A great Spring martini I discovered last week combines Bombay Sapphire gin with Lillet and St Germain elderflower liqueur.
Lillet is a French aperitif that blends white wine with orange and lemon liqueurs. It's very light and mild--not at all like the lighter fluid aperitifs, sambuca and grappa, or the herbal aperitifs, amaro and bitters. Like Lillet, Elderflower liqueur exhibits milder flavors and smells. Made from fresh picked Alpine elderflowers and elderberries, St. Germain has a light pink hue and a sweet floral nose.
I'm not sure what parts Lillet, St Germain and gin are called for but I don't think you can go wrong with trial and error. Serve in a martini glass with a lemon rind garnish.
Last week I came across an oyster dish at Grand Central Oyster Bar I've never seen before--broiled oysters on the half shell topped with bourbon butter and pecans. The oysters were cooked just a little--not searing hot like they are when served "rockefeller"--with a dash of the bourbon butter and a small pecan donning each shell. Serving the pecans chopped, not whole, made them more of a garnish than anything. Good move.
I told Jonathan a while ago I felt like Durham/Chapel Hill has more "locavore" restaurants than Santa Monica--which is to say a lot considering the fact that Santa Monica hosts 3 farmers markets every week all year long. All of the restaurants that Jonathan reviews on his blog posts seem to take such care to feature local, seasonal products. The NY Times agrees....
My back up for Friday night was a Salmon dish that I also thought up in Fresh Market. I ended up making it on Saturday for my roommate and myself. Salmon is one of my favorite foods, and while I prefer Pacific Salmon, I always go for fresh fish and it is extremely hard to get any Salmon other than Atlantic that has not been previously frozen in NC. And even though I prefer Pacific, Atlantic Salmon is great in its own right.
-Ingredients: 1 lb of Atlantic Salmon, one Meyer lemon, fresh dill, fresh basil, fresh garlic, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar
-Place Extra Virgin Olive Oil in pan on medium heat
-Add Salmon to pan skin side down, heat for 5 minutes and then turn over for 5 additional minutes
-Top salmon with chopped dill and slice of lemon, and put in 400 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes depending on desired doneness
-Blanch asparagus in boiling water for 1to 2 minutes; add to bowl with balsamic vinegar, olive oil chopped garlic, and juice of one lemon
-Place in preheated 400 degree oven for 10 mins
-Mix tomatoes in bowl with olive oil, chopped basil and balsamic vinegar
-Add cherry tomatoes to oven for 20 mins
This is an unbelievably simple dish, that is easy to make, and even easier to clean your plate!
On Friday night I was luckily enough to host a wonderful Colombian woman who I am quite fond of, at my home for dinner. I went back and forth when deciding what to serve, and with some help from my work girlfriend Jenny and the imagination starter that is The Fresh Market, here is how it turned out:
Ingredients: 2 10oz grass fed beef tenderloin steaks, 1 pint of brussel sprouts, 1 pint of gemstone fingerling potatoes, 1 sweet onion, 1 red bell pepper & 1 yellow bell pepper, chili garlic paste, fresh rosemary and thyme, and one lemon
-Cut larger potatoes in half, long ways, use smaller ones whole
-Coat in olive oil, rosemary and thyme
-Place in 400 degree oven for one hour
-Juliane the onion and peppers, coat with worchestire, minimal amount of chili garlic paste, juice of half a lemon, and extra virgin olive oil
-Add to sauté pan at medium high heat, cook until caramelization begins (8 to 10 mins), then lower to medium heat for another 8 to 10 mins
-Peppers and onions will be caramelized and cooked down a great deal
-Heat cast iron skillet to med high with 1 pad of butter, 1 to 2 tablespoon(s) of extra virgin olive oil and worchestire
-Place steaks in hot pan, 5 mins on each side
-Put steaks into 400 degree oven for 7 mins
-Take steaks out of oven; rest on plate with tented aluminum foil for 10 mins
-Cut the bottom off of the brussel sprouts, then cut in half long ways
-Add cut side down to the pan that the steaks were seared in, (add more worchestire, butter, olive oil, if needed)
-Cook for 5 mins on medium high heat, lower heat to medium; add red wine to deglaze the pan and turn brussel sprouts over in pan until wine reduces
-Place sautéed peppers and onions on top of steak, and serve with potatoes and brussel sprouts. You can time all of these elements to come together at the same time, it takes a little forward thinking and the use of quite a few dishes, but it is definitely worth it!
After a particularly hard day at work, my friend Megan and I headed to a Carrboro staple, Milltown. I often shy away from this heavily trafficked venue because of the many bad experiences I have had in the past, but I was in the mood for a good beer and a nice warm hearty meal, two things that Milltown does well.
I ordered the cheddar and beer soup, which was a comforting warm bowl containing big flavors, served with some crusty bread. For my entrée I had the vegetarian sliders. These were wonderful black bean cakes, cooked down and melded with a variety of herbs and spices. Many times people talk about a meaty flavor and texture in things like a veggie burger or a mushroom dish. I often laugh this off, nothing can taste like meat except meat, this case seemed to be the exception. With some melted gruyere cheese on top, and accompanied by sweet potato chips, these sliders were off the meter. After a few beers Megan and I were ready to go home, unfortunately here comes the rub. One of the reasons I have such disdain for Milltown is the subpar service. Milltown is the illustration of all of the negative aspects of Carrboro, waiters and waitresses who feel as if you are lucky to be served by them. We waited for over 30 minutes just to get someone’s attention and ask for the check, and then it was another 10 before we could get that. The crazy thing is they weren’t even busy. I had a great meal at Milltown, and almost forgot why I never go there, but unfortunately the taste left in my mouth was not that of a delicious veggie slider, but that of their usual horrendous service.
Over the past few years tapas have become all the rage. Tapas bars have sprang up all across America, and countless fine dining establishments have added a small plates section to their menus. To me, tapas are a double edged sword. They are perfect for someone with my inability to choose one item off of the menu, but they often end up wreaking having on your wallet. Recently the concept of the wine bar has supplanted tapas bars on the scene, but in name only. They are basically the same thing, except tapas are now called small plates. I have visited more than a few of these establishments, and Glasshalful in Carborro is definitely my favorite.
I made my first trip to Glasshalfull last weekend with my roommate and my sister, two of my most consistent dining companions. We shared five different plates, four from the small plates menu and one large plate. The large plate was a NC Bouillabaisse, with shrimp, red snapper and mussels, simmered in a crustacean fennel broth with leek and saffron. It was unbelievably full bodied and flavorful. Was it a large plate? I don’t know about that, but it definitely was a great plate.
Small Plates:
-Crispy Calamari with peppadew peppers, garlic butter and parmesan cheese. You could tell the calamari was local because of its smaller size, and you could tell it was fresh because it’s amazing taste. Lightly breaded, cooked to perfection, this was some of the best calamari I have had in a while. With just a squeeze of lemon, it was to die for. I am glad, because the aioli was not doing it for any of us.
-The Cheese Plate, with spiced Chevre, sheep’s milk Manchego, and Ba Ba Bleu, which is also a sheep’s milk cheese. The cheeses were served with Morello cherries, quince paste and shaved pear. All of the cheeses were delicious, as were their accoutrements, the Manchego was my favorite, but it almost always is.
-Grilled Chicken Brochette Oreganato, which are herbed crusted chicken skewers, served with artichokes in a chicken jus. Chicken is probably the meat I eat the most of at home and order the least of at restaurants. This chicken was perfectly spiced, perfectly cooked and a surprisingly good if not uninspired, choice from my roommate.
- House Cured Gravlax, my favorite dish of the night, lightly cured salmon, salty capers, tangy pickled shallots, cool crème fraiche and tasty buckwheat blinis. This was the definition of a well put together dish. All of these ingredients were tame on their own, but together they form a symphony in your mouth.
For desert we had the chevre cheesecake, and the homemade banana pudding. There are some things that cannot be churched up; banana pudding is one of them. They tried it with butter cookies instead of Nilla Wafers, somehow just not the same, too hard, not as good. The cheesecake on the other hand, was a hit. I have had many a goat cheese, cheesecake, never one that I did not enjoy.
With our meal we had a great Spanish Red and a nice Pinot Noir, unfortunately we had enough to where I cannot remember much about these wines, other than the fact that they went down very easily. Glasshalfull is a wine bar with a great atmosphere, upscale décor, a nice bar, delectable plates and of course, awesome wine.
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