The Gravy Train

mimicking france, the asian way

Lightly pickled, Asian-style Persian cucumbers

During our visit to France in May, a friend of ours suggest that I read Bringing Up Bebe, a book written by an American mother raising her children in France, and I've been delighted by and obsessing over it ever since.  I don't completely agree with the French way of parenting in all regards, but I really love the priority French parents place on providing their children as early as possible with a wide variety of three-course meals, especially for lunch. 

One night, while relaying this practice in painstaking detail to the hubby ("And then her two year-old finishes her meal with a wedge of brie and a light salad!  Swoon!"), he observed that we kind of do that already in our house.  I thought about our dinner over the last few nights, and I realized he was right: I do try to make dinner at our house a three-course affair most nights. The Gravy Baby usually starts bellyaching about his dinner being ready around 5:30 each night, and I usually try to start on a first course of a light vegetable of some kind -- sliced avocado with a little viniagrette, carrot salad with grated coconut and lime juice, or the family's collective favorite, lightly pickled Persian cucumbers, Asian-style.  For our main course, I try to serve a variety of different types of cuisine ranging from Mexican to Thai, and we always finish with fruit for dessert.

Persian cucumbers are the best type for eating with just a little dressing

The pickled cucumbers are especially perfect for weekdays in the summer -- I can throw it together in less than 10 minutes, and the Gravy Baby and the hubby crunch, crunch, crunch away on them while I use a precious few minutes to finish cooking our main course. 

Plus, it makes me happy to think how francais we're being.

My dad provided more tips for his steamed fish; click here to see the original post with his updates.

our life recently, in food

Looking back at the last few weeks, there's been some quality eating and cooking going on with us.  It started with a food truck rodeo at Marion Square, right in the middle of downtown, and enjoyed barbecue, crawfish mac n' cheese and smoked fish lettuce wraps (top row).

I tried my hand at making a salted chocolate budino (middle row, left), still haunted by our outstanding meal at Trattoria Lucca (my version was dense, overly rich, and not at all like the light-as-air confection I'd had at Lucca, so I won't share it here).  I made the Gravy Baby and the hubby an impromptu grilled mahi mahi fillet topped with fresh avocado and golden tomatoes and drizzled with a spiced yogurt sauce, which was much more successful than my budino mishap (middle row, center pic). 

On weekends, we've been frequenting a friend of my sister's husband's brother-in-law's friend's gourmet donut shop, Glazed (don't think too hard about how we're linked -- I'm not even sure that's right).  One of our favorites recently is their "Curry Up" donut (middle row, right), a decadent chocolate-iced creation seasoned with curry and topped with crystallized ginger.  I'd call it the next gimmicky fad food, kind of like how people all riled up over cupcakes these days.  But these donuts are so seriously tasty that I'm willing to jump on that bandwagon.

We loved the carnitas burrito at Santi's, a neighborhood Mexican restaurant we dropped by one afternoon.  Great food and eclectic atmosphere will keep us going back there. The mole enchiladas are absolutely on point -- richly flavorful and comforting.  The fact that the Gravy Baby destroyed some delicious Mexican rice and beans should also serve as a ringing endorsement.

And lastly, the hubby surprised me with a birthday dinner at Husk, the nationally celebrated Lowcountry restaurant that's the hot ticket these days.  The highlights were starter shrimp and clams dish over Anson mill grits surrounding a perfectly sous vide egg, and I got a little Meyer lemon meringue over an espresso budino for dessert.  But I'm still processing our experience there, which I'll share in a separate post.  There are some meals that need time for reflection and thought.

Of course, there are always those meals that get inhaled so thoroughly and quickly that there's barely time to even taste it.

Not that I would know anything about that.

how to start your day right

Crack open and lightly beat a few farm fresh eggs from Chucktown Chicken and scramble with dollops of chevre (this is my all-time favorite).  Add minced jalapeno and cilantro from the CSA we just joined a couple of weeks ago.  Slice heirloom tomatoes (also from our delightful CSA) and sprinkle with lavender salt.   Serve immediately to ooohs and ahhhs.

banh me, banh my

Classic banh mi from Street Hero at the Charleston Farmer's Market

While picking up our weekly veg at the Charleston Farmer's Market the other day, we stopped by Street Hero for a second breakfast of banh mi.  The iconic Vietnamese anytime, anywhere sandwich was the perfect mid-morning nosh for the hubby and me.  These days, there's no distinction for us between weekdays and weekends; the call of the Gravy Baby can be as early as 5:00 am, and so by 6:00 we're ravenously hungry even though no person in their right mind would be up brunching at that hour.  It's only natural, then, that we eat like hobbits. 

We had a lovely chat with the owner, Jason, who told us he was inspired to bring banh mi to Charleston after his time living in Washington, DC and hanging out in the Asian enclaves of Northern Virginia.  I'm no stranger to those neighborhoods myself, having fallen in love -- hard -- with a little Korean place called Yechon.  It was nice to meet a kindred spirit who'd actually taken his love of banh mi and come home to make it down South.  Having spent time both working and re-visiting Vietnam, I'd call these banh mi pretty close to the real deal, especially the classic version I had with Vietnamese pate. 

As a sidenote, it's so nice to see the proliferation of Asian food here in my home state.  I can still vividly remember my childhood days and packing my mom and dad's homemade dumplings for lunch, only to be ridiculed/mocked/gawked at because I didn't have a white bread sandwich and bologna like everyone else.

Oh, to be a kid today.  I'd make my mom pack a banh mi every day.

Street Hero | Saturdays at the Farmer's Market | 8:00 am - 2:00 pm | Charleston, SC

PS - Congrats to Laura, the winner of my Roomorama giveaway!

with apples and grits, pork is the common thread

Attending the Taste of Charleston festival last weekend only made my long list of restaurants I want to try even longer.  This small plate was the clear winner of the weekend for me, an absolutely delicious sample of pork tenderloin confit over truffled grits with apple slaw and roasted tomatoes.  I loved the acidity and freshness of the apple slaw, something I never would've thought could unify creamy grits and pork.

The folks over at The Fat Hen created this amazing dish, and I'm already rubbing my hands together over the thought of visiting them at their digs on Johns Island soon.  

Where's your next big meal out going to be?

little plate of brilliance: pepper jack creamed corn

This past weekend, we visited the Southern Living Taste of Charleston Festival.  I have lots to talk about, but for today, let's just visit this particular little plate consisting of a pulled pork sandwich and pepper jack creamed corn.

The pulled pork sandwich was excellent, but  Halls Chophouse, the restaurant that produced this little number, really knocked it out of the park with this creamed corn.  Decadent and just a little bit spicy, it was honestly all I could do to refrain from shoving it into my mouth by the handful. 

The Gravy Baby is not yet confined by social norms that require him to use utensils, so that's just what he did.