The Steamy Paella

What happens when the best show on television meets delicious cholesterol-free vegan bakery in New Jersey?

Thank you Sweet Ave Bake Shop in Rutherford, NJ. Your cupcakes filled the gaping hole in my soul as Lost came to an end yesterday, in its series finale. 

So Jasmine and I visited Mantao Chinese Sandwiches on 53rd St. (between 2nd and 3rd Ave). We both ordered the $10 combo box which comes with two sandwiches, slaw, and shrimp chips.

It arrives neatly wrapped, in a little bamboo steamer, which is a pretty adorable presentation for technically being “fast food.” The shrimp chips are nothing really special. Somewhat flavorless, light, crunchy chips. Still I would place my money on the fact they’re healthier than your average french fries, the staple at other fast food joints. So, that’s a small win in my book.

The sandwiches were pretty tasty. A little too much bread in my opinion, although the steamed sesame buns they put them in are kind of awesome. The meat flavor gets a little lost in them though. You also definitely need two sandwiches to get full, because they’re pretty small. I ordered the “Angus Beef Burger with Spicy Sambal Sauce” and spicy pork (I think, it was so long ago!). I’m not sure why I went for the beef burger one considering that’s pretty plain and typical. I did enjoy the pork one better, especially for the sauce.

I also ordered the coconut pudding, which was a little too non-creamy and gelatinous for my liking, and the plain sugar flavor prevailed over the coconut flavor.

Overall, I’d go back again. For being “fast food,” I’d definitely rank it above a lot of other staple joints in NYC. They seem to use fresher ingredients than your average deli/burger place would.

Similar to the “Naked Goat” cheese which I wrote about in an earlier blog entry, this cheese has hints of similar flavor, while being a lot more softer. The texture reminds me more of a standard monterey jack cheese, but the flavor remains a little tangy from the goat’s milk. The biggest difference is the wine-soaked rind, which smells extremely wonderful. It made me crave a glass just from smelling it.

Overall, texture makes a huge difference to me, and therefore I’d still go back to buying the “Naked Goat.” It had a much creamier taste, which I’d prefer to the “Drunken Goat.”

This weekend Tony and I visited Mad For Chicken on 5th Ave between 31st and 32nd St. It’s a Korean restaurant and their claim is to make a healthier and less greasy fried chicken, at which I think they do an excellent job. We ordered the large portion and shared it. (All my photos are pretty dark because the place is so dimly lit!) It was kind of funny to find the place, because there is no sign for it and it is up a flight of stairs. You somewhat feel like you’re going to someone’s apartment, and then it expands into this somewhat atmospheric lounge-like restaurant. It must be pretty fun for birthdays, because you can get your own private little section to sit in.

Anyway, here is our order of chicken, the main event of the evening!

                                                                            (photo credit: Tony T)

The chicken’s skin really is paper thin and SUPER crispy. They come in two flavors; soy garlic and hot and spicy. We got a mixed plate of 18 pieces. I enjoyed the hot and spicy flavor a little more, because the soy garlic was a little on the sweet side. I did crave blue cheese dressing (if I could drink that stuff in a glass I probably would, sad I know). Unfortunately these wings and drumsticks come sauce-less, but they are quite awesome on their own. But according to their website, 3 drumsticks have 310 calories and 20g of fat, which compared to Hooters (5 wings = 866 calories, 63g of fat not counting the blue cheese) is significantly better. I was super impressed when seeing the wax paper under the chicken, because it was hardly even greasy (well compared to what it would have looked like in other restaurants)!

[Note: my co-workers told me on Monday that they do serve a blue cheese/ranch dressing, but we just didn’t get it at my table. Had I been not a Mad For Chicken newbie, I would have requested something to drench my chicken in (sorry, straying from Korean style or not, I love dressing).]

But of course we had to pig out, so don’t worry, we ordered other stuff to rack up the calories. We ordered rosemary french fries which were pretty standard but pretty good. I did end up craving salad after our meal because we ate everything fried or filled with cheese, so it was an unsettling feeling.

Tony wanted to order the dduck bok gi, which is some sort of rice cake casserole with a tomato paste and cheese. It was way too big of a portion to be considered a “side” (as they labeled it). I have to say, pretty interesting. The sauce was somewhat sweet, and the rice cakes were long slimy noodle things. I wasn’t a fan of the triangular fish cake pieces randomly found throughout. I just stuck to the rice cakes.

.

This is one of the rice cake pieces.

It reminded me of a thicker and more dense udon noodle. Overall, I don’t think I’d order it again, but it was a nice new try.

And in spirit of Korean food, I just returned from another trip to H Mart (Korean grocery store) and I had to mention my favorite baked good from there. I tried to Google the name of this sweet bread and I couldn’t find it, but it is SO good and addictive. I almost finished the whole loaf with my mom within minutes of getting home.

It has this sugary puffy topping on top and is filled with raisins on the inside. They split it in half and smear some sort of yogurt/cream cheese filling inside.

It’s $6 a loaf which is pricey because it is pretty small, but I regret not taking the 2 for $10 deal considering I have only a small stump of it left. A+ Korea. Seriously.

So, I only have a handful of food adventurous friends, and last weekend I had the pleasure of dining out with one of them. Monica has her very own clever and very useful blog (http://itrytocook.blogspot.com/), so you should probably go read it.

Anyway, we chose Penang in Edison, NJ, which I found through the #1 visited website on my laptop, Yelp. (Maybe Google has a contender at being my homepage). We arrived for a Saturday night dinner, to find the place pretty packed. Normally I would be annoyed by this, but honestly, it can only mean good things about a restaurant. I’ve always backed this theory, although the Olive Garden seems to be a loop-hole, because honestly who would wait an hour to go eat there? Maybe the Man in Black from Lost got off the island and became a chef there. If you’re not a Lost fan, you should probably stop reading my blog.

Just kidding.

To begin with, we shared a roti canai as an appetizer. That’s somewhat of a cross between Indian naan bread and a soft tortilla. It was served with a curry dipping sauce on the side, with a chunk of chicken and potatoes. Looking around there wasn’t one table that hadn’t ordered it (or a ordered a few plates actually). It was a nice start to a meal, especially since it came out pretty fast and I was hungry.

I ordered PENANG CHAR KWAY TEOW because it was recommended to me by a friend (and possibly because it said “Penang’s famous [noodles]” in the description, who can say no to that proposition). I thought it ended up being a plain pad thai type of dish, with seafood. When I say plain, I don’t mean tasteless, because it did have a lot of flavor, just not a lot of veggies. Overall I liked it a lot, because I’m really into squid. Also it was only about $8, which is pretty fair for a seafood dish.

Monica ordered Mango Chicken, and since I only had a few bites of it, I can’t really comment much. From the small amount I had, I can say that it wasn’t too sweet (which I usually hate in entrees), and since I’m in love with mango in main dishes, I’d definitely order it for myself in the future. Her dish looked HUGE too.

For dessert we ordered PULUT HITAM, which we split between the two of us. The description said “black sticky rice with coconut milk,” but what we got was way different than what we expected. It was very liquid, with floating pieces of black beans(?). This gave it a very odd consistency. It was also packed with sugar, but not in the sense that it adds flavor to the dessert. It honestly just tasted like extra spoonfuls of sugar added for no reason. Overall, it was an interesting try, but I doubt I’d ever order it again.

Overall, will definitely be going back to Penang to order some of the order dishes! It has a pleasant atmosphere and the menu has enough options to try out on future dinner outings.

So today my fellow food adventurer, Tony, brought me to H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, NJ (they have many other locations, check out their website). It happens to have a small little shop area in a “mall” feel surrounding the supermarket. So before I even had a chance to buy any food items, I already had a cute little dress in a shopping bag. That’s already a win in my book. Not much of a win for Tony who sat outside on his iPhone waiting for me. Sorry!

As for the supermarket; not only are their shelves super stocked, but they also have one of the best fish market selections I’ve ever seen. You can find everything from mud fish to monk fish to live conchs. Amazing. This will prove useful in my quest to make the perfect paella. Not very Korean, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate my efforts either way.

Way in the back, and hidden from the chaos of bumping shopping carts, you find a little oasis of a food court. I use the term oasis because they actually have a pretty serene water fountain in the middle. Unfortunately, I am not very acquainted with Korean food (YET), so I ordered the first dish that I saw as appealing, which was seafood pancake. Okay, so maybe that was an impulse because I love Chinatown scallion pancakes, but nonetheless I didn’t regret my order.

The seafood pancake was slightly greasy, but packed with scallion pieces and what appeared to be octopus chunks. The sauce was a little too salty and concentrated for me, but I used it sparingly so it turned out fine. The kimchi was like any other, a good staple side. The portion overwhelmed me, and I only finished half, but that’s never a bad thing, right?

This is one of the many different areas to order from. They also had a fried chicken booth amongst a few areas selling “chicken cutlets” and “hamburgers” that didn’t look very American to me. Maybe a Korean take on our American favorites?

There’s Tony and his seafood pancake. Yes, we ordered the same meal, not sure why. To his credit, he did choose it first.

The food court area. Uninteresting, but peaceful away from frenzied Sunday shoppers.

A good tip is to bring cash when you come here, because there’s a great bakery outside the supermarket that appears to only accept cash, as well as the small prepared foods in the back (separate from the food court). They had a lot of bean paste filled doughs, mochi, ice creams, and other desserts which I passed up because all I had was my debit card. Next time I’ll go explore the bakery and the rest of the clothing stores!

I also ended up stocking up on this veggie/fruit juice (with no added sugar or salt) which I’ve become addicted to. It contains carrot, spinach, sweet potato, red bell pepper, green beans, celery, lettuce, broccoli, kale, pumpkin, green bell pepper, asparagus, napa cabbage, komatsuna, ashitaba, parsley, watercress, cabbage, radish, and Japanese honewort. It sounds like a terrible V-8 mix, but trust me… addicting.

The wine in this photo is quite possibly my favorite choice. I discovered it about a year ago, and I’ve been loyal to it ever since. The Casillero del Diablo - Carmenere 2008 is slightly on the dryer side, but has pleasant hints of berry and quite a robust flavor. I can’t say I’m a wine critic, so I’ll stop pretending that I can come up with some witty commentary (although I did work at the Olive Garden so if you ever want me to critique a Robert Mondavi against Cavit, please….). But, anytime I’ve shared this wine with others they’ve always served up some compliments.

The cheese is a raw goat’s milk cheese; Murcia Curado (Naked Goat). Although a glass of goat’s milk may be nothing pleasant to stomach, goat cheese somehow transforms into nothing short of delicious. This hard cheese still remains creamy and is nutty and sharp. It appears mild at first, but the after taste leaves behind most of the flavor. When eating cheese straight from a cutting board, I will always prefer a nice tangy goat cheese over a bland generic standard like sharp cheddar. The softer version always makes a nice addition to a salad!

Add olives to this trio, and you’re set. Hello stress-free weeknight!

To get this blog started, I thought it would be appropriate to pay tribute to it’s name, The Steamy Paella, by posting my top three favorite Spanish tapas. In October of 2009, my dad and I flew out to Spain and drove through some of its most famous towns and cities starting in Madrid, down through Portugal, and back along the southern coast of Spain. Although this was my second trip to Spain, I think I fell in love with the country all over again. Also it has been my best culinary adventure thus far. I’ll talk about my other adventures through European food, (or lack therefore, ahem, Scandinavia), but I think Spain will always be my first culinary love.

October 5-7 - Madrid, Spain
October 8 - Toledo and Segovia, Spain
October 9 - Segovia and Salamanca, Spain - Porto, Portugal
October 10 - Porto and Lisbon, Portugal
October 11 - Lisbon, Portugal
October 12 - Sintra and Lisbon, Portugal
October 13 - Evora and Sevilla, Spain
October 14 - Sevilla and Cordoba, Spain
October 15 - Cordoba and Torremolinos, Spain
October 16 - Torremolinos, Spain
October 17 - Torremolinos and Malaga, Spain
October 18 - Granada, Spain
October 19 - Malaga, Spain to Newark, NJ

Here is a quick Google Maps snapshot of our 2 week drive.

Before I get to the good part, let me preface my photos by saying that although I’ve chosen my “top 3,” I honestly haven’t had any tapas in Spain that I haven’t liked or loved. Also, even though I list the locations of where I ate these tapas, they’re irrelevant to the ranking.

#1 - coquinas (at Eslava in Sevilla, Spain)

These little clams are honestly the most addictive little dish. They come in a light olive oil and garlic coating and taste like little pieces of heaven. Each shell contains a very small piece of meat, but it’s full of so much flavor that you don’t even mind having to go through so many shells to be satisfied. Although with these, I could have four plates and still want more. However, I’ve noticed they only seem to appear on tapas boards closer to the southern coast of Spain (I could be wrong about that). Either way, there’s nothing better than sitting at a restaurant on the beach, a cold tinto de verano in your hand (see below), and a huge coquinas tapas in front of you. I hope this will encompass many of my future vacations, and if I’m lucky, retirement.

# 2 -jamon iberico (at Casa Botin in Madrid, Spain)

As you can see, I couldn’t even wait the 30 seconds it takes to a picture, before I was already eating a slice. In my defense, this was my first real meal after our flight from NJ (and it turned out to be one of the best of the trip). We happened to go to Casa Botin (famous for its suckling pig) after watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Casa Botin deserves its own blog post (and probably every culinary award known to man), and it shall have it soon enough.

But I digress. Jamon Iberico. I’m guessing “jamon” is the most common word in the Spanish language (okay, so I’d like to believe that). Even though every jamon is a delicious little sliver of salty and robust flavor, Jamon Iberico still trumps the others as my favorite (and rightfully so). This cured ham is from the black Iberian pig, which roams free and eats acorns, roots, and herbs, which shine through in the overall flavor. I believe it tends to be more expensive than other jamons, but its honestly worth every penny.

#3 - Gambas Pil Pil (at a restaurant on the beach in Torremolinos, Spain)

This little cazuela filled with shrimpy joy, seems simple enough, but somehow combines with so much flavor. This little dish is nothing more than shrimp, olive oil, garlic, hot chilies, and spices, but it will have you dipping your bread to finish up the leftover oil - all 10,000 calories of it. But that’s what vacation is all about, right?

I couldn’t end my first post before throwing in my favorite drink in Spain, the Tinto De Verano, or “Summer Hue.” I’m typically not a huge lover of sweet drinks (other than pina coladas and margaritas), but this one in particular somehow ends up being more refreshing than sugary. It’s made with wine and “gaseosa,” a slightly less sweet lemonade. It can also be mixed with seltzer and 7-Up, or served with a bottle of 7-Up on the side. This may sound unappealing, but don’t knock it until you try it. I thought the same of the Berliner Weisse in Germany, a beer flavored with sweet syrup, and then I was pleasantly surprised.

Tinto De Verano - (at Eslava in Sevilla, Spain)