How Not to Make a Parmesan Bowl

Posted on September 3 | 2010 by Meesh

Ahhhhh… Parmesan – my favorite cheese. When I found out about Parmesan bowls from the Hearts of Palm Salad recipe in this Behind the Burner video, you can imagine my level of excitement! Hello! Edible bowls of cheese!!!! I had to attempt to make them right away.

This is what a successful Parm bowl looks like - (mine did not look like this, AT ALL)

image via

Most recipes are just like this one. All you have to do is put a thin layer of the cheese in the sauté pan on medium-low heat, wait for the cheese to bubble, remove it from the heat, wait for it to stop bubbling, then flip the pan upside-down, over an upside-down bowl and wait for it to harden in the shape of a bowl. Easy right? No, it’s not. At all.

After about 5 Parmesan Bowl attempts, with 1.5 successes, I now know exactly what not to do when making these scrumptious treats.

1) DO NOT use a cup to drape the cheese over, follow the recipe and use a bowl. I thought all my bowls were too wide on the bottom to make a normal bowl shape out of the Parmesan, but I was wrong. If at any point during your Parmesan Bowl attempt, you think to yourself, “my cups would be a better size for these than a bowl.” THINK AGAIN. Cups have too dramatic of an incline, the cheese breaks too easily when using cups. Use bowls.

:(

2) Do not put too much cheese in the pan. Use a very modest amount, if you think you put too much, you probably did. When the cheese is draped over the bowl, it could easily rip if it’s too heavy (which it will be if you put too much cheese). Also, you’ll be wasting cheese and that is not good for anyone.

Too Much Cheese

3) Do not try and drape the cheese over the upside down bowl before it is ready. Make sure the cheese hardens in the pan (off the heat) for an adequate amount of time (2-3 minutes) before attempting to drape over bowl. If it is not hard enough, it will rip.

Parm was not hard enough, so it ripped. I tried to put it back together, it didn't work.

4) Do not use good Parm, use Kraft or something. The faker, the better, the more elastic the cheese will be when its melted. Even though I read a recipe that said cheaper grated Parm works better, don’t go artisan cheese on this one, I did anyway. Why? I don’t know, I just love good Parm. This may or may not be the reason for so many failed attempts.

damn you, artisan Parmesan

5) DO NOT, for one second, think your clothes won’t get greasy. They will. Melted Parm creates more grease than Pauly D’s hair. Wear clothes that you don’t care about because when you get grease all over a nice shirt, you will not be happy. Just like I was not happy when this experiment ended up ruining my tank top. I guess that’s just the price I had to pay for a Parmesan bowl. Don’t let it happen to you! (image via)

THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CHEESE!! See the grease?

I finally figured it out!

Left Bowl: Success | Right Bowl: a little burned, but good enough

Now that you know all the mistakes, you’ll be making successful Parm bowls in no time!

Enjoy!

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…Moving…

Posted on August 31 | 2010 by Meesh

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Noteworthy Noms | 1st Edition

Posted on August 26 | 2010 by Meesh

Is it just me or has everyone forgotten what it feels like to be in a rain depression for THREE FULL DAYS??? This summer has been very mild in terms of inclement weather so the past three days have been nothing short of hell. Yesterday my jeans were damp for about 6 hours, and I can’t remember my last good hair day. All this rain mixed with moving to a new apartment has made this week busy and gloomy but today – the clouds have cleared, the sun is out and I’m feelin’ good!

This momentous silver lining occasion can only call for one thing: a list of noteworthy noms I have seen online and around Boston:

1. Hearts of Palm Salad from Ingrid Hoffman of Simply Delicioso on the Food Network via Behind the Burner. One look at this easy, quick and healthy hearts of palm salad and you’ll be ditching reservations and sprinting to the grocery store to recreate this yourself! Those little Parmesan bowls are the cutest.

2. Pinkberry is opening on Newbury Street! Boston is getting cooler (literally, hehe) by the day. The store will be between Gloucester and Hereford, right next to Espresso Royale Cafe, and conveniently located on the same block as my office!

3. The Pioneer Woman’s Homemade Cinnamon Bread. God, this looks so good. I’ve always shied away from baking because of exactness of the measurements, not really my thing. BUT THIS, this looks so good, this might be the loaf of bread that turns me into a baker. Her photography is perfect.

(via ThePioneerWoman)

4. One lazy night in the past week, I ordered delivery from Lilly’s Gourmet Pasta, who recently opened a new location on Tremont Street in Mission Hill. I noticed the online ordering process was completely automated and I was intrigued.

I ordered from them once before, maybe a year ago, and they have definitely upgraded since then. The menu and ordering process are completely different from what I remember. First you pick the pasta, then the sauce, then the toppings. On this night I was supposed to eat a salad for dinner  and I’m almost embarrassed to say what I ended up with instead. Linguine topped with tomato basil sauce, mozzarella, meatballs and tomatoes – who orders that? So weird, I know. Did I mention I’m obsessed with tomatoes? Anyway, it was impressive, the food arrived in less than 30 minutes, it came with a side salad and everything was done up to pasta delivery standards. Kudos to Lilly’s, welcome to Mission Hill.

5. The Boston Globe’s recipe for Vietnamese grilled pork meatballs with ginger-lime sauce.

(via Boston Globe)

I can’t wait to cook these, looking at them makes me hungry. Maybe this will be part of the kitchen christening of my new apartment. This recipe looks so flavorful and summery. Ginger, lime, carrots, o hai! They remind me of the Thai Pork Kabobs from Myers & Chang – which were my favorite item on M&C’s menu.

(via)

Can’t wait to try out one of these recipes this weekend…

Enjoy the weather!


Posted in Back Bay, Boston, Dining In, Dining Out, Dinner, Healthy, Quick / Easy, Random Food Happenings, Recipes, Restuarants, Salads, South End, Take Out / Delivery, Thai, Video, Vietnamese | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Restaurant Week Attempt #3 | UpStairs on the Square

Posted on August 24 | 2010 by Jacki Mo

Boston is amidst another one of its AQUApocalypses. First we had no water this summer when a pipe broke and tainted our beloved drinking water, now we have TOO much water which has decided to try and destroy my week via endless rain. Although normally this type of weather would cause me to crawl into a ball and hide away on my couch watching hours and hours of Mad Men reruns, my roommate moved out last week and took the cable box with her, so that type of behavior is out of the question. Instead, I will keep celebrating restaurant week, which is what I did last night!

Rounding up the “broads” (which is what my girlfriends and I often refer to each other as) we decided to go out for dinner UpStairs on the Square last night; referring to the award-winning restaurant located in Harvard Square that is. Let me start off by saying, this place is unreal. Absolutely adorable! I love a restaurant with personality and USOTS has so much of it I’d almost be willing to say it rivals my own. From the funky furniture to the vibrant raspberry-colored walls, even our table was a unique shape: a crooked hexagon, half booth/half chaired that could seat up to 12.  We were seated in the Zebra Room, filled with Zebra print furniture (duh) and hot pink argyle flooring. The far wall of the dining room was lined with glass windows and a set of french doors leading into a private wood-paneled dining room perfect for “soiree’s” as USOTS likes to say.

As I walked into the restaurant I felt like I was leaving the real world, opting for a setting one would only find while adventuring in Wonderland with Alice and her cooky friends. Unfortunately the dim lighting interfered with my photo-taking ability, but type in “Upstairs on the Square” in Google Images and I guarantee you’ll be booking  a reservation in 2.2 seconds.

After getting over how much I loved the decor, I decided to move on to the wine list or rather the wine book. After sifting through some pages, we went for one of the less expensive bottles, a Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc blend that was only $33. Later on our server would recommend a bottle of Malbec they had as a special for $32. Since I love Malbec, and cheap wine at fancy restaurants, this immediately put our waitress at the top of my favorites list.

On the verge of starving, we all decided to order immediately. Given that there was five of us, we got a chance to try everything USOTS had to offer on their restaurant week menu. As I mentioned before, the lighting inside the restaurant was pretty rough. Fireplace = great for ambiance, not so much for taking photos. I didn’t capture all the nom’s on camera, but I’ll try to describe them in all their delicious-glory accordingly.

For starters we sampled the Grilled Watermelon Salad and Killian’s Kitchen Sink Sandwich. Now I must say, I have seen Watermelon Salads popping up EVERYWHERE this summer. If anyone is having the Best Summer Ever, it’s Watermelon. It’s cheap, it’s delicious, it’s pretty in pink, and it tastes even better when you get it grilled and caramelized with Piloncillo Sugar, which is exactly what USOTS did to it. Served warm with mint and feta, it was absolutely amazing. I will warn you now that I may or may not use the term “absolutely amazing” more than once in this post because everything at USOTS was pretty much just that! The Kitchen Sink Sandwich was just as delicious, it came served on toasted and buttered brioche with red and yellow heirloom tomato’s, goat cheese and sea salt. MmmMmm.

Before our entrees came out, our server brought us some complimentary cheesy poofs.

Then dinner arrived…

Continue reading →

Posted in Brunch, Cambridge, Cheese, Cocktails, Dessert, Dining Out, Dinner, Events, Restuarants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Restaurant Week Attempt #2 | EVOO

Posted on August 22 | 2010 by Jacki Mo

As you may (or may not) already know, the city of Boston is currently smack-dab in the middle of Restaurant Week. For those of you who don’t know, Restaurant Week or in Boston’s case Restaurant Week(s) is a two week period where some of the nicest restaurants around the city offer up three-course pre-fix menu’s to diners for $33. It’s a great opportunity to try out a restaurant you’ve never been to, or just get a huge meal for a pretty good deal. Note – the good deal only lasts as long as you don’t get boozy, tack on a few drinks and you can say “buh-bye” to that originally inexpensive check.

Personally I don’t LOVE restaurant week. Mostly because I hate crowds and as you can imagine cheap eats often induces crowding, but as a food lover, I can’t just sit back and ignore it. Naturally I decided to check out which restaurants were participating in the two-week event (ending August 27) and make some reservations. First up: EVOO in Kendall Square, Cambridge. Why?

  1. I’ve heard nothing but great things and it came highly recommended.
  2. I love Cambridge.
  3. Lots of options.

Unlike most restaurants, which only offer 2 – 3 choices per course, EVOO had multiple selections for appetizers and entree’s and offered up their FULL Dessert Menu for the third course. AMAZING! I also particularly love the name, but that’s because extra virgin olive oil and I have been having a serious love affair for about 3 years now ever since falling hard for each other during my semester abroad in Italy.

Due to my personal schedule (I had somewhere to be at 9pm), I made a reservation for 6:30. As I expected, the restaurant wasn’t too packed. Steady, but not packed. Yay! (did I mention I hate crowds?) We were promptly seated and I immediately started looking over the pre-fix menu. First thoughts:

  1. Everything’s organic and purchased locally, LOVE IT!
  2. So many choices!
  3. WOAH, what did I just read?

“Eva’s Organic Lettuce, Verrill Farm’s Cucumber’s, Grated Drumlin Farm’s Carrot, Kimball Farm’s First-of-the-Season Tomatoes and Eva’s Pea Greens with Creamy Buttermilk Dressing and Course Bread Crumb” Have you ever seen a house salad described in such a way? After deciphering the menu, and getting some suggestions from the server, we decided to start with…

Vermont Sheep Milk Ricotta – Lourdes’ Mozzarella Filled Batter Fried Verrill Farm’s Squash Blossom with Pesto Dressed Zucchini “Noodles”

Grilled ‘n Chilled Local Farmer’s Summer Vegetable Gazpacho with Striped Bass Belly – Charred Corn Salad

Both were delicious. The Squash Blossom app had the perfect mix of textures; it was a great balance of crunch and smoothness. I’d never had anything like it before, it was definitely different and unique. The gazpacho tasted amazing, even for someone who doesn’t normally like gazpacho. That someone being me. It was topped with striped bass and made for an excellent companion to our bread basket. Nom.

Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Dessert, Dining Out, Dinner, Events, Restuarants, Salads, Seafood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Stuffed Zucchini | Mexican Style

Posted on August 21 | 2010 by Meesh

The idea of stuffed zucchini was brought to my attention by my friend Erika. It was a 3 hour car ride from New York to Boston and we were having a serious discussion about that night’s dinner. I think the main topic was shredded beef (??) until Erika said something like, “have you guys had stuffed zucchini?” I hadn’t and I wanted it. Just like that my food-obsessed mind switched gears from shredded beef to overflowing zucchini boats. Stuffed zucchini was happening, before days end.

After a little research, it became clear there were two ways I could go with this: Southwestern / Mexican style or Italian style. Spicy / cheddar ish or tomato / breadcrumb ish. Since I went on Italian food overload earlier that week, I had to go with a Mexican style ground-beef filling with cheddar on top.

Scoop | Saute | Stuff | Add Cheese

Recipe slightly adapted from Delicious Melicious…

Ingredients:

  • 4 zucchini
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup of chopped pickled jalapeños – less if you don’t like too much spice
  • sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • salt
  • pepper
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • evoo

Recipe:

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  • Cut zucchini lengthwise
  • Place zucchini in a baking dish with some 1/2 cup water, cut side up. Cover dish with tin foil and bake for about 10 minutes or until they being to soften.
  • Using a spoon, scoop the soft center out of the zucchini – set aside.
  • In the meantime, heat up the olive oil in a sauté pan on medium heat. Once oil is hot, add onions to pan and sauté until onions become transparent.
  • Add the ground beef and cumin. Sauté until the beef is mostly brown.
  • Add the tomatoes and jalapeños to the mixture, then season with salt and pepper.
  • Uncover the baking dish and sprinkle salt on the zucchinis .
  • Stuff the zucchini with the beef mixture.
  • Sprinkle cheddar on top. :mrgreen:
  • Bake, uncovered for another 10 or until cheese is melted.
  • Add some sour cream to the top of the zucchini boats for garnish and serve.

This turned out to be SO GOOD, the mild flavor of the zucchini mixed well with. Pickled jalapeños gave it just the right amount of spice. It is a Mexican dish you can feel okay about eating. It’s filling, but not on a food coma level. It’s a quick and easy weekday meal that you can save and bring to lunch the next day (which I meant to do before eating it all :-/ ). Think of the zucchini as healthier taco shells.

Enjoy!

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Restaurant Week Attempt #1 | Via Matta

Posted on August 19 | 2010 by Meesh

About a month ago I made my restaurant week reservations at Via Matta, an Italian restaurant in Park Plaza. I’ve heard and read some great things about the authenticity of the food and the wonderful HOMEMADE PASTA (god I love homemade pasta). The menu had 2 pasta dishes for the main course. Most importantly, the menu a pesto pasta dish that really stood out to me, a pesto dish I was very excited to nom on.

Last night, we arrived at Via Matta and realized the menu had changed – there was no pesto dish available and a couple other items differed from the original menu. The three main course options were Fettuccine with sweet corn, basil, roasted mushrooms and Parmesan, grilled fish and grilled pork. The manager explained to us that the Restaurant Week menu had to be submitted back in April so changes had to be made based on items that were in season and supply and yadda yadda yadda, AND the Restaurant Week site posted the menu wrong in the first place. DZANG! Bottom line, no pesto.

The three main course options did sound really good, but I was excited for a classic Italian pasta dish. While reading the restaurant week menu with a pesto-induced sadness, the regular menu was calling my name. It was saying “don’t worry about all the money you would be saving by ordering the prix fixe – I have all the homemade pasta you could ever want.” GAH…. we gave in. Restaurant week and bank account fail. Instead of the $33.10 3 course restaurant week menu – we spent over $200 seeing the best of what Via Matta had to offer. Should I have shown more self-control? YES. Why didn’t I? HOMEMADE PASTA.

Now for the good stuff:

(it was really dark so I tried to fix these photos as best as possible)

Apps:

Eggplant

Crunchy Eggplant with basil marinated tomatoes and parmigiano – this was superb. Crunchy breadcrumb shell with soft, toasty eggplant in the middle. The tomatoes and thin sliced Parmesan on top made the flavors all come together really well. AH this was so good!

Burrata and Heirloom Tomato

Burrata with heirloom tomatoes, basil, sea salt and olive oil – another WIN. This was also amazing. Tomatoes were ripe and flavorful and the mozzarella was so creamy perfect. $18 dollars though – a little steep. Continue reading →

Posted in Back Bay, Boston, Cheese, Dessert, Dining Out, Dinner, Italian, Restuarants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Night on the Towne

Posted on August 16 | 2010 by Jacki Mo

So by now you’ve probably all heard of Towne Stove and Spirits, which recently opened up inside the Hynes Convention Center. If you haven’t heard of it I don’t know who you are or what you’ve been doing the past few weeks because EVERYONE is talking about it. Towne is the latest brain child from major nom nom tycoons Jasper White, Lydia Shire and The Lyons Group; a trifecta that can only result in Midas Touch overload (Think Scampo, Sonsie, Summer Shack, Clink….).

Shortly after it’s grand opening, my mom, sister and I decided to catch up and grab dinner at the two-floor mecca to see what all the hype was about. First things first, this place is HUGE. Housing four rooms total, including 2 bars, 2 lounges, 2+ dining rooms and a patio which is still underworks but when ready will seat up to 80 for lunch and dinner. The first floor is more casual, with two bar/lounge areas filled with high top tables, funky decor, and a lobster tasting menu (which can only be ordered at the bar). The Lobster menu itself has about 13 or so dishes all made with Lobster. Duh. Think Lobster Rolls, Lobster Croquettes, Lobster Tails, Lobster and Cheese Sandwiches and more.

Upstairs is where you’ll find two massive dining rooms with seating for up to 300, that’s where we ate, at a table overlooking Boylston Street. I was a little bummed when I found out the Lobster Menu could only be ordered on the first floor but the restaurant menu itself was pretty big so I wasn’t too discouraged. I must admit, at first glance the menu at Towne did look strikingly familiar to that of Cafeteria Boston‘s located just a block away, but only visually as the food offerings were much different.

Towne describes its food as “Eclectic and International American” but I’m pretty sure that’s just a nice way of saying “Identity Crisis” seeing as there really is no cohesion throughout the menu. From Turkish Rice to Peking Chicken Pot Pie there’s definitely A LOT to choose from. I was a little thrown by the choices, but we decided to start off with the Spinach, Ricotta and Beef Ravioli and the Soft Shell Crab. Upon ordering I noticed the menu also mentioned extra bread was an additional $4. I thought it was a little tacky, but then our bread basket arrived and I immediately realized why.

Definitely the most decadent bread basket I have ever had. It came filled with four different types of bread, including one seriously buttery roll that literally flakes apart like a croissant when touched. And of course, any bread basket like that has got to come with multiple dipping options, Towne’s came served with a pesto hummus, butter and scallions, and an eggplant & roasted pepper puree. MmmMmm. Then the app’s arrived…

Continue reading →

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The Asparagus Caprese Creation

Posted on August 12 | 2010 by Meesh

I’m being healthy and cheap this week.

It’s been an expensive summer. Most fun EVER, but expensive. I finally stepped out of the Twilight Zone a few days ago and thought maybe, just mayyyybe it was time to start saving money and making up for eating nonstop.

For the past 3 days, my food intake has consisted of:

  • 1 Acai Machine Naked drink, which doesn’t help with the money saving ($4, WTF?!) BUT curbs appetite until 1 pm.
  • 2 Coffees
  • Various homemade salads
  • Turkey sandwiches with prepackaged turkey and cheddar from Trader Joe’s. Lame, but SO cheap (about $2 per).

Naturally, after 3 days of this routine I was on the verge of exploding. Reason: food-boredom. Tonight, in order to save myself from the painstaking agony of routine, I made something more interesting, while still attempting to be healthy. I actually had an inner-battle over making THIS. Thankfully, I regained control and decided to make something with the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella that were already in my fridge (mozzarella is healthy enough, right?).

*sidenote: tomatoes in summertime, NOM*

So…. Caprese? Meh, too common. Caprese with sauteed asparagus on top? Interesting, easy, healthy. Chyea.

Continue reading →

Posted in Cheese, Dining In, Dinner, Healthy, Quick / Easy, Recipes, Salads | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cheese Lover’s love new KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese

Posted on August 8 | 2010 by Jacki Mo

I couldn’t help but fall in love with this new commercial for KRAFT’s Cheddar Explosion Macaroni and Cheese.

Posted in Random Food Happenings, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment