The Penn Appetit Blog is going to go somewhat dormant this week for Penn's Spring Break, but we'll still have posts most days, and we'll be back full-time beginning Monday, March 16. Until then, take some time to read some older posts and check out some of the other blogs we've featured recently in our Friday Blog Lovin' posts. Enjoy!
Alex
Blog Editor
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Spring Is in the Air
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friday Blog Lovin' - Pita Chips
Blog: pickycook
I'm a big fan of pita chips, and have been searching for the perfect flavor to complement my favorite dips. I'll be trying this simple, yet enticing recipe over break!
Note: Click here to see the original post.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Best of Philly: Falafel
Crispy on the outside, moist chickpeas and secret spice blend on the inside, and tastebud-exciting all over, falafel is a food most of us are familiar with--falafel balls freshly fried, creamy hummus, a variety of fresh and pickled salads, tehineh (sesame paste), and pita. Seems simple, right? Like any simple food, however, it is both easy to make and easy to mess up. But when you find a good falafel it is one of the most exciting and satisfying meals there is.
I set out on a mission to find the best tasting, most authentic, take-out falafel sandwich purveyor in Philadelphia. After much walking, tasting, and deliberating, I've narrowed it down to the top three.
Mama's Vegetarian
18 S. 20th St. (bet. Market and Chestnut); $6; Cash Only; Kosher
Mama's is usually so busy you'll have to wait a few minutes for fresh-out-of-the-fryer falafel, but the wait is worth it. The Large Mama's is a five-falafel gem with optional hot sauce, traditional salad toppings (tomatoes, onions, pickled cabbage), a generous dollop of hummus, and a finishing squirt of tehineh. You choose white or wheat pita, and the Israeli experts will assemble your meal in a way that smacks of military efficiency. The sandwich gives hot, spicy, crispy, and fresh in every bite. I often go out of my way to get falafel from Mama's, making it a necessary side trip when I go shopping or studying downtown.
Maccabeam
128 S. 12th St. (bet. Walnut and Chestnut); $5.75; Glatt Kosher
Like Mama's, Maccabeam is Israeli, and at both you'll hear Hebrew from the staff and, oftentimes, the clientele. And like any good Middle Eastern joint they are not shy on portions. The sandwich was stuffed to the brim, but the taste of the falafel was not lost in the hodgepodge of other flavors. The server smashes the falafel in the pita with his tongs, spreading it throughout the sandwich and showing he knows what he's doing. This sandwich had an excellent combination of crispy and moist, salty and spicy, freshness and tang - with the pickled cabbage a particular standout.
Alyan's
603 S. 4th St. (at South); $5.30
The unassuming front opens into a genuine Middle Eastern take-out counter, complete with falafel fryer, shewarma spit (you've seen it at Greek Lady; it's what they would call gyro), and Arabic. Doubling as a sit-down Lebanese restaurant, you can also get your goodies to go, including a falafel sandwich jam-packed with mouth-watering goodness. Like Maccabeam they smash their hot, fresh falafels - as if the Arabic accents weren't enough proof of these guys' authenticity. Lots of tehineh and a fully-stuffed pita combine for a sandwich that is as delicious as it is messy. I couldn't get enough and finished it all the way down to the last drop of tehineh on the foil wrapper, all the while dripping cucumbers, tomatoes, and tehineh onto the unsuspecting South Street sidewalk.
Friday Blog Lovin' - Savory Scones
Blog: Sunita's World
These mini rosemary and carrot scones are a fresh interpretation of a very versatile bread. Check out this blog for other scone recipes and more sweet and savory treats.
Note: Click here to see the original post.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Not a Chocolate Person . . .
there's nothing wrong with shying away from chocolatephotos by Elizabeth Cunningham
Vanilla over cocoa. Blondies over brownies. Vanilla cake over chocolate. Oatmeal raisin over chocolate chip. I’m just not a chocolate person, and apparently, that’s strange.
Somehow, over the course of human evolution, it has become bizarre for a person not to like chocolate. This aspect of my likes and dislikes sets me (and others of the same opinion) apart, as if millions of years ago, distaste for chocolate would have led us along the path to apes and monkeys, rather than Homo sapiens. We’re a small group, but we’re passionate. First choice: not chocolate. Case closed.
I wish fine restaurants would respect our minority. On a recent vacation, my family chose to dine at one of the fine restaurants in town. The appetizer and entrée menus were marvelous, offering options for all palettes. Caesar and house salad. Gazpacho and French onion soup. Mahi mahi and filet mignon. A wine list to dazzle the most selective connoisseurs. Yet the dessert menu fell short, much to my personal disappointment. My eyes scanned the list, taking in the exquisiteness of each dish: dark chocolate crème brulee, sampler of various truffles, chocolate mousse, and lime sorbet. Really? My only non-chocolate option was lime sorbet? I chose the last item on the menu, and I’m not quite sure whether I did this because it was what I wanted to eat, or for reasons more meaningful: to support those people who aren’t satisfied with chocolate.
It’s not about wanting the healthier option; it’s about wanting a food choice with color and bursts of flavor. It’s about wanting options which don’t fit under the umbrella category of “chocolate.” Take, for instance, the following:
Chocolate covered strawberries. I don’t get them. While I completely appreciate the adorable patterns chocolatiers and bakers create atop these succulent berries (drizzled dark chocolate atop white, tuxedo patterns made of multiple chocolate types), count me out. I can’t help but wonder what compels some people to coat a perfectly delicious red strawberry in a brown shell, which both melts on your fingertips and breaks apart the moment you bite into the dessert—only to land on your shirt or pants, which you recently cleaned, of course. The strawberry alone would be just perfect. 
Now don’t get me wrong— you’ll find me eating chocolate every now and then, but as result of a craving, not an obsession. (And plus, instant hot chocolate doesn’t count). Ladies: you’ll hear me on this. Chocolate absolutely constitutes its own food group. However, when I want to eat chocolate, I want to be eating chocolate . . . not a fluffy cake with an artificial taste only remotely reminiscent of cocoa. I want a fantastic square of perfectly smooth dark chocolate. Don’t hide a berry within its depths or add essence of coffee or mint. Keep things simple. However, given the option, my loyalties lie with all things not cocoa-related.
Finally, a message to all chefs: challenge yourselves to create gourmet dessert not made of chocolate. Or at the very least, please offer lime sorbet on your menu. It might not compare to your dark chocolate crème brulee, but it doesn’t contain chocolate, and that alone is reason for ordering it.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
A New Food Truck City
Thanks to being a senior and some clever schedule manipulation into four-day weekends, I was lucky enough to spend the last few days in Portland, OR, hanging out with my sister who goes to school there. We ventured into downtown Portland for lunch one day and happened upon a gaggle of visually entrancing food trucks lined up all over the streets. They put Philadelphia's to shame. You had your Mexican, your Thai, Japanese, Greek, Middle Eastern, Italian, German bratwurst, Peruvian, Bosnian . . . wait, Bosnian? Yes, there was a Bosnian food truck, by the name of Zora's Pitas or something along those lines.
I couldn't help but be drawn to this unexpected cuisine. The only thing I could connect Bosnia with in my mind was Slobodan Milosevic, never having heard of Bosnian food as something to write home about. But boy, was I wrong. A menu that smacked of Arab influence (there are or were, I believe, many Muslims in Bosnia) was limited in choice but surprisingly deep in flavor. The main highlight were pitas, which were kind of like spanakopita, or what I imagine spanakopita to be like, never actually having had it. I ordered a platter split between the spinach, egg, and cheese pita (with a long and complicated name I regretfully cannot remember) and the grilled zucchini pita. These generous sandwich-pastry-vegetable-wrap portions were served with a roasted pepper sauce and a cucumber-yogurt sauce (a staple side in both Arab and Greek cooking), and filled me right to the brim. The menu also offered meat choices; pitas filled with meat with a name that sounded suspiciously like burekas, as well as meatballs they called cofta (kofte for those more acquainted with Middle Eastern cooking) in either a red or white sauce.
I was delighted with my unexpected ethnic lunch. I can now cross one more cuisine off my "to try" list. Do I have one of those? Well, I do now.
Braised Pork Loin
Try this delicious recipe for pork loin. It yields 6 servings.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons coarse salt (some extra for potatoes)
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper (some extra for potatoes)
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground mustard
1 boneless pork loin, about 2 pounds, tied
2 tablespoons olive oil and (some extra for potatoes)
2 ½ cups dry white wine
8 red potatoes, quartered
10 carrots, peeled and trimmed
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
6 portobello mushrooms tops, thickly sliced
Directions:
Combine salt and spices, then coat the pork with the spice mixture, and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. In a separate bowl coat quartered potatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper, and set aside.
Heat a large Dutch oven (or any large pot with a thick bottom) over medium-high heat. Add oil. Add pork to pot. Sear pork until golden, turning with tongs, about 2 minutes per side. Stir in wine and scraping bottom of pot to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Partially cover, and simmer for 25 minutes, basting meat with cooking liquid several times and turning once. Remove pork from pot, and set aside.
Stir in potatoes, simmer covered for 5 minutes. Stir in carrots, onions, and garlic. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes then add the mushrooms. Make a well in center; return pork to pot. Simmer until vegetables are tender and a meat thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 145 degrees for medium, about 15 minutes. Let rest in pot 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Transfer the vegetables to a platter with the sliced pork. Pour sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl; pour over pork.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Dried or Fresh Fruit - Your Pick
Have you ever had the experience of buying a bag of dried mangos, thinking only to indulge in a piece or two, and five minutes later find yourself walking over to the trash can to throw away your empty package? I certainly have. Same with dried cherries, dried blueberries, dried figs, dried plums, dried apricots, raisins . . . heck, even Craisins. But just because they’re fruit of the dried variety doesn’t mean we should let down our guard when consuming these delightful snacks. That’s why I've done some research with many a reliable online source to see what the pros and cons of dried fruits are – and ultimately, to figure out if we should just stick to the natural kind.
photo by Jonathan Coveney
So we all know why we have dried fruits in the first place. Before big bad chemicals came into existence, drying – or in other words, sucking the moisture out of the fruit – was an effective method of preservation. However, that moisture-sucking leaves the fruit with more concentrated levels of sugar (due to sugar formation during the drying process) and therefore denser calories. What’s more, because of its heightened sweetness and condensed size, the dried version becomes easier to over-consume. A quick look at some calorie comparisons between the natural and the dried (provided by DietDetective.com) gives us some answers as to which may be preferable for those who shy away from weight gain.
Fresh apricots: three, 50 calories, 2.1g fiber
Dried apricot: Six pieces (40g), 90 calories, 3g fiber
Fresh blueberries: 75 berries, 58 calories, 2.4g fiber
Dried blueberries (sweetened): ¼ cup (75 berries), 150 calories, 4g fiber
Fresh grapes: 1 cup, 62 calories, 0.8g fiber
Dried grapes (raisins): One small box (1.5 ounces), 129 calories, 1.6g fiber
Fresh cherries: 27 cherries (without pits), 116 calories, 3.9g fiber
Dried cherries: 1/3 cup (27 cherries), 160 calories, 1.5g fiber
Fresh: Raw mango (1 cup sliced), 107 calories, 3g fiber
Dried mango: 12 slices unsweetened (76g), 212 calories, 2g fiber
One thing you may notice from this information is that although dried fruits tend to be higher in calories, they tend to also be higher in fiber. Dried fruits, despite their high sugar levels, do have their nutritional merits in the form of higher fiber content and greater antioxidant content, as well as more complex carbohydrate levels.
So in the end, it’s really up to you. Dried fruits are nutrient-dense, but they’re also calorie-dense. They taste good, but there’s a danger of eating too much of them at once.
I do concede that dried fruit is super convenient in terms of preparation and mobility, as opposed to fresh fruit that you have to peel or slice. Oh, and the longer shelf-life is another benefit, of course.
But personally, my philosophy is to pick dried fruits over other snack choices such as chips and cookies, but when possible, pick fresh fruit over dried fruit. And when picking the dried fruit, I try to choose the ones that have less added salt and sugar, or preferably, all-natural. Now you just have to keep that in mind on your next 2 a.m. trip to Fresh Grocer.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Upcoming Food Events
Flower-Inspired Food Tour
Where: All over Philadelphia, beginning at DiBruno Bros, 1730 Chestnut St.
When: March 2 - 7, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
What: A unique food tour inspired by the concurrent Philadelphia Flower Show, featuring hand-crafted treats and botanical delights. Click here to reserve a spot.
How Much: $39 per person
"Fork You" Live!
Where: Foster's Urban Homeware, 399 Market St.
When: March 7, 2:00 pm
What: A live filming of the popular podcast, forkyou.tv. Part of Fosher's free cooking demonstration series.
How Much: Free!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
