Read Drink & Be Merry

Did it seem a little quiet in a few neighbourhoods in town this last Sunday? it could have been the result of a few very tired kids and their very tired/hungover parents.

To close out the summer we had decided to have a few people over for a ‘foodie’ potluck. Your basic bring an ‘A’ game dish or a family favourite. Combine lots of good food with copious amounts of alcohol and there is always fun to be had.

There had been a fair amount of discussion about a certain drink over the course of the summer and how not to make it – the mojito. A certain downtown bar, and big seller of this beverage, seems to be leading the list of misguided attempts at mojito mixing (sorry, Jack). Pre-muddling the mint is bad but their addition of sweet and sour mix just turns it into a mint flavoured rum collins. It’s funny that as our restaurant food gets more creative and less prefrabicated that bars are moving in the other direction. In the August edition of Bon Appetit (sorry, not online) is a great article about cocktail construction in Japan. Seems their mixologists pride themselves on making individual cocktails from scratch using fresh ingredients and lots of imagination. Here we seem to be drifting to a McDonalds approach to bartending with premade syrups and mixes. Bit of a shame.

With that in mind I decided to make mojitos (for the first time) from scratch. That afternoon I made a batch of simple syrup, and then set up limes and mint. For each person requesting a mojito I muddled the mint and then addded the syrup, light rum, lime and club soda. Except for the first one (which I managed to make half of in one glass and then finish off in my Rangpur & Tonic – not a good combo…) they seemed to be a hit. Next time I’ll need more syrup… and rum.
My first course out was Grav Lax. Made with salmon from Yellow Umbrella and then salt/sugar cured for 48 hours. Served on sliced bread with an espresso dill honey mustard. The lack of leftovers led me to believe it was a hit.
I had orignally planned on cooking something on the grill. A trip last weekend to Carytown with my visiting parents and my first glimpse on Penzy’s got me thinking. They had a certain spice that caught my eye – English Prime Rib Rub. The heady aroma of celery, pepper, onions, and garlic got me craving a major piece of beef.

Belmont Butchery provided me with a choice cut of prime rib that I could work with. Rubbed down first with grapeseed oil and then the Penzy spice I opted for the controlled heat of my oven rather than the grill. Fifteen minutes at 500 and then 2 hours at 230 (both on covection roast). During the 30 minute covered rest I made a jus by adding stock and sherry to the pan to deglaze and then reduced over high heat.

There were no leftovers.
Since I didn’t use the grill the queue for others was shorter.
Sketchy brought his mythical DragonFish. Using a cute little trick of molecular gastronomy he used a protein glue to reform several pieces of halibut into a piece resemebling a tenderloin. Then, again using the glue, he attached thin spicy slices of chorizo. Roasted over the grill it came out crispy on the outside and moist inside. I could swear that Sketchy managed to achieve umami with this dish, a real accomplishment with fish.

Another fun dish for the evening was made by Koolz. He stuck to his roots and made a meatball dish from a family recipe. Pork meatballs grilled over my infrared then topped with basil and slices of mozzarella. Well spiced and Koolz did well for his first work with the searing temps that my infrared grill puts out. M seems to be aggitating for him to make some ziti and show off his tomato sauce skills. Sounds like a call for a repeat performance.

A late arrival for the evening was RVA Foodie. That was probably a good thing as nearly all of the dishes woudln’t comply with his ‘meat is murder but fish is justifiable homicide’ type of vegetarianism. His arrival did usher in a bout of heavy beverage consumption. As the wives put the kids down we engaged in mojitos and a number of rounds of shots.

In true foodie fashion we had both sweet and savory shots. I pulled out a bottle of akvavit, a Danish tradition flavoured with caraway and anise. Sketchy brought a bottle that he had altered…. Italian Lemoncello that he had unbottled and then carbonated. The thick heavy liquid held the carbonation until it hits your toungue and then bubbles up in small explosions. Both were great but weren’t exactly great together and we had some casualties….

Oh, and if anyone was out and about around 2 in the morning in the Fan we are looking for any witness to a ‘missing’ bicycle trip that someone took…

Over the course of this long holiday weekend we managed a number of tasty tidbits. The first was to get the nasty taste of ‘gourmet’ cookies out of our mouths. To this end M made a batch of real homemade cookies. She searched high and low for macadamia nuts but couldn’t find any at Ukrops (perhaps the supply is being diverted for ethanol…). We settled for white and dark chocolate chips. A kind of black and white. Very tasty and welcome after the earlier fiasco.

Saturday night found us the proud owners of a couple of flat irons from Belmont Butchery. Salt and pepper, a quick trip to the grill, a rest, then thinly sliced. Quickly becoming my favourite meal. To avoid taste bud burnout on an oft-repeated meal I decided I wanted add something new to the mix. A recipe from pjpink from River City Cellars for onion rings that she had lifted from Emeril had caught my eye. It’s pretty simple and I did it without making Emeril’s essence or cheating and buying it:

Onion Rings -
2 Large Yellow Onions – Sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch rings
2 cups Spiced Flour – To taste add salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, and lots of paprika
2+ cups Buttermilk – Add to this hot sauce, paprika, cayenne

Slice the onions and cover with the buttermilk. Return to fridge and allow to soak for at least an hour. Add one inch of peanut oil to a heavy pan. Heat to 350. Remove onions from buttermilk and dredge in flour. Shake off excess and place in hot oil. Working in batches fry until golden brown on both sides (2-3 minutes per side). Drain. Can be kept in oven to keep warm as long as it is not a gas oven (gas ovens produce moisture and will make the rings soggy).

I had thought about putting some kind of sauce on the table for the rings but it turned out it wasn’t necessary. Very tasty! Thanks pj!

To end the weekend we ended up at a cookout hosted by T of Belmont Butchery. While the cookout had been planned in advance the menu wasn’t. Seems one of T’s customers had ordered a whole pig for their 4th of July festivities. Said customer ‘forgot’ to pick it up. Personally, I’m not buying it. Since the pig would have to be the centerpiece of your party you don’t ‘forget’ – You chicken out. How this customer shows his/her face at Belmont Butchery again is beyond me and if they ever try to pre-order something T should make them pay in advance. Not more than a few cracks were made about delivering the pig’s head to the customer’s house and leaving it on a spike in the yard…. People weren’t that drunk when I left but you never know how a night progresses. Regardless, the pig didn’t go to waste and after a night of smoking was tender and juicy. Wish I had the nerve to try cooking something that big.

On a fun note Bill Foster, of Zed’s, was there. I managed not so say anything (never got that drunk at the party) but we did have a whole circle of people having a general bitch session about the poor customer treatment at Zed’s. As a number of the people in the discussion were either current or former restaurant people so we got pretty vicious. Good fun but Zed’s really needs to work on their reputation if they are to succeed. No one had a single complaint about the food, it was all about the front of house.

All in all a good weekend and a shift out on my belt notch….

Last Saturday we had the Sketchy’s over for for a little infrared grilling. Up till now we had only been trying small cuts of meat and fish on the grill and I was dying to try a slightly bigger cut. I called my faithful butcher, T at Belmont Butchery, and put in an order for a 4lb leg of lamb, sirloin end. She came through and I picked up a beautiful piece of meat ready for the grill.

The evening arrived and so did the Sketchy’s. Actually it got off to a rather shaky start but you would need to read about that at Sketchy’s Kitchen for the full story. After repairing the damage and making the first round of martinis we tucked into the first course of the evening.

Purple Artichokes. I had found these at Fresh Market and they looked interesting. I thought about serving them slightly chilled with a garlic aioli to dip. Thinking back, while at the market, I remembered a slightly frustrating story by RVA Foodie and his attempt to make aioli. Erring on the side of caution I decided to pick up some organic garlic aioli at Fresh Market and save my first try at the substance when I might end up only killing my own family through a culinary mishap. Upon arriving home I noticed that the aioli had expired several days ago. Not a good thing for a mayonnaise containing uncooked eggs. Making the trek back from Battery Park to Fresh Market…. well, if you add up the time, energy, wasted gas, frustration. Should have tried to make it from scratch. Live and Learn.

Back to the artichokes. I steamed them for 45 minutes (a little longer than I would green ones as they seemed a bit tough) with water, wine, lemon and onion. Allowing them to cool for a bit they then went into the fridge to chill further. The result was ok. They were very pretty but, even after the 45 minute steam, were still a bit tough and a little stringy. The hearts were good but I am afraid that if I steamed them longer to make the leaves softer they would have been too mushy. Bottom line, looks good on a plate but not worth the premium over green artichokes.

For the lamb, I decided to get some professional advice and went to Brown, Alton Brown. So he gets the credit for the paste and the basics, slightly altered for my grill, of cooking. I had T at Belmont Butchery prep the lamb for me. Basically debone and butterfly so it was a large flat piece. The next step was to make the rub. In a small food processor I added:

8 mint leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
5 tablespoons dijon mustard

Blend into a paste. Rub the paste on one side of the lamb, roll it up and tie with butcher’s string. To help the flavours even out I did all this the day before. I removed the lamb from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. When it came time to grill Alton was no longer any help as he used charcoal so I was using educated guesses after that.

I started the heat out at the sear (700+) level. About 5 minutes on each side got the lamb going well. Next I dropped the heat level to the middle of the grill range which should put the temp at around 350. I did 20 minutes on each side (rotating 180 degrees to avoid cool spots) and then checked with a meat thermometer. Honestly, I am hopeless when it comes to meat thermometers. It kept coming up at 150 but I knew that was wrong. I laid down a piece of foil to avoid flare ups and put it on the coolest part of the grill for another 10 minutes. Removed from the grill and then covered for a 15 minutes rest. When sliced it was medium rare, except for a couple of rare slices towards the center. Perfect.

I had a hankering for some sort of reduction to go with it but couldn’t find a recipe for what I wanted. Made one up off the cuff with the idea that it would go in the trash if it failed. Took 1 quart of lamb stock (from Belmont Butchery), 2 cups medium dry sherry, mint leaves and rosemary. Placed in a sauce pan, brought to a boil, and then lowered the heat and allowed to reduce to about a cup and a half. It came out pretty good and it took only a little bit to add the flavour I was looking for.

Of course every dinner needs some sort of activity. What could be more fun than drinking and catching cats. So we put out the traps baited with oil infused mackerel. Quickly we had three cats in the traps and safely away into the basement. The next morning they were sent off for their visit with the vet and then returned in the afternoon. Sadly, that evening when I took them a post-op meal one of the cats had expired. A call to the vet at Operation Cat Nip and the consensus was a heart defect, the result of inbreeding in the feral cat colony in our ‘hood. The expired cat was also lactating so I checked around the house and in the bushes for any kittens but couldn’t locate any.

The tally, if your keeping track, so far:

4 female/2 males – Trapped Fixed and Released
1 male – Not Healthy or Injured – Euthanized
1 female – Didn’t Learn Lesson & Trapped Again
1 female – Didn’t Survive Procedure

Come back next month for Round #4 of the Feral Feline Hunt!

RVA Foodie’s mother is here visiting her new grandchild and Mr Foodie and I started discussing the possibility of getting together during her visit. Initially we discussed going to brunch, possibly Rowlands, but M reminded us that this Sunday was to be Mother’s Day – quite possibly the worst day of the year to do brunch. Instead it was decided that we would fire up my new grill and cook at home on Saturday. This actually worked well for me as I had already been planning an experiment for that night.

I had been eyeing our new oven and had been considering the possibilities beyond simple cooking. Never had I actually baked bread and, to be honest, hadn’t baked anything for a couple of decades. The target choice was easy, my favourite crusty concoction – Baguettes. How hard could it be? Well, after a bit of research it turned out to involve a few more steps than everyday cooking and while the ingredients seemed to require exact precision the baking was not so precise.

Here’s the standard recipe I culled from a number of sources to create my own base. As we were having guests I doubled the recipe.

French Baguette
4 Cups Unbleached AP White Flour (+1/2 cup for working)
1 Package Dry Active Yeast
2 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1 1/2 Cups Cool Water
4 Teaspoons Vital Gluten
1-2 Tablespoons Canola Oil

a) Pour water (tap cool not refrigerated) in large glass mixing bowl. Add yeast and gluten, mix and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

b) Add 2 cups of the flour and mix thoroughly. Add remaining flour and combine.

c) On a clean dry surface sprinkle some of the working flour and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes. Add working flour as needed to achieve consistent moisture level throughout. Final result should be a large ball.

d) Coat large glass bowl with Canola Oil. Add the ball of dough and roll to coat. Cover with plastic and place in refrigerator for 14-18 hours. Dough may need to be punched down every now and then.

e) Remove bowl from refrigerator about an hour before you are going to start working with it to allow to come to room temperature.

f) Preheat oven to 475-500. You kind of need to now how your oven works to figure out the best cooking temp for you. Place large dutch oven filled with water on the lowest level of the oven.

g) Split dough into loaf size portions. I wasn’t sure how much the everything would grow in the oven so I split my doubled recipe into 4 portions. I ended up with something closer to a demi then a baguette.

h) Knead your dough out on a floured surface into the desired shape and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

i) Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and place loaves on top. With a sharp knife or razor slice 3 or four slices into the dough. Brush top of loaf with water.

j) Bake for 25-30 minutes. Bread crust should sound hollow when knocked.

k) Place on cooling rack.

I baked the loaves in two groups. The first time I the oven was set at 475 and on the convection setting. It baked a little to quickly with the convection and threatened to burn in a couple of spots. The next go I set the oven to normal bake and the temp at 475. This time it seemed to be cooking too slowly so, about 10 minutes in, I upped the temperature to 490 and added 2 minutes to the cooking time. We sampled both loaves at the same time and, while there was no major difference between the two, the second set of loaves was more visually appealing.

The verdict? Not bad for a first attempt. The bread was very dense and heavy but in a really good way. For a variety of reasons I had cut the refrigerated rising time down to 9 hours which hadn’t given enough time for the little yeasties to burp enough into the dough. The Foodies really seemed to enjoy it. I had laid out both a dipping oil and Lurpak butter from Denmark for the bread and surprisingly the butter was the clear favourite. Actually, the Lurpak was such a hit they wanted to know where to get it (Fresh Market).

The rest of the dinner went well, not least of which was due to both Finn and Jasper sleeping through the entire evening. Mr Foodie was relegated to eating more of the bread for the appetizer as I did a very simple flat-iron steak on the grill, sliced it thin and served with horseradish cream. For entrees we had Haibut seared on the grill and sauteed zucchini from my nifty new mesh pan on the grill.

Desert brought an overload of joy. M had made a strawberry and Frangelico trifle, the Foodies brought fresh strawberries from their garden, and there was something else. I had read on Veron’s blog that the Foodies had been by her stall at the Farmer’s Market this morning. Would we be trying her macarons for the first time? Yes, we were. I am at a loss as to describe how good these were. I would say my favourite was the vanilla creme due to it’s amazing taste and simplicity but the salted caramel was a joy in it’s complexity. Either way both went well with my Grand Marnier.

Wrapping up the evening there was and abundance of food left over (hopefully from there being too much and not a reflection on the cook). We put together a take away bag for the Foodies. I was a little hesitant to add some of the sliced bread that had been sitting out for 4 hours for fear of it having gone stale. I touch a piece and found it to be perfectly fresh. Guess home baked fares a bit better than store bought. The two remaining loaves were cut the next day and tasted just as fresh as the day before even though they hadn’t been wrapped. With the cost of bread these days I may have to try baking at home a bit more.

We’ve been taking the new grill out for some serious testing over the last few weeks. No disasters as yet and quite a few successes. If your just joining us, start here. We’ll wait….

Let’s start with the grill itself. First, it seems Home Depot did not forget to install the side burner. The design is a little odd and is actually an open circle that allows you to see through (making it look like something is missing). It works well but I haven’t tried it in windy conditions and worry the open design may create hot spots, be hard to light, or simply go out. I was also wrong about describing the interior of the grill. During cleaning (very simple – remove interior ‘u’, brush off ash) the ‘u’ part, that glows red hot during high temp cooking, is not tiles but is metal encased in an enamel like material. I handled it carefully as it seems kind of thin and will be watching for wear and tear. The grates have also done well under cleaning, just heat up in cleaning mode and use metal brush. No actual scraping has been needed.

The temperature gauges also take some of the guess work out of grilling. The highest temp is labeled ‘clean’, the next is ’sear’, the ‘grill’ setting goes from high to low, then ‘bbq’, and finally ‘roast’ which is billed as slow cooking at 200-225. I’m most curious about the ‘roast’ setting to see if it is truly stable enough to slow roast. Will probably try something cheap like a chicken just in case.

We’ve tried a variety of food on the grill. Fresh corn on the cob seems to work best when simply left on the upper rack rather than directly on the grill. Wrapped in foil with butter and salt and pepper has become our method of choice. Various marinated chicken breasts and pieces of pork have done well starting on the ’sear’ setting and then allowing to fully cook by removing to the upper rack and lowering the temperature. All these came out with a solid seared exterior and amazingly juicy inside. During the cooking of the pork I was distracted and left it on a little too long. What should have been medium came out between medium well and well done. The surprise was that it did not dry out and retained so much juice nor did it become overly chewy.

One of my favourite meals was grilled shrimp and portobello mushrooms. Sorry about the picture quality. My cell phone takes crap pictures….

Marinated Grilled Shrimp
2 lbs Large Shrimp w/ Shell
Juice of 2 Lemons
2 tablespoons EV Olive Oil
Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Thai Fish Sauce
1 tablespoon Cayenne Pepper

Rinse Shrimp, drain, place in large bowl. Add in marinade ingredients and toss to coat. Place in fridge for 2-4 hours, tossing occasionally. Set grill to ’sear’ setting and, once heated, lay out shrimp flat on grill. Flip after 1-2 minutes and cook additional 1-2 minutes. Remove to plate and enjoy with a glass of Fauna Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

Marinated Portobello Mushrooms
4-6 Large Portobello Mushroom Caps
1/4 cup EV Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
1 teaspoon Thyme

Rinse mushroom caps, pat dry and place in large baking dish. Add marinade ingredients and toss to coat. Let sit on counter for 2-4 hours tossing occasionally. Heat grill on ’sear’ setting. Place caps on grill and cook for 4-5 minutes per side.

We’ve done NY Strips on the grill twice with mixed results. Part of that is due to the quality of the steak. Normally we get our steaks from Belmont Butchery but they had a $7.99/lb sale at Fresh Market that I couldn’t resist and I kinda stocked up forgetting that sometimes you get what you pay for…. The first go with the strip was just a straight grilling on the ’sear’ setting. It was ok but I couldn’t quite get the steaks charred the way you can with fire. They had the criss-cross sear marks but sometimes you want the char. The next go was after a 24-hour bath in Teriyaki, grilled on the high ‘grill’ setting, then sliced thin as an amuse bouche. The thin slice made it easier to deal with the chewy membranes running through these steaks.

True happiness was attained when I managed to achieve umami over the weekend. On Friday I had picked up about 5 pounds of beef short ribs. I got them home and braised them for 3 hours at 250. My goal in the braise was apples and honey with a bit of heat and I had cherry picked from about a dozen sources to create the braising liquid. Sadly, I threw it off balance with the amount of tomato paste I used. I had decided on 2 tablespoons but couldn’t justify wasting the rest of the small can so I threw it all in. The subtleties of the apples and honey were lost under the tomato. After braising I allowed it to cool and placed in the fridge overnight. Two hours before sending to the grill I removed the ribs, disposed of the congealed fat, and allowed to come to room temperature. Set the grill to low ‘grill’ and cooked for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally.

The result off the grill was the rich umami flavour that results from a long slow cook. I may have messed up the marinade but in the end it didn’t matter as everyone went on and on about the ‘finger licking goodness’. Once I perfect the braising liquid I’ll post the full recipe.

There will be more adventures in grilling coming soon. We found some Williams & Sonoma gift cards we hadn’t fully used yet and I’ve sent M off on a mission for mesh pans and other grilling acoutremont!

I’ve had my eye on the new infrared grills for a while now. The thought of cooking at over 700 degrees was intriguing. The problem, the price. One company held the patent and was milking it for every dime. Over the past year the patent quietly expired and the free market went to work. While still not cheap these wonders of technology have become much more affordable, so last week I decided to become an early adopter.

Note – I’m not a scientist, I’ve tried to research so any flaws are due to misinterpretation on my part or just plain bad assumptions.

Infrared grills a bit different than your normal grill. Instead of cooking with direct heat the gas jets are encased and heat up porcelain tiles (think space shuttle tiles). These tiles start heating up and at the higher temperatures actually glow red. What ends up cooking your grilling items ends up being closer to light, infrared light and radiant heat. This is the same type of cooking that is used in high-end steak houses where the grills can get up to1500 degrees.

I selected the Char-Broil Red, 3-Zone, grill and made my purchase (already assembled) at Home Depot. The price was still high enough for me to get a grill cover to get a few more years of use and for a chain and lock so it makes it to next weekend. A $19.99 truck rental got the new toy home. Make sure you inspect your assembled grill before you leave. Turns out mine is missing the side burner, not something I use too often, but hey, I paid for it so I’ll be swinging by there today to speak with them about it.

For our first attempt at taking excellent cuts of meat and turning them into charcoal we selected two items: flat-iron steaks, and various sausages. Flat Iron’s, from Belmont Butchery, are a cut similar to flank steak but I think they are much more tender and flavourful. They are great cooked rare to medium rare with a bit of char. M’s birthday was coming up so she got to choose and she wanted them in my special marinade. So the steaks took a bath for a few days in:

Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Worsteshire Sauce
Soy Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
Minced Garlic
Crushed Ginger
EV Olive Oil

That’s my basic marinade, don’t ask me proportions, it’s a touchy feely thing but go light on the soy sauce or it overpowers everything else. The ginger is great for meats, especially if they are tough, as the enzymes in the ginger break down the meat making it more tender. It’s also very important to take your meats out of the fridge and allow to get to room temperature. You will find this allows your meats to cook evenly and avoid the burnt on the outside and fridge raw on the inside disaster.

Once we had the grill set up on the side porch we fired her up. The handy thermometer on the lid told the tale, this puppy was getting rocket hot, fast. As it approached 700 degrees I prepared the first of the three flat irons. Normally, for R/MR I cook these inch-thick steaks for 4 minutes per side. Today I did 2 minutes per side. The result was a bit of a char with the steak completely seared. After a 5 minute rest I sliced the steak against the grain with a slight bias. A touch past MR but the juiciness of a rare cook. Success declared.

While I was cutting the flat iron I had placed a dozen sausages (6 brats, 3 sweet Italian, 3 hot Italian) on the upper rack of the grill. When I had nearly finished slicing the steak the people on the side porch were requesting my presence with a bit of urgency. My arrival was greeted by flames shooting out of the sides of my new toy. I turned off the gas and requested the hose I had prepped in case of such an emergency. Slowly the flames died down and I surveyed the remains of the sausages. I decided not to waste the food. Into the kitchen for an inspection under brighter lights. Not too bad, but were they cooked all the way through? They had spent less than 6 minutes on the grill…. I sharpened one of my larger knives and attacked. Cutting at an extreme angle to minimize the meat to charcoal ratio we found they were indeed fully cooked. A few brave souls, and myself, tasted and…. not too bad. While the skin was blackened it didn’t have the burnt flavour one would expect and the sausages were perfect on the inside and extremely juicy. Within a half hour all the sausage was gone. Success grasped from the jaws of a Fire Marshall lecture…

This summer will bring additional posts as we try out this new grill and the successes and failures we may have. One of my questions is what is the propane consumption and will I decide to use the converter option and hook it up to our natural gas line. If it’s stolen will my insurance cover it? We will also invite a few guests chefs over to showcase their particular cooking styles. RVAFoodie and vegetarian grilling? What could Veron bake on a grill? If Brandon cooks on my grill can I bill Style Weekly for part of the cost?….

This last Sunday morning was gray and rainy. It had been a busy weekend and while we were up early to run a time specific errand we were exhausted and were considering a very quiet day at home. The problem was that we couldn’t even be bothered to make a decent breakfast and knew Finn would soon start agitating for something to munch on. I was wrapped up in a comforter multi-tasking – watching TV and randomly surfing the web – when my laptop informed me I had a new piece of mail. Seems the Foodies had gotten a late start to the day and were lamenting that it was probably too late to get together for brunch. Not so, I replied, we’re moving in slow motion as well. Foodies suggested Bacchus after they went to a craft show. We replied, cool. This conversation actually took place over short emails and took nearly 2 hours, the rain had turned us all to slugs.

So, pushing the edge of Bacchus’ closing time we arrive around 2. At first I felt bad for the staff but they seated two tables after us so we weren’t going to be the lone table holding up the staff. We arrived a bit before the Foodies and ordered some coffee. Coffee and water arrived. M sent hers back as, once again, the lipstick on the rim did not match hers. This has been happening a lot lately. Someone really needs to invent a lipstick that sticks to the lady and not everything else and servers really need to look before they bring you a glass.

The Foodies arrived with little Jasper in tow. We greeted and settled in for some food.

Foodie and I tried to be on our best behavior under the watchful eyes of our wives but it was not to be. We must be reading each others blogs as Foodie noted the lack of butter arriving with the bread and commented on the service being slow, normally areas where I am most vocal. I took up his mantra of affordable noting a clam entree for $10 but add pasta and it goes up to $16. A while later our food arrived….

M had a Mushroom Fritatta. It was large and a bit heavy. Light on mushrooms and eggs but heavy with potatoes. Personally, I didn’t think the description matched the dish. M said it was good but would have liked more mushrooms. I tasted it, not too bad, but more fungus would have made it much better. If you wander into Bacchus hungover this may be the dish for you.

Mrs Foodie had the Shrimp Scampi. She was happy with the garlic levels and Mr Foodie said he never complained when she had garlic breath. Sounded like a winner to me.

I threw Foodie for a loop and ordered the Seared Scallops with Spinach & Bacon. He was thinking I would go for the Saffron Eggs, a dish that had caused some discussion a while back. My dish ended up being a mixed bag. The scallops, 6 or 7 medium sea scallops, were seared and seasoned perfectly, a very nice treat. The spinach could not have been sauteed any better. Just a hint a vinegar to flavour but not enough to pollute the scallops sitting on the spinach. The bacon made no sense. I assumed it would have been minced and in the spinach. Instead it was two slices laid over the dish. It looked and tasted a bit like the bacon you get at Denny’s. Added nothing to the dish.

Since I went for the seafood Foodie went for the Saffron Eggs. I tasted them and they weren’t bad. I am guessing the saffron wasn’t blended with the eggs correctly as Mr Foodie gave Mrs Foodie a taste and asked if she could detect the saffron. The eggs were good, and Foodie liked the price ($5), but they fall under my category of ‘items that you can make at home and shouldn’t order out’. For those of you wanting to make this at home here’s how as this would be a great dish if you have guests for brunch:

Eggs (get local fresh organic at Belmont Butchery)
Saffron
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Half & Half
A few drops white wine vinegar

Beat it all together and let ’steep’ in the fridge while you entertain you guests. This will allow the saffron to infuse a little better through the eggs. Cook until think they are congealed but not quite, remove from the heat and put in a warm serving bowl. The residual heat of the eggs will finish the cooking. If you scramble until fully cooked they will keep cooking after you remove them (that pesky residual heat) and they will release all the captured moisture into your serving bowl or on your plate leaving you with dry eggs and wet toast. I haven’t listed actual portions as that is dependent on how many people you are feeding. Try it on yourself at home first and figure it out.

Both Foodies dish and mine contained potatoes. They were OK but Foodie needed to add hot sauce and I needed to add pepper but the mill on the table wasn’t functional. Not very well seasoned. A couple of bites in and, well, if you were polite you would call the potato ‘firm’. I called it undercooked. I asked Foodie if he had the same problem. He replied no and then a couple of bites later changed his answer. The consensus at the table was that, in future, order the polenta as a side instead.

Restaurants typically break even or even lose money on brunches or lunch. The dining window is too short and people don’t order many of the high profit items like cocktails and wine. It is, however, a way to showcase their strengths by getting people to come in at lower price points and lure them back for the real show, dinner. Bacchus did well enough for me to consider them for another try at brunch but I’m not quite ready to make that dinner investment.

Jasper was a perfect gentleman through the meal. OK, he was asleep. As we wrapped up he made it known that he was ready for his brunch. Finn had hit his expiration as well and was dancing through the restaurant. As a note to that I can say that I have been happy with Richmond restauranteurs treatment of us with Finn with only a couple of exceptions. He is typically well-behaved, less so when we go out with friends, but they have made him feel welcome and indulged him. That’s a good way to get parents back.

FOOD
~On a pre-birth visit to RVAFoodies we sampled a dish that really caught our eye, both for it’s simplicity and it’s taste. Grilled Nebulsi Cheese. M procured some from the Mediterranean Market off Broad on Meadow. The cheese is mild with a bit of a tang and I agree with Foodie when he says it’s a ‘taste of spring.’

To prepare heat a non-stick pan (the flatter the better or a griddle would be best) over medium high heat and spray with a bit of olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Slice the cheese into 1/4 inch strips. Place in pan and grill until a crispy coat starts to form, less than 2 minutes. Flip and grill until brown, less than a minute. Remove to plate to cool.

The pieces we did were a bit big so we actually cut them in half so they were bite size for both us and little Finn (he loves this dish). It took a couple of tries to make this come out right. Too high heat and it melts to the point where you can’t flip it but the mistakes were still tasty. The ‘to go’ menu looks really good so we’ll be back to try some of the Market’s other offerings.

FLOWERS
This last week saw our yard come into bloom. The star magnolia (planted 5 years ago and already nearly 20 feet), which failed to bloom last year put up a valiant effort this year and produced a multitude of 8 inch flowers. Sadly, the 70 degree then freezing the next weather we’ve had over the last couple of weeks prevented the blooms from fully opening and the five days of rain we had going into the weekend destroyed the flowers completely. On the bright side the rain made the soil soft enough that we did some major planting yesterday, including an Elizabeth Magnolia, a rare specimen that produces yellow flowers, and a fig tree in hopes of making some sort of fig sauce suitable for foie gras in the coming years.

The tulip beds in the front also did better this year, in spite of the early spring in January and the pack of feral cats that have spent the last couple off months peeing on the poor struggling plants.

POTTY TRAINING

Potty training has been going well, for the most part. It’s been a couple of weeks now that Finn has been sleeping through the night in big boy underwear and we have yet to have had an accident. One small fly in the ointment. Pooping. Can’t get him to do it on the potty for the life of us. We’ve noticed he has a pattern. He’ll go into his room and close the door or, if he’s with me at the store, he’ll lie on his stomach under a table reading a book. Now we just have to catch him before the critical moment and move him to the potty. Hopefully we’ll get through this soon as I am getting a bit tired of dealing with the crap…

With my sister in town the plan for Saturday had been for our mother, whose birthday it was, to come down from C’ville to join us for dinner. Sadly, she came down quite ill. A last minute invite went out and Mr & Mrs RVA Foodie joined us for our feast.

The festivities started around 6 as the Foodies, Cy-n-Ide, and my paint splattered sister arrived. As it had been a very rough week I was desperate for a martini so Cy attacked a lime and I retrieved my Tanq 10 from the deep freeze. Foodie eyed my Talisker single malt and a dram or two was extracted for him. Both Mrs Foodie and Ide are expecting so it was sparkling water and lemonade for the ladies.

We settled into our new kitchen and laid out a bit to nosh. Olives and pickled herring as well as a rather large shrimp cocktail with M’s increasingly famous sweet Thai chili cocktail sauce.

A little before 8 the activity in the kitchen increased markedly. For the entree a pork shoulder had been braising all afternoon and my faux mashed potatoes (suitable for people like me on South Beach and Mrs Foodie who is also avoiding carbs).

BRAISED PORK SHOULDER

7lb boneless shoulder of pork (provided by Belmont Butchery)
Several cloves garlic
4 lbs sweet onion
2 cups apple cider
1 can Boddington Ale

Preheat oven to 300. Salt and pepper pork. Sliced garlic into thin slices, cut pockets into pork and slid slices in. Olive oil in braising dish, heat, sear pork. Remove to a plate. Add sliced onions and caramelize. Return pork to dish add cider and beer. Cover tightly and place in oven for 4 hours or until fork tender.

Problems – An hour or so into cooking the pork unexpectedly expanded blowing the lid off. Not good for braising. Transfered to a roasting pan and covered tightly with foil. Added 1/2 hour cooking time due to transfer. Onions didn’t add a whole lot and the jus would have been better without. Next time will caramelize onions as a side (better colour and flavour) and add more cider to the braise.

Faux Mashed Potatoes (Mashed Cauliflower)

2 heads cualiflower
Garlic
Stock (Veggie or Chicken)
Onion
Pine Nuts
Parmesan Cheese
Cream
Butter

Cut cauliflower into florets and place in stockpot with 2 table spoons minced garlic. Cover with stock (I typically use chicken but as one of the guests was a vegetarian I subbed veggie stock) and boil over medium high heat until tender. Mash. Add a large pat of butter and a half cup cream. Salt and pepper to taste (white pepper works best if you have it). Reduce heat to low and allow moisture to reduce, 2-3 hours.

Yeah, I know, sounds like a long time. The key here is not just taste but mouth feel. The mashed cauliflower ends up very moist and while the taste is good it just isn’t enjoyable to eat, kinda mushy. The slow cook to reduce the moisture makes it much more enjoyable. I tried high heat once and the result was pretty bad.

Just before serving you can add a number of things. Parmesan cheese, fresh grated, helps with the textures issues. Chopped caramelized onions go great as well as toasted pine nuts. Other items can be chopped chives and sour cream. Remember, this is low carb not low fat.

As Mr RVA Foodie is a vegetarian, of the meat is murder but fish is justifiable homicide sort, we had a nice piece of Rockfish for him.

On The Fly Rockfish Almandine -

Fillet Rockfish
Sliced Almonds
Butter
Olive Oil
White Wine
Lemon

Toast almonds lightly in a pan with butter and a little olive oil. Add white wine and cook off alcohol. Squeeze in one lemon. Reserve sauce.

Salt fish. Sear top in pan with butter and olive oil, flip to sear skin side. Pour sauce over seared fish trying to keep almonds on top. Place in 400 degree oven to roast off (8-10 minutes).

I cooked it to the rare side and warned Mr Foodie, easier to cook longer than deal with dry overdone fish. It was either good or he is very polite as no fish remained at the end.

M had made a chocolate cake for the occasion. Very tasty.

After dinner we settled into some heavy beverage consumption. Cy and I introduced Mr Foodie to the joys of Aalborg Akvavit. Silliness ensued and in the grand tradition of gatherings at our house the upstairs toilet broke. Unlike some other incidents, like the collapse of a bathroom ceiling a few years ago, no person was involved in this, it just spontaneously happened. Ah well, we wanted a new toilet for that bathroom anyway and it’s a good excuse to get Cy over for beverages later this week.

Things threatened to get really silly when I came across a bottle of Patron in the freezer and people started looking for salt and such. Fortunately we got sidetracked and the tequila was forgotten.

Initial thoughts were that a good time was had by all until we realized we were missing a cat. She turned up the next morning, happy that relative quiet had returned to our house.

In a few hours our house will be filled with an array of people. TV’s have been rearranged. Shopping has been done. Food prep has commenced. Speculation has started on who will hook up… No really. One marriage and a current engagement have come from our Super Bowl parties.

The food for our Super Bowl parties is usually very basic. Not nearly as ambitious as our dinner parties are. One of the big players this year will be pigs-in-blanket. Traditional recipe, M prepped them last night.

I’ll be making the traditional Super Bowl Spackle -

Massive amount of Velveeta
Cooked Hot Sausage (Crumbled)
Additional Spices Based on Mood or Availability
1000 mg Lipitor (kidding… but think of the market for a statin infused cheese..)

Place all that (except the Lipitor) in a crock pot 45 minutes prior to the start of the game. Add a cup or so of milk to adjust thickness. Have lots of bowls on hand and serve with white tortilla chips. Left overs are suitable for fixing cracks in old Richmond plaster…

Now I’ve got to go research if there is any benefit to doubling up on my statin dose for a day. Have a safe day!