skip to main |
skip to sidebar
It was a double date night with dinner and a movie. We were debating between couple restaurants (new and old) in Mason before an 8pm show. As I was waiting for the husband to come home from work, I discovered G. Bailey’s opened in Encore’s old location and serves brick oven pizza. I’d been to Encore once for dinner long time ago and remembered leaving happy and buzzed; the chocolate martini was delightful. I also learned G Baileys is owned by the owners of the Golden Lamb and we’ve dined there for Valentine’s Day and loved it.
Every so often, I get a craving for pizza and this was the night. After arriving at 6:30, our party of four was seated 15 minutes later- not bad for a Friday night. (They only take reservations for party of 8 or more). There are plenty of booths and tables for seating. They have a large wine cooler housed close to the kitchen (the friend said this is from the Encore days). Overall the appearance is pleasant, with a dash of suburban restaurant attempting to be upscale.
For first course, I ordered “their version” of the chicken noodle soup and someone else got an insalata capresse. The soup was very salty. The server offered another bowl and informed me the second bowl would be from the same pot; I kindly refused. The insalata capresse, on the other hand, was magnificent; perfectly dressed and seasoned. 
(my sad attempt at taking a picture of the pizza, discreetly, with an iPhone)For dinner three of us ordered pizzas and one ordered halibut with vegetables. The pizzas arrived soon after the first course plates were cleared. The pizzas are small with 6- 8 slices. My grilled chicken pizza tasted all right, nothing extraordinary. The crust was thin (my preferred style) but it tasted doughy and lacked a bold oven grilled flavor. The toppings were bland, lacked salt and garlic, and unfortunately with a bad crust made for an okay pizza. I was disappointed in their attempt at brick oven style pizza. Maybe because growing up, we regularly ate at a local joint that cranked out more pizzas from their brick oven than you can shake a stick at. So even if I had higher expectations others in the party agreed the pizza lacked substance. The halibut, a main course, is served with a three tier salad and potatoes. The tiered serving style was fun and unique; it came with herbed cottage cheese, onions and a variety of peppers and the basics of a mixed green salad. The cottage cheese with fresh herbs was a hit; a simple and brilliant idea that I’ll use at home. The halibut guy didn’t complain or rave about the fish or the potatoes so I assume they were good but not memorable.
They have other dishes on the menu like roasted chicken, pork tenderloin, pasta and sandwiches that may be worth trying. This place is still new to the restaurant scene in Mason so hopefully they’ll fix the glitches soon.
The movie? Doubt. It’s definitely worthy of the award nominations. We saw the play at Cincinnati Playhouse and preferred that over the big screen. To no one’s surprise…
One of many new traditions for 2009 is to cook simple brunches, often. Keeping in tune with that, we invited couple friends over for brunch on New Year’s day weekend. At first I wasn’t sure about the menu and when I suggested biscuits and gravy, the friend said her husband loved biscuits and gravy. Since my husband loves them too, biscuits and gravy would be our first cooked meal with friends in 2009.
Maybe you can help me figure out my husband’s obsession with biscuits and gravy. It’s a southern dish that probably got its start in an older woman’s kitchen. On a lazy Sunday morning, this woman woke up to leftover biscuits from the previous night’s (fried chicken and biscuits) dinner and had preserved sausage links from the meat season. Hypothetical scenario that could be true, will you please just play along? So with a cup of milk, flour, salt and pepper she invented gravy for the biscuits, served them to the family and called it a day. I bet she had an easy morning that morning compared to all the other days she’d spent peeling and grating potatoes for the hash, or deep frying catfish or better yet frying balls of dough and sprinkling sugar on them.
Like that woman, I also had a lazy start to the morning. I first made the dough for biscuits, following Alton Brown’s recipe. I’d seen him make these with his grandma in one episode and knew I had to try them.
Alton Brown’s Biscuits (not pictured; those biscuits are from before Alton gave me a wonderful lesson on biscuit making. From a previous life, I guess you can say)
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening – I used vegetable shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. (The recipe states the measurements make 12 biscuits and unfortunately mine only yielded 6. I made another batch of dough for more. Or my cutter may have been too big. (I used a water glass since I don’t have the 2 inch cutter. I’ve learned my lesson.) After baking the biscuits, I realized the water glass proportion made giant biscuits. Something was a mistake on my part). Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)
Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. (I baked mine for 30 because they were giant biscuits). Other than fixing my cutting measurements, I wouldn’t change a thing about the recipe. The gravy’s real simple too.
Sausage Gravy
Vegetable oil
4 tablespoons butter, divided (use for turkey sausage or lean pork sausage)
1 lb sausage- ground or links, remove casing if using links. (Ground turkey or pork is fine; until recently, I’ve bought ground turkey tubes (in the frozen foods isle) but since the start of the CSA, we’ve been on a pork kick. And by we I really just mean the husband.) Make sure the ingredients consist of water and meat, nothing else!
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups of milk, room temperature
Salt
Freshly ground pepper, lots of it
Add oil (one coat) and 2 tablespoons of butter (if using) to a large pan on medium heat. When the butter melts, drop in the ground sausage. Break up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon as soon as it hits the pan. I like small to medium sized chunks (pictured). Season with salt and pepper. As the meat cooks, the color changes from pink to gray. When the meat is about 60 percent cooked, add the flour, and combine so most of the meat is coated with flour. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until there is a nutty aroma from the pan. (When flour is raw it doesn’t smell like anything, and when it’s cooked, it releases nutty smells.) Stir in milk and bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened to desired consistency. Stir in the last 2 tablespoons of butter, taste, season with salt and pepper, if necessary and serve over baked biscuits.
Actually, my husband was born and brought up in India and didn’t know a thing about biscuits and gravy. His definition of biscuits is the American cookie and gravy is the sauce that comes with an Indian vegetable or meat dish that’s scooped up with naan or rice. Why a grown Indian man goes ga-ga for southern style biscuits and gravy- I don’t know, but I do know that when they are on our menu, he’s like a kid in the candy store. Regardless, I think these satisfied the cravings of both husbands, and wives.
I hope you enjoyed your New Year’s Eve festivities, whether it was at a bar, with friends or in front of the tele. We spent ours with friends and homemade food. The theme for this year was street food; we had Samosas, Falafels, and a pot of Paav bhaaji. Paav bhaji is a common street food in many Indian cities, especially Mumbai. The bread, Paav, is served alongside bhaji, a potato based curry that has a variety of ingredients including cauliflower, peas, carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, peppers and spices. This is truly a one pot wonder. Onions, garlic, and ginger are first sautéed in ghee or vegetable oil in a large flat pan, then potatoes are added with water, cauliflower is next, then carrots and peppers are stirred in with the spices. Everything simmers on medium-low for 45 minutes. The peas are added in the last 10 minutes of the cooking so they don’t become mushy. On the streets the bhaji is simmered all day and served with a pinch of chopped cilantro. Paav is a hot dog bun that’s buttered and roasted on the edges of the large pan with bhaji. This is a hot (temperature and sometimes spicy) dish, great for a cold day.
At our house the husband is a better cook for Indian food; Paav bhaji is definitely one of his specialties, so is chicken curry, goat curry, egg fry (another highly-favored street food) and dhan shaak (goat curry with yellow split chickpea lentils).
After Thanksgiving, Mom sent us away with two kinds of homemade Samosas, one filled with meat and the other with split chickpea lentils (traditional Gujarati kind), thank you! The Samosas and the husband’s Paav bhaji were highly rated; the Falafels, on the other hand, were not. The batter was well seasoned but they were under fried resulting in a semi-done inside. (For those questioning- I soaked and cooked the dried chickpeas in the slow cooker before making the batter- I try not to feed guests raw beans.)
Onto those New Year’s resolutions, I’ve got a few of my own. I admit I don’t take them seriously because I break mine in the first month. In fact, I’ve already broken one. I want to dress femininely, more often; more skirts, blouses, dresses and fewer shirts and slacks. Wrapping up the first week of 2009, I have yet to wear a skirt or a dress. See what I mean?
Another one is for writing. In conversations with friends, I realized I genuinely enjoy snail mail. I fancy the inspiration that goes behind picking cards or letters, sender's handwriting, the pen and stamps that are used for the receiver. This connects the sender and the receiver on a personal level, something emails can’t do. (I appreciate email and Internet as much as the next person so this is not a rejection to technology just an expression of my fondness for snail mail.) Someone pointed out, in this day and age of junk mail, catalogs and bill collections, who doesn’t like to receive a nice card from friends? For those of you that like sending snail mail, email (ha!) me, I like getting cards just as much. Some of you will see these in your mailboxes in 2009!
The writing resolution also includes blogging regularly and putting my thoughts down on paper or on in a document often. So far I am on track, wouldn’t you say?
And finally for 2009 I want to cook food simply. I want to create unpretentious dishes, using locally produced ingredients (when possible), that taste gratifying. In the few days I’ve cooked since we rang in 2009, I’ve made biscuits and gravy, creamy cauliflower soup and pork chops. Hopefully if I stick to my writing resolution, the recipes will be up soon.
Lately, I haven't been inspired to write. But I can assure you I have been cooking and eating. I couldn't imagine my world without food, especially homemade food. Actually, in private conversations with other bloggers it's apparent that I am here, behind the screen- reading wonderful posts about food and restaurant reviews, I am just not writing about my own. Partly because my body and mind are still on vacation or wishing it were. We went to visit my parents in New Jersey for Thanksgiving, then here
for a week and if that wasn't all 2 1/2 work days didn't do me any good. And although I sound like I am complaining- I am not- I am just trying my hardest to be a better blogger.
Thankfully a holiday dinner brought me back to my senses and the writing.
I tentatively planned few things for last weekend because I wanted some down time with the husband, the house and our pet fish, Fatty. And boy did we get some downtime.
The only concrete plan was to go to a friend's house for Italian themed dinner on December 25. She made Mushroom and Basil pesto for bruschetta, stuffed Pork tenderloin with Sundried Tomato pesto, cannelini beans-a recipe by Marcella Hazan, Prosciutto and green pea risotto and really good tiramisu too. Her parents brought mixed salad and roasted chicken. My contributions? Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratinate by Lidia, Pasta Puttanesca with homemade fettuccine, slow roasted Brussels sprouts and cranberry salsa with goat cheese for the bruscetta.
Everything tasted great. She agreed the pork was a little overdone, but that didn't matter because everyone was fixated on the risotto. The homemade pasta was a big hit as well. Mind you, she made the pasta dough before I arrived because she's a pro and a great friend. Speaking of homemade pasta, I've made it once before. Since I didn't and still don't have a pasta machine, manual or kitchen aid, I rolled out the dough for Tagliatelle on my counter. It was a process I don't like to talk about but will repeat if I am craving homemade pasta, or buy a pasta machine first.
There are lots and lots of recipes out there for puttanesca. And they all look good. I browsed many for direction and made my own version of the dish.
Pasta Puttanesca
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
4-6 anchovy fillets in olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 28oz can (whole) tomatoes, plus juices
1/4 cup capers
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Fettuccine, spaghetti or any long pasta is good for this recipe. (Homemade pasta is better however dried pasta works as well.)
Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt to season and then stir in the dried pasta. Cook the pasta following the instructions on the box. For homemade, cook the pasta 5 minutes before the sauce is done. Drop fresh pasta into boiling, salted water and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Heat olive oil in medium-large pan on medium heat. Add garlic and anchovy fillets to the pan. Gently mash the fillets with the back of a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. After couple minutes the anchovies should have melted into the garlic-oil mixture. Stir in red pepper flakes and cook for 2 more minutes. Add tomatoes with juices. (some recipes call for adding capers and olives before the tomatoes- it doesn't matter.) Simmer the tomatoes until the sauce thickens, then stir in the capers and olives with some of their juices and dried oregano. Simmer on low for 10- 15 minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta and cook for 2- 5 more minutes or until the pasta is nicely coated with the sauce. Serve hot or warm.
For the holiday weekend, I tentatively planned to clean the house on Friday, shop on Saturday and study for an upcoming exam on Sunday. Two of three were accomplished, and that's good for me. Most of my house is clean. Saturday, we went to one of the busy malls that's further away and almost always like a zoo. Sadly, I came away with NOTHING. I was disappointed on every front, especially for a dutch oven. I bought one from a housewares stores only to read negative reviews of it online later that night. I returned it the next day. The husband, a deal finder, is keeping his eyes open for the one. At 4pm on Sunday, I started studying for that upcoming exam. As I was browsing through the course syllabus I noticed we don't have class this week; and there went the studying, out the window.
Hope you enjoyed your break. Any plans for NYE? We've got a couple- tentatively speaking. Around here tentative is the word of the month.
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving this year. Ours was filled with time with the family. We left for the shores of New Jersey early morning on Thursday. Why drive so far on the day of? Well because my mom and sister decided we wouldn’t have a traditional meal and instead we would eat homemade Indian food. Both the husband and I are trying to establish our own family traditions, one of which is to make turkey on this day. We weren’t thrilled about the menu however like a dutiful Indian daughter, I trotted home with my husband.
Mind you, I enjoy love Indian food. I will be the first to point out, Indian food runs in my blood and I can't go too long before craving it but this isn’t the time to make roti, curry, rice and daal. It’s one occasion we have to be able to stuff ourselves with mashed potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie and get fat without guilt.
At work we had a lunch to celebrate the holiday. They would provide the meat and we were asked to bring in a side dish. In matter of seconds I knew I would bring stuffing. I searched the web for an interesting recipe but ended up creating my own. Forewarning this recipe uses boxed ingredients. I prefer to cook from scratch so this is a bit strange, even for me, but I have never made homemade cornbread and that night was certainly not going to be different. It is my goal to make it from scratch one of these days!
My Cornbread Stuffing
3- 4 stale Jiffy cornbread mix muffins or 2 cups pan-baked, crumbled
1/4 cup of stale bread, cubed (I used French baguette)
Olive oil
2 tablespoon butter
1 onion finely diced
2 stalks of celery finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (fresh can be used but I didn’t have any on hand)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and Black Pepper, freshly cracked
Few days or a day before making the stuffing, follow the instructions on the box to make cornbread. I’ve always used Jiffy so I prefer it however if you like a different brand use that and follow its instructions.
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees
Crumble the cornbread and cube the bread. If the bread is too dry to cut, briefly soak it in water. Finely chop onion, celery (with leaves) and garlic. Add olive oil and butter to a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté until onions are translucent. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir in crumbled cornbread, season with salt and black pepper, again. Once the cornbread is incorporated into the onion mixture, stir in cubed bread and low sodium chicken stock. Season with thyme, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper and mix well.
Transfer the stuffing to a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Serve warm. Since I brought this to work for lunch, I reheated the stuffing in the microwave. For winging it, this was a success if I must say so myself. I would make one change to the recipe, I would decrease the amount of lemon juice or eliminate it altogether. It added a slight sweetness to the stuffing that I didn't care for, but others didn't mind.
In addition to homemade cranberry sauce, beer and cheese soup, and homemade spice cake, we had fried chicken bought from a local grocery giant. Fried chicken with cranberry sauce and stuffing, anyone?
On the day of giving thanks, we ate a full fledged Indian meal with dishes I can’t remember because I was dreaming about homemade rolls and occupied my time with the kids and the rest of the family. Although we didn’t eat the way we had hoped, we were grateful to be with people we adore, most of the time.
And of course, I thank you, my readers, for coming around to read this blog, even when I've disappeared from the Internets for unknown amounts of time.
(my sad attempt at taking a picture of the pizza, discreetly, with an iPhone)
