Thanksgiving Feast

Every year we have our good friends the Lionburgers over for Thanksgiving. Because we each have our own family traditions, this means double the food. We had 2 kinds of stuffing (or dressing). Ours is a sausage and apricot with big chunks of crusty croutons that absorb our delicious brown gravy. Theirs a traditional southern style oyster dressing. 3 kinds of cranberry sauce (one was the canned stuff, my brother insists). 2 types of sweet potatoes, one with pecans one with marshmallows. Green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts OH and of course 2 kinds of Turkey, roasted and fried. I'm not sure how but we all managed to save room for dessert... Apple pie, pumpkin banana mousse and of course, traditional pumpkin pie. I think we should have received some sort of medal.

Clerkenwell -- 49 clinton

CLERKENWELL

lower east side

Since I just moved to New York I figured the best way to get to know the city is to eat out as much as I can. My roommate found clerkenwell on a blog and we decided to give it a try. Its a quaint little place with good food and decent prices.

I had the salmon provencal braised in olive oil floating in a yummy clam broth.

Karly had the toad in a hole. Savory english sausage in traditional yorkshire pudding with sweet caramelized onions and mashed potatoes all topped in gravy --rich and filling on a chilly fall night.

Schillers-- 131 Rivington St.

I first found Schillers back in 2005 when I was visiting New York. I loved everything about it and still do four years later. A friend and I stopped in to have a glass of wine, which turned into 3 glasses and an order of their infamous sticky toffee pudding.... like most everything on the menu it did not disappoint.

Quick and Easy Dinner

Balsamic Glazed Halibut

I pretty much always make salmon when we have fish, I decided to try something different and the halibut at the store looked especially good. Instead of baking it with just simple olive oil salt and pepper I decided to make a balsamic marinade which I then made a glaze out of.

It very simple and delicious!

Marinade:

1/2 cup balsamic

1/4 cup olive oil

1T dijon

1T honey

salt and pepper

The filets marinaded for about 2 hours. I then broiled them in the oven on a hot sizzle platter which took about 10-12 min depending on the thickness.

While the fish cooked I put the remaining marinade in a skillet and reduced it (to about half) which became a thick gooey glaze. I paired the fish with some peppery wilted arugala, creamy parmesan orzo and heirloom tomato caprese.

Orzo:

I cooked the orzo as directed on the box and drained then added back to the pot. I added about a half stick of butter, 1cup fresh grated parmesan and salt/pepper to taste.

Tomato Caprese:

The tomatoes didn't need anything except some fresh mozzarella a sprig of basil a splash of olive oil and some salt and pepper -- fresh tomatoes might be one of the best parts of summer.

Fresh Fruit Salad:

I used to buy the packaged, cut up fruit because it saved time. I have realized how much better it is to buy the fruit and cut it myself. Its less expensive and you can choose exactly what you want, it's worth the 15 min of prep.

Here is the fruit salad I served as dessert, it looks like a bowl of jewels!

I was also recently in New York and ate at Jean-George's Spice Market. I had amazing diced fruit soaked in coconut milk and cream which I am going to try to replicate soon. SO refreshing.

Food from Summer 2007

I have been taking pictures of food for sometime now, I don't know why its taken me so long to start a blog.  Here are a couple pictures of some of the food I experienced while traveling around Europe during summer of 07.  While they were not my most memorable meals, this is where my love of food journaling started.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture the amazing food I had in Tuscany or Paris, which were some of the best meals of my life.  

1. Pastries from Florence, Italy.  As tasty as they are beautiful.

2. My first fish&chips, London.  My favorite part was the pint. 

3. Potatoes and Meat, Amsterdam, Netherlands.  We asked our hotel where to go for an authentic meal.  I remember this being served with a bowl of melted butter.  Needless to say, we stopped and got pasta on the way home.  

4th of July Feast

Every holiday my mom and I cook a feast.  For the 4th of July, which is also my dad's birthday, we decided to make fried chicken. We researched  for weeks, as we had never really attempted fried chicken before.  We studied about 100 different recipes, some as intricate as soaking the chicken for at least 24 hours in a brine followed by buttermilk, a recipe from Thomas Keller. Others as simple as flour, salt and pepper.  We decided to experiment and try 3 different recipes.  First, we brined 4 pieces overnight in a salty solution followed by a bath in buttermilk. Second, we let 4 pieces soak in buttermilk for about an hr, dipped in seasoned flour buttermilk and again in flour.  Lastly we took four pieces and just shook them with the seasoned flour.

We didn't see much of a difference in the chicken we brined, personally I think it was a waste of time.  However, the chicken that we double dipped in buttermilk and seasoned flour did seem to create crispier more delicious skin.  We cooked all of our chicken with crisco in a cast iron skillet.  Almost every recipe suggested this method, and it seemed to work well for us.

 

Side Dishes

Aunt Urma's Potato Salad

 classic mayo potato salad with a splash of white wine vinegar and pickle juice.

 

 Bright Green Salad 

with orange segments and simple vinaigrette.

 Bow Tie Pasta Caprese

 with fresh mozzerella, cherry tomatoes and a basil balsalmic dressing

REAL Maryland Crab Cakes

Fresh jumbo lump crabmeat a touch of mayo and dijon

with fresh white breadcrumbs