…and hello!

I am temporarily/possibly permanently retiring this blog. I have not updated it in months, and it is not a mistake.

For the past two and a half months, I have gone and done something crazy for a chef, and become totally vegan. A lot of people in the food world don’t understand why or how, but it is working for me…REALLY working for me, right now.

So a lot of the recipes, discoveries, and things I have been the most excited about lately don’t really go with the theme of this here blog. SO…I started a new one

I am still working on the name, logistics, etc…but for now you can check it out at www.verdantkitchen.wordpress.com.

XOXO and thanks for bearing with me! I am really excited about this new chapter in my culinary life. Expect a lot of innovative new baking recipes, and adventures.

I spent the first beautiful weekend of summer in Ithaca, NY. Between hiking, ultimate frisbee, and yoga, I had a little bit of time to check out the local food co-op and grocery store.

Ithaca is home to a thriving vegetarian scene, including the landmark Mosewood Restaraunt, so I couldn’t wait to try the locally made organic tofu I found. Each individually-wrapped, golden brown block of Ithaca Soy Tofu-Kan cost around $2.00, and came marinated, baked and ready to eat.

After using it in this recipe, I fell in love with this ingredient. Tofu-Kan is firmer than raw tofu, so it doesn’t crumble. It adds it’s own dimension to the dish, instead of just soaking up other flavors. And because it comes baked, it requires minimal to no cooking time.

According to this article from the Ithaca paper,”TK” is made from locally-grown organic soybeans. The “smoky” taste comes from a marinade of soy sauce, barley malt, and secret spices. It is available for order here.

The other magic ingredient that made this dish a success was “rice flake” noodles from my favorite Thai Grocery (see below) on Mulberry Street in Chinatown. Each half pound bag costs $1.00, and at 2″ square, are the second largest noodles I’ve ever seen. Once cooked, they curl-up and look like ziti. So each noodle absorbs lots of sauce. You get lasagne-like layers of flavor in each delicate bite.

Check your local Asian grocery for rice flake noodles, or buy them here.

Smoked Tofu Curry Noodle
(serves 2)

1 block tofu-kan or any marinated tofu, sliced
½ bag (1/4 lb. rice flake noodles), cooked and drained
1 bunch Chinese broccoli, chopped into 1” pieces (can substitute broccoli rabe or asparagus)
1 shallot, sliced into half moons
4 tsp. sesame oil
curry sauce (recipe follows)
optional: ½ c. chopped cilantro leaves

Place a wok over high heat. When hot, add 1 tsp. sesame oil and swirl to coat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring continuously, until golden. Remove to a plate. Add another tsp. of oil and swirl to coat. Cook the tofu until browned on both sides and remove to the plate. Repeat with another tsp. of oil and the broccoli and remove to the plate.

Add the last tsp. of oil and pour in the sauce. Once it is hot, add the noodles and turn heat to low. Add remaining ingredients and turn to coat with sauce. Season to taste and serve garnished with cilantro.

Asian Curry Sauce

In a small food processor or blender, combine:

1 clove garlic, chopped
1” piece of ginger, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 ½ tsp. Asian curry powder
1 tbp. soy sauce
1 tsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste

and pulse until smooth.

Asia Market Corporation
71 ½ Mulberry Street
Chinatown

Pinones

A short drive east from San Juan on coastal route 187 is the beach town of Piñones. Freed and escaped sugarcane plantation slaves founded Piñones with the help of native Tainos, and Afro-Carribbean culture and pride still run strong. At my first roadside stop, I watched a bomba dancer in a long skirt and bare feet command the rhythms of conga drummers with the movement of her hips.

Piñones is also where immigrants from the Dominican Republic settled in the 60’s and 70’s. Therefore, the first half of the town consists of Dominican clubs and restaurants, and the second half are Puerto Rican. You can drive up and down the strip at night, sampling both tastes, rhythms, and accents.

Pinones is the land of frituras (fried snacks) like pastelitos and alcapurrias.

The waves here are strong, especially in the afternoon, which makes Piñones a popular surfing spot. For this reason, we San Juan wussies never came here for daytime beach-going. Instead, we showed up in the late afternoon and watched the surfers and the sunset while enjoying a cold beer on the warm sand. Then we went inside El Balcon del Zumbador, the best live music venue in town, and danced to Rumba and Salsa bands. Well, to be honest, we mostly just swayed while we watched the locals, who were incredible dancers.

El Balcon has a pretty amazing snack bar, where you can order up a plate of tostones rellenos (stuffed plantains), a basket of sorullitos (fried corn bread sticks), or a cup of tomato-ey soup brimming with chunks of fresh seafood.

I liked tostones rellenos so much that I made my own version, with shrimp ceviche, for a party.

My favorite food in all of Puerto Rico (beside guamas) was their tostones rellenos: fried plantain slices mashed into cup shapes, refried, and filled with one of 8 different kinds of seafood ceviche. They could also be filled with chunks of fried chicken, or picadillo (ground beef with olives, raisins and spices). At $1.50, I was tempted to try one of each.

I don't have pictures of tostones rellenos in PR, so here is me making them at Magda's in NYC.

Across the street, there was a fritura stand that had really good crab alcapurrias and the best aji I tasted in PR. The 2 women working there formed alcapurrias—ground root vegetable fritters stuffed with meat or fish—the traditional way, by rolling them in a coccoloba leaf before dropping them into a tub of red-hot oil positioned over a wood burning fire. Between batches, they stepped outside to dance to extremely loud Salsa music played by a DJ who had set up a card table and massive speakers in the sandy parking lot.

Music and the smells of delicious snacks swirl through the air everywhere you go in Piñones. You may have to sit in weekend traffic to get there, but the pleasure is worth the wait.

My good friend is leaving for Puerto Rico today, so to follow through on a last minute promise, here is my version of what’s good in Puerto Rico–to eat, see, and enjoy–based on the three months I lived there in 2007. The first installment is about an area of San Juan I frequented regularly:

Santurce

On Thursday and Friday nights, the bars surrounding this market plaza are so packed with locals that the crowds spill out into the street, where they dance to live music, gather around tables with beers and fried seafood, and socialize beneath the large trees that line the plaza. I was there about twice a week, but it was usually at midday, instead of midnight.

This is because the Placita de Santurce is also home to a farmer’s market where you can find the best fresh fruits and veggies in the city. Inside the plaza’s turn-of-the-century structure, you can find everything from red bananas to yellow avocados. One vendor sells exotic herbs like yerbabuena, wild tarragon, and Puerto Rican lemongrass—all especially good for flavoring cocktails like mojitos.

My favorites from the Placita: guamas de la india, platanos, papaya, bananas and pineapple.

Another yummy add-in for mojitos is my favorite Puerto Rican fruit: guama de la India. Native guamas grow on trees, inside large green pods that look like giant peas. But in the summer, they are out of season, so, to keep up with year-round demand, another kind of guama tree was imported from India. Its fruit looks like an orange teardrop with tender white flesh inside—and the taste is like nothing else. It has the fresh, pine-y taste of juniper berry, the tartness of lychee, and the sweetness of Muscat grapes. You can’t go to PR without trying one…or twenty.

The Ramirez family sells guamas at their large stand in the center of the market. They also sell rum bottles full of homemade aji (spicy pepper sauce), which make for great souvenirs. Across the aisle, there is a dried spice vendor that sells the best sea salt I have ever tried. It comes from Cabo Rojo, on the other side of the island. This salt was so good that it warranted a pilgrimage on my part (see part III).

If you don't have the patience to make homemade aji like I did, you can buy it at the Placita.

The most expensive item at the market is a $5 quart-sized bag of freshly shelled beans. Still pulsing with life, they are off-white with pink spidery lines encasing a green core. They take only 10 minutes to cook, and are another must if you’ve only had dried or canned beans all your life.

Outside the market, there is a ferreteria that looks small from the front, but their huge back room is stacked to the ceiling with shelves full of vintage cookware—some still in the original packaging. It takes some digging, but you might come away with a $3 Spanish paelleria, a $7 Italian percolator, or a 50-cent Ms. Pacman tablecloth. Bring cash, and be ready to bargain with the cashier if you really want to make your dollar holler.

Farmer's market by day, party place by night.

On the other side of the plaza, on Calle Dos Hermanos, there is a fritura shop that is painted bright orange. The woman inside has great swordfish pinchos (kebabs) for $2, and cups of caldo de pescado (fish broth) for $1. FYI: This fish broth is important because it is a surefire hangover cure. So, you could come here to party all night, get your groceries in the morning, and be ready to hit the town again before sundown.

Monday night I participated in the pro division of the Brooklyn Kitchen Third Annual Cupcake Cookoff. Although I did not take home the title, it was more than worth the week long preparation that went into my three entries to meet such cool people and feel the thrill of competition running through my veins for the first time since, I dunno, my JV basketball tournament in 10th grade.

Originally, I planned to make cupcakes that could compete in the exotic flavor category. But two days before the competition I found out that as a pro, I was not eligible for any of the themed categories. I would be competing against 5 other pros in a “may the best man win” battle. I went ahead with my exotic themed cupcakes, which may have been a mistake, since the cupcakes that won–while super yummy–were more traditional.

A crowd favorite, all 3 batches of my Sweet Potato Cupcake with Chai Buttercream, Chocolate Rum Drizzle and Pistachio disappeared halfway through the competition...the first of any of the 5 pro competitors!

My idea for the Sweet Potato Cupcake with Chai Frosting came to me days before the competition. It popped into my head while I was in the shower.

My friend Sara had just come back from India, and the first thing I had grilled her about was chai tea. She told me that the best chai in India is sold by chaiwallas (tea peddlers) on trains. They get on the train when it pulls into the station, sell the tea they just brewed, and get off before the train departs. So, just by riding the train, Sara got to sample chai from every region. She said that in rural India, they serve the tea in disposable, handmade clay cups! And; that the secret to good chai is not the tea leaves. You can use any cheap black tea. The secret lies in the spices. Every chaiwalla family has their own distinct blend of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and black pepper.

And with this wisdom in the back of my mind, I made an infused Swiss meringue buttercream. First, I melted the butter and while it was still hot, stirred in the tea leaves. Following Sara’s advice, I used the cheapest tea from the market which was 87 cents per box. Then, I allowed the butter to steep, strained out the leaves, and placed the butter in the fridge to re-solidify. I learned this tea infusion method from the ever-innovative genius that is Pichet Ong, in his recipe for Thai Tea Buttercream.

While the butter cooled, I concocted and finely ground my spice mix, with white cardamom from Kalustyan’s and an extra dose of peppercorns. I whipped egg whites with cooked sugar until cool, and finally added the tea-infused butter and ground spices. It was the tastiest buttercream I’d ever made. But next time I will make it a day in advance to really let the flavors infuse, because it tasted even better the day after the competition!

I made the sweet potato cupcake with yellow and orange yams–which I cut into chunks, simmered with coconut milk and a vanilla bean, and then whipped. To allow the flavor of the sweet potato to really shine, I left the skins on, and did not add spices to the batter.

Oat Milk Cupcake with Condensed Almond Milk Filling, Coconut Cream Frosting and Cherry-Rose Puree. One of only three vegan entries, the tres leches wowed across the board.

I’d come up with the vegan tres leches idea over a month ago, and the cookoff was the perfect reason to flesh it out. I love the taste of oats, nuts and coconut together in chocolate chip cookies, so I thought the combination would also work in a cake–and I was right! To start, I made oat milk by blending oats and water together until milky. I did the same with almonds, and left both milks in the fridge overnight. The next day, I made cake with the oat milk, which had thickened significantly and therefore gave the batter some body without the use of eggs.

To make the condensed almond milk, I simmered it with unrefined sugar, a vanilla bean, and a tablespoon of amaretto liquor until thickened. It was incredibly delicious, and less fattening/more flavorful than canned condensed milk.

The frosting was the cream from the top of a can of sweet coconut cream (I saved the syrup from the bottom of the can for summer coladas!) and a can of coconut milk. I simmered them both with some agar flakes. Agar is a clear, tasteless sea vegetable used in place of gelatin. Once the flakes were dissolved, I scraped the goo into a mixer and whipped until it was the consistency of frosting, and folded in unsweetened coconut flakes. SO, no butter, no oil, and no added sugar = AWESOME frosting!

Black Sugar and Coffee Cupcake with Guava Frosting and Gold Dusted Coffee Beans got the thumbs up from the Colombians in the crowd.

My third cupcake was inspired by Colombian ingredients. Panela is black sugar that comes in the form of rounded cakes. It is the truest form of sugar that exists–nothing more than boiled down sugar cane juice. Here’s an awesome video that shows how it is made. The only time I used it before this was to flavor canelazo, a warm, aguardiente (sugar cane liquor)-based drink. Since it is not refined, it retains the smoky, caramel flavor of the cooked sugar cane, with aromatic botanical undertones you would never associate with white sugar.

To add a rich coffee flavor, I simmered the milk that would be added to the batter with Colombian coffee to make a strong brew. I left it to steep in the fridge overnight and then strained out the coffee.

For the frosting, I followed the recipe for a traditional buttercream, but instead of adding milk I added concentrated, unsweetened guava puree. It gave the frosting a mouthwatering tartness, like strawberries, with that distinctive guava butteriness. This also tasted better the second day.

I finished the Colombiana with gold dusted coffee beans. The gold dust is $7.00 at New York Cake and Baking Supply and lasts forever because a little goes a long way.

I hope my mom doesn’t kill me for saying so, but I really love the gold beans on top because to me, they look like little gold teeth. I remember my Dad telling me that one of the things about my Mom that drove him wild when they first met was that she had a gold tooth. Gold teeth are common in Colombia, where gold is cheaper than enamel, but to this American boy, it was super exotico.

Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for the awesome pics. You can view the rest of their pictures from the competition here.

Last minute last minute last minute. I will be competing in the third annual Brooklyn Kitchen cupcake cookoff tomorrow. There will be a full play by play recap of the action on my blog after the fact, but if you want to get in on the action, eat all the cupcakes your belly can handle, and party in the process, be at Union Pool tomorrow night!

Union Pool
484 Union Avenue
Williamsburg

7-9 PM Monday, May 11th 2009

XOXO Hope to see you there! Anita

This is my plate at Jean’s family gathering in Miami, at his uncle’s house. He is Puerto Rican and his wife is Tranidadian so it is REAL!!

Yellow rice, grilled fish with pepper sauce, yuca, fried plantain, green mango,and salad!

I have been buying lots more fruits and veggies lately, and even though they require more prep work than the “health food” I ate through the winter i.e. frozen vegan pizza, chickenless nuggets and oatmeal cookies…my produce keeps me, and my fridge, feeling prettier inside.

Getting food ready the minute you get home from the store–before you even know what’s for dinner–makes home cooking so much easier. With a colander, a good knife, a cutting board, and 20 minutes, you’ll have ready to use produce for all kinds of recipes, and instant snacking…all week long.

Here are some examples:

1. This bunch of thyme is sitting in a glass filled with 1/2″ of water, and covered by a plastic bag that is fastened around the glass with a rubber band. Small bunches of herbs will keep like this for over a week.
2. These grapes were removed from their flimsy bag, rinsed, and transfered to an airtight container that used to hold cookies. SNACK READY.
3. Celery sticks. Someone once told me you burn more calories chewing them than you do consuming them. Notice they are strategically placed next to the tofu cream cheese. Just slice the bottom off a bunch of celery, rinse the stalks, cut into sticks. Save the leaves for making soup.
4. These strawberries and tomatoes are just rinsed and put back into their containers, because I eat them whole. I know, BORING.
5. Eggs are stored inside the fridge, never in the door. According to Harold McGee, the constant agitation of opening and closing thins out the egg whites. In my house, that egg would spread from here to the Mississippi.
6. Tofu. To drown or not to drown? Some say cover it in water to store.
7. I am so against gadgetry. But this “salad globe” is awesome! You just chop the base off a head of lettuce, any kind, rinse the leaves, and transfer to the globe. There are ridges in the bottom that drain water away from the leaves so they don’t get soggy, but the water’s still there, providing moisture. Leafy greens stay crisp for a week! And it looks like Saturn!
8. A trick I learned from the Thais: to keep basil fresh for days, rinse thoroughly, strip leaves off their stems, shake off excess moisture, and store in a folded-over paper bag. It is so much fun to watch my boyfriend open the bag, thinking there is a burrito or something inside.
9. Keep some things un-prepped so that you don’t eat everything right away. I will cut up the mango and the melon later in the week.

In the past week, I have realized, through conversations with two people, that I need to post more of my everyday meals. This is why: For me, most often what I make to eat is a product of whatever happens to be sitting in my fridge…or whatever looked fresh, was cheap, and/or I was craving at the market. Therefore, I didn’t see it as “worth it” to talk about it on my blog because a bunch of random stuff thrown together was no big deal.

But what I learned in those two conversations is that not everyone can do what I do, as I’d assumed before. Some people believe you need:

a. a recipe

b. a set list of ingredients

c. a whole day’s preparation

d. food expertise

in order to cook. It’s just not true!

Sometimes friends ask me: “But, how do I get started?” There are a lot of different answers to that question. Sometimes I say: “Start with an onion.” When I first started cooking a lot, back in college, everything started with an onion: spaghetti sauce, taco meat, chicken soup, homefries. Another answer is to “start simple.” Forget the turdukens and baked Alaskas.

Here is a healthy, cheap, super-simple lunch I prepared today that seriously took less than 10 minutes.

Seared Tuna Steak with Fresh Salsa and Kabu & Grapefruit Salad

1 small tuna steak (mine was about 1/3 lb.)*
3 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (I ground coriander in with the pepper)
1/3 c. prepared fresh salsa (available in the deli section of market)
1 bunch kabu (Japanese turnip) greens (can substitute radish greens, chard, or baby kale)
1 medium grapefruit, segmented

dressing:
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. sesame oil
remaining juice of segmented grapefruit
sesame seeds, to garnish

*I used frozen tuna because you can buy a few at a time and pull one out whenever you need a quick meal. Unlike with meat, DO NOT THAW frozen fish, just transfer directly to a hot pan after quickly seasoning.

Place a small skillet over medium-high heat. Remove tuna steak from freezer (or fridge) and coat with 1 tsp. olive oil. Sprinkle one side with salt and pepper. Lightly press sesoning into steak.

Put 1 tsp. oil in skillet and swirl to coat. Put the steak in the middle of the hot pan and do NOT touch or move it. Let cook 3-5 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients with a fork.

Season the top side of the steak in the pan. Lift the steak out of the pan with a spatula and swirl in the last tsp. of oil. Cook the other side 3-5 minutes (medium rare).

Chop greens into thin shreds and transfer to the bowl. Toss to coat with dressing. Top with grapefruit segments and sesame seeds.

Transfer the steak to a plate and garnish with salsa. Serve with salad alongside.