Sunday, May 30, 2010

A night at the Publican

A wish I've had for the past year has finally come true. I finally had the chance to eat dinner at the fantastic pig-centric Publican last weekend. Join me in re-living this happily over-stuffed evening, won't you?

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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Gotta love the ricotta


In the past couple years, I've become quite fond of ricotta cheese. And when I was on a liver cleanse last month, it was one of the only cheeses I was allowed to consume since cow dairy was prohibited. I think it's because ricotta's made from whey and most of the milk protein gets removed during production, so technically it's not really a cheese; it's whey cheese.

I was exposed to ricotta more through C and his family. His mother likes to have it at the table when she serves a rice sidedish, and though nobody else in the family does this, she enjoys a scoop of ricotta mixed into her rice. Then C made me pasta once that was just tossed in a mound of ricotta and drizzled with olive oil. He said that it's a typical Roman dish. C's mother often makes cakes containing a lemony sweet ricotta filling and at Easter they make little pastries also filled with sweet ricotta. But my favourite way to have ricotta is very simple and no-nonsense: slathered on bread or in this case, rye cracker, and drizzled with honey, and I'm not talking about no Billy Bee honey. This snack is like a little piece of heaven– crispy, creamy, airy, delicately sweet. I was lucky enough to pick up fresh, homemade ricotta at my farmer's market. But turns out, you can make your own ricotta easily enough at home. I haven't tried yet, but it's definitely on my to-make list.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Last night's dinner


This was not made by me but thoroughly enjoyed by me. Prepared by Maurizio, C's cousin, we had brisket with gravy, rice and beans, a crispy non-mayonnaisey coleslaw and fantastic potato salad. You too can enjoy Maurizio's homecooking very soon with the launch of his ready-to-eat organic dinners, prepared using locally sourced meat. Check it out here.

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