Jaunty Gourmand

End of Summer Bounty II

2010-09-02T20:10:00.005-04:00

Fall semester has begun and therefore I have little time to blog, but here are a few photos from the garden and kitchen this week. Contact me if you would like the recipes. Cheers!

You can roast peppers on your stovetop if you have a gas grill. After fully charring (turn every few minutes), put them in a sealed container for several minutes. Peel the charred skin and enjoy. I added them sliced to orzo with pesto. Basil & peppers are from our organic garden.

It's coho salmon time! Yum. I salted and peppered the fillets, then pan seared in a little heated olive oil, skin side down first, then slathered with pesto and covered to cook the top half.

After serving the dish as above, I decided I'd like it better if I peeled the skin and flaked the salmon into the orzo:

Earlier this week I made chicken piccata. I used the recipe on Epicurious.

Finally, here are how our banana trees are doing this year. We transplanted two of the "pups" on either side of the two "parents," and the youngins are doing quite well, with pups of their own. The parent plants have hit fifteen feet with leaves between four and five feet long. Still love the way they sway in the breeze.

Zucchini Madness

2010-06-16T17:52:00.004-04:00

If you, like we, are inundated with zucchini right now, here are a few of the recipes that I've used to mix it up a bit. Still haven't baked with it yet this year, but I do usually make a zucchini nut bread or muffins at some point during the season.

First up, Michael Symon's Zucchini Crudo from his Live to Cook cookbook:

Nice resemblance, no? Mine is the one on the left, in the bowl. Easy and delicious. Fresh, thinly sliced zucchini and yellow squash with toasted almonds and dill in a lovely vinaigrette.

Next up, the Flat Zucchini Omelet from epicurious.com. The only change I made that I can recall is that I doubled the recipe, used a 14" non-stick skillet to cook it, and finished it under the broiler as suggested by one of the reviewers rather than flipping it. Easy peasy. I served it with a multi-grain English muffin and a PB&J smoothie. We were ready to garden.

To accompany our grilled pork chops, I made Michael Symon's Zucchini Fritters with Feta and Dill. I subbed lemon balm for the mint since we have that growing all over the yard and it's in the mint family. They were also easy and flavorful. I love me some feta.

I don't have a photo, and it's only slightly off-topic, but I'm loving cucumber sandwiches for lunch or a snack lately. Good white bread seems to work better than multi-grain, a schmear of mayo, thinly-sliced cukes, s&p, and a smattering of minced basil. Oh, my.

As G-Love is fond of saying, "can't get any more fresh, local, and organic than this!" Yay summertime!

Zucchini

And we're back...

2010-05-03T18:29:00.005-04:00

Shoo. That was a long semester. But now it's done and we can get back to the blogging. Missed y'all!

Let's ease back into it with a photo-heavy layout of a few dishes from the past five months:

I wish I could remember which cream sauce this is, but I likely found it on epicurious, perhaps hyperlinked to the recipe for roast turkey. I think there are caramelized onions or shallots in it. It was so good. Used up leftover parmesan mashers that I'd frozen a few weeks earlier.

Standard short cook fare in our household, penne carbonara:

Another dish where the photo doesn't do it justice. The cornmeal pancake recipe is on epicurious, and any liquid in the recipe was substituted by lowfat yogurt. I've previously posted Orangette's sweet & spicy bacon recipe, and the cinnamon pecan butter pulled it all together.

This is another cold weather standard, corn chowder. Easy to whip up with pantry & fridge ingredients. The bread was homemade during Gnome's bread baking extravaganza. It made excellent bread pudding, too. Check out that crumb.

I've made these fish cakes a few times and I love them every time. Topped with a papaya salsa made with freshie lime juice, red onion and jalapeno, the cakes are made with flaked cooked fish, which I vary depending on what's on hand. In this case, I think it was mahimahi. Dry mashed potato, bread crumbs, jalapeno, red onion and egg round out the cake recipe. Reminder to self: make again soon.

What? Done so soon? Yes, but I hope to get back to regular posts now that I'm on summer break. Unless that internship comes through...

Cheers!

Party Season-ing

2009-12-13T19:12:00.004-05:00

The semester is finally over and I finally have time to put up another post. I took photos of several dinners over the last month, but once again we took none at our winter holiday party, despite our best intentions. And we should have. The food was glorious. Not only what we made, but what our talented friends made and our generous friends brought.

It's gratifying to know that so many of our friends know how much we love cheese. In addition to the brie en croute with chopped pecans and cranberries that we set out, we were given not one, but two packages of taleggio, a soft Italian cheese; a crumbly, pungent mountain gorgonzola; a drunken goat (which I've been wanting to try but hadn't yet splurged); a peppered goat cheese; one aged sheep's milk cheese with potato chips; and another that I can't recall. We shared all but three, which now sit alongside the parmesan, gorgonzola, sharp cheddar and havarti with dill in our cheese drawer. After considering recipes in which to use up all of this bounty, we nixed doing anything to them at all. They're too good not to be enjoyed all by themselves. Thanks to Jen & Chance, Myk, and Joe.

The next thank you goes out to Elizabeth, who graciously agreed to supply us with holly boughs from her parents' yard and to artfully arrange them on the mantle, buffet and tables. She also agreed to come over early to help us with party prep, creating a fun party mix on 8tracks.com. Our lovely holiday-themed red dishtowels were also courtesy of Elizabeth, as was a potent brew of Kentucky Cider, which was kept warm in her handy dandy Cocoa Latte machine. So, not only did she look stunning for our party, she was an integral part of its success. Thanks, Elizabeth!

We received a few bottles of wine, which, when you subtract the three or four we opened for the party, still puts us ahead of where we started. I may miss someone, so feel free to comment if you're reading this so I can give you props, but thanks to Rod & Melissa, Steven & Allison, Justin & Hannah, and whomever brought us the Beaujolais. Brian, was that you? Paul brought us our first growler from our favorite Columbia brewpub, Hunter Gatherer. Thanks, guys!

As many of you know, I am not relaxed when it comes to funky smells (unless it's cheese). Last year I found the perfect scent in holiday candles with Glade's Glistening Snow. Then they up and discontinued it. Any remaining Glistening Snow sells on ebay for five times what it sold for in stores. You'd think that Johnson & Johnson would have caught a clue and made some more, but not so far, so I was left to find another affordable scent this year. After sniffing too many too-cloying scents, I chose one that I thought would do, but I was wrong. I had to blow them out after the first guests arrived and put them away so that I couldn't smell them. Luckily Greg arrived with two beautifully-scented candles in hand which I will enjoy throughout the winter. We missed his lovely wife Sharon this year, who was home sick. Thanks Greg & Sharon!

Several tantalizing desserts arrived with Travis & Julia (shiny truffles made in new professional molds with decadent fillings of caramel, Frangelico, or raspberry); Bill & Melissa (Bill's chocolate, bacon, & peanut bark); and David & Aubrey (peanut butter kisses) to be enjoyed next to my platter of hand-rolled truffles, oatmeal scotchies, sea salt-dusted chocolate chip cookies, and pecan squares with shortbread crust. Thanks to all of you!

Justin & Hannah also arrived with a scrumptiously savory chicken salad that Gnome and I actually got to taste before it disappeared like our aformentioned brie, water chestnuts wrapped in sweet & spicy bacon (known to all my Ohio friends as rumaki), the carrot & basil bundles wrapped in prosciutto, and the spinach dip & crudite that we didn't even get to try. Lesson learned. Eat some before you set it out on the table. I did get a taste of the clearly fattening and delicious baked onion dip (think cream cheese) made by Dave & Aubrey, as well as the chicken satays with peanut sauce that we made earlier in the day on the grill. I also enjoyed a bite of the French provencal fougasse bread
that I'd started the night before and baked the day of the party. The dough is made with olive oil, sundried tomatoes, rosemary, oil-cured olives and lemon zest and then shaped like a leaf. Pretty and satisfying.

Jill & Scott arrived with their usual panache bearing travel-related gifts and perhaps a bottle of vodka. Not sure if it was them, but we're guessing it could have been. Thanks lovelies!

And thanks to all of you who joined us for the festivities again this year and graced us with your stories and cheer: Adrienne & Paul, Whitney, Olaf, Daniel, Matthew, Anjuli & David, Jennifer & Matt, and Erik. We missed seeing the rest of you, but hope that we see you again soon and that you're having a warm and tasty party season!

All Saints' Day

2009-11-01T09:27:00.016-05:00

We changed the clocks this morning to fall back an hour to end this year's Daylight Saving Time (DST). I think DST is outmoded, but decide for yourself by reading about it via the link to Wikipedia's entry.

All Saints' Day, which I know about either because I was raised Catholic (sort of) or because of all of my years watching Jeaopardy. Regardless, I know that it's the day after Halloween which is today, and that tomorrow is All Souls' Day. All Saints' Day is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics which means that Mass is required today for them. I decided to honor the saints by cooking a delicious breakfast. (Okay, I probably would have made one anyway, but then I'd lose the educational topical element of this post.)

As Gnome did his best to celebrate Halloween last night, I knew that a fatty, starchy, protein-rich breakfast was in order. And because I would marry cinnamon orange butter if I didn't already belong to another and if we were the same species, I wanted to have that. I made it before with the recipe linked to here for apple pancakes, but I knew that it would go well on French toast which is much less effort and would use up the last of a loaf of ciabatta bread. Instead of making my usual blend of egg, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and vanilla, which would have paired just as well, I'd already used part of an orange skin for zest for the butter so I used that instead of the nutmeg, sugar and vanilla, along with a splash of Gran Marnier, an orange liqueur.

Next, I made up a recipe loosely based on a restaurant version of a skillet breakfast. Using a small five- or six-inch wide sauce pan, I heated a quarter-inch of oil to smoking then turned it down a bit while I chopped up the last of our two, small potatoes into a quarter-inch dice. It's important to keep the dice as uniform as you can so that each is cooked the same. I fried those up in three batches, drained them on paper towels and sprinkled them with salt. While keeping an eye on them to watch that they didn't burn, I sliced up some more ciabatta for toast since Gnome doesn't like sweet stuff for breakfast, grated some sharp cheddar and quartered some grape tomatoes from the garden.

I turned on the broiler, set up the bread in the toaster to be put down when everything else was just about ready, and heated one large and one small skillet.
In the small skillet, I melted a little butter and cracked three eggs into the pan, then lowered the heat a little and covered the pan to sort of cook the eggs basted-style. I dipped the bread into the French toast batter quickly, removing any excess, then slipped each slice into the skillet to which I'd added a tablespoon of butter just seconds before so that it wouldn't burn. Once the eggs were set on top, I distributed the hashbrowned potatoes around the perimeter of the skillet then topped it all with the cheddar and tomatoes and popped it under the broiler.

With an array of hot sauces already set out on the table and hot coffee and orange juice ready to go, I toasted the bread and plated up. It was delicious, as I hope you can imagine.

I tried to locate a saint to feature today but couldn't locate a patron saint of breakfast or food. Today is the feast day of several saints, but each one that I read about died a grisly death, which I suppose is a popular criteria for martyrdom, and well, just wasn't a good tie-in for this post. Too bad there isn't a patron saint of hedonism.

Skillet Breakfast Hash

The Finale

2009-10-10T07:25:00.007-04:00

Our last night in Italy we dined close to home in Chiusi. Having been lost several times in this town, it hadn't endeared itself to us, but it was the nearest larger town and was as far as we were willing to drive with an early departure time the next morning.

Having already consulted the travel books and the list our hosts sent us, we knew that La Solito Zuppa was the right choice. After getting lost before finding it, we made our way to the cozy bistro. We were greeted at the door by lovely owner Luana Pacchieri and seated at our reserved table near the hostess station at the front of the restaurant. She asked which type of bottled water we preferred, "con gassata" or "naturale", and if we'd like the house wine. Since the other diners all had carafes of red wine and no bottles in sight, it seemed like the thing to do. It was delicious. Luana told us that it was from a vineyard in Montalcino and the grapes were 100% Sangiovese. We didn't know how much it cost until we paid at the register at the end of the night, but we didn't think it would be outrageous and at eleven euros, it wasn't.

Luana's husband, Roberto, came to the table in short order and after determining that we'd like to hear the menu in English (we could have also chosen Italian, Spanish, German or French) he began to tell us about the way they serve dinner there. He told us that we would begin with our choice of soup or pasta, then described five or so choices from each category. He told us that the portions were small and not to worry. We both chose ravioli, one in a butter sage sauce and one in a tomato sauce. The ravioli appeared to be green gnocchi when it came to the table, but we enjoyed the dishes nonetheless.

From the list of secondi Roberto recited and described, Gnome chose the cinghiale, a regional wild boar specialty, and I chose the salt cod in a light tomato sauce. The chef chose our individual (though still shareable) contorni: pureed potato with nutmeg and smoked lentils, chick peas and cannelini beans in olive oil. Delish.

It was too dark in the restaurant to take decent photos of our plates, but the ceiling shot at the top shows a wall full of Slow Food awards. When I noticed them and mentioned it to Luana, she said, "You like Slow Food?" and reached for the latest Italian edition of the group's magazine, opening it to the article celebrating La Solito Zuppa's 25th anniversary. Bonus!

Full but not wantinng to miss out on any delicious desserts, I chose a no-sugar chocolate mousse. A big fan of dark chocolate, I wasn't worried when Roberto restated that there was no sugar in the dish. The pudding came in a shallow bowl and was indeed bitter, but it was topped with a dark chocolate cookie crumble that sweetened it up a bit. I could have enjoyed it very well with the remaining house wine in my class, but Luana showed up at the table opening up a bottle of a fortified wine saying that it went with the dessert. It wasn't my cup of tea, too bitter and sweet at the same time with some unusual spices, but I liked that they automatically served liqueurs with their desserts. The couple at the table next to us were poured a Prosecco with their sorbets.

About that couple. They were young, Italian, and fit, yet they managed to eat five or six courses, including a cheese plate, with no trouble. How do they do it? Is it all the walking? It's not because they skipped lunch, because that's another two hour affair.

Our mystery bill was very reasonable, in fact Gnome pointed out that a similar meal in an American restaurant, should we be able to find one, would have cost us more than double. It was a great way to end our trip.

Happy Anniversary, La Solito Zuppa, Luana and Roberto!

Our House in Umbria, Part Due

2009-10-01T19:07:00.017-04:00

Sunday, up early with the hunt and all, we made our way to nearby Panicale. Based on the recommendation of Stew Vreeland's blog, See You in Italy , we chose Bar Gallo for lunch, having arrived too early for the last day of the town's wine festival. The small piazza had several choices for outdoor dining, so we had plenty to look at while we ate our torta al testo, a panini made with the local bread, which is thin and unsalted and quite delicious and in our case filled with mortadella and rocket, known to us as arugula. The Italians like their bitter flavors.

Oh, wait. I have to backtrack. After United's debacle caused us to miss our connecting flight to Rome, rerouting us through Frankfurt on Lufthansa, a much better airline all around, we had a few hours before departure and really enjoyed the respite of Vino Volo on Concourse C at Dulles Airport where it was easy to decompress seated in comfy sleek leather armchairs, a few flights of wine, a bowl of buttery Moroccan almonds roasted in sea salt, safflower oil and rosemary, and a plate of fantastic cheeses: Humboldt Fog, Manchego and Stilton. The servers were impressive, too.

After Panicale, we drove to Castiglione del Lago, which felt much more touristy and had lousy gelato. Women stood in doorways of shops with samples of salami on trays and lace in the windows. It was pretty, though.

On Monday, we drove to Montepulciano in Tuscany. On the outskirts of town, we came to Madonna di San Biagio, built in the 16th century. It gave me goosebumps when we went inside.

We stopped in for a tasting at the nearest winery, where luckily the staffer spoke perfect English and we bought a bottle of Vino Nobile to bring home.

We walked into the historic center and chose to eat our lunch at La Dolce Vita, an enoteca, or wine bar. We ordered too much and felt like bad Americans not cleaning our plates. I started with ribolitta, a traditional Tuscan/Umbrian bean soup drizzled with olive oil, then had a crostini with roasted eggplant and melted pecorino drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Gnome had bruschetta with chicken liver pate that was rather strong tasting and an antipasti plate with salume, prosciutto, capicollo, fresh mozzarella and pecorino. Please note the vantage point of our table on the city street. Many pedestrians walked past, diners sat at tables, and cars passed each other all in that skinny space. Clearly not an American street.

Tuesday we drove to Orvieto and had a pizza margherita and a Peroni at an outdoor table. It was good, but nothing special. After walking around a bit, it started to rain, so we ducked under the large tent and took a table at L'Antica Piazetta for a cappuccino and tiramisu for me and a beer for Gnome. After finally finding our car thanks to a couple of very nice Italian ladies who spoke about as much English as we spoke Italian, we headed back down the winding road and, as everywhere we went, saw this view:

Wednesday night, we drove the twisty roads to Cetona, another little gem of an Estruscan hilltop town. Once Gnome managed to back the car out of the overcrowded parking area that we'd driven into, we found a place to park and walked to the piazza to Osteria Vecchio da Nilo and were seated at a lovely table in a very well lit room. Our server, Silvia, knew only a little English, and was very friendly and efficient. We started with a plate of assorted antipasti: roasted zucchini artfully rolled around buffalo mozzarella, bruschetta with tomatoes, basil and garlic that was sublime, bruschetta with pate, prosciutto and salame. Next, for our primi, we had a melt in your mouth, savory sweet ravioli that was the best single thing we ate on the trip. Divine. For secondi, we had guinea fowl with juniper berries and a contorni, or side dish, of steamed spinach and onions. Silvia recommended a 2008 Dorigo Ribolla Gialla from Friuli that was refreshing and a little complex. Perfetto. I ended the meal with a wedge of chocolate torte. We would eat this entire meal again in a heartbeat.

Thursday night, we drove the twisty roads to Citta della Pieve and ate our dinner at Serenella. We couldn't take photos because it was like we were eating in a church. The conversation at the four other tables in our dining room (there are a couple of them) was very quiet, causing things to seem a bit somber. Our server spoke no English and our Italian exasperated her a little bit. We had a yummy salad, which was served with olive oil and white wine vinegar everywhere we went, followed by a spaghetti bolognese (delicious), and for dessert, a panna cotta with chocolate sauce for me (also delicious), with a bottle of 2006 Rubesco Lungarotti, all for 26 euros.

Our favorite meal overall was in Cortona, a lunch enjoyed once again outside. Gnome had a decadent steak in a peppercorn cream sauce while I had a pecorino and pear risotto. I now know that I cook mine at home for too long, at least to suit a Tuscan. My salad also had pears, hazelnuts, fresh goat cheese, and bacon. Yum.

In the next post: our last supper. Ciao!

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Orvieto

2009-09-27T15:09:00.017-04:00

A delayed United flight meant losing a day of our vacation and starting it off with 26 hours of traveling, but once we finally arrived, with grazie mille to our greeter Kathryn and her husband Julian who went the literal extra mile to guide us off of the A-1 from Chiusi, where we'd become hopelessly lost, we felt right at home at Casa del Lauro. Peter and Victoria, who own the property, have done an impeccable job renovating the farmhouse and grounds, which are filled with Italian cypress, chestnuts, figs, lavender, oleander, cedars, begonias, herbs and olive groves. They've added a loggia and trained a grapevine and wisteria to create a living roof. Modern bathrooms and kitchen, a swimming pool, a large sitting room with two cozy couches, several outdoor eating areas, and large libraries of books and CDs (Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker...) made for a very pleasant home away from home. We also met Silvio, the gardener, who knew almost no English yet still managed to communicate well enough with us, smiling broadly all the while.

The morning after our arrival, we awoke to the sounds of a hunt in progress. "Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah?" is how one asks one's hunting dog if they've found anything. Or perhaps how one thrushes out quail or guinea fowl. The rifles sounded like muskets.

Views from the house, with the olive groves behind:

Ripe peaches, milk, coffee and a bottle of Prosecco were set out for us to enjoy upon our arrival and to get us started the next day. We took daytrips and night rides on twisting country roads to Umbrian hill towns surrounded by fortress walls: Panicale, Castiglione del Lago, Chiusi, Citta della Pieve, Cetona and Orvieto; and in neighboring Tuscany: Montelpuciano and Cortona. All had historic centers with beautiful hilltop views over cultivated valleys, ancient churches filled with paintings and interesting, intricate architecture, and extremely skinny climbing streets that often pinned pedestrians against the walls to allow cars to squeeze by. Driving laws are taken as mere suggestions, if that, with drivers flying up behind you, passing you on two-lane roads, straddling the middle of the road, and playing a game of chicken when approaching head-on a skinny section of road, one pulling off at the last minute to let the other one pass. Needless to say, I asked Gnome to drive after the first night.

At night there were a million stars twinkling overhead that we're not used to seeing living so close to the lights of the city, and an orange harvest crescent moon. The sun set dramatically behind layers of rolling hills. We threw open the shutters in the mornings and evenings, securing them with wrought iron hooks of a sort we've never seen, which was quite exotic. Two sweet black cats awaited our return at the end of each day trip and every morning, mostly to fill their bowls with kibble, but also for a pet. One liked to sneak in and sleep on the towels in the linen closet.

We enjoyed the food everywhere we went, but especially at Osteria Vecchia da Nilo in Cetona, La Solita Zuppa in Chiusi, and Ristorante Nessun Dorma in Cortona. The service was at a somewhat slower pace, as expected, but very gracious everywhere we went. The owners of the nearest restaurant to the house, Ristorante Il Pozzetto in Moiano, were exceptionally hospitable, spoke enough English to communicate with us (and we spoke enough Italian), and were very nice people. Their restaurant has a really nice design, too. We had a salad with fresh mozzarella, grated carrot, olives, and shaved truffle, followed by pici, a thick pasta noodle, with cinghiale ragu made of wild boar and tomato, and taglietelle con porcini (with local wild mushrooms), and a 2003 Le Berne Vino Nobile di Montelpuciano on Monday. From there we also picked up a panini made with the local, unsalted bread, ham and a thick slice of pecorino to eat by the pool one day, and had wood-fired pizzas another night: prosciutto and porcini for Gnome and a classic margherita for me.

After lots of food out (more on that in my next post), I had the itch to cook, so I whipped up this pasta aglio olio with a pecorino basil breadcrumb crust:

It was harvest time for the grapes and nearing harvest time for the olives, usually picked in November.

The gelato in Orvieto was outstanding. Italians order two or more flavors per cone or cup. I chose stracciatella (chocolate chip) and hazelnut.

2009-09-05T14:57:00.005-04:00

Yep, it's homework time again, but at least I have this nice spot in my own yard in which to get the reading done. You can't see the top of the banana tree that's blocked out by the umbrella, but it's giant. I'd estimate that it's ten-feet tall with four-foot leaves. We planted them last year and this year the two plants sprouted three more plants each. I love to watch the big leaves swaying in the breeze from the view at the dining room table.

This photo does not do this dish justice. I grilled the pork chops after seasoning them with salt & pepper and rubbing them with a raw garlic clove and olive oil. I made the ricotta gnocchi from a recipe on Gourmet.com. The gnocchi are tossed in a brown butter sauce that's cooked with a sprig of rosemary and then in grated Parmesan cheese. To reheat the leftovers, I'll make another batch of brown butter and retoss the gnocchi in it.

This is Emeril's chicken marsala recipe from the Food Network's website. I served it over fettucine. It was good, but I'm stuck on Villa Tronco's recipe, so I may need to sweet talk them into passing it along.

Reading is done for the day, and just in time to make up a batch of margaritas with fresh lime juice, simple syrup, triple sec or Cointreau, and tequila for cocktail hour. With the abundance of volunteer Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes in our yard, I'll mix up some salsa to go along with them. Cheers!

End of Summer Bounty

2009-08-31T21:13:00.007-04:00

Last night, I slow-roasted plum tomatoes from the garden for four hours on 215 degrees Fahrenheit after cutting off their stem ends, halving them, and tossing them in some olive oil, sea salt and ground cardamom. After cooling, I refrigerated them for tonight's Slow-roasted Tomato and Basil Pesto Risotto with Herbed Goat Cheese. Here's the recipe:

For the pesto:

1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 cloves garlic, peeeled
1 1/2 cups - 2 cups slow-roasted tomatoes as above
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a food processor, blend the first four ingredients til smooth, then add next three ingredients, one at a time, until smooth.

For the risotto:

1 small onion, diced (I recommend doing this in the food processor before you make the pesto if you're making at the same time)
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup risotto (Arborio rice)
3 cups chicken broth (or a combination of broth and white wine), simmering

2 oz. herbed goat cheese (plain is fine)
3-4 tbsp. slow-roasted tomato & basil pesto, to taste

Melt butter and oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions & cook for 3 min., stirring. Add risotto, stirring for 2 min. Add one cup of simmering broth to the risotto, stirring until all liquid is absorbed, approximately 5 minutes. Add more simmering (or warm) broth, one cup at a time, stirring until absorbed after each. After all liquid is absorbed (which could take 20 min. or so), remove from heat and stir in 2 tbsp. of pesto. Taste. Add more if you want more flavor. Stir in goat cheese until incorporated. Serve immediately.

I adapted the pesto recipe from Molly Wizenberg's book, A Homemade Life (link in previous post). Using it in the risotto was my own recipe.

Enjoy!

I made these scones based on Molly's recipe, adding turbinado sugar before baking and adding dried cranberries, walnuts, and orange zest to the basic scone recipe. If not eating right out of the oven after a few minutes of cooling, warm for ten minutes in a 300 degree oven. Serve with clotted cream or soft butter or try them plain.

Comfort Food, '80s Stylie

2009-08-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

Tonight was another use-up-the-leftovers night, and luckily I was reading inspiration in the form of Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life. You may remember me mentioning Molly's blog, Orangette, in a previous post (or two). She has many fans for good reason. Read an excerpt online and see if you don't want to read the whole book.

So I was reading her chapter on an ultimate '80s food, white chocolate, when it occurred to me that I had all the fixings for twice baked potatoes. I didn't take a photo of them since we all know what they look like, and if you don't you can just Google Image search them. They took us back to our teenage years with all their starchy, cheesy goodness.

There are other '80s foods that I care not to revisit, including the aforementioned white chocolate, unless it's in the form of Fresh Market's white chocolate-coated mix of nuts, pretzels, Chex cereal and something else salty and crunchy, which we've dubbed "crack" at our house due to its addictive qualities. I will not be heating up Jenos Pizza Rolls or Steak-umms anytime soon. Thinking of '80s foods, I can't help but remember Stouffer's frozen entrees, including their Lean Cuisine, which my friend Stacey's mom, Eileen, always had in abundance and shared freely with hungry teenagers. Stouffer's, now owned by Nestle, has their headquarters in Solon, Ohio, near where we lived and they had, and still have, an outlet store. You could stock up for much less than retail. Some favorites back then were the macaroni and cheese (eat the whole box and get 70% of your your recommended daily intake of saturated fat and sodium, and nearly half of your calories), lasagna, spinach souffle, Swedish meatballs and French bread pizza. The Swedish meatballs were even better if you added a little dollop of sour cream after heating. Mmm.

Of course, now I know that these mass produced convenience foods are not only bad for your diet, they're not so great for the environment, quality of life, or the local economy, either. I love that Slow Food USA's has started a sustainable school lunch inititiave called the Time for Lunch Campaign. This makes so much sense that you can't help but hope that it will succeed. Their National Day of Action is coming up on September 7th.

Perhaps I'll revisit the comfort foods of childhood theme later. For now, it's another hour of research before Project Runway.

Late Summer

2009-08-22T14:14:00.009-04:00

It's late summer now and back-to-school time already for us students. I had orientation last week as an official member of this year's incoming class of Public History graduate students. I've interrupted my class reading to put up this post since it's been awhile since my last one. I would love to think that I will be able to post at least once a week during the semester, but that remains to be seen. Lots of reading in these graduate courses, even when taking one at a time as I am. I was a little hard on myself by being self-critical for feeling the pressure of getting all the reading and assignments done until I realized that the full-time students taking three classes per term and working an assistantship aren't doing so for forty hours a week as I am at my job.

Cooking, gardening and travel have all been limited in the past two weeks, and rather than write about previous adventures, I spent my time enjoying the last bits of freedom before the grind. I did manage to make a delicious snapper the other night with marsala, white wine and onions, as well as a cream of broccoli-mushroom-cheese soup, but other than that, there's not been much to write about on topic.

Here are a few photos of some things I made earlier in the week:

I photographed this Question Mark Butterfly downtown last week:

This walking stick insect was on our front door:

Back to reading for me.

Jamie Oliver

2009-08-10T07:10:00.008-04:00

Cocktail hour last night started with a Lemon Drop Martini based on this recipe, though I used Stoli Lemon and Gran Marnier. So summery. So delicious after a long morning of weeding, banana walnut waffle-making, and movie watching. The reflection of the sunflowers on the quartz countertop makes a rather painterly composition in this photo, no?

After tackling our challenging slope for two hours, digging out all manner of prickly, long-rooted weeds like smilax and wild blackberry vine, I went to see Julie & Julia, the one about food blogger Julie Powell and the dawning of Julia Child's career by Nora Ephron. I loved it, but I always enjoy Ephron's movies, and the topic is one near and dear to my heart. After cocktail hour, I found a recipe that contained ingredients we had on hand: spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, almonds, parmesan and tomatoes and basil from the garden. May I declare my love for Jamie Oliver? The Spaghetti alla Trapanese that I made last night from his Jamie's Italy cookbook was the bomdiggity. I asked Gnome if he thought that moaning after every bite would be inappropriate in the trattorias of Italy if this is what all the food is going to taste like.

This wine is fantastic:

After dinner, I watched, for the third or fourth time, Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

Gnome has named this squirrel "Hoppy" due to his predilection for jumping from this dogwood tree just outside our dining room window to the roof of the hot water heater house. Gnome snapped him just hanging out yesterday.

Cheers!

Backyard Butterlies and Wine Country

2009-08-07T16:10:00.012-04:00

These two beauties are Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. The yellow one is male and the black one is female and they spent the whole day in our backyard at our aptly named butterfly bushes. They're the state butterfly of South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama and Delaware. We have a few pairs of cardinals, the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia, that visit the feeder right outside of our sunroom window. They always remind me of Ohio, and they're not afraid to hang out at the feeder when the squirrels are around. They do, however, fly off when the woodpeckers arrive.

This is a glass of Barefoot Bubbly from California. At about $10 per bottle, it's weekday worthy. We bought a few more bottles today because drinking sparkling wine feels fancy. It comes in brut, which is the driest, extra dry, and a version made from Pinot Grigio grapes. We like all three.

When we have cucumbers fresh from the garden, I love them sliced on open-faced sandwiches with a shmear of mayo, s&p, and some slivered basil. Tastes like summer. Their crunchy juiciness are so refreshing.

We marinated the chicken breast for the Caesar salads for two days in brown mustard, garlic, Worcestershire, and thyme, then grilled them. Two of the three were sliced for the salad (after a couple of minutes of resting time), and the largest one was reserved for another meal, which was tonight's Fettuccine al Limone. I forgot to take a photo, but it was downright delicious. The cooked chicken breast was sliced, then warmed in the sauce, which was made of butter, lemon zest and lemon juice, and half-n-half.

Taking a wine country vacation is absolute bliss. We went a few years ago: flew into San Francisco, picked up our rental car at the airport - at a great price by using Priceline, the only category for which I'd use them since I typically have a specific place I want to stay or times that I need to arrive or depart from a flight - and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge after a good night's sleep at a hotel near the airport. The drive, while beautiful, can be harrowing as the other drivers seem to be in an awful hurry and a bridge, like a tunnel, leaves one little wiggle room (and the fear of going over the side). Luckily we made it off of the bridge without a scratch, and, hearts pumping, all the way into the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County and the cozy opulence of the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville.

Our room was one of eighteen cottages available on the six-acre site, most with fireplaces and saunas. Gnome especially enjoyed the jacuzzi tub with the picture window that had a view of an upward-sloping landscaped hill (except for the time that the landscaper came marching by with a garden hose, which was a bit startling). The bed was so tall I think I had to jump onto it, and it was dressed very swankily in fine linens. There are also rooms in the main house and in the renovated barn. The inn's restaurant is Michelin-rated and definitely worth the splurge. It was lovely to walk back to our room afterward and to not have to drive. Gnome had chef Steve Litke's signature dish Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, which consists of applewood smoked bacon-wrapped loin, roasted rack, and confit of leg. I don't recall what I had, but I remember the heirloom tomato and buffalo mozzarella tower, which is now in regular rotation at our home in the summer.

The inn has an inground, unheated pool that was too chilly for us even during the heatwave they'd been having in the low 100s. Behind the pool lies the spa, where we enjoyed our first couples massage, the low light of dusk adding to the dreamy state it put us in. Two-course breakfasts, different each day, were savored on the patio with visiting pets at our feet.

We hit the wineries early in the day, with Cline or Schug as our first stop, at around 10am. Each tasting room was different, as were the grounds. Most memorable were Gundlach Bundschu, where we were taken on a cave tour, Cakebread Cellars, where we enjoyed a private tasting with a very entertaining and informative staffer, and J Vineyards & Winery, where they paired food with each wine. It was my first taste of caviar. I haven't had it since, but I liked it. We also enjoyed a California-esque lunch on the stone terrace of Korbel, surrounded by giant redwood trees.

Summer Weekend

2009-08-02T19:15:00.010-04:00

We've entered the final third of summer this weekend. The cicadas are still going at it, and it's too muggy (that's hot and humid) to get the planned-on weeding done or even walk the dogs. To continue the celebration of flavors and skilled use of leftovers and whatever's-in-the-pantry, we enjoyed the following, before and after backgammon, darts, reading, movie-watching, shopping, and a birthday celebration:

Friday night: Grilled chicken thighs, marinated 48 hours in a brown mustard, thyme, garlic marinade with sour cream horseradish mashers and steamed, buttered carrots with Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies for dessert.

Saturday breakfast: Red pepper, shallot, chive & cheddar frittata with potato latkes made from leftover sour cream horseradish mashers, focaccia toast drizzled with honey and butter, and pulpy orange juice.

Sunday breakfast: Open Face Bacon and Egg Sandwiches.
The recipe calls for arugula, which I neither had on hand or like, nor did I have a substitute, so I merely left it out and reduced the amount of shallot vinaigrette by just drizzling it on the tomatoes (which are orange persimmon tomatoes, just beneath the egg and just above the added slice of buffalo mozzarella.

Sunday dinner: Heirloom tomato & fresh mozzarella towers with shallot vinaigrette & slivered basil; focaccia and olive oil; orzo with tomato sauce made with butter & onion, manchego, cherries. Orvieto & Rosso di Montelpuciano.

Last winter, I snipped the last of the Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida), a type of spiderwort often misidentified, as I had, as its cousin, Tradescantia zebrina or Wandering Jew, and put it in a vase. Do you know that the cutting stayed in that vase for several months, brightening up our winter days? I changed the water of course, but it stayed alive and even bloomed for the first few weeks. The little pink flowers would close up and open throughout the day. A nice vase companion (and garden bed neighbor) is asparagus fern. Like this, which I put together this morning:

Slammin' Salmon

2009-07-28T20:20:00.009-04:00

Gnome brought home a beautiful wild-caught sockeye salmon fillet, so I made
Salmon with Mustard and Brown Sugar Glaze. I whipped up a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette made with Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder and freshly ground black pepper. Sometimes I rub the salad bowl with a cut clove of garlic instead of using minced garlic or garlic powder, a trick I learned from my friend, Jen. I shaved Parmigiano Reggiano over romaine and raddichio and added thinly sliced carrots and a slice of chopped leftover sweet & spicy bacon.

We have an overabundance of carrots, so I cut several in thick slices, steamed them, then glazed them in equal parts honey and butter - usually a tablespoon of each - over medium high heat with a pinch of ground ginger, salt and pepper. It's a version of Copper Pennies that I learned from my friend, Heidi.

A glass of bubbly for me, a Samuel Adams lager for Gnome, and slices of ciabatta rounded out tonight's dinner. Delish.

Delicious Weekend

2009-07-25T10:08:00.010-04:00

Fireflies lit up Jeremy and Michelle's wooded backyard on a cul-de-sac. For those of you unfamiliar with this term of American suburbia, a cul-de-sac is a dead-end street usually with a circular turnaround at the end with three or so houses situated around the circle. This set-up reduces traffic making for a quieter environment, and when located in new developments where the houses have yet to be built creates a great spot for teenage parking or parties.

Expertly grilled marinated meats and assorted salads were served. Michelle went to culinary school (in Maine, two blocks from the seashore), always a bonus in a friend whether they are the hosts or your guests. I'm a big fan of broccoli salad and luckily their neighbor, Myrna, brought a delicious one. Most recipes are dressed with mayonnaise or Miracle Whip salad dressing and include bacon, onions and sunflower seeds. Myrna's added hardboiled eggs, tomatoes and cauliflower. Lola brought a spinach salad with Mandarin oranges and pecans in a balsamic vinaigrette. There was also a green salad with chunks of tomato. I made an close adaptation of Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad . A platter of thick watermelon slices was passed for dessert. Perfect summer evening.

It was a muggy night, but we cooled ourselves by sitting with our legs in the pool. Lola and I traded off holding a very mellow six-month-old baby. What a sweetiepie. Thanks to his mom, Amy, for letting us soak up all that babyness. We amused ourselves by playing a non-comptetive round of the movie game. Someone starts off by naming a movie, then the next person has to name another movie with any of the same actors in it and you can't repeat a movie. My brother is very good at this game. He remembers supporting roles for every movie he's seen, which probably numbers in the thousands. When he visits, we sometimes keep the game going for the whole weekend.

We spent Saturday playing darts and drinking beer at the Flying Saucer with the family to celebrate my brother-in-law Erik's birthday. A good time was had by all, especially his dad Rick who won all three games. After a lunch of Mexican food and a mid-afternoon snack of chevre, brie, manchego, and cotswold cheeses with olive tapenade, slivered Granny Smiths and almonds, we ended the day at Camon Japanese restaurant. We shared some edamame and dumplings, then the guys and I had sushi and mom Cathy had miso soup with silky Udon noodles and shrimp.

For Sunday brunch I served up mimosas, Dutch babies and sweet and spicy bacon from recipes listed on Orangette, one of my favorite food bloggers. The Dutch baby, cooked in a half stick of butter in a cast iron skillet, was topped with clarified butter, lemon juice and powdered sugar while it was still warm from the oven. It was similar to a clafouti, if you've tried that. I'll definitely make the bacon again, which was chewy from the glaze formed by the brown sugar and had a kick from the cayenne and black pepper.

The "I's" Have It

2009-07-22T06:45:00.007-04:00

On my first trip to Europe we went to Amsterdam. It was high season (though I guess that may be redundant), so the streets were crowded with tourists, mostly Europeans. I'd read a couple of guidebooks and travel websites and quizzed friends who'd already been to get a few ideas before we arrived. I realized after we returned home that we'd eaten, with only one exception, foods from countries that started with an "I".

The big food highlight seemed to be the Indonesian rijsttafel, meaning "rice table". It is an elaborate meal consisting of at least a dozen side dishes accompanied by different types of rice. Brought back to the Netherlands by former colonials following Indonesia's independence in 1945, the rijsttafel was predominantly popular with Dutch families with colonial roots that has now gained in popularity alongside Southeast Asian cuisine. We tried rijsttafel on our second to last night in Amsterdam. Our own personal buffet at our table was more sweet than spicy or savory, and almost seemed to lack in freshness. Overall, it wasn't as exotic or delicious as I'd hoped.

We returned twice to O'Reilly's Irish pub near a square and our hotel. They had at least twenty tables lined up on the sidewalk, and eating outside is one of my favorite things, so we enjoyed a couple of pints and some frites with mayo out in the sunshine one day and an Irish breakfast of eggs, beans, sausages, bacon, grilled tomato, toast and Guinness on another.

We had Indian food our last night in town right across the street from the hotel. They had my required outdoor seating and proximity, so they won out over other choices. I remember the food being good, though similar enough to the Indian food that we could get back home that the familiarity worked as comfort food but not as transportative.

We walked over several canals to Lindengracht in the Jordaan quarter and the highlight of our trip, Caffe Toscanini. The first night we had to wait an hour for a table, and the host seemed rather surprised that we were willing to do so. We were happy to sit at the tiny bar near the entrance, able to view the street, other guests arriving, and the open dining rooms and kitchen. Gnome had a couple of Peronis or Birra Morettis while I had the house red, which was quite inexpensive and delicious. They also have a huge wine list. The restaurant's interior had white walls, white tablecloths, sunlights, and light woodwork and chairs. At one point I asked the bartender, who appeared to be one of the owners or one of his sons, what was good there. "I am," he said, with typical Italian bravado.

Although I can't recall the exact dishes we ate, the menu changes weekly, I do remember that we had at least three courses each night: antipasti, pasta (primo) and a shellfish or meat (secondi), and that each was prepared within our sight in the open kitchen, with fresh ingredients and homemade everything, including the bread. A pasta with langostino stands out, as does a salumi made with figs and walnuts (noce). There was probably an insalata caprese made with tomatoes stacked with buffalo mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil (from their own Italian olive groves) and topped with fresh basil. It was insanely good from start to finish. View a sample menu here.

Though I didn't want to admit it for some reason, as I steered us back toward the Jordaan from our hotel the next night I'd hoped that we wouldn't come across another option on the way. Toscanini was just as good the second night, so much so that it planted a seed in me to want to eat an entire week's worth of this kind of food, which has finally, a few years later, culminated in our upcoming trip to Italy.

Of Muffins and Mornings

2009-07-19T08:21:00.009-04:00

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Doing something we should has a pretty negative connotation in my book. Whenever I hear someone say, "I should have..." it often seems so pointless. You should have, but you didn't, and now you can't, so why exactly are you ruminating on it? Of course, if it's a thing that you can change the next time that will help you accomplish what you set out to do or a change that will make something better, then it makes sense to reconsider. It's good to apply a shoulda/coulda/woulda to recipes that you like but would rather love the next time you make them. Sometimes it's an additional ingredient, sometimes it's more or less of one, but tweaking a recipe to suit your tastes is what it's all about.

This morning, I'm making my first Orangette recipe, Nutmeg Doughnut Muffins. Among the hundred or so comments on this entry of Molly Wizenberg's addictive blog are changes to the recipe made by her readers. Similar to the Reviews section on Epicurious, I read the comments looking for clues in adapting a recipe to my tastes. In this instance, I thought I might agree with the reader who added a little vanilla and ground cinnamon to the recipe, and I was right - I will also add even more nutmeg next time. No, I don't know exactly what the recipe would taste like without these additions, but I know that I like these ingredients and that detecting them in the finished muffin is decidedly delicious. When I want to note these adaptations for a recipe in a cookbook that I own, I write them on the page. Epicurious has a Notes feature to accomplish this. The texture of these muffins is just right. Calling them donut muffins is a perfect way to describe them. I may do as one reader did and roll the finished muffins in cinnamon sugar next time instead of powdered confectioners sugar.

I'll also note that the amount of melted butter needed to brush the tops is less than called for, and how long the muffins took to bake in my oven. As usual, I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I substituted lowfat milk for the whole and lowfat vanilla yogurt for the buttermilk. I also halved the recipe as there are only two of us (mostly one of us, truth be told) eating them and they're only good up until the day after they're made. Now, if I decide to add this recipe to Jaunty Gourmand, I can say "adapted from a recipe by Molly Wizenberg, who attributed it as 'Inspired by Columbia City Bakery, Seattle, WA, and adapted from Kathleen Stewart of the Downtown Bakery & Creamery, Healdsburg, CA' on the website, Orangette.com." Phew. That's a mouthful.

It's an idyllic morning here. The temperature is blissfully cool, the birds are chirping and the cicadas are singing, the dogs are asleep at my feet on the sunroom floor, and Gnome is in and out of the garden beds adding compost that he just sifted from the bin. He took a break for some coffee, but I cannot convince him to eat one of the warm donut muffins. He prefers to mainline his sugar, usually leaving me to consume the bulk of anything I bake when it's just the two of us. I think tonight I'm going to take Peter Hobday's suggestion and make the pasta recipe adapted by Victoria Fenwick from a ristorante on Lake Como in northern Italy after we get back from the wine store. I love weekends.

Epicurious Wine Pairing

2009-07-15T15:18:00.012-04:00

I guess the universe read my blog and wants to help me out with wine pairing. The folks at Epicurious have teamed with the folks at Snooth.com to pair all 25,000 recipes with several wine choices. I'm looking forward to using this feature as most wines that we buy don't list the foods they would go well with, and even when they do, it seems dubious. This wine goes with pasta, huh? What kind of pasta? Will it go well with red meat sauce as well as a crab and lemon sauce? Doubtful. I guess we better get ourselves over to our wine megastore, Total Wine, and stock up.

Tonight, once again, I didn't read a recipe all the way through. Do I think I know better? I even told myself to read it all the way through first to avoid mistakes. But nope, I read it all the way through, but I skimmed it, and that really doesn't work. I made Salmon with Orecchiette, Caramelized Onions, and Horseradish Cream

I chose this recipe by looking for salmon recipes that I've saved in my recipe box on Epicurious. It called for broccoli rabe, and since we had broccoli in the fridge, I said "close enough". I knew we also had the prepared horseradish, clam juice, onions, pasta, even though it wasn't orriechiette, half-n-half to sub for the cream, and parmesan.

Epicurious and Snooth recommended a gewurtztraminer or a Central California Coast Pinot Noir, so we opened the Martin Ray and it did indeed pair well, though it's such a good wine, it'd probably go well with almost anything.

Back to the screw up. This dish had many components to it, so save it for a night when you have time to wash a lot of pans. Anyway, I caramelized the onions, though I think they should be cooked at a lower temp than the recipe calls for, parboiled the broccoli, cooked the orzo, which is much smaller than the pasta that was called for but which I deemed an acceptable substitute, reduced the cream and clam broth and whisked in the horseradish, then seared the salmon. The part that I missed was that the sauce mixture wasn't supposed to be combined with the pasta & veggies, so it separated a bit, but also the flavors melded perhaps more than they should have. I'm definitely making this again and following the recipe exactly. The flavors were there, but I know that prepared as directed the whole dish will be really delicious.

Shrimp Fried Rice

2009-07-14T19:26:00.003-04:00

In the fridge: cooked rice, carrots, soy sauce, frozen peas and fresh shrimp. In the pantry: corn starch. In the garden: chives. No ham, no matter.
Shrimp Fried Rice

In the fridge: Cake, blueberries, strawberries, ginger syrup.

Yum!

Slice of Heaven

2009-07-13T20:44:00.006-04:00

When we were visiting Ohio recently, we had the good fortune of meeting my brother's neighbor, Mary. After spying a verdant garden at the end of his driveway, I asked my brother about it. In lieu of an answer and in usual form, he walked straight to her kitchen window and bellowed for her. She was washing dishes and couldn't hear him, but eventually he got her attention and we were introduced to a tiny woman in her seventies. Even before she knew that I was her favorite neighbor's sister, she took my arm just because I was there with him. As soon as she knew I was family, I was in like Flynn. Or Fiori.

Mary's garden was a bit behind ours being in different gardening zone and all, but she still had plenty going on. The first thing she pointed out were the currants. She makes pie out of them. They were the prettiest shade of red-orange pink and tart-sweet. Next to them were the blackberry and raspberry bushes and the grapevines. Mary told us that she was hovering over them with a hatchet one day when her daughter showed up to halt their destruction. Mary didn't make wine, so she said she had no use for them. Her daughter, or daughters, now make jellies and jams. In between these were a few peach trees with peaches the size of apricots. Mary said she doesn't do anything to them, that maybe they would be better if she did. I don't know about that. I had no idea you could grow peaches in northeast Ohio. How did the trees survive the winter?

Behind the vines were the fenced-off vegetables. Gnome was especially jealous of her peas. Ours don't last long in the heat. She also had zucchini, basil, tomatoes, parsley, corn, peppers, dill, and cucumbers. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, and I neglected to take a photo. That's too bad, because Mary told us that it was her little Slice of Heaven. A white chair leaned up against the fence under a cherry tree. Or was it a plum? She said that she just sits in that chair and looks out at her garden and that's what she thinks. That it's her little slice of heaven. She said, "Sit in the chair," which of course we did. We could see her point.

Behind her garage was her forno, or bread making oven. My Italian relatives in Little Italy didn't have these. And the walnut tree behind it had several nets to keep the abundant fruit from the ground. She uses the walnuts in her breads. Next to that were more peach trees and a fig tree or two. All this on a small suburban lot, maybe forty feet by eighty feet, including the house. Oh, Mary, how we wished you were our neighbor. Paying homage, I decided to share the tomatoes, oversized zucchini and a pitiful cucumber that I'd grabbed from our latest harvest before leaving South Carolina. Mary studied our Japanese Blacks and said, "Oh, yours are different than ours," but she graciously took them. She dug her fingernail into the zucchini before handing it back. I pulled the shriveled, pickle-sized cucumber from the bag and apologetically offered that up as well. She took it, then, after I'd put the disgracefully overgrown zucchini back into the bag she said, "And if no one wants that..." and ended up with that as well. She promised my brother that she'd share whatever she made with them with him. He doesn't even eat tomatoes.

Tonight we made an adaptation of Pineapple Mahi Mahi from the recipe on the Publix bag that the fish came in. It wasn't really all that great, so I won't share the recipe here, but this is what it looked like:

The next time we have a fresh pineapple on hand, or even canned, I'll grill it to go with the fish and marinate the fish in green Tabasco, which is quite yummy. I overcooked the fish slightly since we've been undercooking things a bit lately, so I added a skinny pat of butter to each fillet after I took it off the grill to add both flavor and moisture.

This Italian pinot grigio was a little too dry to go well with the dish, but it's what we had chilled. I don't really know how to pair wines with food very well, but I know when they aren't a good fit. I would have rather had a nice Orvieto Classico, which is fruitier, to go with the sweetness of the pineapple salsa.

Again, I didn't let a little thing like missing ingredients stop me from making these as easy substitutes were available. No lemon pepper for the fish? How about freshly ground black pepper and lemon zest? No store-bought salsa and honey mustard? How about tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, honey and dijon? Tonight wasn't a huge hit, but it was still freshly made with love.

Dolce

2009-07-12T12:17:00.005-04:00

"Dolce", which means "sweet" in Italian, is Gnome's favorite word right now. We're trying, weakly, to learn Italian for our trip to Umbria in September. We'll be away from big cities, and less people will know English well. We're using Living Language, which came with a phrase book, four CDs and a book. I think at this point we just want to know our numbers, directions, how to make a reservation, how to be polite, how to greet people, and the difference between "apricot" and "eel" to avoid some rather ugly menu choices.

Speaking of dolce, I made a simple cake to go along with our Saturday night dinner based on Edna Lewis’s Busy-Day Cake from her book, The Taste of Country Cooking. It's similar to pound cake, though not as rich and with my beloved freshly-grated nutmeg. Elizabeth brought some ready-to-eat strawberries, which we knew would go along with the basic, unfrosted single-layer cake, but we also drizzled our plates with the ginger syrup that was leftover from the gimlets mentioned in yesterday's post. These happy coincidences seem to happen all the time in our kitchen. I hope that they're also happening in yours.

We had my brother-in-law Erik over for brunch this morning. He brought us back the crockpot that we thought we didn't want anymore. After Gnome had my sister's slow-cooked pot roast last week and I had the oven on for almost two hours last night, we decided that we needed to learn how to use it. He made a spicy, mouth watering chili very loosely based on this recipe. We have an abundance of canned beans, a huge steak bone from the bistecca the other night, garden tomatoes, and leftover penne, so that's basis of what he used to create Casetta del Sudore Chili con Manzo. It made us sweat, so that's why we're calling it Sweatlodge Chili with Beef. Why do people in hot climates seem to enjoy spicy foods when it seems like they'd want a popcicle instead of hot sauce? I'm not sure why that works, but Gnome thinks it has something to do with the capsaicin expanding your blood vessels which helps our bodies dissipate heat.

I had a nice quart of giant blueberries from Earthfare, so I made us some Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes, scrambled eggs with Monterey Jack, bacon, cantaloupe and strawberries. I love these pancakes. Why had I never thought of the sweetness of corn to go along with the different kind of sweetness of blueberries? I substituted lowfat organic vanilla yogurt for the buttermilk, with a splash of milk for consistency. And don't skip cooking them in butter. I use a non-stick pan, so I only need it for the first round, but it would be yummy to keep adding for each round, too, like we used to before we worried about such things.

Saturday Night In

2009-07-12T08:51:00.008-04:00

The day started off cool enough to open the house up to the cool breezes, chirping Carolina wrens, buzz saw cicadas, squawking crows and the hum of far off traffic. Today adds the ring of church bells. I love this sound, as it reminds me of summers spent with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles in Cleveland's Little Italy. I especially like it when my mother would take us through the old Rockefeller estate, now called MLK Boulevard. The old sandstone bridges came from another time, and when I was very young, reminded me of castles. The church bells at Mema and Bempa's were Holy Rosary's. I don't recall ever attending Sunday Mass there, but we did go inside for a wedding or two, and we played games of chance in its churchyard every August during the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, which was always shortened to "The Feast".

My favorite things to eat during the Feast were the French waffles -- two-inch tall deep fried batter coated with powdered sugar. I also loved the Italian sausage sandwiches that used a square slice of cold pizza as the bread. And the cavatellis --pronouced ca-va-dales -- like skinny Gnocchi made from semolina flour, served with a delicate tennis ball-sized meatball in a mouth-watering tomato sauce. Oh yeah.

My mother learned how to make spaghetti sauce, which we called "Sunday sauce" since she always made it Sundays, from Mema, and I learned how from both of them. I'm sure that my version lacks something from theirs, but that's okay, it's still delicious. I'd pass along the recipe, but I don't have permission, so it's going to have to stay in the family for now. I will tell you that it involved browning several meats that would then be put into the sauce for several hours, and that dipping soft slices of Italian bread into the sauce while it's simmering brings enormous joy. Just the aroma of the sauce prompts my mouth to water every time.

Last night we stayed in and had our friend Elizabeth over. I made a half batch of Blue Ginger Gimlets for cocktail hour. Even though I screwed up when I made the Sweet and Sour Mix by not reading the recipe all the way through first, it still turned out okay. Now, you might think that making your own sweet and sour mix and your own ginger syrup might be a bit too much to do just for a cocktail, but the reason that I chose to make them is because I had all of the ingredients on hand. This is the reason many things are made in our home. What do we need to use up? I enter the main ingredients into the search field on Epicurious, search through my options, making sure that I either have all of the ingredients or an acceptable substitute, and that's what we have. If I'd had to run to the store to get all those ingredients, it would take a lot more time out of my day, and can be frustrating when a main ingredient isn't available (I learned long ago not to expect ripe avocados waiting for me in the produce section). The gimlets were sweet-tart refreshing. As Elizabeth commented, the mix held up to the vodka. We did alter the recipe a titch by changing the ratio of vodka to mix so that there was slightly more vodka instead of 1:1. Next time, I may also use unchilled vodka to get those lovely little chips of ice that you get when you make martinis.

Another ingredient we needed to use up were the tomatoes from the garden. I've made pie crust using only butter as the fat a few times now, so I knew I could whip that up in no time. I figured Paula Deen would have a good recipe for tomato pie, so I checked the Food Network's website, but her recipe used a double crust and the photo didn't appeal to me, so I checked through one of my go-to cookbooks for a recipe. I decided to adapt the one that I found in Make It Easy, Make It Quick by Laurie Burrows Grad. It's out of print, but you can find it if you look for it. I used a 10" pie plate, so I needed several more sliced tomatoes than the recipe called for, which wasn't an issue. I used two varieties for flavor complexity. Her recipe called for five tomatoes, but didn't say what type, so I assumed she meant the beefsteak variety and compensated for that since I was using Romas, which are smaller. The larger pie plate also meant that I had to double the amount of grated cheddar to two cups and the amount of mayonnaise to a half cup.

After layering the sliced tomatoes, which I'd cut into 1/4" slices on a guess since she didn't specify, then cut in half since she did, I neglected to sprinkle them with the salt, pepper, and bit of dried oregano that the recipe called for, so I added them to the topping after I'd already put it in the oven. I did remember to sprinkle the tomatoes with 3/4 teaspoon of chopped fresh basil, which I grow right outside the kitchen door, and the 1/4 cup of chopped chives, which grow in the nearest garden bed. I baked the pie crust, to which I'd added a bit of dried oregano before chilling and rolling out, for 5 minutes on 425 degrees, then baked the pie for 35 minutes on 400. The topping of cheddar cheese and mayo browned nicely. It was supposed to seal in the tomatoes, but I didn't have enough to do that completely and it still turned out to be Elizabeth's favorite tomato pie. And she's a Southern girl, so I trust her on such things. I whipped up salad dressing using pesto that I had in the fridge and some red wine vinegar which I tossed with salad greens, chopped persimmon tomatoes, and grated Parmesan.

Summer Bounty

2009-07-11T12:02:00.006-04:00

We're growing five types of tomatoes this year: Japanese Black, Roma, Grape, Matt's Wild Cherry, and Persimmon (not pictured), which is why I'm making tomato pie tonight. I'll adapt from several recipes, so I'll post it on here later.

Grape are my favorite for snacking, halved in salads, or slit and stuffed with slivers of garlic, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and roasted on the grill, like we had the other night with Gnome's rosemary, garlic, and olive oil- marinated chicken thighs and steamed broccoli. Both the tomatoes and the broccoli are sweet, which contrasts nicely with a spicy entree.

Japanese Black and Persimmon tomatoes are melty delicious served sliced all by their lonesome, or drizzled with olive oil, or sprinkled with salt, or added to a sandwich. They're juicy and full of flavor.

I use the Romas most often to top bruschetta or pasta. For the bruschetta, I pop good bread slices under the broiler for one to two minutes on each side until lightly toasted, drag a chunk of raw garlic across the surface lightly -- too much will make them more spicy and hot than I like -- then top with the chopped tomatoes that have been mixed with olive oil, sea salt and a little chiffonade of basil. For one pasta, I warm some garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes in olive oil (careful not to brown the garlic, it'll taste rancid), peel, seed, and chop the Romas into a 1/2" dice, then toss the oil and tomatoes with penne, more chiffonade of basil, and some freshly-grated Parmesan.

The Matt's Wild Cherry originate from Mexico. They are tiny tomatoes that are best popped right into your mouth. The birds must like them, too, because every spring we find more volunteer Matt's all over the property, including the front yard. We usually just pull them up if they're where they don't belong, but this year we've let a few grow where they are so that we can share the tomatoes with one of the groups that collects fresh garden vegetables listed on the website of Harvest Hope Food Bank. Two nearby shelters received about twenty pounds of zucchini and a couple of pounds of green beans
from us last month.

Gnome wanted pasta carbonara the other night, so we whipped this up by cooking up some scissor-sliced bacon, draining the pan, cooking a bit of flour in butter, slowly incorporating milk, adding in some chopped garlic and freshly grated nutmeg, black pepper and sea salt, and finishing it off with some peas and a large sprinkling of Parmesan. To brighten it up a bit and use up more tomatoes, I diced up a Japanese Black that we added to our dishes as we pleased.

Recrafting leftovers is one of my favorite things to do. This morning I warmed what was left of our Bistecca alla Fiorentina and fingerling potatoes in a little butter and served them alongside overmedium eggs with cantaloupe and blueberries. For lunch, I added some red wine vinegar to some fresh pesto from earlier in the week to make a salad dressing.

While we'd love to do some yard drinkin' tonight out back, we'll likely congregate in

the sunroom instead, which Gnome dubbed Cafe Angelique long ago. We can still catch the breezes and surround ourselves with the outdoors, but we won't have to sacrifice our porcelain skin to the skeeters. Besides, porch drinkin' is as good as yard drinkin' any day. Cocktails at five.

Northeast Ohio

2009-07-10T06:38:00.016-04:00

We drove to Ohio for the long 4th of July weekend to visit family, friends, and the Great Lakes Brewing Company. GLBC is like Coors used to be, in one way only, in that you can only get it regionally. We're grateful for holiday gifts of it in December, but it can't be shipped in the hot summer months, and no one wants to come visit us this time of year, either.

The group shared several pitchers of the thematic and refreshing Independence Ale, described as An American Red Ale with crisp hop flavor. At 6%, it was also one of the more drinkable over a long afternoon. Even the non-craft beer drinkers seemed to enjoy it. Another group enjoyed several flights, which is a tasting size portion of 6 or so different types of beer (also done with wine and liquor).

Flights are a great way to sample what's available at a place you've never been before settling on what you'll have in regular portions. They're also fun for a party at home. Choose a theme and have guests bring, for example, a South American Malbec. Disguise the bottles in brown paper bags, each with its own number that corresponds to the list that you'll create out of sight of the guests. Or, simply pour the flights as they do at the restaurants and place the glasses on a numbered paper placemat. You'll all get to try new wines and choose your favorites.

Before driving into downtown Cleveland along the southern Lake Erie shore, we stopped at Slyman's for their six-inch tall corned beef sandwiches. You have to split them with another person they're so large, even though you'll want to eat one all by yourself. The line was out the door, as usual. It's so worth the wait. The corned beef is still warm, and it's so much leaner and fresher than you can get at the deli counter at the supermarket.

That evening we headed east to the border of the smallest and largest counties in Ohio (according to my future brother-in-law, Dave): Lake and Ashtabula. Many years ago, I'd been to the Ferrante Winery, but I had no idea how many (twenty-one) vineyards had popped up since then. It was like driving through a more verdant Sonoma or a smaller scale horsey Virginia. My sister Geri was at the ready with a map, and we chose two nearest the Slovenian country gathering place, Pristava, which means "bonfire" where we'd stay the night at the cabin built by Dave. We spent most of the night at Debonne Winery with a few hundred other imbibers and their children. Several bottles of their Cab Cab, Raspberry Riesling, and Harmony later, after the sun set and the band played their last cheezy song, we departed from our umbrella table perch atop the hill and drove down the road to the South River Vineyard, which is in a converted church, Methodist from what I recall. I hesitate to even mention it since I'd like to keep the place all to myself, but I would like it to stay open so that I can go back once a year. It was nearly closing time, but my sister convinced the very nice proprietor, whom she kept referring to as "Father", into selling us two bottles. The pinot noir was excellent, and I've put in a request for a bottle at Christmas. We meandered our way through the moonlit night down a path to a large, well-built pavilion with a massive stone fireplace and many Adirondack chairs, probably made by nearby Amish craftsmen. Our jovial group probably sunk the hearts of the clove cigarette-smoking threesome staked out in front of the excellently-laid oak fire, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. I can't wait to go back.

Bistecca Fiorentina

2009-07-08T21:12:00.012-04:00

After receiving an email earlier in the week from Eddie Wales, owner of Motor Supply Company Bistro, we special ordered the Bistecca Fiorentino that chef Tim had dry aged for 19 days.

Our delightful server, Rachel, offered to take a photo back in the kitchen, but once there found she was too short and enlisted Eddie to take the shot of the two steaks that we didn't choose back in the kitchen. Tonight's chef, Greg, had brought out this tray for us to choose ours. After 20 minutes of cooking, he brought it back out for us to tell him, "Yes, that looks delicious, you may now take it back to the kitchen and slice it up for us."

While waiting for our steak to arrive, which is a cut similar to a porterhouse that's part strip steak and part filet, we enjoyed a delicious salad of frisee, bacon, and poached egg with a red wine vinaigrette (Frisee aux Lardons). Breaking open the yoke allows the vinaigrette to become a creamy dressing.

We asked for the least expensive, best paired option for the steaks, and Eddie suggested a perfetto 2006 La Vita Lucente Toscana. We will buy this wine again, hopefully at Total Wine.

Based on recommendations, we ordered the thick steak medium rare. We'll order it medium next time for ease in cutting and our personal tastes. The steak is rubbed with sea salt & pepper and needs no additional seasoning (don't be like another guest and salt your food even before tasting it!), though the squeeze of fresh lemons that it's traditionally served with made it even more delicious. The filet was sooooo tender.

We brought the thick bone home to make a beef broth-based soup. We're going to use the leftover bits of less done steak to saute in a little olive oil and butter -- just until warmed -- for a steak & eggs breakfast.

Our sides were just as delicious as everything else: fingerling potatoes (butter, sea salt, black pepper) so creamy, and haricots vert.

I brought home a piece of the just-iced three-layer carrot cake to eat in bed with a glass of milk while composing this. Half was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth...and now I have another half to eat tomorrow night! Or for breakfast. I mean, it's practically a muffin, right?

First Post

2009-07-08T10:33:00.000-04:00

This first post is just a test. As G knows, we Aries like to forge ahead without too much research (ironic since I'm a researcher) when we're excited about a new project.

Tomorrow's post will likely cover our first taste of Bistecca Fiorentina that we'll be enjoying tonight at Motor Supply Bistro. Soon, I will learn how to make a hyperlink using this program. For now, if you're interested in trying this tender, dry-aged Tuscan-style steak, you'll just have to Google them and make your reservation (this week only) that way.

Enjoy!