Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Turkey Tacodillas

      For Thanksgiving this year, we had two roasted turkeys, one ham, five black sea bass, lumpia, or Filipino spring rolls, and three different kinds of salads to serve to eighteen people who celebrated with us in the apartment. We thought there would be a lot of leftovers but we were wrong. Our guests were good eaters and they cleaned everything off their plates. With the small amount of turkey meat left, I made some tacos and I made some quesadillas for lunch the next day. After eating a couple of them, I thought, why not mix them together? I call them tacodillas.

      Ingredients:
      leftover Thanksgiving turkey meat, off the bone, shredded
      soft flour tortillas
      Monterey Jack cheese, grated
      1 tomato, chopped
      1 small red onion, finely chopped
      cilantro, finely chopped
      lime juice
      flaming cock hot sauce

      1. Cut a tortilla in half. Prepare on a skillet. Lay one half of the tortilla and add some cheese and turkey meat, then follow with the rest of the filling. Cover with the other half of the tortilla.
      2. Turn the heat on to medium. Using a heavy but smaller pot lid, press the tortilla to flatten. The heat will melt the cheese inside and make the two tortillas stick to each other. Turn and brown the other side using a wooden spatula or a flat spoon.

      Related post/s:
      Where to get Sriracha, or what I call the flaming cock hot sauce

    • Pomegranate Meatballs with Tomato Mint Salad

      Tyler asked me where he could buy pomegranate molasses. I’ve had Pom juice before but I’ve never heard of pomegranate in molasses form. I Googled and found out that it’s typically used in Mediterranean dishes. He found it for $8 at Dean and Deluca and used it to make some sort of appetizing tapenade. A few days later, I found a $4 bottle in Chinatown sans the pretty burlap packaging. I slathered the molasses in meatballs to give them that sweet and sour taste and served them with tomato mint salad.

      Ingredients:
      pork and beef ground meatballs
      cumin seeds, grounded
      coriander seeds, grounded
      turmeric powder
      red chilis, crushed
      3 tbsps pomegranate molasses
      tomatoes, chopped
      mint leaves, finely chopped
      1 tbsp red wine vinegar
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Make meatballs. Dip in pomegranate molasses and then gently roll each ball on cumin, coriander, turmeric and red chilis.
      2. In a deep skillet, heat some oil and fry meatballs until golden brown in medium to low fire. The molasses will burn faster than the meat so keep them bouncing in the hot oil using a strainer ladle.
      3. Make tomato mint salad by combining tomatoes and mint in a bowl, dressed with red wine vinegar, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Top with meatballs.

      Related post/s:
      How to make your own meatballs
      Meatballs the Swedish way

    • The Red Cat

      227 Tenth Avenue off 23rd Street
      212/242.1122
      $102 for two, with three beers, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      The red and white wooden paneling didn’t fit the stereotypical Chelsea mold. The laid-back staff made me completely forget I was in New York City. It was a Friday night and all the tables were booked but the maitre d’ politely told me over the phone that I can easily sit at the bar before 7:30pm. For the next two hours, people slowly filled the place with a buzz. We weren’t at all rushed by the bartender even though a few other couples stood at the door waiting to be seated. Where was I? I was at The Red Cat.

      It was also the day after Thanksgiving and at The Red Cat, there were plenty of non-fowl choices. We ordered the fried oysters served with creamed spinach. The spicy tuna tartare came with mustard, scallions and potato chips. The grilled octopus with zucchini and prosciutto. The lamb sausage was heartier than the others with white beans and watercress. A couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen pushed everything down and a lemon tart closed our tab.

      None of the dishes made my eyes roll back but they were delicious and safely executed. I visited The Red Cat and left all my expectations at the door. Do the same and you’ll also be pleasantly surprised.

      Related post/s:
      Tia Pol is also in Chelsea

    • Drunken Romanesque Salad

      My first reaction was, What the hell is that? The sign at the farmers’ market said romanesque, a hybrid of a broccoli and a cauliflower. It was so pretty and it made me so curious, I picked up one for myself for $3. It reminded me of a small piece of coral. Before cooking it, I actually let it sit on my table at work as a conversation starter. The spikes are as tender as cauliflower. If you apply enough pressure, they break easily and crumble. But it’s as sturdy as a broccoli. I was able to take it home in a plastic bag without damaging it. I could have made a stir-fry dish but I just wanted to taste it on its own without any sauce or dressing.

      I reluctantly cut up the pretty-looking romanesque in smaller pieces and salted and steamed them for 12 minutes. I shocked them in ice water to stop its cooking, drained and put them on a plate. I had leftover umbriaco cheese in the fridge and it was like a jackpot tasting them together. Adding prosciutto was also a nice touch.

      Ubriaco means “drunken” in Italian and the hard cheese I got from Di Palo’s is made from cow’s milk soaked in red wine. A stripe runs through the middle to give it a nice touch of color. It actually has a plum taste to it, a little bit sharp and tart.

      Ingredients:
      1 romanesque, cut in smaller pieces
      Umbriaco cheese, shaved (or any hard cheese will do)
      prosciutto
      salt

      1. Steam romanesque for 12 minutes, salting them halfway through. When done, shock them in ice water and drain to a plate.
      2. Sprinkle shaved cheese and serve with prosciutto.

      Related post/s:
      I bought my romanesque at the farmers’ market in November
      Get your umbriaco cheese at Di Palo’s

    • Indonesia: Soto Betawi

      The Betawi are the descendants of the people living in Jakarta and soto translates to soup. Soto Betawi is traditionally made with offal but Thalia’s recipe is a tamer version, just perfect for New York’s current dipping temperatures. The tamarind marinade made this soup a little sour with the tomatoes and the lime, which I loved, but I also added extra spices to give it a little more kick. I browned the beef first for some color and I just used the separate beef stock I had saved in the freezer. While the stock was simmering, I quickly deep-fried the emping melinjo crackers I bought from Chinatown. They added a nice crisp to the nutty-sour flavor of the soup. I think Thalia would have been proud.

      Ingredients:
      half a pound of sirloin beef
      2 tbsps tamarind concentrate
      1 can coconut milk
      beef stock
      2 medium potatoes, quartered
      1 large tomato, chopped
      1 stalk lemongrass, pounded
      2 stalks scallions, finely chopped
      1 shallot, finely chopped
      2 tbsps semi-sweet soy sauce or kecap manis
      emping melinjo crackers, deep-fried
      1 bay leaf
      1 tbsp turmeric
      1 tbsp cumin, grounded
      red chilis
      cilantro, finely chopped
      1 small lime
      sugar
      salt, pepper

      1. Prepare a day before: tenderize the sirloin beef by pounding with a mallet on a wooden block. In a small bowl, combine tamarind concentrate with sugar and salt to make a paste. Marinate beef in the fridge overnight.
      2. When ready to cook, boil potatoes in a pot of water. In the meantime, cut beef into small cubes. In a pot with hot oil, sauté bay leaf and shallots and brown beef on all sides. When potatoes are done, drain and lightly brown in the same pot.
      3. Add beef stock and simmer. Stir in coconut milk. Add tomatoes, cumin, turmeric, lemon grass, lime juice, chilis and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a few more minutes until beef cubes are tender.
      4. To serve, put some of the meat and vegetables in a bowl first. Ladle broth and sprinkle with scallions and cilantro. Crush crackers on top. Squirt with leftover lime juice and stir in some kecap manis to taste.

      Related post/s:
      Thalia would have been proud
      Where to get all the Indonesian ingredients
      More Cooking the World recipes: Korea
      About Cooking the World: Global Gastronomy Food Project

    • Mas (farmhouse)

      39 Downing Street off Bedford
      212/255.1790
      about $255 for four, with several drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      I reserved the bar for four people at 7:30pm and because it was before prime dinner time, we were seated right away even though it was a Friday night. We sat elbow to elbow, looked at each other via the mirror behind the bar and passed our plates to one another to share.

      The people behind Mas pay attention to details most New York restaurants forget about these days. I couldn’t help but ooh and aah at everything. I loved the Red Berry Dinnerware from England, the knives with pearl handles and the Terrazzo placemats. A skewer stick holding a sliced lemon made squeezing it in my basil and strawberry cocktail easier. And you know how else you can score a point with me? Have some hooks under the bar for my purse! It’s surprising how only a few bars in the city think of doing this. Every time I brush my hand under the bar, I want to feel a hook I can use, not old gum. The olive walls and warm lighting made the space cozy even though an entire glass wall exposed guests to the street traffic of the West Village.

      We started with wahoo, or ono, sashimi in olive oil, cilantro and lime. The Portuguese sardines were served with a Parmesan cheese sablé cracker, reportedly made in-house, and caramelized onions, both of which controlled the fishy taste. While some of us enjoyed the Maine lobster and the fresh oysters and scallops, I split the $36 braised pork belly in a cider reduction sauce served with puréed apple and cabbage. Cranberry beans, which are only named for their red speckles, accompanied the dish and gave it a heartier and nuttier taste. To cap the bill at $200, we ordered and devoured the gooseberries and fig in hibiscus soup and the yogurt panna cotta with grape juice and apricots.

      The staff seem knowledgable without being hokey. Our bartender was extra nice. He poured us a glass of an Alsace dry reisling to match our fish appetizers from the goodness of his heart. When one of us expressed an interest in tasting some whites with his dinner, he served three different types in small parts, which included one from Reuilly, but only charged for one glass.

      Chef Galen Zamarra’s experiences with David Bouley and Alain Passard probably defined him as a chef, but Mas is where he proudly shows off the skills he learned. Mas, or French for farmhouse, was over my budget, but it was also a feast to my design sensibilities. Mas also means more in Spanish and after my first visit, I wanted more. If you want to impress or be impressed, Mas is the way to go.

    • Prosciutto and Arugula Pizzetta

      If you’ve been visiting this site long enough, you know I spend a lot of time and money at Di Palo on Mott and Grand Street. I never wait less than 30 minutes except if I order ahead of time and arrange for a pickup. I usually just come in, pick a number from the machine at the door and wait for my turn to taste some new cheese or cold cuts and add to my usual order of prosciutto, spicy sausage, olive oil, illy coffee and Callipo tuna. During my last wait for 45 minutes, a dinner idea popped in my head and I ended up buying everything at Di Palo except for the fresh arugula I picked up at the grocery store on my way home. They also carry bread from Sullivan Street Bakery so I didn’t have to go out of my way–their focaccia rosemary bread is one of my favorites.

      Ingredients:
      1 square focaccia rosemary bread
      fresh mozarella
      Italian prosciutto, sliced paper-thin by the meat guy
      fresh arugula, rinsed, pat dry
      olive oil

      1. Preheat oven at 350º. Prepare pizzetta on a baking sheet wrapped in aluminum foil. On the focaccia bread, lay the mozarella slices first and then top with prosciutto. Drizzle some olive oil. Lay the arugula and then some more prosciutto again.
      2. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, enough to melt the mozarella and toast the bread.

      Related post/s:
      Di Palo and Sullivan Street Bakery should also be on your list of places to go

    • Fennel and Beet Salad

      Adapted from Mary’s Fish Camp

      Ingredients:
      1 bulb fennel, sliced thinly
      1 bunch red beets, rinsed, pat dry
      shaved aged goat cheese
      lemon juice
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Preheat oven 350º. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Set aside. When cool enough to handle, peel with a paring knife and slice in rounds.
      2. Meanwhile, soak fennel in a bowl with lemon juice. This is to keep the fennel’s color.
      3. When ready to serve, drain fennel and combine with beets, salt, pepper and olive oil. Using a peeler, shave off some goat cheese on top.

      Related post/s:
      Visit Mary’s Fish Camp

    • Spiced Kohlrabi

      I keep seeing this weird bulb in Chinatown but no one could tell me what it was. I asked the vendor and all I got was a OneDOLLAH! So I asked my dependable Chinese friend, Shao, and she said her mother calls it choi tao but she wasn’t sure what Americans call them. A visit at Telepan answered my question. Our friend’s chicken dish came with cauliflower and kohlrabi. I’ve never heard of kohlrabi before so when I got home, I Googled it and lo and behold, it was that Sputnik bulb!

      The name comes from two German words that mean cabbage and turnip but its flesh is like the stem of a broccoli. You peel off the tough outer layers and cut the flesh in an angle to get slices like that of an apple. Shao’s mom uses two bulbs to include it in a pork and vegetable stir-fry. I found an old zucchini recipe that I thought would work with the tender flesh of a kohlrabi.

      Ingredients:
      1 kohlrabi, peeled, diced
      1 garlic clove, crushed, sliced
      1 tsp cumin, grounded
      1 tsp fennel seeds, grounded
      1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
      1 red chili
      1 bay leaf
      1 tbsp lemon juice
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Toast bay leaf until fragrant and remove. Sauté garlic. Add kohlrabi and spices. Set aside some of the ground spices for garnishing. Cook until soft, stirring constantly, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
      2. Serve in ramekins and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and remaining ground spices.

      Related post/s:
      I found kohlrabi in Chinatown in November
      Okay, Google told me what kohlrabi was, but I tasted it as Telepan
      Spiced zucchini recipe

    • Telepan

      72 West 69th Street off Columbus
      212/580.4300
      about $450 for four, with champagne and wine, without tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      I was walking around the upper west side one afternoon when I saw the spoon, knife and fork Telepan logo. I crossed the street to check out the menu posted outside and made a mental note to return and eat there. Months elapsed and I forgot the name and location. I just kept thinking of that logo. Enter Arabella who told me a recent dinner at Telepan was one of her best meals in a long time. The Dr.’s friends were visiting from Seattle so I booked a table for four without making the connection. When it came time to eat, I walked up 69th Street and noticed the logo that’s been bugging me for some time. I knew then I was meant to eat at Telepan.

      Our meals were deliciously memorable. The first thing that caught my eye was the price: $59 for a 4-course prix fixe menu, $95 with wine pairings. To me, this was an incredible deal because it’s not often New York City restaurants offer an affordable price when they pride themselves in changing the menu daily with seasonal and fresh ingredients. An amuse of swiss chard with cheese and a dainty cup of mushroom soup was served before our meal. Here’s the rest of the rundown:

      Yellowtail sashimi on faro tabbouleh with cured tuna and mint
      I’ve made tabbouleh before but this was so much more pleasing to the tongue. I thought matching it with yellowtail was incredible. The tabbouleh held the texture while the fish melted in my mouth. The touch of mint flavor provided the dish with spunk. I love matches made in heaven.

      Hen of the Woods mushrooms with poached egg and frisée
      I’ve also used Hen of the Woods mushrooms before and even managed to poach an egg. I remember how fragrant the mushrooms were. Eggs served during dinner is trendy but I have no problem with that. Simplicity is key.

      Buttercup squash gnocchi with sage, wild mushrooms and pine nuts
      Not to be confused with butternut squash, this cute version was served with orange gnocchi. We couldn’t tell which was pasta and which was squash meat at first but I am still amazed at how edible the squash skin was. I thought this was delightfully autumn.

      Seared foie gras and foie gras-stuffed apple with duck prosciutto, cider glaze and walnuts
      I haven’t had foie gras in a while so without question, this was my mid-course selection. The bitterness of the watercress stopped it from being too decadent (is there such a thing?) and yet a dollop of the cider glaze made it delicately sweet.

      Duck breast with pomegranates and gold rice, duck confit and baby turnips
      The duck breast was nicely seared except for two slices that had an unappetizing tint of brown and gray in the middle. We weren’t sure what made them so but we left them untouched and ate the rest.

      Pancetta-wrapped monkfish with shell beans, roasted garlic sauce and black kale in herb oil
      I’ve been in a fish mood lately even though I rarely order it unless it’s sushi or sashimi. Monkfish is my choice though because it’s meatier and it doesn’t flake and fall apart. Plus, how can I ever say no to pancetta-wrapped anything? This was definitely something that made me look forward to winter–a very comforting dish.

      Pear with phyllo dough
      This was my dessert choice. The phyllo crumbled softly while the stewed pear held its own fleshiness. I could have used less of the cream and sauce, but that’s just me without a sweet tooth.

      Fig and rum panna cotta
      The panna cotta was just pure booze. I think I would have like this better if it was coffee-flavored so it didn’t have to compete with the natural sweetness of the beautiful figs.

      Related post/s:
      Tabbouleh recipe
      Using Hen of the Woods mushrooms at home
      Poached egg on a salad

    • iCi

      246 DeKalb Avenue at Vanderbilt, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
      718/789.2778
      about $70 for two, with two drinks, without tip
      ♥ ♥

      A lot of my friends live in Brooklyn and they’ve been encouraging me to check out the restaurants in their borough. I’m slowly making my way down the list but iCi has always been the one that comes up whenever I talk food to Brooklyn residents. I was already in the area for a birthday party so we decided to walk over and get dinner afterwards. It took a while for us tourists to find the streets because we’re not familiar with the Fort Greene landscape, but we were seated right away even though we didn’t have reservations–and it was 9pm on a Saturday night! I love Brooklyn already!

      iCi has a short menu but it was still hard to make a decision between the wild dandelions or arugula. We ended up picking both and sharing a main course. We were already set with the scallops until our waitress told us that the special for the night was a rack of lamb with Provençal vegetables. Because a rack of lamb is something we never skip as long as it’s on the menu, we immediately changed our order.

      We started with the duck confit salad with frisée and the dandelions with bacon. Maybe the confit should have been called shredded duck meat salad instead because I missed the texture and the jam-like consistency. The dandelions fared much better. The saltiness of the bacon held the bitterness of the greens at bay, creating a well-balanced taste.

      As soon as our lamb was served, we looked at each other because we both knew it wasn’t a rack in front of us. We ate it anyway but we couldn’t help but let our waitress know that our lamb was clearly meat from either the shoulder or the leg. She went back to the kitchen, confirmed that the specials board indeed said “leg of” and not “rack of” and apologized for her mistake. She obviously didn’t like that we pointed out an error on her part because whenever she informed us about something on the menu again, whether it was wine or dessert, she said “this time it’s not a mistake”.

      The possibility of eating a good rack of lamb can make some diners’ hearts palpitate and serving them a leg in its place is like taking away a Christmas present after it’s already been opened. It was cooked just right but if we knew we were going to eat the leg, we would really have chosen the scallops.

      We ended with the arugula with the pear slices and parmesan cheese–a simple palate cleanser before moving on to the warm apple tart for dessert. A nice pot of citrus tea made of lemongrass, lemon and kaffir limes made us forget our disappointing lamb experience. iCi needs a little bit of sharpening but with our bill coming out at less than $85 with two glasses of wine, tax and tip, it’s another reason to love Brooklyn.

    • Soba Koh

      309 East 5th Street between First and Second Avenues
      212/254.2244
      $25 each for three, with three beers, with tip
      ♥ ♥ ♥

      As soon as the the Dr. had a slurp of Soba Koh’s broth, he said, Sobaya has been crushed. Now, we like Sobaya, our usual Sunday lunch destination, but we’ve been wanting something new. Unfortunately, Soba Koh only opens after 5pm, so when we were looking for a place to eat one Thursday night, we agreed to walk over the east side for some hot bowls of soba with a couple bottles of Sapporo.

      The kinoko soba is filled with three kinds of mushrooms–enoki, shimeiji and shiitake–and its broth was rich and earthy but subtle at the same time. I ordered the soft-shell crab tempura soba because I’ve been seing fresh soft-shell crabs in Chinatown lately. My broth tasted different from the kinoko’s, a tad lighter and cleaner, even with the deep-fried batter and shellfish on top.

      We also got some deep-fried shrimps with their heads on and chicken wings with sansyo peppers for appetizers. Both only whet our appetites. The chicken wings were a little slimey to me, only because I expected them to be fried but instead they were broiled and moist inside. The shrimps were crunchy and even tastier with a squeeze of lime juice. Soba Koh might not have a soba maker on display like Sobaya and Honmura An, but their firm noodles easily compared while their broth exceeded expectations.

      Related post/s:
      Sobaya before Soba Koh opens up