Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Cooking on Camera
From the days of Sesame Street, I remember my mom watching The Frugal Gourmet with Jeff Smith and the culinary stylings of Jaques Pepin. I remember being mesmerized by the knife skills and laughing at Smith's take on Cuban food (celery in frijoles negros, I don't think so!). TV cooking has come a long, long way, becoming much more slick and user friendly, but the fun of watching a great cook on TV is still the same. Food Network has a few new cooking shows that deserve some attention. The first is "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" with Ann Burrell. This show is by far my favorite of the new line up. Whether its her crazy blonde hair, breezy manner or contagious confidence, Burrell is fun to watch and her techniques are much more advanced than Rachel's or Paula's, but still accessible. "Ask Aida" is my second favorite. The interplay between Aida and her co-star is nice, though scripted, but most of the questions answered are elementary and geared toward beginning cooks. Third in this post and in my personal ranking is "Cooking for Real", Sunny Anderson is still fairly uncomfortable in front of the camera and I rarely want to make one of her recipes. Although I did use her recipe for poached chicken a few months ago. Sunny added coriander seeds and lemon peel to the usual suspect for a really fresh lemony flavor. I liked it. What are your Food Network faves?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Guest Chef: Cooking with Ami
Ami's Delicious Beef Vindaloo and Sides!!!!!So I promised a follow up with details about our night of Indian cooking, but let me first say how fun it can be to have a guest chef in your own kitchen. Everyone has their own idiosyncratic style of cooking, an amalgamation of tips learned from mom (or dad), favorite spices to use, and techniques discovered in books or on cooking shows. A guest chef gives you the chance to learn new techniques and enjoy a great meal at the same time. Hosting a guest chef in your kitchen also teaches you to let go. If you tend to be a kitchen-nazi, (Carrots, celery, and onions must be cubed to 1x1x1 cm squares!) being a facilitator and sous-chef rather than the chief orchestrator can be a trying, but liberating experience.
That said, cooking with Ami (and our friend Colleen) was a blast. The menu featured beef vindaloo, an eggplant and spinach side dish, spiced basmati rice and few sauces: yogurt and spicy cilantro. Ami directed the kitchen and her sous-chefs (Colleen, Vince and myself) with ease. Wielding a chef's knife and an immersion blender, Ami layered flavor upon flavor never passing up a chance to infuse her dishes with complex and multi-faceted tastes. For example, black pepper corns, coriander seeds, cloves, and various spice powders were roasted in oil before being blended into a sauce. 
The heat intensified the natural flavors and supplemented later additions of dried powders. We ate with our hands and the help of some soft pitas until we were stuffed. Here are some more pictures of our cooking adventure:
The heat intensified the natural flavors and supplemented later additions of dried powders. We ate with our hands and the help of some soft pitas until we were stuffed. Here are some more pictures of our cooking adventure: Ami and the Immersion Blender, Meat being browned and eggplant sauteed, 
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Yummy Beef Vindaloo!!
Nothing scares away a fear of spices more than watching an expert cook at work, especially when she is making Indian food. Tonight, my friend Ami, here on a visit from Italy by way of PA, cooked Beef Vindaloo and an amazing Eggplant and Spinach side dish. Colleen and Chris joined us and we unanimously determined that it was the best Indian food we had ever had. I'm too full right now for a full post, but stay tuned for a play-by-play of the prep. Bring on the tumeric and cloves! I'm ready for you.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Bastille Day
As this is my first guest appearance on Tasting Serendipity, I’ll begin with a (very) brief self-introduction. I’m 28, married, live in Arlington, VA, and I have a serious and ongoing love affair with food. (That’s the simple version anyway. For a more complex life story, you can check me out at http://www.bretandjaimy.blogspot.com/.) I have been fortunate to know Vince since we started law school together in 2004, and thus am equally lucky to call Carmen a friend. I am an avid home cook with a thing for kitchen gadgets, cookbooks and aprons, and the chance to check out a new restaurant makes me giddy.
Which brings me to this evening’s dinner.
Bret and I had dinner at Bastille, a 46-seat French bistro in Alexandria, VA. I should preface this whole review by saying that we were in Paris almost a year ago, and on that trip I developed a pretty heavy case of Francophilia. French food makes me particularly nostalgic for the week we spent touring Paris…or rather, Paris restaurants. So I have high hopes for restaurants that serve French fare and label themselves “bistro”.
Bastille is on a side street in Alexandria, just outside of Old Town and within view of the water. Much like some of the culinary highlights of Paris, it feels tucked away. The outside is quaint, with twinkling white lights and a door that faces a courtyard rather than the road. The inside is dark and cozy and dimly lit (in a romantic way). We were promptly shown to a table for two in front of the window, the host’s “favorite table.” In those first few moments, I was completely charmed…and then I heard the loud-talker at the table next to us. Don’t you just hate when you are out at a restaurant, maybe a long overdue date night with your significant other, and you can hardly carry on a conversation of your own because of a distractingly loud discussion a table over? But this is no fault of the restaurant, and outside the scope of a fair “review.”
Bastille has a prix fixe three-course Sunday “Family Dinner” menu. I ordered the Goat Cheese Cromesqui, the Parisian Bistro Steak (Medium Rare), and the Apple Tatin. Bret ordered the House-made Duck Charcuterie, the Parisian Bistro Steak (Rare), and the Pot de Crème.
Both First Courses were delicious. The duck confit served with the charcuterie was delectable. The bites combining tender duck meat, crispy skin and juicy fat were heavenly, and the only complaint was the small portion size. Bret enjoyed the cured duck meat, reminiscent of salami, but while the flavors melded well with the frisee and dressing, it was perhaps too gamey for some patrons. The pate was mild but had a very pleasant duck flavor and a light spread-like consistency. It worked well with the crisp toast and cranberry red wine reduction. I am normally a sucker for fried goat cheese, and I did enjoy this incarnation. If I have a complaint it was that the goat cheese was too heavily breaded, resulting in too hard of a shell that overpowered the mild taste of the cheese. That being said, the frisee, cranberry and walnut salad was very enjoyable, with the perfect amount of tangy-sweet Dijon cider vinaigrette.
While we normally try to order different entrees, the allure of steak frites was too great and we caved in to order two servings of the Parisian Bistro Steak. Now if the aim of Bastille was “Steak Frites,” they definitely missed the mark with the shallot red wine reduction. The reduction completely overwhelmed what was otherwise a perfectly tender cut of steak. Such a lovely cut of meat needs nothing more than simple salt-pepper-and-herb seasoning and butter to knock my socks off. That being said, the website specifically disclaims any categorization as “’old school’ classic French bistro,” and this diversion from a proven classic may be seen as an example of that disclaimer. All comparisons aside, however, Bret and I agreed that the shallot red wine sauce was overwhelming and our least favorite aspect of the meal itself. The fries were satisfactory. They were heavily salted – Bret goes as far to say “over-salted”—and were a bit too dark in color, whether they were fried for too long, in too hot of oil, or double-fried. 
Which brings me to this evening’s dinner.
Bret and I had dinner at Bastille, a 46-seat French bistro in Alexandria, VA. I should preface this whole review by saying that we were in Paris almost a year ago, and on that trip I developed a pretty heavy case of Francophilia. French food makes me particularly nostalgic for the week we spent touring Paris…or rather, Paris restaurants. So I have high hopes for restaurants that serve French fare and label themselves “bistro”.
Bastille is on a side street in Alexandria, just outside of Old Town and within view of the water. Much like some of the culinary highlights of Paris, it feels tucked away. The outside is quaint, with twinkling white lights and a door that faces a courtyard rather than the road. The inside is dark and cozy and dimly lit (in a romantic way). We were promptly shown to a table for two in front of the window, the host’s “favorite table.” In those first few moments, I was completely charmed…and then I heard the loud-talker at the table next to us. Don’t you just hate when you are out at a restaurant, maybe a long overdue date night with your significant other, and you can hardly carry on a conversation of your own because of a distractingly loud discussion a table over? But this is no fault of the restaurant, and outside the scope of a fair “review.”
Bastille has a prix fixe three-course Sunday “Family Dinner” menu. I ordered the Goat Cheese Cromesqui, the Parisian Bistro Steak (Medium Rare), and the Apple Tatin. Bret ordered the House-made Duck Charcuterie, the Parisian Bistro Steak (Rare), and the Pot de Crème.Both First Courses were delicious. The duck confit served with the charcuterie was delectable. The bites combining tender duck meat, crispy skin and juicy fat were heavenly, and the only complaint was the small portion size. Bret enjoyed the cured duck meat, reminiscent of salami, but while the flavors melded well with the frisee and dressing, it was perhaps too gamey for some patrons. The pate was mild but had a very pleasant duck flavor and a light spread-like consistency. It worked well with the crisp toast and cranberry red wine reduction. I am normally a sucker for fried goat cheese, and I did enjoy this incarnation. If I have a complaint it was that the goat cheese was too heavily breaded, resulting in too hard of a shell that overpowered the mild taste of the cheese. That being said, the frisee, cranberry and walnut salad was very enjoyable, with the perfect amount of tangy-sweet Dijon cider vinaigrette.
While we normally try to order different entrees, the allure of steak frites was too great and we caved in to order two servings of the Parisian Bistro Steak. Now if the aim of Bastille was “Steak Frites,” they definitely missed the mark with the shallot red wine reduction. The reduction completely overwhelmed what was otherwise a perfectly tender cut of steak. Such a lovely cut of meat needs nothing more than simple salt-pepper-and-herb seasoning and butter to knock my socks off. That being said, the website specifically disclaims any categorization as “’old school’ classic French bistro,” and this diversion from a proven classic may be seen as an example of that disclaimer. All comparisons aside, however, Bret and I agreed that the shallot red wine sauce was overwhelming and our least favorite aspect of the meal itself. The fries were satisfactory. They were heavily salted – Bret goes as far to say “over-salted”—and were a bit too dark in color, whether they were fried for too long, in too hot of oil, or double-fried.
On to dessert! The Chocolate Pot de Crème was over-the-top delicious. Not for the faint of heart, the mousse was sinfully rich and topped with Chantilly crème and crispy chocolate shavings for a surprising mix of texture. The Apple Tatin gets a mixed review. The apple was tender and perfectly sweet, and the crème fraiche sabayon and caramel drizzle was a lovely complement. I personally found the crust of the tatin to be rather drab—a bit of rain on an otherwise happy dessert parade.
For those who enjoy a good wine with dinner, as we do, they have a pretty decent wine list. Although there are not as many offered by-the-glass as I would like, they do offer both 3 oz. and 6 oz. glasses and the most expensive is about $10. There are also a significant number of bottles for under $40. The oddity of their wine routine is that unless you buy a bottle, you get your wine- red or white- in an unsatisfactorily small and narrow glass. We had to ask specifically for the large cavernous glasses that are normally standard for big French reds.
A note on service—we found our waitress to be kind of a downer on our dining experience. I’d give her a “C.” She didn’t mess up, per se, but she was curt and impersonal, particularly given the “Sunday Family Dinner” theme.
All-in-all, it was a lovely evening. The atmosphere is perfect for a date night, especially if Little Miss Loud-Talker is on a different dining-out schedule. The presentation of the food was appetizing and there were several items on the menu that we look forward to trying on our next visit.
For those who enjoy a good wine with dinner, as we do, they have a pretty decent wine list. Although there are not as many offered by-the-glass as I would like, they do offer both 3 oz. and 6 oz. glasses and the most expensive is about $10. There are also a significant number of bottles for under $40. The oddity of their wine routine is that unless you buy a bottle, you get your wine- red or white- in an unsatisfactorily small and narrow glass. We had to ask specifically for the large cavernous glasses that are normally standard for big French reds.
A note on service—we found our waitress to be kind of a downer on our dining experience. I’d give her a “C.” She didn’t mess up, per se, but she was curt and impersonal, particularly given the “Sunday Family Dinner” theme.
All-in-all, it was a lovely evening. The atmosphere is perfect for a date night, especially if Little Miss Loud-Talker is on a different dining-out schedule. The presentation of the food was appetizing and there were several items on the menu that we look forward to trying on our next visit.
Tarragon???
I realized the other day that there is a whole world of spices that I know very little about. Take tarragon for instance. I recently picked up a bag a dried tarragon, along with herb de provence and orange extract. They were a bargain and I figured I could experiment at home. I've conquered the herbs de provence and chosen to abstain from the orange extract at least for the time being, but the tarragon sits on the shelf, unused, nay unopened! I'm not quite sure what to do with it or what to put it on. Perhaps all that lies between me and a life with tarragon is a Google search for "tarragon recipes" or simply opening the bag and rubbing the herbs between my fingers for culinary inspiration. Maybe I love tarragon already and don't even know it. The fact remains that tarragon will most probably decorate my spice rack a bit longer before I take the plunge. There are a whole host of other herbs that fit this bill (cloves, tumeric, Chinese five-spice powder) that remain on the store shelves until I encounter at least two recipes that require them and thus justify their purchase.
In other herb news, I recently overcame my fear of thyme. I think it was the silent H or years of using only dried thyme in recipes that frightened me off. But the desire for Guiness beef stew, seasoned with fresh thyme and parseley, taught me to seize the day and learn a valuable lesson. The earthiness of thyme in dried form (some might go so far as to say it tastes like dirt) is much less pronounced in its fresh, much more delicate state. Fresh thyme is now finding its way into everything from stuffed shells to chicken soup and my stomach is better for it.
Apparently thyme is also good for fighting off colds.
In other herb news, I recently overcame my fear of thyme. I think it was the silent H or years of using only dried thyme in recipes that frightened me off. But the desire for Guiness beef stew, seasoned with fresh thyme and parseley, taught me to seize the day and learn a valuable lesson. The earthiness of thyme in dried form (some might go so far as to say it tastes like dirt) is much less pronounced in its fresh, much more delicate state. Fresh thyme is now finding its way into everything from stuffed shells to chicken soup and my stomach is better for it.
Apparently thyme is also good for fighting off colds.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Strength in Numbers
Yesterday, I found myself reconsidering this new New Year's resolution. Posting to my blog every week! Yikes! (I'm sure all you veteran bloggers out there are thinking that I'm a wuss, but never you mind.) So, I got to thinking that what I needed was a friend in the blogosphere to help ward off the dangers of a neglected blog and ally in the trenches of the kitchen. This person needed to be eloquent, witty, and unafraid to speak her mind about refined (or unrefined) restaurant fare. Luckily, I had lunch yesterday with a good friend of mine and fellow foodie, Jaimy. I proposed a blogging partnership and she accepted! So, be on the lookout for posts from Jaimy. And, three cheers for successful New Year's resolutions!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
New Year's Resolutions
Sorry for the long blogging absence, but marriage, moving, and the holidays conspired to keep me away from Tasting Serendipity. Now, I'm back and have made a new New Year's resolution: 2009 will be the year of the blog. I'm aiming for at least one post per week to start with more to follow if this goes well. As a newly wed working from home, my dining out has been limited and sporadic, so to achieve the resolution, I am expanding the scope of the blog. For starters. serendipity can certainly be found outside the walls of a restaurant. I'm having a lot of fun trying recipes at home and inventing new dishes. There is a whole new (much more economically feasible) world in these kinds of posts. I'm also going to try and take more pictures. More pictures equals a more fun looking blog. There may also be guest posters in the future who contribute experiences abroad and at home. I have many other blogging friends and should really be collaborating with them. Ok, that's all for now. Blogging this week has been accomplished! 'Til next week, happy eating!
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