More Fun at Wit & Wisdom

I love the way the team at Wit & Wisdom keep things interesting for their guests! Last year, they started this fun Wednesday-night theme dinner thing called Curated at their Kitchen Table (a 12-seat counter with full view of their huge kitchen). We attended the Italian dinner last year and were fed several courses by Chef Zack Mills including pasta cacio e pepe and braised veal shank, and Pastry Chef Dyan Ng's riff on zabaglione, all with wine pairings by Sommelier Julie Dalton. For 2017, they're switching things up a bit.

The Kitchen Table Series will still take place on Wednesdays, and they will still be multi-course events, but the themes will rotate through the skills of chef (savory themes), pastry chef (dessert themes), and sommelier (beverage themes).

Today, February 1 is the inaugural event, and it has a boozy theme: Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget. It's $29 per person, and there will be light bites and snacks provided by Chef Zack to go along with Julie's tastings.

The Kitchen Table Series will take place every Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. beginning February 1. For more details and to reserve your spot at the Kitchen Table, please call Shannon Toback at 410-223-1464.

Here are the scheduled themes to date, and prices. (The second price is the cost of the additional beverage pairing.)

February 1: Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget (Beverage) $29

February 8: Can I Have S’More? Campfire Desserts (Pastry) $45/$25
To entice you, here's the menu for this meal:
Grilled Banana - crispy pastry, maple cream, lime
Choux - yogurt meringue, milk chocolate & hazelnut ganache
Grilled French Toast - pineapple, white chocolate, orange

February 15: Happily ever AFTER….Valentine’s Day (Savory) $59/$39
Caviar Parfait - smoked salmon, crispy potato cake, beet gastrique
Main Lobster Bisque - brandy, lemon creme fraiche, tarragon
Seared Diver Scallops - caramelized fennel, celery root, fondant potatoes
Butter-poached Prime Beef Filet - herb frites, melted spinach, foie gras jus
Maple - puff pastry, passion fruit cremeux, butter ice cream

February 22: Battle of the Booze (Beverage) $29

March 1: DFB...Dessert for Breakfast! (Pastry) $45/$25

March 8: General Tso-Fancy (Savory) $59/$39

March 15: Greek on Fleek (Beverage) $29

March 22, 2017: Picnic “Chic”: Picnic Inspired Desserts (Pastry) $45/$25

March 29, 2017: “Out like a Lamb” A Border Springs Lamb Tasting (Savory) $59/$39

April 5, 2017: The 'Old' Old World (Beverage) $29

April 12, 2017: Spring: A Seasonal Voyage (Pastry) $45/$25

April 19, 2017: Take me out to the Ball Game (Savory) $59/$39

April 26, 2017: Yes Way Rosé (Beverage) $29



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Happy Anniversary, Ejji Ramen

Ejji Ramen, one of our favorite places to eat in Belvedere Square Market, recently marked its first birthday. We've supped there several times in the past 12 months and have felt that they've only gotten better as time goes on.

Our normal m.o. involves hitting Ejji on a weekday night and ordering ramen in any of their three styles (miso corn, tonkotsu, and laksa) just as they are listed on the menu (rather than attempting to compose our own combination of toppings). But now that they serve brunch (!) we're going to have to alter our ways a bit and show up on a weekend.

Brunch is served from 9am to 5pm every Saturday and Sunday, so if you're lazy like us and prefer to loll about in a warm bed until 11am or so, you can still take your time getting your act together and not miss brunch. Or have an early supper, if you prefer.

Recently, we tasted a couple of their brunch offerings.

I'm a huge fan of okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake filled with cabbage and seafood. Ejji's okonomiyaki contains clams, scallops, and shrimp and is topped with okonomiyaki sauce (a sweet and tangy concoction that's a bit like ketchup + Worcestershire), Japanese mayo, scallions, and bonito flakes. It's delicious and filling and a perfect brunch dish. As I'm typing this, I kind of wish I had one right now.

Ejji also has fried ramen topped with a creamy and perfect miso egg and kimchi in a umami-filled sauce with a touch of sweetness. Be sure to get some of Ejji's green (hot) or red (hotter) sambal  on the side, to spice things up a bit or a lot.

Photo credit: Ejji Ramen

There's also a Ramen Breakfast Bowl made with bacon-corn broth, corn, two kinds of egg--poached, and tamago (a thick Japanese omelette that you may have enjoyed in nigiri form)--plus applewood-smoked bacon, and sausage made from Kurobuta pork, a luscious and fatty meat from heritage Berkshire pigs. We haven't tried it yet, but it looks kind of amazing. (And really filling!)

Happy Anniversary to Ejji Ramen! We're so happy you're in our area and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries with you. And we'll be in for brunch soon. :)

Ejji Ramen
529 E Belvedere Ave
Baltimore, MD 21212
(410) 435-8688



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Savory Sweet Potato Biscones and Pimento Cheese

A recent delivery from our produce delivery service (it's not really a CSA, so I shouldn't call it that) left us with three mammoth sweet potatoes. Mr Minx isn't really a fan of the tuber, so I have to find creative ways to use them up. My sweet potato spaetzle were a hit, as was the super-moist sweet potato snack cake. He even enjoyed the sweet potato and black-eyed pea hummus I made a couple years back, and he's not a fan of the beans, either. This time, I decided to try sweet potato biscuits or scones, something that I could use as a sandwich bread.

I definitely didn't want the scones to be sweet, so didn't use any sugar. Instead, I leaned heavily toward the savory spectrum by adding chopped scallions and jalapeno pepper.

Ham biscuits are a classic, but I find that some biscuits are just too thick and dense to wrap around meat and cheese. Plus, they usually crumble into chunks after a few bites. I made mine thinner and somewhat lighter. They are somewhere between a biscuit and a scone, a biscone, and are easily fork split to accommodate a filling.

My filling of choice was pimento cheese and ham. Or more accurately, Canadian bacon. The rounds of bacon were the perfect size for the biscones, and matched nicely with the savory cheese topping.

Sweet Potato Biscones with Pimento Cheese

For the biscones:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons baking powder
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup cold mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup milk
2 scallions, minced finely
1 jalapeno pepper, minced

For the pimento cheese:
4 ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese
Scant 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used Duke's)
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons chopped roasted red pepper

Canadian bacon or ham, optional

Make the biscones: Preheat oven to 425°F.

Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingers until the flour looks like coarse meal. Combine the sweet potato and milk and stir into the flour mixture until mostly combined; then add the scallions and jalapeno and mix until completely combined and veg are fairly evenly distributed.

Flour your hands and pat dough out to about 1/2" thick on a flour-coated board. Use a floured glass or biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12-16 biscones, depending on how big a cutter you use.

Make the pimento cheese: Grate the cheddar into a bowl. Stir in the mayo and peppers. Beat well with a fork until the cheese starts to break apart and integrate with the mayo. (You could also whiz it in a food processor, but I didn't think it was worth dragging it out and getting it dirty for such a small amount.) Refrigerate until ready to use.

Fork split the biscones, smear with pimento cheese and top with a slice or two of Canadian bacon. Sliced tomato is nice, too. Eat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Minxeats Best of 2014, Part 1

Every year, we recap the best things we ate in the previous twelve months. Here are some of our very favorite restaurant dishes of 2014. (Later in the week, we'll bring you our favorite home-cooked dishes.)

Tomato | tomato marmalade, tomato water gelee, tomato pulp,
blue cheese ice cream, Barden blue cheese, goat cheese foam,
and black pepper

February: Cheese Course at Wit & Wisdom progressive dessert "dinner."

April: Korean BBQ at Honey Pig.

May: Charred carrots at Gato.

Scallop in brown butter dashi at Le Bernardin.

Pork cheeks at Kin Shop.

June: Softshell crab with bacon dashi at Fork & Wrench.

July: Octopus at Cafe Gia.

August: Kimchi soba noodle salad at Corner Pantry.

September: Chilled tomatillo soup at SoBo Cafe.

Pork belly bibimbap at Meat & Potatoes.

October: Lamb kielbasa at Parts & Labor.

Halibut at Fleet Street Kitchen.

November: Pastrami-cured salmon at B&O American Brasserie.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tomato Tart with Olive Oil Crust

Sometimes Facebook is really handy. I subscribe to (or "like") the news feeds of various and sundry bloggers, news agencies, and chefs, and every once in a while, something interesting comes down the pike. Like the other day, when America's Test Kitchen's feed included a recipe for a tart crust made with olive oil. Ordinarily, I would have scrolled past, but an image of the dough being dumped unceremoniously into the tart pan--without rolling--stopped me. That looked easy, and it certainly had to be tastier than an all-ready pie crust.

Ok, so it was mostly easy, but there were still several steps. First I had to drag out the food processor to blend the crust ingredients. Then they were pressed into the tart pan - the easy part. But then the pan had to go into the freezer before blind baking, and then the crust had to cool before filling. After filling, there was a second baking. By this point, hours later, I thought maybe I should have just tackled bread-making.

But the end result was pretty tasty, if not as flaky as the recipe's intro would suggest. The crust was more cookie-like, but not sweet. The recipe called for whole wheat flour, which I didn't have, but it was only 1/4 cup, so I didn't think it would matter. After tasting it, I think oatmeal might be an interesting addition, especially since the crust reminded me of a cookie anyway.

The original filling called for zucchini, but I used all tomatoes. They look a little dark in the photos because I used the greenish-brown Kumato tomatoes, which are the only grocery store tomatoes that actually taste like, well, tomatoes. All year 'round (my unsolicited opinion).

Tomato Tart (adapted from America's Test Kitchen)

Tart Crust
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4–6 tablespoons ice water

Filling
3 or 4 Kumato or other medium-sized tomatoes, cored and sliced into 1/4 thick rounds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
salt and pepper
chopped scallions

Place the flour, sugar, salt, and cheese into a food processor and pulse until combined. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse about a dozen times. Add 4 tablespoons of the ice water and process until dough starts to form a ball. If the dough doesn't form a ball, or if there is still unincorporated flour in the bowl, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water and pulse until it comes together.

Put the dough into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and pat into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the pan. The dough will be very soft. Place the tart pan on a large plate or cookie sheet and freeze until firm, about half an hour.

Preheat oven to 375F. Set the frozen tart on a baking sheet and press a double layer of foil into the shell. Fill the shell with pie weights (I use raw rice, which I save and reuse for the same purpose) and bake until shell is golden brown and set, about 30-40 minutes. Slide the tart shell onto a wire rack and gently remove weights and foil. Allow tart shell to cool completely before filling.

While the shell is cooling, place the tomatoes on several layers of paper towels to absorb some of their moisture. Sprinkle with about half a teaspoon of salt and let sit for half an hour or so.

Cook the onion in 2 teaspoons of the olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.

Once tart shell has cooled and tomatoes have rested, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining teaspoon of oil and ricotta together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Arrange the onions on the ricotta and top with the tomatoes.

Bake the tart on a baking sheet until the cheese is bubbling and the tomatoes are wilted, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the tart cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

To serve, remove the outer metal ring of the tart pan before slicing. Garnish with chopped scallions.

Posted on Minxeats.com.