6/14/11

spring 2011 on cape cod

I thought I would switch things around and give you some photos of what's happening over here in my world. It's finally spring, soon to be summer on cape cod, which means things are coming back to life. No more snow! Typically spring on cape cod means lots of rain and clouds with short surprises of 70 degrees sunny days.

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I could easily live here....have
my morning coffee sitting right there


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water temp 58 degrees, not quite ready....yet.

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Pretty soon the charter fishing boats with be slammed with business.

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Dingy had a bad winter.

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Isn't that peach color fabulous?

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Someone's rustic office

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west dennis

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east dennis


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A good place to sit and do nothing

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Hello, can I live with you? I'll cook for you.

One of my favorite places to go and chill out on cape cod when my life gets stressful is cape cod national seashore. The sound of the waves are empowering and massive. Once there you forget there is another world; it feels as though this is the only place on the earth--it's magical.
"A man may stand there and put all America behind him." Henry David Thoreau (his quote describing the CC National Seashore)

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beach time 10
You can walk for miles uninterrupted


beach time 12
and miles....

Another place I love is provincetown. Ptown is a world of it's own. It's perfect, has some of the nicest people; everyone is always happy; always something going on, never a dull moment with tons of great places
to eat. It is one of the places hubby and I wanted to live, but his commute would have been brutal during the wintertime on the ferry's. The ride up along scenic Rt. 6A is breathtaking. There are so many little beaches and some of the cutest places to stay overnight, but you have to look for them and you have to call early! I have to also give a HUGE shout out to my favorite radio station WOMR. This is the radio of Ptown. Has the best jazz around and the sweetest DJ's ever. If you're coming to Ptwon please tune into WOMR radio.

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Now that's a view. To the right is the tip of provincetown, about 5-7 miles down the road.

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See the tower of provincetown?


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Little inn on truro that I'm dying to stay at. Look at that view?

Let's get to the food already.

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I go to twin acres in sandwich, a lot. It's a bad habit of mine to eat a ton of ice cream in the summer. It's all I crave, and they really have good ice cream: ice cream filled with lots of stuff in it. Like this one: pb chunk chocolate ice cream.

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Or a soft serve with that crazy coconut hard shell stuff. Man that's good.

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My favorite is the mint oreo chocolate chunk. Obviously I never order a small anything.

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There is a french bakery that is fairly decent. It's cafe boulangerie owned by pain d'avignon. I was not so impressed with their croissants, they were ok, not quite authentic. The almond croissant was very close to being the real thing. Ham and cheese was tasty, but had a trace amount of ham and cheese. I will say they do have fabulous breads. They had horrid customer service when I was there--all the help was over talking at the bar and could care less that people were in line. Sad. But it happens.

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Almond was the best tasting. Chocolate was bad, just a tiny piece of chocolate in there, but one could tell they used high quality chocolate. Ham & cheese ok.

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Ahh the infamous Marions Pie Shop. A well known landmark of cape cod located in Chatham. This place has grown from just a few pies to now well over 50 sweet and savory types of pies. It's a small hole in the wall joint with large impressive menu's. Display cases are kind of empty and may have muffins or other sweet rolls. I was hoping their cases would be filled and overflowing with fruit filled pies, slices of pies to tease and wet the appetite of customers, but all the pies are in the back stored in fridges sadly.

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One wall of the pie menu--it's huge.

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The bacon quiche. Very good, the crust was fabulous. Each little or big pie comes with directions for reheating. Love that.

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Shepards pie. Fabulous. Lots of cheese on top,ground beef could have used a bit more seasoning.

Hands down the best seafood at reasonable prices with huge portions is Lindsey's Restaurant in Wareham. Not the best cape cod town, but well worth the drive. The food is exceptional, high quality, big portions, reasonable prices and always fresh. Hubby and I go there a lot. It's gets packed there so go early. The waitstaff is the nicest around. They do have impeccable takeout service too. When I do do the takeout, I sit in the back part of the kitchen where the diner part is and I always see the big pencil sketch drawing of the owner prominently displayed in the middle of the kitchen. IN the drawing is the owner with the saying "keep everyone happy". So true. And he never ever steered away from that, even when his kids took over. If you go, get the infamous seafood bisque, it has the perfect amount of sherry, filled to the brim with seafood; a bowl is a meal (and I mean that). Broiled, stuffed scallops are highly recommended too.

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lindseys restaurant

lindseys restaurant
Yes, you get all that for a meal. Amazing.

lindseys restaurant

Some of the best pizza that comes very very close to NYC pizza is found not on cape cod but off at Mamma Mia's in Plymouth. Another little hole in the wall joint that has undoubtedly the best crust ever. I swear they must import the water in from NYC to make this the tastiest crust ever. If you do visit cape cod, on the way, stop in plymouth to make a stop at Mamma Mia's and get a large cheese pizza. Even the photo says it all.

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Best place for breakfast is Keltic Kitchen. A place where you can get a real Irish breakfast or not. Either way it's like diner food but way better, and they have daily specials where they kick things up. The chef/owner is very creative (I love that) no same old same old with him, he's known to really kick things up a notch. You have to go there and see what his daily creation is. Last I saw there was a marshmallow pb Elvis french toast with bacon inside. Crazy good. It's gets packed. Get there early on the weekends--for real.

keltic kitchen

keltic kitchen

Other good eats that are not to miss on cape cod:

Emack & Bolio's of Orleans. Now this is homemade ice cream at it's finest with really foodie flavors like: peanut butter ice cream with HUGE chunks of Oreo's. And Mud Pie--don't get me started on the Mud Pie.

Bonatt's Bakery of Harwichport. Home of the infamous meltaway. You literally have to get there early to get meltaways, they only make a few batches for the mornings and then it's gone baby gone. Definitely worth the wait in line. They don't have a website only facebook page. They are on 537 main st in harwichport.

Jo Mama's of Orleans. Who's your mama? Best bagels on cape cod. Exactly like NYC bagels. Cofffee is pretty good too.

PB Boulangerie of south wellfleet. The most authentic bakery I've been to outside of france. I know that's a huge statement right there but it's true. If you go there you will see why. It's right on the way to provincetown on Rt 6. Has gotten rave reviews all around. Both owners are from france, classically trained, worked under some of the best chefs in the country, such as Daniel Boulud. Their bio is impressive, but more importantly their creations are extraordinary.

Did you have a favorite place on Cape Cod? Or better yet, is there a place on the cape (or close by) that you are curious about? Let me know--I love discovering new food joints.

6/9/11

buffalo chicken salad



(Let's pretend I got an email from a fan asking me what to do with leftover BBQ chicken? OK? Cool. )

The other day I got an email from a fan asking me if I had any great ideas for leftover BBQ chicken. Oh I sure do! Leftover BBQ chicken makes the best buffalo chicken salad--perfect for those nights when you do not want to cook during the 1000 degree heat waves. And if you're like me, and love spicy buffalo sauce with cold blue cheese crumbles in your chicken salad, then this would be the salad for you. What a great question. Thanks for the email and question! :-) I hope this salad is exactly what you're looking for.
Who else had a heat wave? We did. It wasn't so much hot, but really humid here on cape cod. With humidity my appetite goes away. I just want to eat ice cream. But sadly I cannot eat ice cream every minute err day. So when I saw, sitting in the back of the fridge, a nice big bowl of leftover BBQ chicken. I knew it was going to be transformed into the best buffalo chicken salad ever. Why? Because I LUCKILY had all the ingredients in the fridge. LOL
Please note: in the pic I have Trader Joe's mayo, DO NOT use this. Use Hellmans instead. Hellmans went better than the slightly sweet Trader Joes. OK?

buffalo chicken salad




buffalo chicken salad
print recipe

Please note these measurements are to my liking; you may need more or less depending on likeness on level or heat and/or mayo. Also if you don't have as much leftover chicken you might need to scale down. As with anything, it’s best to taste test as you go along.

Leftover BBQ chicken (about 2-3 breasts), cold & chopped
¼ cup red onion, chopped
½ cup or more of broccoli slaw (you can use regular cole slaw too)
3-5 TB Hellmans mayo
¼ cup (or more) blue cheese, chopped
2-4 TB hot sauce
Salt & pepper to taste, if needed
Lettuce for decoration and/or extra crunch

Chop up leftover BBQ chicken. In a bowl mix the mayo, hot sauce, blue cheese crumbles. Taste and see what it needs. Add in the red onions and chopped chicken, then the broccoli slaw. Mix well.
Serve on lettuce or rolls.

6/5/11

teriyaki beef strips



I literally just made this for sunday dinner. Never would have thought to post it and share with you. Why? It's one of those dishes you make a lot and never think to post. But my cheerleading/peanut gallery/support team at home thinks otherwise and encouraged me to post this one. It sure is tasty, that sweet sticky glaze that forms on the tender beef while it's being grilled.... Oh yeah. So why not share something this good with others. Plus it's super easy; a snap to pull together. And everything can be done on the grill--those are my kind of easy dishes.
Serving grilled beef; I firmly believe if the meat is grilled and well-seasoned all you really need with it are grilled veggies and bread for all those juices. Okay potatoes too, but I'm kind of carb-watching.
And yes, I always plate my food kind of fancy. Ask hubby. Like the scene in the movie "The Birdcage" starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane where they are trying to dress over nathan lanes character to be more manly, putting him in a suit so he won't appear to be so flamboyant. Clearly the suit looks fine until the camera pans down to the feet where he is wearing pink socks. And Nathan Lane turns and says: "Too much?" "Well, one does need a hint of color!". Love love love that part and adore the movie. It's how I feel about plating food. One does need their food to be presentable, fashionable, more desirable? Too much? I could be in a buffet line, and I would make sure to arrange the food in a colorful fashion so each bite of food is well blended with the other foods on the plate. Ask my hubby, at times while we are dining out, I've been guilty of taking his plate, rearranging the proteins with the veggies and making sure to drizzle on the right amount of sauce or even if there is too much sauce scraping some off to the side for later, should it be needed. I know, bad habit. I just love to properly plate foods and desserts. It makes it more appealing. Perhaps in a past life I was a trained culinary chef....yes, I had to be.

teriyaki beef

So with this dish, its so simple. You must make this this summer. All I ask is that you marinade your beef at least 5 hours. It's needs to get nice and tasty or as Emeril says "happy happy".

teriyaki beef

terriyaki beef

teriyaki beef strips
print recipe

7 strips sirloin beef (about 1 ½ to 2 lbs)
¾- 1 cup of soy sauce
1 & ½ TB of chopped garlic
3 TB of fresh ginger root, chopped
¼ cup plus 2 TB packed dark brown sugar
2-3 TB honey
Couple dashes of ground black pepper

Cook notes: If you want it spicy, just add a few pinches of red chili pepper flakes to the marinade. Also serve with grilled bread. Dip the bread (quickly) in some of the cold marinade then grill. So good. Put the grilled bread on the bottom of the plate to sop up the juices from the grilled beef. I’ve also taken the marinade and reduced it down for a fabulous side sauce. I've also broiled this steak--it cooks very fast so literally watch it. I've also grilled them up in a cast iron pan, about 5 minutes per side. I've never fried them; steak tips don't stay that moist when frying unless they are in tiny strips and get cooked very hot and fast.

Mix all ingredients in a glass or ceramic dish. Mix well until sugar is dissolved. Then add in beef strips. Cover and place in fridge. Every 3 hours turn beef over. Marinade at least 5 hours or longer.
When ready to eat just grill until done, about 4 minutes each side for med-rare.
Serve with grilled veggies. Any kind of veggie really will do: red, yellow, orange peppers, red onions, asparagus, corn, etc…

5/31/11

chicago dog err sausage


Summer is here. And wow was it hot and humid in the northeast. Here on cape cod we were slammed with extreme weather very fast. Our spring meant we literally went from electric blankets to A/C in a matter of days. Wild. When it gets too hot to cook inside I like to go outside and grill. Did anyone cook this weekend? Lately we've been eating a lot of ice cream for lunch and dinner; humidity when it gets to 100% and a dew point of 70 or higher literally zaps your appetite. But I did manage to sneak in these Chicago dogs. OK they aren't the authentic Chicago Dog but its kind of close. I first saw this recipe over at my buddy Nick's site: macheesemo. I tend to make a lot of what he makes. He's got good taste and easy to follow recipes. I need to know how he stays so thin though....
Instead of using hot dogs I used sausages with a nice char on them. I know I know it's not really a true Chicago dog, but then again I never ever follow the rules. If you want the original way head over to see Nick. He even made the relish from scratch. Good man. If you like charred sausages, sweet pepper relish on your dog then I'm your best bet. Whatever you choose....please make sure you butter and toast them rolls people! Makes all the difference.



chicago dog (my way)

kielbasa, Italian sausage or beef franks, grilled with nice crispy char
mayonnaise
grainy mustard
pickles, sliced
tomatoes, sliced
white onions, diced
sweet pepper relish
celery salt

buttered & grilled hot dog rolls

grill up your sausages
butter and grill up your hot buns
layer the buns in this order:
mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, tomatoes, white onions, sweet pepper relish, and then a sprinkling of celery salt.
Serve with baked beans. Enjoy.

5/26/11

chocolate cake w/ olive oil and sea salt


One of the great joys of blogging is the down time I have with scoping out new favorite bloggers. Granted I don't get a lot of down time, but when I do my ideal situation: 6pm or 7pm, dishes are done, everyone is fed, jazz on the internet radio--time to look at other food blogs and food writing websites. I get great inspiration from other food blogs; love seeing new photos, new techniques, other bloggers taking some old recipe, jazzing it up with a new twist or several twists. Honestly I get all my inspiration if I come across a really good food photo. For me inspiration starts with the eyes, then the stomach, then seeing if the flavors I want to add in will match/coexist happily. This chocolate cake with olive oil and sea salt was inspired by sprinklebakes.com When I saw that she had done a sea theme by baking the cakes in shells I was hooked. I didn't use seas shells because I wanted to make sure I liked the whole baking sweets with olive oil first. Admittedly I was very skeptical about using olive oil in anything sweet or baking related. Not any more. The olive oil really does pair very nice with dark chocolate. Not sure about milk chocolate, so stick with the 70% (or higher) dark chocolate. The next time I make these I will try them with the sea shells and the added extra touch of drizzling them with a last coat of olive oil before serving.
Have a good Memorial Day weekend everyone! What are you doing?


chocolate cake with sea salt & olive oil
adapted from sprinklebakes.com
print recipe

Cook notes: I wanted to try and make brownie-like cake. See my changes. And I used a chocolate Ganache instead of the chocolate sauce. This is a very moist cake; it was very hard to cut these into perfect little squares for the photo. If you want to make this the original way please visit sprinklebakes.com

Cake:
7oz. dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter (14 tbsp. or 1 3/4 US sticks)
4 medium eggs
3/4 cups granulated sugar
Scant 1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used 1 cup flour)
1 1/2 ts baking powder
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Brush the entire bottom and sides of a brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9) with generous amount of olive oil; set aside.

Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Add butter and stir until butter is melted and well combined with the chocolate.
Remove bowl from simmering water and let stand until later needed.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs and sugar together and mix on high speed until mixture turns pale and doubles in volume.
Decrease mixer speed and add the flour a little at a time, then the baking powder.
While mixer is running, pour the chocolate mixture in a thin stream into the egg and sugar mixture.
Mix until well blended. Pour batter into brownie pan
Bake for 25-30 minutes. When cake is done, it will form a brownie-like crust on top and a toothpick tester should come out clean.

(Instead of the chocolate sauce I used a dark chocolate Ganache: 1 cup of dark chocolate melted with 1-2 TB of heavy cream whip until nice & glossy)

Chocolate sauce:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup half and half
3 TB sugar
2 TB unsalted butter
4 oz. dark chocolate
1 ts vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, stir together cream, half and half, sugar and butter.
Place pan over medium-high heat and stir to dissolve the sugar and melt butter.
When sugar and butter has melted, add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.
Add vanilla extract and whisk again.
Remove from heat. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes and then whisk again.
(This is a good all-purpose chocolate sauce and can be stored in refrigerator for up to two weeks.)

Assembly:
Spoon a small amount of chocolate sauce/or ganache over cake, smoothing it to the edges with the back of a spoon. Lightly sprinkle cakes with sea salt (don't use a heavy hand with this if using coarse salt).
Drizzle cakes with olive oil. (I did not do this)

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