Mesa Grill

We went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill the other night. We've been here before, but OH WELL. Curtis had the pork tenderloin. I tasted his dish and it was great. The portion was a nice size and the meat was smoky and cooked to perfection. He loved it.

I had the special - Arctic Char with mussels. It was in a thick tomato based broth - so yummy. We also had the southwestern fries (obsessed!). Unfortunately  I didn't take these two pictures. I found them off the interwebs since mine didn't come out well....see what I mean below...

 This picture is hard to see (sorry). Again. Mesa Grill was fantastic. I would recommend for a nice occasion for sure.

Simple Tuna Melt

Momma was talking about tuna melts the other day so I decided to make one for dinner. The pickles were the best part. Mmm...pickles...

Ingredients
1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained and flaked
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 slices whole wheat bread
2 teaspoons chopped dill pickle
1/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place bread slices in the oven to toast while it preheats, and while you make the tuna salad.
In a small bowl, mix together the tuna, mayonnaise, salt, balsamic vinegar, mustard and dill pickle until well blended. Remove bread from the oven, and pile the tuna mixture onto one slice. Sprinkle cheese over the other slice of bread.
Bake for 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted and tuna is heated through. Place the cheese side of the sandwich on top of the tuna side. Cut in half and serve immediately.

Note: I used one slice of Smart Beat cheese (which is fake cheese) instead of the shredded cheddar.

Next Day Turkey Soup

We don't eat a lot of leftovers in my house. I can pull over round 2 of Thanksgiving but then that's about it. Since I don't want to be wasteful, I'm usually finding ways to reinvent my leftovers. This is a BEYOND simple soup. It's classic and reminds me of winter days at grandma's house. Plus, it's a low calorie alternative to another round of Thanksgiving.

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups vegetable broth
1 small onion, diced
1 c carrots, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
2 c mini potatoes, cut in half
3 cups turkey meat, diced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups (or whatever you've got) leftover cooked Thanksgiving side vegetables (Brussels sprouts, green beans, lima beans, etc.)

Directions
In a large soup pot, heat garlic and onion in the olive oil. Allow to brown slightly and add carrots, and celery. Sweat over medium-low heat until softened, about 7 or 8 minutes. Add chicken and vegetable broth. (I used canned chicken stock and vegetable bouillon -- it came out tasting wonderful!) Add the turkey and the potatoes and cook about 10 minutes. Dice the leftover vegetables (here Brussels sprouts and green beans). When simmering, add Brussels sprouts and green beans to the soup. Bring it back up to a simmer. Taste your soup. I did NOT add any salt to mine - it was perfect, but taste yours and add salt if needed. Turn the heat off and cover. Allow to sit and steam for 5 to 7 minutes. Let simmer for 5 more minutes and serve.

Curry Cauliflower Squash Soup

I decided last minute to make a soup for Thanksgiving. This was so easy to whip up and tasted delicious too! It also made me realize that I want a hand blender for Christmas. Pleeeease Santa? :)

Ingredients

1 small yellow squash
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cups chicken stock
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons curry powder
3 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 dashes of cayenne pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large stock pot, heat the butter and sauté the onions over low-to-medium heat until they’re translucent. Add the garlic, curry powder, and salt and pepper to the onion.
Add the squash and cauliflower into the pot along with the stock, and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Puree the squash and cauliflower (along with the liquid) in batches in a blender. Return to pot and add the heavy cream. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Transfer the soup to bowls and serve.

Cajun-Injected Spicy Turkey

Bird bird bird. The bird's the word. I made my bird a little different this year. I found this recipe online and went for it. I had a really hard time finding some of these ingredients in the normal grocery stores. I would recommend you go to Whole Foods for the creole seasoning and the liquid crab boil.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon concentrated liquid crab and shrimp boil (recommended: Zatarian's)
1/4 cup apple cider
3/4 cup honey
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1/2 cup Creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup finely minced garlic
1 (10 to 12-pound) turkey, rinsed well inside and out, patted dry
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 cups chicken broth, as needed for bottom of roasting pan

Directions
Make the marinade by combining the Worcestershire sauce, crab boil, apple cider, honey, beer, salt, allspice, Creole seasoning, cayenne, olive oil, and minced garlic in a blender and process until very smooth, about 5 minutes.

Fill a large syringe* and inject turkey in the breast and thigh area, as well as the back, wings, and legs, with at least 2/3 of the marinade. You will have to fill the syringe numerous times.

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees F and line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil.

Season the injected turkey well both inside and out with the kosher salt and black pepper. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan lined with aluminum foil and pour the remaining marinade all over the turkey. Bake the turkey uncovered for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, add 1 cup of the chicken broth to the roasting pan, and continue to bake the turkey until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest part between the thigh and the leg registers 165 degrees F. (If the turkey begins to brown too much, tent loosely with aluminum foil until it is done. Also, add more broth as necessary to keep the bottom of the roasting pan from burning.)

When the turkey is done, remove it from the oven and set aside to rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

* Large syringes designed especially for injecting turkeys may be purchased at many grocery stores in the spice / marinade / seasoning sections; many folks inject turkeys before frying them.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

Mac 'n Cheese with Bacon

What can be better than macaroni with cheese? 

 Macaroni with cheese and BACON! I made this as a side dish for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Since my bird is hogging the oven all day, I thought I'd get this out of the way. And yes, I TASTE TESTED IT! haha It will do folks. IT.WILL.DO.

Ingredients:
1 lb. macaroni pasta
10 slices bacon (preferably thick-cut slab bacon), cooked and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 c. milk, 2% or whole
6 Tbls. butter
6 Tbls. all-purpose flour
Bay leaf
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and black pepper
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1 c. bread crumbs


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, make cheese sauce by heating milk in a saucepan over medium heat until hot, but not boiling. Pour into a pitcher (if you have a heatproof one) or a large Pyrex measuring cup and keep it standing by. Note: This prevents a lumpy sauce.

Grate cheddar and parmesan onto two separate plates.

 Now, put butter in a saucepan and melt over low heat. Add flour, turn up heat and stir with a wooden spoon to make a roux. Keep stirring for minute or two while it sizzles and turns slightly brown. 

Pour about a quarter of the milk into the roux and stir. Gradually add rest of milk whisking gently until it is all mixed in.

 Add bay leaf, a pinch of salt, pinch of cayenne, and freshly ground pepper. Bring to boil then turn down to low. Let simmer for about 5 minutes.

 Add grated cheddar and cooked bacon to the sauce and stir.

 Meanwhile, cook pasta in lightly salted boiling water for about 2 minutes less than time on package. Drain in colander over sink. Add pasta to cheese sauce and stir to combine. Grease a large casserole dish or a cast-iron skillet with butter or olive oil. Add macaroni and cheese to dish.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake for about 15 minutes, then move to under the broiler to brown the top. Perfection! 

Ottomanelli's

 You know if a butcher shop opens up a hamburger joint, it's gonna be good. That is exactly what happened here. This burger joint opened up in January (right across the street from my house). This is a junior (one 4 oz patty). Most people order the double (8 oz). You can get any toppings - all free. I got lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and a pickle. Soooo good.

 Another highlight: the Belgian fries. Super crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Salty perfection. Oh and with WHITE TRUFFLE SAUCE for dipping??? YES! PLEASE!!!

Brasserie Les Halles

 OK. This restaurant is the home base for Anthony Bourdain. He worked here for 20 years as a line cook. There are two locations in the city - my team took me to the John Street location since it was close to my office. This was my farewell lunch...and do my boys sure know how to treat a lady! Bill had the salmon for lunch. I tasted the dish and it was very delicious. 

 Kris and I split a few dishes. We decided that we could not go wrong with mussels and ordered the version with curry, wine and cream. SHUT UP!! Stupid good.

We also split a ginger marinated steak salad. The steak was on the bottom and it was medium rare, just the way I like it. The salad was dressed and piled on top. If I came back here, I wouldn't get the salad again. While it was good, it couldn't compare to the mussels. 

 Oh - the mussels came with fries! Love dipping my papas fritas in that curry broth!!!

Lastly, because we are gluttonous and outrageous, we ordered the truffle mac and cheese. SHUT UP!!!   It had bits of black truffle in the mac and cheese. I wanted to go swimming in it, it was that good! Best farewell lunch EVER!!!!!!

Bagel Plus

Woke up the other morning and we were craving a bagel for breakfast. My sous chef ran down to this bagel place and picked us up some. I had my favorite: Everything bagel toasted with scallion cream cheese. I LOVE it when the cream cheese is a little melty. YES! Delicious. 

Giada's Roman-style Chicken

 Went to my friends new apt for dinner tonight. Ordering out was mentioned but then I was like, "Wait - does your stove work?" To which I was replied with, "Yes." And I was like, "I'm cooking!!" Man, it felt good to cook on the stove again. I wanted to make something healthy and I found Giada's recipe on Food Network. It sounded good and it was delicious. My sous chef isn't a huge fan of peppers or tomatoes and he loved this. So simple too - one skillet meal, yo!

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken breast halves, with ribs
2 skinless chicken thighs, with bones*
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
3 ounces prosciutto, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves


Directions
Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a heavy, large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, cook the chicken until browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside. *I used 4 chicken breasts without skin and bones. It came out superb. Just reduced my cooking time by 10 - 15 minutes.

Keeping the same pan over medium heat, add the peppers and prosciutto and cook until the peppers have browned and the prosciutto is crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, wine, and herbs. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes.

If serving immediately, add the capers and the parsley. (I forgot the capers - but it came out fine without them). Stir to combine and serve. If making ahead of time, transfer the chicken and sauce to a storage container, cool, and refrigerate. The next day, reheat the chicken to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the capers and the parsley and serve. I served mine with rice. It soaked up all the sauce perfectly.

SERVES 6; Calories: 266; Total Fat 13 grams; Saturated Fat: 2 grams; Protein: 28 grams; Total carbohydrates: 8 grams; Sugar: 4 grams; Fiber 1.5 grams; Cholesterol: 76 milligrams; Sodium: 1,307 milligrams

Donovan's Pub (Sunday Brunch)

So I posted about Donovan's before but we went back for brunch and I couldn't resist posting this. Brunch is good and cheap- kind of like diner quality, but if you get the Irish Breakfast you get something called black and white pudding. What is black and white pudding you ask? Well, I'll tell you...it's a sausage made with oatmeal. The black one has blood in it. No lying. What did it taste like? Curtis said, "flavorless". I didn't try it. I'm not a big sausage fan anyway, plus something about the fact that they put oatmeal and blood in it made me think, "No thanks."

La Flor Bakery and Cafe

 We checked out La Flor in Woodside last weekend. It was our first official dinner in our new hood and it was pretty delicious. This place reminds me of Itzocan Cafe (which is sadly now closed). The restaurant is labeled as a Mexican restaurant - but they serve more than typical mexican food. You can find high quality dishes such as this above pictured mac and cheese appetizer. Man, is it ever good.

 This mac and cheese is soooo good. It's got a blend of several cheeses and it's kind of soupy. (Just the way I like it). This was an appetizer portion - we split it. It was devoured in minutes.

 I wanted Mexican food this night so I ordered one of the only two things that really could be called that. I got the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. It was awesome - and even more awesome the next day as leftovers.

Curtis got the other thing on the menu that was clearly Mexican - tacos. The carnitas tacos were good and stuffed so full that you could use one of the corn tortillas and split up the tacos. 2 tacos really made 4 tacos. Yummy! I will def. eat here again. It's a cute place - especially for date night.

Peking BBQ

We decided to try the highly rated Peruvian Chicken of Woodside so we got our take out tonight from, none only than Peking BBQ. I forgot to snap a photo of our dinner, but we had leftovers - so you get to see the leftovers. Ha. This place is super yummy. The green hot sauce is the jam and the chicken is super flavorful. With a name like Peking BBQ, you would expect Peking Duck and other chinese food. Well, it does come with pork fried rice (which is super tasty also), but the rotisserie chicken is straight up legit Peruvian style. Plus, this place is super cheap. You can get half a chicken with rice and a salad for like $5.99. Craziness. We will be eating here again. Probably really soon too (ahem - no gas still!!!)

Gino's

With my gas still not being connected, I've had to order out A LOT. It sucks because I feel so unhealthy not being able to cook something myself and not to mention, this is getting expensive! We moved into our new apt two weeks ago and because of Hurricane Sandy, they cancelled my appointment to get the gas turned on. I know I have really nothing to complain about here since so many are doing without way more than just gas. But - still. It's annoying. Anyways - we ordered pizza and a salad from Gino's the other night. (Woodside) The kid that delivered it to us did a bang up job. Literally. Half the pizza was stuck to the roof of the box. Oy! The pizza was okay. Nothing bad, but nothing amazing either. Typical NY style pizza. The salad was underwhelming. I probably won't order from here again unless I'm just grabbing a quick slice on the go.

Woodside Cafe

 This little diner is literally right down the street from me (about a 5 minute walk). If you come from 4 to 8 you get the afterwork special (soup/salad, entree, and drink for $12). Steal! I got the soup: potato leek. It was delicious.

My entree: Shepherd's Pie. It was amazing. The ground beef was super saucy with thick brown gravy and it had carrots and peas. It was so hearty I was able to eat half and give the other half to my sous chef for lunch! Winning! 

Buds

 This place is called Buds Ale House...or Buds Pub...I forgot. This place had more TVs in one bar than I've ever seen. We watched the Giants game. They lost.  This winner is a mac and cheese hot dog. Curtis ordered this...surprise.

Hot wings. Boneless. Amazing and mess free. Also - I love blue cheese now. Never did. Now I do.

Westbury Manor

 I know. I went to a wedding and I took photos of the food. So not fair. You can't go here and eat this, but I don't care. I ate it and I'm blogging about it damn it! This was our salad. It was a spring mix with tomato and mozzarella and mushrooms and pruscuitto. Olives on the side. 

 Curtis had the filet. It was tasty. It even came with it's own carafe of brown sauce (not pictured). I don't think he used it though.

 I had the salmon with grilled prawns and champagne sauce. It was also good...although I was expecting a head on my shrimp. I was ready for it.

Cookies and cream with whipped cream. Nothing makes ice cream better then crumbled cookies.

Doug's Diner

 This is actually not called, "Doug's Diner." It's called NY Style Diner - or something like that. But Doug and Shawn (friends of mine) have been coming here consistently for 2 years now - so it's basically his. Their advice: get the onion rings. My verdict: They are pretty good. Big and fat and crispy and you get a massive amount of them.

I also ordered the Chicken Souvlaki - which is buried under the lettuce, tomato, and onion. The sandwich is good but not easy to eat. I used a fork and knife. :)

Organics

Found a juice spot in Astoria. Drank half this before snapping a photo. This was called The Hangover Cure: carrot, apple, lemon, and ginger. It was fantastic. Made me feel like a million bucks drinking it. All healthy and shit.