Monday, June 20, 2011

At Home Dining: Chili Chicken, Wild Mushroom, Mozzarella



Late last night, I made a chili chicken pizza with caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, mozzarella, olives, and marinated tomatoes. I've been meaning to make a pizza at home for several weeks now. It is one of my chef's favorite, late night frozen meals, and I figure, 'I bet I can do better than Tony'. While I did not make the actual dough ( baby steps people- I left that to my reliable friend Pillsbury) , I still wanted to make all the ingredients from scratch to create a slightly creative pizza, without re-inventing the wheel. I first visited the idea of making a tomato sauce (it is my go-to at home, along with pasta for my chef), but decided against it. I chose to do a sauce-less pizza, simply coating the dough with olive oil and my other topping. I was then leaning towards using arugula, or some other leafy green, as it is the forward thing to do, but opted to leave that for some other time.
Raw chicken sat defrosted in my fridge; I marinated it with chili seasoning and lemon juice for several hours. I sauteed it with onions and wild mushrooms. I finished with olives ( love!) mozzarella, and marinated tomatoes.
The pizza turned out "okay". It wasn't spectacular, but had simple, good flavors. Now I am determined to make a new pizza each week, and see how interesting I can make a simple piece of bread. Also in the horizon- making my own dough (fingers crossed!). I'll keep you posted.


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Dovetail in New York City


This past weekend, I got lucky. I "ran away" to New York City and was able to indulge in all the things I desire in my day-to-day: food, drink, city life. We visited Mario Batalli's Eataly for lunch (complete sensory overload; an Italian market decked out with the best of everything), and for our big dinner in the city, we made reservations at Dovetail. I personally knew very little of this Upper West Side restaurant, but the facts I did know were enough to get me very excited for the dinner. Dovetail has a Michelin Star, and the Chef is a Laundry alum, two factors which guarantee culinary gold.


We chose the five course tasting menu, and after eight courses, left completely gratuitous. Starting with the amuse, mushroom gelee with shaved radish and pea puree, and their perfectly made cornbread, to the avocado, watercress, and jicama salad, and the shaved lamb heart with fried sweetbreads and poach egg, through the halibut with pea dumplings, haricots verts, and mangalica ham, and the roasted sirloin with beef cheek lasagna, king trumpet mushrooms and onions, every dish delivered. With attentive and genuine service, and a dining room with neutral and industrial elements, Dovetail comes across as organic, real, and effortless.
Dinner at Dovetail reminded me of why we go out to eat, and the underlying purpose of all restaurants- the experience.