Rappahannock Restaurant

Oysters + pearls
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I visited Rappahannock Restaurant in Richmond, VA twice, both with my parents who fell in love with the place on the first visit and insisted on a return visit. This was several months ago now, so the menu may have changed.

We ordered the brandade A potato and cod emuslion of sorts, which my father really enjoyed. Also the Cured Salmon We ordered clams Which came with toasted bread. Delicious and briny, great seasoning. I always order oysters, but we also ordered pearls and oysters, the combo of oysters and salmon roe. This combo is perfect, and my father in particular loved it and ordered it on our next visit as well. The boy and I had the lemonade from the bar which was excellent. Very likely will go back for more oysters and the great seafoood dishes. Certainly beats having to go to DC for great oysters.

Sushi-O

Sushi o
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I had lunch at Sushi-O in Midlothian. The food was very good, although expensive. I had the Yellowtail ceviche



The marinade was incredible, sweet, a bit spicy and paired very well with the fish and the radish garnish.

I also had the lunch menu 2 piece (octopus and spicy tuna) this was served with a cucumber salad. The salad was very refreshing, The spicy tuna was very tasty and the octopus perfectly cooked.



I enjoyed every dish, but still was a bit sticker shocked at the prices (notable on their menu) The host and waiter were great and the place is very cool.

IronFish

squid
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

My wife and I went to IronFish for our 17th wedding anniversary. A Friday night, she had called ahead, but they don't make reservations so we braved it anyway. The wait when we got there around 7:30 was 45 minutes, which is not horrible but enough to get your attention and think of different options. We stepped outside and started calling other nearby restaurants, but within 20 minutes the hostess came out and called our name. We bypassed several larger parties that had been waiting longer than us, as a 2 person table had become available. I was a bit embarrassed but then figured out that they couldn't have sat those people at this table anyway. The restaurant is very nice with some booths and two table areas as well as a bar which was packed. My wife had seen the Richmond Magazine cover of best new restaurants with the fried squid and wanted to get that as an appetizer so we did. We also shared a bottle of wine (tempranillo, which we brought home and finished off the second half of the bottle at home, hey it is our anniversary)



The squid were very tasty and tender, there are banana peppers breaded and intermixed which add a nice tangyness, but my wife doesn't particularly care for that. I thought they were good. My wife ordered the crab cakes for her main course, (althought she vacilated between the lamb shank)



She liked them very much and actually brought one home and had it for lunch today, thought it was still very good. I ordered the whole branzino



Perfectly crispy with flacky meat. I love the crispy tail and flippers. I did not bring any home as none survived. We shared two desserts, the key lime pie with mango cream and the chocolate cake



both very good, but the key lime pie was the more tasty of the two. We had a very nice evening, the service was very prompt, casual and friendly despite what looked to be a very busy night. As we left we could hear the wait staff explaining that some items where sold out, but we did not run into that issue. This is another great addition to the RVA seafood restaurants, we will definitely be back.

Sensi

crab cakes
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I went to Sensi with a large group of people and we had a tremendous meal, and a great time. I tried to document most peoples dishes but didn't succeed with some, here are some of the great dishes we had.

They offered us a mixed appetizer dish (for parties of 7 or more) which included fried calamari



very thick not gummi or hard, perfectly cooked.
Seared tuna with onions



Mini crabcakes



all where excellent (I may have missed some)
On the mains we had:
Lamb chops



Risotto with seared tuna



crab cakes



Fetuccini with pesto (for the vegetarian in the group)



and the ribeye



The food was tremendous, and the ambiance great. We put down a couple of bottles of wine and brought home a ton of food. a great place to eat as a group, but also one for couples as they seated us away from the 2 people tables.

Paella negra con esparagos

Paella negra con esparagos
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

Black rice paella with white asparagus.

I made a small paella for lunch. I wanted to make a very dark inky rice, some of my previous attempts yielded a rice much more on the grey side, so for this dish I used a much more generous amount of ink. This paella also ends up being meatless, vegetarian friendly if you don't mind seafood products.
The ingredients are few:

Asparagus, these are very high quality canned white asparagus



quality assurance tab





You should taste the liquid the asparagus come canned or jarred in. If it tastes good, not overly salty or metallic tasting then save it and use it as part of your liquid for the rice. This liquid was saved and used. (about 3/4 cup)

I also used a high quality cuttlefish/squid ink. I've used the little envelopes before and they are just ok, this really has a great squid aroma, and also I believe, a higher protein/collagen content. It is thicker and ends up being very unctuous in the finished product.



I used a cup and a half of bomba rice



I used hot pimenton as I figured the heat would go well with the ink and scarcity of ingredients






Chopped onions and garlic round up the ingredients.



Preparation; I heated up a small paella pan



Added olive oil and sauteed the onions and garlic



as soon as the garlic began to brown I added the rice and sauteed it with the onions and garlic



After half a minute or so I added the pimenton, about one teaspoon



I mixed it in and quickly added my liquid (the pimenton can burn and turn bitter rather quickly) which was just the asparagus water and regular water to make up 3 times the rice volume, so in this case 4 and a half cups



I then added two heaping teaspoons of the ink



I mixed to incorporate and tasted for salt.



The ink adds a bit of salt but it still needed a pinch more. I let it boil on the stovetop and the color began to set



It was very fragrant, smelling of the sea with clearly noticeable squid aroma.
When the rice was nearly dry I added the asparagus over top, they are already cooked so just need to warm up a bit.



Served the dish was excellent, a very unctuous mouth feel, almost silky awesome ocean taste with a nice texture and taste contrast from the asparagus.



Clearly the rice turned a deep shiny black which I really liked. The ink would also make a great base for a pasta sauce. May have to buy some squid bodies and stuff them with the leftover rice, they would be nice grilled. Excellent dish overall.

Octopus Terrine

octopus terrine
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I had bought a pair if frozen octopi the last time I was at the fish store, The act of freezing the octopus actually makes it more tender after cooking. Defrosted the octopus in the fridge over a couple of days and tried to decide what to make. I was going to make it for escabeche with capers, olives, onion and peppers, or a traditional galician way but decided instead to make a terrine that either way if it fell apart or had leftovers I could still make into escabeche.



defrosted octopi

I set a pot of water to boil, with no salt (it's supposed to make the octopus more chewy) a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns, and a penny (traditionaly octopus is cooked in a copper pot which gives it a darker color.)



I then dunked the octopus into the water 3 times letting the water come back to a boil after each dunk.



We shot a bit of a ponderous video of the whole process

terrine of octopus from Eugenio Monasterio on Vimeo.

As you can see we cooked potato in the same water after the octopus was done. The octopus was seasoned and placed in the terrine with plastic wrap, and unmolded the next day.



My son says it looks like a fossil. We served up the potato with pimenton



and served it all up



Served with some olive oil and some sea salt on the side. Turned out very tasty and makes a cool presentation.