I have a friend who is, when left to her own devices, entirely un-Chowhoundish. I invited her and her beau over to my place for dinner one night, and they turned down the invitation in favor of a trip to Olive Garden. They could have at least been a little diplomatic and said they weren't sure where they were going yet! She lived in a house with three college age guys at one point. The default meal was Hamburger Helper. She figured it was one of the few things that everyone could devour without putting her in the poor house. Something about the idea of dinner from a box scares me. Maybe it's the list of ingredients that look like they belong in a science lab, or the tendency for different flavors to taste less like the real items they're trying to emulate, and more just like each other. I'm utterly tired of mass-produced, processed junk masquerading as a wholesome meal. I want my food to resemble FOOD, darn it!
Fear not, good citizens. Your friendly local Asian grocery store is to the rescue! There's all kinds of wonderful things inside, but this time I'm focusing on curry, specifically Thai style red curry. Three styles of Thai curry are known by colorful names- Green curry, with green chilis and shallots; yellow curry, with plenty of turmeric and usually potatoes and onions as ingredients for the curry; and red curry, with red chilis. This time, I'm making red curry. There's a lot of ingredients in the curry that are pretty hard to find outside of specialty grocery stores, including galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime. Thankfully, red (and green and yellow) curry pastes are available with all of the herbs and spices already mixed together for you. All you need to add is some coconut milk, meat, and vegetables, and tah-dah! It's dinner!
If you can make any of those dinners in a box, you can certainly make Thai red curry. Take 3.5 ounces of curry paste (for a less spicy curry, use less curry paste, down to half as much), and moosh it around in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Then, add two cans of coconut milk one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding the next ingredient. Add 8 ounces of any meat you like (we've been doing chicken a lot here just because I always have some frozen chicken breasts from Trader Joe's at hand), and let the mixture simmer until the meat is as done as you like. Add 4 to 8 ounces of your choice of chopped vegetables (we like carrots, onion, and snow peas quite a bit, but let your imagination go wild), let that simmer until the vegetables are done (just a couple of minutes), and serve. Yes, it's that easy, and there's only one pot to clean up afterward. Well, two pots... steamed rice on the side is essential.
Speaking of rice, here's how I do rice for any Asian meals. Mix 3 cups of water with 2 cups of rice (I use jasmine rice) and about half a teaspoon of salt. Let that boil over medium high heat until the water level drops below the surface of the rice, about 10 minutes. Cover the pot, turn the heat down to low, and let it cook for another 15 minutes. Take it off the heat, give it a quick stir/fluff to stop the cooking, and serve.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
What The Jester Had For Dessert: Melt Gelato, Phoenix AZ
I have been to a godawful lot of gelaterias in the Phoenix area. They certainly are prolific. I can think of seven different companies, and close to a dozen total locations of said companies. There is now yet another player in this hot market, namely a Southern California based franchise operation called Melt (no relation to the bath and body product company of the same name). Their first location is open in Paradise Valley Mall, with a second location set to open soon in Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa.
I went over there to try it today, and was vastly underwhelmed. I was impressed by their selection, with what looked like about 32 different flavors. They offer three sizes of gelato; a one-flavor small, a two-flavor large, and the Bambino, a selection of eight mini-scoops. They do also offer espresso drinks and a variety of sweet and savory crepes; these were not tasted on this trip. Since I wanted to get as big of a taste of their product line as possible, my friend Bellana and I naturally split the Bambino. We got the double dark chocolate, strawberry cheesecake, burgundy cherry, açai mixed berry sorbet, raspberry sorbet, butter pecan, cookies & cream, and Tropical (piña colada). I also tried samples of the tequila lime gelato and pomegranate sorbet. The best of them was the açai mixed berry, but it was plagued with an iciness that often comes from the product being taken in and out of a hard freeze. Many of the gelati had a very gummy, almost gluey texture that just didn't give the right mouthfeel. On top of this, the flavors just weren't deep enough. I could barely notice a difference between the cookies & cream and the burgundy cherry if it wasn't for the telltale bits of cherry in the latter. It is one of the slicker looking gelaterias in town, coming close to rivaling the cheerful colors of Arlecchino, and the service is personable and friendly, but those will only get you so far when the product itself is lacking so much. In retrospect, I shouldn't be all that surprised. I looked at their website, and most of it is about franchis opportunities. This is definitely a Chowhound's red flag; the company shows this way that they care more about opening new locations than about creating a great product.
Melt Gelato
4568 E Cactus Road
Phoenix, AZ
Paradise Valley Mall Food Court
Open For: Lunch, Dinner
Food: 2 (textures were off, flavors need to be stronger)
Service: 3 (Nice people, and they didn't mind us sampling several flavors while we made up our minds)
Atmosphere: 4 (Clean, modern, and metallic)
Value: 3 (Right around what everyone else is charging)
Kid Friendly? 4 (Come on, it's ice cream!)
Price: 1 (inexpensive)
Overall: 3 (It was OK, certainly nothing to go out of one's way for)
I went over there to try it today, and was vastly underwhelmed. I was impressed by their selection, with what looked like about 32 different flavors. They offer three sizes of gelato; a one-flavor small, a two-flavor large, and the Bambino, a selection of eight mini-scoops. They do also offer espresso drinks and a variety of sweet and savory crepes; these were not tasted on this trip. Since I wanted to get as big of a taste of their product line as possible, my friend Bellana and I naturally split the Bambino. We got the double dark chocolate, strawberry cheesecake, burgundy cherry, açai mixed berry sorbet, raspberry sorbet, butter pecan, cookies & cream, and Tropical (piña colada). I also tried samples of the tequila lime gelato and pomegranate sorbet. The best of them was the açai mixed berry, but it was plagued with an iciness that often comes from the product being taken in and out of a hard freeze. Many of the gelati had a very gummy, almost gluey texture that just didn't give the right mouthfeel. On top of this, the flavors just weren't deep enough. I could barely notice a difference between the cookies & cream and the burgundy cherry if it wasn't for the telltale bits of cherry in the latter. It is one of the slicker looking gelaterias in town, coming close to rivaling the cheerful colors of Arlecchino, and the service is personable and friendly, but those will only get you so far when the product itself is lacking so much. In retrospect, I shouldn't be all that surprised. I looked at their website, and most of it is about franchis opportunities. This is definitely a Chowhound's red flag; the company shows this way that they care more about opening new locations than about creating a great product.
Melt Gelato
4568 E Cactus Road
Phoenix, AZ
Paradise Valley Mall Food Court
Open For: Lunch, Dinner
Food: 2 (textures were off, flavors need to be stronger)
Service: 3 (Nice people, and they didn't mind us sampling several flavors while we made up our minds)
Atmosphere: 4 (Clean, modern, and metallic)
Value: 3 (Right around what everyone else is charging)
Kid Friendly? 4 (Come on, it's ice cream!)
Price: 1 (inexpensive)
Overall: 3 (It was OK, certainly nothing to go out of one's way for)
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Two Great Pieces of Sushi News
I went to college down in Tucson. While there, friends introduced me to a terrific Japanese restaurant called Sushi Ten. The food was top-notch, and the prices were an outstanding value. Indeed, Sushi Ten was one of the things I really missed about Tucson; there's plenty of Japanese restaurants around town, but none that came quite close to the charm of Sushi Ten. Then, a few months ago I found out the owners of Sushi Ten were planning to sell the restaurant and move up here. A month or two ago, they landed here and opened their new restaurant, Sushi Ken, over on Chandler Boulevard a little east of 40th Street, in the same shopping centre as CK's Tavern. I am very pleased to report that the menu is every bit as expansive as the one at Sushi Ten, and the food is every bit as terrific as it was down in Tucson. My friend and I got a 12-piece sashimi sampler plate, pork katsu donburi (a rice bowl topped with fried pork cutlet, sauteed onion, and egg), and sukiyaki chicken. All of it was top-notch, and the bill came to less than 30 dollars.
Now, on to even better news. A few years ago, there was an unbelievable sushi restaurant in Chandler not far from where Sushi Ken is now, called Shinbay. Shinbay was by far the best sushi restaurant I had been to, and indeed one of the best restaurants I have dined at in my life. I can still vividly remember the flavors of the meal including oysters in black bean sauce, and mussels in a very complex broth. Then, just over a year ago, Shinbay closed up shop. There was a note on the webpage saying to email them to find out where chef Shinji Kurita was now. I tried that route, to no avail, and eventually forgot all but the Shin of his name. Then, some discussion on Chowhound revealed the rest of his name to me. I then realized that the marquee for one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, Autumn Court over on 38th Street and Indian School, has been advertising for weeks that none other than Shinji Kurita is doing sushi there! Fellow sushi lovers, you owe it to yourself to get over to Autumn Court and try Kurita-san's sushi. If it's even half as good as what he made at Shinbay it will still be some of the very best sushi in town. Go. Now. Trust me on this.
Now, on to even better news. A few years ago, there was an unbelievable sushi restaurant in Chandler not far from where Sushi Ken is now, called Shinbay. Shinbay was by far the best sushi restaurant I had been to, and indeed one of the best restaurants I have dined at in my life. I can still vividly remember the flavors of the meal including oysters in black bean sauce, and mussels in a very complex broth. Then, just over a year ago, Shinbay closed up shop. There was a note on the webpage saying to email them to find out where chef Shinji Kurita was now. I tried that route, to no avail, and eventually forgot all but the Shin of his name. Then, some discussion on Chowhound revealed the rest of his name to me. I then realized that the marquee for one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, Autumn Court over on 38th Street and Indian School, has been advertising for weeks that none other than Shinji Kurita is doing sushi there! Fellow sushi lovers, you owe it to yourself to get over to Autumn Court and try Kurita-san's sushi. If it's even half as good as what he made at Shinbay it will still be some of the very best sushi in town. Go. Now. Trust me on this.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Review: Flaming Kabob Cuisine, Mesa AZ
One thing that a great many Phoenicians bemoan is the endless strip malls filled with nothing but dismal chain restaurant fare as far as the eye can see. It certainly does seem like shopping centers pop up in the blink of an eye, tempting Chowhounds valleywide with new spaces that might hold something exciting and new. Alas, such is rarely the case. Take the Mesa Grand shopping center over on Stapley in between Baseline and the Superstition freeway. Within two minutes' walking distance of each other are Panda Express, Cold Stone Creamery, Rubio's, Souper Salad, a cheesesteak chain, Chili's, Texas Roadhouse, Romano's Macaroni Grill, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, Old Country Buffet, Pizzeria Uno, Charleston's, Fatburger, El Paso BBQ Company, and I'm sure there are more that I missed, all on a single corner. While I will admit that I get the occasional craving for some of these, for the most part they serve up boring, industrial fare that you can get at similar shopping centers just a few miles down the road. Maybe it's not exactly the same restaurants, but it's the same old song nonetheless.
Enter the ravages of time. Inevitably, a few of these national operations fall by the wayside. Maybe the franchisor had trouble. Or it could be that the people in the area just couldn't be convinced that this kind of restaurant is a good idea. For whatever the reason, the 5 & Diner location a mile down Baseline just a little east of Gilbert Road closed up shop. For a good long time, the building sat empty, waiting for a new tenant. Then one day, a Middle Eastern restaurant called Flaming Kabob Cuisine opened in the space of the old diner.
My friend Bellana and I walked into the old diner, wondering what changes they made to give it a better thematic flavor. They did... nothing. Well, almost nothing. Where condiments once stood above the expo line, there now was a wide variety of hookahs and flavored tobacco. The miniature jukeboxes disappeared from the tables, replaced by upbeat Middle Eastern dance music playing on the sound system. Any art on the walls had vanished, save two small framed automobile advertisements in the men's restroom (it looks like they were glued down very firmly indeed). It looked like you'd expect a 5 & Diner to look before the decorators came in, with red walls, glittery red and silver naugahyde booths, and glossy black ceiling fans.
We looked over the menu, trying to figure out what to try, when I spied the Combo for Two on the menu. It looked like a good way to sample most of the menu without taking home food for three days; on it were chicken and lamb kebab, chicken shawarma, shish kefta, kibbeh, falafel, dolmades, rice, green salad, and hummus, all for $22.99. We ordered that, along with a couple of cups of Chicken Lemon Rice soup ($1.99 each). The soup arrived from the kitchen quickly. We took a moment to enjoy the aroma wafting from the soup, and dove in. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't terrific either. Both Bellana and I felt that the seasonings could have used some adjustment, maybe a little paprika would give it the little nudge that it seemed to miss. However, that was the last of my worries about the food. The hummus at Flaming Kabob is serious stuff, silky smooth, loaded with a perfect balance of garlic and lemon. It's almost worth the drive out there just for the hummus. Almost. The staff was quick to bring more pita when we ran out; I felt like it would have been nice to get a bit more at the start, but at the same time bringing more as necessary keeps the warm pita from getting cold. As we almost finished the hummus, our salad arrived. It was plenty of romaine lettuce chopped into nice small pieces (Note to other restaurateurs out there: Salad is not meant to be eaten with a knife! For Pete's sake, would you mind cutting the lettuce into manageable bites?), accented with bits of tomato and cucumber. The house dressing tossed on the salad was incredible, a refreshing, lemony vinaigrette with plenty of herbs.
Before too long, the main course plate came. What a feast! One thing that I've noticed with a great number of ethnic restaurants is that they will tone down the vibrant flavors of home for a cautious American audience. Thankfully, that is not the case here. Everything spoke of plenty of seasoning. The kebab, sadly, was not flaming as one would surmise by the name of the restaurant, but it did show evidence of being cooked by some very deft flame work. Both the chicken and the lamb had a very nice crust develop on the outside, with the center of each bit of meat on the sticks succulent and flavorful. The stuffed grape leaves were the surprise smash hit for us. They were assertively seasoned, filled with rice and meat, and were definitely way more than the sum of their parts.
While I wouldn't take people there for the atmophere (c'mon guys, even a couple of travel posters would make a world of difference!), I'll certainly be back time and again to Flaming Kabob for the food. I certainly feel like I got my money's worth thanks to some of the best Middle Eastern food in the farther reaches of the East Valley. OK, so it's likely some of the only Middle Eastern food to be found out that way, but still, it's great stuff.
Flaming Kabob Cuisine
2252 E Baseline Rd
Mesa, AZ
NW Corner of Baseline and Gilbert, facing Baseline
480-813-6555
Open For: Lunch, Dinner
Food: 5 (absolutely delicious; ardent fans of Middle Eastern cuisine may find the menu a bit pedestrian for their taste though)
Service: 3 (Friendly, eager to please; I think our waitress was a little green, but it added to the mom-n-pop charm)
Atmosphere: 1 (It would be nice if the interior didn't still scream 5 & Diner)
Value: 4 (Very satisfied with the food)
Kid Friendly? 3 (limited American kids' menu; more adventuresome wee ones should be able to order small bites off the regular menu or share one of the platters with ease, though)
Price: 1-2 (mostly inexpensive)
Overall: 4 (I liked it quite a bit)
Enter the ravages of time. Inevitably, a few of these national operations fall by the wayside. Maybe the franchisor had trouble. Or it could be that the people in the area just couldn't be convinced that this kind of restaurant is a good idea. For whatever the reason, the 5 & Diner location a mile down Baseline just a little east of Gilbert Road closed up shop. For a good long time, the building sat empty, waiting for a new tenant. Then one day, a Middle Eastern restaurant called Flaming Kabob Cuisine opened in the space of the old diner.
My friend Bellana and I walked into the old diner, wondering what changes they made to give it a better thematic flavor. They did... nothing. Well, almost nothing. Where condiments once stood above the expo line, there now was a wide variety of hookahs and flavored tobacco. The miniature jukeboxes disappeared from the tables, replaced by upbeat Middle Eastern dance music playing on the sound system. Any art on the walls had vanished, save two small framed automobile advertisements in the men's restroom (it looks like they were glued down very firmly indeed). It looked like you'd expect a 5 & Diner to look before the decorators came in, with red walls, glittery red and silver naugahyde booths, and glossy black ceiling fans.
We looked over the menu, trying to figure out what to try, when I spied the Combo for Two on the menu. It looked like a good way to sample most of the menu without taking home food for three days; on it were chicken and lamb kebab, chicken shawarma, shish kefta, kibbeh, falafel, dolmades, rice, green salad, and hummus, all for $22.99. We ordered that, along with a couple of cups of Chicken Lemon Rice soup ($1.99 each). The soup arrived from the kitchen quickly. We took a moment to enjoy the aroma wafting from the soup, and dove in. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't terrific either. Both Bellana and I felt that the seasonings could have used some adjustment, maybe a little paprika would give it the little nudge that it seemed to miss. However, that was the last of my worries about the food. The hummus at Flaming Kabob is serious stuff, silky smooth, loaded with a perfect balance of garlic and lemon. It's almost worth the drive out there just for the hummus. Almost. The staff was quick to bring more pita when we ran out; I felt like it would have been nice to get a bit more at the start, but at the same time bringing more as necessary keeps the warm pita from getting cold. As we almost finished the hummus, our salad arrived. It was plenty of romaine lettuce chopped into nice small pieces (Note to other restaurateurs out there: Salad is not meant to be eaten with a knife! For Pete's sake, would you mind cutting the lettuce into manageable bites?), accented with bits of tomato and cucumber. The house dressing tossed on the salad was incredible, a refreshing, lemony vinaigrette with plenty of herbs.
Before too long, the main course plate came. What a feast! One thing that I've noticed with a great number of ethnic restaurants is that they will tone down the vibrant flavors of home for a cautious American audience. Thankfully, that is not the case here. Everything spoke of plenty of seasoning. The kebab, sadly, was not flaming as one would surmise by the name of the restaurant, but it did show evidence of being cooked by some very deft flame work. Both the chicken and the lamb had a very nice crust develop on the outside, with the center of each bit of meat on the sticks succulent and flavorful. The stuffed grape leaves were the surprise smash hit for us. They were assertively seasoned, filled with rice and meat, and were definitely way more than the sum of their parts.
While I wouldn't take people there for the atmophere (c'mon guys, even a couple of travel posters would make a world of difference!), I'll certainly be back time and again to Flaming Kabob for the food. I certainly feel like I got my money's worth thanks to some of the best Middle Eastern food in the farther reaches of the East Valley. OK, so it's likely some of the only Middle Eastern food to be found out that way, but still, it's great stuff.
Flaming Kabob Cuisine
2252 E Baseline Rd
Mesa, AZ
NW Corner of Baseline and Gilbert, facing Baseline
480-813-6555
Open For: Lunch, Dinner
Food: 5 (absolutely delicious; ardent fans of Middle Eastern cuisine may find the menu a bit pedestrian for their taste though)
Service: 3 (Friendly, eager to please; I think our waitress was a little green, but it added to the mom-n-pop charm)
Atmosphere: 1 (It would be nice if the interior didn't still scream 5 & Diner)
Value: 4 (Very satisfied with the food)
Kid Friendly? 3 (limited American kids' menu; more adventuresome wee ones should be able to order small bites off the regular menu or share one of the platters with ease, though)
Price: 1-2 (mostly inexpensive)
Overall: 4 (I liked it quite a bit)
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
New & Noteworthy Blog
Michele Laudig, the new reviewer at the Phoenix New Times, has a new blog, titled Chow Bella. Both her blog and her weekly reviews in the New Times are very nice chow writing, check 'em out.
I (heart) PBLoco
The peanut butter from PBLoco is outrageously good stuff. I have a jar of the European Cafe Mocha flavor here, and it's nearly half gone from sneaky snacking. I imagine it would make a great ice cream sauce if it was thinned out with a little bit of cream. The only thing I'm not a big fan of is the consistency; the peanut butter is a little runnier than I'd like at room temperature, and very very hard when refrigerated. Still, it's utterly delicious stuff. There's a PBLoco store at Scottsdale Fashion Square, and people close to a Super Target can find the Jungle Banana, Dark Chocolate Raspberry, and European Cafe Mocha for a buck less than the PBLoco store sells it.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Consume Mass Quanitites, Rose Bowl Edition
Lawry's The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills does a special event for the Rose Bowl players called the Beef Bowl. On two separate nights, both teams get to dine to their hearts' content on prime rib, creamed, corn, mashed potatoes, and apple pie for dessert. This year, the Michigan team downed a whopping 612 pounds of prime rib. Dayum.
On a sad note, the vast majority of the cooked to order prime rib was served well done.
On a sad note, the vast majority of the cooked to order prime rib was served well done.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
It's That Time of Year Again
I had a family get-together at Old People's Country Buffet this past weekend. Dear Lord, I forgot how incredibly horrid the food is over there. Especially frightening standouts included "Risotto-Style Rice", a gloppy blend of long-grain rice with chopped broccoli and cheese sauce; a hot fudge pudding cake noted for its almost complete lack of flavor; and... enchiladas. There are certain things I will do in the name of my dear readers, but touching one of those dried out things with a ten-foot pole is not one of them. When the $1.99 breakfast* at IKEA looks like a truly terrific alternative, there's something seriously wrong with the picture, n'est-ce pas? Oh, speaking of IKEA, my morbid curiosity got the better of me, and I tried their Thursday night dinner special of prime rib. It's a good sized cut, I'm going to guess about 12 or 14 ounces, and thankfully pink in the middle. It came with a baked potato and vegetables for 8 bucks. While it certainly wasn't close to what you'd get at a decent steakhouse, it was better than it had any right to be for the price. Maybe some time I'll go see if they do a decent job with lobster on Tuesday night.
Anyway, back to the holiday goings-on. After we left the buffet, it was off to Grandpa's place to exchange gifts. I put together the exact same thing for everyone, a deluxe treat plate. Included was half a pound cake, some colossal loaded oatmeal cookies (loaded with Montmorency cherries, cranberries, pecans, and bittersweet chocolate), crispy chocolate chip cookies, and not one but two kinds of fudge. Ah, fudge, the fruitcake of the 21st century. Every single square of homemade fudge I have ever eaten in my entire life has been the too-sweet, slightly grainy kind with not nearly enough chocoate flavor. I swear everyone out there has the exact same recipe, the one with evaporated milk and Marshmallow Fluff.
Everyone except yours truly, that is.
This year, I tried out the recipe Cook's Illustrated published in their recent issue. It is:
1 pound finely chopped semisweet chocolate
2 ounces finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
tossed in a bowl until the baking soda and salt are nicely distributed. Then, you add a 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, and stir to coat the chocolate. The bowl then gets set over a pan of simmering water, and the contents get stirred until the chocolate has almost melted. Then, pull the bowl off the pan (be careful of the escaping steam), stir it until all of the chocolate has melted, and mix in a cup of coarsely chopped toasted walnuts. The whole mess then goes into a foil lined and greased 8 inch square pan, and put in the fridge for a couple of hours until the fudge has set up enough to be taken out of the pan and cut into squares.
This stuff is truly amazing fudge. The unsweetened chocolate gives a good flavor boost, and the little bit of baking soda reacts with the acidity of the chocolate to keep things light. I may play around with this recipe... I'm tempted to pick up some of the Andes mint baking chips and see how those turn out.
*The breakfast at IKEA is bacon, scrambled eggs, cottage fries, Swedish (what did you expect?) pancakes with lingonberry sauce, and coffee. Yes, all that for less than a latte at Starbucks. If you want the price of breakfast at IKEA to remain reasonable, have plans for what to do after breakfast. Otherwise, you might feel like going for a wee bit of a stroll, and oh why look there's a whole store to wander through right here!
Anyway, back to the holiday goings-on. After we left the buffet, it was off to Grandpa's place to exchange gifts. I put together the exact same thing for everyone, a deluxe treat plate. Included was half a pound cake, some colossal loaded oatmeal cookies (loaded with Montmorency cherries, cranberries, pecans, and bittersweet chocolate), crispy chocolate chip cookies, and not one but two kinds of fudge. Ah, fudge, the fruitcake of the 21st century. Every single square of homemade fudge I have ever eaten in my entire life has been the too-sweet, slightly grainy kind with not nearly enough chocoate flavor. I swear everyone out there has the exact same recipe, the one with evaporated milk and Marshmallow Fluff.
Everyone except yours truly, that is.
This year, I tried out the recipe Cook's Illustrated published in their recent issue. It is:
1 pound finely chopped semisweet chocolate
2 ounces finely chopped unsweetened chocolate
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
tossed in a bowl until the baking soda and salt are nicely distributed. Then, you add a 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, and stir to coat the chocolate. The bowl then gets set over a pan of simmering water, and the contents get stirred until the chocolate has almost melted. Then, pull the bowl off the pan (be careful of the escaping steam), stir it until all of the chocolate has melted, and mix in a cup of coarsely chopped toasted walnuts. The whole mess then goes into a foil lined and greased 8 inch square pan, and put in the fridge for a couple of hours until the fudge has set up enough to be taken out of the pan and cut into squares.
This stuff is truly amazing fudge. The unsweetened chocolate gives a good flavor boost, and the little bit of baking soda reacts with the acidity of the chocolate to keep things light. I may play around with this recipe... I'm tempted to pick up some of the Andes mint baking chips and see how those turn out.
*The breakfast at IKEA is bacon, scrambled eggs, cottage fries, Swedish (what did you expect?) pancakes with lingonberry sauce, and coffee. Yes, all that for less than a latte at Starbucks. If you want the price of breakfast at IKEA to remain reasonable, have plans for what to do after breakfast. Otherwise, you might feel like going for a wee bit of a stroll, and oh why look there's a whole store to wander through right here!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
It's a new feature!
I found something that I thought was very cool, and think it will make a worthwhile addition to the site. It's called Meebo, and is visible in the sidebar to the right. If I'm online, you can chat with me directly from this site. Feel free to ask me anything about Phoenix area food, cooking, or whatever else is on your mind. Particularly noteworthy conversations just might end up here on the site.
Jester Relocation Project
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I have finally moved from out in the sticks to my own place in central Phoenix. While this does mean I likely won't been seen as much at some of my favorite old haunts, there's tons and tons of exploring to do in this part of town.
Red Devil has quickly earned a place in my heart for being a darn near perfect neighborhood pizza joint. The pizza there is very chow-worthy indeed. I am thankful that La Madeleine still exists in the Valley at 32nd Street and Camelback, in the same shopping center as Delux. I went there about a week or so ago after a very long day of moving things into the new apartment, and remembered that La Madeleine is one of the best places in town for soothing comfort food. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, with a French country house feel and classical music playing gently on the sound system. All of the food I have had there has been absolutely delicious, certainly the cream of the crop as far as chains go. It certainly isn't cheap as far as quick-service outlets go; we each had a glass of wine, cup of soup, and an entree, and our bill came close to 40 dollars. However, I would say that it is most certainly worth it. Grocery shopping is certainly more enjoyable now; there's Trader Joe's, Phoenix Ranch Market, and Sprouts all within two or three miles of here. Previously, it was 5 miles to Basha's, 20 miles to the nearest Trader Joe's. I will miss the easier access to Super Target, they have some really great things over there.
One thing I love about having my new place is that I can have friends over and cook for them much easier than before. I'm so thrilled that I have a gas stove now! It's made cooking so much more enjoyable already. I inaugurated the kitchen last night with a Chinese dinner of orange flavored chicken, and beef with broccoli. According to the recipes it should have served eight people. There were five of us, and the only thing left was a bunch of rice (I always make extra rice so fried rice is a quick dinner option in the near future), and several strips of bell pepper that were in the beef with broccoli. So much for the idea of taking leftovers to work! I do know now that making stir-fry in this place does have some advance prep work. Namely, open the patio door, close the bedroom doors, turn on the vent hood, and toss a wet washcloth over the living room smoke alarm until I'm done cooking.
Red Devil has quickly earned a place in my heart for being a darn near perfect neighborhood pizza joint. The pizza there is very chow-worthy indeed. I am thankful that La Madeleine still exists in the Valley at 32nd Street and Camelback, in the same shopping center as Delux. I went there about a week or so ago after a very long day of moving things into the new apartment, and remembered that La Madeleine is one of the best places in town for soothing comfort food. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, with a French country house feel and classical music playing gently on the sound system. All of the food I have had there has been absolutely delicious, certainly the cream of the crop as far as chains go. It certainly isn't cheap as far as quick-service outlets go; we each had a glass of wine, cup of soup, and an entree, and our bill came close to 40 dollars. However, I would say that it is most certainly worth it. Grocery shopping is certainly more enjoyable now; there's Trader Joe's, Phoenix Ranch Market, and Sprouts all within two or three miles of here. Previously, it was 5 miles to Basha's, 20 miles to the nearest Trader Joe's. I will miss the easier access to Super Target, they have some really great things over there.
One thing I love about having my new place is that I can have friends over and cook for them much easier than before. I'm so thrilled that I have a gas stove now! It's made cooking so much more enjoyable already. I inaugurated the kitchen last night with a Chinese dinner of orange flavored chicken, and beef with broccoli. According to the recipes it should have served eight people. There were five of us, and the only thing left was a bunch of rice (I always make extra rice so fried rice is a quick dinner option in the near future), and several strips of bell pepper that were in the beef with broccoli. So much for the idea of taking leftovers to work! I do know now that making stir-fry in this place does have some advance prep work. Namely, open the patio door, close the bedroom doors, turn on the vent hood, and toss a wet washcloth over the living room smoke alarm until I'm done cooking.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Bites: Waffle House, Chandler AZ
I had a Waffle House craving recently. I went to the one in Chandler, and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the best breakfasts I've had in recent memory. It was 1 AM. I was absolutely famished after a long day at work, and for whatever reason, I was craving Waffle House. My friend and I slid into a booth. I got the All-American Combo, featuring two eggs, bacon (or sausage if you prefer), hash browns (or grits), toast (I went with raisin), and a waffle, all for $6.99. A few extra coins got the hash browns scattered, smothered, covered, and topped (set loosely on the grill, with grilled onions, cheese, and chili), and pecans added to the waffle. I realized it was a little too quiet in there, and put some Aretha Franklin on the jukebox. We chatted, we watched the cook make our chow, and then our waitress brought the food over. Everything was sheer bliss. The eggs were cooked exactly right, the bacon was just the perfect crispness, the hash browns nice and crisp, and the waffle... oh the waffle was terrific. I have not had satisfaction from an all-night diner like this in a very, very long time. I may end up going out of the way to the Chandler Waffle House just because it was so damn good.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A bientôt, mon ami.
The La Madeleine at Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, AZ has closed after a twelve year run. I will miss them greatly, I doubt that I will ever get to dine on real plates with real flatware and drink from stemware in the middle of a mall food court again. Merci beaucoup for the memories, La Madeline!
Thankfully, there is still La Madeleine's unique charm to be had in town, just down the road at 32nd Street and Camelback in Phoenix, same shopping center as Delux.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Review: AZ88, Scottsdale, AZ
First off, my apologies for not posting much on here. I've been having plenty of food adventures, but haven't been feeling the urge to write. There is more to come, including trips to Fate in Phoenix, and the Creole legend Commander's Palace in Las Vegas. Now, on to your regularly scheduled review.
Through my time on Chowhound, I have noticed that legendary reviewer Seth Chadwick and I have had more than a bit of synchronicity. There have been several times that one of us has reviewed something, and the other had just recently either been to that restaurant or had some other similar experience. You know how Seth Chadwick's most recent review was of Blu Burger Grill? AZ88 is a posh Scottsdale burger joint. Like Bette Davis uttered in All About Eve, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
My experience started off well enough, meeting up with a bunch of my friends from work. We got a banquette table big enough for all of us. The whole place is very modern and comfortable, with sleek, reasonably comfortable furnishings all over the place. I'm glad they weren't very busy; the combination of cathedral ceiling and lack of soft surfaces would surely make it almost impossible to hear anything when the place is hopping. I looked through their cocktail menu and noticed one of their feature cocktails was the legendary Sazerac, a combination of rye whiskey, a dash of Herbsaint (a New Orleans creation made as a substitute for absinthe), Peychaud's Bitters, and a little bit of sugar to mellow things out. If you haven't had a Sazerac before, I can tell you it is certainly worth seeking one out. Don't do it at AZ88, though. They put too much sugar in there, making it taste more like a whiskey punch. Thankfully, there wasn't so much sugar that it wasn't drinkable, just enough that the noticeable flavor was just sweet instead of the desired balance of sweet and strong. I could have sworn they put some Sprite in there (heaven forbid), but maybe my taster was just off.
Our server was obviously new to serving; he half-heartedly asked if we wanted appetizers, then sort of wandered off. An off-duty server from AZ88 was sitting with us, and *she* ended up taking our order instead. If a brand new server is THIS green, he has no business trying to wrangle a table of 8 on his own. He really should have had some kind of help instead of just getting thrown to the wolves like this. I can't fault him for this, but he certainly left me plenty to fault him for nonetheless. I ordered their Burger Au Poivre II, a peppercorn-crusted burger with a burgundy wine sauce, topped with blue cheese and bacon; thankfully, AZ88 will let you do your burger medium-rare, and that's exactly how I ordered it. I waited a while for my burger, my drink sat empty, and eventually my burger arrived. It was well done. The accompanying fries were both overcooked and cold. I already wasn't happy from the lack of server attention, this did not make things any better. I sat for a few minutes, trying to get the server's attention. He got a drink order from the girl next to me, I tried to signal him and thought I made eye contact with him, and he left. He brought the lady's drink, and left again. The off-duty server (you might notice I'm not mentioning the off-duty server's name, there is a reason for this you'll find out soon enough) noticed that I was absolutely steaming at this point. She then took the burger back to the kitchen to get remade. At this point, I was very much ready for another drink. I went against my good judgment and ordered something that tends to be a bit tricky to make, a classic cocktail called the Monkey Gland. It's a mix of gin and orange juice, with a dash of Pernod and a dash of grenadine, served straight up. It's a simple enough cocktail, but there's a twist that will trap all but the most seasoned bartenders; Pernod is a particularly strong liqueur. Use too much and it will completely take over the drink. The bartender used too much, and you couldn't taste anything but Pernod. To compound the problem, the bartender barely shook the drink before pouring it, and therefore was a good bit warmer than the ice-cold that I was expecting. There are few things in life less pleasant than warm gin.
When my remade burger came out, the burger was done to the right temperature and everything was hot, but the fries were oversalted almost to the point of inedibility. The burger itself was dominated by the blue cheese, and the beef was almost flavorless. I think the bun was specially made for them, as I hadn't seen one like it anywhere else, but it was flabby bread that threatened to surrender to the juices from the medium rare burger, and offered no substance or flavor of its own to add to the burger. The one shining part of the burger was the bacon; nice, thick-cut bacon with some good smoky flavor of its own. I somehow ate half of the burger, but I was feeling too vitriolic at this point to want any more food.
I finally managed to get the waiter's attention, and did get a glass of water from him to quench the excess sodium on the fries. He was quick to get the water (it would have been nicer if he offered some at the start!), but the glass was eight ounces at most. It's water, it's free, could you at least give me more than three swigs? I drained it in five seconds, and by some miracle caught his eye so he could get me another. After the second water, I never saw him near the table again except to get me a box for the rest of my burger. At this point, I wrote off the complete meal as a loss. I went for the manager (I would have asked the server for the manager, but I wasn't about to wait another twenty minutes for him to appear again). I explained to him how everything was off for me and the server was still much too wet behind the ears. I got something that resembled an apology, along with an explanation that this was the server's first night on the floor. The manager said he'd be over at my table in a few minutes. He never came. Instead, he sent the off-duty server over with a revised check that comped my ridiculously screwed up burger. Hey, Manager! If you say you're going to do something, you really should do it, especially if the person you you were talking to is not a happy camper. I understand that bad things happen all the time; the true service level of a restaurant is most evident when taking care of an angry customer. At this absolutely essential point of service, you failed. Miserably.
My Sazerac was eight dollars, the Monkey Gland was a whopping eleven bucks. Apparently, a pour of their house gin is 9 dollars (and they don't even have the decency to use a name-brand liquor at that price! I don't even WANT to know how much it would have been if I asked for Tanqueray), and for the privilege of rinsing the ice with Pernod, they charge 2 dollars. Two bucks for half a teaspoon of Pernod? You have absolutely GOT to be kidding. The markup on that is something like 20 times the cost. Even with the comped food, I felt like I was getting way, way overcharged. But then, this is the heart of downtown Scottsdale, where people somehow think that because they're paying too much, the place must be really great.
The very last straw was when I was paying up, still incensed at the combination of pitiful service and overpriced everything. I was grumbling at how I felt ripped off by the experience, and then the off-duty server opened her yap, and said in a very snide tone, "Well if you don't like it, you don't have to come back." I was ready to tip the off duty server quite nicely for being so helpful during the meal, but after mouthing off to me like that, I decided my money would stay right in my wallet. Damn right I won't come back! I'll go over to Delux, where they serve up much better burgers for less, pour well-made, generously sized cocktails, and the servers don't act like I'm making their social hour difficult by expecting a refill on my water.
Ratings below are on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being high. Occasionally, zeros and sixes may be awarded for exceptional cases.
AZ88
Scottsdale Civic Center (south of Indian School and Drinkwater)
Food: 1 (I hated it)
Service: 0 (Not Acceptable)
Atmosphere: 4 (I liked it)
Overall: 1 (I hated it)
Value: 1 (Very poor)
Kid Friendly: 2 (Not a good idea)
Open for: Lunch Mon-Fri, Dinner, Late Night
Through my time on Chowhound, I have noticed that legendary reviewer Seth Chadwick and I have had more than a bit of synchronicity. There have been several times that one of us has reviewed something, and the other had just recently either been to that restaurant or had some other similar experience. You know how Seth Chadwick's most recent review was of Blu Burger Grill? AZ88 is a posh Scottsdale burger joint. Like Bette Davis uttered in All About Eve, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
My experience started off well enough, meeting up with a bunch of my friends from work. We got a banquette table big enough for all of us. The whole place is very modern and comfortable, with sleek, reasonably comfortable furnishings all over the place. I'm glad they weren't very busy; the combination of cathedral ceiling and lack of soft surfaces would surely make it almost impossible to hear anything when the place is hopping. I looked through their cocktail menu and noticed one of their feature cocktails was the legendary Sazerac, a combination of rye whiskey, a dash of Herbsaint (a New Orleans creation made as a substitute for absinthe), Peychaud's Bitters, and a little bit of sugar to mellow things out. If you haven't had a Sazerac before, I can tell you it is certainly worth seeking one out. Don't do it at AZ88, though. They put too much sugar in there, making it taste more like a whiskey punch. Thankfully, there wasn't so much sugar that it wasn't drinkable, just enough that the noticeable flavor was just sweet instead of the desired balance of sweet and strong. I could have sworn they put some Sprite in there (heaven forbid), but maybe my taster was just off.
Our server was obviously new to serving; he half-heartedly asked if we wanted appetizers, then sort of wandered off. An off-duty server from AZ88 was sitting with us, and *she* ended up taking our order instead. If a brand new server is THIS green, he has no business trying to wrangle a table of 8 on his own. He really should have had some kind of help instead of just getting thrown to the wolves like this. I can't fault him for this, but he certainly left me plenty to fault him for nonetheless. I ordered their Burger Au Poivre II, a peppercorn-crusted burger with a burgundy wine sauce, topped with blue cheese and bacon; thankfully, AZ88 will let you do your burger medium-rare, and that's exactly how I ordered it. I waited a while for my burger, my drink sat empty, and eventually my burger arrived. It was well done. The accompanying fries were both overcooked and cold. I already wasn't happy from the lack of server attention, this did not make things any better. I sat for a few minutes, trying to get the server's attention. He got a drink order from the girl next to me, I tried to signal him and thought I made eye contact with him, and he left. He brought the lady's drink, and left again. The off-duty server (you might notice I'm not mentioning the off-duty server's name, there is a reason for this you'll find out soon enough) noticed that I was absolutely steaming at this point. She then took the burger back to the kitchen to get remade. At this point, I was very much ready for another drink. I went against my good judgment and ordered something that tends to be a bit tricky to make, a classic cocktail called the Monkey Gland. It's a mix of gin and orange juice, with a dash of Pernod and a dash of grenadine, served straight up. It's a simple enough cocktail, but there's a twist that will trap all but the most seasoned bartenders; Pernod is a particularly strong liqueur. Use too much and it will completely take over the drink. The bartender used too much, and you couldn't taste anything but Pernod. To compound the problem, the bartender barely shook the drink before pouring it, and therefore was a good bit warmer than the ice-cold that I was expecting. There are few things in life less pleasant than warm gin.
When my remade burger came out, the burger was done to the right temperature and everything was hot, but the fries were oversalted almost to the point of inedibility. The burger itself was dominated by the blue cheese, and the beef was almost flavorless. I think the bun was specially made for them, as I hadn't seen one like it anywhere else, but it was flabby bread that threatened to surrender to the juices from the medium rare burger, and offered no substance or flavor of its own to add to the burger. The one shining part of the burger was the bacon; nice, thick-cut bacon with some good smoky flavor of its own. I somehow ate half of the burger, but I was feeling too vitriolic at this point to want any more food.
I finally managed to get the waiter's attention, and did get a glass of water from him to quench the excess sodium on the fries. He was quick to get the water (it would have been nicer if he offered some at the start!), but the glass was eight ounces at most. It's water, it's free, could you at least give me more than three swigs? I drained it in five seconds, and by some miracle caught his eye so he could get me another. After the second water, I never saw him near the table again except to get me a box for the rest of my burger. At this point, I wrote off the complete meal as a loss. I went for the manager (I would have asked the server for the manager, but I wasn't about to wait another twenty minutes for him to appear again). I explained to him how everything was off for me and the server was still much too wet behind the ears. I got something that resembled an apology, along with an explanation that this was the server's first night on the floor. The manager said he'd be over at my table in a few minutes. He never came. Instead, he sent the off-duty server over with a revised check that comped my ridiculously screwed up burger. Hey, Manager! If you say you're going to do something, you really should do it, especially if the person you you were talking to is not a happy camper. I understand that bad things happen all the time; the true service level of a restaurant is most evident when taking care of an angry customer. At this absolutely essential point of service, you failed. Miserably.
My Sazerac was eight dollars, the Monkey Gland was a whopping eleven bucks. Apparently, a pour of their house gin is 9 dollars (and they don't even have the decency to use a name-brand liquor at that price! I don't even WANT to know how much it would have been if I asked for Tanqueray), and for the privilege of rinsing the ice with Pernod, they charge 2 dollars. Two bucks for half a teaspoon of Pernod? You have absolutely GOT to be kidding. The markup on that is something like 20 times the cost. Even with the comped food, I felt like I was getting way, way overcharged. But then, this is the heart of downtown Scottsdale, where people somehow think that because they're paying too much, the place must be really great.
The very last straw was when I was paying up, still incensed at the combination of pitiful service and overpriced everything. I was grumbling at how I felt ripped off by the experience, and then the off-duty server opened her yap, and said in a very snide tone, "Well if you don't like it, you don't have to come back." I was ready to tip the off duty server quite nicely for being so helpful during the meal, but after mouthing off to me like that, I decided my money would stay right in my wallet. Damn right I won't come back! I'll go over to Delux, where they serve up much better burgers for less, pour well-made, generously sized cocktails, and the servers don't act like I'm making their social hour difficult by expecting a refill on my water.
Ratings below are on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being high. Occasionally, zeros and sixes may be awarded for exceptional cases.
AZ88
Scottsdale Civic Center (south of Indian School and Drinkwater)
Food: 1 (I hated it)
Service: 0 (Not Acceptable)
Atmosphere: 4 (I liked it)
Overall: 1 (I hated it)
Value: 1 (Very poor)
Kid Friendly: 2 (Not a good idea)
Open for: Lunch Mon-Fri, Dinner, Late Night
Monday, August 21, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Good news, and better news!
First, the good news: Trader Vic's got quite the good review in the Phoenix New Times.
The better news: The rat bastard Stephen Lemons isn't doing the food review anymore! The new gal is so much easier to read. Thank goodness.
The better news: The rat bastard Stephen Lemons isn't doing the food review anymore! The new gal is so much easier to read. Thank goodness.
Friday, June 23, 2006
I Hate Being Sick
I've had some wicked bug for the last five or six days. I thought it was done for, then it came back for Round 2 after a hellish evening at work. But that's more than you need to know. The thing I hate about being sick is that it COMPLETELY throws off any Chowhoundish nature I have. Gimme a ton of Gatorade and a box of Ritz crackers when I have the flu, and I couldn't be happier. Tonight, for some reason I was craving mashed potatoes, and WOW they came out absolutely perfect. I took a pound of potatoes in their skins, brought them to a boil, and then let them simmer until I could poke one with a paring knife and it slid right back into the water. I drained off the potatoes, and put them through a ricer (easily the fastest way to do mashers- just cut them in half, put one half in the ricer cut side down, and press through. The skin stays in the ricer hopper) back into the hot pan. Then, in went 4 tablespoons of very well softened butter and then 1/2 cup of warm milk (I would have used half and half or maybe some heavy cream, but the half and half I found in the back of the fridge was close to collecting Social Security). That last bit is very important, the butter, THEN the milk. If you mix them in at the same time or mix in the milk first, the starch in the potatoes will soak up the water content in the milk and make something resembling glue; mixing in the butter first coats the starch with fat so that it won't soak up all that moisture. Then in go the seasonings (about 3/4 teaspoon of salt and some ground black pepper are mandatory, I also added some Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle from Penzey's), and it's done. They're wonderfully fluffy, silky smooth, and just oh so wonderful.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Lemonade
I just recently tried the lemonade recipe from the current issue of Cook's Country, and dayum, that's some great lemonade! It's certainly easy enough- cut one lemon into thin slices, and muddle it with 1-1/2 cups of sugar, using a potato masher or similar large blunt object, until the sugar starts to dissolve. Add 7 cups of water and 2 cups fresh lemon juice, strain out the lemon slices, stir well, chill, and serve. If you like, you can add 2 cups of strawberries (or other berries, or even go crazy and try peaches or mangoes, the possibilities are endless!), 1 cup of fresh mint leaves, or 1/4 cup of grated fresh ginger to the lemon slices and sugar before muddling.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Cooking: Grill Madness
I live in the Phoenix area. It gets hot around here. No, wait, I take that back. It gets really damn hot around here. Today the high was somewhere over 110 degrees. Needless to say, I spent as much of the day as possible indoors. Eventually, dinner sounded like a good idea, and cooking anything indoors did most certainly NOT sound like a good idea. So, I decided to fire up the grill and put together a feast. I knew that the main course was going to be some kind of grilled chicken breast (a freezer staple item around here), and then started to scavenge around for other possible items to throw on the grill. I almost did a cold rice salad since we have some leftover rice on the fridge, but my love of baking prevailed and I made grilled garlic flatbread. Also on the side were grilled green beans, and grilled fruit for dessert.
The chicken itself was simple enough. I wasn't in the mood for a BBQ or sweet and sour glaze (both of which I had in the fridge), so I put together one made out of hoisin sauce, soy sauce to loosen up the mixture and provide savoriness, honey for an additional sweet note, orange muscat champagne vinegar to brighten the mix (I would have used rice vinegar but I was out... shhhhh don't tell), and some red chile flakes for spice, and took a taste. I could tell it needed something, but wasn't sure what. Off to the overflowing spice rack I went to see what I could do. Eventually, the jerk spice blend caught my eye. I added a very generous sprinkle, and was most pleased with the result. A dash of black pepper rounded things out. The chicken was an easy preparation- brush the glaze on one side, grill glazed side down, brush more glaze on, flip, and cook until done.
Grilled flatbread technically was a very simple grilled pizza topped with nothing more than extra-virgin olive oil and kosher salt. I started out by sauteing garlic and thyme (I should have used the fresh rosemary on the back porch, but alas I forgot about it) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then blending that into 4 cups of flour, a packet of rapid-rise yeast, and 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt in the food processor. Then, I pulsed in 1-1/2 cups of warm (110 F/43C) water, kept pulsing until the dough came together, then let the processor run for 30 seconds. After a couple of kneads on the counter, I let it rest until doubled, split it into 8 pieces, pulled each one into a nice little ball, and let them rest under a damp towel for a few minutes so I wouldn't have to fight the gluten. I then squished each one out into 1/4 inch thick rounds, placed them on floured cookie sheets (you think I'm letting my wood pizza peel anywhere near the griddle? Yeah right!), and took them out to the grill. Once there, I brushed extra-virgin olive oil on each piece of dough, gave it a good sprinkle of kosher salt, and placed it oil side down on the grill. I let it cook for a couple of minutes until it was set and had grill lines on one side, then brushed on more oil (the flare-ups from drips were thrilling to say the least!), gave them a flip, and cooked them for a few minutes on the other side before pulling them off the grill. These came out absolutely fantastic. I can see myself putting this together every time we're planning on doing grilled meat for dinner.
The chicken itself was simple enough. I wasn't in the mood for a BBQ or sweet and sour glaze (both of which I had in the fridge), so I put together one made out of hoisin sauce, soy sauce to loosen up the mixture and provide savoriness, honey for an additional sweet note, orange muscat champagne vinegar to brighten the mix (I would have used rice vinegar but I was out... shhhhh don't tell), and some red chile flakes for spice, and took a taste. I could tell it needed something, but wasn't sure what. Off to the overflowing spice rack I went to see what I could do. Eventually, the jerk spice blend caught my eye. I added a very generous sprinkle, and was most pleased with the result. A dash of black pepper rounded things out. The chicken was an easy preparation- brush the glaze on one side, grill glazed side down, brush more glaze on, flip, and cook until done.
Grilled flatbread technically was a very simple grilled pizza topped with nothing more than extra-virgin olive oil and kosher salt. I started out by sauteing garlic and thyme (I should have used the fresh rosemary on the back porch, but alas I forgot about it) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then blending that into 4 cups of flour, a packet of rapid-rise yeast, and 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt in the food processor. Then, I pulsed in 1-1/2 cups of warm (110 F/43C) water, kept pulsing until the dough came together, then let the processor run for 30 seconds. After a couple of kneads on the counter, I let it rest until doubled, split it into 8 pieces, pulled each one into a nice little ball, and let them rest under a damp towel for a few minutes so I wouldn't have to fight the gluten. I then squished each one out into 1/4 inch thick rounds, placed them on floured cookie sheets (you think I'm letting my wood pizza peel anywhere near the griddle? Yeah right!), and took them out to the grill. Once there, I brushed extra-virgin olive oil on each piece of dough, gave it a good sprinkle of kosher salt, and placed it oil side down on the grill. I let it cook for a couple of minutes until it was set and had grill lines on one side, then brushed on more oil (the flare-ups from drips were thrilling to say the least!), gave them a flip, and cooked them for a few minutes on the other side before pulling them off the grill. These came out absolutely fantastic. I can see myself putting this together every time we're planning on doing grilled meat for dinner.
Making Jamaica
I tried out the recipe over on epicurious.com for jamaica, a Mexican agua fresca (the name translates literally to "fresh water"; aguas frescas are a blend of fruit, sugar, and water) made from hibiscus blossoms. I used 3 ounces of the hibiscus flowers, 1 cup of sugar, and a gallon of water. To start, I got the water to a boil, then added the hibiscus and sugar. Once it returned to a boil, I let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes, then strained out the hibiscus flowers and let it chill. It turned out pretty good, but I think it could be stronger on hibiscus and definitely sweeter too; it had a light, pleasant sweetness, but didn't have the right sweetness level to taste like every other agua fresca that I've had. I know that next time it would greatly help to have a lid on the pot, I lost almost a quart of water to the combination of evaporation and the hibiscus absorbing liquid. Speaking of which, one of these times I'll try squishing down the hibiscus to get some good concentrated flavor back into the pitcher where it belongs.
I'd like to try fixing the sweetness and strength levels at the same time, but I would prefer to fix one variable at a time in the recipe. The first will be adjusting sweetness, then seeing if pressing the hibiscus will make for a stronger end product, then finally adjusting the amount of hibiscus leaves. In Cook's Country, they just published a recipe for some positively delicious lemonade, and it uses 1/2 cup of sugar for every 3 cups of liquid; I think I'll do 2 cups of sugar next time, and go from there.
I'd like to try fixing the sweetness and strength levels at the same time, but I would prefer to fix one variable at a time in the recipe. The first will be adjusting sweetness, then seeing if pressing the hibiscus will make for a stronger end product, then finally adjusting the amount of hibiscus leaves. In Cook's Country, they just published a recipe for some positively delicious lemonade, and it uses 1/2 cup of sugar for every 3 cups of liquid; I think I'll do 2 cups of sugar next time, and go from there.
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