The International Dinners of Baltimore
I stuffed the pork with some red pepper flakes, oregano and anchovies and roasted the stuffed pork logs in a wine sauce with onions, tomatoes, capers, and Kalamata olives.
The pork and sauce turned out amazing! We boiled some potatoes and smashed them up a bit to serve as a bed. Serve a light, crisp salad on the side.
I always keep cilantro chutney on hand, it is one of my most popular recipes from my India dinner. It lasts for a long time and is beautiful on pork, salmon, naan, and almost anything I have tried it on.
Today, I decided to serve it with some beautifully seared scallops. It was so delicious, and so quick to make! I highly recommend as a light starter, or over a nice risotto as a main course! Yum!
Escargot is quintessentially French, isn’t it! You say snail’s in reference to anything else, and the most common retort is “ew”. But escargot is a delicacy! The snail itself is mostly a vehicle for a delicious garlicky butter sauce.
I found many recipes for escargot and it felt like all of them were lacking in garlic, but I went with the flow, afraid to over-season. In the end, I wish I added more garlic, so I am doubling the amount of garlic in my recipe for your use.
For our first course, the aperitif, I made a traditional Parisian cocktail, the 1789, created to celebrate the revolution! I wanted to create some nibbles while we sipped our cocktails, so I made these delicious Olive Crisps and served them with a Green Olive and Almond Tapenade with some Anchovy for extra flavor and some creamy, and delicious Riclettes de Sardines.
Gonzo and I argued about this dish a bit when I first introduced it during the Venetian dinner. Sweet and vinegary, “they won’t go for it”, he said. I was almost convinced to take out the raisins, but I am glad I kept them. Sardines are amazing! I don’t know why everyone here is so afraid of sardines and anchovies. Dusted with flour and fried, they turn decadent, especially when paired with the vinegar flavor of the marinated onions and the sweetness of the raisins. Make this dish several days in advance, it gets better with time. And don’t be afraid if you have too much liquid, the sardines soak up a lot.
This dish seemed like a perfect representation of our Communal Dinners. The Yose Nabe (Seafood Hot Pot) is a mixture of all of the fish you can think of, like a gathering of friends. Some even add chicken thighs and tofu to the mix. To make it even more communal, the dish is generally served in separate parts on the dining table with the broth simmering directly on a butane stove in the center of the table. Everyone adds whatever they would like to eat, cooking together and bringing more and more complexity to the delicious broth!
This simple broth is the base for many Japanese sauces and soups. Unlike Western broths, which gain their flavor from time and slow simmering, Dashi is imbued with umami from dried kelp and bonito flakes which release their goodness after a quick simmer.
This is the fist dish I knew I wanted to make for our dinner this past weekend, everything else was built around the idea of fresh raw tuna in delicious sauces. I researched dozens of traditional and contemporary Poke recipes and decided to try to recreate some of my favorites from our trip. We made a creamy Spicy Ahi Tuna Poke with Avocado and Tobiko Roe and a Shoya Ahi Tuna Poke with soy and sesame. For a different fish flavor, I made a Miso Tako (Octopus) Poke and a light and colorful Ginger Carrot Poke. The flavors all worked so well together, it was one of my favorite dishes of the night!
Chez Nous 