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holidays, facebook & craft

December 24, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

It’s been a busy several weeks going into Christmas. Aside from the Christmas parties, there were concerts (Pink & meeting John Mayer) and even Sleep No More hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. This blog has been a bit neglected, with November focused on NaNoWriMo and December being a holiday whirlwind. That doesn’t mean, however, there haven’t been some fabulous meals, so it’s time for some overdue catching up.

A week ago, our team at Facebook took some of my work team out for a holiday lunch at Craft. It was a beautiful lunch, taking place in their private dining room. It was a really nice space, with an area in the back corner that opened into the kitchen where you can watch them preparing the food. [Read more…]

brown butter apple pie-tart

October 21, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

When we went apple picking at Harbes Farms, I thought 1/4 peck didn’t sound like it was really that many apples. Granted, I’m working with double that but still, I’ve been surprised just how few apples most recipes require and how many, at this point, I still have left! Of course, going apple picking again this past weekend in Vermont didn’t help with the apple situation, but that’s another story.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to make an apple tart with more of these apples for date night. It seemed perfect timing that I received a great looking recipe from Tasting Table for a Brown Butter Apple Tart. Since I actually don’t have a tart pan and didn’t want to be the grand hold up on dinner, I ended up simplifying, skipping making my own crust and using a crust from the store. It’s hard to feel guilty about this shortcut when your store carries crusts made entirely from Nilla Wafers.

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean (halved lengthwise, scrapping out the seeds from the pod with the tip of a knife)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 semi-tart apples

First, you’ll need to make the filling. To do so, you’ll whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar. Separately, heat the sticks of butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Once the butter is melted, add in the scraped vanilla seeds as well as the vanilla bean pod. Keep stirring the mixture over the heat until the butter foam begins to subside and turns a deep golden color (rougly 5 minutes).

Remove the saucepan fromt he heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the pod halves and then whisk the butter into the original egg-sugar mixture. (Full disclosure: I accidentally didn’t keep the egg/sugar separate from the butter/vanilla bean. While I didn’t get quite the same brown butter effect, I kept going and the tart was quite good. If you mess up something, keep on going!)

Then whisk in the flour and salt, whisking until the mixture is smooth.

Next, you’ll need to cut the 3 apples into rings. The best apples to use are something like Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Pink Lady. The apples need to be peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (ideally into ¼-inch thick rings). I can only assume this would be infinitely easier if you happened to own an apple corer. I, naturally, do not. No big deal, right? Wrong. This made coring and slicing the apples a bit more difficult. Arrange the sliced apples into a an overlapping concentric circle. Add a few apple at the center as well. I’ll admit that when I did this I looked at the apples, neatly situated in the pie crust, and assumed this was going to be one ugly pie-tart.

But fret not. The filling magically filled in the gaps and covered over the non-uniformly sliced apples. Finally, you’ll slowly pour the prepared filling over the sliced apple. Since the filling is a bit thick, allow time for it to make its way through the spaces between the apple slices to make sure you don’t overflow. Stop once the filling reaches ¼-inch from the top of the crust.

Place the pie-tart on a baking sheet in the oven, baking until the color of the apples is deep golden-brown. Make sure the center of the pie is also set and that the filling does not move when the pie is jostled. This should take around 1 hour. Once it is done, remove the baking sheet and the pie-tart from the oven, transferring it to a surface to cool for 2 hours. It’s lovely served with simple vanilla bean ice cream.

Enjoy!

homemade apple butter and harbes farm

October 7, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

It’s become tradition the last four years that it’s not truly fall until a trip to Long Island happens – four friends escaping the city for a day of fall fun. There’s brunch, cider donuts, tastings at North Fork wineries, and a corn maze. This year though, the trip came early enough that there was a new option – apple picking.

I can’t recall ever having been, though I’ve long had a fondness for apple season (likely due to it coinciding with my birth month, which I believe every kid automatically loves). I’ll admit, from the setup, I wasn’t sure how fun it would be for us adults. We arrived at Harbes Farm and were surrounded by strollers and children, one who thought it was funny and cute somehow to reach up and grab my rear as we waited in the super long ride to be taken around and into the orchard.

The line managed to move relatively quickly. We were set loose into our permissible rows (only certain rows are opened at a given time in an attempt to ensure the orchard is not completely ravaged). Thankfully, they opened an additional row while we were there as the rows up to that point were bare, with almost all of the apples decorating the floor.

We ended up with roughly 16 apples. So many apples to put to use! The first thing on my “to make” list was a no-brainer: apple butter. Growing up, this was an annual thing in our house. Homemade is in fact way better than anything you can buy in the store. My parents would make a batch, freeze it into smaller containers, which we’d then thaw and use over time. It lasts quite well and it’s perfect with fresh buttermilk biscuits.

Ingredients

6 pounds of tart apples
4 cups of cider or apple juice (plus extra, in case – see below*)
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

I don’t have an apple corer, so I started by peeling and cutting the apples into slices. The original recipe I used (same my parents have used) intended to make the apple butter extremely smooth. I prefer it a bit chunky, highlighting the fresh flavor of the apples, so I prefer this rendition. Cook the apples in the juice (I used apple juice) until they are soft. This will take around 30 minutes.

Then boil for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point, you’ll need to stir in the sugar and the spices.

Cook and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Reduce to a gentle boil, stirring freqently until you reach the desired thickness. The recipe claims this should be around an hour, but I found this to be much less as I halved the recipe.

The apple butter will thicken once it cools, so take the pot off of the heat and watch as it cools. *If it thickens too much, use additional apple juice to thin it out, adding and stirring in gradually. Allow to fully cool before you can or preserve (I freeze mine in small containers, which I then heat up when I wish to consume).

Group & action shot courtesy of Joey Pasion.

4 course dinner at ai fiori

October 4, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, I sat down and went through Zagat’s listing of NYC’s 100 Best Restaurants. It turned out I’d been to 19 of the 100, and I was excited to realize that our team’s dinner with our team at Federated Media would not only mean an evening of great conversation, but also bring me up to 20! I’d always been curious about Ai Fiori. I’m sure I’ve walked by countless times never realizing that’s where it was.

We were in the back room, with a very official door sealing our group off from the rest of the restaurant. We had a special menu from which to choose one of two selections for each of our four courses. To start, I had the Insalata di Astice – which was Nova Scotia lobster, charred corn salad, and ricotta salata. This was a nice thing to see as I feel like we’re bidding adieu to lobster until warmer weather returns. It’s like Ai Fiori knew I am not quite ready to see it go.

For the pasta course, I had the Pansotti di Anatra, which was duck confit parcels, romanesco, parmesan, and lemon. It was nice to have duck in pasta form. Sometimes a full entree of just duck can become overwhelming. Having it not only in smaller bites but also if being confit made it a lighter take on duck, and the parmesean was a nice touch.

When it came to choosing an entree, I was intrigued by a halibut option but ultimately just had to go with the Tagliata, which was a prime dry aged strip loin, endive, potato terrine, “cacio e pepe,” balsamico, and bordelaise. The meet was super tender, and the endive ended up being a perfect paring. If it was possible to choose to get a portion size along these lines off of the main menu, I think I’d order much more red meat. Just perfect.

For dessert, I elected to skip the chocolate and instead try the Panna Cotta, which was served with blackberries, grapes, and a very light sorbet. It ended up being a perfect finale and was a nice balance to the meat dish preceding it. I’ve been underwhelmed by panna cottas as of late, but this one was spot on.

Overall it was a wonderful evening, much worth of their spot on Zagat’s listing. Ai Fiori is a fabulous spot for a special occasion dinner (or just a special treat, as well).

Ai Fiori – 400 5th Avenue, 2nd Level – 212.613.8660
Reservations Required

4 chefs get fancy at mcdonald’s chef event 2013

October 2, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

When I received an invite to McDonald’s Chef Event, I was so intrigued I instantly blocked off my calendar for last Thursday. The invite was simple yet detailed. Four chefs would be preparing a gourmet experience for attendees, comprised of McDonald’s ingredients.

I arrived to Three Sixty° where attendees were greeted in the lobby by platters of two cocktails – one a mojito, the other, a bacon old fashioned. (I later learned both did also incorporate McD’s ingredients – like their mango pineapple smoothie and their applewood bacon.) On the main floor of the event space, there were a couple of bars and servers carrying around small boxes of, what else, McDonald’s french fries.

We were seated at tables once the meal portion began, where we were greeted by senior execs from McDonald’s. Before the chefs were introduced, McD’s made its big announcement – more fruits and veggies are coming. Soon, you’ll be able to get a salad with combo meals, and there will soon be more fruits and veggies on the menu overall.

The tables themselves were decorated by the perfect take home souvenir – a Big Mac-aroon – almost too pretty to eat. Though the invite had mentioned small plates, the courses which arrived were much larger than what you would see as a part of a tasting menu. It was hard to believe that what we enjoyed through the rest of the evening was made from items from the McD’s pantry!

First up was the appetizer, prepared by Chef Dale Talde. This was a fun course for me, being such a fan of and regular at his Park Slope roadside bar, Pork Slope. He prepared Kung Pao Chicken, which featured McDonald’s chicken nuggets, sweet and sour sauce, red wine vinegar, peanuts, and iceberg lettuce. I’ll be honest – I have never been a huge fan of McD’s chicken nuggets, not now, and not even when I was six years old. This dish though? Was amazing. It was flavorful. It was something you’d expect to see in a fancy restaurant. I think it was once this came out that I really realized the meal that was going to follow was going to be unique.

Next was the first of two entrees, and this course was prepared by Chef James Tahhan. He served a Tortilla Espanola with Garlic & Saffron Aioli, which featured McDonald’s hash browns, eggs, onions. It was served with an apple & cucumber Salad, which featured McDonald’s apple slices, cucumbers, red onions, chili lime tortilla chips, fresh limes, spring mix, chipotle BBQ, and honey mustard sauces.

Third was the second of the entrees, this one prepared by Chef Aaron McCargo, Jr. He prepared a BOLD BBQ Chicken, which featured McDonald’s crispy chicken, hash browns, chipotle BBQ sauce, espresso, cheddar jack cheese, onions, eggs, and applewood smoked bacon. I really enjoyed the mix of hash browns, espresso and bacon in this dish. Not only was it a fabulous mix of flavors, but it incorporated ingredients from every meal of the day on McD’s menu. Genius.

Next was the third of the entrees prepared by Chef Jessica Foust, a registered dietician on staff at McDonald’s. This entree was Slow-cooked Beef with Blueberry Pomegranate Sauce and Mac Fry Gnocchi. I had to read the menu to see that yes, the meat in this dish was in fact the 100% beef used in ground form for their hamburger patties! The fish also featured McDonald’s French fries, eggs, and blueberry pomegranate smoothie base.

For the grand finale dessert, also prepared by Chef Jessica Foust, was a Pumpkin Spice Biznut (Biscuit-Donut). This course featured McDonald’s biscuit mix, pumpkin spice latte syrup, praline topping, cream cheese, and whipped cream. I think out of everything, it was this dish I was most sad I wouldn’t be able go out and purchase at another point in the future. It was so flavorful, and a fun take on the current pastry hybrid craze that’s sweeping NYC as of late.

Thanks again to McDonald’s to having me for such a wonderful event. I’m curious to see what’s in store for those menu changes in the future. I’ll have to make it over soon to give that McCafe Pumpkin Spice Latte I was reading more about today a try!

sunset special menu at firefly

September 19, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Last week was filled with lots of sleep, early bedtimes, hours of hours of prime beach time, and footwear consisting of variations on sandals. The weather was gorgeous – few if any clouds in the sky, and no rain to be seen anywhere.

One day, we chose to head over to Panama City Beach from Destin, primarily in order to check out a restaurant called Firefly that my parents love. The trip was quick and, as I’d been warned, the restaurant was actually tucked into a generic looking strip mall. This place is supposed to be really nice?

Once I walked through the door, it was like a totally different world than where we’d just been outside. They have a portion focused on sushi off to the left of the entrance. You walk through the bar area before you reach the main dining area. In the center, there’s a grand magnolia tree, with branches extending over the surrounding tables. There’s additional seating bordering the main floor, slightly elevated with a great view as well of the twinkle-light adorned tree.

We came early for their sunset special menu, a menu I understand used to be offered 5-7pm – a window that’s since been reduced to end instead at 6:30. Entrees come with a house salad, soup of the day, a chicken, tomato & rice soup, or, for a small additional charge, you can get their she crab soup. Seeing as they’re known for the soup, I had to try it. It did not disappoint. The crab was in such small pieces that it almost melted into the creamy soup. You can even add a drizzle of sherry on top tableside, if you so choose.

For my main course, I tried their shrimp and crab newberg, which was shallots garlic, tri-colored peppers, and sherry cream over jalapeño cheddar corn bread. In hindsight, picking a cream-based dish to accompany a cream-based soup was probably not the wisest of choices. The dish was quite good though, featuring large shrimp and much more prominent chunks of crab than the soup. Other choices included sesame tuna, stuffed chicken, medallions of beef tenderloin, salmon, and crab cakes.

For dessert, my mom and I tried their white chocolate crème brûlée, which was actually fired table side. I’m not sure it made an actual difference in the flavor – perhaps it’s a mental thing, but I would have sworn it had an even smokier flavor as a result. My dad had their warm seasonal bread pudding, which looked delicious and was quite a healthy portion (read: perfect for sharing!).

Overall, it was a great first experience at Firefly and highly recommend checking them out should you find yourself in the area.

Firefly – 535 Richard Jackson Blvd, Panama City, Florida – 850.249.3359
Reservations Recommended

restaurant week dinner at benchmark

September 2, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I almost missed out on the most recent round of Restaurant Week. I did manage to catch the final week and was excited to see Benchmark was on the list as participating. I’d been curious about Benchmark for quite a while, and was even more interested after seeing their menu for this summer. The cuisine is New American and the setting is casual yet nice enough for a nice date night out. Make it over before it cools down too much and you can sit in their front outside area, with a canvas canopy overhead. Romantic!

To start, I had to try the marinated steak and tomato salad, which featured baby arugula, spiced goat cheese, and a cilantro pesto. The steak was nicely flavored and thin, which worked well with the goat cheese and the cilantro pesto. It was interesting to lead the meal with red meat and then go back from there, but it worked as the salad was on the lighter side.

For our main course, we both had their East Coast Halibut, which was served with a corn and tomato succotash and a chilled asparagus broth. I really loved the mix of the veggies on this one. It was an ideal end of summer dish – fresh and light.

For a finale, there was the buttermilk panna cotta, served with local strawberries with a saffron gelato. While tasty, even this dessert lover had to admit that this wasn’t the highlight of the meal for me. The panna cotta wasn’t super flavorful, but I did really enjoy the gelato, which worked well with the strawberries.

I did take a peek at their normal menu, which oddly enough was basically completely different than the restaurant week menu. Interesting play for a restaurant. I can’t say I have seen another spot do that. I’d be curious to try it out again with their regular menu!

Benchmark – 339 2nd Street (at 5th Avenue) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – 718.965.7040
Reservations Suggested

homemade oatmeal cream pies

September 1, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

I had sinus surgery last week (fun times!) so I’ve been enjoying a pretty low-key several of days. Yesterday my sister and her boyfriend came over along with my boyfriend and my mom made the basic meatball from The Meatball Shop’s cookbook. Really, it was like the restaurant inside your own home – amazing. So good. We ate meatballs and polenta and watched the Alabama football game (Roll Tide!) and relaxed. I decided it was a good time to pick something and put my new KitchenAid mixer to work. Isn’t she pretty?

I was looking at cakes and cupcakes, but wasn’t feeling inspired. I then decided what I really wanted was oatmeal cream pies! Like the Little Debbie variety, but homemade (of course). I started looking through recipes online. There weren’t too many varieties. Some were gluten free. Some were making odd substitutions to make it super healthy (and I didn’t want to have to buy all of those additional ingredients that one required – too much money and hassle). Several also used marshmallow cream, which I need to look at the Little Debbie box, but that just didn’t sound right to me.

I ended up going with Martha Stewart’s recipe, because Martha usually knows best. The recipe was quite simple, although I always know going in that even though Martha says it’ll only take 30 minutes, that’s never the case for me.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not the quick-cooking variety)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted this)
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a separate large bowl, beat butter, brown and granulated sugars, and molasses on high with an electric mixer, scraping down bowl, until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Then add the vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time. You’ll need to scrape down the bowl after each addition.

Next with mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in oats (and raisins, if you chose to add them). Drop dough in 2-tablespoonful mounds, 2 inches apart, onto two baking sheets. I actually had to do in two batches since it ended up being too many for two baking sheets. Crowding them will squish your cookies a bit, and may make them take longer to bake. Bake until cookies are just set at edges and slightly soft in middle, about 11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool on sheets for around 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar with a mixer until light for around 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Use a small spatula to spread the filling on the flat (bottom) side of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies.

I thought these came out quite good! Recipe claimed it would yield 13 and I ended up with 12, so quite close to what I was expecting. These were close to the Little Debbie originals. The cookies were nice and fluffy. The filling is slightly different from the originals though (but tasty in its own way). I’d be curious to try out some of the other fillings to use with these cookies, but I think this cookie recipe is just about perfect!

And after a day of cooking and all this company, Dixie was ready to call it a day.

banana blueberry bread

August 31, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

When I went to the Farmer’s Market to get blueberries to make this blueberry cobbler, let’s say I was a bit off on the amount of blueberries I needed. As in off by a lot. I ended up putting some in the freezer, figuring I’d come up with something else to do with them. When JB mentioned she had a blueberry banana bread recipe she was crazy about, I figured I’d give it a go. It turned out to be a quick, easy way to put the blueberries to use, and I even had enough for two loaves!

Ingredients

3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Coat your 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Whisk the buttermilk, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Then stir in the mashed bananas.

Whisk whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a separate medium bowl.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined (don’t over stir). Fold in blueberries. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool for about 2 hours before slicing.

The first time I made this recipe, I didn’t have a wire rack (it got lost somehow in the move). Don’t underestimate the power of a good wire rack! I ended up with my bread not cooling enough. Half of it was put too quickly into a container and ended up having to be thrown out. No bueno. The second time, I had the wire rack out, let it cool for a while, and then sliced. I keep the bread in little Ziploc bags, perfect to grab and take into the office.

tasting menu at hearth

August 30, 2013 by Lara Leave a Comment

Back in July, I took T to Hearth to celebrate his birthday. I liked the low key feel of the restaurant, which was cozy but not the least bit pretentious. They were celebrating their summer of riesling, and all of the wait staff was wearing t-shirts supporting that fact.

We chose to go with the 7 course tasting menu. They started with a simple lentil salad with fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil. It might have been simple, but the flavors were quite expressive – and the olive oil was noticeably flavorful. This course was followed by a warm summer salad, with purple basil and pickled veggies. I’m not accustomed to warm salads, but this one was a nice contrast to the cool lentil salad that had preceded it.

The next course was Wild Florida Snapper with a bacon consume. There was something almost irreverent about fish and bacon. Is that legal? It was so good! The broth and sprinkling of bacon across the top was such a fun mix of flavors with the snapper. So fish and bacon? I say I’m a believer.

The next dish was basic comfort food done right. Hearth’s homemade macaroni with housemade ricotta was just solid goodness. The thick tubed pasta noodles were a fun variation, and the ricotta versus thick cheese layers made for a lighter, more summery spin on the classic. This was ricotta done right.

Our next course was the heartiest – lamb with a chickpea and feta salad and a chickpea purée. The lamb portion only looked small. It ended up being more than enough. The lamb was perfectly cooked. The sauce was not overwhelmingly heavy, but just enough to make a statement. The chickpea purée might not have photographed wonderfully here, but it was quite tasty in person (I promise).

When I saw dessert come out for course six, I had to smile, since that meant not one but two dessert courses! First up was a marscapone cheesecake with candied sunflower seed and golden raisins. I really liked this one. The marscapone made for a lighter cheesecake and the candied sunflower seed, something I’d never had, was a nice salty contrast to the dish.

I don’t know if it is because I have not been eating much chocolate these days, or if it was the six preceding courses, but I was a bit done by the time the final dish appeared in front of me at the table. It was quite good, though on the heavier side for a dessert. It was a dense Valherona chocolate accompanied by coconut gelato, hazelnuts, and a chocolate mousse. The mousse along with the gelato was my favorite part.

And for T’s finale, there was strawberry shortcake, complete with a happy birthday note.

Overall, the meal made for a wonderful way to celebrate the occasion. I’d wanted to visit for quite some time and was glad to see it lived up to the hype!

Hearth – 403 E 12th St (at 1st Ave) – 646.602.1300
Reservations Required