New Winter Project

Best/worst city slogan ever.

For those paying attention, you know that I actually live in Wilmington, Delaware, but mostly write reviews of Philadelphia restaurants. Why no love for Wilmington? Because, well, Philly is were I spend my weekends and non-working and non-sleeping hours.

But, I’m about to give you some love Wilmington! Even though the only readers I have in Wilmington are people looking for Buckley’s brunch menu. (You really need to get a site up, Buckley’s.)

Due to the nature of my job, I have lots of free time in the winter, so...I figured during the week I could get off my ass occasionally, walk out my front door and down the street to see what I could find in the lunch department in downtown Wilmington.

Why lunch? Because 9-5 is when downtown Wilmington is open, and I’d like to keep my destinations in walking distance. Plus, I always bring my lunch to work, and would like to see what Wilmington has to offer. And, I hate to admit this, but I'm uncomfortable eating dinner alone – lunch is another story, though. So, lunch it is!

Now, I know this new venture is going to alienate most of my Philly readership (all four of you), and is not the wisest decision, but, don’t worry (not that anyone is), I will still be covering my Philly beat.

But, please, do still read. My first lunch outing is kinda fun – and strange.

White Fruitcake

As if my copious mayonnaise consumption weren’t proof enough that I’m a disgusting individual, I made fruitcake this past weekend. I’m one of the fifty people out there that actually likes fruitcake. In fact, I’ve been known to foster unwanted gift fruitcakes at my house.

My Dad also likes fruitcake. Ever since he’s discovered my blog (beware of links), he emails me occasionally with recipes or ideas. I’ve yet to follow through. Not that they aren’t lovely idea, it’s just that I don’t actually plan what I’m going to post. Posts just happen.

My secret ingredient: crystallized ginger.

The other day, he asks me if I have the prize-winning fruitcake recipe (not his recipe, someone else’s). Because it's prime time (maybe even a little late) to make fruitcake, if you want it ready for Christmas. Yep, I’ve got it. I was actually planning on making fruitcake last year, and a year later is about the perfect time to get around to doing things.

Blue ribbon be damned, I could not follow the recipe. It called for creaming butter and sugar for 15 minutes, and everyone knows I have no patience. And for giggles, I added crystallized ginger. I went with my Dad’s suggestion of using Sunmaid's Jumbo raisins – they’re huge! He just moved into a new house with a slow oven, and declares that slow and low is key. Mine was done in 2 ½ hours at 225°. We’ll compare notes at Christmas. (I hope I win.)

My camera got a bath after this shot.

And for those of you that bitch about fake fruit in fruitcakes…It’s candied, not fake. Get over it – or make one with only dried fruit. And if you still can’t get over it, send all shunned cakes to my house.

White Fruitcake
Adapted from Revised Version of Spices of Life Past and Present by Lee A. Harley, Sr.

20 ounces candied pineapple, cut into ¼ inch pieces
12 ounces candied cherries, cut in half
4 ounces jumbo raisins
8 ounces dates, chopped coarsely
2 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped finely
1 ½ cups pecans, chopped coarsely
1 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
2 cups flour
¾ cup butter, (room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs (room temperature)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon mace
2 ounces sweet wine, (port or cream sherry)
brandy, rum or other spirits to add after the cake is baked

• Preheat oven to 225°.
• Mix fruit, ginger, and nuts in a large bowl, keeping a few pieces out for decorating the top of the cake.
• Sift flour, and mix about 1/3 cup flour in fruit and nut mixture until coated.
• Cream butter and sugar together in a small bowl and beat for 15 minutes, if you can stand it that long. I lasted 5 minutes.
• In another small bowl, beat eggs on high for 1 minute. Add the cinnamon and mace to the egg mixture.
• Add the creamed butter and sugar to the fruit and nut mixture, mixing well. Then add the egg mixture, mixing well. Then add the flour in three parts, mixing after each addition. Then add the sweet wine and mix. (It’s best to just reach in there and mix with your hands.)
• Fill a greased, or greased parchment-lined bundt pan (or a few smaller pans) with the batter, pressing down and smoothing out the batter. Decorate the top with nuts or fruit.
• Bake at 225° for 2-2 ½ hours, or until center of cake is done and straw inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.
• When completely cooled, unmold cake and wrap in foil for a week to cure. (Some add spirits after cooling, but I'm following the recipe sent to me, and will wait.)
• After a week of curing, sprinkle a few ounces of any combination of spirits (brandy, whiskey, port, rum, scotch, sherry) on top for the cake to absorb. Repeat, adding spirits every few days until the cake is moist throughout, or until you’re satisfied with the results.

Meju

Update: No longer open.

I stumbled upon the newly opened BYOB Korean restaurant, Meju, in Old City a few weeks ago. It was after 10p.m., and I was already happily liquored-up when I walked in the cozy BYOB that was getting ready to close. Unaware of their hours, I asked if they were closing. Yes, but they happily set a table for us.

Now, I would never impose on a hard-working, tired restaurant crew (I make a point to not even enter restaurants 30 minutes before closing), but they seemed genuinely carefree and unbothered by our presence. Had they rolled their eyes or hesitated, instead of cheerfully waiving us in, I would have gladly turned around.

After the lone dinner party remaining exited, the crew cleaned up, and set themselves down at the table behind us and had a snack and chat, all the while attentively and happily attending to our table. The service was so genuinely nice – not even considering we were there after hours.

I came in really seeking a late night snack of kimbap, Korea’s version of sushi. I used to eat kimbap every week at my favorite Korean/Southwestern restaurant (unlikely combination) in my hometown (and, dang, if they aren't closed at Xmas when I go home), so miss kimbap very much. Sliced thinner than sushi, the carrot, pickled daikon, and spinach-filled kimbap is great for people like me with small mouths – tasty, too.

We also ordered the vegetarian dolsot bibimbap, a rice dish served in a scorching-hot stone bowl and topped with vegetables and tofu. Our food came with about eight of so small dishes of spicy banchan, which we polished off. Never once trying to rush our table, the nice server offered us refills of our banchan. We declined, as we were stuffed and didn’t want to take up more of their time.

Besides the food being excellent (sorry, no pics; I was not anticipating eating out), I am truly amazed at how nice the staff was to a couple of people who walked in after hours. I’m doing a side job tomorrow a block from Meju, and I know exactly where I’m eating when my day is done.

Meju, 213 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19106
215-238-9403

Apple-Cranberry Pie

I should have participated in that post-every-day-in-November-cause-I’m-a-badass-blogging-mofo NaBloPoMo, ‘cause I have posts out the wazoo to get around to. I’m trying really hard to stick to my normal regularity of posting, but the shit’s getting backed up. I’ve got about six restaurant reviews to get around to, and the unveiling of my winter project, but other posts keep popping up. I can’t decide…do I post that restaurant review, or get started on the winter project, or post that timely recipe? Timely recipe wins.

I made the apple-cranberry pie from Cook’s Illustrated for Thanksgiving. It’s the pie that came with the revolutionary foolproof vodka pie crust, but Smitten Kitchen beat me to the punch on the pie dough (she beats everyone, so no biggie).

Smitten Kitchen just reneged her recommendation of the pie crust due to its stickiness, but still declares it the flakiest yet. I experienced stickiness when mixing the dough, but after the dough slept in my fridge overnight bundled in plastic wrap (at least 45 minutes in the fridge is recommended, but I stretched the pie making over two days), the stickiness was no more. Rolled out perfectly. And the baked crust? Flakiest yet.

So, no more on the crust. Go get the recipe at Smitten Kitchen. The cranberry and apple filling, though! Yum! I’m not a die hard apple pie fan, and wondered why I was even making an apple pie – other than the fact that Cook’s Illustrated wills me to make their recipes through mind control.

The cranberry mash is layered on the bottom of the pie, and apple slices sit on top, guaranteeing cranberry and apple in every bite, but no mixing or polluting of the individual flavors. The scent of butter, apples and roses seduced me as I drove the 45 minutes to my friend’s house for Thanksgiving with the warm pie riding shotgun.

Sorry for no final pie-innards picture (it’s rude to run around with a camera at someone else’s Thanksgiving table). But, trust me; it was beautiful and tasty. Cranberries and apples work well at Christmas, too, ya know! Apple-Cranberry Pie
adapted from Cooks Illustrated

2 cups frozen or fresh cranberries
¼ cup orange juice
1 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon for top of pie
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 ½ pounds sweet apples (6-7 medium), peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
1 recipe Foolproof Pie Dough
1 egg white, beaten lightly

• Bring cranberries, orange juice, ½ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally, while pressing the berries against the side of the pan with a spoon to assist in breaking the berries down. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until the berries achieve a thick consistency (scrapping spoon across bottom of pan leaves a trail that does not fill in). Remove from heat, and stir in water. Cool to room temperature (30 minutes).
• Meanwhile, mix ½ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt, and cornstarch in large microwave-safe bowl. Add apples and toss to coat. Microwave on high, stirring every 3 minutes, for 10-14 minutes or until the edges of the apples are slightly translucent and liquid has thickened. Cool to room temperature (30 minutes).
• Move oven rack to the bottom and place a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Preheat oven to 425°.
• Roll one disk of the refrigerated dough out to a 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick on a generously floured surface. Place dough in pie pan, leaving a 1-inch dough overhang. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Spread the cranberry mixture evenly in the dough-lined pie pan. Top with apple mixture.
• Roll the second dough disk out to a 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick on a generously floured surface. Place on top of the pie, leaving a 1-inch overhang.
• Cut both layers of the overhanging dough, leaving ½ inch overhang. Fold the dough under so it’s flush with the pie pan edge. Crimp pie edges. Brush top of pie with egg whites, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut slits in top of pie dough.
• Place pie on preheated baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°, rotate baking sheet, and continue to bake for 25-30 minutes, or crust is deep golden brown.
• Cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Thanksgiving cupcakes from Whole Foods.

How could I resist a carcass-topped cupcake? And the mini-meal made me want to break out the dolls I never owned and play house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bourbon-Walnut Sweet Potato Mash

Here’s one last recipe from Bon Appètit’s Thanksgiving issue, plus a fun little experiment. I chose the one sweet potato dish from the other five regular potato dishes in Bon Appètit’s Thanksgiving potato section because sweet potato soufflé is always on our holiday table, unlike mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are – brace yourself – never on our table. Rice is the vehicle for all gravies and sauces on Thanksgiving and the other 364 days of the year.

Oh, you want to know about the experiment, and could care less about my lack of mashed potato consumption? OK.

Instead of sweet potatoes from the market that are breed for sweet flesh, I used the sweet potatoes from the garden center that are bred for ornamental foliage. The two plants – grocery store sweet potatoes and garden center sweet potatoes – are the same plant, Ipomoea batatas, just different cultivars.

My quest was to see if the ornamental sweet potatoes bred to look pretty in gardens are sweet enough to warrant eating. I normally toss these tubers every year when I do garden clean-up, but this year curiosity got the better of me.

I dug the tubers from three different ornamental sweet potato cultivars (Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red, Marguerite, and Ace of Spades), threw them in my car, and forgot about them for a few weeks. So, unfortunately, when it came time to identify which tuber was which, I had no clue. A good scientist I do not make!

Confusing picture. Four potatoes, but three cultivars - last two are the same cultivar.

I boiled and roasted some of each variety, and then it was time for the individual taste tests. They were all sweet, none drastically more so than the next. And was I glad, because if one was better than the other, I was going to kick myself for letting the tubers roll around the back of my car for weeks, and not remembering which was which.

So, on to the bourbon-walnut sweet potato recipe in Bon Appètit. Trying to be a good scientist, I made a control batch from sweet potatoes from the market. Yum. A sweet, but more rustic dish than the baked sweet potato soufflé typically topped with marshmallows. I adore the marshmallows, by the way.

The mash made from the ornamental sweet potatoes, thanks to their collective white, yellow, and purple flesh, looks about as appetizing as dirty bath water. But guess what? In a blind taste test, they taste just as good as the store bought sweet potatoes bred for eating. The only thing that gives the ornamental sweet potatoes away, besides their color, is a slightly lumpier texture. But lumps can be cured with longer cooking or pureeing.

Stick with the more visually appetizing orange-fleshed sweet potatoes for the holiday table, but don’t toss those tubers from your flower beds – eat them!

Bourbon-Walnut Sweet Potato Mash
Adapted from Bon Appètit
8-10 servings

4 pounds sweet potatoes
½ cup whipping cream
6 tablespoons butter
¼ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Roast whole potatoes on a baking sheet for 1 - 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Cool until you can handle, then scoop flesh into a large bowl. Mash potatoes coarsely.
• Heat cream and butter in a saucepan over low heat until butter melts. Slowly combine cream mixture into potatoes. Then add syrup, bourbon, and spices. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Sprinkle with nuts and serve.

Urban Gardening - Ah, the Memories

Left: Early March; Right: Early April

Left: Early May; Right: Late May

Left: Late June; Right: Early July

Left: Early August; Right: Mid-September

Right: Early November; Left: Mid-November

This is my favorite part about taking pictures of the garden: looking back on the progress. I also like time-lapse photography, flip books, and boxes of chocolate. And boxes of chocolate.

I ripped out the garden this past weekend, even though we haven't had a killing frost yet. I'm tired, the plants are tired, and I prefer working outside when it's not 20 degrees.

Considering the mediocre light that reaches the raised bed on the patio surrounded by a three-story house on one side and a fence on the other three sides, I think the urban vegetable garden was a success. The tomatoes, with their light-seeking, vining habit, and the shade tolerant lettuce were the most prolific crops.

Whether or not we do it again next year is up to the boy, since it is "his" garden, after all. I would like to think that he enjoyed the produce and herbs just a few strides outside his kitchen. He has even taken to the sport of sneaking up on the rascally squirrels to snap their mugs for Philly's most-wanted lineup. Word on the street is one of them's a cop-killer.I noes eat toemater. I swearz.

Urban Gardening - Early March
Urban Gardening - Early April
Urban Gardening - Mid-April
Urban Gardening -Early May
Urban Gardening - Late May
Urban Gardening - Late June
Urban Gardening - Early July
Urban Gardening - Early August
Urban Gardening - Mid-September