Popkoff's Palmeni

Popkoff's is a California-based company that has been making Russian-inspired pelmeni and vareniki for over 50 years. Vareniki are like pierogies that are stuffed with a variety of meats and vegetables. Pelmeni are similar, but smaller and round, reminding me a bit of tortellini. Popkoff's recently sent us a selection of their pelmeni to see what kinds of recipes we could come up with using them. I chose to start with the beef pelmeni and decided that a rich mushroom sauce would work nicely.

Popkoff's pelmeni come in freezer packs and cook up quickly. Add the contents of the packet to boiling water and they are fully cooked in about five minutes. As soon as they are rolling about on the surface of the water, they are done. The sauce recipe below is also quick and easy to put together. The most difficult part is making the roux, and that's not very hard at all.

Mushroom Sauce

1 medium onion chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the flour and olive oil in a pan over high heat. Stir constantly until the mixture becomes liquid and takes on a tan hue, about 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium high and add onions, garlic, and mushrooms to roux. Saute until onions are translucent. Slowly add the heavy cream and half-and-half, stirring constantly until everything is incorporated. Add thyme, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Tofu for Tofu-Haters

Fried tofu bao, plus one bao with fried eggplant, just because.

I know there are those out there who say they will eat tofu no how no way. "It's yucky," or "it doesn't have any flavor" are common complaints. For one thing, it's not at all yucky, and for another, the lack of inherent flavor is one of the things that makes tofu so versatile. You might have heard that it absorbs the flavors around it, but that's not necessarily true unless you simmer it in a very flavorful sauce for a long time. However, a neutral protein like tofu can really make other ingredients shine because they will stand out in contrast to the soy's bland smoothness. One of my favorite tofu recipes is very simple and very delicious. In it, bold garlic, soy sauce, and chile flavors are emphasized by the milky tofu, which also provides a silky and soothing foil to the palate.

Another thing one can do with tofu is to fry it until it's crispy crunchy, like potato chips or fried chicken. It becomes all about terrific texture and works really well in something like Taiwanese-style steamed buns, or bao. You can buy frozen bao in Chinese supermarkets, or you can make them at home, or, you can totally cheat by using refrigerated biscuit dough (find that recipe here). Pillowy buns, crispy tofu, a bit of creamy Sriracha mayo or sweet hoisin sauce, sliced cucumber, cilantro, and an optional topping of crushed peanuts and sugar (to which I added black sesame seeds), makes a mighty tasty snack.

If you don't want to go to all that trouble, just mix up a dipping sauce of mayo, sriracha, a bit of sugar, some minced green onion, and a pinch of salt. Dip in crispy tofu squares and enjoy.

Super Crispy Fried Tofu

1 14- to-16-pounce package extra firm tofu (the refrigerated kind)
Corn starch
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt

Remove the tofu from the packaging and discard the liquid. Wrap the tofu in a layer of paper towels and place on a plate. Put another plate upside-down over the tofu and weight plate with a jar or can. Refrigerate for at least four hours, changing the towels at least once during that time.

When you're ready to cook the tofu, remove the soggy towels and discard. Cut the block of tofu in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 5 or 6 slices.

Put a half cup or so of corn starch in a bowl. Dredge each slice of tofu in the cornstarch, patting it into each piece and shaking off excess. Put dredged tofu pieces on a plate until you finish coating the rest of them.

Add a couple tablespoons of oil to a large non-stick skillet and heat over high heat. Add the tofu pieces in one layer and cover the pan. Cook until crisp and brown on the bottom, 4-5 minutes. Check the browning process occasionally (it will seem to brown slowly at first) by picking up a piece with kitchen tongs. (Be careful when lifting the lid off the pan! Condensation will have accumulated and will drip off the pan into the oil, causing spattering. It's best to lift the lid straight up, not on an angle, and move it away to the side quickly.)

Once tofu is browned on the bottom, turn pieces and cook an additional 4-5 minutes until the other side is brown. If you feel the tofu is browning too quickly, turn the heat down a bit. (If it browns too fast, not only can it burn, but it won't be as crisp because there will still be moisture inside.)

Remove tofu pieces from the heat and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Season tofu with a pinch of salt while still hot.

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The Breslin

There are some restaurants where everything on the menu looks so appetizing, it's nearly impossible to make a decision. The Breslin is one of them.

When I was in NY for the Summer Fancy Food Show, I did a lot of my eating inside the Javits Center--some cheese here, a little prosciutto there, maybe a bite of energy bar or kale something or gluten-free whatever, and then a bit more cheese, washed down with organic coffee or fancy tea or a shot of mezcal (or three). But even with all that snacking it's possible to be hungry for a sit-down meal. Even after snacking AND having a plate of pasta and a beer at the opening night cocktail party, there's still room for more, particularly if it's fried.

The Breslin, April Bloomfield's Michelin-starred British gastropub in Midtown's Ace Hotel, seems to specialize in fried food. There is a lot of it on the menu, and we ordered most of it, plus oysters on the half shell and a salad. You know, to be healthy.

But first - a cocktail. This one was called Life on Mars? and contained Virgil Kane rye, hibiscus, Cardamaro (a cardoon-infused amaro) and pressed lemon. It was bright, both sweet and tangy, with a lovely lemon aroma.

We enjoyed six petite Puffer's oysters, salty little diploid Wellfleets from Cape Cod. The dilly pickle juice we spooned on top was a refreshing accompaniment.

The salad was a simple affair of butter lettuce, cucumber, radish, scallions, crunchy sunflower seeds, and creamy ranch dressing. It wasn't our token vegetable though; we also ordered radishes. They were cooked, possibly lightly deep fried, juicy and tender, with a darkly piquant sauce.

We also enjoyed the beef and Stilton pie. It was a tiny little thing, bursting with shredded meat and the mellow funk of that famed British blue cheese. I wished it was bigger.

We also shared the Scotch egg. I'm not the biggest Scotch egg fan in the world, because I have a thing about plain pork sausage. We ate a lot of "breakfast" sausage growing up and I never did like the flavor. That's usually the kind of sausage used as a wrapper on a Scotch egg, and of course this one was no different. What was different was the nicely crispy crust on the outside and the perfectly gooey soft-boiled egg on the inside. Cooking an egg like that, peeling it without making a mess, then wrapping it in sausage and deep frying it is a bit of culinary engineering that I can admire.

Similarly crispy was the fried duck leg. Meltingly tender on the inside, the meaty confitted leg had just the right amount of luscious fat. Unlike the beef and stilton pie, the duck leg was plenty enough to share without feeling deprived.

While the savory part of the meal was quite delicious and satisfying, the dessert felt like a cheat. As in we were cheated. The menu description simply said "carrot cake/compressed pineapple/coconut ice cream." The words "carrot cake" conjure up a thick slice of moist brown cake studded with shreds of carrot, nuts, and maybe even a little pineapple, topped with cream cheese frosting. I suppose what we received somewhat evoked the real thing, but was in reality a fussy little arrangement of bits and bobs. Two tiny, crouton-sized, pieces of actual cake, a thumb-sized quenelle of ice cream, some powdered coconut milk, toasted coconut, and a few chunks of pineapple. For $12.

I have nothing against fancy plated desserts, but they really need to be exquisite to earn the hefty price tag they usually wear. The cake was ordinary, the ice cream wasn't particularly flavorful, and coconut milk powder can be purchased in any Asian supermarket, so I hope nobody wasted time and effort producing it in the restaurant kitchen. Considering that The Breslin is very much like an English pub, the arty-farty desserts are not in keeping with the whole theme of the place. Disappointing.

Dessert aside, I enjoyed our meal at The Breslin enough to go back for breakfast the next day.  There were pastries to choose from, lighter dishes like yogurt and granola, and heartier, eggier, options like a full English breakfast.

I went for creamy and rich Greek yogurt with tiny, sweet, strawberries, local honey, and pistachio praline, and a house-made buttered English muffin and a cup of Stumptown coffee. It was a satisfying start to the day.

The Breslin
The Ace Hotel
16 W 29th St
New York, NY 10001
(212) 679-1939



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Apricot-Cardamom-Pistachio Ice Cream

Last summer, we made a lot of frozen desserts. We had borrowed a friend's ice cream machine (which we still have - oops!) and were cranking out a new flavor every weekend. Now we have our own fun little Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, and we hope to start using it regularly.

This summer's inaugural batch used up a selection of apricots that had been purchased at the farmers' market across from my office. I bought them on Tuesday for Mr Minx to eat, but he kept forgetting. By Saturday, one of them was rotten, and I needed to do something with the rest so as not to lose my investment (they weren't cheap). I also wanted to involve one or more of the Runamok Maple syrups that I picked up at the Summer Fancy Food Show in June. One of them is infused with cardamom, and I knew cardamom and apricot went well together. I also wanted to add a bit of texture to the ice cream and knew pistachios would work with both of the other players. The next question was how best to use the cardamom syrup so it didn't get lost in all that cream.

The answer was pretty simple: I used it to candy the nuts. While I did add a big pinch of ground cardamom to the ice cream itself, it was subtle. The candied nuts supplied stronger hits of the sweet spice, which made each bite more interesting.

It might seem like there's a lot of sugar in this ice cream, but apricot puree is tangy. You can probably reduce the sugar to 2/3 cup, but don't go any further than that, as less sugar will affect the way the ice cream freezes.

Apricot-Cardamom-Pistachio Ice Cream

For the nuts:
1/2 cup pistachio nutmeats
2 tablespoons Runamok Maple Cardamom Maple Syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons butter

For the ice cream:
6-8 fresh apricots (to make about 1 cup of puree)
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

To make the nuts: Prepare a sheet pan with a piece of parchment or a silicone baking sheet/Silpat.

Heat the Runamok Maple Cardamom-infused maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until bubbly. Add the nuts. Stir the mixture constantly until the nuts are glazed and most of the moisture is evaporated. Don't cook much beyond this point - you don't want the caramel to be hard, otherwise it will be hard and potentially tooth-sticky once frozen.

Remove the nuts from the heat and immediately spread out onto the sheet pan, separating them with a fork. Allow to cool. They should still be tacky to the touch when cool.

To make the ice cream: Wash the apricots thoroughly. Cut in half, discard pits and stems, and whiz the flesh in a food processor to make a puree. Strain to remove skins, if desired (I left them in). Refrigerate puree until ready to use.

Place the milk and sugar in a sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until just starting to bubble around the edges. Do not let come to a boil, and definitely don't let it burn.

While the milk is warming, whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl. Using a ladle, dribble some of the hot milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly. After about half the milk has been whisked in, pour the egg and milk mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk. Cook over medium-low heat until thick enough to coat a spoon, whisking all the while.

Strain the custard and stir in the heavy cream. Refrigerate until cold.

Combine the cold custard with the cold apricot puree. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Once the consistency starts to visually resemble soft serve ice cream, start dropping in the nuts, a few at a time, until all are incorporated. Scoop the ice cream (it will still be quite soft) into a covered container and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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