the arugula files

Al Crostino on U Street

Al Crostino, a tiny place on U Street, serves up exactly what you are looking for in a neighborhood restaurant—tasty food at a great price.  At first glance, the dining room seems too small and bland to serve anything special (the TV on the wall doesn’t help, but I guess that’s Washington, DC for you).  But, Al Crostino gets its personality from the Chef, Luigi Diotaiuti of Al Tiramisu, not the décor. 

Thanksgiving on the Chesapeake Bay

For Thanksgiving this year we traveled to the eastern shore to spend the day with Marcus' family.  It's only about a two hour ride from DC, where we live, yet it seems worlds away.  Their house has a front row seat on the Chesapeake Bay.   The shoreline is adorned with oyster shells and sometimes you can spot giant osprey from the dock.  It's just a wonderful place.

Cheap Eats: Nava Thai

Todd Kliman, food critic at the Washingtonian, has been talking up Nava Thai for the last year. At his insistence we stopped at Nava for lunch the other day, and, after having eaten there, my gut instinct is cover Kliman’s mouth with heavy masking tape to prevent him from telling anyone else about the place; it’s that good. Nava Thai is a deserving newcomer to the Washingtonian's cheap eats list.

For an appetizer, I had the hot and sour squid.  This is no frozen squid; it was tender and the sauce—THE SAUCE WAS AMAZING.  Lemongrass, hot sauce, lime, cilantro were key ingredients.  Just thinking about this sauce makes me unconsciously lick my lips. For lunch, I had the Pad Thai, which was also quite good, and Marcus’ Pad Gra Pow pork was the best I have ever tasted.  We will definitely go back to try other dishes.

Nava Thai is located in Wheaton behind an Asian supermarket at 11315 Fern Street, which is a few short blocks from the Wheaton Metro.  If you are unfamiliar with this area of Maryland—it is a wonderful Mecca for ethnic food and shopping.

Eat Well, For Less: Dried Beans

Sure, beans are cheap, everyone knows that.  They are even cheaper if you buy them dried by the bag.  Compare a 15 ounce can of generic brand garbanzo beans (.99 cents) to a 16 ounce bag of Goya dried beans (.99 cents). With dried beans you get almost TWICE as much (they expand in water) and they taste better, especially if you are making falafel. Plus you can save more if you buy dried beans in bulk. All you need to do is plan ahead and soak your beans before you plan on using them.  Easy!

Tips for saving money without losing flavor?  Email me at arugulafiles@gmail.com  I'm particularly interested in tips related to gourmet cheese.  Seriously.

Tastier, Crispier, Baked Sweet Potato Fries

If you asked me if I would like to know (a.) who killed JFK; (b.) who made those big head statues on Easter Island; or (c.) how to make sweet potato fries crispy, without hesitation I would pick c.  Should announcing this on the INTERNETS embarrass me?  Well, don’t you want to know how to make crispier sweet potato fries?  Content with soggy fries?  I thought so.  My secrets, culled from 96,500 Google returns, after the jump. 

Squash, Gorgonzola, Apple, and Red Onion Pizza

Tonight, as I was chopping vegetables, Marcus came into the kitchen and asked me what I was making.  I told him pizza with apples, onions, acorn squash, and gorgonzola.  He gave me a WTF look and left the room.  To most people, these ingredients do not sound like pizza toppings.  This is particularly true for Marcus, who usually orders pepperoni on his pizza.  My niece, who won’t eat pizza with “brown flecks” (known as oregano to most adults) on it, would also find this flavor combination problematic.  I couldn't wait to try it.  Every time I go out to pizza these days, the best pizzas always have apples or figs, so I knew this would be a winner.  And it was.  Marcus even thought so.

Ingredients

1. 1 Acorn Squash
2. 1 green apple
3. 1/2 red onion
4. handful of sharp cheddar cheese
5. Handful of gorgonzola cheese
6. Pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s, but you can make your own if you want to be that way) 
7. Penzy’s Sandwich Sprinkle (garlic, coarse salt, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, black pepper).

Directions

1. Quarter Acorn Squash
2. Splash with olive oil
3. Bake at 350 until done
4. Peel squash and mash with a fork
5. Roll out dough
6. Bake dough at 350 for five minutes; remove from oven
7. Saute onions in a small bit of oil until slight caramelized
8. Use a fork to spread squash (like sauce on pizza)
9. Add thinly sliced apple
10.  Add onions
11.  Sprinkle sandwich sprinkle
12.  Cover with gorgonzola and cheddar
13.  Bake at 350 until crust is light brown and crispy

Breakfast Casserole (Add Whatever!)

I'm not sure if you noticed a common theme that is emerging around these parts: I'm visiting friends and relatives, asking them to cook for me, and then posting their recipes here on Arugula Files.  It started with Uncle Sonny's eggplant parmesan and next I posted Jesse's Glogg (a perfect drink for the holidays).  And now, here's Nina's breakfast casserole.  In my mind this is what Michael Scott (The Office) would call a "win, win, win."  I win because I don't have to cook anything, my friends and relatives win because they don't have to write a blog and they still get their masterpieces published, and finally, and most importantly of course, you win (um, right?).

That was a long way to say, I'm tired.  This week I'll be eating grilled cheese for dinner.  Since this blog isn't called the Grilled Cheese Files (TM for a future date!), I'll avoid posting about it seven nights in a row.  Instead here's a recipe from my friend Nina.

Ingredients

6 eggs, beaten
3 cups of whole milk
10 pieces of white bread, no crust, torn into pieces
½ cup of butter
2 tsp of dry mustard
4 cups of shredded cheese
Add whatever (bacon, sausage, spinach, kale, arugula, mushrooms, potatoes...)

Directions

Combine ingredients in a casserole pan
Bake 325 for one hour

Glogg

My friend Jesse recently made Glogg for a small gathering of family and friends.  Glogg is a traditional Swedish mulled wine.  This nonalcoholic version was warm and quite tasty.

Ingredients
10 whole cloves
7 cardamom pods, crushed
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2" piece ginger root
2 cups water
10 whole almonds, cut into halves
1 3/4 cups raisins
1 cup pitted prunes
1 orange, cut into quarters
2 gallons apple juice or apple cider
1/3 cup sugar

Directions
Tie cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger in cheesecloth bag. Heat spice bag, water, almonds, raisins, prunes and orange to boiling in Dutch oven, crock pot or large pot. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 45 minutes. Remove spice bag, prunes and orange. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and heat until mixture begins to bubble. Ladle almond half and a few raisins in to each cup before filling with hot Glogg.

Recipe from epicurean.com

P.S. If you NEED an alcoholic version, check out this recipe.