Zinburger

Yet another new burger joint has popped up in our area. Blah blah blah, burgers and fries, but Zinburger also has a full bar!

Dan and I may or may not have gone twice within one weekend.

Mahi Sandwich

Zucchini Fries

Veggie Burger and Sweet Potato Fries

Bacon Bloody Mary

Granted, I'm not exactly the top choice to review a burger joint, since I don't eat burgers, but Dan and friends all enjoyed theirs. The mahi was really flipping good, the zucchini fries were a bit of a letdown, as was the veggie burger. But, it was more than made up for by the Bloody Mary.

Oh man,

If I felt guilty before, now I really do....I cooked pork chops.

Bleh.

As I'm sure has come up before, I don't eat pork. I don't like pork. I think it comes from a Fire Science class I had where I learned that if you enter a burning building, and smell bacon, you are in trouble. But, I digress.

My parents had defrosted some boneless pork chops for dinner, and never used them. As much as I hate pork, I hate to waste food even more.

So, for the first time in my life. I cooked pork.

I followed this recipe from Allrecipes, for Parmesan Sage Pork Chops. and I have to say, they looked pretty good. My family ate them, and said they were tasty. I changed the cooking times, because my piggy was boneless, and didn't use fresh sage because who the hell has fresh sage.

I'm starting to feel guilty,

posting nothing but restaurant food...but here's some more.

This is from a late lunch at one of our favorite spots, Cuban Petes in Montclair. We usually like to go in the Summer, when you get to eat in the adorable outside area, but it's cold and rainy now. At least the food always make you think of warm beaches.

I had the Caribbean Flounder, served with plantains, rice and beans.

Dan had a mix of Tapas: Bacon wrapped Dates, Manchego Cheese and Spinach Empanadas, Chorizo, Crispy Pork with Fried Plantains, and Hazelnut Stuffed Goat Cheese.

And we washed it all down with:

Made with lots of this (highly recommended)

It's almost enough to make you forget how miserable the weather is getting.

Basketball and Tzatziki

Last weekend Dan and I, along with my parents went to see the Nets play the Celtics at the New Prudential Center.

Dan is a big Celtics fan, I couldn't care less about basketball, but he swore there would be good eats at The Rock. He was right. After a quick tour of the options, I picked Greek.

Vegetable Gyro and Spinach Pie ($10 total!)

The Gyro was good, but the Spinach pie was probably one of the best I've ever eaten.

Smash Burger

Before heading out to a concert, we stopped in at our brand new Smash Burger for a quick dinner. It's funny how someone can be anti junk food, but still excited to try a brand new fast food restaurant.

Smashburger is slightly different than your average fast food burger joint. Everything is cooked to order, and you can pick from an impressive list of toppings and condiments.

Dan got the New Jersey Smashburger and Fries

I got a "Smash Chicken" sandwich with Avocado, and Vegetable Frites

Meh. The food was fine, but I wouldn't be heartbroken to never go back.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

After a visit to the farmers market, we ended up with a giant bag of pobalano peppers. They got shoved to the back of the fridge, any by the time I remembered them, they were a bit past their prime, but perfect for stuffing.

Here's my take on Stuffed Poblano Peppers

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Cut a "T" into each pepper, removed the seeds and stems, washed them, and lined them up on a lasagna pan.

3. Saute an onion in EVOO until tender, add 2 links of turkey sausage, casing removed. Break it up into crumbles as it cooks.

4. Add frozen corn and 1 cup of salsa to the mixture, adjust seasoning as necessary.

5. Stuff the peppers with the mixture, sprinkle with cheese (I used a Mexican blend), additional salsa, and bake about 30 minutes.


They were super tastey, but the peppers will a bit firm, I think next time I'll try to microwave-steam them first.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Every Thanksgiving my family makes a vegetarian pasta dish, almost exlusively a baked ziti. This time I wanted something different. I thought that a Butternut Squash Lasagna would be nice and "harvesty". It came out perfect, but again, I was sick and didn't take any pictures of it while it was beautiful. Instead, here's my four day later leftover cold lumch lasagna. Sorry.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cups chopped onion ( I only used 1/2 an onion- picky eaters)
10 cup fresh spinach
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp provolone cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
3 cups diced peeled butternut squash
3 cups Marinara
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles

Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Place Squash on a baking pan, coat with oil, salt and pepper, and roast in oven until tender.

Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach; sauté 1 1/2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Combine provolone, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, and ricotta cheese in a large bowl.

Spread enough Marinara in the bottom of a lasagna pan to lightly coat. Arrange noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over noodles. Arrange cups squash over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over squash.

Arrange noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over the noodles. Arrange onion mixture over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over spinach mixture.

Arrange noodles over sauce; spread Marinara evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover each pan with foil.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Hong Kong Eats!

It seems like ages since I last updated this page, and I apologize. I was traveling, and then came down with a monster cold. I was so out of it on Thanksgiving that I managed to forget to take pictures of all the yummy food.

So, here I am catching up. First, some eats from Hong Kong!

On my first day I traveled to Lantau Island to visit Po Lin Monastery and Big Buddha.

Admission to the Monastery includes a vegetarian lunch.

Vegetables in Broth

Bok Choy with Mushrooms,

Tofu with peppers, Spring Rolls

The food was comforting and tasty. It was food that I would make for myself. Of course, I made an ass of myself attempting to use chopsticks.

I spent the next day exploring Kowloon. It was HOT! I was tired. And lost. And thirsty. And lost. And did I mention tired? I wouldn't normally pick fast food while traveling, but I stumbled across a McDonald's stand and ordered something cold. I'm not sure what I asked for, but I got a cola slushy. It was heaven.

On my third day I happened across the Tai Cheong Bakery, whose egg tarts were featured on Samantha Brown's Asia! My god they were fantastic. I bought one for me and one for Dan to try when he got home from work, and he's lucky he got to try it. They're under a dollar a piece, and easily one of the best things I've ever eaten.

I didn't take pictures of most of our main meals, because I didn't want to look even more out of place. I'd rate the food as overall "good". I didn't eat anything I didn't like. We ate at Celebrity Cusine, the restaurant of Mr. Cheng Kam Fu, one of Hong Kong's most famous chefs, and I was (nod to Michael Kors), underwhelmed. The food tasted fine, but was overpriced, and, come on, radish roses, really?

We ate on an outdoor patio atop the stunning Victoria Peak, at

The Peak Lookout a restaurant with a menu varied enough to give Babu Bot's a run for its money.

We ate at Coast which I will forever love because that day's specials included a chickpea soup. Soup, made from CHICKPEAS! Oh hell yeah!

Oysters

Chickpea Soup

Beer Battered Baramundi

Roasted Pumpkin Pizza

Strangely, our most authentic Hong Kong dining was breakfast at the airport before returning home.

I would eat this everyday if I could.

Szechuan Chicken and Vermicelli in Fish Broth

Noodles with Pickled Vegetables and a Fried Egg

All in all, a fantastic trip. I added a new continent and its food to my list, and have absolutely no regrets (except maybe not buying more tarts).

I did the unthinkable

I followed an Ina Garter recipe!

Now, that might not mean much to most of you, but I spend a great amount of time and energy haten on Ina. I hate her, her friends and her stupid house in the Hamptons. She comes off as smug and showy.

But....she had a recipe that best matched ingrediants I had to use up, namely sour cream that needed to be used like yesterday.

So here are Ina Garter's Banana Sour Cream Pancakes http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/banana-sour-cream-pancakes-recipe/index.html




Of course, I'm all alone this week, and had no intentions of eating two dozen pancakes. Luckily some online friends told me they could be frozen, then popped in the freezer for a quick breakfast. I ate a couple right off the skillet, and they were pretty good. I can't wait to see how the reheated ones come out.

Grandma's Chicken and Rice

This is a family favorite, passed down from my Grandmother's friend Ester from Puerto Rico. It is simple, hearty and comforting. The perfect food for a cool, rainy day. (Sorry for the blurry iPhone pic).



Chicken and Rice

In a big dutch oven, saute chopped onion, red bell pepper and garlic until soft. Add salt and pepper, chicken pieces (we used bone-in, skinless thighs). and two (big) cans of crushed or pureed tomatoes. Cover and stir occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove a cup of the cooking liquid, and in another pot, heat up two cans of drained, not rinsed kidney beans with the reserved liquid.

To the pot with the chicken add 1-2 cups of minute rice. Heat until the rice is cooked.

Serve!

Tofu Curry

Goodness this was good.
Coconut Tofu Curry

I did my best to follow the recipe, which if you know me means I barely followed it.

My take on it: 1 can coconut milk, 4 packets of soy sauce (does anyone actually buy soy sauce?), powdered ginger, a couple tablespoons of curry paste, and a hearty squeeze of sriracha, brought it to a boil, added chopped onion and red pepper, cubed tofu, and a crap load of baby bok choy. Cook until veggies are soft, and serve with brown rice.

Another for the "Not the prettiest, but damn tasty" category.

Pizza night

Tomato, basil and garlic pizza, and, because the cook "felt like it", topped with arugula and red onion. I could eat this for the rest of my life.

Eating Art

For our 1 year anniversary Dan brought me to WD~50, Wylie Dufresne's restaurant. Wylie mother-trucking Dufresne, James Beard nominated, Michelin Star rated, the only reason anyone has ever heard of molecular gastronomy.

We were brave and ordered the tasting menu. I ate foods I swore I would never eat, only because Wylie cooked them, and I liked them (except for the fois, but you can't win them all).

Not only was Wylie there that night, cooking our food, but our waiter took us on a tour of the kitchen, we WE MET WYLIE! He laughed at a dumb joke I made, and wished us a happy anniversary. BEST NIGHT EVER! So here it is, the food.


Crispy Flatbreads to snack on.



Scallop noodles with concord grape, saffron yogurt and crispy sesame.


Everything bagel ice cream with smoked salmon threads and crispy cream cheese.


Foie gras with passionfruit center and Chinese celery on top.



Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, and kindai kampachi.


Cold fried chicken, buttermilk ricotta, tabasco honey sauce with caviar on top.


Striped bass, chorizo, pineapple, popcorn


Beef and bernaise.


Lamb with edamame crumble.


Lychee ice cream with a Yuzo foam and pistachio and celery bottom.


Orange, tarragon and rhubarb sorbet on an olive oilcake


Soft chocolate, frozen raspberry, long pepper, & ricotta ice cream.


I'm honestly not even sure if this was everything. I have no clue how we managed to put away all this food, although it was so tasty and inventive that I would have eaten until my stomach actually burst.

"Crab" Cakes

Ever since we started vacationing in Jamaica, crab has been off the menu. Once you spend a day watching the scurry across the beach stealing fruit from your tropical drinks, it seems wrong to eat them.



Unfortunately, I love crab cakes. Luckily, I found a recipe for zucchini cakes that promised to taste like crab, and they came pretty damn close.


The cakes take a while to put together, but are really simple.

First you have to grate the zucchini:



Then salt the zucchini, and let sit to draw out as much liquid as you can. Add chopped onion, egg, bread crumbs and old bay seasoning





Then shape into patties, and let sit in the refrigerator to firm up. They are supposed to be pan fried, but I just baked on a cookie sheet to save time, calories and cleanup.

I served with some Sriracha mayonnaise (man I love this stuff now), bulgar, and broiled tomatoes.


Again, maybe not the prettiest, but pretty damn tasty (and no crabs were hurt during the making of this meal).

I've got nothing

except for some random eats:

adorable sliders from the Port Authority Bowling Alley.

Who knew?

The sandwich that ate everyone:

(Mama's of Corona's @ CitiField)

And the fancy-pantsy spread at the American Girl Tea Party.

Seared Tuna Steak

Although they look kinda nasty in this super up close pic, they tasted great. Recipe here.

And Lemon Dilled Brussels Sprouts

Also quite nice. Did you know that the correct name is actually Brussels Sprouts? Not Brussel, Brussels. It's almost as unsettling as Canada Geese.

Back on track (for now)

This week has been going pretty well. Especially since hubby has been good about making suggestions for dinner.

This salad was inspired by one he found in a magazine, Mango and Avacado Salad, topped with Spicy Grilled Shrimp


And a side of, well, basically inedible grilled jalapeno peppers.




The Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers came out freakin AMAZING!



And, I bought myself a little present.

This shit is HOT! I hope it keeps, cause this baby is going to last me years!