Russell Warnick -

by Russell Warnick

Mount St. Helens EXPLODES… in the Kitchen!

My Sunday Night Dinner Club took on a new form this past weekend – it was a task that we’ve not undertaken in quite sometime. What was supposed to be a nice quiet dinner for twelve turned into a debacherous affair for twenty-four. But what a night it was. If you are familiar with my Sunday night dinners then you will know they are themed, like last weeks picnic, for instance. Our spring tour continued with our good friends Summer Camp and his ladywife hosting (they are available for all future Sunday night dinners).

This past Sunday was the 28th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State, and with Summer Camp being from Washington he thought what better way to celebrate this than to have a meal dedicated to all that is volcanoes. We planned the menu meticulously, and ensured that most, if not all, ingredients came from a region with a volcano.

To start we served a white bean and herbed crostini; we had Korean inspired lamb, albeit from New Zealand; and Japanese and Peruvian inspired miso garnet sweet potatoes, courtesy of our resident chef, T2. There was also a tomato and mint keftedes from Greece and last but not least, a Pacific-rim Fuji apple salad. Not forgetting dessert we created an amazing chocolate molten cake from Mexico (not really from Mexico, but we claimed that region for the dish). We even sought out Assyrtiko wine, which is made from a grape grown in volcanic ash in the Santorini region of Greece.

The lamb, keftedes and molten cake were simply amazing. I have included some pictures after the jump and more details re the lamb.

by Russell Warnick

A Picnic Wash Out

(In the spirit of the picnic, palsticware was used, blankets available and sandwiches wrapped)

Last week I asked ES readers and foodies from across the land to help me with my dilemma. I was to attend a potluck picnic but had no idea what to cook, nor what to suggest to my friends, as I was the orchestrator of the event. For our non-DC readers, this past weekend was a complete wash-out; it rained for days. As concern was mounting, we were thinking of creating paddy fields on the national mall. All this rain meant we had to cancel our outside activities, which included missing the Lighting to Unite event at the National Cathedral. We’re not ones to be defeated so we decided to go full steam ahead, transferring the picnic to my apartment.

My friends who cooked did an impeccable job, and we had some amazing dishes. These included:

Coconut & Almond Cupcakes thanks to my friend BJ.

My friend 3Y’s made a delicious Olive Tapenade, I don’t like olives myself, not even on pizza, but this was really something new for me which I know I’ll be trying myself.

There was a Babaganoush made with homemade tahini, thanks to Boozilla.

Summer Camp went totally crazy. She made a Tyropita (Greek cheese pie): Feta and Kasseri cheeses with nutmeg and mint; a Kreaopita (Greek meat pie): Beef with kasseri cheese, cinnamon, cumin, and allspice; also a Tzatziki (Greek yogurt dip): Greek yogurt with cucumber, garlic, and mint.

I made a Brie and Avocado baguette with a mint, garlic and oregano mayonnaise.

Finally, it pains me to write this but I do have to give a shout out to MD, he brought with him boxes and boxes of Popeye’s chicken, yes, you read that right, leave your thoughts on that one in the comments!

I pleaded and pleaded for my friend Tucker to make the potato chip cookies that gansie suggested, but to no avail. He chose to bake some absolutely amazing hazelnut chocolate cookies, the how-to on those are after the jump. They were seriously amazing.

The other superb dish I want to tell you about is the cabbage and bacon salad come coleslaw which one of the more discerning guests created. He used 1lb of bacon for this delight. Again, the recipe is after the jump.

by Russell Warnick

Pick My Picnic

Hey Foodies-

I write to you, ES readers and the food blogospehre, in need of your help. This weekend I am going to a picnic with some friends here in DC. The irony of this is that despite being British I have never been to a picnic before (I know, crazy, bad, British Britannia). I can only claim to have taken a bag of chips and salsa to Screen on the Green in years past but I don’t think that counts, does it! So here’s the deal, I need your ideas and thoughts as to what I can make for this. My group will consist of about eight people and it’s going to be a potluck kind of thing. I am encouraging my friends to be creative, trying to steer them away from the pre-made of Whole Foods. My own thoughts so far would be focaccia bread with dipping oils, cheeses and salsa, a fruit bowl of some kind and maybe a selection of sandwiches.

The picnic is at the National Cathedral. They are hosting an event this weekend called “Lighting to Unite”; acclaimed Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter is lighting up the Cathedral to celebrate its centennial, and the Cathedral is inviting people to bring picnics. The weather looks like it will make for a great evening outdoors.

Please let me know any ideas you might have by writing in the comments section, I promise to tell you all about my picnic in a post next week. Thanks in advance.

in Cheese / Contests / Sandwich 17 comments

by Russell Warnick

Spicy Drunk

Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita
What’s that you say
Jalapeno and tequila
Together in a drink
The best of Mexican food and Mexican drink.

My friends and I were having a beverage at one of our regular watering holes the other day and we were discussing our favourite drinks. We had the usuals: vodka red bull; gin and tonic; bloody mary; and yes, even a beer. We then got to thinking about alternate drinks and the lifestyle that we lead. Our conversation turned to drinks that we deserved, a drink worthy of our existence. Have you not met me? Yes, my friends and I are that pretentious.

There are some restaurants in DC that provide some fun excuses of a drink. There is Domku with its Lemon Grass & Ginger Aquavits and the Aloe Sojutini at Mandu, but we wanted one to make at home on a Friday night. We pre-game high end, not just your average six pack.

A friend had recently returned from some Southern state trip, not sure where, but he had heard of a margarita with jalapeno and cucumber. As most of us are huge Mexican boys food fans we figured it would be a great drink to try. And it was.

The fresh taste of the cucumber combined with the heat of the jalepeno was a great combination; the fusion of the two created a unique blend of spice and freshness. For people who are not a fan of chilies this is something totally acceptable. I’m sure if stronger chilies were used it would change the taste but the main flavour properties would still be present.

Disclaimer: Two glasses of these will get you pretty drunk, or even very drunk!

Check it out after jump.

in Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Holiday / Recipe 8 comments

by Russell Warnick

Don’t Think of it as Fat, it’s Sex on a Plate.

My regular Sunday night get together was a little different this past week, as there was a birthday and for birthdays we always try to bake a cake. This week I was responsible for the task and I have to say, I’m no baker. I even messed up cookies out of a box last week. I asked the birthday man boy what his favourite cake was and amongst his list was cheesecake, AND HOW could I pass that up. Everyone knows that if done right it can be sex on a plate, even the gays I made it for! And what better way for me to make this cheesecake than to watch The Golden Girls on my dvr in the process. Yes, this is a very gay post but keep with me…

I figured the gays would like to know the fat and calorie count of the cake. I did some calculations of the ingredients and how many slices I would expect to get from the cake and well, it’s not looking pretty. I decided to tell the gays as they were eating this delight: each slice had roughly 27g fat and 360 calories.

Jaws dropped and I swear there were some people who were about to spit it out and one even looked ready to throw it at me – I’m talking about you 30MinuteAbs. But it was too damn good and they kept eating. You know you’ve struck gold when gays disregard fat count and calories for a sweet sweet slice of cake!

Strawberry Vanilla Chocolate Crust Cheesecake

Ingredients and how-to after the jump.

in Cheese / Desserts / Recipe 7 comments

by Russell Warnick

One Day You’ll Follow Me

One of my biggest challenges when cooking is being creative in the kitchen. When it comes to following a recipe I’ve got it down; I can pretty much replicate someone else’s dish to the smallest detail. However, when it comes to creating a dish with the random ingredients in my kitchen, I’m at a loss. Due to my lack of creative juices I try to put my own spin on the things I cook, I’ll copy a recipe but make a few changes. I figured this a great way of teaching myself how to be a better cook so hopefully one day I wont be following the leader.

A few weeks back I was in New York and decided to pay a visit to Top Chef alum, Dave Martin’s Crave on 42nd. It’s not a bad restaurant if you like your food sweet! Everything was coated in either sugar or cinnamon; the sugar high upon leaving was unbelievable. But Dave’s signature black truffle mac n’ cheese was amazing and I knew I had to recreate this.

On the bus ride back I was perusing Food & Wine magazine and came across this white chocolate coated grapes with an orange curd from Citronelle DC’s, Michel Richard. I knew I had a meal in the making.

Luckily, I had just been asked to cater my boss’ baby shower — a perfect opportunity to experiment with these two new recipes. Although I couldn’t stick my boss with the bill for the pricey black truffles, I did manage to find a worthy substitute.

The recipes and pictures after the jump.

in Celebs / Cheese / Desserts 1 comments

by Russell Warnick

Die Bunny, Die!

I think we all remember the scene from Steel Magnolias when Tom Skerrit is carving out an armadillo wedding cake. What’s that you say, you don’t remember? Let me refresh your memory… OK, that wasn’t the cake but a lame ass attempt at me trying to get a clip of the movie in the posting. My apologies. To the point. Every Sunday night my friends and I get together for dinner, we don’t dine out but instead cook for each other. We rarely have time for a dessert as we are always behind schedule on the cooking so it gets rather late for the sweet goodness. However, every now and then our good friend Gerard likes to surprise us with one of his baked creations. This past Sunday Gerard baked something worthy of a write up. If you are squeamish then be forewarned, its not a pretty site… Just kidding – or am I? Check out the recipe after the jump.

in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 2 comments

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