My Best of 2014

I am a huge fan of lists and rankings (especially the year-end ones).  A symptom, no doubt, of my mind's natural bent towards science and analysis in general.  So while others have been posting about their favorites from the past year, I thought I would try a list related to the best (and worst) food and drink I had in 2014.  Overall it was a good year in, but not a truly memorable one eating out.  I just seem to remember more great meals during our travels in 2013.

Favorite meal out:
Cafe Heaven, Provincetown, MA.  I can't remember exactly what I ate, but I remember loving the whole experience: including the wine, the company, and the food.  It's one of my favorite spots in the United States and just represents everything I feel about how food should be prepared and served.  If you ever make it to P'town, try breakfast or dinner there, I guarantee it won't disappoint.

Honorable mentions: 
Jakes in Palm Springs, CA.  The food is very traditional Californian but done extremely well.  It's also an institution in Palm Springs, which made the experience very unique and fun.

Alphonse Italian Osteria, Washington, DC.  Totally surprised by this place, the food was a step above the red-and-white checkered tablecloth Italian-American eateries (which I love for different reasons) you find in most cities.  When you go, sit at the bar, and just ask for Justice (Justus?).  Seriously, if she is working just ask her what to drink and eat.  She steered our party into directions we never would have gone on our own.  She made the experience a hundred times better.

Favorite meal in:
The Middle Eastern meal I did for our second You Pick Two in January.  It took a little over two days to make all the food, which is a lot I realize.  But the entire meal, company and guests included, was worth all of it.

Favorite thing I cooked:
The strangozzi in tomato bacon sauce I made for our Umbrian You Pick Two dinner.  I also made it again in September with my mother when my parents visited - one of my favorite moments in 2014.  The fresh pasta takes a little time, but on a lazy afternoon it's the perfect thing to make.

Favorite sandwich:
BBB at Deli Board, San Francisco, CA.  Hands down the best sandwich I have had in years.  The bread was soft, the meat was tender, and the accompanying sauce was amazing.  And this coming from someone who doesn't care for aioli or mayo very much at all.  Highly recommend this place if you get a chance while in San Francisco.

Most disappointing meal out:
Birba, Palm Springs, CA.  Between the reviews I read, the online menu I looked at, and the photos I saw, I was really excited to eat here.  But with the rude service we experienced (we waited 15 minutes for a server to come to our table), the live band BLARING jazz the entire meal (making it impossible to have any conversation), and the so-so food, this was easily the most disappointing dining experience I had all year.  Save your time and just go straight to Tropicale.

Honorable mention:
Doi Moi, Washington, DC.  I went here in 2013, soon after it opened, with my sister and parents and had a fantastic dining experience and meal, one of the best of 2013.  The server was amazing, answering all of our questions and providing great recommendations, and the food was light, spicy, and very well done.  I went back this year and had the complete opposite experience: rude server and mediocre food.  I wonder what happened?  On the plus side, the dining room is still a beautifully decorated place.

Favorite beer:
Stiegl Radler.  I realize most beer experts and purists will scoff at me for picking this since it's mostly fruit juice with some beer in it, but please hear me out on this one.  Mixing the radler with some hefeweizen and sipping it on the fantastic outdoor patio of the Dacha beer garden several summer afternoons in 2014 made this my favorite.  Dacha eventually became overrun by the end of the season, but those afternoons in June were some of my favorite times in the last few years here in DC.

Favorite wine:
Iron Horse Winter cuvee.  Yes, it's a sparkling wine but frankly this vineyard is just amazing.  It's located west of Napa/Sonoma and has none of the corporate, "what's it going to take to put you in this wine," vibe of Napa.  The tasting area is outdoors with a spectacular view of the vineyard.  And, frankly, all of the wines (sparkling and otherwise) were fantastic - this one just had a unique flavor to it I have never had in a sparkling wine before.

Favorite cocktail:
The Orange Crush at Bar Charley, Washington, DC.  Yes, it was served in a plastic cup, but it tasted so good on a warm, Sunday afternoon brunch that Kevin and I went to over the Labor Day weekend.  It literally tasted like a more balanced, less sweet version of an orange cream soda.  Their cocktail menu is seasonal, hopefully they bring it back next summer.

Honorable mention:
This cider punch Kevin made for Thanksgiving.  It was the perfect accompaniment to our Thanksgiving meal.  And from what I understand, it was easy to make too.

Happy New Year everyone!  Wishing you the best in 2015!

#8: A Mexican Fiesta

So it's been a bit since our last You Pick Two event, but I don't want that to reflect on the dinner and guests in any way.  It was a wonderful meal with some of our oldest and closest friends - but sometimes work and life get in the way of things you enjoy most.  And I really enjoy doing these dinners and writing this blog.  Amazingly, it's actually been one year since I started doing this!  Time does truly fly by.  It seems like I just started out, but eight dinners, one Thanksgiving, and a giant holiday party later, here we are...

A rustic and casual table for our dinner.

We have been trying to get this dinner scheduled with our friends Amy and Mike for quite some time.  Kevin and I both have a long, rewarding, and meaningful friendship with Amy and Mike (separately and together) - in fact, it was actually Kevin who introduced them to each other.  They have been together for almost as long as Kevin and I and have been married since 2005.  They have two remarkably sweet and wonderful kids named Sam and Elena.  As you can imagine trying to schedule a dinner on a random Saturday can be quite difficult when the guests have two young kids that are very active and when they live in Fairfax.  Not to mention, the mystery guests they wanted to bring also have children and the husband travels for work quite a bit.  Luckily, the end of September worked for everyone and we got to hang out (sans children) with Amy and Mike and our new friends Paula and Jason.

So with the date all set, what should we do for the dinner?  I have known Amy for many years and I have known about her strong allergies to tree nuts (along with some other foods), but her sensitivity to gluten is relatively new and presented a great opportunity for me to try a gluten-free meal.  I should also point out that Amy's allergies have made me very aware of how difficult it can be for someone who is literally deathly allergic to eat out.  I've watched some servers essentially ignore her questions and not check with the chef about certain items.  I think one of the reasons this happens is that people lie when they say they are allergic to things that they simply don't like to eat; so think twice next time you do that at a restaurant because it can de-sensitize an establishment to legitimate, life-threatening allergies.  Ok hopping off my soapbox now...

After some research and thought, one cuisine that seemed to be surprisingly gluten-free (at least to me) was Mexican food.  I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, where my idea of Mexican food as a kid consisted mostly of Old El Paso taco kits or, even worse, Taco Bell.  There were not many authentic Mexican restaurants in central Mass.  Thankfully, my adult self has experienced authentic Mexican cuisine and through the advent of food television I have been able to discover the enormous diversity of Mexican food.  I could probably do seven or eight You Pick Two dinners alone on various regional specialties of Mexican food.  However, I instead cautiously dipped my toe into Mexican food here with a broad selection of many well-known Mexican dishes.  For this meal, I made my own corn tortillas and salsas, pulled together a mole poblano, and found one of the easiest (and most delicious) ways to cook pinto beans you can imagine.  I picked the mole since I was really interested in exposing my guests to something different and I wanted Amy to be able to try it in a safe place, since mole sauces traditionally contain dozens of ingredients and a lot of tree nuts.

Our guests, starting at top left are Amy, Mike, Paula, and Jason.  Kev and Buck need no introduction :)

Amy and Mike brought two wonderful people to the dinner in Paula and Jason.  Jason works for USAID as a manager on the civilian (non-foreign service) side and spends a lot of time in southeast Asia.  Paula took a break from her career as a pharmaceuticals rep to raise their two children and her love of animals was a big hit with Kev and I (they also have a big dog).  As you might imagine, Buck got along quite well with both of them over the evening.  Amy and Paula met each other at the pre-school that both their kids happen to attend.  Paula is also a native of northeastern New Jersey and gave Kevin and I the hard sell on moving up there (we may eventually have to move there for Kev's work).  The night's conversation was lively with discussions about pets, kids, work, and respective hobbies.  Kev's new bowling ball even made a late appearance before our guests departed.  It was a great night and it was a pleasure to host them and cook this Mexican fiesta.

MENU

A Mexican Fiesta

September 27, 2014

Cocktail

The Independent

Blanco tequila, lime, agave nectar, sparkling wine   

Appetizer

Chips and salsa

Salsa roja (tomato & chile),

Salsa verde (green tomatillo)

Main

Tacos de carne asada

Grilled skirt steak, homemade corn tortillas, salsa verde

Pollo en mole poblano

Chicken with Puebla-style mole sauce

Frijoles de Ollo

Stewed pinto beans, crema, queso Oaxaca

Sweet

Vanilla pavlova with Mexican chocolate sauce

Marshmallow cake, whipped cream, dark chocolate, spices

Guests

Amy and Mike Baglivio

Paula and Jason Foley 

#7: A Celebration of Summer

The table setting with a red, white, and blue theme for summer.

I have been quite derelict in my duties as food blogger this past month.  We had a fantastic dinner event at the end of August with some of the nicest guests we have ever had and yet I am late in getting the summary and menu together!  Contributing to this delay are the normal events of life that pop up around this time of year, you know, like the U.S. Open.  But, I have come to terms that there is also a general ennui and frustration that has overtaken me a bit recently with food and the restaurant scene.  I mean I still love to cook and entertain as much as I always have, but I am frustrated with the deification and glorification of chefs and restaurants and the "foodie" scene.  I feel that we are losing touch with what's important.  We obsess over an ingredient's origins, how it's grown, what oil and pan it's prepared in, what you serve it on or with, whether you can cook it better or faster than someone, and we end up losing the essence and purpose of a meal.  We are inundated with glossy niche foodie pubs that produce lists like 18 ways to use a sous-vide or the 10 best doughnut and quinoa shops you haven't been to yet, etc.  Bottom line: the food scene is overexposed and splitting at its seams.

My cooking inspirations are my mother, my grandmothers, and Nigella Lawson, in that order.  Their goals were to pass on old family recipes, bring their friends and families together, and feed them.  For my family, meals are a way to stay in touch but they also serve to keep its members healthy, nourished, and occasionally spoiled.  Maybe it's the publications I read, or the twitter feeds I follow, but the obsession over food porn, designer spaces, food "competition" shows, and rock star chefs, has diluted and confused what I thought cooking was about.  To me, why I began this blog and why I spend so much time in the kitchen is because I love good food and I love making my family and friends happy.  Nigella once said that in French cooking, attention is drawn to the chef, whereas in Italian cooking, the attention is drawn to the food.  And I feel that is such a relevant remark these days, I feel that almost all aspects around food now are meant to draw attention to the chef.  That doesn't mean most of these chefs and restaurants don't deserve praise, in fact they absolutely do!  They make incredible dishes and their restaurant employees work incredibly hard to put it all together for the public.  But in the end it's not about who is the "best" to me.  In the end, I want people to enjoy the food I make and the company around them.  I don't want to exclude anyone and I don't want to make anyone feel lucky that they are eating my food.  Luckily, like all food trends, this one will soon pass, much like how carved out watermelons were used as serving vessels back in the 70's.  So, I am hopeful that once again in the city I live, and other big cities, restaurants come back to earth and just make great food again without all the fanfare.

Our guests (from left to right in back): Clark, Anne, and Torao, with my husband Kevin in front.

Ok, with that off my chest, what about the dinner and guests from our last event??  I wanted to do something that celebrated the end of summer, since it's my favorite season.  In that vein, I thought of grilling meats and vegetables, corn on the cob, and ice cream.  And the menu below reflects those aspirations.  Who came to dinner?  We invited some new friends to Kevin and I in Clark Ebbert and Torao Kubo.  I know Clark through my work with the Miss Adams Morgan pageant here in DC.  I film the videos for their annual amateur drag pageant and Clark has been with the organization as a performer and contributor for many years.  I only just met his boyfriend Torao last December at our holiday party.  Torao runs a successful salon and has a business degree, which I find so impressive.  They are a fantastic match and based on that initial meeting last year I sensed that the their relationship would continue strong for a while.  Clark also participates in a different supper club with friends he has had for many, many years.  A rival supper club?!  The game was on. :)  Clark invited Anne Steinicke and Sharon Groves, a couple he knows from that supper club.  Unfortunately, Anne's partner Sharon was sick and not able to make dinner that night.  Clark had described Anne, affectionately, as an "old-fashioned" lesbian, which I am still unclear what frankly that means.  Regardless, my impression of Anne was a calm, friendly, thoughtful person who has great taste in food and life.  So if that's old-fashioned, then I aspire to be old-fashioned as well.

Conversation that night veered all over the place, in a fun way.  We talked about the pageant, our first jobs and the unusual arcs our careers have taken sometimes (Clark after assisting at a psychiatric hospital right out of college eventually got a master's degree in dance and was a professional dancer), and working with the millennial generation (the "M" word as Clark calls it).  Thankfully, Kevin's drink that night (a long-cherished Barefoot Contessa recipe for Long Island iced teas) kept the buzz going and the talk lively for most of the evening.  It was a great night and I hope that an invitation to their supper club is in the mail soon.

For the food: the Nutella ice cream came from the NYT's recent master ice cream recipe (which is epic and amazing), here is the recipe for those Long Island iced teas (my favorite drink really), and for Nigella's Union Square Cafe nuts (which are perfect for a summer snack).  I will post some of the other recipes that I developed for that night over the next couple weeks.  In the meantime, enjoy and keep on cooking.

MENU

A Celebration of Summer

August 23, 2014

Cocktail

Long Island iced tea

Mixed liquors, simple syrup, lemon juice, cola  

Appetizer

Spicy grilled shrimp

Cilantro dipping sauce

Union Square Café bar nuts

Mixed roasted nuts, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, rosemary

Main

Grilled pork loin

Guava-mustard glaze, orange-habanero mojo

Cheesy corn pudding

Local sweet corn, grueyere cheese

Grilled broccolini

Lemon zest, parmesan

Sweet

Ice cream sundae

Homemade Nutella ice cream, organic vanilla ice cream, chocolate ganache, toasted walnuts

Guests

Clark Ebbert

Torao Kubo

Anne Steinecke

Sharon Groves 

A delicious (and easy) summer dessert.

As summer begins to unfortunately wind down, it's time to take advantage of those last few harvests of fresh fruit at the farmer's markets.  To that end, I submit to you one of my favorite (and easiest to make) fruit desserts, an individual peach cobbler.  It was the big hit at our last You Pick Two dinner and I have made it a few times since then for company. I adapted it from a Martha Stewart recipe I discovered over 10 years ago.

These individual servings of golden deliciousness need only a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whip cream to finish them off.  Although frankly they could be eaten without any adornment and still taste fantastic.  This is also a flexible recipe, feel free to substitute other fruits that you prefer - just be aware fruits like blackberries and raspberries can give off more liquid than peaches and you may need to add a little more flour.  To cook the cobbler, you will need about eight 8-oz ramekins.  You could also make them in four large soufflé dishes, just add a few more minutes of cooking time.  Regardless, make sure to put a piece of parchment under the ramekins to keep any sugary liquid or batter that overflows from becoming a permanent part of your baking sheet.

Cup O'Cobbler

Ingredients
4-5 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced (about 4 to 5 cups)
1/4 cup bourbon
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 cup of whole milk

Directions
1. Pit and slice the peaches.  In a large bowl combine the peaches, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the bourbon.  Stir to combine and let sit for at least 15 minutes, and up to 2 hours.
2. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment and place the ramekins on the parchment-lined pan.  Place 1 tablespoon of butter in the bottom of each ramekin.  Transfer to the oven until the butter is melted and bubbling, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar, the flour, the baking powder, the nutmeg, and the salt.  Add the milk slowly, whisking as you go, until completely combined.
4. Remove the ramekins from the oven.  Divide the batter evenly among the hot ramekins.  Spoon an equal amount of peach slices (and some juice) into the center of each ramekin, keeping a small outer edge of batter.
5. Return to the oven and bake until the tops of the cobblers are golden brown, or about 1 hour.

#6: A Vegetarian Takeover

Beautiful weather allowed us to dine al fresco.

It's been a few weeks since the last dinner, but with the start of the summer and some vacation time thrown in, I have been delayed in posting about our last You Pick Two event.  In terms of the meal, it was one of the more challenging ones for me since all but one of our guests were vegetarians.  And, even more challenging, some of the guests did not care for mushrooms, eggplant, raw tomatoes, or blue cheese!  Some of my favorite foods on this earth!  After getting over that, I got to thinking... maybe they just didn't have mushrooms or eggplant prepared in a way that exhibited their best characteristics.  So I was going to challenge them to try one of them again, and I picked eggplants.

I feel that eggplants get a terrible reputation because they are usually prepared one of two ways: fried (and usually greasy) or cooked in a heavy sauce (and therefore quite mushy).  I think eggplant works best when grilled and I wanted to revisit a recipe from Nigella's breakthrough book, Nigella Bites, that I made many years ago.  It is a type of involtini, which is an italian word for a small bite of food consisting of some outer layer wrapped around a filling.  In this dish, sliced eggplant is grilled, stuffed, and cooked in a sauce.  For this preparation, the stuffing included bulgar wheat, feta, pistachios, and herbs.  It came out great and the eggplant-haters ate and enjoyed it.  Rounding out the night's menu were a crostini with homemade ricotta (which is surprisingly easy), a chilled tomatillo-advocado soup, an asparagus-gruyere tart, and a risotto made with barley instead of rice.  I tried to avoid pasta because I feel like a lot of menus just resort to pasta for vegetarians.  Dessert was a summer favorite of mine, peach cobbler.  Everyone enjoyed the food, but I think the barley risotto and peach cobbler were the stars of the night.  So who were the guests?

Crostini with homemade ricotta and caramelized onions for the first course.

The two we invited were newer friends of ours that we met through a good friend of ours that stayed with us for a few months last summer.  Sam and Anka are a couple that have been together for several years; and we met them through our friend Brandon.  Sam is a charming hipster-type that home brews and has lots of really cool tattoos.  I don't run in many of the hipster social circles, but Sam is one of the nicest guys I have met during my many years in DC.  His partner, Anka, just finished her masters at night and works at a professional association that advocates for women's health issues.  Sam and Anka are a modern couple that I greatly enjoy hanging out with so I was really curious to see who they invited.  They invited another couple they know, Andy and Cat (which is short for Catherine).  Anka and Cat went to college together and also work together.   Andy is a director at an organization that deals with event planning and he oversees production and design of sets for various events, in particular we talked about some recent car shows he worked at - which we both thought are events still stuck in the past.

Homemade ricotta after being drained and chilled in cheesecloth.

In a first for our dinners, the mystery guests beat the invited guests to our house.  Cat and Andy live in Dupont Circle and the phenomenal weather that night, which allowed us to eat outside on our back patio, meant they could walk up to our place in Mount Pleasant.  Much like Sam and Anka, they are incredibly pleasant, calm, and easy to talk to - so it was not an issue to meet them first.  Sam and Anka soon arrived.  And in another first, I had asked Sam, who home brews and works part time at Atlas Brewery, to bring some of his favorite brews to eat along the meal.  We still made a cocktail and had wine with dinner, but Sam's beers were far better than anything we had purchased.  We ate our food and sipped on wine and beer on the patio well into the evening.  It was one of the nicest You Pick Two's we have had yet.  Here is the menu from the evening:

MENU

Vegetarian Takeover

Appetizer

Crostini with ricotta and caramelized onions

Homemade ricotta, lemon zest, thyme-balsamic glazed onions

First Course

Chilled avocado-tomatillo soup with lime

Roasted tomatillos and peppers, Haas avocado,

organic sour cream, lime/mint garnish

Main

Soft & sharp eggplant involtini

Grilled eggplant, bulgur wheat-pistachio stuffing, feta, tomato sauce

Asparagus and gruyere tart

Puff pastry, grilled asparagus, gruyere & parmesan

Barley risotto with spinach and herb puree

Toasted barley, fresh herbs, spinach, lemon, parmesan

Sweet

Peach cobbler

Peaches, organic vanilla bean ice cream

Guests

Nevena Minor

Sam Puffenbarger

Cat Sacks

Andy Ward

Strudel, but not for your toaster.

The finished dish.

As Germany slowly beat the USA soccer team into a scoreless trance, I am reminded that I never posted our main course from our Austrian dinner a month or so back.  Normally I would just move on, but this was so good and such an unusual and fun thing to make that I have to post it.  The steps are pretty basic: you make a mousse out of chicken breast and cream in a food processor, you blanch some cabbage leaves, you wrap the cabbage leaves around uncooked chicken breast, spoon a generous dollop of the mousse on top, then wrap in phyllo dough and bake.  As Nigella always says, there's a difference between time consuming and hard, this takes a bit of time but it's not hard.  I served it over a puree of celery root and parsnips, which were boiled in some cream and then pureed with a stick blender and some butter.  But honestly a salad or some sautéed greens or peas would be just great alongside.  Give it a shot when the weather cools down this fall.  And once again, this came from the fantastic cookbook Neue Cuisine by Kurt Gutenbrunner

Cabbage-Wrapped-Chicken Strudel
Ingredients
8 large cabbage leaves (use either green cabbage or Savoy cabbage if you can find it)
5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 ice cubes
2 cups heavy cream
24 frozen phyllo sheets, thawed (if they are the very large sheets, use only 12)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (clarified, unsalted butter if you have it)
salt
pepper
Preparation
1.  Prepare the cabbage leaves:  bring a large pot of water to boil, add a tablespoon of salt.  Fill a large bowl with ice water.  Add the cabbage leaves 1 or 2 at a time to the boiling water for a couple minutes, then put them in the ice water.  Once all leaves have been blanched, lay them out on some paper towels and pat them dry.  If the center rib of the leaf is really thick, remove it.

2.  Prepare the mousse:  place a medium bowl inside a large bowl filled with ice water.  Cut 1 chicken breast into 1-inch cubes and add to a food processor, season with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and several grinds of fresh black pepper, then add the ice cubes.  Pulse the processor for at least 30 seconds or until the mixture is well chopped (could be up to a minute depending on your device).  Then, turn the processor on and gradually add the cream through the funnel.  Keep adding the cream until the mixture turns a light pink and has thickened to a mousse.  Scoop the mousse out into the small bowl that is in the large bowl with ice water, or put the bowl in the fridge to keep the mousse from separating.

Finished mousse should look like this, pale pink and thick.

3.  Prepare the phyllo:  If you have very large sheets of phyllo, cut the 12 sheets in half so that you have 24 sheets that are uniform in size.  Stack them and cover them with a damp cloth.

4.  Prepare the chicken strudel:  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Take 1 sheet of the phyllo, brush with the melted butter.  Repeat with 5 more sheets, stacking them as you go.

Kevin brushing the cut phyllo sheets with clarified butter.

Then, set one chicken breast in the center of one of the cabbage leaves. Add 3 tablespoons of the mousse on top of the chicken and then wrap the leaf around the breast.  If the leaves are small, just place one under the breast, add the mousse, and then one on top - tucking it around the breast if you can.  Place the wrapped breast about one inch from the side of the stacked, 6 phyllo sheets, leaving a half-inch or so on the top or bottom as well.  Roll the breast and phyllos sheets over several times until the whole thing is wrapped in phyllo.  Tuck in the ends.  Place each strudel on to the parchment-lined pan as you go.

Place the cabbage-wrapped breasts on the stacks and fold over until you reach the end.

5.  Brush the strudels with the melted butter and sprinkle over some salt and pepper.  Put the sheet in the oven and bake 20 minutes.  Take them out and check to make sure the chicken is cooked through by slicing into one of the strudels.  It took me about 25 minutes total, the phyllo should be nice and golden brown as well.  Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

These are ready for the oven.

Note:  The recipe for the mousse is more than enough if you want to do this for 6 or 8 people, just add more phyllo sheets and keep going until you have enough for each person at your table.

Spaetzle!

The finished dish.

Spaetzle, or spatzle, is quintessentially central European, so naturally I had to include it (or some version of it) as part of my culinary trip to Austria for my most recent You Pick Two dinner.  Spaetzle are cooked in a large pan of water brought to a rolling boil and then often sauteed in butter, or the fat of your choice, until lightly brown and crispy on the outside.  Cooked this way, it makes an excellent bed for a meaty or rich stew like a goulash, or as a fantastic starch to soak up any sauce you might find in central European cuisine.  But having already made a modern version of beef stew at my first dinner, and having recently cooked an Italian meal, I thought why not make spaetzle the "pasta" or first course for the Austrian dinner.  I think the guests were glad I did.

Making the spaetzle itself was actually quite fun and confidence boosting.  The basic process is make a dough, let it rest a bit, then press the dough through large holes in a colander to make them rain down into said pan of gently boiling water to cook for a bit.  Then scoop out the cooked dumplings to a large bowl of ice water before draining them in a colander.  Boom.  Done. 

Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner's recipe that I used for this dinner is called "quark spaetzle" - with quark being a creamy to slightly firm cheese found in lots of central and eastern European cooking.  Unfortunately, my Harris Teeter doesn't carry quark, but it does carry many varieties of greek yogurt which the chef recommended as a substitute.  The resulting spaetzle was light with a nice chew.  Frankly, this dish could easily serve as a main course with a salad, or grilled asparagus, or sauteed carrots served alongside.  But these dinners are meant to be over the top, so it served as the first course.

Cooked spaetzle after it has been drained.

Like I said, spaetzle can be served in a variety of ways.  For my dinner, I sauteed mushrooms, brussel sprout leaves, corn and peas in some butter and herbs in a large saute pan before adding a little cream to make a sauce (the recipe is also in the book).  I formed and cooked the spaetzle earlier in the day, adding a couple tablespoons of oil to the drained spaetzle, mixing about, and then chilling them in the fridge.  The spaetzle will keep up to two days in the fridge, if properly covered.  However, you could also just add the spaetzle directly to the sauce after you poach and drain them, if that works better for you.  So, here we go:

Spaetzle with a white corn, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, peas, and tarragon cream sauce*
Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a first course

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
several grinds of fresh ground black pepper
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup quark cheese (I substituted a 7 oz. container of 2% Fage greek yogurt)
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions
1.  Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and the nutmeg.
2.  Add the eggs, quark (greek yogurt), and cream and beat until smooth.  It should easily form a large ball of dough, if still dry add a couple tablespoons of cream till it comes together.  Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes before proceeding with the next steps.
3.  Fill a large bowl with ice water. Working in batches, press the dough through a colander with large holes using a rubber spatula into the boiling water.  I ended up using a draining ladle that I had, otherwise use a spaetzle maker.

Pressing the spaetzle dough through my makeshift maker.

 4.  Cook until the spaetzle float to the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a fine sieve, transfer the spaetzle to the ice water for 1 to 2 minutes to cool, then remove to a colander to drain.
5.  Serve with your sauce of choice or saute the drained spaetzle in a couple tablespoons of butter until golden brown.

*Adapted from Neue Cuisine by Kurt Gutenbrunner

#5: Café Vienna

The hills were most certainly alive at our latest You Pick Two event.  It was an Austrian-inspired meal in honor of one of our closest friends, Chris Handler.  His nickname is "Dr. Chris," since he holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in molecular biology.  He currently works as a Senior Vice President at a large public relations firm here in DC where he advises government clients on campaigns related to health care and wellness.  It's ok to feel like a slacker when you read his bio, I sometimes do.  Chris' family is from Austria, although that part of the country where they originate from is now technically in Slovenia.  So I had hoped to remind him of some of the foods he may have eaten or talked about while growing up in Long Island with his extended Austrian family.  Not knowing really anything about this type of cuisine, except for beer and sausages really, I went online to do some research.  I came across a book called Neue Cuisine by chef Kurt Gutenbrunner.  It was perfect.  If you have any interest in this type of food, or are curious about the region and traditions, I highly recommend adding it to your library.  The recipes and stories are beautifully written and presented, and the author adds lots of useful tips and notes about making the dishes ahead or substitutions for hard to find ingredients.  And the precision of the recipes, as you might expect, is super sharp.  I made the recipes exactly as written and had zero issues.  In fact by the end of preparing the meal, I felt suprisingly competent - which can be dangerous.  I started to think an 8-layer torte with a meringue center, several fillings, and a whipped ganache frosting seemed entirely feasible in a day. 


Edelweiss indeed.

The table setting and theme were inspired by a photograph in the book that was taken off the tables outside of Cafe Wallsé, which is one of the author's restaurants in New York.  It had white tablecloths, with hints of black and blue in the napkins and accessories.  I ran with that and had my friend Chuck of the amazing LUSH Arrangements make a fantastic centerpiece for the table.  He thought of "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music and his arrangement of thistles and wildflowers certainly reflected that inspiration.  Frankly, it was probably my favorite table setting so far for You Pick Two.

From left: Kevin, Chris Handler, Ken Rub, and Andy Scahill

So what about the mystery guests?  Chris put a lot of time into selecting some great guys to bring, and it really showed.  Andy Scahill is a friend of Chris and a professor of film and media studies at Georgetown University.  His attitude was unpretentious, which I was concerned about since my film class professor in undergrad was quite stuffy, and he could talk about any film.  I watched a beyond my years Roman Polansky film in undergrad called The Tenant.  Seriously, look it up, really bizarre (but really good).  It was nice to talk to someone who had actually seen it and could add some insight.   Chris also brought an ex-boyfriend of his named Ken Rub.  Ken's father was a Methodist minister in the South and he went into the army right out of high school to get away and see the world.  After several years in the army and after attending college, Ken went on to become a banker.  He travels the world extensively and is now a managing director at a commercial real estate firm here in DC.  Oh and in his spare time he teaches yoga classes and crossfit.  Despite all the success, he was a very approachable and independent guy that we are sure to be friends with after the dinner.



Matchstick fries.

For the menu, I pushed myself to try several things I have never made before: spatzle and strudel chief among them.  We didn't do a cocktail this time since the meal was so intricate, but I did make some matchstick fries and a mustard dipping sauce to go with our glass of bubbly.  I never really deep fry things, mostly because I am slightly intimidated by it, but I used this Ina recipe and they came out great.  The key was to thinly slice them using a mandoline; I don't think I could have done it by hand.  Here is the menu from the night, the recipes will follow soon:  

MENU

Café Vienna

April 19, 2014

 

Starters

Matchstick fries

Crispy thin-cut potatoes, horseradish-mustard dipping sauce

Landjagger sausage

 Cured German pork & beef sausage

 

First Course

Spätzle

White corn, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, tarragon

cream sauce

Main

Cabbage-wrapped Chicken Strudel

Chicken mousse, phyllo dough, parsnip-celery root puree 

 

Sweet

Sachertorte

Chocolate cake, strawberry preserves, chocolate ganache, whipped cream

 

Guests

Chris Handler

Andy Scahill

Ken Rub

Beans and greens

Growing up a New Englander, I never had anything like Southern food till I came down to Virginia for school and then to DC for my job and as a place to live.  Though I do want to sheepishly point out that I get some southern cred here because I was born in the South.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana in fact.  I lived there for about a year while my Dad was in grad school at LSU, before heading up to Worcester to grow up.

While being a resident of the mid-Atlantic area, I have also made several trips down to Charleston, New Orleans, and Savannah, and have sampled all kinds of Southern cuisine.   What I came to love most were the side dishes - mac and cheese, collards, okra, green beans, etc.  In fact, I honestly could skip the fried meat as a main and order a plate of sides at most places.  Not that I am vegetarian or anything (the veggie sides in the South contain plenty of pork regardless), but I love the slow cooked flavor of low country cooking and that really comes through in the sides.  Legumes, iron-rich leafy vegetables, tough inexpensive cuts of meat - all of them have tons of flavor, but take some time to cook.  That's fine by me, the setup and prep is pretty straightforward and you just have to check on them once in a while they cook.  No other work necessary.  Plus it waits for you, these sides can be kept at room temperature - just warm through before serving.

For our Southern dinner, it had to be my two favorites: black-eyed peas and collard greens.  For the peas, it really makes a big difference if you start with dried beans.  Canned is fine, but if you have the time, start with dried beans.  You just need to soak them overnight and then boil them for a bit the next day.  It's not hard, just takes a little time.  You then saute some kielbasa or bacon in a large dutch oven with some aromatics, add the cook peas and a little seasoning, and you are good to go.

I used organic collard greens here because I feel better when I use organic vegetables.  But use whatever you can find.  And the key to the collard greens, for me, is the acidity of red wine or cider vinegar.  I find that my taste buds are normally completely overwhelmed by very vinegary items like pickles or salt and vinegar potato chips, but here in the greens, the acidity mellows while it cooks and serves as a great counterpoint to the earthy richness of the greens.  All greens are cooked with some kind of ham product as well.  Traditionally, based on my research, it's smoked ham hocks.  I couldn't find them at my local store so instead I used a smoked ham steak that I diced into cubes.  It worked great.  You could also use good quality deli ham as well, sliced thickly.  Or you could skip the ham and go the meatless route, but I feel then you lose some of that traditional flavor.

The one thing I did try to lose was some of the heaviness or greasiness of the sides I have found at some Southern restaurants.  I think these restaurants use fat and salt to mask poor quality ingredients.  The recipes below are still packed with lots of flavor but taste lighter and fresh.  And, these sides only get better the more they sit - so they are perfect for making ahead and keeping in the fridge.  Just reheat them before your dinner.  Enjoy!

Black-eyed peas
Ingredients
2 cups dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 lb. pork kielbasa, casings removed if you can
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock

Directions
1. Soak the beans overnight in a large bowl.  Drain the beans and add to a large saucepan.  Add water to cover the beans by about an inch.  Throw in the bay leaves.  Bring the pan to a boil, lower to a simmer and partially cover.  Cook the beans for about 20-30 minutes, they will still be on the firmer side.  Drain and rinse the beans, keep the bay leaves.

2. Heat a 5-7 quart dutch oven over medium heat for several minutes.  Add the butter and the oil.  When butter has melted, crumble in the pork kielbasa.  If you can't remove the skins, dice the whole kielbasa into small cubes.  Brown and render the fat out of the sausage for several minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the kielbasa.

3. Add the diced onion, diced pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, and sugar.  Saute and sweat out the veggies for about 8-10 minutes.  Add the kielbasa and drained beans to the pan now.

4. Add the chicken stock so that it barely comes up to the top of the bean mixture.  Bring to a boil and then partially cover and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour, until the beans are very tender but not mushy.  Let cool slightly before serving.

 Collard greens

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter 

1 large onion, diced 

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped smoked ham 

3-4 cups chicken stock 

3 teaspoons red wine (or cider) vinegar 

5 bunches of organic collards (about 2 pounds total) or two 16oz bags chopped collards 

1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt 

freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
1. Wash and de-stem each collard leaf.  Stack all the leaves on top of each other and cut them crosswise into 1 inch strips.

2. In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and saute for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the minced garlic and saute for another minute or two.

3. Add the diced ham and/or ham hocks if you have them.  Saute for several minutes with the vegetables and fat in the pan.  Add the collards, tamping down with a wooden spoon to get all of the greens in the pot.  Season with one teaspoon of salt and several grinds of fresh pepper.

4. After the greens have wilted, add the stock and the vinegar.  You want there to be enough stock or liquid to just barely cover the greens.  Bring to a boil and then partially cover and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5. When the greens are really tender and their greenness has dulled to a browner shade, they are done.  Make sure to taste for seasoning.  Add another 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt if it needs it and several grinds of fresh black pepper.

#4: Southern Traditions

Last weekend we hosted our fourth You Pick Two event.  We invited a good friend of ours, Chris Keller.  He is co-owner of a salon on U St. in DC called Parlour.  I admire him for the risk he took in starting his own business.  I hope to someday strike out and start up my own business, but it's a scary thing to go out on your own like that.  He and his business partner Rebecca have established a thriving business in a bustling part of town.  Chris is also a close friend of mine and we have been through a lot together over the past decade or so.

Chris brought his boyfriend, Tyler Mains.  He's a young artist who is a visual manager at Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase, MD.  I was with Chris when he met Tyler last year during DC's Gay Pride event.  You could tell from how they chatted that it was a good match. He's very talented and has been able to make a living in the art world, which is not easy.  They have been dating almost a year now and I am very happy for both of them.  Tyler brought two friends and co-workers from Bloomingdales, Gail Viraldo and Adebimpe Abanishe.  They were both very nice people and a pleasure to have over for dinner.  Gayle is a cook herself so I was very happy that she enjoyed the meal.

Hummingbird cake.

For food, I wanted to choose something that Chris would enjoy.  Chris, for lack of a better word, eats terribly.  That's a little harsh, but somewhat true.  He loves rich food and can make some of the best midnight nachos, purely from things you can find at any CVS.  He's also very thin, which is not fair if you ask me.  He came by for dinner several years ago and Kevin made one of his favorites dishes, Chicken and Peaches; it involves butter, canned peaches, and Bisquick.  Chris loved it.  Kevin is from the south so I wanted to play on that and I decided to do a traditional southern meal. 

After talking with Kevin, I thought because it is the south, I had to do something fried.  I've made fried chicken before but it just that didn't seem special enough for this - so I made chicken fried steak with sausage gravy.  It was very rich and incredibly good.  The sides consisted of southern staples black-eyed peas and collard greens, both modernized a little bit.  And to top it all off I made a hummingbird cake.  Red velvet is a little more expected, so I wanted to branch out and try something else.  Hummingbird cake is called that (supposedly) because it is so sweet that it could attract hummingbirds.  This one was sweet, but fantastic.  I will be posting the recipes from the menu below over the next couple weeks. 

MENU

Southern Traditions

March 15, 2014

Cocktail

Orange Mint Julep

Bulleit bourbon, orange bitters, simple syrup

Starter

Cheese Wafers

Cheddar cheese, salted butter, cayenne

Main

Chicken Fried Steak

Bottom round steak cutlet, sausage gravy

Sides

Collard greens

Organic greens, smoked ham, red wine vinegar

Black-eyed peas

Pork kielbasa, aromatic vegetables, chicken stock

Sweet

Hummingbird cake

Three-layer cake, cream cheese frosting, toasted pecans

Guests

Chris Keller

Tyler Mains

Gail Viraldo

Adebimpe Abanishe