Awful For You Oatmeal

A friend sent me this article by Mark Bittman from The New York Times about McDonald's oatmeal.  One highlight includes the fact that McDonald's oatmeal is only 10 calories less than their cheeseburger.  Way to go McDonald's.  Click here to read the entire article about how McDonald's ruined perfectly nutritious oatmeal.

Click here for my snickerdoodle recipe.

So Long Minimalist Column :(

Photo from Yes! website.

So I am a little late posting this, okay like 2 weeks late, but Mark Bittman's Minimalist Column is coming to a close.  Oh how I will miss it!  Click here to read the article in The New York Times.  And click here for Mark's top 25 Minimalist recipes.

If you are looking to make some Valentine's Day cookies, click here.

Or if you are in the mood for a Mexican dish, click here.

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Toasted Garlic, and Bread Crumbs

Here is a simple pasta recipe that I have been making for a couple years, using broccoli rabe, some stale bread, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Have you ever watched The Minimalist with Mark Bittman?  I love this New York Times series.  It is sweet and to the point, and this is where the recipe came from.

Here are the ingredients for Mark Bittman's Spaghetti with Broccoli Rabe, serves 4 to 6:
-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
-3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and slivered
-A chunk of stale piece of bread to make about 1 cup of bread crumbs, chop into small pieces
-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
-About 1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed, washed, and roughly chopped
-1 pound of spaghetti, linguine, or other long pasta
-Freshly ground black pepper
-Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

-Salt

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add broccoli rabe and cook uncovered until tender, about 5 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well.  Set aside.  Add pasta to the water, and cook until done.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  When oil is warm, cook garlic until it is toasted to golden brown.  Be careful not to burn.  Remove garlic with slotted spoon, and then add bread crumbs and red pepper flakes.  Cook until golden, about 5 minutes.  Remove and set aside.

When pasta is done, drain it, reserving a little cooking water.  Toss pasta in skillet with broccoli rabe mixture, moistening with a little reserved water if necessary.  Adjust seasonings and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

Click here to watch Mark's video for the recipe.

Check out the first ice cream I ever made (last year) - Chocolate!  Click here.

Montreal Food Guide - Part Une

A few weeks ago, a couple of my friends and I took an eleven hour train ride up to Montreal, Quebec from NYC. The Amtrak train ride was long, but much more enjoyable than flying and not to mention cheaper! For me the best part was the view of the fall leaves throughout the Hudson Valley and of course eating tons of snacks.
I stuffed one Baggu bag full of various goodies such as: Cheddar Bunnies, Ginger Snaps, Fig Newmans, Wasbabi peas, rice crackers, Pumpkin Flax granola bars, apples, bananas, Tazo tea, and Volvic water. Plus there is the dining car, but microwaved chicken sandwiches for some reason didn't interest me.

Siamese Cheddar Bunnies - Photo by AWD

By the time the train arrived in Montreal, it was dinner time and we dropped our luggage off at the Hotel St. Paul and walked through Old Montreal to a restaurant called Garde Manger. I had read about it on Chow Hound and The New York Times. We made it there and walked into a trendy yet cozy interior. Unfortunately, we were denied a table because we needed a reservation and no waiting was allowed. What? So my friend and I foolishly decided to just walk to a restaurant that seemed to be close by called Joe Beef. After about a mile in the misty rain on a desolate street we arrived at Joe Beef only to find out that they too only took reservations. Now I was becoming irritated, so we decided to check next door at a place called McKeirnan as our last option since was already 9:30 pm. Come to find out, McKeirnan is actually connected to Joe Beef and is advertised as a luncheonette more than as place to eat dinner. We walked into the small, dimly-lit restaurant with tile floors and a tin ceiling lined with small tables and a chalk board high up on the wall stating its menu. To the right of the menu was the open kitchen with a robust chef with a thick Québécois accent. The menu looked rustic and hearty, but definitely not suited for a vegetarian. The only option I had was an eggplant sandwich, and I am not a huge fan of the vegetable. When I told to the chef I wanted the sandwich - he informed me that it was "too pedestrian for tonight." So surprisingly he ran downstairs and brought me up a piece of fish and ended up preparing an on-the-spot dish of mashed potatoes, toasted pecans and pine nuts, topped with fish. The dishes were served in these adorable white enameled cast iron pieces. It really hit the spot. Both the chef and the cute waiter were so nice, and chatted us up after we finished our meals, giving us places to find a beer. I unfortunately did not bring my camera along, but below I attempted to draw my meal. Later that night we made it to Snack'n Blues - a place suggested to us my our waiter in the Mile End neighborhood. It was amazing - cheese puffs in bowls and a projector displaying Prince live in concert from the nineties.

The next day after getting a tour of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, we made our way to Olive + Gourmando, a little cafe and bakery I had been dying to go to. The place is in Old Montreal and is bustling. You are first seated and the host places a sign at your table that says "Reserved." Then you are suppose to get up and order at a counter. The menu is located on a chalk board and is in French.
I ended up getting roasted red pepper and tomato soup and my friend got the Cubain - a panini filled with ham, braised pork, homemade mayonnaise, and gruyère cheese. The soup was delicious, and my friend gave the panini a 7 out of 10. At the end of our meal we were confused on how to pay, because we never got a ticket, but the waitress assured us that when we got to the pay counter that they would know what we had ordered. And sure enough, somehow they did, but before we paid we got a chocolate banana brioche and one palmier to take back to the hotel.
We decided to have a dessert competition between the brioche, palmier, and our Fig Newman Reduced Fat cookies from our train ride. The chocolate banana brioche was just alright. The chocolate was kind of dry and chunky and only every once in a while did you get a slice of banana. For all the trouble it was to eat, it definitely wasn't worth it.
The palmier was thickly coated with a dry simple syrup. The coating was so thick that it kind of hurt your teeth to bite into it - revealing its flaky texture inside. If it hadn't had been so rock hard I probably would have liked it better.
I was so disappointed, but then I remembered the Fig Newmans. These cookies were soft and filled with delicious sweet figs. You really couldn't beat them, and the other two desserts didn't stand a chance. The Fig Newmans won hands down!
Later that night after going to the Festival du Nouveau Cinema and seeing Mary and Max, a touching claymation about an 8 year old Australian girl who is pen pals with a forty year old New York man with Asberger's, we went to the French bistro called L'Express. We had gotten smart and made a reservation. L'Express was brightly lit and had tall ceilings and tiny tables lined up throughout the restaurant. The waiters were all wearing crisp , white dress shirts with black ties and vests.
We sat down with our French menus and fortunately the waiter brought us English versions so we could order appetizers - chicken pate for my friend and a vegetable soup for me (it had chicken broth - oh well). While waiting, the waiter brought us a jar of baby pickles. Seriously, they were probably our favorite thing we ate the entire weekend. I ended up not finishing my meal so I could eat more pickles. After appetizers came my white fish with vegetables and my friend had the steak and frites. Both meals were cooked perfectly, except for a few small bones I found in my fish.
More on Montreal and their food later. Look out for second post on Canadian Thanksgiving, Montreal bagels, and their specialty - poutine.
For more on Montreal restaurants, click here for The New York Times' suggestions.

For Part Deux of my food guide, click here.
 

David Fishman

Photo taken by Adam Nadal.

I am so glad I finally watched the recorded episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay's Sloppy Joe competition. I wasn't really into the episode (because I am straight up disgusted by sloppy joes) until the judges were announced. Since sloppy joes is a classic kids' favorite, the show decided to get 12 year old food critic David Fishman. As I heard David talk about the sloppy joes my mouth was hanging open the entire time. Click here to read The New York Times article about David or just google him and you can watch clips of him on the Today Show or Rachel Ray (if you can stand to watch any of those hosts).

Better yet, tune in on September 5th at 10:30 pm (Eastern) and September 6th at 1:30 am (Eastern) to watch the original sloppy joe episode.

Commander in Chef

Image taken from www.sunsentinal.com

Please read the Op-Ed New York Times article by Amanda Hesser titled "The Commander in Chef." Amanda argues a valid point that Michelle Obama doesn't cook, despite the fact that part of Michelle's platform is eating locally. What is the point of buying fresh, local food if you don't know how to cook it? Click here to read Amanda's article.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple people have told me that the chocolate chip cookies at The City Bakery are the best in NYC, in fact some go as far to say they are the best chocolate chip cookie they have ever had. I finally tried one a few months ago. To be honest, I was majorly disappointed and thought, "I can make a better cookie than this." Overall, the cookie had a strange aftertaste and greasy consistency. I couldn't figure out what kind of fat they baked the cookie with. The only props I could give the large cookie was for its great texture - a combination of crunchy edges and a chewy soft center. I wouldn't discourage one from trying the cookie, and I would definitely go back to the bakery for their hot chocolate, which I heard is like "drinking a liquid chocolate bar."

Smitten for Bittman

Picture from The New York Times

I have been reading The New York Times columnist, Mark Bittman's blog, Bitten for a few months now and I am in love. Mr. Bittman is known for his minimalist approach to simple cooking. I love his weekly videos; they are so quick and delicious looking, it is hard not to get inspired. Mark has a new book called Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes (which I want to buy) and plenty of others.

Click here to listen or read his views on eating right on NPR. Click here to read his biography.