Restaurant Review: Sycamore

  Jess and I were looking for some place special to celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary and, as we'd had really good experiences at Sycamore before, we figured we'd give the place another shot.  Sycamore is classy, upscale local dining establishment, whose 'mission is to provide seasonal, market-driven fare at affordable prices.'  I'm not exactly sure how to classify the style of their food; if forced to describe it, I'd say it's something of a mix of continental European and contemporary American cuisine.  The menu changes weekly (and sometimes more frequently) and features a nice mix of salads, appetizers/small plates, and entrees.  I should mention that, although we've been there 2-3 times now, we've never actually ordered the large plates.  Instead, we prefer to each get a couple of small plates or a small plate and a salad, to share them around, and get a bit more diversity for our dollar.  The wine and beer menus (esp. the beer menu) are phenomenal.  Sanford (one of the owners, and in charge of the bar) loves craft beer and fine wine, and there is literally something on their extensive drink menus to please just about anyone.  These menus, like the food menu, change fairly frequently. 
    Jess started off with a glass of the house merlot ($4), which we've found to be quite affordable and easy to pair with a variety of dishes, while I had a goblet of Goose Island's Fleur on tap ($5).  Our waitress was really attentive, and showed up to take our drink orders almost as soon as we'd sat down.  She was friendly, helpful, and knew the extensive drink and food menus well enough that she didn't write a single thing down the entire night (service at Syc is pretty much second-to-none around here).  While sipping our drinks and munching on the complimentary house bread and sun-dried tomato butter, we picked out our dinner.  For starters, Jess ordered the Greek salad ($9, slices of cucumber, tomato, calamata olives, red onion, and local feta, with olive oil and lemon juice) while I chose the brandade ($7, salt-cod and potato cake, breaded with crushed potato chips and fried crisp, served with artichoke remoulade, capers, and fried lemon).  The Greek salad was fantastic, with lots of fresh, vibrant flavors.  The only downside was that the cucumbers were just a touch on the bitter side.  The brandade was quite tasty as well, though just slightly softer/moister in texture than the last time I'd had it.  The artichoke remoulade and fried lemon slices were to die for.  For our dinner, Jess ordered the gnocci ($9, house-made potato Gnocchi, sauteed shiitakes, Swiss chard, and Parmigiano-Reggiano) while I opted for the duck pate ($8, duck livers and sherry mousse, pickled red onion, cornichons, and buttermilk crackers).  Jess loved the gnocchi, the pasta was rich and decadent, and the only thing she didn't like was the mushrooms (she's not a mushroom girl).  The duck pate, while quite good, didn't impress me quite as much as the country pate they sometimes serve that comes in its own small terrine (as opposed to sliced on the plate).  The duck version was slightly firmer in texture, and so rich that the two small slices was the perfect amount.  The crackers were spiced with a wonderful Indian spice (I'm not sure what it is, small black seeds, that we've often had at Indian restaurants on their appetizers), and the stone-ground brown mustard and pickled onions went wonderfully with the pate.  I ordered a second beer ($3.50), Tallgrass' new Halcyon wheat; it was the only disappointing thing of the entire evening.
   We weren't planning on getting dessert, but then our waitress brought out the menu.  We opted to split a slice of flourless chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream ($6) and some espresso ($2).  Absolutely fantastic, on both accounts.
   All in all, it was a great dinner.  Sycamore has never disappointed us (except once for lunch with friends when a waiter got a friend's order wrong and didn't offer her a discount, free dessert, etc, as restaurants will often do) and this time was no exception.  The atmosphere is warm, cozy, and upscale without ever hinting at pretension.  The wait-staff and bar-tenders are absolutely top-class as well.  While it's certainly not a cheap venue, there's also nothing on the menu over $27, and most of  the large plates are in the low-mid twenties.  When you think of it, you can pay nearly this much for steak or seafood entrees at crummy chain restaurants, and the prices have always struck us as quite fair.  If you go there expecting to pay $18 for mounds and mounds of food (increasingly rare even at the big chains these days) you will be disappointed.  The portions are just right, and considering the wide and ever-changing variety of flavors offered, it's easy to forgo the large plates and just share several apps or small plates amongst the table.  (For the record, from what I've heard, their large plates are fantastic as well).  Though we can't swing the cash to go very often (though they do have wonderful happy hour specials on drinks and appetizers), whenever we go to Sycamore, we know it will be a memorable night.

Creamy (Vegan) Avocado Pasta

I like to try new things.  Just ask my poor husband.  Lately, I’ve been on a quest to prove that there is delicious vegan food out there.  I know, crazy thing for a non-vegan to do but bear with me here.  For awhile, I was a vegetarian.  I just wanted to try it.  Now, I’m not anymore.  I generally stay away from red meat (occasionally we’ll have a steak or burgers, but I just don’t crave it too much. Give me a chicken breast any day!) and I, on the whole, just don’t eat a lot of meat.  I’ve found a lot of ways to eat delicious other things instead.

Anyway, what I’m trying to get to, really, is the delicious pasta dish that I made tonight–that happens to be vegan. And *gasp* the hubby liked it. He even said he’d eat it again!

Creamy Avocado PastaAdapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. brown rice vermicelli
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP dried basil
• 2 “dashes” of salt
• 2 ripe avocados

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
2. While the pasta is cooking, combine in the EVOO, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor. (Or, if you’re me, the 3 cup food chopper that you own) Blend until well-mixed
3. Add the avocado and basil.  Blend again until creamy.  Add a few dashes of salt and blend some more.  Use a spatula to get some of the stuff from the bottom up and blend some more!
4. Drain your pasta, add the sauce, and enjoy!

This was a DELICIOUS pasta dish! I doubled the recipe as provided by OSG, because the pasta was difficult to divide into servings.  Consequently, we ate a tad more than we really should have.  Nevertheless, it was quite good.  The avocado flavor was there, but not too strong, and melded well with the garlic and lemon juice.  I actually think that I’ll use less olive oil next time.  OSG also called for fresh basil leaves, which I hope to try next time I make this.  The basil flavor didn’t come through really at all, but I didn’t have access to fresh basil this time of year.  Definitely a delightful, refreshing dish that we’ll make again.
Happy weekend!

Lasagna without Pasta??

Yep, that’s right: lasagna WITHOUT pasta. No pasta of any kind.  I made it with this:

Yep, this officially marks my first (and more than likely not last) time I have ever used spaghetti squash. I’ve seen it a lot on food blogs that I read and on SparkPeople, so I finally decided to try it out with this recipe:

Zucchini and Spaghetti Squash “Lasagna”

(adapted from GreenLiteBites)

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash (about 2 pounds)
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1/2 cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup fat free ricotta
• 14 oz can crushed Italian style tomatoes
• Italian seasoning
• Parsley
• Black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Poke holes in the rind of the squash and microwave for about 10 minutes (4-5 minutes for every pound).  Allow the squash to cool for a few minutes and then cut it in half (long ways) and scoop out the seeds/pulp.  Be careful not to scoop out the squash flesh!
3. Using a fork, remove the squash flesh.  It really does look a lot like spaghetti noodles! (see above picture)
4. Slice the zucchini as thin as you can.
5. Using an 8 1/2″ x 11″ pan, put a little bit of the crushed tomato sauce on the bottom (to keep the zucchini from sticking)
6. Layer the zucchini, squash, sauce, and cheese until you run out.  Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on top of each layer of sauce (optional). Top with crushed black pepper and parsley.
7. Bake in the 350F oven uncovered for 45 minutes.  Because there is no pasta to soak up the water, you will want to use a turkey baster to remove the water every 10 minutes or so.


This was DELICIOUS! I will totally make it again.  Hubby thinks maybe a little more sauce next time, but it might be okay as is.  We may use actually sauce instead of crushed tomatoes next time; we just used what was on had this time! I’m actually really excited to try more recipes with spaghetti squash! It was SO much easier to work with than I expected!

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls

At my new job, we have a breakfast tradition that I have swiftly been incorporated into.  We rotate through the admin staff (alphabetically) and each person brings in a Monday morning breakfast.  Well, it’s my turn!  Not one to ever take the easy route (apparently) I decided weeks ago that I was going to make cinnamon rolls…from scratch.  My original plan was to make some from my Betty Crocker cookbook using the sweet roll dough that I made rolls from not too long ago for Christmas. However, in my endless blog surfing, I came across a recipe that I simply couldn’t resist trying. So, without further ado, here it is!

I got this recipe from OnSheGlows, a food website that has mostly vegan recipes.  I adapted it to use non-vegan ingredients (e.g. regular skim milk and butter), but other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe exactly.  It’s pretty complicated, so I’m not going to reproduce it all here.  Definitely check out the link! She has a ton of good looking stuff that I’m planning on trying in the (near) future!
I made her sweet dough to a “T” with three minor exceptions. I substituted skim milk for the almond milk, regular unsalted butter for the Earth Balance, and instead of using Egg Replacer, I used 1 TBSP cornstarch and 2 TBSP water.  Well, actually, those were the only things I really changed basically throughout the recipe.  Whenever she used almond milk, I used skim milk and vegan butter was always just regular butter (with the exception of the frosting….because I was out of butter!)
Also, I totally cheated with the cream cheese icing.  She has you mixing it by hand.  I gave it a go…and gave up.  I got it to the right consistency, but I couldn’t get all the butter lumps out….so I busted out my hand mixer.  Whatever. I’m lazy, so sue me! This cream cheese frosting is DELICIOUS.  I’m totally going to use it again to frost cupcakes or something because YUM.  (Oh, and I suppose I should mention that I didn’t use the vegan cream cheese…just the regular stuff from a tub…light).

Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese Casserole

It was my week to cook, again, and this time I remembered to take pictures! Woohoo! (Also, the last thing I made was NOT very…photogenic, to say the least.) Anyways, without further ado…DINNER!

Butternut Squash & Blue Cheese Casserole
Ingerdients:

• 3 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion, cut into strips
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1 pkg Buddig Honey Roasted Turkey (could totally be left out to make vegetarian, or you might substitute a flavorful, but delicatly smokey bacon, which might complement the blue cheese nicely)
• 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP crumbled blue cheese (Maytag or Gorgonzola…or whatever floats your boat)
• 2 TBSP dry white wine
• Nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Put the squash in a single layer on a baking sheet and mist with olive oil (or brush each piece). Put in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes, until the squash is tender
3. While the squash is cooking, caramelize the onions.  Saute them in a saucepan/skillet with the 1 TBSP olive oil and 1 TBSP sugar. Cook them until they are brown and sticky. Set aside.
4. Cut up the turkey into small pieces.
5. Prepare a small baking dish (loaf pan size works well) by spraying with nonstick spray.
6. When the squash is done roasting, remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350F.
7. Put the squash in the prepared baking dish. Add the turkey, 1/4 cup blue cheese, onions, and wine . Mix well. Top with the extra blue cheese and put back in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes. Then, turn on the broiler and bake another 5 minutes to brown the cheese on top.
8. Serve warm!

And, we definitely suggest serving it with this:

Walnut-Cranberry Couscous
Ingerdients:

• 2/3 cup couscous
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 4 TBSP walnuts, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Cinnamon

1. Cook the couscous according to package directions.
2. Add oil, cranberries, and walnuts; mix. Top each serving with a sprinkle of cinnamon

(*This is how I cooked it this time, but I would definitely recommend LESS couscous. I adapted from an internet recipe and I was using dry measurement, but I think the original must have meant cooked. Oh well, live and learn.)
**Both of these recipes came from Healthy Girl Cooking.

Blizzard Baking, 2011!

For some reason, being snowed in and off of school/work for two days gave me the urge to bake. Like, seriously bake. Actually, it took about an hour of being snowed in for the desire to hit, but a day and a half to decide what to make and to act on it. As anyone who followed on Facebook knows, I faced a serious baking dilemma: no eggs. Yep, none. No egg substitute, liquid or powdered. Nada. Hmmm…how bad did I REALLY want to bake? Well, apparently bad enough. I decided to experiment and go for it…with a1956 Betty Crocker cake recipe. So, with no further ado, here it is:

Betty Crocker’s Burnt Sugar Cake (with Burnt Sugar Frosting)
Cake Recipe:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup boiling water + extra
• 2 1/4 Cups Softasilk floud
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 shortening, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Grease and flour 2-8″ or 9″ pans (or one 9″x13″ pan). Preheat the oven to 350F.
Caramelize the 1/2 cup sugar, melting over low heat until medium brown (shaking pan to keep from burning). Remove from heat. Slowly add 1/2 cup boiling water (be careful – will splatter!). Return to head and stir until all lumps are dissolved. Remove from heat and measure; add enough water for a total of 1 cup of carmel-water mixture.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the shortening and 2/3 cup of the cooled carmel-water mixture. Beat 2 minutes. Add the rest of the caramel-water mixture, eggs, and optional vanilla. Beat 2 more minutes. Pour into prepared pans and place in hot oven. Cook the cakes for 25-35 minutes, depending on the size of your pan.
Frosting Recipe:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 1/2 TBSP Softasilk flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• +/- 3 TBSP water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Caramelize the sugar (same as cake) and add 1/4 cup boiling water, stirring vigorously. Set aside. (Heat further if you need to dissolve any lumps)
Melt 1/2 cup shortening in saucepan. Add 2 1/2 TBSP Softasilk flour and 1/4 tsp salt; stir. Slowly stir carmel-water mixture into shortening mixture. Return to heat and boil. Boil for one minute and remove from heat. Stir in (alternately) 3 cups confectioner’s sugar and about 3 TBSP water. Put in bowl of cold water and continue beating until spreadable consistency. Stir in vanilla.

How I Changed It Up:

• First off, I halved the cake recipe. We didn’t need that much cake for just the two of us, not really (we would have eaten it…but the fact remains that we didn’t need it!) Quite the adventure in math (1/6 Cup = how much? (2 TBSP + 2 tsp, in case you’re curious))
• Second, as previously mentioned, NO EGGS! I did some research online and came across a lot of different options. I ended up going with a cornstarch water combo to make up for my lack of eggs. (1 TSBP cornstarch + 3 TBSP water)
• Third, since I halved the recipe, I used two 6″ round cake pans. These are my new favorite! I pretty much never need to make full-size cakes so I finally made the investment in these. I used them earlier on the strawberry birthday cake as well.
• Fourth, I added a LOT more water to the frosting recipe. It was WAY too difficult to spread. Actually, it was practically to thick to beat with my electric hand mixer, let alone spread with a knife.

Overall, it tasted pretty good. I actually quite enjoyed the cake. The frosting was a bit…strong for me. It complimented the cake well, but it tasted just a tad too…burnt. I had some difficulty with the caramelization of the sugar (I burned it a bit too much). Woops. If it was just a little more mild, I probably would have thoroughly enjoyed it. The hubby enjoyed it, but also agreed that the frosting was a bit much. I am glad that I opted not to frost the sides of the cake.

Hubby's Birthday Cake

So, anyone who knows my husband is well aware that his favorite type of cake is strawberry. Yes, pink, girly strawberry cake. And I love him for it. So…for his birthday, I made it my mission to make a strawberry cake from scratch (how hard can it be?) and to hunt down a good “white wedding frosting” for it (because, again, his favorite type).
After sifting through many, many strawberry cake recipes that involved strawberry jello, strawberry extract, and red food coloring, I finally cake across a recipe on a food blog that caught my eye. No strawberry jello. No extract. No food coloring. Just strawberries. (In case you’re wondering it is from the blog “Confections of a Foodie Bride” here) The comments on the post all sounded good so I decided to give it a shot. The batter was pretty pink color and had a definite strawberry flavor to it. Now, one thing that I did change a little was the strawberries. The strawberry puree in the original was no sugar added organic frozen. Well, we bought the sugar added HyVee brand….because it was the cheapest! *duh*
Anyway, moving on to the frosting, I know how to make basic buttercream (thanks to my cake decorating for beginning Wilton class). However, it’s never “quite right.” So, I commenced again with searching to find a worthwhile recipe. The one I ended up settling on was from the website/blog Dine & Dish. It looked simple (read: EASY) and not THAT much different that what I normally. The only differences were milk instead of water and half butter/half shortening instead of all shortening. They taught us that this was an option in class…but then your frosting is, well, perishable.
The frosting turned out pretty well. I was quite happy with it (and so was the boy). I took a little bit of the frosting and added a bit of powdered sugar and some of the juice drained off the strawberries and made a thinner strawberry frosting for between the layers.

Well, the only real problem I encountered while making the cake was….the middle. I wanted to make the center section just a tad thicker, so when I made my dam with the white frosting, I doubled it up (something they taught us that we could do in class). The problem: my white wasn’t thick enough to support this. I definitely needed to make a thicker frosting and maybe double the width of the dam as well. Perhaps needless to say, the cake did a fair amount of sliding as I attempted to frost the cake.

In the end, I couldn’t get the frosting as smooth as I like (because of the sliding)…so I covered it with sugar sprinkles and threw it in the fridge in hopes that it would get a bit more solid. It didn’t…not really. The top tried to slide off when you cut it!!

The cake was pretty good overall. The strawberry icing in the center was FANTASTIC (too bad I have no idea how much strawberry stuff I put in). The cake didn’t have a very strong strawberry flavor to it. The flavor was there, but it wasn’t very prominent. If you are looking for a strongly flavored strawberry cake, you probably should just use the box mix! However, it was delicious–rich, dense, and moist! I’d make it again in a heartbeat, especially with the frosting.