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Review: Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge

It was my mom's birthday last Thursday. So the family decided to do something special and head up to the Tarry Lodge in Portchester. Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge is considered to be one of the top restaurants in Westchester. With such an extensive, appealing menu, it's difficult to narrow one's options. Each element of the pizza's was bright and fresh-tasting, on a crust that really surprised us. We found it pliant and well-salted, with a real outside char from the wood-burning oven, good interior hole structure, and a great balance of chew and crunch.

The first time I had the Guanciale, Black Truffles and Sunny Side Egg Pizza I had dreams about it the coming weeks, and it became the one dish I was most looking forward to on our return trip. There's no skimping on the truffles. But with the sweet, seeping guanciale, Parmesan, and rich yellow egg, they don't dominate or overwhelm the pizza. It's a fine dish, not just a fine ingredient. A pile of black truffles for $17? Talk about an affordable luxury.

My main course was the Orchetti with fennel sausage and rapini. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and soaked up the luscious red sauce. The fennel spiked sausage was a great complement to the savory sauce and earthy rabini.

Tarry Lodge has quickly become a top notch restaurant in Westchester, and just keeps climbing up the culinary ranks.

Tres leche birthday cake with fresh strawberry sauce

It was my mom's birthday today, so I wanted to do something special. She's been raving about a tres leche cake from Hell's Kitchen, so I decided on tres leche. The recipe doesn't contain butter, so the cake doesn't feel heavy. On the contrary. Despite being soaked through, this cake is as light as air. But that doesn't mean that it's not bad for you. Oh no, my friends. Where the butter leaves off, the heavy cream, condensed milk, and sweetened evaporated milk pick up. The three milks seep through every pore of this spongey cake and the result is a cake that drips with sweet, almost caramel-flavored milky goodness with each bite.

Tres Leches Cake
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

12 strawberries, quartered
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
3. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
4. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
5. Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
7. Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and rum in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
8. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for a minimum of 3 hours, ideally overnight.
9. To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a small pot until berries are tender, blend and cool.

Coffee Granita with soft whipped cream

This dessert is very simple and easy to do. And I'll leave it at that.

Coffee Granita

2 cups coffee

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Boil sugar and coffee until sugar has melted.
2. Freeze mixture in a shallow pan.
3. Every half hour, scrape with a fork.
4. Spoon into a glass with soft whipped cream, enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Tacos with fresh Tortillas and Sweet Corn-Black Bean salsa

Everything in this dish is homemade right down to the tortillas. I don't have a smoker (I wish I did) so I used a alternate smoking method using a bamboo steamer. The salmon came out great, with a little smoky flavor that doesn't overpower the natural fish flavor but complements it. The corn salsa adds layers of flavor to the smoky fish. This is a great summer dinner: fresh, flavorful and somewhat healthy because of the salmon and corn.

Smoked Salmon Tacos

2 cups corn meal

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp salt

2 Salmon fillets

3 cups hot water

2 Tbsp salt

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp pink peppercorns

2 handfuls apple wood chips

1/2 cup water

1 can black beans

2 ears corn

1 shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

Juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Brine salmon overnight. Make sure it's skin side up so the flesh gets full exposure to the brine.
2. To make tortillas, combine corn meal, water and salt until a ball forms. Using the back of a heavy pan, flatten a small ball of the corn/water mixture. Heat a cast iron pan and cook tortillas for 2 minutes on each side.
3. To make corn salsa, combine beans, corn, shallots, garlic and lime in a small pot until corn is cooked though. Refrigerate until cool, add cilantro.
4. Take salmon out of the brine and let air dry for an hour.
5. Lay 2 layers of tin foil in a wok. Add chips, heat over high until smoking, add water. Lay salmon in a bamboo steamer. Smoke for 30 minutes.
6. Lay one tortilla down, spoon on corn salsa, then two or three pieces of fish. Enjoy!

The secret to great Iced Coffee

I have 3 very simple rules with it comes to iced coffee.

1. Start with a strong brew. (I prefer Stumptown or Intelligentsia)
2. Cool the coffee first.
3. My favorite rule: use coffee ice cubes instead of regular ones. Using regular ones dilutes the coffee, giving it a watered down taste.

Iced Coffee

1-2 cups coffee for the ice cubes

1 glass full of cooled coffee

milk to taste

sugar to taste

3-4 coffee cubes

Directions

1. Pour 1-2 cups of coffee into a ice cub tray, freeze overnight.
2. Cool coffee in fridge. Add milk and sugar to taste.
3. Add 3-4 cubes, enjoy!

Lamb Burger with charred onion and mint

After having the lamb burger at the Breslin (which was amazing), I've been meaning to make one of my own. So I got some ground lamb from the now local Fairway and went to work. I didn't want to do just salt and pepper, so I made a bit of a spice rub consisting of cayenne, cumin and cinnamon to highlight the slightly gamey lamb. Mint is a classic pairing with lamb, so I wanted to implement it somehow, so I combined it with the onions I sautéed in the leftover lamb fond while I let the burger rest.

Lamb Burger

5-8- oz ground lamb

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cumin

1 Brioche bun, toasted

1 diced small onion

5-6 mint leaves

1 minced garlic clove

Directions

1. Form lamb into a patty. Heat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat.
2. Toast bun until a mahogany color appears.
3. Combine salt, pepper, cinnamon, cayenne and cumin. Season burger on one side with rub. Place on pan and season the other side.
4. Sear for 4 minutes, flip, and cook to desired temp. Around 3 minutes for medium rare.
5. Take the burger off, and let rest on the bun. Throw onions/mint/garlic onto the hot pan and scrape up lamb fond, sauté for a few minutes and top the burger with the onions. Enjoy!

Fresh Doughnuts with Dulce de Leche glaze

There is something about a doughnut that is so hard to resist. Sure they may seem innocent enough, just some fried dough and a sprinkling of sugar, but there’s much more to them than that.These are yeast doughnuts, so they take a while because the yeast needs to proof and rise. Also, you never really know what are getting with yeast, it's a crapshoot. Making doughnuts may take a little bit of practice and patience, but they are well worth the effort. Once you get the hang of it, you will be a doughnut making pro. There’s nothing super difficult about the whole process, but as I said before, when you’re working with yeast, anything can happen.

So I had some friends over for a afternoon doughnut party, and let's just say there weren't any leftovers.

Yeast Doughnuts

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling)
1 envelope (about 2 ¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
6 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
Vegetable oil or shortening for frying

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp cream

2 Tbsp Dulce de Leche

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 cups of flour, the yeast, sugar and salt. Set aside.
2. Place the milk and eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until a ball of dough forms.
3. Add the softened butter, one piece at a time, waiting about 15 seconds after each addition. Continue mixing for about 3 minutes longer, adding flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, until the dough forms a soft ball.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 2 to 2 ½ hours. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it out to a thickness of about a ½ inch. Cut the dough using either a doughnut cutter, or a round cutter with a smaller size cutter for the hole in the center. Gather the scraps and reroll if necessary.
5. Place the doughnut rings and holes on a floured baking sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until slightly puffy, 30 to 45 minutes.
6. Fit a candy thermometer to the side of a large Dutch oven. Add the oil or shortening until it reaches about a 2-3 inch depth. Heat over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. Place the rings and holes carefully in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 30 seconds per side for the doughnuts. Drain doughnuts on a paper towel lined baking sheet, or wire rack.

The Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern; Worth it?

Pat La Frieda, Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson ( the latter two being of Minetta Tavern) worked many late nights and weekends getting the perfect blend for the Black Label Burger. Everyone knows it as the pricey $26 burger. It cost that much because it's made with the best prime beef possibly: dry-aged ribeye. The funky dry aged flavor is blended with skirt steak and brisket. It's topped with deeply caramelized onions, whose sweetness are a perfect balance to the beefy burger.

The burger came beautifully cooked: medium rare, fatty beef juice glistening in the well marbled beef. The texture is velvety, it's like butter, broken by the salty crust developed by the flattop. The dry aged beef adds a unique funkiness most notable in dry aged beef. Its unlike any burger I've add before, taste wise. While it's very very pricey at 26 dollars, it's definitely and experience worth having because the guys at Minetta Tavern are the only ones doing the Black Label.

The fries really get lost in all the media about the burger. They are the same as the world-renown Balthazar fries. They first get blanched, they fried at a much higher temperature to get that crisp exterior and fluffy interior. They are doused with salt, and very addictive!

Peter's Eats Night 5

Tonight was the pre-finals feast for Peter's Eats fans. Man, was it a feast for sure. The main course being the vaunted Momofuku inspired Bo Ssam; a 8 pound, fat laced pork butt roasted for hours. I made 3 sauces to go with the Ssam and the lettuce cups. The first was a Sriracha-mayo, a ginger-scallion sauce and Hoisin sauce. The sweet and salty pork went well with each of the sauces in their own way which I liked, and I wanted everyone to have options.The other three dishes were hits too! I started off with a dish I call "three degrees of pepper" with a cream cheese stuffed jalapeno, wrapped in bacon, a pink peppercorn gougere and an arugula salad. The second course was old-bay shrimp over Thomas Keller creamed corn, it was very well recieved.The Final course; Momofuku's heralded Crack Pie which my friend Lauren has been begging me to make for weeks. It did not disappoint. One of my guest even asked for the recipe.

I can honestly say the food for Peter's Eats 5 was some of the best I've made collectively for Peter's Eats.

Here is a copy of the menu my brother designed:

The first course: "Three Degrees of Pepper" with a cream cheese stuffed jalapeno, wrapped in bacon, a pink peppercorn gougere and an arugula salad.

The second course: Old-Bay shrimp over Thomas Keller creamed corn.

The third course: Bo Ssam: Whole roasted pork butt, lettuce cups, Sriracha mayo, Hoisin, Ginger Scallion sauce.

The final course: Momofuku Crack Pie with a cinnamon semi-freddo I whipped up.

Lemon Curd Tart

I saw this recipe on OuiChefCook.com last week, and was enthralled by it. I absolutely love lemon, especially lemon curd because the eggs and sugar really cut the sourness of the lemon, making it less tart and more delicious! If your a fan of lemon, you'll love this tart, if not, then this is not the tart for you. I had some leftover olive oil semifreddo, so I topped the tart with a quenelle of it and some lemon zest.

Lemon Curd Tart

1 stick butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp ground Almonds

1 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

4 lemons worth of juice

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F with the rack in the center.

2. Combine the flour, salt and ground almonds in a medium mixing bowl.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix to combine.

4. Add the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and combine until a dough is formed. If the dough is too hot to handle, allow it to cool slightly.

5. With your hands, press the dough into a 9-in tart pan. When it comes to working up the sides, a measuring cup can help.

6. Bake the shell for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

1. Place the pot of water on the stove and bring to a light simmer.

2. In the mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whip the eggs and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. While whisking, add in the lemon juice and zest.

3. Set the bowl into the pot over the stove and cook the mixture, constantly whisking, making sure to lightly whisk against the bottom and all sides of the bowl to avoid scrambling the eggs. Cook and whisk until the mixture thickens, like a loose pudding or custard. It should be smooth. This will take several minutes.

4.Remove the bowl from the pot to the counter, turn off the heat and whisk the butter into the curd, piece by piece (congrats, you’ve just made an emulsion). Pour the curd into the tart shell, spreading it evenly. Allow the tart to set at room temperature. Once the curd is stable enough to safely transport the tart, place it in the fridge to completely settle it before slicing.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

I had some left over asparagus from the poached egg dish I make last week. I also found a really simple recipe for pizza dough from Smitten Kitchen. I wanted to add a lot of different flavors, so I went with some traditional pizza toppings: minced garlic, prosciutto, ricotta and mozz. This is a pizza that can easily be throw together on the go for a quick meal.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

1/2 pound shaved asparagus

1 pizza dough, recipe here

Around 1/2 pound mozzarella

1/2 cup ricotta

2 garlic cloves, finely diced

2 pieces prosciutto, finely diced

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Shaved the asparagus and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
3. Stretch dough on a pizza stone brushed with corn meal.
4. Top dough with Mozz, ricotta, prosciutto and garlic.
5. Toss asparagus onto pizza, sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Lunch at The Breslin: A must when in the Flatiron District

For months I had been asking my parents when are we going to The Breslin? I finally got my wish today, and it was without a doubt worth the wait.

We started off with house made sausage; very gamey and

salty. Right away we knew what we were in for; a delicious, fat laded meal that would leave us satisfied and bloated. Exactly what I wanted and had hoped for.

Next we had the special for the day, a brioche french toast which our waitress basically begged us to get. She was totally right, I wish we got more, the sweet, light brioche was like air holding up buttery cinnamon sugar. It was quite possibly the best french toast I've ever had.

Now the main event, the heralded Lamb Burger that my uncle has been raving about for what seems like months. It came medium-rare on a fresh sourdough roll topped with feta and red onion. Well seasoned and juicy, this gamey burger ranks up with there with head chef April Bloomfield's other restaurant, The Spotted Pig and their fantastic burger.

The "trice cooked" fried that come with the burger are unbelievable. Crisp, perfectly seasoned, fluffy interior, great golden brown crust, it does not get better then that.

How did we have any room for dessert? It's because Stumptown coffee was on the dessert menu. I could eat an entire pig and still make room for Stumptown, it's that good. Of course we needed something to go with the coffee, so we ordered the focaccia doughnuts with vanilla-cognac glaze and strawberry sorbet. The doughnuts were the epitome of a perfect doughnut; thick, crispy, chewy, sticky shell that gives way to airy, fluffy focaccia. It was textural perfection. The Breslin is a a warm, crowded and vaguely British gastropub in the lobby of the Ace Hotel. As Sam Sifton of the New York Times calls it, "It’s Hogwarts for hipsters."

Poached egg over sauteed asparagus topped with Hollandaise sauce

I'd been meaning to make this dish for a while after a friend got me thinking about poached eggs. I just hadn't had the time to make it because of work. I really love the versatility of eggs, especially poached eggs. They aren't difficult to make and can go with a lot of other foods. Plus, that luscious, creamy yolk is sooooo delicious.

Poached egg, Asparagus, Hollandaise sauce

1 egg

4-6 asparagus's

salt and pepper

3 Tbsp vinegar

1 Tbsp Olive oil

2 egg yolks

3 Tbsp boiling water

3 Tbsp butter, melted

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp cayenne

Directions

1. Over medium heat, cook asparagus with oil, salt and pepper for around 10 minutes until tender. Set aside.
2. To make the sauce, over a double boiler whisk in egg yolks. Gradually whisk in boiling water until thick. Slowly whisk in melted butter and lemon juice. Add cayenne, salt and pepper to taste.
3. To make poached egg. Heat water just until boiling, add vinegar. Crack egg into a bowl and pour into the water, poach for 3-4 minutes until whites are set. You don't want the yolk to set.

Dulce De Leche Cake

My friend Lauren and I volunteered to bake a cake for a club at school that was having a BBQ and a cake walk. The club is students for Senegal, its designed to help kids in my chemistry teachers hometown in Senegal. I wanted to make something really special because of the occasion. Lauren really wanted to help, so I let her do most of the cake oriented baking while I did more of the whipped cream/decoration part of it. The cake will be available at the cake walk tomorrow at the high school starting at 6pm.

Dulce de Leche Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces) 


1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 


6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature 


1 teaspoon vanilla extract 


1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces) 


4 teaspoons baking powder 


1 teaspoon table salt 


12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1 pint heavy cream

2 cans dulce de leche

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

• Directions

1. Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Pour milk, egg whites, and extract into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
4. Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
5. Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
6. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
7. To make whipped cream. Beat heavy cream, sugar, ducle de leche, and cinnamon until stiff peaks form, refrigerate.
8. To make caramel spirals, combine 2 cups sugar and ¼ cup of water in a small saucepan. Heat until golden brown (300 degrees). Let cool down until 200 degrees.
9. Using a spoon and the back of a big whisk, make spirals by turning caramel around the back of the whisk. Pour extra caramel onto a silpat and after it cools break it up into medium sized pieces.
10. To assemble the cake, smooth about ½ cup of dulce de leche onto the first layer of cake. Top with second layer of cake. Pour on whipped cream and smooth on.
11. Using a squeeze bottle, make a criss-cross pattern with dulce de leche. Alternately place spirals and broken caramel pieces around the cake. Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Despite the warm weather this weekend, I wanted to make chicken soup. Looking through my Ad Hoc at Home cookbook by Thomas Keller, I stumbled upon a great recipe for Chicken and Dumpling soup. As with every Keller recipe, it's very labor intensive, and takes hours to prep and cook. And of course, a lot of straining.

The soup came out great. I had some friends over to have a mini birthday celebration, very Ad Hoc style. Everyone loved the soup, even my brother Alex tried it. So it's a great soup to make during the cold winter months, very hearty and delicious!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

1 qt. chicken stock

2 cups water

5 chicken thighs

3 carrot sticks, roughly diced

3 celery stalks, roughly diced

4 scallions, roughly diced

1 Tbsp butter

1/3 -1/2 cup amber roux

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

1/2 cup water

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 large egg

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Melt 1 Tbsp of butter in a large stock pot. Add carrot, celery and scallions. Put chicken thighs skin side down in pot. Cook for 30 minutes.
2. Add stock and water, simmer for 35 minutes.
3. Take chicken out, shred, set aside.
4. Strain veggies out of soup base, set aside.
5. To make dumplings, melt butter and water together in a medium saucepan. Add flour, stir vigorously and dump into a stand mixer.
6. Add mustard and parsley, beat to release some heat. Add one egg at a time to combine.
7. Using a ice cream scoop, make about 2-3 Tbsp dumplings into a pot of simmering salted water. Cook for around 7-9 minutes, then set aside.
8. Add Roux to soup base until desired thickness, add shredded chicken, carrots and celery to it. Finally add dumplings and parsley, let flavors meld for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!