On Moving (and food)

I've lived in the same apartment for 3 1/2 years. Aside from my childhood home, this is the longest I've lived in one place. My close friends know that I have a hard time with change and a really hard time not getting attached to things. (Ex. I had a nightmare once that my favorite coffee mug broke. It was pretty devastating.) I move today, and it feels like I'm losing a friend.

Moving is the worst. Not only has it taken a toll on me emotionally and physically, it's wreaked havoc on my eating habits for the past two weeks. The last home-cooked meal I ate was a week ago (Mexican-style eggs). I've been eating a steady diet of toast and leftover pizza because I've wanted to avoid making a mess in the kitchen. Not good.

I'm sad to leave my home, but I'm excited about the meals I'll create and share with friends in my new apartment. The best part about my new place? It's literally two minutes down the street from Trader Joe's!

My old place, pre-move

Bag Lunch: Chicken, Chorizo, and Olive Empanadas

Life is a little crazy right now, hence my totally neglecting this poor little blog. I mentioned making these empanadas WEEKS ago and I can't believe I've held off on posting about it for so long. These are too good to keep to myself. They're a little involved, but they're a great project for a chilly Sunday afternoon when you have some time on your hands. I used this recipe, but ignored the directions to double the dough. You basically have to decide what you'd rather have: extra dough or extra filling.

Make the dough before you get started on the filling. That way it has a chance to sit in the fridge for an hour.

Here are my seasoned chicken legs browning in my fantastic skillet. If you don't have a skillet, go out and get one from Target right now. Don't even finish reading this post. Just buy a skillet. It will make everything you make in it cook and taste 100x better. And I suppose you could swap out boneless skinless chicken breast here, but only if you want something that doesn't taste very good.

Remove the chicken from the skillet.

Saute onions, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes before adding paprika and chorizo to the pan to brown (I used spicy Italian sausage because I couldn't get my hands on chorizo).

Add olives, wine, and broth to skillet and bring to a boil before nestling the chicken legs back in the pan. Let the chicken cook in the skillet for about 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken and bay leaves from the mixture to cool. Once the chicken is cool, remove the skin and bones and chop the meat. Add the meat back to the skillet and let the filling cool for about 30 minutes.

I'll just let the recipes guide you on filling instructions, but basically you divide your dough in half, form balls, flatten into disks, and fill with about two tablespoons of filling (which you'll have leftovers of, but will eat over rice for dinner and love just as much as your empanadas). Below is sort of what they should (or can) look like. You can also crimp the edges with a fork if you don't want to get fancy like I did. Brush the tops with egg wash and pop them in the oven.

After about 25 minutes in a 400 degree oven you get beautiful, brown empanadas. These keep really well in the fridge, and they're good cold or quickly warmed in the oven (or microwave). Two empanadas and a side salad make a great lunch.

Notice the flaky crust and moist filling. These are a delicious blend of sweet, savory, and a little spicy. I made them for lunch, and they'd obviously be great for dinner, but if you made them a little smaller they'd make great appetizers!

Field Trip: Rockaway Taco

Now that summer's officially over, I'm going to post about my one trip to the beach. Timely, I know. I'd heard a lot about Rockaway Taco, so I had one chance to check it out. 

After riding so far out on the A train that we thought there was nowhere else to go, my roommate Jordan and I switched to a shuttle that took us out to Far Rockaway. It almost felt like we'd left New York, except that there was still trash and graffiti everywhere. 

Carne tacos. Biggest mistake of my entire taco-eating life (and the word taco was literally one of my first words). Never have I ever passed on a taco (not even Taco Bell), but the meat in these tacos--grisly and bland--was downright inedible. Jordan and I both trashed the meat and ate the corn tortillas with the guac, cabbage, and radishes.

Chorizo taco. Major improvement from the carne. The filling wasn't as spicy and textured as I like my chorizo, but it was still flavorful.

Fish taco. I've mentioned that I don't like fish, but I had a bite of Jordan's taco and was really pleased with the taste. The crunch of the batter, slaw, and radishes, in combination with the creamy aioli and tangy lime, was really, really nice. In reading reviews of Rockaway Taco (and assessing my personal experience) I see that I completely failed by ordering the carne and not the fish taco. Live and learn.

Plantain and black bean quesadilla. Not really a quesadilla in the traditional sense, this was more of a taco with melted cheese. This totally saved the Rockaway Taco excursion for me. The creamy beans, sweet plantains, and salty cheese nearly wiped the memory of the horrendous carne taco from my mind.

Here are some other pictures of our Goodbye-Summer beach excursion.

Mauling my chorizo taco

Jordan enjoying her fish taco

Goodbye, summer!

Why I'm not cooking this week

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (a book I spent the better part of the last year and a half working on) was released on Tuesday, and to celebrate Scholastic threw Brian a party at the American Museum of Natural History. It was epic, to say the least. I even got to go behind-the-scenes and see 80 million-year-old fossils that were recently excavated!

That's the cover on the ceiling and the mass of black in the middle is a blue whale.

As if the release party wasn't special enough, the next day I had the rare opportunity to see a rough cut of Martin Scorsese's Hugo (based on Brian's novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret) at Mr. Scorsese's office! He wasn't there, but it was still amazing to see the film with the people that made the book happen. It was a great thank-you from the Scorsese's after how hard we worked on the movie companion. (And by "hard" I mean I wasn't sleeping or eating regularly and I lost the ability to form coherent thoughts or express myself properly.)

Cover copyright Scholastic 2011

The movie is so true to Brian's work, and it was such a privilege to be there with him as he watched the movie for the first time. The trailer really doesn't do the film justice.

Movie poster copyright Paramount 2011

So, all this to say that I haven't been home to cook this week or pull myself together enough to post the amazing things I've made recently, including some out-of-this-world chicken empanadas. You'll just have to wait.

Bag Lunch: Whole Grain Rice Salad

Fall is around the corner, which means this recipe featuring cherries is a bit ill-timed, but I made it weeks ago and want to share it with you before it has to hibernate for the winter.

I found this recipe in Super Natural Everyday when I was killing time at Barnes and Noble last month. I was too cheap (and poor) to buy the book itself, so I took pictures of the recipe with my iPhone. I am nothing if not resourceful. The author, Heidi Swanson, has a blog that showcases her incredible food photography and super-healthy recipes.

Here's what you'll need:

• 3 1/2 cups cooked whole grain rice (still warm, or reheated)
• 4 handfuls baby spinach
• 2/3 cup walnuts halves, toasted (It was 7:30 am when I made this, I did not toast!)
• 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted
• 1/2 extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• salt
• a few basil leaves
• a bit of goat cheese or feta (I used feta)

Here's what to do:

• Combine the hot rice, spinach, and most of the walnuts in a large bowl. Toss until the spinach wilts a bit. 

• Make a cherry vinaigrette by combining one-third of the cherries, oil, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and blending until smooth. Take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous the pink vinaigrette looks and then add a generous splash (or giant drizzle) of the dressing to the salad. 

• Tear the remaining cherries in half and stir most of them into the rice. Taste and add salt as needed.

• If you're serving this at an event, turn the salad out onto a platter and finish with the last of the cherries, walnuts, basil, and cheese. If you're taking it to work, like I did, just add these last ingredients in the previous step, before you salt the salad.

Unfortunately, because I made this in the morning before work one day I don't have any pictures of the process, so this is the only surviving picture. Ignore my nasty, tape-encrusted cutting mat in the background.

Word of warning, this delicious salad is best enjoyed the day you make it. I learned the hard way by eating it for a few days. The cut side of the cherries turns brown, and the walnuts become waterlogged. Not terrible, but not necessarily good eats, either. I guess you can remedy this by making the rice mixture and stirring in the dressing and add-ins each morning when you pack your lunch. I know cherries are probably scarce, but run out and make this if you can!

Breakfast: Dressed-up Greek Yogurt

I hate cereal. There, I said it. It's boring, and I am inevitably hungry an hour after eating it. Not only is it not satisfying, it's expensive.

So this morning I ate a bowl of Greek yogurt, walnuts, blueberries, and honey. I keep honey and walnuts in the pantry, so that was free, but okay, berries and yogurt aren't exactly cheap. Small price to pay for a breakfast that's more interesting than a soggy bowl of shredded wheat. Not to mention more filling because of all the protein in the yogurt and walnuts.

It's 11:30 and I'm not starving for lunch like I usually am. Eff you, cereal.

There's yogurt under there, I swear.

Red Rooster

I took a field trip to Harlem a few weeks ago for dinner at Red Rooster, and let me tell you, the neighborhood is not the place it used to be (sketchy). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go skipping around there at night twirling my pigtails or anything, but the place has changed a lot in the past few years (majorly gentrified).

Chef Marcus Samuelsson opened this place less than a year ago with the idea of melding his roots (Ethiopian), his upbringing (Swedish), and his current home (Harlem) into an affordable neighborhood dining destination. The idea is interesting, but the execution left me pretty disappointed (and if you scroll down to see what I made ordered for dinner you'll understand what I mean).

Corn bread, honey butter, and tomato jam. The salt-flecked corn bread was delicious and moist, and the honey butter made it that much more enjoyable. On the other hand, the tomato jam tasted like mild Pace salsa. Not good.

Two of my friends ordered the fried yard bird, with white mace gravy, hot sauce, and shake (some sort of seasoning blend). This is a terrible picture, but the portion was generous, the skin nice and crispy, and the hot sauce complex and full of heat.

Blackened catfish and black eyed peas with fried pickles and lemon dill slaw. I didn't taste this (I hate fish), but apparently it was so good that by the time I looked back up from my plate it was all gone! 

Yams and sweet potato puree with bacon, horseradish, and maple. We shared this as a table, but we didn't finish it. To me, that speaks volumes. The puree was just too soupy. We turned our attention to picking the crunchy bits off the top and pulling out the pieces of bacon that were folded into the puree.

And now for the picture I've been holding off on sharing because it is just too disgusting to look at. Chickpea dumplings, fresh cheese, spinach, and peas. This is what I made the mistake of ordering. I was so hungry and humiliated by my choice that I ate the entire thing. It tasted fine (even verging on flavorful), but it was almost entirely texture-less and every time I caught a glimpse of it I felt ill.

 

In a nutshell, I don't recommend the trek to Harlem for Red Rooster. I've heard they have great cocktails, but I couldn't justify spending $14 for a drink on a Monday night.

Bag Lunch: Turkey Sandwich with Pesto Mayo and Dried Cranberries

I ate a variation of this sandwich for the first time at a bridal shower last summer in Central Park. It was a terrific afternoon, so anytime I make this sandwich I'm transported back to that perfect summer day.

Here's what you'll need (amazing day in the park not included):

• Bread (I used whole grain)
• Pesto (fresh or store bought)
• Mayonnaise 
• Hard, grate-able cheese (I used Pecorino)
• Dried cranberries
• Arugula 
• Turkey

The flavor profile for the sandwich is a little autumn-y (turkey, dried cranberry), but the arugula brightens everything up making it a great summer lunch. And, bonus, no cooking required.

Mix some mayo into the pesto (or pesto into the mayo, depending how much you love mayo) and spread liberally on two slices of bread. This acts as an adhesive for all the loose ingredients in the sandwich.  Pick a slice and sprinkle on some grated cheese and cranberries. Dried fruit in a sandwich? Blegh, you may say. I was skeptical at first, too, but it brings a nice sweet/tart flavor to this sandwich and provides an interesting textural contrast to the other ingredients.

Pile on a generous handful of arugula and top it off with turkey (placing the turkey last keeps the unruly greens in place) and the other slice of bread.

I have to say, this is a lot more interesting than your standard turkey sandwich, and your coworkers will be impressed that you're not eating peanut butter and jelly, again, for the twelfth day in a row.

Kelley & Ping

I don't generally venture out for lunch (no time, no money), so I try to be selective when I do. An author friend mentioned Kelley & Ping as a cheap and delicious lunch spot in Soho, so I had to check it out. I was not disappointed!

In celebration of getting out of my office for lunch, I ordered a tropical iced tea (sadly, not spiked). It had lovely pineapple and mints flavors, but wasn't overly sweet.

What's inside the container?

Kelley & Ping's dim sum lunch box. Shrimp shumai, vegetable spring rolls, cold sesame noodles, and steamed shrimp dumplings accompanied by some sort of soy sauce dip and sweet & sour sauce. The diverse combination was the perfect solution for this extremely indecisive person. I could have spent fifteen precious minutes of my lunch hour trying to decide between their enticing salads, noodle bowls, and wraps, but I'm a sucker for dumplings and spring rolls. Everything was delicious, but the crispy spring roll, and peanuty noodles were what I savored most.

Not only is lunch at Kelley & Ping affordable ($12 for a meal and drink), it's tucked away on Greene Street, sheltered from the hoards of fashion-crazed European tourists and disgruntled New Yorkers roaming Soho.

Lentil and Rice Salad

I recently inherited the contents of my friend Annika's pantry (she left me for Chicago) and included in the bounty was a bag of lentils. What will I do with lentils? I thought to myself. As a kid I hated lentils so much I would cry if my dad made me eat them. A bit dramatic? Maybe.

Thankfully, the opportunity to use them and make other people eat them came up a few weeks later when I was invited to a pot luck. In an effort to save some money and use what I had on hand, I found this recipe on Epicurious. And, what do you know, it was actually delicious and quite pretty.

The vibrant chopped vegetables.

The boring lentil and brown rice mixture.

The marriage of bold and bland. Beautiful! (Sorry for the extreme closeup.)

Think of this as tabbouleh but with lentils and rice subbed in for bulgar. The textures and flavors in this dish are fantastic! The lesson here is that your five-year-old self shouldn't keep your grown-up self from going back and giving things a second chance.

Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls

As much as I love ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt, having a dairy-based dessert in the middle of a heat wave tends to make me feel ill. So I was pretty eager to try out Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls, the West Village's pop-up snow ball shop.

  

Overwhelmed by all the flavor choices (a feeling that's not surprising given my tendency to have a panic attack when faced with a decision of any sort), I settled on Key Lime Pie. Fun neon color, WAY too sweet. Probably not helped by the addition of condensed milk. (And here I was complaining about dairy in my frozen desserts.)

 

Their snow-balls are pricey ($4 for a small), their syrups are extremely sweet (the word syrup should have tipped me off, right?) but finishing one is guaranteed to bring your body temperature down a few degrees and it's sort of fun to walk around eating something this strange looking.

 

You'd think my initial review of this place would keep me from going back . . . but I already have. Am I crazy for paying $4 for a pile of sugar ice I didn't love the first time? Potentially. But I do live in New York where I pay about 45% of my net income to sleep in a closet-sized bedroom, so maybe crazy is my middle name. Anyway, my second go--granny smith apple sans condensed milk--was much better than the first. 

Bag Lunch: Orzo Salad

I gleaned most of my cooking skills from logging hours of watching the Food Network. This recipe came from an episode of Everyday Italian I watched in college, and it is so reliably delicious that I still make it, more than five years later.

I modified things a bit to work with what I had, so there was no mint in my salad, I added chicken, and used a store-bought balsamic vinaigrette. But, if you have the time, I definitely recommend making the red wine vinaigrette that's part of the recipe. There was just something missing from my salad without the zing of the red wine vinegar.

Since I ate this salad all week, I kept a large container of the orzo, chickpeas, onion, and chicken in the fridge and each day added tomatoes, basil, and dressing to the portion I planned to eat for lunch. Cut tomatoes get mealy fast, chopped basil and mint will turn brown after a while, and dressing will make orzo (or any pasta, for that matter) soggy when it sits too long, so either eat this salad right away or keep the delicate ingredients separate!

Here's the salad looking much more attractive in the natural light. My kitchen makes everything a sickly yellow.

Prime Meats

Brunch is definitely one of my favorite things about living in Brooklyn. Each neighborhood is littered with delicious options, each quirkier and cozier than the next. One of my favorite places (aside from my number one, Miriam) is Prime Meats. Their egg sandwich is my go to. You can get it with their excellent bacon or sausage, but I was feeling "healthy" that day, so I opted for avocado.

 

Buttery biscuit, perfectly ripe avocado, creamy scrambled egg, and melted cheese (with a dash or seven of Cholula hot sauce--a condiment I keep in my desk drawer I love it so much). Heaven. The only downside was the enormous biscuit. How could I possibly take a bite without ruining my beautiful sandwich?

Not being a fan of inefficiency or waste (particularly of a very delicious biscuit) I sliced the top part in two and enjoyed a post-egg sandwich snack of biscuit . . .

. . . dipped in honey. Free dessert!

Bag Lunch: Quinoa Steak Salad

My work lunches are often inspired by meals I've eaten out that I know I can recreate successfully at home. This salad is one of my first attempts at a remake, so I can't offer a precise recipe. Also, because I'm a single woman and have never used this recipe to entertain, I don't have any concept of how much you'll need of any of these ingredients to satisfy a family or your really hungry boyfriend/fiance/husband. Here's what I think could feed two people, but what I lived on for a week's worth of lunch:

• Prepare a cup of quinoa per instructions on the box
  

• Sear a piece of steak on a hot cast iron skillet for 4-5 minutes on each side and let rest for 10 minutes

• Slice (or chop) a handful of dried apricots

• Dice half a red onion

• Toss apricot, a handful of dried cranberries, and onion with quinoa

• Slice steak, and dress quinoa mixture with lime vinaigrette (I like Newman's Own, but it's hard to find, so you can either make it from scratch or use something like balsamic)
  

• Serve quinoa and steak over arugula

For work, I pack everything in a glass tupperware in layers (quinoa mixture, dressing, steak, arugula) and then dump it all out into a bigger container at work. That way the arugula stays crisp and I don't have to worry about packing an extra container of dressing (or having said container of dressing open up in my lunch pail. Yes, I typed lunch pail.).
I know it sounds somewhat unusual, but nutty quinoa, juicy steak, peppery arugula, sweet dried fruit, spicy onion, and tangy lime vinaigrette make this dish hugely satisfying. I need flavorful lunches or I'll get bored and start supplementing my diet with candy from my colleague's stash down the hall.

Here's what it will probably look like when you make it.

And here it is moments before entering my hungry face.