Month: August 2013

Marcel’s – with pics!

I have written about Marcel’s before, but not extensively enough considering it is our special occasion place.  It is where Jasper proposed to me (and I said yes) and where we spend most of our anniversaries and New Year’s.  It’s also where we go every time we see a show at the Kennedy center.  The provide a special Pre-Theater menu (though you can also do 3 or 4 courses off of the tasting menu), make sure that you get out on time, and provide a car service to and from the theater – brilliant!  They also have just the best people working there – from Adnane Kebaier, the Maitre d’ who always greets us by our names and seems happy to see us (here is an interesting interview with him about the ins and outs of the job), to Moez Ben Achour, the fabulous Sommelier, and especially our usual server, Jonathan Crayne, who is also the Senior Captain – everyone is just amazing.  Anyway, I’ve never been able to show you photos of their food because it’s usually very dark by the time we get there.  But we recently went for a Pre-Theater (for Book of Mormon, which is HILARIOUS by the way) and because it is summer, the sun was still out!  So I am able to show you some of the gorgeous dishes from our favorite restaurant!

Well Dined | Marcel's Restaurant

An amuse bouche from the chef – smoked salmon with creme friache, chives, and caviar.

Well Dined | Marcel's Restaurant

An elegant take on Crab Louis – crab, avocado, and tomato gelee with remoulade.

Well Dined | Marcel's Restaurant

Alaskan salmon – smoked in house – with red onion, chives, pine nuts, and croutons.

Well Dined | Marcel's Restaurant

The melt-in-your-mouth signature dish – Boudin Blanc.  This is our absolute favorite, we both order it every single time (even though they have started adding a $12 supplement).  It is a white poultry sausage that is more like a mousse – so light and creamy, but also rich.  It usually comes in a truffle sauce of some sort – this time with bits of foie gras in it!

Well Dined | Marcel's Restaurant

Steak with mushrooms, potato puree, bone marrow.  This was Jasper’s entree so I don’t know much about it except that he let me eat the marrow.

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We both ordered the same dessert – peach souffle with peach ice cream and blueberry sauce.  You can’t get more summery than that!

I’m so glad I was finally able to share photos with you from a place that is so special to us!

Summer Pizzas

Well Dined | Tomato and Burrata Pizza

I really love authentic Italian pizza.  The kind with the thin crust that gets blistered and charred in the wood oven.  My favorite place to get it around here is Pizzeria Orso, but I have been trying to make it at home.  Step one is to get a pizza stone.  I leave mine on the bottom rack of the oven.  As long you are heating it with the oven (not sticking a cold stone into a hot oven) it will be totally fine to leave it in there all the time.  In fact, heating it frequently will help keep it clean by burning any spills to dust.  I’ve even left it in there on the self clean mode – totally fine and now very clean!  It will take longer for your oven to preheat with the stone in it, but it will help keep the temperature even and constant.  You will also need a pizza peel to transfer the pizza to the stone.

Well Dined | Jim Lahey Dough

Step 2 for great pizza – great dough.  I have tried many doughs, including whole wheat ones.  For authentic pizza – this Jim Lahey dough is the best.  It takes a long time to make though, so be prepared.  The idea behind this dough is that the tenderness and pocketed texture come from fermenting the dough (for 18 hours, I told you it takes time!), and then handling it as little as possible.  That means no kneading!

Well Dined | Jim Lahey Dough

After letting the dough ferment (like sourdough starter), you carefully remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured surface.  Then you separate it into four parts and gently fold (not roll, or knead) the parts into balls.  Use them quickly or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.  This dough is only good for a couple of days so plan to make a lot of pizza!

Well Dined | Jim Lahey Dough

When you are ready to make the pizza (the oven and stone should be preheated at this point), carefully and gently stretch the dough.  Either in the air on your knuckles, or on a floured surface.  For some technique tips – check out this video.  See those bubbles in the dough, there?  That’s what you are trying to achieve.  Those will blister up and make your pizza awesome.  Here’s another handy trick – I always have trouble getting my pizza off the peel, no matter how much cornmeal I put on there.  So I have started putting the pizza onto parchment paper and sliding that onto the stone.  Then after about 2 minutes (you will smell it starting to char), I slide the parchment out from under the partially set dough – easy! (more…)

Summer Tartines

Well Dined | Summer Tartines

So for the past few weeks I have pretty much been living off of fresh summer produce and cheese piled onto whole grain seed bread.  It’s pretty much all I want to eat.  EVER.  The French call these open-faced sandwiches “tartines”.  I like that, it makes them sound fancy (when really they are super simple).

Well Dined | Fresh Tomato and Ricotta Tartine

The farmers’ market has been bursting with huge, gorgeous heirloom tomatoes.  This beautiful yellow, green, and red tomato made it onto pizza (which I will post about soon) AND some lovely tartines.  I wanted to eat some of this super sweet and juicy tomato raw so I toasted some bread and topped it with creamy homemade ricotta, basil from my garden, slices of tomato, high quality EVOO, high quality sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.  Super simple and sooooooo delicious.

Well Dined | Fig, Ricotta, and Honey Tartine

Next up I paired some fresh figs with more of that homemade ricotta, black pepper, and honey.  Whether for lunch, dessert, or a snack – this tartine is awesome.

Well Dined | Broiled Tomato and Mozzarella Tartines

Lastly, I wanted to experiment with warm tartines and broiled tomatoes, so I placed sliced mozzarella and tomatoes on seedy whole grain bread, drizzled them with olive oil, and broiled them.  Then I topped them with fresh basil, salt, and pepper – yum!  Definitely very satisfying.

What are some of your favorite tartine ideas?  Leave them in the comments!

Shrimp Packets with Mango Salsa

Well Dined | Shrimp Packets with Mango Salsa

Here’s a fun summer dish for camping, grilling, or even using the oven (which is what I did).  It’s easy, fast, filling, and healthy.

Well Dined | Shrimp Packets with Mango Salsa

Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray (I used coconut oil) and raw shrimp, couscous, and a big handful of spinach.  Cook using your method of choice for about 10 minutes – steam will fill the foil packet and cook all the ingredients.

Well Dined | Shrimp Packets with Mango Salsa

Open up the packets and add in a fresh salsa made with avocado, mango, tomato, red onion, and lime juice.  You can eat straight out of the packets, or transfer to a bowl.  Either way, this fresh dish is sure to please the whole family! (more…)

Summer Succotash

Well Dined | Summer Succotash

This stunning dish comes to you from my weekly vegetarian lunches with Melissa from Smells Like Brownies.  Consisting of just vegetables with a little feta, this is about as healthy as you can get!  It’s also super filling and surprisingly delicious.  I say surprisingly because let’s be honest, most people don’t go around graving a pile of veggies.  But this is so good that even my veggie hating husband liked it!  Served warm with a variety of textures and flavors, vibrant basil, and salty cheese – it really leaves you feeling satisfied.

Well Dined | Summer Succotash

Great on it’s own as a lunch, served as a side to chicken or steak (which is what I did with leftovers), or even stuffed into a pita pocket – this is a super healthy AND yummy Summer dish.  It can also become vegan quite easily.  So how about it?  Let’s get some veggies into our lives! (more…)

Homemade Creme Fraiche and Peaches

Well Dined | Homemade Creme Fraiche and Peaches

Everybody knows that peaches and cream go well together, so it makes sense to think that peaches would also pair perfectly with creme fraiche.  I recently discovered that you can make creme friache at home with just heavy cream and buttermilk – which is way cheaper than buying it!  I used the thick, creamy, and tart product in not one, not two, not three, but FOUR peach recipes.  So let’s dig in!

Well Dined | Peach and Creme Friache Pie

First up is a pie that I have blogged about before, but am bringing up again because it is just so freaking good.  Peaches, creme fraiche, and streusel – layered into tender, flaky pie crust.  Definitely one of my favorite pies ever.

Well Dined | Peach Ginger Muffins

Next up we have muffins made moist with the help of creme fraiche, packed with chunks of juicy peach, and with a little kick from both fresh and candied ginger.  My husband LOVED these – we went through all 24 muffins in 2 weeks!

Well Dined | Peach Sherbet

What is better in the summer than a lovely bowl of ice cream?  This peach sherbet gets it’s tart creaminess from (you guessed it!) homemade creme fraiche.

Well Dined | Peach Sherbet

It’s pretty easy to make, too, as far as ice cream goes.  You do have to cook the peaches first, and then chill them.  But after that it is just blend and freeze!

Well Dined | White Peach and Lemon Thyme Galette

Last, but not least, is a white peach and lemon thyme galette served with sweetened creme fraiche.  I, foolishly, did not notice that my peaches weren’t ripe before I peeled them and had to get a bit creative, poaching them in honey, lemon thyme, and white wine in order to soften them before baking.

There are many recipes to choose from here, all of them delicious.  Enjoy those peaches while they last! (more…)

Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Corn, and Goat Cheese

Well Dined | Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Corn, and Goat Cheese

I find it hard to come up with dinner ideas in the summer, I don’t know if anyone else has this problem.  All I want to do is snack on fruit, salads, or fresh tomatoes with cheese.  And I definitely don’t want to hang out in the kitchen for too long.  But this?  I would seriously make this every week if my husband would let me.  This is the BEST summer dish ever.  Gnocchi, summer squash, and fresh sweet corn sauteed in butter and topped with goat cheese, basil, chives, and a splash of lemon juice – perfection.  Plus (other than boiling the water), it takes less than 10 minutes to put together!

Well Dined | Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Corn, and Goat Cheese

Just look at it, you know you want it.  Warm and filling, but not heavy, with bright pops of veg and fresh herbs, it’s the goat cheese that sends it over the edge into awesome territory.  If you crumble the cheese on top and don’t stir it in, then you get a little bit of melted creaminess but also bits of cold that really compliment the gnocchi.  Also, I used goat butter – cuz I’m FANCY… and it’s delicious.

Well Dined | Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Corn, and Goat Cheese

I served it as a side dish with salmon, but it would go well with chicken and it’s perfect on it’s own, as well.  Swing by your local farmer’s market, snag some fresh produce, and let’s get cooking! (more…)

Tabbouleh

Well Dined | Tabbouleh

It’s time for another vegetarian lunch with Smells Like Brownies!  I’ve never really liked tabbouleh.  Maybe because it’s usually cold, or there’s too much parsley, or there’s raw red onion, or it just isn’t that filling – I don’t know why.  As it turns out, Melissa doesn’t like it either!  So when she suggested we try to conquer it, I was skeptical.  But making something yourself means that you get to adjust it until it is the way you like it.

Well Dined | Tabbouleh

Upping the bulgur, balancing the parsley with mint, and using scallions instead of onion certainly helped this dish out.  But what really sent it into yummy land was serving it warm, stuffed inside pitas, with a generous amount of feta.  We managed to turn something we both disliked into something we both loved!  It may not be traditional, but it sure is delicious.

Well Dined | Cucumber Feta Pitas

I bought extra pita pockets and feta to go with my leftover tabbouleh, but ended up with too much!  Melissa had given me some of her CSA cucumbers (since she was drowning in them), so I threw together a quick cucumber salad with feta, mint from my garden, olive oil, and champagne vinegar.

Well Dined | Cucumber Feta Pitas

Because everything is more fun in a pita pocket!  (Except for peanut butter and jelly – I just found out the hard way that that doesn’t work.)

Tabbouleh Pitas with Feta
adapted from Mad Hungry
serves 6

1 cup dry bulgur wheat
2 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, diced (about 1½ cups)
1 bunch scallions, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 1/2 cups minced fresh curly parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 tsp lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp coarse sea salt, or to taste
6 pita pocket rounds
8 oz feta, crumbled

Rinse the bulgur.  Cook in the water over medium heat for 12–15 minutes, or until soft and chewy.  Remove from the heat and stir in the garlic.  Drain of any excess water and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions, parsley, and mint.  Toss together.
Whisk together the lemon zest, juice, olive oil, and salt in a small bowl.  Stir the dressing into the salad to fully combine.
Serve stuffed inside pitas, layered with feta to taste.

Cucumber Pitas
serves 1

1 cucumber, chopped
4 oz feta, crumbled
1 tbsp chopped mint
salt and pepper to taste
splash of olive oil
splash of champagne or rice wine vinegar
pitas

Mix ingredients together, serve with pitas.

Sushi Prince, Fairfax VA

Ah, the ever-continuing quest to find good sushi in VA.  The menu for Sushi Prince had such unique stuff on it that I had to try it out.  A few good items, but mostly this was a disappointment – not worth a return trip.

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This is the item on the menu that really caught my eye – the Viagra Shooter.  Sea urchin, salmon roe, and raw quail egg in ponzu and sake.  What?!  It was really good, but impossible to actually shoot.  I had to get my chopsticks in there and pull out the uni, then shoot it.  Super fun, though.

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Another super weird combination – Monkey Fingers.  These are bananas wrapped in basil, then beef, then fried and topped with a creamy sauce.  It does actually work, somehow, but not perfectly.  Very interesting, but I don’t know that I would order it again.

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This was probably my favorite dish – big chunks of white tuna with avocado and nuta (sweet miso sauce).  The tuna was fresh and I liked the thick, sweet sauce with the avocado.

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BBQ eel bowl with rice, avocado, and tamago.  This was pretty good (it’s hard to mess up unagi), but the tamago was AWFUL – you can tell just by looking at it.

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One of their creative rolls – a BLT made with shrimp tempura, asparagus, bacon, and tomato with balsamic glaze.  Cool idea but it didn’t really work – the bacon wasn’t cooked enough and it was too big of a bite.

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Another creative roll that fell flat.  The carbonara roll has scallop and shrimp with tamago, bacon, asparagus, and creamy masago with balsamic glaze and pesto.  The flavors didn’t really come together, it just didn’t work.

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We did order some normal sushi, it was pretty “meh”.

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The kushi yaki was alright.

All in all this was pretty disappointing and below average, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Kanikama Salad

Well Dined | Kanikama Salad

Kanikama is the imitation crab meat you find in cheap sushi rolls.  It is made from white fish (pollock usually) that is formed and colored to look like crab.  Sounds gross, but is actually pretty tasty – and way cheaper than real crab.  Kanikama salad is a pretty typical way to prepare imitation crab outside of sushi rolls.  It usually involves kanikama, shredded vegetables, and mango in a light mayonnaise based dressing and is sometimes topped with tobiko.

My version is kanikama and mango over lettuce, served with avocado (I meant to get tobiko, too, but I forgot!)  This is really light and refreshing, and a little bit sweet – perfect for summer.  It’s important to realize that Japanese mayo is different from American – it is lighter, thinner, and made with rice wine vinegar.  For my dressing, I bought Yum Yum sauce thinking it would be good as is (it’s a mayonnaise based sauce that they use at Hibachi grill restaurants).  But when I tried it out, it was a bit too sweet and bland.  So I added a splash each of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, and toasted sesame oil (easy on that last one, it is very strong).

I don’t really have a recipe – it’s more of a play with seasonings til you like it kind of thing.  You could add in julienned carrots, cucumber, even summer squash.  You could dice the avocado and fold it in with the mango (which I did on subsequent days).  You could toss the lettuce in the dressing as well, instead of setting the dressed kanikama on top.  There are lots of ways that you can make this your own.  Leave a comment telling me how you like your kanikama salad!

Well Dined | Kanikama Salad