Review: Niçoise at Artisanal

This weekend we stopped for a quick bite at Artisanal - a French wine and cheese bistro in midtown Manhattan. Jen was in the mood for niçoise and has declared theirs as the best ever.

While I personally don't have much taste for the sardines, the dressing was fantastic and the beans and tuna were perfectly cooked. PS - it's actually much larger - they split it for us.

Image by MadeForJen

Artisanal
2 Park Avenue at 32nd Street
New York, NY 10016

Dark Chocolate Bacon Strips

A lot of chocolate this week. After the salted chocolate, the next phase was marrying the dark chocolate to my favorite bacon. Here it's a quick snack served with ripe black Mission figs.

The idea for it started as a garnish for a dessert (coming up) but after I made them, they were so good I ended up just eating them as is. And I wish I could say there is some incredibly complex preparation for this but in fact it was so simple!

Ingredients:
3oz good dark chocolate (70% minimum - for this I used 85% Green & Black)
6 strips thinly sliced smoked bacon (tastes better smoked)

Microwave the bacon in paper towels until all the fat has come out and the bacon is pretty crisp all through, then cool in fridge. Meanwhile, melt good dark chocolate (preferably in a double boiler, but if not, melt it in a bowl in the microwave in 20 second shots until just starting to melt, then stir until complete). Carefully break the bacon strips in half. Use chopsticks or a fork to dip the strips into the chocolate, place on some parchment, and cool in fridge.

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Sweet, Savory and Salty

Most chefs agree that the best dishes have mixed flavor and texture profiles that both compliment and offset each other.  The basic idea is to have no single flavor dominate because it becomes overwhelming.

Here's a simple snack plate that you might try: a piece of salted chocolate paired with blue cheese and a juicy sweet fruit. In this case, a 1/2 oz chunk of homemade dark chocolate with sel gris (grey sea salt) is plated with a piquant blue (Bleu d'Avergne) and a juicy, ripe lychee.  Mix to your taste - if blue is too strong, go with more mild, like a cheddar or gouda. If lychee is too sweet, figs or pear are also good.

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Smart Snack

Buttered whole grain bran muffin, pecans and an apple.

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Guacamole

Guacamole is literally one of our favorite snack foods - the creamy mix of avocado with the sour of the lime, the savory onions and garlic, the freshness of the cilantro just seems to go so well together. And whether served by itself with tortilla chips or as an accompaniment, the flavor is just excellent.

I think the only reason people don't make it from scratch so often is because it seems like a complicated food to make but really it's quite easy and quick.

Ingredients:
2 medium avocados*
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 small bunch cilantro
1 lime
Sea salt to taste
Optional: diced tomato, diced jalapeno or habanero, pepper

Dice the onion finely and put into a bowl. Smash and chop the garlic and add. Wash and roughly chop the cilantro (or if you prefer, leave the leaves whole). Peel and pit the avocado and add to the bowl.  Using a fork or masher, simultaneously mash and mix the ingredients.  Squeeze half of the lime juice in and a dash of salt.  Blend well with the fork and taste.  Add more lime juice and salt as needed.

Jen doesn't like spicy food at all, so we don't add anything hot but this can obviously be made spicier.  Also, we prefer it chunky but if you like smoother, just keep mashing until you reach the consistency.  A mortar and pestle also work well.

Make often, serve with everything :)

*Note: This time of year, most of the avocados we get in NYC are Florida which are lighter in color and taste a bit milder.  I prefer to use good California Hass (early summer) or Fuerte (winter) when they are ripe.  If you can only get unripened ones, leave them in a paper bag at room temperature until they are just right.

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Versatility of Crackers

One of the best things to keep on hand are good crackers.  By good crackers, I mean something other than saltines, something with a little oomph that if you want to make a nice presentation you can, but don't cost a mint to buy and keep.

Butter crackers with french onion cream cheese, kosher pickles, roasted pepper and pastrami.

Vegetable rounds with cream cheese, chicken & sundried tomato sausage, sundried tomato, capers and chives.

With tofutti cream cheese, smoked salmon, roasted pepper and parsley.

Images by MadeForJen