Archive for August, 2008

By Jessica | August 29, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | No comments

Have you ever finished a weekend full of sausage and felt like your heart just might burst if you don’t give it some green? Yeah. That’s why Sundays there are always green meals happening. Recently, I had my fill of meat so I had to do a fat-free, hi-ruffage salad. Because I care.

Vietnamese Salad

2 servings of udon noodles
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts
3 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
Dressing:
2 parts fresh lime juice, 2 parts tamari, 1 part sesame oil
You’ll probably want to start with two juicy limes and work your way from there.
And, instead of tamari, you can use low-sodium, high-quality soy sauce. (Or fug it, some leftover Chinese Packets)

Boil your noodles, toss with half the dressing. Pour into a large bowl. Throw the lettuce on top. Then the rest of the herbs, scallions and sprouts. Top with the rest of the dressing. This makes two large servings. Your tiny beating heart will thank you. (Although, this really goes well with thinly sliced beef, rolled around a slice of onion, grilled.)

By Jessica | August 29, 2008 | Restaurants, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 1 Comment

I wish I was Anthony Bourdain. What a friggin bullshiv life. Getting paid and being famous for traveling and eating shiv you wouldn’t. Well, I would. I’ve always prided myself on my non-judgmental stomach. Hard as steel I’ve always said. Well folks. I found my limit. And who woulda thunk it – it turns out to be a common bar food: Pickled Pig Feet. Vom. It seriously looks and tastes like raw grizzly meat with some salad dressing on it. If you have the cohones, try some. Send me a pic of it. I’ll make you famous by posting on More Meat.

By Jessica | August 21, 2008 | Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 2 Comments

Our favorite fancy friends like doing fancy things. That’s cool. R and I like fancy too. We went to Saul. I hated the teeny tiny portions but I loved loved the canape of Chilled Cucumber Soup. Now, in the past I have been known to say that cucumbers are a waste of stomach space. But mush them shivs up, add some cream and salt and you got yourself a winner. I found a good ol recipe and threw it together. Check yourself:

4 major cucumbers (like, the kind that make you feel embarrassed a little), peeled, seeded, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 cup of milk
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of fresh mint, minced
1/2 cup of fresh dill, minced
1/2 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
cayenne to taste
sliced scallions for garnish

First things first, get a handle on your cuke. (giggle. remember the eggplants?)

Next, mash your garlic into half the salt creating a paste on the cutting board with a knife. This is real fun and easy to do and makes you feel like michael chiarello. When all your stuff is chopped, toss everything into a blender (you may have to do batches, so dole out the liquids accordingly) and pulse till you get a smooth consistency. When blended all nice, put into covered bowl and refrigerate for an hour. Serve with scallion and spoon. Eat and feel healthy. Dont try to make out cause your bref be all garlicy.

By Jessica | August 21, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes | 3 Comments

Tonight the parents came over to ours for dinner. Thought I would do a little root connecting and cook a lebanese meal. Since i dont normally cook in such a style I had to follow recipes. I did a Chilled Cucumber Soup (sounds gross, I know) and a Minced Lamb Pizza called, Lahmajun. Alright, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t think the Cucumber Soup is lebanese. It just sounded good to say the whole meal was themed-out. Donit? See the next post for that recipe.

I found both recipes online. The Lahmajun called for making dough and baking pizza foreal, but I just made a meaty topping and put it on toasted pita bread. And you know what? That’s just fine, so shut up. Plus, since they like, raised me up, they’re gonna think I’m cool whether or not I’m baking my own dough. Anyway, after a good swath of yogurt, them pizzitas were magically delicious. Try this:

1 small white onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, finely chopped
1 lb of finely ground lamb
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp all spice
1 tbl of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2 cups of tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbls tomato paste (omg, those tubes are the bizzle)
finely chopped flat leaf parsley, (1 cup?)
salt to taste
olive oil
lemon and yogurt for garnish

Suate the onion and red pepper in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the lamb. Stir the meat up with a spoon constantly so that it breaks up. (although, there is a fine line here cause you don’t want your meat to be tough > be gentle to those morsels). Cook for 3 minutes. Before the lamb browns, add cumin, chili powder, all spice, and lemon. Immediately add the tomatoes, tomato paste and parsley.

If you are going to bake this into raw dough, set it aside and let cool. Find some other site about pizza dough making cause you’re not going to find it here.

Place your hot lamb mixture on toasted pita bread. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and swath with yogurt. Eat and think about Grandma Nick.

By Jessica | August 12, 2008 | Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 1 Comment

So basically, I improvised on some homemade baba ghanoush and I failed like above. R and I toured Lawn Guyland a few days ago and stopping at farm stands was a priority. I found these perverted looking asian eggplants so I had to have them. Making the baba was an afterthought. Shoulda been a neverthought.

So, basically, I did all the things you would think was right. I swathed in olive oil, a roasted with mo garlic, and when charred, I scooped out the silky/stringy insides and mashed the hell out of it. Don’t quite have a food processor yet, so I was going for a country look (ugly look). But then, cause I have no self control, I kept adding stuff. And the more I added, the worse it got. Into the baba went salt, pepper, cumin (all good so far), but then I added my weight in lemon. And in the end, an entire bulb of garlic turned out to be way too much for two tiny peeny eggplants.

I toasted some delish bread and dumped some of the baba on the crostini, and topped with pickled roasted red pepper (the best part, by far), served, and watched R out the corner of my eye to see him gag.

What I do wrong, yo?

By Jessica | August 5, 2008 | Restaurants | No comments

Asian again. R and I had dumplings from Eton yesterday for dinner with a cold bottle of white wine on the roof of our apt building. It was such a brooklyn moment that i had to take pics. Plus, much props to Etan, the newly opened dumpling place in Carroll Gardens. The dude that owns it was a personal chef prior to opening his store. The mostly take out place, although he has about 3 tables, dons a hot plate for cookin. A HOT PLATE. He uses a hot plate to make his dumplings. Love how this guy can take like 6 bucks and open a place in bk, hire a few dudes to throw his dough around and make his dumplings from his recipes. $3.50 for 5 dumplings is a deal. Also found out he does catering. Go there.

We had pork and beef, chicken and mushroom, and veggie cabbage. Sauces included a duck sauce, caramelized vinegar, chili oil and Sirachi, all of which here homemade, except for the Sirachi. (remind me to do a whole post on this special sauce.)

Expect a dumpling recipe to come.