Pickles with Fish

Somehow, I just discovered pickling. Everything has been getting pickled in my house, from cucumbers and radishes to tomatoes and yes, even peaches. That last one is still a work in progress. One thing that has been especially successful is my old friend tindora - the little guys take so well to brine!

Slice your tindora and place in a glass bowl with not too much extra room. In a glass saucepan, grind mustard seed, coriander seed, salt and sugar to taste. I don't like too much sugar, but that's up to you. Add vinegar (white or cider - experiment with what you like!) and warm over medium heat until all the salt and sugar dissolve. Stir in some sliced Serrano peppers, for heat. Now, pour this over your tindora (should be enough to cover) and seal the bowl with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for a couple of days, then enjoy.

Having made all these pickles, the question arises - what on earth do I do with them? The other night I came up with a surprisingly tasty solution. Layering different fresh (and pickled) ingredients, this dish is full of contrasts - temperatures, textures, and flavors - and made for a very satisfying and delicious meal. Healthy too! You can adjust any part of the recipe, from how you do the pickles to the kind of fish, etc., but I do recommend that the pickles be fairly bitter (not too sweet) and a firmer fish, since you don't want it falling apart.

I used:

Tindora pickles
Fish (I used tuna, but a lighter fish might be nice too)
Avocado
Light soy sauce
Mirin
Sesame oil
Rice

Cook your rice. When that's done and relaxing, fire up the wok with some sesame oil, and toss in your fish with a bit of soy sauce. While the fish is cooking, spoon out a bowl of rice and get out your pickles and avocado. Also, mix about a quarter-cup of sauce: half soy sauce and half mirin, with a splash of oil. When the fish is ready, quickly dice your avocado (don't do this ahead of time, or it will brown), and make a bowl of rice. On top of the warm rice, put the cold pickles, hot fish, and room-temperature avocados and sauce.

Serve immediately.

BrunchDC's Take on Brunch

In the late 19th century, British hunter Guy Beringer wrote in the long-defunct Hunter's Weekly that we ought to abandon the heavy English Sunday dinner, a "post-church ordeal of heavy meats and savory pies" and instead introduce a "new meal, served around noon, that starts with tea or coffee." This revolutionary idea, which Beringer termed "brunch," was principally appealing to him because it would "make life brighter for Saturday night carousers" (i.e. allow him and his friends to stay up later and get drunker on Saturday nights). Over a hundred years later, with brunch soaring in popularity, the justification for it remains essentially the same.

As a lifelong New Yorker until my recent transplantation to Washington, I had grown accustomed to what I had mistakenly thought was a nationwide solution to the brunch meal: the prix fixe brunch menu with coffee and/or drinks included. Prix fixe brunch is pervasive in New York City. The best one is Essex on the Lowest East Side of Manhattan, and serves a $16 prix fixe meal that includes three bloody marys, mimosas, or screwdrivers with free coffee on Sundays if you arrive before noon. The food is a highly creative Jewish-Latin mix consisting of food that you won't find outside of New York (maybe it's illegal to ship bialys across state lines?) such as Eggs "LEO"-- scrambled eggs with onions and gravlax -- or challah French toast.

When I moved down to Washington a little over a year ago I assumed D.C. would follow this successful trend. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. The only brunches I've found in D.C. that even remotely resemble the drinks-included prix fixe deals you'll find in New York are the touristy (Kramer's), the mediocre buffets (Front Page -- a "buffett" spelled with an extra "t" for "terrible"), or the extremely expensive (Georgia Brown - $34.95, drinks extra). There are, of course, various places with drinks deals such as Creme's $15 unlimited drink deal (food extra) or Tabaq's $3 drinks, but the drinks aspect is only one part of the beauty and simplicity of the prix fix deal.

That's not to say you can't get good brunch in D.C. Recently I've set out to find those places and have come up with some promising brunch spots around the city. On 18th street, Mezè, a Turkish place has surprisingly excellent French toast. Bardia's New Orleans Cafe, a small hole-in-the-wall serves creative and authentic New Orleans style brunch complete with poached eggs atop catfish bites with creole sauce. Even The Diner, while way too popular for its quality, has some decent food as well, especially the French-inspired croques. Creme and Cafe Saint-Ex on U street are generally solid (good fried green tomato eggs benedict at St. Ex) and Rosemary's Thyme and Café Tropé in the Dupont area are both good bets.

This article is from Guestblogger Michael, of BrunchDC

Summer Fruit Pasta

Summer is time for fresh ingredients, only lightly cooked if at all, and bright flavors. Some days, however, I still get a craving for pasta. This recipe is a nice compromise, giving the bright, fresh tastes of season along with the starchy goodness I crave. You can also add fresh chives to this recipe, which adds a nice sharp contrast (best instead of the lime juice) as a garnish. I sometimes add fish sauce to the mix as well, because it is great stuff.

The key with this dish is to use the best fruit possible, and cook the fruit for as little time as you can (it should still be cold in the middle). And do not even THINK about using 'lite' coconut milk.

Whole wheat pasta (fusili is nice)
Cut up fruit (today I used pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and muscadine grapes)
Coconut milk
Cardamom
Anise seed
Cinnamon
Vanilla extract (real, not imitation)
Allspice
Sesame oil
Lime juice

While your pasta is boiling, mix the coconut milk with pinches - as much as you like - of the spices (ground up) EXCEPT THE ALLSPICE, and a splash each of vanilla and sesame oil. When the pasta is a little bit more al dente than you'd actually want to eat, drain it. Put it back in the pot, along with your fruit, and stir in the sauce mixture. When it cooks down a bit, and starts to be a good alfredo-ish texture, remove from the heat and spoon into serving bowls. Now, add a squirt of lime juice and a few pinches of freshly ground allspice to garnish.

Circular Publicity

It does feel odd publicizing a publicist, but those of you who want to know what is happening in the local restaurant scene can check out The Latest Dish. It will tell you about openings, closings, events, chefs on the move, etcetera.

I've been keeping my eye on The Latest Dish for a while, and I know they've been reading DCFUD. I remember being at a food-related event about a year ago and being told (by one of LRPR's employees) that the link to my name on DCFUD did not work. And...there I was thinking I was anonymous. :)