Take Out Edition - Sushi

Sushi Family Express

35-48 Union Street Flushing, NY (718) 321-2231

Last night me and Bobby got some sushi. I LOVE sushi.

I found this place back when i was in high school. I used to eat there like 3 times a week because it was so close, cheap and GOOD. They serve more than sushi, they also do box combinations. My favorite is chicken teriyaki or pork katsu (pork cutlet breaded in panko). My favorite roll is the California roll. They make it very differently then the way most sushi spots do, instead of chunks of crab meat they mince it up and mix it with a little mayo. It keeps the crabmeat from getting dry and tasting like cardboard. It's addicting. I've tried a few other rolls and their also really good but nothing beats the California roll. Pictured above is Bobby's Boston roll (bottom), which he claimed was DELICIOUS and the top 2 rows are the California rolls.

The place itself is a hole in the wall and it only has a few tables so your best bet is doing take out. The guys there are really nice and friendly. When you go in and they happen to have a table; dine in, you usually get salad, cucumbers, edamame and seaweed. At the end of your meal they usually offer you a free cup of green tea ice cream. The 6 piece rolls go from $3-$8 each and platters during lunch are usually $7-$9 and it comes with your choice of meat, pork katsu and 6 pc of California roll, you can substitute the pork cutlet or rolls for a couple other options.

This place gets a solid 9.

Pop-Bar tonight! Updates tomorrow!

Penne Alla Puttanesca

Todays lunch was a little more like early dinner. I cooked for Bobby, his mom and little sister. His mom is not too crazy about the dish because shes not a fish person, so a little warning to people who dont like fish, you might want to stay away from this recipe.

Simple lunch, so simple blog. little fyi: wont be cooking tomorrow due to the funds, so im going to just pick it up on sunday for dessert. still going to try and go out on saturday for food.

Ingredients: (servings for 6)

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can Italian plum tomatoes, roughly chopped or broken into pieces
• 8 ounces nicoise olives, pitted and halved
• 1/4 cup imported nonpareil capers, drained, liquid reserved
• 5 anchovy fillets, finely chopped, or to taste
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound dried penne rigate
• 2/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving

Preparation:

In a large enameled or other non-reactive saucepan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and crushed red pepper flakes and saute until tender and beginning to caramelize around the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring. Add the tomatoes, olives, capers, and anchovies and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened and the flavors have come together. Remove from the heat, taste, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring 5 quarts of salted to a boil in a large saucepan and cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

Drain the pasta in a large colander. Return to the saucepan and toss the hot pasta with 1/2 of the sauce. Serve with more sauce ladled on top and drizzle with more extra-virgin olive oil, if desired. Add cheese and serve immediately.

I liked this dish because it wasnt heavy on sauce and the fish flavor was good to me. I never had this sauce before and its alot different than the typical tomato sauce. Its always good to try something different! Enjoy!

Beef Tenderloin with Skordalia

I know i havent made anything for a few days.. it was an awesome long weekend and i was sick for a day or two, but im back in action. today, besides the fact that it was extremely hot, i decided to cook beef tenderloin which i bought at Whole Foods which literally cost me half an arm and a piece of my leg.

yeah, crazy huh? worth every bite, i promise. in case you cant see the price, its $46.46!

id like to introduce taste tester #6, angelica. i got to see how she eats when either shes not hungry or doesnt like what shes eating. long story short, the plate i served her might of took a little while to polish but she ate everything off that plate. so im assuming it was quite tasty.

today for dinner i had bobby, claudia and angelica.

they all loved the dinner; claudia thought the skordalia had a little too much vinegar but the the skordalia is more of a spread for the meat. the meat had some seasoning with the garlic and the marjoram but not a lot. the skordalia had the majority of all the flavor, it was meant to be eaten together.

I got this recipe from the Food Network Magazine: May 2010. my first of many from these magazines.

Heres the checklist!

Ingredients:

For the Beef:

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh marjoram, plus more for garnish
• 1 3/4-pound piece boneless beef tenderloin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the Skordalia:

• 1 head garlic
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium russet potato
• Kosher salt
• 1/3 cup blanched whole almonds
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparations:

Prepare the beef: Mix the olive oil, sliced garlic and marjoram in a baking dish. Add the beef and turn to coat, then cover and marinate at room temperature, turning occasionally, 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the skordalia: Smash and peel the garlic cloves; warm in a small saucepan with the olive oil over low heat until soft, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, peel the potato and cut into chunks. Cover with water in a saucepan, season with salt and simmer over medium heat until tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer the potato to a bowl with a slotted spoon, reserving the cooking water, and mash with a potato masher.

Blend the almonds in a food processor until smooth. Add about half of the softened garlic, 1/2 cup of the garlic-flavored oil, 1/3 cup potato cooking water, the vinegar and 3/4 teaspoon salt; puree until smooth. Add the potato and pulse just until creamy. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the marjoram and parsley.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the beef from the marinade and scrape off any garlic (reserve the marinade). Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the marinade, then sear the beef until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until a thermometer inserted into the center of the beef registers 125 degrees, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.

Slice the beef and serve with the skordalia. Top with the remaining garlic oil, softened garlic and more marjoram.

Tomorrow is pasta for lunch and bobby gets to enjoy! Enjoy!

Max Brenner

841 Broadway (14th street/Union Square) New York (212) 388-0030

www.maxbrenner.com

Yesterday me and Bobby started our summer adventures for food and happy times.

I decided to pick our food for the night and i choose Max Brenner. Since im a HUGE chocoholic i made sure this was our first stop. The restaurant is known not only for the chocolate of course but the drinks and desserts are also to die for.

As soon as we walked in, before the second set of doors even opened, you smell chocolate. Not typical chocolate bar smell. It was rich, strong, sweet and absolutely phenomenal. You know when you typically walk into a restaurant you get a smell of different food combinations? not here; although they serve food there as well, your instantly hit with the smell of chocolate until you walk back out to leave. Didnt bother me one bit. The minute you walk in not only did you get this amazing smell but you also land your eyes on these huge vats of churning chocolate and these large pipes, circling through-out the restaurant "carrying away" the creamy chocolate.

For our appetizer we had Smoky Dry Rubbed Chicken Wings, for our drinks, Bobby had the Eighties Milkshake[milk chocolate ganache, vanilla bourbon ice cream with a crunchy chocolate shell] and i had the Good Old Days Chocolate Milk[pure chocolate cream with fresh shaken milk with ice]. First the drinks were really good, they tasted like different types of chocolate. Mine was milk chocolate but it wasnt Nesquik type chocolate milk. It was rich and had a deep chocolate flavor; i loved it. Bobbys was really good too.

The wings were good. Not too spicy not too sweet. A typical wing, nothing really special.

For our main courses, i had The Brenner Burger[max's secret barbecue sauce, lettuce, tomato, cheddar and an onion ring on top. served with waffle fries dusted with chili and cocoa powder]. Bobby had Jason's Juicy Grill-Basted Mushroom Burger[portabello mushroom instead of a burger patty, red onion, lettuce, tomato, tomato-basil *aioli and swiss]. Our burgers were delicious. Bobby didnt miss the beef at all, waffles fries were great and the tangy spicy sauce that was served with them was also good. My burger was delicious, i really liked the barbecue sauce, im convinced there was a little beer in it, it just had that flavor to it.

Now for the best part of any meal, DESSERT.

I picked dessert and i choose Chocolate Crispy Egg Rolls[banana fudge chocolate filling, creamy milk chocolate dip and sea salt caramel sauce]. The dessert was really good but it came with peanuts inside the filling, we both were ok about the peanuts but it couldve done without. The sauce inside spilled out of the egg roll as you bit into it and it was a little hard to dip it into the milk chocolate dip because the filling was a little too runny. The flavors were all there, the dip and sauce were really good. The sea salt caramel sauce tasted almost like butterscotch which wasnt bad at all. Next time i think were better off getting things to dip into a fondue. But all in all, it was still pretty decadent.

For an overall rating, me and Bobby agreed on an 8.

* a blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) - garlic mayo.

Enjoy the pictures!

^B^

^K^

Booo...

No dinner today... Not feeling well at all... Hopefully I'll be back on my feet by Sunday for dessert..

Happy July!