Caramelized Onions

I truly do not understand when people say they don't like onions or garlic, both add the most wonderful flavors to food. One of my favorite condiments is caramelized onions. Slowly cooking onions over a low heat brings out all the sweetness and takes away the bite. They are great in sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, and I'm willing to try it on most other things too. Always make more than you need and bump up the flavors in your food for a week.

Ingredients:

2 lbs onions, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Directions:

Melt the butter in a pan with the olive oil over medium low heat. When the butter melts into frothy goodness, add sliced onions to the pan. Add salt to the onion to draw moisture out. As the onions begin to soften, lower the heat to low to prevent browning.

Cook the onions over the low heat for about 30 minutes. Stir the onions every 5 minutes or so to make sure they are cooking evenly. When the onions get a slight caramel color to them, turn the heat up to medium. Add wine to de-glaze the pan and season with salt and pepper.

 As the wine evaporates, cook for another 5 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes over medium/medium-high heat. This gets the sugar to have maximum carmelization at the end without burning over the long cooking time. Turn off heat and cool the mixture. Store in an airtight container and keep for up to a week in the refridgerator. (I don't think they will last that long though.)

This recipe multiplies easily so make as much as your heart desires! Happy cooking!

Hunger Games - Lamb Stew with Prunes

I think this is perhaps the most famous recipe from the Hunger Games books - probably because Katniss said it was her favorite thing about the Capitol and readers of the book all know that she is no fan of the Capitol.

While reading the description of this dish in the book my initial reaction was definitely more skeptical than excited. Prunes? That's what my grandfather would eat if he felt... you know. Dried fruit has never been of particular interest to me. Why eat it dried when you could have fresh grapes, plums, apricots, cherries? After a little research, I saw that dried fruit is really prevalent in north african cuisine like tagines and heavily spiced rustic stews. My rendition is inspired by the flavors of that cuisine but fused with ingredients I thought made this dish more appealing to me.

Ingredients:

2 lbs lamb
2 cups onion, sliced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 can tomatoes, diced
1 can chickpeas
1 cup prunes, halved
2 tablespoons plum brandy
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Mix the dry spices together in a bowl. Coat the lamb in half of the spice rub, season with extra salt and pepper and let it sit for 30 minutes. Heat a pot on the stove over medium high heat. Add vegetable oil to the hot pan and sear all sides of the lamb.

Take the lamb out of the pot and set aside. Add the onions and carrots to the lamb drippings in the pot. Saute for a few minutes until onions begin to brown on the edges. Add garlic and cook for another minute. De-glaze the pan with plum brandy; add the tomatoes (with all the juices) with the other vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.

Nestle the lamb back into the pot and add water until the lamb is covered. Turn the flame down to a low and let the lamb simmer for 1.5 hours. 

Drain the chickpeas from the can and rinse with water. Add the prunes and chickpeas into the stew (with a little more water if it looks dry). Simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve over a bed of wild rice or couscous and enjoy Katniss's favorite Capitol meal.

Hunger Games - Noodles in Green Sauce

How perfect that it is St Patrick's Day weekend because my next Hunger Games recipe is from the same meal as the paper thin beef carpaccio, noodles in GREEN SAUCE!

"The servers, all young people dressed in white tunics like the one who gave us wine, move wordlessly to and from the table, keeping the platters and glasses full. About halfway through my glass of wine, [Katniss] head starts feeling foggy, so [she] changes to water instead." Well let me tell you something, I will NOT be changing to water this weekend. And hopefully there will be young hot people dressed in GREEN keeping my glass full.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup onion, finely diced
3 cups milk
10 oz. frozen spinach
1/2 lb pasta
salt & pepper


Directions:

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add pasta. Follow directions on package; cook until pasta is al dente.


Melt the butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Put onions in with butter and sweat them for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add flour to the pan and cook for 2-3 more minutes. 

Whisk in 2 cups of the milk slowly. I use skim milk to keep it a little healthier but any milk you have on hand will do. Simmer for 5 minutes while the sauce thickens. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add the frozen spinach to the sauce and stir together. Simmer for another 5 minutes until everything is well combined and the sauce takes on a green hue. Stir in remaining last cup of milk until the sauce thins out a bit and reaches desired consistency. Taste and season with more salt and pepper. 

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Toss together and give the pasta a few minutes before serving.

Hunger Games - Paper Thin Beef

During Katniss's prep time before the Hunger Games, she decided that she would eat as much as possible. The few extra pounds would be an advantage to her during the games. However, I don't need the extra pounds so one of her dinners is the same amount as a week's worth of dinner for me.

After the fiery entrance Katniss and Peeta had at the opening ceremony, the District 12 team (Haymitch, Effie, Cinna and Portia) have a fantastic dinner with their tributes. I've decided to try out a couple components from that meal, the first being "rare roast beef sliced as thin as paper." When I read this, my mouth starts to water with one thought --- carpaccio! A simple but delicious and decadent appetizer. When paired with a little bread (which is a MAJOR theme in the books) and wine (which Katniss tries for the first time at this meal) it is my quick and easy Monday night dinner! 
 
Ingredients: 

1/2 lb fatty beef tenderloin
2 cups mixed salad greens
1/4 cup crème fraîche
1 teaspoon horseradish
1 lemon
olive oil
Parmesan cheese shavings
salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat a skillet over high heat. Season the whole tenderloin with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little oil into the pan and quickly sear all sides of the beef; 1-2 minutes per side. Take the beef out of the pan; wrap in plastic wrap and put in freezer for an hour.

When the beef is just about ready, mix the crème fraîche and horseradish together and set aside. Take the beef out of freezer; while it is still semi-frozen, try to slice as thin as possible. If it is not as thin as you would like, place slices between wax paper and pound thinner.

Mix the juice of a lemon and 3 tablespoons of olive oil together with some salt and pepper. Toss the mixed greens into the vinaigrette.


Arrange the thin slices of beef onto a plate. Drizzle horseradish crème fraîche on top of the beef and top with the dressed mixed greens and shavings of Parmesan cheese. Serve with some toasted crostini and have a great meal!

Hunger Games - Chicken with Orange Beurre Blanc and Caramelized Peas and Onions

During her first meeting with Cinna, her stylist, Katniss has a meal of chicken in orange sauce with peas and onions. As she watched this perfect plate of food rise from within the table at the push of a button, Her life had been so hard all her life and with the slightest effort, Capitol residents had a first class meal brought before them. She imagined herself trying to recreate this meal back in District 12. Katniss realizes that after a hard day of hunting. gathering and trading, her version would still be a lesser version of Cinna's lunch. With that realization, Katniss's hate for the Capitol grows.

Though the book does not specify what type of orange sauce is used, I'd like to think it was a decadent buerre blanc usually used with fish and seafood.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cubed
2 oranges
1/2 cup white wine
2 teaspoons shallots, minced
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup couscous 
2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen pearl onions
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a pan over high heat and brown the chicken pieces and remove from pan.

Saute shallots in the chicken drippings for a minute. Add the juice of 1 1/2 oranges (save last half for orange segments) and white wine to the pan. Lower heat to medium and reduce the liquid to half its original volume. The sauce should be syrupy by this point.

Lower the heat of the pan to low and slowly whisk in little pieces of the butter. Stir continuously to avoid the sauce breaking and do not let it boil. The result should be a smooth pale orange sauce that can easily coat the back of a spoon. Add the chicken back with the remaining orange segments and allow the chicken to finish cooking over low heat.

Using the water-couscous ratio reccommended on your package, allow the couscous to cook and fluff with a fork. Place the peas and onions in another pan and let them heat up with a dab of butter. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chicken over a bed of couscous with the peas and onions as a side.

Hunger Games - Lamb Chops with Carrot Soup

My second Hunger Games inspired recipe is Katniss's first meal after volunteering as tribute. She never got the chance to eat her fish stew with greens. Tearful goodbyes and nerves of steel must take a lot of energy because Katniss was able to chow down a big meal of thick carrot soup, green salad and lamb chops on board the Panem-bound train. 

After teetering on the edge of starvation most of her life, this was her first 'Capitol' meal and the sheer volume of it had her mind whirling. Hunger Games, the movie, is actually working with non-profit organizations - Feeding America & World Food Programme - to bring attention to issues of food shortage and those who don't have enough to eat on a daily basis.  

This meal is actually not that difficult to make. In order to minimize cost and effort, each component of the meal is 5 ingredients or less (water, oil, salt & pepper not included).

 Ingredients:

Carrot Soup - 
1 lb baby carrots
1 can (14 oz) diced carrots
1 small onion
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 bay leaf
3 cups of water
salt & pepper


Lamb Chops - 
1 lb lamb chops
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt & pepper


Kale Salad - 
2 cups kale, chopped
1 tablespoon shallots
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper

Directions:

Mix garlic, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place lamb chops into the mix and make sure each one is coated in the marinade. Set aside while you prepare the carrot soup.

Heat a pot with 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add onions into the pot and season with salt. Sweat the onions for a few minutes and add the carrots and tomatoes. Cook for another 10 minutes. Add water to the vegetables; season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.


Mix the shallots, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and olive oil into the vinaigrette for the kale salad. Rinse and chop the kale into small pieces. Since kale is a tough green, it can withstand being dressed a little early. You can toss vinaigrette into the kale now or later if you prefer.


Heat a skillet or grill to a high temperature. Dry off excess moisture off each lamb chop and place onto the grill. Cook for 5 minutes before flipping and give the second side another 4-5 minutes for a medium rare chop. If you prefer it more well done, adjust time accordingly. Give the lamb chops 5 minutes of resting time before serving.

Turn off heat under the carrot soup. Pour contents into a food processor or blender. Puree the soup until smooth. If the soup seems a little chunky, add a bit more water until the contents reaches desired consistency. Taste and season one last time. 

Serve the soup with the lamp chops and green salad & enjoy Katniss's first 'Capitol' meal!

Hunger Games - Fish Stew with Greens

Like a growing percentage of the country, I am a Hunger Games fan. No surprise either, USA Today just gave the top three spots for February 2012's best-sellers to the Hunger Games trilogy. The action, the drama, the love triangle, and of course the kick-ass female protagonist Katniss Everdeen.

Another part of the story that caught my attention was the food. The dish descriptions were so detailed it made me hungry. So naturally I began to make plans to attempt some of these dishes. I will be making some creations inspired by the Hunger Games, but these recipes will be MY interpretations. Since I'm the one who has to eat the product, I want it to be tasty... here we go!

With the movie coming out in less than 3 weeks (WOOHOO!!!!!!)  I thought I should try my recipes in chronological order from the novel. The first scenes of the book is Gale and Katniss hunting in the woods past the fence of District 12. After collecting their bounty and trading in the hob, she uses the remainder of their fish and greens to make a stew. Here is my version of that.


Ingredients:

1 lb white fleshed fish (cod/halibut/sole)
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, diced
2 cans low sodium chicken stock
6 cups water
1 cup cream
4 cups kale, chopped
salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat a pot over medium heat.  Put the vegetable oil into the pot and add the spicy Italian sausage. Brown the sausage for 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes into the pot with the vegetable oil. Cook for another 5 minutes until the onions become translucent.

Add the chicken stock and water to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes into the boiling broth and adjust stove to medium-low temperature. Simmer for 15 minutes.

While the broth is simmering away, get the kale and fish ready. Take the kale off the stem and chop into bite-size pieces. Take skin off the fish (if there is any) so you are only left with the flesh of the filet. Cut the fish filet into one inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the fish and kale into the soup. Simmer for another 5-7 minutes until the fish is cook all the way through.

Turn the heat off and pour in the cream. Taste and season one last time and serve immediately.

Stuffed Zucchini

When things come into season and produce is really cheap at the supermarket I can't help myself. A trait I inherited from my mother, if it's on sale and fresh, buy it! However, it can lead to an overstuffed refrigerator and ten pounds of zucchini that needs to be consumed.

When you have too much of an ingredient, that ingredient needs to become the main component of a meal, as to use as much of it as possible. Luckily, I love zucchini so I made delicious stuffed zucchini boats and had it for dinner and lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

4 zucchinis
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons Italian parsley
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the zucchini length-wise and scoop the inside out of the halves. Chop the flesh of the zucchini into similar sized pieces like the onions and tomatoes.

Heat the skillet over high heat. Put oil into the pan. Add the chopped zucchini, onions and garlic in with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper while letting the vegetables soften. After 5 minutes, the onions start to look translucent; add tomatoes to the pan and cook for a few more minutes.

Line an oven safe sheet pan with aluminum foil and place emptied zucchini halves onto the baking sheet. Fill the zucchini boats with the zucchini, onion & tomatoes. Stir together the panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley in a bowl and top the zucchini halves with the mixture.

Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until breadcrumbs are golden brown. Serve with a side salad for a light meal or add a pasta or protein for a more filling dinner.

Veselka

My favorite movie about New York City before I moved east was definitely Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. A quintessential coming-of-age movie that is as much about the city as it is about the characters. The perspective of the shots, how New York looks from the inside of a taxi cab or conversations on a sidewalk with endless people passing by, make the city as much a character as Kat Dennings or Michael Cera.

The city gives the characters a whooping before all conflicts come to a resolution... where? Veselka Restaurant (where the story was originally penned) on the corner of 9th and 2nd. This eastern European diner, open 24 hours a day, is cranking out great breakfast foods as well as Ukrainian specialties like pierogis and borscht. 

On my visit, I obviously had to get what Norah got! "Another meat plate! Keep them coming!"

MEAT PLATE $13.95 - 2 Meat, 2 Potato Pierogi; 1 Meat Stuffed Cabbage w/ sour cream, beet & horseradish salad, caramelized onions

The meat plate was very delicious, especially after a late night. Meaty stuffed cabbage and pierogis smothered in sour cream, spicy beet spread and caramelized onions really hit the spot on a late sunday breakfast. While everyone around us enjoyed french toast and pancakes, three messy haired smudged eyed girls stuffed their face with protein, carbs, and cream.

 Matzoh Ball Soup & Ukrainian Borscht

Each plate comes with salad and soup; I had the borscht because of my obsession with beets. No brainer in my opinion. My friend had the matzoh ball soup which I thought wasn't as good as Katz's Delicatessen matzoh ball soup but still tasty. Veselka and another famous greasy diner, Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop in the Flatiron district, both use chicken stock as the base to their matzoh ball soup. Katz's uses a darker beef stock I believe. I prefer the heavy stock with my fluffy light matzoh balls.

Black's Bar and Kitchen

After three days of binge eating while visiting my friend in the greater Washington DC area, I am going to need a month of dieting to counter this gluttonous President's Day weekend.

On Sunday morning, we had a glorious brunch in Bethesda at Black's Bar and Kitchen. Their seafood buffet was one of the nicest brunch's I have had. This includes New York and Las Vegas. The quality of the food was unlike a typical buffet of mediocre food that is perpetually refilled. All of it had good flavors and fresh ingredients.

They had a wonderful raw bar that was full of oysters and clams, seasoned shrimp cocktail, and assorted seafood salads. The mignonette sauce that went with the oysters/clams was subpar compared to my favorite at Fish. I prefer the vinegar to be more prominent; the sauce should be tangy so it adds freshness to the seafood, not weigh it down. They had a nice smoked salmon with a spread of creme fraiche, cream cheese, capers, onions, and even caviar. My favorite from the cold section of the buffet was the duck liver pate with caramelized onions, spread across their parsley toast point... yum!

Around the corner from the raw bar was the hot food; grits, applewood smoked bacon, breakfast sausage, eggs Pontchartrain. Their omelet station was made to everyone's taste and my friend's omelet was perfectly light and fluffy. Grilled asparagus topped with a beet and grape salad, charcuterie, pasta salad, grilled mushrooms in balsamic vinaigrette, and assorted grilled vegetables were all delicious sides to the craving station. Thick juicy cuts of molasses-peppercorn crusted prime rib with the usual accompaniments - au jus, horseradish cream, caramelized onions; the horseradish cream was divine.

$36 for the buffet only and $48 if you want unlimited champagne cocktails with brunch. A little pricier than I usually aim for brunch but well worth it.

Endive Lettuce Cups

Light lunch and bored of the same thing over and over and over...? Me too. So for lunch today I decided to class it up with endive lettuce and goat cheese. A quick pop over to the corner bodega to pick up some supplies from their salad bar and I had myself a nice little lunch that my co-workers will give me grief about for the next week probably. But who cares because it was delish!

Ingredients:

12 leaves endive lettuce
2 oz goat cheese
1 cup assorted prepared salads
1 tablespoon hot sauce (everything is better spicy)

Directions:

Cut the end off head of endive and separate leaves onto a plate. Smear a dollop of goat cheese on each leaf. Top with the different salads you pick up that day. Drizzle a little hot sauce or leave on the side as a dip and enjoy a quick and healthy lunch.

Maple Roasted Pork Belly

On a cold afternoon when you have nothing planned for the rest of the night and the warmth of your couch blanket beckons you to do nothing but stay in and enjoy a book or movie, you need a slow cooking rich meal to go along with it. In this situation, pork belly is perfection.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork belly
4 heirloom carrots
1 medium onion (1/2 large onion)
1 cup dark beer
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon butter
salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Score the skin of the pork with deep slits, cutting through the fat but not into the meat. Sprinkle both sides of the belly with liberal amounts of salt and pepper. Peel the carrots and cut into chunks. Larger pieces are better because they need to withstand hours of cooking; smaller pieces would fall apart. Cut the onion into large chunks as well.

Place carrots and onions at the bottom of a small dutch oven or oven safe pot. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 cup of dark beer and 1 cup of water. Place the belly on top of the carrots and onions. Place into the oven for 30 minutes. (Enjoy the rest of the beer while waiting!)

Mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce into a small bowl. After the first 30 minutes of cooking the pork belly in the oven, take belly out of the oven and lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Bast the pork with a third of the maple syrup glaze, put cover on pot and return to oven. Bake the pork belly for an additional 3 hours, occasionally basting with the maple glaze.

After the 3 hours pull the pork belly out of the oven and crank the oven up to broil. Pour on the remaining bit of maple glaze and return pork belly to broiler for 5-7 minutes to crisp the skin. Keep a watchful eye on the oven at this point because the maple can burn.

Let the pork belly cool for a few minutes on a cutting board, meanwhile put the carrots and onions on the serving platter. Slice the pork belly and place on top of the vegetables. Reduce the remaining liquid in the pan and thicken with a tablespoon of butter. Pour over the belly slices and serve hot!

Brie Sliders

There are nights when  you can't wait to go out after work; share a nice meal with friends and have a couple drinks to wash it all down is one of the best ways I know how to spend an evening. There are other nights though, when you can't wait to get back to your apartment and pull on some fleece pajama pants, throw on a movie and just veg out. Sometimes those nights call for food to be delivered to your door but my preference is always for a home cooked meal. Something that is easy, not a lot of fuss, and finger food that doesn't require utensils. (Dishes are not my favorite thing in the world.)

A favorite finger food of mine... sliders. When made at home they can be customized to your taste and flavor preference of the day. I've made mexican-flavored sliders with chipotle sour cream, cheddar cheese and jalepenos; my korean-flavored sliders have bulgogi glazed patties and kimchi (to be posted later). On this particular day I had an intense craving for Brie so french style sliders came to mind.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (80-20 fat ratio)
6 mini brioche buns
6 oz. Brie cheese
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup arugula
6 cloves garlic confit
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauce

Directions:

Mix the ground beef with the mustard, salt, pepper, thyme, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Divide the meat into six portions to ensure relatively similar sized patties. Form the meat into round patties; they should not be too thin and larger than the bun. They will shrink as they cook.

Heat a skillet with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot place the patties into the pan and allow them to cook for 3-4 minutes an each side.

As the patties are cooking, start to assembly your buns with the condiments. Mix the ketchup and the Sriracha together and smear on the bottom half of each bun. Place arugula on top of the spicy ketchup. Spread the garlic confit on the top half of each bun.

During the last minute of cooking on the second side, place 1 ounce of Brie on each patty and cover the pan. This will melt the cheese. Place the slider patty over of the arugula, allowing it to wilt slightly and enjoy!