cooking | Athena Pappas

Tag: cooking
- Restaurant Review: Boxcar Betty’s
  
  Posted at 9:00 am by athenapappas, on November 29, 2016
  
  In West Ashley, just outside of historic downtown Charleston, you can find the delicious purveyor of chicken sandwiches, Boxcar Betty’s. Rivaling the chicken sandwiches of even David Chang’s Fuku in Manhattan, Boxcar Betty’s makes their sandwiches with only the highest quality chicken and locally sourced ingredients.
  
  The look is ultra-retro and down-to-earth. The counter service is fast and efficient (but it might be hard to find a table during a rush). Additionally, the staff are incredibly friendly.
  
  And now to the food! I ordered the classic Boxcar, a chicken sandwich dressed with Pimento Cheese, peach slaw, house pickles, and spicy mayo. The chicken was perfectly crisp, not too greasy. The spicy mayo gave it a great kick, rounded out by the creaminess of the slaw and Pimento Cheese.
  
  We also shared the regular French fries and sweet potato fries. I will have to say that I preferred the sweet potato. Seasoned with brown sugar, they had the fine balance of sweet and savory.
  
  If you are in the Charleston area, I would highly recommend making a stop at Boxcar Betty’s. Even if you are staying downtown, it is worth the trip to West Ashley for that crunchy, savory goodness.
  
  Posted in Charleston, Restaurants, Review, Travel | 0 Comments | Tagged Charleston, Chicken Sandwich, cooking, restaurant, Review, Southern
- Adventures in New York: Snow Day!
  
  Posted at 10:00 am by athenapappas, on January 25, 2016
  
  Despite all of the warnings leading up to Saturday’s record-breaking snowstorm, I don’t think anyone quite believed this would really be the big one…until it hit. I went out that morning around 10am for yoga class, not realizing that a foot of snow had already fallen in Central Park and throughout New York. On my walk back home around 11:30, cars were starting to get covered in snow.
  
  The city buses didn’t stop running until noon and all outdoor subway lines were closed in the early afternoon, but you can see how treacherous traveling became pretty early on. I’m glad I didn’t have anywhere to be! In my neighborhood, bars and restaurants were open for brunch but quickly closed once the city was declared to be in a state of emergency and a travel ban was placed.
  
  Although my entrance wasn’t shoveled, a few brave souls cleared a bit of a path to get inside. It is bright and sunny the day after the storm, but Saturday was a total white-out of a storm.
  
  Luckily, my Blue Apron order came a day early to beat the winter weather. Instead of joining the crowds at the grocery store for bread and milk, I made this hearty, delicious white pizza. Covered with fresh ricotta and mozzarella cheese, I topped the pizza with red onion, greens, and egg. I had trouble getting the pizza dough as flat and spread out as I wanted, but overall, a very delicious and simple to make recipe. The perfect way to keep warm on a snow day!
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking, New York | 2 Comments | Tagged Blue Apron, Brooklyn, cooking, greenpoint, pizza, Snow, Snow Day, Winter
- Blog Roll Call
  
  Posted at 10:44 am by athenapappas, on August 7, 2014
  
  Epirus, Greece
  
  A little bit of a departure from my normal format, I thought I would write a little bit about the cooking blogs that inspire me. First is Rachel Ray. While a lot of chefs tend to scoff at her, Rachel Ray recipes are the way I learned to cook (thanks to my mom) one summer. I like how easy the site is to search and the concepts behind the recipes from 30-minute meals to budget friendly versions of classics. Sometimes you just don’t have the time and energy to make a big, fancy meal.
  
  Another blog I love, love, love is Crêpes of Wrath. Sydney is a fellow Brooklynite and is constantly posting new recipes and about new bars/restaurants in the area. In addition to having well-written and tasty recipes, each post has a series of pictures outlining the steps. She is where I found the Strawberry Chocolate Chip recipe, which has become infamous among my group of friends.
  
  There is, of course, always plenty of inspiration to be found on Pintrest. Although I haven’t actually made any of these recipes, I enjoy reading the Food in my Beard blog. He does crazy stuff like buffalo chicken pad Thai and Cool Ranch mac and cheese. On occasion, I do fid inspiration in the New York Times dining section, but usually I just find myself skimming it for what is going on in New York. Not strictly for recipes, Marcus Samuelson is a chef I like to follow online.
  
  I hope that inspires some new reading for you. Happy cooking!
  
  Posted in Cooking, New York, Review, Writing | 0 Comments | Tagged blog, cooking, food, Review
- Hudson Valley Adventure Part II
  
  Posted at 10:03 am by athenapappas, on July 24, 2014
  
  After a lovely train ride, a trip to the grocery store, and a couple of wrong turns, we finally made it to our cabin in the woods. Eric Berelovich found the perfect place outside of Accord, NY. The cabin had plenty of bedrooms, the latest IKEA furniture, but weirdly no curtains on any of the windows. Even though it had a wrap around porch. Regardless, it was plenty of space for our group, especially the kitchen.
  
  Since the grill was out of gas, we decided to make our Fourth of July burgers on the stove top. The kitchen actually was equipped with a grill top, which we used to grill the asparagus. Earlier in the evening, we had caramelized our onions and prepped different dips sauces and veggies to top the burgers. Prepping and chopping everything earlier in the evening really made the difference. As you can see above, we made the burgers diner style, which was so delicious. The trick to diner style is not to pre-form patties. We heated up the pan and greased it with butter. Once hot, the burgers went straight on. They were then seasoned as they were cooked with cheese added last.
  
  We also made a lot of bacon. With the kitchen grill top, we could toast the buns. I was skeptical at first about not using the outdoor grill, but everything turned out perfect and was much easier.
  
  Here is a portion of the condiments we could select. My contribution was chopping the jalapeños
  
  My finished plate. Luckily I remembered to take a picture before I inhaled it. Grilled asparagus and a diner style burger with cheese, pickles, ketchup, caramelized onions, and spicy aioli sauce. It is always fun on a group weekend trip to take a new kitchen for a whirl seeing other cooks’ processes. Thanks to our friend Eric Berelovich, we all had a great time exploring the Hudson Valley.
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking, New York, Review | 0 Comments | Tagged 4th of July, America, bugers, cabin, cooking, Hudson Valley, kitchen, onions, Travel
- Sometimes I threaten my roommates with baked goods…
  
  Posted at 8:10 pm by athenapappas, on June 4, 2014
  
  One of my absolute favorite things is to make dinner and/or baked goods for my friends. I am notorious for forcing Tupperwares of leftovers on people. Here, I just wanted to make sure everyone got some treats!
  
  This past winter, I held a dinner party. I managed to make a total Frankenstein’s-monster-esque table. Yes, by the end of the evening I managed to squeeze 13 people into a Brooklyn-sized dinning room. Although, to be fair, that end part wasn’t completely structurally stable. No elbows on the table! None of the flatware or plates matched, but luckily that mismatched look is really in now. When I buy new dishes, I usually keep them in the blue-family to at least coordinate.
  
  Everyone enjoying some appetizers before dinner. To make things more manageable, I had everyone bring something, either a wine or an appetizer, salad or desert. No one went thirsty in this crowd. I made the main course (a mac and cheese obviously) and vegetable dish. The mac and cheese was from the cookbook Melt. I selected one that could be made ahead of time, then just baked once guest arrived. I also prepped the roasted vegetables ahead of time so that I wouldn’t spend the whole night in the kitchen. Sadly, I did not take a picture of the food, but it turned out marvelous. One of the keys to a great mac and cheese is buying really great ingredients. The recipe called for a pancetta, but I found an excellent thick cut bacon as a substitute. People went wild for it! I am about due to host another cocktail party (which I love doing even if they never quite work out the way I planned) or dinner party, but it is so hard to get motivated in this heat! I need to plan a picnic or do some sort of no-stove dish.
  
  Here are the infamous Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies. I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but that is all Sydney at Crêpes of Wrath. Her blog is one of my favorite food blogs and actually a great resource for awesome bars and restaurants in the North Brooklyn area. The greatest part about these cookies is that there is more “stuff” than cookie, it is basically chip and strawberry held together by an excellent soft dough. They are easy to make and always a crowd pleasure. You should keep them in mind now that it is strawberry season!
  
  Posted in Cooking, New York | 0 Comments | Tagged Brooklyn, chocolate, COokie, cooking, dinner party, friends, Mac and Cheese, strawberry, wine
- Adventures in Cooking: Chicken Tikka and Biscuits
  
  Posted at 9:37 am by athenapappas, on April 22, 2014
  
  To celebrate Spring (and a massive apartment cleaning effort), my roommates and I had a few people over on Sunday for dinner. I made an eclectic main course of Chicken Tikka Masala with Cheddar Bacon Biscuits. Yes, I know it makes no sense together, but they are both great foods. I also cheated a bit with both. My recipe for the chicken uses the slow-cooker, which was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The only problem that I ran across was that my local grocery store did not carry garam marsala spice blend (the recipe did come with a quite complicated substitution spice plan). I decided to take a chance on a jar of tikka masala marinade. In the end, it might have made the sauce a bit too rich, but overall, it turned out pretty delicious. The cucumbers on top really made this dish feel like spring.
  
  For the biscuits, I completely cheated and used Jiff mix, following Rachel Ray’s recipe. I just didn’t have the time to make them from scratch. But, it is fun to play around with recipes and make them your own. Here, I made the biscuits much like my cookies- more “stuff” than dough. I did not use just 2 pieces of bacon, I think I must have made at least half a package. I wasn’t stingy with the shredded cheddar either! All in all, I very lovely holiday weekend quick dinner party. We had spinach dip and deviled eggs followed by my main course. There was also plenty of Lambrusco and Mimosas to go around. I am ready for Spring!
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking, New York | 0 Comments | Tagged cheddar, cooking, Indian, spring
- Adventures in New York: Greenmarket Feast
  
  Posted at 9:00 am by athenapappas, on July 30, 2012
  
  Last Wednesday, I cooked this lovely little pasta dish from modified from a Real Simple recpie. I will have to say, it is one of the best I have made in quite a long time thanks largly to the fresh ingredients I purchased at Union Square’s Greenmarket. In fact, the entire meal except for the pasta (and salt and pepper) are local products.
  
  I ended up buying fusilli pasta which was just the right consistency for the sauce as it did not seem to make the dish heavier. What I really liked about this recipe is how simple the sauce was to make, blend together basil and oil oil. I didn’t find it necessary to strain the sauce. It was easier to make then pesto and dairy-free. The scent of the fresh basil was incredible. And, I had enough leftover basil that I have an entire container of sauce to use for my lunches this week.
  
  Instead of goat cheese, I used a local sheep’s cheese as that was what the Greenmarket cheese-monger had available. It was a harder cheese, but I just grated up a 1/4th of a pound. It melted perfectly into the sauce and was not as salty as goat cheese could have been. For an extra kick, I tossed in some salted, fresh grape tomatoes and extra bail leaves.
  
  On the side, we have a fresh kalamata olive bread. Although quite delicious, I found the crust very hard to cut and as a result had some near knife accidents. To top it all off, the Channing Daughter’s Due Uve wine from the Montuak winery. Maybe a bit dark of a red wine for summer, but it was lovely.
  
  If you have an overabundance of fresh basil or are looking for a great summer pasta, give this one a try. It is simple but rich and satisfying.
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking, New York | 0 Comments | Tagged basil, cooking, fresh, Greenmarket, pasta, Summer, Tomato, Union Square
- Fancy Quesadillas
  
  Posted at 4:09 pm by athenapappas, on April 27, 2012
  
  This is one of my favorite dishes to make: chicken, mushroom, and Gruyere quesadillas. I found this recipe in my parents copy of Cooking Light from July 2009. Luckily, it is posted online here.
  
  The “burrito” sized tortillas that I found at the supermarket were just the right size, my roommate and I each got one super filling quesadilla. In regards to the actual cooking, I personally like to double the amount of ingredients in the mushroom mix to have more filling. A precooked chicken would also be a way to make this recipe faster. I just grilled up some chicken on my little grill and shredded it with two forks. The tricky part of these is making sure that the insides don’t fall out into the pan while you are making the tortilla all crispy and quesadilla-like. I don’t really have an answer for how to fix that except go slowly and carefully. Also, watch the temperature of the pan, I burned mine a bit.
  
  If you are in the mood for quesadillas, this is a quick, tasty recipe.
  
  Posted in Cooking, Review | 0 Comments | Tagged cooking, Quesadilla, recpie
- Adventures in Cooking: Gorgonzola Burgers
  
  Posted at 11:37 am by athenapappas, on March 8, 2012
  
  Through a cheese exchange, I ended up with a large chunk of really potent Gorgonzola, and it was my night to cook. I have had it on steaks before but wanted to do something a little more low key. So burgers! I cooked some mushrooms in Red Wine vinegar and popped frozen tater totes in the oven (really low key tonight). Basically, I just mixed together minced garlic, some basil, the ground beef, and Gorgonzola. I pulled out my little grill and got to work.
  
  It is hard to tell by the pictures, but they grilled up quite nicely. Some were a bit heavy on the cheese, but overall, very delish!
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking | 0 Comments | Tagged Burgers, cooking, Gorgonzola
- Adventures in Cooking: Vegetarian Sloppy Joes
  
  Posted at 10:00 am by athenapappas, on February 20, 2012
  
  Another Sunday, another Rachael Ray meal. Tonight I made one that I haven’t made in about two years, vegetarian sloppy joes! The meat in the Joe is replaced with portabella mushrooms and red bell peppers. They make a great meat substitute. The mushrooms are hearty but not too heavy and greasy.
  
  As a recipe, this one had very little prep work. Just some chopping, only the table spoon for measuring, and a tiny bit of mixing. The sauce was a bit sweet, but tangy with the Worcestershire sauce. A quick, easy vegetarian alternative to the usual burger. Just add the sloppy joe veggies and sauce to a toasted hamburger bun with pickles.
  
  Posted in Adventures, Cooking | 0 Comments | Tagged cooking, Rachael Ray, Sloppy Joe
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