It has been some time since my last post as it has taken a few weeks to recover from the effects of the storm. Thanksgiving has arrived suddenly and I’m sure you are all getting ready to prepare your meals and give thanks for so many good things this year. I will post a full blog about our family Thanksgiving meal but for now I wanted to post the Cranberry Chutney recipe I promised on my Facebook page yesterday.
Ingredients
1 pkg cranberries
Juice & zest of one orange
1 pear or apple peeled, cored and diced finely
1 Tbsp Honey
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/4 Tsp Red Pepper (ground) Optional
Pinch ground cloves
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottom pot and cook on medium heat until cranberries pop. Lower heat and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes until thickened stirring frequently to ensure it does not stick. Store overnight and serve with your turkey. Sugar can be adjusted depending on the level of tartness desired. This recipe will yield approximately 3 cups of chutney. I used pear this time but the apple variation tastes great too.
If you make it, please add your feedback in comments. Would love to hear if you varied it and what you thought of it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Swati
Author Archives for Swati Raje
Hurricane Food Survival Tips
The Persnickety Palate has been busy gathering material for the next post throughout this Hurricane Sandy experience and aftermath. It has been a good lesson in how food & wine really do bring people together; particularly during tough times and put some brightness in our days. Hope all those who have been affected are staying strong and warm!!
If you need anything that doesn’t need me to drive (no gas in the car) please let me know. Venting in allowed.
My Tips
I have spent the past few days emptying out my mother’s freezer, marinating chicken, fish, etc and cooking whatever we could salvage. She keeps her freezer stocked for an army at all times and I just couldn’t bear to see all that food go to waste. I have two large coolers set up on my back porch with ice since Tuesday morning to hold milk, cheese, eggs, butter and all the other perishable necessities. With the cool weather and the addition of some ice from my mother’s freezer, everything has stayed cold till now. Hoping to get more ice today to prepare for the long haul just in case.
Curries and stews last the longest and taste good as leftovers. Just remember to reheat them daily. Use the trunk of your car as storage since it’s fairly cold out there making refrigerator not necessary. Your car may smell for a few days but heck it’s a small price to pay for some good homemade food.
Use leftover vegetables and meats to add to the canned chicken broth and make soups. They will keep you warm and use up the food before it goes bad.
I have been lucky enough to store my frozen items at a generous friend’s house with power. She has also taken us in each night for dinner and a few hours of heat. I am also lucky enough to have down comforters and extra blankets to keep me warm at night and hot water for showers in the morning. Walking everywhere due to the gas situation has allowed me to get a great workout in and lose some weight and also incented me to do my crunches, push ups and strength training with weights.
So while I am most definitely starting to get quite cranky, I am trying to look at this whole experience as positively as possible. I find it helps me realize what the really important things are. There are people out there who lost their homes and some even lost loved ones. I am most definitely lucky & thankful.
Please stay warm, positive & cook some food if you can!!! And don’t forget to pair it with a nice wine.
Swati
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Welcome to Tulsi!!
This past Saturday I was invited to a private party at a new Indian restaurant in Manhattan called Tulsi. It is the concept of Chef/Owner Hemant Mathur, formerly of Devi which he co-owned with Suvir Saran, also in NYC. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves for the night and what a wonderful evening it was!
Tulsi is a holy basil found in the entry ways to many Indian homes in India as a welcome sign. It is similar to Thai basil used in cooking. True to its name the restaurant is welcoming and warm. The staff was cordial and friendly and the service impeccable throughout the evening. One only needed to mention that he/she needed something and the alert wait staff was ready to deliver. First order of business upon arrival was to get a taste of their signature cocktail for the evening – the Indian Summer – a concoction made from Rangpur gin, lime juice and lychee. I noticed that no one else had a drink in their hand when I arrived and yet somehow I was steered to the bar to try this drink. And this after being labeled the “booze girl” earlier that afternoon at a charity event setup. Hmmm! Wonder what that’s all about? As you know I like anything with gin but I don’t like fruity or sweet. This was good. A little less lychee perhaps (though I swear my version had rose water and not lychee in it) would have been better, but the crowd loved it!! Later versions had a much more pungent aroma of lychee which is quite unmistakable. I opted to move onto my usual – wine. The hosts had chosen some great options – Lemelson Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Gary Farrell Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. While I love my Pinot from Oregon, Gary Farrell was the clear winner in this one.
So let’s get to the food at Tulsi. If you’ve read my blog about Junoon (posted a few months ago), you know that I am always seeking good, quality, Indian restaurants and find them hard to come by. The food at Tulsi was delicious! It was different, inventive and tasty! Appetizers passed around included Lamb Kebab with a mint chutney (the Indian kind), Crab Cakes with a spicy sauce, Manchurian Cauliflower, and a to-die-for spicy shrimp served on a little crispy cracker that had the distinct taste of celery seed. Luckily the group I was hanging with was observing a religious holiday and on a vegetarian diet that day so I got to eat more than my share, though I did convince one of them to come over to the dark side pretty easily. He follows this blog so you know who you are…
Dinner was served family style at each table and included Chicken Curry, Halibut wrapped in a banana leaf, Baby Eggplant with bell pepper in a thick flavorful sauce, Malai Kofta and Chef Mathur’s famous Tandoori Lamb Chops all served with some Naan and Basmati rice. All of the dishes were excellent but my two standout favorites were the Halibut and the buttery, melt-in-your-mouth Malai Kofta.
I am not a dessert person, but the ones served to us looked really good. I walked away to get myself a glass of Glenmorangie, got caught up in a Scotch conversation at the bar, and when I came back my desserts had been devoured by a mysterious stranger. Most likely one of my table mates not willing to admit to the crime. Chef Mathur’s wife is the pastry chef for the restaurant and is trained in French pastry techniques which she artfully applies to traditional Indian desserts. So what makes this Indian restaurant or its food stand out over others? For me it’s in the clear quality of ingredients used, the level of service offered, and the presentation of the food. All of these “ingredients” show the pride taken by Mr. Mathur in the delivery of his restaurant and food to us. One of the highlights of the evening for me was that I got to meet Chef Mathur whose rising career I have followed over the past several years since I ate at Bukhara in New Delhi. Unlike some other famous chefs I have met in the past, he is a genuinely warm person who greeted me with an unpretentious Namaste and a great big smile instead of the usual handshake and dismissal. He took an interest in my interest in food and invited me to come back to the restaurant for dinner. He even gave me his card and asked that I send him the link to this blog when one of the hosts told him I wrote one. And whether he actually reads it or not, he is a gracious gentleman – a lost breed.
Overall we had a fabulous evening with the food as the highlight at a wonderful restaurant. We ended the evening with a shot of Patron. After all cheap tequila just wouldn’t do after an evening of amazing food. I urge you to try this restaurant. I know I surely will be going back. Let me know if you do and what you think of it. I’ve heard their regular menu is an eclectic combination of unusual ingredients (for Indian food) and street food from around the country presented in an upscale way. I will post an update after my return.
A special thanks to my hosts, Suneel Devgan (General Mgr at Tulsi), the awesome staff, and most especially Chef Hemant Mathur for a lovely evening to be remembered.
Namaste!!!
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A Foodie goes to Brooklyn
Not too long ago, a friend of mine moved from the West Village to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn which is across the Williamsburg Bridge of course. Since then I have visited a few places for food and drinks in this very up and coming neighborhood that is being revitalized and quickly becoming a high rent district. Being a follower of this blog from time to time, he has been suggesting to me for quite some time to spend a day in Williamsburg and walk around to the various restaurants and bars that are cropping up everywhere so that I could write about his new “hood”. So this past weekend, we did just that!
It was a beautiful, sunny, fall Sunday with that crisp, cool feel. After a workout, a trip to the local farmer’s market and a few chores around the house, I got on the road fairly early and met my friend at his apartment. We started out at Pies & Thighs (yup, that’s the name of the place) for brunch. It’s a very small restaurant which specializes in Southern style breakfast items like chicken & waffles, biscuits and gravy, and grits. They also bake some awesome looking pies on premises and I was told have great donuts. I ordered the smoked pork hash and my friend had the fried chicken & waffles. The food was really good. I was glad I had not eaten anything in the morning. The hash came with potatoes and two eggs, which I chose to have over easy, with a green salsa on the top. The pork was tender and the combination of the salsa, runny yolks and meat was perfect. I tried some of my friend’s waffles which were made of buckwheat flour and were really good. He didn’t share any of the chicken so it must have been too good to part with.
After brunch we decided to walk toward the East River and work off some of the calories we had just consumed. We ended up at the Brooklyn Flea market. For the most part it was like any other flea market with people trying to sell their junk. But I was surprised by the number of food vendors selling all kinds of tasty and interesting bites. There was a truck selling lobster, another one selling tacos; there were stands with dosas, pizza, lemonade and ice cream. There was even one stand that had porchetta which they were slicing to order. We were glad we had just eaten else we would have likely eaten one of everything. This is definitely a place I’d like to go back hungry someday though so that I can try the food.
Having had enough of the crowds, we exited the market and went to sit on a bench by the river to rest our feet. As we sat there watching the passersby and debating whether we could swim across the East River, we watched a storm cloud approach overhead. I’m not really sure why we didn’t opt to start for our next destination until the drops actually started but we didn’t. Perhaps it was because we were both in lazy Sunday mode and didn’t feel like moving. We decided to go find a sports bar to catch the Jets game which had started by then. Running through the pouring rain we wound up at The Whiskey Brooklyn. We sat at a table with a great view of the game and ordered their house draft beer in the dark style. The only choices are dark and light and it’s the only beer on tap. When asked where it was made, the waitress told us it was a secret and would not divulge any information. The beer tasted like someone took Schlitz and added color to make it dark so we have now dubbed this the place with the “crappy secret beer”. The beer may have been bad but the Jets game was worse so we waited till the rain stopped and moved on to Banter, an Irish bar that was much quieter and had better beer. The Jets game was looking pathetic by now with the 49ers winning 24 to zero. So we drowned our sorrows in a glass of Corsendonk Dubbel on tap and turned our attention to the exciting ending of the Ryder Cup instead. I never thought I would admit to watching golf and I’m not sure that it’s something I would watch on a regular basis but at this particular moment it was quite fun. The Europeans sitting at a table nearby cheering on their team made the vibe a little more interesting I think. For a second we thought about heading to a driving range but who were kidding in our lazy Sunday modes. We opted for a another Dubbel instead.
We walked around more of the neighborhood as my friend pointed out some of the other interesting eateries along the way. After some time went by we realized that it had been a while since we ate and we were starting to get hungry so we decided to head back toward his part of the neighborhood and find a place to eat. We wound up at Rye. He had eaten there before, and said the food is consistently good. It’s a nice place inside with dark wood walls and a big bar. We sat at the bar not wanting to necessarily get a table. As we perused the menu, my friend decided the place was too quiet for him on this night and wanted to try elsewhere. Not wanting to be rude, we had a cocktail before leaving. I had something called a Southside which was really delicious. It was made with gin, cucumber and lime juice. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that gin is my drink of choice for cocktails. We then headed for Walter Foods for dinner.
Walter Foods was much more lively and fun. The menu looked good. We asked our waiter to surprise us with an appetizer of his choice which ended up being a warm artichoke dip with toasts. It was really good! In fact it was the best artichoke dip I’ve ever had with big pieces of artichokes in it. For my meal I ordered a seared Arctic Char served over sautéed mushrooms and roasted corn. My friend was apparently having a fried chicken kind of day and ordered it again for dinner; this time served with mashed potatoes and a hot sweet honey glaze. Both meals were excellent – my mushrooms and roasted corn particularly tasty. This time I got to taste the chicken which was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The flavor from the honey glaze made it extra good. I commented it was almost as good as mine so I then had to promise to make him my skinless version of fried chicken to compare tastes.
After dinner we started heading back toward my car when my friend spotted the neighborhood hangout, Clem’s, and decided we should have one more drink to end our day. When we walked in we saw that the Giants game had started and ended up staying to watch. It was a far more exciting one than the Jets game earlier in the day. Despite a Giants loss to the Eagles, it was an exciting game to the very end. Quite tired after a fun but relaxing day, we headed home.
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| A view of Manhattan from Williamsburg – taken from rooftop bar at Wyeth Hotel |
I’m looking forward to going back and trying a few more of the places we didn’t get to. One can only eat and drink so much in a day. And now I have a blogging buddy to drag along. Other places I’ve been to in the area are the Brooklyn Brewery, Hotel Delmano (it’s not really a hotel), and the rooftop bar at the Wythe Hotel with its spectacular views of Manhattan. So if you ever catch yourself just passing over the Williamsburg Bridge, why not take a detour into this wonderful neighborhood with little traffic, friendly bike paths and a whole new culture growing just on the other side of the East River!!
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The Palate goes to Portland Part II – From the Cascades to the Coast
One of our longer journeys during the Northwest adventure started in Portland and wound us through the Cascade Mountains, Bend, Crater Lake and ended at the Oregon Coast from Newport to Cannon Beach. Two overnights and approximately one thousand miles later, we returned to Portland absolutely awestruck at some of the places we had just visited.
After a fairly relaxed morning on that Monday and a short local hike after breakfast, we packed up a cooler with food, water & a bottle of local Pinot Gris, and started our drive towards Bend where we would hang our hats for the night. As you head South from Portland to Salem on the I-5, it feels like you are on any other interstate in any other part of this country. Once you head East from Salem and into the Cascade mountains however, the vistas will take your breath away. I love to drive and especially enjoy winding roads through the mountains continuously ascending or descending as your ears pop. We passed mountain after mountain, waterfalls, streams, lakes and so much more.
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| Detroit Lake |
A couple of hours into our drive, we felt the hunger pangs and started looking for a cool place to eat our packed up picnic goodies. This is where maps are far better than a GPS. A GPS is great at getting you from point A to point B, but if you want to just follow your nose it won’t give you the big picture to say “let’s go there!”. I had put my son in charge of navigation and so he opened up the map and started scouting. He spotted Detroit Lake along our route and so that is where we headed. A brief stop at the Parks Commission to ask for the best place for a picnic and we found ourselves at an amazing spot on the lake that wasn’t overly crowded. It was a hot day (98F) and the lake is a popular summer destination. Our little spot was in full sun (which is why it wasn’t crowded) but allowed us to wade in the lake for a bit.
We unpacked our picnic of Ciabatta, goat cheese, salami, cherries, and other goodies. As I started to open the wine, I realized that I had forgotten to pack a corkscrew; just as well since I still had a long drive in front of me. I love picnics! There’s something about sitting in the outdoors with a great view and nibble on food that’s cold and generally not so healthy. I suppose I could come up with a healthy alternative but it just wouldn’t be the same. There would be a certain loss of ambiance had I packed a salad with grilled chicken. Besides we usually picnic after hikes so we’ve earned the food at that point. Not so in this case of course. I did pack some fruit!!
After we ate, we scattered with our respective cameras to capture our own perspective. I have always loved taking photos and this adventure found my son enjoying it as well. I gave him a quick lesson on some settings on the camera and off he went. Needless to say he graduated during the trip from his little Kodak point and shoot to my Pentax Lumix point and shoot to my Nikon D80 DSLR. I guess I will be sharing my camera & lenses from here forward.
We made our way to Bend through more of the Cascades, checked into our hotel and decided to kill some time by taking a tour of the Deschutes Brewery. We planned to go for a drive on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway and do some hiking but the temperature gauge was still reading 98F. Deschutes is the second largest craft brewery in the US. The tour and their operation are interesting and we got to taste any and all beers we wanted at the end. My son was only somewhat interested (he was only offered root beer) and would have preferred to spend his time in the hotel pool. But I enjoyed the beer tastings after a long day of driving and my favorite was the Obsidian Stout. A quick dip in the pool for my son and we were off to do some hiking, catch the sunset and see some beautiful lakes around Mt. Bachelor. Several hours later we returned starving for food. It was late and options were limited so we wound up at the Deschutes Brew Pub which we had been told earlier served good food. It was nothing to write home about – just your basic pub food. We ordered a burger, fish & chips, a side of asparagus and for starters tried their fried chick peas. The chick peas I could have done without. They were a little tasteless and need to amped up a bit. What they needed was a bit of red onion, cilantro, lime juice and a sprinkle of red chili powder. Add all that and the dish would have been perfect!! Leave it to me to Indianize bar food.
After a good night’s sleep, breakfast and a quick stop at the grocery store to replenish our cooler, we continued our journey. This was one of our favorite days of the entire trip. We hiked up to a lava butte which was formed during the eruption of the Newberry volcano, walked with lanterns through a lava river cave, watched some amazing footage of volcanic eruptions, and wound up at the edge of Crater Lake in the early afternoon. Walking up to the rim of the lake was a similar experience for me as the first time I walked to the rim of the Grand Canyon. No matter how many photos you’ve seen or descriptions you’ve heard, you’re not quite prepared for the actual splendor in front of you. The crystal clear lake is a caldera lake formed when the Mt Mazama volcano collapsed into itself. Its sole source of water is the annual average snowfall of over 40 feet. It is considered one of the purest bodies of water as it has no tributaries running into it.
We weren’t quite hungry when we arrived so we decided to drive around the lake which take about one hour without making any stops. But stops you will most certainly make as the lake just takes your breath away and calls for many many clicks of the camera shutter. We did some short hikes along the way and one awesome hike to the lake shore on the Cleetwood Cove trail. A steep hike that descended 724 feet to the lake in a distance of 1.1 mile. We had fun going down and my son kept telling me to hurry up because he wanted to get to the bottom and see if we could take a boat ride on the lake. I knew of course that the rides were reserved well in advance and we didn’t stand a chance, but I didn’t want to disappoint him so I rushed. We stayed by the crystal clear water for a while and relaxed before making the long steep climb back up. That was not an easy feat, particularly because now our stomachs were grumbling.
Exhausted and hungry we made it to the top and set out to find a place to have our picnic. We found one at the rim village in a quiet spot and enjoyed our salami, brie, bread, fruit & a little wine. I had obtained a corkscrew by then. Having satisfied our hunger pangs we proceeded to the gift shop to buy some souvenirs, took one last look at the gorgeous, blue water and started what was to be a 4 plus hour drive to the Oregon coast to the town of Newport.
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| Cleetwood Cove Trail |
Exhausted and hungry we made it to the top and set out to find a place to have our picnic. We found one at the rim village in a quiet spot and enjoyed our salami, brie, bread, fruit & a little wine. I had obtained a corkscrew by then. Having satisfied our hunger pangs we proceeded to the gift shop to buy some souvenirs, took one last look at the gorgeous, blue water and started what was to be a 4 plus hour drive to the Oregon coast to the town of Newport.We didn’t arrive in Newport till nearly midnight. I had lost my son to sleep hours earlier and the drive was long and tiring. We had reservations at a Shilo Inn & Suites that was less than luxurious. In fact it was likely the dumpiest place my son has ever stayed and he made it a point to say so as soon as we walked in. Exact comment was “Couldn’t you find a Marriott here? this place is disgusting” All this while half asleep. I of course have stayed in worse places during my travels and thought it was ok. It didn’t scream “go find another hotel” to me. He wore his flip flops everywhere because he was afraid to step on the floor. He pulled back the bedspread and sheets to make sure there was nothing in them. He was funny and I realized then how much he has been spoiled at his young age of ten.
The next morning he refused to eat the Inn’s breakfast and so we made our way up the road to Georgie’s. We loved this place. It was a diner of sorts with a full view of the ocean. We were seated by a window and while we were waiting for our food, we spotted several whale spouts fairly close to the shore. It was a great way to start our day. I had the corned beef hash with two poached eggs while my son had their pancakes and fruit. The hash was fantastic and I polished it off in no time since we had not eaten dinner the night before. I don’t usually comment on coffee but their coffee was so good I had more than 3 cups of it. My son enjoyed his fluffy pancakes and finished off two large glasses of milk. I guess we were hungry.
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| Haystack Rock |
We spent several hours at the Oregon Coast aquarium (my son wants to be a marine biologist someday so the aquarium was a must) and then started our drive up the coast on Highway 1. It’s a beautiful drive that winds up through quaint seaside towns with some great vistas along the way. Several hours later we made it to Cannon Beach, home of the famous Haystack Rock. After spending some time walking along the beach and taking photos of Haystack, we made our way to the Wayfarer restaurant which is right along the beach. We were early enough to get a great table on their deck so we could eat and watch the sunset.
The food at the Wayfarer was fantastic with a view to match. We ordered a warm wild mushroom dip and Dungeness crab cocktail followed by Halibut Oscar which was topped with more Dungeness crab and a béarnaise sauce. I had a glass of Matello Pinot Gris with my dinner which paired beautifully with not just the food but also the surroundings. My son finished off his meal with a crème brulee which he loved so much that he wouldn’t share and I had to sneak a taste.
After dinner we took another walk on the beach as the sky grew darker. I couldn’t help but reflect on the past few days and wish that we had more time to spend in each place. I would particularly like to go back and stay at Crater Lake and do more of the hikes around the rim or just sit and stare at the lake. We looked out onto the endlessness of the Pacific Ocean and turned to make our way back to the car for the 2 hour drive to our temporary home in Portland. It had been a phenomenal few days that we are not likely to forget anytime soon.
Stay tuned for Part III through the Columbia Gorge, Mt Hood & some fantastic wineries…
Happy Travels!
The Persnickety Palate 