Baltimore Seafood Festival

Experience Baltimore’s best seafood at the Baltimore Seafood Festival with offerings from: Aggio, Bond Street Social, Barcocina, Langermanns, Café Gia, Farmstead Grill, Heavy Seas Alehouse, Ryleigh’s Oyster, Captain James Landing, Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, Blue Agave, Stuggy’s, Lebanese Taverna, Roy’s, Atwater’s, The Nickel Taphouse, Dooby’s, Dylan’s Oyster Cellar, Pitango, and Flavor Cupcakery.

Baltimore Seafood Festival guests will enjoy live music by Strykers’ Posse and Super Bueno, Smirnoff Crush Bar, Peligroso Tequila Bar, Wine Bar, the Groupon Cooking Tent featuring cooking demos by Baltimore’s top chefs, oyster and crab cake eating contests, local artists, and a family zone with kid-friendly attractions. The event will also feature a VIP area as well as a Domino Sugar Crab Feast Tent, featuring private tables for groups with bushel of crabs, private bars and cocktail servers.

WHAT: Baltimore Seafood Festival
WHEN: Saturday, September 20, 2014, 12pm-6pm
WHERE: Canton Waterfront Park
3001 Boston Street Baltimore, MD 21224
COST: Ticket packages starting at $29. Kids 10 and under are FREE!

For more info, visit www.baltimoreseafoodfest.com

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Veggie Pancakes with Asian Flavors

A while back, I found myself with a bunch of vegetables--a fennel bulb, a bag of broccoli slaw, sugar snap peas, lots of green onions, roasted tomatoes--and not a lot of ideas. Well, there were ideas, but nothing particularly cohesive. Because we had eaten a bunch of meat recently, I wanted to make a primarily vegetarian meal. But what to do with that motley crew of produce? The tomatoes were really throwing me off, so I decided they could wait for another meal. The rest I would use in vegetable fritters.

There was also a bunch of Thai basil in our container garden. The plant was going a bit wild and needed serious trimming, so basil became part of the meal plan. And as I had just opened a new jar of pad kapao sauce, some of that would go in, too. I really love that stuff. It's spicy, aromatic, basil-y, and garlick-y, and it's good on just about everything. Mix it with mayonnaise and put it on a turkey burger. Put it in the turkey burger, too. Mix it with softened cream cheese and spread it on a bagel. Yes, for breakfast. (Hey, "everything" bagels have garlic and onion on them, so why not?) Mix it with softened butter and stuff it under the skin of a chicken before roasting. Put a tablespoon of it in plain tomato soup to eat with that grilled cheese sandwich. Pad kapao sauce is my sriracha. I've gotten my brother hooked on it, too, and the last time we hit an Asian supermarket together, we each bought several jars.

Eventually, I ditched the fritter idea and went with okonomiyaki-style pancakes. Okonomiyaki uses dashi, which isn't vegetarian, but you can certainly substitute some veg stock or just plain water in the batter. Me, I like the vague fishy flavor of the dashi.

Okonomiyaki are commonly served with Kewpie mayonnaise and unsweetened pickled ginger. Instead, I added some of my favorite chilli basil paste to a little Duke's mayo.

Veggie Pancake with Asian Flavors

For pancakes:
1 cup water
2 teaspoons dashi powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon Maesri Thai chilli paste with basil leaves(pad kapao)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3-4 cups mixed raw vegetables (I used sliced sugar snap peas, fennel, okra (because we had only 3 pods), and broccoli slaw mix)
1/4 cup roughly chopped Thai basil

For sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Maesri Thai basil and chilli sauce

Put the dashi powder and water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat long enough to warm the water and dissolve the dashi, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the cooled dashi to the flour mixture, stirring to make a batter. Add the eggs and chilli sauce. Cover and refrigerate batter for at least an hour and up to three hours.

After the batter has rested, add the scallions, vegetables, and basil to the batter; it will be very thick.

Add a tablespoon of canola oil to an 12" nonstick frying pan and heat until it shimmers. Make 3 approximately 5" pancakes with the vegetable batter. Cook until bottoms are golden brown. Flip with a spatula and cook other side until brown. Remove pancakes to a paper towel-lined plate. Cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat until all batter is used.

Make a sauce with the mayo and chilli sauce. Serve with the pancakes.

Makes 9 pancakes.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pasta Frittata with Roasted Vegetables

Sometimes simple is best.

There are times that I beat myself up over what to make for dinner on the weekends. Should I make something interesting or fancy? Something I've never made before? Something blog-worthy? Needless to say, everything we concoct in our kitchen is not blog-worthy, but we do try. And while I'm usually tinkering with a new recipe at some point during the week, there are plenty of times when I just do not want to think about it. I want to open the fridge and have something jump out at me, screaming, "I AM DINNER!" That never happens, of course, and damn good thing--screaming food would be pretty scary.

See? Scary.

But there was that bag of leftover spaghetti. Definitely not enough for two servings, and not quite enough for one serving (well, one serving for me, ok, but not one serving for Mr Minx). We also had a nearly-full carton of eggs. Didn't I just read something on Facebook about pasta frittatas? Why yes, yes I did. A giant omelette- or quiche-type thing with pasta in it...why the hell not?

I found a recipe by Gabrielle Corcos, hubby of actress Debi Mazar, and her co-star on the show Extra Virgin. It was easy peasy, and included only 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese. Other recipes I found called for half a cup...holy moly, that's a lot of money cheese! I decided to use Corcos' recipe as a base, and would add some veggies to it, onions and garlic, maybe green beans, corn, and tomatoes, since those were left from the CSA box. I roasted the green beans and tomatoes with a bit of oil and salt (balsamic vinegar and brown sugar on the tomatoes, too), then changed my mind. The corn went in though, as did onions, garlic, and freshly snipped chives and basil from the garden.

Did I mention that this was my first-ever frittata? Look how pretty it was! Even if the spaghetti does kinda resemble worms....

We also ate those roasted beans and tomatoes, after tossing them together and letting them come to room temperature. Definitely a filling vegetarian meal that didn't miss the meat.

Pasta Frittata, adapted from a recipe by Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Kernels from 1 ear of corn
Small handful of basil, julienned
1 tablespoon minced chives
2 cups leftover cooked spaghetti, roughly chopped
5 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your broiler.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Cook the onion until lightly browned, add the garlic, corn, and pasta and stir until warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the milk in a large bowl. Add the Parmesan and season with salt and pepper.

Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan of veg and pasta. Pour the egg mixture over. Cover pan and cook until the edges of the frittata start to brown and the center is only slightly runny, about 12 minutes. Transfer pan to the broiler and cook until the center is set and top is nicely browned.

To serve, slide the frittata onto a cutting board and slice into wedges.

Serves 4.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sobo Cafe

SoBo Cafe is my new favorite restaurant. Owner Anna Leventis hosted a signing for Baltimore Chef's Table a while back and it was a great success. Not only did we sell out of the book, mostly to SoBo's regular clientele, but we also had a terrific meal. Can't beat that combo!

I can't drink (on anticoagulants--hopefully a temporary situation) so I asked for a mocktail, any flavor. I was rewarded with a virgin strawberry mojito, full of berry and mint flavors, and did not even miss the rum. (Hey, I'm high on life anyway.) Mr Minx and our dining companion MinxBro made do with brewskis.

When I spotted the beet salad with frisee and pistachios on the menu, I knew it had to be mine. Yes, I am boring and always order the beet salad, but I like beets! I also like pistachios. The beets, both red and yellow, were tender and sweet, and worked nicely with the acidy dressing on the bitter greens.

As much as I enjoyed the salad, I wished I had ordered one of the two soups. MinxBro went for the chilled tomatillo soup. Seasoned with a hint of smoky chipotle and garnished with caramelized tomato and lots of cilantro, it was lovely. Rather than being gazpacho-like, the soup was made with a creamy substance (yogurt or cream) which gave it a nice body and smoothness.

Mr Minx chose the corn bisque with saffron butter and chives. Served piping hot, the soup tasted of pure corn and sweet butter. (When my brother and I were kids, we liked nothing more than to devour an entire box of Green Giant frozen niblets in butter sauce.) This soup was creamy and rich without feeling too decadent. Despite the saffron.

MinxBro couldn't resist the SoBo Burger, made with Creekstone Farms beef, applewood smoked bacon, roasted tomatoes, lettuce, cheddar, and house-made mayo on a house-made roll. I forgot to mention the bread we were served (and devoured) while waiting for our appetizers. Like the hamburger roll, it was made in house and it was. So. Good. Crusty without being painful, with a tender and flavorful crumb, I wanted to ask for more, but didn't want to be a pig (the slices were generously-sized).

The burger was pretty perfect, juicy and moist and cooked to the requested medium. Loved the salad and roasted fingerlings on the side instead of the usual boring fries.

Mr Minx and I were both eyeing the Korean chicken fried steak. Korean fried chicken is a thing, so why not Korean chicken fried steak? It was served with kimchi collard greens, soy-garlic mashed potatoes, and a puddle of ssamjang gravy. I don't know why more places don't borrow flavors from Korea. It's not like they're particularly difficult--sugar, soy, garlic, sesame, chiles. The collards were tender and pretty spicy, but the heat was tempered by the ample serving of potatoes.

All of the servings were pretty ample, actually, and quite reasonably priced. I ended up ordering the roasted monkfish, because I hadn't had monkfish in eons. (Yes, I am that old.) The portion was huge, 8 ounces easily, on a mound of vinegary panzanella (bread salad) enhanced with lots of crisp corn kernels and a swath of arugula pesto. There were also some lardons of pancetta. Maybe the fish didn't need all of those things, but I enjoyed the combination and had no trouble polishing it off.

Dessert was tempting, but we passed and instead took our place at the front table to sign autographs. Within a short amount of time, all of SoBo's stock of Baltimore Chef's Table was gone, and we hit the road happy, with full bellies.

A shame the restaurant isn't in our neighborhood; we'd definitely become regulars.





Posted on Minxeats.com.