cia – Page 204 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Braised Breast of Lamb

For a cheap cut of lamb, the breast is particularly rich with a strong taste. Breast meat is moist and fatty and it braises well with vegetables. I’ve watched the boy cook this dish so many times that I thought it was about time I make my own.

Ingredients:

For Marinade:
2 pounds of breast of lamb with bones
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
half a bunch of scallions, roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled, finely chopped
2 cups of red Zinfandel
salt, pepper

For Braising:
2 tbsps whiskey
beef broth
2 medium red onions, finely chopped
1 bag of baby carrots
1 bag of green peas
4 medium white baby potatoes, quartered
1 small can of tomato paste
olive oil

1. Let lamb sit in marinade for a few hours to absorb flavor. Save the juice.
2. When ready to cook, heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the lamb on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside.
3. Pour off all but 2 tbsps of the fat from the pot. Add the onion, carrots and potatoes to the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in some of the marinade with the whiskey and the broth and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping off the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
5. Return the lamb with its juices to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the marinade to a thicker consistency and until lamb is soft.
6. Add the tomato paste and peas. Simmer in low heat until all vegetables are soft.

Sushiden

19 East 49th Street on Madison Avenue
212/758.2700
about $480 for four omakases, with a few drinks, with tip
â™¥ â™¥ â™¥ â™¥

There are two Sushidens in New York City, one on Sixth Avenue and this one on Madison. Whichever branch you pick, make sure you ask to be seated at the bar so you can talk to your chef and get the chance to eat fish that’s not on the menu.

One of the most memorable experiences I had at Sushiden was when our chef brought out some fresh shrimp, disassembled the heads, and used tweezers to pick the brain. He put all the gray and orange matter on top of Japanese mackerel with the shrimp body and made sushi. When we were done bowing in appreciation and glee, the chef deep-fried the shrimp head shells and offered them to us to snack on while we waited for the next course. No part of the shrimp was wasted.

Whenever I go to a sushi restaurant, I always start off with the uni, or the sea urchin. If it’s excellent, then I know the place will have more of the good stuff coming. At Sushiden, after the uni, the chef always asks me what I want next and that’s when I tell him that I’ll eat whatever he wants me to taste. The chefs will only ask you if you’re allergic to anything, and if that’s a negative, you will sit for the next hour eating fresh fish after fresh fish that melts in your mouth like butter.

Kimchi, Korean Pickles

My quest to impress the Korean brood continues… I did not include measurements in this kimchi recipe because the ingredients must be measured in equal parts according to how much vegetables you are using. If you don’t have access to daikon radish, you can use what Americans call turnips. Kimchi is always present on Korean tables, so serve them on the side with beef bulgogi or kalbi.

Ingredients:
Napa cabbage, washed thoroughly, chopped
Romaine lettuce, washed thoroughly, chopped
daikon radish, peeled, cubed
a knob of ginger, peeled, chopped
garlic cloves, peeled
scallions, thinly chopped
red pepper flakes
sesame oil
sesame seeds, toasted

1. Using a mortar and pestle, ground garlic and ginger into a paste. Using disposable gloves, wipe every cabbage and lettuce leaf with the garlic and ginger paste.
2. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and toss in the rest of the ingredients. Mix to combine everything well.
3. Stuff and fill a pickling jar with the kimchi mixture. Seal and keep in the fridge to ferment. Check after a week to adjust taste. Begin serving after a week.

Spanakopita, Greek Spinach Triangles

Snack’s spinach triangles, or spanakopita, is one of my favorites things to eat in New York City. Filo, or phyllo, which means “leaf” in Greek, are tissue paper-thin like sheets of dough made from flour. They burn easily so keep the oven temperature at less than 300Âº when baking so that they don’t turn brown before the spinach mixture inside is cooked. When I made my own at home, I realized that it’s easier to use frozen spinach than the fresh ones and that it’s less work to make them in pie form, rather than in triangles. I’ve included the two recipes below.

Ingredients:
2 bunches of spinach, hard stalks removed, thoroughly washed
feta cheese, crumbled
filo pastry, gently unrolled and thawed in the fridge overnight
1 bunch scallion, chopped
1/4 cup of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup stick of butter, melted for a few seconds using the microwave
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 275Âº and brush a baking sheet with some of the melted butter.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet and sautÃ© half of the spinach until it wilts. Remove and squeeze out excess liquid from the spinach using a paper towel and chop roughly. Repeat for the other half with another 1 tbsp of olive oil.
3. SautÃ© scallions until soft in the same skillet. Return the spinach with the parsley and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes in low heat then remove from heat. Stir in the feta and the egg to moisten the spinach mixture.
4. Remove the filo dough from the fridge to a flat surface and keep it covered with a moist towel to keep the dough from getting brittle. Cut the filo in 3-by-11-inch strips and recover with the damp towel.
5. Brush a strip of filo with melted butter and place a spoonful of the spinach mixture at the end of the strip. Fold the end over to form a triangle and continue to fold the strip in triangles, like folding a flag. Keep your triangles covered with another damp towel until ready to bake all of them.
6. Brush the triangles lightly with butter and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

If you want to make spinach pie instead, follow these instructions after #3 above:

4. Remove the filo dough from the fridge to a flat surface and keep it covered with a moist towel to keep the dough from getting brittle. Cut the filo to fit the shape of your baking dish and recover with your damp towel.
5. Brush glass baking dish with melted butter and lay out a couple of filo sheets on the bottom. Distribute spinach mixture. Add a few more sheets of filo on top, coating each with butter, until you have several layers and you are out of spinach.
6. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

Sparky’s All-American Food

135 North 5th Street off Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/302.5151
about $15 for two, with two drinks, without tip
â™¥ â™¥ â™¥

Updated, 2005: Sparky’s has opened a branch in Manhattan, 333 Lafayette Street off Bleecker, 212/334.3035

You can’t call yourself a New Yorker if you can’t make yourself cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn is part of New York City, too. Sparky’s is a very good reason to visit the borough because it offers the best hot dogs, the best relish, the best chili, the best ketchup, the best mustard and the best buns. Don’t let the other organic hot dog stands that have sprouted all over the city fool you. Everything on Sparky’s menu is so good, it might just change the way you feel about Brooklyn.