Sour Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

I love cherries, especially the tart kind, but my birch pollen sensitivity causes me to have a mild allergic reaction when I eat these fruits raw. I can work around this issue by cooking the offending element, which includes pretty much all stone fruits. Happily, popping peaches, apricots, etc., in the microwave for a minute or so seems to kill whatever it is that my body thinks is an allergen. I can also eat dried, frozen, or canned stone fruits, so I don't really feel at all deprived.

When I found that Oregon Fruit Products sold red tart cherries in jars, packed only in tart cherry juice, I was elated. Tart cherries are available for such a short time in the summer, and sometimes I miss that window. Jarred cherries, however, are around all the time, so I can have them whenever I want. I've always been a fan of Oregon's products. I'm pretty sure that the very first blackberries I ever ate came from a can. Now there's usually a can of berries in the pantry for those times I have a need for instant fruit and am too lazy to walk to the grocery store (which is often).

Oregon Fruit Products was kind enough to send me a few jars of their tart cherries to try. Now what to do with them besides eating them directly from the jar? Pies and tarts seem the obvious choice, but why not ice cream? When I was a kid, one of my favorite ice creams was a certain name brand's cherry vanilla, back in the good old days when they advertised that their ice creams had no artificial ingredients. It had a strong vanilla flavor, punctuated by sweet fruit. My cherry vanilla ice cream is completely different than theirs. Not only is it made with ingredients that are more likely to be found in a home pantry than a chemical lab, the cherry flavor is the star. I wanted to taste the vanilla too, which is why the recipe calls for a whole tablespoon of extract. If you feel that's too much, by all means cut back. You just won't taste it as much.

The Oregon Red Tart Cherries are quite tart, as they are packed with no added sweetener, so I warmed them up with a bit of sugar before adding them to the ice cream. The tart cherry juice left over went directly into my gullet. Did you know that antioxidant-rich tart cherry juice is helpful in fighting inflammation and pain for people with osteoarthritis?

Tart Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

For the cherries:
1 13-ounce jar of Oregon Red Tart Cherries, well drained (drink the juice!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

To make the cherries: Cut the drained cherries into quarters and place them and the sugar in a sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar begins to bubble, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and refrigerate until completely cold.

To make the ice cream: Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool. Refrigerate until completely cold.

To finish: Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Once ice cream is mostly done, add the cherry mixture a little at a time until it is completely incorporated.

Scoop ice cream into a lidded container. Press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Cherpumple Pudding

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on November 16, 2012.

Cherpumple. It's a funny word, isn't it? Kinda like "turducken." Exactly like turducken, as a matter of fact. That particular funny word is a portmanteau combining letters from the words turkey, duck, and chicken; the dish it refers to comprises a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck which in turn is stuffed into a deboned turkey. Poultry on poultry (on poultry) action, and an interesting dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner.

Like the turducken, the cherpumple combines multiple elements into one over-the-top dessert. This combination of cherry, pumpkin, and apple pies bound by cake was created by humorist Charles Phoenix after noticing that his family tended to take small servings of each of several desserts served during a typical holiday meal.

While I'd happily eat turducken, I think three pies, each baked into a layer of cake, and covered with cream cheese frosting, is like a nightmare starring Paula Deen. Or maybe Sandra Lee, considering that the original recipe calls for frozen pies, cake mix, and canned frosting. BUT...I think the combination of flavors, at least of the pie components, would make for a pleasant holiday sweet.

Rather than dealing with pies and such, I opted for a much simpler solution: pudding. A nice tapioca pudding, flavored with pumpkin and spices, and topped with a compote-like mixture of sauteed apples and dried cherries.

Cherpumple Pudding

1 large egg
2 3/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Minute tapioca
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons dried cherries

Beat the eggs and milk together in a saucepan, then stir in sugar and tapioca. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Mix together pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. When tapioca has cooled somewhat, stir in the pumpkin mixture. Pour into a bowl that has a cover, or cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed down onto the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Cook apple with butter and brown sugar until the fruit is tender and the sugar is syrupy. Stir in the cherries and cook an additional few minutes, until they plump up. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

When ready to serve, spoon some of the tapioca into a bowl. Top with some of the apple and cherry mixture. Garnish with a dollop of freshly-whipped cream, if desired.

Posted on Minxeats.com.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Summer Fruit Bread Pudding

Ok, maybe not the best photo in the world, but it gives you an idea of how big this recipe is. Great for a summertime party!

There's a small (very small) farmers' market very close to work (across the street!) and I'm fortunate to be able to get luscious peaches for much of the summer, and sour cherries in their very short season. Sometimes I get a bit carried away and buy cherries and peaches and nectarines and other stuff that we simply can't eat fast enough. After all, there's only two of us. And once in a while, those extra peaches get squishy and the cherries threaten to get moldy, so I have to do something with them, and quick.

Bread pudding is a good solution to the problem. We always have bread and eggs, and there's usually a can of sweetened condensed milk in the cupboard. Mix it all up, add fruit, bake (I know - it's hot, sorry) and eat with some vanilla ice cream or custard or heavy cream poured on top, or as is. Bread pudding makes a great breakfast, snack, or dessert. If you can't eat it fast enough, you can cut it into serving pieces, wrap well in foil, and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer.

Summer Fruit Bread Pudding

4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch salt
About 1/2 pound stale white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 5 cups)
2 peaches, peeled and cut into about 1" pieces
1 cup sour cherries, pitted and halved
1 teaspoon softened butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat the eggs, milks, vanilla, and seasonings together in a large bowl. Add the bread and toss to combine. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for half an hour or so, so the bread can soak up the milk.

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish (or a bundt pan) and pour the bread pudding mixture in. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 45 minutes and uncover. Continue baking until the pudding rises and is firm in the center and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.

Let cool slightly before serving.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sour Cherry Tart

My brother purchased two pies, one cherry and one apple, to serve as dessert on the 4th of July. While the cherry pie was tasty, it had an edge of artificiality, despite coming from a local bakery. The glaze was just too gloppy and red, as if the filling had originated in a can. I was pretty sure I could do a better job baking a cherry pie myself.

Just days later, kismet revealed quarts of gorgeous sour cherries at the farmers' market. I snapped one up and immediately began searching for pie recipes online. Smitten Kitchen's crumb-topped pie appealed, because it didn't require a top crust. (While I normally don't mind admitting to using store-bought crusts, I thought a home-made cherry pie deserved a home-made crust. I just didn't want to make two of them. Or, heaven forbid, a lattice.)  In another stroke of luck, I received an e-mail from Saveur magazine, touting their new brown butter blackberry tart recipe. The crust recipe seemed easy and didn't require any rolling out, so I resolved to use it. I ignored the fact that the shell was intended to be used for an unbaked pie.

While the crust recipe seemed pretty simple to begin with, I simplified it even further. The original recipe called for butter, water, oil, and sugar to be placed in a heatproof bowl and baked for 20 minutes until the butter began to brown. Why not put them in a saucepan and cook for fewer minutes?

I made the rest of the pie (filling and crumb topping) pretty much according to the original recipe. Because the crust was intended for use with a non-baked (pre-cooked), custard-type filling, the texture is pretty different from that of a regular pie crust. No matter, the combination of brown butter flavored crust + lightly sweet cherries was pretty swell. And the crust held up well enough for me to take the tart out of the tart pan without it falling apart.

Mmm...cherry pie. It was lovely, and much better than the gloppy bakery pie.

Sour Cherry Tart (adapted from Saveur and Smitten Kitchen)

For the crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup flour

For the almond crumble:
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the sour cherry filling:
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/4 pounds fresh sour cherries, pitted, or 2 pounds frozen sour cherries, partially thawed

Make the crust: Heat oven to 400°. Stir butter, water, oil, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter begins to brown, 5-8 minutes. Stir in flour until dough comes together. Press dough into bottom and up sides of 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes until browned; let cool.

Make the crumble: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until everything is coated with the butter.

Make the cherry filling: In a large bowl, mix the cherries with the sugar, cornstarch, and kosher salt.

To assemble the pie:  Reduce oven heat to 350°F. Pour the cherries into the pie shell. Sprinkle the crumble over the cherries. Place the pie plate on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and thick. Remove to a rack to cool to room temperature before serving.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cherpumple Pudding

Cherpumple. It's a funny word, isn't it? Kinda like "turducken." Exactly like turducken, as a matter of fact. That particular funny word is a portmanteau combining letters from the words turkey, duck, and chicken; the dish it refers to comprises a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck which in turn is stuffed into a deboned turkey. Poultry on poultry (on poultry) action, and an interesting dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner.

Like the turducken, the cherpumple combines multiple elements into one over-the-top dessert. This combination of cherry, pumpkin, and apple pies bound by cake was created by humorist Charles Phoenix after noticing that his family tended to take small servings of each of several desserts served during a typical holiday meal.

While I'd happily eat turducken, I think three pies, each baked into a layer of cake, and covered with cream cheese frosting, is like a nightmare starring Paula Deen. Or maybe Sandra Lee, considering that the original recipe calls for frozen pies, cake mix, and canned frosting. BUT...I think the combination of flavors, at least of the pie components, would make for a pleasant holiday sweet.

Rather than dealing with pies and such, I opted for a much simpler solution: pudding. A nice tapioca pudding, flavored with pumpkin and spices, and topped with a compote-like mixture of sauteed apples and dried cherries.

Cherpumple Pudding

1 large egg
2 3/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Minute tapioca
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons dried cherries

Beat the eggs and milk together in a saucepan, then stir in sugar and tapioca. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Mix together pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. When tapioca has cooled somewhat, stir in the pumpkin mixture. Pour into a bowl that has a cover, or cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed down onto the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Cook apple with butter and brown sugar until the fruit is tender and the sugar is syrupy. Stir in the cherries and cook an additional few minutes, until they plump up. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

When ready to serve, spoon some of the tapioca into a bowl. Top with some of the apple and cherry mixture. Garnish with a dollop of freshly-whipped cream, if desired.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cherry Barbecue

I broke out the now-trusty stovetop smoker the other day to make some 'cue. I got it in my head to experiment with a cherry barbecue sauce, made with dried cherries and a good dose of bourbon. The sauce was just fine and dandy eaten straight out of the jar, but was even better on some smoked chicken thighs.

In previous smoking events, I didn't leave the food in contact with smoke for nearly long enough. This time, I cooked the bone-in, skinless, chicken thighs for a good 45 minutes, which imbued them with a ton of smoky goodness. I popped them into a saute pan with several tablespoons of sauce and a bit of vegetable stock and simmered it until the liquid reduced into a nice glaze. Delicious!

(The sides, an oatmeal risotto and sauteed radishes, did not match at all, but they were what I had. Next time - cole slaw!)

Cherry Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

3/4 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup minced onion
olive oil
salt
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring cherries and bourbon to a simmer, then turn the heat down to medium-low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, until cherries are nice and plump and much of the bourbon has evaporated. Transfer to a food processor and puree. Set aside.

Wipe out the saucepan and add the onions, oil, and pinch of salt. Cover and cook onions over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are quite soft, 15-20 minutes.

Add the cherry bourbon puree to the onions. Add the stock, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, honey, and ancho powder, and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pickled Cherries

When I was a kid, cherries were my favorite fruit. My mother used to talk about how I begged for them on trips to the Broadway Market. "Mommy, beeps!" I'd exclaim, as I pointed to piles of cherries arranged on the counter of our favorite produce stand. (Not sure why I thought "beeps" was the right word for the succulent burgundy orbs, but Mom understood me. That's the most important thing, right?)

Unfortunately, an teenage overdose of peaches left me with an unfortunate allergy to all fresh drupes, including cherries. It's been a good 30 years since I've had the pleasure of purple-stained fingers caused by eating raw cherries by the handful, but I'm fortunate in that I can enjoy them dried, or cooked, as in pies or jams.

Or even...pickled.

When I saw the recipe for pickled cherries in the June 2011 issue of Bon Appetit, I immediately became obsessed with making them. I mean, wouldn't they make a great addition to a martini? And a perfect accompaniment to a lunch of paté and cheese? Not that I drink martinis or eat paté very often...but still! So I whipped up a half batch. I must have cooked it a bit longer than necessary, because when I poured the cherries into a jar, there wasn't enough liquid to cover. Rather than adding more harsh white vinegar, or doing more cooking, I topped it off with some balsamic.

After ignoring them for a couple of weeks, I figured it was high time to eat some pickled cherries, with some store-bought paté, cheese, and a recent purchase of walnut preserves from FoodSherpa.com. Wow - they were good! They still tasted like cherries, but they had a lovely sweet tang, which was indeed a perfect way to cut the richness of a slab of puréed pork guts.

Pickle fans, I recommend the recipe highly. I'm definitely going to try it again, next time using other fruits that I can no longer enjoy raw, like plums, peaches, or apricots.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Satisfying a Need

I don't know what turned me into a cupcake baking fool all of a sudden, but here I am. Every once in a while, I get an uncontrollable urge that must be satisfied. The other day, I needed some chocolate cupcakes. I also needed fresh cherries, but my allergy to fruits in the genus Prunus prevents me from eating them raw. So I chopped some up and added them to chocolate cake batter. In case that wasn't cherry enough, I added some cherry preserves to a batch of cream cheese frosting, which turned it a lovely shade of pink that went beautifully with the dark brown of the cupcakes.

About the frosting: I'm not a huge fan of the chalky flavor of confectioner's sugar, which is why I won't make the standard butter + sugar style of buttercream frosting. But frosting needs a certain amount of sugar to achieve that perfect, fluffy, pipe-able texture, even if doing so makes the result too sweet. After adding one cup of powdered sugar to a box of cream cheese and declaring it sweet enough, I decided to boost the texture by adding some of the Ultra Tex 3 that I had received in my box of samples from National Starch. It worked like a charm without affecting the flavor one bit.

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup pitted fresh cherries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill muffin pans with 12 cupcake liners.

Stir together sugar, eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, and beat with wooden spoon until incorporated. Add boiling water and beat until blended. The mixture will be very thin. Stir in cherries.

Spoon into lined muffin pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes until tops spring back when pressed lightly (a toothpick test won't be accurate because of the cherries). Remove to wire racks and cool. Frost with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8-oz package of cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 heaping tablespoon cherry preserves
2 cups powdered sugars OR 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon Ultra Tex 3

In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, and preserves. Beat in powdered sugar, or sugar and Ultra Tex. Spoon into piping bag and frost cooled cupcakes.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Muesli

Although my Dad is not a particularly adventurous eater, he is usually willing to try something new if it doesn't involve sour cream, lamb, or sea critters. One day in the 70s, he brought home a box of cereal called Familia. Familia was a muesli, a breakfast or light supper dish comprising fruit, nuts, and raw grains like rolled oats. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner as part of a nutritious diet for his patients.

I was never a fan of hot oatmeal because I hated its gummy quality, but muesli I quite liked. Because Familia was so expensive, we didn't buy it very often. Eventually I started making my own version at home with standard quick rolled oats and whatever dried fruits and nuts that were on hand.

One of my favorite variations involves chopped pecans, dried Montmorency cherries, and fresh raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries. And if there's almond milk in the house, all the better!

Muesli is best when it's left to soak overnight, making a thick porridge-like concoction, but sometimes I eat it right away, when it's still soupy.

Muesli

1/4 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon wheat germ or flax seed or whatever extra nutritional stuff turns you on

1 tablespoon chopped nuts

1 tablespoon dried fruit (raisins, cherries, cranberries)

1 teaspoon honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar

1/2 cup almond milk

dash of cinnamon, if desired

Combine all ingredients in a lidded container. Refrigerate overnight. Serves 1.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

B&O American Brasserie

B&O American Brasserie, at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, recently added some yummy-sounding new offerings to their dinner menu. Mr Minx and I were invited to partake of a complimentary meal to sample some of the new fare.

This was our first visit to the restaurant, and I was surprised at how somber the surroundings are. It was a bit like dining in a Medieval castle that just happened to have a rather lively bar. Despite that initial chilly feeling, the staff were all very warm and welcoming and I immediately felt comfortable, especially after being ensconced in one of the semi-private banquette tables at the back of the upstairs dining room.

We started off with beverages, an appropriately summery Modena Market cocktail with flavors of strawberry, white balsamic, and basil. It was quite savory, and a perfect drink to pair with food. Mr Minx chose a drink called "Mischief," which tasted primarily of lime on a smoky background of Laphroaig Scotch.

A restaurant located in a hotel often must act as the hotel dining room, serving three meals a day and catering to the fairly staid tastebuds of the garden-variety hotel patron. But B&Os menu is far from ordinary, offering inventive dishes that are attractive to diners from beyond the neighborhood, as well as interesting twists on standbys like roast chicken and shrimp cocktail. It's actually quite the foodie destination.

The basket of delicious crusty bread and rich yet ethereal butter adorned with green crystals of house-made basil salt cemented this notion. While not made in-house, the quality of the bread was impeccable, and honestly I could have made a meal out of it and a salad. But I was there to experience the full breadth of the menu, was I not?

After perusing the menu online and asking for recommendations from people who have eaten at B&O, I decided that I would...nay that I needed to taste the smoked pork belly with banana-lentil salad, crispy pig ear, & chili-caramel. For one thing, I love pork belly. For another - bananas and lentils? You're kidding me.

I made a Very Good Choice. The pork belly had it all: a lovely smoked flavor, one more prominent than in average store-bought bacon; tender meat; succulent fat; and a sticky-crispy layer of skin on top. It was a real bacon-lover's dish. The odd-sounding lentil and banana combination was shockingly good; its hint of lemon rind really brought all of the disparate flavors together. The only thing I was missing was the crispy pig's ear....

The flatbreads had been strongly recommended and Mr Minx couldn't pass up the version with duck confit, asparagus, cherries, and foie gras. A word of warning to those who plan to follow suit - the flatbreads are HUGE and are best shared or eaten as an entree with a lighter starter. Essentially they are personal-sized pizzas.

While we really enjoyed the crisp/chewy crust on this funky pizza, we felt the balance of flavors was a little off. The cheese overpowered the duck. The cherries also paled in its presence and served merely as textures. However, the little nuggets of foie gras hidden here and there were fun treasures to find.

For my entree, I chose the "Buffalo" duck with grilled watermelon, slaw, and "tater tots." Hello, World's Best Tater Tots! They reminded me of my grandma's placki (potato pancakes) in their overwhelmingly potatoey potato-ness. A shame I only got three of the little guys, because I did have to share them with my carb-a-holic but otherwise lovely husband.

The word "Buffalo" would seem to indicate a spicy, saucy preparation accompanied by bleu cheese and celery, but in this dish it was merely a light application of heat, mostly found on the watermelon. Yes, spicy watermelon works! The duck itself was fall-off-the-bone tender and quite nice.

Mr Minx opted to try the bacon-wrapped Amberjack with corn-cherry succotash, string beans & beer-foie gras vinaigrette. Amberjack is a somewhat firm and meaty fish that takes well to smoking, and the bacon in this dish did indeed imbue the fish with lots of smoky flavor. The fish was moist and tender but I wish the bacon had been crisper. Perhaps that would have been hard to achieve without overcooking the fish. Despite the presence of a generous quantity of bacon, this was a nice, light, summer-y dish.

I wanted to try one of the sides that came from the same brick oven in which the flatbreads were cooked and ordered the roasted string beans with cashews and cherry dressing. It was the only real disappointment of the evening. Or perhaps I should say it was not what I expected. While the beans were perfectly cooked, they didn't have any particular roasty-ness. And the overly-large whole cashew and cherry topping added nothing while making the dish a bit awkward to eat. Part of that was probably due as well to the wee skillet in which it was served.

Although we were pretty stuffed by this point, and I was taking a whole duck leg's worth of meat home for lunch the next day, we had to try dessert.

I heard great things about the bing cherry white corn "upside-down" cake with caramel corn and sweet corn ice cream. The cake was very much like a sweetened corn bread, studded with corn kernels and surrounded by cherries. Honestly, I've never before had a meal that contained so many cherries (probably because I am allergic to them - heh - thankfully only raw ones) and was happy to have the opportunity to eat them in something that wasn't pie. The corn ice cream was more subtly-flavored than I expected. Had I not known it was corn-flavored, I wouldn't have guessed. But it was nice with the caramel corn. In fact, I could have eaten the ice cream and caramel corn and been completely satisfied.

Another warning - if you've eaten an appetizer and an entrée, you may want to share a dessert. Like the flatbreads, they are quite generously-proportioned.

I wanted to try another one of B&O's inventive ice creams so urged Mr Minx to order the butterscotch pudding tart with gingerbread crumble and caramel balsamic ice cream. I thought that the gingerbread component had the perfect blend of spices. And Mr Minx enjoyed the dish so much, he requested it for Thanksgiving dinner!

While the meal had small issues here and there, it was largely quite delicious, with lots of intriguing sweet/savory contrasts. I'd pay to eat that pork belly again and again. And I might have to do just that before the menu changes again.

B&O American Brasserie
2 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-692-6172