Slow Cooked

Home unCooking: Tuna and White Bean Salad with Chili-Mint Vinaigrette

After a series of misses in the kitchen (bland arroz con pollo, gummy buckwheat soba noodle salad, disappointing pad thai) I am so happy to finally have landed on a meal that actually made me want seconds, and I don't even feel like I'm bragging when I tell you how good this was, for two key reasons.  One, it wasn't cooking so much as "chopping and assembling" and two, I was really just copying a dish I had at Po, in an attempt to replicate their cured tuna appetizer.

It's been a while since I had Po's version, but my attempt hit on all the notes I remember from Po: it was fresh, tangy, crunchy and meaty, and most of all, it was uncomplicated.  I served my cured tuna salad with toasted bread, courtesy of the nice folks at Zaro's Bakery -- I attended a tasting at the foodie-mall-fantasy market at Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday night, and while chatting with other food bloggers suddenly found a giant sack of bread being thrust into my hands.  I never turn down a carb, and the 8-Grain Bread toasted up nicely, two days later.  This was a good dinner and as I am - despite any indications I've given otherwise - a lazy and impatient cook, the fact that the only time I ventured near the stove was to toast my pine nuts, and then the bread, it was a perfect weeknight meal.

Tuna and White Bean Salad, with Chili-Mint Vinaigrette

• 1 can butter or cannellini beans (14 oz)
• 1 large can Italian tuna, in oil (200 g - sorry, am bad at conversions)
• 1 small head frisee lettuce
• 1 small-medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 handful pine nuts, toasted
• juice of one lemon

(for the vinaigrette)

• 1 bunch mint, minced (about 1/4 cup when chopped)
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 2-3 glugs chili oil
• 2-3 glugs olive oil
• apprx 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• salt, pepper to taste

Coarsely chop half the head of frisee.  Add tuna, white beans, sliced onions, toasted pine nuts (toast in skillet about 4 minutes, until brown and fragrant) and toss with juice of one lemon.  Prepare the dressing: mince the mint leaves and shallot, add chili oil, olive oil,vinegar, chili powder and salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk, and then add to the tuna and white bean salad.  Toss gently and serve over toasted rustic bread.

Hall of Fame: AOC Bedford

I've mentioned AOC Bedford frequently enough (either on this site or to whomever will listen) that it seems criminal not to have told you all about it in detail.  After dinner on Saturday night, I remembered just how much I love this tiny spot, and how fond I am of Bedford Street in general, especially on a night mild enough to warrant leaving all the windows open, which the restaurant did, spilling itself out onto the street just a little bit.

"A.O.C." is used in France to designate products that have been officially deemed representative of a certain region (sort of like a cru in the wine world); in Spain the designation is D.O. and in Italy it's D.O.C., and basically all that means is that if you see a particular cheese or oil or truffle or whathaveyou prefaced with those initials, it's going to be good.  And AOC Bedford has designed their menu around such ingredients.

The menu is straightforward -- it's arranged by the main ingredient, and there is one of everything, meaning there will be a Pasta, a Beef, a Lamb, a Fish, etc.  The preparations tend towards the rustic and the simple, and have French, Spanish and Italian influences.  The wine list is concise; one of my favorite things about AOC Bedford is actually their cocktail menu, which features what they call "classic" cocktails - my favorite is the grapefruit martini, but people I've eaten with at AOC speak highly of the Old Fashioned.  The room is small, with exposed brick and beams, cozy, quaint, blah blah blah charming and romantic and comfortable, all the things I like in a restaurant. 

One of my all-time favorite appetizers happens to be a signature dish at AOC -- the octopus carpaccio.  It is divine.  I crave it.  I cannot speak highly enough about it.  And, it's beautiful.  It comes served on a wide plate, thin cross sections of octopus somehow held together in a large pancake which has been drizzled with the best olive oil I've ever tasted and sprinkled with red pepper and fleur de sel, with toasted bread alongside.  Every time I eat at AOC Bedford I have this dish, and Saturday was no exception and I am telling you, if you go: GET THE OCTOPUS.  It looks like stained glass when it's served, and I adore it.

I ordered the fish as my entree - the fish dish is almost always a market special; last weekend it was grilled grouper served in a creamy red curry (maybe?) sauce with teeny, delicious asparagus on top. Kevin ordered what is usually my go-to entree at AOC, the duck breast, seared to a crisp and served with vanilla infused mashed potatoes and a wine-poached pair.   It is every bit as rich as that sounds...

Our entrees were delicious, as I knew they would be, and the Pinot Gris we drank with our meal was acidic enough to stand up to my cream sauce and Kevin's duck.  We ordered the Crepes Suzette for dessert, because if you go to AOC Bedford, you have to order the Crepes Suzette, for the presentation if nothing else; the table side preparation adds a nice bit of drama.  (There isn't much of a dessert menu, and I don't believe there is actually a pastry chef, but the creme brulee and crepes are lovely.)

I find everything about AOC Bedford to be perfect; the service is warm but neither fussy nor intrusive, the crowd is usually a nice mix, the food is excellent and the room always, always, always feels welcoming. 

One touch that never gets old: the bill is presented with a candle in a pewter candlestick, the edges of the paper burned for a nice aesthetic touch.  And!  AOC Bedford offers BYOB Mondays during the summer!

It's one of my favorite spots in the city, one I never get tired of.  AOC Bedford (212 414 4764) is located at 14 Bedford Street, and offers a 10% discount to diners who pay cash.

The Go To List

I've been in a food rut lately.  I haven't been been eating out much, but I also haven't been cooking anything spectacular (or even interesting), so I'm not exactly sure what I've been eating, I just know it's been nothing to write home - or the internet - about.  What I have been doing, however, is running down the list of all the places I want to be eating, be they old favorites or been-meaning-to-try-it spots.  And in doing so, I realized that one of the most valuable things one can have (especially if one lives with someone else and frequently finds oneself debating the "I dunno, where do you want to eat" issue) is a Go To list. 

The Go To list can end many arguments and come in handy on many a low-blood-sugar occasion.  It can be amended as needed but the beauty of a go-to list is that consistent core of foodie options that you know, no matter what the day, weather, time, or mood, will satisfy you.  And so, I present to you, my Go To List:

Go To Pizza Delivery   
Layla Jones, but more specifically the Grilled Pizza with Ricotta, Mushrooms and Spinach

Go To Neighborhood Sushi
Cube 63

Go To Non-Neighborhood Sushi
Blue Ribbon

Go To Pub Food
Pete's Waterfront Ale House

Go To Spot for Drinks During the Week, Brooklyn
Total Wine Bar

Go To Spot for Drinks or Lunch or Brunch or Whatever, Including Meeting People You Don't Know that Well or Even Going Alone
'ino (this goes in my All Time Hall of Fame as THE Go-To Spot, I think.  I adore 'ino.  If I lived closer, I would eat there at least three times a week, I'm sure.)

Go To Spot for a Lovely Lunch when Desperately in Need of a Break from Shopping and/or Crowds
Savoy

Go To Spot for a Greasy Burger
Fanelli Cafe

Go To Spot for Dinner During the Week
Lunetta

Go To Spot for Basically Anytime I Can't  Think of What I Want
Bocca Lupo

Go To for Real Pizza
Otto

Go To Gut-and-Wallet Busting Dinner
Babbo (see the pattern??)

Go To for Dessert
The Chocolate Room

Go To End-of-a-Hard Week And I Need  a Margarita Place
Alma

Go To Breakfast Foods
Margaret Palca Bakes for cranberry walnut muffins

Go To for Good Bread and Prepared Things When I Don't Want to Cook
Cobblestone Foods

Go To for  Sunday Afternoon Treats
Almondine

Go To for Quiet, Cozy, Romantic, Comfortable, Just-About-Anything Dinners
AOC Bedford (which is across the street from 'ino and not far from Blue Ribbon, making Bedford Street one of my favorite stretches in all of New York)

I'm missing things, I'm sure.  I don't have a go-to Chinese restaurant because I don't love Chinese food, and I don't have a go-to Mexican restaurant because I haven't found one yet.  My wandering-around-hungry go-to spot is often the nearest Amy's Bread location, where I will often scarf the sourdough chocolate twists, but I still feel as if I'm missing some of my obvious regular spots.  We'll leave this open-ended for now...but what are some of yours?

A Very Festive Weekend

The typical New York street fair has a lot of the following:  lemonade, sausage and peppers, tube socks, incense, mozzarepas, cheap jewelry, grilled corn.  I'm not a huge fan of the typical New York street fair.  I am, however, a huge fan of the Atlantic Antic, which for 33 years has filled Atlantic Avenue with food, music, shopping, beer, more food, more music, more shopping, some of the usual street fair crap, and basically everyone in Brooklyn.  I'm also a fan of oysters, any way I can get them, which is why this past weekend represented a convergence of all my street fair wishes, perhaps as a reward for having suffered through many other crowded festivals (usually accidentally), when trying to get from point A to point B.  However the street fair stars managed to align, I'm happy they did.

On Saturday Kevin and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and headed south, not our usual course; we walked through the financial district down to Stone Street, where an Oyster and Guinness festival was underway, in honor of the blue point harvest on Long Island.  Freshly-shucked oysters were available by the half-dozen (I had at least two dozen.  At least) and Riesling, Champagne and Guinness were all available as well - the main booths at the festival were operating on a 'ticket' basis; attendees could buy drink or oyster tickets for $6 apiece, but towards the far end of Stone Street, a variety of fried goodies and bottled beers were also being sold, for cash.  The bar Ulysses sponsored the event, so loud Irish music (with a background din of college football from inside the bar) dominated, and the somewhat preppy crowd seemed perfectly content with their beers and their canned U2 blaring.  It was strange being down in the financial district -- I used to work on Water Street, a million years ago, but haven't spent much time south of Fulton in years, and Pearl Street had an almost sound stage quality to it, like we were all on the set of some quaint New York-based movie.  With lots and lots of oysters.  Yum.

I originally thought of the oyster festival as just a precursor to the main event, but this year's Antic wasn't nearly as gluttonous as 2006.  We tried a brat from Espositos and a fantastic pulled pork sandwich on baguette from Jolie, Kevin had some grilled corn, and we both had lots of Six Point beers, but there were no ribs, no crepes, no chorizo, no jambalaya for us this year.  (All those things were available, to be clear...we just didn't eat them.)  I briefly contemplated getting more oysters from Jolie, but decided that perhaps my stomach had been raw-bar'ed enough for one weekend. 

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to try either the barbecue sandwiches at the Waterfront Ale House or the sardines at La Mancha, but I still got my fill, and still staunchly believe that the Atlantic Antic is the best street fair in the city.  It's all local vendors, there is fantastic food, and it's never (ever!) rained on Antic Sunday.  Along the mile-plus stretch, you will still be able to find a lot of the street fair staples (plenty of incense, those African baskets, mozzarepas) but there is so much personality that it's above and beyond most festivals. 

Frankly, I'm proud to say that three of my meals this weekend came from the streets of New York.  Not something I often brag about...