Wildcard night: Pizza! Also, Ai Weiwei

I have always been a fan of making pizza dough at home.  When I was growing up, my dad would make pizza almost every Saturday. He would make the dough in the morning, then take us to horseback riding lessons or track meets or ballet rehearsals and by the time we got home, the dough was risen and it was easy to put together the toppings and make a quick dinner. He would put the dough in the oven to rise and put notes with funny little poems on the dial so no one would turn on the oven and prematurely cook the dough.

Eli made some pizza dough a few weeks ago that we ended up not using, so we froze it per Mark Bittman's instructions. I was a little skeptical that this might ruin the dough, but actually it was no problem. We made two pizza pies: One was argula, sundried tomatoes, and pesto (delicious), the other was chicken sausage, carmelized onions, mushrooms (DELICIOUS), and both had fresh mozzarella and a bit of ricotta cheese.

And because man cannot live on pizza alone, we went to see the Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum (which is free, thank you federal government and Smithsonian Institution). These pictures are nowhere near as amazing as the exhibit, plus I didn't even take pictures of some of the most incredible pieces -- photos of his time in New York during the AIDS epidemic, a wall with the names of the many hundreds of children who died when their schoolhouses collapsed during the earthquake in China, and a sculpture of ancient stools that I can't really explain. So you should just come to DC before March 17 and I will go see the exhibit again with you.

Images of China after the earthquake

Series of images smashing a really old vase

Rebar collected after the earthquake

The houses and the floor are made of tea! When this was first installed, it had a really strong smell, you could still get a little whiff of the tea when you were very close to the piece.

Valentines night: Seafoodstravaganza

After our trip to Chicago last week, we arrived home late on Wednesday for a meal of (of course) yuca con chicarron from our local Pollo Sabroso.

Then on Thursday we headed off to work. My office got super into Valentines Day and so I enjoyed a bounty of sweets--cheap chocolate hearts left on my desk by the building management company (or really, the cleaners), those chalky message hearts, and a really delicious cupcake from a colleague.

I was thinking about cooking some simple soup but lo and behold I came home and Eli had made a surprise feast for me! He roasted some little potatoes, cooked up some collard greens, and steamed mussels, shrimp and LOBSTER in white wine, garlic, and parsley with some lemon on top. What a guy.

Recap Night: Some Recent Happenings

The past weeks have provided various culinary adventures in and out of the kitchen that warrant summary.

• Brunch at Marx Cafe





• A Sunday or 2 ago, we ended up at this local cafe for Brunch.  While the burger and crab cake that we each had were well above average, the really noteworthy experience at this cafe was the Karl Marx theme.  And nothing says dictatorship of the proletariat like Discover.

• Around the House

• Pasta Night: As previously mentioned, for da super bowl we went super Jewish excessive and got stuff to make pizza in addition to the smorgasbord that we actually served.  Our stomachs remained unprepared for pizza, so we used all the toppings for a simple pasta night. Rather than sauteing the veggies, I roasted mushrooms, red pepper, garlic, and tomatoes, then baked everything for just a bit with pasta, feta cheese, sauteed spinach.

• Lamb Night: We put on our fancy pants and did it up with lamb chops. Broiled medium rare a la Mark Bittman (just salt and pepper) in the trusty cast iron grill pan. Roasted the asparagus. Then this polenta came along and nearly stole the entire show. Polenta is a highly undervalued side dish that can can be made quicker than rice. 2 parts liquid (I use chicken broth made from better than bouillon) to 1 part corn meal. Bring the liquid to a boil and then slowly whisk in the corn meal. Add salt and pepper, reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally until it reaches the desired consistency. Add liquid as needed. I added a bit of milk while simmering. When it was abut done I added in a little surprise,  blue cheese.  Molly says this this meal was decadent,simple, satisfying, and quick. A lovely meal on a regular old night. 

• Amish Diner

For reasons that I shan't get into, we recently found ourselves heading towards Chicago from D.C.  Anytime we drive, Molly and I turn to the books of Jane and Michael Stern, whose Roadfood books and website provide a slightly more dignified and thoughtful guide to America's down home eatery than other more popular figures. On many trips along the Indiana toll road, I have wanted to stop at the Village Inn in Middlebury, IN.  But we never passed by at meal time. . . until now. Middlebury is surrounded by Amish communities and we dodged many a horse-drawn buggy as we made our way to lunch.  

Molly ordered the fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes,gravy, and coleslaw.  The sides were good but not exceptional.  I ordered a BLT, and corn mush. I did not know what corn mush was when ordering. The menu said it came with syrup. Our served told me that old men order it and that the really weird old men order it with headcheese (the Amish version being a thick and hot bowl of ground meat presumable from a pig's head and I'm guessing liver too sitting in a bit of warm liquid). Obviously I got my mush with headcheese. The mush itself was basically deep fired sticks of polenta. The headcheese actually had a pleasant meaty and mild flavor. My server was clearly horrified that I ordered it, but according to Molly I got approving glances from an Amish woman seated at a nearby table (I think my facial hair may have confused the situation. The BLT was awesome too.  

Then things got real.  According to the Sterns, this place is all about its pies,particularly its Old Fashioned Custard Pie, another Amish tradition.  But as our meal was ending, all the pie was starting to sell out and we couldn't locate our server.  When we finally did, they only had pecan pie.  I don't love pecan pie, and Northern Indiana doesn't seem like a hotspot for the stuff.  But then, a miracle occurred. The servers conferenced by the pie cooler and realized there was another custard pie. I triumphantly claimed a piece. In the end both pies were excellent with buttery crusts and that sense of freshness that separates the champions from the herd.  [But I still think pecan pie is an inferior overly sweet concoction, but Molly really liked it.]

We left with out bellies full and look forward to returning on one of our all too frequent jaunts down the Indiana toll road. 

Time Machine Night: Da Super Bowl

Da Super Bowl was Super Awesome.  Molly and I went superfeast on this one.  Lost in a sea of delusion  and excitement we prepared an insane spread despite only having three guests.

What went down

•   Wings (duh):   For da wings we turned to my childhood friends Max and Eli Sussman.  Despite the growing popularity of the name "Eli", whenever I see Eli we nonetheless continue to enjoy the novelty of having the same name and making others uncomfortable. Here is Max and Eli discussing their love of food. Max is the one who looks like he lives in Brooklyn because he does, and Eli is the one who looks like Michael Douglas in the movie "Falling Down."  

The recipe, available in their stupendous cookbook  involved marinating wings in a boatload of sriracha and buffalo type hot sauce (I used Crystal cause I'm no fool) along with lime zest and lime juice.  The recipe called for grilling, but it's Winter and I live in an apartment without a grill. So we turned to the trusty grill pan after 24 hours of marinating and did it up.  These were really great. The lime zest really added a nice zing and there was heat but not to the detriment of the sauce or chicken's flavor.  There are a few other recipes from these two fine Jews that we are looking forward to trying out. 

• Spreads: Here is where things start getting out of control:

• Blue cheese dip: sour cream, blue cheese, a bit of milk, pepper
• Midwestern Guacamole: We got this recipe from our friend Kelley who credits her mother with the recipe. Personally, I credit the genetic fabric of the Great Lakes with combining the great features of guacamole with dairy products.  The recipe calls for mixing 4 avocados with 8oz cream cheese, and a lime or lemon.  We subbed in non-fat yogurt for the cream cheese and used four huge avocados de hoy from our local Progresso Market Internacional.  Quite spectacular.
• Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Dip: Home roasted red pepper and garlic w/ cream cheese. This was good, but I think cream cheese based dips is a bit much for me. I will use yogurt if we do this again.  
• Salsa: from a jar.
• Chips: Fritos Scoops (tastes like a middle school locker but somehow still delicious), Tostillos scoops, veggies, and our guest Kyle brought BLT flavored potato chips (sorry but gross, Kyle redeemed himself with a package of Reeses peanut butter cup cookies and by assuming the title of Lord of Catan during the second half).
• Drinks: Michelada: 2/3 beer (in our case modelo especial),1/3 clamato, tobasco to taste, and lime juice.  February or August, this drink is the most relaxing concoction that can be imbibed. 
• Dessert: Zack hooked us up with some brownie bites and frankly those Reeses cookies were all gone before what one could politely call dessert. 

Good times and most likely day after lower G.I. problems were had by all. 

Stay tuned for the tale of the unmade pizza.

Fish night: Mexican-inspired shrimp soup

Eli made another delish brothy Mark Bittman soup. He took the shells and heads off a pound of shrimp and used that to amp up a vegetable broth. Then we just sauteed up some shrimp, garlic, lime zest, and corn (frozen kernels from Trader Joes, not bad), cooked it in the broth, and put some lime juice and salt at the end. The whole thing was done in about 45 minutes and was really comforting and tasty.

This was a variation--I think the original recipe had ginger, lemongrass, and maybe some sesame oil instead of the corn and lime. I bet that would be good, too.

It was good this was a quick recipe because as soon as we were done eating we were off to Sixth and I Historic Synagogue to see Marc Maron live!

Sixth and I was built in the early twentieth century and so is one of the oldest synagogues in D.C. The congregation left for a new building in the 50's and sold the synagogue to Turner Memorial A.M.E. Church, which later moved out to Maryland. The building was advertised as for sale to turn into a nightclub but some historians and developers managed to save the building. Now, Sixth and I has all kinds of speakers, cultural programming, and Jewish stuff, too.

The space is beautiful (see ceiling picture to the right) and Marc Maron was awesome. The best part was when he was really thrown off by doing his show in a synagogue. The second best part was when he was really thrown off because he realized a 13-year old girl was in the audience. Check out his podcast--he told great stories about some good shows coming up.

Marc Maron