Kitchen Wench

They are also selling duck breast (as well as duck legs, as previously mentioned), whole duckling, veal chops, and Australian lamb legs.  Today there was white asparagus and Brussels sprouts on the stalk.  And they doubled the number of express check-out lines and added self-check out lanes.

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

I mean, the customer service is still as surly as ever, but it’s like they’re actually trying to stop sucking so bad.  Did someone just read my mind and finally give me what I wanted after 2.5 years of torturous shopping experiences at that store?!

I feel like I just entered the bizarro world.

As I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, I hate the Columbia Heights Giant.  In fact, every time I go in there, I leave either in a state of total rage, utter dejection, or both.  But I can’t seem to stop shopping there because it’s a few blocks from my apartment, right on my walk home from the Metro.

Giant has a section in the meat aisle called “SOMETHING SPECIAL”, which usually amounts to a few packages of free range chicken breasts and some sad-looking organic steaks.  However, last week I actually did find something special: duck legs!  They’re imported from Canada and what really blew my mind was that they cost less than $3 a piece.  I’d never cooked duck before, but for $2.70, I figured I could afford to screw it up.

As it turns out, roasting a duck leg is pretty much idiot-proof, and it’s delicious.  Roasting is also great because it’s easy, it renders out most of the fat, and the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender.  Lee and I actually split one leg along with a salad, butternut squash, and roasted onions.  For a heartier meal, use two legs.

Five Spice Roast Duck Leg

• 1-2 duck legs
• seeds from half a pomegranate (you could also substitute pomegranate juice for some of the wine)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 star anise pods
• dry red wine
• Chinese five spice powder
• salt, pepper, sugar

1.  Score the skin side of the duck legs with a knife.  Rub a pinch each of salt, pepper, sugar, and five spice powder onto the skin.  Be a little generous with the salt.

2.  Place duck in a baking dish along with the onions, garlic, anise, bay leaf, and pomegranate seeds.  [Tip: The best way to seed a pomegranate is in a bowl of water. Here's a video that shows you how to do it.]

3.  Pour enough red wine into the pan to come about half way up the side.  Cover the dish tightly with foil and roast at 375 for 1 hour.

4.  Remove foil from dish and continue roasting for another 30 minutes until the skin is crispy.  Alternatively, you can crisp the skin under the broiler.

5.  When the duck is finished, pour the excess fat out of the pan and reserve from later use.  (I hear it does wonders for potatoes.)  Serve the duck with pan sauce and roasted vegetables.

Serves 2.

Warning: This has nothing to do with food whatsoever.  Something happened to me on my commute home today, and I feel the need to rant.

Like many people in the DC area, I take the train to work.  Unfortunately, this being the nation’s capital, a lot of tourists also take the train.  I think the Green line generally fares better than other lines because there are fewer attractions and hotels on it, but it is not immune to influx of often clueless tourists.  Today, something happened that symbolizes everything I hate about our modern, affluent society and the parents and children that it breeds.

In the middle of rush hour, I get on a crowded train car only to be immediately greeted by a pair of rambunctious children jumping around and climbing up/sliding down the main pole by the door.  I and my fellow commuters squeeze ourselves past and around them, since these kids have pretty much rendered the pole unusable by any one else on the train.  I look around for a minute, wondering where their parents are.

I then hear this voice behind me say, “I’m not going to tell them to sit down.”  I turn around and realize that it’s Dad standing behind me and he has just informed Mom that he is about to completely check out of this situation.  He doesn’t say another work for the rest of the time I’m on the train.  I look to my other side and see Mom, sitting 3 rows back from her children, her view almost completely obstructed by commuters.  “Okay,” she says.  She then feebly calls out to her children, “Stay still!”

Obviously, they do not stay still.  Instead, they proceed to poke, punch, growl, squeal at at each other and generally thrash around the entire ride.  The boy will punch his sister, prompting her to scream, “MOM!” very indignantly.  Mom will then poke her head up from her seat, try to crane her neck around 4 people, and asks  what he did to her.  The boy shrugs and gives her this incredulous look, like, “I don’t know!  She must have just punched herself! Crazy!”  Then the whole sequence starts all over again.

“Are we at Greenbelt yet?” the boy yells out.  Greenbelt!  That’s another 20 or 30 minutes on the train.  All I can think about is how bad I feel for the people who will have the displeasure of riding all the way out to Greenbelt with this family.  At one point both children lean in to look at the system map, sticking their little upturned noses just inches away from the faces of the people sitting in front of the map.  Both commuters frown and tilt their heads to the side to avoid having their faces touch.

No once does either parent make a move to get up, separate their children, or otherwise attempt to discipline them.  Every so often, Mom will weakly suggest that they, “Stay still” or “Be careful, people are getting off”, a call which goes unheeded since it’s obvious that she can’t actually see them.

PUBLIC TRANSIT IS NOT A PLAYGROUND FOR YOUR ILL-BEHAVED CHILDREN.  This is a public place and their behavior is making it difficult for people to get on, off, and otherwise stand comfortably on the train.  While these kids were clearly annoying, I don’t blame them for not knowing proper Metro etiquette.  But parents, PLEASE, control your kids!  I know they don’t always want to cooperate, but at least make an effort.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve never ridden the train before; this stuff is common sense!  What it implicitly says to me, as a casual bystander, is that you really don’t have any respect for the other people around you.  And you’re just passing that lack of respect on to your children.

I hate it when people cannot be bothered to think about how their simple actions affect others.  Don’t get me wrong, we do inconsiderate things at times.  But what gets me is when it’s an action that is totally preventable or a situation that is easily correctable, and the offender remains totally clueless.  These parents could have gotten up at the next stop, separated their quarreling kids, and put them in a seat.  Instead, they did nothing.

I am going to be the meanest mom ever.

One of my guilty pleasures is buying the occasional issue of Martha Stewart Living. Really, I’m just embracing my future middle-aged woman self… Anyway, the October issue had this big spread about heirloom pumpkins, which come in a rainbow of colors and textures. But I assumed that I wouldn’t be able to find any of these pumpkins because I don’t live in Martha’s Magical Universe, which is populated by heirloom plants, monogrammed towels, antique glassware, and giant Chow Chow dogs.

As it turns out, you can get heirloom pumpkins in D.C.  I found several varieties at the Penn Quarter and Dupont farmers’ markets, including Long Island Cheese pumpkins. I bought a Long Island Cheese because the color and shape was so pretty.  They also happen to be good eating pumpkins, and now that Halloween is over, I decided to cook it.

Thai-spiced Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is modified from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Silky Coconut Pumpkin Soup from their book Hot Sour Salty Sweet.

I used a Long Island Cheese pumpkin that was about 14″ in diameter (probably 5-6 lbs).  To prepare the pumpkin flesh, I cut it into 6 hunks, removed the seeds, and then roasted the slices with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper for about an hour in a 375 degree oven. I then scraped out the flesh and mashed it roughly with a fork.  You can prepare this several days ahead.

• 4 cups mashed pumpkin
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 (13.5 oz) cans light coconut milk
• 4 slices of high-quality bacon
• 1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
• 5 shallots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp sweet curry powder
• 1/2 tsp Thai curry powder
• 1/4 tsp ground tumeric
• 1/4 tsp Thai chili powder (or cayenne powder)
• a couple tsps salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1.  In a dutch oven or other large pot, cook bacon on low heat until very crispy.  Place cooked bacon on paper towels to drain.  Pour off excess fat, leaving about 3 tablespoons in the pot.

2.  Add onions and shallots.  Cook on medium heat until translucent and softened.  Add garlic and cook another minute or two more.  Stir in mashed pumpkin and cook until pumpkin is heated through.

3.  Add coconut milk, chicken broth, and parsley.  Bring up to a gentle simmer.

4.  Puree soup.   If you have an immersion blender, you can do this right inside the pot.  If you don’t, you should get one, because it will change your life.  Barring that, you can puree the soup in a regular blender.

5.  Add spices, fish sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Gently simmer for 15 minutes or so to allow flavors to meld.  Taste and re-season if needed.   Serve soup with pieces of crumbled bacon on top.

Makes about 4 quarts.

Well, maybe not ever, but it’s definitely the best chili I’ve ever made. This chili is more of a Mexican mole-inspired flavor. It also contains some of the best things in life–bacon, beer, coffee, and chocolate–and you can taste all of them in the final product. There is a little heat, but not so much that its overpowering. This is a bit different from traditional chili, but I think it’s delicious and well worth the effort.

Buffalo Three Bean Chili

I adapted my version from this recipe and this recipe.

• 4 Vidalia or yellow onions, diced
• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 strips of bacon, sliced into 1″ pieces
• 3 lbs ground buffalo
• 2 1/2 lbs sirloin, cut into 1″ cubes
• 3 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
• 3 (12 oz) bottles of dark beer (I used 1 Porter and 2 Dopplebock)
• 2 cups strong coffee
• 4 1/2 cups of low sodium beef stock or broth
• 4 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp Penzy’s regular chili powder
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp dried toasted onion
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 4 tsp hot sauce, such as Cajun Sunshine or Tabasco
• 6 canned chipotle chilies in Adobo sauce, 4 seeded, 2 with seeds,  diced
• 3 fresh jalapeno chilies, seeded and diced
• 3 dried California chiles (aka dried Anaheim chiles), pureed
• 2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans
• 2 (15 oz) cans red beans
• 2 (15 oz) cans pinto beans

This recipe makes about 10 quarts of chili, so you will either need a really big pot or you can split the recipe between two pots.

1. Prepare the California chile puree.  Remove stems and seeds.  Cut or tear chilies into 1″ pieces and soak in boiling water until soft.  Puree chilies using a food processor or stick blender.  Strain puree through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove any tough pieces of skin.

2. Cook bacon on medium-low heat until the meat is crisp and fat has been rendered.  Remove bacon from pan and allow to drain on paper towels.  Add onions and cook until softened, 10 to 12 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for a few minutes more, until garlic is soft but not browned.

3. If your pot is big enough, add the buffalo and sirloin to the onion mixture.  You may need to add some  vegetable oil to the pan.  If your pot is too small, remove the onions and garlic and then brown the meat in small batches. Once all the meat is browned, add the onions and garlic back to the pan.

4. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, coffee, beer, and beef broth.  Bring up to a simmer then add the spices, sugar, salt, chocolate, and chiles.  Reduce heat to low and add the beans and bacon.  Very gently simmer the chili for 2-4 hours.  For optimum flavor, let chili cool overnight and serve the next day.  If chili becomes too thick, you can thin it with some additional broth or water.

I have to confess that I don’t usually make my own pasta sauce. It’s actually not that hard, but the jarred stuff is so convenient. Also, there are so many more brands of tomato sauce being stocked in the grocery store these days, and many of them are worlds away from that Ragu or Prego crap. (I like Rao’s a lot, though it is on the expensive side). However, the DC farmers’ markets are still flooded with heirloom tomatoes, so I thought it would be good to take advantage of ever-shrinking season.

The ingredients for this sauce are very simple, though the process of roasting does add some time. However, I think the result was well worth the effort. I plan to make a huge batch next weekend to freeze for later. This stuff is definitely just as good as the most expensive gourmet jarred sauce, if not better. Plus, it’s going to taste amazing with some meatballs.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

• 2 lbs fresh, ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 280 oz can of whole plum tomatoes
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, cut into ribbons
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (The Romans used it and chefs do too)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
• 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp ground pepper (or to taste)
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay fresh tomatoes cut side up on a cookie sheet. Lay the whole canned tomatoes on a second cookie sheet. Save the juice from the can for later. Cut off the top of a head of garlic and place it on the same sheet as the canned tomatoes. Drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. I found that the fresh tomatoes took longer to cook, so it is advisable to use two separate pans. Roast until tomatoes begin to brown on the edges and the garlic is very soft, about 30 minutes for the canned tomatoes and garlic and 50 minutes for the fresh tomatoes.

2. Place the roasted tomatoes in a large pot. Peel the skin off the garlic and add the softened cloves to the tomatoes. Add the reserved tomato juice from the can. Using a stick blender, pulse the tomatoes and garlic until the sauce achieves your desired consistency. (I like mine a little chunky.) If you don’t have a stick blender, you can do this step in a food processor or a regular blender.

3. Place the pot of sauce on the stove over medium-low heat. Bring sauce to a gentle simmer and add fish sauce, balsamic vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper, and dried herbs. Reduce heat to low and allow it to barely simmer for about an hour or more. If the sauce starts to get too thick, add some water and lower the heat. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as necessary. The flavors will meld and intensify over time. A few minutes before serving, stir in the fresh basil.

Makes enough sauce for 6-8 servings of pasta.

These were inspired by the sweet potatoes from Teaism, which they serve with a miso dressing. However, these are much better, if I may say so myself. Teaism serves their sweet potatoes cold, and the texture gets rather mushy and gloppy. Roasting crisps the potatoes on the outside, but the inside is still soft and creamy. Mixing the dressing in right after they come out of the oven creates a glossy, sticky glaze.

Miso-glazed Sweet Potatoes

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 2″ cubes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons of miso dressing from 101 Cookbooks

Miso Dressing from 101 Cookbooks

• 2 tablespoons miso
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard (or a bit of whatever mustard you have around)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or honey or agave)
• 1/4 cup (brown) rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup mild flavored extra-virgin olive oil (I substituted vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon pure toasted sesame oil (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss sweet potato cubes in vegetable oil.  Pour into shallow baking dish and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until tender.

2. Whisk together miso, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar.  I popped the bowl in the microwave for about 20 seconds to soften up the miso paste and make it easier to blend.  Pour in a thin stream of oil while whisking vigorously to emulsify the dressing.

3.  Toss warm sweet potatoes in 4 tablespoons of dressing (or to taste).

I usually don’t think too hard about why I do this. Writing feels familiar and comfortable. It’s not that is feels natural, like breathing, but that it feels routine and “normal”, like brushing your teeth before going to bed. Like brushing your teeth, it’s become sort of a habit. It would feel strange not to do it, because that’s what you’ve always done.

But it wasn’t always like this. This weekend, author and essayist David Foster Wallace hanged himself at 46. It is incredibly sad, for a multitude of reasons. I felt a little lurch inside me when I heard the news. I have always loved reading, but it wasn’t until high school that I started reading authors that made me not just want to consume words, but create them myself. David Foster Wallace was one of those writers.

Unlike many of the books I read for class, DFW was a modern American author. He was still alive; in fact, at the time, he was in his mid-thirties. So, I wrote him a fan letter. It was several pages long, typed. I told him all about how his book made me want to write, but that I also felt paralyzed by my own fear and perfectionism. Later, I read over it and became a bit embarrassed by my boundless enthusiasm and precocious rambling. I consoled myself with the fact that he’d probably never read it, that the publisher would never actually route the letter to the right place, and it was probably sitting in some mail room in New York gathering dust this very minute…

He wrote me a thank you note. When my mother handed me the letter, I just stared at it for several minutes, too terrified to open it. What could he possibly have to say to me? I felt about as insignificant as a dust mote, and this man was heralded as one of the greatest authors of modern time. In slanted, blocky script, David Foster Wallace told me that letters like mine helped him and that he too struggled with a harsh inner critic. The note was deeply humbling, encouraging, and personal. He signed it with a funny smiley face doodle. I was utterly delirious.

I still have the note, nearly ten years after I received it. I kept it tucked away in my bedroom and would reread it on occasion, still stunned that David Foster Wallace had sent me a handwritten thank you note. I briefly considered applying to Pomona, just so I could take a creative writing class with him. In the end, practicality won the day, and I went to college close to home. I still continued to read him over the years, but had forgotten all about this little exchange.

Today, I feel like I am inundated with words. Every morning, I read the newspaper on the subway; my Outlook inbox at work is constantly overflowing; and I get agitated just looking at the unread post count on my Google Reader. Amidst all this incoming data, it’s easy to forget that words can do more than convey the most basic of information.

When I first read David Foster Wallace, I knew I wasn’t grasping the entire depth of the work. But I could tell that he was blisteringly talented, and that his moments of brilliance were often heartbreakingly beautiful. What also struck me about Wallace was his ability to observe and understand other people (both real and fictional). As Laura Miller describes in her Salon article, he had a singular way of connecting the reader to the most unlikely of characters. I never had any illusions that I could write using language and vocabulary at such a high level. I did, however, cling to a sliver of hope that I could aspire to capture human experiences in a humorous and perceptive way. I still do, and I guess that’s why I’m still here writing this.

So, this is a fun little game, courtesy of the Very Good Taste blog. This is a (subjective) list of 100 foods that every good omnivore should try. Copy the list to your blog and then bold the items you’ve eaten. You can also cross out anything that you would never consider eating. I didn’t cross anything out because I figure, I’ll try anything at least once (though I am not exactly running out to get carob chips, nettle tea, or a Hostess fruit pie).

I’ve eaten about 60% of this list, which I think is pretty good considering that I’m only 24. I’ve also realized that I haven’t eaten some pretty pedestrian things, like a hot dog from a street cart or a bagel with lox. (I’ve eaten bagels and I’ve eaten lox, but strangely never together.) I’ve also eaten some weird stuff that didn’t make this list (various sorts of pig, sheep, and cow offal, octopus, chicken feet). Regardless, it’s a fun little exercise and gets you thinking about what you’ve eaten and what you want to try next. Maybe I’ll make my own list one of these days. (Mine will definitely include chicken feet.) What would you put yours?

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. PoutineCarob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Despite having lived in DC for two years, I hadn’t taken the requisite weekend trip to New York, until now.  For Labor Day weekend, I went to visit some friends who had recently relocated.  It was the perfect vacation, because all we did was eat, drink, shop, and walk around.  Here are some tasty highlights:

Ramen from Rai Rai Ken
Nestled on a quiet street in the East Village,  Rai Rai Ken is a little shoe box of a restaurant. There is an L-shaped bar that seats maybe 12 people, and chefs lowers steaming bowls of ramen over the edge of the counter.  Rai Rai Ken serves miso, shoyu, and curry ramen, along with a handful of other seasonal noodle dishes, appetizers, and yakitori.  This place kind of reminds me of the movie Tampopo and the protagonists’ quest for the perfect broth.  Rai Rai Ken’s is rich and multi-layered, and the egg noodles are fresh and wonderfully chewy.

Rai Rai Ken Japanese Restaurant
214 East 10th St, New York, NY 10003
(212) 477-7030

Chocolate Covered Bacon from Roni-Sue’s
Bacon + Chocolate?  How could we go wrong?  My friends and I saw this on Serious Eats and thought we’d make a stop at the Essex Street Market to give it a try. The first bite is all creamy chocolate, but then as you chew, all the salty, porky, bacon-ness starts to come out.  It’s very strange, fatty, and delicious.  Roni-Sue also make some great truffles.  Big ups on the coconut, pineapple, and toffee flavors.

Roni-Sue’s Chocolates
Essex Street Market #24, 20 Essex Street, New York NY 10002
(212) 260-0421

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