Sasha's Kitchen: Lobster Paella

Eric made a delicious looking Spanish paella which he shared in a recent guest post, which inspired me to create my own version of this dish. I must confess that I don't have the guts to prepare live lobster, so I used a fresh lobster tail from Fresh Direct instead. My favorite aspect of this paella dish was the incorporation of the lobster, as well as the saffron, which is my absolute favorite luxury spice. I always keep saffron on hand in small pouches (you only need a little, which is good because it is quite expensive) - the flavor is exquisite and it is absolutely essential in making the sofrito portion of this dish. This time, I used saffron that my mom brought back from her trip to Spain in June. The following recipe was created by me, after analyzing several recipes from the Food Network.  I used a spicy chicken sausage in lieu of chorizo, since I don't eat pork, but feel free to use chorizo instead if you prefer. This recipe makes a large amount of food (probably 6 servings), and I don't suggest cutting it in half since it requires so many different ingredients.

Sasha's Lobster Paella
3/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken cutlets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 chorizo sausages, or spicy chicken sausage variants
1/2 of a large spanish onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
handfull of fresh parsley, chopped
1 15 oz can whole tomatoes, cut up
3 cups arborio rice (or Spanish rice)
5-6 cups of low sodium chicken stock (I used organic store bought stock, but you could also make your own if you have time)
generous pinch of saffron threads
1/2 lb of shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 8 oz lobster tail
lemon for seasoning
1 T paprika
1 T dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

First, combine the paprika, oregano and some salt and pepper to taste and rub the chicken on all sides with this spice mix. Cook the chicken in a pan in olive oil and set aside. Using the same pan (you can add more olive oil if you need to), cook the chorizo or chicken sausage and then set aside.

Next, make the sofrito in a deep pan. Saute the spanish onion, garlic and parsley for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Then add the tomatoes and cook for another minute or two.  Add the arborio rice at this point, and mix well to coat the rice. Add the saffron threads and about 4 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the stock reduces and the rice cooks, absorbing the liquid. Next, add the chicken (cut up into small pieces first), the shrimp and the chorizo. Stir, as the ingredients will mix and the shrimp will cook. You will likely need to add another cup or so of chicken stock to keep the rice from sticking. Continue cooking until the rice has the right consistency (don't overcook or it will become sticky) and the shrimp are fully cooked. Next, add the meat from the lobster tail and allow that to cook for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and garnish with parsley and a bit of lemon.

Sasha's Kitchen: Lobster Paella

Sasha's Kitchen: True Blood Vampire Bite Cupcakes

When you stake a vampire on HBO's show True Blood, the vampire explodes and blood and guts go everywhere. When a vampire bites on the neck, it makes a pronged red bite. I decided to take these two images from True Blood, one of my favorite TV shows, and turn it into a cupcake.

These cupcakes are almond cupcakes with an almond-vanilla buttercream. They are filled with vampire guts - a homemade cherry filling. You can see below that I "staked" one of the cupcakes to reveal the cherry inside. The top of the cupcake is simple - a vampire love bite! I really enjoyed the Season Three finale last weekend and am going to miss this show until it returns. But these cupcakes are pretty fangtastic, I'd say.

Sasha's Almond-Vanilla True Blood Vampire Bite Cupcakes (makes 11/12)
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cups granulated sugar

Cherry "Vampire Guts" Filling
1 cup frozen sweet cherries, thawed, or fresh sweet cherries, pitted
2T granulated sugar
2 T pomegranate juice
1 T water
1 T cornstarch

Almond Buttercream
1 1/2 sticks of butter
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
[Note: I used store bought red frosting to make the vampire bites]

To prepare these cupcakes, first combine the dry ingredients for the cupcakes.  Mix the vanilla, canola oil, coconut milk and extracts in a separate bowl. Combine well. Fill cupcake molds 3/4 of the way full. I used silicon cupcake molds with liners.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, until toothpick done. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before filling.

To prepare the filling, combine the cherries, juice, water and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and stir for a few minutes. Mix the cornstarch and water and add the mixture. Reduce the heat and stir until thick.  Cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes before using.

Cut a whole in the top of the cupcake and fill with the cherry filling. Replace the top. It will look a bit patchwork, but the frosting will cover this up.  To make the frosting, combine the butter, confectioner's sugar and extracts in a mixer on high speed for several minutes. Frost with a frosting bag, and paint on the vampire bites with red icing.

Sasha's Kitchen: True Blood Vampire Bite Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad and NYC's Eataly (a review)

Heirloom tomatoes are one of my favorite summer treats. So delicious and the colors and shapes are unique and beautiful. I love the way they look when you slice them, and all the colors and textures. Their imperfections and details is what makes them so perfect and gorgeous. The taste is luscious and fresh - nothing like a regular tomato.

The heirloom tomato season is not very long, but they're still around in New York, so I picked some up at the new Eataly Market, to prepare this dish. Eataly, by the way, is an incredible Italian foodie paradise of grandiose proportions.  I've been quite a few times now, since it is so close to where I work in Manhattan.   I decided to create some Indian spice infused heirloom tomatoes using my produce from the marketplace. It's quite easy. Mix the various spices and herbs below with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and add the tomatoes and a sliced kirby cucumber. Allow to soak for a minute or two before serving with freshly made mozzarella. I love the way the Indian spices mix with the fresh goodness of the heirloom tomatoes. It's a wonderful way to say goodbye to summer. The kirby cucumber by the way, is from the locally grown produce section of Fresh Direct.

Sasha's Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad

3 large heirloom tomatoes
1 kirby cucumber
fresh mozzarella
1 1/2 tsp fennel
1 1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar (I used fig-infused balsamic vinegar)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tsp diced jalapeno
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger


And before you thought I forgot - a bit of a review of Eataly Market. I love Eataly - everything there is fresh, gourmet and absolutely screams out Mario Batali. There's quite a few restaurants there, and even though I have been about 5 times already, I have not tried them all. So far, I have tried the panini bar, La Piazza, Verdure, La Pizza and La Pasta. Next I'd like to try the raw bar restaurant (Il Crudo), the fish restaurant (Il Pesce), and the gourmet beef restaurant (Il Manzo). In fairness, I should warn readers, the place is a hot spot right now. It will cool off, but right now the crowds are pretty fierce, even at lunchtime during the week.

 On my first visit, I went to the panini bar and had a brasaole, arugula and pesto panini which was delicious (not pictured).  Then, I went back to the absolutely crazy Saturday night atmosphere with my husband. First, we stopped a the Piazza and enjoyed a sampling of parmesan cheeses with a glass of Italian spumoni. Next, we decided to try the pizza and pasta restaurants. I had one of the fabulous Italian sodas. I've tried a variety of the Italian sodas at Eataly - I've never seen any of them anywhere else in NYC, but the ones I've had so far have been fabulous - rhubarb, lemon, lime - a whole variety of flavors and not overpoweringly sweet like American sodas. My husband had a Moretti beer.

At La Pasta/LaPizza we both started with a fabulous dish of the homemade fresh pasta in a pesto sauce - it was one of the best pesto dishes I've had. Fresh and simple, but oh so good. Then we followed with a basic pizza, which was good, but perhaps a bit too much cheese. But oh that crust - it was irresistible. The cheese was still great though, and of course they make their own mozzarella fresh at Eataly every day.

I have also had the opportunity to try the gelato at Eataly, which despite the long lines, does not dissapoint. I had two favors that would seen not to go well together - Fig and Hazelnut, but they were actually both delicious and went together just fine. I love fresh figs and the fig gelato took me back to that day in Napa a couple years ago where I tasted fresh mission figs from the trees.

Finally, I have tried Verdure (food pictured above),  the vegetable restaurant. There were so many great choices on the menu, including specials. However, I went with a lime flavored Italian soda and vegetables a la piatra, a dish that was composed of a variety of fresh market vegetables, from cauliflower to asparagus to sprouts to radicchio, to zucchini and just about everything else you could imagine. It was an amazing vegetable salad. The brushetta of the day was also amazing - fresh sweet corn with chives and black garlic.  The black garlic was amazing, with an almost balsamic/tamarind like taste - so exotic and delicious. I plan to make my own bruschetta using some later this week, since they sell it at Eataly market.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spice-Infused Heirloom Tomato Salad and NYC's Eataly (a review)

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Seared Lime Swordfish with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Bread

So this is one of the best things I've made in a long time (canning aside, since I can't assess that until it's lived in its glass for a while).

The husband brought home swordfish tonight, two beautiful triangular pieces of fish that he said looked excellent in the store.
I pondered...I thought...I mused.

This is what I came up with:

With half a loaf of ciabatta bread that was getting a little old, I made garlic bread. Approximately equal parts butter and olive oil, with Johnny's Garlic Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, drizzled onto halved-lengthwise bread in a 300-degree oven wrapped in foil. It was baked while everything else was cooking (I boosted that to 400 about 10 minutes before service, but I should have done it sooner to get more crispiness).

In a small saucepan, I sauteed pressed garlic in a few teaspoons so each of olive oil and lime juice until the garlic was fragrant and just beginning to color, then added a third cup of pureed heirloom tomatoes, and a tablespoon or so of whipping cream. I let that simmer while I prepared the fish, then about halfway through cooking I added another about two cups of the tomatoes, pureed with two stalks of thyme (the leaves stripped from the stalks, stalks discarded).

In the meantime, I sniffed my spice cabinet. I sniffed all manner of spices, and rejected most of them. What I added to a flattened bowl was ground red pepper, ground cinnamon, ground smoked paprika, fresh ground rose pepper, and fresh ground Hawaiian black salt. I coated both sides of the swordfish in that.

I had heated a tablespoon or two of Persian Lime olive oil that we got as a wedding gift (thank you, Gayle and Bob! this was a wonderful first use of it), on medium-high heat in a nonstick fry pan. A very small red onion, not quite a scallion, was sliced thinly and sauteed with a little salt and pepper in the lime olive oil until it was nearly crispy, then the onion bits were removed.

The coated swordfish went in the pan with the lime olive oil, and I seared it, flipping the fish three times so each side got two chances in the pan. That wasn't so much intentional as necessary because I wasn't paying attention (the Giant Block of Cheese episode of The West Wing was on, and the Peters projection map distracted me).

To build the plate, I added pieces of garlic bread and the fish, then topped the fish with the tomato sauce, the crispy-ish onions and a sprinkling of freshly chopped Italian parsley.

Honestly, I'm not much for traditional garnishes. No sprigs of parsley looking pretty next to fish for me.
But I follow my instincts, and the plants on my porch told my instincts to go for the parsley. They were right. The parsley was a beautifully fresh flavor on top of the fresh tomatoes, and mixed with the lime juice in the tomato sauce and the lime oil with the fish and onions was really, if I say so myself, perfect.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Seared Lime Swordfish with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Bread

Sasha's Kitchen: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Probably not so surprising at this point, but I made another Whoopie Pie recipe as one of the desserts for Rosh Hashanah.  Now, I will finally get back to making cupcakes and my next cupcake plan is to make True Blood, Vampire Cupcakes.  Saturday is Yom Kippur (Jewish fast holiday) but I plan to make my True Blood cupcakes on Sunday.  Anyhow, enough talking about what I'm going to make - these red velvet whoopie pies were a huge hit with my in-laws. They absolutely loved them and I'm sure I will be making them again soon.  I had fun decorating these too - instead of simply adding the marshmallow filling, I rolled the pies in rainbow jimmies - so pretty! You could pretty much roll them in anything though from sprinkles to non pareils to pixie stick dust. I cut the recipe in half and it made about 30. Unless you are planning on feeding a lot of people, you will probably want to do the same thing - so here's the half recipe below.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 stick butter, unsalted

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 oz red food coloring (about 5 drops)

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and both sugars at low speed until fluffy and combined. Add the egg, vanilla and red food coloring and beat until just combined. Add half the flour mixture and beat until combined. Then add the buttermilk and the rest of the flour and combine.

Make the whoopie pies by spooning out 1 T of batter for each cookie. Bake each sheet one at a time, for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before frosting with Marshmallow frosting (see below)

Sarah & Amy's Classic Marshmallow Buttercream
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Combine the ingredients for the frosting using your mixer and add between two cookies to make a pie.  Dip the sides in sprinkles to decorate.

Sasha's Kitchen: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

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

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Imperfect French Onion Soup

There's a little crisp in the air, and my mind turns to thoughts of soup.

My very first "major" cooking experience (i.e., planned out, shopped for, from a cookbook) was French Onion Soup, cooked from the recipe in "Easy Basics for Good Cooking" (1988 edition), a Sunset tome that I have used so much the pages are broken into a half-dozen chunks separated from the paperback cover (Thank you to Jeanne, who passed away not so long ago; her inscription with the gift was "Bon Appetit, XOXOXO"). The recipe for this does not appear to be available online, and I'll share it here only if y'all demand.

Tonight, however, I went with the recipe from "Cooking" by James Peterson, as follows (all rights reserved back to the authors). This is the first time I've made French onion soup in a long time, but the husband may be the biggest onion lover ever, so I'm not sure what took me so long to get back to it.

French Onion Soup
Makes 6 cups or 6 first-course servings

5 pounds onions, preferably red Bermuda type, sliced as thinly as possible
3 tablespoons butter, plus six tablespoons (optional)
1 cup dry sherry or medium-sweet Madeira
1 cup water
1 quart broth, preferably brown beef, chicken or turkey
Salt
Pepper
6 slices dense-crumb white bread, crusts removed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 cups grated hard cheese such as Gruyere, Gouda or Fontina (about 7 ounces)

In a heavy-bottomed pan large enough to hold the soup, cook the onions in 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat, stirring for about 10 minutes or until they release some of their liquid. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring often, for about 30 minutes or until the liquid runs dry and caramelizes on the bottom of the pot and the onions are melted into a compact tangled mass. Keep a close eye on the onions as they cook so that the liquid doesn't run dry before it should and cause the onions to stick.
Add the sherry and water, bring to a boil, and cook, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to dissolve the browned-on juices, until the liquid is reduce by about half. Add the broth, season to taste, and simmer.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the bread cubes on a sheet pan and toast in the oven, turning them every few minutes, for about 15 minutes or until browned on all sides.
Return the soup to a simmer if it has cooled. Put 6 soup crocks on a sheet pan (so the soup doesn't overflow onto your oven floor). Ladle the broth and onions into the crocks. Using half the bread cubes, spread them evenly among the crocks. Top with half the cheese. Spread the remaining bread cubes on top, and then the rest of the cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until boiling broth starts to drip down the sides of the crocks.


OK. I did that, except with a half recipe. I was kind of disappointed.

There were several issues that I had with this soup that I don't remember having with the "Easy Basics" recipe.

The husband sliced the onions on a mandoline (awesome tool, but I made him do it because I'm super-sensitive to the onion nerve gas), but there were *so many* of them...the final soup, paying attention to the proportions and timing, ended up more like stew than soup. Onion noodles, the husband said, trying to describe the overall texture (he also suggested, entirely facetiously, that we add gummibears for texture). So I suggest adding more broth. We also used chicken broth, because we had it, but beef really makes a world of difference.

I used challah bread for the croutons, because it was taunting me from my bread basket, and I now regret that. It's too light, toasts to quickly, and absorbs the liquid from the soup too quickly. Take my advice and don't use challah bread.

I went for Rembrant brand extra-aged gouda, because the portion in the grocery store was fairly small (read: cheap) and I know I like the flavor of aged gouda on its own. Not the best choice, honestly. Either I didn't use enough of it when baking or it was the wrong kind of cheese, but it just kinda dried up and toasted brown over the croutons instead of creating that *amazing* cheese crust that the best French onion soups have. I added a pre-cut provolone slice over the top when it didn't look like things were going to turn out well, and that helped, but it still wasn't gooey awesomeness. Oh bubbling cheese-y awesomeness, how I love thee.

Third, there wasn't a great depth of flavor. I added four bay leaves with the chicken stock, and you could definitely taste them in the soup, but they were basically part of the same flavor profile as the onions, rather than being a good first-flavor or last-flavor. In tasting at the table, I thought mustard seeds or chipotle might help fill out the flavor profile, and I'll try that next time.

So. I hate to say it, but Sunset got it right this time, and James Peterson got it wrong. Unless I am misremembering my original French onion soup cooking experience (which is possible; I was inordinately proud of myself, and my parents reinforced that) or I did something bad by halving the recipe (which is possible; the width of the pan base could alter how the onions cook or the broth cooks off), I'm going back to Sunset next time.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Imperfect French Onion Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Brisket for the Jewish New Year

This year, my husband and I hosted the traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner for the Jewish New Year in our home, inviting my in laws over for a home cooked holiday meal. A traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner includes elements of sweetness throughout the meal, to wish everyone a sweet new year. This year, we prepared several favorites that I have already shared here on A Kitchen In Brooklyn, including my mandarin orange caramelized almond salad, traditional apples and honey, my apple pie (which I make with local organic apples), and a new recipe for whoopie pies (coming soon!), among other foods.  The main course of this meal was my brisket, which I prepared using a first cut Kosher brisket of the best quality (very lean and delicious).  The different between my brisket and many other holiday briskets is that it is a loot lighter - a small amount of tomato paste is added to enhance the flavor and color, but the sauce is not heavy on cans of tomato puree like most other briskets. The result is delicious, light and enjoyable.

Sasha's Braised Holiday Brisket

31/2 to 51/2 lbs of first cut Kosher brisket
salt and pepper to taste
3 T canola oil, plus more if needed
2 large onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 T tomato paste
1 1/2 cups good quality red table wine
4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 bal leaves
1 lb of parsnips, chopped
25 baby carrots
1 T balsamic vinegar
4-5 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary

Season both sides of the brisket to taste with salt and pepper. Using a large dutch oven, heat the canola oil and sear the brisket on both sides for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the brisket and set aside for now.  Add the onions and garlic to the pan (and a bit more canola oil if needed). Cook stirring on medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft.  Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add the red wine, chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary and bring to a boil. The add the brisket and vegetables to the dutch oven.

Place the covered dutch oven in the oven, preheated to 325 degrees. Cool until the brisket is done and falls apart with a fork - this took us about 2 hours for a 3 1/2 lb brisket, but could take up to three hours if you use a larger cut of meat.

Remove the brisket and the vegetables (you can discard the parsnips at this point, as they are only to add flavor). Let the remaining sauce stand in a pan for 10 minutes. The skim off the fat and reduce the sauce by half on medium high heat, for about 20 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar to the sauce. Slice the meat with an electric knife (my husband does this part), slicing against the grain.  Serve immediately with the remaining vegetables and the sauce.

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Brisket for the Jewish New Year

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Seafood Paella

Jenn and I went to Spain last summer and had amazing seafood Paella at a few different places and I've been dying to attempt to make it myself ever since we returned. Luckily my Mom let me borrow her giant Le Creuset pot and some real Saffron, 'the world's most expensive spice by weight'. You can actually see a strand of it in my picture above right on a piece of chicken in the lower left hand corner. It's red and stringy.

Anyway, I made way more food than Jenn and I could eat in a night so we'll be having Paella quite a lot this week but I can think of worse tragedies to befall on us. It also came out exactly how I was hoping. I used the Paella recipe in the Joy of Cooking as a reference but didn't agree with a lot of their decisions.

Ingredients (serves 8 supposedly):
1 lb. bag of mussells (scrubbed and de-bearded)
1 lb. of shrimp, de-shelled and de-veined
2 chicken breasts
5 oz. of chopped chorizo sausage
5 oz. chopped baby bella mushrooms
1 vidalia onion minced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1.5 red peppers, chopped
2 cups of arborio rice
4 cups of hot broth (mine was from cooking the mussels plus some chicken bouillon)
1 cup white wine
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Better than Bouillon chicken base
Konriko's Creole Seasoning
Pinch of dried Saffron

So the Joy of Cooking recommended cooking the chicken ahead of time and adding mussels and shrimp at the very end right before serving. I decided this seemed like a terrible idea as I wanted to cook the rice in the broth from the mussels to begin with. So the first thing I did was to steam the mussels in 3 cups of water and 1 cup of white wine with a couple of tablespoons of minced garlic and some chopped cilantro. I had Jenn do a coarse chop of the veggies in the food processor (we just got one) and then I cooked the chicken breasts with half the veggies in some olive oil and seasoned them with some Konriko's Creole Seasoning. I made sure the chicken wasn't overcooked as you're supposed to bake the whole shebang in the oven for 15 minutes at the end at 350 degrees (I also pre-heated the oven). Once the chicken was almost done I took it out and Jenn sliced it and I set it aside.

Then I took the other half of the veggies and cooked them with the shrimp and some more creole seasoning. For whatever reason I put Cajun spices on everything. I took out the shrimp and the mussels when they had opened and set those aside separately since I didn't want to over cook them and decided I'd add them at the very end and let the rice heat them when serving. I also set aside the wonderful broth from the mussels and added a tsp. of chicken bouillon.

So then I put all the cooked veggies and the sliced, mostly cooked chicken in the pan and slowly added the rice and broth, stirring often. I made it as if I was making risotto as it's the same type of rice. You want to coat the rice with a little fat (olive oil in this case) and then slowly let it soak up the broth. Although knowing that it was going to cook more in the oven I just got it started, stirred and then stuck it all in the oven saving the mussels and shrimp for the end.

When it came out all the rice was at the bottom so I had to stir it again but it was perfect. If you want to adjust the recipe it's just 1 part rice to 2 parts broth. If you make this I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I think it's one of the best things I've ever made.

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Seafood Paella

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

For my next experiment making whoopie pies from my new cookbook, Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell,  I decided to try making a chocolate chip cookie-cake type whoopie pie and prepared a peanut butter filling to go with it. The recipe makes so many of these little whoopies that it's important to have some friends to share them with - my whoopies have been quite well received at my husband's office. I plan on making another batch of whoopie pies later this week (red velvet with marshmallow filling) when we host dinner at our house for Rosh Hashanah.

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter
4 T vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 T milk
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter, shortening and both sugars until the mixture is light and creamy, for three minutes. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda and vinegar.  Add to the mixture, along with the dry ingredients and beat on low until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon (not with the mixer, or they will go to the bottom).

Drop 1 T of batter onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets, spaced at least two inches apart. Bake each sheet, one at a time, for 10 minutes. This made 30 whoopies for me, which translates to 15 whoopie pies when they are combined with the filling.

Peanut Butter Buttercream
3/4 cup peanut butter
6 T butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp salt

To make the buttercream, beat together the ingredients for the frosting in the mixer. Spread between two of the whoopie cookie-cakes.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Vegetable Gratin

Gratin is one of the most underrated vegetable side dishes. You can make gratin using onions, parmesan cheese and a whole variety of other ingredients. I have made potato gratin in the past, but hadn't tried using other vegetables. Thomas Keller has a great recipe for a summer vegetable gratin in his cookbook, Ad Hoc At Home.  I decided to change up the recipe a bit to suit my tastes, but went with the inspiration. I served the dish as a side dish with a lightly breaded veal. The combination was stellar and there were no leftovers.

Sasha's Summer Vegetable Gratin (inspired by Thomas Keller's recipe from Ad Hoc at Home)
2 cups onions, diced
fresh thyme
2 plum tomatoes
2 Japanese eggplans (small eggplants)
2 yellow zucchini
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup plaint breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, diced

Combine the diced onions and garlic, and saute for several minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add the thyme.  Fill a gratin dish or lasagna pan (I used my Emile Henry lasagna pan) with the onions, spread evenly. Slice the Japanese eggplants, plum tomatoes and yellow zucchini (I used farm fresh vegetables from Fresh Direct).  Arrange the vegetables neatly in rows on top of the onions. Top with a mixture of the bread crumbs and cheese (I found that using less than Keller recommends is optimal here). Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half, until nicely browned.

To make the veal - coat the veal in a battered egg and dip in flour. Season with paprika, salt and pepper. You can then cook the veal in your skillet.

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Vegetable Gratin

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Honeydew Prosciutto & Arugula Salad

This was definitely a collaborative effort by my Mom and I. She's recently been adding melon to her salads after having one in some Portuguese restaurant somewhere where they had cantaloupe and arugula and I said that I thought it would be even better with some prosciutto. So Jenn and I showed up to her house Saturday night and she had bought all the ingredients and had me assemble it. I think it came out very well and decided it was 'blog-worthy'.

Ingredients: (served 5 but disappeared quickly)
1 package of arugula
1 half a honeydew, sliced thinly
1 package of prosciutto (2 oz?)
2 tbsp. minced sweet onion (I would omit this or use some red onion sparingly and sliced thinly)
pinch of black pepper
1 tbsp. of shredded Romano cheese (or shaved Parmesan)

Dressing: (This is an approximation but the proportions are close)
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. raspberry balsamic vinegar
3-4 oz. olive oil

Toss and serve! I would also suggest dressing it lightly and right before serving as the honeydew has a lot of juice and is very sweet to begin with and over dressing could definitely make it soggy. Cantaloupe might be more colorful but I thought the honeydew was delicious.

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Honeydew Prosciutto & Arugula Salad

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