January 13th, 2010 nick
As promised to a Christmas visitor, here’s the recipe for Emmet’s cornbread. We just made it again last night and it hit the spot. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the butter.
[Celia says she often doubles or triples this recipe -- I usually just make it as is.]
Ingredients:
1/2c butter (1 stick)
1c milk
4T brown sugar
1c corn meal
1c flour [I usually do 50/50 white/whole wheat flour]
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Melt butter in cast iron skillet in oven. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately , then together. [I sometimes add a dash of cumin and not as much sugar. Also, frozen corn, cooked sweet potato and/or diced jalapeno add a little je ne sais quoi.] Pour into pan, bake 20-30 minutes. Drizzle honey and enjoy!
And, as promised, here are a crop of photos from Christmas.
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November 25th, 2009 nick
Enough is enough! For the last three years, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I’ve dug through the blog archives for that recipe for cranberry relish/sauce that I love. And I always come up short, because I’ve never blogged it. Until now…
And this year, for the Baltimore turkey, I’ve made three sauces. Recipes below. Audience reaction will follow in a few days.
Sauce 1: Cooked cider-cranberry sauce [link]
Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh (or fresh-frozen) whole cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 or 3 long strips of orange zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a large, nonreactive saucepan or medium-size covered casserole. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and cook at a very low boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the sauce to a serving dish. Cover and refrigerate (it thickens as it chills) until serving. Test Kitchen Tip: If the sauce seems too loose at serving time, spoon off a little of the liquid. Makes 10 or more servings.
[Chilled for 24 hours before thanksgiving dinner.]
Sauce 2: Raw cranberry-apple relish [link]
Ingredients
- 2 cups washed raw cranberries
- 2 skinned and cored tart apples
- 1 large, whole (peel ON) seedless orange, cut into sections
- 1 to 2 cups granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you would like your relish to be)
Instructions
- Set up the grinder with a medium-sized blade on the edge of a table with a large roasting pan or bowl to catch the mix as it grinds. These old fashioned grinders tend to leak some of the juice down the grinder base, so you may want to set up an additional pan on the floor under the grinder to catch the drips. If you don’t have an old-fashioned grinder you can use a grinder attachment on a KitchenAid mixer, you can chop by hand (though that will take a lot of work), or you can chop in a food processor (be very careful not to over-pulse, or you’ll end up with mush).
- Run fruit through a grinder. Use the entire (seedless) orange, peels, pith and all.
- Mix in the sugar. Let sit at room temperature until sugar dissolves, about 45 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.
[Chilled for 3 days before thanksgiving dinner.]
Sauce 3: Raw cranberry-ginger relish
Ingredients
[nb: I doubled the cranberries and ginger but not the lemon and eyeballed the sugar to a little more than 1 c]
- 1 bag fresh cranberries (12 oz.), rinsed, sorted and patted dry
- grated peel from 1 lemon
- 2/3 c. sugar
- ½ c. crystallized ginder, coarsely chopped
- ¼ t. ground ginger
Instructions
Put everything in the food processor. Whirl just until finely chopped. Cover and chill at least four hours. [Chilled for 24 hours before thanksgiving dinner.]
And, if you’re still reading, here are some Week 2 pics of the sleepy little cranberry.
Posted in food, parenthood | 1 Comment »
April 9th, 2009 nick
After much complaining from my housemate about stale stir fry recipes that were too vinegary or didn’t have quite enough pizzaz, I hit the books last night in search of a good stir fry sauce recipe. This was the result (it got rave reviews from the home restaurant critics), and was the first time that I had made a sauce that coated all the vegetables — I think maybe mixing it all together beforehand instead of just sprinkling all the sauces individually over the wok makes a big difference…
- 1/3 c soy sauce
- 1/3 c sherry
- 1/3 c water
- ~1 T corn starch
- 1 big squirt rooster sauce
- thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ~1 tablespoon honey
- sprinkling of cooking rice wine
- dash ground white pepper
Mix all wet ingredients together (and white pepper), add corn starch and mix with fork until no lumps. Add ginger and garlic. Let it sit while you chop veggies, pre-fry tofu. Pour the sauce over the stir fry when you’re just about done stir-frying. Let it all fry for about two more minutes, stirring it all up so the sauce coats nicely and starts to thicken just a bit. Serve to housemate with low expectations. Enjoy!
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March 19th, 2009 nick
After months of agonizing about how to fix the handle on our cool orange Descoware cast iron pan that we use ALL THE TIME, Elizabeth made a suggestion that was simple, cheap and best of all, it works.
The handle is a cool feature of the pan because it unscrews and, presto! You now have a casserole pan that can go right into the oven. However, this pan, inherited from Grandma, has seen many a chicken soup and many a tuna fish casserole in its day and the threads on the handle were worn down to the point that it would basically slip out whenever you tried to use it. So I’ve been poring over the internet for suggestions, searching EBay obsessively for descoware handles (apparently you can order new plastic handles — but, honestly, who wants a plastic handle?!) and imagining the handle slipping out at a crucial juncture — like when there’s a load of boiling soup in the pan and all of a sudden you have a crushed and scalded toe because 5 pounds of cast iron and bubbling water have just tumbled from your grasp.
In walks Elizabeth to our kitchen a few days back, and she makes the off-hand suggestion to see if a broom-handle fits. As it happens, we have an unused broom handle in the basement (it’s been there for at least 3 years) and sure enough — it fits! One slice with the circular saw and one piece of sandpaper later, voila! A new handle!
Posted in food, home | 4 Comments »
March 11th, 2009 nick
Date night got off to a late start, but it was still warm enough that the bike ride up to Petit Louis was cozy. One bottle of Jurançon Sec (2004, very “full-bodied”, so we were told), one order of Pâté (wrapped in bacon) and one Cassoulet later we rolled back to Hampden (literally, you barely need to pedal — thankfully).
The Cassoulet was like baked beans on steroids — sausage, pulled pork, chunks of bacon fat and duck confit all adding a little je ne sais quoi to a standard white bean casserole.
Hopefully those seven games of embarassing squash against Derek this afternoon (my first ever attempts at squash, in my defense) will counterbalance the meal of meat, beans, meat and meat.
Johanna turned down the cheese cart and opted for a pôt de crème (a thick dark chocolate custard topped with a handsome dollop of whipped cream) which was pretty delicious too.
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February 22nd, 2009 nick
It’s been far too long, but I guess there’s never a good a time to start blogging again as the right now.
We got back from a whirlwind five day tour of Germany on Thursday and, with the exception of me falling asleep at 11:30 on Sonja’s couch last night while everyone was trying to learn a new game of cards, we both seem to have licked the jet lag pretty good. But the game seemed kinda boring anyway, so maybe it doesn’t count. And certainly boring at least when compared with Shafkopf (a.k.a. “sheep head”) the new Bavarian card game that cousin Peter taught us and we were quickly addicted to. It’s like Euchre, only with a special deck with different-than-usual suits, 8 permanent trump cards (in addition to the “hearts” suit), and a backgammon-like betting scheme. The biggest twist on Euchre: the partners switch up and you don’t know who your partner is when each round starts. It was cool enough that we recruited Max, an environmental engineering student who was riding on the same train as us, to join us for a game on the way between Munich and Augsburg. Peter was a master of knowing all the little Bavarian lingo that goes along with the game. It appears to be an age-old cultural phenomenon in German that crosses all age-groups. Mandi played it when he was a little kid and knows all the ins and outs (although we didn’t play with him). Johanna insists she has a deck somewhere, although I haven’t seen it yet. Official rules can be found here.
We also got some good time with the grandparents (highlight for me: being able to tell Johanna’s grandfather that I liked ice skating : “Schlittschuh laufen macht mir Spaß.”), with Mandi and Hilde, Lemly and Peter. We traveled to Regensburg to hang out with Peter and he treated us right, cooking us up a traditional Bavarian breakfast: Weisswurst (white veal sausage, bought that morning), Butterbrezel (pretzels with butter, cooked in Peter’s oven that morning) and Weissbier (Erdinger wheat bear). I didn’t need to eat for the next ten hours.
a true Bavarian breakfast
We stayed up late the last night — out at the posh Capitol bar in downtown Augsburg playing Shafkopf until 1am with Peter and Lemly. Then left the house at 5am in the freezing cold to catch the street car to the train to the airport. We were pretty much in awe of the public transportation system and the bratwurst. Really, we had a brat at the cheap sausage stand right outside the Augsburg train station and it was amazing — no tough gristly pieces in the meat, subtly spiced, tender and perfect. We’re going to check out Binkert’s German Sausages just outside Baltimore to see if they can get close to replicating the true German deliciousness.
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October 9th, 2008 nick
Her cell phone was off. His laptop was tucked away. Silver was folded and hitched to a nearby meter. Off we scurried to Central (pronounced it like zee French would), a fancy schmantzy resaurant at 11th and Pennsylvania Ave, to savor a few hours of delicious togetherness! [I'm curious what kind of oil Central uses for their fries, though, because they were unusually good, as was the fried fish (guess who got the fish and chips?).] Not that we spent that much time wondering about the oil, though, because this was, in all likelihood, the last time until post-election that we get to see each other. A nice breezy walk through the National Sculpture Garden brought us back to the car where she got in her car and on her conference call (two minutes late!) and he got on Silver and pedaled off into across city, into Georgetown, across the Key Bridge, down the beautiful paved Custis bike path in Arlington to hang out with Nate, Jenny and Rowan for an evening.
Tuesday morning it was off to the Tufte workshop on the other side of Arlington (about 5 miles) but wouldn’t'cha know it but there was another bike path (the Washington and Old Dominion trail — we’re talking scenic, along-a-river-in-the-woods most of the way) that went basically door to door. Tufte was good in the morning when he was dwelling on specific examples of good historical graphics and keeping his PowerPoint heckling down to a minimum. But the afternoon got fluffy: he started talking about his new art exhibit and showing weird artsy conceptual movies about things like “escaping flatland” and “wave fields.” As Justin says, “he’s at his best when he’s not talking about his own work.” Ate lunch with Nat, a speechwriter who works for a small (<10 employees) firm that was started by some of W.J.C.’s old writers. He has good stories about writing for famous people but can’t tell any of them b/c they sign big confidentiality agreements (no one wants a ghost writer!). He asked good questions about biostats, and was curious about the difference in our respective lenses through which we were seeing the Tufte work.
Again, it was off on a bike path (the Mount Vernon trail) back up to the Memorial bridge that brough me to the feet of Abe Lincoln. A long ride along the mall brough me back to Union Station where I met up with Buckets and Kathy for a quick Wienerschnitzel and Weiswurst (and Oktoberfest Ale!) at a nearby German beergarden.
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April 24th, 2008 nick
We hit up Yabba Pot last night for dinner. Best vegan buffet in Baltimore, without a doubt. The only one? Perhaps. It was the fastest date night on record, as the food was ready when we got there, they just had to dish up some plantains, fried tofu, gooey spinach stuff, garbanzo bean curry, etc… into a big bowl. The food was tasty but not great. Definitely a good place to swing by for a quick bite, though. Although it did seem to be a little expensive. $15 for the Royal Platter of 5 dishes, plus $2 for rice. This barely filled us both up.
Also, we both got ginger juice. It was strong! Johanna didn’t finish hers. A better plan would have been to get one juice and dilute it with some water. Next time…
To top it off, the woman behind us in line was Maria Bloom, the actress who plays Marla Daniels (Cedric’s wife) on the Wire. Our first Wire sighting!
Posted in books & movies, date night, food | No Comments »
March 19th, 2008 nick
We hit up the Woodberry Kitchen tonight; a place kind of like the Dogwood — the same emphasis on local, seasonal food, a rustic decor and $20-$30 entrees. Bottom line: great food. We savored a Ancho Sage Sausage starter with baked beans and then moved on to a cider-brined pork chop (most tenderest porkest chopest I’ve ever had) and short ribs with an amazing red wine sauce. So, a little heavy on the meat dishes, but damn was it ever good. The crowd seemed a little too Roland Park, i.e. white-haired and gussied up, but what could we expect from a place next to the new Woodberry condos serving expensive local food?
My favorite menu touch is that they advertise the Baltimore City tap water on the menu and will serve it to you in tall capped glass bottles, with added carbonation. Sweet.
The server was a little rushed or overworked. He always seemed to be running somewhere, which did make us feel a little less at ease. But he did bring us some delicious bread and flavorful butter. We may have to start buying butter from the milk guys at market. We didn’t quite realize what we were missing.
And, while we passed on dessert, we savored a ride back home on the Hampden Shuttle Bug, whose first stop is just a few steps outside the restaurant. Probably only my second or third time on the bus system in Baltimore. It’s that bad. But this time it hit the spot.
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March 14th, 2008 nick
We went to the Golden West tonight for date night. I forgot just how much fun their decor is. They’d added some branches hovering near the ceiling with some wooden chimes dangling off. Also, there were some new chinese wind sock fish hanging from the tin-cobbled rafters. The waiters there give the black-jeans-black-Tshirt hipster waitrons at the Rocket a run for their money. Lots of big-rimmed glasses and tight jeans and striped button-up shirts with those trendy little pearl buttons. Whatever. The service was good, the food unusal (Johanna got a coconut curry with eggs and sweet potato!) and our elegant and run-down-yet-elegant-corner-couch-velvet-clad-spring-sagging-booth-seating arrangement kept us snuggling up to each other all evening.
My burger was a little underdone (I didn’t ask for it medium-well, neither did our waitron ask how I’d like it) but the fried pickles (another elbow-jab at the Rocket?) were good, as were the garlic fries. $45 including tip and a pitcher (1/2 price) of Dogfish Head, and we were set for the evening. It’s funny, as much as I like it here, this isn’t the first time I’ve come away from a dinner reeling a little bit from the richness (or underdoneness, in this case) of the food.
Posted in date night, food | 1 Comment »