Roasted My Ass

It's been a while since I've been truly disappointed by a restaurant meal. I've had some fairly meh experiences, but most have been good or even very good. And then we had dinner at Nepenthe Brewing Co. 

Now before you scold me for expecting anything fancy or chef-fy, I knew from the start that Nepenthe is a local brewery and their tasting room serves grub like burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and macaroni and cheese. We hadn't been yet, and since we happened to be in the neighborhood, we decided to check it out. Our first matter of business was to order drinks from their IPA-heavy list of interestingly named house brews. I had the Boreal Crypt, a cloudy yellow IPA with the "cold indifference of winter’s cruel grasp." Mr Minx had the clearer and darker Prototype 36--a collab with the Wine Source--listed as a "West Coast IPA" and made with 6 kinds of hops. I'm not a beer connoisseur by any means, but I think both of these brews could be enjoyed even by those who say they don't like IPAs (like hubby, who drank two). Neither of our choices were particularly fruity, nor were they bitter. They were beers. 

Then we went onto to the food.

I hadn't had battered mushrooms since the 80s, when we frequented the fried veggie joint at Harborplace. Squirting fungus napalm singed our palates every time, but we never learned. At Nepenthe, we nibbled our initial 'shroom with trepidation and were thankful not to get burned. The mushrooms themselves were pretty good, but the "bulgogi sauce" made them soggy and super salty, and I saw no use whatsoever for the sprinkle of nutritional yeast on top (a dip of gochujang mayo on the side would have been so much better). For the $12 pricetag on these ten or so small-to-medium button mushrooms, edible gold would have been more apt.

Mr Minx chose for his entree one of the day's specials, a grilled cheese sandwich with pulled pork and pickles. He rather enjoyed it. I declined to try a bite because I was already suffering from dairy overload thanks to our recent Thanksgiving cheese-fest, but I did partake of his fries and their super garlicky aioli dip.

I'm sure you're wondering where the great disappointment comes in. I'm getting to it. It was my entree.

When I perused the menu earlier in the day, I was attracted to the "roasted butternut, acorn, & kabocha squash, toasted couscous, gala apples, & toasted pumpkin seeds on fresh spinach with a creamy poppy seed vinaigrette." Not only was the Oxford comma correctly employed multiple times in that description (be still my heart), but also I love roasted squash. Mr Minx does not, so it's rare when I prepare it at home. I was pretty hungry, so chose to add on a grilled chicken breast (bacon was another option). I couldn't wait to dig into to what I thought would be a masterpiece of seasonal simplicity. What arrived at the table was quite large and indeed attractive. After forcing the dish to pose for the requisite photos, I tried a bite of apple. It was mushy and flavorless, at first reminding me of d'anjou pear (not my fave). Then I took a bite of squash. It didn't look roasted, and it wasn't. Perhaps the squash had been introduced to the oven, decided it was a place it really didn't want to linger, and skipped on over to the microwave for a few short minutes from which it emerged relatively unscathed: crunchy, with none of the expected sweet caramelization. The spinach was fine, as were the couscous and the pepitas. But where was the promised creamy poppy seed vinaigrette? As I look closely at the photo, I can see dark specks on the salad which might be poppy seeds, and some of the greens appear to be moist, but as far as my tastebuds were concerned, there was nary a hint of vinaigrette flavor. Indeed, no seasoning whatsoever. The chicken, on the other hand, was quite salty. Additionally it was overcooked and dry. 

I ate the chicken--dipped into Mr Minx's aioli--and some of the salad, but took most of it home. We consumed it the next morning under a couple of over-medium fried eggs, the yolks of which acted as a dressing of sorts (I also topped mine with a couple spoonsful of chili crisp), but it didn't make the squash or apples any less sad.

Thank goodness for beer.

Nepenthe Brewing Co.

3626 Falls Rd

Baltimore, MD 21211

https://www.nepenthebrewingco.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!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Figckles

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 23, 2011.

-----------------------------------------
Recently, I picked up some fresh figs at the supermarket, and while I adore figs, I can never seem to get them all eaten before they start to spoil. In order to preserve them for a bit longer than the two days they're usually good for, I made a quick batch of pickles, based on the pickled cherry recipe mentioned here last week.

They turned out great, and worked really well as a sweet element to round out the flavors of a chicken salad sandwich. Granted, the sandwich was a little on the exotic side.

Figckles

3 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons fig or apple cider vinegar

1 branch fresh rosemary

six fresh figs, cut into halves

Bring brown sugar, vinegar, and rosemary to a boil. Add figs and cook about 5 minutes, using a spoon to baste figs with liquid. Remove from heat and pour figs and liquid into a glass container with a lid. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Eat within one week.

Chicken Salad Banh Mi

2 - 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

1 teaspoon lemongrass paste

1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro

2 cups cooked chicken, cut or torn into chunks

2 scallions, white and some green part finely chopped

lime juice

salt and pepper 

Thai basil leaves

1 tomato, sliced

figckles

1 baguette, cut into 6" - 8" lengths

In large bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, Sriracha, lemongrass paste, and cilantro. Stir in chicken and scallions. If mixture is too stiff, add more mayo. Add lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

Arrange 2-3 tomato slices on a baguette. Top with chicken salad and figckles. Serves 2-3.

* 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.

Where There's Smoke, There's Probably BBQ

We finally got our asses to Smoke. We'd been meaning to for quite a while, but it seemed that every time getting there was a possibility, the restaurant would receive a great review in some local publication. We knew they'd be swamped with customers for at least a week or two afterward; they definitely sold out of things on a regular basis. We didn't want our hearts set on trying something they'd be out of, so we waited. And then, on a random Tuesday, we went.

Smoke is a "modern American bbq restaurant" which means they have crap like chickpeas that have no place in my life (I am allergic to them). It's a vegetarian-friendly place, believe it or not, serving grilled smoked tofu and fried green tomatoes as well as those chickpeas. We tried the tomatoes, which were coated in a thick yet light and crisp batter and came with a side of Tabasco remoulade. There were a couple of pickle spears in there, too, but somehow they didn't taste particularly pickle-y. At first, I thought they were just oddly shaped tomato slices. Tasty nonetheless.

We also tried the "Boss Dawg." No dogs were harmed during the making of this sandwich, but at least a couple of pigs met their maker. With pulled pork, house-cured bacon, cheddar, slaw, crispy onions, jalapeno-bacon glaze, and pickles, this beast seemed like it should be sloppy, but it was not. We passed it back and forth between us, taking bites of the smoky, meaty, goodness, and dropped nary a bit of it. I really enjoyed the combination of flavors and textures, and while the meat was delicious, the crispy onions really made it. The pickles, too, had an impact. Definitely one of the best sandwiches I have eaten in a long time.

We also ordered the KFC wings, which are smoked, fried, coated in a Korean bbq sauce, and garnished with cilantro and sesame seeds. A cup of tasty five-spice pickled veg came on the side. I had mixed emotions about the wings. They had good textures--meaty, firm, not sloppy, not too much sauce--but the flavors of hickory smoke and Korean bbq got in each other's way. That's just my opinion, so YMMV. I plan on going back and trying the pork belly served with the same sauce and see if that works any better for me.

There are lots of other things I want to try, too, like the pit sandwich, the tofu, the bacon wrapped dates, the "righteous" mac and cheese, pretty much everything we haven't already tried (except the chickpeas). I love me some old school Andy Nelson's, but there's definitely a place for new style bbq in my stomach as well.

Smoke
574 Cranbrook Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 891-8515



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pickled Strawberries

Pickled strawberries. Pretty, no? Yeah, pretty weird. But like any pickles, they make a nice accompaniment to sandwiches or paté. They're not as sweet as you'd think they would be - certainly not as sweet as a gherkin or bread-and-butter pickle. They might also, possibly, be good in a cocktail. You know, like an olive? I'm thinking maybe muddled with mint and maybe some bourbon. I haven't really experimented with it yet, but maybe soon.

Pickled Strawberries (adapted from Richard Blais' Try This at Home)

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice berries
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced 1/4" thick

Mix everything but the vinegar and berries in a medium saucepan and heat only until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add cider vinegar.

Place berries in a non-reactive bowl or, even better, a jar with a lid (love these). Pour over enough of the vinegar mixture to cover fruit. Cover container and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Drain berries and use immediately (according to the recipe) but they're fine for a week or more in a tightly covered jar.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Breakfast Banh Mi

Most weekend mornings, I try to be the first to ask the all-important question, "what do you want for breakfast," because I usually don't want to think about it. Mr Minx doesn't want to think about it, either; his most common response is "oatmeal." But this time, he asked first and I had an answer for him. And no, it wasn't "oatmeal."

I wanted a breakfast banh mi.

We had a partial loaf of French bread, a big bunch of fresh cilantro, cucumbers and carrots. A little marinating here, a little egg-frying there, and voila - a superbly flavorful brekkie.

Breakfast Banh Mi

4 teaspoons mayonnaise (Kewpie, preferably)
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha, or to taste
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon agave syrup or 1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
pinch salt
1 3" length of carrot, cut into strips
1 3" chunk of cucumber, peeled, de-seeded, cut into strips
4 large eggs
2 6" long pieces of crusty baguette, sliced lengthwise
cilantro

In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, fish sauce, and Sriracha. Set aside.

In another bowl, dissolve the sugar or agave syrup in the vinegar. Stir in the salt and add the carrot and cucumber strips. Stir to coat vegetables and set aside.

Cook the eggs to your liking. Over-medium works well - yolks are mostly but not completely set.

Smear the mayo mixture on the inside of the baguettes. Top with two eggs per sandwich, folding the whites to get them to fit. Add slices of cucumber and carrot and a small handful of cilantro.

Makes 2 sandwiches.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Homemade Pickles

Making pickles at home is easier than one might imagine. Only two ingredients are needed:

and

The recipe:

First, buy a jar of your favorite pickles - gherkins, bread & butter, kosher dills, whatever floats your boat.

Eat pickles. Reserve jar and liquid (refrigerate until ready to use).

Buy a cucumber, preferably an unwaxed one. Wash well, cut into spears or rounds, and pack into the reserved jar full of pickle juice.

Wait at least a few days before sampling. Two weeks is a nice stretch of time.

Enjoy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Figckles

Recently, I picked up some fresh figs at the supermarket, and while I adore figs, I can never seem to get them all eaten before they start to spoil. In order to preserve them for a bit longer than the two days they're usually good for, I made a quick batch of pickles, based on the pickled cherry recipe mentioned here last week.

They turned out great, and worked really well as a sweet element to round out the flavors of a chicken salad sandwich. Granted, the sandwich was a little on the exotic side.

Figckles

3 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons fig or apple cider vinegar

1 branch fresh rosemary

six fresh figs, cut into halves

Bring brown sugar, vinegar, and rosemary to a boil. Add figs and cook about 5 minutes, using a spoon to baste figs with liquid. Remove from heat and pour figs and liquid into a glass container with a lid. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Eat within one week.

Chicken Salad Banh Mi

2 - 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

1 teaspoon lemongrass paste

1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro

2 cups cooked chicken, cut or torn into chunks

2 scallions, white and some green part finely chopped

lime juice

salt and pepper 

Thai basil leaves

1 tomato, sliced

figckles

1 baguette, cut into 6" - 8" lengths

In large bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, Sriracha, lemongrass paste, and cilantro. Stir in chicken and scallions. If mixture is too stiff, add more mayo. Add lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

Arrange 2-3 tomato slices on a baguette. Top with chicken salad and figckles. Serves 2-3.

Posted by theminx 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.

Mock Crab Cakes

Chicken cakes, tomato salad, and cheesy grits

Recently I found myself with a ton of cooked meat in the fridge coupled with a real lack of imagination. Normally when there's 3/4 of a rotisserie chicken hanging around, I'd make tacos or toss the meat in a pasta dish, but I had done both of those too recently to try again. My one semi-original thought was to make some chicken croquettes, but when I realized their conical form requires deep frying, I dismissed it. I wasn't averse to shallow-frying, however, so I thought why not make a patty-shaped croquette? And spice it up with Old Bay. Kinda like a mock crab cake. But not really.

To go with the cakes, I put together a spicy tomato salad reminiscent of the one I had at Prune. The chicken cakes were pretty good, if a bit firmer and dryer than an actual crab cake, and the tomato accompaniment was an excellent way to make use of some of our little container garden's summer bounty.

Maryland-style Chicken Cakes

1 slice wheat bread, crumbled
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 heaping teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 egg, beaten
about 3 cups roughly chopped (about half inch pieces) chicken or turkey
canola oil for frying

Mix bread, mayonnaise, Worcestershire, baking powder, Old Bay, mustard, parsley, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Mix in the chicken (hands work best for this). Form into 6-8 cakes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate an hour or so before frying.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat and add about a tablespoon or so of canola oil, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Add chicken cakes to pan, but do not overcrowd. Cook cakes until browned on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. Serve with tomato salad.

Spicy Tomato Pickles

1 pint small tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, grape, etc.), cut in halves or quarters if large
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into rings
1 Hungarian wax or cubanelle pepper, quartered, deseeded, and sliced into 1/8" ribbons
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon agave syrup
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
salt and pepper

Place tomatoes and peppers in a bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together cider vinegar, agave, coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over fruits and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Serve with chicken cakes.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Deli Belly

When I was a kid, I ingested more than my fair share of deli food. At first we shopped at Jack's on Baltimore's Famous "Corned Beef Row," but eventually turned to Attman's for our Jewish-style beef fix. I loved going there with my dad because in addition to extra lean corned beef and roast brisket, dry-but-delicious meat knishes, and "well done" Kosher pickles, we would usually pick up a bologna-wrapped hot dog to share in the car on the way home.

Attman's was a regular stop before Summertime excursions to my aunt's house. In the colder months, Aunt Stasia would usually whip up some elaborate Sicilian-style eats, but when it was too hot to cook, we were all happy with corned beef sandwiches washed down with plenty of her sweet lemonade.

It's been years since I've had a really good corned beef or roast beef sandwich. In my mind, the meat in both cases must be well-cooked brisket, a cut so spider-webbed with thin strands of fat that slices stretch like an accordion when pulled from both ends. This webbing also ensures that the meat breaks cleanly when bitten, a quality much preferable than that of meat so resilient that a bite pulls out an entire slice, the result of which requires the removal of mustard from one's chin.

(Since I mention mustard, I must also mention my possibly-odd condiments rule: mustard on pink meat, mayonnaise on gray or white meat. Any other combination is wrong. So...mustard on hot dogs, corned beef, pastrami, bologna, and ham. Mayo on roast beef, turkey, chicken, and tuna. Spicy Italian-style cold cuts like salami are an exception - they require vinaigrette. This whole weirdness might stem from a particular elementary school lunch of ham-and-bologna subs that were heavily dressed with mayonnaise and very thinly sliced white onion. I found the combination so revolting that I would usually consume only the meat, wiped clean on my napkin. And I've never been a picky eater.)

So where was I? Oh yes, a good corned beef sandwich.

During the Christmas holiday, as Mr Minx and I were running errands in the vicinity, I suggested that we stop at Attman's for some corned beef and his deli meat of choice, pastrami. My family was never into pastrami. Nothing against it, it was just not a part of our dining repertoire (which, admittedly, was fairly limited). To me, pastrami was merely corned beef with pepper on the outside, but then I'd never eaten good pastrami. The stuff we had at Jason's in Las Vegas some years ago (where the server was aghast that we asked for pastrami and mustard on rye, without tomatoes or cole slaw or bean sprouts or some other California-style rubbish) was corned beef with pepper. It was also sliced too thickly and required much chin-swabbing. It was absolutely meh. But Attman's pastrami, well, it was the real thing.

It was smoked. I had no idea pastrami was supposed to taste of smoke, but it does. Not only smoky, Attman's meat also had a visibly fatty interior, which gave it a melt-in-the-mouth texture, especially when sliced paper-thin. It was delicious.

With our extra-lean corned beef and fatty pastrami, we also bought a well-done Kosher pickle. While the corned beef tasted as I remembered, the pickle did not, and its mushy texture left much to be desired. The bread we used to assemble our sandwiches at Casa Minx was also an issue. Pepperidge Farm rye bread just doesn't compare to the crusty deliciousness that was Levin's seeded rye; unfortunately, the bakery that was once my family's one-and-only source for hleb is long gone, so I had to make do.

You thought I'd pile a pound of meat on my sandwiches? At $16 a lb
for extra lean? Are you meshugah?

Despite the shortcomings of the bread and the pickle, these were the best corned beef and pastrami sandwiches we've eaten in a long long time. It really pays to shop where people know what they're doing. And Attman's has been doing it right for almost 100 years.

Attman's
1019 E Lombard St
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 563-2666