BKEats

i am starting to lose track of days... Oh well.. Just got back from doing late night inventory. So, here are the last few days of eating,. Let's go backwards.. I was behind the bar tonight and wanted a seltzer but, that quickly turned into an egg cream.. I am in Brooklyn so, I am assuming this is very authentic.. A proper head: Diner tonight was a no cook sort of situation.. I am leaving to see my kids tomorrow so, it's all pretty clean enough to leave for a few days.. Made crackers and had cheese: Served with a few cheeses. And this bacon jam we carry: And a little leftover bellota: For lunch, I had the leftover squid from yesterday with the leftover beans from the falafel I made for lunch... The beans, I added celery, a chunk of carrot, some bay and a piece of an onion to the pot and boiled while I took a walk to the post office.. The post office had a huge line, it's a 20 minute walk... I had printed the label out so, I just needed to drop off.. Yet, still a line... I aborted as the wait was over an hour... On my walk back, I ran into a postman who took my package from me and added it to his bag/cart...Same results, different way of getting there.. Now, again, I am leaving so, I wanted to use all of my vegetables and things.. I had some spinach left, i had one clove of garlic, some strange looking mint... And, well, I have some potatoes and artichokes that I am taking up with me.. But, so, I took my piece of onion and cooked it with some guanciale, i then added wine, then some of my tomato sauce from the calamari, some paprika, some cayenne as I couldn't find my crushed red pepper... Cooked it for a bit.. Added some water to get it more soupy.. Then I added squid and some spinach. Then, while that was cooking, i still wanted to infuse garlic but, what to do with one clove.. So, I made a mint oil. Mint, olive oil, garlic, salt, red pepper. Found it! I am not using towels in the quar to wipe my plates. mint oil or sauce or whatever: I use my mortar almost every day.. Today, I couldnt find my pepper grinder, so, i threw in some peppercorns.. I just use it for some many things.. Also good to get the boy involved in cooking.

Is it true Wendy’s are not selling beef?

Made falafel last night and fried it up today.. i was running short on time as I was out doing deliveries so, we had to settle on gyro pita.. which was good once we grilled it. Watercress, parsley, mint, cilantro, garlic,lemon, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper, sriracha and chickpeas that were soaked for 12 hours Todays set up... Falafel mix, various spreads, harissa, babaganoush, tahini, tabouli, i made a tomato and cucumber salad, mint, lemon.. " I dont know how you make this look pretty:

Lettuce wraps with bok choy.. The protein was skirt steak and a pork chop.. Trying to make my way through the inventory... I think today is the last day before it all goes into the deep freeze.... Simple marinade of brown sugar, soy, chinese bbq sauce and fish sauce. Pickled sichuan vegetables i had in a jar... I also may rice. Bok choy was from the farmers market.. I was going to steam in a wok with garlic and then add an oyster sauce.. But, out of oyster sauce so, made a vinegar, tahini, soy ginger thing.. But, yeh, cooked in a bit of oil and maybe 4 cloves of garlic, then hit with some water and covered... Cooked a little longer and then sauce on the platter. It was good.. I also made some white rice.. really simple, some oil, garlic, ginger, for like 15 minutes.. Got rid of bok choy, lettuce, a pork chop, some skirt steak... Really blah, freaking boring day... Oh well. One day closer to see my kids.

Tteokbokki, with mushrooms, cabbage, fish cakes and mozzarella The recipe calls for an anchovy broth but, i used bonito... The results are very similar. Topped with mozzarella.. very decedent

I purchased a beautiful black sea bass at the farmers market Saturday.... Yesterday, turned on the grill and decided to cook it... First, marinaded in harissa mxed with olive oil and lemon. Purchased some dips and spreads from local Syrian Grocery Store and Bakery close to me. Spicy hummus, muhammara, babaghanoush, pickled beats, eggplant salad, gigantes beans, tabouli, tahanni and I made a mint and tomato salad. I also added some tahini to the fish and stuffed it with garlic and mint: In addition to have the fish propped up with two sliced lemons underneath Grilled the fish in a hot fire with woods chips for smoke: Cooked perfectly, so delicious Served with lettuce wraps: Nothing but bones... we sat outside and had a great time:

I made three different burgers yesterday with three different kinds of ground beef... I think we may have found a new burger for our menu.. But, either way. i ate way too much beef which then had me eating barely anything today... These are 3 ounce patties flattened in a tortilla press and then seasoned.. dry aged Trying to record and make notes and things... this was for another double burger with bacon. \\ This was a 6 ounce burger that was cooked in the style of this restaurant I use to go to as a kid, called White Rose System... Lots of onions... Grass fred beef. anyway, Today, I went to the farmers market and bought some lovely fish... I just had a little raw tuna for lunch... Like literally 5 small pieces. I could have made it prettier but, then I would be cutting off tuna.. So, play it as it lays... Channeling nobu.. basically smashed a piece of garlic on the morter, then drag the piece through.. Pour a little combo of yuzu and soy over it, place a jalapeno on top... A little cilantro. Then dinner, fried calamari and fried lemon slices. Made a simple tomato sauce.. Combine carrots, onion and garlic in some oil.. cooked for a bit, added some water, brought to a boil, added bay leaf.. then cooked for a bit,, the blended the mixture, let the water cook off almost completely and then added the tomato sauce. Wanted to infuse flavor without cooking the sauce really.. then added chile flake and a little salt, sugar, pepper, basil.. Sent this picture to our buddy who closed his restaurant and opened a wine shop.. "Kind of like everyone": So, we stop in the last night to support him.. Anyway, the burgers had me out of commission. Tomorrow I am thinking like a black sea bass bo sam but, with a middle eastern twist.

very cool! I almost made these the other day... Looks great

whoops misposted

another important thing.. I put on a rack and cover in salt... pat dry and then salt the other side.. But yeh, after all that, it was the nutmeg, the tomato and onion dressing, the garlic ricotta and parm, the hint of basil, that stood out as exciting.. The eggplant did provide a nice textural component and there was plenty of seasoning in the flour

I too am not the biggest fan of eggplant... The same for okra though, okra I haven't tried to make and kind of made my peace and we said our good byes a long time ago... The fact that my bride loves eggplant so much, has made me really try my hardest to enjoy it.. These eggplants were destined to be smoked babaganoush but, oh well.. they were close to turning.. The lack of tomato sauce, the custard in the ricotta, it all felt very french.. if there was no mozarella, it would have been very french... the thin fried slices held their shape, the texture added by the ricotta being reinforced with egg... it was all really good.. This could be served hot or cold... I just have had it out on the counter since lunch and well, ate another slice moments ago... In retrospect, the fact that I have three packs of different sausages in my fridge, a little sausage layer would have been really good.. obviously, less french, obviously much more american.. But, yeh, sausage in this would have been really good.. though, there is rarely a time where a little sausage wouldn't be the worst thing in the world..

Eggplant gratin... I have been reading richard olney's simple french food and decided to follow one of his recipes... And when i say follow, not really... But, i read it and was inspired by it... His was basically like, take eggplants, slice and fry. Take onions, cook down, add tomato, spices and then cook it until the water is gone... Then take that mush and hold it.. Then take ricotto and parm with an egg and mix, add cream... Then layer.. I floured the eggplant.. I did a ricotta sour cream mix, flavored with nutmeg and parm.. I also added mozzarella and did a similar tomato thing.. I also don't have bread crumbs so, i used self rise flour.. but, he said, dont bread, just fry. here are is the tomato mixture, mozarella and basil.. the ricotta, sour cream, egg, and parm mixture goes on next. 2nd layer of eggplant Top with mozarella. baked at 450 for 45 minutes: It was delicious: Glass of wine with lunch! So, i had an orange and a bag of clementines.. My first thought was to supreme the orange slices but, I was like, f that...firstly, that required getting a new knife and washing and also, well, i had the salad idea as the gratin was cooling.. So, I added cut wedges of oranges with fennel.. Salt, pepper, red pepper and olive oil.. Then I squeezed a clementine over the dressing and then i added thin slices of clementine for the peel and the affect.. i think it looks pretty.

Seriously, food management is like one of my biggest stresses right now.. I mean outside of actual real horrible problems..

When I first started smoking, i would do brined turkey breast wrapped in bacon and smoked... I haven't done that in over 15 years... Now I have to!

Well, I was dropped off samples yesterday from a meat supplier.. I have a lot of beef... I do not eat a lot of beef usually.. I usually eat fish but, fish has been in short supply to me and meat has not been.. So, instead of actively seeking it out, I am going with the flow.. How much meat you ask? So yeh, at least it's sealed. It will freeze and I will dole out to neighbors I am sure. As I already have too much meat in my freezer from the last time this happened. So,we ate outside. Which was nice so, i wanted to do everything in the grill... Start start I made a watercress and spinach gratin. Blanched and chopped the greens. Cooked a half an onion in butter and garlic then added the spinach and a shot of sweet vermouth. Then off the heat I added sour cream, an egg yolk, mustard, nutmeg, parm, salt, pepper and cayenne. Topped with more parm, bread crumbs and dots of butter.. I placed this in my cast iron gratin dish.. It had previous been my perfect nacho pan and a great queso fundido container but, now it was finally serving its original purpose. My photo: Not wanting to get the food processor out, i stratched at the last 1/6 of a loaf of sourdough bread with a fork.. Raking the fork back and forth, and back and fork, until little crumbs came shedding off.. I used these bread crumbs for the gratin but, now I just murdered this bread... So, I cut it into chunks, i grilled the bread, i rubbed garlic on the grilled bread, then I rubbed tomato over the bread and took more tomato and squeezed it over the bread, I added salt and oil and olive oil and then these canned anchovies with chile oil over them and tossed with basil. A pan con tomate panzanella something or other. This is what happens when my wife takes photos: I also had some pretty hen of woods mushrooms... So, I wanted to just simply roast that on the grill with a ramp butter.. I looked and noticed I have a few ramps that escaped me.. they didn't look super hot but, i have been doing so well at not throwing anything away.. Again, it's a huge stress among many people I know... For instance. I have these sprouts that may have gone bad in my fridge.. It's like on my top 10 concerns for the day... It freaking lurking back there in my mind. So, I made a quick ramp butter.. 4 tablespoons of butter, 3 ounces of ramps, salt and a squeeze of lemon. So, bring cocktails down, bottle of wine down, speaker, turn on the string lights.. The grill is lit, slight chill in the area, birds are chirping.. All in the middle of Brooklyn.. It was a beautiful night.. Into the fire, I added some wood chips.. i had the coals hot but, not an inferno. I threw the steak in, I threw the gratin in and the mushrooms in a pan... At one point, I cut off all the air and let the smoke build in the green egg.. It almost like pressure cooks everything and creates this huge amount of sealed in smoke... It permeates everything... It provided such a wonderful flavor to everything but, especially the water cress and spinach.. That smoke played with the nutmeg and the sweetness of the vermouth.. It was the best thing I have had in recent memory. It was shockingly good. Everything was very good but, that was next level. I love that gratin dish so much... Wifes photo:

Google maps says 21 minutes. I am an over achiever!

Went on a few mile walk today.. actually, walked for like 3 hours so, however far that is.. Came home, made sichuan cucumbers... Then cold potato starch noodles that I boiled and cooled.. Once the cucumbers were gone, i added some tahini with a new set up noodles. Super quick and hit the spot:

That looks great.. What does CSO stand for?

elmhurst is the best.. For me, it's like 15 minutes to the restaurant.. We ordered when we got in the car and the order was literally arriving from the kitchen as I walked in to the place. I also love, Taste Good Malaysian, it's 5 minutes from the taco truck, Birria Landia, there are several good thai, chinese and vietnamese and tawainese and korean places. Also, there is a branch of new york mart, a great chinese grocery store.. There is also, La Fusta, which is a fun steakhouse. i also really like or liked, a few years ago, Zaab Elee or something like that, downtown manhattan... I have not been to ayada in chelsea but, the menus are the same...

We purchased thai food for lunch and we had the leftovers for dinner! We drank with a Basque Cider and I finished with vodka,

So, I am guessing this has been about 2 months... In that two months, i have eaten 3 meals that I have not cooked.. One from my father in law, a slice of pizza or two and lunch today... As much as I am enjoying cooking 2.5 meals a day, I am pretty tired of eating my own food..And don't get me wrong, I do not think I have repeated a meal.. I have made everything from freaking beer bread and pretzels, to pizza, pancakes, pasta, dumplings, whatever it is.. Trying to keep it fresh and exciting. But, ultimately, it's hard to surprise yourself.. Well, on that rare occasion it happens and I try to cook with spontaneity but yeh, occasionally, i wouldnt mind eating someone elses food... Things like, not really knowing what I am going to make until I assess my inventory, not planning too much.. And, today was that day! I haven't had thai food since all of this started... And well, I placed a called to my favorite thai restaurant in New York, Ayada Thai.. Its about a 20 minute drive away and it's as good as I remember.. Now, the thing about Ayada Thai is, when you ask for it spicy, they do not half step... They have a few levels spicy and thai spicy are the two hottest.. They use fresh thai peppers and tons of spice... And during these quarantine time, I haven't really been cooking any spicy food.. So, i guess my palate lost it's ability to easily handle the spice.. I literally use to not be able to tell the heat.. Someone would ask me if something is spicy and I would say, it's not bad.. Only to have it burn their face off.. So, i just went to, you shouldn't ask me.. Well, i normally get it all thai spicy but, i was a little cautious today.. So, we went spicy and let me tell you, that was about my limit. Fried watercress salad.. Shrimp, squid, cashews, lots of lime and onion.. This was soo good.. they packed the fried watercress separately and it traveled remarkably well. Sour Sausage Salad.. I ordered this thai hot and yes, burned my face off! This was catfish with eggplant.. I forget the thai name but, yes, a very spicy dish traditionally.. Did not disappoint.. we drank a gruner and I passed out for an hour. The white in this dish are whole cloves of garlic... Crispy Pork with chinese broccoli We also got sticky rice and well, that just hit the spot,...

Last night, i made a few fun things... I took frozen mussels out of the freezer.. I added butter, harissa, garlic and queso hebra to them.. Roasted and wow, just wow... And then, i just broiled the crabs and made a hot garlic butter with harissa dipping sauce: that I also dipped the artichokes shells in.. the artichoke leaves were leftover from the hearts from lunch.. i just steamed them and served them with lemon and well, they eventually got dipped into the harissa butter

Never made Roman Fried! That is not my favorite version. Artichokes are the rare thing that I will happily eat the healthy version of! So, i guess I'll keep going with these artichokes: So, first I made a semolina pasta dough.. 2 cups semolina, 2 eggs, some olive oil... All roughly.. It weighed out to be about 10 ounces To the pan I put roughly 5 cloves of garlic sliced, olive oil and a package of cherry tomatoes.. Then salt, vermouth, water, red chile, capers and three anchovies. I put the artichoke steams in toward the end and the cut up hearts last to heat up: This was the sauce i put in a hot pan prior to adding the pasta Mixed the two, added some oil, some more hot pepper, I messed up and forgot basil: then there is a photo with toasted bread crumbs but, it's not loading.

I have had them many ways.. I am usually more into simplicity but, these days, if I just boiled and grilled something, that wouldn't kill much time, would it! 😆 I often just like in steamed in some flavored water and served with a garlic mayo. The grilling definitely kicks it up bit. i prefer the added smoke and char but, my wife grew up eating them one way. As I was running, i was taking inventory of my fridge.. i have scallions, i have watercress, spinach, i have artichokes, mozzarella, i think I have a lamb head and tongue in my freezer, I have some left over sauce gribiche.. then i have this guanciale, i was thinking maybe a carbonara with the leftover artichokes, or I was thinking vitello tonnato, but, with lamb and artichokes and a really love tuna sauce. Or I was thinking of artichokes with tuna sauce, or artichokes baked with mozarella, i have a tomato, so I was thinking of a baked stuffed tomato, or stew artichokes in a tomato sauce maybe with anchovies and artichokes, serve with pasta, or just gratin with some bread crumbs and melted cheese. I have the end of a sourdough my friend was making to help restraunts, Or spinach, watercress, artichoke dip, or pizza, or calzone, or cannelloni... It's exhausting... And all I really want it cold sesame noodles but, i have too many things that need to be eaten before I can make them. The butternut squash, I used a spaghetti squash but, butternut would have been just as good.. I never made rosemary oil, i had made a scallion oil for the cucumbers.. That was essentially taking unflavored oil and smashing it on the mortar with the scallions.. I added a shot of a sichuan oil to it as well..

Last night was fun... My wifes favorite are artichokes... So, i took the few that I had and steamed before cutting in half and grilling... After grilling, i served with homemade buttered bread crumbs and a sauce gribiche.. Accompanying the artichokes was a dry aged steak and some boiled and smashed potatotes. Tarragon is my favorite thing, well that and star anise so, it was a win/win for all. If someone wants to come be my food stylist! I will do something fun with the leftovers today or tomorrow I love tarragon so much and it's a hard herb to find often.. So, on top of growing it at my house, we have a dish with tarragon on the menu so, i know I always have some at my shop in the walk in. It's essentially tarragon, chive, parsley, capers, sherry vinegar, shallots, olive oil, separated hard boiled eggs, neutral oil and cornichons.. I didn't have any pickles in the house outside of pickled peppers that I made... they were not too hot and I put a bit in and I didn't notice a major taste change. Boiled and smashed potatoes.. I realized, that if you are drinking a scotch while you cook, you can use the bottom of your glass to smash the potatoes... Now I go for a 5 mile run and ponder lunch.