Flashback Friday - French Laundry Salmon

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on July 30, 2008

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After reading this entry on the blog French Laundry at Home, I was determined to try it for myself. After all, I owned the cookbook, and had neglected the huge tome ever since I purchased it from a book discounter several years back. Mr Minx and I both enjoy salmon, and I thought the recipe could be fairly simple, with some modifications.

The original recipe calls for creating a rub of citrus zest, salt, and sugar in which the salmon would marinate for a period of time. That was easy enough. Then it should poach in 110º olive oil. Yeahh...olive oil is expensive. Sorry. I'm not going to waste a bottle of it to cook fish. I figured pan-sautéeing would be good enough.

The fish was supposed to marinate for 1 hour for every half inch of thickness (if memory serves). That would be less than two hours for the salmon I had on hand. Unfortunately for us (and the fish) following that time frame proved impossible as the kitchen sink decided to back up and refuse to drain at just about the time I was ready to remove the fish from its citrus spa treatment and had pots and pans stacking up to be washed. The cookbook admonishes that leaving the fish in the marinade would result in a dish that was too salty. So as Mr Minx ran out to get some drain cleaner, I, in desperation, resorted to rinsing the fish in our tiny bathroom sink. As I opened the foil wrapper, I was sad to see a puddle of liquid under the fish. Not only would it be too salty, it would also have the consistency of rubber bands because too much moisture had been drawn from the flesh.

Maybe poaching in oil would have restored some resiliency? But I was not to find out.

In addition to all of the citrus zest, the recipe also calls for marinating orange segments in a mixture of simple syrup and vinegar to create a confit (you catch that, Kit?) As I had a whole grapefruit on hand, I used that as well. It turned out fine.

Another component of the dish was pea shoot coulis. The local supermarket doesn't carry pea shoots, and they're probably not in season anyway, so I used sugar snap peas. Unfortunately I had no tamis in the house so the purée wasn't as smooth as it should have been, and I opted not to thin it out so it was more like a mash. Or mushy peas. Only not mushy.

I didn't think that pea puree was enough of a veg, so I made asparagus as well. And of course the dish had no starch element, and that's simply not allowed in Casa Minx! So I fried up some sliced yellow potatoes, simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

Plated, it looked pretty enough. But the citrus flavor was barely noticed beyond the salt. And the texture of the fish was terrible. The confit was mild, as were the peas. The potatoes, however, were quite good. If not for the chopped chive garnish and the asparagus, this would have been a fairly flavorless meal.

One I'm not likely to try again.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Edamame Hummus

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 12, 2013.

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I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chickpeas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Busy Mom's Cookbook

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 3, 2012.

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Antonia LoFaso was thisclose to winning Top Chef season 4, and did extremely well again on Top Chef All Stars. Now, she's writing cookbooks. Her first is The Busy Mom's Cookbook: 100 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, Home-Cooked Meals. I got a review copy to read, and I must say...I wasn't quite getting it at first.

When I think of a busy mom, I think of a person who is too busy to cook a hot home-cooked meal because there's so little time between running kids to school and softball and ballet and whatever. Of course, I'm not a mom at all, busy or not, but I can tell you that on most nights, the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is to make dinner. Flipping through this book, I see recipes for homemade ricotta and other stuff that takes far longer than the thirty to sixty minutes that some people are willing to put toward preparing a week-night dinner.

But then I got to thinking. Antonia is a working mother herself - one who cooks all day long. If these recipes are ok with her, who am I to judge?

Mr Minx and I decided to put her recipe for spaghetti and meatballs to the test. It was fairly easy and pretty tasty (but probably won't replace our usual recipe).

The sauce is a simple affair of canned whole tomatoes (San Marzano, please), olive oil, and garlic. An Emerilesque amount of garlic - eight cloves each in the sauce and the meatballs. In both cases, the garlic is cooked quite a bit so it doesn't overpower. Honestly, I don't mind a little raw garlic now and again and think the meatballs would be better with two cloves of raw garlic rather than the eight cloves of lightly sauteed garlic, but that's just my personal preference. I also think a full cup of heavy cream in the meatballs is overkill. Not that it makes the meat mixture sloppy - surprisingly, it did not. But meatballs don't need cream - and neither do your children.

In other words, don't go thinking that this book is full of low-calorie, vegetable-laden, 30-minute meals. The title is misleading. This cookbook is for anyone who likes to cook and likes to eat, and hopefully has children who feel the same way.

All Top Chef is giving away one copy of the book, so if you're interested, head on over there and leave a comment on that post.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Edamame Hummus

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 12, 2013.

I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chick peas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Win a Copy of Maryland's Chesapeake!

Enter for the chance to win a copy of our latest book, Maryland's Chesapeake: How the Bay and Its Bounty Shaped a Cuisine! You just need to do a few things first.

Follow @minxeats on Instagram. Then come back here and let us know in a comment. For an extra chance at winning, follow @daminxy1 on Twitter as well. (If you don't use Instagram, then following us on Twitter will count. Just make sure you tell us that when you leave your comment.)

Contest ends November 11th, 2016. Winner will be announced by email, so make sure we can reach you that way.

Open to residents of the Continental US only.



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Book Launch Party

Hope to see you there!



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Flashback Friday - Ma Po Tofu

We love, love, love Fuchsia Dunlop's books on Chinese cuisine. We own all three, and use them pretty regularly. If you want to try cooking Chinese food at home (it's not difficult if you have the right ingredients), then get yourself one or more of her books.

--Kathy

This post was originally published on November 9, 2012.
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Ma Po Tofu

Mr. Minx here. It's been awhile since I've reported on one of my weekday dinner adventures, so Ms. Minx thought this would be a good time for me to attempt a recipe she found in Fucshia Dunlop's book, Land of Plenty. It's a Sichuan dish called ma po dou fu, or ma po tofu for us uncultured sorts. A spicy concoction using tofu and ground beef, the dish looked like it would fulfill our desires to have something healthy and flavorful. To add to the healthy nature of the dish, we replaced the ground beef with ground chicken.

At this point, I think it is important to bring up an issue that has daunted me since I started preparing our evening meals Monday through Friday. That issue is timing. Minxy takes the bus home from work, and the bus system is notoriously unreliable. Just when I get used to my beloved walking through the door at a certain time for several days in a row, she will unexpectedly be 15 minutes late. Although not necessarily a big deal in the vast scheme of things, it can be lethal for the taste and quality of a stir-fry or pasta dish. Therefore, I've taken to getting as much prep work done as possible before she arrives home, and then starting the final assembly after I've kissed her hello.

When I looked at the recipe for ma po tofu, it was clear there was a lot of quick sauteeing with the overall cooking time amounting to a scant 10 minutes or so. I decided to be clever and do all my chopping and measuring of ingredients first, and then wait to do the actual cooking. Setting about the prep work about a half hour before the expected cooking time, I ran into my first snag. The recipe called for leeks and, as anyone who's cooked leeks knows, they have to be thoroughly washed because they can often be filled with sand. Sometimes I get lucky and the leeks are pretty clean. This was not one of those times. I chopped the leeks into rings and soaked them in a bowl of cold water. Once the sand settled to the bottom of the bowl, I drained the water and washed them again. And again. And again. I had just started, and I was already falling behind.

I started assembling the other ingredients. The recipe called for fermented black beans. After scouring the pantry, I came up empty. Then I remembered that I had purchased a container of Korean fermented black bean paste a while back which I was going to use for some undetermined experimentation at a later date. This seemed like as good a time as any, so I guesstimated how much paste might equal the required quantity of black beans. Another crisis averted.

Next step was to cook the ground chicken. This is when I realized that I hadn't thoroughly defrosted the meat, which had lingered in the freezer waiting for some good use. I decided to start cooking the meat right away and hope for the best. The meat is supposed to be crisped up over a high flame, but a chicken popsicle doesn't exactly crisp up; it stews in its own moisture and becomes a crumbly soup. I tried not to panic. I figured I still had just enough time to cook it. Then I hear the Minx walk through the front door 15 minutes early.

Seeing that I was clearly in the weeds, she jumped in to help, but I could sense her disappointment in my lack of planning. Anyway, we forged ahead. Although the recipe is not exactly complicated, there are several steps, adding each ingredient separately and allowing them to cook for short, but specific amounts of time. Chili bean paste, black bean paste, ground chiles, tofu, and leeks are all added to the meat and cooked for short intervals. Fine if you know what you're doing, but a little crazy for me as I ran back and forth to the cookbook, fumbling with my reading glasses, trying to make sure each step was properly executed.

In the end, the ma po tofu turned out to be a wonderful dinner choice. The tofu, ground meat, and black beans provided sufficient heartiness, while the clean spiciness so prevalent in Sichuan cooking made it seem somehow light. I'm sure the use of ground beef would've given it a more savory flavor, but the ground chicken worked just fine for my palate, and I could feel better that is was less fatty. It's a dish I would like to attempt again when I have more time and properly thawed ground meat.



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Duff Bakes!

Duff Goldman, from Baltimore's own Charm City Cakes, is coming to town to sign copies of his new book, Duff Bakes: Think and Bake Like a Pro at Home.

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Atomic Books
3620 Falls Rd.
Baltimore, MD 21211
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/410758462465829/

Filled with must-bake (and must-eat) favorites, DUFF BAKES has chapters on different types of pastry dough, a variety of cookies, blondies, muffins, bread, biscuits, pies, cakes and cake decorating, a whole chapter of gluten-free and vegan desserts, and much more. The 135 recipes include nutter butter cookies, white chocolate blondies, apple streusel muffins, cereal bars, bacon jalapeno biscuits, banana bourbon cream pie, zucchini lemon cake, and savory bread pudding, along with a few classics, like a re-make of the childhood favorite, Twinkies. And, yes, there are a few fun cake decorating projects with step-by-step photos to make it fun for all ages. It’s the perfect book for enthusiastic home bakers, young and old.

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Chipotle Cherry Brownies

Regular Minxeats readers have to know that I am obsessed with brownies. Obsessed. (Well, not really, but that's one of those words you young'uns use all the time, regardless of its actual meaning. I'm trying to be hip with the lingo.) I've tried many brownie recipes over the years, and posted a good many of them here, including one abomination made with Splenda and black beans. (Go ahead, read that post. It's one of my favorites. Read the comments, too, while you're at it.) My all-time favorite brownie recipe is the one found on cans of Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. The large sugar-and-fat to flour ratio makes for brownies that are gooey and messy, as opposed to cakey. (I suppose cakey brownies have their place, but why not just eat cake?) Mmm. So good.

I must confess that when I saw The Messy Baker: More Than 75 Delicious Recipes from a Real Kitchen in my Amazon recommendations, I put it on my wish list solely because of the cover photo. Of brownies. Deep Dark Cherry Chipotle Brownies, no less. (Yes, that's the link to the recipe on her blog. No need for you to buy her book, too, unless you want all of the other goodies inside.) Nobody purchased the book for me last Christmas, so I took it off the wish list and put it in my shopping cart. In January. But I didn't pull the trigger to buy it until August. Of course, the first recipe I tried from the book was for those brownies.

At first taste, when they were just a bit warm, I wasn't sure of the texture. They're very fudgy and dense. Which is fine, better than cakey, but not as gooey as I like. So I refrigerated them, and that made all the difference in the world. Cold from the fridge, they are like candy. Chocolate candy crack. They are spicy, but not too (and I added the full teaspoon of ground chipotle) and fruity from the cherries, which does help cut back the heat. I also added some walnuts, to add a bit of crunch, plus I like walnuts in my brownies. They are really, really good. Really good.

I think I found my second-favorite brownie. Try them. If you don't like spicy, then skip the chipotle, substitute ancho instead, or leave the pepper out entirely. And eat them cold, straight from the fridge, with a glass of milk (or a bourbon, if you're me). You won't regret it.



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Book Review: Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook

Doesn't that look good? It's a dish of Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, pecans, and sorghum.

I've seen quite a few gluten-free cookbooks come across my desk recently, but none have been as comprehensive as Camilla Saulsbury's new Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes. While 100 percent of the recipes in this book are gluten free, it reads more like a primer for incorporating ancient grains (oats, amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, etc.) into one's diet. The whole gluten-free aspect is more of a happy bonus. In other words, this book is a great kitchen tool for everyone who wants to switch up their diet a bit, not just for the gluten-intolerant.

Unlike other gluten-free cookbooks, Saulsbury doesn't resort to using gums and stabilizers to give her recipes more familiar textures. Instead, she sings the praises of whole grains, many of which are completely foreign to most Americans.

It's not a vegan cookbook, nor diet-y in any way. Every dish looks really terrific, so of course we had to try a few ourselves, just to make sure.

The first dish we tried is a dressing of Brussels sprouts, pecans, dried cranberries, and whole grains. We chose to use sorghum. Sorghum takes a heck of a long time to cook. Even after one hour, the little round grains were still on the chewy side. But the combination of flavors in the dish, while fairly simple, were really delicious. We ate it as a warm salad entree, but you can serve it as a side dish. It would make a perfect addition to a roast chicken dinner, and would actually work really nicely as a Thanksgiving side, too.

Next we tried spiced bar cookies made with oats and dates, because we had all of the ingredients on hand: dates, coconut oil, teff flour (left over from our attempt at Ethiopian injera), and oatmeal. The flavors were terrific - malty teff and cardamom played really nicely with the sweet and chewy dates - but the bars are a bit dry and crumbly. They're pretty good crumbled over a dish of ice cream, though, and would make a nice combination of flavors to top a fruit cobbler.

Though neither of us are gluten intolerant, we're really enthused about Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook overall. We've even invested in some amaranth and quinoa so we can try more whole grain eating.

If you can't find Bob's Red Mill products in your local grocery store (we've found some, but not all), you can order them online from Bob's, or even at Nuts.com.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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East Meets West at Wit & Wisdom

Superstar chef Michael Mina will be joining Wit & Wisdom's Zack Mills and Dyan Ng in the kitchen next Wednesday, March 25th, for a little battle of the coasts. That would be fun to watch, wouldn't it? A little Top Chef right in Baltimore. There's no real battle though, instead, the chefs will be preparing a five-course dinner, with each course featuring a favored ingredient of each coast.

The dinner starts at 6:30 and will feature the following dishes:

1st
East| Chesapeake Oyster| bloody mary granita, celery
West| Hog Island Oyster| white soy & tangerine

2nd
East| Blue Crab Cake| flying dog deadrise ale braised cabbage, old bay sabayon
West| Monterey Red Abalone| lobster rouille, pickled lemon butter, afelia cress salad

3rd
East| Maryland Rockfish| chesapeake clam chowder
West| Sonoma Sea Salt-baked Pacific Halibut| artichoke & razor clam barigole, buttered cabbage fondue, salsify chips

4th
East| Gunpowder Bison| rye berries, tuscarora root vegetables, black garlic barbcue sauce
West| Brandt Farms Beef Short Rib| spring pea puree, crunchy potato, oxtail marmalade

5th
East| Corn| browned butter ice cream, crispy pork cracklings, old bay
West| Baba| ghirardeli chocolate, grand marnier, soft cream

$150 will get you dinner. Add $50 for optional wine pairing. And...Chef Mina is happy to sign copies of his cookbook for an additional $35.

For reservations, please call Shannon Toback at (410) 223-1464 or email Shannon.Toback@fourseasons.com



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Bloody Mary Beef

Sometimes a recipe sounds better than it actually is. I got excited about one for Bloody Mary Beef from Jamie Oliver's new Comfort Food cookbook. I like a good Bloody Mary on occasion, and think the flavors of horseradish, Worcestershire, and tomato would be smashing with beef. And it is, but if one follows the recipe to the letter, the flavors are a bit weak. Too much tomato, not enough anything else. But, if one ups the amount of aromatic Worcestershire sauce, adds horseradish (found in the original internet version but not in the cookbook version), and re-seasons the dish before serving, it's actually pretty good, with a nice depth of flavor

If I tinkered with it enough, I could probably make it great. For now, though, this is a pretty good stew to make when you have a bit of time on the weekend. It's great with horseradish mashed potatoes, but it makes such a large amount, you'll find yourself serving it again later in the week as a pasta sauce or with rice.

Bloody Mary Beef (a Jamie Oliver recipe, with some alterations)

Olive oil
1 2lb beef chuck roast
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1 bunch of celery, trimmed and cut into 2" lengths
2 red onions, cut into eighths
1 32oz can of tomato puree
5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
3 tablespoons vodka
Juice of 1 lemon
2 fresh bay leaves

Heat a large pot or dutch oven over high heat and add the olive oil. Pat the roast dry and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Brown meat on all sides, about 10 minutes total, and remove from pan. Add celery and onion to the pan with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften.

In a bowl, stir together the tomato puree, Worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, vodka, and lemon juice. Put the browned meat back into the pot on top of the vegetables and add the tomato mixture plus one cup of water. Toss in the bay leaves.

Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover pot and cook meat until fork tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours. Remove meat from pot and shred with two forks or slice thinly. Add back to pot and stir well. Cook an additional hour. Taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper, and additional Worcestershire and Tabasco, if necessary. It's not going to taste exactly like a Bloody Mary, but you want to at least get the idea.

Serve with horseradish mashed potatoes.

Serves 6-8.



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Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food

I received several cookbooks for Christmas, and hope to talk a little about each of them here. First up is Jamie Oliver's new one, Comfort Food: the Ultimate Weekend Cookbook.

The book is thick and heavy, so it might seem that there are hundreds of recipes included. Rather, the bulk of the book is food porn--lots of pretty pictures of the various recipes included. And when I say "various," I mean the recipes are all over the place. Oliver's idea of comfort food includes dishes from India and Indonesia as well as British favorites like toad in the hole, sticky toffee pudding, and beans on toast.

I've bookmarked several recipes to try, including the three mentioned above, plus one called Bloody Mary Beef, which seems like a good thing to cook up on a cold winter day, as it spends 5 or so hours in the oven.

The first recipe to strike my fancy, however, was for quesadillas made with brussels sprouts. Unusual? Yes. But also quite good. I would never have thought of this combination, but it worked very well.

The recipe is pretty simple. I can't share it exactly as written, but it's not rocket science.

Slice up a large onion and half a pound of brussels sprouts (I added a handful of sliced mushrooms, too, because I had them). Toss them in a large saute pan with a pat of butter, or, use a glug of olive oil, as I did. Sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, the leaves from 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme, and a big pinch of salt. Cover pan and cook over medium-high heat for about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Remove lid and cook for another ten minutes or so, until onions and sprouts caramelize nicely. Turn off the heat, hit with a squeeze of lime juice, and scrape into a bowl. Wipe out the skillet and spray it with release spray.

Lay a large flour tortilla out onto a plate or cutting board. Top with enough of the brussels sprouts mixture to cover almost to the edges. Sprinkle with a handful of grated pecorino cheese (as per recipe), or your favorite combo of melting cheeses. I added some shredded sharp cheddar, too, since I had some. Top with a second tortilla.

Heat pan and carefully transfer filled tortillas, making sure not to slop filling into the pan. Cook over medium heat until browned and crisp on the bottom, 2-3 minutes. Flip gently and repeat on second side.

Transfer quesadilla to a cutting board and cut into 6-8 wedges. Serve with sour cream, salsa, guac, chopped green onion, whatever floats your boat. I whipped up a quick sauce with ground chipotle pepper, a dash of agave syrup, pinch of salt, and a squeeze of lime stirred into sour cream.

A brussels sprout quesadilla might seem weird, but it was really very delicious. Both Mr Minx and I love brussels sprouts in pretty much any form, so this was a big hit. We made two quesadillas for dinner and had enough sprouts and onions (and mushrooms) left over to make another one a couple days later.

Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Eggplant Artichoke Appetizer Thingy

For those readers who don't yet know, Mr Minx and I produced a cookbook this year. Baltimore Chef's Table includes recipes from 58 Baltimore-area restaurants. The recipes run the gamut from the expected Maryland crab soup and crab cakes to Thai and Persian food. The Orchard Market & Cafe, in Towson, was kind enough to provide two recipes for the book, one of which involves eggplant and artichokes in a honey mustard sauce. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, so when we did a book signing at the restaurant, I ordered the dish. Hmm...it was pretty good. And definitely simple enough to assemble at home.

The recipe in the book makes a 9" x 13" pan full. A bit much for two people, I cut it way back. I also simplified the preparation of the eggplant, and added a bunch more dill because I really wanted to taste it. The book recipe calls for Bulgarian feta, but as we had no plans to go to Wegmans anytime soon, I just used regular supermarket feta. The Bulgarian would have definitely been better, but I can't complain too much about my substitution--we ate it all up.

Eggplant Artichoke Appetizer (adapted from Baltimore Chef's Table)

1 large or two medium eggplants
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons sour cream
3 tablespoons honey dijon mustard (I used Jack Daniels brand)
2 tablespoons minced dill
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
4 scallions, chopped
1 can artichokes, drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
5-6 pitted olives, sliced
Pita bread for serving

Rinse and halve eggplants from stem to stern. Place cut-side-down on a microwave-safe plate and cover with a piece of waxed paper. Microwave for 10-12 minutes, until deflated and tender. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before scraping eggplant meat onto a cutting board. Chop into fairly small pieces and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season to taste with the kosher salt.

Combine the sour cream, mustard, dill, and molasses in a small bowl. Season with salt, if desired.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the eggplant in the bottom of a 9" round or square baking pan. Top with the scallions. Arrange the artichokes over the scallions and top with most of the feta cheese. Pour the mustard sauce over all. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until sauce is browned.

Top the dish with remaining feta crumbles and the olives. Eat with pita bread.

Serves 2-6, depending on whether using it as an entree or appetizer.



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Sidebar - H.L. Mencken: Culinary Chronicler of Baltimore

We were perhaps a bit overzealous when we wrote our most recent book, Baltimore Chef's Table, and handed in far too many words. Unfortunately, this meant some of them needed to be cut, among them several recipes and sidebars. We're posting some of those sidebars here on Minxeats. Think of them as supplemental material.

Robert F. Kniesche, Baltimore Sun photo / September 20, 1950

H. L. Mencken, the cantankerous journalist who worked for the Baltimore Sun during the first half of the 20th century, wrote about everything that affected his era, from revolutions in Cuba to the antiquated ordinances of the city government. Despite his contrarian and sometimes fiery demeanor in print, he could also become quite romantic when it came to the culinary delights of Baltimore.

Mencken lived the vast majority of his life at 1524 Hollins Street, a three-story rowhome in the West Baltimore neighborhood known as Union Square. Some of his earliest memories are of his mother going to the fishmongers on Hollins Street to buy 8-inch blue crabs “with snow white meat almost as firm as soap” for ten cents per dozen. The rarer soft crabs were more expensive at 2 1/2 cents each. When his mother reported to his father that the price of a 20-inch shad had gone from 40 cents to 50 cents, his father predicted that the Republic would not survive the 19th century.

Breakfast and lunch were the heavy meals in the Mencken household. While many today would have a sandwich for lunch, this was a rare item then. “When I was a boy there were only three kinds of sandwiches in common use - the ham, the chicken and the Swiss cheese. Others, to be sure, existed, but it was only as oddities. Even the club sandwich was a rarity, and in most eating-houses it was unobtainable.The great majority of people stuck to the ham and the Swiss cheese, with the chicken for feast days and the anniversaries of historic battles.” A typical lunch would include a platter of Norfolk spots, Himalaya corn cakes, succotash, buttered beets, baked potatoes, and string beans. If they were in season, oranges and bananas for dessert. Mencken estimated that the calorie content of this family meal was around 3,000.

Fruits and vegetables were seasonal in those days, and in winter there wasn’t much produce at all. In the summer, however, Mencken recalled the African-American street vendors who sold produce from the back of their horse drawn carts, known as Arabs or Arabers. “Arabs (with the first a as in day)...announced their wares with loud, raucous, unintelligible cries, much worn down by phonetic decay.” A handful of these vendors can still be seen and heard wandering through the streets of Baltimore today.

To Mencken, oysters were a low class food eaten by drunks in oyster houses like Kelly’s on Eutaw Street. He did concede, however, that one of his favorite lunch spots, the now gone Rennert Hotel at the corner of Saratoga and Liberty Streets, had a decent oyster pot pie. He was more inclined to order the crab soups, either the shore-style with vegetables or the bisque.

Indeed, crabs were the most popular item which came from “the immense protein factory of Chesapeake Bay.” Mencken remembered how a former sheriff of Baltimore, Tom McNulty, had a special way of preparing soft shell crabs. He would spear a slice of bacon on a large fork, jam a soft shelled crab on top, and hold the fork over a charcoal brazier until the fat melted over the crab. Then he would slap it on a slice of hot toast.

Mencken loved strong drink as much as food, and was not a fan of Prohibition. "A prohibitionist is the sort of man one wouldn't care to drink with -- even if he drank." He felt that alcohol was “the greatest of human inventions, and by far -- much greater than Hell, the radio or the bichloride tablet." Indeed, he saw food and drink as prime examples of Man’s ongoing quest for the finer things in life,"...all the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have been given to humanity by men who, when the hour came, turned from tap water to something with color in it, and more in it than mere oxygen and hydrogen."

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Fork & Wrench

My father and I had dinner at Fork & Wrench not long after it opened in 2012. I wanted to eat there to get a feel of the place before adding it to the Food Lover's Guide to Baltimore but after ordering what our waiter talked me into (the duck) rather than what I wanted (the scallops), I left the restaurant feeling unsatisfied and probably wouldn't have returned. But then Cyrus Keefer became the new chef at Fork & Wrench and that changed everything.

In the year that Chef Keefer has been at the restaurant, he's cooked at the James Beard House twice. Maybe that coveted award will be his one day.

Mr Minx and I were invited to a media dinner to taste what's been going down at Fork & Wrench these days.

Because I love escargot, and also because Chef Keefer donated the recipe for his escargot buns to Baltimore Chef's Table, I just had to try it. It's hard to describe - the bun is a cross between Chinese-style steamed and baked buns. Almost like a giant potsticker, with its soft edges and crusty top. And filled and topped with snails! So good. Mr Minx chose the Scotch egg for his appetizer and was pleasantly surprised to find a soft-boiled egg inside, rather than the typical dry hard-boiled egg. Not so easy to wrap sausage around a soft egg and fry it while keeping the yolk runny. Very impressive.

One of my dining companions chose the poutine to share with the table. It was topped with a ragu of pork and stracciatella ("ripped" or "shredded" in Italian). Who needs cheese curds? This was outstanding, and hard to stop eating. And the portion is definitely large enough to share.

I haven't had a really good soft shell crab in a while, and the lightly tempura-battered whale served to me at Fork & Wrench really hit the spot. It was served in a bacon dashi with a saute of fiddlehead ferns and porcini mushrooms. Finally, fiddleheads with flavor! Mr Minx had the fried shrimp, which came with cornmeal gnocchi, shishito peppers, and a tomato broth. The shrimp had that nice, er, shrimpy flavor that we like, and the diminuitive size of the gnocchi made them nice and light.

Chef Keefer was surprised that none of us had ordered the octopus, so he sent a tentacle to the table for us to try. It was accompanied by papas bravas, salsa verde aioli, and a pepper broth. Nearly fork-tender and lightly smoky, it was some of the best octopus we've tried. Another dish we enjoyed was the duck preparation du jour, seared breast served with parsnips and blackberries. Unlike the duck I had the first time around at Fork & Wrench, this baby was tender, juicy, and not ringed with fat. And perfectly seasoned, as was everything we ate that evening. Both of our other dining companions chose the arctic char. Served with petit pois, fried batter bits, and a malt vinegar-infused butter sauce, the flavors of the dish evoked a haute cuisine fish and chips.

Finally, we had to have dessert. There were only three offerings on the list, so we tried all of them. Mr Minx's went for the milk and cookies, an assortment of rather large cookies including a snickerdoodle, peanut butter/oatmeal, one flavored with lemon peel, a brownie-like square, and a mammoth chocolate chip cookie, all made by pastry chef Janae Aiken. I had the creme catalonia. Not a flan, nor was it a creme brulee, it was rich and lemony, with a texture like dense pudding. The rest of the table chose the chocolate cake layered with chocolate cheesecake, which was outstanding, but a bit too rich for anyone to finish.

The decor at Fork & Wrench has always been something to see, with it's jumble of industrial bric-a-brac and tools. And now it has cuisine that makes it truly a place worth visiting.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Edamame Hummus

I've been on a hummus kick lately, have you noticed? I really do love the stuff and would eat it more often if it wasn't normally made with chick peas. Those little bastards give me such intestinal distress, I can't even look at them without getting gassy. In their place, I've been making hummus with just about every other bean under the sun, mostly with success.

Not long ago, we bought some edamame hummus from Trader Joe's, and man, that stuff was delicious! The best bean yet. So when I decided that our Memorial Day dinner would involve kebabs and various Mediterranean-inspired sauces, I put edamame hummus on the list of must-makes. Coincidentally, I received Louisville chef Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles, at around the same time and the first recipe I turned to when I opened the book at random was his version of edamame hummus. It was kismet.

Lee makes his hummus chunky and uses it as a side dish. I wanted a more traditional dip/puree, so I added a bit more water to the food processor when I was blending. I also didn't need quite so much hummus, so I halved the recipe. Here's my take on it:

Edamame Hummus (adapted from Smoke and Pickles)

2 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen edamame
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the green onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until beans are no longer crunchy. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a food processor until fairly smooth, adding additional additional water to help the process. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, soy, and olive oil, if necessary.

Serve at room temperature with unsalted tortilla chips or pita.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cooking With the Orioles' Wives

Way back in 1986, the wives of the Baltimore Orioles put together a cookbook to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Maryland Chapter. Because it was both Orioles- and food-related, I bought a copy of Birdfeed and spent many happy hours reading and re-reading it. Not that it was a particularly good cookbook, but it was entertaining. And it had caricatures of Orioles players and coaches of the time, some of which were pretty good. (I was an illustration major at MICA at the time and caricatures were my thing.)

Like most community cookbooks, the recipes range from the very simple to the fairly complex, depending on the cooking skills of the recipe's owner. Pitcher Mike Boddiker's wife, Lisa, seemed to enjoy cooking, as some of her contributions were the most complex. One recipe she offered is for kolaches, a yeast-raised, fruit-filled pastry of Slavic origin that requires several hours of kneading and resting before eventual shaping and baking. For my first foray into cooking from this book, some 27 years after its purchase, I chose to make Lisa's Oatmeal Cake. With my adjustments, of course.

The recipe originally called for 1 cup each of brown and white sugar - entirely too much - and I reduced the white sugar to 1/2 cup. There was also no instruction as to what sort of pan to use. The amount of batter seemed a bit much for a single 9" square pan, especially as the baking time was a scant 30 minutes, so I baked it in one 9" square pan and one 9" round pan. Both produced adequately tall cakes. I think a single 9" x 13" would work fine, too.

The resulting cake was really quite delicious. Very moist and fluffy, with a pronounced oatmeal and cinnamon flavor. We happened to have some horchata-flavored  ice cream on hand (a Mexican drink made with ground rice and flavored with cinnamon) and it was the perfect accompaniment.

Oatmeal Cake (adapted from Birdfeed)

2 cups water
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

In a large saucepot, bring the 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Once it reaches the boil, stir in the oats and turn off the heat. Cover pot and allow the oats to absorb all of the water, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. Stir in the oatmeal. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl and slowly add to the wet ingredients, beating only until everything is incorporated. Do not overmix.

Scrape mixture into a greased 9" x 13" baking pan, or two 8" or 9" round or square cake pans. Bake about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack. Eat warm or cold with ice cream.

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Tate's Bake Shop

Long Island bakery Tate's Bake Shop is famous for its chocolate chip cookies. How do I know this? Well, the press release said so. Apparently bakery founder Kathleen King's recipe has received recognition from Consumer Reports, and Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. Hmpf. You all know Rachael doesn't impress me. But what is impressive is that King won the Specialty Food Association's 2011 sofi Gold award for Outstanding Cookie. But what does this all mean? Do the cookies taste good?

The answer is...drumroll please...yes!

Tate's sent us a sample bag of their gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and I must say - they are pretty damn good. Crispy and buttery-tasting, Tate's cookies contain a goodly amount of chocolate, and are pretty much indistinguishable from a gluten-full cookie apart from a slightly sandy after-texture.

These cookies are hitting the Baltimore area and should be available at Whole Foods, MOM's - My Organic Market, Fresh Market, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Wegman's. If you'd rather make your own cookies, there's also a new cookbook. Called Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends, it contains recipes for scones, tarts, and quick breads as well as about 40 cookie recipes.

What struck my fancy as I perused the book for the first time was the recipe for pineapple upside-down cake. Kathleen King used a lovely cheat for the topping - toffee bits - which add more caramelly flavor than the usual brown sugar and a bonus of tiny almond bits. The other thing I liked about the recipe was that the eggs were added whole. So many traditional recipes for pineapple upside-down cake require that the eggs be separated and the whites whipped before adding. King's recipe is completely un-fussy and produces a moist and tender cake that might be the best pineapple upside-down cake I've ever tried.

I have to add one important direction to the recipe - place the skillet or baking pan on a cookie sheet! I didn't do this and the toffee oozed up one side of the pan and over onto the bottom of the stove, sending plumes of smoke everywhere as it burnt. Fortunately, I keep a sheet of heavy-duty foil on the bottom of the oven and was able to whisk it out of there and replace it (carefully) while the cake was still baking.

Pineapple Toffee Upside-Down Cake (adapted from Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends)

1 20-oz can pineapple rings
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, 4 tablespoons sliced, 8 at room temperature
1 cup toffee bits (I used Heath Bits 'O' Brickle baking pieces)
7 maraschino cherries, drained, stems removed
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain nonfat or low-fat Greek yogurt

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 350F.

Drain the pineapple, discarding the juice (theminx says: make a pina colada!). Reserve seven pineapple rings. Coarsely chop the rest and set aside.

Melt the 4 tablespoons of sliced butter in a 9" ovenproof skillet (or a 9x2 round cake pan - I used a 9" square glass pan) over medium heat. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the toffee bits evenly into the skillet. Arrange the pineapple rings in the skillet, placing a cherry in the center of each one.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and 8 tablespoons of room temperature butter with an electric mixer set to high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, followed by the vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the yogurt in 2 equal additions, mixing until just smooth after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Do not overmix. Stir in the chopped pineapple. Spread the batter evenly over the pineapple rings and cherries in the skillet.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the inside of the skillet to loosen the cake. Place a serving plate over the skillet, and, using pot holders, invert the skillet and plate together to unmold the cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

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Tyler Florence in Baltimore

Food Network's Tyler Florence has a new cookbook - hot off the presses yesterday - and will be in the Baltimore area to promote it. In Tyler Florence Fresh, he shows that using fresh, unprocessed foods, whether from the farmers' market or the grocery store, is easier than one might think.

Tyler will be at the Williams-Sonoma in Annapolis at 12pm on Saturday, December 8th, and at 6pm that same evening, he'll be at the Wegman's in Hunt Valley.

To whet your whistle, here's a recipe from the book. As soon as I get my hands on some smoked olive oil (even if I have to do it myself) I'm trying it.

SMOKY ROASTED CHICKEN AND CITRUS SALSA
serves 2-4

Chicken
1 whole (3-1/2-pound) free-range chicken
1/2 cup smoked olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1-1/2 pounds baby creamer potatoes
in assorted colors

Citrus Salsa
2 limes
1 navel orange
1 grapefruit
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
6 breakfast radishes
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

Flowering cilantro buds
Fleur de sel

Roast the chicken. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone and discard it. Flatten the chicken and cut it in half through the breast so you have two halves—each with a leg and breast. Rub all over with some of the smoked olive oil, ensuring it gets in all the crevices. Season all over with salt and pepper.

Set the chicken in a large roasting pan over two burners and heat over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the chicken halves skin-side down and sear for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over, add the potatoes to the pan, and drizzle with more smoked olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the joint between the thigh and drumstick reads 160° to 165°F. The potatoes should be golden on the outside and tender in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes.

Make the citrus salsa. Use a sharp knife to cut away the rind and pith from each of the citrus fruits. Holding the fruit over a bowl, carefully cut between the membranes to free the segments. Let the juices and segments fall into the bowl. Add about   cup extra-virgin olive oil to the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cut the radishes into very fine matchsticks on a mandoline or with a sharp knife. Fold them into the citrus salsa, and add the chives.

Serve the roasted chicken with the potatoes and citrus salsa, and garnish with flowering cilantro. Season with fleur de sel.

Posted on Minxeats.com.