Mexican Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love a good chocolate chip cookie, a little on the crispy side, and not too sweet. I am also not a big fan of nuts in my cookies (although sometimes pecans or peanut butter are just right), so I like to find a little extra flavor in other ingredients. Mexican chocolate, with its addition of cinnamon and a little pepper or chile, is perfect to me. These cookies, adapted from an old Bon Appétit recipe I found on Epicurious, came out wonderfully, with a nice bit of cinnamon spice and a subtle black pepper finish. They also benefited from the unsweetened chocolate to cut the sugar a bit, and the chocolate chips have a softness that juxtaposes the crisp cookies.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably of high quality such as Scharffen Berger
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper to taste
  
• 10 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips, Ghirardelli makes great ones

Cream the butter and sugar in large bowl, beat in the eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.

Sift the dry ingredients directly into the bowl, combine until blended, and add chocolate chips and black pepper to taste.

The dough is very fudgey, so it should be refrigerated for about an hour before baking.

Bake on buttered baking sheets (about 9 cookies per standard sheet) for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand 3-5 minutes before removing the cookies to cool on a rack.

The recipe should make about 50 2 inch cookies.

Bon Appétit's recipe on Epicurious can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mexican-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies-4808#ixzz1f7JggtD2

Tomato Eggplant Sauce

As summer turns into fall, I love to take my ripe tomatoes and eggplants and turn them into this sauce... I first started having a lot of similar sauces at restaurants, and then decided to make my own. This version, based on a Lidia Bastianich recipe, is a beautiful balance of flavors, with just the right amount of sweetness. I balance the vegetables out with a bit of fresh ricotta cheese when I serve it over penne or a similar pasta.

Ingredients

One 16 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes, or 2 cups of fresh peeled tomatoes
One medium eggplant, chopped into half inch cubes
Three tablespoons of olive oil
One medium yellow onion, finely chopped
One garlic clove, finely chopped
Two sprigs of fresh basil
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil over low heat in a medium or larger cast iron pot, then add the onions with a pinch of salt and allow them to soften before adding the garlic as well. Next, add the eggplant and mix it with the other ingredients, then continue to cook it on a low-medium heat for about fifteen minutes, adding water at any time to prevent it from burning. Once the eggplant has softened, you can crush the tomatoes by hand and drop them into the pot - you should also add about two cups of water using the tomato can or bowl to get the extra juices and prevent the eggplant from drying out. You can add the basil, plus another pinch of salt and some pepper at this point, along with the pan's lid, and allow everything to cook covered for about 45 minutes on low-medium heat. Be sure to check on it and lower the heat if the sauce begins to boil, it should be at a steady simmer. Once the vegetables seem to be mingling together, you can remove the lid and cook uncovered for another hour. Be sure to check on the sauce and stir it regularly to make sure the eggplant doesn't stick to the pan. Once it is finished, toss it with a bit of pasta finished with butter, and add a dollop of fresh ricotta right before it's served.

Makes abut 4 servings.

456 Shanghai

Earlier this year I took a class on dim sum preparation (more on that later), and just this week I had a friend visiting from Shanghai, so I have had a lot of inspiration for finally getting down below Canal Street. While my friend was in town we ate a lot of American and European foods, but once she left I wanted to go and have a taste of what she eats when she's back in China.

So, tonight I went out to try 456 Shanghai, in New York City's Chinatown, recipient of Sam Sifton's recent glowing review in The New York Times, in which he bestowed the restaurant with a star. I have eaten at many Chinese restaurants in the city, and live only about a fifteen or so minute walk from Chinatown, but I had never dined in the area before tonight.

At 456 Shanghai, I did not push my comfort zone too much - largely because of my companions. We went for a fairly basic, American friendly meal of scallion pancakes, braised vegetable noodles, General Tso's chicken, and a vegetable dish consisting of eggplant, green beans, and broccoli in a garlicky basil sauce, along with pork soup dumplings and vegetable dumplings. The vegetable dishes were by far the standouts for me, with the mixed vegetable dish having incredible flavor in the sauce, and the vegetable dumplings were not simply a mush of sauteed vegetables, but well blended and seasoned with a variety of tastes inside. The quality of the meat was surprisingly good - many places will give you the tough pieces in a dish like General Tso's, but each bite was moist and chewable. The soup dumplings, however, were rather bland, as were the noodles.

I'm happy to have made the trip... Next time I would lean more toward an all vegetarian meal at 456, but I like knowing that the chicken is a safe bet as well.

456 Shanghai Cuisine
69 Mott Street
New York, NY
212.964.0003

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/dining/reviews/456-shanghai-cuisine-nyc-restaurant-review.html?pagewanted=all

A Very Royal English Breakfast

This morning, two friends and I got up at five to watch the royal wedding coverage. It was lovely, the bride was beautiful, she and the groom obviously adore each other, and it all went off without a hitch. I was happy to get up so early to watch a live, historical event, but I decided we needed to add another way to celebrate and better enjoy all of the British pageantry: A full English breakfast. The traditional meal is a fry up of tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, eggs, toast and baked beans, but with swimsuit season coming so soon, we did a slightly healthier but equally delicious version. Vegetarian baked beans, scrambled eggs (although poached would have been a bit lighter), chicken breakfast sausage, and roasted mushrooms and tomatoes on the vine made a perfect accompaniment to watching the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take their vows. Of course, we had some Earl Grey tea and a bottle of pink champagne to complete the meal!

The Brooklyn Star

The Southern style barbecue restaurant Brooklyn Star recently re-opened off the L Train's Lorimer stop in Williamsburg. I was really anticipating it, since I only ate at the original once and remembered enjoying it, and I was excited to go last night. I went with a group, which seemed perfect, as we were able to order a large chunk of the menu items... But, sadly, many of the dishes were really disappointing. I was especially surprised that some of the worst dishes were meat based. The Dr. Pepper ribs were bland, the fried chicken wings were soggy and covered in a flavorless buffalo sauce, and the bacon did nothing to elevate the macaroni and cheese - the cheese in which was so mild I could barely detect it. The only dishes we all loved were the jalapeno and bacon cornbread, the biscuits, and the superb brussels sprouts. We also had the shrimp and grits, which had nice seasoning, but was undercooked, and the passable romaine wedge salad. I was sorry to have made the trek for such an unremarkable evening - one member of our party commented that it was the worst barbecue he'd ever eaten, and I had to agree.

Bread Making at Del Posto

A few months ago a friend graciously passed on a ticket for a bread making class at Del Posto. She was unable to attend the event, part of the New York Food & Wine Festival, and she thought I might enjoy it. It was amazing. We got in the kitchen with the fabulous head baker, Ernesto Gonzalez - formerly of La Brea Bakery, and watched him make beautiful focaccia rolls, kalamata olive rolls, mini baguettes, and multi-grain rolls. At the end of the class he served them to us with whipped, unsalted butter and rosemary-lardo spread. The focaccia alone was life changing, and though I have been back for a full meal since, the bread at Del Posto still stands out as one of the greatest components of their dining experience.

Del Posto
85 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY
212-497-8090

Dos Toros

My all time favorite type of cuisine is Mexican food, and it has been for as long as I can remember. It's what I crave when I am tired, or stressed, or sick, or just really hungry. My favorite item is the burrito, specifically the Mission Style burrito served in San Francisco, and when I moved to New York one of my biggest challenges was finding something that tasted that good. I found some not quite right substitutions over the years, but never anything close to the real thing until Dos Toros opened off of NYC's Union Square. Dos Toros uses the same recipes as the Bay Area's amazing Gordo Taquerias, and it was started by two brothers also missing the tastes they grew up with. Their beans, rice, carnitas, cheese, tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo and hot sauce are by far the closest to Mission style that I've had anywhere outside the Bay. I'm craving a burrito right now... Sadly they do not deliver, but a meal there is always worth the trip.

Dos Toros
137 Fourth Avenue
New York, NY
212-677-7300