Stuffed Flank Steak

I've been seeing stuffed flank steak recipes all over social media recently, so I decide to try it. Normally, I marinate flank steak in a combination of garlic, Worcestershire, tomato paste, and soy and broil it until crusty brown on both sides. It's tasty and quick. Why I decided to do something fancier is beyond me. For one thing, it's not particularly easy to butterfly a flank steak if you're not used to butchering meat. My steak was oddly shaped, too, which also caused problems. But I patched it up with other bits of the steak and it seemed to work fine in the end.

The filling is a umami bomb of sundried tomatoes and mushrooms. While it's really yummy as a steak filling, I'm going to use the leftovers as a pasta topping, where I think it will really shine.

Make sure to season your steak with salt and pepper on both sides before filling and rolling. And it's flank steak, so while it has a lot of flavor, it's not going to be super tender. Worth a try though.

I sauced my steak with melted goat cheese mixed with pesto. Yes, I did notice that the sauce broke because the pesto was a bit oily. It still tasted good. Next time, I think I'd make a white sauce first and add the cheese and pesto to it, rather than just melting the cheese and stirring in the basil paste.

Stuffed Flank Steak

1(1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lb) flank steak
Salt and pepper
2 ounces sundried tomatoes
Olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
4 ounces finely chopped button mushrooms
Half a red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Handful fresh baby spinach

Place the sundried tomatoes in a bowl. Pour over a cup of boiling water and allow to sit until the tomatoes have softened. Drain tomatoes and chop finely.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and the onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Season with a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring regularly, until mushrooms give up their liquid and the dish is mostly dry, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the garlic and tomatoes and cook an additional minute or two. Remove vegetables to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Butterfly the steak like a book along long edge, cutting and spreading the meat until it's twice as wide as when you started. Unless you have a very sharp knife and have done this before, you'll probably cut some parts too thinly and make holes. Just cut a flap in the thicker part opposite the hole to make a patch. As long as the holes are covered with meat, no worries. Cover the meat with plastic wrap and pound to a uniform thickness of about 1/4".  Season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper.

Spread the cooled vegetable mixture evenly over the meat, from edge to edge. Top vegetables with a layer of spinach leaves. (If you have made holes, put the spinach down first to create a barrier.) Starting at one long end, roll the steak jelly-roll fashion and secure in several places with kitchen twine. Starting about one half inch from the edge, place a line of toothpicks spaced about an inch apart across the top of the meat roll. Wrap the meat in loosely in foil and refrigerate for at least one hour.

When ready to cook, cut the meat into slices between the toothpicks, which will give you inch-thick spirals of stuffed meat. Put another toothpick into the bottom of each spiral (across from the original toothpick) for security.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the meat 2-4 pieces at a time, depending on the size of your skillet. Don't crowd the meat, otherwise it will steam and not brown. Cook until crusty and brown on both sides, about 8 minutes.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Happy Anniversary, Ejji Ramen

Ejji Ramen, one of our favorite places to eat in Belvedere Square Market, recently marked its first birthday. We've supped there several times in the past 12 months and have felt that they've only gotten better as time goes on.

Our normal m.o. involves hitting Ejji on a weekday night and ordering ramen in any of their three styles (miso corn, tonkotsu, and laksa) just as they are listed on the menu (rather than attempting to compose our own combination of toppings). But now that they serve brunch (!) we're going to have to alter our ways a bit and show up on a weekend.

Brunch is served from 9am to 5pm every Saturday and Sunday, so if you're lazy like us and prefer to loll about in a warm bed until 11am or so, you can still take your time getting your act together and not miss brunch. Or have an early supper, if you prefer.

Recently, we tasted a couple of their brunch offerings.

I'm a huge fan of okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake filled with cabbage and seafood. Ejji's okonomiyaki contains clams, scallops, and shrimp and is topped with okonomiyaki sauce (a sweet and tangy concoction that's a bit like ketchup + Worcestershire), Japanese mayo, scallions, and bonito flakes. It's delicious and filling and a perfect brunch dish. As I'm typing this, I kind of wish I had one right now.

Ejji also has fried ramen topped with a creamy and perfect miso egg and kimchi in a umami-filled sauce with a touch of sweetness. Be sure to get some of Ejji's green (hot) or red (hotter) sambal  on the side, to spice things up a bit or a lot.

Photo credit: Ejji Ramen

There's also a Ramen Breakfast Bowl made with bacon-corn broth, corn, two kinds of egg--poached, and tamago (a thick Japanese omelette that you may have enjoyed in nigiri form)--plus applewood-smoked bacon, and sausage made from Kurobuta pork, a luscious and fatty meat from heritage Berkshire pigs. We haven't tried it yet, but it looks kind of amazing. (And really filling!)

Happy Anniversary to Ejji Ramen! We're so happy you're in our area and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries with you. And we'll be in for brunch soon. :)

Ejji Ramen
529 E Belvedere Ave
Baltimore, MD 21212
(410) 435-8688



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Artifact Coffee

The first time I visited Artifact Coffee, my initial thought was that it looked like a smaller, more casual version of Woodberry Kitchen. That, of course, is no coincidence since both restaurants are owned by Spike Gjerde, and their rustic, crafty decor reinforces the notion that everything you eat here came from local farms and is skillfully prepared.

After the Union Mill building in Woodberry was remodeled for apartments, Artifact Coffee was created to give the tenants, primarily retired teachers, a place to have their morning coffee and a light breakfast. Special emphasis was placed on the coffee, and one can visit the restaurant on Fridays at 10 am for a "coffee cupping" to sample their new coffees. The menu expanded to daytime offerings of soups, salads, and sandwiches, and more recently, Artifact Coffee began dinner service Wednesday through Sunday starting at 5 pm. To compliment dinner, there is a selection of local craft brews, wines, and specialty cocktails.

The Minx and I went to Artifact Coffee for dinner recently and started our evening with a Duckpin Ale made by Union Craft Brewery located near the restaurant. In fact, Union Craft Brewery is one of the participants in Union Graze, a farmers' market hosted by Woodberry Kitchen and held in the area on Friday evenings from 4:30 to 8 pm through November 22. Along with the Union Craft beers, there is live music and produce provided by Five Seed Farms and Apiary.

Back to our dinner. For appetizers, the Minx ordered the roasted carrots and Japanese eggplant. Not a big fan of cooked carrots or eggplant, I opted for the griddled green beans. My green beans had a pleasant texture: slightly crunchy but without that squeaky quality that sets my teeth on edge. The toasted bread crumbs added a more definite crunch with the nutty brown butter providing that comforting depth of flavor and unctuousness usually missing in a vegetable dish.

Griddled green beans with toasted bread crumbs and brown butter

While I say that I'm not enthusiastic about cooked carrots or eggplant, I thought the Minx's dish was a fine example of those two vegetables. The carrots were firm without being hard, and their roasty flavor was not overly sweet like other cooked carrots I've had. The eggplant was soft and smooth with no hint of bitterness. The radish provided some crunch and the roasted garlic vinaigrette brought both umami and acid to the party.

Roasted carrots and Japanese eggplant, radish, roasted garlic vinaigrette

The waiter was highly enthusiastic about the Loaded Artifact Burger, so the Minx gave it a go. She asked for her burger to be cooked medium and the burger presented had a nice pinkness inside. It is amazing how much better a burger can taste when it is made with fresh, carefully raised beef. Such quality meat doesn't need much adornment, but the ample portion of melted cheese, fresh tomato, bacon, and toasted and buttered roll amped up the enjoyment factor nicely. I think the Minx would have preferred some fries over the strips of carrot, but it's okay to forego the extra fat and carbs once in awhile.

Loaded Artifact Burger: cheddar, bacon, marinated onion, house benne seed bun, vegetable ‘chips’

Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be ordering the burger or the pot pie (which looked delicious, by the way), so I thought I would be different and ordered the lamb sausage. Having a British grandfather made me a lifelong lover of lamb, and this sausage fulfilled my expectations. Lightly seasoned, the wonderfully gamy quality of the lamb shone through. The poached egg and rice were interesting additions as well. Once I broke the yoke and mixed the whole thing in with the rice, it took on a texture not unlike risotto. The yellow and orange peppers provided much needed acidity and their roasted flesh added some dimension to what could have been a fairly bland entrée.

Lamb sausage with roasted peppers, poached egg, and rice

Artifact Coffee is a place that is best visited when you wish to relax and spend some time away from the hectic world outside. They have one of the smallest kitchens I've ever seen in a restaurant (with the first induction grill ever used in Baltimore), so it's a miracle how Chef Adam and his crew produce such tasty dishes for so many patrons. However, miracles can take time, so it's best to order one of your favorite beverages, have some pleasant conversation with your dining partners, and enjoy the rustic decor.

Artifact Coffee
1500 Union Ave Ste. 114
Baltimore, MD 21211
(410) 235-1881





Posted on Minxeats.com.

Product of the Week - Kewpie Mayo

One of my favorite products comes in a soft plastic squeeze bottle adorned with an image of a Kewpie doll. Kewpie Mayonnaise is a Japanese version of the ubiquitous condiment Americans use in everything from salads to sandwiches. Unlike the flabby white American mayo that tastes mostly of fat and not much else, Kewpie is a bit more golden in color, thinner in texture, and full of umami. To my palate, it tastes more like homemade mayonnaise, with an obvious eggy flavor and maybe a bit of olive oil.

Unless I'm cooking for a large group (for example, an office party) at which time I'll use an inexpensive American brand, Kewpie is the only mayonnaise that lives in Casa Minx. It's a perfect sandwich spread on its own, but the addition of a few other simple ingredients can transform it into a delicious sauce, salad dressing, or dip. I like to mix a couple squirts of mayo with some gochujang (Korean bean paste) and a bit of Sriracha for a perfect hamburger spread. Of course it also works well with chicken or tuna salad, and makes very flavorful egg salad and deviled eggs.

The biggest problem with Kewpie mayo seems to be its availability. Giant Food near me carried it for a brief time, as did Asia Foods on York Road. Wegman's has a large International foods section but no Kewpie. We usually have to make a field trip to H Mart and then we buy several bottles at a time. If you don't have an Asian grocery store near you, Kewpie mayo is available at Amazon.com.