eG Foodblog: johnder, slkinsey, weinoo (2011) - A tale of two boroughs

[johnder]

Here are a few pics of what is happening so far.

Prep for the spring veggie stew.

Clafouti cooking on the stove before going in the oven.

[weinoo]

Here's my hand...

Primi: Spring Onion and Artichoke Risotto

Secondo: Simply Seared Scallops over Cavolo Nero Braised w/ Nieman-Ranch Bacon

Dessert: I had that at lunch

[johnder]

I am thinking I may switch the order of the dishes, since the stew is looking pretty hearty at this point.

In the interim, I am having a variation on:

(from the Del Maguey website)

Untitled (as of yet)

Misty Kalkofen, Drink, Boston:

1.5 oz. Minero, .375 oz. Amer Picon, .5 oz. St. Germain, .5 oz Lemon Juice.

Shake until very cold then strain into martini glass.

I am doing:

1.75 oz Del Maguey Vida

.375 oz Amer Picon

.5 lemon

.75 Blood orange

Dash of agave nectar.

Shake, strain, Blood orange twist.

The orange in the picon matches up nicely with the smoke from the vida and the fresh orange flavor from the blood oranges.

[Chris Amirault]

Mitch, that Italian course stuff is pretty snooty. Isn't that stuff really the provenance of restaurant/professional kitchens?

John, where'd you get that Picon?

[weinoo]

Mitch, that Italian course stuff is pretty snooty. Isn't that stuff really the provenance of restaurant/professional kitchens?

John, where'd you get that Picon?

John has enough Picon to get through till 2015.

[C. sapidus]

For Indian skip 6th St (aka Curry Row) and head uptown to Curry Hill. My favorites are Chennai Garden, Saravanaas, Tiffin Wallah. Stop in a Kalustyan's beforehand.

For SE Asian, Manhattan is pretty weak. . . .

Kathryn, thank you! We had a delightful meal at Saravanaas on our last visit, and of course Kalyustans is a treat (and I mail order from them occasionally).

Bummer about the SE Asian. Ah well, no shortage of other options in NYC.

Looking forward to everyone's dinner. Apologies, my smack-talking is on the fritz at the moment.

Edited January 28, 2011 by C. sapidus (log)

[johnder]

Mitch, that Italian course stuff is pretty snooty. Isn't that stuff really the provenance of restaurant/professional kitchens?

John, where'd you get that Picon?

John has enough Picon to get through till 2015.

I do. I have quite the horde of picon. :unsure:

I am having a fitty-fitty now while waiting for the guests to come over. Basic fitty/fitty but with uh, maybe some malacca I have. I had to crack a new bottle just for you guys. I am trying it with a bergamot twist as well. We shall see how it works.

John

[heidih]

johnder I like the contrasts- as many pics as possible please. The broth mixture is right up my alley and greens with pasta are on deck for me tonight. The apricot dessert sounds good. I have been exploring fruit desserts like this and would like to get more input. Of course the whole blog....thank you!!!!!!

[weinoo]

Whew. I think I got started earlier than John, the kitchen has been cleaned and here's how it began...

That's the Ward 8 1/2...a Ward 8, substituting blood orange juice for the orange juice...mighty tasty. Of course, you can't prep dinner and have a drink without having some snacks...

18 month proscuitto, a bit of mortadella and some of Mario's dad's salumi, along with olives and pickled mushrooms from the Pickle Guys. Once the cooking started, it was time for a second cocktail, a nice 1794...

Here are some pix of the cooking process. Risotto base...

Rendering bacon...

Deep frying artichoke hearts...

Searing scallops. Note the standard frying pan. Get it hot, get the oil hot, leave the scallops ALONE, and they will turn over nice and easily...

And here's the first course: Baby artichoke and spring onion risotto, make with Carnaroli rice and house-made chicken stock, topped with frizzled baby artichoke hearts...

Followed by dry scallops, simply seared and served on a bed of bacon braised cavolo nero...

As I said above, I already had dessert at lunch, so no dessert tonight. But a nightcap was in order, an Old-Fashioned, with Willett's Bourbon, gomme syrup, Boker's bitters and a blood orange slice...

So how'd I do?

[johnder]

Ok, dinners done. Overall I think it was a great success, and I am sure I beat the pants off Mitch and most definitely Sam.

First, pics of the cocktails I had that I mentioned in a previou post.

Now onto the dishes...

First course -- pasta.

Buttered bread crumbs:

Finished communal serving of pasta. At the last minute, yolks broken and mixed into the pasta.

Next course -- scallops. These were beautiful, sweet scallops, and they cooked up perfectly.

Served in a shallow dish with some of the braising broth, hit at the last minute with some blood orange zest and some banyuls vinegar.

And finally -- the clafouti.

[johnder]

Whew. I think I got started earlier than John, the kitchen has been cleaned and here's how it began...

Searing scallops. Note the standard frying pan. Get it hot, get the oil hot, leave the scallops ALONE, and they will turn over nice and easily...

Did you hit those with a bit of butter at the end to brown butter baste them?

[weinoo]

LOL. Looks like you happened to have some sort of prosciutto lying around as well!

[johnder]

No, it was speck thank you very much.

You had bacon and chicken stock!

eta: you are just jealous my dish is better.

Edited January 28, 2011 by johnder (log)

[weinoo]

No, it was speck thank you very much.

You had bacon and chicken stock!

eta: you are just jealous my dish is better.

I always have bacon and chicken stock.

C'mon, the risotto rocked! Fried baby artichoke hearts .

[johnder]

We will let the people decide.

Free picon for everyone who votes for me.

(kidding)

[weinoo]

I'll vote for you for those Hermes bitters and a bottle of Stagg.

[Chufi]

This blog is such a treat. I love it when eGulleters get together and connect over good food. Sorry if this was already mentioned, but, did you meet through eGullet or did you all know eachother before?

Also, it's 11 in the morning here, and I'm craving a cocktail

[weinoo]

This blog is such a treat. I love it when eGulleters get together and connect over good food. Sorry if this was already mentioned, but, did you meet through eGullet or did you all know eachother before?

Also, it's 11 in the morning here, and I'm craving a cocktail

We did actually meet in an eGullet sort of way. Way before the wave of true cocktailian bars opened here in NYC, another eGulleteer used to host a speakeasy-type every once in a while in his apartment. These were the young-turks trying out all their cocktail-making skills, some of whom went on to work in the finest cocktail bars this city has to offer.

I got invited to said event and met John there (along with the host and others). As major foodie geeks, we're both pretty high on the scale; John's a grad of FCI and I one of ICE, so that was another pretty good connection.

That's it in a nutshell.

[weinoo]

Wow, Significant Eater said that your main course looked really good; "very French," if I recall the term correctly.

OTOH, she said my risotto looked amazing, and is pissed that she didn't get any. The surprise for her is that I saved the leftover risotto, and she'll be getting risotto cakes at some point.

Now, if I could only talk to the fairer half of your family and find out how well your dishes were seasoned...

[weinoo]

Good morning, all. I figured after eating fairly heavily and pork-ily yesterday and the day before, I should start my day off with a somewhat healthy breakfast. Back to the oats! Untoasted, this time...

And I wanted to show you one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment. Or at least part of it...

That's the cool top shelf of our Miele dishwasher. I know some people like to dis Miele; whatever. They patented that silverware shelf, and it's a great place for lots of odds and ends and knicknacks. And, everything gets clean as a whistle.

Breakfast...

I'm off to share some more of my neighborhood with you. See you later.

[hathor]

I was supposed to get some work done this morning and instead I got sucked in to all the glorious food and cocktails. Both dinners looked superb. I love the brothy-scallop-vegetable thing.

Weinoo: any pancetta, guanciale in that kale?

For those of you judging the competition, both of these fine competitors had a huge handicap yesterday. It was hard as hell to get any fresh vegetables or herbs or meat or anything else that was on the grocery list. Too much snow in the streets. But clearly, these guys rose to the occasion. Bravi!!

[weinoo]

Weinoo: any pancetta, guanciale in that kale?

There was indeed. But it was good old bacon.

[johnder]

Wow mitch, you actually get a magazine delivered? Old skool!

For me, I fly off to Vail in a few hours, but this morning I am going to be heading over to one of my favorite local restaurants applewood. They are very much into, and have been since 2004, using the whole animal and farm to table thing before it became the buzzword of the day.

Each week they take delivery a variety of whole animals, lamb, pig, goat and then break it down for service and decide their menu each day with what is available. I am heading over in an hour or so to take some photos as they break down this week's haul. While it won't quite as much as Shelby's, there will be some hard core butchering involved.

Since I am home this morning, maybe I will actually try this breakfast thing you speak of Mitch.

Edited January 28, 2011 by johnder (log)

[johnder]

[Mjx]

. . . . I know some people like to dis Miele; whatever. . . .

I know this is incredibly trivial, but what's wrong with Miele? Do they suffer from 'Fiat curse' in the US, or something of that sort, owing to mandated import modifications?

I'm curious, because in the EU they still have a reputation for reliability. Not luxury or anything, but something you can pretty much count on.