Mini Food Series #1: Slider

A couple of years ago, I had a store on Etsy called Yarnyums where I sold crocheted food. I still have a giant trunk FULL of yarn, so now that the weather's getting cold again, I've decided to get back to some hands-on crafting and make a new line of mini food. Here's my first creation, the mini burger, aka slider.

City Crab Review: Spend your money elsewhere

Ever since college, I had wanted to try this place, so when Restaurant Week came around we made a reservation.

First bad sign, we had a reservation for 7:45, we waited at least 20 minutes and watched people without reservations get seated before us. Not even a "sorry for the inconvenience" from the staff.

We ended up ordering a la carte, but it would have been nice if our waiter had a least mentioned the prix fixe dinner available. It wasn't till after we ordered that we noticed the tiny printed menu off to the side with the $35 three-course special. At first we were happier with our choices.....till they arrived:

Buffalo wing shrimp: according to Bob they were good, but there were FOUR pieces for $16. These weren't jumbo shrimp either. $4 a piece for shrimp in batter and hot sauce?!

North Atlantic Steamers: This was my appetizer. Why serve a side cup of clam broth when the clams are sitting in an inch of it already? And I know steamers are supposed to be simple, but usually there's an attempt at seasoning, maybe a clove of garlic, some herbs.....Nope. This was like clams in dishwater, with a side of dishwater and melted butter. I was also unprepared for the gross neck-like protrusion that these clams had, which reminded me of mini geoduck. I also think leaving crunchy bits of grit = FAIL at a restaurant.

Maryland Crab Louisiana Style Gumbo: Bob described this to me as "muddy." I had a taste, and it was the perfect description. "Bad" would be another suitable term. It tasted like someone had boiled all their leftover vegetables together and added some cajun spice to try to mask the underlying taste. Possibly one of the worst soups I've ever tasted.

At this point, we had to order a second basket of bread, because we were starving.

Maryland Lump Crab Cake: This was actually pretty good. At least, one out of the two were. The second one had a few too many cartilage bits ground into the meat. It was served with a mediocre side salad of argula, corn, lima beans, red peppers and carrots that I pushed around the plate.

Blackened Louisiana Catfish: Bland and boring. Bob usually doesn't add a lot of salt to his food, but he did tonight. 2 pieces came with a mound of unseasoned rice pilaf. Not bad, not good either.

Service was sloooooow.

Somehow, this place was packed. I guess people really think that if you charge a lot for seafood, and it's on Park Ave, it means it's good. We had a similar experience at The Chart House, where the view is nice, but the food is really overpriced and sub par. Our bill came close to what we pay when we go to Nobu, but came nowhere near the standards.

City Crab, you get a D.

White Chocolate Blondies

I'd been looking to try a recipe that used white chocolate for the past few weeks and I settled with one I found on the Ghiradelli wrapper. It uses 2 bars of white chocolate, as well as chocolate chips, but to be honest, you don't really taste the white chocolate. You can definitely smell it, and these blondies are dense, rich and delicious, (so no ones complaining) but I'm not sure I'd have noticed otherwise. But if you're bored of regular blondies/brownies, it's something new to try.

2 bars (8oz) White Chocolate baking bars, broken into 1" pieces
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup Semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet, since the whole thing is flavored with white chocolate)

-Preheat oven to 350
-Line a 9" square baking pan with waxed paper, then grease paper
-Melt white choc and butter in a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water
-Stir mixture occasionally until smooth. Set aside
-Add sugar, vanilla, melted chocolate and butter slowly
-Fold in flour, salt and choc chips till well combined
-Pour into pan, bake 25 min

IceBox Strawberry Pie

America's Test Kitchen does it again! I've tried 2 of their recipes so far and been really impressed. This latest recipe was in a sample issue I received of Cook's Country. Imagine a pie that tastes somewhere in between a strawberry smoothie and jam and because it's chilled it's great for warmer weather. It uses 3 lbs of strawberries...

Serves 8

Filling:
2 lbs frozen strawberries (I froze my own)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced thin
1 (9") pie shell (I used deep dish) baked and cooled

1. Cook frozen berries in large saucepan over med-low heat till they start to release juice. Increase to med-high and cook till thick and jam-like (about 25 min). Mixture should measure EXACTLY 2 cups. Any more and your filling may be too loose.

2. Combine lemon juice, water and gelatin in a small bowl. Let stand until gelatin has softened and thickened (5 min). Stir this mixture into the cooked berry mix along with the sugar and salt. Return to simmer for 2 min. Transfer to bowl and cool to room temp (about 30 min)

3. Fold fresh berries into the filling. Spread evenly in your already baked pie shell and refrigerate till set (about 4 hours).

ilili

Went out with the ladies on Thursday to a meditarranean restaurant that was new to all of us, called Ilili (between 27th and 28th on 5th Ave). It's a pretty posh place, where we were all completely under-dressed. All the hostesses looked like they were probably models and there were a lot of rich old ladies with face-lifts around. The main dining area is pictured above. There was also a bar/lounge area to the left and a lower-key dining area to the right, both just as long.

If you're going here, expect to eat family style. We all shared the Mezza Royale (the biggest of the sharing menus) @ $139. You first get the cold appetizers:
Hummus, baba ghannouj, chankleesh (lentils/rice/onions), grape leaves, tabbouleh, fattoush (pita salad), falafel and Kibbeh nayeh - a paste of raw lamb mixed with spices, served with raw onions and mint (probably our least favorite),

Then the hot appetizers:
Moujadara (lentil/rice/onion), lahmajeen (middle eastern style pizza with ground beef on a thin crust), makanek, beef fried kibbeh (think meat and bulgur wheat falafel) and phoenician fries (think seasoned fries, really tasty)

We also ordered 2 main entrees and a side to split: their lamb kebab was was simple and delicious and their Citrus Trout, I'd suggest skipping. The brussel sprouts were recommended to us by our waitress as being one of their signature dishes. I passed on it due to the creamy sauce it was mixed with but I'm pretty certain the others enjoyed it.

For dessert we tried the Awaimat (lebanese beignet w/orange blossom syrup). This wasn't anything special and the syrup had too strong of an orange blossom taste for me.

The serving sizes are quite generous. We were definitely stuffed by the time we left. It's a very busy place, so definitely make a reservation before you go.

Marzipan Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Today was the first breakdown meeting of Season 3 of Team Umi Zoomi, where we watch the episode and discuss what needs to be done. I've been looking for an excuse to bake and this was it. I've had my eye on this recipe for a while, and I just happened to have a can of almond paste, so I crossed my fingers and hoped it would come out ok. It came out BETTER than ok. It's super moist and full of flavor. But the raspberry sauce really added the finishing touch, so don't leave it out.

Recipe from Joy of Cooking:

Marzipan Cake (8-10 servings)

7-8 oz almond paste or marzipan
6 Tbsp butter (3/4 stick)
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp kirsch or brandy (I used amaretto)
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 and grease a 8x2" round pan, or line with parchment/wax paper (I recommend the latter, because I had trouble getting it out)

1. Beat almond paste and butter till well blended.
2. Gradually add sugar and beat on high speed until lightened in color and texture (2-3 min)
3. Whisk together then gradually beat in for a total of 3 min the eggs, alcohol and extract
4. Add baking powder, be sure to break up any lumps
5. Fold in flour. Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
6. Bake 35-40 min until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean
7. Let it cool completely, dust with powdered sugar

Raspberry Coulis

1 pint raspberries, or 12 oz frozen dry pack thawed
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp strained fresh lemon juice

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Strain through fine mesh sieve, pressing firmly with rubber spatula. Continue to press till you are left with just a heaping tablespoon of seeds. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days

Lavender-Lemon Shortbread

I'd seen a lot of recipes around the internet that included lavender and I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical. Who wants to eat a flower associated with bath and body products? But while wandering around the farmer's market this week, I saw a stall selling locally grown lavender (lavenderbythebay.com). They had a small bag specifically meant for baking and tea.

All I can say is, these are delicious. And the fragrance, both when you are making them and baking them is really unique. The taste isn't too "flowery," but it's also distinct enough that you know it's there and compliments the lemon flavor. I now prefer this to regular shortbread.

Recipe from Food and Wine's website, by Allison Attenborough:

Servings (1 was able to make 20, but the recipe claims 1.5 dozen)

Lavender-Lemon Shortbread

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp dried lavender blossoms, chopped (I ground them with a mortar and pestle) 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix the sugar, lavender and lemon zest. Using a mixer, beat in the butter at moderate speed. At low speed, beat in the flour and salt until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a sheet of wax paper and refrigerate for 20 min. Form the dough into a 4 inch log and chill for 45 min longer.
(Note: I made the log right away and chilled it for several hours, wrapped in wax paper).

2. Preheat oven to 350. Slice the shortbread into 1/4" thick rounds and place on ungreased baking sheets. Freeze the rounds for 10 min
(Note: Since my dough had been chilled for several hours, I skipped the freezing)

3. Bake the shortbread for 20-25 min or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw slightly before slicing. The baked shortbread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.