Politics and Peppercorns

Live-Tweeting Dinner at Topolobampo

2009-08-07T11:00:00.002-05:00

First of all--I know, I know. I've been noticeably absent on all forms of social media recently. No blogs, very few tweets, the rare facebook update. This time it's a combination of things. I got totally enthralled with the post-election unrest in Iran and stopped caring about anything for a few weeks. I had a quick stint of gaming where me and Roommate Nirmal sped through Gears of War 1 and 2 and all three Halo games. Virginia State Elections are heating up, so there's been a lot of travel and work on that. And friends have been in from out of town all summer.

I know. Poor excuses all. But I do what I want.

Last night, I attempted to live-tweet a dinner at Topolobampo, one of the most well-renowned Mexican restaurants in the country. Twitter is having a fit, though, so exactly none of my texts came through. Luckily, they're all still in the outbox of my phone, so I can recreate the dinner here.

8:58pm-Tweeps, it migt be time to hit unfollow. About to live-tweet dinner at Rick Bayless' Topolobampo in Chicago. Why? Here alone for work, no one to eat with.

9:10pm-Reservation is for 9:15 on Thursday and this place is packed with no sign of letting up. Decor=decidedly mexican despite prices for entrees in the high 30s.

9:18pm-Btw did this morning's hackerattack break twitterberry? Haven't been able to use it all day.

9:29pm-Packed indeed. 15 min post-reservation and table still isn't ready! I could use a cocktail. But then again, when couldn't I?

9:46pm-Finally sat. Mighttt have lied and said I was in Chicago just to try restaurants. What?? I'm a little salty about the wait, so sue me.

9:48pm-Ordered a nice classic margarita, served in a martini glass. @marksamburg would love this.

9:52pm-A nice treat-some guac brought to the table with cuke and jicama chips. Didn't know guac could be this good. Unbelievable balance of acid, salty, and sweet.

9:55pm-Guac has just a bit of lingering heat and crumbled almonds. First course is already out-suddenly my experience here has gotten much much better.

10:00pm-Ordered trio of ceviches for app. Hawaiian sunfish w/tomatoes, olives, jicama seems most classic. Steamed shrimp and calamari a bit more acidic.

10:03pm-I wish the shrimp were diced. Whole shrimp hard to eat bite by bite. 3rd is ahi tuna w/apricot chimoy salsa. Sweet, bit of spicy kick. All three expertly done

10:04pm-Also, more of the crumbled almond on the ahi tuna. Chips with the ceviche are nice, but taste just a bit.....store brought? No....

10:19pm-This hawaiian sunfish tastes a lot like escolar....what a great combo of flavors. Never would have thought to put crushed almonds on a ceviche.

10:23pm-Also, the manager has now dropped by to chat me up twice, hehe. I should do this more often...

10:27pm-Entree is out. Cochinta pibil-overnight braised big foot fried in croquettes with kohlrabi mashed potato, braised greens, sour organce sauce, habanero salsa.

10:29pm-Served with a tempranillo that is wonderfully fruity-blackberry, oak, very smooth, very round, lots of tannins. Great choice by server.

10:32pm-Habanero salso is hottt. Even for me. Hats off to them for being gutsy enough to serve something with real heat, most restaurants shy away.

10:34pm-They give you option of dish without the salsa. I find woefully underseasoned without, but excellent with. Pork feet are wonderfully tender.

10:35pm-Did I just use "wonderfully" two tweets in a row? (Editor's note--upon review, it appears I did not.) This wine may be getting to me. (Editor's note--upon review, it was.)

10:39pm-Sour orange gets totally lost in all the broth. A shame...it was good.

10:41pm-I've been corrected. I have both pigs feet coated in breadcrumbs and lightly fried or sauteed braised pig shoulder. The shoulder is better. (Editor's note--the flavor of that shoulder stuck with me all night. It was definitely the best thing I ate there, and that's saying something.)

10:50pm-Main Course grew on me as I ate it. Super satisfied at this point. Do I have room for dessert?

10:59pm-Ordered mexican hot chocolate, great nutty, spicy aroma. Nutmeg is freshly ground. Nice...

11:00pm-Wow. Very rich but not overbearing. Not too sweet. Tastes like the red wine of hot chocolate. A great end to the meal.

11:05pm-Tab comes to $75. Special thanks to @taylorkline and @marksamburg for the book the bro code, which kept me occupied between tweets.

11:14pm-Oops, she forgot to charge me for wine. I reminded her but she left it off as a reward for honesty. They also leave me with a strawberry jelly candy and a house made chocolate truffle w/hints of mezcal.

11:15pm--Verdict: A+

That tweeting was rather prolific--as I had more time to think about it on the subway to Lincoln Park, I realized that this had to rank as one of the top three places I've ever been, and a bit more marinating on the meal could push it into the number 1 spot. The pork shoulder, trio of ceviches, and hot chocolate were the best I've ever had in each category. Lots of points for creativity, and the service was excellent after being sat a half hour after my reservation.

10 Bottles of Wine On the Wall...

2009-06-03T22:25:00.003-05:00

Isn't that a thing of beauty? A few weeks back, Metrocurean noted that a wine bar in Rosslyn, apparently just minutes from my house, was closing down and offering 40% off of full cases of wine. Nagzah and CLurie were in town, so they got a bottle apiece and I got...ten. Combined with three bottles of Rosé I got at one of my oft-attended Food Matters wine tastings, I get the feeling I'll be set on wine for a few more days. I kid. ~~Thirteen~~Twelve bottles of wine should last me at least another week or so.

In any case, I think I'll chronicle my trip through these wines. There's a wide variety in country, region, grape, and price point here, so it sounds like fun. Let's start with this one.

This is a 2006 Chateau de Lascaux from the Coteaux du Languedoc region of France. It's a big wine, both in aroma and in the mouth, with strong notes of chocolate and cherry, very light acidity, and strong tannins. It was listed at $18.99, which means I got it for about $12. A very good wine, but one that pairs better with food than without. I'd definitely pick it up again.

Wendy's Explained

2009-05-31T21:40:00.002-05:00

The shock in their voice is always completely genuine. Inevitably, we'll have just finished talking about the merits of fleur de sel or why I prefer Malbec to Merlot. Then, "Hey, do you want to pick up some Wendy's?"

For me, grabbing a Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Wendy's is as natural as logging into Facebook or shaving in the morning. It's not even something I think about anymore...just something I do. And yet, what is the source? Of all the foods and all the restaurants to be obsessed over--why this?

I've actually never really known. As other sandwiches and restaurants come and go, I can still remember riding my bike for 45 minutes across Peachtree City at the age of 15 (A DECADE AGO) with part of the $20 I got from mowing the lawn...all to get this unusually delicious sandwich. 10 years of this obsession and it has shown no signs of abating (even though I worked at Wendy's for about six months in high school, partially with the hope that I would tire of the food).

It seems David Kessler has stumbled onto something.

His resulting theory, described in his new book, "The End of Overeating," is startling. Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat. "Much of the scientific research around overeating has been physiology -- what's going on in our body," he said. "The real question is what's going on in our brain."

...

The labels showed the foods were bathed in salt, fat and sugars, beyond what a diner might expect by reading the menu, Kessler said. The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The "egg rolls," which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a "melt in the mouth" quality that also makes it faster to eat. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, she has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.

Instead of satisfying hunger, the salt-fat-sugar combination will stimulate that diner's brain to crave more, Kessler said. For many, the come-on offered by Lay's Potato Chips -- "Betcha can't eat just one" -- is scientifically accurate. And the food industry manipulates this neurological response, designing foods to induce people to eat more than they should or even want, Kessler found.

This shouldn't actually be much of a surprise. After all, foods that taste good can release endorphins (especially sugary foods), and the body is just about always interested in the euphoria they create. But it's at least interesting to see that perhaps science can explain 10 years of Wendy's cravings.

Some time off

2009-05-06T21:00:00.005-05:00

You ever get so hungry that you order/make a ton of food/desserts and scarf the whole thing down without breathing? The kind of scarfing where you don't realize you've eaten so quickly you've outpaced your "full" feeling by quite a bit, leaving your stomach to continue to expand for a half hour after you've finished loading the dishwasher in a misery that can only be relieved in a way that makes me feel like I have an eating disorder?

Anyway, that was all a metaphor for how I feel about my last run of cooking. It was great, don't get me wrong...but after all that food for weeks on end, I had to get back to my roots (Wendy's and Chick-fil-A...don't hate). And while there's been plenty to write about in politics, I didn't really feel like anything warranted a full post of my personal commentary. So just a few notes to get me back into this cooking (and blogging) thing.

It hasn't JUST been Wendy's and Chick-fil-A. It's also been chocolate chip cookies! The New York Times ran an article a while back about the perfect chocolate chip cookie...including recipe. It calls for chocolate "discs" rather than chips and letting the dough rest for an unreal 18 hours. Aside from a pretty obvious typo in the amount of chocolate (1.25 POUNDS???) this recipe was just about perfect. In my second batch I added the sea salt after baking and could find absolutely nothing wrong with these warm, moist, chewy, droooool.

Speaking of Chick-fil-A. Oh. My. Goodness.
I'm finally doing this twitter thing. To pre-empt your arguments, I refuse to update about bathroom habits or what color pen I'm writing with--I'm only going to update things of substance or hilarity. Tune in if you'd like!
Watching lots of NBA playoffs and sending tons of love to my hometown Hawks! By the way, why does Doc Rivers sound like he has emphysema?
Wolverine was downright RE-DONK-ULOUS. The critics are haters. Seriously.
Arlen Specter switched parties, and promptly voted against everything the Democrats have put to a vote in the last few weeks, went on national TV to claim he wouldn't be loyal, and rooted for the Republican lost cause in the Senate in Minnesota. Can we send this one back? I think it's defective. (Even better, maybe we can upgrade to the Sestak model.)
Are you reading 2birds1blog? Start.
Look what I discovered at The Gibson. New favorite EVER.

What y'all been up to?

Right now

2009-04-29T16:18:00.000-05:00

FML:

Restaurant Weekend Returns

2009-04-15T19:01:00.004-05:00

For those of you in the South/other places that don't do Restaurant Week (anywhere except NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and DC?), perhaps a clarification is in order. Twice a year, restaurants around DC for a week offer three coures from their menu (or a smaller version thereof) for $35. Some of these places typically charge upwards of $30 for a single course. So on the bright side, you can find great deals if you get to some of the pricier restaurants before they're totally booked. But on the downside, restaurants often offer limited menus, chefs use cheaper ingredients, the service and food preparation is more rushed and less careful, and you'll be packed like sardine in a can with tons of other diners.

Last year, Alyse and I decided that, with an equivalent monetary contribution from our friends, we could create a better dining experience than the vast majority of places that do Restaurant Week. Restaurant Weekend was born, and we were right. But this year's Restaurant Week was different. Dinners I enjoyed at Farrah Olivia and Rasika turned my impression of Restaurant Week upside down. In one weekend, both restaurants vaulted into my top four restaurants of all time, along with Perilla in NYC and Corduroy here in DC.

But we were up for the challenge again. That is, at least, until I lost Alyse to a bit of personnel shifting at Granville Moore's. I managed to pick up the indispensable Jazmin as a sous chef for Sunday's seating, but I was totally on my own for Saturday. This was going to be interesting....

By starting on Thursday, I managed to take a lot of pressure off the weekend. That night I finished up the garlic aioli, basil oil, bleu cheese butter, shrimp marinade, and maple chili glaze. Friday I knocked out the tomato jam, asparagus puree, red pepper sauce, 15 spice blend, and cilantro oil. So by Saturday, I felt pretty good about what I had left to do.

But this was nothing like last year. Way more moving parts=way more things to go wrong. Fortunately, a few of the dishes were replications of the previous weekend's 7 course extravaganza. Making second appearances were the amuse bouche of torched escolar, the shrimp and grits, the bleu cheese butter and pear stuffed pork tenderloin, and the apple fritters with cinnamon, caramel, and white bordeaux ice cream...with some notable changes in portion size and, in some cases, garnish and whatnot.

After the amuse bouche, we had two options for course 1. First was a slight variation of the shrimp and grits Alyse and I served the previous week. But instead of pancetta as a base of the red pepper sauce, we used it as a garnish (Jazmin doesn't eat pork). The flavor of the sauce was definitely a bit off from last week, but the presence of the crispy pancetta was an awesome addition.

The other option was a trio of scallop sandwiches, each with their own fillings. In the first was a simple puree of blanched asparagus, chicken stock, and a little ground ginger. The asparagus puree was topped with diced mushrooms (day 1 got Oysters, day 2 got Shiitakes...I preferred the Shiitakes) that had been marinated and cooked in white wine, sherry, and worcestershire sauce until all the liquid had evaporated. The second scallop was a spicy and sweet tomato jam of peppercorns, allspice, clove, mustard seeds, sugar, and crushed tomatoes cooked down until thickened and then hit with a little basil oil. The final scallop was delicious delicious bacon topped with a double garlic aioli. I dusted the scallops themselves in salt and paprika before searing them in bacon fat and slicing them in half.

I got the idea for these while driving to Richmond and daydreaming about dishes (it's also when I thought of the torched escolar amuse bouche) and I was incredibly happy about how it turned out. The asparagus and ginger was a wonderfully fresh start to the dish, the classic tomato and basil really stood out in an unusual presentation, and garlic, bacon, and scallops should definitely get together and make delicious babies.

The first option for the main courses was the same pork tenderloin as last time around, except now I was much much better at butterflying the pork tenderloin. Look! Pretty! And say hi to Jazmin in the background.

I roasted the pears a bit longer in the vinaigrette this week, and boy did it pay off. A little bit of extra time left me with a vinaigrette that was much richer and developed in flavor. On the other hand, my better butterflying skills actually left me with a piece of meat that was even less apt to stay together than last time. Nonetheless, this is still a wonderfully well balanced, complex dish.

I made the same 15-spice ribeye this week, except paired it with a fianciere sauce. A fianciere is a brown sauce derivative (just as was the chevreuil sauce) that employs mirepoix, madeira wine and truffle essence (instead of the chevreuil's bacon, white wine, red wine, mirepoix, and beef trim). The fianciere sauce was a major hit...especially on Saturday, where there was licking of plates. And we got some cheddar potato brioches that actually brioched! The second day's plating, which is what this picture is of, is actually a bit comical because I ended up with too much meat. This, the sort of mountain o' meat that is below. Leftovers!

The apple fritters and ice cream were just as tasty as before, and even inspired Roommate Nirmal to make a little jim beam+coke+cinnamon ice cream float. But especially exciting was the Spiced Chocolate Souffle: just a traditional chocolate souffle with cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon. On Day 2 I added a bit of the ice cream to the side.

And there we had it. Huge huge thanks to Jazmin, who helped Day 2 go 1000 times more smoothly than Day 1. And many thanks to all of my guests: Coworkers Laura, Nora, and Maggie, Intern Monica, Roommates Nirmal and Shala, Friend Randall, Dancer Carena, and Soccer Hannah. You are truly the cream of the crop and made this an even better experience than last year.

Maybe I won't wait a year to do this again.

Updated Blogroll and New Look

2009-04-12T21:57:00.003-05:00

Perhaps you care, perhaps you do not.

Kathleen and I go back years and years and, even though she has now changed her last name so I can never find her on facebook anymore, she has started up a delightful food blog filled with tasty treats. Check her at Grits and Glory.

I stumbled across a local blog called the arugula files that's both politically conscious and interested in food. Right up my alley!

Read them. Love them.

Also, I went and found a template that wasn't quiiiiite so blah. This is a bit more me, so I'm gonna stick with it for a little while.

7 Course Extravaganza

2009-04-05T11:25:00.007-05:00

For months and months, Alyse and I have talked about having over some of our favorite food lovers: Boss Dave and his wife Jen, Chefs Tom and Christy. Each has blessed us with delicious food and wine, and it only seemed right to return the favor. And I have to admit...this was going to be an intimidating meal.

After all, Chefs Tom and Christy are ACTUAL Chefs (not my pretend "wannabe" variety) that have an awesome restaurant (Food Matters) and have cooked at other awesome restaurants (Cafe Atlantico). And Dave and Jen, also awesome in the kitchen, have rather refined palates themselves (their last meal was at Alinea). Finally, Alyse and I settled on a 7-course (7!!!) tasting menu that would give us the chance to showcase a wide variety of preparations and flavors.

The preparation for this meal actually began weeks ago with the veal stock, which was the base for the espagnole sauce, which was the base for a cheuvreil sauce that was served during the second to last course. This has indeed been a many-weeks-long process. But the outcome was well worth the hours and hours of preparation.

We started with an amuse bouche that had been inspired by a trip to Farrah Olivia for restaurant week. Chef Morou serves a "shocked escolar"....a small cut of fish that has been poached very quickly, and then set in a chilled mixture of soy and wine. It's a dish that totally stole my heart and made me crave escolar for weeks and weeks. To get some, I had to special order it from Balducci's (did you know you can do this? if you want a cut of meat or fish or poultry, or even produce, and you're not sure where to get it...just call and ask! a lot of times they'll order it JUST FOR YOU. Pretty sweet).

In any case, that is too long an explanation to tell you that I fell in love with escolar and wanted to serve it almost-raw. I diced the raw escolar, which basically has the texture of butter, dusted it with some freshly ground cumin, placed it over some cilantro oil and topped with some fleur de sel before going at it with my blow torch and finishing with lemon zest. I absolutely adored this amuse.

The first course was a chilled corn soup topped with a tarragon oil that was done from start to finish by Alyse. There are few words to describe how perfect this dish turned out. Sweet, with just the perfect toothy texture and a surprisingly mild yet well-balanced contrast with the tarragon oil. The presentation was beautiful, with the bright green oil sitting atop the creamy yellow soup. This was probably my favorite dish, overall, of the whole night.

And I forgot to get a picture of it. AGH!

The second course was also all Alyse: she wrapped some beautiful raw tuna in basil, let it sit marinate in the fridge, and then lightly steamed it right in the leaves to infuse the basil into the tuna. She served it on top of a light, acidic slaw with a little basil chiffonade. Another beautiful presentation, and another great starter dish. At this point, we had hit three extra-base hits and I was feeling great about the night.

Next up was our version of "Shrimp and Grits." We marinated the shrimp in an oil that had been infused with red pepper flakes, orange juice, copious amounts of garlic, and parsley and then sauteed them over really high heat. At the top of the picture is my 15-spice blend (for the ribeye later) and the cilantro oil from the earlier amuse bouche

The grits were polenta and gruyere, chilled to room temperature, cut into rounds, and then deep fried until they were crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside goodness. They were served over a red pepper sauce that had sweet and salty notes of polenta. 4 for 4.

So we were due for a mistake somewhere along the way, and finally we hit ours. We thought a nice, simple, chicken consomme would be a great palette cleanser. A little dash of it into a bowl with a sauteed mushroom and some scallions would do well to transition from the lighter first courses into the heavier main courses.

But the execution ended up all wrong. When reheating the consomme, I must have left it on the burner too long, because while a consomme should have the clarity of this (which it did, before I reheated it):

mine had the clarity of this:

Yes, that's miso soup. And that's what it looked like. The flavor of the consomme itself was ok, but the mushroom was a little bitter and my idea for using toasted rosemary as a garnish that would impart a nice, herbal scent failed when all the rosemary fell into the soup. Just, massive fail. Although, if there were any dish to miss on, it was this one, and if there was any way in which to fail, it would have been that (and not overcooking/undercooking a main protein, for instance)

The pork tenderloin got us back on track. I started by butterflying a tenderloin--something that requires a bit of practice to get right.

We then added layers of bleu cheese butter and red bartlett pears that had gone through a mandoline before rolling the entire thing up, tying it, sprinkling with salt, pepper, and paprika, pan-searing, and then oven roasting while glazing with maple syrup that had been infused with thai bird chiles. We served over some wilted dandelion greens that had been tossed in a roasted pear vinaigrette. This was a wonderfully balanced dish. The mild, salty bleu cheese worked together with the sweet and spicy glaze over the bitter and acidic greens to achieve a balance of the entire palette that is often hard to come by.

Carla from Top Chef actually inspired the last of our main courses. I loved how she was perfectly content to put a perfectly cooked piece of meat, a slam-banging sauce, and some well prepared potatoes in front of a panel of food experts. So I picked up a huge dry-aged, bone-in ribeye and crusted it with my 15-spice blend before basting it with clarified butter and finally roasting it in the oven. The preparation was relatively simple, something I had done dozens of times before, and felt good about.

The most complicated part of this dish was unquestionably the sauce. The veal stock--->espagnole sauce---> chevreuil sauce. We started with another basic mirepoix.

From there, I added bacon and some trim from the ribeye that I didn't feel like using and let all the fat render out.

My thinking here, since I wasn't working from a recipe: "Well, I love bacon. So I should just use tons of it. I mean, what could be better than bacon?"

Oops. Because after I added the sauce espagnole and began to reduce, something became very quickly apparent. The balanced, superb sauce I was looking for was just....a bacon sauce. Forget chevreuil and all that. This was bacon sauce. Sounds great in theory, but in reality....not as good as it should be. But this was my favorite moment of this dinner for me--I didn't panic.

I added more veal stock and another dose of white and red wine. I added a sachet d'epices.

I reduced and reduced and reduced and finally (about 3 hours after I started, and about 15 minutes before the ribeye was ready) it hit the sweet spot of both the consistency I wanted and the rich flavor with just hints (HINTS) of bacon and herbs that I wanted).

Our other part of the plate, a potato brioche, didn't quite brioche the way we had hoped, so we substituted with some (less than perfect, but still quite edible) potato chips with alderwood smoked sea salt.

Finally, we wrapped up with an ice cream that I had based off one of Christy's white bordeaux dessert wines she had introduced me to a couple of weeks earlier. With just a touch of cinnamon and caramel, it paired wonderfully with some apple fritters and a reduction of another Food Matters special offering--the Alcyone dessert wine (also know as "the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth")

And there we had it. 7 courses and an amuse bouche. All the food got out, and with generally only 10-15 minute waits between courses. And while there were a couple of missteps, Alyse and I both agreed that this was by far the most challenging, impressive, (and, at least for me, rewarding) meal we had ever put together. Special thanks to Dave, Jen, Tom, and Christy for joining us and letting us try this out on you! A great night with great friends, great food, and great wine. Can't complain about that!

On Arugula

2009-03-26T21:59:00.004-05:00

I've been kicking around this post in my head for a month now, really trying to find the right voice to get across what is, for me, a pretty challenging subject.

In late summer of 2007, well before the Iowa Caucuses and the never-ending Democratic Presidential Primary and wholesale slaughter of the Republican Party in November, the New York Times Caucus blog casually reported on a relatively innocent comment about Obama in an attempt to poke a little fun at a line that fell flat:

One line that landed a little flat, though, was when Mr. Obama sympathetically noted that farmers have not seen an increase in prices for their crops, despite a rise in prices at the supermarket.

“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” the senator said. “I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”

The state of Iowa, for all of its vast food production, does not have a Whole Foods, a leading natural and organic foods market. The closest? Omaha, Minneapolis or Kansas City.

ARUGULA!!! ELITIST!!! The Right-Wing Noise Machine went into hyperdrive. A Google search for "Obama arugula" now returns an unimaginable 145,000 hits. A Google search of prominent wingnut blog Redstate.com alone returns 86 hits. The message was clear: Real Americans don't eat arugula.

What??

Where did this come from? Why is it that blue blooded Americans only eat tasteless, watered-down iceberg lettuce, but enjoying the bitter peppery flavor of arugula relegates you to an Ivory Tower? And of course, it's not just arugula. Real Americans drink beer (specifically Bud, Miller, or Coors. Tasty microbrews are still elitist. And don't get me started on anything Belgian.). Effete liberals drink wine. Thinking about some organic iceberg lettuce? Not so fast. A search of that earlier mentioned conservative site for "organic elitist" returns 26 hits. In fact, any food or drink that has been prepared for the purpose of tasting exceptionally good...all of it. It's elitist. And bad.

This post isn't just for me to rant about the Republican Noise Machine. I mean, it's that too. But it's also about the sad state of affairs the sets entire genres of food (most importantly the organic variety) into a cultural gallows. Ezra Klein stumbled across this very concept recently as he described a fundraiser held by Alice Waters:

And that's the other problem. Good food -- the sort Waters features at her restaurant -- is considered a luxury of the rich rather than a social justice issue. As Waters frequently argues, no one is worse served by our current food policy than a low-income family using food stamps to purchase rotted produce at the marked-up convenience store.

I get this just as much as anyone. When I was working two jobs to get by just after college, I knew there would be about 4 or 5 days every month where I would survive solely off of french fries and $1 double cheeseburgers at McDonald's. That money wouldn't have been particularly well spent on organic carrots from Whole Foods (about $3 on their own). But my point is that it shouldn't...be this way.

It's hard to escape the morbid irony of the morbid obesity omnipresent in our nation's poorest neighborhoods. The cheapest food available to us is loaded up with trans fats, sodium, saturated fats, perservatives, chemicals...The best, freshest, safest, most healthy foods are loaded up with markups for an organic label. The rich get healthier, and the poor get fatter and sicker. (Oh, and they often don't have health insurance, so...) Hey Republicans out there, this is one of many reasons why voting with your pocketbook doesn't always work. We are quite literally staring at a market failure that is screwing over poor Americans in place that hurts even worse than their pocketbooks: their own bodies.

Klein also notes one of my fears about writing this blog as he finishes describing Waters' meal:

However, it wasn't clear that [politicians] would be publicly promoting the "new American table" anytime soon. It was the sort of dinner that would work well in an attack ad. A politician who spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of such dining would be served up medium-effete in his next election.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if, when I run for office one, I'm not attacked for my "Horseradish Crusted Rack of Lamb with Cherry Gastrique" or the upcoming "Torched Escolar." But I can only hope that the mainsteaming of fine cuisine via outlets like the Food Network and Top Chef (see? Food Network does do SOMETHING right apart from Iron Chef!) will make such a focus on good, healthy food become less the aberration of a sushi-eating (by the way, what the HECK is wrong with sushi???) latte-sipping liberal and more the usual habits of families around the country. To do that, the price of such good, healthy food simply MUST come down. As Klein concludes:

But Waters' vision is almost depressingly realistic. An America in which schoolchildren are assured fresh and nutritious meals and the government doesn't spend billions subsidizing high-fructose corn syrup would be cheaper to the taxpayer and healthier for the nation. What we'd spend purchasing fresh produce we'd almost certainly save in medical bills. Our current food policy makes us fatter, sicker, and poorer. And, as Waters reminds us, it tastes bad.

Family

2009-03-22T18:26:00.003-05:00

There's really nothing like cooking for family. Friends are great. Dates are cool. But then there's cooking for the people that knew you before the food. WAY before the food. The people that are proud of your culinary development, bewildered at how you went from your first job flipping burgers at Wendy's to being a chef wannabe, and most appreciate the food that you put on the table when all is said and done. So the cooking I've done for the little brother, my parents, and my grandparents is by far the most rewarding that I can do.

Last night's guests weren't...TECHNICALLY...family. But we've all got relationships with folks that are so deep and go back so far they might as well be. So when my man David and his wife came over and joined Roommate Nirmal and Former Intern Monica for a Saturday evening dinner, I knew that only my best was to be on display. The particular challenge? David and his wife are vegetarians, and most of my best work involves meat of some sort. Hm.

I decided I wanted to give a bit of Indian flavor to some classically non-Indian cuisine, so we started with a Spinach Souffle: the time-honored bechamel sauce, spinach, eggs, cumin, garam masala, and turmeric. I thought the dish could use both some acidic and some earthy tones, so I put together a wild mushroom vinaigrette....that really ended up more like a wild mushroom paste. I sauteed oyster mushrooms in olive oil with a little bit of salt and pepper, pureed them with some balsamic vinegar, and pushed the whole thing through a chinois. While the texture didn't end up as....saucy?...as I wanted it to be, the flavor was completely spot on: an earthy punch and a little bit of acid that really enhanced the souffle. I could have included a bit more garam masala, but overall this dish really worked. It does seem the souffle didn't puff QUITE as much as I wanted (the picture is a bit misleading, as I only filled the ramekins about 2/3 of the way), so I've got to continue to work on getting enough air whipped into these before Restaurant Weekend in a couple of weeks.

Second course was a chile relleno. I roasted some poblano peppers, peeled and seeded them, and stuffed them with rice, feta, cheddar, and gruyere cheeses. The stuffing also got a seasoning of cumin and garam masala as well as turmeric. After running them through a dredging station where they got a coat of corn meal, salt, pepper, and cayenne, I deep fried the chilis and served them on a plate with a simple chili oil (olive oil and thai bird chilis pureed and strained) and a delightfully pungent roasted garlic sauce (just white wine, salt, and roasted garlic). Topped with a bit of fried oregano for garnish andddd boom goes the dynamite. Spicy and rich, with a variety of flavor profiles, this one really came together.

We finished with some chai tea ice cream that I made a couple of weeks ago for Roommate Shala. Recipe for that one was lifted directly from here.

Building Blocks (cont.)

2009-03-16T15:28:00.002-05:00

Chicken stock is one thing. It only takes a little preparation, some attention in the way of skimming off the impurities for an hour or so, and a simple mirepoix. Two hours of time, max.

Veal stock is another. Completely. And totally. Another. So settle in for the story of a stock that takes 12 times as long as chicken stock. (For you 1st graders out there, that's 24 hours.)

I started with 16 pounds of veal bones from Eastern Market. It's the closest thing I can find in DC to this place back in home sweet home ATL. It's not quite the same, but it makes a good effort. I let a roasting pan get realllly nice and hot in a 450 degree oven until I tossed the first of the bones in and I got that satisfying sizzle that tells me they're going to be cooked from both sides. They roasted for 45 minutes before I took them out and tossed them into my ginormous stock pot. After covering in cold water, I verrrrry slowly brought them up to a simmer at about 190 degrees (aided by my sexy new IKEA meat thermometer. Yes I called a thermometer sexy, and yes I have problems. Hush.). The time was 10:30pm.

After about three hours of simmering and skimming, I strained the first liquid into a second stock pot, added more water to the bones, and brought back up to a simmer. This second soaking of the bones is called a remouillage and is designed to extract maximum flavor from the bones. During the initial soaking of the bones, the water and the bones reach an equilibrium in flavor. To get more flavor, you need to add new, unflavored water. The remouillage drains more flavor from the bones and then gets added back to the original liquid and reduced later.

So after adding cold water, I brought the stock back up to a simmer and then stuck it in a 190 degree oven overnight. The first liquid sat, reducing, on a burner on low overnight as well. At this point it was past 2am.

I woke up in the morning around 10am to an apartment filled with the most warm, intoxicating fragrance I can imagine. Well, except for cookies. Cookies smell better, but not by a whole lot. And brownies. Ok, excluding baked goods...this smelled better than most anything I can imagine.

Finally, I discarded the bones. At this point, the stocks were still too large to fit in one pot (or, to be honest, two...I had three burners going for most of the morning). I added two cans of tomato paste and let the stock continue to reduce. Reduce and skim. Skim and reduce. Hours and hours of it. At about 3pm I added a mirepoix, along with some fresh thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. I let these cook (while skimming) for about two hours before straining them out. It was 5:30 by the time I got the stock back up to a simmer, but hark! It finally all fit in a regular sized stockpot--not even just the humongo one I had been using earlier.

I left for a few hours, came back, and finally found it had the body that I wanted it to have. It was 10pm. I strained the final product through a double rinsed-cheesecloth and my chinois and only then did I really see the beautiful dark brown stock, free of impurities and bursting with this amazing strong and yet somehow neutral flavor.

All it needed was a sprinkling of salt before I stored and froze it.

Why go through all this? Veal stock is the foundation of the basic brown sauce, of which there are at least dozens of derivatives: espagnole (one of the mother sauces of classical french cuisine), bordelaise, demi-glace....you name it. If it's a brown sauce, it is (or should be) based on a veal stock.

And with two upcoming dinners of epic proportions, it definitely made sense to have some on hand. More on these later...

Building Blocks

2009-03-02T17:24:00.005-05:00

When I first started writing this blog, I was really only interested in having some tasty meals now and again. But somewhere along the way, that mild interest and talent turned into something to study--to understand from beginning to end. A real thirst to read and learn everything I can get my hands on.

This thirst has taken me to all sorts of new cooking techniques, from cooking my steaks by basting them in smoking hot clarified butter to using a chinois to strain my soups and stocks to tying bouquet garnis and sachet d'epices. At times I have become obsessed with classic sauces, and I've even had a bit of success; I'm pretty proud of my ability to make a good gastrique or a flavorful coulis. But my success with sauces is limited by my success with an even more basic building block of fine cuisine.

Making your own stocks allows you to avoid spending $4 on these guys' oversalted version (510 mg/serving!!!) in addition to controlling the flavor profiles. And having plenty of chicken stock on hand gives you an ingredient essential to make a consommé, a velouté, or any one of a number of other white sauce derivatives. Beef or veal stock lets you make brown sauces like the classic demi-glace or espagnole (a sauce that apparently dates back to the 19th century).

But for this winter weekend I was simply content to let my chicken stock be the base for a rich, earthy parsnip and celery root soup. I blame my obsession with creating the perfect parsnip soup on the exceptional soup sometimes offered by my oft-mentioned favorite restaurant Corduroy, and I was determined to do all the right things with this latest attempt. And boy did it pay off.

Not only was I incredibly careful to let neither the stock nor the eventual soup boil, but I actually did my due diligence and skimmed away the impurities that rise to the top during the simmering process. Usually this step falls victim to lazy ambivalence, but fellow Emory Grad Lauren had strep throat and she deserved the best, darnit. So there was the skimming, the use of a bouquet garni to have full control over how long my spices infused into the soup, and finally another basic building block of classical french cooking: a roux.

A roux is simply three parts flour to two parts fat, cooked over medium heat until it combines. Lighter roux (white or blond) have mild flavors but do well to thicken sauces or soups. Darker roux (brown or dark brown) have strong toasted or nutty flavors (dark roux is an essential ingredient in good gumbo) but don't have as much thickening power as the lighter roux.

I chose to cook my roux until it was brown, sacrificing a bit of the thickening power for the flavor. It did every bit the job it was supposed to: thickened my soup without a need for heavy cream. Score.

I finished the soup with just a sprinkling of cayenne, paprika, and thyme. In the future, I'd prefer a full sprig of fresh thyme, but I had to use the rubbed thyme I had on hand. I've also got to find a way to cut the richness of this soup. It's good...very good...but has so much intense earth flavor that a bit of acid (maybe some lemon oil?) or sweetness from a butternut squash coulis (successful in the past) could provide a little break.

Mythical

2009-03-02T10:54:00.003-05:00

I don't know what it is about hot chocolate, but it's always seemed like one of those things you just don't make from scratch.

It almost has a mythical nature--this perfect drink I would enjoy as a kid on those brisk Atlanta mornings during our three week long winters. But you never actually saw someone make hot chocolate. It would come out of a paper packet, like so much oatmeal or cream of wheat, to be mixed with water or milk. Sometimes, if you were lucky, it came in a nice canister (but make sure to avoid this stuff!). You could get it at IHOP or Ruby Tuesday's, but you never got refills. There was something special about hot chocolate.

And so I've deep fried turkeys, made cheesecakes and mousses, put cranberries in a risotto, and made ice cream from scratch. But I've never thought to make hot chocolate from scratch. Until today.

Outside:

Inside:

It's actually much easier than I thought. Just some unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, salt, water, milk, and vanilla extract. I finished it with a little vanilla cream and mmmmmm, no longer mythical.

I'm on my second cup right now and I can see why they don't serve multiple cups of this to little kids. I feel like one of the balls in this commericial.

Back for the last time...

2009-02-26T22:45:00.005-05:00

Seriously. Maybe.

Ya know, I've been lazy for a while. And my passion for food has really come and gone over the past few months. Don't get me wrong; I never stopped loving anything about food--neither cooking it nor eating it. But I got busy with this election of this guy for most of last year (you may have heard of him; he spoke to Congress a couple nights ago), spent a month on a runoff election in Atlanta, went to Mexico on vacation, went to Atlanta on vacation, went through a couple of roommates, and...well, then I just got lazy.

So I'm wrong--it had nothing to do with my passion for food. It had everything to do with my impatience to go find my camera and take pictures on the few(er) occasions I made something worth capturing.

There's something really sad about this blog. For the last two years, I've really grown in Food, and I haven't let this blog grow with me. I think it would have been an interesting story to tell you (Mom) how I went from my first post about Nachos or something (dude, they're still reallllly good) to last night's Roast Cornish Hen with Plum Sherry Glaze over Butter Poached Cippolini Onions and Sum Choy.

Which reminds me. Simplicity just doesn't feel like the most appropriate name any more. Yes, I still like simple food, and I probably won't be doing much sous vide or wildly eclectic cuisine anytime soon. But if I'm writing for anyone that's not doing this sort of cooking, Simplicity as a title seems at best inappropriate, at worst condescending.

So I'm changing it.

Which reminds me.

Until now, this blog has been entirely about food. And to me it's always been just a bit....incomplete. Perhaps it's why I've strayed so much. To be clear, it was by design. This blog was initially just a repository to keep me from totally forgetting about successful nights in the kitchen. But now, I'd like something more. I'd like the freedom to rant about politics or rave about a good movie or talk about anything else I darn well please. But mostly I just want to rant about politics. I want my two competing loves to live right here together, on this blog.

So today, I retire Simplicity and relaunch it as Politics and Peppercorns.

Shutup. It'll grow on you.

I Need to Write This Down

2008-07-26T20:27:00.002-05:00

Yeah yeah, I know. I haven't been around for a while. You're mad at me because I didn't write about the Cherry cheesecake, degustation day, dinner at Komi or Mesa Grill, brunch at Perilla, gooseberry gastriques, braised goat shoulder, the jalapeno ceviche, the wasabi crusted rack of lamb, the roasted pork tenderloin with the pomegranate and ancho chili glaze, the failed attempt at cooking veal en papilotte, the bacon dinner (yes, three courses, all with bacon, finishing with the club souffle), or the schezuan grilled kabobs.

But this post isn't about any of those things. This post is about the spice rub I put on some pan seared swordfish tonight. And making sure I remember it forever.

Garam Masala
Coriander
Cayenne
Ginger
Cinnamon
Ground Mustard
Chili powder
Paprika
Ground Cloves
Cumin
Garlic
Paprika
Smoked Paprika
Salt
Black Pepper

That's all. I'll be back soon. I hope.

The Best Meal I've Ever Cooked: Part Two

2008-04-17T20:32:00.003-05:00

This time, minus the bitterness at NBC. Because they were nice enough to start running new episodes of Scrubs again, thus making my Thursday nights a little bit more complete.

If you haven't yet, check out my account of the first part of the meal, and also Alyse's recap, which gives detail by delicious detail. (Also, shout out to Alyse, who is now PUBLISHED!)

So when I last left you, we had finished an amuse bouche and the first set of courses. Next up was the main course. The first was a white truffle shrimp fondue with an herb risotto. This one, I must admit, was not an original. It came straight from Rocco DiSpirito's Flavor, which has been my most reliable source for recipes that are so good they don't need to be altered at all. In fact, the recipe is right here, in its totality. Here's my presentation:

So I can only take credit for the execution, but not the concept of the combination of the truffle, risotto, fresh herbs, shrimp, and perfectly seasoned tomato fondue. But the second of the two main courses was a horseradish crusted rack of lamb that has shown some development in the very pages of this blog. The pairing of a horseradish crust with the robust flavor of a perfectly medium rare prime rib gave me the idea to try it with lamb. The cherry gastrique was on the money the first time, but I wanted to make sure to season the lamb a bit more this time around--thus, a dry rub of fresh cumin, coriander, kosher salt, paprika, cayenne, and black pepper. I also knew I wanted to lighten up the dish as a whole; a contrast of baby arugula tossed in lemon juice and black pepper would give the dish a fresh, bitter element. And finally, I added the sauteed langoustines to give a sweet, exotic flavor. A treat, if you will, for a bunch of people that had probably never had langoustines. That being said--not really an essential part of the dish. Also, what is it about hipsters and pictures of food? Scott managed to take a better picture of this dish than any I've taken of my food over the course of the last year. Clearly I need a new strategy. Observe.

Scott:

Me:

And finally, what would a good meal be without dessert? I decided to pair up some puff pastry (profiteroles, if you're french or pretentious) with coffee ice cream and a bailey's irish cream chocolate sauce. I love the idea of mixing traditional after dinner drinks (bailey's and coffee) with traditional after dinner desserts (ice cream, chocolate, and puff pastry). Warm and cold, rich and fresh, it couldn't have turned out better.

And remember that failed pineapple creme brulee from a few weeks back? I decided to ignore the cookbooks and cook it until I felt like it was done. The end result? Perfection. And brulee torches are still awesome.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this a fantastic success! I may just try this idea again one day after all....

The Best Meal I've Ever Cooked: Part 1 or "Screw you, NBC, I didn't want to be on your show anyway"

2008-04-07T21:43:00.007-05:00

Three loads in the dishwasher and I'm STILL not done cleaning from Sunday night. Such is the result of Restaurant Weekend, a three-day cooking extravaganza that started with a stock and finished with a blow torch at the dinner table.

How does life get any better than this?

6 different dish options plus an amuse bouche--not to mention the fact that each of these were among the most complicated dishes I've ever attempted. 6 guests, plus me and the indispensable Alyse.

Twice. Welcome to Restaurant Weekend.

Alyse beat me to the punch on the full recap of the process behind each of the dishes, so I'll refer you to her most thorough of descriptions for the nitty gritty. She My post will focus instead on the inspiration behind each dish. Because for me, Restaurant Weekend started long before I actually got to work on each dish. The menu was the result of literally weeks of brainstorming, influence from existing recipes, experimentation, and a search for balance. And so we come to the menu.

First up was the amuse bouche. Alyse hit this nail on the head--my idea for the whole meal was a meal of contrasts in texture, flavor, nature. And the amuse bouche was to be that idea condensed into a couple of bites. I have to admit, I had never prepared nor eaten foie gras, so this recipe was a bit blind going in. I knew only that it was supposed to have the richness of the bone marrow I tried a few months ago. So I wanted a thick, crispy bread...almost like an oversized crouton...to balance the creaminess of the foie gras. To balance the richness, a fresh grape chutney of quartered white and red grapes, mustard seed, veal stock, port, and red onion. And to bring out the full flavor of the amuse, some orange and lemon zest and alderwood smoked sea salt.

Next up, the first two courses. I was particularly excited about the saffron scented parsnip soup with the butternut squash coulis. Since we ended up with no vegetarians, I decided the parsnip soup should get a chicken stock base. And I knew I was making a risotto later--I'd need lots of chicken stock for two days of meals. Only one good option.

I was going to make my own chicken stock.

We kept this one simple. I brought and quartered a whole chicken, used my trusty cleaver to split the bones into 2 inch long pieces, and simmered the bones away for a few hours while reserving the chicken meat for my own devious dinner purposes (nothing special, just some nuggets and and pan-roasted chicken breast). Later I added a white mirepoix of onion, celery, and parsnip along with some black peppercorns, salt, and bay leaves. An hour later, I strained the whole mixture and voila...enough chicken stock for the whole weekend.

The stock made its appearance in the parsnip soup after I had sauteed some shallots, carrots, and celery until they were soft. With this soup I thought a contrast in colors between the white, creamy parsnip and the rich, dark orange butternut squash would be both visually delightful and interesting the palette. And while the carrots and saffron made the parsnip soup a bit more orange than I had hoped, decreasing my color contrast, the taste was fantastic. Well balanced and velvet-smooth (the result of pushing the soup through my chinois), I wouldn't have changed much of anything about this satisfying, hearty soup.

The rest of the table got a composed salad of duck confit, escarole, butter lettuce, poached pear, dried cranberries, and toasted sunflower seeds. This salad was designed to be the very pinnacle of balance. The bitter escarole was balanced with the fresh, crispy butter lettuce. The poached pear balanced the rich, fatty duck confit. And the crunch sunflower seeds balanced the fruity explosion of the dried cranberries on the tongue. And they were all brought together by this genius honey-champagne vinaigrette that Alyse made that I'd like to take a bath in.

Part 2 will come in the next couple of days and will walk you through the deliciously complex main courses and the desserts. Stay tuned!

Practice Makes Perfect?

2008-04-02T22:52:00.004-05:00

With restaurant weekend quickly approaching, it seemed only appropriate to give the whole thing a quick dry run...with some minor tweaks to keep it interesting. See, Lisa won't be able to make either seating so I thought I'd try experimenting on her to see if it was only my ego that thought I could make three courses worth paying $30 for. Unfortunately, I was so stuffy I had completely lost my sense of smell, so I really had to rely on Lisa for guidance with this one.

After hearing Alyse talk of her honey-champagne vinaigrette, I figured it was a match made in heaven for salad featuring duck confit. I picked up some escarole and endive from Wegman's, tossed it in the vinaigrette, and added toasted sunflower seeds and a few dashes of dried cranberry. I simply rewarmed the duck confit in bacon fat on the stovetop and included some pear I had poached in sherry and a bit of sugar. Solid, except the bitter+bitter idea on the greens was a bit overwhelming. For restaurant weekend, I'll use butter lettuce instead of endive. The honey-champagne vinaigrette was FREAKING AWESOME. Oh, and Lisa brought a camera so we have pictures!

Next up was a pan roasted rack of lamb with homemade gnocchi, sauteed langoustines, and a truffled cream sauce. The centerpiece of this dish? Not the lamb, gnocchi, not even the langoustines....the truffled cream sauce. Which, of course, you need a sense of smell to enjoy. So I have no idea how this dish turned out (though I will say I was unsatisfied with the presentation and disappointed that I overcooked the lamb). Lisa said it was good, but she could have been lying. This dish had a lot going on, and I think the overall quality struggled. Clearly something to work on when I'm prepping 7 different dishes for a total of 6 people. Yikes.

Finally, the pineapple creme brulee. Very good thing I tried this ahead of time, because I completely failed at getting the brulee to set. I have ideas for next time that should do me a bit better, but Lisa got treated to something that was more like creme pudding than brulee. On the bright side? The browning torch is the coolest thing I have ever owned.

The general recipes have been brainstormed for the weekend, the slots have been filled, and the menu choices have been made. Check out the final ish:

Amuse bouche of Foie Gras and Grape Chutney

Course 1: Salad of Duck Confit with Sherry Poached Pear and Honey-champagne Vinaigrette or Saffron Scented Parsnip Soup with Butternut Squash Coulis

Course 2: Horseradish Crusted Rack of Lamb with baby argula, sauteed langoustines, and cherry gastrique or White Truffle Risotto with Gulf Shrimp Fondue

Course 3: Pineapple Creme Brulee or Profiteroles with Coffee Ice Cream and Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Sauce

So if you were attending, what would you order?

Quiche!

2008-03-30T22:32:00.002-05:00

Every now and then I've found I need to take a step back from the upscale haute cuisine I've been so enthralled with recently and remember some of the dishes that started this whole culinary journey.

My mom endures a lot of teasing (especially from her side of the family) about her skills in the kitchen, but the reality is some of my all-time favorite foods have come from her kitchen: the french fries that have become small legends among my friends, the macaroni and cheese that I've been happy to serve time after time, and the fried chicken that I still don't know how to recreate.

But perhaps my favorite of all of these, since before I even knew had to spell (or probably pronounce the word), is the spinach and bacon quiche. So much do I love it that I'm not even remotely tempted to kick it up with my own additions.

I start with chopped braised spinach in a mixing bowl mixed with extra sharp cheddar, monterey jack, and asiago.. Either frozen or fresh spinach will do, but when I do it fresh I make sure to keep the vinegar to a subdued minimum. In a separate bowl I mix 6 eggs and about a quarter cup of milk with some salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture with a healthy dose of chopped bacon to the spinach, and pour into two pie crusts that have been pre-baked for about 10 minutes. Top with lots more extra sharp cheddar and bake at 300 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Let chill for about 10 minutes before serving.

There are few words to describe how delicious this quiche is. The amounts of spinach, bacon, and cheeses are really up to you, but I like to be heavy on both the cheese and the bacon. Spoken like a true southerner.

But of course, I can't keep the gourmet stuff on the back-burner too long. Next up, my restaurant weekend dry run, and the menu for the real restaurant weekend, coming up in just 6 short days!

2 for 2

2008-03-06T22:11:00.002-05:00

My fantasy of opening a fine dining restaurant has always felt like just that--a fantasy. Especially a year ago, when I took that next step in cooking--a full set of cookware. When I really got into making my own recipes. I mean, sure, I could recreate recipes pretty well, but my original recipes were rarely spectacularly interesting. Sure, a tasty meal at the end of a day of work--but nothing I'd be excited to see on a plate I had paid $30 for.

That seems to be slowly changing. And I owe a significant amount of it, no doubt, to my sauce work and in particular my discovery of gastriques. A gastrique is actually a pretty basic sauce: a pureed fruit of some sort, white wine or vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar. I first had the idea to make a gastrique from some leftover cherries and pair it with my horseradish crusted rack of lamb a few weeks ago. And if you recall, I was so impressed with that dish that I mentioned I would have been happy to have gotten it at any restaurant I've ever been to. (Side note: a reminder for me-next time, serve it over some baby arugula tossed in lemon juice, salt and pepper for a little acidic kick. See? Where is this COMING from??)

I was so happy with the cherry gastrique that when I went exploring in Harris Teeter the other day to try to figure out what to make with my friend Jess, I stopped dead in my tracks as I passed the blackberries.

Although, to be fair, I didn't conceive this dish around the blackberry gastrique. Actually, the dual presentation of a duck breast and thigh at Blue Duck Tavern, as bad as it tasted, gave me an idea of two separate preparations of two different parts of a duck (or chicken) with two different sauces.

So I scoured Harris Teeter for ideas. I settled on skin-on chicken breast and, since the pieces were a bit smaller, both a chicken leg and thigh. Pan roasting the chicken and....how about shallow poaching? It's one of the techniques in The Professional Chef that I hadn't tried, but seemed like a good idea. Cool. And then I'll make a sauce from the reduction of the poaching liquid. I still needed a base for my second sauce and that's when I walked by the blackberries.

I started with by browning minced garlic in butter and adding chicken stock, salt, pepper, and pomegranate juice...just enough to come halfway up the chicken legs and thighs. I poached on the stovetop on medium low for a few minutes, being careful not to let the poaching liquid boil, and then tossed the whole pan in the oven. Next I started the chicken breasts on the stovetop, seasoned with cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, coriander, and mustard ground. That pan also ended up in the oven. While the chicken was poaching/roasting, I braised some rainbow chard in balsamic vinegar, white wine, salt, and pepper. Then made the gastrique...I simmer my gastrique with bay leaves, star anise, and allspice before I push it through a chinois and let it continue to reduce until just thickened. Just before I pulled the legs and thighs out of the oven, I turned the broiler on high to caramelize the skin just a bit. Then, took the pan out, removed and covered the chicken, and put the pan back on the stovetop. I let the poaching liquid reduce and strained out the garlic. I laid a dollop of rainbow chard in the middle of the plate and arrange the three pieces of chicken around it. On the side of the pan-roasted breast, I spooned the blackberry gastrique...now a rich, deep red. And on the side with the shallow-poached leg and thigh, I spooned the dark brown pan reduction.

With the exception of a slight overdoneness on the chicken that was basically a timing issue, I was thrilled with the outcome. The acidic chard cut through the sweetness of the gastrique and the rich flavor of the reduction. The chicken was well seasoned and the sauced complimented the preparation styles very well. And it was the second dish in as many tries that I think would be completely worthy of a spot on the menu of the vast majority of fine dining establishments out there.

Lord knows it'd be a step up from Blue Duck Tavern....

PS-One day I'll start taking pictures again. I just don't know when that will be.

Bicycles.

2008-03-02T23:05:00.003-05:00

Miss Natalie's birthday was a few weeks ago, which gave me an excuse to head up to Baltimore and check out the best food it had to offer. Not knowing much about the city or its food, we were kind of flying blind, but I read very good things about a restaurant called....Bicycle.

I knew I was in trouble when I walked in the door. We were greeted by spectacular smells wafting through an open kitchen into the dining room just a few feet away. The Executive Chef was on the premises that night, and cooks bustled about, busying away at creating dish after dish. A couple of plates sat waiting for just a moment or two under the heat lamps before the thoughtfully put together dishes were whisked away to awaiting diners. I had a feeling we were in for a treat.

Nat had been eyeing a sashimi of tuna and avocado dish since we saw on the menu on their website. I was enthralled by the diver scallops with apples, fennel, braised cabbage, and a truffle vinaigrette. But then....then the waiter came by with a first course special of mussels and prawns in a sweet white wine garlic sauce. Decisions....decisions.

Let's do all three.

And all three we did. My diver scallop was spectacularly prepared--literally a paragon of balanced flavors. Everything was just a symphony. Impeccable. Nat's tuna and avocado was a simple, clean dish. No explosively surprising flavors, but phenomenal texture, and the freshness of the tuna really spoke for itself. I'm always impressed with minimalist dishes like that--ones that manage to still speak loudly, even when they aren't layer after layer after layer of flavor. In that way, Nat's dish and my dish were total opposites. Mine the layering of truffle, apple, fennel, cabbage, scallop, baby arugula. Hers just tuna, avocado, a light peanut dressing, and a bit of masago.

But the third appetizer--deliciously fresh mussels and huge prawns in a sauce of delicious heaven--wins the 'lick the plate" award. In fact, it came with two large pieces of Texas toast that could, should, and I can only imagine were designed to, sop up as much of the sauce as possible. Sweet, spicy, rich...I literally wanted to put it in a baby's bottle and carry it around with me. Rest assured, I will find some way to recreate that sauce. Perhaps at this moment I was most impressed by the flexibility of the chef; we had now enjoyed a restrained dish, a delicately balanced dish, and a rich, filling, homey dish.

Unfortunately, neither main course lived up the abundance of the first courses. Natalie ordered a New Zealand rack of lamb that should have used the same restraint we found in the tuna. Lamb is like beef tenderloin--so naturally flavorful and tender, it should always be complimented by its additions...not covered up. Unfortunately, this lamb was marinated in some sort of citrus that ended up a distraction and, for me, ruined the dish. My steak was a little better, but not by much. I ordered a NY Strip that was, unfortunately, not particularly tender. It was garnished well--some finely diced bell pepper--but the steak just didn't speak too loudly for me. I definitely felt like I could have better at home with the steak and the lamb, and that wasn't true of any of the first courses.

Finally, dessert. Natalie got a chocolate waffle with flambeed bananas. I didn't find it particularly impressive. But then I got a chocolate peanut butter cup....literally a chocolate cup with a rich peanut butter ganache, torched whipped cream, and peanut brittle. After every bite, I had this overwhelming desire to say "that's what she said." It was literally so good it was sexual, and it was enough, once combined with the consistent exceptional quality of the first courses, to put Bicycle in my top 3 of all time. Just behind Perilla and Corduroy. Now I just need an excuse to go back to Corduroy...

Coming soon, my second dish in as many attempts that should be served in a restaurant somewhere, and musings on running my own Restaurant Week(end).

Probably sits at number 3, behind Perilla and

Showed flexibility

Anti-Valentine's Day Dinner

2008-02-21T00:16:00.002-05:00

I'll start by sparing you my rant on all the reasons Valentine's Day is a holiday with no redeemable qualities or value whatsoever. I'm tempted, I really am, but this blog is about food, right?

So Terri and Steph came over to watch Live Free or Die Hard and enjoy some tasty deliciousness. I was feeling a bit creative, so I decided to boil some tomato water, salt and pepper, and spoon it over some slices of sashimi grade tuna. With the tuna firmed up just a bit, a sprinkled some Hawaiian sea salt on top with some soy sauce and truffle oil. Nice, clean first course.

Then seared a couple of racks of lamb with coriander, salt, and pepper. After I took them off the stovetop, I coated the lamb in horseradish, more salt, and more pepper and tossed them in the oven. While that lamb was roasting, I started the gastrique by running some cherries through a food mill until all the seeds were separated. I added the seeded cherries to a couple of cups of white wine, two bay leaves, a half a teaspoon or so of cloves, about a tablespoon of sugar, and about a teaspoon of whole allspice. I let the sauce reduce until just thickened and served it with the perfectly medium-rare lamb.

I love those rare times when a dish just really works on all cylinders. This was definitely one of those times. The salty tanginess of the horseradish crust was perfectly balanced by the sweet complexity of the gastrique. This was my first attempt at a gastrique, and I'm incredibly excited to try it with other fruits. A mango gastrique? With some roasted chicken, perhaps? Mmmmm......

Delicious.

T Eats Bone Marrow

2008-02-11T12:35:00.000-05:00

I was interested in a nice dinner after a fantastic dance performance by Aysha Upchurch's Life, Rhythm, Move project last night--another appearance at Corduroy certainly seemed to be in order. Unfortunately, that bastion of spectacular food preparation is currently closed for its hop, skip, and jump a couple of blocks to a new location. But Blue Duck Tavern is supposed to be one of the better restaurants in DC, so I thought I would give it a try...

Oops.

I didn't have reservations, but I called ahead of time to gauge their business on a Sunday night. Not knowing when the show would end, I didn't find it prudent to make an arbitrarily timed reservation; I wanted to just be able to walk in and get a table. So as we walked into a mostly empty restaurant, I figured I was in good shape. But the hostess' response to my request for a table for two was that "she would see what she could do." Five minutes later she comes back and informs me I can have a table, but I have to be gone in two hours. Fine. Whatever.

We sit down to a menu that seemed numerically ambitious for a fine dining establishment. Sure, when I walk into Applebees I expect an abundance of choices, all of which will be prepared in a mediocre fashion. But most of the good meals I've had are chosen from a limited menu. Perhaps 6 or 7 choices for 1st and 2nd courses...but here, a list of a dozen first courses, a score of main dishes, and a dozen more side dishes? Raised an eyebrow...that's all.

So I'm glancing down the menu of starters when something catches my eye. Does that say bone marrow? At that precise moment, the server approaches the table and asks for our orders. I look up, mostly stupefied, and ask.

"What is bone marrow?"

I'm THINKING it must be a metaphor. Perhaps a preparation of something served in bone. Or a like Corduroy's "Buffalo Porcupines" which, rest assured, did not actually contain porcupine.

Nope. Bone marrow. Braised. Spiced. Bone Marrow. It's the house specialty for a first course. You can't really find it anywhere else in DC.

"I'll take it."

Sure enough, three halves of bone arrive a few minutes later alongside some toasted ciabatta bread. Scoop the marrow onto the bread and enjoy, the server tells me. Turns out bone marrow is much thinner than you might expect. But it basically had the taste and texture of....fat. Soft, salted, peppered, fat. Served on a piece of bread. I made it through one half of a bone before I had my fill. Nice to have tried, but certainly won't be ordering it again.

I had opted for a second course of duck breast and leg--also a house specialty--which came out soon after the bone marrow. Interestingly, as I look around, the restaurant is still mostly empty. Just why was it so hard to get us a table? Anyway, the duck is served in a very simple, non flashy presentation. No color, no flair...just a bit of sliced duck and a twig of rosemary. It's ok--I'll forgive that lack of thought in plating if it's tasty.

It wasn't. The duck skin was overly fatty (made all the worse by the fact that I had just consumed what felt like fat on a cracker for an entire first course) and the duck itself was a bit dry. No interesting or robust flavors. A date puree that was decent, but almost overpoweringly sweet. Long story short, I've made duck twice and I think both preparations were better.

I finished with a chocolate cake flambe that was the highlight of the night. Dense without being too rich, I finished all of it happily and glanced around. The restaurant was still empty.

In the overall scheme of DC restaurants, Blue Duck Tavern finishes a healthy few steps behind Jaleo, probably tied with the Oceanaire Seafood Room. But it definitely loses points for the aura of exclusivity it tried to hard to create. You want exclusivity? Make your food good enough to where you'll actually need to be concerned about an overbooked Sunday night. Overall Grade: C+

Yes. We. Can.

2008-02-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

{Warning: Non food-related opinions ahead.}

So most of you know me by my daytime alter ego--a political operative bent on making the world just a bit better than I found it. So you won't be particularly surprised by the presence of my opinions on the subject. Although it is certainly to be understood that this food-dominated medium may be seem strange. You would be right. But since I believe today marks the most important electoral day thus far in our history, I would be remiss to ignore it with the excuse of a "poor medium."

Many of you may find the above statement puzzling. Today? Clearly important, but more important than November of '04? Than the election of Lincoln? Than the election of George Washington himself?

Never will you see me play down the importance of those days. The birth of a nation, a decision to end slavery, and the opportunity to defeat the most destructive President in our nation's history all should stand on their own as defining days.

But today we have the opportunity to literally and figuratively close the book on some of the darkest days of our past. After all, what better way to show progress beyond the days when a black man could be killed for knowing how to read than to elect one President? No, a President Obama does not mean the end of racism, or the end of our duty to pursue all forms of social justice. But it does give me hope. Yes, hope for a post-partisan Presidency...one that informs rather than deceives...one that lives for the American people and not in spite of them...one that unites rather than divides...Yes, I have hope for all of those things. But also hope that this beautiful country, for all its flaws and mistakes, is ultimately a force for good and cannot be denied or impeded on its endless march towards justice and enlightenment. Proof that we can make yesterday's impossible into today's reality not only today, but again and again for years to come.

It is true that today will very likely fail to mark the end of the campaign for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, almost regardless of the outcome. But today can be a giant step for either candidate and so, until we reach the day when we can almost certainly crown a nominee, or until we reach that day in November when we can elect a President Obama, this day will remain, for me, the most important electoral day in our history.

Super Bowl Extravaganza

2008-02-04T00:58:00.000-05:00

A full day of shopping. 4 hours of mise en place on a Saturday night. A rising at 9am on Sunday after an evening out till 4am. 7, maybe 8 courses...I lost track. 25 people. The Super Bowl.

Amazing how these things can come and go so quickly. Now, all that remains of the insane dinner we enjoyed just hours ago are some dirty dishes, (Ok, let's be fair...lots of dirty dishes) the soreness in my legs, back, and neck, and a couple of leftovers. And of course, the memories. And for one of my favorite parties thus far, I'm oh so happy to record those (food-related) memories for you.

It all started Saturday morning with braving bloodthirsty suburbanites in Costco. As much as I love me some Costco, I swear I get nightmares about those crowds and parking lots. Along for the ride was Alyse, who saved my life time after time after time all weekend. I got home just in time for the first soccer game of the weekend. After I got back home and showered, it was right back into the war zone...this time, Wegman's in Fairfax.

Let me take a moment to talk about the great things Wegman's has going for it. A spectacular selection. Perhaps the best I've seen anywhere, as far as gourmet foods, and definitely rivaling the Dekalb Farmer's Market. (Holy crap they had langoustines!) Totally reasonable prices. I felt like I was shopping at Harris Teeter more than Whole Foods. But with the same kind of Whole Foods freshness I love so much.

Unfortunately, the trip to Fairfax brings with it both the good and the bad. The good--clearly Wegman's itself. The bad--all the other people that decide to shop there. The ones that don't seem to realize that they are in public and should behave as such. The ones that cut you off and steal your parking space. Twice. The ones that make you say and feel things you are ashamed of later.

Anyway, Wegman's wrapped up most of my shopping--picked up a few things at Whole Foods, and got home at about 6pm. Made the salsa, started the spinach and artichoke dip, tossed the tomatoes in the oven to roast, and made the barbeque sauce.

Woke up at 9am with a full day ahead. The smoked turkey and bacon chowder, tortilla chips, pita chips, finishing the spinach dip, making the ribs, making a citrus bourbon glaze for the wings and a wasabi ranch sauce to dip them in, the roasted tomato caprice crostinis, the white chocolate risotto, and the mini salads of cucumber, arugula (couldn't find frissee anywhere), and yellow bell pepper with a red pepper coulis. And the seared ahi tuna.

Oh yeah, and I have another soccer game.

But with Alyse's help, it all happenned. For real. From beginning to end, with the singular exception of the cherry cranberry croutons. Alas, another day and another use for the bag of 183940 dried cranberries I got from Costco.

The Good: The ribs and barbeque sauce. Back on track here, thankfully, and came out with a great barbeque sauce after starting it from scratch with just tomato paste, instead of my usual half-cheat by using Heinz ketchup as a base. Clearly, the most underappreciated dish of the night, though, was the smoked turkey and bacon chowder. I'd have to personally put it near the top of my list for most successful dishes of all time. Yeah, that good. Also, like always, the white chocolate risotto came in big.

The Bad: The citrus bourbon wings turned into citrus mirin wings that we could never quite figure out. The flavor was a good idea, and the wasabi ranch actually worked, but we messed with the sauce too much. Mirin+lemon, orange, and lime zests plus orange juice salt, pepper seemed like it had a good, balanced, sweet flavor, but was too thin. Later attemps to thicken without changing the flavor profile were not ultimately as successful as I would have liked, but we made good efforts and learned something.

The Ugly: Not paying attention to the salmon and slightly overcooking it. Also, pureeing tomatoes, cilantro, and onion leaves you with this unattractive brown color. When I want to add some body to my salsa, I need to puree the tomatoes on their own.

The Fantastic: The Giants beat the Patriots. Really, could I have asked for a better evening?

Random Deliciousness

2008-02-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

So I'm not going to end up recounting the full meals of the last few months; t'would be insane. But a couple of dishes stand out that should be detailed.

When I got home, I asked the mother for suggestions for the first meal I should make upon getting back. I should note that twice I've trusted the fam to rock out some beef tenderloin on their own and, without going into details, you'll just need to trust me that neither preparation ended up being ideal. And boy, am I going to regret writing that-I can hear my mom dialing my number right now...

In any case, I decided we had to start off with a bang. First I melted about 4 tablespoons of butter on the stovetop and added a bit of cream and some sliced garlic. Then I started cooking some bacon and, when all the fat was rendered, searing the tenderloins on both sides in that baconny goodness. They had been dusted with white pepper, cumin, black pepper, kosher salt, and a bit of cayenne.

After some good caramelization on both sides, tossed the tenderloins in the oven, then returned to the bacon grease, which then got some nice sea scallops crusted with black pepper, salt, and cayenne on both sides. Finally, minced the bacon from the beginning of the meal. Topped the tenderloins with sliced scallops, the bacon, and just a dash of garlic butter sauce. Mom called it the best steak she had ever had. I must say, it ranked up there.

I had brought home a sweet potato cheesecake that, in addition to the standard cream cheese, eggs, sugar and milk, got an extra dose of sour cream and pureed sweet potato and a topping of toasted coconut that solidified my love for making cheesecakes. I'm pretty sure that, from here on out, cheesecake is going to basically be my dessert of choice.

I spent weeks brainstorming ideas for the office holiday party. See, the theory behind it made sense--we have lots of people with food talent in this office, and should take advantage of it (them) and make them cook for us. Unfortunately, a middle of the day office party doesn't exactly lend itself to a roasted leg of lamb, so I had to figure out what I could make that would be good cold/room temperature and wouldn't degrade in quality from my preparation the previous night all the way through the afternoon. I finally got an idea when Alyse told me about a dish she ate that had grapes that had been simmered in simple syrup. I'd take Belgian endive spears, fill them with grapes I simmered in simple syrup, a bay leaf, and some allspice, over some melted havarti cheese.

Unfortunately, when I went shopping the night before the party...no belgian endive. Crap. So instead I did them in bell pepper quarters, which made the dish a bit sweeter than I would have liked (thanks to my failure to remember the frissee that would have added a bitter note to replace the lost endive), but it turned out ok.

That wasn't the only recent night that had me at a loss for food ideas. Intern Monica was in town, and needed to be fed. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but figured she deserved something that had a littttle bit of effort put into it. We wanted Harris Teeter for about ten minutes before I stumbled across some gorgeous looking tuna. Does Intern Monica like raw tuna? No? Tough luck, I'm serving it to you anyway. And then...mmm, dried cranberries....how about...a cranberry risotto?

I had never made seared tuna before, and didn't really know how I was going to do it. So I ground some whole coriander and added a litttttle bit of black pepper and a generous helping of sesame seeds. Seared it on all sides, and them made a quick soy wasabi vinaigrette. Soy sauce, wasabi, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper. And then I made a typical risotto, just adding dried cranberries about halfway through the process. The little fruity bursts of flavor provided terrific balance to the heavy, thick texture of risotto. And today, Intern Monica likes raw tuna.

Later this weekend, because this post is getting too long, I play with potatoes via gnocchi and truffle oil!

New Look!

2008-01-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

We're coming up on what feels like the 1-year anniversary of this bloggy goodness. Must say, the fact that it's still going at all is kind of an interesting testament--rarely have I stuck with any individual blogging project for so long. True, I've taken my share of hiatuses and breaks, but I still loving sharing with all 5 (6? maybe) of you my adventures in food.

And another adventure is coming up...the first of its kind in quite some time. This time, T tackles the Super Bowl. Of course, typical Super Bowl food--Tostitos salsa, hot wings, boring old ribs, chili, pizza, and burgers--just isn't going to do it for me. But I don't want to stray too far from tradition, so I thought I'd do upscale versions of each.

So I'll be frying my own tortilla chips and accompanying with a homemade salsa and perhaps an updated version of my spinach and artichoke dip. Don't know what the update will be yet, but I've made it the same way three times and I'm a big fan of variety.

Instead of chili, we'll try a smoked turkey and bacon chowder. Instead of pizza, we'll be doing the roasted tomato caprices with crostinis topped with varied toppings. The ribs will be braised in beer, spice crusted, and slathered in my very own barbeque sauce.

I took a few months off from cooking ribs and, when I got home got a request from the family. I went about making them the way I usually do, but when they finished, they were 823048 times tougher than I've ever made them before. I tried again when I got back with the same result. What happenned?

I didn't cover them while they braised.

Yup. That simple. Won't make that mistake again.

Now, the wings. Do I make them spicy? Sweet? Different batches? I'm crazy low on ideas.

Finally, a salad of cucumber, frissee, and yellow bell pepper with a red pepper coulis. And I might add tuna for my meat-eaters.

And I should do a dessert. What does that come to? 7 courses? Ish? Awesome. I'm insane. But thankfully I'll have the one and the only Alyse at my aid over the course of what is sure to be an insanely long Sunday of cooking. What could be better?

Welcome to Restaurant Week

2008-01-28T12:32:00.000-05:00

a.k.a. Why I should listen to Boss Dave about food recommendations in DC.

Around mid-August, tons of friends and acquaintances began blathering endlessly about something called "restaurant week." Apparently a fixture of cities around the Northeast (I've also heard news of the same concept in Baltimore, Philly, and NYC), restaurant week offers three course meals for $30 at restaurants around the city. While the restaurants may range from the inexpensive (and thus clearly not worth it) to the supremely expensive (but also not worth it because the food isn't good) to supremely expensive and completely and totally worth it, I got one piece of advice from fellow foodie Dave, who argued that while the food may be more reasonably priced during restaurant week, it ends up more mass produced. And since everyone and their mom (in the case of Friend Terri, literally her mom) decides to go, every decent restaurant is packed, and you get what you might expect from overcrowded restaurants: kitchens crash, food is ill-prepared, servers are in bad moods, and the overall experience is generally not as good.

So I missed the entirety of restaurant week in August, thinking I was dodging a bullet. But when it came around this winter, I decided I shouldn't knock it until I tried, it, so I went all in. An invite from friend Terri took us out to Willow in Arlington. I just knew I had to eat with Alyse, so we tried the Oceanaire Seafood Room in Penn Quarter. And Scott and I had agreed to find a spot, so I managed to pick up a super late table during Corduroy's extended version of restaurant week.

Dave was right.

The first effort was with Alyse, Elisabeth, and Intern Monica at Oceanaire Seafood Room. I ordered a clam chowder that was good, but no better than the $3 chowder I can get at the Maine Avenue Seafood Market. My main coarse was a grilled Alaskan Salmon in a beurre blanc. While I was impressed with the grilling technique--it was well caramelized without being overdone--it was drowning in a beurre blanc was so heavy and poorly made that I couldn't even finish the dish. Finally, a chocolate cake that was. Eh. My dining companions may have had slightly better experiences, but Intern Monica claimed she preferred my wasabi-soy vinaigrette to the cajun sauce she was received with her mahi mahi. And anyone who dines with me knows that my ultimate opinion of a restaurant comes down to its ability to serve me something superior to what I can make at home. Grade: C+

But to be fair, Oceanaire is a chain that isn't regarded as one of the better restaurants in DC, so I approached my next destination, Willow, with an open mind. It's got a good reputation, and good buddies Tommy, Andrea, Terri, and Jessi seemed excited enough about it. My first course was a chestnut gnocchi with duck confit. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't gnocchi. It was drowning in a sauce (soup?) alongside some mushy vegetables and a couple of scraps of duck confit that might as well have been chicken. It didn't taste awful, and I did finish it, but I was expecting a much more impressive and well-conceived dish. I ordered horseradish crusted skate, as I was fresh off my experience of crusting prime rib with the deliciously salty biting flavor.

No. Horseradish. Flavor. It could have been crusted in baking powder, for all I knew. Really? Don't put horseradish in the name of the dish if it's completely undetectable. I did enjoy the taste of the skate, which I had never tried before, but it ended up being just a few steps up from a well-fried piece of catfish. Yikes. I did, however, enjoy the peachy Sauvignon Blanc I ordered along with it.

Finally, the obvious high point of the meal: a white chocolate cheesecake. Though poorly named (it had the texture of pudding more than a cheescake) it was an absolutely delicious rose of another name. Overall grade: B-

Which brings us to Corduroy and a restaurant week-jaded version of T. Granted, Corduroy is supposed to be one of the better restaurants in the city and has gotten rave reviews from everyone I know who loves food. But still, my restaurant week experience thus far has been pretty disappointing, and I wasn't expecting much.

Boy was I wrong. As I walked into the tucked-away restaurant on the second floor of the Four Points Sheraton, I immediately noticed something different about the place. Certainly, the decor was understated and classy--much to my liking--but the smell. Oh lord, the smell was just divine. And as I was enjoying my first whiffs of the combination of delicious aromas, I caught my first glance of a plate--a cornish game hen, perhaps? The plating was clean while creative, and I could tell I was in for a good night.

Six of us, this time: Coworkers Morgan and Julie, My Boy Scott and his friend Sarah, and Friend Lisa. We sat down to a relatively extensive menu for restaurant week which lots of intriguing options. A parsnip soup, a mozarella "porcupine", a lobster salad with basil oil. Mmmmm.....I decide to run with the parsnip soup, which ended up the choice of a majority of the table. Morgan and Julie ran with the mozarella porcupines--chunks of warm, fresh mozarella with buffalo sauce and what looked like fried cellophane noodles. My parsnip soup was warm, delicate, and addictive. I just couldn't stop eating it. New Years Resolution: Cook more with parsnips.

The food menu wasn't the only extensive one. We enjoyed an extensive wine list, complete with a myriad of tempting options. Fellow foodie Sarah and I were dispatched to choose a bottle for a few of us, and we settled on a Kunin Syrah from '03 that I was pretty impressed with. Subtly complex, little bit of cherry, little bit of oak. But not too pretentious. Tastyyyyy.

The main courses weren't any easier to choose from. A flat iron steak, striped bass, a melange of vegetables....but like so many other times, there was really only one choice for me. The lamb, a top sirloin from New Zealand, cooked medium rare and served with creamed spinach.

And the lamb is what knocks this meal into top 5 meals of all time. It simply could not have been cooked to a more perfect level of doneness. The creamed spinach was a perfect compliment, as were the duo of sauces. One au jus, another I just couldn't identify and couldn't even begin to prepare. The lamb alone is probably my single favorite dish of all time, just edging out Perilla's braised pork belly and Bobby Flay's 16 spice chicken.

Finally, the dessert. I order an apple tart. A couple of others order the creme brulee, and one set of ice creams. The ice cream that came along with my dessert was a deliciously fresh and creamy homemade vanilla, and the pastry a honeycomb of cinnamon goodness. But the apples. The apples were bitter. And thus, the only note that prevented Corduroy from serving me the best meal I've ever eaten, an honor that still goes to NYC's Perilla. Of course, all would be different if I had ordered the creme brulee, which was sinfully good. So good I finished the plates of not one, not two, but three others who had ordered it and run out of room. Grade: A+ 96 out of a possible 100.

So sure, I'll probably do restaurant week once every cycle, more so for the time I got to share with friends than anything else, but the only one that impressed me enough to warrant a return for a meal that doesn't just cost $30 was clearly Corduroy. Now I'm just looking for an excuse to go back. Anyone hungry?

Toys!

2008-01-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

Xbox 360. A new bike. A laptop computer. Cold, hard, cash. A Sega Saturn.

These are all things I've asked foraround Christmastime past years. Some of them have worked out well (cash, Xbox360) and some of them not so well (damn my endless loyalty to Sega. I blame Sonic.)

But this time around I asked for something(s) that are not only in completely different leagues from my previous requests, but are guaranteed to supply endless amounts of happiness.

First up is the most important: a food mill. Potato mashers are sooooooo mid 90s. You want the silky consistency of instant mashed potatoes with the flavor and texture of yukon golds, and there's really only one option: a food mill. It's also the ideal way to make gnocchi (coming later), juice pomegranate seeds, and remove the seeds and pulp from tomatoes. Combined with my new chinois, everything I make will finally have exactly the right consistency. I had never actually seen a chinois in action, but decided to give it its first go by making a mirepoix for my old barbeque sauce recipe and leaving in the onions, parsnips, carrots, and celery as the sauce simmered. Then, finally pushed it through the chinois and enjoyed the smoothest, richest barbeque sauce I've ever made. Awesome.

I decided a spice grinder would be in order, since whole spices last longer than ones you buy pre-ground. Since I like to keep a couple score of spices on hand at any given time (but usually take about a year to go through them) it seemed a logical choice. It got its first use when I ground whole coriander seeds to make a crust for the seared ahi tuna I made last week. The flavor difference: worlds apart. I'm not sure if there will be a next time that I'll use pre-ground spices. Yow.

If you love wine as much as I do (unlikely) you'll understand why I so desperately wanted a decanter. Nuff said, really. It gets its first test with a bottle of new bottle of Malbec I'm pretty excited to open.

I'm still a way aways from my first purchase of truffles, but I have been pretty interested in learning how to use their flavor. To that end, truffle oil works as a good substitute. I've only used it thus far drizzled on fries, but I definitely hope to use it with proteins and salads in very soon. Mmmmm. Truffffflleeessss.....

And finally, the simplest of my Christmas gifts: a $5 patch of cheesecloth that can add an extra layer of smoothness to any soups or sauces, can go towards enclosing a bouquet garni, or give me my first experience using tomato water. While wikipedia says I can also use it for making my own cheeses or handheld torches and flaming arrows, these uses are slightly less likely.

But I'll keep you posted.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

2008-01-21T17:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, no, but seriously. This has gotten totally and completely out of hand. Two months without a post? And I don't even have any good excuses. I have a digital camera. I'm cooking like a madman. Geez, for 2.5 weeks of that I was at home playing video games and going out dancing every night. I couldn't pay y'all even a little attention?

Especially since, as could only be expected, my food is getting better and better. You'd think I would be more, not less interested in talking about my food that is better tasting and more interesting than the stuff I started with nearly a year ago. And of course, I'm pretty sure that each of that last few posts have contained promises to write more. I seriously need to stop crying wolf and put up some substantive content.

In fact, there is so very much to talk about, I can't even begin to think about putting it all in one post. We've got:

Christmas presents. Yes, while my friends were asking for xboxes and clothes and money and whatnot, I was asking for...truffle oil. Among other fun things.
Thanksgiving dinner. I am indeed that far behind on my updates. But no use in letting 9 courses of deliciousness go unaccounted for. (Well, honestly, 8 courses and some chickpeas gone horribly wrong)
Christmas Dinner. While not quite as insane as Thanksgiving, it was a quality little meal worth at least half a post.
New Years Dinner. My first chance to use my new cooking toys. And oh did I use them. Great stuff here. Plus, T experiments with prime rib and horseradish.
Other assorted meals: a beef tenderloin preparation my mother called "the best steak she's ever had." (She also tells me I'm cool.) Pan-seared Ahi Tuna with a wasabi soy vinaigrette, a sweet potato cheesecake and spice-poached grapes in a cheesy bell bepper cup for the office holiday party, a cranberry risotto, truffled french fries, my first successful attempt at gnocchi, how I forgot how to cook ribs, and Why I should listen to my boss about Restaurant Week.

Of course, I'm sure I'm missing quite a bit. But I know I need to start catching up before I really start to play with all my new toys. Plus, a new cheesecake preparation is in the works and my first dinner party since mid-August. What do you get when you combine a new television, T, and the Super Bowl? I still haven't figured it out yet, but I'm ripe for suggestions!

So, you should start reading again. For real! I'll make it my New Years Resolution to post regularly, at least until I forget again. Peaces!

Pictures!!!

2007-11-23T19:19:00.001-05:00

Yes, indeed. My first blog with actual pictures in months. And I must say, I've made some serious improvements in those few months.

Here is yesterday's promised recount of what ended up being a rather exceptional meal at BFF Christine's spot in the beautiful North Druid Hills/Briarcliff area of the Hotlanta.

The white asparagus was prepared as mentioned yesterday, braised in Guinness and finished in butter on the stovetop The chorizo is very simply roasted, but a perfect accompaniment to the pomegranate-cinnamon lacquered duck that had gotten a dry rub of tarragon, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper. Served that over some sauteed bok choy with brown sugar and vinegar.

The white chocolate risotto got a white chocolate ganache that was added to arborio rice cooked in milk, cream, sugar, a split and scraped vanilla bean, and a couple of cinnamon sticks. This was so good I'm pretty sure any new version of the Bible would heavily restrict its consumption.

Let's Be Fair

2007-11-23T01:57:00.000-05:00

I have the attention span of a fruit fly with ADD.

No more excuses, really--I have a shiny new (aka my parents old) digital camera that is (probably) fully functional. And I've made quite a few brand new dishes in the past couple of months. But the blog has been mysteriously quiet. Oops.

But it really wouldn't be right to let Thanksgiving pass by without a shout out to all of my 13 readers. Yes, it was 11 before, but apparently Auntie Bene and sig. o. Art drop in every now and then. Hi Ma! Besides, I couldn't let my 9 courses of Thanksgiving go by without even a mention, right?

But before I hop into all that, there have certainly been some recent noteworthy dishes prepped recently, at least two of which were inspired by my recently chronicled trip to Perilla in NYC. And an absolute failure (I mean, I was due...) inspired by my trip to Mesa Grill in NYC.

Perilla taught me that a micro salad on top of a well cooked protein topped with shaved parmegiano reggiano is almost always fantastic. So New Friend Elissa's drop into the apartment gave me an excuse to give it a shot with a preparation of New York strip topped with miso. With a micro salad of shaved yellow bell pepper and frissee and a sauce of oyster mushrooms, honey, and balsamic vinegar, the dish was a perfect main course. It had been preceded by a bouillon of wild mushrooms (cremini, chantrelle and shiitake) topped with a seared leg of duck. And it was followed by sliced bosce pears drizzled with a mint chocolate sauce. I was happy.

Also got to make dinner for The Roommates+TGeggs+Visitor/DC Newcomer Jillian--This time, the protein was ribeyes, the sauce was my basic white wine mushroom sauce with sauteed onions, and the micro salad was arugula and parm. Unfortunately, TGeggs had requested asparagus. I had never made asparagus. I don't like asparagus. Not one bit. But I got this idea to braise the asparagus in beer and then finish them on the stovetop with duck fat I had collected from previous preparations of duck. So. Good. If I can always have my asparagus poached in duck fat I'll eat it forever.

Finally, I think I got called in as a consultant/caterer for Intern Elliott's house party. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I was going to this party--it's tough to get me anywhere out on a Saturday night that doesn't involve hip hop+dancing of some sort. But then he asked me to cook something for the party--my response: "Psh, I ain't got that kinda bling" or some variation of such. His response: "Just make a menu--I'll pick up the food."

.....

He's lucky I didn't try out my white truffle risotto with gulf shrimp fondue recipe I've been eyeing. Or the seared foie gras. Heck, I didn't even go with the tempting Chilean Sea Bass or beef tenderloin. Nah, I tried to keep it on the cheap side...plus, lots of vegetarians to cook for. New Friend Heather, for instance, might have been slightly irritated with a more...typical..night of cooking (see: poaching asparagus in duck fat). Threw together my fried bell peppers with mozarella, except tried a mango and roasted poblano salsa on top. Also some brown sugar roasted butternut squash with rosemary, an onion soubise, and salmon two ways: pan seared and with a honey balsamic glaze. Some slight execution problems with the soubise and the pan seared salmon (overcooked) but overall a good night.

Tomorrow: cooking in Atlanta. See, when Tahir takes vacay, he wants nothing more than to cook. A lot. So in just one week, we've done a wild mushroom risotto for Pops, pan seared Chilean sea bass for Moms, veggie quesadillas for Pops, chicken nachos for Moms, pomegranate-cinnamon glazed duck legs, white asparagus (same prep as above, except butter instead of duck fat. Yes, the duck fat makes a difference), and roasted chorizo for my ATLiens, a sinfully divine white chocolate risotto also for my ATLiens and, oh, yeah. 9 courses of Thanksgiving:

Deep fried turkey (with my injected marinade and dry rub)
Whiskey and Wildflower Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash and Turnip Gratin
Mint Haricots Verts with Toasted Pine Nuts
Watercress, Blood Orange, and Apple Salad with a lime vinaigrette
Spicy Fried Chickpeas (absolute disaster)
Pineapple, Mango, and Roasted Poblano Salsa
Spicy Herbed Mixed Nuts (That's what she said? No? Anyone?)
Pumpkin Cheesecake with freshly whipped cream
Peach Cobbler

Oh, and a Pomegranate-Ginger Mimosa for toasting.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, thanks to all my friends for being spectacular--y'all really are my love, for real. Thanks to God for blessing after blessing and the talent to be able to figure out the difference between a gratin and a hole in the wall. Thanks to the fam for enduring my obsessions year after year (next year this time: skydiving!......syke!). And thanks to everyone who eats my food and gives me feedback.

Nothin but love!

Hit the Road, Jack

2007-10-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

I spent most of this past week on the road dreaming of recipes, but really only able to eat out. My only decent chance at a meal was at a spot in Philly called Alfa.

While the chef's credentials seemed impressive enough (he worked underneath Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto), my first impression of the restaurant was that of one that was simply trying too hard. A glance at their website, which reads more like that of the city's newest club hotspot, should give you an idea of why I agree.

For instance, the "Bruschetta Trio of tomato onion marmalade and cambozola cheese, spiced walnuts and fig jam, and wild mushroom and herbed cheese" tasted just as confusing as it sounded. And by "confusing" I mean "bad."

I had a pepper crusted scallop with truffled mashed potato, a saffron infused orange jus, crisped mixed cheese, and a sauteed baby carrot. The only of those adjectives that happenned to be accurate were "crisped" and "sauteed." I know truffled and I know saffron and I can tell you that neither of those showed up in any substantive way on this plate. While the scallop was indeed cooked perfectly, the cheese was overpowering, and the mashed potato was nothing I couldn't have made at home. The orange jus was the only thing that made the plate edible from beginning to end.

And since I only got three scallops with mild additions, I wasn't nearly full at the end of my $17 entree. So I ordered some $6 sweet potato and russet potato french fries. These were actually pretty good, although inconsistent from fry to fry.

I will say, the martini (or three) I had was absolutely fantastic. Vodka, apple pucker, pomegranate juice, and a touch of cinnamon. Why do all my favorite martinis always end up pink??

More...

2007-10-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

It really has been a long time--I forgot about a good number of other experiments from the last couple of months.

Ceviche Summer Rolls: These were...interesting. I'll start by saying I think I have a good idea here, but they weren't as well executed as I would have liked. I used bay scallops, shrimp, avocado, rice noodles, and a bit of napa cabbage. The ceviche was lime juice, olive oil, cayenne, and cumin. The scallops needed more time, and the avocado wasn't exactly ripe. And they don't keep well overnight. This is worth a second look, it needs something to counter the acidity of the ceviche. All that being said, we ate them all. Can't complain too much about that...
A Bit of Vegetarian Fare: This one's for you, pops. My girl Rachele doesn't eat none of that meat stuff, but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. Roasted Zucchini with just a bit of olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper goes fantastic with a drizzle of sweet soy reduction of soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, and black pepper. Served it with a mushroom and three cheese risotto topped with slices of portobello mushrooms blanched in white wine and vinegar and seasoned with salt. I have to be honest--didn't miss the meat in this dish at all.

Tomorrow Alyse and I are getting together to cook, so you should get another update pretty soon. Stay tuned!

Two and a Half Months

2007-10-14T20:59:00.001-05:00

Wow, so I've really let myself go...

The last few months have been, as always, the stuff wild rides are made of. A couple of trips to New York, broken televisions and laptops, travel for work, dance rehearsals and performances...it just wouldn't be my life if it weren't non-stop.

But yes, I did have some time for a little food here and there.

Trip to New York, Episode 1: So during the season of Next Food Network Star, I became friends on MySpace with the show's profile. During one of my weekly logins to MySpace, I noticed a bulletin for an open casting call in NYC. So I did it--headed up to NYC for just one day, waited in line for 5 hours, and met with the Casting Director. How did it go? Well, how could I really say? I felt charming enough--she laughed, and I was called "cute" twice. She also said my food sounded "interesting." But, of course, there were 150 other people just at this call. So don't think you'll catch me holding my breath. It was super fun, though, and I met some really cool peoples.
T discovers Chilean Sea Bass: I've definitely found my favorite new ingredient--one of many seemingly common proteins/ingredients I've neither eaten nor cooked...at least until about a month ago. Chilean Sea Bass was made to be pan seared/blackened, and serving it over a risotto is just fantastical. Speaking of seafood, I finally rocked out some Maryland Blue Crabs. Now, the crabs were good--the stock I made from the crabs is better. If only I could figure out exactly what to do with it...
T has a new favorite wine of all time: Alain Corcina's 2005 Pinot Noir from Bourgogne. Inexpensive+phenomenal.
Halo 3. Xbox Live. Nuff Said.
T butchers a duck: Well, not a live duck. But figured out yesterday how to quarter a whole duck from Whole Foods. Removed the breasts and the skin and cooked the skinless breasts faux sous vide--tightly wrapped it in plastic wrap with some soy sauce, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, rosemary, and rice wine vinegar and then poached for about a half hour in steaming, but not simmering water. Then took the breasts out, seared them on each side for just a minute or two Took the skin off the duck and crisped it in some butter and olive oil, and made a sauce of concord grapes, white wine, allspice, and bay leaves. Served the duck over rainbow chard, topped with the crisped duck skin, the grape sauce, and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds. See Nat? Don't you ever claim I don't cook for you...
Almost forgot, the first course yesterday was a salad of frissee, fennel, snow crab meat, and pan-fried tilapia dressed in a bit of butter and lemon juice and served in half a yellow bell pepper. A nice, clean first course. Nothing life changing, but a wonderful summer dish. Sigh, yes. I still wish/think it's summer.
And now, one more stock goes into my freezer/fridge--Took the rest of the duck meat and bones aside from the drumsticks, thighs, etc., and made a stock over the last 24 hours or so. Alyse has suggested using it as a base for some sauces or stews. Now that's some cold weather for ya.
Visiting NYC, Episode 2: Decided to make my annual NYC vacay over Columbus Day weekend, and made it chock full of good food. First, I visited Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for lunch with my boy Josh. I ordered this 16-spice chicken that was, bar-none, the best preparation of chicken I have ever tasted. Yes, even better than this. I also ate at Perilla, the restaurant run by Harold Dieterele, who won the first episode of Top Chef. Top notch meal here, too. I had pork belly with porcini mushrooms and a gastrique that was absolutely out of this world, and Wild Boar Milanese with arugula and shaved parmesan for my main course. The dessert was a peanut butter parfair with chocolate shortbread and a raspberry sorbet--described as an upscale play on a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Best PB&J everrrrr.

I'm feeling a bit gourmet again. And my mom is sending me the family's olddddd digital camera, so hopefully I'll be back on the block soon.

The blog is back...sexy sexy.

Oh ohhh!

30's the new 20

2007-08-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

After a quick discussion with Alyse, I realized I have more recipes than I thought:

Tequila Marinated Grilled Chicken
Green Bean Frites
My barbeque sauce (as long as I get to hold onto the intellectual property on this one)
Beer Braised Baby Back Ribs (hee hee, alliteration.)

So that brings us up to 22, 23 with last night's Prosciutto Chicken.

On the agenda in addition to the Ceviche Summer Rolls are reworks of my french rack of lamb, chocolate peanut butter pie, and something involving searing scallops.

27.

Wow, this is a lot easier than I thought. If I included each nouveau shrimp cocktail as a separate recipe, I'd be at 30. Crazyyy.

Chicken Wrapped Prosciutto with Cajun Honey Mustard

2007-07-31T23:31:00.000-05:00

So as I fell asleep last night visions of recipes danced in my head--what if I stuffed chicken with prosciutto? And. Honey Musta..no....CAJUN Honey Mustard....and cheese. Yeah, cheese.

Yeah yeah, forget about sugarplums and whatnot. These are the things I think about as I go to sleep. Leave me alone.

You see, as I mentioned yesterday, if the Next Food Network Star folks DID decide to call me back ::obligatory eye roll goes here:: I'd have to have 30 original recipes ready to go at a moment's notice. I determined last night that I'm at 18 Food Network-ready recipes:

Cedar Plank Salmon
Jack Daniels Salmon
Fried Bell Pepper with Mozzarella and Pico De Gallo
Spicy Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin
Peach Cobbler
Steak Au Poivre with Portobello Mushroom and Vidalia Onion Sauce
Steak Au Poivre the first way
My Nachos
Summer Salad
Cinnamon Poached Apples with fruit coulis
Sweet and Spicy Buffalo Wings
Lime Chicken Vinaigrette
Chicken and Rice Soup
Nouveau Shrimp Cocktail (is this four recipes or one?)
Macaroni And cheese
Hot and Sour Seafood Soup
Baked Brie

So I came up with two recipes as I fell asleep last night, and tonight was the first attempt--pretty good, but with a couple of things I need to tweak.

Butterflied and flattened some chicken breasts, topped with prosciutto, italian seasoning, cayenne, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper, havarti cheese (next time I'll use something a bit more pungent), wrapped them and speared them with some wooden skewers to hold in place.

Then made a cajun honey mustard that, from my best guess, was about 1/2 cup honey and dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt.

This time, I coated the chicken in cream before dipping in panko bread crumbs. Next time, it will be coated in the honey mustard and then dipped in the bread crumbs. Fried at 375 degrees, served on a bed of baby greens, and drizzled with the cajun honey mustard.

Definitely a keeper.

Next up, ceviche summer rolls. Yeah, a brotha can do fusion too. HAH!

Yeah, Yeah, I Know....

2007-07-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

It has been a full month since my last post. Totally unacceptable. Especially since, in that month, I've made some super interesting and tasty foods, including but not limited to:

an experiment with fried mashed potatoes that has serious serious potential
shrimp tempura maki
Steak au poivre with a portobello mushroom and onion sauce (three times)
my cedar plank salmon, complete with actual recipe
fried bell pepper with mozarella and pico de gallo
a wonderful batch of garlic mashed potatoes
Spicy Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin
and of course, our southern food night on July 4: Fried Green Tomatoes Oscar, Southern Fried Catfish, Collard Greens, Baked Garlic Cheese Grits, Tangy Green Bean Salad, Cornbread, and Peach Cobbler

So why the random hiatus? A couple of things, actually--the first being the death of my digital camera (Get him one for his birthday!) What? Who said that?? Anyway...

Yes, my digital camera went caput sometime post July 4 and before I tried to blog about July 4. And I realized that a good portion of why I love blogging about my food is getting to look back and take pictures.

Also, my facebook feed broke--the one that pulled all my posts from Blogger directly into facebook. My detailed studies (read random guesses) indicate that most of you read these posts when they pop up on facebook. And since they won't anymore, blech.

But I'm over all that silliness and back on the blog...er...block. Didn't you miss my nerd puns?

I also finished my audition video and application for Next Food Network Star. It's up on myspace. Or right here: Check out this video: NFNS 3 submission videos

Add to My Profile | More Videos

I'm about 90% happy with it. I wish I had danced more. But of course, can't I say that about my life in general?

So theoretically, if these Food Network folks WERE interested, they said they would need 30 original recipes immediately. I think this is an interesting project for me in general. So I'm gonna get to work on compiling 30 original recipes.

Hm. Does Nouveau Shrimp Cocktail count as 1 or 4?

Quintessentially Me

2007-07-01T15:43:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the next month I'll record an audition video for The Next Food Network Star. In it, I'll need to prepare a dish that is quintessentially me.

Any ideas? I've toyed around with one of the nouveau shrimp cocktail combinations. The lime chicken vinaigrette is obviously one of my favorite original recipes. I'm trying to think of something that will balance gourmet T with practical, simple T.

Just thinking out loud. :-)

California Roll Salad

2007-06-29T17:09:00.001-05:00

Some time in the late 90s, this California girl (a.k.a. my mother) introduced me to the California Roll. Via Kroger or Publix or some other grocery store that I'm way too snobby to get sushi from any more, I stepped into the world of maki and never looked back.

My sushi tastes are now at the very least more complicated and, hopefully, more sophisticated. Masago makes everything better, eel is my favorite addition to just about any roll, and there are very few things I just won't try. But I thought that with another California girl (this time Marianne) in town, an ode to the California roll might be fun, just a little reinvented.

The preparation was super simple--I steamed sushi rice and added just a bit of rice wine vinegar and minced ginger (not enough to make it sticky, so really just a dash), sliced avocado, bits of imitation crab, and matchsticks of cucumber and carrots. Then I roasted a little bit of seaweed (held it for about twenty seconds over heat from the stove, just until it got crispy and turned green), and tossed it into the mix. Served immediately with a wasabi ginger dressing that I think I should have made into a vinaigrette. I will next time.

T's version of a bender

2007-06-28T15:36:00.000-05:00

Six days ago sparked what can only be described as a cooking bender. 6 out of the last 6 nights have involved some form of over-the-top cooking.

Friday's Four Course Meal welcomed Marianne to DC
Saturday's California Roll Salad
Sunday's Broccoli and Chicken Casserole
Monday's Ribeyes and Fries
Tuesday's Mozzarella Sticks (ok, in fairness, this wasn't really over-the-top. But I needed SOME kind of break...)
Wednesday's....well, let's just call Wednesday one big experiment.

Usually I find some time in the evenings to throw a quick blog together, but as you can see I haven't exactly had a whole lot of time. But I am not cooking tonight. Nor tomorrow. In fact, there's a decent chance I won't cook anything until Alyse and I put on Southern food night on the 4th of July. So instead of cramming all of this into one big post, you'll get one a day for a little while, as I try to catch up.

First up, Friday's Four Courses:

We started with baked brie (inspiration courtesy of Erika) . This time, I tried adding some cinnamon and nutmeg-just a sprinkling...I didn't want it to taste like dessert-and I again wrapped the mixture of brie, slivered almonds, and peach preserves in fillo dough. I'm still trying to figure out another way to use that stuff. It'll come to me. It was again a winner, and I'm wondering if it's just a drizzle of honey away from being a dessert. Maybe a little lighter on the brie and heavier on the fillo (or other) dough. Hm.

Second up was my first attempt at a summer roll.

[Detour: What, you ask, is the difference between a summer roll, and spring roll, and an egg roll? An egg roll is more meat based, and is fried with some sort of batter. I've never tried making one. A spring roll is wrapped in rice paper and deep fried. A summer roll is simply wrapped in rice paper.]

Surprisingly, I found both rice paper and cellophane noodles at Harris Teeter. I rolled the rice paper with napa cabbage, noodles, some shrimp I poached in vinegar, hot sauce, cayenne, salt, white wine, and water, some sweet orange bell peppers, and a bit of lettuce. I accompanied it with a sweet chili sauce. Since I was lazy, I started with a base of regular store brought chili sauce and added peach preserves, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger powder, and a 1/4 of a habanero. It was fiery and sweet--the perfect accompaniment to the fresh, crunchy flavor of the summer rolls. I'll do these again. Soon. And exactly as I made them this time.

Third course was a frenched rack of lamb that I pan seared in olive oil with a dry rub of rosemary, coriander, lots of black pepper and salt, and a couple of dashes of cayenne. Then tossed in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees for medium rare. While that was going, I tossed some white wine back in the pan that I used to sear the lamb (and because I love fire, a wee bit of flambe) and added honey, liquid smoke, garlic powder, a dash of cream, lemon juice, and some Iranian saffron (not the stuff at Trader Joe's) that Marianne brought back from Europe. High-five, Marianne.

Finally, a flourless chocolate cake with a caramel sauce that's good enough to make you wanna slap your momma. (Not MY momma, before I get any phone calls) Amazing how a simple combination of chocolate, sugar, butter, and eggs can turn out so light! I was worried I'd end up with a cake so decadent and dense that I'd have one slice and not be able to look at chocolate the rest of the month. But this cake was like a complex brownie--simultaneously light in texture and rich in flavor. Balanced with some good quality vanilla ice cream, both of us were ready to go into food comas.

Hey T! Cook this.

2007-06-19T22:22:00.000-05:00

My journey to....where the heck am I going, anyway?

Honestly, I'm not too sure. Does all this end in a stint in culinary school? Do I skip actual schooling and go straight into catering? How about a restaurant? What about this idea? Do I fit as well here as I think I do? (especially since they are notoriously low on minorities?)

Existential crises aside, I'm pretty sure that no matter what I want to do with this developing talent, it will involve learning to cook things that I'm uncomfortable with or may never even think to cook.

So I started to keep a list of new things I want to cook--things I've never made before. Right now, the list looks like this:

Poached Apples drizzled with chocolate
California Roll Salad, and other salad interpretations of classic dishes
Summer Rolls (coming soon)
Sauces involving one or more of the following ingredients: lemon, basil, garlic, saffron, peppers, mushroom, citrus, parmesan, provolone, sherry, a mole sauce.

So for all eleven of my readers, I'd be quite happy with some suggestions. What would you like to see me make and perfect? This will be one of the few times I demand you actually comment--so stop lurking and write a comment, even if you stay anonymous. Blow my mind, break my borders, make me cook something interesting.

Ridiculous Thursday Dinners

2007-06-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a few months since I've gotten to cook for my besties Christine and Amber, so I knew I had to go all out for their visit this weekend. They're in town this Thursday and I knew that they needed to be treated to a full, all-out dinner--start to finish.

First course was a salad with arugula, pear, georgia peaches, goat's milk gouda, and red onions, tossed in a strawberry vinaigrette. Good, but missing something. I'm a big fan of the strawberry vinaigrette, which was red wine vinegar, about a cup of strawberries, a dash of sugar, salt, pepper, a dash of lemon juice. It starts like a strawberry smoothie but finishes with the taste of vinaigrette. Nice.

For me and CLurie, main course was a Red Wine beef tenderloin. The steak was prepared just like earliest this week, but instead of the French Cognac sauce I made a red wine reduction with cloves, thyme, allspice, garlic, a dash of lemon juice, and a bay leaf. Amber had a cedar plank smoked salmon that was marinated in butter, lemon juice, olive oil, tarragon, salt, pepper, and parsley. It needs fresh dill and cayenne if you're doing it at home, but it turned out well. As always, cooked the salmon on the cedar planks and added maple syrup just before removing from the oven. Nice.

Finally, the key lime cheesecake. Unfortunately, no mango and no mandoline. So instead, topped with key lime and strawberry slices with a couple of raspberries.

Sorry for being so straight to the point--have to get back to my kiddies. Have a great weekend!

Best. Steak. Ever.

2007-06-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

Fellow Home Chef/Next Food Network Star Wannabe/foodie/wine enthusiast Erika dropped by last night for what can really only be described as a sinfully good evening of food and wine. Both of us were experimenting with old favorites tonight: hers a sweet and fruity baked brie wrapped in fillo dough--mine an indulgent cut of beef tenderloin (aka filet mignon aka frickin delicious) with a French cognac sauce.

I had never had baked brie before, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Erika sliced a couple of quarters of brief in half, covered the bottom halves with peach preserves and sliced almonds, and laid the top halves over the combination. Then she wrapped them in fillo dough (which will now make tons of appearances here in coming weeks), spread with a little butter, and we stuck them in the oven.

Holy crap. So simple. So profoundly amazing. The light sweetness of the preserves plus the bold flavor of the smoothly melted cheese matched up perfectly with the soft crisp of the almonds and (in my opinion) the flaky fillo dough. There wasn't a single bit left.

In the meanwhile, I was going to work on the tenderloins. I dashed a bit of kosher salt and coarsely ground black peppercorns (about 1/4 of their original size) along with some cumin and coriander and pressed them into my room temperature steaks. Then covered with melted butter and drizzled with honey, hoping it would make the steaks caramelize on the outside and hold in the flavor of my spices. I pan seared them over high heat in a bit more butter and olive oil, about two minutes on each side, and the strategy worked. The honey caramelized to give the steaks a beautiful, crusty outside, with very few juices left over in the pan. Perfect.

Then tossed them in the over for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees for medium rare. While the steaks were cooking, I added a dash of butter, about a quarter cup of cream, a couple of splashes of cognac, a heaping tablespoon of hot chinese mustard, salt, pepper, and some beef stock and reduced by half over medium-high heat. Pulled the steak out and let it sit for five minutes before spooning the sauce over it and serving with my green bean frites (green beans brushed with olive oil, salted, peppered, and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until a little shrivelled). Best steak I've ever made. Bar none. And arguably the best steak I've ever had. Period. (Unfortunately, Erika cannot say the same. I undercooked hers, terrified I was going to pull out a well done tenderloin. Whoops! Sorry, Erika!)

Steamed Chicken with a Lemon Basil Sauce

2007-06-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

I realized that one of my big weakness in my cooking repertoire is a mastery of sauces. I also realized that I still had frozen leftover chicken marinated in the sauce Alyse mentions here.

I wanted to keep the flavors of the marinade, and really not add anything else like oil or butter. So I tried a little something new. Yup, I steamed chicken. Just like I would steam broccoli. Except with chicken. I placed it in a steamer insert and steamed it for ten minutes. Fan. Tastic. I don't know why more people don't do this. It came away super moist, juicy, and with all the flavors I marinated it in. Fantasticness.

So for my first attempt at an impromptu sauce, I took some of the juices from the chicken and added butter, cream, pepper, salt, saffron, paprika, sherry, lemon juice, and basil. Simmered for about ten minutes, and spooned over the chicken. Served it with some french fries. Nice. Plus, leftovers for two days of lunch. Even nicer.

Mozzarella Sticks: A Work In Progress

2007-06-11T17:28:00.000-05:00

There are three appetizers in a restaurant that, no matter where I am, what time of day, or what mood I'm in, will grab my attention: hot wings, chicken tenders, and mozzarella sticks. The first two I've been able to make at home for some time now, but I've never attempted mozzarella sticks from scratch....until this weekend.

But the other day the rarely inspiring Giada de Laurentiis of "Everyday Italian" on the Food Network gave me a recipe for a set of mozzarella sticks so tantalizing that it has earned a permanent place on my Tivo. It joins such greats as "The Ladies Man" and "Office Space."

The recipe is simple--about a 60/40 combination of italian style breadcrumbs and parmesan coat sliced mozzarella that has been prepped with beaten eggs. Freeze to set the breading, and pan-fry. How hard could it be?

The first try was a disaster. First the oil was too cold; I panicked and turned the heat all the way up, so now it was too high. The sticks stuck to the pan, the mozzarella came pouring out, and I had a huge mess. Amazingly, the leftover mess, which could really only be honestly called "mozzarella pile" was fantastic. I knew the ingredients were right--I just had to get the oil temperature right.

My second go around was sure to be met with more success. I got the temperature of the oil right, but by the time I flipped the sticks, mozzarella was already pouring out of the breading. Equally disastrous, except for these two that got super close attention:

Unfortunately, those two sticks weren't done on the inside. The mozzarella was warm, but not melted. Argh!

The third time will have to be the charm. I've realized you need to do them in smaller batches and pay super close attention. The problem is not merely keeping the sticks from burning/sticking to the bottom of the pan. You also have to cook them long enough to melt the mozzarella on the inside, but not so long that it melts enough to break through the breading. I'll combine that strategy with a double coat of egg/breading/egg/breading and see how it goes. Expect updates this weekend.

My Just Desserts

2007-06-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

I'll be the first to admit my cooking forte has nothing to do with desserts (despite the claims of a drunken Neighbor Brad last night). It's a matter of practice time. I'll never make desserts 5 out of 7 nights a week like I do with main courses. But both nature and I abhor a vacuum, and I definitely have a vacuum of talent and skill when it comes to dessert. So who better to experiment on than my friends?

First up was a Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, inspired by a request from my mother for an "Irish Dessert." (My brother is going to Notre Dame next year, along with a collection of other kids from the hometown--for my mom, this inexplicably demands a networking party for the Notre Dame moms of Peachtree City. I don't claim to understand suburban life.) I paired it with a chocolate mint sauce that I made from a combination of semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate, sugar, and water that I had boiled 8 or 9 mint leaves in. The cake was moist (maybe a bit too moist--it probably could have baked for another hour or so) and creamy. The flavor was fantastic, although next time I'll add brown sugar.

Next up was a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie, a different spin on my last effort. I can probably get away with using the tofu as the thickening agent instead of the cream cheese if I want to keep the fat content down. I'll try that next time.

My favorite was the Cider Poached Apples with Spiked Strawberry and Blueberry Coulis (how do you make coulis plural? I've wanted to do that all week.) I boiled down a mixture of apple cider and cinnamon until it was about half, and poached apple sliced in that mixture until just tender on the outside and then stuck them in the freezer to cool off (I didn't want them steaming hot, just warm) Separately, I tossed thawed frozen strawberries in my blender with some sauvignon blanc and sugar and repeated with blueberries. For each coulis, I added a dash of allspice, a couple of bay leaves, and about a teaspoon of ground cloves and simmered for a little less than ten minutes. I removed the sauces from heat, removed the bay leaves, and added just enough Hennessy to give it a spiked, smokey flavor--about a shot's worth. Served the sauces drizzled over the apples with a side of cinnamon yogurt (just some vanilla yogurt mixed with ground cinnamon to taste).

Helloooooo, nurse:

Wings!

2007-06-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

Since I discovered the phenomenal combination of bleu cheese dressing and hot wings during my early days in college, very few things have given me as much pure happiness on so many different occasions and in so many different venues.

From Hooters (no, seriously though, they really do have good wings--I'll get them for take-out) to hole in the wall spots in South Atlanta, to Chili's....

Ok, Chili's wings don't really belong--but when it's one of the best things on a mediocre menu that you have to serve to people for hours at a time....

I haven't found much in the way of good wings in DC since I've been up here, so there was really only one option. Make them yourself.

I deep fried my wings for about ten minutes and tossed them in a mixture of frank's hot sauce and butter...about 50/50...that I heated along with a quarter of a minced habanero. If replicating at home, I'd leave out the habanero unless you love you some spice. Decided to mix it up and serve with some sliced yellow bell pepper instead of the traditional celery sticks. Great choices, all around. 15 minutes, and I had a phenomenal dinner. Beat that, Rachael Ray.

Cherry Infused Honey Balsamic Chicken

2007-06-04T22:44:00.000-05:00

Wanted to get a little experimental tonight, so I mixed together some of my favorite flavors in the hope that they would work. And I think they did, but not quite sufficiently. Missing a little something....

I started by sauteeing some mini chicken breast strips--about four breasts worth, cause I wanted leftovers--in olive oil with salt, thyme, and pepper to taste. Set aside the chicken and added equal parts honey and balsamic vinegar to the skillet....about three tablespoons of each....and scraped the bottom of the pot. While stirring, I added four cherries that I had pitted and crushed with a mortar and pestle. After simmering just a few minutes, I tossed the chicken in the sauce and served it over julienned celery and red bell pepper. I paired it up with some steamed broccoli sprinkled with lemon juice and parmesan and some more fresh red cherries.

The flavor of the sauce was good; it just wasn't thick enough or substantive enough for my tastes. I definitely don't want to toss the concept, so I'll look to find a way to thicken the sauce and go from there.

Lime Chicken Vinaigrette

2007-06-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

This recipe is a T original, and quite possibly the best meal I make--at the very least, my personal favorite.

One of my favorite things to do is come home in the evening, rummage around in my pantry/refrigerator, and create something from whatever is lying around. It's fun to watch, as I wander aimlessly until I see something unique that I can make a recipe around. It is from one of these moments and a glance at a bottle of Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette that my Lime Chicken Vinaigrette was born.

Like the Jack Daniels Salmon I mentioned the other day, this is one of the few original recipes where I bothered to record exact quantities. So you can (and should) make this one at home. It's a simple marinade that becomes a reduction. I'd strongly suggest serving with a full-bodied pinot noir or malbec. Of course, in my world, malbec goes with anything. But that's just me.

Have fun with this one, and please let me know how it turns out if you make it!

Oh, and remember the stuffed bell peppers I told you about? Check it outtttt.

I don't know what to call this dish

2007-05-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

I got a request tonight for "Asian" and "shrimp." Knowing my audience, "spicy" came along naturally. So I dropped into Harris Teeter and grabbed whatever looked good.

Bok Choi, leeks, shrimp, gingerroot, snow peas, a yellow bell pepper, and a couple of habanero peppers. Hm. Habaneros, eh? What if I got some tomatoes, onions, lime, cilantro, and garlic? Salsa? Yes.

I started by mincing half of the habanero and sauteeing it in a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil. Then I added a few dashes of soy sauce and the minced ginger and let it all infuse into the oil. Then tossed in coarsley chopped bok choi, leeks, yellow bell pepper, and the snow peas. Finally, I tossed the shrimp in corn starch and added it.

Lesson learned: bok choi cooks quickly--just as quickly as shrimp. I should have added all of those ingredients at once. But the corn starch was a great idea, as it really thickened the entire dish.

[Update: So I forgot all about the Jasmine jasmine rice. Great idea: Take three jasmine tea bags and let them steep in the water with the rice as it cooks. The flavor is AMAZING. Also, the side of chinese fried noodles made for a terrific contrast in textures. This may not have been a home run, but it was definitely a triple.]

Some have asked

2007-05-31T00:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, so these "recipes" you post on your blog are cool, but why not post the full recipes, complete with measurements, order, etc.? I want to recreate what you're making, in exactly the way that you're doing it!

Well, I'm flattered, I really am. My too-tired brain is recalling something about imitation, sincerity, and flattery, but I'm having trouble putting together the exact phrase. You know what I'm talking about.

The truth is that for the vast majority of the stuff I make, I have no idea how much I put in there. There are only a very few times I cook by recipe any more:

Baking. I am nowhere near good enough with combinations of flour and salt and yeast and eggs and la la la to be able to visually determine the difference in the batter between a brownie and a cake. For years, I've cooked multiple times a week, but only baked once every few weeks. It's why I'm so incredibly impressed by really good bakers--their talents are so far outside the realm of what I can do, I can't help but gawk at phenomenal cakes, pies, etc. Kinda like when I watch a symphony. I won't be re-creating that stuff any time soon.
The first time I make something in a genre I've never made before. I am ashamed to say that until Iron Chef, I had never once made a pesto. Ever. And actually, sous chef Jazmin made the pesto that night. So I still have not made a pesto. An embarassment for a gourmet cook indeed, but you can bet the first time I make it, I'll be working from a recipe. These instances are thankfully few and far between, as I'm trying to eliminate as many of them as quickly as possible.
When I create a meal I love so much that I have to record exactly what I did so I can do it again. There are two levels of meals that I love--meals that are so great they really should be done identically, if at all possible (my Jack Daniel's Salmon, for instance)--and meals that are so good that I'd like to remember what I generally put in it. Last week's chicken noodle soup, for instance.

Other than this, I cook by sight, and usually off the top of my head. Recipes will give me inspiration, but most of what I create now is completely and totally impromptu. I don't say that for you to be impressed--you really shouldn't be. It' just easier to cook by sight and, once you know your spices and their power and relationship to other spices, it's only natural. I'm 100% sure you could do it. Sigh, yes yes...even you. It just requires a bit of playing around.

That being said, I'll do my best to give a bit more accuracy in my posts from here on out. So if you aren't really pulling my leg about re-creating some of it at home, you should be able to pick up anything I put up in the future.

Happy Thursday!!

Lobster, Maine, and the Definition of Excessive

2007-05-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

Being in Portland, Maine on business, it seemed I was tossed a small golden nugget to carry me through my travels. I had never been to Maine before, and if you like food and know anything about Maine, lobster seems like the obvious choice.

So I planned on lobster for lunch and making my way to a dance class over dinner. The lady at the hotel counter suggested J's Oyster Bar as a place for good, local, non-touristy seafood. We headed over, but for some reason this place didn't serve lobster tails, which is really all I wanted. Instead I ordered a seafood stew that seemed to hold promise: lobster crab meat, shrimp, clams, and mussels over penne pasta. But as I noted to Brian, one of my work colleagues, I'm not going to be impressed with any dish that I'm sure I could recreate, on the first try, and probably add something to make it better. Chicken stock, basil, stewed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and the seafood. Yawn.

Unsatisfied, I skipped the dance class in lieu of finding seafood that I could dip into butter. I make healthy choices. So this time I headed for the apparent paragon of seafood tourism, this spot called DiMillo's. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I started with a Caesar salad that got all polished off. The rolls were top notch. And my Maine course was SICK. And I promise not to use another pun in the next couple of posts. Sorry.

Two whole steamed lobsters plus mashed potatoes and french fries. Paired with a decent Riesling, I was on top of the world.

Where have you been??

2007-05-26T14:20:00.000-05:00

It's been 9 days since my last post. I think that was actually longer than the declared hiatus of a couple of weeks ago.

Honestly, I've just been too tired to post. I started doing a lot of writing on this blog while I was tired and later noticed I wasn't too happy with the overall quality. Typos, grammatical errors, misspellings. I blame Mrs. Carmen, my AP English teacher for two years of high school; I get upset when my writing isn't very good.

So yes, I've been cooking--I just haven't been writing about it. I've also been out of town...hopping on plane after plane to take rental car after rental car from hotel room to hotel room is exhausting. By the time I get up and connected to the internet, mindless chatter on AIM seems far more appealing.

But now I'm getting antsy, so I'm back on the block. Again.

A recent episode of Iron Chef inspired me to work on a recipe for stuffed bell peppers. Bell peppers are a recent addition to my culinary repetoire; for the first 22 years of my life, I absolutely hated them. You just couldn't get me to eat a bell pepper. Until one day a few months ago, something changed. No idea what, but now I love them.

So I poached a few bell peppers and stuffed them with a sauteed mixture of ground beef, rice, cheese, onions, and spices (I can't really remember which ones, but mostly the usual suspects: cumin, ground black pepper, some cayenne, and probably some coriander). Topped it with ground parmesan and baked it all at 300 degrees for about ten minutes. Served it alongside some hollowed out guava filled with mandarin orange slices. It came out decent, but it was one of the more visually appealing dishes I've done in a while. Very happy about all that. Pictures to come later, but my camera is back in DC.

Later tonight, my first experience with Maine lobster + why gluttony is bad for you. Very related.

Chicken Soup for T's Soul

2007-05-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

An interesting collection of Thursday cooking.

I was planning on coming home and just rocking out a little surf and turf--some spare ribs and king crab legs I picked up at the international market.

::detour::

Atlanta is home to the Dekalb County Farmer's Market--a gourmet chef's best friend. Super fresh, high quality, organic produce all for LESS than you would pay at Kroger and many many times less than what you would pay for similarly fresh food at Whole Foods. Fresh fish and meats, really cheap spices, and even phenomenal bunches of flowers. It's overall one of the best places ATL has to offer.

I haven't yet found its equivalent in DC. I've heard decent things about Eastern Market, but it just burned down. The Maine Avenue fish market has equally fresh fish, but for much much higher prices. I tried Grand Mart a few weeks back for my housewarming, but wasn't super impressed. So this time I drove about a half hour out to Fairfax to visit Super H Mart. Was the drive worth it?

Yes and no. Yes because as far as produce goes, this spot was unquestionably the best I've been up here. Widest variety + super super fresh. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the meats, which still means we're talking multiple trips for even the simplest dinner parties. Plus, it's a half hour drive. Without traffic. Yikes. And they didn't have kaffir lime leaves. What kind of international market doesn't carry kaffir lime leaves? (Although neither did Grand Mart, for that matter)

::end detour::

So I pop the spare ribs in the oven with some jim beam, liquid smoke, lemon juice, and soy sauce and cover with aluminum foil. Four hours later, at 250 degrees, the boys were done. I upped the heat to broiling to get me that crispy outside (man, I wish I still had a grill) and slathered them in my barbeque sauce (which I'm running low on...). And check out just how fall-off-the-bone they were. Yeah, Uncle Mark--homeboy don't play around.

During that four hours, Alyse came over to sample some of the German Chocolate Cake we made on Sunday. But once I heard that one of my friends had come down with a little cold, I knew what we had to do.

Chicken Soup. What else?

And now that I've learned to trust Alyse's judgment in the kitchen, I can start doing some collaborative cooking. We started with only five cups of chicken stock and what I had in my fridge and created a pretty solid soup.

I started with some diced yukon gold potatoes that hadn't gotten mashed for Iron Chef. Alyse went to town on the veggies and sauteed diced onions, celery, ginger, garlic, a cerano chile and carrots. I worked on bringing the broth up to being full of flavor: cumin, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, some black peppercorns, honey, and a dash of ground black pepper.

I added some chicken that had been browned in some olive oil and let that cook through into the broth u, then added the rest of the veggies and let the mixture simmer until the flavors started to congeal. At the very end, added some chopped cilantro for freshness and some red bell peppers for a little crunch texture and some color. I'll definitely call this one a victory.

By the way, I purposely left salt out of this one. Most pre-prepared chicken broths come with a decent amount of sodium added, and mine was no exception.

While the soup was simmering, I treated myself to the king crab legs I got from the store while Alyse and I dreamed about opening a restaurant. Nothing doing here really--just some steam and drawn butter. Yum. I must say, it's kinda nice having a second mind in the kitchen. I totally would have forgotten the garlic if Alyse hadn't been here to remind me. Good stuff.

And of course, the German Chocolate Cake for dinner.....er....dessert.

Iron Chef: 1325 Pierce

2007-05-14T21:07:00.000-05:00

First things first: I am still exhausted from last night. This wasn't quite to the scale of the ole housewarming party, but nonetheless the experience was draining. And this was with help (what? you let someone else cook in your kitchen?).

Before you do anything, go read Alyse's rundown--as far as narrative goes, she knocked this one out of the park. And I must, in that vein, give a MASSIVE shout-out to my two sous-chefs, Alyse and Jazmin. Lord knows I would have been lost without them last night. And a slightly smaller, but still enormous shoutout to new friends Joanna and Lucy who drove me nuts while trying to clean my kitchen while I was trying to cook in it. And to Carly for her deveining and zesting, and Andrea and the rest of the crew for peeling potatoes like madwomen.

Shoutouts complete. Let's run through the night.

First up was the Thai Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup. The original recipe I was working off here called for chicken broth, but I wanted a bit more of a seafood flavor, so I got shrimp with the heads on (which I might do permanently from now on. It takes literally a quarter second for me to cut off the head of a shrimp, and you can get it for $3 less a pound. And they make a glorious stock. Speaking of stock...) I made a shrimp stock from all the heads and shells along with some celery, onions, carrots, thyme, a couple of bay leaves, and a good tablespoon of black peppercorns. After bringing to a boil, I simmered all of it for about an hour. Then, a tablespoon or so of red curry paste, a couple of chopped jalapenos, fresh cilantro, chopped fresh lemongrass, lime juice, and zest of lime all cooked together. Add in some shrimp and mushrooms, and you're good to go.

Ideally, this only cooks for about ten minutes, but that's tough to do with so much going on. I cooked rice in jasmine tea and added some tarragon for lightness. By the way, if this recipe sounds familiar, it should. I just made some tweaks this time.

The Nouveau Shrimp Cocktail was next, and boy did I bite off more than I can chew. Four sets of shrimp, all cooked/marinated differently, plus four different sauces. Can you believe I almost did five? There is something seriously wrong with me.

First up with the tequila lime marinade with the tarragon garlic butter sauce. Tossed a mix of olive oil, tequila, cilantro, and garlic, jalapeno, salt, pepper, and lime juice in a blender until it was smooth and creamy and soaked the shrimp in it. Alyse rocked the tarragon garlic butter, creating a terrific garlic paste that really does, as she claims, release the flavor of the garlic much better. Sauteed the shrimp for a few minutes, and can a brotha get an amen?

Then the first bit of tragedy struck. I wanted to make a guava sweet and sour sauce to pair with a set of shrimp marinated in the same tarragon garlic butter I had used to make the sauce before. The shrimp, of course, went fine. But somehow I had forgotten to buy just about everything I'd need. No tomatoes. No pineapple juice. At least I didn't forget the guava.

Never fear. I used ketchup as the base, added the sliced guava, ginger, garlic, a serrano chile, orange juice, rice wine vinegar, and brown sugar. Simmered for about twenty minutes and strained. Crisis averted--this sauce was fantastic. I actually think it was much better this way.

The next pair was a citrus prawn marinade along with a Thai dipping sauce. The marinade was just a basic mixture of orange juice, lemon juice, Disaronno, a serrano chile, olive oil, and Worcestershire (close your eyes and try to spell Worcestershire. I dare you.) sauce. The sauce was water, cornstarch, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Yes, I put garlic in almost everything. Booyah.

The final cocktail was fried coconut shrimp with a thai peanut sauce. Crap. More crisis. No coconut milk. Substituted heavy cream and a bit of coconut that I just happened to have on hand. I knew from the beginning this one was a risk. I had never tried mixing together these flavors before, and I could only hope the shrimp got enough flavor to stand up to a peanut sauce. And this peanut sauce was no joke. I roasted the peanuts in peanut oil and added them with a bit of the oil into the food processor. Then a couple of serrano chiles, more fresh ginger, more garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, salt, and cilantro leaves. Left it on high for a minute or two while I coated the shrimp in egg whites and tossed them in a mix of corn starch, flour, coconut, salt, pepper, cayenne, and turmeric.

Whew, finally the appetizers were done. Wait, we haven't even started the main course yet???

The main course was crab stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp with a lemon basil sauce. People were already going to town on the food in Neighbor Jason's apartment. Plus, he had already finished his main course: a cajun barbeque shrimp with an unnamed sauce that basically made me want to slap my momma. (Kidding, ma!) For many, they used his crusty french bread as a vehicle to consume as much of the sauce as possible. I knew I was in trouble. But I had one last trick of my sleeve. And thankfully, Sous-Chef #2 Jazmin was there to come through for me.

She made a roux, a pesto, and the lemon basil cream that used those two ingredients while I stuffed the shrimp with crab and wrapped in bacon or turkey bacon. The recipe is much too long to detail here, but here was the inspiration. I also mashed, and then whipped potatoes with garlic and butter. Had I remembered what I meant to do originally, they would have also gotten parmesan and salt, but by this time I was damn near delirious. But for sheer impressiveness, I knew this puppy would be hard to beat.

And there it was. The cooking was done. People were stuffed. And satisfied. And as for the moment you've all been waiting for? When one of us goes home in crushing defeat while the other enjoys the warmth of victory?

Predictably, never happenned. Jason declared me the victor--I declared him the victor. In the end, I think the guests won out. Hard to beat multiple gourmet shrimp-based meals in one night. For free. And unquestionably, the best part of the evening for me was the craziness of my kitchen at about 7:30. Three people peeling potatoes, Alyse chopping up her 4832908th clove of garlic, Jazmin showing a level of focus and determination that was really just terrifying for someone who almost didn't even come...oh yes, this evening was made by the people. And that's why I keep throwing these ridiculous dinner parties. You just can't beat good food and good company.

Up tomorrow: the German Chocolate Cake I made that everyone (including myself) forgot about. And later this week, ribs make a comeback and the grocery store I drove a half hour to visit.

Not so Lil' Dinner Party

2007-05-09T13:13:00.000-05:00

So Neighbor Brad is being flakey about getting me pictures, so I'm just going to write about Saturday night's "Lil' Dinner Party" and let you imagine just how tastey everything was.

Like most nights that involve me cooking for other people, this one's menu got a little out of hand. First up was the spinach and artichoke dip. I made sure to leave it under the broiler for about the last ten minutes so it got some nice char on the top. Look for future variations beyond the usual parm/cream cheese/sour cream/mayo/garlic/spinach/artichoke combo that makes this one so good. Some spice additions (cayenne, anyone?) could definitely kick it up a notch.

Real homemade macaroni and cheese is super easy and super good. If you ever make this stuff, don't tell me about it because it will make me want to strangle you with speaker wire. Boil some macaroni pasta. The specific kind doesn't matter so much, although I'm partial to anything with lots of texture. It holds the cheese better. Speaking of cheese, I use tons of extra sharp and sharp cheddar, some Colby, Monterey Jack, and a bit of Mozarella. There's one more cheese in there that I use for texture, but I'm not telling you what it is. I will tell you it's a good idea to add something in there that melts very well, since your cheese will be mostly cheddar and cheddar isn't exactly creamy. Cream of mushroom soup and French's fried onions will round out the body of the dish. Stick it in a baking dish, sprinkle with more cheddar and more French's fried onions, cover with aluminum foil and cook for 20 minutes at 350. Uncover and cook another 10, and serve hot. Yum and yum.

Hint: You need more cheese than you think you need, but don't go too overboard or you'll just have a lot of melted cheese with your macaroni.

Those two were home runs. Next up was the lobster bisque. Now I wasn't personally satisfied, but I think the guests were happy just to be eating lobster bisque that they didn't have to pay for. I can't really blame them.

::detour::

I went to the Maine Avenue Seafood market for the first time on Sunday. I had heard about it in various food venues online and expected this huge open-air seafood market with tons of different vendors fresh in from Maryland where I'd be able to pick from that morning's haul.

Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high. Instead, it was quite obviously one big vendor that set up multiple stands, all of which had the same prices and the same selection. I'll grant that the fish was definitely fresh--my boy Tommy noticed that the whole catfish were actually still alive--but it certainly wasn't as amazing as I had expected.

::end detour::

Nonetheless, I picked up a couple of medium sized lobsters from out of the tank and some tilapia fillets. Headed home, boiled the lobster for ten minutes, cleaned it (with help from Tommy), and used the shells and tomalley to make a stock that got a dash of tomato paste (I would later find out that I had a bit too much "dash" for my tastes.). I cooked some veggies (celery, bell peppers, carrots) in some reserved stock and then strained the two together, mixed in some corn starch and heavy cream, and kept it simmering. The whole process should take about 3 hours and 15 minutes, but I rushed it into about two and a half. So my lobster stock didn't have quite as much flavor as it should have gotten, and it also didn't end up as thick as I wanted it. Served it with some of the previously cleaned lobster meat. I'll definitely try this again later, because a well made lobster bisque is one of the best tastes I can imagine--but I've got some work to do.

But like I said, no complaints from the guests, who were just happy to be eating lobster at a dinner party.

Finally, the cedar plank tilapia came out. And it was just boring. I had used butter, olive oil, tarragon, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne, and coriander, but the only strong flavor was the cedar plank. Till Neighbor Brad brought over a little cajun seasoning that knocked it up a couple of levels.

Not a bad night. Pictures will come later.

I'm bringing food back....

2007-05-07T16:53:00.000-05:00

Hiatus complete. Some fun things I stumbled across while I was gone.

This dude is my hero. Reminds me of my obsession with the perfect barbeque sauce, except times 4823908. When I own my oven, I'll start working on pizzas like this. Or maybe I'll just install my own coal-fired brick oven. We'll see.

This is depressing, but not surprising. Honestly, no other restaurant industry gets away with that degree of food porn exaggeration.

This will make you feel better, though. Really puts Ace of Cakes to shame.

All of those courtesy of one of my new foodblog reads, Chef Joanna. She's new up on the blogroll in addition to the irregularly updated Chocolate and Zucchini and What I Cooked Last Night.

Coming soon is a rundown of last night's Lil' Dinner Party. On the menu: Lobster Bisque (and you know it wouldn't be me if I didn't bring back some living lobsters from the waterfront), spinach and artichoke dip with baked pita chips (the same one from the housewarming, except this time I actually got to try it), macaroni and cheese (Mom gets all the credit here, so the Burgess family needs to stop hating. I just add my own little secret ingredient.), and cedar plank tilapia. Too bad my digital camera ran out of batteries. Not to worry, Neighbor Brad saved the day, so once he emails them to me, I'll put together a post on the night.

Oh, and get prepared for Iron Chef: 1325 Pierce, which is next weekend. Turns out Neighbor Jason is actually a pretty serious dude in the kitchen as well, so the inevitable competition has been scheduled. Although I think Jason is thinking this is a more friendly competition than I've got in mind. What? Me? Competitive? Noooooo.

The secret ingredient, since I'm not ACTUALLY a professional chef, has been chosen: Shrimp.

Allez cuisine!!!

Hiatus

2007-05-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Is it too early to go on hiatus?

No writing for a little while. I'm not really hungry.

A swing and a miss....

2007-04-30T22:35:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe that's not quite fair. 1 for 2?

I made chicken with black olive butter today, and you could really only fairly call it "incredibly boring"

After mixing together black olives, lemon juice, room temperature butter, and italian parsley and smothering skinned chicken breasts with it, I broiled the chicken, sprinkled with thyme, rosemary, and black pepper, 8 inches from the heat for about 20 minutes. Then topped with a little more of the aforementioned chilled herb butter. Borrrrrrring.

On the bright side, today began my experimentation with re-creating the moon dusted potatoes from the Flying Biscuit. I diced potatoes and cooked them over high heat in a non-stick skillet with just a dash of olive oil. My first version of moon dust consisted solely of the stuff I can tell is part of the original: rubbed thyme, paprika, salt, pepper, and cumin. Attempt #1 turned out fantastic, but not identical to the ones in the store. More moon-dusting experiments to come...

Back...and in full effect

2007-04-29T22:54:00.000-05:00

I know you missed me.

Cooking has definitely become my coping mechanism, which I'm pretty happy about. I mean, think about it. Some people cope with tough times by drinking. Getting angry. Other non-productive actions.

I throwdown in the kitchen. Not too bad, I think.

So when Roommate asked me if I felt like cooking for some (now mutual?) friends tonight, I was happy to do what I do and take it to the next level.

Gametime started with some mini appetizer fajitas. (PS-many props to Guests 1, 2, and 3 for the role they played). We soaked some chicken, shrimp, bell peppers, and onions in a mixture of lime juice, rum, salt, pepper, cumin, red pepper flakes, and chili powder. Tossed the shrimp into one frying pan and everything else into a second. While it was cooking up a bit I tossed together some freshly chopped onion, tomato, and cilantro, some lime juice, and a dash of cayenne to make a little pico de gallo. Finished the two skillets with a bit of flambe to get that crispy feeling on the outside. The fajitas were definitely a major victory and will enter rotation as part of my personal dinner cookbook.

Up next was a salad. Much credit to Roommate #2 for putting together the bulk of it. In fact, I don't even really know what was in it, except that it was fantastic. I can recall peaches, sun dried cranberries, a mix of phenomenal greens, goat's milk feta cheese, onions, and cucumbers. But I know I'm not doing it justice.

The only role I played was in the from-scratch vinaigrette. My new blender got balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, brown sugar, salt, pepper, basil, and olive oil. Top notch. I'll be looking to perfect that into a recipe sometime soon, because this was a huge favorite.

Main course was chicken stuffed with prosciutto and herbs. I butterflied some chicken breasts, smashed them down a bit with some salt and pepper, laid a slice of prosciutto on top, and covered with grated romano, parsley, and basil.

Then rolled them up, fastened them with a couple of toothpicks.

Sprinkled some freshly chopped rosemary and italian parsley on them and baked them with some cremini mushrooms and a garlic chicken stock, basting often.

Removed the toothpicks, sliced them, and finished with some freshly ground pepper and grated romano cheese.

Yeah. Food was definitely 100% on this Sunday evening.

I want my baby back baby back baby back

2007-04-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

Chili's, eat your heart out.

I started cooking ribs almost a full year ago at the request of CK, Kretzalicious, Roommate Patrick, and A. Balthrop as preparation for this year's Memphis in May. You see, the aforementioned had just attended last year's Memphis in May and came away with the only logical conclusion.

T, you should enter.

I'm not one to turn down a good competition. Plus, this seemed so far out there that maybe I could actually have some success with it. After a few months and countless batches of almost-right barbeque sauces, I settled on a homemade recipe that I could fall in love with. And I was about 1/3 of the way into mastering ribs on the grill.

Unfortunately, the motivaiton and interest level waned, as these things are prone to do. Ribs once a week became too much for even my roommates, and experimenting with ribs certainly can be tough on the pocketbook. And none of us were rich. So the end result--a phenomenal barbeque sauce and the ability to make above average ribs on the grill.

I digress. Fast forward to Arlington, VA, where the property manager has made it very clear that there is to be no grill on my balcony, or else risk a multi-hundred dollar fine. Grrrrrrrreat. So today I do ribs in the oven.

Fortunately, I already know my way around an oven and how to cook things to perfection in there, even if it won't give me the smokey flavor of charcoal and hickory on a grill. I covered the bottom of a baking dish in 12 ounces of beer (I used Yuengling) and liquid smoke and placed the ribs meat side down in the baking dish. 275 degrees for three hours while covered in aluminum foil let the beer and liquid smoke steam the meat tender. This technique is tough to do on a grill, but makes the meat so fall-off-the-bone tender it's hard to get them from the dish to a plate. I must say. But after you're done baking them, remove the aluminum foil, flip them over, baste them lightly with barbeque sauce(The sweeter your barbeque sauce, the less you should lose right here. Sugar burns quickly.), and broil them for 10 minutes until they start to get crispy on top. Take them out, rebaste with your BBQ sauce, et voila! These ribs were A++ on a scale with a peak of A++++. I'll get the last two pluses if I can find a way to get that charcoal and hickory flavor in there. I'm already brainstorming. But don't let the lack of perfection fool you. They. Were. Good.

Up in the corner, you are seeing some garlic mashed potatoes. Always use yukon gold potatoes for your mashing. They've got the perfect amount of starch for creamy, smooth mashed potatoes. I like mine cooked with the skins off in water with cayenne and garlic cloves and mashed with heavy cream, butter, salt, pepper, and a bit more cayenne. Not hard to tell I got my major food on.

Packs a Wallop!

2007-04-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

I loved the title of this recipe when I first stumbled across it on recipezaar a couple of years ago. And "packs a wallop" is right. This ish is SPICY. I don't even know why it took so long for me to make this again, cause it's a fantastic stew. Thick, hearty, spicy. I'd make it if I were you. It's got a great thickening method: cooking potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers in beef broth, pureeing them with a great mixture of spices, and then adding more veggies and the beef, letting them slowly cook, and getting my food on. Kinda makes me wonder how it would be in a crock pot. Speaking of which, I brought a crock pot a month ago and haven't used it. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, and I tried another slice of that pie. Worked out quite a bit better this time. So by "chill for several hours" they actually meant "24." Jack Bauer wouldn't have made that mistake.

2 out of 3 ain't bad....

2007-04-22T22:11:00.000-05:00

Three completely and totally unrelated foods on the menu today.

It's a Sunday afternoon--what else would I do?

So first and foremost, a chocolate peanut butter pie that I've been craving for days. But this is no ordinary chocolate peanut butter pie. This one has.....

Tofu.

Yeah, no joke. Tofu+peanut butter, chocolate, vanilla, and sugar. All into my brand new sexy food processor. Wait, did I just call my food processor sexy? It's been way too long--might need to see a therapist about that one.

Anyway, the recipe only says to let it chill for "several" hours so after about three hours I tried to cut a slice. It didn't turn out so well...

I'll let you know tomorrow if it settles a bit more. On the plus side, the taste is fantastic, but I'm still going to see if this is the first big failure of my DC cooking.

The rest of the day went a bit better. I made my first DC batch of my barbeque sauce. No recipes here though, kids. This one's under wraps in case Caren (aka CK aka DJ Dirty Red) can ever hook a brother up with a bottler or a distributor.

So if any distributors are reading, callllll me!

Oh, and no pictures because honestly, who wants pictures of barbeque sauce?

Finally, my Kung Pao Chicken (with variations) kept me satisfied late into the night.

I don't really like roasted peanuts so I dropped those and replaced with celery, water chestnuts, and baby corn. Plus some soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, thai chili paste, and crushed red peppers. Dinner+Lunch. I got my SERIOUS food on.

Oh, and by the way, my roommate ain't no joke either. Check him out:

Impromptu Stir Fry Entertaining

2007-04-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

I knew that 20 pound bag of potatoes from Costco would come in handy.

So I come home and my roommate has some friends over. I'm hungry, and thinking about putting a little something together for me. But hey, why not cook for everyone?

Who else thinks like this?

Of course, I haven't shopped for entertaining, so I can only work with what I've got on hand. Oh, and one of the girls is super-calorie conscious, so the deep frying has to be held to a minimum (notice I said "minimum" and not "nonexistent")

Some frozen chicken breasts, snow peas, carrots, and potatoes.

Yikes.

Stir fry+french fries was the only thing that made sense to me. I don't even remember what I used, except I stayed mild. The only interesting things about this dish were the fresh cilantro added at the end, which I've decided I LOVE in a stir fry. It adds this freshness to the stir fry that totally changes the final product. And a bit of finely grated parmesan at the end.

Steak. Period.

2007-04-18T19:12:00.000-05:00

It doesn't get much more classic (or good) than steak and fries. And the best purchase I've made since I've been here (yes, period. Above and beyond the apartment, the living room furniture, the bedroom furniture, or even the wok) definitely comes in handy.

A deep fryer.

Toss in the sliced potatoes at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, and you've got some fantastic fries.

Steak on the grill? In the broiler? Oh no. I pan seared my steak in melted butter for about 3 minutes on both sides, sprinkled on lots of freshly ground black pepper and some various seasoned salts, a pinch of cayenne, and stuck it to bake in the oven for about 12 minutes at 400 degrees for medium rare. I suggest checking using the Bobby Flay method of poking with your finger to estimate donness (the squishier, the rarer). And the butter seals in the juices in the steak while it bakes, so it comes out with all the juices sealed inside. Always remember to let the steak sit for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven while it continues to cook. It lets the juices cool and thicken just a bit so when you cut into the steak ALL the juices don't come out....and I can get my food on.

Thai-riffic

2007-04-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

I blame Andy Balthrop for making me think of that title, what with his incessant reference to me as T-riffic. I apologize profusely if (if???) you don't like nerd puns.

One night off, and I was back at it tonight in the kitchen. A friend of mine was in town on business. She made it to the housewarming party pretty late and has otherwise been living off bad DC restaurant food and (worse) hotel food. Shudder. Poor girl. So I thought I'd shoot her some food happiness.

It's rare that you'd think of the main course as a light soup, but the intense flavor of this hot and sour seafood soup I made definitely cemented its place as the main attraction tonight. I served it with a side of what I'll call Basil Chicken Risotto.

The hot and sour soup was inspired by the remarkable Nigella Lawson. She makes a Thai hot and sour soup with shrimp that provided a great place to start.

Unfortunately, Nigella assumes I have access to ingredients that just aren't that easy to find, unless I hit up an inconveniently located (at least compared to the Harris Teeter 7 minutes away) international super market: kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce (there is no excuse-NONE-for Harris Teeter not to carry fish sauce), a stalk of lemongrass, and tom yam hot and sour paste.

But I still wanted hot and sour soup, and I wanted shrimp and scallops. My version:

Chicken Stock
Red Curry Paste (instead of tom yam hot and sour paste)
Zest of lime (instead of kaffir lime leaves)
Lime juice
Soy Sauce (instead of fish sauce)
1 Jalapeno
Sugar
Sliced button mushrooms
Peeled shrimp, bay and sea scallops
Fresh cilantro

After bringing about 6 cups of chicken stock to a boil, I added the zest of a full lime, the juice of a full lime, a heaping tablespoon of red curry paste, about 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, a coarsely chopped jalapeno, about a tablespoon of sugar, and about 7 sliced mushrooms (of a variety of your choosing), and brought back to a boil. I love my seafood, so good pound of shrimp and a pound of sea scallops will kept it coming. After bringing back to a boil I immediately removed from heat (remember that thing about not overcooking your seafood? A few tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro and I had all the dinner I needed.

Tell me that color isn't just fantastic.

The risotto was fun, too. Nothing crazy complex--I used medium grain rice cause I didn't feel like spending six bucks on arborio rice. Cooked the rice in water, chicken broth, lots of unsalted butter, diced onions, a bit of lemon zest, and about 1/3 cup of grated parmesan and 1/4 cup of grated romano. Similar to this recipe, if you want more specifics. I finished it by topping with chicken that had been diced and stir fried in lemon, pepper, and basil. Added a bit of minced cilantro to bring it all together, poured a glass of a fantastic Sauvignon Blanc, and got my food on.

ATL vs. DC

2007-04-16T16:25:00.000-05:00

ATL: 1
DC: 0

How Depressing.

Housewarming Party--The Recap

2007-04-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

Wow.

All in all, I'd have to declare last night's Dinner: Impossible to be a success. Every dish was completed, the food seemed good enough, and lots of friends got together, met each other, and had a good time.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy of the night--only a few pictures. About halfway into the process I got so focused on producing food that pictures never happenned. Depressing. So you'll just have to imagine.

Spinach Artichoke Dip/Pita Chips

This was the first thing to come out. Who would've thought that such a simple combination-- cream cheese, parmesan, spinach, garlic, artichokes, and sour cream--could turn out so fantastic? The warm combo of flavors is just one of my favorite tastes, and so filling! I swear, I could make a meal out of the dip alone. An early scare that the pita chips were burnt turned out to be a false one--they were garlicy and crispy and made me happy.

Sushi

Sushi ended up being my Moby Dick of the night. I grossly overestimated how much sushi I could roll in an hour. Add to that the new sushi rice recipe I used, which actually made the rice even stickier, and we had a disaster in the making. After about 5 rolls and 10 nigiri, I had to call it a night with the sushi, which meant I really only made it through half of what I was hoping/preparing for. It also meant there was a ton of leftover avocado.

But what did get produced went well--a shrimp tempura roll, a couple of rainbow rolls, some good old fashioned california rolls, even some carrot, avocado, and cucumber rolls. My discovery of a place that sells masago makes me endlessly happy. I never even had a chance to use my unagi sauce!

That being said, I think it's time to reserve sushi making for parties of 4-5 people. Because the sushi threw off my timing for the rest of the night and made everything else way more stressful than it needed to be.

Caesar Salad with Roasted Parmesan

Probably about as boring as it sounds. This was an addition for any vegetarians that might have come through, and it just didn't get the loving care or quality control that everything else I made got. Plus, it was the first thing out after the sushi, so really I was just trying to get through it to the more interesting stuff.

"I've understood everything you've done until now," Kevin noted as I wrapped a bottle of wine in aluminum foil. I was hoping to wrap the roasted parmesan in strips around the bottle of wine in a kind of corkscrew pattern and let it cool, then add it to the salad for an added presentation flair. I think I overcooked the parmesan, though, so it wouldn't hold its pattern after it cooled. So it just ended up being a regular old caesar salad. Thank goodness it wasn't more complex, though, because by this point I was already about a half hour behind schedule.

Cedar Plank Smoked Salmon

Definitely the home run of the night. I had never marinated the salmon before tossing it on the cedar planks, and that definitely had a huge impact. The salmon got about six hours of soaking in olive oil, butter, a generous helping of garlic, lemon juice, coriander, chili powder, cayenne, parsley, tarragon, fresh dill, garlic powder, sea salt, zest of lemon, and freshly ground pepper.

I also baked it at a lower temperature and over a longer period of time, which really gave the cedar plenty of time to infuse into the fish and provide a great backdrop of flavor and made the fish much softer on the inside. When it was almost done, it got a drizzle of high quality maple syrup to finish off the flavor. So. Good. I was surprised it turned out so well, since I wasn't working from a recipe at all and had never used this sauce before.

Of course, it's helpful to remind any guests that "smoked" salmon means there will be...well...smoke. So yes, we opened our share of windows.

I heard on more than one occasion last night "Best salmon I've ever had" and one "I hate salmon and this is great." So there was probably some exaggeration, but compliments never hurt!

Peach Strawberry Shortcake

At this point I was pretty drained. But the bulk of the hard work had been done, and people were still working on the salmon, so I knew I was still doing ok. I learned that heavy whipping cream can handle a little more vanilla extract and cocoa powder than I actually used, and I probably cooled the angel food cake was a bit too much, as it was something of a challenge to get out of the bundt pan. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get a single bite of the angel food cake, so I have no idea how that one worked out. But maybe that's a good sign, since it was gone by the time I finished the cutting the Chocolate Yeast Bread.

Chocolate Yeast Bread

My new obsession. This bread is really the perfect light dessesrt. It's sweet, with a great aroma, but nowhere near as rich as a brownie or a cake. I made it a couple of weeks ago, and adjusted it just a bit to get it to rise more. I'm not a baker, so I can't take credit for this recipe. Try making it yourself!

Overall

Everything worked out. Thank goodness. And a shout out to Alyse, the only person I let into my kitchen to help out. She did manage to show up and help at JUST the right time. And much much love to everyone who came through. Thanks for the 16 bottles of wine (everyone one of which got consumed last night, haha) and the scattered other presents. You guys rock! I did manage to get one picture at the end of the night that is kind of telling of how everything ended up.

Housewarming Party--The Timeline

2007-04-11T23:34:00.000-05:00

I've spent a good portion of my evenings this week planning the details of how the Saturday Housewarming Party is going to go down. The guest list, a plan to get all the shopping done in three hours, and most importantly, the timeline.

If you ever cook for a large number of people, or plan to create a large project on a deadline, a timeline is absolutely imperative. I worked backwards from my service time to figure out when I'd need to start everything, and how much time I'll need. One word: wow.

Chocolate Bread Starter: 8:00am
Salmon Wood Soak: 12pm
Salmon Marinate: 12:30pm
Chocolate Yeast Working the bread: 2:15-3:00
Chocolate Yeast First Rising: 3:00-4:30
Angel Food Prep: 4:00pm-4:25
Angel Food in Oven 4:25pm
Chocolate Yeast First Prep: 4:30-4:45
Chocolate Yeast Second Rising: 4:45-5:15
Angel Food Cooling 5pm
Rice Prep: 5:00-5:15
Rice draining: 5:15-6:00
Chocolate Yeast Second Prep: 5:15-5:30
Final Rising: 5:30-8:00
Sushi Vegetable prep: 5:30-5:40
Mix dip, Refrigerate: 5:40-6:00pm
Rice Cooking: 6:00-6:25 (put on water at 5:50)
Sushi Rolling/Plating: 6:35-7:30
Prep pita chips: 6:40-6:45pm (then bake)
Bake Dip: 6:45pm-7:15pm
Batter Shrimp Tempura: 6:55-7:05
Fry Shrimp Tempura: 7:05-7:15
Parmesan Prep: 7:30-7:40
Parmesan Roasting: 7:40-7:50
Prep: 7:40-7:50 (including wood prep)
Baking: 7:50-8:10
Salad prep: 7:50-8:00
Bread prep: 8:00-8:15
Bread in oven: 8:15-9:00
Fruit Chopping: 8:15-8:35
Whipping Cream: 8:35-8:50
Plating the desserts: 8:50-9:00

Call this my attempt to be like this guy. Saturday is gonna be funnnnnn.

Dear Gordon Biersch

2007-04-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

I've landed in Columbus, OH for the week on business--so no cooking for me this week :-(

But, I've got an open letter to Gordon Biersch-Columbus to write.

Upon arrival, I met up with the Canvass Director here in Columbus, and we dropped into Gordon Biersch for a quick meeting. I had only been to Gordon Biersch a couple of times before--always in Atlanta for Young Democrats functions. I remembered how tasty their Fried Calamari was. Mmmmm, fried calamari. Lemon Juice. The wonderful blend of tomatoes, garlic, and onion that makes for marinara sauce. I'm sooooooo all over that.

The calamari came out a few minutes later, slightly overcooked. And by "slightly overcooked" I mean "as crispy as a bowl of cheerios.

For those of you at home, the cardinal rule of seafood is not to overcook it. The natural flavors of shrimp, scallops, and calamari come out best after just a few short minutes of cooking. 2....3 minutes are usually enough.

Of course, this was wayyyyyy beyond that. The calamari was so overfried it had lost every single bit of it's natural moisture. Words fail to explain how disappointed I was.

I had ordered the fish of the day--grilled swordfish. It wasn't super expensive, and well prepared swordfish is one of my favorite treats. If only I had known when I ordered it how they treat their seafood.

My swordfish arrived overcooked and underseasoned. It was chewy on the outside instead of crisp, a classic sign that it had been cooked for a long time at too low of a temperature. And swordfish is already a very dense fish without a lot of natural oils, so it needs a lot of seasoning to carry it. Not so--I did my best with the table salt and pepper, but in the end everything was seriously bland.

I guess it wouldn't surprise you to hear the vegetables were overcooked, too.

So for those of you at home, learn one lesson. Always. ALWAYS undercook rather than overcook. You can always cook something longer. But once it's overcooked, it's....over.

And avoid chain restaurants. Their food is usually boring. Yawn.

Sorry, Chili's lovers! ;-)

My Easter Brunch

2007-04-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, one of my roommates made an egg and cheese "biscuit" (actually, on a hamburger bun). Nonetheless, it reminded me of a fantastic breakfast food I haven't had in quite a minute, so I woke up this wonderful Easter morning craving a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit.

One problem: no biscuits.

I could steal one of the roommates' hamburger buns. Or I could make it on some of the sub bread I have here. But sheesh, all my bread is whole wheat, and a hamburger bun just doesn't seem right. I could make biscuits from scratch? Yikes, no baking powder. Or buttermilk. I'm not going ANYWHERE right now.

But I do have a tortilla.

Preheated the oven to 300, and warmed up my tortilla while I was cooking some heavily whisked eggs+milk over medium-low heat (I was going for more of an omelette feel than a scrambled feel). Three slices of bacon, and some cheese gave me the setup for a yummy breakfast burrito.

Rolled it up, tossed it in the oven for five minutes, and got my food on.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16

“For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”- Romans 5:10

Happy Easter, everyone :-)

Nachos!

2007-04-07T20:21:00.000-05:00

Last week, when I mentioned I was making nachos, my rooommate thought I was referring to the kind you get at the movies.

I suppose this was before roommate had really gotten a chance to get to know T's cooking.

So tonight, nachos! But more like the variety you would get at a bar. Except better.

The great thing about Nachos is how versatile they are. I almost always make mine with chicken, but how you prepare the chicken can completely change the dish. For tonight's version:

Dried Basil
Ground Cumin
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Lemongrass
Ground Red Pepper
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. I heated some olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat and tossed the chicken, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes, in, along with bits of cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, and dried basil. I was only cooking for one, though, so it's important to remember a little bit of those spices goes a long way. None of them got anything more than a significant pinch.

Also add any sauces of choice here. I'll usually use worscheshire or liquid smoke, but tonight I wanted to go for something a little sweeter. So a few splashes of teriyaki later, and my kitchen was starting to smell good.

I reduced to medium-low heat...you don't want the chicken to cook too fast, or it won't allow the flavors to really congeal. I gave it about 10 minutes, and then added the lemongrass, red pepper, and four or five twists of ground black pepper. Of course, whenever I'm cooking for just me, I up the spice level a bit. For you kids at home, a twist and a half should do it. Then I gave it another five minutes or so in the frying pan. The chicken should be starting to brown before you take it out.

As the chicken was finishing up, I shredded some lettuce, diced a quarter tomato, and set it aside.

Take your favorite tortilla chips and scatter them in a single layer on a baking sheet or broil pan or whatever else you have handy. It's important not to double layer them, or the bottom layer will get soggy. Also, use less chips than you think you need, or you'll end up with a ton of empty chips at the end. Very little is more depressing
than an empty chip. Spread out some jalepenos, to taste, alongside your chicken. I want a jalapeno in every bite, so I probably use a bit more than you...

On a side note, this is a time when it's actually pretty important not to use fresh jalapenos. I made this mistake the first time I made nachos, , and Neighbor Taylor got to watch me drink three glasses of water after my first bite. Turns out fresh jalapenos are kinda hot.

Anyway, cover your new creation with cheese. I'm feeling way too lazy, and not particularly good at blending Mexican cheeses, so I just use a prepackaged Mexican blend of shredded cheeses from Harris Teeter. Yes, Harris Teeter. No more Publix or Kroger for me. Just Harris freaking Teeter. Which, thank God, is still superior to the likes of both Safeway and Giant. If you like cheese anywhere near as much as I do, you'll need more cheese than you think. Way more.

Stick it in the oven for about seven minutes, just enough to melt the cheese. Spread the lettuce and tomatoes on top and get your food on.

In other news, I need to figure out how to make these shorter. No way anyone wants to read 605 words about nachos. What's the saying about brevity?

The Beginning

2007-04-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

So I'm bored. Really bored. And when I get bored? I cook. A lot. I blame Bobby Flay.

When a friend asked me about a recipe for salsa that I made six months ago, I realized I had absolutely no idea. And I loved that salsa.

So I'm going to log everything interesting that I make, complete with recipes, pictures,
stories, and reviews. Hopefully it'll be lots of fun. And hopefully, it will last longer than my other ill-fated blogging ventures.

I'm hungry.