Indian Oven @ the Old Market

It has become abundantly apparent that I can not keep this blog to one post a month. However, I do plan to stay true to my 'thing of the month'. I am working on some delicious honey recipes for June and am planning to try them out on friends this weekend at my Friday night games and wine party. If your invited, feel lucky. I'm also looking for a real 'honey farm' to see these bee's in action. If anyone knows of anywhere in the Nebraska area please leave me a comment.

Well, this particular post is all about one of my favorite things, curry! I count my blessing that I have some adventurous friends when it comes to food because heaven help me, my family is not. This weekend Theary and I met in Omaha's Old Market. I can't believe I don't visit this place more often. I'm making it a goal of this summer to visit at least once a month, if not more. The buildings are beautiful, the shopping is great, the people are quirky and oh so friendly and there are dozens of unique restaurants to try.Our pick for the afternoon was Indian Oven. I must admit I was skeptical at first, which was totally unfair. I was confusing Indian Oven with another Indian restaurant in the area. I have no personal experience to judge this other restaurant, my only issue is that they serve several fusion dishes and when it comes to curry I want mine 100% authentic. Back to Indian Oven. What an amazing place. Right away we were greeted by Maria, a colorful woman who was not just interested in helping us find our seat but took the time to chat with us about why we were in her restaurant, if we had experienced Indian dining before and then continued to talk with us about their culture, Theary's photography and this blog. Oh and did I mention that the restaurant was packed? She could have very easily shown us to our seat and moved onto the next customer but she didn't. We knew right away this was going to be a great meal. Now I haven't had Indian food since I left Chicago last July, or at least Indian food that I didn't cook myself. And lets face it, when it comes to this stuff its best made by someone who has grown up with these spices, smells and techniques. When ordering I had to go for my favorite dish, Chicken Tikka Korma (Spicy, please!) and Theary choose a lamb dish, Rogan Gosht. Of coarse we also got Naan and Ritia. At this point I was getting really nervous because we also had a three year old dinning with us, what could we possibly feed this little guy? The Zoe plate is what our waitress recommended. A meal of real chicken pieces (not processed nuggets) plain rice and sweet potato fries. Kid friendly food that is healthy and teaches them good eating habits.

Our food arrived and we were not disappointed. The gravies were bursting with flavor, the meat unbelievably tender and the spice right on. The spice is what makes these dishes so extraordinary. The basic flavors, textures and colors are intact regardless of how much heat you want in your dish. In other cuisines if you take away the heat, you take away the flavor. And if you like the heat (I do!) it's something special in itself. It takes three or four bites before the heat kicks in. And when it does it takes over but somehow manages to never destroy the flavor of the dish. Indian food is some of the hottest food I have ever eaten and yet it has never been so overwhelming that I can not taste the other flavors present. We finished our meal with a shared bowl of kheer. We couldn't eat more than a few bites but had to finish with something sweet. And sweet it was, shortly after our dessert arrived the Chef came out to greet us. As a Chef myself I know how hard it is to tear yourself away from the line, your prep, or the general chaos of the kitchen. It doesn't seem like much to diners but ten minutes is a lot of time behind the scenes when every table in the restaurant (and patio) is full. It was so wonderful to know everyone from the hostess to the kitchen staff personally cared about our dining experience.Overall this was a spectacular lunch; I look forward to dining here again.Oh and as a final tip, Don't forget to tip! Although the atmosphere may make you think you are no longer in Omaha, this is still America and our waiters and waitresses make their livings off of tips, so be kind and generous as these men and women work hard and deserve 20% or more.

Want to try Indian Oven for yourself? Visit them at 1010 Howard Street, Omaha Nebraska (402) 342-4856

soup's on!

Pea Soup, doesn't sound to appetizing but oh man is it delicious. And this is the pea soup that first inspired my peas and pasta (check I'll have the pasta for the recipe). I remember first coming across a recipe for this soup in one of Jamie Oliver's cook books. He is my favorite chef and biggest career inspiration by far. I never doubt a recipe of his, I know it will be worth my while to try. For those of you unfamiliar with Jamie Oliver, first off check out his food revolution and second try ANY recipe that you find. His main mission is to make healthy food enjoyable and easy. Me, I love my veggies so I think that's why I find so much of his food appealing. Anyways, back to the soup. Creamy soups are my favorite, actually I think they are everyone's favorite. I mean what's not to like? Starting with the first look, rich and full, steam rising from the bowl. Creamy soups also tend to have more appealing colors, just slightly subdued from their vibrate vegetable state. And before you even taste them, you feel them. When that spoon first hits your lips and the velvety texture coats the inside of your mouth. The warmth spreads into your chest and you have no choice but to smile and take another bite. For me soup is wonderful enough to warrant a trip to the grocery store specifically for the ingredients needed. However, that's hardly ever necessary. Most people have everything they need at home. Just look in your fridge. That left over corn on the cob from your memorial day cookout, turn it into a mid-west chowder. Next time you have steak and baked potatoes, throw a couple extra spuds in the oven and wala! Ingredients for baked potato soup. Extra enchilada filling? add some tomato juice and now you have a fiesta soup for dinner. The possibilities are endless!

Shortbread Cookies

I can't take too much credit for this....the cookies were store bought, Theary's favorite. They were a yummy treat for everyone as we prepped, cooked and styled the rest of the food. The pictures look as good as the cookies tasted!

Wine

I'll have the pasta

I am feeling super motivated today and like my food creativity is unlimited tonight. I’m sure I’m going to pay for this burst of energy and late night cooking tomorrow but right now I just can’t seem to care. And Percy is on my side tonight, getting to pick up and sample any bits and pieces that fall to the floor. (No worries; Percy is a pup.) So what to do with a food imagination that can’t be tamed? I tend to start with my favorite fall back ‘great trick’ and my ultimate favorite food, soup. However my dinner of choice, a creamy pea soup, inspired me in another direction….PASTA!

I reduced my soup to a silky-smooth cream sauce, and used it to top some basic cheese raviolis I had in the freezer. I added some crispy bacon, chives and topped it all with some fresh shaved parmesan cheese. This dish was appealing in every way, brilliant bright green in color, crispy, silky, salty…mouthwatering.

Pea’s and Pasta (what you need)

small onion, diced

A couple pats of butter

Peas, fresh or frozen (I used frozen)

Chicken stock

Heavy cream

Bacon

Parmesan Cheese

Chives

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Dice your onion and sauté in the butter, once translucent add your peas and just enough chicken stock to cover (if you want soup instead add more stock). Cook until fragrant, puree. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste/ consistency. Cook bacon (oven, microwave, however you prefer, just make it crispy) Prepare pasta according to package directions, toss with creamy pea mixture. Plate and garnish with fresh chives, bacon, parmesan cheese and olive oil. ENJOY!

This yummy dish was just the start to my pasta fiasco. After enjoying my dinner I decided that packaged ravioli just wasn’t good enough for me, I needed to make my own. For a while now I’ve been wanting to play around with flavoring pasta, not just the filling but the pasta itself. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone: make a flavorful dough and a basic ravioli. Looking around my kitchen I found a bag of lemons and decided to focus on them. I used a basic pasta recipe (flour+semolina+ eggs+ oil=done) and added the zest of a couple lemons and some fresh cracked black pepper. The result was better than I hoped for…not just a hint of lemon but a burst of freshness in every bite. I took my fresh lemon dough and filled it with a basic three cheese mixture (cream cheese, ricotta and parmesan) and made some beautiful round raviolis.

Lemon Ricotta Ravioli with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes

Lemon ricotta raviolis

Fresh basil

Asparagus

Cherry tomatoes

Butter

Chiffonade (cut into thin strips) the basil and set aside. Trim and blanch your asparagus, set aside. Cook raviolis in boiling water, reserve some cooking liquid. In a sauté pan heat butter, add asparagus and tomatoes and the juice of one lemon, sauté. Add a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water and the ravioli. Coat ravioli and veggies with butter/lemon juice mixture. Add basil right before removing from heat. Season with salt and pepper, serve immediately.

At last, I couldn’t finish with the lemon ravioli because whenever I make pasta I feel I HAVE to make a batch with my favorite veggie, spinach. This method works with almost any veggie (roasted red peppers are another favorite of mine). You simply cook the veggie, in this case sauté the spinach, then puree it and squeeze out the juices. But don’t get rid of the juice! It’s the most important part. When making your basic pasta (semolina+ flour+ egg +oil=done) reduce some of the oil and add the spinach juice instead. This will change the color of your pasta and give you the taste of spinach. For this particular dish I make a basic fettuccini noodle because it’s easy to keep (dry and save in an air tight container) and very versatile for any recipe.

Jamie’s favorite spinach pasta

Spinach pasta

Italian sausage, I like mine spicy but sweet sausage works too

Marinara (your favorite from the jar, or homemade)

Fresh herbs (whatever you’ve got)

Goat cheese

Bake the sausage links and cut into coins. Cook pasta, and then toss in a sauté pan with enough sauce to coat the pasta and the sausage coins. Add your herbs right before removing from heat. Plate and top with goat cheese crumbles. Simple and delicious!

P.s. this is also amazing if you grind up the sausage, mix with the cheese and use as a ravioli filling. When I do this I prefer to make the raviolis a little on the large side, three step bread them and bake them. Serve with marinara as a dipping sauce.

Pay attention for June, my special ingredient will be HONEY! I will be learning how It’s made, what its used for (in the bee world), cooking with it and if I’m really lucky I will find a bee farm (?) and see the process up close and personal.

Country Gourmet

So for those of you that are already following along, this month you get an extra treat. My good friend Theary (and wonderful photographer) asked me to cook and style some food for her to shoot and we both thought that this blog would be a great place to showcase those photos. We started our day at some local markets, or at least looking for some local markets. What we found was a nursery and a whole foods. It seems farmers markets in the Omaha area don't stay open on Sundays. But our imporvised plan worked even better than I could have imagined. I was able to buy fresh herb plants to use in my dishes and now I have them to use all year long. The hardest part of the trip was choosing the right plant from the huge selection we found; chocolate mint, basil mint, spearmint, lemon mint, the row went on and on...(I choose chocolate) I also feel in love with a beautiful squash plant (with blossom attached) and some hierloom tomoto vines which will hopefully provide more pictures and recipes as the summer goes on. The shopping trip was a huge sucess, we found everything we needed and more. But I think the most important thing we got for the day was inspiration, that one market gave me tons of new foodie ideas and the food shoot was so much fun that we have decided we must do it again! Keep watching for photos from the shoot, and my May 'thing' of the month, PASTA!

More to come soon.

Curry and Ice Wine

Two of my favorite things. Not just in the food arena but in life in general. However, most of my favorite things in life tend to fall into a food group of some sort. And that is what led me to Chicago almost two years ago to train my passion for food into a challenging, invigorating career. Because that's what a good career should do, right? Everyone deserves a job that they look forward to each day, something that keeps their mind (and hopefully body) active. I've only been making a living of making food for a couple years now and I still love every second of it. However, in my short time I've noticed that Chefs that have been in this business for a long time have lost the love for it. Maybe that is to harsh...maybe they haven't lost the love but they are no longer 'in love' with it. They don't cook at home anymore, they have a set of recipes that work, a few good (or great) tricks up their sleeves that work and wow. And that's where it ends. But that's not where I want my creative edge to end. I started this adventure for just that, adventure. I want to keep learning, keep exploring, continue making wonderful discoveries and horrible mistakes. So my plan starts here, with this blog. I will pick a topic each month, a type of food, a technique, a country, a culinary fad, ect... to explore, discover, and maybe master. So stay tuned friends hopefully this will be some good insight for everyone and if your close by, some tasty treats too.