Carmelized Onion Tart with Apple Celery Salad

Let's face it, we can't eat out all the time so every Sunday night for the past month or so, I've dedicated my evening to a cooking adventure of one kind or another. Generally, these have soups and stews because I'm under the impression that if you can't whip up a good soup, you can't cook. This week, however, I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and tried an all vegetarian dinner that was absolutely delicious!

The main dish was an carmelized onion tart that I found in Moosewood Restaurant New Classics from the Moosewood Collective (ISBN 0-609-80241-0 Clarkson Potter/Publishers New York). This is a must have for everyone who sometimes longs for a light and delicious, fresh tasting meal to replace the run-of-the-mill meat/carb/vegetable formula that we all know and love.

I don't think anyone wants to read the whole recipe, so I'm not going to include that here, but if your interest is piqued and you're not into investing in the book, send an email to bkfoodblog@gmail and I'll see what I can do for you!

It all started with this.


It's a VERY basic pastry dough. A note on the instructions for this recipe: 4 tablespoons of water didn't quite get the dry ingredients to stick. Aim for fewer then 8. Making the dough, I'm happy to report, was the hardest part of the process and it still only took about half and hour. WHAT?!? A half hour to mix flour, salt, butter and water? Yes. I don't own a pastry cutter and I couldn't find one at Gourmet Fresh or the Met. I had to use a freakin' fork to cut the butter in and it took forever. Note to self, BUY ONE OF THESE:

After making the dough, though, the rest was a breeze. All you need is a skillet and a blender, and those I have in abundance! I carmelized my onions until soft, delicious and fragrant. It takes about twenty to twenty five minutes. Against my fresh-herb-loving instincts, I followed the recipe's direction to use dried thyme. Oh, I still remember the smell!
I subbed Monterey Jack for the gruyere that was called for because I didn't really know what gruyere is. But I've checked my ignorance at the door and now feel comfortable suggesting a Swiss cheese as the closest approximation to the original recipe if you're stuck on this end of Henry Street and don't want to hoof it to Fairway.

The custard for the tart was simple, quick and messless: 6 eggs, 2 cups milk (oh, just buy the whole milk. I won't tell!) a pinch or two of flour and 1 tbs Dijon mustard blended to a fine puree. The onions are layered on the bottom, 1 cup packed grated cheese on top, the milk custard over all baked at 400 for about an hour and voila!

I served it with a simple salad (as in macaroni salad and potato salad) of apples, celery, raisin and walnuts with a bit of mayo and sour cream. You can grab that recipe here. It dawns on me that this meal is a dairy wonderland, so if you're watching your weight (the gods know I'm not!) please do serve with a simple green salad.

The tart was flavorful, but could use some complication. An extra herb or two while carmelizing the onions or a spice here and there in the custard could make a delightful change. I made the mistake of over-seasoning with salt on the plate. Do not repeat this mistake--a dash if any will suffice.

All in all, it was quite a strenuous adventure: my secret confession is that I don't (or at least, didn't) prefer baked egg-based dishes. Quiche is kind of my worst nightmare. This tart, however, won me over completely. And it was even better cold the next day for lunch at work. Try it out! You'll be so glad!

Carrol Gardens Classic Diner

The Eater Schmeater team found themselves a little drunk and feelin' hungry after the Crooked Still and Sweetback Sisters show at The Bell House. This is an account of where their dinner craving led them.

We were actually searching for a place with food and drinks, but by thte time we got to the diner, no one ordered anything alcoholic...in fact, the whole party except for Matt went for water only.

Cole slaw and pickles were served before the meal as some kind of appetizer-- a strange move, but it produced no complaints and it was only moments before everything on all three plates was gone. The pickles were fresh and cucumber-y. The slaw bland but edible, Matt thought a little suagr would do it right and everyone thought it needed more salt.

Matt had a bacon cheesebuger with fries-- a great choice for anyone who's not looking for a life-changing burger. All the sandwhiches came with the assemble your-own option, allowing you to find your perfect combo of lettuce, tomatoes and onions. So even though a freakin' head of the lettuce was provided, no one had to indelicately rip apart their burger to fix it. Matt's chocolate shake was thick and delicious, but everyone else thought it tasted too heavily of chocolate syrup.

Alex got a chicken salad sandwich which was slightly bland, but not drenched in mayo which made it more pleasant than some. The bread was perfectly toasted and you can't ask for much more than that with a diner sandwhich.

Jess, a fellow New Englander-turned-Brooklynite chose a cheesburger with Swiss. Both Alex and Jess picked waffle fries and they loved them! On the con side, Jess asked for a medium rare prep on the burger, and she got medium-well and she wasn't the biggest fan of how they melt cheese on both sides of the burger. All in all, Jess was pleased with the meal.

Sarah chose a late-night breakfast option-- two eggs over easy with sausage. The eggs were great, but the sausage was downright delicious. Perhaps a little too pink in the middle (inciting a quickly abandonned conversation about how worms get into your body), but really delicious all the same. Moist and well seasoned, plump and perfect!

Sarah B., a visiting friend from our Northampton, MA days, choose corn beef hash with two eggs over easy. The corn beef, by all accounts, was delicious. Both Sarahs had dishes that came with home fries. Unfortunately, the "home fries" that were promised turned out to be a potato hash was undercooked and seasoned only with raw bell pepper (HUGE chunks) and onions. It pretty much ruined both the breakfast plates, but our Sarahs are troopers so they didn't complain too loudly. They simply draped their napkins on their plates to avoid staring at their unfinished meals.

As for the decor of this 24 hour diner, it's as classic as the name suggests. Bad art adorns the walls. A sporting event of one kind or another was playing on the large TV just over our heads. The lighting was violently flourescent, though, and as we sobered a bit, it became a little unbearable.

A quick note to our fellow diners: babies shouldn't be eating diner food at midnight. That is all.

You can check out the diner for yourself here.

Robin Des Bois Sherwood Cafe

Brunch always has been, and might always will be, one of my favorite pass times. Last week, when Matt and I had our visitor, we had hoped to impress her with some excellent Brooklyn Brunching at Miriam in Cobble Hill. Distressingly, we learned that this branch of the excellent Israeli restaurant had closed (and is being replaced with MORE Thai food for Court St.). So we did the next best thing and swung over to Robin des Bois on Smith Street. Matt and I have eaten here many times so we thought it would be a solid pick.

The decor is absolutely why you come to Robin des Bois. That and the inclusive brunch specially of a free drink (Mimosa or Bloody Mary) with your order. The food is never OUTSTANDING but its passable. Here's what we ordered . . .

Chicken Sausages with caramelized apples, roasted potatoes and salad

Crab Cake Benedict with roasted potatoes and salad

Ouefs au Gratin
(baked eggs served with toast and salad)

All of the food was decent enough. No complaints on either of the egg dishes, although the crab cake was heavy on the bell pepper and that really came through. The salad wasn't worth mentioning, just some salted greens. But the potatoes. The potatoes were under cooked, under seasoned, and generally bland. (EATER SCHMEATER would like to point out that although all the posts thus far have criticized potatoes and they way they're cooked, we can be pleased with a potato. Just cook it all the way.) Also, the apples on Matt's Chicken Sausage dish were a little pedestrian, just sugar and cinnamon and also, not the melt in your mouth apple-goodness that he was looking for.

So, even though the food isn't going to get past the quick-fire challenge on Top Chef, Robin des Bois Sherwood Cafe will also be a hit with us. The strictly French waitstaff, kaleidoscope of found objects, and the family style huge wood tables make this a place that Matt and I long to bring our friends. Give it another month and once it warms up, go to the patio and enjoy.

a.

Robin des Bois Sherwood Cafe
195 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Alta Voce

This weekend, Matt and I had a house guest, so we decided to push ourselves a little when we took her out for dinner on Saturday night. Read: We never go out for Italian. After scouring the interweb and blogoverse, we decided on Alta Voce (318 5th Ave btwn 3rd and 4th Sts.), which was pretty well represented in terms of reviews. Despite calling an hour and half ahead of time for a reservation and the fact that the space was pretty empty for 8 pm on Saturday night, we were sat in the downstairs portion of the space, away from the highly advertised live pianist and right in front of the kitchen. Ignoring the flourescent light that blasted us whenever the kitchen was opened was fairly difficult and became a little more so as the evening wore on. The decor was decent. Unmemorable. Think mid 90s psuedo-Tuscan goes to Pottery Barn shlock scattered about and barren white space besides.

Service is not an issue at Alta Voce (which we discovered as the night progressed). The cocktails were excellent, with the one exception of using olives with the pit still inside. Personally, I just think this is awkward and messy. Imagine standing at the bar, with your date, drinking your 10$ Grey Goose Martini and having to stick your fingers in your mouth to take out the pit. 'Nough said. We decided to order two appetizers . . .

Vongole Oreganale was a predictable but nonetheless delicious, breaded clam on the half shelf in a garlic butter sauce. The serving is not enough for four to share, so plan accordingly!

Bresola Ripena was our favorite appetizer, hands down. The goat cheese was light, just barely breaded and when taken with the astringent greens it was served with, made the most beautiful combintation on the tounge. We probably should have ordered two. And apologies for the butchery of the name of this dish, but I think we devoured it before we could get the name written down correctly for our notes.

On to entrees!

Here's where the night got a little fishy. Matt and our visitor, Bridgette, both ordered fish free dishes. Sarah and myself went all-out under the sea . We'll start sans-fish.

Pollo atta Voce got little to no complaints from anyone. Chicken topped with prosciutto and fontina, in a white wine truffle cream sauce. Served with lackluster scalloped potatoes (that looked more like the home fries from brunch earlier in the day, more to come on that later). The chicken was tender, the sauce added a perfect texture and the mildness of the cheese really tied this dish together.

Malfatti con Anatara e Funghi similiarly impressed our group. Homemade pasta, seared duck breast, dried cranberries and mushrooms blended to create an earthy and rustic but never gritty dish. Beautifully refined. The cranberries must have been sauteed for a while because they barely seemed dried, veritably bursting with truffle oil and duck fat. I think that this was the first dish finished at the table, just because it was so so good. Highly recommended!


and on to the disappointments . . .

Enticed by one of her new buzzfoods, radicchio, she ordered one of the nightly specials-- spagghetti with scallops, mussels, shrimp and (ding.ding.ding) radicchio sautéed in a light garlic white wine sauce. The entree arrived in a shallow bowl that was much too small for the portion, encircled with whole mussels that were practically falling off the dish itself. A bowl for empty shells had to be requsted from the waiter. Nonetheless, she enthusuastically dug in, only to be confronted with the unfortunate reality that there was something terribly wrong with the dish. Take a moment to read some of her notes on the experience...

"I've eaten all the spaghetti from the dish and I don't want to eat the rest of it. I'm planning on complaining to the manager for the first time ever. The seafood has officially killed the dish. The scallops are like stinky little raisins and the mussels were gritty."


"Maybe it's because my hands smell like high tide, but my skin crawls when thinking about this dish."

She lauded the texture of the pasta and the added bitter tang of the radicchio, but it's needless to say that no one else at the table wanted to try her dish.

My dish was the seafood special. I adore seafood so I went all out. I should have realized that a dish with a "salmon and tilapia terrine, mussels, shrimp, scallops in a zuppa de clams" was just a way to get rid of some old fish. The terrine looked like a pineapple from hell, garnished with about six inches of rosemary that killed any flavor in the dish other than the canned tomato sauce that was slathered all over the fish. Adjectives that come to mind are "high tide", "tinny" and "vague". I think the truest culprit was the scallops, which were the smallest I've ever seen (maybe a hybrid bay scallop?) and just rank. I was totally disappointed in this dish but managed to eat most of it, because I'm a trooper that way.

After Sarah complained, the compensation began! Normally, we're not a digestif kind of crowd, but because we knew this would be the first post here at EATER SCHMEATER we decided to partake in after dinner cocktails with our deserts. We were comp'd the Seasonal Berry Tart, which had a delicious graham cracker crust with not-so-fresh (obviously) strawberries and ordered the Tiramisu and the Bonnet di Ciocolatte. Both of our ordered deserts were standard and well put together. The chocolate though, was by far the most memorable--velvety and dark without being too heavy. Just delicious!

In addition to the comp'd dessert, we were given four shots of Limoncello after the sweets and Sarah's entree was half priced. I think that this was totally reasonable, although I wonder what would have happened if I had complained about my dish as well.

Overall, all four diners enjoyed the meal as a whole. The atmosphere was great, allowed us to be as loud as we wanted and very accommodating. Our waiter was a little dim, not sure when to fire our entrees, messed up the wine service but I won't criticize the restaurant on that front. A warning to future diners, stay away from fish dishes but believe in the duck. I would go back just for that duck. In fact, I think we'd all give it another chance.