City Brews

For years Matt and I have been trying to do a date night in the city but it never seems to work out. Matt's summer break will be ending in a few weeks, so we made a spur of the moment decision to make it happen last night.

We had been planning to check out Do or Dine - the restaurant owned by our favorite new Next Food Network Star - but traffic was crazy and it just wasn't meant to happen. I work near Hell's Kitchen, so we switched plans and headed to Restaurant Row. After a 30 minute walk in the 95 degree heat we were sweaty and parched, so we made our first stop The House of Brews for a pint.

House of Brews has a great craft beer selection. I started off with the Green Flash West Coast IPA, which was citrusy, hoppy and really refreshing. While we sipped our drinks, we split an order of the Belgian Fries with chipotle sauce - so good! Even the bartender gave into trying one of them. :) We didn't want to fill up on fried potatoes, so after a few each we grudgingly abandoned the plate.

The bartender at House of Brews was great and chatted us up about beers, letting us know they had a limited supply of the Stone Ruination 10th Anniversary IPA in the cooler, which we hadn't tried yet. He said it was amazing, so we went for it. He wasn't kidding. This beer is awesome. It's a 10.8% ABV and has twice the amount of hops as the usual Stone Ruination IPA. House of Brews got one of the ten cases delivered to New York and they only have a few bottles left, so if you want to try it, go fast! 

After drinks we headed down 9th Ave and stopped into Hummus Kitchen for dinner. It was so muggy and hot in the city that all I wanted was a cold drink and some cold eats. 

A lemon mint slushy and hummus platter did the trick!

I also had half a falafel wrap with cucumbers and tomatoes on a homemade pita.

As we were finishing dinner, my friend Abby showed up to meet us for a night cap. She's been wanting us to try Brickyard Gastropub, which happened to be right across the street, so off we went!

Brickyard also has a good selection of brews. I ordered the Founder's IPA, which is always a good pick. 

Great night! But this morning I woke up tired. I'm declaring the next two weekends drink-free so I can rest up and get my healthy kick back on. It's about time, I think. ;-)

Sandwich Night

Sandwiches were on the menu for dinner at our place last night. But not just any old sandwiches. These were pesto gouda, broccoli rabe and tomato jam sandwiches on grilled sourdough bread.

When I make my dinner lists before the biweekly grocery shopping trip, I usually include some kind of sandwich, whether it's a vegetarian BLT, a green apple panini or a grown-up grilled cheese. They make fun, easy weeknight dinners and I like to find creative ways to incorporate fruit or vegetables into them. Sometimes your veggies are just more appealing when stuffed between slices of bread. :)

To make these sandwiches, I piled garlicky broccoli rabe on top of a slice of sourdough bread, then added one ounce of pesto gouda cheese (to see how I make my broccoli rabe, check out this post). Then I topped them with the other slice of sourdough bread, which I had spread with some tomato jam I made last summer. Then I grilled 'em in the George Foreman with some cooking spray until they were golden and crispy.

This tomato jam, by the way, is seriously amazing. I got the recipe last summer from In Jennie's Kitchen, and figured it'd be a great way to use up a bunch of my garden tomatoes that were threatening to go bad on me. I used one jar right after I made it, and couldn't wait to open my second jar last night. It's sweet, tangy and has all the flavors of sundried tomatoes (although only fresh tomatoes were used), brown sugar, caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar.

We ate our sandwiches with the rest of the broccoli rabe and some fresh string beans from the garden. Sandwich heaven!

Crispy Baked Eggplant, Green Tomato & Mozzarella Napoleons

The garden is in full swing these days. I'm loving that I don't have to buy mountains of produce at the grocery store, and loving even more that I have to come up with creative ways to use up all our fresh veggies.

This week the eggplants sprouted! I am not an eggplant lover, per se. I like eggplant parm (who doesn't?), but I'm not usually a fan of it otherwise because I find it spongey. I find the trick is to use small eggplants, and to cut them into thin slices.

To make these napoleons, I breaded thin eggplant slices with Italian breadcrumbs and then baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so, flipping halfway through, until they were golden brown. I didn't use any oil - cooking spray on the baking sheet was enough to get them crispy.

While the eggplant was baking, I sliced up two large green tomatoes, sprinkled them with salt and cayenne pepper, and seared them in my cast iron skillet over medium heat. I know green tomatoes sound weird, but honestly they work. They are firm and tart, and are the perfect balance to the crispy eggplant and creamy mozzarella. We have zillions of green tomatoes in our garden, but if you can't find them, just use fresh ripe, red tomatoes - no cooking needed for those.

Once the veggies were cooked, I just layered the eggplant and "fried" green tomatoes with slices of fresh mozzarella, then garnished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a little more salt and pepper, and chopped fresh basil. I'm growing purple basil for the first time this year - it tastes the same, but looks so neat!

These napoleons were nearly a meal in themselves, so I served them alongside simple green salads. Seriously, they were so good. They were crunchy, flavorful, fresh and creamy all at the same time. Such a perfect summer treat!