daybeds.

On a completely unrelated food note, daybeds should be an office requirement.  

This leather one is particularly nice and would be most useful at around 3 PM each day when I need an afternoon rest away from all the crazy.  

(Lusting for all things black leather as of late.  Maybe I am having a goth phase at 28.  Or I am convincing myself I can be as cool as the French as long as I wear all black leather everything.  Actually leather and leopard.  Oh my.)

Image via Pinterest.

paulie gee's (and finding passion).

"Going back, it wasn't about the pizza as much as creating a job for myself, that's really what I did. I was tired of working and worrying about where my next paycheck was going to come from, so I created my own job. Not enough people do that these days, not enough people are willing to take care of themselves. I think they're afraid, more afraid than ever, because they think that the economy is bad, and if they do take a chance and things don't work out, where do they have to turn? There are fewer places to turn than, say, 20 years ago. But to do something that I enjoy that's effortless for me and reaps rewards, it's an amazing thing. And I'd like to encourage more people to do that."  Paulie Gee

Maybe it’s just me, being 28 and beyond confused about where my life is going, but my god does this make me want to finally jump the corporate ship and try my hands at something that I really love.  Paulie Gee is a man with a passion.  A passion for learning a craft, for honing his skills, and a need to constantly discover and learn and figure out what works and what works better.  I met him once when my darling boyfriend took me to a celebratory dinner at his restaurant at Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Everything about that night was special.  The room was aglow in that beautiful soft golden light that can only be achieved with a massive amount of tea lights.  The air was warm and perfumed with the scent of  salt, yeast, and smoke.  The pizza was transcendent.  In every bite you could taste the labor of love and a desire to push the boundaries of pizza toppings by combining unusual flavors (unusual salty sweet flavors making him a man after my own heart).  I was instantly smitten (the Hell Boy pizza is the best. pizza. ever.).  And then I met him and I was suddenly even more smitten.  He was the kind of guy who wanted to know everyone in the room, who liked asking questions and loved getting honest answers.  He wanted to talk and learn more in order to improve both himself and his product. He is a guy who wants to produce the best damm pizza and he does.

My dad (the only man more food obsessed them me), sent me this interview that Serious Eats had with Paulie Gee.  Reading it reminded me that at any age we can choose to change the course of our life.  That we don't need to settle for the mundane, the uninspired, or simply a paycheck.  That we can find a way to turn our passions into something more then a hobby, it can be a career, it can be your life.  I tweeted Paulie to thank him for such an inspiring interview and that I hope this will be the push I need. He reminded me the wall is paper thin. 

I encourage you to read the article and if that involves too much work (which is foolish because he discusses a lot of really good life lessons that everyone should read), then definitely get on the G train to Greenpoint and go have some pizza (and make one pizza the Hell Boy) and then if you see Paulie, tell him thanks for me.  

eggplant with buttermilk sauce.

This past week, I’ve been able to embrace open windows and box fans, breezy evenings that leave my curtains fluttering, open knit sweaters and cut-off shorts, rooftop BBQ’s that require a jacket, and light weight light washed jeans with chambray button downs. 

This weather is summer perfection.   

I’ve also allowed myself to reacquaint myself with the oven since turning it on no longer feels as if I am standing at the gates of hell.   

I’ve missed it.

Eggplant is one of those vegetables the needs to be cooked in order to be eaten and the addition of heat (i.e. ovens and stoves and grills) is what turns eggplant into one of the most magical and versatile foods.  It can be meaty or creamy, soft or hard.  My preference lies with the soft and creamy form of eggplant, the version that results after a slow roast in a hot oven where the heat renders the meaty eggplant super tender.  This eggplant recipe does exactly that which is why I love it so. 

Yotam describes this dish as rustically elegant which is a pretty apt description.  The pomegranate seeds look like ruby jewels against the milky buttermilk sauce and the eggplant looks particularly earthy all roasted and charred.  I would describe this dish as a unique riff on eggplant dip.  The boy and I scooped spoonfuls of tender eggplant, creamy buttermilk sauce, and crunchy pomegranate seeds onto rounds of warm sourdough baguette, shoving each piece of bread into our mouth in quick succession.  We then scraped the interior of the eggplant clean, ensuring we got every last bite of roasted eggplant perfection because this is a pretty perfect dish.  

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

Recipe via Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Eggplant

2 large and long eggplants

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tsp lemon thyme leaves, plus a few whole sprigs to garnish

Maldon sea salt and black pepper

1 pomegranate

1 tsp za'atar

Sauce

9 tbsp buttermilk

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish

1 small garlic clove, crushed

½ tsp Aleppo pepper

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the eggplants in half lengthways, cutting straight through the green stalk (the stalk is for the look; don't eat it). Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45-degree angle to get a diamond-shaped pattern.

Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with olive oil—keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down completely.

While the eggplants are in the oven, cut the pomegranate into two horizontally. Hold one half over a bowl, with the cut side against your palm, and use the back of a wooden spoon or a rolling pin to gently knock on the pomegranate skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start coming out naturally and falling through your fingers into the bowl. Once all are there, sift through the seeds to remove any bits of white skin or membrane.

To make the sauce. Whisk together all of the ingredients. Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed.

To serve, spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle za'atar and plenty of pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with lemon thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

sour cherry crumble.

I've been envisioning myself making a cherry pie for about 5 years now.  It would be complete with crimped edges, a lattice top, and homemade vanilla ice cream to serve it with.  I would bring it to the table wearing a frilly gingham apron, everyone would ooh and ahh.  (I live in such a fantasy land.)  But somehow every summer over the last 5 years, cherry season escaped me before I had the chance to to pit hundreds of cherries to be enclosed in a flaky pie crust.  I swore to myself that this summer would be different (don't we all do that?  Convince ourselves of the highly unlikely.).  Alas, this summer was not different (at least not as of yet, I am still holding out that things will change), cherry pie was not made because that little thing called a heat wave got in the way. Trying to cook a pie in an apartment that even with our lovely air conditioning unit (thanks Mom and Dad!) manages to remain a stagnant 88 degrees whenever the oven is on was something I wasn't willing to do.  So I cooked the next best thing - a cherry crumble.  This crumble is pretty superb since it basically involves and almond shortbread topping that sits on a base of tart sour cherries.  It's a cookie crumble hybrid which is a pretty dandy idea in my book and even more dandy idea then a pie.  And people still ooh and ahh for crumble!

Sour Cherry Crumble
Recipe adapted from I Love New York by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara

So I made a few changes.  First the almond crumble I made using a pastry blender instead of the mixer since I didn't want there to be more dishes.  Either one works. You can probably also blend the butter in with your fingers if you don't own either.  I upped the amount of cherries from 4 cups to 5 since 4 seemed a little stingy to me and baked the crumble in a 9 inch pie pan.  

Almond Crumble

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup cold butter, diced (1/4 inch)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons bread flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Cherry Filling

5 cups pitted sour cherries

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Almond Crumble: Blend all of the ingredients together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until the mixture becomes crumbly.  Or you can blend the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until large chunks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cherry Filling: Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients using a rubber spatula. Transfer the cherry mixture to a 10 by 7-inch baking dish or a 9 inch pie pan. Cover with the almond crumble and bake until golden brown and bubbly, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

miniature.

All I want is to be surrounded by gold and white.

That and a brownie the size of my head.  (It's be an exhausting, grueling, and discouraging 12 hours.)

Could this kitchen be any more adorable?  It's what I imagine someone with a teeny tiny insanely chic beach house would have as their kitchen.  Just enough space for chopping raw heirloom tomatoes for a burrata and avocado salad.   I want.  I love.  

Image via Pinterest. 

chipotle chicken, corn, and avocado tacos.

 

Despite what you may think when you look at the pictures of s’mores, blueberry pie, and fried sushi cakes I am not an overly ambitious chef most nights of the week.  It’s not because I’m lazy or because I don’t want to spend my evening standing over my gorgeous slate island (Best. Purchase. Ever.) but it’s really because there is never enough time.  Things like the gym (to balance out all that bread I like to consume), laundry, and having conversations involving more than 10 words with my better half (because sometimes I want to feel like we still know each other at least a little) get in the way of my nightly culinary adventures.  Hectic nights leave me relying on reliable tried and true favorites – bowls of pasta, mussels, tartines, and my personal favorite, tacos. 

These tacos couldn't be simpler and more summer appropriate (I imagine they will be equally lovely in the winter when you need some summer love).  Poached chicken is tossed in a tangy cider vinegar dressing that pairs well with wedges of creamy avocado and sweet corn.  Slivers of chipotle chile provide the perfect amount of heat and a swipe of sour cream helps to hold the entire thing together.  It’s a refreshing dinner, the kind of thing that requires nothing more than a salad of crisp lettuce and sliced radish to serve it with (and who am I kidding a couple of beers is also a good idea.)  

Chipotle Chicken, Corn, and Avocado Tacos

Recipe adapted from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless

This couldn't be any easier (I’ve actually been making a recipe similar to this for a while now but this is a more streamlined version).  I love it because it can be made almost any day (because one should always have chicken in the freezer and chipotles in the fridge) and letting it chill in the fridge overnight really helps to marry the flavors (even though it’s pretty fantastic even after just 45 minutes of marinating.)  The corn was added because the idea of a meal without seasonal produce when we are in the midst of the seasonal produce peak would be a sad meal. And let's be honest, corn makes everything better.  

Serves 4

1 large bone in skin on chicken breast (about 1 pound)

2 large bay leaves

1 teaspoon peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt, divided

2 ears of corn, husked and silky threads removed

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

3 – 4 chipotle chiles in adobe, seeded and thinly sliced

½ teaspoon Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro plus extra for garnish

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Accompaniments: 12 corn tortillas, sour cream, 1 avocado sliced into 12 wedges, cilantro to garnish

Bring 3-4 cups of water to boil in a large-sized pot (large enough to fit the chicken and also the corn when the chicken is done cooking).  Add to the water the bay leaves, peppercorns, and ½ teaspoons salt.  When the water comes to a boil add in the chicken, cover the pot, and cook the chicken for 10 minutes in the boiling water.  After 10 minutes, turn the heat off but keep the chicken in the broth (covered) for another 22 minutes.  This will cook the chicken all the way through.  Remove the chicken from the pot and allow it cool. 

Bring the pot of water you cooked the chicken in back to a boil.  Place the corn in the water.  Cook the corn in the boiling water for about 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, remove the corn from the water and allow it to cool. 

Skin and bone the chicken then tear the meat into large shreds and place it in a mixing bowl.   Cut the corn kernels off the cob and place the kernels in the bowl with the chicken.  Skim off all the fat on top of the broth, and then measure 3 tablespoons of broth into a small bowl.  Stir in the vinegar, oregano, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the chicken mixture and add the sliced chipotle chiles and cilantro.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Stir, cover, and let stand for 45 minutes at room temperature.  (If serving later you can refrigerate it at this point.  This can also be refrigerated overnight, but allow it to come back to room temperature before serving).  

Heat your tortillas up in the oven or over a grill.  Top each tortilla with a little sour cream, the chicken mixture, a wedge of avocado, and a sprinkle of cilantro.