Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Spiced Cream Chicken

      I really think I must have been either an Indian or a Middle Eastern girl in one of my past lives because it’s quite insane how I crave curry several times a month. I just made a wonderful tagine last week, so I wasn’t really in the mood to be in the kitchen for too long. I wanted to make a small and easy dish that didn’t take too much time but still involved my favorite spices. Nigel Slater sautéed some chicken thighs with some fennel. I copied his recipe, but I made use of the baby bok choy in the fridge.

      Ingredients:
      6 chicken thighs
      1 pound baby bok choy, thoroughly washed
      1 cup heavy cream
      a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
      4 green cardamom pods, minus the husks
      1 tsp turmeric
      1 tsp cumin seeds
      1/2 tsp chili powder
      1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
      3 cloves of garlic, minced
      peanut oil
      salt, pepper

      1. Rub the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and brown them in some hot peanut oil using a large skillet. They should take at least 25 minutes over medium heat.
      2. While chicken is cooking, make the spiced paste. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the cardamom seeds and the cumin. Add the turmeric, the chili and the garlic, and continue crushing, mixing in the mustard and some peanut oil as you go.
      3. Remove the chicken thighs from the skillet when golden brown. Reduce heat to low and spoon out the oil and add the spiced paste to the skillet. Using a heat-resistant spatula, scrape off the chicken bits from the bottom of the skillet and mix them in with the paste. After a minute, remove the skillet from the heat to keep the paste from burning and add the heavy cream. Return the chicken and add the baby bok choy, plus the cilantro. Cover and let the steam cook the greens for about 5 minutes.

      Related post/s:
      One of my favorite yellow curry dishes
      Awesome with cauliflower pilaf

    • Cafe El Portal

      174 Elizabeth Street between Spring and Kenmare
      212/226.4642
      $32 for two, without drinks, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      Good Mexican food is hard to come by in New York City, so when I find a place I like, I try to go back whenever I crave Mexican food that’s more filling than one taco off the street. I’ve been going to Café El Portal for several years now. I’ve known it as the “blue underground place” because of the lively paint color outside and the way you have to take small steps from street level to get in. They have since repainted the façade a more somber washed-out red, but the food remains as satisfying as ever.

      My favorite is their huitlacoche quesadilla, essentially a corn mushroom that grows within the individual kernels of a corn, disfiguring the ear and turning off any one who wants to eat a perfectly good cob. Oh, but it’s delicious when it’s cooked, sweetened with onions and flavored with epazote, a Mexican herb with the distinct taste of anise. Café El Portal adds soft goat cheese with it to cut through the overwhelming taste of the mushroom. I can never pass on this dish whenever I’m eating there.

      If I am, however, in a taco mood, I go for their salty chorizo tacos, served with both beans and rice on the side. They’re not cheap on the crumbled chorizo either–two are perfect with the accompanying green salsa. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. While you’re there, make sure you order the mango or the strawberry margarita to push all that heavy lunch down.

      Related post/s:
      Expensive tacos and tequilas at La Esquina
      If you’re more adventurous, go around New York City to find a good taco
      Cafe El Portal in New York

    • Pamplona

      37 East 28th Street between Park and Madison Avenues
      212/213.2328
      $180 for five people, with drinks and a lot of comps, with tip
      ♥ ♥

      I can’t say that I remember much of our night in Pamplona, but when you dine with four other women, you’d bill forgetfulness as a good thing, too. I was half an hour early, so I sat at the bar for a glass of wine. Being Filipino and alone, I’ve gotten used to being approached by men with the “Are you Philippine?” line. The older man next to me was such a gentleman, I couldn’t refuse his offer to recommend and buy me a glass of Spanish white wine. Of course, it turned out that his daughter-in-law is Filipino. My friends arrived and more rounds of complimentary drinks followed.

      When our new friend left to catch his Knicks game, we were finally seated. We’ve made enough ruckus in the front of the restaurant that Chef Alex Ureña stepped out to introduce himself. We were famished and ordered the entire appetizers menu to share, and later, the chef sent out several other plates with glasses of sparkling wine to end our night properly.

      Some of the memorable dishes included the asparagus salad with thinly-sliced chorizo, topped with frisée and baby greens and dressed with pimiento. A meatball dish with eggplants disappeared quite fast, too, with a semi-sweet sherry sauce. I’m not a big fan of shrimps, but the Manchego rice made them fuller and beefier. A suckling pig dish was described by one of my Dominican friends as something better than Christmas pork.

      One of the things that makes Pamplona irresistible is the fact that the chef serves the dishes he is familiar with, albeit, minus the foam that he learned at El Bulli and experimented with at his first restaurant, Ureña. Nothing is complicated on the menu, but most of the dishes were straight-up delicious. Tapas fans will also be glad that the prices won’t break the bank and critics will appreciate that the previous interior design has been stripped to make the space more intimate and inviting.

      Related post/s:
      Pamplona used to be Ureña
      Tia Pol is on the west side
      Where to eat in Barcelona, Spain

    • Autumn Tagine with Meatballs and Squash

      I asked my parents if ever a balloon popped in my face when I was a kid. I like balloons just fine, but the possibility that one would pop makes me wince. I had the same reaction when I started to use the tagine cooker I bought in Tunisia. (Don’t get me started with a pressure cooker!) The potter told me that because there’s a pinhole on the top of the cover, that it’s safe to put on top of a stove. Because it’s also not decorated and had already been fired, it would be all right to use as both a cooker and a serving bowl. To make sure, though, I first boiled some hot water in it with a small drop of oil. There was no popping–I stayed far away from the kitchen–and the water didn’t turn blue or anything, so I deemed it safe to use.

      Today was the first day it felt truly like autumn and I wanted something comforting for dinner. This recipe takes a lot of prep work, so it’s advisable to make the meatballs and roast the squash ahead of time. The end product, though, is totally worth all the time you put in.

      Ingredients:
      1 butternut squash, halved
      1 large carrot, peeled, chopped
      1 red onion, finely chopped
      3 cloves garlic, minced
      2 tbsps cumin
      2 tbsps cinnamon powder
      5 saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsps hot water
      a handful of parsley, roughly chopped
      juice from a small lemon
      2 cups chicken stock

      For the lamb meatballs:
      1 pound of ground lamb
      1/4 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
      1 red onion, finely chopped
      3 cloves garlic, minced
      2 tbsp cumin, grounded
      1 tbsp paprika
      salt, pepper

      1. Preheat oven to 350º. Season butternut squash halves with salt and pepper and drizzled some olive oil on them. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until squash meat is tender. Set aside and let cool. When squash is cool enough to handle, score and scoop out the meat into big chunks.
      2. In the meantime, make meatballs by forming golf-sized balls with your hands. Brown meatballs by frying them in a skillet with hot oil. Set aside.
      3. In a tagine cooker, or a large Dutch oven, sauté garlic and onions. Add carrots, chicken stock, cumin, cinnamon and saffron. Cover and cook carrots until tender. Add browned meatballs and roasted squash. Cover to cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in lemon juice and parsley. Turn off the heat and keep the cooker covered until ready to serve. Serve with couscous.

      Related post/s:
      You can make the meatballs ahead of time
      Or make a kofta tagine
      Not everyone needs a tagine, but it sure is nice to have

    • Searching for a Good Taco: Roosevelt Avenue, Queens

      The constant rumbling coming from the #7 train above us was a sure sign that we were on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. From 69th Street, we saw people who looked and sounded like us, but only a few blocks away was a completely different enclave of Queens. The Tagalog signs changed to Spanish and the music coming from cars and storefronts was turned up a notch. Colombian and Ecuadorian flags were waving with Mexico’s. There were arepas and ceviches to eat, but today, Miss Geolouxy and I were there to search for a good taco.

      Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the nation, where an estimated 44 percent of the more than two million residents are foreign born. The neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Corona had served as a magnet for a lot of newcomers from Colombia, but the 2000 census revealed a demographic shift in the number of Mexicans.

      As our basis of comparison, we first stopped by Taqueria Coatzingo on 76th Street because it’s the one restaurant that kept coming up whenever I did a Google search for Mexican restaurants in the area. We noted the taqueria stands we passed by, plus the other Mexican stores across the street. Our plan was to start on 76th Street, walk up to 80th, and then walk back down to 69th.

      1. Taqueria Coatzingo, 76-05 Roosevelt Avenue, 718/424.1977

      You can see from the photo above what I mean by avocado mush–I’m just not a big fan. We ordered one chorizo and one tripe taco, but they sent over two chorizos to our table. We didn’t mind because it was our first meal of the day and we were hungry. The chorizo was cut into cubes and was salty enough to whet our appetites, but I prefer my chorizo crumbly. A big plus was the blistered green pepper on our plates. (Note to self: return for the tripe taco.)

      2. Tacolandia, between 77th and 78th Streets on Roosevelt Avenue

      We walked up to the Tacolandia counter and ordered the al pastor and the lengua, or tongue, taco. The tongue looked and tasted like tongue, but now I’m officially confused with what al pastor really is. In Staten Island, al pastor was the meat carved from a vertical rotisserie. What we got was a slab of fat and gelatinous pork skin.

      3. El Poblano, 75-13 Roosevelt Avenue, 718/205.2996

      We only ordered one cecina taco to go from El Poblanos. The guy at the counter must have thought it weird that we were only ordering one, so he took extra care and put it in a Styrofoam container made for hotdogs. One of the ladies looked at us skeptically when I asked for it to be spicy, but complied. We shared our one taco on a stoop across the street and it tasted like a cecina all right: chewy and dry.

      4. Taco stand on the corner of 75th Street and Roosevelt Avenue

      The two ladies serving up the tacos were tickled when we asked for their permission to take their photographs. They even had an official translator who sat in the van parked right next to the stand. The beef taco, as Miss Geolouxy said, looked better than it tasted. We couldn’t negotiate the hot sauce to come out of the squeezy bottle, so we doused our taco with the green pepper sauce instead to give it some sort of taste. They had the pickles, too, but they looked pretty gnarly, even for me.

      5. Sabor Mexicana stand, directly outside the subway exit on 75th Street and Roosevelt Avenue

      For our last taste, we ordered two tacos: a suadero, or stewed beef, and for the safe bet of having something tasty before going home, a chorizo kind. The chorizo was crumbly, which I’ve already mentioned I like, and the tips were toasty and crunchy. The beef was just tasteless and dry, almost inedible even with hot sauce.

      After only a couple of tacos, I wondered if we should have gone to Corona for Mexican food. There were a couple of Mexican restaurants and a few stands selling tacos, but it wasn’t like my experience in Staten Island where there was a Mexican-something every other door. There wasn’t an outstanding taco, and the frequency of adding avocado mush surprised me. The avocado wasn’t chunky, but thin; it reminded me of Calexico’s “avocado sauce” in SoHo. After our first taste, I had to remind myself to say, Todo, pero no aguacate.

      Related post/s:
      Background on finding the best taco in New York City project
      Searching for a good taco on Roosevelt Avenue photos on Flickr
      Calexico’s owner explained what avocado sauce was

    • Preserved Spiced Pears

      My mother doesn’t like the smell of cloves nor anise. When I use them, she never fails to tell me that they remind her of the dentist office. I’m not exactly sure what smell she’s referring to, but to me, the combination of cloves, anise and cinnamon, smell like the forest after a good amount of rainfall. Plus, I really like my dentist.

      It had been raining the entire morning–so much for peak autumn season–so all I wanted was to stay home and cook something that would cheer up the kitchen. When I saw Seckel pears at the farmers’ market in Cold Spring, I bought a couple of pounds thinking of that smell.

      Of all commercially-grown pears, Seckel pears are the smallest. I love them for their size and they look good preserved in a glass jar. I think preserved spiced pears are good with heartier dishes like goose, lamb and rabbit; the pears’ syrupy juice a nice complement to gamey meat and crusty bread.

      Ingredients:
      1 pound Seckel pears, peeled, stems intact
      2 sticks of cinnamon
      2 whole star anise
      4 cloves
      1 cup white sugar
      3 cups of water, or enough to cover

      1. Place pears in a saucepan and cover with water. Add the spices, uncovered, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered until they’re tender when pierced with a fork.
      2. Allow them to cool in the syrup and then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.

      Related post/s:
      Me and pickling
      Use your pears, but do less work

    • Fall Foliage in Cold Spring

      My greatest discovery the past couple of years is taking the Metro-North train to get out of the city from the 125th Street Harlem station. I’ve already picked cherries in Dutchess County this past summer and I just came back from a weekend hike in Beacon. During that hike, the leaves were already turning up in the mountains. I wanted to take my parents to see the same view, but on a much less grueling excursion.

      The Metro-North’s 4th annual fall foliage trip was touted on subway billboards. I bought tickets for the three of us just in time for the season’s peak. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day, although a lot of people still showed up from three stops: Grand Central, 125th Street and Tarrytown. We all boarded a special train with a tour guide telling us about the towns and sights we were passing by. It was wet and gray outside, but the orange and red leaves were still showing through the haze.

      Despite carrying our umbrellas to protect us from the rain, my parents were still good sports. We spent a few hours in the town of Cold Spring going in and out of antique stores and buying produce from the farmers’ market, with only a break to eat pizza for lunch on Chestnut Street. We took photos in the river front’s gazebo, at the park and on the church grounds. My mom was tickled by the 10-cent trolley ride up Main Street.

      The rain let up an hour before we had to meet at the train station for our ride back to the city, but we were able to stop by the pumpkin carving event set up by Scenic Hudson, an environmental group focused on the Hudson River Valley. We didn’t carve any of the pumpkins, but it didn’t stop the organizers from giving my dad the discarded seeds and our own giant pumpkin to take home.

      Related post/s:
      Rainy Fall Foliage trip to Cold Spring photos on Flickr
      Next stop up: Beacon
      Further north is Dutchess County

    • Fragrant Rice-Stuffed Cornish Hens

      I could barely cut the carrots after my bootcamp workout, but I was determined to eat after preparing and cooking this dish for an hour.

      I was looking through my archives and remembered how robust the rice mixture was in the Greek gemista, or stuffed tomatoes, recipe. I wanted that smell of herbs and raisins together, but I also wanted to eat, believe it or not, chicken. Cornish hens were on sale in my supermarket, so I ended up picking them instead. They’re smaller and takes less time to cook anyway. I called my mother to make sure there were still raisins in the cupboard. She also had walnuts handy, so I used them in lieu of almonds or pine nuts.

      The great thing about stuffing is that you can use almost anything. If I found leftover bacon in the fridge–yeah, right–I would use them; same for chopped Chinese sausages or sautéed ground meat. I threw in arugula and baby carrots for more festive coloring. The result? Fragrant rice-stuffed Cornish hens a month before Thanksgiving.

      Ingredients:
      2 Cornish hens, washed thoroughly and dried with paper towels
      2 cups cooked rice
      1 small carrot, roughly chopped
      1 cup golden raisins
      1/2 cup walnuts, crushed
      2 handfuls of arugula
      3 cloves garlic, minced
      2 shallots, finely chopped
      2 tbsps pomegranate molasses
      2 tbsps chili powder
      salt, pepper, oil

      1. Preheat oven to 350º. In a small bowl, mix some oil and chili powder with salt and pepper until pasty. Spread paste all over hens using a spatula. Let marinate while you prepare the rice mixture.
      2. To prepare the rice mixture, sauté garlic and shallots in some hot oil. Add carrots and cook until tender. Add arugula and mix until wilted. Add the rice, raisins and walnuts. Mix well. Season with some salt, pepper and molasses. Toss for a few more minutes until all the flavors have penetrated the rice. Remove from heat.
      3. Spoon some rice mixture a little at a time and stuff the inside of the hens. Use a spatula to make sure you get as much rice in the hens as possible, but without over-stuffing. Transfer stuffed hens to a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, turning after 20, or until clear juice comes out of the thighs when pierced with a fork. Switch the oven to broil and brown the hens for 8 extra minutes.

      Related post/s:
      Gemista, or stuffed tomatoes Greek style
      I do like my Cornish hens and pomegranate molasses

    • Pork Chops with Honey and Anise

      The day after I came back from Tunisia, I had bacon for breakfast, pork barbecue for lunch and was craving pork chops for dinner. We didn’t participate in Ramadan while we were there, but not having pork for two weeks was difficult enough. You simply can’t take the pork away from the Filipino.

      When pork chops look firm and fresh at the butcher’s, I can’t help but pick them up. Add some honey for a little bit of sweet, sticky taste, and a little oyster sauce to make them salty, and they evoke autumn–in that Chinese sort of way. I scraped the leftover bits of marinade from the pan and tossed a bunch of boiled baby bok choy with it to make a vegetable side dish.

      Ingredients:
      4 pork chops
      about 8 tbsps honey
      4 whole star anise
      3 tbsps oyster sauce
      4 cloves garlic, minced
      dried chili flakes
      black peppercorns
      salt

      1. Make marinade. Whisk together the honey and the oyster sauce in a small bowl. Add anise, garlic, peppercorns and chili flakes. Season with some salt. Using a spatula, rub the marinade onto the pork chops on both sides. Set aside for at least an hour or refrigerate overnight.
      2. When ready to cook, preheat the oven 350º. Bake for about twelve minutes per side. The marinade burns easily, so check on the chops often to make sure that you do not overcook the meat.

      Related post/s:
      How about pork chops with honey and whiskey
      Or pork chops with rye-bread stuffing

    • Where to eat in Boston: Centre Street Cafe

      It was a little too warm for fall in Boston, so we decided to take our time and walk to Centre Street to eat brunch. We joined the queue outside Centre Street Cafe when we arrived. We probably waited for half an hour, but our coffees from J.P. Licks a few stores down kept us alert and patient. By the time we were seated, we were famished. We also had a wedding to go to in a couple of hours, so despite the appetizing menu, I was able to control myself from ordering a whole plate of bacon and eggs. We split two dishes: an arugula salad with goat cheese and walnuts, and the Amish breakfast which consisted of a poached egg, melted cheese, roasted butternut squash and potatoes. They touted some of their ingredients as organic, and I have to say that we had a satisfying first meal that didn’t weigh us down.

      Is the wait worth it during busy brunch times? Perhaps. There were more people waiting behind us. But a girl who waits four hours for a table shouldn’t be dispensing any advice.

      Centre Street Cafe is on Centre Street, #669A, in Jamaica Plain, Boston.

      Related post/s:
      Head of the Charles photos on Flickr
      Waiting four hours for a Fergus Henderson table at The Spotted Pig

    • Hiking Beacon, New York Without a Car

      The three of us met inside the Metro North train after a last-minute plan to get out of the city to welcome the first weekend that felt like autumn had finally arrived. We were in Beacon, New York after a 90-minute ride. A short cab ride brought us to Bob’s convenience store where Tracy picked up our overnight bags. From there, we started the climb up the wooden stairs and then the next four hours to Malouf’s Mountain Sunset Camp.

      Malouf’s Mountain Sunset Camp is a hike-in/hike-out campground perfect for city dwellers who long to get out of the concrete jungle and hike the northwestern slopes of the Fishkill Ridge without worrying about the drive, the luggage, and the camp itself. For $70, we reserved what they call a platform site, a tarped balcony-like space sans the walls nestled within the trees. A picnic table with chairs, a tabletop stove and a tent were included. Our mini-kitchen came with pots and pans and a few plates–enough to cook pasta and ramen for dinner and corned beef for breakfast the next day. We had a fire pit we used to serve me my first smores. There is a common building suited with dryers, a few bathroom stalls and hot showers. There are also vending machines for Twix emergencies.

      The hike itself was only difficult because we were unfit. It took about four and a half hours to follow the well-marked trails and find our way back when we lost our sense of direction a few times. (We are city people, after all.) The day remained cloudy and somewhat humid, but it was cool enough up in the mountains. At each stop we made, we were rewarded with the view of the Hudson River and the autumnal colors of the east coast.

      Related post/s:
      Malouf’s Mountain is open from April to October
      Hiking in Beacon, New York photos on Flickr
      Or do an urban hike and don’t leave the city at all

    • Daisy May’s BBQ USA

      623 Eleventh Avenue corner of 46th Street
      212/977.1500
      $70 each for a whole pig for 12 people, with two sides, BYOB
      ♥ ♥

      There are a few annoying things about reserving a group table at Daisy May’s:
      1. You can only reserve half a pig or a whole pork butt to feed up to six people
      2. Your other choice is a whole pig for up to twelve people
      3. It’s BYOB–that’s annoying because
      4. you only have two hours to eat and drink, from 8pm to 10pm, and
      5. you also have to bring your own ice and your own drinking glasses

      If you have more than five friends, then you’re forced to do the whole pig, but your group needs to have twelve or else each person pays more to contribute to the bill. You know half a pig is enough for you and your big group of friends, but alas, rules are rules.

      When you arrive at Daisy May’s for your Big Pig Gig, however, you forget every annoying thing about the restaurant. Even though I’ve done so many pig roasts in my life, the whole pig is still a sight to behold when served on a large wooden block, halved and then chopped in smaller pieces. The meat is juicy and soft and even better with the accompanying brown sauce. But the skin is disappointingly chewy and inedible. There is no crunchy tail to be found, but our chosen sides, creamed corn and the sweet potato, more than compensated. We barely touched the Texas toast and the coleslaw that come with any of the Big Pig Gig, but the watermelon, although bland, was a good finish.

      The staff gave us covered plastic containers when we paid our bill. Most of us were able to take the leftovers home. I took home the head and it was made into Filipino lechon paksiw the next day. Daisy May’s serves the pigs that keep on giving.

      Related post/s:
      I also like Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
      For no reservations but a longer wait, go to The Spotted Pig