Restaurant Review: Peking Garden (Greensburg, PA)

Today, I had a 4:00PM phone call appointment with an admissions counselor at the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham (it went really well and I definitely learned a lot!) and my mother had a 7:00PM meeting with ladies from her New Neighbors club, so, rather than take time to cook (and dirty up the kitchen), we decided to meet up with my dad and get some Chinese food for dinner. Our favorite local place is Peking Garden, located in Greensburg, PA, a casual restaurant with a nice little sushi bar and the typical Chinese restaurant menu loaded with all of the dishes you'd expect (Beef and Broccoli, General Tso's Chicken, Sesame Chicken, etc.) plus a few unique ones.

My dad and I typically stick to a platter loaded with sushi for our dinner, and tonight was no exception. We ordered a few pieces of sushi/sashimi a la carte (tuna, smoked salmon, yellow tail, red clam) and a sushi roll called the Dynamite Roll (spicy salmon and crispy tempura with spicy crab meat, avocado, and masago on top)—all very good. My mother ordered the Beef and Snow Peas with white rice and my dad and I snuck a few spoonfuls of that onto our plates when we'd finished our sushi. For dessert, my mother and I each had an ice cream mochi; my mother got mango and I got green tea. Mochi are essentially Japanese rice cakes pounded down into a sort of sweet, soft paste that's then molded into shape—in this case, into a hollow ball that was then filled with ice cream. Weird, but tasty. Our check came with a few slices of orange and the traditional fortune cookies.

Considering it's just a small restaurant nestled in amongst a medical center, AAA, and party store in a shopping center, it's very good and definitely a step up from the local take-out place or the grubby, out-of-date Chinese buffet. I've had a number of different sushi rolls there and they've all been very good (in fact, when I first started eating sushi last summer, this was the place I'd go to with my dad to try new rolls and pieces and learn what I liked and didn't like). I've also tried a number of main dishes and appetizers and they've all been great. I've always enjoyed their egg drop soup, Amazing Chicken (a spicy chicken dish), and combination fried rice and I'd be happy ordering anything there.

So, if you're in the area and you're looking for some good Chinese food, with a small selection of Japanese food and a great sushi bar, check out Peking Garden.

Peking Garden

Eastgate Shopping Center 1136 E. Pittsburgh St. 

Greensburg, PA 15601

724-838-1498

http://www.pekinggardenonline.com/

Recipe: Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese

So, I got too much prosciutto when I bought the ingredients for my ziti dish the other night and, too lazy to find a recipe that included it, I made up my own for dinner last night. I'm warning you now: when I share the recipe, I'm estimating just about every measurement, because I was comfortable guessing at the amount of things I needed, but it should work out great and you should trust yourself to know how much is enough (or how much is too much...if the stuffing is pouring out all over the place, you've probably made too much).

The chicken, fresh out of the oven

Ingredients (for the chicken)

• 2 chicken breasts
• 6-8 oz. prosciutto, chopped
• 2-4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled/chopped
• 1/2 cup spinach, chopped (you can use fresh; or thaw out frozen spinach, squeeze it dry, and use that) 
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper
• Cooking spray or butter

Directions
Mix together the prosciutto, goat cheese, spinach, and garlic. Now, there are two ways you can stuff the chicken: a roulade, in which you spread the mixture on one side of the chicken (after the chicken has been pounded into about a 1.5 inch thickness) and roll it up, or a stuffed breast, in which you cut a pocket into a chicken breast and stuff the pocket. Whichever method you decide on, make sure you put a few toothpicks in the chicken to hold it together. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and add a drizzle of olive oil, then place in a greased, oven-safe dish and bake at 350* F for 45 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

So, it's certainly not a magazine-worthy picture, but here's the finished dish

Stuffing chicken is a great way to get rid of some extra veggies or a leftover hunk of cheese and you can put pretty much anything inside chicken and make it taste great. As you can see, I used spinach, prosciutto, and goat cheese, but combinations like basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and fontina cheese or arugula, blue cheese, and bacon work well with this dish too, and any number of ingredients can be put together to make a stuffing. I served a basil and goat cheese polenta and oven-roasted asparagus on the side for this dish, but potatoes or pasta and any kind of vegetable would have worked well with this dish. Overall, this meal was well-balanced, flavorful, and filling, so try it out and experiment with different ingredients for the stuffing!

Restaurant Review: The Church Brew Works (Pittsburgh, PA)

Last night was my mother's "Thursday Night Ladies' Once a Month Monday Night Dinner" night (quite a mouthful, I know), so she was out for the evening. My dad needed to take his bike into Pittsburgh to get something adjusted and pick up some parts, so, rather than be stuck at home with the cats, I tagged along with my him and we had dinner at one of my favorite Pittsburgh restaurants: The Church Brew Works.

Built inside what was the St. John the Baptist church in Lawrenceville, The Church Brew Works is one of the most beautiful and unique restaurants at which I've ever eaten. The owners kept as much of the original structure and decor as possible, creating an interesting and different dining experience. Perhaps best known for their hand-crafted brews (if you go, get the sampler so you can try all of them), the restaurant also offers two dining areas: a casual, pub dining set up on one side and a regular dining set up on the other, and the menus for each are filled with tasty dining options. Always on both menus: traditional (potato and cheese) and "untraditional" pierogies, a Pittsburgh staple. The restaurant also offers wood-fired brick oven pizzas, various meat and vegetarian dishes, and some decadent desserts.

Though my dad and I are both currently doing the WeightWatchers Points Plus program, we each used some of the extra points we're given each week to splurge on our meals. We started with the "untraditional" pierogies—last night's selection featured chicken, tomato, and four cheeses, topped with a fresh basil pesto—and we each had a beer (I had the Pious Monk Dunkel, a dark lager regularly offered). While my dad was craving seafood and decided on the Shrimp Carbonara, I was enticed by the Crispy Vegetarian Polenta, a light dish that includes two generous helpings of herbed polenta, wild mushrooms (I'm not a fan, so I left those out), zucchini, blistered tomatoes, and a truffle-goat cheese sauce. With the edition of some grilled chicken and a side of bread with garlic butter, this dish was perfect! For dessert, we dove into the bread pudding with cinnamon ice cream. I've been to The Church Brew Works several times, and every meal I've gotten and every beer I've tried have been delicious and this combination of restaurant and church never ceases to amaze me. So, searching for God and great food, or maybe you're just in it for the beer?—then check out The Church Brew Works.

Sacreligious? Maybe. Unique atmostphere and delicious food and drinks? Definitely.

The Church Brew Works

3525 Liberty Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA 15201

412-688-8200

http://www.churchbrew.com/

Recipe: Ziti with Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Mozzarella

My parents are driving over to State College tonight and spending most of Saturday there, so I was left to fend for myself for dinner tonight. I'd thought about just tossing together a salad or heating up a Smart Ones meal (hey, even cooks are entitled to a few "off" nights), but I hadn't had much to eat today and I was craving one of my all time favorite dishes (and the dish my boyfriend most often asks me to make): Giada De Laurentiis' Ziti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella, and Prosciutto (from her Everday Italian cookbook). Now, I have a habit of tweaking almost every dish I make (sometimes even on the first try making them, which is typically a no-no in the cooking world), and this one is no exception. I use regular mozzarella instead of smoked and I saute the prosciutto to give it a little crunch in the pasta. I'm also at that stage in my cooking where I only loosely follow measurements and timers, and once I've made something once, I can usually do it again and again without the recipe by my side. So, I'll share her recipe, but share the way I make it and do my best with the technical stuff, like measurements and timing.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• Butter or margarine
• Dried basil
• 8 oz. dried ziti or other tubular pasta (about 1/2 a box of pasta)
• 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (they're sold in bundles, and I usually use the whole thing)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 oz. (about 1/2 cup) mozzarella cheese, diced (I just buy an 8 oz. Bel Gioioso brand mozzarella ball...and use all of it...what can I say?—I like cheese!)
• 3 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into small squares
• 3 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
• Italian cheese (to sprinkle on top of the finished product)

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the asparagus and cook until the pasta is al dente and the asparagus is bright green and crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid (I typically don't reserve any liquid, but if you want a wetter pasta, or more of a sauce, keep it).
In the meantime, while the ziti and asparagus are cooking together, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over a medium flame. Add the minced garlic and prosciutto and cook the prosciutto until it turns to a darker brown/pink and is slightly crispy. Toss the cooked prosciutto, cubes of mozzarella, and fresh basil with the pasta and add in butter (about 1 tbsp.), olive oil (about 4 tbsp.), dried basil, salt, and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Italian cheese of your choice and serve.

This dish is very filling and reheats wonderfully. The prosciutto gives it a bit of a salty flavor, while the butter and olive oil create a light, almost-creamy sauce (trust me, you don't need cheesy or tomato-packed sauces to make pasta delicious). Be forewarned: The mozzarella will melt quickly and it can make the dish a little tricky to eat (you may even need a butter knife to cut through the melty, stringy cheese), but I personally love getting globs of the cheese in my bites of pasta.  All in all, a delicious and easy dish to make, and perfect for lunch the next day.

Recipe: Rosemary Chicken Skewers with Berry Sauce...or as I made it: Rosemary Chicken and Polenta with Blueberry Sauce

I love love love Italian food. I love eating it, I love cooking it, I love going to restaurants that serve nothing but it. During the past week and a half, I've made swordfish and spaghetti with a citrus pesto, Italian mac&cheese (I used some sort of fancy macaroni noodle with frills on the edge that was oh-so-fun), prosciutto-ricotta-spinach ravioli in wonton wrappers, and bruschetta chicken and pasta. All very Italian and all very delicious. But tonight, I wanted to cook something a little different. I also didn't want to buy groceries. Thus, rosemary chicken and polenta with blueberry sauce was born. I had blueberries in the fridge and a request from my dad to make a sauce with them, so I searched online and found a recipe from SimpleRecipes.com for Rosemary Chicken Skewers with Berry Sauce. Now, both my mother and my uncle have said "Always follow the recipe exactly as it is the first time, then tweak it as you will if you want to when you make it again." Well, I didn't have the blackberries, apple cider vinegar, and red currant jelly needed for the sauce, and I didn't want to grill, so I threw caution to the wind and substituted in blueberries, red wine vinegar, and strawberry-rhubarb jam, and sauteed instead. Success! The recipe didn't include a side dish, so I made a simple rosemary polenta and it went fabulously with the berry sauce. Below is my version of this recipe.

Serves: 2-4
Prep. time: 1 hour, 10 minutes (hour is for the marinade)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only used two; my mom and I split one and my dad ate the other)
• 2 tablespoons of chopped, fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup of dry white wine or vermouth (I used vermouth)
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 and 3/4 cups of fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of berry jam (I used strawberry-rhubarb jam)
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

For the polenta:

• 1/2 lb. of polenta (I used an instant polenta mix. It tastes just fine and it's easy to make)
• 4 cups of chicken broth (instant polenta usually says to use water, but chicken broth gives it better flavor)
• A dash of salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary (I also sprinkled in a little dried rosemary at the last minute because it has a stronger flavor)

Directions

Place the chicken breasts in a bowl. Add the wine/vermouth, olive oil, rosemary, and pepper to the bowl. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator to marinate for approx. 1 hour.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and set aside, reserving the marinade. To make the sauce, pour the marinade into a sauce pan and add the berries. Simmer gently until the berries are soft. Press the mixture through a strainer and discard the berry pulp. Return the mixture to the sauce pan and add the vinegar, jam, and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until it's reached a syrup-like consistency.To keep it warm, place it over the lowest heat, uncovered.
In the meantime, heat oil in a sauce pan and saute the chicken until both sides are golden brown and the insides are no longer pink. In a pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil and follow the directions on the polenta box (slowly whisk in polenta and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and easily pulls away from the sides of the pot). Add in the fresh rosemary and sprinkle in salt and pepper, to taste.
Plate the chicken and polenta and spoon the berry sauce over each.

This recipe was delicious and perfect for warm summer weather! The blueberry sauce was sweet and tangy, and the rosemary in both the chicken and polenta brought the two together. A vegetable would be a great addition to the dish—asparagus would work very well. All in all, a delicious dish! I know that sweet berries in a savory dish might seem a little odd, but it's a wonderful combination. And for me, it was a step away from pasta, marinara, and parmesan cheese.

A little background on how I got to where I am and where I'm planning to go

I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Furman University in Greenville, SC. Like many college seniors, I'd been struggling to determine what direction I'd go in after graduation and, even as I walked across the stage, shook President Smolla's hand, and received my diploma, I was still juggling the possibilities around in my head. During the school year, while my classmates were taking the GRE and an array of other tests, submitting grad school applications, and sending out resumes, I'd been wrapping my mind around the fact that I'd likely be returning home to western Pennsylvania for at least the summer, festering in my room, reading countless books and watching hours of TV.

Now, I don't want to sound like the college kid returned to the depths of her parents' basement, destined to work dead end jobs and not move out until the age of 30. I've had some ideas rolling around in my head and I've been putting my abundant free time to good use, researching various grad school and job options and thinking how to build on my internship experiences. I interned at a small publishing company in Pittsburgh during the summer of 2010, and while there, I was the Acquisitions Editor for a literary-themed online publication sponsored by the company. During the spring of 2011, when most of my classmates were coasting through their classes and nervously awaiting responses from grad schools and employers, I interned at a Greenville-based publishing company and worked on their business magazine. It was through these experiences that I came to realize that I'd enjoy working on small/local publications, particularly magazines. I love the idea of being able to work in any town or city and I love the idea of being able to do freelance work. I like the writing style and set up of magazines and I like that fact that they have a focus—lifestyle, fashion, travel, cooking, etc. So, with this knowledge, I'd been toying with the idea of returning to the South to pursue a masters degree in journalism. But something wasn't clicking—I had read through countless information packets that I requested from schools, but I wasn't excited about any of them. I'd spoken to my dad about my thoughts on journalism school and was surprised when one night he said "You know what? You should just forget about journalism and go to culinary school! I think you'd be good at it." Sounds like this was right out of left field, right? Well, surprisingly, I'd actually briefly considered that option. I had been reading up about freelance work and how to get more writing experience and I was finding that it really helps if you specialize in something, whether it's sports, food, parties, or medicine. Problem is, I don't have any specialization. I have a broad knowledge of many topics, but nothing extensive. So, when I thought to myself "Well, what would I really like to know more about and then write about?", my mind immediately went to cooking. I've enjoyed cooking for many years, ever since my cousin Kate let me tag along while she cooked dinner during my summer visits in middle school, and I have recently reunited with this love now that I'm out of my crappy campus apartment kitchen and back home in a kitchen with fresh herbs, All-Clad pots, and a gigantic sink. My dad's suggestion regarding culinary school came from the fact that he knew I enjoyed cooking, and, during that week alone, I'd made swordfish and spaghetti with citrus pesto, Italian mac&cheese, and prosciutto and spinach ravioli for the two of us while my mom was at the beach with her mother. So, I put his suggestion in the back of my head and continued on, trying to formulate a plan for my future but still feeling sort of lost.


Feeling like I was stuck in limbo, my boyfriend and I planned a trip to Greenville so we could spend time with each other and visit friends who are still living in the area. I really just needed a break and some time to relax and not worry about my future. Being at home and doing nothing career-oriented was driving me insane and I wanted to talk to friends about it, see what their plans were, and get feedback on the ideas I'd been thinking about. Turns out, this trip was just what I needed and, on the drive back home, I was feeling elated (despite the fact that I had 8.5 hours to drive). I'd had time to think about journalism school, I'd mentioned the idea of culinary school to friends, I'd been thinking about moving away from home, and suddenly everything clicked: culinary school. In the South. Perfect.

So here's my plan: Complete a certificate/diploma or associates program for culinary arts, then possibly pursue my masters in journalism, then work with a food-focused magazine(s) writing about what I love. And hey, maybe I'll even work as a private chef or small-scale caterer on the side.

I loved going to college in the South and I want to go back, so I've centered my culinary school search on North Carolina, a state I've been smitten with since a few trips there during my first year in college. I'm looking at the Art Institute of Charlotte, the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham, and Johnson & Wales in Charlotte. 


So now you know my background, my goals, and my plans. As for the point of this blog: it'll be a place for me to share recipes and restaurant reviews, write about my experience applying to culinary arts programs, and more. Hopefully soon, it will even be a place to share my experiences as a culinary student.