Comeback Dinner at Momofuku

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Well, it's been a while. First, let me apologize for our disappearing act. Amanda has been busy at grad school in Atlanta. The separation has been challenging, primarily for the blog! While grad school has been keeping Amanda busy, I switched jobs several months ago. Our goal is to get back to business starting with this post!

During our hiatus, when we haven't been busy with networking and working, we've been holding our breath waiting for David Chang to appear in DC. I have personally been peering in the windows at City Center for months waiting for Momofuku to open. We lucked out on Halloween by dropping by the new space that happened to have a table for 4 available.  

 

The menu at Momofuku is incredibly unique - blending traditional David Chang-style Ramen and pork buns with some unique DC elements, like Virginia ham and Shrimp Louis. We tried a wide variety of dishes from the menu, but stuck to traditional Japanese dishes for our dinner.

There are about 4 different types of steamed buns on the menu.  For appetizers, we tried the shrimp buns and the pork buns - the pork buns being the clear winner. 

                     

Reviews on the shrimp buns were mixed.  Instead of whole shrimp, the buns were filled with a shrimp patty, pickled red onion, shredded lettuce, and a Russian style dressing. Honestly, we weren't crazy about the patty and instead would have loved to have seen jumbo shrimp inside.  

The pork buns, however, were amazing. Despite being filled with rich pork belly, it tasted light and fresh. The crunch of the cucumber and bite of scallions perfectly complemented the sweet pork and fluffy bun.  

My boyfriend ordered the Taiwanese-style beef noodle soup as his main entree. This was definitely a group favorite. It was set up like a ramen, but had a rich beefstock broth with heat on the back end. Generous slices of rare brisket and shredded beef topped the bowl. 

Amanda and I sprung for the Momomfuku ramen. The broth flavor was different than most of the other ramens we've tried in DC.  Chang uses bacon to flavor his ramen, and the smoky flavor definitely came through. The bowl was topped with both pork belly and shredded pork as well as small fish cakes. We liked the meat, but the fish cakes were off putting to us.  The fishy smell was a bit overpowering. We did love, however, the perfectly runny egg and chewy ramen noodles.  

 

One of the best entrees was the cold noodles with spicy Szechuan sausage and candied cashews. The spicy and sweet balance was amazing, and the cold noodles somehow balanced the heat. We would totally come back for this noodle bowl.  

The meal would not have been complete without dessert from the famous Milk Bar. While people lined up outside to get into the bakery, as a diner at Momofuku you can get their whimsical and delicious desserts delivered table side. That is perfection. 

I ordered the cereal milk soft serve ice cream topped with crunchy corn flakes. The flavor was both rich and subtle and perfectly reminded me of that sweet sip of milk at the end of your childhood cereal bowl. 

 

Amanda went for the birthday cake flavored milkshake - bits of crumbled birthday cake truffles were blended with vanilla soft serve. It was so rich and delicious, but we had a lot of leftovers. 

Finally, our fellow diners got the Compost cookie, which our waiter aptly described as "containing every kind of chip (chocolate, toffee, and potato)" and the birthday cake truffles - akin to cake balls. All in all, amazingly rich and fun desserts that perfectly balanced the spicy and complex flavor of our dinner. 

Festive Doughnut Holes as Acorns

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Baking is generally not my thing.  Competitions, however, are my thing.  So when my work posted signs that they were holding a 'Top Chef' challenge for Thanksgiving/Fall desserts, I decided to accept the challenge.  Since desserts aren't my thing though, I of course immediately began to stress. All of my co-workers know that I am obsessed with all things food, so I really wanted to show up. After Google-ing 'award winning desserts', I came across a really cute image of a doughnut hole converted into an acorn.  I was sold!

For this recipe you will need:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp melted butter
Vegetable oil
Cinnamon sugar

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Mix completely.  In another small bowl, whisk together the milk, buttermilk, sugar, and melted butter. 

Preheat a large, deep non-stick frying pan with about 2 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees.  I actually went out and purchased a deep fry thermometer for this step.  If you don't want to do that, leave the oil heating up on medium-high for 10 minutes.  Turn down to medium right before you put the doughnuts in.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and mix together.  I would suggest using a spoon for this step.  I started with the whisk and everything immediately clumped inside of it.  Once all of the dry ingredients have been incorporate to the wet ingredients you are ready to make the doughnut holes!

Set up a piece of parchment paper to set the doughnut holes on prior to cooking.  Each doughnut hole should be about 1/2 a tablespoon.  My first batch I made them too big, so err on the side of smaller -- they do expand when cooking.  Use a spoon to scoop the dough out and form into a ball using your hands.  Try to make sure there aren't any cracks in the dough so it doesn't break apart when frying.


Once you've made all the doughnut holes (I probably got 2-3 dozen out of a batch), place them gently in the oil.  I used the spoon to guide them into the oil so I wouldn't burn myself.  Let them cook for about 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for another two minutes. 

 
When the doughnuts are browned evenly on both side, remove from the oil and return to the parchment paper.  Line them with paper towel to remove the excess grease.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, and roll the doughnuts in the mixture when they have cooled. 

Heat Nutella in a bowl for about 1 minute in the microwave. Set toffee on a small plate and break pretzel sticks in half and set them on another plate. Basically, you want to have a little assembly line ready to create the doughnuts.

Dip the top portion of the doughnut in the nutella to create a thick layer.  Then, roll in the toffee.  Finally, stick a pretzel in the top to complete!  Acorn completed. 

I ended up winning first place in my office competition.  Based on my co-workers' feedback, I think that these would be great for both kids and adults!

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

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Hey there! I’m Grace, a college friend of Liz and Amanda. I was so excited to be invited to their Tiny Dinner Party last Saturday night and even more excited to be asked to write a guest post for fooDCrave. For appetizers our friend Abby made crostini three ways, and for the main course, Liz & Amanda made beef brasato with fresh papardelle & rosemary. Going with the Italian theme, I made biscotti for dessert. It's also a perfect recipe to make for your valentine tonight!

I used my cousin’s personal recipe for chocolate almond biscotti. You will need:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs (large, not extra large)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2  1/4 cups all purpose flour

1  1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1/4  teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup toasted slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 325. To start, I creamed the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. If you have a standing mixer, use that. If you’re like me and haven’t gotten married yet, you can use a hand mixer and a deep bowl or even a pot (I had to improvise, I wasn’t cooking in my own kitchen).

Then add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla and blend until smooth. This is what heaven looks like!

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, use your mixer to blend the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, make sure not to over beat. When that was done, I toasted the almonds in a pan on medium heat until fragrant and golden.

I then mixed the almonds and chocolate chips in a bowl. The chocolate chips promptly melted. Woops! Moral of the story: if you want chocolate chip biscotti, and not chocolate biscotti, toast and COOL your almonds ahead of time. Or don’t toast them. Your call.

Fold in the almonds and chocolate with the batter and place on a lightly floured surface.

Divide in two and knead each ball a few times and then shape into two slightly flattened logs about 2 inches wide, 1 inch high and 12 to 14 inches long on a non-stick baking sheet covered in parchment paper. 

This is where the process gets a bit long. So, start an episode of whatever has been hanging out on your DVR. This is also a good time to lick the beaters and maybe do the dishes.

Bake the biscotti for 25 minutes or until barely golden. Take out and place on a rack to cool for 10 minutes. This is what mine looked like:

Once cooled, slice diagonally into ½ inch thick pieces and bake again for 20 minutes.

At the 8-10 minute mark, carefully flip each piece over 180 degrees and put back in the oven for 8-10 minutes. When you take them out they shouldn’t be too dark.

We served the biscotti with coffee, but it was Saturday night, so we also had some of this (it's Prosecco, in case you can't tell!):