Quick Update

I know it’s been awhile (again) since I’ve written, so here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

First of all, Matt and I moved to an apartment in Davis Square. We’re just about settled in finally and loving the area so far.

I have also been volunteering on the weekends at Bondir, a new restaurant in Cambridge. In trying to figure out what to do with my life, I thought finding out what working in a kitchen is like would be a good start. Chef Jason Bond, the chef/owner, has been extremely patient with me as I’ve been learning the ropes. Also, his food is absolutely delicious – I highly recommend it!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more posts.

Huevos Rancheros

Matt and I randomly had all of the makings of huevos rancheros sitting in the fridge last Sunday and – aside from getting some jalapeno in my eye* - it was one of the best impromptu brunches to ever happen!

We bought this huge bag of masa flour to make tacos with homemade tortillas several months ago and it has seriously come in handy since. To make them, you literally just mix the masa with water, form it into small balls, and press into tortillas. I’ll have to blog about that another time, but they were a great base for the huevos rancheros.

To make the sauce, I roasted the red pepper and jalapeno and pureed them into a tomato based sauce. I topped the tortillas and sauce with some fried eggs and chopped cilantro. Here’s my (rough) recipe:

Ingredients
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 can of tomatoes
½ c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
Pinch of ground chili (not chili powder)
Salt and pepper
4 Corn tortillas
4 Eggs
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions
Roast the bell pepper and the jalapeno over an open flame or under the broiler until they’re nice and charred on the outside. Transfer them to a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let them steam in the covered bowl for 10 minutes or so. When they’re nice and soft, peel the charred skin, take out the seeds, and roughly chop them.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. When the onion starts to soften, add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the ground chili, cook for a few seconds in the oil, and then add the tomatoes. Bring up to simmer and add the red bell and jalapeno peppers. Puree in a blender or using a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the cilantro into the sauce and reserve some for garnish.

Fry a couple of eggs for each portion, making sure the yolks are nice and runny. To assemble, put some sauce over a couple of tortillas and top with the eggs and cilantro.

* If you get some hot pepper in your eye, washing it out with milk helps. I seriously had to do that. Matt tried to not laugh.

Thai Curry Mussels

Thai curry mussels are popping up on menus all over the place these days, but I feel like I’m always disappointed when I order them. They’re never spicy enough! Last weekend I made my own using some panang curry paste and coconut milk. I probably would have normally used red curry paste, but I had a half can of the Panang in the refrigerator that needed to be used. If this weren’t a last minute creation, I also would have topped with some cilantro instead of the chives I already had. It was still delicious though, and plenty spicy :)

Thai Curry Mussels

½ c. onion, chopped
1 small clove of garlic, minced
Vegetable oil
1 ½ tbsp. Thai Panang curry paste
1 ¼ c. light coconut milk
¼ tsp. fish sauce
1 lb. mussels, cleaned
Cilantro, chopped (optional)

Making the sauce was really simple. I just sweat the onions in some vegetable oil and added the garlic when the onions started to soften. Then, I added the curry paste and stir fried for a minute or so until it was very fragrant. Then, I added the coconut milk and fish sauce. After bringing that to a simmer, I added the mussels and cooked until they opened (discarding any that didn’t). They were very saucy, so we ate them with a big hunk of bread for dipping.

Marco Canora Night – Part 2

Marco Canora’s ribolitta is made with a type of kale called cavolo nero (aka black cabbage, or Lacinato) and served with lots of parmesan cheese and crusty bread. The recipe can be either made with a meat stock, or with water to make it vegetarian. It’s so comforting, but extremely healthy as well.


I don’t think I had ever tried cavolo nero before. It’s a sturdy green that’s actually kind of funky smelling when raw. The recipe calls for it to be chopped extremely fine, which is not easy when you’re trying to chop eight cups worth! We read that one of his tricks is to freeze it overnight and then simply crumble it into the soup. Unfortunately, we didn’t think that far in advance. The results, though, were totally worth the effort.

Ribolitta

Ingredients


Olive oil
3 c. each carrots, celery, and onion, finely diced
1 small head (or half a large head) of savoy cabbage, chopped
1/3 c. + 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
8 c. finely cavolo nero, very finely chopped
5 c. cannellini beans, 3 c. pureed and 2 c. whole
10 c. water or meat stock

Instructions


Start by sautéing the carrot, celery, and onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft but not browned. Be patient - this takes a little while. The pot should be covered for most of the time.


Next, add the savoy cabbage and cook for just a few minutes until it wilts.


Then add the tomato paste and stir until combined.


Add the cavolo nero.


Cook for about 20 minutes.


Add the water (or stock) the whole beans. When it comes to a boil, add bean puree and simmer away. I’m not sure if there’s an exact simmer time, but we let it go for about an hour.


Top the soup with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and crusty bread or toast points and there you have it: a yummy, comforting bowl of soup perfect for the winter.

Marco Canora Night – Part 1

Matt and I are huge fans of Marco Canora, his restaurant Hearth, and, mostly, his wine bar Terroir. Terroir is probably what I miss most about living in the East Village.

Anyways, Matt bought his cookbook recently and has been making a lot of the things that we usually order at his restaurants. His tomato and egg bruschetta is probably what we order most at Terroir. One time the bartender joked that they started firing up the bruschetta when they sat Matt and me walk by.

The best thing we’ve tried at Hearth has been the pan-roasted hen of the woods mushrooms. They sound like a simple side dish on the menu, but they are to die for. We more recently discovered his ribolitta - a Tuscan kale soup topped with a generous amount of parmesan – which is also a favorite.

We made all of these things for dinner on Sunday night: the tomato and egg bruschetta and mushrooms for appetizer and the ribolitta for main course. I’m splitting the entry into two parts because I took a lot of pictures of everything!

Tomato and Egg Bruschetta


You would never believe how good the simple combination of eggs, tomato sauce, olive oil, and bread is.

His technique involves mixing the egg whites into the cooked tomato sauce and then lightly poaching the egg yolks on top of the sauce until it’s warm, but still runny. At Terroir, you can’t actually see the pieces of egg white in the sauce. When Matt first made this recipe, we found it had too many whites. We reduced the number, but I think we still need to work on our technique. We also modified it a little bit by putting dried oregano in the sauce and fresh basil on top, which I think is done at Terroir.

The key to the whole thing is using really good ingredients: the best canned tomatoes (see note at the bottom), fruity extra-virgin olive oil, high-quality dried oregano (Marco Canora suggests Sicillian oregano), flavorful bread, etc.

Note: Not all canned tomatoes are created equal! I had always used San Marzano tomatoes, but Serious Eats did an interesting canned tomato taste test and found that Trader Joe’s brand are the cheapest AND the tastiest.

Ingredients
Four 1-inch-thick slices of country bread
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
4 large eggs
1 small garlic clove, thinly sliced
Pinch of crushed red pepper
One 14-ounce can whole tomatoes with their juices, crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of good, dry oregano
Fresh basil, for garnish

Instructions
Preheat the broiler. Brush the bread on both sides with olive oil, arrange on the baking sheet and broil for about 3 minutes, turning once, until golden and toasted. Place the toasts in 4 shallow bowls (note: we used 3 slices of bread and just ate the extra sauce!).

Arrange 5 small bowls on a counter. Crack the eggs: Reserve 1 of the whites in one of the bowls and one yolk in each of the other 4 bowls. Refrigerate the remaining 3 egg whites for another use.

In a medium nonstick skillet, heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil with the garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook over moderate heat until the garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and oregano, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Beat the egg whites with a fork and gently fold them into the tomato sauce. Cook over moderately high heat just until the whites are set, about 1 minute. Using the back of a spoon, make 4 indentations in the sauce. Slide a yolk into each indentation and cover the skillet. Cook over very low heat just until the yolks are warmed but not set, about 1 1/2 minutes. Spoon the sauce and yolks over the toasts, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil on top, garnish with the basil, and serve right away.


Mmmmmm…runny egg yolk.



Pan-Roasted Hen-Of-The-Woods Mushrooms


Hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (also known as maitakes) can be expensive, but they’re so worth it when cooked like this. We found these beauties for about $20/lb at Formaggio.


This recipe basically calls for searing the mushrooms on both side in some olive oil and then basting them in butter, rosemary, and thyme. They turn out a little crisp on the outside, and soft and buttery on the inside.

Ingredients
1 pound hen-of-the-woods mushrooms
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I think you’ll notice that Matt snuck in way more butter than the recipe called for)
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons fresh-cracked black pepper

Instructions
Turn mushroom over to expose the stem. With paring knife, remove the core of the stem.


Using your hands, gently break mushroom into 8 pieces. In a 12-inch sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium flame. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper.


Place them in the heated oil, taking care not to overcrowd the pan, and cook for 3 minutes. When the mushrooms have a golden-brown surface, flip them with a spatula and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes.


Add butter and herbs, and baste mushrooms for 1 minute. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil, and serve.

Next we made the ribolitta. To be continued…

Pan-Roasted Cod with a Spicy Seafood Bisque Sauce

My mom picked up some amazingly fresh cod and Portuguese corn bread from the fish store on Friday night. After wrestling with what to make, I pan roasted the cod and concocted a seafood bisque inspired cream sauce to go with it.

I started the sauce with pancetta, shallots, and garlic, and then used a sweet cream sherry that's sometimes used in lobster bisque. I added hot smoked paprika and cayenne into the base of seafood stock, cream, and tomato paste for some spice, and a dash of Vietnamese fish sauce to finish. I really love using fish sauce; I think it gives it extra depth to the sauce, or “umami” as they say now. I spooned the sauce over the roasted fish and toasted some of the bread for dunking.

I was cooking in a hurry so I didn’t exactly measure ingredients, but I wanted to get down the rough recipe. We were both surprised at how well it turned out. It’s seriously a keeper!

Pan-Roasted Cod with a Spicy Seafood Bisque Sauce

Ingredients
Pancetta
Olive oil
Cod
Salt and pepper, to taste
Shallot, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Tomato paste
Cream sherry
Seafood stock
Heavy cream
Smoked paprika (hot)
Cayenne pepper
Vietnamese fish sauce
Chives, chopped
Bread

Instructions


I first sautéed some pieces of pancetta with some olive oil. When crisp, I transferred it to a paper towel lined plate, leaving the grease in the skillet.


Then, I seasoned the fish liberally with salt and pepper and then cut into two big pieces. I placed it in the cast iron skillet (with the pancetta grease and olive oil) over medium-high heat until the bottom started to brown. Then, I transferred to a 450 degree oven and cooked until it was flaky. It took no more than 10 minutes once in the oven, but the time totally depends on the thickness of the fish.

When the fish was done, I took it out of the skillet and covered with foil to keep warm. I immediately put the skillet back on the stove and added some chopped shallot and garlic. When these started to soften, I added a little bit of tomato paste and then a splash of cream sherry. After about a minute, I added probably equal amounts of seafood stock and heavy cream along with some smoked paprika and cayenne. I let this reduce for a few minutes and added just a dash of fish sauce.


As the sauce was cooking, I just sliced the bread and toasted under the broiler. This type of bread is new to me. It’s a little bit sweet, but not sugary sweet like the cornbread you’re probably used to. It’s also very dense, so it’s perfect for sopping up the extra sauce.


To serve, I spooned the sauce over the fish in shallow bowls and topped with some chopped chives and the crisp pancetta. I totally forgot to add the pancetta until after we dug in, but I highly recommend it!

Brussels Sprout Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

I talked about this brussels sprout salad that my friend Katie and I had at Hub 51 in Chicago in my very first blog post. For some reason, I thought to Google it the other day to see if there was a recipe for it online. Sure enough, I found it here and I made it on Friday night. I plan on turning a lot of people into brussels sprout lovers with this recipe. It is that good.

I had to adapt the vinaigrette recipe slightly based on what I had (like apple cider instead of apple juice concentrate and figs instead of dates). I should also note that the vinaigrette recipe makes over two cups of dressing. It’s a really great dressing though, so it’s not a bad idea to make a lot.

Brussels Sprout Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

For Mustard Vinaigrette:
2 Tbsp whole grain mustard
6 Tbsp white wine vinegar
3 ½ Tbsp sugar
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
½ c. apple cider
2 c. Canola oil

For Brussels Sprout Salad:
2 ½ cups Brussels sprouts
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
2 Tbsp slivered almonds
2 Tbsp dried figs
2 Tbsp manchego cheese, grated
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
¼ cup Mustard Vinaigrette (see recipe above)

Instructions:

For Mustard Vinaigrette:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together mustard, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper and apple cider. Slowly whisk in the oil.

For Brussels Sprout Salad:
Trim the leaves off around the stem of the Brussels sprouts and then peel apart each leaf. Bring 6 cups of water to boil. Place peeled Brussels sprouts in boiling water for 6 seconds (really, just 6 seconds). Quickly remove and place in ice water. When cooled, place on a tray to dry. In a mixing bowl, add the Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, almonds, and figs. Toss with mustard vinaigrette. Place in a salad bowl and top with manchego and parmesan.


Aside from being delicious, it’s so bright and colorful. I think it might even be a new addition to our Thanksgiving dinner table!