New York Monday #144: Tea & Toast with a Friend
October 12, 2008 | Filed Under Fellow Bloggers, New York Monday, Saltshaker blog | 14 Comments
Dan of SaltShaker is in town, visiting from Argentina. We met for tea and toast. Okay, not quite tea and toast, but we did have peppermint tea and he ordered a toasted bagel, while I got a cherry muffin. I’ve been a big fan of Dan’s blog for a few years now and have even been able to try a few of his recipes, three of which you can read about here. It’s always nice to meet a blogging friend in person.
We passed through the Columbia University campus. I couldn’t figure out which photo to post, so you get two. 
Happy Monday, everyone, and have a great week!
Paz
Ed. Note: Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in Canada who are celebrating!
Poulet en Fricasée àla Lyonnaise
October 26, 2006 | Filed Under Fellow Bloggers, Poultry, Saltshaker blog | Leave a Comment
I got this recipe from SaltShaker. It’s easy to make AND tasty. Dan served his chicken with brown rice, flavored with garlic and basil. I didn’t have that on hand, so I used plain white rice. I also garnished the food with freshly chopped cilantro. I like to garnish. My favorite part was chopping the cilantro and catching a whiff of its scent, as it floated upward from the chopping board. Mmmm, Mmmm, good! Thanks for the recipe, Dan!
Paz
Poulet en Fricasée à la Lyonnaise
Salt Shaker’s (Dan’s) adaptation from the recipe of bistro A l’Alliance, Paris
1 large frying chicken
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped (you could also peel them if you like, I didn’t)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of flour
salt and pepper
Cut the chicken into serving pieces and shake in a bag with the flour and a little salt and pepper until lightly coated. Heat the butter and oil (traditionally, a fricasse would be only butter, but I wanted to lighten it slightly – probably didn’t make enough of a difference, but it makes me feel better about it) in a pan big enough to accomodate the pieces all in one layer. When hot, put the chicken in and fry to a golden brown on all sides. Then lower the heat to minimum, cover the pan, and let the chicken cook through – about 20 minutes.
Put the chopped tomatoes in a small saucepan and cook with just a pinch of salt to help them release their juices. Cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat but keep them warm.
Back to chicken – remove the lid, add the vinegar around the edge of the pan to help deglaze the sides, add the wine, the tomatoes, and the cream.
Mix the sauce ingredients together, leaving the chicken in the pan. Cover again, and simmer for about 9-10 minutes. The bit of flour from the chicken, along with the cream, will thicken the sauce nicely. Serve the chicken along with rice (I used brown rice here, the light nuttiness worked really well – and I’d flavored it with garlic and basil). Adjust the seasoning in the sauce and spoon around and/or over the chicken and rice.
I’d say that this serves 4, but it’s so good that it probably only serves 2…
Crab and Corn Chowder
February 8, 2006 | Filed Under Basil, Cilantro, Corn, Crabs, Fellow Bloggers, Food Blogging Events, Herbs, Parsley, Saltshaker blog, Seafood, Soups/Chowders/Gumbos, Stephen Cooks blog, Tarragon, Vegetables, Weekend Herb Blogging | Leave a Comment
I’ve never been much of a chowder fan, although recently I saw an enticing clam chowder recipe that made me interested in trying it.
Then, the other day, I stopped by Saltshaker and found another recipe that immediately caught my attention: Crab and Corn Chowder. I’d never heard of this before. I like corn and crabmeat, so, those two ingredients were the deal breaker for me. I made a mental note to try the recipe sometime in the near future, preferably on a very cold day.
However, the next morning with unseasonably warm weather, I woke up with the recipe in mind and like a person hypnotized, found my way to the store to buy the ingredients needed to prepare it – corn, potatoes, red bell pepper, crabmeat and herbs. Oh, so many wonderful herbs! By the way I would have used this recipe for my Weekend Herb Blogging post but I was too late.
The herbs involved a mix of cilantro (coriander), basil, tarragon and parsley. How exciting for me (cilantro being one of my favorites!)!
I returned home and started preparing the ingredients to cook. First, I boiled the corn and then made a corn stock. Yes, that’s right. Corn stock. Me. Actually, it was quite easy – boil the corncob and use the results in the recipe.
Call me weird, I’ve become excited about the idea of making stock out of different food products. Initially, I only knew of chicken, beef, and later fish stock. Then from Stephen, I learned about lamb and red shrimp broth and some of its uses. Really cool! So, now I can add corn stock to my list. That’s okay, you can laugh at me. 
My cooking momentum was interrupted when I had to walk the dogs and then found out I forgot to buy half and half milk. I had to run back to the store. I almost used canned evaporated milk but didn’t have enough. It’s probably better that I didn’t use the can milk since I’m sure it may have altered the taste of my first time chowder. Can anyone tell me if there’s a difference?
The meal is not hard to make and once I returned from the store, I continued cooking. My favorite part of preparing the meal was chopping the aromatic herbs to add to the chowder. As their combined scents wafted up, making me happy, I started to do my happy dance (See #9 of my culinary confessions.).
Soon, my crab and corn chowder was ready and I served it with crusty bread as the recipe suggested. Everything tasted fresh and delicious, from the potatoes to the crab to the vegetables. The mixed herbs especially gave it that added special flavor.
I’m glad I didn’t wait a day longer to try this crab and corn chowder.
Paz
The corn kernels removed from the cob
Making my corn stock
Most of the ingredients together in a pot
Cilantro, basil, tarragon and parsley ready to be chopped
The finished product
Ed. Note: I’m submitting this post for Weekend Herb Blogging #19. The herbs for this week are cilantro, basil, tarragon, and parsley, pictured above. Thanks, Kalyn!
*One can blog about herbs, plants, vegetables, or flowers for Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB). To see the list of other interesting WHB posts, go to Kalyn’s Kitchen, Sunday.
