Back to Blogging....

by Xani

It's been a while since I've blogged. After my little accident, I had to put cooking and blogging pretty much on hold. Cooking was almost impossible (I almost cried when I realized I was unable to grind pepper one-handed) and maybe even dangerous (left-handed knife skills? Not so much), and typing one-handed was so frustrating, I pretty much gave it up except for when I absolutely HAD to, for work. It was a sad month. But now my splint has been removed, my bone is all healed, and it's been so exciting to be able to cook (and blog) again! Here are a few dishes I whipped up soon after getting my hand back-- and just as fresh, local produce begins to emerge!



Dish Number 1: Bastardized Panzanella

A simple dinner thrown together on a weeknight. Some pieces of roughly torn Italian bread, drizzled with olive, salt and pepper and toasted in the oven until they emerged as golden croutons. Meanwhile, tossed a small salad of parsley, and little grape tomatoes, minced or grated garlic, vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. When the croutons were done, I added them, as well as some adorable fresh mozzarella pearls to the salad, tossed gently, plated, and topped the whole thing with some fresh shaved Parmesan and a bit more olive oil. Light, easy, and tasty. Mine had a bit too much garlic, and as summer approaches with delicious heirloom tomatoes and basil bursting from gardens, I would certainly adjust the recipe to include these.


Dish Number 2: Soft-boiled Eggs with Asparagus

This dish seems almost British to me-- why is that? Did I see Nigella Lawson make it long ago on the Style Network? Perhaps. Anyway, it seemed a perfect vehicle for the first local asparagus of the season, which EP and I picked up at our beloved Emily's Produce stand (which reopened for the season just the day before!), on our way home from a brief visit to Blackacre. Hungry for brunch the next morning, I brought some salted water to a simmer, and in went the asparagus and eggs. Four minutes later, the spears were crisp tender and the eggs were perfectly soft-boiled (although at this point I realized I don't have any egg cups or other dishes that effectively hold an egg- add those to my wish list!). I served the eggs and asparagus alongside some toasted thick bread to soak up the yolks, and lots of coarse salt.

Dish Number 3: Calzones from Scratch, Two Fillings

After spending a few nights in Philadelphia for work (and getting a killer migraine that ruined my dinner at Cuba Libre and left me incapacitated for 18 hours) I arrived home to a fridge full of veggies needing prompt attention, and a package of pre-made pizza dough I picked up at the grocery store. My grill is currently being taken over by ivy (seriously, my backyard is like a JUNGLE, and while some think it looks "magical", I bet my neighbors don't. My "I only have one hand" excuse is no good anymore, so I guess it's pure laziness at this point-- it's on the To Do list, for sure), so grilled pizzas were off the table. But calzones seemed like the perfect solution. I invited EP over for a study break, and got started on making the fillings.

Kale-ricotta filling (a twist on traditional spinach ricotta): I didn't have any spinach, but I did have kale, which I blanched in boiling salted water, shocked, drained and chopped. Then mixed with some sauteed onion and garlic, ricotta, one egg, Parmesan, fresh mozzarella, and salt and pepper.

Veggie tomato filling: Another twist on a classic, I omitted the sausage from a traditional sausage, pepper and onion filling and added mushrooms and asparagus to the sauteed onion, garlic, and red, yellow and orange mini-peppers. Once all the veggies were nice and tender, I added about half a can of (GASP) prepared tomato sauce, along with red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt and pepper, and let the whole thing cook together for about half an hour until it had formed a nice, thick sauce-- almost like a ragout.


Once the fillings were done, I started trying to stretch out the prepared pizza dough-- emphasis on the word "trying." I guess it had been sitting in my fridge for too long, because this stuff was a MESS. Unbelievably sticky no matter how much flour I added, wouldn't hold shape, etc. But I already had the fillings all made-- I was screwed!! Or was I...?

Behold: my latest purchase/obsession. Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman, is a fantastic book about how many of the basics of cooking can be reduced to simple ratios. Bread dough (including pizza dough), for example, is 5:3, flour to water. The book stresses how simple it is to make great bread with just a few ingredients (flour, yeast, salt), and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to try out the technique... what else was I going to do with all that filling!?

My other new favorite toy-- digital food scale!

In retrospect I didn't time things quite right-- the dough should have rested a lot longer between initial kneading and stretching into the calzones... lesson learned for next time. The dough wasn't really very elastic and hadn't developed the gluten in a way that gives pizza dough it crispy, chewy texture. But hey, I made dough, and formed it into calzones, and they didn't fall apart or explode or taste half-bad. In fact, they were pretty damn good! EP and I ate well that night. The kale had a really interesting flavor, and the veggie ragout was delicious with the melted mozzarella and Parmesan. All in all, a BIG success.


I'm so glad to be two-handed again. I promise to do lots more cooking (especially with the farmers' market open again as of this morning-- EP and I almost drowned getting there in the today's monsoon, but it was so worth it) and blogging. I've got a few in the pipeline that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. Until then...


Happy eating (and cooking, and blogging),
X

Celebrating at Woodberry Kitchen

by Erin & Xani

The past few days have been great for the BCD girls. On the Xani front, the doctor removed her cast and she now has full typing abilities! Keep your eyes out for more regular blogging by the X-Factor. As for EP, yesterday she turned in her bar application and then had her last law school class ever! Also, after LOTS of hard work, her article was published in her law journal, and it's very exciting to see it in print after all this time.

So, to celebrate all this good news, we headed up to Hampden and went to Woodberry Kitchen. Xani had been several times and finally we got the chance to go together! WK has a strong emphasis on local, organic, and seasonal eating, and supports sustainable agriculture (very appropriate for Earth Day!). In other words, we HAD to get there ASAP.


The space at WK is an old renovated industrial space and it's super cozy with a wood-burning oven and an open kitchen-- its totally gorgeous. While WK's menu has a good handful of entrees, we decided to stick with their larger selection of small plates. It was so hard to choose only a few - we wanted to order everything!

We started with some celebratory cocktails. Erin got the "Birds and the Bees," comprised of housemade berry liquor, local honey, lemon twist, and cava (Spanish sparkling wine). It was similar to a Kir. Xani got an organic IPA.

Then it was time to eat! We started with the Kitchen Pickles and Olives, a small jar of pickled onions, green beans, and leeks, plus olives. A good light start to the meal. Then came one of the specials of the day, featuring the first local asparagus of the season! It was a salad with shaved asparagus, greens, smoked shrimp, and a vinaigrette with lots of lemon and mint. Very refreshing, interesting flavor combination with the shrimp, and great to enjoy the asparagus!

Also during this course we enjoyed the Chicken Liver Parfait, a mild pate of chicken liver served with crispy crostini, a berry sauce, and apples. Very nice dish.

Next we enjoyed another special of the day: local rockfish served sashimi-style topped with a salad of fresh greens and ginger. This dish was fresh and delicious, great flavor from the fish combined with the fresh salad. It was also a very generous portion, and when it comes to raw fish, the more the better.

The next course included two dishes that we were both very excited about: first up was the Pork Buns. When we read this, we figured these would be Asian-style pork buns: a gummy, fluffy dough filled with a little blob of pork. But no! These were mini pulled-pork sandwiches on mini pretzel rolls with a sweet onion relish - outstanding. And messy. The sauce on the pork was nice and acidy, not too sweet, sort of like NC-style BBQ, EP's favorite.

Also for this course was the Poutine! The only other time we've had poutine was at Victoria Gastropub in Columbia, where it's made with duck-fat fries, covered with duck confit, gravy, and gruyere cheese. And before last night, we thought this was the best poutine ever. Then we had WK's poutine. It was amazing and completely surpassed Victoria. This poutine was french fries covered in cheddar curd, house-smoked bacon (GIGANTIC lardons, if that's not an oxymoron?), and chicken wing gravy. A-mazing.

For the next course, we had one of the WK flatbreads, presumably cooked in their wood-burning oven. We selected a flatbread with lamb, ramps (first of the season!), and ricotta cheese. It was a nice bite, but we were so full by then, I don't think we could appreciate it fully. We also had broccoli raab with chili flakes, garlic, and a parmesan chip. Unfortunately, this was the weakest dish of the evening - it was very bitter and a little watery.

Despite our fullness, we pressed on and ordered dessert and coffee. The direct-trade Rwandan coffee came in a French press and was strong and delicious. For dessert, we ordered the Neopolitan Sundae, which was absolutely delicious vanilla ice cream, strawberry jam, and sugar-coated chocolate donut holes. PLUS, there was a malted cone on top. Um, HELLO?! Fabulous dessert.

The French press came with a timer so we would know when to press it

What an amazing meal! It was not too expensive either, which means we'll be back ASAP (especially as the weather continues to improve-- they have a great patio with a firepit). Who's got something worth celebrating? We'll take any excuse...

Thanks for a great meal, WK! See you soon!

E & X

Bippity boppity BACON!

by Erin & Xani

Tonight we had the pleasure of attending our first Bacon Happy Hour at a bar in Fells Point (fittingly) called Bad Decisions. We first heard about this event in this Baltimore Sun article (featuring fellow blogger The Hungover Gourmet) and immediately put it in our calendars. (We also started following Bad Decisions on Twitter for any bacon-y updates!)

Xani and Matt arrived at the bar first, and what's the first thing they do? Put a pint glass of bacon in front of them. Can you hear the bacon angels singing?

Matt "patiently" waits for Xani to snap a picture...

BLTinis!

bacon with bacon on the side

As promised in the Sun article, the bar re-vamped their entire menu to be laced with bacon-y goodness. They even had bacon-ified cocktails! We ordered the "BLTinis" (BLT sliders), bacon cheese fries, and bacon chili with bacon-laced cornbread. Other items included bacon-wrapped plantains, bacon grilled cheese, bacon guacamole, and maple-bacon cupcakes for dessert.


We did not order any bacon cocktails, but rather enjoyed Baltimore's Finest beer, Natty Boh.


It was a fun crowd and definitely a unique experience. I hope they have another one soon!


Happy bacon-eating,


X & EP

Gyros & Cupcakes: Two of Our Favorite Things

by Erin

Part One: GYROS!

Law school friends can attest to the fact that when it comes to lunch, I am usually - no, always - ready for a gyro. I'm not quite sure where this obsession started but gyros are definitely one of my favorite foods. I often get my gyro fix at a local Greek-American place near school called Kirby's. Their gyro is delicious and their fries must be sprinkled with crack because DAMN - they are good and addictive. (Actually I think it's Old Bay they are sprinkled with - potato, po-tah-to).

A few weekends ago, Xani and I were reviewing the Baltimore City Paper's special dining guide issue, "Eat", and we found a rave review of the gyros at the Hilltop Carry-Out, a small store-front about 2 blocks from Xani's house. "The [gyro] is massive to the point of impeding the eating process, always steaming hot and oozing with tzatziki and gyro meat grease, which is good for dripping onto the attendant hot and crisp fries." Does it surprise you that I asked Xani if we could get gyros pretty much every day from the time we read this to the time we sat down on Saturday to have one??

Neither of us had ever been to Hilltop so when we went in, we were very surprised at how quaint and clean the place was. For someplace with a greasy spoon reputation, it was a pleasant surprise. We ordered one gyro with everything (tzatziki, tomatoes, and hot sauce) except onions and some fries to share, and sat at one of the three booths. After a few minutes, our gyro and fries came up and I galloped - ahem, I mean, casually strolled - over to the counter to pick up our order.

The meat:tzatziki ratio was perfect

The verdict? Delicious! The gyro meat was juicy and a nicely sliced - not too thin like paper, not too thick that it was difficult to eat. The pita was fluffy, and the tzatziki was thick and had lots of flavor from the garlic. The hot sauce was an interesting addition to the traditional gyro accompaniments but it worked beautifully and gave it even more flavor. A very delicious, messy sandwich, indeed.

The fries were also good - crispy but not greasy. I would say that while the gyro at Hilltop was better than at Kirby's, the fries at Kirby's still reign supreme. We saw a lot of people getting pizza there, so next time we will be trying a slice for sure!


Part Two: CUPCAKES!

The same day of our gyro adventure, I had planned to do some baking for an engagement party I was going to in DC that night. (Congrats Melanie and Justin!). Since Xani has a KitchenAid, I went to her house to do it. We had our gyros and when we returned, we started making the Coconut Cupcakes. I chose these cupcakes because I thought they looked wedding-y, and it was an Ina Garten recipe I had always wanted to try.

As is typical with Ina recipes, the amount of butter this recipe uses is obscene. Three sticks in the batter, and three sticks in the icing!! We made the batter by combining butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extracts, and then adding the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and buttermilk to the wet ingredients. Then we folded in some sweetened shredded coconut.

I wanted to try piping the batter into the lined baking tins, and to Xani's credit, she let me do my experiment, knowing all the while that I should just use two spoons. The problem with the piping was that you could make about two cupcakes before you had to refill the piping bag. I'm not sure how many of our lovely readers deal with piping bags often, but it's a pain in the ass to refill them, especially with sticky coconut cupcake batter.

So, I finished with the two-spoon method and it admittedly worked fine. Then we baked them in the oven until they were golden brown and a toothpick came out clean. Meanwhile, while they were cooling, I tried on dresses for the engagement party. :)

When they were cool, we made the icing by combining butter, cream cheese, vanilla and almond extracts, and confectioner's sugar. Then we did a mini-assembly line where Xani would ice the cupcakes with the delicious cream cheese frosting, and then I would dip the cupcake in more shredded coconut. After we were done, they looked beautiful! We realized, though, that we should have halved the icing recipe because we had a TON leftover.

Even with a gimp hand she is a master cook

I brought them to the party and they were a hit! Unfortunately, coconut is sort of a "love it or hate it" ingredient/flavor, so I understood when some people weren't eating them. Those who ate them, though, said they were delicious! And I concur - I found the cake to be firm but not dense, and the combination of the cake with the sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting, plus another hit of sweetened coconut on top was a wonderful bite. Ina's done it again, folks!

Thanks to Xani for letting me mess up her kitchen and for sharing a gyro with me! Love you! And thanks to Rachel for throwing an amazing engagement party - well done, my dear!

Happy gyro-eating and cupcake-baking,

EP

April Food Day!

by Erin & Xani

Today a friend and fellow Baltimore food blogger, Meg, informed us of a great event coming up on April 1: April Food Day! April Food Day is a day dedicated to fighting hunger in America, an issue that is affecting more and more of us during these tough economic times.

April Food Day is an effort by bloggers to encourage their readers to take a minute during April 1 and donate either to their local food bank or to Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), a national food bank with 200 member banks across the country.

Click HERE to donate to Feeding America on April 1.

Thanks in advance, loyal readers! I hope we can all take tiny steps together to make a big difference in this important effort.

Cheers,
EP & X

Pantry Raid: Roast Beef Hash

by Erin

First, before I get down to business, a brief announcement: last weekend, Xani was learning to drive a motorcycle and she crashed and broke her hand. It's hard for her to type (and write - she broke her dominant hand), but she's doing fine, does not need surgery (unlike when I broke my hand - we BCD girls just can't keep our hands in tact!), and is in good spirits considering the circumstances. We're working on a way to communicate some of her great dining adventures in Chicago a few weeks ago - maybe our first vlog??

Can you find the broken bone??

Anyway, let's get down to business. Last week was my Spring Break (last one ever - weird!) and being the good daughter that I am, I went out to Blackacre to see the BCD parents. We of course did some great cooking and eating, including an Emeril recipe for roasted whole duck with roasted sweet potatoes in the roux (very delicious), and classic roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. The roast beef was wet-aged and perfectly cooked, and while we have in the past struggled with our Yorkshire pudding (too much fat, not puffy/fluffy enough), this time we went to the master, Alton Brown, for his Yorkie recipe. It was a hit! Very fluffy and crispy, with great flavor from the fat leftover from the beef.

As usual, the BCD parents sent me home with an entire box of goodies, including a big hunk of leftover roast beef. While I love a good roast beef sandwich on baguette with horseradish sauce, I wanted to take a crack at making roast beef hash. I love corned beef hash (tip to Baltimore peeps: I had some of the best corned beef hash of my LIFE at the Waterfront Hotel brunch - go get some!), and I had a great plate of roast beef hash during my first visit to The Spotted Pig in NYC, so I was eager to have it again at home.

I looked up a few recipes and relied most heavily on this one from Serious Eats, but in the end I sort of just made it up. I didn't have any cooked potatoes so I boiled up a few potatoes until a fork went in easily. Meanwhile I finely chopped the other ingredients: half a vidalia onion, about 5 cloves of garlic, and about 3/4 cup of mushrooms I had left over.

Taters in the hot tub...

Sliced and diced onions and taters

Mushrooms and garlic

I also diced the roast beef into about half-inch cubes, and I may or may not have eaten several of the delicious cubes along the way.

When the potatoes were done, I chopped them into about half-inch cubes. I added some oil to a big pan and got the potatoes cooking. After they started to caramelize, I added the mushrooms and the garlic.

I was a little concerned that the mushrooms would give off too much liquid and affect the crisping-up process, so I wanted to add them early-ish in the cooking. After the veggies had cooked down a bit, I added the beef and started it to brown.

One of the things that I love about a good hash is that everything is cooked down and crispy and sort of melded together, and that takes a long time. I cranked up the heat a bit and checked on the hash often so all sides of everything would crisp up nicely.

Mmmm...super-caramelized meat and potatoes

The verdict? Delicious. Everything worked well together, and the mushrooms added a really great flavor that you don't get in traditional hash. The meat was crisped up but still tender, and I loved all the caramalized potatoes, onions, and garlic. I thought about adding a poached or fried egg to my roast beef hash masterpiece, but in the end all I wanted was the hash - I didn't want to be distracted!

It was another pantry raid success. Stay tuned for the next one: chicken enchiladas verdes!

Cheers,
EP