I found some excellent fresh pasta at the North market on Saturday. Check out the ingredients – red fife, semolina, eggs, water. Nothing extra, just the goodness.
After learning about the seafood selector, I've been trying to choose fish from the "happy" list. With a few options in mind I went to the market and found a nice wild Halibut fillet. It was dredged in chickpea flour, and then pan fried with olive oil and garlic. On the side, asparagus, peas and basil.
I picked up some fresh whole wheat pasta at the north market last Saturday. In an effort to use up what's in the fridge, I decided to have the pasta with the rest of the fennel and feta cheese.
If you had to go on a colour diet and only eat only three colours – which three would you choose? I'd choose red, orange and green. That covers about 80% of my favorite foods. The whole idea sounds crazy, but of course a quick search uncovered an interesting article about the benefits of food by colour. What Color is Your Diet.
I just can't get enough of the tortallitas. They're like bread, they go with everything. This time we stacked them with butternut squash, chicken, avocado and a dollop of plain yogurt.
I stayed in Chicago for Easter this year. One of my good friends, Mary Beth (of Chicago Gourmet; Mayor Daley fame), took pity on this Easter orphan and invited me to share in an Easter dinner with her husband and friends at their home in Norwood Park. Their gorgeous rehabbed, 80 year-old home was the perfect setting for a fantastic Easter meal. Each place setting had an Easter basket filled with yummy Easter candy. We had the traditional spiral cut ham, asparagus with Parmesan, a delicious mixed greens salad with fresh raspberries, walnuts and raspberry dressing, fabulous warm-from-the-oven rolls, all paired with a delicious Argentina red wine. For dessert we had an out-of-this-world cheesecake served with our choice of toppings: A tequila and almond or raspberry sauce. We also had our choice of regular coffee or an Irish coffee...I chose Irish. It's the house specialty! Great old and new friends, great conversation and amazing food...I was lucky enough to get leftovers...no better way to spend an Easter in Chicago. A big thank you to the Thomas clan of Norwood Park!
Another Oma recipe – chicken burgers. We used the leftovers to make an open faced sandwich with avocado and mâche salad. The chicken is cooked slowly with onions and fennel seeds before being shredded.
Having breakfast or dinner at the Village Creperie is a must whenever I'm in the 'Loo. On Saturday morning we put the top down (summer jumping in the autoshare) and headed out for breakfast. I was planning to have my old favorite, smoked salmon with two eggs, but I was swayed by the huevos – an excellent choice. After starting with an americano we switched to prosecco and freshly squeezed OJ.
Paska is a traditional Easter bread that Fusilli makes every year. It's a lot of work, but we (the people who enjoy eating it, but don't make it) agree that it's worth it. The recipe, passed down by Oma, involves mixing the finished batter with whipped egg whites. This is done by hand, which is quite messy, but fun to watch.
Dinner on Friday started with roasted asparagus wrapped in proscuitto and tapenade. The main course was monkfish with almond sauce and rapini. We've made this twice in the past month — it's fantastic.
When I rolled into the 'Loo on Friday morning, I found Monte & Fusilli had been enlisted to help in hiding a HUGE number of "eggs" for the neighborhood egg hunt. How many is a HUGE number? Ummm, 600+ plastic eggs that had been filled with toys, candy and things. That afternoon, over 20 kids showed up to root around the yard, scooping up plastic eggs like wild monkeys.
There are 19 eggs in this picture.
A great start to the long weekend – whole wheat pizza with fontina, prosciutto, spinach and olive tapenade. On the side, a mâche salad.
Technically speaking, pizza is crust + toppings. I think that qualifies my tortallita + onions, carrots, pork, cilantro and avocado to be called a pizza... or pizzalitta.
I've started to chop my salad greens. It makes the salad easier to eat, but really it's about the making it taste better. I know that sounds very 80-year-old-man of me, but consider this: Food tastes better, or different, depending on the shape and size of the ingredients.
The best treats are only enjoyed at certain times of the year, and that's what makes them special. That's true of these delicious Greek Walnut cookies – Melomakarona. You can get them at the market around Christmas and Easter... and then they're gone. I suppose we could try making them at home, but that would mean we could have them anytime, and then what would I look forward to? Get them while you can!
We picked up a pork shoulder at the north market on Saturday and roasted it for dinner. We've been looking for reasons to make more tortallitas this week and roast pork makes the perfect filling. We wrapped the roast pork with cilantro and avocado and topped it with tomatillo salsa.
My childhood friend Sunny sent over a sample of her latest snack obsession last weekend— popcorn cake. What the heck is popcorn cake, you ask? I like to think of it as the slightly eccentric step-sister of the rice krispie square. I told Sunny that it looks like a snack a clown would eat. And really, it's made from ingredients that would be readily found at a carnival: popcorn, marshmallow and brightly coloured candy-covered chocolate pieces. Despite its clownish appearance, popcorn cake is highly addictive; sweet, salty, chewy and crunchy all at the same time. Sunny likes to make it with Papa Jack's pre-made popcorn (check out that crazy retro line drawing on the bag) and when she says "Papa Jack", she likes to say the "Papa" part really fast. Try saying it. And try the recipe, but be warned… it's very, very addictive.| POPCORN CAKE | |
1 stick butter 1 bag mini marshmallows 4 qts. popped corn 1/2 lb. bag M & M's Melt butter and marshmallows. Add popcorn and M & M's. Spread into greased angel food cake pan. | |
Now I know why I resisted Twitter for so long – I'm totally addicted! On the plus side, I've been following Mark Bittman and he's been sending out some gems. Today it was Tortallitas with shrimp.
