Beating The Winter Blues At Bartaco

Today is the first day of Spring, but it sure doesn't feel like it. In an effort to escape Old Man Winter, James and I paid a visit to bartaco in West Hartford Center. It has a very South Beach/Miami vibe and is apparently inspired by South American beach culture--definitely unlike anything else around here. When the weather warms up, the front windows open up onto the street and I can just imagine sitting outside on a summer night sipping one of their freshly-squeezed cocktails.

bartaco's menu is partially inspired by Mexican street food and Spanish tapas, so everything comes a la carte. We shared a plate of delicious shrimp, baja fish, chorizo, lamb, and chicken tacos all simply prepared with cilantro and onion. Each table also gets a selection of three different salsas if you want to spice things up.

Next up was the refreshing spicy cucumber salad and their take on one of my obsessions, grilled corn with lime, cayenne, and cotija cheese. It was good, but Toro in Boston is still the reigning champion. Despite the March weather, everything tasted extremely fresh and in season. For the briefest of moments I really did feel like I was on the other side of the equator. Or, at least in Florida.

Literary Eats: Treacle Tarts from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Oxford don and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Though Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland wasn’t his first published work, it was by far his most popular. Children and adults alike were enchanted by Wonderland’s fanciful imagery, anthropomorphic animal characters, and nonsensical language. Though Dodgson’s literary legacy has been marred by debate concerning the true nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell, the youngest daughter of Henry Liddell, dean of Oxford’s Christchurch College, his work is arguably even more popular today thanks to the 1951 Disney cartoon and Tim Burton’s 2010 pseudo-gothic movie Alice in Wonderland. Aside from the arresting visuals provided in both the book and its many film versions, some of the most famous scenes are built around some very British traditions: The infamous Mad Hatter’s tea party, the depiction of the royal court, and a game of croquet. A number of traditional British foods are mentioned as well, but there is one that causes an uproar:

The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them--all sorts of little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards: the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit, with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the other. In the very middle of the court was a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made Alice quite hungry to look at them--`I wish they'd get the trial done,' she thought, `and hand round the refreshments!' But there seemed to be no chance of this, so she began looking at everything about her, to pass away the time.

Later on the Duchess’ cook (and pepper aficionado) is being questioned about the tarts:

Alice guessed who it was, even before she got into the court, by the way the people near the door began sneezing all at once.

'Give your evidence,' said the King.

'Shan't,' said the cook.

The King looked anxiously at the White Rabbit, who said in a low voice, 'Your Majesty must cross-examine this witness.'

'Well, if I must, I must,' the King said, with a melancholy air, and, after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were nearly out of sight, he said in a deep voice, 'What are tarts made of?'

'Pepper, mostly,' said the cook.

'Treacle,' said a sleepy voice behind her.

'Collar that Dormouse,' the Queen shrieked out. Behead that Dormouse! Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his whiskers!'

Treacle tart has long held a place in British literature and is even mentioned as Harry Potter's favorite dessert. It would seem that nothing could be more aptly named than the syrupy sweet treacle tart. It turns out that anything from pancake syrup to dark molasses are, in fact, referred to as treacle in the UK, but traditionally golden syrup is used for the tart. I turned to 19th century housekeeping Goddess Mrs. Beeton for a classic recipe:

Treacle Tart

Ingredients:

450g golden syrup

4 oz soft white crumbs

1 tsp lemon juice

8 oz plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 oz unsalted butter 

flour for rolling out


Directions:

1) Set the oven at 400ºF

2) To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Press the dough together with your fingertips.

3) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use just over three-quarters of it to line a 20 cm / 8 inch pie plate. Poke with a fork several times over.

4) Melt the syrup in a saucepan. Stir in the breadcrumbs and lemon juice, and then pour the mixture into the prepared pastry. Bake for 30 minutes.

I can see why this would be a popular British dessert--it is ridiculously SWEET, and if there was one take away from my time spent in London, it was that the Brits love their sweets. When my mom came to visit me, she commented that this was why their teeth were so bad.

I served this with some vanilla ice cream, which is obviously historically inaccurate, but I needed something to balance out the sweetness. There are a lot of modern takes on this recipe that include cream, which probably make it more palatable to today's taste buds. I will say though, that this all butter crust is delicious. Some things just stand the test of time.

Warming Winter Meals: Turkish-Inspired Red Lentil Soup

I've spent the last couple of weeks pretending to be interested in doing a detox cleanse, which is how I came across this 2013 Whole Living Action Plan that claims to be a less drastic approach. Some of the recipes actually look delicious and if I was a more disciplined person, I probably would do this. However, I am not, but I was intrigued by the recipe for Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew enough to almost make it. I say almost because sometime between reading this recipe and going to the grocery store I had one of those moments of pure inspiration that was born out of a craving for Turkish red lentil balls, called Mercimek Koftesi. I decided to use the stew as a base, but change the flavors around to resemble the lentil balls. This also allowed me to use my favorite spice:

Smoked paprika  is pure magic. MAGIC, I tell you.

Ingredients 

• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbspn ground cumin (I really like cumin, so feel free to adjust this according to your liking)
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 Tbspn smoked paprika
• dash of crushed red pepper
• 1 diced large onion
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 minced cloves garlic      
• 1/2 C chopped fresh parsley                                 
• 2 peeled and diced sweet potatoes                               
• 1 1/2 cups rinsed red lentils
• 6 C Vegetable broth

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook paprika, cumin, turmeric, and curry powder until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add onion with salt, pepper, and red pepper and cook, stirring, until tender, about 6 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and cook until slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring until tender, about 2 minutes
2. Add lentils and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, add parsley, and simmer until lentils are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. I used my hand blender to mix everything together, but that is up to you.
4. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil before serving.

Picture sipping this while overlooking the Bosporus--great cure for the winter blues. 

Postcard From The Caribbean

I'm back from my wonderfully exciting, but not very relaxing cruise! Actually, we got back on Sunday but it was after a ridiculous 13 hours of travel that took us from Tampa, to Cleveland, to Chicago, to Hartford. That day alone required substantial recovery time. 

I gained about five pounds despite forcing myself to walk up seven flights of stairs ten times a day. It's cool though. I bought a lot of kale at the store today, so I'm hoping those extra pounds just magically go away since I am no longer surrounded by buffets at all times.

I also read Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest. It is amazing. A quick read, but absolutely brilliant.

Instead of booking the pricey ship excursions, I did everything through local companies that I researched on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic. I was looking forward to Roatan the most and booked us a private guide through Roatan Adventure Tours.  

It is a beautiful island off the coast of Honduras and our guide Wilkie was great. But despite all the natural beauty, there is an incredibly visible amount of economic disparity. You cannot overlook the crippling poverty in places. Half of the population doesn't even have electricity. Meanwhile, rich Americans are building multimillion dollar homes half a mile away. After we got back to the boat we both admitted to feeling rather down about the whole experience. That's not to say that you shouldn't go there. Please do. They need the tourism. Just be kind and tip well.

One of our favorite stops was the Carambola Botanical Gardens. We only saw a small portion, but it was amazing.

I kept humming the Indiana Jones theme, which apparently is annoying??? 

James as he appears in nature.

We also visited the Roatan Lighthouse which provided stunning and terrifying views. Seriously. 

I mean, look at that railing!

It was worth it though.

 This sleeping monkey was also there too.

Honduran conch fritters for lunch.

Our view

The next port was Belize. Oh Belize! We spent the day on Goff's Cay swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen, drinking the local beer, eating grilled lobster, and getting sunburnt. Well, the last part was just me. Even still, it was heavenly. 

Interesting fact: Belikin beer basically has a monopoly on the entire country. Fun!

In Costa Maya we visited Chaccoben, a Mayan site. It was very cool, but rainy. 

 Ugh, short shorts would not get out of my shot.

I guess that's better.

Dude, seriously.

Later on we visited Bacalar Lagoon, known as the lagoon of the seven colors, for lunch and fun. Unfortunately, due to a nasty Fall hurricane, the lagoon was really more like two murky colors. Apparently, this is due to tannins in the water that will eventually dissipate--just in time for hurricane season!  We also met a nice New Zealand couple that was on the last leg of a 5 week trip that involved taking several different Caribbean cruises. They said their favorite spots were Key West and Barbados, so do with that what you will. 

Lunch! Best tortillas and refried beans ever.

It may not have been seven colors, but it was still quite lovely. 

I don't even want to talk about Cozumel. It sucked. I got heat stroke and a great deal on silver earrings. Oh, and James got this hat. The end. 

All in all, it was a great vacation. At first we were a little turned off by the sheer amount of elderly people aboard our ship, but it was nice to see so many places. I guess that's the trade off. Of course, as is always my issue, I didn't allow enough time for us to do absolutely nothing. Ah well. 

Ringing In The New Year

After last week's explosion of cute embodied by my two younger cousins, I'm sorry to say that 2013 has, for lack of a better word, sucked so far. (You know things are bad when you start identifying with Peter Finch in Network.) Luckily, there is hope on the horizon in the form of a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise to be taken by myself and James. Of course, one of the stressors involved said cruise when I realized that an oversight on my part meant that we needed to book different departing flights to the tune of $600. But one of the great things about dating the Nicest Guy Ever is that when I make stupid mistakes he's more worried about me and my reaction than any fall out I may have caused. 

                        Me, James, and his creepy facial hair shortly before 12

I am happy to report, however, that 2012 ended deliciously. And really, isn't that what truly matters? My friends and I have something of an annual tradition where we rent a hotel room in downtown Hartford, dress up, and go out. In previous years we've made crackbabies and bean dip during the pre-outing festivities, but this year I "kicked it up a notch", as some TV chef used to say. Since I didn't get to do any holiday baking I made up for it (and how) with a little dessert called Slutty brownies, which involves a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, a layer of oreos, and a layer of brownie baked together in a pan. 

                                           Action shot!

Now, I did not invent Slutty brownies and thus, have no attachment to the name. I'm not really sure why they are called Slutty brownies and given the longstanding social and political implications of the term slut, I'd much prefer Promiscuous brownies or Sexually Liberated brownies.  I myself referred to them as Turducken brownies when in conversation with my parents, which may have ultimately been even more confusing if less vulgar. In any case, they are called Slutty brownies and they were invented by my new hero, The Londoner. 

                                                     playing coy

In her version, you use premixed cookie dough but for mine I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and my God it was worth the extra effort. I added about a tablespoon extra butter (using my trusty Kerrygold Unsalted) and about 2 tablespoons water. This batter is particularly dry so for other recipes, you may just need one. Either way, all you want to do is add more moisture since the dough will be baking for longer than the recipe calls for. Then came the oreo layer. 

James picked up the cookies for me while I started the dough and since he is generally less health conscious than me I was secretly hoping he would come back with a bag of Double Stuff. But he completely surprised me when he gave me a bag of Reduced Fat oreos. At first I was all like "Are you f**king serious? You talk about eating hotdogs and pizza every day and this is when you decide to get healthy?" But honestly, it was a good decision. You can't tell the difference and these brownies are so rich that you'll be thankful for that 30% reduction in fat. 

                                 It really is a thing of terrible beauty

As for the brownie layer, I used Ghiradelli's dark chocolate brownie mix because they make awesome brownies and making the cookie dough from scratch was, quite frankly, enough for one dessert. I had a hotel party to get to! After assembling the layers in a paper lined 9 x 9 pan bake at 350 for 30 minutes and you're done. Your mouth is ready to get dirty, verrrry dirty.