Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Culinary Adventures in Prague

The last portion of our European trip this August took us to Prague, in the heart of the Czech Republic, one of Europe's most beautiful cities which has undergone a post-Cold War renaissance.  Like Belgium, Prague is famous for its beer - specifically, its Czech style pilsner, which is brewed at numerous microbreweries all over the city of Prague, and elsewhere in the Czech republic. My favorite thing that we ate during our time in Prague was the Czech style goulash (pictured above), made with local pilsner. It was delicious. I plan on preparing my own adaptation of this classic Czech beef goulash this week and sharing the recipe here on a Kitchen In Brooklyn! So stay tuned. My favorite Czech goulash was the one that we had our first night in Prague at Pivovorsky Dum, a Czech gastropub where they brew their own pilsner. This was also the best beer hall in Prague in my opinion - they make their own pilsner which is incredible and also a banana flavored pilsner which was just amazing.  My husband had the chicken schnitzel, which was also delicious.

Prague also has some amazing Czech-Western fusion restaurants. One of those is V Zatisi, where we dined on one of our nights in Prague. They had some great truffle appetizers - a truffle risotto that Brad enjoyed as well as my truffle ravioli (pictured below).  These dishes inspired me to do some more cooking with truffle oil and we plan to make truffle risotto tonight to go with my classic asian-marinated chilean sea bass with papaya salsa.  The lamb was also amazing.  For dessert, I enjoyed another Czech classic - apple strudel.

Going back to beer, the dark pilsner at U Mediviku was also quite good as well, again brewed on site.  We had a great lunch at the Strahov Monastery brewery as well.  The beers here were wonderful and so was the authentic Czech food. I had goose with apples (delicious and quite traditional Czech game), and Brad enjoyed the Czech sausages. My favorite here was the St Norbert wheat beer.

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Culinary Adventures in Prague

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Belgian Food & Beer

After our time in Paris, we continued on to Belgium, home of fabulous beer, chocolate, seafood, frites and waffles. This was a culinary paradise and we did our best to take in as much of the belgian food as possible.

Our first stop was for some waffles. They were delicious, but I'm afraid that the waffles we had may not be the most traditional Belgian waffles of all time and a bit touristy. They were still good though. A traditional belgian waffle (and yes! I have a recipe I've used to make my own Belgian waffles on this blog) is a waffle that is topped with some powdered sugar.  A bit more touristy and you have chocolate, whipped cream, fruit - the whole nine yards.  They were delicious, although a bit on the heavy side for breakfast.

Next up - chocolate. Belgium is world famous for its chocolatiers. We tried two of the more famous ones - Neuhaus and Galler. Both were delicious and I have some great pictures of the Neuhaus chocolates below from their lovely chocolate shop in Brussels. We bought some in the store and brought home several boxes. Such lovely flavors - I even had one with violet. Their pralines were out of this world, as Neuhaus supposably invented the praline.

Belgium is also famous for its frites (Belgian French fries) with spicy mayo.  We went to one of the best fry stands in Belgium to try them out. They had pretty much any type of mayo or other topping that you could imagine (all unhealthy, of course).  We had ours with the traditional spicy mayo. This may have been my favorite Belgian specialty of all - they were delicious. 

Time for some beer to wash it all down. It would be quite easy to write a discourse on Belgian beer. We had many different types of beer while visiting Belgium. There are quite a few varieties of brews that are native to Belgium, including the trappist beers and abbey beers, both of which are brewed in conjunction with monasteries. In addition the lambic beers are traditional to belgium. Below are some photos of a few of the beers we tasted at two fabulous Belgian bars in Brussels - La Mort Subite and Delirium. The beers pictured below include  Lambic Kriek (cherry), Maes (a pilsner), Orval (a trappist beer), Belgian Cookie Beer - but that's just a sampling. Not pictured: Delirium Tremens and Kwak.

 

Finally - a trip to Belgium isn't complete without some Belgian style moules - or mussels. I can't say we tried the best ones in Brussels but the ones I had were quite good at Aux Armes De Bruxelles (sorry no pictures).

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Belgian Food & Beer

Sasha's Kitchen on the Road: Paris Foodie Adventures

My husband Brad and I recently returned from a 12 day trip to Europe. On this particular trip, we visited three cities - Paris, Brussels and Prague.  Each of these cities has its own unique culinary traditions, and we made an effort to taste some of the best and most authentic foods in each place that we visited.  I will be doing separate posts on our gastronomical adventures in Prague and Brussels but I figured I'd start with Paris and some of our favorite foods that we ate while visiting that beautiful city for six days.

Crepes are one of Paris' specialties.  We had several crepes while in Paris. On our first night, we visited Le Petit Josselin in Montparnasse to sample some wonderful Parisian crepes. Josselin is one of Paris' best creperies and did not dissapoint, just like my husband had enjoyed the sister creperie down the block some 10 years prior on his last visit to Paris. We both had excellent savory and dessert crepes at Josselin. Below are photos of Brad's savory salmon crepe and my caramel crepe.

Street crepes are also wonderful. I had an amazing crepe with just sugar made hot while I waited (not pictured) at the Crepe Stand at Comptoir de Relais, a delicious Paris restaurant in the trendy rive gauche neighborhood of St. Germain that we enjoyed later in our trip.

Macarons when made correctly are just about the loveliest, pretties Paris dessert in the world. I've made macarons in the past but never ever like these. We went for the very best Paris macarons we could find at the wold famous macaron-maker, Pierre Herme.  We couldn't decide among all of the beautiful, colorful and delicious flavor combinations so my husband and I narrowed it down to seven (pictured at the top) and relished every bite.  These were a highlight and a trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to Pierre Herme.

Lamb and veal dinners are delicious in Paris.  I had a great veal with gnocchi and my husband had the delicious lamb dish pictured below at Restaurant Christine in St. Germain. For dessert at Christine, we had a Paris classic - one of the best souffles that I have ever had - a vanilla souffle with a strawberry sauce.

Now back to our full meal at Comptoir de Relais.  First we had some great French wines and appetizers at the wine bar portion of the restaurant while we waited for our table. Then, at dinner, we had a delicious beef dish (a bit stew like) with noodles pictured below. Yum! On the bottom is a picture of one of the appetizers, basically a mini beef sandwich with a creme fraiche based sauce. The apple tart we had for dessert was scrumptious as well.

We had another great meal in Paris at Allard Bistro - first a delicious salad with frisee and lardons, followed by a French classic made famous by Julia Child - boeuf bourguignon. This was another amazing meal, which ended with our desserts - a raspberry tarte and another French classic - profiteroles.

Sasha's Kitchen on the Road: Paris Foodie Adventures

Brad's Kitchen: Belgian Frites with Spicy Mayo

My wife Sasha and I are taking a trip to Europe in a week and a half and one of the places we plan to visit is Brussels, Belgium. Belgium is probably best known for its food, including Belgian waffles, frites, beef carbonnade, mussels, chocolate and beer. We can't wait to try all of those things on our trip. Since Sasha & I both love Belgian frites with spicy mayo, we decided to try our hand in making them at home as a preview for our trip. It was actually not too difficult and the result was pretty authentic and quite satisfying.

Brad's Belgian Frites
5 medium sized potatoes

Canola Oil

salt

mayonnaise

1 T dijon mustard

cayenne pepper

To prepare the frites, first peel five medium sized potatoes. Then slice the potatoes into strips which are about the size of the fries that you want to prepare. I used our hot pot to deep fry the frites. I made the fries in two separate batches, filling the hot pot about half way with canola oil and placing the metal basket with the sliced potatoes into the fryer. I set the temperature to 375 degrees and fried for about 10-15 minutes until each batch was golden brown. The first batch took longer than the second one, because the oil needed time to heat up to the right temperature.

I salted the frites immediately after removing them from the fryer. Just like in Belgium, we ate our frites with spicy mayo, which we prepared by simply combining lowfat mayonnaise with a bit of dijon mustard and a healthy amount of cayenne pepper, to taste.

We served the frites as a side dish for our dinner along with some healthy chicken bratwursts that we got from Fresh Direct.

Belgian Frites

Brad's Kitchen: Belgian Frites with Spicy Mayo

Gilly's Kitchen on the Road: Changsha

I recently flew to Changsha (the capital of the Hunan Province in China) to attend my brother-in-law's wedding. I also visited Hong Kong for several days, and I will write about my dining experiences in that city in a later post. Our visit preceded the Chinese New Year by only one week. Oh, and clearly this post has nothing to do with vegan baking.

The majority of our meals in Changsha took place in banquet-type facilities (rather normal given that the meals were part of larger events, such as the rehearsal and the wedding itself) so I cannot discuss actual restaurants, but did take plenty of photos of some interesting dishes. We did have a meal at the Changsha Sheraton the first night we were there, even though we were not staying in the Sheraton. We also ate at Pizza Hut, which is a little different (ahem.. extremely different) than U.S. Pizza Huts! Therefore, this post will be more of a photographic tour of my dining experiences in Changsha.

Our first meal, as mentioned above, was at the Sheraton at an upscale restaurant and bar named Bar Zen. I had delicious bacon-wrapped giant prawns, and my husband had some sort of lobster pasta (not pictured).

Bacon-wrapped giant prawns (and a side of fries)

The following day consisted of meeting our translator/friend of the bride's family (a local college student preparing to further her education in the U.S.) and taking a trip to a main shopping district. We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut, which in Changsha is a somewhat upscale-sort of restaurant with a very extensive menu. The bride and groom even suggested we stop in for a meal, so we took their advice. We ordered a rather odd array of dishes, from benign mashed potatoes and lychee smoothies to a fried shrimp pizza (which also had crab and octopus buried in the cheese) and a shrimp stuffed crust pizza (the stuffed knots alternated between cheese and shrimp).

Friend shrimp pizza (half eaten by the time I remember to take a photo)

Shrimp stuffed crust pizza

We then spent an hour or two walking around the shopping district, popping in and out of various stores and generally people-watching as our translator told us about cram schools and other interesting tidbits.

Gilly's Kitchen on the Road: Changsha

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Ontario Wine Tasting & Ice Wines At Inniskillin

Until recent years, Canadian wines produced in the province of Ontario were known primarily only to Canadians.  Most Americans would give you a blank stare in response to a discussion of the wines produced in Canada.  However, over the last decade and a half, this conception has changed, as Canada has developed an international reputation for producing some of the best Ice Wines in the world at the Inniskillin Winery, as well as other smaller wineries located in Southern Ontario and the Okanagan region of British Columbia.  Ice wine, a late harvest dessert wine, where the grapes are harvested at lower temperatures, have put both Inniskillin and Canada on the map for its wine production.  But I discovered during my trip to some local Ontario wineries, that Canada's climate also allows for production of some excellent Rieslings and medium bodied red wines as well.

Yesterday, I spent a lovely day wine tasting with a group of old friends (Lisa, Jeff, Shannon and Michelle; as well as my mom and one of her friends) at two Ontario wineries, Inniskillin and a wonderful small winery called Lailey Vineyards.  A trip to local wineries, whether you live near the Finger Lakes Region, Canada, Oregon, Napa or Sonoma is a wonderful way to have a pleasant get together with a group of old friends.  It also makes a perfect girls day.  Whether you are a wine connoisseur or a casual wine drinker, wine tasting is a fun and relaxing way to spend a day, and you can learn a great deal about wine and the local wine making process.  In this article, I will write a detailed summary of how Ice Wine is made at Inniskillin, one of Canada and the world's most famous ice wineries, as well as our experience tasting wines at Inniskillin.  Michelle (who writes from Toronto), will follow up with an article about our tasting experience sampling the wines at Lailey Vineyards.  I will also discuss Inniskillin's other excellent wine varieties, including its regular harvest Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

Ice wine, we learned was first produced in Germany and Austria (where it is referred to as Eis Wein).  Inniskillin has produced Ice Wine in Canada every year since 1984, while the climate in Germany and Austria is only suitable to harvest Ice Wine grapes every couple of years.  The winery first obtained its license to produce wine in 1975, after Ontario's prohibition on winery licensing ended, and was founded by Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo.  Crush, or harvest of regular grapes occurs in Ontario between September and November, while Ice Wine Crush occurs between December and February.  In order to comply with international standards, Ice Wine grapes must be harvested at a temperature between minus eight to minus twelve degrees Centigrade.  Grapes for Ice Wine are harvested between 2 AM and 4 AM for the most stable low temperatures.

There are several varieties of grapes that are used both for Ice WIne and regular table wines in Canada's cooler climate.  These include Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Vidal (a hybrid grape).  The soils, which were formed in Lake Huron thousands of years ago, as the glaciers of the last ice age receded, are clay-like and rich in minerals that are excellent for growing a number of varieties of grapes.  Winemakers generally believe that Ontario's cool climate allows for the production of excellent lighter, fruitier wines, whereas a warmer climate allows for production of less fruity, full bodied wines.  Ice wine is made from three grapes:  Riesling, Cabarnet Franc (which has a lovely raspberry sweetness to its flavor) and Vidal.  Eighty percent of Canadian Ice Wine is made form the Vidal grape, which is hardier and can be harvested later since it is a hybrid grape.

During our tour of the winery with our friendly and knowledgeable guide Jonathan, we saw the fields where the grapes are grown (and have already been harvested) as well as the wine production rooms at Innniskillin and learned how wine and Ice Wine are made in Canada as well as the history of Ice Wine production in this emerging wine region. We had a sampling of wines and local Canadian artisanal cheeses in one of the tasting rooms.

We sampled three wines while at the winery, each of which was fantastic.  The first wine we sampled was the 2008 Legacy Riesling, a light and fruity Riesling had a wonderful taste full of nectarines, honey, fragrant flowers and apple.  This Riesling, another wine that Canada is known for, was every bit as good as some of the very best Finger Lakes Rieslings, and nearly every member of my party purchased a bottle to take home.  It paired nicely with the local creamy Canadian cheese that we tasted.

The second wine we sampled was a light and fruity red wine made from Cabernet Franc grapes, from the 2007 Cabernet Franc Reserve Series.  This wine was also fabulous, a floral red wine with the flavor of raspberries, chocolate and spice evident on its nose.  The wine is a nice well-balanced wine that highlights the spiced raspberry aroma.  It paired nicely with the Canadian blue cheese and with a Quebec cheese called Oka (a trappist cheese that was the perfect pairing for this wine).

Finally, we tried our first Ice WIne of the day at Inniskillin, a 2007 Riesling Ice wine, which paired well with the Blue Cheese.  This was perhaps my favorite Inniskillin wine (although it is a hard choice).  The Ice Wines we tasted both at Inniskillin and nearby Lailey Vineyards were some of the best well-balanced dessert wines I have ever had.  The 2007 Riesling Ice Wine had hints of lemon, lime and honey that was simply delicious.  I loved the Cabernet Franc so much that we tasted that I purchased a mini-bottle of its Ice Wine cousin at the store, along with a mini-bottle of Vidal Ice Wine to try at home.  I can't wait to pair these lovely Ice Wines with some of my favorite cheeses and desserts when I return to Brooklyn.

To learn about the wineries I visited in Napa and Sonoma on an earlier wine tasting trip, click here.

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Ontario Wine Tasting & Ice Wines At Inniskillin

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and for this reason I am suggesting a menu for a Valentine’s Day Brunch. In my previous blogs I began with Crunchy French Toast, followed by Strawberries Romanoff. Now I am ready for the finale, Irish Coffee. I must admit that if it wasn’t for a trip to Ireland three years ago (Brad In the Kitchen and Sasha in the Kitchen were there, too), I would have never, ever, ever suggested any drink with whiskey. But a little roadside bar/ restaurant on the Ring of Kerry between Killorglin and Glenbeigh next to the Kerry Bog (Peat Bog) Museum, changed my opinion. Inside the venue were two women preparing Irish coffee for the tourists. Mind you, it was 10 in the morning. They had quite a production line that began with trays of glass mugs filled with some sort of syrupy-looking concoction, then they poured coffee over this mix and ended by pouring cream(with a bit of a head) on the top of the brew. After watching the expression on the faces of the tourists who drank the potion, I was enticed (by a fairy no doubt) to partake in the drink myself, even though I was dreading the taste of whiskey. I didn’t look precisely at how they achieved each step, but the final product was a piece of art ‒ on the bottom a syrupy swirl, then the dark, clear black coffee, and floating on the top was a beautiful creaming head. To optimize the pleasure of the drink one must drink through this cream, and I must tell you it was quite heavenly! It was so good that I even took my finger and swirled it around the empty glass to taste every last drop; this act of desperation coming from a woman whose favorite expression to her children when they were in a public place, “Don’t touch anything!”

So the challenge in preparing the drink in the USA, I thought, was only to make sure that I had all the ingredients in hand so that I could mimic the process I observed in Ireland. Most Irish coffee recipes call for a shot of good Irish whiskey*, two teaspoons of sugar, either brown or granulated (I used brown), whipping cream, and coffee. The cream should be whipped slightly.

So let’s begin:

Warm up the glass with warm/hot water and let it sit for a minute or two. I would suggest using a tempered-type glass. Pour out the water add the sugar and whiskey, stir and let the sugar dissolve. Then add coffee, followed by the whipped cream, which is to be poured over a large spoon placed over the glass (concave side up). Unfortunately, none of my recipes specify amounts of coffee or cream, and my first attempt looked more like a milkshake.

On my second attempt, I poured less coffee (½ cup) and just placed the head of the cream gently on top of coffee mix. It was a bit better looking but not what I saw in Ireland. As for taste, the milkshake version was quite good, and my second take did not have enough cream; neither compared to the brew I had in Ireland. Maybe I needed to add some fairy dust!

SOS to Bryan’s Kitchen in Dublin: Can you ask any of your Irish sources for tips on the art of making Irish Coffee?

*Bushmills and Jameson Brands.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee