Hi everyone! I must apologize once again for my long absence. I have been on a major job search looking for a new family to turn their kitchen over to my very capable hands. Lo and behold! I found such a family! Now that I can relax into a new position, I can turn my attention to sharing my culinary adventures with you here. But believe me, you are always on my mind......
Last night I had the rare pleasure of getting together with three of my very good girlfriends and we went to a restaurant called "Josie's East". There are two of them - one on the east side and one on the west side of Manhattan, "Josie's West"....bet you didn't see that title coming!!!! They also own a restaurant called "Citrus" which I absolutely love. But that is a different post.
The chef is called Louis Lanza and his style is one that I seek out when dining and practice in my own kitchens. The word I love to use is "clean". Flavors that are pure and bright and you can taste the ingredients without them being muddled by an overabundance of sauces or butter or any type of nonsense. Not that I consider butter "nonsense" by any means. To quote Tom Colichio, each ingredient "sings"! Chef Lanza uses organic ingredients and the menu is quite diverse, catering to vegetarians, carnivores and seafood lovers. (Why does the phrase "seafood lovers" make me feel like I am talking about Red Lobster?)
So I arrived at a cozy table for four and ordered their wonderful and refreshing White Sangria. It was bright and delicious and tasted of fresh pineapple. We all ordered from the $29 prix fixe which is a great deal for three generous courses. Caroline and I ordered the Beet Salad which had all my favorites - arugula, beets, candied walnuts, creamy feta cheese and white truffle oil. It was very delicious but it came with a bizarre dressing (on the side) which tasted like bottled Russian dressing. I didn't understand how it went with this salad so I ordered a simple balsamic vinaigrette which was much better. My friend, Stacey, was the winner of the best ordering for apps. She had the Thai Chili-Seared Wild Shrimp. They were perfectly grilled shrimp sitting on little soft flour tortillas which had been topped with delicious guacamole. These can be served at a cocktail party as canapes and I am definitely stealing this idea! Although the shrimp were chili seared I didn't detect any heat which made me personally happy as I don't care for spicy foods but if I had wanted that heat I'd have missed it. Sheryl's butternut squash soup was hearty and filling and she said she could've eaten a whole bowl of it for dinner by itself. It was garnished with toasted butternut squash seeds and had a swirl of pesto for extra excitement! It's both vegetarian and dairy free (just like Mama makes it....me being "Mama" of course).
Next was the main course and we all ordered the same - Ancho Rubbed Grilled Scottish Salmon. I must say that the menu offers many tempting offerings such as Vegetarian Meatloaf, Organic Angel Hair Pasta Pomodoro, Grilled Gulf Yellowfin Tuna, and all manners of burgers. The portion was huge and the salmon was cooked perfectly. Again, like the shrimp, the ancho rub on the salmon was very mild and I loved it. But if I wanted spicy, I might've been disappointed in the lack of heat. I suppose you could request it spicier if you wanted to. It came with a grand scoop of amazingly smooth and flavorful sweet potatoes and asparagus. The asparagus got lost in the shuffle, unfortunately. It was cooked perfectly, still crisp as it should be, but underseasoned. I think a dash of salt and pepper would've done the trick. I was going to ask for salt but our rapid fire conversation-four ladies who haven't gotten together in a while trying to spill all of their news at the same time, topics veering in twenty different directions-distracted me from my salt desire so I just ate my bland asparagus obediently.
Finally the dessert! This did not disappoint in the slightest. Again we ordered different things so we could taste a couple of choices. Stacey and I had the Macadamia Oat Crumb Apple Pie with vanilla soy ice cream. Sheryl had an assortment of sorbets and Caroline had the Three Berry Ginger Pie with vanilla soy ice cream. The portions were huge!!! Our apple pie was amazing. The crust was crunchy and flavorful and the apples were perfectly spiced and had a nice al dente texture. I love adding nuts to a crust. My favorite blueberry pie recipe has crushed pecans in the crust. The soy ice cream had a silky beautiful texture and exploded with vanilla delight :-) A perfectly ripe strawberry sat on the side of the plate as a garnish but it was delicious too. I enjoy a good berry in the middle of March. I tasted Sheryl's mango sorbet and it was like biting into a fresh mango....magnificent! Then I reached across the table (as Beckers stop at nothing for a bite of food and the boarding house reach is part of the dining experience) and tasted Caroline's berry pie. It had a very strong ginger taste which was a bit overwhelming. I would tell the pastry chef to perhaps have a lighter touch with the ginger when making the crust (which is made with spelt, oat, barley, and brown rice flours). The poor girl had a terrible allergic reaction!
Other than our friend turning the color of an overripe tomato, the experience was a very satisfying one. We were served good coffee and fancy teas with our dessert and the service was excellent.
Check out Josie's NYC at http://www.josiesnyc.com.
Go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather! Spring has sprung! Hooray!
Peace and love,
Robina
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Meatless Super Bowl...what?????
Hi all! Welcome back :-) I didn't want to let an important food holiday go by without sharing my experience. Yes, the Super Bowl is up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas as a big food holiday...well, not exactly. In reality it is an excuse for people to scream and yell at their tv sets and eat chicken wings. For me...the Super Bowl has always been...Sunday. I have an identity crisis when it comes to picking sports teams. I come from a family of New Yorkers who have always routed for Philadelphia for reasons I will never understand. During baseball season they are all about the Phillies and in the winter, it's the Eagles (before Michael Vick, of course-after all this is a blog about NOT harming animals.) Then to add more confusion, my boyfriend is a Patriots fan, so this past Sunday I felt compelled to go against my own and root for New England. It all felt very North and South....brother against brother.
But who are we kidding? All I really cared about on Sunday was creating a fun Super Bowl menu that would be vegetarian while not sacrificing the spirit of the day. The first thing I knew we needed to have was guacamole...okay...we can all agree on that. I learned to make guacamole years ago whilst waitressing at a southwestern restaurant called "Silverado", which is long since gone. I think it's "City Crab" now....but I digress. I learned using a mortar and pestle, but unfortunately I don't own one so I simply use a fork and a bowl to mash everything together. As long as you have perfectly ripe Hass avacados, you can't go wrong. What is more wonderful than slicing open an avacado and finding perfect flesh inside with no brown spots...it's poetry. I used about five of those, along with half a large red onion, a small clove of fresh garlic, 2 plum tomatoes and a handful of fresh cilantro. I diced the tomatoes and onion into very small pieces, mashed up the garlic and then the avacado and chopped the cilantro finely. After it was all combined I squeezed the juice of 2 fresh limes and mixed it all up with a little salt and pepper. When you store it in the refrigerator, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and let the plastic lay on top of the guacamole so that no air can get in and discolor your creation. Voila! Or should I say Ole!
Next was the piece de resistance of hors de oerves....the vegetarian pigs in blankets! This is the simplest and yet the most scrumptious little tidbit and I make it for every party because meat and non meat eaters alike love it and it always gets devoured. There are three quick steps to make it before it goes into the oven. One-take Smart Pups (better than Tofu Dogs) veggie hot dogs and cut them into small pieces (cut each dog into fourths). Two-take Crescent roll dough and slice each triangle in half length-wise. Three-wrap the dog piece in the Crescent dough and bake it at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes until brown. Serve with mustard dipping sauce.
After a long grazing period of hors de oerves and right after Madonna sang and danced and shook her "oh my god I hope I look like that at 53" butt, I brought out the main course items.
First I made the Easiest Pizza in the World pizza. I took a Boboli pizza crust, slathered it with simple tomato basil sauce and sprinkled fresh mozzarella over it. Into a 400 degree oven for about ten minutes until the cheese is bubbly and lightly golden. You get ooohs and aaaahs for your homemade pizza but it is so incredibly simple and you'll be back in time to see the MIA girl give you the finger.
Finally, I made sausage and peppers. Again...easy breezy! Take a yellow onion and a red onion and slice them up. Next slice 3 peppers (I like to combine the red, yellow, orange or green-it's pretty). Heat a little olive oil in a medium sautee pan and sautee the veggies all together with a sprinkle of salt and pepper until they are all tender for about ten minutes, tossing them around so they cook evenly. While that is happening, take Smart Sausages (Smart is a great brand for veggie products. I like the Italian ones which are the ones you normally see in the store) and brown them on in a sautee pan until they are brown on all sides. I like to then put them in a 375 degree oven for about seven minutes to make sure they are cooked through. Finally, warm up some hot dog buns and place the sausage inside and top with the onion/pepper mixture. You get the seasoning from the sausage contrasting with the sweetness from the onions and peppers and it is fantastic!
So I hope everyone had a fun Super Bowl Sunday and ate great food whether you are into sports or not. My usual mantra holds true once again. You don't have to sacrifice great food just because you give up meat...all it takes is a little creativity. Which, unlike the commercials this year, can still happen in your kitchen.
Happy eating!
Love,
Robina
But who are we kidding? All I really cared about on Sunday was creating a fun Super Bowl menu that would be vegetarian while not sacrificing the spirit of the day. The first thing I knew we needed to have was guacamole...okay...we can all agree on that. I learned to make guacamole years ago whilst waitressing at a southwestern restaurant called "Silverado", which is long since gone. I think it's "City Crab" now....but I digress. I learned using a mortar and pestle, but unfortunately I don't own one so I simply use a fork and a bowl to mash everything together. As long as you have perfectly ripe Hass avacados, you can't go wrong. What is more wonderful than slicing open an avacado and finding perfect flesh inside with no brown spots...it's poetry. I used about five of those, along with half a large red onion, a small clove of fresh garlic, 2 plum tomatoes and a handful of fresh cilantro. I diced the tomatoes and onion into very small pieces, mashed up the garlic and then the avacado and chopped the cilantro finely. After it was all combined I squeezed the juice of 2 fresh limes and mixed it all up with a little salt and pepper. When you store it in the refrigerator, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and let the plastic lay on top of the guacamole so that no air can get in and discolor your creation. Voila! Or should I say Ole!
Next was the piece de resistance of hors de oerves....the vegetarian pigs in blankets! This is the simplest and yet the most scrumptious little tidbit and I make it for every party because meat and non meat eaters alike love it and it always gets devoured. There are three quick steps to make it before it goes into the oven. One-take Smart Pups (better than Tofu Dogs) veggie hot dogs and cut them into small pieces (cut each dog into fourths). Two-take Crescent roll dough and slice each triangle in half length-wise. Three-wrap the dog piece in the Crescent dough and bake it at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes until brown. Serve with mustard dipping sauce.
After a long grazing period of hors de oerves and right after Madonna sang and danced and shook her "oh my god I hope I look like that at 53" butt, I brought out the main course items.
First I made the Easiest Pizza in the World pizza. I took a Boboli pizza crust, slathered it with simple tomato basil sauce and sprinkled fresh mozzarella over it. Into a 400 degree oven for about ten minutes until the cheese is bubbly and lightly golden. You get ooohs and aaaahs for your homemade pizza but it is so incredibly simple and you'll be back in time to see the MIA girl give you the finger.
Finally, I made sausage and peppers. Again...easy breezy! Take a yellow onion and a red onion and slice them up. Next slice 3 peppers (I like to combine the red, yellow, orange or green-it's pretty). Heat a little olive oil in a medium sautee pan and sautee the veggies all together with a sprinkle of salt and pepper until they are all tender for about ten minutes, tossing them around so they cook evenly. While that is happening, take Smart Sausages (Smart is a great brand for veggie products. I like the Italian ones which are the ones you normally see in the store) and brown them on in a sautee pan until they are brown on all sides. I like to then put them in a 375 degree oven for about seven minutes to make sure they are cooked through. Finally, warm up some hot dog buns and place the sausage inside and top with the onion/pepper mixture. You get the seasoning from the sausage contrasting with the sweetness from the onions and peppers and it is fantastic!
So I hope everyone had a fun Super Bowl Sunday and ate great food whether you are into sports or not. My usual mantra holds true once again. You don't have to sacrifice great food just because you give up meat...all it takes is a little creativity. Which, unlike the commercials this year, can still happen in your kitchen.
Happy eating!
Love,
Robina
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Happy New Year!
Hi, beautiful friends and family! Happy and belated New Year!!!!! My first order of business is to ask your forgiveness for my absence. If you can imagine the Tazmanian Devil with tinsel, sugar, wrapping paper and mennorah candles swirling around him, then you will understand my holiday season! But it was a lovely kind of madness. The holiday tree (combination of Christmas tree and Chanukkah bush) Greg and I make every year at his apartment consists mainly of animals hanging off of every branch. Our tree represents everything we love :-) I have to laugh when I realized that I, Jewish lady, had many more Christmas ornaments than my Catholic boyfriend! But they are mostly tiny stuffed cows, dogs, several kitties represent some of the angels that are no longer with us and the ones that are. We have a couple of Snoopy's alter ego, Joe Cool, a pink plastic donut from Dunkin' and of course, Greg's Patriots and Yankees ornaments! Beneath our fantastic tree was a sea of beautifully wrapped gifts in every shape and size. Santa Claus and Chanukkah Harry were very good to us this year!
The food was, as usual, amazing! I get the unique experience of a Ukranian Christmas Eve dinner at Greg's family's house. We began with his aunt's unbelievable borsht. A beet should only be so lucky as to reach it's full potential in a borsht like this!
Then his mom's simply prepared lightly fried cod. Next were the potato pierogis with its amazing blanket of golden brown sauteed onions and a dollop of fresh sour cream. As Christmas Eve is a no meat holiday (yay!) I enjoyed the next course...vegetarian stuffed cabbage filled with mushrooms and rice! I loved the whole meal because it wasn't a big gluttonous affair with nineteen dishes. It was clean and simple and left me with enough energy to open a couple of gifts later that night!
My contribution to that evening was my Vanilla Bean Cake. This is a recipe from the book by NY Times food writer, Amanda Hesser, called "Cooking for Mr. Latte" who clearly agrees with me that cooking is a very effective way to seduce a man ;-) It's a really simple recipe but the vanilla beans make it extraordinary. Beware... they are expensive! (Even the lady who works at the CT Stop and Shop warned me of this!) Here it is:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and heavily butter two loaf pans. Cream together 3 sticks of softened unsalted butter and 2 1/2 cups of sugar until pale and fluffy. Scrape one of your precious vanilla beans into the mixture (slice carefully down the length of your bean, then take your knife and scrape out all the good black "paste" that is inside until the bean is scraped clean), then add 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract and 8 large eggs. Beat to mix.
Next, sift 3 Cups unbleached flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a seperate bowl. Add to batter gently and mix it all together slowly and gently. Pour this gorgeous mixture into your two pans and bake for 25-40 minutes until the top if lightly brown and a cake tester (toothpick for me) comes out clean.
Of course this recipe comes with a fantastic vanilla syrup to drizzle over it and then on each slice while serving. In small saucepan, dissolve 1 3/4 Cups of sugar in 1 Cup of water over medium heat, stirring gently to help it dissolve. Take two vanilla beans and slice them down the center and scrape out the magic seeds and place both seeds and shell into the sugar syrup and stir for a couple of minutes until you can smell the vanilla. Turn off heat and let it sit so that the vanilla flavor can really develop. No, don't drink this...put down the spoon! Brush some of this liquid gold onto the cakes while they are cooling. When you serve it, you can drizzle a little over each slice. Enjoy!
On Christmas Day we had our big feast. Greg's mom spoiled us with her amazing vegetable dishes...squash cooked with cream and mushrooms, roasted brussels sprouts, golden brown potatoes and my potatoes gratin. Every Christmas I immerse thinly sliced potatoes in heavy cream and sauteed onions and cook them until tender. Then they are placed in a glass baking dish with a generous layer of grated Gruyere cheese on top to bake until the cheese melts and lightly browns. What's not to like about that?
We finished it off with tea and my second loaf of Vanilla Bean cake and an Italian Panettone cake....not the yucky one with the candied fruit but a nice one with powdered sugar dusted on top that reminded me of brioche. Wikipedia tells me that it is a sweet bread loaf which originated in Milan, Italy and is usually enjoyed on Christmas in many European countries such as France, Germany and Switzerland (and of course Italy!) I remember its appearance every year growing up with my Sicilian friend in Canarsie, Brooklyn. I owe the begining of my love affair with food to her family. The Gagliano family introduced me to things such as espresso and calamari when I was 14 yrs old and I was fascinated and attracted to it all. Maybe that explains my love of the European traditions I get to enjoy today with Greg's Ukranian family.
So thus ends my Christmas Story and no one had to wear a pink bunny costume...hahaha! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and now we can relax for a bit until Valentine's Day when we can discuss homemade truffles and chocolate dipped strawberries....or you can google your closest Godiva. It's all good.
Peace out....happy eating!
Robina
The food was, as usual, amazing! I get the unique experience of a Ukranian Christmas Eve dinner at Greg's family's house. We began with his aunt's unbelievable borsht. A beet should only be so lucky as to reach it's full potential in a borsht like this!
Then his mom's simply prepared lightly fried cod. Next were the potato pierogis with its amazing blanket of golden brown sauteed onions and a dollop of fresh sour cream. As Christmas Eve is a no meat holiday (yay!) I enjoyed the next course...vegetarian stuffed cabbage filled with mushrooms and rice! I loved the whole meal because it wasn't a big gluttonous affair with nineteen dishes. It was clean and simple and left me with enough energy to open a couple of gifts later that night!
My contribution to that evening was my Vanilla Bean Cake. This is a recipe from the book by NY Times food writer, Amanda Hesser, called "Cooking for Mr. Latte" who clearly agrees with me that cooking is a very effective way to seduce a man ;-) It's a really simple recipe but the vanilla beans make it extraordinary. Beware... they are expensive! (Even the lady who works at the CT Stop and Shop warned me of this!) Here it is:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and heavily butter two loaf pans. Cream together 3 sticks of softened unsalted butter and 2 1/2 cups of sugar until pale and fluffy. Scrape one of your precious vanilla beans into the mixture (slice carefully down the length of your bean, then take your knife and scrape out all the good black "paste" that is inside until the bean is scraped clean), then add 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract and 8 large eggs. Beat to mix.
Next, sift 3 Cups unbleached flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a seperate bowl. Add to batter gently and mix it all together slowly and gently. Pour this gorgeous mixture into your two pans and bake for 25-40 minutes until the top if lightly brown and a cake tester (toothpick for me) comes out clean.
Of course this recipe comes with a fantastic vanilla syrup to drizzle over it and then on each slice while serving. In small saucepan, dissolve 1 3/4 Cups of sugar in 1 Cup of water over medium heat, stirring gently to help it dissolve. Take two vanilla beans and slice them down the center and scrape out the magic seeds and place both seeds and shell into the sugar syrup and stir for a couple of minutes until you can smell the vanilla. Turn off heat and let it sit so that the vanilla flavor can really develop. No, don't drink this...put down the spoon! Brush some of this liquid gold onto the cakes while they are cooling. When you serve it, you can drizzle a little over each slice. Enjoy!
On Christmas Day we had our big feast. Greg's mom spoiled us with her amazing vegetable dishes...squash cooked with cream and mushrooms, roasted brussels sprouts, golden brown potatoes and my potatoes gratin. Every Christmas I immerse thinly sliced potatoes in heavy cream and sauteed onions and cook them until tender. Then they are placed in a glass baking dish with a generous layer of grated Gruyere cheese on top to bake until the cheese melts and lightly browns. What's not to like about that?
We finished it off with tea and my second loaf of Vanilla Bean cake and an Italian Panettone cake....not the yucky one with the candied fruit but a nice one with powdered sugar dusted on top that reminded me of brioche. Wikipedia tells me that it is a sweet bread loaf which originated in Milan, Italy and is usually enjoyed on Christmas in many European countries such as France, Germany and Switzerland (and of course Italy!) I remember its appearance every year growing up with my Sicilian friend in Canarsie, Brooklyn. I owe the begining of my love affair with food to her family. The Gagliano family introduced me to things such as espresso and calamari when I was 14 yrs old and I was fascinated and attracted to it all. Maybe that explains my love of the European traditions I get to enjoy today with Greg's Ukranian family.
So thus ends my Christmas Story and no one had to wear a pink bunny costume...hahaha! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and now we can relax for a bit until Valentine's Day when we can discuss homemade truffles and chocolate dipped strawberries....or you can google your closest Godiva. It's all good.
Peace out....happy eating!
Robina
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