JCC Tomo-spiced karkana ribenes - the foodies' thread

After much discussion about food, quality food, decadent food, favourite desserts and favourite snacks in the Fanfic social threads, I thought we might want a thread for people who like good food - by the looks of it, there's quite a few of us on these boards!

So this is the place to talk about your guilty pleasures, your fave recipes, the best restaurant you've ever been to or basically anything food.

To get us started, I'll say that the best restaurant I've ever been to in my life is a self-proclaimed "bar américain" on avenue du Montparnasse in Paris called La Coupole. It was an unforgettable meal in an unforgettable place. The food was top-notch French cuisine, albeit pricey (actually, outright expensive), but there's an added bonus: the place itself is simply amazing. It was a very popular place with intellectuals and artists from the late 1920s onwards, and it was decorated in Art Déco style by the most famous artists of the time. Legend has it that they were paid in drinks

Oh, and since I'm in French mode, let me add here that nothing beats a good French croissant. Slurp.

Mav Edit per request: HERE is the current index of recipes for ease of finding them.

 

I approve of this thread.

 

I judge a Chinese restaurant from the quality of their hot & sour soup. If the soup sucks, that basically ruins the meal for me. When I lived in the US, there was a small Chinese takeout place just down the street from my apartment. They made excellent hot & sour soup. It was great for when I had a cold.

 

Chyntuck -- you're Greek, right?

Saganaki -- cheese, pan fried, covered in alcohol and lit on fire.

There are no bad words in that sentence.

 

With a dash of lemon. Mmmmm.

 

Are you challenging me, Healer_Leona? Here's what my partner and I had for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs (not just the drums, the whole legs), skinned
Juice of 3 oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp turmeric
4 big bell peppers, roughly chopped (optional)
Salt

Put the fruit juice and spices in a skillet and bring to a boil. Place the chicken in the liquid, sprinkle with salt and add the bell peppers on top (the peppers shouldn't be in contact with the liquid). Lower the fire, cover and let simmer gently until the chicken is done (30-40 minutes). When ready, the sauce will be thick and gelatinous. I like serving it with steamed broccoli, but boiled potato is nice too. It's also very tasty cold (which is why I make 4 legs even though there are only two of us, so we can take the leftovers to work the next day.)

Your move

 

Frieda -- um, it's probably because I have embarrassingly few recipes. I tend to "wing it" a lot because of how my brain works.

One of the most common things I make is a pasta dish I've been getting into because I'm on, what Anthony Bourdain would consider, a "good bad fish" kick and trying to use more anchovies. But really good anchovies.

So liberal layer of very good, unfiltered olive oil and about 4-6 anchovy strips at a medium heat until they basically pulverize (disintegrate into the oil), then cook about 6-8 garlic cloves in that while you make pasta (I tend towards short pasta, rather than long pasta). Then, depending on what I do, there's always adding two kinds of olives (oil-cured pitted black and some green pitted olives -- I'd prefer Cerignola but those are hard to find pitted and I normally can't) and capers.

From there, several options:

1) Buy San Marzano tomatoes, peeled/whole, and hand-pulverize them and cook down the liquid; add it to the olive/garlic/anchovy mix.
2) Buy a 25-32oz jar of "good" (i.e. non-Ragu) tomato sauce where I would go with a straight marinara sauce or basil marinara.
3) Sautee a bitter, leafy green (arugula, baby spinach, kale, beet greens, etc.) with some olive oil until cooked through barely but not soggy.

That way you can go with either a tomato-based sauce or a non-tomato based leafy green. Also, don't be Olive Garden: salt your pasta water!

Eat with either a salty Romano cheese (it'll be a different kind of salt to the olive brine) or no cheese, as you desire. I think I've made one variation where I felt Parmesan was the better choice, but it's rare. I'd typically go with a white wine for drinking and think I've found sweeter (German riesling?) goes well, though I'm sure any wine you like the flavor of and doesn't conflict with the flavor will be fine.

mavjade can provide references.

 

Since you end up pulverizing the anchovy in the oil and then infusing that into the cooked garlic, you end up more with "anchovy essence" -- but if you don't like fish at all (like my neighbor) there's no getting around that.

 

im not gonna bother to read this thread. i just wanna say foooooooooood

 

Didn't you eat with me in Vegas?

 

I don't like anchovies on things, but in the pasta dp4m is talking about it really doesn't taste like anchovies, though they certainly contribute to the flavor. But as he said, it's all about the good anchovies... I tried it make it once with cheap ones and while it was edible, it wasn't nearly as good.

I can't attest to the options that had tomatoes because I don't like any tomato product, but the leafy green option (specifically with arugula) is amazing!

 

It was this place (now closed):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/nobhill-tavern-by-michael-mina-las-vegas

 

things i learned today: how to make a watermelon/cucumber salsa, harissa, sofrito, a delicious corn recipe, and an octopus dish. and this is only my second day.

GOD I ****ING LOVE WORKING FINE DINING

 

stfu rip enterprise cake

 

Following on from the OP's post, my favourite ever restaurant is a private dining kitchen in Central in Hong Kong called Da Ping Huo. It's run by a husband and wife team - he does front of house and the art that adorns the walls; she runs the kitchens and cooks, and then sings Mandarin opera at the end of the night.

No, really:



Basically hidden away in the main part of HK Island, the place does a 9 dish set Szechuan meal which means it's spicy as ****. The food is amazing though. This blog has captured images of the food: http://www.followmefoodie.com/2010/05/hong-kong-sichuan-da-ping-huo-restauarnt-private-kitchen/

I've been twice, in 2005 and 2009, and the blog is from 2010. Nothing has changed, which is as it should be. If you're in HK and can handle spicy food (if not, lol @ you) then you need to go here.

 

Again, information that would have been useful for me FIVE MONTHS AGO!!!



But I'll keep it in mind for the next time I go.

 

btw for a great read: http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfectionist-Death-Haute-Cuisine/dp/B000MGAHXM

essentially the biography of french cooking and chefs in the 20th century, including the history of michelin. beautifully written, historically and culturally rich, it captures the spirit of dining perfectly while weaving in and out of the life and death of 3-star holder bernard loiseau. probably my favorite book on cuisine.

 

Cool. I will maintain hope against hope (and sight beyond sight) that this will be on the Amazon Prime Lending Library...

 

You know I know Asia well, so why didn't you ask?

 

Wouldn't the olives, anchovies, salted pasta water and capers make that dish salty as hell?