I'm Mari Borgomani and this is my food blog. I like to call it a compilation of awesomeness. Enjoy.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Dinner Tonight: Momofuku Ramen
I’ve been cooking out of David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook for about a year, so it was finally time to break down and try the ramen. I’d held out because it’s a pretty daunting undertaking.
There’s a shredded pork shoulder. Roasted pork belly. A chicken stock made from pounds of chicken necks and backs. A Japanese barbecue sauce called “tare” made from another chicken back and a third of a pound of bacon. A sous vide egg. A thousand possible garnishes and embellishments. And I didn’t even TRY to make my noodles from scratch.
The end result is fantastic, but holy hell is it a lot of work. Not hard work, certainly, but a multi-day affair that will claim most of the pots in your kitchen at one time or another. I have a definite appreciation for single-focus ramen shops. The work and care that goes into truly exceptional ramen is easily enough to occupy a kitchen.
Also, one clear reason that everything Chang does tastes so good is that it’s all just bathing in fat. My kitchen is coated in this patina of schmaltz, pork fat and bacon grease.
In no way should you construe that in a pejorative sense.
Here’s 2011 in food. If you’ll click the image, they’ll engorge.
Thanks to everyone who looked at, liked and followed.
Let’s all eat more and better than we did last year.
xoxo.
Butter Lettuces and Radishes with Lemon-Poppy Yogurt Dressing & Green Onions
Kit and I were at the farmer’s market, waiting in a long line to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey. Normally, no one is more excited than me about root vegetables: come fall, I can’t get enough of parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and beets. I’ll eat them roasted, in soup, even steamed or boiled. As we waited, shivering slightly, in the turkey line, I craned my neck to see which farm stands had the best root vegetables. Amid the bins of dirt-smudged carrots, pale parsnips and turnips, dark-green kale and milky-green collards, one bin literally popped out. Its contents: airy, neon-green heads of butter lettuces and radishes as small and bright as rubies. It was like that first blade of grass peeking through the snow at the end of a long, cold winter. We came home from the market with a big, beautiful turkey and all the root vegetables we could carry, but my prize that day was a delicate head of butter lettuces and a bunch of those baby radishes.
This salad is really excellent: full of flavor, healthy, transportable, and very quick and easy to whip together. The yogurt-based dressing would also make a fantastic marinade or topping for chicken, fish, or roasted vegetables.
- 1 head of butter lettuces
- 6-8 small radishes, trimmed and cleaned
- 1 green onion, finely sliced
- The juice of 1 lemon
- 5 oz of Greek or strained-style yogurt (fat content is your preference)
- 1 ½ teaspoons poppyseeds
- 1 tablespoon good extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt & pepper to taste
Trim the butt of the lettuces and separate the leaves, discarding any brown ones. Immerse the lettuces in cold water and drain; repeat twice more, each time with fresh cold water, or until the water drains clean. Gently pat dry with a towel. With your hands, tear the butter lettuces into bite-sized pieces and arrange loosely on two plates.
In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, green onion, poppyseeds, salt, and pepper. Whisk the olive oil in in a steady drizzle. Taste and adjust.
Quarter the radishes. Sprinkle them over the butter lettuces. Drizzle the lettuces & radishes with the dressing. Top with an extra pinch of poppy seeds, a little more sea salt, and an extra drizzle of olive oil.
Serves two.
Cock-a-doodle-do!
At heart I’m a good ol’ fashioned southern girl and every now and then I hafta find my southern food fix here in New York! My most recent obsession (introduced to me by her) is Red Rooster in Harlem. Dirty rice & shrimp, cornbread, blackened catfish, fried chicken (or “Fried Yard Bird” as they call it!!) and black eyed peas…. oh heavens lord have mercy.
Dinner Tonight:
New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp, Deep Fried Cheese Grits, Rosemary Cream
Esther asked me once how you fry a grit. It’s pretty easy and a great way to use up leftover grits from this recipe. Just bread them up, give them a couple of minutes in the fryer, and they’re ready to soak up the rosemary cream, which starts with a stick of butter, garlic, the aforementioned herb, a bunch of cayenne and an Abita Amber. A little bit of cream rounds the whole thing out.
There is absolutely nothing healthy about any of this. That’s the point, I guess.
Dinner Tonight: Copycat Edition
Smoked Cauliflower Soup// Serrano Ham, Black Fig, Fresh Thyme
I went to Henri this weekend, and they were serving a cauliflower soup of similar vintage. I wanted to try something comparable, so I cold-smoked a roasted cauliflower puree. It was a perfect base against the sweetness of the figs, the salt of the cured ham and the brightness of the thyme.
Pureed in the blender and poured tableside with a garlic crouton (not pictured) this was ready in less than an hour.
Dessert Tonight: Ricotta-Stuffed Figs
Tupelo Honey, Pistachio, Mint, Fennel Pollen
I’m trying to get back to cooking more during the week, but I’m also trying not to leave my kitchen looking like an episode of Hoarders. This means simpler things, and a no-cook dessert is about as easy as you can get. This dish was full of simple, fresh flavors with enough sweetness that you felt like you’d had dessert. Recommended.
adapted from Paula Deen
Dinner Tonight: Down and Dirty
Carne Asada, Salsa Verde, Quick-Pickled Onion, Cilantro, Queso Fresco
We had the first day where fall was really in the air, and it made me sad that, in a few weeks, using my grill is going to be more punishment than pleasure. So, it was a fast sear on some rubbed skirt steaks, charred tortillas and the usual fixins.
The steak was probably a skoch more done than I’d prefer, but the extra char was welcome. Viva fall!
Dinner Tonight: Bruschetta
Home-cured salmon, Cherry tomatoes, Fromage Blanc, Chives
I bought a sashimi salmon filet at the Korean grocery and cured it with lovage, chives, salt, sugar, white pepper, citrus zest and vodka. It came with this incredibly floral quality — more subtle, but no less tasty, than smoked salmon.
The fromage blanc was a nice cross between creme fraiche and cream cheese, and the tomatoes are from my stoop garden. Next time I’d put some arugula or another peppery green on it, but otherwise it’s not bad for a Wednesday.
161 - Tortilla with chicken nuggets, cherry tomatoes, salad, grated cheese, arugula and ketchup.
Dinner Tonight: Rolled Salad
Parmesan-Asiago Cylinder, Baby Spinach, Chili-Buttermilk Dressing, Walnuts, Thyme
