eat make read

Uuuummmm….I’m kind of thinking it may be time to try a new ice cream recipe. I’m thinking either Butterscotch or Guiness Milk Chocolate. Don’t they look delicious?

images via davidlebowitz.com and smittenkitten.com

Sometimes I see a recipe and I’m so enamored by the way it looks that I feel like I have to make it. That’s what happened when I saw this recipe for Beet & Beet Greens Risotto on Design Sponge. I’ve never had risotto or beets before, but I’ve wanted to try risotto for awhile now and the beets just looked so dang pretty that I felt compelled. I gathered all the ingredients and set out to make this dish for lunch last weekend. Overall the recipe was pretty easy to make, although I did get a little caught up chopping ingredients when I should have been stirring. But besides that minor issue, I pulled it off with only a few glitches. I didn’t have parsley, but I did have cilantro, so I added that instead. I know they’re different tastes, but i figured since I like cilantro so much it wouldn’t hurt. I don’t think it did. Also, the thought of adding horseradish to anything makes me shiver so I just added some ricotta instead.

I think the end result was ok. I was hoping there would be more flavor or something. I think I’d make it again, but I’d use it as a side dish to something else. It just didn’t do it as a whole meal. But hey, I tried two new things with one recipe. Pretty good.

I’ve been really into blueberries lately. I had the urge to bake some scones and I was really close to adding dried cranberries to them, but then at the last minute I realized I had frozen blueberries in the freezer and that was that. I also added the zest of one lemon to them which added a nice subtle flavor.

I have to tell you a little trick I learned from Martha… hopefully it’s new to you. When you’re making biscuits or scones, the recipe often calls for you to roll out the dough and then cut it with a cookie cutter. Well, instead of doing all that, you can just roll the dough into a tube shape and then cut 1/2 inch slices from it and you have the same thing. Once I had done this, I popped them in the oven and about 15 minutes later they came out golden and glorious. They had a nice crisp outside and a crumbly inside, just the way I like them.

I roughly followed this recipe, my changes are below

Blueberry Scones
1/2 cup heavy cream plus additional for brushing the scones
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons sugar plus additional for sprinkling the scones
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup blueberries
zest from 1 lemon

1
In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup of the cream, the egg, the vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar until the mixture is combined well.
2
In another bowl stir together the flour, the salt, the baking powder, and the baking soda and blend in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3
Stir in the blueberries, lemon zest and the cream mixture with a fork until the mixture just forms a sticky but manageable dough.
4*
Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface for 30 seconds, pat it into a On an ungreased baking sheet brush the scones with the additional cream and sprinkle them with the additional sugar. Bake the scones in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden.

I’m so in love with all of these new fangled delivery truck businesses that keep popping up. They make walking down any old street exciting because you never know when you’re going to run into a wafle and dinge mobile or equally as exciting, the Treats Truck. Yup, you read right. As we were walking home from the Greenmarket last weekend we spotted it parked near the corner of 8th ave and Union. There’s no way I could just walk by without indulging, so Aaron and I agreed that a Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich was the way to go. We were so right! The cookies were soft and a little crumbly and the peanut butter filling was awesome!

You can look here to see if the Treats Truck is going to be in your neighborhood or you can just be surprised.

We visited Cheryl’s Global Soul for the second time and it proved that everything deserves a second chance. I won’t go into detail about our first visit, but let’s just say we left thirsty and angry, but full of good food. So this time when we arrived, we weren’t quite sure what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised that we were quickly seated by a delightful host.

We ordered two mixed drinks to start… it was that kind of day. I had a ginger concoction and aaron had a jamaican punch, both of which hit the spot and showed us that this meal was going to be a good one. To begin the meal we ordered Thai Coconut Curry Mussels. A generous portion arrived at our table and we gave them a taste… Yum! For dinner I stuck with the seafood theme and ordered Creole BBQ Jumbo Shrimp with mashed potatoes and wilted greens. Can I tell you how amazingly delicious they were? The whole plate was covered with the creamy, spicy creole BBQ that was the perfect dipping sauce for the shrimp and mashed potatoes. The greens were kind of overshadowed by the shrimp and potatoes. Aaron ordered one of their nightly specials, a 1-inch thick pork chop topped with mango chutney with a side of roasted potatoes and french green beans. It kind of makes my mouth water just writing it. He made a really good choice. The mango chutney added a nice, fresh flavor to the juicy pork. The potatoes and green beans were a nice pairing as well. The portions for both meals were really big… we both ended up taking food home because we couldn’t bear leaving any of it behind.

The location is a little out of the way, but it’s pretty close to the Brooklyn Museum and the Botanic Garden. We’ll definitely be heading back that way soon.

I’ve been wanting to make a cordial for awhile now, but I haven’t been able to decide what fruit I want to use. Then I saw a bag of key limes at the store the other day and decided that they would be it. I’ve never made a cordial and I didn’t really feel like getting special ingredients, so I searched and searched until I found a very basic recipe. I modified it a little by using limes instead of oranges and I added a few slices, which was probably the wrong thing to do. I have to let it do it’s thing for awhile, so it’s just sitting in our pantry but hopefully it will be worth the wait. I’m hoping in a few weeks I’ll be able to whip up some key lime martinis or maybe just a simple key lime vodka tonic. I’ll let you know how that works out for me… fingers crossed.

Enjoy your weekend!

We stopped by Weather Up last night to see what all the talk is about. The space is cozy & beautiful, with subway tiles covering the facade and ceiling. We only ordered one drink, but both Aaron and I were pretty impressed by the presentation and taste. I must say, I’ve never really noticed the ice in my drinks before, but both of our drinks had different shaped ice cubes that seemed to be made especially for our particular drink. I ordered a Dark & Stormy that was super tasty and came in a tall glass with a tall thin ice cube. Aaron ordered an Old Fashioned that was a bit strong (but good) and came in a short glass with a short, wide ice cube. They even used cool metal straw/stirrers that looked like the mirror instrument your dentist uses. My pockets aren’t deep enough to make Weather Up a regular drinking hole, but I’m excited to have a new, fancy drinking place in the neighborhood.

It’s been a pretty lazy week concerning cooking on my part. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I roasted a chicken last weekend when Aaron’s parents were in town and lucky for us we had lots of leftovers. I need mexican food at least once a week, so on my way home from work the other night I picked up some ingredients that I could use to make some guacamole and figured I’d improvise and use the same ingredients to make dinner. I ended up tossing some jalepeno, garlic, onion, cilantro, a dried chile and chicken broth (made from the roast) in the food processor and in minutes I had a tasty sauce to cover my leftover chicken. I sprinkled a little cheese on top and Aaron whipped up some delicious guacamole to top off the tacos and shazam… dinner was made. Super easy and delicious.

Yummy Cilantro Sauce

A handful of cilantro
1/4 cup chicken broth
half a jalepeño pepper
half a small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 small dried red pepper

1
Toss all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
2
In a sautee pan, pour sauce over cooked chicken. Heat for a few minutes.
3
Put meat in tortilla shells and top with your favorite ingredients like guacamole or cheese or whatever floats your boat.

oh boy! I visited St. Marks Bookshop recently and picked up a handful of exciting magazines. They have such an awesome selection of food-related magazines and journals, I restrained myself by only getting 3.

I’ve been looking forward to reading the next issue of Diner Journal, so that one was a given. This issues topics are Goats•Gods•Gays, sounds exciting! It also has a great graphic in the back that I’ve shown above that was created by attaching a drawing implement to a kitchen aid mixer. The next journal I spotted was one I’ve never seen before named meatpaper, the journal of meat culture. I was drawn to the nice typography and giggle-worthy photo of a midwestern looking couple holding a pile of ground meat. It’s filled with interesting and insightful articles like “The Urban Farmer, Do Animals survive by dying?”. Plus the endpapers are images of ground meat and it’s totally weird and awesome at the same time. Then just as I was about to walk to the register, I spotted the new Metropolis that features two of my favorite things cooking and design, “How the Best American Chefs Design Their Spaces”. Alice Waters is pictured on the cover and is featured in the cover article, “The Art of the Kitchen with Alice Waters”.

I haven’t really dived into any of them yet, but I’m looking forward to relaxing and reading up. I’ll let you know how it goes.

So once I bought the ricotta cheese at the Brooklyn Flea, I had to figure out what to pair it with. I was pretty set on dessert, since I’d already planned out dinner. When I got to the grocery store I was immediately drawn to the strawberries. I know it’s not prime season for them, but these ones were normal sized and bright red and I just couldn’t resist. Then some beautiful rhubarb caught my eye and I decided to get a little crazy and combine the two.

When I got home I sliced the strawberries and rhubarb and made a nice little compote. I thought there should be some kind of base for the fruit and cheese, so I whipped up some simple biscuits from the Joy of Cooking. When everything was done, I just spooned some of the compote over a plain biscuit and topped it off with the ricotta cheese. Pure delight! The compote was so refreshing.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
1 pint strawberries, sliced
4 stalks Rhubarb, chopped into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water

1
Toss the rhubarb, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium high heat.
2
Cook for about 5 minutes or until rhubarb is soft
3
Remove from heat and add strawberries
4
Chill until served.