Recipe: Silky Zucchini Soup

Silky Zucchini Soup
Food and Wine Magazine, July 2014, p. 120
5 stars

I have to admit that I doubted Chef Grant Achatz's* recipe. The recipe calls for just 8 ingredients (which includes salt and pepper):

1. Zucchini
2. Garlic
3. Onion
4. Vegetable stock
5. Butter
6. Olive oil
7. Salt
8. Pepper

It was absolutely delicious, is very healthy and was so simple to make.  Our Vitamix played a part in this, producing a super silky yet creamy soup consistency.  I wish we had made the full recipe instead of half; I wanted more!

*Grant Achatz is the chef of Alinea in Chicago which has 3 Michelin stars.  Check out all of their accolades.  This is a restaurant I would love to dine at in the next few years.

Recipe: Bouchon Bakery's Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies

Update!  Here is what 150g cookies look like.
Note the quarter in the middle so you can see
how huge these cookies are.

Bouchon Bakery, p.34-35
Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies
5 stars

This is THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE EVER!!!!
Soft, chewy, chocolatey.  Perfect.

Two super interesting things about this recipe:

• It uses dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and molasses (unsulfured blackstrap molasses which I found in our regular grocery store).
• These cookies are supposed to be HUGE.  150 grams of dough ball huge.  In fact, the recipe states, "The cookies are very large; bake only 3 on each pan."  I opted for the smaller cookie variant which is stated as 75 grams each.  They're still very large as you can see in the photo above.

Note/tip:

• Bake time of 17 min in a standard oven was perfect for the smaller version of the cookie.

Restaurant: Lark on the Park

Lark on the Park
2 stars

What a huge disappointment.  Great location, hip/contemporary interior, good drink menu, BUT . . .

• The worst service I've had in a long time.  
• The restaurant was more than half empty on a Tuesday night, and yet it took over an hour to get our entrees.  Note:  We were a 4-top, not a large party.  Our dining experience was 2 hours and 45 min.
• The server was unenthused;  he didn't acknowledge me when I was seated (while waiting for the rest of the party) and wasn't helpful giving recommendations.

• The food is average and overpriced for what it is.  Nothing was amazing.  Flavors are all one-dimensional, bland.  Plus:
• Two of us ordered scallops which had sand in them.
• One ordered the gnocchi which was underwhelming, and the peppercorn she bit into burned her throat.

• And don't fall for the Valhrona Dark Chocolate Frozen Souffle which we thought was going to be the highlight at the end of the meal.
• First of all, it should be spelled "macarons" -- I don't even remember seeing macarons on the dessert.
• We expected the dish to look or be presented like a souffle.  It was basically a chocolate semifreddo cut into 2 triangles -- "souffle" is a complete misnomer.

Usually, I'll a try a restaurant three times before I say I'll never go back.  Every restaurant can have a "bad" night;  however, I'm going to pass on  going back to this one.  Too many elements were off that night.

Here is what we ordered:

• Antipasto Board:  burrata, Prosciutto di Parma, roasted apricots, pistachios  13
• Curry Pillows:  potato, onion, cilantro-ginger, radish    10
• Johnson's Farms Lettuces:  fennel, radish, lemon, arbequina  8
• Seared Scallops:  corn sformato, heirloom cherry tomatoes, pistou, opal basil  29
• Gnocchi alla Norma:  roasted Japanese egglplant, heirloom tomatoes, garlic, ricotta salata 23
• Grilled Texas Hanger Steak:  Homestead Mills blue polenta, oven roasted tomatoes, peperonata, poached egg 29
• Butterscotch Blondie Coupe:  vanilla bean ice cream, blondies, butterscotch, chocolate sauce, toffee  9
• Valrhona Dark Chocolate Frozen Souffle:  graham cracker macaroons, toasted marshmallow fluff, hot fudge  9

What 3 restaurants would you like to dine at?

The question posed at dinner was, "If money were no object, what 3 restaurants would you love to dine at besides The French Laundry?"

Me: 

• Alinea
• Meadowood
• Per Se

If I could add on to this, I'd also say:  Momofuku and Tompolobampo.

Blog contributor the grandcruman's choices:

• Alinea
• Le Bernadin
• Joel Robuchon
• Sukiyabashi Jiro (the 10-seat sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway station documented in Jiro Dreams of Sushi)

And you?  What would your choices be?

Recipe: Bouchon Bakery's Devil's Food Cake

Blog contributor the grandcruman surprised me one day and gave me Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery book.  So sweet!  (Maybe it was a hint that he wants me to bake more!)

Wanting cake, I made my first recipe out of the book -- the Devil's Food Cake on p.116.  As you can see, I used mini bundt pans (aren't they cute?!).

It was pretty good, but here are some thoughts:

• The recipe says that it should take about 10 minutes to bake.  It took more like 18 min.  At 10 min, it was nowhere near being done.  I checked on it every 2 min, so beware of the timing.
• I was shocked by how little batter it produced.  I was able to make 4 mini bundt cakes plus 1.5 cupcakes.
• Originally, I had planned to make the Palet d'Or which is the recipe right next to this one in the book and uses the Devil's Food Cake along with chocolate mousse and a chocolate glaze.  At some point, I'll make the cake -- I just didn't have time to run out and get silver sheet gelatin.  (I didn't even know silver sheet gelatin existed.)
• The cake itself is ok.  It's a good consistency and has pretty good chocolate flavor, but it NEEDS the chocolate ganache that I drizzled over it -- as well as ice cream which we added.  I think the Ina Garten chocolate cake recipe actually tastes better on its own.  Sorry TK!

More baking to come from this book!

Recipe: Creamy Chicken and Spinach Pasta

Urgh, I forgot to take a photo of this one!

Creamy Chicken and Spinach Pasta
Real Simple, Dec 2012, p.206
4 stars

A LONG while back, someone gave me their issue of Real Simple Magazine and I tore this recipe out of it.  It looked like a good, fast, weeknight meal.  It was!

Ingredients include:  a short pasta, chicken, baby spinach, frozen peas, garlic, butter, heavy cream, Kosher salt, black pepper and grated Parmesan

Super simple.  REAL simple.  And lots of leftovers.

Tips:

• We added red pepper
• Because we wanted to get more veggies in the dish, we also added broccoli

Recipe: Garden Salad Tacos

A close-up of the colorful
vegetable-and-herb salad

We used wheat tortillas and
added some fajita steak and avocado

Garden Salad Tacos

Food and Wine Magazine, June 2014, p. 129

5 stars!

I've not eaten at Chef Alice Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, but from what I've heard and read about her, this dish is a great example of her philosophy -- fresh, healthy (and "clean") food that tastes amazing.

When I read the ingredient list and recipe, my thought was, "How good could this be?  Sounds too simple and a little blah.  Well, we need to eat healthy and need a quick recipe for a weekday dinner, so let's try this out."

My expectations were surpassed by tenfold.  This is a VERY flavorful dish with lots of texture/crunch -- plus, it's extremely healthy!

Main ingredients include:  tortillas, Monterey Jack cheese, mixed baby greens, fennel, carrot, radishes, cilantro

Ingredients for the dressing:  extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, ground cumin and Kosher salt

Perhaps I should invest in an Alice Waters cookbook. . .

Drink Recipe: Strawberry-Basil-Aperol-St-Germain-Champagne Cocktail

These days, our mentality is -- why go out and spend $10 on a cocktail when we can make it at home with our own booze?  2 people, 2 drinks each plus food is a minimum of $50.

Well, that thought turned into a fun trip to our favorite liquor store where we bought some provisions, one of which was a bottle of St-Germain elderflower liqueur.  The bottle is a beauty!

Interestingly, I wasn't a fan of St-Germain about 4 years ago, but the popularity of the liqueur in drinks (and perhaps a change in my taste buds) has changed my mind about its flowery taste and smell.  It smells a little bit like lychee to me.

I created a drink inspired by a cocktail I saw on the people's last stand bar + bistro's menu.  It was called la bonne fille meaning "The good girl" - Classy, bright and sweet but when it's finished, she leaves with just a touch of bitterness.

• Squeeze 1/4 of a grapefruit into a glass
• Add 2 sliced strawberries and 6 basil leaves and muddle them with the grapefruit juice
• Add 1 oz Aperol
• Add 1/2 oz of St-Germain
• Fill the glass with ice
• Top with sparkling wine
• Pour back and forth into a mixing tin and the glass a couple of times

Enjoy!

Recipe: Soft Polenta with Mixed Mushrooms and Gremolata

Soft Polenta with Mixed Mushrooms and Gremolata
Food and Wine Magazine, Oct 2013
4 stars

We made this recipe as our main entree for dinner, although, this could easily be a nice side dish!

Ingredients include:  polenta, mixed mushrooms, young greens (like spinach, kale or pea shoots), flat-leaf parsley, garlic, lemon zest, extra-virgin olive oil, butter, salt & pepper, mascarpone cheese.

Notes:

• Didn't use flat leaf parsley
• Used kale
• Added red pepper flakes
• Added a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon when serving
• Topped it with an egg (over-easy)

Easy and healthy.  Another vegetarian dish!

Recipe: Caprese Pasta

This dish doesn't have a recipe that I'm linking to since we threw it together on Friday night, and uh, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that it was inspired by a Buca di Beppo dish.  As I've mentioned before, I subscribe to at least 20 restaurant e-mail clubs for work purposes.  Buca di Beppo, in general, doesn't have the best food photography and I'm not a fan of their restaurant at all (their food is so bland); however, their Penne alla Caprese actually looked pretty good and fresh when I saw their e-mail come through on Friday!

Buca di Beppo's Penne alla Caprese

We created a dish for dinner with the same components, and it turned out great.

• Sauteed some garlic and red pepper in olive oil and then added halved grape tomatoes.
• Added cooked pasta to the pan.
• Served it in a shallow bowl, topping it with diced fresh mozzarella, basil, black olives, fresh Parmesan, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt.

Recipe: Grilled-Pork Bahn Mi

Grilled Pork Banh Mi
Food and Wine Magazine, May 2012, p.135
3.7 stars

Here's our assessment of this recipe that has been in my recipe file since 2012!  It was overall good and pretty fast to make for a weekday dinner.

• Very sweet
• Needed some creaminess so we added mayo
• Added pickled carrots (using rice vinegar and sugar)
• Next time, we must toast the buns!  

Ingredients include:  rolls or baguettes, pork tenderloin, scallions, cucumber, cinlantro, garlic, Asian fish sauce, hoisin sauce, Sriracha, vegetable oil, honey, sugar, pepper

On to the next recipe. . . 

Wild Salmon

In this month's issue of Bon Appetit Magazine (June 2014), there's a nice section on wild salmon and the five types of Pacific salmon, specifically.  I tried to find the info on BonAppetit.com to link it here, but it's not online.

I'm including the info here, as reference (credit to Joanna Sciarrino who has the byline):

• Chinook:  Also known as king, its nicely fatty flesh is ideal for slow-roasting.
• Coho:  More subtle in flavor and texture than other types, it's a smaller fish, making it great for roasting or grilling whole.
• Sockeye:  Sometimes called red salmon, it has vibrant red-orange flesh and a profound flavor that stands up well to assertive seasonings.
• Pink:  It has a lower fat content and is mostly available canned.  If you find fillets, grill them.
• Chum:  Sometimes labeled dog or keta salmon, it's prized for its roe.  The comparatively low oil content of its delicately flavored flesh means it's better for smoking or for quick-cooking methods that won't dry it out, like pan-searing and grilling.

Here's more info about salmon at  BonAppetit.com

Recipe: Luau Salad

As part of my job, I read a lot about restaurants and food, and I've signed up for over 20 restaurant e-mail clubs.  Last week, The Cheesecake Factory sent an e-mail newsletter with a link to their Luau Salad recipe.

I'm not a huge fan of their restaurant, but their Luau Salad is pretty good.

We made it last weekend, and it turned out GREAT -- and I'm sure much healthier than the version that they serve in the restaurant.

The main salad ingredients include:

• Red bell pepper
• Yellow bell pepper
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Green onions
• Mixed greens
• Red onion
• Mango
• Carrots
• Macadamia nuts
• Sesame seeds

See. . .  healthy!

Now for the "unhealthy" ingredients:

• Grilled chicken (optional)
• Fried eggroll wrappers (optional)

For the dressing, I didn't make it to the exact specs of the recipe -- it called for way too much sugar!  I made it with:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• Splash of sesame oil
• Splash of seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp of sugar
• Salt & pepper

This plant-based diet (well, semi-plant based diet) isn't so bad!

Definition: Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes

What's the difference between a yam and a sweet potato?

Apparently, they're not even related according to this Huffington Post article!
And apparently, the U.S. government has perpetuated this confusion.  Here is a summary of the differences:

Sweet Potatoes

• Come in 2 varieties here in the U.S.  One has a golden skin with creamy white flesh and crumbly texture; the other has a copper skin with orange flesh that is sweet and soft.
• All are basically the same shape and size with tapered ends; they're generally much smaller than yams.
• The USDA labels the orange-fleshed ones as "yams" to distinguish them from the white fleshed variety even though they're not really yams!

Yams

• There are many varieties, but most have black bark-like skin and white, purple or reddish flesh.
• BTW, did you know that the word yam comes from an African word meaning "to eat?"

After reading the article, I've realized that I may have never had a yam . . .

Food Labels

I saw this article and wanted to share in case you've been confused about these food labels:

Confusion about food labels leads to waste, possible illnesses (CBS News)

• "Sell by date" is most important for retailers, telling them when they should take a product off the shelves. However, it does not mean that the food is no longer safe to eat.
• "Expiration date" means a product should not be eaten after the date listed; throw it out.
• "Best if used by date" refers to the quality of the product, not its safety. In short, it means that the product will maintain its maximum quality until that date, but it can still be safe to eat for a certain amount of time (depending on the kind of product) after the date has passed.

Recipe: Thai Duck and Grapefruit Salad

Thai Duck and Grapefruit Salad
Bon Appetit Magazine, Jan 2014, p. 18
5 stars

Can I eat this salad every day?  Talk about a decadent, non-boring salad!

Give it a try -- it's a restaurant quality recipe, yet is quite simple. While eating, I commented that this would be a $22 salad in a restaurant.

• The duck is seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a skillet to medium-rare
• Dressing ingredients:  garlic, fish sauce, lemon juice, ginger, sugar, olive oil
• Other salad ingredients:  scallions, cilantro, mint, grapefruit;  we added mixed greens

Bon appetit!

Recipe: Watermelon, Grapefruit, Ginger Tequila Cocktail

This is my new [and favorite] summer cocktail that I concocted this evening.

Rim 1/2 of a cocktail glass with a mix of Kosher salt and chili pepper (not seen in my photo above).

In a cocktail shaker:

• Muddle 4-5 cubes of ripe watermelon
• Add 1.5 oz of reposado tequila
• Squeeze 1/2 of a fresh grapefruit
• Add 1.5 oz ginger beer
• Add ice
• Shake and pour into a cocktail glass

Recipe: Maple-Bourbon Banana Pudding Cake

Maple-Bourbon Banana Pudding Cake
Food and Wine Magazine, Oct 2013, p. 110

I wanted, no, I NEEDED dessert one day this past week, but we had nothing in the house.  (Gingerbread M&M's don't count.)

I remembered seeing this recipe recently in my recipe folder.  Woohoo -- we had all the ingredients, and it was a "one-pot" recipe!

I whipped this up (1/2 the recipe) in about 7 minutes, and 35 min later, we had a delicious bourbon-y dessert;  even more bourbon-y with the strong bourbon whipped cream we made.

Ingredients:  butter, sugar, an overripe banana, egg, whole milk, flour, maple syrup, brown sugar, bourbon, pecans, baking powder and salt.

Not a beautiful dessert, but it was exactly what I wanted.

Recipe: Grilled Potato Salad with Scallion Vinaigrette

Grilled Potato Salad with Scallion Vinaigrette
Food and Wine Magazine, June 2014, p. 108
4 stars

Nice and easy side dish.  We don't eat a lot of potatoes, but maybe we will now after making this.  This recipe involved boiling the fingerling potatoes and then grilling them which added a nice 'grill' flavor.

To make it more of a 'salad' (we like our greens, or rather, we know greens are healthy and we should eat them), we mixed in romaine lettuce.

Ingredients:  fingerling potatoes, scallions, jalapeno, rice vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper

Recipe: Black Beans and Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa

Black Beans and Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa
Bon Appetit Magazine, Jan 2012, p. 26
4.5 stars

I've had this recipe in my recipe folder for, well, 2 years and have bypassed the recipe many many times -- not sure why.

Why didn't we make this before?!?!?

Such an easy (perfect for a weekday meal!) and super flavorful dish, and it could be made vegetarian if you leave out the chicken.

I love the black beans -- how they're cooked with garlic, chili powder, coriander, cumin and chicken broth.  This is 100x better than a Chipotle burrito bowl.

Ingredients include:  apple, cilantro, red onion, black beans, green bell pepper, rice, chicken, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, ground coriander, cumin seeds, chicken broth, vegetable oil, salt & pepper

Tips:

• I'd prefer using a sweeter apple - Fuji - next time instead of a Granny Smith
• Used yellow and red peppers along with the green bell pepper since we had them in the fridge
• Added a dollop of sour cream on top since we had some in the fridge\