Chicken Bucatini

First post for me...

Chicken Bucatini:

- Break down a whole chicken, place in stock pot, cover with water, bring to boil and then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

- Save 2 cups of stock fluid, remove chicken to cool

- Pull chicken/chop once cool and then add to al dente Bucatini noodles, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 4oz diced pimientos, 1/3 cup green bell pepper (diced), 1 small onion (diced) 

- Season with cayenne, Lawry's, pepper to taste

- Add the stock fluid and then mix well

- Bake at 350F for 40 minutes and it's ready for consumption

- 9 out of 10 in my book

Little Neck Clams with Miso & White Wine Sauce

What you're gonna need:
-Little Neck Clams - For 2 of us, I had just under 2 lbs. of clams.
-White Wine - I used some that had been sitting out for a couple weeks and was no longer in the rotation.
-Rice Wine
-Miso paste
-Garlic
-Onion Powder
-Flake Red Pepper
-Salt & Pepper
-Pasta  - I used a vegetable based bow tie

Total prep time - 15 minutes excluding the time to clean the clams.


Directions
1) Clean your clams. We were on the way out to run errands for an hour so I put them in a bowl of cold water while we were gone. I was hoping they might swim around if I was quiet enough but no luck. Clams are a very boring pet.

Voila - your clams are clean.





2) We were fresh out of onions so I used onion powder instead. I also added some flake red pepper, the kind you might put on pizza, and sea salt. In this picture is also the organic miso paste. Not pictured is black pepper.

I sliced up 3 cloves of garlic thinly and added to just enough oil to cover the bottom the wok.





3) Once the oil is hot, in go the seasonings.











4) About the same time I started my pasta. I saw this "Veggie" pasta at the store and decided to give it a try. The pasta is very orange. I boiled it about 10 minutes.









5) Once the garlic is browned, in go the clams. Because cold water in hot oil makes a mess and pops a lot, I tried to shake off the excess water before dropping them in the wok.

6) Here is the rice wine and white whine I used. The white wine bottle was about 25% full and I used all of it and added about a 1/4 cup of rice wine.

7) After pouring in the wine, I put in the miso paste. I used what is probably a heaping tablespoon as you can see in this picture. Just drop it in and give it a stir to break it up and have it dissolve into the rest of the sauce. You don't have to cover it but I did to keep the sauce from making too much of a mess on the black splash. I stirred about once a minute. You should see the clam start to open.

Once the clams are open, it's plating time!

8) Not too pretty but here we have the clams on top of the bow tie. It's hard to see in the picture but the sauce is all over the pasta and in the bottom of the plate. If any of your clams don't open, throw them away. If they're open a little, they should be fine.





A couple other pictures:

Just after adding the wines!

Your clams are open for bidness

Restaurant Review: Date Night at John Tesar's Spoon Bar & Kitchen

Spoon Bar and Kitchen:
8220 Westchester Dr
Dallas, TX 75225
Neighborhood: University Park
(214) 368-8220

www.spoonbarandkitchen.com

My Rating: 5-star overall 

Service: 5-star

Food: 5-star

Atmosphere: 5-star
Bar: 3.5- star

It pains me to write a five-star review. But as I am saving and salivating every bite of this tiny piece of Skate leftover while writing this, I'm afraid Spoon is getting all five stars.

Atmosphere was very nice- very Highland Park.  Perfect for a dressy date night or a nice girls night out.  The bar welcomes you upon entering, with the bartender giving you an ipad listing all the drinks available (cannot order from it).  Not that many interesting cocktails.  Was a little disappointed when I asked the bartender to make me something vodka based, not too sweet and he made me a "vodka soda with lemon"... no comment there.

Sat in the small area behind the main dining with about 6 bar seats lined up to the kitchen where you can watch the chefs (and the real John Tesar) in action.  I think these seats are for prix-fix diners only. we sat awkwardly in the only one-sided 2-seater booth behind the bar seats. I say best seat in the house.

I was nervous before we came- No prices on the menu online.  This is going to be painful... and indeed it was pretty painful. Did not like the prix-fix menu so decided to order separately. 

Amuse Bouche



Food: Amuse bouche was a tuna tar tar in a curry cone. BEST Amuse Bouche Ever! The cone was perfectly seasoned and filled..overflowing with fresh tuna.. (sorry.. no chocolate ending at the end of the cone).

Next, we got 3 each of the Raw Oysters.  Kumamoto and a special from Seattle/Canada. Very fresh. ($2.50/$3 each I think?)





Singaporean Style Chili Lobster & Texas Toast

Appetizers:
1) Singapore Style Chili Lobster & Texas Toast because of all the raves on Yelp.  Same as everyone has said - well cooked. I usually don't like lobster, but this was pretty good. Nothing like the singaporean chili crab if anyone is wondering. soup was good for dipping.
 

Raw Surf & Turf (Scallop + Kobe)



2) Raw Surf & Turf: Nantucket scallop tar tar, Texas Kobe, caviar, served with pomme souflee things.  -- was totally wowed by this dish.  I've had steak tar tar at many places and this was the first time I've seen it paired with scallop. Delicious!! The freshness of the scallops lightened up the steak, and I couldn't taste the "raw meaty-ness" at all 



And my sweet sweet Janitor says: "Babe, I saved this piece for you"

  

Sea Urchin: Coffee Infused Potato Puree, Sea Urchin, Tobiko, Some Kind of Foam



3) Sea Urchin: Coffee Infused Potato Puree, Sea Urchin, Tobiko, plus some kind of foam. I usually LOVE love love uni.  I dream about Tei Tei's Flounder wrapped Uni. Sadly, here I was extremely UNDER-whelmed. This was indeed very inventive and had great presentation, but the fancy coffee-flavored mashed potatoes = too overpowering and took away from the delicate uni. What's more, the uni was watery!

Faux Cuttlefish Pasta

Entrees:

1) Faux Cuttlefish Pasta, Iberico Pork, Caviar: Not sure what I was expecting, but after the waiter's heavy pitch on this dish, we ordered the $36 crunchy fake squid pasta. Tasted a bit like the Zero Calorie Noodles that I buy from the Asian market for $0.99:  slimy, sorta crunchy, and fishy. The pork was just fancy bacon and the teaspoon of black caviar didn't add much but presentation. Flavor was ok, but definitely would not get again. 

Sauteed Skate

2) Sauteed Skate, pineapple, lemon, tomatoes, capers & brown butter - great fish dish.  2 Thin fillets of white fish, pan seared to perfection-  Crunchy outer layer with a soft tender inside.  I only wish I could do this at home. Topped with pineapple salsa over a bed of polenta or mashed potatoes (something mushy can't remember). Goodness my mouth is watering.. 

By the end of our indulgent dinner, we were stuffed to say the least, so did not order dessert.  But they did bring out a couple tiny tiny macarons and a peppermint thing with the Spoon logo. Good ending to the meal.  But I have to say My best ending was taking a picture with sweaty John Tesar! And of course-- with his glasses sitting on his forehead (we tried that at home.. and impossible I say). Here's a picture of him in action.

All-in-all a great time. Glad I've found one of my new favorite restaurants in Dallas. Janitor- I say we have a win!

Kohlrabi Salad

So a few weeks ago, we got a very bizarre fruit-vegetable looking thing in our Urban Acres (Produce Co-op) bin: Kohrabi (see below).  I've never even heard of such a thing... must be what those 1%-ers eat! After some googling, turns out it's a relative of the cabbage. I think it also comes in a light greenish brussel sprouts color. The name is a German word meaning "cabbage turnip".  It tasted like a juicier sweeter version of a broccoli stem or a less spicy version of radish/daikon- can be eaten raw or cooked once you peel the skin off.  I decided to try making a Kohrabi Salad since I love the freshness and healthy taste of raw pickled radish. Turned out very yummy: the juicy crunch freshened up the entire salad and was ridiculously refreshing!
Recipe (makes enough for a small salad see below):
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sized Kohlrabi - greens chopped off (some say you can cook the greens like turnip greens or kale)
- 1 tbsp capers (no juice)
- a few spears of mandarin/clementine oranges
- 1/2 small onion
-  2 tbsp olive oil (can add more if desired)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (can add a little vinegar if prefer more pickled flavor - I did)
- lettuce to coat the bottom of bowl
- 1/3-1/2 tsp sugar
- salt/pepper to taste
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- 1 tbsp parsely
Directions:
1) Peel kohlrabi with peeler until all red skin is gone and slice thin - place into bowl
2) Chop/slice onion and add to the bowl
3) In a separate bowl, stir together capers, olive oil, lemon juice (and vinegar if added), sugar, garlic powder, salt/pepper until all dissolved
4) Pour over kohlrabi/onion - mix, then toss with lettuce
5) Add parsely and toss a bit more
6) Taste and season with more salt/pepper if needed
7) Add orange spears to top

Red Kohlrabi with stems attached



Finished! Not very pretty.. I know, but tasted good! Next time I will try improving the presentation.

Homemade Fried Chicken and Gravy

On a recent trip to Nashville, I was given the daunting task of learning to make Fried Chicken and Gravy.  My whole life, I've believed fried chicken should be a task for the Colonel only --impossible to recreate at home. But when the BF hinted that if I truely wanted a way to his heart, I'd better learn this family recipe from his mom, I was excited to document for my first posting!  This was delicious - and simpler than I expected. Can't wait to try it on my own.  Here's my attempt at the recipe - sorry about the lack of measurements:

Ingredients:
- Corn Oil - about half a bottle (enough to fill a deep 13 inch round pan half way)
- Chicken skin on (can use legs, breast, whatever pieces you like)
- white all-purpose flour - about 3-4 cups (enough to fill a loaf pan half way
- salt and pepper
- milk (2% or 1%)

Directions:
Chicken:
1) Fill a loaf pan half way with the flour (I will probably try adding salt/pepper directly to the flour next time)
2) Rinse the chicken (do not dry), coat each piece generously with the flour in the loaf pan, set aside
3) Fill a 13inch deep stainless steel pan half way with oil (the picture below shows after the oil has already been cooked down. fill to the point of the yellowy/brown line) - heat on medium
4) This is important! Watch the oil and make sure to not overheat/boil. Test the temperature by sprinkling flour into the pan. At the correct temperature, the oil will fizzle with small bubbles when flour touches the oil.
5) Add the coated chicken pieces to the pan. The oil should cover half of the chicken. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Flip when the bottom (side in the oil) is light yellow and sprinkle that side generously with salt and pepper. Make sure oil is not too hot. Wait another 5-8 minutes and flip again, salt & pepper. Repeat this process again. At the end, each side should be a perfect golden yellow and perfectly seasoned (see last picture below. could wait until a tad more golden).
6) Transfer chicken from pan to a paper towel lined baking dish (to keep in the oven @ 200 while gravy cooks) Voila! You have Fried Chicken!

Gravy:
This is the tricky part and the key to a perfect Southern Fried Chicken.
1) Take the oil from the chicken frying and pour out about 1/2 - 2/3 (into a container. Do not pour into your sink! it will ruin your sink!)
2) stir oil with a spatula, stirring up all the little bits and pieces from the fried chicken. Begin adding the leftover flour from your loaf pan a little at a time. (add about half a cup-1 cup at a time.) stir stir stir until flour is dissolved and no chunks remain. Keep adding and stirring sporadically until the mixture begins to thicken and you have a gooey brown mixture
3) add milk and stir again - continue until you have your perfect gravy consistency
4) add salt and pepper to taste

Pan with oil after chicken has been cooked. Ready to make Gravy!



Gravy!! Still a little thick, but gravy nonetheless!!!!

Delicious Crispy Fried Chicken

Served with mashed potatoes from scratch - a true southern meal!