A love letter to Garlic
March 5th, 2009
Dear Garlic-
If you were a person, I would ask you to marry me. I love you so much that my friends tell me I sometimes smell like you after a night of wild cooking. I can never get enough of you.
I remember the first time I met you. It was when my mom introduced us to each other over dinner. The way you dressed that Caesar salad is illegal in most countries.
Because of you, dear Garlic, I am not afraid of vampires. You give me courage to face the world.
In honor of you, I dedicate this post. My dear Garlic, let me count the ways I love you:
Garlicky Roast Chicken with Garlic Jus on Garlic Toast
Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Garlic Chips
Roasted Sardines with Green Garlic and Mint
Skirt Steak with Cilantro Garlic Sauce
Orange, Sage, and Garlic Pork Tenderloin
Pineapple-Braised Ribs with Honey-Garlic Tomato Glaze
Lots of love,
Pip
xoxoxo
Pip + Garlic = True Love
Gourmet Club: April 12, 2008
April 26th, 2008
After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.
Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.
Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”
I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:
The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.
We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.
Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.
The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.
Here is the menu:
First Course
Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads
Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004
Second Course
Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto
Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)
Third Course
Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata
Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002
*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.
Fourth Course
Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb
Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005
Fifth Course
Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries
Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999
recipes after the jump
Best of the Best Restaurant Week: 2/24/08 – 2/29/08
February 21st, 2008
Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine announced this year’s first Restaurant Week which will take place starting this Sunday 2/24/08.
Participating restaurants in the Minneapolis area serve tasting menus during lunch and dinner throughout the week (although not all places offer both). Lunch menus range from $10-$30 and dinner menus are $30. Some restaurants also include a wine tasting flight to accompany the tasting menu.
Last year, I visited La Belle Vie during Restaurant Week and it was unbelievably phenomenal. Although we don’t intend to visit it again this time, I’m hoping there will be another Restaurant Week in March like last year.
Make reservations ASAP to get a table – they fill up fast!
Restaurants participating next week that I would recommend:
Azia Restaurant & Anemoni Sushi – they’re offering a sushi/sake menu in addition to regular menu options
menu | reservations | website
Cafe Barbette
Pip’s Plate review | menu | website
menu | reservations | website
Campiello – I’m not typically a fan of American Italian, but their menu looks pretty good
menu | reservations | website
Cosmos
menu | reservations | website
Herkimer Pub & Brewery
La Belle Vie
Masa – I’ll be hitting this up for lunch
menu | reservations | website
Otho Restaurant and Street Lounge – a new place downtown Minneapolis; the reviews on citysearch sound promising; I’ll be hitting this up for dinner
Palomino – I’ll be hitting this up for lunch
menu | reservations | website
Red Stag Supperclub
Saffron Restaurant & Lounge – Love love this place; I’ll be hitting this up for dinner
Town Talk Diner
menu | Pip’s Plate review | website
Vincent
menu | reservations | website
You can see all of the participating restaurants and their menus at the MSP Mag’s website.
Gourmet Club: Take 1
February 6th, 2008
It seems like my friends and I have been talking forever about starting a gourmet club. You get a group of people together, everyone cooks, you drink wine, and have a great time. I know, it sounds like every weekend with my friends. But honestly, this is different!
Last fall we finally got our shit together and decided to schedule the first one in January. Ten people decided to join, which includes 4 couples and 2 singles so we paired up into groups of 2. Nicole’s boyfriend wasn’t interested, so she and I got paired up.
The idea is that whoever hosts that night chooses the theme and main course. January was the month of Gascony, France. Home to luxurious ingredients like foie gras and duck confit, as well as fishing, wine making and brandy distilling. The host decided to make duck confit and sent us info on Gascony.
I was responsible for the third course and it turned out that would be salad for the evening. First course was hors d’oeuvres, second course was garlic soup (YUM!) and the last course was dessert.
So the evening turned out pretty nice. Until the oven broke. Hahahah. I know we’ll look back in a couple years and say, “Remember our first gourmet club and Molly’s oven broke? And we had to use her upstairs neighbor’s? Ha!”
We went through plenty of wine and plenty of food…
First Course
Radishes with chive butter
Warm olives with rosemary, garlic and lemon
Escargot in herbed cream served on crostini
Paired with Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne 2004
Second Course
Garlic Soup with truffle oil (yeah, forgot the truffle oil, woops!)
Paired with Chateau Grande Cassagne Rose – Costieres de Nimes 2006 (I’ve had this rose many times and it tasted absolutely scrumptious with this soup!)
Third Course
Baked Goat Cheese Salad
Paired with Villa Burdigala Bordeaux Millesime 2004
Fourth Course
Duck confit with cinnamon sauteed apples and carrots
Paired with 100% Cab Franc – Chinon Les Petites Roches 2006
Fifth Course
Apple Brandy Tatin
Paired with Larressingle Armagnac and Dow’s 10 Year Tawny Port
recipes after the jump
Honky Tonks and Biscuits
October 28th, 2007
Who would’ve thought that Nashville, TN, is full of fantastic food discoveries? Well…I guess not me. But I’m here visiting a friend, and man oh man, we’ve been eating real good.
My sister and I are here visiting a friend, but she didn’t know I was coming. My sister cleverly booked my flight to arrive the same time as hers came in from Syracuse. When Jen came to pick us up Friday morning, we were sure we’d spilled the beans at least 4 times. Somehow, she had no idea and hadn’t picked up on our slips. The look on her face when she saw me was priceless! Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? It looked a little like that followed with a lingering of “I can’t believe you’re here!”
Thankfully, Jen understands the love of food. Our first mission? Drive out to the Loveless Cafe.
This cafe used to be a motel that also served food to travelers. The motel is now a series of little shops, but the cafe is still there and still rocking their delicious trademark biscuits.
Ahhh…..Southern hospitality. We sat down at our table and wahlah! biscuits with homemade jams arrived at our table with our server’s friendly smile.
These biscuits are tender, flaky, warm and a little bit crispy on the tops and bottoms. They’re clearly made with lots and lots of butter – but how else would they get so delicious? Fat is flavor! But the best part of these biscuits is the taste – they have a hint of that cakey buttermilk pancake flavor. Unbelievably good.
The second best part of these biscuits is the homemade jams that come with them. (Note: this picture is our second plate of biscuits – hence the partially eaten jams.) Strawberry, Blackberry, and Peach jams – it’s a toss up for my favorite but if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose, it would be the peach. Little chunks of fresh peach swim in syrupy jamminess. But the blackberry is really good too – it’s easy to forget the seeds in this jam because it’s packed full of ripe berriness.
And then the food – I ordered the BBQ Pulled Pork and Eggs. I looooove BBQ pulled pork, but this was out of this world good. Pork and eggs? What an easy way to redo steak and eggs!
The pulled pork was so tender and moist. It had a slight smoky flavor and the sweetness of the BBQ sauce made it taste like a little slice of heaven. I almost forgot where I was when I first took a bite. And mixing it was the eggs? Also delicious. The right way to have breakfast.
What else would I do on a 4 day weekend?
October 16th, 2007
Cook of course! I had Friday and Monday off this last weekend (I started a new job and am getting into a new schedule).
It was really nice to have 4 days off in a row, but more importantly it was incredible to have 2 days off when the majority of people are at work. I literally woke up and my first thought was, “What am I going to cook today?”
I made breakfast and coffee … then sat down on the couch with some cookbooks. I already talked about the mole I made on Friday (which was utterly delectably rich and savory and perfectly spicy). I’ll make mole again for sure.
I also made cinnamon rolls (which were somewhat unsuccessful – yeah. It turns out I can bake pies and some cakes, but not much else), pork tinga, and lasagna. Pretty much all over the place, huh?
Monday afternoon I was relishing my weekend. I got to cook all weekend! It was perfectly satisfying. And I realized this is what I get to do every Monday – cook all day. Whew – this makes me happy.
