In leafing through Bittman’s vegetarian cookbook again for dinner, I came across his suggestions for quickly-seared tomatoes and another for raw beets.
Born was my new salad with bacon, ham, turkey, thinly-sliced raw beets, and Hanover tomatoes seared in bacon fat.
Salad greens and a balsamic dressing using grain mustard and some of the bacon drippings completed the masterpiece.
Simple salad with prosciutto, heirloom tomatoes, grana padana croutons, with a balsamic dressing.
This cauliflower soup uses the cheese croutons. I grabbed the recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Vegetarian cookbook. It’s simple, starting with an onion in EVOO. Simple spices include salt, pepper, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
I am not a fan of soupy textures with big chunks of cauliflower, so I puréed and strained the soup (with a touch of cream).
Simply delicious.
Interesting advice from New York Magazine:
As conventional wisdom goes, there are three golden rules that are fundamental to being a Regular.
Plus, 5 more tips if it really matters to you.
I made this recipe based upon an idea I procured from my “Epicurious” app on the iPhone.
I seared a large piece of sea bass with little pieces of bacon on top. They covered the entire surface of the fish on one side, but shrunk after cooking. I put the bacon-side down first.
After cooking both sides in EVOO and the bacon fat, I finished it in the oven for a few minutes. I then served the fish on top of a bed of tomato salad.
The tomato salad was made earlier in the day, with oven-roasted roma tomatoes and a fresh yellow tomato. These were combined with preserved garlic, a small handful of chopped olives, and fresh basil, salt, and pepper with extra EVOO. The roasted tomatoes had been mixed with EVOO, anchovy paste, and dried oregano.
As a side, sauteed blanched baby squash in the resulting bacon fat from the fish with asparagus, with a splash of aged balsamic.
Delicious!
I recently had dinner at Eurasia in the Gayton Crossing shopping center, next to an old favorite, Chianti.
Evidently this place has roots in a restaurant with the same name in Virginia Beach. I like the wine bar + restaurant idea, but missing from this one which I liked in those wine bar restaurants under different names I visited in Virginia Beach were wine flights. This movement allows diners to enjoy say 3 smaller portions of single glasses at a reasonable price. It’s a great practice that allows us, the diners, to sample and try-out more wines than we normally might on a dinner-night out.
I was trying to describe to someone going with us what this place was about. “I don’t know, I haven’t eaten here… but from the title I can guess what we might expect…” The online menu didn’t surprise me, but it’s nice to see what’s available before you go.
I started with the edamame beans for the benefit of one of my dining companions who had never enjoyed these before. It might have been the most boring of their appetizers, but they tasted fine: they’d been boiled, sea-salted, and served with a wedge of lemon. I didn’t care for the lemon, but your tastes may very. It’s up to you whether or not you squeeze.
Some fried spring rolls came by the table behind us and smelled delicious if not exotic.
For entrées I should mention first the lobster ravioli. This was well appreciated by one of our diners, because it used “real, big chunks of lobster meat.” Personally I would have liked to have seen more “sauce,” but the dish was a winner for our diner.
The flank steak frites seemed to be a winner too, although he cared less for the seasoned fries. Having tried some after some 40 minutes (already cold), I have to say they were flavored and salted well. Had they still been warm and crisp, I think I would have devoured them quickly.
I tried the short ribs of beef with spaetzle (below). The menu described them coming with roasted carrots and onions, and grain mustard glazed. The meat had already come off the bones. So, I saw no need to serve the bones on the plate. Would anyone de-bone a chicken breast, but leave that on the plate?
The ribs had a good, beefy flavor, but I could never really quite place the “mustard part.” The dish, of all the ones we ordered, needed the most help. This isn’t to say it was bad… but a little red wine, reduced, with a big helping of grain mustard, mounted with a pat of butter, would have made a nice, rich sauce, and one that would have presented otherwise finely-prepared meat a more fitting presentation.
The herbed spaetzle were indeed “herbed,” and a nice foil to the meat. The sweet onions were delicious, and if I were making this at home, I’d triple the amount of these little gems.
The brown butter, wild mushroom risotto looked good, and tasted good too. I thought the depth of flavor and the mushroom I ate were spot-on for flavor and salt. I love mushroom risotto. I am not sure it fits the warm weather, but this is a solid dish they were successful at preparing.
Despite its billing as a wine bar, I was the only diner trying wine - a single glass of Shiraz. It was no second-class, cop-out wine. This was a serious glass of wine that had great mouth feel, depth of flavors, and great balance. I neglected to remember the name… but it was a good pairing with those beef short ribs.
So, in closing, Eurasia is a place I’d likely visit again soon. The menu might not be daring or cutting edge, but everything we ate was tasty. Everyone may not like saucy short ribs, but that’d be my only culinary suggestion. Our only other criticism would include matching the friendly waitstaff with a more concerted effort on noticing details. A tighter service team here could elevate Eurasia from a nice strip-mall cutout to a destination location. The decor, wine selection, and menu is already in place.