To deal with heat wave recently, I’ve been ordering out a bit more. My new favorite place for take-out; 86 Turkish Mediterranean Food Court 2180 86th St. Brooklyn, NY 11214.

We went to eat there once and it’s pretty bare bones looking, but the food was amazing. To get you hands on the pitas while hot, alone is worth a trip. When they are fresh, it’s ridiculously good. Perfectly crispy and crusty with sesame seeds outside, the mostly hollow inside is light and chewy. Even something mundane as fried calamari was excellent when we were there, delivery can’t preserve the freshness but is still very good. They have a huge menu, we don’t eat meat but the kebobs and gyros looked really great. We stick to the cold appetizers, we love the ‘shepherd’s salad’ (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions with sumac), the ‘eggplant salad’ beats the ‘babaghonush’ in flavor, and the ‘hummus’ is decent. ‘Piyaz’ was a nice surprise, it’s a salad of white and red beans that’s much better than the description implies. ‘Stuffed grape leaves’ are elevated by the addition of pine nuts and currants.

I tried the yogurt drink ‘ayran’ once. The bottle states it’s Kosher, made with hormone free milk and salt. I don’t hate it, I like strong tangy yogurt flavors and salty things (and it was quite salty), but combined I wasn’t sure how it went with the food. I would’ve finished it but it’s also really high in fat.

-Lina

As lovely as the rosemary bread was, I think this is even more awesome.

Chop one stalk of scallion, mix with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Knead half (or more) of the scallion mixture into a large ‘grapefruit sized’ piece of dough, place on a floured surface and top the dough with the rest of the scallion. Let dough rest for 20mins, cut slits (I shaped it just like the rosemary bread), and I baked it in an enameled cast iron pot (preheated with oven to 450º for 20mins), baked with lid on for 20mins and another 15mins lid off till it was the color I wanted. It taste heavenly, so savory and aromatic. Where as rosemary loses it’s intensity when baked, scallion becomes even more flavorful.

-L

I was inspired by Japanese ‘big rolls’, which are usually large (1 + 1/2 sheets of nori to wrap around) with an omelet center and other stuffing. This is a smaller, quicker, lazier version with all the fillings cooked together as one. Making nori rolls gets easier with practice and bamboo rolling mats. Also remember to use plastic wrap on the bamboo mat to help keep it clean.

Nori Egg Roll (3 rolls)

• 2 cups cooked sushi rice (1 cup raw)
• 3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (if unseasoned, add 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt)
• 3 sheets of nori
• 3 eggs
• oil for pan
• 1 1/2 cup raw baby spinach
• 4 shitake mushrooms
• 2 tsp mirin
• 3/4 tsp salt
• sesame seeds (optional)

1. Mix rice vinegar into warm (cooked) rice, set aside. Beat the eggs with half the salt in a bowl, set aside.
2. Cut mushrooms into thin strips and roughly chop up the spinach if the leaves are large.
3. Heat up a small pan (cast iron or nonstick 6-8in) medium high, add oil (2 tsp), then mushrooms, spinach, mirin and salt; cook until spinach is wilted.
4. Pour spinach mixture into bowl of beaten eggs and mix to combine.
5. Heat pan up again medium high, add more oil to coat pan. Pour eggs into pan, spread out the spinach and mushrooms.
6. When edges set after a minute or so, fold 2 opposite sides towards the center, ending with something rectangular in shape.
7. Turn heat low and finish cooking till it’s no longer runny in the center. You can try to flip it over or just put a lid on it for a minute or so. Cut egg into 3 equal long strips.
8. Spread 1/3 of the rice on 3/4 of the nori sheet.
9. Put a strip of egg on the part of the sheet with no rice.
10. Roll it up starting from the egg end, using the bamboo mat to roll and press.
11. Cut roll up into 6 or 8 pieces, and sprinkle on sesame seeds.

-L

The secret here is to have very fragrant (good whole leaf) Earl Grey tea, being that it’s the main flavoring agent. I had to grind the tea leaves in a food processor and ended up mixing the whole batter with it (less clean up). If you prefer, you can grind up the tea leaves in a clean coffee/spice grinder and use a mixer for the batter.

Earl Grey Madeleines

• 1/3 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
• 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Process tea leaves to a medium grind (like very coarse ground pepper). Cream together sugar and shortening, then incorporate one egg at a time till completely blended. Add in almond flour and tea, mix thoroughly. Then add flour and baking powder, mix briefly till smooth. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease pans throughly with shortening or butter. Try to under fill the molds, and you can get make 2 batches of the full sized pans or about 3 batches of minis. Bake for 18-20min (for full sized pans, 13-15 for minis) till the top starts to turn golden brown. Cool for 5min before popping them out.

-Lina

Some of the orzo got a little burnt, resulting in the variations of color.

Orzo, being a rice shaped pasta, gives you the quick cooking time of pasta and the applications of rice. You can make a fast faux risotto or a substitute rice salad. I prefer not to cook orzo in a large pot of water like you would most pasta. I like to toast the dry orzo in a pan with some oil till golden brown before adding liquid to it. This ensures the pasta won’t become too soggy and adds more flavor to the finished dish.

Porcini Orzo (for 2 or 4 as sides)

• 1 small onion diced
• 1 pint cremini or button mushrooms diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 oz dried porcini (+ 2/3 cup hot water)
• 1 cup dry orzo
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp of chopped rosemary or thyme
• 1/2 cup peas (frozen or fresh)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

About 3oz or however much that looks like to you.

1. Soak porcini in hot water for about 15-20mins, when softened, cut the porcini into semi large pieces, reserve the liquid (you can strain it through a coffee filter to get out all the grit).
2. In a wide pot or sauté pan on medium high heat, add in oil to coat pan. Then add the diced onions, stir, and cook till translucent with slight browning on edges.
3. Add bay leaf and orzo to the pan, stirring a lot to make sure the orzo is coated in oil and doesn’t get burned.
4. When orzo looks toasted, add in diced mushrooms and salt, stir and cook till mushrooms have shrunk.
5. Add in porcini and its liquid, the peas, along with the 1 1/3 cup of water. Stir thoroughly and bring to a simmer, turn heat down to low and cover for 9-11mins.
6. There should be no liquid left after that, but if it’s too dry and the pasta is kind of hard, stir in another 1/4 cup of (hot) water and cook on medium low till it’s absorbed. If there is too much liquid after the initial cooking, just cook it uncovered till it dries up.
7. Stir in chopped herbs and pepper at the end.

-Lina

My rosemary plant has more than doubled in size. Here I added two tablespoons of chopped rosemary into some dough. The final shape was an accident, I flattened it out too much in the center. The slits were done with a pair of kitchen shears (easier than knives).

-L

   I didn’t have a food post ready but I’ve been wanting for weeks to share this photo.

Happy news! According to tastespotting, they are close to resolving their issues and will be making a comeback soon.

-Lina

Originally I was going to have a few more posts of savory food but the closing of Tastespotting king of caught me off guard (I couldn’t bring myself to post) and I’m still stunned and sadden. It was what compelled me to start food blogging. I hope somehow there will come something that can fill the void in the online food world.

edit 6/28… Tastespotting is back!!!!!!!!

The heat wave let up a bit so I’m able to bake again. Here’s another quick variation on madeleines.

Raspberry Lemon Madeleines

• 1/3 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup raspberries or 2 tbsp raspberry preserves (cut back on the sugar a bit)
• zest of half lemon
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• powder sugar to dust (optional)

Cream together sugar and shortening, then incorporate one egg at a time, add lemon zest/juice and raspberries. Mix till completely blended. Add in almond flour, and mix thoroughly. Then add flour and baking powder, mix briefly till smooth. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease pans with shortening or butter. Try to under fill the molds, and you can get make 2 batches of the full sized pans or about 3 batches of minis. Bake for 18-20min (for full sized pans, 13-15 for minis) when the edges just turn golden brown. Cool for 5min before popping them out. Dust with powder sugar.

-L

  Soba salad with smoked mackerel.

The first day of the heat wave, I was mostly hiding out in my room with the air conditioner. I wasn’t willing to cook a big meal or even stand in front of the stove for long. Soba noodles are noodles made with buckwheat flour; it has slightly nutty flavor, and is all around healthy. The cooking time is only three minutes in boiling water. In colder weather I love soba in hot broth. In summer, they can be eaten chilled with cold dipping sauce. I like it hot or cold with tororo (grated yam). And of course as a salad one dish light meal.

Soba Salad (for 2)

• 6oz dried soba (2/3 of most small packages)
• 4 cups (roughly) baby salad greens
• 1/2 small onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 scallion (thinly sliced)
• 3 tbsp dried wakame 
• smoked fish or leftover meats (optional)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• ponzu + olive oil or salad dressing or…

soy citrus dressing:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 minced garlic clove
• juice of 1 lemon or lime
• few drops of fish sauce (optional)
• few drops of sesame oil
• 2 tsp olive (or canola) oil
• 3-4 tbsp water to dilute

Cook noodles in boiling water for 3mins, drain and rinse under cold water till completely cooled. Set aside and let water continue to drain away. Rehydrate wakame in some hot water, let it sit for 2mins or so, then drain. Toss cold noodles, vegetables, fish, and wakame together with dressing, top with sesame seeds.

To make it completely vegan, leave out any fish/meat or fish sauce. You can add firm tofu or just leave it plain. I didn’t have any at the time, but thinly slice cucumbers would also be great. Wakame adds a really nice ‘sea’ flavor but if you can’t get any, you can also add other seaweeds like finely shredded nori at the end.

-Lina