Monthly Archives: January 2012

Glazed Chicken and Swordfish

January 25, 2012 | by Ben 0

A couple years ago, my mom got us some exotic jams and marmalades from Swaziland for Christmas. Somehow she placed a double order for the price of one, so we’ve been going through them pretty slowly. Inspiration struck, though, when we were asked to bring some flavor boosters for grilled chicken to Sarah’s brother’s place and didn’t have time for something like, say, mole.

My favorite was the Mango Sriracha Glaze. The recipe calls for chicken thighs but was really good on breasts, and we used leftovers for wings. The sauce took all of three minutes to make, and we didn’t add it until after cooking (although I did boil the sauce briefly to meld the flavors). The combination of sweet mango, hot sriracha and rice vinegar was awesome.

Sarah was partial to the Peach Ginger Soy Glaze. The recipe calls for peach jam and fresh ginger, but our jam was ginger peach, further simplifying an already … continue reading

Tommy’s

January 18, 2012 | by Sarah 1

I have been going to Tommy’s since before I was born. It’s home to my first memories of experiencing pita bread. Ben and I met the minister that married us there and we’ve been to Tommy’s many times since.

The restaurant itself is plain, and the décor consists of the work of local artists (for sale) and plants. Natural light abounds during the day. The menu has not changed in decades — but this is a positive attribute. Although known for being vegetarian, their menu does not exclude meat. Some of the more popular items on the menu include milk shakes, french fries, toasted cheese (served on pita), salads with Louie dressing (a take on Thousand Island).

One of our favorites is the unusual pairing of hummus, toasted cheese and fresh vegetables. Warm hummus with melted cheese sounds odd — but tastes really good. Jonathan gave the dish the kid stamp of approval. Our only minor complaint is that there should have been … continue reading

Mezcal Cured Salmon

January 14, 2012 | by Ben 2

Inspired by The Cage Free Tomato and Sarah’s idea of blogging on our cultural heritage, I home cured some salmon.

My dad’s side of the family is Jewish, and most breakfasts when we visited family in New York were lox, bagels and cream cheese. I never understood this as a kid–fish for breakfast?–but I’ve gotten a taste for it as an adult.

I used farmed Atlantic salmon from Whole Foods (farmed seems safer for a raw preparation) and part of a 50 ml bottle of mezcal brought home from a recent vacation. I basically followed this recipe, substituting mezcal for the Scotch.

The results were quite good, at least as good as most commercially bought lox or gravlax but a bit cheaper. Despite the almost unpalatable smokiness of straight mezcal, there was very little smoke flavor in the finished dish. That said, the recipe did only call for a little bit (1.5 t. for the 1/2 lb of salmon I used).

Next time … continue reading

Top Chef Stuffed Cabbage

January 10, 2012 | by Ben 3

Sarah from Top Chef recently won one episode with her sausage stuffed cabbage. It looked really good to me, so I decided to make it.

Sarah (from this blog, not Top Chef) typically dislikes stuffed cabbage, which is usually filled with a tomato beef sauce. This recipe has no tomatoes but lots of vegetables. In addition to the big cabbage leaves, the meat mixture also contains more cabbage and onions and is stuffed into kale. Sarah really liked it, and even Jonathan enjoyed it.

The recipe we made is modified in a number of ways from the Top Chef recipe published here. It uses less butter and less olive oil. And, instead of two small heads of cabbage (green and Napa), we used the one large head we got from City Fresh. It might be very good with Napa, though. I wouldn’t suggest following the original recipe to the letter. Bravo tends to be pretty sloppy with these, including not mentioning when … continue reading

Barroco Grill

January 1, 2012 | by Sarah 0

We crossed the river to visit Barroco Grill a few weeks ago and very much enjoyed it.

The establishment is at 129th and Madison in Lakewood and only seats around 20 people at most. We were there during a large birthday party, so the three of us squeezed ourselves into a table meant for two.

The specialty of the house is arepas, a cross between a tortilla and crusty bread that is common in Colombia and Venezuela. They are made of white corn masa and deep fried, with a thickness and toothsomeness that is very satisfying.

Sarah and I split the Chorizo Arepa ($9) and the Cheesy Corn ($8). While the arepa was tasty, I wasn’t a fan of the combination of crumbly “bread” and crumbly chorizo (Sarah didn’t mind this). I added a fried egg to the leftovers, though, which made for a perfect sandwich. This might be a good option on the menu. What isn’t improved by a fried egg?

The Cheesy Corn, an non-traditional dish created by … continue reading