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Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!

It's all about FOOD.

Crispy Shiners with Lemon Butter Olive Oil

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Crispy Shiners with Lemon Butter Olive Oil

On my recent trip to the Farmer’s Market (which was this past Saturday), I saw a long line at the fish & seafood booth.  Naturally, I was curious…so I walked right up to the front of the line just to see what the offerings were.  It seemed like most of the good stuff was gone, but I did catch a glimpse of small silvery fish which I learned were called Shiners.  As I took a look at the big pile of whole little silver fish, I started getting ideas of how I’d prepare them.

A while ago, I took note of a crispy anchovy dish special that was served at my job.  The little anchovies were dredged in rice flour and fried until crisp and served with an aioli.  I can’t remember exactly what kind of aioli it was but I do remember how delicious it was to eat this fish whole…head, tail, eyes and all. I’m a big fan of salty, crispy anything…so if I see an opportunity to mimick this dish staring right at me (literally), I’m going to take it.

Crispy Shiners with Lemon Butter Olive Oil:

With a small pairing knife, slit the underside of a shiner, remove the innards, and rinse underneath cold water.  Pat dry the shiners.  Heat a skillet on medium high heat with a generous amount of olive oil.  In the meantime, add about 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to all purpose flour (or any other flour you want like rice flour, chickpea flour, etc.) and dredge the fish in the flour.  Place the shiners in the skillet of hot oil and fry until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper-lined plate to remove excess oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt and enjoy with lemon butter olive oil and lemon wedges.

Lemon Butter Olive Oil:

Heat 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a skillet on medium/low heat.  Add the juice of a lemon and a little olive oil to taste.  When butter has been melted, set aside to cool off.  Transfer to a food processor and grind lemon butter olive mixture with 1 small clove of garlic, adding more olive oil and salt if necessary.

Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!

 

 

Grilled Endive with Crumbled Blue Cheese and Hickory Smoked Bacon

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Today is one of those rainy days where you feel like doing something fun, yet your best bet is to just be productive.  So off to the gym I went.  Upon my return, I stopped by The Garden, our Greenpoint local natural foods store, and made a costly purchase of organic products.  Well, I can only blame myself for breaking my pocket…I mean, that’s what I get for not joining a CSA and forgetting to hit the farmer’s market this past weekend.  Oh well, c’est la vie…right?

Grilled Endive with Crumbled Blue Cheese and Hickory Smoked Bacon

The great thing about working evenings is you can have the supermarket all to yourself.  You can stand in an aisle for as long as you want just to review all the many different varieties of olive oil and vinegars without having people shove you aside with their big coats and bulky baskets.  I left The Garden with a small bag of produce, some cheeses, and bacon, knowing exactly what I wanted to make for today’s post. My only wish is that I had better lighting for the photos, but somehow I find these two somewhat forgiving.

Grilled Endive with Crumbled Blue Cheese and Hickory Smoked Bacon.  Making this was easy as 1-2-3.  I cut the endive lengthwise in half then rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel.  In the meantime, I started to heat up a cast iron skillet while I drizzled Tuscan extra virgin olive oil, a gift from a good friend of mine who brought back this delicious olive oil from his home town in Tuscany, and sprinkled some coarse umami smoked sea salt onto the sliced endive.  I let it sit for a few minutes to absorb the oil then I placed the endives cut side down onto the very hot skillet, grilling each side for approximately 1 – 2 minutes. Afterwards, I assembled the dish by plating two grilled pieces of endive and sprinkling them with blue cheese, which I crumbled up beforehand, and then topped it off with store-bought hickory smoked bacon, which I cooked beforehand as well.  Drizzle lightly with Tuscan extra virgin olive oil and enjoy.

Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!

Snackage…for a long weekend.

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The word “no” was not in my vocabulary this past, long weekend.  Nothing could get in the way of my true feelings when it came to consuming major “snackage.”  The thought that I can’t afford it, or the guilt that follows when I think I’m eating “bad” food…or even the thought that I must resist “temptation” were completely non-existant.   No way, Jose.  Those thoughts were non-existant because they could never be true in this case.  I snacked on the likes of prosciutto and mozzarella, thin baguette slices and taleggio, castelvetrano olives and apples, just to name a few…and I drank stuff like sangiovese and muscadelle.  There seems to be a self-limiting belief that one can’t enjoy the simple pleasures in life on a shoe-string budget.  Well, here my goal is to show you otherwise.  The photographs that follow are visual evidence of simple living–how I personally define it, and if not common in your world, I hope these simple meals inspire you to try something new.

If you’ve done your research, or if you’re like me and read up on these things on your leisure time, then you know most people haven’t tasted a real tomato.  So if you’ve been eating conventional, store-bought tomatoes all your life, chances are you’re not eating the real thing.  But most of you foodies know this already.  For purposes of this blog entry, I speak to folks out there that don’t necessarily think about the importance of choosing quality foods over the cheaper version you find at the supermarket. Again, I don’t claim to be a genius on the topic…I’m just trying to pique your curiosity.  Buy an organic tomato, like the plum tomato shown in the photo above, and serve it with sliced mozzarella.  I promise you it won’t leave you broke.  Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, add some basil leaves, and you’ve got yourself a homemade Caprese salad.  Go ahead, go crazy and add olives for good measure.  Believe me, it wouldn’t hurt.

Absolutely no cooking required.  The only prerequisite is a good attitude and someone you love to enjoy it with.  So next time you find yourself wanting to snack on something, whip out your cutting board and decorate it with thinly sliced prosciutto and mozzarella or taleggio, sliced apples, olives, almonds, and a little honey for dipping.  Thanks for reading.  Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!

Beet & Strawberry Tartare with Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette

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With a little effort and creativity (aka google research), you can enjoy a last minute and “out of ordinary” lunch for two.  How?  Well, all I did was take a look-see in my refrigerator and picked out a few items that don’t necessarily go together.  I had beets…which I usually make a salad out of.  Beets with chèvre mixed with golden raisins, blood orange, red onions and arugula.  And I had strawberries, which I usually use for smoothies or I just eat them alone.  I also had some cheeses…but this time, I didn’t want to incorporate any cheese into my meal.  I was craving a vegan dish.  When you’re thinking vegan, herbs should immediately pop into your head.  To me, they are like the cheeses that can give distinguished flavor to an otherwise boring and bland meal.  So herbs are a biggie for me when I’m cooking vegan. Luckily, I had some rosemary sprigs left over from a roasted potato side dish I made for dinner last night.

Beet & Strawberry Tartare with Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette

So there they were (as if blinking at me with imaginary Mr. Potato Head eyes)…Ms. Strawberry, Mr. Beet and Mlle. Rosemary.  All three, all in order.  Ready for me to cut or dice or thinly slice into little pieces.  I wish I can tell you that I instantly knew what to make of these ingredients…but the truth is, I didn’t.  Not a clue.  If it weren’t for purposes of writing this blog, I’d simply juice those suckers with my imaginary juicer.  So, sadly, I did what pretty much everyone else does in this day and age: google.  And this is what I came up with.  Strawberry & Beet Tartare with Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette.

Beet & Strawberry Tartare:

Simply cube the beets and strawberries in a tartare size.  Mix together.

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette:

In a measuring cup, whisk together equal amounts of freshly squeezed lemon juice and olive oil.  Chop up some rosemary leaves and mix that in with the lemon olive oil mixture.

Mix together the strawberries and beets with a little bit of vinaigrette.  Pour a few drops of the remaining vinaigrette (in the shape of a circle) onto a clean plate.  Spoon the strawberries and beets tartare in the center of the circle.  Squeeze more lemon juice all over and garnish with a lemon wedge and rosemary sprig.  Brooklyn, EAT your heart out! 

Prosciutto & Pecorino Risotto Croquettes

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What has gotten into me?  Of all the seasonal cooking I’ve been doing lately, I plow ahead and post a dish that is completely the opposite: Prosciutto & Pecorino Risotto Croquettes.  I couldn’t help myself.  I was seeking comfort.  In accepting the fact that my seasonal cooking is a little askew, I have to assure my readers that what I present to you today, though a winter favorite, is perfectly suited for a breezy summer afternoon.  The photo above shows a small bowl of risotto, completely stripped away of the endless variety of vegetables, cheeses or meats you can add to it.  In other words, it’s a simple risotto made with the basic essentials.  For me that is arborio rice, garlic, onions, butter, wine, vegetable stock, and parmesan.  Anyone that cooks risotto understands the laborious amount of stirring it takes–in between pouring ladles of stock–to get the rice nice and soft but with a slight bite.  In this post, I won’t verbally demonstrate that work…instead, I will speak of the end result, that being the basic risotto, and what you can make with the leftovers.

Arborio rice in raw form

Croquettes are great for many reasons.  For me, the small portion and the ease of eating it are two of the main reasons why I like croquettes.  You’re not sacrificing flavor and you’re not committing yourself to a large dish.  You get all you need–creamy risotto filled with pecorino and prosciutto–in one small ball or disc.  Subtract the tedious undertaking of making the base, and the rest is easy with just an assembly line of flour, eggs and breadcrumbs.  With moist hands, scoop a spoonful of creamy risotto and roll into a ball.  Poke your finger to create a small indentation where the prosciutto and pecorino can easily fit into and then roll the creamy risotto over that hole.  Dust the risotto ball evenly with flour and dip into the beaten eggs.  Then cover the ball evenly with breadcrumbs.  You can keep the shape of a ball.  I, however, thought it was easier to flatten it with a soft touch to create a small disc.  The photo below will show you what that looks like.

 

The beauty of this dish is you can store them in the fridge or freezer for later use.  Can you imagine the dilemma this solves if you’re prepping these for a party?  Hello??  Simple!  Easy!  When you’re ready to eat these all you have to do is lightly fry them in olive oil for about 2 minutes on each side.  You will end up with the following:

Risotto Croquettes stuffed with Prosciutto & Pecorino

Just like the way I dress myself in clothes, I like to add a little pizazz to an otherwise plain black t-shirt by wearing a nice necklace or a scarf or red lipstick.  You get the idea.  With these risotto croquettes, that pizazz is synonymous to a store-bought marinara sauce.  I simply added minced garlic and dried oregano and simmered the sauce for about 10 minutes.  Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!

Avocado and Octopus Antipasti

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There are so many things I could be doing right now.  Let’s see, I could be exercising or buying that plant I’ve been wanting to get for my plant hanger.  Uhh, let’s take a step back…I could actually be mantling my plant hanger before I buy the plant so that I have something to hang the plant on.  Oh, oh, oh, oh…but before I get into that…how about my summer boots?!   Yeah, my beloved camel colored slouchy cowboy boots.  They are perfect for walking and looking cute simultaneously.  Well, I’ve been meaning to get their soles fixed forever.  Need I mention the two summer dresses that have been sitting in a small pile waiting to get dry-cleaned since last summer?  Yeah anyway, the point is I could be doing so many other things that are way more important than what I am doing right now.  And that is writing about this wonderful little snack I had today, avocado and octopus.

 

All I have to say is this was a perfect snack for me while I took a quick break from editing.  (I’ve learned the hard way that I should take breaks between editing).

Here you have a half avocado sliced lengthwise and canned octopus (yes, I admit I’ve committed an evil by eating something canned) drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and squirts of fresh lemon sprinkled over the entire antipasti.  I wish I had some local baby greens and a little parsley garnish to add to the plate, however, for a quick fix with what little ingredients I had available, I think I did pretty well for myself.  Well, my friends, that is all I’m gonna leave you with today as I’ve got some editing to do.  Look out for more fun stuff as I continue to construct my site.  Brooklyn, EAT your heart out!