Bionic Bites » Home Cooking

Irresistible Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn) – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:02:43 +0000

Grilled corn on the cob is good, but smothered in a creamy mayonnaise concoction and sprinkled with spicy chili pepper, salty Cotija cheese, and a squirt of lime, it’s amazing. Walking by Cafe Habana in the summertime, it’s hard not to stop in for some elote — on the menu as Grilled Corn Mexican Style ($1.95 from the takeout section next door to the restaurant) — especially when you see the hordes of pretty people outside licking their lips as they gnaw on their orders of corn. A while back, as I sat on the wooden bench in front of Cafe Habana chowing down on my elote, Heather Graham appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to nonchalantly eat her order of corn right in front of me. This corn is Hollywood endorsed!

I haven’t had the elote at Pinche Taqueria yet, but compared to La Esquina, I prefer Cafe Habana’s corn because they grill the corn the perfect amount so it’s sweetly charred but not too dried out. La Esquina’s corn leans towards the latter.

If you don’t live in New York, or want to pig out on elote without breaking the bank, it’s quite easy to make elote at home in the oven or on a grill. I’ve had successful results trying both methods. Below is an adapted recipe from one of the co-owners of Cafe Habana, Richard Ampudia. Just plan to double the recipe if it’s for more than two people. I know I can eat a whole lot of corn, especially Mexican-style corn. And perhaps if you make enough, Heather will stop by for a bite. You never know.

Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn)
Adapted from Richard Ampudia’s recipe for Chile-Spiked Grilled Corn Rolled in Cotija Cheese in Food & Wine

6 ears of corn, shucked
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use homemade mayonnaise minus the mustard. Also, little tip, don’t go crazy if the mayonnaise breaks. Add the sour cream to the broken mayo, and your mayonnaise wil be magically fixed.)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Cotija (about 2 ounces)
2 teaspoons chile piquín (I use cayenne pepper because I always have it around, it works nicely.)
Lime wedges, for serving

Servings: 2-3

1. Light a charcoal grill or preheat the oven to 500°. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the corn until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well. If you want to make your life easier, you can also microwave the corn instead of boiling. I wash and then saran wrap the corn, 3 at a time, and nuke for about 2 minutes.
2. Grill the corn, turning frequently, until well-browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Alternatively, roast the corn on a baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, turning the ears occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise with the crème fraîche.
4. Attach corn holders to each ear of corn, or press a bamboo skewer through the centers. Generously brush the mayonnaise mixture all over the ears and sprinkle with the cheese and chile piquín/cayenne pepper. Serve right away, with lime wedges.

Cafe Habana
17 Prince Street & Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice Nuts – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:15:18 +0000

I’m not a huge dessert person. If given a choice, I rather have an extra serving of something savory (like bacon!) instead of dessert. It’s partially a Korean thing. There aren’t too many super sweet desserts in Korean cuisine, so growing up, dessert was fresh fruit in my house. To this day, I don’t feel satisfied until I have a piece of fruit after dinner. However, just recently, I started craving something sweet at night. Maybe it’s the cold weather, or maybe it’s because my boyfriend, who is a dessert freak, is always snacking on candy bars, chips, and popsicles. In any case, I saw this recipe for Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts on Smitten Kitchen, and I decided to give it a try since they reminded me of the yummy candied peanuts they sell on the streets in New York. I love those nuts, by the way. The warm smell of those nuts on a cold winter night is insanely bewitching.

These nuts, however, are even better than the street nuts. First of all, I used walnuts and a handful of pine nuts, which they don’t usually have on the street. Also, the recipe calls for cayenne pepper, so the nuts have a nice little kick. It’s sweet and spicy, just like me (although my boyfriend may disagree with the sweet part). It’s especially good with a nice fruity glass of white wine. I had to resist eating the entire batch in a single sitting. In fact, my boyfriend found them so addictive, while I was out on a five minute errand, he finished all the nuts. He even tried eating a portion I set aside for my friend Barbara. After a brief struggle, all the nuts were saved, except one.

The recipe below is pretty much the same recipe on Smitten Kitchen except it’s halved (Walnuts are $6.99 a pound at Whole Foods!), I added some pine nuts since my boyfriend likes pine nuts, I used regular salt, and I added more cayenne pepper (I’m Korean, I need the spice!). I suspect my version also had more egg whites than Deb’s (I eyeballed halving the egg white.), since mine look more coated than her’s. In any case, I’m dying to make these nuts again. I placed an order with my Mom for a 30 pound bag of walnuts from Costco. I hope that’s enough.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice Nuts – For 1/2 a Pound of Walnuts
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s adapted version by Elizabeth Karmel of Hill Country

1/6 cup dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 pound walnuts
1 handful pine nuts
1/2-3/4 egg white, room temperature (I used a little more than a half)
1/2 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix brown and white sugar, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps; set aside. Beat egg white and water until frothy but not stiff. Add walnuts, and stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle nuts with sugar mixture, and toss until evenly coated. Spread sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Parchment paper is optional, mine were fine without it. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring about 3 times. Remove from oven, and separate nuts as they cool. When completely cool, pour the nuts into a bowl, breaking up any that stick together.

Enjoy with a nice glass of wine. My current favorite cheap white wine is Jelú Torrontés 2008, an organic wine from Argentina with hints of lychees.

UPDATE – My mom got me six pounds of walnuts, so I finally tried the full recipe. (Thanks mommy!) I also tried doubling the recipe, but I notice the nuts don’t coat as well. So candy one pound at a time for best results. Also, adding one more tablespoon of water ensures the sugar mixture sticks to the walnuts better. To accommodate for the increased wetness, bake for 40 minutes. Below is my modified version of the recipe for one pound of walnuts. OK, going to sleep now. It’s 4:30am and my last batch just came out of the oven.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice Nuts – For a Pound of Walnuts
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s adapted version by Elizabeth Karmel of Hill Country

1/3 cup dark-brown sugar
2/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Adjust the amount depending on your heat tolerance. I like heat.)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound walnuts
1 egg white, room temperature
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix brown and white sugar, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps; set aside. Beat egg white and water until frothy but not stiff. Add walnuts, and stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle nuts with sugar mixture, and toss until evenly coated. Spread sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Parchment paper is optional, mine were fine without it. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring about 3 times. Remove from oven, and separate nuts as they cool. When completely cool, pour the nuts into a bowl, breaking up any that stick together.

Happy New Year & Happy Belated Holidays – Palisades Park

bionicgrrrl — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:15:53 +0000

Happy New Year! I’m a bit late, but better late than never I say. Not sure what 2009 will bring, but as always, I’m optimistic. 2008 is so last year anyway. Bring it 2009!!! Bring it! Now on to the food.

On Thanksgiving, my family does the traditional American turkey thing, but Christmas and New Year’s is a strictly Korean affair. This year, after the Thanksgiving cooking marathon, I told my mom we should keep it simple on Christmas and just eat some samgyupssal (삼겹살, uncured pork belly) and galbi (갈비, beef ribs). Of course, my mom always cooks up a storm anyway and made a million other dishes, but as requested we ate a lot of galbi and samgypsal (pictured above). Nothing makes me more happy than samgyupsal, except maybe samgyupsal and soju. We eat so much samgyupsal at my parent’s house, that David (who doesn’t eat pork), complains that anything we eat on the table-top grill now tastes and smells like pork after we cook it. Personally, I think this is a good thing.

Samgyupsal is not marinated, except in it’s own naturally delicious juices, so for extra flavor, it’s dipped in dark sesame oil with salt and pepper before it’s wrapped with either lettuce or thin slices of pickled radish. My mom makes her own pickled radish at home. Usually I alternate between the two.

Besides the meat, we also had some vegetarian-friendly dishes. Pictured above is nokdoo mook muchim (녹두묵무침, mung bean jelly). The nokdoo mook is made from mung bean starch and has the consistency of harder jello. It’s pretty flavorless alone, and the flavor of the nokdoo mook muchim is derived more from the soy sauce vinaigrette and the vegetables. It’s nice and refreshing when you’re eating so many heavy dishes, but I have to admit, I hardly ate any of the nokdoo mook that day because I was too busy eating the samgyupsal. Gotta reserve prime real estate in the belly.

We also always have some sort of soup or stew. This time we had chungookjang (청국장, soy-bean stew) with zucchini and pork. Chungookjang is made from fermented soy bean paste; think miso intensified to the nth degree. The Japanese version is natto. It’s extremely smelly, but also extremely tasty in a very warm and savory way. A lot of Korean people don’t like chungookjang because they find it too stinky, but I love it. Unfortunately, I don’t get to eat this enough unless I go to my parent’s house in NJ. My LES apartment has no ventilation whatsoever, so I’m sure my neighbors would call the police if I even attempted to make this at home. Don’t want to start a race war now over chungookjang.

And no Korean meal is complete without kimchi. My mom makes killer kimchi, but the one pictured was store bought. Even on Thanksgiving we always have kimchi. This Thanksgiving, next to the turkey, ham, and stuffing, we had two types of kimchi on the table, if not more.

For dessert, my mom made yakbab (약밥, literally medicine rice). Yakbab is a Korean dessert made with sticky rice, chestnuts, pine nuts, jujubes, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little soy sauce. I like my mom’s version because she doesn’t skimp on the chestnuts. Salty, sticky, and sweet, yakbab is a nice way to end a meal.

On New Year’s Day, we may have had even more food than Christmas, so I’ll just write about my favorites.

It’s Korean tradition to eat Ddukgook (떡국, rice cake soup) on New Year’s Day. It’s basically a warm comforting bowl of beef broth, soft chewy rice cake slivers, beef, and egg, garnished with roasted seaweed and scallions. Dumplings are optional. They say you have to eat ddukgook to become a year older, so people often joke that they stay young by not eating ddukgook. Yes, it’s a lame joke, but you are bound to hear it on New Year’s.

My mom also made ggotggeh jigae (꽃게찌개, crab stew). She actually made this on Christmas also, but on Christmas she added fish and I told her I like it better with just crab, so for New Year’s she made me a version with just crab. Isn’t she great?! This is one of my favorite Korean dishes. It’s very spicy with tons of onion and garlic, which makes for some messy eating, but I think it’s worth it. I think I sat at the dining room table for almost two hours eating this.

For my brother, who doesn’t consider it a real meal without any meat, she made galbi jjim (갈비찜, braised short ribs). Galbi Jjim differs from galbi in that it is braised in liquid with root vegetables instead of grilled. My mom’s version contains chestnuts and radish, and it is always fall-off-the-bone good.

There were more dishes including kimchi jun (김치전, kimchi pancake), haemool jun (해물전, seafood pancake), chwee namool (취나물, sauteed wild Aster scaber), and grilled croaker (조개구이). Everything was, as usual, delicious. People always say their moms are the best cooks, but in my case I think it’s true when it comes to Korean food. Of course, if you don’t agree, we can take it outside. My dad says at night, before my mom goes to sleep, she reads everything on the Internet related to food. We have that in common. I think one of these days, I’ll have my mom guest blog. You guys will love her. If not, again, we can take it outside.

So happy new year (새해 복 많이 받으세요) and special thanks to all my readers out there. My new year’s resolution is to get off my lazy ass and go out more often, so I hope to bring you more tales of culinary adventures and food porn in 2009. Happy eating!

Thanksgiving Gluttony – NJ

bionicgrrrl — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:40:52 +0000

Thanksgiving was last week, but as I mentioned, I’m swamped at work because of the holiday season and I’m behind on posting. Also, I went gambling again over the weekend — this time to Mohegan Sun — and after winning a little bit of money, I think my bad habit may now be irrevocably reinforced. In any case, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it’s the one day you get to eat like a fat bastard without any shame. Of course, being with loved ones is also great, but this is a food blog, so let’s talk food!

As usual, my mom lovingly brined the turkey overnight in a mixture of herbs, salt, and water. This year she added a few apples to the mix.

Here is a picture of the huge eleven pound beast in front of Adam, my little nephew. Eleven pounds isn’t too large, but considering the other dishes we make, we always have a ton of leftovers. I don’t mind though. Nothing beats Thanksgiving leftovers the next day, especially the turkey skin. I always take all the turkey skin and render it out further on my George Foreman grill. The end result are turkey cracklings that you can eat like chips. Oh yeah, baby.

There was also the requisite spiral ham, which was Adam’s favorite. The photo above is from a previous Thanksgiving, since I didn’t take a good picture this year. Unfortunately, after the usual marathon of Thanksgiving cooking, I’m too tired and hungry to focus on taking pictures. Anyway, it’s a shame to let good food get cold.

My contribution was a spicy corn bread stuffing with sausage that I’ve been making for a few years now (recipe below). It’s always a hit. Last year I experimented with a different recipe and although it was OK, I completely regretted it. This stuffing is a good blend of spicy and sweet, and the cumin and chili in the recipe takes the dish to a whole new realm of deliciousness. My brother calls the stuffing Cajun, and Hannah, my sister-in-law, refers to it as the Jamaican stuffing. Really, it’s just plain American with a southwestern kick. I always bake the the corn bread or corn muffins for the stuffing the night before. This year I used a recipe for corn bread muffins from Dorie Greenspan that she posted on Serious Eats called Corniest Corn Muffins. I think it was good, although the muffins could have been even cornier. I think next year I’ll increase the ratio of cornmeal to flour.

As for the duds this year, I made the Barefoot Contessa’s Homemade Gravy, which to be honest, wasn’t horrible, but was just very muddled tasting. I like a gravy that’s more richer and sharper. Another semi-failure was Tyler Florence’s Cranberry Sauce, which was way too tart with the amount of brown sugar specified. I had to bump up the sugar quite a bit to make it edible. I also took out the cinnamon stick after just a few minutes. I don’t like a heavy cinnamon flavor in my cranberry sauce. Also, last year I made a cranberry sauce with clementine zest. I think I prefer the softer flavor of clementine zest over the orange zest called for in this recipe.

We talked at the end of Thanksgiving feast about maybe skipping the turkey next year, which to me sounds sacrilegious. I think the rest of family finds the amount of food every year a bit excessive and the giant bird extreme overkill. You really can’t have Thanksgiving though without turkey, so next year I think I may make a smaller turkey dish, like perhaps a cassoulet or a pot pie instead. We’ll see. Somehow, I have a feeling you’ll be seeing another picture of our fine defeathered friend next year.

Spicy Corn Bread Stuffing with Sausage
Adapted from a recipe on Pepperfool.com by Goerge Goslowsky
– Makes 10 servings –

1 lb. hot Italian turkey sausages, casings removed, meat crumbled (I use turkey sausage because David doesn’t eat pork, but pork sausage is, of course, better.)
3 cups chopped onions
3 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup minced, long green peppers (I don’t seed the peppers because I like heat.)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons hot chili powder
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
butter and/or olive oil for sauteing
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut corn bread (Use whatever corn bread or muffing recipe you like. Muffins will make a sweeter and stickier stuffing. I used Dorie Greenspan’s corn muffin recipe this Thanksgiving.) into 3/4″ cubes. Place on baking sheet. Bake until dry but not hard, about 15 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

Melt a few pats of butter and olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. You don’t need more than a few tablespoons of butter or oil because a lot of oil will come out of the sausage. Add sausage and saute until brown, about 6 minutes. Add onions, celery, peppers, and garlic, and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in chili powder and cumin and saute for 2 minutes. Mix in cornbread. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Butter a baking dish. Stir 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into stuffing. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to prepared dish cover with foil.

Bake covered stuffing alongside turkey for 45 minutes. Uncover stuffing and bake until top begins to crisp, about 25 minutes longer. For extra tasty stuffing, mix in some turkey drippings before serving.

Blueberry Martini Jello Shots – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:05:58 +0000

Blueberry Martini Jello Shots

My friend Chris invited me to a barbecue last weekend, and wanting to be a good BBQ guest like Deb at Smitten Kitchen, I offered to bake a pie. It turns out, though, no one who was attending the BBQ was very excited at the prospect of pie. Who would’ve thunk it?! Geez, how can anyone not like pie? Pies are delicious; it’s jammy fruit in a buttery flaky crust! So then I thought of making a watermelon tomato salad with olives, but after showing Chris the recipe, her response was, “Uh, that’s weird.” Back to the drawing board, I searched the Internet, but nothing seemed really interesting. A few days later I was still lost, but after a few glasses of sangria with friends, it finally dawned on me, ‘My friends are lushes, why not make jello shots?’

I didn’t want to make regular jello shots though, I mean my college days are far behind me. So I googled “gourmet jello shots” and I came up with a Los Angeles Times adapted recipe for Blueberry Martini Jelly Shots from Bar Nineteen 12 in Beverly Hills. It was exactly what I needed, jello for adults, or as I like to call them, ‘jello for the grown and sexy.’ I emailed Chris with my idea and she responded with one word, “Nice!”

I made a few modifications to the recipe to make my life easier. The recipe calls for sheets of gelatin. I opted to use gelatin powder instead since it can be found in regular supermarkets (I used Knox Gelatine). As for setting the jello, the recipe has you use half-ounce silicone molds — since these shots are meant to be picked up with your fingers and eaten — but I didn’t want to go out and buy molds, so I ended up using an ice tray. It worked nicely except for the fact that each cube was bigger than a half-ounce, so I ended up with about twenty shots instead of thirty-five. I would double this recipe if you are going to take the ice cube route. In addition, I would avoid using ice trays with really large ice cube molds. If that’s the only type of tray you have, don’t fill it all the way to the top. You don’t want to bite into a giant cube of hard gelatin. It’s not as tasty. I also added more blueberries per shot because I thought it looked cheesy to have only one lone blueberry in each cube.

The jello shots were a hit at the BBQ, especially amongst the girls. The shots were cold, refreshing, and made for some summer fun. One of the girls thought they were a bit strong, but she doesn’t drink much, so if you are making these for the non-drinking crowd, I would mix in some water and perhaps some more simple syrup so they’re weaker. Also, the texture of these shots are harder than normal jello shots; a cross between jello and gummy bears. One of the guys wasn’t too crazy about the texture, but then again I notice a lot of men aren’t into candies of the gummy sort, so if harder jello freaks you out, you can add less gelatin or serve them after leaving them out for a while.

I can’t wait to experiment with these jello shots. The possibilities seem endless. I’m thinking mojito shots, lychee saketini shots, sangria shots…. So next time you’re a BBQ guest, and no one likes pie, make these jello shots. Vodka + Gelatin = SCORE!

Blueberry Martini Jello Shots
(Adapted from an adapted recipe by the LA Times for Blueberry martini jelly shots at Bar Nineteen 12)

Total time: 25 minutes, plus overnight chilling
Servings: About 20 Shots (more if you use 1/2 ounce molds instead of an ice tray)

10 1/2 ounces Stoli Blueberry vodka
2 ounces simple syrup* (add more if blueberries are sour)
3 1/2 (1/4 ounce) packets of gelatin powder

About 60 fresh blueberries (more if the blueberries are small)

1. Off heat, combine the vodka and simple syrup in a small saucepan. Add gelatin powder to the vodka mixture.

2. Heat the saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the gelatin is dissolved and incorporated into the vodka mixture, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Place a few blueberries in the bottom of each individual ice cube mold, and carefully pour the vodka mixture into each. Refrigerate the ice cube tray until set, preferably overnight. These cocktails will keep, refrigerated, for as long as 2 days.

*To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan, and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.