Tonight we were inspired by a cook book called Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs (by Rozanne Gold and her team). We decided to make the cook book’s versions of some of our favorites, including Chicken Parm with roasted tomatoes, Eggless Caesar salad with walnuts and green apple croutons, and Roasted Pears with maple syrup (for dessert). We of course changed the recipes a little bit and we also cooked fresh fettucine and green peas we had picked and frozen from our garden. Mom said it was the best Chicken Parm she had ever had, and we especially liked making it because it wasn’t that complicated (and didn’t take hours and hours). Here are some photos. (By the way the roasted pears are SO easy…anyone could make them.)
Parmesan crusted chicken and grape tomatoes about to go in the oven.
Roasted grape tomatoes (about to be served)
Chicken parm (fresh mozarella added at the last minute…yum!)
Caesar salad with walnuts, fresh parmesan and granny smith croutons
The full meal.
The steps of making roasted pears: peel and half just-ripe pears; remove core and seeds, place in baking dish and squeeze lime over them. Break cinnamon sticks in half and place between each pear half and then pour 1/3-1/2 cup real maple syrup over them. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees (or until tender when poked with a fork), turning once or twice and basting with maple syrup. Remove pears from baking pan, discard cinnamon sticks and pour maple syrup juices from the pan over the pears. Serve with yogurt, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream…or just eat plain. Note: even if your pears aren’t ripe this works. You just may have to cook them a little longer. Full list of ingredients is 3 pears, 1 lime, 6 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup maple syrup.
We had the day off from school on Wednesday, Sept. 23 so we visited our local Farmer’s Market (on Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan) with our mom. We went there to give them our compost but the amazing fruit and vegetables inspired us to make a Farmer’s Market Lunch, primarily using ingredients from the Market. It was simple but delicious and was based on the pears, tomatoes, mushrooms and corn on the cob we bought. We added a few things we had at home and made a walnut, goat cheese, pear salad with the pears (and also had the pears for dessert), sauteed the mushrooms in butter and had them on sliced french bread, boiled the corn (it was super tender) and just sliced the tomatoes and drizzled them with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and pepper.
Farmer’s Market Bounty
Slicing mushrooms
Slicing Tomatoes
Tomatoes with EVO, salt & pepper…all you need
Pear, walnut and goat cheese salad
Ready to eat!
For tonight’s dinner, we celebrated Max’s birthday (a little late, and for a second time). We made braised lamb shanks but we started the day before because it needs to cook for a long time (we make it in a slow cooker) and it tastes better if it sits for a while. We used lamb shanks AND extra lamb stew meat because when we made it before we didn’t think there was quite enough meat. Also if you let it sit for a while in the fridge after its cooked, then the fat comes to the top, solidifies and is easy to scoop out (then you reheat it). Max helped out with the braised lamb shanks but then Alex took over because she wanted the rest of the meal to be a surprise for his birthday. Alex made couscous, pear-walnut-goat cheese-cranberry salad, peas (from the garden), baked brie and his favorite brownies for dessert. We also tried the Vin Santo (sweet wine) we had brought back from Santorini, Greece.
Alex thought it was amazing how much the couscous changed when it was cooked with water; “it starts out as these tiny, hard grains and then changes into large fluffy ones.” It’s also very easy to make. Just boil water, add the couscous and let sit for 5 minutes.
Max thought it was amazing how the wine gave the braised lamb so much flavor although the amount of wine added was tiny compared to the other ingredients (in the braised lamb shanks).
Here are some photos:
Sitting down for dinner! Yum!
Chopping carrots, celery and onions for lamb shank braise
Chopping garlic for lamb shank braise
Sauteing vegetables for lamb shank braise
Red wine for braise
Browned lamb
All the ingredients in the slow cooker…cooks for 8 hours
Lamb after 8 hours
Making pear, mache, goat cheese, walnut, cranberry salad
Baked Brie
Beating eggs and sugar for brownies
Fudge Brownies (our favorite)
VinSanto from Santorini, Greece (great with brownies)
Tonight we wanted to cook a Greek dinner (since we just got back from Greece). We decided to make lamb chops marinated in a Greek herb mix we bought in Crete, a “real” Greek salad, tzatziki, pita bread, olives, rice, wine (from Greece, of course) and peas from our garden. We were lucky enough to have help from a great sous chef, Stuart Haber, who helped us cut all of the tomatoes, kumatos (purple tomatoes), onions, peppers and cucumbers for the Greek salad. Also, Russ Bogin brought extra lamb chops and a dessert (a chili-chocolate cake) and Dad helped grill the lamb chops (because it was raining). Also Erica Adelberg advised on the dressing for the Greek salad (lemon juice, olive oil and oregano). Anyway it was a fun night. (And happy 88th birthday to Russ’s mom, who contribute an amazing eggplant caponata (we hope that is the right spelling:). It’s really fun to cook together with friends. Thanks to everyone who helped.
Vegetables for the Greek salad, with our great sous chef, Stuart Haber.
Greek Salad (the Greek way)!
Mixing Tzatziki in blender
Chives fresh from the garden, for Tzatziki
Tzatziki with fresh chives
Spice Mix for Lamb (from Crete)
Lamb marinade.
Lamb chops marinating in Greek herb mix
Russ’s amazing chocolate cake (no flour!!!)
The real treat in Santorini is sweets. From amazing pastries to Vinsanto, the naturally sweet wine, Santorini is all about sweets. When in Santorini, you must visit a traditional bakery. We found one near the town of Meglochori. They have some of the most interesting delicacies in Greece. The “must eats” are: baklava, chocolate chip pain au chocolat (there are chocolate chips on the outside, decorating the sweet, and chocolate inside), apple walnut cake and kataifi (it looks sort of like a birds nest but tastes delicious).
Our favorites: chocolate chip croissants, apple walnut cake, baklava, and kataifi
More sweets
And more!
The bakery …
Another sweet thing that we had in Santorini was Vinsanto. Vinsanto is a wine made from white sun-dried grapes. It is aged for up to 20 years in french oak barrels. Vinsanto has a deep amber color and tastes like butterscotch, caramel, and even raisins. It can last for 100 years. We got to taste it (just a tiny bit) at a winery our parents went to called Estate Argyros.
Of course, you can’t just eat sweets and drink dessert wine. There are lots and lots of restaurants in Santorini, even a Mexican restaurant (which we DID NOT go to). For traditional Greek food, our favorite was Dionysos in Fira. We had lamb shank there, a traditional Greek beef stew, Greek salad (of course), and we even tried falafel. And if you feel the need for some pizza, or good pasta, try Conivium, also in Fira. The pizza there was very good (not quite NY style, but still tasty), and they even had fresh mozarella! After all the feta cheese we’ve been eating, it was nice to have mozarella and tomato.
Lamb Shank (Dionysos)
Falafel (Dionysos)
Pizza (Convivium)
Tomato and mozarella (Convivium)
Crete is all about fish. From sea bass to sea bream, you can’t go wrong with fish in Crete! You should always ask your waiter what’s the catch of the day. Make sure the fish you choose is local and fresh. The best restaurant in Crete that we went to was called Taverna Giorgos, located in a small town named Plaka, which is very close to a bigger town named Elounda (on the eastern side of Crete). It has a beautiful view of the island of Spinalonga, a former Venetian fort. We went there twice. The first time we got two sea bass and one sea bream fish. For a family of four this is a little much, but it was quite fun watching the waiter fillet the fish. The second time we went to Giorgos, we got two servings of a fish called Dorado. It is HUGE! (See pictures). That amount was enough for us, especially with a big greek salad and tzatziki. Another important aspect of Cretan cuisine is spices. They use it to flavor everything from fish to lamb, and even the feta cheese on your salad, or in your burger. Also, many restaurants in Crete will give you a large platter of fruit (and probably some liquor for the adults), so be prepared. Note:This does not happen everywhere in Greece.
The Dorado fish.
Greek Salad
The sea bream and sea bass.
The sea bream and sea bass filleted.
Bolognese Pasta,in case you are not into fish.
Fruit Platter (with a few pastries)
Spices and Herbs
