Gratuitous Pictures of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

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You might remember my plans to make Dan a chocolate peanut butter cake for his birthday back in March. Well, I made it! There isn’t much explanation necessary. I followed the recipe from Smitten Kitchen pretty exactly– I nixed the corn syrup, which made the chocolate a little bit less oozy, and I used only 1 cup of sugar in the cake batter, which was plenty sweet! That said, definitely keep this recipe in your repertoire. Having worked in a bakery for several years, I can say that probably 7/10 guys choose a chocolate-peanut butter combo for their cakes over other flavors, so this recipe is great if you’re baking for a dad, brother or boyfriend! Also, do make note that the cakes are SUPER fudgey. Definitely worth freezing them for a bit before assembling.

And without further ado, I present a bunch of pictures of this super decadent cake!

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A Night of Filipino Food at Jeepney

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A few months ago, my sister and I sat down for a meal at Jeepney, the brand new “Filipino gastropub” in the East Village from the folks at the Maharlika group. I’d been introduced to the restaurant via one of my best friends, a young Filipina who’s super active in the community and will probably change the world one day (if you’re interested in the issues facing the Fil-Am community, attend UniPro’s 2013 Summit on June 1, which she’s organizing).

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The same friend also introduced me to the Philippines in general. After college graduation in 2011, we traveled to the beautiful Asian nation and explored Manila and Bohol (a smaller island with gorgeous beaches and wildlife). So, I was excited to taste the food at Jeepney and see how this restaurant was making Filipino food relevant to New Yorkers. Plus, in case you missed the memo, Filipino food is having a moment, and I can’t say that I wasn’t excited about the cool factor.

IMG_6444 (1)The food was great. Authentic, and yet, nothing like I had in any restaurant in the Philippines. In fact, it more closely resembled the food cooked inside the home. Sour, tangy flavors contrast with fatty pork, deep fried something, reliable tinned goods (Spam’s a fave) and salty fishes. Leafy green veggies are rare, but you get bright, natural crunch from tropical fruits and cabbage, often julienned and used as a salad on top of heavier dishes.

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While there are plenty of authentic dishes and ingredients, what’s so great about Jeepney is that the food’s often wrapped up in familiar packages, making the cuisine lightyears more accessible for those who might feel queasy about eating balut (fertilized duck eggs) or jeprox (a crispy, fried and dried fish). Instead, you can start with a chori burger. It’s a burger, after all, and it tastes like a burger, but there’s an obvious, tasty twist. The patty is a combo of beef and longganisa sausage, a sweet, (usually) pork sausage laden with spices and garlic. Most often served with fried eggs and rice for breakfast, it’s the perfect first foray into Filipino flavors. The burger also comes with banana ketchup, a wildly popular condiment in the Philippines.

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IMG_6401The cocktails might have been the highlight for me. Without a liquor license, the restaurant builds the cocktails upon beers, wines and apertifs. The drinks tell stories and bring you straight to the laid-back islands with guava puree, kalamansi juice, Tang and coconut milk, but are definitely unlike drinks I found in the Philippines, where SanMiguel beer and Tanduay Ice were the norm.

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Besides the food, you’ll be thoroughly impressed by the staff at Jeepney. Candice and I have both worked in restaurants as servers and were put to SHAME by the wait staff here. Not only were they incredibly well-versed in explaining unfamiliar dishes and food items to a pair of Filipino food newbies, but they cultivated an atmosphere of Pinoy hospitality, perhaps the most genuinely Filipino part of the night.

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Photo credit: Candice Reeves

8 Tips for Roasting A Chicken

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Is there anything better than coming home to a roasted chicken for dinner? The answer is yes, eating the roasted chicken cold the next day with mayonnaise and a hunk of bread. But I won’t go into that since my incessant mayonnaise talk seems to  turn a lot of people off.

8676183331_4b1286cf9e_hBut, somewhere in the course of history, people started talking about trussing and stuffing and basting and chickens just got way out of hand. The perfect chicken needs nothing more than butter, salt and pepper. And a small one can cook in an hour. I’ve waited longer for a baked potato, for Pete’s sake.

I’ll admit: I usually just wing it when it comes to roasting a chicken. I don’t check the internal temperature, I don’t tent with foil. I’ll stick a lemon, a head of garlic or some leftover herbs in the cavity if I have it. I might cook it at 400 degrees one day and 475 the next.

So rather than a “recipe,” which you could get from any host of sources (but here’s one I’d trust– just swap out the oil for unsalted butter, ehem Mark Bittman), I’m just going to give a few “tips.”. Recipes often gloss over these nuances, so keep ‘em in mind if you’re giving whole roasted chicken a try.

1. Get a good chicken. Obviously not necessary, but a fresh chicken tastes wholly different from a frozen one. An organic, free range chicken will taste even better. The bird will look a little skinny, since it hasn’t been pumped with hormones, but the taste will be delightfully more chicken-y and the texture will be less chewy.

2. Don’t stress about it getting dry. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather have a dry turkey breast than a not-yet-crispy skin or an under-cooked thigh. Turn the heat up high and crisp up that skin. The skin’s crispy brownness is usually how I gauge whether or not I want to take the bird out of the oven.

3. Use butter. It tastes better than olive oil, it really does. And butter will get hotter and burn faster. Now, you don’t want charred skin, obviously, but flecks of crunch are the best part. 

4. Check for a bag inside! My college roommates and I learned this the hard way. I remembered my mom taking out the giblets and boiling the liver as a kid, but only after the fact.

5. If you have it, cut a lemon and/or a head of garlic in half and stuff inside. Otherwise, you honestly just need butter, salt and pepper, all used liberally. Save the stuffing, mirepoix and compound butters for your Thanksgiving turkey. (I will use a handful of herbs, but only if I want to make use of some extra I have in the fridge. It’s not worth buying/trudging out to your garden for them just for this occasion, if you ask me.)

6. Who needs a roasting pan? Again, it might come in handy for Thanksgiving or if you’re doing some other big Sunday roast for family, but for a chicken, I like to just use a cast iron skillet. The skin on the chicken’s underside won’t crisp up, but let’s face it, it never does… even on a roasting rack.

7. Let your chicken rest. It’ll keep it moist (even though we’re not worrying too much about that, remember?), but it’s also totally annoying to break apart a piping hot bird. For a small chicken, let rest at least 20 minutes, ideally longer, but we all need to eat sometime, amiright?

8. Serve with baked sweet potato fries and a butter lettuce salad. Such perfect flavor combos and textures. I crave/cook this exact meal probably twice a week. Take my word for it; it’s perfect!

And don’t forget the mayonnaise.

Simple Meals: Mushrooms on Toast

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Simple dishes are my faves. I love a satisfying meal that you can toss together in minutes with ingredients you probably have on hand, but that you can also jazz up if the impulse strikes. And one of my favorite “simple” meals is mushrooms on toast.

8677257150_0a9d84d687_zI dunno about the rest of the world, but mushrooms are one thing I inevitably buy too many of. I hate the idea of paying more for them pre-sliced or buying them pre-wrapped in those wasteful plastic containers, so I instead head over to the bin where the different varieties are stored loose. I whip open a plastic produce bag and start stuffing.

“Hmmm… one pound should be about right. After all, they shrink when they’re cooked,” I tell myself. And then I have one pound of mushrooms.

8677258086_3d064ac157_zSo if, like me, you’re a moron (which I’m certain you’re not; stop beating yourself up, hunny!) or your CSA leaves you with more mushrooms than you could ever possibly stuff into a lasagna, make some mushrooms on toast. The recipe is so simple– leave it to the English to name a recipe after EXACTLY WHAT IT IS–but it always hits the spot. Plus, mushrooms on toast works for a hearty breakfast, a perfect lunch or a light dinner on those nights you’re cooking for one.

I personally like to use a relatively fresh Pullman loaf from the bakery, rather than any brand name pre-sliced bread. Any bread will work, but if you can find a fresh loaf in the bakery section of your grocery store, you’ll get a real sense of how yummy this can be. Cut the bread so thick that you’re not even tempted to put it in a toaster. Instead, you’ll have to fry it in your skillet in some butter. Then, when topped with the rich, buttery mushrooms and a poached egg, if you’re feeling adventurous, the bread quickly becomes drenched (I love a soggy piece of bread– just me?) in saucy goodness. The different textures from crispy crust, to pillowy center, to meaty mushroom, is really what makes this memorably mouthwatering.

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Mushrooms on toast: Slice 1/2 cup of mushrooms (per slice of bread). Cook on medium heat with a knob of butter (you decide how much butter that means– I say about 2-3 tbsp). Sprinkle with salt and continue to cook until soft. Mix in 2 tbsp of creme fraiche or sour cream (if you don’t have this, more butter!). Meanwhile, toast a thick slice of bread, or fry in skillet with some butter. Once toasted to your liking, top with mushrooms. For a bit more substance, top with a fried or poached egg (runny yolk is key, of course!) and/or some bacon pieces. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes

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Sometimes, all I need is a beauty and a beat pancakes and Bisquick mix gets the job done like nothing else. I always have a stash in the pantry for impromptu pancakes, which, let’s be real, are simply a vehicle for chocolate chips which I pack into those bad boys like it’s 1999. I also then scoop on some espresso ice cream and squirt (I feel like there should be a better word for the GLORIOUS sound made by a Reddi-wip can, but I digress.) some whipped cream on top so that I can watch Barefoot Contessa at 10AM on a Saturday while eating an ice cream sundae for breakfast and have absolutely no shame about it because it’s pancakes.

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All that said, the other day I had some ricotta cheese left over from one of Dan’s adventures in lasagna, so I decided to give my beloved Bisquick a rest and actually make some pancakes from scratch. I’d heard tons of people mention putting ricotta in their pancakes, so why not give that a whirl, right?

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Here’s the thing about homemade pancakes: they’re hard to make beautifully brown, they’re often thin and doughy and they’re easy to dry out. Bisquick has browning agents and a perfectly tested recipe that you really cannot screw up. Similarly, homemade pancakes aren’t as simple as one might think. You’re essentially baking, and baking first thing on a Saturday morning is not anybody’s forte. Happily, the recipe I adapted (ever so slightly from The Kitchn) was totally smart.

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By adding in beaten, fluffy egg whites, the pancakes stayed airy and light despite the ooey gooey and dense ricotta. The perfect amount of sugar and the right nonstick skillet also help the pancakes to come out beautifully brown. Get started on these pancakes early. You’ll want to let your ricotta drain and your egg whites sit for a bit to get rid of excess liquid, but the result will definitely hit the spot– almost as much as my pancake sundae.

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Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes

makes 8
1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs yolks
3 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 pint blueberries

Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid. Depending on which brand you’re using, you may have zero to two tablespoons of drained liquid.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.

Melt 1 tbsp of butter over nonstick skillet on medium high heat. Use a ladle to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, dropping in 5-8 blueberries each. Then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with real maple syrup and a pad of butter.