Dinner Bell: May and June Food Events in the City

We'll see if I make "Dinner Bell" into a recurring feature, but for now, let me share some upcoming food events that are on my calendar and might make it to yours. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Lamb Jam
Where: Ritz Carlton Hotel
When: Sunday, May 22nd at 2-5 pm
What: You've done Cochon. You love a good steak. You are a red-blooded carnivore and you like it that way. So Lamb Jam has probably been on your radar for months now. The first annual Lamb Jam in DC will feature 19 chefs from local restaurants, including 1789, Bibiana, Bourbon Steak, BLT Steak and more. And in a moment of "oh-my-god-I'm-really-on-the-map-now" I will be on the panel of judges. It's the first food event that I get to judge and I'm so excited I'm probably going to start fasting on Saturday. Perhaps there will be a blog post to follow. Tickets are unfortunately sold out, but it might not hurt to give them a ring just to see if there's a waitlist.

DCCK's 2nd Annual Sound Bites
Where: 9:30 Club
When: Sunday, May 22nd at 5 pm
What: Music + food + a good cause = one helluva party. And if here is a gig in town that knows how to throw a good party while raising money for a good cause (and keeping costs low), it's DC Central Kitchen. The 2nd Annual Sound Bites event benefits the organization that feeds 4,500 people in the city each and every day. The five band lineup includes Ra Ra Rasputin, The Pie Tasters, Trouble Funk, DJ lil'e and the Joe Herrera Trio. Plus there will be food from 25 local eateries, including DC Empanadas, Dolcezza, Pete's Apizza, Kushi, Jaleo and PORC  Mobile. Tickets are $40.

The Gulf and Its Seafood—One Year Later
Where: Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
When: Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 6:45 p.m.
What: One of the biggest concerns following the BP oil spill was how the wildlife, and particularly seafood, in the region would recover. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will host a panel discussion about the Gulf, the state of seafood and the impact of the spill, as well as what issues still lie ahead for the region. The panel will include Ted Danson (yes, the actor, who knew he was an environmental activist and founding member of Oceana), Mike Voisin of Motivatit Seafood, Inc. and Patrick Riley of Western Seafood Company.
Following the panel discussion, there is a sustainable seafood reception with bites from local chefs including Kyle Bailey of Birch and Barley, Michael Costa of Zaytinya, Scott Drewno of The Source by Wolfgang Puck, Carla Hall and Mike Isabella of Top Chef fame, Barton Seaver and more. Add to the mix 25 wineries and desserts from more local chefs such as Mallory Staley of 1789. Tickets are $80 for members and $95 for general admission.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Post-Competition Taco Haze

After this past weekend, I need another weekend to recover. While my friend Phil and I didn't win diddly, we did have a blast at The Food Experiment Taco Cookoff this past Sunday. Team Mad Cows did good--we made our mothers proud, fed our friends well, and ate tacos and beer. It goes without saying, but I couldn't have pulled it off without my assistant, Phil. Thanks for reigning me in when I wanted to buy more supplies, prepping 300 tacos with me, and keeping up the laughter the whole time through.

The crowd of competing chefs

Me with our dish before presenting to the judges

Presenting to the judges

Tacos, tacos and more tacos

Just enjoying ourselves by this point...plating taco #256?

Team Mad Cows: Me and Phil

Our beef, corn and black bean salsa with a chimichurri sauce tacos

Big, huge, enormous tortilla-sized thanks goes to my friends who came out to support us: Mark, Alex, Kim, Brittany, Clara, Lord and Mike. You guys were the best beer and taco fetchers and confidence boosters a girl could ask for. Alex especially, thank you for being the designated photographer. And a big thanks to the friends who threw their support in but couldn't quite make it: Sebastian, Rob, Matt, Lauren, Eshawn and Jennifer.

Read more about the Taco Experiment over at: The Food Experiment, Brightest Young Things (if only they hadn't shot the pictures with a fish eye lens) and Metromix. Look ma! We're all over the interwebs!

Congratulations to the winners!

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Food Experiment DC Taco Competition on May 15th

I've been known to roll up my sleeves and throwdown in the kitchen. I don't like backing away from a culinary challenge and so this weekend I'll be taking on a big one. I'm competing, along with my assistant and friend, Phil, in a taco cookoff competition.

I got an email about the Food Experiment a few weeks back, and in a fit of giddy rapture and blind stupidity, I signed up to compete. Nevermind that I have to make enough tastings for 250 to 300 people. Nevermind that this is going to take a lot of time and money. Nevermind that I completely forgot about my high school reunion that weekend, making it impossible for me to get to New York for the weekend (I'm still INCREDIBLY bummed about missing it). As Phil keeps telling me, "Just remember, we get chef's coats. Or maybe we should have just bought ourselves chef coats." What sort of hot taco mess did we get ourselves into?

So my DC readers, this is where I implore you to show up on Sunday, May 15th and support Bon Appetit Foodie (aka our team name: The Mad Cows) in this crazy competition. Maybe we'll win and go on to compete in the All-Star Cookoff in Brooklyn. Maybe we'll just eat tacos and have a good time. Either way, there's sure to be some culinary glory in store for me and Phil. Remember to come say hello and vote for us!

Here are the important deets:

What: Taco Cookoff, Hosted by The Food Experiment
Where: Rock and Roll Hotel
When: May 15th, 12-3 PM
How much: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. A portion of the proceeds will go to Capital Area Food Bank.

Looking forward to seeing you there over some delicious tacos!

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Making Homemade Ice Cream

Back at the beginning of 2011, I made a few resolutions, one of which was to challenge myself in the kitchen more. I'm also kind of a purist in the kitchen; I like to do everything from scratch, if possible. Usually, your efforts and tastebuds are rewarded in the end. So when my birthday rolled around and one of my presents included the ice cream mixer attachment for my KitchenAid, I figured it was time to put on the big girl pants and whip up some homemade frozen confections. With a little help and guidance from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, I discovered that making ice cream from scratch was actually quite easy. You essentially have a base with sugar and cream (and fruit if you choose) that you cook, blend until smooth, run it through a sieve, chill and then churn with the mixer attachment or ice cream maker. And then boom: homemade ice cream with nary a single ingredient in it that you can't pronounce.

For the pear caramel ice cream I made, I started by melting down white sugar and then adding three chopped pears, cooking them until soft.

I added a pint of heavy whipping cream, a pinch of kosher salt and a tiny squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I wish I had been able to capture how the cream formed beautiful swirls in the amber caramel.

From there, I put the mixture in a blender and strained it through a sieve to remove any grainy pieces of pear. Running an ice cream base that contains fruit through a sieve helps make it have a smoother texture.

Using the KitchenAid attachment, which I highly recommend investing in (hint: buy it on Amazon for less), I churned the ice cream mixture for 30 minutes. Don't cheat on this step: leave the attachment in the freezer for a full 15 hours, as recommended. And make sure the ice cream mixture itself is thoroughly chilled before churning and don't start digging in until the mixture has had four to six hours chilling and setting in the freezer.

Waiting for the ice cream to set in the freezer is the hardest part of the entire process, I assure you.  

And once you freeze it completely, you've got luscious, creamy ice cream. The kind that actually melts when it's left out in room temperature, the kind that has a fluffy looking texture when you scoop it, the kind that just tastes really good. I also made vanilla ice cream that used a custard base. It's only slightly more difficult because you have to temper the egg yolks and stir constantly so that you don't end up with bits of scrambled eggs (really not that difficult, I promise). Lebovitz's book has some fantastic recipes in it with some very interesting flavors like avocado ice cream, black currant tea ice cream and plenty of sorbets. I'll be using the summer and my hungry friends to work my way through the recipes in his book. Get your spoons ready.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Restaurant Review: Bourbon Steak

After walking around the kitchen of Bourbon Steak and interviewing their new chef, Adam Sobel, I figured I was due for a visit. That and the fact that my friend Phil is doing this whole "I don't eat carbs" thing, made Bourbon Steak a logical choice for dinner.

Let's get this out in the open and out of the way first. Yes, Bourbon Steak is a very expensive restaurant. I joked on Twitter afterwards about having to eat ramen noodles for the next week, and I kind of wasn't kidding. This is not your average "hotel restaurant" with lukewarm, mediocre food served to guests who are likely to never be in town again. Located in the Four Seasons Hotel, Bourbon Steak has consistently been rated as one of DC's top restaurants by Washingtonian and others. So to splurge on this meal was an easy choice for me, and was completely worth it. And who knows, maybe when you go there, you'll dine with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio who was spotted by another friend there a few weeks earlier.

To start, we ordered the "cheese steak" appetizer which was a beef tartare with aged provolone and potato skins. My only complaint, if you can even call it that, was that the appetizer was a pretty modest portion. Or maybe I'm just a little piglet. The beef was picture perfect and ruby red (though excuse my terribly dim photo of it. The iPhone can only do so much, foodies), and went well with the incredibly thin and crispy potato skins, as well as the little nibbles of baked provolone. I also liked the fact that the dish was a sophisticated and playful twist on what's usually greasy street food. With the sampling of duck fat fries with three different dipping sauces, my favorite being the ketchup with hints of pickle flavor in it, as well as hot rolls with truffle oil and sea salt, the meal was off to a great start.

For dinner, I felt compelled to go with the dry aged new york strip steak. I asked for mine cooked medium and it was textbook--the right amount of pink on the inside and flavorful--this is a steak cows dream of becoming. For sides, Phil and I got the creamed spinach and the truffle mac and cheese. Normally, I'm not a fan of creamed spinach, but this dish was incredibly silky and rich. The truffle mac and cheese was decadent, also incredibly rich and just oozing with hot cheese and that subtle hint of truffle flavor. Just to show how good it was, I got Phil to break his no carbs vow and he actually ate more than one bite of the mac and cheese.

Rounding out the entire meal, we made room for dessert and had a passion fruit panna cotta. After a meal of steak and side dishes laden with heavy cream, the light, fruity panna cotta was a good choice.

Writing this post, I feel full just thinking about it. While I wish I had visited the restaurant while David Varley was there just to see how the menu has changed since Adam's taken the helm, I can tell you that Adam has nailed it. Maybe you'll decide to go here for a special occasion or maybe when you just feel like splurging. Either way I think it's pretty much a guarantee that you will have an incredible meal at Bourbon Steak.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.

Recipe: Asparagus and Parmesan Risotto with Sauteed Ramps

My latest food obsession has become ramps. I completely missed out on them at the farmer's market last year, so this year I was determined not to let that happen. Ramps are kind of like a scallion, but taste more like garlic and are a member of the onion family (wrap your mind around that one). They're delicate in flavor and even a little sweet when you cook them.

Below you'll find my recipe for asparagus risotto with ramps. In my first attempt at this, I added the ramps at the beginning and cooked them with the risotto the entire time. But I feel the full flavor of the ramps kind of got lost in the process, so I prefer to top the risotto with sauteed ramps. If you don't feel like going through the effort to make risotto, I have two other suggestions for cooking with ramps:

1. Saute whole ramps in a little butter and salt. Chop a few other ramps and whisk them in with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil and ramp mixture over the sauteed ramps and a few poached eggs. Serve with crusty bread. Devour immediately.

2. Allison Sosna of DCCK also suggested that I pickle the ramps in red wine vingar and star anise for 24 hours, and then put those on a burger. I also think just sauteing the whole ramps in butter and putting them on a burger would be divine.

Risotto with Asparagus and Ramps (serves 6)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of white arborio rice

- 1 bunch of asparagus (about 20-30 stalks)

- 2 large shallots, roughly chopped

- 3/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
- 5-6 cups of chicken broth
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 bunch of fresh ramps, cleaned and left whole (12-15 ramps)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Toss the asparagus spears in extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. Lay out in one layer on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. When it's tender, slice the asparagus spears on an angle into approximately one inch pieces.

2. Roughly chop the shallots.

3.. In a large pot, saute the shallots in 3 tablespoons of butter until they are translucent.
4.. Add the risotto rice and the other 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir for approximately two minutes over medium heat.
(If you want to add white wine, add it before adding the chicken broth. Continuously stir after adding the wine, until most of the liquid has been absorbed before adding the chicken broth)

5.  Add the chicken broth one cup at a time, stirring regularly and waiting until most of the liquid has been absorbed before adding the next cup of chicken broth. After adding the first cup of chicken broth, add the roasted asparagus.

6. Once most of the chicken broth has been absorbed, remove from heat.
7. Add the grated parmesan cheese and the cup of cream. Stir to combine. Serve with sauteed ramps on top.

Take a bite: www.bonappetitfoodie.com.