Okay. I have to say that I'm addicted to spicy, slow cooked foods. Only when I make them in my kitchen, they're not always slow cooked. The current incarnation is a curried fish stew.
So, where to start? The base of the stew is a nice pureed, vegetable soup, based primarily on tomatoes and mirepoix (the standard onion, celery, carrot base in French cooking). Cook it down, season to taste, puree, and strain coarsely. Basically, you want to get the seeds and the long fibers out, but leave some texture to the soup. This is good on it's own. I happened to have a quart left over in the fridge.
I was originally planning on making cioppino, an Italian fish stew, so I sautéed some large cuts of green peppers and onions, while the base started to warm up in a pot. The plan was to add some potatoes, some fresh herbs, and let everything simmer for a while, before adding some fish (tilapia is what I had) at the end. Of course, I was out of potatoes, but had a bunch of left over potato/turnip gratin that was sitting in the fridge. That took care of the starch.
I decided that I wanted a spicy stew, so I started seasoning the peppers and onions, adding chili powder, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and ground red pepper, in addition to salt and black pepper. I deglazed the pan with some red wine, and added everything to the pot. As I was tasting, the dish was OK, but not great. I looked up in my cabinet and saw a bunch of yellow curry powder that was sitting there, untouched for the last 8 months or so. Bingo.
A bunch of curry powder, and some chunks of fish got added to the pot. The result? An incredibly addicting curried fish, with onions, peppers, and potatoes. Served over rice, this was a nice, rich, but not overpowering or overindulgent dish. Can't argue with that.
-foodgeek
Monday, January 07, 2008
Friday, November 23, 2007
Kitchen Happenings: Giving Thanks
So I have a tradition. I don't go home for Thanksgiving. Home's a little far away. And I'm lazy. Instead, I sleep in, cook all day while watching football, and eat way too much. And then the day after, I do the same thing, minus the cooking part. Back when the entire posse was around, we'd spend the Saturday before Thanksgiving doing some volunteer work, and then have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my place. I'd have leftovers all week, and wouldn't want to do another turkey on Thanksgiving, so I normally don't do the traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Instead I normally go with a standing rib roast, and build from there. This year, I didn't have a posse around, so no early Thanksgiving dinner, but I stuck with my personal tradition, anyway.
It was pretty sweet. I made a nice warm vichyssoise the day before, so that made for a great opener. Simple as can be. Chicken stock, cooked leeks, potatoes, salt, pepper, all simmering in a pot. When everything's cooked down, you take the ol' boat motor for a ride, and puree everything. Finish with milk or cream, maybe a little garnish, and life's good.
I did go with something new, olive oil poached shrimp and scallops. Incredibly simple. Warm up a bunch of olive oil, and add some aromatics (garlic, sage, rosemary, and parsley, since that's what I had on hand). Cool the oil down to about 130, and add the seafood, and put the whole thing on the stove, over warm. Let it go until the seafood's cooked. You get this really nice, tender seafood that has a gentle flavor. You may need to add a touch of salt to the scallops, but the shrimp should be great as is. Very nice opener.
While this was happening, I busted out an old standby that I hadn't made in a couple years, a potato/apple cheddar gratin. Basically, scalloped potatoes, only with layers of apple in there. A little sweet and a little sour work nicely with the cheddar and potatoes, and makes for something that takes classic comfort food, and makes it just a little different, and darned good. This isn't the simplest dish, because you have to make a bechamel, and then thinly slice a bunch of potatoes and apples, but it isn't rocket science. And it's well worth the time. And if you make a big batch of bechamel, you can make baked mac 'n cheese the next day! The biggest thing is to have a big baking tray under your casserole dish, to catch the sauce that boils over in the oven. That saves you from cleaning up a mess.
After that, I made the classic rib roast, and had carrots and sweet potatoes below to cook in the drippings. Great stuff. I did try a new technique that I read about for the roast. Normally, I prefer to sear, and then go at 300 to finish. Instead, this time I roasted at 550 for 35 minutes, and then turning the oven down to 200 for the next 1:25. The meat turned out great, very rare, almost black and blue, but that's what I'm into :-) If I was having guests, I'd probably bump it up to 250 to finish, to get to a more medium-rare. But it was just me, so I went caveman style on this one. The problem was that the root veggies that were in contact with the pan ended up getting burned because of the time at 550. This technique is much easier than searing, so the trade off may be worth it. Unfortunately, nothing else can really be done with the oven during this time, so you'd have to make sides elsewhere, which isn't that big of a deal.
All of this stuff was pretty standard fare for me, so while it was tasty, it wasn't all that exciting to me. What turned out to be exciting was a little additional side that is going to become standard fare in my kitchen. Popovers (or mini Yorkshire puddings, if you like) from a muffin tin. They have popover tins, but I don't know what else you do with them, and the muffin tins work just fine. Easy to make the batter. Equal parts milk and flour (by volume), with 1 egg for each cup of milk/flour. Seasonings to taste. Add a little less flour for a lighter popover. Add everything to the blender, and blend. While the blender's still on, add the flour. You've got batter in seconds. Do this about an hour before your roast is coming out, and let the batter rest. Take the roast out to rest, and fire the oven back up to 425. Spoon a little bit (maybe 1-2 tsp) of the drippings into each slot in the muffin tin, and put the tin into the oven (you want the tin to be hot). After about 2 minutes, take the tin out, and fill each slot about 2/3 of the way with your batter, and put it back into the oven. Let it go at 425 for 12 minutes, and then reduce the head to 375 for about another 20 minutes. Brush with a little butter (or more of the drippings!), and you're in business.
The funny part was that I was doing a good job of portion control earlier. Instead of devouring the entire rib roast (which I've been known to do), I only punished half of it (though in fairness, it was a 3.25 lb. roast), and was good with the other sides. However, I definitely ate an entire tray (only 6, though) of the popovers. They're like those Pillsbury crescent rolls - just addicting. It struck me that the popovers were a lot like the muffins over at Milo's, so I think that I'll be playing around to see if I can duplicate what they're doing. I'm guessing a little more flour in the batter, and I'll be close.
In any case, I definitely ate well yesterday (and with the leftovers today). However, I think that I do want to roast a bird (probably a chicken, though), and make some stuffing, potatoes, and corn casserole, and drowh it all in gravy at some point soon to make up for my lost Thanksgiving. But I think that I'll be making popovers anyway, because they're too good to skip out on.
-foodgeek
It was pretty sweet. I made a nice warm vichyssoise the day before, so that made for a great opener. Simple as can be. Chicken stock, cooked leeks, potatoes, salt, pepper, all simmering in a pot. When everything's cooked down, you take the ol' boat motor for a ride, and puree everything. Finish with milk or cream, maybe a little garnish, and life's good.
I did go with something new, olive oil poached shrimp and scallops. Incredibly simple. Warm up a bunch of olive oil, and add some aromatics (garlic, sage, rosemary, and parsley, since that's what I had on hand). Cool the oil down to about 130, and add the seafood, and put the whole thing on the stove, over warm. Let it go until the seafood's cooked. You get this really nice, tender seafood that has a gentle flavor. You may need to add a touch of salt to the scallops, but the shrimp should be great as is. Very nice opener.
While this was happening, I busted out an old standby that I hadn't made in a couple years, a potato/apple cheddar gratin. Basically, scalloped potatoes, only with layers of apple in there. A little sweet and a little sour work nicely with the cheddar and potatoes, and makes for something that takes classic comfort food, and makes it just a little different, and darned good. This isn't the simplest dish, because you have to make a bechamel, and then thinly slice a bunch of potatoes and apples, but it isn't rocket science. And it's well worth the time. And if you make a big batch of bechamel, you can make baked mac 'n cheese the next day! The biggest thing is to have a big baking tray under your casserole dish, to catch the sauce that boils over in the oven. That saves you from cleaning up a mess.
After that, I made the classic rib roast, and had carrots and sweet potatoes below to cook in the drippings. Great stuff. I did try a new technique that I read about for the roast. Normally, I prefer to sear, and then go at 300 to finish. Instead, this time I roasted at 550 for 35 minutes, and then turning the oven down to 200 for the next 1:25. The meat turned out great, very rare, almost black and blue, but that's what I'm into :-) If I was having guests, I'd probably bump it up to 250 to finish, to get to a more medium-rare. But it was just me, so I went caveman style on this one. The problem was that the root veggies that were in contact with the pan ended up getting burned because of the time at 550. This technique is much easier than searing, so the trade off may be worth it. Unfortunately, nothing else can really be done with the oven during this time, so you'd have to make sides elsewhere, which isn't that big of a deal.
All of this stuff was pretty standard fare for me, so while it was tasty, it wasn't all that exciting to me. What turned out to be exciting was a little additional side that is going to become standard fare in my kitchen. Popovers (or mini Yorkshire puddings, if you like) from a muffin tin. They have popover tins, but I don't know what else you do with them, and the muffin tins work just fine. Easy to make the batter. Equal parts milk and flour (by volume), with 1 egg for each cup of milk/flour. Seasonings to taste. Add a little less flour for a lighter popover. Add everything to the blender, and blend. While the blender's still on, add the flour. You've got batter in seconds. Do this about an hour before your roast is coming out, and let the batter rest. Take the roast out to rest, and fire the oven back up to 425. Spoon a little bit (maybe 1-2 tsp) of the drippings into each slot in the muffin tin, and put the tin into the oven (you want the tin to be hot). After about 2 minutes, take the tin out, and fill each slot about 2/3 of the way with your batter, and put it back into the oven. Let it go at 425 for 12 minutes, and then reduce the head to 375 for about another 20 minutes. Brush with a little butter (or more of the drippings!), and you're in business.
The funny part was that I was doing a good job of portion control earlier. Instead of devouring the entire rib roast (which I've been known to do), I only punished half of it (though in fairness, it was a 3.25 lb. roast), and was good with the other sides. However, I definitely ate an entire tray (only 6, though) of the popovers. They're like those Pillsbury crescent rolls - just addicting. It struck me that the popovers were a lot like the muffins over at Milo's, so I think that I'll be playing around to see if I can duplicate what they're doing. I'm guessing a little more flour in the batter, and I'll be close.
In any case, I definitely ate well yesterday (and with the leftovers today). However, I think that I do want to roast a bird (probably a chicken, though), and make some stuffing, potatoes, and corn casserole, and drowh it all in gravy at some point soon to make up for my lost Thanksgiving. But I think that I'll be making popovers anyway, because they're too good to skip out on.
-foodgeek
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Compare and Contrast: Greek Champaign
Okay. I don't write here nearly enough. So, instead of doing two full blown write-ups, I'm going to start something different. Comparisons of similar places. So today, we're going to talk about the Greek scene. No, I'm not talking about the sororities with the hottest girls or the frats that throw the best keggers. We're talking food.
Pasha's vs. Papa George's
The initial response that comes to mind when you enter both places is very different. You walk into Pasha's, and you think, "sort of plain looking restaurant, and the layout's a little odd, but it seems cool enough." Pasha's has a sort of open layout, but a strange flow to the place. It seemed like there was some potential there. On the other hand, you walk into Papa George's, and you think, "So this is where all of the old apartment furniture ends up." It's in a sort of stereotypical Applebee's sort of layout where you walk in, look onto a U-shaped bar, and has seating to both sides. It didn't exactly inspire confidence.
And the presentation of the food sort of verified my view of both places. At Pasha's, the presentation was a little muddled, but it still felt like a restaurant, maybe one that was trying a little too hard, but it was what you expected. At Papa George's, the plates were old, beat up, and looked like they came from a diner that had closed. And, much like the furniture, they were probably remnants of the Pickle's era.
The meze (small plate appetizers, sort of like tapas) at both places have a combo option, where you can try a number of different things. Pasha's has a combo platter with a number of cold dips and spreads, all of which were tasty. Some highlights include the creamy cheese spread, which was a definite favorite and the hummus, which was a little garlicky, which is a good thing in my book. Papa George's has a pick 3 or a pick 5, which also lets you get some of the warm mezes. And by and large, I'd stick with the warm, meat-based ones. We got some phyllo stuffed with cheese, which was okay, not great (and sort of a small portion), some pork kebobs (so many places use loin, which is often an inferior choice to something off of the shoulder) that were tasty, but dried and tough, and some really good grilled lamb meatballs. For the cold choices, we got a spicy feta dip that was a little runnier than I expected, and a forgettable garlic-mashed potato spread that can be excellent at some places, but ended up a little oily and gritty (though tasty). I will say that the grilled zucchini that came with the potato spread was awesome, however the pita at Papa George's were stale. Ugh. This was not a problem at Pasha, which had just great flat bread.
Looking over the menu, the one thing that Pasha's has that I like is a big combo platter, where you can taste a number of different things. At Pasha, we loaded up on a Pasha special (the combo platter) and also added on some of the Lahmacun (a flat bread with ground lamb on top). The food was all good, with the lamb kebobs being better than the chicken (which was a little dry), and the grilled, lamb meatballs being tasty as well. The pita was nice, the meat all had good flavor and was cooked right. I would say that the meat tended to be grilled and tasty. On the down side, the only moussaka was a vegetarian option, and there was no pastitsio. So, no Greek casseroles.
Unfortunately, Papa George's does not have the combo platter option, but while their mezes were iffy, their entrees were awesome. Moussaka was very tasty, as was the pastitsio. You could definitely tell you were eating Greek with the fragrant spices (cinnamon and nutmeg, I think) that were in the background. Now what set apart Papa George's was the presence of some slow cooked items. The lamb stew and the lamb shank jumped out at us. The lamb stew was really good. The reddish gravy had this deep, rich flavor that I thought was great. I think that the lamb itself leaned a bit on the fatty side, and could have used a little more of the connective tissue that gives so much flavor. The meat was either too fatty, or almost too lean and didn't stay super tender. But the flavor was darned good. Unfortunately, the shank, which was incredibly tender and had great flavor by itself, was cooked in a think lemon-like cream sauce that sort of curdled, and had these giant canned artichokes in there. I actually don't mind canned artichokes on salads or baked on top of pizza, but it was just sort of a mess. If they would make the shank in the sauce for the stew, I'd just go there for that dish once a week.
Dessert as Pasha's was pretty standard. The rice pudding was OK. A little lemon zest and ginger (I think) livened up the taste. One dessert at Papa George had to be tried. A house, rolled baklava that featured pistachio and fig. The server warned us that the chocolate was overwhelming. And sure enough, we saw that each end was dipped in a chocolate ganache that was way too thick. It really took away from the nice, subtly sweet, nutty, earthy flavor that the figs and pistachios gave. The filling was a little dry, and wasn't quite as sweet as it should have been, but the chocolate killed it. I was brainstorming ideas for ways to sweeten up the dish w/out the chocolate and w/out using plain honey, but I came up with cutting honey with orange juice and adding some fragrant spices. I really think that the dessert would be more of a hit with something other than chocolate. Maybe even a honey sweetened yogurt sauce would have been better. But hey, I don't work here. I just eat here.
The thing about Greek places is that you get a lot of food for your money. Really, if you order an entree, it's enough for two. How I'd do it is by doing some appetizers, maybe an appetizer combo, and splitting an entree, and probably go somewhere else for dessert, stuffed with Greek food. With soft drinks, tax, and tip, you can probably get by with $35 or $40 for 2 people. Not bad, if you figure that you'd pay about the same at a Chili's.
In any case, we have some Greek options in Champaign that don't require pledging and hazing. Personally, Pasha's a place I'd take people to socialize. I'd go to Papa George to have a little personal quiet time with some slow cooked lamb. But oddly enough, I think that the best Greek place in the area may be The Deluxe out in downtown Danville. Maybe these two places will pick it up in the coming months.
-foodgeek
See links to websites for restaurant information.
Ratings:
Papa George's - No stars, but with room to move up to 1 star
Pasha's - 0.5 stars, without much upside
Pasha's vs. Papa George's
The initial response that comes to mind when you enter both places is very different. You walk into Pasha's, and you think, "sort of plain looking restaurant, and the layout's a little odd, but it seems cool enough." Pasha's has a sort of open layout, but a strange flow to the place. It seemed like there was some potential there. On the other hand, you walk into Papa George's, and you think, "So this is where all of the old apartment furniture ends up." It's in a sort of stereotypical Applebee's sort of layout where you walk in, look onto a U-shaped bar, and has seating to both sides. It didn't exactly inspire confidence.
And the presentation of the food sort of verified my view of both places. At Pasha's, the presentation was a little muddled, but it still felt like a restaurant, maybe one that was trying a little too hard, but it was what you expected. At Papa George's, the plates were old, beat up, and looked like they came from a diner that had closed. And, much like the furniture, they were probably remnants of the Pickle's era.
The meze (small plate appetizers, sort of like tapas) at both places have a combo option, where you can try a number of different things. Pasha's has a combo platter with a number of cold dips and spreads, all of which were tasty. Some highlights include the creamy cheese spread, which was a definite favorite and the hummus, which was a little garlicky, which is a good thing in my book. Papa George's has a pick 3 or a pick 5, which also lets you get some of the warm mezes. And by and large, I'd stick with the warm, meat-based ones. We got some phyllo stuffed with cheese, which was okay, not great (and sort of a small portion), some pork kebobs (so many places use loin, which is often an inferior choice to something off of the shoulder) that were tasty, but dried and tough, and some really good grilled lamb meatballs. For the cold choices, we got a spicy feta dip that was a little runnier than I expected, and a forgettable garlic-mashed potato spread that can be excellent at some places, but ended up a little oily and gritty (though tasty). I will say that the grilled zucchini that came with the potato spread was awesome, however the pita at Papa George's were stale. Ugh. This was not a problem at Pasha, which had just great flat bread.
Looking over the menu, the one thing that Pasha's has that I like is a big combo platter, where you can taste a number of different things. At Pasha, we loaded up on a Pasha special (the combo platter) and also added on some of the Lahmacun (a flat bread with ground lamb on top). The food was all good, with the lamb kebobs being better than the chicken (which was a little dry), and the grilled, lamb meatballs being tasty as well. The pita was nice, the meat all had good flavor and was cooked right. I would say that the meat tended to be grilled and tasty. On the down side, the only moussaka was a vegetarian option, and there was no pastitsio. So, no Greek casseroles.
Unfortunately, Papa George's does not have the combo platter option, but while their mezes were iffy, their entrees were awesome. Moussaka was very tasty, as was the pastitsio. You could definitely tell you were eating Greek with the fragrant spices (cinnamon and nutmeg, I think) that were in the background. Now what set apart Papa George's was the presence of some slow cooked items. The lamb stew and the lamb shank jumped out at us. The lamb stew was really good. The reddish gravy had this deep, rich flavor that I thought was great. I think that the lamb itself leaned a bit on the fatty side, and could have used a little more of the connective tissue that gives so much flavor. The meat was either too fatty, or almost too lean and didn't stay super tender. But the flavor was darned good. Unfortunately, the shank, which was incredibly tender and had great flavor by itself, was cooked in a think lemon-like cream sauce that sort of curdled, and had these giant canned artichokes in there. I actually don't mind canned artichokes on salads or baked on top of pizza, but it was just sort of a mess. If they would make the shank in the sauce for the stew, I'd just go there for that dish once a week.
Dessert as Pasha's was pretty standard. The rice pudding was OK. A little lemon zest and ginger (I think) livened up the taste. One dessert at Papa George had to be tried. A house, rolled baklava that featured pistachio and fig. The server warned us that the chocolate was overwhelming. And sure enough, we saw that each end was dipped in a chocolate ganache that was way too thick. It really took away from the nice, subtly sweet, nutty, earthy flavor that the figs and pistachios gave. The filling was a little dry, and wasn't quite as sweet as it should have been, but the chocolate killed it. I was brainstorming ideas for ways to sweeten up the dish w/out the chocolate and w/out using plain honey, but I came up with cutting honey with orange juice and adding some fragrant spices. I really think that the dessert would be more of a hit with something other than chocolate. Maybe even a honey sweetened yogurt sauce would have been better. But hey, I don't work here. I just eat here.
The thing about Greek places is that you get a lot of food for your money. Really, if you order an entree, it's enough for two. How I'd do it is by doing some appetizers, maybe an appetizer combo, and splitting an entree, and probably go somewhere else for dessert, stuffed with Greek food. With soft drinks, tax, and tip, you can probably get by with $35 or $40 for 2 people. Not bad, if you figure that you'd pay about the same at a Chili's.
In any case, we have some Greek options in Champaign that don't require pledging and hazing. Personally, Pasha's a place I'd take people to socialize. I'd go to Papa George to have a little personal quiet time with some slow cooked lamb. But oddly enough, I think that the best Greek place in the area may be The Deluxe out in downtown Danville. Maybe these two places will pick it up in the coming months.
-foodgeek
See links to websites for restaurant information.
Ratings:
Papa George's - No stars, but with room to move up to 1 star
Pasha's - 0.5 stars, without much upside
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