Planning for a last minute dinner, we did our meat shopping at Harlem Shambles, a boutique butcher with several locations around New York City. Asking about the different cuts of meat, the butcher talked me into beef cheeks. I owe those butchers a big thanks, as those beef cheeks led a French-inspired menu that left each guest with a happy belly and a smiling face.
Ceviche to me is like sushi, albeit marinated or cooked with citrus and chilies. My first exposure to ceviche was in Ecuador. Looking back at it, this version is a shrimp "cocktail" style. I believe that the Ecuadorians fear raw fish, which explains a a short semi-cooking or longer marinade in salt and lime. With chiles less a common condiment than mustard and ketchup, it's less spicy.
For garnishes, Peruvians use corn and sweet potatoes, whereas Ecuador prefer plantain chips, popcorn and there is various Asian immigrant influences including Nikkei (Japanese) and and Chifa (Chinese) flavors. Peruvian restaurants such as Brooklyn's Llama Inn are my go-to Peruvian cervice place. But with Covid limiting us to take-out, I prepared an at-home Peruvian styled corvina fish classic, which resulted in awesome depths of textures and taste.
A classic patisserie item found at any bakery in France, Canelé Bordelaise have now gone global, showing up as ubiquitous at all of New York City's high end pastry shops. They consist of a batter basically made from sweetened milk, eggs, flour, and sugar, then baked in striated copper molds that delivers a crunchy crust that is perfect against the pastry's custard center.
While I had seen them on previous visits to France, it was only in recent years that I started to enjoy them. And so on my last visit, I bought some molds to try baking some at home. Here's my first effort, bees wax seasoning and all..
Gluten free bread was never my big interest though I've played around with minor success, but I did not run back to it. That's until recently when a childhood friend commented on my bread photos, saying she'd love to try some but both she and her daughter are celiac and gluten-sensitive. I offered to research and send her a loaf, she demurely declined but told me to try it...and I did
First I sought out advise from other bakers who could help me approach gluten-free breads in my own sourdough nuance. I actually found a source from a book by Thomas-Treffi Chambelland,and sourdough using a rice levain, which mine turned into a Frankenstein tweaked buckwheat rice combination. It was a satisfying experience, with the crumb structure and pleasant mouth feel and flavor a wonderful surprise.
On my daily Covid-isolation walkabouts around New York City, I ended up trying multiple smoothie shops, none of which much brought delight. But recently I found a local grocery store whose "smoothie barista" whipped up a couple of deliciously healthy renditions that had me hooked. Who knew that nut butters, nut milk and kale would be that delicious?
I conspicuously snapped a photo of the menu to start making my own at home. Below is a shot of a recent batch, this one called Mr. Green, I ad libbed the name from the musician Frank Zappa. It was good to be reminded that kale is not just a sucky trend but actually tastes good, too.
Mr. Green formula: Kale-spinach-mango-banana-peanut butter-cashew milk....pop into a Vitamix blender.
Thai cuisine is a perfect harmony of spices and fragrances that aren't so hard to achieve at home, as I found out recently. Using Narumol Chinsomboon's book on Easy Thai cooking, along with a recipe for green curry paste from Queens Thai restaurant, Khao Kang, I was able to create a deeply perfumed dish at home. I was helped by tracking down the ingredients at a local Thai grocery, including ka, makrut, and kra Chai - all key to that rich essence.
A friend recently asked me how to clean a Bialetti moka stove pot coffee maker. Maybe he got the idea of my expertise from photos featuring me and Italian food guru Domenico Bianco. He was kind enough to introduce me to moka afternoon rituals, teaching me the richness that surrounds drinking caffe Italiano.
Getting it right includes the brand of coffee bean, as well as the almost-ceremonial elements around working with the two part-moka stove, as well as brewing the actual moka. Finally there's the cleaning; note it is never done with soap or, worse, a modern dishwasher. Either would damage the patina achieved in usage. It's a bit like a cast iron pot, age giving the moka pot more life, not less.
Wanting to try a bag of pricey Swiss coffee, myself, I decided to do some maintenance on my moka after noticing I'd fused my rubber gasket into its inner workings. Care for my moka....I did.
Adapting recipes to sourdough, I came upon this for a classic baguette Viennoise. It's a breakfast bread or savory-filled roll you can find at boulangeries and cafes in France. It's a butter enriched and soft crumb sweet bread, but fill it with ham and some butter and cheese, it's lunch or picnic fare. In France they call it "partager la go," a classic kid snack when filled with chocolate. I like mine a bit more robust.
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