Eat Something Good

I’ve been going to deli’s forever.  The main owners in my area are of Italian decent.  In NYC, you”ll find a lot of Korean owned deli’s - usually with a pretty good selection of things.  Well, long ago, I decided something about sandwiches.  In my mind, the more meat it had, the better.  I also felt like you were getting better value per dollar spent.  So, I was always seeking deli’s that made huge sandwiches.  Recently, that has changed.  I had a thick, meaty sandwich this afternoon as well as yesterday. They were good, but I have to admit that it was too much.  Way too much meat.  My jaws hurt.

Lately, Steve’s been  hounding the idea of thin sandwiches in to me.  I think it settled in his mind soon after he decided to get paninis for lunch.  They’re pressed thin in a machine and served sorta smashed much like the cubano is.  For the cubano, I layered pork loin, ham, swiss, pickle slice, mayo & yellow mustard.  So, the pic.  Clearly, the cheese could’ve been melted more and it should have been.  The sandwich should be flatter as well.  The bread shouldn’t poof as much.  That was Steve’s dept and unfortunately, it didn’t go over as well as it could have.  Steve didn’t heat it on the grill long enough with a heavy cast iron pan holding it down.  The sammies are wrapped in foil before the smashing commences.  That’s how we make them at home.  I’m not sure what they use in a restaurant but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like a panini press.

Steve, guest & I ate the sammies.  Well, Steve didn’t finish his because he had thickness issues with it meaning he wanted a thinner sandwich.  I went thinner than I usually do but I guess I’ll have to use less next time.  Me?  I loved it.  I did wish that it was hotter in temperature, but for me, it was good as is and I’d eat one again any day.  When later asked, guest had even forgotten that he’d had a cubano.  Then I reminded him of what it was and I was met with sounds of approval.

Cubanos are often sold in areas or sections of town that cater to a large latin community.  I don’t remember my first cubano experience or why I became interested in trying one.  I don’t even remember liking it all that much.  But I kept trying bites of Steve’s here and there and each time I like it.  And I definitely loved that cubano in the pic.  *big bite* Okay, take care guys and as always, Eat Something Good!

Well, Those of you who are regulars will have noticed I have not been keeping my M,W,F posting schedule. Truth of the matter is I haven’t been feeling well and am just not up to writing now. Postings may be sporadic for the next couple weeks. I appreciate your patience and support, and hope to see you shortly.

-Grace

Despite my inability to cook pork chops, I can cook up a decent pork tenderloin.  In the past, I’ve used a pre-mixed dry rub.  It was red in color; maybe a little brown.  It had a southern theme to it.  Perhaps even southwestern.  Unfortunately, I threw out the empty container a long time ago.  Instead of going into the details of the dry rub, I’ll just give you the gist.  Basically, it was good.  Not great, but good.  And there’s plenty of salt in it to thoroughly season the tenderloin.  Maybe even throughout the whole thing.  So the first time I made a pork tenderloin and several times thereafter, I used the aforementioned dry rub.  Then one time, Steve had the bright idea to pour maple syrup over the cooked  bacon wrapped pork tenderloin.  That was good.  Steve’s mom loved it.  As much as I’ve enjoyed the previous recipes, I was excited but not too excited by the latest recipe.  The reason why I wasn’t too excited is because I’m a little played out on the red wine thing in foods.  Sometimes I want, for instance, a basic beef stew.  Simple, familiar flavors, which to me, is like “Mom’s” cooking.  Of course not my mom and not a lot of moms but some.  But when I want the red wine, it’s a very welcome guest.

Here’s what I did.  And it was way easy by the way.  Minimal chopping, not even mincing or anything time consuming and brain energy sucking’ing.  The recipe calls for the pork tenderloins to be washed under cold water then dried.  I liked that.  It made me feel clean’ish (but I’m 100% certain it was neither clean nor bacteria free.)  So here we go.  To a pan, I used the everyday pan, I added a little oil (canola for me) & butter.  As the recipe states, let the butter bubble up a bit.  I used a little too much oil and the bubbling did not occur as much as I imagined it would.  Despite that, I knew that it was hot.  Before I threw the tenderloin into the pan, I seasoned it with s & p.  Then I added, 3 cloves of garlic (recipe called for 2), 1  1/2 ‘ish teaspoon dried thyme (recipe called for fresh sprigs but didn’t have any on hand.)  I browned the pork tenderloin on all sides with the garlic & thyme in the pan.  Then I added chopped shallots, swirled it around for like 30 seconds.  Then I cranked up the heat to high, added 1/2 cup of red wine (the recipe called for 1/3) and got to scraping off some residue.  I didn’t get much so it was a snap.  Finally, you turn the stove down as far as possible.  I mean low, real low.  Put a cover on it and let it do it’s thing for about 35-40 mintues (recipe called for 45 minutes.)  Oh, don’t forget to turn the meat over half way through.  When you do, you’ll see how beautifully colored it is.  It was very pleasing to the eye.  And finally again, throw the cooked pork tenderloins onto whatever you normally cut on and then to the pan, add a teency bit of water and reduce the heck out of it.  If you heat it to death like I did, you’ll get more of a thick, oily sauce (sounds bad but wasn’t).   But I recommend that you ease up on the heat and serve it thinner than a gravy but thicker a stock or broth.  I know there’s a huge leap there but I can’t think of a good comparison at the moment.

pan-roasted pork tenderloin

To serve, I sliced up the pork tenderloin into little medallions and served the reduced red wine sauce on top.  On the side, I made Uncle Bens rice with chicken stock, water, s & p.  For the veggies, we had green beans.  Canned.  I asked Steve what kind he thought it was.  He guessed Shop Rite which was weird because it was Shop Rite brand.  But it wasn’t the only brand I used.  I also added a can of Green Giant.  You know, the luxury canned green bean.  First I emptied the Green Giant one into a sauce pan and noted that the cuts green beans were mostly intact and of a good color.  Then I opened up the Shop Rite canned green beans and guess what?  They were almost exactly the same.  Makes ya think, doesn’t it?

The verdict.  Thumbs up from both of us.  I really enjoyed the meat.  It was tender (not too tender) and definitely nowhere near dry.  Even the pork tenderloin ends were moist and very edible.  I enjoyed the red wine sauce mostly because of the shallots and thyme.  Steve wants this one in the rotation but if I make it again, I’m going to use fresh thyme instead.  It will completely enhance the flavor.  I’m absolutely certain of that.  And I don’t feel that way about all herbs.  I’ll save that for another blog.  And lastly, I must mention.  I like washed my hands no less than six times while preparing dinner.  There’s always that fear of poisoning Steve (and others) and in this case, giving them trichinosis (sp?)  Sorry to leave you on an unpleasant type note.  I can’t think of a good joke so I’ll just say, Take care guys, and as always, Eat Something Good

Recipe: Pan-Roasted Pork tenderloin from Cooks.com

We’re overdue for a major grocery shopping.  We’re out of even the basics like sugar in the raw and splenda.  We’ve been “suffering” without out the sweet stuff for over a week now.   So I’m searching around the kitchen and I find some red skin potatoes that I’d eventually peel and make into little cubes or rather messy rectangles.  Anyway, I was pretty happy with the discovery.  Then it was time to check the refrigerator and comb each shelf, even in the back.  The foods that make it to the back usually don’t get used and eventually thrown out.  So, I checked around and I found one whole tomato, 1/2 onion, eggs of course and after checking cheese door, I had the final ingredient Pepperjack cheese.  Steve got me into it.  At first, I didn’t like it just like I didn’t like chili all that much.  But I’ve learned to enjoy the combination of them.  So while the diced tomatoes were sitting there I sprinkled a small amount of dried oregano on it and more.

breakfast scramble & home fries

Steve likes his home fries well done.  Whenever we go to diners, he orders one cheeseburger (with out fries), 2 eggs over and home fries well done.  And just like anyone would be, he gets upset when they’re not done enough and sometimes doesn’t finish it.  So, I was aiming for the crispies, nicely brown potatoes.  At first, I wasn’t sure if the red potato was the wisest choice for home fries.  I was always under the impression that diners  used russets (or baking) potatoes.  I hit the potatoes with a very slight hint of paprika and then an even smaller hint of chili powdered.  I got the idea to use chili powder because I thought of the pepper jack cheese.

I was curious and nervous about how the scramble would turn out.  I don’t think I’d ever made one.  Nonetheless, I gave it a shot.  First I sauteed the diced tomatoes with oregano.  Seasoned.  Oh, I always use butter when I’m cooking eggs.  Any style and so does Martha Stewart if that means anything to you.  Then I added the eggs that I’d scrambled.  I moved the eggs around with my large wooden spoon  As it was getting less liquid’ee and started to set up, I had Steve shred the  pepper jack cheese.  I hit the breakfast scramble with cheese and mixed it in.  I’m always on the fence on this one.  Cheese hitting the frying pan makes me feel like it’s going to stick like crazy and ruin the dish.  But, no, it came out really nicely and the cheese mixed into the eggs and flavored it well with a little hot kick.  There were no gobs of cheese but if you want more then by all means.  Oh, I hit the potatoes with a little salt & black pepper.  I think it worked out nicely.  And he said that I moved up in the ranks and made home fries better than he did.  Just as a note, I used a decent amount of vegetable oil but not too much.  It wasn’t swimming in grease.

Ok guys!  Take care and as always, Eat Something Good!

Though Steve is half Greek, we haven’t been eating too much greek food lately.  We used to go to a place called Lefteris Gyro (Tarrytown, NY) a lot.  I really love their food and it’s a good value.  Over the years, the prices have gone up a little but not by much and it certainly doesn’t stop the crowds from congregating inside and out.  They have a nice, out door seating area right on the sidewalk.   There’s no parking lot for this place (and there’s limited street parking) so you know it’s gotta be good because people go out of their way to eat there.   But it’s a small town, so you’re bound to find a spot not too faraway.  Anyhow, Steve’s mom discovered a new Greek restaurant not too far from Lefteris Gyro and she was eager to take us there.  Overall, it was good but there were certain things that didn’t please me.  But then again, my knowledge of greek food is somewhat limited, so I don’t necessarily know what the typical or traditional  way a dish is served.  Everything I know is based on my experiences at Lefteris Gyro, a couple of trips to “little Greece” in Astoria Queens with Steve, and also his mom’s cooking.  She makes a great spanakopita (like a spinach pie.)

The food.  First we all started out with avgholemono soup.  The recipe uses chicken stock, tempered (think that’s the right word) eggs to thicken it, lemon and a little rice (or sometimes orzo which looks like rice but is actually a pasta.)  The consistency is a little thick, a little creamy.  Steve and his mom both squeezed a little extra lemon into their soups and decided it was a very good soup.  I liked it as is, but I wouldn’t have minded the extra lemon.  If I were to make it at home, I’d probably go a little heavier on the lemon although I liked the idea that it wasn’t so strong that you couldn’t add some extra fresh lemon juice by yourself.  Oh, I forgot. Before the soup, they put out some pitas that had been cut like a pizza and with herbs sprinkled on top.  Maybe brushed with a little oil as well.  They also gave you complementary hummus which is something Lefteris Gyro doesn’t not do.  It was a nice touch.  Not the best hummus I’ve had but it definitely wasn’t bad.  They put whole chick peas on the top, in the center.  I’ve never seen hummus present that way.  I didn’t like what it did to the consistency.  I like my hummus as smooth tasting as possible.

saganaki

Next, we had the saganaki which is kefalograviera cheese flamed in greek brandy and with fresh lemon.  I was expecting flames but no.  At  Lefteris Gyro, the waitress ( a real greek lady) brought you a flaming cheese dish and then she would squeeze lemon over it to put out the fire.  I like flames and fire though it scares me.  I’m not sure what the draw is.  But when they brought out (see pic) almost like a deep fried loaf of cheese, I was like…what the heck is this?  Despite that, we all gave it a little try.  The cheese for saganaki is pretty darned strong tasting and very salty.  I was a little upset because I was looking forward to dipping my pita into soft, bubbling cheese with “burnt” edges.  This “loaf” had the consistency of luke warm mozzerella cheese and it was breaded or something.  So I didn’t love it.

beef souvlaki platter

For our main course, Steve & I both got the beef souvlaki platter which is what we usually order at Lefteris Gyro.  There were differences though.  On the platter, you get either french fries or rice and some well-done, super tender - almost overboard but I didn’t mind - green beans cooked with tomato and dill.  On my plate, the green beans, though only luke warm were my favorite part.  Steve enjoyed it as well.  I had a bit of Steve’s rice and it was very good.  If my rice at home turned out like Santorini’s, I’d be very pleased.  The kebab.  Warmer but not hot (which I would’ve prefered) was okay.  You only got one long kebab and it alternately had beef tenderloin, onions & green peppers on it.  At Lefteris Gyro, they gave you more meat and no vegetables.  And again, I must say, I like theirs better.  Oh, and when I order the beef souvlaki platter, I always get it with patates (steak fries).  At Lefteris Gyro, without fail, their fries are super duper hot and crispy.  If you ate them right away, you’d burn your mouth a little.   The fries I got at Santorini were luke warm and not at all crispy.  I ate like 1/3 of them.  And on the Lefteris beef souvlaki platter, they serve it with thick’ish pitas(I think most greek pitas are thicker and softer than the typical middle eastern ones) and they are always warmed, very warm.  They also give you a nice serving of tzatziki (a white cucumber-yogurt sauce.)  None of that at Santorini.

galaktoboureko

The dessert.  As Steve’s mom put it, the dessert was the best part.  I had the galabtoboureko which is like a semi-firmly set up custard with filo dough on top. Steve’s mom told us there’s farina in the custard. Oh my goodness.  They only charged $3.95 for a giant piece.  So big that everybody had some and I still took half of it home.  Steve had the greek yogurt with walnuts & honey and his mom had the Kataifi which looks like a giant shredded wheat biscuit.  It was pretty darn good and she gave me her leftovers.  Yey!  I have yet to eat it.  I like shredded wheat

kataifi

cereal so I was liking the dessert.  I may order it next time.

All in all, I think the food at Santorini is seasoned a little better and the restaurant itself it decorated a little fancier but not necessarily nicer than Lefteris Gyro.  Another thing I didn’t like were that our dishes were served on rectangular, white plates.  I wasn’t liking that for some reason.  I felt like they were trying to be too fancy.  The only time I welcome a boxy plate is when I’m eating sushi which I haven’t done in ages.  Most of the entrees were around $10 - $15 so it made me laugh that they had valet parking.  Steve & I prefer our usual place better.  Better service too.  Our waitress who I recognized as someone I went to high school with (and that I did not mention) was very unprofessional. And they didn’t  keep an eye on our beverages.  Steve had to wait forever to get a refill of water (as did I) and that upset us.  But I’m glad I had this food experience.  I love dining out!  Oh, I forgot.  Steve said the greek coffee was very good.  I have a pic but I think if I put one more in this blog that it will be overkill.  (Also, I couldn’t figure out how to do it )!  Alrighty folks, take care and as always, Eat Something Good!

Santorini Greek Restaurant
175 Valley Street
Sleepy Hollow, NY

mrs. t's pierogies

I sent Steve to the store last night with very, unappealing options.  We were thinkin’ burgers or eggs or something simple alongs those lines.  When I became a little flustered, Steve said ‘leave it up to me’.  I worried a little but I had no choice but to trust his judgement in this case.  When he came home, I looked in the shopping bag and my face lit up.  That lovely blue box called Mrs. T’s.  They’re pierogies, little dumpling-like things filled with stuff.  And the kind we got is potato & onion.  I’ve been really enjoying the potato & onion combination lately.

Let see, hmmm, *rub head*, how did the pierogi thing start for me.  Oh yes, it was when I was living in the East Village (NYC).  I lived in an area with Polish and Ukranian diners.  Not one typical Greek diner around.  Up in these parts, you go greek or nothing at all because you don’t have any options.  Okay, so the thing to get in a polish diner is keilbasa and/or pierogies.  But, I’m not one for keilbasa (neither is Steve) so I usually go for other things like soups, simple sandwiches and breakfast items.  There was a Polish place (actually two right across the street from each other: Teresa’s and Polania) right around the corner.  But the preferred place, Teresa’s, served better entrees.  I used to get their stuffed cabbage.  Yum!  With mashed potatoes.  Or their giant chicken cutlet.  The food was very homey and I liked that alot in NYC where you can have like anything in the world to eat.  It was nice to take refuge there.  When I first went there, it was really like 50’s ish looking.  Dive’ee.  Later, while I was still in the East Village, they remodeled and fancied up the place.  But what was funny is that the food stayed exactly the same which is a good thing.  So it was served in a modern, artsy atmosphere but all you got in your salad was lettuce and tomato slices (Like as though they sliced it for a sandwich.)  I thought the black, artsy interior didn’t match the food but I’m glad they didn’t glorify and beautify (is that a word?) the food.

So, to continue about Mrs. T’s pierogies.  My favorite ones are the potato & cheese (above pic) or the ones we had last night, potato & onion which is the most typical one.  The other one I like, and get this, is sauerkraut & mushroom.  I had it either at Teresa’s or Veselka’s.  Don’t recall.  I know, I know it sounds disgusting.  But trust me, it was good.  At least I liked it.  I’m not sure what possessed me to try it that day but I wasn’t at all displeased.  The sauerkraut was more tender than what you’d typically expect and not as sour, sauerkraut’ee.  Okay, this leads us back to Mrs. T’s.

mrs. t's pierogies

I haven’t had too many different varieties of pierogies.  I’m a novice.  And Mrs. T’s is really, the only brand we buy.  I completely turned Steve onto these.  He loves them with fried onions & sour cream.  It was my idea to fry up the onions for it last night.  You usually get a choice of apple sauce or the above combination for the pierogies at a restaurant.  These little dumplings can be deep-fried, sauteed, baked, and boiled.  I really like them boiled and it makes me feel a little healthier eating them that way.  Next time I’d like to try baking them.  For one, it’ll make me feel healthier’ish and it’s less mess.  No grease, no splatters and stuff.  What we, well Steve, wound up doing was what he does best - pan fry.  His mother is a great fryer of things so I guess it’s in his genes.  Anyway, ours came out with its outer shell being a little too well done.  It was not really crispy/crunchy and it wasn’t too difficult to eat, but, like Steve said - he would’ve liked for the edges of it to be softer.  But overall, Steve did a good job pan frying  and we enjoyed them a great deal.  I prefer to go the way of fried onions & sour cream versus apple sauce, but I’m sure the apple sauce is really good with it as well.

Now that’s I’ve blogged all this, I’m in the mood for pierogies.  I think we’ll eventually be making a trip to Teresa’s (polish) or Veselka’s (ukranian).  Veselka’s serves similar fare but they also offer ukranian meatballs that I’ve been interested in for over a decade.  Why do I deny myself simple pleasures, I will never know.  Oh, I must mention, both of these places aren’t too expensive.  Most dishes are around the $10 range and breakfasts are even cheaper.  They serve breakfast all day long.  Oh, one other pierogi experience I must mention here.  Several years ago, another restaurant came and went at what I call the death spot.  Okay, I just made that up but you get the idea.  At one point, it turned into a polish restaurant.  I thought that was kinda odd considering that where I am now is sorta, how can I say this…Well, it’s mostly Italian restaurants.  Tons of pizzerias.  And greek diners.  So there isn’t much diversity up here.  This fancy polish restaurant ( and I’d never seen a fancy polish restaurant - never even thought one existed cause I was so used to diner’ee type places), this place up here a ways from what probably feels like civilization had awesome pierogies.  Steve said they were the best he’d ever had.  I tried some and had to agree.  It was your  lucky day if they still had pierogies by dinnertime.  Okay guys, that’s my latest, take care and as always, Eat Something Good!