'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Our family's Christmas Eve tradition consisted of visiting our local Chinese buffet. However, with changing work schedules, we needed a new way to celebrate that offered a more flexible eating time. This year, I volunteered to make Christmas Eve dinner and serve it up with pasta bolognese. The recipe is an easy one -- most of the time, it just simmers on the stove and it's pretty forgiving in terms of cooking time. When we were ready to eat, we quickly cooked the pasta and we were ready to go! The pretty red meat sauce (garnished with chopped parsley) made for a festive meal. We ate heartily, trading stories of Christmases past and enjoying each other's company.


Tagliatelle with Bolognese Sauce (serves 6-8)
(adapted from Seriously Simple)

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground sirloin
• 0.5 lb ground veal
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, grated on a box grater
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 c. tomato sauce (I used homemade, but your favorite jarred kind is fine too)
• 2 tsp dried basil leaves, crumbled
• 1 c. dry red wine, such as Chianti
• 3 in. long rind of Parmesean cheese
• 1 lb tagliatelle pasta (or other medium-wide pasta)
• salt & pepper to taste
• chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
• grated fresh parmesean, to garnish

In heavy bottom pot: heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add ground meat and saute until lightly browned. Drain excess liquid. Add milk and cook for 2 minutes or until the milk is absorbed. Transfer to a bowl, using a slotted spoon.

Add remaining 2 tbsp olive oil to same pan and saute onion & carrot, stirring occasionally, for 4-6 minutes or until softened but not browned. Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.

Add cooked meat, plus tomato sauce, basil, wine, salt, pepper & cheese rind to the pot. Partially cover and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer gently for 45-60 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove any unmelted portions of the parmesean rind before serving. Toss pasta and sauce together, garnish with fresh parsley and pass the cheese!

Mmmm. Candy!

Having moved to the suburbs last year, I was very excited at the prospect of having trick or treaters. On Halloween afternoon, I swept the front walkway, put out my pumpkin and did an emergency run to the grocery store to pick up some more candy, all in anticipation of the costume hordes. They never materialized; we got 3 trick or treaters the whole night. I consoled myself by eating gobs of candy and drinking champagne.

This year, I won't go all-out with the candy. The reduced stash means I need to prioritize which kinds to get. Sure, there are the old standbys (3 Musketeers, Kit Kat), the old fashioned (Smartees, Charlestown Chews), and the new up & comers (last year's was the Reese's Crispy Crunch Bar), but which to get? Milky Way has already made the cut -- I love to pop them in the freezer and gnaw on them frozen.

What's your favorite Halloween candy?
	Almond Joy
	Junior Mints
	Kit Kat
	Milky Way
	Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
	Other
pollcode.com free polls

Sign of the Times?

An interesting article today on Boston.com discussed how local restaurants have been shuttered due to the downturn in the economy. I'm not sure I'm entirely buying that premise.

Persephone was a media darling, getting featured on the local news sources several times for their cutting edge concept: a high-end clothing boutique paired with a modern restaurant. The article tries to assert that the restaurant closed because of low sales, although it's implied that location had more to do with it than anything else. The author and owners also concede that maybe Boston diners weren't ready for such a concept-based restaurant.

I was surprised to see in the article that Icarus had closed, but as I noted back in January, Icarus' cuisine and service wasn't what it once was. Several years ago, the restaurant was packed with mainly middle-aged and older patrons on a weeknight. In 2007 and 2008, a few trips there showed an emptier dining room and poorer dishes. I definitely credit Icarus was being one of my first "foodie" experiences and I think the Chef's sentiment that foodies are now mainstream and more cultivated certainly rings true. But, I think Icarus' downfall was due to execution, not to more wallet-sensitive patrons.

The article closes by stating that diners now crave "upscale comfort food." With the mainstreaming of foodie culture, this makes a lot of sense; there's a mass market that wants something better than the Outback Steakhouse, but also wants something that's familiar and competitively priced. People will spend $5-$10 more a plate for what they consider superior food, but it has to be food they're willing to eat. Lobster mac 'n cheese, steak & frites and truffle-laced fries all deliver that experience. Restaurants close when they can no longer find their market or aren't delivering food and a dining experience that meets expectations. I think that is the bigger force behind the restaurant closures as opposed to fewer business lunches and aversion to high-priced dining in tough economic times. Cook what the people want, serve it in a nice environment at a price they're willing to pay on a regular Wednesday night and you'll do fine.

Amsterdam Roundup

Ah, Amsterdam. Was it really two weeks ago when we last met? During my extended weekend in town, I did my best to try a hearty sampling of food and drink. Here are some highlights.

Balthazar's Keuken: "Keuken" translates into "kitchen" and what you'll get here is a cozy neighborhood restaurant with contemporary flare. In a way, it reminded me a bit of Ten Tables in Boston's Jamaica Plain. The deal with Balthazar's is that they're only open Wed-Sat and only do two seatings a night. We were able to get the "early" reservation (7pm) on a Friday night. For the meal, it's a set appetizer and dessert and each guest can select 1 of 2 entrees. The night we were there, it was meat or fish, and being a party of two, we selected one of each. The appetizer was wonderful -- a delectable sampler that Glenn & I couldn't get enough of. The entrees were OK, but nothing amazing -- one was a roasted white fish on lemony pasta, the other was a local sausage on some sort of mashed potato. The other standout of the evening was dessert...warmed brandied cherries on a shortbread cake topped with mascarpone and pistachios. Oh and the cherries? They were also part of a brandy/prosecco house cocktail that Glenn enjoyed quite a few of!

Appetizer Sampler clockwise from top: Lentils with chorizo, duck confit, escargot with garlic and herbs, warmed gouda cheese, seafood mousse/cream on a Dutch cookie. Possibly butter in the middle, but we didn't eat it!

Glenn has cultivated a palate for the finer beers in life, notably Belgians. As such, one of the places on our to do list in Amsterdam was a stop at Cafe Gollem, noted for their extensive selection of Belgian beers. In this dimly lit pub, crowded on a Saturday late afternoon, they focus on the the beer. We staked out a spot and happily drank away, taking in the large beverage menu, the various glasses set aside for each brand of beer and the cat lazily sleeping next to the cash register.


The Dutch spice trade was a big business back in the colonial days and the Dutch did their best to capitalize on it. Throughout Amsterdam, there's a vast supply of Turkish, Indonesian and Thai restaurants (notably, we only saw 1 sushi place while in town). We jumped at the opportunity to try Indonesian food and booked a table at Tempo Doeloe. Reservations were required for this place and, oddly enough, you were forced to a ring a doorbell before they'd let you in. Once inside, we saw multiple tables stacked with metal trays powered by tealights. The thing to do here was to order a sampler of prominent dishes, have them be served in small ramekins and arranged on the candle-warmed tray to keep their heat. Dishes were served with a combination of saffron rice and white rice. Eating here made me think that the Dutch's involvement with the spice trade was purely monetary and that they did not have an extended history of actually consuming the spices. The menu warned against the "spicy" food and advised patrons to go easy. Upon sampling the food, we found that the dishes were flavorful with some heat, but nothing that would put you off. Except I was careful to avoid the huge chili pepper tucked into one of the dishes. :)

Eten & Drinken

That's "Food & Drink" for you non-Nederlanders.

Recently, I took an extended Labor Day vacation and jet-set off to Amsterdam for a long weekend. I had been to Amsterdam once before as part of a 24 hr layover traveling from Boston to Tanzania. During that trip I had a whirlwind tour of Amsterdam and squeezed in the Anne Frank House, a canal tour and some really good Thai food. For this trip, I had a whopping 72 hrs to explore the city, including sampling the food. Although still short, it was a blast!

Here are some Dutch tidbits I picked up on this trip:

• Tosti's. Mmm, tosti! This is a grilled/pressed sandwich with meats, cheeses and or veggies. It's served on dense, flat Turkish bread and is closest to an American definition of "panini." Very delicious. They're rather common, but I was surprised that more places weren't open later serving them -- they seemed to be a good call for those with "coffee shop" munchies.
• Panini. Here in the US, the panini means a gourmet sandwich, served on grilled flat bread and warmed/melted contents (cheese, meats, veggies). Best I can tell, in Amsterdam, this simply means "sandwich" -- white or multi-grain bread with some meat or cheese, served cold or at room temperature. Not that impressive. You have been forewarned.
• Coffee. Coffee is ubiquitous here and locals and tourists alike cram the outdoor cafes from late morning through early evening to drink a cup and chat. Oftentimes, coffee is served in glass mugs, something I hadn't seen much of in other European countries.
• Mint Tea. I didn't sample this, but it was on every menu I saw and frequently appeared on nearby tables. It looked beautiful -- light amber-colored water with mint leaves floating in suspension. Will have to try on the next trip!
• Dam good beer. Amstel, Heineken and Grolsch are the top players, in that order -- judged unscientifically based on the number of signs outside cafes. Bars open early, but I was surprised to see that they closed relatively early (or at least the outside portions) as well.

More on specific Amsterdam restaurants in the next post!

River Rock Farm

Recently, I was able to stop by the River Rock Farm table at the Brookline Farmer's Market. I had wanted to purchase skirt steak from them, but they were always sold out by the time I made it to the market after work.

Still hankering for some iron, I opted to buy some steak tips from the nice gal at River Rock and happily brought them home for dinner.


All natural beef? Local? I felt good about supporting it. We cooked it simply -- just salt & pepper on the grill and they were some of the best steak tips we've had (we have a tendency to overcook them). I'm not sure I could tell the difference in the flavor, but the idea of supporting local farmers appeals to me.

River Rock Farm offers a type of meat CSA. I'm intrigued, but not sure I'm ready to have that much (5-6 lbs/month) red meat in my diet.

Fallen Tomatoes

I was so proud of them. They were exceeding expectations. However, this evening, I confirmed what I first suspected yesterday: my 2 heirloom tomato plants had fallen victim to late blight. I bought them at a local farm/nursery, thinking they'd be better quality than plants from Home Depot. Was their fate determined by spores on the window from neighbors? Did my local nursery buy them from some central, infected distributor? Did I plant them too close together? Or, was it simply the result of an uncommonly wet June? Regardless, I'll have to find some other source for garden-fresh BLT's and caprese salad this summer.

Tonight, after dinner, we pulled the heart-shaped heirloom and bagged it for the trash. I salvaged 3 giant green tomatoes and have them on the windowsill, with the vain hope that they will ripen, but I'm not too optimistic. We gathered another half dozen not-quite-ripe cherries and are eagerly awaiting their fate. The rest of the cherry tomato plant gets pulled tomorrow night. The mosquitoes were too thick for us tonight to finish the job and really, my heart wasn't in it.

For my inaugural vegetable garden, 3 plants are down, with 1 to go. Will the pepper plant make it?

Zucchini Roll-Ups and An Easy Dinner

When the zucchini was flourishing, we were eating zucchini every other night, usually grilled. Last week, I opted to fancify our grilled zucchini and served it with dinner

Zucchini Roll-Ups

• 1 medium zucchini, cut into long strips (about 4 strips per zucchini)
• salt & pepper
• olive oil
• 1 oz goat cheese, room temperature
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Season zucchini with olive oil, salt & pepper and grill on medium heat, a few minutes per side. Remove from grill and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, mix chopped parsley into the goat cheese. Spoon 1/4 of the goat cheese mixture onto the end of each zucchini and roll up.

We enjoyed ours with a quick-fried chicken breast, served on a bed of arugula with a squeeze of lemon and oh yes, some of the early golden cherry tomatoes!

The Garden Is Growing!

This is my first real vegetable garden -- I've tried growing tomatoes and herbs in pots in the past, but as my first summer with a real yard, I jumped into homegrown veggies.

As noted earlier, this year's crop includes 1 zucchini plant, 2 heirloom tomatoes (1 cherry, 1 "strawberry" and 1 pepper. Rundown on progress:

• Zucchini plant was going strong, but then succumbed to powdery mildew and I pulled it earlier this week. I was able to harvest about 12-18 zucchinis and still have one in the fridge.
• Heirloom strawberry tomato has a couple of BIG tomatoes on it, but they haven't ripened yet.
• Heirloom cherry is officially out of control. It is climbing up the side of the garage, around the pepper plant, inching its way to the driveway. We've already enjoyed a handful of cherry tomatoes with about 1 bagillion more on the way. I'm not complaining.
• Pepper plant is slow and steady. I actually wasn't expecting to be able to harvest anything, but one pepper showed up last week (still ripening) and I just noticed 2 more the other day.

Fingers crossed that the heirlooms don't succumb to the blight!

5 Foot Heirloom Cherry Tomato.

A big heirloom strawberry tomato. They're heart-shaped!

One little pepper growing, 80% surrounded by the crazy cherry.

A Stormy Night on Cape Cod

Going to Cape Cod in July, you always pack a sweatshirt. The nights are cool and the misty fog is part of the charm. I love it. This summer I spent 5 days in Chatham, and the first night was chillier than usual -- drizzly rain, extra fog, all in preparation for a Nor'easter due that night. To combat the gloom and kick the trip off right, the family made fisherman's stew. Everyone chipped in!

The striped bass was locally caught, extra fresh and "fell off the back of a truck." Or a Volvo. Lobsters, shrimp and littlenecks all came from Nickerson's Fish Market. Add in native corn, parsley from the garden and the most beautiful bread from an artisan bakery and you can't miss!

Nickerson's Fish Market is right on a working pier, where fishing boats unload their daily catch. We were able to see them unloading dogfish sharks and haddock. There were lots of blood and guts. The seals and seagulls were only too happy to gobble up the discards.

Korean Short Ribs in Lettuce Wraps

Have you ever come across Steven Raichlen on PBS? He used to have a show called Barbecue University. The first time I watched, all I could think was "is this guy for real?" It was low budget, a bunch of smokers and grills blazing in the background and the tackiest segue music. However, 5 minutes in, it's apparent that this guy knows what he's talking about.

He's back on PBS, this time with a show called Primal Grill. A recent episode featured how to make Korean-style short ribs. The marinade is simple, but the best part of the episode was the tip he had for butterflying the short rib. Essentially, you take a short rib, cut along the bone almost to the end, but not quite and open up the rib. Then you take the thick part of the meat and cut it in half, opening it up.

We followed the recipe for the marinade and garnished with what we on hand: Bibb lettuce leaves, fresh carrots from the farmer's market, cucumber matchsticks, scallion slivers and cilantro. The chili sauce featured in the photo was not needed -- the lettuce wraps were delicious with perfect flavor without it! Of course, a perfect summer evening in the backyard helped too!

Garlic Scapes?

Somewhere in June, I started seeing blogs and articles raving about garlic scapes. What the heck is a garlic scape? Turns out, it is the stalk of the garlic bulb and contains a flower bud at the top. Farmers cut off the talks to encourage growth in the bulb as opposed to growth in the flower. The stalks can be long and straight or curly and somehow became the "it" thing of the food world this year. Curious, I purchased some at the local farmer's market in June and immediately went home to try them out.



The farmers instructed to use the stalks as a direct substitute for garlic. Bloggers chronicled how they grilled them and served, just like asparagus. I turned mine into the most prevalent method: garlic scape pesto.

I chopped the stalks into smaller pieces (they were surprisingly tough!) and dropped them in the food processor, along with olive oil, pecorino and pine nuts and pureed until smooth-chunky. A quick spoonful showed me that garlic scapes are intense -- this was no mild chive flavor, but total garlic. I backed off my original plans and spread some on a crusty piece of bread and froze the rest. Later, I went back and used some of my saved pesto on stuffed pasta and thinned it out with a little pasta water -- that was much better; less intense and more subtle.

Will they still be in favor come next spring, or will they be replaced by a new "gotta try it" item? Time will tell!

Glimpse Into the Garden

This year, I planted my first real vegetable garden: 1 zucchini plant, 2 heirloom tomatoes, 1 pepper. It's not much, but it's a start (gotta start somewhere, right?).

I had three reasons for planting the zucchini:

1. Zucchini bread. My mother-in-law makes it and it is amazing.
2. Pan-fried zucchini. With parmesean, parsley or mint, this is a favorite at my house.
3. Fried zucchini blossoms. I had them once in a restaurant and want to repeat the experience.

About a week ago, I looked at the window and saw a bright burst of yellow and orange in the garden patch. The first zucchini blossom of the season! This will be the starting point for some good recipe experimentation.

Farmer's Market: Late June

Tonight, I managed to escape work early enough to hit up the second week of the local farmer's market. By most standards, it's a small market and further from my house than I would like, but I still enjoy it.

My main motivation were garlic scapes and strawberries. Last week, I devoured a quart of strawberries in 4 days. The local berries are nothing like what's available in the supermarket (either now, or any time of year): they're bright red all the way through, smaller and juicier. I love them. The garlic scapes were a first for me...more on that in a following post.
Ah, local bounty: garlic scapes, half a loaf of whole wheat bread, a pint of strawberries, fresh radishes and crisp lettuce. Wonderful!

The Real Deal

Recently, I was reminded that there is an amazing fish market near my office, New Deal Fish Market. New Deal is the real deal -- fresh fish, amazing quality, all from a local, family-run spot. Reprimanding myself for not going there more often, I decided the other day to pick up some fresh fish during my lunch break.

But getting fish is not so easy and required some advance planning on my part. First, I packed a cooler and a few ice packs. Once at work, I stashed the ice packs in the kitchen freezer and waited patiently until lunchtime. On my lunch break, I navigated narrow East Cambridge streets to reach New Deal. Inside, I quickly spotted yellow fin tuna steaks and boy, were they gorgeous. With my bounty purchased, I returned to work and dropped them in the kitchen fridge. When the 5 o'clock whistle sounded, I gathered up ice packs and fish and packed them up in the cooler waiting in my car.

Preparation of the fish was easy and quick! Salt & pepper and a cast iron skillet were my best friends -- less is more in this case. A quick sear in the pan and served with rice and soy made this all a delicious treat at home. Definitely worth repeating!

Tarragon and Figs

My herb garden has chives, tarragon, mint and oregano as perennials. The tarragon is extremely happy with its spot and grows like crazy. With so much tarragon, what's a girl to do? Happily, Mom was able to offer a suggestion: grill some pork chops with tarragon sprigs on top. They output a subtle flavor that works well with pork.

Here, we grilled 1.5" thick chops for 10 mins a side at 400 degrees, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper -- plus, those aforementioned tarragon sprigs. The grocery store had figs on sale this week, so we grilled those as well for a few minutes. Served with a side salad, it was delicious!

A Packed Lunch

Real Simple continues to have a mix of hits and misses for the recipes it publishes. The pictures always look amazing, but the results are not guaranteed. Recently, I tried two recipes from Real Simple's latest edition. The chicken was pretty good (especially the dark meat), but the pasta salad was only OK. Still, it was good enough to pack up for a lunch bento (with the bonus of a leftover lemon bar!).

In some regards, I almost enjoyed my lunch more than dinner before. The chicken did well sitting at room temperature and even if the peas lost their color, they still tasted good!

Fresh From the Farm: Eggs

Last year, I moved from the city to the suburbs. While attending the Open House, we noticed that the neighbors next door had a chicken coop and several hens. Chickens? In this old suburb? Unexpected, but OK.

I have come to love the hens -- they are hilarious and cluck loudly whenever they lay an egg. Although I've yet to enjoy fresh eggs from the neighbors, I recently tried out the next best thing in my 'burb: Owen's Poultry Farm.

I picked up a dozen fresh eggs from Owen's store (bargain! they're cheaper than the eggs from the grocery store) and excitedly brought them home. This morning, I poached the eggs and served on an English muffin with sliced avocado. It was a beautiful thing!

Taste of Cambridge

Get ready for small plates and big flavors -- Taste of Cambridge is back, with this year's event being held in June. The event is moving from its Technology Square location to new digs at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square.

For several years, I was a big fan of Taste of Cambridge -- lots of innovative food from leading area restaurants, wine/beer included in the ticket, proceeds going to charities and all enjoyed with friends on a gorgeous summer evening. I last attended in 2007 and was disappointed in the quality of the restaurants, as it seemed the likes of Qdoba were being brought in to fill table spaces.

With the change of venue, perhaps it's worth another try? (Qdoba is not listed on this year's list of restaurants. Hooray!) Also new for this year: Kid-price admission for $15. Awesome idea!

• When: Thursday, June 18 from 5:30 - 8pm
• Where: Charles Hotel
• Parking: $5, validated at the Charles Hotel
• Cost: $50 in advance, $15 for kids 6-12
• Includes: All you can eat, plus 4 drinks

Slow Food on Campus

Boston Globe recently published a piece on slow food on campus. Holy Cross is doing a twice-monthly dinner featuring a leisurely meal of locally-grown food and getting the fast-paced college kid to sit down, relax and eat.

It's an interesting concept. In general, I'm all for it: better quality food for the college kids, better for the producers, a chance to relax over dinner and best of all -- a change from the humdrum college cuisine (I think I ate pasta and sauce at least three nights a week when I was at school). The flip side is the same flip side for all slow food -- where it's just a little disturbing that we have to have a slow food campaign in the first place.

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

On Friday night, Glenn & I grabbed a quick bite at Hungry Mother (which is fast becoming my favorite restaurant). The side dish for my entree was browned Brussels sprouts and parsnips. I thought they were good, but Glenn flat-out loved them and practically licked the plate clean.

Cruising the supermarket, I figured I could do an interpretation of the dish and tweak it a little bit. I'm not much of a fan of Brussels sprouts, but I do love leeks. Seriously, in restaurants, if an entree has leeks as a side dish, I will order the entree on that basis alone. So, with that in mind, I swapped out the Brussels sprouts and cooked up a winner!

Braised Leeks & Parsnips

• 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-2" chunks
• 3 leeks (white and light green parts), cleaned, quartered and cut into 1-2" slices
• 1 oz pancetta (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
• olive oil
• 1/3 - 1/2 c. chicken stock
• salt & pepper

Cook pancetta in a large pan on medium heat, until it starts to crisp and gives off all its fat, about 5 mins. Transfer pancetta to a paper towel to drain. Keep the pancetta fat in the pan and add the parsnips. Toss in the pan with salt & pepper and leave in a single layer for 4-5 mins until one side is seared. Toss again and sear for an additional 4-5 minutes. Add leeks and cook 3-5 minutes, until soft. Add the chicken stock, reduce heat and simmer ~5 minutes. Remove lid and let the remaining liquid cook off. Transfer to serving platter, top with pancetta and enjoy!

Sandwich Upgrade

Usually, I bring my lunch to work. This often involves leftovers from the night before, or, in more depressing situations, a bowl of Special K and a banana. However, from time to time, I get more creative and put together some knock-out sandwiches. There are precious few lunch options near my office, so whenever I get ready to dig into my sandwich, co-workers jealously eye it and ask where I got it from. Invariably, they are disappointed when my response is "I made it," and I take a little victory in having a delicious lunch!

Salami Sandwich

• 1 foccacini roll, from Trader Joe's (my new favorite!)
• 3 slices Genoa salami
• goat cheese, room temperature (or at least a few minutes out of the fridge)
• roasted red pepper
• romaine lettuce
• balsamic vinegar, for drizzling.

Spread goat cheese on one side of bread. Add salami, a few leaves of romaine and some cut-up roasted red pepper. Drizzle with a little balsamic. At lunch time, warm up in a toaster oven for a few minutes. Enjoy!

It's been a long, long time

Whew! Too long between posts. I'm making up for it with a delicious pork chop dish. I came across it leafing through a cookbook, looking for something new and fresh. Except for the pork chops, pretty much everything is a pantry staple, so it was easy to throw this together.

Pork Chops Alla Pizzaiola
Adapted from Food Network Favorites: Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 pork chops, bone-in, about 1" thick
• 1 small onion, sliced thinly
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs (I used Herbs for Poultry, but Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning would also work)
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• flour, for dredging

Heat olive oil in a pan, on med-high heat. Add olive oil. Season pork chops on each side with salt & pepper; dredge in flour and add to pan. Cook until thoroughly browned, about 4-5 mins per side. Remove from pan and put on a plate to rest -- cover with foil to keep warm.

In same pan, add onions and cook until just softened, about 5-6 mins. Add tomatoes, mixed herbs and red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer for 15 mins, until sauce starts to thicken. Add pork chops back to the pan and cook with the tomato sauce, about 3-4 mins.

Serve pork chops and spoon tomato sauce on top. Top with fresh chopped parsley. We enjoyed ours with a side salad.

The End of Soup Season

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees and sunny. In typical New England fashion, today it was 30 degrees and snowing for most of the day. It's that time of year when I start to tire of roasted veggies and start dreaming about the grill and fresh fruit. Nevertheless, today's wintry weather made me wish I had some hearty soup for dinner instead of my take-out sub.

A few weeks ago, I tried Barefoot Contessa's take on Italian Wedding Soup. It was different from other versions I'd had in that:

1. It was made with chicken meatballs. I used a combination of ground chicken and sweet Italian chicken sausages and baked them.
2. The broth featured a hefty portion of dill; yes, dill!
3. Way more spinach than I'm used to seeing in this sort of soup.
4. I used my own homemade stock! Yup, 10 cups of it. I was a little worried it wasn't going to all fit in my stock pot....

It was pretty tasty overall, with just the right amount of spiciness. You can see the full recipe at FoodNetwork.com.

WBUR Food Blogger Meet-up

I was cruising around Yelp events today and came across this little gem. WBUR is hosting a food blogger meet-up next week at its station on Comm Ave. From what I can gather, it seems like a way to assemble potential bloggers for its Public Radio Kitchen project. Very interesting stuff!

Location details:
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7:00 PM
WBUR's Studio
890 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Playa del Carmen Roundup

I just returned from a week in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. One of the reasons we opted for Playa was that the town was reputed to have good food. Every day, we had tacos of some sort for lunch -- often from a small little stand where the grill is right in front -- those were the best! When we weren't eating tacos, we tried all sorts of places: touristy, off the beaten path, fancy, hole in the wall. Some were hits, some were misses, here are the standouts (for one reason or another!).

Yaxche
On our first night, we went to Yaxche since it offered authentic Mayan cuisine. The food wasn't so hot and like so many places in Playa, the restaurant was next to a construction site (Playa seems to be in a constant state of building and rebuilding). I couldn't decide whether or not my bright green drink looked more like an ecto-cooler or a vegan health drink -- it tasted OK, though. For the rest of the meal, the panuchos (a type of taco) were excellent and Glenn's black stuffed turkey was nothing else if not memorable because of the color.

John Gray's Place
This is restaurant run by a former Ritz-Carlton chef offers solid "New American" cuisine. Service was friendly and the bacon-spinach salad was amazing. One knock against them: the green beans that came with my duck were extremely overcooked. Pricey, but very good food.

Senor Tacombi
It's tacos and smoothies. Served from a converted VW bus! Yeah, it's a gimmick, but it sure was fun. The standouts here were the mango smoothies and the fried fish tacos with red cabbage.

Sur
Right on the main pedestrian strip, sits Sur. An Argentinian steakhouse, Sur boasts open air dining from the second story and fantastic people watching. Hands down, this was our favorite place -- service, ambiance, food, experience. It is pricey, though. We shared meat empanadas to start. Glenn had rib-eye and I had grilled jumbo prawns (I had to remove the heads myself!)

Il Pescatore
Off the beaten path, this small Italian restaurant is run by a Roman hippie who chain-smokes in the restaurant and makes some amazing pasta. On a busier street, the ambiance wasn't perfect, but the food more than makes up for it and prices were very reasonable. We shared gnocchi with black truffle and some amazing fettuccine with bolognese sauce. And it was almost as good as Delfino's in Rozzie.

Eat Your Veggies

Last week at the grocery store, I was looking for some arugula to serve with roasted lemon-pepper shrimp and pasta. I couldn't find any, so opted to pick up some broccoli raab instead. I'm not a fan of regular broccoli, but broccoli raab is OK and I am trying to expand my veggie consumption.

Over the past few days, I had heard several people mention that broccoli was good roasted -- I had never heard of such a thing! Ok, why not?

The net result: crispy florets, intensely flavored and tender stalks. I preferred the florets, Glenn preferred the stalks. I served mine with shrimp and pasta, but this would work well as a side dish for steak.

Roasted Broccoli Raab

• 1 bunch broccoli raab
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Remove tough ends of the stalk from the broccoli raab. Toss with chopped garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 15-20 mins until tender, turning 1-2 times with tongs during the cooking. Serves 2-3 as a side dish.

Restaurant Week Is Coming....

The murmurings have been getting progressively louder and more numerous. Boston Restaurant Week is coming. Current plan is for it span 2 weeks and run from March 15-20 and March 22-27. I hate how they don't include that one Saturday night!

The restaurants will be announced in mid-February and you can check out the Unofficial Guide at that time for a list of participating restaurants.

It's a great opportunity to try a new place for a fixed cost and sample what the restaurant has to offer. Working with such a limited number and fully-booked tables gives you a good sense for what the restaurant is capable of -- I've seen some hits and misses over the years.

Hits

• Pigalle -- still holds its charm as one of my favorite places
• Marco -- the first time. Everything was superb!
• Tangierino -- unexpected success, but everyone loved their meal.

Misses

• Marco -- the second time. The menu was pretty boring and they were 45 mins late with our reservation.
• Chez Henri -- meh. I really didn't get the whole French/Cuban combo
• Icarus -- this place seems to be past its prime.

Work in Progress

After hearing about our failed pasta-making experience with the Kitchen Aid mixer, my mom graciously offered me her old metal, manual crank pasta maker. But really, I think she just wanted to clear stuff out of her garage.

Back in 1990 or so, we got this pasta maker and I remember the fun we had as a family making homemade pasta, drying it on broom handles spread across two chairs and eating fresh angel hair pasta with shrimp fra diavlo. After the Kitchen Aid debacle, Glenn was skeptical.

We made the pasta (mostly) following the package instructions for the semolina and then turned our attention to the pasta cranker. Basically, you divvy up the dough into thirds and then crank it through a flattener, progressively thinning the dough the more times you feed it through. Once the dough is thin and plat, the machine gives you the option of cutting it yourself (for lasagna), or feeding it through one of two presses -- one for angel hair, the other for fettuccine. Like the Kitchen Aid, this was a two-man job -- one to feed the dough through, the other to catch the output. It was a fettuccine kind of night! We weren't making a big batch, so we were able to dry ours on the back of the kitchen chairs.


After it had dried for 10-15 mins, we dropped the pasta into boiling, salted water and cooked 3-4 mins until tender. We dressed the fettuccine with olive oil and topped with roasted vegetables (portobella mushrooms, eggplant, onion, red pepper) and some dice mozzarella. The veggies were super easy -- cut into 2" pieces, toss with olive oil, salt & pepper on a baking sheet and roast 20-25 mins at 425.

The veggies were wonderful, the pasta consistency perfect, but the pasta itself needed just a little more flavor. We are still refining our technique, but it's the journey, not the destination that counts, right?

A Taste of France

A few weeks ago, Boston.com ran a mini-article featuring local restaurants' picks for holiday fare. I copied down a few recipes to try later, one of which was the French Onion Soup courtesy of Petit Robert Bistro. Petit Robert has locations in Fenway and the South End -- I've been to each once and had the French Onion Soup at the Fenway location. They recently opened up another location right here in Needham and it's on my list of places to check out -- it will be interesting to see how it compares to the city locations.

French Onion Soup is one of my all-time faves (the crusty cheese is the best part!). I've tried making it in the past, but it has always turned out rather thin and lacking in flavor. Other recipes called for red wine, but this one specified white wine. While I'm not sure if that was the main differentiating factor, this recipe produced a soup that had sweetness and depth to it -- good job Petit Robert!

French Onion Soup (modified from Boston.com)

• 5 peeled Spanish onions, sliced into halves first and then into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• Salt & pepper
• 1 c. white wine (I used Chardonnay)
• 1 quart beef stock
• Swiss Cheese slices
• Toasted baguette slices

Cook the sliced onions slowly with the olive oil, over low heat until they have rendered all water and are brown and thick (about 1 - 1.5 hrs); spread the flour over the onions and mix well to avoid lumps, cook 1-2 mins; add the wine and bring to a boil; add beef stock, bring to a boil and add salt and pepper to taste. Boil 3-4 minutes. Fill the onion soup bowls, put a slice of baguette top and top with 1-2 slices of Swiss per bowl. Broil in the oven for 3-4 mins until cheese is golden and bubbly. Serves 4. As you can see from the picture, I was too eager to eat the gooey cheese and only remembered to take a photo midway through the meal. I enjoyed mine with the leftover wine and a green salad. Delicious!