I may not have blogged in January, but I certainly ate, experimented and cooked up a storm. Here are a few delicious highlights:
Sapporo Restaurant's Pork Ginger. This is one of my favorite spots for a quick meal in midtown (152 W49th Street near 7th Ave). It's no nonsense, inexpensive, and best of all, the food shines like a star. Do not skip the Ramen! The counter seats that look into the kitchen offer a better cooking show than the Food Network.
Homemade Turkey Stock. Cover roasted turkey bones, carrots, onions, celery, and a bunch of herbs with water; cook at a slow simmer for a few hours to create a lovely stock for gravy or soup. I made one with white beans, left over turkey, Andouille sausage, and veggies. Delicious.
Chicken Paillard with Curried Oyster Mushrooms from The New York Times. On January 12, the paper published a great article by Melissa Clark on uplifting the lowly chicken cutlet. One recipe looked better than the next. The oyster mushrooms were a tad pricey, so I stretched them with some white buttons. I also cooked the Olive Oil Chicken Confit with Anchovy Parmesan Dressing to rave reviews. Created by a fabulous restaurant chef, it calls for 3 cups of olive oil to poach the chicken in. Not really affordable for the home cook on a budget. I did manage to reuse some of the oil for a spectacular shrimp scampi the next day, however.
Asian Style Chicken Soup. I intended to try another recipe from the same NY Times article, but realized I didn't have many of the ingredients, so I had to improvise quite a bit. Good thing. I ended up with a video worthy dish. I'm still testing, but I put two 1 inch discs of ginger, three scallions, 6 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 cup chicken stock, 3 cups water, and 3 tablespoons of (light) soy sauce into a pot. I brought it to a boil, let it simmer for 10 minutes then I sprinkled three chicken cutlets with salt and pepper and slipped them into the pot as well.
I brought the pot back up to a simmer, covered it, turned off the heat and let it sit for 12 minutes. After checking the chicken for doneness, I removed the cutlets and cooked the broth an additional 10 minutes. To a soup bowl, I added some of the chicken, white rice and string beans which is what I had on hand, and poured the strained broth over it. A clean and tasty soup with a hint of spicy ginger.
Sweet Shrimp Rolls. This time of year Maine produces some lovely
sweet shrimp. Luckily, my neighborhood fish market carries them. Tiny and delicate, they take seconds to cook. I saw a
recipe for a shrimp roll in New York Magazine,
and thought I'd try a version of my Warm Lobster Rolls, swapping out
the lobster for the shrimp.
Heat a tablespoon of butter in a large pan, add sliced celery and cook for 2 minutes. Season shrimp with salt and pepper, add to pan and cook until opaque and curled, about 2 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon, and a healthy pinch of chopped parsley. Layer toasted hot dog buns with romaine lettuce, and top with shrimp mixture. Great with Chardonnay.
Roasted Winter Vegetables from the Farmer's Market. Turnips are delightful this time of year. That's right, I
said Turnips. Ditto Brussel Sprouts. Especially with Butternut Squash
and Shallots. I make them once or twice a week in various combinations.
Halve the brussels, cut the rest of the veggies into 1/2 inch pieces,
drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and cook in a 375 oven for
about 20-25 minutes. Use either a regular sheet pan or
pyrex/corningware baking dishes. Yummy with everything.
