Olive Branch, West Chester, PA

Olive Branch
http://www.olivebranchwc.net/
142 West Gay Street
West Chester, PA
610-431-7141

Recently, Siddharth's parents came to visit me in Philadelphia for weekend. For their first night, we dined in the very-happening town of West Chester, PA. West Chester is filled with nightlife, a perfect collegetown outside of Philadelphia with several bars and restaurants to choose from (see our previous post about Market Street Grill).

Simple fish tacos with leftover mahi mahi

Cooking for one is not as ideal as cooking for 2 or 3. For one, you should share your delicious meals with someone so they can be impressed with your culinary skills. Another is at the end of the night, after you've slaved away in the kitchen, you end up with a lot of leftovers. I'm always impressed with people who are able to be creative with their leftovers the very next night without having to taste "old." I ended up having 2 fillets leftover from my citrus-glazed mahi mahi (see post here) so I did a quick search and found a recipe for fish tacos. To tie my citrus-glazed mahi mahi to the Mexican theme, I made my own salsa fresco with some lemon juice and made a cabbage-salad side dish with the rest of the lemon juice to make a citrus dressing. This is an important thing to remember about leftover-cooking: use previous flavors of your leftovers and add fresh ingredients with slightly different flavorings to take away the refrigerated taste from any meat. I also added some spiced sour cream as another note with my taco. Dairy can help balance the lemon zing of the salsa. 


Try this recipe out with your leftover (or fresh) fish. Try using lean and flaky fish like tilapia, snapper, cod, catfish or here, mahi mahi. 

Citrus Glazed Mahi Mahi

Tricia here!  I just recently bought the new Nokia Lumia 900 phone which has given me the nicest Carl Zeiss 8 megapixel camera one can find. To christen my new phone, I decided to showcase my "amateur" photo skills by posting my recipe of seared mahi mahi topped with a citrus glaze. Using citrus fruits as a marinade for seafood is really great for giving the fish a flaky texture without leaving the fish too dry. Also, marinating your fish is pretty quick and easy compared to marinating other meats. As a plus, you can use the remaining marinade as  a thick and yummy glaze to accompany your cooked fish.

Now, I try to be a good cook just like Siddharth, but unlike Siddharth, I try to keep things simple. Simple ingredients, simple technique. But I'm learning to be more sophisticated for my viewers. 


I bought frozen mahi mahi and let it thaw overnight in the fridge. Before cooking, I let it sit out at room temperature for about an hour. This is a pretty important step, because if any part of the fish is still frozen, it will not cook properly and you'll have a mix of really bad sushi-grade fish and an overcooked fillet.

As side dishes, I roasted a few purple and red potatoes and cauliflower, absolutely delicious, healthy and hearty.


Here is the recipe:

Pandan-Sesame Crepes

An electric green crepe? How's that for fun with food! The outrageous hue here is derived from pandan essence. Pandan essence comes from the leaves of the screwpine, which resembles but is not related to a palm tree. In Southeast Asian cusine (think Malaysian, Thai, Philipino), pandan is used similarly to vanilla in western food, imparting fragrance to desserts, drinks, and various dishes. The taste is difficult for me to describe, but I have to say I love it! In this dish, I added a few drop of pandan essence (found at a local Asin store - it is impossible to find actual pandan leaves here in Ithaca) to a basic crepe batter. I then made a sweet black sesame filling for the crepes. This is an incredibly easy recipe that produces an exotic looking and delicious dish in a short time and makes for a nice snack or breakfast item.

Eggplant Parmesan

I love sandwiches. Enveloping something in delicious bread just seems like such a great strategy for success! Of all the sandwiches that I typically make, Tricia's favorite is my eggplant parm. Go figure - the only vegetarian sandwich that I ever make (not counting grilled cheese of course)! This past weekend, I was trying to think of a simple meal, and I resorted to this trusty sandwich. The keys to making this delicious are properly cooking the eggplant, making a delicious marinara sauce, and choosing the right bread. All of these are incredibly easy, and I hope you give it a shot! And for those of you that are thinking, "eggplant? not my favorite thing..." I urge you try this - when cooked correctly, it's delicious.

A trip to Philly's Italian Market and Pasta Carbonara

On my latest visit to see Tricia, we decided to drive down into Philadelphia for the day. Our exact destination was the city's famous Italian Market on 9th street. This would be our first time visiting this South Philly market, and we were excited to see what the hype was all about. Unlike Reading Terminal Market, the Italian Market was not surrounded by parking lots and garages, and we were forced to circle the bustling scene until we found a spot on the street to parallel in.

Caramel-Walnut Oatmeal Bars

OK, as much as I love chocolate, sometimes one just craves for caramel. Here is a simple recipe that incorporates that caramel craving while adding some nutritional value, oats. These bars are absolutely delicious and will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth while not harming your waistline. OK I'm all about indulging here and there, but this bar is definitely healthy, I swear! The caramel just oozes throughout the bar and the extra nuts we added really give the bar the extra crunch without drying the dessert. This recipe makes a decent portion that can be cut into small pieces to share with your neighbor.

Here is the recipe:

My Valentine's Day Dinner

This is a bit of a belated post, but I thought still worth sharing. To return the homage Tricia paid me for her birthday dinner back in January (see post here), I figured I'd tell everyone about the surprise meal she planned for me the weekend before Valentine's Day when I went down to PA to visit her. For those that haven't followed us closely, it's worth noting that Tricia typically specializes in the sweet treats that we share here on The World Tasters. This foray into cooking a fancy meal for two was one of her first, but I must say that I was impressed. I will state that she didn't do everything you see on her own: I helped by buying her the flowers that served as the backdrop for some of these photos and I took the pictures of her cooking this delicious feast!

Market Street Grill - West Chester, PA

On a recent weekend spent down in Pennsylvania with Trish, we explored the little town of West Chester. About 15 minutes from Tricia's place in Malvern, West Chester is a unique and food-filled locale about 30 miles west of Philly. Lined with boutique-style shops and small upscale eateries, West Chester has the hybrid feel of a college town merged with a ritzy village. While there, Tricia and I sampled the renowned Eclat Chocolates at their storefront location (they are partners with Iron Chef Jose Garces in one of his markets in Philly and their truffles are marketed nationwider through Williams-Sonoma), went olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting, and shopped at a local Italian Market for fresh prosciutto and taleggio (Carlino's - awesome place/highly recommended!). But the highlight of our visit, as always, was the meal that we had. After being tantalized by all of our food shopping (and shots of pressed oil), we were starving and looking for something hearty. Chatting around, it was recommended that we try out the Market Street Grill for eats. As soon as stepping in, we were struck by the decor - old-style diner with walls lined with pop art prints depicting comic book heroes, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and movie posters. All of the art was by John Stango, a Philly-based artist (Website) (see his work above!). Very cool.

Layered Hazlenut Cake with Nutella and Coffee buttercream

Hello fellow bakers! For Siddharth's annual Super Bowl party, he asked for a layered cake for dessert. For this dessert, I made a two-layered white cake with a generous layer of nutella in the middle to give the cake some softness and extra sweetness. The trick for making this cake look nice is to make the layers and let it harden the nutella layer harden in the fridge for a little bit. Then ice your cake with this delicious buttercream. I chose coffee buttercream after heading back from Dunkin Donuts. Hazlenuts and coffee? Oh yes that would work! I'm not going to include my coffee buttercream recipe because I ran into a few problems, but I strongly suggest browsing the other blogs like Joy of Baking or Browneyedbaker; they always inspire us for recipes.

We bought these chocolate covered coffee beans from Ithaca Coffee Co. located just down the street from Siddharth's apartment to use to decorate. Siddharth also made a hazlenut brittle that was also to die for.

Recipe is as follows: