Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is one ingredient that just doesn’t get much love at the restaurants. I don’t know if it’s the fact that people don’t really know what it is, or. I’m not really sure what the stigma is.

Saturday was the St. Dominic Block Party and we had to come up with a side dish to bring, and fast. Our thinking was that everyone was going to bring macaroni salad, different variety of lettuce type salad, etc., so we wanted to bring something different but healthy.

Since Saturday was so cool, we dropped off the quinoa salad and went back home to change. When we got back, we went inside to see if could grab some of our quinoa. After checking the tables twice, it was pretty clear that we were too late – gone in fifteen minutes.

Quinoa is known as the chisiya mama or "Mother of All Grain". This stuff is as versatile as rice, has the best amino acid profile of all grain, gluten free, and is very rich in fiber. When I was in New Jersey I ate at a place that made a killer lobster quinoa. I'm hoping that in the future this is something that shows up on more menus.

This recipe below actually came from Einat Admony’s podcast on quinoa. If you’re ever in Manhattan (West Village) you’ve got to go to her small restaurant called Taïm. Regina swears that it is the best falafel she ever had. Admony offers up a great recipe for quinoa salad.


Quinoa Salad

• Quinoa 2-3C
• Chickpeas 1-1/2C
• Celery (chopped) 1C
• Scallions (chopped) 1/2C
• Cilantro (chopped) 1/2C
• Cranberries (dried) 2 Tbsp
• Apricots (dried) 4 Tbsp
• Lemon (fresh squeezed) 2 Tbsp
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 Tbsp
• Salt and Pepper
• Harissa 1 tsp

Directions:

1. Boil the quinoa.
2. Stir and let cook for 10 minutes.
3. Strain and rinse with cold water.
4. Add all ingredients and mix well.

Homemade Ice Cream, my new favorite thing

Ice Cream Made at Home
Regina received an ice cream maker from her brothers for her birthday. I didn't think it would be almost as fun making ice cream as it is eating it.

David Lebowitz is probably the one person who has the written the most about the subject. In just the past month he's done a very nice article in issue #99 of Fine Cooking about making flavor infusions, add ins, etc for ice cream.I also got the new Culture magazine and he had a recipe for tiramisu ice cream.

I actually used the Fine Cooking recipe to make vanilla infused strawberry ice cream with pound cake. I used the strawberries I bought Saturday morning at the Shaker Square market. It ended up tasting way better than I had expected. If I had bought this stuff at an ice cream parlor I would have been very happy.

We actually have some black walnuts from Muddy Fork, so I'm thinking there's some maple walnut in our future.

Bobby Flay Throwdown Challenge
Did anyone catch the Throwdown this past Sunday? They had a falafel challenge between Bobby and one of his former cooks. Einat Admony, who owns Taïm (tah-EEM) Falafel and Smoothie in New York City was going up against her former boss.

Making a long story short, Flay knew nothing about this chick pea delicacy. He was totally out of his element. He ends up winning the thing because there was some spicy sauce put on top of the falafel.

I was a bit put off because they had people that had never eaten the stuff judging the challenge. How stupid is that? I hate to see that stuff. You could tell he felt embarrassed because he was so outclassed, and knew it.

Regina swears that this is the absolute best falafel she's had in her life. If you make it into the city this is a do not miss.

Ko Missed
Speaking of missed. On the weekends I'll just screw around on the computer and basically wander around the internet.

David Chang of Momofoku fame has a cool reservation site for his 12 seater Momofoku Ko. It's basically a random selection site that you log into and if you're chosen you get an opportunity to book a reservation. There's no speed dial or third party booking services that can help you. The person that registers with their credit card has to have the matching license when they show up to eat.

So on Saturday I went on the website for shits and giggles. I entered my log in and all of a sudden this thing pops up and said I could have a ressie for this coming Friday at 1pm. I was gobsmacked! I've done this a bunch of times and have never gotten this screen.

What the hell do I do? I hit the "accept reservation" button and it took me to another screen where it has a timer that counts down from 180 seconds. You basically have to fill out the information and give your credit card number. All the while the timer ticks down, second... by.... second.

It pained me to turn it down. Normally I would have done it, but next week is our 10th anniversary and we'll be dropping major cash at The Refectory and G Michaels (not mention staying at The Lofts) down in Columbus.

It was the worst feeling waving bye bye to that reservation. On the plus side, if that's the worst thing that happens to me in times like these; I figure I'm doing okay.

Top Chef Magazine
Call me crazy, but I think that's one food magazine we could do without. I can see it now, the July feature is "How I Won the Truck Stop Challenge", by Applebee's Mike.

I am, however, starting the countdown for Top Chef Masters next week.

Mister Brisket
I scored some gorgeous King Salmon from Mister Brisket today. It is the prettiest piece of non-Atlantic salmon I've seen in about a year.

Curly Tail
We made a special trip out to Peninsula to grab the last six Berkshire chops the Snavely's had. They say they'll have some more in August. Curly Tail is hands down my favorite pork. I really wish they'd come to Shaker, especially in the winter.

An apology to Stuart
Sorry Stuart about the Bubbie's mochi false alarm. When they emailed us they said they had them in. Since we had given Whole Foods the phone number and contact information, I took them at their word.

When I went in today and saw that shitty Japanese brand (which sucks very badly) I talked to Demo Dave about the miscommunication.

I gave them the information again and he said they'd have them in three weeks. I promise I won't say anything until I have the box in my greedy hands. I am, however, very skeptical as they claimed the same company sold Bubbie's pickles (which is not true). I'm not holding my breath.

A Tale of Two Falafels

Taïm – Falafel Bliss in the Village

By Mrs. Dine O Mite

Tucked away in a side street in Greenwich Village you can find a wee little restaurant called Taïm that’s serving up little fried pieces of falafel heaven.

In case you didn’t know, Taïm stands for “tasty” in Hebrew. Their menu is small, but right off the bat you’re faced with some difficult choices…do you go with the green, red or harissa falafel? I chose the green, filled with cilantro, parsley and mint, in addition to the obligatory chick peas.

These falafel pitas are packed with goodies…smooth hummus, tahini, Israeli salad (which includes tomatoes, cucumbers, parsely in a lemon mint dressing) and my personal favorite, the pickled (or sweet and sour) cabbage. For good measure, I had them add some Moroccan carrots, made with garlic, cumin and olive oil. The pitas are not too doughy or bland. They’re just right, with a bit of crispiness too them.

All I can say is that it was so good, I went back for more the next day…all those choices in New York City and I couldn’t resist having another falafel at Taïm! My only misstep on day 2 was getting a side of eggplant instead of the carrots. Don’t get me wrong, the eggplant salad was yummy, but the portion was way too big for me, It’s much better suited for sharing or having as a meal itself.

I tend to be a creature of habit, and if I lived in the Village, I’d be back almost daily, sampling each and every falafel, sabich and hummus sandwich combination I could imagine.

I’ll never settle for another falafel served with lettuce, tomato and tahini…what a cop out. Taïm has set the bar for all future falafel encounters!

Click on the link below to find out how I first discovered this place.



Maoz - A Different (in a good way) Type of Falafel Restaurant

Fresh off the heels of my nirvana-like falafel experience at Taïm in the Village, I headed to Philly to see some old friends. My best food obsessed buddy, Cynthia, was the one who introduced me to my first falafel love, Maccabeam’s, a few years ago.

This time around, Cynthia was raving about the new joint in town, Maoz. Born out of Amsterdam, this fast food chain is a sort of falafel buffet/smorgasbord. You start off with your basic falafel and pita, and then you have salad bar of fixins you can add…pickled eggplant, cabbage, carrots, salsa, tahini, hummus, tomatoes, the list goes on and on and on, so much so that you have to be careful here, it’s easy to go overboard. In fact, my friend said she put so many toppings into her pita one time that it busted!

What I like about this place is the variety of toppings and that it’s vegetarian friendly. I’m not saying I’m all vegetarian, but I am allergic to chicken, so right off the bat, that eliminates a lot of options for me. Your pita is what you make of it, you are the master of your own falafel satisfaction and if you don’t get it right, you can always try again the next day.

Maoz beats any fast food chain hands down. Their restaurants are primarily in Europe, but U.S. locations are beginning to sprout up (NYC and Philly). It’s fresh, it’s good and I hope it catches on like wildfire in the U.S..