NY, NY, It's A Wonderful Town!

When I found out several months ago that this year's International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference would be held in NYC I started psyching myself up for the challenge.  You see, I didn't have a New York state of mind, never understood why so many people did, and second and third-guessed my opposing opinion.  Previous trips had for various reasons left me with certain negative impressions, but I decided that this trip would be different.  I'm thrilled to report that a very positive attitude, an excellent conference on a professional level, pretty good weather, and spending quality time with old and new friends more than did the trick and I'm now on board the I heart NY ABC/1-2-3 trains.

For the food and fun portion of my trip, several destinations stood out:

Cheesecakes at Pasticceria Rocco

Pasticceria Rocco on Bleecker Street for the most amazing Pistachio Merringue cookies, cafe' latte, and Italian pastries - https://www.facebook.com/RoccosPastry 

Raffetto's Nona Ramona

Raffetto's on Houston Street in Greenwich Village for extraordinary handmade pasta, sauces, and Italian groceries - http://www.yelp.com/biz/raffettos-new-york

Grandaisy Bakery on Sullivan Street for NY-modern, European-style pizza, bread, and more - http://www.grandaisybakery.com/products/pizza/pizza-pecorino/

Grandaisy's Butternut Squash Pizza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of This My Mac's Better Than Your Mac

There was a really fun insider's tour of the Test Kitchen at Meredith Publishing, with the food editors of  Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, Everyday with Rachel Ray, and Better Homes & Gardens, with each magazine's version of a Mac & Cheese for tasting.  These accomplished women showed exactly how sharing one kitchen works to make each of their magazines better.

DP's Doughnut Pillow Wall

And now, for the recipe portion of this post, I'd like to share with you a very important pilgrimage I made.  I walked (with my new friend Teresa) from Times Square to Chelsea (I think it was kind of far if you're from California but not so much if you're a native) to pay homage to the Doughnut Plant (http://www.doughnutplant.com/).  For years I've seen DP featured on various food TV shows and day dreamed about going there one day.  Visit Doughnut Plant - check.

Of all the delicious food NY had to offer, my inspiration for this post was the fillings and glazes at DP.  I decided to fill my doughnuts with a Cactus Pear, Mango & Ancho Chile Jam that I preserved a few months ago, and top it with a simple glaze starring Melissa's Ojai Pixie Tangerines http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Ojai-Pixie-Tangerines.aspx, with a crushed Pepita garnish.  I'm pretty sure DP uses only the finest, best, purest, organic, ingredients for their dough, but I am not so noble.  So I used a trick I picked up a couple of years ago of using frozen yeast bread dough to make really pretty amazing doughnuts.  I know doughnuts are a nough-nough where healthy eating is concerned, but I never said anything about healthy, did I?  Plus really, the glaze and fillings are made with fresh fruits and there's only a short dunk in hot vegetable oil to make these doughnuts worth every ounce of evilness.

Best Doughnuts Ever  - Mine!
1 loaf frozen bread dough (out of a 3-pack)
vegetable oil for frying
your favorite jam
2 Melissa's Ojai Pixie Tangerines
powdered sugar
pepitas (crushed)

1. Defrost the loaf in the fridge overnight.  Cut the loaf into 6 sections, form each section into whatever shape you want, then put each piece on a cooking oil sprayed, parchment paper lined baking sheet, and cover with cooking oil sprayed plastic wrap.  Put the pan in a warm place (I use my oven) and let dough rise at least 1 hour - longer is even better.

2. Then take each piece of dough, gently punch it a bit, reshape, and again place on the baking sheet, cover, and let rise another hour or so.

3. Using a pretty deep pan that is wide enough to fit one doughnut at a time, fill the pan with vegetable oil  about 3" or so deep, and heat at medium-high about 10-15 minutes until oil sizzles when you stick a wooden skewer into it.

4.  Gently place one doughnut into the hot oil and cook one one side about 20 seconds then turn over with the wooden skewer and cook on the other side  20 seconds.  Then flip the doughnut back over and cook another 10 seconds or so on each side until golden brown.  Use a spatula to remove the doughnut to a parchment lined baking sheet, then repeat with remaining 5 doughnuts, one at a time.

5.  Make the glaze with the juice of one pixie tangerine and powdered sugar blended together until smooth and glazey.  Add the zest of one tangerine into the glaze.  Reserve the zest from the other tangerine.

6.  When the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, take a metal skewer and poke a small hole into the side of each doughnut, twisting the skewer slightly to create a pocket for the filling.  Put your jam into a squeeze bottle or piping bag and fill each hole with the jam.  Lay the doughnuts back on the baking sheet.

7.  Take the glaze and put a heaping spoonful onto the middle of the top of each donut.  It will drip on its own but help it out if necessary.  Sprinkle each glazed doughnut with the crushed pepitas and some tangerine zest.

Cyber Seder 2012

Historians Uncover Lost Fifth Passover Question:  Why is a cyber Seder different from all other Seders? The answer is when six separate food bloggers graciously offer a complete Passover Seder menu, each recipe a personal favorite, representing diverse family backgrounds and dietary preferences, that's new version Passover 2012 - Internet style.  This Passover potluck demonstrates how any type of community can come together for this special holiday meal to share the effort and share of themselves. We're so glad you could join us.

 

I grew up in Chicago, with a father of Eastern European descent and a mother from North Africa.  This was my good luck in general, but especially for Jewish holidays when each culture's culinary traditions were enjoyed in at least one meal or another.   

My contribution to Cyber Seder 2012 is the soup course, and while matzo ball is classic and much beloved on most Ashkenazim Seder tables, it's my mother's Sephardi fresh fava bean and potato soup that represents the holiday and season best to me.  It turns out our ancestors were ahead of their time when it comes to seasonality.

After I became a vegetarian, my mother easily replaced the meat-based soup stock in the original version of her soup with a veg-friendly one, and my Seder continues to be off to a very good start.  After the prayers of course.

Marie's Fresh Fava Bean & Potato Soup

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

Faux Matzo Balls aka baby potatoes

1/2 cup fresh celery, diced                                                              

olive oil for sauteing

2 cups medium white or yellow potatoes, peeled, cut in half

1 1/2 cups fava beans, peeled/shucked

1 Tbsp. turmeric

1 1/2 tsp. saffron

1 32 oz. container Wolfgang Puck All Natural Vegetable Stock

2 cups water

Seasalt & fresh ground pepper

handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

1.  Put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stockpot, and when it's hot add the onions and celery.

     Saute until the onions are golden, about 5 minutes or so.  Add the turmeric and saffron and stir to coat.

2.  Pour in the stock, water, potatoes, and fava beans, bring to a boil, and then turn heat to medium-simmer.

3.  Cook for 30 minutes then test potatoes for tenderness.  What you want in the finished soup is some potato chunks and some mashed.  Adjust seasoning, and continue cooking until potatoes reach the right consistency.  The longer this soup cooks the better it tastes. 

4.  Towards the last 2 minutes of cooking add the fresh cilantro.  

 
The other courses for Cyber Seder 2012 are provided by my blogger pals in the links below.  If you feel you'd also like a salad (which is a must at our dinner) please use this link http://adventureswithnancyrose.blogspot.com/2012/03/pixie-tangerine-and-massaged-kale-salad.html to my last post.  This salad would make a beautiful addition to any Seder table, with or without the garbanzo beans depending on your own cultural traditions.

Please visit my blogger friends for the rest of our Cyber Seder dinner:

http://stayathomefoodie.com/
Roasted Spring Vegetables

http://eatwelllivefree.com/
Charoset & Sweet Potato Latkes with Apple Butter

http://foodiegoeshealthy.com/
Flourless Chocolate Cake

http://www.theurbanbaker.com/
Claire's Briscuit

http://www.insidethekaganoffkitchen.com/
Matzo Strata with Zucchini and Tomatoes

I'd also like to send a very special "Happy Passover" to my friend Faye Levy, who with the help of her husband Yakir, has inspired and brought so many wonderful, meticulously researched and thoroughly tested recipes to aspiring and seasoned chefs everywhere.
http://www.amazon.com/Faye-Levy/e/B001IR3M7W

Pixie Tangerine and Massaged Kale Salad

With bags of glorious Ojai Pixie Tangerines from Melissa's perched on my kitchen counter I put on my thinking cap on how to best present these to the world.  Not to be lazy, but seriously these little balls of sweet tangerine juiciness are best eaten au naturale, i.e., peel + eat.  But since that doesn't make a very exciting food blog post, I turned back to my 1/2 Mediterranean/Middle Eastern roots and decided to do a contemporary twist on a classic salad combination of oranges, black olives, and red onions.  With massaged kale....

Another massaged kale salad recipe?  Really?  Actually, no, not just another m/k/s but the first one I've ever made myself.  Like you, I've eaten many m/k/s's and marveled at how delicious they were, every one of them, mainly due to the perfect texture and eatability of the kale. Well the secret to that tasty tenderness, as many of you already know, is to give your kale a brief, Swedish-type massage prior to composing your salad.

Basically you put your kale, de-ribbed and torn to small pieces, or use the Earthbound Farms organic mixed baby kale that I found FOR 99 CENTS AT THE 99 CENTS STORE, OH NO YOU DIDN'T, in a bowl.  Lightly drizzle with oil/citrus/seasalt and massage with both hands for about 2-3 minutes (baby kale goes limp pretty quickly).  Then place the relaxed leaves in a serving bowl to await the embellishments.

(For your musical pleasure while massaging your kale, here's Tommy Dorsey & his orchestra:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JDUnZv1N0&feature=related

Pixie Tangerine & Massaged Kale Salad
4 cups baby kale
11/2 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbs. pixie tangerine juice (these babies are super juicy)
2 pinches seasalt
2-3 pixie tangerines, peeled and sliced into circles
4 red pearl onions, blanched, peeled, cut in half
1/4 cup raw, blanched, slivered almonds
1/3 cup roasted chickpeas* (optional)
additional dressing:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. pixie tangerine juice
pinch of seasalt
2 pinches ground cumin

1.  Massage your kale as instructed above in paragraph 3 and place in serving bowl or platter.
2.  Embellish kale with juicy slices of pixie tangerines, sliced salty black olives, and red pearl onions.
3.  Sprinkle almonds and chickpeas, aka faux croutons, over the salad.
4.  Drizzle with additional dressing.

* Roasted Chickpea recipe: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2011/05/wayback-machine-roasted-chickpeas-right.html 

P.S.  I sure hope all my links work.

Food Shopping with Faye

Faye & I Strategizing

My friend Faye Levy is not only an award-winning food writer and cookbook author (http://www.cookstr.com/users/faye-levy/profile), but she is also the best source for the best prices on the best food products sold in our local supermarkets. On a recent shopping excursion, Faye found us 4 lb. (64 oz.) containers of grade A, low-fat, plain yogurt, with all the desirable live and probiotic cultures you'd ever want, for the ridiculously low price of $3.69!

Parfait du Jour

So with this abundance of creamy, culture-rich goodness I decided to finally try making yogurt cheese, with plenty of yogurt left over for morning parfaits du jour, etc. Now I know this isn't really "cheese" but more like a smooth, thick, spreadable Greek-style yogurt substance, though cheese-ish in its ability to accept sweet or savory embellishments whilst sitting on crackers, bagels, or other edible platforms.




Yogurt Cheese
3 cups plain yogurt

cheesecloth or coffee filters
strainer
bowl
plastic wrap

1.  Place the strainer over the bowl and line the strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth or coffee filters.
2.  Put 3 cups of plain yogurt in the lined strainer.
3.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 24 hours (I did mine for 48).
4.  Lift strainer from the bowl (excess liquid from the yogurt will have drained out) and put the yogurt "cheese" in a storage container to await flavors, savory or sweet, e.g., herbs, spices, marmalade, chutney.

I took some of the cheese and blended it with Melissa's Sun Dried Tomato Pesto http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Sun-Dried-Tomato-Pesto.aspx to make a creamy and tangy sandwich spread.  Along with some fresh arugula, on 12-grain bread, garnished with sliced almond "nails", these fun, finger sandwiches were the perfect complement to my teapot sugar cookies at a recent get together with my artsy, craftsy gal pals.

Thanks again Faye for your shopping expertise and culinary inspiration!

Potato Potluck

Our Los Angeles Food Bloggers group recently met to talk about and enjoy everything Idaho potato with Don Odiorne.  Don is VP Food Service for the Idaho Potato Commission and a very good friend of food bloggers everywhere.  For the potluck we were asked to bring a dish including potatoes and the only problem was trying to narrow down which recipe to make because there are endless potato possibilities as all you potato lovers out there know.

Since it's Spring I decided to make a big, beautiful, fresh, and filling salad, with Melissa's Gemstone Potatoes as the star.  First I washed and cubed the potatoes, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, drizzled olive oil over them, and roasted them in the oven at 325 for about 15-20 minutes.  Then I set them aside to cool to room temp.  Next I took a pile of fresh fava beans, rinsed them off, took the beans out of the pods, then steamed them for about 25 minutes until tender.  Set these aside too.  Some cubed Melissa's Ready-To-Eat Beets were the last of the main ingredients.

In a very large, wooden salad bowl I laid in a bed of Spring mix along with some arugula.  Then I placed the roasted potatoes, steamed beets and fava beans over the greens.  To really bring Spring into this salad I snipped in a handful each of fresh mint and fresh cilantro.  Over all of this green goodness I poured a preserved lemon vinaigrette made with minced preserved lemons, some evoo, a couple of sprinkles of seasoned rice vinegar, and lots of fresh pepper.

The salad was so good I'm making it again tonight, exactly the same way.  But feel free to mix it up where the greens and veggies are concerned.  Just don't forget the taters.

http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Gemstone-Potatoes.aspx

Spring Salad Supreme 
1 pkg. Melissa's Gemstone Potatoes, cubed, roasted

1 pkg. Melissa's Ready-To-Eat Beets, cubed
pile of fresh fava beans, de-podded, steamed
fresh mint
fresh cilantro
big mess of Spring mix and arugula
preserved lemon
evoo
seasoned rice vinegar
fresh ground black pepper

Please check out other recipes from our Potato Potluck:
http://www.inlinkz.com/script.php?id=134032&nojump=1&key=ILXqrJQ9IGU12

Attention Internet Shoppers

Some of the best deals online are the offers from Groupon and LivingSocial.  A recent LS deal gave me $40 worth of food & drinks at Border Grill in Santa Monica http://bordergrill.com/bg_sm/bg_smmen.htm for the price of $20.  Just the incentive I needed to revisit this Two Hot Tamales' classic and to be reminded how good it is.

From the freshly fried tortilla chips with 3 outstanding salsas through the mini churros for dessert, I enjoyed every bite, and the service was 4-star too.  My favorite dish was the Quinoa Fritters with cotija cheese (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quinoa-fritters) and aji amarillo aioli http://www.marysueandsusan.com/news/Feb07/news02078.htm.  I'm not sure what aji amarillo aioli is but as long as it's not armadillo aioli I'm good with it.

(I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the quinoa fritters!)

To finish my meal I savoured (no, I scarfed) the Churro Tots, little baby churros infused with dulce de leche, dredged in cinnamon sugar, and served with dark chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and fresh whipped cream.  Wait, don't you want to finish reading my post before you run over there?

To make the fritter recipe at home you'll need Quinoa, one of the "it" grains, and you can find it at most markets or order it online from Melissa's - http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Quinoa-with-Seasoning-Packet.aspx.  Another good example of smart Internet shopping.

Melissa's has Red Quinoa too!

An Orange By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet

The calendar may say February, but the garden is saying Spring.  A few weeks ago I stepped into my yard and an amazing fragrance swept over me.  Looking around I saw the white/pale-yellow blooms of the mock orange trees that grow right outside my kitchen door.  Their pretty flowers give off the most wonderful, intense aroma that stops you in your tracks.  It's heavenly, meaning if heaven smells as good as it should then it smells like this.  For more info on mock orange trees (or shrubs) beyond pretty and fragrant go to http://landscaping.about.com/od/shrubsbushes/p/mock_orange.htm.

While the mock orange tree produces no real orange fruit, many, many other trees, especially here in Southern California do.  Right now is the season for oranges of various varieties plus multiple other types of citrus.  Here's a picture that includes some oranges, grapefruits and tangerines from Melissa's, and you can learn more about what the best citrus varieties available are right now at http://www.melissas.com/Products/Categories/Citrus.aspx.  The Cara Cara oranges are especially juicy and sweet - almost heavenly.

For those of you who like recipes, and in case you missed my post last year about making candied citrus peel, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with seeds, herbs, etc., it's not too late to check it out:  http://adventureswithnancyrose.blogspot.com/2011/03/very-peeling-candied-citrus.html.  Mr. Citrus will be happy to see you.