French Onion Soup Adventure

December 15, 2019 by Alyssa D in main course

I was a weird little kid, as anyone who knew me growing up could tell you. For my birthday, the biggest treat was going to a restaurant downtown, now long gone, and having the French onion soup.

Carbur’s was all dark wood and 1900s ephemera. Tabletops featured old newspaper drawings of ladies with Edwardian hair and dapper men riding penny farthings. For a PBS Mystery-obsessed tween, the place was bliss. At cake time, the servers brought it over while playing assorted musical instruments.

But the best part was when the small brown earthenware pot covered in a thick crust of melted cheese arrived.

Homemade Sushi Adventure

July 25, 2019 by Alyssa D in main course

I’m no Jiro, but I do love sushi.

Formative years in Massachusetts cemented an appreciation for high quality sushi made with care and attention to detail. Over time, I’ve even gained dexterity with chopsticks and confidence about choosing pieces. So why not make some at home?

Northern Thai Coconut Curry Adventure

May 31, 2019 by Alyssa D in main course

This was my own fault for raising expectations. “There’s a special noodle dish that we get,” I said as the four of us headed to the Thai restaurant. “Such amazing flavor. It’s messy, though. You practically need a bib.”

Guillaume and I regularly order “khao soy,” a Northern Thai dish with a spicy, tangy coconut curry soup base. The bowl comes piled with veggies and a nest of fried egg noodles on top. But when I inquired about a vegan version for our friends, the waitress said the base contained seafood.

Never had the words “shrimp paste” been so disappointing.

Meat-Free Moussaka Adventure

April 29, 2019 by Alyssa D in baking, main course

The tower of eggplant slices rose ridiculously high. I’d miscalculated the time required to make three full pans of moussaka — two with beef and one vegan — and was rushing around my narrow kitchen in Queens.

Marie, visiting from France, made her miraculous chocolate mousse and tried to keep me calm as I worked on the béchamel and roasted eggplant discs like a madwoman. We prepared enough salad for an army. My Big Fat Greek Dinner Party of early 2009 was living up to its name.

Although everyone seemed to have a fun time and enjoy the food, the one thing that still irked me years later was the vegan moussaka.

DIY Sous Vide Rack of Lamb Adventure

April 14, 2019 by Alyssa D in main course

This is it, I thought. This is how we’re going to die — a fire inside a church on Greek Easter in Astoria.

My parents and I watched in horror as the priest walked down the aisle holding out two giant bundles of lit candles, one in each ham-hock hand. The people in the pews lunged, trying to get their candles lit directly from him. For good luck? Who knows.

Large men in leather jackets jostled. The cologne and perfume were overwhelming. Mom smelled burning hair.

Creamy Pasta and Shrimp Adventure

December 17, 2018 by Alyssa D in main course

Fresh seafood has long been a weakness of mine. For a real treat while I was growing up, my parents would take me to a local seafood restaurant, where the scallops were my favorite dish. So buttery. So perfect. So fortunate that they weren’t from the nearest body of water.

I just can’t resist good seafood, particularly high quality crab cakes. Same with smoked salmon appetizers, toothsome Korean fish cakes, New England lobster rolls, briny raw oysters, spider rolls at sushi restaurants — you get the idea.

So when Martha Stewart Living had a close-up of mafaldine pasta with shrimp and lemon in the magazine, there was no question about making it. What looked incredibly easy, as is often the case with glossy magazine recipes, turned out to be slightly more difficult. Especially a few glasses of wine into the process.

Modern Turkey Potpie Adventure

November 30, 2018 by Alyssa D in main course

Our wacky Thanksgiving tradition emerged out of necessity. We’d attended a fantastic Friendsgiving that quickly morphed from a half dozen people into an enormous crowd.

The original plan was that we’d make turkey thighs simmered in red chile, but the guest list grew too long for that to be realistic. Other folks eagerly volunteered to roast a big turkey. While there was plenty for dinner, the few leftovers were divided between the friends who brought it and our gracious host. We all insisted.

After so many weeks with turkey on the brain, though, Guillaume and I were hankering for some more.

Vegetables Wellington Adventure Part Two: Double the Madness

November 04, 2018 by Alyssa D in main course

At just about the halfway point in my preparations for the first vegetables Wellington, after I’d cracked my head against the freezer door handle but before the four-hour-long music mix had started repeating, I had to stop.

Nearly every surface in our cramped kitchen was covered with ingredients, bowls, measuring implements, wooden spoons, baking sheets, the overworked mini food processor, pots and pans. In that moment, I couldn’t take any more.

Holding up the glass bottle of caramel-colored liquid in one hand and a narrow shot glass in the other so Guillaume could see, I declared, “It’s come to this.”

Kimchi Carbonara Noodles Adventure

October 12, 2018 by Alyssa D in main course

I hugged the giant plastic tub of kimchi to my chest and tried to twist off the top. Nothing happened. Some bubbles from the fermentation rose lazily through the cabbage.

This was “young kimchi” and, like many a youngster, it was giving adults a hard time. Guillaume had brought the wonderful find back from H-Mart and, despite his stronger grip, he couldn’t liberate the tub, either. The bottom bulged. We wondered if it might be over-packed. Come on, kimchi.

Grilled Summer Veggie Lasagna Adventure

August 26, 2018 by Alyssa D in baking, main course

We couldn’t find the Japanese eggplant. I don’t know if Pacific Ocean Market was out or if they weren’t in season, but we’d driven too far to this store to come away empty-handed.

Reading Kenji’s summer vegetable lasagna recipe made me want to prepare it straight away, and he specifically called for Japanese eggplant. Guillaume, who’s not the biggest eggplant fan to start, pointed to a package of round dark purple softball-sized vegetables labeled Indian eggplant. “How about these?” he suggested.

It was the discovery that changed everything.