San Diego Meets NYC

Friends, that glorious champion of a bagel you're looking at is none other than a homemade San Diego.  The San Diego, for those of you who (surely regrettably) don't know what a San Diego is, allow me to elaborate.  Well, let's allow the photos to elaborate, shall we?  Or maybe my original tribute to the San Diego in sandwich form?  (BTW, I think I coerced my friend into letting me win that sandwich contest.  Not that it wasn't deserved, of course.)  Yes, the spread that needs no introduction has returned to my life -- and, more accurately, my kitchen.


Last month I took a field trip to Ithaca to help convince my little brother to go to Cornell.  (It worked!)  After about .3 secs of touting the school's academic prowess, I switched gears to a more important task: explaining why he would love every restaurant in the city.  This, of course, revved up my appetite for Collegetown Bagels.  Not for the bagels, (please, I'm a New Yorker), but for the nectar of the gods raspberry jalapeno spread.  I met a friend there for sangria and sandwiches, and when I went to pay, I asked if they might be able to sell me some of the spread to go.  Since the joint is run by a bunch of hippies (I say this with deep affection), they don't really have rules.  "Sure!" was the response.  "How about $7.99 for half a pound?"  SOLD!  Clearly outrageous for jam, but no matter.  It was worth every penny.  So, off I went, trekking back to the city with a new Cornell t-shirt and half a pound of razz jalapeno spread.

This was my first attempt to recreate the San Diego, and I would be foolish to pretend that I made it as well as the pros.  But now every time I get that itch of nostalgia for my college days, I have a solution on hand.  And better bagels, to boot.  Love.

I just might have some seriously amazing news soon.  Stay tuned.

Green Machine

Lately I have been craving GREEN.  As I suffered through yesterday's premature summer swelter, slightly hungover, lugging my gimpy roommate around Yankee Stadium (all for the sake of the Yankees destroying the White Sox), I contemplated how good a giant salad would make me feel.  Cold and crispy and greeeen.  I know you're thinking,"What a freak... who eats greens to cure a hangover?"  Yours truly, as luck would have it.  I could go for a green smoothie right about now too, even though I'm only just now recovering from my veggie overload at lunch.  (I discovered Cafe 28, and I think it might mean trouble.)  And it's basically torture looking at this picture below, remembering the crunch of ever-so-slightly-boiled-then-chilled broccoli.  Drool.

I got this recipe for green soba noodles from Heidi, obviously pulled in by its green magnetism.  I really enjoyed this recipe, and for once I actually cheese where she did not.  This is rare, seeing as if there are two ingredients on which Heidi never skimps, lemon zest and grated Parmesan they would be.  But I really liked my addition, though I imagine it might have been improved upon by actually grating the cheese rather then crumbled it between my fingers into chunks the size of chickpeas.  Oh, the things I will do in the name of not washing the cheese grater.  My one complaint about the recipe?  You try pulling 2 cups' worth of cilantro leaves off the stem and tell me what you think.


Cilantro Noodle Bowl

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's 100cookbooks.com 


Ingredients:

8 ounces dried soba noodles
2 - 3 cups baby Romanesco or broccoli florets (would like to try Romanesco at some point because they're pretty!)
zest of one lemon (token Heidi lemon zest)
2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
scant 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (it pains me to use that much olive oil, and with reason.  I used more like 1/3 of a cup and it was just fine.)
Grated (or crumbled) Parmesan/Romano cheese, to taste

Method:

Cook the soba in a big pot of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender - but about 20 seconds before the pasta is done cooking add the broccoli to the pot. You want it to barely cook. Now drain and rinse under cold running water. Sprinkle with lemon zest and set aside.

In the meantime make the dressing by combining the cilantro, garlic, cayenne, salt, and olive oil. Blend in a food processor or chop by hand. Taste, adjust for more salt if needed and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, broccoli and a couple big splashes of the cilantro dressing. Toss until well combined. Add more dressing and a couple pinches of salt if needed. Turn out onto platter and crown with a couple pinches of cayenne and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serves about 4 - 6.

What to do with all that leftover Parmesan?  My mind immediately went to soup, as it generally does.  When I remembered the below tomato soup, I considered making Mark Bittman's grilled cheese croutons, since we all know that tomato soup and grilled cheese is the best combo on earth, but I had a vision of them disappearing, hot out of the oven, before even coming within feet of the soup.  Mind you, this is probably the best packaged soup I've had in a really long time.  Great ingredients, great nutrition facts, and super creamy.

I decided to nix the carbs and just throw the cheese (yes, I yielded to the cheese grater) straight into the soup.  Huge success, if I do say so myself.

Thinking about it, these two dishes would actually go pretty nicely together, if you just wanted a little pasta side dish for your soup.  And FYI I think I liked the noodles better cold, and not just because I'm lazy.  Ok, fine, at least a little because I'm lazy.

A big announcement!  Ok, not really, but I'm psyched.  I'm getting a LANDLINE on Wednesday!  What?, you say, They still make those?  Yes, indeed they do.  This way I will be able to work from home instead of coming into the office every time I have a phone meeting, which, as it turns out, is every moment of every day.  So I should have more time for cooking/blogging/redefining exactly what it is I am blogging.  This should work out well for us all, no?

Hope you're managing on this icky sticky Monday!

I LOVE PB

I'm pretty sure it's no big secret that I'm a little obsessed with nut butters.  And, while I love me a good almond butter, I maintain that there is nothing like the original -- that being peanut butter.  And so it should not surprise you that the best restaurant meal I've had in a pretty long while came from this place.

My partners in peanutty crime:

I highly recommend going with a group of people because then you can share!  We got 3 different sandwiches, each of which comes with a baby bag of potato chips (to balance out the largely sweet sandwiches), and carrot sticks (so you feel healthy! (ha!)).

#1: The Elvis.  As I learned from their menu, Elvis liked PB and banana sandwiches.  Who doesn't?  Anyway, this was an ode to the King with chunky PB (our choice... we chose chunky for them all, as well as whole wheat), banana, and honey, GRILLED.  Awesome.  Optional bacon.  Next time...

#2: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Sandwich: Cinna-raisin PB with vanilla cream cheese and green apple slices.  The one I was least excited about, and the one I liked the most.  I have no words.  The vanilla cream cheese was basically icing.  It all just worked.

#3: The monthly special!  Affectionately dubbed "The Freya" for its extreme likeness to all of my favorite foods.  Chunky PB, coconut, and granola.  

"Kristen, make sure it looks like we're friends."

I requested that it be unnamed The Freya because it was kind of disappointing.  PB&Co, if you're reading this, it was too dry.  Needed some raspberry jam, according to my advanced palate.

I came home from the store with a container of Dark Chocolate Dreams PB, and managed to eat half of it in a week.  I was disturbed and managed to slow down a bit.  It doesn't need to be refrigerated, but I have been keeping it cold so that it comes out in globs or chunks, rather than being spreadable.  My version of portion control.  Makes it harder to slather the stuff on every edible item in my kitchen.  But it does make it ideal for oatmeal!  And yes, you can buy it at many grocery stores.  But don't say I didn't warn you... you will never want to put your spoon down.

Holy Blogging Backup, Batman!

I am a bad blogger!  Again!  It's been weeks!  Sorry.  You see, I finally started working the hours of a normal person again, and I've been thrown into a state of shock.  (You mean, I need to wake up before 8?  And I can't take a 3 hour lunch break to go to the gym and cook an elaborate lunch?  And I need to put on clothes other than my stretchy black pants?  Oh, goodness.  For the sake of yoga pants, give me my old schedule back!)

In all honesty, I'm actually totally happy to be working more again.  My last project really only kept me busy about 4 hours a day, so I had lots of flexibility to mold my day as I wished.  Sometimes I was really productive, and sometimes I was decidedly not.  While I guess I miss having the option to be lazy, I am a happier person when I'm kept busy.  And I like this new project!  It has me working from home full time, so no more weekly travel, and it's a role that's a really good fit for me.

I guess that brings me to a couple of points about the blog overall.  I started this with the underlying theme that I (1) run and (2) travel far away for work.  Neither of which are really true anymore.  As for (1), I have a knee injury, and there's a pretty good chance I'm going to need surgery.  BUMMER and a half.  The half-marathon I thought I would be training for is this weekend, and I'm a little sad about it.  I have a love/hate relationship with running, where I hate actually doing it (unless it's a perfect day outside), but I love love love the way it makes me feel.  Sorry, elliptical, but you're pretty lame.  I'm nervous to get back into running, and I may just... not.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll learn to love biking?  Or I'll move to California and swim the days away!  OK, enough daydreaming about my glamorous life on the west coast.  As for (2), I'm working from "home," so I either literally am in my apartment, or I go to the office.  (The office where no one knows me.  I just go for the land line.)  No more airplanes for me!  Goodbye, LGA!  So long, DFW!  Auf wiedersehen, Hilton!  ANYWAY, I think my point is that this blog needs a new theme.  Any thoughts?  It can just be "food I feel like sharing" or it can be more idiosyncratic than that.  Just curious what my readers (readers?) think.

So, now you'd like some actual subject matter?  Fair enough.  I give you: Foodie Events of the Past Two Months!  Since I used too many words up above, I'm going to make this part more like a picture book.
TOP CHEF: UPPER EAST SIDE, Season 2!  The theme:  Every cheftestant was assigned a Manhattan neighborhood to use as inspiration for a dish of their choosing.

Our esteemed judges begin the tastings.

 

Bonnie prepares her (award-winning) sandwich duos.  Neighborhood: TriBeCa.  Her inspiration: small plates, gourmet sandwiches, trendy flavor combinations and preparations.  The food: mini sandwiches.  #1 was Asian-inspired and contained pickled veggies, hard-boiled tea egg, homemade pesto sauce, and watercress.  #2 was Roman-themed and contained a homemade tomato spread, prosciutto, some sort of cheese, and now I'm hard-pressed to remember the other ingredients.  Help?  Both on Ciabatta.  Both amazing.

 

It's hard to see, but the plate toward the very front has Alex's Times Square-inspired frittata.  Neighborhood: Times Square.  Inspiration: bright, colorful.  Veggie and cheese frittatas baked in muffin tins!  The other plates toward the center are Katies.  Neighborhood: Union Square.  Inspiration: the Green Market.  All ingredients came straight from the farmers' market!  Fresh whole wheat pasta with roasted carrots and parsnips with farm fresh ricotta.

 

Here's a totally flattering picture of my dish.  Neighborhood: Washington Heights.  Inspiration: Dominican food.  Rice and beans!  I used plain old white rice, sofrito (my new favorite ingredient), black beans, tomato paste, peppers, onions, and not a whole lot else!  This was the recipe I used.  It got a little burned on the bottom, but was otherwise tasty!

 

Sadly, I did not get close-ups of everything.  Here's what I missed: 

Amanda -- Neighborhood: Upper West Side.  Inspiration: Jewish food!  Horseradish crusted salmon, string beans, and mini apple walnut wontons/turnovers.  She wins for most components attempted at once.

Diane -- Neighborhood: Chelsea.  Inspiration: Chelsea Piers.  A MARK BITTMAN scallop gumbo!  It was amazing.  As expected.  Diane and I are totally obsessed with Mr. Bittman, and I can attest to the fact that this was SO easy to make, as we cooked side by side.

Ariel -- Neighborhood: East Village.  Inspiration: crunchy hippie foods, variety, Asian fusion.  Turkey-stuffed tofu dumplings.  So creative!

After the tastings...

Winners were announced!  Bonnie won for staying most true to her neighborhood.  The judges felt that you could walk into any Tribeca restaurant and find her dish on the menu.  She won plastic pizza storage baggies!  How funny is that?

Katie used one to take home leftovers.  Not just for pizza!

Diane won for best overall.  When Bittman's on your side, all is well.  I wish I had gotten a pic of her gumbo, but perhaps we will make it again.  Her prize was a cute little piggy spatula.  I will get a pic of that guy later.

OK, going to breeze through the rest of this, but I will say this: MAX BRENNER.  YOU MUST GO.  I will admit that I have not been blown away by the food food, but get dessert.  It's amazing.  I took my little brother for the 2nd time, and we had fun.

He got hot chocolate with marshmallows in the adorable hug mug.

I got iced coffee, a la Alice in Wonderland.

And then... I couldn't resist...

OATMEAL!  It had chocolate chips and cinnamon and butterscotch sauce in a beaker and candied pecans.  It was out of this world.  And so defeated the purpose of oats.

I have one last adventure to recount, but I'm saving it for next time.  Just know that it involves what I think may be my favorite food ever. You know, that amazing condiment that I happen to think qualifies as its own food group...

PEANUT BUTTER!

Return of the Oats

I am singing that title in my head, like, "Return of the Mack," just so you know.

GOODBYE, PESACH!  HELLO, OATS!

Oat bran, to be exact.  I got so excited that I actually forgot that I have fresh fruit in the house and ended up putting some dried cherries on top, and a spoon of almond butter.  Until I remembered my favorite topping.

BITTMAN GRANOLA!  Yumyum.  Then halfway through I remembered the blackberries that I bought myself as a treat for keeping Passover, and I sprinkled some of those on too.  Then I went for a double whammy and added some chocolate PB from Peanut Butter & Co.  Has that been photographed yet?  I feel like maybe not.  I have a few food adventures to post, actually.  Coming up soon, for sure.  Anyway, my return to carbs was nothing short of heaven.

I'm not going to back to posting all my meals, but I thought this lunch was funny.  My first post-Passover lunch, packed to go back to the office:

Why is this funny?  Because it's entirely kosher for Passover.  Ummmm, what?  How?  WHY?  I asked myself all of these questions, and then answered them by bringing along a baggie of cereal for the yogurt, just out of principle. And a cookie that Allison baked over the weekend.  Despite being entertainingly kosher, this salad was actually great.  Spinach, roasted beets, carrots, and onions, walnuts, and a splash of balsamic.  Could have used some mustard mixed in too.

Moving backward in time now, in the final days of Passover, I reached a point of desperation/boredom.  So I got creative.  I know it's over and I said I wouldn't "dwell," but I was actually pleased with the outcome of creativity meeting hunger meeting Passover:

Ants on a log, of course!  And something I was reluctant to try...

Sweet potato with cottage cheese.  Ultimately, my suspicions were correct... that I'm not crazy about the idea of warm yogurt/cottage cheese/milk.  Flavor-wise it totally worked, like sour cream on a baked potato, I guess (I added raisins too, so that it would feel more like a dessert... or a kugel?), but unless it's being baked, I want my dairy cold.  I may take this back when someone reminds of something I really love, like a cappuccino or something.  But I will maintain that it's different.

One of my mom's go-to Passover meals is spaghetti squash with meatballs, so I opted for an easier version of that, since I'm just serving one and I got lazy on the protein front.

I found a baby spaghetti squash at in the Fairway organics section, literally the size of a mini Nerf football.  It was adorable.  So I nuked it for 4 minutes, scooped out the insides, mixed it with some frozen/thawed tomato sauce, and then melted some reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top in the microwave.  Sort of reminded me of something I would have made in college (mostly because the microwave was my main source of heat), but it was delicious, and that's all that matters.  How come gooey melty cheese is so ugly?

The foodie events, as promised, coming up next.