Burger Baby

After a hiatus from posting because someone stole my laptop :(
I'm back!

This recipe is dedicated to Juan... as he has asked for it more than once and I made him wait till i had pictures.

I was inspired by the Father's Office Burger in Santa Monica... truly the most heavenly burger ive ever eaten in my life, and totally worth waiting in line outside for.
I do not make my burgers with USDA Prime ground rib eye, nor did i go and get applewood smoked bacon for my compote...
If you have a meat grinder and the resources, you should sub those in for an even more succulent burger.

Ingredients:

Carmelized Onions:
4 Slices of bacon
2 onions medium, sliced lengthwise

1 tsp sugar
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar

1 tsp ketchup

2 tsps Worcestershire sauce

salt, pepper to taste

Burgers

2 lbs good ground beef

2 tsps salt, pepper

2 tbsps butter

blue cheese
Gruyere cheese

lettuce

tomato

2 eggs (optional)

4 demi-baguettes or portugese rolls or anything thats kinda crusty on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside

DirectionsCaramelized Onions:

Start your pan at medium-high heat and put your slices of bacon - let them render up fat and when they are pretty crispy without being black, remove and drain on a paper towel.

Pour out abotu half of the fat in the pan, and with the remaining fat, throw in your onions and sugar.

Cook the onions on med-high until they are golden brown and fragrant. then crumble your bacon and add it to the pan. let that cook for another 5 minutes or so. Then add the vinegar, ketchup, worchestershire.

Let those sink into your onions and bacon combo for about 2-3 minutes. add pinches of salt and pepper.

Burgers:

I like to season my ground meat before i shape it into patties, but feel free to salt and pepper before or after.

Melt a tbsp of butter in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Cook the burgers on each side for about 3-4 minutes. When you flip it, you should see a nice browned up side, if its not brown yet, let it cook on that side for longer.

Add the blue cheese and gruyere in a thin-ish layer on top, and cook till that gets melty.

Now to assemble the burger, toast your bread, top one side with lettuce, tomato, onion if you want (and fried egg if you are into that.... I am)

Top the other side with the patty, and some of the carmelized onion and bacon compote.

Korean BBQ Chicken

I grew up eating lots of korean food without really appreciating like every other little Asian baby with pigtails and horrendous bangs.
My mom used to make fantastic chicken when I was growing up. There were honey sesame wings, and roast drumsticks... and then there was this tangy, spicy asian sauce-d up chicken...

I've made a couple little changes, but this is basically how my mom made em.

 

Korean BBQ Chicken with Scallions

Ingredients

4 whole chicken legs

salt

pepper

chili powder

thyme

Sauce

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tbsps gochujang (this is a korean red chili paste found in ALL korean grocery stores. I get mine from Hanareum on 32nd street)

2 tbsps of hoisin sauce (found in asian markets and most specialty food stores in the city)

1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

dash of soy sauce

1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

Garnish

sesame seeds

red chili flakes

scallions

Directions

take the salt, pepper, chili powder and thyme, mix together and then rub the legs down, both on the outside of the skin and UNDER the skin... this allows the flavor to permeate the meat.. esp if your dinner guest (cough, N.Moss) doesnt eat chicken skin.

Mix together the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Brush a little onto the outside of your legs.

(super easy to make if you can grill... but, you know, NYC in Feb/March is not all that friendly to BBQ-ing)

Cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Brush more sauce onto your chicken.

Cook for another 20 minutes, and brush on more sauce.

Let cook another 20 minutes, brush more sauce on.

then switch your oven over to a low broil. top with a healthy coating of sauce and broil until its very brown and bubbly. around 8-10 minutes depending on your oven.

Take your chicken out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes.

do a last coating of sauce and then carve up the chicken.

Layer it onto a small plate. top with thinly sliced scallions, sesame seeds and chili flakes.

Fortune-ate to have you, girl...

I had the awesome opportunity to learn how to make chocolate fortune cookies from Stuart Tarff, the pastry chef at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market in the Meatpacking District.

Watch the Story on NY1

You can see exactly how Stuart crafts em.
here's the recipe.

Chocolate Fortune Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup trimoline (an inverted sugar)
3/4 cup & 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup minus 1 Tbsp 10x sugar
3 Tbsp & 1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup egg whites

Mixing The Batter
Place the softened butter and some trimoline in a bowl, to give some moisture to the fortune cookies. Mix them together to get a cream. Add the dry ingredients – the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Mix it all together and slowly add the egg white.
Once the batter is ready, form thin discs on a silicone mat and bake them for 8 minutes. Once you pull them out, it’s time to fold the discs into a half-moon shape.

Folding The Cookies

Keep the tray in the oven with the door open while working and work fast. Peel the cookie from the silicone covered tray and place it in the palm of your hand. Lay the paper fortune in the middle of the cookie, and hold it there while folding the cookie in half. Do not crease.Still holding the warm folded cookie in both hands between your thumb and index fingers, bring the ends of the half-circle together, pulling them away from the round side to form a horseshoe shape. You can also drape them while warm on the rim of a glass or bowl to get this shape.
The opened side of the fortune cookie should be facing upward, towards you.

Yo quiero tacos... that taste GOOD

So I spent a whole bunch of time in California and am totally spoiled by the mexican food from the west coast. Even the diviest taco bars serve up flavors that meld perfect combinations of savory, tangy... and of course, spicy.

Last year, I was visiting my best friend in SF and after a night of barhopping, she had a hankering for some tacos.
This took me about 30-45 minutes... RIGHT before she passed out ;)

Recently she asked me for the recipe, so I figured I would post.
No photos because I havent made it recently...
but I was inspired by the tacos from El Taurino in LA (which still remains my favorite tacos ever in the history of the world.

a torta and 3 tacos

my favorite meal at el taurino

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of a good cut of red meat (that night we used filet mignon which worked out very nicely)
bunch of cilantro
1/2 red onion
dash of white wine vinegar
small flour tortillas
hot sauce

Marinade:
2 limes
the other 1/2 of the red onion
2 cloves of garlic
a couple stalks of cilantro
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
pinch of sugar
salt
pepper


So first, cut up your meat into small about 1/2 inch cubes
Mix all the marinade ingredients and pour over your meat cubes.
Let them marinate in the mixture for 1-4 hours. (I usually let them sit around 3-4 hours, but that night I marinated only for the time i was busy doing other things... and it still turned out fine, so if you are in a rush, no biggie)

While your meat is marinating...
I like to toast up my tortillas, put a little bit of oil or butter in a sautee pan, set to medium heat, and just warm up your tortillas. You can cover them with a warm towel to keep em warm.
chop the onion pretty finely
discard the cilantro stalks and just chop up the leaves finely. combine those in a bowl with just a dash of the vinegar.
set aside in a plate. sometimes ill also chop in some plum tomatoes for color.

Once your meat is done marinating, cook it in your sautee pan, around 7-10 minutes or as done as you like your meat. Bottom line, it should smell delicious.

set up a plate with 2 tortillas, top it with a healthy helping of the carne, and then add the onion and cilantro mixture on top.
Serve with a lime slice and salsa or hot sauce on the side.

Sam Sifton rocks my socks

So, I've been reading Sam Sifton's articles in the NYTimes for years...

well today i received multiple emails and texts about this review sifton did on Motorino, where i did a shoot a couple weeks ago.
Imagine my sheer joy, excitement, and starstruck-ness at seeing my name in his article...

Not to be a fangirl, but really, his article about Vancouver Olympics eats made me seriously considering going to Vancouver, not for sporting events, but for gastronomical reasons...

A big feat considering that I hate cold weather more than NYers hate the Red Sox

anyway, enough blathering.
thanks sam sifton!

Sweets for your sweetie...

If you are looking for something cool/fun/different to do this Valentine's day...

http://www.ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/ny1_living/zagat_reviews/113531/zagat-shopping--valentine-s-day-treats/Default.aspx

it's worth a looksee, i promise :)

Soupe a L'oignon... Facile.

Oui, my francais est tres tres horrendous, mais... j'aime les food de france.
I am working on honing my french skills... till they're formidable et... jolie?
(clearly i only remember part of 7th grade french)

anyway... i love french onion soup. i make a beeline (or bee ligne.. huh huh) for it whenever I'm in france.

I've given it a few goes in my kitchen, but I always find its not quite as rich and flavorful as I would like, without the feeling of heaviness.

Well... this time, I think i've conquered (or Napoleon'd) it. and it only takes half an hour-ish. Holler!

the KEY is the parmesan rind... but here... read the whole recipe

Easy French Onion

Ingredients:
2-3 tbsps of butter (i err on the side of more butter, but i dont cook for health.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 large onions (I used 1 vidalia onion, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 spanish onion)
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
5 cups of beef broth
1 cup of water
small block of gruyere cheese
1 brioche
salt
pepper
a 2 inch by 3inch piece of parmesan RIND (now you can use it instead of tossing it!)

*also you need ovenproof bowls


Directions:
Preheat your broiler.
Slice your onions into thin strips.
Melt the butter in the bottom of a pot, cook the garlic until aromatic, then throw in the onions and sugar.
Cook until the onions are sweating (5 mins-ish) and then pour in about a fourth of the wine (1/8 cup... im Asian, thus good at fractions.)
continue to cook for 2 more minutes, add another 1/8 cup, then 4 minutes later, or when they are looking brownish and tender, add the rest of the wine.
Stir in thyme, bay leaves, some salt and pepper.
Let this cook until the liquid is absorbed.

Pour in your beef broth and water, then throw in the parmesan rind. Bring everything to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes or so.
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and the rind.

slice your brioche bun into quarters and stick 2 quarters in each bowl, ladle the soup over that.
Thinly slice your gruyere and layer it on top of your soup. (I added in just a little bit of pepper jack bc I like a bit of a kick.)

Broil that baby until the top of the soup looks golden brown, melty, and delicieuse.

bon appetit!