Zupa Grzybowa

One of the first things I learned to cook was Polish mushroom soup. My Aunt Stasia would occasionally share a batch with my family, and I enjoyed it enough to badger her for the recipe. It was pretty simple--onions, mushrooms, stock, and cream--and easy enough for a kid to throw together.

I can't remember when I last made mushroom soup, so I decided to rectify that situation. The recipe below is largely my aunt's, with a few modifications. It's creamy, but not overly rich, and has a nice mushroom-y flavor.

Polish Mushroom Soup (Zupa Grzybowa)

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 lbs mixed fresh mushrooms, including shiitakes, portobello, and white, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken, beef, or mushroom stock (or a combination)
2 cups peeled, diced potato (from 2-3 large new or yukon gold potatoes)
1 cup whole milk, light cream, or sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak porcini mushrooms in hot water to cover. When mushrooms are soft and pliable, drain, rinse, and chop finely.

In a large pot set over medium heat, saute onion in butter with a pinch of salt until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring regularly, until they start to release their liquid, about 5 more minutes. Stir in chopped porcinis.

Sprinkle flour over mushrooms and stir well to combine. Add stock, bring soup to a boil. Cover pot and turn heat down to low. Allow soup to simmer for 15-20 minutes, then add the potatoes. Cook until potatoes are done, another 10-15 minutes, then stir in milk.

Serve in big bowls with freshly baked bread. Makes about 3 quarts.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Ribs and Dry Rubs

Some time ago, oh, 20-odd years or so, I took a long overnight drive with a couple of friends. After 16 hours of No-Doz and coffee, griping, bitching, and desperately trying to keep one of us (not me) from popping a Dylan tape into the cassette deck, we found ourselves at our destination--Chicago. There, after a much-needed nap, we indulged in some of the things the Windy City is most famous for: Cubs baseball, Chicago dogs, blues music, and barbecue.

One of our evening excursions during our stay involved both blues and barbecue. As this was long before teh Innernets, I'm not sure how we discovered that a restaurant called Brother Jimmy's had both the ribs we were craving and live music, but we found the joint and paid it a visit. The place was packed, but we squeezed into three seats and ordered a bunch of food. We decided to try every type of ribs they offered, and that included their sauce-less dry rub ribs. Now, this was back before my palate was used to eating spicy food on a regular basis, and I could swear that my nose hairs were singed a bit when I lifted one of those dry rub ribs to my lips. They were incendiary, at least to us, but they were so good. I think I ate the majority of them, even though my mouth went numb after the second one.

I've eaten a lot of ribs since then. Heck, I've cooked a lot of ribs since then. I use Alton Brown's method of steaming the meat in foil with a bit of liquid before putting them under the broiler (or on the grill) to char with a little sweet sauce. The ribs are moist and succulent that way, but much of the dry rub seems to wash off, leaving them on the bland side. I decided to change the method a bit to see if I could keep the rub from coming off yet cook the meat in the same way.

The first step: make a dry rub. I usually just toss some seasonings with kosher salt and brown sugar (I do not use Alton's recipe--it is outrageously salty). This time, I wanted to achieve some nice heat, so I piled on the chiles.

The second step: cut back on the liquid used for steaming the ribs. Alton puts his ribs into little foil packets with a half cup of liquid in each. I used a scant quarter cup. The ribs still were very tender, but the liquid didn't wash off the spice. Remember--while the ribs are cooking, they produce still more liquid, so they really don't need all that much to start with.

While these ribs weren't nearly as spicy as the dry rub ribs from Brother Jimmy's, and I did coat them with a sauce later, I think they were some of the best ribs I've made to date.

Spicy Ribs

1 rack of St Louis-style or baby back ribs

For the dry rub:
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon paprika
2-3 teaspoons ground chipotle powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons ground pasilla negro
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

For the glaze:
3 tablespoons reserved dry rub
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
4 tablespoons honey

To make the rub: Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Reserve three tablespoons for glaze.

Place a sheet of aluminum foil on a large rimmed baking sheet and set close by.

If you're using a slab of St Louis-style ribs, cut the slab into three pieces. Tear three large sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil, each large enough to hold one of the slabs. Place the sheets, one on top of the other, on the counter in front of you, horizontally. Place one slab of ribs on the top sheet; coat the top and bottom of the ribs liberally with rub, pressing it into the meat. Take the top and bottom edges of the foil and bring them together like a tent. Fold the edges together and roll them down towards the meat to make a package. Roll the open sides of the package up toward the center to seal all sides. Repeat with other two slabs of ribs. Place all three wrapped packages on the prepared baking sheet.

(If you're using baby backs, leave them whole and use only one large sheet of aluminum foil.)

Refrigerate ribs for 6 hours or overnight.

To make the glaze: Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat until warm, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and set aside. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To cook the ribs: Preheat oven to 300°F.

Gently unroll one short end on each package. Pour in a scant quarter cup of liquid of your choice--apple juice, Dr Pepper, water, whatever as long as it's not alcohol (you don't want to tempt a fire)--and re-roll the end. Keeping the packets on the rimmed baking sheet, put the whole thing into the oven.

Cook 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until meat is fork tender.

Remove tray from oven and turn on the broiler. Gently unroll one end of each package and pour out the liquid. Cut ribs into two-rib pieces. Place the ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet and brush the top side liberally with the glaze. Broil for 5-8 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and charred in spots. Turn meat, brush with more glaze, and repeat broiling.

Serve with wetnaps.



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Progressive Dessert Tasting at Wit & Wisdom

How would you feel about having a dinner that consisted only of dessert? (Life is short, you know....) Five of them, presented one after the other. Dessert as appetizer course and soup course. Dessert as fish course and meat course. And dessert as well...dessert. I'm not talking about a slab of cheesecake followed by creme brulée, coconut cake, apple pie, and a brownie sundae, but rather a series of sophisticated flavors and textures, as layered and nuanced as in a savory meal. But predominately sweet.

Dessert tasting menus have been a thing in cities like New York and Chicago for a while now. While we can't yet compare Baltimore's food scene to either of those foodie destinations, it's nice to see interesting new trends hit our area. Is Baltimore ready? I'd like to think so. Especially after sampling the creations of the new pastry chef at the Four Seasons Baltimore, Dyan Ng. Chef Ng wanted to introduce her talents to the area via a five-course dessert tasting, and Mr Minx and I were thrilled to participate.

Chef Ng's resume includes nine years in Las Vegas where she was pastry chef de cuisine for all of the restaurants at Caesar's Palace. Currently, she's responsible for desserts at both Wit & Wisdom and Pabu, plus the sweet treats at Lamill Coffee. For our dessert tasting, she prepared five courses, each of which were paired with an appropriate alcoholic beverage chosen by one of the restaurant's sommeliers.

Chef Ng isn't a fan of heavy or overly sweet desserts, instead favoring interesting interplay of flavor and texture. She started us off with a dish that shows off the simple apple. The raw and cooked elements, which included a sweet-tart apple sorbet and caramelized apples, made this dessert both refreshingly sophisticated and apple-pie homey.

Textures of Apple | fresh green apple sorbet, chartreuse compressed apples,
caramelized apples, apple puree, apple chips, finger lime zest,
paired with Bonny Doon Querry Cider

The second course, a play on "lemon meringue," resembled the trendy appetizer of roasted bone marrow; it was a triumph of textures. The meringue itself was light and delicately crunchy and held buttery bits of almond and tangy grapefruit. The sherbet on the side somehow took a rich ingredient, avocado, and made it even more decadent (and I can imagine a tiny scoop of it served quite successfully with some tuna tartare at Pabu). As far as cilantro on dessert--the answer is "yes."

Lemon | meyer lemon cream, avocado sherbet, delicate meringue,
seared grapefruit, marcona almonds, browned milk solids, streusel,
fleur de sel, micro cilantro, meyer lemon zest,
paired with Ordonez "Victoria" Moscatel

The third course highlighted the unusual combination of white chocolate and olives. If you think about the current popularity of salted caramel and salted chocolate items, it makes perfect sense. The briny bitterness of olives cuts the buttery creamy flavor of white chocolate. The dish also featured a variety of textures, including the glassy top sheet of crisp isomalt (that we broke through, creme brulée-like), white chocolate mousse, olive oil foam, and an extra savory bit of pine nuts, golden raisins, green olives, and extra virgin olive oil at the very bottom.

Olive | white chocolate gelee, black olive gelee, pine nuts, golden raisins,
green olives, citrus, extra virgin olive oil, white chocolate mousse,
white chocolate pieces, extra virgin olive oil foam, aerated black olive ice cream,
green olive paper, white chocolate pearls, isomalt,
paired with Taylor Fladgate 20-yr Tawny Port

The fourth course was a risotto made with chocolate and chunks of banana. On top was a pile of shaved frozen foie gras, and the whole was seasoned with truffle salt and truffle oil. Despite the savory elements, there was no mistaking this dish for anything but a dessert. Think of it as a marriage between rice pudding and chocolate pudding. But with shaved foie on top.

Risotto | chocolate, foie gras, black truffle oil, black truffle Maldon salt,
banana, vanilla broth, Acquerello rice,
paired with Broadbent 1997 Port

Our fifth course was a "cheese course," that included lightly caramelized tomato "marmalade," along with a lovely tomato water gelée, blue cheese ice cream, and a goat cheese foam. Blue cheese ice cream! Fabulous.

Tomato | tomato marmalade, tomato water gelee, tomato pulp,
blue cheese ice cream, Barden blue cheese, goat cheese foam,
black pepper,
paired with Macarini Barolo Chinato

And just when we thought we were done, as the menu listed only five courses, we were brought a large sandwich cookie comprising creamy chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries between two chewy wafers that were texturally somewhere between a macaron and an almond cookie. (These babies are available at Lamill.) It was wonderful, but we were stuffed. And you know, it didn't seem like we had just eaten five desserts. Each course was balanced, and none were overly-sweet. My favorite was the cheese course, with the olive and white chocolate coming in second. Mr Minx was a fan of the risotto. Both of us were simply blown away by Chef Ng's creativity, and the seriousness of her playfulness (if that's a thing). After eating our way around the city for many years now, our palates were ready for a multi-course dessert tasting.

Is yours? I'm thinking yes.


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Broadway Diner Revisited

When the Broadway Diner opened in the early 2000s, I was cautiously optimistic. There was a dearth of good restaurants in the Dundalk area, limiting our dining options whenever Minx and I would visit my mother and brother. A diner would provide a place where everyone could get something regardless of what they had an appetite for, the portions would be big, and the prices reasonable. The only question was, would the food taste good? Well, we were happy to find that the food exceeded our expectations and, over the years, we have enjoyed many a meal there.

I have fond memories of eating at the Broadway Diner, most of them football related. I recall watching Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers win a divisional playoff game against the Seahawks in a raging snowstorm while eating prime rib, for example. And for some reason, we were always at the diner when the first round of the NFL draft was going on. I watched the Baltimore Ravens draft the likes of Haloti Ngata, Ben Grubbs, Joe Flacco, and Michael Oher while enjoying meat loaf, cheeseburgers, and roast chicken. The Minx even reviewed the diner way back in 2008.

Sadly, since my mother can not get around easily anymore, we haven't been to the diner in a few years. Then the other day, we were heading to Essex and decided to stop hop off I-95 at the Eastern Avenue exit to grab some dinner. At first. we were assaulted with the plethora of Guy Fieri pictures on the wall (he filmed a segment of Diners, Dipshits, and Douchebags there a few years ago), so we averted our eyes and followed the host to our table. Broadway has all the familiar chrome and glass decor one associates with a modern diner trying to make you feel like you are in the past. Despite the artifice, the place has always had an air of genuine warmth. The wait staff is friendly and there are always regulars chatting at the counter. It just feels comfortable there.

After being away for some time, we felt some trepidation that the food may not be what it was. The Minx was not all that hungry, but chose to splurge on the broiled crab cake platter. Just as I have a fixation with meat loaf, Minx has to try every crab cake in town. Broadway's crab cakes were pretty top notch. The large and meaty cakes, which looked to have been formed with an ice cream scoop, were nicely broiled to an actual brown (unlike the albino broiled cakes served in many other restaurants). There was both minimal breading and binder holding together the moderately-sized lumps of crab, making for a somewhat firm cake. The flavor was herbacious in bites, and crab-spiced in others, which was a bit unusual, but the flavor of the seafood manged to shine through. The picky Minx felt these were top-notch cakes. Offering both tartar sauce and cocktail sauce was a nice touch.

Broiled Crab Cakes

Since I was going to be speaking with people later that evening, I searched the menu for something that would not generate bad breath. The Chicken Diana looked to fit the bill with chunks of tender chicken breast, asparagus, broccoli, and a blanket of melted Swiss cheese over angel hair pasta. Mild and creamy with a healthy portion of pasta, it was rich and comforting while offering enough green vegetables (a shame the asparagus was a bit bland and overcooked) to make me feel like I was eating healthily. The huge portion almost required a doggy bag, but I polished off the plate.

Chicken Diana - Chicken breast, asparagus, broccoli,
and swiss cheese sauce over angel hair pasta

We didn't have time for dessert, but we knew from past experience that they were also quite good. It was reassuring to find that one of our favorite diners had not lost any of its appeal after all these years. We hope to make some more memories soon.

Broadway Diner
6501 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-631-5666

Posted on Minxeats.com.