Plenty of Fish in the Sea...

... and salmon is one of my favorites!  It had been awhile since I updated and I have eaten at too many places since my last post.  I need to slow down!  Or not :)  More restaurant reviews later, but today is about salmon.


I defrosted some wild salmon last night but didn't have time to cook so I went ahead and made some for lunch today since I didn't want it to go bad.  I love it marinated in a garlic oyster sauce base with a little bit of salt, pepper, and sugar and I add some variations now and then like some freshly grated ginger or finely chopped chilies.  Today I went for a maple and brown sugar glaze.  Heat up a wok or frying pan, add a little bit of olive oil, and sear the salmon skin side down first.  Great thing about salmon is that you don't have to cook it very long.  I turn the heat up high just so that the skin is crispy and then I flip it over and let it cook for just a few minutes.  Be careful!  It's too easy to overcook salmon.  The it gets hard and rubbery instead of tender and juicy.  After transferring the fish to a plate, leave the pan on the burner.  I grabbed some frozen fine french green beans from Trader Joe's, ran it under some hot water, drained it, and threw it into the pan with just a smidgen of butter to deglaze the pan of all the flavors still in it.  Heat it up, and viola, you've got a gourmet dinner in minutes.

Braised Short Ribs @ Chez Moi

I decided to document the making of a masterpiece... my version of short ribs.  I scoured the internet trying to find a version of the recipe for which I had all the ingredients.  No such luck, so I took a little bit from this one and that one and it didn't turn out so bad because there isn't any left over :)

One of the recipes called for bacon.  I happened to buy some the day before.  Check.  So I rendered the fat out of the bacon in a large pot.  I removed the bacon bits, put it on some paper towels to absorb excess grease and ate all the bacon.  :)

Next, I browned the short ribs in the rendered fat.  Sprinkle with some sea salt and freshly ground pepper beforehand and resist the temptation to keep turning it over so that there's some good caramelization on the surface of the meat.  I cooked it for about 8-10 min.

I removed the short ribs and added a selection of veggies I got pre-chosen for me in a package labeled "soup greens."  It contained some stuff I never used before like turnip and parsnip, but also an onion, a leek and celery stalk, carrots, and some herbs like parsley and dill.  I added the celery, onion, and leeks first to get the aromas going and cooked it till it was translucent.

I added the freshly chopped herbs to the onion mix.

Then I added the rest of the veggies and water to cover.  Some recipes called for chicken or beef broth.  I added two beef bouillon cubes with the water.

Almost all of the recipes called for some form of another of red wine, but I didn't have any and I didn't want to go to the store for a bottle.  Luckily I found a recipe that called for beer instead.  And I just happened to have a stash of Purple Haze in my fridge.  This was my riskiest move because I could spoil a whole pot of some perfectly good meat if this went badly.  I poured it in and hoped for the best.

When everything came to a good boil, I added the ribs back in, lowered the heat and simmered it for a good three hours.  Oh, and I did add a tablespoon of flour, brown sugar, and some more salt and pepper.

People said that it was best the next day, but I couldn't wait.  I spent all day making it and I was famished.  There was enough left over for lunch the next day, and they were right.  It was definitely better the second time around.

Share the Love... and Those Noodles While You're At It

...a continuation of the love feast from Saturday night...

We ended our night at Spice Market in the Meatpacking District on W. 13th St and 9th.  Although it can feel a little themey, I love the design.  It's very warm, dark and sensual, just like me.... hahahahaha.  OK... moving on.  The interior is speckled with glimmering candlelight and ginormous fabric wrapped lanterns, and you're surrounded by old carved dark wood that looks like it's been there for ages, or stolen from somewhere where it had been for ages.  My favorite part is going down the stairs to the lower level dining area.  There's a landing midway down that's covered like a little pagoda.  I feel like I'm being transported to a far off land.  Cheesy, I know.  

But it works because it's always packed for dinner, especially on a Saturday night; we didn't make a reservation, so it was going to be at least an hour wait for 4.  It was nice because there was seating at the bar, but they also had little groupings of seats strictly for the bar patrons so we didn't have to stand around and clog up the entrance.  I ordered a white passion sangria, which was just ok, but not very good for $12.  Man!

Luckily, we didn't have to wait long at all, and the host was able to seat us within 15 minutes.  Although I love the decor, I'm not so convinced with the seating.  The tables are way too small and some of the benches are grouped around the columns so that if I'm sitting against one of them, facing out, I could potentially be bumping elbows with the person sitting around the corner from me from the next party.

Now the dining experience is quite different from the traditional restaurant.  The concept of Spice Market is based on the street foods throughout Asia (mostly Thai influenced) and is meant to be shared.  So basically everyone orders a dish (sized for one serving) and the waiter brings each dish out one at a time.  Better hope you're there with good friends because you're pretty much forced to share or else if your dish comes out first, everyone sits around and watches you eat.  I personally don't mind sharing because I'm Asian and that's how I grew up eating at the table.  The best thing to do is share everything and just make sure you order something that everyone will generally like and then split the bill equally.  Just don't double dip and everyone will be happy.

We ordered chicken samosas with cilantro yogurt, chili rubbed beef skewers with  a thai basil dipping sauce, beef short ribs with egg noodles and pea shoots, lobster with butter fried garlic, ginger and chilies, and sweet sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf.  The samosas were the favorite.  It was so flavorful but the cilantro yogurt accompanying it was amazingly yummy.  We all just sat around and savored the sauce even after the samosas were gone.  The beef skewers were next: savory, tender, smokey, and the thai basil sauce was almost as good as the first.  It seemed like forever before we got the next dish which was the beef short ribs.  The short ribs were so "fall off the bone" tender and flavorful.  I wish the broth and noodles it came in did the same for me.  It was almost ridiculous how we had to split some of these dishes up sometimes.  Between the four girls, some of the plates provided just a little taste, always leaving us wanting more.  This dish was definitely lacking in the noodle department.  Good thing we still had rice and lobster coming, or so I thought.  What a joke.  For $35 we got a shrunken lobster tail with what looked like the meat of one claw.  Don't get me wrong... it was really good, but we were wondering where the rest of it was.  It sat on a bed of mystery greens which garnered different reactions.  I liked what looked and tasted like fried Thai basil that was salty and garlicky and gingery.  The other green stuff was on the tart side and resemble some form of spinach.  I like spinach, but this was not my favorite.  The most disappointing for me, from a restaurant/serving/dining aspect was that the rice came right before we were nearly done with the lobster.  It was odd and didn't make sense to me.  Isn't rice supposed to be eaten with the other dishes and not on its own? The rice was wrapped in banana leaves alright, but it would have been further enhanced if it were steamed in the leaves, in order to take on the unique flavor and aroma of the banana leaf... just like how my mom would cook sticky rice sometimes. 

Although everyone was happy with the flavors overall, we all agreed that the portions were way too small, especially for what we paid.  The other girls said the food was good, but the portions were not good enough to entice them back.  Expect to pay at least $35 including tax and tip and $45 if you're getting a drink.  That's right, one drink.  Call me a pig, but I had a little room left over for more.  We were more satisfied spending $10 on dim sum earlier and the food was just as good.  But why am I complaining?  I keep going back, nevertheless, and will continue to go back... if only I had someone to go with :)