Fish - - Page 15

by gansie

And Restraint Walked Out the Fridge

Oh, please. Of course you knew this would happen.

by BS

Ooh Baby I Like It Tartare

As you all know, I consider myself much more of a meat mogul than a fish aficionado. I rarely cook with the wet stuff, mostly because I don’t know many tricks, and I really don’t order it too often either. If you’ll allow me to be a snob for a sec, I have to say I only get excited about fish when I get to eat upscale versions of it. At your average joe resto, I’ll go for a steak or burger over the fish special any day, but if we’re talking the $30 mahi mahi or fresh scallops, than I’m definitely on (off) board.

So when Vio and I got invited to dine at Asian-influenced, pan-Atlantic bistro Black Duck recently, I got pretty stoked over their seafood-heavy menu. Black Duck is set in the Park South Hotel in Murray Hill. It’s actually in the basement of a townhouse connected to the hotel, and aside from the preponderance of single business travelers, it’s devoid of that stuffy hotel resto atmosphere at all, going for more of a neighborhood bistro vibe. Anyway, enough about the atmosphere, let’s talk about fish, baby.

in Desserts / Fish / Red Meat 9 comments

by 80 Proof

Yo Yo Momoyama

I have a new found love: sushi.

So brand new that I have only eaten sushi 3 times in my life. Hated it the first time, and in typical 80p fashion, placed raw fish on the back-burner for 5 years. Why eat something I knew I hated?

Well a couple of weeks back, Gansie and I met a friend for happy hour at a pan-Asian, fusiony type place. I took my rightful place at the table by ordering some salmon teriyaki while the others checked off which rolls they liked. But then a funny thing happened, I tried one piece of yellowtail. Then another, and another, until I was asking if I could have the last piece.

This brings me to last week, when Gansie and I were planning for dinner. I happened to be reading JoeHoya’s blog, Capital Spice, and caught his review of a small, unknown sushi place on the Hill, Momoyama. If you think that this post will be a review, you are sorely mistaken. I know nothing about sushi — couldn’t tell you if I was eating a dollar roll, or Japan’s finest. I advise you all to read JoeHoya’s account for accuracy’s sake.

First things first, it took us 10 minutes to find this place, and we have a combined 16 years of DC experience (man, that statistic does NOT make me feel young). It’s on 2nd street, which looks like an alley and is about one block long. Momoyama itself is a row house that backs into an office building and faces a 30 foot high grey concrete wall. Sunset views are lacking here. But it adds to the impression that this is your little secret. Anyways,”review” after the jump.

in Fish 5 comments

by gansie

Showing Restraint

I’ve been coughing up a fucking lung for the past week (hence the no-cook blog posts) and I’ve also been working from home a lot, as not to spread my germs all over the office. Of course I love working in my sweats, but what I might love even more (maybe) is getting to use my lunch hour to actually cook food and not just take something out of the office fridge or spend way too much on a downtown sandwich.

You all know me by now and can probably guess that most times I cook at home I use an egg. Well, all you egg haters out there (I’m looking at you, Maids) will be happy to know that this dish may be the first time that I didn’t incorporate an egg into my lunch. And, boy, was I ever ready to. But after the entire dish was assembled, I realized I didn’t need the extra layer of a fried egg on top, no matter how much I wanted the taste of a runny yolk.

Lox, Avocado and Feta Pita

Stick a whole wheat pita in a 250 degree oven. Mash feta with scallions, parsley, salt and pepper (reserve some scallion and parsley.) Once pita is warm, spread feta mixture over top the pita, and then lay sliced avocado ( I used about a 1/4 of the fruit) and a slice of lox on top of the feta. Sprinkle with extra scallion, parsley and black pepper. If you are feeling indulgent, lay a fried egg on top – and think of me.

in Cheese / Fish / Recipe 10 comments

by BS

Strong Buy Sandwiches

So I’m working in an office this week–ugh, just like a normal person. How do you people do this every day? I just can’t take the staff meetings, excel spreadsheets, and wearing pants.

But there is one thing I do like–lunchtime. When I’m working at home, lunch is often reheated leftovers eaten in front of the computer. But when I freelance in-office, I get excited about being forced to eat lunch out. Since I don’t do it very much, it’s still exciting, even to get a basic sandwich. But with all the Le Pan Quotidens, Cosis, and Pret a Mangers around, there’s something sinister going on with the sandwich in New York. It’s effing expensive.

Sure, I’ll be the first person to approve the fancification of the humble sandwich– the Tuscan-ized, truffle-oiled, caramelized, and slathered with pesto’d goodness that has overtaken the old school hero in recent years. But I’ll also be the first person to insist that I shouldn’t have to break a $20 for lunch. The way the economy is headed, it’s about time for the sandwich to return to its original conception: quick, cheap, and dirty. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean going back to brown-bagging baloney on Wonder Bread. Here’s a sampling of New York’s most overhyped, overpriced sandwiches—each with a cheaper—and tastier—alternative.

Deli Classic

New Yorkers of many vintages will tell you that one of the city’s most legendary indulgences is a pastrami sandwich at the 2nd Avenue Deli (162 E 33rd St, 212.677.0606). But the prices at the recently reincarnated deli scream “tourist trap,” with the triple-decker selling at a whopping $20.95. For meat on bread!

Just around the corner, Sarge’s Deli And Restaurant (548 3rd Ave, 212.679.0442) has all the classic Jewish deli fixings, without the price jack. While Sarge’s ’strami sandwich isn’t quite as loaded—it’s only got enough meat for about three meals instead of five—it’s still a no-brainer at the way-lower price of $9.95.

Photo: Life on the Edge

More sandwich revolutions after the j…

in Fish / Sandwich 6 comments

by BS

Stalking Padma in the Kitchen: The Main Course

Welcome to Part 4 of our special series, in which I bastardize Padma Lakshmi’s recipes and then judge her on the results.

I’ve been crazy for scallops lately, so this week I took a stab at Miss L’s Sea Scallops with Crushed Peanuts and Cucumber Relish. Padma Says:

“I stumbled on adding the peanuts because I wanted something crunchy that would offset the soft, voluptuous nature of the sea scallops yet still echo their butter flavor.”

First of all, how great is this woman? Who else would call a sea creature voluptuous? Hysterical.

Honestly, this sounded like another pretty crazy idea from Padma. I love scallops, cucumbers, and peanuts, but altogether? Really? Well, if Padma says so, I’m willing to give it a try…

in Fish 4 comments

by BS

Pine Nut Finalist Number Three

So far this week, we’ve seen pine nuts get the bacon treatment and inventively paired with salmon.

Our third finalist is Matt, who some of you may know as the blogger behind wrightfood. Matt decided to pair his pine nuts with some tasty scallops. If you ask me, scallops are kind of like the bacon of the sea–it’s hard to lose a cooking contest if you’re using them. So this is gonna be interesting. Here’s what Matt has to say for himself:

The pine nuts here are used pretty basically. Not ground, boiled, stewed or set on fire. For me pine nuts add a wonderful textural quality that somewhat gets lost when you grind it up.

Add to that the slight smokey/oily taste that comes from them when they are lightly toasted – and they are just fantastic as they are. I have been known to just toast a few handfuls and eat them as a snack.

So – that is my entry: Pan Seared Scallops, Red Onion Confit, toasted pine nuts and sage oil. Here they were really used as a textural element, and to add a little smokiness to push the confit taste forward a bit.

Full recipe after the j.

in Contests / Fish / Recipe 4 comments