Chef Monsta: I cook, therefore I blog

Every time my friend Yoel has a dinner party, this is the first thing to be attacked. Having never eaten meatloaf growing up, I thought it was one of those middle-American dishes for fatties but I was mistaken! I love it, and made him show me how to make it, step by step, so that I can share it with all ya’ll.

Ingredients:
2 cup chicken stock
2 lbs ground beef
1 egg
1/2 breadcrumbs
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped finely
6 oz can tomato paste
oil for sauteing
salt
pepper
cumin
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
instant chicken soup powder (secret ingredient)
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When you think of Passover desserts, dry pound cakes and macaroons come to mind. Everyone pretends they have delicious no-flour desserts but really they would never eat it the other 357 days of the year! So I decided to keep it simple this year, and you really can’t go wrong with fruit and chocolate (that looks very fancy). It is definitely a year round dessert.

All you need for these chocolate tarts:

paper muffin cups
30 oz of chocolate (I used bittersweet, but any will do)
berries
nuts
coconut
mint

Here is my stack of bittersweet chocolate bars ready for the melting.

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These pizza-like pies are popular in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Israel. They have an endless amount of phonetic spellings, too: lahmacun, lachmanjan, lachmajun/joon, lachma bi ajun, etc. Laham b’Ajeen make a great hors d’oeuvres for any party. Even though they are a bit time consuming (mostly waiting for the dough to rise), it is truly a worthwhile treat. I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Aromas of Aleppo. Meat pies always remind me of Sweeney Todd…creepy….

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Fans of The Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food rejoice! A new show is coming out on Travel Channel, debuting March 9 at 10pm EST, called Food Wars. The premise of this competition is as follows: local eateries and their iconic dishes battle it out and end their rivalries! Think Philly cheese steak or hot dog war, captured on tv with loyal fans defending their faves. I received an invitation from friends of New York’s iconic 2nd Avenue Deli to witness a live taping of Food Wars: Battle New York City Pastrami against famous Katz’s Deli! Exciting Stuff.

The taping of the showdown took place last night at the LES bar The Delancey and both deli’s brought crowds and energy to cheer for their teams. I of course, was on Team 2nd Ave Deli, proudly wearing my t-shirt. There were six tasters (including the Village Voice food critic, a linebacker from the Jets, and long time customers of each prospective deli) and an appearance by Times Square’s Naked Cowboy! I can’t tell you who won this showdown of course, but stay tuned for the episode which will air this Spring!

Here are some pics of the activities:

The Naked Cowboy sang a little opening ceremony deli tune.

The 2nd Ave Deli t-shirt, complete with a listing of its delicacies.

Camera crew.

The cheering crowd!

Team 2nd Ave representing.

Katz’s fans, with a sign of the famous line from When Harry Met Sally (filmed at Katz’s of course).

To the left, 2nd Ave Deli owner Jack Lebwohl, and to the right is Katz’s owner Alan Dell.

Pastrami A (2nd Ave)

Pastrami B (Katz’s)

And there I am, with Food Wars host Camille Ford

The episode will air sometime in April, stay tuned for details and the WINNER!

Sheara here…Chef Monsta’s big sis…when I told her today that I planned on making gnocchi tonight, she said to me “Don’t bother making gnocchi from scratch, it takes forever, just buy it pre-made and make the sauce“. But, being that I had potatoes that I wanted to use up, and having never made gnocchi before, I ignored Chef Monsta and made it anyway. Here’s what I came up with:
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