What I'm Eating!

Dinner this Week: French Onion and Apple Soup; Ma Po Tofu

2012-01-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

What a delicious week we had! My sister was in town on Tuesday, so we had her over for dinner and ate French Onion and Apple Soup. Definitely time intensive (it takes almost an hour just to caramelize the onions) but also definitely worth it! I added a skinless, boneless chicken breast to make it an entree dish--just toss in the chicken when you add the broth, and at the end, remove, shred with two forks, and return to the pot.

I also made the following subs:
-2 tbsp butter, not 3
-~1/2 tsp dried time in place of the sprigs
-apple juice instead of cider
-cider vinegar in place of the sherry vinegar
-no cheese.

We had this with a simple salad (read: bowl of lettuce) with a maple-mustard vinaigrette (olive oil, grainy mustard, cider vinegar and maple syrup). The only real downfall is that we were all pretty hungry again within a couple hours of eating. Next time, more chicken!

Later in the week, P and I had Ma Po Tofu. I had this dish once in Okinawa and looooved it, so I was really excited to find a recipe in CL! This I made fairly close to the recipe, but with Boca crumbles in place of the sirloin, no chili oil, sticky brown rice (we are a no white rice household, outside of risotto) and chopped broccoli (no broccolini at the HT!). Sooooo good that P had almost 3 servings!

Also, both make amazing leftovers. In fact, since I forgot to take pics at dinner this week, that's how you get to see the ma po tofu:

This year is off to a delicious start! It's a good thing these are CL recipes, because I need to fit into my wedding dress in March...

Seasonal Pantry

2012-01-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Seasonal Pantry is a really special place. And I don't mean special in the pedantic or the euphemistic sense. It is really, genuinely special.

P surprised me on my birthday by having our friends book the whole table (10 seats in all), and it was such an amazing birthday treat! Honestly, it was like we were hosting an intimidate dinner party, cooked by a professional. Actually, that's kind of exactly what it was.

The week we went the menu was seafood-themed and presented to us in pictures and words on paper at each seat. Chef even drew an octopus, which I thought was an impressive feat!

The meal was really filling and absolutely delicious. While everything was not perfectly executed (the first course was a little heavy on the citrus, the fish skin was just, not quite crispy in another), most was very well done (including perfectly cooked mussels and octopus). And where the chefs lacks on execution, he makes up for it in creativity. Never would I have thought to shave octopus, or to pair mussels with almonds, or to make smoke-flavored crackers. The mussel dish, in particular, was Michelin-star worthy--probably 20 mussels per diner, all de-shelled and plump, in an amazingly sumptuous coconut sauce with green apple and almonds.

And everything was at minimum tasty, if not gorge-worthy. Even the dessert, which the chef admitted was his weak point, was delicious--a sweet potato tarte tatin with homemade vanilla bourbon ice cream. Admittedly, I actually went back for a last piece of bread to sop up the melty part of the ice cream on my plate (don't judge).

I do wish the dishes had been better paired with wines, as opposed to one red and one white that were served throughout the meals. I offered to help for a small consulting fee (shockingly, no takers)!

If you have the opportunity to dine at Seasonal Pantry, do. It's so different from your typical restaurant experience and at a really reasonable price. (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner Tonight: Crack Sprouts

2012-01-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

To the less adventurous, roasted brussels sprouts with capers, walnuts, and anchovies probably does not sound particularly appealing. With the exception of maybe the walnuts, I think a lot of people are not fans of at least one of the title ingredients. But, I can pretty much guarantee that passing up on this dish would be an unfortunate mistake.

Because holy mini-cabbages, this is the most amazing brussels sprouts dish I've ever had. I made F&W's crack sprouts (not, technically, their name) as a contribution to a very festive and delicious Christmas Eve dinner at the Hennesy's. As directed, I roasted the sprouts (which actually took less than half the described time to roast) 4 hours early, then dressed them right before dinner after reheating. Used somewhat less walnuts, but other than that, prepared as written. Honestly, if I had not been at a formal dinner setting with other people, I probably would have a) eaten the whole dishful myself and b) possibly licked the bowl afterwards. Yes. Apparently it is possible to even make brussels this addictive. Add this to your repertoire and I promise you won't be disappointed!

Dinner Tonight: Broiled Salmon Fillets with Curried Chutney

2011-12-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

So, I know lots of people are scared to cook fish at home. Never fear, this is the recipe for you! It's easy, salmon is one of the easiest types of fish to cook, and it's absolutely delicious!

A partially-used mango chutney jar was burning a hole in the condiment shelf of my fridge (figuratively, anyway), so I picked this dish for a easy weeknight dinner. And it was a total win. Sweet without being too desserty, and it still lets the flavor of the salmon shine through. Served with green beans (roasted simply with minced garlic, olive oil, salt and tiniest bit of honey) and some brown rice to sop up extra sauce. For an extra kick, you might even want to try it with a touch of ground red pepper. ...Do it.

I ended up still not using all the chutney, so stay tuned for trying-to-pare-down-the-condiment-shelf part II...at some point.

Buku (Raleigh)

2011-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

On my way back from a work trip last week, I had the great pleasure to visit and dine with the moms and pops. We went to Buku because it's (probably quite literally) spitting distance from their place, and, well, who doesn't love international street food?!

I have to say that the execution of pretty much all the cooking at Buku was spot on. Conceptually, though, every single dish we ordered had some sort of not-quite-rightness.
Exhibit A, the cilantro chutney. As our waiter had promised, it was very tasty. Unfortunately, it was NOT a chutney. Super-thin, and not a chunk in sight.
Number 2, the cochinita pibil. The pork was tender, the corn tortillas soft but not soggy. However, these tacos could have really used some acidity. Even just a lime wedge on the plate would have done the trick!
The paneer had fantastic flavors, but lacked texture. Soft cheese with mushy caramelized onions and sauteed kale really need something crunchy so didn't all just slurp down.
By contrast, the Chilean sea bass had all sorts of textures and, like everything else, was perfectly cooked. But it was sweet, on top of sweet, on top of sweet. I have a killer sweet tooth, but I don't really like my fish to taste like dessert.
And speaking of dessert, lastly, the tiramisu. Absolutely delicious, and I loved the presentation in a parfait glass with long spoons to boot. But where was the booziness? A tiramisu without liquor is like a fair without a ferris wheel.

If cooking is both an art and a science, Buku has the technique, but lacks the finesse. But I see real potential! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Taking a break

2011-11-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

Hello readers,

As you have probably figured out, I'm taking a brief hiatus until things settle down and I'm moved into our new house. Once that happens, I promise lots of new recipe reviews, plus highlights from an amazing birthday dinner at Seasonal Pantry and a lovely, new-house celebratory dinner at PS7s. In the meantime...

Dinner Tonight: Chiles Rellenos

2011-11-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

There's this one stand at the farmers market the always has beautiful poblano peppers. I was feeling inspired one weekend (and I had some shredded Mexican cheese that badly needed to be used before it turned), so I decided to try CL's "chiles rellenos made easy." While they were AWESOME, I can't imagine how much effort regular chiles rellenos take, but these were still a total pain to make, not to mention a mess. I would probably only ever make them again for company. That said, damn they were good!

It turned out I had much less leftover Mexican cheese than I thought, so I ended up kind of flipping the Monterey Jack/goat cheese ratios (which P was less than thrilled about, since he's not a huge lover of the latter). I also reduced the overall cheese amount a bit, since goat cheese is so much stronger in flavor.

The end result was crispy and cheesy without actually being calorically indulgent. The sauce was super yummy too. And there was a ton of leftover whipped eggs after I coated all of the chiles, so I cooked up the remaining eggs in a skillet and finished them off in the oven for a fluffy souffle/omelet-type thingy.

Three restaurants you should try in Alexandria, Annandale, and Arlington

2011-11-08T15:17:00.001-08:00

This post is brought to you by the letter A and the number 3!

We'll start with Majestic, in Alexandria. This place is run by Chef Armstrong, the same chef that served us such delicious food on Pat's bday, only it's way more casual and affordable--not to mention easier to get a reservation at--and with a Southern bent. We went intending to do Nana's Sunday supper, but ended up each going our own ways with the menu instead...which gave me more opportunities to sample more dishes!

I was feeling adventurous and not really in the mood for meat, so I decided to try the vegetarian sampler dish, which is made up of "surprise" components. Really. The servers won't even tell you if you ask. Basically, it ended up being a bunch of the veg sides they normally serve, plopped into individual mounds on a plate. Although not really appealing to look at, most of it was absolutely delicious. I'm sure it helped that it was cooked with generous helpings of butter and/or heavy cream, but it's okay because it was vegetables, right? :) In any even, the brussels sprouts were fabulous, and I even finished the creamed corn. The rapini was a bit bitter, and I left the mashed potatoes untouched (they were basically flavorless), but I have to say, for a random plate of sides, I was pleasantly impressed.

P got a bouillabaisse that was pretty tasty, and I sampled some of his brother's fried green tomatoes, which were a-ma-zing. The bread at the table was also yummy and plentiful, kind of a fluffy soda bread.

Unfortunately, the service apparently was also Southern-themed and was slooooooow. I seriously think we were at dinner for 3 hours. Apparently Cathal needs to hire a server drill instructor to whip everyone into shape. It's hard to properly enjoy such tasty food when you're so ravenous by the time it gets to you that you wolf it down.

Next up, DaMoim in Annandale. This is a Latin-Korean fusion place out in the burbs that apparently turns into an "nss-nss" type club on Friday nights (as indicated by the DJ setting up as we were finishing our dinners). In any event, the staff is super friendly, and very enthusiastic...they were totally all wearing masks when we dined there the Friday before Halloween. They're also really good at pretending they put in your order and the kitchen is just running slow, when in actuality they totally forgot about you because they were busy serving a lady wearing a gazillion carat diamond ring and her friends.

But more importantly, the food! It was soo good. No vegetables to speak of, but that was okay. We started with pork belly sliders, which were served on bao bread with some fixings, including julienned apple, and a hoisin sauce. They were really creative and would have been phenomenal, I think, had the pork belly not been cold. The summer rolls were incredibly fresh (and we loved the addition of cilantro and mango), and the skewers came in an addictively tasty sauce. But what really stole the show were the tacos. We got two kinds, the galbi (beef) and the spicy pork. The latter was definitely greasier; both were seriously phenomenal. They are worth a trip all by themselves.

Finally, BGR in Arlington. I know there are a few of these in the area, but we had never been...I'm rarely in the mood for a restaurant burger, and if I am, I want to go all-in with a Hell-Burger. But, I got a coupon for a free burger from BGR in the mail for my birthday, and you all know how much I love freebies, so I couldn't resist! Outside of the nightmare of trying to find a parking spot in Clarendon, the whole take-out pick-up experience was wonderful. Everyone is super-friendly and accommodating, and when I presented my coupon, I was given a free burger AND a free brownie!!! It's like they know me.

P and I split a Wellington (which, contrary to the name, is not wrapped in puffed pastry, but is smothered in a goopy combo of caramelized onions, mushrooms, truffle and foie (or so the menu claims)) and a regular burger, a ginormous lunchbag of fries seasoned with whole roasted garlic cloves, rosemary, and parm, and the brownie. The former burger was deliciously earthy and tasted much better than it looked (seriously, the Wellington sauce kind of looks like slop). Both burgers were cooked to perfection, flavorful, juicy, and sizable. The fries were so good they didn't even need ketchup. I totally ended up eating the equivalent of an entire burger and nineteen servings of fries, but I couldn't stop myself, and I most certainly wasn't letting any of that goodness go to waste! BGR, my burger cravings may be few and far between, but when they return, I will be back!

(portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

2011-10-20T18:05:00.000-07:00

Fridays are take-out-and-a-bottle-of-wine night, but I had a can of thin crust pizza crust in the fridge and a pear on the verge of turning to mush, so we turned in into fake-out night (like that?! totally just made that up) and had pear and prosciutto pizza.

Since I used refrigerated crust instead of pre-baked, I pre-baked according to the directions on the crust can. Can? Is that right word for those aluminum twisty things that Pillsbury uses? To lower the stats (so we could eat more slices and/or cookies!), I used part-skim provolone and omitted the walnuts. The thin crust was also lower in calories that regular crust would be.

Yum!!! This was WAY better than a chain delivery pizza, and almost up to par with some of the fancier joints. It takes about as much time as it would take for a delivery pizza to get to you, and, besides a bit of slicing up front, not too much more effort. Next time you think of picking up the phone for dinner, try this instead!

Dinner tonight: Trout with Warm Pine-Nut Dressing and Fennel Puree

2011-10-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

On a Tuesday now long past (wedding planning/house buying/school/job have gotten the best of me and I am WAY behind on my blogging--there are seriously a *stack* of recipes sitting on my desk waiting to be reviewed), P and I had trout with warm pine-nut dressing and fennel puree. As a F&W recipe, I realize that this was incredibly ambitious for a weeknight, but I guess I felt like I needed a challenge, or am a masochist (see opening sentence above).

In any event, I'm glad I did, because this was freaking awesome. As usual, I made some changes: flounder in place of the trout (mistake--use trout, or at least something with skin, and use a non-stick pan. I totally massacred the fish trying to get it out of the pan, hence no picture.), slivered almonds in place of pine nuts (which are offensively expensive these days), cut WAY down on the oil, and no mesclun. I think I paired this with a spinach salad, but I honestly don't remember. It could have been green beans too. Both green and nutritious, so whatevs.

Granted, this dish was a pain in the rear to make. There are only 4 steps, but as you will see from the recipe, each of those steps is practically a novella. BUT. It was worth it. In fact, I've been actively trying to think of other things I can do with the fennel puree. And, with the major reduction in the oil you use, this is a downright healthy and low-cal dish, which can be rare for the borderline-gluttonous F&W peeps.

Restaurant Eve Tasting Room

2011-10-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

This year we celebrated Pat's birthday at the Restaurant Eve tasting room, and it was a pretty phenomenal way to ring in year 36! We did the 5 course option, which actually ended up being 8 when you count the canapes, amuse buche, AND check-accompanying cookies. (There are also 7 and 9 courses, but I'm pretty sure you'd have to find an extra stomach or spend all day there to be able to eat all of that.) There was an option of the chef surprising you with selections for each course, but we decided to chose our own since his choices would have come from the same menu anyway.

Pretty much everything was fantastically delicious. Favorites were a puffed pastry filled with cipollini onions, oysters, and a cream sauce, topped with a very generous spoonful of osetra caviar (the "OOO"); the antelope, which surprisingly tasted nothing like venison and was absolutely beautifully cooked; and the wine pairings, which were just out of this world. Usually we are very disappointed with wine pairings and kicking ourselves for not having ordered something we knew we'd like. But if there's a place to do the pairings, it is Eve. Todd Thrasher is a genius.

Two complaints for what was otherwise an amazing experience. The reduction on my rabbit dish was a little off, and the service was very mediocre. I think we must have sat at our table for 45 minutes before we were served a lick of food (and mind you, our seating wasn't even until 8:45 pm), there were lip marks on my water glass, and the waitstaff were overall pretty ineffectual. It was really a shame, and in general, poor service really ruins a meal for me. Fortunately, it was a celebration, I was with the man I love, and the food itself was extraordinary good, so our evening still was an incredible one.

PS - Even with the smallest number of courses, we barely touched the bread and had to take the cookies home in a box. And I still didn't eat until lunch the next day! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Spicy North African Pork Tenderloin

2011-10-08T05:49:00.001-07:00

Pork tenderloins were half off at the Teets a couple weeks ago, so I decided to try a recipe for spicy North African pork tenderloin.

Yum, yum, yum!!! I made this dish nearly exactly as-is, except used roasted bell peppers from the grocery store olive bar rather than from a bottle. This was quite possible one of the most flavorful pork dishes I have either made or had at a restaurant, with super unique flavors to boot.

A few quibbles with the way the recipe is written though:
1. This ends up making way more harissa than you can actually brush onto the pork. I recommend either dividing the recipe in half, or after you make it, setting aside half for another use (before you dip a brush coated with raw piggy juices into it), because its really delicious and would be good on practically anything.
2. It also makes way too much yogurt sauce. The yogurt sauce is great in taming the heat from the pork and gives it some balance, but on its own is pretty blah, and not worth having extra around. Save your Greek yogurt for breakfast and make half or even a third of the called-for amount.
3. Yeah, there is no way in hell your pork will cook through in 11 minutes. Even at 18 min, and after the thermometer registered the correct temperature and the pork sat, the meat was way, way too pink for my comfort level. I ended up nuking the snouts out of it after I sliced.

I served this with some simply roasted cauliflower, seasoned with only s&p. Definitely recommend this dish for a weeknight or entertaining!

Dinner tonight: Chopped Kale and Chickpeas with Hot Pepper Vinegar

2011-10-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

So, I had this for dinner more like "several weeks ago" than "tonight," but, oh well. I bought some green, leafy kale and moderately spicy peppers (something that started with a p) from the farmers market and decided to make a Richard Blais (of Top Chef and inappropriately-spiky-hair-for-his-age fame) recipe: chopped kale with hot pepper vinegar. Since this was going to be an entree, I added a can of chickpeas to the mix for protein.
Yum, yum, yum! The vinegar is just delicious, and I've used it for a variety of purposes since making this recipe. The whole dish is yummy, and the chickpeas worked out nicely (I added them at the same time as the kale). Toasting them ahead of time would probably make them even better.

The recipe was a nice blend of textures, not too vinegary, and a great guilt-free veggie meal. Definitely try this one!

Also, plug for farmers market shopping:
In addition to buying the kale and peppers, I bought this totally cool multicolored assortment of sweet peppers:
These I sliced up and sauteed with onions, s&p, boca crumbles, and laughing cow light swiss cheese for a cheesesteak-type dish. So much fun with all the colors!

Dinner tonight: Bulgolgi-ish eggplant

2011-09-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago my friend Mary shared a bunch of really adorable baby Japanese eggplant with me--her CSA had been filled with them and she was a bit eggplanted out.

I was trying to think of something that would do these cute veggies justice, and decided to go with a bulgolgi-type marinade. I started with a CL recipe for Korean barbecue wet rub, but used about half the oil and added a few splashes of mirin and a few splashes of water (to make sure there was enough to coat everything). I sliced the eggplants in half lengthwise and marinated everything together in a plastic bad overnight. The next day I roasted the eggplant (threw out remaining marinade) until it was, well, roasty...I think about 40 min at 425.

I'm happy to report that the end result was a tasty success, albeit a tiny bit too sweet. I think next time I would use a bit less brown sugar, a bit more soy, and maybe throw in some ground red pepper for kick. But otherwise, a win! And since it's totally okay to binge on vegetables, I ate nearly all of them in one sitting.

Shame on you, Rustico

2011-09-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago I raved about Rustico's new fried green tomato pizza, and my love for the restaurant was reaffirmed. This week, I started to second-guess my feelings, thanks to what was probably one of the worst salads I had ever had.

I have a lot of social events oriented around food this weekend, so I was trying to go light with a panzanella, topped with grilled shrimp. What arrived was anemic and unappealing, if I'm being generous. It looked like something I would get at Applebee's, but cost about twice the price. No hunks of bread (just weird little flakes) and four sad shrimp, all piled with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and entirely flavorless mozzarella, and COVERED in shredded cheese (which was NOT listed on the menu). Honestly, I could make a better shrimp panzanella at home; come to think of it, I have!

Just because you have a steady stream of business from Arlington yuppies does not, in my opinion, mean that you can start phoning it in. Let's hope this was just a bump in the road and not an end to my Rustico love affair. Shame on you, Rustico!

Dinner tonight: Herbed Ricotta Tart

2011-09-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

I wanted something veg and a little carby, so earlier this week I made an herbed ricotta tart.

Score another yum for CL! This was super easy to make, had a ton of flavor, and was very satiating. I forgot to pick up chives and ended up not buying nearly enough green onions, so I used 1/4 cup of grated onion in place of the aforementioned, sauteed up with the scallions. Used fat free ricotta, since I think it makes absolutely no difference in this type of cooking. (Eating-wise, there's a huge difference in consistency, although I mix it with soy milk for breakfast which ends up evening everything up, and you save half the calories with the fat free version.) Ended up taking about 45 minutes to cook all the way through.

Besides being perhaps a bit heavy on the dill, the tart was absolutely delightful. Good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner; we paired it with a simple spinach and celery salad.

Dinner tonight: Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy

2011-09-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday I was totally craving Mexican food, but, after a weekend of binge drinking and eating in honor of the Hahn-Prestwich union (YAY!!!), I really could not justify eating something cheesy and greasy. Instead, I made chicken verde stew with hominy.

Also, I totally cheated. Rather than go through the time-consuming steps of roasting and pureeing my own tomatillos, I decided to let the international foods aisle of HT do the work and bought a bottle of salsa verde. Now, this was not an exact substitute: the salsa is essentially tomatillos, chiles, salt and a little liquid. So I still added the cilantro, cumin, and oregano; I just added them during step 4.

Other mods:
Because I was using prepared salsa, I used 1.5 cups broth and 2/3 cup salsa. This came out pretty thick, so if you're looking for something a little looser or voluminous, I'd add some extra broth.
To keep the calorie stats a bit lower, I used chicken breast instead of thighs (honestly, they came out just as tender after stewing for 45 min). Also, no sour cream, for the same reason.
No S&P at the end, it was entirely unnecessary.

WOW did this satisfy my Mexican craving! It was thick, salsa-y, and had that unmistakably Mexican corn-y flavor from the hominy (which is, incidentally, definitely on my death row meal list). The stew also had a fantastic blend of textures: chewy from the hominy, creamy from the base, and crunchy from the celery, which was still al dente after the full simmer time. It also made a lot of servings, so I rate this one an all our win from our friends at CL!

Cava Mezze Clarendon

2011-09-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

After an exhausting afternoon of wedding registries, P and I decided to try out the new Cava Mezze location in Clarendon. Overall, it was solid, especially for Clarendon. Highs were the service (our waiter Devon gave us just the right amount of attention without being annoying) and the wine selection (surprisingly good).

Food-wise, Cava was overall unoffensive, with a few good notes, some blahs and some blechs. The olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes to accompany tableside pita were a waste of calories. I *cook* with more flavorful olive oil than they served for dipping, and the tomatoes were way too spicy and kind of pizza-y tasting. The mezze were somewhat better. Grilled haloumi was fantastic. Of course, it's hard to screw up a dish where all you do is unwrap the cheese and throw it on a grill, but still, yum! We also ordered some sort of melange of eggplant, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes. This was not bad, but neither here nor there really. Stewed lamb was incredibly tender and flavorful, but the accompanying risotto was too grainy and like something Uncle Ben's would make for the microwave.

If this was in DC, I definitely wouldn't return. But, compared with some other restos in the area, Cava is a reasonable option for a Clarendon dinner. Given that we had 3 glasses of wine between us and 3 sizable dishes, the bill was also quite reasonable! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Three so-so recipes and one delicious one

2011-09-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Since I have once again been remiss in my blogging and because three of these recipes really don't warrant their own posts, I'm treating you, readers, to another massive marathon recipe review!

The final meal in P's and my week of delicious dinners was pork chops with Carolina rub. I left out the onion powder since I didn't have any, and ran out of paprika about 1/2 tsp in. For the bbq sauce I used that same awesome mustard bbq sauce I used with Lloyd's pork in an earlier post. Paired the chops with some broccoli slaw tossed with Newman's Own light honey mustard dressing (so good!!) and a hunk of store-bought corn bread from Whole Foods (which was okay, but not stellar). Overall, an awesome meal and actually pretty easy, even though P said, "wow, this is pretty major for a weekday meal!" Win.

The next week P was out of town, which is probably good because it meant I didn't have to serve these next three dishes to anyone but myself. They weren't bad at all, they just were ho-hum with a side of blah. To wit:

Black bean-tomato soup with cilantro-lime cream was easy and not bad, and tasted better the second day. But not amazing and there was way too much lime in the cream (I used non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream).

Halibut with lemon-fennel salad. Used mahi instead of halibut and shallots instead of red onion. (I thought I had a half a red onion in the fridge but it turned out to be shallots.) Paired with a take-and-bake wheat dinner roll. Eh.

Asian chicken slaw. Cut back on the chicken a bit since I had a 7oz (versus 16) breast in the freezer that I needed to use, no bell pepper, 3-color slaw instead of just green cabbage, used half rice vinegar and half white wine vinegar in place of rice wine vinegar. Also no almonds or sesame seeds. The nice thing about this dish was that it had a lot of volume for not a lot of calories--I generally ate ~2.5 cups at a time, for somewhere around 225 calories! The bad thing is that it made so much that I was really sick of it before I finished it all. Ended up topping with a peanut sauce the last time just to change the flavor!

So, now we are all caught up on recipe reviews. At least until dinner tonight...

Dinner tonight: Szechuan Shrimp with Spinach

2011-08-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

P and I ate very well this week. Our second delicious recipe of the week was Szechuan shrimp with spinach, which I made with some gorgeous whole, gigantic Gulf shrimp and served over brown rice.

I used fresh minced garlic instead of bottled, cut back on the chile garlic sauce a bit, and obviously did not use peeled, deveined shrimp, but other than that cooked as written and we were very happy with the results! The whole shrimp resulted in some messy fingers, but was just so fun and pretty. The dish tasted a lot like Chinese takeout, but without the guilt and the grease (of course, this also meant it was sans fortune cookie :( ).

Another super-easy recipe for anyone new to cooking, although you may want to stick with the less-intimidating peeled shrimp.

A note: we ended up throwing out two of the shrimp, which was a shame, because they had this horrific, orangey-pink vein running along the shrimp's back (where you ordinarily find the "sand vein") with a big poofy area near the head. It looked kind of diseased, although after some internet searching it appears the pink stuff was just egg s. But it was still gross, so this may be another reason to stick with the sanitized shrimp for the squeamish!

Dinner tonight: Sauteed Salmon and Arugula Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

2011-08-25T16:30:00.001-07:00

P and I ended this past weekend with a Sunday dinner of sauteed salmon and arugula salad with tomato vinaigrette. (the recipe says arctic char, but they are fairly interchangeable and salmon is much easier to find!)

What a tasty and easy recipe! I very much recommend this for any new chefs or anyone scared of cooking fish. I left out the pine nuts because I couldn't buy them in a small quantity (no one needs $10 worth of pine nuts!), but other than that, cooked as-is and served with take-and-bake whole wheat dinner rolls.

This dish was fresh and summery, healthy, and easy peasy--a triple win!

Madame Chou Chou (Santa Monica)

2011-08-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

Wow. Thanks to yelp for helping us find this amazing restaurant!

All week, my boss and I had been suffering through breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the Mojave Desert, where good food is pretty much impossible to find. We had a redeye out of LA, so decided to putz around Santa Monica for a bit in the afternoon. In the hopes of having at least one good meal on per diem, we searched yelp for someplace delicious and nearby, and came across Madame Chou Chou.

This place is about a mile from the pier, and looks a little trashy from the outside. The inside is a bit classier, and the patio out back, where we sat, is just adorable and somewhat romantic (and therefore a little awkward for a work dinner, but, whatevs).

The dinner is officially ranked in my top ten best ever. I had two apps as my entree: the first was a salad of butter lettuce, shaved brussels sprouts, and corn. It was simultaneously nutty, creamy, crunchy, and refreshing.
My second app was bone marrow, accompanied by toasts with duxelles. The half a shank had been roasted and then either finished under the broiler or with a blowtorch--the result was like a savory creme brulee of fatty stem cell goodness. This was amazing, particularly when it topped the garlicky duxelles crostini. Holy freaking cow it was good.
Boss got the lamb with foie, polenta, and fennel that also looked incredible and that he seemed very happy with.

Considering the amazingness of the food here, the prices were beyond reasonable. Without wine but including tax and tip, we each paid just over $30. Honestly, this was a steal. It's got to be just a matter of time before this chef gets discovered and makes it big--I just hope it doesn't happen until after we get a chance to return for another taste! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Pesce

2011-08-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

We were wandering around Dupont Circle last weekend and came across Pesce, a gem of a fish restaurant! The interior is a little bright and austere, but the food showed much more taste.

When you sit down they bring you a chalkboard menu tableside...this was a good omen because it brought us back to a similar restaurant experience in Paris, and that was a fantastically good meal!

We started with the grilled calamari with squid ink, which was cooked with just the right amount of char, and was tender and very flavorful. It's hard to find calamari not fried until unrecognizable, so this was a pleasant treat! For my entree I combined the garden salad and Pesce trio apps. The salad felt like an afterthought, and I didn't even finish it. The trio, though, was so good--portions of chunky, oniony guacamole, tuna tartare dressed with only the tiniest bit too much soy and topped with what I swear were shards of Pringles, and an eggplant dip that was heavy on the tahini (in a good way) and honestly tasted more like hummus than baba ghanouj. P couldn't get enough of the eggplant, and I have to agree that it was delicious. Creamy, garlicky, almost unctuous. P got the corvina with pureed potatoes and a gumbo sauce. The fish was cooked well and the dish overall had really bold but nice, complementary flavors.

The portions were pretty sizable, so we were stuffed after dinner and for the rest of the night. My only hope is that we managed to burn at least a couple of those calories mawing the really, REALLY chewy bread that accompanied our meal...(x-posted to yelp.com)

Another DC cupcake FAIL

2011-08-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

This past Friday, I was actually in Ballston during the lunch/late afternoon hours; it was amazing to see how fun and exciting work lunch can be when you aren't in a dining purgatory like the Mark Center. What I was most excited about, though, was a chance to finally try SweetFleet cupcakes, an Arlington food truck I had been following on Facebook and pining over for weeks.

Sadly, the anticipation was so much more delicious than the actual cupcakes. They are small by storefront cupcake standards...about the size of a homemade muffin and ~2/3 the size of a GTown cupcake, and therefore steeply, steeply priced at $3 each. There were four flavor options the day I visited: blueberry lemonade, red velvet, apple caramel, and mint brownie. I wanted to try one of each, but thought I should start small, so ordered a red velvet (for P) and a blueberry lemonade (for me). Then I rushed home so we could sample our goodies!

You know how I said these cupcakes were small? There were, maybe, 4 or 5 bites worth in each, and still neither of us finished ours. The frosting (mine had buttercream, P's had cream cheese) had just about no sugar, and the cupcakes themselves tasted like nothing. Seriously, I think saltine crackers have more flavor than these cupcakes did. Their one redeeming quality was that they were not, like so many other DC-sold cupcakes, dry. But this was not enough to keep SweetFleet from being an epic fail. I actually opted for a 90-calorie FiberOne brownie instead of finishing. I KNOW.

This, then, got me thinking: WHY is it so freaking hard for these people to make a good cupcake? Safeway can do it. My coworkers and friends can do it. Even I can do it, and I suck at baking! Why can't most of the people who are purportedly staking their financial futures on making a good cupcake manage to succeed? It is a sad, sad, mystery that has gotten me further entrenched in my love for GTown. Although I'm still holding out hopes for Baked and Wired...

Wining and Dining to Excess, Italian-style

2011-08-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, P and I hosted our first, hopefully of many, serious wine-pairing dinner party. I chose an Italian theme, predominantly because of the meyer lemon olive oil cake I wanted to make for dessert (more on that later). Although things got a little out of hand (see picture below, which does not include the half bottle of scotch nor half bottle of espresso vodka), and the party went way, way, WAY past my bedtime, it was a resounding success!

We started the night with some simple antipasti, which I chose to go with Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin brut champagne: crusty Italian bread with good olive oil and black sea salt, roasted asparagus spears, and roasted almonds.

Then, it was on to the table for the meal!

Primo was a trio of farmers market squash and ricotta: cold squash napoleon, stuffed squash blossom, and zucchini-ricotta fritters. The napoleon was made up of alternating layers of roasted squash/zucchini and ricotta (seasoned with salt and lemon zest), drizzled with meyer lemon olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt. The blossom I stuffed with a mixture of half minced roasted squash (same used in the napoleon), ricotta, S&P, and herbs de provence, baked at 350 for 15 min. The fritters were a Mario Batali recipe from F&W. Each element was yummier than the last! (I thought the fritters were particularly fantastic.)

We paired this with a Horton Viognier from Virginia, which has a light, floral and honey quality that worked nicely with the squash.

Secondo was a mustard and herb (rosemary, as is clear from the--pre-cooked--pic!) eye of roast (grass-fed, locally raised) beef tenderloin with taleggio-stuffed polenta and marinated heirloom tomatoes. The beef was an obvious pairing with an Emilio Moro Ribera del Duero 2006 (which we discovered in Barcelona), as was the taleggio. I know it's weird, but the wine has some sort of stinky cheese note in the nose (in a good way?)!

This course did not go as well as the last. I don't cook red meat very often, and this was obvious--it took much longer than it should have, and although we let the meat sit for 15 minutes, it still bled out everywhere when we sliced it (and honestly didn't look medium-rare, even though it was only 130 degrees internally). It was also, sadly, chewy (I think this was due to the cut) although the flavor was good! I prepared this by rubbing the beef with S&P, searing each side 3ish min, brushing with whole grain mustard, sticking in some rosemary, and baking at 350 for what seemed like forever (until internal temp reached 120).
I made the polenta by simply stirring 1 part cornmeal and 2.5 parts water, plus ~1 tsp salt over medium heat with a whisk about 15 min. Then I spread half the polenta in the bottom of a square baking dish, layered on slices of taleggio, topped with remaining polenta, and baked 25ish min at 350. This would have turned out wonderfully if the cornmeal didn't have a funny taste to it, kind of baking soda-ish--a friend suggested that may have been a result of the liming process of the corn.
The tomatoes, however, were delish! I riffed this from a F&W grilled bread and marinated tomato salad, doing only the first step and not using nearly that much olive oil. I used big, pink, mortgage lifters, red tomatoes from my boss's garden, and some sort of low-acid, sweet yellow variety.

Dolci was the aforementioned meyer lemon olive oil cake, which I used with some beautiful olive oil my mom bought us from California and using this CL recipe. I cut back on the lemon juice a bit (and replaced with water) to make sure the olive oil got to shine. It was dense and yet airy, kind of like a pound cake with air bubbles. And lots of lemon flavor! We had this with an orange and apricot compote (supremed orange, orange juice, chopped dried apricots, some apricot preserves, and a touch of water, all mixed together and nuked for 30 sec) and a Ricossa Antica Casa muscato d'asti--a yummy, sweet and bubbly white perfect for dessert!

That was end to the dining portion of the night, although, obviously, there was significantly more wine and liquor, not to mention some Dougie-learning and heart-to-hearts, to follow. I think our next wine dinner will be Spanish-themed. And hopefully slightly less boozy....

Dinner tonight: Tomato Panzanella with Shrimp and Basil

2011-08-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

My boss grows so many tomatoes in his garden that he and his wife can't eat them fast enough--this is good for me, because every summer I get paper bag deliveries of the sweetest, most delicious tomatoes!

With my first tomato installment, I decided to try a tomato panzanella with shrimp and basil. Panzanellas are awesome because they combine two things I love: bread and salad! Better yet, the bread gets a little soggy from the dressing, and I'm a total sucker for soggy food. True story: I add milk to my cereal long before I plan to eat it so it gets nice and milk-logged and not at all crunchy. I know it's weird, but at least I will be well-practiced when I'm old and have lost all my teeth and can't remember where I put my dentures!

In any event, I actually, no kidding, made this dish exactly as directed. No subs or modifications! It was super eat and very good. Refreshing on a 100+ degree day, and surprisingly filling. It worked nicely as cold leftovers too, as long as you don't mind a bit more sogginess. The recipe is a win for homegrown tomatoes!

Central Kitchen (Cambridge, MA)

2011-08-03T17:41:00.001-07:00

I love, love, love the ambiance of Central Kitchen. It's chic and fairly minimalist in an otherwise less savory part of Cambridge. We got into town rather late, so sat at the bar for a mini-dinner of small plates.

First, props to the bartender, who was patient enough to give me tastes of 3 different wines and 2 tastes for P before we settled on glasses. When he took our order, he wrote it in chalk on a piece of slate on the bar in front of us, which was a fun touch! And the bread. Talk about generous! Two types, including a giant hunk of fluffy white boule, and a large bowl of hummus (which I suspect had some anchovy in it), all gratis.

For the dishes we actually paid for, we chose the seared haloumi, grilled octopus, and mussels. The cheese was fantastic, although I didn't really get a full appreciation for the dish since I scraped off the olive tapenade (hate olives...). The octopus was nice and scorched on the outside, tender on the inside. Underseasoned (or maybe not at all?) if you don't make sure to swipe a bite through the harissa sauce first (in which case it's delicious!). And the mussels were tender and plump, if pedestrian, although the remaining sauce, which I ordinarily relish in sopping up with bread, was way, way too salty.

A total find for Cambridge, especially considering your other options are Wendy's or the Cambridgeport Saloon. And honestly, where the food may fall a little short, the restaurant vibe makes up in spades! (x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Pork Tenderloin with Red and Yellow Peppers

2011-08-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

I also brought back from the farmers market a couple weekends ago some beautiful cubano (I think) peppers. Really mild and sweet and crisp, in variegated shades of green and red and yellow. These I decided to prepare as pork tenderloin with red and yellow bell peppers because the photo looked delish, I love anchovies, *and* I just happened to have a pork tenderloin in the freezer.

Other than using cubano peppers in place of bell peppers, the only changes I made were adding some sliced Vidalia onion (left over from the last recipe) and using dried rosemary instead of fresh.

My pork did not turn out nearly as beautifully caramelized as the meat on the CL website. How could it when the pan is only heated to medium?! Instead, it was a really unappealing gray color. (Incidentally, I hate when the picture doesn't look like what the recipe would look like when you prepare it exactly...like when the recipe says diced and in the picture something is clearly sliced into strips. >:( Hate that.)

Other than looking kind of gross (hence, no picture), this was fine, at best. It certainly did not do those beautiful peppers justice.

Dinner tonight: Creole Flouder and Stewed Okra with Tomatoes

2011-07-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

I bit the bullet and bought okra again at the farmer's market last week. Last time we had some delicious, Indian-spiced okra, but I ended up with sore fingers from all the okra pricklies. This time I tried to stay away from the really big pods, so the spiky little hairs were smaller and I fared much better.

Since okra was the feature of dinner, I put the most effort into our side dish: stewed okra with tomatoes. I changed this recipe slightly: omitted the bacon and used canned, stewed, no sodium tomatoes instead of fresh. Overall, it was okay, although WAY too sweet and needed more hot sauce. We thought it was strange that a dish with no sugar could be so sweet, but I guess it was the combo of the Vidalia and the stewed tomatoes. Maybe sub a regular, yellow onion instead. However, this would probably be a great veg dish for kids, if you convince them to taste it in the first place! I served P's okra over some leftover rice from takeout a couple days prior--no food goes to waste in the Daly household!

The flounder was really an afterthought: I just sprinkled it with a Creole spice mix and baked it at 425 for ~18-20 min.
Eh. Not a bad okra dish. But I'd recommend the Indian spiced recipe over this one any day. (do a search on the right if you want to find it!)

The Seedy Underbelly of Citrus

2011-07-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Friends, I'd like to take a moment away from our usual recipe and restaurant reviews to make a public service announcement.

Generally, I encourage consumption of all fruits and vegetables--the more, the better! They're chock full of vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants, fiber, and all other sorts of good stuff, and as they say, you're unlikely to binge on apples. HOWEVER. There can be a nefarious side to fruit. For limes, this is phytophotodermatitis, "a cutaneous phototoxic inflammatory eruption resulting from contact with light-sensitizing botanical substances and long-wave ultraviolet (UV-A 320-380 nm) radiation." Translation: limes + sun = badness.

I learned this recently after making lime pie ice pops for July 4th dinner at the beach. After squeezing a gazillion limes (and yes, washing my hands), we went down to the beach. And what I initally thought was a sunburn turned out to be much itchier and long-lasting! (Don't worry, after diagnosis, my prognosis looks promising. :) )

So, let this be a lesson to you all. Squeezing and sunning do not mix! The next time you decide to enjoy a margarita pool side, be careful not to spill...you have been warned.

(Incidentally, the pops were AMAZING. The only problem is that they didn't exactly want to come out of the molds. I suggest making this recipe in frozen pie form, miniature or regular-sized crust.)

Cafe Milano

2011-07-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Cafe Milano in Georgetown to celebrate Diana's birthday. And you know, I was pleasantly surprised! Perhaps it was the perception-expectation gap, but I thought it was a downright solid meal. I hate to make yet another comparison to Kinkead's, but CM was to Italian was Kinkead's was to seafood. (See my earlier review if this doesn't make sense! :) )

They put us in a weird spot in the center of the restaurant, which was kind of awkward and super noisy. Our waiter swung between being very attentive and not, but overall did alright by us.

Of course, most important is the food. The bread--I had read a couple yelp reviews that said the bread was amazing. I thought it was fine. A little heavy, but overall not bad. The olive oil was totally pedestrian, which was a bit of a disappointment for such a well-known Italian resto. There are SO many good oils out there, this should not have been hard to do well.

Things looked up from there. P and I split the baby artichoke salad, and they divided it between two plates (which is not done often but which I sincerely appreciate). The salad was a bit aggressively dressed, but not offensively so, and the flavors were simple and clean. My entree was the whole wheat tagliatelle with asparagus, oven-roasted tomatoes, and ricotta; the pasta is made in house and was cooked to perfection: on the chewier side of al dente. They were also generous with the vegetables, which was certainly a welcome change from the usual vegetarian pasta dish. P got a special for the evening, the roasted sea bass with peppers, which was super flavorful, if a teensy bit overcooked. (We think both dishes sat under the heat lamp for a while--my pasta was so hot when I got it I nearly burned my tongue). The portions were a decent size too: enough so you could clean your plate and not feel like a pig but also not go home hungry.

A few folks ordered dessert, and they brought Diana a gratis bday pound cake. These I was totally underwhelmed by, but these days I expect to by disappointed by restaurant desserts. So, no damage done there.

Definitely better than Dino! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Pancetta with swiss chard and soft polenta

2011-07-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

I finally, *finally* made it to the farmers market last weekend--after a long hiatus--and did major damage: a ton of peaches, golden plums, blueberries, flax bread, pattypan squash, and rainbow chard. The chard was the focus of last night's dinner, which I prepared as pancetta with swiss chard and soft polenta.

Yummyyumyumyumyum! This was a total CL win--super delicious, easy, and just slightly over 300 calories a serving. Of course, one of the ways CL manages to keep its stats so low is with portion control...and trust me, it is VERY difficult to control your portions on this yummy dish! Fortunately, the polenta is very filling.

It's easy to make the polenta and topping simultaneously (which really you need to do so the polenta doesn't get hard and gross), as long as you make sure to prep and stage everything ahead of time (mis en place, for you cooking snobs) . I ended up using way more liquid than the polenta recipe called for, adding little by little as time went on. Use your judgement with this one--the polenta should be similar to risotto in viscosity--spreads out somewhat on the plate while still holding its shape.

Also, I generally hate bacon in my food, but you absolutely cannot leave out the pancetta in this dish: the salty and crispy complement the slight bitterness and goopiness of the greens.

Freaking Delicious Frozen Dinner

2011-07-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

So, on a whim the other day, I picked up a Cedarlane Pesto and Four Cheese Baked Eggplant Stack from the frozen meals section. It had great stats (280 calories) and all natural. I was intrigued since I'd never seen it before, so I thought I'd give it a whirl (even though it was pretty pricey for frozen food at $5).

Wowowowow. This was AMAZING. I had to keep checking the side of the box, because I just couldn't believe it had less than 300 calories. Delicious, satisfying, almost indulgent. I know this pic looks messy but, c'mon, it's a frozen meal! It tastes so very much better than it looks.

I recommend pairing this with a veg or a salad, since there's not a ton of green veggies, but you certainly don't need them to feel full.

Totally go out and get some of these fantastic stacks...just leave some for me!!

Pig and Fish (Rehoboth Beach, DE)

2011-07-14T14:46:00.001-07:00

Pig and Fish reminded me a lot of a more casual version of Kinkead's: seafood-focused; big, bold flavors; very generous portions; not super-refined. Unfortunately, it's priced a lot like Kinkead's too (and somehow it feels worse paying that much for a meal when you're not dressed up ;) ).

Overall, our food (and drinks) were delicious and well cooked. The pork taco app was flavorful and juicy, the fried green tomatoes were crispy, and both had a kick. Most of the table got the Southern-style preparation of either the firmer white fish (I cannot for the life of me remember what kind it was, although I'm sure P will remind me as soon as he sees this) or the tripletail...I recommend the triple tail. The grits were so good I ate all of mine *and* some of P's. Another diner got the crabcakes, which were HUGE and really sweet and delicious. The sangria was also generous and huge, although maybe could have been a little stronger.

The one thing this restaurant suffered from, I think, is poor decision-making. The fried green tomatoes I mentioned earlier? These were actually fried *red* tomatoes. Which is SO not the same thing!!! I wish they had simply taken this item off the menu if they didn't have the produce, because I felt that trying to switch out one for the other was an affront to my intelligence and/or palette. The other poor decision they made was deep frying the crabcakes. A pan-frying treatment would have served the quality of the crab much better.

Oh yes. Although service was with a smile, it was sloooooow. Even at 6 pm, with half the tables still empty.

Please don't let these last two things keep you from Pig and Fish, though, just be forewarned. Generally, you will be well and plentifully fed if you go! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: 15-minute, low-cal pulled pork dinner (for real!)

2011-07-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you love mustard and pulled pork, first, pat yourself on the back for having such good taste! Then...MAKE THIS.

I was always really intrigued by those pulled-pork-in-a-plastic-bucket things they sell at the supermarket--bbq pork is on my death row meal list, and the thought of not having to leave the house to have some is incredibly tempting. However, I've sworn off high fructose corn syrup, which is a major component in the sauce they use in these things. So--no pulled pork convenience for me.

...until...

Enter the Sunday circular, and a coupon (yay coupon!!!) for a new product: Lloyd's pulled pork, without the sauce!

I bought said pork, and used my coupon. Double win! I prepared the pork as directed, then mixed it directly into a pot of mustard barbecue sauce (pulled from this CL recipe). For the sauce I omitted the bacon (to save calories and time, plus I don't like bacon in things) and the onions (I was fresh out), so basically just mixed all the condiments and spices together and heated everything up. If I had onions, I would have simply thinly sliced and sauteed before added the remaining ingredients.

To further cut back on calories and avoid carbs, I served the pork on top of packaged three-color slaw (just the veggies, no mayo or anything) dressed with a couple splashes of white wine vinegar.

All told, this clocked in at under 300 calories a serving, I'd bet more like 250-275. That is, if you can limit yourself to just one serving, which is hard because it is SO FREAKING GOOD. P said, "I think this is better than like 90% of the barbecue pork sandwiches I've had in my lifetime." And then proceeded to tell me how our future children will be fat when they get to college because they'll think all awesomely delicious food is as healthy as what I feed him.

Really guys. I know meat in a box can be scary. But trust me on this one.

Dino

2011-07-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

I will say this. You will not leave Dino hungry. The portions are generous, although I wish they had been generous portions of better food: Dino is more disappointment than delicious.

It all started with a Tasting Table email about Dino's 6th birthday dinner special: 4 courses for $39, and with words like rabbit and prosecco, how could we resist?!

Service was slow, from the bartender to the food runners (I think we waited 30 minutes between our apps and pasta course), although the water guy was on top of things. We started with the cichetti, which was just sad. All of the bread was soft, the greens were *incredibly* bitter, and it was really just blah. And salty. I didn't eat half of mine, although I did savor the shrimp head on one of Pat's cichetti, which was very good.

Our pasta courses were equally not particularly well executed. Pat got two enormous duck canelloni, which I think had cardamom or some other very unique spice in them. They were decent, although a little dry. My pasta was so salty I think my blood pressure will be high for the next month as a result. Honestly, if you're going to put anchovies in pasta, you probably don't need to finish it with sea salt. It was a shame, because the pasta itself was cooked perfectly. I only ate half the bowl. Which trust me, is a very rare occurrence!

We were most excited about the secondi: rabbit for me and whole branzino for Pat. The rabbit was very lean and pretty good, although a bit overcooked. The same was true for P's fish.

Desserts were sad as well. Not bad, per se, but the tiramisu could have been a lot more boozy, and the nico just looked like a big, plastic rectangle. (the gelato was slightly better than plastic. slightly.)

As usual for our restaurant misses, the dinner was not awful. It just wasn't very good, especially for the price. I only wish we had bought the living social deal the day before so we could have wasted $30 less on this meal. (x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Easy Peasy Fish Tacos

2011-07-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've had a half a box of hard taco shells for approximately a century, and they were taking up a lot of room in my teensy pantry, so I decided to use those two facts as an excuse for fish tacos. Yes, I realize that fish tacos are usually made with soft tacos shells. Hush.

Totally made this up on the fly--they were incredibly easy and not bad! P had three, so he was either really hungry or actually enjoyed them too. Here are your steps for easy peasy fish taco construction:
1. Spread a thin layer of spicy sauce in the bottom of the taco shell: sauce is just 1/4 cup of greek yogurt mixed with ~half of a chipotle chile in adobo sauce (you can buy a can of these and then just keep leftovers in a bag in the freezer).
2. Hunks of fish (we used mahi), seasoned simply with S&P and pan fried ~6 min per side on medium high heat.
3. Slices of avocado
4. A handful of tricolor slaw mixed with a couple drops of white wine vinegar.

The trick to all this is definitely the chipotle chile. It adds so much smoke and heat (yes, even with just a half a pepper) that everything else only needs minimal seasoning.

I paired these with corn on the cob, roasted in the over and ALSO super easy! You literally just put the whole ear, husk and all, on a oven rack, preheated to 350 degrees, and cook for 30 min. It might even be easier than boiling.

Happy summer eating!

Astor Cafe

2011-07-05T12:34:00.001-07:00

I LOVE that I can order from Astor online without actually having to interact with someone. And I love how friendly the staff are. The food, however, I just liked.

We ordered an assortment of takeout to split: spicy chickpeas, sauteed eggplant, combo kabob, chicken kabob, and falafel platters. The chickpeas and eggplant were both delicious, as was the hummus that came with the platters. The kabob meat was fine, the salads were a little sad (although totally normal for a kabob place).

I had really hoped that Astor would finally end my long-lost search for decent falafel in this town. Sadly, it did not. These were underwhelming and weirdly green inside.

Will I have future cravings for Astor? Probably not. But it'll certainly do in a takeout pinch. (x-posted to yelp.com)

American as Cupcakes

2011-07-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

In honor of the anniversary of our nation's independence (yes, I know this isn't until Monday, but I will be too busy celebrating to post then!), I present to you the following. Together, they form a cohesive argument for why cupcakes are superior to pie. At least, if you judge superiority by patriotism.

I submit for you, exhibit A: why pie is decidedly UN-American.
And exhibit B: why cupcakes are so patriotic that they are fighting terrorism in your defense.

Readers, make the right decision this 4th, forgo the patriot poser and be sure to end your BBQs and celebrations with a freedom-defending dessert!

Healthy Eating, Worldwide

2011-06-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well guys, we've been busy planning and running around, with not much time for cooking or dining, so in the meantime, I'll leave you with this: 10 food guides from around the world, some weirdly similar to the old food pyramid and the new food "plate," and some, well, just weird.

Enjoy!

Dinner tonight: Cucumber Gazpacho

2011-06-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

So, I actually made cucumber gazpacho several weeks ago, when it started to get really, DC-style hot here. I thought it would be nice and refreshing. In fact, it was just gross. Really. Epic fail. Granted, this was the first CL all-out fail, so I can't be too upset, but still. I was kind of mad that I wasted my delicious breakfast Greek yogurt on it. It just tasted like super-garlicky yogurt soup. NOT nice and refreshing.

Perhaps, maybe, possibly, this could be saved with double or triple the number of cucumbers (I already one-and-a-halved it and that didn't work) and half the yogurt. And some extra seasoning. Or maybe, perchance, it would have been better if I had actually made the shrimp relish that went along with it. I, for one, am wasting no more of my precious breakfast staple on it to find out.

Rustico: Summer deliciousness

2011-06-19T11:23:00.001-07:00

If you only eat one pizza this summer (and really, we all know NO ONE does that), make it Rustico's fried green tomato pizza. Holy weird pizza toppings, it is AMAZING. In fact, it almost, almost makes up for the fact that they took my duck, brie, and cracklin' pizza off the menu. And it is most definitely my new fav pizza. Seriously, it's amazing. Fried green tomatoes that rival the ones at Ris, some sliced squash, bitter greens, and a bit of myer lemon. A little bit of fresh cheese as well, although very minimalist on both the cheese and sauce sides. But seriously, amazing. Rereading this description, it doesn't sound all that great, so you'll really just have to see for yourself. It's particularly good paired with a glass of the Horton Viognier, which, although from Virginia, clean, refreshing, and delicious.
Gogogogogo....just save some for me. :)

La Caraquena

2011-06-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying that La Caraquena is, essentially, food truck food in a sit-down setting. No veggies really, lots of fried stuff, carbs and meats. That said, it is GLORIOUS AND AMAZING food truck food.

We started with an order of fried yucca, which came paired with a mayo dipping sauce, some pico, and some hot salsa verde. The yucca were perfect--crispy on the outside, not too greasy, really well-seasoned and flavorful. As P said, "if Super Pollo's yucca is a big mac, this is Ray's Hell-burger!"

We next shared two arepas--one we ordered fried with scrambled eggs, onions, tomatoes and bell peppers. The first bite was kind of underwhelming, but after that it was somehow amazing! Moist, fluffy eggs, again well-seasoned, on a crispy, dense corn cake. The other arepa, the was J.P.'s favorite, which we ordered grilled (although honestly, I couldn't tell the difference in the preparation). Holy delicious beef. This was clearly a really cheap cut of meat, but it was so flavorful you almost didn't mind the extra chewing it took. It must have been marinated in garlic for like, a year. You must get this if you go.

Finally, we shared a shredded beef bowl, the one with the fried egg. This beef was much higher quality and had a little kick...it actually reminded me of a Venezuelan equivalent of bi bim bop. My only gripe was that the yolk was a little over-cooked (although still a little oozy).

Other surprises: the wines were GREAT! With a very short list and weird, novice-type descriptions, we didn't expect much, but both of our glasses were really phenomenal. Especially at $7 a glass. Also, the owner was there and chatted us up for a bit. Not only was he very friendly, he actually offered to turn down the A/C when he saw I had put a sweater on. Observant and a total doll.

Don't let the motel parking lot scare you. Your bravery will be well-rewarded! (x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Chicken Larb

2011-06-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

This week we had chicken larb for dinner. I know it sounds kind of gross, but it was actually pretty good! I used pre-ground turkey breast (this is important--regular ground turkey is just about as fatty and calorie-heavy as beef) in place of the chicken, because the thought of grinding meat in my blender really grossed me out. Other than that, cooked as written, using savoy cabbage like they did in the picture. The prep was REALLY easy when you use pre-ground meat.

We had our larb with cut green beans, from frozen (sometimes...okay, usually...I'm lazy!) and coriander brown rice: toasted 1/3 tsp ground coriander briefly in the bottom of the pot, then added water and salt, prepared as directed and mixed in some cilantro at the end.

Overall, pretty solid meal. The calorie stats are amazing low, and we were both full afterwards. P didn't even need dessert! He wasn't a big fan of the cabbage leaves, though. I had leftovers sans leaves (just put the chicken over the rice), which was easier to eat at work but not nearly as authentic or fun. :)

Brgr Shack

2011-06-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Brgr Shack is furnished with Ikea. This actually makes a lot of sense, because it's just like Ikea: the primary things it sells are fine, but not top-notch; the other random accessory stuff is great.

Case in point: the almost-double-fried sweet potato fries were deLISH, and a generous serving for two people to share. The mustard-cranberry-type sauce they offer was really yummy too. It's nice to have the option of white, wheat, or pumpernickel bun. Also, the manager is super-friendly!

The burger themselves, however, are pretty ordinary. I do appreciate the use of grass-fed beef, and they're a nice size (bigger than Good Stuff, small than Rays). But the burgers were just fine, almost like something we could have made at home. Which come to think of it, kind of describes Ikea furniture too. :)
(x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Salt-Roasted Shrimp with Lemon-Honey Dipping Sauce and Sichuan Green Beans

2011-06-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

We (okay, I) were feeling really adventurous this week, so we had shrimps with their heads on! I cooked these suckers in all their antennae-y, eyebally glory using CL's salt-roasted shrimp with lemon-honey dipping sauce.

I simply rinsed the shrimp off in cold water and cooked according to directions. The shrimp took about 8 minutes (vice 5) to cook, but were SO easy to make. The sauce I made with lime instead of lemon, and no scallions or ground red pepper--the former I didn't have on hand, the latter I didn't use because our side veg was spicy.

Speaking of the side veg, I paired the shrimp with Sichuan green beans; didn't bother cutting the beans, used balsamic, onions instead of shallots (apparently I was a really distracted grocery shopper and didn't buy like half the things I needed!), regular soy sauce (and so omitted the salt). Also paired with short-grain brown rice, simply prepared with chicken broth in place of water.

I thought everything was really yummy. Lots of flavors, but didn't compete and paired together nicely. The shrimp were fun to eat, although somehow our efforts to get anything out of the heads was unfruitful (sad). Also, the tray of salt that I cooked them on looked like a little shrimp graveyard afterwards...eyeballs and antennae everywhere! Kind of gross, but also kind of funny. If you think gross things are funny.

Dinner tonight: Triple-Mustard Salmon

2011-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

We started this week off to a healthy, fresh start, perfect prep for swimsuit season! I made F&W's triple-mustard salmon, with some really beautiful "first run of the season" salmon. I was going to buy the wild Alaskan, but the HT fishmonger (who is a doll and I totally heart--but not like that, guys, I'm an engaged woman!) didn't like the look of it. He sold me this fish instead, which was also wild but was $20/lb, for the Alaskan sale price of $7/lb! Bestill my cheap little Jewish heart. :)

I didn't have toasted wheat germ (seriously, does everyone who gets F&W shop at Dean and Deluca?), so I used breadcrumbs instead. Other than that, cooked as is. However, since I threw out all my nasty used cancerous non-stick pans, I cooked the fish in a regular one. And consequently (wait for it...) the mustardy stuff stuck to the pan, rather than the fish. Hence the ugly, ugly picture you see here. Despite it's ugliness, though, I thought it was pretty good! A little tangy, I would maybe replace the Dijon with whole grain mustard. P was less enthused...he didn't like the mushy texture of the mustard coating. So I suppose you will have to cook this and judge for yourself.

Paired with simple steamed organic broccoli (also on sale!) and take-and-bake wheat dinner rolls.

Mega-Recipe Marathon, Part II -- The long-awaited conclusion

2011-05-30T14:26:00.002-07:00

Finally, finally, I will finish up the recipe review marathon. And, because it has been such a ridiculously long time coming, I've added a fourth recipe. So...let the reviewing begin!

One weeknight dinner (long, long ago) we had grilled herb chicken with roma tomato sauce. I had high hopes for this dish, and truth be told, the sauce was pretty good. But it wasn't knock-your-socks-off amazing, just good tomato sauce. And the chicken was just too big and bland. I think, if you're going to cook chicken breasts whole, they really need to be marinated in something. Otherwise, chop them up, slice them, do something to break up the big bland breast monotony! Also...I do not have a grill and it's impossible to use the grill pan on a cooktop, so the chicken got pan-fried instead. But I honestly don't think the grill could have saved it from blah.

Another night, we had Thai hot and sour soup with shrimp. And this was fantastically yummy. I omitted the kaffir lime leaves, which are hard to find, subbed bean sprouts for the mushrooms (they're expensive and P's not a huge fan), and added cellophane noodles to the broth along with the shrimp. I'm also terrified of habaneros, so we just added sriracha tableside, like you do with pho. I know I served this with some sort of veg, but I can't remember since I've been so remiss in the posting (sorry). Make this dish though...it was easy, delicious, and very waistline friendly, even with the noodles.

For the first Hoar-Daly Mother's Day bbq at P's mom's house, I made a healthy veg side dish of roasted fennel with dill and lemon. I doubled the recipe, but wish I had made more. It was really delicious and the fennel cooked down so much it ended up not making a whole lot--maybe half of a casserole dish? Also, you absolutely don't need to add any more salt or oil in step 3...it is plenty oily and salty already. The dish was a huge hit, even among non-fennel lovers (P said, "how did you make it not taste like fennel?!"). It was almost more of a really subtle roasted onion dish. Either way, mmmmm!

Finally, last week I made fingerling potato-leek hash with swiss chard and eggs. This dish was pre-approved by Pat, and we thought it would be a great, healthy, meatless dinner. While it was both healthy and meatless, it was not great. In fact, it was entirely without character at all. The only mod I made was using small red potatoes instead of fingerling, only because they weren't available at the Teet. But honestly, this dish really needed something exciting...maybe a sharp cheddar in place of the really subtle Gruyere, or a dash of vinegar or something. As is: blah, blah, blah. CL fail.

Also, apologies for the lack of pics. I promise to be better from here on out!

Root 246 (Solvang, CA)

2011-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

This place is soooo over-rated. You guys know how much I LOVE to eat, and this was the first time in I can't remember how long that I looked over the menu and was excited by nothing. And that made me sad.

What also made me sad was to learn that either a) chef is watching his blood pressure, or b) they ran out of salt, because this was the most under-seasoned food I've ever tasted. I'm pretty sensitive to salty food, but this stuff had me searching for a salt shaker. I seriously pinched the fleur de sel off the table butter to add to my asparagus soup (which was also, besides being bland, lacking any complexity). Ditto for the Caesar salad with poached egg (which additionally was a weird, slightly cold temperature) and for P's salmon with ham hock (I know! Who can make under-salted hock?!).

The two highs of our dinner were the amazing blue corn bread muffins and a delectable chocolate cake dessert. But they alone could not save this review. Especially since our request for more muffins was summarily forgotten by our server...(x-posted to yelp.com)

MEGA RECIPE MARATHON!

2011-05-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

What a lucky day for you, you guys. Today is MEGA RECIPE MARATHON day! Meaning I will offer much-abbreviated reviews of *6 recipes!* Of course, this is really just an excuse for me to catch up on the many, many recipes I have yet to review without spending all night doing it, but let's pretend I'm doing this for you.

Arctic Char with Or ange-Caper Relish. I made it with salmon, because they're basically the same thing. This was refreshing and different, but not amazing. Definitely make sure you supreme the orange, because otherwise the eating of this dish could get pretty messy. Served with an arugula salad dressed as recommended by the menu, but with Greek yogurt in place of mayo. 7/10

Artichoke and Goat Cheese Strata. I made this with skim milk instead of low-fat, wheat bread instead of white, and added ~6 pieces of proscuitto, cut into squarish pieces. The proscuitto made a huge difference...I think the strata would have been a bit bland without it. This was fantastically delicious, but, sadly, not super-satisfying. I had leftovers for lunch and was hungry not long after. Great dish to bring to a potluck brunch though! 8.5/10

Marinated Lamb Chops. I had high hopes for this dish, not least of which was because the chops were freaking expensive! Even with overnight marinating, the lamb was not super flavorful (although it was juicy). Also, it took so long to cook I ended up having to nuke it in the end. But that's probably because I suck at cooking meat. Made with sugar snap peas and sliced red onion dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Don't bother with this dish: 3/10, max. Sad face!

Okay...I'm actually feeling even lazier than I thought. Let's take a break and revisit the other 3 recipes tomorrow. It's not like you were going to cook all six tonight anyway!

Ping Pong Dim Dum

2011-05-05T14:58:00.001-07:00

Ping Pong was pretty much exactly what I expected. It delivered, pretty decently, on being a great, trendy place for a girls' night out.

The service was slow, though gracious, the drink list was long and strong, and the food was solid (though, as anticipated, very Americanized).

To start, we shared a bottle of prosecco (celebrating P and my engagement!), and I ordered the Ping Pong cocktail (yum! but dangerous). We split a bunch of dishes among the six of us, which worked out perfectly--since each dish had 3 pieces we just cut everything in half. Standouts, though nothing blew us away, were the squid (actually, cuttlefish, but the most tender cuttlefish I've ever had it), the char siu buns, which were really stewy and satisfying, pork shumei, and the many sauces that accompanied each dish (one tasted like hoisin and five spice). Sticky rice was eh. The only BIG FAIL was the "Chinese broccoli," which was clearly not Chinese, but standard run-of-the-mill broccoli florets, and undercooked at that.

Also fun--big round tables were great for a group, and there's a shelf under the bench seating for purses and coats.

Good for a group! Probably mediocre for anything else. (x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Quick White Bean, Asparagus, and Mushroom Cassoulet

2011-04-30T11:37:00.001-07:00

I LOVE cassoulet. So when CL put out this fast, relatively guilt-free version, I pounced. It was, in fact, quick, even quicker since I used prepared breadcrumbs rather than making some up from French bread. I went with oyster mushrooms over chantarelles, marjoram over oregano (since I had marjoram in the cupboard but honestly have NO idea what one uses it for!).

This recipe was a solid B I would say. Not nearly as good at the thyme-scented white bean cassoulet, but different flavors, and it didn't require nearly as much prep work or patience/planning (the other is a crockpot dish). It could have used a bit more salt, but that's an easy fix. I recommend replacing the asparagus with spinach, which I think would meld flavor-wise much better and be way easier to eat!

But look how pretty: :)

Dinner tonight: Hot Nicoise Salad

2011-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

So you know how I usually start my posts, when I've been a bit delinquent, with an excuse for my absence? This time, I have the BEST excuse ever. P AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED!!! :) So, I've been a bit distracted and neglectful of you, post-readers.

Although things will never be the same, I'll try my best to keep regularly posting under this new normal. The good news is, you all will at least get to vicariously share in our caterer search and tasting!

But, back to my backlog of posts.

A couple weeks ago, I made my first ever GOOP recipe (Gweneth Paltrow, for the uninitiated). We had hot nicoise salad, courtesy of F&W magazine. Changes (which of course you expected): 1. no olives, as they are in my hated-foods trinity; 2. no eggs, since I really didn't think having a random baked egg on the side made much sense; 3. I put the anchovies off to the side and mixed them in to my portion only at the end, since P's not an anchovy fan.

You guys. This was amazing!!! For a dish that had minimal seasoning, it was incredibly flavorful, and for a dish that was so basic, it looked very sophisticated. I think the anchovies really made a difference, but I'm sure someone else would probably say the same thing about the olives and/or egg. We had this just with some crusty wheat baguette. Yumyumyum. Nice job, GOOP.

Dinner tonight: Whole Stuffed Trout!

2011-04-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

So...I saw the recipe for lump crab-stuffed trout in my magazine, and then I saw whole dressed trout at the HT, and I just couldn't help myself. I took some liberties with the recipe (you know, like taking out one of the two ingredients in the name), but it still turned out delicious! I actually ended up buying the fish on Saturday and freezing it since we weren't having it until Tues, then just defrosted for 20 min in casserole dish filled with cold water. Good as fresh.

No bacon, no crab (I didn't want to have to buy a big thing of crab and have most of it go to waste), but everything else was cooked as specified. It was really incredibly quick and easy to make (aside from all the fine chopping), and SO flavorful and tender. I paired this with steamed asparagus and wheat dinner rolls. Look how purdy!

I almost wish I was attaching a video to this post of Pat and me trying to figure out how, exactly, one eats whole trout...we opted to peel off the skin and slide the meat off the bones, reaching between the bones with the fork tines to grab out some stuffing with each bite. When you finish one side, flip and repeat. The fish heads, however, went to waste. We had had enough adventure for one night.

Mandu

2011-04-10T12:10:00.001-07:00

Okay. Disclaimer: I am white. (I know most of you suspected as much.)

So I may not be the best judge of good Korean. But my little white girl tummy tells me that Mandu is freaking delicious. The beef with rice "cakes," onions and mushrooms is food-dreams worthy (Really. You must get this.), and all of the dipping sauces are just fantastic. My sojutini was a bit weak, but it was only $4, so I can't really complain.

In fact, I'd say this place is a triple threat of cheap, incredibly fast, and yummy food. Great for a casual night out with a group. (x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Spicy Tortilla Soup with Shrimp and Avocado

2011-04-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry...life has been crazy busy recently and I've been too exhausted to blog. But not to eat, though, so we have a lot to catch up on!

Today we'll cover CL's spicy tortilla soup with shrimp and avocado.

YUM. The soup took a bit longer to make than the "20 minutes" CL claimed, but then again, I didn't use pre-chopped veggies like they call for. My only other mods were no crushed tortilla chips (I felt like these calories were better saved for a glass of wine) and no salt, since they didn't have "no-salt-added fire-roasted diced tomatoes" (I mean really, that's a bit niche, don't you think?).

This soup was really great. Very flavorful, and packed a bit of heat, but it didn't linger so it wasn't unpleasant. The avocado added at the end makes it pretty unique, I think. And can I just say, I love hominy. It's like little tiny chewy dumpling bits, but it's actually just corn (see for yourself)! I made a note to myself to find some more recipes that use it, because it's just so delightful.

Anyways, this was a win for the CL. Enjoy!

Dinner tonight: Chicken Baked in White Wine Marinade

2011-04-03T13:29:00.001-07:00

This past week, we had chicken baked in white wine marinade. Sadly, I think it was one of the most mediocre recipes I've ever made from CL. I mean, look, it wasn't bad, nothing tasted gross and the chicken was moist, but it was just so bland and blah, which was a bit disappointing after it marinated for nearly 20 hours in pinot grigio, onion, garlic, and thyme. The good thing about it being so not-flavorful, however, is that it was easy to use the leftovers in other dishes--I used Trader Joe's frozen eggplant melange and just mixed in some chopped chicken.

To end this post on a good note, though, let's talk about the veggie we had as a side instead. Roasted string beans. Seriously guys, they're so easy to make and are like crack. I think P and I each ate a pound's worth. Pre-heat the broiler, put the beans on a baking sheet, spray everything with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle with minced garlic and kosher salt, drizzle with the tiniest bit of honey. Roast under the broiler 7-12 min, stirring occasionally, until they're blistered and brown in places. YUM.

Ray's the Steaks

2011-04-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ray's made me feel like Goldlilocks. Some was a little too under(insert adjective here), some was a little to over(ditto), and some was just right!

The unders:

-The rosemary foccacia they bring to the table was dry, dry, dry. I respect the fact that it wasn't super-oily, like foccacia can be, but it was, well, under-oily.

The overs:

-Waaaaaay too much spice and sauce on the filet au poivre. Yes, I realize it's supposed to be pepper-crusted, but this one was a bit over the top. And since the entire plate was smothered in sauce, there was no place for me to put a scoop of creamed spinach or possibly have a bite of meat by itself.

- Chewiness of my filet. This made me sad...the rare portion of my filet (order med-rare) was so chewy I didn't eat it. Fortunately, my bf's was more tender.

The just-rights (fortunately, there were the most of these):

-The service! We came in not expecting much, but our service was fantastic. Everyone was incredibly friendly and gracious, and they went out of their was to speed up the service so that we wouldn't miss our show (by the time we were seated, we had less than an hour before we had to catch a cab).

-The wine list. Both of our wines were solid, and incredibly reasonable at $7/8 a glass.

-The crab bisque. I insisted we try this because yelpers had raved. None of them every explained why it was so good, though, so allow me to enlighten you. It is, overall, underseasoned. But in this case, that is a very good thing--even with all that richness, the flavor of the crab really comes through. It's the perfect consistency and the portion of crab is super-generous.

- The peanut butter fudge that came with our check (okay, after I asked for it because everyone seemed to be getting it but us). Then again, I never met a food with pb I didn't like.

I don't think we'll go back, but that's because I'm a snob. And because I hate waiting. :)(x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Creamy Carrot Soup

2011-03-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

For a light, post-weekend-of-unhealthy eating Sunday dinner last week I made creamy carrot soup, served with simple salads and crusty wheat bread. I often avoid soup recipes because they seem like a lot of effort when you can buy a can for two or three dollars, but somehow I still seem to have amassed a whole slew of them in my recipe folder, and every time I look at them I feel guilty for having not tried them yet. So. Carrot soup can now be scratched off the list (and truth be told, it's not very often you see carrot soup on the grocery store shelves...).

As written, the recipe is okay. But with a simple addition, it was stellar! I doubled the ginger and added a bit more salt, since it seemed under-seasoned, but what really made the soup was a drizzling of balsamic reduction. It was so easy and made the soup really incredibly yummy.

If you've never made a balsamic reduction, it's super easy. Just pour some balsamic vinegar in a small pot, cook over low-medium heat (where it's steaming, but not boiling) until it's reduced down to about a third and clings to your spoon. Don't heat it too high, or you'll burn it, and don't cook too long, or your get sludge stuck to the bottom of the pot. Once it's ready, just let it cool (and it'll thicken a bit more) and drizzle artfully over the soup. Between the drizzle and the mint leaf garnish (which I also recommend), this recipe actually neared restaurant-quality!

Circa at Clarendon

2011-03-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

My dad called me with a last minute request for a dinner date before he left DC...wanted something American and from which we could easily drive to the airport. I suggested we try Circa at Clarendon, which recently opened and I thought warranted a try!

Bottom line: Circa is the restaurant equivalent of a politically correct lullaby.

Everything about this place was....eh. The menu is not exactly creative, but the dishes sound tasty enough. The execution also is fine, but missed the mark a bit.

I got the fennel and frisee salad, which had an anemic amount of "crispy prosciutto" and way too much radicchio (although the dressing was delish!); the butternut soup was, thematically, eh. Dining partner got the mushroom ravioli, which looked like an (albeit unoffensive) snooze-fest.

We asked for bread and got exactly 2 thin, wan slices.

And, while our waitress was a bit on the inattentive side, the plate-clearers were *entirely* too overly-aggressive. It's like they were hesitant to bring us food, but eager to take it away!

*yawn*

(portions x-posted to yelp)

Dinner tonight: Green Curry with Bok Choy

2011-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Maybe in honor of St Patrick's Day, and partly because I needed a veg-heavy meal, this week I made green curry with bok choy. LOTS of green: the curry, the bok choy, the broccoli, the mint and basil.

Again, since my grocery ginger came home moldy, I used minced bottled ginger; HT was out of serranos, so I used jalapenos instead. No Kaffir leaves either, so that go omitted, and since I use regular soy I left out the added salt. I actually splurged and bought both the mint and the basil, because this seemed like a recipe that would really be missing something without them. (Although I had forgotten to add them until after I took this picture!)

Sadly, it wasn't all that great even with the pricey fresh herb toppings. The broccoli I totally didn't get in this dish. And overall, it was just another fine recipe, certainly not a very tasty homage to green! Considering how much effort went into it, I would say, don't bother. Boo.

Dinner tonight: Jeega Shrimp and Squash

2011-03-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

I got another small, but beautiful butternut squash in my last CSA share, so I decided to try it with jheega shrimp and squash, which had been sitting, uncooked, in my recipe file for like, ever.

I added some sliced, wild mushrooms, also from the CSA, at the stage where the scallions go in, used mustard seeds instead of dry mustard, and bottled, minced ginger because the piece I brought home for HT ended up being moldy and gross.

This was fine, but not spectacular. A solid "meh." Although the flavors were a nice change of pace, definitely not something you'd normally have, unless maybe you're Indian and have a lot of things to celebrate (CL implies that this is a special occasion dish). Ironically, even though the recipe says "serve immediately," I thought it was better as leftovers. The second day of leftovers I added toasted sunflower seed because I'm training for a race and really needed the extra calories. That worked fine, but didn't really improve the dish as a whole any.

Take it or leave it. Not a CL win, but okay.

EatBar: Chicken & Waffles

2011-03-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

Death Row inmates, take note: EatBar's Chicken and Waffles is definitely last-meal-worthy.

I've been to EatBar probably a dozen times. Love the ambiance, and overall, the kitchen puts out solid food, but nothing mind-blowing.

On my most recent visit, though, I ordered the chicken and waffles. Holy plate of beauty! The waffle is light, fluffy, and maple-scented. The chicken--moist, deliciously crispy without being greasy, and in such a generous portion that it covers the entire waffle. Better still, the whole thing comes with a side of (thankfully non-bacony) collards, so you can fool yourself into thinking that it's not an entirely sinful meal. But it is...in a deliciously good way.

And, because it's at EatBar, you can totally pair this with a nice glass of wine and only feel slightly foolish about it. (x-posted to yelp.com)

What to do with creasy greens? -or- My Polyface eggs love affair comes to an end

2011-03-12T15:08:00.001-08:00

This winter, I got a share in Farm-to-Family's CSA. They're a Richmond-based coop that recently started driving their bus up to DC to bring us delicious farm goodness! I was only able to do 2 pick-ups due to travel, etc. but the two I got were fantastic! This last one, especially, was a winter's bounty. Turnips, squash, mushrooms, apples, potatoes, bibb lettuce, kale, and creasy greens. Last time around, I got the most amazing Polyface Farms (of Omnivore's Dilemma fame), one of which you saw in the last post.

I had *no* idea what to do with creasy greens, and apparently neither did google or any of my facebook friends (okay, google had a few suggestions, but they all seemed to include ham hock. Ick.). Raw, they have a really delayed spiciness...kind of like if you combined watercress and horseradish. I decided (mostly because I was only cooking for myself) to cook off the cuff. Here's what I did:

Sauteed ~1 cup sliced onions until tender. Added the greens (2 bunches, chopped into 3 inch long pieces with the thicker stems removed) and a touch of water, sauteed until wilted. Finished with a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I served the greens over Israeli couscous dressed with a tiny bit of olive oil and topped it all with my last, delicious Polyface egg. I really hoped to have a good picture for you guys, but, as usual, I screwed up and ended up breaking the yolk, so it's a bit of a mess.

But...yum! The greens were much less harsh cooked, and really were fairly indistinguishable from spinach in texture and taste. And if you haven't ever had a fried egg over pasta and greens, I totally recommend it because it's amazing. Of course, I'm partial to yolk, esp. local yolk (say that 3 times fast!) but still.

I ended up eating all the greens (read: 2 entire plants) in one sitting, but I figured it was okay because a) they cook down a lot and b) it's totally okay to overeat when it's on greens.

Sadly, I won't be able to do F2F this spring due to logistical issues, but I highly recommend it if you're looking for a CSA in the DC area! Suzi and Mark are super nice, and I think it's one of the best deals around.

Dinner tonight: Eggs Poached in Curried Tomato Sauce

2011-03-10T14:59:00.001-08:00

Oh you guys. Yuuuuum. Last night (and the night before) I had eggs poached in curried tomato sauce. It was so fantastically delicious, and so different from the usual dinner. Shown here made with a Polyface egg and kale chips, both from my Farm to Family CSA (more on that in the next post)!

I used veg oil instead of peanut, prepared minced ginger instead of fresh, and threw in some sriracha instead of jalapeno...the one I bought at the store never made it home, somehow. I'm just hoping it's not in some corner of my trunk rotting. I also prepared sans English muffins, since I had already eaten way too many carbs both days.

This is not a beginner recipe. It requires a fair amount of active cooking, and it's tough to cook the eggs just right. The second time I made the egg (made all the tomato sauce at once, but cooked the eggs each night) I was waiting for the yolk to cloud over and kind of cooked the white a bit too much (see picture above). But still, it was delicious...the runny yolky goodness mixing with the coconut milk and tomato was unexpectedly fantastic.

I do, however, think the recipe could be even better. The sauce is so bold that it really overpowers the egg. I think this would be better a) with salmon, or b) with lentils and over basmati rice. Let me know if you try either variation. I may at some point too...I'm already craving more curried tomato sauce!

Dinner tonight: Black bean and chicken chilaquiles

2011-03-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

I have been craving Mexican for like 2 weeks now, so Sunday night I decided to try to satiate the yen with some home-cooked black bean and chicken chilaquiles. Probably much healthier and way fewer calories than going out, plus there was no endless bowl of chips and salsa to feel guilty about the next day. (Sadly, there were also no margaritas!)

As usual, I made some substitutions, some intentional, some not. I didn't put in chicken at all, because I had no desire to shred two cups of chicken breast, and it felt like a flexitarian sort of day. I couldn't find salsa de chile fresco, so I bought "salsa ranchero," which came in the same size can and looked sufficient. The cheese is a longer story (feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't care. :) ). The HT by me, to my knowledge, does not carry queso blanco. At the store, I did a quick search on my phone to see what it was and what I could sub. Wikipedia said it's a soft, creamy, mild white cheese, so I thought at first that the Mexican-flavored Laughing Cow I had at home would suffice. Upon further research at home, though, I learned that it wouldn't...the appropriate substitute for queso blanco is Monterrey Jack, which I didn't have at home. I didn't feel like going back to the store, so on the way home from a movie before dinner P and I swung by Whole Foods. They had the jack, but they *also* had queso blanco! I was torn. In the end, I went the lazy cheapskate route and bought the pre-shredded MJ. It was made by cows who have been treated humanely, of course.

Yummy, yum, yum. P made a good point that this is essentially "Mexican lasagna." Comforting, easy to assemble, and totally fulfilled my Mexican craving. The flavors were nice and dark and smoky, and it was super-carby with the tortilla and beans. The one thing I would change is maybe put ~1/4 cup more broth in it...it was a teensy bit dry for me.

Sorry. No picture. Camera was AWOL. Nice pic on the CL site though!

Lamb Sliders

2011-03-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm not going to say much other than here it is, the much-requested and long-await recipe for lamb sliders! I promise you, these are awesome. Some even said the best burgers they've ever had. The chutney is basically a riff off of CL's peach chutney recipe, modified to thicken enough to top a burger. Enjoy, readers!

Recipe makes 6 servings, 2 sliders per serving

For chutney:

1 pound diced, peeled peaches

¾ cup finely chopped red onion

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 ½ tablespoons minced, peeled ginger

1 tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeno

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

For sliders:

2 pounds ground lamb

½ cup grated yellow onion

3 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:

12 thick mini pitas

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

To prepare chutney:

Combine first seven ingredients (peaches through jalapeno) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer 20 min. Uncover and simmer another 15-20 min, or until liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.

To prepare sliders:

Combine all ingredients (lamb through salt) in a large bowl. Divide into 12 equal portions, and form into flat, thin patties, slightly indenting the center with thumb. Cook (grill or broil) patties 3-4 min per side, or until desired degree of doneness.

Open pita into two halves. Spread 1 teaspoon yogurt inside the top half of each mini pita. Place one mini Medi on the bottom half of each pita; top with generous helping of chutney, pinch of cilantro (about one teaspoon ), and top half of pita.

Moroccan feast!

2011-03-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I've been uber-busy and just returned from a week in the culinary wasteland of Jacksonville, NC, so I haven't had any time or inspiration to blog. In fact, I really shouldn't be writing this right now, but it's a good excuse to procrastinate from my take-home midterm. :)

Nearly two weeks ago now, P and I had Emily, Courtney, Ashleigh, Rob, and Mandy over for a Moroccan feast. I felt I had really been neglecting my friends, and this was the perfect way to make it up to them!

Mandy supplied grape leaves and baklava for apps, courtesy of Astor Cafe. Dinner was lamb tagine with prunes, kesra (Moroccan flat bread), and crunchy country salad (seen here modeled by the lovely Mandy!), all courtesy of Modern Moroccan.

I was worried there wasn't enough lamb, so I also threw together a side of warm bulgur, cooked with some grated orange peel and orange juice, mixed with toasted pine nuts and parsley.

Overall, it was a pretty good dinner. The lamb was super tender, although I had to uncover and turn up the heat substantially at the end to get the sauce to reduce down to wear I wanted it. I also added a bit more honey for flavor. I think we did something wrong with the yeast in making the kesra, because it seemed a bit heavy and never rose as much as I think it should have. That said, it was still pretty delicious...kind of like a slightly sweet soda bread. P did a great job kneading the dough! The crunchy salad was also pretty good, although we didn't think it really went with the lamb (as the recipe book said it would). I used half regular olive oil, half Meyer lemon olive oil, to pump up the lemon flavor. The bulgur salad was fine, but nothing special. But I'm glad we had the extra dish to make sure no one went hungry!

Dessert was an amazing mocha ice cream that Emily and Courtney made from scratch. I paired it with a cardamom chocolate bundt cake, with adapting a recipe from CL.

The best part of dinner, though, was of course, the company!

Birch and Barley

2011-02-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely double date this weekend with Audrey and Jon, our fellow foodie/bloggers at Birch and Barley. This was inspired mostly by a promise from one of the chefs there (who Audrey and Jon are acquainted with) to treat us to something special when we went.

Highlights (besides spending time with A&J) were seeing Greg Engert do his thing, pigs headcheese (yes, I really said that), pork belly, and dessert. Overall, though, we were fairly disappointed by the restaurant--I'd give it a 6/10, max.

We kind of ordered all over the menu:
*Charcuterie board -- a little stingy with the bread, I didn't really partake except to try the terrine and the pigs headcheese, the latter of which was really very good, provided you don't think about what's in it.
*Pork belly app -- the pork belly itself was delicious, if slightly chewy, but the scallion pancake was hard and dry. The slaw was dressed nicely with some sesame oil, but overall underwhelming.
* Arctic char tartare -- this was way more fun to say than it was to eat. A bit tart and missing something, and weird that it tasted like a sour cream and onion potato chip--heavy on the chive, for sure.
* Polenta with mushrooms -- not bad, and I liked the use of more unusual mushroom varieties, but the dish really lacked acid.
* Beet risotto with goat cheese whip -- we didn't get this dish at all. The colors were unappealing and it was almost entirely flavorless.
*A&J got the brat burger and the trout. I didn't try either, but the brat burger was huge and looked yummy. J said the trout was a bit buttery, but pretty good overall.
*Fig, gorgonzola and prosciutto flatbread -- this was a treat from the chef. Not bad, actually better than a lot of our dishes, but the dough was a bit fluffy, bland, and white for my taste. I think the others liked it better.

Dessert stole the show. We shared the sampler, which was super yummy and creative, and were treated to a citrus-y panna cotta-type dish which was also delicious.

Overall, I'd say save your money. You're actually better off at Rustico, if you're willing to go to Arlington or Alexandria for good food and moderately upscale American fare. And I'm not just saying that because I heart Rustico. :) (portions x-posted to Yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Thyme Scented White Bean Cassoulet

2011-02-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

So I know I rarely make the same recipe twice. Even when I do, it's usually just that--twice. Thyme-scented white bean cassoulet, however, I make about once a year. I just think it's such a delicious, comforting recipe when it's cold out, and since it uses the slow cooker it's great for day I don't want to have to come home and cook. And I heart cassoulet!

Ordinarily, I make this as-is, but sans the sausage. I fully intended to this time as well, but I had a little snafu with the vegetable broth. I had some in my freezer that I didn't remember to take out until the night before. I did and put it on the counter to defrost, planning on moving to the fridge before I went to bed. Of course, I forgot, so when I woke up the next morning the carton was sitting on the counter, probably full of nascent little microscopic nasties. So, I tossed the broth and used water instead, using 2 bay leaves instead of one to compensate. Honestly, you couldn't tell the difference. And P and I were saved a possible night of misery.

If you're looking for a hearty-yet-healthy slow cooker recipe, definitely make this. SO good. And it has so many vegetables and is so satisfying, it's really a one-pot dish.

1000 HITS!!

2011-02-19T14:15:00.001-08:00

You guys. This is very exciting. Probably not for you, but for me. We've officially reached 1000 hits to my silly little blog! Thanks so much for checking in and reading reviews, and esp to Shenan and Pat for commenting so regularly! You will all be richly rewarded next week when I share the highly coveted mini-lamb burger recipe I created last summer. But before that, we have several new blog posts in the making for this weekend--a weekeday dinner, Birch and Barley, and a Moroccan feast!

Thanks everyone. This totally made my day!

The More You Know: Graham Crackers

2011-02-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

So I just learned an interesting food-related factoid. I always thought that graham crackers were just made with a particular recipe, like Ritz crackers or water crackers. TURNS OUT, they are actually made with graham flour. I also had no idea what graham flour was, so I did what all well-educated researchers do and went to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_flour). It's actually a bastardized version of wheat flour, where they grind all the parts of the wheat separately and then mix them all together again...why, I have no idea, unless the grinder is getting paid by the hour or something.

In any event, there you have it. Graham crackers come from graham flour, which does not, however, come from the graham plant.

You're welcome. :)

Dinner Tonight: Haddock with Romesco Sauce and Spinach-Asiago Ramekins

2011-02-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not even going to pretend that I "modified" the recipes used for last night's dinner. Really, I just kind of used Sauteed Halibut with Romesco Sauce and Individual Spinach-Asiago Gratins as guides.

Halibut is disgustingly expensive--$16/lb at the HT! So I chose to use haddock instead, at $9/lb. Because haddock is a pretty delicate fish, and because I don't use non-stick skillets or a ton of butter/oil (so when I pan-cook fish half of it ends up fused to the pan :( ), I chose to broil instead. 6 min on a foil-lined baking sheet.

The fish was nice and light, and the romesco sauce (which I did make according to the recipe--except subbed ~1/4 tsp ancho chile powder for an actual chile and made 3/4 the amount) was freaking fantastic. I want to put this sauce on everything. Seriously, if it wasn't for the fact that it gives you major raw garlic breath, I might eat this stuff every day. You MUST try it!

We had the fish and romesco over whole wheat couscous, and accompanied by a spinach-asiago side. I followed the first part of the gratin recipe, up to the wilted spinach (I just used leftover baby spinach). Then I just mixed in S&P, a dash of nutmeg, and some finely chopped asiago (also leftover from other recipes), put in ramekins, topped with a tiny bit of panko, and broiled for two min. This was good, something a little different from regular sauteed spinach. The only bummer was that the spinach cooked way down and we ended up with pretty stingy veg portions. Which is sad, because we know how much I love vegetables.

Bottom-line assessment is that dinner was a reasonable success, even if I did not follow instructions! Also: make the romesco. Yuuuu-uuuuum.

Kinkead's

2011-02-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

I had a groupon and we love fish, so P and I celebrated Valentine's Day at Kinkead's. Although the ambiance was a bit stifled (no background music!) and the kitchen was slooooow, the food was absolutely delicious.

We were seated at 8 and ordered shortly after, but our dinners didn't arrive until over an hour later. Fortunately, there was some pretty fantastic bread to snack on--the soda bread, which was slightly sweet and studded with rye, was dense without being heavy and so freaking yummy. It's a good thing we only got two pieces of it, because otherwise I definitely would have spoiled my dinner. Pat liked the cornbread too, but the rustic wheat was just okay. A little salty.

Pat started with some Northumberland oysters which he said were very fresh, and conveniently pre-separated from the shell. For entrees, he had the mahi mahi with pesto, I had the pepita-crusted salmon, and we split some garlic sauteed spinach. The presentation was beautiful, and the portions were really generous. Overall, the food wasn't very refined, but it was really very good. The salmon, in particular, was delicious, if just slightly overdone and a tad salty for my taste. It tasted like New Mexico, and all of the components just worked beautifully. Actually, it was surprisingly innovative for being a staple entree at a rather old-school restaurant. I ended up eating the just-okay rustic bread anyways, because I needed something to sop up the sauce left on my plate! Pat was happy with his mahi too, although we really didn't think the addition of gigantes made sense, and my dish was definitely the winner.

Dessert was also a win. Out of character, we each ordered our own dessert (probably because Pat actually wanted to have a chance to have more than one bite before I devoured the whole thing :) ). I got the carrot cake, which was served as pinwheels with a boozy but super-yummy rum raisin ice cream. Pat got a chocolate espresso mousse pyramid with a brownie base. Again, we cleaned our plates.

I think I would say that Kinkead's is probably a good starter restaurant for new foodies. They put out some delicious, higher-end food, but plates that are still generous, approachable, and well-executed. (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Kale and Apple Salad with Pancetta and Candied Pecans

2011-02-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

The Sterretts had us over for dinner last night; Lee made an awesome sausage, spinach, white bean, and pasta soup (which he says he got from Rachel Ray, amazingly), we were responsible for the salad.

I made Food and Wine's kale and apple salad with pancetta and candied pecans, minus the pancetta (since we were having meat in the soup, I thought it was not really necessary)...and the tarragon, because I thought I had some in my spice rack but I didn't. Also...I made just a fraction of the pecans, using what I had on hand.

This was a really great winter salad, if you're okay eating raw kale (which, when you slice it small, is not that bad). It takes quite a bit of prep, including lots of chopping--even if you do have a mandoline. That said, I think it's totally worth the effort. Nice crunch and balance of sweet, vinegary, salty. The dressing seems really weird from the list of ingredients, but somehow it works really well (even without the pancetta grease). I cut back on the oil a bit to save calories.

No pic, but trust me, it actually looks just like the photo online. Excellent salad for winter entertaining!

Dinner tonight: Beef with Spicy Cocoa Gravy; Autumn Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

2011-02-04T17:30:00.001-08:00

P was out of town this week and I realized with my travel I hadn't seen the girls in nearly a month, so I had Ashleigh and Mandy over for dinner. I rarely make red meat (mostly because I don't want to be eating beef leftovers for the next three days), but I have a ton of beef recipes in my little accordion folder, so I figured this would be a good chance to use one! We had beef with spicy cocoa gravy, served over brown rice, and autumn salad with red wine vinaigrette (which I called winter salad because, well, it's winter).

The beef was not bad. I left out the green bell pepper because it didn't seem like it fit to me, but otherwise cooked it as it. The sauce thickened nicely, especially if you leave it uncovered for the last 15 min. However, as the other reviewers on the CL website pointed out, the cut of meat was a little too lean to get "tender"...it was a bit chewy. Also, although there are lots of spices, the sauce was a far cry from being spicy. If you want it spicy, I'd recommend you throw in some ground red pepper, or maybe a bird chile.

The salad was simple, but a nice contrast to the heavy, dark meat dish. I made half the recipe, so only used 1 apple and the romaine (omitting the salad greens and Asian pear). Not a stunner, but a solid salad.

Bonus factoid: When I went to buy top round at HT, I couldn't find a big enough piece on the shelves. When I asked if they had any bigger pieces, the butcher said, "Yeah. They're called London broil." Apparently it's the same cut, just thicker.
You're welcome. :)

Fire Works

2011-02-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

We went to Fire Works last weekend for a relatively low-key dinner...Pat had heard good reviews of the one out in the 'burbs, and we thought the new one in Courthouse was a good chance for us to try it out for ourselves!

It was crowded and noisy when we got there at 8:30 on a Friday...kind of like the new Rustico in Ballston, but a bit less pricey. Overall it wasn't bad...I'd give it 3.5 stars for food, 4 for service.

Pat started with the fire roasted olives, which came with very strong reviews from a foodie friend of his, and honestly were the reason we went here in the first place. He like them (he ate the whole dish worth of olives), so they couldn't have been bad, but they failed to live up to the hype. I chose not to partake because olives are one of, if not the top ranked, item in my trinity of hated foods, so I can't personally confirm. We ordered a Mediterranean pizza to split, with red onion, spinach, feta, and lamb sausage (red sauce and mozz as well). I'm not a huge fan of meat on my pizza in general, but I have to say that this was pretty good! Pat got his half without feta, and was underwhelmed until he tried a bite with it. It was definitely one of those things where, when you got a bite that had a little bit of all the components, it worked. The pizza was overall solid, but did not blow me away (like, say, Pupatella, or the now extinct duck-brie-and-cracklin' at the aforementioned Rustico). The crust had a nice flavor and thickness, although it was the tiniest bit undercooked.

Wine selection was decent for a restaurant that prides itself on its beers. And our waitress was a doll, I don't think either of us ever had an empty glass, or felt either rushed or impatient. I'd definitely still chose Rustico over Fire Works, but if you live closer to the latter, this is not a bad option (and you'll walk away with a smaller tab, for sure)! (portions x-posted to yelp)

Dinner tonight: Rice Congee Soup (Jook)

2011-02-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

Oh you guys. Despite the gross-sounding name (it kind of sounds like a Chinese word for gruel), this jook was SO GOOD. Pat said, "I could eat this every day."

I had had congee before, and I may have even made this exact recipe years ago, but I'm pretty sure I omitted the meat last time. This is a great, great comforting dish for cold rainy/snowy/freezing-death-rain weather like we've been having lately. I also think it's a nice sub for chicken noodle soup, which, judging from all the sniffling I've heard in class and at work lately, would probably come in handy too.

Some notes on execution:
1. I used brown rice (still long grain) because I prefer using whole grains whenever possible. I wasn't sure it was going to work out...it did, but it took about an hour longer. I also increased the heat a bit and every so often mashed around in the soup to break down the rice and thicken it up. I also cooked it for the last half hour uncovered.
2. HT didn't have "fresh turkey wing," so I used a smoked one. Can I just say that if I ever need to feed a family with pennies a day, they will be eating nothing but turkey wings. This thing was bigger than my head and cost, I kid you not, 68 cents. However, if you use a smoked wing like I did, omit the salt completely. I used half the amount in the recipe, and it still came out pretty salty--which means you can't top with soy sauce, which I like to do with congee. I took the turkey wing out after 1.5 hours, shredded up the meat, and then threw it back into the soup for the remaining cook-time.
3. I wanted some greens, and I saw Chinese celery in the store which I had never seen before buy thought was worth a try. Put in a little less than half the bunch, leaves to stems, chopped into 1-inch-sized pieces. I bet this would be a great way to get people who don't like veggies to eat them, because after 2.5 hrs the celery had essentially disintegrated into the soup and, aside from some green color, was totally indistinguishable.
4. Didn't even bother with all the fixin's.

Served this with some frozen stir fry veggies, dressed with a rice vinegar/soy/honey sauce.

Highly, highly recommend you make this while it's still butt-ass cold outside. It might even improve your spirits--Pat said leftovers for lunch were the highlight of his day. Which is both awesome and sad at the same time.

Dining in Hawaii -- Part II (Kohnotori and Kaka'ako Kitchen)

2011-01-30T11:11:00.000-08:00

Our second night in Hawaii was a true success--this rec came courtesy of Yola, and we knew it was going to be good when our drive there took us out of the touristy district and we were the only white people in the restaurant! Kohnotori is the type of place where you order different small bites off of a sushi-style menu, and practically everything is grilled by one guy on the other side of the bar. I'm a sucker for tons of small dishes, and Kohnotori did not disappoint! We ordered: watercress salad with a sesame dressing; Japanese seaweed, in a vinegary sauce;

a chicken breast skewer with a shiso leaf, Chinese hot mustard and some other sauce--kind of like a savory plum; bacon-wrapped quail eggs (these were fun and creamy, although I think the bacon overpowered the eggs a bit); beef skewer with teriyaki;

grilled asparagus (which obviously went fast, since there's only one piece left in the picture :) ); grilled rice with miso (not bad, although I'm not sure I was a fan of chewy, crunchy rice); and fried garlic.

The garlic needed a bit more sauce, but in general, everything was cooked perfectly and super tasty! We left satiated, though certainly not stuffed, and only spent $13 each! Yay for local dining.

Our final evening in Waikiki was a Monday. We had really hoped to try the Green Door Cafe, which a Malaysian restaurant with no joke like 4 tables. Sadly, it was closed, as was Indigo across the street. So, we went with Kaka'ako Kitchen, which Jenn says is where all the chefs go to eat after work. I think maybe this was a case where I went in with too-high expectations. We were expecting a casual restaurant, but this was more like a higher-end fast food place. They had your standard wraps and salads, but I decided to go with one of the local favorites--shoyu chicken, with a side of brown rice and 'Nalo greens (pictured below). Although the dressing for the greens (which were just lettuce) was not bad, the rice was totally bland and the chicken had WAY too much sugar in it. Honestly, it tasted similar to the bourbon chicken they hand out at samples at mall Chinese restaurants. Ick.

All in all, I'd say we were 1.5:4 for HI successes. A bit disappointing, but probably a reason I managed to not gain 10 lbs during our trip! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dining in Hawaii -- Part I (Royal Kitchen and Sansei)

2011-01-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

This January, during a snow storm back in DC, I managed to score a work trip to Hawaii that included a weekend. Besides tanning and hiking, my intrepid travel companion Laura and I sought to try as many recommendations from locals and recent travelers as work permitted. Although we visited both Oahu and the Big Island, we spent the most time on Oahu.

Overall, I'm sorry to report we were fairly disappointed. Maybe we (okay, I) set our expectations too high. We had one good meal, one so-so, and two real disappointments. Since it's a rather lengthy post, I made it a two-parter (I know, the suspense!).

We landed in Honolulu too early to check into our hotel and starving, so we decided to check out Royal Kitchen, which allegedly has the best baked buns in the city, modeled off the traditional Asian steamed buns (which I *heart*!). Super cheap at $1.10 each and huge (the size of your palm), but overall pretty dull. I got the kalua pork and black sugar buns, Laura got the Portuguese sausage and purple sweet potato. The black sugar was kind of interesting, like a moist, slightly smoky/savory sugar. But in general, the buns were bland. It was such a bummer!

The first night we went to Sansei, in the downtown Waikiki Marriott. My impression of this area overall was like a mix of Disney World, Ocean City, and Vegas, so I guess I should not have been surprised that our dinner was just okay. It was *fine,* but that's it. Read my review on yelp here, pictures below of the sushi and the beef and udon. Honestly, I was more impressed with the tropical fruit crepe we had down the street afterward.

To be continued!!!

Cupcakes (IMHO)!

2011-01-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

So, after last night, I think I can safely say that I've tried most of the DC metro area's cupcakeries. I can also honestly say that, in general, they're a bit of a disappointment. Of course, my initial foray into the delicious world of fun-flavored, personal-sized (although in some cases this is a bit of an understatement!) cakes was Georgetown Cupcake, so the others had a LOT to live up to by comparison. In any event, here is my assessment of DC's cupcakes, ranked from best to worst (Note that there are huge gaps between some of these, even though they're ranked sequentially. E.g., 1-3 are MUCH BETTER than 4&5). In my honest opinion.

1. Georgetown Cupcake. Amazing. Moist, the perfect amount of frosting, and a fun little charm of some sort on top. The first time I tried them, I have 4 over the course of 3 days. :) These are TOTALLY worth waiting in line for, although smarter people would order ahead so you can skip the line. Also, they give out a secret flavor free cupcake every day if you know what to ask for!

2. Buzz Bakery. There aren't as many flavors, and I believe only one type of frosting (GTown does some cream cheese, some buttercream), but moist, a good size, and yummy. Their signature one has a bee flying overhead. Slater lane is a bit far, but fortunately a Buzz is set to open near me soon (allegedly, although the sign has been up for like a year now...)!

3. Hello Cupcake. These cupcakes are way bigger than the GTown ones. A bit too much frosting, and I think not as moist or flavorful as my first and second rankings. But the best in the actual District, from the ones I've tried.

4. Crumbs. Eh. We had these last night, a new loca just opened up in Clarendon. Pro is that they come in multiple sizes, from little mini ones to a ginormous, $35 cupcake. But trust me, you don't want that much. The cake and the frosting both taste a little too commercial, with not a ton of flavor. Even with our fun choices of peanut butter cup and grasshopper, we were underwhelmed, to say the least. Chocolate cake should be moist and fudgey, not generally bland.

5. Red Velvet. I think these are the worst. Dry, dry, dry.

Of course, I welcome your own assessments and/or additions to the list!

Dining in Okinawa

2011-01-22T00:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, guys, I really wanted to have some food porn for this post, but I figured we were already drawing enough attention to ourselves when we walked into a restaurant without taking pictures of everything. So, you will just have to use your imaginations!

Highlights of our Okinawan dining included:
- Squid ink curry at Nepal Spice Kitchen, with absolutely divine, buttery naan (although the curry was pretty stingy with only 2 shrimps swimming in the delicious blackness)
- The most AMAZING, juicy, tender shrimp surrounded in a nest of stringy fried something or other, dressed with a rice vinaigrette at some random restaurant in some tiny village in the northern part of the island
- Bagna cauda (anchovy and olive oil dip) with lots of delicious grilled vegetables (some of the first I had been able to snag all week) at Transit Cafe

Low points included:
- Lunch at Subway, lunch at Macaroni Grille (not of our own volition!)
- Way too many granola and protein bars
- Way too many rice crackers (okay, these were actually really yummy, but not really a substitute for a meal...)

Sadly, we didn't make it to a Japanese supermarket while we were there, and couldn't find delicious, fluffy Japanese bread anywhere.

Next stop, Honolulu, and lots of pictures, I promise!

Dinner tonight: Tuscan Pork Tenderloin

2011-01-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Weekday dinner this week was Tuscan pork tenderloin with steamed asparagus and crusty baguette. This was SO good. I'm not a huge fan of pig products in general (with the exception of prosciutto, which I'm pretty sure I could eat for every meal of every day), but it was time for a change from fish/shellfish and there was a pork tenderloin in my freezer that was in danger of being lost forever behind some frozen dinners and espresso vodka if I didn't use it soon.

The only change I made to this recipe was using regular balsamic instead of white. As usual, I just didn't see the point of spending a chunk of change on something I had in a different form just because it might make it a little prettier.

In general, I have issues with pork tenderloin. It NEVER cooks in the time it's supposed to. And I don't mean, like, it takes a couple min longer. I mean, it took DOUBLE the amount of time in the oven it should have. And still didn't develop that "crust" they talk about in the recipe introduction. Thankfully, Pat got me a cute little digital meat thermometer for Christmas, so I knew the pork was nowhere near the 155 degrees it was supposed to be after 17 min. Otherwise...we would probably both be in bed with trichinosis right now. About 35ish minutes after I put the pork in the oven, it was finally ready to then sit for *another* 10 minutes before we could eat.

That said, when the pork finally was ready, it was delicious. Incredibly tender, and I think all of the flavors worked really nicely together, and were perfect for this time of year. The only thing I might change is to try to crush the fennel seeds a bit more...maybe pulse them in a spice grinder a couple times. Oh, and cut back on the salt a bit. As you can see from the pic, it was a really beautiful dish. I even think it was company-worthy. And still low enough in calories that you can splurge on a piece of bread or two and a glass of wine!

Dinner tonight: Vegetarian Country Captain

2011-01-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

All things considered, I've been pretty good about following recipes recently, so I decided it was time to *really* bastardize one. The poor dinner victim of my whimsy was vegetarian country captain. Incidentally, I think CL features some version of country captain chicken in the mag about once a year, but the calorie stats are always too high so I had never tried it before.

Where to begin? I actually did pretty well until we get to the edamame. For some reason, I just can't get into edamame. I mean, it's fine, but it really doesn't excite me. And I kind of thought the green might take away from the aesthetic of the dish (ok, that's totally a lie, but it sounds good, right?). I replaced the edamame with a peeled, cubed, acorn squash (made ~2 cups). I left out the rice completely but I didn't want the calories, and I also left out the almonds for the same reason. They probably would have added a nice crunch, though. Instead of currants I used raisins, because that's what I had on hand. No cilantro or green onions, because my grocery cart was pretty full without them! With all the subs/changes, I calculated that the dish clocked in around 260ish calories per serving. Which honestly I'm much more comfortable with than the almost 500 as written!

Another decent dish from CL. It took about three times the posted minutes for the cauliflower to get tender, but when it was done it was fairly tasty. Maybe a bit sweet for some, but comforting and warm, albeit a little mushy (sans almonds). As with most stews, it was significantly better after sitting in the fridge for a day. I'd be willing to bet, with almonds and cilantro, it would have been a really good dish, actually. Either way, now I have most of a jar of mango chutney that needs to find some uses (yum)!

Dinner tonight: Pan-Fried Tofu with Spicy Lemongrass Sauce

2011-01-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, readers, I'm a bit behind with my recipe reviews, and I need to clean out my queue before I regale you with stories of travel feasting in the near future. I will try my best this week. First up, pan-fried tofu with spicy lemongrass sauce!

So, I know a lot of people don't like tofu. I'm not really sure why...it kind of reminds me of a square omelet, and it's fun when it's crunchy on the outside. Plus, you can pair it with pretty much any sauce, although I'm partial to ones with a bit of sweetness in them. This recipe was good for both the crunch and the sweet, although I had a little bit of issue with each.

First, the crunch. This would have totally worked if I actually owned a non-stick pan. I don't, because I don't want whatever diseases Teflon is supposedly imparting this week, and I'm too cheap to buy myself a nice cast-iron skillet...as with pretty much all nice cooking supplies, I think these are best reserved for a wedding registry. With my non-non-stick pan, all the crunchiness (get ready for it) STUCK to the pan. And not to the tofu. In theory though, this would have worked with the right tools.

Second, the sweet. This sauce was actually a bit too sweet. I used a tad bit less sugar than the recipe called for, and it was still too sweet. Granted, I also didn't use the chile because Thai chiles scare me, and maybe the sweetness would have balanced out the spiciness had there been any. If you also omit the spiciness, though, I recommend reducing the sugar to half. And maybe adding a touch of rice vinegar?

The other weird thing was the texture of the lemongrass, which was, well, grassy.

All of these caveats aside, though, the dish was pretty decent, and with the low calorie states (180 per serving), I ate 1.5 servings and was nicely satiated. I served this over steamed/sauteed baby bok choi, the slight bitterness of which also helped temper the sweetness.

Captain obvious, signing off.

Dinner tonight: Flounder Rolls with Cherry Tomatoes and Spinach

2011-01-08T06:34:00.001-08:00

As part of our continued effort to detox from holiday binging, this week I made flounder rolls with cherry tomatoes and spinach. Also, Pat loves panko, so this was a chance for me to use it (for some inexplicable reason, it's so much more fun to use this than breadcrumbs. Maybe it just feels more exotic?).

I rarely make flounder, so I was excited when I saw it on sale on the Teeter website! Sadly, when I got to the fish counter, the fish guy told me it was gross and he refused to sell it. So we went with tilapia. I made half the recipe, but with the full amount of spinach and tomatoes--I used the correct proportion of tomatoes in the stuffing, so it didn't get too mushy, but the remainder of tomatoes were baked with the fish.

The recipe looks complicated, but it only took ~40 min of prep work, since there's not much chopping involved. Rolling the fish was surprisingly easy, and the oven time gave me a chance to set the table, wash the spinach and cook it so that everything was ready at the same time. Also, the dish is a pretty complete in and of itself, so we just paired it with a crusty baguette and meyer lemon olive oil for dipping (a Xmas present from the 'rents!).

Overall, not bad. The stuffing was yummy, but the fish was a little bland. I think next time I would sprinkle some Old Bay on top (since you really couldn't taste the OB in the stuffing anyway). Probably would have been better with flounder, had it not been so gross it was unsellable...

Vegetables are fun!

2011-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

This is only tangentially food related, but really, I couldn't help myself. Look at how much fun salad is (at least for women who are alone)! Read the comments...I laughed so hard I cried.

In other vegetable-related news, I wanted to take a quick moment to tell you all how amazing kale is.
First off, it makes awesome guilt-free "chips" when you need to snack on a whole buttload of something crunchy but don't want to hate yourself afterward (remove stems and chop, spray with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle with salt, bake at 350 degress for ~15 min).
Second, it's incredibly cheap. You can buy a giant produce bag's worth for like 60 cents.
Finally, IT LASTS FOREVER. Seriously, I bought some nearly three weeks ago to make some of the aforementioned kale chips. I ended up not using all of it, and it hung out in the refrigerator veg bin until this past Saturday, when I thought it might be a good idea to finally throw it out. When I pulled out the bag, the kale was still good (except for one leaf)! So I roasted some more kale with a CL recipe (which I will not share because it calls for way too hot of an oven and the kale burned).

Hooray for veggies!

Le Bernadin (NYC)

2011-01-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, full disclosure here--Pat and I went up to NYC this past week *explicitly* for the purposes of dining at Le Bernadin. We braved 7 hours of traffic, snow drifts, giant slushy puddles, and even--seriously--frost nip to eat at Eric Ripert's 3-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant. I think, overall, it was worth it. Except that I totally missed my celeb chef sighting by, like 5 minutes. That was a bummer.

The service was impeccable, even from the get-go. The hostess practically walked me into a stall when I inquired where the bathrooms were. *Everyone* there has a French accent. And there was a little cute bench for my purse to sit on beside our table. Yes. Even my PURSE felt the Le Ber love!

We went with the Chef's Tasting Menu, which ordinarily is the more expensive of the two tastings, but because it was the holiday season, they decided to replace the cheaper option with an even pricier holiday tasting menu. Which probably should have come with an application for a reverse mortgage. Just saying.

In any event, the food was flawlessly cooked and very interesting. The wait staff used all the right words: "caviar," "sea urchin," "langoustine," "foie," "squid ink tapioca." The bread was delicious and offered generously, which is sometimes unusual in a restaurant of this caliber. My biggest complaint I think is that Chef's unusual food combinations sometimes led to elements being overshadowed. The caviar and sea urchin were difficult to distinguish in a parmesan sauce; the chorizo sauce overpowered a white fish. He apparently also likes to pair seafood with mushrooms, which, although sometimes bizarre, worked more often than not. A personal favorite was squid stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and accompanied by two teeny tiny fried squid babies. There were, of course, a gazillion things on the regular menu that didn't make it onto the tasting that I would have loved to try: to wit, "Charred Octopus; Fermented Black Bean - Pear Sauce Vierge, Ink - Miso Vinaigrette; Purple Basil" and "Barely Cooked Organic Salmon; Braised Burgundy Snails; Heirloom Potatoes; Sweet Garlic Parsley and Pernod Scented Sauce." I'd say I'll try those next time, but let's be honest. Unless I win the lottery (yes, I did buy tickets) or the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes (which I also, sadly, entered), there's not going to be a next time.

The wine pairings were fine, but not memorable. Although the sommelier's Flava-Flav chain totally was. :) Unexpectedly, and to my delight, the desserts shined. From "pre-dessert" to tiny finishing cookies (and the *two* desserts in between), there was not a crumb left on my plate. If it's possible to just have dessert at Le Ber, I would recommend it if you're not up for the full deal.

And finally, THANK YOU to my amazing partner in gluttony for taking this trip with me and for footing the bill, and to Andrew for taking the plunge with us! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Torrisi Italian Specialties (NYC)

2011-01-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

Joe, who has never steered me wrong when it comes to food, suggested we go to Torrisi for a last-minute dinner reunion. This place is an Italian deli during the day, but turns into a small, first-come-first-served dinner at night. At 6:15, we managed to snag the very last spot in the place--a three-person window booth, perfect our party!

Because I am quite possibly the worst decision-maker of all time (not that I make bad decisions, I just can't bring myself to make any in the first place), Torrisi's menu is perfect. Everything is already decided for you, with the exception of the entree, for which you have only two options. And the wine selection is also small, but clearly developed by someone who knows wine--even the one we chose, one of the cheapest on the menu, was delicious!

We started with four antipasti to share. First was a giant ball of house-made mozzarella with a few small garlic toasts. I'm not really a huge fan of mozzarella, but this was phenomenal. Very flavorful, not too airy or too gummy. The bread was a bit salty, but overall--YUM. The other apps were okay, but did not hold a candle to the cheese: a beet and apple salad with fried brussels sprouts leaves (decent), halibut dressed with balsamic (too fishy for me), and a pickled lamb tongue and celery salad with a black peppercorn vinaigrette that I thought was kind of slimy and not that good.

Next was the pasta course. With the exception of it also being over salted, it was pretty freaking amazing. I could have eaten a mixing bowl full of this, provided it came with a gallon of water. The pasta was PERFECTLY cooked, and the "dirty duck ragu" that topped it was tender and divine.

For my entree, I ordered the grilled pork chop with sauteed bell peppers. This was incredibly flavorful. Its only flaw was that the chop was very fatty. Pat ordered the skate with a tarragon, lemon and butter sauce, which was a bit buttery for his taste but cooked to perfection. I had no idea skate could be quite so tender and sweet.

To clean our palates, the waiter brought out tiny paper cups of lemon Italian ices, and our dessert was an assortment of bite-sized Italian petit-fours. These were all good, and generous considering there were six or seven different types (three of each so we didn't have to fight over them). Neither Joe nor Pat seemed wowed, but I was happy.

Honestly, I'm not a big Italian food eater, but this was some of the best Italian food I've eaten in a long time. As long as you're not watching your sodium and don't mind an early dinner (or a potentially long wait), this is a great, lesser-known dining option for a Big Apple visit! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Thai Coconut-Curried Salmon with Greens

2010-12-30T18:41:00.001-08:00

After Christmas Eve and Christmas feasts, Pat and I wanted to eat something light and healthy. I also needed to use a massive amount of leftover arugula that, even after 3 nothing-but-arugula salads, I hadn't managed to put a dent in. So...dinner was Thai coconut-curried salmon with greens.

I made 3/4 of the recipe so that we had one M-sized and one P-sized portion--I think fish leftovers can be kind of gross. I also made a lot of changes. Used a bit more curry powder than called for, a bit less sugar, fresh garlic, and arugula in place of the watercress. I also added snowpeas to the mix, at the same point as the salmon (next time around, I would add with the greens...they were a bit overcooked and gray-green). The greens and salmon took a bit longer than the recipe says to cook. I served everything over cellophane noodles.

I'd give this recipe about a 7.5/10. Definitely one of the best Thai-style dishes from CL, but it still could have used a bit more spice. I will say, we felt much better about our indulgences after having such a healthy detox meal. Sadly, the indulgences continued soon after, and we now have many more sinful meals to make up for!

Holiday feasting (abridged)

2010-12-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Well, we ate a lot over Christmas and Christmas Eve, and there's a LOT more eating in the week ahead: Le Bernadin, Rice to Riches, La Bergerie, at a minimum. This will be a very, very brief account of the few things I actually prepared over the holidays, plus a shout-out for some Daly family Christmas cookie classics.

Gifts for work people this year were little baggies of maple-chile popcorn. While I thought this would be a great way to make a large volume of snacks for a big group, I think I either put too much of the maple sauce on or coated the popcorn a bit too much, because it shrank significantly and I ended up having to give our really miserly portions. Because the recipe called for popcorn popped without fat and salt, I don't have an air-popper, and it's impossible to find the microwave kind with nothing in it, I ended up popping my own corn in a big soup kettle. It was kind of fun! The recipe I followed closely, but used half red pepper, half chile powder because I ran out of the former. Tossed with some soynuts as well to add a little crunch. Went over pretty well, and Mary said it tasted a lot like a bar snack they serve at Rasika, so...score!

For Christmas Eve at Steph's house, I was responsible for the pancetta chips with goat cheese and figs appetizer. Because I'm me, and because they were on sale, I used persimmon wedges in place of figs, and I made a quick balsamic reduction instead of buying fig jam (which I was pretty sure I would have a hard time finding anyway). Interesting fact: Israeli sharon fruit is the same thing as persimmon--it's just a special variety that is apparently ripened chemically so that it tastes good even when the fruit is still hard. These were hugely successful and went really quickly. The only thing I would recommend is that you get pancetta slices that are a little thicker than the recipe calls for...they end up being really delicate and easy to break if they're too thin, which means either a) you will end up destroying many of them in the assembly process, or b) they will probably make a big mess when people try to eat them. The nice thing is, because they are large and a bit unwieldy, your guests will probably only have one or two each.

For Christmas I brought the brussels sprouts we debuted at Thanksgiving (which Pat's mom specially requested) and an appetizer of mascarpone stuffed dates, dressed with a little good-quality olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. These were inspired by our Komi dinner a while back, and are easy to make. Just assemble as described above and heat at 350 degrees for 5-7 min. Not too long, or the cheese will melt, which I kind of screwed up this time around.

Finally, my mom sent me a gazillion cookies in the mail so that I would feel guilty about not coming home for Christmas this year. Chinese almond cakes, date-nut pinwheels, and pistachio biscotti. I believe the first two are McCall's cookie recipes and I'm sure the last is a trade secret of my mother's (she IS the biscotti queen...).

Of course, we ate a lot of really fantastic food prepared by our gracious hosts as well, but I'll let them tell you about that themselves!

Dinner tonight: Salmon Burritos with Chile-Roasted Vegetables

2010-12-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

As usual, the "tonight" part of this post title is a lie. This time my excuse is a combo of take-home final, canceled flight, and illness. A maelstrom of reasons not to blog! Plus, I'm a little bit lazy now that it's freezing freaking cold out. Okay, let's be honest...that last reason is probably the majority of why this post is a week and a half late. :)

I love making salmon because I know how healthy it is, and it feels a bit more substantial than tilapia, for instance. But I was getting a little bit bored with the whole fillet-of-salmon-with-some-sort-of-coating-plus-veggies-and-a-starch thing, so this time I made salmon burritos with chile-roasted vegetables.

My mods were as follows:
-Flat-outs instead of tortillas, because they're uber low in calories, easy to bend without breaking, and large
-Cubanelle pepper instead of poblano (but only because the Teeter was out)
-Greek yogurt instead of sour cream because I didn't feel like buying a whole tub of the latter just for this dish, and then not open the container again until like 3 months later, only to find some sort of multicolored fuzz and $4 down the tubes
-Half the salmon, potato, and tortillas, but the full amount of veggies to make one Margaux-sized portion and one Pat-sized one.

For once, everything cooked in the time it was supposed to!

This was pretty decent. Definitely a nice change from the usual salmon dinner, and the roasted vegetables were pretty tasty and tender. I would have liked a little more chile flavor, though, and probably little kick--Tobasco or ground red pepper, perhaps. Also, the salmon seemed a little out of place in the burrito, but it certainly was not off-putting. Pat gave it a thumbs up. And both of us were fully satisfied by the portion. Pat said, "You should make this one again." We all know what my response was to that. :)

Exploding pasta!

2010-12-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

Okay. So I'm a little exhausted/harried from a busy wedding weekend (congrats to Eric and Brevard!!) and a canceled flight...I do have a new recipe review to post, but that's totally not happening tonight. Instead, I will share with you a bit of wisdom that Sarah shared with me today. This guy's laugh is HI-larious, but his lesson is a good one. Never fry gnocchi. Besides...pasta is bad enough for you without deep frying it...!

Dinner tonight: Hot and Sour Pork with Cabbage

2010-12-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

You know how I keep saying CL does not do Thai well? Or Indian? One cuisine it does do really well is Chinese. By "well," I don't mean "authentic," per say, but I do mean "delicious and healthier/tastier/WAY freer of guilt than take-out."

Tonight I decided to try hot and sour pork with cabbage. It seemed pretty easy and quick, and anything that has cooked cabbage means lots of volume with low calorie count--perfect for days when I am inexplicably ravenous but trying not to binge because I have a weekend of wedding-induced eating ahead of me. Like today.

The pork took about three or four times longer than the recipe calls for to cook through, and I cut back slightly on the sugar--1 T seemed a bit excessive, especially since ketchup has so much already. The result was pretty yummy and certainly satisfying, although I have to say that the spiciness really seemed to overpower the flavors of the dish. I love me some sriracha, but I'm also a total spice wuss. So if you are too...recommend cutting back on the racha. The pork was super-tender, which I attribute to the sauciness, because I pretty much always turn pork into rubber. Also...this recipe makes a total mess of the kitchen, what with all the prep bowls and shredded cabbage flying willy-nilly out of the pan.

I would also like to point out, for the record, that my dinner looks more delicious than the one on the CL site. Just saying. :)

Sweetgreen comes to Arlington!

2010-12-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

Thank you healthy food gods!! Thanks to sweetgreen, I'm no longer living in the no man's land of quick healthy eating (read: Ballston-VA square corridor). I'd never actually been to any of the other locations, so I was eager to try out this one. I had the curry gold salad, which was delicious. The dressing was light and uniquely-flavored, with a hint of spice, and I loved that the chicken was diced small enough that you could theoretically have a piece with every bite. Also...a pretty sweet deal calorie-wise at 364.

The bread that came with the salad was equally tasty...just enough to sop up my extra dressing, and a good combo of crusty and soft.

I also got a b-nut squash/cauliflower/kale soup for lunch the next day. Holy cow that was good. And I'm a total squash snob.

If they don't have a frequent flier card for this place, I hope they make one soon. Because I have a sneaking suspicion Arlington sweetgreen may become my second kitchen...(x-posted to yelp.com)

So many recipes to be thankful for!

2010-11-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well, readers, another Turkey Day has come and gone, which means it will be another year before we can binge to the point of pain and have it be socially acceptable. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a recap of the Hoar-Malone-Daly Thanksgiving festivities and all of the good food in which we indulged!

Pat and I started off the morning running a 5 miler, which let us feel slightly less guilty about the hours to come. After a quick shower, I spent the next three hours prepping our contributions to the Turkey Day dinner.

Besides the standard turkey (which was huge and cooked beautifully) and stuffing (one of my greatest weaknesses), we had Dina's green beans with caramelized onions and a cranberry ring. I contributed rosemary mashed sweet potatoes with shallots and nutty warm brussels sprouts salad. The potatoes were yummy...apparently "mashing" potatoes with a hand mixer makes them super fluffy, and rosemary is delicious with basically any orange veg. No one believed the only thing in the sweets themselves were rosemary, salt, and pepper. The brussels were surprisingly delicious as well. I love these things, but this particular recipe even got a "yum" out of my mom, who *hates* brussels sprouts, and Pat had a whole bowl for leftovers the next day! Both recipes I made as written, with the exception of a little less olive oil (2 T is a LOT!) for caramelizing the shallots, and a smaller amount of breadcrumbs and walnuts than the salad called for (otherwise they would have overwhelmed the dish). Both of these were super easy to make and I would highly recommend either if you're looking for a dish to contribute to a future TD shindig! Sadly, we were far too excited to eat and forgot to take pictures...the only one that make it into the camera were the sprouts.

Dessert was just ridiculous. We brought a famous, spicy, Daly family pumpkin pie, along with a ridiculously complicated and beautiful version with struesel and a ginger snap layer that my mom made. You guys. It's called "pumpkin pie spectacular." Seriously. She also brought her famous chocolate-dipped pistachio biscotti. Of course, two pies and cookies were not enough, so we also had for dessert a gorgeous three-layer strawberry cake (a little too sweet for me, although, after sitting at the table long enough, I managed to pick through the entire slice anyway) and an double-crust apple pie. The pecan never even made it to the table...and believe me, my thighs are thankful for that.

We had quite a treat for wine as well: Two types of Seghesio zinfandel (a family favorite), a Molly Dooker shiraz (Pat's Turkey Day tradition--2007 was a yummy vintage), a Moonstone white dessert wine from local Hillsborough Vineyards, and champagne.

It was a cornucopia, to be sure. And I'm so thankful to have been able to share it with so many loved ones!

Dinner tonight: Red Lentil Mulligatawny with Apple-Celery Salsa

2010-11-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, the title's a bit of a lie. I made red lentil mulligatawny with apple-celery salsa at least a week ago. Life's been crazy.

I wanted to make a soup with fall flavors that was not pumpkin or bnut for once, and one that had enough protein that it could serve as a meal. I'd had this recipe in my big fat "to cook" folder (yes, I actually have old-school clippings in an accordion folder) for just about forever, so I though we'd give it a try.

Another eh. There was a slight bitterness to it, I think because I accidentally added the lime at the same time as the coconut milk, rather than at the finish. The salsa was interesting, and, as the recipe states, this soup thickens a lot over time. I would actually recommend making it the night before...a really thick soup is much more satisfying as an entree. For an easy, weeknight, vegetarian recipe this was okay, but nothing stellar. Definitely not an entertaining dish.

Next up...Turkey Day posts!!!

CityZen Birthday Dinner!

2010-11-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

For my birthday, my wonderful, thoughtful, thankfully also food-loving boyfriend Pat took me to CityZen in the Mandarin Oriental downtown. Our meal was Very Good, but not one of my All Time Favorites. I was not-so-secretly expecting the latter, given Sietsema's affinity for the CZ and others' reviews, but we certainly were not disappointed by the food. It just didn't blow my mind.

As such, I will describe the meal in a Very Good, but not one of my All Time Favorite forms of poetry, the haiku (personally, I'm a sucker for rhyming couplets). I've also included some editorial comments in brackets following each verse. (Bear with me...it was a tasting menu.)

Oyster canape,
dressed with bloody mary foam,
cucumber gelee

[Pat said, "I never knew celery could be so flavorful!" And he loves celery. This was good (the oyster was perfect and plump), but I thought it was a bit of a cop out for the amuse.]

Cooked matsutakis,
pumpkin, hom'ny, microgreens,
dressed, sweet and tangy

[Honestly, this would have been fantastic without the feature of the salad, the mushrooms. They were chewy and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the dish. The crispy hominy crumbles were fun, though, and the dressing was delectable.]

Surgeon risotto,
sliced chestnuts, sans white truffles--
way too much butter

[Eh. Too buttery and fishy for my taste. Maybe it would have been better with the $40 white truffle supplemental...(HA)]

Hunk of speck-wrapped quail,
seared foie and maybe a veg?
Heavenly fall bites

[Yum-O. And I think I'm starting to love foie...]

Lobster tail and claw,
creamy, buttery sauce, on
sunchoke pedestal

[Perfectly cooked. A LOT of lobster. And I'm a sucker for Jerusalem artichokes!!!]

Venison, med-rare,
huckleberry sauce, and a
fennel financier

[We did not get this dish at all. The venison was cooked perfectly, but it didn't really work with the huckleberry sauce. And neither worked with the financier, which, although tasty, was sweet enough to be dessert and tasted nothing of fennel.]

Palate cleansing time:
A tiny quinule--of oats
and oatmeal ice cream

[Very refreshing and a nice change of pace (not to mention more seasonally appropriate) from the typical citrus fruit.]

Vanilla ice cream,
apricot napoleon,
and cinnamon twille

[Not bad. The ice cream was super creamy and rich and yummy. Probably gelato, actually...]

Fruit gelees, truffles,
fig macaroons, twee cupcake:
Happy Birthday, me!

[I consider myself a cupcake connoisseur, and I have to say this was one of the better ones I have had. I was sad it wasn't bigger. The macaroons were perfect. The other two I didn't much care for.]

Besides the food itself, impressions of CityZen:
Pros
- They really went out of their way to make me feel special on my birthday. I got a card signed by apparently my new friends on the CZ staff, and Pat and I each received a muscato d'asti-style dessert wine to go with our napoleons. They also wrote "Happy Birthday" in chocolate on the final plate of sweet bites.
- The sommelier is very good. He treats you like you're not an idiot, and has an extensive vocabulary for describing wines. He also did not recommend the most expensive wine on the menu.
- The service was spot on, with the exception that the leftover Parker House rolls we requested doggie-bagged never actually made it back to us. When we started getting painfully full around the third course they let us take a breather before continuing our gluttony.

Cons
- It's very confusing when you walk in where the hostess stand is. This is a minor point, but we did not see one couple walk in un-perplexed.
- The seat against the wall (bench-style, where the girl would usually sit) was VERY, VERY uncomfortable. My lower back was screaming my the end of the night.

Thanks for a very special birthday, P!
(portions x-posted to yelp.com)

Dinner tonight: Chinese Chicken and Persimmon Lettuce Wraps

2010-11-15T14:39:00.001-08:00

So, the Teets has persimmons on sale this week. I had never had a persimmon, but they looked pretty fun, and seasonal, so I scoured CL recipes for a good reason to buy some. There were a couple good looking salad recipes, but I needed a meal, so I decided to go with chinese chicken and persimmon lettuce wraps. Kind of.

In true Margaux form, I made subs. Many subs. Some of these were intentional--instead of lettuce wraps, for instance, I just served it over pre-shredded cabbage. Same difference, much less messy (and I find it's harder to inhale something with a fork than with my hands, so a good way to make sure it took more than 30 seconds to eat). I also used a can of diced water chestnuts...it seemed pointless to buy them whole and chop them myself. The other subs were not intentional. First, I got home from the supermarket and realized that "orange" had somehow not made it onto the shopping list. So...no fresh OJ for me (and I don't drink juice, so no bottled kind either). I bit later I remembered that I had used up my oyster sauce the last time I made stir fry. And hoisin, although not exactly a perfect substitution, was also not possible...I had depleted my supply of this as well! So...the sauce was a bit of an improvisation. I ended up going with about 1 or 1.5 tablespoons of black bean sauce, and probably about the same of soy.

This was yummy. It wasn't overly different or exciting, but it was tasty, the persimmons add a fun je ne sais quoi, and the water chestnuts a nice crunch. Plus, it turns out that just 4 oz of ground chicken is quite a bit of meat, so the dish was filling as well. Not bad, for a recipe I managed to totally mangle!

Mandy's Birthday Dinner/Fall Feast; Double-Caramel Turtle Cake

2010-11-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, Mandy and her housemates hosted the most ridiculously excessive, delicious dinner party in celebration of her birthday and fall. The dinner featured a cornucopia of autumn flavors, many organically grown, hard apple cider, good friends, and a hilarious game of Taboo. I think the highlight of the evening was a banjo and spoons concert by Eric and Alex...but this is not a blog about folksy music. So. On to the food!

We had, to wit:
Appetizers: toasts with either homemade pesto (from Es's own basil plant) or blue cheese and smoked salmon

First course: Veggitastic pumpkin soup

Dinner: Roast turkey, stuffing made with corn bread, Italian bread, and saltines (some with oysters, some without--this apparently was a Paula Dean recipe, but we're going to pretend it wasn't. For so many obvious reasons...), mashed potatoes with chives, sweet spaghetti squash, roasted turnips and beets, vegan sweet potato-pear-raisin-I'm missing something salad, crustless eggplant quiche (with or without tomato), green bean casserole, wilted winter greens dressed with a balsamic reduction, and wheat rolls. I think that's all. But that was a lot of dishes to keep straight in mind head. Sorry if I missed any! There was SO much deliciousness, they made me take home 3 tupperwares of leftovers. And I didn't even make a dent!

Oh yes. There was also a pork shoulder they had been smoking since early that morning, but that was being obstinate and was not ready in time for dinner (smoker pictured here...they ended up having to finish it up in the oven). Fortunately, the pork WAS done in time for me to put together my leftovers plates, which meant that today I have a chipped pork sammie with cranberry bbq sauce and pickled red onion. BEST lonely lunch at my desk ever.

After a brief respite to make some room in our tummies, we had dessert. I made a double caramel turtle cake and Grant brought an apple/berry pie and red velvet cake. We made quick work of them all. But guys. I baked. I don't bake, but this was a special occassion. And it was really, REALLY yummy. The chocolate cake was uber rich and chocolatey and moist, and the frosting/caramel/pecan combo made it even better. I think the base chocolate cake would work in lots of forms...I'm thinking of a peanut butter variation, and maybe a peppermint one for the holidays. Because I'm an idiot, I layered the cakes wrong and ended up with a big crack in the cake, but no one seemed to mind--aesthetics don't hold a candle to yum!

And speaking of candles:

Believe me when I say I ate it all, it was famously delicious, and I was totally still full at 9:30 am the next day. And we are already in discussions for a Winter Fest. Which I suppose means I better either start cutting back on my cals now, or buy a larger pair of pants, in anticipation...

Happy Birthday Mandy!!!