have a huge weekend next weekend with the warrior race, and take a rare break to enjoy ourselves. We went to SPAC's annual wine and food festival in Saratoga and it was a blast! There was a celebrity guest appearance from Lidia Bastianich who is owner of Becco and the renowned Del Posto in the city, and she is my grandfather's favorite chef so I met her (she's incredibly humble) and got a personalized signed copy of her latest Italian cook book for him. There was food from restaurants all around the Capital region (Albany area) and a showcase on Italian wines, spirits and food (it was an Italian themed wine and food festival). We picked up on some great possibilities to feature at our wine bar next year, so look out for some gems from the Italian vintages that we found this weekend. We really had a wonderful time at this laid back not overly crowded wine festival and I encourage those who have the time to check it out next year.

When It's Over It's Over (The inevitable end of summer)

2010-09-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

I, like most people greet Labor Day with mixed emotion. Usually it's a beautiful day, very sunny with low humidity and quite warm which is perfect weather for a BBQ or picnic. But it also marks the unofficial end of summer and all that it means; the upcoming cold weather, snow and a lack of farm fresh fruits and vegetables. Every fruit and vegetable has it's season, and from living so many years part time in the Catskills where local fruits are vegetables grow regularly I'm a very strong proponent of eating things "in season" when they taste the best. What baffles me about so many people who come up for the weekend from the City is their obsession with corn. The harvest season for corn is mid July until early September, but some of the farms up here bring out these tiny ears of underdeveloped corn for July 4th weekend because the "weekenders" demand it and the end of corn season is about now (or in a week or two)...I can't begin to tell you how many incredulous stares the farm owners are given when the "corn bin" is replaced with butternut squash. Corn doesn't last forever, nor do tomatoes or berries or any other fruit or vegetable. They all have seasons and that's what makes them so special. Corn wouldn't be special if it tasted like crisp candy in January would it? Seasons are not something that we can control, so it makes sense to appreciate each one for the gift it presents.

The Hunt For Really Inexpensive White Wine

2010-08-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

I always love a good wine bargain. Clearly sometimes you get what you pay for, but I've been able to find some quite good red wines for under $7.00, the Liquor Depot in Oneonta often has really good red wine specials for $3.99 and $4.99 of wines that the distributor wants to move and once the cases are purchased that's the end. PJ's Wine and Liquor store on 204th and Broadway in Inwood (the mecca as far as I'm concerned) has TONS of great red wine bargains (many from Spain and Argentina). However I'm usually hard pressed to find a decent white wine for under $10.00. I like generally like full white wines and they have to be dry, and trust me it's really hard to find a good white wine. Sure there are specials at my favorite shops for $4 and $6 dollars, but the entire bottle of white ends up in a stew or a marinade because it's generally not pleasing at all to my palate.

Yesterday my mom and I went to the Liquor Depot, and she found this $4.99 bottle of Italian white wine Trevini Primo that is 85% Chardonnay grape and 15% Pinot Grigio. So I snidely told her that we will add this to our "cooking wine" collection, because the last $5 purchase of white wine was a usual disaster. We chilled the wine and took a taste and were blown away! No this isn't a Cakebread Chardonnay by any means, but it's a totally drinkable white, even drinkable as a sipping wine without food. This wine is really good, actually for the price it's great. So today I purchased the last case and a half, and lucky me, the distributor was in the store at the time and he said that he had two more cases that he was going to deliver on Thursday and that was it...too bad for other shoppers who might like this wine because I've already purchased the other two cases!

Hot For Hot Pepper Jelly

2010-08-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

Last year a guest who stayed at our Bed and Breakfast Catskill Maison gave me a jar of hot pepper jam. It was incredible, hot and spicy and tangy and sweet all in one bite. It's pepper season at the farms so I decided to give it a go and try my own version of hot pepper jelly. I went to Shaul Farm today and got a huge red pepper and some red jalapenos and made the below recipe. It seems to be tasty and I hope that the jelly sets. I really want to perfect this recipe because I want it to be a condiment on the cheese plate that customers can order at the wine bar next year.

Hot Red Pepper Jelly – makes Four 8 oz jars

1 really large very ripe sweet red bell pepper or 2 medium sized seeded and coarsely cut to put into food processor

3 or 4 red jalapenos seeded

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Process all peppers and add into a pot with 2 cups of sugar, a ½ cup of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, 1 lemon and ½ cup of sweet cherry juice. Bring to a boil and then take off the heat and add 1 ½ packets of pectin. Return to heat and bring to rolling boil for 1 minute, then reduce to simmer, skim the foam and simmer for 5 minutes. Then put the liquid in 8 oz mason jars and close lid.

Can as usual in boiling water to the time appropriate for your altitude.

Newport Mansions Food and Wine Festival

2010-08-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

My birthday is in a month, and for the past 5 years I've made it a ritual to do something "wine related" for my birthday. I've gone wine tasting in the Finger Lakes, the Niagara Wine Region in Canada, and this year am heading to the Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival. This festival is taking place the weekend of my birthday (Sept 24th thru 26th), there will be a grand tasting of over 100 wineries and samples from some of New England's hottest restaurants (and I love seafood)...So very exciting and it's my first time going to this particular festival. To make it even better one of my favorite chefs Chris Cosentino who really believes in sustainable local produce and the humane treatment of meat (something that I preach about regularly on this blog) of Incanto restaurant, an offal hotspot in San Francisco where I had one of the best 5 meals of my entire life, (and considering that I love food and am always trying restaurants that's an achievement) and Boccalone and the Boccalone Salumeria which has some incredible cured pork and since pork is my favorite thing in the entire world you can imagine how much I love this meat, will be there doing a cooking demo and signing his cookbook! Newport is a beautiful village with some of the best seafood that NE has to offer, I'm looking forward to a weekend of steamers, lobster and lots and lots of wine!!!!

Its Corn Season

2010-08-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

As most who read my blog are aware, I'm very passionate about cooking and eating what is in season whenever possible. Right now is corn season and corn is something that once you eat it locally from the farm you will never eat that frozen cob again! We get our corn from RSK Farm in Prattsville, Bob and Sandy (owners of RSK) have the very best corn, it's so incredibly sweet and crunchy and perfect...however this weekend when I got corn there was a small worm at the top of the ear. So being the city kid I am, I promptly informed Bob and Sandy that the corn (and a few other ears that I peeled back and saw worms) was bad and wormy. So Bob sarcastically told me that there was an instrument invented about ten thousand years ago called a knife, and to cut the very top that the worm was beginning to eat. He then told me that I had choices, either to have him spray the corn until it glowed to avoid the worms or to deal with a harmless worm (because that's what happens in nature) every now and then and get good non pesticide filled corn. I clearly opted for the worm and flicked it off my corn LOL! That's the difference with local corn and knowing your farmer. In the grocery store, that so called perfect produce that we get isn't so perfect...farmers have to subject the fruits and vegetables to some not so environmentally friendly practices for those perfect peaches! Worms aren't so bad after all, and boy am I getting an education!

So, it's been corn season since mid July and I've eaten corn about twice a week now for over a month...but corn season will end in about 3 weeks so I'm getting my fill now, because once it's over it's over. There is but so much grilled corn on the cob that anyone can eat, so at some point in the summer I have to get a little innovative (not that anything is wrong with a simple grilled corn on the cob with or without a compound butter). But tonight it was cold and rainy so I wasn't about to freeze my butt off grilling corn, so I cut the corn off the cobs (best way to do it is to get a kitchen towel and place the cob upright on the towel and cut down the side of the cob, the kernels fall off and don't end up rolling off the counter). My mother and I sauteed the corn in compound butter made up of roasted garlic, fennel, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper added some scallops, lobster and smoked salmon to the corn, sauteed it in wine and lime juice and sprinkled basil on top and had an incredible meal! We ate it with some Rose and 6 grain bread and it was delicious. There are so many options for corn, I only wish it was fresh in December.

Round 2 Recipes

2010-08-19T12:48:00.001-07:00

My mother is the queen of the round 2 recipe. She is the most innovative leftover user in the world, and takes "waste not, want not" to a whole new level! Nothing was ever thrown out of her fridge when I was a child, and I mean NOTHING. She is the original recycler and I'm not talking about reheating last night's meatloaf and putting in between 2 slices of bread and calling it lunch; I mean completely different meals out of what was left over from dinner a couple of nights before. When I was a kid, I used to think it was a whole new meal! Want to get my mom pissed off? Come over to our house and waste food. She's so good at creating a second dish out of a leftover that she has even rubbed off on me; I turned tzatziki sauce into a topping for fish tacos by adding a little of it into fresh shredded cabbage, and then turned those leftovers into coleslaw.

My mother swears that she learned these tricks from her grandmother...I personally think that she has Great-Grandma beat hands down!

Late last week I made a roasted chicken that was coated in pesto. It was easy and delicious because the pesto was utilized in place of herbs that I usually use when roasting chicken. After the meal we had a ½ chicken left and I stuck it in the fridge assuming that I would cut it up and put it over salad for lunch. Last night, I walked in to a very pleasant surprise. My mother took the ½ chicken off the bone and transformed it into an incredible Caribbean/Indian/Moroccan chicken and rice dish that was to die for. She really emptied the spice rack on this one! It was sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy, sour, nutty and soft at the same time…it appealed to all senses and touched every inch of the palate. What an incredible use of leftover chicken. If you like food that is well-seasoned and spiced, you have to try this dish. I promise you will not be disappointed… and it’s a great dish for a crowd too. I couldn't even believe it was a leftover. I'm learning that with a little creativity I can make two to three dishes out of an original dish. On a regular basis, it makes cooking that much more exciting.

The next time you have leftover roasted chicken please try this recipe. Most of the ingredients are probably right in your cupboard!

Ingredients:

Left over roasted chicken taken off the bone
Slivered almonds
Chick peas
Dried apricots - sliced
Green onion (scallions) – thinly sliced
7 cloves of garlic
2 cups of short grain brown rice (you can use white but there are major health benefits of using brown)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Ground Cardamom
Ground Allspice
Ground Cinnamon
Smoked Paprika
Black Pepper
Coriander
Garam Masala
Ground Ginger
Tumeric
Ground Cumin
Ground Cloves
Salt

Mix all spices together, and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to make a paste. Take half of the paste and coat all chicken. Put chicken in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least an hour.

Add 4 cups of water to 2 cups of brown rice. Bring to a boil and then lower flame to make the water a simmer. After 15 minutes add the green onions, and cook until tender. When the rice is finished put to the side.

When rice is finished, take chicken out and bring the chicken to room temperature

Take a tablespoon of butter and olive oil and heat in a large saucepan. Add chickpeas and almond and apricots and sauté. Add chicken to this mixture and brown slightly on all sides. Add the rice and add the rest of the spice mixture. Let simmer for 15 minutes and then add additional almonds and green onions on top as a garnish and serve.

Obsession with Okra

2010-08-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

I know, the title of this blog post might perplex many readers, especially those who think of okra as a nasty slimy vegetable that they wouldn't eat if it were the last food on earth. But yes, despite the fact that I used to be one of those people who found okra to be on the "absolutely not to eat EVER!" list, I'm now completely obsessed with it.

My Grandfather who is from South Carolina has tried to get me to give okra a try for the past couple of years, convinced that since my taste buds have matured considerably I would like it. But I didn't trust it, I couldn't get the reminder of my fierce negative reaction to being forced to eat it as a child at holiday dinners. So I made the "nasty face" and told him that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that I was going to try okra. And then I went back to South Carolina this spring after a 10 year hiatus.

So here begins the obsession. When I went to Charleston South Carolina for a family visit/vacation I had fresh pickled okra and fresh okra rice and fresh okra, tomato and corn stew that wasn't slimy at all, but quite crunchy and tasty. This wasn't the okra that I remembered as a little girl being forced to eat at holidays. My Grandfather sat in the background as I devoured plate after plate of okra while watching me with a hint of a smug "I told you so" smile. I absolutely loved this stuff and couldn't get enough of it. But in New York, the okra in Wegmans was okay but kind of slimy and not perfect. I then thought it was an illusion, I really must not like okra that much after all, because it doesn't taste like the vegetable that I devoured in South Carolina.

Then last week I went to Eger Bros Farm and low and behold there were baskets of okra. I purchased a basket and made sauteed okra with bacon and onions. It was absolutely AMAZING!, crunchy and fresh and tasty and wonderful, just like the okra I had in Charleston. I went back today and am going to make okra and tomato stew for dinner, and have put a bunch in pickling juice because I'm pickling them for the winter time when it isn't so fresh anymore.

Farm fresh okra is really wonderful. If you are able to try it, I promise that you will no longer think of okra as a nasty slimy vegetable on the "never to eat" list again!
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For those of you who aren't convinced try the below recipe:

(serves 4)
1 lb of okra no longer than 4 inches long (any longer and the okra is tough and stringy) - cut okra lengthwise on a bias diagonal (you should have 2 or 3 pieces cut okra per pod)
4-5 strips of thick cut bacon
1/2 onion
a few dashes of hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bacon in a cast iron or heavy frying pan for 2 minutes until it begins to render fat, then add the onions and saute until just translucent. Then add your okra and hot and saute for about 5 minutes on medium high heat, add the hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and saute for 2-3 more minutes until a little browned. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Jerk Shrimp - Some Like It Really Hot

2010-08-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have a huge affinity for spicy food; really spicy food, the kind that makes tears run down my face and my nose run and my ears ring. I make my own hot sauces from chili peppers at Shaul Farm that range from pure heat and fire, to a little milder but really flavorful. I also make my own Jerk marinade.

Jerk seasoning, which originated in Jamaica, comes as either a dry rub or a marinade, and the best kind is always homemade. I put about 6 scotch bonnet (habanero) peppers per cup of Jerk marinade, so needless to say my marinade is a$$ kicking hot! We are in the process of designing the menu for our much anticipated Wine Bar, and we plan to put jerk shrimp on the menu so I decided to try it for myself and my mother last night. I marinaded my shrimp for 3 hours in the jerk marinade (but didn't marinate my mother's), and then skewered and grilled the shrimp. I basted my shrimp with the marinade on each side, and basted my mother's on one side.

We made a basil and watermelon salad to go with the shrimp, because the sweet cool of the watermelon and basil would be a good pairing to offset the heat of the shrimp, and we are considering doing the same paring at the Wine Bar.

The shrimp were incredibly hot, but very flavorful. My mother who loved the flavor commented that if it was any hotter she wouldn't be able to enjoy it (Punk! to think I only basted hers on one side)...but she made a good point because when cooking for others I've learned that everyone's tolerance for spice is not the same therefore I'm going to make a new marinade that is less "potent" in the upcoming weeks. I will definitely have this dish at the Wine Bar!

Can she bake a Cherry Pie? Why yes she can!

2010-08-11T05:17:00.000-07:00

In early July it's cherry picking season at Bohringer farm up here in the Catskills. This year we picked 35 pounds of cherries because we incorporate cherries into our breakfasts at Catskill Maison Bed and Breakfast. Though 35 lbs of raw cherries shrink to about 10 lbs of cooked cherries, it's still too many cherries to store at the B&B so I decided to make jam and jelly and cherry sauce (a blog on that later)...but my father kept hinting (okay so his hints are the equivalent of knocking you over the head with a brick to get your attention) at wanting a cherry pie.

So one Saturday evening a couple of weeks ago, he came home from golfing, and to his surprise his request was answered. A piping hot, fresh out of the oven cherry pie was on the counter in our kitchen.

Cherries extract a lot of water, so it's best to cook them down before adding them to the base of a pie because you will get very runny and watery pie even if you add cornstarch or flour. Some recipes call for tapioca flour, but the pearls are hard and rubbery so not my favorite and it's an extra step to grind them down.

You can make crust from scratch or buy the prepared crust in the freezer section of the grocery store. Blind bake your bottom pie crust in the pie pan with pie weights on the crust (or some beans on parchment paper) for 10-15 minutes before you add the filling because if you don't the bottom crust will get soggy.

Put your cherries in a pot and cook for about 7 minutes and drain all of the liquid (or keep the liquid to make jelly or sauce in the future like I do). Then add sugar to taste (maybe a cup or so), a tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ginger and a pinch of clove. Finally add 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Combine all ingredients and pour into your par baked pie shell. Cover with the second crust but don't forget to make holes in the crust so steam can escape. Then bake for 50-55 minutes (until crust is golden) at 350 degrees F.

Let pie cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Neighbors Feeding Neighbors

2010-08-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

We don't come from a large family, and on any given day my mother and I usually only have my father and grandfather to cook for...but we are of Southern descent so often our dishes can feed way more than 4 people. We also bake, and if only the four of us finished each goodie we created, lets just say instead of blogging about new and innovative recipes I would be blogging my Jenny Craig shipments. My mom is really big on "it takes a village" and "extended family" and I have "Aunts" who are not remotely blood related to me. Therefore it's not a surprise that when we cook, we want to share our cooking with those in our "family". Some of our neighbors are like family to us, and if we bake a cake, make a macaroni and cheese or make a pot of oxtails we often give some of our food to our neighbors. Annette who lives next door (who I've mentioned in other blogs) has a son named Joe who lives across the street. I've known Joe since he was 2 years old, and he is a great friend our general contractor for the Wine bar that we are constructing at Catskill Maison, and an incredible cook and bigtime "foodie" (though I'm not sure he realizes that he is). Joe is from Italian descent, and he makes "gravy" (for those of us non Italian's that's code for "red sauce") almost every Sunday. We often bake cakes or make food and give to Annette and Joe, and Joe makes gravy on Sunday and I'm the lucky recipient! A couple of weeks ago I made an incredible Zuppa de Pesce over angel hair with his sauce and my family raved about it.

Last night I received a special treat, and I'm so incredibly touched. Joe made Zucchini Parmigiana from the zucchini in his garden, and he and his beautiful family came over with red sauce in a container AND the zucchini parm and pasta!!!!! OMG that zucchini parm was AWESOME! And though we were in the middle of preparing our own dinner it didn't stop me from having a sample. I had a taste for eggplant parmigiana and said to myself that if I was lucky enough to snag some of Joes special sauce on Sunday I might make an eggplant parm because eggplant is available at Barber Farm and Shaul Farm this weekend. I (the self proclaimed foodie) never thought about making zucchini into parmigiana, and I think that zucchini might actually be better. It's sweet and not bitter like black eggplant is if you don't remove the tough outer skin, and more easily accessible than the white and purple eggplant that we often try to find at the farm to cook with. Joe breaded it, pan fried it, added mozzarella, and ricotta and his magical sauce and baked it and created a wonder, Brilliant!

This zucchini parm is so good that I really don't want to share...hmmm, I hope my dad isn't reading this blog post!

Joe thank you thank you thank you for all that you do...

I see a lasagna in our future to be shared with all of our neighbors! An excuse to go to one of my favorite shopping haunts, Arthur Avenue Little Italy in the Bronx for ingredients!

Farmstand Quality

2010-08-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

I had a serious taste for string beans today...not just any string beans but the string beans from RSK farm. Not all string beans are created equal, not even from the farm stands...just like not all potatoes or salad or corn etc. are created equal. Some farm stands are ones that mass produce bushels and bushels of vegetables which are of good quality but not the best. Other farm stands such as RSK which is a tiny farm stand that hand picks everything, plant the best quality vegetables of heirloom variety, which might cost a little more, but the flavor is so superior that it's more than worth it.

There is really a difference when a farm is very small, the level of care and attention to detail comes through in the end product. The string beans at RSK are almost as thin as haricot verts and extremely crisp and tasty. The heirloom grape tomatoes really taste like candy, and the potatoes are so incredibly creamy that I will do a blog on those another day. When you go to the farm stands don't be afraid to taste the vegetables in their raw state. If they are a song on your palate raw then the flavor will only intensify when it's cooked.

Beer Can Chicken - AKA a Chicken That's Been Violated

2010-08-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

I just picked up another fresh chicken from Horton Hill Farm yesterday and as I've stated over and over again, there is nothing like the taste of a fresh, never frozen free range/free roaming chicken. Last month we had a 4th of July BBQ for our family, it was wonderful, great weather, great friends and family and great food! I decided to make chicken for the "masses" at the BBQ, and didn't want to compromise the integrity of the taste of the chicken because it was a fresh chicken nor did I want to have to "babysit" the chicken on the grill because I wanted to have some fun. One of the most fool proof ways to have super moist chicken on the grill without having to worry about babysitting it, is to stick a beer can in the chicken's butt...literally. Standing a chicken on a 3/4 full can of beer and placing it upright on the direct heat (but making sure the chicken itself doesn't touch the grill and only the beer can touches it) creates a super crispy but not burned skin and an extremely moist chicken. I lather the chicken with olive oil, and then rub in a spice mixture of choice, and then add herbs and garlic into the beer can (for aromatics) and shove that can into the cavity of the chicken and put it on the grill for about 1 and a half hours for a 4lb chicken (until the instant read thermometer reads 163 degrees in the thigh). Remove the beer can and tent the chicken with aluminum foil for 7-10 to let the chicken rest minutes as it will carryover cook and the juices will redistribute, and then carve. Delicious!

Just as a note you can also remove the beer from the can and add 3/4 can of wine as well for a different taste. I'm also going to test this recipe with a can of coca cola.

The Dog Peed On My Basil!!!!

2010-07-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had an epiphany that if I really wanted to be a "farm to table" cook I needed to start doing some farming. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew so I decided to start small. I purchased a basil plant, in part because it's finally tomato season (and I will only eat tomatoes in season and had a vision of a tomato basil and mozzarella salad) and in part because Bob at RSK farm (where I purchased the basil) told me that basil is an annual so it will die at the end of the summer and won't come back next year. So the basil will expire without my killing it by my lack of preservation techniques over the winter and therefore making me discouraged about my farming ability (which is what happened with one of my mint plants from last year).

So I purchased this basil, and since it's not going to come back next year I made a conscious decision not to put it into the soil around my house because I figured the plant would be safer on the porch than in the ground below where it could be ravaged by deer. I didn't figure into my equation Tucker, our next door neighbor Annette's (who also happens to be a really close family friend) dog.

Let me start off by saying that I love Tucker, my mom loves Tucker and most of all Spoon (our girl cat) really loves Tucker. Tucker is Spoons dog boyfriend (which upsets Grant, my cat who is her husband but that's another story). So Tucker, who is really an extended member of our four legged family is welcomed on our porch and yard and we leave all of the windows and doors open (screened in) so that Spoon can communicate with him. She would have it no other way. This morning Tucker came over to serenade Spoon, and found my basil plant sitting on the floor of the porch. Well I guess it was unfamiliar territory to him so before I could stop him he lifted his leg and the rest was history. Bob said the plant needed to be watered everyday but I don't think that's what he meant LOL!!!!! So my early morning job wasn't that of farmer it was that of janitor. I had to soap off the porch, and wash off the basil. I considered throwing out the whole basil plant (clearly showing my Bronx roots and that I'm not a country farmer girl after all), but my mother who spent her summers in the gardens of rural South Carolina as a child shook her head and said "you will not be throwing out that basil, what do you think those animals in the woods do to the vegetables that you eat??? They pee on them!!!" Oh yeah, that makes sense. So I rinsed the basil and it seems no worse for wear...and Tucker isn't going anywhere because Spoon would have it no other way, basil vs. Spoon and Tuckers happiness? Spoon and Tucker win hands down...maybe I should leave farming to the farmers, and just concentrate on representing their bounty to the best of my ability as a final product on a plate.

Pork Tenderloin - Really the other white meat

2010-07-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'm always hearing commercials touting pork as "the other white meat". "White meat" invokes thoughts of chicken or turkey breast, a generally low fat and healthy alternative to eating red meat (beef, or lamb for example). Pork is in that gray area, it's not beef but there are certain cuts of pork that are just as fattening as a ribeye! So I decided to see if there were any cuts of pork that really did resemble the fat and calorie content of a chicken breast, and low and behold there are a few (and I mean very few) cuts of pork that really can be touted as "the other white meat". Pork tenderloin is an example of one of those cuts. Being a true pork fanatic I never really liked the tenderloin, it is not an exciting cut (those offal cuts that I love like the cheek, snout, ears and feet) and generally it's not flavorful on it's own like a shank or shoulder. In restaurants I often find that it's dry (sometimes to the point of resembling saw dust) and full of glazes and gook and toppings as what I thought was a disguise for its bland flavor.

Because we have a whole pig at our disposal of course there are cuts of tenderloin, so I figured that I would at least try to cook it, considering that if I could make it taste like something it would allow me to eat pork (my absolute favorite food) more than once a week because it's calorie content at 34 calories an ounce resembles chicken breast.

I marinated the tenderloin with a dry rub that included chili pepper, cumin, adobo, brown sugar and ginger and frilled it on the outside grill to exactly 140 degrees and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing and then served it with a side of peach chutney that I made with local peaches and spices and onion. It was a flavorful and delicious! I would definitely make it again. The trick is to marinade and make sure you don't over cook it.

S'MORES!!!!

2010-07-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Every now and then something will take you right back to a really vivid childhood memory. Last night my mother and I dined at Blue Mingo Grill in Cooperstown, a restaurant on Ostego lake about 2 miles north of Cooperstown village (where the Baseball hall of fame is) which serves innovative and imaginative American food. Our home in Jefferson is less than an hour from Cooperstown, and because it's a tourist destination we dine there a few times a month because the quality of food is really "kicked up a notch". One of the coolest things about Blue Mingo is that they have S'mores on their dessert menu! And you can roast your own marshmallows and assemble the s'more yourself...it took me right back to Girl Scout camp, in a flash! I was so excited I had to blog about it, I was instantly in front of a campfire singing "Little Bumblebee" at Rocky Brook with about 10 marshmallows lined up on a stick and a bunch of graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate bars waiting on the side. I remember being the only little Girl Scout sitting in front of the fire slow roasting my marshmallows to a golden brown while my fellow brownies burned theirs to a crisp! I guess I should've known then that I was destined to be in the kitchen.

Grilling Whole Fish

2010-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

I love whole fish, and I'm one of those people who grosses my friends out because in a restaurant I decapitate a whole fish, even eating the eyeballs. North American's aren't generally fans of whole fish, getting annoyed by the process of having to take the time to debone plate side and prefer the fillet. However, in the Caribbean and in Asia (which are the two places where my family comes from) the only way to eat a fish is whole, whether grilled, poached, escabeched or fried, it's always the whole fish head and tail intact! In restaurants often the preparation is only for fish fillet which is a true shame because the natural flavors of fish really stand out when you cook it with the bones, therefore the extent of seasoning and glaze that is found on fillet isn't necessary and you really get to appreciate the true flavor and essence of the fish that you are eating.

An advantage of whole fish (when purchasing it and preparing it at home) is that you don't have to be at the mercy of the fish monger (or inexperienced teenager with the summer job at the fish counter) because it's VERY easy to tell when a whole fish is fresh. Of course you first want to smell it, it shouldn't have a smell or it should smell very faintly of the sea, if it smells like "fish" pass up on it right away. Then look at the eyes, make sure they are clear and not cloudy, some fish (like snapper) will have very red eyes when fresh. Then take a look at the gills that are right between the head and the body, those gills should still have blood and be bright red, if they are dull colored or too brown once again pass up on that fish. Then you need to ask your fish monger to clean and gut that fish for you, you don't want to be in your kitchen at the sink pulling scales off the fish and cleaning out fish guts (I've done it and trust me it's not a fun task, I even had scales in my hair)...Once you get that fish home, only refrigerate for 2 days maximum before making it.

You can definitely make whole fish in the oven but my favorite way to make whole fish is on the grill. I recently grilled a whole branzino with a side of couscous and salad, the recipe is below.

Ingredients for the whole fish 1 to 1 1/2 lbs
1 lemon zested and cut into round slices
fresh herbs of your choice
Salt, pepper, dried oregano, and fennel seed to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil or extra virgin olive oil

Mix the salt, pepper, fennel seed,oregano and lemon zest in a small bowl.
If you desire (to make it easier to get the fish away from the bones when eating) you can make 2 inch diagonal slits across the body of the fish on both sides.
Place fresh herbs and all but 2 lemon rounds into the center pocket of the fish. Coat the fish with olive oil and then rub in the seasoning mixture on both sides.

Turn on the grill and make sure the temperature reads to 375 degrees. Make sure that grill is really well oiled because if it isn't half of your fish will remain on the grill (yes I've done this before and the presentation at the end isn't cute at all).

Place fish on the grill, grill for about 10 minutes on side one and 8 minutes on side 2 (general rule is 10 min per inch of thickness so if the fish is 2 inches thick (which most 1 to 1 1/2 lb fish are) then grill first side for 10 minutes and the other for 8, longer for thicker fish and remember that the second side always cooks quicker than the first.

Recipe for Couscous
You can really make any couscous combination for fish, I made a couscous with zucchini and onion and garlic and golden raisins with a seasoning of cumin and turmeric salt and pepper...what you need to know is that couscous takes on the flavor of whatever you add to it, and that the liquid to dry ratio is approximately 1 to 1 (one cup of couscous to one cup of liquid) also remember to saute your ingredients, add the couscous and then add the boiling liquid (I use chicken stock) and turn off the couscous in the sauce pot and cover it as soon as you add the liquid and let it stand for approximately 7 minutes covered without peeking! I always have a bit of reserve hot liquid on the side in case the couscous is a tad dry after I fluff it with a fork after the 7 minutes, I add a couple of tablespoons of the liquid and cover again for 2 minutes and fluff again.

Too Hot to Cook

2010-07-08T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today it was too hot to cook, it was almost too hot to even eat (NOT!)...But seriously, when it's this hot I can't begin to think about turning on the stove, oven or even the grill and up here in the Catskills there are very few places that deliver. Therefore on days like today I try to think of innovative ways to have meals that don't require cooking. The first thing that comes to mind is a salad of course, but after eating salads and FroYo for the past 2 days I was ready for a little variety. I had a cucumber and some garlic left over from our 4th of July BBQ that I picked up from Shaul Farm, and a full container of non fat fage yogurt so I realized that I had ingredients for the makings of a damn good tzatziki. I quickly rummaged through my fridge, took out the following ingredients and I made tzatziki for dinner which I paired with some pita bread, this meal took me right to my favorite restaurant in Astoria; Agnanti and the only appliance that I had to turn on was the food processor.

Ingredients*
1 cucumber peeled with seeds removed, shredded in the food processor (or with a cheese grater) and with all liquids squeezed ou
2 cloves of garlic
1 16 oz container of Greek yogurt (preferably Fage)
1/4 cup of sour cream
Zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 lemons
Parsley for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if you like on top

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill and serve with pita.
* Note that some people use dill, I'm not a huge fan of dill so I never add it to my tzatziki recipe however feel free to use a teaspoon of dill if you like dill.

Ice Cream Sundaes for Grownups!

2010-07-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Its really hot today, hot to the point where I think it should be a designated "lets eat ice cream for dinner" day! When I was a kid I loved vanilla ice cream sundaes with butterscotch topping and sprinkles and whipped cream. And if the sundae came from Carvel soft serve then I really felt that I hit the jackpot. Just because I'm all grown up doesn't mean that on a day like today I don't crave a sundae, the combination of the cold texture with the decadence of a syrup or sauce is something that brings me right back to the 1970's. However now that I am all grown up, I experiment with grown up sundae flavors. One of my favorites is warm strawberries with a red wine and balsamic reduction over Edy's caramel praline frozen yogurt...AMAZING, sweet and sour and tangy and crunchy all in one bite...now that's decadent!

Steamers - The True Meaning of Summer

2010-07-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

For me nothing signals that the summer has arrived more than eating a bucket of steamer clams. Steamers are clams that are steamed in a pot, with a tail hanging off then end of the pot and served with hot water (to dip and clean) and a cup of melted butter for dipping. Steamer with a ear of corn, and boiled exemplifies a hot summer day. Dayboat Cafe in Irvington New York which is a wonderful seafood restaurant has steamers now on special, they also have outdoor dining. I ordered the steamers with a bottle of Rodney Strong Chardonnay and it just put me in the mode for summer! So exciting my favorite season of all is finally here!!!

Sweet Spring Peas

2010-06-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

One of the many wonderful aspects of living in the Catskill Mountains over the summer months is the availability to really eat and cook "in season". This week on a trip one afternoon to Barbers Farm in Middleburgh NY I was delighted to discover that the first of the spring shelling peas were harvested that morning. I scooped up a few handfuls with plans to shuck on the lounge chair on the porch. Maybe they would be used to garnish a dish later in the week, so I thought. When I got home, and shucked the peas and ate one raw and the sugary sweet taste hit my tongue I couldn't resist; I had to have them right away. I found some pasta and onion and decided to make a play on the classic pairing of peas and onions. This dish was so tasty and light and refreshing a perfect late spring/early summer treat. I used bacon but it would be just as tasty completely vegetarian.

Penne with Fresh Spring Peas, Sauteed Onion and Pesto
Serves 2

1/4 box of Penne
1/2 large onion sauteed until soft
2 strips of Bacon - diced
1 cup of shelled spring peas boiled in salted water for 4-5 minutes
2 tablespoons of pesto
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil and then salt and add the penne cook until al dente don't drain the pasta water.
While penne is cooking saute bacon and then onion in a pan, add the peas and pesto. Then add the pasta without draining the pasta water. Add a little of the pasta water to the pan to create a starchy sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Subtle Curry

2010-06-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

When people think of curry, the first thing that comes to mind is big and bold flavors that are in your face. Recently I ate dinner at Chutney Masala restaurant in Irvington NY and had a bite of a friend's curried tilapia and the curry had a very mild, subtle and well balanced flavor. It was lovely. It's quite an art to be able to extract subtle flavors out of a combination of such bold spices. The skill of being able to transform spices that are bold and forward into something so harmonious on the palate is extremely impressive. Its a reminder that spice doesn't always mean heat, and heat isn't always a necessary component to a successfully spicy dish.

Strawberry Fields

2010-06-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

Okay so I promise that this will be my last strawberry blog for the next few days...I'm a little obsessed with them right now. Today I picked strawberries in the field at Bohringer Farm in Schoharie in the Catskills, about 20 minutes from my house. The berries are so incredibly sweet and red right now. But it's not easy to pick strawberries, they are very low to the ground and the ants and other little buggers sometimes get to them before humans do. However, nothing beats making a recipe from strawberries that are freshly picked. I think that tomorrow I'm going to make another dessert with them...but I won't blog about it for a few days, there are other foods to rejoice about!

Easy Strawberry Shortcake

2010-06-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

It's strawberry season, so everyday I incorporate strawberries into a meal. Today it was an easy strawberry shortcake made with Bisquick. As you can see there is no picture, I meant to take one, but I was so greedy that I ate the entire dessert before remembering that I was supposed to photo it (oh well). I'm a huge fan of biscuits and berries and dumplings and berries because I really don't like really sweet desserts, I'm generally a "rich but not sweet" dessert fan. Today my mother and I cut up a bunch of strawberries that we got from Eger Bros Farm in the Hudson Valley (I would guess about 3 cups), we then put 1/2 of the berries in a small pot with a tablespoon of sugar and let simmer for about 5 minutes and then removed the berries with a slotted spoon and let the juice reduce with a tablespoon of fig preserves for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickened. Meanwhile I whipped 1/2 cup of heavy cream with sugar and put it in the fridge, and my mother made bisquick biscuits, with bisquick, 1/2 and 1/2 an egg and 2 tablespoons of honey (look on the package and make the equivalent of 4 large biscuits). She spooned the batter onto a greased sheetpan and we baked it for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. When the biscuits were ready we split them in half, spooned the strawberry sauce with cooked strawberries in the middle, put the lid on the biscuits, sprinkled the fresh cut strawberries, and then topped the biscuits with sweetened whipped cream! Delicious and super simple!

Flag Day!!!!

2010-06-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm a NYC girl, so until this year I never even heard of Flag Day. In the city we don't exactly stop 5th avenue for a Flag Day parade...Puerto Rican Day parade? Without question, but Flag Day? Well we moved to Jefferson last Friday for the summer and went to the bar in a nearby town Stamford and all of the locals were very hyped up about the Flag Day parade. Naively I asked, "what the heck is flag day?" (I thought it was a day that the town made up), but low and behold, Flag day is celebrated throughout the nation, and in Pennsylvania it's actually a state holiday. In Stamford they close Main Street for an hour and all of the local towns (and school bands) participate in a parade (think a very pared down Thanksgiving Day parade minus the balloons, celebrities and crowds). We had a great time, and the best part was sitting out and having a Matanzas Creek Chardonnay at Fred's Restaurant in Stamford (sister restaurant to the one on 84th and Amsterdam) with shrimp cocktail and clams casino. This was a true salute to the start of summer! I'm so looking forward to the season.

The Food Advantage of Spending Summer in the Catskills

2010-06-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

Every June my mother and I make the transition from living in Riverdale (NYC) to living in Jefferson NY in the Catskill Mountain's Schoharie County. It's much easier to run Catskill Maison our Bed and Breakfast when we are only 1/2 an hour away than from NYC because we are open all the time in the summer and fall. There are definitely some aspects of city living that I really miss from a culinary perspective such as an abundance of ethnic restaurants and easily accessible fresh fish (finding a place to buy fresh fish to grill up here is like trying to find a needle in the haystack). However the benefits of living so close to the farms greatly outweighs the inconvenience of having to drag fish from Whole Foods in NYC every week in our cooler.

We moved up yesterday, and the first thing that we did was purchase fresh strawberries, swiss chard, broccoli, beets and zucchini that were picked that morning from Eger Bros farm in Hudson NY on the way to our house. Then I placed a call to Horton Hill Farm to request a fresh chicken. Horton Hill Farm is right here in Jefferson (less than 10 minutes from our house), and they specialize in heritage breed livestock (chicken, turkey, and pork) as well as eggs and honey. The owner of the farm Bill Parker really believes in producing extremely high quality meat and oversees every aspect of the process of the development of his livestock. Nothing tastes better than a fresh chicken, and in the summer we are so blessed to have access to fresh chickens. Bill had a fresh chicken for us yesterday which made me extremely excited, but we also got another treat; the ability to view 1 day old chicks in their natural environment as well as baby pigs at pasture. There is something so empowering about knowing EXACTLY where your food comes from, and watching the process from day one. I am so grateful to Bill for taking the time out to show us the pastures, food (that he grows himself on his property and all animals freely graze on) and conditions of his livestock. It was an unforgettable experience. Stay tuned for the recipe that I create for the fresh chicken in my fridge.

The lazy way to make Herb Roasted Chicken

2010-06-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

There are countless recipes for whole roasted chicken, and for me roasted chicken is a go to meal when I don't want to do a lot of prep work, and I need to feed 4 people. We get all of our chickens from Horton Hill Farm in Jefferson because we swear by free range, free roaming hormone and antibiotic free chicken. But even with the best chicken the challenge is to season it properly and make sure that it doesn't taste dry (or get overcooked). Herbs and garlic are essential to a well seasoned chicken...regardless of which herbs are used to season a roasted chicken, you have to have herbs, oil and garlic. Sometimes I'm just really really lazy and the laziest surefire way to make roasted chicken is to use prepared pesto. Basil runs rampant in the summer, there is so much that we don't know what to do with it, so I make pesto and put it into containers and use it all winter and spring. (Recipe on basil pesto coming later this summer). The cool thing about using basil pesto is that all of the herbs, garlic and oil are combined into a paste so there is no chopping or dicing or prepping at all...and you can even purchase ready made pesto in a jar or container at the supermarket. I defrost my pesto and then generously slather it onto the chicken skin, under the skin of the breast of the chicken and in the cavity. I then roast the chicken at 425 degrees F uncovered for about an hour and a half (for a 3 and a half to 4 lb chicken). If the chicken browns too much then tent it with aluminum foil. I take the chicken out when the meat thermometer reads 165 and let it rest for 10-15 minutes and then I carve and serve. This is the easiest way to make a flavorful succulent chicken because all of the work is done for you!

2 for 1 Friday's at Bistro Brie and Bordeaux in Windham

2010-06-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday nights when Catskill Maison is open it's really difficult for my mother and I to go out to dinner because it's our biggest night for check ins and though our check in time is from 4-7 we sometimes have people who check in at 7:30 or a little later. For the sake of convenience we really try to stay in Windham on Friday evenings because of the very close (a mile at most) proximity to the B&B in case we have to check in a guest or a guest needs us. Last summer we discovered 2 glasses of wine for the price of 1 each Friday night at Bistro Brie and Bordeaux; we were so excited. Brie is possibly the only restaurant in Windham that has decent wines by the glass, so when we found out that they continued this special this summer we were elated. Brie is a non pretentious French style bistro, with outdoor dining and a varied selection of French inspired dishes. This year because I'm incorporating way more vegetables into my diet I have been testing out more of their vegetarian appetizers. The grilled eggplant around goat cheese with a petite salad and olive tapenade on crostini was not only visually appealing (as featured above) but appealing to the palate as well, and it paired perfectly with the Muscadet offered by the glass.

Brie and Bordeaux is one of the best restaurants in Windham for food, service and ambiance. I always am very comfortable recommending dinner there for guests and am so happy it's so very close! If you come to stay with us at the B&B and don't want to drive far when you check in, Brie and Bordeaux is a classy yet very comfortable option that I highly suggest for dinner.

Salad Straight From The Farm - Taste The Difference

2010-06-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

I used to hate salad. I'm generally not a cold food person (don't like sandwiches, generally can't stomach cold soup etc), I think my dislike derived from the insistence of my mother that a hot breakfast is very necessary to start the day when I was a child. Regardless, salad for me was the worst of the worst, and until the beginning of this year I only ate it because I felt somehow "obligated" because I knew it was "good for me" and in reality if there was a cooked vegetable anywhere in the vicinity that salad would just wilt on my plate.

Then I decided to make some dietary changes (no I'm not on a diet, I love food too much), but I firmly believe that what we put in has an effect down the road on how our body responds...so I've started making salad a regular part of my daily food intake. I like spicy foods, so I figured I would try spicy salads, so Arugula (translation "Rocket Lettuce" and quite spicy) has become my favorite. Whole Foods has Satur Farms Arugula (they grow it in their hot house in the winter) so every week I've been buying a container and roasting beets and having beet and arugula salad all week long.

Last week I had a discussion with Sandy at RSK farms and she said that her husband Bob (where I get the only potatoes that I will eat, but that's another blog for another day) was cutting the first salad greens of the season. I promptly put in an order for Bob's mesclun mix (which is one of the few salads that I actually could stomach without a fight last summer) and arugula. When I got home I opened the salads and mixed them together and had a bite. OMG, this salad ROCKED!!!! it popped in my mouth! The flavors exploded, I never thought that variations on lettuce could taste so good. It didn't even need dressing! Sorry Satur Farms but you don't hold a wick of a candle to RSK in Prattsville.

I called Bob this morning because I'm heading up to the B&B today and left him a message to place my order for next week and I can't wait to feel that first crunch between my teeth again!

So just an fyi, salad greens and radishes are in season at the local farmers markets right now...Please support the local farmers and purchase some this weekend.

Grappa - Can this be a diet drink too????

2010-06-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about wine being a "diet drink"...and because I'm a huge wine drinker it was music to my ears that I could drink wine on a regular basis without having to deal with the caloric intake of hard alcohol. I'm not a huge dessert fan, often when out with friends who get dessert I ask for a Grappa instead. Ok I know, this looks really bad and completely reinforces my wino tendencies but most of the time I'd rather sip on a Grappa than have a dessert. Tonight was no exception. My father and I went to Jakes Steakhouse here in Riverdale for dinner. We go all the time, the food is wonderful and it's one of the few places in the general vicinity where you can get a decent glass of wine with dinner. My dad ordered a boston cream pie for dessert and true to form I ordered a Grappa. It would make sense that I'm a huge fan of Grappa because Grappa is simply wine "left overs", generally enjoyed after dinner. It is made from the remaining seed and skins of grapes, known as "Pomacy" or "Pomace", left after the wine-making process, The Pomace is fermented and then distilled, leaving Grappa, an 80 to 90-proof brandy, generally clear in color. Grappa is an acquired taste, some akin it to drano, or windshield wiper fluid...I happen to love it, go figure. Regardless I'm proud to report that Grappa is only 85 calories an ounce WOO HOO!!!!! That means that it's about 1/6th the calories of a molten chocolate lava cake! Therefore, Grappa is a wonderful liquid dessert! Now I can add Grappa to the list of diet drinks!

NYC Ethnic Food - Not to be taken for Granted

2010-06-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Around this time every year I prepare for five months of living full time upstate in the Catskills. As June rolls around and it gets hot and humid and in NYC, I pack up everything and head to the cool, crisp mountains to run Catskill Maison for the summer/fall season. When there are no guests at our Bed and Breakfast I retreat to our summer home in Schoharie County. I absolutely love our family summer place, we have a wrap around porch with mountain views and a really wonderful grill! In Riverdale I really can't practice my grilling techniques on my small terrace with my tiny electric grill, but in the summer I really take advantage of all of the farm fresh meat and produce and I grill at least 4 times a week. (Stay tuned for grilling recipes). It's such a treat to be a stones throw from the farms which produce incredibly fresh ingredients. It's a chefs/cooks dream to have that level of quality on a daily basis.

The only downside to living upstate for a long period of time is the lack of accessibility to ethnic food. Upstate NY isn't the melting pot by a long shot. Good food that isn't American/Italian is few and far between, and unless you go to Albany there is little to no variety and what there is tends to miss some of those authentic ingredients. When I'm in the City I take for granted that I can have excellent food from every corner of the world all within a 20-30 minute drive at the furthest (and that's with traffic)...so for the past month I've been crazed trying to make sure I go to all of the ethnic restaurants for the food that I really can't get upstate.

Last month I tried Yak for the first time in my life. It tastes a lot like wild boar or maybe beef, and not nearly as foreign as the name would imply. A group of us went to Himalayan Yak in Queens for a taste of food that is part Nepali, part Indian and part Tibetan, an experience not to be missed. Above is a picture of Yak tongue, which tastes very much like beef strips. Some of the bread we ordered reminded me of Italian focaccia, other bread reminded me of Chinese Bao. Vegetables reminded me of Thai veggies, and the curries and some of the plate presentations were classic Indian. It was interesting to acknowledge that those "exotic" tastes, when given the chance to really analyze were actually pretty familiar, so therefore really not that foreign after all...however, all of these flavors are foreign to the Catskills, and that's what I'm now coming to terms with. Today I'm excited about leaving NYC next week for the peace and serenity of the mountains, but I'm also a little sad, because I know that experiences like the one that I had at "Yak" will not be repeated for quite awhile. It's so important for those of us who live in Metropolitan areas to open our palates and experience cuisine from different places because there are so many places in this country where that experience isn't possible.

Rosé - The Perfect Complement to a Hot Summer Day

2010-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer comes with ideas of the beach, BBQing on the grill, alfresco dining, hanging by the pool and summer cocktails. Because I'm a wine drinker, I often gravitate towards cold crisp white wines in the summer; however this summer I'm going to start drinking more rosé wine. Rosé wine is created from red skinned grapes that when crushed, the skins are only allowed to be in contact with the juice for a short period (usually 2-3 days) creating a blush or rose colored wine. Rosé wines originated in France but now you can find good (and inexpensive) rosé wines from both the old and new world. Some of the best rosé wine comes from the Rhone region of France where the Syrah and Grenache grapes are blended, these wines tend to be dry and slightly full and crisp. Rosé wine can be dry as a bone to almost sweet (a blush wine)...They are served chilled and in a white wine glass. I love a dry rosé on a hot summer day as much as a Sancerre or good Chardonnay.

So in hot weather, when opting for a refreshing glass of wine, why not try a rosé.

Juniper - A berry? Or a restaurant with a cult following in Hastings?

2010-05-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

Juniper - a berry known for its spice or better known for Gin, or now for a tiny restaurant holding no more than 30 people at a time in Hastings on the Hudson in Westchester County NY.

Tonight after reading much hype about it, I called Juniper in Hastings and was able to secure an 8pm reservation for dinner! Juniper is known for simple, creative food that is locally sourced and seasonal, clearly right up my alley, since we all know I'm a locavore I was very excited to try it. Yes, the food did live up to the hype and if you are lucky enough to score a reservation you won't be disappointed.

I won't go into detail about the courses but I have to highlight the appetizer that I had which was PERFECTLY executed. I ordered a pasta with a fried poached egg, spring peas with braised rabbit. Sounds simple right? But no, the flavors and textures were so complex I was swooning from first bite to last. First of all, the rabbit was perfectly braised; tender but still had substance, and oh so flavorful, and there was quite a bit of it, not just a hint of rabbit. The spring peas were fresh, and sweet and clearly a pick of the current local harvest (it is pea season after all)...and it was paired with sweet fennel and the licorice flavor wasn't overpowering because the fennel was sauteed perfectly...but most of all I must talk about this egg. I make eggs constantly at Catskill Maison because at a Bed and Breakfast people expect egg dishes. But rarely do I make poached eggs, because to me, a poached egg must be very soft and runny in the center as a runny egg makes the dish, it emphasizes the richness of the yolk, especially if the egg is a farm egg...however there are people that are turned off by a runny egg. So I shy away from preparing poached eggs. But not these innovative chefs. Not only do they perfectly poach the egg so it's firm on the outside but runny on the inside, but they delicately flour the egg and then flash fry it for about 30 seconds to have this crisp, crunchy texture on the outside but when you break into the egg it pours into the pasta like a carbonara...simply brilliant and really one of the best appetizers I've had in a really long time.

Put Juniper on your to do list, I promise it's all that and a bag of Doritos!

Key Lime Pie So Refreshing in Extreme Heat

2010-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's incredibly hot out today, especially for late May. I feel very wilted, and when I feel this way I tend to crave things that are refreshing like frozen yogurt, iced coffee and key lime pie. There is something about the cold and creamy texture of the pie with the tart freshness of the lime that brings me to the tropics even on the coldest days. I understand why it's so popular in the Florida Keys where it's hot for most of the year. The great thing about key lime pie is that it requires very few ingredients and you don't really need "key limes" to have a great, authentic pie. Also you can substitute a store bought graham cracker crust for the homemade, thereby reducing the cooking time to 15 minutes and on a hot day you don't want the oven on all day long. Key lime pies have to cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours, so when it's really hot out I purchase individual mini graham cracker crusts, reduce the baking time to 10 minutes, and cooling time to 2 hours. The below recipe is so easy that my father was able to make a wonderful key lime pie using it!

Key Lime Pie

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (crumbled in a food processor)

½ cup granulated sugar

½ stick of butter melted

2 14oz cans of condensed milk

1 cup of key lime or lime juice (if using lime juice squeeze 1 lemon in addition to the lime juice)

2 whole eggs

Heavy Cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lime zest

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

In a bowl mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter with your hands. Press mixture firmly into a 9 inch pie pan and bake until brown (15-20 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temp before filling.

(You can eliminate the above step and just purchase a ready made graham cracker crust, but I must say that the homemade one does taste better)

Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees F

In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs. Wisk until blended and place filling into the pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then cover with saran wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

To serve, whip heavy cream with powdered sugar and then cover the pie with whipped cream and sprinkle lime zest as a garnish on top.

Local Farm Produce Finally Back!!!!!

2010-05-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

In late November (right after Thanksgiving) I go into a huge funk, I come to the realization of the fact that my local farm produce days are numbered. I try to harvest apples, potatoes, winter squash and pumpkin, and root vegetables into at least January or February...but by March even those are gone and I'm left with whatever gets shipped in at Whole Foods. I dream of May when the first of the farm spinach arrives, shortly followed by asparagus.

This weekend I called Schoharie Valley Farms and they informed me that they have been picking asparagus for the past 2 weeks...The season has begun. I promptly drove from the Bed and Breakfast up to Schoharie, the asparagus had just been picked 2 hours before I got there so I purchased some. I cut and sauteed some in an egg custard for breakfast for guests and tonight my mother made the rest for dinner. Asparagus is a vegetable that falls into the "strike while the iron is hot" category. Unlike spinach and salad greens which are also available now and will be available through October, the growing season for asparagus is only about a month, and once it's over there will be no asparagus until next May. Farm asparagus is pencil thin, sweet and so tender, often asparagus that you get from the grocery store is woody and bitter; there is a very clear difference. So much that I generally only eat asparagus in season, so I'm so excited to eat it now because it's a treat that I only get for a very short period in the year. Asparagus is one of those vegetables that once you eat it from the farm "in season" you won't want to purchase it from the supermarket. Its so simple to make, and I never use too many ingredients with it because I want the flavor to really shine through. A simple and flavorful asparagus recipe is below.

Ingredients:
Pencil thin asparagus (if purchased in a supermarket then cut off the bottom 2 inches and save for soup or stock)
lemon juice and zest
salt
fresh cracked pepper
good extra virgin olive oil for coating

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Coat asparagus slightly with olive oil
zest and juice lemon over asparagus
sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste
Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes until tender but still firm.
Serve.

Health Benefits of Red Wine - Dr. Oz Says So!!!!!

2010-05-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today when I was at the gym and on the treadmill I got the chance to tune into the Dr. Oz show. I'm hooked on Dr. Oz which is an oxymoron because he's always talking about calorie reduction and I'm also seriously addicted to the Food Network! Anyway, today on Dr. Oz's talk show he confirmed something that I've known for years. Drinking red wine (and the darker the better for you and your skin) actually keeps you young! Its so rich in antioxidants and red wine reduces cholesterol levels and allows you to wash the plaque out of your arteries. And since red wine is good for your arteries, it also helps bring more oxygen to your skin. Drink one glass of red wine a day if you are a woman (and not pregnant) and drink two glasses of red wine a day if you are a man. If you cannot drink red wine, Dr Oz suggested eating blueberries, dark chocolate and pomegranate. He also said that contrary to popular belief (and the belief of my trainer) grape juice is not a suitable substitute for red wine, because red wine has the seeds and skin that is so necessary for health benefits and grape juice doesn't.

As if I needed it, another reason to drink wine on a very regular basis! WOO HOO!!!!

Was that really Red Onion???

2010-05-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Raw red onions are one of those flavors that you either love or hate. My mother LOVES raw red onion, she wants extra in her salad, meanwhile I pull them out of salads, salsas, and burgers on a regular basis. A little raw red onion is fine, but more than a little is so strong that for me it overpowers every other flavor in any dish that I eat. Nobody seems to have more of an aversion to red onion than Scott Conant of the renowned Scarpetta Restaurant in New York City. He is a regular judge on the show Chopped on the Food Network and God help the chef who unknowingly puts raw red onion in a dish and serves it to Conant who consistently throws a fit every time. I don't think that the taste of raw red onion deserves that type of a reaction however I do understand why raw red onion can be hard to "digest".

Tonight I went to Rock n Mexicana in Windham and asked Kyle the Chef of the restaurant (who is extremely talented and a welcome addition to the less than spectacular Mountaintop dining scene) to surprise me with something. He brought out a ceviche that consisted of shrimp, lobster, gooseberries, Italian blood orange, shaved yuca, cucumber and red onion...when I discussed the dish with Kyle (of which I was swooning) and tried to break down the ingredients I mistakenly thought the red onion was radish. The red onion didn't taste anything like the strong bitter taste that I'm used to having when I bite into raw red onion, it was subtle and complemented the rest of the ingredients perfectly. So Kyle swore it was red onion, and told me a chef secret (and yes I'm a sucker for chef secrets)...he soaks the red onion in ice water for 3 hours, it takes the bitterness out and gives it a crunchy but subtle flavor. WOW! that really changes the flavor and I love the end result. I make a mean avocado, tomato and red onion salad but sometimes I feel the onion is too strong. Stay tuned for my recipe on the avocado salad with this new found technique! Thank you Kyle as always for knowing my taste and for the tip.

Beef Shanks - Not just for feeding the dogs!

2010-05-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

As some of you who are reading this know, we try to purchase all of our meat off of local farms in Greene, Delaware and Schoharie County. The meat we purchase is hormone, antibiotic free, free range and free roaming. And when we do eat beef it’s grassfed. I firmly believe that much of the disease and illness that Americans suffer from are directly attributed to the way our food tampered with before it hits that pretty plastic and Styrofoam packaging in our local grocery stores.

Our grassfed beef comes from the JJ Farber farm in Jewitt which is about 6 miles from Catskill Maison. It’s the same farm that supplies our free range eggs for our breakfasts at the Bed and Breakfast. Coincidentally the owner of the farm, Mike is also our vet in NYC and also lives in our building in Riverdale…(random right?) so we are really lucky in that we have 365 day access to really good beef. Well, knowing that I like to experiment with ingredients Mike gave me 4 beef shanks last fall stating that he had no idea what to do with them and his friend John (who runs the farm on a day to day basis) just feeds the shanks to his dogs. Hmmm, that sounds really appetizing!

Well I’ve never had beef shanks before, they were big awkward cuts of meat with a bone in the middle of the cross section, they kind of looked like oxtails or maybe short ribs but not really. But a challenge is a challenge and I’m always up for a good cooking challenge so I looked up beef shank recipes on line and came up with many stating that they are good for beef soup but not much else. Then I got a beef shank recipe from Emeril, that resembled my short rib recipe and one blog post on them stating that the marrow from them is heavenly but the shanks themselves are usually only braised in Europe and they take a long time to cook. Ok so at least people actually eat these things and it’s not just Alpo!

So I defrosted those beef shanks and threw them in my Le Creuset and braised those bad boys! 3 and a half hours later they were falling off the bone, and the marrow was like butter. (I would in the future invest in a good baguette and make a crostini). I thought they would taste like a short rib or oxtail, but no; they were leaner (so I felt less guilty) and gamier. Almost like a slightly fatty venison. After the first couple of bites I must say that my taste buds really began to like these shanks, and my father LOVED them. I served them with a mashed potato and rutabaga mix.

Beef Shanks braised in Red Wine

Ingredients:

4 cross cut beef shanks with bone in the middle 1 and a half inch thick

Seasoned flour for dredging

1 onion diced small

3 carrots diced small

3 stalks of celery diced small

3 garlic cloves diced

Olive oil

3 cups Red wine

Thyme and Bayleaf

Salt, Pepper, ground cloves, paprika

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 cups Chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Heat large dutch oven and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Dredge meat on all sides with seasoned flour

Sear all sides of meat 3-4 minutes on each side

Remove meat from the dutch oven.

Put onion, celery, carrot in the dutch oven once meat is removed. Saute, and then add garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add 1 cup of red wine to deglaze the pan. Then add the shanks, thyme, bayleaf, seasonings, chicken stock and rest of red wine. Cover the pot and put into the oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours add the tomato paste and adjust seasonings and add a little more stock if necessary. Let braise for another hour and a half or until meat is very tender. Serve with mashed potatoes and enjoy!

So Many Grapes

2010-05-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine called me last night with a request that I suggest a Cabernet or Merlot for him to purchase for his lady friend who is coming in from out of town. Since I'm really not a fan of Merlot and (only in my opinion) believe the Merlot grape is really only useful as a blending grape for a Bordeaux or Meritage; I suggested a few Cab's for him to choose from at various price points. After speaking to my friend I began thinking about the narrowness of my own understanding of grape varietals. A basic wine class will tell you that there is a Chardonnay, Pinot Gris (or Grigio), Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz (Syrah), and maybe a Cabernet Franc...and in reality for most American wine lists that's all you really have to know to get by. However there are so many other grapes both new and old world to choose from, and many have similar characteristics to those that I've listed above. An example of this is the Nero D'Avola from Sicily. I often go to Zero Otto Nove in Little Italy the Bronx, and when I sit at the bar and order a glass of wine I generally ask for the Sicilian Syrah. On the label it states Nero D'Avola and also Syrah. Looking for familiarity and the ability to easily identify my mind simply went to the word Syrah.

Last week I went to the Cookery restaurant in Dobbs Ferry, it's a really cute (albeit extremely loud) restaurant with very well executed food. It also has a very nice, easy to navigate, and heavily Italian wine list with really good price points. In my wine exploration I always find it intriguing to find out more about wines that are indigenous to a particular country or region so when I saw that there was an 2007 Nero d’Avola, Santa Anastasi, Sicily on the menu I asked the server "is that a Syrah"? I thought (mistakenly) that like in France (where the type of grape is determined by region, for example if you want a white Burgundy you know you are getting a Chardonnay grape); the Nero d'Avola was a region in Sicily where the Syrah grape is produced so ordering a Nero d'Avola meant ordering a Syrah grape. I was wrong. The Nero d'Avola is a grape that is indigenous to Sicily, and it's characteristics are like that of a Syrah, so for the American's who don't know any better they label the wine as "Syrah" so we have an idea of the style of wine we are getting. I've noticed this about some French wines as well, a white Burgundy sometimes has the word "Chardonnay" below it, but the difference is that a white Burgundy is really a Chardonnay. A Nero d'Avola isn't a Syrah, it's a Nero d'Avola; it might have properties akin to a Syrah but it isn't a Syrah. While I appreciate the "ease" factor in the bottling companies putting familiar grape varietals on the label, it also takes away from us really learning the nuances of different grapes. I urge us all to be adventurous when looking at a wine list or going into a wine shop. Don't necessarily reach for that Cabernet Sauvignon...ask questions; don't be afraid to state that you want to try a grape from a region that you aren't familiar with but you like a "Cabernet Sauvignon" style of wine. You might open up your palate to an entirely new wine region and maybe if my friend does this he will really impress his lady friend!

Wine Bar Construction

2010-05-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today is a day for an update. As some of the readers of this blog know, I own a bed and breakfast in Windham NY, Catskill Maison. However, few readers know that we are currently in the process of expanding our business to open a Wine Bar. Construction of a Winebar is a very interesting undertaking, its my dream unfolding before my eyes and I get more and more excited each day. Today I saw the paint that I chose put on the walls, I saw molding being placed on windows, and I'm giddy with happiness. I also purchased flooring and got an education on wood floors, engineered (as in man made planks) vs. true wood planks, and the pros and cons of both. I now understand the difference between pine and oak, 3/4 vs. 1/2 inch thick. It's a learning experience and I'm drinking in every minute of it. I chose oak floors, true wood, red oak with a beautiful finish 3/4 inch thick so it can withstand some wear and tear. I am trusting myself that I made the right decision. As I walk into the front room I can envision the bar, the fireplace, the lounge chairs...I hear the live guitar with the sweet singing of my Innkeeper and I'm filled with joy. Today I am at peace, I realize how very blessed I am to have this opportunity to reach into myself and fulfill my dreams, and I look forward to the adventure that awaits me.

One More Thing To Do With Chicken

2010-05-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

My mother is getting her kitchen remodeled, and her new kitchen is going to be our catering kitchen as we are going to start catering professionally later this year and I'm so psyched! We are getting all new appliances for the kitchen and her current refrigerator is going upstate so we have the challenge of getting everything out of her freezer. She had chicken breast and legs in the freezer so we had to cook it. We defrosted the chicken during the day today, and looked in my fridge to figure out how we were going to prepare the dish. Since I'm leaving in a month to go upstate for 5 months and the Bed and Breakfast is opening this weekend, my cooking days in NYC are limited as well so it's in my best interest to try to clean out my fridge too. I opened the freezer and saw frozen artichokes, and then saw frozen peas, onto the counter they went. Then in the fridge we found Carola potatoes from RSK farm (the best potatoes in the world hands down), roasted garlic and lemons and realized that we had a dish. We got some vine ripened tomatoes from the store to accompany our creation and we were on our way to a great one pot supper. We made chicken with roasted garlic, artichoke hearts, lemon, potatoes and peas in one sauce pan with balsamic glazed roasted tomatoes on the side...it was AWESOME! There is always something that can be created when trying to clean out the fridge. I encourage you to try this recipe or a variation of it the next time you need to make room in your fridge.

Ingredients
Cut up chicken legs and breast
1 onion small dice
8 cloves of roasted garlic (or regular garlic if you can't find roasted)
1 package of artichoke hearts thawed
1 lemon zested and juiced
1 cup of peas thawed
5 small potatoes diced 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence
1 tablespoon of Paprika
1 tablespoon of Adobo seasoning
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 cup of white wine
1 cup of chicken stock
Olive oil (twice around the pan) and 1 tablespoon of butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Heat a large ovenproof skillet or sauce pan and put in olive oil and butter. Season chicken with seasoning and then brown chicken on all sides and remove from pan. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add potatoes and pan fry for about 5-7 minutes until slightly tender. Add garlic, and after 2 minutes add lemon zest and juice, then add wine and deglaze the pan (get up all of the good bits of chicken and onion drippings). Then add the chicken back to the pan and add artichokes and chicken stock and put the pan in the oven. Roast chicken in the oven until meat thermometer reads 150 degrees and then add peas. Cover with a top or foil for 10 minutes and then remove cover and roast for another 10 minutes. Check for doneness (165 degrees F for free range/free roaming chicken) and then bring to the table and serve...

Goes well with roasted tomatoes or crusty bread.

Love for Chilies

2010-05-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love anything spicy. Curries, and chilies are some of my favorite foods, and I tend to order it in restaurants as hot as possible. I even make my own hot sauce, and it's so hot that I had a coughing attack while making it (total habanero). Last night I was at dinner at Pranna, and ordered Malaysian goat curry and asked the chef to please make it spicy. When it came to the table it wasn't remotely hot enough for me, so I did something that I rarely do, I sent it back. When it came back it still wasn't hot enough but the chef put 2 types of chili paste next to it. I dumped the entire contents of the hotter one in my curry, stirred it up and began to eat. My lips were on fire, I was giddy and smiling and laughing and oh so happy. This is a common trend for me; I eat something that is so hot that tears are running down my face but I don't surrender, I keep eating and am so happy. Often I find myself saying "oooh it's so hot but oh so good", as I'm sweating like a pig. After the hot curry I ate a bite of ice cream that my friend ordered which had green hot chilies poking out of it...LOVED IT! Brilliant!...So I have come to the conclusion that it really is true; Capsaicin (the active chemical in red chili peppers) also has been shown to stimulate endorphin release. This explains why I'm so happy and giddy and constantly doing the food dance as tears are running down my face.

For all of you who crave that endorphin rush, or simply just love hot foods, try making your own hot sauce. You can experiment with different types of chilies; just make sure that you add vinegar and salt to anything you do and grind them in the blender or food processor. Oh yeah, and most importantly wear gloves!

No Sancerre - try Muscadet

2010-05-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

I love red wine, and generally lean to ordering reds in restaurants more than whites...I also tend to drink more red wine at home than white wine, due to the health benefits plus the full bodied flavor of many red wines. However when the weather gets warm, sometimes there is nothing better than a crisp and refreshing white wine. I love a good California chardonnay but at times, especially when I'm outside and just want something refreshing, a chardonnay can be too heavy. When it's 90 degrees outside what I generally crave is a Sancerre. Sancerre is in the eastern portion of the Loire Valley and generally is known for the production of a Sauvignon Blanc grape that is very dry, pretty full bodied and minerally, almost grassy on the palate (there is a hint of citrus at times). A Sancerre doesn't have that melon, heavy fruit on the nose that a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is known for. The high acidity and citrus undertones of a Sancerre make it very refreshing.

Today I went to a great restaurant in Hastings, Buffet de la Gare; and since it was a warm day and it was a French restaurant I asked for a Sancerre. To my disappointment they didn't have a Sancerre by the glass, however the waiter suggested that I try their Muscadet. I was hesitant at first; yes the Muscadet grape is produced in the Loire valley but unlike the Sancerre it's produced on the west side of the Loire (I won't bore anyone reading this on the nuances between how the grapes differ on the different sides of the valley). Lets just say that I was concerned that there would be a "musk" flavor that would be overpowering (like a muscat), but to my surprise the wine was light, dry and acidic, almost like a lighter bodied Sancerre with a less citrus finish. Nice, very nice...

Dining on the Hudson

2010-05-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Living in Riverdale (the culinary wasteland with only 2 decent sit down restaurants and a cool take out Greek spot) there are 2 options when you want to go somewhere to eat, Manhattan or Westchester...and because Riverdale is so far west, when the goal is to find something quickly or without much driving the Hudson River towns in Westchester become very appealing. From Yonkers to Tarrytown there are a plethora of really good and sometimes great restaurants to choose from, and often with great views of the Hudson River. In the warm weather, there is nothing better than sitting at Harvest on Hudson, Red Hat, Striped Bass or Half Moon and watching the boats go by. Tonight was one of those nights where I feel truly blessed to be able to dine outside on the Hudson river while being so close to home.

City Island Secrets

2010-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

City Island is the most popular dining destination for Bronxites, so being a Bronx native I've dined in almost every restaurant on the strip. It's a little island off of the northeast Bronx, with one road in and one road out. On the weekends in the summer it's a zoo and has a reputation for being a not so nice, loud, low class "hang out spot", but during the week especially on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening when the weather is nice, it's worth taking the trip. The trick to City Island is knowing where to go if you aren't a huge fan of fatty cholesterol laden fried fish and shellfish with a side of precut frozen french fries or mediocre Southern Italian seafood which is commonplace. For first timers visiting the Island it can be quite overwhelming, huge signs with huge restaurants one right after the other...its hard to differentiate between which ones are for tourists (or people with a really unexposed palate), and which ones are actually worth going to. Let me first say that there isn't a restaurant in City Island that is 5 star quality, with the exception of La Refuge Inn...it simply doesn't exist, so ratchet down your expectations, realize that you are going for the "experience and ambiance" and have some fun. There is no reason to go to City Island to sit inside, read between the lines DON'T GO IN THE WINTER...half of the experience is to smell the salt water and sit outside in the good weather. The food just isn't good enough to make the trek all the way out there in the freezing cold (remember it's a tiny island surrounded by water). Now, if you go in the summer (during the week only), head to the following spots and you will not be disappointed.

Seafood - the Seashore Restaurant and sit on the outside dock by the water
American food - Black Whale - probably the best of the bunch (I went there tonight). I've only had one bad experience in all of the times I've been there. My vegetarian friend didn't have a good meal because they put pork in her penne vodka, and tried to say there was no pork in it (but there was). However, tonight my dish came laden with green peppers(which I never, ever eat under any circumstances) despite the fact that the list of ingredients didn't include them, and the waiter apologized a million times, and so did the chef and he recooked my meal and it was perfect. Really cute garden, a prix fixe, great desserts and they take restaurant.com coupons.
Italian Seafood - Lobster House Restaurant - all tables are by the water

Some like Arties or Portofinos - but in my honest opinion neither have the outdoor dining ambiance to make it worth the trip unless looking at the buses and cars passing by the main road are your thing.

I think that City Island is a must experience for all New Yorkers at least once, and with the above choices you will have a fun time and a decent meal.

Ceviche So Refreshing in the Summer

2010-05-03T11:58:00.001-07:00

I recently hosted a Latin American cooking class and one of the dishes that I taught how to make was a shrimp and fish ceviche. Ceviche is seafood that starts out raw and is literally "cooked" by citrus. It's served room temperature or slightly chilled and often has onion, cilantro, hot peppers (jalapeno) and other vegetables added. Ceviche is so easy to make because it doesn't require any cooking at all, the only skill required is to chop and the only other requirement is to get the freshest seafood possible. It's the perfect refreshing dish for a hot humid day.

Pictured above is fish and shrimp ceviche...recipe is below:

Fish and Shrimp Ceviche

1lb shrimp peeled and deveined

¾ lb Red Snapper or similar substitute

1 cup tomato (small dice)

1 ¼ cup of lime juice

1 clove garlic (very finely chopped)

1 serrano or jalapeno chili (very finely chopped)

1 teaspoon cilantro (chopped)

1 red onion (finely chopped)

1 red pepper (small dice)

½ cup jicama (medium dice)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 oz of olive oil

Cut shrimp and fish into ¼ inch dice and combine with lime juice.

Add all ingredients to shrimp and fish, toss lightly and marinate for 40 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator.

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Why Beets are Wonderful

2010-04-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I have been consciously trying to make "good" food choices. Not dieting, or eliminating any part of my diet (yes I still love pork)...but learning what a portion really is, and eating less 4 legged animals and less hard cheeses (difficult but I'm managing) and less dessert. I am not a salad fan but I've found that I'm in love with arugula, and nothing pairs better with arugula than beets.

Friends have told me that they have no idea how to make beets, and are intimidated by them. Beets are one of the most low maintenance vegetables around, and they are sweet, filling and delicious and a great source of natural fiber. I try to incorporate them into my diet at least 4 times a week...another wonderful thing about beets is that local beets are available at the farm (upstate) from June through the end of November, and at the farmers markets well into December...and they keep for weeks in the fridge...therefore you can really have local beets for 8-9 months out of the year. There are many varieties of beets, I think the dark purple are the sweetest and the best way to cook them is to simply roast them whole. Don't cut the beets before roasting them because the high temperature that you have to roast them will dry them out...after roasting them you can do various things to them. You can also saute the beet greens in a little garlic and onion.

Simple beet recipe:

Preheat the oven to 425F
Cut the stems and greens off of the beets
Place beets in the center of a large sheet of aluminum foil and bunch the foil around the beets to form a pouch. Then place beets in the center of the oven.
Let beets roast for at least an hour and 15 minutes (longer for larger beets) until a fork can easily pierce through without much give.
Remove the beets from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes
Peel the skin and cut as desired.
Refrigerate or serve.
You can also add red wine vinegar and red onion and salt and pepper to the beets and marinate for a few hours for a tasty beet salad.

Pork Palooza

2010-04-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

As many of you who know me or read this blog have come to know, I'm obsessed with the pig! I have written numerous blog posts about pork because I truly believe that pork should be a food group. Sorry to all of you vegetarians, kosher abiding Jews and Muslims out there but blame it on my South Carolinian roots the pig should be enshrined! On my recent trip to South Carolina I think I might've overloaded on pork. In a 24 hour period I managed to eat pork in one shape and form or another at every single meal...but two dishes in particular absolutely blew my mind.

First the pork trotters with sunny side farm egg at Fig...this dish was pure heaven and so simple but so perfect. It was trotters (pigs feet) from a local farm pulled off of the bone and formed into a croquette with a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg perched on top. The plate was simply garnished with purple endive, pickles and a mustard vinaigrette. This dish was so rich, and creamy and salty and smooth and crunchy at the same time. The potency of the farm egg with it's rich, custardy, dark yellow yolk coupled with the salty and crunchy trotters and the bitter of the endive with the salt and crunch of the gherkin pickles. Brilliant...

Another moment of culinary brilliance was the pork chop (bone in of course, as there is no other way to have it) with fried oysters, hollandaise, and smoky bacon with a black eyed pea cassoulet at High Cotton. There was pork in every bite, the tender pork chop with the crispy salty bacon, and the sweet crisp but also smooth oysters and the silky hollandaise all at one time...OMG a party in my mouth, and how innovative to serve fried oysters on top of a pork chop (why didn't I think of that?). Then there was the sharpness of the green onion on top of the hollandaise and the crunch of the panko crumbs and bacon in the black eyed pea cassoulet. Simply amazing!

Another wonderful plus about both of these restaurants is that they support local, sustainable food...the produce and meat and seafood are local if at all possible which adds to the flavor of the dishes...once again (and I know I repeat this over and over) the culinary benefits of going local are showcased! If you go to Charleston these restaurants should be on your short list.

That Coconut Cake - Worth the Hype?

2010-04-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Charleston has gotten alot of press recently as being a "foodie" destination. It was featured by Tony Bourdain on No Reservations, featured by Tyler Florence and Bobby Flay on Throwdown. The Throwdown episode that featured Charleston was the Throwdown of Robert Carter's coconut cake at Peninsula Grill. Bobby Flay won, and Bobby is hardly a pastry chef, so I was determined to see what the hype was about and whether the cake was worth the hype and Bobby's winning was a fluke or if the cake wasn't as good as the attention it was getting.

My father is the biggest coconut cake fan in the world, my mother makes a coconut cake for him every birthday and he's super critical. So I enlisted him in the challenge of critiquing the cake. We went to dinner (very well executed and formal southern food) and ordered the cake. It was huge, 12 layers and the presentation was lovely. Lovely presentation doesn't necessarily equal the best taste so I was skeptical at best. My father took the first bite and then I heard "quite good"...bite two "very good"...I then snatched the cake from him to get a bite before it disappeared before my eyes. It was very rich, and very moist but also oddly light. It was heavenly, creamy and crunchy at the same time; I ended up having three bites and I hate coconut cake! My grandfather who doesn't like sweets helped devour it, and my mom gave the nod of approval. It's worth the hype, the cake really is that good. But my father says it still isn't as good as my mothers.

Shrimp-n-Grits

2010-04-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

I'm here in Charleston South Carolina - the SC Low Country and the originator of what has become a wildly popular dish nationwide; Shrimp and Grits.

My family comes from here, and on special occasions (such as Christmas morning as it's tradition) and once in awhile at our Bed and Breakfast Catskill Maison my mother will whip up possibly the best version of shrimp and grits in the world. She uses huge gulf or South Carolina coastal shrimp and the most flavorful andouille sausage. We have this dish featured on our Bed and Breakfast homepage, because it symbolizes so much where we are from and what we are about. Shrimp and grits recipes are sacred, and varied...and I'm extremely critical when I eat it in public. It simply never measures up anywhere close to my mother's so I've pretty much stopped ordering it at restaurants. Until last night.

Since Charleston is the birthplace of Shrimp and Grits and Hanks Seafood Restaurant is possibly the best seafood restaurant in Charleston I thought I'd take the risk and order the shrimp and grits...I'm so glad that I did. The shrimp were plump, moist and perfectly cooked (as we know one of my huge pet peeves is overdone shrimp). The sausage was flavorful and the roux wasn't too salty or spicy and the perfect consistency...they even used the green onion garnish perfectly. The Grits were stone ground, and creamy but not runny and had a solid consistency. Bravo! This dish was as close to my mother's as I've ever eaten. For those of you who've been fortunate enough to experience the shrimp and grits that we make at the Bed and Breakfast, and are disappointed elsewhere...or for anyone traveling to Charleston in general, the Shrimp and Grits at Hanks Seafood Restaurant gets the thumbs up and meets my approval!

Fresh Ham Cuban Style And More Pork Coming!

2010-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I have an on going love affair with the pig! Pork for me is one of the best things on earth and hands down should be a separate food group. I love pork so much that instead of just buying cuts of pork from the local farms in the Catskills (or Whole Foods in a pinch) for the past 2 years I have commissioned JJ Farber farm in Jewett NY (about a 5 mile drive from Catskill Maison B&B) who specializes in grass fed hormone/antibiotic beef and free range eggs to raise a hormone/antibiotic farm roaming pig for me. Every winter a pig is brought to the farm, and John (who runs the farm) handles the pig for me until May when it's big enough to be used for meat. This process is very important because I have complete knowledge of what the pig is eating and it's level of exercise and most importantly I can control how much of each type of meat I want. For the Bed and Breakfast I tend to want a lot of ham, bacon and breakfast sausage. But for myself I have a major affinity for roasted fresh ham/shoulder (ok and all of those parts that make most people squirm so I won't go into those parts for this blog post). This weekend I roasted the last leg of fresh ham so I could have room in anticipation of getting a new shipment of pork in about a month. I'm glad that I roasted the ham when I did because the new pork is being sent to the butcher today. Stay tuned for my blog post on how I broke down the cuts of meat for the pig...but for now enjoy the below recipe for fresh ham Cuban Style!

Roasted Pork Shoulder or Fresh Ham

Ingredients:

8-10 lb Pork Picnic (shoulder) can substitute with Fresh Ham*

Marinade

Bottle of Sour Orange Juice or ½ cup of orange juice and ½ cup of lime juice

1/2 bottle of red wine

2 lemons or limes squeezed keeping the rinds

2 Heads of Garlic ( half of the garlic coarsely chopped and half finely chopped)

2 limes

Olive oil ¼ cup

½ cup of Vinegar

2 tbs of fresh oregano finely chopped or 1 tbs of Dried Oregano

1 sazon packet

1 tbs of Adobo

Salt and pepper to taste

Rub

2 tablespoons of fresh oregano and fresh garlic processed in the food processor, or 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

1 sazon packet

1 tbs of Adobo

1 tbs of onion powder

1 tbs of cumin

Salt

Pepper

Cut 1 inch slits into all areas of the meat. Stuff the coarsely chopped 6 cloves of garlic in the slits (not all slits have to be stuffed). Combine all marinade ingredients in a glass or plastic bowl or glass pan and place the pork into marinade and cover with saran wrap and let sit for 12 hours and then turn the meat over every 12 hours for 48 hours.

Preheat oven to 300 F for 20 minutes

Remove meat from marinade and shake off excess. (Reserve 1 cup of Marinade) Rub meat with olive oil, and combine all rub ingredients and then rub onto meat. Place meat in a pan and put the pan in the oven on top rack. Pour reserved marinade into the pan. Place another pan with water on bottom rack. After 1 and ½ hours baste meat with drippings, and then baste again after 3 hours. After four and a half or 5 hours or when a fork can easily go into the meat remove the water and keep roasting for a total of 6 hours…raise temperature to 450 for ½ hr to 45 min to crisp the outside. Pork is done when meat is falling off the bone and very tender. Do not cut for ½ an hour.

*If you use a fresh ham increase the time by 3 hours.

Knife Skills

2010-04-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've been cooking for about 25 years and over the past 3 years have started cooking professionally. When you cook professionally nothing is more important than "prep" time. The day before or hours before the meal where you get together your ingredients and chop, dice and sort them. As I cook more and more I've come to realize the importance of good knife skills. I took a basic knife skills class from Chef Central and got some good pointers, and time savers; but the ultimate Knife Skills class is taught by Norman Weinstein at the Institute of Culinary Education . He is the knife skills guru, he even wrote a best selling book Mastering Knife Skills on the topic. His class sells out within 3 days of being posted on the ICE website, so when I got the newsletter and schedule of courses in the mail today the first thing I did was log onto the website to see if I made it in time to register for his class...Major Score! I did it! I finally was able to register for his coveted Knife Skills class! By Monday there will be no spaces available for any of his 20 classes for the summer and a wait list will be established. This was my 4th time attempting to register for one of his Knife Skills classes and you really have to strike while the iron is hot! If there is any advice that I can give regarding being an accomplished cook, master your knife skills because once that is mastered everything else comes easy. Stay tuned for my post in June about the details of what I learned.

The Connection Between Health Care Reform, Supporting Local Farms, and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

2010-04-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

With the passage of sweeping healthcare reform I can’t help but take a minute to think about what “preventive measures” I can take with regards to my overall health, and going a step further how in “reforming” healthcare maybe attention should be given to the easy and logical way to preventing so many of the illnesses that the reformers are trying to ensure that we get coverage for. In watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution I’m so glad that the fact that

America

has as serious problem regarding food choices has finally hit prime time! American’s are accustomed to being in “fix it” mode…the reason why healthcare is so important (regardless of which side of the debate you are on) is partially because we don’t take responsibility for how to “prevent” what needs fixing. If you look at the causes of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure etc…so much of it can be traced to bad food choices and a lack of exercise. But sometimes I wonder if the reason why so many Americans make such bad food choices is because Americans don’t embrace the concept of “buying local”. When a vegetable or fruit is bruised, or wilted, or tasteless you will not want to eat it regardless of how much it’s touted for having vitamins, nutrients and antioxidents. Farm produce really does taste different, it’s not just better and fresher, but often the taste itself is very different from what can be purchased in a local supermarket. For 8 months of the year we really can get local produce. I encourage you to go to your local farmers market if you can’t get directly to the farm. NYC and the surrounding suburbs are full of farmers markets. It’s incredible to think of how much we as a nation can save if we don’t have to run to the ER or the clinic or doctor for ways to “fix” the problems that can be solved so easily by eating properly. I advocate that the first step in reform is in education about making changes in the way we view food and how it relates to our health. Support your health and the economy of your community by buying your food locally whenever possible.

Bailey's Irish Cream - Not Only For Drinking

2010-04-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

My father was given Bailey's Irish Cream as a birthday gift. Only problem, nobody in our family drinks Baileys; so in order to get rid of the Bailey's my mother and I have decided that we should find "inventive" ways to use it in desserts.

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to bake, and last week it was so hot outside that I really didn't want to turn on the oven in my apartment but I wanted a dessert that wasn't ice cream. One of my standby's when I don't want to turn on the oven is Tiramisu. I had Bailey's and heavy cream in the fridge so I figured I'd run to Whole Foods and get some ladyfingers and mascarpone and make a Tiramisu.

When I got to Whole Foods the strawberries were on sale so I picked up a container, and then got this idea to make a strawberry dessert incorporating the ladyfingers soaked in the Bailey's. I didn't purchase the mascarpone, because I wanted to do a "play" on strawberries and cream (a dish that I absolutely adore in the summertime and it was literally 90 degrees outside). I ended up combining the heavy cream with a little creme fraiche and made this really good and refreshing dessert!

Recipe:
1 pint of heavy cream
1 package of Strawberries (thinly sliced)
a cup of Bailey's Irish Cream
1/3 cup of Confectioners Sugar
1/4 cup of creme fraiche
bittersweet chocolate shavings

Whip the heavy cream with the sugar, 30 seconds before you stop whipping add the creme fraiche and whip into the whipped heavy cream.
Take 1/3 of the lady fingers and soak each for about 30 seconds in the Bailey's. Then layer them in one layer in a baking pan. Spread the cream over the lady fingers, and spread the strawberries over the cream. Repeat all steps twice, except the top layer will only have cream and no strawberries. Let sit in the fridge at least 4 hours (preferably overnight), and then sprinkle the cream with the chocolate shavings and serve.

Herbs and the Food Processor

2010-04-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a BBQ at a dear friends house. He chose to grill skirt steaks (churrasco) which is often accompanied with chimichurri which is kind of like a South American pesto.

When we picked up the groceries for the BBQ I suggested that we make a chimichurri to go along with the churrasco. After we got back to his place and I began to prep I asked for the food processor so that I could make the chimichurri. The food processor is second on my list of kitchen necessities (a close second to my knives). When my friend told me that he didn't have a food processor I had a temporary panic. I've become so accustomed to the food processor that I actually sat for about 30 seconds wondering how I was going to make the chimichurri without it. Then I said to myself "Lea, don't be ridiculous...for hundreds of years before the food processor people were making chimichurri. Use a knife!"...and that's what I did. Guess what? By not using the food processor the flavor of the herbs in the chimichurri were enhanced! Food processors dull herbs, and reduce their quality because they become bruised...the level of control of the size of the individual ingredients (and therefore texture) of your sauce is also removed. I did a tiny dice of all of the ingredients and combined them in a bowl!!!! WOW! this was the best chimichurri I've ever made.

Recipe

Chop the following very finely and add to a bowl
1 bunch of parsley
1/2 bunch of cilantro
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 medium sized red onion (or 1/4 large red onion)

Add to the above
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
juice and zest of 2 lemons
4-6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste.

The Promised Land AKA Iron Horse Grill in Pleasantville

2010-04-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from the "promised land", and no it wasn't a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a trip to the local church or Synagogue...I just got back from Iron Horse Grill in Pleasantville (Westchester County) and now I will have all of the religious fanatics screaming that I committed Blasphemy. But in all honesty there is no other way to explain the experience.

I first dined at Iron Horse Grill during this past Hudson Valley Restaurant Week and I heard from word of mouth that Iron Horse was one of the best. As I stated in my blog post back in March, I was so blown away that I made another reservation while still dining. But that experience didn't prepare me in the least for the treat that I was in for tonight. Overall this was one of the best dining experiences that I've ever had, and I'm no stranger to the NY restaurant scene.

We got the $49 prix fixe (which is any appetizer, entree and dessert and a steal considering the quality of food). I have to break down this meal course by course (which I never do because it makes blog posts too long, but to not explain in detail wouldn't do this experience justice).

For appetizers we had the salmon "sliders", timbale of peaky toe crab, seared diver scallops and Duck confit salad.

First the Sliders - soft but crunchy toasted brioche, perfectly cured salmon, smooth and well seasoned spread...AWESOME! So good that my father (who puts hot sauce on absolutely everything) refused to put hot sauce on them...as a matter of fact this is the first time in history that he didn't put hot sauce on anything at all, his entire meal was hot sauce free...and this is really significant, because the man even puts hot sauce on french toast!
The crab - I can barely speak, the sweetness of the tarragon coupled with the saltiness of the caviar, and then the smooth texture of the avocado with the crunch of the sweet corn and the freshness and sweetness of the crab all rolled into one, and then there was what seemed like a chive aioli with tomato garnishing the plate as an "accent" ...simply brilliant and it just popped in your mouth.
The Scallops - okay so scallops and shrimp are a major pet peeve for me. Nothing is more irritating to me than an over cooked scallop or shrimp, it clearly states a lack of attention to detail by the line (or God forbid the chef)...I'm such a stickler that I dedicated an entire blog post to the issue. Well my mother gave me a bite of her scallop, and it was perfectly crusted (seared) on the outside and melt in your mouth soft inside, and so sweet...just perfect! Bravo to chef McGrath and his team.
Duck Confit salad- ok so the duck was perfect, but to me that wasn't the star of this show...what made this dish so incredibly special was the celery root...ok pause yes you read this properly, celery root! A vegetable that is often overlooked and I often just dismiss because I'm not very fond of it. Chef McGrath julienned the celery root, and then added (what I think was) dijon mustard, mayo, celery seed, salt, white wine (or wine vinegar) salt and pepper and created this slaw that was OUT OF THIS WORLD! I was swooning...so simple but just so good.

Entrees equally innovative and spot on!
Duck - perfectly cooked and not tough, well spiced and the rhubarb chutney was lovely, a perfect combination of sweet and sour. The forbidden rice was out of this world...spicy at first and then it plays tricks on your taste buds because the finish is sweet!
Rack of Lamb (pictured above) - also perfectly cooked, and incredible presentation but the star here was the polenta, firm on the outside but pudding soft center, and the apricot and black (I think kalamata) olive tapenade was brilliantly placed on top of the soft polenta, so when I took a bite of the polenta and tapenade and lamb together I had sweet and salty and sour and chewy and firm and soft all hitting my palate at once...oh yes then I picked up the bone and tried to hide in the corner as I was chewing and gnawing like a yard dog!
Pork Porterhouse (also pictured above) - is there a need to critique here? Pork should be a food group! And as a porter house it was so succulent and the crisp onion rings that were not remotely greasy and the homemade steak sauce (this isn't your A-1 happening here, no sir!) and the gorgonzola potatoes, ok gorgonzola with anything is amazing! And to pair it with the "homely" potato really rounded out the flavor of the whole dish.
Dessert -
I have to be honest here, I ran out of steam so I didn't have the blueberry cobbler (though after my father was done with it, there was no need to run the plate through the dishwasher). I only had a tiny bite of the Chocolate Marquis, but it's a super rich chocolate lovers dream (and it was really decadent and I might order it in a couple of weeks LOL!). I did manage to indulge in the dried cherry bread pudding...AMAZING! The cherries were the perfect slightly sour complement to the sweet molasses and pecan ice cream, so the sweetness wasn't overpowering. The pudding was firm and warm and lovely. A perfect end to a perfect meal.

All in all, Chef Philip McGrath, his wife Catherine (who manages the front of the house) and his team get it! They balance elegant and comfortable perfectly. Chef McGrath doesn't skimp on quality and most of all he really cares about his product and has pride in everything he does. There is passion and love in his food, his staff and his restaurant...that passion and love comes from the heart and can't be orchestrated. From the minute you step into the space you feel like an old friend, and the level of care that is extended is so genuine you just want to come back again and again...and we will be doing just that!

Yes, You Can Drink Red Wine With Fish

2010-04-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever been to a restaurant that has a menu that recommends wine pairings, you will notice that red wine is rarely paired with fish. And if it is, it’s the lightest Burgundy (or Pinot Noir) that the Sommelier can find. But we are always told that we should put more fish and chicken in our diets, which I am diligently doing in my constant quest to be more health conscious and it’s the red wine that has all of the antioxidants.

Listening to the wine pairing “philosophy,” you don’t pair fish with red wine, therefore diminishing the total “wellness” experience of your meal. For me, I know if I’m going to eat something healthy I want to feel like I’m getting the whole experience; therefore I want to drink something with health benefits too. This is not to discredit the benefits of water (but this is a blog post about wine!!) or to diminish how well a great Sancerre or Chardonnay pairs with fish. Honestly, in the summer there is nothing better, which explains how my desire for a white wine generally outshines my desire for the value of antioxidants. But in the winter, or when I just feel like a glass (or two) of red, I want to know that I can have that red wine without sacrificing the flavor of the fish.

My palate likes heavy wines, so the Pinot Noir family of wines generally won’t do, but a really heavy red will overpower the delicacy of most fish dishes so I’ve found some great alternatives: Nebbiolo from Italy, some Spanish Tempranillos or a Cotes de Rhone from France in the old world wines for me tend to not overpower fish dishes…and believe it or not, there are red wines often labeled as “table wines” right here in the Finger Lakes region of NY State that are not overpowering and relatively inexpensive; they pair really well with fish and are actually quite universal. Lamoreaux Landing Estate Red, and Bully Hill Baco Noir are two that come to mind. All in all, wine is so palate specific, I have learned not to be intimidated, nor do I follow the rules…there is only one rule that I stick to, which is try them all and drink what I like when I want it!

Clam Pizza???!!!

2010-04-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the Famous Frank Pepe's Pizzeria that has been featured time and again on the Food Network and Travel Channel. Coming from the Bronx I'm very opinionated. I think that the mom and pop pizza shops from the Bronx have the best pizza in the world and I'm quick to make a judgment about pizza joints that are "chains". I want my pizza crisp, and thin, with only a few toppings and I want to be able to neatly fold my pizza to eat it.

Frank Pepe's Pizzeria only has 2 things on the menu; brick oven pizza and salad. They have their tomato pizza with mozzarella and list toppings that can be added and a few specialty pizza's, including their Clam Pizza. I love clams, and I love cheese...but I generally have an aversion to cheese with seafood, it just doesn't go together. But I ordered the clam pizza because the waitress said it was really good and I was intrigued. It was AMAZING! The crust was super thin, crispy and slightly charred in a good way. The clams were large, and chewy but tender and the garlic was the perfect complement. And the cheese, well it just worked. No sauce, just mozzarella and not overwhelming, the perfect amount with oregano sprinkled over it. This pizza is really addictive and I will be returning again and again!

I've learned a lesson from this, if done properly seafood can be paired with cheese, the experience might have opened up a new culinary path for me. Stay tuned for recipes combining seafood and cheese.

It's all about the Struffoli

2010-04-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Struffoli are an Italian honey ball dessert that I (and now my cat Kobe as well) have been addicted to since I was about 6 years old. They are usually made around Christmas time and if you go to Little Italy in the Bronx every bakery has them...But they are not all created equal. A good struffoli is a perfect balance between crunch, airiness, stickiness (from the honey) and a hint of lemon. A bad struffoli can be too cake like or heavy, no lemon, under saturated or over saturated with honey or worst of all not crunchy, so tasting like a stale cookie.

Artuso Bakery on 187th street in Little Italy (near Arthur Ave) has the best struffoli hands down! And they are one of the few bakeries that also make it for Easter! I'm so happy because I've been eating them for the past week. For all those in search of the best struffoli, your search is officially over. The struffoli mecca is at Artuso's.

Wine...A Diet Drink

2010-04-03T18:54:00.001-07:00

Today it was beautiful outside, one of the first beautiful Spring days which means for me a perfect excuse for spending the day going from one outdoor restaurant to another sampling wine and food. I started out at the new Corner Restaurant on 93rd and Columbus, and had a really flavorful roasted tomato soup with a hint of cumin and a manchego grilled cheese sandwich for brunch which I paired with a refreshing blanc de blanc sparkling wine from France. Anticipating more uninhibited caloric intake later in the day because I had plans to go to Red Hat Bistro in Irvington for drinks at their rooftop bar and then dinner, I decided that I needed to practice damage control to see where I could cut calories. I decided that I would have grilled to fish for dinner and limit myself to one glass of wine if possible because wine would simply add on many empty calories. I just knew that the glass of sparkling set me back about 300 calories, and a glass of wine would be at least 350-400 calories...After all it's common knowledge that mixed drinks are on average from 500-900 calories and a pina colada has more calories than a Big Mac. So I went on calorie counter to check out how little I'd have to eat if I wanted to indulge in the second glass of wine, and to my amazement and sheer delight I found out that wine is a great choice for a low calorie beverage! For a wine with 0% to .5% RS (Residual Sugar - your Cabs and Chardonnays, the types of wine that I drink) a red is only 127 calories per 5oz glass and a white is 120 calories. Even better, a 4oz glass of Champagne is a mere 78 calories! WOW I could have a bottle of champagne for less calories than a margarita! This is music to my ears because I absolutely love wine. Wine is lower in calories than most juices and all soda! This is my new diet drink...so I've done the research and with it's health benefits (high in antioxidents) and low calories I've come to the conclusion that wine should be a part of all balanced and healthy diets!

Solving The Mystery Of How To Cook Shrimp

2010-03-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to Dayboat Cafe in Irvington New York for dinner. It's a New England Style seafood restaurant featuring fresh fish, shellfish and chowders. The raw littlenecks were super fresh, fried oysters were plump and juicy and better than many I've had in New Orleans. Lobster Pot Pie was chock full of lobster meat. Overall a great find. However, the scallops were slightly overcooked; which had me thinking about how rarely I order shrimp and scallops at restaurants and how easy they both are to over cook. There is a fine line between succulent and "rubber ball" resembling the ones that we played with as kids during a game of jacks. But a little attention to details and the ability to make perfect shrimp and scallops is demystified! Anyone can make really succulent shrimp and scallops and it baffles me as to why chefs have so much trouble with them.

Shrimp are really easy...you just have to remember the "C" for "cooked" and "O" for "overcooked" rule. A shrimp's shape gives away it's level of doneness every single time. And this is a foolproof method. When a shrimp first turns pink when you are cooking it, begin to pay careful attention to it's shape. When it curves into a "C" shape the shrimp is done. Take it out of the frying pan or sauce pan right away. If you let the shrimp turn into an "O" shape" or pretty much curl into itself then it's "overcooked" and you've just produced a rubber ball.

Scallops are not quite as easy and take a little more technique because it requires you to know a little about texture (it's trial and error). When you sear a scallop to a golden brown on the first side, flip it and after a minute start to lightly push the center. If the center is soft, wait about 30 seconds and then take the scallop out of the pan. Ultimately you want to make sure that when you touch the center it doesn't bounce back. If it does the scallop is overcooked. Remember the 2nd side always cooks much faster than the first side.

Surviving Dessert For 2 Weeks Straight

2010-03-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

I did it! I survived 7 days of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week meals...and I can still (barely) fit into my jeans! There were some new finds and some old favorites and a couple of spots that I must confess I only would go to for the HVRW bargain.

Without giving detailed reviews about each course at each place I figured the best thing would be to give a synopsis.

Red Hat Bistro in Irvington - Newly discovered by me...fun atmosphere, solid HVRW menu and a definite find because they have a rooftop bar in the summer and outdoor dining on the Hudson River. A great meetup spot!

Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers - I went twice in 2 weeks, the best red velvet mascarpone cake EVER! This was the best of the bunch for HVRW for food, selection, service and atmosphere. Highly recommended (see my March 24th post for more details on this spot).

Iron Horse Grill in Pleasantville- Possibly the best new find of the bunch! I made another reservation while I was still having dinner. This is an EXCELLENT restaurant with really creative food.

Equus at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown- Perfectly executed food, but not creative...you go here for the ambiance not really the food. The staff was overwhelmed, clearly a situation where they don't get this many covers on an average evening. I don't see myself going there until next March.

Zuppa in Yonkers - good food, slow service and in reality not worth the price that you would pay for the regular non restaurant week menu...for $28-$32 dollars an entree you can go down the block to X20 for a much better meal...however that being said, the live band in the lounge is a nice touch, and so are the pizzas and free valet parking!

Restaurant 42 at the Ritz Carlton White Plains - this was the biggest shocker of all. Last year the food was mediocre at best, it was as if Chef Gonclaves felt he was above the RW experience and the menu was an afterthought...well this year he redeemed himself in a big way. The Salmon Tartare was extremely fresh and perfectly seasoned, and the caldo verde soup was smooth and flavorful...the star (in my opinion) was the lamb belly, braised for at least 6 hours until melt in your mouth tender, surrounded by root vegetables of a perfect al dente texture and creamy polenta. The food was so good that I'm going to treat myself to their $42 four course market menu as soon as I recover from the food coma that I've been in for the past 2 weeks...NB, Tuesday night a bottle of wine is 1/2 price! Pictures of dishes at Restaurant 42 are featured in this post.

All in all a wonderful 2 weeks at some wonderful places.

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week

2010-03-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

So it’s my favorite restaurant time of year again…the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week! To me it’s better than the one in NYC, because most of the chefs really take the RW concept seriously and put impressive items on their menus. Of course there are a few that give you the tired chicken and vegetarian pasta and uninspiring fish but most, really go all out and it’s a great treat.

Tonight I went to X20 (Xaviars on the Hudson) – with my Meetup Group "Foodies on the Hudson" which is a restaurant that I frequent regularly and Chef Peter Kelly (who has been featured on Tony Bourdain's No Reservations and beat Bobby Flay in a Ribeye battle on Iron Chef) and his staff didn’t disappoint. The food was impeccable as always and they had additional RW menu items that weren't listed for all 3 courses. Rock Shrimp Risotto in Lobster Cream, (which I had and was DIVINE) 1/2 roasted duck with spaetzle, pumpkin panna cotta, and blueberry cobbler...I also had the salmon which was perfectly cooked with a wink and a nod to Japanese cuisine, the only dish that fell a little flat was the pork loin, a little dry, and the brussels sprouts were over fried so super bitter and charred...the Red velvet cake is the same delicious red velvet cake that is on the menu! Bravo to Peter Kelly for FINALLY putting that cake on the RW menu! (and yes I thanked him personally for it, because I've been asking for that to be included on the RW menu for the past 2 years) I tasted the Mushroom Custard and it was silky and wonderful, and the duck which was moist and crisp...the pork was a little dry and uninspiring (which was the only disappointment on the menu) and the pumpkin panna cotta was incredible. ...everything was great! Peter Kelly always does RW right, and doesn't make his guests feel like second class citizens.

I have a line up of 6 restaurants to try over the next 2 weeks…wish me and my waistline luck!!!!