Category: food

The wonders of burrata cheese

Burrata with fresh tomatoes

Burrata with fresh tomatoes

I first really fell in love with soft, creamy, salty burrata cheese this August in California when I was served it over fresh heirloom tomatoes with a simple drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of salt and pepper (similar to this). Since then I’ve encountered it on many a restaurant menu and (almost) every time have ordered it and enjoyed it immensely.

Summer vegetable salad with burrata cheese croquette, part of lunch at Mondavi

Summer vegetable salad with burrata cheese croquette, part of lunch at Mondavi

I looked into how to make burrata cheese, as cheesemaking has been in the queue of “cooking techniques to learn” for quite a while, but I think I may start with a simpler cheese for my first cheesemaking endeavor (perhaps ricotta, especially since we got a Thermapen for Christmas so temperature monitoring will be vastly simpler).

So deep fried or fresh, if you encounter burrata in the grocery store or on a restaurant menu, I highly encourage you to try it!

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Christmas Eve Dinner 2014 – Beef short ribs in Barolo

Christmas Eve Dinner 2014 This recipe for Beef in Barolo from Food 52 turned out really well. We went to Belmont Butchery for the short ribs, a very cool little shop in Richmond. Served it with a quick sautéed broccolini with lemon and garlic (blanched first so they’d sauté up faster then topped with panko breadcrumbs mixed with some lemon zest for some additional texture and flavor) and oven roasted potatoes (love the mandolin for thin crispy slices) and had a bottle of Elizabeth Spencer 2009 Spring Mountain Napa Cabernet along with it.

For dessert I knew I wanted something pie-like but didn’t feel like making a proper pie crust so I found this raspberry tart recipe which was amazing (I omitted the walnuts as we didn’t have any). This turned out to have a very custard-y filling, dotted with fresh raspberries and a shortbread-style crust. Delicious.

Sauteed Broccolini Oven roasted potatoes Beef Short Ribs in Barolo

Raspberry TartSlice of raspberry tart

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Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip (or mini-M&M) Cookies

Soft and chewy mini M&M cookies
Soft and chewy mini M&M cookies

I had bought a bag of mini M&M’s from Amazon a while back in the hopes of recreating a childhood cookie-favorite, oatmeal M&M cookies. However, upon being faced with an impending deadline for a holiday cookie exchange, I opted to made more “traditional” chocolate chip cookies using the M&M’s instead. Always on the search for the perfect soft and chewy cookie (with just a little crisp on the outside edges) I found Martha Stewart’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it was a winner. All of the things I wanted it had (just ignore the quantity of butter used, it’s what makes them so tasty).

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Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash soup
Butternut squash soup

As our Dominion Harvest CSA fall season was coming to an end (which, by the way, if you’re in the Richmond/Williamsburg area and like fresh produce, eggs and cheese delivered right to your door, I highly recommend), the Beker household found itself with a plethora of winter squashes. I subscribe to Food 52’s blog and this well timed post for Thomas Keller’s Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter gave us an excellent outlet for the two large butternut squashes we had sitting on the counter. The author emphasizes the importance of the brown butter and I’ll second it, the nutty flavor really adds a new dimension to the soup, along with the creaminess of the creme fraiche, the crispy fried sage leaves, drizzle of good olive oil and sprinkling of black pepper.

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Steamed Clams in White Wine

Steamed clams in white wine
Steamed clams in white wine

The idea to make this recipe started when we were asked to bring over an appetizer/starter for an Italian-themed dinner one weekend. We knew mussels were coming into season, I had been wanting to try cooking shellfish, and Jeremy and I both love the mussels in white wine dish that’s available at quite a few of our favorite restaurants, so all those factors led us to opting to prepare that to bring over to the Golds for dinner. We visited our local fish monger early that morning but the mussels had not come in yet, all he had were clams. Figuring they couldn’t be that different we opted for those and headed back to the house. A quick Google search yielded this steamed clams in white wine recipe and it is perfect. I did feel a bit bad when we dropped the clams into the hot broth, but despite that we were well rewarded with a tasty dish. Just the right amount of citrus, butter and wine, topped with parsley and served with fresh foccacia, it’s wonderful how something so simple can taste so amazing when you have good ingredients. We did add a tablespoon or so of clam juice just to up the salty/brine-y/clam-y flavor but that was the only tweak to the recipe.

Jeremy and I later made this same dish but turned it into an entree and served it over linguini, also recommended.

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Thanksgiving 2014

  • IMG_3548
  • Dry brined spatchcocked roast turkey
    Dry brined spatchcocked roast turkey
  • Sausage Stuffing
    Sausage Stuffing
  • Green Bean Casserole
    Green Bean Casserole
  • Mashed Potatoes
    Mashed Potatoes
  • Brussel Sprout Gratin
    Brussel Sprout Gratin
  • Thanksgiving Dinner 2014
    Thanksgiving Dinner 2014
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
    Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

We always try to start off with a fun cocktail of some kind for special occasion dinners. I had been chatting with Jeremy’s mom trying to think of a good cocktail, and also trying to find a good “standard” cocktail that I’m willing to order at any bar as a fallback drink, and Eileen suggested Southern Comfort Sours. I remember back in grad school enjoying “SoCo & Coke” so figured it was worth a shot…yum, to me, with the homemade sour mix (simple syrup, lemon and lime juice) the drink tastes like a SweetTart.

We have been brining the turkey for as long as I’ve been in charge of cooking Thanksgiving dinner but this year we opted to “dry-brine” on the recommendation of Serious Eats (plus, it saves fridge space since we don’t have to submerge the bird). So with some help from my dad (I couldn’t cut the backbone out myself) I spatchcocked the turkey, covered it with the dry brine overnight, and day of covered it with herb butter and roasted it to temperature, it only took 80 minutes for a 12 pound turkey. So dry-brined herb-rubbed spatchcocked roast turkey? Marked down as my new favorite way to go, the skin was super crisp (courtesy of the dry brine with baking powder) and, per usual when cooking poultry to temperature not to time, very moist.

The green bean casserole recipe is a Thanksgiving standard and the only variation I do is to make the mushroom sauce from scratch rather than courtesy of Campbell’s soup. My recipe is based off of Martha Stewart’s green bean casserole but I add a bit of cayenne pepper and go the traditional route of French’s fried onions rather than making my own topping with shallots.

The stuffing is one that I never really use a recipe for but is based off of this sausage and apple stuffing I saw made on “Party Line with the Hearty Boys” on Food Network way back when. I’ve omitted the cranberries since then and use sourdough bread cubes (bread courtesy of Blackbird Bakery in Williamsburg) and this time around we didn’t actually have poultry seasoning so I made our own seasoning blend (sage, thyme, rosemary, black pepper), and I think it actually tasted better that way.

Mashed potatoes, pretty standard with lots of butter (is there any other way?)

The new dish this year was one that Jeremy came across on Serious Eats. Typically we’ve had brussel sprouts with bacon but this year, we went all out and tried this Creamy, Cheesy Brussel Sprout Gratin. Wow was it rich and decadent, a totally different dish than usual with the brussel sprouts, but very tasty.

We made two pies this year, strawberry rhubarb and pumpkin, and made the crust according to Michael Ruhlman’s ratio (3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part liquid). Jeremy had had success before with this crust recipe using all butter so that’s the way I went and it turned out very well. It was a bit crazy seeing all the butter bubbling away in the oven through the clear glass pie plate but the crust was pretty tender and very flaky with lots of crisp on the edges. Next time I may introduce a little bit of lard/shortening to get a little more tender crumb but overall the crust, and the pies, were delicious.

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Hasselback Potatoes

Hasselback potatoes
Hasselback potatoes

I saw this technique for Hasselback Potatoes go by on a food blog or two this fall and we decided to try it out to go along with pork chops one weekend for dinner. I can’t track down which specific recipe I used but the preparation was pretty straightforward. Slice almost all the way through the potatoes, brush with butter/olive oil, season liberally, we stuck some sliced garlic and whole sage leaves in between some slices (to go with the pork) and popped them in the oven at 400 degrees or so. Problem was, we didn’t allow enough time for the potatoes to cook before the pork was ready, the top part was done (but not really crispy, which is the goal) but the bottom was still a bit toothsome. Timing multiple dishes has always been an Achilles heel of mine and I think this dish fell prey to that. I definitely want to try this again though and allow lots of time to cook the potatoes. Although this variation turning the dish into a Hasselback Potato Gratin Casserole looks pretty delicious too.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels

  • Dipping the pretzels into the baking soda solution
    Dipping the pretzels into the baking soda solution
  • Salting the pretzels (we used kosher)
    Salting the pretzels (we used kosher)
  • Fresh from the oven
    Fresh from the oven
  • The final product
    The final product

Jeremy and I saw this on Alton Brown’s Good Eats many years ago and both of us love soft pretzels, so one day we decided to finally try and make them at home with Alton Brown’s homemade soft pretzel recipe. Although food-grade lye is the ideal way to get the lovely caramel colored crust on soft pretzels, this more home-friendly version uses baking soda instead. The results? Pretty awesome and tastes very much like a “real” soft pretzel, same salty and slightly tangy flavor, firm outer crust and a good chewy interior texture. They weren’t as awesome heated up the next day (we’d stored them in the fridge) and the big grains of salt had kind of melted into the pretzel, but still good flavor nonetheless. Note for next time, either eat them all fresh or store them at room temperature somewhere they will stay dry.

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2nd Wedding Anniversary Tasting Menu – Silt, Williamsburg VA

  • The menu
    The menu
  • Pre-dinner cocktails
    Pre-dinner cocktails
  • London Fog
    London Fog
  • Oyster shooter
    Oyster shooter
  • Salted peach and bacon goat cheese salad
    Salted peach and bacon goat cheese salad
  • Seared foie gras with maple mango gilee
    Seared foie gras with maple mango gilee
  • Crispy pork belly with Southern fried mac and cheese
    Crispy pork belly with Southern fried mac and cheese
  • Line caught corvina with savory bread pudding
    Line caught corvina with savory bread pudding
  • Grilled lamb with charred radishes and romeo carrots
    Grilled lamb with charred radishes and romeo carrots
  • Diamondback #6
    Diamondback #6
  • Duo of desserts: apple mango cobbler and chocolate pecan pie
    Duo of desserts: apple mango cobbler and chocolate pecan pie

Silt opened this year in Williamsburg filling in where Le Yaca used to be near the Busch Gardens side of town. and after our first visit we were enchanted. I celebrated my birthday here and we knew we wanted to try their tasting menu, so our anniversary was the next major occasion for us to celebrate. The food is Southern inspired but with lots of local and seasonal ingredients. Along with the tasty food conceived by Executive Chef Nelson Miller they have a great cocktail list courtesy of bar manager Amber. They took great care of us this evening with a delicious tasting menu with wine pairing and I know we will be back!

Menu

Oyster Shooter
James River Fog

Salted Peach and Bacon Goat Cheese Salad
2013 Basel Cellars Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc

Seared Foie Gras with Maple Mango Gilee
2011 Ch. Doisy Daene Sauternes

Crispy Pork Belly with Souther Fried Mac and Cheese
2012 Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Line Caught Corvina with Savory Bread Pudding
2010 Basel Cellars Estate Claret

Grilled Lamb with Charred Radishes and Romeo Carrots
2012 K Vintners Milbrandt Syrah

Duo of Desserts: Apple Mango Cobbler and Chocolate Pecan Pie
Diamondback #6

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