The High Heeled C*ntessa

Bolognese and Home

Currently stress eating Bugles and dreading going back to NYC tomorrow after a lovely three days at home (lovely, minus my work inbox blowing up all day…the beauty of work email on your personal phone 🙂 LOVES IT).

I feel creatively repressed and personally stifled just thinking about going back to the office on Wednesday. Hence, the Bugle binge. It was so nice to be out of NYC for a few days, away from the crazies on the subway, the scents of the sewers and trash-strewn sidewalks, dealing with the MTA’s bullshit, the commute into and out of work, and of course, work itself. It’s so nice to wake up and be able to drink my coffee at a leisurely pace while watching daytime TV as opposed to swigging it down while simultaneously applying mascara. The pleasure to be had in taking a long walk while the sun is still up in the sky, or to be able cook or bake at 2pm is insurmountable. It’s so nice to have control over my own daytime schedule and not spend 10 hours a day split between commuting and sitting at a desk. I guess it’s time to become a stay-at-home cat mom, or a SAHCM. I must find a way to make this happen… even if means selling my soul to the devil (oh wait, I already did… JK).

I was able to spend some quality time with my brother and his girlfriend on Saturday, as well as with my parents. I also had a chance to hang out with my cousin at the Super Bowl party he hosted, and took a long walk with my other cousin (his mom) earlier that day. And then of course, there was the quality time spent with the family pets, which is the reason I came home in the first place – to watch them while my parents were away. I got in a couple of long walks with and without the dog, and ate a lot of deliciously unhealthy food – some of which I graciously shared with Ceely (the dog), as she came with me to the Super Bowl party with me.

Saturday night, after grocery shopping with my mom, I decided to make rigatoni Bolognese for my parents – they loved it!!! Such a great dish for the winter (even though the last couple of days were unseasonably warm).

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. of high-quality beef ( you can substitute in cooked brown lentils if you’re a vegetarian, or ground turkey if you prefer a healthier meat)
1/2 cup pancetta (OPTIONAL – I did not add this time, but I have in the past and it elevates to another level)
1 box pasta of your choice (rigatoni, spaghetti, penne, linguini all work great)
1/3 cup olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a large sauce-pan)
2 large carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1/2 of a white or yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup dry, white wine (Pinot Grigio works well!)
1 cup freshly shaved Parmesan (plus more to sprinkle over finished pasta)
1 large can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
fresh parsley
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs. dried basil
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. granulated garlic
Salt and pepper (add to desired taste)

DIRECTIONS:

Start by heating the olive oil in a large sauce pan over a low-medium heat
Add in onions and cook until a yellow-y translucent color (about 6 minutes), stirring occasionally
Add in carrots and celery and continue to cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally for another 5 min.
Add in garlic and continue to cook and stir, being careful not to burn garlic
Add in the meat (or cooked lentils) and cook for a couple of minutes over low-medium heat. If you’re cooking ground meat, break it up using the spoon or spatula (should not be left in large chunks)

Add in the white wine and simmer for about 3 minutes
Add in the can of crushed tomatoes along with the granulated garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, dried basil and oregano, and crushed red pepper; stir together and reduce to low heat
Add in the small can of tomato paste and stir in thoroughly; continue to stir and cook over a low heat.
After cooking over low heat for another 10 minutes or so, add in the heavy cream and stir
Add in the Parmesan cheese and continue to stir and cook, making sure cheese is incorporated into the sauce

Add in the fresh chopped parsley and stir
I advise taste-testing as you go along (make sure meat is cooked through before taste testing!), to ensure the sauce has a good balance – feel free to add more salt, pepper, pepper flakes, oregano/basil, or sugar if needed
Let the sauce continue to simmer over minimum heat and boil a large pot of heavily salted water for the pasta
Cook pasta according to cook time advised on packaging; once pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and either add to sauce pan, if large enough, or back to pot and then add the Bolognese sauce into the pot of pasta – stir well
Serve in bowls with freshly grated Parmesan over-top and a garnish of fresh parsley or fresh basil!
Voila! A hit every single time

I cannot wait to be reunited with my cat tomorrow – I am going to take him out in his stroller since it is going to be about 60 degrees. I hope that the rest of this week goes smoothly and work isn’t too insane, like it was last week. It will be nice to get back to the city tomorrow and be able to organize myself, clean the apartment, and make a nice meal before going back to work on Wednesday… I’m already thinking about what I can cook. That’s how much I love cooking – I dream of what I will make in advance :p

Polpette

What are polpette you ask? They’re basically a croquette – a fried meatball, wherein the meat is mixed with mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, and a bunch of seasonings and/or cheese. Oftentimes, they are stuffed with cheese, so that when you bit into it warm, it oozes out of the center. In a word, they are delicious.

Polpette are the authentic, Italian version of the bastardized Italian-American meatball. The ‘meatball’ as we know it here in the U.S., is the result of Italian immigrants making use of the abundance of meat that was readily available in every butcher shop or grocery when they moved from the homeland to New York/Brooklyn, etc.. If anyone enjoys food documentaries or cooking shows as much as I do, I highly recommend “Food on the Go.” It’s a documentary that is currently available on Netflix and is all about the evolution of Italian food into American-Italian food as we know it today! It was really informative and made me hungry for pasta, calamari, and meatballs.

The finished product: I used turkey and mashed potatoes to make these polpette, which I stuffed with mozzarella (recipe is below) – they can be served with a side of marinara or not… they’re equally delicious either way

Polpette, since they are prepared like a croquette, can be comprised of a variety of ingredients – anything from fish, veal, mortadella, or even squid. What really distinguished this ball, is the fact that it combines mashed potatoes with the protein and is fried. They originated in ancient Roman times, and today they are served as appetizers, snacks or bar food all over Italy, however, they are especially popular in Venice where you might take them as cicchetti, with a glass of afternoon wine. My favorite activity in Venice is probably sampling the variety of cicchetti each bar has to offer while drinking far too much red wine… and it’s so cheap compared to the U.S…. you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank.

Venice – I snapped this pic crossing a bridge on the way to one of my (three) favorite cicchetti bars

View from a little cicchetti bar we randomly stumbled upon while shopping… it was a Monday or Tuesday afternoon so the street was empty… nothing better than a leisurely glass of vino at 2pm when everyone else is working

To make the best possible polpette or meatballs, you should hypothetically use a combination of ground beef, ground pork, and/or veal. I don’t support the veal industry because it’s totally fucked up, and I also don’t like buying ground pork anymore because it’s impossible to find organic and ethical pig meat (unless it comes from a super small farming operation, industrial pig farms are not OK). I used turkey instead (I’m sure it was still abused, but at least it claimed itself to be cage-free, hormone free, antibiotic free, etc…). It’s pretty tasty and stays moist when combined with the milk-soaked bread crumbs and eggs.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Idaho potatoes (these will be peeled, cut, boiled, and mashed)
1-1.5 lbs. meat of your choice (turkey, or any combination of beef, pork, or veal if you’re a real sadist)
1/2 cup milk
2 slices of white bread, or baguette, or any white-ish bread you have
2 eggs
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
2 Tbs. freshly chopped parsley
1 ball fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes
Salt (add to desired taste)
Pepper (add to desired taste)
Granulated garlic ( ” ” )
Dried Basil ( ” ” )
Onion Powder ( ” ” )
Dried oregano ( ” ” )
Olive oil or canola oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

Use the potatoes to make mashed potatoes (peel, cut into large chunks, and boil in salted water until penetrable with the tines of a fork… usually 15-20 min)
You can go ahead and season the potatoes as you normally would with mashed potatoes – a generous cube of butter, salt, granulated garlic and pepper

The key to really good mashed potatoes, is leaving some of the potato water you boiled them in in the pot… not enough to make them watery though

Set potatoes aside in a large bowl – the bowl needs to be big enough for the meat to be mixed in, along with all of the other seasonings.
While the potatoes cool, chop up the parsley, which you will be adding into the mix.
Chop up the mozzarella into small cubes and set aside – you will use this to stuff the polpette when the time comes:

Next, in a separate bowl, crumble/rip up the two pieces of white bread and pour the milk over them – there should be enough liquid that it is all absorbed and all the crumbs are saturated

White bread breadcrumbs soaking in milk ^^^ this helps keep the ballz extra moist 😉

Now it’s time to combine all of the ingredients – add the meat, eggs, seasonings, milk-soaked bread crumbs, grated cheese, and fresh parsley to the big bowl holding the mashed potatoes
Set aside 1 cup of bread crumbs – you will roll the balls in this reserve before frying
Add 1 cup of the breadcrumbs to the mixture and dig in! You have to use your hands – it’s impossible to do it right with a spoon. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed – especially the eggs and breadcrumbs.
Heat up the oil in a large sauce pan/frying pan over low-medium heat – you should use enough oil that bottom of the pan is covered.
Now for the really fun part – making the ballz! Grab a small handful of the meat mixture and form it into a thick patty on your palm

The “patty” with the mozzarella in the center – next you’ll shape the meat over the mozzarella as if you’re making something with playdough

Before rolling the patty into a ball, place a cube of mozzarella in the center.
Form the meat around the cheese center, and roll into a ball
Roll the polpette in a light layer of breadcrumbs before placing in the frying pan
You can make all of the balls and set on a plate so that they’re ready to go at the same time into the frying pan, although it is unlikely that they will all fit at the same time, so you’ll probably have to do two or three batches.
Heat the over to 350 degrees and get a large baking sheet or casserole dish ready to place the fried balls in (I finish them in the oven to ensure they’re thoroughly cooked and not overly browned)
Fry the polpette over low-medium heat in the saucepan, turning with a spoon or fork to ensure all sides are evenly browned.
As they are browned on each side, remove from saucepan and place on baking sheet/casserole dish

Before going into the oven to finish cooking – notice how they’re browned on all sides… I like to sprinkle a little more chopped parsley on them for extra flavor and aesthetics

The polpette will only need about 15 minutes in the oven before they’re fully cooked through and ready to serve! These are great to re-heat the next day as well (or the next or the next… they can also be frozen)!

What a week it’s been… I can’t wait to be home-home (aka my parent’s house) for some quality R&R. Work was insane this week, and the cold made it impossible to get any walking done. I will miss my cat immensely while I’m gone – I’m riding home dirty on the Greyhound bus instead of the train, so he unfortunately has to stay here all weekend (they only allow pets on MetroNorth and NJTransit). He loves being at my parent’s house 😦 … poor thing 😦

Peep’s new cat tree – this is basically the face I made every time my phone rang at work today…

I am also looking forward to my hair appointment tomorrow to get some red low-lights added in. My hair has been going white, probably from stress. I’m not old enough for white hair yet… fuck that shit. I’ll just enhance my natural color and tell the hairdresser to concentrate the color near the front of my face where the whites are coming in hot and heavy.

Chicken Cordon Bleu and Sub-Zero Temps

Dude, it is SO F*CKING COLD…. and I am one of the few people who actually LIKES COLD!!!! It is not as cold in NYC as it is in the Mid-West right now, so I really shouldn’t be complaining. I also have a roof over my head, warm clothes, and food and wine to keep me warm and fed, so I should consider myself fortunate. I do wish I had a fireplace though, and maybe the option to call out of work tomorrow. Also, I wish I had a hot tub, some Manitobah Mukluks, and a snow suit, but I digress (next year, Santa…… 😉 )

I can’t stop dwelling on feral cats and stray dogs right now. I don’t think there are really that many stray dogs in NYC (it’s not Greece after all…), but there are probably scumbags who tie their dogs outside… I hope no one is heartless or ignorant enough to do that in this weather. I hope that all of the poor cats living on the streets were able to find some sort of shelter or slightly warmer place to hide out until this cold passes through – it’s devastatingly brutal. I have more empathy towards animals than I do humans, and I always will. A human can at least ask for help if they need it, and even homeless people have resources available when the weather is this brutal. Animals can’t ask for help or just walk into a shelter for the night. I just wish I could save all the homeless cats and dogs from life on the streets. I used to do my part by fostering cats, but that didn’t work out so well after about a year with two ferals who hid under my bed and had diarrhea issues non-stop. And all of this was DESPITE me starving to death on my lowly server’s salary while spending all my hard earned cash on the most expensive cat food available… good times.

The cold would be so much more tolerable if it were also snowing right now. We had about five minutes of snow this afternoon and that was that. It’s the only snow NYC has gotten all winter, and next week the temperature is back up into the 50s. Will we ever get snow this year? At least I’m guaranteed to have some snow when I’m at my parent’s house this weekend. Why am I writing about weather? Because I’m a loser baby.

The only upside of the cold, or going out-on-the-town in the cold, is wearing my pimp furs… I have one in almost every color now… perfect for warehouse parties and after hours 😉

I made a delicious bean chili last night, but it didn’t photograph well and is frankly a bit boring to write about. Not much of creative / hands-on process goes into making chili. I did, however, make a delicious chicken cordon bleu this past Sunday night. Although that also photographed rather unfortunately. It tasted amazing though (yes, I had to go “sometimes-etarian” and at least try it…).

Not the comeliest plating, but it was moist, flavorful, and all around delicious. Served with baked potatoes and Brussels

INGREDIENTS (** recipe below will make 4 servings):

1 1/2 – 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast (organic, free-range, antibiotic and hormone free… some Gwyneth Paltrow approved shit… preferably raised and killed by your own hand)
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
4 pieces of thinly sliced prosciutto (cooked, thinly sliced ham will substitute if your local grocery doesn’t carry proscuitto)
1 cup flour (for rolling chicken in)
2 well-beaten eggs
Salt, pepper, granulated garlic to taste
Olive oil (to coat baking pan and also drizzle over chicken)
Plastic wrap

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Set up your breading station: flour seasoned with salt and pepper (in a bowl), beaten eggs (in a bowl), and panko bread crumbs seasoned with granulated garlic, salt and pepper (also in a bowl)

This is the “breading station”: chicken rolls will first be rolled in flour, then egg, then the panko breadcrumbs before going into the baking pan (coated with olive oil) – season the flour and the panko bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic for maximum flavor

Place chicken in between two sheets of plastic wrap, one on the bottom and one on top, beat the chicken gently (LOL) with a meat hammer or a rolling pin

Next, you’re going to “fill” the chicken before rolling it up… place the prosciutto down first (one sheet per chicken cutlet) followed by the shredded gruyere

After the “prosciutto” (why do I hear Giada De Laurentiis voice saying this?) and gruyere are placed on the chicken, it is time to roll them up! Start on one end and roll it up like you would a piece of paper or sleeping bag… it should be rolled pretty tightly
Tightly wrap each finished roll in plastic wrap to help keep the shape and place in the fridge for 15 minutes

These are the pre-breaded chicken rolls, about to go into the fridge before taking a dip in the egg/breading

After you take the rolls out of the fridge, unwrap and bread one by one, placing the finished product into your baking pan (flour first, than into the egg, than rolled in the panko crumbs)
Drizzle the tops of the rolls with olive oil (this will help the breadcrumbs brown up nicely – you can also use little slices of butter on top in place of oil)

These are the stuffed and breaded chicken rolls, about to go into the oven

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 (since the chicken is pounded pretty thin, you shouldn’t need to bake much longer… maybe 35 minutes depending on how browned the breadcrumbs are looking)
To serve, cut the roll into slices so you can see that nice cross-section/swirl of ham and melted cheese; serve with a veggie or salad on the side!

I probably won’t be doing much cooking this weekend since I’m going to my parent’s to dog-sit/cat-sit the family pets. I will be doing some “meal prep” (ew…) tomorrow and Friday though, so that the fridge is full while I am away – otherwise a certain someone will eat pizza, burgers, and not a single goddamn vegetable all weekend.

I mean, who doesn’t love pizza? I almost finished off a whole one last Saturday… my new favorite pizza is from a place down the street called Chiara’s… so good

I’ll probably try to be somewhat healthy this weekend while I am at my parent’s house since my bday is fast approaching, and I will want to dress in some scandalous outfit if I go out to celebrate.

I’m sure the fridge at my parent’s house is already chock-full of my favorite foods waiting for me to devour them – that’s how they do, loading up the fridge and cupboards with my favorite things before I come home. I’ll end up sabotaging myself with a brick of pepper jack cheese from Pine Ridge and lobster mac and cheese from Wegman’s.

Oh well 🙂

Wine, Wine, and Cacio e Pepe

I was home ‘alone’ last week, and alternated between eating healthy and abstaining from wine on the nights I was actually all alone, to cooking gnocchi in cheese sauce or frying eggplant Parmesan and guzzling down the nectar of the gods in copious quantities on the nights I was with friends. There really is no in between for me…. abstinence or gluttony, all or nothing, feast or famine… give me life or give me death!

The random and “healthy” sh*t I eat when I’m alone and have no one to cook for ^ – I alternate between salads, blocks of tofu, homemade veggie soup, or weird shit I concoct using whatever I find in the cupboards. It brings me back to the days of almost starving to death while working as a waitress and having no money…good times. And yes, I take my meals in the bath tub sometimes….

Regarding my previous post on learning the art of driving stick-shift, I failed miserably at my mission and will be requiring a lot more practice. I thought I could handle jostling my boyfriend’s car around the local streets all week in accordance with NYC street-cleaning/parking regulations. However, I failed to even work up enough ballz to attempt to move the car, and had to enlist the help of my brother-in-law to move it into the parking garage. I thought I could handle it, but freaked out when I thought about accidentally flooring it with the clutch and gas, and hitting a car parked to the front or back, or stalling out in the middle of the street or intersection. I guess learning to master stick will be another goal for me in 2019.

We finally got some winter weather in NYC, although not the snow that was predicted earlier in the week – just bitter temperatures. My family (upstate) got around 18″ of the snow over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Naturally, after setting my sites on a weekend filled with glorious walks in the snow and an opportunity to camp out at home, the carpet was ripped out from under me, and temperatures were in the 40s. The weather channel predicted significant snowfall in NYC up until Friday, when the forecast suddenly called for rain. It rained all night on Saturday, and then by late Sunday night, temperatures plummeted to single-degrees.

I almost lost my favorite hat (pictured above ^^^) on Monday, when I had way too much fun at a friend’s birthday brunch party… (i.e. way too much to drink) and walked out into the 6 degree night without my hat to get into the Uber. Thankfully the restaurant had my hat when I called the next day… a true miracle. Only I would lose my warmest and most valuable hat on the coldest night of the year…. I am a mess. I guess this was karma for the fact that another friend and I accidentally took someone else’s hat by mistake on our Saturday night escapades… oopsie 😉

After my boyfriend finally returned home from Italy, I decided to make a nice pasta dish to celebrate: cacio e pepe. A classic Roman staple, this is a simple dish, using only a few ingredients, but perfect comfort food and maximum taste for a winter day.

INGREDIENTS:

1 box thick spaghetti (or bucatini, or linguini… whatever floats your boat)
Salt (to season boiling pasta water)
2 tsp freshly ground black Pepper
4 Tbs. Butter
4 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (more if desired)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (more if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat large pot of well-salted water over high heat (bring to a boil); in the meantime;
Melt butter over low heat, in a LARGE saucepan
Add freshly ground black pepper to butter, and continue to cook over lowest possible heat…. do not burn the butter!
Once water is at a heavy boil, add in pasta and cook until al dente (pasta box should provide cook times for al dente and fully done)
Stir pasta occasionally to prevent it from clumping together,
Once pasta is al dente, turn off heat, and using a measuring cup or ladle, spoon about 1/3 cup of pasta water from pot and add into the saucepan with the butter and pepper
Set aside additional pasta water – you may need a bit more later…
Drain the pasta and add the drained pasta into the pan with the sauce continuing to cook over low heat and stirring continuously
Add in (or if you’re like me, grate in directly) the cheese…. it is important the cheese is distributed evenly or it will also clump
Keep stirring and cooking over low heat, until moisture is absorbed by pasta and cheese integrates into sauce
Stir in olive oil, add more cheese or water as necessary… the sauce should be rich and fairly thick but still viscous
Grate more cheese over pasta when serving!

Learning to Drive Stick and a Very Aptly Named Steak

I am currently avoiding doing laundry because I am lazy, the basement is cold, and I hate putting clothes away when they’re done being laundered. I not only have to wash my own clothes, but I also need to do bed sheets, towels, and throw blankets… the amount of laundry I should be doing right now is overwhelming. Oh well… I’ll have all week to do laundry since I will be completely and utterly alone the entire week. Or, I can just be a dirt bag who keeps re-wearing the same clothes over and over without washing them. Nothing new there…

Since my boyfriend will be in Italy and not driving or moving the car at all this week, I will be responsible for re-parking on the necessary days. I had my “second” lesson on learning how to drive stick shift today (the first time was on the Porsche and the tire blew out…not a good first time). I don’t know how well I’m going to be able to handle parking the car, but I am going to try my best…. I’ll only have to move it a couple of times and only a few blocks max to find parking. It shouldn’t be too hard, but it IS HARD for me. Not everyone can be good at everything, you know? Teaching me to drive stick is like taking the average man and trying to teach him ballet in one day, or taking a person who lives on take-out and barely knows how to boil an egg, and asking them to make homemade pasta and sauce from scratch. We all have our strengths and weakness, and given my poor peripheral vision and lack of basic gross motor skills, driving with three pedals and parallel parking on the streets of Brooklyn certainly are NOT my strengths.

We went to the Jacob Riis beach in the Rockaways since there is a huge empty parking lot… the highlight for me was clearly the beach and not learning how to drive with 3 pedals

Anyhow, onto the topic of food! I know I said I’m trying not to eat meat this year, but since most of the people in my life do eat meat, I still occasionally cook with it (** and will make an exception for steak tartare). I usually only cook meat once every two weeks or so – the rest of time I’m making pasta or seafood dishes. When I do cook with meat, I splurge to make sure it is the best quality possible – in today’s world of global warming and factory farming, I feel it’s important to do our part where ever we can. For me, this means buying meat, eggs and poultry that I know was raised humanely on small-scale farming operations and is free of hormones and antibiotics.

Small farms are the way to go
Farm fresh!

I’ve had a bottle of amarone in the apartment for the last month and have been saving it for a special occasion, and/or to accompany a nice steak. If you know me and my affinity for good red wine, especially amarone, you’ll understand how hard it has been for me to keep my hands off that bottle for the last 5 weeks :p

Wine steward Peeps approves

I wanted to cook this on the grill, but seeing as how it was 20 degrees outside, it sadly ended up being cooked in a cast iron skillet

I decided to make a nice steak, not only to accompany the bottle of amarone (yes, I choose food to accompany the wine instead of the other way around), but also to celebrate. My boyfriend was off Friday night, and since he normally works, that was celebration enough. We decided to toast 2019 and send off 2018 with a big “F*CK YOU.” 2018 was not the best year and ended on a rather down note… but here we are, a fresh new year.

Polenta with sauteed mushrooms, a poached egg, and Gorgonzola cream sauce

Dessert was a panettone bread pudding since we have had not one, but two panettone cakes sitting in the apartment since before Christmas. Neither me nor my boyfriend, nor anyone else I have ever met actually, seems to like panettone. I’m not really keen on the orange flavor many of them have or the abundance of liquor soaked raisins. However, I made it into a rather delightful pudding with chocolate chips and served it up hot with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty damn delicious as a pudding, but required 8 eggs and like 4 cups of milk/cream!!!!

The only way to eat panettone – in a hot bread pudding.

UPDATE AS OF 01/14/2019:

I was unable to master driving stick shift in one day this weekend, and therefore am unable to park the car, which now has a ticket 🙂 I stalled in the MIDDLE of an intersection MULTIPLE times before I started crying and freaked out and had to switch seats with my boyfriend. I need a lot more practice…..

Now that I am home alone for the next 7 days, I will also probably be living on a diet of soups, salads, and random grains…. that’s what I usually eat when I have no one to cook for. Case in point, my sorry dinner tonight, that I consumed while sitting in a bubble bath, because I’m classy like that:

Bouillabaisse and Burnout

Have you ever been so tired, not just physically tired, but emotionally and mentally exhausted – so depleted of any and all patience you once had and any fucks you once gave, that you consider smashing your alarm/phone when it goes off every morning and never going into work ever again, despite the consequences? Are you so tired at the end of every work day and work week that even social engagements that should be fun seem like one more box to check off on your to-do list? You can’t even enjoy sleeping past 9am on a Saturday morning, because as you lie in bed knowing that even though you could easily sleep another 3 hours, you think about all the errands and cleaning you need to get done that you didn’t have time for on the week days? If this sounds like you…. welcome to the club, friend.

I never realized how exhausting daily life is until maybe around two years ago, when I actually started caring about the things I didn’t when I was 25… things like moisturizing my aging skin, washing off my makeup after being out late, making sure I have essentials like coffee, paper towels and toilet paper stocked before they run out and I wake up to no coffee and no TP, following up with friends, keeping a semi-full fridge so I can make real food instead of living on rice and frozen peas, and keeping mostly spotless floors and counter tops. Shit is exhausting on top of working full time to pay rent and bills! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I have no idea how my mom worked full time, cooked most nights of the week, and juggled three kids and their respective schedules. I just juggle myself, a boyfriend and one very demanding cat, and it’s all I can do not to collapse on the couch as soon as I am home from work every day.

My VERY demanding cat ^^^

I’ve been thinking about the term “burnout” a lot today, after reading a pretty good article about it’s effect on my generation. I’m lucky I have a good full-time job and am not juggling multiple gigs, or even worse, unemployed and dealing with the stress of finding work. I am also lucky that I don’t have to worry about taking care of kids on top of everything else at this point in my life (although kids are a conscious CHOICE), so I shouldn’t complain, but goddamn I need a vacation or a life style change.

I think a change of city, state, or preferably country is in order. I think a simpler life, a life with less stress, could be achieved if I didn’t live in such a hard city to get by in. NYC is brutally exhausting. Time moves so fast and doesn’t stop for anyone or anything. I know that is true of anywhere, especially as one grows older and begins to feel time tick by in a way it doesn’t when you’re still an adolescent. However, I feel like there are places where people force themselves to slow down and appreciate the simple pleasures of life and the beauty of life and people who surround them – dinners with family and friends, grocery shopping and meal preparation on a Sunday afternoon; nature and all of its offerings, a work culture with ACTUAL FUCKING VACATIONS AND HOLIDAYS (Cough**ALL OF EUROPE! **Cough!), a work culture where you and your spouse will have substantial and PAID time off of work following the addition of a new child to the family. This…. THIS is the kind of life I want. I’m tired of living in a country where basic human needs aren’t met unless you score a decent job. Shouldn’t everyone be entitled to healthcare, good education, and paid maternity/paternity leave? I’m also so tired of the fucking rat race that is NYC. Why do I continue to live here? What reward do I get each day for making myself submit to the horrors of the MTA and hourly commute to and from the office? A paycheck that just about covers rent and bills? Is that a reward? I’m not rich…. and I certainly never will be if I continue living here and doing what I am doing for a living now throwing so much money to the wind each month for an apartment I will never own. Honestly, the only good things about living here at this point, are being close to my family, being in a hub of creative, liberal, and open-minded people, the endless amount of things to do, good places to eat, and places to party … oh, and the fact that every decent band or musical artist ALWAYS plays NYC….

The only thing I will truly miss about this city when I finally leave, are the abundance of good parties… does Vermont have after-hours? Does Venice have 24 hour day-time parties? I don’t think so….

I digress. Back to the food! Cooking is the one thing that a lot of people consider just another chore or something they need to do if they want to eat at the end of the day. I want to live in a place where it’s a way of life – slowly prepared and slowly eaten meals, enjoyed in the company of those you love with copious amounts of wine, and laughter. I want to be a part of a culture where food isn’t processed, cooked and eaten on the fly. Fuck Chipotle, and fucked your Chop’t salads. I want a finely aged balsamic vinegar, I want cured fish, and homemade pasta that it took someone all day to prepare.

I spent my Sunday actually relaxing. For me, this meant not leaving the apartment until 5pm to go to the grocery store. I decided to make another rich soup/stew, and because I wanted to cook a time-consuming dish, one that would allow me the pleasure of standing over the stove stirring a pot for 2 hours while simultaneously chopping produce and sipping wine, I decided to make bouillabaisse, which if you are unfamiliar, is a french seafood/fish stew.

INGREDIENTS:

*** NOTE: This is a pretty expensive dish to make – so I would suggest making for a hot date or a special occasion or cooking for someone you really love and/or someone you want to impress! Feel free to improvise with the fresh seafood – clams can be substituted for the mussels, fresh lobster if you’re feeling extra decadent and rich and willing to cook and clean it separately, or even calamari!***

4 cups (32 Oz.) Seafood Stock
A few threads of saffron (** hard to find and really pricey – this shit is like $20 for a few threads…)
1 fillet (about 1 pound) of cod or haddock
1/2 lb. of raw shrimp
1 bag of fresh mussels (clean and scrub outer shells)
1/2 lb. scallops
1 cup white wine (dry, not sweet)
1 small can tomato paste
1-2 cups water
1 large can crushed tomatoes (San Marzano is preferable)
1 small carton of grape or cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved
2 bay leaves (dried are fine)
2 bulbs of fennel with the stalks attached (you’ll need the feathery leaves) (chop fennel into ribbons – set aside green feathery herb bits)
1 sack of small yellow or red potatoes, chopped in halves (the small round ones, or fingerlings)
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 of a white onion, finely chopped
1-2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil
french baguette or a good loaf of french-style peasant bread, sliced, drizzled with olive oil and lightly toasted in over (bake for like 6 minutes at 400 degrees to golden brown)

Saffron threads… found in the spice aisle. Literally priced like gold. This will set you back $10-20 depending on weight

DIRECTIONS:

Figure it out yourself.

JK!…. I’m so funny sometimes :p

Heat oil in large soup pot, add in onions and sautee over low heat until translucent and yellow.
Add in garlic AND bay leaves, and continue cooking over low heat for another couple of minutes… DO NOT BURN GARLIC!
Add in fennel and celery, continue cooking over low heat for another 7 minutes or so.
Add in chopped cherry/grape tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Pour entire box of seafood stock into pot; add in entire can of tomato paste, and entire can of crushed tomatoes; add water as you see fit… probably around 1 cup or so.
Bring to a boil and then reduced heat.
***OPTIONAL*** (but also preferable): Blend about 3/4 contents of the pot in a blender and return to pot…. this will create a thicker, heartier stew as opposed to a lighter broth. If you are making bouillabaisse in true French style; you would actually blend everything in the pot, and then pass all liquid back through a strainer so as to ONLY have broth and then throw out any remaining pulp/chopped veggies.
Once you have attained the thickness/consistency you prefer for liquid portion of the soup by blending or not blending, straining or not straining, add in the potatoes and bring to boil.
Add in a few threads (a generous pinch) of saffron, along with cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt and pepper… this is the part of cooking where you use half your spoons to keep tasting your soup :p
Continue cooking at a low boil until potatoes are soft (use the fork to test).
Add in 1 cup of white wine and reduce heat to low-medium.
Add in the mussels and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in the shrimp and scallops, cook another 3 minutes.
Add in the fish and cook another 4 minutes.
DO NOT OVERCOOK once the seafood has gone in, so as to avoid tough or rubbery seafood.
Serve hot with toasted bread and garnish of chopped fennel herb!!!

Fennel bulb and fennel “herbs”… those feathery green parts are what you will use for extra garnish and flavor once you serve the soup. Fennel has a structure similar to onions with layers.

Onion, garlic, bay leaves, and fennel …. next, the tomatoes go into cook, followed by all of the liquids

I suggest removing the bay leaves, and then blending about half of the contents of the pot once all liquids are added and fennel and tomatoes are soft.

Consistency of soup after blending, and before adding potatoes and seafood… thick, and opaque, but not puree or too thick… should still be broth-like
Saffron!!!!!

Make sure mussels are well scrubbed and rinsed prior to going into soup to eliminate any dirt or grit… also, be careful eating soup; you never know when a shell may have broken off and you don’t want to break your teefs

Soup For the Soul – New Year’s Introspection and Borscht

Another year has come and gone, and we are back to the boring, dismal, no-holiday-having month that is January. I don’t mind winter – I honestly love winter, as long as there is snow and not the dreary, depressing rain that is falling today. Today’s nasty rain is especially devastating, since most of the pretty Christmas lights have been taken down and everyone has kicked their poor tree to the curb. If snow was falling, I don’t think the city would feel so drab right now. NYC currently feels like a hole I can’t escape from – but we’ll leave that topic for another day.

I’m obsessed with Christmas lights and Christmas trees… my aunt and uncle’s tree is always one of my faves because they use those old fashioned bubbler lights

I always get sad when both Christmas and NYE are over…. people return to their foul, sour-faced, pretentious city-dweller dispositions instead of the fake, cheerful ones they assume during the holidays – smiling and wishing everyone well with a smile on their face. Now it’s back to avoiding eye contact and looking miserable with a sour face on the subway. If I ruled the world, every day would be Christmas! I kid, I kid…

Me and my “son,” Mr. Peeper (aka Peeps). We both love Christmas, cheese, and rolling around on the shag carpet

Now that the holidays are officially over, it is time to start planning something to look forward to again and working towards my New Year’s goals (hence me sitting here working on this blog). I am trying to invest more time into writing again, whether it’s about food, short-stories, or just general, self-centered thoughts. The older I have become, the harder it is to find enough time in the day for all the things I not only have to do, but want to do. Work, and commuting to and from work, takes up such a large portion of each day, week, month, and year, that I now truly understand why it is important to love the work you do…. If I can’t make a full time living doing what I want to do at this point in my life, I can at least devote as much time as possible to work towards those goals.

Between work, general household upkeep, maintaining my cat, maintaining relationships, cooking/cleaning, errands, and self-care, it sometimes seems like one more chore to make myself sit in front of my computer at night and write. Although, once I do sit down and start writing, it is never a chore; quite the opposite. Writing is like cooking is for me – pleasurable, relaxing, and often times hard to put a cap on it once I start.

Since we are in the throes of winter (despite the lack of snow thanks to global warming), my next few blogs will focus on comfort food and soups. Honestly though, I’m not sure who I’m trying to kid… pretty much everything I cook seems to constitute as comfort food, given that it’s usually laden with cheese, wine soaked, or carb heavy. Comfort food and comfort soup is the way to go when the weather is cold.

I had never made borscht before, but I had a craving for beets (I’ve always love beets and I always will…) and also for a thick, pureed soup, so it was only natural that borscht was on the menu! Since one of my other New Year’s goals is to completely cut out meat from my diet, I made a vegetarian borscht using vegetable stock in place of beef stock, and obviously did not put any beef in the soup.

The finished product: Thick as hell, topped with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill

INGREDIENTS:

4 fresh, large beets (or 5-6 smaller ones) (**beets should be cleaned, skinned/peeled, and cubed)
2 medium-sized carrots (chopped)
1/2 of a large white onion (finely chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (finely minced)
2 stalks of celery
1 large potato (Idaho or russet)
1 cup thinly chopped cabbage
2 bay leaves (dried are fine)
3 tablespoons of olive oil and/or butter
4 cups (one 32 oz. carton) of vegetable stock
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 TBS white vinegar
1 tsp celery salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream*to garnish
fresh dill *to garnish
YOU WILL NEED A BLENDER OR IMMERSION BLENDER!!!!

DIRECTIONS:

Prep the veggies – the beets should be washed, peeled (using a regular carrot/apple peeler), and cut into cube size chunks; carrots should be chopped, onion finely chopped, garlic finely minced, potato chopped into cubes, celery chopped, and cabbage thinly sliced and set aside (this will go in to cook when everything else has been blended)
In a large pot, heat olive oil and/or butter (I prefer a combination of the two for added richness) over low heat, add in the onions stirring occasionally and cooking over low-heat until translucent and yellow.
Add in the garlic and bay leaves and continue to cook over low heat for another minute or two. DO NOT BURN GARLIC.
Add in all of the other veggies, APART FROM THE CABBAGE (beets, carrots, celery, and potato), and then add in entire container of stock.
Increase heat to medium temperature so that the contents of the pot comes to a low boil. Continue to cook over medium heat for about 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check to see that vegetables are thoroughly cooked (soft) by poking with a fork. I suggest testing the beets and potatoes this way, since they will be the last to finish cooking.
REMOVE THE BAY LEAVES BEFORE BLENDING!
Using an immersion blender or a ladle to move soup into an actual blender, blend around 3/4 of the contents of the pot of soup. This creates a rich, thick puree, but also leaves some chunks of veggies for texture and aesthetic.
Continue to keep soup over medium heat once fully blended, add in the cabbage, smoked paprika, celery salt, pinch of cayenne, and regular salt/black pepper to suit your tastes (**the smoked paprika gives it a richer, smokier flavor and complements the earthiness of the beets!)
Once the cabbage is cooked through, add in the vinegar and stir
Serve hot, with a generous dollop of sour cream in the middle of the bowl (it takes it to another level that is orgasmic to the taste buds), and some fresh dill.

I also served some potato and cheese pierogies on the side to make it a heartier meal!!!! Very Eastern European…. but hey – when you’re just a boring, fourth-generation American, you’re allowed to pick and choose which 25% of your ethnic background you occasionally want to play up… on this day we went with the polski :p

Such a beautiful color – just be careful you don’t wear white while cooking 😉 Beets are also really good for you – not that I actually give a f*ck, but they’re loaded with fiber and vitamin C

There are so many other soup recipes I plan to share in the upcoming weeks; everything from my mom’s seafood chowder, to a thick-ass split pea soup, to a Tuscan bread soup called Ribollita. I just fucking love soup – I could probably live on a diet of soups, chowders, and stews!

Twelve Days of Christmas

We are currently on day 3 of Christmas… that’s right, Christmas is NOT over until January 6th, and if you’re the kind of sick, sad individual who rips your tree down on the night of the 25th or even the 26th, you should know that I don’t like your kind…

I like to keep the Christmas spirit and music going for as long as possible… I mean, we spend an entire month prepping for the holiday; why should it be over in 24 hours? I digress though – I am back in NYC after spending four lovely days with my family upstate. It was so nice to be home in the country, with snow falling, a fire burning in the wood stove, my mom’s cooking (that’s where I got my skillz yo’), and spending time with my family!

After four consecutive days of eating from sunup to sundown, however, I am now on a NYE diet so that I can look extra hot in my skin-tight, crotch-high dress. Therefore, I will be subsisting on a diet of wine and salad until Tuesday. And, so help me God, if I encounter one more food-pusher with a tray of Christmas cookies in-hand or one more invitation to a pizza party I am going to snap.

I made a vegan (well… ‘almost’ vegan, apart from the butter… ) green bean casserole from scratch for Christmas dinner, as well as a French fruit tarte! I’m obviously not a vegan, and sadly, not even a vegetarian, although I aspire to be a vegetarian in the new year (***apart from steak tartare, because it’s my favorite dish of all time). I just can’t quit steak tartare, especially from Quality Meats (my favorite dish ever!).

For the green bean casserole, I made the ‘cream of mushroom’ soup from scratch. I won’t provide the full recipe or instructions, because I am lazy and drinking wine, but I’ll give you premise:

Sautee onions, garlic, and fresh mushrooms (baby bella and white) in olive oil, or (if you can’t commit to being fully vegan, like myself) BUTTER… believe me, butter makes a big difference when the rest of the dish is vegan.
Make an EXTRA THICK mushroom soup from scratch; make a roux using flour and butter (or if you’re actually a vegan substitute the butter for olive oil)
Add CASHEW or ALMOND MILK (UNSWEETENED) in place of cow milk for the soup
Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock

^^^ This is the fruit tarte I made for Christmas dessert! I was (and am) just so fucking sick of baked goods like cookies and cakes at this point, that when I was designated to make a dessert for Christmas dinner, I decided we needed something quasi-fresh. Enter the French fruit tarte. It was my first time making one, and I pulled from a few different recipes to make my own.

Again, I’m too lazy to provide a full recipe and break-down of the procedure. If I were to do it different, instead of making a puff pastry crust as I did, I would make a graham cracker crust used for a cheesecake.

So much for my diet… I just an entire pizza from Forcella….

I’ll leave you with some pictures of cheese plates I recently made… and am also trying to quit in the New Year, since I don’t want to eat abused animals or abused animal product:

Oh well.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year…

Finishing the Week Right…

After a full week of social engagements, too much boozing, and dinners out (not to mention drunken taco binges at 1am), I was relieved to have finally made it through to Sunday… my only day of rest and the only day I didn’t have any commitments apart from relaxing and sleeping in. Given that my Saturday night was spent getting rather plastered at a good friend’s annual Christmas party, I’m not exactly sure how I woke up sans-hangover (a Christmas miracle I’d say!) or how I was able to sleep past 7am. I must have narrowly escaped it the former through the consumption of the two generous bowls of fettucini I had after I stumbled home at 2am.

I digress though – Welcome to my new blog, where I will take you on a magical journey through my cooking, recipes, meal-planning, dining and wining endeavors, occasional travel, and generally degenerate escapades! Let’s get started…

Sunday’s finished product: Homemade gnocchi with taleggio cream sauce and shaved black truffle

I slept in until 11am on Sunday, which is pretty much impossible these days given my advanced age, weekday wake up call time of 6:30am, relentlessly harassing cat, and general guilt over laying in bed past 9am. I made a trip to Eataly (if you’ve never been, I suggest visiting!) with big plans to make homemade gnocchi and purchase a truffle for said dish.

The ricotta was my favorite… along with the Parmesan cheese, dipped in honey (if you’ve never dipped Parmesan in honey, try it – you will never want one without the other again)!

I arrived in need of a glass of wine (red, naturally), so my boyfriend and I had shared a cheese plate and partook in some vino rosso before continuing with our shopping.

I must say, as great as Eataly is for pretty much anything Italian (cheeses, pastas, cured meats, candies), fresh meats and seafood, and even fresh produce, the truffles seemed a bit over-priced. Chelsea Market has much better pricing for truffles, and next time I will remember that.

The gnocchi takes about 2.5 hours to prepare from start to finish, so this is the perfect recipe if you have a free week-night or slow-paced Sunday free of time constraints (***most people would argue a meal that takes almost 3 hours to prepare is anything BUT relaxing… kneading and chopping shit helps me relax).

I never measure anything by weight or measuring cups when I cook – I go on taste and knowledge only (it’s only really necessary to measure accurately when baking). Because of this, I am not the best at translating my recipes for other people’s use… a lot of things in cooking are trial and error, knowing what flavors compliment each other, and also knowing when too much is too much (ie. salt, oil, sugar, etc.).

For the gnocchi:

3 large russet or Idaho potatoes, or 4 smaller ones
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
sprinkle of salt
1 1/2 cup – 2 cups flour

Pierce the potatoes with a fork and bake at 425 for an hour. You can check to see if the potatoes are baked long enough by stabbing with a fork when you take them out (if the fork doesn’t go smoothly in, they need more time).
Cut the potatoes in half while they’re still warm, and scoop the insides into a large bowl (no skins!)
Use a fork or a whisk to mash down the potatoes… try to make sure there are no lumps
Once the potatoes are a smooth consistency, add in (1) beaten egg and mix; add in the Parmesan, salt and flour next, stirring and then kneading to a dough consistency (keep adding flour as kneaded… dough should not be sticky or you won’t be able to roll it out)
Once the dough has a good consistency, separate it into quarters and roll into ropes on a WELL-FLOURED surface or counter top. The dough ropes should be no thicker than your thumb
Use a sharp knife to cut the ropes into the gnocchi – they should look like little pillows and each be about the size of a piece of a chiclet
Optional: for added texture, and for the purposes of holding more sauce, you can use the tines of the fork to make indentations on each individual gnocchi (this will add another 45 min on the process)
Add the gnocchi to a pot of BOILING (and yes, it must be boiling) and heavily salted pot of water…. have a slatted spoon ready to scoop them out – they only take about 2 minutes to cook since they’re fresh and homemade

You can use pretty much any sauce you want, store bought or homemade…. gnocchi are like pasta and very versatile. If you prepare them right, they should be light and fluffy, and not heavy or dense. I like to use fresh tomato sauce, or as seen above, make a cream sauce using heavy cream and melted cheese (taleggio, gorgonzola dolce, or any other soft cheese works well). It’s best to use a double boiler for this step (Google can show you how).

I topped it all off with that expensive AF truffle, pictured above. That lil’ baby was $50 for 12 grams! A little bit goes a long way though. I would also recommend a good truffle oil if you cannot find fresh truffle – the oil is often times more flavorful and fragrant I find 🙂