Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Rhubarb Crumb Cake

      When Melissa Clark of The New York Times published this recipe, I read it over and over until I completely understood the process. I needed to make sure that making a crumb cake won’t require a Kitchen Air mixer. I don’t have one because I rarely bake, but the Dr. absolutely loves any type of dessert that has tart in it. The first time I ever baked with rhubarb, he ate every crisp. It’s spring and rhubarb is out in the markets–I wanted that reaction from him again. What can I say? I aim to please.

      I made a mistake and left out 6 tablespoons of butter to make the cake. My version came out perfectly dense with the right amount of moisture and fluff, so I’m keeping the extra butter out from the recipe below. I started preparing at 9pm and the Dr. was eating his share by 11pm. At least he brought the vanilla ice cream with him.

      Ingredients:
      For the rhubarb filling:
      6 stalks of rhubarb, trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
      1/4 cup white sugar
      1/2 tsp ground ginger
      2 tsps cornstarch

      For the crumbs:
      1 3/4 cups of flour
      1/3 cup dark brown sugar
      1/3 cup white sugar
      1 tsp ground cinnamon
      1/2 tsp ground ginger
      1 stick of butter, melted in microwave for 30 seconds
      a pinch of salt

      For the cake:
      1 cup flour
      1/2 cup white sugar
      1/3 cup sour cream
      1 large egg
      1 egg yolk
      2 tsp vanilla extract
      1/2 tsp baking soda
      1/2 baking powder
      1/4 tsp salt

      1. Using some of the melted butter, grease an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Set aside.
      2. Prepare the rhubarb filling. In a big glass bowl, toss the rhubarb with the sugar, ginger and cornstarch. Set aside.
      3. Make crumbs. In another large glass bowl, whisk together brown and white sugars, spices, salt and melted butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. They should look like, well, crumbs. Set aside.
      4. Preheat oven to 325º while preparing the cake. In another large glass bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg and egg yolk, with the vanilla. Mix in the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt using a spatula. Keep folding until it has the consistency of batter.
      5. Scoop about half of the cake batter into the greased baking dish, covering the bottom. Spoon rhubarb filling over batter. Then cover with the rest of the batter over the rhubarb. This layering doesn’t have to be even. Using your fingers, scoop the crumbs and sprinkle on top of the rhubarb-filled cake batter.
      6. Bake crumb cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean of batter, about 55 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on table counter before serving with vanilla ice cream.

      Related post/s:
      The Dr. liked my rhubarb crisp, too
      I wouldn’t mind a Kitchen Air mixer from thefind.com
      What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
      So how come this recipe asks for both baking soda and baking powder?

    • Preserved Lemons

      A month ago, my neighborhood supermarket had a lemon sale. I bought a wholeload but didn’t really know what to do with a lot of them except to preserve them for a future chicken tagine dish. I was already pickling like a maniac, so why not?

      Ingredients:
      4 whole lemons
      juice of 4 other lemons
      about 3 cups of salt

      1. Make criss-cross slices on the two lemons without cutting through. Salt each lemon generously.
      2. In a pickling jar, pack one lemon at the bottom. Then layer with salt. Pack the next lemon tightly and again, layer with salt. Do this for all four lemons and make sure all of them are surrounded with salt. Pour in lemon juice and cover tightly.
      3. Store in the fridge for a month, flipping the jar over every week to ensure that all the lemons are submerged in the pickling juice.

      Related post/s:
      Chicken tagine with preserved lemons recipe
      You can pickle almost anything!
      Find pickling jars with seal at thefind.com

    • Pearl Onion-Infused Martini

      From the Dr., I learned how to order and drink martinis. When we were at Applewood in Brooklyn last year, he ordered their pearl onion martini. The onion flavor was strong, but it made for a perfect drink after a stressful day at work. Any new obsession costs money, so I infused my own vodka a few months ago to save $16 per drink. Last night, I took the bottle out of the freezer and we finally made our own martini at home.

      There are several ways to make a martini. We like vodka-anything, so I recommend Kettle One vodka for this recipe. You can pick up dry Martini & Rossi vermouth from any liquor store. We also prefer our martini shaken instead of stirred. When you shake the vodka with ice cubes, some of the ice melts and adds a little water to your drink. This softens the bite of the alcohol. Of course, too much water will make the drink limp, so practice makes perfect. We also like our martinis dirty which only means including the olive brine in the drink. While James Bond may find errors in this recipe, we’re quite happy with it.

      Ingredients:
      1 bottle Kettle One vodka
      1 small bag of pearl onions, peeled, some halved
      dry vermouth
      1 jar of olives with brining juice
      ice cubes

      1. Using a large pickling jar, combine the onions and the vodka. Let sit in room temperature. Save the original vodka bottle for later.
      2. After a week and a half, strain the infused vodka back into the original bottle. Discard all the onions. Store in the freezer until ready to make your own martinis.

      For the martini:
      1. While preparing martini, put ice cubes in cocktail glass with a splash of vermouth. Set aside to chill.
      2. Using a martini shaker, combine ice cubes, two shots of the infused vodka and a shot of the olive brine. Shake well.
      3. Discard ice cubes and vermouth from cocktail glasses. Strain contents of the mixer into the glasses. Garnish with a couple of olives.

      Related post/s:

      Find stemless martini glasses at thefind.com
      Find martini shakers at thefind.com
      Applewood Restaurant in Brooklyn
      If you prefer non-alcoholic drinks, ginger-mint citrus iced tea is one of my favorites

    • Knife + Fork Restaurant & Wine Bar

      108 East 4th Street between First and Second Avenues
      212/228.4885
      about $170 for two tasting menus with wine pairings, without tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      It’s almost unheard of in New York City to pay $45 for a six-course tasting menu. At Knife + Fork, chef and owner Damien Brassel pulls it off without sacrificing taste and creativity. When I called two weeks before we planned to eat there, they couldn’t accommodate four people. So two of us went and insisted we sit at the bar. Apparently, they don’t allow diners to sit at the bar unless the chef says it’s okay. The waitress asked the chef, who was only three feet away from us, and relented. The space has a romantic feel to it: heavy wood and dim lighting. There are a couple of tables which can accommodate more than two diners, but most of the guests around us came in pairs. As our night wiled away, we realized why the bar is off-limits. Chef Brassel just doesn’t want people in the way, lest it turns into a loud restaurant like Mercat.

      If I have to pick a word to describe the food at Knife + Fork, I would have to say “thoughtful.” Each dish served tasted like chef Brassel put a lot of work into testing to see if his inventive
      combinations would work out. Most of them do. I can imagine him working in the kitchen like a mad scientist replacing ingredients with whatever’s in the market that day.

      Our first course was the salmon sashimi with pickled radish and seaweed salad. Salmon sashimi is salmon sashimi especially if it’s fresh, but chef Brassel added a dollop of homemade wasabi creme fraiche to this dish. We all know how delightful and painful at the same time wasabi can be through your nostrils. Knife + Fork just happens to make it all delightful. This was paired with a Francois Crochet Sancerre, one of my favorite white wines, which was fresh and lightly fruity.

      In between courses, we picked on the dense and creamy homemade bread with salt and butter. I knew the bread was extra special after a man came in to buy a loaf before leaving again. The waitress told us that a lot of the people in the neighborhood stop by just to buy their bread.

      The second course was a small dish of frog’s legs covered in sauce. The watermelon chunks and micro-greens were a good addition to them because the sauce was a little undersalted. I actually liked the wine more than the dish itself: a more citrusy and toastier Paul Cluver Chardonnay.

      The third course was barbequed eel with risotto and sun-dried tomato tapenade. It sounded better on print because I thought this dish needed a little bit more of a spike. Chardonnay’s main contender, an Aligote, made the dish more interesting. I loved the firm skate with apples in Thai green curry as our fourth course. An “Innocent” Viognier from Shinas Estate was the perfect match for this spicy dish. I liked this dish so much I could have eaten one more serving.

      We were prepared for more seafood with our white wines, but then the lamb with the mashed black bean-licorice reduction was served as our fifth course with a glass of Burgundy. I thought the meat was a great way to end our meal. I didn’t quite understand the black bean and licorice combination, but I was more than happy to ignore it for the medium-rare lamb.

      I’m not a big fan of port but it came with our last course of cheeses and honey. The port tasted a little bit like jam and was even more decadent with the spoonful of honey. Our experience so far was a gradual presentation of chef Brassel’s cooking skills–this was the perfect end to it.

      Related post/s:
      The real mad scientist is in Chicago
      But New Yorkers have Wylie Dufresne
      Mercat is definitely louder than Knife + Fork

    • Achara, Filipino Pickles

      I don’t really use a food processor because one of the things I love about cooking is the actual process of getting all the ingredients together and preparing them for the actual cooking. But for this Filipino pickles recipe, or achara, I was thankful that my mother owned one. I chopped the papaya and the carrots in smaller chunks and passed them through the machine to grate. Just make sure that you squeeze out excess water after grating them using a cheesecloth. The pickling juice should be the only liquid in your jar.

      To make this even more Filipino, I bought a small flower cookie cutter for the carrots. (Filipinos love playing with their food!) The red bell pepper and the onions were chopped by hand. I don’t have exact measurements for the vinegar or the sugar. Start off with enough vinegar to cover the vegetables in the pot, but it’s all up to you to balance the sweet and sour taste in the end. Season with a little bit of salt to taste. Heidiologies, this is for you.

      Ingredients:
      1 green papaya, grated
      2 medium carrots, some grated, some cut into flowers
      1 red bell pepper, julienned
      a handful of pearl onions, peeled, sliced thinly
      half a head of garlic, minced
      1 large knob of ginger, peeled, sliced thinly
      vinegar
      white sugar
      salt

      1. Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and let simmer until carrots are soft, about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool before transferring to a jar.

      Related post/s:
      Pickle some scotch bonnet peppers if you’re not a pussy

    • Where to eat in Princeton, New Jersey: Olives

      I never thought I’d eat the best Reuben sandwich in Princeton, New Jersey. We drank until 4am during the reunion party, so we were naturally hungry after only a few hours’ sleep. We stopped by Olives to look for breakfast but instead we salivated and bought a big lunch.

      A Reuben sandwich is made of grilled rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing. It doesn’t sound much–Thousand Island dressing? That’s so 1980s!–but Olives made their version look so good that we had to order it for our first meal of the day. The bread was grilled with butter which made it even tastier. It remained crunchy and toasty until we had our last bite. The Swiss cheese melted as we split it in two. Melted cheese in a grilled sandwich always brings back pleasant high school cafeteria memories. The corned beef? Superb. I could only think of Wylie Dufresne’s corned beef carpaccio as I devoured my half.

      The dolmades, or stuffed grape leaves, were also delicious, especially with the orzo with grilled vegetables and pine nuts. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for Mediterranean food, but then again, I also wasn’t aware I could find a satisfying meal in Princeton, New Jersey. Sometimes, life is full of nice surprises.

      Olive’s Deli & Bakery is at 22 Witherspoon Street in Princeton, New Jersey. There are no tables inside, but you can call 609/921.1569 and order ahead for pick-up.

      Related post/s:
      For dinner, we went to Teresa’s
      The corned beef reminded me of wd-50

    • Rib-Eye Steak with Red Onion Pickles

      Tony tore a page off his psychiatrist’s copy of Departures magazine before he got kicked out of her office. The page had a steak recipe on it. And after the bloodbath in The Sopranos last night, I could only think of eating a thick rib-eye steak for dinner. After an hour of push-ups, lunges and sprints in Central Park, I walked to the Fairway supermarket to pick up a $26 rib-eye steak. I will never know what recipe Tony wanted to replicate, but maybe Carmela will put these red onion pickles on the side.

      Ingredients:
      1 pound rib-eye steak, excess fat trimmed
      2 cloves of garlic, minced
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      For the red onion pickles:
      2 large red onions, peeled, sliced into thin rounds, separated into rings
      1 bunch of red beets
      1 cup red wine vinegar
      1/2 cup sugar
      salt

      1. Pickle the red onions ahead of time. In a saucepan, cook the beets in boiling water until tender, about 30 minutes. When the beets are cooked, remove from the pan. Save 1/2 cup of the beet juice in a large bowl. In this bowl, combine the red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and 1 cup of water. Add the onions to the bowl and make sure they are completely submerged in the pickling liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
      2. Rub salt and pepper all over the steak. Drizzle with some olive oil. Using a knife, make several slits on one side of the steak and insert garlic pieces. Set aside until ready to cook.
      3. Heat an oven-proof frying pan. When the pan is hot enough but not smoking, sear one side of the steak for about 8 minutes. Slowly lift with a pair of tongs and turn over to cook the other side for another 6 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and broil on high for another 5 minutes or until medium-rare.
      4. Remove the steak to a chopping board and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice against the grain when ready to serve. Top with red onion pickles.

      Related post/s:
      Serve the red onion pickles with skirt steak, too
      For color, serve with salsa verde

    • Skirt Steak with Grilled Endives

      I love endives in the spring. It may feel like summer in New York City, but the spring vegetables are still available in the market. When I’m in the mood for beef, I can’t help but serve a medium-rare steak with grilled vegetables. It’s too hot to be using the oven for longer than ten minutes so adding them to the same pan your steak is grilling is just perfect. If you are without an outdoor garden like me, use a dependable Le Creuset frying pan to get the handsome grill marks.

      Ingredients:
      1 pound skirt steak, excess fat trimmed
      4 Belgian endives, quartered lengthwise
      3 sprigs of rosemary
      3 sprigs of thyme
      half a bunch of parsley, finely chopped
      4 garlic cloves, minced
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      1. In a large baking dish, combine all the ingredients except for the steak and the endives. Place the steak in the dish and turn to coat both sides with the herb mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
      2. When ready to cook, heat an oven-proof frying pan. When the pan is hot enough but not smoking, sear one side of the steak for about 8 minutes. Slowly lift with a pair of tongs and turn over to cook the other side for another 8 minutes. Save the marinade.
      3. While the other side cooks, brush the endives with the remaining marinade and place on the same pan. Turn when one side is charred enough. 4. Remove the steak to a chopping board and let rest for about 5 minutes. Slice the steak on the bias about 1/2-inch thick and divide slices among serving plates. Serve with the endives.

      Related post/s:
      For color, serve with salsa verde
      For more color, serve with red onion pickles
      I use a Le Creuset Square Skillet Grill in brown

    • Salsa Verde

      All the herbs in this salsa verde, or green sauce, recipe is available in the spring and early summer. Wash them thoroughly and you can make almost two cups. I put mine in a small glass jar my father picked up from Ikea and stored it in the fridge for up to a week. It’s a great side with steak.

      Ingredients:
      1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, washed
      1 bunch of mint leaves
      1 bunch of basil leaves
      1/2 cup of capers, drained and rinsed
      2 salt-packed anchovy fillets
      1 tbsp Dijon mustard
      1 tsp sugar
      2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
      1 tbsp red pepper flakes
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine everything except the oil, salt and pepper. Pulse to form a coarse purée. While the motor is running, drizzle in the olive oil to form a smoother purée. Season with salt and pepper.

    • Where to eat in Princeton, New Jersey: Teresa’s Cafe Italiano

      We ran from the NJ Transit train to the Dinky platform in the rain while the bright, white lights flashed against the dark sky. I’ve never seen lightning like that before; never seen them flash one right after the other. For a moment, I wondered where I was. Was this really New Jersey?

      Cameron and I walked across her alma matter’s campus and ended up at Teresa’s for dinner. We were famished and wet from the downpour. We just wanted to sit so we could eat and drink at the same time. There was already a group waiting for a table with their wet umbrellas. We stood for less than ten minutes to be seated at the bar but it felt longer because the maitre d’ let another couple behind us sit first. We kept our New York cool and didn’t make a scene until another couple tried to do the same thing. It was time for some dirty martinis.

      We started with the fennel and arugula salad with shaved black peppercorn cheese. I often make this salad at home but I can never seem to say no whenever I see it on the menu. It’s so simple and satisfying. The meat and cheese plate consisted of some prosciutto and soppresatta, plus small wedges of hard and semi-soft cheeses.

      It took a while for us to finish both plates because we were chatting, but as soon as we cleared our plates, our pasta dishes were served. We knew one bowl would have been enough for both of us but we always end up ordering more than we can eat whenever we’re together. We ordered the linguine with mussels, Manila clams and scallops. We also ordered the ricotta and Berskhire sausage-filled cannelloni. The former was better than the latter. The pasta had a clam juice taste and gave the dish a little bit more oomph. The cannelloni was just so-so even with the tasty sausages in it. It was more substantial with all the ricotta. I’ve never been a big fan of a big bowl of pasta with red sauce anyway.

      Since we were sitting at the bar, we didn’t really get exceptional service. We interacted with our young female bartender twice: as soon as we sat down and when she asked me if I wanted another martini. (I said yes.) Our bill was about $80 without the tip after three cocktails, two appetizers and two pasta dishes. It was substantially less expensive than any complete meal we’ve paid for in the city. The rain was all worth it considering we just wanted a simple meal.

      Teresa’s Cafe Italiano is at 23 Palmer Square East in Princeton, New Jersey. No reservations needed but their number is 609/921.1974.

      Related post/s:
      Olives was a very good lunch option

    • Ginger-Mint Chicken with Mizuna and Arugula Salad

      I walked to my desk this morning and a box was waiting. Anna sent me my annual supply of greens from her garden. There were two Ziploc-fulls of arugula and of Japanese mizuna. There was also a bunch of ginger-mint leaves. Chives and Texas tarragon were also included. They were an absolutely nice surprise to start my day.

      I was famished after my third session of bootcamp in Central Park. When I got home, I wanted to make and eat something quick but filling at the same time. This recipe may look long, but if you have an Asian family pantry, I bet you already have most of the ingredients listed here. Of course, if you don’t have someone in Chicago sending you fresh ginger-mint leaves from her garden, feel free to substitute with regular mint leaves and a knob of peeled and grated fresh ginger. If you can’t find mizuna, try baby spinach, chicory or mustard greens–it’s important that your greens are bitter and spicy at the same time because the chicken is a tad sweet with the brown sugar. As for the corn, I added them at the last second because I found them cooked in the fridge. Using a serrated knife, I cut the kernels off the cob. You can use raw or canned corn kernels, too. The fried onions were a nice touch, but again, if you’re feeling lazy, just sauté them with the chicken.

      When everything was done, Anna’s fresh greens made this dish even more nourishing. An hour-long of lunges, crab-crawls and push-ups weren’t so bad after all.

      Ingredients:
      4 boneless chicken thighs, cut in small pieces
      2 portobello mushrooms, cleaned, cut in small pieces
      1 cup corn kernels
      a handful of baby carrots, halved
      fresh ginger-mint leaves
      1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
      3 garlic cloves, minced
      2 tbsps brown sugar
      2 tbsps fish sauce
      2 tbsps rice vinegar
      olive oil

      For the fried onions:
      1 larged red onion, sliced thinly, rings separated
      1/4 cup of flour
      peanut oil

      For the salad:
      a handful of Japanese mizuna greens, torn
      a handful of arugula, torn
      juice from half a lemon
      1 tbsp red hot sauce
      2 tbsps soy sauce
      3 cloves of garlic, minced
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      1. Make the fried onions. In a large bowl, toss the onions in the flour to coat. Using a skillet, heat some peanut oil and fry the onions in small batches without overlapping. When golden brown on both sides, remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towel. Set aside.
      2. In another small bowl, combine brown sugar, fish sauce and vinegar. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
      3. Heat a large wok over high heat. Add some oil and stir-fry the chicken for about 10 minutes with the carrots. Add mushrooms, corn, pepper and garlic. Add the fish sauce mixture. Stir in the fried onions and the ginger-mint leaves. Turn off the heat and make your salad.
      4. In a salad bowl, combine the lemon juice with the soy sauce and olive oil. Stir in the garlic and the hot sauce and season with salt and pepper. Toss in the greens. Serve with the ginger-mint chicken.

      Related post/s:
      My bounty from Chicago on Flickr
      The perfect summer drink
      All the ingredients listed here can be bought from Asia Food Market

    • Pasta with Baby Octopus

      This recipe was adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Babbo Cookbook, from one of my favorite chefs, Mario Batali. He used bavette, a thin, ribbon-shaped pasta, but I substituted spaghetti instead because it was all I had handy. He also used jalapeño pesto, but I doubled the amount of red chili flakes from what I would normally add to give it that kick without the hard work. I did make my own basic tomato sauce though, because, well, I usually do.

      If you can’t find fresh baby octopuses, you can certainly used the frozen ones. Those are already cleaned. If you buy the fresh ones, all you have to do to clean them is to turn the head inside out and wash the entrails. Then pull out the eyes and remove the mouth which is found at the center of the octopus where the tentacles meet the head and body. It’s as easy as cleaning fresh squid. If you can only find large octopus, cook that longer until it’s tender and just slice it in smaller pieces before tossing with the pasta.

      Ingredients:
      2 pounds of baby octopuses, cleaned, washed, drained
      1 bundle of spaghetti
      2 cups basic tomato sauce
      12 fresh mint leaves
      3 tbsps red wine vinegar
      4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
      red chili flakes
      olive oil, salt, pepper

      1. Using a large pot, cook pasta al dente in boiling salted water for about 8 minutes. Remove and drain. Set aside. You will cook the pasta more later.
      2. While cooking the pasta, cook the octopuses. In a large saucepot, combine octopuses with the red wine vinegar and just enough water to cover. Cook uncovered and immediately remove from heat as soon as the octopuses change color. Drain and set aside to let cool.
      3. In a large skillet, heat some olive oil. Sauté the garlic until golden brown. Add the tomato sauce and chili flakes and simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes. Add the octopuses and the pasta. Toss over high heat for about a minute with the mint leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

      Related post/s:
      Deluxe Food Market sells fresh octopus some days of the week
      Make your own tomato sauce
      Or for the squeamish, try cooking squid first
      The Babbo Cookbook at Amazon.com