Happy Holidays!

Minxeats will return in January with more recipes and restaurant posts! In the meantime, we hope the rest of 2018 treats you well.

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Flashback Friday - Tangerine Beef

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on February 13, 2013.

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Local Easter Celebrations

If you're not up to cooking on Easter, there are plenty of Baltimore-area restaurants that are willing to do it for you.

Cinnamon Tree Restaurant at the Hunt Valley Inn is offering an Easter Champagne Brunch including Fresh Maryland Crab Claws on Ice with Lemon, and Pan Seared Filet of Sole with Mornay Sauce. An Herb Roasted Prime Rib and Roast Pork Loin station with side dishes "provides the comfort of a home cooked meal for the family." For dessert, try their specialty Cinnamon Tree Cinnamon Rolls or Easter Cookies.  (Adults: $35.95 / Children under 8: $16.95)

Citron at Quarry Lake is offering both brunch and supper on Easter Sunday. Brunch runs from 12-3pm, supper from noon to close.

Cosima is offering a one-off a la carte Easter brunch, from 10am - 2pm.

The Turn House in Columbia is having a brunch buffet from 10 - 3, including lamb and ham carving stations, oyster bar, plus all of your breakfast/brunch faves. ($45 adults, $20 children 12 and younger.)

Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Baltimore is offering breakfast, brunch, and dinner on Easter Sunday. Breakfast will run from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Brunch starts at 9 and runs until 3pm. There will be live music, a carving station, make-your-own omelets, a sweet & savory crepe station, roast-your-own s'mores, raw bar and a decorate your own Easter Egg cookies station for the kids.
($69 per person, $29 per child under 12. Bottomless Mimosas are also available for $14.)

An à la carte dinner menu will be available from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. as well as a full tavern menu from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.



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Happy Birthday Wit & Wisdom!

I was surprised to realize that Wit & Wisdom opened its doors on November 14th, 2011. It's only been five years, but the place is so much a part of the Baltimore dining scene, it seems like much longer. To me anyway.

To celebrate the big Five, the restaurant is offering a special "Five Years of Wit & Wisdom" five-course prix fixe menu from Wednesday November 9th through Monday the 14th, featuring the restaurant's most popular dishes over the years. Plus, there's a special anniversary cocktail to wash it all down ($5 from every cocktail purchase will be donated to the Living Classrooms Foundation). Of course you can also opt for their fabulous sommelier Julie Dalton to help you choose the best wines to pair with each course. Bonus: diners who opt for the "Five Years" menu get a recipe card featuring their luscious lobster pot pie.

The special menu will also be offered as part of the restaurant's Wednesday night Kitchen Table dinner series, "Curated," on  November 9th. (Kitchen Table is the new 12-seat interactive chef's table.) For more information, please visit them on Facebook, Twitter or at www.witandwisdombaltimore.com.

Wit & Wisdom
Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore
200 International Drive
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 576-5800



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Ringing in the New Year at Baltimore Restaurants

Wondering what to do for New Year's Eve? Here are a couple of suggestions.

B&O American Brasserie
443-692-6172
www.bandorestaurant.com

New Year’s Eve
A la carte dinner specials
Complimentary glass of champagne for all dinner guests

On New Year’s Eve, the restaurant will host a night of food and fun. All dinner guests will enjoy a complimentary glass of champagne. Reservations are encouraged.

Hangover Brunch
Jan. 1, 2016
8 am – 2:30 pm
Greasy, greasy menu items; refillable mimosas and Bloody Marys for $18

After ringing in the new year, guests can roll out of bed and join B&O American Brasserie for Hangover Brunch, from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Brunch will include a menu featuring some of the greasiest dishes around in addition to the restaurant's a la carte brunch menu. Diners can bring the Advil and the restaurant will provide the bacon and home fries! Refillable mimosas and/or Bloody Marys will cure any hangover so guests can start the new year off right.

Cinnamon Tree
4 courses, $68 per person
Seatings from 5 - 9pm
Choose from dishes like filet of beef Rossini foie gras with black truffles, or peppercorn crusted duck breast. Complimentary champagne, too.

Oregon Grille
410-771-0505 for reservations
The Oregon Grille will serve its regular menu and will offer seatings for parties of three or more at 5pm, 7:30pm, and 10pm. Tables for two will be seated at 5pm, 6:45pm, 8:30pm, and 10:15pm.

They are also running a promotion with Radcliffe Jewelers. All dinner guests will have a chance to win a beautiful 14K white gold and diamond snowflake pendant valued at $3200. The winner will be selected at random and announced at midnight.

Sotto Sopra is serving dinner on NYE from 4 pm - midnight.

Waterfront Kitchen
http://waterfrontkitchen.com/

Five Course Tasting Menu
8 pm
$140 per person, $100 for a vegetarian menu. $25 for wine pairings.
Includes a champagne party at midnight along with a prime location to view fireworks.
Credit card reservation required, via Open Table or by calling 410.864.0215.

Chef Chris Amendola's classically-inspired menu includes oysters and caviar, celery root "pasta," scallops, and ribeye, finished off with a chocolate truffle cake. Vegetarians get roasted beets, a mushroom stew, the "pasta," winter grains and veg with parsnip puree, and the truffle cake.

Wit & Wisdom
http://www.witandwisdombaltimore.com/

Dinner
7 pm
$250 person, black tie optional
Reservations required

Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Baltimore is hosting a 9-course New Year's Eve dinner with beverage pairings, featuring luxurious goodies like Main lobster pot pie, cardamom roasted duck, and local oysters (click here for full menu).

Lounge Party
After 7pm
$40 cover; $50 after December 20th

Live music, champagne toast, a great view of the fireworks.

Tickets for both New Year's Eve Events tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite.

New Year's Day Brunch Buffet
8 am - 3 pm
$69 adults, $30 kids 12 and under
Reservations strongly recommended

Wit & Wisdom's brunch is pretty amazing, including the usual breakfast items, but also chilled shellfish and hot entrees.

There are more, of course, just check the web site for your favorite restaurant for more info.



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Happy Independence Day!

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Tangerine Beef

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! 2013 is the year of the Snake, which just so happens to be my zodiac sign. Apparently we snakes are intelligent, graceful, analytical, and enjoy quiet. Sounds like me to a T! Regular readers will know that I also enjoy Chinese food and have in the past indulged in yummy New Year feasts at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Grace Garden.

This year, we stayed home, but I put together a couple of dishes that are traditionally served for the New Year. The first of them is marbled tea eggs. They symbolize gold nuggets, aka wealth, which is always a good thing to hope for in the coming year.

Chinese marbled tea eggs are really easy to make and very tasty. Just par-boil some eggs, crack the shells, and soak them in a flavorful liquid that includes black tea, soy sauce, and star anise. We ate them in a rather non-traditional way - for breakfast, with hot buttered toast. But you can eat them as a snack any time of the day.

Chinese Marbled Tea Eggs (adapted from Steamy Kitchen)

6 large eggs
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 whole star anise
2 tea bags (plain Lipton-style black tea)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 strips dried orange peel (optional)

Place the eggs in a medium saucepan and fill with water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the eggs from the water and place in a bowl of ice water to cool down.

Add the soy, star anise, tea bags, cinnamon stick, sugar, peppercorns, and orange peel to the hot water still in the sauce pan.

Remove the eggs from the ice bath and, one at a time, crack the shells all over with the back of a teaspoon to produce a spider-web effect. Don't break off chunks of shell!

Add the cracked eggs to the soy mixture in the pot and turn the heat on. Cover pot, bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer eggs for about half an hour. Turn off heat and allow eggs to steep in the liquid. After the pot has cooled down, refrigerate the eggs in the liquid to allow more flavor and color to seep into the eggs.

Posted on Minxeats.com.