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
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The leaves they are a-changing.....
Hi friends! How is everyone doing? Happy Jewish New Year, everyone!
Yesterday marks the one year anniversary of my return to vegetarianism. It was October 19, 2010. I remember it distinctly because Greg was beginning his whirlwind Comic Con weekend and my lovely cousin, Ellen, came in from Florida for her soap opera weekend so everyone was busy with their fun obsessions while I was busy with mine-cooking (and eating). I had slowly been losing my desire for meat and cooking vegetarian dishes for Greg all the time so it seemed like the natural course to take. Also he has a distinct knowledge of any and all people in the entertainment industry who is either vegetarian or vegan and whenever he would pipe up with "Oh, Olivia Wilde...she's a vegan." I would feel such admiration for the person and I would miss the days when I was a vegetarian. So I gave up meat for good and never looked back. (By the way, my best friend, Caroline, can do the same parlour trick with who's Jewish so I can cross reference the two of them and find out all the Jewish vegans in Hollywood!)
Today I wanted to once again celebrate the beautiful offerings in Connecticut and share a wonderful place I discovered recently. Being a city girl, when Tom and Meaghan invited us to visit a farm I pictured us playing with goats in an open field. They took us to Sunflower Farm in Orange, CT. (767 Derby Milford Road, Orange, CT 06477). There were neither sunflowers nor goats. However, there was an amazing abundance of fresh produce all laid out outside. I didn't know what to grab first, so I immediately got my hands on an acorn squash. Dinner!!! Next I found some perfectly round and firm green tomatoes. I'd never prepared fried green tomatoes but it was the name of one of my favorite films so there was hope for me. I grabbed several other things, while Meaghan's adorable terrier, Shadow, munched on an apple :-) The general store held more treasures. They had fresh eggs and milk which they offered samples of. I had a tiny "shot" of some as I haven't really drunk straight milk since the 9th grade (not without Kahlua in it at least). It was the way milk was supposed to taste. The way it did in my childhood when we used to get it delivered in glass bottles. I purchased four perfect eggs for the morning and a loaf of challah. I then gave the owners a lesson on the proper pronunciation of "challah". They had freshly baked pies so we purchased a small peach one and left happy with our beautiful items. Shadow, meanwhile, made quick work of her apple!
When we came home, I set to work on dinner. I cut our acorn squash in two halves, cleaned out the seeds and rubbed the inside with our favorite butter substitute, Earth Balance. Then I sprinkled them with brown sugar, cinnamon and a little salt and pepper and baked them in the oven for an hour until the flesh was nice and tender. After consulting Epicurious.com, I went ahead and sliced the green tomatoes, dipped them in flour, then egg, then coarse bread crumbs and fried them in vegetable oil until golden brown. I asked Greg, who lived in Atlanta for some time, if they met his approval and he gave me a big thumbs up. I loved that beautiful tomato flavor contrasting with the crispy coating. We had a lovely salad of arugula and big fat cherry tomatoes and roasted eggplant and fresh corn on the cob. It was an amazing feast and everything had been grown locally so the flavors were so intense with very simple preparation. The peach pie was amazing too and we ate the whole thing!
In the morning, I gently scrambled the eggs (two of them had double yokes!!!) with salt, pepper and a touch of milk, cooked them in butter until they were no longer runny but still soft and sprinkled them with fresh chives. We had them with warm challah. The color was such a bright yellow and even the shells felt different from supermarket eggs. They were softer somehow. I was one happy city girl that weekend.
Now I can say welcome to the fall! In my last post, I sat at the computer in shorts and airconditioning writing about the autumn solstice. But I can see the leaves actually beginning to change color now and there are lots of horror movies on tv indicating the approach of Halloween and all the candy in the store that I am NOT buying and wearing a sweater walking through the slightly chilled air. I really am feeling it now and I love this season. Too bad it has to turn into winter....I shiver like a frightened chihuahua in cold weather but that is for another post.
Eat fabulous food, get out the sweaters and snuggle in.
Peace out,
Robina
Yesterday marks the one year anniversary of my return to vegetarianism. It was October 19, 2010. I remember it distinctly because Greg was beginning his whirlwind Comic Con weekend and my lovely cousin, Ellen, came in from Florida for her soap opera weekend so everyone was busy with their fun obsessions while I was busy with mine-cooking (and eating). I had slowly been losing my desire for meat and cooking vegetarian dishes for Greg all the time so it seemed like the natural course to take. Also he has a distinct knowledge of any and all people in the entertainment industry who is either vegetarian or vegan and whenever he would pipe up with "Oh, Olivia Wilde...she's a vegan." I would feel such admiration for the person and I would miss the days when I was a vegetarian. So I gave up meat for good and never looked back. (By the way, my best friend, Caroline, can do the same parlour trick with who's Jewish so I can cross reference the two of them and find out all the Jewish vegans in Hollywood!)
Today I wanted to once again celebrate the beautiful offerings in Connecticut and share a wonderful place I discovered recently. Being a city girl, when Tom and Meaghan invited us to visit a farm I pictured us playing with goats in an open field. They took us to Sunflower Farm in Orange, CT. (767 Derby Milford Road, Orange, CT 06477). There were neither sunflowers nor goats. However, there was an amazing abundance of fresh produce all laid out outside. I didn't know what to grab first, so I immediately got my hands on an acorn squash. Dinner!!! Next I found some perfectly round and firm green tomatoes. I'd never prepared fried green tomatoes but it was the name of one of my favorite films so there was hope for me. I grabbed several other things, while Meaghan's adorable terrier, Shadow, munched on an apple :-) The general store held more treasures. They had fresh eggs and milk which they offered samples of. I had a tiny "shot" of some as I haven't really drunk straight milk since the 9th grade (not without Kahlua in it at least). It was the way milk was supposed to taste. The way it did in my childhood when we used to get it delivered in glass bottles. I purchased four perfect eggs for the morning and a loaf of challah. I then gave the owners a lesson on the proper pronunciation of "challah". They had freshly baked pies so we purchased a small peach one and left happy with our beautiful items. Shadow, meanwhile, made quick work of her apple!
When we came home, I set to work on dinner. I cut our acorn squash in two halves, cleaned out the seeds and rubbed the inside with our favorite butter substitute, Earth Balance. Then I sprinkled them with brown sugar, cinnamon and a little salt and pepper and baked them in the oven for an hour until the flesh was nice and tender. After consulting Epicurious.com, I went ahead and sliced the green tomatoes, dipped them in flour, then egg, then coarse bread crumbs and fried them in vegetable oil until golden brown. I asked Greg, who lived in Atlanta for some time, if they met his approval and he gave me a big thumbs up. I loved that beautiful tomato flavor contrasting with the crispy coating. We had a lovely salad of arugula and big fat cherry tomatoes and roasted eggplant and fresh corn on the cob. It was an amazing feast and everything had been grown locally so the flavors were so intense with very simple preparation. The peach pie was amazing too and we ate the whole thing!
In the morning, I gently scrambled the eggs (two of them had double yokes!!!) with salt, pepper and a touch of milk, cooked them in butter until they were no longer runny but still soft and sprinkled them with fresh chives. We had them with warm challah. The color was such a bright yellow and even the shells felt different from supermarket eggs. They were softer somehow. I was one happy city girl that weekend.
Now I can say welcome to the fall! In my last post, I sat at the computer in shorts and airconditioning writing about the autumn solstice. But I can see the leaves actually beginning to change color now and there are lots of horror movies on tv indicating the approach of Halloween and all the candy in the store that I am NOT buying and wearing a sweater walking through the slightly chilled air. I really am feeling it now and I love this season. Too bad it has to turn into winter....I shiver like a frightened chihuahua in cold weather but that is for another post.
Eat fabulous food, get out the sweaters and snuggle in.
Peace out,
Robina
Friday, September 23, 2011
Happy Fall Solstice!
Hello, Friends! The end of summer is always a bittersweet time for me. I absolutely love the summertime and every year I mourn its passing like an old friend that leaves before she's worn out her welcome. But I do love the fall-don't get me wrong. The beautiful colors of the leaves and the pumpkins and apples and all that jazz....love it all.
Anyhow...now that you have suffered my dissertation about the seasons, let's talk about food. (Before I start waxing poetic about the Island of Misfit Toys and how it reflects dissention in our society.)
Last weekend was Greg's parents' anniversary and as they have invited me to their home for every holiday and really made me feel like part of the family, I wanted to make them a nice dinner to celebrate. I immediately began to plan the menu and wanted to share a couple of recipes with you.
First course: Summer Corn Chowder. This is a recipe I discovered recently and made many times at work and I loooove it! It's completely vegetarian and since corn was so amazing this summer it really is celebrated here. Take four ears of corn and shuck them, reserving the corn kernels in a bowl. Break the now naked cobs in two and place them in a large sauce pan with three cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins. You are essentially making a corn stock. Strain it out and discard the corn cobs. Reserve the liquid in a bowl or small pot on the side. Next, sautee 1/2 of a medium chopped yellow onion in a Tbls. of butter and a splash of olive oil. When the onion is translucent and soft, add 1 Russet potato that has been peeled and chopped into small pieces, the corn kernels, 2 sprigs of thyme (throw them in whole as you will remove the stems later), the corn stock, 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp of salt and some crushed black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender which should take about 10 minutes. I personally find that there isn't enough liquid so I like to add about a cup of vegetable stock to this. Remove the stems from the thyme, adjust seasoning and serve. It is amazing and the corn is so sweet and still has a bite to it. The heat from the pepper really balances out the sweetness.
The next thing I want to share is my new and favorite discovery. It is a vegetarian product called Quorn. What's that you say? Corn? No Quorn. It originated in the UK and Ireland and uses egg whites as a binder and it absolutely positively replicates chicken breast like I have never seen before! My friend, Stacey's, cat thinks it's chicken! They sell many varieties (one is filled with Gruyere cheese....yummers!) But I was making a chicken dish for the anniversary dinner and was looking for a vegetarian version for us and lo and behold I found Quorn (which Stacey, has been begging me to try all this time).
Here is the recipe for "Chicken" with French Mushroom Sauce. First you make this gorgeous velvety sauce. The recipe calls for a package of dried morel mushrooms which you would reconstitute in hot water. I have done this and they are wonderful. But (a)-dried morels are not always easy to find and (2) they can be bloody expensive and who among us can pay $10 these days for a little package of dried mushrooms? So I ended up using fresh button mushrooms and also baby Portobellas. Slice the mushrooms and sautee them with 2 chopped shallots in a little butter and oil (about a Tbls of each). Cook them for about 12 minutes until they are nice and tender and have released their liquid. Add a cup of Medeira wine (this is a sweet Portugese wine) and let the whole thing reduce by 1/2. Add 1 cup of creme fraiche (fancy cream cheese) and 1 cup of heavy cream and stir it all together. Adjust seasoning (always add salt and pepper as you go and taste). Simmer for about ten minutes gently to thicken the sauce and voila! It is so decadent and delicious.
For the meat-eaters, I sauteed some chicken breasts. It felt oddly sinister preparing chicken in Greg's kitchen and scrubbed every surface the meat may have touched afterward like I was cleaning up a crime scene on Dexter. For us, I cautiously opened the box of Quorn and peered inside, not sure of what I would find and they looked like little plain chicken breasts! I sauteed them off the way I had done with the real ones and then smothered both (in seperate dishes) with the mushroom sauce. When I tasted the veggie version of a dish I ate and loved as a meat-eater I was beyond ecstatic. It was a seamless transition. The carnivores at the table were happy and we veggies were as well and we all licked our plates clean. I served it with Orzo cooked in a little sauteed onion and veggie stock and some roasted broccoli. Dessert was my famous lemon tart that I discovered many years ago and have been making ever since to rave reviews.
Now some vegetarians don't really care for substitutions of meat dishes and some meat-eaters have told me it makes no sense because if I want the dish why not just eat the "real" thing? But I still want these yummy things which is why I told you guys about the substitution for the McRib (the McRob) and the veggie sausage pizzas and pigs in blankets I served for the Oscar party last year.
It's so wonderful to eat amazing food and not miss a beat being a vegetarian. I am thrilled to know that while preparing these amazing dishes I have not harmed any animals....except for that time I dropped a piece of broccoli on Leo's head.
Happy Fall and happy eating!
Love,
Robina
Anyhow...now that you have suffered my dissertation about the seasons, let's talk about food. (Before I start waxing poetic about the Island of Misfit Toys and how it reflects dissention in our society.)
Last weekend was Greg's parents' anniversary and as they have invited me to their home for every holiday and really made me feel like part of the family, I wanted to make them a nice dinner to celebrate. I immediately began to plan the menu and wanted to share a couple of recipes with you.
First course: Summer Corn Chowder. This is a recipe I discovered recently and made many times at work and I loooove it! It's completely vegetarian and since corn was so amazing this summer it really is celebrated here. Take four ears of corn and shuck them, reserving the corn kernels in a bowl. Break the now naked cobs in two and place them in a large sauce pan with three cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins. You are essentially making a corn stock. Strain it out and discard the corn cobs. Reserve the liquid in a bowl or small pot on the side. Next, sautee 1/2 of a medium chopped yellow onion in a Tbls. of butter and a splash of olive oil. When the onion is translucent and soft, add 1 Russet potato that has been peeled and chopped into small pieces, the corn kernels, 2 sprigs of thyme (throw them in whole as you will remove the stems later), the corn stock, 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp of salt and some crushed black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender which should take about 10 minutes. I personally find that there isn't enough liquid so I like to add about a cup of vegetable stock to this. Remove the stems from the thyme, adjust seasoning and serve. It is amazing and the corn is so sweet and still has a bite to it. The heat from the pepper really balances out the sweetness.
The next thing I want to share is my new and favorite discovery. It is a vegetarian product called Quorn. What's that you say? Corn? No Quorn. It originated in the UK and Ireland and uses egg whites as a binder and it absolutely positively replicates chicken breast like I have never seen before! My friend, Stacey's, cat thinks it's chicken! They sell many varieties (one is filled with Gruyere cheese....yummers!) But I was making a chicken dish for the anniversary dinner and was looking for a vegetarian version for us and lo and behold I found Quorn (which Stacey, has been begging me to try all this time).
Here is the recipe for "Chicken" with French Mushroom Sauce. First you make this gorgeous velvety sauce. The recipe calls for a package of dried morel mushrooms which you would reconstitute in hot water. I have done this and they are wonderful. But (a)-dried morels are not always easy to find and (2) they can be bloody expensive and who among us can pay $10 these days for a little package of dried mushrooms? So I ended up using fresh button mushrooms and also baby Portobellas. Slice the mushrooms and sautee them with 2 chopped shallots in a little butter and oil (about a Tbls of each). Cook them for about 12 minutes until they are nice and tender and have released their liquid. Add a cup of Medeira wine (this is a sweet Portugese wine) and let the whole thing reduce by 1/2. Add 1 cup of creme fraiche (fancy cream cheese) and 1 cup of heavy cream and stir it all together. Adjust seasoning (always add salt and pepper as you go and taste). Simmer for about ten minutes gently to thicken the sauce and voila! It is so decadent and delicious.
For the meat-eaters, I sauteed some chicken breasts. It felt oddly sinister preparing chicken in Greg's kitchen and scrubbed every surface the meat may have touched afterward like I was cleaning up a crime scene on Dexter. For us, I cautiously opened the box of Quorn and peered inside, not sure of what I would find and they looked like little plain chicken breasts! I sauteed them off the way I had done with the real ones and then smothered both (in seperate dishes) with the mushroom sauce. When I tasted the veggie version of a dish I ate and loved as a meat-eater I was beyond ecstatic. It was a seamless transition. The carnivores at the table were happy and we veggies were as well and we all licked our plates clean. I served it with Orzo cooked in a little sauteed onion and veggie stock and some roasted broccoli. Dessert was my famous lemon tart that I discovered many years ago and have been making ever since to rave reviews.
Now some vegetarians don't really care for substitutions of meat dishes and some meat-eaters have told me it makes no sense because if I want the dish why not just eat the "real" thing? But I still want these yummy things which is why I told you guys about the substitution for the McRib (the McRob) and the veggie sausage pizzas and pigs in blankets I served for the Oscar party last year.
It's so wonderful to eat amazing food and not miss a beat being a vegetarian. I am thrilled to know that while preparing these amazing dishes I have not harmed any animals....except for that time I dropped a piece of broccoli on Leo's head.
Happy Fall and happy eating!
Love,
Robina
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Tastes of Summer!
Hey everyone! Hope you survived Hurricane Irene and that your homes and possessions didn't suffer too much damage. I, for one, hunkered down with Leo and Chloe kitties and enough food to keep me going for a month and rode it out. Why were people convinced that we were doomed to suffer the great Wonder Bread famine of 2011? My local supermarket was picked clean of every last crumb of bread while everything else was fully stocked.
It has been a while since my last post but I wanted to rewind a bit and talk about some wonderful local veggies I got my hands on a couple of weeks ago.
Greg and I went to visit our friends, Tom and Meaghan, who have a fantastic little garden they made out of a patch of land in the parking lot behind their house. The irony of this is not lost on me. Instead of turning paradise into a parking lot, they turned a parking lot into paradise! I enviously gazed at the gorgeous fat red tomatoes beside their adorable little cherry tomato cousins, beautiful cucumbers, peppers, carrots hiding just under the earth with only their greens exposed (to which I had to make the obligatory "I'll never go hungry again" Scarlett reference). After a nice visit we said our goodbyes and they handed us a paper bag filled with goodies from the garden! Earlier that day, Tom had given Greg a big handful of jalapeno peppers and they now resided in the cupholder of the car.
On the way home we stopped at a little farmstand in Orange, CT, called Field View Farm. It was founded in 1639 and apparently you used to be able to get all sorts of wonderful produce there as well as amazingly fresh dairy products made from the milk of their own cows. But now they sell a limited number of fruits and vegetables and some fantastic homemade ice cream. The first time we went there Greg's mom bought us ice cream and I had the Maple Walnut...yum delish! But on this visit we picked up some zucchinis, fresh ears of summer corn and a few tiny purple plums. We followed the mooing to the huge open pen and visited the cows. They seemed so happy and healthy out in the fresh air and sunshine all day. We said hi to them and assured them that we came in peace and would eat neither them nor any member of their family. I invited them to read this blog but I don't think they are quite so computer savvy just yet.
The next day we planned to visit Greg's parents so I decided to make a simple preparation of our treasures. I wanted to keep the integrity of each vegetable and not let them disappear among too many other ingredients.
I chopped up the big fat red tomatoes, and a few of the cherry tomatoes and cooked them down in a medium saucepan with olive oil, shallots and garlic until they released some beautiful liquid but still had chunks of tomato. I added a little fresh thyme and oregano and tossed in some organic pasta we had on hand. The zucchinis I simply sliced and placed in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzled them with olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt and crushed black pepper and sent them into a 375 degree oven, turning them over midway through the cooking process so they browned on both sides. The entire cooking process was maybe 20 minutes. I cleaned the corn of their husks and silk and Greg's mom cooked them in boiling water for ten minutes and we ate them with butter and salt. Finally I chopped the cucumber and tossed them with the rest of the cherry tomatoes for a simple salad to which his mom added a bit of fresh mozzarella, sliced Vidalia onions and a little olive oil and vinegar.
We had the most amazing feast that evening! The summer corn was indescribable....so sweet and plump and perfect. The zucchini was nice and caramelized and had such a beautiful fresh earthy flavor. I really prefer this method to sauteeing them because I find they tend to release alot of liquid in the pan and they end up steaming and getting mushy rather than brown and keep their structure. The pasta was nice and simple with the beautiful August tomatoes as the star of the dish.
As I have said in previous posts, eating things that have been grown locally is so important. I love knowing exactly where my food comes from and knowing the earth wasn't damaged in order for me to enjoy it. No jet or diesel fuel was used to bring it to me. Nor were chemicals introduced to mass produce anything which could then seep into the earth and affect other plants, animals, and eventually us. Besides, it just tastes so much better.
Please go and visit your local farmers' markets or any friends who may have their own garden and enjoy! Everything is so good in August.
This is Robin signing off....peace out!
Love,
Robina
It has been a while since my last post but I wanted to rewind a bit and talk about some wonderful local veggies I got my hands on a couple of weeks ago.
Greg and I went to visit our friends, Tom and Meaghan, who have a fantastic little garden they made out of a patch of land in the parking lot behind their house. The irony of this is not lost on me. Instead of turning paradise into a parking lot, they turned a parking lot into paradise! I enviously gazed at the gorgeous fat red tomatoes beside their adorable little cherry tomato cousins, beautiful cucumbers, peppers, carrots hiding just under the earth with only their greens exposed (to which I had to make the obligatory "I'll never go hungry again" Scarlett reference). After a nice visit we said our goodbyes and they handed us a paper bag filled with goodies from the garden! Earlier that day, Tom had given Greg a big handful of jalapeno peppers and they now resided in the cupholder of the car.
On the way home we stopped at a little farmstand in Orange, CT, called Field View Farm. It was founded in 1639 and apparently you used to be able to get all sorts of wonderful produce there as well as amazingly fresh dairy products made from the milk of their own cows. But now they sell a limited number of fruits and vegetables and some fantastic homemade ice cream. The first time we went there Greg's mom bought us ice cream and I had the Maple Walnut...yum delish! But on this visit we picked up some zucchinis, fresh ears of summer corn and a few tiny purple plums. We followed the mooing to the huge open pen and visited the cows. They seemed so happy and healthy out in the fresh air and sunshine all day. We said hi to them and assured them that we came in peace and would eat neither them nor any member of their family. I invited them to read this blog but I don't think they are quite so computer savvy just yet.
The next day we planned to visit Greg's parents so I decided to make a simple preparation of our treasures. I wanted to keep the integrity of each vegetable and not let them disappear among too many other ingredients.
I chopped up the big fat red tomatoes, and a few of the cherry tomatoes and cooked them down in a medium saucepan with olive oil, shallots and garlic until they released some beautiful liquid but still had chunks of tomato. I added a little fresh thyme and oregano and tossed in some organic pasta we had on hand. The zucchinis I simply sliced and placed in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzled them with olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt and crushed black pepper and sent them into a 375 degree oven, turning them over midway through the cooking process so they browned on both sides. The entire cooking process was maybe 20 minutes. I cleaned the corn of their husks and silk and Greg's mom cooked them in boiling water for ten minutes and we ate them with butter and salt. Finally I chopped the cucumber and tossed them with the rest of the cherry tomatoes for a simple salad to which his mom added a bit of fresh mozzarella, sliced Vidalia onions and a little olive oil and vinegar.
We had the most amazing feast that evening! The summer corn was indescribable....so sweet and plump and perfect. The zucchini was nice and caramelized and had such a beautiful fresh earthy flavor. I really prefer this method to sauteeing them because I find they tend to release alot of liquid in the pan and they end up steaming and getting mushy rather than brown and keep their structure. The pasta was nice and simple with the beautiful August tomatoes as the star of the dish.
As I have said in previous posts, eating things that have been grown locally is so important. I love knowing exactly where my food comes from and knowing the earth wasn't damaged in order for me to enjoy it. No jet or diesel fuel was used to bring it to me. Nor were chemicals introduced to mass produce anything which could then seep into the earth and affect other plants, animals, and eventually us. Besides, it just tastes so much better.
Please go and visit your local farmers' markets or any friends who may have their own garden and enjoy! Everything is so good in August.
This is Robin signing off....peace out!
Love,
Robina
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Location location location!
Hi, friends! I am so sorry it has been a few weeks since my last posting. A new chapter is slowly emerging in my career (I do emphasize "slowly") and I am taking on some new projects. I am really happy to say that two of the new projects that have come my way are vegetarian. See how the universe listens to what we put out there! In my professional career, I try to be open to everything and when clients request anything that once had a face I regretfully comply because I can't really turn down work. But I do a happy dance when clients request a vegetarian menu and lately that is what is happening so I am tickled pink!
Another thing that I have been making a concerted effort to do is use locally grown ingredients. Being a country bumpkin in the body of a city girl, I love my weekends in Connecticut with Greg and our friends. I had written recently about our strawberry picking adventure and a couple of weeks ago we went to Bishop's Orchard in Guilford fore blueberry picking! Oh joy of joys! Blueberries happen to be one of my favorite foods and they are also one of the healthiest things you can have because of the crazy antioxidants that come in such a tiny little package. Bishop's Orchard has a wonderful farmer's market with a small wine tasting area inside. Although I was raised by an absolute shopaholic mother, this is my Bloomingdales. Rows and rows of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, breads - all locally grown - all fresh and bright and beautiful. That evening I lightly sauteed some button and baby portabella mushrooms in a little butter, white wine and thyme and tossed it with some fresh eggplant ravioli. I warmed a baguette from Judies European Bakery in New Haven and we had it with some local goat cheese. I also made a simple salad with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers which came right out of our friend, Tom's, garden.
The next morning I made pancakes and stuffed them with our gorgeous blueberries which were even sweeter the next day and we poured incredibly dark and decadent locally grown maple syrup on them.
A week later I decided to take advantage of NY Restaurant Week. If you have never done this I urge you to go. It takes place for two weeks in January and two weeks in July and it is a wonderful way to try out excellent restaurants in the city for alot cheaper. They have a lunch ($24.07) and a dinner ($35.00) 3 course prix fixe and you can look at the menus online and see which appeals to you. My friends and I chose Blue Water Grill, which I had been to years ago and absolutely loved. Hopefully my strict vegetarian/vegan followers won't curse me for eating seafood. Food is a personal choice and we do the best we can. I am a proud pescatarian and I suppose I pray at the temple of...well...Blue Water Grill!
Since the restaurant is a few blocks from Union Square Farmers Market they take advantage of that and so many of their ingredients come from local farms. To that end, I chose a Fried Goat Cheese, Pear and Arugula salad as my appetizer. The goat cheese were these tiny, delicate little balls of creamy goat cheese gently fried until the outside was crisp but not remotely oily. They were surprisingly light. The salad was clean and pungent and fresh and had little roasted hazelnuts sprinkled on top. My entree was outstanding - fresh salmon with a citrus tabouli salad and summer corn. It was summer on a plate! When I look for a restaurant to dine at, I always try to find a place that serves clean food. I am not one for heavy sauces and even when things don't appear heavy they often are cooked with tons of butter. I should know...in culinary school when we went to gather our mise en place (our ingredients) I came back to my station from the refrigerator every day loaded down with blocks of butter and cartons of heavy cream. As this is the classic French way, many chefs in good restaurants still prepare food like this which is why it tastes so amazing. But a new lighter way of cooking has been cropping up over the past several years (I personally think Jean Georges Vongerichten ushered this in) and Blue Water Grill benefits greatly from this style. Bottom line, I hightly recommend this restaurant.
So kids....what did we learn today?Vegetarianism is sweeping the nation, neither my mother nor I can resist a good bargain, in the year of 1999 I sacrificed myself to the butter gods and eating locally grown ingredients is very very important and delicious.
Please let me know any restaurants you absolutely love that use local ingredients and I will check them out!
Lots of love,
Robina
Another thing that I have been making a concerted effort to do is use locally grown ingredients. Being a country bumpkin in the body of a city girl, I love my weekends in Connecticut with Greg and our friends. I had written recently about our strawberry picking adventure and a couple of weeks ago we went to Bishop's Orchard in Guilford fore blueberry picking! Oh joy of joys! Blueberries happen to be one of my favorite foods and they are also one of the healthiest things you can have because of the crazy antioxidants that come in such a tiny little package. Bishop's Orchard has a wonderful farmer's market with a small wine tasting area inside. Although I was raised by an absolute shopaholic mother, this is my Bloomingdales. Rows and rows of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, breads - all locally grown - all fresh and bright and beautiful. That evening I lightly sauteed some button and baby portabella mushrooms in a little butter, white wine and thyme and tossed it with some fresh eggplant ravioli. I warmed a baguette from Judies European Bakery in New Haven and we had it with some local goat cheese. I also made a simple salad with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers which came right out of our friend, Tom's, garden.
The next morning I made pancakes and stuffed them with our gorgeous blueberries which were even sweeter the next day and we poured incredibly dark and decadent locally grown maple syrup on them.
A week later I decided to take advantage of NY Restaurant Week. If you have never done this I urge you to go. It takes place for two weeks in January and two weeks in July and it is a wonderful way to try out excellent restaurants in the city for alot cheaper. They have a lunch ($24.07) and a dinner ($35.00) 3 course prix fixe and you can look at the menus online and see which appeals to you. My friends and I chose Blue Water Grill, which I had been to years ago and absolutely loved. Hopefully my strict vegetarian/vegan followers won't curse me for eating seafood. Food is a personal choice and we do the best we can. I am a proud pescatarian and I suppose I pray at the temple of...well...Blue Water Grill!
Since the restaurant is a few blocks from Union Square Farmers Market they take advantage of that and so many of their ingredients come from local farms. To that end, I chose a Fried Goat Cheese, Pear and Arugula salad as my appetizer. The goat cheese were these tiny, delicate little balls of creamy goat cheese gently fried until the outside was crisp but not remotely oily. They were surprisingly light. The salad was clean and pungent and fresh and had little roasted hazelnuts sprinkled on top. My entree was outstanding - fresh salmon with a citrus tabouli salad and summer corn. It was summer on a plate! When I look for a restaurant to dine at, I always try to find a place that serves clean food. I am not one for heavy sauces and even when things don't appear heavy they often are cooked with tons of butter. I should know...in culinary school when we went to gather our mise en place (our ingredients) I came back to my station from the refrigerator every day loaded down with blocks of butter and cartons of heavy cream. As this is the classic French way, many chefs in good restaurants still prepare food like this which is why it tastes so amazing. But a new lighter way of cooking has been cropping up over the past several years (I personally think Jean Georges Vongerichten ushered this in) and Blue Water Grill benefits greatly from this style. Bottom line, I hightly recommend this restaurant.
So kids....what did we learn today?Vegetarianism is sweeping the nation, neither my mother nor I can resist a good bargain, in the year of 1999 I sacrificed myself to the butter gods and eating locally grown ingredients is very very important and delicious.
Please let me know any restaurants you absolutely love that use local ingredients and I will check them out!
Lots of love,
Robina
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