Kali and I grabbed some chili half-smokes and chili cheese fries from Ben's Chili Bowl when she visited me in D.C. Being from Maryland, Ben's has been a lunch staple for me whenever I go downtown. Nostalgia mixed with the distinct aroma of Ben's smoky chili is a great thing. This place is a landmark in D.C., boasting regulars like Bill Cosby and Duke Ellington (while he was alive). Obama just went there a few weeks ago. I thought this pic deserved a place in my blog as its the perfect description of honest food that hits the spot every time. Sometimes I dream about Ben's. One of my favorite restaurants period.
Now on to food that I've made recently:
A simple dinner of mapo tofu, Sichuan-style potato, and chilled tofu. The potato was coursely julienned and then stir-fried with minced garlic, ginger, green chili, soy sauce, tomato paste, salt & pepper, and red wine vinegar. Red chili is more traditionally used, as well as Sichuan peppercorns. I don't really know what's used for the element of sourness, but red-wine vinegar worked pretty well here. Tasted pretty close to one of my favorite dishes at Lao Hangzhou Fengwei - a great place on Gaoyin St. in Hangzhou, China.
Fajitas are one of my favorite quick dinners. Here I used chicken breast, red yellow and orange bell peppers, and yellow onion. This preparation tastes even better if you add green bell peppers and poblano peppers. Poblanos are key in my opinion for fajitas. I always switch up marinades because I don't like cooking the same thing twice, but an easy mix that tastes deceivingly complex is just olive oil, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, coriander, garlic, onion powder, sugar salt and pepper. This works for both the meat (dark thigh meat is a more tender option) and veggies. I like to add a ton of lime juice and cilantro to my meat marinade though. And obviously whip up some pico de gallo and guac and keep them in the fridge until before you serve to get that temperature contrast.
Pasta bolognese. Here I used ground pork, ground beef, deli ham, and bacon for the meat sauce - but I'm sure it tastes better with the traditional ground veal and pancetta. The heaviness of the sauce (which is based in white wine and heavy cream) is a bit much for me - so I added a gremolatta (chopped parsley, garlic, and lemon rind) to cut a bit thru the atherosclerosis-inducing sauce. Gremolatta is only usually used on top of ossobuco but I think it played a nice role in this dish too.
Orange roughy was on sale at Dominick's! I was craving northern Indian flavors that night, so I seasoned both sides with s&p, chili powder, cumin, and coriander and pan-fried the fish. The brocoli and cauliflower were cooked similarly. The sauce was a "curry" of tomato, red bell pepper, onion, and bacon cooked with tomato paste, red wine, garam masala, and chili powder. The best thing I've cooked this past month. Orange roughy is a great fish that's fatty and hard to overcook but delicate in flavor.
Tilapia baked with chili-infused olive oil. Served with roasted red potatoes and a red bell pepper yogurt sauce. Obviously I didn't overthink presentation on this one.
New York strip steak served with oven-baked potato crisps, a bed of sauteed arugula and red onion, and two sauces: a traditional Argentine chimichurri, and an arugula pesto infused with orange juice. I love Peruvian steak and chimichurri, so I tried to do a bit of South American fusion here. Second best thing I've made recently, cause I oversalted the steak. This was the first time I've made steak indoors. There seems to be a mysticism about how to cook steak, and being a novice cook I was intimidated at first. However, given that you have a stove-top grill - I actually think this is quite easy. Just get as good a quality steak as you can afford (the more well marbled the better), season generously with salt and pepper rub, and remember to let the steak rest for 10 minutes after cooking. With a quarter to full-inch steak like the one I used, I found that five minutes on each side gave me a great medium sear. Resist the urge to touch the steak at all while it's cooking! Just one touch to flip it...that's all it takes. By the way, arugula and red onion sauteed together with s&p and olive oil goes a long way. What a money salad.
White chicken chili with navy, kidney, black beans, and jalapenos. I added the kidney and black beans to make the dish a bit healthier, and ended up liking this combination even better than the traditional practice of just using white bean. A good rous is key to this dish, and chilled guac on top contrasts well with the spicy richness of the chili.
Garlic and thyme butter salmon, with potato crisps served over creamed spinach and leek. After making the garlic and thyme butter roasted chicken you'll see below, I thought the flavors would work well with salmon too. They did, although since salmon bakes for a much shorter time than chicken I would recommend sauteeing the garlic first as it came out of the over a bit raw. The garlic thyme butter is courtesy of a recipe in Food & Wine by Grant Achatz. I haven't been to Alinea, but if this butter is any indication of Achatz's culinary genius I'm sold.
Pasta a la caprese. Kind of like a caprese salad (tomato, basil, mozarella, and olive oil) - a classically delicious flavor combo. Next time when they're cheaper I'm going to make cherry tomato confit and use that in here. Tomato confit is another great Achatz recipe you can find on Food & Wine.
The aforementioned garlic and thyme butter chicken. I made this for my parents as Christmas dinner - best roasted chicken I've ever eaten.
I'm sure you can tell by now I'm a bit obsessed with avocado. Here I was going to eat a pre-made samosa but was feeling playful, so I put it on top of some avocado mashed with onion and lemon juice (no seasoning), and plain yogurt seasoned with a bit of sugar. I keep reiterating this, but cold avocado with spicy food is to-die-for. If you consider this Latin-Indian fusion, maybe Vermillion could adopt this easy recipe?
That's it for now. I promise to stop binge blogging as soon as my computer stops making me reformat and losing all my pics.
