Tapas girls night out!

Fun girls + tapas + sangria = an awesome Tuesday night.

I learned that I was the only one intoxicated after three glasses of deliciousness, but I’m ok with that. We met at Carrera at 6pm and decided to go next door to Bar Veloce while waiting for the third in our trio. I opted for the chilled, sparkling red wine that claimed to taste like twizzlers and apple on the menu, I tasted neither, but it was still yummy. The bartender was rocking a handlebar moustache that I dug.

Our third arrived shortly thereafter and off we went next door to Carrera for our trip to Spain. They have three fabulous carafes of sangria on the menu, which give you three glasses per each. Why not? Let’s try them all! The strawberry was incredible, the cucumber was refreshing, and the red with cinnamon and cola was rich and flavorful. I slowly sipped around during the meal, trying to pair with the food, but I just kind of suck at wine pairings anyways.

We opted to share and I was so happy we did. Our choices were; Serrano jamon wrapped dates stuffed with marcona almonds (the play on sweet and salty that I love!), patatas fritas with a smokey cumin aioli, and shrimp with chorizo ham (she lucked out and got my shrimp as well since I am not a lover of seafood). The pork belly with sugar and a creamy garlic chickpea sauce (AMAZING), and the eggs in a basket, which was a mini brioche, filled with truffled eggs, Serrano ham, topped with manchego cheese (OH MY WORD!).

Our third was vegan and managed to find some pretty tasty options as well. The roasted onion soup topped with fried artichokes was a luscious, creamy bowl of heaven. The pan con tomate looked delicious as well; it was topped with this melt in your mouth olive oil powder that we all swore was cheese when it arrived at the table.

We all left feeling pretty stuffed. The prices were decent for tapas, we each payed for a carafe of sangria and then split the bill accordingly, my portion was around $30. The atmosphere was dark and romantic, perfect for a date or girls night filled with chitchat. I definitely recommend Carrera for a fun night out. It can be found at E 11^th St and 2^nd Ave.

The night was filled with some good laughs, wine, food, and girl talk. My ideal Saturday. Yes, for those of you not in the food industry, my weekend is Tuesday and Wednesday, which apparently works out well in NY because people here enjoy going out any day of the week. I love NY!

Bacon, yummy bacon

I apologize for the extreme tardiness of this posting, October was a much busier month than I anticipated. So here it is... my latest addition:

Bacon. Oh, how I love thee. I know I’m not supposed to being Jewish and all, yet I put you on and in as many recipes as I can because your flavor brings so much pleasure.

I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m crazy, but I have had a lifelong obsession with bacon. My Mom called me the “Nitrate Queen” growing up because of my fondness of the pork products. Friends will tell you funny memories of me creating what I called the “BBLT” when bacon could not be found. The BBLT consists of the usual lettuce, tomatoes, toast, and wait for it…bacon bits! Yes, I would even resort to bacon bits just to get that wonderful flavor in my mouth.

I have experimented over the years with all sorts of recipes, putting bacon on a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a nice drizzle of honey. Sounds kind of weird, but has become one of my favorite sandwiches. For a little extra punch, sprinkle some cinnamon on there too.

Using my culinary training, I put bacon to the test, I wanted to see how many sweet treats I could manage to squeeze bacon into without getting too weird. After seeing a chef on a favorite food tv channel make chocolate coated bacon I wanted to take that thought to the next level. I made chocolate bacon cupcakes. Yes yes, I know how trendy cupcakes are now and how much everybody loves them, including myself. Basically, I sprinkled cooked bacon over the devil’s food cupcake with fudge chocolate icing…not too bad, but I knew I could do better.

How about buttermilk cupcakes with maple icing and crumbled cooked bacon over it? OH MY WORD, perfection. Just like eating pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. Just about everyone can appreciate that. Except maybe my fiancé, who is more of a sausage patty kind of a guy.

I’ll just make up for that by eating an extra piece of bacon next time.

My first posting: A simple and delicious smores cake

For my very first post, I have a little secret to share. Although I am a professionally trained pastry chef, once in a while I like to cheat on my desserts. My secret…(insert dramatic pause)… boxed cake mix! Indeed, I have a special love affair with Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines. 

There are three main reasons I use boxed cake mix: time, price, and consistency. I found that after graduating from culinary school, people would often make requests with less than 24 hours notice. Despite using the greatest of care, from-scratch cakes tend to be temperamental and take hours to get that moist delicious flavor. In most cases, it isn’t even necessary if you make subtle changes to boxed mixes such as adding a tiny amount of vanilla extract to the batter or pudding for a denser cake.

In my opinion, save on the cost and make your very own gourmet (esque) cake from all store bought ingredients. Get creative! Don’t get scared away, it is easier than you think, I promise! You don’t need to be a professional baker with the fanciest recipe. I’m going to give you a dead easy recipe which will give you amazing results. Here is a fantastic chocolate smores cake using all store-bought ingredients that will cost you less than $20.

Now to do it, all you need is….

• 1 Box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food Cake
• Eggs and oil per the box instructions (these are staples, but get what you need if you don’t have it)
• 1 Jar (16 oz.) Marshmallow Fluff (8 oz. should suffice, I always get the larger jar to make fluffernutters afterwards)
• 1 Jar Duncan Hines Chocolate Frosting (classic or chocolate fudge would be best)
• 1 Box of honey graham crackers (generic store brand would be fine)

First, follow the directions on the cake box to make two unfinished cake sections. I recommend baking in 9-inch round cake pans to obtain thinner cakes. Thinner cakes allow for a greater frosting-to-cake ratio, which most people enjoy. After the cakes cool and you’ve removed them from the pans, spread approximately ½ to ¾ inch of marshmallow fluff on one cake and top it with the other. Cover the whole cake with a nice thin layer of more marshmallow fluff and top that with the chocolate icing. Finally, sprinkle crushed graham crackers over the top for a little kick. Add as much marshmallow and graham as you want inside and out, just keep in mind that the cakes will slide apart if you fill them too much.

Enjoy and happy baking!