24 Hours Left to Vote for me in #PFB2010!

Just a reminder that there are just under 24 hours left before voting for Challenge #2 of Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog ends at 9PM EST on September 30! So if you have yet to vote for me in this challenge, please run over and read my post on cooking Red Curry Chicken and vote! After reading everyone's posts, I can tell that this round will be a tough one, so I'll need all the help I can get.  Thanks in advance to everyone who votes!

Keepin' it Real with Plenty of Beer at Get Real NY

 This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Get Real NY, a cask ale festival that is part of New York’s Craft Beer Week.  The two-day event took place in the Altman Building and featured cask ales from the some of the country’s top brewers. 

For those who are unfamiliar with cask-conditioned ale, it is beer that is naturally carbonated and served at room temperature.  For those who just like to throw back a few cold ones, of which there seemed to be quite a few at Get Real NY, cask ale is probably not what you’re looking for.  It is a style for beer-lovers who want to taste each and every flavor that is swimming in the beer.

In terms of beer snobbiness, I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.  I eschew macrobrews to the point that a 26-year-old male can, but for me, nothing beats an cold IPA on a hot day.  While I appreciate the nuances of cask ale, it is not a style I love.  With that said, I did try some cask ales that I really enjoyed at the event, including Otter Creek's Alpine Black IPA, Captain Lawrence's Birra DeCicco, and Smuttynose's Robust Porter.  As you can tell from my favorites, I find that the best cask ales are the heavier styles; I think the lighter beers tend to taste watered down when served at room temperature with little carbonation.

 Fortunately, the event did have a few cold beers available.  Had it not, the event organizers may have faced a revolt from some of the rowdier men who showed up in football jerseys hoping to continue where they had left off at the bar.  Among the cold beers, I particularly enjoyed Ommegang's Zurr, a sour ale that tasted of tart cherries.  According to the Ommegang brewmaster, the Cooperstown brewery imports the ingredients for the beer from Lierfmans Brewery in Belgium.  The production of the beer is very expensive, hence the reason that, unfortunately for all of us, the beer was a limited production and the last of it was served at Get Real NY.

 I have to give credit to Get Real NY’s organizers, namely Chris Cuzme, Patrick Donagher, Alex Hall, and Mary Izett.  The Saturday evening session was extremely crowded, but the lines to all of the beers remained short.  Lots of beer and a big crowd usually don’t mix very well, but from what I saw, the event was flawless.  All in all, it was a great event with an even better selection of beers. 

Voting is Now Open for Round 2 of Project Food Blog

Just a friendly reminder that the polls for Challenge #2 of Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog are now open and will remain so through September 23.  All contestants (especially me!) would really appreciate your votes.  Voting is easy:

1. Follow this link to my post for the second challenge
2. Read my post. If you like it, click the "Vote for this Entry" button at the top of the page, otherwise, scroll to find other posts to vote for.
3. If you are not already a Foodbuzz member, join the site.  It's a good site, no spam, I promise!
4. Voila! You've just done me a huge favor!

The challenges will only get better, so let's keep me going in this competition! Many thanks for your help!

Project Food Blog Challenge #2: The Classics

Many thanks to those who voted for my post for Challenge #1 of Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog!  Your votes got me to Challenge #2, "The Classics." The prompt for the second challenge reads:

How well can you tackle a classic dish from another culture? We're bypassing the French and Italian standards in favor of more challenging cuisines.

The competition for this challenge will be even tougher, so it's all the more important that everyone vote for their favorite posts.  Voting will commence at 9am EST on September 27.  You can vote for this post via my contestant profile.  Thanks in advance for your votes!

For the second challenge, I decided to make a traditional Thai red curry, not only because of the challenge the dish would present, but also because I had at least one major doubter in my ability to pull it off.  Those of you who regularly follow this blog are probably aware that the Significant Eater is of Laotian heritage.  Although she loves and reaps the benefits of much of my cooking, she is skeptical any time I try to cook the Southeast Asian cuisine that she grew up eating.  Although I have been successful in past efforts--Significant Eater had been particularly impressed with the authenticity of my larb--, pounding out a curry paste from scratch and making a great curry would at last calm her fears of seeing me in the kitchen with fish sauce and shrimp paste in hand.

My mission began in Chinatown at Bangkok Center Grocery, the best place in Manhattan to purchase Thai ingredients.  The friendly store clerk, who no doubt had the same misgivings as the Significant Eater when I told him I was making red curry, helped me find many of the ingredients that I would need to prepare the dish: galangal, lemongrass, coriander seed, white Kaffir limes and lime leaves, shrimp paste, bird's eye chilies, Thai basil, palm sugar, and coconut milk.  Unfortunately, the store had sold out of fresh coriander root, so I decided to double the amount of coriander seeds in the recipe and hope for the best (thankfully, it worked out).

 Most importantly, I also purchased a beautiful granite mortar and pestle that would help me pound out a perfectly textured curry paste. I picked up the vegetables I would need for the curry, long beans and Asian eggplant, from another Chinatown grocer, and was on my way home to start cooking.
 

The most challenging part of making a curry is preparing the curry paste.  Although it can be easily blended in a food processor, using a mortar and pestle will give the curry paste a better texture, and is also a much more Project Food Blog-worthy method.

The first step is to toast the spices (coriander, white peppercorns, and cumin seeds) in a dry skillet.  I toasted them until they were fragrant and beginning to crackle.  Once toasted, I tossed them into the mortar and pestle and began pounding away.

The Significant Eater chided me for my apparently weak mortar and pestle skills, letting me know that her 90-year-old grandmother not only makes curry paste faster than I, but also does so using a pestle that is twice as large as mine.  Once I got over my pestle envy, I rolled up my sleeves and began pounding away at the spices with more aggression.

Once the spices were ground to a fine powder, I set them aside and placed the shallots, garlic, soaked dry chilies, salt, galangal, lemongrass, and Kaffir lime rind in the mortar and once again began pounding them with the pestle.  To say this step was labor-intensive is an understatement; it took over fifteen minutes, with a few breaks in between, before I was able to pound out all of the chunks in the paste. 

Finally, I added the ground spices and the extremely pungent shrimp paste to the mortar and mixed the paste together.  With a sore arm, I had finally completed the curry paste.  One thing is for sure: if I make curry paste a few times a week, I will no longer need to pay for a gym membership. 

And another thing that's for sure is that curry paste sure ain't the prettiest.

Fortunately, once I had prepared the curry paste, the rest of the curry was fairly easy to make.  First, I fried some of the paste in a bit of peanut oil until it was fragrant.  Then, I tossed in the chicken and stir fried it until it was cooked through.  Once done, I added in about half a can of coconut milk along with the long beans and chopped Kaffir lime leaves, and let it all simmer away for several minutes.  I then added the fish sauce, palm sugar, and eggplant and kept everything simmering until the eggplant was soft.  Finally, I tossed in the Thai basil.  The curry was ready!

I was a bit concerned that the curry was not as red in color as I expected it to be, but it certainly smelled and tasted like a Thai curry.  Of course, the only opinion that mattered was that of the Significant Eater herself.  I watched her with great trepidation as she spooned a small amount of the curry onto her plate and took her first bite.  Silently, she then proceeded to scoop out several more spoonfuls onto her plate.  Finally, she exclaimed, "Perfect!"

I have a feeling that she'll be allowing me to cook with my fish sauce and shrimp paste more frequently from now on.

Red Curry Chicken ("gang phet" in Lao)
Serves 4

For the curry paste:

• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 1 tbsp coriander seed (use another teaspoon if not using coriander root)
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 5 dried Thai chilies, seeded and soaked in warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 small shallots, thinly sliced
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp galangal, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp lemongrass, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp Kaffir lime rind, thinly sliced (discard the green peel and use the white pith)
• 2 tsp coriander root, finely chopped
• 1 tsp shrimp paste 

1. Toast the cumin, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat until they are fragrant and begin to pop.  Place them in a mortar and pound them with a pestle until they are finely ground.  Remove the spices from the mortar and set them aside.
2. Add the dried chilies and salt to the mortar.  Pound the chilies to a paste.
3. Add the shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, lime rind, and coriander root to the mortar.  Pound the ingredients with the pestle until they form a paste.  
4. Return the ground spice to the mortar along with the shrimp paste and use the pestle to mix the paste together. 
5. Set three tablespoons of the curry paste aside for the curry.  The remaining paste can be frozen for up to 6 months. 

For the curry:

• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 tbsp curry paste
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 cups Chinese long beans, chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 of a 13.5 oz. can of coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tsp palm sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Asian eggplant, sliced into half-moon-shaped pieces
• 2 fresh Thai chilies, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh Thai basil leaves

1. Heat the peanut oil in a large saute pan with high sides over medium-high heat. 
2. Add the curry paste to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste is extremely fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the chicken to the pan and increase the heat to high.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the chicken is nearly cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.  
4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the coconut milk, long beans, and lime leaves to the pan.  Bring the coconut milk to a simmer, stirring frequently, until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.  
5. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce, chilies, and eggplant to the pan.  Continue to simmer the curry until the eggplant is cooked through, about about 3 minutes.
6. Taste the curry for seasoning.  If it needs salt, add a small amount of fish sauce.  If it is not sweet enough, add a small amount of palm sugar.  If it is not hot enough, add additional chilies.  
7. Add the basil leaves to the curry and serve it with steamed Jasmine rice. 

Last Day to Vote for Me in Project Food Blog!

Thanks to all those who have all ready voted for me in Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog.  For those who have yet to vote, you have until 9pm EST tonight (9/23) to cast your vote for me and/or any other contestants.  Here are the instructions for voting:

1. Follow this link to my post for the first challenge
2. Read my post. If you like it, click the "Vote for this Entry" button at the top of the page, otherwise, scroll find other contestants posts to vote for.
3. If you are not already a Foodbuzz member, join the site.  It's a good site. no spam, I promise!
4. Voila! You've just done me a huge favor!

Thanks again for everyone's help in trying to get me to the next round!

Brunch, Italian Style

If you live in New York City, there will be a point when you tire of standard brunch fare, never wanting to see another eggs benedict no matter how gussied up the Hollandaise sauce may be.  You see, brunch is part of the weekend routine in New York, as revered as college football on Saturdays is in every place but New York.  Instead spending our Saturday afternoons watching players on TV duke it out over a pigskin, we New Yorkers duke it out amongst ourselves outside trendy restaurants waiting for crummy mimosas and heavy-handed omelettes.

At some point, most New Yorkers will realize that it is no longer worth spending $30 on food that can be made better at home and in an environment that does not require screaming at each other in order to be heard.  Should you come to that realization, or if you just want to invite some friends over for brunch, I urge you to make a pot of thick tomato sauce with a healthy dose of basil, cook some some eggs in the sauce, and serve it all over some crispy toast.  It will be an unconventional brunch, but a welcome respite from that New York brunch everyone grows to hate.  The Italians don't really do brunch, but judging by this dish, something tells me that I could tolerate the brunch scene in Italy. 

Reminder to Please Vote for Me in Project Food Blog!

Just a friendly reminder that the polls for Challenge #1 of Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog remain open through September 23, and all contestants, especially this one, would really appreciate your vote.  Voting is quite simple:

1. Follow this link to my post for the first challenge
2. Read my post. If you like it, click the "Vote for this Entry" button at the top of the page, otherwise, scroll to find other posts to vote for.
3. If you are not already a Foodbuzz member, join the site.  It's a good site. No spam, I promise!
4. Voila! You've just done me a huge favor!

Thanks so much for your help!  Hopefully I'll be asking you all to vote for me once again next week when I move on to the next round.

Bacon and Corn Risotto

I love risotto almost as much as I love sweet summer corn, so corn risotto has been on my cooking wish list for some time.  I don't know what took me so long to make it, as it's a truly awesome dish, especially when enhanced with a healthy dose of bacon--corn and bacon are a match made in heaven.  The key to the risotto is the corn broth; you add the entire cob, all of the husk, and even the string to a pot full of water and allow it to simmer for an hour.  What you end up with is a light broth that imbues the risotto with wonderful corn flavor.

Bacon and Corn Risotto
Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients:

• 2 ears of corn, unshucked
• 6 cups water
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 lb smoky bacon, diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Shuck the ears of corn, trimming off any browned parts of the husks.  Place the husks and the strings in a large stock pot.  
2. Remove the kernels from the corn cobs and set them aside in a bowl.  Chop each cob into three equal-sized pieces and add them to the stock pot.
3. Fill the stock pot with 6 cups of water and bring it to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and partially cover the pot.  Simmer the corn trimmings for 1 hour.  Season with salt and pepper and keep the corn broth warm.  
4. Add the bacon to a medium-size saucepan and heat over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is slightly crispy, about 3 minutes.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
5. Pour off all but 2 tbsp of bacon fat from the pan and reduce the heat in the pan to medium-low.  Add the onion.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
6. Increase the heat to high.  Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice begins to crackle, about 2 minutes.
7. Pour the wine into the sauce pan.  Stir the contents of the pan constantly until the rice has absorbed all of the wine, 1 to 2 minutes.  
8. Reduce the heat to medium.  Holding a strainer over the saucepan, ladle in just enough of the corn broth to cover the rice.  Keeping the risotto at a simmer, constantly stir the rice until it has absorbed nearly all of the broth.
9. Stir the corn kernels into the rice.  Passing the brother through the strainer, add enough to barely cover the rice.  Stir the rice until it has absorbed the broth.  
10. Continue to add just enough broth to cover the rice and stir it constantly until the rice is soft and the risotto is creamy.  This will require at least 2 cups of broth total. 
11. Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Stir in the butter and Parmesan cheese.  Season the risotto with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

  

Project Food Blog Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog!

Just as I posted shamelessly requested your votes the other day, this post marks my foray into Project Food Blog, Foodbuzz's ten week challenge to choose the "next food blog star" (can anyone tell me whom was the first?). The first challenge asks all contestants what defines you as a food blogger and why should you be the next food blog star? 

As I was considering how to answer that question this weekend, I began to think about why I started Culinary Studio in the first place two years ago.  I don't recall the moment I decided to become a food blogger, but I imagine that it was after a long day spent in the office and probably after at least two glasses of wine.  Fed up with the monotony that my days had become-- go to work, go to the gym, come home, cook dinner, read, go to sleep--, I decided that my life needed some sort of creative outlet.  I loved cooking and enjoyed writing, so the food blog idea seemed like a good idea at the time.  It would at least keep me occupied for the next 6 months until I set my sights on a new project. 

So two years later, Culinary Studio is still around and going strong. While this blog began simply as a creative outlet for me, it has evolved into something much more meaningful, into something I love doing.  It's given me the opportunity to challenge myself as a cook working in a small kitchen; being able to share my successes and failures with my readers has encouraged me to keep challenging myself to learn new techniques in the kitchen.  There's little more satisfying than cooking a delicious meal and then posting about it on this blog...other than eating that meal, of course.  

And why should I be the next food blog star?

First, have you seen my kitchen? It's not as tiny as they can get in NYC (which isn't saying much), but let's face it: it's not that easy being able to cook photo-worthy meals in a kitchen like this.  Especially when you consider some of the projects I have taken on, notably gnocchi, ravioli, and pheasant, as much as a disaster as that last one was.

Second, this blog, as well as myself as both a cook and a writer, have and will continue to evolve.  Looking back at my old posts, I definitely had a good number of clunkers in there with some pretty shoddy writing and even shoddier photography.

Check out a photo of scallops I took very early on in my blogging days:

Now check out a more recent photo I took of scallops:

This blog has certainly come a long way. 

Third, my blog audience has continued to grow over the last two years by being an active participant in the blogging community.  While I am unable to participate in the blog community as much as I would like to, it is gratifying how close-knit the community is, and I love being a part of it. 

Fourth, I have an adventurous spirit when it comes to cooking and I'm not afraid to try anything out. In the past two years, I have attempted aforementioned pastas, stinging nettle soup (and managed not to get stung), Indian curry, larb, coq au vin, squid ink risotto, and fried chicken, just to name a few.  Some may call it unfocused, but I call it fun, and I love sharing my adventures in the kitchen with my readers. 

Finally, um...have you seen my kitchen?!

And now for the uncomfortable part of this post.  Please, vote for me!  Voting is only open to those registered at Foodbuzz, so please sign up and get out the vote!  Don't worry, it's a good site and I have not had any issues with spam.  To vote, just click on my picture in my Project Food Blog profile widget on the top left column of this blog (click on the photo, not the bar that says Voter for Me) and follow the directions from there.  Voting is open from now until 9PM EST on Septement 23.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Announcing my Candidacy for Project Food Blog

With summer coming to a close, it's time for me to start posting more regularly.  And that's a promise I will have to keep, for I have decided to participate in Project Food Blog, Food Buzz's Top Chef-like competition for food bloggers.  Starting next week and continuing through early December, nearly 2,000 bloggers will be competing against each other in a series of weekly challenges to determine who will become, in the eyes of Food Buzz, the next Food Blog Star.  Here is my profile for the competition.  Can't you see the determination in my eyes?

Unfortunately, it's going to take a lot more than my competitive spirit to do well in this contest. The only way to get through each round is for readers to vote for your posts, so ask that all readers of Culinary Studio please vote for each of my Project Food Blog posts.  Each and every vote counts! My first post for Project Food Blog will appear later this weekend, so let's kick off this contest right with plenty of votes! 

Thanks in advance for your support!

Hunan Lamb Ribs

 

For those of you who have tried the famous cumin lamb at New York's Szechuan Gourmet, these lamb ribs will have some familiar flavors.  While the recipe is comes from Sichuan's neighboring province of Hunan, the intensity of the cumin, richness of the lamb, and spice from the chiles all give these ribs a delicious resemblance to what is in my mind one of the best dishes in all of New York. If you do end up making these ribs, just remember that lamb ribs aren't quite as easy to handle as pork ribs, so do your guests a favor and cut the meat off the bone before serving it.

Hunan Lamb Ribs

Adapted from Fuschia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 slabs lamb ribs (about 2 lbs)
• 4 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
• 1 star anise
• 5 dried Chinese chiles
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sweet bean sauce
• 1/4 tsp five-spice powder
• salt
• 6 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Place the ribs in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Add 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 2 cinnamon sticks, the ginger, star anise, and dried chiles to the water and simmer the lamb for 5 minutes.  Drain the ribs and set them aside on a plate.
2. Mix the soy sauce, bean sauce, 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, five-spice powder, and a pinch of  in a small bowl.
3. Massage the soy sauce mixture into the lamb ribs.
4. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat.  
5. Add the ribs to the skillet and cook until well-browned on one side, about 3 minutes.  Flip the ribs and sprinkle the cumin and pepper flakes over the ribs.  Continue cooking until the other side is well-browned, 2 to 3 minutes. 
6. Using a sharp knife, slice the meat off of the bones and set the meat on a plate.  
7. Drizzle the sesame oil on top of lamb, garnish it with scallions, and serve immediately. 
   

Chicken Breasts wrapped in Pancetta and Sage

I rarely cook chicken breast dishes, especially those that do not contain a flavorful sauce to drown out the blandness of the lean breast.  Despite my misgivings about the the sound of it--sauceless chicken breast wrapped covered with a few leaves of sage and several slices of pancetta-- I was impressed with how this dish turned out.  The pancetta provides the chicken with crunch exterior, and it's amazing how much flavor is packed into each sage leaf.  No need for a recipe here, just season each breast with salt and pepper, cover it with 6 sage leaves, wrap it in 3 slices of pancetta, and saute it in a small amount of olive oil until the chicken is cooked through, about ten minutes per side.  This techique would also work well with shrimp.

Swordfish with Creamy Basil and Shrimp Tomato Sauce

I’m still not overly confident when it comes to cooking without a recipe, so I was especially proud of this dish. I asked the Significant Eater what she would like for dinner and she described to me a dish she had eaten on a night out with her girlfriends at Extra Virgin, a quaint Mediterranean restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village. “Monkfish, in a buttery pink tomato sauce, with rock shrimp,” she stated, paraphrasing the surely hunkish waiter who had made the dish so memorable. It sounded easy enough to me, so I went to work. My fishmonger had sold out of monkfish for the day, so I chose the more sustainable swordfish, which I felt would be meaty enough to hold up to the tomato sauce. Similarly, I replaced the rock shrimp with bite-size pieces of larger shrimp. I had a lot of fun simply cooking by taste, sight, and feel: a splash of wine here, a handful of basil there. As the cooking came to a close, I asked the Significant Eater how it looked in comparison to the dish from Extra Virgin. She raised a spoonful of sauce to her lips and exclaimed, “You nailed it!”

Swordfish with Creamy Basil and Shrimp Tomato Sauce
Serves 2, with plenty of extra sauce for pasta the following day

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 28-oz. can whole tomatoes with their juice, crushed by hand
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ bound medium-size shrimp, peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chiffonaded (leaves rolled and thinly sliced)
• 2 6-oz. swordfish steaks

Directions:

1. Heat the butter and 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once the butter has melted, stir in the crushed tomatoes.
3. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and allow the tomatoes to simmer until the sauce is no longer watery, about 30 minutes.
4. Pour in the wine and return the sauce to a simmer. Allow the sauce to simmer for another 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the cream, shrimp, and basil and simmer the sauce until it is thick and the shrimp have cooked through, about 5 minutes. While the sauce simmers, prepare the swordfish.
6. Season the swordfish steaks with salt and pepper.
7. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Add the swordfish to the pan and cook undisturbed until browned on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip each steak and cook until the other side has browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Set each swordfish steak on a serving plate.
9. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper.
10. Spoon the sauce over each swordfish steak and serve immediately.