We're A Fry Family

Seth and I have always bonded over french fries. We love them! We try not to have them more than a few times a month, but when we do, we home make them.

Just cut the potatoes and throw them into a pot of super hot veg or safflower oil. Again, we just use our cheap little hardware store bought pot...someday we'll invest in amazing cookware, but for now, the pots we have are getting a lot of love.

Let them boil until they're toasty brown and then throw them onto a plate covered with paper towel and sprinkle with kosher salt. You can do the same with sweet potatoes, but my hub doesn't like sweet potatoes.

Delicious!

KSW

Sheriff Bob at the Grisley Pear

One of my favorite little subcultures in Manhattan. If you're in the mood for some great live Blue Grass, it's a free-for-all every Wednesday nights beginning at 9:30 at The Grisley Pear. Anyone can bring their guitar, banjo, mandolin, flute and just play along.

I had one glass of beer and it was not good, so I'd recommend sipping on a small glass of whiskey instead.

KSW

Organic Blend

I strongly (pun intended) recommend this delicious organic blend coffee from 181 Cabrini.

It's the same price per pound as Starbucks and you also get a complimentary medium coffee, never mind the free-hand decor LAL (laughing a little).

Walk one extra block west and support our local coffee shop in Hudson Heights!

KSW

Garbage Chef

My good friends Nate & Paula Orr coined this phrase which means "cooking with whatever you can find in your cupboard."

Tonight, I was a garbage chef.

I took 1/2 a bag of frozen shrimp that has been in my freezer for over a month. I sauteed some garlic and onions on my favorite skillet and added the shrimp, de-tailed and chopped in half. I let that simmer for a while. I didn't have any heavy cream so I poured in some whole milk and used whatever was left of the parmesan cheese and grated it to thicken the sauce. As that was simmering, I quickly boiled the fettucini that we've had FOREVER.

Salt & Pepper to taste...as always.

I love my skillet.

KSW

Lamb

I discovered last night that I can cook lamb the same way that I have been cooking steaks.

We wanted to only spend $20 so I went to Franks and purchased 5 lamb steaks. My friend Sarah who was acting as my sous chef for the event, sliced the steaks into smaller portions to feed a large crowd.

We seasoned with salt & pepper and threw the lamb pieces onto a hotter than hot cast iron skillet (my very favorite thing in my entire kitchen and Seth bought it for me for about $25 at the hardware store down the street). We didn't use additional olive oil only because lamb is more fatty.

We cooked the meat 4 minutes on each side for medium rare and about half way through we added some fresh cut rosemary which as Sarah discovered made a very attractive garnish when it was all said and done.

We packed the house with men women & children and hosted the Passover Seder!

Chag Sameach!!

KSW

Parisian Restaurants: Inexpensive & Delicious Local Finds

About mid-week, the single ladies I was with met a group of Parisian gentlemen who proceeded to show us the "inside scoop."

I have a list of amazing local restaurants. We ate well the last few nights in Paris!

The Fav's are:

Chez Vous
Chez Vous was the first amazing meal I had. I ate something like a duck shepherds pie and a very delicious red table wine that the locals picked for us.

Coffee Parisien
Coffee Parisien was where we went because we couldn't get in to Castel on such late notice. The wait would have been over an hour long and we were hungry! We ducked into this crowded restaurant where we proceeded to eat the most delicious burgers in all of Paris! What a find!

Le Cafe we didn't eat here but heard it was great.

Castel is amazing and apparently considered "a very select and private club." We didn't eat there because the wait was so long but I want to go back with the hub someday.

As for clubs, we did one night at Le Baron and stayed until it was so crowded that I got sat on. Another club that was suggested to us was Scopitone but we ran out of time!

Oh Paris! Until we meet again...

KSW

Food in Paris

I have been in Paris for four days now and I have yet to taste anything amazing besides the $6.00 coffee with milk. I have cut myself off from buying coffee out, using a coffee maker from the 1930's in our loft in the Latin Quarter.

Granted, my friends and I are doing Paris "on a budget" but still...

I am tired of the noisy crowded Brasseries...I need an experience.

We walk around in the cold looking for perfection and somehow always end up places overpriced and underspiced...

More TK...

KSW

Secrets to Stove Top Steak

For years I've been wondering about the secret to a really delicious home-cooked steak. It's hard for us New Yorkers...it's illegal to cook outside on a grill! So we have to improvise.

As usual, I found the most amazing advice in my cookbook "The New Best Recipe" pg 388.

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed nonreactive 12-inch skillet over high heat until very hot. Meanwhile, season both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Lay the steaks in the pan, leaving 1/4 inch of space between them. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, not moving the steaks until they are well browned, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, flip the steaks; cook 4 minutes more for rare, 5 minutes more for medium-rare, and 6 minutes more for medium. Transfer the steaks to a large plate, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes while preparing a pan sauce.

I will typically saute garlic & onions on my skillet before I cook the steaks, just to add flavor. My husband Seth doesn't like onions, but since I was making dinner for a girlfriend, it worked out well!

The Most Amazing Lasagna

Tomato-meat sauce

1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Medium onion, chopped fine
6 Medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 Pound meat loaf mix or 1/3 pound each ground beef chuck, ground veal, and ground pork
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 28 oz can pureed tomatoes
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

Ricotta, mozzerella, and pasta layers

15 ounces whole-milk or part-skim ricotta cheese (1 3/4 cups)
2 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (1 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
12 no boil lasagna noodles
1 pound whole-milk mozzerella cheese (shredded 4 cups)

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high and add the ground meat, salt, and pepper; cook, breaking the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon until the meat loses it's raw color but has not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the cream and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates and only the fat remains, about 4 minutes. Add the pureed and drained diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and simmer slowly until flavors are blended, about 3 minutes; set the sauce aside.

2. Mix the ricotta, 1 cup parmesan, the basil, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl with a fork until well combined.

3. Smear the entire bottom of a 13 inch by 9-inch baking dish with 1/4 cup of the meat sauce. Place a layer of noodles to create the first layer. Drop 3 tbls of the ricotta mixture down the center of each noodle and level the domed mounds by pressing with the back side of a spoon. Sprinkle the layer evenly with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Spoon 1 /2 cups of the meat sauce evenly over the cheese. Repeat the layering of noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, and sauce two more times. Place the remaining noodles on top of the sauce, spread the remaining sauce over the noodles, sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella, then with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cover the pan loosely with foil.

4. Bake 15 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes until cheese is spotty brown and the sauce is bubbling. Cool the lasagna about 10 minutes and serve.

My hubby loves this and has said, "Babe, I think we should make lasagna a weekly thing."

KSW