Restaurant week in Boston has rolled around again, and I have two excellent reservations I will be blogging about shortly, but the anticipation of deliciousness had me reflecting on my past culinary experiences here in The Hub.
Namely, I was thinking about the "Beef Sirloin Carpaccio with amarene cherries, horseradish, Roquefort, and rosemary grissini" that I had at Mooo and it was consuming my thoughts, so I had to conduct more research into the mystical elements that had come together to produce perfection.
The Wikipedia entry on Roquefort tells about the mold found in French caves and the blue veins that run through this crumbly sheep's milk cheese, and even though the idea of molding cheese still kind of grosses me out, I still found myself salivating. I blame this on the high glutamate / umami taste of Roquefort. By blame, I of course mean fantasize about. Actively.
To be honest, I don't know what it is about raw fish, oysters, and carpaccio that really gets me going, but Mooo did not disappoint. Even though this meal took place two months ago, it is still vivid in my mind...
Initially, you are taken aback because the beef is so thinly sliced, it almost dissolves on your tongue with a flavor I can't describe as anything other than raw... then you start chewing. The Roquefort starts melting immediately and all of a sudden, its a flavor... dare I say - eruption? Slightly tart amarene cherries bursting as you bite down, subtly sweet Roquefort that slowly transforms into a salty - then surprisingly smoky taste, grissini at first providing only crunch but then releasing its rosemary aromatics, the sharpness of the horseradish mixing with the tartness of lemon juice, and the unmistakable goodness that is quality olive oil underneath it all. This is a perfect bite - both in flavor, and in texture. After you swallow, a hint of it lingers on your lips, making you beg for more...
We will meet again, beef sirloin carpaccio. And you will melt in my mouth, again and take me to places I never thought anyone could.
Long sigh.
Until we meet again.... and we WILL meet again.
XO- Michelle.
posted by Michelle || 0 Comments
Sometimes, instead of working, I look at pictures here:
http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/
http://smittenkitchen.com/
posted by Justin || 0 Comments
HOTDOG! (First thing I ate upon arrive back in the US).
Pasta. Not Chicago style, but China style.
posted by Justin || 1 Comments
One of the reasons I love break is because I can come home to my kitchen and bake bake bake!! As soon as I got home I went on a Christmas cookie baking marathon (decorated sugar cookies, lemon lavender shortbread, linzer cookies, Viennese chocolate sables, pistachio cherry icebox cookies, and later pecan cocoa nib cookies) to give as gifts and it made me sooo very happy. Next thing I knew, I had had made chocolate espresso mousse cake for a holiday party, Tiramisu cake for my aunt's birthday, mixed nut toffee to give as a gift, raspberry truffle brownies for a visiting friend... Oh, the lavish use of sugar and butter!!
After using up probably around 4lbs of butter so far (Sam's Club conveniently sells a 4-pack of 1lb butter blocks), I am very much saddened to think about how my kitchen and I will have to part ways in about a week. Clearly the best thing to do is to drown my sorrows by making Pierre Herme's Faubourg Pave, a chocolate caramel cake that uses 3 sticks of butter and 1 cup of heavy cream just for the ganache frosting. Muahahahhaa!!!
After using up probably around 4lbs of butter so far (Sam's Club conveniently sells a 4-pack of 1lb butter blocks), I am very much saddened to think about how my kitchen and I will have to part ways in about a week. Clearly the best thing to do is to drown my sorrows by making Pierre Herme's Faubourg Pave, a chocolate caramel cake that uses 3 sticks of butter and 1 cup of heavy cream just for the ganache frosting. Muahahahhaa!!!
For a New Year's Eve party I made this white chocolate peppermint cheesecake that was well-loved by all, especially me since I loooove peppermint and I loooove cheesecake so it was natural that I looooved this white chocolate peppermint cheesecake. (No, sorry, I do not loooove white chocolate. But it's good with peppermint!)
Crust:
1 1/2 c crushed chocolate cookies (I used the chocolate cat cookies from Trader Joe's)
4 tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
Filling:
3 8-oz pkg. cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
For the crust, mix and press into a 9 inch springform pan and bake at 350ºF for 8 min. and cool.
For the filling, have all ingredients at room temperature. Beat cream cheese for a min or two until creamy, add sugar and beat a minute or two more at relatively low speed. Add eggs one at a time on low speed, and then the rest of the ingredients, with white chocolate last. Stir in peppermint candies, and then you can pour the filling in to the crust! yay.
I baked mine at 325ºF in a water bath for about 55min, so it's not completely set when you take it out. Cool completely, and then refrigerate at least for a day for maximum yummy cheesecake flavor.
YAY CHEESECAKE!!!
posted by Emily || 2 Comments
It's the holiday season, which means I bake like a mad woman; I'll bake regardless of rain, sleet, snow, or hail, just like the mail people. Good thing baking is done primarily in the indoors.
I call them Wonder Cookies because they look like your everyday chocolate chip cookie but Ho Ho No, they are not. They are also flourless, so when they come out, you're like, I wonder how that happened.
Here is the recipe, although the measurements are approximations.
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used reduced fat Jiffy)
1/3 cup oatmeal (I used Quaker instant oats and shook the canister a few times)
3 bars (1.45 oz. each) of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate bars
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon (or two very generous shakings, I think that was two tsps.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shred/chunkify the chocolate bars with a serrated knife (break them in half and stack to make them easier to cut.) Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix. Batter will be stiff. Drop by 1.5 inch balls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly brown.
I'm not sure how much this yields because I ate quite a few of them before I remembered to count. But I think it's around 2 dozen.
Because the peanut butter and sugar are allowed to carmelize without a third wheel, this cookie practically melts in your mouth once you start chewing. Oatmeal makes for a more liberal chaperone than flour while the sugar gives this incredibly chewy cookie a crispy bottom. The cinnamon spices its way through the thinkness of peanut butter, festifying in gooey harmony. And I must say that it wafts pleasantly throughout the kitchen.
I made this up using whatever we had in our tiny apartment kitchen so if you think it's disgusting, you probably didn't do it right. But you can blame it on me.
posted by Erin || 0 Comments
This is one of my favorites because it's so easy to make. It looks kinda nasty, but believe me, it's pretty damn good. You'll have to make sure you get fresh tomatoes and preferably not ones that are sour. Given that you did it right, it should actually taste sweet, even though no sugar is in the ingredients. Salt actually is the secret ingredient that brings out the sweetness in tomatoes.
posted by Wil C || 0 Comments
This is something my family makes often. It's something that goes over rice, and you just mix it up and eat it. It's pretty salty, so don't mistake it for soup!
posted by Wil C || 0 Comments