Heights Eats

After reading many reviews of Momocho and finally getting a reservation, we ate there this past weekend. The restaurant itself has a cool vibe thanks to great lighting and original rustic artwork on the walls. We sat on the outdoor patio, which had an abundance of greenery.

For drinks Sarah ordered the iced tea, Jonathan had a Mexican fruit punch soda and Ben ordered the margarita sampler with cucumber, hibiscus, and blood orange. The cucumber was was the best–slightly spicy, refreshing, and unlike anything we’ve ever had. The blood orange was good too, quite sour, and the hibiscus was good but a bit on the sweet side.

We started off with goat cheese guacamole and queso fundido. The guac had a smooth texture and was extra creamy thanks to the addition of goat cheese. The queso fundido was different from preparations we’ve had in the past. It was mostly chorizo with some cheese melted on top. It was not overly greasy, and the excellent … continue reading

A certain department store carries a version of this, which inspired me to try to make my own. Everyone enjoyed it–both kids and adults tend to enjoy cereal with chocolate.

The ground hazelnuts makes for a very strongly flavored cereal. Feel free to leave them out if you want a more neutral flavored granola enhanced by the chopped nuts.

Chocolate Hazelnut Granola

7 cups oats, quick or old-fashioned 2 cups puffed rice cereal (or another cup or so of oats) 1 — 2 cups roasted hazelnuts, chopped 1 ¼ cup sugar (use up to ½ cup more if you like sweeter cereal) ¼ cup honey 1/3 cup canola oil 1/2 cup (80ml) water 3/4 teaspoon fine salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ — 1 cup chocolate chunks or chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, coffee grinder or blender, grind half the oats, rice and 1 cup nuts (optional) to a fine powder. In a large bowl, combine the whole oats, … continue reading

Inspired by a recent visit to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus and a number of ingredients I had onhand, I decided to make a trio of frozen concotions.

The flavors are pomegranate-peach, chocolate mint and chocolate. Jeni’s has a flavor called “backyard mint,” and the chocolate mint I used is literally growing in our backyard.

The recipe I used for the mint gelato is here (with a bit of cheating: I heated the milk and steeped the mint for eight hours, not 24), and the chocolate gelato recipe is here (with a pinch of salt added). Both were made with Snowfield Creamery whole milk.

I came up with the sorbet recipe as a way to utilize free pomegranate juice.

Peach-Pomegranate Sorbet

1 lb. ripe peaches 1/3 cup water 1/2 cup pomegranate juice 1/2 cup sugar 1 t. kirsch, peach schnapps, vodka or lemon juice pinch salt

Boil together water and chopped peaches, covered, for 10 minutes until peaches are cooked. Press peaches through a food mill or fine mesh strainer … continue reading

Pom found our blog and sent us free pomegranate juice, and of course I had to figure out a good way to use it.

The recipe below turned out really well. You can distinctly taste all of the ingredients, even pureed, which makes for a complex soup. And, unlike tomato-based gazpacho, the flavors don’t become muddy after a day in the fridge.

INGREDIENTS

1 small or medium ripe cantaloupe, coarsely chopped 1 cup pomegranate juice 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 seedless cucumber, seeded and coarsely chopped 1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 medium garlic cloves, minced 1 small onion coarsely chopped 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (optional) Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fresh cilantro or parsley to garnish

Throw everything but the fresh herbs in the blender and purée. Garnish each bowl with fresh herbs. This goes really well with Sauvignon Blanc (I had King Shag from Trader Joe’s).

We … continue reading

Inspired by leftover bacon, Ratio and City Fresh spinach, we made black pepper whole wheat spaghetti carbonara with rye popovers tonight.

This was a meal I’d have paid good money for at a restaurant. The only downside is that we didn’t have quite enough spinach.

Black Pepper Whole Wheat Pasta Carbonara w/ Spinach

1 lb. black pepper pasta (either homemade or from someplace like Ohio City Pasta) 4 oz. bacon (we used some from Whole Foods) 1 cup grated Parmesan 2 eggs Spinach (plenty of it—our 6 oz. or so wasn’t enough) 1 TB. Olive oil Fresh black pepper

(1) While you can get black pepper pasta commercially, I haven’t seen the wheat / pepper combination. I used Ruhlman’s ratio of 3 parts flour to 2 parts eggs (by weight) using 50 / 50 whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose, adding plenty of black pepper. The pastry flour makes the pasta softer.

(2) Sauté the bacon and olive oil until bacon … continue reading

Our anniversary was June 1^st, but Sarah worked from 8am — 9pm, so we figured we’d do something special a couple days earlier. We’d never visited McCormick & Schmick’s, but we’ll definitely return. The food and service were outstanding.

We were seated immediately (it was 5:45pm on a Saturday), Sarah and I were given menus (which change daily based on fresh catch availability), and Jonathan was given a kid’s menu. We were also given a basket of excellent bread, a crusty-but-soft white sourdough. Their menu unfortunately does not have a beer list, but our server knew the available beers and I ordered a Great Lakes Dortmunder($5.75). It tasted as good as it usually does at the brewery.

After spending quite a while mulling over all of the entrée choices–which included many interesting scallop, whitefish and rare tuna preparations–Sarah ordered the surf and turf with king crab legs and filet mignon ($28.95). I just ordered the king crab legs ($24.95), which were listed as being from one of the ships featured … continue reading

Monthly Archives: June 2009

Momocho

Chocolate Hazelnut Granola

Trio

Melon Pomegranate Gazpacho

Black Pepper Whole Wheat Spaghetti Carbonara

McCormick & Schmick’s