Writing With My Mouth Full

Christmas Goose Brooklyn Style

Because the suckling pig feast was a success, I put my name down for the Christmas goose. Cameron named her Shazia, after another NY1 reporter who does the Zagat reviews on TV. It wasn’t difficult to carry her home like Rog; I just put her in my tote bag, dragged it to work and made the trip uptown. I picked up Shazia last week after Mike from Tamarack Hollow Farm hand-plucked the feathers for about two hours. I thought you could just submerge any bird in hot water and the feathers will easily come off like for chickens, but I learned that because geese are water fowls, they have oily feathers. Soaking them in water would only repel their natural oil–you really have to hand-pluck them.

We didn’t do anything special for Shazia. We only let her thaw in the fridge for a couple of days and just went to Chef Weld’s Brooklyn apartment for our holiday dinner. I saw him tie it up and rub it with some spices and next thing I know, it was in the oven. I saw him remove the goose fat and later used some of it for gravy with the liver. It was a huge bird, about 11 pounds, and I was a bit curious at how long it was, instead of, say, round like a turkey.

We spent a couple of hours hanging out and eating sausages, prosciutto and cheese while the bird stayed in the oven. There was sparkling wine and a few bottles of red. I was so glad to finally open a bottle I’ve been saving–a 2004 ChÃ¢teauneuf du Pape. Sharing it with good company and good food made it even tastier.

A bowl of roasted potatoes was served together with some sautÃ©ed purple cabbage and apples and frisÃ©e and endive with roasted red beets. It was my first goose so I was very surprised that it didn’t turn out tasting like duck, as I expected. The meat was, for a lack of a better word, tighter. It was also more gamey and had a taste of offal. A few pieces later, I was already full. It was like eating a big chunk of beef steak.

Christmas goose to me is very Charles Dickens. In Manila, we always had ham for noche buena or crispy pata (pig’s thigh) with the other traditional Filipino dishes, but I suppose the Victorian way was to always included game meats because they were expensive back in the days. My goose cost a lot of money but I bet we had a better time than the Cratchits.

Lahore

132 Crosby Street between Houston and Prince Streets
212/965.1777
$7 for rice with two choices, with chai, without tip
♥ ♥

This hole-in-the-wall is only one of the stops a New York City cab driver makes during his daily route. For $7, the guy behind the Lahore counter will give you rice with your two choices of curry. When I have a craving, I order the lamb or the goat with the alo saag, a spinach and potato mush spiced with fragrant cardamom, cinnamon and fennel. Or else I go for the chicken with the okra stew or the chickpea dal and pay extra for a small container of yogurt.

They also sell sandwiches which are easier to eat especially if you’re on the go, as well as samosas and traditional Pakistani pastries. There are a couple of stools if you prefer to stay in and eat but don’t say I didn’t warn you when your clothes end up smelling like the aromatic kitchen. Whatever I order, I don’t skip on the hot chai to push down all the heavy goodness I call lunch.

Blaue Gans

139 Duane Street between Church and West Broadway
212/571.8880
$80 each for ten, with a lot of drinks, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

Updated, December 2008: The Dr. and I returned for Christmas dinner and it was still the same hearty and filling food for half the New York City price.

After two bottles of wine at the Monday Room inside Public Restaurant, eleven of us had dinner at Blaue Gans for my early birthday celebration. We were seated in the middle of the room, a long table arranged with decorative wreaths and surrounded by vintage posters from former tenant Le Zinc. Blaue Gans doesn’t take reservations but because my initial plans at Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner’s other restaurant, WallsÃ©, could not be accommodated by the staff, they nicely arranged for my gathering to be held in Blaue Gans instead.

I don’t remember much because there was a copious amount of alcohol and a trip to a strip club after dinner, but I know three of us shared a few exceptional dishes. The blutwurstgrostl or blood sausage was minced and served like a pattie on top of sautÃ©ed potatoes and sauerkraut. The rindsuppe, griessnockerl oder leberknodel or beef consommÃ© came with semolina quenelle and really delicious calf’s liver dumpling. It was light and very clean, the perfect winter treat. I was just pissed that one of the waiters took it away from me before I was done with it. The weisswurst or pork and veal sausage was also good and the pretzel that came with it was the best pretzel I think I will ever have. We were stuffed after the appetizers but of course, we couldn’t help but eat the schweinsbraten, rotkraut and serviettenknÃ¶del or the roasted pork belly with red cabbage and brioche dumpling, as well as the rack of lamb that was perfectly medium-rare and melted like butter in my mouth.

The restaurant is meant to be casual, where guests can just sit, talk, eat and drink wine. We did exactly just that while the faint music played in the background mixed with a good buzz of conversation and laughter. I wasn’t able to take good photos because I was inebriated (and because I also need a new camera) but that just gives me another reason to make a return trip and enjoy the food again. For now though, happy birthday, me.

Chicken Stew de Campagne

I stopped by the Dr.’s apartment the other night looking for something to eat and discovered a big pot of chicken stew on the stove. For the past few years, I’ve seen him cook big pots of anything-stew because of his schedule. He’ll have time to pick up groceries but not enough to cook, so they end up sitting in the fridge. The next time he gets a break, he throws them in a pot before they spoil, cook and eat it as a stew for a couple of days–it’s the recipe that keeps on giving. He didn’t have cooked rice so he quickly boiled some water and cooked pasta to match. I ate two bowls’ worth and basically finished what was supposed to be his packed lunch the next day.

Over the weekend, I found some leftover herbs in the fridge from my last trip to the grocery store so I thought I’d make my own. I picked up a couple of boxes of golden raisins to make the stew sweet and used up the chicken legs and breasts I’ve been meaning to cook since last week. Campagne means “countryside” in French and I use it for this chicken stew recipe because it is so simple to make, yet rustic and hearty to eat. It’s so easy “your country-ass can make it,” as Anthony Bourdain would say. Serve it with the leftover white wine you used to cook and pour over rice, pasta or bread. Save some to share with your own Dr.

Ingredients:
6 chicken pieces, excess fat and skin removed
6 slices of bacon, cut in small pieces
2 cups dry white wine
1 large plum tomato, chopped
1 bunch of baby carrots, peeled and cut in small pieces
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
1 orange bell pepper, julienned
2 small boxes of golden raisins
1 red onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced
thyme sprigs
rosemary sprigs
red pepper flakes
salt

1. Preheat oven to 300Âº. In a large Dutch oven, render fat from bacon. Sprinkle in red pepper flakes. When there’s enough fat, brown chicken pieces on both sides in batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove chicken and bacon to a plate.
2. Lower the heat and sautÃ© garlic until light brown and onions until transparent in rendered fat. Add herbs, peppers and carrots and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until a little bit crushed. Add wine and cook, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by a third.
3. Add raisins, season with salt and simmer for a little bit before covering and putting in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with rice, pasta or country bread.

Grand Sichuan St. Marks

21 Saint Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
212/529.4805
$25 each for three, with three beers, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

The Chipotle opened along St. Marks opened first and then the vending-machine store BAM! made headlines. When I saw the Grand Sichuan open, I only thought, Great, I don’t have to go to Chelsea for Sichuan Chinese food. The neighborhood is truly changing and now tattoo and piercing parlors co-exist with restaurants catering to both college students and punk kids. I wasn’t about to pass by the area without trying some spicy Chinese food. Because I am used to the Grand Sichuan menu, I also ordered the same dishes from the St. Marks branch.

The Dan Dan noodles is always good, almost swimming in oil and red, chili sauce. I don’t think I ever go to any Sichuan restaurant without ordering these noodles first. The double-cooked pork was a little bit cold and chewy served with scallions and green peppers but still a good dish with rice. My favorite is the kung pao chicken. Every person who insist on ordering Chinese food from the take-out stores should order the real Sichuan version of kung pao chicken so that they can change their minds about how hit-or-miss Chinese food can be. The smoked tofu with celery dish is also a choice of mine for its texture and earthy taste. The celery becomes a palate cleanser while the tofu tames my tongue from all the spicy taste it’s been getting. With all those dishes, we can’t say no to the vegetables. Peashoot leaves are always expensive but a big plate of them always finishes first. They’re sautÃ©ed in hot oil and garlic and balances out the whole array of plates on your table.

The St. Marks is sparkling new and it’s definitely less of a zoo than the Chelsea branch so if you’re craving Chinese food and don’t want to keep walking downtown, Grand Sichuan is the way to go.

Related post/s:
Grand Sichuan in Chelsea