What to do with the leftovers?

By Kathleen Nixon

November 25, 2011

Falls Church Times Staff

Now that the big food day is over, the question now is: what to do with all the leftovers? You have shopped, prepared and presented all of this glorious food, but how many times can you reheat and eat it? Don’t get me wrong I love turkey sandwiches and reheating gravy and mashed potatoes but after a day or so, you would like to see these great dishes take on a second act.

With this in mind, I asked two of our local phenomenal chef’s Tracy O’Grady of Willow and Steve Mannino of Rustico to share with me their ideas of what to do with our Thanksgiving leftovers. Tracy came up with Turkey Stuffing Shepherd’s Pie and Steve blew me away with his Mashed Potato Chocolate cake.  If you don’t feel so inclined to do either of these, please consider at least  making a broth out of your turkey carcass and use it for soup or stew with your remaining turkey meat.

Broth has seems to fallen out of favor in our society because it takes so long to prepare but I firmly believe there is nothing better for our cooking or health than homemade broths. When I am feeling particularly frazzled, I will set aside a day of the weekend to make a broth so that the house smells heavenly and I have quarts of great broth sitting in my freezer to add to any dish. Many of us grew up on broths from bouillon cubes or from a can, but these miss many of the minerals and nutrients that come from the bones that are part of any great broth. The critical component of making a broth is time – just letting the bones simmer in a pot on the stove for hours – preferably at least 6 hours but more like 8. This doesn’t mean you have to sit and watch it, just let it simmer while you do other things around the house. I really liked these two methods of making broth from Cooking for Engineers and Cheap Cooking.

Now if you want to use more of the leftovers, Tracy O’Grady Chef and Owner of Willow Restaurant created this recipe for us using many of the ingredients that we will have left over from our Thanksgiving meals.

Turkey Stuffing Sheppard’s Pie by Tracy O’Grady – Willow Restaurant

Serves 6

Bake in an 8”x10” earthenware dish, dimensions do not need to be exact

Ingredients

4 cups picked turkey meat, use both dark and white or whatever is leftover

2 cups leftover gravy

1-2 cups turkey broth made for another meal of turkey soup, cook the turkey carcass very slowly over night in water with mirepoix of celery, carrot and onion

½-1 cup left over mashed potatoes

1 cup leftover glazed or roasted carrots

1 small onion, diced and sautéed until tender

2 stalks of celery, diced and sautéed until tender

4 sage leaves, roughly chopped

3-4 cups leftover stuffing

Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

• Use leftover cranberry sauce as an accompaniment
• Use leftover green bean as an accompaniment

Procedure

Heat the gravy and mashed potatoes together whisking until smooth, add in turkey stock to the desired consistency.  The gravy mixture can be as thick or brothy as desired.  Fold in the turkey meat, carrots, onions, celery, sage, salt and pepper and place in the earthenware dish.  Spread the leftover stuffing evenly over the top of the stew (if the stuffing is too dry add some of the turkey stock).  Cover the Sheppard’s pie with foil and place in a 350* preheated oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until fairly hot.  Remove the foil and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until the stuffing is crispy and the pie is hot and bubbly inside.

I had always tried to think of ways to recreate something with mashed potatoes so when Steve Mannino shared his family recipe of Mashed Potato Chocolate Cake I was overjoyed and intrigued. Caution: this is not a recipe to use with garlic or cheesy mashed potatoes.

 

Chocolate-Potato Cake by Steve Mannino of Rustico
Makes one Bundt cake.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2/3 cups butter, softened
2 eggs, separated
1 cup skinless mashed potatoes, such as peeled Idaho potatoes mashed with cream, butter, and salt
1 cup whole milk
½ cup cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts such as chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds (to be folded into the batter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Procedure
Using egg beaters or a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter on medium-high speed. Add the egg yolks and beat until incorporated, about a minute. Blend in the potatoes and then the milk until thoroughly mixed. The mixture should have a thin mashed potato consistency at this point.

In another bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon (if using). Fold these dry ingredients into the batter. Add more flour if the batter seems too loose—it should be the consistency of regular cake or brownie batter.

Using egg beaters or a stand mixer beat the egg whites on high speed until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the cake batter. Beat in the vanilla, and then stir in the chopped nuts (if using).

Pour into a greased Bundt cake pan and bake approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the cake and if it comes out clean, it’s ready to eat. Frost with the cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Procedure

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar until the mixture reaches desired sweetness and smoothness. Mix in the vanilla extract and set aside.

Perfectly Stuffed: A White Wine for Turkey Day

By Christianna Sargent
November 11, 2011
Special to Falls Church Times

Thanksgiving presents a truly American festive meal, laden with starch, spice, sugar, and the inevitable turkey roast—the ultimate tryptophan rush.  Splashes of burnt orange, crimson red, pecan brown, and pine green decorate the table and mirror the fall foliage outdoors. This time of year sets the mood for cozy afternoons indoors where warm, winter light floods bay windows, and a glimpse outside reveals a picturesque setting of falling, painted leaves. The brisk chill in the air only prepares the heart further for comfort food served up hot and the ever-charming glass of wine.

Thanksgiving will always be my favorite family holiday, and not just because of the food and the fact that no presents are needed; but, mainly because Thanksgiving is a true wine meal. The wine choices, though, are limitless and daunting at some levels, especially for folks who are just looking to adorn the table with some good tasting juice and leave the vino contemplation for the snobs. So rather than name off all the usual culprits that you see listed in every food magazine and wine editorial,  I’m going to say the opposite: stay away from Sauvignon Blanc, don’t bother with Cabernet Sauvignon, skip the Italians, forget the Pinots, Malbecs and Zinfandels save for another day. Keep it simple this year, and explore the broad, stylistic wine selection from one small region, the Loire Valley. I promise you, it offers all the stuffing you need and more…

This majestic region sits farther up the Loire Valley just south of Paris and can be compared to other renowned places of beauty such as Venice, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Grand Canyon! Otherwise known as the Garden of France, this region between the cities of Angers and Tours stretches along a slow-churning river flanked by 300 chateaux, vineyards, and gardens, and was named a UNESCO world heritage site. This beautiful region is home to the Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc grapes.

The Chenin Blanc grape is what we shall focus on for the Thanksgiving meal. Yes, I say, even if it is just a white wine. Chenin is especially versatile and comes in many different forms from dry to sweet, sparkling, rosé, and decades-old (possibly longer-lived than Riesling). In other words, red-wine drinking fans, this will be the perfect wine to indulge in during the meal, and after turn to your reds as you sit back in Turkey Lovers Lane swooning in a food coma. This chameleon of a grape pairs so perfectly at the Thanksgiving feast, and sadly, it is so unfamiliar to Americans. It is the Old World’s answer to California Chardonnay, but on a much eloquent, refined scale. No big oak-bombs represent this category. Rather, the wine itself is highly extracted (like Chardonnay) and highly acidic (unlike Chardonnay), making it a great food pair. Plus, it is susceptible to the famous “noble rot” that glorifies the vineyards of Sauternes (the honey-like, age-worthy dessert wine from Bordeaux). You can spend as little or as much as you like on it, and Loire Chenin Blanc can even be found at your local grocer. While you are out label-hunting for Thanksgiving, have a quick chat with the wine retailer you frequent, ask for Vouvray, Savennieres, Coteaux du Layon, Quarts de Chaume, or Bonnezeaux (listed in relative order of increasing price). None of these are easy to pronounce, so Google it! Or rely on your handy Iphone or Droid apps to peruse the wine cellar jargon. Either way, it’s simple to go to the French section and spot one of these names, even if you just point and don’t utter.

You will not regret the aromatic qualities of a good Chenin Blanc: ripe Georgia peach topped with whipped cream, quince paste and succulent apricot, Fuji apple and Bosc pear. Top this with a touch of marzipan cake framed by toasted nuts, and you have a mouth-watering Chenin Blanc just full-bodied enough to match with your roasted fall vegetables, seasoned turkey, and sweet potato casserole.

Just so you won’t get lost in the French aisle, I will list a few of my favorites you can spot around town:

Bernard Fouquet Domaine des Aubuisiers Cuvée de Silex Vouvray, Loire France $18 (at Weygandt Wines in Cleveland Park)

Domaine de Baumard Savennières, Loire France $18 (Whole Foods and Red, White & Bleu)

Domaine Jo Pithon Coteaux du Layon, Loire France $22 (MacArthurs)

Domaine Jo Pithon Quarts de Chaume, Loire France $100 (MacArthurs)

Chateau de Fesles Bonnezeaux, Loire France $70 (Schneiders)

Christianna Sargent
Certified Sommelier
Advanced Certificate-
Wine & Spirits Education Trust
Association of Italian Sommeliers
French Wine Scholar
talesofasommelier.blogspot.com

Liberty Tavern’s Liam LaCivita

BY Kathleen Nixon

October 28, 2011

Falls Church Times Staff

Liam LaCivita, Executive Chef at Liberty Tavern is our next Falls Church Farmers Market Chef. His demonstration is tomorrow, Saturday, October 29th from 9am to 11am. (The demonstration is now rescheduled for Saturday, November 5th)  Liam shares with us some of his background and philosophy on local cuisine.

Tell our readers a little about your background? Why did you get into cooking? Who inspired you? What have been some of your challenges as your career has advanced? What is new on the horizon for you?

I am half Irish and half Italian.  A lot of the food that I do is based on those two cultures.  I got into cooking primarily because I found it as another way of using my creativity in a more immediate way.  Food has always been an integral part of my life, through the traveling I did with my family and of course the food in my family has always been the center of attention. Some of my challenges in my career is constantly staying ahead of the curve, that being a chef is not all about cooking.  That is what I like most about being a chef, is that it is constantly evolving.  One minute your human resources, next minute a line cook, next minute a plumber…hahaha!

Tell us a little about your restaurant, your staff and how you incorporate local producers into your restaurant purchasing?

The Liberty Tavern is an American Regional restaurant that focuses on the use of seasonal and local ingredients.  We never opened the The Liberty Tavern specifically as that, to me it has always been common sense to use local and seasonal foods in my cooking.  That must be the Italian in me.

You work with many of the local producers? Who do you work with?

Dragon Creek, Polyface Farms, Trickling Springs Creamery, Jenkins orchards, Tuscarora organic Co-op and The Fresh Link. The last two are co-ops that bring small farmers products to the restaurants.

As a customer, what changes have you seen in the local food landscape?

I have seen many changes in the local food scene, hell just the fact that people are starting to understand a tomato doesn’t taste very good in February is a big change.

When did you start using local ingredients in creating your menu and recipes?

I have been using local ingredients probably since 1995/1996.  But specifically around 1997/98 when I was sous chef at 21 Federal in Nantucket where the local natural resources and farms dictated what I wanted to serve.  Everything was seasonal, it just made sense.

What ingredients has been the most challenging to work with?

No ingredient is really challenging.  Though if foraging for mushrooms, it is always interesting the proper way to cook mushrooms that I have never seen before.

Do you think your customers understand and appreciate your incorporation of local food into your menus?

I truly believe our customers appreciate and understand the food we serve and the use of local ingredients.  I know that because they tell me themselves.  That I appreciate.

What local ingredients are not yet available to the local economy that you would like to incorporate into your menu?

There are a lot of foraged local ingredients that don’t make it to the local economy. I would like for that to start changing.

How long have you been part of the Farmers Market Chef series?

This is my third or fourth year I believe.

What do you like best about the Farmers Market Chef series? Any challenges or surprises?

I love the sense of community at the Falls Church Farmers Market.  I like that it is almost a social event as well as a shopping experience.

What will you be preparing for your demonstration?

A medley of crostinis with housemade goat ricotta with Liberty Tavern bacon, caramelized farmers market apples, local greens; Wild mushrooms, truffled honey, sea salt and thyme; and roasted brussels sprout leaves with lemon marinade.

Due to the weather, we have rescheduled the Farmers Market Demonstration for Saturday, November 5th.

Dine Out for Farms Week

BY Kathleen Nixon

October 21, 2011

Falls Church Times Staff

As the harvest is in full swing, it is time for the second annual Dine Out for Farms™ week. A national program supports saving farms and farmland by dining at participating restaurants through October 23^rd. This celebration of food, farmers and the land needed to grow it was created to educate diners about the importance of farms while raising money to save farmland.

According to the Trust, each year we lose land the size of Delaware to asphalt and buildings that was once productive farmland. Once this productive land is lost to development, it cannot be brought back and along with it the ability for America to produce its own food.

Each week we see our local farmers at the Falls Church Farmers Market, but we don’t realize the challenges that they face providing our food. Every day, more family farmers are facing economic difficulties making it a challenge for them to stay on their land. Uncertain economic conditions, federal regulations and the urban sprawl test the most committed farm families. We are also facing a shortage of young people or new farmers who are ready to continue America’s farming tradition. Today, almost 60 percent of farmers are 55 or older.

This year, Dine Out for Farms restaurants are participating in several ways: offering a special dish, contributing a percentage of sales during the week or making a straight donation to help save farms.  By patronizing any one of the restaurants during Dine Out for Farms™ week, we can show that we care about protecting America’s farmland and the delicious food that it provides by dining at one of these participating restaurants.

There are many restaurants in our area that are participating in this national program including many right here in our community such as Open Kitchen, Clyde’s and Silver Diner.  You can stay locally or head on out to the lovely countryside and dine at the Restaurant at Patowmack Farms – one of my personal favorites.

To view a list of participating restaurants, visit www.farmland.org/dineout-locate. Or you can make a reservation through Open Table the Official Reservation Partner

Silver Diner
VA/MD
www.silverdiner.com

Clyde’s of Reston
Reston, VA
www.clydes.com

The Grille at Morrison House
Alexandria, VA
www.thegrillealexandria.com

Maple Ave Restaurant
Vienna, VA
www.mapleaverestaurant.com

Open Kitchen
Falls Church, VA
www.openkitchen-dcmetro.com

The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
Lovettsville, VA
www.patowmackfarm.com

FOOD: Sichuan Style Hot Pot at Mala Tang

BY Ra Chan

August 12, 2011

Special to Falls Church Times

About a week ago, my Twitter feed was going crazy with all tweets from my fellow bloggers and foodies about this place, Mala Tang. My husband had also mentioned to me a while ago about this new hot pot style place that he thought I would like. I love eating hot pot style; one of my favorite Cambodian dishes is cooked in a hot pot. So of course, it’s been on the back of my mind to finally try.

So what is the deal with this Sichuan place? The plates are supposed to mimic Chinese style street food. You know, whenever you watch the travel channel and someone is strolling through the streets of China that are just bustling with various street vendors; all you see are mouthwatering skewers, pots of boiling soup and freshly made noodles. Mala Tang tries to recreate that experience with various plates that tantalize all the senses, but minus the noise and congestion.

Walking into the restaurant for dinner, I was very impressed with how big the dining space was. The dark wood furniture gives the place a definite “Asian” feel. As soon as we sat down, the waitress explained the protocol for ordering and even gave us recommendations for appetizers. Each diner is given their own small hot pot and you can choose from two broths, traditional or vegetarian. After that, you can choose your level of spiciness – mild, mala or extra mala. We were adventurous and ordered the mala and extra mala. Then you choose your variety of proteins and vegetables to eat fondue style.

To start, we got the recommendations, the Dan Dan noodles and Zhong dumplings.

The Dan Dan noodles came out first and our waitress gave it a quick stir tableside to coat the noodles. It was small plate of delicious rice noodles, greens and ground pork. It was amazing. The flavors were so new to me. It was so savory and just a hint of spiciness. It was a great way to get my mouth ready for what was to come.

Next up were the Zhong dumplings. The presentation was gorgeous! I wasn’t a fan of the dumplings though. I felt that the wrapper was too thick and not enough filling. The sauce was delicious though, perfectly spicy.

After all our dishes were taken away, the waitress came by with some little sauce dishes. She then proceeded to make a dipping sauce for us; it was a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil and hot pepper. It was delicious. I’m thinking of making that as my go to dipping sauce at home now.

Next, she brought out our broths for the hot pot, mala and extra mala (super extra spicy). We got to sample each. The mala broth reminded me a lot of bun bo hue (Vietnamese spicy noodles), but with more lemongrass. The spicy level was perfect, it was definitely spicy, but not overpowering; and I loved the combinations of garlic and ginger. The extra mala on the other hand, was another level of spicy. It was good, but I couldn’t get over the amount of heat. I would only be using that broth sparingly.

So our spread was shrimp, lobster balls, sirloin and watercress. From what I could tell, everything looked really fresh. The watercress was amazingly crisp and the perfect vegetable to simmer in the hot pot. We just cooked things as we ate them. I didn’t want to thicken the broth with everything at once. And it proved to be a perfect leisurely dinner. We took our time with cooking the items and savoring the flavors. The proteins were great with the sesame/soy dipping sauce.

I’m happy to report that this was another successful dinner outing. I loved the vibe at Mala Tang, it definitely looks like a new hot spot. And to entice more customers, they have a great happy hour special. I will definitely be coming back!

Mala Tang

3434 Washington Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22201

(703) 243-2381

www.mala-tang.com

FOOD: All You Can Eat at Hokkaido Seafood Buffet

 

BY Ra Chan

Special To Falls Church Times

July 1, 2011

I’ve been eyeballing this place for a while; every time I drive along Route 7, I have to slow down just a bit to see the progress of this place. When Hokkaido Seafood Buffet finally opened it’s doors, I had to check it out to see if it’s worth coming back.

As you walk in, the restaurant space is huge. The booth type seating was a little strange to me though, I didn’t feel that it had a very diner friendly flow. But looking around, I noticed a wide range of food options: sushi, cold seafood, a teppanyaki station, soups, steamed seafood, traditional buffet offerings and the standard dessert options. I walked around and got a little bit of everything that caught my eye, that way, when I go for my second round, I know where to spend my time.

 

The sushi was average, but what can you expect from a buffet? I was impressed that they had a large selection of nigiri and sashimi. I steered clear of the raw oysters, mussels and clams. I tend to get a little nervous about eating raw seafood that’s been sitting out for too long. I didn’t try the teppanyaki station, but the meat and seafood looked really fresh and there were a wide assortment of veggies and noodles to create your own meal. What impressed me most about Hokkaido was the large selection of steamed seafood; you had your choice of a few different steamed and fried fish, garlic clams, black bean oysters, salt and pepper shrimp, salt and pepper crab, steamed whole crab, crawfish and of course, no buffet is complete without steamed snow crab legs. And all this for only $18.95! The dessert and fruit stations were a little disappointing. I didn’t see any fresh fruit, except for some orange and honeydew slices. Everything else was straight out of the can, syrup and all. There were a few pastries in the dessert section as well, macaroons, cookies and slices of cake.

 

Overall for a buffet, I thought the selection was great, but the flavors and tastes were mediocre. I think the winner here would be the steamed seafood station. If I were to come back, I’d definitely spend my time feasting on the steamed crab, crawfish and snow crab legs.