Latke-licious

During Chanukah, I love to pull out my favorite kitchen toy, the Cuisinart food processor, and make latkes! I was lucky enough to be given a recipe from a family friend a few years ago, so unfortunately I cannot share it, but for your feasting eyes, I will include some photos of the deliciousness that ensued. Let me also tell you that yes, indeed, there was enough oil involved in these latkes to keep the fuel burning for eight nights (maybe nine).  Chag Chanukah Sameach!

Gotta go eat at Joe's...Stone Crab that is!

 Every once in a while we've all gotta suck up our pride, put our tails between our legs, and walk into the most "touristy" restaurant we can find. In my case, that would be Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach, Miami. Now that I can (somewhat) call myself a local of South Florida, waiting for up to three hours in a crowded restaurant for a few stone crab claws doesn't seem all that appealing- especially when I can enjoy stone crab at almost any restaurant that serves seafood in the area. However, with the future in-laws in town visiting we made the 30 minute drive into South Beach to enjoy stone crabs the best way we knew how- at Joe's!

Despite their "no reservations" policy, and their reputation as THE place in Miami for an authentic stone crab eating experience, the wait can be torture. However, when you show up on a Tuesday evening the restaurant is a whole different place. The bar is easily accessible, there are plenty of tables on their large patio waiting area to sit down and enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine while waiting, and after a brief 25 minutes our table for 4 was ready! I believe that's a Joe's Stone Crab record (unless you slip the guy a 50 and a seductive wink). 

I am a huge stone crab fan, but I'm a firm believer that anyone with a brain and a kitchen can serve up a stone crab claw that will taste just like the next. There is no great art in steaming a crab claw, and in the end it's really about savoring the delicious crab meat that's naturally tasty. However, regardless of my cynicism, Joe's really does provide the whole package. Diners can select from regular, select, large, and jumbo stone crabs, which all go for the market price. They also have a full menu featuring chicken and beef and other seafood, but honestly, who goes to Joe's for steak? The servers are all seasoned veterans of Joe's, having clearly worked there season after season. They all dress in formal tuxedos, and serve you with a smile and a no frills attitude. Our waiter was 62 and planning on serving for 2 more seasons before throwing in the towel. Whoever is in charge of upper management at Joe's must have a heart of gold, because those servers are loyal employees of Joe's and their knowledge of the menu and the restaurant is apparent. The black and white checkered floors take you back to another time and another place when patrons would get dressed to the nines to enjoy a meal. The restaurant seems to stretch on for miles and still can't seem to turn over tables quick enough- hence the 2 to 3 hour wait on weekends. Our water glasses were never empty, and our stone crab was brought to our table just quick enough to impress me, but not so quick that we felt as if they were rushing us out of the place.

I could go one and on about the side dishes and the soups and the salads (all which were stellar), but the true star of the show is the stone crabs. Joe's is famous for it's mustard sauce, but I think stone crab is so delicious it needs no dressing up. Yet, after one taste of their mustard sauce I was internally debating whether I should continue to be a stone crab purist or if I should dunk my crab meat into the mustard sauce- it has a rather addicting quality to it! After 99 seasons of practice, Joe's has also perfected the art form of cracking their stone crab claws in all the right places. Mallets aren't necessary to pry open the crab claws, which makes the stone crab experience that much more enjoyable!

Finally, one cannot go to Joe's without ordering their world-famous key lime pie for dessert. In all honesty, I'm not a Key-Lime Pie fan, but the other three people I was with were. We ordered three slices, and I had several tastes. I found this particular pie to be a lot less tart than others, with a crust that is what dreams are made of! I could have scooped off the key lime from the top and just dined on the crust, but I restrained myself!

After all was said and done, all four of us were thoroughly content after our meal. The stone crab was superb, and we left the restaurant with a nostalgic feeling of what South Beach used to be and how it used to taste.

The mandatory "tourist" photo in the Joe's Stone Crab bib

The presentation of our Stone Crab claws

Joe's epic Key Lime Pie

Panko Crusted Cajun Chicken Strips with Tabasco Ketchup

I try to consider myself a health conscious consumer. I avoid fast food at nearly all costs (unless I'm craving a diet soda or an occasional Diet Cherry Limeade from Sonic), and I usually try to stay away from most fried foods for my main dish. However, I can't deny the fact that fast food can sometimes be tempting, as well as a nice meal of fried chicken or chicken tenders. Sometimes I can't deny the fact that I am really craving a burger or a chicken tender. When that happens, I try not to give in. Instead, I go for my go-to cheat meal of panko crusted cajun chicken strips with Tabasco Ketchup. They are super easy to make, and I can control exactly what ingredients go into the dish I'll later be consuming. There are two similar versions, one which can be made with buttermilk, and one that can be made with eggs.

In my opinion, using buttermilk makes everything taste better, but using eggs helps to limit the amount of extra fat that goes into the dish. Either way, it's your decision and you get to choose what you are willing to consume and if you don't mind adding a few extra delicious calories, go for the buttermilk!

You'll need:

* 1.5 pounds  boneless chicken tenders

* Half a cup of Buttermilk (or 2 eggs)

* 2 tablespoons Tony Chacheries cajun seasoning

* 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

* 1 tablespoon pepper

* 1teaspoon red chili powder

*  1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

* 1.5 cups of Panko Breadcrumbs

* Ketchup

* Tabasco Sauce

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees while you prepare your workstation. In a small bowl, pour the buttermilk or if you prefer to use the eggs crack the eggs and beat them for several seconds.

Dump all of your seasonings into the buttermilk or eggs. Get a large baking sheet or glass baking dish and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In another larger bowl dump your breadcrumbs.

To prepare your chicken tenders, dunk each tender into the buttermilk or egg concoction until it's sufficiently wet. Then dunk the tender into the breadcrumbs until it's entirely coated. Lay the tender flat on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the tenders are coated. 

Once you've coated all of the raw chicken tenders with the breadcrumbs, pop them into the oven for 20 to 25 minutes (or until they are cooked through). 

As your chicken tenders are baking, you can prepare your Tabasco Ketchup. I like to use individual sized miniature sauce dishes that I have, so when I serve it each person has their own little ketchup container. However, you can create one bowl of ketchup for the entire table if you'd like as well. This is a meal that's clearly not very formal, and family style is always fun!

Dump the desired amount of ketchup into the bowl. Once you have enough ketchup to sufficiently feed however many people you're feeding, take out the Tabasco Sauce. Pour 6 to 8 shakes of Tabasco into the ketchup, and stir it in. Once it's been stirred in, take a fork and dunk it into the ketchup and taste the ketchup. If the ketchup doesn't have a little kick of heat to it, add several more shakes of tabasco until you have the desired heat. 

Once the Tenders are ready, they will be a delicious Japanese twist on Cajun flavor without any of the guilt of driving through the fast food window! 

Hold the carbs please

With my upcoming wedding only three months away, I've been avoiding one temptation after the next in an attempt to look stellar on my wedding day. With so many Italian restaurants dotting South Florida, it's been tough to stay away from the ultimate temptation-pasta! I got the nifty idea to substitute pasta with different foods that can fake my palette into thinking I'm eating pasta after dining at a restaurant in downtown Miami called "Delores but you can call me Lolita". On their menu, they offered a "zucchini pasta" dish. Instead of spaghetti, they used zucchini. The dish was wonderful, and it inspired me to experiment in my own kitchen.

I have two simple variations of the same recipe, one featuring zucchini and one featuring spaghetti squash. Both were delicious, but I tend to favor the spaghetti squash version if spaghetti squash is in season.

I love to purchase a simple store brand of spaghetti sauce and jazz it up with onions, garlic, mushrooms, and ground meat. During wedding prep, I've been fond of the Jenny-O ultra lean ground turkey. I like to add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil onto a hot skillet. Then I throw about half the package of turkey into the pan and sprinkle red pepper flakes, dried oregano, and dried basil into the pan. Allow it to cook while breaking up the ground turkey into small pieces until the turkey is nearly cooked through. Then, I throw in about a quarter of a cup of chopped onions, and 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic. While the onions cook down and the garlic infiltrates its flavor throughout the skillet I like to add the chopped mushrooms so they can begin to soften up. After the turkey is cooked through, turn the skillet onto a low heat and cover everything with the store purchased sauce.
(Please note the nutrition facts on the can before purchasing. I have found that some sauces are so high in sugar and fat content the sauce itself can ruin an attempt at a lowfat meal).

Now onto the trickery. Instead of boiling pasta, I add either the zucchini or the spaghetti squash.
If using zucchini:
Take a vegetable peeler and peel off the entirety of the green skin and dispose of it in the trash disposal. After the flesh is exposed, begin peeling long strips of the flesh and save them in a bowl or a plate to the side.
Peel until you've obtained about two cups of zucchini (for one person, if serving for two use 2 cups of zucchini, and so on and so forth for additional people).
Set a medium pot of water on to boil, and once the water is boiling, add the zucchini into the boiling water for approximately 45 seconds. Do not leave the zucchini in the boiling water for too long, as it will turn mushy very quickly. Strain the zucchini like you would pasta, and allow to cool for several moments. Once your sauce is cooked to perfection, pour it over the zucchini and enjoy!

If using a spaghetti squash:
The reason I prefer a spaghetti squash is because I think the slight crunch of the spaghetti squash is reminiscent of a slightly al dente pasta, and I personally prefer the flavor of the spaghetti squash over the flavor of the zucchini.

The spaghetti squash can prove somewhat challenging as the squash is initially hard to penetrate with a knife. Use a large knife and work your way around the squash until you've succeeded in splitting the squash in half (oblong-wise).

With so many varieties of squash, this is what the Spaghetti Squash looks like

Once the squash is halved, take a spoon and scoop out the seeds and the stringy membrane around the seeds.

Drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil over each side of the squash, and add a pinch of salt to both sides.
Into an oven that's pre-heated to 375 degrees, cook the squash face down for about an hour (or until soft).

Once the squash is soft, remove it from the oven and allow it cool down enough so that you can handle it with your bare hands.
With a fork, simply grate the insides of the squash, which will naturally come out in a stringy spaghetti-like manner.
After you've obtained all the edible meat of the squash, divvy it up into bowls or small plates and cover it with the pasta sauce like you would spaghetti!

If you want to indulge a little bit, top with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and enjoy your guilt-free meal. The best part- your main course is your vegetable, so you don't even have to prepare a side veggie for this meal to be balanced!

Delray is Delicious

Since moving to Florida, we've been asked the same question over and over again by new acquaintances "Have you visited Delray yet?" We always answer with a frustrated "no, but everyone asks". Finally, we bit the bullet and decided to make plans with another couple to dine in Delray. After a 20 minute drive north of Ft. Lauderdale, we arrived in the quaint Atlantic Ave greeted by a 20 foot Christmas tree. The restaurants were packed, and hundreds of diners were eating outside on the patios and the sidewalks. We finally understood the hype-this place was adorable and everyone not in Miami seemed to be spending their Friday night here!

Our friends, who live in South Florida, suggested the restaurant and after sufficient yelping we were thoroughly excited about our reservation for 4 at Tramonti. Tramonti is a rather large Italian restaurant with a quaint feel. Upon arriving, we headed to the bar to meet our friends, and then we were quickly escorted through the restaurant to our table. The atmosphere of the restaurant is warm, with chatter from other tables creating a buzz throughout.

We indulged in an appetizer of fried calamari which arrived to our table quickly. The calamari was slightly greasy, but the pieces were thick and not too chewy. The red marinara sauce served with the calamari was garlic goodness, and I ended up dipping some of the extra bread in the sauce once the calamari was gone. After the appetizer we ordered a salad with pears, feta cheese, and various nuts. The salad was large enough for all four of us to have a decent portion. I'd even venture to say the salad was large enough to constitute an entire meal. The pear created a sweet flavor that paired nicely with the nuts, and the dressing was light enough to really shine the spotlight on the marriage of flavors between the pear and the nuts.

For my main course, I ordered one of the specials of the night- Baramundi served with a red sauce with mussels and clams. Since moving to Florida, I have been eating a lot of fish. I thought that Snapper and Grouper were my favorite varieties of white fish, but that was all before the Baramundi entered my life! This dish was uneblievably delicious. The portion was huge, and I usually never come close to finishing my entire dish. Unfortunately, I did not take photo evidence, but by the time this meal was over my plate was clean! The only thing remaining were the shells left from the mussels and clams. The fish was soft yet thick, giving it a heartier feel than snapper. The sauce was a thin red sauce, that would fail miserably if drizzled over a thick pasta, but it passed with flying colors as a compliment to the fish and the clams and mussels.

Carl's veal ravioli tasted homemade, and the wines we chose from Tramonti's large wine selection were a delicious addition to the meal. After our meal was over, Carl and I were already looking for excuses to return to Tramonti. The problem is, there are so many other restaurants dotting Del Ray that we would be hard pressed not to try another restaurant before returning to Tramonti. However, I give Tramonti two enthusiastic thumbs up, and we're looking forward to our next trip up to DelRay. 

Adjusting to a South Florida foodie lifestyle

After a long hiatus, I'm back! After our trip through Asia, Carl and I packed up and drove halfway across the country to our new home in South Florida. While the weather and the sunshine are absolutely fabulous, finding great food is sometimes a challenge. South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm, and all other small cities in the area) is an interesting makeup of residents. Flying into Miami International Airport is like flying into a different country. Spanish is one of the most prominent languages, with English seemingly taking a back seat. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, other Latin Americans, and Haitains have all taken up residence in Miami creating an interesting melting pot of languages, cultures, music, and of course food. Another group of people that flock to Miami and South Florida are retired northeasterners and seasonal northeasterners escaping the brutal winters of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and any other cold city along the northeastern seaboard. A large majority of these folks from the northeast are Jewish which makes South Florida the first place that I have ever lived where Jews are quite literally everywhere! With so many Jews present in South Florida, I finally get to embrace the Jewish delis that I've always loved! Bagels, pastrami sandwiches, whitefish salad, matzah ball soup and latkes are easy to find! Kosher restaurants and supermarkets are commonplace here, and seeing menorahs decorate public spaces during the holidays is almost as gratifying as spending the holiday season in Israel! Although, I've not yet found an abundance of sufganyot or ruggalach at any of the local bakeries, but then again I haven't looked that hard!

I've always found that in large cities that house significant Jewish populations also tend to be home to large Italian populations. South Florida seems to follow along that same equation. I've run into more Italians here than I ever encountered in Texas, and there is most definitely no shortage of Italian restaurants. As a matter of fact, Italian restaurants dot every shopping center and line nearly every street in my current home city of Ft. Lauderdale. This is wonderful for me, as I love everything about Italian food and Italian culture!

Unfortunately for me, I've found a severe lack in any decent ethnic foods down here in South Florida. Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food, and even decent sushi has been hard to come by. One of my biggest foodie pet peeves is the sudden need to fuse Thai food and sushi into one. Nearly every restaurant that claims to be a "Thai" restaurant also boasts a sushi menu. The last time I checked, Thailand and Japan were not the same country, nor were they even near one another. Yes, they're both in Asia, but then again Texas and Hawaii are both in the United States but you don't see too many Barbeque restaurants in Texas boasting an additional Hawaiian fusion fish menu. So why the need to incorporate sushi into every Thai menu? If your Thai or Vietnamese food isn't good on it's own, you should reconsider owning a restaurant instead of simply throwing in a trendy sushi menu to draw in a larger clientele. And if the consumer really needs to have sushi on the same menu as Thai food, there's always P F Changs and Pei Wei which offer consumers a full tour of Asia through their menus.

Another foodie roadbump I've encountered down here is the focus on trendiness over quality. Many of the "hip" restaurants in South Florida are so focused on the scene that their food is significantly lacking. There have already been several occasions where Carl and I have walked into a restaurant filled with gorgeous people and a gorgeous interior but the service and the food simply didn't compare to the final cost on the bill. If we're paying over $25 per person, the ingredients shouldn't only speak for themselves, but the service should be impeccable. Yes, a restaurant's interior has a certain allure to consumers, but at the end of the day we are going to a restaurant for a culinary experience. As a restauranteur, shouldn't the ultimate goal be to satisfying your patrons with a delicious meal and fabulous service? If that's lacking, no patron ever wants to return for a second time to experience mediocre food. Seeing the trendy interior once is enough! Luckily for me, I love good food enough that I'm willing to search high and low for it! I know that after enough botched Pad Thai and fish and chicken curry dishes that I'll eventually find that one Thai restaurant that will be my go-to. We've sampled enough Vietnamese Pho to know which restaurants to avoid at all costs, and which restaurants offer a decent bowl of steaming soup. As a die hard Texan, I've already sampled several steak houses in an attempt to find one that can come close to any given steak house in Texas! I'm willing to keep seeking out the most remote areas to find the most delicious food!

On the bright side, I know I will grow to be spoiled by is the abundance of fresh delicious fish options. I have eaten more Grouper and Snapper since moving to Florida than I have in my entire life. If all else fails in my foodie experimentation in Florida, I know that I'll always be able to walk into any given restaurant and walk out a happy eater after a delicious fresh fish meal!