Superbowl Menu

On the eve of this year's Superbowl you may be asking yourself: how many nachos and bowls of chili will I be forced to eat? Can I really spend an entire evening devouring sub sandwiches and con queso dip? Is there a limit to how many sliders I should have in one sitting? So much junk food in the name of America's favorite pastime, so little time.

I actually revel in the opportunity to make some delicious tv food from scratch without the guilt, although it's a challenge trying to keep the spread from complete fatty overload. On tonight's menu we have: buffalo wings, the spicy molten blue cheese dip that the NY Times ran this week along with carrots and celery sticks, and of course, pigs 'n a blanket, because my family expects them in conjunction with any sports event or awards program. I'm also thinking that a more healthful entry of baked sweet potato fries might be finding a place on today's smorgasbord.

They're one of my favorite snacks--or even, on occasion, lunch for just me and Conor. I also think they'll be great to serve for Superbowl noshing. The first time I ever had them was while visiting Boston sometime in college and going to Mr. & Mrs. Bartleys, a burger place in Cambridge across from Harvard Yard that's famed for it's sweet potato fries, lime rickeys, and burgers named for political figures. Here's Belle during her first visit there this summer:

I'm sure they deep fry their potatoes but I opt for coating them in olive oil, sprinkling them with kosher salt, and baking them in the oven.


Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and put the fries in for about 20 minutes, making sure to toss them once in awhile so they get brown all over. They will be soft so be careful not to squish them when you're flipping with a spatula.
I find one of the only ways I can get Conor to eat veggies is in the form of baked fries. He like to dip them in ketchup, of course, I like them with honey mustard, russian dressing (mayo and sweet chile sauce) or my favorite condiment of all: miso mayonnaise (here's a recipe; you can also find the already-made kind in the refrigerated aisle of Whole Foods and other stores).
So happy Superbowl everybody! I'm routing for the Saints (sorry Colts fans), even though they weren't very nice to my boy Brett a couple of weeks ago...And let us know what you're making today!–Caroline

Cheese Straws 1-2-3

The other night, my mother had a dinner party to attend. Everyone was bringing something and she wanted to make a little nibblie to go with the cocktails--something simple enough so she still had time to get ready, but more interesting than a plate of cheese and crackers. I had remembered seeing a recipe for cheese straws in my how indispensable copy of the Canal House Cooking, Volume 2:
Call it a bit of cheating, but this recipe is all about buying frozen puff pastry and then turning it into something that tastes completely homemade. All you do is thaw out the two sheets that come in a package; preheat the oven to 375; sprinkle you work surface with a 1/4 cup of parmesan or pecorino cheese; roll out one still folded sheet of pastry at a time on top of the cheese until it's about a 1/8 of an inch thick; sprinkle more cheese on top of the rolled out dough and then cut the large rectangle into long strips, about 1/2 an inch thick; twist each strip into a long corkscrew and then place on top of a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
Besides the cheese you can sprinkle pretty much any seasoning you'd like—Canal House suggests cayenne or black pepper, my mom used this Mrs. Dash lemon pepper that she's crazy about.
Bake until they are golden, about 10 minutes (I found that mine were better when I flipped them over with a spatula and gave them another couple of minutes to brown all over). They come out perfect--and much better than what you get in a box. They're delicious when they're warm out of the oven, but they were still flaky and tasty when they were brought to the party and served at room temperature. Best of all—no one will know how easy they are to make.–Caroline

A Taco Oasis

Caroline and I often talk about how spoiled we are living in New York. (Well, now that she’s officially a resident of the Jerz Burbs, Caroline talks about how spoiled she was living in New York, but still.) There’s so much great food, so many great place to find everything you need to make whatever you want—Tripe? Sichuan peppercorns? No problem!—that it never feels you’re missing out on anything food-wise while living here.

Well, this past weekend I found myself in Los Angeles on business, and I was quickly reminded that New York is severely lacking in one truly magical area—the taco.

More specifically, the taco truck. The mobile food-making unit that brings homemade carnitas straight from Mexico to you. That’s not to say you can’t find a great, authentic taco in NYC—Sunset Park, Queens, the Lower East Side—they’re here. But it’s just not in abundance. In LA you can sneeze and there’s a taco truck.

This happed to me as I was leaving a thrift store in Lincoln Park this past Saturday. I was walking to my car in kind of a desolate area of warehouses and saw this. It was like an oasis.


I looked at my watch. 11:30 a.m. Too early for a taco? Never!

First up. A chicken taco, the works. Sorry, folks, I scarfed that one down so fast, I forgot to take a picture. Next up, the carnitas taco that you see above. Both were perfect, spicy with extra hot sauce. Just greasy enough. Best part? I paid $2.25 total for both tacos.

Chelo is the lovely lady on the right runs the truck; her granddaughter Maria helps out as assistant and English translator. You couldn’t find nicer people in the world. Next time you decided to do a little thrift store shopping at Shareen in LA, I urge you to check out the truck You won’t be disappointed.

Where’s your favorite place to grab a taco? Tell us!

—Leslie

Roast beef sandwiches—and the women who love them

A little something delicious to look at on this wintry day: a couple of weeks ago Leslie and I made a long overdue visit to Defonte's of Brooklyn, a well-known Italian Sandwich shop with an original location in Red Hook, Brooklyn and a newer shop in Manhattan. As some of you may recall we started off this blog with an investigation into the roast beef with gravy sandwich mythologized on the show 30 Rock. At the time, a lot of food bloggers posited that the sub was inspired by Defonte's, which contains thin slices of fresh roast beef, a layer of soft mozzerella, another layer of fried eggplant, all on an Italian roll that's been baptized by roast beef juices.
It turned out that the 30 Rock sandwich was actually from Hoboken--go Jersey!--but it was wonderful to finally experience the taste sensation of the Defonte's version. Staring at this sandwich right now, I swear I could eat a whole one for breakfast--is that so wrong? And if you go, hopefully the silver-haired owner is there because he muscled out a few dudes who were lingering too long at their table so we could sit (at one point Leslie and I took a look around and realized that were were the only females in the joint— are we the only women in New York who like to spend quality time with an all-meat sandwich?). He even threw in an extra bag of chips for our wait. It was worth it.—Caroline

In my absence...

Friends and countrymen--you may have noticed a lack of fresh posts, and I will spare you the gory details but me and my family were beset this weekend with one of the nastiest gastrointestinal bugs ever made by man or God. And since stomach bugs are not companionable with cooking, eating, or wanting to write about either, I have not been able to post a thing.

I am now feeling much better, but while I work on replenishing the stash of cookery stories and photos, I thought I'd share a link to a new favorite blog:

Dwellers Without Decorators 

Which happens to be about non-food related topics, but there are lots of lovely images and ideas so what's not to like?

The authoress is also a good friend: Suze Yalof Schwartz, who you may know from her miraculous fashion make-overs on morning television. Besides having perfect taste, she also happens to be a complete design nut, who is always quick with a helpful tip on everything from paint samples to the perfect place to buy towels or source a mirror for over the mantel.

And as you'll see, her latest post is in response to a question I had regarding paint colors for little girl rooms!

So enjoy--and I hope to be back to the stove tout suite.—Caroline

Chocolate Chip Cookie Chronicles

Do you ever get, how should I say it, a little cocky in the kitchen? Maybe a bit more confident than usual, which leads to unadvisable multi-tasking? You're mixing and chatting, twirling your whisk and sipping a class of pinot noir (that's supposed to make it into the sauce), listening to music and sauteing simultaneously. Well sometimes I do this and then before I know it, I've screwed something up. My friend Maya even called me on it when she came with her fam for a visit this weekend—I had decided to make a slightly more labor intensive version of chocolate chip cookies (per Thomas Keller's recipe) and got so busy chatting, chewing and baking that Maya said "how can you be doing all this at once?", and I was like "it's no problem!" But of course, I ended up burning the first batch! The temperature of the oven was too high and the little suckers got crispy before I knew it... everyone was nice enough to eat them anyway, but I was not happy with these cookies. The next day I decided to redeem myself by trying again.
The recipe I was using from Keller's new book was not radically different from the one on the back of the Tollhouse bag, but it does expect you (rightfully so) to use two kinds of high quality chocolate (he describes them in percentage of cocoa, I just chose one block of Scharffen-Berger semisweet and one block bittersweet) and to chop up your own chips. This step makes a huge difference, that's because regular chocolate chips contain an emulsifier that keeps them from losing their shape when they melt (I've actually seen this described as "chip bleed"...ew) but also effects the flavor of the chocolate. By making your own chips and using high quality chocolate I think you can transform any chocolate chip cookie recipe from good to amazing.
And I am happy to say that batch number two was perfect—Maya you need to come back!—a thin but chewy cookie with a light crispy exterior, and tons of chocolate flavor. They might be too good for a bake sale...but they're perfect for guests and you.—Caroline

How I Learned to Love the Quiche

We had lots of lovely house-guests this long-weekend (and as one of my friends at work said, shouldn't long-weekends happen more often? Like at least once a month?): a few of of my favorite people from the Brooklyn-borough, my cousins, one bouncy baby, some crazy kids, and a chihuahua. So I enjoyed the excuse to make a slew of classic, old school, comfort food dishes like chocolate chip cookies, lasagna with sweet sausage, and tomato chickpea soup to feed whomever dropped by.

On Sunday I had a little down time between visitors--there was an icy cold rain coming down, nothing pressing to do, I was still craving eggs, so I decided to find out if I could create the perfect quiche. Now I never used to care for quiche because typically they were bland or watery and I thought, what's the point of this? It seemed like a dish best relegated to the early 80's, along with perms and Reganomics. But then I had some amazing quiche when I was in Paris last May, and I fell in love with the possibilities of combining eggs, cream, veggies, and cheese, all in a lovely crust package.

I decided to make a leek and cheddar quiche. But first, the cheat: Although I was at my leisure I wasn't in the mood to make a crust. I have made savory tart crusts before, but it's not my strong point. So instead I pulled out an old-reliable Pillsbury crust. I let it get to room temperature and then unrolled in into a glass, deep-dish, pie plate. I then pricked it all over with a fork to prevent bubbling and put it in the preheated oven at 450 until it was a light golden brown (about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile I prepared the leeks: I decided to cook them Thomas Keller style (the way he prepares them for his leek bread pudding in ad hoc: at home): I sliced just the white and light green parts of four small leeks into 1/2 inch rings, washed well in a bowl of cold water, placed into a saute pan at medium heat, cooked until starting to get soft (like 5 minutes) and then added 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, whisking it in gently so that the leeks look emulsified. I then partially covered with a lid and let the leeks cook over medium-low heat until very soft, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. When they look soft and silky, remove the leeks to a plate and let cool a bit.

When the crust was done I took it out to cool, lowered the oven temp to 325, and started preparing the filling:
You can alter the proportion of milk to cream, or milk to half-and-half as you see fit, but I used 2/3 cup of heavy cream and 1/3 cup of lowfat milk, combined with 4 eggs, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, and 1/2 tsp of freshly ground nutmeg. Whisked this all together and then added a cup and a half of aged-cheddar (I like the Grafton Village, Vermont 2yr old cheddar) or most of an 80z block, saving the last ounce or so to sprinkle on the top.

Lastly stir the leeks into the eggy mixture.

Once everything is combined pour the filling into the crust, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and then place the quiche in the oven. Bake until the eggs look set and there is a nice golden exterior, about 40 minutes. When ready, take out and let sit for about 15 minutes or so before serving. You can also sprinkle with some finely chopped parsley, if you'd like.

The quiche made a lovely winter lunch, with a side of sliced prosciutto and a salad drizzled with a mustard vinaigrette. The leeks and the cheddar are an amazing combination, if I do say so myself, it's just key to cook the leeks first, when they are melty with butter and heat they bring an immense amount of flavor. I like to keep the filling ingredients simple but feel free to be creative.—Caroline

LIVE UPDATE ... BEER SPOTTED AT THE GOLDEN GLOBES! ...

BY LESLIE ROBARGE
DEVIL AND EGG EXCLUSIVE

(BROOKLYN) - Rickey Gervais has been spotted on television drinking a beer while hosting the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

It is unclear what brand of beer he is drinking.

Executives at Anheuser-Busch Companies are placing calls to NBC executives to complain about this lost product-placement opportunity and are yanking all Bud Lite commercials from the Jay Leno Show.

When asked what he thought about Rickey Gervais drinking a beer while hosting, Mickey Rourke responded, "Who is Rickey Gervais?"

...DEVELOPING...

WHO CATERS THE GOLDEN GLOBES?... LIVE UPDATE!

BY LESLIE ROBARGE
DEVIL AND EGG EXCLUSIVE

(BROOKLYN) - Wolfgang Puck says he's "honored and flattered" to be catering his 978th Golden Globe Awards gala.

Just kidding. He didn't say that. But haven't you ever thought about what those celebrities are eating while they congratulate each other with champagne breath? I did. So I googled to find out. Nada. No information exists for the lazy googler about who feeds all of the celebrities at this event!

I bet it's bad hotel food. Scrawny bone-in chicken thighs or stinky fish. Greasy beans and dreadful minature squashes. That's why everyone gets so drunk and starts getting emotional.

...DEVELOPING...

What's for lunch?

I’m really trying to bring my lunch to work everyday. Number one motivating factor: It’s cheaper. Not as in the $500 you save each year by coffee at home, but more than $2,000 you save by eating at your desk (and that’s actually low-balling the number, spending, say, $8 a day—not Times Square prices).

I figure, if I can at least bring my lunch three days a week, I’ve accomplished something. So, I’ve been spending Sundays in the kitchen, trying to make easy things that will be good to eat all week. My first attempt wasn’t so successful.

I found a recipe that sounded simple, rustic and delicious: Kale and farro soup. First, you sauté carrots, celery and onion in olive oil. (I also added a little bit of prosciutto). Then, you add water and washed, chopped kale and let it simmer.

Live and learn. Lesson here: It’s not a good idea anything with wilted leafy greens. By Tuesday they were slimy and weird and nearly brown. And another thing learned: Don’t make anything that tastes even better with a complicated garnish. This recipe suggests a poached egg, which would be amazing, but there’s no way I can do that at work. Plus, the longer the farro sits in the broth, the more bloated and fuzzy it starts to taste. Here’s a photo of the soup with a leftover meatball from dinner at Frankies Spuntino (which was the best part of my lunch).


I wised up the next week and made a turkey chili. Meat and beans: two things that will last refrigeration. I use an old Bon Appetit recipe that’s really rich in flavor—there’s chocolate and cinnamon, but it’s not at all sweet. Much better—I ate it with some Fage yogurt and some cilantro I brought from home. (To keep it fresh in your brown bag: I washed a few leaves, wrapped them in a wet paper towel and then some plastic.) This time it lasted—and the flavor got better as the week progressed—and I was able to freeze some.

I’m only in work one day next week, so no cooking for me. But what’s next? Anybody have any ideas for my next week of lunches? —Leslie