other potential Thanksgiving items to try some other time

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/steamed-red-snapper-with-mushrooms-and-ginger
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/asparagus-and-grilled-shiitake-with-soy-vinaigrette
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/molten-chocolate-cakes-vongerichten
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tangy-tomato-and-mango-salad

Ode to Jean Georges Vongerichten's recipes

I am in love with Jean Georges Vongerichten...I first tasted his items when I went to Vong's Kitchen in Chicago (see blog from my younger days...)...  Then my friend Kelly had her wedding at the ShangriLa in Vancouver... I feel guilty admitting it, but what can I say...I finally gave in and went to his restaurant in Boston.  It was perhaps the best meal I've ever had in my life.  And that's saying a lot.  I love the layers and layers of flavors ...

I am still stalking his pea soup recipe...I have found a few promising leads...

http://www.starchefs.com/features/aphrodisiacs/volume_07/html/recipe_03.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/07/dining/sauce-to-soup-white-with-foam.html

This looks promising for the base:

http://www.food52.com/recipes/4100_spring_pea_soup_garlic_croutons_lemongrass_cream

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parkers-split-pea-soup-recipe/index.html

I also found some of his recipes online...In case they ever get taken down, I am posting some of the recipes:

http://www.starchefs.com/JGVong/html/cookbooks.shtml

Yield: 4 servings

• One 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut up for sautéing
• 2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup onions, minced
• 2 teaspoons ginger, minced
• 2-inch piece cinnamon
• A few strands of saffron or 1/2 teaspoon dried turmeric
• 2 cups chicken stock or other stock
• 2 Tablespoons peanut or neutral-flavored oil, such as canola
• 2 Tablespoons green olives, minced
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 500°F. Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, cinnamon, saffron or turmeric and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the stock and increase the heat to high; cook, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the chicken. When the liquid has reduced by about three-quarters and becomes syrupy, turn off the heat.

Heat the peanut or other oil in a large, preferably nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, and cook undisturbed until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn over and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken skin side down again, and place the skillet in the oven. Check it after 15 minutes, and remove the pieces as they are cooked through (the breasts will be cooked before the legs; keep them warm).

When the chicken is just about done, finish the sauce. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil, the olives and some salt (not too much as the olives are salty) and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat stirring once or twice. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and cilantro. Remove the cinnamon stick.

To serve, arrange the chicken on 4 plates. Spoon the sauce around it, not over it, so the chicken stays crunchy.

The lemon could be omitted from this recipe, but it's a nice technique that does more than warm and sweeten the fruit.

Yield: 4 servings

• 2 lemons
• 4 heaping Tablespoons sugar
• 24 large shrimp
• 4 Tablespoons dill or fennel fronds, freshly snipped
• 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Preheat the grill. Alternatively, you can bake the lemons, then broil the shrimp in the same oven.

Cut the pointed tips from the lemons, just enough so they'll sit flat. Cut the lemons in half, then place them, flesh sides up, in a baking pan; sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the sugar melts and the pulp is soft.

Meanwhile, peel the shrimp: slice each one almost in half through their fronts to make a hinged shrimp that looks like this: )(. Mince the dill and sprinkle it over the insides of the shrimp. Close the shrimp.

Mix the garlic and oil. Brush on the shrimp, then sprinkle with salt and a pinch of cayenne.

Grill or broil the shrimp until done, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve with the baked lemons, squeezing some of the lemon juice over the shrimp.

Sauce:

• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 apple, julienned
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon of mixed curry (red, yellow, green)
• 1/2 cup white port
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1 lime leaf
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric powder
• 1 cup whipped cream
• Coriander, chopped
• Salt

Cut blanched lobster in two. Cut bok choy in slices, reserve.
In a shallow pan, add butter, carrot and apple, curries, lemongrass. Sweat for 2 minutes. Deglaze with white port. Reduce by 3/4. Add turmeric powder. Finish sauce with whipped cream. Season with salt. Sauté lobster and bok choy. Arrange and serve with sauce and coriander.

Yield: 4 servings

Broth Base

• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 chile, chopped
• 2 slices galangal or ginger
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into 2-inch sticks and smashed
• 1 teaspoon red thai curry paste
• 2 Tablespoons peanut oil
• 4 cups chicken broth

Garnish 

• 2 cups coconut milk
• Fish sauce (nampla) to taste (available at Asian specialty markets)
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 2 pieces scallion, sliced
• 4 sprigs coriander
• 2 raw chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 12 shiitake caps, cut into strips

Sweat the onions, garlic, chile, galangal, lemongrass and curry paste in peanut oil for 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and simmer for 1/2 hour

At the last minute, add coconut milk, chicken breast, shiitakes. Season with nampla and lime juice. Cook 2 minutes. Divide into 4 bowls. Garnish with scallions and coriander springs. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

<24hour trip to Vancouver...the border police thought I was highly suspicious for staying less than a day in Canada (I know...I love Canada...why wouldn't I just stay there for weeks or months?)

My grandparents took me for sushi for an early lunch at Kamei Royale... It was delicious.

Then it was onto Kelly' wedding...  a few select pictures from the 9 course vegetarian amazement at the reception at Shangri La in Vancouver...

Millet Yam Cakes, Quinoa Cakes, and Chicago

I was looking for a healthy snack at Whole Foods the other day and ended up getting these yummy little gems. Like any good snoop, I took note of the ingredients list and will be trying to replicate the gems in the home kitchen some time soon. If anyone has real recipes for making these treats, please pass along :)

Ingredients:

millet yam cakes:
millet, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, tamari, oil

quinoia cakes:
quinoa, spinach, carrots, zucchini, "vegetable base--onions tomatoes potatoes carrots celery) salt yeast extract corn starch, onion powder, sugar,lemon juice, garlic, oil pepper

In other news, Chicago was very very cold, but enjoyable. The concept of snow in March now eludes me and you'd never know I was from Boston. We had a lot of good food in Chicago and a lot of it was quite reasonably priced. It's amazing what you get used to paying in Miami!

Heaven on 7 for lunch/brunch--R got the oyster po boy [sandwich with fried oysters and lettuce and other stuff in it] and I got cheese grits and cajun shrimp. It was a fun place with bottles of hot sauce lining the walls. I'm not quite accustomed to the way things are packed in Chicago and therefore, how common it is for things to happen above the ground floor. The restaurant was on the seventh floor. Passing by the building, you'd never really suspect that there'd be a full blown restaurant upstairs. It felt like I constantly had to look upwards in the streets to see what other stores and businesses I was missing--shoe repair places, clothing stores, hair salons all on upper levels. It reminded me a bit of Shanghai in the way you could find restaurants on the 35th floor of some otherwise normal tall building.


Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza--I'm realizing that I might not like real deep dish pizza, having been trained on Uno's and Pizza Hut... I'm so accustomed to equating deep dish with grease fest that it was a bit disappointing that the pizza here wasn't greasy. Everyone else liked it and I assume I just have very unsophisticated tastes in deep dish... I guess it's the quivalent of people liking crab rangoons at Americanized Chinese restaurants.

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba for tapas--we went here a few years ago for ABCT but I loved it so much, I wanted to come again. We sat at the bar since the place was packed... We got shrimp in garlic sauce, manchego and spinach stuffed mushrooms, a cheese plate, and seared scallops with couscous. After 10, tapas were $3 and we ordered a grilled calamari and potatos bravas... After reading some NYTimes article, I've started ordering potato bravas at every tapas restaurant I go to... True to the article, everyone does seem to make it differently. The Ba Ba Reeba version was delicious. It was such a super yummy restaurant. There's no question that I'd go...again.

Corner Bakery Cafe--The desserts are quite yummy. There really aren't enough bakeries in Miami!

Vong's Thai Kitchen--this place was delicious in that fushiony Thai kind of way. They operated as a fancier restaurant in terms of service and deco etc. but they were normally priced. Well, at least normally priced compared to Miami Thai food :). They didn't have space for us until 9pm but it was well worth the wait. Instead of bread, they started us off with a shredded daikon salad which tastes a lot like the ones my grandmother makes. Then we had the tuna sashimi roll--it was alright. I'd be curious to try a different appetizer in the future. I had the penang curry shrimp noodles--a dish with slightly fried and crispy fat rice noodles. The combination of flavors was amazing. R got the red curry pad thai--the flavor was wonderful as well. In both dishes, the ingredients came together perfectly. Each bite was a trip to happy town. Unfortunately, I was so full, that I missed out on the dessert that I had been looking forward to...next trip, I start with dessert! :p

Bistro 110--brunch. This was near the Waterworks and I'd definitely go back in a heartbeat. They start you off with a plate with a huge roasted garlic and fresh bread. I'm a sucker for roasted garlic on bread so I was smitten before I even ordered. I had the Louisiana Eggs which were very good. R's cousin-in-law had the croissant French Toast which also looked heavenly. I'd debated heavily between the two choices. Next trip, I'll try to toast! :) Unless it's fall, in which case his cousin in law says they serve pumpkin soup served in mini pumpkins. Now who wouldn't go for that?

duds:
Billy Goat Tavern. Granted, we first tried going to one under a street bridge late at night so it was completely empty. And then we walked to Timbuktu, well, technically, just another one which turned out to be closed.

Hancock Tower. We went to the 96th Floor to get a drink. After twenty minutes of waiting in line, getting shoved around by the hostess and host, treated rudely by then, and having others seated before us, and dealing with their general bitchiness and sneering, we decided to leave the damn line. Which was probably their goal but honestly, I can pay $12 for a drink in Miami with better service.