Decadent vacation omelette

This is an omelette that will make a hearty vacation breakfast for one person.

I diced one small red potato and chopped half a red onion very fine and browned them slowly over a medium-low flame.

I added salt, freshly ground pepper, paprika and thyme and put the potatos aside. I whisked two eggs - I like brown eggs because buying them increases diversity in the eggs market.


I cooked the eggs rather like I'd cook a crepe. I let them run across the bottom of the pan to create a thin coating. The oil that I used to cook the potato seasoned the skillet perfectly so that the eggs didn't stick at all. I still used a low flame but the accumulated heat in this large iron skillet created enough heat so that within two minutes the eggs were almost done cooking. So I added the potatoes and onions along with a minced sun dried tomato half and a little cream cheese, spreading them out evenly across the potato filling. I turned off the flame so that the heat of the pan could melt the cream cheese and finish the eggs, and folded the omelette over the filling.



I couldn't add all of the potato because it would have torn the eggs when I folded it. It was delicious!

I like the tangy sun dried tomato, which I got late this past summer from The Berry Farm in Chatham. I got a bag of yellow and a bag of red, hoping that I could enjoy some of that summery flavor later in the year. It worked! I've been adding them to all kinds of dishes to very good effect. They have enlivened many soups and the first round of meatballs were made especially good by adding the extra strong and tangy tomato flavor to the onion, lemon, garlic, olive and rosemary sauce.

Meatballs - part deux

If you think of the skillet full of meatballs in yesterday's entry and in your imagination cover them with Larry's chipotle sauce, you've got the right idea about what I tried today.

Since I ate yesterday's meatballs while I was preparing these I'm not going to eat them today (New Year's Day).

Tomorrow I'm going to the Coop to get some lovely organic corn tortillas and I'm gonna have me some tacos albondigas, and if there are good avacados I'm going to try including some slices.

The experiment as a whole has been delicious. I would decrease the amount of rice and dal, because I think they did tend to soak up too much juices and made the meatballs a good deal sturdier than I prefer them.

Meatballs!

What to do with that local grass fed ground beef and local ground lamb I got at Honest Weight Food Coop last week? The only thing I could think of was experiments with meatballs.



Since I'm not currently eating wheat I though it would be interesting to experiment with other ingredients. I chose rice and urad dal. I ground them into powder and added them to the meat, salt, pepper and eggs.



Since the batch was more meat than would fit in my skillet I decided to season the first round with olives, onion, sun dried tomato, rosemary and garlic.



I think the rice and dal worked very well. After browning I put the lid on top and turned down the heat to cook until they were done all the way through.


I'm not sure about the next step, but I think it will involve a sauce of lemon, more garlic and olive oil. Since I won't be having pasta I'm looking forward to a lovely pilaf.


I am planning to try my new chipotle sauce with the second half of the batch. That should be tomorrow.

New World Bistro - once again

Having worked an intense afternoon and inadvertently forgotten to pick up my CSA share from Fox Creek Farm, I wandered down Deleware Ave. in search of another good meal from New World Bistro.

The service staff was lovely, I'm very glad to say. I started with a cocktail made from Core Vodka that was just right for a Friday afternoon. It's vodka made from apples out in Valatie and quite wonderful.



After being beautifully warmed by apple vodka I ordered the mussels and they were outstanding. I did just barely resist tilting up the bowl and drinking the hearty broth. Oh! And the topping of matchstick fries was weirdly just right - something to do with the saltiness and crispiness. That's a mustard sauce splashed over the fries and it was perfect - very mellow, but just tart enough to make its presence known.



My little steak was delicious and the salsa verde was the right touch. I also liked the banana ketchup for the fries. I get tired of the same old tomato ketchup, so this was a good variation. The greens were tender and flavorful and a good balance with the steak and fries.

The portions were not for very large lumberjacks, so I was able to actually have my whole dinner in the restaurant. I don't appreciate overlarge portions that force you to take a package home. I detest having to carry around half my dinner or feeling like I've wasted perfectly good food if I leave it. So kudos to NWB for getting that part right also.

I hope I haven't been an outlyer in my experience at the bistro. I think they're producing very good food and I've always had good service from staff who are efficient and knowledgable and cheerful - never snotty or laggardly. I'm looking forward to plenty more dinners with that Orlando touch.

Iron Gate Cafe

I finally tried walking over to the Iron Gate Cafe and had this lovely brunch on Sunday. That's a lovely crab cake under the poached eggs and pesto sauce.

The ambiance and service are also good for a nice Saturday or Sunday brunch.

Braising Chuck Roast

I was recently in the Catskills visiting Woodstock and stopped by the smokehouse on rte. 212 for some great meats. I picked up polish kielbasa, knackwurst, Canadian bacon and this monster chuck roast.




I've been working on perfecting my braising technique on and off since 2005 and I don't think I've got it right yet. For this massive piece of chuck I browned it on four sides and I was very pleased with that part. Then I cut little slits in the top and pushed in a few garlic cloves. I added sea salt and ground black pepper, then some thyme and a pinch of a mysterious blend called "greek" from a little tin given to me as a present. I added these onions and two small pieces of bay leaf. After the photo I also added carrots and parsnips for that mellow sweetness they always add to a roast. I put in two tablespoons of zinfandel.

After a couple hours there was what I consider to be way too much liquid, which is my continuing problem. Is there a trick I'm missing? By too much liquid I mean that there's a couple inches and the braising has pretty much turned to boiling.

The taste is always good, but I'm just wondering how to keep the liquid minimal and just more as a moistening and steaming action rather than a boiling or poaching action.

Casablanca

I heard from a few locals that Casablanca is a good restaurant, and so I had to go try it. I ordered the meatball tajine, which is the traditional terracotta dish. I also made the choice for the olive rice rather than a sweet rice, which turned out to be an excellent complement for the meatballs.

I was given a small sample of a dal like dish before the tajine arrived and it signalled that the flavors would be good. They were.

The sauce for the meatballs was a lovely mix including tomato, onions and savory herbs. The meatballs were my favorite texture with a good meat and mellow spice blend. I mixed in the rice to sop up all the sauce and I have to admit that I scarfed.

Wonderful home made whole wheat bread was also a good accompaniment.

Lorre-Bob sez check it out!