Ruth Tam
D.C.’s chefs aren’t known for being vocal advocates of home cooking. Before the coronavirus pandemic escalated, their whole business model was getting you out of your home and into their restaurants to show you how their food was one of a kind.
But while D.C. has a stay-at-home order in effect to limit the spread of the virus, local chefs who stopped or scaled down business are turning to Instagram and TikTok to showcase their culinary creativity and share recipes with followers. Some of these recipes are more achievable than others, but maybe that’s the difference between a professional chef and you. They have panettone molds in their kitchen and you have … a mug that your aunt gave you for Christmas to microwave cakes in?
As long as social distancing is the norm and James Beard Award-winning chefs are sharing their recipes for free, now may be the perfect time to start challenging yourself in the kitchen. Here’s a collection of recent recipes from local chefs, with their ingredients approximated and tips roughly transcribed.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-YewJJB2Iv/
Bad Saint Chef Tom Cunanan’s Chicken Adobo
Ingredients
3 pounds bone-in and skin-on chicken wings and drumsticks
1 medium white onion, sliced into thin rings
10 dried bay leaves
1 1/2 bulbs garlic, crushed
13 grams (.45 ounces) crushed black pepper
32 fluid ounces (1 quart) apple cider vinegar
20 fluid ounces tamari (reduced sodium)
1/4 cooking oil
1 cup rice
Instructions
1. Rinse chicken. Season with salt and pepper and pat dry.
2. Heat oil in deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Sear chicken until golden brown.
3. With all the chicken in the saucepan, add apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, onions, bay leaves, garlic and black pepper.
4. Marinate chicken in marinade in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. While chicken is marinating, make rice.
6. To cook adobo, bring saucepan to boil on the stove and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes or until grease appears on the surface. Do not skim grease off the surface. Cunanan says, “Grease is flavor.”
7. Serve over rice.
View the original recipe.
Centrolina Chef Amy Brandwein’s Eggplant Ragu
Ingredients
1 1/2 large eggplants, chopped into 1.5 inch cubes (around 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped into 1.5 inch pieces (around 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup whole fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons extra virgin “fruity” olive oil
8 cups Canola oil
Salt
Pepper
Your tube pasta of choice
Instructions
1. In heavy bottom sauce pan, heat canola oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry eggplant for two minutes until light brown. Place on a paper towel-lined tray. Brandwein says you can broil eggplant instead of frying, but only after generously seasoning with olive oil.
2. Wipe pan clean and add olive oil, heating over medium heat.
3. Brown garlic lightly in olive oil.
4. Add onions to pan and cook for 10-20 minutes over low heat until onions are soft and edges are slightly caramelized.
5. Add 1/4 cup basil and wilt in the sauce pan.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add fried eggplant, remaining basil and tomato sauce and simmer gently for one minute so eggplant stays firm and doesn’t turn to mush.
8. Add hot pepper and adjust seasoning to your taste, and serve.
View the original recipe here and here.
Thip Khao Chef Seng Luangrath’s Fried Asian Pork Ribs
Ingredients
2 pounds pork ribs, chopped into 2 inch pieces
1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon seasoning sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
4 to 5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons corn starch (Luangrath says any starch works here, including tapioca or potato starch.)
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons cooking oil
Instructions
1. Place ribs in large mixing bowl.
2. Finely mince garlic, cilantro and cooking oil and combine into a thick paste. Add paste to the mixing bowl, followed by wet ingredients (fish sauce, seasoning sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine).
3. Add dry ingredients—white and black pepper, salt, garlic powder and corn starch.
4. Combine all ingredients in the bowl until ribs are well coated. In her video, Luangrath mixes by hand wearing food prep gloves.
5. Cover mixing bowl and place in fridge for ribs to marinate for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to eat, deep fry in a wok in about 1 inch of cooking oil. Fry ribs for several minutes on each side until crispy and golden brown.
View the original recipe (seven stories in).
Chef Eric Adjepong’s Mulva Pudding
Ingredients
Servings: 6
Pudding:
1 egg
150 grams sugar (5.29 ounces)
1 ounce butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
56 grams apricot jam (1.97 ounces)
188 grams milk (6.63 ounces)
105 grams all purpose flour (3.70 ounces)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Small panettone molds
Glaze:
135 grams heavy cream (4.76 ounces)
45 grams water (1.58 ounces)
113 grams sugar (3.98 ounces)
3 ounces butter
Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar.
2. Stir in melted butter, apple cider vinegar, and apricot jam until well combined.
3. In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add milk to large mixing bowl, followed by one third of the dry ingredients at a time. Stir until batter “looks like melted milkshake.”
4. Pour batter halfway into six mini panettone molds.
5. Bake 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean.
6. While the pudding bakes, make the glaze. Heat heavy cream, water, sugar and butter in pot over medium low heat. Whisk until butter is melted.
7. When pudding is out of the oven, use a small knife to create a small hole in each pudding.
8. In Adjepong’s words, “go crazy.” Pour the glaze on each pudding so that glaze fills the holes and leaves a puddle on top of the pudding.
4. Top each pudding with powdered sugar.
View the original recipe (21 stories in).
Kith/Kin Chef Paola Velez’s Arroz Con Dulce And Tequila Mango Chutney
Ingredients
For arroz con dulce:
2 cups cooked rice (“Make sure you wash it!” Velez says. “1 cup raw rice equals 3 cups cooked”)
1 can coconut milk
1/3 cup panela (1/2 cup if you like it sweet)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
For chutney:
2 cups frozen mango
1/8 cup honey
2 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon tequila
Pinch of salt
Lime zest and Tajin to finish
1. In a large saucepan, add coconut milk, panela sugar, spices and vanilla to cooked rice and heat on medium high heat until ingredients are well combined.
2. To make mango chutney, combine mango chunks, lime and honey in saucepan over medium heat. Cook until liquid in the pan has evaporated.
3. Once mixture is thick and sticky, add salt and tequila to chutney.
4. When ready to eat, top rice pudding with mango chutney and garnish with lime zest and Tajin.
View the original recipe.
