A Week of Pasta

Homemade biscotti, homemade yellow squash and tomato sauce,
and penne (not homemade)

Last week I was away from blogging. After a quiet time with family on Labor Day, rest of the week turned into a chaos: teenager's school activities, college search, ACT, scholarships search, a job search for husband, helping our daughter with her college, my own job hunt, interrupted by couple of power outages were less than blog friendly. Each time I started to respond to the comments, I would be interrupted by some emergency. After it happened third time on the row, I decided it was a sign to take a break and take care of all things required my attention.  We were able to sort things out and make plans, and now I can get back to blogging and share some recipes. 

Homemade fettuccine and homemade pesto

My dear friends, please, come back for biscotti recipe... :)

See you,
Marina

Restaurant Candle 79, New York

After our stop at the bookstore Kitchen Arts and Letter, it was only natural to have some real food to please our teased by so many culinary books taste buds. My friend Lisa had something very specific in her mind: organic vegan restaurant Candle 79 on the corner of Lexington  Avenue and 79th Street.
From the entrance an elegant hostes takes us upstairs in to the contemporary and simple yet elegant zen space. Floor to ceiling windows on one side provide comfortable light while blocking a noise of busy New York streets. A relaxing atmosphere is created by a lit candle on each table. 
We are ready to indulge...

With the menu arrives this amuse: 
Chickpea & Portobello salad with Red Pepper Dressing

Saffron-lobster mushroom ravioli: spinach ravioli, sauteed garlic spinach, cashew ricotta, truffled tomato sauce.  

Grilled Kale: haricots verts (French for green beans), beluga lentils, red onions, turnips, avocado, sunflower seeds, spelt berries, chive vinaigrette

One of the most popular dishes Seitan Piccata: creamed spinach, grilled potato cake, oyster mushrooms, lemon-caper sauce

Rosemary Truffled Potatoes

Dessert: Pan-seared port wine cherries with French vanilla cashew cream, ginger candied pumpkin seeds and vanilla ice cream

Forbes called Candle 79  "a premiere destination for serious vegans and vegetarians", although even omnivores will be satisfied with enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff, elegant and delicious food, prepared from the local ingredients, and some exceptional vines. 
Candle 79 is a place to try something truly different and fell in love with it. Make reservations!

154 East 79th Street at Lexington Avenue | New York, NY 10021 

212-537-7179 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            212-537-7179      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Candle 79. It was Lisa's  generous treat. Thank you, my friend! 

See you,
Marina

Welcome To My Labor Day Picnic: It's All About A Pie!

An apple pie

Ricotta cheese and dill pie

Mushrooms, leek and egg pie

Enjoy the picnic!

See you,
Marina

Dessert: Grand Marnier Grilled Plums, and Family Reunion

Fresh from the garden. Photo courtesy of my sister L.K.

After all grilled food I shared yesterday it was only natural to post some dessert.  Although my plan was to share with you my biscotti recipe, my morning conversation with my parents and my sister made some changes to my posting schedule. 
They were having an unexpected family reunion at my parent's house (unexpected meaning it wasn't planned, but many relatives showed up: often happens in our house!), and she sent me a picture of the table, nothing fancy, just an usual late summer meal: stuffed peppers, some meat, garden vegetables, feta cheese, mushrooms (oh, my mother's mushrooms: she makes it amazingly delicious, and she picks them too), some antipasti in the very low right corner, and roasted plums in the middle. 

Nothing fancy... Photo courtesy of my sister L.K.

Roasted plums? That sounds interesting, and what about grilled plums? Yes, I can do that now! 
As soon as my Skype conversation was over, I went back to the kitchen to create. I didn't have all the ingredients for those beautiful roasted plums my sister made, so I made my own.

Ingredients:
1 lb (500 gram) any plums, halved and pit removed
2 tablespoons Agave nectar, or sugar
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier 

*Note: alcohol evaporates during cooking process, but you can skip it if it's not appropriate for you)

In a bowl combine all ingredients and place on a grill for 4-7 minutes. 
Here is another advantage of panini grill with adjustable plates: I was able to place plums cut side up to prevent juices from leaking, and I also set the top plate just to touch the plums, without squishing it. 

I decorated grilled plums with whipped cream and some sprinkles. 

To some degree I felt as I participated in the family reunion, thanks to Skype. 

***

Does your family has spontaneous evens, or it is always planned?


See you,
Marina

Grilled, Breville, and Ariosto

Grilled potatoes with cilantro and smoked salt.
Note: potatoes were boiled first, then grilled.

I finally got something to grill on, nothing fancy or big, just a simple Breville panini grill, that I lovely call "my crocodile". 

Breville Panini Grill, my crocodile...

As soon as I unpacked it from the box, I put it to work: I was craving grilled vegetables all summer long. In went eggplants (aubergine),  zucchinis (courgette), and jalapeno peppers. 

Asian eggplants and zucchinis, mixed in Ariosto seasoning and olive oil before it went on the grill

Then I grilled some chicken breast for my meat lovers. 

Chicken breast and jalapeno peppers 

Then it was time for a grilled cheese sandwich with grilled vegetables and grilled onions. 

Cheese, grilled vegetables, basil, and grilled onions sandwich

And for dinner I made grilled potatoes with smoked salt and cilantro to accompany lentil and vegetables entree.

Grilled eggplants (aubergine)
with minced shallots in balsamic vinegar, and lentil Ariosto

Some time ago I received a free samples from Ariosto and have been trying it on different vegetables, legumes, and meats. 

Ariosto Seasoning 

This time for both, lentil and vegetables, I used Ariosto seasoning for potatoes, which has a wonderful combination of salt, garlic, rosemary, sage, juniper, basil, marjoram, oregano, laurel, coriander and parsley. 

I need to confess: this is my second Breville panini grill. First one I sold when we were moving cross-country: big mistake on my side! 
Each time I saw this grill in a magazine or at Williams Sonoma store, I would blame myself for selling it. About a year ago Breville came out on the market with a new version, 25% larger and improved (although to me there wasn't much to improve, I loved my old crocodile!), and I couldn't find a peace before I had it again. 
So when I received a Williams Sonoma gift card for my birthday, I knew what it's going to be, and a happy smile shone on my face. 
My favorite features of Breville panini grill: 
- adjustable height control of the top plate;
- adjustable angle of the bottom plate (wonderful to drain all the fats from grilling eggplants);
- super easy to clean.

A beautiful visitor...

What do you liked grilled? 

See you, 
Marina

Puff Pastry Rolls

My post today was suppose to be about vegetables. Grilled vegetables to be exact. But no vegetables were grilled. More on that later.
Instead I invite you to have a bite of those ricotta cheese and dill rolls.  They are very easy and quick to make: one package of puff pastry, a cup of ricotta cheese, one egg, a tablespoon of dill, a little salt. Mix all together, spread the filling on the dough (package of puff pastry usually comes with two sheets of dough, so the filling is enough for both), roll it, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, brush the top of each "floret" with egg wash, and bake 15-20 minutes in 400F oven. 
I call it an emergency feast when I have to change my dinner plans and make something really quick but somewhat fancy. The filling can be sweet or savory, better yet make one sheet savory, and another fill with jam to make a dessert. Possibilities are endless here! 
Usually I don't go for a store bought dough, the only exceptions are puff pastry and filo dough. I am in the process of mastering my puff pastry. I've done it twice and it's a long and labor intensive way that requires more practice. I am learning from Julia Child's book, where folding butter in the dough, then cooling, then folding again is required. 

If you know any shortcuts, please, do share!

See you,
Marina

Kitchen Arts and Letters

Before I left to New York, I made a list of places I wanted to visit. I knew we wouldn't have too much time, so I limited my list to two places: Carlo's Bakery and  Kitchen Arts and Letters, the bookstore that sells cookbooks. Not a cookbook section, not a small shelf, but a whole store, floor to ceiling of cookbooks.
A heaven for any cook, from a professional chef to a kitchen rookie.

How could I miss that? From their webpage I've learned that they offer more that 13,000 titles: all about food, cooking, food history, wine. Who needs a candy store when there is a cookbook store, which actually sells books on how to make candies too?!

We came to the store during the odd hours (in a big city slang meaning before or after the rush time), so the store was all to us. A friendly sales person was helpful in navigating us through the shelves, while we were just gasping for air when we saw books we wanted to have. The same sales person assured us, that if we can't find it in the store, to ask: they most definitely have it in is another area, as there's not enough room on the floor to keep all titles.
For a bookworm as I am, I want to have such a collection of cookbooks in my office, which would be conveniently located next to my big  dream kitchen. 

We spent quite some time in the store, lingering over colorful pages and interesting facts on food anthropology. And we both found some books that we couldn't live without any longer. One of them is The Georgian Feast by Darra Goldstein, book on history, traditions and food of Republic of Georgia with over one hundred recipes, some of which I am eager to share with you in the coming months. 

I can't wait to come back to the store one day soon! 

Do you have a favorite bookstore? 

What books do you prefer to buy?

Kitchen Arts and Letters accepts special orders and would conduct a search for out-of-print books without charge. 

Kitchen Arts and Letters

1435 Lexington Avenue,

New York, NY 10128

Hours:

Monday 1-6:00

Tuesday - Friday 10-6:30

Saturday 11-6:00

Phone: 212-876-5550

e-mail: letters@kitchenartsandletters.com

* I have no affiliation with Kitchen Arts and Letters, and I was not compensated in any way for this post. 
All thoughts and opinions stated in this post are 100% mine.


See you,
Marina