How to impress a girl 101 (Dinner under $15)

Everyone always says the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same for women too… really! A man can dine and wine his woman all he wants, but once he gets in the kitchen and puts his effort into cooking a delicious meal for her, he will definitely win her heart (and other things, if he’s lucky.) ;) yeaaah.
 
I always give my friends “Cooking for your date 101” tips. The girls are ALWAYS impressed and I’ve never seen my guy friends so proud to wear an apron.

Let me tell you a little story about my dear friend, Alex. Alex wanted to impress a girl he had just started to go out with, but he had a big dilemma… he didn’t know how to cook. (No… heating up frozen food doesn’t count). Does this sound like you?! It’s ok, because we have just the recipe for you! It’s not only super easy, and only takes 30 minutes to make, its also affordable (UNDER $15!) AND it gives you the skillz to appear like you just whipped up a gourmet meal for your date… SCORE!
 
 
PAN-SEARED TILAPIA WITH CHILE LIME/LEMON BUTTER
(pair with arugula & pear salad, and rice pilaf)
Yield: Makes 2 servings
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes

 
 
 
CHILE LIME/LEMON BUTTER (I’ve made both lime & lemon and there isn’t much of a difference between them)
* 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened    
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots    
* 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime or lemon zest
* 2 teaspoons fresh lime or lemon juice    
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh serrano or Jalapeño chiles (preferably red), include seeds
* 1/2 teaspoon salt    

 
 
Stir together butter, shallots, zest, lemon juice, chiles, and salt in a bowl.  

Remember that Bowl of Sin we made last year for our other “Dinner under $15 - SPICY ANCHOVIES & CAULIFLOWER PASTA”? Well, you can’t really wallow in too much “Sin”, but Bowl of Pleasure? Go ahead, bathe yourself in it, put it on everything, and slather as much as your sinful self can handle :P
 
 
FOR ARUGULA AND PEAR SALAD WITH TOASTED ALMOND (courtesy of our friend, Mich)
* 1 lb baby arugula
* 1 pear, thinly sliced
* parmigiano reggiano, thinly shaved
* toasted almonds, or any nuts you prefer… teehee, nuts
* extra virgin olive oil
* balsamic vinegar

 
 
Mix the first 4 ingredients together. Right before serving, drizzle extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top so it thinly coats the arugula leaves. Serve immediately as a side dish with tilapia and rice pilaf.
 
FOR FISH    
* 2 (5- to 6-oz) pieces skinless tilapia fillet or farm-raised striped bass fillets with skin.  Our friend, Keith, suggests in the comment section below, “The cook should be flexible in his choice of fish, since he can cook any fillet like this. Which means - get the fish that’s on sale. And if you want to give it a better crust, try dipping the fish in a little flour.” 

* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* some freshly ground pepper
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil  
* 1 Near East rice pilaf (any type that you like), cook per instructions on box

 
 
Prepare fish after the salad and rice pilaf is finished.

For striped bass, score skin in 3 or 4 places with a thin sharp knife to prevent fish from curling (do not cut through flesh).
 
Pat fish dry and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
 
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until just smoking, then sauté 2 pieces of fish, gently turning over once with a spatula, until golden and just cooked through, for about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
 
Serve immediately. Top each piece of fish with a dollop of chile lime butter.
 


Cooks’ note: · Chile lime butter can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before using.  

Pair this dish with full bodied white wines because they are rich and lush, allowing them to work well with this recipe. Or fruity white wines that have a strong body, making them excellent choices to pair with the spicy lime flavor.

So Alex not only successfully made this dinner for his date, but he also impressed her so much, that they got in a real relationship and are now happily married, with an adorable 1 year old son :). And he once told me (with a mischievous grin) that this is the ONLY dish he has ever cooked for his wife while they were dating… So there you have it, all it takes is that ONE delicious meal and she might be yours FOR.E.VER :)

Til next time, good luck fellas (and ladies)

- Féline

Winning Recipe from The Great Manhattan Cook-off

Not only was this the dish that won Adam first place at The Great Manhattan Cook-Off, his Jalapeño infused sake recipe was the drink that impressed soooo many people at my friend Saldana’s Holiday Party…. it even got me laid! (Okay, the latter is a lie, and we both know it!)

This is The Crawmama’s last entry of the year. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus and are looking forward to a delicious new year in 2012!

As always, we bid you good eating, fine cooking, a bit of merrying, and of course, let’s not forget DRINKING (and NO DRIVING)!!

xoxo,
Clarkii & Féline

Adam’s Spicy Head-on Shrimp w. Jalapeño Infused Sake Shot
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

JALAPEÑO INFUSED SAKE

INGREDIENTS

• Large bottle of dry sake
• 3-4 jalapenos

Simple, start by pouring the sake into a large glass pitcher.  Next, slice up 3-4 large jalapenos and throw them in the pitcher, seeds and all.  Seal it with plastic wrap and put a rubber band around it to keep as much air out as possible. It’s even better if you have a large container that you can seal. Put it in a dark spot and give it a stir twice a day. Adam infused his for 48 hours. The longer you infuse (up to 2 weeks), the spicier it gets.

Serve chilled sake in a small tea cup (approx. 4oz.) on the rocks and garnish with a single slice of sake-soaked jalapeno.

Enjoy!

SPICY HEAD-ON SHRIMP

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup of Jalapeño infused sake (recipe above)
• 3-4 jalapenos
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 2lbs of whole shrimp (36-40)
• ¼ cup of fresh grated ginger
• 5 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 large red onion (rough chop)
• Large bunch of cilantro (rough chop)
• 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• ½ can of tomato paste
• Sea salt
• 2 limes

Heat vegetable oil in a wok. Add garlic, onion, jalapenos and ginger.  If you want it really spicy then leave the jalapeno seeds in. For a less spicy version, remove seeds before adding the jalapenos.  Saute for 8 minutes.

Add shrimp, vinegar and salt. Saute for 5 minutes.

Pour a ½ cup of your sake infusion over the entire dish.

Add tomatoes and 2 big handfuls of cilantro. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add juice from limes by squeezing lime halves (2 limes total) over the entire dish. Give it a quick stir.

Garnish with a little fresh cilantro and, for extra spice again, add tiny, minced pieces of jalapeno. Serve!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

From the Crawmama to you and yours! Keep cooking! (and eating :P)

 

ffoodd:

Vegan Royal Icing (by Veganbaking.net)

From our friend Mattie…Yes, OUR OWN VEGAN SLAYER!

Life happens…and The Great Manhattan Cook-off

 
 

 
 
At 1:30pm, Michelle kicked off the games with a recipe from her co-worker’s Italian mother-in-law: Meatballs Stuffed with Smoked Mozzarella and Chopped Bacon in Marinara Sauce.

 
 
 
At 1:45pm, Sal followed with Keema Naan, a homemade naan stuffed with local organic, grass-fed beef, topped with yogurt.
 
 
 
At 2pm, Keith brought out his famous Momofuku steamed pork buns (possibly better than David Chang’s), with pork belly from his local butcher that had been brined the night before, cooked for 2 hours in the morning, and topped with hoisin sauce, pickled cucumbers, and scallions.
 
 
 
At 2:15pm, Naomi followed with Savory Hoddeok, a warm Korean dessert pancake, stuffed with Goat Cheese, Comte Cheese, and Fig Jam.  
 
Then we took a break to breathe heavily like obese people for fifteen minutes. (Apologies if we offended our obese readers out there.)

 
 
 
At 2:45pm, Alex stepped up the playing field with Niki Ramen, a homebrewed Chicken/Tonkatsu/shoryu broth, topped with a quail egg, braised buta pork, shishito peppers, mochi, greens, and soft tofu.   

She used pork bones (for only $1/lb in Chinatown… developing a major frugal crush on you, Chinatown) in the broth. The buta pork (for only $3/lb, again in Chinatown… now I’m falling in a desperate sick cheapskate love with you, Chinatown) was pan seared in salt, thyme, and black pepper, then soaked in the broth for 2 hours. Once out of the broth, Alex marinated it overnight in a SECRET marinade concoction of mirin+soy sauce+garlic+??? (can anyone guess what the secret ingredient is?!), and braised it the next morning.  
 
 
 
At 3pm, Adam shook things up with an incredible tasting dish of Spicy Head-on Shrimp with a Jalapeno Infused Sake Shot.  

 
 
 
At 3:15pm, a trio of entreés came out:
Clarkii’s Gooey Cheese Casserole with Bobolink Cheddar, Gouda, Kale, Shitaake Mushrooms, and Rotini pasta
 
 
 
 
 
Mai’s Dijon Mustard-baked Chicken w/ Sage and Rosemary on a bed of creamy Orzo with Oyster Mushrooms, Pecans, and Lemon
 
and…
 
Féline’s Seafood and Chorizo Paella

 
 
 
    At 3:45pm, the desserts made their way to center stage: Ollie & Sasha’s ice cream brownie sundae, Erica’s plum pie with vanilla ice cream, Keith’s salted caramel and whiskey truffles, and Skyy’s salted caramel ice cream.
 
 
    

 
In less than four hours, we had 13 phenomenal courses and washed it down with a gorgeous sangria.
 
At 4pm (and ten thousand calories later) the ballot sheets came out…
 
…and the winner was…
 
*drum roll*
 
Chef Adam!

 
Next time, we’ll post Adam’s original Spicy Jalapeno and Tomato Head-on Shrimp recipe, so stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cook lots, eat well, and be thankful for everything you have in your life (even that annoying aunt who always asks OUT LOUD why you’re still single e.v.e.r.y.y.e.a.r during THE FEAST…we know! How DARE she???) #stillthankfulforannoyingaunt #really

Photo by Lorenzo de Guia//ShootLorenzo

Nouveau Takoyaki

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” ―Julia Child, from My Life in France
 
…AND FUN is EXACTLY what happened when we created new variations of Takoyaki.
 
Oh, and being fearless helped too… really! It’s not every day that one thinks it’s a good idea to pair PICKLED RAW OCTOPUS with… WASABI PEAS….

…

Oh, man. WORST IDEA EVER! It was almost as bad as that time when Féline stuck a clove of garlic up her nose to see where it would go (STRAIGHT TO YOUR TINY LITTLE BRAIN STUPID CHILD - to my defense I was FIVE YEARS OLD, ok? - Féline). It got stuck (OF COURSE!) and her grandmother had to take her to the doctor to have it picked out. #truestory #ew #randomTMI

BUT don’t be discouraged by the pairing above. We vetoed that recipe immediately after the first batch (hey, that’s WHY you have us, we cook and taste test for you, our dear, dear readers). In fact, pickled raw octopus, or takowasa, pairs perfectly well with either sake or white wine… and we had liters of both that day :P, so take a chance on it if you see it at Japanese restaurants or markets.

Now the rest of the recipes were delicious, of course…

NOUVEAU TAKOYAKI

INGREDIENTS
Takoyaki Batter - for one batch

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cup Dashi stock (unless you make your own Dashi stock with dried Shitaki mushrooms and bonito flakes, all store bought ones are very salty, so don’t forget to dilute it with 1 cup of Dashi + 1.5 cup of water.)
• 2 eggs

Mix well with a beater, the consistency should be fairly thin.

For detailed steps to create the “ball” shape, pictured above, go to the Takoyaki Part I post. Replace the traditional Takoyaki fillings with these new ones, and you (and your guests) will be blown away with the new flavors!

SWEET FILLING, or Crackoyaki The Crawmama’s favorite

• 1 box of fresh figs chopped to 0.5” cube
• 1/4lbs of good goat cheese, recommend Ile de France
• 1 bunch of rosemary
• Honey (Try to get raw honey from your farmers market, or ensure it comes from local bee farms. Raw honey with no sugar added tastes MUCH better.)

SAVORY FILLING, or Italianoyaki Guest favorite

• 1/4lbs of prosciutto di parma
• 3 tbsp of chopped of sun-dried tomatoes (One small piece is enough for each ball, don’t over do it, sun-dried tomatoes can be very overwhelming.)
• ¼ cup of chopped mozzarella cheese, salted
• 1 bunch of basil, chopped

It’s like eating a Margherita pizza in one perfect bite… amazing! Our guests couldn’t get enough of these little suckers.

BREAKFAST FILLING, or Onitamagoyaki In Japanese, Oni means devil, tamago means egg.

• Spotted Pig deviled eggs, chopped
• BACON!

—

To conclude this two-part epic Takoyaki post, we’ll share a little conversation we had at the end of our Takoyaki brunch with Clarkii’s aunt, Sonia. She sat us down and told us very sincerely in her wonderful Parisian accent, “It pains me to see how the younger generation prefers to eat packaged or fast food, where they eat out all the time and chuck cooking away completely. Nowadays, it feels like cooking, REALLY good cooking, is a lost art. People don’t cook and care for their food like they used to, nobody cooks from scratch anymore… Nobody cooks like this, creates like THIS, anymore,” she gestured over to our Takoyaki mess. “Can I just say how happy I am to see that you girls love to cook so much?!”

Then we hugged.

*cue the awwww*

The point of this conversation (beside trying to make you cry, or shame yourself for eating General Tso’s chicken AGAIN last night) is to show how cooking at home is fun, creative, and will be one of the few things that can impress your impeccably talented French aunt ;). As you get ready for the holidays, try to show some appreciation for people you care about by spending those few extra hours of time in the kitchen cooking with them, for them, or simply to impress them. It’s amazing how much you’ll learn.

Special thanks to Sonia for her wisdom and delicious apple tart, Jeff for his humor and helpful comments on this recipe, Aimee for joining us on this fun adventure (and dessert!), and last but not least, Sasha and Ollie for their tremendous help, and most of all their joyful spirits that made this a successful brunch. You guys are the best!!!

Have a GREAT weekend, til next time…

—Clarkii & Féline

Weekend Recap: November 6-12

Clarkii and Féline thought it would be a great idea to recap on what we craved/cooked/ate the weekend before. Hopefully some of our cravings would encourage you to stuff your face enjoy some of those dishes and our recipes would inspire you to get in the kitchen for some serious cooking action too.
 
If you see ANYTHING you like (e.g. dishes from our friends, restaurants we eat at, cookware, sexy men, brilliant women), ASK US ABOUT IT! We will definitely try to duplicate the dish, or at least get the recipe for you, and maybe a phone number too.
 
Also, most pictures are taken with our trusty iPhone 4S (Féline named hers Sushi 16, the numbered part? Don’t ask.), so the quality is not super, but who cares when the food is delicious, right?
 
— Clarkii & Féline

 _______________________________________________________________________
 
Keith’s Famous Sunday Dinners are back with a bang! 

 
 
Roasted lamb leg: Marinate in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 450 degrees for the first half hour, then at 250 degrees for 2 more hours.
Arugula salad: Add pear, Parmesan cheese, and shallots.
Pan seared Cod: Lightly bread with a simple flour and egg mixture.  
 
 
 
Féline made BLT Prime’s famous Cave Aged Gruyère Popovers, check back soon for the recipe!

 
Naomi made an AMAZING Apple pie with Comte Cheese. We have the recipe right here for ya!
 
APPLE COMTE CHEESE PIE
 
Ingredients: For two 9” Pies

• 2 Ready-made 9” Pie Crusts in Tin
• 2 Sheets of Ready-made Pie Crusts
• 1 Cup Comte Cheese (or Gruyere Cheese) Cubed
• 6 Apples
• 1 Lemon: 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice, 4 Tbsp Lemon Juice, 1 Tsp Lemon Zest
• 5 Tbsp Cinnamon
• ¾ Cups Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Nutmeg
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 7 Tbsps of Butter: 5 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Melted, 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Cubed
• 5 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1/3 Cup Crushed/Chopped Pecans
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten

Directions: 

1. Peel, core, cube all Apples. Keep them in a bowl of Water + 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice to reduce the browning from oxidation
2. Drain the Apples, then mix in Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla Extract, and add Lemon Zest for flavor
3. Cook Apple Mixture for 10 min in medium heat, until the juices from the Apples come out
4. Add flour, to thicken pie filling.  Cook for 5 min
5. Remove from heat, let cool
6. Preheat your oven at 425 degree
7. Lay a layer of Comte Cheese in the bed of each pie tin, should cover the bed, but not entirely.  Let enough room for the Cheese to melt and grow while in the oven!
8. Pour the apple mixture on top of Comte Cheese layer in each pie tin
9. Lay another layer of Crushed Pecans on top of the Apple Mixture in each pie tin
10. Place Cubed butter on top of Pecans (Adding butter always enhances the flavor while it also helps in the toasting process of the Pecans!)
11. Lay the Pie Crust on top, make sure to puncture the top for steam to escape  while in oven (I like to lattice my pie-tops, but it’s all up to you to add your creative flair to your pie!)
12. Brush egg wash over the surface before baking to create that delicious golden brown finish.
13. Bake in oven at 425degree for 35-45mins (or till golden brown)
14. Serve warm or À la mode style with a side of ice cream of your choice.

THANKS NAOMI!!

With all that food, we were absolutely stuffed at the end of the night, and Keith was pretty disappointed that he couldn’t possibly serve all of his sausages to us (TWHS!) But he was generous enough to have ANOTHER small dinner during the week, and you bet YOUR arse that The Crawmama was there with our feedbag on to enjoy them delicious sausages :)

 

Last week, Clarkii craved Bobolink’s 15th month cave aged cheddar from the Union Square Greenmarket, bought over 2 lbs (dear God…) of it, and then ventured off with Nuno to down the best macchiato in Chelsea at 9th Street Espresso in Chelsea Market.

Oh, and serious preparations went into the 1st EVER Great Manhattan Cook-Off, where twelve thirteen daring cooks showed up with bags full of cookware, extra burners, dishes, knives, rolling pins, annnnnd colored pencils ;) (Sasha and Ollie, the Great Manhattan Cook-Off kids made a divine ice cream sundae). Everyone downed glass after glass of sangria and went straight into competition mode for over five hours. Who went home as THE WINNER?? Stay tuned for our next weekend recap…

— Clarkii & Féline

Octopus Balls

Takoyaki is a Japanese street food, made up of bite sized pancake batter balls with small pieces of boiled octopus, tempura, pickled red ginger, and scallions inside. Tako is the Japanese word for Octopus, yaki describes the cooking method to fry or grill.   
 
(That’s A WAY better explanation than mine. Every time I try to describe Takoyaki to my friends who have never had it before, I say, “It’s octopus balls,” and my friends would mistakenly think I mean an octopus’ testicles, and then they reply, “An octopus has BALLS??”… EVERY TIME, you guys, E.V.E.R.Y T.I.M.E!!! - Féline) 
 
The only place I’ve found real, authentic takoyaki in NYC is at Otafuku in the East Village on 9th between 2nd Ave and Stuyvesant. When Féline told me she had a takoyaki griddle(!), we started fantasizing about all of the different types of takoyaki we could make… mozzarella + basil, honey + fig, bacon + egg, drool… the list went on for days. But before we got creative, we wanted to make the ORIGINAL version, with fresh octopus and all. Check it out!

You can’t see the “balls” but BELIEVE me they were there, and they were delicious!

TAKOYAKI
Serves 6-8
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes



INGREDIENTS
For the Takoyaki batter - one batch:

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cup Dashi stock (unless you make your own Dashi stock with dried Shitaki mushrooms and bonito flakes, all the store bought ones are SUPER SALTY, so don’t forget to dilute it with 1 cup of Dashi + 1.5 cup of water.)
• 2 eggs

Mix all ingredients well with a beater, the consistency should be fairly thin.

For the “balls”:

• Canola oil + some paper towels to grease the griddle
• Dried sakura ebi (small red shrimp), we couldn’t find this, so we topped off with shrimp tempura crumbs instead
• Pickled red ginger
• Green onion, chopped
  
• ½ lb fresh octopus, boiled, then diced to ½ inch pieces. Let me tell you, it’s a REAL task to find fresh octopus in NYC. I literally walked all around town to look for it, and every Japanese market in Manhattan only had frozen octopus… FROZEN?! Let me repeat, FROZEN?!?! Puhleaaase… Okay, we’re not food snobs, we’re just two pussies who are scared to eat frozen octopi at somewhat sketchy Asian markets… that’s all :P

But once we found it, it was sooooo worth it (where else but at Fairway, duh). Just look at this lil guy…

For the toppings:

• aonori, a green seaweed powder
• Dried bonito flakes, tastes fishy!
• Takoyaki sauce, similar to sweet unagi sauce
• Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, this is mayo made with egg yolks instead of whole eggs, and the vinegar is a proprietary blend containing apple and malt vinegars.

Thanks to some awesome friends, Féline got her electric Takoyaki pan straight from Japan! You can get yours here on Amazon.

PREPARATIONS
1. Heat the special Takoyaki griddle and oil well with a brush or a paper towel dipped in canola oil

2. Pour batter into the cups, fill ALMOST to the top. Don’t fill them up all the way, because you need enough room to add all the stuffing without over flowing the cups.



3. Put octopus, red ginger, shrimp tempura crumbs and green onion in each hole. The batter should over flow the cup once all of the filling is inside.

4. Grill takoyaki balls for about 5 minutes, wait until the bottom turns golden brown. Then use the pick that comes with the grill and gently turn each ball 90 degrees to make room for extra batter.

5. Pour another teaspoon of batter in the cup, then turn over the browned ball. This creates the “ball” shape :P

6. When takoyaki becomes round and golden brown, remove them from the pan and place in a plate. Brush on the brown takoyaki sauce, sprinkle bonito flakes and aonori on top, and finish with a squeeze of Kewpie Mayonnaise.

7. Turn off griddle and clean in-between batches.

THAT my friends, is only PART ONE of our Takoyaki Feast! Stay tuned for our next post, “Nouveau Takoyaki”, where The Crawmama goes crazy and out of control with the Takoyaki griddle.

- Clarkii & Féline


But wait…

There’s more…

…

…

…

…

Ladies and gents SAY HELLOOOOO TO OUR LITTLE FRIEND!!!

Happy Halloween from The Crawmama!

Have a happy and safe Halloween! And DO NOT let unfortunate events like this happen to you!

-Clarkii and Féline