craigie on main

restaurant openings in my neighborhood always cause me some pain along with the joy. i very much like craigie street bistrot, and am quite happy that now it's around the corner on main street. at the same time, i really am not that happy that craigie street is what moved in on main street, because its prices are so high that it's not affordable for the vast majority of the neighborhood. while i don't object that much to the influx of well-heeled yuppie/upper-middle-class strangers coming into the neighborhood - who are we kidding, i mind a whole lot - it's more that i think that restaurants that purport to be so neighborhoody should pay more attention to who lives in the neighborhood. it just doesn't seem ethically right that a restaurant should locate itself in a place where most of the diners are not natives (unless we're in new york). not even brunch is affordable! contrast craigie on main with tosci's - tosci's is a true neighborhood place where you can sit, linger, and brunch for not too much. i just feel that craigie is being a little insensitive.

ethical tension aside, craigie on main is pretty good in the food and service department. first, let's do a couple of notes about decor. overall, quite nice - easy to hear, nice colors, no clashing, etc. but the two-tops are spaced too close to each other. i mean, really - i'm not a huge person, and i had trouble getting in and out of my seat because it was back to back with the seat behind me. you know how you feel like the restaurant doesn't think you're going to be that profitable for them, and they give you the most rotten tables? that pretty much sums up how i felt about that table. and the table size is fine - all the plates fit - but the spacing is pretty much horrible. also, i kind of like having the kitchen out in the open (concerns with food odors saturating your clothing aside), but it leaves the entryway space feeling really cramped. i don't know who their designer was, but they did not do that great a job - good idea, middling execution. i wonder if the draft from the door affects temperatures in the kitchen, or if it's far enough away?

anyway, the food. we came because they had a restaurant stimulus menu - a $35 3-course prix fixe. it was relatively unexciting, though, and the first course was crispy smelts that i wasn't sure i would like, so mary and i ordered a la carte. usually craigie street has a $30 3-course prix fixe, so i'm curious to know if at craigie on main, it has been edited out. because i would certainly go more often if there was a more affordable option.

appetizers: i started with grilled octopus with chorizo cream, cipollini onions, and hearts of palm. i'm not a fan of hearts of palm - they just taste bland to me - but the rest was an excellent combination. i haven't had octopus that many times - i can probably count the number of times on one hand - and the last one i had was at babbo, and it was fantastic. this one was excellent as well; the chorizo cream was a particularly good pairing. i find the difference between the textures of squid and octopus to be really intriguing - you wouldn't expect such similar creatures to taste so different. mary had the cream of cauliflower soup with rabbit sausage and a bit of brussels sprouts. the soup was pretty delicate in flavor, but was fantastic in combination with the rabbit sausage; in turn the rabbit sausage was definitely the best preparation of rabbit that i've had - i don't typically like rabbit because i find it bland.

by the way, bread service: generally blah. the bread was fine, but i don't see why craigie street always insists on serving butter that's too cold to spread.

for main courses, i had the slow-cooked sea trout with frizzled ginger, rock shrimp, and mussels, all in a bit of serrano ham broth with almonds (hot ham water, anyone?). i assume that "slow-cooked" means "sous vide" and i'm coming to understand that i don't really like the texture of things that are cooked sous-vide. i think i prefer food, or at least meat, with texture and chew to it, rather than it being food for babies and people with dentures. however, the flavors of this dish were really excellent - better than the octopus, i would say. everything was very complementary, and the rock shrimp were almost as good as the ones i had at babbo (the last place i had rock shrimp). the trout didn't taste overly trout-y (as mackerel sometimes taste overly mackerel-y), and every time i have mussels, i increasingly realize that i really like them.

the surprise of the night was dessert - gingerbread pain perdu, and it was a knockout! I don't typically think of dessert being a strong suit for craigie street, but this was the best thing we had all night. it was two triangles of cake that had a lot of egg in it - enough for a very moist, almost custardy way, but custardy in a cooked in a hot water bath for a while, rather than a typical creme caramel custardy-ness. it's difficult to describe, and i'd be curious to know what the preparation was. whatever it was, the slight crunchiness of the very top layer was absolutely delectable, and it was fantastic with the ginger ice cream. it was kind of like a ginger-spiced version of sticky toffee pudding, minus the copious amounts of caramel sauce.

service was excellent - it seems like the restaurant is really trying to please diners so they come back, in these difficult economic times. well...i mean, my views on this are pretty clear. i wonder if it's just not economically feasible to lower prices, or if there's a certain level of produce quality that can't be trimmed in any way to make the restaurant more affordable. regardless, it's nice to have some seriously good food in the neighborhood - it's definitely better than everything else (with the exception, perhaps, of salts, a restaurant i haven't been to). let's just hope that someday the locals will be able to partake.

a mouthful of curdled milk

yeah, that was just my ploy to get you to read this. while i did just take a swig of milk that turned out to be curdled (really, whole foods? after a week?), this post is really about caramel. but first, let me tell you - curdled milk is disgusting. look before you leap, i guess.

i have made five batches of caramel things thus far - two sauces (to find the recipe, search for "caramel sauce" within this blog), and two batches of caramel candy. what's not to love about caramel? chewy but soft, sweet but not tasting completely of sugar. well, tasting of caramelized sugar. lusciously caramelized sugar. i hadn't ever made caramel before last weekend, beyond the occasional batch of melted sugar for cake decorations or creme caramel. caramel is special because in addition to the sugar, it includes cream and butter. and, dear readers, after three tries, i have attained success with caramels. the first batch was delicious, but so soft that it refused to part from the aluminum foil i poured it onto without a bit of a battle. i won the battle, but the caramel won the war because it was all lumpy and unattractive looking. but i guess i won the meta-war because i rolled it out onto my leftover ganache, and now it's all cut up in a tupperware, waiting to be dipped in tempered chocolate. so HA, soft caramel. i win.

the second batch...well, since the first batch was too soft, i thought i'd try some different temperatures to cook the caramel at. and i wasn't watching that closely, and by the time i took it off the stove, it was at 270F like i wanted (the original recipe specified 250F), but it definitely smelled burned. i poured it off into a pan lined with wax paper anyway, and this i regret. i really doubt that i will be able to part the wax paper from the caramel. however, this is fine by me: the butter separated slightly from the sugar and has formed waxy little pools on the surface of the caramel, and it still smells slightly burned. if you like burnt caramel in candy form, ...fortified with a bit of wax paper, let me know.

i have to admit that i felt a little defeated when i thought about making a third batch. but lo and behold, while indulging in some retail therapy (school is hard, you know), i saw a silicone loaf pan on sale at crate and barrel. and now you know my dirty secret: i own a silicone baking pan. hypocrite, you say? you remember all of those times i railed against silicone baking pans because you only get true browning action with real, not-nonstick pans? well, a girl needs her caramel. and the sanity that comes along with making caramel correctly. besides, i'm not actually baking anything in the pan.

and this third time, everything ended up perfectly: this caramel is not oozing butter, is not too soft, is not sticking to anything but itself. i haven't actually tasted it yet, but the sheen on this caramel is the sheen of...well, caramel. i would say something nice about silicone, but then i'd have to add a catty disclaimer. everything is as it's supposed to be, and all is well.

caramels
(adapted from foodbeam, one of my favorite blogs)
180g sugar
20g water
70g corn syrup
45g butter
200g heavy cream, scalded (heated until it simmers)

a silicone loaf pan (or other pan of similar size)

1. if you haven't already, take the butter and cream out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan with a thick bottom. stir with a rubber spatula to combine completely, then heat on medium until the mixture is bubbling thickly and has turned a medium amber. don't stir; if you have a compulsive stirring complex like me, then you can swirl the sugar around the pan now and then. don't worry, you can stir later.

2. when the sugar has started to bubble, start heating the cream on medium low in a small or medium saucepan with a thick bottom. the sugar should take about 15 minutes longer or so (this can vary a lot) to caramelize to the proper amber color. don't stir the cream either. when the cream starts simmering, turn the heat to low. if you're afraid it's going to burn, turn the heat off.

3. alright, so now the sugar should be amber and bubbling, and your cream has been scalded. take the sugar off the stove and add the cream and butter. stir until it's all mixed together, then put it back on the stove. keep the heat at medium and let the mixture boil and do its thing until it registers 255-260F on a candy thermometer. it should hold that temperature pretty well - not fluctuate from 245-255F - or it won't solidify correctly, or so my tests seem to indicate. you should give it a stir every now and then to make sure nothing burns; if your stove tends to run hot, you might want to use medium-low to boil the mixture.

4. pour the caramel into the pan. let it set for 3 hours, and you're good to go. you can slice the caramel with a sharp knife (to get the prettiest, cleanest cut), or a regular dinner knife if you just want to eat some.

[makes a loaf-pan shaped bar of caramel, about 5/8" thick]

chicken and rice

i have never really understood the point of arraying things on a plate in separate areas, only to turn around and stuff it all into your mouth at the same time anyway. why not save your guests the trouble of cutting everything up? of course, there are exceptions to this rule, because a world where everything resembles chopped salad is a depressing world, but chicken and rice isn't fancy. it's...chicken and rice. every culture has their own version of it, making it pretty much the universal comfort food.

this is the hainanese chicken from mark bittman's column a few weeks ago, tweaked here and there. the basic method is to poach an entire chicken, then shred it and its accompaniments together into one delicious pile. this is a chicken and rice that would silence all of those people who believe that chinese food is, above all, greasy and heavy, yet it still remains identifiably chinese in its flavors. and now i'll stop pretending i have any substantive knowledge of chinese cuisine. knowing how to make your mother's dumplings and spring rolls doesn't really qualify you as an expert on the entirety of chinese cuisine, last time i looked.

i do, however, know good food when i...see... it. you know what i mean. this chicken is pretty phenomenal - it doesn't get much better than this. the drawback: it just takes a while to put it all together. fortunately, you can do the prep while the chicken cooks, so you can feel like you're being efficient, even if it's not actually true and dinner takes two hours to go from the fridge to the table. for people who like ingredient efficiency, you'll be pleased to note that you cook the rice in the broth produced from poaching the chickens.

hainanese chicken
(adapted from mark bittman)
1 4-lb chicken, fat trimmed and put aside
5-6 large cloves garlic, smashed, plus 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
6-7 1/8" thick slices of ginger (~1/4c in volume), plus 3-4T ginger, minced
and yet more ginger: keep a piece the size of a few walnuts to grate for the dressing
1 medium onion, diced fine
2c long-grain white rice (this is better with white rice than brown rice)
4-5 scallions, trimmed and chopped, at least 1/2 cup
2-3 lbs tomatoes, diced
1/2c cilantro, chopped fine
2T sesame oil
1T soy sauce

1. bring a large pot of water to a boil. lower the chicken into the water slowly and drop the whole cloves of garlic and slices of ginger into the water, around the chicken. let the chicken cook at medium heat for about 10-15 minutes (you can always cook the chicken a bit more later), covered, then turn off the heat and let the chicken sit, covered, for 45 minutes.

2. while you're waiting for the chicken, you can do the rest of your vegetable prep - dicing onions and tomatoes, chopping herbs, etc. when the 45 minutes is close to being up, start sauteing the onion, minced garlic, and minced ginger in a large saucepan with a bit of butter, or whatever oil/fat you have on hand, as long as it's not olive oil. cook them until they're translucent, about 10 minutes.

3. use a pair of tongs remove the chicken from its pot and put it on a platter or in a bowl. add the rice to the sauteed onions with a bit more butter/oil and stir to coat all the rice. let it cook for about a minute, then add 4 cups of broth from the pot. let the rice come to a boil over medium heat, then turn heat to low and cook, covered, until the rice is done, ~20-30 minutes.

4. pull the chicken apart at the joints to cool it. while it's cooling, grate the ginger into a bowl, and then make the dressing: stir the sesame oil into the grated ginger, then whisk in some soy sauce - you can add more soy sauce if you want, now or later, when everything has been mixed together. when the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat off and shred it into a large serving bowl. add the dressing and toss to coat.

5. when the rice is done, toss all of the vegetables (tomatoes, herbs) with the chicken. you can add more salt if you want - either soy sauce or kosher salt. you can either mix the rice into the chicken, or serve the chicken on top of the rice in bowls.

6. you'll probably have some broth left over - you can reduce it and put it in the fridge for future use.

[serves 5 hungry people, or 6-8 not-very-hungry people]

those cookies again

my feet are killing me because i just ran to school (ok, walked really fast; i don't run) to get my computer - i'm having dinner at josh's and i'm shamelessly using it as an excuse to have him help me extract my hard drive from my dead laptop so i can get the data off it.

luckily i think i have time to dash off this quick recipe, which i've been meaning to post for quite some time. so without further ado, the buckwheat-cocoa nib cookies. these are best made the day before you're going to eat them, as the flavors develop in a lovely partnership. and coming up: hainanese chicken, caramel sauce, and caramels!

buckwheat-cocoa nib cookies
(adapted from alice medrich)

1 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup buckwheat flour
2 sticks butter, at room temp
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa nibs

1. in a medium bowl, whisk together the flours.

2. beat the butter with a wooden spoon until it's soft, then add the sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. add the cocoa nibs and mix to incorporate. add the flour, and mix just until incorporated. the mixture will look more like dough as you mix it - the butter needs a little time to moisten the dough. when the dough is completely mixed together it'll pull away slightly from the side of the bowl.

3. on a sheet of plastic wrap, form the dough into 1-2 logs that are about 2" in diameter - this can be easier if you use the plastic wrap to help you squish the dough together. you'll probably have to press the dough together pretty firmly to get it to stick together. wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

4. remove the dough from the fridge and slice it into 1/4" thick slices - if it shatters, you should let it sit at room temp for 30 minutes to an hour so the dough softens up a little. make sure you use a sharp knife. alternatively, you can probably try rolling it out and cutting it out with cookie cutters, but just make sure you don't roll it out too much or your cookies will be tough. if your dough gets too soft, just pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so. also, i generally recommend rolling cookie or pastry dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap - much less messy and easier to get onto the baking sheet.

5. preheat the oven to 350F. bake the cookies for about 11-15 minutes in the middle of the oven, on baking sheets lined with a silpat, parchment paper, or foil. space the cookies about 1" to 1.5" apart - 15 cookies per sheet.

6. cool the cookies completely before storing them, so they stay crisp - they do retain their crispness quite well over time. they stay good in an airtight container for about a month, more if you freeze them.

[makes about 60 2" cookies]