The Sunday Roast

Author: chefemrose

  • New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp

    New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp

    The buttery sauce with that tang from the Worcestershire and freshness from the rosemary pair perfectly with the tender shrimp. Then that salty bread adds the perfect crunch and rounds out an ideal BBQ meal.

    Top tips from me:
    1) First and foremost, the most important thing is getting the freshest shrimp possible. David stresses that getting shrimp where the head may be slightly detached, or they may stink a bit, or they may be slimy can entirely ruin the dish. Even if the seller has the shrimp on ice, you should check that the shrimp is fresh before purchasing. I got mine from Captain White’s Seafood City at the Wharf’s Municipal Fish Market since they had a head-on option that looked/smelled/felt fresh to me. Check those stalls out for similar options!
    2) Definitely mentally prepare yourself if you’ve never cleaned shrimp before. Here is the step-by-step guide I used that helped me figure out what I needed to do, since it was my first time. 
    3) Use surgical or latex gloves for when you’re cleaning the shrimp! You’re welcome to go at it bare-handed, but I felt more confident getting all the shell off and getting the vein out with the gloves keeping my hands clean.
    4) When peeling, be careful not to pull too much near the head or squeeze it, since we want to keep it on. Use a paring knife to slice only about a centimeter into the shrimp’s “back” and get that vein out. Pull gently so the whole thing comes out, and feel free to use that paring knife to help with the peeling. I cut the antennae off and peeled the legs as well to make the shrimp a bit cleaner to cook and eat.
    5) I, for some reason, was not expecting the shrimp to slide around once placed on the skewers but they do, so just be weary of that when it comes to transferring them to a pan or the grill.
    6) Use fresh minced garlic in the sauce for the strongest flavor.
    7) Close the grill lid immediately after setting the shrimp and bread on the grill to keep the heat at a fairly consistent temperature. Set a timer when cooking the shrimp to make sure you don’t over cook them. Just toast the bread to however crispy you would like it.
    8) This sauce honestly goes on anything! It’s delicious, and I’d definitely drench your shrimp in it.

    Time:
    Overall, this took me about an hour and a half start to finish, keeping in mind that I did stop to take photos. Prepping the shrimp does take about 20-30 minutes, and the sauce may take a minute to make, but the shrimp cooks quickly. I halved this recipe and it served about 4 but David says his measurements serve 6. It likely depends on what size shrimp you get.

    Ingredients
    6 (12-inch) wooden skewers — 2 lb. unpeeled, raw Gulf shrimp — ¼ cup olive oil, divided — 10 tbsp. butter, divided — 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns — 2 bay leaves — 3 tbsp. minced garlic cloves — 2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary — ½ cup Worcestershire sauce — ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper — 1 French bread baguette, sliced — 4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil — table salt

    Instructions:

    1. Soak skewers in warm water 20 to 30 min. Peel shrimp, keeping heads and tails on. Reserve the shells in a bowl, throw out the veins and any antennae.

    2. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add

    the shells, peppercorns and bay leaves. Cook 3 min. or until shells change color. Add 2 cups water, increase heat and simmer 10 to 12 min.

    3. Remove the stock from heat and pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl. Discard solids, and reserve stock.

    4. Light charcoal grill or preheat gas grill to 350-400 degrees (medium-high). Meanwhile, thread shrimp on skewers — about three per skewer.

    5. Heat remaining 2 tbsp. olive oil in pan over medium-high heat for 1

    min. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium, then add rosemary and cook for 2 min. Add Worcestershire sauce, ground pepper and 1 cup reserved shrimp stock. Increase heat and simmer until reduced by half.

    6. Brush some of sauce over the shrimp, reserving remaining sauce.

    7. Place skewers on cooking grate and grill about 2 min. on each side.

    8. Slice bread about 1 inch thick and brush with extra virgin olive oil, then season with salt. Grill until toasted.

    9. Reheat remaining sauce over medium-high heat and whisk in remaining 8 tbsp. butter, 2 tbsp. at a time.

    10. Place 1 skewer of shrimp on each serving plate, top with sauce and serve with bread. Enjoy!

  • A traditional family recipe ❤️

    A traditional family recipe ❤️

    Fry up a Filipino dish with sauce from a home-based chef in the April edition.

    Welcome back to The Sunday Roast! It’s (again) been a long month with highs and lows, but I’m still working to grow this newsletter, and I’ve now reached125 subscribers! So, please don’t forget to fill out this survey for audience feedback. I need more input on how I can evolve The Sunday Roast, so I extended the deadline until May 1. There’s a little incentive for you to take the 6 to 10-minute survey as well; each person will be entered to win a $20 gift card to Compass Coffee (or we will coordinate another business if you’re not located in D.C.) 

    This month: After reflecting on the horrific rise of violence and discrimination against AAPI people in the U.S., I set out to consciously support AAPI-owned businesses more frequently. And since I spend a lot of time on Instagram, I found influencers featuring those local eateries, home-based businesses and ones out in the suburbs. The person behind of my favorite accounts, titled Ninja Grubs, actually doubles as an uber talented home-based chef as well. I reached out to Maria and she was happy to talk about one of the prime products on her menu: lumpia. 

    Meet Maria.

    Maria wears many (chef) hats as the face behind both the iconic D.C. food blog Ninja Grubs and her home-based catering business specializing in Filipino food, Dine with Claudine. After training as a chef at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Maria first started Ninja Foods to document all the food that she ate and made during her time there. She kept growing the account as she’s spent the last seven years in the food industry, and she’s now got over 2,700 followers watching her videos and following her DMV restaurant recommendations! Maria says she always loved taking pictures so se was glad that people liked to follow her journey throughout her career. 

    You may be wondering why her business, then, carries a different name. Maria’s middle name is Claudine, and only her family calls her by that name, so to make her business more intimate, she named it Dine with Claudine. Maria says she wants her customers to have a dining experience like they are a part of her family. She has been catering with her business here and there for a couple years, making wedding cakes, cupcakes and Filipino food for friends and family — and we’ll dive more into her Filipino heritage with the recipe story below.

    But once the pandemic hit, Maria had to figure out how to adjust and decided to start selling her hit food from her home. She started a pick-up service selling frozen Filipino foods, sauces, baked goods and more, which she says she’s been doing for the majority of her time. Her biggest priority is to keep socially distanced and have everyone stay healthy while still providing that part-of-the-family experience. Maria says she had become more aware of her surroundings and become even more of a “clean freak” as a result of the pandemic. As a private chef, she’s always looking for more ways to improve her cooking, but not having access to a big industrial kitchen does present challenges when it comes to catering for bigger events. Once the season gets warm and things reopen a bit more, she’ll have more events for sure.

    Discover her business’s Instagram.

    Discover her food blog.

    The story behind her recipe.

    Maria grew up eating Filipino food. Plus, different Asian cuisines are her favorite to eat and make as a chef.

    As a result, she decided to offer Filipino food on her menu at Dine with Claudine. Maria says she wants more people to know the not only the different flavors that Filipino cuisine has to offer, but also the culture, the way they eat and the certain practices revolving around food. She can share the knowledge of Filipino cuisine and culture through her curated menu at her company.

    Growing up, her family would make a traditional Filipino egg roll, that typically comes filled with a ground pork mixture or matchbox vegetables, for nearly any family gathering or holiday.

    Now, this roll — called lumpia — is one of the main products Maria offers for her pick-up service since, she says, she loves to make and eat them. She, of course, offers the pork and veggie flavors, and she commented that the pork ones are “a classic and pork in general is a big thing with Filipinos. We love pork.” The vegetable lumpia are also a traditional recipe that’s simple but always delicious.

    As an example of her creativity, Maria also developed a lime chicken lumpia that’s a play on a chicken dish her boyfriend’s family.

    The creative flavor is a simple braised chicken that’s packed with a ton of lime juice. In addition to her frozen lumpia, ready for frying, Maria sells jarred garlic chili vinegar to dip your lumpia in. The sauce is packed with onions and vinegar flavor, and pairs especially well with the pork since it cuts through the fat.

    Maria does offer other options on her menu, including gorgeous so-called grazing boxes.

    She says she used to be in charge of the charcuterie boards while working in catering, so she’s always loved making pretty-looking food. She’s also able to express her creative side through the grazing boxes on her menu, which are also easy to share with friends and family, playing into her mission to make you feel like part of the family.

    If you’re looking for something sweet to round off your meal filled with lumpia, Maria also offers unique Filipino cuisine-inspired baked goods. So far, she’s sold pandan mochi crinkle cookies and pandan tres leches cake,

    both made with an extract from the leaf of a tropical plant. She says her most popular item has to be the crinkle cookies after she made it as part of the variety cookie special during the holidays. Maria used to only make dessert when baking at home for family and friends, so she’s glad she gets to showcase a different set of skills through her baked good offerings at Dine with Claudine. 

    As an AAPI business owner, Maria has participated in fundraising for the Stop AAPI Hate organization in the last few months through a raised awareness of discrimination Asian-Americans face.

    She said she saw a bit of an impact from people from all over the DMV making an effort to support AAPI-owned businesses when selling her baked goods during Bakers Against Racism nationwide bake sale, “In Adversity We Bloom.” Then, Kam and 46, a DMV-based caterer and food truck offering Hawaii and Filipino fare, asked to collaborate with Maria’s business on a pop-up with their truck. Maria is truly a rising star and you 100% should support her business. If you end up getting supplies to make her lumpia, then definitely order her garlic chili vinegar for a dipping sauce option — also great for making a vinegar-based coleslaw!

    Order goodies from dine with claudine

    Try lumpia as an appetizer for your next family gathering or dinner party

    By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

    Processing…
    Success! You're on the list.
  • OG pork lumpia

    OG pork lumpia

    These crispy, herby, umami rolls are paired perfectly with a vinegar or sweet sauce. They make the perfect snack, lunch or dinner with perfectly cooked tender pork and crispy shells.

    Top tips from me:
    1) Make sure to thaw your roll pastries in the fridge overnight! And do not leave them sitting in the sun or out on the counter too long after thawing or they will dry out. I made that mistake with one packet. I also only used about 10-12 sheets since I cut them in half.
    2) Also, you don’t necessarily need to slice your pastry in half, but Maria said she prefers to do that for her lumpia, so I tried it too! Definitely made for a more bite size and crunchier lumpia.
    3) Finely dice all your produce!
    4) Be ready to get your hands dirty. The best way to make these rolls is to shape the filling yourself and then roll them up, including adding the egg wash.
    5) The rolling is a bit tricky and your lumpia likely won’t look uniform or fully sealed until your fifth try. Don’t beat yourself up about it! Just be patient and try your best to tightly tuck in the sides before adding the egg wash and rolling the lumpia closed.
    6) If you have a thermometer, make sure to check the temperature of your oil. If not, let it heat up for at least 5-7 minutes.
    7) If your rolls aren’t super tight, some of the fat from the pork may come out and leave brown bits on the rolls. It happened to me, and while it doesn’t look super pretty, I promise they still crunch up and taste glorious.
    8) I sliced my first test roll in half to make sure the pork was cooked through before cooking the rest so I’d recommend trying that.

    Time:
    It can be hard for me to estimate this sometimes since I stop to take photos and videos all day, but I’d say these can take about an hour with all the rolling, frying, then cooling. This made about 20 rolls for me.

    Ingredients:
    1 lb ground pork — 1/4 cup chopped parsley — 1/2 medium onion, finely diced —1/4 cup finely diced carrots — 1/4 cup chopped scallions — 1 tbsp garlic powder — 1 tsp ground ginger — 1/2 tbsp salt — 1 tbsp soy sauce — 1 tsp sesame oil — 1 tsp black pepper — 2 eggs (1 for filling, 1 for sealing) — 1 pack of 25 pieces ‘TYJ Spring Roll Pastry’ — 1/2 gallon of vegetable oil for frying — Dine with Claudine’s garlic chili vinegar or Mae Ploy Sweet Garlic Chili Sauce for dipping

    Instructions: 

    – Chop up the parsley and scallions and add them to a large mixing bowl. Then, dice the onion and carrots and add those to the bowl.

    – Add the pork, garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and one egg to the bowl.

    – Using a spatula, mix the filling until well combined.

    – Slice your spring roll pastries in half diagonally to create two triangles. Whisk second egg in a small bowl to create an egg wash. Lay the halved pastries out next to the bowl of filling and egg wash.

    – Take about 2-3 tbsp of filling and place towards the bottom of the triangle pastry. Shape it into a log about 3-4 inches long.

    – Start to roll the pastry over the filling until it is covered, then fold the two ends in to create an envelope. 

    – Dip your pointer finger in the egg wash and dab it along the ‘flap’ of the envelope.

    – Roll the rest of the lumpia closed and make sure the triangle ‘flap’ is sealed. 

    – Once finished rolling, you can freeze the rolls for cooking later or for an hour or so to make extra crispy lumpia.

    – Heat up your oil in a pan with a thick bottom until it is 350 F. Fry the lumpia for about 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway through and ensuring each side is golden brown. 

    – Make sure you immediately transfer the lumpia to a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan to let excess oil drip off.

    – Dip in sauce of choice and enjoy!

    Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!

  • Veggie lumpia

    Veggie lumpia

    Here’s a savory veggie option, finally! These rolls are simple yet so delicious, and feel slightly healthier since they’re packed with cabbage, green beans, carrots and onion. My family raved about them.

    Top tips from me:
    1) If you don’t already know how to julienne cut carrots, French style slice beans. or shred green cabbage, I recommend finding an article or YouTube video to look at as you go so that your veggies are thin and evenly mixed in the filling.
    2) Don’t overcook your veggies! Only soften them. And cooling the filling is important, since a hot filling would break up the pastry.
    3) Same tip with the roll pastries: thaw them overnight in the fridge and don’t let them dry out in the sun or on the counter. Maria also says to make sure they’re covered by plastic to avoid the pastries drying out.
    4) This time, however, Maria recommends using the whole pastry since the veggies are a harder filling and it more completely covers them. This did make for a bit of an easier rolling experience. 
    5) These did absorb a bit more oil. The frying experience is similar to the pork, though they did brown more nicely due to there being no pork fat. You can use a paper towel to drain that excess oil, however, Maria suggests a rack instead since the rolls can reabsorb oil from the paper towels. 
    6) Not a tip, but just saying that these went really well with Maria’s garlic chili vinegar, and did reheat nicely in the oven later that night.

    Time:
    Since it took me a bit to properly cut my vegetables, but then I was much better at rolling after trying the pork lumpia, this recipe also took me about an hour. It only made about 10 rolls.

    Ingredients:
    2 tbsp vegetable oil — 1 cup julienne cut carrots, about 3 carrots — 1 cup shredded green cabbage — 1 cup sliced string green beans, French style — 1/4 cup chopped white onions — 1/2 tbsp minced garlic — salt and pepper to taste — ‘TYJ’ Brand Spring Roll Pastry — 2 cups vegetable oil for frying — 1 egg for sealing — Dine with Claudine’s garlic chili vinegar or Mae Ploy Sweet Garlic Chili Sauce for dipping

    Instructions:

    – Sauté all your julienned vegetables separately in a medium-high heat pan for about 5 minutes until slightly softened.

    – Sauté your chopped onion and garlic until translucent, about 3 minutes.

    – Mix all vegetables together and season with salt and pepper.

    – Cool down your vegetable mixture before starting to roll for about 20-30 minutes.

    – Place your wrapper on a surface with the tip pointing up, creating a diamond shap. Using 2 tablespoons of filling, put your vegetables on the bottom side of the wrapper and shape into a log, about 2 inches away from the bottom tip.

    – Fold the bottom side over the filling and then the left side, and overlap the right. Start rolling away from you until you create an envelope. Dab egg wash on the tip and seal the roll.

    – Heat up the oil until it’s 350 F using a heavy bottom pan. 

    – Fry the lumpia for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown all the way through.

    – Set lumpia on a wire rack over a pan to drain excess oil. 

    – Dip in sauce of choice and enjoy!

    Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!

  • A cake with a cause 🍰

    A cake with a cause 🍰

    Bake rich carrot cake from Cleveland Park joint, Medium Rare, and learn more about their humanitarian efforts in the March edition.

    Toasted walnuts, rich cream cheese frosting and spiced carrot cake. What more could you want?

    Welcome back to The Sunday Roast! It’s been a long month with highs and lows, but I’m so incredibly thankful to say that we’ve reached 121 SUBSCRIBERS! I feel so blessed to see my hard work pay off and I sincerely appreciate all the support. My goal is to continue to put as much energy and time into crafting quality content for my newsletter, website and Instagram for you guys so we can engage more often. So as a result of that goal, I’ve launched a survey to get audience feedback on how I can grow and evolve The Sunday Roast from here. There’s a little incentive for you to take the 6 to 10-minute survey as well; each person will be entered to win a $20 gift card to Compass Coffee (or we will coordinate another business if you’re not located in D.C.) So please take the survey, found here, before April 11! 

    This month: I revisited a college favorite of mine and coordinated a time to Zoom chat with the co-founder and owner of Cleveland Park’s very own Medium Rare. The steak and frites restaurant has a delicious bottomless concept that is unmatched, and their decadent desserts are just to die for. I couldn’t convince Mark Bucher to give me their top-secret sauce recipe, but he was kind enough to share a dessert. Scroll down to read more about the restaurant and Mark’s humanitarian efforts. Plus, I’ve been working hard to step-up my Instagram content, so make sure to follow and check out my recipe reels, including one for this month.

    Some background: In a monthly newsletter, I combine a DC local’s story behind their favorite recipe(s), or ones that whip up some nostalgia, with photos and prose of my attempt at replication. These recipes vary in difficulty, but they are always ones close to the heart. This newsletter is sent on the third Sunday of each month as the name suggests.

    A fun note: Make sure to mark this email as NOT spam, move it to your inbox or add my sending address  to your address book to avoid the newsletter regularly ending up in the abyss. Sometimes Mailchimp email campaigns go straight to spam. 

    ALSO: I’ve noticed people have had issues with receiving my email, so I found this helpful article to walk you through adding me as a contact in Gmail that will hopefully stop the spam folder filtering.

    Meet Mark.

    Mark is an entrepreneur through and through. He first met his Medium Rare business partner, Tom Gregg, when he was starting BGR the Burger Joint, and Tom needed help winning back a major customer for his food manufacturing company. Through teamwork, the two managed to wine and dine the customer, and in turn, formed a business relationship between the two future founders of Medium Rare.

    Then came the idea for the restaurant. Tom moved to Paris for a year, and when Mark came to visit, he took him to a family favorite restaurant that served only steak and fries. After seeing the line to get a table snake down the street, the duo decided they should open a similar restaurant in D.C., since they hadn’t seen anything like it. They put in the work, found a location, hired their staff and opened Medium Rare in Cleveland Park by the end of March 2011. The beloved joint, which has been open for just about a decade and has two more locations, now serves bottomless culotte steak and frites with their super special sauce for a flat fee in a neighborhood friendly environment. The steak meal also includes bread and salad, and their menu expands with a vegan friendly portobello option. And don’t forget their famed brunch dishes of french toast and eggs benedict with a steak and portobello hash. Mark says that being a restaurant owner can be quite a difficult, yet rewarding job. He wears many hats — about five or six — including a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, HR, marketer and advertiser. But the best part about owning a restaurant, according to him, is being a part of the community. Medium Rare and its staff have developed a special relationship by being a mainstay in the neighborhood for a decade now, and it shows. Mark mostly enjoys watching customers come for birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries and more. Seeing people come to celebrate life has brought him unmatched joy, and that’s what given him joy in the last year through hard times. 

    Discover the restaurant’s website.

    The story behind the recipe.

    Most guests at Medium Rare finish off their dining experience with a dish to satisfy their sweet tooth. Mark says the two most popular desserts on their menu are the house specialty hot fudge sundae and the six layer carrot cake, and he was kind enough to share that carrot cake recipe with me. He says it’s the first time he’s shared the recipe outside of the kitchen. I did ask about the special sauce, however, Mark turned me down gently.

    The creamy, mushroomy sauce is salty and simply to die for, but it is top secret. Mark says customers on the daily beg for the recipe, but they hold it close. Only two people in the whole world know the recipe to that sauce: Mark and Tom. The two worked together to develop something “craveable” through trial and error until they perfected it. Now, Mark says the two owners carefully engineered a process to avoid anyone else figuring out the recipe. They have suppliers send in the ingredients in specific buckets so that none of the staff know what they contain, and they then mix it.

    And the secret to the carrot cake? Freezing the cake layers overnight right after popping them out of the pans. It locks in the moisture and makes sure that your cake will be absolutely perfect in that first bite. Don’t worry, the cake will thaw just fine as you’re thawing it and for a few minutes after. I think this tactic definitely made sure the cake didn’t dry out and was the perfect texture to marry with the whipped cream cheese frosting.

    Making the carrot cake in house with prime ingredients and a few special tricks makes it that much better than other recipes you may find online. Mark also pointed out that they roast the walnuts and rehydrate the golden raisins a bit to keep the textures and flavors more interesting. The cake, as a result, is bursting with fresh raisins and has a nutty tone in addition to all the warm spices. Normally, carrot cake can be quite dense, especially paired with a heavier cream cheese frosting, but this cake is still light and fluffy with a decadence unmatched. That may be due to the freezing technique and the whipping of the cream cheese frosting to incorporate some air. Overall, each bite is nostalgic and full of flavor.

    And now, the neighborhood haunt has changed a bit during the pandemic. Mark says that like every other restaurant, they have had to get creative to continue to stay afloat.

    Expanding outdoor seating, cutting down on in-house seating and starting a venture to ship their special sauce nationwide so customers could enjoy it from their home. And while the changes have been scary, Mark says, they eventually realized they had two options when things shut down and customers were staying at home: fold or go out fighting. So Medium Rare adjusted what it could and kept fighting through a historical pandemic that forced hundreds of businesses to close in D.C. alone.

    In addition to those adjustments that have kept the restaurant open, Mark launched a more charitable side to the business. Medium Rare has become well known during the pandemic for its humanitarian efforts to feed D.C. residents and to combat food insecurity. Mark’s We Care nonprofit and Feed the Fridge project were started as a way for him to support the community that supports him.

    Feed the Fridge in particular is a project that works with local government agencies and restaurants to stock community refrigerators with healthy, restaurant-quality meals in public spaces. While the program is geared towards school-age children, the meals are free to everyone. We Care provides about $6 per meal to restaurants that donate the meals, served hot or cold, which include a protein, a starch or carbohydrate and a vegetable. Mark says the project has expanded and continued to be successful as an innovative way to address the food insecurity that has only gotten worse during the pandemic.

    He’s also continued to cook and deliver meals to elderly residents above 65 throughout the District as a way to help the at-risk population avoid any possible exposure, a program started during the pandemic.

    Medium Rare has cooked turkeys for Thanksgiving and delivered other special holiday meals over 33,000 times. Which is quite the success, but also a stark reminder of how many people struggle daily with figuring out where to get their next meal, Mark says. So while he runs Medium Rare as the successful restaurant, he’s still giving back to the community behind the scenes.

    Impress your family and friends with this decadent carrot cake recipe.

    CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE PAST RECIPES

    By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

    Processing…
    Success! You're on the list.
  • Carrot cake

    Carrot cake

    My first attempt at staging photos like Half-Baked Harvest.

    This rich, moist, decadent, warm and spicy cake was everything I needed it to be. I dove into a piece as soon as I possibly could and shared the wealth with friends. If you’re looking to celebrate or impress any time soon, make this beauty for sure.

    Top tips from me:
    1) First things first, I couldn’t find any freshly grated nutmeg, so I subbed in ground mace, which is actually made from nutmeg anyways and has a similar flavor. 
    2) My grater only has a very small size and a very large size so I did a combination to make sure my carrots weren’t too small.
    3) I’d stick to the shorter side of baking time to avoid drying out the cakes. 35 minutes was the perfect amount of time for me.
    4) The recipe did call for the domed sides to be down, however, that proved to not work for me when it came to frosting and my cake then split later from the uneven bottom. I would recommend trimming the dome off of one of the layers and putting that on the bottom, then when adding the next layer on top, make sure to put the domed side on top. Otherwise, your cake may dome a lot like mine and later split or have large gaps on the bottom. I discreetly covered up that gap with some piping but it was a bit empty there.
    5) I am usually terrible at frosting and piping, though I’m working on getting better at that. I have this 
    OXO icing knife set, though, that made it so much easier to apply an even layer with less flaws. I would recommend using some similar knife or spatula for ease.
    6) Feel free to add some swirls like Mark suggested, pipe some swirls or sprinkle walnuts on top like I did. Go wild!

    Time:
    Excluding the eight or so hours I froze the cakes, this took about two and a half hours. The golden raisins and walnuts need some care before making the cake batter, and then decorating the cake does take some time. It’s your typical layer cake that will serve at least 8 slices.

    Ingredients:
    Nonstick spray — parchment paper — 1/2 cup golden raisins — 1 cup water — 1 cup chopped walnuts — 1 lb carrots, peeled and coarsely grated — 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature — 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour — 2 tsp ground cinnamon — 2 tsp ground ginger — 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg — 2 tsp baking powder — 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus a pinch for the frosting — 3/4 teaspoon baking soda — 4 large eggs — 1 cup granulated sugar —3/4 cup dark brown sugar —3 tsp vanilla extract, 2 for cake and 1 for frosting — 3/4 cup vegetable oil — 12 oz cream cheese, room temperature — 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature — 4 cups powdered sugar

    Instructions: 

    – Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat two 9″-diameter cake pans with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper rounds; lightly coat rounds with nonstick spray.

    – If using raisins, heat in a small saucepan with water over low just until warm, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until liquid is absorbed and raisins are plump, about 15–20 minutes.

    – Meanwhile, toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Then let cool.

    – Peel and grate carrots then combine with buttermilk in a medium-sized bowl.

    – Whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.

    – Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until pale and thick, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually stream in oil.

    – Add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with carrot mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients; mix until smooth. Fold in raisins, if using, and walnuts with a rubber spatula.

    – Scrape batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes, rotating pans halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35–45 minutes.

    – Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cakes cool 10 minutes. Freeze all layers overnight.

    – The next day, prepare your frosting before removing the cakes. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla extract and salt.

    – Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in powdered sugar. Increase speed to high and beat frosting until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

    – On a cake platter or stand of choice, place one layer domed side down. Spread 3/4 cup frosting evenly over top.

    – Place remaining cake layer, domed side down, on top. Spread top and sides with 1 1/4 cups frosting and chill 30 minutes to let frosting set.

    – Spread remaining frosting over top and sides, swirling decoratively. Add any sort of decorations you want. Allow the cake to thaw for about 30 more minutes before slicing and serving.

    Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!

  • Baca di Dama cookies

    Baca di Dama cookies

    So crunchy and delicious: you can’t only eat one.

    Oh my god. When Miranda warned that these cookies are addictive, she was not kidding. The nutty, buttery, crunchy cookies paired with the smooth and bitter chocolate is the ultimate version of the iconic hazelnut and chocolate combo.

    Top tips from me:
    1) It is a bit hard to find pre-made hazelnut flour or meal, so I had to go the old-fashioned route and make my own. This did add about a half hour of extra effort, but I’m convinced this almost made them better because there were some larger crunchy chunks of hazelnut in the cookie. I’ll add instructions for how to make your own below!
    2) Make sure to fully soften your butter before trying to cream it with the sugar!
    3) This recipe got a bit messy with me with the homemade hazelnut meal and dipping the cookies in chocolate, but you just got to commit to it.
    4) Miranda said she cuts her dough into sizes that are about 18 grams each, but I eyeballed it. This resulted in different sizes, so maybe stick to weighing the dough.
    5) The cookies will seem not done and super soft when you take them out, but as long as they are slightly browned and firm on the top, you will be okay. They firm up all the way while cooling, I promise. They are hard to overbake, however, which is a good thing.
    6) The bakery actually makes a dark chocolate ganache to sandwich the cookies together, but I went the simple route and just melted up a 70% dark chocolate bar to dip my cookies in, which I include below. Up to you if you want to try ganache!

    Time:
    This took me only about an hour from start to sitting down to eat to finish, and if you’re not stopping to take photos like me, you might even get it down to 30 minutes. My measurements made about 4 servings.

    Ingredients:
    10-12 oz hazelnuts (however much will equal 250 grams hazelnut flour once ground) — 250 grams sugar — 250 grams flour — 250 grams unsweetened softened butter — 90 grams dark chocolate, melted

    Instructions:

    – Pour hazelnuts onto a baking sheet and roast at 300F for about 10 minutes until the skin has browned and is splitting. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

    – Put cooled hazelnuts in a tea towel. Bundle it up then gently toss and rub the nuts for a few minutes until most of the skin is removed. It’s okay (and unavoidable) to leave some skin on.

    – Pick the nuts out of the towel and place into a food processor. Pulse at a chop setting until the nuts resemble a finely ground meal or flour. Some larger chunks remaining is okay, just make sure to not blend for too long or the oils will come out and start to make a nut butter.

    – In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar, then add in half each of the hazelnut and regular flours and mix. Add the rest and mix until it forms a dough. 

    – Take your ball of dough and put it in some plastic wrap, then let it rest in the refrigerator for a half hour or so.

    – Roll out the dough into about five ropes and cut off cookie size portions, around 18 grams or 3 inches a piece. Roll each piece into a ball and space out on a parchment lined baking tray.  

    – Bake cookies at 300F for about 15-20 minutes. Flip your cookies halfway through.

    – Cool cookies for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt your chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth.

    – When the cookies are cool and the chocolate slightly cool, dip a cookie in the chocolate until the bottom is completely coated, and sandwich together with another.

    – Let the chocolate set for about another 30 minutes. Enjoy!

    Did you make this recipe and love it? Have any suggestions? Leave a comment!

  • A bakery after her own pup🐶

    A bakery after her own pup🐶

    Snag delicious, classic Italian goodies right in the heart of D.C., or learn one of the recipes in my February edition.

    Chocolate and hazelnut and cookies — what could go wrong?

    Welcome back and happy Black History Month/Valentine’s Day/Mardi Gras! It’s been a long month so far, but I’ve managed to fill it with lots of delicious meals, snacks and goodies. I even tried out a protein cheesecake recipe, which sounds like it may not taste indulgent, but I promise it was. And now, despite all the brownies, ice cream and King cake I have in my kitchen, I’ve decided to continue to bake, since that’s my happy place. 

    This month: I decided to stay close to home and reached out to a local bakery about a 5 min. walk away from my apartment. The welcoming storefront with an adorable bright yellow dog decal drew my eye, and turned out to be a unique bakeshop offering traditional Italian pastries, which I include a recipe of below. Also, I’ve decided to dedicate myself to crafting more content for you guys as well, especially on my Instagram, so please feel free to send me or comment any feedback you may have — and please like, share, save and comment so I know if you like it! My first reel of the baked feta pasta trend went pretty well so I’ll keep experimenting with those. Finally, I would still love to hear from every one of you on what you expect to see in the new year.

    Some background: In a monthly newsletter, I combine a DC local’s story behind their favorite recipe(s), or ones that whip up some nostalgia, with photos and prose of my attempt at replication. These recipes vary in difficulty, but they are always ones close to the heart. This newsletter is sent on the third Sunday of each month as the name suggests.

    A fun note: Make sure to mark this email as NOT spam, move it to your inbox or add my sending address  to your address book to avoid the newsletter regularly ending up in the abyss. Sometimes Mailchimp email campaigns go straight to spam.

    Meet Miranda.

    When you first spot Nino’s Bakery on L Street NW, the first thing you spy is the giant yellow dachshund decal. The namesake of that decal and the bakery itself is Miranda’s 16-year-old dog, Nino, who she says is blind but has quite the sniffer. Miranda adopted Nino when he was 6 in Italy, and they lived together in Milan nearby loads of bakeries and cafes. While Nino couldn’t see, he sure could smell, and he would insist that the two of them stop into each bakery wafting out scents of pastry. Miranda said Nino has definitely also taste tested pastries throughout his years, so one could say he’s an expert worthy of a bakery after his name. Miranda had lived in Italy for her final tour in the Foreign Service, in which she served for nine years. Prior to that, she was stationed in Afghanistan, which led her to decide to get a dog for company. She took Nino everywhere with her, and then she decided to move back to the U.S. and settle out of the service with a new career path. 

    Before she did, she decided to study the pastries she and Nino so loved in cafes. She took a pastry course on Saturdays, which required a competency test at the end administered by the Italian government, and she learned how to make old-fashioned European pastries. Once she arrived back in the U.S., she went to Chicago for a nine-month course at The French Pastry School. The school, she says, is run by two French chefs who make students learn the fundamentals of making a perfect pastry, with no shortcuts. She credits the two methods that she now blends at her shop for her ability to make an amazing pastry that she can then experiment with flavors.

    When she moved back to D.C., Miranda found there weren’t many traditional bakeries offering the types of pastries she had mastered, so she opened Nino’s! The bakery may not churn out thousands of pastries each day, but Miranda assures you that each croissant is freshly homemade with only the best ingredients since she focuses on quality over quantity. She’s the sole owner still up to arms in butter and flour in the kitchen. The bakery first offered everything traditional Italian, but then Miranda realized most customers loved her croissants, so she pivoted to focusing on those. Her buttery croissants have unique flavor offerings, such as her favorite, chocolate hazelnut, or the customers’ favorite, almond, and they take three full days to make. That process includes a dough made with flour, salt, sugar, water and yeast layered meticulously with European butter using a sheeter that turns the pastry properly. Miranda credits a proofing machine for helping craft the ideal environment before she bakes her croissants. The end result? A perfectly flaky croissant.

    Discover her website.

    And her Instagram.

    The story behind the recipe.

    But Nino’s isn’t all croissants, as delicious as they may be. Miranda does still bake plenty of French desserts, such as macaroons, and Italian desserts, like these classic Baci Di dama cookies. These types of desserts are better after lunch snacks for workers headed back to their job who may need to satisfy a sweet tooth in the simplest way.

    Miranda chose to feature these cookies, she says, because she grew up eating them in an Italian American household, so they’re a bit nostalgic for he

    The cookies are a traditional Italian dessert known throughout the country, and they’re made with simple yet quality ingredients to create a quality cookie. Each ingredient is actually the same measurement (except the chocolate). The easy recipe is well worth your time, with the end product of a delicious, addicting cookie that is the perfect size — not too big, but not too small. 

    One of those ingredients is a bit hard to find, however. Hazelnut flour is not typically widely sold in grocery stories, and I didn’t have the time to wait for it from Amazon.

    I ended up going the old-fashioned route and roasting, peeling and grinding up hazelnuts in a food processor until I got a meal I could use. It was honestly a very rewarding process, resulting in what I think is a crunchier cookie made with more love, and I even got a chance to make a little bit of homemade Nutella. The process didn’t add much time on, so I highly recommend making your own hazelnut meal as well. This recipe linked here is what I loosely followed to make my own.

    Miranda says that her customers at Nino’s used to be loads of those office workers taking a break from their job nearby since the bakery does have a location downtown, where there aren’t as many residences (except for me).

    With the pandemic switching that customer base to at-home workers that now may live nowhere near the pastry shop, Miranda has had to adjust a bit, like most businesses and restaurants in D.C. Nino’s used to just be open 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for those downtown Washingtonians, but now it’s harder to trek across the city during typical work hours while in your home office, so Miranda expanded to Saturdays. She says that’s now their busiest day of the week!

    And since the bakery is a smaller storefront, there’s no seating inside to help keep the staff healthy and safe and still slinging out fresh pastries.

    That means Miranda expanded to more delivery and online ordering for customers to have less contact and allow the bakery to prepare and stagger out orders. Since the croissants and other pastries do take a few days prep time, the online ordering does also help Miranda better plan how much to bake, whereas sometimes it can be a guessing game for how many they’d need in their cases throughout the day.

    It’s hard to say what Nino’s and other businesses will look like after the pandemic, she says, because workers may continue to stay home and dependent on delivery services, but those same services do charge the businesses an arm and a leg. On the other hand, Miranda thinks people may be very excited to, finally, safely go outside. 

    Bake your own classic Italian cookies with this recipe.

    CHECK HERE FOR ALL PAST RECIPES

    By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

    Processing…
    Success! You're on the list.
  • Delicious takeout with a deal and for a cause 🍴

    Delicious takeout with a deal and for a cause 🍴

    Add Immigrant Food to your list for D.C. Restaurant Week! Or make my copycat recipe featured in this January edition.

    I’m already craving leftovers…

    Welcome back and happy January! This month has been super long and a bit hard, but we’re now at the end. And I’m celebrating kicking off 2021 (mostly) successfully by allowing myself to order takeout at least twice during the ever-delicious Restaurant Week. I’m sure many of my readers in D.C. are contemplating which restaurants to order from (or you already may have enjoyed a meal!), but let me implore you to read the story behind a resilient restaurant with a noble cause and then promptly schedule an order for their dinner deal. And if you can’t decide on what to order, rest assured you will find a copycat recipe from me below to satisfy any additional cravings.

    This month: I struggled for a bit to find someone who was available to talk with me and then I saw promotions for Restaurant Week and it all just clicked. The restaurant I most wanted to order from during this amazing promotional event was the perfect subject, and I was lucky enough that they were happy to participate! Scroll down to read more on Immigrant Food and their inspiring mission, and how they’ve been impacted by not only the pandemic but prolonged downtown D.C. closures. Finally, I would still love to hear from every one of you on what you expect to see in the new year.

    Some background: In a monthly newsletter, I combine a DC local’s story behind their favorite recipe(s), or ones that whip up some nostalgia, with photos and prose of my attempt at replication. These recipes vary in difficulty, but they are always ones close to the heart. This newsletter is sent on the third Sunday of each month as the name suggests.

    A fun note: Make sure to mark this email as NOT spam, move it to your inbox or add my sending address  to your address book to avoid the newsletter regularly ending up in the abyss. Sometimes Mailchimp email campaigns go straight to spam.

    Meet Téa and Immigrant Food.

    Courtesy of Immigrant Food.

    Téa is the co-owner and director of communications and outreach at Immigrant Food, a downtown D.C. establishment that doubles as an organization meant to increase awareness and education of immigrant communities in the nation’s capital. The cause-casual restaurant offers a unique experience with two menus: one full of cuisine-fused bowls, sandwiches and drinks, in addition to an engagement menu, which customers can choose options from volunteering, events to donations. Chef Enrique Limardo and co-founder Peter Schechter, among the others on the team, come from an immigrant background and all, while being policy wonks, decided to celebrate all that immigrants have to offer by combining education and food into one restaurant. They “offer fusion bowls that crashed together the best of each gastronomy,” while “raising public awareness of [NGOs’] work and support them by channeling donors, volunteers and providing space to meet special needs.” Even though the restaurant was opened during an administration with anti-immigrant rhetoric at a high, Téa promises that they will not become complicit during the new administration since now it’s more important than ever to talk about the contributions immigrants can bring to America.

    Immigrant Food opened up about five months before the pandemic was in full effect in the U.S. The restaurant was opened to acclaim since its fusion bowls came with a cause, but the pandemic started to hit Immigrant Food early because of its not quite residential location. To their left, the White House, and to their right, international institutions whose workers had already experienced some of the worst of the pandemic and were already working from home, so foot traffic decreased significantly. Then, in March, things got really difficult as most people avoided downtown D.C. while telecommuting, and the restaurant only had a 3-mile delivery radius, making it difficult to push their takeout options to Washingtonians. Téa says that as a new business without much brand recognition or a loyal customer base, Immigrant Food suffered.

    Nov. 7 was one of the best days for their business as loads of people stopped in for sandwiches while celebrating the election called for Joe Biden near the White House. Téa says some tables even ordered champagne. Unfortunately, their location also has posed some problems as the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol caused road closures as the National Guard moved in to make sure the Inauguration went smoothly. Téa says they struggled to get to the restaurant through several checkpoints and couldn’t even get food properly delivered. Some Washingtonians may have seen on social media that the team at one point loaded up suitcases full of potatoes, onions, tomatoes, chicken and more and rolled them through the streets to their door. Immigrant Food wasn’t able to deliver much in those weeks, and despite the Inauguration typically being a big business boost for the city and its restaurants, none really saw the added revenue due to closures. But she’s optimistic things are looking up with vaccinations and more.

    Discover their website.

    And their Instagram.

    The story behind the recipe.

    Because of it being fairly new to the D.C. food scene, Immigrant Food hadn’t participated in a previous Restaurant Week. Téa says they gave it a shot to bring in new customers since they hadn’t got a chance to get well-known before the pandemic hit. She also says the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, who runs Restaurant Week, has made it easy for restaurants around the city to participate this winter with seamless communication and special offers. One thing the team has learned from 2020 is that it’s hard to plan ahead, but if given the chance, they’ll likely participate in Restaurant Week again.

    Deciding on the special menu involved including some fan favorites, like their ode to the banh mi, the Old Saigon sandwich, and their Asian chicken wings, but Téa says they crafted a new bowl as well to welcome Kamala Harris back to D.C. as the vice president,

    and she highly recommends it to any first-time customers. The aptly named Madam VP Heritage bowl is the result of kitchen staff getting together to create a celebratory bowl full of Indian and Jamaican influence, to reflect Harris’ background. As someone who just ordered dinner and crafted my own copycat recipe of the bowl, I must say their food is delicious, fresh and innovative. The harissa hummus is to-die-for smooth and spicy, while the Old Saigon is deliciously crunchy, buttery and salty. 

    This bowl truly has everything, too, and that comes from the world’s biggest sweet and salty fan. The pineapple chunks on top perfectly balance the salty rice and smooth curry,

    with a fresh bite from the spicy peppers (which I translated to jalapeños) and chopped cilantro on top. The fried plantains were the icing on the metaphorical curry cake and added another hint of sweetness. Overall, I’d give this bowl a 10/10 (and my effort to recreate it probably an 8 since I’m sure it’s much better straight from the source) and I will be regularly making it from now on.

    In addition to the bowl on their dinner menu, Immigrant Food is offering free Agua de Jamaica with lunch orders and an added bottle of wine with any dinner orders. The wine comes their large selection of wines from off-the-beaten path wineries, like in South Africa and the Balkans, but is still just as delicious as your stereotypical Italian and Californian wines (with a more attractive price tag as well). As an added revenue source during the pandemic, the restaurant launched some corporate events as well, including wine tastings hosted by a sommelier in California that features their unique wines shipped straight to customers.

    The pandemic has caused many setbacks for the restaurant, including layoffs, but eventually they rehired back employees on commission as delivery drivers so they could reach customers in places like Bethesda. They also launched more delivery-friendly options, like their now-popular sandwiches.

    Other pandemic adjustments have included changing how they fulfill their “second beating heart,” or their mission, as Téa says. Now, instead of being able to offer and rent out their space to NGOs, Téa says Immigrant Food has a virtual engagement menu and helps with virtual events through sending out a monthly newsletter that included five ways to engage with immigrants. On top of that, they continued to run their digital magazine Think Table that makes wonky policy, typically hard to digest from Think Tanks, more engaging in everyday terms. They go in depth on specific issue and talk with experts, and past issues have included farmers, sanctuary cities and immigrants and the election, which involved a talk with Rep. Pramila Jayapal. The restaurant has also dabbled in DIY home cooking kits and different events involving food, comedy and expert panels.

    Try out a fusion bowl for lunch this week!

    Check here for all past recipes

    By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

    Processing…
    Success! You're on the list.
  • Madam VP Heritage bowl

    Madam VP Heritage bowl

    Every flavor you need in one bowl!

    This bowl has it all! Crunchy, soft, salty, sweet, spicy, hot and fresh. It’s only a copycat recipe, but this delicious combination of Jamaican and Indian flavors is really the jackpot — and it will definitely be going into regular meal prep rotation.

    op tips from me:
    1) Feel free to use any type of white rice, but I happened to only have sushi rice on hand, which soaked up the flavor nicely.
    2) I will say that I normally cook by eye, so this recipe is full of estimations. Feel free to adjust the spices to your liking. I recommend either adding more spicy peppers or spice to the curry.
    3) I used my trusty Penzey’s sweet curry powder but feel free to use whichever you prefer.
    3) I browned the chicken with just oil, salt and pepper then added in my trusted curry powder. To make sure there was flavor in the chickpeas and potatoes, I simmered those in with the completed sauce and chicken, but you’re welcome to cook your’s in a different order or way.
    4) I definitely didn’t properly fry the plantains, so I’d suggest playing around with vegetable oil or other recipes to make yours’ softer.
    5) Immigrant Food’s ingredient list didn’t include any fresh herbs, but I LOVE a good cilantro on top of my curries, especially ones with coconut milk. I would definitely recommend through those and even some green onions on top.
    6) I didn’t do this and retroactively, I wish I had, but adding a bit of fresh lime juice on top would be the perfect acidic addition.

    Time:
    This took me only about an hour from start to sitting down to eat to finish, and if you’re not stopping to take photos like me, you might even get it down to 30 minutes. My measurements made about 4 servings.

    Ingredients:
    1 cup white rice — 0.25 cup chicken broth — 1 tsp ground turmeric — 2 tsp salt — 2 tsp ground pepper — 3 tbsp olive oil — 1 chicken breast, cubed — 3 tbsp curry powder — 1 can coconut milk — 1 tbsp lime juice — 1 can chickpeas — 1/2 potato, cubed — 1 tsp garlic powder — 1 tsp onion powder — 0.5 tsp cayenne powder — 0.5 tsp cumin — 0.5 tsp chili powder — 1 plantain, sliced diagonally into 0.5 inch pieces — 4 tbsp unsalted butter — 1 pineapple chunk, cubed — 0.25 jalapeño, sliced — cilantro for garnish

    Instructions: 

    – Cook rice according to package instructions. Once it’s cooked, add the chicken broth, salt and pepper and stir.

    – Heat a medium-size skillet on medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of olive oil until it shimmers. Add the cubed chicken breast and season with 1 tsp each of salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is browned.

    – Add 2 tbsp of the curry powder, then add the coconut milk and lime juice. Stir to combine and let simmer for a minute.

    – Add the chickpeas, cubed potatoes, garlic, onion, cayenne, cumin, chili and remaining curry powder. Stir to combine and allow to simmer for at least 6 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is cooked through.

    – Slice the plantain. Melt the butter in a large skillet along with the remaining tbsp of olive oil. Once it’s shimmering, place the plantain slices around the pan. Fry on each side for 4 minutes then remove and pat down with paper towels.

    – Slice the pineapple, jalapeños and cilantro. 

    – Scoop rice into a bowl. Add curry, then spinach, pineapple, plantains, jalapeños and cilantro.

    – Serve and enjoy!