I've mentioned before that when I first moved to the Denver area, one of my first orders of business was to find an Indian restaurant that had a Malai Kofta that I loved as much as the one I regularly had in Kalamazoo. I occassionally get a severe craving for it, and it's important to me to have a place I can count on when that happens. After sampling the food at several restaurants, I finally found Bombay Clay Oven in the Cherry Creek area. Their Malai Kofta is exactly how I like it, and as a bonus, several of their other dishes are just the way I like them, also. I can be picky about food, and especially certain foods, like Indian cuisine. Once I found Bombay Clay Oven, I stopped going anywhere else. Until yesterday.
Dan and I had an Indian feast all day yesterday. It started when a local Indian restaurant, Little India, left a delivery menu on our doorstep last week. Since then we've been looking at it and wanting to give it a shot. They have a daily lunch buffet and so we figured what the heck, that might be a way for us to try out multiple different dishes.
We went yesterday, and we were glad we did. First of all, I was thrilled because out of the 15 or so offerngs in the buffet, only two weren't vegetarian. The Little India buffet had a selection of fresh veggies and fruit, vegetable pakoras, sauces and chutneys as starters, as well as dal soup (which is a lentil soup). For entrees, there was channa masala (masala chickpeas), saag paneer (spinach with cheese), pakora curry, and others. There were also a few desserts. I liked everything I had. Dan had the two meat dishes - tandoori chicken and chicken curry - and liked both of them. My favorite thing on the buffet was the veggie pakoras, with the channa masala as a close second. They also served a basket of fresh naan to everyone getting the buffet. Bonus!
We were happy enough with the lunch buffet that we decided to order some things for dinner. I of course had to try the mala kofta, but we also got papadum, veggie momo with onion chutney, aloo naan (potato-stuffed naan), paneer makhni, and navratan korma, which is a veggie korma. Everything was good, but a few things were best. The aloo naan was just perfect. I even liked it slightly better than Bombay Clay Oven's naan. The papadum was very similar, even down to the dipping sauces, but I have to give the edge to BCO on that one, just barely. The malai kofta was good at Little India, but I prefer BCO's for sure. I'm just so picky. The veggie momo was perhaps my favorite of our ordered items. So good! Especially with the onion chutney. The other dishes were also good. Dan preferred the korma and I liked the paneer.
All in all, I liked Little India very much. I can see why they have received Best Indian Food and Best Buffet from a slew of various places - 5280, Best of Denver, etc. - repeatedly for many years now. However, no matter how good the food is generally, I still have to go to the place where the malai kofta is exactly how I like it, so I'll probably stay with BCO for that. But, I'm sure Dan and I will be eating at the Little India buffet again. There are four locations of Little India in the Denver area, so I highly recommend giving them a try if you live near Denver.
Happy eating!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Lasagna Bechamel Experiment
Today I went into the kitchen and had no idea what I was going to make for dinner. I had gorgonzola cheese left over, and a few mushrooms, and hey, those go together great, I thought. Maybe a cheesy base of some kind with a mushroom sauce on top? But what to put it on? I went to the pantry, where I found a variety of half-empty boxes of pasta. One was lasagna noodles. Hey, thought I, I could make a lasagna out of that. So I got to work.
I usually make lasagna with tons of cheese and a simple tomato sauce. Sometimes I add veggies. But I have never made lasagna bechamel before. Bechamel, as you all know, is a basic white sauce made from butter, flour, and milk (or cream). In the northern parts of Italy, lasagna made with bechamel is common, unlike the central areas of the country, where tomato sauce is more prevalant (as I've learned by looking it up on the interwebs just now). Apparently, there are other areas where lasagna is frequently made with pesto instead. The variety is, apparently, endless.
So anyhooo, I got to work on all my sauces as my lasagna noodles cooked. I made a mushroom ragu with finely minced carrots, celery, green pepper, and garlic, plenty of olive oil, some dried herbs, and of course the mushrooms, sliced. I also add some smooshed tomatoes. I made a gorgonzola sauce similar to a bechamel with milk, flour, and olive oil, beaten egg, and a few miscellaneous things. Then I made a classic bechamel also.
I layered the lasagna with pasta, bechamel, pasta, gorgonzola sauce, pasta, bechamel, pasta, mushroom ragu, pasta, gorgonzola, pasta, and topped the whole thing with more bechamel, and into the oven it went. I had a small pan of it, so I cooked it at a medium-high temp (about 400) for about 25 minutes; if making a full lasagna pan, I would bake it at a lower temp for longer. When it looked done (meaning the edges were golden brown and bubbly), I pulled it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then we dug in!
And, happily, it was delicious! I guess you can't go wrong with cheese, mushrooms, and white sauce. The egg in the cheese sauce helped thicken it and give it structure, and the bechamel was creamy in the center and nice and golden brown on the edges. The mushroom layer was garlicky and delicious. I was worried that the gorgonzola would be too strong and overpower everything else, but actually it was extremely subtle and subdued. I could have added a lot more, actually.
I am thrilled with the way my lasagna experiement turned out. My parents are coming to visit next month, and I think I might make this, or a version of it, when they are here. I'll definitely have to add it to my repertoire. So, take it from me, lasagna bechamel needn't be intimidating - it's actually just as easy as regular lasagna, and certainly just as delicious!
Happy eating!
I usually make lasagna with tons of cheese and a simple tomato sauce. Sometimes I add veggies. But I have never made lasagna bechamel before. Bechamel, as you all know, is a basic white sauce made from butter, flour, and milk (or cream). In the northern parts of Italy, lasagna made with bechamel is common, unlike the central areas of the country, where tomato sauce is more prevalant (as I've learned by looking it up on the interwebs just now). Apparently, there are other areas where lasagna is frequently made with pesto instead. The variety is, apparently, endless.
So anyhooo, I got to work on all my sauces as my lasagna noodles cooked. I made a mushroom ragu with finely minced carrots, celery, green pepper, and garlic, plenty of olive oil, some dried herbs, and of course the mushrooms, sliced. I also add some smooshed tomatoes. I made a gorgonzola sauce similar to a bechamel with milk, flour, and olive oil, beaten egg, and a few miscellaneous things. Then I made a classic bechamel also.
I layered the lasagna with pasta, bechamel, pasta, gorgonzola sauce, pasta, bechamel, pasta, mushroom ragu, pasta, gorgonzola, pasta, and topped the whole thing with more bechamel, and into the oven it went. I had a small pan of it, so I cooked it at a medium-high temp (about 400) for about 25 minutes; if making a full lasagna pan, I would bake it at a lower temp for longer. When it looked done (meaning the edges were golden brown and bubbly), I pulled it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then we dug in!
And, happily, it was delicious! I guess you can't go wrong with cheese, mushrooms, and white sauce. The egg in the cheese sauce helped thicken it and give it structure, and the bechamel was creamy in the center and nice and golden brown on the edges. The mushroom layer was garlicky and delicious. I was worried that the gorgonzola would be too strong and overpower everything else, but actually it was extremely subtle and subdued. I could have added a lot more, actually.
I am thrilled with the way my lasagna experiement turned out. My parents are coming to visit next month, and I think I might make this, or a version of it, when they are here. I'll definitely have to add it to my repertoire. So, take it from me, lasagna bechamel needn't be intimidating - it's actually just as easy as regular lasagna, and certainly just as delicious!
Happy eating!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Ice Creamy
I love the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network. This evening I watched the episode entitled, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate... Ice Creamy." Lots of gut-busting sundaes and frozen concoctions on this episode, that's for sure!!
Perhaps it's the fact that I just visited my parents and grandmother, who have a history in the Ludington-Scottville area; or perhaps it's because I spent part of the week enjoying summer fun at a beautiful Lake Michigan beach... but I gotta call it: House of Flavors in Ludington, Michigan.
When I was a kid, we spent lots of time in Ludington. There is a beautiful State Park there. There are plenty of cute little cabin-rental resorts. And there is a great old mini golf course. We would enjoy all of that. But I still can't mention Ludington without talking about House of Flavors. House of Flavors is an old ice cream parlor in downtown Ludington (the 3 blocks which count as "downtown"). We didn't visit Ludington without going there. It had the cutest interior, very old-fashioned ice cream parlor-looking, bright white and primary colors. House of Flavors was the one place our family went where my sisters and I were allowed to choose something from the ice cream menu in lieu of an actual meal.
They have always had a thing at the House of Flavors called the Super Pig which is 7 scoops of ice cream plus a load of toppings, which comes in a trough. If you finish it you get a button. There are smaller versions, too. As fabulous as that is, that's not my favorite. The Best Thing I Ever Ate... Ice Creamy is: The Cherry Bon Bon sundae, at House of Flavors Ludington Michigan, BUT (and this is VERY important) with Black Cherry ice cream instead of the standard vanilla which normally comes on the Cherry Bon Bon sundae. Black Cherry ice cream is my favorite by a long shot. Seriously, a good black cherry ice cream is so good that I could almost call that as the best ice creamy thing I ever ate. But, add hot fudge, cherry sauce, and whipped cream, and really, it's the best possible ice cream combination I can think of. I honestly can't think of a sundae that could be better than that. And I'm not an ice cream person, at all.
So that's my vote. What is the best ice creamy thing you ever ate?
Perhaps it's the fact that I just visited my parents and grandmother, who have a history in the Ludington-Scottville area; or perhaps it's because I spent part of the week enjoying summer fun at a beautiful Lake Michigan beach... but I gotta call it: House of Flavors in Ludington, Michigan.
When I was a kid, we spent lots of time in Ludington. There is a beautiful State Park there. There are plenty of cute little cabin-rental resorts. And there is a great old mini golf course. We would enjoy all of that. But I still can't mention Ludington without talking about House of Flavors. House of Flavors is an old ice cream parlor in downtown Ludington (the 3 blocks which count as "downtown"). We didn't visit Ludington without going there. It had the cutest interior, very old-fashioned ice cream parlor-looking, bright white and primary colors. House of Flavors was the one place our family went where my sisters and I were allowed to choose something from the ice cream menu in lieu of an actual meal.
They have always had a thing at the House of Flavors called the Super Pig which is 7 scoops of ice cream plus a load of toppings, which comes in a trough. If you finish it you get a button. There are smaller versions, too. As fabulous as that is, that's not my favorite. The Best Thing I Ever Ate... Ice Creamy is: The Cherry Bon Bon sundae, at House of Flavors Ludington Michigan, BUT (and this is VERY important) with Black Cherry ice cream instead of the standard vanilla which normally comes on the Cherry Bon Bon sundae. Black Cherry ice cream is my favorite by a long shot. Seriously, a good black cherry ice cream is so good that I could almost call that as the best ice creamy thing I ever ate. But, add hot fudge, cherry sauce, and whipped cream, and really, it's the best possible ice cream combination I can think of. I honestly can't think of a sundae that could be better than that. And I'm not an ice cream person, at all.
So that's my vote. What is the best ice creamy thing you ever ate?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Picada
I learned of a new thing the other day that I just knew I needed to add to my repertoire. I was watching a show about Spanish food and a man made a paste in his mortar and pestle that looked and sounded delicious. They called it a picada. I asked Dan if he'd ever heard of a picada and he said yes, it's a name for a preparation of some meats - and I said, oh, no, that's picata, like 'veal picata.' I hadn't even realized that of course, it's pronounced the same.
This new 'picada' is not the name of a preparation, but a paste used in cooking. It was made with fresh garlic, almonds, stale bread, parsley, and a little of the cooking liquid from the dish he was making. The man went to town on it in the mortar and pestle until it was a beautiful, smooth paste. He also added some saffron.
I was so entranced by this thing that I looked it up right away. It turns out that the picada is an important part of Catalonian cuisine. It's always made with bread, nuts (usually almonds), and cooking liquid, and sometimes also with garlic, parsley, and saffron; sometimes it is made with other things, but that's the standard. It is usually used to thicken and/or season a dish, or sometimes as a a topping, such as on top of a casserole while the dish finishes, but isn't eaten raw - always used to cook with. At least, that's what all the stuff I looked up said.
All I could think was that it sounded freaking delicious. I actually made some that very night. I used it as a topping for a layered eggplant dish I made. I didn't get it as smooth as I wanted, and I'll just blame that on my weak little arms - I actually used my mortar instead of a food processor, because I was trying to be authentic. I could get it smoother if I used the processor, and I'll try that next time. So it was a little chunky, but it was tasty. Very garlicky!
I think I will try making something like that as a thickener one of these days when I make soup. That could be interesting. At any rate, I've learned something interesting about Spanish food that I'd never heard of before. I hope you have, too.
Happy eating!
This new 'picada' is not the name of a preparation, but a paste used in cooking. It was made with fresh garlic, almonds, stale bread, parsley, and a little of the cooking liquid from the dish he was making. The man went to town on it in the mortar and pestle until it was a beautiful, smooth paste. He also added some saffron.
I was so entranced by this thing that I looked it up right away. It turns out that the picada is an important part of Catalonian cuisine. It's always made with bread, nuts (usually almonds), and cooking liquid, and sometimes also with garlic, parsley, and saffron; sometimes it is made with other things, but that's the standard. It is usually used to thicken and/or season a dish, or sometimes as a a topping, such as on top of a casserole while the dish finishes, but isn't eaten raw - always used to cook with. At least, that's what all the stuff I looked up said.
All I could think was that it sounded freaking delicious. I actually made some that very night. I used it as a topping for a layered eggplant dish I made. I didn't get it as smooth as I wanted, and I'll just blame that on my weak little arms - I actually used my mortar instead of a food processor, because I was trying to be authentic. I could get it smoother if I used the processor, and I'll try that next time. So it was a little chunky, but it was tasty. Very garlicky!
I think I will try making something like that as a thickener one of these days when I make soup. That could be interesting. At any rate, I've learned something interesting about Spanish food that I'd never heard of before. I hope you have, too.
Happy eating!
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