Sunday Meals Part 1

Another Sunday, another gourmet meal for my friends and I.

The centerpiece is a chive blossom.

Some baked phyllo dough for our dessert

Heirloom tomato and strawberry salad with homemade mozzarella and balsamic dressing

Ossobucco with sauteed spinach and creamy polenta

Baked phyllo stuffed with strawberries and yellow raspberries

3 Course Pork Provencal Dinner

After reading a book about life in rural france, there was one particular chapter about the old times when pigs were raised and then slaughtered to feed a family or town for the upcoming winter. Along with this description about the ritual was a particularly delicious sounding recipe for Provencal style pork stew. It sounded so delicious in fact, that I made it my goal to try as best as I could in recreating it for a dinner. Along with my chef friends, we set about making ourselves a 3 course meal to die for. Below: Hamachi tartare salad, Pork Provencal with Foie Gras Mash, and a Graham Cracker Cobbler.

Here is the pork recipe for those that are interested.

Pork Provencal:

3-4 lbs pork shoulder, cut into cubes (leave the fat on)

1 lb carrots, large diced

1 shallot, small diced

Olive Oil

3 leeks, sliced thin

Dijon Mustard to taste

Capers, minced

1 bottle of Cote du Rhone or similar red wine

1/2 cup water

Rosemary, minced

Salt

Pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 375. In a large pot or dutch oven, put 1/4 in of olive oil on the bottom of the pan. Once hot, slowly some of the pork and cook till brown. Remove from the oil, and continue till all the meat is browned. Add  the onion and leeks to the pot, and cook till tender. Deglaze with all the red wine, being sure to scrape up all the brown bits (fond) on the bottom of the pot. Add the carrots and the pork, and add the water. There should be enough liquid to fully cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, and cover. Place in the oven and cook for approximately 2 hours, or until the meat is tender and shreds apart with a fork. Remove from the heat, and remove the carrots (optional). Season with salt and pepper, then add 1 or 2 heaping tablespoons of the dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons chopped capers. Mix and serve hot.

(Leftovers are great tossed with some pasta)

Our table, with a fresh herb centerpiece. The purple flower you see is actually a chive bud flower.

A simple Vouvray to pair with our Hamachi appetizer.

Putting the finishing touches on the salad.

Hamachi tartare with belgian endive.

Cervice style Hamachi sashimi

Pork Provencal with Foie Gras Mashed Potatoes

An amazing wine, Lolonis "Orpheus" Petite Syrah

Late Harvest Riesling

A very impromptu Graham Cracker Peach Cobbler

Simple Steak Dinner

Saturday Night I was alone and decided to make a simple meal for myself. With a craving for a decent steak and some wine, I set out to the local Shoprite in search of a cut beef from the almighty cow. After carefully perusing the meat section, I settled on a $6 ribeye steak with a good amount of marbling in the meat. 

Once home, I fired up the gas grill, opened a bottle of Shiraz (which had some serious cellaring potential) and set to work. Grilled items are best when heavily seasoned before cooking, so I seasoned liberally with salt and cracked black pepper. I took out the required tools to grill, some long tongs, some oil and paper towel to use on the grill, a plate for the steak...and the bottle of wine.  With the lid closed and the grill on high, the temperature quickly rose to over 600 F. and I knew it was ready. I opened the lid, cleaned the grates with a wire brush, and oiled it up. I threw on the steak and heated up some peas with butter on the burner.

As I waited, I started to think about the wine. Jip Jip Rock is an Australian Shiraz from the Lime Stone Coast. It has a lot of typical fruit of a shiraz, and some limestone and earthiness. It was a great wine to enjoy with some steak, but I realized it is the kind of wine that really could benefit from a few years of aging. 

Soon the steak was done, and I got to enjoy. It was the perfect simple meal, and the tanins of the wine helped cleanse the palate from the extra chunk of fat on the ribeye.

Like any old school steak dinner, I decided to have a strong cigar after. The perfect end to a good meal.

Gluten Free Gnocchi

Today I decided to try my hand at some gluten free gnocchi. These gnocchi are a combination of potato, butternut squash, eggs, spices, and oat flour. 

The Oat flour really gives the gnocchi a good flavor, but since they have less gluten than typical gnocchi, I think the batch would have benefited from an extra egg... however, the oat flour really keeps the gnocchi nice and light.

Beacon Restaurant

Last week my chef friend Jeong and I were sitting around at the CIA talking about how we wanted to go eat somewhere in NYC where we could broaden our culinary horizons and see what some current restaurants were up to. We went over the usual laundry list of "hot spots" that we wanted to potentially eat at; Nobu, Kraft, The Modern, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, WD-50...and we just couldn't decide on a restaurant. The next day, through a recommendation of Chef David Kamen, I decided to make a reservation at Chef Waldy Malouf's restaurant, Beacon

Beacon is the sort of place I would love to run and own. It seats about 225 guests and has a classy elegant decor that isn't stuffy or pretentious, but instead is sophisticated and sleek.

Once we arrived we were greeted by a two lovely hostesses who treated us like we were two VIP chefs from the Culinary. We were seated at a very good table, which overlooked the semi-open kitchen and wood burning oven. Our server was very energetic, and did a good job overseeing our whole meal.

The kitchen sent us out our first course compliments of the chef, 6 wood-fired oysters on a bed of rock salt. Now I believe as a chef that every successful restaurant has a few dishes that are unique or almost "perfect", and these were the best oysters I have ever had! They had the perfect balance of shallots, butter, lemon, herbs, acidity and fresh oyster flavor. I think Jeong and I had an epiphany over the oysters cause we are still talking about them a week later.

Our second course consisted of some Roasted Bone Marrow for Jeong and Smoked Pork Belly with Shiseido Peppers for myself. The marrow was very good, and I think it was Jeong favorite dish (if not the oysters), but I while I didn't dislike the Pork Belly (how can bacon be bad??) it just seemed like it needed another component to the dish. It would have benefited from something fresh or with a little acid.

In the middle of our courses we ordered two cocktails to see how good they were. I ordered a cucumber vodka caipiroska, which was fabulous. Jeong ordered the house pineapple margarita, which he said was quite good as well.

Our third course consisted of sweetbreads and their take on shrimp cocktail. The shrimp cocktail was very good, with lots of bright lemon and dill flavors.

For our main course I chose a bottle of Chateau Magnol Cru Bordeaux in Haute-Medoc. It was a fantastic bottle, with lots of black cherry and oak. It was a great pairing for our main courses, a Guiness Braised Short Ribs, and Lamb from Nose to Tail.

The lamb dish was very complex. It had a bacon wrapped lamb kidney, a ground lamb meatball with lots of cumin spice, a grilled lamb chop, and a piece of braised lamb with some creamy polenta. It was a rich dish, but very well thought out and was probably my second favorite dish there. The kitchen sent us out a side of their creamed spinach, which was simple and delicious.

After our main courses and a little breather, our server told us that he would send us out an extra dessert as long as it wasn't a souffle. Of course being chefs, Jeong and I had to have two souffles made to order for us. He decided on the mixed berry souffle, and I ordered the chocolate chip. 15 minutes later our server came out with two towering souffles and cut them open and drizzled them with their accompanying sauces. The souffle was like a slice of heaven, there was so much air incorporated into it that the second it hit your tongue it melted away.

The cheesecake was super rich and had a great mango pineapple salsa that came with it. The best part of the cheesecake was that the usual cookie crumb crust was mostly shredded coconut, which was a nice contrast.

After the meal, the Exec Sous Chef, Sergio Lopez came over to our table and gave us a kitchen tour. I was surprised to see one of my previous residents, Richard, doing his externship there. 

We took a picture with the staff and thanked them for all their hard work, and for treating us like kings.

It was an amazing meal, and one that I will remember for a long time. And if you are looking for a great place to eat at a good price and excellent service, then look to Beacon Restaurant to keep shining as one of NYC's best restaurants.

The Halibut Escapades

Every few weeks my friends and I try to have a nice dinner. The reasons for this are two, so I can feel like I am not just a "college" student living in a residence hall; and two, to keep up my culinary skills.

Today we went to Adam's Market in Arlington, which specializes in local produce. 1.5lbs of beautiful Halibut later, my friend Jeong Woo and I set out to create a 3 course meal with delicious wine pairings.

After seeking out all the ingredients we needed, Jeong and I returned to the CIA and picked some of our Rhubarb and strawberries that were growing behind Rosenthal hall. In the kitchen, Jeong started cooking potatoes in buerre nosiette, while I peeled, small diced and simmered a reduction of 10yr tawney port, sugar, and the rhubarb. As it was cooking down, I pureed watercress and Jeong sauteed the halibut. Jeong also created a cool soba dish with hot bean paste and mixed greens.

Eventually with food in hand, we sat down to eat and opened a delicious bottle of Sophia Blanc de Blanc (100% chardonnay, mmm). It was very crips, with smack you in the face notes of peaches and apricots. With this wine we had our soba salad, which was delicious, probably the best cold noodle salad I have ever had.

After the soba, Jeong plated the fish, and I mixed the salad and vinaigrette up for the garnish. I then opened a much anticipated Grand Cru white burgundy...which ended up being corked! What a dissapointment...but the halibut was so good it didn't matter.

After we had the rhubarb compote topped with vanilla ice cream, strawberry puree and fresh strawberries from the CIA garden. It was super sweet, and the port really made the rhubarb amazing.

It was a good meal, and the start of a great weekend. We have it so tough here at the culinary ;)

Random NYC Pictures

Just some random weekend shots.