Five years ago, almost to the day, I embarked on my semester abroad in Strasbourg. This morning came DCist’s mention of L’Auberge Chez Francois, an Alsatian restaurant in Vienna (whose owner is a friend of a gentleman who guided many of my travels through Alsace), and shortly after that, an email from an old friend (and fellow culinary adventurer), pointing me to this piece in the Times, hailing the virtues of Alsace’s signature dish, choucroute.
Now I’m hungry and desperately miss Strasbourg, with its cheap, plentiful, amazing food and even more mind-blowing wine (I was there in the better days of the dollar). The article does a nice job in describing how good choucroute can be – even I, shy of pork product and anything cabbage-like, cannot resist its warm, tasty allure – but of course sticks to its theme, and does no more than mention any of the other amazing foods available in this oft-invaded region.
Below is a recipe for one of my favorites, the above-mentioned Tarte
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09Jan
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07Jan
What’s 6- 8″ long, firm, and covered in smooth silky skin with a delightful velvety feel? Get your mind out of the gutter – we’re talking deep purple skin. We’re talking Asian eggplant.
These babies are more banana shaped than the familiar plump seedy Italian variety. They have no seeds to speak of, none of the bitterness, and the skin cooks up so tender that you never need peel it. The flesh has a luxurious texture. Naturally you can find them at any Asian grocery but sometimes chain supermarkets carry them too – make sure they aren’t wrinkly or soft feeling (I know what you’re thinking.)
Here’s a great recipe with a piquant hit of vinegar to help cut any greasiness. Asian or Italian, all eggplant absorbs oil.
Eggplant with Garlic Sauce- Mix 2 TB shaoxing wine or dry sherry, 2 TB soy sauce, 1 1/2 TB hoisin sauce (the Koon Chun brand is far and away the best), 1 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce (most Asian groceries carry the Huy Fong Brand- with the green plastic lid. This is pretty hot stuff – you may want to start with less. 1/2 tsp ordinary red pepper flakes will do but the sauce will be better and worth it), and 2 TBSItalian red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Add about 1″ oil to a large hot deep frying pan. Make sure oil is hot or the eggplant will absorb like a sponge and be indigestible. Prepare 3 Asian eggplants (about 1 lb) cut on the diagonal into fat round slices about 1″ thick. Place as many slices of eggplant as you can flat in the pan. As they lightly brown on one side, turn them over. When brown on both sides and gently softened (not mushy) remove to a paper town to drain excess oil. When the pan is empty, add more oil to make 1″, heat, then add remaining eggplant. Cook, remove as done before and drain on a clean paper towel.
- There’s probably no oil now left in the pan so if needed add another tablespoon, then add 1 generous TBS finely minced garlic and 1 generous TBS finely minced ginger. Stir fry for 15 seconds over medium heet – don’t burn. Mix sauce mixture, add to pan, stir, bring to a boil and reduce heat.
- Gently and carefully add eggplant back to sauce in pan. Spoon sauce over slices. Sprinkle with Asian sesame oil. Cook until tender, a few more minutes. Don’t overcook.
- Plate, and top with chopped scallions.
-MHF, Guest Blogger
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05Jan
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04Jan
The latest step away from bricks and mortar commerce?
The latest $500 “lifestyle enhancement” Steve Jobs has suckered you into?
It’s how you pronounce the name of my little enamel lifesaver.
My Ibrik is the preferred method for making coffee everywhere from Albania to Uganda and Algeria to Afghanistan. Ya’ll are going to recognize the drink* it makes as “Turkish Coffee”, probably.
Normally on a weekday I’ll brew a pot of drip or nice little french-press and on the weekend I’ll bust out the nespresso or the hand tamped espresso machine. But I’ve been moving house for the last six weeks** and it’s meant that my many means of caffeination have been sequestered in paper and cardboard.
Now, I haven’t gone even 10 hours without coffee since I was 17. I set the coffee maker to go off before I get up and make drip coffee with extra espresso grounds. I’ll be damned if a little elbow grease is gonna be what stands between me and good teeth grinding, red-eyed, itchy-palmed case of the jitters***.
I have a two cup Ibrik, so if you’ve got a different size you can use those math skills your teachers promised would matter later in life and figure out how to adjust this.- Take 2 heaping scoops of fine ground coffee****
- Take 2 heaping scoops of sugar
- put in in your Ibrik with enough water to come up to the neck
- Put it on the burner on a medium flame (or about 3/4s heat electric) and start stirring with a non conducting spoon like it’s your new hobby.*****
- You’re going to stir until the coffee sludge boils just to the top of the ibrik but not over.
This may take a couple tries but don’t worry you’re just slow learner. - Now pull it off the heat and let it cool until the foam goes away and it isn’t going
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02Jan
Making granola is surprisingly easy and satisfies the inner control freak in all of us because we get to use exactly the ingredients we want, to the exclusion of all others. An approximated “recipe” follows (more like a collection of suggested steps intended as a starting point for experimentation).
Orange-Sunflower-Flaxseed Granola
1. In a large saucepan, mix 2/3 cup honey, 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp orange extract (optional) and heat on low until the mixture is thin but not yet boiling.
2. Turn off the heat and stir in 1/4 c orange juice, 3/4 c sunflower seeds, 1/4 c flax seeds, and about 5 cups of rolled oats. Stir the mixture well so that all the dry ingredients are coated. If it looks too soggy (beyond moist), add more dry ingredients. You do not want to start with a soggy mixture because it will take forever to bake off the moisture.
3. Spread the mixture onto a baking dish so that it is no thicker than one inch. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, stir, then continue to bake and stir thoroughly every 8-10 minutes or so until dry. This may take more than 45 minutes, depending on your oven.
4. Allow to cool before storing. It may clump a little bit but you can break it up.
Optional ingredients include other nuts (chopped into medium-sized pieces) and dried fruits like cranberries and raisins. Your finished product will be excellent for breakfast, or, if you’re just home from work and really tired, dinner. -
28Dec
Real hot chocolate isn
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27Dec
In Anthony Bourdain
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23Dec
It’s Indian in origin, brewed from plain black tea with a little milk, spiced with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, maybe some fennel seed, maybe some other things. As dcfud’s token vegan, I have my chai with soymilk, which should not have a flavor so strong that it overpowers the others.
Does anyone have a favorite chai recipe? Over the holidays I plan to experiment with making my own and am seeking advice. I’ll use loose black tea, of course* , but am not sure about spice blends.
Chai to consider (or avoid):
Mudd House (1724 M St): Good chai, rich and not too watery, make sure they don’t use spoiled soymilk, which happened to me once.
Zebra Lounge (Wisconsin Ave and Macomb St): Terrible chai, thin, watery, no flavor. I bought a cup and didn’t bother finishing half of it.
Left Bank Cafe (4731 Wisconsin Ave): Good chai, a little more spiced than most, which is refreshing. Nice atmosphere as long as people aren’t conversing loudly–it’s a small place. Last time I visited, they were playing the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. Say what you will, I consider this a plus rather than a minus.
* Whenever I use teabags instead of loose tea, I feel a little bit like a tool; this is not to say that I don’t use teabags all the time, it just feels the same as eating sushi with a fork. What if someone sees me? -
22Dec
There are so many ways to piss off your traditional grandparents: Wear blue jeans to dinner. Curse in front of their card-playing buddies. Date a significant other who comes from a different ethnicity -
17Dec
It is the season for yodeler-divas to warble heartfelt, smooth rock remixes of german christmas carols from every retail loudspeaker. It is the season for every distant dad to play caring parent long enough for photos of their nuclear family smiling around a fireplace to send with holiday cards. It is, apparently, the season for dcfud to get really bitter and wordy.
But if you think dcfud is bitter, we can
