Garden update

Since the last post, the arugula and spinach bolted (we managed to make a tub of arugula pesto and some really good spinach dishes). Lettuce is almost gone, and we got a ton of peas. Fennel is somewhat unsuccessful, as it's growing upwards, instead of making nice fat bulbs. Scallions are also going nuts, and starting to look like onions.



Peppers are starting to get big too. We had the first cayenne, fajita bell, and anaheims today with lunch. The fajita bell was WAY spicier than I expected, but the cayenne was sort of a dud.


The tomatoes are growing like crazy--it looks like a jungle! The fruit are getting nice and fat, but still green :-( We got impatient and have been making fried green tomatoes though.

Gardening

For the first time, we decided to try planting a vegetable garden. We've rapidly killed every plant we've owned, so we had no idea what to expect with a garden. Our basic strategy: throw shit in the ground, and see what happens. Seriously.

We started in early April with lettuce mix, arugula, spinach, fennel, and peas. After planting, nothing happened for almost two weeks, but just when I had lost hope we saw a few tiny leaves poking through the ground. Arugula first, then some spinach. It was a bit confusing, because the baby veggies look nothing like mature leaves.

Here's some of the earliest arugula:


Once we had a little taste of success, we got more ambitious. We now have added tomatoes, eggplant (still pretty sorry looking), cucumbers, peppers, scallions, and brussels sprouts:


mixed lettuce:


pea plants climbing the chicken wire:



fennel:


right in the center, there's a tiny green pepper growing!


brussels sprouts--these are enormous, but still no actual sprouts:


cherry tomatoes--I cannot express how excited I was to see these babies. I totally can't wait to eat a real tomato!


grape tomato:


We'll see if the eggplants and cukes do anything interesting. We also transplanted a bunch of the tomatoes today to spread them out. Hopefully I didn't kill them! Totally can't wait to cook from the stuff in our backyard :-)

More catching up

I did manage to get some cooking in during the past 8 months:

Maine shrimp ceviche--it's sad the season is so short, but that's part of what makes these so special. That way for the few weeks they're in season, we have an excuse to eat as many as we can!


Butternut squash gnocchi with local shitakes and brown butter...mmmmmmm


Cauliflower flan with chorizo:


Duck boobies with cherry sauce:



Lamb chops with barley and fennel:


Squash soup with onion sprouts--I swear restaurants copy us...the week after we made this we saw these sprouts on a bunch of different menus!


Black cod with macomber turnip, one of our new favorite veggies (and it's local!)


Duck ravioli with fennel and crispy duck skin--the ravioli were a bit undersalted :-(


Hopefully we'll be able to do much better than this over the summer!

Making up for lost time

Well, I clearly did not keep up with any posting at all during the school year. Now that it's over, I should probably get back to it, huh?

I'll start out with our trip to NYC last December. We went to Momofuku, of course (both Noodle Bar and Ssam Bar--Ssam Bar is WAY better), but also tried some new places.

First, we went to Lupa on a totally freezing cold day. I think I got frostbite on my eye. The food was delicious, especially the marinated beef tongue, sardines, and pastas. The best part, though, was the tasting of amari:




We also went to Tailor, which I enjoyed a lot. I love the idea of restaurants that take risks with food, and push the boundaries of flavor, but sometimes you end up with results that don't work so well (like a few courses at WD-50). I found that everything was at least good, and some things were spectacular. Here it is!

Chestnut soup with razor clams and potato:


Scallop tartare, pickled litchi sorbet, asian pear:


Maple poached snails, bacon, parsley, toast--OMG, totally amazing


Sesame sweetbreads, banana puree, purple mustard:


Loup de mer, pear consomme, sunchokes, pickled crosnes--perfect fish, awesome flavors!


Black garlic chicken, long beans, shitake mushrooms--the black garlic was really interesting, chicken had a great texture, and the sauce was delicious


Miso butterscotch pork belly--holy crap this was good, just an unbelievable combination of savory and sweet


Cantaloupe sorbet, serrano ham (like a cracker), sherry:


Grapefruit, tarragon, and some kind of custard/flan (can't remember, and it's not on the menu--arrrrghhh!!)


Apple, crumble, and some other stuff I can't remember, but I do remember it was super tasty!

L'Espalier

Went to check out L'Espalier's new space in the Mandarin Oriental last night. It's a very nice, modern-looking set of rooms, but doesn't quite have the charm of the old townhouse. We opted for the chef's tasting journey (at a whopping $185 per person, and an additional $110pp for wine pairings).

Hors d'oeuvres were mini smoked salmon napoleons with creme fraiche. Yummy, but not particularly exciting.

Amuse of oxtail salad with cucumber, filo shell, truffled carmelized onion, and sriracha.

Island Creek Oyster with jam and caviar, paired with Duvel Leroy champagne.

Sole with apples, crisp apple skin, caviar, radish, maitake mushroom puree, paired with a 1989 white rioja (really nice pairing)

Butter poached lobster with chestnut pear soup, brussels sprout leaves, caviar, and truffle oil. Paired with an Italian wine from Alto Adige (Kerner was the varietal, I believe), like a very floral riesling.

Monkfish with candy cane beet, butternut squash sauce, and a white wine I don't remember

Seared foie gras with sweet potato and cranberries. Very good, but not the best foie ever. Paired with a really yummy sauternes. I think the wine was better than the food for this course. It was ridiculously good.

Herbed gnocchi with mushrooms, white truffles, and beef shin broth, paired with a Barolo. The gnocchi were soooooo good, and I'm glad we got to try the white truffles, because now I won't have to wonder what they taste like. They are good, but not spectacular, so I won't end up spending a ridiculous amount of money buying them.

Lamb with the tiniest puy lentils known to man, with a delicious mustardy sauce; squab with celery root puree, and buttery garlicy carrot and turnip, topped with a mustard green leaf, paired with a Margaux. The meats were fantastic.

Very nice cheese course--six completely different cheeses with a red banyuls.

Dessert of chocolate log, cranberry souffle, something that was supposed to be a pate sable (more like a stick of butter--ugh), and a meringue-like thing. As expected, paired with the Banfi brachetto d'aqui. I think the dessert was too rich and didn't sit very well with me.

Overall, a very good meal, but way too expensive in my opinion. I'd much rather have no caviar (it really didn't add anything) and an extra course instead. I think if I were spending my own money, I'd go to Clio 9 times out of 10 (probably 10 out of 10, really). The wine pairings were really nice, though, which I think is the biggest thing that Clio lacks.

Cooking

It's great to know a bunch of quick dishes for the days you don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Here are a couple good ones:

Broccoli rabe with sausage. Here we added some tomato paste and red bell peppers, and served it with couscous (another super easy and quick side)


Pan roasted brussels sprouts with fish sauce and chili garlic sauce


When I have a bit more time, I like making things that will keep a few days, for example asian slaw.
Here I had red and green cabbage, cashews, and a sauce made with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and rice vinegar:


and I love potato salad (this one with onion, red pepper, mayo, spicy mustard, tarragon and thyme:


Finally, the fastest way to get food on the table is to have someone else make it! My husband made corn cakes with red pepper sauce, and a sausage (yeah, I know it looks like a giant turd).

Weekend breakfasts

Growing up, I ate cereal for breakfast pretty much every day, even on the weekends. No omelettes, pancakes, or anything that required cooking. Maybe occasionally I'd make french toast, but that was rare. Now, I love making a leisurely breakfast on the weekend.

Last weekend, we had scrambled eggs with local shitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and scallion, topped with scamorza cheese.


Today we made salmon and potato patties, topped with a fried egg. Served on some cucumber and pepper strips lightly seasoned with rice vinegar and salt.