Monday, July 26, 2010

Carrot Corn in Pesto Side dish


side dish
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
We needed to take a dish to our summer league swim team banquet, I went with a cold side dish to beat the 105 deg heat. I had just seen a recent episode of The Perennial Plate and made a similar dish.
Ingredients
Two bunches of carrots with leaves
the same amount in volume of baby corn
For Pesto
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup or more of basil
the carrot leaves cleaned
2 tablespoons of toasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

The carrots and corn I cooked in salted water

Carrots

I cooled the corn and carrots in ice water, then I cut the carrots to the appoximate size of the corn.
I cleaned and sorted the carrot greens

carrot greens

and the basil

basil

And pureed it in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients

blender

I then combined corn, carrot and pesto in a bowl and placed in the refrigerator. We took it to the party and it all disappeared.

carrot and corn in pesto

The Perennial Plate Episode is below, a great, interesting video log of a year of sustainable eating in Minnesota.

The Perennial Plate Episode 19: Summer Vegetables from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.


Saturday, July 24, 2010

Blackberry Ribs


rub Ribs
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
The Girl picked a recipe for baby back ribs and we made them this weekend.

For 5 lb of ribs we created a rub using
5 tablespoons of chili powder
8 garlic cloves minced
8 peppercorns crushed
2 tablespoons of salt
2 tablespoons of dry oregano
2 tablepsoons of cumin
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce

We rubbed the ribs in this paste

kids

and rubbed

Ribs

on all sides including the bone side

Rub

We then covered them and let them rest in the fridge for 3 hrs while we made the sauce. Ingredients

close to 3 cups of blackberries (ours where fresh)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 roma tomatos
3/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of fresh ginger

This was all put in a blender and blended

blender

We then strained and cooked the suace till it reduced by half

look

taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (and or hot sauce) as needed

burnt my finger

The ribs were cooked on the grill at around 250-300 degrees for 2 hours We added some smoke from dried thyme and rosemary that had succumbed to the heat. Finally se basted with the sauce till they looked like this

done

pork ribs

We served it with pimiento de padron fried and served over salt

pimientos de padron

Which makes a great tapa by the way... these were from La Tienda

de padron

Even the dog got a taste of ribs

feed the dog

but mostly we enjoyed them, and the fun of cooking with my kids!

taste

My daughter is a stickler for following the recipe and deserves all the credit on not letting me screw up.

Gaby

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Eating Out - Pescados China Street


EAT
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
The boy and I recovered nicely from our visits to Stuzzi and Acacia, and headed to Pescados on China Street. The original on Midlothian has been a favorite of mine since the first time I went there. Having grown up in Puerto Rico, I am generally loathe to try dishes I grew up with anywhere else, but at Pescados those dishes shine.

We drove up and parked and was immediately alerted that I had parked in a high risk of towing area by a man who identified himself as the owner. I left the boy and moved the car. On my return the boy was on a first name basis with the owner of Pescados.

We took a seat and waited for a table, all the time the staff where incredibly nice and pleasant (maybe cause the boy was tight with the owner). The restaurant was full with again a good mix, many older couples and groups of couples where finishing up dinner (around 8pm) and younger couples and groups where filtering in. Several women from my neighborhood came in and said hi.

Eventually we were seated and we ordered some appetizers, the conch fritters and some ceviche.
The ceviche was mixed, squid, scalop, shrimp and fish

ceviche

It was served with Yucha chips. I love ceviche, I make it and have had it across the caribbean, and this was very good, but not the best I've ever had. The conch fritters were also very good.

conch fritters

A nice taste of the ocean without the sauce overwhelming them.
For entrees I went with the whole fried fish, which I will say, I never order without some trepidation. In PR I can get whole fried fish on the beach from a gazillion places, always fresh always perfect. In Richmond not so much... unless the place is called Pescados. I have had this three times, now at both locations and each time it has matched or exceeded my expectations.

whole fried fish

Crispy in all the right places, garlicky and moist flesh. Perfect in my opinion.
The boy ordered the halibut with yucha

Halibut with Yucha

The fish was again perfectly cooked, the yucha in tomato sauce was outstanding. I don't know if it requires growing up eating these foods as comfort foods to appreciate how great they are, but trust me this yucha dish is as good as I have ever had.

for dessert the boy had the chocolate tart, which he liked,

chocolate tart

I thought it was good but certainly not the highlight of my meal.
I ordered the avocado tart, which I had had before and liked

avocado tart

It is tangy, like a key lime pie, but creamier with the avocado.
We laughed it up during dinner, compared dishes and overall had a great time. As we were leaving we were met by a loud, "Hey Dante (the boy) how was dinner?" from the owner, the boy exclaimed his approval as the owner bade him (not me) goodnight. We had a great time excellent food in a very comfortable setting. I was very impressed with how comfortable they made us, especially the boy, who felt like a rockstar.


Pescados China Street on Urbanspoon

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Eating Out - Stuzzi and Acacia


happy
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
The boy and I spent a day of eating out. We had read multiple Stuzzi posts online so we figured we would check it out for lunch. On a Friday it was busy, but not crazy, good mix of people, several families with kids, couples, larger groups... a good mix like I said. We checked out the oven and ordered the oven roasted olives, and the calamari fritti from the appetizer menu, a roasted pepper and anchovies salad and a carnivori pizza all for both of us to share.
I only got a picture of the pizza

stuzzi pizza

the pizza was very good, (as many have pointed out the pies get a bit moist in the center, apparently from cooling on the plate, ours had a little puddle of water in the plate. But I think this added to the contrast of the charred bottom crust) We both loved the calamari, the salad was excellent colorful and tasty as were the olives, that when baked in the oven take on a more luxurious texture. Certainly will go back.

Stuzzi Pizzeria on Urbanspoon

I swung the boy into The Belmont Butchery and we bought some foie gras for another time. Satisfied we returned home did some reading, played some video games and headed off to dinner. I wanted to hit a nice place, somewhat in defense of fine dining (Just messing with you RVAfoodie)
We chose Acacia, one I've never been and many proclaim it as one of the best restaurants in Richmond.
We showed up around 7:30 without a reservation and decided to sit at the bar rather than wait for a table. The boy hid from the paparazzi.

laughing

We ordered two appetizers, pork belly with mushrooms on seaweed

pork belly

and the beef tongue

beef tongue

Both where very good, but it is hard to compete with the pork belly fatty and unctuous the tongue tasty but understated.
For our main course we both went with crab, I had the soft shell crab

soft shell crab

and the boy had the crab cakes, which were served with a bacon cream sauce and some of the best polenta I have ever tasted.

crab cakes

We decided to finish out the night with dessert, he had the almond cake pastry

almond cake

I had the chocalate ganache, but was more impressed with passion fruit panacota accompaniment

passion fruit panacotta

We had such a great time, yes we spent a lot of money but the food was excellent and the company better. We where treated well which isn't always the case when one dines with a kid and we laughed and talked into the night.


Acacia Mid-town on Urbanspoon