Duck Crepinette

These little duck sausage morsels were at the Belmont Butchery this evening and I thought "What the hell?" Duck sausage the length of a finger and the width of two fingers wrapped in caul with a dousing of Grand Marnier. I just had to try them. When frying the caul melts. When eating think of smoke and spice with just a brief hint of game. A very rich treat. And while I would not make a meal of these, I would serve them as an appetizer, possibly sliced and sprinkled with Romano cheese.

Turkey Day Menu and Notes

For quite a few years I’ve been visiting relatives in Tennessee for Thanksgiving and I cook the main meal. And while it’s a bit of a challenge to make a meal in someone else’s kitchen, I still enjoy this ritual every year. We arrive on Wednesday and immediately proceed to the grocery store (The Fresh Market, no less) to purchase everything required for the feast. There is no make-ahead strategy. Everything is prepared on the day itself. Here is the menu and comments:

One Fresh Bell & Evans Turkey
The Fresh Market began carrying Bell & Evans last year and I was impressed. The bird just seemed to taste better. I also appreciated the dark meat which was actually dark and packed with scrumptious flavor. Preparation is fairly simple: salt and pepper between the breast and skin and the leg and skin. Add pats of real butter (I go all out and use Plugra) between breast and skin and leg and skin. Insert herbs between breast and skin and leg and skin. This year I placed thyme on the breast and rosemary on the legs. I roast the bird in an electric roaster. The roaster keeps the turkey moist and frees up the oven for dressing.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Yukon golds, Plugra butter, a few garlic cloves, a tiny amount of cream, salt, and pepper. I make sure we have enough potatoes left over to make potato cakes for breakfast the next morning.

Sautéed Green Beans and Shallots
Sauté the shallots in butter until just caramelized, add fresh beans that have been soaked and then boiled in salted water. I cooked the beans until they were soft because I had diners who preferred them that way.

Gravy
I make a roux of butter and flour and then pour in juices from the cooked turkey. This year I had enough turkey drippings to forego the addition of canned chicken broth.

Cranberry Sauce
A bunch of fresh cranberries, the juice of a lemon and orange, a couple of cinnamon sticks. Add water and a ton of sugar. Boil to jam-like consistency. I did not add enough sugar for eating at the Thanksgiving table, but I reheated and added more of the sweet stuff. This made a great alternative spread for the inevitable turkey sandwiches. I also liked it on toast. I wished we had had some biscuits.

Dressing
While most of the menu is fairly standard, I always try to make a different type of dressing every year. This year I wanted to make something with fennel. Alas, the store was out of fennel, so, I used my imagination and made it up as I went along. It turned out to be quite popular. And, of course, I’ll never be able to quite repeat it, but here is the list of ingredients: a loaf of sesame bread and a loaf of challah torn into bite-sized chunks and toasted; toasted pine nuts; crushed fennel seeds; sautéed onions and leeks; a couple of Irish banger sausage links fried and sliced thin; minced garlic; turkey broth from boiling the turkey neck supplemented with some chicken broth. Combine everything and bake for an hour. It was yummy!

We washed it down with a sparkling rose.

Pick Pescados for Imaginative Seafood

Not Fine Dining…Fun Dining! This is the proclamation of Pescados, a Latin/Carribean neighborhood bar & grill focused mainly on fish & seafood located on Midlothian Turnpike (in the same shopping center as Food Lion and Kabuto’s). We went on a Friday on the recommendation of several employees of The Wine Cellar. And they did not steer us wrong. We did have to wait for a table, but it was well worth it. We started with Sangria del Sol – orange juice, triple sec, grenadine, and sparkling wine, with some fruit thrown in. Decent, but more like a souped up Mimosa than Sangria. I’d probably get a bottle of wine or try the margaritas next time. For dinner I ordered the Enchilada Acapulco – Jumbo shrimp and Cabo crab, grilled with caramelized onions, tucked into a flour tortilla, with lobster lime cream sauce, diced tomato\, and saffron potato cakes. Basically, 4 large, grilled shrimp surrounded by a mound of sweet crab meat stuffed in a burrito. The sauce was very light and only enhanced the seafood. I also loved the 3 petite saffron potato cakes, but was so full from the burrito that I could only finish one. Hubby got the Tostado Azteca – Sea scallops, jumbo shrimp, and tilapia layered by blue corn tostada, with herb cream, tomato salsa, and microgreens over achiote brown rice. For him, the scallops made the dish spectacular.

Very tasty, laid back, with an extremely nice and attentive wait staff. If you like fish and seafood, you must experience it!

Lunch at Chez Foushee

My hubby and I finally had a Friday off where we actually stayed in Richmond. For years I had heard about lunch at Chez Foushee located at the corner of Foushee & Grace, but since it was only open for lunch Monday-Friday, we had never been able to actually experience it. This past Friday, we did. Since I did not know how crowded it would be, I even made reservations. When we arrived we were greeted by a cheery hostess/waitress, but no one asked if we had reserved a table; and since there were plenty of tables, I don’t think reservations are really necessary. Service was not as good as expected. In fact, we had tables around us that got to order before we did. Could it be the fact we were in jeans and not business attire?? Even though we did order a glass of dry rose for lunch?? My other half ordered the Creamy Potato Soup Topped with Cheddar Cheese, Scallions, and Bacon Crumbles to start. He was a tad disappointed. It was thinner than expected and basically bland despite the tasty sounding additions. And although the soup was very hot, the cheese did not readily melt, making us think it was an imitation variety. In the end he thought the soup had just been thrown together and did not have time for the flavors to meld.

Next course – I ordered Steamed Pork and Shrimp Pot Stickers over Mixed Greens topped with Asian Dressing, Sweet Potato Fires, Red Peppers, and Crispy Noodles. The Pot Sticker dough was thin (just how I like it) and the filling was very flavorful leaning more toward pork than shrimp. The Asian dressing seemed to be more for the pot stickers because it was not drizzled over the mixed greens. But the shoestring cut fried sweet potatoes made up for the lack of dressing on the actual salad. A decent light lunch, but I knew around 3 PM I would need a snack. My husband had the Tuna Salad Served with Fresh Fruit and Crackers. Typical tea room fare, and while good, nothing spectacular.

Chez Foushee was a decent place for lunch, but not worth making special plans.

Garlic Sausage

I just made the most incredible pasta sauce using bulk garlic sausage from The Belmont Butchery. Fantastic!

Belmont Butchery & Osso Buco

Tanya Cauthen recently opened Belmont Butchery at 15 N. Belmont. And so far, so yummy. Her shop is open during the week until 7 PM. The pork chops are dense and meaty. The chicken free range and tasty. Last night I purchased veal shanks for my own version of Osso Buco. The recipe follows:

2 veal shanks, ~ ½ pound each
Salt
Pepper
¼ cup flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried sage
½ cup dry white wine
Tomato puree (I used about ½ of a 28 ounce can)
Freshly grated Romano cheese

Salt and pepper the shanks. Put flour in a zip close bag. Place shanks in the bag. Seal bag and shake to coat the veal. Pour olive oil in a small deep-sided frying pan and heat on medium high until oil is almost smoking. Put shanks in the pan and sear for about 3 minutes on each side. Take shanks out of the pan and set aside. Put onions in the pan, sprinkle with salt, and sauté for about 3-5 minutes on medium. When the onions are beginning to become translucent, add the garlic and sage. Sauté for another minute and pour in white wine (I used a Pinot Grigio from Cycles Gladiator). Turn heat up to medium high and let the white wine reduce by at least half. Once reduced, add about ½ a cup of tomato puree and stir. Nestle the shanks in the sauce and spoon about another ½ cup of puree into the pan, letting the sauce come up about to the top of the shanks. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Let simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, turning the shanks occasionally. Serve over angel hair pasta and sprinkle with freshly grated Romano cheese.

DC Trip - Corteo & Dino

My husband and I traveled to DC this past weekend. Highlights included:

Best Show: Corteo – Cirque du Soleil’s traveling show now performing under the Chapiteau in the heart of our Nation’s Capital. A wild romp complete with lingerie bedecked acrobats swinging from the chandeliers. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/

The Place for a Cheap Martini: Medaterra – This bistro, located at 2614 Connecticut Ave. NW (near the Woodley Park Metro stop) boasts Happy Hour every day from 4-7 PM. This translates to $5 Martinis…and we are talking good-sized ones. We tried the French Kiss, a concoction of Ciroc Vodka (the one made from grapes), Chambord, and Cointreau. Nice, but we decided they were a little too sweet to have before dinner.

Our Latest Italian Find: Dino http://www.dino-dc.com/ – The address is 3435 Connecticut Ave. NW (near the Cleveland Park Metro stop). Dino’s décor consists of faux stone and rustic touches adding to the warm and cozy atmosphere. Make sure to check out the one-of-a-kind light over the semi-circular bar. But the food and wine definitely steal the show. The wine list is many pages and changes on a regular basis. My head began spinning at the sight of so many Brunellos – in many cases there were multiple years from the same producer. And although all of the Italian wines looked tempting, many were $80-90 a bottle. A little over our price range for the evening. But Dino himself (actually, Dean Gold) appeared and made some recommendations. We went with a 2002 Judd’s Hill Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for $55 and it was sheer heaven. We had never seen it in the Richmond area. And after our return from DC I discovered that the winery charges $42 for a bottle http://juddshill.com/ . I was pleased to discover that Dino does not overcharge for his wines. Cheers! And now for the food…wait one second. Before we had dinner, we stopped at the bar. Dino has a nice wine by the glasses list. Two different size pours are available: 3 ounces and 8 ounces. What a fantastic concept. I tried the 8 ounce variety of the 2005 Ironhorse Vinyard Rosato di Sangiovese. Once again, I had never had a rose made from the Sangiovese grape. A very nice prelude to our delicious dinner. In keeping with the concept of different size glasses of wines by the glass, Dino’s menu offers nibbles, small plates, and large plates. And a few of the large plates were available in half portions. I appreciated the flexibility since I wanted to order practically the entire menu. After many minutes of strategic planning we made our decisions – to start we had the Burrata (Bufala Cheese- fresh mozzarella wrapped around fresh ricotta, air freighted from Campania every Sunday & Thursday with olive tapenade, olio DiConciliius, tomatoes, basil) and Gamberoni alla Scampi (Grilled Shrimp- garlic, oregano & olive oil, seaweed salad, roasted garlic). The cheese was creamy and delightful with just the olive oil. We both thought that the olive tapenade was too overpowering. The shrimp were HUGE and very garlicy and since this was a small plate (only 2 shrimp), it was a perfect appetizer. Now, on to the main course. I ordered a half order of Pappardelle ai Cinghiale (Wild Boar Pasta – artisan ribbon pasta from Marche, traditional spicy Tuscan sauce of boar , onions, herbs, pecorino Toscano). I loved the spicy sauce and the pasta could have been served plain – it was that good (but I’m glad it was accompanied by the wild boar!). A half order was definitely sufficient. My husband had the Lasagnette al Ragu (Lasagne – our non traditional take: ragu of pork & veal, fonduta cheese & crispy smoked bacon). Probably one of the richest lasagnas either one of us has ever had. And, yes, we also had dessert – a rustic apple and dried blueberry tart with vanilla gelato. The tart was good, but our waiter had informed us it was an apple and pear tart instead, thus, an ever so slight disappoint at the end of the evening. Just perusing the menu again makes me want to go back. This could easily become our favorite place to eat in DC.

A Place to Avoid: Firefly – located at 1310 New Hampshire Ave. NW. Very loud and supposedly catering to a “hip” crowd. This place also had small, medium, and large plates; unfortunately, the prices seemed to be exorbitant for generally mediocre cuisine. My tiny arugula salad with grated parmesan and 2 strips of average bacon set us back $10. The small plate of duck confit that I had next was only $9 and while the confit was not still attached to the duck leg it did satisfy better than the salad. My husband’s free range roast chicken turned out to be a tale of two temperatures – the leg was not done and the breast was over done and extremely dry. The only bright spot was the wine – a 2002 Auxey Duresses Burgundy from producer Christophe Buisson for $49. There are numerous restaurants in DC. Don’t bother with this one.

Spanish Cava - Avinyo Brut Rosado

Avinyo Brut Reserva Rosado – A Cava (sparkling wine) from the Penedes region in Spain. This little pink gem contains overtones of pomegranate with tropical hints (think mango). The dry bubbly nectar also has a surprising amount of body. Purchased at J. Emerson on Grove Ave. for $19.95. We served it with Tarragon Chicken. A sparkling worthy of presenting at the Thanksgiving table.

Giesen Sauvignon Blanc

White wine is not my usual thing, but I do tend to sigh over a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. And with the 2005 Giesen Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, I’m downright rapturous. For me, it’s the grapefruit. The website - http://www.giesen.co.nz/ - describes the taste as citrus. Citrus can conjure up a variety of remembered tastes from pucker-up lemon to honeyed tangerines. With this wine we are talking in your face grapefruit. I think it pairs well with salads and can stand up to most salad dressings. The other night I served it with a Curried Carrot and Apple Soup. Delightful!

Monet and Margaux's in Raleigh

My Mom and I took a little trip to Raleigh to see Monet in Normandy – a special exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Highlights for us included a series of 3 paintings along the cliffs at Varengeville and the 3 painting Manneporte series. You can check it out at http://www.ncartmuseum.org/monet/. Now as much as we enjoyed the artwork, we weren’t even able to enjoy the Blue Ridge Restaurant at the museum. Of course, the exhibit was crowded, but the hostess stand was utter chaos and even though we listed our name and waited, etc., the seating order was truly beyond our comprehension. Thus, we left and happened upon Margaux’s Restaurant located on Creedmooor Rd. http://www.margauxsrestaurant.com/. And, alas, we lucked out. The place is only open for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays and only serves from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM. We arrived at 1:35 PM. The interior boosts a large stone fireplace and lots of contemporary and whimsical art. There is also a huge aquarium presided over by a meditating Buddha. The lunch menu featured a “Soup of the Moment” – Hot N Sour Szechuan Crab ($7.95) at this particular moment as well as several salads and entrees. My Mom and I both started with a Traditional Caesar Salad with Herbed Croutons and Fresh Parmesan ($5.95). Traditional, indeed, but with a generous amount of grated Parmesan. We stepped outside of traditional for our next course and both ordered Vietnamese Fresh Shrimp Spring Roll with Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Pickled Carrots, Peanut Pesto, & Red Chili Jam ($11.95). What a delight for the mouth. Fresh-tasting; a little hot; sweet, large chunks of crab; vinegary slivers of carrots and cucumbers. If ever presented with the opportunity, I would jump at the chance to eat dinner at this eclectic eatery.

3 Days - 3 Restaurants

What a whirlwind of restaurants and food lately. Of course, my husband going out of town really sparked this eating out spike. And it turned out to be a fairly diverse group of eateries as well.

1. Zed Café (www.zedcafeonline.com) – A recent addition to the Lakeside Ave. restaurant scene. It’s now open for dinner Thursday – Saturday and features organic meats and produce along with vegetarian dishes. Highlights included a non-alcoholic libation entitled Love Portion #9 – pomegranate juice and organic lemonade – served in very tall, vase-like glasses; Red Pepper Tart with Roasted Olives – roasted peppers and feta between very thin slices of eggplant; Tea Infused Boiled Eggs that came with the salad; and a Mocha that was about as different as one can get from the Starbucks variety (and since I ordered it without looking at the drink menu, and since mocha was not listed on the drink menu, I think the waiter just made it up!) – My “Mocha” had very little coffee, if any, in it and no steamed milk. It did contain unsweetened melted chocolate which served a similar digestive purpose that an espresso after dinner would. Espresso has always been too bitter for me, but this “Mocha” struck a better balance between flavor and bitter. Since what I had was nowhere to be seen on the menu, it will be interesting if Zed continues to serve it. I would order it again. By the way, this past weekend Zed acquired a license to sell wine.
2. Positive Vibe Café (www.positivevibecafe.com) – My friend 007 wanted to take me out for my birthday and we decided to be Positive. Positive Vibe (located in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center off of Forest Hill Ave.) serves as a training facility for persons with disabilities to learn food service skills and to help folks go on to secure employment in the community. The wait staff is made up of volunteers from the community. Positive Vibe also focuses on organic products. Highlights were Avocado Corn Salsa – the salsa had nice avocado chunks and white corn (not too spicy), accompanied by blue corn chips; Buffalo Bistro Steak – I had a choice of the 5 or 10 ounce size, I opted for the smaller version, very tasty and lean, and grilled medium rare; Chocolate Chip Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream – an intense chocolate brownie made at the restaurant topped with Bev’s ice cream. How could one go wrong? Positive Vibe has live music on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. So, what are you waiting for? Get Positive!
3. Brio Tuscan Grille (www.brioitalian.com) – Yes, I do occasionally eat at a chain restaurant, especially those who send $10 off coupons around my birthday! My hubby was finally back in town. Yesterday was beautiful and we decided to go to the Art Affair event at Stony Point and eat lunch at Brio’s. Highlights included the Ultimate Cosmopolitan – Grey Goose vodka, Grand Marnier, a splash or cranberry juice for color and a slice of lime; Chicken Milanese Pomodoro – Romano and breadcrumb encrusted chicken breast topped with melted fresh mozzarella nestled in herbed spaghetti and surrounded by Pomodoro sauce. The herbed spaghetti makes this dish and since the tomato sauce surrounds the pasta and does not cover it, I can enjoy the pasta two different ways. The chicken is tasty, too. I almost always get this dish when I go to Brio’s. It has a lot of flavor and it’s so big that I always have leftovers to enjoy for another day. Now, if only they would do a better job at pricing their wine list and if the male waiters would drop the faux Italian image…

Sunday Evening at La Grotta

My husband had a dilemma. My birthday happened to fall on a Sunday this year. He wanted to take me out for a nice supper. As he called around to some of our favorite places, he discovered that almost all of them were closed on Sunday. A chain restaurant was simply out of the question. But he can be a persevering soul and when the day finally arrived, we drove down to Shockoe Slip and landed at La Grotta. The décor has this underground wine cellar atmosphere crossed with medieval looking furniture and ironwork. Although the restaurant does not immediately come to mind when thinking about places to eat, the setting is unique enough to intrigue out-of-town visitors.

Because it was my birthday, I celebrated with a Cosmopolitan for starters. Bread, grissini, and ciabatta arrived in short order accompanied by a garlic, eggplant, and olive oil tapenade (heavy on the garlic). The wine list was fairly extensive. But only one wine caught our eye at a somewhat decent price: 2003 Vietti Langhe Nebbiolo ($45). Bold, full-bodied, and smooth. We were happy.

The menu tempted us with several salad choices. I ordered the Insalata de Campagna – Julienne of radicchio and fennel, tossed in a white balsamic dressing and topped with prosciutto and shaved parmesan. I liked the play of the bitter radicchio against the subtle balsamic dressing. The cheese came in large shaved sheets and was strong enough to stand up to the bitter red cabbage. The prosciutto seemed to have been soaking in some kind of liquid to keep it moist, which made it a bit suspect. And believe it or not, the salad paired decently with the wine. My husband stuck to tradition and selected the Insalata Tricolore – Homemade mozzarella, tomato, and organic baby greens tossed in a white balsamic dressing. His was tasty with no surprises.

Selecting the entrée turned out to be more difficult than the salad selection. The filet, New Your strip, and the quail all caught my eye. In the end I ordered the special – Veal Chop with cheese melted on top and finished with black truffle oil. The veal was medium and extremely tender. The cheese (something akin to Fontina) was a little too rich for my tastes. The balck truffle oil seemed to be non-existent. So, while I enjoyed the chop, itself, the enhancements left my taste buds a little flat. My husband ordered the Filetto al Pepe Verde – Filet mignon finished in a green peppercorn and cognac sauce. He liked how the green peppercorn sauce permeated the entire filet, adding a delightful piquancy to his meal. Both meals were served with mashed potatoes with possibly mashed parsnips added and sautéed Swiss chard. The potatoes were decent and gave us a taste of Fall. The Swiss chard (served instead of spinach) was another story. I had never had Swiss chard. I’ll probably never have it again. It was all I could do to chew and swallow. This is the type of green vegetable that is way too green for me. At least I attempted it.

For dessert we shared a Tartufo – a core of vanilla ice cream surrounded by chocolate ice cream, dusted with cocoa, and nestled in a hazelnut cream sauce. Dessert was heavenly. The dusting of cocoa added just the right amount of pizzazz.

Pat took excellent care of us the entire time. He did not rush the meal and he kept the wine flowing the entire time, well, at least until the bottle ran dry.

So, if you need a Sunday supper solution, head on down to La Grotta. In fact, I think the last time my husband’s birthday was on a Sunday, we ate at La Grotta, too.

Go Eat! Richmond Restaurant Week Oct. 23-29

Richmond Restaurant Week will take place October 23 - 29 this year. For $22.06 you will get a three course meal from a great restaurant and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Central Virginia Food Bank. What a way to support a great cause and enjoy great food. Restaurant participants this year include:

Acacia
Amici
Bacchus
Cabo's
Cafe Lafayette
Old City Bar
Comfort
Graffiti Grille
Hondo's
Jacquemo's
Julep's
La Grotta
Millie's
Rowland's
Sam Miller's
Six Burner
Twenty Seven
TJ's
Zeus Gallery Cafe

Roma's Pizza

I hope all of you made it to The National Folk Festival this past weekend. It was a blast, especially Willie King and the Liberators. After being at the festival all day, we were craving pizza for dinner. We generally do not do the chains, and we weren't in the mood for our usual fare from Zorba's (on MacArthur). So, we took a chance on Roma's located on Staples Mill. We called in a pick up order for a medium Roma Combo - pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions (NO SUBSTITUTIONS). Cost: $17.75. The medium was huge and I'm having leftovers tonight. We liked the thin crust and the sauce was fantastic. A decent amount of pepperoni and sausage kept us satisfied. And there was a mound of veggies which was good and not so good. I don't like mushrooms, but since NO SUSTITUTIONS were allowed, I thought I could easily pick them off. I was wrong, but I endeavored. The green peppers had been cooked to almost mush. not what I expect from peppers on a pizza. The onions were plentiful and fine. Next time, and despite the flaws in the combo, there will be a next time, we will opt for a small pepperoni, sausage, and onion pie.

Raising a Toast with Jerry Garcia

A hint of chocolate on the nose, a bright fruit tang on the tongue, and an ample amount of body as it slides down the throat. Let’s all raise a toast with the 2002 J. Garcia Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon. I was able to pick mine up at The Fresh Market for $13.99. Of course, the label caught my eye at first. Clos du Bois, which has partnered with the Garcia estate, produces the wine and uses a Jerry Garcia painting as the backdrop for the wine label. Check it out - http://jgarciawine.com/.