The Houndstooth Gourmet

Last Saturday, Grape + Bean on South Royal Street, in Alexandria’s Old Town section, opened its door and welcomed customers. The beautiful town home space, owned by David Gwathmey and Sheera Rosenfeld, is now a now a shop for oenophiles, coffee enthusiasts and more. A sun-lit bar and counter area meets you as you enter, while breads, cheese and olives invite grazing. On the counter top, cured meats, Kingsbury Chocolates and fresh breads from Restaurant Eve are displayed in rustic baskets and echo the feel of the warm brick walls, beamed ceiling and wooden floors.

On the left side is a counter upon which sat a red and white wine, along with glasses for sampling. You can also sample coffee made with their Clover coffee machine- the first in the area. The Clover allows serious control over a serious cup of coffee. At Grape + Bean, they use Counter Culture coffee beans in their Clover. A coffee menu offers their selection of coffees to enjoy in or take home.

In the back of the store, wines are available with special attention paid to small producers and sparkling wines. Across the aisle is a large refrigerator which holds, among other things, chilled wines and cheeses such as Humboldt Fog and Rosso di Langa- a soft cow’s milk cheese from Italy, similar to Epoisse, but milder and more buttery. And to help you prepare and enjoy these comestibles in style, there are high quality supplies such as coffee presses, foamers, cheese boards, knives and stemware.

On our visit, Frank and I took turns handing off our dogs to one another as each of us went in to peruse through the shop and speak with the owners, both life long residents of Alexandria who are kind and enthusiastic and obviously support other local businesses around them. They hope to make Grape + Bean a neighborhood place to hang out to enjoy coffee or sip wine while sampling savory goodies. We really enjoyed their recommended wine and cheese pairing of Rosso di Langa cheese and D’Arenberg 2006 Viognier/Marsanne McLaren Vale The Hermit Crab, once at home. The white wine remained cold from their refrigerator, while the chill came off the cheese, allowing it to ooze and spread over rustic bread.

I’m so happy to see more and more quality independent businesses like Grape + Bean opening and filling a needed niche in Old Town. I believe the community will support them in their success.

Grape + Bean
www.grapeandbean.com
118 S. Royal St.
Alexandria VA 22314
(703) 664-0214
Map

Hours:
Monday- Closed
Tuesday-Thursday- 12pm-6pm
Friday- 12pm-7pm
Saturday- 8am-7pm
Sunday- 12pm-5pm

Tags: coffee, wine, gourmet shops, Alexandria, cheese by Ramona
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Although upon my last visit to the Arlington market I was a bit depressed and longing for the vibrancy of Spring, I wished for the handful of vendors this past Saturday. I drove to Courthouse about 11:45 am and found an empty parking lot. “I swear they’re open year-round” I thought aloud. “Did I miss an email or something?” Apparently I did. The hard working folks at the Arlington market took a much deserved day off for the Holidays. They should be returning to business as usual after the New Year.

Speaking of the New Year, I went to the market in search of a couple ingredients for a dish I was making to post on DC Foodies. I needed Savoy cabbage and scallions for a braise called “Braised Savoy Cabbage Gratin with Saint-Marcellin” by Molly Stevens from her terrific book “All About Braising”. Since the market was closed, we wound up at the Arlington Whole PaycheckWhole Foods Market. It’s an older WFM and is rather small. Shopping there was like playing bumper cars with shopping carts. But, we got what we needed in addition to duck rillettes pate, a nice bottle of pinot noir and a Paisan baguette from Firehook Bakery.

Earlier in the day, we visited Cheesetique to pick up the Saint-Marcellin cheese for the gratin dish. I was in the mood to try a different cheese for snacking, and boldly ordered 1/4 pound of Stinking Bishop (it was just taunting me to try it) when our helper looked at me askance and said “Uh…have you tried Stinking Bishop before?”. “No” I said shyly, “but I like epoisse” as if that gave me some gravitas. “Here, try some” she said. What can I say about the taste of this pungent cheese? I’ll say dirty socks in a non-ventilated hamper for about a week, that’s what I’d say! Yeah, this cheese is for serious stinky cheese lovers…who won’t be kissing anyone anytime soon. A burp 10 minutes after sampling the malodorous morsel recreated the experience vividly. Not for me. To those who love it and it’s funky friends, more power to you!

Instead, I picked up a piece of Chimay, a Belgium cheese made by those same Trappist monks who make the beer. Chimay is creamy with an assertive nutty flavor and yes, can be a bit pungent. It paired nicely with a Drambuie brand Spicy Apricot Mustard and the Pinot, and made for a relaxing afternoon of braising and noshing.

Tags: Arlington, farmers markets, cheese, Virginia by Ramona
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Having a cool Saturday to make a pot of french onion soup and watch college football is relaxing and enjoyable. This soup, embraced and enjoyed by many, comes in a myriad of variations on the same theme: lots of sauteed sliced onion, beefy broth, wine, a large crouton, and a mound of melted cheese. What tends to  differ are the type(s) of cheese(s) used to top the soup, and what wine or alcoholic beverage is added to the broth.

This recipe, adapted from Williams-Sonoma The Best of Taste cookbook, uses a combination of chicken and beef stock and adds a cocktail of spirits to the broth, providing a complex yet sweet note at the finish. It’s topped with gruyer cheese and adds pecorino romano cheese to the crouton, but you may use any melting cheese you’d like, such as Swiss, emmenthaler or a combination of cheeses (see below for addendum).

French Onion Soup

serves 6

Ingredients:

Soup

 2 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

 2 1/2 lb. onions, peeled and sliced thin

3/4 c. dry white vermouth

3/4 c. dry white wine

3 c. chicken broth

3 c. beef broth

bunch fresh thyme, tied with cooking string

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c. dry sherry

2 c. gruyere cheese, shredded

Croutons

6 slices baguette, slice 1 inch thick

olive oil for brushing

salt and pepper

6 T. grated Pecorino Romano Cheese (optional, or you could use Parmesan cheese if you have it on hand)

Directions:

Peel onions and slice thinly (I used a mandoline to get the job done quickly. I still teared up a bit!). In a heavy bottomed pot add olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add onions and turn the heat down to low. Stir to coat all onions. Add a pinch of salt and allow to caramelize slowly over a period of approximately 2 hours. Stir every 10 minutes or so.

When onions are deep golden to light brown, transfer to another bowl. Increase heat to high and deglaze pan with vermouth and white wine. Scrape up any brown bits on bottom of pan and allow liquid to reduce by half. Return onions to pot and add chicken and beef broth. Add bay leaves and thyme. Partially cover pot and allow soup to simmer for 20 minutes. Add sherry and continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves and bundle of thyme. You’ll notice that many of the thyme leaves are now in the soup. Salt and pepper to taste.

For the croutons, turn on broiler and slice baguette. Place croutons on baking sheet. Oil each side with olive oil, and sprinkle salt and pepper. Place croutons under broiler and brown on each side.

Leave broiler on and place one crouton into individual oven proof serving crocks. Add 1 tablespoon of grated pecorino on top of each crouton. Ladle onion soup over croutons to 1/4 below the rim. Add shredded gruyer to the top of each crock. Put crocks back on baking sheet and place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly.

*Weekend Herb blogging is a weekly event sponsored by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen.This week it is being hosted by Kalyn herself!

 

Addendum- This soup tastes even better the second day! I reheated the soup and toasted a piece of sourdough loaf for the crouton. Then I topped it with some remaining gruyere and shredded cheddar and melted the cheeses under the broiler. I topped it with diced chives. Terrific and even more cheesy than last night. Anything goes!

 

Tags: weekend herb blogging, cheese, onions, soup, Recipe by Ramona
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The corn** from this week’s farmer’s market haul is white, crisp, juicy and sweet. It’s perfect for making one of my favorite soups; cheddar corn chowder. This recipe is Ina Garten’s “The Barefoot Contessa“.

I think Ina is brilliant. Without any formal training, she built a gourmet food empire, has written books and catered, and has a successful show on Food Network. And, she has to be the best neighbor in the world. What I’d give to pop over her better-than-home-and-garden manse, and be a guinea pig for a new recipe!

I’ve tweaked the recipe just a bit to make it my own. I feel the additions to her original recipe give the flavor an additional boost. First, here’s a link to the recipe. Now, I add a tablespoon of paprika in addition to the turmeric. I think the flavor goes really well and boosts the rich color. In fact, I would say simply skip the turmeric if you don’t happen to have it on hand when you want to make this recipe. Second, I cook the potatoes about 10 minutes longer and use an immersion blender to blend about 25% of the cubed potatoes*. This enhances the creaminess. Last, I also add a tablespoon of thyme to accent the corn.

This recipe makes a great deal of soup. I’ve frozen it before with success.

Enjoy!

* Here’s a photo instruction of how to get equal sized potato cubes. Planks, sticks and cubes.

First, place the potato on it’s side and cut into 3-4 “planks”.

Then, lay each potato half flat and cut into “sticks”.

Now, cut across sticks to make “cubes”. This makes quick work for cubing 2 lbs. of potatoes.

**To remove kernels from corn, without them flying 2 feet away, get a big bowl and place a smaller bowl, inverted, in the big bowl. Place your ear of corn and slice kernels from top to bottom.

Tags: cheese, soup, Recipe, potatoes, corn by Ramona
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