Entries Tagged as 'cinnamon'

India House

September 16th, 2010 · 4 Comments

This week Erin and Cinnamon and I got together for dinner at India House. We had all been jonesing for Indian food and so we’d decided that we wanted to go to an Indian restaurant for our next dinner.

It was funny… fate.. on the day that I emailled Cinnamon and Erin about setting up a date for Indian dinner the Groupon for the day was for India House. I honestly wasn’t sure about buying it. Cinnamon lives right by Devon and so that is where we’ve gone in the past when we had an Indian food craving. I checked with Cinnamon and Erin and they were willing to try an Indian restaurant in (gasp!) River North, so I bought the Groupon and this week we went.

I realllllly wanted the food to be good so we could go back and you know what? It was really good. The menu is HUGE. The restaurant was not too packed with people, but not empty. And the interior was nice, but not too formal or fancy. Very comfortable all round.

I thought it was strange at first that we weren’t served papadum in the beginning of our meal. We were served a bread that was sort of like buttered strips of naan. It’s not that I was disappointed or that I love papadum so much, but I guess I”m just used to the routine of getting it at the beginning of every Indian dinner. No matter.

For an appetizer we had Bhindi Amchur, which is deep-fried, wafer-thin slices of okra that is sprinkled with tangy Indian spices. Erin had this somewhere else once and remember that she loved it, so we ordered it. It was SO good. Exactly what the description says.. crispy, tangy, addictive. We had this whole discussion about the first time we’d ever eaten okra. Erin and Cinnamon grew up having it fried, but my dad used to make it boiled and it was the grossest thing ever. It took me a long time to come to terms with okra and realize that if you fry it, like most things fried, it is delicious.

For another appetizer we ordered Papdi Chaat, homemade pastry crisps topped with boiled potatoes, chopped onions, and cilantro, smothered with sweet chutney and chilled light yogurt. Think nachos for this one. The pastry chips were round like round tortilla chips and you could sort of eat this dish in the same way. It was a cold dish, though, unlike nachos. I was telling Erin and Cinnamon about the Samosa Chaat that I had in New York and how great it was, so that’s why we ordered a chat. I liked the one in New York better, but this was still very good.

We decided that for our main courses we would each order something and share with everyone else so that we could sample a few different things. Since I haven’t gotten it for a while, I ordered my old standby: Chicken Tikka Masala, which is chunks of chicken roasted in a clay oven and then folded into a creamy sauce. Cinnamon ordered a dish none of us had ever heard of: Chicken Badami, chicken cubes cooked in a rich almond-flavored sauce. Erin ordered a vegetarian spinach dish. I think it was Palak Paneer, fresh cottage cheese cubes in a spicy spinach sauce.

Finally, for a bread we ordered Khandhari Naan, a rare bread made with leavened dough and a rich sprinkling of pistachio nuts. The three of us will never forget the delicious pistachio bread we had at Bhabi’s Kitchen (now closed, sad face!). I have to tell you… I was very happy with all of the food we had, and this includes the naan, but nothing is ever going to top that bread we had at Bhabi’s. Never ever! It was SO good. All in all, though, India House did not disappoint and I’m sure I’ll be back, now that it passed the test!

Of course it is always great to go out with Erin and Cinnamon. We don’t see each other often, but when we do, we just pick back up where we left off and it is so great. So much has happened to everyone that we had so much to talk about. Erin is expecting a baby girl in February, I’m getting married in February, and Cinnamon has gone on a bunch of trips over the summer. So nice to catch up with the ladies and enjoy some super delicious food.

Oh! I almost forgot… dessert! At the end of dinner they brought out dessert menus and we were so busy talking that we didn’t really look at them. The waiter came back a few times and we still hadn’t really looked. So, Erin and I both looked down at the dessert menu and the first thing that we read was “golden fried balls.” BINGO! I didn’t even read the rest. I’d eat golden fried balls of anything, I think. So we ordered it. It was Gulab Jamun, golden fried balls of milk pastry soaked in a sweet saffron syrup and served hot. Cinnamon had this dish before and said we would not be disappointed. OMG. So delicious. What a great dinner.

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Cast Iron Cooking

August 29th, 2010 · No Comments

I don’t know if you remember, but last year my friend Cinnamon was writing a cookbook about cooking with cast iron. She invited all of her friends over and she cooked for us. All we had to do was eat and give feedback. It was pretty awesome.

Well, Cinnamon’s book, The Everything Cast-Iron Cookbook finally came out in June so I bought it right away.

I asked Cinnamon what she thought was a good, but easy, and quick, recipe to make for an after work, week night dinner. She suggested the Shrimp With White Beans. We made that recipe along with Roasted Broccoli With Parmesan on the side. And we ended up cooking it on a weekend! Figures!

Cinnamon was nice enough to let me share the recipes for the two things we made from here book.

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Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan

This is a great recipe for using up a head of broccoli that may be slightly past its prime. Serves 6.

3 lbs. broccoli
6 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c. white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a skillet in the middle of the oven. Trim the bottoms off the broccoli stems. Peel the stems and cut them into skinny florets. Place in a bowl and toss with the oil, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Spread teh broccoli throughout the skillet. Sprinkle the cheese over the broccoli.

Place the pan in the middle of the oven and cook for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the stems have softened.

Place the broccoli on a serving platter. Pour the vinegar into the skillet and stir, scraping the caramelized bits off the bottom. Pour the pan juices over the broccoli and serve.

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White Beans with Shrimp

If you can’t find Great Northern beans you can substitute cannelloni beans, or any other small bean you can find. Serves 6.

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 carrot, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp. thyme, chopped
Pinch red pepper flakes
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
Juice from 1 lemon

Place a large skillet over medium heat and once it is heated, add the oil, carrot, and onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Add the garlic and celery. Stir to combine before adding in the herbs, red pepper flakes and butter.

Stir continually until the butter is melted and starts to turn brown. Swirl the skillet occasionally.

Place the shrimp in the skillet and cook on each side for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the beans and lemon juice and cook until warmed through. Serve immediately.

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We really liked both of the dishes we made. The broccoli was so easy to make and had that wonderful toasted Parmesan on it. The red pepper flakes add spiciness. If you’re sensitive to spice, you could adjust the amount of pepper flakes you add, or eliminate it all together. The shrimp was also really easy to make. The shrimp dish was slightly more involved, with the chopping of the vegetables and herbs, but was not hard to make at all. I love beans and I love shrimp, so this was a winner for me!

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Chicagoist Goose Island Meetup

July 24th, 2010 · No Comments


Goose Island


Matt, Scott, Andrew, Cinnamon


Kevin & Killian


Marcus & Rachelle


Goose Island Sai-Shan-Tea


Goose Island Sai-Shan-Tea


Chuck & Rachelle


Chuck

My friend Chuck is the Food and Drink Editor at Chicagoist. He had this awesome opportunity (follow along here: 1, 2, 3) to work on a beer with Jared Rouben of Goose Island Clybourn and Rod Markus of Rare Tea Cellar. They created a new beer and called it “Sai-Shan-Tea.” It’s a saison beer spiced with Rare Tea Cellar’s Emperor’s Lemon Meritage tea. On Thursday night it made its debut at Goose Island Clybourn and Chicagoist had a meet up to celebrate.

Dallas and I and a few of our other friends went to the event. It was so great to see all of the Chicagoist alum there. Some I hadn’t seen for years and it was so nice catch up and see what everyone’s been up to. Others I see a bit more frequently, but it was still great to see everyone. What a walk down memory lane. At one time in my life, a few years ago, I was in daily, heck, hourly, constant contact with these folks. I hope it’s not another few years before I see everyone again!

I also got to meet Nick, who is the editor at Grub Street Chicago. He and his wife live in our neighborhood and we spent some time talking about all the restaurants in Logan Square – what’s good, what’s bad, what’s opening, what’s closing. Hope to bump into them around the neighborhood.

Chuck’s beer (that’s what I’m calling it now) was really good. Very citrusy. I’m not all that familiar with saison beers, but I thought this was tasty. Dallas drank about 6 of them, so I’d say he liked it a little bit ;) . Sai-Shan-Tea is being sent to the Great American Beer Fest in Denver for award consideration and I sure do hope they win!

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Nintendo and Netflix Game and Movie Night

June 11th, 2010 · 2 Comments

Last week I hosted a movie-and-game-night-themed party at my house in conjunction with Nintendo and Netflix. As you’ve probably heard, Nintendo and Netflix now have a partnership that allows you to watch movies and TV shows streamed from Netflix on your Wii console.

The folks from Nintendo let me choose where to order food from and I chose Pizza Metro. I love the pizza there and I miss hanging out at the counter at 1 a.m. like Dallas and I used to when I lived nearby. The pizza came just in time, right before the guests. Nintendo also provided a lot of movie candy – think Junior Mints, Raisinettes, M&Ms, Dots and Twizzlers – as well as some really delicious movie popcorn.

We started off the party by eating and drinking wine, of course, and then I showed everyone how to stream Netflix through the Wii. Instead of watching a full-length movie, we watched some really early episodes of 30 Rock. It was a school night, afterall!

After that we played an epic game of Bags/Cornhole on the Wii. I chose this game because up to 16 people can play at one time, so we would all be able to play at once, without anyone sitting out. For the 8 of us, it went tournament style and lasted a lot longer than I was expecting, but it was fun. Kate was the big winner in that game. We also played a game called TV Show King, which I thought was a blast.

At the end of the night everyone got a gift from Nintendo – point cards (kind of like gift cards) for downloading free content for the Wii or Nintendo DS. Also, they had originally offered to give me a 3-month trial membership to Netflix so I could host the party. Since I already have a membership to Netflix and didn’t need the trial, I was able to give the trial to one of the party guests. Yay! Fun fun fun!

Last but not least, here two 30-second movies I made using my still camera and a Flip Video camera that Nintendo gave me to help me become my own movie maker. I also used Animoto to compile the movies and photographs together with music.

Disclosure: For this event Nintendo provided Nintendo 2,000 Points cards, a Flip video camera, as well as all the food and a free 3 month Netflix subscription.

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Mercat a la Planxa

May 26th, 2010 · 4 Comments

Last week Erin and Cinnamon and I met up for dinner at Mercat a la Planxa, Chicago’s only Catalan restaurant, on South Michigan Avenue. I was up on North Michigan between work and dinner and I thought “oh, I’ll just walk down for dinner.” Right. That’s a long walk from Chicago Avenue. I ended up arriving wet from the rain, blistered from my shoes, hot, late, and frazzled. Erin and Cinnamon were having drinks in the bar and I joined them for one before we headed up for dinner. Nothing like booze to calm the nerves.

I took this photo of the bar. When I pulled out my camera to take the photo, Cinnamon and Erin both gasped, “a point and shoot!?!??!” Yes, I got a new point and shoot a while back.

Mercat a la Planxa’s bar is on the first floor, street level. The dining room is one floor up. I didn’t realize beforehand that the restaurant is located in the Blackstone Hotel. The interior is really beautiful. Warm colors. Modern touches. I thought it was cool how the kitchen is wide open, making it almost part of the decor, a show of the process.

Chef Jose Garces is the the owner of Mercat a la Planxa. I’d heard of him from the Food Network, where he won the Next Iron Chef challenge. Think what you like about the Food Network and it’s challenges, but Chef Garces also won the James Beard Award for best mid-atlantic chef.

Our waitress that night was a firecracker. And really good at her job. Funny, but not trying too hard. Friendly. And she knew her stuff too. She mentioned to us that Chef Jose Garces was in the kitchen. I commented that I was suprised, since he owns 6 restaurants in Philadelphia and only one in Chicago. Our waitress said Chef is in Chicago a lot and told us that he’s from Chicago and attended Lane Tech and Kendall College.

For dinner we decided to split 6 small plates and a pitcher of the seasonal sangria. We were first served tomato bread, which was so light and fresh and delicious. Next up we got the chef’s selection of 3 cheeses. Each of these cheese were served with a special side. The goat cheese was paired with a garlic dulce de leche. The sheep cheese with a orange marmalade. The cow’s milk cheese came with a pistachio truffle side. So good. The pairings were right on and just as delicious as the cheese itself.

Next we had some delicious croquetas of potato and cheese with some jamon (ham) inside. We also had pimentos de padron, flash fried padron peppers with salbitxada and sea salt. The croquetas were very rich and salty, but in small little pops, were so good. Cinnamon had a dish similar to the peppers somewhere in New York and ordered them to compare. She said the ones at Mercat were better than the ones she had in NY.

We were loving this food so far. So it was no surprise, after eating this deliciousness, pondering over how local the Chef is and how much he’s accomplished, we were forming little foodie crushes. We looked up and Chef Garces was standing next to our table talking to a few people. Someone at our table may have made some saucy gestures behind Chef’s back and been really embarassed when our sassy waitress called her out. May have happened. Or may have just been a sangria daydream.. but it would be quite a coincidence then when we saw the waitress talk to Chef and then when he came over to our table to introduce himself. Blush blush blush!

Ahem. Back to the food….

It was coming out fast and furious at this point. We had the pinones con boquerones, which was a flatbread with white anchovies, pancetta, goat cheese and marinated pine nuts. We also had some slow-cooked pork belly with cider glaze, green apples and truffle. There was also a dish with mussels. All very very good.

For dessert we had croquetes de xocolata – milk chocolate croquettes with banana marshmallow, rosemary caramel and arbequina olive oil. OMG. These were so good. There were six little croquetes and I remember sitting and talking a bit before eating my first when Erin interrupted me and yelled to just eat it already because she had eaten hers and it was THAT good. Cinnamon was making a face while she ate hers. I couldn’t tell if it was pain or pleasure. Turned out that’s just how good they were. Make sure you get this dessert if you visit Mercat.

The food at Mercat a la Planxa was really well done. Great dinner. And not too expensive. We were stuffed at the end and including the drinks, the bill was about $45/person. So, a nice dinner, but not going to kill you when you get the bill. More importantly, I had a great time catching up with two of my favorite ladies, Erin & Cinnamon.

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