So January is over already! I can't believe it, but hopefully that means that February will fly by as well - I'm ready for the warmer weather of March in DC. Not that we've had too much cold weather this year... but I digress. Eating has been very good in our house for the last couple of weeks. We have tried out quite a few new recipes, but before I get into that I need to discuss our dinner last night. We went to Restaurant Eve -- YEEEAAA. Definitely still our favorite place! We started with cocktails - an Eve's Temptation for me and a Black Currant Fizz for Andrew. Both were amazing. Dinner was jerusalem aritchoke soup and seared ahi tuna for me and a housemade charcuterie board and monkfish for andrew, accompanied by an amazing verdejo. The revelation of the evening was that the very yummy bed of greens that my tuna was resting on was actually swiss chard (something I have never liked before). Our waiter (who was wonderful!) confirmed that they were actually pan-roasted with a little olive oil and garlic and I think I spoted a few carmelized onions as well. I will now be on a mission to re-create something resembling that dish. Dessert, because you have to have dessert, was apple doughnuts filled with carmelized apples, swirled in apple sugar syrup, sitting on a little pool of creme fraiche, accompanied with a dollop of apple butter and a quenelle of ice cream. They were to quote our waiter "heaven on a plate." Unbelievable.
Okay, onto our more common homemade meals. Over the past couple of weeks our kitchen has turned out Rachel Ray's Buffalo Chicken Chili (very good, also makes good tacos as leftovers if you some additional meat); a few recipes from Cooking Light: 1) Spicy Cocoa Beef (interesting flavor, but good - we served over buttered egg noodles and it was a good pairing); 2) Cumin dusted chicken with guacamole sauce (i really liked this, but Andrew thought the rub on the chicken was a little too sweet; the "sauce" was great); 3) falafel sandwiches for lunch (good alternative to the standard turkey sandwich that I get bored with); 4) fettuccine alfredo (not my favorite, but I was distracted while making it as well and didn't follow the recipe in a quite a few places so it may need to be made again before I write it off).
As for new twists on recipes, we are still trying to perfect Andrew's spicy tomato soup. I think we're very close. The base tomato soup is flavored with a great combination of spices including ginger and cumin, but then the recipe calls for blending it together with a jalepeno which always seems to dilute the flavors and translate them to just heat. So I came up with the idea of leaving the base soup sans jalepeno and then make a jalepeno cream to swirl in upon serving. I made the cream with the jalepeno, some buttermilk, sour cream, a little mayonnaise, and a little green jalepeno tabasco. The effect was perfect - I was worried that the cream wouldn't add enough spice but it really did and we were able to taste all the components of both the soup and the cream perfectly. A success.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The Kitchen is Back!
So the vacation lasted a little longer than I expected, but I suppose that's what happens when you go back to work! Amazing what you can get done and have the energy for when you're not in an office 40-50 hours per week!
But with the new year I'm going to try to post a least once a week with an update on what's happening in our kitchen. We are still committed to trying one new recipe per week and have been doing pretty well with that. This week it was a Shrimp and Sausage in a Creole Mustard Sauce courtesy of Bon Appetit. It turned out really good and is a keeper. My only regret with making dishes like this is that the leftovers don't last because of the shrimp. I am a leftovers-eater and hate to see them go to waste. Next time I'll cut the recipe by quite a bit so it's just enough for the two of us.
I also tried out a new recipe for Classic Tuscan Flatbread that I found on epicurious.com. The bread turned out alright, but the dough itself was very bland. I do think that it needed to bake a little bit longer, but I also think that next time I would add a little olive oil and salt directly to the dough to give it some additional flavor. The texture, however, was perfect. It's definitely a recipe that is worth trying to perfect to our tastes.
Actually, this was quite the week for new recipes because I also made Edamame Dumplings from Cooking Light. These were great! I made the whole recipe and froze half -- we'll see if this works. But the texture and flavor of the dumplings was very good and both Andrew and I liked them a lot.
But with the new year I'm going to try to post a least once a week with an update on what's happening in our kitchen. We are still committed to trying one new recipe per week and have been doing pretty well with that. This week it was a Shrimp and Sausage in a Creole Mustard Sauce courtesy of Bon Appetit. It turned out really good and is a keeper. My only regret with making dishes like this is that the leftovers don't last because of the shrimp. I am a leftovers-eater and hate to see them go to waste. Next time I'll cut the recipe by quite a bit so it's just enough for the two of us.
I also tried out a new recipe for Classic Tuscan Flatbread that I found on epicurious.com. The bread turned out alright, but the dough itself was very bland. I do think that it needed to bake a little bit longer, but I also think that next time I would add a little olive oil and salt directly to the dough to give it some additional flavor. The texture, however, was perfect. It's definitely a recipe that is worth trying to perfect to our tastes.
Actually, this was quite the week for new recipes because I also made Edamame Dumplings from Cooking Light. These were great! I made the whole recipe and froze half -- we'll see if this works. But the texture and flavor of the dumplings was very good and both Andrew and I liked them a lot.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Kitchen is on Vacation
Wednesday, August 2nd
Our kitchen has been breating a sigh of relief over the last few days as it got some time off. We were elsewhere for dinner everyday last weekend and its only been involved in one dinner this week. That was on Monday night, a wonderful roast pork with a creamy mushroom gravy. It was out of this world. My favorite method for roast pork is the easiest one, preheat the oven to 500 degrees, put in the roast and start checking it after about half an hour for a roast less than 1.5 lbs and 45 minutes for one larger than that. Before roasting I just rub the roast with salt, pepper, garlic pepper, and a little cayenne. Then there's the mushroom gravy, basically just a version of mushroom duxelles:
* Saute 1 large minced onion in combination of butter and olive oil for about 4 minutes.
* Add minced mushrooms (can use any kind you prefer, this week I used one package of portabellos) and stir to ensure that they are coated with oil; cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occassionally, until all of the moisture that the mushrooms will release has evaporated
* Remove from the heat and sprinkle with arrowroot (about 1 tbsp; you can also use flour - see note in next step if you do), add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream (I've also used half and half when that's all I have in the house), and return to heat
* Cook, stirring, until mixture thickens (if you use arrowroot the mixture will not need to come to a boil to thicken; if you use flour it will need to boil before it will thicken)
* Remove from heat and stir in seasonings to taste, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, fresh parsley, fresh chives, and lemon juice (if you have it, I didn't this week and it was fine without)
* Use as a gravy for roasts, you can also use as an appetizer when it's served over small pieces of toast, I have also used this to stuff pork roasts - it sort of leaks out a bit and then it gets a great flavor with the addition of the juice and fat from the pork
Alright, so that was Monday night's dinner. For the rundown on the rest of what and where we've been eating see below. We're off to Paris, VA and the Ashby Inn for the next couple of nights and I'm looking forward to a wine dinner in the restaurant there tonight!
Saturday, July 29th: Dinner at what may become our new favorite restaurant, Monroe's An American Trattoria, in Del Ray. It was an excellent meal, great prices, friendly service, relaxed atmosphere, exactly what we've been looking for in a neighborhood restaurant. We split an appetizer of shrimp wrapped in bacon, then I had a pizza topped with a spicy tomato sauce, applewood smoked bacon, onions, and green olives. Andrew had mushroom pasta, and our friend had pasta with crab meat. All the meals were excellent.
Sunday, July 30th: Potluck dinner at a friends house with some ex-coworkers of mine. We brought a pesto pasta salad, key lime pies, and a bottle of our favorite rose (1+1=3); recipes as follows:
Pesto Pasta Salad
* I used leftover pesto from what I had made a week or so ago for the pizzas - you need about a cup and a half or so
* Cook 1.5 lbs of pasta (i used rotini), and mix with pesto, 1 quart of grape tomatos (cut into quarters), fresh corn kernels from 3 ears of corn, 1/2 cup of chopped roasted peppers, 2 tsps anchovy paste, and salt and pepper to taste
Key Lime Pie
* Use your favorite crust (I'm preferential to graham cracker) and prebake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees
* In a bowl whisk 14oz sweetened condensed milk and four egg yolks, after it's fully incorporated whisk in 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp of key lime juice (my favorite brand is Nellie and Joe's)
* Pour into crust and bake for 15 minutes; remove from oven and let cool completely; cover and chill for at least 8 hours before serving
* You can top however you choose; I typically just use some homemade whipped cream, but someone also suggested a raspberry sauce which also sounds great
Tuesday, August 1st: We made a trip into DC to run some errands this afternoon and got the chance to try a restaurant that we've been meaning to go to for almost a year (since it opened), Sonoma Restaurant on Capitol Hill. We were both happy with the choice; the food was very good - an heirloom tomato gazpacho that hit the spot on a 90+ degree day, foccacia with olive oil which was great bread, but would have been better if it were not grilled before serving (all we could taste was the charred flavor), excellent pizza with goat cheese and soprasetta, and a charred venison carparccio, another great dish for a hot night. Our only major complaint about the restaurant is that they claim to be a wine bar, but do not put a whole lot of effort into providing explanation or giving information about the wines on their list.
Our kitchen has been breating a sigh of relief over the last few days as it got some time off. We were elsewhere for dinner everyday last weekend and its only been involved in one dinner this week. That was on Monday night, a wonderful roast pork with a creamy mushroom gravy. It was out of this world. My favorite method for roast pork is the easiest one, preheat the oven to 500 degrees, put in the roast and start checking it after about half an hour for a roast less than 1.5 lbs and 45 minutes for one larger than that. Before roasting I just rub the roast with salt, pepper, garlic pepper, and a little cayenne. Then there's the mushroom gravy, basically just a version of mushroom duxelles:
* Saute 1 large minced onion in combination of butter and olive oil for about 4 minutes.
* Add minced mushrooms (can use any kind you prefer, this week I used one package of portabellos) and stir to ensure that they are coated with oil; cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occassionally, until all of the moisture that the mushrooms will release has evaporated
* Remove from the heat and sprinkle with arrowroot (about 1 tbsp; you can also use flour - see note in next step if you do), add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream (I've also used half and half when that's all I have in the house), and return to heat
* Cook, stirring, until mixture thickens (if you use arrowroot the mixture will not need to come to a boil to thicken; if you use flour it will need to boil before it will thicken)
* Remove from heat and stir in seasonings to taste, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, fresh parsley, fresh chives, and lemon juice (if you have it, I didn't this week and it was fine without)
* Use as a gravy for roasts, you can also use as an appetizer when it's served over small pieces of toast, I have also used this to stuff pork roasts - it sort of leaks out a bit and then it gets a great flavor with the addition of the juice and fat from the pork
Alright, so that was Monday night's dinner. For the rundown on the rest of what and where we've been eating see below. We're off to Paris, VA and the Ashby Inn for the next couple of nights and I'm looking forward to a wine dinner in the restaurant there tonight!
Saturday, July 29th: Dinner at what may become our new favorite restaurant, Monroe's An American Trattoria, in Del Ray. It was an excellent meal, great prices, friendly service, relaxed atmosphere, exactly what we've been looking for in a neighborhood restaurant. We split an appetizer of shrimp wrapped in bacon, then I had a pizza topped with a spicy tomato sauce, applewood smoked bacon, onions, and green olives. Andrew had mushroom pasta, and our friend had pasta with crab meat. All the meals were excellent.
Sunday, July 30th: Potluck dinner at a friends house with some ex-coworkers of mine. We brought a pesto pasta salad, key lime pies, and a bottle of our favorite rose (1+1=3); recipes as follows:
Pesto Pasta Salad
* I used leftover pesto from what I had made a week or so ago for the pizzas - you need about a cup and a half or so
* Cook 1.5 lbs of pasta (i used rotini), and mix with pesto, 1 quart of grape tomatos (cut into quarters), fresh corn kernels from 3 ears of corn, 1/2 cup of chopped roasted peppers, 2 tsps anchovy paste, and salt and pepper to taste
Key Lime Pie
* Use your favorite crust (I'm preferential to graham cracker) and prebake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees
* In a bowl whisk 14oz sweetened condensed milk and four egg yolks, after it's fully incorporated whisk in 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp of key lime juice (my favorite brand is Nellie and Joe's)
* Pour into crust and bake for 15 minutes; remove from oven and let cool completely; cover and chill for at least 8 hours before serving
* You can top however you choose; I typically just use some homemade whipped cream, but someone also suggested a raspberry sauce which also sounds great
Tuesday, August 1st: We made a trip into DC to run some errands this afternoon and got the chance to try a restaurant that we've been meaning to go to for almost a year (since it opened), Sonoma Restaurant on Capitol Hill. We were both happy with the choice; the food was very good - an heirloom tomato gazpacho that hit the spot on a 90+ degree day, foccacia with olive oil which was great bread, but would have been better if it were not grilled before serving (all we could taste was the charred flavor), excellent pizza with goat cheese and soprasetta, and a charred venison carparccio, another great dish for a hot night. Our only major complaint about the restaurant is that they claim to be a wine bar, but do not put a whole lot of effort into providing explanation or giving information about the wines on their list.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Friday Night Out
Friday, July 28th
Menu: Chadwick's in Old Town - calamari, fish tacos, sweet potato fries, and a burger. Another week of work is over (for Andrew, not me I still have one more week of vacation before I start my new job :) ) and we decide to head out to unwind a little bit. We're both very grateful for this plan after we spend a good amount of time at the UPS distro center after 7:30pm trying to get our monthly delivery of Gundlach-Bundschu wine out of their hands. We both end up frustrated and in awe of the confusion of the operation, but we walk out with our wine in hand. Unfortunately, it appears that the bottles (2 bottles of their 2004 Rheinfarm Zin) may have been affected by the heat (the reason why it was important we got the bottles tonight and they did not spend the weekend in the UPS trailer cooking). The cork on one bottle looks a little swollen and there's some leakage. We'll open the one that appears damaged this weekend to check out the true extent.
Anyway, on to dinner, we made our first trip to Chadwick's in Old Town, Alex. It was a good meal, very reasonable prices and the type of comfortable food that we were both looking for. We split the fried calamari with hot peppers and marinara; I'm orginially from New England and have high standards for this dish. Chadwick's came up on par after I had dumped the dish of hot peppers over the calamari. The marinara was excellent and the calamari itself was fried perfectly, still tender, not at all chewy. I then had the fish tacos; they were fine, but of course, not San Diego fish tacos. Andrew had the burger (he has his own search for the best burger in VA going on at all times - current tops is Pat Troy's) which he deemed "good, but the patty was a little too thin." We both also had the Chadwick's Hefeweisen which was very refreshing on a 95 degree night!
Menu: Chadwick's in Old Town - calamari, fish tacos, sweet potato fries, and a burger. Another week of work is over (for Andrew, not me I still have one more week of vacation before I start my new job :) ) and we decide to head out to unwind a little bit. We're both very grateful for this plan after we spend a good amount of time at the UPS distro center after 7:30pm trying to get our monthly delivery of Gundlach-Bundschu wine out of their hands. We both end up frustrated and in awe of the confusion of the operation, but we walk out with our wine in hand. Unfortunately, it appears that the bottles (2 bottles of their 2004 Rheinfarm Zin) may have been affected by the heat (the reason why it was important we got the bottles tonight and they did not spend the weekend in the UPS trailer cooking). The cork on one bottle looks a little swollen and there's some leakage. We'll open the one that appears damaged this weekend to check out the true extent.
Anyway, on to dinner, we made our first trip to Chadwick's in Old Town, Alex. It was a good meal, very reasonable prices and the type of comfortable food that we were both looking for. We split the fried calamari with hot peppers and marinara; I'm orginially from New England and have high standards for this dish. Chadwick's came up on par after I had dumped the dish of hot peppers over the calamari. The marinara was excellent and the calamari itself was fried perfectly, still tender, not at all chewy. I then had the fish tacos; they were fine, but of course, not San Diego fish tacos. Andrew had the burger (he has his own search for the best burger in VA going on at all times - current tops is Pat Troy's) which he deemed "good, but the patty was a little too thin." We both also had the Chadwick's Hefeweisen which was very refreshing on a 95 degree night!
Friday, July 28, 2006
Pink Sauce, Again
Thursday, July 27th
Menu: Penne with chicken and pink sauce, mixed greens with blueberries, dried cranberries, and scallions in a cranberry-lemon vinagrette, bread with olive oil.
Thursdays at our house are typically the beginning of an effort to clean out the fridge. This is more successful some weeks than others (with success being measured by how much is actually cleaned out of the fridge and re-used). Today scored pretty low (only a small bowl of pasta sauce and half a container of blueberries) but tasted good, plus I managed to make a meal using only one pot. Another rare occurrence in our house, as Andrew reminded me last night. I once made a five ingredient dish extolling the idea of simplicity and ended up using about 12 different bowls and pans to make it. Andrew laughed as I worked my way through cleaning the dishes! Anyway, for tonight's meal I used the leftover pink sauce from last weekend's pizza and tossed it with penne and chicken which were both cooked in chicken stock. My one complaint of the meal is that I used a whole grain pasta which was a little too heavy for the sauce. Still came out good but the flavor of the sauce would have come through a little bit more if I had used regular pasta.
Menu: Penne with chicken and pink sauce, mixed greens with blueberries, dried cranberries, and scallions in a cranberry-lemon vinagrette, bread with olive oil.
Thursdays at our house are typically the beginning of an effort to clean out the fridge. This is more successful some weeks than others (with success being measured by how much is actually cleaned out of the fridge and re-used). Today scored pretty low (only a small bowl of pasta sauce and half a container of blueberries) but tasted good, plus I managed to make a meal using only one pot. Another rare occurrence in our house, as Andrew reminded me last night. I once made a five ingredient dish extolling the idea of simplicity and ended up using about 12 different bowls and pans to make it. Andrew laughed as I worked my way through cleaning the dishes! Anyway, for tonight's meal I used the leftover pink sauce from last weekend's pizza and tossed it with penne and chicken which were both cooked in chicken stock. My one complaint of the meal is that I used a whole grain pasta which was a little too heavy for the sauce. Still came out good but the flavor of the sauce would have come through a little bit more if I had used regular pasta.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Cheese Souffles
Wednesday, July 26th
Menu: Goat cheese souffles, mixed green salad with sauteed shrimp and herb vinagrette; for dessert (a rarity in our house) goat's milk vanilla ice cream (LaLoo's - yum!) topped with caramelized baby bananas, chopped almonds, and chocolate sauce.
Okay, I really don't understand why there is such terror around making souffles. They are easy to make and of the ones I have made, can be done ahead and refrigerated, leaving only the baking to be done at the last minute. So anyway, last night was my first experiment with a cheese souffle, goat cheese specifically. It was incredibly good, rich and creamy, with the melt in your mouth texture that makes souffles amazing. The recipe came from the May 2001 issue of Bon Appetit and I did follow the recipe this time, except for making the souffles ahead of time and refrigerating them until I was ready to start dinner. I let them come to room temp before baking and they were perfect. Even with his aversion to mushy food, I think Andrew has become a souffle lover; he definitely approved of this dinner although he did make sure to caveat that nothing can top the warm chocolate souffles that I make. He has nothing to worry about - they're not coming off the rotation of regular desserts for special occasions!
Menu: Goat cheese souffles, mixed green salad with sauteed shrimp and herb vinagrette; for dessert (a rarity in our house) goat's milk vanilla ice cream (LaLoo's - yum!) topped with caramelized baby bananas, chopped almonds, and chocolate sauce.
Okay, I really don't understand why there is such terror around making souffles. They are easy to make and of the ones I have made, can be done ahead and refrigerated, leaving only the baking to be done at the last minute. So anyway, last night was my first experiment with a cheese souffle, goat cheese specifically. It was incredibly good, rich and creamy, with the melt in your mouth texture that makes souffles amazing. The recipe came from the May 2001 issue of Bon Appetit and I did follow the recipe this time, except for making the souffles ahead of time and refrigerating them until I was ready to start dinner. I let them come to room temp before baking and they were perfect. Even with his aversion to mushy food, I think Andrew has become a souffle lover; he definitely approved of this dinner although he did make sure to caveat that nothing can top the warm chocolate souffles that I make. He has nothing to worry about - they're not coming off the rotation of regular desserts for special occasions!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Ballpark Food!!!
Tuesday, July 25th - Nats Win!
A trip to RFK tonight thanks to our friends with tickets. Better yet, they had Diamond Club tickets which translates into all the ballpark food you can eat!!! While the veggie burrito got a glance, who can turn down pretzels, hot dogs, bratwurst, ice cream and of course, peanuts, while watching a game?!?
A trip to RFK tonight thanks to our friends with tickets. Better yet, they had Diamond Club tickets which translates into all the ballpark food you can eat!!! While the veggie burrito got a glance, who can turn down pretzels, hot dogs, bratwurst, ice cream and of course, peanuts, while watching a game?!?
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