Rouge Tomate

Last Monday I joined Meg and Lara at Rouge Tomate to partake in Restaurant Week, which offers a prix fixe three-course menu with two or three choices per course at some of the city's best restaurants.Rouge Tomate has a warm, modern appearance -- very airy with lots of wood, vases of apples lining the walls and red uplighting.

As per their Web site, the restaurant is the first to fully comply to Sanitas Per Escam (Health Through Food), a nutritional charter developed by chefs and dietitians that focuses on providing optimal nutrition with optimal taste. Healthy cooking that tastes as good as theirs is definitely something to aspire to (how I would love to spend some time in that kitchen!); every dish features complex flavors that unfold as you eat.

Unfortunately the service was less than stellar. Usually with Restaurant Week the restaurant pushes you to finish quickly. Our experience at Rouge Tomate was the polar opposite; we had a leisurely meal that lasted 2+ hours. We sat for 30 minutes before our order was even taken. From that point forward, the table was bussed efficiently and water refilled but each course took a long time to come out. Needless to say, we were ready to go by the time the check reached us. But let's go back to the food.

Currently each table is started with a super smooth spinach-almond butter and a plate of subtly jalapeño spiced whole wheat bread as well as more traditional sourdough. The chef also sent out an amuse-bouche of rutabaga soup with apples, which was rich and warm with the spicy vegetal flavor of rutabaga. If the apples had retained a bit of their crunch I think the soup would have benefited. 

My appetizer was Tombo Tuna Poke with Asian Pear, Watermelon Radish, Oyster Mushroom and Sesame; from what I can tell a tuna poke is like tuna tartare without the carefully molded shape. It's a light appetizer where the tuna's silky texture contrasts nicely with the sesame seed, pear and radishes crunch. The pear's sweetness and radish's bite helped cut the heaviness that sesame oil can sometimes impart.

I couldn't reach Lara's Cranberry Bean Soup with Chorizo to taste it, but I did taste Meg's Chickpea Hummus with Roasted Peppers, Olive, Sesame and Flat Bread Crisps. The hummus was very smooth, though perhaps a touch oversalted, and the artfully arranged toppings allowed you to make each bite taste different. The flat bread was almost Zatar-like with an intense blend of spices that easily overwhelmed the hummus.

Lara and I both ordered the Atlantic Hake Fish with Winter Bean Stew, Fennel, Lacinato Kale and Provençal Oil for our main course. The fish was melt-in-your-mouth flaky perfection complimented nicely by the stew's beans, which broke up the smoothness of the fish and provençal (french olive) oil. Meg ordered the Cauliflower Risotto with Heirloom Cauliflower, Parmesan, Garlic, Lemon Confit. It was tasty but overwhelming as a main course with its tangy flavor that left the mouth dry like drinking a dry red wine.

To cleanse our palates, the Chef sent out kiwi sorbet. It was creamy, pale, free of seeds and had a crisp apple-like finish that left me refreshed and ready for dessert. I enjoyed the Market Apple Rosemary Shortcake with Golden Raisins and Buttermilk-Lemon Ice Cream. The buttery caramel sauce surrounding the shortcake and the apple balanced out the very rosemary dense shortcake well, but the tangy, sweet buttermilk-lemon ice cream was my favorite part. It was the perfect finish - sweet without being too much.

We also had amazing, innovative cocktails ($12 each). Meg and Lara enjoyed the Pear Crisp (Ten Cane Rum, White Pear Purée, Fresh Vanilla, Lemon, topped with Prossecco), which tasted crisp (obviously) and sweet almost like Apple Jacks. I had the Queen's Cup (Pimm’s, Cucumber purée, Mint, Lemon Juice), which was light and relaxing after a long day. I would love to go back and try some of the others; they had a whole section devoted to non-alcoholic cocktails as well since Rouge Tomate also has a juice bar.

If you have patience for the service and a penchant for fairly healthy creative food, I would recommend Rouge Tomate.

Location: 10 East 60th Street (Between Fifth and Madison Avenues)
Hours: Mon-Sat 12-3,  5:30-10:30
Cost: $$$

I know these photos aren't great but I don't like intruding on other people's dining experience with my camera's flash. These were taken using my camera's highest ISO setting to give an impression of the presentation.

 

Caper-Pea Risotto with a hint of Mint

Friday Britt, one of my oldest friends, came up to visit for the weekend. Since his train from Phillie arrived on the later side and he wanted to chill out with wine anyway, I made dinner.

I had been contemplating something mixing capers and peas since December but am always slow to attempt "original" recipes. The risk of wasting ingredients on something potentially inedible isn't appealing to me, especially not when cooking for other people, but I knew as a Southern gentleman that Britt would be kind regardless of the result.

I adapted the below recipe for risotto from Sally Schneider's A New Way To Cook (thanks for the book again Jaime!) to include capers, peas and mint. It was a successful risotto in my opinion, although I may play with the proportions in the future. The capers' tanginess does a good job balancing out the peas' sweetness while cutting the risotto's creaminess and the mint makes it all taste fresh and bright.

Simple Risotto

Ingredients
5-6 cups rich broth (mine wasn't so rich, I used Trader's Joes Free-Range Chicken Broth)
2 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onions (I used onions)
1 1/2 cups of arborio rice (or any Italian rice for risotto)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tbsns sour cream (I used Trader Joe's 0% Greek-Style Yogurt)
1/2 cup freshly grated aged cheese (I used parmesean reggiano)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup capers (I used the kind in vinegar as that is what Key Foods had)
2 tbsp mint chiffonade

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over high heat; lower the heat to maintain at a simmer. (I always skip this and it seems fine, so eh.)
2. In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter with the olive oil over low heat. Add the shallots, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat to moderate, and cook, stirring until the shallots are golden. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the grains look chalky with a white dot in the center of each, about 5 minutes. (Do not allow the rice to brown.)
3. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed by the rice. Stir in 1/2 cup of the broth. Cook at a very low boil, stirring frequently, until almost all of the liquid is absorbed, 3-5 minutes. Continue adding the broth in this fashion, a 1/2 cup at a time, cooking and stirring until the grains of rice are tender yet still firm in the center and the risotto is creamy but not soupy, about 25 minutes.
*I added the peas, capers and mint after the last 1/2 cup of broth had reduced about halfway.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sour cream and 1/4 cup of the cheese, and season with salt and pepper. If you wish to add herbs, stir them into the risotto. You can stir any other embellishments into the risotto or spoon some-ragus, for example-right in the center of each serving. Serve at once, passing the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese on the side.

(Yes, I needed something else on that plate but I didn't have anything on hand to make a small salad. Or perhaps I should have made a bigger pool of risotto and stuck the chicken on top. Either way at least it tasted good.)

Toasted Coconut Shortbread

I love butter and sugar but shortbread overwhelms me. It tastes good, especially my friend Meg's version, but it sits heavy on my palate, crumbles on my clothes and is mysteriously thick. Don't get me wrong I eat it up like all other desserts. It just has never been my favorite.

This weekend Courtney and Kimberly came over for a baking project. Having narrowed down the desired ingredient to coconut I sent four possible recipes from my bookmarks and these toasted coconut shortbread cookies were chosen. I was wary but this shortbread recipe caused none of my usual complaints. I demolished the cookies I hadn't sent home with them and Britt in a snap.

These cookies are light and crisp yet retain all of the sweet, buttery taste of shortbread. The coconut brings a slightly nutty flavor, but would need to be amped up in the future for me to consider them truly a coconut dessert. If you enjoy shortbread, or perhaps even if you aren't sure, I think these are an excellent choice.

Thanks to my fantastic co-bakers, Courtney, Kimberly and Britt, for their creative cookie cutting (a ski helmet, ski boots, skis, a brontosaurus, a whale, a dachshund, etc.) and for doing most of the work. :)