Uncategorized – Page 7 – Table For Two

August 4, 2018April 18, 2019

Pizza a la Jeremy

The final product - it's late, let's eat!! — The final product – it’s late, let’s eat!!

Just this past week, Nick suggested we use his gift card to Ninety nine. We tried the shrimp flatbread appetizer. It turned out to be very gooey with 3 classic cheeses, mozzarella, Parmesan and extra sharp cheddar. I didn’t like the sharp cheddar in this case, since it made the overall dish slightly more salty than desirable. The crust was very crunchy. I swear the next table heard me bite into it. The oil factor was heavy enough to blot, but not enough to dribble. Minus the cheddar cheese, this reminded me of when I used to cook for an Italian pizzeria in Potsdam, NY called “Mama Lucia’s”. I was a pizza cook there for about a year, and one of the pizzas that we would make was called the Umbria. It was a hit with my friends, who would often come in and specifically order the pizza. This seemed like ages ago though – so much life has happened since then that I felt it was time to resurrect this dish.

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According to Wikipedia, pesto (or as it is sometimes referred to as Pesto Alla Genovese) derives its name from the Genoese word pestâ which means to pound or to crush. It consists of garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, olive oil, and (of course) parmigiano-reggiano (you gotta add cheese to it). This serves as the base for the pizza. The golden brown toasted pine nuts are essential to pesto sauce having the right subtle undertones, though, according to this post from StackExchange, you can add a variety of nuts to the sauce.

Toasting pine nuts — Toasting the pine nuts with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. This is to add that nice toasted flavor to the pesto.

Sorry to tree-nut allergy sufferers like my best friend from middle school, Matt. You can substitute with sunflower seeds. This is one case where simply omitting an ingredient would lead to disaster, in this case mushy basil. Simply grind your leaves together with your pine nuts/sunflower seeds, (Or both if you want to do some kind of half and half) Parmesan and a trio of Garlic, Pepper, and Salt. That’s how you use a GPS in the kitchen. Most important is the drizzle of olive oil, otherwise it would all be a grainy mess. We want to have pesto SAUCE. This is only my second time making it.

Did you know, Marie Osmond’s first name is actually Olive! They called her by her middle name as their mother was an “Olive” too. For all you Italians out there, it’s superstitiously bad luck to spill olive oil because the good stuff didn’t always come at a cheap price back in the day. Just dab a drop behind the ears if you have an accident.

My lovely sauteing the lovelies with some garlic and lemon pepper. — My lovely sauteing with some garlic and lemon pepper.

Letting the shrimp rest before assembling the pizza.

Time to get to eating in out custom-made fort. — Jeremy & Prince Daniel

I took care of the shrimp all by my very own self! I used Mediterranean Sea salt with lemon pepper and a roasting clove of garlic. I pulled them off of the flame early because we would be finishing the cook off in the oven. Don’t be fooled cooking them just right in the pan only to have them turn to rubber in the oven. Are you having trouble with your timing? Check out our shrimp salad for reference.

Making the pesto sauce in the food processor.

We used a simple flat bread recipe found at Hilah Cooking. This was a relatively simple way of preparing dough compared to what it normally takes to make pizza dough. We accidentally started cooking really late, so we wanted something simple. The baking powder normally helps with the rising process in bread, however with so much of it as the recipe calls for, it tasted like biscuits. If you’re like my uncle and are sensitive to gluten, you might want to try this recipe from http://keepinitkind.com/easy-homemade-yeast-free-vegan-gluten-free-flatbread/ instead. It’s also vegan! Once the dough was all set and rolled out, I threw it onto the skillet to brown on both sides. They only needed a minute or so on each side before they were ready.

Kneading the dough to build the gluten network.

The flatbread after heating it in the skillet.

Now for the fun part! We spread the pesto sauce out and then dolloped huge amounts of ricotta cheese. Lauren swears that it had the look of Jell-o. I thought it looked more like panna cotta. (hmmmm….. maybe later) With that we also topped out pizza with the sauteed shrimp and some mozzarella cheese. The restaurant I worked at had a wood fire oven. It was really nice to cook with, when it worked. It adds more flavor and crunch to your pizza. Boy, let me tell you, when it fails it fails. It’s a real pain to keep the temp just right. Sticky things are hopeless. Wood chips are a hazard too. Nevertheless, wood fire pizza is simply amazing to eat. I found the best substitute for lack of luxury was to broil it for 5-10 minutes until the mozzarella is all melted.

Once it came out of the oven, it was piping hot and still gooey in the cheese. This is where we threw on our sun-dried tomatoes. To me, they looked like big red raisins.

Nom nom nom nom! — Sink your teeth into it.

Delicious ricotta! I could just eat it right out of the container.

The sun-dried tomatoes help to contrast the savory notes with some sweetness. Everything in general came out okay, the pesto could have stood out a little more – maybe some more basil (nice and fresh from the garden) and more garlic. Also (and I am astounded that I am saying this) but there was a little too much ricotta. This was one of those late night comfort foods so we decided to eat on the floor. We even made a little fort like when we were kids and watched some videos with one of our “kids” Prince Daniel. Good night!

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July 28, 2018July 28, 2018

Mamma Mia! Chicken

Mama Mia! Greek is the new chic. In honor of Lily James’ new film “Mamma Mia Here We Go Again” we made chicken souvlaki with tzatziki sauce over Cesar salad. Our version has no carbs in sight because we didn’t have any pita bread, making this a totally gluten free version great for people on low to no carb diets. For those of you who don’t want to use chicken, this can also be done with potatoes. Scrummy Lane uses basically the same concept of oil, herb and heat in this similar recipe, “Best Greek Potatoes“. It even uses the same herb profile.

First off, I was worried about it going south for how frozen it was at first. After the microwave method half-worked, we chopped, marinated it for 2 hours and grilled them so that they could have an even cook time. You see, when frozen things like chicken go below the freezing temperature, the heat melts the ice before actually increasing the temperature, breaking down molecular bonds. When you rush to cook it without fully thawing the chicken first, it rises in temperature in such a short amount of time that by then, the outside is cooked deceivingly golden brown, but the inside is icy cold. It seems like a magic trick.

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Salmonella hands — Salmonella is a true problem if ingested. **ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER WORKING WITH RAW MEAT!!** Keep it kosher!

For spices, we put in a little salt, dill, black pepper, a squeeze of lemon, a few shakes of oregano and our favorite ingredient, you guessed it, raw garlic cloves! Hey, what can I say? Nothing turns around a bland pile of meat chunks quite like a generous handful of herbs and an acid kick in the head. Don’t forget the olive oil so that everything stays together and they have less chance of sticking to the grill. These little chunks cooked through very quickly, as soon as we laid them all down on the indoor flat cast-iron grill top, they were nearly ready to come back off.

Olives and Greece go back to roughly the 5th century when they were grown in the valleys among the grapes by small landowners and tenant farmers from Roman Italy. My own great-great-grandfather Giovanni Montera had a farm in Italy full of figs and olives. We’re using purple ones for our Ceasar spin-off salad. We used only spinach, feta and purple olives. Usually, they come in Maleficent’s signature green, purple and black colors. More importantly, the oil was used in the ancient Olympic games to coat the athletes bodies as protection from the elements and as a way to glorify the male physique, if sculptures weren’t enough.

I was in command of the TSAH-zee-key sauce. Yes, that’s the proper pronunciation. It’s just a mesh of cucumber chunks, dill, plain Greek yogurt and grated garlic. However, there are 2 versions, Ottoman and Greek only differentiating in the yogurt. The Ottoman version is called by the Turkish word “Cacik” and uses cow milk in the yogurt. The only true Greek “Tzatziki” is uses sheep milk yogurt. I never knew how mushy garlic could be when it’s grated on a planer. It brought such a big bite to the sauce. It was practically spicy in a horseradish sort of way, very different from traditionally spicy peppers. The creamy cooling effect of Greek yogurt was aided by cucumber slices patted dry before use. We chose to keep the skin on, but if you want to slice off the skins and put them in your water for flavor and a “Gillyweed” look, go right ahead.

Now, about the chicken…we were not stingy by any means. I was calling it “Chicken Mountain” in my best Cookie Monster voice. (Not as good as our photographer Nick’s impression though.) As much as they could stand on its own, we couldn’t stop dipping it into the sauce as a way to balance such thick juicy meat with garlic spice. We give this and the movie 5 shining stars.

The songs were catchy with easy-to-learn choreography for you sing and dance along fans. It made me think about how fun it is to be adventurous and try new things, even if you aren’t sure things will work out in the end, much like trying new food and cooking a new recipe. Try a different style sometime. Pick a random fruit or meat and see what you can do with it. All and all, Donna’s free-style carefree Greek escapade-turned business reminded me to take a bite out of life and not be so caught up in the work-work-work. Heck, I was voted “Dancing Queen” in Shenendehowa’s high school class of 2011. One of the most important things we understand about how cooking relates to life next to sanitation is to have fun!

July 22, 2018July 23, 2018

8 Arms to Cook with You.

Octopuses are regarded as some of the most intelligent creatures of the sea along with the bottle-nosed dolphin. They’ve been taught how to open jars and slip themselves into bottles. Some even live in the abyssal zone of the ocean among bacteria and heat-sensing shrimp while others camouflage themselves along the coral reefs. These poor unfortunate souls however, are going to be our dinner. Don’t worry, they’re not on the endangered list. The New England Aquarium in Boston highly recommends browsing their sister website HERE for information about eco-positive projects in the works to help protect sea creatures from being over-farmed without losing the healthy benefits of protein, Omega-3, vitamin B, iodine, zinc, potassium and phosphorus that we gain from eating seafood.

Essentially, we used the same low heat and long cook-time method of cooking these suckers as we did with our second calamari, drawing from the Polipo in Umido (braised octopus) written in “Lidia’s Italian Table”. Typically, fast and high is best reserved for salads as opposed to an entrée where the flavors need to marinate and harmonize together. Hawaiians and Italians alike know that octopuses can be farmed well and are seriously under appreciated in terms of cooking. It’s such an easy squid substitute.

Octopus on plastic — It actually stuck to the plastic!

In our mise en place, we did a ribbon-like chiffonade on our bock-choy, halved some cherry tomatoes and seasoned with red pepper flakes, sage and a generous sprinkle of pink salt and pepper. These things don’t come pre-flavored other than “seafood”.

I loved getting my hands wet playing around with these creatures. We put down some plastic bags so we didn’t get goop to They feel so cool, smooth and not at all sticky, but covered in bumps and holes. You may consider these a brother or sister to squid. Of course, we’ve bought our 4 from the frozen section at less than $10. Large and fresh may be the best qualities of land meat, but on the contrary, smaller frozen octopus tends to be meatier than freshly caught. Then again, the bigger the polipo, the more you get to beat it with a trusty meat mallet.

They shriveled up in only a matter of 45 minutes in our bubbling cast iron cauldron. More or less, they became palm-sized. Including resting time to let it all, this dish took us only 50 minutes. The cleaned out head piece was the sweetest seafood I’ve ever tasted. I’d akin it to lobster meat. The tentacles however were simply a thicker form of calamari.

We were very surprised at how salty the dish turned out after plating. We only added a pinch, considering as how octopus is a sea creature and may have had some saltiness to it. Actually, the octopus wasn’t salty intrinsically, so we’re stumped as to why we were chugging water afterwards. Overall, it was meaty but not chewy with that special seafood flavor that hits you just right with a flavorful brine. We give this one a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Sea stars that is. Personally, I say my inamorata is a perfect 10.

July 15, 2018April 6, 2019

The Calamari Tales Part 2

This time, we chose a low and slow simmering stuffed calamari so that everything could blend together into one cohesive dish as opposed to having separate components combined at the end. The frozen calamari was already cleaned. All I had to do was pull out the tentacles and rinse.

Meanwhile, I went straight to work on the stuffing. We followed Nona’s Kitchen instructions to a tee. Lauren’s processor worked great on her left-over stale bread heels. I must say, I was unimpressed with the stuffing. She used the same basic stuffing and bread crumbs as every other house cook.

When I think of a good stuffing, there’s more than eggs, parsley and bread crumbs. I want to improvise, like a Thanksgiving turkey stuffed with mushrooms, cranberries and celery. If it were me creating the recipe, I would use leafy greens and carrots to mix it up a little, maybe use some sausage. Her list was dull at best and we found out later that her idea of using milk wasn’t her greatest either. Fish stock really is the way to go. We really missed out not having any fish stock around the house. Moral of the story, it needed inspiration and some minor tweaking. Since vegan eggs are made of a sort of algae, would that have been a more tasteful binder? Regular chicken eggs are a perfect binder thanks to their protein structure, but what does that mean about algae? This implies further investigation at another time.

Stuffing the calamari full - they look like alien eggs — Stuffing the calamari full – they look like alien eggs

A few of the squid bodies were too piccoli to be stuffed, so we simply chopped them up as a little secret ingredient to the sauce similar to the fruite de marre at Francessca’s Restauranti in Boston. Having the pan at a lower heat made it easier for the sauce to marinate. We debated a bit of tomato paste to give it more of a pizza sauce texture, but ultimately saved ourselves the sodium and went without it.

By putting a cover over the sauce pot, we were able to utilize all 3 forms of heating; conduction from the fire heating the pan, convection from the heat cycling underneath the lid and radiation from the steam within. It was during this time that the tentacles began to curl. Since less heat escaped, the tentacles were able to curl with delight.

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There was a true lack of flavor in the stuffing. We were sure to add salt and pepper, but the seasoning was far too miniscule. Perhaps if we had included cayenne pepper, or some dried herbs, we may have gotten more of a hit, since squid taste so skin-like. It may be rich in vitamin B 12 and riboflavin, but seriously, there is no such tangy, sour, sweet or any sort of flavor to squid. Your seasoning has to be on target or it will be bland. Remember this bit of blunt alliteration: Bland is boring.

Stuffed squid sauteed in a squid marinara sauce

Most of what we did taste was breaded scrambled eggs in squid rolls. It was even squishing and expanding out of their pockets in the pan. Our elementary tomato sauce was loaded with hearty garlic, a handful of onion and some gorgeous fresh parsley. Thank goodness that had so many flavors, or we would have had mush in our mouths. Maybe mixing in some panko would show some improvement. All and all, we give this one a fair 80%.

July 9, 2018

The Calamari Tales Part 1

One of our favorite fruite de marre is calamari. Cephalopods are regarded as the chewing gum of seafood. We’ve had it en salad as a side with sushi, fried as an appetizer in a few venues around the New York capital area and cooked into chunky tomato sauce on Christmas Eve with my family. Jeremy and I have taken the next step in our passion for squid and started a trilogy of dishes in its honor.

Two rings connected together - more delicious than the real thing — We have a real passion for squid.

If by chance you can’t find any, abalone or conch will do just fine. *If you’re allergic to shellfish, you probably should consult your doctor or avoid these critters as they could trigger a reaction. Cephalopods are different from crustaceans, but better safe than swollen.*

Our first endeavor was inspired by our first bite of calamari salad at the sushi section of the grocery store, sort of like a drive-by. Obviously, we couldn’t find any bamboo shoots, so we settled on the idea of instead of adding chicken pieces to a salad, why not use squid?

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Some people go pescatarian for the way they see how factories treat chickens and baby chicks as products rather than living animals. Fish is an excellent substitution for such cases with less hassle in creating proteins combining nuts and specific grains. Not only that, but fish can be farmed in a sense of being raised in a contained unit with the intent to use them as food.

Jeremy speaking. Here’s our typical shortcut salad with a little fish oil dressing on the side.

Throwing the simple salad together - simpler tends to be better — Throwing the simple salad together – simpler tends to be better

Did you know that squid can live up to one year at a time, are sustainable and have ink sacks that can be incorporated into black macaroni dishes. In fact, all but the beak, quill and organs of a squid is edible. Why not use it? With all that having been stated, we’ve chopped every squid body into neat little rings like you find pre-packaged and are ready to cook. We’re not eating these suckers raw. No offense to those who do. Back when I was in China, it wasn’t so odd to sink your teeth into some crawling octopus tentacles freshly chopped, but those have to be thoroughly chewed.

Lauren almost eating squid raw! — In Japan, it’s totally normal to eat squid and octopus while it’s still alive. Since these were frozen first, (kept under 41 degrees Fahrenheit) we don’t have to worry about parasites. Look for “Sushi-Grade” to be sure it was treated first.

This is one of those fast and high heated recipes where it cooks in oil so quickly there’s no time for anything to turn to rubber. I excitedly threw in the tentacles in one by one with the chopped garlic and oil and witnessed the magic of how they curl around into flowery shapes at just the right temperature. They’re so squishy and gooey to hold in your bare hands, similar to worms and my old purple goooze. (Nowadays, kids have to make their own slime with glue and contact solution, but that’s beside the point)

Look at the sight of those ooey gooey morsels!

At this point, we simply scooped them into the salad. I would recommend a small drizzle of balsamic or a vinaigrette on top for dressing as the avocado can be rather fatty. It may be 75% healthy unsaturated fats, but it can feel like a ton after too much. After all, England is famous for their fish and chips with vinegar for the acidic kick in the middle of every bite. Now that we’ve had our salad, on to the main course: Stuffed Calamari courtesy of “Nona’s Kitchen”.

Our squid salad - bon appetite! — Our squid salad – bon appetite!

June 30, 2018

Scallops and Sorrento

One of our dreams is to travel out to scenic Italy as homage to our families’ roots. The cuisine is known for its Mediterranean flair plentiful in fruite de marre. It’s so much more accessible for a seaside country to specialize in shellfish than a land-locked one. Since a package of scallops this week was only $9. Let’s give them a spotlight before they shoot up in price like those $21 shrimp.

Scallops in the package — Freshly packed scallops from the fish monger… looks delicious! Better get cooking!

The scallops we know and love are actually just the muscles (let’s not get confused with mussels, shall we?) that joins the fan-shaped shell together. As Lidia Matticchio Bastianich tells in her cookbook “Lidia’s Italian Table”, Europe also saves the peachy-colored roe. Sometimes you can have them served together. Once scallops are shucked, they’re put into a preserving liquid, hence the official name, “wet scallops.” Wet scallops are best when they’re an off-white color and have been kept at very low temperatures. This is one time when we won’t bash the idea of an ingredient being somewhat frozen at the start. If they appear off-color, feel slimy, have been at room temp for too long or smell sour, throw them out immediately! Paralytic shellfish poisoning can be at worst deadly! If you have any sort of symptoms after eating shellfish, SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!

Fresh scallops sizzling in the pan — Just plopped these suckers into a nice and hot pan. You can here the roaring applause chef Ann Burell speaks of.

Remember that Giovanni fettuccini from Reel Seafood Company? Spinach, cherry tomatoes, shrimp, oyster mushrooms and scallops on a bed of fettuccini. It hits the spot when you’re looking for that classic huge Italian plate.

Jeremy macaroni Al-dente — We prefer our macaroni Al-dente.

When I was in Italy (before I met my dolce inamorata) we would spend hours at the table at meal times. Each meal was a couple courses long with EVERYTHING from pizza, salad, antipasto and every kind of fish they could find. All throughout, there would be conversations, laughing and savoring each other’s company unlike the hustle and bustle of today’s on-the-go fast food services.

The Reel Seafood Company in particular holds a special place in our hearts as a couple. We went there for our first anniversary of our first date. In fact, this was the first meal I had there while you had the stuffed haddock. Ironically, when we returned a year later last March, we inadvertently swapped meals! Isn’t it beautiful how food can be so nostalgic and refresh some of those fond memories? With all that being said, let’s get to cooking.

Looks like the feet of the scallops are cleared off already. All we have to do is season both sides, plop them in the oiled pan and flip when they feel right. Seasoning for these little suckers has to really pack a punch. I gave them a mix of pink salt, black pepper, parsley and paprika.

Adding a bit of lemon to the scallops — A little squeeze of lemon juice

We got some words of advice from the vender in the seafood section to make sure they were a nice crispy brown on the edges. A simple way to test is to compare the feel of the scallops to the flesh between your thumb and first finger. If the scallop is firmer, you’ve over-cooked it and consequently, it will be very chewy. If it’s squishier, keep it on the heat for another 30 seconds. Just keep in mind, scallops cook relatively quickly.

After about 7 minutes, we flipped them over

We left the spinach whole, (Not my best idea, strips would have been so much easier. Oh well, save it for next time) minced the garlic and the oyster mushrooms and sliced the cute cherry tomatoes in half while we waited for the water to boil for the macaroni.

Sauteing the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

Timing on our end has improved with experience in the sense of synchronizing the cook-times of the ingredients. Water may take seemingly forever to boil-you know what they say about watching pots too closely- but if you keep yourself busy with other parts of the entrée, time won’t feel so stagnant. It’s not just water boiling or not, but the chef that wastes time watching.

Once we melded everything together into my mother’s macaroni bowl, everything tasted just fine with a small drizzle of olive oil. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the wine for the white wine sauce. This was a big fat oops on our part because macaroni tends to stick to itself if not properly dressed in some sort of oil, butter or sauce. The scallops were tender and spiced just right.

What really tied it all together for us was the atmosphere. Holding hands across the table, pulling out each other’s chairs and turning an ordinary dinner into a date night with Italian-American music and fancy clothes. Food is not only best made with love, but it’s also best shared among loved ones. It fills your stomachs and your hearts. Viva L’Amore!

June 24, 2018

Finnish Follies

Jeremy here, and boy are my wings sore from flapping. I just flew back from Finland for an academic conference. I spent five days in lovely Joensuu, the capital city of North Karelia in eastern Finland. Here are some of my thoughts about the local cuisine…

The first thing I noticed when I took my first bite was the lack of seasoning in the food. In some ways, this was nice as it allowed the natural flavors to come out. We tend to over-season foods over here in the states. Instead of tasting potatoes or peppers, I taste a shaker of salt and even more black pepper. However, if done right, a little pinch of this and a dash of that can bring out those flavors which are otherwise very mild and hard to taste. I can’t imagine biting into a hard-boiled egg with absolutely no spice, or cooking cauliflower with no garlic or pepper.

It was a very surreal experience. According to Wikipedia, since the winters tend to be very long and dark, historically people would hunt and fish for their proteins. Like in Alaska, there are days where there is no light and in the summer, there is no night. As such, hunting would be the way to go. Finnish food involved a lot of gamy-type meats and fish – none of the traditional beef, pork, and chicken we are used to here, at least not in the traditional way we have it, from what I observed. It is mostly found in sausages (makkara), which they are fond of. Almost every meal I had over there had some sausage in it. On my second-to-last night there, we had a meal of grillimakkara, what I would liken to a mix between hot-dog and bratwurst.

What struck me was the large amount of salads that were presented. From what I read online (see Food of Finland and this Quora board), I was prepared for a dearth of vegetables. My professor was recounting to me a story when he was visiting Poland. There, the daylight hours are not as extreme, but he told me that most of the dishes consisted of beef and cabbage. So I was prepared with my soluble fiber when going over. But it turns out that many of the dishes were green, as explain in this USA today article. While none of the green leafy vegetables were there, there was a wide array of tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, beets, etc. – a notable cornucopia of root vegetables to be sure. To count, it seemed that there was at least one root vegetable present in every dist. There was this one dish, I likened it to a cauliflower casserole, but it had mixed in beets – a nice mix of orange, white, and purple. Also present was the wide array of mushrooms, much to my delight – especially the chanterelles. They had a distinct meaty taste with hints of creaminess.

The one notable thing about Finland was their propensity for alcohol. Around every corner there was a bar. Even the hotel I was staying at and the school where the conference was served alcohol. I am not one to drink too much, due to health reasons, but even I got carried along by the tide. I don’t really have much of a taste for alcohol, but I noted the amount of American brands available. If I were to pick one that stood out the most was the hard cider I had on my outing. It had strong apple notes without the bitter after note that comes with alcohol. What is more on my level is coffee and tea and Europe is known for their coffee. Any coffee joint or tea house and you will find me there. There were several cafes in town, but unfortunately I was not very impressed. Nine times out of ten it tasted burnt and I found myself needing to add cream and sugar to it. The espresso though, when I could get some was slightly earthy and dark with slight acid notes – not exactly my “cup of tea”, but it was better than being burnt. Plus they served pieces of dark chocolate to go with it – can’t beet that!

All-in-all, I would gladly recommend anyone to travel to Finland. The people are friendly, the climate is wonderful, and the view is something that can only be experienced first hand. The food was really good, but no strange stories like the ones from China though – which may or may not be a good thing. My one wish was that I could remember more of the names of the dishes I had while there, maybe a picture or two. See you next week!

June 17, 2018

Bugging Out

Hello Everyone! This is Lauren speaking. I’ve decided to go it alone this post to chatter on about something I’ve had a curiosity about since I first heard of such a bizarre thing in the food world. (Yes, the WORLD. Food is not just about countries you know.) Rest assured, Jeremy will be back next week to share everything he discovered and experienced on his trip to Finland this past week.

There are so many different diet lifestyles out there. I’m not talking about fad diets that sell their trendy shakes and bars. I mean the lifestyle choice diets; vegan, vegetarian, the laws of kosher and pescatarian being well-known. There is however one that fascinates and horrifies at the very mention of it. I’m talking about a diet some say will be accepted in the future…Are you ready? Are you sure? Here it comes…entomophagy-aka the eating of bugs.

The tradition goes back to the reign of Bodenheimer and Holt. It may not be easy to take off the legs, wings and shells, but still it cuts gas emissions by 2.84 kg according to the article on BBC news. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31589764 They are also incredibly hard to mail-order in. Bug farms are few and far between, with little marketing status because (Let’s admit it) eating bugs comes off currently as being a gag-trigger. In North America and Europe, bugs are considered pests, not treats. Then again, the Torah confirms that locusts are kosher. It’s estimated that over 2 billion people globally include bugs in their diet. Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam, Mexico, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines have been known to sell bugs as street food complete with seasoning, on skewers, in bags and some with crispy fryer coatings. As a matter of fact, former US president Bill Clinton awarded “Aspire Food Group” 1 million dollars to begin an industry of farming edible bugs as a way to stabilize the supply as a future source of food to compensate for the ever-growing human population. They explain their mission in fuller detail here.

http://www.ediblebugfarm.com/blog/edible-insects-list/ has a list of 50 different bugs that people eat. Ants, grasshoppers, spiders and varieties of worms and bees range not only in species, but also in flavors. Some are nutty like crickets. Bees having lived on honey in the raw all of their lives are said to be super sweet. There are even lemon ants with a distinctive citrus zing; hence its name. Doesn’t it all sound like candy? Having eaten a cricket-lollipop myself last Halloween, my opinion is that the shell was really difficult to get out from between my teeth and distracted me from what was the WORST artificial grape candy I had ever tasted!

Bugs can be boiled, toasted or roasted as the eater sees fit. I think this would be a cleaner and easier way to introduce insects to North American cuisine because the shock is mostly from seeing a full-sized water-bug with all of its appendages squirming around and “looking” at the eater. When they are ground up into a fine powder, the mixture looks the same as wheat-germ or flax seed. This might also help in versatility, adding a dusting of cricket to a frozen yogurt, on popcorn, or in any place you would want a little protein boost. Finland is currently experimenting with crickets mixed in with flour and baking it into bread. This clip is taken from Helsinki.

As a matter of fact, beetles commonly called “cochineals” are used in carmine as a red food coloring usually noted as “Red Dye number 4”. The FDA requires as of April 2009 that it be declared on the packaging of anything in which it’s contained, written as “carmine” or “cochineal extract”, especially since some people have allergic reactions to the dye. Studies across the board state that cattle take up more space and water than raising bugs. They’re very full of nutrients and don’t produce more than 1% of greenhouse gases compared to typical cows.

Vegetarians and vegans disagree with the innovation. It isn’t the same as eating birds, seafood or cattle, but it is still a life, even if bugs are cold-blooded and don’t have any way to feel pain in their bodies. They are simply the land versions of crabs, shrimp, oysters and other shellfish. The answer is strongly, NO!

If you on the other hand are interested in giving some crispy crickets a nibble, check out this super friendly baking website dedicated to cricket recipes. https://www.cricketflours.com/how-to-eat-insects/

What about you? Let’s hear some opinions from the audience. Are you brave enough to take a measly bite of maggot? Have you ever eaten a bug or worm? Talk about it with us in the comments section.

June 9, 2018July 9, 2018

Experimental Eggs Benedict

As Jeremy was wandering around YouTube, he happened upon a video titled, Eggs Benedict 5 ways. It was named after 2 people, a retired Wall Street wiz named Lemuel Benedict who ordered “buttered toast poached eggs, crisp bacon and a hooker of hollandaise” as a hangover cure in 1894 at the Waldorf Hotel, and an 1860’s Delmonico’s frequenter, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict who went straight to Chef Charles Ranhofer wanting something more unique to eat. We thought it would be fun to see what sort of interesting combination we could invent to create our own spin. What came were 2 sandwiches. One made with pulled pork, the other with greens and mushrooms.

I’ll be honest. This was my first hollandaise and my first double-boil. I’ll take it from here, Darling. All that goes into a hollandaise is egg yolk, butter and lemon juice.

Cracking an egg with one hand, because I can do it.

One-handed egg separating — Crack and pull just enough to let the whites seep out a bit at a time. That way, you can plop the yolk alone into the bowl.

You see, heat cooks the eggs and along with acidic lemon juice (it has a ph of about 3) kills bacteria, but you have to continuously whisk the mixture in the double boil or the eggs will solidify into essentially, scrambled eggs.

What’s a double boil, you ask, essentially a pot of simmering to hard-simmering water with a bowl or smaller pot on top. It keeps things warm without putting things on direct heat. It is good for melting chocolate, or in our case, for making hollandaise sauce. In our opinion, ours tasted like mustard. We’ll need to further investigate with different methods to see if next time we can get something closer to that French lemony butter everyone else describes it to be.

Hollandaise sauce being whipped — Hollandaise sauce as it’s being whipped looks looks like a runny yellow mustard

Let me tell you, whisking meringue by hand is tiring.

whisking meringues by hand — Look how fast this whisk can go!

Last time, I used an electric hand mixer. Since Jeremy was here and we were using such tiny containers, the beaters wouldn’t have fit. It took both of us to get it thick enough to scoop. Turns out, it was slightly over-whisked. You can see the clear run-off on our baking sheet. Into the oven that went for 4 minutes.

2 clouds of meringue, slightly over-beaten

Yeah, According to Kitchn, there are various stages of whipping: no peaks, soft peaks, firm peaks, and stiff peaks. When egg whites are over whipped, the fat and water will separate with no coming back. The whites turned crispy and brown for the most part.

The reason that they tasted so bland was because someone forgot to season them before scooping. That’s executive chef rule #4. Season everything as needed. These whites need it otherwise, they taste exactly like Styrofoam. As a last resort, we threw down a large pinch of black pepper over the cooked whites on both sandwiches.

cooked pulled pork — Cooked pulled pork reheated over the stove.

Why did we choose pork for our first sandwich? My mother had some in the fridge from a few nights ago fully cooked and just needing to be reheated. I watched so many “Cutthroat Kitchen” challenges where the chefs had to harvest their ingredients out of tea sets, macaroni sculptures and massive sandwiches that I started taking spare left-over dinner parts and turning them into new dishes. It’s a bit unconventional, but then again, it does bring new life into what may seem boring the second and third time or otherwise will rot behind the milk. Since we’re not being judged for it by Antonia Lofaso or Jet Tila, we’ll make the best of what we have in stock. We slapped a thin slice of sharp cheddar halfway and let it melt inside.

Quick side-note, the color of the cheese is the result of dying and the sharpness has to do with the aging process: the longer it’s aged, the sharper it will be. Sharper cheese tends to have less moisture and will not melt as easily.

On the other half of the bagel, we had an arugula salad, stirred up a little olive oil with a pinch of onion powder, garlic (aka, the staple seasoning of the Italian-American home) and added a tiny bit of salt and black pepper. We decided to mix in some spinach with the arugula to balance out the peppery taste. Turns out (according to Biology Q&A) the same chemical found in arugula is also found in mustard plants. So to avoid having too much of the same thing, we mixed in some spinach.

Let’s talk about #1 the pulled pork. It had a BBQ taste and came off as being very meaty (obviously). I’d give it a good 3.5 out of 5. It was a sandwich by definition, but from what we tasted, it was a burger in disguise. I agree. None of it was dried out, and it had that fatty pork flavor coming through in every bite. It became the main focus of the sandwich, putting the meringue down to non-existence. If we had followed the original 1896 cookbook recipe using my brother’s ham, it might have tasted more like the typical American breakfast. For all of you kosher folks, I would suggest using sliced beef, or sirloin. If people can order a breakfast burger with an egg, this substitution is only a slight breach from that.

Now, let’s discuss sandwich #2 the garden. Every bite seemed complete from the elusive umami flavor in the mushrooms, the bitter arugula balanced by filling vitamin-rich spinach, our tangy hollandaise and the sweetness of toasted honey wheat bagels. Again, the baked meringue was completely lost. You’re Right. As it’s mostly vegetables, this one is satisfying, but not enough to hit like a cinder box. What really struck us was how hard the pepper hit the tongue. We really overestimated when it came to how much to season the individual contents. It may be a sheer disappointment to eat bland food, (As Gordon points out in all of the restaurants on “Kitchen Nightmares”) but it doesn’t help anyone to drown it all in salt and pepper. We must remember; the key is balance. If nothing is overpowering or understated, everything will have a chance to shine in its own right.

What if next time, we reel in a seafood meat like crab or tuna mixed in with mayo and celery and no cheese? That would feel lighter on the stomach and satisfy any cravings for omega-3. I remember having salmon benedict scones when you took me out on my birthday to Tailored Tea in Latham. I remember it being a savory, dune of runny yolk, buttery sauce and salty Canadian bacon with a personal tea pot on the side. That was made in the classic style. If we can find a stellar place for some fresh crab, we’ll simply have to put it to good use. Catch you later! Bye!

May 26, 2018July 9, 2018

Baking Banana Bread

Eww, the bananas have all turned black! I like mine with a few freckles, but streaks? No merci. There’s only one thing to do, bake a loaf of Lauren’s grandmother’s banana bread for dessert.

One of the most important rules of baking is to get a nice slippery pan. Non-stick sounds nice, but butter-flavored Crisco is our stand-by way to grease without worrying about the waxy PTFE coating wearing off. Actually, the man who invented it was a chemist trying to replace Freon. It was a mistake that later became known as Teflon. There are cooking sprays out there, but let’s be realistic. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Mmm, Tastes like Pam!”…I didn’t think so.

Banana bread pre-baked — A nice shot of our banana bread before it went into the oven.

Bananas go with your wet ingredients. Ripe ones are SO much sweeter and easier to mash. Is anyone else remembering baby food, besides my mom? It’s pretty much the same thing; pureed bananas that come to a finger-coating mush. Lauren, could that be a substitution if you don’t have bananas around the house? Would it give it an apple zest? That sounds like an experiment for another day. I’m getting distracted-back to the bread.

Believe it or not, there’s a difference in softened and melted butter, but once you’ve softened it and then add it to the batter, it will melt the rest of the way gradually. Melted is a bit more concentrated for a one-shot spike.

Check this out: Mixing your wet BEFORE combining with the dry saves you the hassle of trying to mix it in enough later without activating the gluten too soon. It also helps to FOLD the batter once it’s combined instead of beating it so that your bread comes out smooth and soft.

Whisking the wet before the dry get added in. — Mom whisking the wet ingredients.

Sugar may be dry, but as Grandma’s recipe calls, we added it in with the wet. It dissolves evenly as you fold and the sugar cuts through the butter. Nobody wants a butter blob sitting in their stomach. A clump of sugar in one place is one thing, but not having sugar in the other is an imbalance for your sweet tooth. Most recipes use a full cup, but we’re only using a half because bananas are loaded with sugar naturally. Yeah, A 7 inch banana usually has 14 grams for Pete’s sake!

Let’s get the dry bits in order. Flour is a grain, which makes it vegan-friendly. Try leveling the cup inside the bag instead of setting up towels and making a mess all over the counter. I love the way that Rumford baking powder has that little lip at the opening like a soda can so you can level it off adding it in. Baking powder needs to be sprinkled so it doesn’t clump. If you don’t dust it and just plop it in, you’ll have a better chance of getting a sour, bitter and disgusting wad. I’ve had that sort of taste in my mouth from licking Mom’s biscuit spoon as a kid. It’s almost salty and makes you want to drink a liter of water on the spot.

Combining wet and dry — Wet + Dry = Banana bread batter

If it’s one thing about walnuts, (chopped or not) they can be bitter on their own in large quantities. We chopped some pecans while we were at it. Do you have a preference when it comes to nuts? Do you like to mix them up? Tell us in the comments, please. If you or someone you’re serving has an allergy, you can choose to use butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips instead of nuts. Maybe you’ll want to try white chocolate chips.

chopping some nuts — Time to chop up some nuts.

Just for fun, we threw in a cup of dark chocolate chips. Milk chocolate is far too sweet for this. Had we used milk instead of dark, the total sugar content would have been through the roof!

Finished banana bread batter — A little chocolate won’t hurt.

350 degrees and minutes later, time for the moment of truth, 35 minutes for cake, 45 minutes if you want it as bread. Hmm, a banana bread birthday cake…It might just be an idea for a zoo themed party with a monkey design.

Of course, we had to flip it out and let it cool on the rack…

Hot and ready banana bread — Yummy banana bread hot and ready

Lauren! Don’t om-nom-nom it all! Save some for us!