Friday, February 26, 2010

Momofuku ginger scallion noodles and shiitake buns

Poor Jude has had some late nights at the restaurant lately, not to mention that the piles of snow and rain have kept us from shopping. Tonight, he brought me home some of my favorite staples from Momofuku: ginger scallion noodles and shiitake mushroom buns. I prefer the pork buns, but they don't travel as well as the shiitakes. I ate a LOT of ginger scallion noodles when I was pregnant last year, always with extra vegetables for Ruby!




snow day breakfast in bed

Snow! And so much of it! This is what we saw looking out the window this morning. Ruby likes to sit at the window and watch the big fluffy flakes comes down, like she lives in a snow globe.



I am working from home today, so Jude treated me (and Ruby) to breakfast in bed.



Chorizo-and-egg scramble, served with black beans and warmed corn tortillas. Yum.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

this little piggy had roast beef

When Jude first told me about this new sandwich shop opened in the East Village by the same guys who own Artichoke (my favorite pizza slice in NYC), he prefaced by saying: "Just so you know, you're really going to like the name of this place." He was right. It's a sandwich shop with only three sandwiches on the menu, all roast beef. It's called This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef. Brilliant.

Jude came home from work late tonight and knew he was going to be taking a cab anyway, so he picked up some food for us to try. He got us a roast beef and au jus sandwich, holding the cheese (since I can't have it right now because of Ruby's allergy), and a pastrami sandwich with coleslaw and mustard on it. And delicious hand-cut fries. The sandwiches were pretty delicious, which is saying a lot since they really should be eaten at the counter there rather than 20 minutes later after a cab ride to Brooklyn!






Tuesday, February 23, 2010

spicy chorizo and eggs

Jude got up from bed momentarily this morning to make me some breakfast and put together a lunch (chicken and couscous leftovers) for me. It's pretty amazing to me that he can whip up something as delicious as this plate of spicy chorizo and eggs with warmed corn tortillas and not be tempted to even have some himself before snuggling back into bed.





Five minutes after Jude put my breakfast down in front of me (man, I wish I didn't have to go to work and I could join them instead!):




Monday, February 22, 2010

cabbage and cannelloni bean minestrone



Jude created tonight's dinner with the intention of using up a bunch of random odds and ends we had in the kitchen: cabbage we had bought for tacos last week, proscuitto from our picnic dinner, cannelloni beans, macaroni noodles, and breadcrumbs.

I don't usually venture into the kitchen while Jude is cooking, but tonight I snapped some pictures while he was hard at work. He had started soaking the beans in water on Saturday and cooked them yesterday with water, garlic, thyme, bacon, and an onion. Tonight, he "sweated out" (which means he cooked it lightly in some olive oil) some onions and bits of proscuitto in a pan, then added shredded cabbage and dumped in a dark beer to steam and wilt the cabbage a bit. Once the beer cooked off, he added chicken stock and some tomato paste and cooked it until the cabbage became soft.



He cooked up some macaroni noodles and used another pan to toast the breadcrumbs in olive oil.



Jude used a little pot to put together each serving of soup separately before plating it. He does it this way so that he can control how much of each of the parts of the soup we get in our bowls, and also so that we can keep all of our leftovers separated so the noodles don't get mushy.



Final verdict: delicious!


braised chicken and couscous

When Ruby and I were out at a friend's house for dinner last night, Jude was working on braising this chicken in a delicious sauce with Indian spices. This morning he made some couscous and put the two containers in the fridge for my lunch today. I am working from home, so I just put some of this chicken on the couscous and heated it up and--voila!--a ridiculously delicious meal. This chicken is so tender that it literally falls off the bone!

oatmeal


Just a simple morning with a simple breakfast. I used to eat "instant" microwave oatmeal in college, before I knew Jude. It sure is a whole lot better to have the real stuff, cooked on the stove! This bowl just has some Maine maple syrup. Yum.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

kitchen's out of commission, so tonight we have General Greene

Jude was cleaning up the kitchen today and, as he was unloading the dishwasher, opened a cabinet and was surprised by a wine glass falling out and shattering into a million little pieces. It got everywhere--the floor, the counter, the kitchen sink, etc. The pieces are so fine that this is going to need a major overhaul to make sure it's all cleaned up properly, so Jude took Ruby out tonight to pick up take out for me (he ate at work) from a neighborhood restaurant, General Greene. He read me the menu over the phone and I picked out: roasted squash salad with walnuts and goat cheese, lemon lentil soup with potatoes and cilantro, and green beans with pickled shallots and walnuts. Yum.

And here is Ruby coming in the door after the little trip with Daddy.

Friday, February 19, 2010

this would be my last meal

For me, comfort food that I can never tire from is definitely some form of a good burger and a potato side. Jude made exactly that tonight, as a treat for me. I think I have mentioned before that Jude now grinds all of our meat, which avoids contamination (since ground meat you buy in the store can come from thousands of animals) and also ensures that we can have good cuts of meat. So he prepped the sirloin tonight by grinding it in attachment for our stand mixer.

We got a good chuckle out of this burger when Jude first put it down in front of me. He called it "inedible" because of its ridiculous size. My favorite burger topping of all time is a slice of juicy grilled pineapple, (which I first tasted at Kua'Aina burger place in Hawaii). The slice below is too big, though, so I ended up eating it on the side and Jude made me another skinnier one.

Even with the big patty, pineapple, avocado slices, raw red onion slices, lettuce, mayo and mustard, I was able to smash it down enough to eat it!

As a side, Jude made roasted fingerling potatoes, seasoned perfectly and with just the right amount of crunch.
If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would have to be a burger. This meal was delicious!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

picnic dinner

After the pediatrician today, I went to work and Jude stayed home with Ruby. He went to our local French grocer (they do artisan cheeses, charcuterie with an in-house butcher, and have a bakery) and got a baguette, a bunch of yummy sheep and goat's milk cheeses (because I can't have cow dairy right now due to Ruby's bad reaction to the enzymes in cow's milk), a country-style pork pate, some proscuitto, and greens for a simple salad. We also ate what was left of the thawed bolognese over crusty bread. We had mustards for the charcuterie and honey and membrillo (quince paste) for the cheeses. Meals like this remind me of our honeymoon, where we had picnic feasts in the French countryside daily!



impromptu lunch

We had a pediatrician appointment this morning for Ruby, after which I had planned to go straight to my office and order lunch today. But we had some complications there that made me go back home with Jude and Ruby before heading to work, so Jude whipped up a quick lunch for us at the apartment. He made pasta with radicchio, guanciale (cured jowl bacon), and red wine. Simple, yet delicious, as always.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

seafood take out for movie night

Jude was coming home late from work today and we wanted to watch a movie after Ruby fell asleep, so he picked up some take out on his way. He stopped by Luke's Lobster in the East Village and grabbed us some rolls: two shrimp, one lobster, and one crab. they come with cocktail sauce, lemon, and mayo. The guy's dad is a lobster fisherman and all the seafood comes from Maine. So simple and so incredibly delicious!

variety is the spice of life

My favorite thing about the lunches Jude sends me to work with is that there are so many parts to it so that I have lots of snacks throughout the day and I don't get bored. This is actually also my least favorite thing about the lunches Jude sends me to work with, too, though, because I have so much to carry (my work bag, a bag with my pumping supplies, and a third bag for all the Tupperware involved in my lunch) to and from the office--it's hard to be that girl on the subway whose bags take up more space than she does. But, of course, I am a firm believer in the beggars-can't-be-choosers philosophy, so I'll take what I can get!

Today's lunch: leftover sesame peanut noodles from Monday night (complete with a baggie full of pickled veggies), carrot sticks with a container of homemade curried lentil dip, a salad (not pictured) with goat cheese and hazel nuts, and a little container of apple raspberry sauce.

tortillas make breakfast better

I don't actually love eggs without a carb to go with them. My carb of choice for my Knoll Crest eggs is corn tortillas. This morning Jude gave me eggs, a half an avocado seasoned with sea salt, and some tortillas.

Monday, February 15, 2010

chilled sesame peanut noodles and Mexican chocolate pudding

We've been eating out a lot with our guests in town, but for our last dinner together, Jude made chilled sesame peanut noodles with pickled veggies. This is one of my favorites, but I realized that I haven't had it since the night that I went into labor with Ruby (her last meal in utero) over seven months ago! Jude thought to make it now because my brother's girlfriend, Melanie, is vegan and this is 100 percent non-animal. Jude just eyeballs the sauce and makes it to taste each time. It involves peanut butter, soy sauce, grated ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar, sugar, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, and sesame paste. He cooks the rice noodles and then tosses them in rice wine vinegar before dressing each serving individually with the peanut sauce. To finish, he garnishes each plate with a bunch of veggies he pickled himself (celery, cucumber, green beans, carrots, and fennel), sesame seeds, and whole peanuts. Yum!

Another of my pregnancy favorites: Mexican chocolate pudding made with silken tofu (you'd never know it!). We got the recipe last spring from Mark Bittman in The New York Times and I was completely addicted. Tonight, I made the pudding (desserts are often my domain)--it is super simple, so not much room for me to screw it up! We were out of cinnamon and I went a little light on the chili powder, so it didn't have its usual kick to it, but it was still chocolately and delicious. We use good dark chocolate (not cheap milk chocolate chips) pieces (which also end up being vegan since there are no "fillers" like milk fat to produce it cheaper) and it is heavenly.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Israeli couscous salad

Quick dinner while waiting for my brother and his girlfriend to arrive for the weekend. Jude made some Israeli couscous with hazelnuts and dried cherries, mixed greens, and some goat cheese on top. Because Ruby isn't reacting well (and by "isn't reacting well," I mean lots of throwing up) to cow's milk in my diet, I have had to cut out all cow cheeses, yogurt, butter, etc. Because of this, Jude is finding lots of ways to feed my dairy cravings and give me the calcium I need. Lots of goat's and sheep's milk cheeses, soy milk, almond milk, and goat's milk yogurts.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

spaghetti bolognese

I am filing this under "quick eats," although there is nothing "quick" about Jude's delicious bolognese! I am calling it quick in this meal because he made a big pot of it last week and froze it for something I can pull out and make fast dinners from. When Jude makes bolognese, the whole house smells amazing all day while it simmers. Another thing that is a new obsession in this house lately is grinding all our own meat so that we can ensure we have good cuts and that it all comes from one animal. And by "we," I, of course, mean Jude.

Ruby meals also come from our local green markets. Jude started making her purees and sauces in the fall when there was more local produce around and freezing it in BPA-free trays in our freezer in anticipation of her starting to eat this winter. So far, her local samplings have included: honeycrisp apples, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, celery root, and carrots.

Quick and simple dessert of juicy pineapple slices drizzled with honey, sea salt, and a little chili powder. There is clearly nothing "local" about pineapple, but the honey is a yummy jar from the Hamptons (a gift from our friend, Liz).

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

tamales and salad

My lunch today at the office was its usual assortment of goodness. The stars were a chicken-and-mole tamale (made from scratch at the restaurant, not at home) and a salad with avocado and goat cheese. I love cheese, but can only have goat or sheep cheese while Ruby is nursing because she has a bad reaction to an enzyme in cow's milk, even through me. Jude has been trying to find good cheeses I can eat and putting them into my meals.


snow day breakfast

Woke up to a winter wonderland today. Nice to sit at the table with a hearty breakfast while watching Brooklyn swirl out our windows. Gotta love that carrot-orange juice blend!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Super Bowl taco bar

We had some people over for the Super Bowl tonight. We had plans to be out and about in Manhattan all morning--taking Ruby to the Chinese Lunar New Year family festival where she was mesmerized by the drums and lion dance--so we wanted to keep the food we served easy. Jude's idea of easy, of course, is slightly skewed in my opinion, but he decided on making a full taco bar.

Jude went out and bought a pork shoulder (the last one they had at our local butcher!). First, he seared it to get a nice golden-brown crust all around and then smoked it (yes, we have a smoker in our tiny apartment thanks to our friend Emily who bought it for us and our friend Josh who carried it as a carry-on bag from Wisconsin for us) for about 45 minutes or so with hickory wood. Then he braised it in a sauce of charred tomatillos, charred scallions, garlic, oregano, cinammon, honey, cumin, coriander, onions, chili powder, bitter orange juice, vinegar, and a little bit of beer. After it was braised for about 5 hours, he shredded it and had a big pot of juicy meat on warming on the stove for tacos. He also had black beans warm on the stove and he pickled a bunch of red onions for some tang. To pickle the red onions, he heated up water and vinegar together to dissolve sugar with a couple crushed garlic cloves and bay leaves. He poured that over the sliced red onions and--voila!--a delicious and simple concoction!

Our friend Tamy (also a great cook: check out her blog) brought homemade guacamole and we had other friends bring corn tortillas, salsa, limes and cilantro for the taco bar and a pineapple that Jude grilled slices of.

Delicious.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

quick stir fry


Jude got home late again tonight and we wanted something quick so we could watch a movie. Since I had had lunch on my own during the day, Jude wasn't 100 percent confident that I had eaten any greens yet, so he whipped up a simple stir fry of rice, broccoli, snow peas, and peas.

Saturday breakfast fare


Ruby and I woke up at 8:00 this morning to find that Jude had already been up for a few hours working in the kitchen and getting ready for work. When I got out of the shower, I had this breakfast waiting for me at the table. Holding an almost-seventh-month-old (and wiping her down after her grabby paws get a hold of your jelly toast) while eating is difficult, but this breakfast was yummy nonetheless.

This is a pretty darn complete breakfast that is a lovely way to start my Saturday and give me the energy I'm going to need to trudge through the snow storm today to bring Ruby to music class. Two sunny-side-up fried eggs from Knoll Crest small farm in Merrimack, NH. A small lightly dressed salad and a half of an avocado seasoned with salt and pepper and a hint of dressing. Two pieces of toast with hibiscus jam that our friend Adam brought us as a gift from Senegal. All this finished off with a glass of juice (half orange-half carrot, which is a great combination that Jude started making after spending five weeks traveling through Mexico studying their markets and foods and falling in love with this juice blend that you could buy fresh on the street).

Jude was long gone by the time Ruby allowed me to finish my breakfast, but she is now napping and I am feeling very well-satiated. Thanks, Jude.

Friday, February 5, 2010

braised beef short ribs


Jude got home late from work tonight, at about 9:30. He'd already eaten at the restaurant, but he whipped me up a great meal still. Below, my late dinner of braised beef short ribs with roasted fingerling potatoes and red cippolini onions from Rick Bishop of Mountain Sweet Berry Farm via the Union Square farmer's market. Delicious.