4.30.2007

TINY BITES OF AWESOMENESS






Not that anyone really reads the blog, but for those of you who do, you may notice some basic geometric differences in the pizzettas we made this evening. Yes, normally they are perfect little circles. And we really do appreciate you noticing this subtle difference. But I assure you, taste was not sacrificed in the making of these pizzettas.

Whole Foods was the reason our tiny bites of awesomeness were rectangles this evening. The foodie friendly grocery has many things, but taco size flour tortillas are not current residents on the fine store's shelves. They did have lavash, however, so Meena picked up a package of that as a fine substitute.

Our first attempt of the evening was inspired by my favorite dish at Tartine - pissalidiere:
- anchovies
- mozzarella
- onions
- tomato
- marinara
- dried basil

Then we moved into the good old fashioned chicken bbq:
- onions
- mozzarella
- cheddar
- bbq chicken
- barbecue sauce
- black pepper
- sambal oelek

And we finished up with a island inspired attempt:
- jerk chicken
- mozzarella
- marinara
- barbecue sauce
- sambal oelek
- pineapple

I think we both agreed that the bbq was far and away the best. The pissalidiere was good, but it ended up a little soggy. Due mostly to it being the first try and it took me a minute to adjust to the lavash. Cooking time is just a little different than the tortillas. The island one wasn't bad. It was a bit of an afterthought and it ended up tasting that way. Good ... but a little half baked.

We also had a delicious "pink" wine with dinner. I can't lie ... when we walked into Tinto Fino, I immediately gravitated that way after seeing how great Last Night's Dinner made it look here. So we picked up a nice little rioja that was listed as the Spanish joint's pick of the week. Not bad. Honestly, it's just nice to be back into weather where you feel like you can actually drink the stuff.

4.29.2007

SLIDERS



We had a great weekend, so I figured I'd put a giant exclamation point on the end of it with some rad mini burgers. Meena did her part and threw down some mixed berry short cake. We were totally decadent tonight, friends.

The mini burgers included:
- ground beef
- parmesan
- worchestershire sauce
- cheddar cheese
- onions
- smoked paprika
- tomato
- dill pickle
- ketchup
- homemade mustard
- field greens
- mini brioche

And Meena's awesome dessert included:
- strawberries
- blueberries
- blackberries
- low fat vanilla ice cream
- shortcakes
- sugar

I'm so full. I know it probably wasn't the most health conscious menus, but whatever, man. It's Sunday and we just had to put this weekend to bed with a very delicious finishing touch.

LAZY SATURDAY



Yesterday was spent doing more Brooklyn exploration - this time it was Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill. As it turns out, it's every bit as slow and lazy as I'd remembered it. The strange thing was that I actually liked that fact. I'm fine with this development. I just didn't realize it was going to happen.

Anyway, we really just wandered. The weather was beautiful and we slowly ate our way through the neighboring hoods.

We had lunch at this random place called Savoia on Smith Street. They had a brunch/lunch special so we figured we'd give it a shot. It was OK. We sat outside (which was amazing) and had some pizza. Meena had a margherita with anchovies. I had one with roasted red and yellow peppers. Excellent atmosphere, decent food.

Before we left, we hit the seemingly popular Bar Tabac for a couple beers and some frites. Another perfect little setting. The beers were delicious and the frites were tasty. They had to get all Euro on us by trying to have us eat fries with mayo. No thanks, dudez.

Because we were so full from Brooklyn wandering, all we felt like eating for dinner was a couple quick bites of sushi. We happened to be walking past Esashi when we came to this realization, so Esashi was the winner. Meena had a shrimp tempura and a spicy tuna and I had a mackerel with ginger and a tuna and avocado.

It was a wonderfully lazy Saturday, indeed.

4.28.2007

FORGET PROZAC, I WANT INDIAN






Honestly, there are few things that can make me completely forget about my life and all the stress and insanity going on around me like Indian delivery. I don't know. Something about all the sauces, breads, onions, roasted meats. It's perfect. Chock full of calories and stuff that'll kill me, but whatever man. I needed this and so did Meena. Baluchis in the house, y'all.

Meena had:
- fish pakora appetizer
- tikka masala dinner

And I indulged in:
- chicken tikka appetizer
- lamb vindaloo dinner

Everything was a little different tonight. I'm not sure what was going on. All the sauces were a little thinner than usual. Still awesome. Just different. It always comes a little different though. I'm not sure why I'm acting surprised.

We also had that nice Joel Gott cab. We're not big cab drinkers, but this one was delicious. Everything we've had from Joel Gott has been really good. Joel can come over for dinner anytime.

4.27.2007

SCREWS


After work we ran by Whole Foods to pick up a couple supplies for a quick pasta dish. It's using some of the ideas we'd normally use in a garbage pasta ... only we sorta planned this one.

We scanned the isles of WF and ended up with a few simple things that sounded perfect for a delicious (and WICKEDLY FILLING) Thursday night bowl of pasta.

Our corkscrew explosion included:
- spinach fusilli
- portabella mushroom
- red pepper and roasted garlic chicken sausage
- roasted garlic marinara
- white onion
- parmesan
- fresh spinach

Besides making us smell like a garlic patch (which I honestly love), this thing was nothing but a hit. The bits of the delicious sausage clung to the nooks and crannies of the fusilli and each bite was awash in decadent flavor.

This is where I need to thank the meat guy at Whole Foods. Dude is the nicest meat salesman I've ever met in NYC. Probably one of the nicest people I've met in NYC. He said, "You're going to love this." So I said, "Really? That's great." And he simply replied, "You'll be back for more of this. I know it." The meat man at Whole Foods is right. I want to go right now.

Anyway, I had to go to a concert after this and probably made the whole place smell like garlic. But I don't care.

4.26.2007

WHOPPERS



Let's just start by saying thank you very, very much to Mr. Dan Strassburger for making an amazing dinner for us last night. It's the next morning and while I'm writing this ... I'm still full.

Last night Dan and Steveo had us out to Brooklyn for the previously mentioned amazing meal and a date with a little television program called LOST. Everything was perfect. From their beautiful new apartment and the wonderful food to ... LOST!

While we were waiting on Steve to get back, Dan set us up with a little brie and crackers to munch on while we sipped a glass of good old Big House Red. I think I consumed the lion's share (sorry!).

Next, Herr Strassburger got started on what was to be the biggest, most delicious salmon burger I'd seen in my entire life. Dan, feel free to submit additional ingredients, but from my vantage point, I think he included the following:
- salmon
- mustard
- green onion
- red pepper
- egg white
- bread crumbs
- soy sauce
- salt
- pepper

Dano topped the whole thing off with a little hoisin sauce, a dash of may and some chopped cucumber. The results were fantastic!

In addition to the burgers, Dan also cut up some little sweet potato fries for a delicious finishing touch.

Compliments to the chef!

4.25.2007

EATING THE CUBE



Last night was a very delicious night. We hadn't been to Cube 63 (or even on Clinton Street for that matter) in months. After a very short discussion, we decided it was time to take a stroll down their way.

When we got there, to our amazement, it was totally empty. It was great. It's ALWAYS packed. And it filled in pretty quickly. But for a brief moment, we had the place all to ourselves.

In addition to a wonderful little Italian chardonnay, we had a fine spread of their most delicious soups, salads and rolls.

Meena had:
- seaweed salad
- volcano roll
- spicy tuna roll

Alec had:
- miso soup
- salmon and avocado roll
- yellowtail and scallion roll

Awesome. The seaweed salad was the normal delicious kind (no strange vinegar things like Heddeh). The miso is always amazing. And the rolls are some of the best in NYC.

AWESOME DINNER RIGHT HERE!

4.23.2007

TINY BITES OF PERFECTION




Yesterday, the weather was in a word ... bangin'. It was still 85 degrees when I left the office at 6:30 so Meena and I had no real choice but to explore the hood and dine out last night.

After a bit of discussion, we landed at famed local super Mexican spot, Mercadito.

I'm not sure wha the deal is with HIGH-end Mexican in New York. At home (or nearly everywhere else in the nation I think) you can get some solid Mexican food for crazy cheap nearly anywhere. In New York, there are only a few cheap Mexican spots. The rest are like, crazy high-end and feature tiny tacos and margaritas with tequila that rivals some single malt scotch in price. It's a weird trend. Sometimes I hate it. In the case of Mercadito, however, I think it works.

We did what most people do at Mercadito and ordered some margaritas and a couple flights of the mini-tacos. They're not called mini-tacos. They're just tacos. But they're definitely mini-tacos.

Oh, we also started with the guacamole tasting. They had mango, pineapple and regular. I really like the mango because it was smoky and sweet. Meena was a fan of the pineapple. It had a little more kick and a nice pineapple flavor.

For tacos, we tried three sets of four:
- pastor (chile ancho-chile guajillo rubbed pork, grilled pineapple, chile de arbol salsa)
- estilo baja (beer battered fish of the day, mexican style cole slaw chipotle aioli)
- camaron shrimp (avocado, roasted garlic-chile chipotle mojo)

They were all really good and it was hard to pick a favorite. I think meena really liked the camaron the best. I was a fan of the pastor. It was a bit too salty, but the spice and the pork were really fantastic. I ripped off a photo from New York Mag and they, like us, had the estilo baja. Really delicious.

YUK


So I tried another experiment in slow cooking and this one pretty much failed miserably. I roasted a big hunk of beef (I don't remember the exact cut) and it came out really tough. No miracles (as promised in the LA Times article) occurred.

So we just tore it up and mixed it with some barbecue sauce for sandwiches. I didn't really like it at all last night. Although I'm sitting here eating another for lunch and it's surprisingly much better. Who knows why. But yeah. It's actually pretty good!

Anyway, I'm not even going to report ingredients and stuff. Not worth it.

We'll do better soon. I promise. Due to the warm weather, we'll probably go out to eat tonight. Soak up some of that outdoor dining we've been missing so!

4.22.2007

GETTING IT STARTED


This morning, Meena threw together a WONDERFUL breakfast to get Sunday started right. She made a run to Whole Foods and picked up some delicious ingredients.

The sandwiches included:
- canadian bacon
- tomato
- homemade pesto
- egg
- chives
- sambal oelek
- milk
- salt
- pepper
- sharp cheddar

Simply wonderful.

SLOW DOWN


I read this article about slow cooking in the LA Times and thought it sounded like a fun idea. Given the laundry list of positives they listed, I didn't feel like I had much choice. The LA Times basically FORCED us to cook food slowly at low temperatures.

We figured we'd start with the salmon recipe. The total running time was actually not that insane and well ... we love salmon.

Nothing much to report on the salmon prep. Just some olive oil, salt and pepper. The spinach mix that accompanied the fish included:
- spinach
- shiitake mushrooms
- pine nuts
- homemade pesto
- sesame oil

The fish was good. Meena didn't like it that much. I thought it was OK. The article was up front about times and temps being different for every oven and that experimentation was necessary. I think we'd leave the fish much longer than 30 minutes. Something like 50 is probably better. The spinach mix was really nice though. Excellent flavor and it went well with the salmon.

4.21.2007

DINER




James and D had us out to Williamsburg on Saturday afternoon to explore the hood and get some delicious lunch at Diner. The day was perfect and the porch at Diner was about as good a place to eat as any I'd seen.

The only real negative was the jerk who was waiting on us. I'm not sure who told him he had the right to be totally pretentious. I mean, he was serving hamburgers. I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but I guess he was so I suppose I'm within my right.

Anyway, the food was great. I can't remember what kind of chicken sandwich James had, but D, Meena and I all had a delicious hamburger. I think they both had cheese. I just stuck with the grass fed beef. And we had home fries because oddly, french fries ARE NOT served at BRUNCH! That was his line. Not ours

Fantastic! Williamsburg, our burgers, James and Diana!

STEAK N' EGG


I got up early (not that early, but it seemed early for a Saturday when the clock struck 9:45) and immediately had cooking on my mind. I immediately started to think about something with salmon. Then went to some thoughts of smoked salmon. I flirted with Canadian bacon. I even gave spinach a little attention. But in the end, I landed on steak and eggs and Meena was more than happy to follow my lead.

So we ran over to a very empty Whole Foods and picked up the extras we needed to get this thing done. When we got home, I started on a quick pesto:
- basil
- parmesan
- pine nuts
- olive oil
- garlic
- salt
- pepper
- white vinegar

Then I just salted and peppered a nice little piece of sirloin fillet and seared it up on the pan. Once the meat had rested and been sliced, I fried a couple eggs (very poorly ... they came out crazy ugly for some reason ... normally I'm much better) and gave it all a home on one of our pristine white plates.

Cup of coffee. Beautiful girlfriend. Breakfast is served.

BEFORE DINNER



Tonight we decided the end of a long week called for a trip to Lil' Frankies for some pizza and baby meatballs. I won't bore you with the details of another delicious Frankies evening, but I will give you some insight into the starters we enjoyed with some cava prior to setting out for our delicious evening.

Meena picked up some beautiful shrimp from Whole Foods and we really kicked things into high gear with those.

Then I made some salmon treats with the reminder of the fish from the previous evening:
- pita crisps
- salmon
- cucumber
- sour cream
- sambal oelek
- thyme

The shrimp cocktail was out of control good. I mean. It's shrimp cocktail. What's not to like? And the salmon things were ok. Maybe a little more bland than I would have hoped. But good. No doubt.

4.20.2007

FRUTTI DI MARE



We were rockin' straight seafood last night. Meena made a quick trip to Whole Foods before I got home to pick up some salmon and shrimp for an East Village seafood extravaganza.

Quick note about Whole Foods: I like it. I like it for the fish. I like it for the meat. But Gracefully, I love you. I'll be back to get all my other weird stuff from you. Just sayin'. Gracefully has always been there for me and I'm gonna keep going back.

Back to the food. Meena whipped together a delicious (and beautiful, right?) shrimp cocktail:
- shrimp
- cocktail sauce
- lemon
- thyme (for garnish)

Immediately following the starter, Meena went to work on some wasabi mashed potatoes:
- yukon golds
- wasabi powder
- cream
- butter

And then we did a wonderful salmon dish:
- salmon
- seaweed
- onion
- red bell pepper
- rice vinegar
- salt
- pepper
- sambal oelek
- sesame seeds

The potatoes and fish were wonderful together. This is an old recipe for us by now, but it's worth noting a subtle change: no mushrooms. We normally do shiitakes, but because we didn't have any, we just substituted red pepper and onion - to agreeable results, if you ask me. They are two different flavors, for sure, but this worked very well also. That vinegar pop with the slightly fiery wasabi? Wonderful.

4.19.2007

LAST CLASS MISHMASH




Quite the mishmash theme as of late, eh? Well, tonight was my last class up at the School of Visual Arts and I needed to stick around after class to have my portfolio reviewed by my professor.

Knowing I'd be a bit late, Meena decided to do her own dinner thing and run out with Mr. Daniel to have some dinner at Lil' Frankies. True to form, Miss Meena did her thing with the rigatoni and baby meatballs.

Because she wasn't quite able to finish the whole thing this evening, her leftovers were the core of my dinner! And it was wonderful! Delicious meatballs and wonderful rigatoni. I need to figure out what it is they do with their meatballs. There's something. It's almost ... smokey. I love it.

I also threw together a couple quick bites based on Meena's appetizer from last night:
- baguette
- spinach spread
- white onion
- sambal oelek
- pepper

Nice and spicy. Creamy and delicious. I finished the whole thing off with a bite of the strawberry and chardonnay sorbet. Amazing bites for a night with Meena and LOST!

4.18.2007

FLEX SOME MUSSELS




I'm not entirely sure why we thought it was cool for Meena to have mussels mere hours after she went to the doctor with stomach problems ... but whatever. We live on the edge. And we saw a really lovely recipe on one of our favorite new blogs (Last Night's Dinner) and just had to give a modified version a whirl. That and Meena really wanted to give the new Whole Foods a shot.

Meena got a little starter going before I got home that featured:
- baguette
- spinach dip (from Whole Foods)
- virginia ham

And then we did the mussels with:
- mussels
- thai sausage
- green onion
- white onion
- red bell pepper
- beer

We topped the whole thing off with some herb dusted frozen fries Meena picked up at Whole Foods.

Not bad. The starter was really tasty. Meena wasn’t a huge fan, but I liked it a lot.

I liked the thai sausage in the mussels. It made the whole thing warm and spicy. And the fries, for frozen stuff, were great.

The whole thing was really enjoyable. I think we'll do mussels from Whole Foods again very soon.

4.16.2007

FINGER SANDWICHES




The stomachache Meena had last night grew into a pain that kept her home from work today. So yeah. Dinner wasn't her primary concern tonight. She needed something to eat, though, so I decided I'd cook something and just try to keep it simple.

We have a new Whole Foods around the corner so I thought I'd give it a whirl on the way home from work. It's nice. No doubt. Plagued by the same lines and commotion they have in Union Square though. I think I'll go for meat and fish, but I doubt I'll be hitting it all the time. Gracefully will never have lines like the ones I was in tonight.

Anyway, I picked up a couple supplies for a little grilled cheese and soup spread.

The sandwiches had:
- gruyere
- dill pickles
- black forest ham
- whole wheat bread

The soup included:
- white onion
- portabella mushroom
- red bell pepper
- garlic
- chicken broth
- skim milk
- tomato paste
- tandori spice mix
- balsamic vinegar
- green onion
- salt

I think everything was pretty good tonight. I probably used too much gruyere. I know. Who knew that was even possible, right? But yeah. Should have used less. They were totally delicious. Don't get me wrong. Just a little TOO cheesy.

The soup was pretty good. It had a bit of a Southwest flavor. I think I should have chopped the mushrooms a little smaller. Meena didn't seem to think it was a problem, but I think it might have helped.

Anyway, not bad tonight. Not great. But not bad at all. Hopefully bean will feel better tomorrow and we can get all crazy with something else fun in the kitchen!

4.15.2007

RAINY DAY MISHMASH



New York was disgusting today. It has been raining (hard!) all day long. I even heard thunder a while ago. And anyone who has ever walked around in NYC when it's pouring knows there are few places on earth more disgusting. There are puddles. It smells. Usually your umbrella gets blown around and inverted. Horrible.

So to combat that misery, we decided to go with some really simple comfort food. Sandwiches, soup and a couple extras. Nothing better.

The sandwich featured:
- micro greens
- whole wheat bread
- homemade mustard
- mayo
- sambal oelek
- black forest ham
- hickory smoked turkey

Meena also heated up some delicious creamy tomato soup from one of those fancy paper box soup containers. It's funny that for some reason, the paper box is considered high end. Cans are so five minutes ago. Seriously.

To make sure I was totally fat by the end of this one, I also heated up the leftover crabcake from last night's dinner and threw on a side of seaweed salad from Gracefully. Man. I love seaweed salad. It's amazing.

Excellent little Sunday dinner. Perfect for rainy nights at home with Meena and Tony Soprano.

RUBBER CHICKEN






I'm sorry dudes. I really wanted to make something nice for James and Diana, but with last night's main course ... I failed. Miserably. We had some great food. No doubt. But the main course was a massive train wreck. So. I'm sorry. So very, very sorry.

At any rate, James and Diana came over and that was tons of fun. They brought us these really nice plates (pictured with the crab cakes above) and engaged us in lots of lively conversation. Lots of fun.

Meena got us started with some pretty prosecco cocktails:
- sugar
- strawberries
- prosecco

And then she wowed the whole room with delicious crab cakes:
- crab
- panko
- egg
- red pepper
- white onion
- old bay seasoning
- worchestershire sauce
- mayo

We also served the cakes with a little sauce that featured:
- light mayo
- greek yogurt
- roasted red pepper
- sambal oelek
- sugar
- salt

I also threw together a little salad:
- micro greens
- olive oil
- smoked turkey
- apple
- cucumber
- greek yogurt
- garlic
- lemon
- salt
- pepper

And the previously mentioned main course disaster:
- rubber chicken
- red wine
- mushrooms
- carrots
- chicken broth
- bacon
- garlic
- onions

Meena also mashed up some potatoes to help salvage the meal:
- yukon golds
- cream
- chives
- butter

We closed the door on the meal with some gelato:
- green tea white chocolate
- strawberry chardonnay
- wafer cookie
- mint

So even if the main course wasn't up to par, the evening was a rousing success. It's always fun to have James and Di over. They're so much fun and we just really enjoy chatting and hanging out with them.

Next time we'll just make sure the chicken isn't made of rubber. Maybe we'll try beef next time?

4.14.2007

PURGE THE FRIDGE


After a few bottles of wine and some lively chatting, Dan just decided that Park Slope was going to be an unnecessary journey last night. So we got the air mattress inflated and it was just like the old days!

Once we all managed to return to the land of the living this morning, I got started on a quick breakfast. We didn't have much, but fortunately, I fell asleep before our late night snack delivery arrived and there was an untouched gyro sandwich waiting for us in the fridge!

So I got everything started with some potatoes:
- yukon gold potatoes
- white onion
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- garlic

Then I toasted some of the pita for a little crunchy base:
- pita
- olive oil
- smoked paprika

And finally threw together some gyro eggs:
- eggs
- gyro contents (gyro meat, cucumber, red onion, tomato)
- tomato sauce
- garlic
- chives

It didn't look especially appetizing, but it actually seemed to go over rather well. Dan isn't a picky eater, but he does have his opinions about certain things. So when he gladly knocked back the contents of his plate, I felt like that was basically the gold star. I know Meena enjoyed hers. And there's nothing in there that I don't like.

Delicious start to the day. Now it's time to hit the farmer's market and enjoy the NYC sunshine!

DIDN'T TASTE LIKE GARBAGE


This one isn't a true garbage pasta. We actually went to the store to buy anchovies with this one in mind. So garbage it was not. But delicious it most certainly was.

Dan was coming over for some drinks and lighthearted conversation, so before Herr Strassburger ran by we needed to load up on carbs. And after a long and boring workweek, we thought something easy was going to be the best bet. This little number featured:
- spaghetti
- red wine
- garlic
- mushrooms
- anchovies
- spinach
- panko
- parmesan
- olive oil

Again, simple ingredients, simple prep, totally delicious. Meena even asked for more when we were done (there wasn't any, sadly).

The thing I like about throwing some panko in the mix at the last minute is how it seems to really pull everything together. It gives the whole dish a creamy feeling without using lots of cheese or milk. Anyway, it's no great secret. I'm just saying. That's all.

And the mushrooms cooked in wine and garlic were really wonderful. The only thing that was a little aggressive was the anchovy level. I should have used just a touch less. But we both really like them. No harm done.

Long live the impromptu pasta!

4.13.2007

COQ


We're having James and Diana over this weekend and because we've never really cooked for them before, we decided we needed a trial run before the big night. So Thursday night our kitchen became the coq au vin test lab.

We scoured the internutz for recipes and it was really comical. There were really hard ones. Really easy ones. Basically, everyone and their brother has weighed in on this recipe. So we decided on a mix of about four of them and got to work. The dish included:
- chicken
- red wine
- carrots
- mushrooms
- bacon
- pearl onions
- chicken broth
- salt
- pepper

And Meena whipped up some mashed potatoes that included:
- potatoes
- cream
- butter
- salt
- pepper
- garlic

The bottom line was that this thing has fantastic flavor. Sadly, the presentation was horrible. So I think we're set for Saturday. We are going to make a couple tweaks and I have a mental image of how I think the thing should be presented. I'm feeling good. We're ready!

4.11.2007

GARBAGE PASTA


Honestly, I should probably make a garbage category. I do this so often and to be perfectly honest, it's one of the best things I do. I mean, I don't want to toot my own horn, but honk, honk, baby. Dinner tonight was really good. Plain and simple.

So for a little post-class quick meal, Alec threw together:
- spaghetti
- pork tenderloin
- spinach
- garlic
- panko
- parmesan
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- cayenne pepper
- dried basil

I mean, there's nothing special going on there. And I guess that's probably why it was so damn good. It was simple. It was filling. It was spicy, creamy and every so slightly tangy. Meena had a couple bites and after a quick discussion, I think we determined that garbage pasta dishes will definitely be making a comeback in this kitchen.