It’s like the NY Times read my mind…

And here is their hummus recipe.

Taken directly from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/health/nutrition/10recipehealth.html?ref=nutrition

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

Published: September 8, 2009

Hummus is a great filling for a vegetarian wrap. You can buy hummus in many grocery stores, but nothing can beat hummus you make at home. It takes no time at all to make this version with canned chickpeas.

For the hummus:

1 to 2 garlic cloves, to taste; halved, green shoots removed

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt to taste

3 to 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste

2 to 3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt, as needed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons sesame tahini

For each wrap:

1 large flour tortilla or whole wheat wrap

2 leaves romaine lettuce, ribs cut away

1/8 red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons cucumber, cut in julienne

Fresh mint leaves (optional)

1. Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic cloves. Process until they are chopped and adhere to the sides of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, and process until very smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

2. For each wrap, warm a large flour tortilla for about 10 seconds in the microwave or over a burner, just until flexible. Lay it on your work surface and cover with lettuce leaves, leaving a two-inch border all the way around. Place 3 heaped tablespoons hummus (about 1/4 cup) on top of the lettuce on the bottom half of the tortilla. Top with the red pepper, the cucumber and a few leaves of mint if desired.

3. Fold the bottom edge of the tortilla over the filling. Fold in the sides, then roll up, squeezing the tortilla so that the roll is compact. Place the roll on a piece of plastic wrap. Fold in the sides of the plastic over the ends of the wrap, and roll up tightly to secure. Refrigerate for at least five minutes and for as long as 24 hours.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups hummus. Enough for six or seven wraps.

Advance preparation: The hummus will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator. It will become more pungent. The wrap can be made a day ahead.

“How I came to actually enjoy the turkey burger”

Quentin Bacon for realsimple.com

Here’s a guest post from Sam Richman, a foodie originally from PA:

Hello, coffee straws?  Thanks for having me on.  Long time listener, first time caller.

I have just eaten maybe the most delicious cheeseburger of my entire life.  Seriously.  And it was made of…turkey.

Alright, look.  Let me clear this off the table from the onset.  I love food.  That’s why I’m here.  The other thing I want to say is that I love the art of the cheeseburger.  Yes, it’s an art.  And when it comes to cheeseburgers, I’m something of a traditionalist.  I like ‘em simple.  I like ‘em classic.  I like the burger part of the burger, the beef, I like that thick, juicy, as rare as possible.  I like the bun warm, thick to absorb all the burger juice.  I don’t like adding superfluous and unnecessary accoutrements.   Ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion.  Maybe bacon.  MAYBE chili, on occasion.  But sprouts? Avocado? Spare me.  When cooking the beef, the only seasoning you need is salt.  Like I said, I keep it simple.

With all that being said, with the fat beef patty, the salt, the bacon, you can safely assume I’m not known for being the healthiest of eaters.   And I used to not be.  But then I found out I have high cholesterol.*

So with that discovery, I had to make some necessary changes to my diet – namely the usual cutting back on saturated and trans fats.  And this was, at first, a tragedy to a burger lover like me.  The first day I went to the Safeway and trudged back with a pound and a half of ground turkey, I felt ashamed.  I felt like I was betraying my tongue and stomach.  I felt like the good part of my life was over.  And the first turkey burger I made was disaster.  I made the patty as thick as I usually did with beef – about three-quarters of an inch.  I seasoned it with salt.  I went through the motions as I would with beef.  But I ignored one simple truth:  Turkey ain’t beef.

As I’ve mentioned, I like my burgers rare.  And you can do that with beef.  But not with turkey, lest you face salmonella.  So to get a ¾ inch turkey patty cooked the whole way through, it takes TIME.  And during that time, the outside cooks to a burnt, crispy disgusting crust that tastes awful and the middle tastes like turkey, which is definitively NOT how a burger should taste.  So after that first attempt, I swore off turkey burgers.

So how, you may be asking, did I come to think that a turkey burger was, perhaps, the most delicious burger I’ve ever eaten?  Read on.

First and foremost, you have to break the seasoning rule.  So far I’ve found two alternatives that have turned out excellent.  The past few times I’ve made the ultimate turkey burger, I’ve seasoned about ¼ pound of ground turkey liberally with Fresh Ground Garlic Sea Salt (McCormick), Fresh Ground Peppercorns (I like the McCormick Peppercorn Medley Grinder – but my spice rack may be a topic for another blog), and then mash up both of those spices pretty well through the meat.  Once you have that done, I like to mix up about a tablespoon of Sriracha into the meat, which gives it a little bit of a kick and adds some extra spice as it cooks.  Don’t do this with any cuts or open sores on your hands…. Seems obvious but I learned the hard way.

Your other option, and this was the one I stumbled on today, was I picked up a little container of McCormick “Smoky Sweet Pepper Seasoning Blend” while browsing through the spices at Safeway.  If you season your meat liberally with this stuff, it makes your turkey burger simply delicious.  The blend, basically a mix of onion, salt, tomato, peppers, garlic, and paprika, gives the burger, a wonderful, peppery, garlicky, smokiness that, even though I cooked it in a skillet, tasted almost grilled over open coals.  I highly recommend picking up (or even making) some of this stuff.  Even though I’ve only used it for this purpose, I can’t wait to try it on chicken, shrimp, etc. in the future.

That being said, the other discovery I’ve made is that the best way to do this is to make two thin patties and double up.  Easiest way to do this is just after you’ve spiced up your meat, divide it into two equally-sized portions and shape them like meatballs.  Throw your meatballs into a cast-iron skillet, let them sizzle for a minute or so, then take a spatula and flatten them out.  I like about ¼ inch thick.  Let them sizzle and cook through, about 2 minutes per side, throw on some cheese, let it melt, and throw those bad boys on a bun.  I like to top simply, with ketchup and sriracha and then go to town.

I should also add, that if you use the Smoky Sweet Pepper Seasoning and then top with Sriracha, you get a whole bunch of phenomenal pepper flavors playing together – the hot from the Sriracha, the Smoky and Sweet from the Seasoning.  It brought great joy to my taste buds, and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

* I may not actually have high cholesterol.  Official lab results are pending.

Make Your Own Hummus

www.sabra.com

Last night I was scraping the bottom of my giant sabra hummus container from Costco with some celery and had a realization…I am sick of Sabra.  I go through phases of hummus because I eat so much — I switch between Trader Joe’s hummus (with tahini…not as creamy, more chickpea-y) and Sabra (much more creamy, but with more stabilizers and oil).  Whenever I get sick of one, I switch to the other.  Right now, though, I’m sick of both! So, I’ve decided to make my own.  Last night I bought some tahini, lemons, and plan to make my own next week.  I will post pictures and the recipe I use — most likely I’ll just make my own, with chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, some basil, maybe some sundried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. Do any of you have good recipes?  Send them my way if you do, and I will try them out, as well.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen!

Check out my recent guest post at the Westside Independent. Come out and support our local businesses on August 19th!

Popover — My Take

Recently, the Coffee Straws team met in NYC to visit, but more importantly, to plot the revival and relaunch of Coffee Straws.  CSmale, as I like to refer to him, was in charge of choosing a brunch place, and CSfemale (that’s me) knew that whatever he chose, it’d be great.

I love places where I want the whole menu — this menu was exactly that.  I wanted everything on it!  The salads looked fabulous and so did the sandwiches.  The menu was huge, but finally I decided on the Sorry Charlie.  The sandwich was open faced, with a scoop of tuna on really grainy whole wheat toast, topped with avocado, tomato, and melted cheddar cheese.  Sometimes a tuna melt can be a little soggy, but Popover did a wonderful job of keeping the toast crunchy and mixing all the fresh flavors together.  The avocado was firm and fresh, and just writing this makes me want to go back to order another.

CSMale got a the Granny AKA Tab — fresh turkey breast, a sliced granny smith apple, turkey bacon, melted cheddar, red onion, and raisin-horseradish dressing.  This. Was. Amazing.   Highly recommended!

We also got a popover (of course), and it is a fluffy eggy bread (see CSMale’s review), and comes with a fresh strawberry jam and strawberry butter.  This also was simply delicious.

In three words: recomend, recomend, recomend!  It was a fabulous lunch and outing.

The Ranking (for explanation, see “Review Key”):

Food: 3 straws (I haven’t been enough times to give it 4 straws, but it is well on its way.  The food was creative, inventive, and fresh, and I would return even with bad service for the food.)

Price: $$traws, Moderate price ($20-$30 will cover the average brunch of a popover, coffee, and a main course).

Atmosphere: A relaxed and comfortable, homey diner.  You can come in wearing gym shorts or a sundress, casual is the way to go.

Overall: 4 straws (I had a great time and would return. I give it 4 stars based on my partner’s love of the place — I know he wouldn’t keep going back to a place that wasn’t 4 stars)

The Details:

Website: http://www.popovercafe.com/index.html

Location: 551 Amsterdam Ave (corner of 87th).

Phone: (212) 757-2277

Reservation: No reservations and come expecting to wait if going during meal times, especially brunch.

Dress: Casual.

Hours:

Weekdays: 8:00am- 10:00pm

Weekends: 9:00am- 10:00pm

We’re Back, Baby.

Coffee Straws is back up and running.  We have a new format, one which we really think will allow us to not only reach out to you more and give you more information about restaurants and what the CS team is up to, but also allow us  to update more frequently.  We have tailored CS more to the CS team and the way we write.  CSMale loves writing longer reviews and does a great job at it…CSFemale, on the other hand, can never sit in once place long enough to write a review, and so, as a result, we’re integrating a lighter, but just as informative, way of talking about food and everything we love about it.

As for the CS team…we are currently based in Washington DC and NYC.  Even though the focus of CS has shifted East, but we will still review and discuss anything we come across anywhere in the country.

Thanks for checking back in with us and we hope you add us to your Google Readers, Tweet-thingies, Facebook…whatever you hip young kids are doing these days, find us on them!

- WashDCGirl and Huysmans, CS Team

Sent from my iPhone

Just a quick update!

The Coffee Straws team is hard at work at revamping the site and preparing it for is full opening this summer. You won’t see much action around here in the weeks to come but check back in April for official updates and possibly our return posts.

For now I will send this post from my iPhone because from within the tranches of restaurant and food reviewing comes the flexibility to publish from location.

-Huysmans out.

A Starbucks for your thoughts or Why are there so many Starbucks around me?

In honor of the recent opening of a new Starbucks in my neighborhood and the not so recent closing of two others I feel it is about time I list the Upper West Side Starbucks’ and describe their importance to me. Perhaps there is reason to have more than one in the end, or perhaps not.

First before we can start we have to define the neighborhood. In technical terms I live in Morningside Heights which actually begins at 86th street on the West Side. But for the purposes of this study we will be looking at an area of space that stretches from 66th street and the West Side to 106th street. The reason for these two limits is simple, that encompasses an area of New York in which I am very familiar with the Starbucks’.

With this mile radius block one would find 13 Starbucks’ (please comment if I have missed one).

Here they are:

1. Broadway btwn 87th & 88th
2394 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
United States

-A new Starbucks which I have not had the pleasure of entering and utilizing just yet. It is tucked away within an apartment building and appears to have balcony seating on a second level.

2. 86th & Columbus
540 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10024
United States

-This Starbucks is symbolic of my own childhood. I went to school not far from here and would many a day get coffee here before and after school. My friends and I had a unique relationship with this Starbucks in particular because we had this bizarre and just flat out weird style of studying where we would wake up extra early the day of a test and meet up at this location at opening (ie. 6 in the morning). This was done with some regularity throughout the year and thus the morning manager was convinced we were part of some alternative lifestyle group that would finish our nightly extravaganzas at a Starbucks. Back in the day this place had sofas and leather chairs as well as a plethora of plugs for computer use, now it has been consumed by the wooden tables and chairs and airportesque style of many a Starbucks of late.

3. Broadway @ 81st
2252 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
United States

-This is a very popular and almost always busy Starbucks. It has the appearance of being a large cubical and in recent years has greatly reduced the more interesting seating in favor of more chairs and tables. Some of you may remember this Starbucks appearing in You’ve Got Mail, but again the seating arrangement featured in that movie is no longer available at this Starbucks. It is decent as far as Starbucks’ go; service is pretty quick and there is a lot of seating, though don’t expect to always be able to get a seat. Personally I find this one to be too loud (considering the set up of a giant cube) and less conducive for work or leisure reading. In short this is a meeting Starbucks, many come here to talk.

4. 93rd and Broadway
2498 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
United States

-Completely opposite of the Starbucks on 81^st street, this Starbucks can be very quiet, even in the front where the registers are. I have found in the past that when looking for a Starbucks to get a lot of work done in a quieter environment this is my pick. Again though as is the case with pretty much all the Starbucks’, the seating has gotten much less comfortable. One thing that does set this one apart form a typical Starbucks experience that I have had is that its service tends to be slower and the lines can form here pretty easily.

5. 81st & Columbus
444 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10024
United States

-Once in my life have a ventured in to this Starbucks to actually stay and talk there. Mostly I see this Starbucks as a place to pick up drinks after eating at any of the Natural History Museum restaurants (The B. R. Guest restaurants that refuse to work with Open Table, I’ll talk about this in a post to come). It’s a smaller Starbucks with less storefront windows. Beyond that its location is important to note as it is, as mentioned, right near the American Museum of Natural History as well as the 81^st street entrance into Central Park, which is very popular during the summer months because of Shakespeare in the Park.

6. 95th & Broadway
2521 Braodway
New York, NY 10025
United States

-This one I have always believed to be completely and utterly unnecessary, though it does get a line in the morning. I see it as unnecessary because when standing in front of it you can see one Starbucks two blocks south at 93^rd and Broadway and another Starbucks three blocks north at 98^th and Broadway. Nevertheless I have found reason to utilize this Starbucks, as have many other morning travels. I guess one reason that it gets use is its location right near the Subway entrance, though you can see the two other stores, both are a few more blocks from the express stop at 96^th street. Second to that is its location on the west side of the street. With its addition to the neighborhood I do not have to cross to the east side of the street to obtain a coffee and then back to the west side to go home. This is an extremely lazy technicality but it deserves mention for that regardless.

7. 75th & Broadway
2140 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
United States

-I am less familiar with this Starbucks but that does not mean I haven’t visited it a few times here and then. It has had the purpose for me at least of being a rest stop on the way from Lincoln Center back to Morningside Heights. In this respect its bathroom is very nice as are the lines for ordering, but on occasion those lines have been long and the service slow.

8. 76th & Columbus
338 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
United States

- I can’t really comment on this one as I have been here maybe once. I just don’t use Columbus when traveling uptown or downtown, mostly because Broadway has that convenient curve to it that helps get me directly to Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, Time Square, and Union Square.

 

9. 98th & Broadway
2600 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
United States

-Due to its location it has been my Starbucks of choice. My friends and I would meet here in the mornings when going to school (on days that we weren’t getting up at 5:30 to go to the one on Columbus to study). It is at this Starbucks that I always find myself reading the paper, eating breakfast (from Lenny’s Bagels across the street of course), and blogging. The service is always dependable and most of the time I can find a seat, but it isn’t easy. Though it’s a newer addition to the Starbucks trend I do greatly appreciate its location and have utilized it on a fairly regular basis, their lattes are always well prepared.

10. 73rd & Columbus
267-275 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10023
United States

-A Starbucks I can’t say I have entered in more than once if that. Again its location on Columbus puts it out of the way for my needs but I’m sure it is just like any old Starbucks.

11. 70th & Broadway
2045 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
United States

-With this one I am going on record and saying that I believe Starbucks has made a typo with the address of this Starbucks. It is located just south of the intersection of Broadway and Amsterdam and I believe it is on the Amsterdam side of that intersection. Regardless if it is the Starbucks on the Amsterdam side and I am not missing another Starbucks in that area it is a fairly large one that is mostly dominated by a younger crowd who are either one their way or coming from the Sony movie theater on 68^th street. Because of the crowd it draws I have utilized it less and less of late, it is not good for anything productive. But in the good old days when I was impatient waiting for a movie to start I would venture in here for a drink. That is if I didn’t head over to the one on Columbus and 67^th street.

12. 103rd & Broadway
2690 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
United States

-I believe this one is the newest member to the Starbucks crew and is doing a fine job of getting established. We will see how it fares in that area, it is the second to move into the Broadway in the low 100s block, the first one closed and became a bank. It is good to have a coffee shop up by many choice restaurants as well as the Silver Moon Bakery which in it of itself is a destination to visit. We will see if it lasts.

13. Columbus @ 67th
152 – 154 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 100235921
United States

-This Starbucks wraps up my high school years with it being closer to the 68^th street movie theater and frankly a little better than the Starbucks on 70^th and Amsterdam. I find that it was better because it had more comfortable seating (back in the day not now) and had the room to do the stuff that we liked to do, such as play a rousing game of Monopoly or hold an eight person plus discussion of the hidden meaning within the third Matrix movie; The Matrix Revolutions.

So those are the Starbucks in my life and the different purposes they have had. The real point of discussion here is the number of Starbucks within just a mile radius defined by 86th and Broadway. What are the uses you have for Starbucks? Or are you one of the many who are annoyed by the abundance and uniformity of the Starbucks system that you have boycotted them all together? Whatever your opinions are share your thoughts:

 

What does Starbucks mean to you and how do you define its role in your community? Is it the destroyer of the small coffee shop? Or the savor who finally created an evening location for young people that doesn’t include alcohol.

 

Discuss: