Some cooking and Leopold’s with next year’s roomies!
November 9, 2008 § Leave a comment
I did eventually get to using up the squash, mushrooms, and shallots by melting a little butter, throwing all of them into a saute pan, and adding salt and pepper. Quick, easy, comforting, and healthy (kinda? yes?) I would write out a recipe but it was incredibly simple and I don’t recall the measurements now. Just use however much looks good to you. Also cooked the potato gnocchi and ricotta tortellini that I had on hand from Dean and Deluca and doused it with some house vodka sauce. Erin, Lee, and I just grabbed a bunch of forks and ate off this one communal plate. No time for cute dinnerware when our stomachs were grumbling.
In other news, housing selection is complete and I’m living in a rooftop apartment next year with three other great girls! Rooftops at Georgetown are third or fourth level apartments that have a huge balcony that overlooks the Potomac River. And because it’s through the university, we don’t have to worry about utilities, long commutes, etc. Pretty sweet.
When we were deciding on the kind of housing we wanted to choose, we headed to Leopold’s. This time, I got the grilled chicken salad with field greens. It was a pretty standard dish and the chicken was a bit overcooked in my opinion, but everyone else seemed to enjoy their dishes. Jia got the roast chicken I had last time, Melissa had the mussels and frites, and Jenny got a salmon dish that looked huge and amazing. The fennel and basil oil combination got rave reviews.
We were all most looking forward to dessert though. Leopold’s has a huge pastry case filled with delectable treats – savory and sweet – and we spent about 15 minutes just ooing and aahing at all the choices. There were fruit tarts, giant brownies, MACARONS! [which I will try the next time I go] and breakfast items like croissants, danishes, etc. I purposely ordered the tea and cookies because I wanted something light, and even though I don’t know what they were – butter shortbreads, brittles, and some other things – each one was delicious and special, especially since I got to wash it down with some Citron tea. My friends were too busy sighing and eating to really say anything so…I’m going to assume their desserts tasted as good as they looked.
Mission for next time: macaron taste tasting. I only saw five flavors – raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, coffee, and either a lemon or coconut, but if they’re up to expectations, it doesn’t matter in the end. I just need to find somewhere that can give me that wonderful meringue-filling satisfaction.
Second global dinner – Mexican
September 18, 2008 § 4 Comments
The day after our Italian-themed night, I decided to cook some Mexican food. My roommate Jia isn’t exactly the most adventurous of eaters, so I thought I’d start in her closer to her comfort zone and slowly work our way into the more exotic cuisines. 🙂
Midway through broiling the shrimp, I had to deal with some ignorant buttwipe who walked into our common room citing snottily that it smelled like fish i.e. s***. Let’s just say I have profound pity for the person who’s never sat down to good seafood in his entire, obviously miserable little life and that he won’t be getting any floor-wide baked goods from me anytime soon. Ass.
Anyway, on the menu:
Sopa de Tortilla
Broiled Shrimp
Churroooooos
Sopa de Tortilla (modified from The Best Recipes in the World)
1/2 cup corn or neutral oil
6 corn tortillas cut into 1/4 inch strips
3 garlic cloves
1 large onion, diced
2 dried chiles, preferably pasilla
3 fresh tomatoes, blanched and peeled, then diced
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup shredded cooked chicken (or I used spicy Italian sausage leftover from the previous day)
1 cup Monterey Jack, grated
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, sliced
1. Oil in saucepan over medium high heat. When oil is hot, fry the tortilla strips in batches until golden brown and crisp, turning after a minute or two, for about two to four minutes. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
2. Discard all but 2 tbspns of oil. Turn heat to medium, add garlic and onion, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add chiles, tomatoes, and half the tortilla strips, and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in chicken stock and bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add chicken and heat through. Season with lime juice, salt, pepper. Garnish with the cilantro, cheese, avocado, and remaining tortilla strips and serve.
Bittman recommends that you use an immersion blender and puree everything before you add the chicken, but I personally like my soups chunky and full of that veggie goodness.
Broiled Shrimp with Chili Paste (modified from Joy of Cooking)
Paste
Take:
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
Mix together in a large shallow bowl.
Add and toss to coat well
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of shrimps (peeled and deveined) or scallops
Broil, turning the shrimp after the first side becomes pink, 2 minutes or so. Broil until second side is pink/opaque, test one of the shrimp by cutting into it to make sure it is cooked through. Garnish with lemon wedges and minced cilantro.
*Not all broilers are created equal! It actually took me a bit longer to cook the shrimp, so just make sure to keep a watchful eye. You don’t want your seafood to become rubbery – that’s a crime.
Churros (from Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World)
Corn oil for frying
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons of butter)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1. Put at least two inches of oil into a large saucepan or deep skillet and heat to about 350 F. [To make sure the oil is hot enough, you can always use the Giada trick – drop a little bit of the batter in and if it starts to bubble and float up to the surface, you know it’s ready] In the meantime, while it’s warming up, mix the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar together on a large plate.
2. Combine remaining sugar, butter, salt, and 1 cup water in saucepan over high heat and bring to boil. Turn the heat to low and add flour all at once. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition. [DO NOT SCRAMBLE YOUR EGGS]
3. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip [Or you can drop spoonfuls, or, if you want to be like me, go halfway. I just took filled one of those large Glad bags with the batter and cut a large hole in the one of the corners] Press strips of dough about 4 inches long into the hot oil. Cook as many as will fit and turn as they brown, for a total of 5 to 10 minutes each.
4. Remove churros from oil and drain on paper towels then immediately roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot.
Notes on Food 