The Spice Journal

I made a curry!

I made my first curry today. It's a veggie curry using a Bombay spice mix that I picked up at the aforementioned spice market -- eggplant, butternut squash, red pepper, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower and potato were the base, with a silky curry sauce that simmered for only 30 minutes. I served it over hot white quinoa.

Here are the deets:

Ingredients
Tons of veggies of your choice
Coconut oil
3 heaping tablespoons good curry spice mix (including garam masala and cumin)
1 can tomato paste
2 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
1 white onion + several shallots if desired
1/2 cup minced ginger
salt

Procedure
Sautee onions and shallots 10 minutes in generous coconut oil
Add ginger + 5 minutes
Add curry mix and salt +1 minute, stirring until fragrant
Add veggies slowly, browning in curry mix
Meanwhile, dilute tomato paste in water
Cover veggie mix with tomato water and evaporated milk
Taste and adjust for spice and salt, adding seasoning if necessary
Simmer 30 minutes until toughest veggies are soft
Serve over rice, etc.

Grand Central decadence on a Wednesday night

Last night, my friend R and I left work early and spent the better part of two hours enjoying one of the great luxuries of our office neighborhood: Grand Central Station. Here's the rundown on what to do there.

Oyster Bar aside, there are tons of pleasures to be had in and around the station: a craft beer store, an olive oil shop and an incredible food market oozing with fresh fish, bright flowers and luscious chocolate. The market - through mortifyingly expensive - is my favorite place in the station.

First we taste-tested, and ultimately purchased, some gorgeous 24-month prosciutto de parma and a chunk of stinky goat at Murray's Cheese. Then we hit the spices. Displayed in rows of lovely little pyramids, they are first sniffed, then approved and then encased in tins to go.

And OH the colors - tumeric yellows and ancho reds and bright dill greens. Swoon.

Up next: one of the most expensive cocktails in the city at the Campbell Apartment, an old-world New York bar also located inside the station. The place is the former private salon of tycoon John W. Campbell; it was restored to its original opulence in 1999 and now plays host to the suit-tie-steak-scotch crowd on a nightly basis. R's singapore margarita (made with fresh pureed ginger) beat my glass of wine by a mile.

Final pitch: if you've never been here - or if you're a tourist in the city and not on a tight budget - this place is worth a visit.

Carne Adovada

After a long absence SHE RETURNS STRONG with a New Mexican classic -- low-and-slow simmered pork in a pasilla pepper stew.

The melted pieces of shoulder take on the smoky-sweet flavor of the stew and are served simply on flour tortillas with a garnish of cilantro, chopped onion and lime.

I used this recipe from K. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Chief Creative Officer over at seriouseats, which also goes into some detail on issues like browning meat for flavor versus stewing for texture.

Here's the gist:

Ingredients

4 whole dried ancho chilies, seeds and stems removed
4 whole dried pasilla chilies, seeds and stems removed
1 quart (32 ounces) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
3 whole chipotle chilies canned in adobo
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
6 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 bay leaves
Kosher salt
Corn tortillas, cilantro, diced onions, lime wedges, and queso fresco for serving (optional)

Procedures

Place dried chilies in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and cook, turning occasionally, until pliable and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chicken stock, raisins, orange juice concentrate, chipotles in adobo, white vinegar, and fish sauce. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a bare simmer, and let cook until chilies are totally softened, about 15 minutes. Blend into a smooth puree using an immersion blender or by transferring to a countertop blender. Set aside.

Carefully pat pork dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Heat vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over high heat until smoking. Add pork all at once and spread evenly over bottom surface (it's ok if not all the pork is touching the bottom or if the pan is crowded. Cook without moving until bottom surface is well browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer pork to a large bowl. Add onions and garlic to Dutch oven and cook, stirring frequently, until onions and garlic are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add oregano and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add chili mixture to Dutch oven and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Return pork to Dutch oven. Add bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce to a bare simmer. Cover, leaving lid slightly ajar, and cook, stirring occasionally until pork chunks break apart when you apply pressure with a spoon, about 2 hours.

Sauce should be thick, with an almost ketchup-like consistency. If too thin, increase heat to a light simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced to the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt.

Serve pork with corn tortillas, cilantro, diced onions, lime wedges, and queso fresco. Pork can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Mushrooms in sepia

The shitakes were looking good at the market this morning, so I made one of my favorite winter soups -- a mushroom puree thickened with dark, toasted bread.

The recipe is adapted from F&W, which adapts it from Michel Bras and the poor-mans-food recipes of his childhood.

(Note: I don't like cream in my soups, so I skipped step four all together. The soup was thicker that way, though none the worse for it.)

Mushroom soup with toasted bread

Three 1/2-inch slices of sourdough bread (6 ounces), crusts removed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds white mushrooms, coarsely chopped *
2 portobello mushrooms—stems discarded, black gills reserved for garnish, caps coarsely chopped*
*1 1/2 lb shitakes, stems removed, did the trick.
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
6 cups vegetable broth or water
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 dill sprigs*
*I used dried thyme, which I prefer over dill.

Preheat the oven to 300°. Bake the bread slices on a baking sheet for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, until deeply browned.
In a pot, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and the garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, until the mushrooms are softened, 5 minutes. Add the broth and 1/2 cup of the cream; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the mushrooms are tender, 10 minutes.
Add the toasted bread to the soup; simmer until softened, 5 minutes. Working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor. Return the soup to the pot, season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
In a saucepan, bring the remaining 1/4 cup of cream to a boil. Remove from the heat; whisk until frothy. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the frothed cream, garnish with the dill and portobello gills and serve.

Publican

Had my second brunch at the lovely Publican in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood last weekend. This beer- and cured meat-themed joint is from the folks behind the famous avec and Blackbird restaurants, and is well worth the trip. My recommendation: anything porky and salty, washed down with a serious bloody mary and beer chaser.

Here are some photos: