Popovers

The first time I'd ever had a popover was during my visit to Maine 2 years ago, at the Jordan Pond House. This delicious eggy, air-filled bread is a great alternative to the usual biscuits, muffins or scones at brunch. It reminds me a bit of Yorkshire pudding, but I think I like this better. Top with some butter and jam and eaten fresh out of the oven!

Recipe from (Reader's Digest Quick and Delicious Cookbook)

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 425. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs till frothy. Beat in milk and oil. Beat in flour and salt. Let batter rest for 10 min
2. Grease 6 popover or medium sized muffin cups (you only want to fill the batter about 1/3-2/3 full, so you need larger muffin cups). Divide batter evenly.
3.Bake till puffed and browned (20-25 min). Serve immediately.

Mark Ryden: Meat show

I'm not much of a gallery-goer, but I AM a fan of Mark Ryden, so I may have to go see this show when it comes out. I own his "Blood" print series, but it'd be nice to see his artwork in person.

Mark Ryden @ Paul Kasmin Gallery
Olde Tyme Art Show
April 29th - June 5th

For those of you unfamiliar with his work, CLICK HERE

Dafni (Greek restaurant)

Located across from Port Authority on 42nd St, (between 8th and 9th), you wouldn't expect to find an even halfway decent restaurant. Especially one flanked by a Burger King, deli and Army Navy store. The only reason my husband and I discovered it is because it's right by our bus stop.

We've been to Dafni's four or five times now and we've never been disappointed by the food. For dinner, I would recommend waiting till after 7:30, when the crowds start to disperse.

My first step in over-eating is always the freshly baked basket of pita bread. So far we've only tried the fried calamari appetizer, but it's perfectly battered and crunchy, not chewy. One of our dishes always comes with a super simple, but delicious, Maroulosalata (romaine, scallion, dill with lemon vinaigrette). For entrees, I usually get their Lamb Shish Kebab, because it comes with one of the thickest, creamiest Tzatziki spreads I've had, accompanied by rice and roasted peppers and onions. I've also tried the Moussaka (think eggplant lasagna), which was good, but just too heavy. My husband has tried their Solomos, (charcoal grilled salmon steak), which he liked a lot, but his staple dish is the Aegean Seafood with Hilopites (shrimp, scallops and calamari with fresh pasta and tomato sauce).

For the first time today, we tried dessert: Rice pudding and Baklava the size of a piece of pie. Both were good, but passable.

Service can be a little slow, but the waiters are very attentive when you get a hold of them. The restaurant is surprisingly classy, considering the neighborhood, so you can definitely hold a nice dinner party at this place.

Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is mostly based on the oatmeal raisin cookie, from the book The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread. Instead of raisins, I added chunks of caramel and dried apples. The original recipe by this name came from Cooking Light magazine. Unfortunately, it was a "healthy" cookie, and the dough was way too crumbly because it lacked enough butter to hold it together. So here's the full delicious fatty version:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 1/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup chopped dried apples

1/2 cup chopped soft caramel (roughly 16 candies)

1 cup butter (room temp)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

Chop up the caramel. If you’re able to find caramel bits in your supermarket, lucky you, otherwise, I recommend a knife you don’t mind ruining and start chopping! Chop up your apples when you’re done.

Preheat oven to 350. Line your cookie sheets with Silpat or parchment paper, otherwise the caramel is going to make it extremely difficult to remove.

Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon in one bowl

Beat the egg and vanilla in another bowl

Mix the oatmeal, apples and caramel in yet another bowl

Cream the butter and sugars. Add egg mixture, then the flour mixture in stages. And lastly the oat mixture.

Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes

Tofu White Bean Chili with Basil and Cilantro

This is a vegetarian-modified version of my sister's recipe. The original called for chicken broth and chopped chicken, rather than tofu and vegetable broth. My version I found a little bland, so I added lemon juice and mozzarella. The result is tangy and unique! One note: This is more like a bean soup than a chili. It has less body.

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
3-4 T. olive oil
4 cups chopped cooked tofu (you can bake it or sauté it to dry it out and make it a little crusty)
3 cups vegetable broth
2 T. chopped cilantro or 1 T. dried cilantro
1 T. chopped basil or 1 tsp. dry basil
½ to 1 tsp. ground red chiles or cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1 T. sea salt
32-oz. canned great northern beans, undrained
2 T. lemon juice
Chopped grape tomatoes to taste (they're more flavourful)
Shredded mozzarella to taste

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. Transport to crock pot. Either bake or sauté tofu. Transport tofu to crock pot and add remaining ingredients, except tomato and mozzarella. Cook 3-4 hours. Top with chopped tomato and mozzarella (about 2 T per serving) and enjoy!

Quinoa and Apple Curry Salad

Quinoa is packed with protein and super versatile. This recipe is from Martha Stewart and is easy, refreshing, and delicious. I made it as a main course, but it'd be great with some sort of broiled white fish.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup raw whole almonds
• 1 cup white quinoa
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dried currants
• 1 small McIntosh apple (really, you need the McIntosh "tang" so I don't think a gala or a fuji would work quite as well), cut into 1/8-inch-thick wedges
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread almonds on a rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until lightly toasted and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Let cool; coarsely chop nuts. Don't skip this step. Toasting almonds makes them magical.
2. Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a fine sieve; drain. (If quinoa isn't rinsed thoroughly, it'll be bitter. Most quinoa is "triple-rinsed" though, so you may not need to do this step). Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add quinoa; return to a boil. Stir quinoa; cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until quinoa is tender but still chewy, about 15 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork; let cool.
3. Whisk together honey, shallot, curry powder, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Whisking constantly, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream; whisk until dressing is emulsified. Add quinoa, currants, apple, mint, and nuts; toss well. Garnish with mint.

Crispy Coconut Shrimp

This is another really easy, fast recipe I got from Everyday Cooking, one of Martha Stewart's magazines:

1.5 cups of sweetened, shredded coconut
3/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
2 large egg whites
1.5 lbs of shrimp
salt/pepper
oil for frying

1. In a food processor, pulse the coconut and breadcrumbs together, until the coconut is in small pieces. Transfer to shallow bowl.

2. Lightly beeat the egg whites

3. Toss shrimp with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

4. Dip in egg white, then coconut mixture and fry