STIR THE POTS

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Below are shots of my latest pizza cooked at home using sourdough levain with about 65 percent hydration - give or take a few extra mililiters - along with a tad bit of olive oil. This dough was made with something known as "double 00 flour" that I got at at International grocery on 9th ave.

 

It's a relatively wet dough that gave me problems before. But now, even though I'm still working out the numbers, it's pretty spot on pizza!

Oyamel

Our final day in D.C. we decided to take the advice of our server from the previous evenings dinner at José André's Jaleo and visit Oyamel, his Mexican inspired restaurant.

The menu offers a variety of antojitos, tacos, ceviches. There's even a table side guacamole service, the chips flavored with spices and tequila, are fresh and still warm, with a chipotle and ripe tomato salsa, "first one is on the house, second is on you!"

Since we were short on time after visiting a museum, we knew we had to have some ceviche. I chose a very crudo tuna, seasoned with a Maggi-lime marinade, toasted pecans, amaranth, avocado and jalapenos. It was delicious and in a strange sense sweet, perhaps from the pecans, it was perfectly fresh and seasoned to perfection. We also ordered a cocktail de camaron y jaiba, (shrimp cocktail), not as interesting but a clean and whimsical take on shrimp cocktail.

Guacamole was made at table side, you can ask for mild, medium or hot, and it's quite delicious compared to some I've had at a competitor here in NYC. So good, that we wiped out the bowl and chips which strangely seemed to be the right amount of both.

Tamales are probably one of my favorite foods, and the single one they make here is exceptional. It's a shredded chicken, which is quite moist and bathed in a tomatillo sauce, the masa is perfect.

Tacos came next and a house cured pork belly with pinapple, onions and cilantro were just right. Then a Yucatan style pibil cochinita, dressed with pickled onion and sour orange showed up on my radar. You could order a single or taco or order as you go, we also had lengua, which just gives me bad dreams. Then I ordered a mixed meat of goat, veal, and lamb taco with chili sauce and cilantro, quite good!

Pleasantly full and running out of time in D.C., I gave in to the temptation and curiosity of the now familiar, tres leches cake. It's a rum soaked cake with three types of milk, sort of a baba rum meets tiramisu? This version was light and allowed for the last taco to make room down in my belly for just another spoonful!

 

Flaky Croissants, again...

Prior to attending  a one day croissant class at my alma mater, French Culinary Institute, I decided to give croissants a go, again. Previously, I had failed with straight levain and spelt. I thought that a wee bit of yeast would help. Or some points from Jeffrey Hamelman, master baker and, in the past, one of my teachers.  

 Without getting too crazy, I threw in a twist, I'm using the formula from another school I attended; San Francisco Baking Institute.  They gave me this wonderful idea of using spring wheat, otherwise known as "white whole wheat flour. "  Not being sure of my skill with the sole use of this flour, I only added in 40 percent of it, topping off the 60 percent with bread flour and... crossing my fingers! I also omitted the egg yolk, which is to provide more richness. Finally, I used agave instead of sugar. Healthy or unwise? Whatever, they came out easy to devour and enjoy. 

Jaleo

Eating out, it's difficult to find justice accorded Spanish food, especially when so often it means nothing more than sweet Sangria or faux paella whose typical signature is a dose of yellow coloring and perhaps some long grain rice. All to be given flourish with some mediocre flamenco dancing. 

Visting Washington D.C. recently, I had dinner at chef José André's excellent Spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo, which totally changes that lame equation. 

This bustling and casual restaurant offers plenty of delicious tapas, which are well priced and good size to share with two people.

From the famed Iberic hams, salads with amazing Spanish cheeses, mussels in a paprika infused broth.

 
Main courses are rich in ingredients and are classically prepared, with flourishes from Jose's own section of dishes. Paella manages to be simultaneously simple and complex; the few ingredients deep with flavor, texture and fullfilment. 

The table side presentation and plating is an added plus, as the staff are knowledgable and friendly.

Our waitress was lovely. Apparently she's a dancer, but she's also excellent on the floor as waitress - knowledgeable, helpful, and looking to make sure her customers were satisfied. 

The wine list is is full of various wines from regions and varietals from Spain. And the restaurant also serves ciders and beers in bottle and tap from España!

Desserts are imaginative and surprising; whether you go for their version of flan or espuma de chocolate, or try some specialty ice cream with olive oil and grapefruit ice from Jose Andre's molecular cuisine style.

Central Michel Richard

I was introduced to Citrus in Los Angles by my brother, who worked at another of its owner, Michel Richard's, other restaurants. Michel invited the family for lunch, and though he chided my mother for her children's bad French speaking skills, he was a real charmer - smart, forthright, and simultaneously cherubic. But it was his Frenchified California cuisine he offered that really inspired me, leaving me lots to think about. Later I interviewed him here. 

Fast forward some decades later and I re-visit Central Michel Richard in Washington. Stylistically the restaurant kitchen is the stage, and fortunately I was seated front row center.

This restaurant is busy for lunch and features a menu of Americana; hamburgers, fried chicken and some familiar chopped salads. But such dishes are constantly tweaked with hints of French, from a quasi onion bacon tart, frisee salad with bacon lardon and a poached egg.

I went for teh fried chicken, which was hearty rich, a perfectly cooked poulet!

 

The restaurant has a great staff, back to front. And again, the food is deliciously memorable. Even if the lunch menu lacks Michel's famous faux gras, it lacks nothing in the flavor department, including desserts like his "chocolate bar." With now three restaurants in Washington D.C., it'll be nice to visit the others to sample Michel Richards other magic touches.

State of the Union

Just got back from an overnight trip to America's capital, Washington D.C. With an agenda of a few visits to museums and local food spots, Save for some relentless heat during my visit and a wicked rainstorm making for a gloomy ride on the plane home to New York, I wasn't disappointed, especially around the eating. I'll be back. If only our politicians were as competent as the local chefs. 

I'll return to find more good restaurants like Oyamel, Central Michel Richard, and Jaleo. It won't be a confusing journey, as Washington is a fairly easy city to navigate, with a great bike sharing system, an excellent Metro, and easy landmarks to provide visual anchors. 

Things I noticed about the local food biz: women working in both front and back of the house in both restaurants I visisted. And the restaurants were both precise and all their staff were knowledgeable in what they were offering.

For a country where the politicans (from the Congress to the President) seem brilliant at one thing - an ability to routinely disappoint - our capital has plenty of food sense. Too bad the government lacks any of the requisite team spirit necessary to bringing a satisfying meal from the kitchen to the table. 

Landbrot

Born in Germany, I left Europe years ago. And yet I'm still in love with rye breads, some memory-licious loaf continuing to linger like a lost love long after I first took my first bite. Perhaps  it's the amazing flavors extracted from this grass, secale cereale, weak in gluten, but just enough "gliaden" to make the most amazing bread.  I've long quested for that quintissential rye loaf, known as "landbrot"which means country bread.

At some point, I managed to coax a formula from a German baker, though he made me wary with the warning he attached at theone because of the warning in the note the gave at the end which read; " Sourdough-bread is very complikated. You need a lot of years experience. Anyway, good luck!"

Well, he was right! It can take years to figure it out how to execute, especially since each baker (indeed every country) has their own approach to baking bread. In this case, rye is a tricky and sometimes unpredictable medium to with which to work. But, as mentioned, I am determined.

Needing help, I first asked Nils, my source for all things in German bread and translator for Herr Süpke. I also looked for suggestions from my original bread school teacher, David Norman, a wonderful man whose students loved him even as he tortured us with learning math and percentages, commanding us in calculation as intrinsic to baking. 

Anyway, I'm going on my fifth attempt with this landbrot. It's not getting easier... or better! But in the interim, I made a Roggenmischbrot, which is a mixed rye and wheat bread using a two stage sourdough build, Detmolder. I suppose making a loaf successfully will get me to the next level.

I hope it's landbrot. 

 

Octopus in a hurry

Last time cooking octopus, I followed what's known traditionally as the "pot no water method," just adding some aromatics and then giving it a slow covered roasting in the oven. All good, but slow is... slow. Sometimes you want a pulpo salad a bit quicker, right?

Last weekend, I bought two pieces and just plopped them in a pot, added water with some vinegar, bay leaf and let it boil for about a half hour. At the market, a man in line had asked me how I cooked octopus. It turned out that he and his wife had just vacationed in Spain, enjoyed the local variety enormously, and now wanted to try making it home. So I told him what I just told you. And then I went home and tried to follow my advice. It failed miserably. 

Well, my new found food market friend, I hope you had better luck. My 30 minute boil method led to an awfully tough piece of "pulpo." Well, after scratching my head a moment, I decided to take out my Fagor pressure cooker, which ten minutes later, well, success! Or at least decent enough to attempt this blog entry. So if you're the fellow I spoke to at the store the other day, big apologies for my directions but here's some new ones... pressure cook it!

Oh and here is the salad, tender and delicious impromptu  pulpo a'la plancha with salad.

Pocket for a falafel

My first falafel was eaten in the mid-east. Only it was mid-eastern Connecticut, the white-bread suburbs of Fairfield County, where my family moved from Europe decades ago when I still had lots of hair on my head. I still remember the lunchtime introduction, coming via an invitation to a wealthy kid's house who had an Israeli nanny. Delicious!  If flavor memories could speak, they'd sing a sensational song. Tel Aviv pop meets Cairo evenings. 

Through the years, nostalgia has transformed into a hardcore legume fritter addiction, stoked by periodic visits to Mamoun's famous falafel, as well as the pushcart seller "Jimmy's Falafel," a stand on Brooklyn's Atlantic Ave. introduced to me by my brother and fellow chef, Philippe. 

More recently, I have tried to feed the longing with visits to local Lebanese shop in my neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens. But too often, rather than fry it fresh (or at least reheat them in an oven) the local guys simply pop what's made into a micro-wave - a downright uncivilized way to serve something which, when done right, is light and delicate rather than just pumped up greasy fry food. 

And if you think I'm getting high-toned about what is and isn't civilized, talk to Kamal Mouzawak, a man who claims this dish has divisional fault lines and tracks everything about the dish from which chickpeas are used to its origins. Nevermind, I am hungry and I couldn't care less about those human propensities towards nationalism, especially with food. Above (and below) are photos of my own attempt to create the perfect falafel right at home. 

My recent falafel were made with straight chick peas, though you can also use a mix with fava bean. In the future, I will play with other legumes;, black bean, lentils, etc. And while usually they are deep fried, I just used a shallow fry pan for the frying. I guess it made me feel less guilty. 

Falafel are great with virtually any sauce, or just a salad with some yogurt, adding tahini, pickled turnips, hummus, or hot sauce. The flavor pairings are endless, alone or adorned. Personally, I most love mine eaten within a sandwich, especially with pita.

My falafel mix screamed "pita," (or chanted it, anyway), so I was happy to oblige, whipping up a sourdough version. Summer is a good time for quick flat breads.

With all sorts of available formulas, I picked this one from a wonderful source, Barbara Abdeni Massad's book,  Man'oushe. I played with 40 percent leavened flour, and added in some whole wheat for rustic taste.

The August humidity high and the  kitchen hot, I already had some kick'n liquid levain. And it only took a 30 minute bulk ferment, dividing the dough, and a 10-15 minute rise after rolling out the pita.

Love to watch the dough rising, puffing into pillow like spheres on the hot stone.  Mind the steam when you rip into these pita, as it's hot!

So if you're in the mood for mezze and a quick flat bread, pita and falafel offer plenty of pocket to fill with good eats.

Percents

Ever since I started baking, I've joined bread forums in different countries; France, England, Germany, Spain. Though lots of things in bread are similar, you would be surprised by the maze of different names for everything from fermenting approaches to types of flour. Going to Google recently, I found a site called Opain. It's terrific. I tapped into the site's hydration calculator, and even though my French is rusty, I was able to come up with some awesome bread. Mind you, I did sort of run amok with the various flours. But all said and done, the loaf below proved the web's value to bakers. 

The calculator is based on the total hydration of the bread you're baking. Previously I made a bread with a lower hydration of 53 percent, and was really pleased with the results. I upped the anty and went to 65 percent, not sure what I would get. Being without my usual flour on this late night last minute bread bake, I had purchased a Turkish flour at my local corner store. I spied that his flour was a low 10.5 precent of protein, weak and good only for pastry or flat bread. Never one to surrender (at least not in the kitchen) I proceeded with my crunched numbers.

 

As mentioned, I also added additional flours; mix, kamut, quinoa, whole wheat, and rye. At first the mix was wet.  But after mixing the dough, surprisingly the folds suggested that my chemistry was working. The bread was retarded overnight and baked. The result is a nice moist bread with a good crumb. Baking can be like wine, where you'll never know till you uncorked the bottle.