Cupcake Tea at the Ritz-Carlton

A few weekends ago I enjoyed The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park's Cupcake Tea with Alpha Gamma Delta's New York City Junior Circle. It was a sweet, Sunday afternoon treat in their elegantly appointed Star Lounge. Since we ended up with a party of eight, instead of the fifteen (or so) originally planned for, the Ritz-Carlton's staff let us squeeze around one coffee table making it much easier to converse.

Cupcake Tea includes a pot of tea/non-alcoholic beverage and a pre-set seasonally selected collection of five small cupcakes per person. The moist cupcakes are beautifully presented with a generous amount of frosting, which varied by type of cupcake, and cute coordinated wrappers.

We had Red Velvet, Pistachio, Strawberry Shortcake, Valrhona Chocolate and Coconut Cream cupcakes. My favorite was the pistachio, which was less sweet, full-flavored and light. The Red Velvet also impressed me - it didn't taste like food coloring and the sweetness was cut by a traditional cream cheese frosting. I liked their cakes better than the frostings, which all left a film on my lips.

While receiving five cupcakes makes this is a good deal, they were overwhelming to consume in one sitting. What I didn't realize was they will pack up the leftovers for you to take home... I recommend that and considering milk as your beverage of choice. My Pear Green tea was light and delicious but combined with cupcakes created a stomachache that wouldn't quit.

To make your life and the staff's lives easier, I would recommend Cupcake Tea for parties of 5 or less. Make sure to allocate a generous amount of time to enjoy the sweets and a leisurely chat. The Ritz-Carlton staff does not rush, which is both good and bad. 

Location: 50 Central Park West (at Avenue of the Americas)
Hours: Sat and Sun 11-2p, Reservations required
Cost: $$ ($25 per person plus tax and gratuity.)

It was a very full table but the Ritz-Carlton's staff made it work.

I loved the cupcake wrapper in the middle! Too cute.

Celery, Date and Feta Salad

After seeing abundant celery stalks for a great price at the Greenmarket, I knew I had to make something with them. When I stumbled on this Celery, Date and Feta Salad I decided it was fate. Especially exciting was its use of celery leaves, which I usually throw away - embarrassingly wasteful but true, and delicious dates, my obsession since Spain.

As usual it seemed simple enough based on the ingredient list, the only part I read before shopping; it probably is if you are an expert at de-ribbing celery, something the recipe implies you can do with a knife. Maybe if you are a professional. Every time I worked a rib loose and started to pull the rib broke. Celery ribs are a little smaller in diameter than wax-coated dental floss and they don't stand up to tugging as well as dental floss does... I've never loved flossing and de-ribbing celery wasn't ranking much higher on my list of things I like to do.

My frustration led me to YouTube, thank God,where I waded through some videos and learned a quicker method. Basically, you take the stalk of celery and bend it in half with the curve facing away from you until you see the ribs pulling apart and it starts to snap. Then gently and firmly pull one half downward. This will pull out lots of the ribs at once! The results likely are not as pretty as the suggested mysterious knife method, but it gets the job done creating the curls on my cutting board pictured below.

This salad is a delicious salty-sweet mixture with lots of crunch thanks to the celery. It's too much work for everyday eating and it certainly doesn't hold up well for leftovers, but it would be fantastic for a meal with guests. Should I make it for guests, I will probably decrease the dressing's oil a bit as I'm not fond of my lips feeling slick after eating salad and reserve the feta to top each serving and improve the presentation. If I am overambitious, which happens all the time with food, and make it for myself again I'll remember to keep the dressing on the side and dress each portion when I plan to eat it.

Dragon Roll, Decorative Spiral Sushi and Nigiri Sushi

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you and me by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

I made sushi randomly a few times in 2003 but had not revisited it since unless I was eating out or if someone else (i.e. a Valentine one year) was making it for me. Without Audax and Rose's challenge and very impressive PDF containing detailed instructions with thorough research and visuals (it can be downloaded here) I doubt my bamboo mats and wooden spoons ever would have seen the light of day again.

Sushi is tasty but unless you are an expert it requires a bit of time. I advise dedicating several hours to this project as it isn't as short one. I started at 6 pm on Sunday and finished around 11:30 pm. I also recommend doing this as a sushi party or having friends over for dinner; I made way too much food for one person and while the leftovers are allright sushi is clearly better fresh!

It was very excited to learn how to make spiral rolls (so many possibilities here) and dragon rolls (my favorite)! The dragon roll video, which I watched after cutting my avocado length-wise rather than horizontally post-split, is very helpful. Next time I make dragon rolls, I'll cut the avocado more thinly and in the proper direction, but I made it work with the thicker cuts I had already made. It really goes to show that sushi is flexible and has lots of room for creativity.

My spiral roll used tuna, red pepper, cucumber and persimmon. In the future, I will definitely bulk up the fillings and be more experimental. I've seen some beautiful, non-fish versions from other Daring Cooks and in a few days you'll probably be able to a slideshow of everyone's work over on The Daring Kitchen website.

Graffiti

I'm a lazy blogger but when a restaurant is as good as Graffiti I have to commit to post. Last weekend Vika and Rafe treated me to two amazing belated birthday celebrations: dinner at Graffiti and hiking to Anthony's Nose in Bear Mountain, NY.

Grafitti takes your typical intimate NYC restaurant and shrinks it even further. Table of 4 elsewhere? Here it seats two couples and my party of three. Think your kitchen is small? Try orchestrating a whole dining experiences in a galley kitchen so narrow that the bathroom behind it has no choice but to place the sink behind the toilet. But it is a little bit of heaven.

Once the chef, who also served as host, carefully arranged us at the table and took our orders, he and his female counterpart were friendly, efficient and provided detailed descriptions (i.e. sweet, crunch, spice, etc.) of what each dishes’ different elements added to the overall flavor when presenting the food. The cuisine is innovative, Indian-inspired and served family-style for easy sharing.

We started with the Green Mango Paneer, a savory, spicy serving of cheese cubes accompanied by soft flat bread rectangles that tasted of anise. Vika ordered the Chili Pork Dumplings with Grapefruit Confit. The dumplings were delicate and juicy topped with tiny crisps of chickpea flour; I couldn’t taste the grapefruit outright but the dumplings were slightly sweet.

Next was the Zucchini Hummus Pizza, creamy and light on a puff pastry base with a kick from an unexpected topping of wasabi peas. Thanks to my obsession with “sea marshmallows” we had the Pickled Ginger Scallops with Candied Red Chili after that. They were thinly sliced and topped with spicy, sweet ginger and crunchy lentils for a contrast. For me, the ginger overwhelmed the scallops’ flavor at times but they were cooked perfectly.

Our entrees were the Cumin Eggplant Buns with a Thyme Fennel Relish and the Graffitti Burger, Garlic Fingerling Potatoes and Chipotle Mayonnaise. The buns were creamy with a melt-in-your-mouth savory, warm filling complemented by the fennel relish’s cooling crunch. The flavored lingered nicely on my palate. The Graffiti Burger was spicy and succulent flavored with anise, cumin and a mint relish that I couldn’t taste. It was probably my least favorite dish (still good!), especially since the fries prompted a discussion of the oil used rather than their flavor.

We tried all three desserts: Coconut Macaroons with Dulce de Leche, Warm Truffle Almond Strawberries with Pepper Ice Cream and a Hazelnut Chocolate Caviar Cupcake with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. The macaroons were very hot and tastier than I remembered with just a hint of Dulce de Leche. The strawberries were most inventive and managed to please my palate, in spite of truffle meaning truffle oil, which for some reason reminds me of feet. My favorite was rich, warm chocolate cupcake topped with crispy caviar. It was simple and satisfying. All of the desserts were a sweet, but not too sweet finish to a great meal.

I highly recommend this restaurant. They accommodate vegetarian and gluten-free diets per their menu, so you have nothing to stop you. Reservations are recommended. Thanks Melanie and Eric for the recommendation!

Location: 224 East 10th Street (between 2nd and 1st Avenues)
Hours: Sun and Tues 5:30-10:30p, Wed-Sat 5:30-11:45p
Cost: $$

Photo courtesy of Vika: She, Rafe and I at the top of Anthony's Nose

Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat Cheese Salad

When I saw this beautifully photographed blog entry featuring Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat Cheese Salad I knew I had to make it. Its ingredients were perfect for the cooling weather and it had a perfect autumnal appearance.

Working with an entire pumpkin intimidated me, even though I've hacked my way through cubing and peeling butternut, acorn and other squashes. My memories of arduous pumpkin carving with my sorority turned out to be greatly exaggerated, at least in the face of my more recent experiences cutting squash. It turns out (sugar) pumpkin is MUCH easier to cut than squash. So don't be afraid to try making this at home.

With the exception of the smoky flavor, which apparently is key and what I bought a brand new special kind of paprika for from Whole Foods, I love this dish. It is creamy, salty, sweet and slightly bitter in one fell swoop, meaning it manages to satisfy every possible craving I can have at once while still being healthy. My only changes were using wild arugula and tossing the pumpkin seeds in the leftover oil, paprika, salt, etc. mixture, roasting them in the oven for the last 10-ish minutes and topping the salad with them for added crunch.

N.b. You can get the special smoked paprika from the Fruit Exchange (cash only) in Chelsea Market for $1.50 in a plastic tub instead of paying around $5.00 for the cute, hot pink tin at Whole Foods. I need to remember that place is the best deal for spice purchases!

Peach Mupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting/Cointreau-Peach Buttercream

On September 9, Leslie posted about our Spain planning/Ratatouille viewing where she served Thomas Keller's very delicious and complex Ratatouille recipe and I brought Peach Mupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting or Cointreau-Peach Buttercream. These mupcakes are a delicious adaptation of the Mango Chile Cupcakes with Key Lime Frosting from April's movie night. All 8 tasters agreed.

Clearly the recipe is out of season but I suspect using frozen peaches would work and two orange events were last weekend, Halloween and the ING NYC marathon, making it kind of timely. The cupcakes are moist, light and not overly sweet. Mascarpone Frosting** lets the cupcakes flavor shine without being overly sweet. Unfortunately it quickly disintegrates in heat (or if you overbeat it) thus the Cointreau-Peach Buttercream. The buttercream was a result of my not having milk and decided on a whim to substitute the two handy liquids. It was exciting to discover that buttercream doesn't have to be restricted to milk, butter, confectionary sugar and extracts.

I highly recommend making these cupcakes and your own variations. I'm thinking my next batch should be apples/apple cider and a maple or brown butter frosting.

Peach Mupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature (I used salted and it was fine).
3/4 cup soy milk, at room temperature (any milk would work)
1/4 cup peach nectar, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 egg, at room temperature
3 peaches, blanched, peeled and cut into cubes*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 12 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt to the butter mixture. Add the milk and peach nectar to the rest of the batter and beat until well combined. Fold in peaches. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing. Ice.

*Bring water to a boil. Cut a cross into the bottom of the peaches. Add to boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. Peel as soon as you can handle them.

**I forgot to bookmark which recipe I used for the marscapone frosting, but I'm sure you can findn a good one via the every useful Food Blog Search to the right.

Molly's piping skill! It was my first time using the pastry bag...harder than it looks...but not bad.

Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin

Cooking lulls me into complacency; it makes me focus only on what I'm doing, which is great as I'm notorious for over analyzing. Unfortunately this means there are problematic cooking time warps where "suddenly" it is 12:30 am, I have to be up by 7 am, and my adapted version Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin is still cooking.

I suspect part of the issue may be that I confuse simple vs. quick recipes. This gratin is really simple to put together but there are numerous steps and longer cooking times, so it takes a few hours and is not quick.

It isn't pretty but this dish is worth the time as long as you can handle the slightly stringy texture of spaghetti squash. It is creamy, warm and filling yet still healthy! I found myself eating portions for breakfast all week as it reminded me of a crustless quiche for some reason. I loved that Kalyn added Swiss Chard as I always mean to eat it but haven't acquired a taste for it.

Spaghetti Squash and Chard Gratin

(Makes about 6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from Spaghetti Squash Gratin at Daily Unadventures in Cooking.)

1 large spaghetti squash (mine was 2.5 lbs)
1 T + 1 T olive oil
2 tsp. Rosemary Garlic Rub, or any all purpose seasoning that's good on vegetables
2 tsp. garlic powder and a sprinkle of salt
1 large onion, diced small
1/2 tsp. Spike seasoning (optional but good)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 T minced garlic (or less)
12-16 oz. chopped chard leaves (about 5-6 cups chopped chard, you could also use other greens like spinach, collards, or kale. The cooking times might be longer for some greens.)
2 T finely chopped fresh chives or sliced green onion
1/2 cup low fat sour cream (don't use fat free)
1/2 cup 2% greek yogurt
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese curds (put the cottage cheese in a fine strainer and rinse with cold water to get the cheese curds)
1/2 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese plus about 1/4 cup more for topping the gratin
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Wash the outside of the spaghetti squash if needed, then cut off the stem and blossom end, stand squash upright, and using a large chef's knife, carefully cut in half lengthwise. Use a sharp spoon to scrape out seeds and the slimy material that surrounds them, and discard. Rub cut sides of squash with about 1/2 T olive oil for each half, then sprinkle each with 1 tsp. Garlic Powder and a bit of salt. Spray the roasting pan with non-stick spray, Put squash on baking sheet and pour 1/4 cup water around bottom of squash. Roast squash about 45-50 minutes, or until it separates easy into strands when pulled with a fork. Let squash cool for a few minutes, then shred into spaghetti-like strands.

While squash cooks, wash chard leaves if needed and spin dry or dry with paper towel. In two batches, stack up chard leaves on top of each other and slice into thin ribbons, then turn the cutting the board the other way and slice again into small pieces. Chop onion.

Heat 1 T olive oil in heavy frying pan, add chopped onions, season with Italian seasoning and black pepper, and saute until onion is softened, about 2-3 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook about 1 minute more, then add chopped chard all at once. Cook chard about 1-2 minutes, turning a few times. until it's wilted to about half the size it was. (The chard shouldn't be completely cooked, since it will cook more in the gratin.) Turn off heat.

Put 3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese in a fine strainer and rinse with cold water until only the cheese curds remain, then let drain. Spray a glass or crockery gratin dish with non-stick spray or olive oil.

Using a large fork, gently mix the chopped chives or green onion and shredded spaghetti squash into the onion/chard mixture. Combine the greek yogurt, drained cottage cheese curds, Parmesan cheese, and beaten egg and mix into the chard/spaghetti squash mixture. Then put the combined ingredients into the gratin dish, and press down so it's evenly distributed in the dish. Sprinkle top with about 1/4 cup more Parmesan cheese.

Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and cheese is browned on top. Serve hot.

Macarons 2 Ways

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. Macarons were definitely a challenge. After reading and re-reading other people's trials, tribulations, tips and successes I made two batches with pretty good results.

The first batch were plain Almond Macarons with White Chocolate-Blueberry Ganache. I found them overwhelmingly sweet and could only eat one every few hours, which may make this the perfect dessert for me. Nevermind that I spaced the timing out by eating one with breakfast and one after dinner.

I was a little more adventurous with the second batch and attempted to create Coconut-Almond Macarons by processing then drying coconut. The coconut still felt kind of oily, so I didn't add much to the macronage and as as result the flavor was barely there. To make up for it I added the leftover coconut and some coconut extract to the Lime Curd I used for the filling. These macarons were less sweet (yay!), but I need to keep trying fillings as Coconut-Lime Curd was too oozy to hold the shape.

To summarize all the tips for your attempts, the keys to success are supposed to be: aging your egg whites a few days to remove some of the liquid, having them at room temperature, beating the whites to soft peaks adding sugar and beating the mixture to very stiff peaks again before adding the confectionery sugar/almond flour, deflating the mixture satisfactorily and then layering your baking pans and cooking on their bottom side. Be careful with that last step, baking pans are no longer easy to remove from the oven when used upside down.

Once I finish eating the new dozen, which I'm happy to share if you live nearby, I'm all ready to go on a macaron tour of NY to try some professional ones for comparison's sake. Who's in?

Claudia Fleming’s Macarons
(reduced to use 2 egg whites thanks to Audax Artifex…this makes approximately 12 macarons)

Ingredients
.75 cup and 2.5 tspns Confectionery Sugar
.75 cup and 2.5 tspns Almond Flour (I used Trader Joe’s almond meal and sifted a few times)
2.5 tspns Granulated Sugar (superfine/castor is ideal)
2 Egg Whites (room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Piped and Ready (Batch 1)

Finished without too much sticking to the parchment paper!

The guts! They have feet, which is another sign of some success.
A trio of super-sweet treats!Batch 2

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars i.e. Twix

I saw this homemade Chocolate Caramel Shortbread a month ago and vowed to make it after Spain and once I had people to share the bars with... After all I love Twix and the recipe looked pretty simple. Last Tuesday I decided Carielle's Friday birthday gathering would be the perfect opportunity.

It should have been easy. Shortbread is a cake walk with the mini-food processor. Melting chocolate, even in the microwave like I did, is a no brainer. And I've made caramel before with success. Unfortunately this recipe had me cursing the stove (the first time in 3 years my rooommate has ever heard this happen apparently).

For reasons I can't determine my caramel went very wrong; it was a bubbling mass topped with separated butter that greased my entire oven top while I frantically tried to get the whole thing to congeal into a usable state. In the end I poured off the butter and managed to salvage a tasty, though slightly overchewy, mass of caramel for the bars. Not ideal.

Luckily the bars still tasted decadent and delicious, especially if I let them come to room temperature for about 4 hours. When I revisit the recipe I plan to sub a different caramel recipe for layer 2 - a normal one that uses a candy thermometer. These bars are worth a try but be cautious. If you figure out how to NOT screw up the caramel please let me know and, oh, don't cut the bars until they are room temperature or the chocolate will crack.

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread (from the same blog but not the one she made)
Makes 12

½ cup butter, plus extra for greasing
Generous 1 cup all purpose flour
Generous ¼ cup superfine sugar

Filling and topping
¾ cup butter
Generous ½ cup superfine sugar
3 tbsp dark corn syrup
14 oz/400 g canned sweetened condensed milk
7 oz/200 g semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease a 9-inch/23-cm square, shallow cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Place the butter, flour, and sugar in a food processor and process until it starts to bind together. Press into the prepared pan and level the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and condensed milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring until very thick. Pour over the shortbread and let chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir until melted. Let cool slightly, then spread over the caramel. Let chill In the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until set. Cut the shortbread into 12 pieces and serve.

Vietnamese Chicken Pho a.k.a. "Pho Ga"

Last month immediately before Spain I took the plunge and signed up for The Daring Kitchen Challenges...Making Vietnamese Chicken Pho a.k.a. "Pho Ga" was my first project. The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

For me Pho's golden broth is a soothing elixir that helps ward off colds, soothes hangovers and temporarily cures minor troubles like heartache. It brings back dozens of car rides to Pho So 1 in Jim's 3,000 GT during college. I always eat it with way too much S'richa, by accident, so my nose runs endlessly throughout the meal. Charming, I know.

Making Pho was exciting and intimidating, even if I didn't go with the made from scratch option. The biggest obstacle for me was finding star anise; I went to TEN grocery stores on Saturday and finally tracked it down at Eli's Vinegar Factory. After all that effort, I felt strongly that the Pho should taste like liquid gold. The end result was quite good and I think my ability to prepare it can only improve. My main complaints were the cloudiness of the pre-made stock and not having Thai Basil. These things should be fairly easy to remedy when I try this again and it is only a matter of time until I do that!

If you like Pho Ga definitely try this recipe. It's actually quite easy.

Vietnamese Chicken Pho
Recipe Source: Jaden of Steamy Kitchen
Preparation Time: 45 cooking time + 15 minutes to cook noodles based on package directions
Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce (A note on fish sauce – I prefer the Three Crabs brand. Choose a fish sauce light in color…it should look like brewed tea. Anything darker than that (looking like Coca Cola) is inferior quality.)
1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:
2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:
1.To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning. Char ginger and onion.
2.In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
3.Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
4.Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
5.Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
6.Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
7.Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
8.Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

Burger Buns

Before heading to Nagshead, goat cheese lentil burgers were back on the menu and I needed bread or buns. I didn't have milk or yogurt, so I spent some time seeking a recipe online. King Arthur's Beautiful Burger Buns were a good fit for my needs. Gosh, I love the internet.

They were simple to put together and held up really well against the prosciutto, mozzarella tomato and basil sandwiches I actually ended up eating all week. I could make the sandwich the night before, wrap it in saran wrap and leave it in the fridge with minimal deterioration. There is nothing worse than mushy food, so this was great!

The buns are slightly sweet, have a very fine i.e. messy crumb and a dry texture. While practical and good, I will probably continue to seek a different recipe for buns. I'd like a bun that makes less of a mess when I'm eating it.


Happy Labor Day!

Cooking Experiments from Outer Banks Trip

After my trip to Kitty Hawk with my parents, I was shocked to realize I had only read one book and magazine instead of my usual 3-4 books during the week. I couldn't figure out why but my mom knew: cooking. My somewhat selfish offer to cook almost all of our dinners, and lunches courtesy of leftovers, really ate into my reading time...

See below for what I made and any comments I can remember now that several weeks have passed. Clearly I was all about taking advantage of the fresh seafood!

Turkey Lettuce Wrap Tacos with Chiles, Cumin, Cilantro, Lime and Tomato-Avocado Salsa
These were easy to make and tasty. It's definitely a recipe to repeat. One suggestion: If your turkey looks juicy, drain it prior to adding the green onions, etc. or you'll have to cook the turkey longer than necessary to reduce the moisture and/or experience taco juice dripping down your arm. Not cool.
Sauteed Scallops with Garlic
Easy, fantastic and very exciting as "sea marshmallows" are one of my favorite foods. These turned out perfectly. Much better the last time I tried sauteing scallops back in Arlington; it was a disaster involving burned butter, rubbery yet undercooked scallops and an unpleasant, inedible mess. Since then I've learned that high heat is good when sauteing and paying attention to your cooking is essential!

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille, As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen
I improvised with wax paper instead of parchment and this recipe was still fantastic. I forget how rich vegetables can be on their own; ratatouille was a delicious, melt in my mouth reminder. This dish was by far my favorite item to reheat for lunch and future meals.

Pinocchio was a special eggplant.

Mafi’s ceviche de pescado or fish ceviche
Making this ceviche was torture. I was nervous it wouldn't go right. The steps were vague and numerous. AND how do you cut fish into small square pieces anyway?! I can tell you that you don't attempt it late in the evening at a condo with a dull knife while watching a movie. The ceviche looked pretty, even without squares in the end, and tasted pretty good too. If you attempt this, definitely make a smaller quantity. It was way too much for three people to eat and it wasn't something I wanted to revisit 24/7. Not sure I'll try this specific recipe again, especially without instruction on cutting fish.


Ginger Cucumber Salad with Scallops
I sort of made this... We brought rice wine instead of rice vinegar, so I used that combined with red wine vinegar to make the dish with shrimp. I also used canola oil instead of grapeseed and good 'ol in season American cucumbers. The adjusted recipe was still a success in my mouth. The ginger's bite, cucumber's crispness and the delicious shrimp go together well. We also had yummy corn and shrimp done the regular way with bay seasoning and cocktail sauce. Thank goodness cocktail sauce taught me to eat shrimp!


Mom's Improvised Banana Split :)

Carrot, Beet and Basil Salad

On very rare occasions, I throw something together on my own that is not only edible but something I want to share. This carrot, beet and basil salad came together right before my weeklong trip to Nagshead when I had these ingredients on hand and figured why not put them together? It is naturally sweet, has lots of crunch and doesn't require much heat making it perfect for summer.

Carrot, Beet and Basil Salad
3 beets, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 white onion, diced
1/2 c. basil, torn or chopped roughly
1-2 tbsp. creme fraiche (optional, I had it on hand)
salt to taste (not much for me personally)

It's easy enough to assemble. Dice the onions first and while preparing everything else, steam them lightly to remove some of their bite. Everything else stays raw. Combine ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.

Paella and Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

In an ultimately successful campaign to sell me on a September Spain trip, Leslie had her friend Kristin and me over to view Vicky Cristina Barcelona and to eat delicious Paella with Chicken and Sausage. It was rich and filling; I especially loved the fresh taste of the parsley which broke up the tomato flavor and color.

My contribution were these politically incorrect, delicious Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. Frankly it has been so long since I made them that I don't remember my impression beyond finding them amazing and a bit time consuming to make. I want to say the cupcakes were moist, rich and dense. But who knows? I guess I'll have to revisit the recipe and drink more leftover Guinness. Damn! Life is hard...

Yes, this recipe taught me that I can drink beer and it really isn't so bad. I still don't go out of my way to consume beer but the 6 year "allergy" has ended.

Mint-Parsley Pesto with Peas and Sauteed Chicken

Nothing to say really, except I was using up parsley yet again when I made this impromptu dinner of Mint-Parsley Pesto with Peas and Sauteed Chicken for good friends.

There isn't a recipe for the pesto... I just combined garlic, olive oil, parsley, mint, walnuts and Parmesan cheese in the food processor using portions similar to your typical pesto. For some reason I chose to saute the chicken before cubing it into the pasta, which made it take forever. It tasted good, but in the future I'd just bake the chicken while the pasta was boiling. If you put the peas in the pasta water about 2 minutes before your pasta is done, then you don't have to dirty an extra dish.

Less cleanup is always awesome, even at a friend's house with a dishwasher.

A Variation on Zucchini Strand Spaghetti

The other night I made this delicious sounding Zucchini Strand Spaghetti only I didn't have whole wheat spaghettini, the energy to make basil oil, a mandoline or a colander big enough to drain my noodles over the zucchini to cook it.

I improvised and it worked out wonderfully. I julienned the zucchini by hand and added it to the finished basil, garlic, red pepper and oil mixture and popped the lid on for a few minutes to steam it. Combined the whole thing with some creme fraiche and took in the smooth, creamy texture in big bites.

I didn't want to stop eating it. This pasta dish feels fresh like summer, practically melting in your mouth except for the pleasant crunch of the zucchini. I will definitely revisit it before summer squash season passes.

One warning, the garlic browns fast in the hot oil. I was watching with great pleasure as this happened and then BAM it was slightly burnt. It didn't kill the dish, but it certainly would have been more appealing with slightly less burnt garlic.

Polenta With Zucchini and Tomatoes

I loved, loved, loved this Polenta With Zucchini and Tomatoes. It is easy, hearty and filling. The basil is a light, refreshing note in the midst of the savory zucchini and tomato ragout. The vegetables' smooth, yet crisp texture provide a pleasant contrast to the polenta's firmness.

I used "instant" polenta and learned the valuable lesson that once polenta solidifies into a shape there isn't any opportunity for alteration, thus the lack of a nest for the topping in my polenta square. Next time I would definitely prepare the instant polenta at the last minute rather than doing it first.

I'll definitely revisit this recipe, probably even in the winter when it isn't in season. I think I'll like its warmth even more then.

Baked Risotto with Asparagus, Spinach, and Parmesan

During my asparagus kick back in June, I made this easy, healthy-ish baked risotto from Cooking Light. It is a solid recipe with a good flavor and attractive presentation, but it isn't as creamy and delicious as real risotto.

There is a high probabilty that the rice was undercooked and a bit firm due to my improvised dutch oven involving a glass dish and foil. Moving forward that won't be an issue thanks to self indulgence and the Le Creuset outlet in Williamsburg, Va. last week I now own a 6.75 quart black dutch oven. It's a beauty and I got it for around 60% off! I can't wait for it to reach me here in NYC. There was no way to carry it on the plane, unfortunately.

Back to the recipe, I like that it requires less attention than risotto and provided a close resemblance. I will probably try it again sometime if I'm feeling lazy. Otherwise, I'll stick to real risotto as I enjoy making things unnecessarily difficult sometimes!

Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

My first ice cream attempt was Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream, enabled again by an appliance Meg owned that I do not. The fact that I lack an ice cream maker hasn't stopped me from bookmarking recipes. I saved this one in 2007 and jumped at the opportunity to finally put it to use.

Preparing the caramel/custard base required a significant amount of time, but the heavenly smells along the way and the final result are worth the effort. I used kosher salt and half and half for all the required liquid instead of whole milk and heavy cream. Next time I might want to play with the amount and type of salt I use though since slightly salty ice cream didn't win me over completely.

The ice cream has a very rich, sweet caramel flavor; the 2.5 scoops below were a bit much even for my sweet tooth. And I skipped making the mix-in caramel praline! It freezes nicely, has a creamy texture, and is easy to scoop - no need to let it come to room temperature prior to serving. The only strange thing, and this is probably due to some error on my part, is my spoon always ended up with a slightly grainy texture after I indulged. Oh well! Still totally edible and eaten.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables with Peanut Butter and Jelly Claufoutis

I headed home to Virginia for Father's Day to "surprise" my Dad and gave him his choice of meals from my culinary school binder. Naturally he chose the section I found the least appealing - grilling. I enjoy how grilled food tastes; I just can't can't take the heat!

Rather than using a grill pan, we used an outdoor grill. It was less hot, but I found grilling outdoors harder as it made getting the correct grid marks near impossible since you have to keep the grill covered to maintain a steady temperature. This drove my inner perfectionist crazy. There also was the slight problem of no real light being present at 9:30 pm and the meat ending up slightly overcooked. In spite of how I felt, Dad was very happy with his meal, which is all that matters.

I was much happier with the clafoutis I made for dessert than our main course. I followed the basic recipe provided by ICE using grapes and beat a tablespoon or so of peanut butter into the batter. It tasted like a perfectly mashed down peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich from my childhood. Yum. This dessert never gets old!

Pavlovas with Blueberries and Lemon Curd

With Meg's mixer available I no longer had an excuse for not attempting pavlovas. Over the years, I bookmarked at least 3 variations but I chose this one for my first try. I used cream of tartar instead of vinegar and made the 9 individual servings. The instructions were very simple and the meringue came together in a snap.

I can't begin to imagine hand beating the meringue, although in June I did manage to get egg whites to stiff peaks for a souffle once. I know I did it correctly as I turned the bowl upside down over my head without anything dropping on me or the floor. However, the whites fell quickly in my hot apartment and the souffle was a little, um, flat and heavy. You didn't get to see that.

The pavlova's were a greater success than the souffle. They were appropriately crisp outside and soft like a marshmallow inside. The only part that didn't go quite right was that they cracked. I suppose knowing my oven, setting a timer to check them before an hour and not getting distracted with a movie would prevent this issue in the future. By the way, this is not a dessert to bake and take with you. It does NOT travel well. The crumbles still taste delicious but don't have nearly the same effect as a full pavlova as you can see below.

I made this lemon curd to top them. I somehow skipped printing the middle paragraph, but managed to have the curd turn out delicious anyway. Its sweet, tart taste and smooth texture contrast perfectly with blueberries alone or on top of a pavlova. I'm happy to eat it by the spoonful and, unfortunately, have done so.

Braised Cod with Chickpeas and Corn

Last week while having a staycation at Meg's, I finally attempted making pavlova's, lemon curd, salted caramel ice cream and a variation on this recipe for Braised Cod with Chickpeas and Corn while watching Season 2 of True Blood, So You Think You Can Dance and Knocked Up. It was a very, very productive week, especially as it was an event week for work! I'm glad her mixer and ice cream maker convinced me to stay, instead of doing an extra 5 flights of stairs up and down daily to get the mail and water plants, and enabled these projects.

First comes the cod, which I have on 4 separate occasions purchased the parsley and lemons to make without taking action. Pretty sick when you think about the fact the cod was in the freezer waiting. This resulted in lots of parsley pesto; it tastes fine but I'm just not that crazy about parsley. This dish was much better than the pesto and worth the wait. Ultimately I substituted basil for the parsley and didn't use cumin.

The fish was firm and flaky and complimented by the chickpeas' slightly crisp outside and soft inside. The brightness of the lemon combined with the spiciness of the red pepper flakes was pleasantly tempered by the corn's sweetness. There was lots of flavor in every bite and it was very filling. I'll definitely make this again...probably when it is colder out. If you have a cast iron pan, you could event do this in one dish!

Stanton Social

Deb and I met for brunch at Stanton Social at 11:00a. Brilliantly neither of us checked when it opened (11:30a by the way) but everything worked out fine. We were the first people in and by the time we left around 12:45p they were busy.

I loved the modern art-deco interior, even if it wasn't the most welcoming in the daytime. Between the candles around the perimeter, chocolate suede banquettes and the slightly too loud lounge music it was clear why this is known dinner destination. Our waiter was attentive but I felt a bit rushed throughout the meal, which made it somewhat less enjoyable.

Station Social serves family-style i.e. tapas. We ordered four to split and it was plenty.

Warm Doughnuts with caramel $8
Their doughnuts are actually more like piping hot donut holes served at your generic Chinese buffet - good, light and crispy with cinnamon and sugar on the outside. The caramel sauce was very rich and clung nicely to the doughnuts when you dipped them. This probably better suited to dessert than brunch -- it honestly made my teeth hurt. You receive 6 in an order.

Caramelized Banana Pancakes with candied pecans, vanilla brown butter & maple syrup $8
Our five petite pancakes were beautifully presented in a stack of five with bananas in between each pancake. They were good pancakes, but I couldn't taste the vanilla brown butter or carmelization. The candied pecans, normally not something I love, were awesome. My decision to drizzle a little of the caramel from the doughnuts on top was a tasty one.

French Onion Soup Dumplings $12
These come out in a glass dish with holes for the six skewered dumplings. The whole dish is topped with a lace-like cheese crust that you cut through to take out each dumpling. You end up with a cheese octopus, crouton and soup filled dumpling that you fit in your mouth all at once - manageable but a bit weird. This was a unique presentation of a classic dish that tasted good, in spite of being a bit unwieldy to consume.

Baby Benedict: grilled Canadian bacon & citrus kissed hollandaise $8
Two beautifully plated eggs benedict sit on the plate separated by a small green salad. The poached eggs were perfect and each bite melted in my mouth. The whole construction was fork tender; the bread/muffin actually could have used a bit more crispness. I couldn't taste the citrus in the hollandiase but I didn't mind.

All the dishes were good but nothing stunned me other than the attractiveness of the space. I wouldn't veto returning, especially for dinner, but I have no plans to take initiative to do so. Plus the bathroom strangely smelled of urine, something that should not be the case right after you open (or ever really).

Location: 99 Stanton Street (Between Orchard and Ludlow Streets)
Hours: Mon-Wed.
Cost: $$$

Penelope

Danielle and I had dinner at Penelope, her favorite restaurant, last night. It packs a pleasing punch in its small interior. The decor is slightly rustic and warm - wooden benches, pastel paint, chalkboards and dimmed light for evening atmosphere. The service is attentive and pleasant without hovering and they don't mind you lingering to chat even with a small wait outside.

Penelope's offerings are simple but innovative American comfort food at great prices. I wanted to order cheese everything on the menu, no idea why, and managed to convince Danielle to split two cheese filled items with me.

Grilled Three Cheese with swiss, fontina, and white american on sourdough $8.50 for an additional $.50 you can add pesto, tomato or artichoke hearts.
The grilled cheese had cheese running over the edges but was surprisingly bland; the artichoke hearts we added were tasty, but did not add the necessary pop in my opinion. Pesto would probably be the best choice for added flavor. That said the hand-made organic bread and accompanying fries were a perfect, crisp golden brown. The sandwich literally melted in your mouth.

Mac & Cheese baked with fontina and white cheddar, topped with tomato. Served with greens. $9.50
The mac and cheese was much more impressive, although it too needed a touch more salt. It came in the bowl it was, presumably, baked in, and was attractively topped with golden brown crumbs and a thin tomato slice. The contrast of the rich crumbs with the creamy contents was a winner and the cheese, being cheddar, had a better flavor. The salad looked pretty, tasted fine and did a good job of clearing my palate between cheesy bites.

I definitely would go back here given the opportunity. I liked the atmosphere and it is a great deal. Maybe I would even order something without cheese... The only bad part was when some girl knocked her wine glass over spritzing my purse with its contents. There was even prompt cleanup then.

Location: 159 Lexington Ave at 30th Street
Hours: Mon-Sun 8:00a-11:00p
Cost: $$ (Closer to $, Cash Only)

Fine Cooking I: Week 5 (or the end)

Week 5 covered French Crudités (Vegetable Salads), Sauce Mayonnaise and Variations, Greek Court Bouillon (apparently this is BS), Grilling and Broiling Techniques for Proteins and Vegetables, Marinades, Tenderizing and Flambéing Technique.

We all prepped, chopped, assembled, grilled, carved and flambéed to create the meal below.

Vegetable Salad Plate
We were all assigned different salad recipes. This week the recipes were only ingredients - we had to figure out the proportions on our own. It was intimidating in theory, but actually was not so bad. I wouldn't have felt remotely comfortable in this situation the first week.

The salads included guacamole two ways, jicama, potato, fennel, green/watercress, beet, red cabbage and cucumber. One of the guacuamole's included the green curry paste and it was DELICIOUSLY spicy. I need to find that paste. Our group made the green/watercress salad with a delicious impromptu asian vinaigrette that I only wish I had written down.

I made a beet salad consisting of beets, celery root, chives and homemade horseradish mayonnaise. It needed more horseradish in my opinion, but I was super proud of how it looked! Funny thing. I kept the beets and celery root separate as I didn't want the root turning pink only to have Chef Jane come tell me to combine them asap. Apparently the mixed colors are part of the salad's beauty.
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Grilled London Broil
We used a french marinade for our London Broil. Jim's grill marks were divine. To get the proper grid marks, you place the meet at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. If you are cooking with "serious" meat with fat i.e. red meet, lamb, etc. then you shouldn't coat the grill with fat as it will prevent the caramelization you are seeking. The meat was good, although a little rare for my taste.
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Mixed Grilled Vegetables and Fruits of the Season
Unlike "serious" meat, vegetables (and fish) require a bit of oiling to not stick to the grill; they also require a different rotation to get the grid marks correct. You rotate the vegetables and fruits in quarter turns around the clock to get the grid marks correct. Grilling is BRUTAL. The heat overwhelmed me. I like the results, but don't think I'll ever become a grill-master. The eggplant, zucchini and apples were my favorites.
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Flambéed Bananas, Haagen-Daaz and Caramel Sauce
I'm really excited to have a caramel sauce recipe. I love caramel and have made caramels numerous times, not that I ever have posted about it, but I didn't have a sauce recipe. I also love ice cream and bananas. You'd think this dessert would be a perfect fit only flambéing did not love me and after flipping a very hot banana into my hand I forgot to burn off enough cognac to make my serving truly tasty. Oh well...at least I wasn't burnt. Next time I won't give into peer pressure and try to aggressively flip the bananas for other people's amusement when I had already flipped them.


To see all the pictures from Fine Cooking I, you can go here. As you can see I took more pictures each week as I got more comfortable with the people in class.

Sugar Stacks

One of the many daily newsletters I suscribe to circulated a link to Sugar Stacks this morning. It illustrates the amount of sugar in foods with sugar cubes - a great way to see exactly how much sugar you are consuming visually. The carrot stacks section is awesome too.

Note per its blog: "We don't differentiate between different types of sugar - i.e., sucrose, fructose, cane sugar, corn syrup, honey, etc., although there are differences in how these sugars are metabolized. We just used cubes of white sugar as a visual aid."

Warm Lentil Salad

As you may recall in week 3 of cooking class, I made Warm Lentil Salad. It was good, but I didn't forsee myself making it again. The flavors didn't stand out to me, although I heard other people raving about them. In retrospect, I think I was distracted by the other dishes we prepared and frustrated over the minor difficulties I encountered making the salad.

Regardless, after making it for my Mom over Father's Day and discovering its rich flavor and pretty appearance (if you don't overcook the lentils) I want to make it all the time. It helps that the salad is fairly inexpensive and filling too. When Elizabeth and Megan requested salads or dips for their 4th of July Barbecue this was the first salad that came to mind, so I took a double portion, with slightly overdone lentils, thus the muddled texture, to their barbecue yesterday.

Given that I've now made this three times, a rareity, I had to share the recipe.

Warm Lentil Salad
Serves 6

1 c. French green lentils
1 small onion sudded with 3 cloves
1 bay leaf
3 c. water
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. finely minced onion
2 garlic cloves, finely minced (your goal: the same size as the lentils)
2 tbsp. minced parsley
2 tbsp. minced chives
1 c. finely diced red pepper (your goal: the same size as the lentils)

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the lentils, whole onion and bay leaf. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. (suggested way to handle the onion/cloves/bay leaf below.)

2. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are al dente, about 25 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid and discard the bay leaf and the onion. Transfer the lentils to a bowl.

3. Add the oil, vinegar, minced onion, garlic, parsley, chives and red pepper to the lentils and stir. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Repetition

The New York Times article "The Perfect Burger And All Its Parts" really brought home how key repetition is to perfecting recipes. I don't repeat things nearly enough... I see it as limiting when I should see it as refining. This is a great reminder.

Bread Bar at Tabla

When Lizzie, another one of my lovely acquaintances, from Vika and Rafe's Bahamian wedding in the was in town a few weeks ago, we treated ourselves to dinner at Bread Bar at Tabla . Bread Bar may be the less expensive part of Tabla, but it still a treat for me. Tabla is pleasantly decorated, nothing overly unique, with music that seems out of place since it is not a lounge. Though we were not sure who our waiter was at the end of the night, we had attentive and unobtrusive service all night. None of these details really matter though as we were there for the food, which exceeded expecations. Here's my rundown of the dishes our group of six shared...

Starters
Garlic and Sourdough Naan with the Chutney Sampler
I didn't try the sourdough naan, but the garlic was delicious. I always love naan's texture and Bread Bar's was no exception. It reminded me of Little Caesar's Crazy Bread in a good way. The favorite chutney was mint-cilantro chutney.

Fresh Chickpea & Kala Chana Chaat (warm street salad with red onion, chili & lime) $9
This dish was spicy with a nice crunch. I picked it out and it was my favorite small plate. It was like nothing I had tasted previously.

Creamed Spinach Samosa (local spring garlic, chickpeas, radishes & chipotle chutney) $15
You receive one samosa to split at this price. I found it heavy, but everyone loved it. The plate had a beautiful presentation with a radish salad that tasted strongly of ginger.

Sunny Side Spiced Up Egg (local baby arugula, applewood smoked bacon & gingered chicken livers) $13, includes a $2 donation to City Harvest
It looked great with the sunny side up egg. I couldn't taste the ginger on the chicken and didn't have bacon in my bite but the flavors melded nicely.

Saag “Paneer” Pizza (spiced creamed spinach with crumbled Coach Farm goat cheese on corn roti) $16
I scoffed at this dish wondering what is Saag Paneer without the Paneer? But it was surprisingly good. The spinach was very fresh, almost dry, and the warm goat cheese and the crisp roti were a great contrast in textures.

Main Courses
Kerala Black Pepper Chicken (seared chicken stewed with curry leaves, onions & black pepper) $19
This was my favorite entree and one I never would have ordered on my own. The chicken was tender and moist; the sweet accompanying stew was excellent over the fluffy basmati rice. It wasn't too peppery, in fact I didn't really notice pepper.

Berkshire Country Pork Pan Roast (marinated with apple cider, cinnamon & mustard seeds) $18
This was my least favorite entree. The pork pan roast was a little dry and flavorless yet fatty. The flavor was vaguely sweet, which was appropriate given the ingredients.

Tandoori Lamb (marinated in yogurt, cardamom & chilies) 20.
The lamb was succulent and tender with a great flavor. I almost didn't need a knife to cut it. This entree had the smallest portion.

Dessert
As an aside, Bread Bar's dessert menu wins a prize for having the only dessert to have ever repulsed me. Does anything about this sound tempting? Rhubarb Clafoutis (Roasted rhubarb, toasted almonds, basil-lemon curd ice cream). My one other comment on desserts in general was that they must use a melon baller to scoop the ice cream. The one scoop was too tiny for two people to taste much less six.

Sticky Date Pudding (Chocolate ice cream, toffee sauce, crumbled caramel brittle) $8
This dessert surprised me. It had a rich chocolate flavor without being too sweet. The brittle was perfect.

Citrus Polenta Fritter (Braised pineapple, apple lambic ice cream) $8
This was the dessert the women unanimously wanted. It was good but disappointing. The presentation and taste was reminiscent of a lemon bar with less punch.

Bread Bar Doughnut Holes (Made to order with orange blossom essence and a trio of sauces) $10
The doughnuts are light with a tasty sugar and cinnamon topping that overpowered the caramel and vanilla sauces. It did work with the chocolate sauce though. The caramel sauce was great on its own but the vanilla mysteriously tasted boozy.

The best dessert isn't listed on the online menu. If I remember correctly it was lemon pudding cake with coconut sorbet and lemon confit $8. The presentation was amazing and it made me swoon with its smooth sweetness and rich flavors.

I definitely want to return to the Bread Bar. If only to try the Pulled Lamb & Mustard-Mashed Potato “Naanini” (a street sandwich drizzled with fresh lime juice & chilies) and to have more Chaat.

Location: 11 Madison Avenue at 25th Street
Hours: Mon-Fri 12:00p-2:00p, 5:30-10:00 pm (not Friday pm), Fri-Sat 5:30p-11:00p, Sun 5:00p-9:00p
Cost: $$$
Note: Bread Bar Reservations are for inside seating only.

Savory Asparagus Pie

Back on April 25, I was way overeager and picked out two recipes featuring asparagus. Our late Spring, which as grown into a very slow starting summer, did not provide me with the necessary vegetable. Conscience be damned I went to Whole Foods and spent a small fortune on an excessively large bundle from California for this Savory Asparagus Pie. The other recipe would wait.

The week sped by, kind of like the past 2 months, and I finally got around to making the pie at 9 pm on the Wednesday the 29th. I can't even begin to explain why complicated cooking projects appeal to me late at night. I was tired and yet again there I was there I was moving forward and making my first pie crust.

While I wasn't happy with the aesthetics of my attempt the pie tasted pretty awesome, impressed my difficult to impress co-worker Lauren, and made a great, really rich breakfast reminiscent of a quiche. Next time I make this recipe I might cut back on the asparagus, I didn't measure it out but I suspect I overdid it, and attempt to convert the pie to a quiche with more of an egg base. Eggs are less expensive than crème fraîche and I like them.