Melissa d'Arabian's Salad Nicoise and Tomato Tart

I like one of Food Network Star "Mellisa d'Arabian". Her show Ten Dollars dinner is full of great tips and yummy recipes.

I made one of her recipe the other day with white fish and it was absolutely amazing and easy. (Click here for that post) So I decided to borrow her book from the library.

As I have predicted, the cook book is full of great looking recipes and useful tips. This is the book I borrowed if you are interested in.

Another thing I liked about this book is that there are many pictures. I need lots of pictures in my cook books!!! 

So, I made two dishes from this book. One is "Salad Nicoise" and the other one is "Tomato Tart". 

Salad Nicoise is a salad with lots of things in it. Kind of similar to Cobb Salad but munis the bacon and avocado and add tuna and olive instead. I believe most important feature of Salad Nicoise is tuna. (Well, I am not sure if this is right or wrong but at least tuna is the first thing which comes to my mind when I think about Salad Nicoise. 

So here it is, Salad Nicoise with tuna, potato, olive, green beans, tomato and romain lettuce. 

I loved this salad. First of all, it looks beautiful and second of all it tasted really good! It is a very satisfying salad which can be a meal on its own. I think it will be great for a party or get together since it looks so beautiful and also easy to make and inexpensive to make.

I loved the taste also. My husband liked it but he said he can do it without tuna. I was like "But the whole point of this salad is tuna..." Well, I don't mind since I got to eat all the tuna :-)

If you are interested in this salad recipe, click here to go to Food Network site.


I also made another easy dish since I knew someone in my family will not be super happy with salad only dinner. (My two year old son... :-)

The other dish was "Tomato Tart" and this one was super easy also. I used pre-made frozen pie crust so all I had to do is slice tomatoes, dry them little bit and arrange them in the tart pan on top of the pie crust, sprinkle herbs, spices and oil then bake.

My son liked the tart, well mostly the pie crust part ;-)

I really really like this book of Melissa d'Arabian. I will try many more recipes before I return this book. I might even consider buying this book.

This book is great for people who would like to save money on grocery but still want to eat delicious food without spending too much time in the kitchen. These recipes are perfect for me. This year, I want to try save more money on grocery with smart choice and more planning. However, I will not give up on taste or variety or healthy options. So, please look forward to more exciting dishes which I am going to try and share with you! I just need to plan better and say no to impulse purchase :-)

Stuffed Acorn Squash

How is everybody doing? Everyone must be busy with all the Christmas related parties and get together and preparations.

I actually just came back from Japan. I decided to go there spontaneously and stayed there for three weeks. It was a wonderful trip and my family were super super happy to have us. Our son was very happy to have many people to play with every day. He made my family laughed a lot. It was wonderful to see my family laughing and feeling happy.

I off course ate lots of good food while I was there. The weather in Tokyo was quite nice while I was there. Sunny everyday and the average temp was about 15C everyday which is about 60F.

So now, I am back to NY and experiencing this COLD COLD weather. I really don't like cold weather. Oh well, I should be thankful that I don't have to stay outside all day in this cold weather.

Today, I would like to write about the dish which I made before I went to Japan.

I see lots of pumpkins and squash in fall and I love using those vegetables when it is in season.

I saw a nice acorn squash so I made stuffed acorn squash. I actually made this dish before. I checked when I made it last time and found out that it was 2009. 4 Years ago!! Wow, time flies. If you are interested in the previous acorn post, click here.

I mentioned before also but I first ate stuffed pumpkin back when I was living in California. One night, I went to visit my friend who is French. He got hungry so he got some dinner leftover and ate it. I ate some and that was the first time I ever tried stuffed pumpkin. I thought "Wow, I never had this before. I guess this is some kind of French dish."

I believe they actually used pumpkin but since I found good acorn squash at my local supermarket, I use it. And this time, I added some rice to it also.

I didn't measure anything and I just winged it but this is how I made it.

I cut the top of acorn and took the seeds out. Then, add some brown sugar, salt and pepper and baked in the oven till it is soft.

First, I sautéed carrot, onion and celery.

Then, add ground beef with some spices. I used nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon, etc. When the meat is cooked, I added cooked rice.

When the acorn is soft, take out from the oven and stuff it with rice and meat mixture. Arrange extra mixture around it.

Put the lid back on and serve.

It was good but I made too much mixture. I should have made half of this. Also, I tasted too much All Spice. It has some room for improvement.

By the way, Christmas is approaching before you know it. It is just one week before Christmas!! I am not ready at all but we don't have big Christmas party or anything so I don't feel stressed. We might just go to Manhattan sometime to see the Christmas tree at Rockafellar Center or something like that. It will be nice to do something Christmasy with my family. Also, I would like to make Christmas cookie with my son and husband this weekend :-)

What is your Christmas plan? Hope everybody is having a great Holiday!

A few things which I made at the end of last year

There are a few things which I made at the end of last year and didn't have a chance to post so I would like to share them with you here today.

First, I made Bulgogi which is a Korean beef dish.

I marinade thinly sliced beef with some soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, chili paste, garlic and ginger.

Then, cut some vegetables. I used garlic chives and onion and bean sprouts.

Then, just saute them all in a pan. Easy and tasty.

With bulgogi, I also made Banbanji which is kind of like a salad. Steamed chicken with vegetables and sesame sauce.

First, I microwaved chicken thigh with green onion and garlic. Then also microwave some bean sprout. Also, I cut some cucumber into think slices. For the sauce, I mixed garlic, white sesame paste, sake, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and stuff. Pour them over and serve cold.

On some other day, I was craving for crepe so I made crepes with my husband. In the beginning, the crepe dough was too thick and the crepe came out thinker than I like so I added some more milk into the dough and made it perfect consistency. The second crepe came out perfectly. Maybe I can open a crepe store :-) My favorite crepe is with banana, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and almond slices.

My husband was adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of this. Crepes were much easier than I thought. This is a great and elegant looking snack. You can also make crepe with some savory ingredients and make it as lunch.

Some other day, I made Japanese hamburg. This is a very popular dish in Japan. It is like a hamburger patty but you don't eat it with buns. We add some vegetables such as onions and stuff and eat it with rice. For this one, I added onion, Japanese basil and tofu. I steam fried in a pan and it came out really juicy and tasty. For sauce, I mixed butter and mirin and soy sauce in the frying pan after I made hamburg and pour it over with some grated daikon radish.

My husband also cooked for me during the holiday. He made this wonderful curry chicken salad. He sautéed chicken with curry powder and added on top of salad. It was very tasty and satisfying salad.

This holiday season was wonderful for both my husband and I. We didn't travel anywhere this time but we were able to relax, cook together, go shopping together, go to movies and stuff like that. We really had a great alone times together.

Trader Joe's Flammkuchen & Our Tomato Bruschetta

A few years ago, I visited a town which was a border of Germany and France. (I forgot the name of the town) and had their famous flammkuchen. I loved it so much. It looks kind of like pizza but it is very thin crust and comes with cream and bacon and caramelized onion. Oh, it was heavenly.

Since then, every time I go to Germany and find flammkuchen at a restaurant or cafe, I have to have it.

The other day, I went to Trader Joe's and found this flammkuchen in their frozen section. I immediately have to buy it. Then, I tried it that night. Since it was a frozen flammkuchen, I didn't have too much expectation, however this flammkuchen was really good!

It was creamy and bit tangy and sweet and salty at the same time. I definitely buy this again when I go to Trader Joe's next time. I love Trader Joe's!!

Well, flammkuchen was bit too small for two people so I also made tomato bruschetta. This is something I make quite often and it is easy but always good.

I just cut some baguette and drizzle olive oil and bake them in the broiler until it is crispy. Then, rub some garlic on it while it is hot. Then top with chopped tomato and mozzarella mixed with some olive oil and vinegar with salt and pepper. Oh, I also add some basil to it.

Easy yet delicious and fun!

It was such an easy dinner but very satisfying and delicious. Oh, I really want to eat that flammkuchen again! Trader Joe's, here I come!

Manhattan Dinner @ Balthazar

The weekend was so beautiful and sunny, we went to Manhattan one of the weekend and spent a day there. Well, I had a dentist appointment so that was the main reason to go there but my husband came with me and we enjoyed rest of the day there.

Well, first thing we did was baking this croissant in the morning.

These are frozen mini croissant (it is not so mini :-) from Trader Joe's. This is so easy and delicious. I just need to take out some of them from the freezer the night before. In the morning, the croissant is doubled or tripled in volume. Then, I just stick them into the oven for about 15mins. (Please click here for the previous Trader Joe's Croissant post)

And these sunflower below is the ones we bought about two weeks ago. It was getting little sad looking so my husband took the only flower part and float them in a bowl with water. Isn't this pretty? The color combination of blue and yellow is perfect. My husband also loved his own creation and was admiring this bowl for a while with excitement :-) We had a croissant breakfast outside looking at this beautiful sunflower bowl.

My husband and I started the morning in such a good mood and went to Manhattan.

After the dentist, we walked around the city. It was quite a hot day. Summer is here! I love it.

After walking a while, we wanted to decide on where we are going to eat. I have a long list of restaurants I want to try out in Manhattan. We looked at the list and decided to go to Balthazar which we both wanted to go for a while.

This restaurant is a quite famous restaurant. It is a french bistro style restaurant in SOHO. I once borrowed their recipe book from a library. (Click here for that post)  Also, I watched on TV once that celebrity chef Bobby Flay was saying that their french fry was the best french fry he had. So I wanted to try out.

It is a popular restaurant and we didn't have a reservation but the time was little bit before 5pm so we thought we have a good chance of getting a table without waiting too long.

We went there and found out that the finish serving hot food at 5pm and start again with dinner at 6pm. We were lucky that we arrived there just before 5pm.

I had stake and fries. I had to try this french fries bobby flay was complimenting. I don't know the name of the sauce it came with the stake but the sauce was very creamy and rich and tasty! The french fry was really good but I think I had it better...

My husband had homemade fettuccine with shrimp and broccoli robes. This dish was excellent. I loved it. I think I liked this one better than my dish. The shrimp was so fresh and tasty.

We had another wonderful day in Manhattan. Both of us were so satisfied with this day. My husband really liked this restaurant. After the dinner, we walked around soho area and then to China town. Then took a subway and went home.

There are so many restaurants in Manhattan and it is difficult to choose which one to go. It will take a long time to go all the restaurants I want to go but I would like to check my list off slowly and enjoy the process.

Manhattan in summer is so nice. There are so many events and nice parks around. I would like to explore Manhattan and Brooklyn more this summer.

How about Beef Bourguignon & Fennel Gratin for Valentine's day dinner

Beef Bourguignon. What is it? I did not know about it until I watch it on Tyler Florence (again!) cooking show. It seems something like French beef stew cooked in red wine and cognac. This is pretty time consuming dish but the process is very easy. I just had to cook it for a long time.

I was thinking about some kind of comfort food to eat on a cold winter day and came across this dish. This is something I never tried and I wanted to try some dish which is time consuming :-)

I used cheap cut of meat for this dish since I will be cooking for a long time. This is sauteing the beef.

Then added lots of red wine, cognac, beef broth and some other ingredients and cook for a while.

While cooking the stew in simmer, saute mushroom and pearl onion.

Add them in to the mixture and cook even more until meat is fork tender.

I was little bit worried if the meat will be tender. I tried one and it was very tender! It tasted really good even though it was bit too salty ( I think this was because I used regular beef broth instead of low-sodium beef broth with was required in the recipe)

I think it will be great if I cook this is 'Le Creuset" but since I don't have it, I just used a big pasta pot and it worked out perfectly. I added some heavy cream and chopped parsley for the final touch. Doesn't it look like something you can get at a restaurant? I am pretty happy with how it came out.

However maybe because I was cooking very long and having a taste test here and there, I was not hungry anymore at dinner time :-)

My husband liked it a lot. I think this is a very good dish but something which you would eat a lot. This is great with French baguette.

Here is the link to Tyler Florence's Beef Bourguignon recipe on Food Network site. 

Also, as a side dish I made Fennel Gratin. I was not familiar with this vegetable until recently. I am trying to use some vegetables which I haven't used it before. I think Fennel have a pretty strong taste if you eat it raw but when you eat like this as gratin, it was very mild and great.

This Beef Bourguignon is perfect for Valentine's day's romantic dinner with candle lights, nice music and a glass of wine. If you are planning to have a romantic dinner on Valentine's day with your loved one, try this dish. Or if you have lots of leftover red wine and cognac, this is a good dish to make. (Well, you can also drink them :-) )

Dinner at famous Chef Anthony Bourdain's restaurant "Les Halles"

On Friday night, My husband and I went to Manhattan to meet up with one of my husband's friend from elementary school and her boyfriend who were visiting NY from Germany. I have met her once before and I had a very good time with her last time when I met her and again I had a great time on Friday night. She is very tall and pretty and looks like a model but very friendly and energetic. Her stories are very funny and I feel that she is very honest person. I really like talking to her.

Anyway, the restaurant I picked for dinner was Anthony Bourdain's French bistro called "Les Halles". I was reading a blog called "A Twist of Spaghetti" by Chef Aimee and found out about this restaurant. For those who are not familiar with Anthony Bourdain, he is famous American Chef and he also wrote a few books and he has a TV show called "No Reservations" which he travel around the world and report about food and culture. He is very honest and sometimes sarcastic but very funny and I like his humor. 

Here are a few of his books and DVDs. 

Well, let's talk about Friday night. The restaurant was pretty packed (maybe because it was restaurant week) . It was very casual and cozy restaurant. A bit too loud but very lively. We got a great corner table so it was great. (because some of the tables in the middle looked little too tight and too close to the next table) 

The food was great! For appetizer, my husband had crab cake. 

For main, I had skirt stake with blue cheese sauce. This was really good. I love skirt stake and also I love French Fries. Fries were very crispy and yummy. The stake was perfectly cooked and great with the sauce on the side. I like the fact that the sauce came on the side so I can also dip my french fries into my blue cheese sauce!

My husband had skate for main. It was also really good. I loved the lemony sauce with the skate. 

Our friends had something like French beef stew (I forgot the name..) They liked it also so I think it was also good. 

Over all, I really liked the restaurant. He is a famous chef but the restaurant was casual and friendly and was very reasonable price for NY restaurant so it gave me a very good impression (Is it just because I like Anthony Bourdain? Myabe that is part of it also ) . I would love to go back and try some other food sometimes. If you have a chance, try it yourself! I hope you would like it also :-) 

Chicken Provencal

Welcome to 7th Kitchen!

I am so happy and proud of my last night's dish. I made "Chicken Provencal".  I was reading this cook book about culinary boot camp at CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and it says the first thing they leaned at this boot camp was this sauteing technique with "Chicken Provencal". The ingredients were simple so I wanted to try it. 

In the book, it tells you how the meat should feel to your touch depend on how you want your meat done. Normally, I tend to overcook meat and I always have to cut into it to see if it is done. Well, last night, my chicken was perfectly done, very juicy and I didn't cut into it to check. I am so proud of this. And it tasted wonderful. My husband also loved it and he ate it so fast. He said "I am sorry but I couldn't put his fork and knife because it was so good!" 

During the cooking, I burned myself. It is quite silly but I put the pan in the oven and took it out with the glove. I put it on the stove, took chicken out and wanted to make sauce in the pan. I completely forgot that the handle was also hot. I touched it and burned my palm and part of my finger. Oh, it was so painful. Today, it feels much better but some part is still red and it hurts when I touch it. Well, despite this injury, I was very very happy with this dish. 

I also made mashed potatoes for the side. I looked in my fridge and found the Chimichurri sauce which I made a few days ago. I decided use this sauce for my mashed potato. This was also a hit. Nice color and very tasty mashed potato. 

If you are interested in the book, here is the link to Amazon. You can buy it from Amazon. Since the chicken Provencal was so good, I would like to try a few more recipes from this book.