snickerus's Profile
West Indian (Trini) Food in Seattle?
thank you to everyone for the rec! we are leaving tomorrow for 2 days in seattle and will definitely hit up pam's!
does anyone have a good tomato soup recipe?
sorry that didn't go so well joan. make the elephant's soup next time! tastier (IMHO) and for sure less fatty.
does anyone have a good tomato soup recipe?
hi joan,
i haven't but i wouldn't. i've bought it cold before at the restaurant and it wasn't as good reheated, so i don't think freezing would do it any favors.
that said, the elephant's soup freezes just fine if you do everything up to the cream first. really, i know tomato/orange sounds like a weird combination but it's awesome. when you're ready to eat, you could add the cream then. easy. i'm just sayin'....
West Indian (Trini) Food in Seattle?
thanks guys. i think kallaloo is more caribbean and less trini. is there a menu anywhere for pam's? their website appears to be down...and there's notice there of a june closing for a few days. they didn't close and never reopen, did they?
West Indian (Trini) Food in Seattle?
I've given up on finding this where we are (Portland), but will be taking a long weekend to visit Seattle for the first time in a few weeks. Can anyone recommend someplace authentic (not a place with Cuban food or jambalaya or mystery curry on the menu)? I'm particularly looking for some good chana n' aloo roti and doubles... Thanks!
Just moved to Portland
ALSO - where can we find some welsh rabbit? I tried poking around online but there's a band called welsh rabbit screwing with my google-fu.
near NW 23rd or downtown would be great...
Just moved to Portland
i had checked out toro bravo's menu online and didn't see many vegetarian options....have they changed their menu and just not updated online?
Just moved to Portland
We moved to Portland from Florida 3 weeks ago, and so far, we're in love with Piazza Italia, Le Happy, Vegetarian House (chinese). Swagat (in NW) was good, better than anything we found in FL for sure but everything was a little salty. I like Laughing Planet's veggie chili, and their chips are nice and fresh, but it's all a little crunchy granola hippie....vegetarian food doesn't necessarily have to have TVP :-P The Old Pharmacy Cafe has good bagels (I'm a native New Yorker) but no salt ones and no scallion cream cheese. Mother's Bistro's brunch was great, and I have to respect a place that Fed Exes H&H bagels, but again, no salt bagels (so we passed and got challah french toast and the special whipped cream cheese and salmon scramble, yum).
So, PDXers, we'd like this coming month to be one great meal after another. Tell me the top 5 restaurants that would be a shonda to miss. In particular, I'd love to know where to find:
- Some really great Indian food (that's not too heavily salted like Swagat)
- A NY-style (boiled) salt bagel with scallion cream cheese
- Exciting raw cuisine (as in, raw vegan)
- The best tomato soup in town
- Best Thai food in town
- A restaurant that's open late and has an interesting, varied menu (near us in FL, there was a place with gorgonzola tortelloni, a spring roll & herb plate, and watermelon gazpacho...)
- Some good pizza!!! (we went to Escape from New York Pizza on 23rd and I didn't like it....too much gummy cheese. Felt like I was chewing mozzarella-flavored BubbleYum. I miss Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. And Ray's everywhere in Manhattan.)
- Best Japanese
- Any other not-to-be-missed foodgasm-inducing places
I'm a partial pescetarian (I sounded so less pretentious before I started eating some fish again - basically I'm vegetarian but will eat raw tuna or cooked salmon), like spicy food, love cheese. The fiance has similar tastes but isn't vegetarian - kielbasa and kobe beef are on his tops (he doesn't eat meat often but when he does it's got to be good...). We both hate shellfish. Like surprising/unusual combinations of foods (the ones that work) and also classic dishes done exceptionally well (duh...well, you try explaining your taste in food!) Basically we are open to most things as long as there are some vegetarian options on the menu.
Enlighten us and thanks in advance!
Veggie Magic - Raw Food in Sarasota
I've been to Veggie Magic now 5 times and been more than pleasantly surprised each time. They're not doing a whole lot of business right now, I think due to (well, mainly the fact that it's a raw vegan restaurant, but also) their location. They're in a strip mall, and very easy to miss. But anyone who has any interest in a) raw food, b) vegan or vegetarian food, or c) something totally different than anything you've tried before, check it out. We've now tried almost everything on the menu, and it's all been excellent. I mean, yes, I'm a vegetarian, and yes, I like raw cuisine, but my boyfriend is a confirmed meat-eater and I'm incredibly picky, and we both love it.
The tomato sauce on the pizza and spaghetti is better than any I've ever had that was cooked, and the desserts are outstanding. We have the apple pie every time we go, I don't know how they manage to make a crust that's got that oily mushiness, but the flavor reminds distinctly of a pecan pie crust...I'm LOVING the waldorf salad, as well as everything they serve their creamy garlic sauce with. We had a strawberry cheesecake that had quite possibly the best strawberry mousse I've ever tasted, and the lemonade has got lemon zest and ginger for zing, the banana/chocolate smoothie is to die for. Both of us make the "foodgasm" moan at least once per visit, and you can't feel guilty about pigging out.
It's also totally reasonably priced, cheaper even than your typical Thai dinner out - appetizers, small drinks and desserts run about $5, and entrees and large drinks $8-9. This means that the second time we went, we both ate full meals (appetizers, entrees, drinks and dessert), and got a 3 course meal and a smoothie to go - all for $65.
Check it out http://www.veggiemagic.com/
(I'm not affiliated with them at all, I just don't want them to close!)
Your stir fry recipes
agreed about american chinese food being too sweet, for many dishes in many restaurants anyway. seems like most american food is too *something* (salty, fatty, sweet...). we are apparently a people of extremes.
romansperson, i like to add a little (very small amount...i don't measure but i would say about the size of the top part of your finger or half that - maybe a 1/8th-1/2 tspn of honey or agave nectar), and i use it mostly when i am using vinegar. the thing to do is just start out by trying to balance everything, so that you have an equal amount of each type of flavor (salty, sour, sweet, spicy) taste-wise (not ingredient-amount-wise) so that it's a broad complex flavor rather than one jumping out at you - then increase whatever you like the most (or decrease the others). if you don't add ANY sweetener you may (or may not, i suppose....) find that it is too something else - salty or sour etc. balancing the flavors also helps you taste them instead of their characteristic - if you were to just add soy sauce you'd probably taste mostly salt whereas if you balance it with other flavors you can taste the soy-ey flavor more.
my first stirfries were figuring out how to balance things, then i made it made them more garlicky and spicier (or just added more hot sauce at the end) because those are two of the things i like best and as dominant flavors.
sorry for my abysmal grammar and abuse of punctuation tonight, folks. i'm online now because i've got that nasty flu and can't sleep.
What do you like to make in your pressure cooker?
felafelboy, i'm just starting to do some indian cooking at home, but i'm put off by a lot of the waiting for things to cook. do you know any good PC cookbooks specifically for indian food? i know i want to try making daal in one, but i can't imagine making a whole "multi-layered" dish. thanks
Please help me to like salmon
interesting - must just be a person to person thing...the only fish i like is salmon and tuna, but i can't eat tuna cooked (seared is ok) or salmon raw, i feel they're both too fishy that way, and i hate the texture of both. guess you just gotta try and see what you like.
The best Indian Recipes!
madhur jaffrey has a number of wonderful cookbooks. there's one with 30 minute meals (although most take a little longer than that). this website has some good recipes, and they are illustrated with photos for each step as well http://www.route79.com/food/
Your stir fry recipes
honestly, the best thing i've found is to just take every single thing in your cabinet that is typically used in asian cooking and mix it together into a sauce you add toward the end of the stir fry. in my cabinets this consists of: soy sauce/braggs, dried lemongrass,powdered ginger, a little honey or other sweetener, toasted sesame oil, maybe some ponzu sauce or hoisin sauce, a dash of mirin and a drizzle of sriracha at the end along with some thin sliced scallions....i'm sure i'm forgetting something but you get the idea. start the stir fry with minced garlic, fresh ginger, onions and fry before adding your other veg. if you want a thicker sauce, push the food you've been stirfrying off to the side in the wok, then add the sauce along with a little cornstarch and whisk together before mixing it up with the rest of the ingredients. a heaping spoonful of peanut butter is also nice instead of the cornstarch for something different and as a thickener, just make sure you have enough of the other ingredients to thin it out. it's different every time but always delish. i like to fry the veggies in peanut oil.
as for the actual food....with this type of stir fry, you could really do most veg and any type of protein. my basics are broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, snow peas and red peppers (along with the onion and scallions and garlic...but those are seasonings really), sometimes carrots or spinach or kale or bok choy or chinese broccoli.... i'm a vegetarian and i don't eat soy but i used to do it with fried squares of tofu. but like i said, something like this, you could do anything, i'm sure it would be great with chicken or beef or whatever (maybe not fish, but probably fine with shrimp...i don't know...). the only thing i wouldn't put in it would be starchy veg (potatoes etc) or tomatoes, although potatoes are good in the peanut version (reminiscent of mussaman curry).
edit for stir fry trick: obviously add your veg in the order they need to be cooked (broccoli cooks much longer than peppers) but if you find they're still too crunchy for your liking (like if your broccoli still isn't a bright green but your onions are browning too much), before you add the sauce, add a tablespoon or two of water to the pot, cover for a minute, then take the cover off and let any remaining water steam off before doing your sauce. the veg will steam in the pot.
share your best welsh rabbit/rarebit recipe please!
i used to love the one at teany in nyc but not only am i not living there anymore, they've taken it off the menu. it was pasty rather than melty, spicy and spice-y. served on toast with more melted cheese and cocktail onions (not classic, but tasty nonetheless). i don't think they used a dark beer, but i can't be sure. definitely looking for a more pasty version rather than a gloopy saucy one (although nothing wrong with that), and theirs wasn't oily either. thanks!
Please help me to like salmon
i went most my adult life (minus the last 2 years) without eating seafood of any kind. i cannot stand fishyness, but one of the types of fish i do eat now is salmon. i've never found it to be "fishy", but i only ever eat wild salmon. maybe that's the problem - are you eating farmed or frozen salmon? try getting fresh wild salmon, you might like it better. i like it slathered in indian coriander/mint chutney then broiled and finished with a squirt of lemon.
What do you do with your Fresh Strawberries ?
let us know how you like the salad!
another suggestion is a favorite dessert of mine -
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 part brown sugar
(about a cup of each for a few servings)
whisk together and reduce to 1/2 on low heat. once reduced, throw in half your sliced strawberries and cook for a few more minutes. serve warm over vanilla ice cream with the other half (uncooked) sliced strawberries.
What do you do with your Fresh Strawberries ?
i posted this recently in a salad thread, it's really delicious. i found champagne vinegar at my local whole foods.
mix some bagged mixed greens, sliced strawberries, fresh grated parm or other good hard cheese, pine nuts, minced shallots & couple pinches fleur de sel (or sea salt or kosher salt if you don't have FdS) together
toss with some olive oil
retoss with some champagne vinegar
the champagne vinegar is lovely with the strawberries. depending on how sweet the strawberries are you can also reduce the vinegar a little (sweeter=reduced, nice contrast). i think my lazy trick for vinaigrettes is to toss everything with the oil before tossing with the vinegar, it keeps the vinegar from seeping into the greens and making them bitter. also you don't have to dirty another dish mixing it up (never understood that).
Lasagna Recipe = Baked Ziti? Can it be done?
yeah, i use no boil noodles actually....still a good 40 minutes at covered baking time and an additional 10-15 uncovered....plus the 15 or so for assembly. i have actually used regular noodles before without boiling them, you just need to use enough sauce. thanks for the tips all!
Lasagna Recipe = Baked Ziti? Can it be done?
thanks andy - do you cook the ziti all the way before combining? the recipes i looked at all said to cook "according to package instructions" if so, doesn't it get super overcooked?
Lasagna Recipe = Baked Ziti? Can it be done?
so i was mostly denied good ol' american food while growing up. kraft singles never found their way into our house, nor did hotdogs or vegetables with butter on them (yes, really - not even potatoes). the one exception to this rule was my mom's lasagne, made with - *gasp* - prego. and i love it. (i also loved vegetables with butter when i got around to trying them, but i have never warmed up to cheese singles...)
anyway, it's a vegetarian recipe (i might post later) that everyone raves about, consisting of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesean, an egg and finely chopped spinach and prego (ok, so that's the recipe). with the exception of this lasagna, we also never made casseroles, and i've had no interest in making one til now. but lasagna takes an hour to cook and a good 15 minutes to assemble once everything is chopped and mixed together, so i was wondering if it's possible to use the same filling for baked ziti? will it turn out all wrong? uncooked tasting (do you NEED the hour for the egg)? or the wrong ratio of pasta to filling? what's a good ratio? do you need more sauce, less or the same amount?
i don't want big bites of dry pasta and big glops of cheese, should i stir it all together first? most of the recipes i've looked at online don't say to stir, and do you mix in the sauce with the cheese? or layer? sorry if these are dumb questions but other than the lasagna i've never made (or eaten) a casserole and am woefully uneducated in casseroley ways.
Your laziest salad
i almost always used bagged lettuce, i detest prep....
one very lazy:
throw some grape tomatoes in a bowl of bagged mixed greens
toss with some olive oil
sprinkle a little balsamic vinegar, fleur de sel and grind in some pepper, grate some cheese in
toss again
one not so lazy but not hard either:
mix some bagged mixed greens, sliced strawberries, fresh grated parm or other good hard cheese, pine nuts, minced shallots fleur de sel together
toss with some olive oil
retoss with some champagne vinegar
the champagne vinegar is lovely with the strawberries. depending on how sweet the strawberries are you can also reduce the vinegar a little (sweeter=reduced, nice contrast). i think my lazy trick for vinaigrettes is to toss everything with the oil before tossing with the vinegar, it keeps the vinegar from seeping into the greens and making them bitter. also you don't have to dirty another dish mixing it up (never understood that).
lotsa stuff but bottled dressing:
bagged, sliced up romaine lettuce
sliced tomatoes
alfalfa sprouts
avocado
julienned carrots
sliced red onion
annie's goddess dressing
i think i'll have a gigantic salad for dinner tonight. mmm.
So, what did you make this weekend?
it's thursday so a little late to post about last weekend but on saturday i'll be making anjum anand's Coconut French Toast with Mango, Saffron Yogurt and Jaggery Walnuts ...looks yummy, i can't wait!
Need Vegetarian Mexican Ideas!
stuffed peppers with rice, beans, topped with cheese....a nice side dish is mango, cabbage, jicama and jalapenos with pomegranate seeds and papaya dressing - mexican coleslaw, if you will. how about cheese quesadillas? also good with some hot peppers, tomatoes. try making them dry grilled or under the broiler with goat cheese or chihuahua cheese, hot peppers and mushrooms for something more interesting, they're reallly nice a little blackened.
Need a Great Channa Daal Recipe
thanks luckyfatima
what kind of texture do you usually get with this water:lentils ratio? and do you think you really need a whole 1/4C of oil? i'm not finding a lot for consistency about this but most recipes say about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of ghee, does using oil instead of ghee require more? i would really like it to be as ungreasy as possible. and about how long do you cook the lentils for before you add the tomato? of course once i try to make it i'm sure i'll have a better idea of what to do next time but i'd like for the first attempt to come out well because i've got this really specific craving...
is there a way to get all these flavors in without doing the tarka? i am assuming you can't just cook everything all together but thought i'd ask anyway.
I need a foolproof Salmon recipe
broiling fish is quicker (salmon at least - it's the only fish i eat cooked and know how to cook) - you can do just 3-5 mins per side a few inches from the heating source and it should be done nicely.
Vietnamese cuisine & sugar?
just fyi, you could also use agave nectar, which is very low on the glycemic index, or stevia, which is a 0 on the GI for sweeteners.
I need a foolproof Salmon recipe
the easiest way i've ever had this is also the most delicious. my dad used to make it when i was younger.
recipe:
at your local indian restaurant, purchase green (mint/coriander) chutney
spread some on salmon
broil
squeeze a little lemon on top
eat
alternatively, you can make the chutney :) it's pretty easy, there's a basic recipe here: http://indianfood.about.com/od/picklesandpreserves/r/mintchutney.htm
but i would add a dollop of plain yogurt to it. it should be a little creamy and thick enough to make a real topping on the fish, you don't want just a runny sauce on top.
this dish is delish...i had a fish hiatus for 12 years - when i no longer wanted this dish at age 13 i knew i wasn't eating seafood anymore. now that i'm back to eating some seafood, i'm ecstatic to be able to have this again!
another idea would be to mix soy sauce, a little mirin or rice wine vinegar, sugar/honey, garlic, ginger, lime, lemongrass, cilantro etc (anything that sounds good with those) together, make a "bowl" out of some foil, pour the marinade in over the fish and fold it up and broil or stick on the grill. very very good, but the above is still my favorite.
does anyone have a good tomato soup recipe?
google sarabeth's tomato soup recipe - this is foodgasmic. i always made a trip to sarabeth's when in NYC and always made sure to bring out of towners there - just for that soup. it was one of the things i missed most about NYC (yes, seriously), until i found the recipe! (i love you, good housekeeping)
just make sure you really mince up the onions/shallot nice and teeny and cook them until they're very very soft, much longer than the recipe says so keep the heat pretty low, you don't want any onion crunch at all. also, you can just smush up the canned tomatoes with your hands, no need to chop. i prefer to tear, rather than chop, the dill as well.
try it, it's been on the menu for at least as long as i've been going there (23 years), and the recipe hasn't changed at all. there's a reason for that - it's perfect.
