Restaurants & Recipes

I like trying new restaurants. I collect business cards from each. I also love to cook. 

Meatball Broccoli Pizza

Using dough purchased at the local pizzeria, we fired up the oven (450 degrees) and topped it with garlic-steamed broccoli and homemade meatballs. Twenty-five minutes later and we had a delicious Sunday evening dinner.

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Clams in Cherry Tomato Garlic Sauce

A recent post-Sunday football meal: cherrystone clams steamed in a cherry tomato, white wine and garlic sauce

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Filed under  //   Dinner   Recipe   Yes  

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Inoteca Liquori Restaurant Review

Bar Milano rebranded itself as another 'inoteca few months ago so DG and I had to go back to see how it measured up. Design-wise the place is the same: marble-paneled walls, formal dining room, casual lounge/bar area (where we ate), etc. The menu, however, is a closer cousin to the original 'inoteca located in the Lower East Side, with an assortment of affordable plates. The rebrand seems to be working well so far as evidenced by the steady crowd of patrons, both diners and drinkers.

Our meal consisted of three shared dishes: pasta with pork ragu, a panini with bresaola (air-cured salted beef), arugula, grana (like parmigiano-regiano) and lemon oil and roasted chicken with bread stew. Each dish was delicious in its own right - the pork ragu had large, tender chunks of pork, the bresaola was flavorful with a hint of lemon and the chicken carried a warm punch of flavor (perfect for the rainy night). Our only complaint was that all three dishes were served at once, making the meal feel rushed.

For dessert we had a velvety chocolate mousse topped with cream.

Add on a bottle of wine and our total bill came out to around $110, much more palatable than what we would have gotten at Bar Milano.

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Filed under  //   'inoteca   Dinner   Grammercy   Italian   New York City   Restaurant Review   Yes  

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Perfect Breakfast Bran Muffin

 

After channeling Paula Deen's Butter Love (PDBL) in my last post, I thought I'd make a batch of healthier muffins, versatile enough to handle different kinds of mix-ins and flavorful enough to simply stand on their own.  

This bran muffin recipe comes from one of the most health conscious people I know.  Fortunately, this girl also loves good food, good wine and thinks developing new flavors for Ben & Jerry's would be a dream job.  So you can be assured these muffins will achieve two goals: good nutrition and good taste!

I made three versions with this most recent batch - plain, with chocolate chips and with currants.  You could also include nuts or raisins to add a little protein and different flavors.  As with the PDBL Pecan Pie Muffins, I froze the leftovers for easy weekday breakfast options.

Ingredients:
1.5 c bran cereal (not flakes - I used Fiber One)
1.5 c Bran flakes
1/3 c unsweeted apple sauce
1 c hot water
2 eggs
1 c whole wheat flour
1.5c reg. flour
1 c sugar (I go lighter on this and they still taste great)
2 Tb canola oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tb + 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 c lowfat buttermilk (or, mix 1 T vinegar with ~ 1c skim milk) 
2 Tb cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly coat muffin tin with oil.  Place all ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir until blended - don't overmix.  Fill tins 1/2 to 3/4 full, bake for 25 min.  Allow to cool a little for easier removal.  Batter will keep in fridge up to 1 month.

Yield: 24 muffins  


 

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Filed under  //   Breakfast   Recipe   Yes  

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Pecan Pie Muffin Recipe

My friend Danielle made these pecan pie muffins for me and a group of girlfriends over the summer and I fell in love at first bite.  Served warm, they were slightly crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside, just like a pecan pie should be.  I recently made a batch, served a few for dessert with vanilla ice cream and put the rest in the freezer for an on-the-go weekday breakfast option.  I substituted almonds and walnuts in part of the batch because I ran out of pecans and they turned out just as good.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Bake for 25 minutes
Yield: 6-8 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/2 cup flour
2 larges eggs (beaten until foamy)
1/2 cup butter (melted)

Directions:
Mix pecans, brown sugar and flour together is a large bowl
Make a well in the mixture
Whip eggs with a whisk until foamy
Add room temperature melted butter to eggs
Pour liquid mixture into the well in your dry ingredients and mix until just combined
Fill muffin cups almost to the top (muffins do not rise very much in oven)

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Filed under  //   Breakfast   Brunch   Dessert   Recipe   Yes  

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Civetta Restaurant Review

My foodie friend, Steph, and I went down to Soho to check out the newest expansion of Sfoglia, one of the Upper East Side's most highly-rated Italian restaurants. The decor was rustic Italian with thick wooden tables, owl statues (the "mascot" of the region in Italy by the same name as the restaurant), marble-topped bars and serving stations and iron chandeliers. It was a nice fall evening so the floor-to-ceiling windows were open onto the street - we were even able to catch a glimpse of the San Gennaro festival happening a block away.

Because the restaurant is family-style, we ordered three appetizers from their expansive list and one pasta course. The appetizers included an escarole and crab salad (seemed more like a Caesar salad - could barely taste the crab), grilled stone fruit with ricotta (delicious with a hint of smoke flavor from the grill) and mussels with a fantastic tomato broth and slivers of salami. We had the rigatoni alla bolognese as our pasta dish which was also quite delicious and creamy (in a no-cream-added sort of way).

For dessert we had bombolini (doughnuts) with either a cream or fruit filling, rolled in sugar and topped with warm chocolate. These were delicious and sinful.

Before leaving we snuck downstairs to the closed bar area. It was a very cool space with brick walls, a fireplace and red velvet seating. It felt cozy and decadent. This would be a good room for a private party in the winter.

Although the reviews have been mixed for this restaurant, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends. One thing to note, however, you can hear/feel the 6 train every time it rumbles underground.

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Filed under  //   Civetta   Dinner   Italian   New York City   Restaurant Review   Soho   Yes  

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On my to-do list: Chocolate Raspberry Tiered Cake

All my favorite colors in one photo: Tiffany blue, raspberry red and CHOCOLATE! I want to make this cake ASAP.

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Filed under  //   Dessert   Recipe   To-Do List  

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Pasta alla Norma - The Amateur Gourmet

September 13, 2009 Update: Although this dish was delicious (and quite easy to make), it was not the same Pasta alla Norma to which I am accustomed from Otto.  We modified the recipe slightly by adding chicken sausage (for protein).  We also made a red onion and red pepper foccacia (using fresh dough from the pizza place across the street) with olive oil, thyme, rosemary, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 

I love the Pasta alla Norma at Otto and will be making this dish at some point this fall.

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Filed under  //   Dinner   No   Recipe   To-Do List  

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The North Fork Table & Inn

We went to the North Fork Table & Inn for our third anniversary. It was nothing short of perfect (except that the bartender didn't want to give us a taste of their homemade bacon-infused vodka).

The restaurant itself is very romantic with a small bar up front, wood plank floors and a series of intimaterooms.

We started the meal with a North Fork rosé (I think from One Woman Winery) and a beautiful salad with an assortment of greens and bleu cheese. Our main courses included a paella with halibut, Gulf shrimp and housemade chorizo and a roasted pork tenderloin over a parmesan risotto. For dessert we had "Bees Needs Honey-Pinenut Tart" complete with honey-ricotta ice cream and red wine poached figs.

This meal was exquisite! The dishes were simply prepared and each flavor stood on its own.

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Filed under  //   Dinner   North Fork   North Fork Table & Inn   Restaurant Review   Yes  

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Our healthy at-home version: Piquillo-Pepper Num Pangs Recipe | Food & Wine

We went to Num Pang Sandwich Shop for its opening weekend in March. Here's an excerpt from our review:

Although the sandwiches are tiny, they are delicious! We shared three: peppercorn catfish, veal meatballs and grilled skirt steak. They all had shredded carrots, cilantro and some sort of mayo-based sauce. Needless to say, they were incredibly flavorful and even though the seating was limited, we managed to squeeze into the upstairs bar.

So when I saw this recipe and remembered how much we loved the sandwiches, I had to try it.  I may never go back to the restaurant again : )

Although we didn't use butter, piquillo peppers or cilantro (none of which we had on hand), the sandwich still had tons of flavor!  We substituted low-fat mayo and added grilled chicken and arugula for a little extra veg + spice.

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Filed under  //   Dinner   Food & Wine   Num Pang   Recipe   Sandwich  

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