While we were enjoying one of our favorite recipes last night (leeks and chard over rounds of polenta topped with Gruyere), something occurred to us. With over 300,000 million people in the United States, how many of them were having exactly the same meal we were eating? Granted, our eating habits aren’t particularly traditional or mainstream (we have never fixed turkey on Thanksgiving for instance), but while we are not vegetarians and would never be able to become vegans which would mean giving up our love affair with cheese (oh, and bacon), we don’t eat meat often. We seem to fit into a category currently known as “flexitarians”, or people who still eat meat, fish and shellfish, but more frequently prepare vegetarian menus. Those of you who have followed the blog since we started it several years ago may have noticed fewer and fewer meat options appearing in our recipes. This has occurred gradually and was not done to make a statement or conform to any dietary requirements. Rather, we noticed that we really didn’t enjoy the texture of beef and the amount of time it took to make it interesting, so that fell off the list. While it has since been joined by other red meats, fish and chicken still make appearances on our table.
Since we love all types of grains, beans and lentils, it has been fun to experiment with completely different menu options featuring those ingredients along with the wide range of the fresh vegetables we love. Having access to farmer’s markets year round in DC and living within walking distance of Whole Foods makes this possible; it would have been difficult if not impossible while living in the wilds of western North Carolina. We also have the ability to enjoy numerous restaurants in our new home city, many of which offer amazing vegetarian menu items.
Finding innovative ways to use quinoa, wheatberries, bulgar, farro and other grains we only became acquainted with in recent years is a cooking challenge that we enjoy. Putting vegetables in a starring role is something we have done for a long time, but creating recipes that combine those veggies with grains has provided us with some wonderful meals. This photo of a red quinoa, roasted butternut squash and kale salad we mentioned in an earlier post (recipe will follow soon) is a perfect example of putting veggies together with complementary grains. As we continue to experiment, you will find the recipes we are creating in our kitchen making an appearance in these pages. And we will continue to assume that on some nights, no one else is eating quite what we may be having. If you would like to share the meals you think are unique, please register for the blog and tell us about them. Perhaps this simple recipe for steamed clams (sorry, we couldn’t wait to eat) will be perfect for a winter night at your house.
P.S. The photo in the upper right corner is one portion of Julia Child’s kitchen that was until recently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. An expanded exhibit of Ms. Child’s kitchen will re-open at a later date.
We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and/or a Happy Holiday. We started the day with a trip via Metro (and on foot) to the Maine Avenue Fish Market for some shrimp to enjoy as part of our Christmas eve meal. Our neighbors Jenny and Paul joined us for heavy hors d’oeuvres prior to the midnight service at National Cathedral. Last year we were amused by the concept of “tickets for church” since passes are required for the two services on Christmas eve. However, tickets can be ordered on-line – which we did once again. The good news this year was the weather. Last year we almost froze while trying to locate a cab after the service, but this year it was lovely out.
But, back to the food… The one new recipe we tried as part of this meal was for butternut squash soup. We have a recipe that we love, but needed something liquid enough to be served in small cups. Sadly, no photo of that dish, but we will take one the next time we make this new favorite. The soup is a beautiful combination of butternut squash, vegetable broth, red curry paste, coconut milk and lime juice. We always enjoy a dish that tastes perfect, but isn’t easily deconstructed and this one fit the bill perfectly. We also prepared a couple of Joanne Weir recipes that we have made many times in the past. The marinated olives can be done ahead, and the spicy yogurt and feta spread also keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of days. “Spicy” is defined by the amount of cayenne pepper added to the dish, and in this case one half teaspoon was just right. The shrimp from Maine Avenue were simply cleaned, steamed and served with Allen’s killer cocktail sauce (no recipe for that one; he has a core group of ingredients that include ketchup, Dijon mustard, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and cayenne pepper and then tweaks until it tastes just right). We rounded things out with steamed asparagus topped with some slivers of speck and a sauce made with creme fraiche, country-style mustard and lemon zest (thank you Nicole) and a black bean tart with chili crust. All of that plus some champagne provided by both households put us in the mood to use those tickets for church.
The service was lovely, and the first under the direction of the recently installed bishop, Reverend Mariann Budde. A large crowd was on hand to enjoy the beautifully decorated church and some lovely Christmas music. The perfect start to the holidays!
We recently decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to pay a visit to one of the few places we have left on our “must visit in DC” lists and spent some time wandering through Arlington National Cemetery. The recently placed wreaths on the tombs made the site even more touching than usual. While walking to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we first heard drums in the distance and then watched as a full honor military funeral procession came over the hill and passed us on the way to the gravesite.
After touring for several hours, we returned to the city to celebrate our anniversary with lunch at Vidalia. We always enjoy watching “the dance” as a restaurant manages their operation and when the “front of the house” functions as perfectly as the rest of the operation, it is a real treat. Vidalia is a perfect example of this grace-in-motion. When we arrived, it was obvious Vidalia was hosting numerous holiday lunch parties. Since we were a party of two, we were pleasantly surprised when they went to great effort to seat us in a quiet space away from the eight and ten “tops”. This special treatment plus the excellent service once again provided by Peter, put us in the perfect mood to enjoy some fabulous food and as you can see from the photos, the entrees were lovely. We shared the Shady Lane salad, which is a beautiful combination of lettuce, apple, radish and buttermilk dressing with Clemson blue cheese – a favorite from our time in Charleston. The entrees of duck confit over risotto and the vegetarian “blue plate special” were both amazing. The vegetarian option evidently changes daily, and it is a work of art. Sadly, we didn’t photo the beautiful slice of lemon chess pie that we shared … the dish was even served with “Happy Anniversary” written on the plate rim. The texture of the pie is indescribable and we will be sure to enjoy it again very soon.
Duck Confit over Risotto
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The Vegetable Blue Plate
four composed market-inspired vegetable compositions
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As usually happens when we see an incredible dish presented with flair, the duck confit reminded us of a Paula Wolfert recipe we first made several years ago, Slow-Roasted Duck with Olives. Her comment in the article accompanying the recipe mentioned how much her son likes duck confit, and that this recipe is a very close second to confit we had at Vidalia – without as much time required for preparation.
We wish all of you a very happy holiday season!
After enjoying holiday decorations in Philadelphia, we returned to Washington to find trees and lights everywhere. Caroling in the rotunda of the National Gallery’s west building was a perfect opportunity to enjoy the twelve trees covered in lights that surround the perimeter. Combine that with poinsettias, orchids and white hydrangeas in the middle of this beautiful space, and it was a lovely place to enjoy some holiday music. After that, we headed to the Renwick to admire their spectacular tree. We have numerous other places to visit while the decorations are still up including a trip down the street to the National Zoo to enjoy ZooLights and to the White House to see the National Christmas Tree.
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The center fountain area of the Rotunda at the National Gallery of Art
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Caroling at the Rotunda by the Alexandria Choral Society
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The Christmas tree at the Renwick
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Trees in the Rotunda at the National Gallery of Art
After spending a day walking the city, finding something quick, but delicious, for dinner was at the top of our list. This spice-rubbed salmon easily fills that need. The recipe calls for coating one side of the salmon with the spice combination and then refrigerating for an hour. Since we forgot to thaw the salmon far enough ahead for that step, this time we tried patting the spices on the partially frozen salmon and letting it sit at room temperature for an hour. It worked perfectly which makes this recipe even more appealing. Sauteed sugar snap peas and roasted sweet onion slices topped with a little crumbled blue cheese finished the plate.
We have made our first attempt at recreating the fabulous quinoa, butternut squash and kale salad we enjoyed at Matyson in Philadelphia. We think we are pretty close to perfecting it, so it should make an appearance on the blog soon.
Our long weekend in Philadelphia was perfect! The weather, especially for early December, could not have been more beautiful. To walk a city in 60 degree weather in December is lovely. Trees and other holiday decorations were in place, and we even stopped by Macy’s to enjoy their impressive light show. Once again we stayed at The Palomar (part of the Kimpton Group) and we can’t imagine a reason we would stay in any other hotel. The location, near Rittenhouse Square, is perfect for walking much of the city, and the staff is incredibly attentive. Since we love dogs, it’s also fun to see people traveling with dogs in all shapes and sizes.
And of course there was food… Lots of wonderful meals that necessitated yet more walking. We enjoyed two dinners (and a lunch) at Matyson , a place we discovered on an earlier visit and still think is just amazing. Since Matyson is closed on Sunday, we did some research prior to the trip and decided to try The Farm and Fisherman. This petite restaurant, even smaller than Matyson, seats about 30 people in a lovely space. The carefully curated menu offers a wonderful variety of dishes and is adjusted daily based on ingredient availability. Even if you don’t like beets, their “Bloody Beet Steak” with yogurt, shallots, pan drippings, aged balsamic and amaranth is a show-stopper. We always enjoy meeting a knowledgeable server wherever we dine, and Erinn was outstanding.
Back to Matyson (oh, both of these restaurants are BYO, something that is almost unheard of in DC and a nice change for those of us who enjoy wine) for dinner. So many great choices – tile fish in a beautiful presentation, lightly smoked sturgeon, duck breast that really does melt in your mouth, and so much more. The salad we shared at lunch is something we will be working to recreate – quinoa tossed with roasted butternut squash, julienne of kale, pine nuts, Parmesan shavings and a lovely lemon vinaigrette. An entree size bowl would have been a wonderful choice!
In addition to eating, which we obviously enjoyed, we are still very impressed with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The permanent collection has some amazing pieces (including several by Monet and Pissarro), and we enjoyed touring for several hours. Again, another building that was beautifully decorated for the holidays.
Being able to take a two hour train trip followed by a quick cab ride to the hotel makes this a perfect destination from our home base; we look forward to visiting again soon.
Ben Franklin decorated for the holidays at the Palomar
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The Philadelphia skyline from the Art Museum
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Street sculpture on the Avenue of the Arts (Broadway)
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The main stairway at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
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A church on Rittenhouse Square
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Philadelphia City Hall
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The Fall vegetable salad at The Farmer and Fisherman
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Pork loin at the Farm and Fisherman
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We recently spent a few days in Richmond, a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Union Station in DC. What a lovely city; we had no idea we should have already planned a visit to Richmond. Just the scent of magnolia trees on every block was enticing. The meeting Allen attended was held in The Jefferson (www.jefferson-hotel.com), a beautiful building dating back to 1895. In addition to the amazing architecture, you can add the most gracious service we have experienced in a hotel in a very long time. Everyone we met went out of their way to ensure a perfect visit! The concierge staff knows everything about the Richmond area, and they are happy to either make suggestions, or assist you in determining how best to spend the time you have available. Since cabs are not as prevalent as in areas such as DC, The Jefferson offers transportation to local tourist venues as well as restaurants – and the drivers can relate stories of the city and its history in amazing detail. Once you are dropped off at your location, you are provided with a direct number to call when you would like to be picked up for a return to the hotel.
During our short stay, we had two excellent meals at Acacia (http://acaciarestaurant.com/), which is located at the edge of the Fan District. Since the menu changes daily, we enjoyed different seafood options at both meals. One night it was sauteed grouper served on a bed of Parmesan risotto with roasted mushrooms and spinach. As the only soft shell crab lover at the table, one of us was able to enjoy a fabulous serving of perfectly prepared tempura-style soft shells. The stuffed zucchini blossom appetizer was as beautiful as it was tasty, and we did give in and enjoy dessert at both meals (those change nightly, too). Acacia was highlighted in a “Postcard” written by the Washington Post restaurant critic some time ago, and we agree with his assessment – wonderful food and beautiful presentation! Another trendy section of the city known as Carytown, is one we plan to explore on our next visit.
While Allen was attending sessions at the meeting, I found that The Virginia Museum of Fine Art (http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Default.aspx) was the perfect place to spend a few hours. The museum, beautifully situated on 13 1/2 acres, first opened in 1936. A 165,000 square foot expansion was completed in May 2010, and the result is impressive. The collections housed at the museum are extensive and each area is designed to highlight a specific collection. The added perk of Amuse Restaurant made the time at the museum even more enjoyable. What more could you ask than to sit on the lovely deck in beautiful weather with a perfectly prepared crab cake and a glass of white wine?
Our tour of the Capitol Building was led by an incredibly knowledgeable man who made you want to stay for hours. We will return to do the tour again, especially when we have more time to visit the grounds, and wander around the building. The Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House also are a “must see” for anyone interested in learning more about that time in history. There are so many reasons to return to Richmond, and we hope to visit again during the upcoming Faberge Exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – it begins in early July and runs until October 2 of this year.
And as our time in this beautiful city ended back at the train station, we found ourselves in the midst of a wedding reception! While our train was supposed to depart a little after 6PM, it was delayed by a disabled freight train and the reception which was scheduled to begin at 7PM found that they had several unscheduled ‘guests’ – well, really observers. From the entrance of the attendants and bride and groom, to the impromptu announcement to the train passengers by the mother of the bride, to the dance lessons (the hustle??), the two extra hours spent waiting for the train were at least entertaining!
Farmer’s market season is in full swing in our area. If you are willing to travel (and many of the markets are Metro-accessible), you can shop any day of the week. We are pleased to see the UDC Market (Saturday mornings at Connecticut Avenue and Van Ness) open once again, as well as the Sheridan School Market (Saturday mornings and late Tuesday afternoon at Yuma and 36th street). Both are very convenient to our location, and we frequent them regularly. In addition to the Dupont Circle Market (which we visit on Sunday morning), we also stopped by the White House Market last Thursday (next to the Vermont Avenue exit of the McPherson Metro Station) just to check it out. Beautiful strawberries are everywhere and cherries will be appearing within the week. It is wonderful to once again see local sugar snap peas, snow peas, zucchini and much more – we have been waiting months to see all of this again – and we are ready to enjoy it.
The appearance of perfectly ripe strawberries immediately reminded us of Julia Child’s creme anglaise recipe, or “custard sauce” as it is known at our house. It is a bit time consuming , but when made properly the recipe produces a perfectly smooth creamy sauce that is wonderful over strawberries or other seasonal fruit. While we wait for blueberries to appear, we are already anticipating our favorite blueberry tart which will be followed by grilled peaches and nectarines, and watermelon salad. If the temperature in Washington makes it feel like August, we might as well anticipate the fruits due to appear later in the summer!
When we look at the date of our last post, it appears that we decided to hibernate through the worst part of winter. Of course that’s not really the case, we’ve just been out enjoying our on-going love affair with the DC area. We continue to add things to our list that deserve multiple, and sometimes, frequent visits such as the National Museum for Women in the Arts. It’s also been fun to experience a variety of performances at The Kennedy Center, and we will be there again twice in the next week. Weather permitting, we continue to frequently visit our favorite at the National Zoo, Lucy the orangutan. If they allowed members to check out an animal for a home visit, Lucy would be at the top of our list. The number of Lucy photos that have been taken grows after each visit, and she does make a lovely screen saver. But, Lucy refuses to travel via the O-Line at the Zoo, so this photo is of a colleague traveling between the Ape House and the Think Tank. If you are at National Zoo after 11:00 am during good weather, you may have a chance to see one or more of the orangutans swinging along the O-Line, hair flying, high above the visitors – it is quite a treat!
Since eating out daily isn’t an option, we have done a lot of cooking over the winter and as always, we have been trying new recipes. Our interest in Indian cooking continues, and we have added another cookbook, “How to Cook Indian” by Sanjeev Kapoor after trying one of his recipes in the March issue of Food & Wine Magazine. The book just arrived, and now we are waiting for an order from The Spice House (www.thespicehouse.com) in Chicago before trying more of his recipes.
As asparagus makes an appearance in the markets prior to the availability of the local crop, we have fixed numerous recipes using asparagus recently. One, from the March 2011 issue of Eating Well Magazine combines our love of Indian food with asparagus. You will be seeing more asparagus on the blog soon, along with a couple of recipes for tempeh that we recently tried. Happy Spring – we hope it has finally arrived!
We had the good fortune to attend a Robert Burns event on January 29 at the home of friends in New Jersey. As you can see from the photos, those who gathered on a cold winter night were royally entertained. John, the piper, greeted the guests at the door, and being the Scotsman that he is, ignored the cold and the mountains of snow. Our perfectly kilt-ed hosts, Les McQuire and Wendy Cornell, welcomed a huge crowd into their home for a wonderful evening. To say that we loved the procession with the haggis would be an understatement. What fun to hear the bagpipes as the procession entered the room; if you have never been close to bagpipes when they being played, it is quite amazing. As the event unfolded, the parade of perfectly attired men whose roles included holding the haggis platter high followed by the large knife used to slice into it, and finally the Scotch, of course, to be used for the toasts, wound their way through the crowd to make sure that everyone participated in the event. Once the address to a haggis was completed, John sliced through the haggis, had a ‘wee’ taste, and the toasts began… For those of us who enjoy Scotch, the growing number of toasts must be applauded. After the lads and lasses were toasted, the evening continued with a delicious dinner provided by Soup Shoppe, which is located in Basking Ridge, NJ (http://www.soupshoppe.net/). The opportunity to meet the other Burns party participants and enjoy an event where all age groups were represented was obviously appreciated by everyone who spent time together.
As you can see, even small children are mesmerized by bagpipes. Ben found John’s playing very much to his liking.
Will we ever acquire a taste for haggis? Probably not, especially since one of us refused to get close to it with knife and oat cracker, let alone give it a try…
A neighbor recently introduced us to an Australian food magazine, “delicious.” And so it is! The moment we spotted the recipe for salmon wrapped in pancetta or prosciutto topped with lime creme fraiché, we knew that would be the first thing to try. As you can see in the photo, the salmon is cut into strips, wrapped in prosciutto, brushed with a little olive oil and baked. The recommended cooking time of 8-10 minutes was perfect, and we like the idea of being able to prep the fish ahead and refrigerate prior to baking. This will be a perfect meal to enjoy with guests since it requires such a short time to bring to the table. Although there appear to be “eyes” on the salmon, it’s actually coarse black pepper that ended up being perfectly placed. Thanks, Jenny, for sharing a magazine we have never seen before.
While we continue to enjoy our exploration of Washington’s many restaurants, we have also been shopping at the Saturday market and doing a lot of cooking at home. After an exhaustive search, we realized that finding really good tahini seems to be a challenge in DC, so prior to making our favorite hummus recipe, we decided to “whip up” a batch. It is as simple as you might imagine since there are only two ingredients; sesame seeds and oil. Although the recipe called for vegetable oil, we decided to use light olive oil – which in our opinion, was perfect. The ratio for making the tahini is 1 cup of sesame seeds (lightly toasted – 15 minutes in an over at 325°) to 1/2 cup oil. Now that we’ve found how much better the freshly made version tastes, we are unlikely to buy the prepackaged product again.
For those of you interested in DC restaurant ideas, we have enjoyed some fabulous meals at Rasika, Zaytinya, Founding Farmers, Masala Art and Potenza in recent weeks. At the moment, it is “Restaurant Week” in our area, and like many others, we will avoid eating out until it’s over. A lot of people embrace the concept and a chance to eat substantial portions of food at reduced prices, frequently in restaurants that are new to them. For those of us who prefer to order from the regular menu, it’s not our first choice. Fortunately, a few places offer both their special menu for the week as well as the regular menu, but unless you know exactly what to expect, we don’t find it worthwhile.
