My virgin attempt at pumpkin pie....a success!!!

Every year at Thanksgiving my mother cooks the turkey, bakes the stuffing, mashes the potatoes, and pours the drinks. And then dessert comes....and its a Sara Lee pumpkin pie which was overcooked and now rubbery. Lovely. The one pie I actually like to eat and its store bought....it just doesn't seem right after everything else was home cooked and made from scratch. So every years this happens, and every year I say to myself "I need to make a pumpkin pie." I mean literally the past 3 years I have said this and every year I disappoint myself! Well not this year!

Now every month I look forward to getting my Gourmet magazine so I can flip through the recipes and secretly wish I was an employee at the Food Network studios who could invigorate my senses with the aromas of food & wine...and get paid for it. But for now I will continue to flip through my Gourmet magazine and pretend that I am well versed in the food world, and not get paid for it. So a few weeks ago I received my November issue which of course, was dedicated to my favorite holiday...Thanksgiving. Oh the heavenly receipes for pies, stuffing, and turkey. If only I had the time, strength, and utensils to deep fry a turkey! Well moving on...I was looking for a good stuffing recipe when I stumbled across the following words....BOURBON PUMPKIN PIE. Wow...two of my favorite things, pumpkin pie and liquor! Score! This was was motivation to FINALLY make a homeade pie.

I definitely consider myself to be a good cook, but NOT a good baker. So I was alittle nervous taking on a pie receipe. So I did one small shortcut. Below is the recipe for Gourmet magazines Bourbon Pumpkin Pie, but I bought a pre-made dough that was rolled and in the refridgerator section of the grocery store. So all you have to do is roll is out over a pie tin and voila'! instant pie crust that fits perfect in a 9 inch pie, other than that I stuck to the recipe. Ok, ok.....I DID add an extra tablespoon of bourbon!

Well here is the recipe...hope everyone enjoys! I will be posting pictures shortly.

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

• Pastry dough
• 1 (15-ounces) can pure pumpkin
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• Equipment: a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate (6-cup capacity); pie weights or dried beans

• Accompaniment: lightly sweetened whipped cream (add 1 teaspoon bourbon per 1/2 cup cream if desired)

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Preparation

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round and fit into pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang under and lightly press against rim of pie plate, then crimp decoratively. Lightly prick bottom all over with a fork. Chill until firm, at least 30 minutes (or freeze 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until side is set and edge is golden, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake shell until golden all over, 10 to 15 minutes more. Cool completely.

Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour into cooled shell.

Bake until edge of filling is set but center trembles slightly, about 45 minutes (filling will continue to set as it cools). Cool completely.

Cooks' note: Pie can be baked 1 day ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Mouth-watering sushi...AKA Genki Ya!

Ahhhh sushi. God I love it. If I was on death row and had to choose my last meal – it would be sushi. Well ok, and my mom’s mashed potatoes & gravy. BUT you get the idea. It’s something about the savory yumminess that melts in your mouth after eating a piece of sushi that is just so refreshing and satisfying. I am definitely not surprised how popular sushi has become over the past few years. Sitting at a sushi bar and seeing those men carefully cutting and forming these tiny pieces of fish really makes you appreciate all the hard work and love that goes into your meal. Christ, now I’m hungry…

With that said, I have hooked my best friend Neeky onto sushi. So every few weeks we check out a local favorite or try out a new place around town for our sushi fix. She happened to mention a place over in Brookline that I had never heard of before, called Genki Ya. What got me excited is that this place only focuses on organic quality Japanese cuisine. HUGE bonus points!

Side note: If you are unaware of what organic/all-natural food is, you must read Larry Cook’s The Beginner’s Guide to Natural Living. It will turn your world upside down, and you will never look at an apple the same way again. Shop at Whole Foods!

Moving on…Neeky and I arrived on a Friday night to check this place out. Not only did we get a parking spot right in front of the restaurant, there were also 2 empty seats at the sushi bar just waiting for us to sit there! I am already loving this place and I haven’t even looked at the menu yet! But once I did, I was very impressed with it. First of all, I guess I am a kid at heart – because I LOVE menus with pictures! I think its genius when restaurants do this, because don’t we eat with our eyes first right?? Even there take-out menu has pictures! Ok I’ll calm down now, anywho… what initially caught my eye was there “fruit” maki rolls. How come I didn’t think of this? They also feature Acai juice, which if you are living in a cave is a berry-enriched drink that has about 30 times the level of antioxidants that a grape juice has. Anti-oxidants = good for your body.

Ok let’s get to the food: I ordered a Genki special, as my appetizer, called Genki Ichiban – which is spicy tuna & tobiko layered over fried seaweed & rice. It’s basically a de-constructed spicy tuna roll. I also ordered the typical Rainbow roll and split the Fruit roll with Neeky. Now the Genki Ichiban appetizer was supposed to arrive first, but unfortunately I got everything else before that. My rainbow roll was very tasty with a good helping of raw fish on top. As we all know, I don’t like when chef’s skimp on the food. As for the Fruit roll, I was disappointed. While the combination of mango, banana & avocado was great…the rice just didn’t seem to pull it all together. I though long & hard about what they could have done to make it taste better – because it’s such a unique twist on a sushi roll. So my recommendation to Genki Ya would be to either use sweeter rice, or drizzle some honey and cinnamon over the roll itself. It just wasn’t sweet enough.

So after much anticipation I got my appetizer of the Genki Ichiban. WORTH THE WAIT. Wow, I was blown away by how delicious and different this was! It was sooooooo decadent; it literally just melted in my mouth. I still have dreams about it! You get the crunchiness of the fried rice (I think they just took rice, wrapped it in seaweed, and fried it) and the softness of the tuna all in one bite…YUMMM. I couldn’t even finish it. I know I would have if I got it first though!

Event after our filling dinner, the restaurant was so gracious enough to give us a small sampling of their green tea ice cream & tapioca. Our waitress told us to mix them together and enjoy! And we did! And we damn well enjoyed it!

In summary, any health-conscious sushi lovers (or any sushi lover) would definitely appreciate what Genki Ya has to offer. They offer 3 types of rice: sushi rice, brown rice, and even a multi grain rice: I ordered all my sushi with the brown rice and man, that is the way to go. Not only is it way healthier than white rice, but you can’t even taste the difference! I also really liked the vibe of this restaurant. Even with all of the high-priced, modernized sushi places in Boston, there is nothing like going to that hole in the wall place that only seats like 15 people at a time, which is how Genki Ya operates. I would absolutely check this place out when you are craving sushi – and call me when you do!

Info sminfo: Genki Ya, 398 Harvard St, Brookline MA, 617.277.3100
They don’t have a website, but here is the menu:
http://www.foodler.com/MA/Brookline/Sushi/Genki-Ya-Organic-Sushi/3984.html

Review: Big Papi's Grille

Ok let’s get down to business. The first restaurant I reviewed happened to be owned by Boston’s beloved Sox player – David Ortiz. His restaurant, appropriately named “Big Papi’s Grille” is located in Framingham right on rte 9. I was very curious on how it would be perceived, and what kind of menu he would have, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The décor was extremely tasteful, and not overdone with Red Sox paraphernalia. And the food…in 3 words I would sum it up by saying – not too shabby. I figured since he was Big Papi & all, the burgers & steak would be pretty good – so I put my focus on ordering some items that most fans probably wouldn’t order.

I started with the tuna tartar: it was ok. The tuna was a slightly watery, BUT I was impressed with the portion size. It came with these yummy, crunchy potato-chips that were pretty good too. A few friends of mine ordered the lobster & crab cake duet – and it was very tasty. Although funny, because the portion of the crab cake was not impressive, especially if you plan on splitting the apps.

Onto dinner…I had trouble deciding, but I landed on the Chicken Oscar. I’ve actually never had Chicken Oscar before, so I had no basis of comparison. But overall it was very delicious! But of course, the chicken to seafood ratio is like 3:1…you get these 2 huge chicken cutlets…and then 2 pieces of shrimp and meat from about 1 lobster claw. Can you say annoying??? I hate when restaurants do this. And I know, the dish is called CHICKEN Oscar, but c’mon! I want me some shrimp dammit! And I also wanted more of the lobster tarragon sauce! Tarragon happens to be my new favorite spice (esp. on chicken salad – yum!) so I figured I would want to lick the plate clean, which I did.


In summary, if you happen to be on Rte 9 looking for a place to eat & maybe watch the game – it’s definitely worth checking out Big Papi’s Grille. Would I make it a point to go again? Probably not. But I do tip my hat off to Big Papi for overseeing a very classy, but not pretentious restaurant vibe, and a friendly menu to appeal to anyone’s taste. Below are some links to check out, Mr. Ortiz also sells hot sauce.


http://www.bigpapienfuego.com/

http://www.bigpapisgrille.com

Welcome to my crazy obsession: FOOD!

Well I should start off by saying – welcome! I have to say, staring at a blank screen with the intentions of writing a funny, witty, and informative blog is intimidating! BUT no worries, I promise I will not use words like “palette” and “effervescent”…I can’t even spell those words correctly, let alone know how to use it in a sentence to describe food!

Just a quick blurb on myself: Just like scratchy-voiced Rachel Ray, I am not a chef. I just freaken love food. In another life I am a food critic. And I know that everyone looks at me and thinks – “what the hell does this girl know about food – she can’t weigh more than 90 pounds!” Well first off your wrong, I weigh 98 to be exact. And secondly, I watch the Food Network more than the average person watches reality TV. Yea think about it. I really don’t know where my obsession with cooking & eating different types of food started, but over the past few years it’s become quite a passion of mine. So much so that when I go on a date I look forward to the restaurant we are meeting more than getting to know the guy! That probably explains why I am still single – I might need another blog for that subject!

My first review will be up shortly...thanks in advance for the support! As my italian grandma would say...MANGIA!