A Hot Brown
Thick slices of roasted turkey breast over texas toast, then covered in mornay sauce (a bechamel sauce plus cheese). The whole thing is circled with tomatoes and broiled until cheese is browned and bubbly.
a cross-section
To make a mornay sauce, brown some butter and add flour, whisking until pale golden. Add warmed milk (you’re making a bechamel) and then add big handful of pecorino romano (turning it into a mornay sauce).
Lentils for stuffed portabellas
Finished product: this was just so good
Toasting bread cubes and fresh rosemary. This goes into making the spinach, chickpeas, and tomato dish. The bread brings the dish together... kind of like a gazpacho.
Beautiful! and vegan
Cooked down, it becomes a dish that goes so well with roasted turkey/protein.
Classic green beans and shallots
Honey ginger glazed carrots
Pasta salad.
Theo's apple salad was a big hit - and a deliciously tart and cooling palate cleanser
Cranberry sauce
Vegan turkey - requiring vast amounts of mushrooms, a block of seitan, and a savory, coconut based jamaican sauce
Lobster apple pie ;p One of my two contributions
My other contribution... turkey! I followed Alton Brown's recipe and brined it for 24 hours, then let it sit in the fridge, covered with only a paper towel to let the skin dry out. I rubbed the skin with homemade chive compound butter and stuffed it with apples and onions.
Chicken pot pie with drop biscuit dough
I had originally intended to make some Matzo Ball soup after a late-night, post-dance trip to b.o.b bar last Friday. Suffice to say, I couldn’t find any matzo meal and instead opted for a simple chicken soup. That ended up being too unchallenging (celery, carrots onion in a slow cooker with a quartered chicken), so to complicate things up a bit, I took a couple of cups of broth, shredded left over chicken removed from the soup, and whipped up a quick chicken pot pie.
To make it, I sauteed some chopped celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Then I added some of the chicken broth I just made, shredded some leftover chicken, some milk, and carefully dissolved some flour to thicken the sauce up. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and then set the sauce aside. Time for the biscuit dough. Taking a half cup of whole wheat flour, half as much regular flour, 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp butter (I used chive compound butter that I made from R’s garden), salt, pepper, and enough buttermilk (or milk + a bit of vinegar) to bring the dough together. Set the sauce in a casserole dish and plop balls of dough over it. Let it bake in an oven set to 375 degrees. The dough will expand in the oven and turn golden brown when ready.
All in all, it took me about an hour from start to finish.
About three years ago when I was last studying abroad in Japan, Manneken Belgium Waffle kiosks were the hottest thing in town. Lines of 10 people or more in front of the shop was pretty common, especially in places like central Tokyo. Made fresh and handheld, these are pretty damn solid portable snacks. Rob got choco-dip, I got roasted sweet potato (not pictured).
Visiting the majestic Arashiyama area again, and for all I knew the last time, I had to get kuro-goma (black sesame) ice cream. The one I got from this shop mixed whole toasted black sesame seeds into their dense, creamy soft serve so you'd get a nutty and smokey pop-crunch with every bite. Good, good, stuff. One of the snacks I miss the most, though Mitsuwa Market in N.J is almost as good
THIS WAS IN A SUPERMARKET. Sold by THE POUND. In a regular supermarket!!! Be still my sluggist, fat-clogged heart 8)
Giant pasta dishes for $7 at Pastamore, a couples pasta spot in the epic Kyoto Station. Possibly one of the most rewardingly romantic meals I've had. Thinking back to junior year as a study abroad student, I remember eating here with a girl friend and the two of us wishing and laughing off the idea we'd have dates to come here with. This is my pasta-concentration eating face.
More ramen photos to come!
Sad to admit that it’s been two months since my last post, and also three weeks since my awesome, awesome trip to Japan, but here are some fabulous photos I took while there.
In no chronological order, I present:
All you can eat shabu shabu in Osaka! I ate so much I threw up while laughing. Luckily it wasn't much, and my $30 meal didn't go to waste. No regrets whatsoever.
Plastic food at the Osaka Aquarium
Monk-made sesame tofu, Koysan
Parfaits! They have over 200 combinations of ice cream, cakes, cookies, fruit, jellies, and other toppings!
