Sunday, January 9, 2011

Skirt Steak Lettuce Wraps with Sweet Chili Sauce


After a long day of running errands, Alex and I decided to make some Asian lettuce wraps for lunch.  Or I decided to make them and told Alex what I was thinking.  Luckily he was completely on board.  Granted, he is almost always completely on board with my suggestions when it comes to dinner.  We had some skirt steak in the fridge that we picked up at Fairway yesterday, along with some Bibb lettuce I picked up the late last week with the vague idea of doing lettuce wraps at some point over the course of the weekend.

This was one of those meals that was best described as fairly easy to make and tasty.  No it didn't blow my mind, but it was very good and we both really enjoyed it.  I love that the ingredients are almost all ingredients that we keep in the pantry at all times.  The only ingredients we had to go out and buy in order to make this dish were the steak and the Bibb lettuce.  You could also switch out the skirt steak for any other cut of steak (modifying the cooking time appropriately), chicken, shrimp or even tofu if you're going for a vegetarian day.  If you're going to switch it out for chicken or tofu, I would marinate the tofu with soy, ginger and garlic before frying it up, rather than rubbing it with the garlic-sugar mixture we used here.  If I were to use shrimp, I would probably saute it with garlic, ginger, and s&p.  Skirt steak inherently has so much flavor that it really doesn't need much to make it delicious, but with some substitutions would require more marinating and/or seasonings.  We used the garnishes we had on hand - cilantro, fried shallots and finely chopped peanuts, but there are a number of other garnishes that I think would be delicious.  The first alternatives that come to mind are very finely minced red onion, minced water chestnuts (I really wanted to add water chestnuts for some crunch but we didn't have any in the apartment) or minced jicama.  You could also omit the garnishes entirely and still have a nice lettuce wrap, although I recommend you throw at least something in to provide some crunch for fun.

Recipe after the jump!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Cincinnati Skyline Chili


Alex has been wanting to make chili in our slow cooker for some time now.  We actually planned on making chili tonight, but we didn't have our act together early enough today to do that, so we decided to make chili on the stove top instead.  And since Alex has family in Cincinnati he wanted to make Cincinnati chili, rather than Texas style chili.  I really wanted to make a chicken chili (I had this recipe flagged), because I have never been a particularly big fan of chili (partially due to the fact that many chili recipes are chock full of beans and I am just not into kidney beans).  Granted, I think I have eaten chili a grand total of 3-4 times in my entire life and it tends to be from random ski lodges so this isn't a particularly well-informed opinion.  But I do like chicken chili.  And for some reason, I like white beans, so that might be a contributing factor in why I like chicken chili, but not beef chili.  

I still don't particularly like beef chili.  This experiment was no exception.  Sorry Alex.  It was an uphill battle from the start.  I don't really like chili, I thought that chili could not possibly be improved by the addition of cinnamon and other exotic spices like cardamom, and I thought that chili served over spaghetti just sounded weird.  Alex told me I was overthinking it.  That I should essentially think of the chili like a meat sauce served over pasta.  So I did.  And it just didn't do it for me.  I believe my response was that I have had better pasta sauces.  Alex on the other hand, did enjoy the chili.  And was more than a little sad that I didn't.  I might try again tomorrow because I have it on good authority that chili is better the second day.  Alex thought that the chili could use a little more cinnamon.  I thought it could use a little more heat.  And a different texture.  It just felt very grainy...  I read somewhere online that you're supposed to serve Cincinnati chili with oyster crackers.  I think I would really have liked that addition.  But I have to admit that nothing would have made me fall head over heels in love with this dish.  I can't help it.  I just don't like chili.  But it did make the apartment smell delicious!

Recipe after the jump!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Shrimp with Spiced Masala and Coconut Milk


This was the first dish that I ever cooked from Bon Appetit that I loved.  Before that I was a Gourmet girl all the time.  But I saw this recipe online and thought it sounded too good not to try it.  After I tried it I realized that maybe Bon Appetit had some good recipes in it too!  I guess it's a good thing that I started making my peace with Bon Appetit, since Gourmet is no more.

I think the thing I love most about this recipe is the sauce.  It's so luscious and flavorful.  It gets this wonderful creamy texture from the coconut milk and the yogurt and then really nice flavors from the spices.  Given that the shrimp only spends a few minutes cooking in the sauce, it's amazing how much flavor the shrimp soaks up.  You will end up with a ton of sauce, so if you are making dinner for a large group of people you can add an extra pound or two of shrimp (or add some cauliflower florets and peas) to this amount of sauce.  Alternatively, you can reserve half of the sauce to cook chicken, paneer or vegetables in later.  Serve the dish with basmati rice and you are in for an amazing meal.  Don't forget to season the masala and the shrimp to avoid ending up with a bland dish.  Also, feel free to play with the amount of spices to up the heat level or just boost the flavor level.  We often do.

Recipe after the jump!


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Watercress, Walnuts and Gruyere



Sometimes I feel the need for vegetables.  Lots and lots of vegetables.  Tonight was one of those nights, inspired by a recipe I found in the NY Times yesterday that was published on NYE.  So here I go again with meals that aren't 100% seasonally appropriate (although I would argue that the roasted cauliflower makes the salad particularly hearty and therefore, appropriate when it's a balmy 38 degrees outside).  I was planning on making some butternut squash soup with the salad for a soup-salad combo, but then I decided the salad should be meal enough on its own given that there are only two of us and the salad included an entire head of cauliflower.  I don't know about you, but that's more than enough food for me.

I would place this salad in the solid like category.  I like all of the components, peppery watercress, creamy nutty gruyere, slightly sweet and still nutty roasted cauliflower, crunchy toasted walnuts, and buttery evoo.  I even think they come together nicely.  But this salad is comforting, rather than exciting - the type of meal that makes you feel warm and happy, but doesn't make you want to jump up and down in glee over discovering your new favorite meal.

Recipe after the jump!

Scallops with Cilantro Sauce and Asian Slaw

 
I will be the first to admit that this meal is crazily not seasonably appropriate.  Given that it is now 30 degrees Fahrenheit in NYC, the more obvious decision would be to make chili or fried chicken, or something else warm, meaty and hearty.  Instead I decided to sear some scallops and serve them over Asian slaw.  Why would I make such a decision?  Well, the recipe sounded pretty good and we had some nice scallops in the fridge just waiting to be cooked.  Plus Alex and I are both still kind of in the mood for light meals after the past few weeks, so it just seemed to make sense to go for a light refreshing dish like this one.

My main complaint with this dish is that it somehow felt incomplete on almost all levels.  The flavors were good, but I wanted something more to bring them to the next level.  I also really wanted something crunchy to provide a textural contrast.  It would have been even better if the crunchy bits had a bit of salt to them (perhaps some finely chopped salted roasted peanuts would have worked).  The slaw was quite good.  I enjoyed the addition of the granny smith apples for some extra sweetness and crunch.  However, should I make this again in the future I think I will alter the ratio of apple and carrot to daikon, or make sure that the daikon is cut smaller than the apples.  In some bites there was a bit too much bitterness from the daikon radish and it overwhelmed all the other flavors.  I thought that the cilantro sauce had nice flavor, but I wanted there to be a little more heat and a little more zip to it.  But the lack of heat could have been due to the fact that our serrano chili just wasn't that hot.  Somehow the balance between the sweet, sour and spicy flavors that I expected in the sauce was just a bit off.  It was more muted than I wanted it to be given the ingredients - a little delicate, rather than in your face.  And while I wanted a light meal, some in your face flavors would have been appreciated.

Recipe after the jump!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Lemony Lentil Soup with Cilantro


After a delightful (but exhausting) visit from some of our family and friends for Christmas and then for New Years Eve, Alex and I are looking forward to eating our first meal at home in some time.  When we were trying to figure out what to make, we both knew that whatever we made had to be simple and super easy.  Alex requested a one pot meal, so we decided to go with soup.  Granted, some soups can be super complicated and can require multiple pots and pans.  But we decided to go with a lentil soup that looked pretty quick, easy and light.  I've never had a lentil soup before, so this should be an interesting experiment, but I have faith that it will turn out nicely.  And to be perfectly honest, I'm not certain that I will be all that upset, even if it doesn't turn out.  In the past 2 weeks we have had some phenomenal meals - Yakitori Totto, Cascabel Taqueria, Eataly, Otto, Soba Nippon, etc.  I'm not saying that I think we need to go on a cleanse, but some simple lentil soup and a few salads for the next few weeks couldn't hurt.

So I will be the first to admit that this wasn't the most exciting dish that we have ever made.  Nor was it the prettiest.  But it was exactly what we both wanted and/or needed this evening.  The soup was light enough that it helped balance out the past two weeks of crazy eating, but hearty enough to be totally satisfying on a cool, drizzly winter night.  You could taste the lemon juice, the evoo, and a bit of sweetness from the onions.  But the flavors were very subtle and mellow, rather than in your face.  It was perfect.  Definitely toast a baguette or some other bread to dip into the soup because this soup is perfect for dipping.  Here's to some delicious home-cooked meals in 2011!

Recipe after the jump!

Top Ten Restaurants of 2010, and Ten Restaurants I Want to Visit in 2011

So I know that at the end of the year, every food blogger starts compiling lists - their favorite recipes of the year, ideas for Christmas gifts, their favorite restaurants or restaurant dishes of the year, etc.  I know that the concept is not exactly a novel one.  But I just can't help myself.  I have tried so many great restaurants this year (including a few from my Must Try Restaurants for 2010 post) that I want to share with everyone.  On the other hand, there are so many restaurants that I have been dying to try and yet haven't quite made it to!  But that's ok.  There's always 2011!

Top Ten Restaurants of 2010
  1. Marea
  2. Yakitori Totto
  3. Prune
  4. Le Bernardin
  5. Fatty Crab
  6. Joseph Leonard/Jeffrey's Grocery
  7. Highlands
  8. Cascabel Taqueria
  9. Umi Nom
  10. Eataly - Il Pesce
Runner Up: Hung Ry (their flash fried calamari appetizer is phenomenal and incredibly innovative and the hand-pulled noodle soups are delicious).

More after the jump!