How Not to Fry an Egg | Endless Simmer

I know it’s almost cliche to bitch about the heat at this point. But whatever. It’s hot. And when it’s hot and we’ve been inside for 8 hours, moaning from awedding-induced hangover, we start to playMythBusters.

In case you don’t have a boyfriend who thinks that decoding theSeinfeld double dippinghypothesis and theslippery banana peel jokeare utterly important viewing, than you should try out MythBusters on a lazy weekend afternoon. You might be mildly entertained.

Anyway. It was hot. The heat index screamed 113 degrees in Durham, North Carolina. We decided the only proper way to appreciate the heat was to attempt to fry an egg outside. So we tried.

Our experiment lacked integrity from the start. It was later in the day, we fried the egg on a piece of tin foil that had not been left in the heat long enough and the egg might not have even been at room temperature. It became shady. But we did throw some butter in that aluminum foil nest.

We briefly looked at some promising stories of outside-fried eggs and thought we could make it work.

It didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we won’t try again. Or that you don’t have plenty of horror stories of your own to share.

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Deviled Eggs are the Devil | Endless Simmer

So, I will say deviled eggs are one thing I did not expect to be making at the restaurant. I haven’t had a deviled egg since 1990. Perhaps I was wearing shoulder pads when I ate it.

Deviled eggs just appeared on our new menu acting as a focal point for our wedge salad that I must say looks quite sexy for a wedge salad. A bold move that has gone over quite well so far.

How difficult could a hard boiled egg be? Fifteen soft boiled eggs later, I decided that hard boiled eggs are not my friend. And as it turns out, yelling and cursing at the eggs does nothing to aide in the cooking process. In my efforts to make the perfect hard boiled egg, and for fear of overcooking them, I wasted a carton and a half of eggs and felt like a culinary disaster who should not have changed careers.

Perhaps I should have consultedHow To Hard Boil an Eggfor specific instructions. I should have laid the eggs on their sides the night before to“center” the yolks for the perfect deviled egg. And maybe I should have read them a bedtime story so they would have had a good night’s sleep before the big day. I bet they loveGood Night Moon.

What seems like the most simple of culinary tasks can make prep feel like a disaster. Screwing up deviled eggs can also make you feel like everyone in the kitchen is staring at you. But have no fear, I will conquer the deviled egg. I was taught never to put all my money in one basket. Now I know not to put all my uncentered eggs in one pot of boiling water either.

So, spill it ES-ers— what kind of hard-boiling secrets do you all have?

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Neiman Marcus Cake | Endless Simmer

The best part about living in a different country from where I grew up is that I come across new and unique things almost daily, even after seven years of living in DC.

On a recent shopping trip a friend told me of a cake calledNeiman Marcus. A cake named after a department store, only in America. Being a gay he denied ever eating it (although you’d never guess) so he wasn’t sure what was in it or if it had any relationship to its namesake, but he was kind enough to find arecipefor me, knowing my love of spending money and food it seemed like the perfect way to keep me from an afternoon at the mall.

Apparently my lack of baking skills really showed with this one— check out what happened after the jump.

Therecipeis simple enough, abox cake mixtopped with half a pound ofcream cheese, a pound ofpowdered sugar, twoeggs, two tsp ofvanilla extractand a cup ofpecans. Bake for 40 minutes on 350.

I can’t really figure out exactly what happened as I don’t know. I made the boxed cake mix as per the instructions, mixed the other five ingredients and layered the cake mix over them. During the baking process the sponge started to take over the cream cheese. I’m guessing the cheese was too heavy for the mix. Mytwitter pleawent unanswered.

I thought about tagging this as aFriday Fuck Up, but you know what, it tastes fucking amazing, the smoothness of the cream cheese and the crisp sponge that engulfed it is a great combination of textures, almost like a sweet and tangy cheese sandwich.

Keep this cake in mind on your next shopping spree, and always buy one size up— I do.

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Eating on the Edge: Howard Beach | Endless Simmer

In our new dining out series, Endless Simmer’s NYC-based tasting team is traveling to the ends of the earth. Well, the ends of the earth for snobby New Yorkers. We’re bypassing the cutesy outer borough neighborhoods and taking the subway to the end of the line, then getting on a bus and taking that to the end of the line, then seeing what we can find to eat.

Our first, very random stop isHoward Beach, Queens, a neighborhood known to most Manhattanites as the name of that stop way out there where you get the AirTrain to JFK. But it’s also an old-school Italian-American neighborhood facing Jamaica Bay, where New Yorkers live in single-family homes with fishing boats anchored in their front yards (really!)

To get to Cross Bay Boulevard, the main thoroughfare cutting through Howard Beach, we took the A train out to Rockaway Boulevard, where you can hop on the Q41 bus to the end of the line, which is conveniently a few blocks from the Bay, right outside the imposingVetro Restaurant and Lounge.

Now this is not the kind of aging Italian-American hole-in-the-wall you’ll find in places like Belmont in the Bronx and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. Vetro’s is a serious sprawling compound, with high-ceiling-ed banquette rooms, a sleek front lounge, opulent Venetian glass art, full-length windows looking out on the Bay, and a sizeable patio that even has slips where you can dock your boat.

Despite the over-the-top touches, there is, however, some surprisingly legit Italian cuisine. The chef’s tasting menu rotates every two weeks, each cycle featuring dishes from a different Italian region— it was Puglia when we visited a few weeks back; right not it’s the crowd-pleasing Sicily. Of immediate notice to anyone coming from Manhattan (or Brooklyn), it’s a tasting menu that you can afford to look at even if you’re not visiting on an expense account. A three-course tasting is $38, or you can make it five for $55.

The regional tasting menus are likely the most exciting draw to foodies looking for something you can’t find at just any Italian restaurant, with offerings like Abruzzian calamari-octopus-potato-celery salad. Although the chef told us that most of his regulars stick with the hearty entrees, like flame-grilled veal chops topped with a creamy pistachio sauce. Whichever way you go, this is definitely the kind of place to sit for hours and pick on your dishes until you’re ridiculously overstuffed.

The best part: taking our wine outside on the patio after the meal, where you can watch planes land across the bay, neighbors bring their boats in for the evening, and others zoom by on JetSkis. Pretty amazing that this is still New York.

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Extreme Simmer: The SousVide Supreme | Endless Simmer

So after hearing me bitch for the last two years about how everyone on Top Chefgets to sous videbut I don’t, someone finally decided to throw me a bone. The folks over atSousVide Supreme, the first legit sous vide machine aimed at home cooks, sent me over one of their $450 contraptions to test out for a few weeks. Woo-hoo!

For those who need a recap: sous vide cooking involves vacuum sealing ingredients in plastic bags with this neat little contraption:

That’s actually the most fun part, watching all the air get sucked right out of the bag. Then you submerse the bag in a thermal hot water bath that’s designed to remain at an exact pre-set temperature, down to the degree:

The idea is that you get food cooked perfectly and uniformly every time, and that it retains all of the nutrients and flavor that might be allowed to sneak out when baking, boiling or sauteeing.

First thoughts: sous vide takes a long ass time. I don’t really understand how the Top Chef-testants are always doing this during the quickfire, because at least with this machine, it took about half an hour to heat the bath up to the required temperature (usually 140 degrees for meat and 185 for vegetables), and then between 40 minutes and many, many hours to actually cook the thing.

Instead of making a full meal, our tasting team tried out sous vide-ing a whole bunch of different ingredients to see how this bad boy handles the basics.

The meat was definitely the most successful, notably this nice little lamb tenderloin, which was perfectly, uniformly soft throughout every bite. Even that little edge of fat you see on the left somehow tasted gloriously soft and flavorful— not a hint of chewiness.

Salmon (which I cooked with mustard, dill, salt and pepper added to the bag) was also pretty perfectly cooked, if less revelatory. I think the main sell here with the fish is that it makes it super easy to cook. No worries about dry, overcooked fish or scary, undercooked fish— just set the time and temp designated and it cooks perfectly throughout.

Fruits and veggies we were less impressed with. We sous vide-d up carrots, onions, squash, yucca, beets, pineapple, pears, and blueberries (phew). The carrots were probably the only thing that were noticeably different from any other cooking method. They don’t lose any of that flavor that might otherwise seep into a sauce when cooking, and the sous vide carrots had a more intense flavor than you’d expect. The other fruits and veggies, while cooked well, were underwhelming— our tasting team found no particular difference in flavor or texture that would convince us buy a sous vide machine to make these. Everything was tasty, it just didn’t blow our minds.

Scrambled eggs were fun to make— you just crack the eggs right into the bag, agitate it a few times throughout cooking and voila, you’ve got a creamy scramble that’s been cooked uniformly throughout— with no burnt, crumbly edges. The machine can also be used to hard-boil or poach an egg, but we didn’t try that because, um, it takes at least an hour. Neat that you can set it to make an egg perfectly every single time, but really, what home cook is going to put aside an hour+ of their time to make an egg?

Overall, I’m so far a little underwhelmed by sous vide at home. If I had this machine all the time, I’d definitely break it out once in a while to sous vide a nice piece of meat, but I’m not convinced it’s worth the effort for other foods.

Notably, after the vacuum packing part, it’s just not that fun. This kind of cooking is all about perfection, not experimentation. You just put your food in the machine and wait— no adding ingredients throughout, no filling your kitchen with beautiful smells— no errors, but also no discoveries. One of our more intellectual tasters noted that cooking can be kind of like art or architecture— making something that’s perfectly, uniformly beautiful is perhaps not as interesting as making something that’s got a few flaws in it, if only for the excitement in each new bite. So maybe we do want those different textures and burnt edges after all.  OK, so if you buy a $30 filet mignon, you don’t want any burnt edges, but for run-of-the-mill foods, sous vide may not be the panacea Top Chef had led me to believe.

Perhaps I’m being too hard on this little guy— everything we cooked in it was, after all, delicious, just not as life-changing as I was hoping for. We decided sous vide is the Barack Obama of kitchen appliances— it does a perfectly fine job, but really we were expecting miracles.

So what am I missing? I’ve got this bad boy for another week and am way open to suggestions for what else I should drop up in him.

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Poor Man’s Parmesan | Endless Simmer

I eat pasta more than any normal person should.  I have to limit myself to one time per week as a main course, though I do make exceptions that allow for a second Asian-style noodle dish, either made at home or out at a restaurant.  It’s just about the perfect food – except for the fact that it’s not crunchy.

While flavor is most important, of course, texture runs a reasonably close second when it comes to the eating experience for me.  And – hooo doggie – when I can get something that’s delicious and gives a nice crunch, I’m pretty much in heaven.  Hence my addiction to pretty much anything deep-fried.

So then why can’t pasta be crunchy, too?  Sure you could just undercook it, but that’s not what we’re going for here.  We need something that is going to elevate the dish.  We need something that will remind us about the best part of the one crunchy noodle dish already out there, mac& cheese.

We need breadcrumbs.

Not just any breadcrumbs, mind you.  Breadcrumbs pan-fried in olive oil, with some sliced garlic thrown in for added flavor.

Now, I’ll be upfront and say that this is no modern invention.  Breadcrumbs have been used as a pasta-topper for quite a while, sometimes known as a “poor man’s” alternative to topping your dish with grated cheese.  But we all know that just because something is an inexpensive option doesn’t mean it’s not delicious.

So, what does this simple topping require? Chances are, you probably already have everything you need…

Pan-Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs

Three cloves of garlic, sliced

One quarter cup, olive oil (plus more as needed)

Six-to-eight inch chunk of day-old Italian bread

Crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)

Actually, feel free to use some multi-day-old bread, since the drier, the better. If you have a food processor, cut or tear the bread into large chunks and pulse until you get panko-sized breadcrumbs.  If you don’t have one, you’re going to need to put some elbow grease in and use the large holes on your box grater. Watch your knuckles.  Either way, you’re aiming for about two cups.

As you’re cooking the pasta, heat the oil on medium in a pan and scatter the garlic and red pepper. Cook the garlic until it just starts to turn golden, then add the breadcrumbs quickly and uniformly around the pan so it absorbs the oil. Depending on how dry the breadcrumbs are, you may need to add some more olive oil.  Stir constantly until you get it nice, crispy and golden brown to your liking. Then move the breadcrumbs to a bowl…leaving them in the pan until you’re ready to use them WILL result in burnt breadcrumbs.

Easy, right? Yep, but the trick ispicking a pasta dishto use this on. You can’t go with a saucy dish or this is going to turn into cakey mush. Try pasta tossed with broccoli or cauliflower (add them to the cooking pasta with a few minutes left on the noodles) and dressed in olive oil and you’ll be golden. Add the majority of the crumbs while you’re tossing the pasta, but reserve some as a final topping as you’re plating for an extra-crispy finish.

(Photo:thebittenword.com)

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Viva la Leftovers | Endless Simmer

When my brother moved out of my parents’ house after college he couldn’t wait to leave the land of Tupperware behind. To our amusement, my brother received Tupperware from every member of the family as a housewarming gift.

My dad keeps all plastic containers. Imagine portions of horseradish hummus in old Philadelphia cream cheese containers, half melons stored in old pre-made cookie dough containers and cucumbers being pickled in old plastic pretzel containers.

As much as I want tobreak the family habit of collecting vehicles for leftovers, I just can’t.

I’ve started saving glass though. Wide and short salsa jars, long and narrow caper jars, filling them withcouscousandmysterious grains.

But then I was sent Cover Mate’s Stretch-to-Fit Food Covers. And while my addiction to Tupperware has not lessened I now have found a new, easier way to never throw out food: whatever bowl or dish or glassware I have baked or served or eaten something in I just cover it with this dishwasher safe swatch of plastic.

Viva la Leftovers.

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Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode 6 | Endless Simmer

The Top Chef’testants served up cold food this week, but the drama was still hot. One disbelieving chef was told to pack‘em and leave. Their exit thoughts, a the j…

Even though she made guest judge Michelle Bernstein feel like she had two tongues in her mouth, DC-based chef Tamesha sure didn’t see this one coming from her confident vantage point in the stew room. Here’s what she has to say for herself.

ES: It looked there was a whole lot of gamesmanship going down in this episode, especially with several people hoping to put Kenny on the bottom. But didn’t anyone point out that putting a strong chef like Kenny on the chopping block was the worst thing your team could do?
Tamesha: No, not at all. Most people were actually saying they wanted Amanda to go, not Kenny, but he just served the worst dish. We were judging it on the plates, not the personality, and I think we would have done it the same way even if we hadn’t known who made each dish.

Speaking of wanting Amanda to go, several chefs in this episode said she didn’t deserve to get this far. Do you think she deserves to still be there?
Uh………….not really (laughs). But you know, it is what it is.

You said you were just about ready to strangle her. What about her bothers you so much?
Just her personality and the way that she works. I’m very cool, calm and collected and I can pretty much get along with anybody. I don’t know what it is– there’s just something about her that rubs me the wrong way.

You said last night you saw Angelo as a mentor but also that you shouldn’t have trusted him so much. Which is it?
My words weren’t put together the way they should have been. I see him as a mentor for young cooks— not for myself. I knew of him prior to this, but I didn’t mean that he’s my mentor because I hardly know him. He had no hand in seasoning my dish at all. I am 100-percent confident in my skills and in preparing what I need to prepare. He asked to taste the dish because he wanted to taste it, but that had no effect on what I did.

You seemed pretty confident in the stew room that you weren’t gonna get kicked off— how come?
This is a pretty hard question for me. I was very surprised to hear my name. I went in with a lot of confidence. I didn’t think it was a bad dish. I know there were some problems, but I just don’t think it was bad enough to get me sent home.

Tell us about long pepper— many of us had never even heard of that ingredient.
Long pepper is an Asian spice, very peppery, similar to Szechuan pepper. It has a numbing effect on your tongue when used in large quantities, but a sweet and spicy taste when used in smaller quantities. I was honestly surprised that they didn’t like it because it’s not the first time I’ve used that ingredient or that flavor combination.

You used a lot of ingredients and flavors we haven’t seen before— even on Top Chef. What’s your culinary background?
I worked at Jean-Georges in New York for two-and-a-half years, straight out of culinary school, and I was introduced to a lot of different flavor profiles and flavor combinations there. Here atThe Oval Room, where I’m a sous chef, we try to do different things like that, where you look at the menu and go,‘huh?’ But then you eat it and say,“oh my god.” As a chef, I think that’s the whole point, putting together flavors that people might not expect.

Can you give us an example of something people should definitely try at The Oval Room?
Right now on the menu we have a jerk foie gras with ginger gelee.

Where else do you like to eat in DC?
I like to go toPalena— anything he makes is good.2 Amysfor pizza. I’ve had a really good burger atCentral; also a really good burger at The Source.

(Photos: Bravo)

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Street Food Diplomacy | Endless Simmer

The Russian president getsRay’s Hell Burgerand all my PM gets is a lousy street hot dog.

(Photo:Edward Reed)

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When Life Hands You Watermelons | Endless Simmer

Jump in and eat… If only eating was always this much fun.

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Green Garlic vs. Scapes | Endless Simmer

OK, Maids— consider this one paying you back formy missed Feed Us Back post(I never knew FuB had fans!)

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the newgreen garlic product that I discovered at the Food Fete. ReaderKathleen Donovanposted this comment:

Isn’t the green part of the garlic called a scape? I’ve tried pickled scapes at a Garlic Festival and they’re delicious.

I have so far ignored Kathleen’s comment because, well, I was stumped. Had the green garlic guys duped me into writing about a not-so-new product? We have, after all, coveredscapeshere on ES before.

A search around the Interwebs didn’t exactly clear things up, with many writersreferring to green garlic and garlic scapes as the same thing. Clearly they’re similar, but my long, straight green garlic with the little blubs attached just don’t look the same as those winding, loopy scapes. Melissa Clark had a long piece in NYT aboutboth green garlic and garlic scapes, but didn’t quite explain the difference.

Finally I found thiscomment from Serious Eats user bodaciousgirlthat offers the best explanation I’ve seen yet:

Green garlic and scape are not the same. Scape is the shoot that grows up through the soil from the garlic bulb. When it is pliable and loops around a couple times, it is pinched off the bulb to send more“energy” to the bulb to make it grow larger.

Green garlic is garlic that is harvested after the“scape” has straightened and looks like your typical scallion.

OK then, so green garlic and garlic scapes are the same part of the plant— just harvested at different times. As Melissa Clark notes, farmers have long cut the scapes off their garlic while it’s still growing, because getting rid of the scapes somehow makes the bulb grow larger. Most farmers simply discarded the scapes, but then in the last few years found out they could take them to the far mar and sell them to all us foodies desperate for new discoveries.

For green garlic, however, farmers let the scapes grow long and then harvest the whole plant, giving us the tiny bulbs along with the straightened scape.Bodacious girlclaims the scapes are tastier, although I find they both have a pretty similar, less-bitey-than-raw-garlic flavor. Plus with the green garlic, you get the little bulb and shoots to play with too.

More on using green garlic in cooking to come…

(Photos: Sara /Island Vittles)

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The Grand Wrap-It | Endless Simmer

Even though I love to travel and spend a large percentage of my time out on the road, as a New Yorker I’m still required by birthright to be hyper-critical of any other place I visit— and in no realm is that more true than food. When evaluating a new city’s food scene, one of the most important criteria is the strength of their after-hours offerings, because there’s nothing worse than getting drunk in a strange city, learning that the bars close at some obscenely early hour like 1am, and then finding yourself wandering strange, grid-less city streets with nary a pizza place open to soak up the booze.

InGrand Rapids, Michiganfor a college friends’ wedding last week, my pals and I were pleasantly surprised to find a pretty happening revived downtown area, and particularly pleased withHopcat, a serious beer geek’s bar with an impressivehandpull list(and aA+ rating from Beer Advocate). At least on the liquid side of things, G-rap was shaping up to be a more exciting city than I had imagined.

I did, however, have one major problem…

After throwing back a few extra-hoppy Michigan beers with the bride and groom the night before the wedding, all present agreed it was time for some not-so-late night snacking. We spent a good deal of time perusing the amazingly Midwest menu (beer cheese, mac‘n’ cheese, cheese-y pretzel, cheese fries, etc…), before settling 3 or 4 cheese-y fried items to share. I approached the barman and started rattling off half the things on the menu when he cut me off to say“sorry, kitchen closed at 11.”

WTF! 11? Grand Rapids’ status is taking a serious nose dive right now. How can you close the kitchen— at a bar— at 11 on a weekend night? Combine this with the soon-to-be-discovered fact that theystop serving shots at midnight, and I was about ready to board an early plane back to the East Coast.

But then two friends went out for a cigarette and returned with amazing news. Shortly after 11, Grand Rapids’ street food scene comes to life with a proliferation of late-night hot dog carts set up directly outside the bars. I’d previously experienced the late-night hot dog stands in Chicago, and while you can count on the Midwest to deliver a delicious tubed meat product, I find their hot dogs to have the same problem as their pizza— TMI— too many ingredients. Loaded with relish, onions, mustard, peppers, tomatoes, pickles, and god I can’t even remember what else, these dogs were delicious, but not exactly something you can eat while walking down the street without dropping a trail of toppings like some shitfaced hansel and gretel.

In Grand Rapids, however, they’ve come up with an ingenious solution that allows for both the Midwest’s signature over-ingredienting and the East Coaster’s insistence on eating while stumbling home: theGrand Wrap-It. An all-beef hot dog loaded with all the fixins you could want (mustard, ketchup, onions, pickles), the bun removed and replaced with a warm tortilla— keeping the spillage to a bare minimum. Now that is some late-night snacking. Score one for Michigan.

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ES Local: What’s Eating DC | Endless Simmer

Our weekly roundup of the best eating and drinking events going down in Washington, DC.

Event of the Week:Urbanacelebrates its 4th birthday with $4 small plates and a $40 4-course menu all week (July 19– 25). Be sure to try the delectable crab beignets or the duck meatballs, and rinse them down with a cilantro-infused Far Land Fare cocktail.

ViewES Local: What’s Eating DCin a larger map

Remember, you can check out theconstantly updated mapany day of the week.

If you represent a restaurant or bar and wish to have your event listed on the ES Local: What’s Eating DC event map, please write to me at britannia (at) endlesssimmer (dot) com

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Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode 5 | Endless Simmer

Look at Padma and those knee highs, hawt.

But I digress- this week’s episode of Top Chef felt more like farmville than anything politico. The chef’testants murdered Chesapeake Blue Crab before our eyes and headed out toAyrshire Farmin VA for the elimination challenge.

Read on to hear what last night’s loser has to say about packing his/her knives.

Endless Simmer:Was there a lot of pressure being the only chef who was born and raised in the DC area, or do you feel you had a home turf advantage?

Timothy Dean:It was a little bit of both, more of a distraction than anything. I knew everywhere we were going, including Whole Foods. I did feel like I had the home rule advantage. At the end of the day I wish I could jump on a plane for a Top Chef elsewhere, but DC is a beautiful city. I had a great time showing the other chef’testants and the producers the city.

What’s your top 3 restaurants in the city?

I would sayMichel Richard’s Citronelle,JaleoandKAZ Sushi.

If you had a chance to cook for the First Family what would you make?

I ran into the President once at Ray’s Hell Burgers, I think he kinda likes his hamburgers.  I would make him a pretty damn good TD burger, cook him up a nice burger. If he wants me to put a slice of foie gras on there I definitely would do that for him.

You decided to go simple,“let the stars sing,” with the hard shell crabs in the Quickfire challenge. What was your rational with that?

If they were soft shell I would have definitely tempura them up. These were hard shell which are sweet, beautiful and meaty. The particular crabs we had that day had mustard in them which are like a prize of the Maryland blue crab, so you don’t have to do a lot to it. Season it up nicely and the crab was singing.

Tom suggested that your elimination dish had a,“Total lack of inspiration and it was neither here nor there.” What do you have to say about that?

I would love to put Tom in that same situation and judge him. I was just very surprised at the lack of product that we had out there on the farm. I spent a good deal of time roasting and helping other contestants on the team. Everyone thought if you look at it and look at the criticism last night—they have to bring me back, they have to.

I do not regret my dish. I would have preferred to work with beets. I wouldn’t have done anything different. Had the weather been different and not 35 degrees outside I would have done a mousseline.

Who was the most daunting judge to appear before?

I would have to say probably Tom.  Eric I’ve known since I was 18 years old. The question did come up on whether Eric would be able to judge me as he could the other contestants. He brought out the baseball bat and went to school on me. Tom was extra critical.

Now that you are out is there any particular contestant you are rooting for?

I’m rooting for me; I think they are gonna bring me back. They’ve gotta bring me back. If I had to pick one I would definitely say, because he’s a good friend and my roommate, Angelo.

Do you have any advice for future contestants?

From my point of view and after last night- stay away from turnips.

What’s next, especially with yourNational Harborproject?

I’m going to keep cooking. I’ve been doing it since I was 14 years old. Serving up some great steaks in Baltimore and I’ll be coming to Prince George’s County pretty soon.

In reference to National Harbor, I’m trying to get myinvestment back. I put up seven figures of my money and with one other investor and we just want our investment back so we can move on. We’re getting close right now to finding a solution to it, I think I want to move on at this point because of the way they carried things. To be in PG County, which is predominantly African-American, and not have a restaurant down there that represents that, speaks volumes.

Photos: Bravo

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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week | Endless Simmer

- Many of you have opinions on the”can you cook cucumbers?” debate.Maids:

My roommate says she used to cook burritos in her microwave in college using tortillas, rolled with cheese and cucumbers inside. Sounded disgusting to me, but she has a palate I respect so maybe cooked cukes aren’t so bad?

I don’t know about these cuke burritos, but I’m definitely going to start ranking my friends by how much I respect their palates.

-JoeHoyaand theMrs.coin an amazing term for the frustration found infava beans:

We LOVE fava beans and make it a point to buy them in bulk during their all-too-brief season at the farmers’ market. But the prep is definitely a pain in the ass. Elizabeth refers to favas as the Beans of Diminishing Returns because you buy them by weight and then promptly through out half of what you paid for in the form of the outer and inner pods.

- Finally, anyone who can get worked up aboutindefinite articles in convenience store advertisingis welcome at ES.BigOldCar:

The thing that bothers me most about the Hoagieman commercials is that the song ends with:

“At the Hoa…gie…Fest!
At the Wawa!
The Hoa…Gie…Fest!
At the Wawa!”

Why“THE” Wawa? Why not “your,” or some other gap-filler? But the definite article doesn’t belong here, and it bugs the shit out of me!

I don’t get the Sgt. Pepper theme, but it’s so interesting-looking that I’ve come to accept it.

I cannot, however, get past that improper article.

(Photo:inSinU8)

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Summer + Basil + Lemons + Ice Cream = Heaven | Endless Simmer

Today is one of those summer days: your clothes stick to your skin and you feel disgusting. It’s 94 degrees outside. With the humidity hovering around 90%, it feels like 106. Ice cream anyone?

Homemade ice cream is the best, there is no debate. Plus, I have been looking for some interesting uses for a pot of overgrown basil; it keeps raining and the basil keeps growing. Don’t have an ice cream maker or the time? Cheat!

- Take your favorite vanilla ice cream (I love vanilla bean); empty the carton into a mixing bowl.

-Chiffonadea generous handful of fresh basil. To chiffonade the basil, stack a few leaves, fold in half, and then roll. Hold the basil down while you finely shred into string-like slices, taking great care to avoid chopping off your finger.

- Add basil to the ice cream, along with the zest and juice of two lemons. Mix the creamy, heavenly goodness. If you have any will power whatsoever, put the ice cream back in the carton and into the freezer for later.

Easy. Refreshing. Impressive.

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Pick of the Pics: Best of the ES Flickr Pool | Endless Simmer

mathea.tanner’s penguin standoff made our morning. You can find more food art atPeas Love Carrots, and more of our favorite photos from the ES flickr pool after the jump.

belmontmedinachecks in with the best of the DC far mars.

NEGS26puts some of that bounty to work.

Andpbjennyknows how to hit all of our weak spots with her recipe for anIrish car bomb cake.

Seen something drool worthy? Add your best pics to theEndless Simmer flickr pool.

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Lavender Drink Recipes | Endless Simmer

Way back in ES’ early days, I returned home from the Park Slope Food Coop one evening with the random purchase of a bagful of lavender flower, and promptly asked you readerswhat the eff to do with it. Despite your plethora of suggestions, following a pretty crazy experiment withlavender-pine-nut blueberry cookies, I have to admit this stuff has languished in the back of my spice closet with a bunch of other unidentified and under-utilized jars. No, I haven’t made those lavender pork chops or that lavender ice cream yet.

But it might be time to break out the purple stuff again, because our pals atGood Bitejust sent over these three recipes for some cooling summertime drinks, all made with lavender. Pick your poison and pair lavender with sugar, coffee or of course, alcohol.

Iced Lavender Mocha(makes one serving in a 20 oz. glass)

1 cup of milk (preferably 1 or 2 percent)

1 tsp. of dried lavender buds

1 shot of espresso or¼ cup of strong, cold coffee

about 4 Tbsp. of chocolate syrup (varies upon taste)

ice

whipped cream (optional)

Heat the milk and lavender in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a slight boil, stirring occasionally.Reduce to a simmer for 1-2 minutes.Remove from heat and let the lavender steep and the mixture cool for about 10 minutes.Strain and discard the lavender.Fill a 20 oz. glass about half way with ice and add either a shot of espresso or¼-1/2 cup of strongly-brewed, cold coffee.Add the chocolate syrup and the lavender milk and mix well.Add a splash or two more of milk if desired and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of lavender.

Plus:Honey-Lavender Lemonade and Lavender Lemondrop Martini

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Artsy Photo of the Day | Endless Simmer

Tried to find something funny to write, but was plum out of ideas.

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Zucchini, Sun Gold and Kale Salad | Endless Simmer

Oh it is on. It takes a while for vegetables to arrive at market here in DC. It’s a slow start withasparagus,strawberriesandgarlic scapes. But it’s coming now: I spied four different varieties ofplumsalone.

This week, however, was different. I came to the market with a specific mission. My friend Katie, who’sblogged here before, is getting married. And with nuptials comes a bachelorette party.  The night started with an hors d’oeuvre potluck and then bar hopping in Baltimore.

As a food writer I feel extra pressure to bring something amazing to a special gathering like this. I then freak out because there’s just too many options. What to make! Eek!

I decided to let the newly produce-busting market be my guide. Slices of peppered cucumber and radish encircled chevre. But that wasn’t the star. Neither was my other dish. Some girl shows up with seaweed to roll sushi. FML! (Not to mention the penis cake…)

Zucchini, Sun Gold and Kale Salad

I used my new Calphalon-giftedgrill panfor the slicedzucchini(from DAD GANSIE’s garden!), which have been brushed withoil, saltandpepper. When all of the batches of zucchini were finished, and the pan was extremely hot, I plopped on theresun gold tomatoeswhich had been split in half. The skins started to char immediately and then I tossed in salt, pepper,garlicandspring onions, green parts only. I only left it in the pan for 3 minutes because I wanted the tomatoes to keep their shape.

In fact, I wasn’t planning on cooking with them when I bought the carton. I letRebbie, theMt. Pleasant Farmers’ Marketmanager, taste a tomato. She knows exactly how each vegetable or fruit should taste and how it should be treated. It’s pretty ridiculous. Anyway, the sun golds needed a little heat to awaken them. I obliged.

I placed the zucchini and tomato mixture in a bowl. But it wasn’t right. It needed more. I whisked togetheroil, mustard and horseradishfor a dressing. But it still needed more. It needed more heft. It needed some greens. Somekale.

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