RECIPE! Elissa Wiehn's Texas Caviar

IT'S A SHAME I don't have any pictures from this fiesta de Cinco de Mayo spent sitting around the gravel backyard of one Phil Falco. As you might imagine, we drank copious Coronas, but I screwed up by finding and bringing along a few cheep liters of Belgian beer, while Aaron and Peyton arrived with bourbon, mint leaves, and sugar for the makings of Mint Juleps. Hardly Mexican, to be sure, but how else does one celebrate when Cinco de Mayo falls on Kentucky Derby day with the Queen of England in attendance at Churchill Downs?

The highlight, however, was at least named after a state that borders Mexico and boasts the basic essence of salsa: Elissa Wiehn's Texas Caviar. This stuff is so simple and so delicious you will be wondering why you haven't been putting it on everything you eat. Required:

2 medium peppers, diced
2 jalapenos, seeds removed and diced small
3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 cans hominy, drained
2 can black beans (or black eyed peas), drained
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 scallions, chopped
some chopped parsley
1 bottle favorite Italian dressing

Put it all in a bowl. Mix. Eat. Feeds many.

This is the recipe as handed my by Ms. Wiehn, which already boats many a modification since it was once upon a time handed to her--an extra can of hominy and the use of cilanto in place of parsley, for example. You too could easily spice up this recipe by adding a bit more garlic and habaneros instead of jalapenos, but it's a pretty sweet salsa so don't go overboard. My only recommendation would be to use yellow or red peppers (as does Elissa) for color, and to soak and use fresh black beans instead of canned ones to drop the sheer sodium level, but that all depends on the prep time you have.

Why the Hell Am I Back in Poughkeepsie?

AFTER A DELICIOUS brunch yesterday, I was wandering over to Elissa and Kevin's place to watch a movie when I got a phone call just as we were stepping into Brooklyn Label to grab some hot cocoa. I tell you this because it explains how the hell I ended up back in Poughkeepsie, though it only starts to explain why I ate a bag of pretzels and a couple Nutri-Grain bars for dinner last night.

As I'm sure you all remember, a few days ago we discussed a lobotomy reenactment. Well, that was happening today on the second floor of the Church Building in Poughkeepsie and, as you may or may not know, the equipment needed to stage a lobotomy reenactment is very, very heavy. Thus, the brute force and sheer strength that my muscles provide* was needed upstate, and yesterday's phone call was to request just this service. In a flash, I was packed and headed to Park Slope to meet the director and set off up I-87. We arrived late. The only option for food was the hotel lobby where I found pretzels and cereal bars, ate them, and went to sleep dreaming of tomorrow and the promise of better food.

Dr. Walter J. Freeman examines his handiwork

In my previous Poughkeepsie post, I did declare my intention to dine at the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe if was ever up this way again. The Apple Pie Bakery Cafe, however, lied to us about being open on the Monday after Easter, and so the Market on Main came to the plate and hit us a home run with its wide array of Boar's Head meats and proudly-brewed Starbucks coffee. I'll have the espresso blend, please!

Since the lobotomy ran a little late the Market also provided me a sandwich for the road home--a sandwich, Vitamin Water and one of Noni's world-famous chocolate biscotti. It's not Famous Amos, but it'll do.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: I'm not going to tempt the gods.

* When used in conjunction with two or three other strong individuals.

Easter Brunch: Jenny's French Toast

FIRST, HAPPY EASTER! Phyllis is hoping for an audition with the good folks Cadbury despite the fact that, yes, the eggs have gotten smaller.

After a few drinks last evening with Kevin, Elissa, Jenny, Phil, and Mint at Paloma, it was suggested that a brunch be held this afternoon. This, remarkably, came to pass (not all of our ideas shaped while drinking are so fortunate.) Elissa and Kevin arrived with two bottle each of orange juice and "inexpensive" champagne, while Jenny brought sweet raisin bread rolls, an orange, half-and-half, powdered sugar, and a sizable about of doubt in the resources of my kitchen.

Jenny did also offer my slightly wounded ego a delicious recipe for French toast, to which we added only flour:

6 large eggs

6 tbsp flour
1 & 1/2 cup half-and-half or milk
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
(plus 4 tsp sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
challah bread
butter
powdered sugar (for garnish)
berries (for garnish)

This is French toast, so mix up everything save for the bread, butter and powdered sugar (if you don't want the extra 4 tsp of sugar, omit it.) Jenny was afraid her only slicing the rolls in half was too thick, but everything turned out fine. We fried the dipped bread over medium heat in a pan with butter until the slices were browned and then stuck them in the oven to keep warm. These slices were huge enough that one was more than plenty for each of us.

This recipe is sweeter and soaks up more than my recipe proposed in the French Toast Bites post, but the orange zest is a very happy addition. In the future, I would add more vanilla soy milk to my original recipe, substitute honey for some sugar, and add the orange zest suggested here. But only add the orange zest if you have berries or fruit as topping, otherwise the orange can be a bit much.

Today in Blogs: An Ode to Mac n' Cheese

UPON HEARING ABOUT this little venture, both Elissa and Jenny mentioned to me the existence of a blog of similar food nature--Not Eating Out In NY. I checked it out, was quite impressed, and decided that it would be the topic of a future post. Until I happened to glance at it this morning to find Cathy from Not Eating Out, in her infinite wisdom, had posted a recipe for spicy macaroni and cheese, whereupon it was decided that Not Eating Out would be the topic of today's post.

The only "mac n' cheese" in my apartment at present

I used feel about french toast the same way I presently feel about macaroni and cheese: I love it. I love the idea of it. I want to have, like, ten thousand of its babies. I don't know what happened to french toast in my mind, but I suspect that the sheer overabundance of it took some of the thrill out of my search. Unlike french toast, with is fairly ubiquitous at any diner or brunch spot in the city, macaroni and cheese is not the type of menu item that gets a lot of attention. I suspect it's just too annoying to make in a commercial kitchen, too hard to perfect, and perhaps just not cost effective enough to make it worth the while, but I balk at all these explanations. Honestly, I think people have just grown out of it.

In addition (and Not Eating Out makes a grand point of this in totaling the price of her creation at $6.57), no one wants to spend $10-plus on mac n' cheese. It's macaroni. And cheese. As any hungover college student knows, Easy Mac costs approximately $0.10 per gallon. If we go gourmet and, let's say, you put noodles and cheese in a pan and stick it in the oven, that same hungover college student will declare it a four-star meal and you still haven't spent more than $7. Yet, if you find mac n' cheese on any menu in this city, I defy you to pay less than $11 to have it brought to you.

Like french toast, you run a risk in searching for mac n' cheese that, when you find it, it might be as awe-inspiringly amazing as you had hoped, or as bland and clearly just-thawed-out as you feared. Which is why making your own seems the best solution--if you want it done right, do it yourself. I will admit I have not made mac n' cheese in a very, very long time, but this recipe stirs something inside me, something more than my secret vegetarian desire for chorizo. This mac... it will be made.

BRUNCH! @ Brooklyn Label

Brooklyn Label
180 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 389-2806
www.brooklynlabel.com

BREAKFAST IS CLEARLY the best meal of the day. Also, breakfast rates very highly on The List of Life's Greatest Things. In fact, the only thing breakfast has working against it is the simple fact that one must wake up to enjoy it. This is problematic because, returning to our list of life's greatest things, sleeping also rates quite highly. How to solve this dilemma...

A few blocks west of the Greenpoint Avenue G station, Brooklyn Label has the solution. An immediate requirement for north Brooklynites, it ought also be tempting to many in midtown Manhattan. And it's little more than a big, bright room serving a big, awesome brunch.

The buzz has clearly already spread--lined up for tables or take-out were hipsters trekked up from Williamsburg, Greenpoint families with children (kept entertained by gifts of pastries from the staff), and casually dressed neighborhood-ers. This is likely why Brooklyn Label was up for Time Out New York's "Best Bruch" award. A high compliment indeed. Elissa, Kevin and I happily waited twenty minutes for a table with free cups coffee in hand.

Once seated, we were never rushed. Between the three of us, we ordered smoked salmon on a bagel (with all the good stuff--tomato, capers, red onion), an omelet, and the special advertised on a chalkboard outside--"green eggs, no ham"--with spinach and soft-whipped eggs on locally-made challah bread with cilantro pesto.

Everything was amazing, and the service too. When our hashbrowns arrived in meager portions, we were brought out fresh helpings. Hashbrowns, by the way, should be encouraged. They're perfect for trying out the bottles of homemade salsa and ketchup that guard each table.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: As soon as possible.