About Last Night...

Roasted Fennel Salmon . Five-Spice Purple Potato Puree . Tamarind Gravy .

Pickled White Asparagus . Cilantro Chimichurri . Fuji Apple Chips

Geographical Gems

Whether this were food or rock, it's quite a discovery. These starchy jewels are purple potatoes. Reminds me of Peru and how these would look beautifully roasted against some golden Huancaina sauce or sliced thin and dehydrated to pair with a salmon tiradito. Imagine settling amongst condor-ridden mountains, your molars gummed with bits of coca leaf and discovering these amethyst tubers almost of currency quality. If this were a crayon, it would be sitting to the left of "Chicha Morada". The masses must be notified immediately! Don't let these beauties go to waste.

Although, they taste like they contain less sugars than your average white, they hold well up to spices and after all make a lovely presentation.

Purple prince of papas prays to be poked and prodded, positively prompted to Promethean product and playfully presented on the plate.

Short Rib Nihari . Butternut Squash Soup . Crispy Asparagus .Oven-Roasted Campari Tomato

Flour Child

Found this while visiting my close friend Arik in South Philly. We passed by at least three cheesesteak stands and this is what I end up purchasing. (Well, I also bought a palmful of licorice sticks to chew on). There's actually a cute little open Italian market that spans a few blocks. This spice market was indoors amongst all the butchers and produce specialists. From Gambinos to garbanzos, I'd say. They had a lovely array of fairly exotic and fairly average spices. Unfortunately no curing salt, which offed my hope considering the door to door butchery that was occurring.

There was a sparkle in my eye when I passed by this bag of Pumpernickel flour, because If you take a look at some previous tweet-like note jotting posts of mine you'll notice my interest in making Pumpernickel Crepes.

You will be seeing this 1 lb. bag's progress, and I hope I get some good use out of it because replenishments are miles away and I'm not about to have Arik smuggle Pumpernickel Flour though the airport with each visit. Maybe I can just find it around here.

Ideas are in flight, and once time and money are on board we'll be ready to land.

I'll keep you posted.

Cabrito Cabesa Pictoral

Fat Crabs, Lean Lambs & Jean-Claude Canned Ham Part 1

So, I'm in NYC again. We've got Howard, Humberto & Hann with Humberto's 15 year old stepsister, Laura. Enjoying a brisk walk (very brisk!). Excited for the culinary adventures ahead, we casually walk through Madison Square park. Feeding Laura's desire for a real city street cart hot dog, Humberto kindly assists her...well, no...coldly points in the direction of a hot dog cart and as he puts his arm down something beautiful comes into focus. A large spitfire with a whole, semi-gutted lamb that would make Shari Lewis rotate in her grave in sync with our little friend. Basted beautifully in a greek blend of yogurt, cumin & coriander it stood out amongst the culturally confusing crepe stand and campy "Viking" cuisine. With every rotation, we got a good view of the melting innards that just screamed to be consumed! Humberto politely asks Steve the Greek (one of the chefs) the cost of having some innards on toast. Liking our style, I saw the excitement in everyone's eyes. But the real excitement was in the lamb's eyes. Which were gracefully shucked  out of the head and handed to us to pop back as sort of an innards inititation. The head chef of Fatty Crab (who hosted this food stand along with sister restaurant Cabrito) gladly took a cleaver to split the head in two. Chef Dave (of Cabrito) gladly tweeted our readiness to chow down on cabrito's cabesa. Meanwhile, Steve revealed a separate container of reserved offal that was not in the fire. Heart, Liver, Testicles? maybe. Thinly sliced and sandwiched in a baguette with cilantro, tomato's and more of the yogurt sauce sort of represented a Banh Mi at first glance. Like dandy savages we took to that head and scarfed down the sandwiches. People walked by in disgust and interest, but if they knew what went into a hot dog, they may think twice. However, we were not through with our friend. So after thanking the rock star chefs of Fatty Crab & Cabrito we wrapped it in aluminum foil and took it around town. All I have to say is that we ended up at Grand Sichuan restaurant ordering a hot pot and having the lamb's head at our side, you might be able to piece together the temptation at hand. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this entry to see what we did with the lamb's head later that night.

Part 3 will involve us making a stock out of the head and a meal to follow.

Lamb's Head Pumpkin Soup with Preserved Eggs and Chive Flower.

Very Halloween. But  even if you have a hollow ween, grow some balls and eat some too.

Sichwannabe

Boiled Chicken . Sichuan Peanut Chili Oil . Fennel & Apple

Served Cold

Before I Forget

Malta for braising

Powdered Parmalat

Cocktails as dishes

Yogurt from scratch

Angostura bitters broth

Short Rib Nihari

Truffled Truffles

Malta for sauces

Gravlax-wrapped

-potato

-olives

-tomato

-asparagus

-braised spinach

Gravlax & Black Radish

First attempt at incorporating these radishes from the previous post.

Also first attempt at incorporating gravlax. As you may or may not know,

gravlax is salmon cured in scandinavian flavors. I had made some weeks

ago. Finding it too salty, I put it in the freezer and figured i'd take it out

when I feel ready to use it. That day came, so after taking them out I

immediately introduced them to the mandoline. Right out of the freezer makes for easier slicing.

Mandolined the radish as well and let it marinate in a dressing of

olive oil, coconut vinegar, sesame oil, black pepper, balsamic, chili oil and sugar.

Garnished with cilantro. Tasted okay. The radish has an overwhelming

rooty flavor that i'd like to subdue. i added some thin-sliced granny smiths

to add sweetness. Next time: jalapeno, red apple, less dressing, fine dice of radish instead of thin slice. Maybe fennel.

A Trip To The Farmer's Market

Black Radish

These beautiful, charcoal-hued roots look like they're still in the ground. But they taste wonderful. Spicier and meatier than your average red radish. It's like biting into a piece of jicama that has been marinating in horseradish all night. It actually gives off the same tongue-numbing effect that sichuan peppercorns have. Sprouts a whole new garden of ideas. Substituting traditional sichuan flavors with black radish. Maybe cleaner tasting versions of sichuan dishes. Although I haven't much desire to toy with such a perfect cuisine. Well, here are some off-the-top ideas anyway.

spicy lamb's tongue salad with black radish, fennel, chili oil, tomato, cilantro

salmon ceviche with black radish, anise oil, kalamata, yuzu, nori

dehydrated black radish chips------>fish & chips

black radish raita

black radish on oysters with apple

black radish cream.^

served with roast beef

rice with shrimp paste, coconut, black radish, coconut milk, pistachio