Food Adventures of a Comfort Cook

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Pasta Jay's; now that's Italian!

Pasta Jay's

4 S. Main Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-2500

Website: http://www.pastajays.com/

Pasta Jay's is located on the Main street (Rte 191) of Moab, Utah; across from the Slickrock Cafe and if you are looking for great Italian food, then this is the place to go. There is indoor seating, there is also a patio area: heated during cooler weather, and open air during the warmer temperatures. We elected to sit in the patio area, were comfortable, and enjoyed watching the world outside while eating our meal.

Our waiter, Chris, was very friendly, but makes a really mean pot of coffee - I'm still plucking the hairs that had grown on my chest. Otherwise, he made our visit to Pasta Jay's very pleasant. Now Pasta Jay's focuses on one cuisine - Italian, and that's a really good thing. The menu has appetizers, salads, soups, pizza and pasta dishes. There is also a specialty focus each night of the week.

Roy chose the Wednesday night special which was lasagna, and I had cheese tortellone with a side of meatballs (2). The entrees came with a delicious garlic bread, crispy on the outside and edges, soft inside, buttery and garlicky. The entrees come put piping hot, on beautiful ceramic dishes, and the helping is enough for two people to share. The sauces were awesome, and spreading some on the garlic bread was like having a treat. The pasta was baked perfectly, the fillings plentiful, and the meatballs are most certainly homemade; not those rubber ball types you find in the frozen food section of the supermarket. We only ate half of each meal because we wanted to try a dessert; but the leftovers were taken home for enjoyment another day.

Dessert was Turtle Cheesecake; smooth cheesecake, rich caramel and chocolate sauces with a generous serving of whipped cream. Just putting a spoonful in the mouth, letting it melt and slide down the throat - pure ecstasy.

I related to our waiter that next time we visit, dessert might be the main course. Hey, life is short, eat dessert first! But we are looking forward to trying Pasta Jay's out again.

Mary Cokenour

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Gotta love them dogs!!!

Hot Dog Sauces – New York Style

In New York City, one of the most popular places to eat is at the local street corner vendor. A colorful umbrella covered push cart; some with jumbo soft pretzels and knishes, but all with the most popular item – Sabrett hot dogs in steaming water with an assortment of condiments: ketchup, mustard, relish and spicy onions in sauce.

Coney Island, the birth place of the famous Nathan’s hot dogs, has a distinctive sauce of its own. A slow cooked, spicy chili type sauce loaded with ground beef and minced onion.

New Yorkers know this is the best quickie, on the go, meal in town; and all self-respecting guide books recommend it to visiting tourists from around the world. If you haven’t stopped at a push cart and had a hot dog with onion sauce, or gone to Nathan’s in Coney Island, then you haven’t really experienced a big piece of New York City.

Spicy Onion Sauce

Ingredients:
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin and chopped
1 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup white vinegar

Preparation:
In a large sauce pan, heat oil on medium heat; sauté onions till softened, but do not brown.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water; add to the onions with rest of ingredients, except the vinegar. Mix together and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add vinegar and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

Makes 1 ½ cups.

Mary Cokenour
March 17, 2008

Coney Island Chili Sauce

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, minced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup water
1 Tbsp each dry mustard and chili powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp each of celery seed, cumin and ground black pepper

Preparation:
In a large sauce pan, on medium-high heat, brown ground beef; halfway through, add onion and garlic; drain excess oil.

Add all remaining ingredients; mix and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for one hour; stirring occasionally.

Makes 2 ½ cups.

Mary Cokenour
July 8, 2008

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bring some Thai into your Pad.

Ok, so the title is a bit hokey, but you get the gist of it. After I finished my previous blog post on a local Thai restaurant, I thought, what if folks don't have such a place nearby, how do they experience the food? The best way I could open that door is to give you the simplest recipe: Pad Thai. It's a one pan noodle dish full of flavor, and the person making this dish can decide on what protein, if any, they want in it: seafood, beef, pork or chicken. I'm not fond of tofu, but if that's what you like, you can add that too.

The rice noodle is what makes this dish so light, and distinctive; but if hard pressed to find it, Japanese Udon, or even a flat pasta such as linguine or fettuccine could be substituted, but then it really wouldn't be Pad Thai, and that's what you really want.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package of rice noodles
2 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
½ small onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups shredded cabbage (use mixture of white and red for color contrast)
1 cup bean sprouts
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp Thai chili sauce
¼ chopped peanuts

Preparation:

Soak noodles in cold water for 30 minutes; drain and set aside.

In a Wok, or large deep skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat; sauté onion and garlic till onion softened; do not let garlic brown or burn. Add eggs and cook until firm; add in rest of ingredients and noodles; mix, breaking up fried eggs and cook for 10 minutes, or until noodles are tender. If desired, mix in 1 pound of precooked protein item; cook additional 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour
July 8, 2008

Sing Ha Thai Restaurant

Sing Ha Thai

92 E Center Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-0039
Fax: (435) 259-0005

Website: http://singhathai.com/
This link is for the main restaurant located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu; the Moab restaurant is part of the Sing Ha Thai Restaurant Corporation.

Being fond of Thai cuisine, we were looking forward to trying out Sing Ha Thai; several of Roy’s coworkers had eaten there, and said the food tasted good. We were to find out later on that there was more to the story than first told.

To enter the restaurant, you need to walk up a set of stairs, past a couple of offices, and near the back is the entrance to the restaurant itself. The interior is smallish, too many tables, so you cannot help but see what your neighbor is eating, and hear their conversation. However, a friendly greeter will take you to a table, and then you can peruse the menu which is ala carte; there is also a tea menu.

We ordered two appetizers: Spring Rolls, crispy, but with the typical large shreds of cabbage inside we’ve been seeing in Asian restaurants in the Four Corners area. Crab Rangoon, crispy wontons with smooth cream cheese, but tiny flecks of crab, so we were not sure if it was real crab or imitation.

The main entrees were Chicken Pad Thai, not exactly what we were used to; while it tasted good, it had an unusual flavor we couldn’t identify. The Sweet and Sour Shrimp was very good; rice was extra though, and that seemed chintzy on their part, considering the prices charged for the menu items. The portions are not large, so if sharing, consider ordering more than one main entrée.

At first we considered this a place to go back to if we were truly in the mood for Thai; however, we changed our minds several hours later when we both were not feeling very well. When Roy went back to work the next day, his coworkers asked him about his experience with Sing Ha Thai. He told them, including how we both fell ill the same evening. Surprise, surprise; his coworkers said they had experienced the same thing, but didn’t tell him, so he wouldn’t be negatively influenced beforehand. They couldn’t be sure if it was the food or not, but our experience, coupled with their comments, indicates it most likely was. Was it the large amount of shredded cabbage, the unusual taste we couldn’t identify?

So, we will not be visiting Sing Ha Thai restaurant again.

Mary Cokenour

Monday, April 25, 2011

Chilly? Make Chili.

Once again Mother Nature decided to throw a curve ball in the game called Spring. As the temperatures last week were in the 60's, higher in Moab, looked like winter was finally in hibernation. We awoke yesterday morning to find a dark, dreary sky and intermittent showers of rain or hail. It was chilly in the house, so the heat was turned back on; and the crock pot came out of the closet. This was the perfect type of day to make chili and cornbread.

So, while the crock pot cooked up this wonderful concoction called chili; hubby and I cleaned out boxes of clothing. We downsized from 10 large Rubbermaid boxes to only 5, and wished we had done this before our big move from PA to Utah. He loaded bags of used clothing into his car, and it will be going to the local charity shop in Moab before he goes to work.

Several hours later, the batter for red chili cornbread was in the oven; timed just right to be ready at the same time as the chili. The cornbread recipe is located on my March 22, 2011 blog post, and all I did was add 1/4 cup of diced red chile peppers.

...and here is my recipe for chili.

Sirloin Beef Chili

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 Tbsp flour

1 large onion, diced

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles plus one (10 oz) can.

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 ½ Tbsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp chili powder

½ tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation:

Set 6-qt crock pot on low, place in beef, flour and onion; mix thoroughly and let cook for 2 hours before adding rest of ingredients. Continue cooking on low for 4 hours more. Serve as is, or garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheese.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Note: the type of, and amount of, beans used is flexible; 2-5 types can be used, as desired.

Mary Cokenour

October 13, 1991

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Sabaku Sushi is NO master of Japanese cuisine.

Sabaku Sushi

90 E Center Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-4455

Website: http://www.sabakusushi.com/

When entering this establishment, one will be surprised to find that not one employee is of Japanese ethnicity. The two owners are from Salt Lake City, UT and Colorado who have supposedly worked for, and been trained by, Japanese sushi masters. Where you would most likely expect to see the sushi masters dressed in typical white garb denoting their ability; t-shirts, jeans and baseball caps are more their style.

Upon being seated, the waitress took our drink orders; and the listing of alcoholic beverages available is longer than the sushi menu itself. We opted for tea which was lukewarm and tasteless.

We chose to have salads with our lunch order, and this was a wise choice...if you were a cow and didn't mind chewing your fiber for a long while. The salad consisted of half a bag of spinach leaves with a drizzle of ginger dressing.

From my vantage point, I was able see what was taking place behind the preparation station. Lots and lots of cleaning by the owners, and it concerned us a bit when this continued for the full hour and half we were there. Little plates of plastic covered fish were on a shelf, and were kept moving around during the cleaning process. To say service was slow is an understatement. A third man was attempting to prepare our specialty rolls; he kept referring to the order ticket, looking very confused, and his hands shook while trying to prepare the rolls.

When we received our order, the pieces were cut unevenly, the rice surrounding the filling was thick, and the filling itself was very sparse. If the fish was as fresh as they claim, we couldn't really tell, since there was very little of it.

Questioning the waitress, she would refer to the owners if an answer was not known by her. Now the owners themselves never came over to talk with us, nor introduce themselves; and this was after an hour of being the only diners there. As I stated before, they were quite busy cleaning the preparation area.

Sabaku Sushi crosses a cultural borderline that the owners should never have tried to cross...their passports should be revoked. If you enjoy Japanese cuisine, avoid this place, or get ready for a great disappointment.

Mary Cokenour

Ocean Pearl Chinese Restaurant new to Cortez, Colorado

Ocean Pearl Chinese Restaurant
300 E Main Street (Rte 160)
Cortez, CO, 81321

(970) 565-3888
Fax: (970) 565-4888

Website: N/A

This month a new Chinese restaurant opened up in Cortez, CO, making this the third such place in the area. As lovers of Chinese cuisine, we just had to try out the new place, and while disappointed in some aspects; we enjoyed others and are willing to try it out again.

Don't let the outside of the restaurant fool you; it's much prettier inside. Tables in the center area and booths line the walls allowing for seating of about 150 people; the bathrooms are faux marble and very clean. The staff is friendly, attentive, and don't mind answering questions about the menu items, or where they are from. As with other Chinese restaurants in this area, they are from California's Chinatown, so specialize more in Mandarin style cooking. Being from the East Coast, and very used to Cantonese cuisine, this different style of cooking takes a little getting used to for me.

There are basically two menus for dining in, depending when you are there: lunch or dinner. The lunch menu provides for combination meals that include: egg roll, soup (or salad), fried rice and the main item (a large variety of choice for this). The dinner menu is ala carte; has a larger variety of menu items, and include items listed on the lunch menu. There are also appetizers, soups and vegetarian items as well.

We tried the fried cheese wontons, also known as cream cheese wontons; wontons were fried perfectly - crisp and light. The cream cheese filling was smooth and creamy; and the accompanying sweet-sour sauce and Chinese hot mustard went well with this dish.

We had soup with our meal; the Wonton soup tasted too familiar, sort of like instant onion soup mix with one wonton in it, and pieces of green onion floating on top. The Hot and Sour soup, on the other hand, was delicious - rich, thick broth with plentiful ingredients; the taste was satisfying.

Roy tried the Sweet and Sour Shrimp which we both tasted and agreed upon - the shrimp was overly coated in fried batter, and it was more like eating a shrimp donut; the shrimp itself was lost in all that batter. So, not too happy with this choice.

I had the Sesame Chicken which was a milder version of General Tso's Chicken; in other words, there were red pepper flakes in the dish giving it a bit of heat. (General Tso's has the actual chiles in the sauce) Sesame Chicken is a very mild dish, and there were no vegetables, just chicken and sauce; usually steamed broccoli is served. Don't get me wrong though, it tasted very good and we both enjoyed it.

The Fried rice was just white rice (very visible) with soy sauce; no vegetables or fried egg pieces. Eaten alone it was very bland, mixed with the main dish helped to enhance both items.

Overall, it was better than the other two Chinese restaurants in the area; but from our experience with many Chinese restaurants out East, it was certainly not the best. However, as stated before, we will definitely give them another try.

Mary Cokenour

Ocean Pearl Chinese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011