Something about this time of year – Kosher Coke

This time of year bring back a lot of memories or people. Some remember the Easter times of their childhood, while others look back at Passovers from long ago. What I like about this time of year is that one can buy Kosher Coke.

Yes, Coca-Cola comes in both non-kosher and kosher formulations. In case anybody is interested, you can buy kosher Coke products this time of year. It means they're made from real sugar and not corn syrup, since corn isn't kosher. Tastes like an old time Coke from our collective childhoods. It's a good and guilty pleasure. Typically, the caps are a different color from what they normally bottle. From Wikipedia:

Kosher Coca Cola produced for Passover is sold in 2-liter bottles with a yellow cap marked with an OU-P, indicating that the Orthodox Jewish Union certifies the soda as Kosher for Passover, or with a white cap with a CRC-P indicating that the certification is provided by the Chicago Rabbinical Council.

While the usual Coca-Cola formula is kosher (the original glycerin from beef tallow having been replaced by vegetable glycerin), during Passover Ashkenazi Jews do not consume Kitniyot, which prevents them from consuming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).^[9]

Even sugar-based formulas would still require certification of both the formula and the specific bottling plant, as the strictures of Kashrut on Passover are far higher and more complicated than usual kosher observance.

 

 

The greatest thing since beer in cans –- Kicking up stuffed pasta

The first real chef I ever dealt with was Bradford Hendrix at the now defunct Bert's Seafood Grille in Greensboro, NC and he did things I had never seen before: he prepared sauces in the sauté pan on top of the stove. The technique was described as "ala minute". Essentially what he did was build a sauce in the pan after whatever was cooked, is cooked. At Bert's, it was all manner of fish and shellfish.

It was explained to me that this was traditional French technique. Typically, Brad would take shallots or something similar and throw that into a hot skillet in which he had just sautéed the main dish (scallops, say). Once those got sort of brown and sort of happy, he would quickly de-glaze the pan with white wine and add the rest of the ingredients. Sometimes mustard and half and half (dijonnaise); sometimes peaches and half and half (peche). The result was always marvelous and got the necessary "ooh and aahs" from the guests, which in turn would earn me the tips I needed to fund my graduate school lifestyle.

The same things can be done with stuffed pastas to wonderful effect. Here, we have some stuffed pasta from Trader Joe's and am pairing it with a simple shallot and spinach cream sauce.

Ingredients

• Some sort of stuffed pasta – I used Trader Joe's goat cheese and tomato. You can use anything.
  
• I diced shallot
  
• 1 handful washed and dried spinach, coarsely chopped
  
• ¼ cup white wine or stock – I used white wine here but you can use anything appropriate
  
• ¼ half and half
  
• A couple of turns of olive oil for sautéing the shallot
  
• 1 teaspoon Cantanzaro herb Blend or something similarly Italian
  
• ¼ Parmesan Cheese
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Technique

Cook the pasta according to the directions. Here, you really do want it al dente, since you're going to essentially cook it again in the sauce. In a sauté skillet, heat the oil until it shimmers, then add the shallot. Cooked for a few minutes or until it starts to brown. Add the spinach and cook until it's just wilted, about three minutes. Deglaze the pan with wine or stock, scraping the burnt bits off the bottom with a spoon or tongs. Next, add the half and half and reduce for about a minute or until thickened. Then add the cooked pasta, Parmesan Cheese and herb mixed, stirring lightly to coat. Turn off the heat and cover for a minute or two. Plate and serve with additional parmesan cheese.

Its looks like you took all day, but it's really quick and super easy ("super easy" – am I channeling Rachel Ray
instead of Brad Hendrix?). Serve with a salad and what you have a simple weekday meal.

Bon appétit!

The fallout from too much – slow cooker spinach lasagna v. 1.0

Das Kinder turned nine this week. There was much rejoicing.

There were parties (plural). There were brownies. And doughnuts. And pancakes. And shopping extravaganzas. And a sleep over in which there was very little sleeping involved.

Das Kinder, with her stout nine year old constitution, came through with flying colors. Her Imperial Majesty and I, not so much; we're old and need sleep, or at least downtime. We decided that last night was to be Downtime. The tradition of a big Saturday night foodie throw down was to be postponed. This Saturday night was to be mindless and as pre-fab as possible.

She of Good Ideas nicked this recipe from a magazine left in her office. We've kicked it up a bit. What we like is that we could essentially prepare dinner at 2:30, then put it and ourselves on automatic until it was ready. Mindless is as mindless does. Or in this case does not.

Ingredients

• 2 packages frozen cooked and chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
  
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
  
• 1 cup sliced fresh mozzarella
  
• ½ cup grated parmesan (Use the good stuff. It matters here.)
  
• 3 cups of marinara sauce (You can use homemade, we didn't. Thank you Mr. Newman.)
  
• Uncooked lasagna noodles – do NOT use the no cook variety
  
• 1 tablespoon Cantanzaro herb blend
  

Technique

Thaw the spinach. Do NOT cook the spinach, simply thaw it.

Mix it with the ricotta, Parmesan and Cantanzaro herb mix

In your crock pot, start your layers, sauce first, then uncooked noodle, then spinach / cheese mixture. Top with thin sliced mozzarella. Repeat. On the top, finish with a layer of sauce and Parmesan cheese. Now here's the tricky part: set your slow cooker on low for 4 hours, and walk away. Take a nap if you want.

After four hours, you'll be treated to a plate full of gooey loveliness.


 

 

 

 

 

When bigger does not mean better – A case for The Meat House

A large, new (and I won't name it) super market opened on Six Forks Road, across the street from Her Imperial Majesty's office and the local Chick-Fil-A. It was foretold to be what North Raleigh needed; the cornerstone of a new culinary identity that the zip codes north of Interstate 440 have wanted for years. It was to be, in short, 40,000 square feet of green, environmentally friendly Foodie Paradise.

No longer would people like me need to drive inside the beltline (or to Chapel Hill or Durham) for the ingredients we need to live and cook The Good Life. Produce would be fresh, organic and beautiful. Breads would be artisanal. Meat and seafood would be humanely and locally raised. The building itself was to be "Green", conserving rainwater in cisterns for later use. Customers were encouraged to bring their own re-usable shopping bags. Carry out from the "hot bar" would be served in bio-degradable paper to go containers instead of plastic or Styrofoam.

So I went there during the opening weeks and joined the throng. It looked less a crowded supermarket and more a crowded but well lit nightclub. Parking was problematic and once inside, people were everywhere. Sure, the lettuce looked great, but it's was all wrapped and served up in plastic bins. Nobody told me that re-usable shopping bags are a great place for e. Coli to breed. And the paper "to go" containers? They got soggy after about 20 minutes.

Green and environmentally friendly? I'm not so sure. It felt more like a conceit, a way of gift wrapping gluttony so that it was more attractive, or at least, less ugly. It is sort of like believing that baby foxes and unicorns come out of a Prius' tail pipe: one can drive a car and still "Save the Planet " through thoughtful and conspicuous consumption. It's amazing that one can sell moral vanity at a premium, but perhaps there is no other way to sell it. Its parking lot is full.

Scott Morra and a selection of cowboy rib steaks.

I remember the way it used to be. There was a place in Madison. NJ, down the road from where I lived called Esposito Brothers. They had the most beautiful meats and cheeses with a smattering of fresh produce – everything one needed for dinner save the wine, which had to be sold a "Package Store" down the street. One could walk in and walk out with a feast in 15 minutes. Talk about paleo food, this was truly Old School.

Such a thing exists today in North Raleigh. At the corner of Millbrook and Falls of Neuse Road is The Meat House, a glorious throwback to the butcher shops of my youth. In it, wide selections of beef, pork, lamb and poultry are laid out behind glass cases. The produce is NOT wrapped in plastic. There is no vainglorious preening about how they're saving the environment. The owner, Derek Wilkins, first saw the concept while visiting family in Maine. He went with his brother to pick up dinner and was blown away.

"I stood there awestruck," he said during a recent phone conversation. "[My brother] picked up the meat, the veggies and the beer and we were gone. I just couldn't get the thought of The Meat House out of my mind."

Derek and his father Craig own both Triangle locations of The Meat House (the other is in Cary). It is, to quote Derek, "'the modern re-visualization of the neighborhood butcher shop". At 3,500 square feet, it's not nearly as big as the (unnamed) behemoth on Six Forks. And that is a big selling point.

"One of the important things about The Meat House is that you can get in and out and 15 minutes," he said. And he's right. Because it's not so big, I did get in and out in 15 minutes.

The concept originated in New England and is franchised across the US. They currently have 26 locations. What they carry is dinner; prime and top choice meats, veggies, and sides. They also carry a wide array of pre-marinated meats that are ready for the grill or skillet.

"We make it very simple," he said. "We've done a lot of the prep work for you."

So, is it the second coming of Esposito Brothers in Madison? They've actually done it one better. The Meat House sells wine and has a classically trained sommelier on staff in the person of Lawrence Kobesky, to help with the pairings of wine with dinner.

In the end, it is an old school butcher shop. But it's also more. It's like a convenience store for foodies. It works because it's simple and unpretentious, unlike some other grocers in the city. And the meat is truly magnificent.


Two Triangle locations:


1225 Kildaire Farm Road
Cary, NC 27511-5523
(919) 465-3082
 
5045 Falls of Neuse Road
Raleigh, N.C. 27609
(919) 809-8914.

Dinner and A Show – Kanki Japanese House of Steaks and Sushi

Jeff "Lee"* does five shows a night on an average Friday night. And they are shows. He stands over his tappanyaki
and cooks for 10 guests, with flash and flourish and quite a bit of daring do. Streamlined and choreographed, he executes every movement flawlessly, much to the delight and applause of his guests.

Jeff is a chef at Kanki Japanese House of Steaks and Sushi. And while he normally does his shifts at the Old Wake Forest Road location, he does pull shifts at Crabtree Valley Mall.

"Maybe at Crabtree, I do 10 or 11 tables," he said in between scenes of The Fire and Food show. "I'll do five or six tonight."

One recent Friday night, Jeff did dinner for the extended family unit on the occasion of Her Imperial Majesty le Grand Dame's "29^th" birthday (wink, wink) and he was flawless. As he moved through the various preparations, he chatted, joked and generally entertained the assembled. All things considered, he and his dishes came off quite well.

For the un-initiated, tappanyaki steakhouses originated in Japan in the 1940s, but didn't really appear in The States until Rocky Aoki, a Japanese wrestler who qualified for by did not attend the 1960 Summer Olympics, opened the first Benihana of Tokyo in New York City. Typically, chefs grill beef, chicken, seafood along various vegetables and rice while guest sit tableside and watch the whole thing happen.

Our group had a smattering of everything: Thomas the Intrepid had a combination, as did our new friends, Ryan and Joy. Her Imperial Majesty had chicken, while I had steak. Le Grand Dame had a perfect cooked piece of Tilapia, while my sister Mary Catherine and her genius child, The Magster, did chicken and shrimp, respectively. Das Kinder ate everything that came her way.

The dishes that come off the tappanyaki, while not terribly exotic in today's post Food Network sensibilities, are hot, fresh and delicately seasoned. Given the semi-rigidity of the format, Jeff and his colleagues do quite well.

While my foodie friends may scoff, a good time was had by all. And in a certain sense, Kanki, and all the other tappanyaki steakhouses are paleo, if only in a sort of Mad Men fashion. Call it kitsch but for me it works as least as well as Jeff does, which is to say, pretty darn well.

*Not his real name.

Kanki Japanese House of Steaks and Sushi – three locations

North Raleigh

4500 Old Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC 27609

PHONE:  919.876.4157      FAX:  919.876.7699

 
Durham

3504 Mt. Moriah Road, Durham, NC 27707

PHONE:  919.401.6908     FAX:  919.401.6843      TAKE OUT:  919.403.TOGO

 
Crabtree Valley Mall (Lower Level)
4325 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27612

PHONE:  919.782.9708      FAX:  919.787.4524

Cuisine: Pre-fusion Asian / Paleo Japanese

Rating: *** ½

Prices: $$$

Atmosphere: Tappanyaki steak house.

Noise level: Quite a bit, this is show business after all.

Open: Various, check individual location for hours.

Wake Forest Road and Durham locations:

LUNCH HOURS:  Sun Noon - 3:00      Mon - Fri 11:30 - 2:00    Sat Noon - 3:00
DINNER HOURS:  Sun 3:00 - 9:30    Mon - Thu 4:30 - 9:30    Fri 5:00 - 10:30    Sat 3:00 - 10:30

Crabtree Valley Mall location:

Monday - Thursday: 11:30am - 9:30pm
Friday & Saturday: 11:30am - 10:30pm
Sunday: Noon - 9:30pm

Reservations: Yeah, you should.

Other: Communal seating at the tappanyaki grills, Think if it as a way to make new friends.

We rank restaurants in five categories: 

***** Extraordinary – Intense attention to ingredients and preparation and devoid of pretense. Everything's right.

**** Excellent – Attention to ingredients and preparation; in down scale environs, something that’s true to its DNA.

*** Above average – Good but not great. Or, as Her Imperial Majesty says, "I'm not that crazy about it".

** Average – Will do in a pinch but not worth a journey.

* Fair – Don’t bother, as it probably has a help wanted sign in the window, which is always the harbinger of a bad time on the horizon.