Long Island Foodie

I would be totally remiss if I didn’t mention the fabulous meal that we had the other night.  Stef’s dad took us out to eat at The Clubhouse, a venerable institution on Jericho Turnpike that has been around since 1962.  We originally were going to cook dinner at home, but a long day at the office prevented me from looking forward to slaving over a stove for anything more than a few minutes and Mike saved the day by mentioning this little gem.  We had never been there before, even though I drive past the place just about everyday.  He had been there for lunch once and was pleasantly surprised, as view from outside doesn’t really match the power and elegance demonstrated inside the restaurant.

The meal started off with a really great crusty bread and butter, the type that would be destined to mop up the last few drops of chowder (better than picking up the bowl and licking it clean).  Before the chowder came out, the three of us noshed on some really great crab cakes (although I would have liked mine with a little bit more sear to it, but otherwise it was delicious).  Then came the shrimp chowder which was by far, the best soup I’ve had to date.  It beats the seafood soup at Chez José, the seafood soup at El Picacho and the lobster bisque I brought home from Town Meat Market.  It had that velvety texture that makes you go back for more; the type of soup that inhabits your dreams at night (sucks when you wake up though to find no soup).

For protein, Mike and I ordered the Cowboy Steak which was a rib eye while Stefani ordered a piece of buffalo meat (I think it was a tenderloin).  And even though we all ordered medium rare and received steaks that were closer to medium, the flavors of the meat were so good that, not being the type to waste food, were happy to gobble up all that was on our plates (especially considering the waitress was kind enough to comp us dessert).

For dessert, we had the homemade pecan pie a la mode, the homemade white/dark chocolate mousse, and the rice pudding.  Rice pudding was a little watery for us all, the mousse was good (white chocolate actually surprisingly good) and the pecan pie, well, it was good but when you’ve had Stefani’s, it’s tough to compare.  Maybe we’ll share that recipe soon.

All in all, it was one of those truly satisfying meals.  Hey, nothing is perfect in life, you have to roll with the punches, but we rolled and as a result, had a wonderful meal.

(Hey Dad, thanks for the meal, sorry the post wasn’t up fast enough.  Pressures of the day to day, ya know?)

I couldn’t wait a second longer to post about last night’s salad.

I really wanted to make something that Stefani would enjoy, using some of the farm fresh produce from our CSA.  She was going to be playing volleyball until dinner so I had some time to figure out what I was going to do.  A trip downstairs to the backup fridge found some assorted chard (swiss and rainbow) and a really delicious looking beet.  Now, I’m not a beet kind of guy, but my wife’s family is Russian and beets are big in their book, so she grew up with a certain level of comfort with them.

Although when I told her on the phone that I was serving the beet raw, she expressed some reservations.  “I’ve never had beets raw before, I’ve always cooked them.”

Well, raw beets here we go, as we make a super fast and super healthy salad that did wonders next to a piece of steak from the grill.

(The recipe comes from one of my favorite food sites, The Kitchn and I adjusted the quantities based on what I had on hand)

Sautéed Rainbow Chard with Raw Beets and Goat Cheese
serves 4 to 6

3 or 4 medium-sized beets (we had one big and 4 or 5 inch-wide ones)
4 large handfuls of rainbow chard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces of goat cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Peel the beets and either grate them on a box grater or in a food processor. You should have about two cups of shredded beets.

Separate and chop the thick stems of the chard. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot on medium heat and cook the stems for about 5 minutes, until they are softened. Add the leaves of the chard, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turning with tongs, until the leaves have wilted and cooked down. Transfer the chard to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

Make the dressing. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper, then stream in the olive oil while whisking vigorously.

Combine the chard and the beets and toss with the vinaigrette (depending on how much chard you have and how saturated you want your greens, you may have some vinaigrette left over). Top with goat cheese.

For those of you who don’t know, Mark Bittman is a food writer and columnist who writes the weekly column The Minimalist in the New York Times.  For years he has always advocated a “just do it” approach to cooking, taking recipes that some people may be overwhelmed by and turning them into simple, easy to follow instructions.

He also creates these massive lists from time to time that include over 100 different “things” you can do; picnic ideas, simple meals ready in 10 minutes or less, appetizers.  Needless to say, sometime on Thursday evening, July 3, I saw Stefani with his 101 20-minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics and a highlighter, so I knew that we were going to be in store for some major picnic-ing over the weekend.

I will leave it to her to go more in detail as to what was made, what was served and what accidentally hit the floor because the fridge was too full, but I will share with you this peaceful photo of the secluded beach we snuck away to with some friends for an afternoon of fun.  Oh yeah, the pork/sundried tomato/garlicscape pesto rollups were bomb, as was the cold udon noodle salad, carmelized onion/ricotta/prosciutto pizza and the first peach thing to hit the floor.

Hope you had a great 4th of July!

I was so happy to read Sylvia Carter’s recent article in Newsday about Pimiento Cheese.  Ms. Carter, a fellow Hamlet Organic Garden member, discusses her childhood growing up down south and how pimiento cheese is pretty unfamiliar to us Northerners.

I must admit that it wasn’t until about a year ago that I had learned about pimiento cheese and that was from an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri on the Food Network.  Guy had traveled down to North Carolina to The Penguin where owner Greg Auten showed him how to make a really great Pimiento Cheese spread.  Ever since watching the episode I have had a hankerin for some pimiento cheese.  So, when Stefani and I picked up a new food processor the other day, pimiento cheese was the first thing on my list to make.

I searched the web for pimiento cheese recipes and stumbled upon a recipe attributed to The Penguin, so I figured that would be a great starting point.

Now, I made mine with Monterey Jack cheese and not Pepper Jack, but that’s only because Pepper Jack wasn’t available at the time (I’d probably use Pepper Jack next time although one wouldn’t have missed it had they only tried the Monterey).  Also, instead of the green chile sauce, I used Frank’s Red Hot.  Ultimately, in the end, I was very happy with my pimiento cheese and wait till you hear what I did with it.

Pimiento Cheese

1 pound grated Cheddar
1/2 pound grated Monterey Jack
1 (4-ounce) can diced pimentos
1/3 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/3 teaspoons granulated onion
About 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne
About 1/2 tablespoon Frank’s Red Hot
2/3 cup organic mayonnaise

In a food processor, combine ingredients well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now, as a quick snack, I like to take a piece of pancetta and fry that up in a nonstick pan.  I put the crispy pancetta onto a sandwich of whitebread and pimiento cheese and then fry that sandwich up in the pancetta fat in the nonstick pan, making a Pimiento and Pancetta Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Or even better, as I recently discovered, slather some ‘memto cheese onto a burger to make a Pimiento Cheeseburger (easy for us as we keep Coleman Organic burgers in the freezer).

Enjoy!

If you couldn’t tell, we’re huge supporters of the Huntington Farmers Market. Every Sunday morning we’re out there bright and early, picking up eggs, cider and fruit for the week.  We find that when we buy less (only enough fresh fruit/eggs for the week), we eat fresher because every Sunday we restock with fresh supplies.  We also pick up fresh cheese from the new cheese vendor and I highly recommend their feta which we always have on hand these days.  The blueberries and cherries have been great so far; wish I could say the same for Long Island Strawberries.

So, along with some photos, I’m going to include my list of can’t miss items:

Apple Cider, Cinammon Honey Sticks (5/$1), Apple Cider Donuts and Farm Fresh Eggs from the Orchards at Concklin.

Jams and tapenades from Miss Amy’s Preserves (My dad and I are partial to Peconic Blackberry and Blue Point Blueberry).

Fresh feta (or some of their raw milk cheeses) from the new cheese vendor.

Anything fresh from the Golden Earthworm organic booth; the sugar snap peas last week were gobbled up as soon as they made it home.

I urge everyone to stop by the Huntington Farmers Market on Sunday mornings and support the vendors that make it possible.  Eat fresh, local foods and see what wonders it will do for your life.

Huntington Farmers Market

Sponsor: Long Island Growers Market
Location: Elm St. parking lot, Main St., (Rt. 25A)
Time of Operation: Sunday, 7 AM to 12 Noon
Season: July through Mid November

I know that it’s like 80 degrees out there, and braising beef for hours on end makes more sense in the winter than it does in the summer…but I wanted them, and now they are mine, all mine.  Well, I obviously have to share with my better half, but mine is hers anyway, so it looks like we’ll be eating good tonight.

I picked up two packages of short ribs from Forest Pork Store the other day, along with some bacon and a bottle of Hefewisen.  The game plan was that I would get home yesterday at around 6:00pm and start searing off the short ribs in bacon fat, giving me enough time to pop them in the oven for a three hour braise.  That way I could pull them out of the oven and let them cool before packing them into the fridge until dinner on Tuesday.

So we start off chopping up the bacon and rendering out the fat into a dutch oven.  As you can see, we’re using our new Jenn Air cooktop along with the dutch oven Mr. and Mrs. Nelkin bought us (owners of the Garden City Hotel) for our wedding.

Once the bacon fat is rendered into the pan, remove the crispy bacon bits and reserve for later use in a salad, or as a snack for the chef while cooking (which is what I did).

Once the bacon bits have been removed, sear the crap out of your short ribs on all sides (don’t forget to season).  This is the most important step in making brasised short ribs and if you skimp on the sear, you’ll pay in the end with less than spectacular short ribs.

Once the ribs have been fulled seared, remove them to a plate and add your mirepoix to the pan, sweat it in bacon fat and short rib drippings.  Add some salt and pepper and cook until translucent.  I then added four crushed garlic cloves.  I didn’t want to add these too early because I was afraid it would burn and add a burnt flavor to the short ribs which would be tragic.  Also into the pot went some tomato paste which I stirred in until carmelized.

Once the tomato paste was carmelized and the veggies looked good to go, I deglazed the pan using the hefeweizen.

To this I added beef stock, worchester sauce and the short ribs.  Once it came up to a simmer, I popped it into a preheated 300 degree oven for three hours.

And after three hours, I had this lovely creation to show for it all:

Now, short ribs are always better the next day, so I packed these guys up for a day in the fridge so that when I get home tonight I can peel off the layer of fat that will have coagulated on the surface, bring the entire product up to a simmer and will be ready to serve with a side of polenta.

I’ll keep you posted as to how this meal worked out.  The recipe I’m including below is an approximation of what I did, because we don’t need no stinkin recipes ’round these parts (did you notice that beautiful GE Profile double oven setup?  Don’t hate the player, hate the game).

Braised Short Ribs

1/4 pound of bacon, chopped
8 small short ribs
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 pint of hefeweizen
1 32 oz. box of organic beef broth
5 dashes of worchester sauce
salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Sweat bacon in dutch oven over medium heat.
3. Sear all sides of short ribs in bacon fat. Remove short ribs to plate.
4. Sweat celery, onion and carrots in pan until translucent.
5. Add crushed garlic cloves and tomato paste.
6. Stir in tomato paste and carmelize.
7. Deglaze pan with hefeweizen.
8. Place short ribs back in pan and cover with beef broth. Shake in worchester sauce.
9. Place in preheated oven for three hours.
10. Remove short ribs and separate ribs from sauce to cool (better to cool overnight in the fridge).
11. When ready to serve, remove layer of fat from sauce and combine with short ribs in a saucepan over medium low heat, just enough to heat up sauce and meet to a simmer.
12. Serve and enjoy!

Having a resource like Forest Pork Store within walking distance can be really dangerous.  It’s not often that one encounters a traditional butcher store; men in white paper hats behind the counter who are actually knowledgable of their craft.  Not sure what to do with a pork butt?  Just ask and you shall receive.

With a manufacturing plant in Ridgewood (the Ridgewood retail shop closed its doors in July of 2007 after 60 years in business), the last remaining retail establishment is located on Jericho Turnpike in South Huntington, and busy does not even begin to describe the place.  I went in last Saturday morning around 9:00am and waited 10 minutes before my order was placed, even with six butchers behind the counter (I mention this only to advise you of how busy the place is.  Far, far from any complaint, I am very patient and happy to wait.  Couldn’t say the same for Number 60 who couldn’t help herself from uttering huffs and puffs every few minutes, expressing her impatience, but I digress).

In addition to a selection of imported beers, breads, candies, and other staples, the well tended meat department turns over a steady supply of fresh protein on a regular basis (would have read daily basis if they weren’t closed on Sundays and Mondays).  Definitely order a couple of TV Sticks, little finger length sausages.  Think of them like fresh Slim Jims.  I picked up four of them the other day for when I’m sitting around looking for a meat related snack (yeah I said meat).  I also picked up a half pound of bacon, of which they sell numerous varieties.  The double smoked is excellent and doesn’t require any cooking, but since I needed the bacon to make my short ribs, I picked up the regular bacon.  I also picked up a few pounds of short ribs and these great chicken pinwheels (stuffed with ham, cheese and spinach).  Something that I haven’t yet gotten into, but other Forest Pork Store veterans can’t stop preaching about, is the fresh, warm leberkase.  I’ve been handed the warm, stump of this meatloaf product before and while I definitely give the product its due respect, I still can’t get through the warm bologna feeling it gives me.  You try it out and let me know what you think.

The chop meat is always fresh and the meatloaf mix that they have makes great meatloafs and meatballs (its a mix of beef, pork and veal) and they always have marrow bones in the freezer for when you’re arteries need a little clogging.

Open Tues.-Fri. 8am-6pm, Sa. 8am-5pm.
Closed Sundays and Mondays

I know that I owe you all an explanation as to what has happened since our last post. All I can say for now is that a kitchen renovation can take a lot out of people, especially for a couple who cook all their meals at home from scratch.

The renovation took a lot out of me personally; stress and lack of home cooked meals caused me to get a little rubmly in my tumbly. All that processed food and takeout we had eaten to get through the renovation really played havoc with my insides and it has taken me a little bit to get back into the swing of things. Now that the kitchen is complete (at least everything except for the cabinet front to the dishwasher and a few pieces of molding), we have been cooking up a storm and haven’t written a lick of it down. I can tell you stories of crispy panchetta and pimento grilled cheese sandwiches, local halibut with a lemon-butter-caper sauce, asparagus and sundried tomato risotto…the list goes on.

But, rather feel like I am behind on my writing, I’m just going to start fresh. We’ve picked up our CSA share from Hamlet Organic Garden twice now, and Stefani and I have really enjoyed cooking with the fresh, local produce. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the farm is located in Brookhaven, real close to the Great South Bay. Can someone say fresh fish?

So, I promise to take some photos of the kitchen and a list of appliances so you can see what we’re working with. I also promise to show you some photos of the farm and what we pick up. It’s also important to note that the nature of this blog is going to change. While we used to just post articles and reviews of local purveyors, restaurants and food sources, we’re now going to be incorporating more of our home cooking into the site; providing recipes for meals that we’ve cooked for you to enjoy at home.

So, keep your fingers crossed and maybe it won’t be two months till our next post.

Sorry it’s been a while since our last post. As you can see from these photos, we’ve been a little busy. I’ll follow up this week and next with a recap of:

1. Stefani’s 30th Birthday party

2. Our trip to Florida for Cousin Josh’s wedding

3. The completion of our kitchen renovation. Did somebody say double 30 inch GE Profile ovens with touchscreen controls?

As you can see, progress is being made each and every day. Electric was taken care of one day, and now you can see that sheetrock and spackle have been put up. Check back on Thursday once the painters are finished and we’re on our way to Saturday, for Stef’s birthday party!