Rhubarb Mostarda

I picked up some rhubarb at the farmers' market a couple weeks ago, because I like to buy rhubarb. I never know what to do with it once I have it though. I never buy enough for pie, and even if I did, never remember to buy strawberries. Sometimes I just boil the rhurbarb with sugar for a while and call it a jam. This time I wanted to be different and try something savory. I saw something called rhubarb mostarda on a restaurant menu; a google search brought up a recipe from a blog called the Joy of Cooking. That recipe claimed to be more of a chutney than a true mostarda, and I wanted something more similar to the pear mostarda I had eaten at Momofuku Ssam Bar. That is, something that tasted very much of the source fruit, but also very much like mustard. I basically just eliminated the golden raisins called for by the recipe and changed the other proportions a bit. I also used brown mustard seeds because that's all I could find in the pantry, despite swearing that I recently bought a fairly large quantity of yellow mustard seeds for another project. (I'll probably find them when I don't need them and then misplace them again.)

What did I serve the mostarda with? Braised pork belly. I had some sliced pork belly languishing in the freezer and figured it was best to just use it up. There's really no recipe here, just guidelines: brown the pork belly on all sides. Add enough chicken stock to cover and then season it as you wish. I added a tablespoon of brown sugar, a couple glugs of soy sauce, a half-teaspoonful of grains of paradise (you can use regular peppercorns), a bay leaf, a clove of garlic, a bit of fresh thyme, some onion powder, and some smoked paprika. Cover and cook at a low simmer  until very tender, 3-4 hours. Remove the meat from the pot and reduce the sauce until it's thick and syrupy. Add the pork back to the sauce and turn to coat.

I also made some simple polenta as a base, and cooked some frozen peas (what? you think I'm going to shell peas? if I could even find them now), added a knob of butter, and lots of fresh chopped herbs from our newly-planted garden (mint, basil, chives, thyme flowers).

Personally, I think this turned out great. I should do the pork belly thing more often. It's dead simple, just throw stuff in a pot and cook it, and it comes out restaurant-quality. The fat was juicy, the meat was moist, completely yummy. And the tangy mostarda was a perfect foil.

Just a really nice dinner all around, and despite the fancy looks, not a lot of effort. I even got Mr Minx to trim and chop the rhubarb for me.

Rhubarb Mostarda (adapted from Joy of Cooking)

1 pounds rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons water

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook until rhubarb is soft and the liquid has mostly evaporated. Stir regularly to prevent rhubarb from sticking (mine didn't, but YMMV.)

Store in a covered jar in the fridge. Makes about 1/2 - 3/4 cup.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pen & Quill

Not all that long ago there weren't any good places to eat around the Charles Theater. (Before you start to argue, even the 80s doesn't seem all that long ago to me.) Once the theater expanded in the 90s, we got Tapas Teatro. Eventually Sofi's Crepes came along. And a couple of years ago the Cheapeake Restaurant re-opened to great fanfare after being closed for over two decades. And then it closed right back up again. Thankfully, Helmand Karzai, whose family owns Tapas Teatro, the Helmand, and b Bistro, came in to make the historic space really work. The new restaurant became Pen & Quill, after the original Chesapeake's cocktail bar. Helmand's wife Naomi became bar manager while her sister, Bella Kline, took over the kitchen as executive chef. These changes have made the northeast corner of Charles and Lanvale the place to be once again .

We were invited to partake of a media dinner to taste Chef Bella's food. Though young, she's got serious French technique and the creativity to pair it with unusual ingredients. Some of the items we tasted were on the winter menu, but there were also some dishes she was trying out for spring. No matter the season, all were enjoyable.

We started off in the lounge with three kinds of oysters on the half shell, accompanied by a charcuterie plate boasting a terrific house-made sausage of pork spiced merguez-style with cumin, coriander, and chiles. We continued our meal in the cute private dining room that would be perfect for a large family dinner or a small party.

The first course included house-made burrata, a mountain of mozzarella filled with mascarpone and cream. Marinated mushrooms cut the richness, and a thoughtful spoon of salt was included so diners could adjust seasoning to their liking. We thought it was perfect as is.

One of the dishes for spring is the hamachi crudo, a plate of clean flavors including radish, mango, serrano pepper, and avocado. The serrano and tuna are a match made in heaven, at least to The Minx's palate. This dish would be a refreshing choice for a warm day.

An example of Chef Kline's ability to mix classic technique with unusual ingredients is her dish of perfectly seared scallops accompanied by banana ketchup. While nobody in their right mind would put tomato ketchup anywhere near a scallop, the banana-forward sauce was only lightly sweet and added a nice taste of the tropics to this dish, which also boasted grilled scallions and a soy glaze. We also had a lovely dish of fried polenta with baba ganoush, fresh artichoke hearts, and marinated feta over baby greens. A salad yet not a salad, hearty but light, a dish sure to please most vegetarians.

Another vegetarian dish was the smoked beet reuben. It's is exactly what you would expect: the traditional elements of braised sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and Swiss cheese on grilled rye bread, but with smoked beets replacing the usual corned beef. It sounds strange, but somehow it works quite well. The Minx was crazy about it.

The beef tartare was unctuous and very fresh-tasting, served with soft brioche toasts and a broken gribiche (traditionally, a gribiche is a mayo-based sauce reminiscent of a remoulade or tartar sauce, but with hard cooked egg in place of raw egg). The chef's "everything" spices brought a great deal of flavor to the plate as well.

A creamy take on a green gazpacho included "all the green vegetables" and was delightfully smooth and flavorful.

We also tried the parsley Parisian gnocchi--bright green pillows of parsley and Parmesan goodness topped with Serrano ham. The green soubise was rich and possessed a strong onion flavor, which was reinforced by the addition of smoked Vidalia onion.

As if we weren't already quite full, we were presented with a lamb and garlic pie filled with vegetables and topped with a savory pepper crust. In addition to the tender lamb, it was fun to decipher the selection of veg inside, which included Brussels sprouts and potatoes. I love this kind of rustic cooking and found this to be my favorite dish of the meal.

We were really impressed with Bella Kline's dishes and are happy that the old Chesapeake Restaurant building is finally being put to good use. The bar looks like a fun place to hang out, and the drinks list includes local brews, a careful selection of wines, and some creative cocktails. We only tried a gingery Pimm's cup, but would love to go back for more. We'd also like to try Bella's steamed buns and amazing-looking fried chicken sandwich.

Pen & Quill
1701 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 601-3588
penandquill.net



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Avocado Soup

I've gotten super lazy, as far as cooking is concerned. I haven't been particularly inspired to concoct anything new, and have been happy to eat whatever I could throw together from stuff already on hand. And we've been eating restaurant meals quite a bit. Then came a weekend in which we had no plans following a week in which we ate out four times. I had no excuses not to whip up something tasty and satisfying, else be labeled a fraud as a food blogger. (Who ever heard of a food blogger who doesn't want to cook?)

On the way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I knew we had two ripe avocados at home to work with and went from there. Rather than simply make my typical cop-out, guacamole, I thought I'd do something soup-like. I've been trying to avoid wheat, so for texture (and carbs...Mr Minx must have his carbs) I made some polenta croutons with blue cornmeal that had been sitting in our pantry, neglected. More texture came from crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds, and shrimp were added for protein. The result was colorful and tasty, and I was very very pleased.

Thinking back on my concoction, I realized many of the ingredients were similar to those in the not-so-great meal I had at David Burke Fabrick in NY last year. Had I received there what I concocted in my own kitchen with my own hands, I might have looked more favorably upon the place.

Avocado Soup with Chipotle Shrimp and Blue Corn Polenta Croutons

For the soup:
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
Olive oil
Salt
5 tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Large handful cilantro leaves and tender stems
2 4-ounce cans chopped or diced green chiles
2 avocados
Chicken stock
Fresh lime juice

For the croutons:
1 cup medium grind blue cornmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)
Salt
Olive oil
Oil for frying

For the shrimp:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles, plus 1 chipotle, minced
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

To garnish:
Plain Greek yogurt thinned out with milk to a drizzle-able consistency
Cilantro
1 tomato, seeded and diced

For the soup: Add onion, a couple teaspoons of oil, and a pinch of salt to a medium saucepan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring regularly, until onion has wilted and is beginning to brown lightly at the edges, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, and chiles. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover pan, and cook until tomatillos break down, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into a container, and refrigerate until completely chilled.

When ready to serve, pour into a blender jar and add the flesh of 1 1/2 avocados. (Cut the other half into dice and season with lime juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside until ready to serve.) Puree the tomatillo avocado mixture, adding chicken stock as needed to make a consistency thinner than a puree, but not runny. Season with lime juice and salt. Pour into a covered container and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the croutons: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot. Add a big pinch of salt and the cornmeal. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until cornmeal is incorporated--this should only take a minute or so. Turn down the heat, cover the pot, and let the cornmeal simmer for about 10 minutes. Check and stir frequently so the cornmeal doesn't burn or stick. Once all of the liquid has been absorbed and the cornmeal is rather thick, Add a few teaspoons of olive oil and stir vigorously until the cornmeal comes away from the side of the pan into a ball.

Oil a 8-inch square baking pan. Pour in the cornmeal (it will come out in one big blob) and smooth until it fills the pan evenly. Bash pan on the counter once or twice to help it out. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

Once cornmeal has firmed up, invert the pan over a cutting board and cut half the cornmeal into 1" cubes. (You won't need all the cornmeal for this recipe. Save the rest to fry up for breakfast the next day, served with maple syrup.)

Heat a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet. Add cornmeal squares and fry until browned on all sides. Drain on paper towel-lined plates.

For the shrimp: Put the garlic, adobo, soy, and olive oil in a zip-top bag. Add the shrimp. Seal the bag with as much air removed as possible, then mix the shrimp around with the marinade ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Once the soup and croutons are done, it's time to fry the shrimp. Heat up a large skillet and pour in the contents of the shrimp bag. Cook shrimp over medium-high heat, turning them once, until they are pink and opaque.

To serve: Arrange several croutons in a shallow soup bowl. Gently pour in some of the chilled soup. Top with a few shrimp. Combine the chopped tomato with the reserved chopped avocado and garnish the soup with it. Drizzle yogurt over all.

Serves 4



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Birroteca

Birroteca, a relatively new restaurant located a piece down the road from Woodberry Kitchen in one of the old mill buildings near the Jones Falls Expressway, has been getting all sorts of positive buzz since the day it opened. We couldn't find time to visit the place during the holidays, but as soon as we knew our friend Melinda would be visiting, we made a reservation. So much better to try everything on the menu when there's another person around to help eat it all!

I heard Birroteca got crowded and noisy, so we made sure to eat early. When we got to the restaurant around 5:15pm, there were already several tables occupied and the noise in the bar was in full swing. Within an hour or so, the place was packed and the clamor - mostly due to one bigmouth woman at the next table - was deafening. This noisy restaurant thing seems to be a trend, no? And one I do not like. But if the food has received such acclaim, one must deal with the din in order to experience it.

Sun reviewer Kit Pollard mentioned on her blog that Birroteca's calamari alla plancha could be her favorite dish of 2012, so it was a must-try. She was not exaggerating. Mr Minx declared the roasty-flavored, über-tender ringlets to be the best he's ever eaten. I concur.

Sorry for the blurry photos. The restaurant was very dimly lit
and a flash would have been extremely obnoxious.

Birroteca serves food as it's ready, in large family-style bowls--all the better for everyone at the table to taste everything. The next several dishes that came to our table were carb-tastic, staring with the polenta. The planks of fried cornmeal mush were a bit too large, and the eggplant ragu didn't seem to have any eggplant in it, but otherwise, the flavors were nice. I'd have preferred smaller pieces, with a higher ratio of surface crust to fluffy insides. And some eggplant.

More successful were the arancini, which were nicely brown and crispy on the outside and tender and cheesy on the inside. The micro celery garnish was fun.

My favorite carb dish of the evening was the parmesan spaetzle with shaved snails and truffle oil. The noodles themselves were rice-sized, which gave the dish a pilaf-like quality, and super cheesy. I especially liked the cheesy crumbs on top. And don't say "eww" at the snails. I find snails to be closer in both flavor and texture to mushrooms than to anything that lives in a shell.

We also got a plate of the roasted cauliflower agrodolce which came adorned with pieces of dried fig. The sweet-sour element of the dish was subtle and didn't overpower the delicate cauliflower flavor.

We then noshed on the Locavore pizza, topped with broccoli rabe, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and a handful of arugula. It seemed like a good idea when we ordered it, but we probably would have preferred one of the more meaty varieties. The crust/cheese/sauce combo was all very nice, but the surfeit of cruciferous veg after eating a plate of cauliflower was a bit much. A bit of advice: don't leave the box of uneaten cauliflower/broccoli pizza in the car while spending a couple of hours at the mall. Phew.

Despite all that food, we decided to make room for desserts, which were served in smaller portions than the other dishes, but still share-able.

Mr Minx opted for the chocolate caramel espresso tart, which was, um...amazing. Yum. Loved the chewy caramel topped with just the right amount of chocolate. (The older I get, the less interested I am in chocolate desserts.)

Our server enthusiastically recommended the banana cake with Nutella buttercream, but I think it was the most disappointing dish of the evening. The flavor of the cake was good, but the banana slices inside had an oddly hard texture, like dried bananas. (This kind, not chips.) And I couldn't taste the Nutella.

Much better was the orange panna cotta with amaretto cherries. How can sweetened heavy cream thickened into a pudding with gelatin not be good? And the cherries on the bottom - so intensely cherry. Mmm. 

I've often heard people say that if a restaurant's service is bad, it doesn't matter how good the food is. The service at Birroteca was terrific - our server and everyone else who came to our table were genuinely enthusiastic about everything on the menu and seemed pleased when we enjoyed something. So even though a dish or two missed the (our) mark, we left very happy and full and vowing to come back soon, this time with a more meat-friendly companion (hence the plethora of vegetarian dishes we ordered). We want, nay - need, more of that calamari, and a duck confit pizza is definitely in our future, as are meatballs and probably some salumi or crudo.

Birroteca
1520 Clipper Rd
Baltimore, MD 21211
(443) 708-1934



Posted on Minxeats.com.

A Vegetarian Dinner

We've been eating a lot of rich foods and meat recently, so I thought it would be a good idea to use up some of the bounty of mushrooms in our fridge and have a vegetarian meal. Had I switched the honey in the ragout for some agave syrup, it could have been vegan, but let's not get carried away here....

Mushroom and Tomato Ragout with Polenta

1/2 lb assorted mushrooms (I used king oyster and buttons)
1 small onion, chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 15-oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
pinch of thyme
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Cut mushrooms into variously-sized pieces - slice button or shiitakes, cut larger mushrooms into strips. This dish is all about texture. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, cook mushrooms and onion in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until vegetables have softened and started to brown. Turn up heat and add canned tomatoes and their juices. When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and allow the mixture to simmer, about 30 minutes. At that point, add the smoked paprika and thyme. Cook an additional 15 minutes then add vinegar, honey, and garlic (I think adding garlic too early on kills its taste somewhat). Cook an additional 15-30 minutes, adding more paprika if your tastebuds want something smokier, until the mixture is thick and the liquid is mostly evaporated.

Serve over polenta. Makes 4 appetizer or 2 main dish servings.

Polenta

3 cups water or stock
1 cup coarse grain corn meal mixed with one cup water
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt

Bring water or stock to a boil. Carefully whisk in the cornmeal/water mixture and bring back to a boil. Turn down heat slightly and continue stirring, making sure all of the cornmeal is incorporated and there are no lumps. When the mixture starts to bubble, cover the pan part way to prevent splattering. Stir every few minutes. Cook 20-30 minutes until polenta is thick and starts to come away from the sides of the pan. Stir in cheese and salt to taste.

Steak and Salsa

Saturday's dinner - chuck steak marinated in green chiles, garlic, cumin, chipotle, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and broiled, served over polenta and topped with a black-eyed pea salsa. Sorry, can't share the salsa recipe as I plan to enter it into a recipe contest that specifically states the recipe can't have been published anywhere else. Will post it in the future, when the contest is over.

Chuck steak isn't the most tender of meats, but it's fairly flavorful and it cost all of $3.