Writing With My Mouth Full

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    • Indian Chicken Curry

      Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe using lamb

      Ingredients:
      For the curry rub:
      a few pieces of cloves
      2 tbsps cinnamon powder
      2 tbsps cumin
      2 tbsps fennel seeds
      2 tbsps ginger powder
      1/2 cup curry powder
      salt and pepper

      12 pieces of small chicken legs
      1 tbsp butter
      2 small red potatoes, peeled and diced
      3 small carrots, peeled and sliced
      a handful of okra, washed
      1 small can of sweet peas, washed and drained
      1 large tomato, diced
      lime juice
      olive oil

      1. Salt and pepper chicken pieces. In a large Dutch oven with hot oil, brown chicken on all sides over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from pot. Pour out some of the oil when cool. Reheat remaining oil and brown potatoes and carrots for a few minutes. Remove vegetables from pot.
      2. In a heated small pan, toast non-powdered curry rub ingredients. Let cool. Transfer to a mortar and ground with a pestle. Combine with the powdered ones in a small bowl.
      3. In a different large Dutch oven, melt butter and add curry rub. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Simmer for a few minutes until tomatoes are mushy. Add the chicken and cook until soft, about 25 minutes while checking to make sure they don’t dry up. You may need to add a bit more water.
      4. Cook the vegetables while occasionally stirring. Add the potatoes and the carrots. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the okra. Simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the peas, cooking in remaining heat. Pour in lime juice and add salt to taste.

    • Where to eat in Providence: De Wolf Tavern

      10:25pm – train back to New York City, delayed
      12:10am – finally on board, but with an announcement that we’d arrive an extra hour late
      1:00am – somewhere outside Providence when “the train’s axl hit debris”; delayed another extra hour “to switch machines”
      4:00am – somewhere in Connecticut, stalls for forty minutes
      6:00am – somewhere in upstate New York, stalls for half an hour
      6:18am – sunset, still on the fucking train!
      7:30am – back in Harlem, kissing my own pillows on my own bed

      I thought riding in trains was supposed to be romantic. I am still wondering how the Europeans can take me from Amsterdam to Belgium, but the United States can’t even get me from Providence to New York City under the three-hour schedule.

      The boy and I started laughing at ourselves when we first heard of the delay at 10:30pm because I originally rescheduled my 5pm train. I ended up missing the 7:30pm as well because we were having too much fun over dinner. It stopped being funny at midnight. He had to drive at least two hours back to Maine to go to work at 7am, but he couldn’t stand to leave me waiting in the station alone. He only left after the Amtrak clerk told him the train was five minutes away from Providence.

      Despite the inconvenient and frustrating ending to our reunion, we exhausted Rhode Island during the twenty-four hours we spent there. On Friday, he picked me up from the train station at 9pm. We had 9:30pm dinner reservations at De Wolf Tavern so we hurried and drove to Bristol. The staff at the restaurant was accommodating. They still honored my request and sat us by the fireplace even though we arrived fifteen minutes before the kitchen was scheduled to close.

      Our meal was one of the most refreshing we’ve had in a long time. Almost every dish had an Indian influence, a nice break from the predictable French taste we’ve gotten used to in fine dining. With our Glenlivets, Guinness beers and sparkling wine with orange-spiced rum, we shared three appetizers and a main course. The tuna carpaccio was served with green mango salad in mustard oil and verjus chutney. The tortellini was stuffed with king crab meat and drizzled with sauce made of fried curry leaves that tasted deliciously nutty. The quail legs were roasted and came with a pretty boring salad of iceberg lettuce and bacon and ranch dressing, but the infused tandoor flavor in the quail perfectly came out at every bite. The medium-rare rib-eye steak completed our meal with crunchy haricot verts and mashed potatoes. To end the night, we also split the cafe au lait ice cream on top of warm pumpkin bread. Esquire Magazine might have prematurely picked The Modern as one of its 2005 restaurant of the year, but they hit the bull’s-eye with De Wolf Tavern.

      De Wolf Tavern is about a thirty-minute drive from Providence in Rhode Island. It’s at 259 Thames Street in Bristol. Call 405/254.2005 for reservations.

    • What to do in Rhode Island

      I’ve never been to Rhode Island before, so when the boy proposed the idea that we meet there because it was a short drive from Maine, I bought a train ticket from New York to meet him. Before I left from work, I booked a room at Edgewood Manor and dinner twenty-something miles away at De Wolf Tavern, an Esquire Magazine restaurant pick for 2005.

      In Providence, we stopped by for one drink at The Hi-Hat, a lounge with a live jazz band, before we drove back to our bed and breakfast inn. We had a late start on Saturday–the jacuzzi in our room had everything to do with it–but we still had a full day which started at Rue de L’Espoir. I ordered poached eggs on top of crab cakes because I was still remembering the king crab legs I ate the night before at De Wolf Tavern. After brunch, we drove to the art galleries in Reez-Dee and in Brown University. We walked around the campus. The boy thought of how much they both looked like Amherst College, his alma matter. It was very sunny and warm, the perfect autumn day in New England.

      We also drove to Federal Hill, Rhode Island’s Italian neighborhood, where we made stops at Scialo Bakery to pick up a couple of tarts, Pastiche to drink iced coffees, Roma Gourmet to buy prosciutto and sopressata, and Antonelli’s Poultry, where you select a live chicken or turkey to be killed for your dinner. Needless to say, the smell in the poultry store left us breathless.

      Dinner was at McCormick and Schmick’s where we shared a half dozen oysters and a bowl of mussels with chorizo, plus a bowl of corn chowder and a plate of baby arugula and goat cheese. I decided to let my 5:30pm train go because we were having too much of a good time.

      Providence looked beautiful with the sunset’s glow. The neighborhood has a very industrial look, complete with red-bricked warehouses turned into lofts, but it also has the typical colonial houses that are very much New England. Add some maple and oak trees shedding leaves and I’m in-love all over again.

      Related post/s:
      We stayed in Edgewood Manor for the weekend
      De Wolf Tavern restaurant review

    • Afghan Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Pistachios

      Adapted from Rachel

      Ingredients:
      12 pieces of small chicken legs
      1 large onion, sliced thinly
      a pinch of saffron threads
      2 garlic cloves, minced
      1/2 stick butter
      1 tbsp sugar
      2 tsp grated orange peel
      2 cups chicken broth
      2 cups white rice, cooked
      1 small box of raisins
      a handful of pistachios, toasted and chopped

      1. Salt and pepper chicken pieces. In a large Dutch oven, melt half of the butter. Brown chicken on all sides over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from pot.
      2. Melt the rest of the butter in the same Dutch oven and sauté sliced onions over medium heat until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Add saffron and garlic, cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add orange peel, raisins and sugar, stir again for another minute.
      3. Add broth and place chicken pieces back in pot and cover with lid. Cook chicken for about 25 minutes while checking to make sure they don’t dry up. You may need to add a bit more broth or water. Add salt to taste. Add cooked rice. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir. Sprinkle with pistachios and serve.

    • Short-Cut Pumpkin Pie

      Adapted from joyofbaking.com

      Ingredients:
      2 eight-inch pie crusts, thawed
      6 large eggs
      2 cups fresh pumpkin meat, shredded
      1 cup heavy cream
      1 cup light brown sugar
      1 tsp ground cinnamon
      1/2 tsp ground ginger
      1/2 tsp ground cloves
      1/2 tsp salt

      1. In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients for the filling and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the pie crusts and place on a large baking pan to catch any spills.
      2. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center will still look wet). Place the baked pie on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature, with whipped cream if you’re into that stuff.

    • Goat Cheese-Stuffed Squash Blossoms

      Adapted from Mare Restaurant, Boston

      Ingredients:
      a dozen zucchini squash blossoms, stamen removed, gently washed in cold water and dried with paper towel
      1/2 cup goat cheese
      1/2 cup cream cheese
      1 tsp chopped fresh basil
      1 cup all-purpose flour
      2 tbsps fine yellow cornmeal
      1 cup milk
      1 large egg
      oil, salt and pepper

      1. In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese, cream cheese, basil, salt and pepper. Mix with a fork until well blended. Using a teaspoon, stuff the squash blossoms.
      2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal with salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and egg until well blended. Dip one blossom into the milk mixture, then into the flour mixture. Place on a large plate or pan. Repeat with all of the blossoms.
      3. Add oil to a large heated heavy skillet. Fry the stuffed blossoms until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on white paper towels and serve.

    • Malaysian Chicken Curry

      Adapted from The Daily News

      Ingredients:
      1 pound of boneless chicken, cut in small pieces
      2 potatoes, peeled and boiled for 5 minutes, quartered
      1/2-inch lemongrass stalk
      2 chilis
      2 shallots, finely chopped
      1 small piece of ginger, crushed and finely chopped
      2 garlic cloves, minced
      2 cups coconut milk
      salt and vegetable oil

      1. Mash the chilis, shallots, ginger and garlic into a paste using a mortar and pestle. Sauté in a heated skillet with hot oil.
      2. Add the chicken and stir to coat with the paste. Add lemongrass, potatoes and coconut milk. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add a little but of water if necessary. Add salt to taste.

    • The Modern – The Bar Room

      9 West 53rd Street at The Museum of Modern Art between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
      212/333-1220
      about $150 for two, with two drinks, without tip

      I haven’t been back to the new MoMA ever since it reopened in its grand, newly renovated space in midtown Manhattan. The twenty-dollar entrance fee is a little too steep for a lazy Saturday afternoon but when Esquire magazine named Danny Meyer’s The Modern restaurant of the year, I knew I had to make a return trip. It also just recently received one star from the Michelin and that’s a very big accomplishment considering it just opened a year ago.

      I made dinner reservations at The Bar Room to make our Wednesday night a little less formal than if we were in the main dining area. It’s busier and more crowded. The buzz all around makes you think it’s a Friday night somewhere in the Meatpacking District. I also prefer the small-plate way of eating. This way, my friend and I can taste more than three things from the menu and really get an idea of what the chef is trying to bring out from the kitchen. In this case, it’s Gabriel Kreuther’s skills from Alsace honed while doing a stint at the Ritz-Carlton.

      The menu is adventurous that even if it guides you to order one from each section — from a small portion to a medium one onto a full serving — I still ordered a medium, a large and another large. I could not help but try the baekeoffe, an Alsatian stew slow-cooked in an earthenware pot. Instead of beef, The Modern version consisted of lamb, conch and tripe. A very interesting dish indeed with scrumptious baked crumbs on top, perfect with a glass of Cotes du Provence. The scallops and oxtail were served in two ways: a lone seared scallop on top of shredded oxtail on the left and another scallop next to it wrapped in oxtail meat shaped to look like, for lack of a better word, a huge testicle. This dish would have been rich enough to end the night (rich because of its flavor, not because of the testicle allusion) so I immediately regretted ordering the next dish. The pork cheeks were braised in sauerkraut and ginger jus which was even better as a leftover lunch the day after.

      If I had any more room in my stomach, I thought the tagliatelle with escargots, hen of the woods and basil was as tempting as the olive-crusted lamb loin with chanterelle ragout and butternut squash and roasted celeriac. Thankfully, my friend was watching her weight so she had a reason to excuse the bland grilled shrimp with cabbage and gruyére salad or the swordfish served with eggplant mush.

      Our waitress worked like a zombie and ruined our dining experience with her expressionless manner. I can excuse tasteless seafood but unexciting service means one star less for The Modern.

    • Sweetwater

      105 North 6th Street between Berry and Wythe Streets, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
      718/963-0608
      $150 for three, with three drinks, with tip

      Nothing on the menu tops twenty dollars at Sweetwater and that’s a very good thing. Even for dishes under that price, portions are generous and we wonder why we do not go to Williamsburg more often. (Of course, walking down the street later and seeing the boys who looked and dressed alike reminded us of why we don’t.) The potato gnocchi was very light; even the decadent sauce did not make the dish too hearty.

      The roasted hen was served with mushrooms and it smelled perfectly of autumn but fowl is still fowl so the meat dries up easily when slightly overdone.

      The grouper was tender, served with clams and kale in tomato sauce. I thought the kale was perfect for this because its slightly bitter flavor gave way for the tomatoes.

      My friends and I chatted the night away and after dinner, our waitress offered us complimentary coffees to make up for the long wait we endured while cooking the hen. What long wait? She was so attentive we didn’t even think it took that long and so we appreciated the gesture. Service as good as Sweetwater’s doesn’t come easily in Manhattan so why don’t we go to Brooklyn more often again?

    • Whiskey and Honey-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

      Adapted from a cooksrecipes.com recipe using bourbon

      Ingredients:
      2-pound pork tenderloin
      1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
      1/4 cup whiskey
      1/4 cup sherry vinegar
      1/4 cup soy sauce
      half an onion, chopped
      2 tbsps honey
      4 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
      2 tbsps ginger, crushed and minced
      2 tbsps fresh sage, chopped
      1/4 tsp paprika
      salt and pepper

      1. Combine oil, whiskey, vinegar, soy sauce, onion, honey, garlic, ginger and sage in a bowl. Mix well. Put the tenderloins in a dish and pour the marinade over. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, turning the meat several times.
      2. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450°. Remove meat from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Remove from marinade, pat dry; season with salt, pepper and paprika. Reserve the marinade.
      3. In a deep skillet, brown both sides of tenderloin in hot oil. Place in a rack and roast in the oven about 15 minutes per pound, basting 2 or 3 times during roasting with the reserved marinade. Let the roast stand on a carving board lightly covered with foil for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or cold.

    • Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta and Sage

      Adapted from a Gourmet Magazine recipe using kabocha squash

      Ingredients:
      1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
      1 cup vegetable oil
      20 whole fresh sage leaves plus, 1 1/2 tsps chopped fresh sage
      1/4 pound sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped
      1 large onion, chopped
      2 garlic cloves, minced
      3 1/2 cups chicken broth
      3 1/2 cups water
      1 tbsp red wine vinegar
      salt, pepper, olive oil

      1. Preheat oven to 400° and roast squash, cut sides down, in an oiled roasting pan in middle of oven until tender, about 1 hour. Set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, scrape flesh from skin.
      2. Fry sage leaves while squash roasts. Heat vegetable oil in a deep saucepan and fry sage leaves in 3 batches until crisp, about 3 to 5 seconds. Transfer leaves with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
      3. Cook pancetta in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until browned. Transfer pancetta with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Add olive oil to pancetta fat remaining in pot, then cook onion, stirring, until softened. Stir in garlic and chopped sage and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add squash, broth, and water and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.
      4. Purée soup in batches in a blender, transferring to a bowl. Return soup to pot and reheat. If necessary, thin to desired consistency with water. Stir in vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. Serve sprinkled with pancetta and fried sage leaves.

    • Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style

      Adapted from The New York Times

      Ingredients:
      1/4 cup peanut oil
      1 medium potato, peeled and diced
      1 medium eggplant, diced
      1 red pepper, cored, stemmed and julienned
      1 cup frozen peas
      1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
      1 onion, quartered
      12 cloves garlic, peeled
      2 tomatoes, cut into eighths
      1/4 cup red curry paste, or to taste
      1 cup coconut milk
      ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
      1 tbsp soy sauce
      salt and pepper
      Thai basil leaves for garnish

      1. Heat oven to 450°. Place a Dutch oven over medium heat and add all but a tablespoon of the peanut oil. A minute later, add all vegetables except tomatoes; sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir. Put pot in oven and roast, stirring once or twice, for 30 minutes. Add tomatoes, stir, and continue to roast until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 45 minutes to an hour total.
      2. Put remaining oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add curry paste and stir; whisk in coconut milk, peanut butter and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Keep warm.
      3. When vegetables are done, stir in coconut milk mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more soy sauce or curry paste if necessary. Garnish with herbs and serve hot or warm.