In House Dining: Easy Strawberry & Apple Cake

When it comes to baking, I am innately inept, thus I tend to follow recipes more accurately. In the quest to bake a pie with fresh fruit (strawberries where everywhere several weeks ago), I stumbled upon (on the Epicurious app) a Barefoot Contessa recipe for a "Easy Cranberry & Apple Cake". I chose the recipe not only because it was clearly simple to make, but also because I am a huge fan of Ina Garden. I replaced the cranberries with strawberries and prepared a decadent cake; it was intensely sweet as the fruit had reduced into a jam-like consistency during baking.

While the cake was well received, I still aspire to bake a pie. Summer will bring me peaches- perhaps then.

Culinary Apps

Thanks to the incomparable advances of technology present today, we are at the constant disposal of innumerable tools to assist us in our day to day- all in our fingertips (literally) with the ever so popular iphones, droids and every other phone or gadget that is smart, (possibly smarter than us). One that I, as a newbie to the app world, rely on is the iphone's Epicurious app. The "cook's companion" allows you to research recipes by ingredient, cuisine, and course, among others, sourcing thousands of recipes from various sources from Bon Appetite to cookbooks such as "The Pleasures of Cooking for One".

When planning a meal, I skim through recipes searching for inspiration. I take elements from different recipes, whether it is flavor combinations, or the cooking methods I as a culinary school student should know, to create my own based on what the purpose of the dish is (a late night dinner for my chef?) and the actual ingredients I can find in this small New England town.

I will share, when possible, my inspired culinary creations.

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.

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.

New Rivers in Providence

New Rivers in Providence has been on my "must-go-list" ever since I attended a wine dinner with industry people (chefs, wine reps, winemakers) and feasted on a family-style dinner of bistro style dishes (potatoes, beets, sausage, salads...) simple, but with incredible flavors. Last week we went to dinner, and I was blown away. The menu is seasonally driven with many house-made components (from pasta to the charcuterie program) and beautiful ingredients. The Chef sent us a house made lardo (aged for 7 months), on garlic toast. This was a spectacular beginning to an incredible dinner. The cliche "melts in your mouth" could not be a better description- the lardo was salty, sliced paper thin, and nearly disintegrated unto the toast leaving the pork flavor on the warm bread. I think the photos speak for themselves, but among the dishes were fried squid (with a slightly spicy aioli- the perfect match to anything fried), falafel, fiddlehead ferns (my first time), asparagus with ramps, spring salad ( a medley of spring vegetables and flowers including string-like asparagus sprouts- very delicate but abundant in the earthy flavor), caramelle with pork sausage (pasta stuffed with ricotta, served with mint, peas, and carrots, and tossed in a brown butter sauce) charcuterie, fried soft shell crab. Every dish showed balance of flavors, and proper execution for the ingredients at hand. Chef Beau Vestal is succeeding in what many try but fail to achieve. I can't wait to return.

At Home Dining: Potato + Leek

An Evening at Gracie's

The expectation was set for Gracie's in Providence. This, however, does not necessarily mean that it was high. I was mindful that the previous chef had left earlier in the year, and his sous chef, who begun working garde manger at the restaurant years ago (cold appetizers, or the "beginner" station on the line) was now the chef. Gacie's menu is influenced by the season, generally, and uses local ingredients, when possible, to create what I describe as contemporary American cuisine. The menu reads similar to many restaurants including some I have worked at in San Francisco. In these types of restaurants, execution is key; quality ingredients speak for themselves, but how you prepare these ingredients is what elevates dishes from 'good' to 'superb'. At Gracie's what begun as a five course dinner chosen as a pre-fixe menu, turned into nine long courses, and ended as an admirable culinary effort.

Before sitting down we had cocktails from their $5 specials' list. I chose a drink (vodka, ginger beer and cucumber), which was extremely sweet, and more of a summer beverage, not necessarily what one craves on a chilly fall night. We waited a bit before sitting at our table, partly because the hostess was busy on the floor. The restaurant was not full, probably six tables, but throughout the night the service was terribly slow. We did not mind since we were there to dine and enjoy a night out, but the frustration was evident in fellow diners.

The first amuse bouche was peaches, with Shy Brothers Farm Cloumage (creamy cheese made from cow's milk), honey, and a plush of chervil. Peaches are not in season; they were bland which makes me believe the honey was used to overcompensate for the lack of flavor.Next an oyster with a sweet marmalade and radish sliver showed potential, but the oyster was not cold. Temperature, I realize, affects the brininess that is characteristic of oysters.

The first dish was a beet salad with mache, pea greens, endive, candied pecans and celery seed creme fraiche. The beets were beautifully cooked (sous vide we assume). The salad was fresh and light, but the candied pecans were unnececessary. The beets provided sweetness, which made the presence of another sweet element uneccessary. I would have preferred some other ingredient for texture.

Second course was their hand rolled gnocchi with braised short ribs, mushrooms, and mirepoix. The dish overall worked very well. The braised meat had good flavor. The gnocchi were cooked to the point that a second longer would have turned them into mush. The diced carrots and celery did have a bite, and while I understand that they added to the rustic concept of the dish, their only purpose was to add color to the monotone dish. The dish however was on the verge of being too salty.

Next we had seared Hudson Valley foie gras, with nougatine, and apples- a familiar combination. The foie gras was nicely cooked, but on its own was very salty. When eaten with the cake like nougatine, and the sweet gastrique, the saltiness was less evident, but each component should be able to stand on its own.

Veal sweetbreads ensued with cauliflower puree, lentils and a sunny side quail egg. I love sweetbreads and was hoping it was a dish the chef would select for us when choosing our tasting. The sweetbreads were deep fried. The end product is tender (to my relief) but the taste of fryer oil cheapened the normally delicate flavor. The lentils, which were nicely cooked, were over salted, and their richness made the quail egg irrelevant to the dish.

Scallops were served with Marcona almond puree, greens, blood orange and blood orange vinaigrette. The richness and creaminess of the scallops and the purees made me desire more acidity; the dish could have used more of the blood orange vinaigrette and less puree.

"Mid course" we were brought a raspberry sorbet, since sorbets are served to cleanse the palate. The rabbit with butternut squash puree, chestnuts, poached cranberries, and turnip was our last savory course. The rabbit was meant to be a roullade with forcemeat stuffed into the breast. The meat was cooked tender (sous vide), but there was little distinction between the layers (like I have seen in similar preparations using this technique). The chestnuts had a mealy texture. The dish had nice flavors, but could have used more of the poached cranberries since they brought brightness and acidity to the dish.

A tasting of cheese, which I can never resist, was a bit unmemorable. The set that stood out was Shy Brothers Farm Hannahbells (thimble shaped, hand made cheese) with a spicy pepper preserve made in house, which was a bit overpowering for the cheese, but unique nonetheless.

Dessert was a sneak peek to Thanksgiving dinner- pumpkin cheesecake with cherry "marmalade". The cheesecake was not overly sweet; the pumpkin flavor was subtle.

The chef went above and beyond with all the courses. The dinner was good, and a stand out in Rhode Island standards. But outside of this small state, Gracie's falls behind the excellent restaurants. The concept of the cuisine and construction of dishes does show knowledge of flavor combinations and some technique, but some weakness lies in execution. The tasting experience was well rounded and proved that the chef has potential.