Fine Dining in Thailand

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of food in Thailand? Truth be told, fine dining was not what popped into mind first. Thailand’s street food that has been celebrated for years. It’s even glorified in foodie shows like Bizarre Food and No Reservations. But fine dining? We reserve that category for restaurants in New York or Europe. Nose up. There's no room for Southeast Asian cuisine in that space.

Yet the one revelation I had from my trip to Thailand was that the country’s fine dining packs enough punch to compete with the rest of the world. Upscale restaurants in Thailand are bold. Their dining rooms are elegant. Their dishes are complex. Yet they stay true to the very flavors and ingredients that makes Thailand so unique.

Move over, New York. Get out of the way, Paris. Hang up your pans, Italy. Thailand’s fine dining scene is on the rise. Take notice.

Here are two of my favorite restaurants:

1) nahm (The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok)

comohotels.com

If you haven’t heard of this restaurant before, consider yourself aware now. nahm is repeatedly voted as the best restaurant in all of Asia and reached as high as the third best restaurant in the world. nahm serves ancient Thai cuisine. Expect dishes that play with and balance sharp flavors to develop a strong yet harmonious flavor.  Interestingly, the dishes are cooked and prepared by an Australian, Chef David Thompson. Chef Thompson spent several years working and living in Thailand. Inspired by the country’s flavors and ingredients, he pledged to raise the profile of Thai cuisine and eventually earned the first Michelin Star for a Thai restaurant.

comohotels.com

I recommend ordering the set menu, since you can pick specific dishes from each category. The soft shell crab with chilies, holy basil and peppercorn was my favorite. Also try the coconut and turmeric crab curry and the grilled hiramasa kingfish salad.

2) Koh Thai Kitchen and Bar (Four Seasons, Samui)

press.fourseasons.com

The Four Seasons Resort in Koh Samui opened a new restaurant, Koh Thai Kitchen and Bar. Like nahm, it serves traditional Thai food, though it focuses more on the flavors and ingredients found in Samui. With that, you’ll find many authentic Thai dishes that may not be familiar to you.

Executive Chef Alex Gares does not hold back. Dishes are on the spicier side, but they balance out the sourness of the fish sauce and the pungent aroma of the shrimp paste used in most of his dishes.  Try the Plaa Goong (prawns with roasted chili paste dressing, lemongrass and lime leaf salad), the local oysters with tamarind leaves, crispy shallots, garlic, lime and seafood sauce, and the massaman nua (beef cooked in cardamom-scented southern curry). Lastly, Koh’s tom yum goong is perhaps the best I’ve had. Ever.

press.fourseasons.com

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Why I'm Still Craving Thai Food: Take a Look

I just got back from Thailand, a place filled with vibrant dishes that dance with complex layers of flavors. While I’m glad to be back home after a long trip, I find my amateur palate still craving the wonderful tastes that I experienced in the country--the sour fish sauce, spicy chili, minty herb, coconut based curries and crunch from peanuts.

I was so captivated by the tastes, that I visited the local grocery store before I left and flew home with my arms filled with dried Thai lemongrass, Vietnamese ginger, lime leaves, chili flakes, and as many curry and soup pastes that I can find.

Thailand’s food scene has a lot to offer, which is why this is the first of three posts that I plan on doing. As the first post, I decided to show you a sample of what I tried—whether it be from the street or from a Michelin star restaurant.

Raw oyster with crispy garlic and dried seaweed

Pad Thai Noodles from the street vendor

Ayudhaya Giant Prawn Phad sauce Ma Kham

Goong Chae Narm Pla (raw prawns, lime and chili sauce)

Crab with chili

Trout with lime chili sauce

Minced pork with chili and fish sauce

Dishes from the Nahm, currently Asia's #1 restaurant

Street noodles

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Happy Diwali

We celebrated Diwali this past week. For those who are unfamiliar with the holiday, Diwali is the celebration of a new year, the fesitval of lights and perhaps one of the most important festivals in the Hindu religion. To recognize the day, I prepared the following menu:

• Rajma: red kidney beans with onions, tomato sauce and spices
• Alu: potatoes with onions and spices
• Bhindi: Okra cooked with lots of chili and spices

I garnished each dish with a lot of cilantro and served our meal with sides of garlic naan and rice. Happy Diwali. Here's to a successful and lucky year ahead! 

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Nostalgia for Tacos al Pastor

by Carlos Quesada, Amateur guest blogger from Boston, MA, originally from Mexico City, Mexico

Perhaps one of the saddest things for me when I left Mexico was knowing that I would also be leaving the easy access to these tacos made so fresh, so quick and so deliciously. When I do return to Mexico for quick vacations, the first stop I make is to any taqueria to get my hands on some tacos al pastor.

Tacos al pastor – shepherd-style tacos—are a signature dish and popular street snack in Mexico City. They are legacies, it seem, of the Lebanese natives who brought them to Mexico City in a wave of immigration in the mid-20th century. Others would argue this, as it is known that to celebrate the fall of the Aztec empire and Tenochtitlan, a dish made of pork and tortilla was served to the Spanish soldiers by the tlaxcaltecas.

They are made of pork with chili-soaked pork spit-roasted beneath a dripping, slowly caramelizing pineapple and are usually referred as the “king of the tacos”. Similar to shawarma, gyros, or any other Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern preparation of spitted lamb and flatbread, tacos al pastor are prepared in a special spit marinated with pork pieces running with the amber juices of the pineapple above. The pastorero works swiftly, slicing off the hottest, crustiest pieces from the mound along with a bit of bronzed pineapple, chopped cilantro, onion and a spoonful of drippings. He quickly sprinkles on diced sweet white onion and dusts the top of the taco with finely chopped cilantro.

Pick up a taco, folding up the slides with thumb and index finger, closing the end with the forefinger. With the first bite, you should get that flavor of roast pork, the perfume of cilantro, the bite of the onion, subtle bitter aroma of chili, and the sweet heady pineapple. One more small bite and the first taco will be gone. The second and third will follow, then you will hail the waiter and ask for more.

Because the special grill and vertical spit are necessary to make the dish, no one in Mexico sees fit – or is logistically able – to make tacos al pastor at home, so they are almost always found in street stands or small restaurants called taquerias. The recipes vary from stand to stand – proprietors are loath to give away their secrets.

One of my favorite places to eat tacos al pastor is El  Huequito (which means “the little hole”), a tiny operation in this city’s Centro Histórico, founded in 1959 and among the first places in the city to serve tacos al pastor. At El Huequito the sliced meat is bathed in a moderately picante salsa of chile de árbol, enhanced with chopped onion and cilantro and rolled up in its small tortilla. Several salsas are available for serious chileros — chili lovers. The meat is juicy and succulent, the smoky grilled aroma lingering until you take the next bite. Washed down with an ice-cold horchata or agua de Jamaica, these morsels are simply divine.

Note: This blog originally appeared on Carlos's wedding website. But how could I not share good taco tips with fellow Amateur palates? Thanks for allowing me to borrow this blog!

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A Peek at Brendan Sodikoff's Chicago Establishments

After a long hiatus, the Amateur’s Palate is back! There has been a lot going on in the amateur world, and I’m excited to share some of my learning’s with you. What’s the first announcement since my last post? The Amateur’s Palate is now headquartered in the great culinary city of Chicago.

For those who haven’t had the chance to have a proper taste of Chicago, this city is an appropriate rival to New York in the culinary scene. While smaller than the Big Apple, Chicago has a cluster of Michelin Star chefs, Top Chef alums, and up and coming restaurateurs.

One restaurateur I’ve been watching in particular is Brendan Sodikoff, owner of some of the most exciting restaurants in Chicago. So far, he’s opened four restaurants and a donut shop, and a pizzeria is on its way. The dishes in his restaurants don’t try to over complicate things. They’re simple, hearty, and packed with flavor—exactly the kind of food you want to eat over and over again. It’s easy to become a regular at his restaurants. 

Here is a quick summary and a few thoughts on his establishments.

Gilt Bar

A favorite of mine, Gilt Bar has a small though strong and consistently good menu. I recommend getting the chicken, octopus and chorizo and any of the toasts.

Courtesy of Giltbarchicago.com

Image courtesy of Mega Bites Chicago

Au Cheval

Au Cheval is a dark diner with a DJ playing good music. Their burgers are so deliciously juicy, you’ll forget about all of the other diners in your neighborhood.

Image courtesy of Aucheval.tumblr.com

Image courtesy of Aucheval.tumblr.com

Bavette’s  Bar & Boeuf

Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf is a sharp restaurant that primarily serves steak. However, I’ve also had the chicken here and the special, which was a bratwurst that was half beef and half pork. Both were simply prepared but wonderfully cooked. Also, try the side of corn, which is prepared Elote style with Parmesan, chili and lime.

Image courtesy of Bavette's Bar & Boeuf

Maude’s Liquor Bar

Maude’s Liquor Bar is an elegant French bistro restaurant. The food is good, as expected, but I like to go here for the cocktails. 

Image courtesy of Maude's Liquor Bar

Image courtesy of Maude's Liquor Bar

The Doughnut Vault

The Doughnut Vault opens early in the morning and stays open until they run out of doughnuts—and that happens quickly. Lines to purchase these doughnuts circle the block during the weekends, and it doesn’t matter if it’s sunny, raining or snowing.

Image courtesy of The Doughnut Vault

Image courtesy of The Doughnut Vault

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2011 NYC Wine and Food Festival

In case you've been ignoring all things food around the city, the NYC Wine & Food Festival is coming up. I'm so excited, I'm am scouring the list over and over again like mad man. I can't seem to decide which event to attend! Also, does anyone have an extra Benjamin to spare? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

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Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is a wonderful, classic Italian dish. I've always enjoyed eating this dish because it has a nice, fresh tang which comes from the lemon-based sauce.

While I have ordered it several times at restaurants, I have never attempted to cook it. It wasn't until my good friend Lucille (who happens to be a fiery Sicilian) had me help her prepare it for a typical Italian family dinner. It was easy enough to cook the dish with her, so last night I decided to cook it for myself.

Here's what I did (and apologies in advance that I don't have exact measurements. I did, after all, steal this recipe from a family):

Ingredients

chicken breasts

flour

butter

garlic

white wine

mushrooms

lemon juice

parsley

capers

If the chicken breasts aren't thin enough, use a tenderizer to pound them until they are thin. Afterwards, lightly coat each side with flour. In a pan coated with butter, cook the chicken breasts thoroughly and set aside.

Throw more butter in the pan and sautee the garlic and mushrooms. Afterwards, pour in the lemon juice and white wine, letting it simmer until the ingredients thoroughly mix with each other. Both Lucille and I--on separate occasions--added too much lemon juice, and we needed to balance out the taste by pouring in more white wine. So, be sure to constantly taste the sauce!

Add more flour to thicken the sauce. Lastly, throw in some Italian parsley and capers, and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Once the sauce is done, pour it over the chicken, and serve the dish with pasta (I prefer to have Piccata with linguini).

Tip: Make enough sauce to pour over your pasta. Also, don't forget, be easy on the lemon juice.

Buon appetito!

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animal

You're "foie'd up!" exclaimed our waiter. We were at the trendy downtown Los Angeles restaurant, animal. Our waiter, who resembled a young Paul Giamatti, was commenting on the abundance of foie gras in half of the dishes we chose to try that evening.

We didn't plan to have so much foie gras for dinner, but Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo created a menu that used the ingredient in so many creative ways, we couldn't order just one. Better yet, the chefs' use of different parts of the animal is astonishingly unique that I wonder what inspired their dishes. They pair unlikely ingredients with proteins: think lamb neck served with fava beans and daikon, or consider veal brains with apple sauce.

Because of all of this, we couldn't cling to a salad for safety. In celebrating animal, we decided to order exactly what they wanted us to order...the wild.

Take a look:

poutine with oxtail gravy and cheddar cheese

bone marrow topped with chimichurri and caramelized onions

foie gras loco moco, with quail egg, spam and hamburger meat

foie gras, biscuit and maple sausage gravy

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Try These Restaurants In San Francisco

I was recently in San Francisco for a business trip. While most of my time there was spent in a convention center and in hotels, I was able to sneak out and try some of San Francisco's best restaurants. Here are a few of my favorites:

Flour + Water

Area: Mission District

Rumor has it that this popular hipster spot made Steve Jobs wait for a table. And I don't blame him for getting in line. Their dishes are simple, rustic and made with the freshest ingredients. Their menu is seasonal, but you can't go wrong with any of the pasta dishes. I also recommend trying the radiatore with smoked hen, pancetta, wild arugula and chili. And if they let you, substitute the hen with rabbit. Delish!

Nettie's Crab Shack

Area: Union Street

There's something so comforting about this restaurant that if I lived in San Francisco, I'd be a regular at this place. Maybe it's the restaurant's 'no frills' approach to its dining room, maybe it's the dedicated and hospitable wait staff...or maybe it's the gigantic crab roll they give you. Large globs of fresh dungeness crab are served in a heavily buttered roll. Yum.

Anchor & Hope

Area: SoMa

Anchor & Hope is a great escape from the surrounding convention center and hotel conference rooms, and it's the perfect place to pop in for a nice lunch. Fresh seafood is served daily. Try their clam chowder or one of the many seafood sandwiches they have to offer. I had a fried clam sandwich and thought it was lovely. Don't forget to order the rosemary and thyme french fries with your sandwich. They're to die for.

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Don’t Be A Shrimp. Socialize!

by Jessica Young, Amateur Guest Blogger from New York, NY

Wok + Wine. NYC loves a good pop-up. The pop-up shop, the pop-up food truck, the pop-up rainstorm….not really but the verbiage is used in local weather reports. So, it should come as no surprise (slight irony) that the pop-up party would indeed, pop up. Leave it to two media and marketing veterans to tap into the zeitgeist and package a social event that exploits both the ephemeral and the exclusive – two precarious ingredients when combined creates a combustible cocktail…and then, the party never dies.

Thus, inherent is the interest in word-of-mouth whispers heralding the innovators, the early adopters, urban professional movers & shakers, the creatives, and those who moonlight as socializers. When all these desirables convene under the pretense of a fleeting experience encapsulating “the sign of our times” what do you do with them? What magical entertaining dynamics shall tantalize?

Let’s check out the stellar stats for Wok + Wine: invitation by application or personal recommendation – check, obscure locale – check, maximum admittance of an intimate forty – check, forty enthused strangers – check, forty bottles of wine to lubricate small talk – check, forty pounds of whole jumbo shrimp – check? Checking out? Nope. Heads, legs, and tails all drenched in GARLICKY, greasy, orangey-red staining al ajillo sauce. Their little beady eyes just minor dots in a sea of slipping and sliding mountainous piles on a center collapsible (for pop-up purposes) communal table. The crowd circles round. Some dive elbows deep in the critters. Some cling to their wine glasses for self preservation – heads are gross! Some concentrate on conversation due to shellfish allergies because hey, it’s hard to pass up a pop-up. At varying levels of embrace for the full-bodied food, the guests perk up and the party livens. Perhaps it’s the alcohol hitting the blood stream. Or, perhaps it’s the novelty of novice beheading and de-legging shrimp that has Mr. Lawyer and Ms. Jewelry Designer chatting it up in the mutual awkwardness of achieving one laborious yet satiating bite. Logical reasoning would infer that serving guests shrimp al ajillo with nothing other than whole (unsliced) loaves of bread as the sole sidekick would be soiree suicide. The smell! Garlic certainly clings to breath and clothes alike. The mess! Throw conventional propriety out the window when shelling shellfish. There’s no pretty method to the madness. The sauce! Bright orange-red splatters incriminate shirts involved in the crustacean carnage. Yet, the party continues. Eventually even the most finicky abandon their wine glasses to get down and dirty.

There’s something about unusual experiences that when shared by a group automatically forms a bond, a commonality. A quintessential “we’re all in this together” situation. Beyond the event naturally garnering an outgoing segment of the population, the forced participation in an activity, especially an activity that pushes the boundaries of comfort for some, creates immediate camaraderie. The ultimate of ice-breakers, inhibitions crumble and connections arise when shrimp shrapnel flies. Make people do something weird together and, guess what, nothing weirder can happen. It takes the focus off of the tendency to be “on point”. Of course, after several glasses of free-flowing wine it’s a slippery slope into the succulent swamp, regardless. A welcome round of limoncello shots and refreshing pineapple slices later, the crowd is rollicking in conversation.

Of course, no ordinary experience would suffice. Although a pop-up draws demand from its time sensitive nature – poof it’s here, poof it’s gone - that in itself would not be enough to placate NYC’s notorious appetite for novelty. Mix in a bit of the unexpected with the ephemeral and the exclusive then ta da memories are made! Guaranteed Mr. Digital Start-Up can put a face to the name of Ms. I’m Wearing A White Shirt he inadvertently sprayed with sauce. Way to spice up the networking/dating/drinking/social scene! Oh, and the shrimp is damn delicious.

More on Wok + Wine.

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My Father's Daughter

Yes, I did it. I bought Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook My Father's Daughter.

But before you role your eyes and name the many reasons why cookbooks should be written by real chefs instead of over-ambitious actors, take the time to watch a few episodes of Spain...On the Road Again. You'll soon realize that this girl knows her food.

I'm dying to try her 10-hour chicken recipe. I just need to find the 10 hours to actually do it...

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Yikes! Brooklyn Restaurant Serves Big Bowl of Slime

by Jesse Riggle, Amateur Guest blogger from New York, NY
(Photo on left is one of Jesse's work. His paintings appear in galleries from LA to NYC. Check out his work)


Hello there, my name is Jesse (not to be confused with your regular host). Jessica asked me to guest blog, so here are the words I have written.

I recently learned a valuable food-lesson, a lesson specifically of a food to avoid. The food in question: Okra. Now, before I get to far along I'd like to clear one thing up, I don't actually have anything against okra. In fact I have had okra that I quite liked. Pickled okra, okra at Indian restaurants, delicious. But, I still may never order it again. Let me tell you why (and some other stuff too).

First a brief back-story. A couple of my friends started a Brooklyn/Queens-centric eating club about a year ago. We ate at a great many restaurants with an abundance of good and interesting food. Nothing any of us would call a lemon ever cropped up, not a bad record for a year of new restaurants. Well, a week back (which happened to be nearly the 1 year anniversary) we went to a new place that was also across the street from the first place we ever went to, fortuitous? Fateful? Frightening? eh... The restaurant is called Buka and deals in Nigerian food.

The restaurant itself is perfectly nice. Roomy, a swell wait staff, a comfortable davenport, what more could you want in your first 5 minutes? They also presented us with a very intriguing cocktail list. I myself did not partake, as I have old-man tastes in alcohol (whisky, beer, and gin, please), but everyone else at the table thoroughly enjoyed their fare. A promising start, spirits were high.

Next up came the appetizers. I ordered some- thing. I don't really remember what it was but it had honey and cake in the name. What they gave me had no honey and was not very cake like either. In fact, upon my first bite I thought to myself and verbally stated, "This tastes like the zoo." Now, I have never eaten a zoo, but I imagine if you could eat a zoo it would taste like my appetizer. That might sound like an unpleasant flavour, but really, when the strangeness of it passed I quite enjoyed it. I like zoo's, they make me happy, and as it so happens, I would probably like to eat one. The rest of the appetizers on the table were also generally delicious. So far so good.

Then the main course... The moment when things started to get iffy. There was an equal split of people ordering whole fish or some variety of meat in a stew/sauce type setup plus fufu. Fufu is a starch, their answer to bread, it is pounded yam or cassava, formed into a ball. Myself, I ordered the goat with the fermented cassava fufu. I also ordered the okra sauce (remember when I mentioned I probably won't order okra again?). Well, in my excitement for the big bowl of food infront of me, I grabbed my fork, gave it a quick stir, and lifted said fork. A nice string of melted good came up with my fork, and I said, "Hey, there is cheese in this!" I love cheese, it might be my favorite. Then I thought about what I had said and it dawned on me there was probably no actual cheese in my bowl. Upon further inspection I discovered the whole thing was a big ol' bowl of slime. We're talking Ghostbusters slimer-slime here. Serious slime. I stared at it in disbelief, vaguely remembering an episode of Top Chef where Mr. Colicchio mentions his distaste for okra, for it being slimy.

I went full on squint-eyed suspicious staring at my food. I decided to go for it though. I got a big ol' scoop of okra on my fork and moved it toward my mouth. A long un-broken strand of slime still connected my fork to the bowl as I shoved it in my mouth. It was a mistake. My mouth and brain could not wrap themselves around this... stuff. I might have tried to spit it out but I think it was afixed to my tongue by this point. I did not give up though, I tried eat my food. I ate as much goat as I could, it still had the skin on it near as I could figure, and there was a bone in my bowl I could not identify. It looked like a check mark. I went so far as to look up anatomical drawings of goat skeletons trying to find this bone, I could not. A mystery. The saving grace to this whole debacle was the fufu. I was able to dunk the fufu in the slime and eat some of it. The flavours were all fine, but the solids and I guess liquids (of the non-Newtonian variety), were not in my palatablity-range. I was not alone in this, most people around the table agreed, that maybe the food was a little to authentic for our American mouths to handle.

After we finished, we all walked down the street to a soul-food restaurant for dessert. Good times. Seriously, good times, I enjoyed the whole night. The restaurant was a totally new food experience for me, and I am glad I went. If for nothing more than my appetizer that tasted like the zoo and my new found knowledge to never ever order okra again. Would I recommend the place? Sure why not, just stay away from the okra, and probably the goat too (and if you hate the food, there is soul food down the street).

The end!

*As a side not, I looked up Nigerian cuisine on the internet, and learned of a food they quite enjoy, that being draw soup. According to wikipedia: "typically [made] from okra or melon seeds. It gets its name from the thick nature of the broth; it draws out of the bowl when eaten". So it would seem this is what I had.

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An Amateur Palate's Lent Season

It's lent season for this amateur palate.

What is the lent season? It's the period of time for Roman Catholics between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. During this time, you make preparations for Easter Sunday by praying, repenting and sacrificing.

And in terms of sacrificing, you'll find Catholics around the world denying themselves of pleasures or habits. Some give up smoking, others give up drinking.

I decided to go through the lent season without eating food from a restaurant, deli, fast food chain, or wherever. This means that I can't grab a quick bite to eat during lunch at work, I have to bring something I made at home. If I'm out and about throughout the day, I can't stop by a street vendor and grab a small snack. Everything I eat must be bought at a grocery store and prepared at my own home.

It sounds simple, but it isn't. I live in New York City where food from different parts of the world are offered in a wide range of prices. Food in this city is convenient, fun and varied. This will be a difficult lent season for me, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

This will allow me, of course, to share more of my amateur cooking hours with you.

Wish me luck!

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Potato and Aubergine Curry

by Milesh Gordhandas, Amateur Palate guest blogger from Brussels, Belgium

I'm a Portuguese-born Indian and a vegetarian. I have been an "amateur chef" since September 2001. At that time, I left my family in Lisbon to start a new life abroad--first in London to study and work, and now in Brussels. Indian food is not cooked everyday as it takes some time and energy. Here is a report of one of those evenings where suddenly I had a lot of energy and drive to produce this amazing--yes, it tasted really good, so why be modest?--yet simple curry. It was, of course, my Mum who taught me this recipe.

This humble potato and aubergine curry serves one pretty well. You need one potato and one aubergine of these sizes, half of this onion, and one garlic clove...

In a saucepan, put some oil, heat it up, chop the onion and saute them until they are crisp brown. Cut the potato and the aubergine in cubes, and add them in the saucepan.

This is the "critical part." Spread one teaspoon of curry powder blend onto the pan. My Mum made this powder from a mix of spices. These include red pepper powder, saffron and cumin. You may get this in your local supermarket, but you'll find a better range in specialty Indian shops or grocery stores.

Cover the food in water, and cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook on high heat for half an hour. Half-way through, you will need to put some tomato sauce. You can either put two big spoons of tomato sauce or--like I did--grate half of a tomato onto it. This helps to add colour and consistency. Cover it again and let it cook for the remaining time.

Have the curry with some nice, warm Indian breads, like chappatis or naans. And, of course, eat it with your hands! At the end of the dish, you can have the curry with rice.

Enjoy your meal (cooking and eating it) by listening to some nice Bollywood beats!

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Chinatown's Soup Dumplings

An absolute must during a bitter cold winter is a trip to your local Chinatown for soup dumplings--warm pork dumplings with steaming broth inside. This is comfort food at its finest.

If you're in NYC, go to my favorite joint, Shanghai Cafe on Mott Street, where you'll pay $8.00 for eight large dumplings. Another local favorite is Joe's Shanghai on Pell Street, though there is always a long wait for a table.

Stay warm!

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The Art of Cooking in New Brighton

Ah, news of me and my amateur palate is spreading. When finding out about this blog, a colleague of mine gave me a cook book that the lovely ladies from the church of his home town in New Brighton, PA created. It features fun recipes from Eastern Europe, and his Croatian grandmother contributed a few.

I received permission to share one recipe on An Amateur's Palate, courtesy of my colleague's grandmother.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Sour Cream
2 1/2 or 3 lb. whole spring chicken, cut or already cut selected choice pieces.
1 c. of diced onions
1/2 c. shortening (or butter)
1/2 c. diced green pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black or white pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper-optional
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 tsp. marjoram

Saute onions in shortening. Add cut chicken, salt and pepper. Fry slowly covered for about 1/2 hour. Add diced green pepper and saute all for 10 minutes. Add paprika, cayenne pepper, marjoram and sour cream. Keep uncovered and fry 10 more minutes. If you desire you may add about a 1/2 c. more or less of boiling water for gravy.

Give it a try, and let me know how it turns out.

This blog write-up is dedicated to Daryl G. Grecich (1966-2011).

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Skip Salt Bar in Manhattan

I recently dined at Salt Bar in downtown Manhattan. Salt Bar is a typical lower east side hang out that draws in neighborhood folks by offering $1 oysters. But unless I'm in New Orleans where oysters are abundant, I'm skeptical of any oyster offered at $1, especially if there is no information provided about its origin.

So, I opted to try their main menu instead. I ordered their poached flounder curry with carrots and spinach, which was priced at $19. It should have been priced at $2.

The "poached" flounder was actually a defrosted fish fillet. It had a bland, watery taste, which led me to believe that it was a few days old. The carrots sticks were taken straight from the snack bag. They were lazily thrown in the curry and were served raw (yes, raw!). The sauce itself had potential, but it was diluted by water from either the spinach or fish.

I couldn't believe that they offered a dish that received little to no care. Salt Bar is located in a neighborhood that offers very good food. If it doesn't reexamine the quality of its food and the execution of its dishes, I'm afraid it won't survive Manhattan's cutthroat restaurant industry.

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Chicken Adobo

Chicken Adobo is one of the most popular dishes in Filipino cuisine. The recipe to make it is also one of the most versatile, which the New York Times so eloquently reported earlier this month.

So, I thought I’d share my version of the dish, which I learned from my mother. It’s salty, sweet and sour—encompassing all the typical flavors of Filipino food. Here it is:

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 of a yellow onion

1 cup of water

3/4 cup of soy sauce

1/2 cup of white vinegar

2 bay leaves

4-5 large chicken breasts

1 tsp. of sugar

Sauté the onion and garlic until they sweat. Then, in high heat, put in the water, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves and sugar. Gently place the chicken breasts in the pan. When the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to medium and let it simmer for 45 minutes. Do not stir or mix the liquid while it’s cooking.

You’ll know the dish is finished when the liquid turns cloudy and the chicken is cooked. It’s best when it’s served the next day with white rice.

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Teeth Cracking Eye of Round Roast

I hosted my first holiday dinner this year. While I've had a high batting average on new dishes, this particular dinner was not a hit.

Without doing much research on different cuts of meat, I took a trip to Costco beforehand and bought a six-pound hunk of eye of round roast. For those who don't know, the eye of round roast is taken from the cow's upper hind leg where there is a lot of muscle. As a result, the meat is tough, and doesn't have the same marble as you'd see from a softer cut (such as a rib eye). This is what makes the cut less desirable, and thus, less expensive.

And what you save on price, you pay in embarrassment. Even though I marinated the beef for 28 hours and left it medium rare, it remained tough enough to break a few plastic forks and stress my guests' jaws from chewing--an unfortunate result given all the hard work put into the dish. I couldn't help but apologize for the cut and pour more wine in their glasses.

My guests did enjoy the taste, which was a result of the marinade and seasoning. Here's what I did:

1) Mix 1 cup of vegetable oil, 1 cup of whiskey, fresh thyme and dried basil. Marinade the beef in this for about 24 hours.

2) Pat the beef dry and lightly season it with salt and paprika. Heavily coat it with black pepper.

3) Cover the meat with bacon, then roast in your oven to your desired finish.

Give it a try. Just don't buy the eye of round roast.

Happy holidays, everyone.

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