Some Like it Rare

Making a steak house recession proof? Simple. St. Elmos serves up a perfect steak and some rocking old school ambiance complete with dark wood, classic pictures of celebrities and a truly professional team of servers who always treat you like the millionaire you obviously are. A restaurant that used to be reserved for family visits or really, very special occasions has flipped the switch adding a fixed Sunday menu. $30 per person includes a choice of appetizer (don't worry, that famous shrimp cocktail is an option), entrée, and dessert. I recommend the steak. Extra rare.

WINOS

There are plenty of places to get wine crazy in Indy, but two of our favorite places to get our taste on are right in the heart of this great city. Easley Winery does free tasting every day and offers a variety of wines to get excited about. Up next we've got Deano Vino in Fountain Square. This wine tasting happens every Wednesday night at 6 pm, samples 4 or 5 wines (generous pours), with an appetizer included for $5 per person. I should also mention this is hosted by Deano himself, who is in a word, hilarious. So tip up your cup, throw your hands up and get your wine on.

Salt-Crusted Fish

Want an easy way to impress your friends at a DP? Try Salt-Crusted Fish. This European classic is tasty to eat and fun to serve!

Start by finding a great seafood department. This dish is typically made with a whole fish (scaled and gutted) but if you don't have a local fish monger at your fingertips you can also grab two large fillets and put them together (skin side out).

Make sure to use a non-endangered species of fish! Many seafood species have become drastically over-fished and are about to become extinct. For a great way to make sure your seafood is sustainably sound, check out the system the fine folks at Monterey Bay Aquarium are using to make these decisions easy for all of us.

Alright, now to the recipe.

This is what you'll need: A nice sized whole fish or two fillets stacked together skin side out, about 2 lbs of kosher salt (mix this with 1/3 cups water and you've got your salt mix!), 1 lemon, herbs of your choice.

• Pre-Heat oven to 475 degrees
• Line your pan with parchment paper
• Make a bed of salt 3/4 of an inch thick for your fish to lay on
• Slap your fish down on the salt
• Fill the cavities of the fish with lemon slices and your favorite herbs (for our DP I used fresh oregano, sage, and basil)
• COMPLETELY cover the fish with salt, packing it into a nice mound
• Pop it in the oven, leave it for 45 minutes or until the salt gets a nice brownish crust on it
• Use some heavy kitchen utensils to crack open the salt
• Behold the tender and juicy goodness that is your salt-crusted fish and serve

We tried this at last night's DP and it was a great success! Enjoy!

Cost: about $30 for 5 lbs of fish, $2 for the salt, herbs are free when you grow your own! $32 total. For a dozen guests, this is about $2.60 a person. Nice!

photo courtesy: haleyobrianphoto

musica!!

BLIP.FM
PANDORA
What are you listening to??
Free for your ears. Jam away.

Mexican Bean Salad

This bean salad is the bomb... trust me on this one. The cilantro and lime juice screams summer time picnic and it's a breeze to whip together.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2/3 (10 ounce) can yellow corn, drained
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

A couple different options if you're feeling adventurous:

• for the "what's this stuff?" question, add 1 cup diced Jícama
  
• substitute garbanzo beans for the cannellini beans
  

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine beans, bell peppers, corn, and red onion.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and black pepper. Season to taste with hot sauce and chili powder.
3. Pour olive oil dressing over vegetables; mix well. Chill thoroughly, and serve cold.

Free TASTING at FRESH MARKET!!

Taste of Summer Sampling Event

	Enjoy a Taste of Summer throughout The Fresh Market on Saturday, May 16th from 10am - 6pm. Outside we'll kick off the grilling season as we sample and sell Gourmet Burgers and Kabobs. Inside the store sample salmon, rotisserie chicken salad, Virginia ham, Fruit Tarts, as well as The Fresh Market's new Deli Salads. Summer fares with special pricing will be featured throughout the various departments. TFM's Taste of Summer - Great Food, Great Fun!

Free Cooking Demonstration

Fresh Flavors Chef Cooking Demonstration

You are invited to attend a free chef cooking demonstration on how to prepare Skirt Steak Fajita with Corn and Black Bean Salad on Saturday, May 16th, 2009. Please come anytime between 3pm - 6pm. No reservations are necessary.

Secrets of DP success

I'm starting to wonder how long it's going to take for this blog to start showing up in Google search results for some of those "other" DPs...

The DP is a staple of the thirtythousanddollarmillionaire lifestyle. Predominantly held on week nights, they're a way to bring friends together over a simple combination of good food, a few bottles of wine and beer, and ridiculous conversation.

Since my personality tends to mirror that of a crotchety old woman from the Bronx, I learned to cook. And cooking easy, delicious DP food is what I'm actually pretty good at.

Here's a quick photo tutorial for one of my new favorites, coming to a TTDM DP soon: Curried chicken. The recipe below feeds three, which is obviously not enough for a DP, but doubling or tripling the recipe is a cinch. Also included are little tips--making this easier on the cook makes for a happier cook and a less stressful DP with less cleanup after.

Step one: Get your shit together.

• 2 pounds of chicken breast, cubed into 1-inch pieces.
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 medium onion, diced (I always quarter onions and stick them in the food processor for a few seconds, along with the whole cloves of garlic. It's fast and the cleanup is easy since everything is dishwasher safe.)
  
• 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained
  
• 1 cup mango chutney
• 1/2 can coconut milk or coconut juice
• 1 14 oz can of chickpeas (microwave in their liquid for a minute and a half, then drain. This will cut down on cooking time when they're mixed with everything else.)
  
• 2 1/2 tbsp. curry powder (or less...depending on how you like it)
  
• 1 tsp red curry paste
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Cast-iron skillet or other large pot or pan that's at least 3 inches deep. Make sure it's deeper if you're doubling or tripling.
• Instant brown rice (follow packaging instructions)
• Cilantro, for garnish
  

Step two: Get hot

• Put the skillet on the stove over medium heat
• Take the cubed chicken and sprinkle salt and pepper over it--just enough for a light coat. Nothing too heavy--you've got a lot of spice coming.
• Microwave chickpeas, if you're microwaving them. You don't have to, but if you're not, count on adding an additional 5 minutes to your cook time or the chickpeas will be a little too firm. That's what I've found, at least. You might like firm chickpeas. That's cool, too.

• Drizzle olive oil into the warm skillet and add the chicken.
• Sautee the chicken until it's browned, but not fully cooked. If you cook it too long, you're going to end up with dry chicken.

• Add in the onion and garlic and sautee for about 3 minutes, or until the onion is tender.
• Add in the chickpeas, tomatoes, curry powder, curry paste, mango chutney and half of the coconut milk/juice.
  
• Mix.
• Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces by about half. (About 20 to 25 minutes)

(Blogger seems to be under the impression that I didn't already rotate this in iPhoto. Sorry.)

• While this is going on, clean up--you don't want a messy kitchen when the TTDMs get there--and set the table.
  
• Add in the rest of the coconut milk/juice and stir. Turn the heat down to low.
• Make the rice

Step three: Make a good impression

• Benefit of this dish: Once the heat is turned down, it can simmer for up to 25 additional minutes without drying out too much. So, if your guests are running late from work, you've got 0 worries. If you need to, use some of the rest of the can of coconut milk to keep things from getting too thick.
• When you're ready to eat, plate up the rice, top with the curry mixture and garnish with cilantro. Serve with warmed pita bread (or naan, if you can find it).
• Get ready for at least 9 inappropriate comments and a ridiculously wonderful evening.