Dessert Person - Focaccia!

It’s a new year and for Christmas Caleb got me “Dessert Person” by Claire Saffitz. I’m pretty sure Caleb got this cookbook more for himself because he loves Claire and wants me to make him desserts but here we are with “my” present.

I do also love Claire and like to bake so this wasn’t a huge stretch and I’m pretty excited for this cookbook as well.

First up was a savory bread recipe which Claire also covers in her book as well - Focaccia!

My friend Julia and her husband Dan also got this cookbook recently and made focaccia so I took some tips from them and started on my way.
I love focaccia and ate it almost every day were were there when I went to Italy in high school as well as when I did my month long work/study in college too.

Claire makes it super easy to follow along in the book with photos but also had her videos which are fun to watch and use during the process as well.

Focaccia is pretty open ended and you can top it however you’d like so I decided on this first run that I’d do a simple garlic and rosemary version with chili flakes for a little kick as well. I realized I had some leftover fingerling potatoes that I needed to use up as well and I LOVED this focaccia with potatoes on it when I was in Italy too which was unexpected so I wanted to try to recreate it.

The video and recipe were simple to follow and It was exciting to make a bread without having to worry about all the overnight proofing and resting and kneading and more proofing which I’m too impatient for.

I did have a mishap where the extra olive oil in the pan that gives the bottom and edges a nice crispy-ness that is a signature of focaccia started to bubble over in the oven and set off the smoke alarm and make our kitchen smell like wax very early on in the process. I’ll have to prep the oven better next time and figure out a game plan to prevent this because it was really stressful and made the end of the process horrible.

In terms of the actual bake of the bread though, it came out really really beautiful and I was really proud of myself with it. The potatoes weren’t a success and were cut a little too thick and over-salted for sure. I ended up picking them off the final bread and the bread underneath was perfectly fine. It was worth a try but I guess I’ll have to go back to Italy for that.

The rest of the bread was so soft and fluffy in the middle and had a great crips on the edge and bottom. A huge successful outcome for a first attempt. I want to make it again soon because I LOVE eating focaccia but I’ll have to give myself some time to forget the olive oil smoke mess.

ITHACA - Luna Street Food

It’s Christmas shopping season and we’re looking for presents for Caleb’s sister, mom, and grandma so we’re headed to the Ithaca commons to do some shopping in local art/craft stores. We don’t tend to go down there because parking isn’t fun and it’s always crowded with the college kids but we didn’t have any other ideas for presents so this is gonna be a nice little shopping trip.

Of course, we went early in the day and were finished by lunch time after going into two or three shops so we decided to get lunch.

To be transparent, we also stopped in a small asian take out place so I could get sushi but while we were waiting for our order we went outside to walk around and spotted Luna Street Food.

They had menu’s posted outside and we weren’t apposed to street food so we decided to order from there too. This is why they tell you not to shop hungry but it’s also a perk of being an adult. Want to eat sushi AND tacos? Two restaurants for take out it is!

LOCATION: 113 N AURORA ST., ITHACA, NY 14850

Since we also ordered sushi, I decided to only get two tacos instead of my normal 3 and it came with a side. This was a silly idea since I’m eating the sushi as a second meal but let’s not worry about that. The prices at Luna Street Food are a little high so two seem fine along with the addition of street corn.

I’ve been craving a good elote but can’t find it ANYWHERE so this is as close as I can get right now and I’ll take it. The Street Corn Side came with local greens, charred street corn, cilantro, pico de gallo, ny cheddar, and chili lime chili dressing. Honestly, this street corn was pretty disappointing. The corn tasted really watery and was clearly just from a frozen bag of kernels. I know it’s not in season right now, but I was still sad that it wasn’t charred more to have the water evaporate from them. For the amount and the quality, it wasn’t worth the money.

BAJA FISH TACOS - blackened Mahi, charred pineapple salsa, slaw, charred lime crema, tomatillo, guacamole, avocado

As my taco I ordered Baja Fish Tacos because I have to try the fish tacos as a gauge for tacos at a restaurant. Fish tacos don’t tend to disappoint me but this wasn’t great.

This mahi mahi wasn’t tender or flavorful and it was really disappointing that it was cut up into chunks instead of having one large flaky piece of fish like I’m used to. That big piece of fish that is tender and moist is the best part of having a fish taco and this was the first one that I’ve had where the fish was cut like this and it wasn’t not a preference or choice I would’ve made otherwise.

Everything else inside was lackluster. The tortilla wasn’t great, the pineapple was a little strong and not balanced well as a whole, and the avocado/guac wasn’t even noticeable.

TACOS AL PASTOR - Slow roasted pork shoulder, flame kissed pineapple, diced red onion, fresh cilantro

Unfortunately, the Tacos al Pastor was pretty similar in review because of the similarity of ingredients. As you can see the onions were supposed to be red onions but they used a white onion that day which is not a big deal but I can’t say that it helped the flavor. The pork was dry and while it was fine and edible, it wasn’t a great taco. I usually love tacos al pastor because the flavors are so good and juicy but this wasn’t it.

Overall, this place was disappointing. The pricing wasn’t crazy expensive but it wasn’t cheap and for the price, the food wasn’t up to par. The ingredients felt cheap and not cooked well. It was basic overall and I wouldn’t go back.

With an open menu of ‘street food’ there are so many choices and I love street food so this felt like a fun place to go to get a little bit of everything or to fill an odd craving but the results were disappointing. They didn’t hit the spot at all and felt like a waste of money in the end.

ROC - Roc City Ramen

I’m back in Rochester for pre-Christmas Christmas! My family isn’t big on holidays anymore and while we celebrated Christmas we stopped doing real presents when I was 12 and haven’t had a tree since about then too. So, I decided to go to Christmas with Caleb’s family but wanted to stop in to see my parents before then as well because it feels wrong not to.

This trip I decided to make a Ramen run. Lack of food variety in Cortland makes me crave food hard when I’m back in Rochester but it’s still hard to go out because I miss my parents cooking too. One or two take out meals during my trips depending on length and this had to be the one.

LOCATION - 215 ALEXANDER ST., ROCHESTER, NY

I’ve been to this place before in the past (and written about it) but it popped up on my social media feed recently. They’ve expanded to different locations and increased their menu but I went to their first location and go the SPICY MISO TONKOTSU Ramen. I don’t recall this being on the menu before, and if it was I decided to try something else and save this for another trip so here I am. The spicy miso tonkotsu ramen is a creamy pork bone broth & miso paste with wavy noodles (of course), Chashu/Pork, Scallions & Sweet Corn topped with Ichimi Spice & Spicy Sesame Oil. I HAD to add AJITSUKE which is a Japanese Soft-Boiled Egg, Infused in a Soy-Sake Marinade (worth the $1.25).

This ramen didn’t fail me. While their origin is that the owner studied in Brooklyn ramen shops and decided to bring it to Rochester, I can’t say this is as good as restaurants that I’ve been to in NYC but for Rochester, this is it. The flavor is on point and the noodles are nice and chewy. This hits the spot and is of course elevated from instant ramen. This has everything I want too, chashu, corn, and egg, and a little kick to the broth. I wish this was available in Cortland. My life would be so happy.

Pasta e Fagioli

Winter is here and that means it’s SOUP SEASON! My friend Julia makes soup every Sunday during the winter and they eat it all week and I wanted to follow suit so I decided to start off with this Pasta e Fagioli from Carla Lalli Music.

Of course, I found this recipe on the Bon Appetite youtube and bookmarked it to try and the recipe in full is something that Caleb and I would eat without modification so it was as simple as following along.

I did cut corners and I know Carla would not be proud but instead of using dried white beans, I just used canned. Sorry Carla, I’m not committed and prepared enough to soak beans overnight… I was also worried about finding a ham hock but it actually was easy to get at the local grocery chain so that made things easy.

After that I just followed along with the video and recipe. I pulsed the carrot, leek, and garlic and then cooked them down in a dutch oven. I added my ham hock and cooked it down then added the beans, tomato, and kale. I had a parmesan rind, bay leaves, and let it simmer all together. I was supposed to discard the rinds after a few hours but I hit it too late and they were soft and mixed in with the rest of the soup i had a hard time finding it. Critical mistake.

I did fish out the ham hock and it wasn’t terribly difficult to pull the meat off the bone after such a long slow cooking time.

I decided to use little pasta rings which I love for soup and cooked them al dente like instructed and then added them to the soup. Then we were finished!

This was a really great soup experience and it made the kitchen smell amazing. I loved making it and it was well worth eating throughout the week. My one preference was that I should’ve shredded the kale smaller because I didn’t like eating the large chunks and ended up eating around them. I’m not a huge kale fan overall but I wouldn’t omit them totally since they were a nice addition. So maybe a little less or just cut down better.

My big mistake, as mentioned before, was that I didn’t pull out the parm rind and it ended up in Caleb’s bowl and he didn’t not have a great time with it. He’s very sensitive to food textures and accidentally finding that in his mouth ruined his first bowl experience and I felt really bad about it since the rest of the soup was so good.

This is on the list to make again for sure, especially since I have another ham hock in my freezer just hanging out. Soup season! Let’s gooooooo!

Soondubu

I’m having major withdrawal and cravings for BCD Tofu and their Soondubu but since I’m not planning on going to NYC any time soon I’ve had to figure it out for myself. Karie gave me a quick recipe that she makes which was a true homemade recipe and indicate a splash of this and a little bit of that. So we improvised.

I decided to use Impossible plant based meat substitute instead of a ground pork or beef since I had a pack in my freezer then went and found some soft tofu. I also bought green onion and added an egg but I should’ve added in shiitake or enoki mushrooms as well.

I also didn’t add enough liquid for my soup base but used a stock as a base, chili powder/oil, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I’m not a huge Kimchi fan and I know it would make the soup base taste more like what I’ve had ad BCD before but I didn’t want to be left with a whole container of kimchi just sitting in my fridge forever.

Of course, I also ate this over rice because that’s the way I like to enjoy it. I wish I had a stone pot to cook this in like real restaurants do but that’s a specialty cooking vessel that I do not have extra space for in my kitchen. I also made a ton and Caleb wouldn’t come near this so I had to eat it on my own for the rest of the week and I wasn’t mad about it.

I wish I had been more adventurous and made it spicer and aded in kimchi and more stock. For a first attempt it wasn’t bad but I’ll have to try to make it more authentic next time to hit the mark. I would also prefer using real ground meat because the smell of the impossible ‘meat’ wasn’t great after awhile even though it tasted fine.

I give myself a 3/5. I can do better.