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Coconut-Curry Sauce This is the sauce that accompanied the "chicken and waffles" dish at the eG Heartland Gathering 2008. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=117871 4 14 oz cans coconut cream * 6 shallots 1 stem lemongrass 1 two-inch piece of ginger 6 small Thai chilies 1 three-inch piece of galangal (fresh if available) 3 pieces fresh turmeric ** 1 fresh lime 3 T peanut oil or vegetable oil 1 tsp salt Peel and chop the shallots and set aside. Peel the ginger and galangal, chop roughly, and add to the blender jar. Peel the turmeric. Wear gloves or use a towel to hold the turmeric unless you want yellow fingers! Chope coarsely and add to blender. Stem four of the chilies, chop coarsely, and place in blender. Cut a two- to three-inch section of the lemongrass. Trim off and discard the root end and the tough outer leaves. Chop the inner part and add it to the blender jar. Zest the lime (Use a micro plane or fine grater), then juice the lime. Add the zest and juice to the blender jar. Add the salt and 2 T of oil to the blender. Pulse the ingredients in the blender to make a smooth paste. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a saucepan or skillet over medium heat. Add the reserved chopped shallots and sweat until translucent. Add the spice paste to the pan and continue cooking over medium heat until fragrant. Add the coconut cream and reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking until heated through. Be careful not to scorch! Strain the sauce or return it to the blender if you want a smooth consistency. Garnish with the remaining chilies sliced thinly. * freshly made coconut cream would be nice if you can manage it. ** If you can't find fresh turmeric, substitute 1 T dried ground turmeric. Keywords: Hot and Spicy, Sauce, Blender ( RG2137 )

I have a few pictures of the Ethnic Tour of Niles: Impressive selection of seafood at Uni-Mart: Prepared foods at Uni-Mart: Sausage making at Schmeisser's: The chicken we bought for the chicken-n-waffles course: The Leaning Tower of Niles where we stopped for some yummy ice cream Lots of good stuff at Niles Polish Deli MMmmmm sausages flat bread at the Indian buffet galub jamun for dessert (not too sweet!)

I posted a picture of Randi's salad way back on the first page. The Vita-Mix is a champ. I've brought it along to the last three Heartland Gatherings, but this is the first time it really got noticed. It sped up Alex's gazpacho process considerably, and it saved me a lot of work making the aromatic paste for the coconut sauce.

I'm going to take partial, secondary-source credit for this innovation. (...) ← I saw Nancy's post earlier but didn't get a chance to respond. We started realizing well before "show time" that the grill wasn't going to work out. We were eying the oven as a compromise solution, but that didn't sound too appealing. Besides, there was already a traffic jam of dishes going into the oven, so the timing was doubtful. I was concerned that the oven wouldn't give us the nice crispiness we were looking for. Don't know why I didn't think of using the flat-top. It was barely a month ago that Steven and I were sitting at the counter at Noodle Bar commenting about how incredibly efficient their flat-top-plus-oven technique is. So credit Chang and company for the idea, but credit Fat Guy for remembering it when it counted.

A few pictures from the bread workshop. Chopping olives Weighing the flour and the olive oil Start mixing Then kneading Check the dough We learned about the various types of preferment, the effect of adding fat or sugar to a dough, how to judge when the gluten is developed enough, and so much more... This workshop was everything I hoped it would be - a practical, hands-on experience with lots of useful information. Many thanks to Tom for a fantastic workshop.

I've got a few pics of the market tour. Lots of regional Mexican food. This Oaxaqueño place had terrific tamales. Festive mood. Need a copper pot? David Hammond explaining the various foods at this stand. They had huitlacoche, which they spelled guilacoche. Lots of refreshing beverages. I had jamaica (hibiscus). David Hammond is very knowledgeable when it comes to the ethnic foods at the market. Many thanks to Ronnie for setting this up!

We had a delightful time at the Feast tonight. I'll post some pictures later. The party was still going when I left. Our Ethnic shopping expedition organized by LAZ was very entertaining. The Niles area has some great little shops. Edit: here are a few pics. Prep for the coconut cream sauce. Bob diligently stirring the cracklings. The bread from our workshop. Randi's composed salad. Ron smoked some ribs. Kerry's confections. Most of my people-shots turned out kind of blah. I'm hoping that SamIAM got some better ones.

Blackbird and Violet Hour were wonderful. I'm dragging a bit today after being out late two nights in a row. Today's bread workshop was a great success. Tom did a terrific job of explaining the finer points of bread making. We made four different types of bread which we'll have tomorrow at the Heartland Gathering Feast. No points for guessing which loaves were formed by the professional and which ones were a learning experience for the class.

Randi, I'm sure that one of the Asian stores will have Tamicon (or something similar). I'll keep an eye out for it.

I was planning to bring my (Heartland-made ) Vita-Mix with both the wet and dry blade containers.

Making bloody Marys from tomato water is fun. Especially if you can make it absolutely clear (like water). Shola has a fun post about this on his blog.

Tom, I think that the single-bread class would be fine. The multi-bread workshop sounded pretty ambitious. Finding a kitchen with one oven (and for a shorter period of time) sounds more do-able. I hope.

A birthday celebration at the chef's table at Lola last night. A concert up the street plus a baseball game at Progressive field made for a lot of activity on E. 4th St. I grabbed a snapshot of the new patio seating. E. 4th St. has now been blocked off to all but pedestrian traffic starting at the valet parking drive next to Lola. The patio was empty at that hour (5:30) but the bar area was stacked three deep. I heard an out-of-towner shouting into his cell phone: "I'm at some bar called LOLO". Guess he's not a Food Network fan. We were seated at the Chef's Table, a big slab of alabaster overlooking the open kitchen. I started out with a cocktail. Pomegranate & Figs "Martini" I put scare quotes around the word "Martini", but this drink was quite good. A tad sweet, but that was expected given that it is made with fig syrup. Michael Symon was not in the house - probably out filming some TV series. Lola's Chef de Cuisine Derek Clayton was running the show. He's a veteran of Takashi Yagihashi's Tribute in Detroit, and also worked at Doug Katz's Fire on Shaker Square. Chef Derek started us out with a dish they're still tinkering with. Berkshire pork belly with Apricot glaze That's what I'm calling it, anyways. The pork belly is cured, slow cooked, deep fried, and coated with a delicate apricot glaze and served with sliced fruit and jicama. It was over-the-top delicious, reminding me of a "pork crouton" dish they did at Lolita a couple of years back at a special Slow Food dinner. Next up was a selection of charcuterie, all house-cured. The venison salami and the bresaola (from local beef, no less) were standouts, but everything on the plate was terrific, down to the tiny cornichons. House-Made Charcuterie This was accompanied by a sparkling rosé from Oregon. Next up, chef Derek sent out a platter of beef marrow with a variety of garnishes in little bowls. This is off-menu, but the marrow is used as an accompaniment to a steak that is on the menu. Our table was unanimous: this should be available as an appetizer in it's own right. The marrow is lightly dusted with flour and deep fried. This gives it a delicate crust surrounding the ultra-rich marrow. Served with flat-leaf parsley, pickled onions, lemon wedges, salsa verde, and coarse sea salt. Mix and match to you liking. Awesome dish. Chef Derek Clayton describes the marrow dish to the table. voilà! My selection. Next up for me was a sweetbread appetizer. Lola does the best sweetbreads. Sweetbreads with wild mushrooms. Here's the Berkshire bacon appetizer from the regular menu. Served with cornbread and BBQ sauce. It's delicious, but I think the new version with apricot glaze is even better. Berkshire bacon appetizer. I chose the braised beef short ribs for my main. The ribs are super-tender. I believe they're cooked sous-vide. The ribs were great, but the real stand-out for me was (oddly enough) the braised baby turnips. Beef Short Ribs Pastry chef Cory Barrett sent up a trio of desserts not on the current menu. I think some variant of these dishes may appear on the new menu they're rolling out. There were some great flavor combinations, like the creamy bleu cheese with mango and caramel sauce. The "tropical drink" dessert combined coconut and pineapple and sported a paper umbrella. Like a piña colada. Silly but also very tasty. The dessert course was accompanied by a lovely floral Sauternes. Dessert sampling. A fitting end to an awesome meal.

"Under reduced atmospheric pressure" Not a sexy title. I'm looking forward to what chef Keller & co. have to say on the subject. All semantic quibbling aside.

I had a bite of the Wylie dog. Fried Mayo rocks! More than a bite would have been too much, after a tasting menu at momofuku ko. The john deragon dog looks just a wee bit too rich for me (sorry johnder! ). Well, I guess on an empty stomach it would be manageable... The Dewey D is cool. I would have a hard time figuring out that it had sherry in it if the menu didn't say so. Rye and Aperol are definitely the dominant flavors. The Bee's Sip is (surprisingly) not at all sweet. Very floral and rather exotic. I like.

Yeah, it's a tough decision. Bread... Chocolate... Bread... Chocolate... Bread... Chocolate... At least we all get enjoy the results of the workshops.

Sometimes cancelations show up at random times. I snagged a reservation late last night for the 6:00 PM slot this evening. It's the "four-top", so I need to find folks to go with me. PM if you're interested.

Momo virgin checking in with a couple of questions. I'll be in town for most of next week. I'll be across the river in Astoria, but my hotel is close to public transportation so I should be able to make my way into Manhattan without too much trouble. Is there a recommended time of the evening to show up at either m. noodle or m. ssäm? I don't mind waiting for a seat, but if the place is mobbed that might be a bit of a bummer. Are there any must-not-miss dishes at either place these days? (I'm ruling out ko, since reservations there proved impossible). I know that a lot of this has been discussed before, but I'm curious about what the current recommendations are, considering that the menu seems to change at both places fairly often.

Oh great, now I'm gonna be up all night clicking "reload". I had my first experience of Ko Denial today. I'll be in NYC next week, so I figured I'd enter the "lottery" along with however many thousand fellow players there might be. It's astonishing how quickly the reservation system goes from "wait for it" to a grid of red XXX.

I just want to point out that the photos on Nancy's blog give a much more accurate impression of the food at Wonton Gourmet. I'm not sure what the heck happened to the colors in my photos... Next time we try the frog.

Speaking of specific courses and what people want to make, I've volunteered to head up organizing the food for the Saturday banquet. Our large size is going to require a different approach to logistics than we have typically taken. Look for a post from me this weekend to begin a discussion around that! ← I've been wondering about the logistics of cooking dinner for such a large crowd. The gatherings in Ann Arbor and Cleveland were much smaller than this one. I know that you, Randi, and NancyH have all cooked for big groups. I suspect that many of us will find the scale of the whole thing just a wee bit daunting. It's gonna be fun, no doubt!

Back to Wonton Gourmet again. Three of the four in our party had already been here, so we decided to order a few things we hadn't tried yet. The chive potstickers are a nice variation on this old favorite: We ordered the rice noodle without any filling other than chives and cilantro. Very fresh and flavorful. Much as we all love the fish-maw and dried scallop soup, it was time to try something new. Chive dumplings and Chinese broccoli in a savory pork broth. Delicious! Shaomai. These were outstanding, and well worth the wait (they make them fresh to order). Black Pepper Beef over spaghetti. (Yes, spaghetti - I guess it's a Hong Kong thing). Just the right touch of peppery spice. Grouper balls with vegetables. Fresh and delicately seasoned. With all of that excellent food, our bill came to twelve dollars per person, including tax and tip. The food is delicious, the service congenial, and you can't beat the price!

Count me in on the bread workshop. I already do a bit of baking myself, but there's always room for improvement. Thanks for setting this up, Tom.

Oh yeah, guess I forgot to say where it is. Wonton Gourmet & BBQ, 3211 Payne Ave. (Corner of E. 32nd and Payne, just down from the Dave's Supermarket.)

I came to this thread thinking I'd add an addendum to the comments about Wonton Gourmet. I just presumed that NancyH, Stuart_S, or Tino27 would have already posted about it. I can't believe that there is no mention here of Wonton Gourmet... This past Sunday was my second visit there. I met NancyH, her husband Bob, and Tino27 for a late lunch. My initial impressions from a previous visit are confirmed. This place is terrific! They present themselves as "authentic Hong Kong Style". I can't speak with any authority on that - the last time I was in Hong Kong was decades ago. I can say that there are items on the menu here you won't find any where else in Cleveland. We started with a lovely soup of fish maw and dried scallop. This has an intense "umami" flavor and a silky texture. A few drops of red vinegar add a nice accent: We wanted to try a few Dim Sum style dishes. The Turnip Cake is representative. My picture doesn't do it justice - very fresh, with a crisp crust: I also enjoyed the shrimp wrapped in rice noodle: The rice ball with Chinese sausage is another example of fresh in-house preparation: Finally, soft-shell crab was simply wonderful. The crabs were live just before being prepared. The batter was thin and crisp. This is a modest, unassuming little storefront restaurant, but it's clear that they're serious about preparing fresh and tasty food. Another unexpected treasure for Cleveland foddies.