Author Archives: Sarah

Celebrations: Eleven Madison Park

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Toni and I recently celebrated our one-year anniversary at Eleven Madison Park. The restaurant had been on my to-try list for some time, and I’d been especially excited to go since reading about chef Daniel Humm’s playfulness in the kitchen of this haute restaurant.

Courtesy of Todd Coleman, SAVEUR.com

When we arrived, the art-deco space seemed enormous, with its vaulted ceiling as grand as one would imagine possible in the city, and yet it was simultaneously intimate. The number of tables was limited, so the extra room felt luxurious, not necessary to house a crowd. The staff seemed to be a part of a seamless choreography, united by silent, behind-the-scenes communication, that trickled down to the smallest gestures: taking our coats without the need for a claim receipt; attentively letting us know that our table was being set the moment I began to be antsy sitting at the bar; transferring our drinks to the table’s ticket without being asked. These were only augmented by the care they took to make our anniversary as special as it could be—a hand-written note awaited us on our table, and every one of our servers greeted us in kind.

The meal itself was adventurous, if not the most delicious I’ve ever tasted, with each menu item identified only by its primary ingredient. However, its inventive spirit, coupled with the large array of amuses, a choice of butters (cow’s milk and goat’s) to accompany our already lusciously buttery rolls, and the additionally sweet nibbles served after our final course, made the prix fixe price feel utterly worth the experience. Our staff even presented us with homemade chocolate bars, with a cut-to-fit, handwritten “Happy Anniversary” message nestled inside the custom encasement.

And the coup de grace? After the chef himself came out to make his rounds, we were presented with a little mason jar of housemade granola—chef’s favorite—to have for breakfast the next morning.

Winter Blues: Summer Memories from the North Fork

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Winter has really been getting to me, everything from the nasty, dirty snow that lingers on the city streets to the dark, chilly nights that greet me as I leave the office. After revisiting some photos from the summer, I thought it might be the perfect thing to post these photos from a lovely little highlight of my summer that took place last July. They brightened my otherwise gray day.

Delicious and easy summer-time lunch: sliced tomatoes from the farm stand with fresh ricotta, mixed greens, and charcuterie was the perfect solution. We washed it down with a lovely Chateau Coussin Provencal rosé from T. Edwards imports and finished the meal with sliced plums and peaches.
 
Meats and cheeses from the Village Cheese Shop in Mattituck, NY
 
  Shaved ricotta salata is a refreshing change from mozzarella.
A series of guacamoles and salsas: Stevie’s an avocado purist, so her guacamole was without any tomatoes. Judy, on the other hand, likes to mix things up, it seems, since she threw some green apple and tomato into hers. 

I love fresh salsa, so we got extra tomatoes and limes, then used up the white onion and cilantro left over from the guacamole. For fun, I threw some diced peach into a separate bowl to create a fruit salsa–inspired by, but much better than, the jar of mango salsa I saw at the grocery store.

 Delicious fettucine with a rich, corn and basil “pesto” was a major hit at the table. From the August 2010 issue of Bon Appétit magazine.

Skewers of delicious, fresh, grilled vegetables. 

 Grilled pineapple: the perfect summertime sweet to complement pork chops, or delicious on their own. And those grill marks so remind me of summertime.

Corn fritters: I wouldn’t let anyone shuck the corn until right before we planned to make the batter and fry it up; my mother has always told me that it is bad for the corn to expose it to air, since the sugars immediately begin to turn to starch.

Wondra-coated bay scallops: We’d made sure to buy local,
even though the Peruvian sea scallops were cheaper, and we were
rewarded by their sweet, juicy flavor.

Food Adventure: Gnocchetti Verdi in Alto Adige

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I rang in the New Year in a small town in Alto Adige, Italy, also known as the Südtirol. Here, the joint of influence of Austria and Italy is palpable everywhere—on the road signs that read in Italian, German, and the local dialect; on the cartons of milk labeled in kind; and most certainly in the food. Bordering, and formerly a part of, Austria, this Alpine region is characterized more by its German cuisine, albeit with Italian names, evident in the heavier meat-and-potato-laden dishes. By far my favorite of those I tried, however, was a dish that seemed more to bridge the two cultures: gnocchetti verdi are a local specialty whose form is like that of spaetzle but whose flavor is more reminiscent of a spinach-infused potato gnocco. Topped with butter and Grana Padano, it made for an excellent après-ski meal.

 Gnocchetti verdi in the ski rifugio

Party Favors: Turkey Pot Pie

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The day after Thanksgiving, I headed over to Stevie’s to make a big pot of stock from the turkey carcass, then a braised leek soup with the stock. Stevie’s idea was to do an American riff on the traditional French onion soup: roasting the leeks in the oven, then adding the stock and some leftover brussels sprout leaves, and topping it with toasted pumpernickel bread and blue cheese. This meal was deliciously filling, and the braising—which I decided to do with butter, olive oil, and sherry—inspired this recipe for turkey pot pie.

The pie filling.

In a 475-degree oven, I roasted leeks, parsnips, and kabocha squash in a little leftover white wine, sherry, and the reserved turkey drippings for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I made the flaky pie crust and set it to chill in the refrigerator. The vegetables came out of the oven, and once cooled, I added the leftover turkey and peas to the pan to toss them all together. The filling was enough for two pie pans, so I rolled out the thin, buttery crust to cover both. I covered the pies with an egg wash, then baked them in a 400-degree oven for about 30 minutes.
Delicious pie, right out of the oven.

For the dough:
  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and diced
  • 1/8 – 1/4 cup ice water
  • 1 egg beaten, for egg wash
For the filling:
  • 4 leeks, quartered lengthwise
  • 1/2 medium kabocha squash, diced
  • 4 parsnips, peeled and diced
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 1/4 cup sherry
  • 4 tablespoons turkey drippings or cooking oil
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
  • 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 cup turkey, cooked and shredded
  • 2 teaspoons flour
  • Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 475-degrees. Place vegetables in a baking dish and cover with wine, sherry, and turkey drippings. Add fresh thyme, salt, and pepper for seasoning and place, uncovered, in over for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from the oven and reduce heat to 400-degrees.
For the dough, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening and butter, and combine with your fingers until the fat is the size of peas. Add a small amount of water at a time, just enough to work the dough into a ball. Place in refrigerator for a half hour to chill.
In a frying pan, add the vegetables in their cooking juices and slowly stir in a bit of flour to make a sort of roux. Then add the turkey and peas, toss together, and place filling in the bottom of a pie pan. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, roll it out to a 1/8-inch thickness, and place over the pie pan. Crimp around the edges if desired and pierce with a fork several times to allow the air to escape while cooking. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for a half hour.
Recipe inspired by Wai Hon Chu, Whole Foods Culinary Center Educator

Dinner Party: Thanksgiving in New York

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This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for great wine, delicious food, and wonderful friends, both new and old. A group of nine New York City “orphans” spent all day cooking, sipping, and noshing, in preparation for the big feast, which consisted of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, collard greens, brussel sprouts, stuffing, Wondra bread rolls, and the pièce de la résistance, the beautifully-brined 20-lb. turkey that graced our table.

Along with the turkey (and more), Stevie and Josiah provided a fantastic celebratory Jeroboam: a 2009 Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive, which we let evolve in the bottle and a decanter throughout the day. In addition to the Jeroboam, Bryan and Kelly provided the extensive wine selection for the day. Some of my favorites included the crisp N.V. François Pinon Vouvray Brut (2006), a delicious 2007 Weingut Hirsch Riesling Gaisberg (perfect with pumpkin bread), and a 1993 red from the Jura, an Overnoy Poulsard Arbois Pupillin.

We finished off the meal with three kinds of pumpkin pies, an apple tart, and some nutmeg ice cream. Alexxa provided a beautiful bourbon, as well as the photos of the day, featured below. A lovely day all around!

Snacks to start the day

 A roster of wine, including a Jeroboam of 2009 Clos de la Roilette Cuvée Tardive
The 20 lb. turkey, fresh out of the oven

Serving and carving.

 A toast.

Desserts to end the night.

Food Adventure: Cheesemaking in Upstate New York

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Lots of cooking coming up this week, but in the meantime, check out my post on SAVEUR.com on cheese-making in upstate New York! 

Here’s a teaser: When I was a little girl, I used to fancy that I was Laura Ingalls in Little House in the Big Woods, churning my own butter and frying crackling — despite not really knowing what crackling was. Last month, I visited Sprout Creek Farm, a working farm, creamery, and educational center in upstate New York, and watched a version of my dream come true. Read more at SAVEUR.com»

Food Adventure: Eat-fest 2010

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Whenever I am with my parents, we eat. It has established itself over the years as one of our favorite past times, and this weekend it took first place. Yes, the cultural excursion to see Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was mind-numbingly good (emphasis on the mind-numbing part). Yes, the exploration of Court Street in south Brooklyn was interesting. But really, it was all about the food. I won’t go into the litany of every dish we tasted, but I will share a few highlights.

Le Comptoir

Since I came to New York for the first time at age 16, my mother and I have always gone to La Goulue for a meal when we are in the city together. Chef Sebastian Chamaret from the now-defunct Upper East Side restaurant has opened up a new spot in Williamsburg, so we had to try it together. Everything about this meal was divine, from the company to the cuisine. Alexxa and Stevie joined us for charcuterie, seared foie gras, duck “a la plancha,” the most succulent chicken breast I’ve ever tasted, served over a squash puree, and more. It’s still BYO for a few more weeks until they get their liquor license, so Stevie brought us the 2009 Baudry Chinon Blanc, a Chenin Blanc that was lovely and round, with a high level of acidity that proved to be a real crowd-pleaser, as well as a 2001 Burgundy from Hubert Lignier Morey-St.-Denis, a bright, beautiful Pinot Noir with a lot personality.

251 Grand St. between Driggs Ave. and Roebling St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-486-3300

Diner

Another neighborhood adventure, we met for brunch at Diner, the refurbished yet rundown dining-car-cum-restaurant down the street from me. I thought my dad would get a kick out of the décor, which makes you feel as though the place has survived more than one earthquake, as well as the food. Although I enjoyed my grits, Mom her root vegetable hash, and Dad his sausage gravy, the real highlight was the Bloody Mary: tomato juice, thick with horseradish and rimmed with kosher salt.

85 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-486-3077

Buttermilk Channel

After an ordeal to get a cab and over an hour wait for a table, I thought this meal was bound to be a royal failure. However, once we finally sat down and got our food, the first words out of Dad’s mouth were: “This is a really good burger.” Phew! Both Mom and Dad had opted for the quarter pound of house-ground beef served on the “perfect” bun, which was neither too soft nor too stiff, and both were members of the Clean Clate Club (as the saying has gone in my family since my brother was unable to properly pronounce “plate” as a baby). Admittedly, I helped out with the extra crispy fries, but I was mostly busy digging into the Eggs Huntington, the restaurant’s own version of the Benedict. These eggs were perfectly poached, the whites and yellows both set, requiring two stabs of the fork to pierce the yolk and soak the deliciously dense buttermilk biscuit beneath. The only drawback of this meal was that my side of greens was bare.

524 Court St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718-852-8490

Momofuku Ssam Bar and Milk Bar

For our last meal, Dad requested something different, and my mind jumped to the East Village Momofuku restaurants. Chef David Chang is a Korean-American who doesn’t understand the word “vegetarian;” he is one of the chefs that has brought pork belly into the limelight in American cuisine, if that gives you any indication. I thought it might be a great fit: a killer combination of “ethnic” food and meat lovers, topped with some hefty spice. We started out on the right foot, ordering their famous pork belly buns, the fatty meat layered in soft, doughy steamed buns alongside thinly sliced cucumbers. A bit of the Sichuan spicy sauce made this an instant hit for my dad (Mom was less enthused). However, we made the mistake of ordering not one but two fish dishes, the pufferfish and the albacore tuna. The pufferfish tails were lightly fried and served with squid ink and squash, a unique blend but slightly difficult to eat. The tuna, on the other hand, was overcooked, and its barley accompaniments were as bland in color as they were in taste. Thank goodness for the final dish (all plates are meant to be shared), a spicy pork sausage ragu served with chewy rice dumplings. This one was so spicy the waitress took the Sichuan sauce away so we wouldn’t be tempted.

For dessert, I wanted my parents to try something in keeping with the eclectic theme of the night. Momofuku Ssam Bar is connected to the Momofuku Milk Bar via a passageway (also accessible from the street), and we headed over to try their various desserts. Pastry chef Christina Tosi has taken her love of youthful treats — from milk and cookies, chips, and cereal — and created one of the most interesting pastry shops in town. The cereal milk soft serve and compost cookie (literally made of chips, pretzels, chocolate chips, and more) are certainly not for everyone, but we had fun tasting through the sampler of ice creams and a few of the cookies.

Ssam Bar: 207 Second Ave, East Village, New York
212-254-3500

*Milk Bar located around the corner on 13th St.

Food Memories: First Chesnuts of the Season!

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Chestnuts, more than many other things, make me happily nostalgic for the time I spent living in Italy. Although I knew the refrain well from Christmas carols, I’d never actually eaten a chestnut until my Italian mamma Maria Teresa made them for me. At the time, I was studying in Florence and coming down to Rome on the weekends for a visit. At one point, she stated that it was chestnut season, noting that Tuscan chestnuts were sweeter and thus preferable to those grown in Lazio. I proceeded to bring her several kilos every weekend for the rest of chestnut season.

The first time I brought them to her, she excitedly put them in a frying pan on the stove, after slicing the dark brown part against the grain. She covered the pan and let them heat up, and when we started to hear a popping sound, she removed them from the heat and put them on a plate. After admonishing us to wait until they cooled to dig in, she finally proffered one to me — and I promptly put the entire thing in my mouth. Every Italian around started either to laugh or lunge in horror as I began the spit it back out…ma lo devi sbuciare prima! You must take the shell off first! What did I know? I’d never had one before. Choking and laughing aside, I finally dug into the surprisingly sweet meat of the nut. Then, I finished off the plate.

Chesnuts roasting on an open fire…as in my gas stove…
Such good memories. I love fall!

Party Favors: Smoked Trout Hash

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In addition to the venison and cheese, I also brought home about three pounds of house-smoked trout from the Telluride event. Of all the left over ingredients, the fish had me the most worried — smoking would have preserved it for the first go-round, but after it had been opened and dressed with onions and oil, how long would fish last in a Tupperware container? Fortunately, I found a recipe for smoked trout hash that would be easy to execute, using things I already had in my pantry: eggs, cream, scallions, onions, and potatoes. I whipped up a big batch for a potluck dinner that I am heading to in a few hours, leaving a bit for brunch. Served with raw mache lettuce (Toni’s favorite, I have now discovered, since he devoured it raw during post-event clean-up), it was the perfect Sunday morning meal.

Smoked trout hash with mache lettuce

Smoked Trout Hash

  • 5 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 lbs. smoked trout, skinned and shredded
  • 2 egg, lightly beaten
  • 4 tbsp. heavy cream
  • 1⁄4 cup chopped scallions
  • 1 tbsp. butter

1. Sauté potatoes and onions in a frying pan for a few minutes until slightly browned, then cover with salted water, allowing to simmer over medium heat for about ten minutes. Cook until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife, then drain.

2. Gently mix cooked potatoes and onions, smoked trout, egg, heavy cream, and scallions in a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add potato-trout mixture and fry, turning occasionally, until the hash begins to get a golden brown color and crisp texture. You may need to increase heat to get a good sear.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with a side of undressed mache lettuce.

Recipe adapted from SAVEUR.

Party Favors: ColoRouge Cheese Biscuits

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Also on Chef Roth’s menu was a ColoRouge Grilled Cheese, little baguette rounds filled with homemade pesto, arugula, and slices of a stinky Camembert-style cheese from MouCo Cheese Company in Colorado. The cheesy bites were delicious, but with several blocks of the young cow’s milk cheese left over, the fridge at work was already beginning to smell. I decided to take few blocks home to see what I could do with them.

Photo courtesy of MouCo Cheese Company.
I decided I wanted to make some sort of cheese biscuit to go with the venison pie but worried about making a traditional cheddar-style biscuit since this was a soft cheese, rather than a hard one. Inspired by a recipe from the Home on the Range blog, I froze the cheese so that I could grate it into the dry ingredients.
Grating the peeled cheese into the dry ingredients.
Using my fingers, I gently combined the flakes of frozen cheese and butter into the flour, baking powder, and baking soda mixture, added a cup of milk to create a dough, and then dropped them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. The biscuits were ready to eat 12-15 minutes later — hot, steamy, and a hint of delicious cheesiness, ready to sop up the dregs of the pie.
ColoRouge Cheese Biscuits
ColoRouge  Cheese Biscuits
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen solid
  • 1/2 wheel of ColorRouge cheese, frozen solid
  • 1 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together into a chilled bowl. Using a cheese grater, grate the butter and cheese through the large holes. Gently mix the shaved butter and cheese into the dry ingredients with your fingers until loose and crumbly. 
Add 2/3 cup of the milk to the bowl, stirring together. Add a little more at a time as needed to incorporate all the dry ingredients, but do not exceed one cup. The mixture should come together in a loose, slightly sticky dough.
Knead together a few times in the bowl. Place a large spoonful of dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, evenly spaced. Bake 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees til golden brown. Serve immediately.
*Any soft cheese, such as a brie or Camembert, could be used instead, although I think the stinkier the better; the flavor mellows as baked.