After eating only a very small bowl of cereal at 10:30 when I woke up, I was quite hungry come 2:00. I needed to run to Barnes and Noble and pick up a couple of books, so on the way home my aching stomach was begging me to pick up some food. At Fairway, the Mahi Mahi was fairly low in price in comparison to all the other fish, so I grabbed a small fillet along with a lemon and some nice fresh thyme. I walked back home and decided to make myself one of the best lunches I have eaten in a while. I already had some parsnips along with some green beans in my fridge. I decided to slice the parsnips rather thin on the mandoline, and then poach them in  heavy cream with some shaved garlic and thyme. This only took about five minutes because I had cut the parsnips so thin. This also helped me make the decision that all root vegetables should be cooked in heavy cream because they are absolutely delicious. Now to the fish. I cut the bloodline out of the fish which created two small Pavés (a small square tile of fish from the fillet.) I placed the heavily seasoned  fish in a small saucepan with some thinly sliced lemon, about 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic, and a half a bunch of fresh thyme. I then covered the fish about half way with olive oil. I turned  the pan on low and then sat on my couch and read a few pages of The Catcher and the Rye which I had just purchased. I started to hear some sizzle so I headed back to the kitchen expecting the worst of course. The fish smelled delicious though, and was turning out much better than I could of ever expected. The fish was ready to be flipped though, so I did that delicately and then headed back to my book. About five minutes later the delicious fish was done. I trimmed the green beans and cooked them in some of the leftover oil that I had cooked the fish in. I took the fish out of the oil and spooned some atop the fish. As soon as soon as I cut into the fish my mouth started to water. Mahi, which tends to be dry, was dripping with juice. I was afraid that the fish was going to be rather oily but it wasn't at all, just magnificently moist.

There was a lot of leftover oil at the end, so I would recommend straining, cooling, and most importantly refrigerating the oil. Garlic oil is a potentially hazardous food so it is important to keep it refrigerated because food borne illness is common.

The rain would not stop, but I decided to venture out. I went to Starbucks with the intention of getting a  nice cappuccino and reading my book, but a lot of other people had the same idea as me. There wasn't a seat in sight. I then drank my coffee while I was at Fairway (the best grocery store ever), and picked up a few miscellaneous items that I needed. I had already gone to Urban Outfitters and bought 3 too many records, so I decided to listen to them and do a little cooking with the delicious balsamic vinegars that my college roommate gave me for my birthday. She gave me two vinegars: vanilla orange white balsamic and lavender balsamic.  I macerated some strawberries with sugar and the lavender balsamic. While they were macerating, I whipped some cream and added a touch of the white balsamic. I finished the strawberries with some chiffonaded basil, and then topped everything with toasted, shaved pecans. I served some lavender balsamic soaked sugar cubes on the side, which were surprisingly delicious.

The rain may have ruined some of the other plans that I had for today, but it was not going to ruin my breakfast. I rummaged through my fridge and found the only three ingredients that should ever be placed in an omelette: smoked salmon, cream cheese, and fresh dill. Smoked salmon is most likely my favorite food and it pairs perfectly with cream cheese and dill. I decided to challenge myself slightly, so I made a French omelette instead of the classic American omelette. There are 4 key differences between these two omelettes: French omelettes are always rolled and not folded, a French omelette can not have any color, the egg must be in very small curds, and lastly French omelettes always have the filling inside the omelette and not within the egg. To me, French omelettes are just prettier and slightly pretentious.

A nice juicy tangelo accompanied my omelette.
When I was growing up my grandfather had a tangelo tree, and they were so juicy you could jam a straw in one and drink the juice right out of the fruit. While the tangelo was quite sweet and juicy, it wasn't as good as the ones my grandpa grew.

How to make the perfect french omelette:

It is very important to use the right size pan or else there will be not enough or to much egg in the pan, which will make it nearly impossible to make a decent omelette. I like to use three eggs in a small, omelette pan. It is very important that the pan you use is non-stick. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat the egg until it is one homogenous mixture, make sure you season! Then place some clarified butter or neutral cooking oil in the pan. The pan needs to be very hot when you make the omelette. Poor the egg in the pan, and stir rapidly using chopsticks until very small curds are achieved and the egg is almost cooked. Then turn off the heat and tap the pan on the burner hard but don't slam it. This step is very important because it creates the skin of the omelette. This is when you would add any filling you would like. If you want vegetables or meat make sure they are cooked before adding. Then roll the omelette using a rubber spatula, it is basically going to be a trifold roll. The hardest part for me is rolling the omelette seam side down on the plate. Remember though, you can always move it around when it is on the plate to fix the presentation. Also, if the omelette rips, which is very likely, you can just cover it up with a sauce or garnish, and no one will know!

After spending the majority of my day off wasting time, I finally decided to do something productive. I took the subway down to Chelsea Market (because they have a nice restaurant supply store, and I needed to pick up a couple of tools for work). Since I was there, I decided to rummage around their farmers' market and pick up some ingredients for dinner. I found torpedo shallots (that I had never heard of, but had to buy; they taste like a regular shallot though they just are torpedo-shaped), curly kale, butternut squash, Hudson Valley Cream, and some local made pappardelle. I then decided to explore the Chelsea area. I stumbled on the pier just in time to catch the beautiful sunset above. When I got home, I used my fresh ingredients to make pappardelle with sautéed kale and shallot topped with cream poached butternut squash and shaved parmesan cheese.

Pappardelle with Sautéed Kale and Cream Poached Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

• Heavy Cream
• Butternut Squash
• Garlic
• Thyme
• Kale (any type will work)
• Parmasean 
• Shallot
• Pappardelle or any pasta of your choice

Tear kale off the tough stalk and then cut into 1-inch pieces. Then, triple wash the kale because it has the tendency to be very sandy. Place kale in a medium sauté pan with a small amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Sauté, and then add a little water to steam the kale as well. Make sure you are seasoning throughout the cooking process.  Thinly slice the shallot and then add after the kale had become tender (about 10 minutes). Set kale aside. Peel and deseed the butternut squash, and then cut into a small dice, roughly 1/4" cubes. Barely sweat the butternut squash in butter with thinly sliced garlic and 2-4 thyme sprigs. Season. Then, cover the squash in heavy cream and cook until the butternut squash is tender (about 10 minutes). Once the squash is tender, remove the thyme sprigs. Next, boil the pasta in large amounts of boiling salted water according to the directions on the package. Drain pasta and place back into the pot. Add the kale mixture, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt, and pepper. Plate the pasta, then spoon the butternut squash and cream mixture over it. Using a peeler, shave the Parmesan directly on top of the pasta to taste. 

Today was the first nice day in New York in a long time; it almost got up to 80 degrees. To celebrate, my sister and I spent almost all day outside, exploring nearby parks, visiting new restaurants, and finishing our day with a picnic on the pier.

We ran to Fairway and grabbed a few ingredients, but mostly we used what I already had in the fridge. I worked on making the kale and butternut squash salad, while my sister assembled our caprese sandwiches. Then, we packed it up and walked the two blocks to the river and set up our spread on a bench.

We ate while we watched the sun set on the water, and munched on some chocolate black and white cookies we had picked up while we were at Fairway as we walked back to my apartment.

Caprese Sandwich: 

Ingredients:

• Crusty Baguette 
• Tomatos
• Ricotta
• Fresh Mozzarella 
• Basil
• Balsamic Crema 
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Spinach
• Salt & Pepper

Cut the baguette in half and lightly toast under the broiler. Mix ricotta with a touch of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a large pinch of chiffonaded basil. Spread ricotta mixture onto the toasted baguette. Top with a nice bunch of spinach, thinly sliced seasoned tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. Finish the sandwich with salt, pepper, crema, and a pinch of basil. 

Kale and Butternut Squash Salad: 

Ingredients:

• 1bu Curly Leaf Kale
• 1 half Butternut Squash, medium diced
• 1 Shallot
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Pine Nuts 
• TT Parmasean 
• TT Salt & Pepper

Pull the kale off the tough stalk, and then cut the kale into roughly 1 inch strips. Triple wash the kale, because it's prone to being very sandy. Blanch kale in boiling salted water for 7 minutes and then place in a sauté pan with the thinly sliced garlic, shallot, and olive oil. In a separate sauté pan, sear butternut squash until they are lightly golden (medium high heat). Then place about a half a cup of water in the pan, cover and then cooke for 5-10 minutes until the squash is tender. Drain the cooked squash and then toss with the kale. Add toasted pine nuts, and finish with shaved parmesan.