Safffron Rice and Beans

Here's another quick weekday recipe from Mr. Minx.

Probably half of the dinners I cook during the week are pieced together from leftovers. One of the things I always hated as a kid was when my mother would serve reheated leftovers in the same form as they were served originally. Nine times out of ten, the meal was a pale imitation of the original, so I always prefer to reinvent the leftovers into some other type of dish. Besides, there's almost never enough food left over to serve exactly the same way. Case in point, a meal I put together the other day.

When I opened the fridge, our leftover inventory consisted of a container of steamed rice, some tomato sauce, and four thin slices of pot roast that Minx had ordered at our favorite diner a few nights earlier. My usual plan when I'm confronted with rice is to do a Chinese-style fried rice dish, but we had eaten Chinese food the night before, so I thought about other cuisines that use rice. That's when paella popped into my head.

Of course, paella is way too complicated, and I didn't have all the ingredients for it anyway, but I thought by adding saffron to the rice, I could build on the paella inspiration. Digging through the pantry, I found a can of black beans and, in the freezer, our usual stash of frozen peas. Rice and beans are a classic, and saffron rice tastes great, so this could actually work. Cooked all together with onions and garlic, the dish was homey and comforting, while having a touch of the exotic thanks to the saffron. I sprinkled the chopped pot roast into the dish for meaty goodness, but the recipe below excludes the pot roast because a) not everyone will have leftover pot roast in the fridge; and b) the recipe works great as a vegetarian dish.

Saffron Rice and Beans

2 cups cooked rice
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of butter
a few strands of saffron bloomed in 1/2 cup of warm water
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
15 oz. can black beans
4 oz. tomato puree or tomato sauce
1/2 cup frozen petite peas
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro and scallion for garnish

Place a few strands of saffron in 1/2 cup of water to "bloom," or turn the water into a nice yellow color. While that's going on, open a can of black beans, dump them in a colander, and rinse the starch off under running water. With that prep work done, chop a medium onion and saute it in a pan with olive oil and melted butter. Once the onions are translucent, dump in the cooked rice and mix together. Add your garlic and the saffron water. Mix everything together well so that the rice takes on a yellow color. Add the tomato puree, and then add the black beans and the petite peas. Once everything is incorporated and heated through, season with salt, pepper, and the fresh oregano. Once on the plate, sprinkle some cilantro and chopped scallion on top for garnish.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mo's Seafood

My family had been going to Mo's Fisherman's Exchange on Joppa Road for years. It was one of my mom's favorite weekend dinner spots, and while there was little or no ambiance, it was a good place to get tons of food for relatively little cash.

Mo's closed that dreary location earlier in the year and opened a new place a bit further west on Joppa Road, in the revamped former home of the Orchard Inn. The menu isn't that different, but there seems to be more (and younger) clientele, plus two outdoor dining areas - the combination of which spiff things up considerably.

One thing I really like about the new Mo's is that the menu offers "small" and "large" portions of many items. A single fried soft shell crab with a single side dish costs a reasonable $12. Two soft shells cost $20. The same pricing applies to their backfin crab cake (jumbo lump cakes are also available). I asked nicely and received one each of the crab cake and the soft shell for $20. My choice of side dish was a seemingly bottomless bowl of cole slaw.

The crab cake was heavily flavored with mustard, and had a decent amount of breading, but it was also full of crab lumps. While perhaps not the best crab cake in town, it was pretty good. The soft shell was presented within pieces of buttered toast, which made for a silly-looking, but tasty, sandwich.

Mr Minx had ordered the broiled seafood platter on a prior trip to Mo's and decided to change things up by ordering the fried version, which came with a crab cake, scallops, shrimp, and a plethora of clams. That's a lot of fried food. Needless to say, I had fried clams for lunch later in the week.

MinxBro ordered a much abbreviated version of Mr Minx's dinner, the crab cake and four fried shrimp from the "lite fare" menu. I don't understand what is particularly light about fried seafood, but at $13, the price was right.

Dad bucked the trend and ordered the "crunchy burger," topped with cheese and onion straws. The hefty burger, with uninteresting fries, was only $7, and according to Dad, nicely done.

But that's not all. We also ordered onion rings, a fried calamari appetizer, and coconut shrimp. Yes, entirely too much fried food. The portion of calamari was huge, more than enough for the four of us (especially since Dad won't touch the stuff), and perfectly cooked, with a generous portion of tender tentacles. The coconut shrimp were nicely crispy, but the coconut-flavored dipping sauce is too sweet and a bit overkill.

As was the whole meal. But I dare say we'll be back to this new location far more often than we visited the old one.

Mo's Seafood
1528 E Joppa Rd
Towson, MD 21286
(410) 823-3030



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Top Chef Seattle Episode 4 Recap

Oy. I am not in the mood to recap. I just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York and I'm mentally and physically exhausted. But as they say - the show must go on!

This week's show opens in last week's stew room. John is once again proving why he's the Most Hated Chef in Dallas (and by the time the show is over, possibly the Most Hated Chef on TV, except maybe Gordon Ramsay) by insulting all and sundry in the room. He even goes so far as to call Mr Mustache a "blogger." Honestly, I think he should be proud to be called that - we bloggers are more influential than chefs these days. Heh heh. Stefan above it all, saying it's too much like the Real Housewives of Seattle. Andy Cohen, make sure you give Stefan credit when you put that show on your network.

RING!!!! RING!!! Ok, hold on...have to answer the phone.

I'm back. Just in time to put up the Christmas tree. Yeah, that's why this post is so late. Man. My back is killing me. And I could use a drink....

Back to blogging. And back at the Top Chefpartment the next morning, there's more bellyaching, but Stefan decides his time is better used by giving pretty Kristin a foot rub. Despite the fact that she's not a lesbian. With any luck, he'll turn her into one.

Finally, we're in the Healthy Choice kitchen with Padma - who is wearing Seinfeld's puffy shirt - and Portland-area chef Naomi Pomeroy, who Padma calls "Nye-omi." You might remember Nye-omi as the bossy finalist who yelled at her dad during a Quickfire in Top Chef Masters season 3. In case you don't remember, Bravo airs a little clip of that very moment.

On to the Quickfire. Padma dramatically removes a curtain set up behind to to reveal two primal cuts of beef. Essentially dead cows are hooked up on a rack behind her, and the chefs have to take them down and butcher them for the cuts they want to use in a dish. The guys get one primal down easily, but three of the female chefs wrestle with the other one for several minutes before managing to get it off the rack and onto a butcher block. A mere hour later, the cheftestants present their beefy dishes for judging. CJ feels confident because his tartare is fantastic, and Mr Mustache's meatball is quite tasty, but Pads and Nye-omi give the win (and immunity) to the biggest ego in the room, TMHCiD (aka, John Tesar).

For the Elimination Challenge this week, the chefs are celebrating the beloved Seattle institution, Canlis, which has been around for 62 years. They must recreate the original 1950 menu for a special dinner. The winner of the challenge will get a cool $10,000 from their corporate sponsor, Healthy But Not Tasty Choice, AND there will be two chefs eliminated. Yay! Hopefully that will shave a week off the competition.

The chefs get some time to peruse the 1950 menu and divvy up who makes what. Stefan decides to delegate tasks and gives a squab dish to Carla. Now why did he give her that particular dish? Because she doesn't make thquab regularly? Because she snapped at him last week? Dum dum DUM!

TMHCiD decides since he's got immunity, he'll expedite. Also, because he's superior to the other chefs in the competition. And expediting takes someone who knows what he's doing. You know, like TMHCiD.

Commercial break and Bravo's "text in your answer..."question of the night:

Is John the chef to beat?
A: Yes. With a baseball bat.
B. No. But smack him with a bat anyway.

The next day, the cheftestants get three hours in the Canlis kitchen to prepare their dishes..It's difficult for a cook to prepare a dish he or she has never eaten before, especially when he or she doesn't have the recipe. Carla is having trouble butchering her squab; she doesn't know if she should remove the rib cage, or what. Chrissy doesn't seem to be having much luck with the Canlis special salad. Kristin, meanwhile, has a big chore ahead of her: cooking onion rings and mushrooms. How will she handle the pressure? And poor Tyler, who's terrified that he's on the bottom again, worries and makes terrible faces over his crab cocktail.

The guests arrive and the first set of tickets come in. TMHCiD does a terrible job of expediting right off the bat, asking The Mustache for two onion soups, then calls for a "second soup." Mustache clarifies that there are only 2 soups "all day," so why did TMHCiD ask for three? Because he's not as superior as he thinks he is. And, according to the text poll results, Bravo viewers don't think he's all that tough to beat.

The judges this week, besides Tom and Padma, are Hugh Acheson, Emeril, Nye-omi, and the third generation of Canlis owners, brothers Brian and Michael.

John and the Apps come out first, to mixed reviews. They love Tyler's crab cocktail (which surprisingly doesn't taste of flop sweat and tears), but aren't so fond of The Mustache's cold French onion soup with hard croutons and a lack of cheese. Chrissy's Canlis special salad is overdressed and her croutons are soggy. Maybe they should switch croutons?

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Carla has to face order after order of squab being sent back because it's nearly raw. So for the judges' order, she overcooks the beast a bit.

The sauce is actually pretty tasty, but the presence of the ribcage makes the judges unhappy. Micah's vegetable side dish is both over- and under-cooked. Something for everyone...to complain about. Stefan's liver is very good, but CJ's lamb kabobs are mealy and underseasoned, not to mention cooked with the very un-50s technique of sous vide. Kristin's mushrooms and onions are a big hit.

Anyone else notice that Nye-omi tended to disagree with everyone else's opinion? There's a reason her name is Nay-omi.

Finally, the desserts are presented and thoroughly enjoyed, particularly Danyele's vanilla ice cream.

The chef go to stew elsewhere in the restaurant until Padma calls out Tyler, Stefan, and Kristin. They are pleased to learn they are on top, and Stefan pretends to be delighted that Kristin wins for her lovely mushrooms.

On the bottom are Carla, Chrissy, CJ, and The Mustache. The judges complain that Mustache's soup was cold, and he seems surprised. They then ask how John was as an expeditor, and Mustache truthfully tells them he was "a monkey" at the job. Which I'm assuming is not good. When asked about the temperature of her squab, Carla admits only trying the first and last ones and not testing each (which is why most of them were sent back to the kitchen). CJ gets hell for using a modern technique to cook his lamb, and Chrissy is bashed over her soggy salad. Chrissy, surprisingly, is eliminated, but then so is Carla, who won last week. So far, that's a pattern - Kuniko wins week 2 and is eliminated week 3. Carla wins week 3 and is eliminated week 4. Guess that means Kristin is out next week?

Speaking of next week, the cheftestants seem to be paired up, and at one point one of the judges declares that the "whole team" is going home. Does that signify another double elimination? Let's hope!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

J Paul's

When I initially received an invitation to a media dinner at J Paul's restaurant in Harborplace, I was amused. "That's still around?" I thought. I'm always surprised that anything is in Harborplace anymore, especially after Phillips jumped ship last year. Back in the day, in the early 80s, my family was at Harborplace all the time. We lived in Fells Point, so it was a quick trip in the car, or a long walk if we were feeling energetic, to get there. We ate very frequently at Bamboo House (a precursor to Joey Chiu's Greenspring Inn) and later, in the 90s, Paolo's was a favorite. But they're both gone, and so is almost everything else in those big glass pavilions. Bubba Gump's has moved into the spot where Phillips ruled for 30 years, and H&M occupies a great deal of the Light Street building, including Paolo's old digs. There's a Hooter's in there, and the Fudgery is still around after all these years, but Harborplace is probably even disappointing to the tourists these days. Which brings me back to my surprise at a media dinner at J Paul's.

The restaurant has been in the Light Street pavilion since 1997. (The original Georgetown restaurant has been chugging along since 1983. Somehow, DC has been kinder to establishments in the Capital Restaurant Concepts group - Paolo's is still open there, whereas Baltimore has lost both outposts.) Fifteen years and a major renovation later, they just wanted to remind Baltimore that they're still around. And they're worth a try. Honestly - we enjoyed our meal, and were sad that the restaurant was so empty.

We started our meal off with a couple of Blue Point oysters, which were supremely fresh, meaty, and delicious with a dab of lemon juice and sprinkle of mignonette. It might seem odd to eat only one oyster, but neither of us are fans of raw bivalves. However, our server was persuasive, and later, after we commended her on her recommendation, she suggested we try more on a Thursday, when the restaurant offers half price raw bar items from 5pm until closing. Not a bad idea.

Next were bowls of Maryland crab soup and chili. I'm always skeptical about restaurant chili, which is usually a flavorless melange of ground beef and kidney beans. J Paul's is made with short rib as well as ground beef, and the shreds of meat are the predominant texture. The bowl of red was well-spiced without being hot, and it was almost as good as my home made. Color me impressed. The Maryland crab was also quite good, with a spicy tomato broth that did not have the typical Old Bay flavors. A nice change. And bonus for me - no lima beans!

For our entrees, we tried the crab cakes and the fish and chips. Mr Minx's cod was so delicately beer-battered as to seem like tempura, and the fish inside was moist and flaky. Even better was the fresh-tasting, very crisp, cilantro-spiked cole slaw, which had the perfect amount of sweetness.

My crab cakes seemed small for the price ($26) but they were very tightly packed. I'm a bit of a crab cake snob, and would say these were merely ok. However, I was impressed by the cakes' accompaniments, which seemed somewhat unconventional, as far as crab cake sides are concerned: perfectly cooked asparagus topped with a sundried tomato tapenade, rice pilaf, and a cherry pepper remoulade that had a real kick.

For dessert, we had a rich peanut butter pie served with a pool of very good, obviously house-made chocolate sauce, and a fudgelike slice of flourless chocolate cake with more of that chocolate sauce. Thumbs up for both. Especially the chocolate sauce.

We washed down our meals with a crisp J Pauls amber ale, and a J Paul's mojito, which is a mojito in name only. Rather than rum and mint, cherry-flavored Jim Beam Red Stag is muddled with basil, with added brown sugar, simple syrup, and lime. A bit too sweet, but interesting.

So...

If I happen to find myself hungry at the Inner Harbor, J Paul's has definitely made itself a dining option. We need to check out the Thursday raw bar special, and the weeknight happy hour nibbles (filet mignon slider, vegetable tempura, shrimp corn dogs, deviled eggs) are tempting, too.

J Paul's
301 Light St
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 659-1889
j-pauls.com



Posted on Minxeats.com.