Cape Gooseberries

Have you ever seen these before?

I first encountered them in my first CSA about three years ago. From the outside, they look like dried out flower petals. But when you open them up - surprise! - they look like little cherry tomatoes inside. And they feel exactly like cherry tomatoes too, from the outside at least.


But then you bite into one and, WOW, it tastes completely different. Sure, the texture is quite similar, but this tastes more like a fruit. It's sweet, juicy, with hints of fig flavor. It kind of reminds me of a grape, although there is no tartness whatsoever. You can totally eat the seeds inside, and thus it's easy to continue popping them into your mouth.

Peel, eat, peel eat - I can eat a whole basket in one sitting.

Oops (wipes mouth), heh heh, I forgot to tell you what these are.

These are cape gooseberries, or golden berries or husk cherries or . . . the list goes on and one. There are actually dozens of colloquial names for this fruit, which is scientifically known as Physalis peruviana L.

Originally native to South America, this delightful little fruit can grow anywhere that tomatoes can be grown, which explains why they are currently available and in season in New England. You can make jams, pies, puddings, and ice cream out of them. They have a relatively high amount of pectin, which makes them great for preserves or jams.

I personally think they taste so good fresh that it's hard to keep them around long enough to preserve! Try some right now while they are in season. I picked mine up at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, but you can probably find them in various Farmers Markets around town.

Oishii Boston

The expression "oishii" in Japanese is an utterance that one makes in response to tasting something delicious. Such a fitting name for a Japanese restaurant that very well could be one of the best, if not the best, sushi restaurant in Boston.

Oishii Boston is actually the third outpost of Ting San's wildly successful Oishii restaurants (the other two being in Chestnut Hill and Sudbury). The original Chestnut Hill restaurant is tiny, having only 9 seats around a sushi bar and maybe one table off to the side. The sushi there is spectacular, yet you almost always have to wait in line (sometimes down the block!) for one of those coveted seats. For us, the Sudbury location was just too far, even if it boasted a larger space and more available seating.

Oishii Boston opened in 2006 and it's really a different kind of restaurant. Sure, it has the same amazingly fresh sushi and sashimi, but the atmosphere is worlds apart. While the other two are more like traditional Japanese restaurants, Oishii Boston is the more upscale and trendier cousin; more like O Ya or Nobu than Sushi Yasuda or Sushi Gen. They offer more interesting rolls, crazy special types of sushi (such as ones involving fois gras and Wagyu beef), and an expanded menu full of cooked items such as lobster, Wagyu beef, and Chilean sea bass.

The food is executed with a level of precision and graceful artistry that surpasses what you would find at most local sushi places. Though the prices are a bit astronomical, it's really worth a visit, at least once.


The ambiance is dark, minimalistic, and urban. Not great for photos, but nice for that romantic evening out. We have never had a problem getting a reservation, as the restaurant is reasonably large (two floors!) and has tons of seating.

The drink selection is pretty good. They have some fun cocktails (Bryan like to get the lychee martini or the shisojito), and a nice selection of teas. I ordered "gen mai cha," which is green tea with brown rice (my favorite!). It came in this cute tea pot and was enough for several cups plus at least one refill of hot water.

Bryan and another friend shared a small bottle of sake. They had a reasonable selection of sake here, and it goes well with the sushi, of course.


We started with a simple little amuse of yuzu jelly infused with dried lemon peels. It was light, tart, and refreshing. A perfect way to begin the meal.

Of course, like at the other Oishii restaurants, the sushi and sashimi are top notch here. However, I think the unique maki rolls sets this place apart. Check out some of the rolls we ordered.

Sockeye Salmon Covered Maki
Tobiko, Avocado Maki with Sockeye Salmon, Menegi, Ponzu, and Hawaiian Rock Salt Sprinkle on Top

Sudachi And Seared Hamachi Maki 

Cucumber, Spicy Mayo, Tobiko Covered with Hamachi, Black Tobiko, Sweet Miso Sauce and Sudachi

A closer side view look at the Sockeye Salmon Covered Maki and the Sudachi and Seared Hamachi Maki

Oishii Spicy Scallop Maki
Scallops, Black Tobiko, Cucumber, Kaiwali, and Spicy Mayo

Hamachi or Toro Truffle Maki
Shrimp Tempura, Spicy Mayo, Cucumber, covered with Seared Hamachi, or Seared Toro, White Truffle and Sturgeon Caviar on top

I have to give a shout-out for this roll. This is my ALL TIME FAVORITE MAKI anywhere in Boston. Imagine - seared toro topped with white truffles and caviar all in one beautiful delicious bite. The marriage of flavors is fantastic. I love love love this roll. It's not cheap at $25 a roll, but it's so, so worth it. Seriously, if I were dining here alone, I would just order this roll with a nice cup of green tea and call it a day.

White Tiger Maki
Tuna, Tobiko, Avocado and Cucumber rolled in White Seaweed with Ting San's Wasabi Flavored Lemony Sauce on Top

Oishii Spicy Tuna Tempura Maki
Bluefin Tuna Sashimi, Fleur De Sel, Chives, wrapped with seaweed

Foie Gras With Truffle and Foie Gras Diced With Fruit
My friend Peter absolutely loves this Fois Gras with Truffle (left), and would order more than one if they weren't $15 a piece.

Oishii Sashimi Maki
Bluefin Tuna, King Salmon, Yellowtail, Mutzu wrapped in Cucumber

Sashimi
Like I mentioned before, fish quality here is excellent and you can't go wrong ordering your favorite sashimi pieces. The cuts are generous, and any seared pieces are done perfectly right.

Chirashi
Isn't that the most beautiful presentation of chirashi you've ever seen?  Man, puts my homemade version to shame.

Nigiri
They have an interesting wider assortment of nigiri options here than you would see at a typical sushi restaurant. Multiple different kinds of tuna and salmon alone. For example, we've ordered fatty salmon, sockeye salmon, and King Alaskan salmon. For tuna, you can choose between various "levels" of toro as well as different species of tuna. The choices are mind boggling, really.

We did not have desserts this time, though I've heard great things about the desserts. Even if you don't order dessert, the complimentary chocolate covered strawberries are more than sufficient to finish off a magical meal.

If you can't tell already, I love this place. I agree that it's crazy expensive and not a place to visit on a regular basis. Nevertheless, if you want ethereal sushi here in Boston, this is no doubt one of the best options. I almost always choose it for my birthday meal if I'm in Boston. :)

Oishii Boston
1166 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118

Tapeo

Zucchini rolls, Egg potato Onion Omelette, Shrimp Ceviche, Baby Potatoes with Piquant Tomatoes and Ali Oli Sauce

Dim sum, tapas, small plates - it seems like every culture has this idea of tasting little tidbits of a wide variety of food. I personally love it, which is why tapas are so fun for me. Instead of just ordering one dish, each person gets to order two or three!

Of course, beware because single items that each only cost $5-$8 can add up quickly, and before you know it, you are spending $25-30 a person.

Nevertheless, I always love trying tapas. I had heard great things about Tapeo from others (plus I had tried their sister restaurant Dali years ago and loved it). When given a chance to sit outside on Newbury while enjoying some fine Spanish tapas, how could I say no?

Tapeo is co-owned by Fernando Leon, who also co-owns Dali in Somerville with his parents and also Solea in Waltham. You figure they must be doing something right if they own a large chunk of the Spanish tapas restaurants in the Boston area.

I love love love the free bread. There's something about Spanish/Portuguese bread that is just so addictive to me. I love how dense it is, and subtle yet nutty flavor of the bread keeps me coming back slice after slice after slice. I can't describe it, but the bread is really really good.

Gazpacho
Fresh and full of real tomato flavor, I enjoyed this traditional cold, Spanish soup.

Broiled herb and garlic quail stuffed stuffed with grapes and bacon  $10.50
This quail is excellent, and probably one of the best dishes on the menu. The waitress highly recommended it, and we noticed lots of people around us ordering it as well. It's flavorful, moist, tender, and delicious. If you've never had quail before you might find the little bones to be a bit annoying to deal with, but it's worth it!

Seafood Ceviche
I was actually disappointed with the ceviche. The shrimp was cooked more than I would have liked and thus was just a bit too tough for my tastes. The flavors were OK, but I was not particularly impressed.

Stuffed Pimento
We also enjoyed this stuffed pimento, which may have been a special on the menu that day.

Scallops in Saffron Cream Sauce
We were both disappointed with this dish. The small bay scallops were overcooked and on the tougher side. The cream sauce was uninteresting, and frankly, I couldn't really taste the saffron.

Sauteed Portabella Mushrooms
This mushroom dish was fine, although I think I've prepared a better version myself at home. I kept wishing that it was a bit more charred and less steamed.

Pork Sausage with Fig

Concluding Thoughts?
I've been here twice. I was much more impressed the first time I came (we ate the food pictured in the first collage) whereas the second time it was hit or miss. Perhaps we were lucky the first time and "hit" more often than "missed." They definitely do a good job on several of the tapas. The sausage is good, the quail is fantastic, and I enjoyed my gazpacho as well. I think they tend to overcook their shellfish sometimes, as I was not that impressed with the shrimp or the scallops.

Having said all that, I would still return. It's super fun to sit outside on Newbury Street on a nice, summer day while enjoying a bunch of different tapas. I think you can still enjoy a great meal here as long you order the right things.

Tapeo
266 Newbury St
Boston, MA 02116

Italian Rainbow Chard Salad

Rainbow chard has got to be one of the most colorful and exotically beautiful vegetables. The vivid pink is up there with the dragonfruit when it comes to hot-pinkness factor.

Being the ignorant Asian cook that I am, when I first received chard from my CSA I would just saute it with garlic like I do with any other leafy green. For some reason, it always came out a bit tough and didn't really taste particularly wonderful.

Lucky for me, I picked up Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking at the library this past weekend. What a wealth of information that book has! I'm seriously considering purchasing it. I love how it teaches you the true basics of Italian cooking in nice, simple detail. There are also a TON of great, classic Italian dishes.

Best yet, there was a super simple yet delicious preparation for Swiss chard. Finally, I was able to prepare it properly in a way that really brought out the flavors yet was still simple enough to throw together in a few minutes.


One basic thing I learned about chard is that the stems are significantly tougher than the leaves, and thus you really need to cook them separately. Bring a pot of water to boiling and cook the stems for 2-3 minutes. Then throw in the leaves and cook for another 7-8 minutes.

In Chinese cooking we never stir fry vegetables that long, so this longer simmering method was news to me as well.

Drain and rinse with cold water. Press out as much water as you can with the back of a spoon. Toss with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and a few squeezes of lemon.

That's it! Is that too easy or what? And it was really really nice. The lemon and salt brought out the natural flavors of the chard, and it worked as a great balancing side dish to the sous vide steaks we were having.

Sous Vide Scallops (bacon-wrapped scallops)

Scallops are tricky.

When done right, they are sweet, succulent, and melt-in-your-mouth tender. When done improperly, at worse they are rubbery, fishy, and even sandy!

The key, of course, is to purchase high quality scallops and not overcook them. The first part is relatively easy once you've found a good source for seafood. I picked up these gorgeous plump and fresh scallops from Whole Foods. They have no hint of fishiness. Instead, they smelled clean and almost sweet - the way scallops should smell.

And the second part?

I decided to try Sous Vide.  Could I achieve that perfect texture with this precise cooking method?

"Sous vide" literally means "under vacuum" in French. Sort of a misnomer, this method of cooking actually involves two parts. Food is first sealed under vacuum in a plastic bag and then cooked in a water bath set at a very precise temperature.

Sous vide cooking has a lot of interesting benefits. First, because you can precisely control the temperature of your water bath, you won't overcook your food. This is great for restaurant cooks who can't always predict exactly when something needs to be served. You can keep a steak at 130° F (medium rare) for hours in that water bath and take it out to sear just moments before the guests arrive.

You can rig your own sous-vide system with a magic cooker, beer cooler, or a cast iron pot. I've tried the magic cooker method, with great success. Alternatively, if you're not the tinkering type, you can use a professional unit, such as the Sous Vide Supreme.

Recently, the folks at Sous Vide Supreme were kind enough to send me a unit to try out. Sous Vide Supreme is probably the first precision thermal water bath marketed towards home kitchens. Priced at $449.95, it's still a bit steep compared to other kitchen appliances, though it's a lot cheaper than the commercial ones, which start at around twice as much.

Since I had already tried making sous vide steak and salmon, I thought scallops would be a natural next step. I had seen many recipes that suggested using a lower temperature (125 °F (52 °C)), but I was cooking chicken at the same time, and thus wondered whether I could throw them all in one water bath.

I filled two different bags: one with bacon-wrapped scallops, thyme, and shallots; the other with just a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I stuck them both in the Sous Vide Supreme and set it at 140° F / 60 °C for 40 minutes.

When the timer beeped at me, I took them out, dried them with paper towels, and briefly seared them on a hot cast iron pan just long enough to get a nice sear. Try to make this a brief as possible - like 30 seconds! Remember, your meat is already perfectly cooked!

Serve!

They were both fantastic. I'm sure some of it has to do with the fact that I bought beautiful scallops that had a wonderful sweet taste. But the sous vide method made it easy to cook them to a perfect consistency. Not a single scallop was overcooked. They were soft, buttery, and all around delicious.



Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Thyme and Shallots
8 scallops (preferably large, diver scallops)
8 slices of bacon
1-2 T shallots, chopped
thyme leaves (from 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme)

Wrap each scallop with one slice of bacon. Put the scallops in a single layer in the vacuum bag. Add thyme and chopped shallots. Seal under vacuum in a plastic bag according to the manufacturer's instructions (I used Foodsaver).

*For regular scallops, just season with salt and pepper and seal them in the bag*

For medium rare scallops (preferred), cook at 125 °F (52 °C) in a water bath for about 20-40 minutes.
For medium scallops (still delicious), cook at 140 °F (60 °C) in a water bath for about 20-40 minutes.
The benefit of cooking at 140 °F is that you can cook it with other items (such as chicken breast) that need to be cooked at that temperature at the same time.

Remove the scallops from the bag, dry well with paper towels, and briefly sear in a pre-heated grill pan on high heat just until nicely browned. Serve!

Related posts
Sous Vide Salmon
Sous Vide Steak

Great Resources
A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

Disclaimer
As a food blogger, time to time I receive products from vendors to try out, to review, etc. The Sous Vide Supreme machine was sent to me by Sous Vide Supreme so that I could use the machine and take photos of the process and final products. The views expressed in the posts are completely my own.

Rialto (the Bar)

Local mozarella, farm fresh tomatoes, microgreens

One great way of enjoying fantastic food without spending too much is to eat at the bar of an expensive restaurant. After having some amazing entrées at Jody Adams' Rialto in Harvard Square, we decided to stop by on a Monday night to try the bar menu.

What a pleasant surprise! We loved the ambiance of the bar inside the Charles Hotel, and the food was really enjoyable. Choose from an assortment of antipasti ($4 each or 3 of $10). Salads made from farm fresh vegetables range between $7 and $8, and pizzas and sandwiches range between $10 and $15. You can also order pasta, seafood, or steak, which range between $12-$18.

All-in-all, it's a great way to try Jody Adams' great Italian menu without breaking the bank. Best yet, Mondays are $1 oyster days!

Oyster Sauces
We loved the Monday $1 oyster deal. The day we went they had Island Creek oysters from Duxbury MA, which tasted fresh, briny, and sweet - not at all fishy.

Duxbury Oysters ($1 each)

Corn, bacon, basil $4
We also tried three antipasti ($10). Although this corn dish was good, we kept thinking we liked another corn dish we had tried recently a little better.

Crispy Artichokes, Pepper Aioli $4
These crispy artichokes were perfectly grilled and served as a great appetizer.

Fisherman’s soup rouille, gruyère, basil oil 14
I ordered the Fisherman's soup, which is actually not pictured because my photo came out blurry. :( Essentially, it's a rich, seafood based soup that is blended and then strained. It's served with crostini and  gruyère cheese (pictured above). The soup was pretty good, though I couldn't help but compare it to this fantastic blended fish soup I had enjoyed in France a few years back, and I kept thinking it did not quite compare. Nevertheless, it's a nice, light soup that still manages to pack in a wonderfully rich and complex seafood flavor.

Penne Bolognese veal, lamb, pork, tomatoes 14
Bryan absolutely loved his bolognese. The pasta was fresh (which is a huge plus in his book), and the taste of the meat sauce was deep, rich, and fragrant. Best yet, it was reasonably priced at $14.

The bar is a nice place to hang out, and you never know who you might meet. A nice gentleman seated close by struck up a conversation with us. Thinking that we were tourists of some sort (was he tipped off by the fact that I kept taking pictures of the food??) he offered to take a picture for us.

We later found out he lived really really close to the restaurant. He seemed like an old regular, stopping by just to enjoy a plate of oysters and a sandwich - a simple, high quality meal that really doesn't cost that much.

So, if you want a taste of what Jody Adams has to offer but don't feel like forking over close to $100 for a meal for two, definitely check out the bar. It's got a nice vibe, and the food is pretty good.

One caveat - the particular night we went, the service was really really slow. I'm not exactly sure why, but we probably waited close to an hour before we got our entrées. It was a bit annoying, and I'm hoping it was a fluke because everything else (aside from that) was actually pretty good.

Rialto
1 Bennett St
Cambridge, MA 02138