April, 2008 - - Page 3

by gansie

Yes, We Actually Do Want Fluff

Editors Note: By now, you may have noticed the comments by the former *lurker* miked. It took him a while to come around to the whole blogging thing, even though his woman, Edouble, is an ES contributer. So while miked will talk to me about recipes and now gChat about recipes, maybe one day we can get him on the blogging tip. You can spy on our virtual convo about omelets below. And, Maidelitala, don’t be mad miked stole your omelet thunder.

miked: have you every had a fluffy omelet?
i just made one and Maidelitala made them yesterday morning. i told her she should do a post.
1) separate yolks and whites
2) whip up whites till they get sort of fluffy/bubbly
3) pour fluffy whites into pan
4) pour yolks (if you like them) on top of fluffy whites.
5) put other omelet stuff there
gansie: yum! interesting…i never get that complicated w/ my omelets
miked: it doesn’t really take much longer—as long as you have the yolk-separating skills—you just do it while veggies, etc. are sautéeing.
gansie: and then for the omelet part
do you flip it to cook the other side or just put the filling in the runny-ish center?

The O.G. Food Blogger

A lot of people have made the point that 60 Minutes commenter Andy Rooney is the original blogger. Why? He rambles on about whatever is on his mind, with seemingly no input from a boss or editor, yet for some reason he is still given a platform to speak from. Andy’s deep insights into the world of fruit shopping are just too good to miss.

Via: Serious Eats

in TV 4 comments

by BS

Who Cooked It Better? The Great Steak Sushi Roll-off

The results of last week’s veggie burger battle royale are in, and with 98 percent of all precincts reporting, Eat Air’s Big V captured 47 percent of the vote, earning the official title of best veggie burger in the world. Ever.

Since today is a big election day, we’re going with a political theme for this week’s Who Cooked It Better. The good folks over at Urban Spoon recently crunched some numbers to come up with the Steak/Sushi index, which shows that any city’s voting habits can be predicted by its ratio of steak houses to sushi joints. The nation’s political divide falls almost exactly along these lines, from Dallas (most Republican; most steak houses) to San Francisco (most Democratic; most sushi).

Of course, in 2008 everyone is all gaga for unity and bipartisanship, and what better way to celebrate such feelings than with steak sushi. This inspired creation is popping up on more and more restaurant menus, and it’s a delicious trend that should keep on trending, if you ask me.

Our first steak sushi roll, pictured on the left, is from Sushi Day, who offers up some beautiful butter-fried flank steak cooked to a pinkish rare. But more importantly, Sushi Day has the gall/genius to roll it up with onion slices and french fries! (The fries are both inside the sushi roll AND served alongside it.) This non-conformist sushi is topped off with BBQ sauce. Full recipe here.

Our second steak sushi recipe is from Gourmet, and as you might expect, they go avant-garde, getting rid or the seaweed and instead wrapping a bloody steak in thinly-sliced carrot ribbons. A mustard sauce made of basil, parsley, shallots, capers and garlic brings the flavor, and a flaky sea salt garnish adds extra arty effect (does anyone else think it looks like sushi falling from the sky?) Full recipe here.

[poll id=”10″]

Have an idea for a Who Cooked It Better or wanna see your own blog featured? Pop an email over to info@endlesssimmer.com

Photos: Sushi Day, Gourmet

in Politics / Red Meat 6 comments

by gansie

Meat Eaters Need Not Apply

I know ES has been heavy on the veggie/vegan train lately (I promise, we’ll get back to our red meat and pig roots) but I couldn’t not post about this redic job requirement: vegetarianism.

San Francisco video-game company, Bigfoot Inc, published this internship description

A vegetarian-owned and managed emerging sports games startup in San Francisco is looking to hire vegetarian software development interns for summer 2008 (and potentially beyond) who are interested in entrepreneurship and promoting vegetarianism.

And as my full-time job demands I promote diversity in the workplace, I cannot advocate for an entire staff full of non-meat eaters.

Quotas can be a good thing.

in Trends / Veggie 4 comments

by BS

Matzah Minus the Meh

As most of you know, Passover is the time of year when Jews celebrate the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. Our ancestors had no time to leaven their bread before fleeing Egypt, so in their honor we forgo fluffy dinner rolls in favor of dry and flat matzah.

Now here’s what I don’t get – I love me some baguettes and brioches, but unleavened bread can be fantastic in its own right. Tortillas, flatbreads, crackers – none of these things need to rise, yet they are all way more delicious than simplistic and flour-heavy matzah. So yeah, I can handle unleavened bread, but why can’t we go with a more exciting variety? Naan? Roti? Ritz crackers? Wheat Thins? One of Rachael Ray’s crazy triscuit concoctions? What about pita? That one’s even Jewish. OK, so maybe I’m no rabbinical student, but as far as I can tell, each of these types of unleavened bread would make for an infinitely more exciting Seder table than matzah, without technically breaking the rules.

Many people claim to love matzah, but it’s more likely they really just love whatever tasty topping they put on matzah to cover up its meh flavor. Because it tastes like nothing, you can really put anything on it. There’s the grade-school-nostalgic peanut-butter-and-jelly matzah, the bagel-imitating everything matzah, even fancy-pants smothered-in-nutella matzah. In an attempt to unite my Irish and Jewish heritage, sometimes I spread an ample serving of Kerrygold over matzah. It’s delicious, but of course it’s really just the butter I love. There’s even a Passover game where the adults hide the matzah throughout the house and the kids spend the evening searching for it. Honestly, I think everyone’s hoping it never gets found.

Seriously people, if we ever want to be as big as the Christian holidays, we’re gonna have to come up with more than this second-rate Easter egg hunt. I mean, these people have Cadbury’s creme eggs for Christ’s sake – we can’t compete with that! I’m not trying to offend anyone, but it’s been a few thousand years now, and we really need to come up with a more exciting matzah.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone. Forget everything I just said. I’m getting word that matzah can be made into candy. A-mazing.

Explanation after the jump.

Hott Links: Pass the, er, Matzah

By now, you’ve totally heard us *kvetch* that we’re waiting for the day when ES makes it BIG. And when that happens, you’ll surely get recipes that you can use ahead of time, instead of hearing about them after the fact.

Example: I’m going home for Passover this weekend. Not really sure what I’m going to make yet, so unfortunately, I can’t give you great, original ES dishes to try at your family seder. But I will be able to report back, and hopefully give you some inspiration on what kosher food to make for the following days.

So far though, my mom has requested twice-baked potatoes, and I’m thinking I’ll spike mine, SAG’s and DAD GANSIE’s with some wasabi powder. (My mom is the plainest eater in the world, no wasabi for her. Actually, I say she has a “delicate pallet” because that’s the nicest way I can think of to say she won’t eat shit.) I’ve also requested steak for dinner, because it’ll only be the four of us for the first night.

When my aunt’s family comes over for the second seder, we’ll see what group-style meal we come up with – probably turkey or brisket. DAD GANSIE’s a huge proponent of the bird year round. I’ve been asking him to post his turkey soup for a long time now (hint, hint).

Oh, and clearly we’re making matzah ball soup.

Here, though, are some interesting kosher-for-passover recipes:

Fruited Quinoa Salad [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] (via 80P’s Mom)

Matzoh Lasagna [A Mighty Appetite]

Mediterranean Fish Cakes [Culinate, Zena Chew Collection]

———
And please, totally send me your Passover suggestions

Photo: Charleston Heston as Moses

in Fish / Holiday / Red Meat 2 comments

by BS

My So-Called Salad

Second hungry hungry celeb spotting in one week! Our Manhattan correspondent Brian spied Golden Globe winning actress/Mary-Louise Parker baby daddy stealer/PS 3 graduate Claire Danes order a salad and then fall into a deep, meditative trance at the Cosi on 6th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd.

Send your shots of famous eaters to info@endlesssimmer.com

in Celebs 3 comments

April 2008

Yes, We Actually Do Want Fluff

The O.G. Food Blogger

Who Cooked It Better? The Great Steak Sushi Roll-off

Meat Eaters Need Not Apply

Matzah Minus the Meh

Hott Links: Pass the, er, Matzah

My So-Called Salad