American Eats

It’s sad and true, one of my favorite restaurants closed. American Eats closed in July. It was a good run for a temporary Pop -up restaurant. It opened in conjunction with What’s Cooking at the National Archives. José Andrés took colonial and other traditional recipes and gave them a modern twist. One of punches on the menu was Philadelphia Fish House Punch. This recipe dates back to the 1700’s when it was served before every meeting of the Schuylkill Fishing Club.

American Eats

Fish House Punch

Lobster Roll

House made potato chips

Shrimp and grapefruit salad

Crabcake and watermelon

Pineapple upside cake

Pickled oysters

Mac & cheese

Peanut butter, Jelly and Foie Gras sandwich 

Out of all the dishes I have tasted, the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich stands out the most. What Peanut Butter and Jelly? Yup, It comes as cute little rounds with no crust and a little jug of milk but the twist is the Foie Gras. I know what you’re thinking no way, but really, it was a great combination. The depth of sweet, salty and creaminess of all three flavors makes for one really good sandwich. They made there own potato chips, A nice accompaniment to the lobster rolls. I had the pleasure of  eating more than once. I tried very hard to eat through the menu. I think I did pretty well. I am looking forward to the restaurant that will move into that space and be transformed by Andrés.

Philadelphia Fish House Punch
½ ounce of Simple Syrup
¾ ounce of peach brandy
¾ ounce of Cognac
¾ ounce of dark rum
½ ounce of fresh lime juice
½ ounce of fresh lemon juice
Ice
1 Maraschino cherry
1 lime slice for garnish
Spring of fresh mint
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the ingredients (except the cherry and lime slice) and shake well. Strain into an ice filled glass. Garnish with the cherry and lime slice and fresh mint.

Sole meunière the meal that launched an adventure

Today would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday. This simple fish dish was the first meal that was introduced to Julia as she and her husband, Paul, were on their way to Paris. With this one dish she started on an adventure  that the rest of us glad she took. So this dish is for you. 

Lemon, parsley and butter, missing the capers

Icelandic fresh caught cod

Sole meunière

The recipe I found in Julia and Jacques Cooking at home. In her book Julia's Kitchen Wisdom she wrote about this dish and using clarified the butter so I used clarified butter. Dover Sole is hard to find here, as any sole, so I used Icelandic fresh caught cod. Well, at least it's a white fish. And in the end it was delicious even if I did forget the capers. All in all I hope I did her proud.