Food Tourism

I've just returned from four days in New York, and while I've been slacking on the cooking front lately for a million reasons, I hope some of these treats will tide you over.

First stop was the Chelsea Market, packed with bakeries, butchers, fishmongers, chocolatiers and seemingly every other tasty thing imaginable.

Usually I am not so enthused about seafood-I get a lot of the good stuff at home, but some of these preparations were truly special and inspiring.


I've kvetched about the inferiority of New York bagels, but this spread I would happily eat on anything, from bagels to saltines.

Picked up some chocolates from Jacques Torres as a small Valentine's Day treat.

Giant jar of Nutella-a treat too large for my suitcase and my budget (ringing in at $70 USD).

Now this is just silly.

Don't worry, "Eternal Flame" is our song.

Carrot cupcake at Billy's. I like baked goods plenty, probably more than most people, but am not totally on board with the cupcake craze. Cupcakes are fine, they just aren't anything special (read: hovering around $5) in my books. I guess with all the hype I was expecting something elevating that would dispel my cupcake doubt, and while this was very good, it was overly sweet and not quite everything I think a cupcake could be. I also stopped by Magnolia for an absurdly rich cheesecake/chocolate cookie cupcake hybrid, which again was good but not great.

Cheeseburger, medium-rare, with the works at the Parker Meridien's Burger Joint. It was everything they (friends, guidebooks) told me it would be. Tucked behind a dark curtain in a decidedly upscale hotel, this burger (and excellent fries) was well worth the wait (about 20 minutes on a holiday Monday afternoon). Made to order, juicy but not soggy, tasting strongly of delicious delicious beef above all the prime condiments, it is a serious contender. Atmosphere behind the curtain is like a casual, lively bar-orders are placed at the counter and yelled out when grilled to near carnivorous perfection. $14 USD for cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. I meant to make it to Shake Shack as well but ran out of time. Next trip.

I've just finished Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, an account of her adventures as New York Times food critic, and in another life where I am not a student living below the poverty line I would love nothing more than to retrace some of her mouth-watering steps in the city. Really fantastic; highly recommended.

Pesto Scallops

This Mark Bittman recipe for sea scallops stuffed with pesto was a huge hit, and took less than 30 minutes (even quicker if you use a store bought pesto, a great option in the dead of winter). Try to buy the freshest scallops possible (they should NOT be packed in water) for best results.

Basil-Stuffed Scallops (this recipe serves 4 very hungry people, scale up or down as needed)

• Approximately 20 basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs large sea scallops (as uniform in size as possible, also I made this for 3 and it was much too much, though delicious. This will yield generous portions for 4)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 4-6 cups mixed greens (optional, makes for nice presentation to serve the scallops on a bed of greens)

Start by preparing your pesto (or opening a jar), cut the scallops almost all the way through their midsection and spread on the pesto and close all the scallops back up.

Heat a large skillet over high heat, add approximately 2 tbsp oil and the scallops. Cook about 2 minutes per side, dependent on how thick your scallops are, until nicely browned. This goes by very quickly, careful not to overcook!

Place scallops on a bed of greens and create a quick pan sauce by adding the lemon sauce to the skillet over low heat for 10 seconds, pouring sauce over the scallops. I served the scallops with some plain pasta and asparagus broiled with lemon zest and salt.

Mussel Mayhem

I am home in Halifax for break and that means savouring the seafood, beginning with mussels which are relatively cheap and quickly devoured. Due to an unfortunate fall that broke my dad's wrist, it also means I am in charge of dinner most nights, and this one was quick to get on the table and uses only one pan. It comes from the beerbistro cookbook, a Toronto restaurant I've actually never been to (but will be checking out soon). I got this exciting cookbook and several others at the library, which is a great way to test-drive books and especially great for me, on a student budget with no kitchen, and thus no means or practical reason to purchase cookbooks, though many are making the cut for my cookbook wishlist when I finally have a kitchen of my own.

All of the recipes in this book use beer, somehow-in salad dressings, as a marinade, even in desserts. They have pretty specific recommendations for the best beer to use in each recipe, but my dad is a longtime home brewer so I just substituted one of his IPA's for the helles lager called for-the beer flavour is subtle in the finished product as most of it steams off.

Mussels with Tomato and Beer (serves 2-4)

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 lbs mussels
• 6 tbsp beer-helles recommended, any IPA a good substitute
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 2 tsp chopped tarragon

1. Melt butter and sauté onion and garlic about 1 minute. Add your cleaned mussels (just a quick rinse will likely do for most store-bought mussels) and cook 30 seconds.
2. Add beer and tomato sauce to mussels, shake to distribute evenly, then cover and steam mussels for about 3 minutes.
3. Add tomato and tarragon, and let boil uncovered to reduce sauce for 1 minute. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Distribute into bowls and serve alongside crusty bread to soak up extra broth.

Shrimp primavera

This is a tasty and quick pasta dish that involves little equipment (pot, pan, knife and you're good) which is especially key away from home in a poorly equipped dorm kitchen. It comes from City Food, a collection of recipes from Halifax restaurants purchased sometime in the early nineties, I am guessing. The restaurant it is from, Silverspoon, is no longer in existance and I have only had the homemade version. Which is really good. We have this often, we have this with guests, I ask for this when I am home for a visit.

Also an anecdote about my earliest cooking exploits and an example of how ridiculous my dad is sometimes:

In grade 8 home economics we had a project to cook a meal for our family, do a write-up and have a parent give us a grade. Most kids made burgers, spaghetti, easy but totally legitimite things. I made guacamole, this shrimp primavera and apple crisp. And it was excellent. Everyone' else's parents gave them 10/10. My dad gave me 9.5, baffling my teacher. "There's always room for improvement," he said. And I suppose he's right.

Shrimp Primavera (serves 4)

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 lb- 1 lb deveined shrimp
• 1 cup white vermouth
• 2 tbsp finely chopped dried apricots
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1-2 red, yellow or orange peppers (I only used 1)
• pasta for 4 people (I used linguine, up to you)
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley
• 1/4 heavy cream (I am waddling towards obesity and went with close to 1 cup)
• 1/2 mango, diced
• 

Sauté minced garlic in oil in a large skillet for one minute. Stir in shrimp and cook until opaque. Remove shrimp and set aside.
Pour in vernmouth and simmer 5 minutes. Add apricots, lemon juice, rosemary, salt and pepper. simmer 5-10 minutes to reduce volume by half.
Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook to desired texture (al dente, obviously). Drain well. Place in a very large bowl.
Immediately toss together: pasta, vermouth mixture, shrimp, strips of pepper, parsley and enough cream to coat the pasta. Garnish with chunks of mango. Serve immediately (although it also makes great leftovers)

Rock Lobster

I consider it a basic human right to have lobster at least once when I come home for a visit. Company is the perfect excuse. Lobsters are absurdly easy to cook, absurdly involved to eat (if doing it at home; restaurants don't make you work for it). Much cheaper to do it at home, especially if you just want straight up boiled lobster.

Boil salted water in a large pot, stick your lobsters in head first, cook 15ish minutes depending on their size. Melt some butter for dipping. While waiting for the giant pot of water to come to a boil this past January, I remembered hearing tell that you could hypnotize a lobster, so my friend and I turned to youtube for guidance. If you stroke it's back at the beginning of the tail repeatedly, the lobster will go into a trance state, and you can make it do fun headstands, as seen below. We were pretty lucky as these guys were already pretty lethargic from the flight (you can pick up lobsters to take as your carry-on at the Halifax airport) and so were fairly cooperative. Once your lobster is ready you're going to need some implements, and most importantly, some napkins as it will get messy. A vise grip or crackers of some sort and seafood picks are probably the most essential. Here's a handy diagram of how to dig in.

Shrimp Tempura

Halifax may be satisfying my crustacean cravings, but the sushi, I miss it. Well there is sushi here, but it is unreasonably expensive compared to the sketchy/amazing places I frequent in Toronto. Also drunk sushi at 1am, not so much an option. So I made something I never before considered making at home. Tempura.


Crispy, battered, deep-fried-only worth it if you're eating there, the soggy lumps you get by delivery/take-out do not do this food of the gods justice.

Cook's Illustrated got me pretty close. Here is their take:

Shrimp Tempura (serves 4)

• 3 quarts vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds colossal shrimp (8-12 per pound), peeled and deveined, tails left on.
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup seltzer water
• Kosher salt

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. In large, heavy Dutch oven (I used a wok) fitted with clip-on candy thermometer, heat oil over high heat to 385 degrees, 18-22 minutes.
2. While oil heats, make 2 shallow cuts about 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart on undershipe of each shrimp. Whisk flour and cornstarch together in large bowl. Whisk egg and vodka together in second large bowl. Whisk seltzer water into egg mixture.
3. When oil reaches 385 degrees, pour liquid mixture into bowl with flour mixture and whisk gently until just combined (it is OK if small lumps remain). Submerge half of shrimp in batter. Using tongs, remove shrimp from batter 1 at a time, allowing excess batter to drip off, and carefully place in oil (temperature should now be 400 degrees). Fry, stirring with the chopstick or wooden skewer to prevent sticking, until light brown, 2 to 3 minutes.


Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt. Once paper towels absorb excess oil, place shrimp on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet and place in oven.
4. Return oil to 400 degrees, about 4 minutes, and repeat with remaining shrimp. Serve immediately.

Use the left-over batter/oil to fry up some vegetables, I went with rounds of sweet potato.
I was surprised at how well this turned out, it was actually pretty easy, if a bit finicky. But the vodka in the batter is key.