Mashed Cauliflower

I wouldn't typically add such an easy recipe, but most people don't really know about it.

Mashed cauliflower is super simple as well as incredibly delicious. I substitute this for mashed potatoes when I'm trying to be healthy. It's got a similar texture and it could probably be substituted for kids who wouldn't know.

Take a head of cauliflower, break it apart and cook it. Take a food processor or hand blender and make it like creamier texture. I tried this with a potato masher once and the texture didn't come out at all. There shouldn't be any resemblance of cauliflower. Then I add the same things I do to mashed potatoes. A little bit of milk and butter. At the end I add cheese, but just because everything tastes better with cheese.

Here it is. It's not beautiful, but it's yummy!

Simple, easy, delicious hummus

After my visit at Zahav, I got into a middle eastern mood. One of my favorite, super healthy dips is hummus. It's delicious with any veg on it as well as any sort of chip or bread.

Ingredients:

1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:
Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).

Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.
Variations
For a spicier hummus, add a sliced red chile or a dash of cayenne pepper.

I made no adjustments to the recipe. It says on the website that the Tahini paste can be omitted if you don't have it, but I whole heartedly disagree. I've made hummus in the past without it, and it doesn't work. The lemon juice in hummus needs balanced out, and the tahini does exactly that. I only put in three tablespoons of lemon juice which turned out well. I threw in a tiny dash of cayenne pepper which gives it some flavor without any of the heat. I definitely could throw more in if wanted.

Totally recommend this recipe. However, if you can find a specialty store to buy tahini I would do that. I bought mine awhile ago just at a Giant and it was like, $9 for the jar. When I went to Philly last weekend and went to a small indian store, they had the same thing for $4. However, tahini lasts forever. It's all natural so remember to mix it really well before using it. It separates just like all natural peanut butter.

Hummus isn't really beautiful, but here it is.

The burritodilla

Short, simple, and sweet. I was craving a quesadilla one day and decided to go to the best place in town for that, Roburritos. Here's their simple but wonderful website.

http://www.roburritos.com/menu.html

I got the burritodilla. Cheese, rice, salsa, sour cream, black beans, and guac. I also got potato cause I wasn't feeling steak or chicken. Here's my beautiful dilla.

If you've read older posts, you'll find that I've already written about Rob's. It is by far, my favorite in the area. The only other take out anything like it is Chipotle and while I don't mind Chipotle, it's a chain, and I'm pretty against chain restaurants at all costs. I'd much rather go to the mom and pop shops. My only qualm is that I asked and paid for extra guac and didn't get any. However, I got take out and my coworkers also got to have Robs for the first time in their lives. Winning!

As close to Italian as I'll ever get

The way I like to eat and socialize, I think I may have been born into the wrong culture. In one of my previous lives I must have been a beautiful Italian woman. In this life, I am just an American girl who got lucky enough to live with some of best Italians in the world, and stole a few recipes along the way.

I asked Ester one day for a recipe for pasta carbonara. I was in the mood for it. Here's what was left on the dining room table as the recipe...

Best recipe I've ever gotten. Mostly because the only two measurements in the whole meal are 200g of pasta and 2 eggs. The rest is well.. just a little bit.

So on the snowy weekend we had a little bit ago I decided that while with my friend, Salicia, we would make pasta carbonara. We added a little chicken to the recipe to just mix it up. Here's all my photos.

So the first photo is just chicken with bacon and onion cooking up. I learned from Ester and Rosario that if you're cooking meat and onions in the same dish that you need to cook them together so they pick up all of the flavors. The next picture is what happens once the pasta, sauce, and meats are combined.

Basically, the recipe for the sauce goes like this (in terms of those of us who can't just use "a little bit") 2 eggs. 2/3 to 3/4 cup of milk. 1/2 to 2/3 cup of parme cheese. That's it. The key is to put it over a LOW fire and cook for a bit. I think it took 35-45 minutes to cook it all together once in the pot. Here is the result.

This recipe turned out the best I've ever made. It's important to measure out the right proportion of pasta because if you use too much the sauce won't work the way it should. I am so lucky I met my Italians for a million reasons, and this is just one of them.

Just call me Spot

Pavlov was onto something when he used his study with the bells to make the dogs salivate to prove classical conditioning. I know and believe in classical conditioning, but I didn't realize how much the food affects my life. Just downloading these photos for the restaurant I'm about to blog about is making me super hungry and I'm definitely salivating. But trust me, that isn't weird. Just wait.

Philadelphia has something called Restaurant week I'm pretty sure three times a year. It runs for two weeks at a time (not including Saturday nights) One in September, one in January/February, and then I've heard there is one in the summer. It is where restaurants all over the city provide a 4 course meal for $35. It's a pretty rad deal. This was the first time I participated in Restaurant week. It's the first time I'd really heard of it. My good friend, Dustin, convinced me to come down to Philly and enjoy restaurant week with him. I told him that he can choose the restaurant because He has lived in Philly for 6 years. He chose a restaurant called Zahav. He told me it was middle eastern.

We got all fancied up and went to Zahav. 237 Saint James Place, part of old city. We walked up the cobblestone roads up the stairs and were seated right away. The menu stated that it was not middle eastern that Dustin told me, but it is Modern Israeli. How wonderfully specific.

Our waiter, Renshaw, was pretty awesome. He was incredibly knowledgeable on not only the menu but the wine list. Dustin a few months ago had come to this restaurant and had a wine that he fell in love with. It wasn't on the menu and when we asked Renshaw about it (just in case) he looked through the wine list describing all the wines realizing that none were like the wine Dustin had wanted. However, he knew about all of the wines.

We had to choose 2 appetizers, one main and one dessert for our meals and it all had to be ordered at once. While we were deciding, they brought out Hummus with Laffa and Salatim (a selection of 8 different spreads/salads including pickled beetroot, cucumber, carrots, kale and other things). Let me tell you. I would have been happy with just that as my meal. the Laffa bread was straight out of the oven, soft warm and fluffy. The hummus was incredibly balanced and creamy with olive oil to mix with. All of the salads were wildly delicious and their flavors were bold and fresh.

After devouring one and a half of the Laffa breads and eating almost all of the salads, the first appetizer came out. My favorite thing about enjoying a restaurant with another foodie is that they want to share dishes. Although I only got 2 appetizers, Dustin got two so I tried 4 dishes. The first to come out was the Fried Sweetbreads with chickpeas, green chiles, and garlic. I would have to say this, while good, was probably my least favorite. I know it said fried, but I didn't realize that meant deep fried. So it came breaded and fried. I didn't like it because it was very small portions and I didn't really get any taste of the sweetbreads, or any of it. I tried two and seriously didn't get any of the sweetbreads texture or flavor. Here it is.

Next to come out, oh man. Most people in the USA have never even heard of Haloumi cheese. With that being said, even this blogger site is showing a red squiggly line underneath it saying I've misspelled it. Nope. Haloumi. I once found about 400g of Haloumi in the Giant grocery store for $10. One day, I'll be craving it badly enough to purchase it. The French introduced us to it in Australia and I'm in love with it. It is cheese that is so firm that you fry it on the stove to get most of the flavor. I was like a kid in a candy store when I saw it on the menu and then when it came out on the plate. Crispy Haloumi with walnuts, date spread, apples, and squash. My heart literally lept for joy when taking the first bite of Haloumi. (Sometimes I'm sure I was a chef in a previous life). Here is my amazing dazzling dish. I am in love (but not like the weird lady who is married to the Eiffel Tower.)

Part of the reason I love fancy restaurants is because they serve things that you don't find on normal menus. With that being said, most of my dishes are pretty wild. I didn't choose the potato latkes or the fried cauliflower, but instead the first I'd like to discuss is the Kibbe Naya. Raw lamb, bulgur, and lentils. The idea of raw lamb is strange. How would it come out? as a small steak is what I assumed. It actually came out as little ball sorts of ground lamb. Legitimately raw. However, the flavors blended together so well and the texture wasn't was strange as I thought it would be. The raw lamb tasted like cooked lamb and was still just as soft.

Next was the Grilled Duck hearts with a carrot-turnip salad and onion puree. I've always been a fan of heart. When I was a small child and my grandma would make thanksgiving she would always eat the turkey heart and I imagine I was the only brave one to try it so I always got half of the turkey heart. It is just like the rest of the meat but a little fattier and usually a little smoother. Duck heart is no different. It was grilled to perfection keeping all of its natural flavors and also was incredibly moist. For the photo, the back is the Kibbe Naya and the front is the duck hearts.

Unfortunately, the next dish isn't on the menu anymore. Even though it was only last Sunday that I went, they've taken it off so I will only have memory to tell you what it is. The dish that I chose was Lamb Tongue. It had the wild texture of what you could imagine a tongue to taste like. While the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body, it is the softest when it's not alive. Just such a strange texture. But the way Zahav made the dish it was wildly delicious. I can't even explain how every dish was just something beautiful and delicious. Here we go.

Next was the Crispy Branzino. Black eye peas, celery root, apples, and dill. The fish in this meal is from Northern Italy and also called European bass. The fish skin was crispy and grilled perfectly to enhance the flavor of the fish. I was so full at this point that while I enjoyed it, I wish I could have eaten more. Nom nom nom.

For dessert, we ordered two things. Unfortunately, by the time the dessert came the chocolate sorbet in one of the dishes we ordered was not set and he told us it would be about 30 minutes. Being past 11pm anyway, we decided to just order another dessert. I made a small 'joke' that he should just bring us the rest of the desserts he had (just one left that we hadn't ordered or tried to order) and then ordered the last dessert. He, in turn, brought us all 3 desserts instead of our two. SCOREEEEEEE.

The milk chocolate baklava with peanuts, hazelnuts, and pumpkin ice cream was so tasty. I loved the filo dough with the firmness of the milk chocolate. The sorbet was really full bodied and delicious.

Next is the dessert that we didn't order but Renshaw brought out anyway. Hazelnut-date Rugelach, (a pastry) with turkish coffee ice cream. The pastry was firm on the outside and very soft on the inside. The date was so subtle but just enough to really pull the pasty together. The ice cream tasted exactly like turkish coffee. No holding back. It wasn't sweet at all like ice cream, it was actually bitter. I loved the fact that even though it was home made ice cream it didn't lose the turkish coffee flavor.

Last but actually the best of the desserts. It's not on the menu but it is chocolate deliciousness wrapped in shredded filo dough with a mango ice cream on top. The chocolate was a super extra dark chocolate but somehow made to be incredibly soft and smooth. My mouth had fireworks.

I am in love with this restaurant and I recommend that it goes on every person's bucket list. Thank you again, Dustin, for sharing this amazing and beautiful experience with me.

When I want to think of OZ..

I go to CREPES.

When I lived in Melbourne, Australia, I lived in a share house. There were a ton of different cultures meshed together in the house. There were Germans, Italians, and French that I most connected with. The french are two people that I still keep in contact with today, and skyped recently and continue to see how their lives are. Since they are french, they are naturally good at making crepes.

I love crepes. Savory crepes for breakfast, lunch and dinner or dessert. The only bad part about this blog is that I am hesitant to give out this recipe. It's so easy, I don't want everyone else to make crepes like I do. =) But here it is anyway.

Traditional French Crepes
250g flour
500g milk
3 eggs
1 tbsp vegetable oil
a pinch of salt
(If you have a tbsp of beer, you can add that to make it fluffier)

Slowly blend all of those together, there should be absolutely no lumps. Ideally, you should let it sit for an hour and rest before making them, but you don't have to. Here's what the batter should look like. Super thin.

With that, you should heat a NON STICK pan on medium heat. Add some oil, butter, or pam to the pan. The first crepe (sometimes even two) is like the first pancake syndrome. It isn't bad but the rest are miles better. Now, taking a ladle and pour the mixture in with your dominant hand. I know, it sounds weird but trust me. You're gonna take your non dominant hand and swirl around the pan to get the crepe all over and then pour the excess out back into the bowl. If you do it right, the crepe will look like this before you flip it.

Wait until the edges lift from the pan and then flip. I don't even use a flipper, just my fingers. That's how easy it should be. When the other side is done, flip it again. I was instructed by Roxanne that I was not allowed to use anything but had to do the pan flip. I am pretty good at it at this point, but takes some practice.

This recipe will make like, 20ish crepes. Depends on how thick or thin you can get them. Ideally, they should be as absolutely thin as possible. Like the photo. But it takes practice. It also takes the roll of the wrist correctly and the heat being the correct temperature. Honestly, it takes some practice to get it all right but in the end, it's totally worth it. My favorite thing about this recipe is that it's not full of sugar. You can eat it savory or add the sugar after when you want.

Here are some of my favorite crepe insides..
-Cheese and uncooked egg yolk
-lemon juice and sugar
-fruit of any kind and yogurt (I like strawberries and or blueberries and greek yogurt, but any fruit and any yogurt works)
-Peanut butter and nutella
- brie and jam
-chocolate and...anything

Good luck and happy crepe making!

Fat Poco

Ever heard of the "R-U-Hungry" stand at Rutgers University? They also put one up in State college. To my knowledge, this was the only place that I knew of that served fat sandwiches. What does that mean? Well, a sandwich stuffed with...everything. Cheese steaks, chicken fingers, fries, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, etc. Anything terrible you can think of that will most likely give you a heart attack is on that sandwich.

Frank's Trattoria Pizzeria on the corner of Richland and West Princess serves fat sandwiches. I got a phone call one day from my coworker, Ash, as I was walking up to the stairs of the building. "Are you gonna be here soon?" There was urgency in her voice. I told her I was walking up the stairs now, and she asked if I wanted anything from Frank's, they were ordering. So looking at the menu I decided on the Fat Poco. Chicken fingers, French fries, mozzarella sticks, onions and bbq sauce.

Frank's also has free delivery. With that being said, I don't recommend the free delivery. The saddest part about the meal. We were told it would be 40 minutes (And seriously, we work 4 blocks up the street). After an hour we call, and it takes another 20 minutes for the meal to get to us. When it did... Here was the reaction.

Look how excited this kid is? Oh yeah, the fat sandwich is finally here.

So here's my critique. I think that sandwich was incredibly awesome. Unfortunately, I have a weak sissy stomach and I could only eat about, 1/3 of the sandwich before I felt really sick from eating all that heavy greasy stuff. I guess it's a positive, or a negative. If I were accustomed to eating all that I might be 30 pounds heavier. So all in all, it was totally worth it. Plus the sandwich was only $7. With free delivery or even pick up which would take less time. Here's my wonderful creation...