Quick Bite: Cheeseburger

Elizabeth put her own spin on the cheeseburgers we had at Elevation Burger last month. You can check out that post here. These burgers were 93/7 lean beef, topped with sharp cheddar and caramelized onions. I've been avoiding onions for the last 20 years or so (although my family still talks about how I sat on my great-grandmother's lap and took bites out of whole onions) - but these were delicious. Elizabeth put a little sugar in with the onions as they cooked, and to my surprise the sweetness really worked with the rest of the burger.


We ate them on the freshly baked Ciabatta rolls I purchased earlier in the day, and baked up some tots as a side. A little Sam Adams Noble Pils was the perfect accompaniment to the meal.

Egg & three potato sandwich with homemade veggie chips

While browsing through the Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook, a gift from friends Kira and Evan, I came across a recipe for carrot chips. Looked like a pretty fun idea, so I decided to try it out. Why stop at carrots, though? Along with a huge bag of carrots, I picked up a sweet potato, some yucca, and a few beets. I also purchased corn starch, which the recipe called for, however that remained unopened and forgotten about at the end of the day. Oh well.


I sliced the veggies nice and thin using our mandolin and tossed them in some heated canola oil (the recipe calls for either canola or peanut oil). After each batch I would take out the chips and put them in some paper towels to soak up some of the oil.


While looking for taro (I love taro chips but was unable to find any at our local market) I was inspired by some of the various potatoes for sale. I grabbed a few different varieties and decided to make an egg and potato sandwich to go along with the vegetable chips. I've had this type of sandwich once before and it is starchy, carb-heavy goodness. I cut up the potatoes into small pieces and started browning them in a pan. After a few minutes I scrambled up some eggs and poured them in along with the red, white, and purple potatoes.


The sandwich was pretty tasty, although a few of the potatoes were larger than the rest and ended up being a little undercooked. A silly mistake, but a lesson learned. Regardless, the combination of the scrambled eggs and browned potatoes gave a warm, breakfast-y feel and the different colors of the potatoes was a neat visual treat. Most of the chips came out really well. The sweet potato chips were delicious (I'm a sucker for anything sweet potato), and the yucca chips were nice with a little salt and pepper. They ended up being extremely crunchy so if possible slicing them thinner might have been helpful (although I think I used the thinnest mandoline insert). The circular carrot chips were tough to cook and ended up burning really quickly. That may or may not have been the result of forgetting the cornstarch. I'll have to try that one again. Sliced length-ways, though, they ended up being really good. They had a nice sweetness to them, similar to the sweet potato chips. The beets, sadly, were the biggest flop. They just wouldn't cook right, and never ended up being crispy. If sliced too thin, they would wilt and crumble immediately. If sliced too thick, they would retain their shape but end up being mushy and not very chip-like. Oh well.


Definitely a fun meal and probably something we'll try again in the future. It was actually a nice change of pace to be able to walk around the market and form a dish with the ingredients present rather than coming up with a list before you even leave the house.

Antipasto & updates!

So we're not exactly Italian (with names like Lynch and Shaughnessy who would have guessed?), but every so often we find it fun to have antipasto as a meal. The main attraction for us is usually the fresh roasted garlic, which we apply lavishly to whatever bread we've purchased for the evening. This time it was a nice, fresh loaf of Italian bread.

Most of the other items we picked up during our recent trip to Trader Joe's. The peppered salami was really delicious with a great kick from the black pepper rub. For the most part the meal turned into miniature sandwiches consisting of one of the meats, one of the cheeses, and fresh garlic. Mix around the ingredients and repeat. And of course some of the bread gets soaked in extra virgin olive oil and herbs de provence. (Elizabeth was kind enough to separate her anchovies from the rest of the plate. Blech. -B)

We're both going to be extremely busy for the next few weeks dealing with graduate school stuff, but we promise we've got a TON of cool places coming up in the early parts of 2010. Bryan Voltaggio's VOLT in Maryland is already a definite, and we're thinking about a few other neat culinary journeys to take. One option is a burger tour, stopping at places like White Manna, Elevation Burger, and Smashburger. Hoboken might also be on our list so we can stop at Miami Rice Pudding on our way to the Taco Truck.

Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! We had a great time visiting with family, relaxing, and eating way too much. Dinner started off at my Dad's with some delicious pumpkin soup, followed by the usual cornucopia of turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and so on. After chatting with everyone and letting our stomachs settle, we headed to Elizabeth's parents' house for some dessert.

Elizabeth's contributions to the pie-topped table were pecan pie and harvest pie. The pecan pie was the hit of the night - I mean, look at that arrangement of nuts! She cut the sweetness of the usual diabetes-inducing pecan pie and everyone agreed it was the perfect blend of earthy pecans and sweet dessert goodness.

If you've never had a harvest pie, you don't know what you're missing. Elizabeth's version didn't contain nuts thanks to a lot of family allergies, but the fruits were enough. Tart granny smith apples and fresh cranberries were balanced with sweet blueberries and raspberries. Add a forkful of that to a flaky crust and you've got the perfect bite of pie.

Like most holidays, Thanksgiving always seems to come and go too quickly, but at least Christmas is right around the corner! There's nothing like spending time with family and friends and sharing great food.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trader Joe's Trip

Neither of us had ever been to Trader Joe's before, but we decided to take a short trip down to the Princeton area store to do some shopping. The store itself isn't that large, so it was at times a bit cramped trying to squeeze through other people and their carts. I have to say, though, that everything was very reasonably priced. I was expected trendy, hiked-up foodie prices, but most items were comparable to other grocery stores we've shopped at.


We ended up getting a few weekly staples (orange juice, apple juice, etc), and then had some fun. Some peppered salami, prosciutto, sharp cheddar, and fresh mozzarella were to become our antipasto dinner one evening (stay tuned for that post). Picked up a few sides, including the delicious lentils pictured below. We polished off the bag of popcorn in two sittings - it was really, really good. The trail mix bars will also be purchased again - super tasty and loaded with nuts and berries.


For a future breakfast we also picked up some blintzes and a box of potato pancakes. Mmm. Can't wait for that morning.

I have to say the orange juice was a big dissappointment. I like OJ with a lot of pulp and a rich, orange-y flavor. This was watered down with no pulp and tasted like the convenience store brand you pick up in a pinch. The apple juice, however, is pretty damn good, walking a fine line between juice and cider. I also really enjoyed the cranberry-hibiscus. I love cranberry juice but sometimes it's a little too bitter by itself, so I like when it's mixed with something else a bit sweeter. The hibiscus extract was the pefect compliment.

This certainly won't be our weekly shopping trip as it's a little out of the way, but it defintely made for a fun mini-date and we ended up finding some neat products that aren't available everywhere else.

Chicken & Waffles

After passing it countless times over the last year or so, we finally decided to try Last Legg’s chicken and waffles. Neither of us had ever had chicken and waffles before, so we were pretty excited to experience this soul food staple.

I ordered the Hungry Delight, a duo of chicken breast and Belgian Waffle. I’m a lover of crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside waffles, and this one was a little more on the chewy side. It was nothing offensive, mind you, and I ate the whole thing with relative ease. Besides, it did its job as an accompaniment to the fried chicken. Oh, the fried chicken. This was certainly the star of the culinary show. I started with the still very much attached wing (A wing that comes with an order of chicken breast? Somebody pinch me.) and didn’t look back. It was lightly breaded, which was a nice break from the completely over-breaded fried chicken I’ve become accustomed to. The meat was tender and juicy with just the right amount of grease, and the seasoning was absolutely spectacular. I don’t know the exact blend of spices used, but it was the perfect blend. I can undeniably say I have never had fried chicken with a flavor as delectable as this. I’m a breast man when it comes to poultry, but I have to admit I think the wings were really the perfect combination of everything previously mentioned. They really captured that soul food essence. Along with the chicken and waffles I ordered a side of grits and a sweet tea. I’d order the grits again even if they were a little thick (they made this batch because of our order so I suspect it may have been a little rushed). The sweet tea was a fun novelty but it was definitely REALLY sweet. Needless to say we’ll be heading back here in the near future, and I’ve already decided the mac & cheese and cornbread will definitely be included in my order. –B.

I went with the Two Bite, which is described as “four hot mini bite size buttermilk waffles served with four delicious chicken wings.” And they were. I have to agree with Bill that these were probably the best wings I have ever had. I normally go for the chicken breast as well, but next time, I’ll go with the wing. They weren’t small and fatty like most. They had a great flavor and plenty of meat on them. They had the perfect amount of “salty” to go along with the “sweet” of the waffles with butter and syrup. I know, if you’ve never tried it, it sounds really weird. The first time I heard of chicken and waffles, I thought, “how extremely unnecessary.” But I am now a firm believer that they are. I actually thought my waffles were perfect. I think because I ordered mini ones, they weren’t quite as chewy as Bill’s. I’m a big fan of the grits as well. I thought they had a really great flavor, and they were happy to make them even though they had clearly cleaned up all of that stuff before we walked in. They make a really great bread pudding too, which is one of our favorites. We enjoyed it two days later, because after all of those waffles, honestly, we just couldn’t. They warned us when we walked in that we would get addicted, and I think they were right. I think next time, I am going to try Aignee’s Shrimp Special, which has a buttermilk waffle and hand battered shrimp, with two sides. I will probably go with the mac and cheese as one of them, and see if they will let me sub a chicken wing as my other side. Yummmm. All in all, it was a great meal, and really wonderful service and friendly staff. Definitely makes me want to go back. -E

And then there were 5...

Well, we all finally got our wish. Robin has been ousted. I'm sure she made some good homestyle food along the way, but being on the bottom that much and surviving is going to garner a lot of hostility from other contestants and from fans. And honestly, she was way out of her league. A poorly made panna cotta with broken glass on it? Oof. Take your cheetah shoes up to the kitchen and go pack your knives.

I appreciated Eli's playfulness and it seemed like he was on the way to making a fun dish, but there was no way those elements were going to work together. If you're going to fool around that much with flavors and textures, you better nail it. Pulverized popcorn on a peanut soup? I don't think so, Eli. I think he's probably at the bottom of the totem pole heading into next week, unless Jennifer messes up again (which is a distinct possibility considering she has for a few weeks straight).

It looked like Kevin was going to win yet another elimination challenge, but my boy Mike V. prevailed! I always enjoy "inspiration" challenges because it shows who can really create things with food, not just cook what they know. For him to win with what was, in essence, a buffalo wing with some bleu cheese showcases all of his talents as a chef. He put his contemporary spin on things with the bleu cheese disc and the cooking style but still made a good ol' fashioned piece of chicken that I'm sure was just as tender as it was crispy.

Jennifer really better get her head in the game if she doesn't want the finals to be all-male. Right now it looks like the Voltaggio brothers and Kevin are going to be duking it out for the Top Chef title. I really thought Jennifer was going to be a force to be reckoned with earlier on, but she just seems to be falling apart bit by bit. Half the time it doesn't even seem like she wants to be there anymore.

The previews for next week already have me anxious.

-Bill

Welcome!

Hello everyone! Welcome to Party of Two, our new food blog. Here we'll share with you our restaurant reviews, our favorite recipes, plenty of beer suggestions, photos, Top Chef rants, and some other fun stuff as we think of it. We know there are already an overwhelming amount of blogs based on food, but we think our little spin on things should be interesting and hopefully entertaining.

For those readers who are not friends and family, we were married last summer (July 18th, 2008) after spending most of our high school and college years together. We're always looking for fun new things to try together, and this blog is one of them. Hopefully we can bring our unique blend of creativity, honesty, and total goofiness to the blogosphere.

On tap for the blog we have some fun stories and photos to start things off. Beer and restaurant reviews are sure to follow closely behind. We also plan on visiting Bryan Voltaggio's VOLT sometime in the early months of 2010, so stay tuned for that review. [I'm already eyeing up the pork tenderloin with corn polenta, crispy onions, orange braised fennel, and arugala -B.]

Thanks for reading - please feel free to send us suggestions for restaurants, recipes, beers, etc. If you know us or are in the area, let's dine/drink/cook together!

-Bill & Elizabeth