T-Bone Dinner!

September 7, 2013

T-Bones for dinner! Sauteed mushrooms and onions with a wine reduction. Love Saturday nights.

Chicken Sate

July 31, 2013

Shelby put together Chicken Satay tonight, one of my favorite meals. All I had to do was grill the chicken ;)

i<3food

Braise Opening Week

June 2, 2013

Recently we went out out for our 23rd Anniversary and we decided to try the newly opened Braise in Virginia Beach, VA. Chef Bobby Huber is a staple in the culinary scene in this area and I’ve heard good things about his food. We ordered a couple of appetizers—a softshell crab & “lobstah” and scallops with apple butter. They were very pretty but I’ll honest and say the flavor was little flat. The softshell crab was kind of tough and the lobster—hate to say it—bland. I got to try a sample of cheesy grits and they were great. For our entrees we ordered the BBQ lamb shank on bleu cheese polenta and a seafood plate. The lamb shank was cooked perfectly but I thought the sauce drowned out the flavor of the lamb. I loved the bleu cheese polenta. Shelby’s seafood was very good.

Another thing that bothered me a little was that our server seemed a little out of it. I don’t know, maybe it was because they were busy but her disheveled appearance didn’t help; she was very nice though. I’d like to try again after they get their legs under them and see what happens next time.

Dishcrawl Portsmouth April 2013 write-up:
http://www.altdaily.com/features/food/6213-crawling-the-streets-of-portsmouth — Dishcrawl Portsmouth April 2013 write-up:

http://www.altdaily.com/features/food/6213-crawling-the-streets-of-portsmouth

Dishcrawl Write-up on AltDaily

May 7, 2013

The Ten Top

May 6, 2013

After running by Local Heroes Comics in Norfolk, VA we ended up stopping by The Ten Top for dinner. I usually think of sandwiches when I think of this shop and I wanted something meaty—I had a hard time picking something out. For Shelby it was easy, he favorite lamb sandwich is here, the Greek Lamb Hoagie. Looking over the menu she noticed the BBQ Braised Berkshire Pork Shank and suggested I try it.

We ordered and sat down. We’ve done take-out before so this was the first time we had the chance to check the place out. Small with a lot of character. The decor was cool with a working pinball machine people were actually playing.

Our food and came out and we were both surprised by the size of my meal. The pork shank reminded us of the ham hocks we would order in Germany at the fest tents. They French cut the shank so the bones were exposed and charred. Rustic and smelling delicious, I dug in. The sauce was great with a little bite from the vinegar and the pork cooked perfectly. I ended up taking half home with me.

Very nice, relaxing…happy we stopped by.

i<3food

WINESday at Whole Foods - 3 Apr 2013

April 4, 2013

Last night was another WINESday tasting at Whole Foods Virginia Beach. On Wednesdays they pour wines from selected regions and pair them with food made in-house. We had French varietals last night; one of my favorite pairings was the French Onion Soup Casserole towards the end. The vegan Mushroom Bourguignon very good too. The wines were all new.

Visit i<3food on Facebook for more photos from the event.

Easter Dinner 2013

April 2, 2013

Easter Dinner. It turned out great and I had it done on time too.

i<3food

Second Street Bistro

March 23, 2013

Second Street Bistro in Williamsburg, VA. Excellent food. Top to bottom: 2nd St’s Famous O-Rings, Bread with Herb Oil, Grilled Salmon on Sweet Potato-Sage Risotto, Signature Burger, Grilled Bison Meatloaf.

i<3food

Judy’s Sichuan Cuisine

March 18, 2013

Judy’s Sichuan Cuisine in Virginia Beach has been generating a lot of buzz around its authentic style of cooking. We had the Roasted Duck Braised in Beer, Stir fry Lamb with Cumin, and a Sichuan Sausage. The Sichuan Peppercorns make your tongue and lips tingle. Very good. If you’re in the area, you need to try it.

i<3food

Beef Bourguignon Walk-Through

March 11, 2013

Something I love to make is Beef Bourguignon, it’s one of those comfort dishes that makes the whole house smell terrific and everyone loves to eat. I put the walk-through together when I was looking for recipes and tried some out for the first time. It was a little tricky for a first timer but not too bad. I based my recipe off of Laura Calder’s you can find here. Take a look at the recipe and the prep comments then jump in!

Prep:

Gather up all the ingredients, since this is a walk-through I’ll describe what I do at each step. I would probably be good to give the process a quick read before actually turning the oven on. This will allow you to get an idea what what to expect when you move along the with the recipe.
Basically cutting up anything you that needs cutting, do it first. You won’t really have the time, I guess this would all fall under mise en place (something I’m terrible at.)
It takes about 3 hours to cook this in the Dutch Oven.
You’ll see I said venison can be used, you should try it. The venison looses it’s gaminess and becomes very tender. Great way to cook lean meat.

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds Beef or Venison
3 Medium Carrots, roughly chopped
2 Large Onions, quartered
4-6 Cloves Garlic, just crushed
1/4 Cup Flour
1 Bottle Red Wine (buy an extra bottle for you to drink while you’re cooking)
1 Box of Beef Stock (4 cups)
1 Bouquet Garni (Thyme, Parsley, and Bay Leaf)
Bacon Fat or Olive Oil for cooking
Salt and Pepper

Garnish:

1 Package of Bacon, thick cut (cook this first if you need bacon fat)
2 12 oz Bags Pearled Onions (I use frozen)
16 oz mushrooms (I add about 20 oz

Let's Go!

The meat was trimmed of excess fat and I let it sit until it was at room temperature. Next step, browning the meat. Go ahead and warm up the oven. I set mine to 350 and I will be using a Dutch oven for the Bourguignon.

Bacon fat. Everyone has some sitting around the house right? You should if you don't. This is what I use to brown the meat.

I use the Dutch oven to brown the beef. All the bits and juices stay in the pot when it goes into the oven. Don't cook the meat all the way through, sear the outside to keep the juices in. Browning adds a ton of flavor to anything you braise. Salt and pepper to taste you go.

Ta-da! Browning is done, onto the braising vegetables.

After the beef has been removed, there is still enough bacon fat to brown the vegetables (add more or use olive oil.) I add about two onions, 2-3 medium sized carrots here, and 4-5 cloves of crushed garlic cloves. Cook a couple of minutes then add one bottle of red wine (I used the cheapest bottle of red I could find, $3) and a box of beef broth.

After I've stirred and scraped the bottom of the pot, I add the bouquet garni (garnished bouquet.) This is made up of thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. I had curly leaf on hand so that's what I used. I bind mine in cooking twine and toss it in. If you don’t have twine, wrap it in cheesecloth or just place it all in the pot loosely.

While prepping the vegetables the beef has rested, providing a delicious juice that should be added to the Dutch oven. Put the beef back into the Dutch oven, on top of the bouquet garni. Cover and place in the oven; set the timer for 3 hours.

I bought these potatoes at the local Asian market. $.99 a pound, great deal. They're going to be served with the Bourguignon. Slice them however you like. Since they're so pretty I'll leave the skin on.
I cut a little rosemary from the garden to season the potatoes. Pull off the leaf and chop.

I use a baking dish and mist with olive oil. Sprinkle a little salt in the dish and add the potatoes. Mist the tops of the potatoes with oil, salt and pepper, then add the chopped rosemary. Place in the oven with the Bourguignon.

Making the Bourguignon garnish. Heat up a skillet and let's get started.

Cut-up the whole package in 1-inch pieces and cook. Of course, save the bacon fat for browning the rest of the garnish.

I'm going to use about 20 ounces of mushrooms for the dish. We love mushrooms and I like to keep the pieces large and meaty. Brown in small batches, if you put too many in the pan they will sweat and steam instead of brown.

Once they're browned remove and we'll move on to the pearl onion.

Pearl onions can be pricey but I buy bags of frozen, store brand pearl onions. $1.00 a bag. I used 2 bags for this. I'll admit, I like fresh but these were on hand and much cheaper.

It's been about an hour, while the onions were browning I turned the potatoes. Mist the other side with oil, a little more salt a pepper. Back in the oven.

Back at the garnish station…I added about a cup of wine to deglaze the pan. You want all the bits and pieces from the pan as they add more flavor to what we're cooking. This is poured in with the bacon and onions previously cooked.

The finished garnish. We'll be adding to the Bourguignon towards the end of the process.

After about 3 hours the Beef Bourguignon is done with the oven. Remove the beef from the braising broth. I put the beef in with the garnish made earlier.

The beef should pull apart easily now.

Strain everything out of the broth.

I'll squeeze the vegetables out to get as much of the broth as possible. Add the broth back into the Dutch oven and bring to a boil on a burner. I'll add a little roux to thicken it up quickly.

The potatoes are done.

If needed, place the broth on the stove to about medium to medium-high heat to thicken. Make sure to stir so it doesn’t burn and thickens evenly. Once the broth has thickened, add the beef and garnish back into the pot. Let simmer for a several minutes, then remove from heat.