about two weeks ago, cavin and i metro'd our way to pentagon city and headed towards sur la table. we weren't shopping for kitchen gadgets (though, we would do that later in the evening), but instead we were there to take one of the culinary classes they offer throughout the year: beginning sushi.

i've made sushi before on my own, and it's really not that hard. but we thought some instruction might be a fun way to spend the evening. that night we ended up making california rolls, spicy tuna rolls, vegetarian rolls, shrimp tempura rolls, tuna nigiri, and bagel maki. we even got a %15 discount at sur la table (which we used to buy a muddler for mojitos, as well as cordial glasses).

since taking the class, though, cavin and i finally mustered up the courage to make it at home. stopping by super h-mart over memorial day weekend (and hong kong supermarket in philly), we picked up sushi-grade salmon, oshinko (japanes pickled radish), sushi rice, nori (seaweed paper), cucumber, carrots, avocado, fish sticks, surimi (crab stick), and unagi (eel, which was pre-cooked and frozen).

like i said earlier, it's really easy to make. all you do is make the rice (which is slightly different than making other white rice because you add vinegar and sugar), spread it out on the rough side of the seaweed wrapper, add your ingredients, and roll it up using a bamboo mat covered in plastic.

sushi rice
(yields 5 cups cooked rice)
2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
3.5 tbsp vinegar (we used rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt

-rinse the rice well, at least three times. since we have a rice cooker, cavin just added the rinsed rice, and water. while the rice is cooking, add the remaining ingredients to a small sauce pan, and heat up the mixture making sure the sugar and salt are fully dissolved into the vinegar. when the rice is done, spread it out in a large dish (we used a pyrex casserole dish). add the vinegar/sugar/salt mixture a third at a time, mixing into the rice. let cool to room temperature.

the seaweed wrappers come in a large square, so cavin and i cut them in half so we wouldn't have excess seaweed in our rolls.

once you do that, to make a california roll, take the cut piece of seaweed, and place it shiny side down on your mat, the long side of the seaweed towards the bottom. add a thin layer of sushi rice on the entire piece of seaweed, leaving a gap of no rice at the end furthest away from you. (you may find it much easier to dampen your hands with water during the process of adding the rice to the wrapper.) add the crabmeat, julienned cucumber, slices of avocado, then roll the mat away from you, making it tight as you roll. (if you've ever been in college, you will notice that this is similar to rolling other things and you might have an easier time doing it than someone who has no idea what i'm talking about, hehe).

once you have your roll, get a sharp non-serrated knife, dip in water to wet the blade, and cut your sushi into pieces.

we had dried wasabi powder, which we added to a small bowl, and added drips of water at a time, mixing thoroughly, until the wasabi is at the correct consistency. (the wasabi adds a horseradish bite to your soy sauce. i like a lot of it, but it gives me this bizarre, but addicting head rush. i'm wacky).

so once you get the hang of it, you'll be making sushi in no time, which is what cavin and i did, alternating making rolls and cutting them. we also made spicy salmon rolls, which turned out delicious and very easy to make. here's a rough "recipe":




spicy salmon (or tuna, etc.)
chop up the sushi-grade salmon (or any other sushi-grade fish) into pieces. add a bit of garlic chili paste (i didn't have any, but i used sambal and it worked out ok) and a tiny bit of mayo. mix and add more of the ingredients to your liking. done!

once you get the rolling part down, you can pretty much make whatever type of sushi you want. we had leftover adobo so i even made chicken adobo sushi. woah!

Labels: event, seafood, sushi

ah, it's been a long, long time, my friend. "busy with work" is my excuse for neglecting my kalat-o-scope duties, but in actuality, i've been "busy with life" (read busy drinking and eating at beck's).

beck's, or more formally known as brasserie beck, is the new sister restaurant from chef robert wiedmaier, chef at the fancy french-belgian restaurant in dc, marcel's, which we have not (yet) had the priviledge to dine at. it's a more casual (though business casual) belgian restaurant on 11th & K streets NW.

i won't go into great detail about decor (though you can read a quick bite about it here and here), but i will mention there are clocks everywhere. clocks that are all different, yet none of them seem to have the correct time. perhaps this is supposed to emphasize that you are there enjoy yourself, and not think about the pressing and maybe stressful things going on in your life. (let's just say this clock ploy has roped cavin and i to beck's about 5-6 times in their first 12 days of being open, completely losing track of time.)

when one thinks of belgian cuisine, moules and frites immediately come to mind, and of course, beck's has them ($17) in three flavors: white wine & garlic & parsley, curry apple, and fennel & sausage. while we haven't yet tried the fennel & sausage (though that will be on our soon-to-eat list, as we are trying to eat the entire menu before we leave for vacation, though, i don't know if it will happen), the traditional mussels (white wine) were very plump, and served in a large, shallow le creuset dish, with the lid removed as it was placed in front of us, allowing us to revel in the aromatic essence of the mussels (fumè), wine and garlic. the frites were served with three flavored mayos for dipping: regular, tomato, and curry (by far the best of the three). the curry apple moules were presented similarly (as are all the moules), but they were lacking in any curry/apple flavor, unless you dip your bread into the juices that accumulate at the bottom of the le creuset (which i highly recommend, regardless of which flavor you order).

i've been thinking about the frites for the past two weeks, especially since i've started making my own french fries, and while the frites at beck's are good, i still think i enjoy the truffled frites at poste better. (maybe there's something about the truffle oil on the frites that does it for me, though, reading an article in the nytimes about truffles and truffle oil makes me wonder if the truffle oil is really worth seeking out).

there are other stand-outs on the menu, like the braised pork and rice beans, the tomato shrimp avocado salad, the gratin of brussel sprouts, and crispy fried skate served with spinach and dill, and the choucroute en croute (weidmaier's twist: choucroute wrapped in puff pastry).

but to be quite honest, we aren't always there for the food; it's the beer we're after. bill, the beer specialist, is a belgian beer fanatic and is very committed to have a rotating cache of beers available. we've tasted all the beers on tap (even the new ones that keep rotating) as well as the bottled beers. i should mention that every beer has its own glass to be served in, which is fantastic, because it showcases the beer in all its glory. some of the beer they have: saison dupont, delirium apple, kasteel blonde, bacchus, scaldis, de konick, houblon chouffe, wittekerke, and all kinds of gueuze, probably my new favorite type of beer, which tends to be on the sour side.

and every time bill sees us, he knows we are always up for trying something new, so he pours us glasses of things we might like, or extra bottles of an easter (or noel) beer he has around, or a taste of the new beer that he's just changed the tap to. it's great to know that the people working there are really into what they are doing, and since we go there regularly now, it's also great to be greeted by familiar faces.

so if you ever go, you'll probably find us sitting at the bar in one of the stools in the above picture, as we never sit in the dining room and always patronize fitz and todd, two of the bartenders at beck's.

brasserie beck
1101 k street nw
washington, dc 20005
202.408.1717

Labels: beer, french fries, restaurant, seafood

if you read regularly, you might already know that cavin and i like to snack on truffled frites at poste, where they are a mere $4 during happy hour (4-7pm weekdays).

recently though, we have found another place to fill our frites obsession: brasserie beck (or, just beck's, as the dr community is calling it these days). we've already gone twice and it's superb, but i'll save my post about beck's for another day. this post is strictly about french fries.

after eating french fries my entire life, the pommes frites variety rules over curly, waffle, fat steak fries, etc. you probably know them as the skinny ones that you might get if you ordered steak and frites, or if you order moules and frites at a belgian restaurant, which are sometimes served with mayonnaise.

shamefully, i have never made fries. but this weekend, i finally decided to take on this endeavor, since we had some days-old potatoes sitting around begging to be used. i wanted to also make homemade curry-flavored mayo as a condiment, but i flaked out and just mixed jarred mayo with curry powder (making fries at 9:30 in the morning, i felt, was enough badness for the day).

the key is to fry them twice, at different oil temperatures, but to also cut the potatoes at the proper thickness - too thin and you end up with potato chip sticks, too thick and you end up with those thick-cut ones you might get at ponderosa. it's really not that hard and they are far superior than most of the french fries i've had in my lifetime (which are quite a bit).

pommes frites
peel 2 large baking potatoes. cut potatoes into 1/4" to 3/8" thickness. rinse in several changes of cold water. thoroughly dry potatoes.

add vegetable oil to a large pot so it is about 3" deep. heat oil on medium-high to 325F (use a thermometer to check!). when the oil is up to temperature, add a handful of potatoes, turn heat to high, and add the rest of the potatoes, then turn heat to medium once all the potatoes are in the oil. cook, stirring sporadically, until the majority of the potatoes start to brown (10 minutes or so).

when the potatoes start to brown, turn heat to low and remove them from oil onto a paper bag or paper towels. at this point, they should be limpy and pale. once all the fries are out of the oil, turn heat to high until the oil is at 375F. (edit: only heat oil to 350F)

return fries to the oil, and fry for only a few minutes until they are browned to your liking. remove them from oil onto papertowels, and add salt (or any other flavoring like chili powder) and toss immediately.

Labels: cooking, french fries