Food Weekend

I had a very nice weekend.

Highly highly highly recommend Peter's Inn in Fell's Point. Best food in Baltimore that I haven't eaten at Edith's house. Casual bluegrassy cozy atmosphere. Watermelon in the water and grrrrreat wines. We got there at 7:25 on Friday just before the rush. Scallops with black lentils that tasted like 3 whole ham hocks had been cooked in; lamb chops too delectable to not pick up and gnaw the bones; pot de creme with coffee ice; to-die-for mosaic beet salad with yellow beets cut into stars and itty bitty red ones cut into circles. Not to mention the toasted goat cheese.

Saturday was pizza with the Hazan tomato sauce, mozz from somewhere in Belvedere Square (where we could not find rennet), and sauteed mushrooms.

Sunday, bbq at the Spindler-Ranta-Richardson's, bringing ginger-peach crumble from the Figs Table cookbook, which goes something like this:

Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup sugar (I used brown)
1 tsp ground ginger (used fresh)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces, cut in after you've mixed all the other ingredients.

Inside:
5-6 large peaches, cut into large dice
2 tbl fresh ginger
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbl sugar
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

combine the inside stuff in a buttered 8x8 pan, put the topping over it and smooth it out. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. My topping didn't turn out as nice and brown as I expected but perhaps I didn't cook long enough. Oh well. It was soooooper tasty.

At the BBQ we also encountered Megan's Grilled Peaches, which are nice fresh peaces, cut in half and pitted, placed skin side down on the grill. Mix up some rum, brown sugar, nutmeg, and baste it on. Grill till yummy.

There was also Sundar's carrot halva and some yummy bratwurst made of chicken.

Monday we grilled again with the veggies obtained from the Farmer's Market, a nice striped eggplant and some zucchini, and a delicious flank steak! Edith made a wonderful arugula salad and this totally amazing Trader Joe's vanilla cake.

Gourmet's Casual Entertaining | September 2001
Random House

3 lb flank steaks
1/3 cup white-wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Lightly pierce steaks all over with a sharp fork or knife. Whisk together remaining ingredients and transfer to a large resealable heavy-duty plastic bag. Add steaks and seal, pressing out excess air. Marinate steaks at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.
Prepare grill for cooking.

Grill steaks on an oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals, turning once, about 12 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes. Thinly slice steaks diagonally across the grain.

Cooks' Notes:
• Since flank steak is thicker on one end, the thin end will be cooked medium.

Please note a long carving knife is now on my christmas list. :)