Cafe Berlin

We love Cafe Berlin, period.

We have been going there regularly for six years or so. I first went for a work function and it was great. Last night we went to celebrate a birthday and our party of nine had a great time!

They know what they do and generally do it well. In the six years we've been going their might have been a time or two when I wasn't totally satisfied, but they always redeem themselves.

Mmmm, Beir!

I would say this has to be the best dish at Cafe Berlin, Deutsche Wurstplatte; Bratwurst and Weisswurst with sauerkraut and home fries!

Another awesome dinner; Kassler Rippchen, smoked pork chops! Like a really delicious, rich, chunk of ham. One other dish that would highly, highly recommend is the Ungarische Goulash; Hungarian Goulash, rich and meaty morsels of beef on spaetzle!

A gin martini with some special gin the restaurant had, Hendricks? I can't remember, I didn't order it, but had sip. I'm not a fan of gin in general, but this was pretty tasty. Outside of the beer and cocktails, there were several bottles of this tasty wine!

As a rule of thumb, the desserts at Cafe Berlin are not that great. A few times we've found some cakes to be pretty good. I'm starting to think that they may have changed their baker, because more often than not, the desserts have been getting better. BUT...this dessert isn't a Cafe Berlin dessert. The mother of the birthday girl brought a homemade Rum Cake and the restaurant was kind enough to serve it up for us. Divine. I'm going to have to get this recipe some day!

Greek Pork Loin & Orzo Salad

I threw this together for dinner on Thursday night. I really enjoyed it. The meat was perfectly tender and flavorful. The orzo salad was tasty and tart! The flavors of the meat reminded us of the Bull In Pan at Annie's Paramount Steakhouse in DuPont Circle...stay tuned, I might have to try that some evening!



Greek Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2 inch medallions
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch, red pepper flakes
1 TB dried oregano
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, red pepper, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the pork, allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

Add the pork medallions, one at a time to a skillet over high heat. Cook the medallions for about two minutes per side. Allow excess marinade to drain off before adding to the skillet.

When the medallions are done, remove from pan to a plate. Pour in wine and deglaze pan. Add the remaining marinade and allow to reduce to a thick sauce. Spoon the sauce over the pork.


Orzo Salad
1 1/2 cup cooked orzo-freshly cooked and hot!
1 TB Red Wine Vinegar
1 TB Capers, drained
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 red onion, diced
2 TB Olive Oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt/Pepper
1 TB Chopped Parlsey
Small handful of toasted pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the tomatoes and onions with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Place in the oven until the onions are golden brown and delicious and the tomatoes have carmelized. Reserve.

So delicious, just like this. Sweet and savory and so aromatic!

In a medium bowl, mix the red wine vinegar and capers. Add the hot, freshly cooked orzo, toss to combine. Add the roasted tomatoes, onions and parsley.

When you plate up, garnish with the pine nuts.

Pine Nuts...where have you been all my life. I used to think I hated you, but I was wrong!

Enjoy.

Good Wine

This is a very good Riesling! We had dinner tonight at Cafe Berlin to celebrate the birthday of Lady Brandenburg. Several bottles of this wine were consumed, in addition to many mugs of beer and martinis and cocktails! I'll let someone who had more of the wine give some details of it.

it's been a busy crazy week.
hope to have some posts for you all throughout the weekend.
next week should be better.

Bushy Basil

My basil plant was getting a little bushy and needed a trim!

So after a quick trim, I had a bowl full of basil, which so was transformed into some awesome pesto.

Once the pesto was made, I decide it best to make risotto! We had a rough day yesterday, so some comfort food was needed.

But this wasn't going to be your everyday, basic risotto.
When the risotto was completed, I stirred into it 2 TB of the fresh pesto.

OMG! This was delicious. The pesto was nearly perfect if I do say so myself. And combined with the risotto...words do not describe!

I served my new
Pesto Risotto with Sauted Chicken in a Butter Shallot Au Jus.

Saute the chicken until done. Toss into the same pan, one diced shallot, give a few seconds to soften. Deglaze with 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/4 cup of broth, reduced by 1/2, stir in 1 TB butter and some parsley.

Mmmmmm!

Smoked Carrot Cake

What a bummer.

I had such huge plans for my Saturday and when all was said and done...not so much.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, as usually. Read the online news and then set out to start making mini-carrot cake cupcakes for a birthday party. I had measured out the flour and grated the carrots when I realized I had no sugar, so I set everything aside and ran to the store. Returned 20 minutes later and resumed the mixing. Mixed everything together and piped the batter into the mini muffin pan, set the timer and placed it all in the oven. About 4 minutes in the fire alarm goes off in our building.

Took me a minute to break away from the kitchen and checked the hallway. There was a little smoke smell in the hall. Very faint. OK, moving. Woke J-lo up and prepared to leave, but I went back in the kitchen and sat there for a minute. I was seriously considering not leaving because I didn't want to remove the half baked cupcakes. Well my sixth sense got the better of me and I removed them from the oven and turn it off.

Headed into the hallway and out of the building.

The firefighters were arriving and running into the building. We got outside and sat there for a few minutes. One woman was crying really bad; if I new Spanish, I might have been able to understand what she was saying. We're sitting there and someone points up to the building. Oh! A little smoke coming out of a vent. OK, so there really is something going on! The last time the alarm went off it was a false alarm, so I sort of expected the same thing. A minute or two later, the smoke was heavier and coming out of a window! And it's the 5th Floor...>OUR FLOOR! Oh my! The smoke started to get thicker and darker. OK, this might be serious.

Shortly after some firefighters came out of the building and were quickly directed back into the building by the guy running the pump truck. I guess they couldn't find the apartment!!! They went back in. The pump trucks are pumping and look...here comes the DC fire, Riverdale fire, Hyattsville is there...hey it's Bladensburg fire!!! FOUR ALARM! SHIT!!!

I don't know who provided the hook and ladder truck, but there they were and raising the bucket up to the 5th floor. Then. The. Glass. Started. Shattering!!!!

At first that was a bit of a panic, but after a minute I realized that had to be a good thing...with the windows closed, there is no oxygen and the fire won't go crazy. If you an oxygen source, the the fire can be worse...so this had to mean the fire was out! But there was still so much smoke and firefighter commotion.

Over an hour later we were let back in the building. We were a bit nervous and worried about what we'd find on our floor. When you really look at it, the fire was two apartments down from ours, so we were a little hesitant to get back in. And worried about the smoke.

Well we weren't going to find out until about seven hours later what if anything happened in our apartments. I guess the firefighters tried to get into our aparment and cut the door knob off...but yet couldn't get into the apartment because we set the deadbolt! So the door was banged up a touch and we had no door knob...and the deadbolt was damaged somehow, so we couldn't get in.

We learned from the last false fire alarm; grab your wallet, your keys and your cellphone. So I had those things, but we couldn't move the car because the firetrucks were completely blocking our car in. We couldn't get into our apartment so we called our friends just a mile down the road and asked if we could stay with them for awhile during the day so we weren't sitting on the sidewalk! After a short while, we were able to get the car out and moved on with our day. Our friends took us to breakfast and then back to their place and watched a movie. After we came back to see what was going on in our building. The door still wasn't fixed, so we were still locked out. On to Target to get some clothes (we were sort of in pajamas!) and back to our friends for showers and relaxing. And we got the call to come back, the door was fixed!!!!

8 hours later we were in! Oy! The Nerves!!!! The deadbolt was still busted, but the were coming back in shortly to finish that. We're in....just the slightest smell of smoke!!!! And it's gone this morning. So a major 8 hour blip in our day. We're exhausted and have a birthday party to get to. Sadly, I couldn't bring the nasty seperated cake batter or flat half cooked cupcakes, so we brought ourselves!

All that said, remember to make sure your fire extinguisher is charged! WHAT? You don't have one....you don't cook??!?! Doesn't matter...get one!!

~*~*~*~

OK, so here is the original post I planned to share on the cake...the cake is still really great so I'll make it again soon. I have to!!!


Original Title of Post: Eat Your Vegetables

I have to add on more bit to last night's dinner. On special occasions, DM would go a step further and make dessert. Carrot cake! It's so delicious. Lord Brandenburg's birthday was this week and we're heading out to his party this afternoon, so I'm making the carrot cake, but in mini-muffin format and the sweet chili cucumber side dish.

So back to the cake!

Mother Berta's Carrot Cake
(Recipe from epicurious.com)

3 medium-sized carrots, peeled
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup corn oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened variety)
3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cut 2 carrots into 1-inch dice; place in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and puree in a food processor or blender. Set aside.

Grate the remaining carrot; reserve.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with waxed paper and grease the paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs and vanilla; beat well. Fold in the carrot puree, grated carrot, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding it onto a rack, then let the cake cool completely.

Prepare the frosting: Mix the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice. Frost the cake.

NOTES:
For doing these as mini-muffins/cupcakes, they only take 15-20 minutes. I grated all the carrots and quickly boiled them, instead of puree part of the carrots. I don't really care for walnuts, so I used toasted pecans. DM recommends doubling or tripling the recipe frosting recipe.

Perfect Meatloaf

In 2000, I moved into a little basement on Capital Hill. At that house, I met DM. After moving from the basement to a group house a few blocks and a little later another room opened in the house, DM moved from the house I was previously staying in, to our new group house. J-lo, DM, KS and I formed a happy little household. With all our varying schedules, we would occasionally be home at the same time and have a yummy dinner together. Usually it was DM or I making dinner with J-lo and KS cleaning up. Those were some good times!

DM introduced us to one of the most perfect meatloaf dinner I've ever had! Seriously, that good. Now I know and understand the difficulty in proving this statment, as there are as many meatloaf recipes as there are delays on the Red Line. My mom's recipe used meat, eggs, crackers, bacon and ketchup. Really good stuff. A friend of ours adds a bottle of beer to whole thing--tasty! Ray Ray has a pretty good recipe as well. What's your favorite?

All that is to say, a few years ago I sat down and copied DM's recipe. I never made it; I lost the recipe!!! A travesty, I know. Well, guess what I finally got again this week!!!!

A tasty treat I first had a few years ago and actually brings around a lot of great memories of some great times!!

Before I start though; can we change the name of Meatloaf. Loaf should really only be attributed to bread and bread-like products and not meat. OK, soap box over.

72 Market Street Meat Loaf with Meat Loaf Gravy
(Click Here & Here)
Serves 6-8

This recipe is by 72's first chef, Leonard Schwartz, remains the restaurant's most popular dish. After you try it we are certain it will become one of your favorites at home as well. It's also great for sandwiches too!

1 TB butter
¾ cup minced green onion
¾ cup mined white onion
½ cup minced carrot
½ cup minced celery
¼ cup minced red bell pepper
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cumin
3 eggs, beaten
½ cup ketchup
½ cup half & half
1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
½ lb lean ground pork sausage (with no herbs or seasoning)
¾ cup prepared bread crumbs
Meat Loaf Gravy (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Heat the butter in a heavy bottom skillet and add the green onions, white onions, carrots, celery, red & green bell peppers and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until the moisture has evaporated. Remove mixture from the skillet to a plate and allow to cool.

Pretty vegetables

All stirred together and coated with butter. Mmmm!

And cooked down and getting ready to cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, cumin and eggs and mix well. Add the ketchup and half and half. Blend thoroughly.

4. Add the ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs and the vegetable mixture. It will be easier to mix this with your hands.

5. Gread a loaf pan and add the meat mixture, press it into the corners. Put the loaf pan in a larger pan filled 1 inch high with boiling water. Cook at 350 for 45 to 60 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with Meat Loaf Gravy.

Resting. I used a smaller baking dish instead of a loaf pan, about 9 x 5. And it's sitting in a 9 x 13 pan with water. My meatloaf cooked for 50 minutes.

And serve with mashed potatoes!
Look, more new dishes that I snagged at the outlets last weekend!!! These are oval bowls that I loved; they'll be great for serving side dishes from, someday.

Meat Loaf Gravy

2 TB butter
4 shallotts, minced
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
Dash of crushed peppercorns
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup veal or beef stock
1 cup chicken stock
2 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
Salt & Pepper

1. In a heavy pan, melt 1 TB of the butter and saute the shallots, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns and bell peppers over medium-heat for 3 minutes.

2. Add the wine and simmer over high heat until reduced by three-fourths, until it makes a glaze.

3. Add the stocks, and simmer, uncovered, over high heat until reduced by one-fourth.

4. Add the tomatoes and bring to a slow simmer. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

5. Stir in the remaining 1 TB of butter and season with salt & pepper to taste.

6. Strain and serve.

Delicious 1

Delicious 2

Notes: This is kind of a time intensive dinner. The chopping and sauteing can take up a good amount of time if you chop slowly...I do. One thing that DM mentioned about when he makes this, saute up double or triple the veg and then freeze for future use. A great tip and next time I actually will do that.

I didn't realize until it was just too late that I didn't actually have the full quantity of ground beef, so when I added it to the egg mixture it was extra schluppy, so I increased the breadcrumbs to one full cup. It seemed to help.

As for the gravy. The gravy is tasty, but it's a bit of extra work, so it's totally up to you if you make it. I was pretty good about following the recipe, but altered a few little bits. 1) I didn't have beef broth, so I went with two cups of chicken broth, a reason it's so pale and 2) the full instructions, I didn't reduce after I added the broth and jumped to the tomatoes and covered it. I questioned it, but did what I thought it said. Well, sure enough the gravy was very thin and watery. I fixed it by adding a little cornstarch/water slurry to thicken it to the right consistency. Perfect. Oh and I didn't peel the tomatoes, since the dish was going to be strained, I didn't see the point. And I didn't see the yellow pepper on the recipe until I was home, so I only used red bell pepper. Again, tasted great, just a bit of work.

Tilapia

I was trying to decide what to do for dinner and came across a recipe in my files. I have NO idea where it came from. If anyone knows, or if you gave it to me, let me know!

Anyway...I went the route of fish tonight. It's not something I normally do...I'm always afraid of fish tastying 'fishy.' When I was a kid, I had so much fresh water fish as a kid, and without a doubt, there was always a serving a fish that tasted awful. Well, I'm working out my issues and moving on.

Tilapia with Lemon Caper Sauce
Serves 2

3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 1/2 tsp drained capers, lightly chopped
2 tsp butter
2 tilapia filets (mine were small, I did three and split the last one)
Salt/Pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp butter

Combine first three ingredients.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat.

While the butter melts, sprinkle the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour; shake off excess flour.

Increase heat to medium-high; heat 2 minutes until butter turns golden brown. Add the fillets to the pan; saute 2-3 minutes per side or until the fish is flaky. Remove the fillets from the pan. Add broth/lemon juice and capers to the pan, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in two teaspoons of butter with a whisk. serve sauce over fillets. Garnish with lemon wedges and chopped parsley, if desired.

I misread the recipe and thought it said two tablespoons of butter. So it a pan fried tilapia vs. sauteed. Oh well, mistakes happen and when you don't know you made the mistake...all is good.

Here's the sauce. I had a shallot in the cupboard that was getting lonely, so I finely diced the shallot and tossed it in the pan before the broth/juice mixture, until they started to soften and turn translucent. You'll also note in the recipe that after the sauce reduces, to add 2 tsp of butter to enrich the sauce. Well, I didn't do that either, cuz i'm stooopid. Again, didn't know this was a mistake until after we finished dinner, so all was good. Maybe if you only saute the fish in 2 tsp of butter, you might want to add the 2 tsp in this step.

Here we go. I served the fish on my new plates that we picked up at the outlets this weekend! I served with some sauted potatoes that were seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs de 'provence. Yum!

Dinner was tasty and light. I'd certainly make this again. And easy!! There were just a few minutes of prep (talking tilapia here, not potatoes) and less than 10 minutes of cooking and sauce making!

The recipe as I found it in my files actually called for brine-packed green peppercorns instead of capers. I'm sure they are good, but I had capers! The recipe also recommended dredging the filets in whole wheat flour for a nutty flavor in the fish. I'm sure it would be good and I could have tried it with the WW flour in the cupboard, but that would have taken my lazy rear another minute to dig it out. Oh well!

Hungry Hungerian

Here's another tasty dish from Simply Recipes. SR has a great service, when the website is updated with new recipes and postings, you can get an email sent to your in-box. Well, this recipe came through the other day and it sounded great and very easy to make!

Chicken Paprikash**
Serves 4

1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
1 Tbsp butter, softened
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Mix butter with garlic. Use fingertips to spread mixture underneath the skin on the breasts and thighs.

2. In a small roasting pan, stir onions with paprika, salt, and 1/4 cup of water. Arrange chicken pieces in the pan. Cook chicken for about 10 minutes on 450°F, then lower the heat to 375°F and continue to cook an additional 30 minutes. Chicken is done when the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 175°F (use a meat thermometer), and the juices run clear when the thickest part of thigh is pierced with a knife. Note that breasts cook faster than the thighs, so you may want to take those out if done first, and let the thighs cook a few minutes longer.

3. Remove chicken pieces to a platter and let sit for 10 minutes. You may want to cut away the meat from the bones, and cut the chicken pieces into smaller pieces (entirely optional). Skim and discard fat from onion mixture in the pan. Add chicken broth to the onions. Placing the roasting pan on a stovetop burner, bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring to loosen the browned bits. Stir in sour cream. Serve chicken with onions spooned over it.

Hey, it's my new bowl that I picked up at the outlets this weekend! At this point the skin on the chicken is really crispy and tasty!

Here's the sauce reducing!

Here's the chicken with the sauce and a little garnish-chopped parsley. A couple weeks ago I did something I soon fell in love with. I chopped an entire bundle of parsley. Took a paper towel and got it barely wet and lined a small bowl with it. Put in the chopped parsley and covered it tightly. It lasts for about a week that way and you have a little garnish when you need it. Instead of buying parsley each time you go shopping!

I served this with some buttered rice. Really tasty. Make sure to get some extra sauce on the chicken and the rice. After the chicken rested, while the sauce finished, the steam from the cooked chicken and the sauce made the skin on the chicken soggy and kind of icky. I think maybe next time, I'll set the chicken on a plate, not on top of each other, so the steam can escape easier. Then plate the sauce and put the chicken on top, so the sauce doesn't make the crispy deliciousness soggy.

This recipe was really good and I'll make it again at some point. It is very similiar to the chicken with onions and paprika recipe that I made from Julia Child. This sauce has sour cream, that sauce is butter. Both are delicious! I have some ideas for this recipe the next time I make it. I'll share those at that time...you'll have to tune in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Paprikash (paprikás in Hungarian) is a traditional Hungarian stew made with chicken. Paprika is the primary seasoning. It is prepared by first browning chicken pieces and chopped onions in fat (often bacon fat) and then braising the mixture until tender in chicken broth. Sour cream is then added to the broth to make a rich sauce. Paprikash is usually served over egg noodles.

Whose stoned? We were merely travelling incognito

If you find yourself out in the Sharpsburg, MD/Shepherdstown, WV area, we have two recommendations for you! Hey, it's only 90 minutes outside of DC!

On Saturday morning we headed into Shepherdstown for a little shopping and lunch. We had the best lunch we've had in ages! Stone Soup Bistro is a new little cafe in historic Shepherdstown. Mostly organic, healthy, tasty, local foods. I had a mozarella, tomato and pesto sandwich on a grilled baguette. The tomato. I have never had a tomato more ripe, more sweet, more delicious than the tomato on this sandwich. Amazing! Later, we asked where the restaurant got their tomatoes and they come from the waitress' boyfriend's farm! The mozarella was really tasty and the pesto was fresh. The bread on this sandwich was perfect. A perfect crust and chewy interior that was lightly charred from the grill.

The sandwich came with a potato salad. I'm not really a fan of potato salad, but this was pretty tasty salad. I ate a few small bites.

J-lo went with one of the specials. Tomato and Parmesan Quiche. I had a small taste and it was really good. Same ripe tomatoes, light, fluffy egg, crispy crust and light nutty parmesan flavor. The quiche came with a light mixed green salad.

Both our lunchers were really awesome! I can't wait to go back again and see what new treats are on the menu. Oh, and we started drinking at 1130 am with a raspberry martini and a glass of pinot grigio.

Stone Soup Bistro
112 West German Street
Shepherdstown, WV
304.876.8477

Later that night after an extended cocktail hour while watching Valley of the Dolls (click here for forthcoming commentary), more cocktails, and an amazing dinner (grilled filet, baked potato, grilled onion and asparagus), we walked across the street from our friends house to a new wine bar in Sharpsburg, MD.

This was a fun little place that recently opened, serving many wines as well as some good food. We didn't have the food, but heard it was pretty good. I did a flight of white wines that were really good. One of the joys of a small town bar, "On/Off" sale! There are no liquor stores, but you can buy what you are drinking and take it home with you. This place is something you'd actually expect in a larger metropolitan city, not a town of a couple hundred.

Antietam Cafe & Wine Bar
113 E. Main Street
Sharpsburg, MD
301.432.0711

We have a tentative date to head back for another visit in a few weeks and I'm sure there will be stops at these new favorites. Outside of these new establishments, both towns are lovely and well worth visits. Shepherdstown is home to Shepherds University and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, which we went to a few years ago and saw some amazing theatre! Sharpsburg is home to the Antietam National Battlefield. The Antietam battle took over 23,000 lives in ONE DAY and ultimately let to President Lincoln issuing the Emacipation Proclamation. A few miles down the road in the other direction is Boonsboro, MD. I only know one thing in Boonsboro and that's Boonsboro Days, arts and crafts festival. Oh, and I can't forget the lovely Crystal Grotto Caverns...please note the huge amounts of sarcasm!

Don't Forget

image from here:

Next week is Restaurant Week!

More information here:

I won't be able to take advantage of the lunch options this time, so I have to select a place to try out for dinner one evening.

*****

Just wanna give you'll a head's up; there won't be any new posts this weekend...heading out of town for some R&R! Look for some new posts next week.

Keeping it real

Image from here.

I was over at Tigers & Strawberries this morning reading an article by Barbara Fisher on the ethics of food blogging and recipe sharing and copyrights, etc. A nice post! If you have the time, give it a read.

In terms of what happens here at Eat With Me, I think I'm pretty good at sharing where a recipe came from. If I don't know, I try to make that clear as well. I've been collecting recipes for many years and most are from the web, often I just can't remember. As far as I've known, I have never tried to pass a recipe off as my own and hope I don't.

All that said, if I share a recipe here and don't credit it, please keep me honest and ask!

Winging It-One Skillet Style

Tonight's dinner was really a throw together and I lucked out by having J-lo stop for one ingredient on his way home.

Ground Turkey Goulash
4 servings

1 TB Olive Oil
1 lb ground turkey
Salt/Pepper
1 TB "instant" onion
1 tsp "instant" garlic
1 tsp Ancho chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 TB paprika
1 tsp oregano
2 TB tomato paste
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 - 1/2 lb small shapely pasta (elbows, shells)

Heat olive oil over high heat in a large pan.

Add the ground turkey. Crumble and brown. Add spices, cook for one minute. Add tomato paste, cook for one minute.

Add the broth and stir to incorporate. Distribute the pasta over the top. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. (Add more broth if necessary, to finish the pasta and have a touch a sauce coating the pasta, so it isn't dry.)

Stir and serve. Garnish with some chopped parsley if you like or a dallop of Daisy.


I really enjoyed this little one pan wonder! I actually forgot the garlic and used a light sprinkle of garlic powder. The "instant" garlic, and onions, you know you have those in your cupboards. This is a great opportunity to use it! And if you don't use the dollop of Daisy, it's a pretty low fat meal.

Lemon Ginger Muffins

The other day I saw these muffins over at Simply Recipe and they looked lovely. I didn't really have a reason to make them until I remember that we were going to a housewarming/brunch at J&TC's place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they share some of their recipes over at DC Food Blog.

Lemon Ginger Muffins
Yield 12 regular sized muffins (24-30 mini muffins)

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup 1/2-inch cubes of peeled, fresh ginger
1 large lemon
1 cup sugar -divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup

10 TB unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt

Glaze
2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the lemon zest from one large lemon (avoid the white pith). Coarsely chop the zest. You should have approximately 1/4 cup of chopped lemon zest. Add this zest, the cubed fresh ginger, and 1/4 cup of sugar to a food processor. Pulse until a paste forms.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and remaining 3/4 cup of sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the lemon zest and ginger paste.

Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.

Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil, grapeseed oil, or a little melted butter using a pastry brush. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool.




While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Add more lemon juice if necessary. While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. The muffins will absorb some of the glaze, so you add more glaze to each muffin if you like.


So there you have it. As you can see, I made my muffins in a mini muffin pan. I thought it more appropriate for the brunch setting, without having to double the recipe. A few notes: I followed the actually recipe as it. I had some crystallized ginger and chopped it up and sprinkled it on top of the muffins before baking. With the mini-tin, I only needed about 20 minutes to bake. I was worried about over cooking them, so I took them out when I did, so they were still a little pale. Instead of brushing the icing on the, I drizzled it over the top of the muffins and then sprinkled a little more crystallized ginger on top. These were really tasty. Sweet and tart, but not sugary sweet. Feel free to skip the glaze for a more basic muffin that is terrific on flavor! OH, on more note, I sprayed the the muffin tin with Pam spray, little easier then brushing with butter.

But what about the shrimps?

Spicy Coconut Shrimp
w/Spicy Mango Basil Salsa & Lime Jasmine Rice

Recipe courtesy Dave Lieberman

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

I marinate the shrimp in a sweet and spicy coconut milk marinade then I cook them in a dry pan. The salsa finishes it off with more sweetness and heat. Basil keeps the tongue awake through it all.

Salsa:
1 mango, peeled and finely diced
3 scallions, sliced
5 basil leaves, julienned
1 lime, juiced
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Shrimp:
2 fresh jalapenos, sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½ inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
2 TB dark brown sugar
2 TB soy sauce
½ lime, zested
¼ cup coconut milk
Small handful basil leaves, torn
2 TB vegetable oil
½ tsp salt
15 grinds pepper
1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp

Lime Jasmine Rice, recipe follows

For the salsa: Combine all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make up to a day in advance. Keep covered in the refrigerator.


For the shrimp: In a mixing bowl, combine jalapenos, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime zest, coconut milk, basil, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Add the shrimp and marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours, refrigerated.

Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat. Use tongs or a fork to remove the shrimp from the marinade and place in an even layer in the pan, reserving the marinade. Cook the shrimp until well browned on each side, turning once, about 3 to 4 minutes total. Transfer cooked shrimp to a serving plate.

Add reserved marinade to pan, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Pour over the cooked shrimp and serve with Lime Jasmine Rice and Mango Salsa.

Lime Jasmine Rice:
1 cup jasmine rice
¾ cup coconut milk
1 cup water
Pinch salt
½ lime, zested

Put the rice, coconut milk, water, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and gently simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 12 to 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and stir in the lime zest. Serve immediately.



This was really tasty and easy. I prepared the marinade for the shrimp and let them hang out for about 3 hours, and the salsa hung out for the same amount of time. And when it came time to cook, in the time the rice cooked, dinner was done!!! And it was soo good. I was really suprised that this dish wasn't more spicy. The two jalapenos with the garlic and ginger. I'm guessing the coconut milk tamed the heat. And the salsa. Mmmmm. With the rice, it was all just divine. I can't wait to make this again!

it's too hot to cook

Details magazine has a slide show on their website and I thought I'd share it with you, considering the many conversations of 'food porn' we've been having lately!

Orgasm or Good Marinara

Makes you think a little differently about some of our foodie friends.

I'm laughing my rear-end off!

Check out the slideshow. It's safe, you don't see any bits and pieces.

Sesame Noodles

These are some tasty little noodles that are great served warm, at room temperature, or cold. Very easy to make and just take a few minutes.



Sesame Noodles
4 servings

12 ounces angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red chili paste
1 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons hot water
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Fresh chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling unsalted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cold. Drain the noodles really well and transfer to a wide bowl; toss with the sesame oil so they don't stick together. Chill.

In a blender combine the peanut oil, ginger, garlic, chili paste, lime juice, brown sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot water. Blend. Toss the noodles with the peanut sauce until well coated. Serve at room temperature or chilled; garnish with the sesame seeds, green onions, and cilantro.

NOTES: I don't remember where this recipe came from. Probably some Food Network host??!?!?! With this batch, I added some quickly sauteed chicken and some red bell peppers. Shredded carrots would be nice. Maybe some blanched peapods would be tasty? I forgot the cilantro and the toasted sesame seeds this time, oops. Versatile and delicious! Oh, and these are great as a side dish, or as we did tonight, just dinner!