CheOWda!

Yesterday I had kind of a rough day, but when I got home THIS was cooking on the stove and filling the apartment with delicious smells:

Jimmy had the day off for Rosh Hashanah, so he was a mommy and made me such a super yummy dinner. He made New England Fish Chowder, served with some nice sourdough... oh my goodness it was so hearty and rich. Here's the recipe he used. They were out of cod and haddock at Whole Foods so he used hake, which is basically the same. It was SO GOOD!!!!

Chicken that Jumps in your Mouth!

This is one of my favorite things to make.  It is so easy and so divine!  I always make it based on the Chicken Saltimbocca recipe from Williams Sonoma.  I had sliced processed mozzarella so I just used that instead of fresh mozzarella.

I served the chicken with sauteed spinach:  heat some olive oil and butter in a pot, add one chopped shallot and let cook until soft.  Add spinach and let it cook until wilted, stirring occasionally.  Season with S&P and serve!

Roasted Pork Loin

I made this roasted pork loin with parsley shallot sauce for dinner last week.  I adapted the recipe from one that I found on Food Network.  I did my pork a little different than the recipe says but made the sauce from the recipe exactly.  It was a very nice addition to the pork!  I served it up with some roasted asparagus - I just tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted it with the pork for about 15 minutes.  For the pasta, I just tossed it in some butter, Grana Padano, salt and pepper.  Simple meal but very satisfying!

Smorg update!

I went back to the Smorgasburg, and this time I waited in the long line for a Brisket Sandwich. The line actually moved pretty fast, and anyway it was worth it for this delicious sandwich.

I followed it up with a tiny coffee cupcake with caramel bourbon frosting (sorry about the bad pic)...



...and this super refreshing popsicle made with fresh cantaloupe and mint. SO good!!

Oh, and after I left, I turned a corner and saw this and almost lost my whole lunch:

Herradura's just my favorite tequila, that's all. Don't worry I didn't go in by myself. But now I know it's there. So much good stuff near the studio! :)

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Soup

This is a recipe that I got from Mom, and I believe she got it from one of her friends.  Very tasty and very easy!  I made it for dinner last night and it's already all gone! 

Ingredients: 

3 TBS Butter
1/4 C chopped onion (yellow)


1 LB mushrooms, quartered (white button or crimini or both)


1/3 C flour


4 C chicken broth


1/2 C half & half


1/2 C dry white wine  

1 tsp salt


1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (i.e. tobasco...I substituted cayenne pepper)


2-1/2 C  diced cooked chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts)


1/4 tsp tarragon, dried or 1/2-3/4 tsp fresh (I used more:)


flat leaf Italian parsley for garnish



Cook chicken in olive oil and a little S & P.   In a large pot, saute the onion in the butter.  Add mushrooms and saute for ~10 min.  Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and saute a little more and blend smooth.  Stir in chicken broth, 1/2 & 1/2 and wine and simmer a little until thickened.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for ~20 min.
  

Apply to mouth and smile ;)    ...had to say that

(Mom added this last step when she emailed me the recipe.  hehehe) 

Penne with Broccoli

Carlinhos and I were watching Giada's Everyday Italian cooking program the other day (well actually I was watching it and so he was forced to watch it with me), and she made Farfalle with Broccoli.  Carlinhos asked me to make it and so I did last night for dinner.  It's a really easy recipe that is pretty tasty.  Most importantly Carlinhos really liked it!

Smorgasburg!!!!

Ohmygod you guys, I'm really excited about this. My new studio in Williamsburg is just a few blocks from Smorgasburg, which just the other day Siobhan was asking me about, because she read about it in Bon Appétit. It's this awesome outdoor food market that happens every Saturday, right on the River with a great view of the city. It's like a flea market, but with really amazing delicious food for sale instead of art and antiques and stuff. It's been there since this Spring, but I finally went for the first time this last weekend.

There is such a broad range of vendors here, selling really good, fresh, "artisanal" street dishes in a wide variety of styles and cuisines, as well as prepared items like pickles, jams, candies, etc. The concept is to foster the connection between upstate farmers and city purveyors of high-quality local food. Anyway I wanted to try so many different things... this was my first course:

It was a Heritage Pork Rillette with yummy mustard on a crostini. $3 and SO good. This vendor, "Betto" also had Pork Belly meatballs, which I will definitely have to go back for.

Next, I had a Panko-Chicken Taco from "Cemitas."

I would have gotten the signature Cemita - a big fat mexican sandwich - if I hadn't already had my first course, so instead I asked the nice girl in front of me if I could take a picture of hers. As you can see, it's huge. I'll have it another time:

After my taco I did some more grazing. This was a sample of duck bacon with hot plum chutney, very tasty (and I bought some apple butter from this lady):

It started to pour rain so I had to hang out at this lovely sweet stand, and the gentleman there instisted I try all his brittle and toffee. The strange and exotic brittle you see below was amazing.., read the ingredients! Lemongrass!? Daring right? But so yummy: 

Then I saw this mini cupcake stand. OMG, little bite-sized cakes for a dollar or 2! I had the Chocolate Lavender. So delish:

Another one for next time... LOOK AT THESE DOUGHNUTS. In case you can't read the tags, there is a hibiscus frosting, a passion fruit.. and they're just huge and so fresh looking.

I took home some other treats like a fantastic cilantro-lime-jalapeno condiment - which was perfect with the baked salmon we had for dinner last night - and a bottle of cold brew iced coffee for the studio. There are so many more things I have to try. For example, the longest line was at "Mighty Quinns," for their slow-smoked brisket sandwich:

I've heard this is amazing, and the line confirmed. This is tops on my list for next time. All in all, it was a great lunch and my tail was SUPER wagging here folks, I can't wait to go back. 

Summer Fruit Salad...and a little Lyla bean

Saturday was Cynthia's birthday and I went over to her house Sunday to celebrate and also to meet the new edition to her family.  Since her baby daughter has an allergy to dairy and soy it was difficult for me to figure something to bring as a dessert, so I decided to make a nice fruit salad since so many fruits are in season and super yummy right now.  I used peaches, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, and grapes.

And I have to post a picture of little Ligaya aka Lyla beans...

Happy birthday Cyn!!!  And congratulations on this beautiful little baby!!!!!!!

Cheddar Biscuits with Fried Egg & Ham

I recently purchased the latest Los Angeles magazine which is centered around breakfast in LA.  On the cover is a scrumptious picture of a biscuit with oozing with ham, fried egg, and cheddar cheese.  The picture inspired me to make my own for breakfast over the weekend.  I used this recipe from epicurious for the biscuits.

I think if I make something like this again, I would try another biscuit recipe cuz they were good not great.  But the total package was pretty darn satisfying to my thighs! ;)

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Last week was Aman's birthday, and for that I decided to try out some new cupcakes.  I love salted caramel anything - I think the combo is to die for! - so I found a recipe online for salted caramel cupcakes that sounded tasty and went for it.  The cake is a vanilla cake which is not too sweet so it works well with the frosting which is made from making caramel and then adding it into a buttercream.  Then I topped them with fleur de sel to give that oh so good salty contrast to the caramel flavor in the frosting.

I think they turned out pretty good!  It seemed like everyone liked them!  Happy Birthday Aman!

p.s. I have A LOT of caramel leftover so now I need to make something else so it doesn't go to waste! hummmmmmmmmmmm...

Happy 30th Birthday to Gayle!

Last weekend was Gayle's 30th birthday and in honor of that I made a batch of my ice cream cone cake pops. They were a hit! And most importantly Gayle loved them! Happy Birthday Gayle! I love you!

(you made the blog Gayle!!!! yay!!!)