Wings

I love chicken wings. For all the lovely euro-cuisines, nothing makes me more giddy than a big pile of crunchy juicy buffalo style chicken wings.

Tonight I went to Buffalo Wild Wings, not my first choice, since they tend to over sauce their wings. However, these wings totally satisfied my craving. This morning, Emeril had a whole show on wings on as a repeat. Not fair. Only last night the husband threw in my face the face that he went to wings. Something had to happen, so following rehearsal we decided to go to Wing Zone in Milwaukee, which frequently has a dancing chicken on the roadside corner promoting. It's supposed to be fantastic. However, they have no place to sit, so the party was transfered to BW3.

When I'm at home, chicken wings are a treat. I make them for special occasions due to their fried status. Sometimes I'll so a blend of dry spices and cook them in the oven. But when I fry them, that's when the fun comes in.

A couple of years ago I bought the husband a fryer as an xmas present. Since then we use it sparingly, for specialty items, like this bitty chick. I fry my chicken wings, or drummets unflowered till golden brown at 350-375 for no more than 10-12 minutes. Remember never to leave your fryer unattended!!!

For the "Buffalo" sauce, I have kind of developed my own recipe. Depending on the amount of wings I melt 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, add in 1-2 Tbs of sriracha sauce, or more! Then I add a few Tbs of white vinegar and actually some Emeril seasoning. If you don't have that you can do chili powder, paprika, garlic and onion powder. Actually one of the more fun parts about making homemade wings is experimenting with flavors.

Anyway let the butter cool slightly till it's thick enough then toss the wings in it and remove them after coating so they stay crunchy.

There's no substitute for a great chicken wing! And frying stuff is just downright fun. Make some for your favorite Sunday sports game and try out different flavor combos! Regardless, they are fried and spicy and full of lovely goodness.

Dinner not to be repeated (read at your own risk.)

I thought I'd share what you should not eat for dinner. I have a little cold, which is at the stage where you don't want to do anything except lay in bed. This definitely means not cooking.

I knew I had to eat something healthy, since we have a concert in a few days, so I started pulling things out of my pint-sized fridge. I had picked up a chicken breast and my bag of kale from a friend's much larger fridge/freezer. Noticing that my tiny tomatoes were about to be completely ruined, I picked out the ones that I could salvage and quartered them. The I recalled how a friend said she loved cottage cheese with them, and having some threw in the tomatoes, eating as I prepped the kale. I thought this was smart and healthy, it was like a little appetizer.

Sauteed red onion, garlic and chili flake in olive oil. Added blanched kale and a little white wine vinegar. Presto! Yummy. Kale.

These two separate dishes, however, DO NOT go well together. I realized after almost finishing my absurd amount of cottage cheese and tomatoes that I didn't want the chicken breast I had been thawing. That was sad, as the appetizer quickly became the accompaniment for sauteed kale. UGH. Just writing about it makes me feel gross.

Anyway, don't ever eat these two things in the same sitting. You won't be happy, no matter how much you think it doesn't make a difference.

Milwaukee

I am living here for a bit. A stint with Florentine Opera as a Studio Artist will have me and 3 other compatriots residing in a charming hotel till end of May.

I love my room, it is covered in fake flowers but it feels like home...some kind of florist's version of home anyway. Actually I am quite comfortable though my kitchen is tiny and the fridge a bit of a joke. My freezer actually thawed all my items so that I had to salvage what I could about a week ago. We have a very respectable grocery market within close proximity, and the Soprano and I spend evenings wondering through the isles, as she be a foodie too.

One thing I have learned from the short time I have lived in my studio. Portion size is important. You can't go making a whole mess o'food, because A: you have no where to prep such an amount, and B: you cannot possibly store said food in your tiny fridge.

More to come.

Virginia ham? Psha.

No. Although I have had some while here and it's great.

I'm still in Virginia working outside DC, and just had the pleasure of family visiting, the husband included. My parents graciously treated us to several wonderful meals over the weekend. Here is a little recap...

Foti's in Culpeper (don't forget only 2 p's, says the Maestro)
I had some reservations regarding this place. A good friend had recommended it having gone there the previous week with his own family. We made reservations, and due to the removed setting of this small community we probably didn't need to, not a large amount of people in attendance, even on a Friday night. Coming in the "front door" we passed through a long hallway dotted with other shops, one being a really nice wine/beer shop, with local products as well as classic favorites (including Gruet!) The restaurant is a little dark, but very prettily decorated in a kind of late 1800's "pad" style. We ordered some aperitifs and a quick antipasto of plank roasted brie, which was quite nice. Then we had 2 orders of each, the duck breast with cracked pepper peaches, and pan fried soft shell crab with sweet breads. The soft shell crab was really lovely crispy goodness, and it's always able to eat the shell and all! Bottom up. The sweet breads I thought could have been crunchier, in opposition to their rich velveteen. For dessert I had pots du creme - 3 of them - all chocolate. We had a really nice Malbec to accompany per the Father's suggestion.

Thorton River Grill, Sperryville

We had been to this little bistro before for brunch, and they do have a great brunch. In mind for a bit more simpler dinner, we split salads instead of getting an appetizer, which were butter lettuce, blue cheese, and bacon. Very traditional American, but really charmingly executed. Three of us got the diver scallops for the entree. Since this is "good-ol-boy" country, they have fantastic portions. The plate came with four massive scallops, accomp with sugar snap peas and Israeli couscous. Cooked perfectly, and served in a sassy beurre blanc. The wine with this nosh was also very fitting, we did Riff's pinot grigio, crisp and light.

Iron Bridge Wine Company, Warrington

This might be one of my favorite meals out that I have had while living here this summer. We started out with a wine flight each. My mother and I each went for the Virginia trio, a Kluge blanc de blanc, a Viognier, and something else red who's name escapes me but was part Merlot and part Cab. All were great, though the nose on the Viognier was probably my favorite part of the whole flight. It was fruity and floral, without being to over powering. Sunday-Wednesday these guys do a 3 course for $30, and it's well worth it given you can have anything your little heart desires off of the menu. I did a diver scallop ceviche to start, which was sliced horizontally on top of a cold salad of roasted red peppers, watercress, onions and banana peppers, along side also was half of an avocado and some lemon. I thought it could have been salted a little better but the taste was light, but still indulgent. For the main I chose the rack of lamb, served with a cherry demi glace, asparagus and a fabulous cheese risotto and Yukon Gold potato cake which was fried. That cake might just have made my day. Dessert followed, I had a beautiful strawberry-creme filled crepe and a glass of Sauternes.

Who know rural Virginia foodies had it so good... Next time I'm pulling out the stops and doing the Inn at Little Washington, just for kicks. ;)

The cube of cheese commeth

The place: Trump Intl Tower, NYC, 86^th floor.
The time: a few hours ago.
The food: …um….

Nuit previous we were asked to come and sing at a fancy party for our Maestro in NYC, hence to stay one night and return for our continuing rehearsals the following day. The event was indeed posh enough, and as far as one can tell, fairly positive in the respect of promo-ing our upcoming performances. The only downer of the luscious evening was the food.

Whilst our voices might have been unforgettable for this lot, the food certainly should be. It started well enough, or so we thought. Tiny, tiny crisps with crab and smoked s. atop, and dill of course, because it’s green and pretty. Then our Brit compro and fellow voicer’s fave arrived with great pomp. The ever ready CUBE OF CHEESE, of course accomp with tooth picks. A must have, I'd have thought. OH! I almost forgot the grand sushi rolls too large to place in a gaping maw let alone your mouth.

Then we sang and we were quite brilliant, or so many told us. But who really knows, because they were probably contemplating what they had just eaten and were at a loss of space for anything else in their brains.

Dinner was in appearance an amazing spread. About every dish included Chicken, or Fish: Sesame chicken, chicken marsala, breaded chicken, breaded fish, fish alla teriyaki, fish alla lemon, CHICKEN alla lemon. It was all very good, but... There was a lot of meat for the masses. And they for some reason had leftovers…. We can eat more later?!

Dessert, however, was indeed compensatory for the previous tour-de-force, little tartlets and tiny, tiny miniature chocolate croissants, and other doll-sized goodies. Yum…and the wine was very nice as well!

Overall, it was fun… I then got back to the hotel and realized Les Halles was on the next corner round from us…about cried out of shame for my only meal in NYC.

Salt

A quick note...

I love salt as much as the next person, it makes things flavorful, it keeps certain types of fish alive. It's great, not the least bit pricey.

Our meal Sunday night, however, was a bit overzealous about this already well established ingredient. Uncommon Ground lots it's nerve on our dishes, coating a duck breast and a fillet of halibut in the ground white dust. I was all excited at first. The halibut was served with fresh fava, sun chokes, and a watercress puree. It was beautiful, as noted to me by our charming server, but it was a salt fest. The Duck was no better, and the husband suffered and ate his without complaint...until we reached the outdoors, where he proceeded to ream the chef for his poor seasoning abilities. 

Just for the record we've never had a problem with this joint before, and we will probably go back again. But lighten up, Chef! Sodium kills.

Summer in Chicago

It's supposed to be summer, anyway. Everything around us says so, except the weather. Yes, we have been graced by 50-60 degree days and moderate-to-no sunshine. This is not summer weather, we keep telling ourselves that some day it will be warm enough to go to the lake and not wear gloves when we go out (example A: the woman getting groceries at local stop this a.m.). 

So we turned off the grill the other night and had comfort food instead. Well, what I think of as comfort food. My mother makes this pork tom sauce that was creation of once "frugal" gourmet, now peddling his pans in the great beyond. Very simple recipe that I actually have no idea what is really in the recipe since it varies by what is available. Pretty sure the orig includes celery, which is not my favorite, therefor it's not in our house, and so did not make the dish...My version DID include:

Browning two bone-in pork chops of a goodly size, then removing them to rest.

Sauteing carrots, onions and garlic in browned-bit pot.

Throwing in a tablespoon of Herbs de Provence, two dried bay leaves.

Adding one cup (or whatever) dry white wine. Letting alcohol cook off.

One very large can of crushed tom, one 14oz of petite diced.

Throwing meat back in with juice, and then cooking till falling apart.

Simple and yummy, served with noodles of whatever shape and size. We used wholewheat spaghetti I got from Lincolnwood produce. If you try to cook this kinds of pasta al dente it sometimes can be a little dry tasting, I let it go a minute or two more than I would normal noodles. 

We also had with it a roasted beet salad, recipe from Ev. Day Food.

Roast trimmed beets (skin on!) in foil pack with little s/p and oil at, maybe, 425 for 30-45 min. Depending on the size... When they cool, peal them, your hands will be pretty in pink, but that's some darn good stuff you're left with.

Slice beats to desired size. 

Combine 1/2c Greek yogurt, a couple of teaspoons of white wine vinegar, and Olive oil in a bowl, add water, 1 tablespoon?, to desired thinness.

(here's where we stopped following the recipe)

Chop 7-8 basil leaves and some fresh oregano and add to dressing. Season with s/p. 

Using romaine as a base, top with beets and dressing, add walnuts for crunch (at least that was the plan...I actually forgot them).

So it's not quite Summer, but not still Winter, and Spring already happened. But this meal set our souls at peace. These two dishes don't quite go together, but hey, goofy meal for goofy time of year. 

Absentee

It's been a bit, and I have eaten food since last writing. I assure you. Here's a recap of some of my favorite dining spots in Chicago over the last couple of months...

Sunda (north of the River)

We ventured here for a lush going away dinner for two very dear friends, who now are living in Houston where Alan is managing one of the top steak houses in the City. We had the Kobe beef sushi (you can see on the right) which were melt in your mouth, as well as a the Crispy Pata, very nice with the two accompanying sauces. We also had the long ribs which were great. The only thing about this place is that that bar service (not the table!) is awful. Completely non-attentive bartenders. I hope it has changed since were were there over a month ago!

The Gage (on Michigan near the Art Museum)

This is one of the few places open nights after we closed shows at the Harris Theater. Apart from being a little pricey, their menu is a tribute to the higher table of Irish cuisine. A good friend of mine ordered the Scotch Egg, probably the most elegant presentation that said dish will ever hold. And it's really good there, perfect combo of crispy outside, rich sausage-egg innards. Yum. The husband also enjoys their fish and chips, which are plentiful and served pseudo-newspapered. They used to have a great tuna tartar that was wonderful and light, but it is now absent from the menu. Recently I had a brunch there with a friend from out of town. They had one of my all time favorite dishes on the list, Corned Beef Hash, served with poached eggs. It was pretty good, kind of more like a potato and beef salad, not so hashy as usually seen in a diner, a little too salty. But pretty great, none the less!

Hot Doug's (the hot dog stand of hot dog stands)

I did not, sadly, have the foie gras dog...it was not on their rotating menu when I went with a could of good friends. I did have some winners, though my favorites were not what I expected. I really love their red hot dog, which is spicy and classic. We shared one with brie and cranberries, which was alright, and another with a pork sausage. The classic one still lingers in my mind as being one of the greats, however. A tip: know how you want your dogs cooked when you get to the front of the line (oh and there will be a line), and what you want on it. They apparently do not take kindly to the indecisive.

Uncommon Ground (East of Clark on Damen)

A cosy bistro type place, which frequently has live music. We came here a lot with friends this winter after rehearsals. They have a decent wine list and an excellent selection of items all made from somewhat local ingredients (more like, non-imports). The used to have this amazing burger, which I experienced on the eve of its removal from the menu. I can't even really remember what was on this thing. But it was so good, the juices once dripped down the arms of a companion while he dined. How's that for an image. And they took it away! It had these peppers on it that they were no longer able to get from a supplier inside the US. So they canceled the burger. I have also had the polenta as a main dish, and at the hours that we usually visit this joint, it's a perfect amount for a late night.

That's just a taste! More to come, we just bought a grill, so there will be many summer appropriate installments coming up!

How long for lunch?

I have been into rehearsals now for a production at Chicago Opera Theater, which has made writing a bit of a back burner. One lovely thing, among many, that has come out of being down in Chicago's Loop, is that at lunch time there are so many little dive spots that I have yet to experience. One of my favorites is a Cuban cafe in the first floor of Chicago's hostel. Cafecito is a great place to grab a coffee or one of their lovely sandwiches. I so far have had the Cubano, and one with chorizo, sauteed onions, and chimichurri. They are a good price for downtown Chi-town. I highly recommend it. 

Another place I have been grabbing lunch is Osaka on the corner of Van Buren and Michigan (I think!). They have sushi lunch specials during the week days, along with offering a wide variety of other rolls and sushi pieces. Another great thing about this place is that they make a great smoothie, with or without tapioca, with a variety of fruit choices. Mine of late has been Coconut.

While I am sad that I have not been able to cook at home, let alone able to take my lunch (mainly because I do not have time to go to the store, and that frozen foods are not possible due to the large stash of hot dog buns in our freezer because of the show at the husband's theater company - Go see it!), I am grateful to these local joints for offering up good and reasonably cheap meal choices. 

More tid-bits to come I am sure. Easter's this weekend, look for lots of Lamby-love!

Foodie Anniversary

I love weddings. Even better, weddings with good food. Our wedding had a huge spread of yummy treats, and so in tribute every year, we spend our anniversary indulging in foodie heaven.

Actually, the last two years we have been to the same place. Campagnola in Evanston is in the same circle of restaurants as Bistro Campagne in Lincoln square, and Union also in Evanston. We really enjoy their compressed menu, especially since they do not focus on pastas, like so many Italian joints here in the states. With an impressive list of antipasti including grilled radicchio, and various cold salads, along with a large secondi selection, this small darkened restaurant creates an authentic feel that is quite romantic. We were lucky to still get thier winter menu before it changed at the end of the week.

We started the evening with a glass of prosecco, and two antipasti. First we ordered the beef carpaccio - done almost the same way I had it in Lucca - with capers, arugula with a lite lemon and olive oil toss, and parmesian. Our second was a must-get whenever we eat here. They have an especially good fire roasted octopus. It is slightly different each time we come, due to the menu cycles. This time the chef paired it with green beans and re onions and a little olive coulis, with lemon zest shavings being the real light of the dish.

Whenever we dine here there is another dish that the husband insists that we have. They do a particularly good ragu with parpedelle, and if you ask, the server will kindly have the kitchen split an order for you into two bowls.

For the main dish, the husband had a very tender beef short rib, with polenta and rapini, which he said were a little too spicy and difficult to eat, but were good. I had the breast of pheasant, wrapped in bacon, drizzled with a little herbed oil, served on a bed of Israeli couscous tossed with English peas and pork belly cubes.

We finished with a little dolci, he with blackberry sorbet, and I with a walnut cake cooked in a creme fresh custard.

I think it was slightly overindulgent, but who's counting! Remembering one's wedding should always be cause for celebration.

Stock you.

It's cold, and rainy, and I'm avoiding memorizing music. The husband has retreated to the den to fix the artistic world, and I'm drinking instant coffee from Starbucks. 

There are so many things not right about this picture, especially for a Saturday morn at 9am. 

What happened to the slow times?? I often comment that as Yanks - Americans in gen actually - we don't really understand the concept of "relax" and when we do, by the time there's time, we end up getting sick from our bodies getting ticked off at us.

In all the craziness of our world here at home, I decided this weekend I'd make some stocks. 

Different than broths - stocks are richer, more complex, darker, and generally just better.  I tend to think most companies that produce these kinds of ingredients don't like to market stocks because, well, they just take up too much darn time. We're talking about 12-14 hours total to produce (if you do it slow and right). Here's how you go about making a stock....

Get a lot of bones, of one kind of animal, unless you want like a strange kind for very specific dishes. For chicken use a whole carcase from a roaster, picked over for all the bits of meat still left. For beef, you can use those "soup bones" that they sometime have in the market - usually frozen. 

Put these bones into a roasting pan, or a oven safe container of some kind. Add one large onion cut up, one carrot, one stalk of celery. This is traditional. You can also throw in a few cloves of garlic. Or whatever other veg acout. that you like. Put into a 350 oven until it's brown, very deep brown. Not burnt but brown. 

This means the items have caramelized - all their sugars have been brought out to play in the sunshine, and now they're toasted!

Throw into a "stock" pot, top with cold water - a lot of cold water, like, 3 inches from the top full - throw in a bay leaf (or 3) some parsley sprigs, pepper corns, thyme sprigs, etc. It's great! As long as it's not dirty throw it in!!! You're gonna strain it all through a sieve later anyway!

Here comes the part that makes us all virtuous. Patience. 

You put this pot on the stove and simmer it (NOT BOIL) it for hours. I usually keep the lid on for at least 3 or 4 hours to really milk the flavor of the browned goodness submerged. Then I take it off and let it reduce for another 4-5 hours. Make sure you skim off the gross stuff on the surface every hour or so. That's the leftover junk from the bones that you don't want in your finished product.

Then Strain it, you can use cheese cloth, or a fine sieve, I use a sieve. 

Then I put it back in the pot and let it reduce a little more till it looks like the right color...what color? That's right, brown!!!

We usually keep a container in the fridge of about half, and then put the other half in the freezer. You can also put it into ice cube trays and the you'll have nuggets of stocky goodness to pull out whenever. 

If you keep reducing till there's almost no liquid left, it looks almost like a paste, this is a demi glace, and you can freeze this too. Then add a tablespoon of this to sauces, etc. 

I hope you'll try to make your own stock. Start using instead of broth for sauces, and soups. Though sometimes using a broth is the way to go, usually a chicken broth. Try the recipes both ways, one with broth and one stock. See which you like better. Kitchen basics also as a great line. 

You'll notice I didn't talk about adding salt. I like to only salt a tiny bit in the first stage, before roasting. This way you can completely control how much salt is in your final, FINAL product. I'm talking about the sauce or soup you use it in. Look on the back of a supermarket stock sometime, then ask yourself if you want to eat all that salt.

So enjoy the rainy day, take a few moments to throw some old bones and badly cut veggies into a pot. Make your own stock! It's so easy, even a French peasant in 1643 could do it, why not you!

Restaurant Week...

Restaurant week was one of those thing last year that I really regretted missing. I think I was in Virginia while it was going on, and I missed the pre-fixed menu obsession that comes with the event. In Chicago, one week a year (though I think this week's event has been extended) you can go to some of Chicago's most select and order a three course lunch or dinner for fairly cheap. Places such a Nomi, Bin 36, and Cafe des Architectes seat you for minimal dollar.

This year we had time to go to lunch at Cafe des Architects in the Sofitel hotel lobby. We wanted to try for dinner, but due to busy lives and already booked reservations, lunch was all we could get in for.

Instead of a 3-course lunch, these guys did a 4-course, mirroring their Executive Express Lunch which the restaurant serves on a daily basis.

The meals come on one large white square plate, with 4 inner square plates, and the portions are quite small. We started with a Cauliflower soup with maybe a hint of truffle oil, or maybe it was just the mushrooms that topped. The Second course was "Octopus salad".

I love Octopus. and I love salads made of julienned apple. These two things mixed do not go well together however. It was much more satisfying to eat a bit of one then the other. And the cider vinegar dressing was way to overpowering.

We had a cut of hanger steak with a standard demiglace and some pureed root veggies. Pretty good, though nothing that blew my mind. And we finished with two small slices of a chocolate gateau. These were great, their pastry chef is a smart man. They had the wafer crispies in the bottom layer and I felt very child like eating them...except that I was surrounded by stuffy diners.

This place made me wonder about dining in NYC. It felt so claustrophobic and staunch that I was kind of uncomfortable. Not that I was going to do the wrong thing or eat with the wrong fork. But it was a sense that everyone there was trying to compensate for something else. Our waiter was great, but oh so formal. It completely contrasted the open modern whimsy of the space.

A well-to-do executive and his wife (or mistress) came in to eat. They sat near us on the other end of the two tops. They looked very busy and important, and the chef came out and chatted with them for a good 10 minutes.

They had burgers.

En retard Jour de Valentines

When one travels to a different city, or country even, there are expectations, like the kind of cuisine, the types of people, the landmarks, and so on. There is inevitability that there will be things that no one can expect, my favorite includes smells. The smell or combination of smells of a place is not only related to what's going on in the city (construction, landscaping) but also to the food that is cooking on the street corners, in bakeries or chocolate shops, BBQ and chicken shacks.

France to me has one of the greatest smells, of course, depending on where you are you get different facets. You get stinky cheese, and sweet grapes, the smell of fresh bread (which is not easy to make - entry to follow regarding), olives, meat roasting, fish being sold. These are things I miss when I walk around Chicago - unless, however, you find yourself walking downtown on a day when the wind has strewn about the smell of baking chocolate confections from near by candy and cookie emporiums.

The husband told me the other day, said he, "We live in the Paris of the US."

I had to think about it for a second. I mean, yes, I live within a large pool of minorities, just like where I would be able to afford to live in Paris. There are frequent street vendors. The mid-eastern cuisine in this town is amazing, just like the gaye-olde. And the Trump town is just like dear Eiffel... well maybe not quite.

On valentine's day the husband and I went to one of our favorite French spots in town. Bistro Campagne to me is so French it hurts. Not only does it smell great both inside and outside, but I ache to be back in la belle F. after sitting in this place for 10 minutes. My favorite time to go is in the winter - when the seasonal menu includes Cassoulet, a spanker to make (3 Days), but well worth the effort I'm sure. I'd rather just get it from these chefs, it's so much easier and you get a whole duck confit leg on top too! What's not to love?

We started out with a great bottle of vin rouge, their Chinon 2005, yummy. Then we ordered something I now know cannot live without.

Roasted bone marrow.

This stuff is like beef butter, scooped out of the bones, spread on toast with a little sea salt shavings. So good, so rich. I know some of you might be like, "dear baby jesus, no, she can't be serious." This dish is other-worldly. I love now that where Anthony Bourdain talks about it I can say to myself "Preach it, Tony. Amen."

Then I did something unorthodox (because the marrow wasn't enough). I ordered the chicken.

A good friend of our always gets the chicken here. He's a chef and foodie, and makes a great one himself. But he says B.C. has the best in the city. I am inclined to agree. The husband, who in the past has only ordered the chicken here, requests my beloved Cassoulet and though I was ethereally happy with my chicken...I was jealous. Beaucoup.

We ended the night ordering dessert, I a lush 4 tablespoons of Chocolate sabayon and cookies. Mmmm! tiny desserts!

Then something a bit odd happened...

The table next to us became full of that certain kind of person that goes out on Vday, you know that one I mean. The people that come to a fancy restaurant and order a house salad...only. Two couples, nice enough people, I'm sure, but would have been much happier at a bar. (there is nothing wrong with a good bar, I love bar food)

One of the guys told our waiter "I don't eat anything with butter or cream. Oh, and I don't eat bacon."

Hold Up.

You're in a froofy frog shop and you don't eat butter, cream or... bacon?

I might have asked them to leave, or at least questioned their aims of the evening....and I think any Frenchy would have too. I am happy they tried a new place to dine, the experience is everything. But they will need to develop that butter-fetish before making the leap across the pond.

Vegetarians are odd ducks, they baffle me. Someone somewhere gave this definition : VEGETARIAN. ANCIENT TRIBAL SLANG FOR THE VILLAGE IDIOT WHO CAN'T HUNT, FISH, OR RIDE

It seems to me that the gods gave us brains, and those brains said "here's how you make a tool to stab things," and so we did. Granted, it eventually led to war and such, but that's beside the point.

The point is meat is good! And we should eat it. At least I think so.

The art of vegetarian cooking is an unknown to me. I world of mystery and adventure, because let's face it, if you don't have succulent meat juices to liven thing up it's going to be an adventure getting people to eat it and enjoy. And yet I am becoming antsy with my meaty ingredients and wish to broaden my horizons.

Yesterday, a foodie companion graciously treated me to lunch at a Mediterranean joint, Sultan's Market. Now, I know you think I might have slipped on a piece of bacon and hit my head; but one of the things I love most in the culinary world is falafel. It's great! and it's usually completely veg solid. I love this stuff, and can't get enough. And at this place they put this great cucumber salad on the falafel sandwich. Yum... Another (and I think, frankly, better) place to get falafel in the city is taste of Lebanon. Oh man I crave that place on at least a bi-weekly basis.

Then we get home last night and what is waiting for us, but a divine box from my mother (Thanks Mom!) And in it among other lovely treats is a cookbook. A really amazing cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant, new classics. I mean, I've eaten I eaten things made from this book and they are all pretty fantastic. And it's based on the concept of cooking for those with food allergies and sensitivities. So only a few of the recipes have non-vegetarian inclusions, usually fish based. If memory serves, their tapenad is very tasty. I think I will make it soon.

So will I become vegetarian friendly? I hope so. All this animosity I have for their lack of bacon eating needs to end. As someone once asked me, "Where's the love?"

Only time will tell, and then I'll let you know.

 

Porky Publican

The Publican. Chicago.

One of the places the husband and I have been itching to visit. We had been given several chances to go in the past and when they fell through we sadly cried ourselves through dinner in front of our plates at home.

Not this time. This time we went. Post Schubert concertings, it was the obvious choice to go. We were on a budget but the choice of eatery tipped us into it. None of us had been and all of us had it on our lists. And this is what happened.

We waited in the bar for our table of 6 - though it might have well been 8 or 12. This joint has communal long table seating that extends around the room in front of their pen-like booths (complete with swinging doors). Ordering our beers, we chose frites with garlic a., a sliced ham sampling, and house made pork rinds. You heard right. And they were, as one diner put it, "lovely fat popcorns," sprinkled with cayenne or some other spicy red spice combo.

Here's where we should have seen the soon to come challenge. Pork rinds, ham, fatty fried frites. Getting the picture??

Once seated at the table, we get a heads up that one in our dining party, let's call him OC, had a connection with members of the restaurant's team and we might get a few perks. Briefly after fanny met chair, what arrived at our table? Why, more pork rinds and frites. A lot more. So we're already porked up and we get more. Awesome, we think, this is going to be awesome.

Note: this is the kind of place you share everything, so we ordered for the table and shared like good little first graders.

OC ordered wisely some apps.: Grilled octopus, beet salad and yellow fin tuna. These were great. The tuna was a little tough for my tastes, especially for how thin it was cut, but it had good flavor with diced kohlrabi on top - though I thought something like a granny smith apple would have been a more interesting flavor with the same texture element.

Grilled octopus was pretty standard, everyone seems to be doing the same thing with some kind of white bean variant, pretty standard. Yet really, really great. I wonder if there's any other way to have octopus other than grilled that would be just as interesting...

The beet salad. Okay. This was amazing. The chef used golden beets, grapefruit, avocado, red onion, red watercress, and something else I cant remember because the beets were too good, and they have blocked out my memory. Those of you who were there, please remember and tell me. Soon. So I can recreate it at home.

OC expertly ordered a couple of bottles of wine to follow our beers (I had drunk a Matilda, as it is so tasty). Then things got crazy.

Pork. Hmmm. This place has giant pictures on the wall of the fattest pigs you've ever seen. Looking at the menu you see a lot of non-vegetarian choices. In fact, there are no. vegetarian. choices. I think even the beet salad uses pork fat in the dressing.

We ordered the lamb curry, pork belly, sardines (actually an app), and the country ribs for the table.

This was THE fattiest meal I've had eaten.

The pork belly was really well cooked, except the crust was a bit to sweet for me. It was kind of like candied bacon. Still very tender, and had a really nice accomp of roasted cauliflower. The sardines were very good, looked like they were roasted whole...mmmmm. The ribs were HUGE. and very good, though with a thematically large amount of fat present with the meat.

The lamb curry was also made with belly. Lamb belly. And only lamb belly. These lambs were the fattiest little buggers ever created by the maker. At one point, with still three pieces of lamb in the bowl, no actual lamb meat was present. It was all fat. I mean, this was delicious fat, if you could get past the point of it being fat and actually put it in your mouth. And the curry was fine, I guess. Not really a curry, kind of a curry-like infused broth. It did have Jerusalem artichokes in it, which were great and totally complimented the lamb-fattiness.

Now, we had all been waiting to come to this place since its inception. And what did we think? Well. It was good. It was alright. Okay, as one of our fellow diners Lance Manyon said, "It's...it's not worth it." I think Lance was referring to the fact that not only was he gypped on his portion of the octopus being served last, but also that after only a few bites of the lamb, there was no actual lamb meat on the plate. I have to concur on the lamb bit. Though my piece of octopus was great.

So, what did we have for finishings? What else, a waffle. And what was on top? A big, luscious scoop of butter.

Are your arteries hard yet?

I think most eating adventures are better with a friend. Or two, or 7. You know, the more the merrier, unless that means that everyone finishes off the delectables before you get your share. So, sharing in moderation. But sharing none the less.


We love dinner parties. We love giving them, and we love going to them. The husband and I make a point to have them at our home as often as we can. There is something really interesting when you bring people together to eat. It can be the simplest menu possible, if you add a couple extra places, it becomes more fun, more interesting, overall a much better time than you would have on your own. Don't get me wrong a romantic dinner for two is great, but it means something entirely different.

We recently had a few friends over for a dinner using heavily the excuse that it was because a friend was coming from out of town, though we would have had these friends over regardless of travel plans. Making a classic french meal consisting of mushroom soup, frisee salad, Bœuf bourguignon (which I'm realizing we make way too often), and a lemon tart. It was decadent, and lush, and would have meant nothing if not for the people that were at the table.

I think this is why people eating alone is such a sad thing. Having coffee by one's self, or watching a movie, there are activities that are reflective, meditative. They can be done alone and still deliver the same result. But you see someone sitting in a restaurant alone and you automatically get some kind of pit at the bottom of your stomach. That person has no one there to share this ritual experience with.

Gor, that's depressing. Makes me want to want to eat more. Maybe this is why all of America is considered obese, except for stick figured Paris Hiltons. The European communities relish the chance to eat in groups, large family meals are a weekly if not daily, if not every meal occurrence. Conversation is plentiful and the food is too. And yet, we're the country that has the weight problems. All fast and processed food aside, I think this is a cultural community issue.

So go out there and eat with people! Go on, you heard me! Eat a lot, and make it meaningful!

I'll be true to you, ragu

I told someone today I was going to make ragu tonight. He seemed surprised and asked if I really eat that stuff. Yes, he was confusing a ragu with Ragu, the pasta-sauce impostor, which is fine if you're in college and poor and have no taste buds. The former is a completely different thing all together.

The Wiki world defines a ragu as a meat sauce, the word it self coming from French word, ragoût, which is from ragoûte, meaning to retrieve taste. I don't know if that's in reference to cooking things for a long time (the fact you get so hungry waiting for it you just want to "retrieve" it from the stove and chow down), or, that usually in the way you make a ragu, you layer so many flavors you have to make an effort to retrieve their individual flavors.

My ragu usually is a mix of the tradish veg combo, (onion, celery, and carrot) with a couple of garlic cloves, tonight it also includes mushrooms, finely diced; normally I use a mix of ground lamb and ground pork. The wee-sheep was not to be found at the local mart, so I settled for the crude beef instead. Basically you cook the you-know-what out of everything browning little lovely brown bits in the pan. I, then, add a crap load of white wine and chicken stock. Why not beef stock? I really don't know....hmmm. I have not one iota, but that's what I use. And it rocks.

If I'm feeling sassy, I add bacon first and cook the veg in the golden goodness.

The husband loves this meal. It's perfect on a neg degree night (like the -30 winds we have tonight). Like the afore mentioned Irish Stew, it is comfort food through and through.

The first time I had a real ragu was from the source. I was in Italy for multiple weeks and several friends and I had been wanting to try this hole in the wall place that was supposed to be fantastic. Forgive that I can't remember the name, but it was in Lucca near Cafe Leo, but maybe a little north; south of the hostle almost directly. VERY small and their lunch was less expensive than dinner. So we went.

The ravioli with a ragu was one of the specialties. And turns out it's kind of a common thing in the area.

Okay...this stuff was (MAN!) heaven in a bowl. There were only 5 or 6 ravioli, but of course in Italian style, it was the perfect amount.

So, maybe two days later, I'm a lot poorer and having to scrape by, we find a cafeteria style place...what is one of their usual dishes? THE ravioli alla ragu, and it's also amazing, though of course a different recipe. I eat this for like 4 lunches straight when a girlfriend reminds me it's still pasta and no Italian would eat it like that.

So, I stop, and only have it every couple of days.

The trick is you have to let it cook, simmer, bubble away.

Julia Child once said she didn't like Italian cooking because of how few ingredients it includes and how easy it is to make most all of the dishes. She didn't consider it real cooking.

Totally unreal for sure.

Stewing for Grian

It’s winter, and in Chicago the wind blows hard and the temperature drops into the negs, and you feel the depressing nature of how little the sun shines. In these times, comfort food is important; this kind of noshing makes you feel warm and whole, so you can go out and dig your car out from under the 4 feet of snow and ice that has piled around it.

From time in memoriam, and before, people have stewed things. Whether it included meager roots and berries, or wild game and cellar veggies, this form of cooking was a way to make tough meat or the like tender and eatable. In this way, poor peasants were creating the ultimate comfort foods.

Dishes like beef bourguignon, coq au vin, soup de poisson and bouillabaisse (not the same thing), feijoada, and tons of other varieties from various countries have satisfied those of lesser social rankings for hundreds of years before they were seen on Michelin starred restaurant menus. They’ve stayed in existence much longer than the foods of nobility which were costly at the time, but not as creative as those of the serfs.

Creativity out of necessity? New concept? Hmmm.

I have stewed over many a stew. Usually, I go for a bourguignon-type deal with cheap beef cuts and veg, and lots of red wine. (The wine adds acid, and that is mucho importante when cooking, just as important as salt content. Most people add salt when they should really add an acid. In that case you just have really salty still bland food.) The recipe I made last night, an Irish Stew, had not only an entire bottle of wine, but 1/3 cup of vinegar as well. It had huge chunks of carrots and potatoes (hello, it’s Irish), fresh thyme and bay leaf.

One thing though. If I was an Irish peasant, you can bet I wouldn’t have a whole bottle of red wine that I was going to throw into some meat, I would be drinking it. So there must be something else that this recipe was missing for it to be truly Irish. I think it was beer; though beer, also, I would think an Irishman would want to keep to booze on…then again these stews were made by house wives.

Maybe one day, frequently intoxicated Grian O’Bryan came home and is wife Patty had gotten sick of him tipping the bottle while she was trying to cook and raise their 8 children, attempting to find what little variety in her extremely boring child filled existence that she could, and she dumped his entire brew stash into her stock pot. And Grian came home and freaked out, then they sat down to his evening meal and it was an amazing, delicious, unique experience. And Patty never looked back.

I like to think this is how it was. That’s how great recipes get discovered every day.

This stew was really great actually. Next time I am going to try it with a little of Grian’s favorite brew and see what happens.

See Ya' 2008, May You Take Your Troubles With Ya'

So it's been a bit!

What with the holidays and all, things have been busy.

I have been around the block culinarily speaking. Upon returning home to Chicago we had a delish new years.

It all started with an amazing new years eve. I, like probably most of you, joined friends toasting 2008 (even though it was kind of a shoddy year). A friend of ours had us over along with several others. Started off with a cranberry and champagne cocktail, and then proceeded to drink a lot of really bad booze. I mean some of it was fine, and some of it was cheap. Not that there's anything wrong with cheap, but WOW, what cheap bottles we drank. I have to say the prosecco was not bad at all though, oooooh and the rose, man that was good--I have no idea what it was! It probably come to at least 10 empty bottles total...most consumed by the 6 of us that stayed well into the night...

She had lots of yummy snacks. A brie wheel that she covered with a boozed sauce which melted the cheese instantly and it became a lovely goo. And her artichoke spread was great! Though by that point I was too hammered to remember exactly how she made it, but I do remember thinking it was really good.

Returning home well past midnight (oh how late it was), I awoke an extremely short time later and started re hydrating. We had been invited to a 2009 Dinner at another friend's, and I was cooking a side....and baking, which I have to say I am crap at.

But all went well! See, you knew it would turn out okay!

A very good friend of ours lovingly cooked a standing beef rib roast, and served it with both a horseradish sauce and a gravy. He made twice baked potatoes which were heavenly, a salad, YORKSHIRE PUDDING!!!!, and collard greens, which in his family they eat for good fortune in the new year. I contributed a bowl of black eyed peas, a tradition in my family for luck. Now here's the thing. There was this vegetarian that was supposed to come, so we left bacon out of all of the veg dishes, even though it would have been AMAZING!

She did not come.

Neither did the person allergic to mustard. That's a whole other story.

I could not put the traditional porky favorite into my BEANS! I really don't know why I'm making a big deal about this. I sauteed two onions, added a few sprigs of fresh thyme, then sauteed for another bit. Then added salt and Veg stock. It was so good. I mean this was a vegetarian meal I would tell vegetarians there was meat in just so I could eat more of it. SO GOOD.

And I baked a chocolate torte...who knew it was going to come out as well as it did. It was lush and light in texture, but rich and velvety. Ahhh, we left the leftover cake at our friend's, I have to say I was a little sad about that. I could have gotten up that night and eaten the whole thing straight from the fridge.

All in all, 2008 went out the way the whole year felt, one blurry drunken mess, though full of friends and loved ones singing and dancing in their various drunken states. And 2009 came in like a medium rare slice of roast beef with all the fixin's. And I have to say, that's one hell of a way to ring in a new year.

~Happy 2009~