Tag Archives: salad

RECIPE: Honey Roasted Root Vegetables Over Watercress

19 Nov

Have I mentioned how excited I am to have Brooklyn Fare Manhattan right next door?  On my way home from work one day, I stopped by and picked up every root vegetable I could find.

Turnips, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, golden beets (I find them very similar to regular beets, but without the pink fingers!) and some brussels sprouts (which are not a root vegetable, but are still delicious when roasted with root veggies).

It took me over an hour to peel and dice it all, but it was incredibly relaxing.

I then tossed all the pieces with honey, olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, salt, and pepper.  When tossing vegetables with honey, I find that stirring it beats them up a bit much and the honey is hard to distribute. So I take 2 big bowls and keep transferring the mixture from one to the other. Works like a charm!

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I roasted them (on a pan wrapped in foil) at 425 and expected it to take about 40 minutes. But at 20 minutes I started to smell some burning so I took off the foil and set the timer for 10 minutes, hoping to caramelize them without more burning.

But alas… there was a good amount of burning. I think this was because I poured the excess liquid on top of the vegetables, which pooled on the sides and burned… (tip: don’t do that)

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What’s amazing is that none of the vegetables actually burnt. It was just the extra honey around the edges.  The Silpats were a bit browner, but everything cleaned up super easily (tip: soak in water while still warm and immediately scrub. Stuff burned in the oven sticks really badly but cleans up instantly when you catch it quick).

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I then put watercress in a bowl and dressed it lightly with Persian Lime Oil and Coconut Vinegar (I love specialty oils and vinegars, but a simple splash of oil and vinegar with a twist of lime would do the trick!) and a dash of coarse salt (always a good compliment for a peppery green)

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It was absolutely frogging delcious.  The honey brought out the sweetness and deep flavors in all the root vegetables and the slight bitterness of the watercress added a peppery note to cut through the richness.  And it was a totally vegan, somewhat healthy meal!

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A great recipe that is very easy, but a bit time consuming due to the peeling and chopping!

 

RECIPE: Honey Roasted Root Vegetables Over Watercress

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 big carrots
  • 3 small sweet potatoes
  • 1 turnip
  • 1 parsnip
  • 4 small beets
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp thyme
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 cup watercress
  • 2 tsp oil
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • Pinch of course salt
  • Squirt of lime (or any citrus)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
  2. Peel and chop all vegetables into 1/2 inch pieces
  3. Toss with honey, olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper
  4. Spread vegetables onto baking sheets (with sides) but if there is extra liquid, try not to get it in the pan. (Use as many pans as needed to have vegetables in one layer.)
  5. Cover with foil
  6. Roast for 20-40 minutes until fork tender (but not mushy)
  7. Remove foil and roast for 5-10 additional minutes until honey has glazed and vegetables begin to brown
  8. Place washed watercress into bottom of a bowl and dress with oil and vinegar and toss on pinch of course salt
  9. Spoon roasted vegetables on top of watercress
  10. Can be eaten warm or cold (stores nicely for lunch)
http://nycnomnom.com/2013/11/19/recipe-honey-roasted-root-vegetables-watercress/

 

Restaurant Week Summer 2013: Asellina

1 Sep

I made an unscheduled last Restaurant Week stop for Summer 2013.  This time, we checked out Asellina near Gramercy for lunch. (Upon looking up the website, I realized that Asellina is from the same restaurant group as STK).

It’s in the Gansevoort Hotel on Park Ave, so as expected, the space was quite nice and modern.

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I started with a salad that had shaved pear on it with goat cheese and nuts.  It was dressed very well and was a very enjoyable salad.

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My dining companion had a shrimp appetizer (that I believe was on the regular menu, not Restaurant Week). These babies were HUGE. He said they were very good.

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I then chose to go with a flatbread pizza.  This came with mushrooms and scallions.  I really enjoyed this pizza.  Great crisp to the crust and the toppings were very nice.

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For dessert, I tried to pana cotta.

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This was a nice, simple dessert that was well executed.  I especially liked the use of stewed peaches with it.

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Overall, my Restaurant Week experience here was fine. Just fine. Food was good, and since it’s close to my office, I will most likely be back.  But nothing to write home about.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

nomscale- 06.5

 

NYC Restaurant Week- Winter 2012: Barbounia

6 Feb

That Lori (from StuffIAte) and I decided to attend Food52’s Piglet Party to check out the Tournament of Cookbooks.  We didn’t know much about the event, but when we arrived, it seemed as though no one else really knew much about the event… even the organizers.  It said it started at 7, but when we arrived around 7:15, people were still setting up and there was no one really directing the flow.

There were a few stations with food and wine and then a bunch of cookbook authors sitting at a table, waiting to sign, but without any information about which cookbook they wrote.  And while I have a special place in my heart for cookbook authors, I haven’t memorized their faces.  So that was… strange.  There was no place to put coats and no one found a garbage can, so Lori and I wound up sitting at a table surrounded by other people’s garbage.  Someone was nice enough to say “thank you” as she put her garbage down next to us.  With that… we decided to cut our losses and head out to take advantage of Restaurant Week.  A quick search on the iPhone and we had a reservation for 10 minutes later at Barbounia, around the corner.  (What DID we do before smart phones? Really???)

I have been meaning to try Barbounia for quite some time (especially for brunch, which is supposed to be awesome).   But Restaurant Week seemed a great opportunity to check them out.

Here is the RW menu.

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The inside is beautiful.  Great arches with detailed lights.  It looks like it should be a good deal bigger, but it was somehow cozy in a very grand way.

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After ordered, we received a very warm, very fresh piece of bread.  The edges were especially delicious.

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I ordered the Grilled Oysters on half shell with tomato confit, fennel pollen hollandaise and parmesan crumble.  Since it was Restaurant Week, I was expecting 1 or 2 small oysters.  I was very surprised when it was 3 giant oysters. And they were DELICIOUS.  The top was like mild melted cheese that complimented the oysters without taking away from the flavor.  Really enjoyed this.

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Lori got the Roman salad with romaine hearts, artichokes, fennel, celery, shave pecorino cheese and bresola.  She seemed to enjoy it very much.

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For entrees, I got the duck confit.  It came with overnight braised farro, medjool dates, baby carrots, turnip with date syrup and 5 spice sauce (luckily, not one spice included peppers).  This was cooked to perfection, full of flavor, and falling off the bone.  The faro was ehh, but the sweet sauce was so good that when using the faro to sop it up, became mouthwatering.

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Lori got the grilled pork (which doesn’t appear to be on the menu that is posted).  I believe it came with Israeli cous cous, cipolin onions and black trumpet mushrooms. I though her dish was really outstanding.  The pork was a perfect blend of meat and fat so it was succulent, and the sauce it had was delicious.

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For dessert, we both opted for the dark chocolate mousse (also not on the posted menu) which came with a salted caramel sauce.

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The mousse itself had GREAT flavor.  Perfectly bitter sweet with chunks of chocolate.  When you hit the flecks of salt, it took the flavor to a whole different level. Unfortunately, while the flavor was great, the mousse itself was a bit gritty.  Tasted like the chocolate broke.  But it was so good in taste that it hardly mattered.

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Service was very good.  Our waitress was attentive without being overbearing and didn’t treat us like Restaurant Week lepers (an all-to-common theme during RW).

Overall, our meal here was surprisingly delicious.  I was impressed that a meal this good (and this big in portion!) had flown under my Restaurant Week radar.  They deserve accolades for serving food proportionate to their regular menu, and fantastic in ingredients and flavor.  They don’t skimp, and for that, they will earn my loyalty and I will be back.  A great execution of Restaurant Week.  Gave us just enough great food to bring us back for more.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10