Also, I love using cereal as breading when I fry chicken; alas the only variety in our household that day was Honey Nut Cheerios, so that wasn’t gonna work.  Instead, I found a can of potato sticks (which always stab me in the roof of my mouth when I eat them) and some baked Triscuits (which are quite good) and ground them up with fresh sage and rosemary from the balcony.

After soaking the chicken in some buttermilk left over from a cupcake recipe, I dredged them in flour, dunked them in egg wash and spackled them with my breading mixture.  Smashed yellow potatoes accompanied the frybrid  chicken and I seasoned the dish with some Hawai’ian lava salt.

Summer Classic

Wanna know what the best part of Sunday is?  Brunch.   A few weeks back I hosted a Saturday brunch that stretched into a nine-hour eating a drinking extravaganza.  When I woke up Sunday morning, it was brunch time again!  This time it was just brunch for two,  rather than 11.

Since we had so much left over from the day before, it only made sense to incorporate leftovers into the meal.  First off, I sauteed fresh asparagus, shallots and chicken in a pan before adding scrambled eggs and cheese and baking it into a frittata.  Then I took a cookie cutter and cut out squares from left over biscuits and toasted them before topping with asparagus.  I also chopped up some watermelon.  It was a lovely meal to eat alongside the Sunday paper.

More chicken.  The other night I made brick chicken in an old cast iron skillet that used to belong to my grandma.  I also used a brick which used to belong to the College of Wooster.  And a chicken that used to belong to a poultry farm.   If you work quickly and efficiently, this meal takes less than 45 minutes.  I rubbed the chicken with a chipotle-lime rub and paired the ultra-moist bird with local green beans.  It was awesome.

Side note:  the silicon handle grip if from Hill’s Kitchen in DC.  Great store…check it out sometime.

Last but not least:  A few weeks ago, I spent a long weekend at my parents house in Kentucky.  The primary reason for me visiting was because I could grill out as much as I wanted to see my parents.  One night I grilled a de-boned leg of lamb.  One of the pieces was a big thick hunk of meat that I let cook in a cooler corner of the grill for the better part of an hour.  It was cooked absolutely perfectly, but I didn’t know this until two days after our return when we decided to slice it up and have it for dinner. That’s good stuff.

I also decided to make dinner a step-by-step photo essay of sorts.  Before we get to the pictures, a brief listing of the ingredients:  corn from a possibly-soon-to-be-extinct-farmer’s-market, onion, butter, ham, basil from our balcony, feta cheese and eggs.

Step 1:  Saute thinly sliced onions in butter.

keep the onions thin

Step 2:  Cut fresh corn off the cob

Step 3: Add corn and ham to pan and heat through, then sprinkly basil on top.

Step 4:  Add beaten eggs

Step 5: Add feta and bake in 400 degree oven until firm

Step 6: Serve

Pretty simple stuff, huh?  My favorite part are the corn kernels on the sides and bottom that turn golden brown from baking in the oven.  Fresh asparagus, prosciutto, red peppers and chives would have also been great ingredients to try.  Frittatas are so simple and easy, even people in Bahrain can make them

]]> http://baconisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/frittata-its-italian-for-baked-omelet/feed/ 1 baconisbeautiful onions corn ham eggs feta oven http://baconisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/part-ii-of-local-cheap-eats/ http://baconisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/part-ii-of-local-cheap-eats/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:15:38 +0000 baconisbeautiful http://baconisbeautiful.wordpress.com/?p=50 Continue reading →]]> Time for the second part of my cheap, casual, delicious, local dining establishments.   And away we go:

Vince and Dominics: Located in a strip mall behind Montgomery Mall, VD’s is pretty bare-bones when it comes to decor and furnishings but is  always occupied by a youth sports team or two because there’s so little of anything for anyone to break.  Go for the pizza, stay for the…actually don’t stay; get it to-go.  Their thin crust pizza is bliss…you have to specifically ask for thin crust, but you’ll be rewarded if you do.  The current favorite is the Bacon household is thin crust with sausage and feta.   Oh, and there’s a reason I said to get your pizza to go–aside from not having to sit in a sea of sugar-jacked kids–the pizza comes out of the oven so hot that it’s almost soupy.  It’s better to let it cool for a few minutes on the drive home.  That way you can sit on your own couch with your own pizza and your own beer and watch your special edition copy of Bride Wars Gladiator.   Yeah, Gladiator.

Amsterdam Falafel: It’s damn good stuff.  What you need to know:  cash only (they do accept euros, too); they have three menu items: large pita, small pita, fries; there are rules about the topping bar–heed them; the place is always packed, but the line cruises.   A few months ago–after a night of drinking and trivia–my gf and visiting brother made our way to AF before metroing home.  As much as we tried to persuade my brother to get falafel, he insisted he wanted meat so he went to Jumbo Slice and got….cheese pizza?  Whatever.   Meat or no meat, this place is great and the toppings are fantastic and run the gamut from parsley and garlic to fried cauliflower.   And the garlic mayo is great on anything, even pizza crust.

Part III:  soon.

Lamb, beans, tomato, and couscous

Recent dinner: Homemade (and home ground) lamb shawarma, farmer’s market green beans, the 1st tomato from our balcony garden, cukes, and couscous with craisins.   This is a great summer meal and very easy to make.  There was also homemade tzatziki sauce, too.

The Perfect Summer Meal

This is easily in the top 20 meals I’ve ever cooked.  The weather only helped compliment the cooking, as it was a breezy, low 80s evening with a gorgeous sunset.  I decided to make fresh ground lamb burgers with feta cheese on greek pita.  I was also really tired of the normal rice/pasta/potato side dish so I combined a can of chickpeas, a can of kidney beans, a can of baby corn, some roasted red pepper and some frozen green beans.  Then I tossed it with a light dijon dressing and paired it with a Vignoles from a local MD winery.   One of the best burgers I’ve ever had.

This meal can be mad just as quickly on a grill as the oven.  Rather than broiling this fish, I laid it on a bed of asparagus, topped it with shallots, dill, orange, and butter.  I then sealed it in a pouch of parchment paper (adding white wine before completely enclosing) and steamed this in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.  I actually paired this with some homemade sweet potato chips which went surprisingly well with the fish.

More posts soon–and more often!   Got any requests, questions, ideas?  Send em my way!

Despite what looks like a near-daily crusade by Sean Hannity against the President, even this is a stretch.  At least I know that my grandma nods her head in approval at BO’s option of mustard.  She didn’t even allow ketchup in her house when my father was growing up–it’s what peasants ate, I suppose.  Personally, I prefer a little mayo (it keeps the juices from soaking into the bun) and a little BBQ sauce (for the smoky tang).   I do fault the free leaders from ordering their burgers medium well, but nobody’s  perfect.  Anyway, the reason I bring up the dynamic duo’s now infamous lunch is because of the amount of attention that was given to the burger joint.  Don’t get me wrong, Michael Landrum has quite a devoted following for Ray’s Hell Burger and his other Washington-area establishments, but there’s PLENTY of other affordable eats in the lobbying cesspool of the world.  These places are casual, casual, casual.  Most don’t have tablecloths, some don’t even have tables.  Onward…

The Greek Deli–open from 7am to 4pm andcatering to the white collar crowd in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, a 15-20 minute wait in line is the norm, not the exception.  In the world of food, it’s usually quantity v. quality, but not at The Greek Deli.  Expect mounds of fresh, homemade food for a great price.  Just today I opted for the Gyro Platter:  Made-to-order gyro, green bean salad, and orzo for less than $10.   The menu is small, but covers all the classics and their avgolemono soup and bread are the perfect combatant to a rainy day.  

La Frontera–Don’t expect typical restaurant service; in fact you’ll probably have to seat yourself and place your order with a waitress that doesn’t speak English.  No matter, the Mexican/Latin American food here is comforting, filling, and cheap!  The interior is nothing to get excited about and your conversation may be strained by the sounds of soccer matches and Spanish soap operas unraveling on the wall-mounted TVs.  If you can ignore the superficial flaws of La Frontera, you can focus your energies on the menu.  It’s vast and varying, but offers some real gems.   Locals typically order the Sopa de Res, however the pork and cheese pupusas are great as are some of the slow cooked chicken dishes.   La Frontera is located on the back side of a strip mall behind a Korean grocer, so you may have to look hard to find it, but you’ll be rewarded.

Woodside Deli–located in Germantown MD, this place sticks out like a sore thumb (and their sleek and modern looking web site is the opposite of how this place looks on the inside).  See, Germantown is an unincorporated town in MD and if it’s more than 90,000 residents ever decided to incorporate, it would become the 2nd largest incorporated city in the state.  It’s also home to the Department of Energy, the testing facility where OJ Simpson’s DNA was sent, and has a water tower painted like the world. Now you know!  Because it’s not incorporated, Germantown is a model suburban sprawl town and because of that, there is very little that looks like its been around ‘forever.’   Except for the old train station, the Cider Barrel and Woodside Deli, this town is severely lacking in the charm department.  Located in a strip mall, Woodside is part diner, part nostalgia, all business.   Everything on the menu is available at any time.  Many visitors opt for the softball-size matzoh balls in broth, while an equal number go the route of pancakes.  Some order both.  My favorite is the No 5:  The Baby Jane.  My GF refers to it as ‘a pig on bread.’   As far as I’m concerned, ham, bacon, swiss, tomato, mayo on grilled rye is just delicous, name be damned.  The hidden jewel of this place though is the chocolate dipped macaroons in the confectionery’s case.  Totally worth it to order a few and take them with you.  Occasionally they are sold out–the manager confided that they get the macaroons from Baltimore only a few days a week.  One word of caution:  Woodside isn’t the place to go for blintzes. 

Roy’s Place–Never mind the fact that the menu has more than 200 sandwiches or that they have more than 30 beers, this place is even better than that!  It’s windowless, sits below a highway overpass, has checker tablecloths, dim lighting, a website that hasn’t been updated for four years, and is a stone’s throw from the railroad tracks.  What more could you ask for? Nothing, because this place has it all.  It takes virgin visitors at least 15-20 minutes to wade through the huge menu, so do your whole table a favor and order drinks, an order of fried zucchini and ask for a side of garlic mayo.  As much as I’d like to discuss the sanwiches, I think its better that you experience it yourself, but I fancy the #34: Mother’s Ruin.  The only thing more impressive than the menu is that if when you order your sandwich by number, your waiter/waitress will recite the name of it and vice versa. 

Part two tomorrow:  Vince and Dominic’s Pizza, Amsterdam Falafel, and more…

Since we’re on the subject of complete, unabashed, embarrassing over reaction, let’s talk about how the world has handled this utter retardedness.

• Egypt:  ordered the slaughter of all pigs in the country.  Every. Single. One.  This edict is being carried out despite a single case of H1N1 in the country.  With 90% of the nearly 80 million residents claiming Islam as their faith, let’s just go out on a limb and say that decision was religiously inspired.  For you naysayers that are claiming it was a safety precaution, I ask you this:  how many chickens were killed when bird flu made its appearance?  And how many cows have been disposed of since the discovery of mad cow many moons ago?  Guess that rib cart next to the Great Pyramids is gonna end up as another Subway.  Eat Fresh, Egypt. 
• China:  Nothing says ‘we believe in human rights’ quite like rounding up Mexican visitors and isolating them.  In at least one instance this meant a stay in a room with “bloodstained sheets and what appeared to be mucus on the wall.”   Sounds like a Motel 6 to me.
• Mexico:  Shut down the country (free vacation).  Proposed legislation to legalize drugs (holla!) and told people not to visit.  I suppose when your currency is already so weak, what’s another catastrophe or two?
• USA:  Holyfuckingshitwe’reallgonnadie!  Despite the dire predictions and exasperated pundits claiming that we were about to become a nation of death, nobody listened.  Well the media listened to each others stories and it quickly became a game of one upsmanship.  Between school quarantines and threats to avoid confined public places, it seemed the only people who heeded this advice were Nats fans
  

  Gotta be safe; this fan looks to be protecting himself from the swine flu that flying pigs carry. Courtesy of the Washington Post.

• Israel:  Not wanting to be left out of the League of Lunatics, they play up the whole ‘we’re-better-than-you-because-we-don’t-eat-pigs-because-they-are-dirty’ angle.  They decide to call it Mexican flu.  For a group of people who are so sensitive to being stereotyped, you sure know how to play the game.  
• Canada:  Shut the fuck up…it’s still hockey season.

In conclusion, fuck everyone.  If the media keeps up with this sensationalism, real crises will be ignored.  It’s like a modern day ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf…Blitzer.’

Oh, and for the record: I had chinese pork spare ribs for dinner last night and they were fucking delicious.  Eat your heart out, hypochondriacs.

And for all you tweets, it’s not funny when it’s true.  http://xkcd.com/574/

shrimp and mussels with curry cream and shallots

I love mussels–they are dirt cheap (At Asian grocery stores $2 usually gets me a 2 lb bag), cook in less than 5 minutes and are very, very, versatile when flavoring/seasoning them.  More often then not, I prepare them the traditional way with white wine and parsley or with sherry.   However, for the mussels seen in the accompanying picture I went a slightly different route: steamed mussels with sauteed shallots (in a little butter and olive oil), light cream, curry powder, parsley, lemon and shrimp.  The curry powder was a fantastic break and really added tremendous depth to the dish.   I paired this dish with a crusty baguette (the crustier the bread, the better for sopping up the broth) and cheap bottle of Riesling. 

Total time: 5 min prep, 10 min cook.
Total cost: +/- $12, not including wine.
Best part of the meal:  this is a one-pot dish so clean-up is really easy

chicken tikka with coucous and cucumber yoghurt sauce

This second dish also has curry powder in it (I’ve been on a kick lately, if you hadn’t noticed), and is used in a more traditional manner.  As good as the chicken is, it’s the accompaniments that I’d like to focus on. 

Couscous:  it’s very hard to find somebody who doesn’t like couscous–after all, it’s basically pasta crumbs.  Conversely, it’s also damn near impossible to find anyone who loves couscous; there just isn’t much flavor.  Because of this lack of oomph, couscous is one of those side dishes that is perfect for tweaking and manipulation.  My go-to is to add raisins(sweetness and texture), toasted pine nuts (flavor), parsley (color), and saffron (aroma, color, pizazz).     

Cucumber Yoghurt Sauce:  To play off the heavy, deep, strong flavors of the chicken, a cool, clean, and crisp yoghurt sauce is the perfect foil; and it couldn’t be easier to make.   Plain yoghurt, diced cucumber, salt, and pepper are all you need.  Additionally, if you want to thin out the sauce just add a little milk or cream.  Side note:  plain yoghurt is ideal for making healthier dips by substituting 1/2 or all of the mayo content you cut calories and add flavor. 

Total time:  10 min prep, 30 min cook
Total cost: $15 for four people including naan (not pictured)

Guatemalan Tamales

Okay, this last dish is a very long and involved recipe/process, but it’s always worth it and it can be made in large quantities for freezing.  I included it for a variety of reasons:  how often do you get to cook with banana leaves?  Speaking of banana leaves, the majority of tamales are made with corn husks, but not in Guatemala.  

Another unique aspect to these tamales is that they are supposed to include an olive in them which is always an unexpected treat.  The ones in the picture were pork, but in the future I’m going to make them with chicken.  Once you spend the 1-2 hours making the tamales, they can be frozen and then reheated in less than 15 minutes.  These are spicy, but you can change them to your liking.

I didn’t include any of the recipes for these but if you’d like one–or all–just add a comment or email me. 

Lastly, big shout-out to the crew of the USS Gettysburg; the newest readers of this here blog.  I’m trying to figure out the best way to send a care package with some of my prepared foods that have a long shelf life.   Until then, continue playing Pirates of the Somaliaribbean.

I usually listen to music, podcasts, npr, anything at work because it keeps me focused.  Couple that with the first official week of spring, for me at least (NCAA Finals, Opening Day for baseball, and occasionally the Masters), this past week was chock-full of great listening diversions.  It only made sense for me to listen to the Masters on Thursday afternoon.  This meant visting ESPN.com and clicking on the live viseo coverage of Amen Corner. Even though it was video, I just minimized the window and let the sounds of the tournament play out in my headphones.   

At some point, I closed a document or clicked on the wrong tab and the ESPN feed popped up.   In the few seconds I watched and listened, a wave of childhood memories came flooding back.   It was a feeling I hadn’t experience in probably 15-20 years.  

I can’t remember the first time I started watching golf, but I do remember there was almost a ritual/routine to it.  In the summer, weekends were almost always reserved for yardwork/cleaning, going to the pool, and grilling out.  In that order.    Typically my parents would either force us to clean our rooms or help with the yardwork (for some bizarre reason, I love mowing lawns) BEFORE we were allowed to go to the pool. 

In my neighborhood, going to the pool was the highlight of most of the kids’ days, mine included.  On the roughly mile drive to the pool, my brother and sister and I (insanely) would force our parents to keep the windows closed and air conditioning OFF in our van which had spent the entire day baking in 95+ degree heat.  Our theory was that we would be sufficiently ‘cooked’ by the time we got to the pool and jumping into the cool water woud feel that much more satisfying. Sadly, we nearly always arrived during rest break/adult swim which foiled our grand plan.  Hey, nobody said we were the smartest kids. 

In the late afternoon we’d pack up, head home, shower and change into dry clothes.   My brother and sister would usually retire to the basement to watch TV  while I headed to the hallway near the kitchen and my parent’s bedroom.   My parents owned this 5 inch black and white TV/AM/FM radio combo thingie and my dad would pull it out of their bedroom and put it on a stool so that he could watch from the kitchen and I would sit and watch from the hallway floor.   Now this TV received only the best channels:  4, 5, 7, 9, 13, 20, and AUX.  Because of the limited viewing opportunities–and the fact that cable had yet to arrive in our neighborhood–invariably it was always golf or the evening news. 

So I suppose that this is where my attraction to golf first started.  Quite often during the summer I think of my early golf memories, but this past week was the first time those memories seem return en masse and overwhelm me.  Maybe it was the quiet piano music that accompanied the leader board graphic, when combined with the less than HD-quality resolution that my computer monitor offers that awoke thos vivid memories or maybe it was just my brain waking up and realizing that summer is just around the corner.

Side note: To this day, however, the only memories I have of my dad in the kitchen are of him making his nightly scotch on the rocks with a twist and him eating a Slim Jim.  My mom always cooked; he grilled; I watched a tiny TV that was so snowy that once I almost saw a golf ball on the screen.

Pork Two Ways

While most people ask Santa for toys, Starbucks gift cards, an adjusted mortgage or the latest technological wet dream from Apple, I usually go the cookbooks and kitchen gadgets route.  Let’s face it, a proper asparagus steamer beats any Star Wars Lego set any day of the week.  Anyway, this year I must have been a really good boy because I got a KitchenAid Stand Mixer!  To accompany my new culinary workhorse, the GF got me the sausage maker and sausage stuffer attachments.  Praise Allah!    Woot-woot!

The best part about making sausage is that you know EXACTLY what’s in it.  No mysterious pieces of gristle or startling bone fragments.  You can flavor and season it to your specifications and regulate the fat-to-lean ratio (although fat adds tremendous flavor and moisture).  The sausage seen in the picture above was my 2nd or 3rd batch that I’d ever made and it was the first batch where I really hit the marks in terms of proper seasoning. 

It was never my intention to make pork two ways, but when I was slicing up the pork shoulder into meat-grinder sized pieces, I looked down and was pesented with thick, meaty, beautifully marbled piece of meat (food porn?) that I decided to cut and reserve for another use.  The remainder of the meat was ground and combined with garlic, kosher salt, white pepper, fresh sage, and a dash of curry powder before being encased in natural casings and refrigerated to let the flavors do their thang.

That left me with my hunk of meat.  Traditionally, pork shoulder needs to cook for a long time at a low temperature in order for the meat to be tender and moist without being tough.  I decided to make a rub with the same ingredients I used for the sausage, save for a bit of olive oil which helped create a sticky paste I could slather over the meat.  I tossed it into a 300 degree oven for 5 hours and hoped for the best. 

What turned out is the penultimate winter dinner/comfort food.  I pan fried the sausage and fork split the roast pork.  Two completely different tasting pork dishes made from the exact same things.  I accompanied the meat with some Klamath Pearl potatoes that I boiled, smashed, and added a dash of light cream, butter, salt and pepper to.    The potatoes which are creamy and not too starchy are quickly becoming a favorite of mine. 

If you’re ever expecting a big snowstorm, this is the perfect dish to create while you watch the snow fall.

That said, I feel it’s necessary to talk about the blog and what my goals for this blog are–that way I might stay focused.  Before we go down that road, I’d like to explain why I’ve been reluctant to start this blog;  quite simply bacon has ‘jumped the shark.’  Don’t get me wrong, I love bacon and have since I was a wee one.  True story: bacon and eggs was the first meal I remember making.   Good or bad, bacon has become this fad ingredient that’s being featured everywhere, from fashion to food to freak show.  Because of its new-found popularity and subsequent overkill, I began to question whether or not I’d even enjoy writing about fried strips of pork belly. 

The answer was a rather emphatic ‘no.’   So for the last few months I’ve been searching for my schtick and at times I’ve felt like a vegan at a slaughterhouse: scared, despondent, light-headed, confused and irritated.  Or something like that. 

In the end I just decided to start a blog and write about whatever I want and if it works it works, if it doesn’t then I’ll become a vegetarian.  Maybe. 

With that out of the way, lets lay down the ground rules:

• This blogs will feature substance and style.  Ok, maybe not style.
• I promise no posts that are just a strange pic or vid from the interwebs–although I have a pretty sterling reputation for finding some of the internet’s weirdest shit.
• Nothing too political.

In a perfect world, this blog will be a delicious blend of topics revolving around food, marketing, deep thoughts and things I find humor in.   In reality it’ll probably end up being lots of dick jokes, trivial rants, and fleeting thoughts or emotions.  Yay, un-erasable internets!

Starting tomorrow, we’ll go full speed ahead.  Until then, I’ll leave you with my mantra:  ‘No man has ever felt true pain until he’s cooked bacon in the nude.’