Miriam's Kitchen Annual Gala: A Preview

It's only January, but already the planning for Miriam's Kitchen's annual gala is seriously underway. This year's theme is A Road Trip Across America, and the MK volunteers are practicing their submissions for the menu.

Yes, that's right: the food at this benefit for Miriam's Kitchen is all prepared by the volunteers, many of whom are dedicated foodies in their own right and who share MK's commitment to making fresh food from scratch. Take for example Tali Bar-Shalom, who is developing a dish to represent San Francisco's Chinatown. She started off with dan-dan noodles, a Chinatown staple of thin wheat noodles topped with spicy Szechuan peanut sauce. She makes the sauce starting with raw peanuts -- no peanut butter shortcuts here -- and toasts and grinds the peppercorns herself. Building from a basic recipe, next she reached for a fusion approach, replacing the noodles with jicama. I was lucky enough to get to sample this creation:

Dan-Dan Jicama Salad

This is an evolving dish, so there is no telling what its ultimate form will be, though Tali is currently experimenting with a nut-free version. All I can say is, if this is any indication of the quality of the food at the gala, this is going to be one good foodie event. Damn that was good dan-dan!

The gala will be held in May at the National Building Museum.
Watch the Miriam's Kitchen website for details about tickets, location and price.

Tali's Dan-Dan Noodles, with jicama variation

1/2 c shelled raw peanuts
1/4 c peanut oil
1 sm garlic clove, cut into a few pieces
1/2 medium jalapeno, minced (no seeds)
18g ginger after peeling (a big knuckle), minced (amount is a little flexible)
1/2 tsp szechuan peppercorns, toasted then ground
2.5 TB soy sauce
2 TB water
1.5 TB seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 TB sugar
1/2 to 1 TB sriracha sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

1. Cook peanuts in oil about 5-7 min, they will begin to brown, let cool a little bit
2. Put peanuts/oil into food processor and pulse to coarse grind
3. Add ginger, garlic and jalapeno, pulse to mix well
4. Add all other ingredients and pulse to mix well, then taste

Boil thin noodles, rinse and shake dry, add peanut sauce and stir well. Top with toasted sesame seeds and slivers of chives.

Alternate serving: peel and slice jicama into matchsticks, put a dollop of warm peanut sauce and sprinkle on sesame seeds and chives.

Yields about half a pint -- easily four servings.

Adapted from Food and Wine

The Wine Hussy: Finds of the Week (3)

In a small town in Virginia, in the heart of wine country, I discovered the perfect chardonnay. The French Restaurant Pomme's private label is made by the nearby White Hall Vineyards, where it is first aged in oak and then held in stainless steel for ten months, just the way I like it. Pomme could not sell me any retail bottles, so I am hoping that the chardonnay under White Hall's own label is just the same. I will update this post when I find out!

Restaurant Pomme, Gordonsville, VA

Fact-check: Yes! White Hall Vineyard's 2008 Chardonnay is superb. Clean as a basketball passing through the rim without touching the sides. Nothin' but wet.

Where to get it in DC: De Vino carries a rotating selection of White Hall wines. If they don't have the Chardonnay in stock, they will order it and have it available within two days.

Photo credit: Chris Svoboda

Union Station: A Foodie's Picks

I've been working near Union Station for a little over four years now, and during that time, I have had lunch at just about every dining establishment in the area. Multiple times, in many cases. So here are my picks of the best food the Station and its immediate vicinity has to offer.

Restaurant: East Street Cafe, a Pan-Asian restaurant on the upper level of Union Station, has the best grilled veggies in the city, bar none.

Fast-Food: Chipotle's Burrito Basket is always satisfying. When I learned how many calories there are in a tortilla, I turned to this bread-free option and have never looked back. Awesome jasmine rice and corn salsa.

Sandwiches: If it's a plain ole sandwich you want,  you would do well to venture a block and half outside the station to Cafe Phillips, where you can get freshly roasted turkey, ham or roast beef carved off the bone. And the bread is so much better than at those chains in the station which present themselves as "bakeries" (you know which ones I mean). Don't expect any fancy combinations or trendy names for the sandwiches -- just quality ingredients. Turn right out of the main entrance of Union Station, and walk a short block down Massachusetts Avenue. At the intersection, continue half a block down F Street and you're there! Cash only.

Fiola

It had been a while since we had gone to a nice restaurant, and I wrapped a silk scarf around my neck for the occasion. Fiola! I had missed the Maestro in his heyday at Tyson's Corner, and word had it that the food at Chef Fabio Trabocchi's new incarnation was more rustic. Still, I could tell by the pictures and some of the press that this was a fine dining establishment. Some critics had been disparaging of the attempt to fuse simplicity with sophistication, and many had pointed to the high prices charged for what was supposed to be a more accessible trattoria.

And so I was on my best dining behavior as we were led to our table in the beautifully appointed dining room. And remained so, as I savored the buttery dinner roll that was as delectable as it was reputed to be, and the salads that lived up to their exquisite reputations. But all of this changed abruptly with my first bite of the main course: branzino braised in olive oil, with leeks, malpeque oysters, and lemon-prosecco zabaglione.

 

I don't know if you can imagine how these contrasting flavors combined to inflame the passions, but before I knew it, I was ripping off that silk scarf and rolling up my sleeves. The mild fish flavor of the branzino was coyly dressed in the delicate zabaglione, with egg whites whipped as light and frothy as can be. But just as I was becoming attuned to this refined and mellow timbre, out popped a briny oyster, trumpeting its presence. That in turn gave courage to the prosecco, which revealed itself more with each bite. Every now and again, the leeks snuggled up close to the branzino, which could now no longer be described as coy. No, this was definitely not a dish to eat while wearing a prim scarf. I needed there to be as little between me and it as possible.

Perhaps it is the element of surprise -- a surprise planned by a mischievous mind -- that resonated so well with me. There was evidence of it as well in Chris' dessert, which was by turns hard and soft and sweet and creamy. Such food deserves to be eaten without awareness of time passing. Alas, the service at Fiola is rushed, and no matter how divine the food, it cannot transcend the feeling diners are given of being processed through the meal and ejected at the other side, the table vacated for the next reservation. In the end, Fiola felt neither refined nor rustic, but more like a corporate mill. An opera turned into an operation.

There is much talk of the bargain-priced power lunch served during the week at the bar. With no expectation of lingering, this might be the better way to enjoy Chef Fabio's genius.

Miriam's Kitchen Hot Sauce

After all those delicious and decadent holiday meals, I was desparate for some plain food. Something like, say, steamed brown rice and broccoli. Okay, easy  enough. But even simply prepared healthy food needs a little zest. Time to crack open the Miriam's Kitchen home-made hot sauce that my friend Tali had brought me as a holiday gift. Yum! This was the ingredient that made a low calorie meal still taste fantastic and kept me in the mood of the season.

The hot sauce is made from scratch by Chef John Murphy at Miriam's Kitchen, and is the same one that is served to the guys who like hot sauce with their eggs and home fries. At Christmas time, it was sold to the volunteers as a fundraiser, which is how it found its way (via Tali) to me.

Look out for future MK fundraisers that may feature this sauce! Meanwhile, if you would like to support home-made meals for DC's homeless population (more than 6,500 on any given night), you can donate food items. Miriam's Kitchen has made it super easy: you can purchase items from the Miriam's Kitchen wish list through Amazon and have them delivered directly to the kitchen; shipping charges have been waived. Click here for more details.

Remember that donations drop off after the holidays, but people still need to eat!

As for me, I am taking a short break over the new year holiday. See you in 2012!

Kinkead's

My holiday gift to you, dear reader, is a post that includes "dishes to die for" for three different palates -- not only my idiosyncratic one. This is something that is made possible by the excellent menu at Kinkead's. I had to recognize the oohs and aahs of the people around me, even if what they were eating was not exactly to my taste.

PALATE OPTIONS

Simply prepared, yet packed with flavor:

Yucatan Style Tuna Soup with Tomatillos, Chiles, Lime, Sour Cream and Tortilla Strips.

This would be my pick. The first time I had it, in pre-blog days, was just after I had returned from a vacation on the Yucatan peninsula, and I was thrilled to continue savoring the limey-fish flavors that I had had in Mexico. This time, the soup was a little more spicy and less limey than I remembered it, but the bright green of the cilantro was unchanged. The chunks of tuna picked up the bold flavors beautifully.

I guess I am not alone in loving this dish -- it's listed under the most popular dishes on the menu.

A little richer, a bit more decadent:

Pepita Crusted Salmon with Cilantro, Chiles, Crab, Shrimp and Corn Ragout

This was Chris' pick. I liked the concept of combining these ingredients and I enjoyed the couple of bites I had. But there is a lot of butter in this preparation, and I could never have eaten a whole plate. Chris did though. :) 

This dish is also in the "most popular" list.

"Subtle"

Chilled crab cocktail

This was an off-menu special ordered by our table-neighbors, Tom and Joan. Somehow we fell into easy conversation with them, and before we knew it, we were offering each other tastes of our food.

"It's treyf!"  Tom announced, as I raised a forkful of crab to my mouth. A mock warning, from one Jew to another. Now, perhaps it was because I had just had the zesty Yucatan soup, but for me the crab was too....shall we say "subtle"? However, Tom liked it so much, he ordered another one.

SEATING OPTIONS

Just as Kinkead's caters to a variety of palates, so it offers a range of seating areas for different moods and occasions.

Bistro style

This is a small, intimate area just off the bar. It's my favorite seating at Kinkead's but the closely spaced tables may not be to everyone's taste. If you don't like interacting with your neighbors (and having them point out that you are breaking dietary laws), this might not be for you.

Formal dining

The formal dining room is upstairs. Better suited either for large parties or more formal business meals.

People watchers' table

At the foot of the rather grand staircase leading to the formal dining room is one, lone table for two. It's set into the window, but the seats face the staircase and the place settings are side by side, so that both diners have prime viewing location. Perfect for people-watching and possible celebrity-spotting.

Happy holidays, everyone!


Photo credits: Chris Svoboda

Chez Foushee: Richmond Bucket List #6*

Every now and again, I come across a dish in a restaurant that I absolutely want to make at home. Such was the case with Chez Foushee's Chicken Thigh Fricasee with Dried Cherries and Wild Mushrooms. Weeks passed, and I could not get that dish out of my mind. Eventually I wrote to Chez Foushee, and requested the recipe, promising to steer my dinner guests to this gem of a restaurant in Richmond.

Perhaps it is not surprising that I got no response. So I turned to Plan B: figure out how to replicate it myself. To do so, I noodled around the web, getting ideas here and there, but ended up relying most on Marcella Hazan's approach to fricasseed chicken in Marcella Cucina**. The result was pretty darn close to the homey but festive dish I had at Chez Foushee:

Antoinette Ego's Chicken Thigh Fricasee with Dried Cherries and Wild Mushrooms

Serves 4

4 chicken legs (thigh and drumstick joined)
Flour for coating the chicken
1 cup mixed dried wild mushrooms
1 handful dried cherries
1 cup sweet vermouth
2 tbs olive oil
salt and black pepper
3 tbs chopped onion

1. Soak the mushrooms in barely hot water for at least 30 minutes. Lift out the mushrooms by hand, squeezing out as much water as possible. Set aside.
2. Filter the mushroom water through a strainer lined with single-ply paper towelling. Collect in a pouring cup and set aside.
3. Plump cherries in warmed vermouth.
4. Wash and dry chicken; spread flour on a plate and turn the chicken in it.
5. Choose a skillet that can accommodate all the chicken pieces in a single layer without overlapping (you may need to use two skillets). Put in oil and turn heat to medium-hi.
6. When the oil is heated, slip in the chicken and brown on one side.
7. When brown, add salt, black pepper and the chopped onion and turn over.
8. When the chicken is brown all over and the onion is golden, add 2-3 tbs vermouth from the cherry mixture. Turn the chicken over, cover the pan and turn heat to medium-low.
9. Cook chicken at a slow but regular simmer, replenishing with the liquid with filtered mushroom water as needed.
10. Turn the chicken over every once in a while. After 30-40 minutes, add the mushrooms and cherries.
11. Continue cooking until it looks like the meat would easily fall off the bone, about 50 minutes to an hour.
12. Can be served at once, or made several hours in advance and reheated.

Served with tri-colored couscous

Even though I have shared this recipe, I still want to encourage people to visit Chez Foushee. This is an  elegant and inviting restaurant, and one where I would have liked to have spent more time. Although it is close the the Carpenter Theatre, where we were headed, it is a shame to go here as a pre-theater option when you will inevitably be pre-occupied with leaving rather than lingering.

*As a result of "On Fumes Alone", Chris created a bucket list of Richmond restaurants for us to visit. This is the sixth of such visits. For a full list of visits, click here.

**Main differences from Marcella's recipe: I added the cherries and substituted sweet vermouth for marsala. I also preferred to leave the mushrooms whole rather than chopped fine, and to put them in the pan half way through the cooking process rather than at the beginning, so that they remain recognizable.