phy-lily, fi-lily, phyllo, filo!

I had more filo dough left over from the pigs inna blanket. I ALSO had some mashed potatoes left over from this weekend.

So here's what I did.

I cooked some lean ground beef in a pan with sweet onions and garlic. Then I added some nutmeg, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper.

I put a large can of tomato paste in with this and let it cool a little.

I laid out 4 sheets of filo dough in the bottom of a glass pan with butter brushed on the first sheet and the last. Then I crumbled the cold mashed potatoes as a bottom layer on top of the dough.

I scooped all the meat sauce on top of the potatoes and crumbled a liberal amount of domestic feta cheese on top of that.

I topped it off with layer upon layer of filo till I ran out of butter to brush each sheet with.

Here's what it looked like out of the oven!

hot dog! pigs inna blanket

So I wanted to try my hand at phyllo/filo dough and give into my craving for pigs in a blanket at the same time. Here's the result:


I laid out each sheet and brushed it with melted butter before applying another. I used 4 sheets thickness for these and had to use two sets to do the whole package of mini franks.

I'm still searching for the best tasting mini-franks to go with these, because Nathan's wasn't so hot and neither was Hebrew national.

Dumpakht I <3 You

So after I heard Banjara had this deliciousness akin to a curry chicken (or lamb or shrimp or veggie) pot pie, I had to give it a shot.

Boy was I not disappointed.

The whole thing is covered in puffy nan bread and baked slowly to perfection. The chicken was very tender, the sauce was flavorful and spicy without being hot. An added bonus is that it comes with rice so you don't have to worry about running out of the crust.

So good.

Banjara
97 1st Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-1540

bahn mi me!

So I dun remember if I posted this picture, or not...

...but I love bahn mi. Going around lunch time to Bahn Mi Saigon is your guaranteed "I'm going to wait a while" lunch. So delicious when you finally bite into it though. Here's what the line looked like when I went last week (Yes, it's in the back of a jewelry shop.):


I get the #1 mild or slightly spicy! The spicy sauce is mmmm...

Bahn Mi Saigon
138 Mott St
(between Grand St & Hester St)
New York, NY 10013

It's getting chili in here

So I did the unspeakable and made chili 1) without regular "chili" powder and 2) with a can of kidney beans thrown in.


It came out great. I used ancho chili powder, cayenne pepper, some adobo, more pepper, a can of crushed tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, some honey, the can of kidney beans, a pinch of nutmeg, a lot of ground beef, a pat of butter, lots of garlic, and two strips of salt pork served as the oil to sautee the onions in.

Then I covered the whole shebang with a cheese blend from DAG.