About
I am very fortunate in that I get to try many of the best restaurants in NYC. I also am realizing that I love to cook and have been expanding my culinary skills with my boyfriend, Mike. So what better way to chart my path through the world of food than with a blog?
I would not consider myself a foodie, as that moniker carries with it some level of expertise, of which I have none. I just really love food and am very lucky to have both access to good restaurants and a really big kitchen.
If you want to reach me, you can email me at sara@nycnomnom.com or if you have more questions, visit the NYCNomNom FAQs!
So without further ado, enjoy nomming.
Want a delicious dessert that is incredibly easy to make and pretty healthy? You MUST try broiled pineapple.
You slice up pinapple, put it on a pan (I used a bakers rack so air goes underneath, though this probably isn’t necessary) and sprinkle it with brown sugar. Then you put it in the broiler until it gets a little bubbly and crispy.
Take it out, and enjoy some easy, healthy bliss.
Mmmmmm
So I had read about FeistyFoodie’s love of braised cucumbers and fondly remembered this from the Julie & Julia movie, so when I finally saw cucumbers go on sale on Fresh Direct, I jumped at the chance to try it. The cucumber I got was one of those “this is way too big to not make a crude joke about” types and I think I may have let it sit for too long… because my braised cucumbers were just an epic fail. (sad face)
They tasted like they were just soggy, old cucumbers. GROSS! Though I am blaming my veggie selection rather than just the recipe… for now. I also failed to remove the seeds as I didn’t think this would have too much of an impact on the final result, but perhaps I was wrong.
I will try again!
My second (and unfortunately final) stop for NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2010 was Tribeca Grill (corner of Greenwich and Franklin) with the wonderful Carrie. I had never been, and I was excited to see they had a very delicious sounding Restaurant Week Menu.
I had to go with the Chestnut soup (LOVE chestnuts!) and it was good, but not great. It just wasn’t chesnutty enough.
Carrie went with a regular green salad.
Carrie also chose the black truffle cavatelli and was kind enough to give me a bite. It was delish!
I went with the red wine braised short rib that came with brussel sprouts, chanterelles, and pancetta. It was quite tasty!
I tried to avoid eating TOO terribly and chose to spend my calorie budget on the short ribs rather than dessert… but I couldn’t just NOT get dessert. So Carrie and I both chose to go with the gelato. She chose the coffee.
I went with a fruit trio. I think it was strawberry, banana, and something? I’m not sure what. It was good but far from the best I’ve had.
Overall, I think it was a decent restaurant week menu and I’m glad I got to try this, but I’m not sure if I’d be in any rush to go back.
Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10
After a lovely mani/pedi date with the incredible Lori, she recommended we visit Angelo and Maxie’s where not only was her friend, Carlotta, tending bar, but it was also Restaurant Week. Even though I’m supposed to be on a diet, I figured I could make it work at a steak house with portion control. Plus, I just need to enjoy SOME of Restaurant Week like I have in year’s past (Summer 2009 and Winter 2009).
In case you don’t know how restaurant week works, here is the menu from Angelo and Maxie’s (they all work similarly with a prix fixe of an app, entree, and dessert with lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35):
*****
RESTAURANT WEEK 2010 MENU
Sunday-Friday
January 25th-February 28th, 2010
(excluding Saturdays and February 14th)
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First Course
Choice of:
Maxie’s House Salad
Angelo’s Caesar Salad
Soup of the Day
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Second Course
Choice of:
Grilled Filet Mignon (au poivre or béarnaise available)
Charbroiled New York Sirloin Steak
1 ½ pound Herb-Roasted Chicken
Broiled Salmon over Fresh Sautéed Vegetables
Marinated Roumanian Steak with Grilled Onions (dinner only)
Maxie’s Chopped Steak with Sautéed Onions (dinner only)
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Third Course
Choice of:
Cheesecake
Chocolate or Vanilla Ice Cream
Fresh Fruit
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LUNCH: $24.07
DINNER: $35.00
*****
Lori and I both chose the caesar salad (per Carlotta’s recommendation) but only I went all in with the anchovies. (Lori got them on the side but couldn’t bring herself to try one). I LOVE salt, so I like anchovies, though only in small doses.
We also both chose the Filet, however, I went with mine sauceless (hoping to save some calories).
Lori chose au poivre.
For my dessert, I sucked it up and chose the fruit salad. It was a sad moment in my life, but I knew I couldn’t have both the steak AND the cheesecake.
Or could I? Lori was gracious enough to give me a few bites. Thank GOODNESS I didn’t get this… it was so insanely good I never would have stopped eating it.
I love the take-home bags with all the cows.
We also each enjoyed a glass of the Malbec, again as recommended by our lovely bar tender Carlotta. It was a Carolores Del Sol and we both enjoyed it very much! Will have to be on the lookout for that little gem.
Overall, I thought our meal was great, and for $24 it’s hard to beat! The steak was cooked perfectly and, if you’re not slaving over a diet, you MUST try the cheesecake. Holy cow!
Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10
Lori, a fellow food blogger (and lover), wrote about our experience here if you’d like to see her perspective on the same meal.
I had seen this recipe a while back and was going to make it for the last family brunch, however, my sister doesn’t like ham, so I filed it away. When I decided to have a brunch for six but knew I’d have very limited prep and cooking time, I pulled this one back out. It has to be one of the easiest and most impressive looking brunch recipes I’ve ever seen!
You get sliced ham from the deli (go for the better stuff since it’s a big part of the dish) and lay it into greased muffin cups. My ham was a bit thin, so I doubled up slices to prevent breakage.
Then you crack an egg in each and place a tomato in each cup.
Sprinkle with cheese.
And bake! Voila!
It not only looked great, but it tasted great! It looks so fancy, so it’s perfect for brunch, but it’s so quick and easy that it could definitely be an anytime breakfast!
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RECIPE
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Ingredients: Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil all cups in a 12-cup muffin pan with olive oil. Line each muffin cup with a slice of ham. Leave the ends of the ham sticking out over the top slightly. Break one egg into each ham-lined muffin cup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with one cherry tomato, a sprinkle of Parmesan, and a sprinkle of chives. Bake 18-20 minutes until egg has set. Let cool 5 minutes before removing tarts from muffin tins. To remove, run a knife around each muffin cup to loosen. Serve. Note: Another way to do this easy brunch recipe is using scrambled egg in place of the whole egg. Simple mix eggs as normal and pour into ham cups. You might want to make half of each please all your guests.
2 tsp. olive oil (cooking spray also works well)
12 thin slices ham
12 lg. eggs
12 med. cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp. chives, finely chopped (I didn’t have any so I went without and they were just fine)
3 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Usually I find tilapia quite… bland. So to give it some pop, I decided to throw some San Marzano tomatoes on top with some basil.
Now if you haven’t heard of San Marzano tomatoes, let me open up your world for a moment… I was reading some blogs singing the praises of these special tomatoes for a while and my mom was a fan. In my perpetual childhood need to deny that anything my mother likes could possibly be good… I was anti for a while. But then I tried them. WOW! They’re like the best, ripest, juiciest tomatoes you’ve ever had and they come out of a CAN! (A very expensive can… but worth it)
The parm on top was just perfect (we kept one off for a non-cheese eater).
And yes… again with the rice pilaf. What can I say? I love them! Too bad they aren’t too good for you… but they’re not THAT bad for you… right? :)
I have blogged about this recipe before, however, every time I make lamb I am reminded about how incredibly easy and FAST it is. I was always quite intimidated by lamb (especially a huge rack of it!) but it’s just so easy. The only thing I forgot was to moisten the corn meal so it stayed a bit dry (and I added all the mustard this time rather than halfing it… which was upsetting to me as a mustard hater but Mikey liked it)
We paired it with a rice pilaf that is always delicious and easy.
And I had some leftover butternut squash soup. But I wanted a veggie…
So what is that? It’s canned peas with shredded cheese. DELISH! (and sooo easy)
I haven’t been bashful here about my complete love for food shows and famous chefs. So when Iron Chef put out a special of Batali and Emeril vs Flay and White House Chef Cristeta Comerford with food from the White House garden I was as giddy as a squirrel with an acorn. Then I watched Batali make a raviolo (basically a giant ravioli) filled with sweet potato and ricotta with an EGG in the middle. I swear I swooned aloud. I quickly vowed to make these.
I couldn’t find much of a recipe (the one on Food Network is more complex and uses spinach instead of sweet potato) so I kind of just made it up as I went along. I boiled up some sweet potatoes and them mashed them with ricotta, brown sugar, and a pinch of nutmeg and just added items until it tasted right.
I used the same pasta recipe as last time but ran it through on 5 a few more times to make it a wee bit thinner.
Even Mike (“Magic Hands”) got in on the action and helped me with extra hands for the rolling stage.
I then spread the sheet on a floured surface.
Spooned the sweet potato mixture on and used the back of my spoon to make a well.
I then cracked an egg into the well.
Put some egg wash “glue” around the filling and then folded the sheet over to create a pocket. I used my fingers to seal the edges and then used a pizza cutter to slice them apart.
I was soooo nervous that they would fall apart in the pot of water.
Since they were GINORMOUS!
And I had a lot of leftover filling and dough (more than I had eggs) so I made some littler guys without the egg.
SOOO easy and so much fun to make.
I cooked them up and was careful to lower them into the pot and scoop them out. But they all held up perfectly!
The first night we put brown butter on them, however, we had tomato sauce with the leftovers the next night and actually preferred this. (We also had some delicious, easy to make, pan seared scallops the first night).
I was SO excited to cut it open. It just oozed out like a perfect poached egg.
It was ALMOST as good as I had imagined. Next time I will try to see if I can use less filling and still have enough of a well for the egg (they were just TOO big) and leave less side room around the filling where the pasta folded over. I’ll also be sure to serve it with tomato sauce.
This was so easy to do, yet looked so impressive. Some day I will wow someone (besides Magic Hands) with this.
I guess I learned how to make a pie before I learned that it was something to fear. So many people I know say they don’t make pies because they are terrified of making crust. So below I’ve broken down the steps for how to make a pie crust.
Now while I don’t LOVE my crusts, it seems they are quite popular amongst my friends (I just don’t think they have enough flavor). Texture-wise it’s always pretty good… flaky without being too crumbly. But this recipe works well… so I don’t mess with it too much. If you want to make a pie with 2 crusts or a lattice crust, it’s always good to double it. Cut up 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) into small cubes and place in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Prepare about 1/2 cup of ice water and set aside. Combine 2 cups flour with 1 tsp. salt. Remove butter from freezer and combine with flour mixture (see tip below) until it looks like crumbles the size of small peas (don’t be too aggressive with this). Then stir in ice water in by the teaspoon and mix until dough forms. At first it will look like this will never happen, then suddenly: DOUGH! If you’ve doubled the recipe, divide into two dough balls and flatten into pancakes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, 4 or overnight is better.
The secret to pies, as you’ll hear over and over again, is COLD. As far as I have learned, the cold butter stays more solid within the flour mixture and you need those pockets of butter to make flaky dough. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the little pieces of butter in the dough.
I have heard many pieces of advice about keeping everything cold and it’s all rather daunting if you read it. Personally, I’ve always had success with cutting the butter into small cubes and putting it into the freezer before mixing everything together. A lot of people fear a food processor for the warmth of the blades and other people swear by them. I’ve never had one, so I just give it a quick spin in the Kitchenaid or pull out the pastry blender.
After the dough has been in the fridge, take out a dough pancake and place it on a floured countertop or smooth surface. Rolling out dough takes time and patience but I find it meditative. You want to start in the center and roll out a corner. Then pick it up and turn it 90 degrees and roll it again. Continue this, making sure the surface below is well floured so it doesn’t stick.
Once the dough is at the desired diameter, flour both sides lightly and then fold in half and then half again (you can also roll it on the rolling pin, however, I find the folding method easier).
Pick up the folded dough and lay into a quarter of the pie plate.
Unfold the half.
Then unfold again and gently push the dough into the corners of the pie plate.
You can leave the overhang and fold it over for a fluted edge (another pie post coming soon with that) or you can cut down the edges of the pie for a blunt edge (just rub your hand firmly against the rim and let the edge of the pie plate do the cutting for you).
If you are making a fruit pie, it’s good to add a top (I personally like lattice work).
After you roll out the 2nd sheet, cut it into strips (I use a pizza cutter). I learned an easy way to make lattice but completely forgot it when I was making this one (d’oh!) So don’t follow my directions below, follow these and lattice will be a piece of cake (errr… pie): http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/latticed-and-loony/
I started all wrong but it worked out in the end.
After weaving all the strips, I cut them down to the end of the pie pan.
Then I added a pie crust rim.
Then I drizzled the entire thing in the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture that went into the pie.
It baked up so lovely. I will definitely be making this one again.
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RECIPE
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Ingredients
Directions
This trip was literally our last stop before starting our “eat healthy and go back to the gym” kick. And we really did it to the max with all our epic eating (especially in Napa). By the end of the last day, we just wanted a salad before heaing to the airport. We were recommended to go to Pacific Blues which is in the same complex as Bottega. It was very casual.
I went with the Cobb salad and it was just what I wanted.
Mike went with the Taco Salad and seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
Tough to judge a place on salads, even if they hit the spot.
Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10
