Author Archives: Sarah

Quick and Easy: Caprese and Pesto

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One of the things I miss most about not living at home anymore is that I can’t go out into my mom’s garden and snap off a sprig of rosemary whenever a recipe calls for it. I especially hate this during the summer when I have to buy huge bunches of basil that I can’t entirely use before the leaves begin to wilt. However, I had my heart set on a caprese salad; since I had some leftover chicken in the fridge, I thought a pesto pasta main course would be an agreeable way to use up the rest of the basil.

 Insalata caprese

One of my co-workers has been on the hunt for the perfect burrata this summer and recommended I try Bel Gioioso’s version. On my way home from work, I grabbed it, along with some Roma tomatoes, an ear of corn, and pine nuts. Once I washed the basil leaves and set a few leaves out for the caprese, I put the rest into a food processor and began to add a little bit of pine nuts, parmigiano, black pepper, and olive oil quanto basta, tasting as I went along until the flavor was just right.

Pesto pasta with corn and chicken
 

In the meantime, I set some balsamic vinegar over low heat to reduce and put a pot of salted water on to boil. I threw in the pasta and, at the very end, the freshly-shucked ear of corn. Once I drained the water (reserving some in a separate pot to add to the pesto sauce if needed), I heated up my leftover  chicken breast with the pesto and corn off the cob before tossing it all together for a delicious Italian-American feast.

Food Travels: San Francisco

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I got out to San Francisco a few months ago to visit Stevie and Josiah in their new abode. We celebrated the end of spring’s bounty with some fabulous meals. Here’s a quick round up of some of my favorites:

Dinner at Bar Agricole with Stevie and Alli. 
Beautiful, refurbished industrial restaurant space with 
spot-on seasonal menu and a funky wine list.
Stevie and me on the tram through downtown SF,
one of the oddest public transit experiences of my life.
Ogling the goodies at the Ferry Building’s Farmers’ Market.
We picked up a few treats to make dinner. 
Mexican food at the market. Spicy and delicious,
with refreshing strawberry and ginger-peach aguafrescas.
Rabbit stew, made with broccolini, asparagus, potatoes, favas, peas, and more.
Topped with watercress and served with a California Fume Blanc.
This time, we left the pits in for the famed bitter-almond notes they provide.
We also used half of a vanilla bean instead of extract 
Last morning at Tartine, the famous bakery in the Mission. 
Those pains au chocolat are as big and as tasty as they look…

Food Adventure: Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Shop

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So, it took me until the Times article came out last week to finally get myself over to Cobble Hill to sample the delicious, homemade sodas at Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Shop, but boy was it worth it! The decor, inside and out, is straight out of the 1950s, and the atmosphere was fun and energetic, full of patiently-waiting families and waitresses with their order up’s reaching across both sides of the counter.

I sat at the counter and read, while my order moved along in the queue. I watched the barbacks whip up delicious sundaes and egg creams; blend the perfect milkshakes; and mix up sodas from the syrups on hand. When my Pink Poodle finally came, I was shocked by how delicious it was. I grew up loving coke floats (but don’t get a root beer float anywhere near me please) and somehow hadn’t quite connected the dots that I had essentially ordered that, flavored with hibiscus instead of cola. It was surprisingly refreshing and delicious after the long bike ride over, and I couldn’t help feeling like kid again as I alternately sipped the soda and spooned out the ice cream. It was so hard not to drink it down in one fell swoop.

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Shop
513 Henry Street at Sackett St.
Cobble Hill
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Summertime: First Batch of Ice Cream

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The heat hit, and it hit hard. I crave ice cream all of the time, but when it’s hot, there is truly nothing than alleviates the melting pressure of humidity than delicious, ice-cold creamy goodness. The summer I lived in Rome, I straight up went on a gelato diet for my day-time meals… Nothing else even sounded good. Due to the purchase of a bag of lemons at Whole Foods more than a few weeks ago instead of my usual single lemons when needed, I had all of the inspiration I needed in the fridge. Add to that a no-cook, no-custard base, and I might have found my new best friend for the summer.

Disclaimer: make sure to let your ice cream maker cool sufficiently; if you’re like me and jump the gun, you’ll have to start all over because it won’t freeze.

Lemon Ice Cream

  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 skim milk
  • pinch of salt

Using a Microplane or other fine-grain rasp zester, zest the lemons directly into the bowl of a blender. Add sugar and blend until zest is fine, then add the lemon juice until sugar is dissolved. Blend in the milk and cream until smooth. Chill for at least one hour, then freeze in the body of your ice cream makers. Place into freezer immediately to allow it to set.

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.

Quick and Easy: Asparagus and Lemon-Butter Pasta

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Spring, my favorite season, has been very unwilling to show itself this year in New York. So I am grateful for the little signs of warmer months that I see in the markets and on menus, especially the delicate little shoots of asparagus. A peek at the recently discovered Canal House lunchtime photo blog inspired this quick and easy dinner, which I paired with a 2010 Babich Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

Fresh, springtime pasta.

Asparagus and Lemon-Butter Pasta with Soft-Boiled Eggs
serves 2

  • Fresh pasta (preferably sheets of lasagne, torn into even strips)
  • 1 bunch of fresh, local asparagus, shaved with a vegetable peeler
  • 1 lemon
  • Tbsp butter
  • 3 eggs
  • Parmigiano, freshly grated

Blanch the asparagus, then set aside. Bring two pots of water to boil. In one, add the three eggs and let cook for 6 minutes. Remove immediately and let cool in an ice bath. In the other, add, salt then cook the pasta briefly, until soft (2-3 minutes). Drain and retain some water for the sauce.

In a separate pan, soften the butter and add the juice of the lemon. Toss the pasta in the sauce, using some of the pasta water if needed.

Plate the pasta, then place the asparagus on top. Peel and slice the eggs immediately before serving. Top with freshly grated parmigiano, as well as salt and pepper if desired.

Dinner Party: Middle Eastern Feast

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Stevie, Alexxa, and I are attempting a bi-coastal book club. While we haven’t actually talked about anything yet, I read the first book on the list: Annia Ciezadlo’s Day of Honey. It’s an American woman’s memoir of her time in Iraq and Lebanon during the conflicts of the past decade, told from the perspective of the people she met and the food she ate amidst the bombs, checkpoints, and other dehumanizing aspects of war. I loved the book and found it so inspiring and challenging. Especially when it came to my palate.

I have very little experience eating Middle Eastern food–outside of the occasional shawarma and falafel–and even less cooking it. So, why not cook a feast dedicated to the subject for ten people? That seemed like the most logical way to me to understand more about this cuisine. I spent one entire weekend sourcing ingredients (thank you Sahadi’s); soaking lentils, beans, and bulgur; cooking onions so long that they puffed up like Rice Krispies; and creating some of the most interesting, at least texturally speaking, dishes of my life. Who knows how authentic everything was, but in the end, it was all delicious.

My Middle Eastern Feast Menu
Mezes:
Homemade Hummus, Babaganoush, Labne Cheese served with Croatian Olive Oil, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Leftover Caponata (I threw this in there, since I had it in my fridge and Sicilian cuisine is heavily influenced by Arabic culture)

 The bulgur and greens dish shown here was one of my favorites, perhaps because the texture was one more familiar to me… it reminded me of cous cous.

Main (served family-style):
Lebanese Wheat Berry and Dried Corn Soup with Yogurt
Bulgur and Greens with Pistachios and Yogurt
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Rosewater and Sesame Seeds
Mjadara (Red Lentil Stew)

 These roasted for 4 hours in a 250-degree oven, dressed with a mixture of turbinado sugar, coarse salt, and cinnamon, then were topped with toasted sesame seeds and rosewater.

Dessert:
Greek Semolina and Yogurt Cake
Rice Pudding

 
The semolina cake was delicious and moist, topped with a lemon sugar syrup. 

Wines:
I’ve been doing some research on Lebanese wines, so we tasted a few bottles from the portfolios of Massaya, Chateau Kefraya, and Chateau Musar.

We washed the meal down with a series of Lebanese wines,
including the 2003 Hochar Pere et Fils featured here.

Many recipes inspired by and adapted from Paula Wolfert‘s Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking and Ciezadlo’s recipes in Day of Honey. Photos by Anique Halliday.

Food Adventure: Rice Pudding

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I have had rice pudding on the mind for over a year, but I have somehow never gotten around to making the dish, despite having bought all of the ingredients. So when I read about mighli in Annia Ciezadlo’s Day of Honey and started to plan a Middle Eastern dinner party, I thought it might be the perfect time to try out the dish.

Mighli is a rice-based dish served throughout the Middle East for a variety of occasions, according to the culture. In some places, like Lebanon, it is the dish of celebrations, such as the birth of a child. In others, it is a dish of sorrow, perhaps to commemorate a death. Regardless, it is a dish that gathers people together to acknowledge the cycles of life, so it seems like a wonderful thing to have in one’s culinary repertoire.

I tried my hand at the dish, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources and from my own pantry. Warning: this makes a LOT of rice pudding.

  • 3 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cup basmati rice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, split
  • 1 tablespoon freshly ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon rosewater
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Bring water, rice, and salt to a boil; simmer, covered, until water is absorbed. Add the remaining ingredients, being sure to scrape the seeds from the bean. Return heat to medium heat, stirring occasionally as the mixture comes together, about 30 minutes. When it achieves a thick, creamy, pudding-like texture, remove from heat. This can be made ahead of time, refrigerated, and kept for up to a week.

Friday Cocktails on SAVEUR.com

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I got into sherry a few years ago at a tasting party at Stevie’s house. Recently, I revisited the experience recently at The Noble Rot, a traveling wine club which hosted its own sherry party recently. Along with the lovely tastes provided by Kerin Auth of Spanish wine shop Tinto Fino in NYC, I greatly enjoyed a sherry martini that started the night. Check out my piece on SAVEUR.com to learn more!

 Courtesy of Anna Stockwell, SAVEUR.com

Quick and Easy: Citrus-glazed Salmon with Potatoes and Brussels

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My friend Anique asked what she could do with salmon, brussels sprouts, and fingerling potatoes, and the combination made me recall one of my favorite go-to dishes, one I first tasted at cube in LA last year. I decided to recreate it myself for a quick and easy dinner tonight.

Citrus-glazed Salmon with Smashed Potatoes and Shaved Brussels Sprouts

  • Boil the water and add the potatoes.
  • Thinly slice the brussels sprouts. Once the potatoes begin to boil, place the sprouts over low heat in a steamer. 
  • Dress the salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil the top side for 4 minutes, then flip for an additional two minutes on the skin side.
  • Drain the potatoes and smash them with salt, pepper, and some butter. 
  • For the final presentation, arrange brussels sprouts on top. Lay the salmon gently over the greens and potatoes and top with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and bits.

I ate this with a 2009 Musar Jeune, a Lebanese dry white wine with slight apple notes on the finish that complemented the meal nicely.

Food Memories: Blood Oranges

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Back in the spring of 2007, I was living in a convent in Rome. The sisters who ran it leased out the rooms and provided meals for the short- and long-term guests that stayed there. Despite Italy’s culinary reputation, the food that was served could merely be said to sate hunger pangs—it was not food that could be particularly enjoyed. Sometimes, it could not even be eaten.

However, there was an orchard next to the property that the sisters tended. The fruit often made its way to our table, the highlight of otherwise dreary meals. Shortly after my arrival, blood orange season began. Having never before tasted its sweet, subtly complex, dark flesh, I quickly became addicted, often consuming entire meals of nothing else (obviously in addition to the large quantities of cornetti, cappuccini, and other delicious foods I ate when not at the convent).

Photo courtesy of Mike’s Table

 
After several weeks, I began to notice a discoloration of my skin around my joints—a slightly orange tinge to my knuckles, elbows, and the web of skin between my fingers. Horrified when I showed her, my Italian mamma Maria Teresa insisted that I visit the doctor, convinced I had contracted some sort of fungal disease. We went for a visit to have my hands examined. The kindly doctor looked at me with a smile and quietly asked, have you been eating too much beta carotene? He then extended his hand, 30 Euro for the consultation.

Once I had calmed down after feeling swindled, I began to reduce my blood orange intake, and the color began to fade to a memory. Since coming back to the US, I have rarely seen a blood orange at the store, let alone eaten as many as I did in those few months. This winter, however, they showed up again in my life, with all of my favorite grocers stock-piling them high on their shelves, and with prices continually decreasing throughout the season, I scooped them up, eating as many as I could each day.

I’ve so far made it through without turning orange as they slowly begin to disappear from the produce aisles, now experiencing a sadness to see them go. I have, however, found one more opportunity to indulge my obsession—blood orange juice. Sold at Marlow & Daughters down the street from me, it unfortunately  commands too high of a price to be a sustainable part of my diet until the season truly ends for the year. So, I plan to enjoy this last taste as I ready myself for next year’s deluge.

Jansal Valley Blood Orange Juice