Grilled summer peaches

Probably one of the best things about living in Virginia is access to fresh Georgia peaches at almost any store. Last night was one of those sit on the couch together with wine and netflix marathon. About half through our endless episodes of undercover boss the need for some snacks set in, but neither wanted to leave the house. Thankfully I am pretty handy in the kitchen #trophyhusband.

I love grilling fruit either on the grill or via a grill pan, but apparently this is something that many people think is crazy. This I learned last night when a overly wined up girlfriend kept saying “you’re going to wreck my peaches for breakfast tomorrow paaaauuulll.” So to quite the haters in your life and show them magic of grilled fruit make sure that you brush it with some very high quality olive oil this adds another layer of flavor and will make the grilling possible so it doesn’t stick and burn.

Peaches, plums, and even apricots make perfect grill companions, as do all other stone fruits. They’re more delicate,  so leave the skins on and then peel them afterwards (or just leave the peels on). There are few summer desserts tastier than grilled peaches with ice cream, but they also pair well with grilled pork tenderloin, chicken, or steak.I like the in salsa with red onion and jalapeno as well.

For the dessert above its really easy to make and super tasty on a summer night.

• 4 peaches cut in half brushed with high quality olive oil
• 4 table spoons of honey
• small bunch of mint chopped fine
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of ricotta impastata

Brush peaches with olive oil and place onto a hot grill maybe 400 if you can get a temp off of it. Let the peaches sit for 5-6 minutes until soft but not gushy they will pull away from the grill with no problem that’s when you know they are done. Drizzle the honey over the still hot peaches let sit to cool down a little. Add chopped mint into the ricotta stir to bring together.

This is also really good with ice cream as well or if you have crushed nuts or granola to put on top is a added bit of crunch.

 

Leopold Bros

Apples will always have a home in my heart. Growing up in the Hudson Valley meant you liked apples even if you didn’t.  Leopold bros managed to capture two things close to my heart well crafted whiskey and New York Apples.

At a 40 dollar price point this should be a easy add to any home bar.liqueur is flavored with a wide range of apples, from Golden Delicious to rare Macoun apples. The apples are allowed to become almost overripe before juicing and blending with whiskey. The blend is then aged in bourbon barrels.

I liked it with a ice cube or two in it to help bring out the apple. Straight up it can be little aggressive, but slightly chilled on ice its smooth and beautiful.  This whiskey can be easily paired well with ginger beer, cider, or a hard cider for a elevated flavorful drink combo.

 

 

I really wish the CIA had brainwashed me…

So yeah I’ll take that brain scanner to forget what a awful meal this was. I normally will never write a true negative post, but of the all places I never thought I would pen these words from its the Culinary Institute of America. To say it was a utter disappointment from service to concept would be doing this place a service.

The night is July 7th 2016 my 30th birthday. I am not one for birthdays nor milestones just never been that guy, but my brother wanted to treat me to a solid meal as a food lover deserves. Living in the Hudson Valley we are lucky to have this place in our backyard, too bad I wish we could burn it like the wood pallets in our fire pit because this meal was terrible.

The American Bounty was just awful from start to finish.  First before we even get to the food I will say this place is beautiful its about all it had going for it.

I’ll start with this, I understand these are working culinary students, but they are at the premier culinary school in the USA. Sorry, but you’re held to a standard. Our server was fit for a chili’s at best. I knew we were screwed from the get go when my dad asked what wine would you recommend and the response was ” I don’t drink or know anything really about wine, so I really don’t know I bet they are all pretty good”  I’m sorry, but what?  You’re literally trained here on wine and you work here…you should as a professional have at least talking point on wine if you don’t drink it. I am not a wine guy at all, but I know enough at the restaurant to offer a recommendation if asked. So after picking one we thought would be solid we moved on to food. We asked well what have you liked that stands out to you?  I know a crazy thing to ask a person who goes to culinary school and works here, but apparently we are out of line with this one. Our waitress responds with “well I don’t really eat here so I don’t know, but I bet its all pretty good” I’m sorry what the fuck did you just say…. so we just ordered based on our gut no thanks to the awful server. This chick didn’t even bother to bring our food out on time like people got entrees when appetizers were coming out don’t worry the food is equally as bad as the service for 20-45 a plate!!!

First Courses: From bad to worse

So they bring us this little cracker with chicken salad and some pearled melon juice as if it was some kind of epic foodies experience to try and cover up for our clueless waitress. It was good as far as chicken salad goes….like we should of left when the damn culinary institute brought us chicken f-ing salad. Also are people really still making fake caviar with juice and gelatin? Thought that died out in top chef season three…

My brother and I split a dozen oysters served with a beet mignonette. The only good part of this dish was the oysters. The only way I can describe the beet sauce was basically smuckers jelly. It wrecked anything that the oyster could possibly taste like. Whoever thought this worked well shouldn’t be allowed to put things near a menu.

This dish the zucchini flowers, muscles, and clams in the smoked broth was good I will say of anything that was presented it was good and that is about it. Good not great, but to be the star of a shit show isn’t saying much Wendy’s put on a better meal after we left here.

I would like to add that our waitress was allergic to shellfish.  Completely fine, but her acting like every dish I ordered was going to set her a blaze and the dramatic bright purple glove and having other servers come remove plates was a little over the top. Once again you’re a professional now act like it. A clear glove with a white napkin over it to remove the plates like a professional who is getting tipped on a expensive meal.

I’m still looking for the right words to describe how bad this was. I don’t think bad, awful, poor are the right words. So this “smoked” lobster is par smoked apparently at some earlier point then boiled to hell in butter at dinner service. This lobster was so rubbery and tough ISIS wanted to recruit it. This dish sucked just over all was awful. They had this random pea puree on the side that was good. I asked for more, but apparently the Culinary Institute of America doesn’t have enough to offer me a little more on a 34 lobster claw. There is nothing about this dish I can speak well of. Bland, overcooked, not thought out, and lacking any kind of seasoning.

Overall I was excited to go, but was quickly let down it started with service ended with the meal. I’ll never back to try any of their restaurants again.  If you find yourself in the Hudson Valley don’t waste the money there is far better local fare close by. I would like to add that I later on sent them a facebook message expressing the service and quality to never hear back. Glad to see the poor hospitality starts from the top down.

 

 

 

Pop-Ups and hot days

The pop up restaurant every chef’s dream often showcased on shows like top chef and in the movies. In reality not the easiest thing in the world to pull off for many reasons. Lucky here in Norfolk a husband and wife are trying to pull it off once a month.

Chef Nate who is doing is residency at the Norfolk’s Legrand Kitchen sous-chef takes over once a month on Sunday’s to create their own pop up restaurant Pro-Tiem. I got lucky to check out their pop up at a local b&b owned by friend and other restaurant owner Jamie Summs of 80/20 burger bar.

Overall not a bad day I will have to say the heat was a bitch to have the event outside, but gave me a reason to drink more cocktails. A nice touch offering local wine and two signature cocktails created by the house bartender. I opted for the Gin Nikki which was gin, mint, club soda, lemonade, and lavender. Refreshing to say the least on a 90 degree Virginia day.

Food offerings came out in a series of passed plates which were different than the normal sit down course style offered at their traditional pop ups at Legrand. Grilled flank steak with avocado mousse was good for the hot day. The steak was cook well seasoning was enough not to overpower. The avocado mousse personally didn’t do much for me, just kinda bland and was just there didn’t add anything really to the dish other then to cool the heat of the pepper on the meat.

Side offerings of charred baby vegetables and chimichurri. The churri was really good I started to put it on everything I could get my hands on. It went really well with the steak actually.

Mixed salad with Greek yogurt and edible dirt was an interesting combo for the hot day. Overall I liked this dish, but the dirt wasn’t super good it was comprised of toasted barley, wheat, and granola. While it added the crunch the dish needed some of the toasted notes were a bit tough to chow down on.

The seared pork belly was my second favorite dish of the day. Belly was salty, buttery, and fall apart in your mouth good. The black garlic puree was an awesome addition of sweet and sour to the salty smooth belly.

Ahhhh the pickled shrimp I must have ate probably twenty of these guys that day. The pickling liquid was so flavorful and added this crisp bite to the sweet shrimp that was perfect for a hot day. The liquid had notes of smoked paprika, rice wine vinegar, and citrus.  These bad boys were good just as they were cocktail sauce not needed, but the smoked tomato sauce brought them to a whole different level.

Asian glazed wings

Credit for these goes to drunken Saturday Paul and his hulk like rage to need to eat upon coming home. So several lessons learned when making these first being make sure the oven is clean in your 1910 built apartment with zero kitchen hoods, because this place was filled with smoke. Second I make damn good wings something my dad never could pull off. I remember as a kid he would always make wing touting he was “the best” at it…well now many years later and several states away I can say they were always pretty bad. Soggy, no crispy texture, and just covered in hot sauce basically my dad boiled chicken in the oven with hot sauce and called himself the greatest wing man to hit the 845/914 area code.

This post isn’t really about the wings as much as the glaze. It is something I use on chicken, pork, or fish this time it just happened to be on wings.  To get wings crispy  pre-heat oven to 450 spray baking sheet with pam place wings skin side up bake 25-30 minutes hit with glaze toss back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes.

Glaze for roughly 12 wings:

• 2 tbls rice wine vinegar
• 4 tbls of soy glaze/ teriyaki glaze any of those thicker asian glazes will work
• 2 tbls of rooster sauce aka chili paste
• Juice of 1 lime
• Small handful of diced scallion
• 1 tbls of fresh zested ginger if you have it if not a small pinch of salt

Combined in a bowl coat wings bake again coat again before serving. Same applies for chicken breast. If using on fish or pork coat at end of cooking process.

 

 

 

Spiced Lamb & Beef Tagine w/Lemon Garlic Couscous & Labneh

 

 

Been while, but now that I have unlimited free time figured might as well.  Tagine for anyone who is actually reading this is a North African stew and can be made with any meat or rice you want. I used couscous, lamb, and beef combined with a spice blend known as ras el hanout. How in the hell did I get to know of this dish? I ate it once while working at sea with a libya crew lord knows what type of meat it was, but from my broken arabic that I speak I was able to ask for a basic recipe then pieced it back together via various google searches.

What I like about the dish is it can be anything you want spicy, sweet, or savory. It is also a really good way to clean out the left over veggies you got laying around.  I’m sure my mom who is probably the only person reading now knows I buy Swiss Chard I’m in trouble when I go home for never eating it as a kid.

Below Makes 2 Servings probably around 800 calories each

• 10 ounces ground lamb and beef 50/50
• 3/4 cup couscous
• 4 gloves of garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 bunch of swiss chard
• small handful of mint
• 3 dates I used Medjool a much sweeter date, but sure any will work
• 1/4 cup white onion diced
• 1/4 tomato chopped fine
• 2 table spoons tomato paste
• 2 table spons of Ras El Hanout i bought mine in a small bag in the ethnic grocery store aisle. Per the bag it is cardamom, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, dry ginger, chili peppers, coriander seed, peppercorn, sweet and hot paprika, and dry turmeric
• 1/4 cup Labneh cheese can sub plain yogurt.

Step 1

Wash and dry the fresh produce. Peel and mince the garlic. Using a peeler, remove the yellow rind of the lemon, avoiding the white pith; mince the rind to get 2 teaspoons of zest. Quarter and deseed the lemon. Dice onions and tomatoes into small cubes. Separate the chard leaves and stems; roughly chop the leaves and thinly slice the stems, keeping them separate.  Pit and roughly chop the dates. Pick the mint leaves off the stems; discard the stems.

Step 2

Add some olive to the pan get it hot then add half the garlic and season that son of a bitch with salt and pepper.  Cook till its brown then drop in the couscous and add 1 1/2 cups of water. Boil then let stand for 6 minutes or until the water is absorbed then fluff it with a fork. Sounds stupid but it works add the lemon zest and juice fluff with the fork taste for seasoning set aside.

Step 3 Starting the tagine:

Multitask people multitask While the couscous cooks, in a large, high-sided pan (or pot), heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the the veggies aand remaining garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 to 4 minutes, or until lightly browned and softened. Add the tomato paste and ras el hanout; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, 1 to 2 minutes, or until fragrant and the tomato paste is dark red.

Step 4: Add the meat…cook till brown…move on

Step 5: Add a little bite of water maybe 1/2 cup to a cup depending on how stewy you want it. I went with 1/2 a cup I wanted it to be a little thicker and saucy.

Step 6:

While the tagine simmers, in a bowl, combine the labneh and the juice of the remaining lemon wedges; season with salt and pepper to taste. Mixed with couscous and mint place into a bowl add tangine on top.

Add red pepper flake for extra  spicy and various herbs I had basil in the kitchen, tarragon,  and sage.

Thanks to blue apron for the idea

 

 

Nouvelle 217 Grace Street, Norfolk VA

Finally hit this place been waiting for a bit to let them get into the groove before swinging in.  First impressions I really like that the place isn’t pretentious at all when you walk it its small, open kitchen, and staff is very welcoming. I really am glad the idea of smaller more thought out food is making its way to Hampton Roads.

I started off with Kinilaw which is a Filipino type of ceviche I was excited to see this on the menu its something I make a lot and with Rina the owner/chef being Filipino I was excited to see what her roots had to bring. Kinilaw is a simple combination of fish with coconut milk, vinegar, chilies, ginger and cilantro.  Overall it was good, but not sure if I would pay nine dollars again for it.

The Good:

The overall flavor was good sweet, spicy, and a nice hint of crunch. The tuna was nice big chunks piled on top good flavor to them not overly salted, soggy, or killed with coconut milk.

The Bad:

The plating of the dish didn’t do it justice and hurt the dish overall in my opinion. The Kinilaw was piled on top of “Asian Slaw’ to me it looked and tasted like red cabbage slightly pickled. I think if this dish was to be reworked it would help it a great deal to bring it to another level. I would personally start with looking at the ‘Asian Slaw” it didn’t add much to the dish it just kinda sat under the Kinilaw to be ate after leaving a cabbage taste in your mouth. I would think about trying to rework the slaw under with ginger, scallions, cabbage, citrus juice/rice wine have those flavors help to elevate the Kinilaw instead of taking away from it.  Plating also hurt this dish the plating inside a martini glass didn’t really help see above photo. If I was plating this dish I wouldn’t use a cup or small glass as the serving vessel makes eating the elements together hard. I would go with a smaller bowl to mix them together or plated across a smaller plate to help balance all flavors.

Overall good not sure if I’d get it again maybe if it was reworked a little.

Next up wast the 50/50 burger lamb and beef wont’ lie this was on the safe side for me to order I probably should of ventured out to try something a little more bold on the menu, but I was really craving a burger.

The Good: 

Juicy, big, well cooked! Burger was good well seasoned cook to medium as order nice and juicy. It hit the spot for a burger craving the Applewood smoked bacon, grilled onions, smoked gouda, Gruyere, romaine, tomato on a Brioche Bun all worked well together.

The Bad: 

I personally don’t like brioche for a burger they always tend to fall apart which happened to me, but not the end of the world just think its a little dated. The fries let me down actually a lot I was excited for a french place to be slinging fries they weren’t anything great super soggy under seasoned eh..didn’t do it for me.

Overall I’ll be back going back great little place great owners who are willing to talk to the customers and the food was good I’d be back to help fill a burger craving again.

Oysters doing it for me right now

I won’t lie I got lucky with living in the coastal VA area. The access to local seafood is pretty abundant and always fresh. I’ve grown a big liking to seafood and its one of the things I really love to cook now. I kept seeing posts on facebook about oysters here in Norfolk from Sam Rust Seafood here locally great guy and a great resource aside from other seafood guy here locally.

Growing up didn’t really mess with oysters a lot or ever wasn’t something my parents or family ever really got into. I can’t imagine my dad who is the most bland eater in the world slurping down an oyster. Note to self when they visit this summer…put him through the ringer. I never really had an oyster until maybe four years ago when I was in Charleston visiting friends and was invited to a oyster roast at their compound from then on in as a southern boy oysters became a part of life. I’ve had them in a lot of ways some super gross inside of shots of whiskey with hot sauce and also in more elegant ways as well. Tonight I grabbed about two dozen and did them two ways for friends here locally for a light dinner. Probably should add that maybe don’t these for someone you don’t really know or are trying to make a decent impression on. Words cannot describe the debacle that I went through to open a dozen of each. That pointy, thick knife with the big wooden handle called an oyster knife? Sam tells me that the best way to determine whether an oyster or clam is fresh, alive and well is to knock ‘em. Specifically, knock two against each other or one against the counter. If they sound hollow, throw ‘em away. Also, oysters and clams should be closed super-tight (um, YEAH. I know.) When you get home, grab 2 bowls, one that fits inside the other. Unbag the oysters and clams and put them in the smaller bowl. Fill larger bowl with ice and put the smaller bowl inside, on top of the ice. Refrigerate. According to SRS, if stored properly, they’ll last for a few days like that. But I always go by the rule of eating them same day or next day.

I did the oysters two ways the first that will be shown below is an Asian inspired oyster Mignonette. I tend to lean a lot towards Asian and Latin flavors  I enjoy the contrast of bold and subtle that play with one another on the pallet.

For the Asian Mignonette

1 teaspoon water
2 tablespoons sweetened (seasoned) rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon red peppercorns or red chili flake
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon finely minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the Asian Mignonette ingredients. Additions to this I like to add some crunchy panko to the tops of the oysters. Also if you’re looking for a smoother mignonette this can be done in a blender it will puree it to a nice green silky color.

Oysters Rockefeller 
Makes 24 appetizers

2 dozen oysters, shucked
5 tbsp butter, unsalted 
1/2 bag fresh spinach leaves, stems removed and finely chopped 
1/2 onion, chopped 
3 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped 
1 stalk celery, finely chopped 
1 garlic clove, minced 
3 tbsp cooked bacon, chopped
2 tbsp white wine 
2 tbsp heavy cream 
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp Pernod
Rock salt
Lemon wedges for garnish


Using an oyster knife, pry open the oyster shells and remove the oysters, reserving the oyster liquor. Discard the top and loosen each oyster from the base of its shell. Set aside and keep cool.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spread a 1/2-inch thick layer of rock salt on a large baking sheet and arrange the oyster shells on top, making sure they’re all level. The rock salt will stabilize them. Pour a little of the reserved oyster liquor on top of each shell. 

Finely chop the onion and celery. Melt three tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan over medium heat, and add the celery and onion and cook one minute. Add the chopped spinach and the remaining butter, and cook another minute or two until the spinach has wilted. Add the white wine and Pernod and cook another two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the cream and stir to combine. The mixture may be made ahead of time up to this point, and refrigerated until ready to use, up to 3 days.

Remove the chilled Rockefeller topping from the refrigerator, and beat the mixture with an electric mixer to evenly distribute the butter and infuse air into the topping. Spoon the spinach mixture evenly over each oyster, spreading it evenly out to the edge of the shell, then top with the crumbled bacon and a sprinkle of chopped parsley. Combine the Parmesan and the Panko and scatter evenly over the oysters, with a dot of butter if you wish. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, watching carefully, until the edges of the oysters begin to curl around the edges and the topping is bubbling and lightly browned.

New things in little places

Had an amazing meal last night at Legrand here in Norfolk. Place is everything a “foodie” could want its small only seating about 12 people tops and the menu always ever changing based on what they buy for the day.  I had pull pork on toast with house made pickles and Alabama white sauce and also not picture “mushrooms on toast”.

The good: Lots of food for a great price totally left stuffed and happy. The pork was very juicy and had a nice smokey flavor to it. The pickles had a good sweet flavor to balance out the smoke from the pork along with the ‘White sauce” which was mayo and horseradish.  The mushrooms on toast was nice the chicken confit was nice and tender not overly oily and had good balanced flavor. The mixed mushrooms and kale that topped the bread also had a nice seasoning to them and balanced out the dish well.

The bad: The pork itself was awesome, but they added pimento cheese which you don’t pick up any of that flavor it gets lost. It added a richness to the dish, but didn’t do much to complement other flavors. They also use a lot of butter on the bread almost in excess not to say this is a bad thing, but it can over power the dishes both very quickly. Lastly a little bit more salt would of been helpful.

Overall I love this place and will be back many many more times to come!

Sprouts

Another veggie that keeps showing up in our fridge that I really don’t care for is Brussels sprouts, but they seem to be a crowd pleaser and sell well.

Brussels sprouts are a cultivar of the same species as cabbage, in the same family as collard greens, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi; they are cruciferous (they belong to the Brassicaceae family; old name Cruciferae).About 80% to 85% of US production is for the frozen food market, with the remainder for fresh consumption.^[9] Once harvested, sprouts last three to five weeks under ideal near-freezing conditions before wilting and discolouring, and about half as long at refrigerator temperature. American varieties are generally 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) in diameter. (Wiki)

Raw Brussels sprouts contain excellent levels of vitamin C and vitamin K, with more moderate amounts of B vitamins, such as folic acid and vitamin B6 (USDA nutrient table, right); essential minerals and dietary fiber exist in lesser amounts. Brussels sprouts, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contain sulforaphane, a phytochemical under basic research for its potential anticancer properties. Although boiling reduces the level of sulforaphane, steaming and stir frying do not result in significant loss.Brussels sprouts and other brassicas are also a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical being studied for how it affects DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells in vitro. Consuming Brussels sprouts in excess may not be suitable for heart patients taking anticoagulants since they contain vitamin K, a blood-clotting factor. In one such reported incident, doctors determined that the reason for a heart patient’s worsening condition was eating too many Brussels sprouts which countered the intended effects of blood-thinning therapy.

I should probably start eating these things more…

Pan seared sprouts with roasted apple, fig balsamic, and crème friache

Makes 1 small app serving

• 6 sprouts cut in half
• 1/8 cup of green apples diced fine
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tbl honey
• Fig balsamic glaze (bought at any local store)
• EVOO
• Salt/Pepper to taste

1. Add oil to a small sautee pan and bring to a light simmer then add sprouts, be careful they will cause the oil to pop at first. Let the sprouts develop a nice caramel color as the render down stir every 2 minutes.
2. Deglaze the pan with balsamic fig glaze toss sprouts to get a nice coat
3. Add the apples, cinnamon, and honey toss to coat everything
4. Place pan into a oven at 350-400 for 7-10 minutes until sprouts are fork tender
5. Remove the pan carefully and add the mixture to a small plate or bowl top with crème friache