Beal’s Meals

Ultimate Lasagna Bolognese

From “Dinner At My Place” by Tyler Florence

Corn and Wild Rice Salad Recipe

It’s bbq season I thought I’d share one of my favorite summertime salad recipes. It’s really easy, healthy and you can make it the night before.  Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

1 1/2  cups  uncooked wild rice blend

2  cups  corn kernels

1  cup  finely chopped celery

3/4  cup  dried cranberries (I sometimes use fresh blueberries)

2/3  cup  almond slivers, toasted

1/2  cup  finely chopped red onion

1/4  cup champagne vinegar

1  tablespoon olive oil

1  tablespoon soy sauce

1/2  teaspoon  pepper

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Set aside; cool.
2. Combine rice, corn, celery, berries, almonds, and onion.
3. Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce and pepper and stir into rice mixture.
4. Cover and chill.

St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef & Cabbage

(testing out my movie editing skills)

Lenten Friday Fish Frys

1. Amber Oaks, 4798 East Lake Road, Sheffield Lake (March 13th) - www.amberoaksrestaurant.com
2. Around the Corner, 18616 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood (March 20th) - www.atccafe.com
3. Jake’s on the Lake, 32485 Lake Road, Avon Lake (March 27th)
4. Sokolowski’s University Inn, 1201 University Road, Cleveland (April 3rd) - www.sokolowskis.com
5. The Cove, San Antonio Texas (April 10th) – www.thecove.us

So after 5 weeks of Lake Erie perch, walleye, and cod (we even had fish tacos one week down in Texas) we decided that Cleveland definitely has better fish frys than Chicago.  We liked that on top of just fries as a side we could get pierogies at almost every place we went to.  So which was our favorite???  Our vote goes to Around the Corner in Lakewood.  The wait was really long (over an hour after we ordered our food) and the cod isn’t technically from Lake Erie but the fact that they save a batch of Great Lake Christmas Ale to beer batter their fish for Lent is what put them over the top.  We can’t wait to check out more places next year.

Bar Cento – 1948 W 25th Street (Ohio City)

www.barcento.com. We thought this place was great place in Ohio City to meet friends at and enjoy the delicious food and beer and wine. Not only was Bar Cento named Best New Restaurant of 2008 but Chef Jonathon Sawyer was also named a Top 5 Rising Chef (he’s probably so good because he worked for Michael Symon). It’s a casual place that you can go to for appetizers and drinks or a full dinner. We have never tried the pizzas but were told that is what they are famous for. If you go, you must order the table sharing portion of pomme frittes that comes with ketchup, a chili mayo, curry mayo, and garlic mayo. It’s our favorite item on the menu.

Maple-Hazelnut Oatmeal

From Cooking Light Slow Cooker cookbook.  Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fat-free milk

1 1/2 cups water

2 Gala apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)

1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cooking spray

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts, toasted

1. Bring milk and water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
2. Place hot milk mixture, apple, and next 5 ingredients in a 3-quart electric slow cooker coated with cooking spray; stir well.� Cover and cook on LOW 7 hours or until oats are tender.
3. Ladle oatmeal into individual bowls; top with maple syrup and hazelnuts.

**steel-cut oats are also called Irish oatmeal**

Weber’s Premium Custard & Ice Cream – 20230 Lorain Road, Fairview Park

There are about 35 flavors to choose from (made with all REAL ingredients, not artificial flavorings). Talk to the owner and you will get an education on all things ice cream- and if you come up with the flavor, he can usually create it. Their old-fashioned custard machine is over 75 years old. All of their products are made in-house, not made in a factory or from a pre-made mix, or made with cheaper fillers like other local ‘frozen custard’ places in the area. If you have allergies, most of their ice cream and custard is made without eggs- the way custard used to be made. They even have the original Euclid Beach custard (Mr. Weber was a former Euclid Beach employee), and the Higbee’s Frosted Malt custard (also originally from Mr. Weber before Higbee’s replicated it). They’re only open April-October so stock up now. We had the pumpkin custard and it was AMAZING!!

Lehman’s Deli – 24961 Detroit Avenue, Westlake

This is a casual little deli that is carry-out only. They have a large selection of sandwiches as well as homemade soups and desserts. Kurt always gets the Italian sub and usually go for a half sandwich and soup.� I’ve tried several sandwiches and love them all. There are daily specials that you can see on their website, www.lehmansdeli.com.

Coconut Almond Snapper Recipe

From Chef Mike Piazza at Cuyahoga Community College Cooking Course.

Ingredients:

1 cup unblanched almonds, toasted

2 cups freshly grated coconut (or sweetened from a bag)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

salt and pepper

1 1/2 coconut milk

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp hot sauce

1. 2 lbs snapper fillets
2. Coarsely chop the almonds in the food processor, then mix with the coconut in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, mix the coconut milk with the hot sauce and cayenne pepper.
4. In a third bowl, mix the flour with salt and pepper.
5. Heat a deep fryer to 350 degrees.
6. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, dredge in the seasoned flour, shake off the excess, then dip in the coconut milk, then the almond mixture.
7. Place in the deep fryer until golden brown on both sides, about 3-5 minutes.

Note: We dipped in flour, then coconut milk, then flour again, and coconut milk again, then almond mixture to get an extra thick coating on the fish.

Classic Potato Salad Recipe

From Cooking for Comfort by Marian Burros (this is a really good cookbook).  Makes 8-10 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds Red Bliss or Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled

  6 eggs

  1 cup mayonnaise

  1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

  1/2 cup finely diced celery

  6 tablespoons minced cornichons (I just use dill relish)

  3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

  2 tablespoons dijon mustard

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Scrub the potatoes, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender but still firm. Cooking time will depend on the size of the potatoes, but it should be between 20-30 minutes. (Don’t let them get mushy.) Drain and set aside.
2. Hard-cook the eggs: place them in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the eggs to sit, covered, for 20 minutes. Run the eggs under cold water until they are cooled. Shell and coursely chop the eggs.
3. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, onions, celery, cornichons, vinegar, and mustard. Cut the potatoes into 1/2-inch pieces. Do not peel them. Gently mix in the potatoes while they are still warm. Gently mix in the eggs, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Melt Bar and Grilled – 14718 Detroit Road, Lakewood

Last week on our way downtown we decided to try a place we had been hearing a lot about, Melt in Lakewood. Melt is nothing fancy, it looks like more of a bar and the slogan is “WARNING: You must LOVE CHEESE, BREAD, and BEER to enter”. OK, sounded like our kind of place!! The menu basically consisted of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, a huge beer selection, homemade soups and salads, and even has a good amount of vegetarian and vegan choices. We ordered a couple drinks at the bar while we waited for a table (about 45 minutes). To start we tried the perogies. There were two perogies with kraut, onions, cheese, sour cream and we don’t know what else but they were so delicious and we couldn’t wait to try more. The sandwiches looked huge so we decided to split one and we were glad we did. Definitely enough for sharing. We had the Parma, Italy. It was breaded chicken, fresh sun-dried tomato pesto, roasted garlic and provolone. It was really good and served with fries and cole slaw. We thought it was a great, casual meal and would definitely recommend it. Even more impressive, earlier this year Esquire Magazine named Melt’s “Parmaggedon” the Best Sandwich in America. It consists of potato & cheese perogies, fresh napa vodka kraut, onion and cheese grilled between two thick slices of bread. Yummy!! I’ve heard the wait times are ridiculous at lunch but they recently expanded and have an outside patio so that should help. We can’t wait to go back.

Zed 451 – Chicago, IL

So in celebration of Katy Rexing’s graduation from culinary school the Beal kids all headed to a new Chicago restaurant in River North called Zed 451. Zed 451 has a restaurant and also a rooftop bar area. Supposedly the rooftop bar has become one of the hottest spots in the city mainly because there is an amazing view of downtown and the modern lounge seating. We chose to sit in the restaurant though because the menu outside was pretty limited. We were very happy about that decision though. There isn’t really a menu at Zed 451, they have chefs that walk around serving you featured menu items and many harvest tables with salads, fresh fruits, breads, and desserts. Since we went for brunch the featured items were things like crabcakes benedicts, Roscoe’s Famous Chicken & Waffles, roasted steaks, chicken and salmon and much, much more! The harvest tables were amazing and we walked around like little kids in a candy store filling our plates with oatmeal, french toast, pastas, Asian salad, etc. and everything had a delicious dip to go along with it. Along with all that they bring to your table warm corn muffins, chili-rubbed bacon, and duck confit hash. It was hands down the brunch we had ever had and we enjoyed it with a refreshing white sangria with fresh juices. The restaurant decor deserves some comments too. It is very modern with a log cabin feel to it. Definitely worth going to check it out even if you just want a drink. We would absolutely recommend going to Zed 451 for a special occasion. It’s not your everyday brunch and rather expensive ($49/person) but well worth it.

Mon Ami Restaurant & Winery – Port Clinton, OH

To celebrate our 3 month anniversary we headed to Sandusky, Ohio to spend the weekend at the Beal’s doublewide. On Saturday night we headed about 5 minutes away to Mon Ami Winery. Mon Ami is one of the oldest wineries in the Lake Erie area and was established around 1872 and the restaurant first opened in 1945. It is a beautiful stone building with a large outdoor bar & patio, a chalet that is more casual, and a formal restaurant. We arrived around 8:15pm and we given a pager and told to stay close because the wait wouldn’t be long. After about 15 minutes we decided to enjoy the beautiful patio and try some of the wine. At Damon Taseff’s recommendation, we had the Semi-sweet Merlot which was very good and a bargain at only $3.25 a glass! At about 9:00 we were told the chalet area of the restaurant would stop formal seating and be first-come-first-serve because the band was going to play. Since we still hadn’t been called for a table we decided to seat ourselves. Shortly after the band started they open up all the windows and doors in the chalet and we were able to really enjoy the perfect weather, listen to the band and try more wine with everyone in the packed restaurant.

Kurt ordered the small prime rib and I had the seafood pasta. First the prime rib was just okay, it seemed to have been sitting under a hot lamp for some time. The mashed potatoes it came with tasted fake. The seafood on the pasta was delicious and there was a lot of huge grilled shrimps and scallops. The pasta though tasted like a Pasta-a-Roni package. The portions were also ridiculously large. The special that evening was a seafood buffet for $28 which actually looked really good and it seemed like most patrons chose that option which could be why the menu food wasn’t very good. We had some more wine and I tried the champagne (Mrs. Joecken would love that you can get a split for only $3) which was all very good. Overall we decided we had to give this place a few different ratings because even though the food wasn’t that good, the drinks were priced so well, the atmosphere was very fun and there aren’t really a lot of nice dining options in Sandusky.

Luxe Kitchen & Lounge – 6605 Detroit Road

Luxe is a restaurant that just opened up in May and is located on the West side of the city in an area called the Gordan Square District. The Plain Dealer wrote about this area a couple weeks ago and highlighted Luxe as one of the many new restaurants that will surely transform the area into the next Tremont or Ohio City of Cleveland. We went early on Saturday evening around 6pm and were surprised not only how busy they were already but that the average age of the patrons in there was 60 years old. We thought that perhaps the younger, hipper crowd probably isn’t going out for the early bird special. The decor of the whole restaurant was very relaxing and funky. A lot of exposed wood beams and pressed tin ceilings.

So for the menu, the drinks were great. Claudia had the Dream martini which was basil & pineapple infused vodka, could anything be more perfect?? Kurt had a Goose Island Summer beer. The food selections all looked amazing and definitely had a Mediterranean influence. There were pizzas, pastas, smoked meats, salads, fresh fish, paninis and much more. The dishes were all very reasonably priced and we were told they normally come in smaller portions so you can order a few options and share with the table. Since everything looked so good we decided on ordering the chef’s choice “family dinner”. There were 3 courses chosen for us at only $18 a person. The first course was a ceasar salad with pancetta and rosemary breadsticks. The pancetta was delicious but with other options like a small pizza or calamari, we probably wouldn’t have picked a salad to start. We then had a grilled pork dish with a mango, pineapple salsa served with garlic spinach, peas & broccolini. It was cooked perfectly, just the right amount of heat in the salsa to compliment the sweetness of the fruit and overall a very light dish which was good since we were going out downtown after dinner. The final course was dessert and we had 2 lemon curd tarts and a piece of chocolate cheesecake. We aren’t even big chocolate fans but ate almost the whole thing.

Overall the wait staff was so nice and welcoming. It really is so nice to go to dinner somewhere and have people genuinely thank you for coming to their restaurant and show so much enthusiasm in what they are serving. The drink selection was great and the food was cooked perfectly. We will definitely go back but next time will probably select our own appetizer, entree, and dessert. There were so many things we wanted to try and even through our 3 courses were great, they weren’t what we would have picked.