A COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH

In a spirit or mood to try cocktails out at home, I'll be experimenting with different cocktails throughout the year. My (insignificant) goal is 12 cocktails, roughly one per month. Recipes and thoughts to come.

Good Fork Visit (Brooklyn 1 of 12)

There are plenty of sites that review each dish and photograph the food. I won't bother adding to that.

On Friday, the sweetest-of-sweethearts (aka SOS, aka my wife) and I visited The Good Fork in Red Hook (Brooklyn). Red Hook on Friday, January 28, was a snowy and desolate place, complete with man-eating puddles.

Good Fork is pretty nice. To us, the entire experience was on par with Flatbush Farm, probably not as good as The Vanderbilt.

I ordered a fine burger with salty tempura onion rings and SOS had a lovely piece of striped bass with root vegetables and soft farro (I think).

Five takes on the experience:

1. I don't like when the wait staff needs 30 seconds to describe each special.
2. I dislike when the wait staff doesn't tell me the specials' prices.
3. Good Fork is very much a modern American restaurant. If there are Korean influences, they are subtle.
4. I ordered a margarita. The drink - pretty tasty - was unwieldy as it arrived in an ice-filled pilsener glass.
   
5. This is a nice little neighborhood bistro making good, not different, food in a comfortable environment.

To us, not worth two buses and some waiting, but not a bad experience.

$95 Total - 2 apps, 2 entrees, 1 cocktail

Condiments: New York Style Sweet & Sour Onions

This recipe is slightly adapted from one that the good folks at BARK hand-out.

shopping = easy
difficulty = easy
expense = low

4 large yellow onions, sliced thinly
1 t. canola oil
1 12 oz. San Marzano Tomatoes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 T. salt

1. Heat a large wide pan over medium heat
2. Add oil to pan and swirl
3. Add all the onions at once and stir for 1 minute
4. Add salt
5. Cook onions for 5 minutes (translucent and slightly brown)
6. Puree the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar until smooth
   
7. Add tomato mixture to onions and stir for 1 minute
8. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes
9. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and then store in clean glass jar (in fridge)d

This is great on a bagel and really excellent in a turkey sandwich where the bread is hot and the turkey is bland.

12 restaurants of 2011

We don't explore Brooklyn enough. So in 2011, we'll be visiting 12 well-known restaurants that I have never visited.

We'll dine at one per month and I'll post impressions here. Aside from Brooklyn Fare, we'll try to keep the bill for two consistently at $100 total (tax, tip, everything).

Here are the 12 restaurants (in no order).

1. Buttermilk Channel
2. Char No. 4
3. Brooklyn Fare
   
4. Roberta’s
5. Good Fork
6. Tanoreen
7. Dressler
8. Applewood
9. Fonda
10. Prime Meats
11. Vinegar Hill House
12. Locandi Vini e Olli

Simple Chicken Braise

So my kids are loving hot and saucy dishes (no pun, really) this winter. I invented this (I think) last week with a few ingredients in the fridge.

Chicken Braise
shopping = easy
difficulty = medium
expense = low

4 chicken thighs (skin-on), extraneous skin and fat removed, patted dry
3 carrots, sliced in half and then cut into 1/2" half-moons
1 onion, large dice
5 garlic cloves, peeled
5 red potatoes, peeled and large dice (match the onion)
3 T. canola oil
1/2 cup chicken broth (low-sodium) or water
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar

1. In large OVEN-SAFE pot, heat 2 T. canola oil over medium-high heat
2. Add all for thighs, skin-side down
3. Leave chicken alone for 6 minutes
4. remove chicken from pot to bowl
   
5. increase heat to high
6. [preheat oven to 400]
7. add onions and garlic cloves to pot
8. saute for 1 minute
9. add carrots and potatoes to pot
10. saute for 5 minutes
11. add chicken and accumulated juices back to pan
12. add broth/water
13. add salt and sugar
14. bring to boil
15. turn off stove, put on lid, put pot in oven
16. bake for 15 minutes
17. remove from oven and eat over rice or with crusty bread