Happy Foods Blog

Cheesecake...

2011-11-06T19:56:00.001-06:00

As American as apple pie and Kim K., the cheese cake is essentially curious deliciously rich, and can be made into a favorite late Sunday afternoon treat. Well, inspired by Jaque Pepin, I made this quintessential cake today, as our one year was taking his nap and our five year old was busy fighting enemies on naboo: Simple: 4 eggs, 4 packets of cream cheese, some lemon juice, some vanilla, and a cup of sugar... bake for an hour and stop. Let it rest for a while. Unmold. And dress. I used apricot jam as master Pepin likes, and also added cognac. Go heavy on the lemon rinds, since the smell and taste was just flagrant.

I liked it a lot. Enjoy (make sure you go heavy on the apricot jam).

Essential Pepin is in!

2011-10-28T22:14:00.001-05:00

I just picked up the latest from Maestro... A culmination of 60 years of cooking in a beautiful collection of his best recipes... with a DVD of instructions: how to make chocolate leaves, and how to put an apron on, and.... I love Pepin and look up to him. I learned A LOT from him. In fact, to relax, I usually go to YouTube and watch some of his KQED episodes... I really do. You go Jacque, and for many more years of health and cooking shows....

Pumpkin Pancakes Okido Style

2011-10-18T13:32:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is that time of year where you see tons of beautiful orange pumpkins sitting around anywhere you look. Apart from being aesthetically pleasing to look at, a pumpkin is a good -in fact great- source of yummy things. The top on mind -blame my upbringing- is the seed... pumpkin seeds: roasted and salted make a wonderful snack and perfect accompaniment to a good ale. There is also that thick orange skin -or is it fat, or muscle- that you can make pumpkin stuff out of: pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin kibbeh, -and in our family- pumpkin PANCAKES! Ever since we got that okido issue, we -meaning all of us- have been hooked on it.
The recipe is below (pics to follow). Please make it, and make it often.

Thanks Okido issue 6:
Ingredients: 1 cup of flour, 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of cinnamon (or other mix of spices), 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 egg, and 2 tbsp of oil (I usually skip).
What to do: Mix above ingredients together. Warm a pancake pan on medium and drizzle with very little oil (you do this the first pancake only - no need for oil afterwards), and make pancakes. Serve immediately with syrup.yeahhhhhh

Paris, O Paris...

2011-10-13T22:10:00.005-05:00

This is a brief post about what we ate on our recent lovely trip to Paris. We have made it to unbelievable restaurants, sampled amazing chocolates, saw beautiful art, walked romantic streets, and just had a great time. The restaurants we ate at are all in the nouveau French cuisine where the emphasis is on fresh, local, healthy,... and amazing.

Arriving to our hotel, we head immediately to lunch at Ze Kitchen Gallery... a funky and hip restaurant in St. Germain right a block from the Seine.

The appetizers we chose were a play on raw fish. These dishes to me are as good as the fish you get, and they were wonderful (with a unique presentation): Asian flavors, mixed with slightly sweet and crunchy peels of cucumber, some radishes marinated green papaya and mango. Dora had the (raw) sardines, tomato and a ginger like sauce. It is slightly challenging to eat raw sardines as the fish is a little tough.

Trout from Banka....

Sardines

Cod...

Rabbit!

Desert... Chocolate sorbet, Giandua on macademia cookie with a "dried" sugary mint leaf...

The entrees were somethings else. Dora had the cod fish... cooked to perfection with some type of miso sauce and again amazing presentation. I had the rabbit which was braised in the oven and then (I think) sauteed with pesto wild mushroom... Finally, for desert, we shared a Giandiua chocolate masterpiece on some macademia cookie... a perfect ending to a beautiful lunch. Overall, we felt the restaurant, although the food was super delicious, in some way overdid the Asian/French fusion somehow too much. The trout was the most memorable dish, and I would come here just to have it, but the rest, apart from looking pretty (paris style), did not really come through and shine.

The next day, all rested after a long evening of strolling along the streets of the Latin quarter, we head to the Louvres in the morning and then take the train to Rue Varonnes for a fabulous lunch at Septime! WHAT AN AMAZING TREAT... perhaps the best meal we had in Paris (may be anywhere??) The restaurant is unassuming and simple, more like a bistro, in a friendly neighborhood. It does not have the snobby feel of Ze above, but nonetheless very elegant and inviting. The menu is simple: we ordered the "Carte Blanche:" four dishes and wine... (it was difficult to get a reservation here as I called many times more than a month ahead... they only answer the phone right before each sitting... go figure that one out).

The first dish we got was this Tomato dish below.... I have never had a salad as good... an Ode to the Tomato: the grainy white you see is tomato granita, various pieces of heirloom with thin slices of some radish, sprinkle of fresh ricotta, all drizzled with some magic sauce. Wow. I still remember the taste of this when I close my eyes, and if I had to summarize my trip to Paris, it would be this salad: what was it, crunchy and fresh, amazing flavor, cold granita was just the key as the temperature added an aspect of freshness, warm house-made ricotta, and finally the drizzle some sort of oil citrus magic... Bravo to the chef for creating such a SIMPLE combination that elevates the tomato to a front and center masterpiece... Wow.


Tomato, ricotta....

Next, we had the "merlu de ligne" ( a line caught Hake fish -same family as cod) lightly lightly seared and mixed together with among other things a courgette -zucchini- sliced in half and lighly cooked stove top with some slight caramelization ---- WOW. I have never had a zucchini taste so good. The bubbly sauce is made out some boiled ham sauce... I mean this was a total grand slam.

Merlu de ligne

cochon Iberique

The third dish is a meat dish and out comes this porc "iberique" (from Spain) where the restaurant had the porc farmer eat exclusively a diet of certain mushrooms, and nuts. The meat is seared lightly, covered with a cabbage leaf, also lightly seared with a little aromatic salt, and then all drizzled with some olive oil sauce... I mean this was just pure bliss. Again, as in the above dishes, no fancy acrobatics hide-behind-some-sauce meat, fresh raw and let nature do the work for you. This restaurant is easily at the very top of its form, kicking on all cylinders.

Finally, there was the desert: simple, (cold) chocolate ganache, with an orchestra for the raspberry: a sorbet with a hint of mint and lemon, fresh berries, and all sprinkled with deep frozen raspberry crumbs.

This restaurant represents I think the finest example of this nouvelle cuisine Francaise: simple execution based on 1st class ingredients (they are obsessive about the ingredients - soil, geography of the farm, what the animal eats, where the zucchini comes from....), and fresh. None of the old guard saucy and heavy French, but a more youthful reinterpretation of an illustrious culinary tradition. This is my favorite meal of all time...

Bye Bye - Adios.... (in front of Septime -can I live here???)

Our final top meal came the last day in Paris in this exclusive and amazing restaurant manned by this renegade chef -think of Michael Carlson at Schwa in Chicago- only way more refined and frankly -better. The thing about Agape Substance is that it is at the forefront of hot... very elegant: the restaurant is meant to be a "comptoir" -a counter- with 20 seats where you sit on a 4 legged stool one customer adjacent to another, and the chef is designing the plates close by (about 6 feet from us - in fact, the ceiling was covered with a mirror, so you could look up and see exactly what the chef was making). It does feel cramped but somehow you forget about all this (you have to sit on a stool for 3 hours over lunch!) as you are amazed by not just the food but also watching the chef, Mr. David Toutain, personally putting together almost every dish and often times delivering it to your table... There is nothing I can say here about the restaurant (see the website), but the food is just unbelievable. To hear the waiters explain to you what every dish is made of and where the ingredients come from AND WHY, how it was cooked... and you drink wine, and you drink more wine (even Dora!), and the magic rolls on. Below, I have pictures of the 14 dishes we got...

opening of a parsley mousse....

Cold Tomato soup with powdered avocado... delicious.

Dumpling of some sort with a magical (I still remember this) carrot based broth... wow.

Avocat, caviar....

Zuchinni, shrimp, ...

Haricot vert, salmon, ginger sauce.... wow

wild carrots, mousse of mango, puslane

WOW... this fish was simply divine.


This is perhaps the best dish for me: farro -wheat, perhaps boiled, with a piece of white fish, and caramelized onion...

Chef de service showing off the pork belly from the restaurant's farm in the spanish highlands (I am not joking)

The maestro chef toutain delivering some dishes to our neighbor

Symphony of various kinds of mushrooms

Pork Belly heaven heaven heaven, with collard greens, caramelized onion (heavenly) on an avocado sauce...

light dessert of soaked in liqueur fresh strawberries on a light parsley mousse (yes parsley)


the chef called this "music de chocolat": chocolates with different consistencies: crunchy, gooey, powdered....

This was definitely a memorable meal, a once in a lifetime.

Our visit to Paris was all what we expected... on any given day you can visit more than thirty different restaurants with unbelievable meals served by a legion of creative young chefs living their dreams of cooking in the city of lights, combining the elegance of everything that surrounds them into some amazing dishes.

Bye Paris. We will be back.

Fruitcake (Lebovitz style)

2009-12-17T05:46:00.006-06:00

Delicious!

There's A Pizza War

2009-12-06T20:09:00.006-06:00

And lucky for us, we're living on the front line. When we first moved to North Beach, we ate at North Beach Pizza about once a week- it's a block away, has friendly service, and beautiful pizza. We soon realized that by walking an extra two or three blocks, we could also enjoy the classic, Golden Boy Pizza, or the new kid, Tony's Pizza Napoletana. Talk about hard decisions! Nikos stands by North Beach - once he finds something he likes, he's difficult to budge. I, on the other hand, although enjoying North Beach for its feel-good atmosphere and always-consistent pizza, and appreciating Golden Boy for it's no-nonsense, pizza-in-hand-with-beer-at-the-bar attitude, have a soft spot for Tony's (if we can ever get in). It's pricier than the others, but I don't mind paying for the top-quality ingredients. Tony Gemignani (a bit of a celeb in the pizza world: he's won a pizza "world-cup", has been on Food Network, etc etc) is passionate about each pie that goes out. Sitting 10 feet from the 900 degree wood burning oven (there's also a domed gas brick oven and a NY flat top gas brick oven), I've watched Tony expertly assemble ingredients imported from Napoli ("the pizza capital of the world") for his award-winning Margherita (he only makes 73 a day) and then slowly shift the pie in the oven, constantly moving it around until it's perfectly done. Another star is his Cal Italia with asiago, mozzarella, gorgonzola, sweet fig preserve, and prosciutto (almost a dessert pizza). Because they don't take reservations, it's almost impossible to get in on a Friday or Saturday night, so it's best to go for a late lunch/early dinner around 4 or 5. Or you can swing by North Beach or Golden Boy!

Yogurt Soup: Perfect!

2009-12-02T22:01:00.004-06:00

Yes, you read it correctly, Yogurt soup.

It is one of those things that go well with cold weather, feeling happy, cozy moments, lazy Sunday afternoons, etc.

What: 2 lbs of yogurt (use at least 2%)

one clove of garlic

a pinch of rice

a tablespoon of cornstarch

some salt

dried mint

Put the yogurt through a metal strainer directly in the pot. Force it through with a spoon. Add to the pot the cornstarch that was mixed in a small cup of water. Place pot over medium heat and STIR, and STIR and STIR. After 5 minutes add the salt and the rice, and KEEP STIRRING until you see bubbles, or it has started boiling. This will take about 20 minutes (yes you need to stir this whole time). Then, you can turn to low heat and keep it on until rice is cooked.

Fill a bowl, sprinkle some crushed dried mint on top, and ENJOY!

(of course in Lebanon, you would eat this soup with many things in it - my favorite is Shish Barak or Lebanese Raviolis - which are meat filled little ''hats'' ... but that is for another day)....

PIES, etc

2009-10-31T11:21:00.008-05:00

So, I have been making some of the pies from David Lebovitz's blog (boy am I so jealous - living in Paris, and blogging about food there). Anyhow, I made two pies: the almond Chez Panisse Pie, and the Quince "Easy" pie. I loved both. DAvid is really good, and has a good palette.

The almond pie was my favorite. It is crusty, rich in flavor, and just delicious. It is a bit tricky to make. The texture is heavenly: The top is this crackly caramelized almonds bathed in sugar and cream (need I say more), but sitting on top of a thin film of simple pie crust which is slightly chewy. The Grand Marnier comes through, along with the pungent almond smell. I love it .

The second pie will be my every other week jam pie. It really is simple to make: just mix flour, butter and baking powder, add the almond essence (do NOT forget this!), lay the dough in the pie mold, put your favorite jam, cover with dough leaves, sprinkle with sugar, bake. Done. He also calls for adding a third of a cup of corn flour.

I like that a lot, for texture especially. I used the last remaining Quince jam I had on one half, and the other half I filled it with apricot jam (both my mother's). Wow. I eat a piece for breakfast lunch and dinner.

So, go bake a pie for halloween tonight. Trust me, it will make you smile.

Moods

2009-10-22T21:11:00.008-05:00

Hey, it is the fall here in the Midwest. A special time with beautiful colors, and smells. The markets are full of local apples (mostly from Michigan), and all apple-centered products, like apple donuts, and apple pies, and apple cider, and apple songs, and even apple festivals (we went to the Long Grove one). I have been seeking comfort these days at our local Japanese restaurant, in love with their Udon noodles in hot aromatic broth and tempura fried vegetables. What a simple dish, yet it is so satisfying and warm with the vegetables dressed in this beautiful crackly cover. I have also picked out some fresh white beans from the market, another warm and cozy dish: boil them, cut some tomato some vinegar and oil, some onions, basil and mix. Pure comfort. Go out there and enjoy the leaves before the dark days of winter arrive!

Harvest time . . .

2009-09-25T20:05:00.005-05:00

In Napa!

And the best part of it all. . .

We left with a bottle of Domaine Carneros 2005 Brut Vintage Cuvée- fabulous!

Fun Stuff

2009-07-29T21:10:00.008-05:00

In the last week, I made fun little things that looked and/or sounded good. I know they would taste good. So, first, from Smitten Kitchen, I tried the breakfast bars. I used both fresh raspberries and blueberries. They were good, just exactly as I had expected though. I do like the earthy oat flavor, but for some reason, I thought they were a bit too sugary...

I also made the fabulous no-knead bread. I was a bit disappointed since I repeat the SAME recipe everytime and the bread is inconsistent: this time it looked great, but did not get the holes.... in the middle (I added 3 oz of beer to the mix for flavor, and that is definitely recommended).

On the other hand, I did some simple Macaroons (I am not sure why, I just happened to be in a coconut mood, and had just bought some flakes for my weekly homemade granola mix - thanks nytimes). So, I did these for the first time, and I was blown away. Simple, elegant, very tasty (healthy too-just egg whites - no milk of any kind, butter or oils) and looked great especially the ones dipped in chocolate and pistachios!

Say Cheese!

2009-07-23T19:21:00.006-05:00

One of the many treats of walking through San Francisco's Ferry Building is stopping by Cowgirl Creamery cheese shop (the actual creamery is located about an hour north of the City). The staff is very helpful and very knowledgeable of the array of cheese, which they bring from over 200 producers in the U.S and Europe (Cowgirl produces just under 10 of their own). They also don't push you to overbuy, and they let you taste anything you want! We last tried a gorgeous Spanish Mahon Reserva and a Greek (of course!) Mt. Vikos feta, which was possibly the best we've ever had. I can't wait to go back and try a few of Cowgirl's signature cheeses- or maybe we'll just take a road trip up to the creamery and see how they make them as well!

With flowers in my hair and great food in my mouth.

2009-07-21T20:45:00.015-05:00

I'm sorry for the long long delay since my last post- there were vacations, and moving, and no internet... but all along, the happy food never stopped. I'll begin from my most recent happy foods and slowly work back in time...

Life has taken me to San Francisco. If you mentioned San Francisco to me about 10 years ago, I would think immediately of cable cars and Rice-a-Roni. To my great delight, it has ohh so much more. We settled into an overpriced, and undersized one bedroom right below the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. It's a couple blocks to North Beach, and a few more to Chinatown. As you can imagine, there's great food all along the way.

Most people say everyone living in North Beach has their favorite Italian restaurant, and Niko and I, though still trying things out, are already leaning towards Ideale on Grant Street. If you go on a Friday night, you'll probably be seated at the bar for about 20 minutes before getting a table. You won't mind though with the reasonable wine prices, and the upbeat atmosphere - you may even learn a word or two of Italian between the waiters and the owner running back and forth to the kitchen. It definitely beats sitting in the front of a restaurant, completely forgotten (which has happened to us at more than a few other Italian places in North Beach). Some of my favorites are the prosciutto e pera - prosciutto wrapped around bosc pears and mascarpone, and the spaghetti alla chitarra - homemade spaghetti with scallops and garlic in a white wine and tomato sauce. It's simple, tasty Roman food.

Another great little spot is Cafe Divine on Stockton. Overlooking Columbus Park, it's one of my favorite places to go to get a glass of wine (and perhaps a cup of soup on those extra chilly San Francisco summer days) and people-watch.
Their desserts are a bit pricey, but if you're really wanting something sweet, they deliver. I recently tried the "Cloud Nine Cheesecake", topped with a sour cherry drizzle. It was delicious.
They also do a great breakfast. I tried their spinach, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato scramble. Although the eggs were good, the best part, by far, was the fresh, flaky, cheddar and scallion biscuit served along side.

The Taste of MY Chicago: The GCM Annual BBQ in the Park

2009-07-17T21:21:00.010-05:00

The annual event was yesterday, and what do you know, I learn something new about the culinary food

in my city. I have never been to this and it is the BEST food fest I have EVER attended. I will explain.

It is an outdoor bbq of sorts on behalf of Chicago's premier farmers market, the Green City Market which

is held Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Park part of Lincoln Park. So, the farmers's famous customers, i.e.,

the TOP restaurants in the city hold this all out cooking showdown with literally the top restaurants

there: rick bayless(above), naha, Vie, spring/custom house, blackbird/avec, Spiaggia, Nomi, 4 seasons,

primehouse, Eve, Hot Chocolate, Mado, North Pond, Fox and Obel, and the list goes on (check out he official list here).

It is an all-you-can-enjoy evening of elk, goat, beef, turkey (amazing turkey from Paul Virant... WOW),

wonderful TROUT, and local cheeses. It is the feast of feasts where everyone walks around with a constant

smile on their face and full hands: a beer in one, and a sample in another. The beauty of it was that EVERY dish was

prepared using ingredients from local farmers: the beef, the greens, the pork, etc,.... It was a festival honoring

our local produce, our local meats, and dairys, and our local unmatched microbrews (3 flyods from hammond, two brothers

from downstate, goose island) and of surprisingly Illinois wine (???). I loved it all. I enjoyed all of it and every dish

I had was better than the one before it (except for the cold Kohlrabi soup).

I cannot wait till next year's. p.s.: Some of these chefs are really

COOL!

Grilled Pizza? Yes, please invite me over when you throw one on

2009-07-12T19:52:00.005-05:00

I just saw a recipe from Martha's (something) about making a pizza on the grill. Really simple, it says: 1) get dough and shape it like a pizza, 2) brush both sides with olive oil, 3) throw it on the Weber for 4-5 minutes, flip it, 4) top it with your ingredients, and Voila! We put (like the recipe suggested) fontina cheese, and then when it came out, fresh arugula with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. It was AMAZING. I really liked the charred pieces of dough with the crispy edges, and the elegance of it. Plus, the arugula added a nice bite with its slight bitterness and the muted taste of the fontina. And of course, is there anything better than dough, salt, and cheese, all warm and gooey? No there is not. This is just another way to enjoy pizza that is simple, quick and guaranteed to beat almost all of your local delivery options (add Italian ham on top of the arugula next time).

The STAR in (the) Lone Star STATE? It is the BRISKET!

2009-07-04T20:02:00.009-05:00

Yes. It is. According to Wikpedia this is the part of the body that cows lie on, and it is not considered by any means a premium cut of beef (main part of what goes into corned beef). Well, inspired by an article in the latest Saveur magazine devoted to everything Texan, I decided to tackle one of these babies on a medium sized Weber kettle. You see, I have had brisket from the BEST in Texas (Kreuz, Blacks, Smitty's, Cooper's in Llano,...) and so, I know (kind of) what the brisket is supposed to look, feel, and taste like: soft, juicy, really juicy, caramelized on the outside, really lean on the bite, and boy oh so smokey. That is the taste I always remember. The smoke.

Well, I did what I am told: prepared a simple rub and laid it gently on an otherwise unattractive flat piece of meat - about 5 lbs of mangled tendon and fat. I started the next morning and followed the recipe verbatum (with major problems trying to contain the heat in the 250 range - it kept cropping to 300).

Well, it was BEAUTIFUL: Nice smoke ring, juicy and delicious (although a bit salty). I really enjoyed the whole process though. See, "cooking" a brisket is an 8-10 hour process of hands off love so to speak: peaking is not allowed, but you do it, touching, smelling, feeling the temperature are all part of the cooking. Also, just sitting outside on a beautiful day with your Weber billowing in the vicinity, a beer in hand and a nice book. This is cowboy Texan life at its best. And as they say down there, do NOT mess with Texas!

Letter from Emilia-Romagna II

2009-06-19T12:19:00.005-05:00

Again, my journey continues in the land of olives, cheese, and wine. We did visit a local wine producer's shop today to sample some wine and perhaps buy some. I am no connoisseur of wine, but I can tell whether something is not great. We tasted many wines and all tasted great to me. What is stunning is the price. They all ranged from 2 Euros (yes TWO!) per bottle to the expensive of 8 Euros! This must be the reason they do not drink soft drinks, and beer here. Wine is good, and Wine is cheap.

On the food front, we continue to visit local small restaurants, and so far Benilde's hand made tagliatelle are my favorite. It turns out that she does not use the hand pasta machine, but actually does it the old fashioned using the wood stick (like a baseball bat). The pasta is lightly boiled, feels hard, but just the right amount, covered with ragu (my favorite topping). But amazingly the sauce does not leave a film of fat on the bottom of your plate. It is cooked

long, but somehow, its fat content, although there, is able to be concentrated in the bits of meat that get stuck on the ribbons. I like it that the ribbons are really long and you just sink your head in the plate, try and suck in the long ribbons while at the same time taking in a whiff of that aroma -tomato paste, fat of some kind, maybe bacon or mortadella, olive oil, and some parmesan cheese- and then lift your head with a large smile and a full mouth. We all become kids when we eat these pasta and digging in with your face is part of the fun. Thank you Benilde for this wonderful treat. And so, I leave you with what a satisfied customer left on the wall of the restaurant for Norma (Benilde's daughter and current chef) after what must have been a jurrassicly sacred moment eating the taglia.

Letters from Emilia-Romagna I

2009-06-15T17:55:00.007-05:00

I am spending a week in beautiful Bertinoro, a village in Emilia-Romagna, a northern region in Italy. This "state" is known for Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and Maserati's but it is equally famous for its hams from Parma, its world renown cheese -parmigiano reggiano- and many other delicacies. And, who can forget the mortadella.

We go out every evening to one of the small local restaurants. A background: Bertinoro is small, really small, but it sits on a high hill, relative to its surrounding. Since it is close to the coast (the adriatic - Rimini- is 40 Km alway), it tends to be a bit stuffy down below, and at night

Bertinoro is busy with sun bathers coming up to cool off over pasta and Sangiovese wine.

The local food can be summarized with: PASTA, PASTA, and PASTA. There is also a local bread, (Piadona I believe) - unleavened flat bread that looks like thick flour tortilla. It is served usually with a soft raw cheese that is slightly similar in consistency to cottage, but creamier and more delicious. The food is simple, simple, simple. But, this is why it is delicious. No pretentious sauces, no fancy ovens, or preparations. Rather, hand made pastas, all kinds, with all kinds of different sauces, some successful (like the Ragu above - amazing) and others not as much (salmon based - perhaps meant for the beach goers).

After long evening meals with the students and our generous Italian host, we end the evening with the sweet Albana wine, made from local grapes - really local- from the hills below. And don't forget to "dip your biscotti in the wine" - tiny ones with hazelnuts, meant for dipping- my Italian host yells from across the table. Ah, certain things just make the whole experience that much better.

Tellia, or Italian style "stuffed pizza"

2009-06-03T22:51:00.006-05:00

On a lazy Saturday afternoon watching another one of Lidia's Italian shows, I noticed this interesting green pie that she was preparing. It looked intriguing: escarole cooked, stuffed in pastry bread and baked. It reminded me of the cute spinach pies that my mother and aunts prepared. Half way through this show, I was interrupted by someone wanting to watch the fire truck movie. So, I complied before catching the full recipe. I was determined to make this... immediately. Basically, the filling is escarole cooked in garlic, capers, olives and oil. And the dough, half semolina half white flour (I found-using google- someone had the measurements of the crust). And there is the Tellia, as it was called, a pie from Southern Italy, a town called Gaetta between Naples and Rome to be exact. Simple and delicious. A lot easier to make than those delicate Spinach pies the ladies back home make (the spinach needs to be mixed just perfectly, and the pies hand massaged gently into beautiful pyramid like domes - here, it is one large pizza pie). It was a big hit. I am looking forward to using all kinds of greens in this, may be tomato, may be even artichokes, ...

Green City Market - Chicago

2009-05-30T22:23:00.005-05:00

On a beautiful Saturday, enjoying rhubarb, honey and mint sorbet, we strolled in Lincoln Park among the crowds and between the organic stalls at Green City. So early in the season, the first days of Spring (yes, Spring in Chicago starts late), the Asparagus stole the show at the market.

Can it get better?

Garlic Lovers, rejoice: Mojo de Ajo

2009-05-25T09:23:00.003-05:00

This is a fantastic, fantastic shrimp preparation courtesy of Rick Bayless.

It really is that good!

2009-05-13T14:57:00.004-05:00

Farmer's Market

2009-05-13T14:21:00.015-05:00

With Safeway (a.k.a. Dominick's, for the Chicago contingency) a 15 minute walk from our apartment, I find myself going there at least every other day. In the beginning, I was excited when I saw tomatoes or strawberries from California - my now "home state" - they had to be fresh. I find myself expecting this now, and when I see produce from Mexico it drives me crazy! This last weekend, Niko and I decided to check out the Mountain View (home of Google) farmer's market - it was wonderful! Fresh (and locally!) grown tomatoes, asparagus, artichokes, zucchini, leeks, mushrooms, flowers, everything you could imagine! And, for the most part, everything is comparably priced to what's found at Safeway. I can't wait to check out the San Francisco markets!

Some of my favorites

2009-05-04T19:42:00.003-05:00

Simple Guacamole. Just Delicious.

What else, Baba Ghannouj, a.k.a., the "spoiled daddy"... need I say more. One of my favorite eggplant preparations.

My kind of historical monuments

2009-05-02T20:54:00.003-05:00