Last of the Summer Corn

Summer is gone.  Autumn is here.  It's a good time to start all over again, in a sort of back to school sort of way.  

The UNFATTENING fell by the wayside this summer.  There were trips and fun food and festivals.  Then came the stress and crazy days at work.  Time flew by without weigh-ins, let alone keeping track of what I ate each day.  

But we must keep going.  Mustn't mull over the past.  Learn from it and move on. 

However, the one thing that I will miss from this summer was the ridiculously fresh corn I'd get from Kerry's farm.  Kerry and family would get up at 5am to pick corn and sell it that day.  Some days they'd have so much, I'd end up buying dozens.  That evening I'd boil and shuck and freeze for later use.

The muffins were good, but my absolute favorite preparation was what Ottolenghi calls fresh corn polenta, otherwise known to the less sophisticated as creamed corn.  And if you really want to get right to it, it's a way to shovel as much of those sweet kernels into your face hole as efficiently as possible. 

Fresh corn polenta with king oyster mushrooms

Extreme closeup of utter deliciousness

You really do have to use fresh corn off the cob for this, because you really need every drop of that milky corn goodness you get when you run the back of the knife against the cob after cutting the kernels off.  I'd also prepare this with regular dried polenta and enjoy it a great deal, especially since wild mushrooms are great in the fall, but it's a completely different animal.  

I'm actually really sad that I won't have this again until next summer.  If I hadn't used up all my frozen corn already, I would have been able to enjoy the taste of a summer memory in the crisp autumn air.  I'll have to plan better next year.   You live, you learn.

Fresh corn polenta with king oyster mushrooms

6 cups freshly shucked corn (or some that you've boiled, shucked, and frozen)

4 oz cream cheese

salt 

pepper

1tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 tsp fresh thyme (optional)

1/2 Tbs sugar (optional)

1 package of king oyster mushrooms

salt

pepper

sherry or stock

For the corn:

1) Place the corn in a large pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and cook for about ten minutes.  If using already cooked, frozen corn, just heat the corn in the pot with a little liquid so the bottom doesn't burn. 

2) Take the pot off the heat.  With a stick blender, process until most of the kernels have turned to mush, but not all because texture is nice.  

3) Add the cream cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.   Mix well.  If the mixture is too thick, add a little water or stock. Stir in the thyme.  If the corn is kind of bland (perhaps it was sitting on your counter for a while before you cooked it), add the sugar.

For the mushrooms:

1) Wash the mushrooms well just before use.

2) Slice the mushrooms into 1/8 inch rounds.  

3) Place slices into a pan of 1Tbs of olive oil on medium high heat.  Toss the slices in the olive oil , salt and pepper, then arrange into a single layer.  

4) Sear the mushrooms until golden brown.  Flip each mushroom over and sear the other side.  Yes, it's fiddly and yes you need tongs, but it's worth it to do it right.  Nobody likes slimy mushrooms.  You may have to do this in batches if you don't have the biggest pan in the world.   Just set the cooked ones on a plate while you finish the rest.

5) Place all of your mushrooms back in the pan.  Deglaze the pan with sherry or stock.  Let the liquid reduce to about half and coat the mushrooms with the glaze.  

Serve the corn in a bowl and top with the mushrooms.  Try not to inhale it through your nose while you gobble it down. 

Hawt Dawgs at GAHD

Deep in an industrial office park in Gaithersburg, there sits a tiny little store with a vinyl banner sign hanging over the door. That banner reads "Greatest American Hot Dogs".  

This is their menu.  

The hot dogs are the good quality kind that snap when you bite into them, so already they are something to go out of your way for. Lucky for me, perhaps unlucky for THE UNFATTENING, it's really close to my house.  

These are the hot dogs and half smokes and sausages I have met and/or consumed.

DC half smoke and West Virginia.  Being raised in the DC area, of course I had to try the half smoke with chili.  I was not disappointed in the least.  The WVa is apparently particularly popular.  (Though Laura says pretty much everything on the menu gets ordered evenly.  And yes, I know the proprietor's name.  And she knows mine. Shut up.)  I love slaw on a hot dog.

Boston and Florida and onion rings.

Boston has baked beans, naturally. Hot dogs and beans are good friends. Florida is bacon wrapped and topped with a fried egg and cheese. No idea if this is popular in Florida.  Makes a damn fine heart attack for a breakfast, though.

Ballston and Idaho.  The Ballston is just a Boston with a half smoke instead of a hot dog.  Idaho is topped with potato salad.  I figured if I like slaw on a hot dog, potato salad must be pretty good too. It is.

Maui has thin slices of fried Spam and a delicious sweet and spicy pineapple habanero salsa.

Seattle Grunge is sriracha spicy but balanced with cooling slices of cream cheese.  Apparently they love cream cheese on their dogs out there.  This was definitely a flavor explosion.  And it's so pretty! Like it's topped with confetti.  

Dupont slaw half smoke.  Had to have their half smoke again, it's so good.  Tasty made tastier with a side of tater tots.

495 beltway is wrapped in bacon and dressed like a sandwich.  No idea why it's called a 495 but I won't say 'no' to a bacon wrapped dog.  It's a good choice if you want to be able to really taste how great a bacon wrapped hot dog is.

Miami choripan is a spicy chorizo topped with super garlicky chimichurri nestled in a buttered and grilled roll.  Bring mints. Or just don't make out immediately after consuming this.  You've had enough oral stimulation anyway.

You can also get sides that you'd usually get at a fair.  In addition to tater tots and onion rings, I've tried these:

Fried pickle spears with angel sauce (like thousand island).  Good if you like your fried pickles this way.  I actually prefer chips to spears but I had to try these.

Whirly fry is crispy like potato chips...

But you can soften it up a bit when you cover it in chili and cheese.  Then you can die happy.  

Everything I've had at GAHD has been totally worth every bite.  Expect an update because my friends and I will get through the whole menu, even if it kills us.  Which wouldn't be too surprising.  But it'll be fun on a bun!

I wish I had a corn muffin

 Good morning.  It's been awhile, I know.  Have a corn muffin. 

Made from fresh corn grown by a friend.  Made sure to scrape off all the corny goodness.  And make sure to process your corn the same day you get it (which happens to be the same day it was picked) for maximum sweetness retention.  You can freeze the extras for later.  

Served with homemade butter. Not my home, but the same home that grew the corn.  Crazy delicious.

I actually made these a couple weeks ago.  They were fantastic. The recipe is Dory Greenspan's. My only change was that instead of using corn oil, I used bacon grease.  It gave the muffins a nice smoky bacony flavor without detracting from the sweet, wonderful corn.

That is all for now.

I am a food nerd

I'm giddy like a school girl over finding and purchasing this new book, A History of Food in 100 Recipes by William Sitwell.  It's part cookbook and part history book- two things I nerdily love but don't know nearly enough about.  Many of you know I have volunteered as a historical reenactor at a Federalist era mansion as part of the kitchen guild.  I would dress up like it was 1832 and cook seasonally over an open hearth.  All recipes (or receipts, as they were called way back when) were from American sources from 1845 and earlier, which meant a lot of Eliza Leslie and Mary Randolph. I haven't volunteered in a while for various reasons - busy schedule, laziness, for a while with my knee injury I didn't feel safe near an raging fire wearing a long skirts, AND I no longer fit in the dress my grandmother made for me (it's too big now!). But I loooove culinary history.  I love knowing why we eat the things we do and how they came about.  If anyone is interested in going to talks by the Culinary Historians of Washington a.k.a CHOW (how clever!), let me know.  I've yet to go to one.  See the above reasons.

I also hope this will get me back in the kitchen with recipes to try.  I know cooking at home is cheaper and healthier for THE UNFATTENING, but it's hard to keep the number of servings I eat under control when I cook enough for a family of 6.

Anyways, I'm excited about my newest addition to my beloved food book collection (I possess few pieces of literature or novels, but I do have an excellent array of food books.  They are my weakness.)  The first recipe is Ancient Egyptian bread from 1958 BC. Squee!

Weigh-In Wednesday: Week 12

The split second before the battery in my scale died this morning I saw that I had lost 0.6lbs this week.  I'm still 0.2 lbs heavier than I was a few weeks ago before the big binge, but it's still a downward trend, and I'll take it!

I do feel like I haven't lost a good amount of weight in a while, just sort of lingering around -15lbs.  But to that I say,"Shut up! This is hard".

I need to work on eating out less.  It's making THE UNFATTENING!!!!!! harder than it really needs to be.  And I'll save money!

Which is good, because last week I purchased my UNFATTENING!!!! charm bracelet. I finally found one that was long enough for my enormous tree trunk of a wrist.  It's a gold chain with a lobster claw clasp so it will always fit.

If you recall, I wanted a tangible, long lasting reminder of this journey.  For every 10lb loss, I'll be getting a new charm.  The pretty little heart and key is for my first 10lbs.  I'm currently at -15.6lbs, so (hopefully) not too long until I get another. I don't want to say how many charms I plan to get, but when I do finish THE UNFATTENING!!! and move on to THE MAINTENANCE!!!!!!!, I'll be damn proud to have each and every one of them.

Saving money on dining out will also allow me to have more massages.  On Saturday, I got one from one of those Magic Health places in the mall.  You know, the ones where you keep all your clothes on and some Chinese person uses their elbows to dig into your bones.  Amaaaazing pain, in a good way :)   

Jewelry, massages...oh non-food indulgences, I love you, too!

Food Porn

There isn't really any content in this post, just food porn. Enjoy!

Food pics from Bernaise courtesy of Sireen.  My phone camera was not doing well in the low light.

 Start the meal with bread with soft butter and whole grain mustard.  

A little pot of foie (FWAH! like a kung fu master) gras with toast and cherries.  Not enough toast, good thing we still had bread (see above).

Flat iron steak and frites (FRYTES!) with bernaise sauce.  This was Sireen's dinner. Blurry, but delicious!  All three of us at dinner (a Muslim, a Jew, and a Catholic walk into a steakhouse at 8pm during Ramadan is the beginning of a joke I need to figure out one day) had the flat iron but got different sauces. Sireen got the bernaise, Nikki got the bordelaise, and I got the au poivre.  I think next time I'd get the bordelaise.  Bordelaise is a red wine reduction and I think the sweetness and acidity go very well with the savory hunk of beef and fries.  The fries were fluffy and crisp and very tasty and unlimited!    Bernaise also does poutine and fries with duck confit that I'd like to try next time.

Dessert of ice cream profiteroles and dark chocolate sauce and by then the lights had really dimmed.  The ice cream was sooo smooth and creamy, fitting for a guy who makes awesome milkshakes two doors down. If we weren't so full we would have licked the the chocolate out of the boat.  And the choux was the crispiest I've ever had.  So good.  

On Friday I had dinner with Federica.  We went to Not Your Average Joe's.  I've now switched to a different camera app that does better in low light.  It also records sound for still photos. Weird.

Dangerous watermelon sangria.  I could drink about a million and a half of these.

Founder's Flounder - pan fried flounder on spinach and shaved fennel tossed in a lemon vinaigrette and topped with a tomato, feta, and olive relish.  SO. GOOD.  Definitely not something you usually see on a casual American restaurant menu, but it was so good I would try to make this at home. I don't often eat fennel, but I think this dish has made me a convert.

I apologize if I've made you hungry.


You're right. I'm not sorry.

Weigh-in Wednesday: Week 11

Let's get the stats out of the way.  This week I lost 3.4lbs.  Not all of the weight I gained last week, but I also felt super bloated this morning.  Note  to self: do not eat pizza and skip working out on Tuesday nights unless you want to bum yourself out on Weigh-in Wednesday. I think I'll have a more accurate number next week, as long as I stay on track.

So right now, the total loss is 15lbs. 

I need some motivation.  This month has been pretty slow. Work and life have been pretty stressful so focusing on being healthy is quite a challenge.  I felt pretty good about THE UNFATTTENING this week, but I could have done better. I've mentioned before that blogging is great motivation, but I'm not even sure sometimes if people are reading. So if you all have any motivation tips, leave a comment! Or just talk to me, whatevs. 

I hope this isn't true here at Worthy Mouthful.  If it is, why are you here?? I don't eat sad food anyway.  And this is not a diet, remember? It's THE UNFATTENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tend to have one big pig out meal a week.  Definitely not sad.  Unfortunately things add up quick. So, I have to be careful for the rest of the week. Alternatively, I could spread out my gluttony a little each day, but that only seems to work out when I don't have dinner dates to fabulous food places.

Last week it was a trip to Eden, a.k.a. land of all the delicious Vietnamese food in Falls Church, Va.  I don't know what most of the things are, so I have to try them.  The other half are fried or covered in rice and ridiculously delicious, haha.

Tonight I went to the new Spike Mendelsohn steakhouse, Bernaise.  I had a French 75 cocktail, bread and butter and mustard  (is that a French thing?), vichyssoise, foie gras pate with cherries on toast, an 8 oz flat iron steak au poivre, fries, and an ice cream profiterole.  It was decadent and delicious and worth every Calorie, especially since I spent it with good company. Sorry, no pics right now.  Restaurant lighting is terrible for food pics.  Ironic, I guess.  Or just a bummer.  Dammit, Alanis, I don't even know anymore.  Either way, I'm going to have to watch myself carefully the rest of the week.  

Eating out doesn't have to be a total Calorie bomb though.  Especially if I order the fish.  With all the sweltering heat we've been having, I've been in the mood for seafood. Here are a couple good ones:

Perfectly medium rare grilled salmon "salade nicoise" from Cafe Deluxe. 

Yeah, it's a salad.  But the salmon was goooood.  And this salad has olives, eggs, and potatoes.  You can possibly win a friend with this salad. 

Mahi mahi tacos from Dogfish Head Ale House.  

I'd prefer corn tortillas and that's way more sour cream than I needed. But there actually wasn't toooooo much rice on this plate, so it was nice not to have enough food to feed a family of four to take home.

However, the best way to stay on track is to cook at home.  The one thing of note I made last week (other than the french toast) was this:

Yogurt and cilantro grilled chicken, saffron onion rice, and an herb yogurt sauce

Here's the sort of recipe.  I say sort of because I was totally just winging this.  It was pretty tasty.

Yogurt and cilantro grilled chicken

2 chicken breasts, 1 inch cubes

small handful of cilantro, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs garam masala

salt

pepper

Mix all this stuff together.  Marinate overnight.  Don't do it longer because it'll have a really weird texture. Trust me. I think the acid in the yogurt will start to 'cook' the chicken and strange things happen.

Skewer onto bamboo skewers and scrape off excess marinade. Grill them on each side until the internal temp is 175degF.  If it keeps raining every evening, then just broil them.  Sad, but it will suffice.

Saffron rice

half of an onion, diced

a pinch of saffron

1/2 cup basmati rice

salt

Sweat the onion in about half a Tbs of olive oil and a little salt.  When translucent, add the rice.  Toast the rice until opaque and a little bit golden.  To a cup of warm water, add the saffron and mix well.  Add the saffron water to the rice. Add another cup of warm water or stock. Add a fat pinch of salt. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmering. Stir the rice once then cover and let cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.  

Herb Yogurt sauce

small handful of parsley, minced

small handful of cilantro, minced

(a little mint would be nice too but I didn't have any)

2 green onions, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

juice from half a lime

1 cup yogurt

salt

pepper

Mix it all together. Add water to thin it out to your desired consistency.

Plate all of these things onto a plate in a very photogenic way.  Then when you're done taking pics, mix the rice, chicken, and yogurt all together and shovel it into your face.  Enjoy!