 Well, it's been a while...
Between travel (Equatorial Guinea, Kenya and soon, El Salvador) and work (end of fiscal year deadlines) I've been neglecting the blog.
Thankfully, I've still been able to cook! I've been trying to get up the energy to start posting again, and Thanksgiving provided the perfect opportunity.
We had a wonderful holiday this year - with family (Natan, Rachel, Rebekah, Manuel) and friends (Mary Ann, Levi, Josh, Katherine), from here and out of town. Unfortunately, the weekend also involved two trips to the ER (thankfully none for food poisoning!). Nonetheless, we were all together by 3:00 on Thursday, and had a wonderful feast, with contributions from everyone. Thankfully, I wasn't responsible for the pies! As those who know me are well aware, desserts are NOT my forte!
 After snacking on delicious cheeses from Eastern Market (including a Camembert that tastes like butter - in the best sense of the word) and drinking Prosecco, I used shots of pumpkin apple soup spiked with sherry to get everyone to the table. For the meal, we had a traditional turkey (fondly referred to as "the roast beast" in the Weissburg home) stuffed with baby portobello mushrooms and roasted chestnuts, stuffing with tarragon and walnuts, Brussels sprouts with walnut oil and chives (that only Katherine and I really liked - my attempt to win Josh over into Brussels sprouts territory didn't work), traditional Weissburg potatoes (brilliantly prepared by Manuel), cranberry sauce with dates and orange zest (Josh handily took over preparation of the dish in Rachel's ER absentia), delicious wholegrain rolls (grace a Mary Ann) and an arugula salad with candied pecans, dried cherries and pomegranate seeds. Let's just say no one missed the candied yams and marshmallows (or if they did, no one mentioned it!).
I had great fun cooking Wednesday and Thursday - I'm already planning for Christmas dinner! I'm thinking a roast leg of lamb. Suggestions for accompaniments?
 Last night, our good friends Mark and Katie came over for dinner. Dinner, however, wasn't the focal point of evening. Earlier in the day Josh and Mark had decided that it was high time they subject the women in their lives to a manly movie - no more art-house features for them. That's where "Live Free or Die Hard" came in. I was tasked with coming up with something to eat. When I asked for some direction, I was told: "something with red meat."
Since it was rainy outside, though not particularly cold, I was looking for something warm, but not too heavy. That perfect transitional season dish, with the requisite red meat. For some reason, I kept coming back to this beef daube with mustard, herbs & white wine, from Patricia Wells' "At Home in Provence" cookbook. A Daube, which is much like a pot-au-feu, or a thick stew, is, in my mind, usually a winter dish, so I wasn't sure why I kept coming back to it. But because I couldn't get it out of my mind (much like moules frites today - which is why we're going to Dr. Granville Moore's tonight, for dinner) I decided to look it up anyway. Lo and behold, I read this in Patricia's introduction: "I think of this as a springtime daube, for days when you want the heartiness off beef and a warm bowl of stew but nothing overwhelming." Well, that settled it.
I had taken a mental health day, so I had the necessary 2-3 hours of simmering time to make the dish (but for that, this could be the easiest weeknight meal). Simply brown 2 pounds of meat in olive oil, add a bottle of white wine (which always throws me off, as I'd expect red, but this keeps it light) to deglaze, 2 tablespoons dijon mustard, about a pound of thinly sliced onions, some garlic cloves, a can of whole tomatoes in their juices, a bouquet garni (I used rosemary, lavendar and tarragon, because that's what I have growing downstairs) and simmer for 3 hours. Mark and Katie brought over a loaf of crusty French bread for mopping up the sauce.
We served it with a light salad to start and fresh fruit in a simple syrup of lemon verbena steeped in reduced riesling (the lemon verbena also grown downstairs). Sadly, the syrup was a little heavy on the lemon verbena for our tastes.
The best thing about this dish is that it's even better the next day, which I remembered today, as we polished off the remainders for lunch.
Josh and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Belize, where we hiked through rainforests to ancient Mayan ruins, swam through rivers into miles-long caves, sailed in the Caribbean cayes and snorkeled with sharks and sting-rays. Perhaps best of all, we ate more stew chicken and rice and beans (which, we learned, is very different than rice with beans - or beans and rice!). Sadly, this will all have to be cataloged in our minds, because we lost our camera (with all our pictures!) en route!
Which explains the long posting absence. I've been cooking since our return, but somehow posting about it is no fun without pictures. But a camera has been purchased and is on its way, so we'll be up and running in a matter of days. In the meantime, some culinary highlights of the last few days:
- Sunday night - whole trout with lavender, basil and pistou grilled with an arugula salad and baked potato on the side. The lavender, basil and chives were picked from our newly-planted herb garden, outside our tiny apartment. Planting the herb garden was probably the highlight of the weekend - and we can reap the benefits for months!
- Monday night - in an attempt to use up the arugula and gorgeous tomatoes we got from Eastern Market on Saturday, we had a pasta with tomatoes, arugula and pecorino - a perfect, light dinner for a summer evening!
- Last night was a tomato, asparagus, broccoli and scallion frittata with plenty of garlic and onion, as well as goat cheese, swiss cheese and pecorino on top. It puffed up and turned a gorgeous golden-brown and looked a lot like a souffle - I'm really missing my camera right now!
 I was watching my weekly dose of PBS cooking shows last weekend and happened upon an episode of Lidia's Italy in which she makes a simple pasta of pancetta, chickpeas and spinach. It looked amazing (as do most of the things Lidia Bastianich makes, effortlessly). So I planned to make it this week with some of my own twists. I added soft goat cheese for a little tang, and tomatoes for color and freshness. The whole thing resulted in a creamy but fresh pasta meal with a smoky depth of flavor.
First, I sauteed some pancetta - or, in my case, bacon. No need to add oil to the pan - there's enough in the meat! Speaking of the meat, I put in just about two strips of bacon, maybe less. I didn't want the dish to be meaty, I just wanted the smoky flavor from the bacon. When that began to crsip I poured out some of the rendered bacon fat (you could keep it, too, to cook with, but I didn't have enough to make it worthwhile) and added two cloves of chopped garlic. When those began to turn golden, I added a small can of chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), the cooked gemellini pasta, several nice chunks of goat cheese and a chopped tomato. I also added about a quarter cup of the pasta cooking water to the pan (the starch in the pasta water helps thicken the sauce). I then added two or three big handfuls of fresh spinach, and as soon as it wilted (which took less than a minute) I served the pasta, with some more goat cheese on top and some fresh ground pepper.
 I may as well admit it - I'm spoiled. Eastern Market is 2 blocks away and is a treasure trove of artisan cheeses, locally-made sausages, fresh-cut flowers and, best of all, an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The other day I came home with more fruit than the two of us could ever eat in a week. So Rachel came by and the three of us assembled this peach, kiwi, strawberry and blueberry tart with a custard creme base. No baking (except for a few minutes for the crust) and a cornucopia of fresh fruit - what could be more summer?
 It's an inside joke in the Weissburg home that Josh loves all things "vaguely Asian." Bonzai trees? Loves them. Bamboo? He's named the one in our living room (it's Bamboozle). Shoji screens, silk paintings, yoga? Can't get enough of them.
Thankfully, this also extends to food, so last night became chicken teriyaki night. I'm not even sure this is bloggable, because I cheat with my chicken teriyaki - I use a store-bought teriyaki sauce to season the stir-fry. Still, it makes for a super-fast meal, and together with some fresh chopped ginger, garlic, green onions, mushrooms and whatever vegetables I have lying around (last night it was rapini - also known as broccoli rabe - and carrots) it's fresh and tastes delicious. (Side note: for best flavor, I marinate the chicken in the teriyaki sauce along with some of the chopped ginger and garlic before stirfrying everything in sesame oil - it gives it that extra kick). Serve with brown rice and chopsticks!
 Josh isn't a huge seafood fan. He likes fish (thank goodness) and he loves crab, but when it comes to shrimp, scallops, clams - let's just say they're not his thing.
For some crazy reason, unbeknownst to either of us, yesterday he was craving seafood. As soon as the words came out of his mouth I ran to the fish market, picked up some bay scallops and shrimp - both of which were on sale - and came home and made what turned out to be quite a delicious pasta dish. Even better--it only took about 15 minutes, which was crucial because I had already made lunch, gone grocery shopping, baked a fresh loaf of bread, made a double-layer carrot cake (more on those two later) and done our weekly session of power yoga. Whew!
Method was simple: saute some scallops (sprinkled with salt, pepper and a little flour to help them turn golden brown around the edges) for about 30 seconds per side. Remove the scallops from the pan, add some chopped garlic (I did one clove, but I think I'd up to two next time) and 1/4-1/2 a cup of a dry, white wine (we used a budget-friendly Pinot Grigio from Rioja, Spain) together with the shrimp.
Saute until the shrimp turn just barely pink and opaque, and remove from the pan (this only takes about 2 minutes total - overcooking shrimp is what gives them that nasty, rubbery texture they're so often known for. Add some clam juice, if you have it (this gives the pasta a bit more of a seafood-y flavor) and some flour or cornstarch (just about a tablespoon) to thicken the sauce. Add salt and pepper to flavor, as well as a good handful of chopped parsley. Add more wine/clam juice to taste and cook to reduce a bit. Toss with al dente pasta (I used linguine). Plate the pasta and arrange the seafood over it, pouring the accumulated juices on top, for extra flavor. Garnish with any leftover parsley.
Craving satisfied!
 My brother, Natan, was in town last weekend. One thing you should know about Natan is that he loves lobster. I mean LOVES. Ask him what his greatest joys in life are and he'll say his friends, soccer and lobster. (He's going to respond to this post and say that's not true, but we know better.) Being a conniving sister and trying to lure him to visit me in D.C., I promised a lobster feast if he came. Not surprisingly, he did.
I've never cooked lobster before - at least not a whole one. But Natan was a champion and took the reins. (Never mind that he'd never done it himself, either. His unsurpassed love of lobster simply guided him through the process.) We went down to the docks at the SouthWest Waterfront, picked out 3 2-pound lobsters and went to town.
The results were delicious; though, to be honest, the process was a little too laborious for my taste. Suffice it to say that unless Natan's back in town and craving lobster, this is one of those things that I'll put on my "done" list, and move on. But it was a fun experience, and we laughed a lot--and then thoroughly destroyed those lobsters (along with sweet corn on the cob and steaming bowls of New England clam chowder from the docks).
 I got home late tonight (full disclosure: not because I worked late, but because I went shoe shopping), so I needed something fast to make for dinner. I have a bunch of quick, go-to recipes, but I wanted something different - and I wasn't feeling inspired.
On days like these I go treasure hunting - today I discovered some kebab meat in the freezer. The fridge turned up cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant and red pepper. So I made a quick marinade with my mortar and pestle (a much-used birthday gift from Josh) - fresh ginger and fresh garlic pounded into a paste, with some soy sauce for depth of flavor and a lot of fresh lime juice to tenderize what can often be a tough cut of meat. I let the meat marinate while the rice was cooking and I chopped up some tomato, cucumber and onion for an easy, Israeli-style salad (with olive oil and lime juice as the makeshift vinaigrette).
The meat and vegetable kebabs cooked under the broiler for about 5 minutes per side. Since I had leftovers, I "grilled" some onions and eggplant with the kebabs to use as a topping for the rice. (Because we were hungry, this picture was taken before the rice was topped - hence the big white blob in the corner of the plate.) Josh declared it a make-again, which makes it a winner in my book.
Since it was a gorgeous night, we walked to Ben & Jerry's to use a 2-for-1 coupon. There we ran into Carl Levin, who was eating a blackberry sorbet on the B&J patio with his wife. Josh wanted to overly-enthusiastically thank him for his contribution to the party, while I wanted to pretend to mistake him for Senator McCain and tell him I was voting for him in November. We ended up walking away and doing nothing.
 A weekend full of tennis (on the court and on TV) calls for a hearty breakfast - especially since my 22-year-old brother, Natan, is in town. A quick search through the refrigerator revealed a surprising amount of delicious ingredients for the perfect omelet - meaty portobello mushrooms, tangy goat cheese, fresh tomatoes and arugula. Yum!
Tip: For beautiful, fluffy eggs (omelets or scrambled), salt the eggs before you cook them - it breaks down the proteins and makes them softer.
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