Scenes from a Terrapin Tailgate (Part 1)

A Fall Saturday means College Football in many places…including the DC area. With the games come plenty of tailgating…a great opportunity to enjoy good food, drink, and company before (or after) football games. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate or vent… depending on how well the team is doing.

Our alma mater, Maryland*, isn’t doing so hot this year, but that doesn’t stop many of the Terrapin Faithful (and we among them) from supporting the team in whatever way we can.

Dan and I were invited to tag along with a couple of our friends after the UMD-Clemson game a few weeks ago (a noon game). Before the jump will be a few shots to set the scene…

Below, a view from under one of the tents:

Am I seeing quadruple, or was it something I ate/drank?

Up the hill were another group of Terrapin fans tailgating…

Thanks to a group member, there was a flatscreen set up so we can see other games. Georgia-LSU was on at the time of this shot.

With this group, there’s generally a contest to see who can make the best dish within a certain theme. This game’s theme was seafood. Since I have a lot of food shots this time, they’ll be behind the jump.

Potatoes with Afritude 2: Electric Boogaloo

As promised in my original post on this recipe, a second try on Potatoes with Afritude, with update…

This time, the usual suspects (redskin potatoes) were cut a little bit longer…

Here are the potatoes with the spices and oil mixed in… The curry powder produces both a wonderful yellow color on the potatoes and an equally nice scent.

The unfortunate thing about curry powder, though is it makes everything it touches yellow, and that tint doesn’t go away easily (I think there’s still a yellow curry powder mix spot on the counter).

…and the finished potatoes…ready for the potluck.

This batch of Potatoes with Afritude was made for the same potluck party I made the Adobong Gulay. I’d say I’m almost there… I don’t remember if I actually mixed the spices and olive oil in separate batches like I said I would (since I was doing a lot of cooking…) , but this batch definitely had a better balance between potato and spice than the first try.

On a Fish Broiling Kick…

Yep.. we’ve been getting mileage out of our toaster oven broiler lately. Below is a quick, easy, and healthy recipe for broiled tilapia fillets that we made on quite a few occasions in the past few weeks…

Broiled Tilapia with Garlic – from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes

• 6 tilapia fillets (6oz)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon

Wash fish and pat dry. Line broiler pan with tin foil. Place fish on the tin foil and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil and top with crushed garlic. Set broiler to low and place fish about 8 inches from the flame. Cook until fish is cooked through, about 7 minutes (be careful not to burn garlic). Serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice

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Since I didn’t have regular ol’ ground pepper at the time, I sprinkled the fish with the lemon pepper that I had handy.  I didn’t exactly measure the herbs either…just sprinkled them onto the fish as necessary…

The garlic was crushed, then diced (Thanks, Dan!)…

Since I was also using a toaster oven broiler, the cooking time was increased to 15 minutes… A couple of looks at the finished product:

“Date Night” with Lotsa Pesto

Last month, I went with Dan and Dork to Adega Wine Cellars and Cafe in nearby Silver Spring for dinner (our party was supposed to be larger, but our fourth was not feeling well at the time).

Adega serves mostly lighter fare… wraps, sandwiches, salads, flatbreads, burgers, and pasta. Dan and I tried their weekend wine and dine special (also known as their date night special), which allowed us to have an appetizer, two entrees, and a bottle of one of their featured wines for $35.00. Dork went with an entree of his own and had some of our appetizer and wine (Dan’s not really a wine person).

For our appetizer, we picked fried calamari… The pieces toward the back made me feel like I was eating a whole squid… (heh).

It was a little oily (as exhibited by the platters and the bottommost piece of the bottom photo), but otherwise good…well-balanced flavors and the squid wasn’t too chewy…

Both Dan and Dork chose the Penne Pesto with Chicken for their entrees… Both guys liked the dish, though I’d say Dork is the bigger pesto fan of the two…

I went with the Greco Flatbread, pictured below.  Their flatbread is pizzalike and mine was loaded with pesto, veggies, and cheese.

Definitely liked that the thin flatbread crust remained crispy all the same. A closer shot shows the pesto and veggies…

For many items on Adega’s menu, it may be more cost-effective to get items a-la-carte, rather than taking up the date night special (unless the featured wine is on the more expensive side, and yes… wine can be). If the combination of what you want (appetizer, entrees, wine) works right, though, the date night special is well worth it…

A serendipitous find for me there that night was a small stash of Saranac...  Yep… they sell some beer along with all those wines… 

Another cool thing about Adega is if you purchase a wine from their store to go with your dinner, they’ll open it up and serve it to you. Their staff is also generally very friendly, and I what food I’ve tried so far, I’ve liked (mental note: try the eggplant or sweet potato fries sometime).  All-in-all, I’m perfectly willing to come back to Adega again, even though I rarely frequent DTSS venues due to an incident there a couple of years ago.

Adobong Gulay

While I have made a spinach version before (there’s also adobong sitaw with Asian green beans), this was my first shot at this version of adobo. It was made for a potluck party attended by classmates old and new and a few of my professors…

…Proof positive that you can adobo just about anything! The below recipe is from Bobbiy at Sparkrecipies:

Adobong Gulay

Ingredients:

• 1 large raw onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. peppercorn
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• ½ cup raw potato, diced
• 1 lb. Japanese Eggplant, cubed
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup palm or white vinegar
• dash of black pepper
• dash of granulated sugar

Instructions: In a pan, heat oil, and then add peppercorn and bay leaves. When the bay leaves start to turn brown, add the garlic. Saute until brown. Then add the onion and fry until translucent. Add the pepper and the sugar, stir briefly to mix, and then add the soy sauce and vinegar. Lower heat to medium, and then add the potatoes and eggplant. Stir briefly then simmer, covered, around 20 minutes for the potatoes and the eggplant. They should be soft but not mushy. Add water if liquid level drops too low. You don’t want to burn this dish. You just need enough liquid to cover the ingredients.

Serve over rice. Serves up to 8 people depending on how much you want to make.

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Below are shots of the diced eggplant…Unfortunately, Giant didn’t have Japanese eggplant, but the big ol’ purple ones worked fine…

Probably my most common food shot, but… Hail to the Redskins!

I generally smash garlic against the blade of a big Japanese cleaver. Sure I can use a garlic press, but there’s something therapeutic about smashing things…

Garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorn smelled wonderful cooking in oil. Afterward, I added the onion, vinegar, and soy sauce…

While the dish might not have ended up as pretty as I would have liked, it tasted good…

I think next time, I should put the potato in before the eggplant, especially if I’m using redskins (despite what the recipe says). I also should cut the onion just a little bit larger and not process it any further.