Martini

What is that saying about Martini's? One is not enough but two is too many!

I love Martinis. Frankly, I don't trust a man who drinks, "Wine Spritzers."  Butch up Dude and get a real drink. And, by the way, no you can't have a Cosmo.... you are a Dude. (It's okay for Ladies).


Like Bond, I prefer my Vodka, shaken not stirred. No Vermouth, just Vodka shaken hard in a metal shaker with ice and poured into a large martini vessel. I am partial to olives with jalepenos. But I also like fresh blackberries. (above left).

I really enjoy sitting down to a meal in a restaurant and starting off with a cocktail. It's just civilized sipping a proper drink and chatting with your date before you open the menu.  

I keep a bottle of Vodka in my freezer at all times. When the mood strikes, I pour the syrupy clear liquid into a martini glass and enjoy. This afternoon is so hot it is all I can think about.

I don't drink often, but when I do, I prefer Potato Vodka. In my opinion, it is the best Vodka because it has a stronger flavor than the more refined grain brands. I typically drink Luksuswowa Vodka. It is strong and smooth. Yet it also has a very strong finish that is not for the faint of heart. Chopin is probably the best known and most refined potato vodka you can find. What's your favorite Vodka?

Home Cooking

In my mind there is no reason why you can't eat as well at home as you can at a restaurant. Granted, there are amazing Chefs out there that turn out some pretty special meals. But why not try and serve something memorable every night.

Always start with good ingredients. Look for steaks that are nicely marbled. Don't be afraid to spice your meat properly. Learn about spices as simple as Salt. For example, I use Kosher Salt on Beef and my cracked pepper is set on the largest grind possible.

Get a meat thermometer and become a snob about cooking your meat to perfection.




Look for the Wild Salmon for that special Saturday night meal. You will notice in looking at the salmon on the right that it is bright in color. The Salmon eats a particular shrimp that turns its flesh bright orange and provides a unique flavor. Farm raised Salmon while eco-friendly is just too bland for a special meal.

I prepare good salmon as simple as this: I lightly coat it with olive oil on both sides.  Season with Maldon brand Sea Salt and pepper. 

In a very hot pan, sear the fish on both sides (about 3 minutes a side) and finish in a 400 degree oven for about 7 minutes. You fish should come out medium rare.

I like to serve salmon over Jasmin Rice. This takes about 20 - 30 minutes to cook so plan ahead. Depending on what looks good in the produce department I might blanch either asparagus with a dash of Balsamic or brocoli with a squeeze of lemon.

I typically don't find that really good salmon requires lemon but trust your own taste buds. Because I just got back from Napa, I served the salmon with an amazing bottle of Far Niente Chardonnay. 

Pizza

I make Pizza for Taylor every few weeks because it is something special that we can do together. There is a bit of a time committment but your efforts will be well rewarded so no whining.

All Good Pizza starts with the dough and there is no big secret to making it. The first step is to put a package of Dry Active Yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in 1 1/2 cup of warm water. Set it aside and place 3 3/4 cups of flour in a large bowl. Add 1 tblspn of salt, 2 tblspns of olive oil.  After about 5 minutes add the yeast and stir the flour mixture with a spoon. It will turn into dough at this point. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and rub some on your hands. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Place one tablespoon of oil in bowl and roll the dough in the bowl until it is well coated. Cover loosely with plastic and set aside in a warm dry area to rise for about two hours.

After two hours break your dough and divide into two balls. Loosely cover them with plastic and let them sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes roll out one of the balls with a rolling pin. You can either make two pizzas or wrap the second dough ball and store in the refrigerator. It will store for about a week.

The toppings are personal and you should use your imagination. Tonight I put my homemade Vodka sauce on it and a mixture of Gouda and Parmesan Cheese. The meat is bacon and I also put some Chives on to finish it. I brushed the crust with Olive Oil and sprinkle a bit on top of the pizza before putting it in the Oven. This makes the crust golden brown and crunchy. Cook for about 13-15 minutes in a 450 degree oven on a stone that is dusted with corn meal.

Now if you really want to be creative you can cook your Pizza on the grill. To do this put your dough directly on the grill and lightly toast. Remove it from the grill and put on your board toasted side down. Add your toppings and return to the grill. Cook on medium heat for about 12 minutes. Lightly cover with aluminum foil for the last 5 minutes to ensure that the cheese will melt.

CHOPPED?

It's Wednesday night and I was just was not motivated enough to go the Store. Taylor was hungry and cranky so I thought maybe I could make something from the fridge rather than ordering pizza. Unfortunately, the fridge had that all too familiar look.

For some reason, I started thinking about Chopped, a cable show where the "contestants" are Chefs who are given a random series of ingredients and 30 minutes to create a spectacular meal. The ingredients are typically something crazy like duck, M &M's, plantains and potato chips. They inevitably come up with a chocolate and plantain reduction for the duck which is pan fried with a potato chip crust. It usually looks fabulous. But that's not my life.....not tonight anyway.

Food on Hand:

1/2 pound of frozen medium shrimp.
Brocolli
Asparagus
Garlic
1 Red Pepper
Carrots
10 apples
Chicken Stock
Jasmine Rice

You know what I am thinking right? Stir Fry. We all know that it is the thing to do when you have basically nothing to eat.

So I start the Jasmine Rice which takes 20 minutes to cook and start thawing the shrimp. In the meantime, I remembered a sauce that would be perfect for the stir fry: Combine in a bowl, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 2 tablespoons of Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Canola Oil, 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon of ginger powder or fresh ginger if your fridge gives it up, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Stir and put aside. I did not have any corn starch but you could add a bit to stiffen the sauce if you have some on hand.

Dice the red pepper, carrot, 2 cloves of garlic. Cut up the brocolli and asparagus.

Heat some Canola Oil in a pan at medium high heat. Toss in garlic and cook for one minute or until tender and then add the shrimp. Salt the shrimp and saute it until it is pink. (2 -3 minutes). Remove the shrimp from the pan and add a bit more oil. Toss in the carrots for 2 minutes or so, add the other vegetables and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until the brocoli is just tender.

Throw the shrimp back in and add the sauce. Toss together for about a minute or two. Serve over your rice. If you are like me tonight and do not have any red wine, serve with Berry Juice.



I Made This

 I am on a roll now. So I think why not toss some apples in brown sugar and put them over ice cream?

I heated 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan and added about 1/8 cup of brown sugar. Once both had melted, I tossed in 2 apples, peeled and cubed. I added about a teaspoon of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of cajenne pepper. I tossed the apples until just soft on the outside but crispy and warm when you bite in. I then poured the apples-sauce over the ice cream.  It was sweet, warm and spicy. A perfect finish.

After dessert, I anxiously wait for the Judge's verdict. Taylor looks up from her bowl and glances in my direction.  After contemplating my fate for a moment, she calmly informs me that I had not been "chopped."

Sushi Ko



Tuna 5 Ways. The fatty tuna was like butter.

 Soon took me out for sushi at Sushi-Ko on Wisconsin Avenue for my birthday. Sushi-Ko has been around at least 30 years and is D.C.'s first sushi restaurants. Amazingly, Sushi-Ko remains one of the best sushi restaurants in the City.

Sushi, everyone loves it and yet so few people really know what true quality sushi tastes like. How else do you explain Safeway brand Sushi?


With Sushi, it is important to start with an understanding of the rice. You can serve the finest quality fish in the world and if the rice is not good, the final product is ruined. Rice is everything with Sushi!

So, how do you recognize good sushi rice?  Sushi rice is a very starchy rice that has a unique flavor. The rice when prepared properly offers a blend of the sour from the rice-wine vinegar and the sweetness of the sugar. After cooking, the rice is spread out to cool evenly with a wooden spoon in a special wooden sushi rice bowl. If it is done correctly, each kernel of rice will move around freely in your mouth. In other words, it will not stick together in a lumpy and starchy mess. It should perfectly complement the fish that is gently placed on top and not ever compete. If the rice is hard, crunchy or salty the sushi is going to blow.

The fish should be so fresh that there is no need to drown out the flavor with wasabi. Too much wasabi between the fish and the rice and there is something wrong with the fish. Or the Sushi Chef is a non. (Short for Non-Sushi Chef or often used, by me, to describe someone who can't. i.e., "non" as in non-skier.).

Finally, you want your selection of fish to be unique and exotic. If you just really like California Rolls or tuna, go to Safeway. At Sushi-Ko, their Fish Monger often finds exotic fish like Jack Fish, Big-Eye Tuna, Spotted Prawn, Abelone, California Sea Urchin and fresh Mackeral. You want the rolls to be fine dining experiences that show the creativity of the Chef without being a sideshow.

Quail Eggs on Flying Fish Row. Can you really go wrong combining eggs of different species? The creaminess of the quail egg combined with flavor of the ocean that bursts free from the flying fish row is just too good. The Crunchy Spicy Tuna Rolls were spectacular. I always say that a good measure of a sushi restaurant is whether they use the tuna that is getting old to make their spicy tuna. Sushi-Ko gets it and uses only the freshest Tuna to make all of their rolls. They understand that the spices should enhance the flavor of the fish not mask the use of rotting fish.

You want a good sushi restaurant to serve authentic Japanese dishes. Not Thai Food for God's sakes. We followed our seaweed salad with yellow tail tuna jaw grilled and served with Sea Salt and Japanese Radish. It was awesome. The dark meat by the fin is oily and loaded with fishy flavor. If you are open minded enough to try this dish you will be blown away by the flavor.








The Softshell Crab Tempura Roll is a sushi restaurant staple. But when it is served warm with a sweet sesame and spicy sauce it transcends the expected. If you have the time, order your sushi one dish at a time and really enjoy the flavor. Then think about what would be a perfect complement to what you just finished.

Bottom line, I love to eat and Sushi-Ko in my opinion is the absolute best around.

P.S., we followed up dinner at Bourbons with Dino and Farah. Thanks Soon for a perfect Birthday!

Tom

The Pat Conroy Cookbook

Hilton Head, South Carolina is located is on the East Coast of South Caroline near the Georgia border. I spent a summer there in college with my friend Bill.  We stayed in a duplex off of the Island in a little town called Blufton. Bill's sister Mary lived on the first floor. At the time Blufton was a sleepy little town that was undeveloped and lined by the May River.

Mary was completely dialed into the South Carolina scene and knew just about everyone on the Island. She had a friend that lived on the last working Plantation on the Island. I remember that it was an amazing property that is long since gone. On Sundays, we would ride down to Savannah, Ga where drinking was allowed. Bill and I worked in restaurants on the Island and over the summer we got to know other college kids from the South. I have fond memories of my time in the South and many of the kids I met that summer became lifelong friends. I have continued to return to the South since that summer and I fall more in love with it as time passes.

Of course times change and as you get older, my idea of a good time is no longer hitting a private club until 5:00 a.m. and crashing on the beach.  I much prefer to get a good nights sleep and hit the links at sunrise. At the same time, there is something to be said for waking up in the blazing sun with a blinding hangover, the left side of your face sunburned, sand stuck to the right side of your saliva soaked face, looking around and realizing that the beach is full of families and kids. Of course the farther away from 19 years old you get the more difficult it becomes to pull off sleeping in public.

There is just something about Magnolila trees dripping with Spanish Moss and walking on soft pine needles in the shade that reminds me of images I have seen imagined in books I have read. For me the South is about mystery and great food.  I think of books like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a novel about a murder trial set in Savannah, Ga. I also have enjoyed Pat Conroy's books about the South and as an outsider looking in I feel like he has captured the feel of the South. I particularly liked the Water is Wide and My Losing Season. The Lords of Discipline is one of my favorite books.

About six months ago, Soon gave me "The Pat Conroy Cookbook" to read. I admit, I thought it looked a bit lame so I left it sitting on the coffee table all of this time. I finally got around to reading it on my recent trip to Napa and I really enjoyed it. It's an autobiograpy about his life as it relates to food. He lived in places like France and Rome for long periods of time and its a great read about his life in these places. He writes about cooking for weddings and funerals and makes you wish you were there. In particular, Conroy has a knack for telling stories about the people he has come across in his life that are just about as eccletic as you will find. It's interesting to me because I have always associated food with my friends and traveling. My own trips to places like Paris and Rome have inspired me to at least try to reproduce the dishes I have experienced.

As a way to thank Soon for giving me the book, I promised her I would cook some of the recipes he has included in the book.  Unfortunately, I do not have permission to publish the amazing recipes in the book but luckily a few are published on other sites!  Tonight, I am going to try Breakfast Shrimp and Grits. This is a dish I have eaten down South so I am looking forward to giving it a shot. I will write about it tomorrow and share a few pictures. Here is a link where you can find the recipe.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Recipes/story?id=238804&page=1

A witness at trial in the movie, My Cousin Vinny said, "no self-respecting southerner would make instant grits." And you should not either. There is a significant difference in flavor and texture between the grits that take 1/2 hour to an hour and instant grits. But if you are lazy and you like the taste of cardboard don't take my advice. You want to cook your grits so that they have nice creamy texture.  I have found that the trick is to cook them for about 5 minutes left than what is listed on the label. That way when you set them aside, they will not become too firm before you serve dinner.

 The recipe is very simple and easy to prepare. The combination of the butter and bacon makes an amazing sauce that perfectly flavors the grits. The only change I might make to the recipe would be to double the amount of bacon you cook and double the butter. I am suggesting this to extend the amount of sauce. Otherwise, it is an amazing recipe.

This definitely would make an excellent Mother's Day breakfast!

I always get a kick out of surprising Taylor with exotic fruits I come across in the market. This is  a Horned Melon, also known as African Horned Cucumber. The skin is smooth and a bright orange. The flesh is bright green and the flavor is a bit sour and sweet. The kids loved the spikes all over it. Horned Melon is an african fruit that grows on vines that look a lot like watermelon.








Looks Weird Tastes Great