Spinach Pesto

It’s snowing again today. It looked so pretty and serene from my bedroom window, then I stepped outside and my foot submerged in an icy puddle of slush. And I don’t have snow boots. At least it’s Friday.

Two days ago, after being inspired by the beautiful photo’s over at Joy the Baker, I decided to make pesto pasta for dinner. This was the first time I’ve made my own pesto and I’m pretty sure I had much more trouble than the average person. It always looks so easy when Giada does it, but for me, it wasn’t so. I felt like Julia Child during some sort of comical cooking disaster, only I was not cheerful about it.

The trouble was, my spinach would not blend.  Are my blender blades dull? Was my spinach too tough? Why my spinach would not blend, I cannot tell you. I ended up having to dump the roughly torn spinach leaves out from the blender and onto a cutting board and chopping it up into smaller bits. Then I threw it all back in and added some olive oil to help it along. From there I guess it wasn’t so bad, but I still managed to get ingredients and olive oil everywhere.

In fact, after the pesto was done and placed in a handy tupperware container in my fridge, I turned around and in horror saw that my blender, countertop and t-shirt were all a total olive-oiley mess. Despite all of this, the pesto was pretty good. 🙂

I sort of made up the quantity of ingredients as I went along, but here’s the basic recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups baby spinach (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pignole (pine nuts)
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• Zest from a lemon
• 1/3 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Blend spinach with a little olive oil to get it going, then add garlic, lemon juice and zest, pine nuts, and parmesan and blend until smooth. Start streaming in olive oil from the top of the blender until you have the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Maple Latte

Something you should know about me – I subscribe to virtually every e-newsletter (food or otherwise) in the world. I read my food-related newsletters religiously, however, I currently have over 38,000 unread emails in my Gmail account right now. That just tells me it’s time to unsubscribe to all of the other nonsense. 😉

In reading my weekly e-dose of the TTNYC: Tasting Table New York City I became quite fascinated with the headline topic: Maple latte’s. I’ve never had one, but it sounded like the absolute perfect cold-weather drink to warm you up from sip to tummy. A hot maple drink seems the perfect accompaniment while relaxing in a cozy wooden lodge after a long day of skiing in Vermont. I’ve never been skiing in Vermont or to a wooden lodge, but it just seemed to fit…

Anyway, in the newsletter there were three shops listed relatively near to me that carry this cozy beverage. The most conveniently located was, Irving Place Coffee and Tea Bar at 71 Irving Place. So I left my apartment early before work today so I could try this unique latte for my morning boost.

According to TTNYC:

This café ‘blends wood-fired Deep Mountain syrup from Vermont with chocolaty Flying Donkey espresso’.

Who wouldn’t want one after that description?

It doesn’t matter the obstacles in my way, when I’m on a gastronomical mission to try something new, I will go to almost any length. So off I left from Brooklyn this morning, with my laptop, giant purse (who’s weight could make even the strongest bodybuilder flinch), my yoga mat (to remedy my morning splurge), and layers and layers of cold-weather wear. Then it was off to fight the subway crowd and embark on the out-of-the-way walk to Irving 71.

Once there, my eye immediately met the pastry case so I was ordering a plain croissant before I even knew the words were coming out of my mouth. The croissant was decent, but definitely nothing to write home about and nothing I’d ever get again. The soy maple latte I ordered, however, was everything I’d been hoping for!

The espresso was rich and robust, the velvety texture of the soy was everything one would hope for in a well-made latte, and the maple flavor was subtle, adding just the right amount of sweet woodsy flavor. The ‘latte art’ that tops a great espresso drink impresses me every time as well. Really fantastic. At $5 a pop it’s definitely a sometimes treat, but I would definitely go back.

-M-

Souffleed Strawberry Jam Omelets

I saw this recipe on Food & Wine’s website for ‘Soufleed Strawberry Jam Omelets‘ and immediately wanted to make it! The ingredients were so few, preparation so interesting, and the picture so pretty, that I got pretty excited pretty fast! When I find a recipe that I realize I already have all of the ingredients for, it’s like nothing can touch me. I’m happy as a clam, and can’t wait to get home and make it!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large egg whites
• 1/3 cup superfine sugar, plus more for dusting
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup strawberry jam
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Generously butter a large rimmed baking sheet and dust generously with superfine sugar. In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in the superfine sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until firm peaks form. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until pale yellow. Gently fold the egg yolks into the beaten whites.
2. With the spatula, use half of the egg mixture to form four 5-by-3-inch ovals on the prepared baking sheet. With the back of a spoon, make a 2-inch-long indentation in the center of each oval and fill with 1 tablespoon of the jam. Cover with the remaining egg mixture to enclose the jam.
3. Bake the soufflés for about 10 minutes, until puffed and golden brown but still slightly jiggly in the center. With a metal spatula, gently transfer the omelets to plates. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve right away.

Overall, the recipe was fun to make but only ok taste-wise. The consistency of the omelet was very light and airy like a souffle or meringue, however I guess because it was supposed to be an ‘omelet’ it wasn’t sweet like a dessert, making it sort of… odd tasting. Like, a sorta sweet sorta not egg puff. I also think I added a little too large of a jam dollop because that part was just overpoweringly sweet. I think if I make it again, I’ll use a more natural jam with less sugar.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

Now all of the credit from this post should be directly given to Joy the Baker, because that is where I found this lovely recipe and where I snagged the gorgeous pic from. It’s one of my favorite blogs because of the beautiful pictures, great recipes, and fun writing style from Joy herself.

I had friends visiting this past weekend and as per usual, we went gallavanting on a gastronomical journey through the City. From cream-filled donuts and rich petit fours, to cheddar chicken pot pie and goat cheese crepes. It was a deliciously fabulous time, but now it’s time to get serious again. I don’t feel well when I eat too few fruits and vegetables, and plus, I have a trip to Florida coming up in a couple months…

Even though I love being healthy, I also love baking. Like, a lot. I’ll get home from work and immediately start whisking something to pop in the oven. People ask me why I don’t chillax at the end of the day, but for me, that’s how I do it. So anyway, I was scouring the net the other day for healthy baking recipes and found a simple one on Joy’s site for Whole Wheat Molasses Bread. There’s only 6 ingredients, and all are fairly healthful. It also tastes amazing, which let’s face it, is the most important part.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

Makes one 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf

(Recipe from the New York Times)

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used European-style whole yogurt because there was only 1 ingredient and 12 grams of protein)
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup molasses

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and flour an 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf pan.  Non-stick baking spray works well too.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda.

In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk or yogurt and molasses.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold to combine.  The batter will be slightly thick, but not dry.  Spoon batter into prepared pan and place in the oven.  Bake loaf for 45 minutes to an hour.  Depending on how evenly your oven bakes, you might want to rotate the loaf in the middle of baking.  Be careful though.  Don’t manhandle it too hard or it might deflate.

When a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the loaf pan.  Run a butter knife along the sides of the pan and carefully invert onto a wire rack.

Loaf will keep, well wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Serve with cream cheese, jam, salted butter or nutella.

Note: I drizzled honey over the top and found that to be very good as well.

Poached Eggs on Toast

I discovered what has now become my new favorite breakfast while at home with the family over the holidays. My brother, who is now a health and body nut since moving to LA, made breakfast for us one morning calling it his ‘usual’.

It’s super simple, delicious, and really healthy. I’ll tell you how to make it:

Boil water to poach eggs. In the meantime, toast two slices of pumpernickel or whole grain bread. Once bread is nice and toasty, rub with the flat side of a fresh clove of garlic, then drizzle lightly with olive oil. Thinly slice a fresh tomato (unrefrigerated!), then layer slices on top of garlic bread. Once eggs are poached to desired done-ness, carefully remove from saucepan and gently place on top of tomato toast. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and oregano and serve with a side salad. YUM!

Pies ‘n’ Thighs

The Pies ‘n’ Thighs restaurant in Brooklyn has been praised on media outlets large and small. From the New York Times and Martha, to local food blogs and newspaper write-ups, everyone seems to love this place! Of course, I had to try it.

Since I simply cannot start something new on a weekend, I decided to make today my last night of over-indulgence prior to my New Year’s resolution to lose a few lbs. and become healthier. With my stomach growling, I scoured Google Maps for restaurants within the vicinity and made the the biggest decision yet of the day: Pizza or fried chicken?

(apologies for the dark images… my phone has no flash)

I decided to make the 10 minute walk to Pies ‘n’ Thighs, a local Brooklyn eatery that I’ve been dying to try, in an attempt to work off the some of the calories I would accumulate during my meal. I knew what I was getting before we were seated, so soon after, the plate above arrived. The chicken breading was golden, crunchy, and flavorful and the chicken itself was moist as I’ve ever tasted and seasoned well.  My ‘Chicken Box’ came with a good ole Southern biscuit and my choice of side. I ordered the black-eyed peas which was served cold and flavored with green chiles and jalapenos, though I personally did not find it spicy. On every table was a bottle of hot sauce and honey – two necessary condiments in my opinion for chicken and biscuits. I really enjoyed the meal immensely!

The fried chicken is what they’re known for, however, it’s not all they make well. Boyf ordered the ‘Brisket Sandwich’ and was just as pleased with his meal. The barbeque brisket was extremely flavorful and tender and was served with its cooking juices on white country bread. The pairing of juicy meat on crusty bread was just what we were looking for in a comfort food this Sunday evening and served its purpose well. He chose baked beans as his side which were hearty and tangy from the BBQ sauce and really just a darn fine bowl of beans.

Since this place is known for its pie’s, we had to order a slice. As you can see from the menu above they had many fine choices, though I was sort of drawn to the Concord Grape pie as I’ve never tried one before. But alas! They were completely out of it by the time we got there, so we went with the Banana Cream Pie instead.

Now I’m not really a Banana Cream Pie kinda girl. I rarely order it, and it’s even rarer that I like it. The pie I really wanted to try was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, but my dining partner doesn’t like chocolate (Hmph the nerve!), and since we were set on sharing dessert, I had to compromise. Well, thank goodness for that because this pie was absolutely to thigh for! (Sorry)

The beautifully soft and delicate banana cream was topped in the traditional way with whipped cream and vanilla wafers. Below the cream were real banana chunks, all of which was held together with a sturdy crust which tasted salty and nutty like coarsely ground peanuts were in it. It was pretty delicious and something I might not have tried at all if I were there on my own.

We left P ‘n’ T satisfied, but not overly. The portions were perfect and gave me the feeling of indulgence without going overboard. I will likely be going back for some chicken and pie real soon. As a matter of fact, as long as there are pie’s on the menu I have yet to try (and even when there aren’t) I’ll be making that 10 minute walk back to Pies ‘n’ Thighs.

-M-

Happy New Year’s!

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and food-filled New Year. 2011 is going to be great! My goals are to enjoy exquisite cuisines, travel in and out of the country, and to exercise and take better care of myself as well. What are your resolutions?