I heart Island Creek Oyster Bar brunch.

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

One of my favorite things in life is brunch. Going to brunch, making brunch and definitely, eating brunch. On top of that, I love oysters. Oysters are one of the lovely pleasures that I missed during the years I lived in the Midwest, and living in Boston I make sure to have them whenever a good opportunity strikes. That’s where Island Creek Oyster Bar comes in…

When this restaurant opened, I was as excited as a little kid getting a Tickle Me Elmo for Christmas. They have great location in Kenmore Square, a menu that highlights seafood and calls attention to where their food comes from. Add to that the amazing fresh, local oysters and a great selection of my beloved West Coasties… I was all in.

The décor strikes me as very industrial, while still being warm and having an ocean vibe that channels the coastal areas their oysters come from. The best part is the wall of oyster shells that everyone I have brought there always walks over to check out. I love the open area of the raw bar, as well. It’s really fun to watch them work at the raw bar plating the crazy fresh seafood there.

Their brunch menu is fantastic and has some brunch classics on it, as well as some twists on the classic. One of my favorite twists is the Doughnut Muffin; it’s a muffin that is light enough to make you think it could be a doughnut and then it’s rolled in cinnamon sugar. Yum.

For those that are trying to be a touch healthier (that would be me right now), the egg white frittata with crimini mushrooms, red peppers and parmesan is a great health brunch compromise. It’s light and fluffy and I didn’t walk away feeling guilty for eating a day’s worth of calories.

When I’m not trying to be healthy, or when I just decide that it’s completely ok to screw my diet aspirations, I go for the chorizo and sweet pepper hash with caramelized onion and a fried egg. This is everything brunch should be. The chorizo gives the whole dish a little spicy kick and the caramelized onions add a touch of sweetness. It’s a really solid brunch dish that never disappoints. Don’t forget to get a Bloody Mary with it though, otherwise brunch just won’t be complete.

I choose to end my brunch with one of their biscuits that has this savory and sweet glaze on it… it’s this buttery, honeyed, rosemary awesomeness that walks that line of dessert, making it the perfect ending to one of Boston’s best brunches.

Note: This review was entirely unsolicted.  I received no financial compensation or gifts of monetary value for this review.

Posted in Review | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Super Bowl Sunday!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Let me just put it out there, I love football. It’s one of my favorite sports to watch and it kicks off my favorite time of year. Even better than the football game are the football snacks and there is no better time than the Super Bowl to pull out all the stops with the snack food. Despite my beloved Seahawks yet again not coming within a nautical mile of the playoffs, I am still excited to watch the game and see who comes out on top and I am really excited for the party food!

My favorite football food is wings, fried or baked, sauce or not, I love wings. My personal preference is crispy and spicy. Plus I always need some kind of dip and a dose of chips and salsa. My football menu this year is going to include my two favorite wings, my Halleluiah Jalapeno Wings and Chuck Hughes’ Balsamic Wings, and Roasted Garlic-Onion Dip.

Halleluiah Jalapeno Wings


Ingredients:

18 chicken wings

Marinade

2 jalapenos

1 Fresno chile

A handful of cilantro

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne

juice of a lime

2 tablespoons of veggie oil

Blend mix and marinade wings for at least 4 hours.

Rub

1 tablespoon cumin

2 tablespoon chipoltle chili powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of Ground Cloves

S&P

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Wipe excess marinade off the wings and rub with the spice mix.

Bake at 450 degrees for 40 minutes. Flipping the wings halfway through and rotating the tray from bottom to top third of oven.

Glaze

1 1/2 TBS Sriracha

2 TBS Agave nectar

4 TBS Hoisin

Mix and brush the wings with the glaze during the last 5 minutes of cooking.


Balsamic Wings


18 chicken wings

1 cup honey

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons, grated fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lemon zest and cilantro, for garnish

 

Add the wings to a large resealable plastic bag.

Combine the honey, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, garlic and lemon zest and juice in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour half the marinade into the bag with the chicken. Squeeze out most of the air and seal the bag. Shake gently to distribute the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large, oven safe skillet over medium heat. Working in batches if necessary, sear the chicken wings, flipping once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for about 30 minutes, flipping the wings often to prevent them from burning. Remove the skillet from the oven and add the remaining marinade. Continue to cook the wings on the stovetop until the sauce is thick and coats the chicken wings evenly.

To serve, arrange the wings on a platter and garnish with lemon zest and cilantro.

Roasted Garlic and Onion Dip

2 heads of garlic

Olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

5 slices of cooked bacon, chopped

1 ½ cups sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise

4 scallions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Salt and Pepper

Cut the tops of the two heads of garlic, place on top of a sheet of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 for 45 minutes.

While the garlic is roasting, sauté the onions in two tablespoons of olive oil over low heat until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Allow the garlic and onions to cool to room temperature.

Combine the garlic, onions, and bacon with the sour cream, mayo, scallions and Worcestershire sauce. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Posted in Cooking, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Seasonal Sides: Sautéed Parsnips with Dates

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

This recipe was part of the Christmas dinner that I made this past holiday season and it was such a huge hit that it’s starting to become one of my favorite easy side dishes. This is super simple to do and I have made it in advance on a weekend to have as a quick side dish during the week. The recipe is from Food and Wine magazine and was part of a larger Moroccan menu out of the December 2011 issue. The overall menu was perfect for an innovative and fun take on the standard holiday dinner, but for me, the real star of the dinner were these parsnips.

The original recipe called for sumac in the spiced yogurt, however since I didn’t have it on hand, I improvised with harissa. However, this is a great base recipe that you could have fun with and change up the spices in it to suit your mood.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves, smashed

3 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced on the diagonal 1/2 inch thick

1 1/2 cups sliced pitted Medjool dates (about 12)

5 marjoram sprigs

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons harissa

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat the 3/4 cup of olive oil with the garlic and cook over moderate heat until the garlic is golden. Using a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and reserve for another use. Add half of the parsnips to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and barely tender, about 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the parsnips to a roasting pan. Repeat with the remaining parsnips, then scrape the parsnips and any oil into the roasting pan. Add the dates and marjoram sprigs, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 8 minutes, just until the parsnips are tender and the dates are slightly caramelized. Transfer the parsnips and dates to a platter.

In a bowl, whisk the yogurt with the lemon juice, harrisa and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt. Serve the roasted parsnips and dates, passing the spiced yogurt at the table.

Posted in Cooking, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keep Austin Weird… and send some weird to Boston!

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

Over the holiday season, I had the good fortune to participate in a food swap set up between the Boston Food Bloggers and the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance. This was perfect for me since I have gotten into barbeque the past year or so and have wanted to visit Austin to check out the food and music. I was paired up with Matt from You Stay Hoppy Austin, which worked out perfectly for me since BBQ and beer are the peanut butter and jelly of my world.

Since Matt writes a beer blog, I figured I would load him up on some of the great local brews that New England has to offer. In his package was:

  • High and Might Beer Co. Purity of Essence
  • Notch BSA Harvest Ale
  • Fumata Bianca White Rye Beer
  • White Birch Brewing Hooksett Ale
  • Cisco Brewer Island Reserve Wet Hopped Very Brown India Pale Ale
  • Alex’s Ugly Sauce (not a beer, but my favorite local hot sauce that really needed to take a trip to Austin)

These are some fantastic local brews but it was hard to choose since there so many great local breweries around that are doing fantastic things. The choice of what to send was a tough one; some beers won, others lost but that’s the way life goes. Now on to the amazing package that I received…

 

So the beer is already gone (shocking, I know), and I have to say that my favorite was the Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA. I am not really an IPA person, but I loved this beer. It was creamy and flavorful, without being an over-poweringly hopped IPA. I will definitely be looking for more rye IPAs in the future! I have already tried The Salt Lick dry rub on a small pork shoulder and on some beef ribs. It was excellent and I can’t wait to try it again!

While I have been working on this post, I have been catching up on my guilty pleasure TV, aka. Top Chef, which was done in the great state of Texas this season and I as write this, the contestants are at The Salt Lick and are drinking Shiner Bock. I take this as yet another sign that I need to visit Austin.

Posted in Cooking, Gifts, Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pasta Bolognese

Posted on January 8, 2012 by

One of my favorite restaurants in Salem, MA is 62 on Wharf. They have a great wine list and a great atmosphere… it’s the perfect place for a date night or a quiet dinner with a couple of good friends. My personal favorite dish there is the Pasta Bolognese with pork and veal. The texture of this pasta sauce is just amazing; velvety and rich. When you add their fresh made pasta to it, the dish is something special. While I would never accuse Pasta Bolognese of being an overly pretty dish (it really isn’t), it smells like heaven on a plate and so rich in texture that your mouth will remember it for days afterward.

This is my recreation of the Bolognese at 62 on Wharf and it’s well worth the time and effort. While it’s not exactly like the one at 62 on Wharf, it’s pretty amazing in its own right. Plus I look at it as an excuse to go back and continue my research.

Ingredients:

2 medium celery ribs, roughly chopped

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 medium carrots, roughly chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 ounces thickly sliced bacon

1 pound ground veal

1 pound ground pork

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

2 sprigs thyme, chopped (or 2 teaspoons of dried thyme)

1 bay leaf

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 pounds farfalle (or any other pasta capable of carrying the saucy goodness)

Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

 

Use a food processor and process the celery, onion and carrots into a rough paste.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the butter in a large dutch oven until shimmering. Add the onion, carrot and celery mixture, plus the bacon and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetable mix is softened but not browned, about 8-10 minutes. Scrape the vegetable mixture into a separate bowl.

Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the saucepan and heat until just shimmering. Add the veal and pork and cook over medium-high heat until just barely pink, about 5 minutes. Return the vegetable mixture to the saucepan. Add the garlic and cook over high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost evaporated, about 8 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock, thyme and bay leaf. Season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover partially and cook over low heat for at least an hour. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the heavy cream and cook the sauce until heated through.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain well, return to the pot and toss with the sauce. Serve the pasta with the parmesan and enjoy!

 

Cook’s Note: This sauce freezes well and is great for a make-ahead meal.

Posted in Cooking, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

It’s the start of the New Year and everyone has made their New Year’s resolutions. Like many, I am making the standard “lose weight” resolution… however I am completely convinced that cookies have no calories! These Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies are completely worth any indulgence and are one of my go-to recipes when I need to make cookies. Since I am really not a “baker”, a recipe that is easy and turns out consistently great cookies is a must for me. This recipe totally fits those criteria. Plus as long as you are okay with a mess, they are really fun to make with kids.

This recipe is from the kitchen of Paula Deen, so you can pretty much guarantee that there is butter to spare in them! So worth it… hang on while I go for a run and bench press a car.

 


Ingredients:

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, followed by the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix slowly so you don’t send it flying all over the kitchen. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.

Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and “gooey.” Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

Posted in Cooking, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Potage Crécy

Posted on December 26, 2011 by

One of my favorite soups is Potage Crécy. This French wonder is a simple soup that I had never even heard of until I had it for lunch one day at What a Crock! in Portsmouth, NH. I had the soup once and was immediately hooked. After continually stalking the weekly menu at What a Crock to see when they would have Potage Crecy again, I decided I needed to learn how to make my own version of it so I could satisfy my craving for this wonderment of soup whenever I wanted it.

A potage is a creamy soup that is typically pureed and it’s perfect for a cold winter day… even better for a post-holiday comatose state. This one is particularly good and just plain pretty to look at. The soup is named for the region in northern France that produces some of the best carrots in the country, Crécy-en-Ponthieu. While I can’t verify the quality of the carrots in northern France, I can say that a potage is one of my favorite simple kinds of soup and have been known to take them to work in a travel coffee cup for breakfast. My recipe is not entirely traditional, as I add fennel and onion to mine but it is really tasty. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 leek, white and tender green parts, cleaned and sliced

1 small yellow onion

1/2 of a small fennel bulb, sliced

2 bunches of small carrots, thinly sliced

3 Yukon gold potatoes, diced

2-1/2 cups chicken stock

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped, plus a couple of sprigs whole

1 cup half-and-half

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Kosher salt and white pepper, to taste

Garnish options: chopped parsley, goat cheese, scallions, sun-dried tomatoes, or a little good quality olive oil (or all of the above, as shown)

Heat a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter to the pot. Add the smashed garlic and sauté until golden, remove. Add leeks, onion and fennel and sauté, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots and sauté for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add thyme, cover the pot and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the whole sprigs of thyme. Purée the soup in the pot using an immersion blender (If you don’t have one of these, you can puree the soup in a blender or food processor, in a couple of batches. Return soup to pot when you have pureed it)

Add half-and-half, lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer until just heated through. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish. Serve.

Makes 6 cups

Other noteworthy versions of Potage Crecy:

Potage Crécy: French for “It’s cold outside—you need some creamy carrot soup” (www.blue-kitchen.com)

Potage Crecy (www.theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com)

Posted in Cooking, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment