East Meets West at Wit & Wisdom

Superstar chef Michael Mina will be joining Wit & Wisdom's Zack Mills and Dyan Ng in the kitchen next Wednesday, March 25th, for a little battle of the coasts. That would be fun to watch, wouldn't it? A little Top Chef right in Baltimore. There's no real battle though, instead, the chefs will be preparing a five-course dinner, with each course featuring a favored ingredient of each coast.

The dinner starts at 6:30 and will feature the following dishes:

1st
East| Chesapeake Oyster| bloody mary granita, celery
West| Hog Island Oyster| white soy & tangerine

2nd
East| Blue Crab Cake| flying dog deadrise ale braised cabbage, old bay sabayon
West| Monterey Red Abalone| lobster rouille, pickled lemon butter, afelia cress salad

3rd
East| Maryland Rockfish| chesapeake clam chowder
West| Sonoma Sea Salt-baked Pacific Halibut| artichoke & razor clam barigole, buttered cabbage fondue, salsify chips

4th
East| Gunpowder Bison| rye berries, tuscarora root vegetables, black garlic barbcue sauce
West| Brandt Farms Beef Short Rib| spring pea puree, crunchy potato, oxtail marmalade

5th
East| Corn| browned butter ice cream, crispy pork cracklings, old bay
West| Baba| ghirardeli chocolate, grand marnier, soft cream

$150 will get you dinner. Add $50 for optional wine pairing. And...Chef Mina is happy to sign copies of his cookbook for an additional $35.

For reservations, please call Shannon Toback at (410) 223-1464 or email Shannon.Toback@fourseasons.com



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Three Cheese Ravioli with Raw Tomato Sauce

It's high tomato season at our house, and in addition to the plethora of green tomatoes in our little garden, we have some ripe ones as well. And our basil is finally looking healthy. What better way to enjoy the fruits of our labor than to devour them raw? And while I love me some Caprese salad, and especially a tomato-mayo-white bread sandwich, garden-fresh tomatoes are fabulous in pasta sauce. Raw pasta sauce.

A raw tomato sauce is not unlike a salsa. This one, redolent of basil and garlic, would be smashing on bruschetta. (Allow me a Giada moment here: that's pronounced broo-sKetta, not broo-sHetta.)

As for the ravioli--they are cheese-tastic. And as we had a bit of pesto left over from other endeavors, that went into the filling as well. Won ton wrappers make a fine substitute for fresh pasta. We just don't have enough counter space for pasta-making, and certainly not enough patience to make both the pasta and assemble the ravioli. I don't know how those Italian nonnas did it.

The combination of room-temperature sauce and warm pasta was quite summery and nice. And while the dish was light, the flavors were big and bold. Don't skip the garlic!

Three Cheese Ravioli with Raw Tomato Sauce

To make ravioli:
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon pesto
2 packages won ton wrappers

To make sauce:
4-5 ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch sugar
Salt and pepper

To make ravioli: Combine filling ingredients in a bowl. Lay out several wrappers on a flat surface. Top each with a teaspoon of filling.

Using your finger or a pastry brush, dampen the edges of the wrapper with water. (You can use an egg wash, if you prefer, but I find that water works fine.) Top with a second wrapper and press down to seal, making sure to eliminate any air bubbles. Place filled ravioli on a cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet until you've completed all of them. You may only use half of the second package of wrappers.

Cook 4-5 at a time in a large pot of boiling, salted, water, for 2 minutes. Do not overcook, otherwise they'll fall apart. Remove with a slotted spoon to an olive oil-coated baking sheet. Try not to overlap; these buggers will stick together.

To make sauce: Quarter and deseed tomatoes before dicing them. Make little stacks of the basil leaves, roll them and slice into ribbons.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste. Allow to sit out on the counter for at least an hour so the flavors can meld.

To serve: Place several ravioli on a plate and top with sauce. Garnish with basil.

Serves many.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Thai Bolognese

In a three day period, Mr Minx and I dined at Bobby Flay's new restaurant, Gato, had a 7-course lunch at Le Bernardin, another multi-course lunch at Ma Peche, and dinner at Harold Dieterle's Kin Shop. With all of that good food behind us, it was hard to come home to a fridge full of nothing. Right away we went to the grocery store to stock up on fresh veggies and dinner fixins. I figured a spicy Asian-style meal would be a good segue from fancy NY food to home cooking, and the first night home whipped up a pasta sauce that was part laab, part Bolognese.

I wanted to use ground pork, but the store we visited had none. Instead, I used ground turkey and made sure to season it well to get rid of, well, the turkey flavor. There's always an assortment of Asian condiments in the fridge (miso, gochujang, hoisin, chili bean paste) so I combined my favorite Thai chilli with basil paste and red curry paste, plus lots of fish sauce, lime juice, and coconut milk powder to make a richly flavored yet light sauce. You could use liquid coconut milk, but I find it doesn't keep well if you don't use the whole can right away. Instead, I always have packets of dried coconut milk so I can use a little or a lot and then store the rest in a zip-top bag in the cupboard.

While the dish wasn't Kin Shop-worthy, it was still pretty darn delicious.

Thai "Bolognese" Sauce

1/2 large onion, chopped
Vegetable oil
The innermost leaves of 1 stalk of lemongrass, bashed with the side of a knife and minced
1 lb ground turkey or pork
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon Thai chilli basil paste (Maesri brand)
1 tablespoon red curry paste (Thai Kitchen)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons coconut powder
1/4 cup water
Juice of half a lime
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Chopped cilantro
Thai basil
Chopped scallions
Fresh mint

Cook onion in vegetable oil over medium high heat until translucent. Add lemongrass and ground meat, breaking up meat with wooden spoon. Cook, stirring constantly, until meat is mostly cooked through and beginning to brown. Stir in garlic, chilli basil and red curry pastes, and 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce.

Combine the coconut powder, water, and lime juice in a bowl. Pour over meat mixture in pan and stir well. Add sugar and remaining fish sauce. Turn heat to low. Cook mixture until ground meat doesn't taste strongly of turkey or pork but has taken on the flavors of the pastes and fish sauce, 5-10 minutes.

Serve over pasta or rice, garnished with plenty of fresh herbs and scallions. Alternately, you can chill the mixture and eat it like laab (Thai ground meat salad), rolled in fresh lettuce leaves.

Serves 4-6.



Posted on Minxeats.com.