city beer hall

we've gone to City Beer Hall, Albany NY before a few times for drinks and always liked the joint (it's in an old historical building, adorable, and has a great selection of drinks and big open patio). they have a great loooooking menu that i've always wanted to try, and today we finally did for brunch (they have brunch on both Saturdays and Sundays which is pretty much unheard of in Albany - at best, there are a few places that have it on Sunday).

they had a burger on the menu - hand packed grass fed beef with aged cheddar, fresh baked buns... YEP! the burger looked delightful, and was super tasty. just a touch of salt/pepper seasoning that i could tell, and the rest of it was just pure meat city. unfortunately they overcooked it a tad (i asked for medium rare, got it cooked medium with juuust a touch of pink), but luckily that did not affect the taste or juiciness too much. i would definitely come back, esp in hopes that next time the temp is cooked as medium rare. the fries were hand cut and fried delightfully - equally on par with the great burger. 

recipe: oreo cheesecake bars

i needed a very quick but yum dessert for a Hannukah party i was going to - i found these on foodgawker.com and they looked deLIGHTful. the recipe i snagged was from Table for Two - it was as quick and as delish as i had hoped. they actually just tasted like a gigantic oreo, albeit with a slight cream cheese tang. 

ingredients list: 

crust:

- 23 Oreo cookies

- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

cheesecake:

- 12 oz cream cheese, room temp

- 6 tbsp. sugar

- 6 tbsp. sour cream, room temp

- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp. salt

- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

- 12 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

to make: preheat oven to 325F degrees, and line a 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper (making sure it overhangs a bit so that the entire thing can be easily removed later).

to make the crust, finely grind the 23 Oreos until they are smooth crumbs. add in the melted butter and pulse until the mixture is fully incorporated and resembles wet sand. pour mixture into the prepared baking pan, pressing down crumbs into an even layer. bake crust for 10 minutes, then set aside. 

in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium high until light and smooth. mix in the sugar until well-combined. blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and salt, then gently mix in the egg and egg yolk until well-incorporated. gently stir in the chopped Oreos. 

pour cheesecake batter over the prepared crust. bake for 40 minutes, or until cheesecake is set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center. let cheesecake cool to room temperature (about 1 hour), then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. 

recipe: pumpkin muffins

i haven't updated this in a while seeing these pumpkin muffins were made a week after Thanksgiving, using the leftover pumpkin pulp i had hanging around in the fridge. i had snagged the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, almost verbatim except for the oats i added in for a lil extra somethin'. it was a very simple/quick recipe, and they  came out great- light & delish. 

ingredients list: 

- 1 & 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice
- 1 & 1/4 cups plus 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp oats

to make: preheat oven to 350F degrees. prepare muffin pan with shortening or paper liners.

stir together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 & 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda,oats, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in the flour mixture until just combined. in another bowl, stir together the cinnamon, remaining 1 tbsp sugar, and 3 tbsp oats.

divide batter among the muffin cups until about 3/4 full, then sprinkle tops with cinnamon/sugar/oats mixture. bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. done!

Maesri pad thai sauce

i found this little gem of a sauce on a trip to the asian (primarily thai) market near work. it came with a complete how-to recipe on back - while i couldn't follow the quantities (they were metric) and didn't have bean sprouts or asian chive, i rolled with what i had. 

we sauteed some chicken, then shrimp & mushrooms in an onion & cilantro flavored olive oil and few dashes of chili oil, threw in some dried chilis, and an egg before dropping in the sauce and rice noodles. a little salt & pepper and bing! easiest din ever. 

it had a great flavor - sweet, teeny bit of spice, not overpowering at all. while ours didn't look like the typical pad thai we'd get out, it was a charming lil din - well worth grabbing a jar for quick weeknight eats. 

CCK Chinese Restaurant

the one thing we didn't get to do in San Fran that was on my must-do list was to hit Chinatown and have some dim sum. when we got back i tried to find a few places in Albany that had it, only to learn that really none do. Yips is our go-to Chinese place, and they had it on their menu... only to inform me that they stopped serving it as no one ordered it... baaah! after a little digging online, i found CCK which apparently not only has it on their menu but was Yelped as the best Chinese restaurant in Albany. it's very unsuspecting from the exterior (it's located on the borderline of ghetto-Albs), but it's very quaint and cute inside. 

we ordered the dim sum sampler - i can't recall exactly what everything was... Spring Rolls, Dumplings (which were slightly blackened on the bottom - oh-so-good), Shrimp -something or others- and some type of Pork wonton that was quite yum. we also got the steamed pork buns as an app - i've seen them on every menu but never tried them - carpe diem. loved them.

we both got crab as our entree - i had the Crab with Curry and kyle had the Crab with Ginger and Scallion. we assumed it would be a dish with a few scant pieces of crab, but we served these awesome whole crabs simmering in some banging sauce. the curry was nice & spicy - enough to get the sniffles but not enough to drown out the dish, and was stuffed with yum veggies. i didn't try K's, but the it smelled awesome with the hot fry they did to the garlic & scallions... yum city. 

we would def go back - they had a lot of specials that were not on their menu but are very diff that what the typical Chinese restaurants in the area serve. on top of that - they are super reasonable. the crab dishes were $9.95 each - they were on special, but even still that anywhere else would be at least the $13-$15 range. 

third annual black friday pizza

third annual Black Friday pizza. it is exactly what it sounds like... pizza made from thanksgiving leftovers. this year was much the same as others (gravy for sauce, mozz, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce...), however we added in thin sliced potatoes since we didn't have any mashed potatoes. mother of delicious, it was fantastic. 

we had it with a bottle of Chandon Sparking Red wine that we had brought back from Napa months ago and were saving for t-day (the champagne tour guide said it was excellent paired with t-day fair)... it was just as good as i remember. sparking red is so unusual it's a total mouth party to have a nice dry red in bubble-mode. fantastic. i just wished they sold it outside of CA :-/

recipe: pumpkin ale cheesecake

so i'm a big fan of The Beeroness blog, however i have had yet to try anything from her site. her Pumpkin Ale Cheesecake with Beer Pecan Caramel Sauce suuuper caught my eye for Thanksgiving baking. mother of mother. it was a fun desert and even though i'm not huge on pumpkin pies, i def enjoyed this. 

ingredients list:
cheesecake:
- 9 standard sized graham crackers
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 eggs, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmet
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 & 1/4 cup pumpkin ale (i used Blue Moon Pumpkin)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour

caramel sauce:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin ale
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1/3 cup pecans

to make: prep a spring form pan with parchment/grease and set aside. in a food processor, add the graham crackers and brown sugar, and crush until it becomes all crumbs. add melted butter and process until it resembles wet sand. dump into the bottom of the prepared spring form pan, and press down until it is firmly compacted. set aside.

preheat oven to 350F degrees. in a large bowl, add the brown sugar, white sugar, and cream cheese and mix until well combined. one at a time, add the eggs and vanilla, carefully mixing until well combined. 

in a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and mix until combined. add pumpkin puree mixture to sugar/cream cheese mixture and stir gently until fully combined. add the beer until combined (note: the batter will be VERY liquidy at this point). sprinkle the flour over the bowl, then stir until just combined. pour batter over the prepared crust.

bake at 350F, adding a water bath if desired,  for about 1 hour or until the center no longer jiggles when you shake the rack the cheesecake sits on (be very careful not to over bake). chill until set, about 3 hours. for best results, chill cheesecake overnight before serving. 

to make caramel sauce, add the sugar, beer, and corn syrup to a saucepan and stir over medium high heat for about 1 minute. reduce heat to low and allow to boil about 10 minutes with a temp around 230F on a candy thermometer. add the butter, pecans, and the cream, and stir until combined. allow to cool to room temperature before serving. 

recipe: almond cookies

i have had a major thang for almond cookies lately. ever since having them from Daily Planet in Poughkeepsie, NY, i've been mildly obsessed. that obsession was renewed when i tried the Almond Pillow cookies from Fresh Market - enough to almost replace the italian sugar cookie which currently holds my favorite cookie ranking. MMMMM.

after seeing almond paste for sale in a specialty shop (maybe Fresh Market?), it was go-time to finally make them for T-day. i used a recipe from Pegasus Legend - What's Cookin with a slight tweak, and was not disappointed. not only that, but they are shockingly EASY to make. aaah. the only downside is that they are pretty expensive to make, otherwise... PERFECT. love. 

ingredients list:  
- 8 oz almond paste
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup confectionary sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 cup silvered almonds (roughly)

to make: preheat oven to 300F degrees. mix together all ingredients except the silvered almonds, and stir until fully incorporated. take rounded teaspoonfuls of dough and roll into the silvered almonds. drop the almond covered balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.  

bake for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven, until bottoms appear slightly golden. when finished baking, remove to a wired rack immediately. sprinkle with additional confectioners sugar if desired. 

recipe: oven roasted asparagus

earlier this week, hell froze over. i voluntarily BOUGHT a green vegetable (besides peppers which make a lovely accompaniment to many a quesadilla and asian dish). but. whenever i'm served asparagus as a restaurant, i always have a few nibbles OR eat it all, as it's usually prepared quite lovely. i was in Fresh Market last weekend and they had the most adorbs looking asparagus... so what the hay. i bopped around a few recipes before i found my cooking temps, though i would love to try grilled if it wasn't so sh!tty outside. 

result was good - i actually liked it, AND ate it all. i have a lot left and will eat it again (though i could never eat this or any veggie any night). we had made this on the side of char sui and ginger lemon rice - it didn't 100% go with the asian theme we had going, but it kinda worked all at the same time. 

ingredients list:

- asparagus (i cooked 10 pieces for 2 of us)

- garlic powder

- olive oil

- pepper

- garlic salt

- parmesan cheese

- lemon juice

to make: preheat oven to 400F degrees. arrange asparagus on a nonstick tray (or parchment/foil) and drizzle with a few dashes of live oil. sprinkle with garlic powder.

bake for about 12 minutes, flipping it once mid-way. it should be fork tender when it's done. when finished roasting, sprinkle with pepper, garlic salt, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice & serve. easiest side on earth. 

Blue Spice - Nov 2012

we hit up Blue Spice Thai restaurant in albany, ny a few weeks ago (i've been terrible about updating this lately) - it's a place i've been wanting to hit for a while, and luckily they popped up a groupon deal a short while back. while the service we had was admittedly a little slow, the meal we had was pretty darn good.  

i ordered the Blue Spice Duck which was nice and crispy and fatty (as it should be) and sweet & sticky. it was served with veggies and rice which made for a fabulous little mouth party. it was so long ago i can't give it much deeper of a description, but i remember it all on a positive note. sorry for the lame description, but in short, i would go back. 

recipe: veal saltimbocca

last week Price Chopper had super-thin veal cutlets on sale. i've never noticed them in the store before, but the sight of them brought back lovely memories of my first and only veal saltimbocca experience, and they had to be mine. mmm mmm veal spell.

most saltimbocca recipes i found online called for the veal to be rolled with the proscuitto and cheese, but i left it flat for fear of the rolled meat not cooking through with a quick pan fry. the recipe i went with (with a few mods) was snagged a recipe from Epicurious.com who originally snagged it from Bon Appétit, circa 1990. vintage eats.

ingredients list:
- 3 veal cutlets, pounded flat
- 1 tsp dried sage
- cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 thin proscuitto slices
- 3 fontina slices (i actually used asiago)
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 tbsp butter, divided
- salt

to make: mix flour, onion powder, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, & garlic salt in a shallow bowl. dredge each piece of veal in the flour mixture, shaking off excess & reserving mixture.

melt 2 tbsp butter & 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add veal and cook first side 2-3 minutes, until golden. flip veal, then top with a slice of proscuitto & a slice of cheese. allow to cook for a total of 2-3 minutes, until golden, covering during cooking process. when finished cooking, transfer to a warm plate, cover, and set aside.

add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 8 minutes. reduce heat to low, and whisk in remaining butter one tbsp at a time. season with additional salt and pepper to taste. if needed, thicken with reserved flour mixture.   

pour sauce over finished veal and serve.

recipe: turkey and hot sausage chili

a little fall cookin today... i've never really dove into the chili realm since i'm not big on beans, but it is a nice comfort food every now & again. i used Emeril's recipe from foodnetwork.com, blipping the beans and adding a little extra seasoning. it came out very good (i had 2 bowls :), but was missing a little something something to become my official go-to recipe - i think next time i'd swap out the turkey meat for beef and add a jalapeno or 2 for extra spice. 

 

ingredients list:
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 12 oz hot italian sausage (either ground sausage or removed from casings)
- 2 tsp Emeril's essence (if you do not have this seasoning blend, he posts are recipe for it here)
- 1 & 1/2 cups onion, diced
- 1/2 a green bell pepper, diced
- 1 poblano pepper, seeded & diced
- 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 & 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp seasoning salt (or more to taste)
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 (12 oz) lager beer (i used Yuengling)
- 1 (28 oz) can chopped tomatoes (including their juice)
- fresh chopped cilantro
- shredded monerey jack cheese (about 1/4 cup per bowl)

to make: in a large pot, brown turkey, sausage, and Essence seasoning, stirring until the meat is no longer pink (about 6-8 minutes). add the onions and peppers (bell & poblano) and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. add all remaining seasonings and garlic and cook for 1 minute. add in beer and tomatoes and stir until combined, then bring to a boil. reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour, stirring occassionally.

remove from heat and add in cilantro. serve in bowls with a big pile o cheese on top.

recipe: ithailain meatballs (thaitalian?)

love thai. love meatballs. lovin up on some thai meatballs seems only natural. i couldn't find a great looking recipe from my normal go-to sights, but a google roulette drew up 2 lovely-sounding recipes: one from Can You Stay for Dinner and Sarah Laurence. i fused a little bit of them both - end result was so yumz. they had a touch of kick but it didn't drown out the ginger zing - fun lil din. (you just can't think of meatball meatballs (italian) while you eat them b/c it will severely trip you up. thinking of thai wonderfulness, they are little balls of heaven : )

ingredients list:
- 1 lb lean ground turkey (99%. if you use anything less add more breadcrumbs)
- 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 green onion, finely chopped (plus more for garnish)
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp asian 5 spice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 egg
- salt & pepper to taste
- oil for pan frying (i used vegetable oil with a touch of ginger oil)

to make: add all ingredients EXCEPT oil in a large bowl and mix together until incorporated. roll mixture into 1-inch balls.

in a large pan, heat about 2 tbsp vegetable oil and fry meatballs until fully cooked through, about 7-8 minutes, flipping at least once during cooking process (note: adding a splash of ginger oil to the frying oil gives the balls a BIG hit of ginger - perfect fit if you have it on hand. sesame oil would also be a nice add)

i served this with a thai peanut sauce, though sweet chili sauce or other sweet-spicy sauces would also work well.