msmarabini's Profile
Vegetarian Sandwiches to Take to Work
wow, this thread is making me drool! soo many good ideas. here are 3 that i like to make:
1) whole grain/seed bread with sliced beets, avocado, tomato, rocket, grated carrot and thai sweet chili sauce. if you eat dairy, you could add some jack/cheddar cheese
2) inspired by a pan bagnat/nicoise salad: black olive tapenade, cooked potato (cut into small cubes) and green beans (cooked and cut into 2 inch pieces), thin sliced red onion, and fresh sliced tomato - drizzle with olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black peper
3) on focaccia bread - really ripe and juicy sliced tomato, basil (or pesto), fresh mozzarella cheese, season with olive oil and sea salt
Blue Cheese Pizza and Good Ingredient Pairings?
blue cheese with roast butternut squash/pumpkin and spinach pizza: I do a lasagna with this combination (using gorgonzola for the blue cheese) and the flavours seem to go together, as you have a nice sweetness in the squash/pumpkin to balance against the sharp tang of the blue cheese. The spinach lends an earthy flavour, and adds an extra veg into the mix.
What are your favourite omelette fillings?
Tonight my husband, a wizard at making rolled omelettes, stumbled upon a winning combination for dinner: omelette filled with sliced manchego cheese (semicurado), cooked spinach with just a hint of fresh grated nutmeg, and sliced Italian mortadella! Each ingredient complimented the other, so that all it needed was just a sprinkle over the top of freshly grated black pepper.
Before tonight, and still running a close second place, is his combination of roast turkey, gruyere, and tomato jam.
I'm sure there are heaps of other great combinations out there...so, fellow chowhounders, what do you enjoy in your omelettes?
Lievito Bertolini and Italian recipes.
Well there are 2 types of Lievito Bertolini in the little packages. One is for desserts which is a mix of baking powder/cream of tartar/baking soda - with a powdered vanilla flavouring. The other one is for making pizza and torte salate - which is like instant dry yeast. Since you're baking biscotti, it's probably the baking powder mix.
When I lived in Italy - it would drive me crazy trying to use that product and convert it for American baking recipes (it's all they sell at the supermarket- except for fresh yeast). I'm sure you'll be fine if you use baking powder and a splash of vanilla. Good luck!
good recipes for young fava beans/broad beans/butter beans/lima beans?
my italian friends like to eat them fresh from the pod (in peak season, of course) with sliced salami
Spanish tapas - can you help me identify these ingredients?
Those tapas look exactly like the ones they serve at the Sagardi tapas chain not too far from my house. It's been a while since we've been there, but I'll give it a go. The first one has an anchovy at the back and a slice of roasted green pepper at front the font with tomato. The purple stuff is a puree with either purple potatoes or perhaps a puree mixed with pickled red onion?
BigSal is right about 2 & 3...the cheese on 2 is probably just a typical spanish goat-sheep-cow blend. Given the texture, doesn't look to be curado (aged) and I'd guess that these tapas chains are not known for using regional ingredients. And 3 appears to have a salsa rosa (pink sauce which is just a mix of ketchup & mayo) on top of the boquerones.
If you need more visual inspiration, just google "tapas sagardi flickr" and you'll find heaps. Here's one now: http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/sagardi
Have fun!
uses for speck?
Oooo speck! I'm so envious! I love it's mildly herby flavour that's somewhere in between bacon and ham - with a wee bit of sweetness and a faint touch of smokiness. I think its way underrated for Italian coldcuts. Having it with a glass of red wine (preferably from the north of Italy) is simply heaven! How cool is your wine club!!!
We usually bring a piece back from Italy - and then slice it up on the big deli slicer to go into panini. There are some good rec's already mentioned above from the other CHers.
I love a toasted panino with speck, brie, and red chicory/radicchio; or speck, brie, and asparagus; or speck, gruyere and dill pickle slices. My husband says that speck, fontina, and salsa rosa is a classic italian panino (salsa rosa is like a mix of mayo, ketchup, and whiskey - pink in colour, thus the name).
When we have leftover polenta and speck - we cut the cold polenta in squares - mark both sides of it in a grill pan, then put some cheese and speck on top (gorgonzola or taleggio or fontina work well here) and heat through until the cheese melts.
You could do a yummy risotto with speck, scamorza (smoked mozzarella) and red chicory/radicchio - with a little chopped onion thrown in the pan at the beginning and a splash of red wine.
In a restaurant in Lombardia I had once a delicious plate of pumpkin gnocchi with gorgonzola cheese sauce and chopped speck.
Speck is also really nice with cabbage/brussel sprouts - just sub it in for bacon. Have fun!
Dessert for 50
You could do tiramisu - it's easy to prepare, even for large numbers. Or - to match your barbeque menu a little better - why not do an ice cream sundae bar? you could even make your own ice cream for it (assuming, of course, you have an ice-cream maker).
Horse Meat
You can have horse meat in Europe - it's really delicious! I agree with AnotherMother's comments in that it is sweeter and leaner than beef. I used to make really tasty hamburgers with it.
Help Me Like Beets
you could peel them, slice thinly and serve on hamburgers - along with tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese - and other fixings. It gives a little unexpected sweetness to the burger. Heaps of Aussies and Kiwis can't be wrong - they've been eating burgers like this for years.
Marseille Report
Just returned from Marseille again. Happy to report that La Passarelle is still going strong cooking delicious garden-fresh food. Now it's open every night.
Was sad to see that my other favourite spot, La Table a Deniz, is no longer open for dinner, being open only for lunches. Unfortunately could not get away from work at lunch time, to enjoy it.
However we did managed to find another great place to add to our list of favourites in Marseille, called Au Falafel. This is a little restaurant serving Israeli specialties tucked on a side street between rue Sainte and rue Davsos. We were craving kebabs/shwarmas/ whatever you call them - and just happened to stumble upon this very popular place. The fries are made fresh - and were served scorching hot. The falafel is the best I've ever had - I watched the cook shape them into little balls and fry them up to order. We started with the "assiette isralienne falafel" which included a velvety smooth houmous. How they got it so smooth, i have no idea - but it was not at all grainy in texture. And so nice, mixed with the tehina and salade turque. Then I had a really lovely falafel pita sandwich - which came with a really nice sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cabbages!! YUM! My husband had the chicken curry schwarma on the first night - which had a nice spicy kick to it. The food was so good, that we went back for our last meal in Marseille. I had the falafel pita again and my husband had the mixed grilled meats. He said it was delicious. Here's the website: www.lafalafel.com. Oh, they also do a chicken schnitzel - and although I did not order it, I was impressed to see that each piece of chicken breast is prepared to order - dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs, then fried. I love this place!!!!
Vegans: What do you eat when you're hungover?
Thanks everyone for replying - there are some really good ideas here. Will also take into consideration some preventative measures - like alternating drinks with glasses of water - for next time. Cheers!
Vegans: What do you eat when you're hungover?
I'm 3 weeks into eating like a vegan - and today was the toughest day so far. If ever there was a day I craved a hamburger or meatball or slice of pizza - it was today as I was nursing a nasty hangover after "thirsty thursday" with my girlfriends. This morning I was a bit too sick to put anything in my stomach but a black tea. Then once the office stopped spinning, I managed to get down a PB&J sandwich. It seemed to do the trick - but was a far cry from the usual greasy comforts. Any suggestions? ( ...looking for something other than "stop drinking" ;) )
What is your favorite honey? And what type of honey (clover, alfafa, etc.)?
Wow - no one's mentioned my favourite yet - NZ MANUKA honey!!!! it's dark and rich - maybe a bit strong for some people's tastes. But has lots of healing properties to it - they even sell it in tubes at the pharmacy in NZ to squeeze out onto burns/cuts/scrapes. When I've got a cold - I put a tablespoon or two of it in a cup of boiling water and a squeeze of half a lemon. Works wonders for a sore throat!
Mussels cooked on flaming pine needles?
Mussels with Pine Needles!!!! This brings back memories to a beautiful dish I had in Marseille, at this funky little restaurant tucked on a street behind the Radisson hotel. It was an appetizer of mussels cooked with pine needles - and was delish!!!! Yes, there were pine needles in the dish - chopped to about the size of rosemary - the smell was heavenly - and was definitely a match for taste. (i think you can read my post about it somewhere on the france board). Besides the food, the thing I liked most about the restaurant was that the outdoor seating was like a back patio in the middle of a fruit and veggie garden - and the pine needles with my mussels came from the little pine tree by our table. Do try it!
Need an idea for a roasted squash lasagna topping....
Ooooo I love your idea of sage butter on top - that sounds delicious!!!! And I think you're right bechamel won't do anything for it. Have you thought about using a tomato-based sauce? Tomatoes are nice with butternut squash, tomatoes are nice with spinach, and tomato sauce is really lovely mixed with fresh ricotta and basil. It would work to keep everything moist - and the flavour would complement everything.
If you really wanted to go a bit more untraditional - you could try something like a sun-dried tomato pesto & mix in some soft goat cheese with the ricotta. Or you could go in an entirely different direction, and make a tomato sauce and mix a chipotle chile - for a smoky sweet spicy finish. I know, very far off from a traditional sense, but could be tasty nonetheless.
Help...I can't cook rice!!!
Many thanks everyone for your comments. Looking back and thinking things thru a little more - I followed the instructions for using basmati rice - when I probably had jasmine. So the washing and rinsing was unnecessary. (Honestly I don't know which rice it was because it was stored in a glass container and I didn't keep the label - but it was one of the two). Also I brought it to a rolling boil before lowering it all the way - maybe that was too much? And I used 2 Cups water to 1 Cup rice, maybe that was too much as well? Definitely taking all these things into consideration next time. It's just so frustrating. I can cook risotto like an italian and can boil rice, no problem - but the absorption method stumps me every time!!!!
Help...I can't cook rice!!!
ARGHHHHH!!!!!! I wanted to have a nice side of jasmine rice to go with my thai green veggie curry - and what i got instead was gummy sticky glop. Here's what I did: rinsed the rice several times before letting it soak for half an hour. Drained the soaking water, added 2 cups of fresh water to my 1 cup of rice, put over the gas burner and brought to a boil. Then waited until a "moon-like cracks" appeared (yes, the recipe actually said this, it was about 5 minutes) then turned the heat down to the lowest setting on my gas burner and covered, letting it continue to cook a further 15 minutes. Removed the lid, and glop! What should i have done differently?
When you first started cooking away from home, what were some of your disasters?
Too funny, beekeroc. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying!
Authentic Deep Dish pizza recipe?
Ditto! Cook's Illustrated recipe is excellent! I made it 2 weeks ago - for a veggie pizza (precooked the veggies so the dough wouldn't get too wet during baking: mushrooms, spinach, roasted red peppers, zucchine, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives and provolone). End result was just like I remember having at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago 15 years ago. For the dough, I used one cube of fresh yeast - since that was what I had on hand - and had to add a bit more flour to get a workable dough. Everything else in the recipe was spot on!
Here's the link:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=21489
travel suggestions
I agree with Latindancer and NellyNel: Portugal & Belgium are great rec's.
Portugal is often overlooked, but is just beautiful and quite reasonably priced compared to Italy - foodwise. In Lisbon -sort of reminds me of a European San Francisco with all the hills and sea views and trolleys - you can have great coffee - uma bica - for breakfast with these little great egg custard pastries called pasteis de nata - just heaven!!! You can get great seafood - almost always quite simply prepared over the grill - but super fresh. I love the grilled sardines, even if they are fiddly to eat. Also good is the seafood cataplana - which is named after the large copper pot that locks and can cook on both sides - it's like a rich seafood stew - with lobster shellfish tomatoes peppers and wine. Also a fresh baked choripan from the bakery is nice treat - bread with chorizo sausage baked in. There is a town that is famous for roast suckling pig - can't remember name but is north of Lisbon - and the whole town is full of restaurants serving this really juicy roast pig. If you go to Lisbon, you should also go out towards the coast to Cascais and drive along up the coast going north - it is just beautiful going up towards Peniche - full of rocky coastlines, great beaches, big surf. Sintra is just inland & upwards from Lisbon and is a magical town with lots of history. I've also been down to the Algarve for work - in Portimao - where I had one of the best meals of my life! I love Portugal!!! But if you go, you really should get Lonely Planet's "World Food Portugal" - it is in-depth reading about Portuguese cuisine divided into the various regions and will make your mouth water! As for the people, they are lovely and polite and family oriented - and many speak English, which does make things easier.
As for Belgium - just spent New Years holidays there. Brussels and Brugges have amazing architecture and beer and good food to boot. I heard somewhere that there are more Michelin starred restuarants in Brussels than anywhere else - is that right? Can someone please confirm??? Michelin-starred restaurants aren't usually my cup of tea - (I tend to go for more homestyle cooking or streetfood) but having so many in one place must be a good thing. I stayed with friends so didn't eat out as much as I'd have liked - but did enjoy some really hearty winter fare like stoeump (?), choucroute, moules & frites! The only problem with Belgium - for me - was that is was very cold and windy and grey the whole week we were there - granted it was the middle of winter. The people were polite too - but not really laid back like southern europeans (in Italy, Spain, & Portugal) and as for crime - well, our car was broken into, so that dampened the mood a bit.
You could always go back to Italy - there is sooooo sooooo much more to explore and eat - you could never get bored.
Freezing in Chicago: Need Comfort Food
Yes! Enchiladas with chicken and green chile sauce.
Minestrone and a side of focaccia
creamy risotto with porcini mushrooms and taleggio cheese
shepherd's pie with root veggie puree
red wine braised lamb shanks and mashed potatoes
choucroute!!! (i had a delicious one with 5 different cuts of pork in Belgium)
french onion soup
swiss cheese fondue
Reheating spaghetti carbonara?
You could turn it into a pasta gratin. Mix it with besciamella (besciamel?) sauce, put it into a butter baking/gratin dish and sprinkle with grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese and bread crumbs, and bake until it's warmed through.
sugared violet petals...what do i do with them?
I am going thru a bit of a flower-flavourings phase - rose petals in my jam, lavender in my tea and chocolates - so when I came across a jar of sugared violet petals on a recent trip thru France, I had to have them. Now that I've got them, I've no idea what to do with them. Would love to hear your ideas!
Best Classic Italian Cookbooks?
I've been using Il Talismano Della Felicita for a few years now - (Italian version) and it is my go-to reference for classic Italian cuisine. I absolutely love it - it's got just about every traditional italian dish listed. At first, it was a little difficult to use (for me, at least) because it is written on the assumption that you already know how to cook most things and how the finished dish should be. Being a non-Italian trying to learn to cook classic Italian, I was constantly having to ask my Italian husband (or in-laws) for more specific guidance when I felt the book was a bit vague. But now I am a more competent Italian cook, and no longer need for everything to be spelled out for me (thankfully!). The book is great, I dont consider it outdated at all, despite the original print date. The classic Italian dishes are still prepared the same way.
I have also seen La Scienza in Cucina e L'arte di Mangiare Bene - and was tempted to buy it. But I decided that it probably covered just about everthing my Talismano did. I don't know Il Cucchiaio d'Argento, so can't comment.
Another book I've really enjoyed, and learned a lot from, is Le Ricette Regionali Italiane by Anna Gossetti della Salda (sorry, but I don't know if there is an English version). It breaks Italian cuisine into the various regions and touches on the more famous/traditional dishes of each region.
I hope this helps!
what i crave when i come back home to states
Have been out of the states for 10 years - the last 4 spent in Spain. When I go home to Texas, I can't wait to have BBQ beef brisket, tamales, grits, spicy Jimmy Dean sausage, fried okra and Shiner Bock beer! Heaven help my cholesterol!!!
Trip Report - Portugal - Algarve - Portimao and Sagres
Just spent 2 weeks in Portugal for work and there were 2 places that really stood out as excellent!
In Portimao we had one of those meals that will probably go down as one of the meals you will always remember. The place is called Canico (see here for more details: http://www.algarveportugal.com.pt/listing/canico_restaurant.html) Aside from the beautiful location - open air and tucked in a cliff overlooking the ocean - the food is outstanding - if you're into excellent grilled fish and meat. We shared a large fish (i've forgotton the name of it!) between 6 people and cooked over the grill. While the non-fish eaters at the table had these really thick-cut juicy steaks. The fish was cooked perfectly - just ever so-delicately flaking off the bone. They also put a large pot of rice pilaf on the table as a side to the fish. We had a few pitchers of sangria branca (made with white wine and fresh fruit) to wash it all down. The "covers" that they bring you upon being seated are also quite nice - i really enjoyed the marinated carrots which is apparently typical of the algarve. Dessert was very nice too - I had the "doce don rodrigo" which is made with eggs, sugar, and almonds - served in a pyramid shape - and also typical of the algarve region. After dessert, you must try the amarguinha -which is an almond flavoured liquor.
The other place we really enjoyed was in Sagres, called A Tasca. It overlooks all the fishing boats. Here we had some really nice shrimp/prawn skewers (they were huge!) and berbigao (clams). They have a really large grill - and specialize in grilled fish. Someone at our table ordered the rice with shellfish, which was also really tasty with just a hint of spicyness. The serving for 2 people was huge! They do a really nice dessert there - sorry but cant remember the name of it - it is a local Algarve specialty and reminded me of some kind of pudding - with custard and bits of cake mixed in.
We were also in Portimao in time for the annual Sardine festival (held in August). Great food and really low prices (1 euro for a small beer, 6-8 euros for a plate of grilled sardines, salad, and potatoes). Also very good was the ensalada com polvo - octopus salad with black-eyed peas and tomatoes! Yum!!
