RECIPE! Hot & Sour Chickpeas

KNOWN IN INDIA as khatte chole, this easily-made dish requires little work outside of filling a big pot and squeezing a lemon. It freezes well and makes a great lunch--just refresh the dish by squeezing a bit of lemon over it and enjoy hot or cold.

12 oz. chickpeas
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large shallots, chopped
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 green chilies, seeded and sliced
1-inch piece ginger
1 lemon

Use dried chickpeas if possible. Soak overnight in plenty of water, simmer for 60-90 minutes until tender and reserve liquid; if using canned chickpeas, rinse and drain well. Heat oil in large casserole dish. Reserving two tbsp of the shallots, frying the remained over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, lower heat. Stir for 5 minutes and mash tomatoes into a paste. Stir in coriander, cumin, fennel, and cinnamon--cook for 30 seconds. Add chickpeas and one cup of reserved liquid. Salt, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

In small bowl, mix reserved onions, chilis and juice of one lemon. When chickpeas are ready, mix in lemon juice mixture, stir well and eat immediately.

RECIPE! Corn & Goat Cheese Pockets

POCKETS, PURSES, MONEYBAGS--these delicious little filo dough pouches could be called many different things, but they're also: Simple.

This recipe requires no fancy machines or daunting techniques, just a lot of patience, some table space and a little planning--the filo dough will likely be frozen when you buy it, so you'll need to allow it a day in the fridge to thaw. Then moisten yourself some paper towels and get started:

2 ears of corn
4 oz. goat cheese
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
3 scallions, chopped
Ground black pepper
8-10 small sheets filo pastry
1 cup butter, melted

Boil the corn in salted water until tender. In a large bowl, mix the corn and goat cheese. Add egg, milk (I used soy milk to successful effect), scallions and ground black pepper. Stir it up. Take a large sheet of filo dough and cut (and/or fold) as needed to make a square. Brush with butter and fold the large square into a smaller square--about 4-5 inches wide should be a good size. Drop a small spoonful of the corn mixture in the center of the filo square. Pull up the edges and squeeze around the filling to make a pouch-moneybag-purse-pocket-type pastry. Place on buttered cookie sheet, brush once again with butter, and cover with a damp cloth or towel to await more of its corn-pastry brethren. Bake 'em all at 375-degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.

NOTE: Keep your unused filo sheets covered with a damp cloth or paper towel to avoid them drying out. No one likes a brittle filo sheet. People do, however, enjoy different kinds of cheeses. Goat cheese or feta cheese are certainly two tangy options, but Parmesan or cheddar would be interesting too. That said, corn could be swapped for roasted eggplant or spicy chickpeas, and scallions traded for leeks or shallots. Go nuts, for all I care.

Recipe makes a bunch. Don't worry--you'll eat them all.

{The Menu - 09.05.07}

Morning
Coffee + Toast w/ Orange Marmalade

Noon
Peanut Butter Sandwiches + Banana

Night
Hot & Sour Chickpeas w/ Corn & Goat Cheese Pockets

{The Menu - 09.04.07}

Morning
Coffee + Toast w/ Peanut Butter

Noon
Leftover Pasta w/ Tempeh

Night
Bowl o' Cereal + Peach

{The Menu - 09.03.07}

Morning
Coffee

Noon
Omelette w/ Mushrooms, Tomatoes & Cheddar

Night
Pasta w/ Mushrooms, Tomatoes & Pine Nuts in Red Sauce + Tempeh

{The Menu - 09.02.07}

Noon

Coffee + Egg w/ Basil, Tomato & Cheddar on Poppy Seed Bagel

Night
Slice of Pizza + Bowl o' Cereal

End of Summer, Part III: L&B Spumoni Gardens

L&B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11223
(718) 449-1230
spumonigardens.com

FOUNDED IN 1939 and run for the next 68 years by the Barbati family that founded it, L&B Spumoni Gardens is a perennial favorite for Best Pizza in New York City (strike that, in Brooklyn, as if the City mattered at all in the contest) in the only media outlet that really matters: people who eat there. If you think otherwise, you haven't eaten at L&B's.

Mint, Steph and I finished our Last Day of Summer crusade, which began in Tribeca and continued on to Coney Island, by ordering up a half-tray of Sicilian pizza in Bensonhurst. L&B's cheese-first, sauce-on-top school of deep-dish pizza-making earns itself, at first, many a startled disbeliever. That is, until first bite. The crowds melt away into the summer breeze; the din of spumoni lovers waiting in line softens to a hush. All that remains is the sweet, sweet sauce, tangy cheese and a crispy, coal-burnt blackened crust. L&B's patio was invented for moments like this.

For $18 you get 12 slices of inch-and-a-half-thick goodness, you pick up a shaker of grated Parmesan, a shaker of garlic salt and a shaker of red pepper, and then you sit and enjoy yourself on L&B's sprawling outdoor patio. Neighborhood locals come and go, the clustered line waiting for homemade spumoni refreshes itself endlessly, and plate after plates of hot heroes and pasta pass by. This is summer at L&B's. I defy you to find me a better slice of life.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Hopefully once more before it get chilly.

End of Summer, Part II: Coney Island

WAS THERE FOOD to be had at Coney Island? Of course! Did we have any of it? Well, not really. Save for munching on the ice swimming in our super-sweet daiquiris, Steph, Mint and I stuck to beer, rum and water, not always in that order. Still, too many good pictures not to post. Enjoy!

End of Summer, Part I: The Bigger Little Place

The Bigger Little Place

61 Warren Street
New York, NY 10007
(212) 528-3175

THIS MEXICAN KITCHEN, formerly known as The Little Place, was forced to close what was its Tribeca lunch counter in the aftermath of September 11. Six months later, its owners purchased the storefront nextdoor, renovated, expanded, and reopened as the Bigger Little Place.

Surely there are finer brunch spots in New York. Certainly there are far cheaper Mexican kitchens. Yet it is to the Bigger Little Place that Mint and I return time and time again, and today we dragged Steph with us. There's something about the grilled biscuits with strawberry butter. Mint swears the bacon is the best she's ever had. The huevos rancheros, eggs piled up on thick corn tortillas, are more satisfying than any I've had elsewhere. It's wholly unfascinating, and it's probably more expensive than it ought to be. I have no explanations.

Still, I have to recommend the Bigger Little Place. It's an honest kitchen in a city that so often boasts restaurants aiming for such great heights. You can do nothing here but sit, drink coffee, and enjoy your meal (the service, though amiable and pleased to respond to your requests, is rather laid-back, so perhaps you have no other choice). The Bigger Little Place is quite simply just delicious.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Yup, yup! If you're visiting the city and staying downtown there's an out-of-towner discount if you show your out-of-town driver's license for brunch.

{The Menu - 09.01.07}

Morning

Coffee

Noon
The Bigger Little Place, New York, NY

Night
L&B Spumoni Garden, Brooklyn, NY