Sunday, November 8, 2009

Chocolate Pudding Pie

I had to make a dessert for a potluck last night and only had 30 minutes or less to churn out something presentable. I always turn to Smitten Kitchen when I'm in need of a dessert recipe and this recipe for Chocolate Pudding Pie did not disappoint. A couple of time saving tips:
- use pre-made pie crust, pick it up in the frozen aisle of the grocery store
- canned whipped cream, definitely not as tasty as self whipped cream, but it'll look just as nice
The pudding itself only takes about 15 minutes to make and anything in the shape of a pie always looks impressive.

Remember to constantly stir the pudding while it's cooking over medium heat, otherwise the bottom will burn and your dessert might or might not taste like burnt chocolate.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Chicken with peach salsa

It's been awhile since I last posted. Moving to Chapel Hill and starting grad school has kept me pretty busy! For the first few weeks right after I moved down here I was eating whatever I could scrape together - ramen, toast, canned soup. It was pretty crappy. I'm finally slowly getting back into the swing of cooking on a regular basis. I've got a much bigger kitchen to work in, plus a dishwasher, so it's pretty exciting! Amar came down for a quick visit this weekend and he cooked a delicious Sunday night meal. I wish I took a photo of the dish, it was bright and colorful.

I usually go into a grocery store with a meal in mind and buy the ingredients that I need. Amar likes to wander around the produce section until he's inspired by something that he sees. This time he was inspired by a package of store made peach salsa from Whole Foods:

Chicken:
Marinade:
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 liberal splash of orange juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice from one lime
pinch of salt

Combine the marinade ingredients in a food processor
marinade 2-3 large chicken breasts for 3 hours
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Pan fry the chicken for 3 minutes on each side
Put the chicken in the oven, cover with aluminum foil, bake for 8-10 minutes
Meanwhile, cube one ripe avocado
combine with fresh peach salsa (or mango or pineapple salsa)
Take the chicken out of the oven, pour the chicken and juices over the salsa
combine so that the salsa is warmed

Serve with rice and beans

Sunday, June 28, 2009

And I'm Back


I'm back from an awesome trip around China and Southeast Asia. I stuffed myself to the brim with noodles and fresh juice shakes. I had my first glass of red wine in 7 weeks last night at Lil Vinny's, a little Italian restaurant in Somerville. It was delicious! Food pics from my trip coming soon.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Taste of New York

I bid New York good-bye yesterday. I'm going to miss a lot of things about NYC, especially all of the fantastic food that's a phone call or a subway ride away.

A list of all the food I'll be craving, in no particular order:







The Ooey Gooey cupcake - Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Lentil soup - Zaytoon's
Beef hand-pulled noodle soup - the shop at the corner of Catherine and East Broadway
Gnocchi, linguine with fresh fava beans, stewed prunes in red wine sauce and pretty much everything else on the menu - Frankie's 457
Chicken and rice - any street cart, but especially the one by MOMA
Tortilla soup, quesadillas, quarter chicken with rice - Los Pollitos II
Margarita pizza - Anthony's
Chicken katsu lunch special - Tebaya
Shrimp tempura udon noodle soup - Foodworks
Soup dumplings - Shanghai Cafe
Breakfast burrito and poached eggs - Miracle Grill
Sushi boxes - Woorijip
Miso ramen - Ramen Setagaya
Green tea frozen yogurt - Pinkberry
Hotdogs and PBRs - Gowanus Yacht Club
brunch - everywhere

Slow Poached Fish

Following my summer cocktail recipe, slow poached fish with braised asparagus and a glass of white wine is the perfect early summer meal. Plus, there's not much heat involved, so you won't be sweating away in the kitchen. The fish recipe is adapted from this sweet and hunger-inducing article from NYTimes.

The recipe calls for halibut, but I substituted catfish, which is cheaper. I didn't taste the mint, so I wouldn't recommend using any. I also replaced rosemary with some thyme.

A Summery Cocktail

Summer is just around the bend and to get summer '09 started, I'll share with you a recipe for a refreshing summer cocktail. This drink from one of my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn, Frankie's 457. It's pretty much liquid summer:

Ingredients:
1-2 shots of Absolut Citron, or another citrus vodka of your choice
handful of mint leaves
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
Juice of one lime
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup of club soda

Recipe:
- Make the simple syrup ahead of time: in a small saucepan, bring the sugar, water and mint leaves to a boil, stir until sugar is dissolved, cook for another 5 minutes. Refridgerate overnight.
- In a cocktail shaker, combine the vodka, lemon juice, lime juice and 1/4 cup of simple syrup. Shake with ice
- Pour mixture into a tall glass with ice
- Top up with the club soda

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Indian Recipes

I had dinner at my friend Alex's apartment last night and he made a really great curry. While he was cooking, Alex rushed between the stove and his laptop, reading the cooking instructions from a website, showmethecurry. I've always been a little scared of making Indian food...the recipes all look so long and complicated. This website is really useful and well organized, there are lots of instructional youtube videos with awesome muzak playing in the background. I'll report back when I make a recipe from the site.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Harefield Road

Recommended: brunch at Harefield Road in Williamsburg. $12 gets you a
brunch cocktail, bottomless coffee/tea and an entrée. My poached eggs
with smoked salmon was delicious. And something must be said for high
quality English Breakfast tea. The worst is weak and watery tea. If
you want an post brunch snack I hear there is a White Castle nearby.

JFK Terminal 5

I flew out of the new Jetblue terminal at JFK last week and check out
my meal! Doesn't it look edible? And it tasted quite good actually. And I'm not just comparing that to standard airport food. I was quite impressed actually. I ordered the tofu stir-fry with mongolian sauce from Lucy's Asian Kitchen, one of the stalls in the terminal's food
court. The food court also has a pasta place, a sandwich shop, pizza, full salad bar and a bunch if hot soups. There's also 3 full service restaurants: a sushi bar, tapas restaurant and a steakhouse. I was definitely very impressed with the food options. Now if only Jetblue's flights could ever leave on time...

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Bacchus Wine Bar

I was pleasantly surprised by my meal at Bacchus Wine Bar. I picked this restaurant purely for its location. I was in Carroll Gardens, Sarah was in Bed-Sty and Samantha was in Lefferts Gardens, and I had to find a place that was relatively easy to get to for all of us. I was expecting decent french bistro food, but our meals were really good, above and beyond what I was anticipating. The restaurant is tiny - only around 7 tables. We went on a Thursday night and place was pretty much empty, but don't let that deter you. I recommend the escargots, scallops, mussels and the skate. Bacchus Wine Bar is located on Atlantic btw Bond and Nevins.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Baked

Down the street from Hope and Anchor is Baked, a bakery that serves
the best hot chocolate. It has a perfect consistency - not cloyingly
thick and not too watery. Their cupcakes, which rival those from Sugar
Sweet Sunshine, are also highly recommended.

Hope and Anchor

Hope and Anchor in Red Hook serves classic diner food, with less
grease. They have an expansive burger menu, all-American dinner
entrees and a fun snack menu. I have my eye on the mac n cheese
fritters. I went there Saturday morning for brunch and my meal was
lovely. I got the vegetable hash, which comes with mushrooms,
tomatoes, spinach, potatoes and a few other unidentifiable veggies.

The food is simple, nothing crazily inventive, but very satisfying.
Prices are very reasonable!

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Tortilla Soup

Thanks Molly for the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 chipotle chili pepper in adobo sauce
1 14 oz can of black beans
1 14 oz can of chicken stock
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 package of frozen corn
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 corn tortillas, ripped up
2 zucchinis, chopped
1 handful of cilantro, diced (optional)
lime juice (optional)
avocado (optional)
salt, lots of it
water, lots of it
1-2 tablespoons of cumin, adjust accordingly
1-2 tablespoons of ground coriander, adjust accordingly
1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Instructions:
Heat up a good amount of olive oil in a large pot, saute the garlic and onion for about 5 minutes at medium/high heat
Chop up one chipotle chili, take out seeds if you don't want the soup to be too spicy
Add the chopped chili to the pot, stir for a few minutes
Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, black beans and frozen corn in all at once
Add water to dilute the mixture. Add as much or as little as you want, depending on how thick you like your soup. I added about 2 14 oz can's worth of water to the soup
Add the spices and the salt
Add the chopped zucchini
Continue to salt to taste
Put a lid on the pot and simmer at low/medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
Take the tortillas and cut/rip them into thin long strips
Add the tortilla strips to the soup, stir and simmer for another 10-15 minutes or so.
Optional: Garnish soup with cilantro, lime juice and avocado

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Picture of my Saturday lunch soup

Saturday Lunch

This past Saturday, after blowing all of my cash on take-out, I had to make myself lunch. I've been so spoiled over the past week...my parents made me three meals a day! Whenever I come back from a trip home, I get really lazy about cooking and don't make myself anything for 3 or 4 days. Anyway, I looked in my mostly bare cupboard and fridge and this is what I found: 1 old lemon, 1 can of chickpeas, 1/2 a bag of red lentils, 2 cans of tuna, a couple of tomatoes. Not all that much I could do with this stuff, so I went on a quick trip to the grocery store to supplement what I had to make a decent soup and sandwich combo. I ended making an italian-style tuna sandwich and a lentil, tomato and chickpea soup (an adaptation of a Rachael Ray recipe.) Turned out surprisingly well given I was just trying to eat whatever I could find in my house. Recipes below (serves 2 with some left over):

Italian-Style Tuna:
2 cans of tuna packed in water, drained
a handful of pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped (try to get rid of as much juice and seeds as you can)
a handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt & pepper
Combine all of the ingredients, spread on a roll and add a few large basil leaves.

Lentil, Chickpea and Tomato Soup:
1 can of chickpeas
1/3 cup of red lentils
1 can (28 oz) of fire roasted tomatoes (or just regular whole tomatoes)
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin

Puree the chickpeas and onions in a food processor
Cook the garlic in olive oil at medium heat
Add the chickpea and onion puree, combine with the turmeric, cumin and salt(liberally)
Stir for about 5 minutes
Add the can of tomatoes (juice included), chicken stock and lentils, stir and combine
Simmer the soup at medium heat for about 20-25 minutes, or until the lentils are mushy
Stir occasionally, use your stirrer/spatula to break up the tomatoes if necessary
Taste and add salt if needed.

Easy Sorbet

I just made a sorbet (recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman/NY Times) that was ridiculously easy and really tasty. It only requires 3 ingredients and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Also! It tastes any overpriced sorbet that you would buy at a place like Ciao Bella. Now that I've made my own home-made version, i don't think I'll be going out to buy sorbet anymore.

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen fruit (I used strawberries)
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
1/4 cup of sugar
A few tablespoons of water

Instructions:
1. Combine ingredients in a food processor
2. Blend until the fruit is broken down and the ingredients form a smooth consistency
3. Serve