Hurricane cooking

We were holed up in our apartment for most of the Hurricane Irene weekend, starting at around 4pm Saturday though Monday morning. Friday night we went out for some wine and small plates at Bar Veloce but not before I finished making some high-protein savory muffins. They have cottage cheese, eggs, almond meal, the slow roasted tomatoes I made a little while back, basil and cheese. No butter or oil! And you can use low fat cottage cheese! JP hated them. I loved them. Try them - they're really good and you can change the flavorings as you wish.

Saturday morning I went for a walk down to Union Square where some rebellious farmers set up their market stands (I thought all outdoor markets were cancelled). There was a short downpour during which I stayed under one of the tents but afterwards, lots of washed fruits and veggies:

These are called sanditas but don't mistake these for mini-watermelons (although that would be awesome). They're actually mini cucumbers (officially called Mexican sour gherkins). But they don't taste that good - the skin is kinda thick and the seeds are pretty much all that's inside.

After the market but before it started pouring JP and I took a walk around which ended up with up going to Hill Country Chicken (surprisingly open) and eating some fried chicken and biscuits. Their biscuits are awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Squirrels. Or at least squirrels in Madison Square Park that get close enough for you to photograph them.

Later in the evening I made a plum galette from some plums I grabbed Friday at the Rockefeller market. Although some sugar got burned in the oven which created a lot of smoke in our apartment and I spent the next morning trying to scrape it off (success!)

And for breakfast on Sunday I brought out my aebelskiver pan and make aebelskivers (puffy Danish pancakes).

I filled some with champagne grapes, others with raspberries and a couple with mini chocolate chips. the grape ones were the best - each grape was like a tiny burst of sugar when biting into it. YUM.

Vienna in under 24 hours

Received a call Wednesday during dinner at 10pm from the Managing Director on my project. "You're going to Vienna tomorrow morning. Book a flight, be at the lawyers' offices by 1pm." Erm, ok sure.

In a taxi from the airport with my London associate. He apparently hadn't eaten breakfast. We were 20 minutes early. I suggested some wurst. Vienna! Sausage! Omnomnomnom. We didn't even reach the law offices. I got out with my suitcase and laptop bag, walked up to the sausage stand (they're everywhere), ordered a currywurst and a bratwurst and stood at the little counter eating cut up fried porky sausages with a little fork, the currywurst pieces being slathered in ketchup and, what else, curry powder.

Best idea ever after getting off a plane and before heading to see clients. Especially because they brought out some measly looking sandwiches an hour after we got there. Fortunately, I was still stuffed from the wurst. Unfortunately, negotiations lasted late into the night and I had no time to tuck a wienerschnitzel into my tummy before catching the following morning's 7am flight to Paris. Alas, next time.

And it wasn't the worst thing ever to wake up at 5am to this view out your window (it was much cooler than it looks):

Although this kinda freaked me out:

New Year's Eve Menu

New Year's Eve was a major opportunity for me to use my friends as guinea pigs and try out a bunch of recipes I've wanted to make. I have a whole big bookmark list on firefox that's just waiting to have a dent put in it. Here's half the menu (apart from the Brazilian cookies I brought over and JP arranged, the majority of which barely passed as edible, unfortunately, but apparently proved to be fantastic chasers):

Cheese Straws (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

3/4 cup grated gruyere

1/3 cup grated parmesan

Paprika

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine the grated gruyere, grated parm, and whatever spices (I used paprika and garlic powder, but you can also use dried herbs, and you can use whatever hard cheeses you have on hand) you want, along with salt and pepper. Roll out puff pastry on parchment paper. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the grated cheese and spice mix. Use a rolling pin to press the mix into the puff pastry. I like to put the puff pastry in the freezer now to make it easier to cut (about 15 minutes), but you don't have to.  Cut 1/2 inch thin strips of the puff pastry and twist in opposite directions from the ends (like you're twisting string). Place on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the straws are puffy and lightly browned, turn once, and bake for another 3 - 5. Make sure the cheese doesn't burn! Oh, and I forgot to take a picture.

Turkey Lettuce Cups (adapted loosely from PF Chang)

1/2 lb ground dark meat (turkey or chicken)

1 small box of cremini mushrooms, finely diced 

1/2 sweet yellow onion, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, finely diced

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 head of iceberg lettuce

Heat large skillet on medium-high and sautee the ground meat until lightly browned and no red remains (light pink is OK, otherwise you will overcook it later). If you use turkey, you might want to add some olive oil to the pan first but chicken has enough fat in my opinion. Meanwhile, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar and rice wine vinegar in a separate bowl. If you want this to be spicy, add some cayenne or red pepper flakes.

Add the mushrooms, onions and garlic to the meat and sautee for 2 - 3 more minutes. You can add other veggies like celery and carrots but you basically want whatever you're putting in the ground meat to be of a small, uniform size so everything mixes together. Then add the stir fry sauce and sautee for 1 - 2 more minutes. Done!

Pull apart the iceberg lettuce leaves (I found this tricky and kinda failed) and wash them, then spoon some of the ground meat onto each leaf, arrange on a platter and serve! I recommend sriracha as an accompanying sauce but you can make a dip.

Zucchini Ricotta Tart

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

1 cup ricotta (you can use part-skim)

1 zucchini, thinly sliced into circles

3 sliced cremini mushrooms

10 halved cherry tomatoes
Gruyere

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out puff pastry on parchment paper. Spread ricotta (you can add herbs to this if you like, or spices) over the puff pastry, leaving a thin border of about a 1/2 inch. Arrange zucchini circles on the puff pastry, top with slices mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Grate some gruyere (or any hard cheese) over the top. Place in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until the edges of the puff pastry are puffy and golden brown. I like to cut this so that each slice has a zucchini circle on it. Serve warm.

Red Velvet Cake Balls (adapted from Bakerella)

I used two packages of white chocolate chips for this (slowly melted over a double boiler) instead of the bark, and half a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also added some lemon zest to the cake batter. JP fed the remains to his co-workers.