Tiny Urban Kitchen

Frank Pepe's Pizza

2013-05-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! Yes, I know our "A Casual New York Weekend" series has just begun, but before we make it all the way to New York, let's visit a legendary pizza spot that you're bound to pass on your way to New York from Boston. Consider it a worthy stop (about halfway point?) if you're driving from Boston.

It's long been purported that New Haven has some of the best pizza in the world. The two most famous ones, Frank Pepe's and Sally's (opened by Pepe's nephew in 1938), are located just down the street from each other. Fans will argue tirelessly about which one they prefer more, but clearly both are doing something right if they have been able to stay in business and faithfully feed New Haven for so many decades.

It was hard for us to choose just one. However, on a late, late night while driving back from a road trip to Philadelphia, we decided to stop by Frank Pepe's to finally see for ourselves the hype surrounding this legendary pizza.
Though they are usually packed (waits of over an hour are not unheard of), we had arrived after 10PM, and thus largely had the place to ourselves.
The white clam pizza is one of their signature dishes. According to their story, Pepe's began by selling little neck clams on the half shell as an appetizer. It wasn't long before someone made the connection to put the clams on the pizza. A legendary pizza was born.

For some reason, we were a bit underwhelmed by the pizza. The clams were a bit dry, and although it was tasty, I wasn't sure what exactly the hype was about.

In fact, I may have enjoyed our other chicken, sun-dried tomato, and basil pizza a bit more. This pizza was juicier, the meat was more moist, and overall it had more substance.

The underside is not bad, with some decent leopard spots.

Overall, the pizzas were still quite good. It's fun to see a place with so much history attached to it. I love how it looks like it hasn't really changed since the day it opened, except for the number of photos of famous people that appear on the walls.

I'm not sure if I would drive all the way here just to have pizza. We have some pretty good pizzas in Boston. However, if I'm passing by (like I was this time), it's a perfectly suitable place to stop by for a nice lunch, dinner, or even late night snack.

If you're a Pepe's lover, please fill me in on why I missed out. Did I come at the wrong time? Did I order the wrong pizza? Or maybe I should have gone to Sally's? Please let me know, and perhaps I'll know better the next time I go.

A Casual New York Weekend

2013-05-22T23:56:00.001-05:00

You may be wondering why a title like "Casual New York Weekend" is followed by a photo of the opulent grand ballroom at the historic Waldorf Astoria.

I guess it's a bit incongruous for me say any trip is "casual" when Bryan has to bring his tux and I have to find some pretty dress. But really, that was as fancy as it got. After all, the whole ballroom thing was the "required" part of the trip. You see, I was in New York for business, attending a work dinner in that huge ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria. That part is the same every year.

In the past, we often made it a habit to check out the fine dining that this city has to offer.

But this time was different.

Perhaps it was because I had just spent over a week eating (and cooking!) like crazy in Thailand. Or maybe I was still "recovering" from the extended tasting menus from my Las Vegas trip earlier. Whatever the reason, I really just didn't feel like eating any loooong tasting menus.*

So we went a different route. We sought out some more casual places. We had "home-cooked" dinner at a cousin's home. We even managed to squeeze in a few old favorites.

We did fun things like visit the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), where they were temporarily exhibiting one of only four versions of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. This pastel that you see behind me was sold in May of 2012 for just shy of $120 million USD. It set a world record for the most expensive painting ever sold at an auction.

It was temporarily on display at MoMA between October 2012 and April 2013.

We finally got to try this very popular Asian fusion spot famous for its Packman-shaped tempura and ghost shrimp dumplings.

We found a spicy and authentic Sichuan restaurant that was conveniently close to Penn Station. In fact, we showed up with our luggage before heading back to Boston via the Acela train.

This meal is technically not part of the same weekend trip, but we had stopped in New York for one night before heading off to Thailand (overnight flight connection). We went into the city just for dinner at this farm-to-table restaurant that's connected to a home good store.

We had some of the best salumi we've ever had at this quaint salumeria on the Upper West Side.

We couldn't leave New York without visiting one of our all-time favorite Italian spots. This ricotta salad with pea shoots and snap peas was phenomenal.

With the death of H&H, our old go-to place for bagels, we queued up at Ess-a-Bagel and tried a lovely smoked whitefish bagel sandwich. Yum!

And of course, sometimes nothing beats sharing a hearty, warm hot pot in the comfort of an inviting home with good friends.

Stay tuned for specific posts on many of the above restaurants!

*OK, I do confess that I did try (and failed) to get a reservation at Brooklyn Fare, but that's probably the only long tasting menu that's on my "totally wish I could try" list at the moment in New York.

80 Thoreau

2013-05-22T07:58:00.002-05:00

"After you get off Route 2, run right on Walden Street, and then turn left on Thoreau."

We chuckled a bit as we listened to ourselves talk, but we weren't making this up. These are actual street names in Concord, Massachusetts, a town about 45 minutes north of Boston. In fact, the legendary Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau penned his famous book Walden is just down the street from our destination.

And yes, it's that Concord - the historic other half of "Lexington and Concord".

I was in a car with three of my other female friends. We were going out solo - without the husbands - to celebrate my friend Liz's birthday. We wanted to go somewhere special, yet we also had to take into the major consideration that Liz was very very (we're talking close to nine months) pregnant (aka no fancy sushi or grand wine pairings).

Our choices were immediately limited severely by the fact that Liz's birthday just happened to land on the day of Boston University's graduation.

Uh oh. Every single reasonably nice restaurant in Boston was booked solid. A brief search through Opentable gave very unsatisfying results.

Thankfully, Liz decided to go outside the box (and the city) and found us a reservation at 80 Thoreau in Concord. Yes, we would have to drive out a bit, but the reviews for the place were stellar, and Liz had managed to book us the most exclusive and special seats in the house.

Open since April 2011, 80 Thoreau is the brainchild of Ian Calhoun and Vincent Vala, two friends who vowed they would open a restaurant together someday while they were students at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

It didn't happen immediately. Ian spent some time in Paris before moving to New York. He finally returned to Massachusetts to study business at Harvard. Vincent spent time in Florida post- graduation before moving to New York to gain experience working with Thomas Keller at Per Se and Tom Colichio at Craft.

Finally, in 2011, they were able to come back to Concord, the historic town where Ian grew up, to open up their first restaurant. They brought on board Chef Carolyn Johnson, who has cooked at many top restaurants in Boston, such as Salamander, Icarus, and more recently, Rialto.

80 Thoreau is located right at the Commuter Rail station in Concord. Even if you don't have a car, you can take the commuter rail almost straight to the restaurant's door steps. 80 Thoreau sits right next to the train station. Some say you can even hear the rumble of trains going by on occasion (we did not hear any during our meal).

Though the restaurant's at the top of these long, menacing stairs, there's a nice elevator around the corner, which Liz was only far too happy to use.

The menu consists of New American dishes inspired by local and seasonal ingredients. Concord is actually near several farms, which allows the restaurant great access to some hyper local produce. Appetizers (or "first courses" as they are called on the menu) range from $8-$14 while entrees hover between $23-$31. There's also a bar and a bar menu, which includes both small "bar bites" ($4-$12) and "bar plates" ($14-$15) which could easily be dinner on a casual weeknight.

You can't tell from the photo, but the ambiance is lively and reasonably relaxed. The space is surprisingly large, with a reasonably sized bar area and two dining rooms.

The best seats in the house, however, are at the chef's counter. There are only four of these exclusive seats in the entire restaurant.

At the chef's counter, you get front row seats to all the action that's happening in the kitchen. It's fascinating to watch how a perfect steak is grilled, what steps are involved in making tempura lemon "confit", and why you need warm hands to form the perfect ice cream canelles.

I asked our server if there was another kitchen elsewhere, and she said no. You are seeing everything right in front of you (it's immaculate, might I add).

But the best part of the chef's counter is the access to the special Tasting Menu. The Tasting Menu is only offered on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with two seatings a day: one at 5:45, the other at 8:30. That's a maximum of 24 seats a week.

The menu changes weekly, is kept "under wraps" until service, and almost always features current seasonal ingredients created with extra oomphs of creativity. Because of the small amount of diners per week, the chef is able to use more luxurious ingredients and time/labor-intensive techniques to create some pretty unique dishes.

We couldn't wait to get started.

We began with a Pisco Sour amuse. It was bright, full of citrus, just a tad of a sparkle - a perfect way to begin the tasting menu.

Along with the cocktail came another amuse of these baby French Breakfast Radishes, which were smeared with herb-infused butter (sage, rosemary, and thyme).

"The cocktail's not too sweet," said my friend, Christina.

I'm not a huge fan of sweet cocktails in general, and I often find them to be too sweet. I agreed with Christina though, this cocktail was perfectly fine.

Christina and I are kindred spirits in some ways. We both have relatively small appetites and struggle with finishing tasting menus. We lamented about how oftentimes the last course in a tasting menu just doesn't taste good to us. It's not because it's actually a bad dish, it's usually because we are so full we have absolutely no ability to enjoy food by that point.

I told her my typical game plan, developed through the constant tasting menus I've experienced in the past several years:

1) Don't be afraid to start packing leftovers, even if you are only on course 3 of a 5-6 course tasting.
2) Eat slowly.
3) Don't fill up on bread.

Famous last words.

The freshly baked bread (whole grain and light sourdough) soon arrived. We found out it was from Iggy's in Cambridge and it was fantastic. We all especially loved the sweet, nutty wholegrain bread and couldn't get enough of it.

"I totally want to stop by Iggy's in North Cambridge and pick up a loaf of this bread."

Within ten minutes, not a single sliced of wholegrain bread remained on the table.

So much for my game plan.

The first official course, "Chilled Asparagus" came served over asparagus chèvre and topped with microgreens tossed in a truffle Merlot vinaigrette. Wild flowers from mustard and chives completed the fresh spring look of this dish.

The truffle aroma was intoxicating yet subtle enough that it did not overpower the dish. My friend Liz longed for more mustard flowers, which she felt added a unique grassy and forward element that enriched the rest of the dish beautifully.

"That is the best asparagus dish I've ever had in my life," said Liz.

The next dish was phenomenal, and my personal favorite bite of the evening. The lovely Smoked Scallop Raviolis were handmade and possessed that perfect soft but chewy texture. We couldn't get enough of that incredible scallop and potato filling.

After inquiring a bit more, we learned that the scallops are cured for two days with citrus, salt, sugar, and herbs before being smoked at very low heat over hickory chips for a long time.

We absolutely loved the intense smokiness of the scallops (it was almost like there was bacon in there, even though there was not!), which combined nicely with the potatoes inside the ravioli. The pea puree (and fresh peas!) added a lovely spring touch to the whole bite.

For our third course, we had the Seared Tilefish, which was so soft we could easily cut it with a fork. It was served over sea beans (a legume), a bed of sweet, creamy parsnip puree, and a "tempura confit lemon slice" (which we'd watched them fry earlier right in front of us!).

The flavors of this dish were quite good. We all agreed that the lemon was a necessary component in each bite, mostly for the tart balance that it brought to the dish, but also for the crunch.

The tasting menu was already screaming Spring! yet there was more to come. Our final course consisted of a Roasted Rabbit Loin that was artfully rolled up with mushroom risotto and ramp leaves with rabbit jus. This was served alongside various springtime components, such as braised morel mushrooms (yum), spring greens tossed with a chardonnay vinaigrette, and a deeply flavorful puree made from fava bean shells (can you believe that?), anise, and cumin. It was wonderfully earthy and even my friend Beata, who hates the taste of licorice, loved the fava bean puree.

The rabbit meat was admitted just a bit on the dry side, but the flavors of the overall dish were excellent. I even brought home some leftovers for Bryan to try (remember the game plan?), and he said the rabbit loin was his favorite course in terms of overall flavor.

For our "pre-dessert", we enjoyed a simple refreshing sorbet of muscat grapes over some cookie crumbs.

I'm a huge fan of olive oil desserts, so it's no surprised that I loved our final course. We had tiny little Olive Oil Rosemary Cakes which were served with extra virgin olive oil ice cream (yum!), olive oil powder, honey comb candy, and orange gel. Pastry chef Katherine Hamilburg, who used to work at Bergamot, is extremely talented and makes exquisite desserts.

I am so inspired to go home and make some olive oil cakes and ice cream. Heck, I might even whip out my molecular gastronomy kit and try to make some olive oil powder!

Overall Thoughts
We had a lovely time at 80 Thoreau. The staff was accommodating to our needs and took great care of us. They made a special virgin cocktail for Liz for the first course, and answered all her questions - everything from whether the cheese was pasteurized to the intricate methods used to make certain dishes. The food is excellent and I think chef Carolyn Johnson is doing a great job exhibiting New England's seasonal ingredients in a sophisticated yet approachable way. This is definitely one of the best meals I've had in the suburbs of Boston.

We did feel that the tasting menu moved a bit too slowly. We booked the 8:30 seating and didn't finished everything until close to 11:30PM. It's one thing to spend 3 hours enjoying a nine-course or twenty-three course menu. Five courses over three hours is most certainly on the slow side. If we weren't enjoying each others' company so much, we may have gotten a bit annoyed. I think we were the last people to leave the restaurant.

Other than that, the entire experience was quite pleasant and I can totally see why this place is so popular. There aren't that many options in this part of the city, and 80 Thoreau captures the winning balance of excellent food, attentive service, and a warm and friendly ambiance.

80 Thoreau
80 Thoreau St
Concord, MA 01742

Puritan & Co {SNAPSHOT}

2013-05-20T22:44:00.002-05:00

This is a {Snapshot} of Puritan & Co. The original, detailed post about the restaurant as a whole is here.

Bryan and I stopped by Puritan & Co. for the first time this year. We'd visited it a few times last winter, but it somehow fell off our radars for the first half of this year. Even though Will Gilson wasn't in the house (he was at the Nantucket Wine Festival all weekend), the rest of the staff held down the fort admirably in his absence. Service was great, the food was all very good, and we walked away wondering, "why don't we come here more often?"

We started with the citrus marinated scallop (as an amuse bouche), and it was fantastic. The scallop was so sweet, and everything just came together very nicely in that tiny bite. I really was wishing I had actually ordered the appetizer portion of that dish.

Maybe next time.

We had a lovely starter soup that consisted of smoked pork belly, various beans, and a puree made out of . . . ramps perhaps? Alas, I cannot remember. I should have taken notes, but I did not. In any event, it was very, very good. We polished the whole thing off quite quickly. Of course, it was lovely to break that egg open and mix the yolk around with all the other flavorful elements of the dish.

We also tried a Crispy Pig's Head Torchon, which is made by mixing and rolling together various parts of a pig's head (organs are removed!) such as the cheeks, skin, etc. It was a tad rich for me, but Bryan enjoyed it quite a bit.
Black Pepper Pasta ($17) with dandelion greens, guanciale, and spring garlic was absolutely fantastic. I loved the bitterness of the dandelion greens (my first time trying it!) and the pungent "bite" from the garlic. The freshly made pasta was lovely as well. I would most definitely order this dish again.
We were flabbergasted at how "rare" the lamb was cooked (a very, very good thing) in our entree, called Lamb Three Way. It consisted of lamb belly, lamb loin, and I can't remember the third one, maybe lamb tenderloin? The entire dish was incredibly tender and not too gamey at all. I'm going to hazard a guess that it's American lamb, which has a much milder taste than New Zealand or Australian lamb. Overall, the dish was excellent, with a lovely balance of flavors from fresh, seasonal spring vegetables.

If I go back, I definitely want to order more of that citrus cured scallop, as well as the pasta.

Gosh, I love spring ingredients.

Related Posts
Puritan & Co.
Garden at the Cellar
Cooking Class with Will Gilson
Tomato Vine Tasting Tour with Will Gilson

Puritan & Co.
1166 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA

Snapshots

2013-05-20T12:39:00.003-05:00

What happens when your blog starts pushing six years old? (I know, hard to believe! Though I guess Tiny Urban Kitchen as an entity didn't start until 2009, but still!)

You start realizing that some of your posts, especially restaurant posts, are becoming more and more outdated. Restaurants often close, completely change their menus, switch up chefs, or go uphill (or downhill) in quality.

To sort of address this (and to avoid continually writing repeat posts about restaurants I've already featured), I've decided to start a new type of post on this blog, which I'll call "Snapshots."

Snapshots won't be like my typical restaurant write-ups, which are detailed and contain all sorts of important information about the chef, menu, history, space, and various other facts. Instead, Snapshots will usually be short, photo-driven posts about a restaurant I've already discussed at length in an earlier post.

I find it's a nice way of updating you on my thoughts regarding current, seasonal menus. It will allow me to share with you many more photos of gorgeous food that, in the past, would have just lived in my computer because I thought "No need to put it on the blog because I already wrote about this restaurant." You'll see more dishes from restaurants I tend to revisit.

I'll always label "Snapshots" as such so you'll know what kind of post to expect. And don't worry, I don't plan to stop writing and just post pictures from now on. I don't intend on Snapshots taking up a huge percentage of the blog. However, I do like having more ways to share information with you whenever I find something cool from a restaurant meal I've enjoyed lately.

I'll start with my first Snapshot this week, and will plan to add more whenever I think I have something that's share-worthy.

Hope you enjoy it, and feel free to give me feedback in anyway.

Jen

Ramps Pesto

2013-05-16T23:43:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I'm ignorant about food, or maybe the craze has just popped up recently, but I had never heard of ramps until about 2 years ago.

And it wasn't until last spring that I tasted ramps for the first time (at a restaurant) and proceeded to fall in love with that pungent, garlicky flavor.

And then it wasn't until this spring - just a couple weeks ago, in fact - that I finally saw them in the market. I pounced on my chance to pick up a few stalks so that I could finally, finally try cooking these gorgeous plants myself.

Ramps, also known as spring onions, wild garlic, or wild leeks, grow wild throughout the forests in Massachusetts and pretty much up and down the East Coast. These vegetables are one of the first things to pop up in the spring, and people go crazy when they appear for their short, short season.

Ramps are not really cultivated, so if you see ramps on the menu or the market, someone has gone out foraging for them. Some have expressed concern about the fanatacism surrounding ramps leading to over harvesting of the delicate plant. In fact, Quebec has outlawed the sale of ramps since 1995, called it a "threatened" species.

I think ramps are still growing healthily in many parts of New England. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are patches that have been picked in an unsustainable manner.

With this knowledge and understanding about ramps, I approached my first (and likely only encounter) with ramps this spring with a heightened level of appreciation and awareness.

Ramps are both garlicky and "onion-y" - pungent, almost spicy, and very fragrant. I think they work super well in pesto because they act both as the green "leafy" agent and the strongly flavored "garlicky" agent.

I always hated peeling all those garlic cloves when making traditional basil pesto, so this saves a previously annoying step!

Making ramp pesto is super easy and there's really no "exact" recipe. Essentially, you need ramps, some sort of nuts, some sort of hard, salty cheese (grated, please), and oil. As for nuts, try using toasted walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, or almonds. You could also use pine nuts, the traditional nut used in basil pesto.

And that's it!

Throw everything into a food processor except the oil. Give it a whirl until you have a chunky puree.

Turn the machine back on and start adding the oil in a stream. Add enough until you are happy with the consistency.

You want a smooth paste.

The whole process takes all of 2 minutes, really.

Taste test it, though. You can add a bit of salt if you think it needs it (it all depends on how salty your cheese was). Alternatively, you could add more cheese too if you so desire. It's really up to you.

Once you're satisfied with the flavor of the pesto, you can do all sorts of things with it. You can freeze a portion of it for later use. You can throw a dollop of it in soup (yum!). You can eat it with bread, or you can serve it with pasta!

You can see what I chose to do. I eye-balled the whole thing and didn't really measure exactly. I just added enough pesto so that it nicely covered all the pasta I had made. If you have leftover pesto, you can always freeze the rest and eat it with crostini or a tomato mozzarella salad.

In my case, there was quite a bit of pesto (compared to pasta). I don't mind a saucier pasta at all, so I threw it all in. It's your call.

Enjoy!

Ramps Pesto
Serves about 2

1 bunch of ramps (see my photo below, maybe 10 small stalks?)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup nuts (many recipes use walnuts or pistachios; I had marcona almonds on hand, which worked fine)
~1/3 cup olive oil, give or take
optionally salt
1 lb fresh pasta

Tab Tim Grob (Rubies in Coconut Milk)

2013-05-15T00:12:00.000-05:00

This is the final of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is a mini-series that's part of a larger Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see all the posts in this series.

These changes in the weather lately are driving me crazy.

The teasing few days of warm weather we had last week (high of 80° F!!) flipped a switch within me. All of a sudden, I was decidedly done with winter. Over the weekend, I grabbed all my down jackets and wool coats and put then into storage. Same with the boots and winter gear.

Yesterday morning I walked out in a thin jacket and a short sleeved shirt, only to turn right around after walking outside in order to grab a warmer jacket.

But warm days are coming very soon. And before we know it, we'll be longing for relief from the hot weather.

On that note, we end our Thai cooking school series with one of my favorites. It's a dessert that's perfect for times when it's really hot outside. Served over ice, Tab Tim Grob is extremely refreshing and cool. The bright colors also make me think of summer.
"Tab tim" means rubies or pomegranate and "grob" means crunchy.

These gorgeously colorful "jewels" do indeed resemble pomegranate seeds in some way. Water chestnuts are covered in an ever-so-thin dusting of tapioca flour and then boiled briefly. What results is a perfect "seed" with a slightly crunchy center and a soft, clear outer layer.

I had never heard of this dessert before coming to Thailand. By the time I left Thailand, I was convinced it was one of my new favorite desserts from the country.

How to Make Rubies
Cut up water chestnuts into small cubes. If you are using the canned variety, soak them in water for 10 minutes first before soaking. Soak the water chestnut pieces in red grenadine or red cordial. You can also use dark red juices or red food coloring. [Please note that this step is merely for show. The color will not affect the flavor, and therefore if you don't want to use coloring, you can skip this step. [You can also use other colored cordials or food coloring, but then maybe you'll have to change the name to "emerald" or "sapphires" in coconut milk!].

While waiting for the water chestnuts to turn red, make your syrup and coconut mixture. Both are pretty easy to make. For the syrup, just bring sugar, water, and pandanus leaves to a boil over low heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes (no need to stir).

Note: this syrup can last for up to one month in the refrigerator if you want to make a larger batch.

To make the coconut milk mixture, boil coconut milk and water together in a pot over medium heat. Keep stirring to prevent the oil from separately out of the coconut milk. You can optionally add pandanus leaves to the coconut milk as well if you want that flavor. Set aside once everything is melted and well mixed/incorporated.

After the water chestnuts have been soaking for one hour, they should nicely bright and red. You are ready to cook the "rubies"! Toss the soaked water chestnuts in tapioca flour until they are completely covered. Remove the powdered water chestnuts from the tapioca flour, shaking to remove excess flour.

Bring a pot of about 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the water chestnuts and count to 10. Stir once and wait until the water returns to a boil and the water chestnuts float to the top (about 20 seconds). Using a slotted spoon, remove the water chestnuts and dunk them into an ice bath.

Once you're ready to serve, drain the water chestnuts well with a slotted spoon, and place them in the bottom of a dessert bowl. Add syrup, coconut mixture, and crushed ice.

Tasting Time!
I fell head over heels in love with this dessert. The water chestnuts have this really unique texture where they are soft and chewy on the outside yet slightly crunchy on the inside. The sweet-salty combo from the slightly salty coconut milk base and the sweet pandan-infused syrup is seriously addictive. Even though I was beyond stuffed from an afternoon of eating Golden Bags, Larb Gai, and Pad Thai, and I still polished off my entire bowl of this refreshingly delicious dessert.

Throughout the rest of my short trip in Thailand, I desperately sought this out at restaurants.

I can't wait to make it at home again!

Tim Tab Grob (Rubies in Coconut Milk)

Water Chestnuts
30g peeled water chestnuts, boiled and diced
2 T red grenadine or cordial (or food coloring)
2 T tapioca flour

Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1-2 Pandanus leaves
(or 1-2 drops Pandan extract)

Coconut Milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt

Soak water chestnuts in grenadine for 1 hour. If you are using canned water chestnuts, soak them in water for 10 minutes first before putting them in the red coloring liquid.

Meanwhile, heat the sugar, water, and pandanus leaves (torn to release flavor) into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat and then let it simmer for 15 minutes.

In a separate saucepan, heat coconut milk and salt (and optionally torn pandanus leaves) to a boil. Continue stirring to prevent the coconut oil from separating out. Set aside.

After 1 hour, transfer red water chestnuts into tapioca flour and toss with flour until well covered. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add the water chestnuts, cooking for 10 seconds. Stir and wait until the water boils again and the water chestnuts float to the top. Transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

To serve, combine water chestnuts, syrup, and coconut mixture in a bowl and add crush ice. The amounts are flexible. Taste it and add more or less depending on how sweet you want it to be.

Enjoy!

This is the sixteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include:

Eats!
Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok?
Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II
Fun Fruits in Thailand

Cool Experiences
Maeklong Railway Market
Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak)

Cooking Classes + Recipes
Somphong Thai Cooking School
Som Tam (Papaya Salad)
Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken
Bananas In Golden Syrup
BaiPai Thai Cooking School
Golden Bags
Larb Gai (Laap Gai)
Pad Thai

Pad Thai (Phat Thai)

2013-05-13T22:37:00.004-05:00

This is the third of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. I also learned how to make this at my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School. This is a mini-series that's part of a larger Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

It was one of the first things I asked during our cooking class in Bangkok.

"Do Thai people eat Pad Thai a lot?"

It's such a common dish here in the U.S. We see it in every Thai restaurant, from the cheap chains to the higher end ones. We even see it in Chinese restaurants sometimes. Do Thai people actually eat this dish? Or is it like the Thai version of "Chinese" crab rangoons, chop suey, and egg foo young?

Without hesitation, our instructor Nok replied, "Absolutely. I love this dish and eat it all the time. We bring it to potlucks, we eat it on the street, we make it at home. It is probably the dish we eat the most."

I learned how to make this dish twice while in Thailand. Both cooking classes offered it as one of the four courses. I also ate it numerous times while I was in Thailand.

I quickly learned that Pad Thai in Thailand is quite different from the Pad Thai in the US. I was surprised how similar the recipes from the two classes were (virtually identical), and how different (and so much better!) these were compared to the Pad Thai I'd eaten in America.
Pad Thai from Thip Samai, arguably one of the best Pad Thai places in Bangkok

There are several ingredients in authentic Bangkok street pad Thai that I don't typically see in my local US Thai restaurant: Chinese chives (or garlic chives), dried tofu (or bean curd), and salted turnips. Tamarind is also an essential ingredient that's used in the sauce base. Many recipes use lime juice or vinegar as a substitute, which really creates an all-together different tasting beast.

Pad Thai is one of those dishes where it's really important to make sure you have all your mis en place perfectly ready to go. There is a sizable amount of prep, but the actual cooking is fast, and if you're not ready with your ingredients, you could easily mess up the execution.

Here Koy from Somphong Cooking School demonstrates to a class of interested students just how quick the whole process is.

Once you've made sure to chop, dice, de-vein, and soak all necessary ingredients, make your sauce. It's pretty simple - just mix together chili powder, palm sugar, white sugar, fish sauce, tamarind juice (or tamarind paste + vinegar), and (optionally) oyster sauce. I say optionally because oyster sauce was present in one cooking school's recipe but not the other one.

Just a side note about tamarind. Tamarind is a pod-like fruit grown in tropical areas (see left photo below). It's got a very tart flavor and i9s often used in Thai recipes.

In Thailand, we bought fresh "wet" tamarind from the market (what she's holding in her left hand). Typically, you take this pulp, add it to hot water, and mash it up with your hands (see photo on right). After letting it steep for awhile, you can strain it and use the tamarind juice. I did a bit of searching, and it looks like you can purchase wet tamarind online if you can't find it in your market (though I'm pretty sure I've seen at least tamarind pods at Asian markets).

If you want to take a short cut, you can purchase tamarind paste in a jar. In this case, you can use the paste directly. In our recipe, we "diluted" the paste up with some added vinegar.

Once you're pretty certain you've got everything ready to go, it's time to get started!

(1) Add the aromatics (garlic, shallots) to your wok and heat until fragrant.

(2) Add the dried bean curd, salted radish, and shrimp and

(3) stir fry until the shrimp is cooked.

(4) Push the shrimp aside (or safer yet, remove the shrimp from the wok), and add the noodles and water (or stock). Stir fry until noodles are soft.

(5) Add the pad Thai sauce that you just made and stir well, allowing the noodles to absorb the liquid.

Now push everything aside to make room to fry the egg!

There are two options for what you can do with the egg. You can either break it up like the traditional way and mix it throughout. Or you can make it into a thin omelette with the pad Thai inside. Below I've shown both methods.

Traditional

Scramble the eggs inside the wok, breaking up the egg into small pieces. Add the Chinese chives and bean sprouts and stir everything together until cooked.

Transfer to a serving dish (yum!).

For decorative purposes, place the shrimp on top. Around the plate, add chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and a small spoonful each of sugar, chili powder, and peanuts. These three accompaniments allow diners to choose how sweet, spicy, or "peanuty" they want to make their Pad Thai.

Omelette

The omelette method takes the egg portion of the Pad Thai and wraps it around the Pad Thai noodles. This technique takes more skill, since it requires you to make a super thin omelette on the wok and then successfully wrap it around the noodles without it breaking!

First, you will need to add the Chinese chives and bean sprouts to the noodle mixture and stir fry until cooked. Once the noodles are done, push the cooked noodles to the side of the wok and add one egg (already beaten). Spread it out on the wok as thinly as possible by picking up the wok and turning it, using gravity to spread the egg.

Once the egg is cooked, wrap it around the Pad Thai like a burrito. This is most easily done by rolling the noodle pile (which you have tried to mold into the shape of your final product) back over the egg sheet, and then wrapping the edges around. This obviously takes some skill. If it's your first time making pad Thai, I might recommend trying the normal version first!

Serve with the same accompaniments (peanuts, chili, sugar, limes), but on the side.

Yum!

A few notes
I learned how to make this dish twice from two different cooking schools. Although most aspects of the recipes were very, very similar, there were a few difference that highlight parts of the recipe that are probably flexible.

1. Aromatics: one recipe used just shallots while another one used garlic and shallots. My guess is that either works, and you may even be able to substitute onions or even scallions if you in a bind.

2. Pad Thai Sauce: one recipe included oyster sauce while another did not. Traditionally, tamarind is used to contribute tartness to the recipe. This can come in different forms, such as tamarind juice or tamarind paste. At the first school, tamarind juice was used. At thesecond cooking school, tamarind paste was used, but then vinegar was also added, perhaps to give it some liquid and tartness?

3. Technique: As I mentioned before, this dish moves quickly. Our teacher at Somphong was skilled, and therefore was able to make everything in one pot by just quickly pushing stuff to the edge of the wok. At BaiPai, they recommended removing the shrimp at the beginning of the cooking process and then adding it back in later. For us less experienced cooks, I think that's a good idea because overcooked shrimp does not taste good at all.

4. The Wok: Though both classes used a simple wok to make this dish, some had said that a flat bottom pan is easier because it allows you to push parts of the dish aside without having them fall back into the pan. In Thailand, it seems like the most famous street vendors use a traditional wok, and they always just make the dishes to order. This is not a great dish to make in bulk.

I was thrilled to discover how accessible this dish was. I think the hardest part is obtaining all the authentic ingredients. In Thailand, we were able to get fresh tamarind and fresh rice noodles, which are harder to access in a normal supermarket here in the US.

I think most of these ingredients are available in Asian supermarkets, so I'm really excited to try making this soon at home in the US. I'll let you know how it goes!

Pad Thai
serves 1

Ingredients
1 T cooking oil
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 T minced shallots
4-6 shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 T salted Chinese radish, chopped
1 T dried shrimp
1 T dried bean curd, cut into cubes

1 cup rice noodles (if using dried, soak in hot water first until soft)
1 T water
Pad Thai Sauce (see below)
1 egg

1/2 cup Chinese chives (cut into 2 cm strips)
1/2 cup bean sprouts

Accompaniments
2 T roasted peanuts, crushed
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 tsp chili powder
1tsp sugar

Pad Thai Sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 T white sugar
1/2 T palm sugar
1 T fish sauce
1 T tamarind juice or [4 tsp tamarind paste + 1 tsp vinegar]
1 T oyster sauce (optional)

If the rice noodles are dry, soak them in hot water for about 20 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, prepare the Pad Thai sauce by mixing together all of the ingredients in a small cup. Set aside.

In a wok over medium heat, cook garlic and shallots until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp, salted Chinese radish, dried shrimp and dried bean curd. Stir fry until prawns are cooked.

Add the noodles and the water and cook until the noodles are soft.

Ad the Pad Thai sauce and mix well. Cook until the sauce is no longer liquidy.

Push the noodles to one side and add an egg.

Traditional Method: if you want to mix the egg up, scramble the egg and cook it. Once it's done, add the bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Stir everything together until cooked.

Transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with accompaniments such as cut lime wedges, sugar, chili powder, crushed peanuts, and cilantro.

Serve!

This is the fiftheenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include:

Eats!
Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok?
Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I
Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II
Fun Fruits in Thailand

Cool Experiences
Maeklong Railway Market
Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak)

Cooking Classes + Recipes
Somphong Thai Cooking School
Som Tam (Papaya Salad)
Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken
Bananas In Golden Syrup
BaiPai Thai Cooking School
Golden Bags
Larb Gail (Laap Gai)

Larb Gai (Minced Chicken Salad)

2013-05-10T00:05:00.001-05:00

This is the second of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the fourteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

When Bryan first found out he had to go to Thailand for a work trip, he thought he would starve.

You see, Bryan can't eat coconut milk. And he doesn't really like food that's sweet. His limited experience eating Thai food in the US lead him to think two things:

1) Thai food looks like Chinese food but tasted a lot sweeter (e.g., Pad See Yu versus Beef Chow-Fun)

2) Thai food is full of coconut milk.

Now, there are some elements of truth to some of his impressions. Coconuts are native to Thailand and coconut cream and milk are fundamental elements in many Thai dishes. Furthermore, Thai cuisine is all about the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. This means "sweet" is inevitably one of those elements.

Jen with fresh coconut ice cream at Chatuchak Market

However, there are so many dishes in Thailand that don't fall neatly into one of those two categories. Thai food is extremely rich and diverse, incorporating influences from many different regions.

After arriving in Thailand, we both immediately fell in love with Isaan cuisine, the food from the Northern part of Thailand next to Laos. Certain things make this region's food particularly appealing to Bryan.

First of all, you just don't see the coconut milk based curries. It's not really a predominant part of Isaan cuisine. This works quite well for Bryan, who can't really tolerate coconut milk.

Secondly, the food is extremely spicy, which Bryan loves. The higher level of spice successfully balances out the salty, sour, and - yes, even sweet - aspects of a particular dish. Bryan didn't mind the slight sweetness in dishes we had in Thailand, and I think it's because everything was so balanced it didn't really stick out.

Maybe in the US Thai restaurants have to tone down the spice and increase the sugar, which messes with the perfect balance?

In any event, one of my favorite Isaan dishes (up there with Som Tam, the pounded green papaya salad), is Larb Gai. Also known as lop gai, lap gai, or laab gai ("larb" rhymes with "saab"), this refreshing salad is made with ground chicken, roasted rice powder, lime juice, fish sauce, and a load of gorgeously fragrant herbs, such as cilantro, mint, scallions, shallots, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves.

It's healthy, exploding with flavor, and just about the perfect mix of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour.

One of the key ingredients in this dish is the roasted rice powder that gets mixed together with all the other flavorful ingredients. In our class, the instructor showed us how to toast our own in a wok. She did mention that you could also do this in the oven if you want to make this in bulk.

Over high, dry heat, toss a 1:1 mixture of jasmine rice and sticky rice in a wok with fresh kaffir lime leaves and chopped galangal. Continue to mix until the rice is golden brown and the leaves begin to dry out. Grind in a mortar and pestle until it becomes a fine powder. You can also use a spice blender or food processor.

Set aside. [Note - can be prepared earlier since it keeps for quite sometime]

Over medium heat in a pan, cook the ground chicken in chicken broth and salt until the chicken is cooked. Break apart the ground meat while cooking.

Because we don't want to heat the lime juice (it becomes bitter), remove the pan from heat and add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chili powder, and the roasted rice powder. Mix well.

Mix in the shallots, cilantro, scallions, and mint leaves and toss together.

Serve with raw fresh vegetables, such as long beans or cucumbers. Optionally serve with sticky rice.

Enjoy!

Please note that the portions we made in our class were single sized portions, so I would most definitely double or quadruple the recipe if you want to make it for more people. I actually think this dish is reasonably flexible, and the amounts of herbs you add are pretty much based on personal preference.

Larb Gai
70 g ground chicken (1/6 lb)
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 shallots, thinly sliced
cilantro, one large bunch
2 stalks of scallions, sliced
20 mint leaves

Sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1 T fish sauce
1 T lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1 T roasted rice powder (see below)

Cook chicken with salt and chicken stock on a wok until chicken is cooked. Remove the wok from heat and add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chili powder, roasted rice powder. Mix well.

Add fresh herbs! Shallots, cilantro, scallions, mint leaves, and toss.

Serve with raw vegetables like cucumbers, raw long beans, and Chinese cabbage.

Roasted Rice Powder
1/4 cup sticky rice
1/4 cup jasmine rice
1 T chopped galangal
2 kaffir lime leaves (or lemongrass)

Heat on medium high heat in a dry wok (or oven) until leaves begin to dry out and rice begins to brown.Grind by hand in a mortar and pestle until fine.

Enjoy!

This is the fourteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, and Fun Fruits in Thailand plus posts about recipes from my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School including Som Tam (Papaya Salad), Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken, Bananas In Golden Syrup, BaiPai Thai Cooking School, and Golden Bags.

Golden Bags

2013-05-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

This is the first of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the thirteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

In my way-too-short five days in Bangkok, I packed in two cooking classes over two days where I learned how to make seven different Thai dishes.

Having very little exposure to Thai food before I traveled there, every new dish was a new adventure. I loved learning about the street food, fresh market produce, and dishes from various regions around Thailand. The cooking classes were great because they got me familiar with Thai ingredients and how to cook them.

Unfortunately, it's harder to get some of these ingredients halfway around the world. There are certainly some dishes that just won't be the same if I try to remake them here in the US.

However, other dishes will translate quite well across the ocean, and I think these deliciously cute little Golden Money Bags are definitely one of them. This particular appetizer relies a lot less on the distinct flavors of Thailand-specific ingredients. It's actually quite flexible, and therefore I think it can stand up to a lot of substitutions.

Better yet, they impressive to look at yet surprisingly really easy to make. I was floored how perfectly my little bags turned out, even though it was my first time ever making them!

Grind the white peppercorns, garlic, and cilantro root together to form a paste. We used the traditional Thai mortar & pestle, but you could just as easily use a mini food processor. If you don't have cilantro root, you can substitute with the leaves and stems. Add this to the ground pork, cilantro, chopped water chestnuts, onions, sugar, and soy sauce. Mix it up!

In Thailand you can easily buy fresh wrappers in the market. In the US, you will likely have to go to an Asian market (probably the frozen section) in order to get these spring roll wrappers. Let the wrappers defrost in the refrigerator, and then just make sure to keep them moist (e.g., store the wrappers under a wet paper towel while wrapping so they don't try out).

Wrap according to the steps shown above.

Tie up the golden bags using your green strips of Pandanus leaves. Use Chinese chives or scallions as a substitute. It is good to parboil your leaves before using them in this recipe. It makes them more flexible and prevents them from breaking when you try to tie them into a bow.

Heat up about 2 cups of oil to ~180 °C (~356 °F). One way to check whether the oil is hot enough for frying is the "chopstick test." Stick a wooden chopstick into the oil. If tiny bubbles form around the oil, it means the oil is ready.

Fry until golden brown (3-5 minutes?) and then remove to let cool. Ideally, place them on paper towels to cool a bit so some of the oil can drain off.

Because the bags are deep fried, it's nice to balance them out with something light and crisp, such as sliced raw cucumbers.

Serve with a sweet and sour plum sauce. Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for the plum sauce. They just served it to us at the school.

Enjoy!

Golden Bags
makes 4 bags

Filling
20g minced pork
5 white peppercorns
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp finely chopped cilantro root
1-2 stalks cilantro, chopped
5g water chestnuts, chopped
5g onions, chopped
2 cups oil (for deep frying)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Bags
4 spring rolls wrappers
1 Pandanus leaf, pulled into strips and parboiled
(note, if not available, can use scallions or Chinese chives, which don't need to be pulled into strips)

Grind the white peppercorns, garlic, and cilantro root together to form a paste (mortar & pestle or food processor). Combine with ground pork, cilantro, water chestnut, onions, sugar, and soy sauce. Mix well.

Wrap a spring roll wrapper around about 1 tsp filling and tie together with the Pandanus leaf.

Deep fry at 180 °C until golden brown.

Serve!

This is the thirteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, and Fun Fruits in Thailand plus posts about recipes from my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School including Som Tam (Papaya Salad), Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken, Bananas In Golden Syrup, and BaiPai Thai Cooking School.

Baipai Thai Cooking School

2013-05-08T01:17:00.003-05:00

This is the twelfth (!) post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, and Fun Fruits in Thailand plus posts about recipes from my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School including Som Tam (Papaya Salad), Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken, and Bananas In Golden Syrup.

While Somphong Cooking School is a busy cooking school located smack in the middle of bustling Bangkok, Baipai Cooking School feels like an oasis set far away from the crazy crowded streets of the city.

It was day two of my cooking adventures. The previous day, I had spent 4 hours at the Somphong Cooking School in Bangkok learning how to make pad Thai, Panaeng curry, papaya salad, and bananas in golden syrup. I had learned so much about basic Thai spices from our fascinating market tour.

Just about an hour before this cooking class was to start, a van from the school came straight to my hotel to pick me up. It picked up one other couple (who turned out to be from Australia) before heading onto the highway towards the cooking school.

An hour later (traffic in Bangkok can be very bad sometimes!), we finally arrived.

The moment I stepped out of the van, I felt like I was at a resort or a spa. A sense of calm slowly came over me as I took a deep breath, enjoying the clean air out here.

Baipai is definitely a more "luxurious" cooking school. Upon arrival, they gave us each a key to a private locker where we could store our belongings. We were then given ice cold glasses of refreshing tea, a perfect antidote to the hot weather outside.

They handed out these traditional hats for all of us to wear since the sun was so strong outside.

"These are the types of hats they wear at the floating markets," said Nok, one of our instructors.

Instead of going to the local market, we took a brief walk around the little herb garden at BaiPai. There, Nok taught us the difference between galangal and ginger; kaffir lime and normal lime, cilantro and culantro, and many, many more.

Both of our instructors, Chef Phu on the left and Nok on the right, were great.

There were ten of us, and we all sat around this huge table where we all could watch Chef Phu as she demonstrated various cooking techniques. There was even a mirror above her workstation so we could watch (close up) what she was doing.

We learned the traditional way of making coconut cream. It's quite labor intensive! Before the days of machines, people manually carved out coconut shavings for the purpose of squeezing into coconut cream and milk.

We then got to try it for ourselves (see my hat picture above). It was hard work!
And then, it was time to start cooking. I'll definitely write more detailed posts about each of these dishes (including recipes!), but for now, here's a little preview.

Larb Gai, a Northern Thai Isaan style dish that consists of ground chicken tossed together with roasted rice powder, lime juice, fish sauce, and chilies.

Yes, we learned how to make Pad Thai (every cooking class seemed to include this one), but we also learned a neat new way of wrapping pad Thai with an egg. It reminds me of the ones they make at Thip Samai, arguably one of the best pad Thai places in Bangkok.

We made golden bags! I was surprised how easy it was.

And I discovered a new love for this dessert I'd never tried before - rubies in coconut milk. These are water chestnuts which have been lightly covered with a potato starch based coating. It is so tasty and utterly refreshing.

I really enjoyed my class at BaiPai Cooking School. The instructors were really nice, had excellent English, and really took good care of us. Compared to Somphong the location is a bit far out. However, it's nice that they pick you up at your hotel and take you back. It's just one less thing to worry about.

This class cost 2000 Baht, or about $60 USD. Still cheap by US standards, it costs about twice as much as Somphong. What do you get for that extra 1000 Baht? A more luxurious space, professionally printed recipe cards, and transportation to and from your hotel.

Between the two schools, I think the quality of education is comparable, and the dishes we made at both were absolutely fantastic. You really can't go wrong with either. For me, it was fascinating to compare the two different schools - everything from the differences in how they taught the same dish (Pad Thai) to the types of people that take classes at each school (Somphong had younger, more international crowd compared to the older, more American/Australian crowd at BaiPai).

Stay tuned for recipes and more step-by-step photos!

Photos of me courtesy of BaiPai Cooking School (I really liked how they took photos of us during our class and emailed us the files later on - definitely a nice touch).

A Dinner at Home with a Personal Chef (Matthew Harker)

2013-05-07T13:58:00.002-05:00

I first met Jillian at a small cafe in Cambridge right near my workplace. She was a student at Harvard Business School, and her teammates had hatched up an interesting business idea that they were considering bringing to market.

It would be a marketplace matching up personal chefs with interested diners.

Personal chefs? Do normal, everyday folks hire personal chefs?

Jillian surprised me with their target price point: $25-$75 per person for a personal chef to come and cook a really nice meal at your home.

I could easily spend that much at a pretty ordinary restaurant.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I had recently sampled a phenomenal dinner from Chef Peter Ungár, an amazingly talented chef who has worked as a personal chef for years. I remember thinking, "wow, there are so many really, really good "hidden" chefs that live in Boston, and most of us have no idea who they are."

Jillian's team's business idea seemed to be a great way for this gap to be fixed. Just imagine - you log onto a website and search for personal chefs. They each give their bios, specialties, sample menus and prices. Better yet, there are user reviews associated with the chefs.

About two months after that initial conversation, Jillian contacted me to tell me that they were indeed about the launch the business, called ChefXChange. Would I be interested in trying the service out courtesy of them?

Who would say no to having a personal chef cook for you?

After a few back and forths, we booked Matthew Harker for small dinner at my home for guests.

Matthew Harker graduated from Johnson & Wales University and has been cooking professionally for about eight years. He's passionate about using local and sustainable ingredients. His extensive travels have exposed him to a broad range of flavors - he cooks Mediterranean, French, Southern, and even Asian!

Matthew called me the morning of our dinner just to confirm my address and any last minute details.

He arrived carrying several large insulated bags full of various containers. After just a bit of orientation in my kitchen, he got to work right away.

I'd never had a personal chef in my home before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised how little I had to do. Aside from showing him where I kept some key pots and pans, he pretty much figured out everything else himself.

I guess when your job is to figure out other people's kitchens all the time, you get pretty good at it.

Before he started cooking, Matthew whipped out some Lemon Hummus he had made and a bag of fancy crackers. He wanted the guests to have something to snack on while waiting for their first course.

Soon afterwards, he took out some bread he had been warming up in the oven. We enjoyed this with his homemade Confit Roasted Garlic Butter, which was a hit with all the guests. They just couldn't stop eating it!

Meanwhile, Matthew began preparing some of the initial courses, such as the velvety smooth spring pea and ramp soup . . .

. . . and these lovely pan seared scallops wrapped in peppered bacon.

After about 15 or so minutes, we sat down and began with our first course: Seared Scallops with peppered bacon, minted pea puree, fired roasted pepper puree, and crispy ramps. This little starter was delicious. The scallops were cooked perfectly (nice and soft), and I liked how the bright minted pea puree and roasted red pepper puree balanced out the rich umami from the bacon and the scallops.

Matthew cleared our plates and began serving our next course, the Spring Pea Ramp Soup topped with roasted local oyster mushrooms, sauteed fiddleheads, a splash of creme fraiche. This soup was velvety and super smooth. Matthew said he strained it multiple times to achieve such a fine, creamy consistency. The portion size was quite generous, and I actually ended up saving some for lunch the following day (yum!). Since we were in my own home, it was easy to pack stuff up into my own containers and put it straight into the refrigerator.

For our main course, we had Grass Fed Beef Short Ribs braised in Malbec and served with a Parmesan polenta, asparagus, buttered carrot puree, and a short rib reduction. Chef Matthew had slowly braised these under low heat for 4-5 hours, and it showed. These short ribs were fork-tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth soft. The red-wine based sauce was on the salty side, but richly fragrant, with elements of anise, cinnamon, and beef jus.

The best part was that Matthew had cooked several extra short ribs, and he gave us all the leftovers, which was enough to feed us for at least two more meals!

As a special surprise, Matthew treated us to some of his "Champagne" Grapes. These grapes are carbonated inside, and taste fizzy when you bite into them! It was a great palate cleanser and segue into dessert.

I'm always afraid of fruit-based desserts because they are often too sweet for me. Thankfully, this Strawberry Rhubarb Tartin, which came topped with Tahitian vanilla bean gelato, was not too sweet at all. I really enjoyed the simple, yet well executed dessert.

All in all, we had a really nice dinner. Matthew was courteous, efficient, and cooked us a great, New England seasonally-inspired dinner. We had requested something a bit more custom and special, and he totally delivered. Matthew's cooking is solid, and we enjoyed every dish he made. His recipes are tried-and-true, perfected over years of practice. Don't expect anything super edgy, risky, or unusual. Instead look forward to well-executed crowd pleasers that are safe, established winners.

His menus on ChefXChange range from $38 to $50, though you can custom order whatever you want. This particular menu cost $90 per head (all inclusive).
Although I usually love cooking and hosting at my home, once in awhile it's nice to have someone else take care of everything for you. Bryan and I ended up taking advantage of the gorgeous weather outside that afternoon by walking 10 miles from our church in Lexington back home to Cambridge.

It was a carefree day. Instead of worrying about what to cook, getting everything on the table in time, and cleaning up the huge mess generated by all that cooking, I just made sure my kitchen was clean and ready for Matthew to use.

He took care of everything else, including leaving me with a spotless kitchen when he left about 2 hours after having arrived.

And me? I got to spend all my time just relaxing and hanging out with my guests, which was very nice.
Disclaimer: ChefXChange paid for this meal. All opinions are my own

Beautiful Vermont (King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake™)

2013-05-04T16:31:00.000-05:00

It's easy to get caught up in the busyness of everyday life. Work deadlines, household chores, and never-ending errands that pile up.

And then something crazy like the Boston Marathon bombings occur, and it puts everything into perspective.

I flew back to Boston on the day the city was on lockdown as the police tried to hunt down the remaining bomber. I remember feeling nervous, scared, and really uncertain about whether I wanted to travel again. You see, I was scheduled to take a bus up to Vermont to King Arthur Flour's annual Blog & Bake™ event- a unique 2-day "retreat" where bloggers get together and learn how to bake at King Arthur Flour's headquarters in Vermont.

But all I wanted to do was to hunker down in the (relative) safety of my own house. The raw fear of getting onto public transportation in the midst of all that uncertainty was quite real for me.

Thankfully, things got resolved by the end of that surreal day, and the city slowly regained normalcy throughout the weekend.

On Sunday, I packed my bags and hopped onto a bus headed for Vermont.

And I am so, so glad I decided to come.

Vermont is gorgeous. Spending a few days in the quiet, peaceful countryside learning how to bake was exactly what I needed to get over the previous week. It was relaxing, therapeutic, and lots of fun. Heck, even my aching wrists got better from the days of rest away from a computer.

I learned how to bake many, many things, and I can't wait to share them all with you. We'll start a baking series here on the blog which will highlight all the fun things I learned how to make.

For now, here's a tiny, photo-journalistic peek at what I did those two days in Vermont.

Enjoy this beautiful state!

My fellow bloggers who also attended: Audra from The Baker Chick, Brandy from Nutmeg Nanny, Carole from Heirloom Meals, David from Spiced Blog, Erika from In Erika’s Kitchen, Eva from Adventures in Cooking, Jennifer from Bake or Break, Kate from Food Babbles, Katie from Healthy Seasonal Recipes, Marnely from Cooking with Books, Rebecca from Foodie with Family, and Tara from Ladies’ Home Journal.

Disclaimer
King Arthur Flour provided the lodging, food, and activities for Blog & Bake™ 2013. I paid for my own transportation.

Chez Henri

2013-05-02T00:24:00.003-05:00

This is the seventh restaurant post in the ongoing series Welcome to My New Hood, a series highlighting the neighborhood between Harvard Square and Porter Square in Cambridge. Other posts in this series: Rafiki Bistro (now closed), Super Fusion Sushi, Temple Bar, Giulia, Cambridge Common, and Ten Tables Cambridge.

I've seen lots of restaurants come and go, but I think Chez Henri has been in Cambridge ever since I moved here almost twenty years ago (man, time flies).

Known best for its pressed Cubano Sandwich, Chez Henri actually has a lot of interesting Cuban/French inspired dishes that makes it just a bit different from your typical American style gastropub on this stretch of Mass Ave between Harvard and Porter in Cambridge.

Just recently, news came the this neighborhood stronghold is being sold and may be renamed. Chef-owner Paul O'Connell has indicated that he hopes to sell it to Dylan Black, current owner of Green Street who used to work at Chez Henri.

I met Chef Paul O'Connell at East End House's Cooking for a Cause benefit event last year. He was super friendly, sharing with me fascinating stories about how he has cooked for Julia Child (who used to live in Cambridge really close to the restaurant!) as well as the food blogger, "Julie" of "Julie and Julia" fame.

I'm a little sad to see this neighborhood institution go. I'm hoping that the new owners preserve what's great and unique about Chez Henri, namely its famous cubano, interesting Latin focused dishes, and solid French cooking. Initial news reports seem to indicate this is the intent of Dylan Black and his team, which is encouraging.

Nevertheless, if you want to taste the Chez Henri that you've known and loved the past 15 years, you might want to head over there before the end of the summer, which is when the changeover is expected to take place.

Here's a look at the first meal we had there after moving into the neighborhood.

Bryan started with Blanquette de Lapin, which is homemade cavatelli tossed with white wine braised rabbit, cream, and herbs ($15).This dish is definitely more French than Cuban (not sure if it has any Cuban influence, in fact). The texture of the homemade pasta was great, and Bryan liked the overall flavors of the dish. I personally found it to be a bit too heavy and rich, and could only handle a few bites of it.

I started with the Bistro Salad (pictured up top), a pile of fresh greens tossed in a dijon and herb vinaigrette mixed with crispy potatoes, warm bacon lardons, and a soft boiled egg ($12). This is a classic French dish, and they dine a fine job on it.

This Cuban-inspired appetizer was a special of the evening, and thus not on the regular menu. The shrimp was cooked just right and the dish had a nice kick that came from the Cuban spices.

We also enjoyed Pressed Cornish Hen, which came with red Kouri squash polenta, truffle pan jus glace viande, and charred greens ($24). The chicken was juicy and tasted pretty good with the nicely browned skin.

For dessert, we shared a Strawberry Shortcake with Pineapple Sauce. Bryan and I have always loved biscuit-based strawberry shortcakes, so we enjoyed this particular dessert. It's not something that blew me away, but we liked how it wasn't cloyingly sweet. The ice cream added a balance to the entire dessert.

We thought all of the dishes at Chez Henri were pretty good, and definitely a step above several of the other gastropubs down the street. Of course, the prices are higher here, so you do pay a premium for the more upscale food. Nothing particularly blew us away, but everything was solid.

If you sit at the bar, you should most definitely try the Cubano, probably one of their most famous items. I didn't get one at this meal, but I've tasted it before, and it's quite good.

We'll miss you Chez Henri. Hoping the "new" you preserves the best of what you already have and adds even more to the neighborhood.

Thanks for a great 19 years!

Chez Henri
1 Shepard St
Cambridge, MA 02138

Lumiere

2013-05-01T12:17:00.002-05:00

We'll take a short break from the Thailand! series to focus on a couple Boston restaurants. Newton is a town right outside of Boston adjacent to Watertown, where all those crazy things happened the week following the Boston Marathon Bombings. Newton was under lockdown as well during this time.

I don't go out to Newton much.

Sure, I'll make the occasional special trip to visit one of our favorite chefs who used to work in Cambridge. But it's a trek. Public transportation out there from Cambridge is cumbersome, and traffic can be pretty bad right around mealtimes.

But then last Christmas, Bryan received a really thoughtful gift from one of his co-workers. I guess their family knew Bryan likes eating out, and gave him a gift certificate to Lumiere.

I can't believe we waited this long, but we finally made a reservation to visit this popular restaurant on a Friday night just a few weeks ago.

Lumiere means "light" in French. Indeed, the lights at this restaurant are both whimsical and fun (see first photo on top).

The moment I walked in, I immediately liked the friendly vibe of the restaurant. Though it's an elegant and sophisticated space, the environment is also warm and cozy - not the least bit stuffy. In fact, the dress code listed on the restaurant website is "casual" and conversations are open and relaxed.

Chef-owner Michael Leviton, who is also the co-owner of one of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge, started Lumiere in 1999 and it has been going strong since, often showing up on "best of" lists for the greater Boston area. Lumiere applies both classic French and modern cooking techniques to local, sustainable, and seasonal ingredients. They source a lot of their produce form Verrill Farm in Concord, MA, Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, MA, and the Northeast Family Farms Cooperative.

The Lumiere menu is divided up into "first courses" ($12-$18), "main courses" ($29-$32), and "sides" ($8-$11). You can also choose the chef's tasting menu, which costs $70 (additional $30 for wine pairing) and includes five total courses (three savory courses, cheese, and dessert).

Not everyone has to get the tasting menu, a philosophy I really, really like. I always feel constrained by that requirement, though I understand why restaurants do it. We decided Bryan would get the tasting menu but I would order some other dishes off of the a la carte menu.

Instead of getting the wine pairing that goes with the tasting, we opted for a half bottle of white to start off the meal and then a bottle of red to finish. Though we were not particularly familiar with their wine list, they did a fantastic job of helping us select out wines.

It's nice when the servers try to recommend bottles that they personally think are great values and not necessarily always the most expensive ones.

We started with a tiny amuse of smoked sablefish pate and cucumber. I loved how the light and crunchy cucumber balanced out the smoky and creamy sablefish.

For my starter, I enjoyed the first bounty from spring! Roasted Asparagus and Spring Onions were topped with a perfectly poached Chip-In farm egg and served together with Romesco sauce, chopped almonds, and hazelnuts. The egg "popped" when I broke it open, and the runny yolk became a sauce covering the whole dish. Yum.

Bryan's first course in his tasting menu was a Fish Tartare topped with avocado cream and served alongside a spicy soy-sesame vinaigrette. The flavors were fine, reminiscent of tried-and-true Japanese-inspired combinations.

Bryan's second course was Barnegat Light Sea Scallops served over a carrot purée and topped with carrot-fennel salad. The entire dish was then dressed with a gorgeously fragrant citrus vinaigrette and fennel oil. Though I typically don't love orange flavored savory dishes, I was so surprised how well it worked in this application. This dish was fantastic and easily my favorite dish of the evening.

I had ordered the entree sized portion (not pictured), which comes with a generous five scallops. You can also get the appetizer portion, which comes with three scallops. The version pictured above is the tasting menu portion.
The main dish was a simple Grilled Steak, which came with Shitake mushrooms, cipollini onions, and beef jus. Bryan ordered it "as rare as you're willing to cook it." When the steak came, although it was *just* a bit over (maybe on the way to medium rare), Bryan thought it was fine and started cutting it and eating it.

A few moments later our server stopped by and remarked, "that does not look like a true rare steak. Let me get the kitchen to make you a new one."

"But I've already started eating a significant portion of it."

"That's quite alright. You should get a properly cooked steak."

She whisked that one away, and moments later, a new, absolutely perfectly cooked piece of rare steak came out.

Now that's really good service.

Although the steak typically comes with fries, the tasting menu portion did not include French Fries, so we ordered a side of it ($8). These fries were only OK, being just a bit soft and not super crispy. Nevertheless, they were tasty enough that we still demolished most of that basket!

The tasting came with a cheese course. We had the Von Trapp Farmstead“Oma” Cheese, which was served with apple mostarda, Aquidneck honeycomb, hazelnuts, and a cider reduction. The cheese was pretty mild but definitely enjoyable. Bryan typically prefers stronger cheeses but he was still perfectly happy to finish this one.

Finally for dessert, we shared Bryan's final course, a tiny homemade Apple Galette topped with Greek yogurt ice cream. It was very good - simple and satisfying.

General Thoughts
I was not sure what to expect here, but I really enjoyed my dinner at Lumiere. I shouldn't be surprised, considering that it's like the "parent" of one of my Cambridge favorites. The food was excellent, and everything was prepared with care. The ambiance was warm, cozy, and relaxed, and the service was superb.

If it were not so far away, I could see myself quickly becoming a regular here. In fact, we met a couple sitting next to us who had been coming almost every other week for the past fourteen years. That's dedication.

We're so thankful to Bryan's co-worker for giving us this gift certificate. Otherwise, I'm not sure how long it would have taken before I went out to Newton to try this place on my own.

Lumiere
1293 Washington St
Newton, MA 02465

Bananas In Golden Syrup

2013-04-30T00:14:00.001-05:00

This is the eleventh post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, and Fun Fruits in Thailand plus posts about recipes from my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School including Som Tam (Papaya Salad), Thai Panaeng Curry Chicken, and this post.

I did not expect to like this dish at all.

In fact, when I first saw that there was a banana dessert on the menu for the cooking class, I sort of cringed. After all, I've never liked bananas. There's something about the flavor that just sort of rubs me the wrong way. I can't place my finger on it, but it's definitely something I don't eat often.

But because the Thai cooking class I was taking at the Somphong Thai Cooking School included other pretty amazing dishes, such as Green Papaya Salad and Panaeng curry, I decided to stick with this particular class.

And I stand corrected.

Bananas can taste good. Really, really good.

This dessert is our cooking instructor's favorite dessert, and I can totally see why. It's super easy to make, and the sweet-salty combination of the sweet bananas with the savory coconut cream sauce works together surprisingly well.

I hate to say this, but it was almost mildly addictive.

The bananas used in this dessert are not the normal large bananas we see in North America. Instead, these are mini bananas that are about half the length of the big bananas we are used to seeing in the States.

Here's a woman selling these little bananas on skewers at the floating markets at Damnoen Saduak.

You want to use bananas that are still pretty green (see color in the photo). They need to be firm so they can stand up to the cooking. Remove the peels from all the bananas. You can peel them traditionally by hand, or use a knife to speed up the process.

To prevent bananas from turning brown after peeling, place them immediately in a bowl of water acidified wi lime juice.

We will cook these bananas in a fragrant, pandan-infused syrup. Pandan is a tropical plant commonly used in Southeast Asia in both sweet and savory applications. It has a sweet, fragrant aroma that is very pleasing, making it a popular flavor used in many desserts. If you don't have pandan, you can either add a few drops of pandan essence (a little goes a long way!) or even vanilla extract would work fine too.

Combine sugar, salt, pandan leaves, and water in a pot and bring to a boil.

Add bananas, reduce heat, and cook until the bananas turn a darker shade of yellow, maybe 10-15 minutes. Try not to disturb the bananas too much, though you can flip them once in the middle if desired.

Meanwhile, make your savory coconut cream. It's pretty easy - just dissolve coconut cream with salt and a bit of rice flour to thicken it up. If you want, you can add some pandan leaves for extra flavor, but this is optional.

Once the bananas are done, remove them from the pot, straining out the syrup. Optionally squeeze lime on top, and pour the savory coconut cream sauce all over the bananas.

Serve!

Clearly the students couldn't get enough of this dish, including a very surprised me, who shocked herself by going back for seconds.

Love that sweet + salty combo. Seriously addictive.

Enjoy!

Bananas in Golden Syrup

Bananas
8 small golden bananas
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lime juice
Pandan leaves (optional)
Vanilla flavoring (optional)

Peel bananas and immediately put them in a bowl of water to prevent further browning. In a pot, bring sugar, water, salt, and pandan leaves to a boil. Reduce heat and add bananas, cooking at low heat until the bananas turn a darker shade of yellow. Add lime juice and then remove bananas. Top with coconut cream topping (see below for recipe).

Serve!

Coconut Cream Topping
1 cup coconut cream
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp rice flour*

Add the rice flour to the coconut cream (room temperature). Heat over medium heat until the mixture becomes thick and sauce-like. Add salt and stir to dissolve. Set aside.

*I believe the purpose of the flour is mostly for texture, so if you can't find rice flour, other substitutes may work, such as all purpose flour.

Thai Panaeng (Penang) Chicken Curry

2013-04-29T08:49:00.001-05:00

This is the tenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, Fun Fruits in Thailand, Somphong Thai Cooking School, and Som Tam (Papaya Salad).

Thai food is known for its extreme spiciness.

In Bangkok, where there are a ton of tourists, it's not uncommon for the waiter to ask you what kind of spice level you want. Bryan has always loved spicy food, so he never hesitates to say "spicy."

The server will then respond by asking, "Thai spicy?"

If you say "yes," you'll most certainly be blown away by the spiciness of the food. Thailand is the only place in the world where Bryan has ever had to stop eating a dish because it was too spicy.

Thankfully, not all Thai food is characterized by excessively spicy food. Panaeng curry is a perfect example.

Despite its gorgeously bright red color, Panaeng curry is actually a milder, sweeter, and less spicy curry than its heat-laden cousins. Unique because of the presence of crushed peanuts, Panaeng curry is also gloriously fragrant and flavorful due its inclusion of a dizzying array of ingredients, including lemongrass, coriander seeds, galangal, cilantro root, and kaffir limes.

It's the perfect dish for those of us who can't quite handle the crazy heat of Thai food, but still love the rich and complex aromas of Southeast Asian herbs and spices.

Before we get to the recipe, let's take a closer look at some of those more exotic herbs (which we picked up during our fun little market trip earlier in the day).

Pictured above, gorgeous bunches of lemongrass, Thai chilies, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves. This combination of ingredients is used in so many things, it makes sense for the market to sell them together. Our Panaeng curry will use all of those ingredients.

Coriander (or cilantro) root is commonly used in Thai cooking. The root itself gives a more intense flavor than the leaves. Sadly, most US supermarkets cut off the roots of cilantro, and therefore it's harder to find the roots in the US. It's OK to substitute the roots with stems in a recipe if necessary, keeping in mind the flavor will be less intense.

Have you ever seen a kaffir lime (left)? It's much bumpier than a normal lime (right), and also has a lot less juice inside. People mostly use the kaffir lime's zest and leaves in Thai cooking. The juice itself is too tart and not typically used.

At the market, our cooking instructor Koy showed us three different roots that are related but taste very different. Traditional ginger (with which we are all familiar), galangal (a root commonly used in Thai cooking that's sweeter and milder than ginger), and yet another even narrower, finger-like root (whose name I cannot remember - does anyone know?).

According to Koy, freshly made curries taste infinitely better than the stuff you can buy in packages. However, making curry is quite labor intensive, and therefore it's totally understandable why sometimes you may just reach for a package if you are short on time.

Koy gave us one trick for those times when we reach for the package: add extra coriander seed, coriander root, and cumin. It will taste so much better and closer to a freshly made version.

Though the steps for making the curry are not particularly difficult, they are time consuming. You must first measure out and prep (chop, seed, soak, etc) the large list of ingredients. Then, group by group, add the ingredients into a mortar and pestle.

The grinding is tedious.
\
We physically pounded away at this for about 10 minutes and didn't even come close to a smooth paste.

Theoretically, hand grinding will afford a smoother, more refined curry paste. However, most people these days rely on the food processor because it just saves so much time and energy and still creates a fine product.

Our pastes were whisked away and thrown into a food processor.

Once the smooth paste was done (check out how much finer it looks now in the photo above!) we prepped our ingredients for chicken curry. Above, you can see fresh coconut cream, coconut milk, palm sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves (thinly sliced), and chicken breast meat.

If you can't get fresh coconut milk and coconut cream, Koy recommends just buying the small packaged carton of cream. You can make "milk" just by diluting the cream in half with water.

Saute one tablespoon of the curry paste it in a wok until it is fragrant. Add 1/2 cup of coconut cream and reduce the heat.

Wait until you see bubbles forming. This is the fat from the coconut milk separating out and rising the the surface. Add the chicken and stir fry until it is cooked all the way through. Add the rest of the coconut milk, fish sauce, and palm sugar.

If you can't get palm sugar around you, brown sugar or even white sugar are acceptable substitutes, though brown sugar is preferred. When shopping for a fish sauce, get a lighter colored bottle. Color is an indicator of freshness. Fish sauce darkens over time and becomes more fishy as it ages.

As a final step, sprinkle thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves and Thai bird chili strips for decoration. If you want, you can optionally add a dollop of thickened coconut cream, which is just made by heating coconut cream up with some corn starch (about 2 tsp of corn starch per cup of canned coconut cream). Important note: dissolve the corn starch in the coconut cream at room temperature and then heat up. Otherwise, the starch will clump if added to a warm liquid.

Serve! Over rice, noodles, whatever!

Yum . . . SO good.

Recipes

Panaeng Curry Paste

Ingredients
group 1
5 peppercorns
1/2 tsp roasted coriander seed
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds
1/4 tsp salt

group 2
1 tsp galangal, chopped
1 tsp lemongrass, chopped
1/2 tsp kaffir lime skin, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cilantro root (or use cilantro stems/leaves if the root is unavailable)

group 3
4 dried spur chilies, seeded and soaked
1 tsp chopped shallots
1 tsp chopped garlic

group 4
1/2 tsp shrimp paste (or anchovies)
1 tsp roasted peanuts

Pound group 1 ingredients (coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and salt) in a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder). Add the group 2 ingredients (galangal, lemongrass, kaffir skin, cilantro root). Then add group 3 ingredients (garlic, shallots, and chilies). Add shrimp paste and pound until smooth. Finally, add peanuts and crush them in. Use a food processor if necessary to get the texture like a really fine paste.

Set aside.

Panaeng Chicken Curry

serves 1 as a main dish, or 2 as an appetizer

Ingredients
70g boneless chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tsp Panaeng curry paste
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 T red spur chili, thinly sliced (remove seeds!)
2 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 T fish sauce
1/2 tsp palm sugar

Heat curry paste over medium heat until fragrant. Reduce heat and add coconut cream and stir until the oil separates out (you will see little bubbles forming). Add chicken and stir fry until it is cooked through. Add the coconut milk. Add fish sauce and palm sugar.

Sprinkle kaffir lime leaves and chilies and remove from heat.

Optionally add a dollop of coconut topping, made by heating coconut milk and corn starch together. Garnish with chopped chilies and kaffir lime leaves.

Enjoy!

Som Tam (Papaya Salad)

2013-04-26T08:59:00.001-05:00

This is the ninth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, Fun Fruits in Thailand, and Somphong Thai Cooking School.

Som tam.

It's the perfect blend of savory umami, sweet, spicy, and tart. It's cool, refreshing, and a delightful blend of textural contrasts: the crunchy peanuts, crispy vegetables, and juicy tomatoes. Heck, it's even been named as one of world's 50 most delicious foods by CNN.

Som tam literally means "sour pounded" in Thai, and is a refreshingly delicious green papaya salad that's popular all throughout Thailand. It originates from the northeastern part of Thailand, (called Isaan) and due to its proximity to Laos, derives quite a bit of influence from Laos cuisine.

I partly chose this particular cooking class because it included this salad, which I've always wanted to learn how to make. I was thrilled to learn that it's super easy. Getting the ingredients may be the hardest (though still very doable!) part.

The main ingredient in this salad is the green papaya. You want your papaya to be as unripen as possible. It should be really hard and firm. This recipe won't work with papaya that has started to ripen, turn orange, or become soft and sweet.

At the market, Koy showed us an example of a perfect papaya.

I'm pretty sure they sell these in the US, because my mom used to make a version of green papaya salad when I was a kid.

First, you need thin, julienne strips of papaya. Please note, the above papaya is actually borderline too ripe for this recipe (you can see how it's turning orange), but Koy, our instructor, was still able to use it to show us how to create the julienne strips for the salad.

Method 1: Simple Knife
If you have no special tools, you can create the strips with just a sharp knife. This is how a lot of street vendors do it in Thailand.

First, whack away at the papaya to create a bunch of vertical "cuts" into the side (see photo above).

Second, slice these strips onto a plate. It looks easier than it is. I tried to do it, and it was tricky slicing off thin, evenly sized strips.

Method 2: Use a Tool!
Of course, if you feel uncomfortable chopping and cutting, the much easier way is to use a papaya slicer. They recommended the brand Kiwi, which I was surprised to find out is actually available on Amazon! With this slicer, it's easy: you just peel away!

I guess you can probably use a mandolin slicer or any other tools designed for shredding carrots and other related vegetables.

Though you can make this with just papaya, we did it with a mixture of papaya and carrots. It adds a nice color and the two work well together.

Gather all your ingredients. You can get long beans at any Chinese supermarket (we eat them all the time too!). Most of the less common ingredients, such as dried shrimp, palm sugar, and tamarind can probably be found at an Asian grocery (I'm pretty sure I've seen them in Boston).

Now, we will pound it all together in a mortar and pestle.

Notice how the som tam mortar and pestle is a little bit taller and narrower? I'm not sure how well this recipe would work with the lower, flatter marble type we typically see in the US, though I'm definitely planning to try it! Alternatively, it's not too expensive to buy a proper one such as this wooden one, though the nice earthenware ones are definitely more expensive.

We begin with the dry ingredients. Pound your garlic, dried shrimp, fresh Thai chili, and peanuts with your mortar and pestle until they are crushed.

Add the wet ingredients: tamarind juice, fish juice, sugar, and the lime. Keep the skin on one lime edge; squeeze out just the juice for the other lime wedge. At this point, to avoid squirting tart acids into your eyes, do a "pound and stir" motion with a spoon. Mix the ingredients together.

Once the sauce is nicely mixed, add the papaya strips, carrot strips (if you have any), long beans, and tomatoes.

Continue the pounding + stirring motion with the spoon and pestle until everything is well mixed.

Just for fun, we also learned how to make "tomato roses." It's actually not as hard as it looks, and the end result is gorgeous! Using a sharp knife and starting at the top of the tomato, slowly cut off the skin of a tomato (we used these pretty orange ones), trying to keep the width consistent (about 2-3 cm or 1/2 inch). Keep the bottom of the tomato to serve as a base.

Gradually roll the skin in a spiral, trying to keep it as tight as possible.

How pretty is that?

Dump your som tam into a bowl (juices and all). Ideally, it's a pretty Thai bowl for your pictures.

For garnish, top with the remaining crushed peanuts and optionally top with your rose.

So pretty, so delicious, and healthy!

I could eat this everyday.

Enjoy!

Som Tam Thai [Papaya Salad]
3/4 cup shredded green papaya
1/2 cup long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Thai chilies
2 cloves of garlic
2 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tsp ground dried shrimp
2 T crushed peanuts
1/2 lime, sliced into quarters
1 T palm sugar
1 1/2 T fish sauce
2 T tamarind juice

Pound garlic, chili, dried shrimp, and 1 T of the peanuts in a mortar and pestle. Add tamarind juice, fish sauce, sugar, and lime (1 wedge with skin, 1 wedge add juice only). Continue to pound and stir. Add long beans, papaya, and tomatoes. Mix well, and top with remaining peanuts and optionally a tomato rose.

*Note*
Palm sugar can be found at most Asian supermarkets (I've definitely seen it in Boston). If necessary, regular sugar can probably be substituted, but add less, since it's a bit sweeter and more refined.

Somphong Thai Cooking School

2013-04-24T17:41:00.000-05:00

After a brief break from this series, we return to Thailand! This is the eighth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak), Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II, and Fun Fruits in Thailand!

Thailand is an awesome place to take a cooking class. The availability of produce in this country is insane, truly creating a playground for the senses. It is a very foreigner friendly country - there are tons of classes taught in English. Plus, prices are very reasonable and you get to cook and eat a ton of fantastic food.

I swear, some of the best dishes I tasted in Thailand were in my cooking classes.

I went to two cooking schools while I was in Thailand. I had time during the day while Bryan was at his conference, and I was curious to compare how two different schools taught Thai cooking.

I initially decided on Somphong Cooking School because it had excellent reviews, was close to my hotel, and offered to teach dishes I really wanted to learn.

It turned out to be a fantastic experience and totally, totally worth the $30 USD I paid for the class.

Somphong Cooking School is very centrally located in the Silom neighborhood of Bangkok right off the BTS Skytrain stop Chong Nongsi. It's located at the end of a very narrow alleyway.

The first thing we did was head out to a local market where we got to see all kinds of fresh meat, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices.

It's at this market that our instructor Koy taught us all about local Thai ingredients, such as how coconut milk and cream are made (above), how to identify various types of herbs, and how to use these herbs in Thai cooking. I'll focus more on those ingredients in the upcoming posts when I talk about the individual recipes that incorporate these ingredients.

Isn't the produce just enviably gorgeous? Never in Boston would I ever have such a unique variety and abundance of fresh vegetables.

After the educational market trip, we all walked back into the open-air cooking school, where Koy began to teach us how to make all sorts of dishes.

Here are the dishes we learned to make, all to be described in much more detail (including recipes!) in upcoming posts!

We learned how to make Panaeng style red curry from scratch. A plethora of spices, fresh herbs, and aromatics are painstakingly ground up in a mortar and pestle.

We used the fruits of our labor to make a delicious curry chicken dish.

We pounded out northeasternThai style Som Tam Thai, or Papaya Salad, the traditional way (yup, with yet another mortar and pestle). We also learned how to make tomato "roses" for garnish.

We learned the many complex steps to making a really good Pad Thai. I was surprised how different the ingredients were compared to what I typically see (and taste!) in the States.

For dessert, we made golden bananas in a pandan coconut milk syrup, which was surprisingly delicious. I typically don't like bananas, but I loved the balance of sweet and salty in this fragrant dessert.

I had a ton of fun at this class and I learned so much. My class was super diverse, and it was fun to meet people from all over the world. In my class alone, we had two people from Bangkok, one from France, one from Belgium, a couple from New Zealand, a woman from Hong Kong (who was originally from Malaysia), a woman from India, and me, the lone American!

It was fun to exchange stories and learn about each others' cultures, all while prepping and cooking food from Thailand, yet another new culture for most of us. We had so much fun together, we were friends by the end of the class, sitting and chatting away.

Bonus! They gave us mango sticky rice at the end of our meal

I would highly recommend the classes at Somphong Thai Cooking School. The prices are really reasonable for the quality of instruction and food that you get. My 4 hour class, which included cooking and eating 4 dishes, only cost about $30 USD (1000 Baht). The class is really well run, and I felt like we had ample opportunities to do lots of hands-on cooking. They even gave us take-out containers and a bonus dessert (yay, mango sticky rice!) to take home with us.

Stay tuned for recipes (and more photos, of course)!

Jen's Top Restaurants to Visit in Boston

2013-04-22T23:36:00.002-05:00

It has been a tough, tough week for those of us in Boston.

For me, I landed in Boston right around the time the lock-down was lifted, so thankfully we were able to catch a cab back to our home in Cambridge. Imagine our surprise when about 10 unmarked cruisers sped past our cab on Storrow Drive racing towards Watertown. We continued to hear sirens for several minutes, even after we got home.

Who could have imagined that the tenseness, craziness, and unbelievability of this whole week would finally reach some sort of closure in a couple more hours.

We were all relieved, and it was really, really nice to see Boston slowly coming back to life over the weekend. Going back to normal never felt so great.

In honor of my beloved city, I have written up a post detailing some of my favorite places to bring friends when they visit. I often get requests for where to eat while in Boston, and I've never really written up a proper post putting it all together.

So, please enjoy this write up of some of my favorite places to eat (plus a fun surprise at the end).

And if you have a chance, definitely come and visit!

1. Taste Boston's Famous Seafood

Boston has fantastic seafood - everything from our dizzying array of raw oysters to the awesome lobster rolls and clam chowder. Try the incredible lobster roll at Neptune Oyster in Boston's North End. Their hot lobster roll is especially famous, but everything there is really, really good. I personally love their oysters as well as the Johnny cake. The biggest negative about this place is that they don't take reservations and the restaurant is tiny. Waits can easily stretch to a couple hours long. Thankfully, you can leave your phone number and they will call you when your table is ready. However, don't show up too late. We've come and been turned away before because the line was so long they wouldn't be able to seat us that night.

If you don't want to wait at Neptune, Island Creek Oyster Bar is an excellent alternative because they take reservations (plus they are located a stone's throne from Fenway Park). This place has a great selection of local oysters plus lots of tasty seafood options. Of course, it is also very popular, so book early! Other decent stand-bys for seafood include Legal Sea Foods (very fresh but simply prepared seafood and excellent clam chowder) and (for that fancier steakhouse-like experience), the Oceanaire.

2. Italian Food in Boston's North End (+ pastries afterwards!)

The North End is a vibrant, food-packed neighborhood that is definitely a must-visit. Though most tourists will line up to eat at Giacamo's or Pizzeria Regina, we prefer Mamma Maria, a place serving excellent Italian food in a cozy, townhouse-like environment; or the buzzing Prezza, who has one of the best bolognese sauces we've ever tried and an awesome lobster fra diavlo (but really, everything is fantastic).
For more casual, less expensive, but still excellent Italian fare, try Monica's Trattoria or Antico Forno. I always skips dessert at restaurants in the North End because I love heading over to

Mike's Pastry or Modern for dessert. Don't miss the awesome lobster tail at Mike's (my favorite!) or the delicious cannoli at either location. Lines can get long on weekends, though you can sometimes avoid the lines if you opt for sit-down service at Mike's (if there's an open table).

3. A Splurge One Night?
Although Boston hasn't been rated by the likes of the Michelin Guide, San Pellegrino Top 50 Best Restaurants list, or other lists that get passed around, we have our own fair share of fantastic fine dining options. Here are my favorites.

Watermelon Pearls and Oysters at O Ya

For a twist on Japanese food (one of my favorite cuisines), head down to O Ya in downtown Boston where Tim Cushman will delight you with his creative takes on sushi. Must try dishes include the fried Kumamoto oysters nigiri, grilled chanterelles & shitake mushroom "sashimi", and the foie gras nigiri for dessert (yes, chocolate sauce and dessert wine). If you're into sake, Chef Cushman's wife Nancy Cushman is a certified sake sommelier and can create a great pairing for you.

Ken Oringer is one of the most famous chefs locally, and it's not hard to see why. Both of his restaurants, Clio and Uni Sashimi Bar serve beautiful, creative, and well executed dishes. Clio is more traditional French, while Uni Sashimi Bar is a twist on Japanese cuisine.

A Course from The Ultimate Chef's Tasting at Craigie on Main

For true nose to tail dining, check out the ever popular Craigie on Main across the river in Cambridge for overall excellent food. Chef Tony Maws is fanatical about the quality and the source of all his food, and it really shows. His burger is so famous and popular (even at a whopping $18), that it often sells out before 7PM (and you have to know about it to ask for it, since it only appears on the bar menu now). I've enjoyed everything from the casual brunch (best bloody Mary I've ever tried, by the way) to his "Ultimate Chef's Tasting." This guy's got true talent, and it's definitely worth trying his restaurant if you have a chance.

A twist on a Lobster Roll from Menton

For that refined, sophisticated high-end French experience, Menton is well regarded as the best option in the city. Barbara Lynch set out to even out-do herself in offering a new level of haute cuisine never seen in Boston. It seems like Chef Lynch has succeeded, even receiving the honor of being Boston's first ever Relais & Chateaux recognized restaurant, an honor indeed. Menton offers various tasting menus inspired by local ingredients and interpreted with French techniques with influences from all different sorts of cuisines. We've tried several meals there, and have always been impressed by the food, ambiance, and service. It really is one of the best high-end restaurants in Boston.

For a more unusual, Mediterranean experience, check out Ana Sortun's Oleana, which derives quite a lot of influence from Turkish cuisine. Chef Sortun's husband is a farmer, and therefore the restaurant also strongly emphasizes the use of local and seasonal produce, produced with organic methods when possible.

Another fun and unique place is Scampo, an excellent Italian-leaning restaurant located in The Liberty Hotel, a former prison. The architecture of this prison makes this building pretty interesting to visit. The food at Scampo, from Boston's well-known chef Lydia Shire, is also excellent.

4. Boston's Excellent Gastropubs & Neighborhood Restaurants

Russell House Tavern
One thing that has spoiled me here is the plethora of really good gastropubs. I almost thing I take it for granted. Just in Cambridge alone, I only need to walk a few minutes to find a really good, reasonably priced pub where I can get excellent food and a great selection of craft beers. There are tons of these around, so I'll just mention a few of my favorites. Keep in mind that I do live in Cambridge, so my choices may be a little skewed towards places that are convenient for me.
Russell House Tavern is something that's almost too good to be true: a restaurant located at a prime location (the heart of Harvard Square) serving fantastic food at very reasonable prices. They have a huge bar in the lower level (great place to try to grab a seat if no reservations are available), and a great selection of draft beers. They emphasize local and seasonal ingredients, and the food is excellent.

Cambridge Brewing Company
I have a soft spot for Cambridge Brewing Company, one of our local microbreweries. They make a lot of fun beers throughout the year - everything from a pumpkin ale during the fall to a fun, smoky spicy hot pepper beer that we recently tried. The food is good, the ambiance is fun (try the tower of beer!), and sometimes they even have a jazz brunch on weekends, which is fun and relaxing. Garden at the Cellar in Cambridge still (in my mind) has the best rosemary truffle fries around, while Cambridge Common has a mean selection of beers (over 30 on draft) plus inexpensive (and solid) food. Puritan & Co. is helmed by a super talented chef and has great charcuterie and oysters.
One of our favorite go-to restaurants Bergamot falls more into the new American category, although they do have a small bar where we love to hang out. Bergamot has a fantastic $39 three course deal that they offer all the time. Chef Pooler is extremely talented and executes fantastic, flavorful dishes that change frequently due to the seasonality of ingredients. Another favorite, Ten Tables in Cambridge, offers a warm and cozy ambiance in which to enjoy new American fare made from local and seasonal ingredients. In the summer, enjoy a lovely meal while sitting outside in Harvard Square at the Monday Club at Upstairs on the Square. Best Casual / Ethnic Tastes It was hard to cull down this list, so it's a bit longer than the others. There are just a lot of good ethnic eats here!

For a unique style of rich, pork-bone broth ramen, try Yume Wo Katare in Porter Square, where you can try the unusual "Jiro"-style ramen not found in many parts of the US. Don't be surprised if you have to wait in line outside to get into this tiny little place which only accepts cash. For hand-pulled noodles made in the style of Xi'an, drive far out into the suburbs to get a taste of Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe. Get the liang pi (weekend only), lamb stew, and handmade noodles, but skip the flatbread sandwiches.

My favorite Brazilian restaurant is Muqueca in Inman Square, which offers delicious seafood stews called moquecas. The mariscada is also excellent, and the yucca fries and cashew fruit drinks are just fun to try. My favorite not-so-hidden ethnic gem is Baraka Cafe, a North African Tunisian restaurant right on the edge of Central Square. Service can be a bit slow at this family owned restaurant, but the food is really good and (in my mind) worth the wait. Definitely try the cherbat, their signature Algerian style lemonade made with rose petals and North African spices.

Bartley's Burger

One of the most famous burger places in the entire city is Bartley's in Harvard Square. This place is almost an institution in the Square and often has lines going out the door on nice days. The burgers are named after various celebrities in fun, irreverent ways (often poking fun based on current events). They're also pretty tasty.

One of my favorite local places for excellent salads and pizzas is Area Four in Cambridge right near MIT. I love the thin crust pizzas that they make, which often come with really creative toppings. Their salads are excellent, and are often made with more unusual seasonal ingredients, such as their shaved Brussels sprouts salad (yum). Emma's in East Cambridge also makes great thin crust pizzas. Our favorite is the No. 4, which includes cranberries, potatoes, and bacon.

For excellent Southern American / French cuisine, try Hungry Mother in Cambridge. Reserve early, because this is one of those places that is virtually impossible to book same day reservations (unless if you want to eat at really odd times).

4. Don't Forget the Sweets!

Toscanini's Ice Cream
Boston is obsessed with ice cream and I really think we have some of the best ice cream in America. My personal favorite is Toscanini's (or Tosci's) in Cambridge, which offers an eclectic variety of flavors that is ever-changing. His brother's place, Rancatore's, in Belmont and Lexington also serves similar ice cream, though the flavors are more ordinary. Other popular places include Christina's and JP Licks, but Tosci's is my favorite.
One of my all time favorite baked items in the entire city of Boston is High Rise Bread Company's vanilla loaf. I've even tried making it (though my version based on their recipe still doesn't taste quite as good as the real thing, though it's close!). Aside from all the wonderful breads and sweets that they sell, High Rise also makes excellent sandwiches. There are multiple locations in Cambridge, and it's a fabulous place to have a relaxed lunch (though come early if you want to make sure you get a seat! I usually try to come before 12pm on a weekday).
The most famous bakery in Boston just may be Flour Bakery by Joanne Chang. Her sticky buns are the most famous. They were featured in a throwdown with Bobby Flay and won. Rumor has it that you have to go early otherwise the sticky buns run out, though I've seen them at the Central Square location as late as 6PM. The fresh baked bread here is excellent, and it makes the sandwiches especially tasty.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the really great restaurants in Boston. It's a list of places that I would recommend to my friends if they asked me for advice. I hope you find it helpful, and feel free to comment below or email me with any questions.

Come support Boston!

Boston Strong.

(just for fun, in honor of Boston "coming back", here is an animated video I made a couple years ago with vegetables building themselves into a Boston skyline)

Dear Boston

2013-04-16T19:05:00.000-05:00

It all feels too eerily familiar, in a really bad way.

Eleven and a half years ago, Bryan and I were in Italy enjoying our honeymoon. We had spent a fabulous 10 days traveling through Rome, Florence, and Venice. On September 11, 2001, our plane took off from Venice, making a stopover at Brussels before heading back home to Boston.

About an hour into our second leg, a voice came on the intercom.

"There have been terrorist attacks in the US. The US is not accepting anymore planes. We are turning around and going back to Brussels."

What followed was hours of confusion as people on the plane tried to figure out what was going on. I remember landing in Brussels, scared and confused. In the bus ride to our hotel, we strained to make out the news on the bus radio, which was (annoyingly) overdubbed in French. It wasn't until we arrived in our hotel room that we saw the horrific pictures of the fallen WTC towers.

I remember calling my family, telling them I was OK, though I didn't know when I would make it home.

I remember feeling fear, terrorized by the thought that another bomb or plane crash could occur.

I remember feeling terribly, terribly sad, aghast, and disgusted by all the events.

And I remember feeling so, so far away from home. Far away from all my friends and family.

Monday, April 15th, 2013.

I was flying, again, to Europe. This time to London.

Imagine my surprise when we got off the plane and Bryan read on his phone about some "explosions at Copley."

It didn't sink in quite at that moment the seriousness of it all. It wasn't until later, when we got off the train at Paddington Station, that I started to realize what had really happened.

I'm really, really mourning for my beloved Boston. My heart especially goes out to those who have suffered needlessly as a result of this heartless act. The Marathon is supposed to be a happy, hopeful day - a day where we celebrate the hard work of so many runners, the generous hearts of those running for charities, and the countless people running in honor of others. It seems especially cruel to target this bunch.

I continue to pray for this city, especially those that were injured or in any way affected by this horrible tragedy. I feel far away, watching this all from a distance. I am reminded that people in other less stable countries deal with this type of horror much more often.

I have been amazed at the outpouring of love this city has shown. Imagine, thousands of people offering their homes to stranded strangers. And what about all those emergency workers rushing in to help when there easily could have been more live bombs?

Inspiring.

Thank you all who reached out to me, asking me if I was OK. I was really touched by that. Thank you so much.

I know this city is resilient. It will be hard - and we surely will never forget this day - but we will bounce back.

Thanks Boston, for reminding me why I love this city.

Legal Harborside

2013-04-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

It's Patriot's Day weekend! This is one of Boston's biggest holiday weekends (yes, we get Monday off!). The nation's most famous marathon occurs here on Monday. Sooo, we'll take a brief break from the Thailand! series to focus on Boston for a few posts before heading back to Thailand (where we'll begin exploring the recipes from my cooking classes there!)

I still remember the first time I ever visited Boston.

I was seventeen years old and had just received my acceptance to MIT. My mom had a good friend (who also happens to be a renowned cookbook author!) who lived in Salem, so we visited Boston as a family and did all the touristy things - visited the Salem Witch Museum, toured both the Harvard and MIT campuses, and ate at Legal Sea Foods.

Legal Sea Foods has always been one of those places that tourists visit because 1) Boston is known for its excellent seafood and 2) Legal Sea Foods is one of the most historic, established, and well-known names in the industry.

There's much truth to it - the seafood at Legal is excellent.

However, the cuisine is also pretty simple.

You can get your fresh seafood wood-grilled, fried, or baked. They have familiar, New England dishes like clam chowder, crab cakes, and lobster rolls. The sides are classic comfort foods, like mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli with cheese, and French fries. Sure, they've incorporated a few twists here and there, such as dishes with an Asian or Mediterranean bent. However, by and large, Legal Sea Foods is a place you visit to eat simply prepared, classic New England style seafood.

In 2011, Legal opened up a brand new, 20,000 feet flagship restaurant right at the waterfront.

Legal Harborside is huge. It sits right on the water (gorgeous views of the harbor!) and has three floors, each with a slightly different theme. The third floor is a lounge and bar which opens up during the summer into some really nice outdoor space. The first floor is the more casual dining floor. You'll find raw oysters plus classic, simply grilled seafood dishes served at all Legal Sea Foods. They've also added pastas and pizzas.

The second floor is the "celebratory dining" floor. It's really the first time Legal Sea Foods has ever had a more upscale restaurant. Here, we finally get a chance to taste the excellent seafood of Legal prepared in a more creative way.

One day last summer, Bryan decided it would be fun for us to see just what kind of creative dishes Legal Harborside would offer.

The menu has a nice assortment of appetizers ($12-$20) and main dishes ($30-$54). There is also a chef's tasting menu, which changes seasonally. The current menu lists a four-course tasting for $55, which isn't bad considering the cost of a normal 2-course meal could be at least that much. When we went during the summer, the chef's tasting was a five course meal for $75. I guess it changes periodically depending on an number of factors.

The bread was a fun assortment of a thin, spiced (maybe za'atar?) flatbread, mini corn muffins, and a classic loaf served with extra virgin olive oil. This is definitely a bit more "fancy" than the sourdough rolls they serve at the normal Legal.
For the amuse we had a tiny bite of Cantaloupe Gel topped with Cucumber and Prosciutto Dust. The gel was tart and sweet, with just a tad of a kick. We couldn't really taste the prosciutto.
The soup was a cold Spicy Corn & Crab Soup, made with coconut, edamame, and mint. Though the presentation was elegant, I personally found the soup a little too thick and creamy. It was also on the sweet side, and I longed for a bit more umami.

Bryan got a different soup because he can't have coconut milk (an ingredient in the previous soup). His Lobster Soup was a hot soup, accented with hints of sherry. Thankfully, Bryan enjoyed it. I thought it was fine, but it did not blow me away.
We started with a generous salad made with "Brulee" Peaches, Baby Arugula, Figs, Amarene Cherries and Ricotta Salata in a kalamata-sherry vinaigrette. I found the dressing to be just a tad sweet, but overall I though the ingredients were very high quality. The very peppery arugula offset the sweetness from perfectly ripe peach, the sweetened cherries, and the fresh figs. The cheese and the very dry wine (with which this salad was paired) also helped cut the overall sweetness of the dish. This was solid, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Our next course was an upscale Lobster Salad which was served with Avocado, Hearts of Palm, Yuzu Vinaigrette & Nori. There was a slight service faux pas here because the wine came out long after the food came out - oops!

One of my favorites dishes of the evening was the Seared Baby Octopus served with Merguez Sausage, Smoked Tomato Coulis, Caramelize Peppers and Onions. They cooked the octopus perfectly, and the flavorful sauce stood up to the octopus quite well. I loved the spicy, tomato cream sauce, and the sausage had a lovely kick.

Furthermore, the wine pairing was excellent. They do a really good job with the wine pairing!

I really enjoyed the ingredients in our final course, the Grilled Cobia, White Sweet Potato Puree, Smoked Hominy, and Apple Smoked Bacon. The bacon added a nice smoky and salty balance to the slightly sweet corn (hominy) and white sweet potato (which might have had parsnips inside as well?). The fish itself was solid and went well with the accompaniments.
For dessert, we had a Warm Plum Clafouti topped with some Crème Fraiche Ice Cream.
And finally, a few small bites of chocolate as a finishing bite.

Overall, it was a nice meal. The creativity of the food is most definitely several notches above what the classic Legal Sea Foods serves. There were certain dishes that we really thought were winners (like the octopus), and others that were only OK (like the soups).

One huge benefit of all Legal Sea Foods restaurants that I failed to mention earlier is that they have a very strong philosophy about wine pricing: they hardly mark up their wine prices. Their wines are priced only slightly above retail, and sometimes, if the wines are hard-to-get on the open market, the Legal price may actually be lower than the retail price (which we found with a recent Joseph Phelps Insignia bottle that we enjoyed there).

In the past, Bryan always lamented the fact that, even though Legal sold all this amazing, highly regarded wine at such good prices, it was hard to justify spending the money if you were just pairing it with a lighter seafood (not the perfect pairing), or if just eating a plain seafood dinner.

He likes the fact that Legal Harborside gives you the opportunity to enjoy a nicer meal to match the super nice bottles of wine that they sell.

The space is gorgeous, and this is a fun place to visit as a tourist if you want a combination of the high quality seafood, gorgeous views, and slightly more creative cooking. The cooking is pretty good, though probably not the best that Boston has to offer.

Personally as a local, if I were just coming here alone or with Bryan, I would opt to stick with the more "casual" Legal, enjoying a plate of their excellent raw oysters while sipping on a glass of very reasonably priced champagnes (or whatever suits my fancy).

Legal Harborside
270 Northern Ave
Boston, MA 02210

Fun Fruits in Thailand!

2013-04-10T23:54:00.001-05:00

Domo digging into some rose apples and baby bananas.

This is the seventh post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak). Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I, and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part II.

One thing I love most about visiting any tropical destination near the equator (and I've really only ever been to Taiwan and Hawaii before this), are the fruits.

In New England, fruits aren't my favorite things to eat. I'm just not a huge fan of apples, oranges, and bananas. They're OK, but once you've had fruits from tropical locations, it's really hard to go back. The diversity of choices is dizzying, and the flavors will blow you away.

One really fun perk that our hotel room in Thailand provided was a rotating plate of fresh fruit. Everyday, they would put a couple pieces of local fruit on a plate in our room. They even had this fun guide called "Fruits of Thailand" where they described each fruit. They tried to introduce us to fruits that were not only local to Thailand, but also unique to the tropical climate.

Most of us have seen bananas before, but what about mangosteens and dragonfruit? Mangosteen is the little dark purple fruit in the photo above.

When cut open, the inside consists of 6 perfectly formed segments. It's gorgeously sweet with hints of tartness, reminding me of a cross between a lychee and an orange?

I still think dragon fruits are one of the most gorgeous fruits. Just look at that vivid pink color! The inside is soft, sweet, and light, sort of like watermelon. You can eat the seeds as well.

Here's a vendor selling grilled baby bananas on the street.

Fresh orange juice is available everywhere and only costs $1 USD. Isn't it interesting how their oranges have a green outer skin and is orange on the inside?

I've had rose or wax apples in Taiwan (we call them "lembu"), but I'd never seen them anywhere else in the world until I came to Thailand. This fruit is really crispy, juicy, and light. It's perfect for hot weather days. It's one of my favorite fruits to enjoy in the tropics, and I happily munched on some everyday while I was in Thailand.

Our hotel included breakfast, which was awesome because they always had a huge assortment of fresh fruit. Here I've cracked open passion fruit on top. On the plate there's also guava, green mango, papaya, pineapple, jack fruit, and tiny little oranges.

Crazy huh?

Speaking of jackfruit, have you ever seen an entire jackfruit? They are HUGE! Here's half of one at a street cart in Thailand. I swear that fruit is the size of my upper body! Usually, the little segments are removed, deseeded, and sold in smaller "packets".

Jackfruit physically resembles the durian on the outside, though inside they are very different. Durians are stinky and banned from public places. Jackfruit has a slight funk, but is predominantly fragrant, slightly crunchy, and sweet. Bryan liked eating it with blue cheese, which I'm sure is not a traditional Thai pairing! (Our hotel breakfast buffet was international and therefore had European things like cheese as well).
Speaking of durian, I did try my first durian this trip as part of a dessert (Durian over Sticky Rice). It was surprisingly OK. Yes, it does stink, but it sort of grows on you too. Oddly enough, by the end of the dessert, I was starting to think the fruit was richly complex.

Bryan strongly disagreed.

After one whiff of my dessert, Bryan scrunched up his nose, frowned, and refused to try any more. In fact, he kept pushing the dish closer and closer to me every time he got another whiff.

Desserts often revolve around fruits and coconut milk in Thailand. Mango Sticky Rice is quintessential and classic. It's a magical combination and still one of my favorite Thai desserts. Like all Thai dishes, the balance of sweet and salty makes the dish addictive. It doesn't hurt to have access to super sweet and ripe mangoes either!

It was hard to come back and face normal North American fruits after having access to such a bounty for a week. Hopefully the arrival of summer will lessen the blow.

Gosh, I miss Thailand already.

Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)

2013-04-10T01:07:00.002-05:00

This is the sixth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak). and Street Foods of Bangkok, Part I.

This is Part II of the Bangkok street food tour. If you're just joining us, definitely check out Part I of this post first before reading this.

It was raining, hard. This was supposed to be a walking tour, and the weather just was not cooperating at all.

Our tour guide Nushi told us to wait at the dock as she tried to hail a cab. As the wind whipped the water angrily around, we stood and marveled at the sheer force of the storm.

Ten minutes later, Nushi came with a cab. She looked wet, yet she was still smiling.

"Hop in."

As the rain pounded down onto the windshield, the cab inched along towards our final destination. Nushi chatted happily in Thai with the driver while we sat in the back.

Finally, about 10 minutes later, we arrived at our next destination.

We were in a cafe in Silom, the business district of Bangkok. It is actually owned by the great grandson of King Rama V. He likes Indian food a lot, and you definitely see a strong representation of that cuisine here. Thankfully (for Bryan's sake), there is also much other food to try, such as ice cream, bakery goods, and a lot of great Thai food. Our first small plate: green curry with pork. Though this is usually served with rice, this restaurant serves it with deep fried roti, a bread influenced by Indian cuisine.
Because Bryan does not eat coconut milk (and thus skipped the green curry completely), we also ordered Isaan sour sausage, a fermented pork sausage from the northeastern part of Thailand. You commonly see this sold on the streets of Bangkok and it is usually served with sticky rice, which is the rice staple up north.

This place had tons of really interesting ice cream flavors. We tried passion fruit ice cream, coconut sorbet, and tamarind sorbet. All of them were fantastic, bursting with the authentic flavors of their individual ingredients. My favorite was the passion fruit ice cream, but I think that's partly because I just love ice cream more than sorbet in general, and I love the flavor of fresh passion fruit, which was so pronounced in this ice cream.

We stepped outside. There was just one more stop, and it was within walking distance.

Amazingly, the sky had completely cleared up. I guess it was one of those fast moving storms. The sun was back out already, and the air was even thicker with humidity than I thought could be possible.

As we walked towards our last stop, Nushi said, "hold on, look! Fried bananas."

There are often long lines at these popular street snack stands, where vendors sell freshly fried items such as sweet potatoes, mochi balls, and bananas. Luckily, perhaps because it was just after the storm, there was no line at this vendor's stand. We quickly stopped and picked up a bag of fried mini-bananas.

They were coated with some special sort of batter that reminded me of a funnel cake. Just imagine a sweet, crunchy funnel-cake-covered banana. It was seriously addictive (and I don't even like bananas!).

For even more sweets, we headed to our last stop, a local bakery. Here we tried a lovely soft bread with pandan custard inside. We tasted a bun filled with sweet BBQ meat, not unlike Chinese chashu except that the outside bread is baked according to western methods. Finally, we sampled a western style cake topped with a traditional Thai style filling (made of coconut, perhaps?) used commonly in wedding desserts.

Finally, I (and Domo?) got to try Thai iced tea in Thailand. It was delicious, similar to the Thai iced tea I've had in America.

And then, just as quickly as it began, our 3-hour tour was over. We were stuffed, both with food but also with a rich wealth of knowledge.

Nushi had taken supremely good care of us, especially considering that a huge rainstorm came down right in the middle of our tour. We were quite grateful at how hard she tried to make us comfortable - everything from getting us umbrellas (from the Tonburi restaurant!), to waiting outside in the rain for 10 minutes in order to hail us a cab. Her English is excellent, and we really had fun on this tour.

If you're a newcomer to Thailand who absolutely has no idea where to start, I would highly, highly recommend taking the Bangkok Food Tour. They do a fantastic job.

The Details
This tour lasts about 3 hours and costs 1050 Baht (around $35 USD per person), which includes all the food. Although usually run in the morning leading up to lunchtime, you can arrange to have a private tour at other times during the day. Because of Bryan's work schedule, we ended up booking a tour from 2-5PM. We got our own private tour guide and paid a little extra for the convenience of the time and the private guide (3000 Baht for the two of us, around $50 USD per person).

It's easy to get to the meeting point, which is right inside the BTS Skytrain station Saphan Taksin.

Next up: fun fruits of Thailand and an introduction to the two cooking schools I attended!

Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)

2013-04-08T19:49:00.000-05:00

This is the fifth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Other posts include Thip Samai, Best Pad Thai in Bangkok? and Raan Jay Fai, Best Drunken Noodle in Bangkok, Maeklong Railway Market, Floating Markets (Damnoen Saduak).

Thanks everyone for your outpouring of support for my wrist. It is slowly healing every day. I plan on looking into a few long-term options, such as speech recognition software or alternatives to the traditional mouse. Now, back onto our regularly scheduled program! :)

Where's the best food in Thailand?

If you ask anyone who has been to Thailand a few times, you'll pretty much get the same answer: on the street. Thailand is one of those countries where it's not uncommon to find a street vendor who has been perfecting his recipe for one particular dish for decades. In fact, I've already written about some of these places.

The people in Bangkok are obsessed about food, and it's all over the place. No matter where you live, just walk down the street and you're bound to find a street vendor selling some sort of food. Fresh fruit, deep fried snacks, noodle soups, and on and on . . . the streets of Bangkok are seriously a paradise for the food lover.

The amount of available street food was so overwhelming, I had a hard time figuring out where to start. Because I had only a set number of meals in Bangkok, I wanted to make the most of each meal. So, instead of just randomly trying street stalls around the city (and potentially hitting some duds), I decided to sign up for a walking street food tour with a company called Bangkok Food Tours.

We actually visited quite a few places (over a span of three hours!), so I will be splitting up our tour into two separate posts.
This tour covered a neighborhood called Bangrak, one of the oldest parts of Bangkok. It sits just east of the Chao Praya river and was walking distance from our hotel. Meet our tour guide Nushi (young woman on the right side of the photo), who took us around for three hours sampling some fun foods.

Our first stop was a famous restaurant that served a simple roast duck over rice. Originally inspired by Chinese cuisine, this dish has incorporated certain Thai influences, such as the use of honey in the sauce.

The duck is free-range and therefore does not have as much fat under its skin. According to Nushi, this dish is by far the most popular dish at this restaurant, and people will come specifically for this particular dish.

It was juicy, flavorful, and most definitely had hints of sweetness from the honey. We both thought it was quite tasty, though quite familiar because it was so similar to Chinese food.

It was during this first stop that Nushi pulled out the schedule showing us where we would be going for the day.

One thing stood out to Bryan.

2. Signature curry on egg

"I forgot to mention, I can't have coconut milk." Bryan told Nushi.

Even though not all curry in Thailand uses coconut milk, a large majority of curries do have some coconut milk inside, including the listed egg dish at the next stop. Nushi, thinking quickly, suddenly said, "I know. Let's skip the next stop. I'll take you to one of my favorite noodle joints instead."

Bryan loves noodles, so the trade-off was a no-brainer.

In retrospect, what a great idea. This next "detour" stop became one of our favorites of the entire tour.

Now, it's most certainly not much to look at. In fact, this tiny little eatery sits in an alleyway between two buildings. Yes, Bryan is standing at the front of the restaurant. It isn't too far from the Catholic college nearby, and attracts tons of people at lunchtime, both foreigners from the college and locals alike.

When I asked Nushi the name of the restaurant, she said, "I don't think it has a name. I guess people might sometimes call it Kuey Teow Kla, which means Hakkanese noodle, or Kuey Teow Silom."

It was like a Tom Yum Noodle soup, but made with chili jam.

"What's Chili Jam?" I asked Nushi.

"It's a sweet and spicy "jam" made out of shrimp paste, ground chili, palm sugar, and peanuts."

Yum. I started to wonder where I could get a hold of some.

Inside the soup, there were several different types of balls made out of fish, beef, and tofu. Fresh bean sprouts served to add texture as well a cooling contrast to the hot and spicy broth.

The complex flavors of the broth were astounding - I'm not even sure I can name all the ingredients. It was definitely a pork bone based broth enhanced with various chilies, lemongrass, fish sauce, and possibly lime? The fresh rice noodles were delicious as well. Even though we both got pretty big bowls (I would hardly call these tasting portions!), we both came close to finishing everything. This is in spite of knowing had several, several more stops to go.
Next, we boarded a boat and crossed the river to the Tonburi neighborhood. The clouds were starting to look a bit ominous at this point.

I turned to Bryan, "maybe not such a good day for a walking tour!"

He shrugged. "We'll see" he said.

After getting off the boat, we walked straight down the narrow alleyway leading away from the dock. On the right we saw a simple, bright green counter.
We were eating at an odd hour (around 3PM) mostly because it was the only time we could fit in a tour due to Bryan's work schedule in Thailand. Typically the place is packed, but we were lucky to have the whole place to ourselves on an ominous, stormy Friday afternoon.

We were here to sample some specialties from Northeastern Thailand, also known as Isaan cuisine. The menu was written entirely in Thai here, so I was thankful for Nushi's guidance in helping us pick out some choice plates.
Som Tam is a classic papaya salad that consists of young, green papaya pounded together with carrots, dried shrimp, and peanuts. The dressing is sweet, savory, sour, and spicy with flavors coming from fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, tamarind juice, and lots of chilies! This particular one was very spicy and packed full of flavor. We were both sweating while eating it, but also enjoying it quite a bit.
Nam Tok Moo is a salad made by tossing together pork with roasted rice powder, mint leaves, chili, and shallots in a flavorful dressing made from lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. Again, I love how Thai cuisine achieves that perfect balance of savory, sweet, sour, and spicy. This dish was fantastic and we ate as much as we could handle (yes, it was spicy!!).Finally, we tried Yam Pla Duk Foo, a fascinating dish that consists of catfish that is first grilled, deboned, and then deep fried to form this light, airy, almost weightless cake. You eat it with this vibrant sauce made with green mangoes, shallots, chili, palm sugar, and lemon juice.

This tiny hole in the wall was another one of our favorites, and definitely a place that would have been difficult for us to find without a guide. We loved the northern style dishes, which we found to be quite different from most of the Thai food we see in America.

Suddenly, KABOOM!

And it started to pour.

Nushi was kind enough to ask the restaurant whether we could borrow some umbrellas.

"I'll bring them back later."

We ran back down the narrow dock towards the boat. Even though lightening was flashing across the sky, the boats continued to run. We ran to safety onto the boat as it pulled away from the dock back towards the Bangrak side of the river.

Next Up: Part II of the "Street Foods of Bangkok" Tour, where we will explore fried street snacks, some more Isaan fare, unique local ice cream flavors, and some fantastic desserts.

Stay tuned!