Top Chef Portland

Did anyone watch Top Chef Portland? I think it was one of the best seasons ever. 

I didn't do a recap, and I'm not sorry. It was nice to actually enjoy watching the show rather than taking notes and trying to come up with jokes. Because the pandemic caused this season to be very straightforward, with a big focus on the food itself--no gimmicky challenges, no traveling for the finale--I think my recaps would have been pretty dry anyway. 

I love that most of the contestants were non-white. It gets a little dull watching white folks cooking the same French-inspired stuff all the time. Latin American/Mexican and Asian cuisines are my jam, so I would have been quite happy to judge all of the goodies presented by Shota, Maria, Gabe, Jamie, Byron, and Avishar. Dawn was my favorite contestant though. She must have made some fabulous food if she could survive leaving stuff off plates on multiple occasions!

.

.

.

.

.

Spoiler Space

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I even thought Dawn could pull off a win all the way into the finale's Chef's' Table, but after listening to the judges deliberate, I realized that Gabe was the winner. Deservedly so, as his food shone all season long. But have you read about the controversy surrounding his firing from restaurant Comedor? Apparently he was in a "consensual sexual relationship" with a female staffer--in other words, fucking around on his wife--pre-Top Chef, and cut the woman's hours once he returned. Allegedly for a "decline in her performance." We can assume this means on the job, but maybe she just didn't want to sleep with him anymore? That sort of toxic male behavior should no longer be acceptable in the culinary industry. I'd love to see that big check taken out of Gabe's hands and put into Dawn's. Or Shota's. 

Is anyone watching Top Chef Amateurs? I'll be tuning in. 

* 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!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Appreciating What We Have

Today is Memorial Day, and I know many of you are griping that you cannot celebrate the holiday the way you would like. There will be no large family gatherings (at least, there shouldn't be) or neighborhood block parties (again, there shouldn't be), or gatherings of clustered maskless folks in enclosed spaces (once more--there shouldn't be). Honestly, I don't care what your state tells you is ok, it's most likely not. (I welcome you to come back in 6 weeks if there hasn't been a spike of cases and tell me I was wrong.)

This whole situation has been going on for ten weeks now, and honestly I have gotten pretty used to spending 80% of my time in my own dining room with no company other than my husband and our dog. Last week, however, we had the opportunity to get out of the house and socialize. It was Dara's birthday, and she invited friends to come over and sit on her lawn, 6'+ away from each other, to enjoy cake and company. We were to arrive in shifts, and fortunately our shift overlapped with that of other friends, the Keefers, whom we have not seen at all in 2020. We spent a good hour or more discussing life after Covid, the current season of Top Chef, and the local restaurant industry. I haven't had such a good time in, well, at least 10 weeks! And I realized that such simple pleasures--sitting in the sun, talking with friends--are among the most important things in life. Not haircuts and manicures or going to bars.

Stay well, readers. See you on Thursday for our next recap.

* 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!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pandemic Eats, Week 1-8, Home Edition

While we ate a lot of carry out and delivery food during the first 8 weeks of #stayhome, we also cooked regularly, too. Some of the food was completely from scratch, while other dishes repurposed restaurant leftovers. (I hate food waste, and you should, too.)

On the Tuesday of what would become Week One, I had tickets to The Band's Visit at the Hippodrome, and I had planned to take my friend Jeremy. The show was postponed pretty early on, so he and I made alternate plans. Those alternate plans were also changed by coronavirus. Plan C involved J coming over to make us Chinese dumplings, from scratch--wrappers and all. I was sous chef, and I am responsible for the horrible pleating on the dumplings. (I think we added too much water to the dough.) Still, they were delicious, particularly the fried ones.

I made gluten free apple pie for dessert, which we consumed with an Irish coffee on the side. Pierish coffee, as J calls it. It's not a thing, yet, but it should be.

My friend Laurie, @Baltimorehomecook on Instagram, started a project of making pasta and delivering it to folks. I can't turn down her homemade cavatelli, which I served with chopped up Italian cold cuts, spinach, parm, and fresh chives.

I was still attempting to continue Whole30 at this point, so these pancakes are made with Bob's Red Mill gluten free one-to-one flour.

Then I decided, since I wasn't losing anything, that I'd allow some gluten back into my life. Like the crust on this ham and brie quiche.

And the pumpernickel bread used for this toasted cheese sandwich served with a quick soup of canned tomatoes, cannellini, and stock, with fresh swiss chard.

Black bean soup with pickled watermelon radish yielded enough to stash a quart in the freeze for future eating.

Leftover pork tenderloin became an element on this salad, a riff on the classic nicoise, with a mustardy vinaigrette and potatoes. Cheese and nuts just because.

I found that beets make great lunch salads. I tried red, chioggia (candy stripe), and gold beets, and determined that the earthy flavor of red goes best with cheese (feta or bleu) and nuts (walnuts or anything else).

Turkey meatballs with creamy pesto were good for a couple of meals.

Ditto this pot roast, which we ate at least 4x.

I like changing up my daily lunch, so when I don't have leftovers to eat, I make something like this beet hummus.

I opened up a jar of Desert Pepper Salsa Rio and knew we wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing before it got funky, so I repurposed it as a soup with cannellini beans, leftover pork, and pickled onions. Cheese quesadilla on the side.

We've been eating a lot of potatoes, mostly baked. One time I got fancy and made Smitten Kitchen's cacio e pepe potatoes Anna. Pretty good, but next time I'll use butter instead of olive oil, for more flavor.

We've had Chinese carry out a few times, from Red Pepper Sichuan in Towson and Asian Kebab and Hot Pot in Lutherville. (They are owned by the folks who operated the late, lamented, Hunan Taste in Catonsville.) A ton of rice meant fried rice one night. I also repurposed some crazy spicy pig ears into this dish, and the avocado mellowed that heat out nicely.

I broke out my recipe for sriracha bouillabaisse one evening to use up a pack of frozen TJ's mahi mahi. With some rouille-coated toasts, it made a fine light supper on two evenings.

What have you been cooking at home?

* 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!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pandemic Eats - Week 1-8, Take-Out Edition

It's hard to believe that we haven't been able to dine in a restaurant for 8 weeks already. And things were looking up this year! Last year it appeared that we were overlooked for most media feedings, at least in local restaurants. (Chains like Fogo de Chao still liked us though.) This year seemed like it was going to be so much better. In March alone, I was to judge two food events and we had at least 5 invitations to media dinners. Then we were asked to stay home in order to flatten the curve, which doesn't really seem to be happening. While states are starting to re-open businesses, I'm betting that situation is going to revert pretty quickly once infections start increasing again.

In the meantime, we're trying to keep local businesses afloat by getting carry-out or delivery at least once a week. Here are some of the things we've enjoyed over the last 8 weeks.

We had to be in Dundalk in Week 1, and any trip to that part of town deserves a pizza from Squires. We also got crab soup. At this point, we already realized that it might be smart to order enough food to last for more than one meal. At least a dinner and a couple of lunches.

The following weekend, we visited our friends at Cajun Kate's in Wilmington. We brought home 8 quarts of various gumbos and some red beans, and enjoyed this catfish turnover with maque choux and deep fried mac and cheese in the car while we were there.

Red Pepper Sichuan in Towson got the call the following week. This was at least 3 meals.

After that was pizza, wings, and a Lorenzo salad from Earth, Wood, & Fire. Two dinners and a lunch.

Koco's pub came next, for crab cakes that we supplemented with homemade celeri remoulade. Just because. We also got crab soup for a later lunch.

One of our quarts of Cajun Kate's pork gumbo was called into service later that week. Thankfully we were able to get in and out of Delaware before Maryland put the kibosh on out-of-state trips.

We were contacted by Ledo Pizza and asked to promote their $5 calzones on Instagram. They threw in one of their famous square pizzas too. Neither of us had tried Ledo in the past, and we thought their unusual flaky crust was quite good. Two dinners and a lunch.

Silk Road Bistro's Uzbek cuisine, including chicken tabaka, kebabs, and a couple of salads, served us well for two dinners and three lunches.

My brother tipped me off to a place called Asian Kebab and Hot Pot in Lutherville. The place is owned by the former owners of one of our fave Chinese restaurants, Hunan Taste, that closed in 2018. The menu is different, featuring hot pot and kebabs rather than Hunan food, but still quite good. We'll put this place into our permanent rotation, hoping that they stay afloat.

We ordered a dozen bagels and some veggie cream cheese from Bottom's Up Bagels and were pleased to finally find a place that made a proper chewy bagel. We put most of them in the freezer to enjoy later (and we're down to our last 3 already!)

Mr Minx was craving burgers, so we grabbed a couple and some poutine from Clark Burger. I think these burgers taste better at home than perched on an uncomfortable stool in their tiny joint on York Road. While this was only one dinner's worth of food, sometimes ya gotta make sacrifices.

Gypsy's Truckstaurant supplied us with wings, a lamb gyro, and crab cake tacos. for a dinner and a lunch.

We even scored half dozen free donuts from Donut Alliance. The bananas foster one in my hand was my fave, though I also really enjoyed the birthday cake one. The icings have real flavor, unlike those at some other places that will remain nameless. And yes, we ate all 6 on the same day. Donuts get stale, you know.

What have you been eating these last 8 weeks?


* 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!

Posted on Minxeats.com.