Bionic Bites » Recipes

Grand Tasting at the NYC Wine & Food Festival – NYC

bionicgrrrl — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:19:33 +0000

I still have an infinite amount of Asian fooding photos to go through, but I thought I would take a break and write about last week’s Grand Tasting at the New York City Wine & Food Festival (NYCWFF). Last Saturday, David and I spent an hour and a half at Pier 54 where lots of wine and food were to be had. We ate, drank, and ate some more, but since I want to keep this post to a reasonable length, covered here are just the day’s most delectable bites.

If you are familiar with the Food Network’s Next Iron Chef, two of the competing chefs were there doing a “prosciutto challenge.” I don’t watch the show, because I just don’t find it too exciting, and besides I’m not that crazy about the Chairman (What does martial arts have to do with food?!), but Amanda Freitag’s fresh mission fig with blue cheese cream and Prosciutto di Parma was one of my favorite dishes of the day. The fresh fig was a nice counterpoint to the aged prosciutto and blue cheese yet captured the earthy elements of both ingredients. There wasn’t too much cooking involved, and there was a lot of fig in one bite, but after going through a room of complicated little plates, it was nice to eat something simple and delicious.

Another favorite was from Philippe Massoud of Ilili. He had several lamb dishes at his table, but my favorite was lamb brains on warm milk bread. For the squeamish, the brains were quite harmless tasting. Fried crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside and served with pickled turnip and greens on milk bread, it tasted like a fried sweetbread taco. But, if you’re squeamish about sweetbreads also, this is probably not your thing. I loved it.

Massoud also had spoonfuls of lamb cheeks braised in a sharp flavorful jus. It was a juicy mouthful of tender succulent lamb. I’ll be making a point of dining at Ilili one of these days.

David especially liked the ocean trout tartare with pickled mustard seeds, pine nuts, chorizo oil and egg by Vincent Seufert & Stephane Dorian from 10 Downing. It tasted very fresh and the chorizo oil definitely made it taste different, but I think olive oil or sesame oil, although not as interesting, would have been a better choice for the mild fish. However, I kept rubbing it into David that he probably liked the tartare because of the chorizo oil, since he doesn’t eat pork, but he claimed he liked it because of the pine nuts. Uh huh, sure…

And lastly, a favorite of both of our’s was the fried feta with eggplant jam and sea salt by Jason Avery of Pera. The crunchy salty feta went wonderfully with the sweet eggplant jam and slightly bitter microgreens. It was lovely bite, sweet and savory at the same time. The only problem with the dish was some bad microgreen gunk on the side. I’m sure it was hella hectic at the festival and hard to check every single plate that went out, but it’s a pet peeve of mine. No one wants to eat vegetal gunk. In any case, I was still impressed by the food, and I’ll be keeping Pera on the radar.

As for alcohol, my favorites included a Chenin Blanc from a South African winery called Mulderbosch retailing for only $14 and the Champagne Lanson Black Label which retails for about twice as much. In addition, the crazy folks from the Mandalay Bay (Jennifer Cross and Keith Bearden) had a cute tropical drink garnished with dry ice called The Volcano that was tasty but not too sweet. The recipe for the alcohol is below. I could see it being a fun cocktail for a themed dinner party.

The Volcano
Jennifer Cross, Keith Bearden
Mandalay Bay Mixology Team

3/4 oz. Absolut Mango vodka
3/4 oz. Absolut Peach vodka
1/4 oz. Amaretto
Equal Parts orange juice and pineapple juice, splash of grenadine

Garnish: Dry Ice
Glassware: Martini

And for those who need more food porn, for your viewing pleasure, I’ve included a slideshow of some of the food I consumed at NYCWFF 2009. I can’t wait for next year. However much I complain about the Food Network, they definitely know how to throw a party.

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.

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.