Friday Night Bites #12, May 13, 2011

I decided to make "Friday night bites" this week. About a year ago I started doing these small plates every Friday night instead of a "regular meal" and it was good but I gradually went back to "regular meals". I had a couple ideas so I put together this menu...

Charcuterie and Cheese Plate

We went into Boston to "The Butcher Shop" restaurant a few months back and we sat at the bar and had a plate similar to this dish. I combined some good looking Salami and Soppressata from Whole Foods with some of our favorite cheeses (Borough's Market Stilton and Boucheron). I also put some Cornishon's, whole grain mustard, French prunes and creamed clover honey (which we remembered being so good at the restaurant, and it was still good at home). I got some rustic sprouted wheat boule and Whole Foods "Seeduction bread", and I put a few slices of each in the oven for about 10 minutes just to crisp up a bit then drizzled with olive oil. We love this kind of thing to start the meal with a cocktail made by Tony.

Chevre and Walnut Tartlets

I was looking for ideas and this was one of the first ones I came across, it was on Laura Calder's show "French Food at Home". This recipe uses fresh figs and they are just not at the market's right now so I had to use the dry ones and reconstitute them. The tart shell itself is made from store bought frozen puff pastry and instead of letting them puff up in the oven you place rounds of puff pastry on a cookie sheet and place another cookie sheet on top and bake them just like that and they come out like a crisp "cracker". Then you spread on some goat's cheese that you season with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and a little heavy cream just to make it more spreadable. The figs go on top of the cheese then some toasted walnuts and some reduced port wine and sugar to make a syrup over that. I put some arugula leaves on the plate and the combination of all those flavors was Divine.

Sea Bass Chips over Buttered Snap Peas and Bell Pepper Agra Dulce

This dish came from a combination of two shows I watched over the week. One was Iron Chef America and the other was from a chef named Michel Richard, and I don't recall the show he was on. Iron Chef's secret ingredient was Wreck Fish and on Morimoto's side they made a "chip" out of the secret ingredient by pounding it and coating it in potato starch, then frying it. So, OK I will do that... What should I serve that with? I remembered seeing the show with Michel Ruchard and he julienned snap peas and cooked them in a little chicken stock and a good amount of butter. I did that with maybe less butter but enough so it was rich tasting. He piled the julienne of snap peas on a serving plate and put a shrimp that he made crispy in the bed of snap peas, then drizzled some kind of yummy looking red sauce around the plate. I thought for my dish a bright looking bell pepper Agra Dulce would be a good compliment to my fish chip and the snap peas. I combined a cup of water, 2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 5-6 Tbsp sugar, salt, hot sauce to taste, diced orange bell pepper, 1/2 of a small onion diced and a handful of cherry tomatoes. I think that was it. I cooked it all over low heat until all the vegetables were softened about an hour. By this time the liquid has reduced and I thickened it a bit with just 1/2 tsp cornstarch and a little cold water. So I pounded out some pieces of Chilean Sea Bass to about 1/4 inch thick and seasoned with salt and pepper then the potato starch, fried them in canola oil and it worked like a charm! This was quite good! I will have to do this again as a main dish, just make everything bigger...

Crepes Filled with Orange Cream and Chocolate

I made a basic sweet crepe recipe ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator. When it was time to have dessert I put some butter in a non-stick skillet and just rewarmed two crepes. While they were heating I whipped some heavy cream with some vanilla sugar and orange zest to soft peaks. I melted some bittersweet chocolate in a little hot heavy cream. I also folded some hazelnut praline into the whipped cream. I layed out one crepe and spread a couple tablespoons of chocolate on one side and topped that with some whipped cream (maybe 1/2 cup whipped) then folded it in half then in half again to form a triangle. Garnish with a mint leaf and a bit of chocolate on the plate with some long strips of orange zest (so you know exactly what to expect when you take a bite of the crepe).

Friday Night, Braised Beef Short Ribs, May 6, 2011

Did you miss me? Well I was here but Tony wasn't for 2 Friday's in a row. I kind of don't know what to do on a Friday if I am not cooking, but I figured it out. I had made some veal stock last weekend (I put the stock in ice cube trays and froze it) so I wanted to use it somewhere in this weeks meal. I saw some good looking short ribs at Whole Foods, and they don't always have them so I grabbed them. I thought the meaty fall apart short ribs with the rich veal stock sauce had to be paired with some fluffy and creamy mashed potatoes (you shouldn't mess with a good thing).

Rosemary Skewered Mozzarella

I saw this on a show, so I made a note to make these this week. We love any kind of bruchetta or crostini and basically this is "that" on a fancy stick. It's 1/2 inch slices of French bread and 1/4-1/2 inch slices of fresh mozzarella and fresh bay leafs skewered with long stems of rosemary and either grilled for a minute or baked in a hot 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. You basically make a sandwich; French bread, mozzarella, bay, French bread, mozzarella, bay and finally French bread. Secure it all by pushing through all the layers with a rosemary skewer that you have removed most of the leaves from (just leaving a couple inches on the end) and then poke another one through going from the opposite end. You will end up with pretty rosemary leaves showing on both sides. Brush the outsides of the bread all around. Bake them or charcoal grill them, plate them and spoon a generous amount of Bagna Cauda sauce over them. The Bagna Cauda sauce is 1 minced garlic clove, equal amount of anchovies chopped (I left those out), 2 oz butter, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 tsp lemon zest, 2-3 tsp lemon juice and salt. You put the garlic and anchovies in a small sauce pan along with the butter and oil; bring to a simmer over low heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon zest and juice and season with salt to taste. It's really a perfect sauce to go with this appetizer.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

I made a seasoned flour by just adding salt and pepper to about 1/4 cup of flour. Dredge the short ribs in the flour and knock off the excess. Heat a large heavy pot on medium-high, once the pan is hot add about 1-2 Tbsp canola oil, once the oil is hot add the short ribs and brown on all sides. Once they are browned about 1/2 cup stewed tomatoes, 1 garlic clove minced and about 1 cup of boiling water. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 1 1/2 hours. Add 1 onion finely chopped and 1 large carrot thinly sliced. Cook another hour adding more boiling water if necessary. Remove the short ribs to a platter and strain the sauce, remove the fat from the sauce (I used a fat separator) pour the sauce minus the fat back into the pan and add veal stock if you have it or just reduce the sauce as is until it tastes delicious and it slightly thickened. Add the short ribs back into the pot and heat through.

Simple Mashed Potatoes- Just made with Yukon Gold potatoes, butter and milk

Simple Blanched Green Beans tossed with Toasted Almond slices- I blanched the beans ahead of time until they were perfectly tender. When I was ready to serve I melted some butter in a skillet and added the green beans. Once the beans are heated through in the butter I added the almonds that I toasted ahead of time and salt and pepper.

Crack Pie

This pie is something they make at Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. Pastry chef Christina Tosi invented this and it's one of, if not the best seller at David Chang's Milk Bar restaurant. We actually went there one time before I heard about this Crack Pie, being a top seller, I got the Chocolate-Malt cake which I have to say was unbelievable. We will have to plan a trip to NYC again to see if I did a good job with this dessert. If you happen to have the Bon Appetit issue from September 2010 the recipe is in that magazine but you can also get it on line right here... It's a little time consuming but definitely worth it. You make a big oat "cookie", it's a cookie mixture that you spread out into a 13X9 inch baking sheet. After the oat cookie is baked you cool it completely (I made it the day before because of time). Then you crumble the cookie into a bowl and add more brown sugar and more butter. Combine this together and press into a pie dish. Combine the filling ingredients which are 2 kinds of sugar, dry milk powder, salt, butter, heavy cream, egg yolks and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the pie dish and bake for a total of 50 minutes at 350 then turning the oven down to 325. Cool on a cooling rack for 2 hours and then uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. So I started the first step on Wednesday in order to finish it Thursday night so it could chill overnight. But it was really, really good! I heard someone describe it as the filling of pecan pie with an oat cookie crust, and after having it last night Tony said to me..."it tastes like a pecan pie, but without the pecans...". It is served cold. I had a piece after lunch today and I think it got even better...

Friday Night, Grilled Pork Chops with Cherry Peppers, April 15, 2011

I saw this pork chop recipe in the new Bon Appetit magazine. It was someone writing into the magazine asking for the recipe, they had it at Mario Batali's restaurant, Babbo in NYC. I love the sweet and spicy of pickled cherry peppers and it's been a while since I had them, I thought it sounded really good. Another new magazine came in the mail, the Food & Wine May 2011 had this interesting looking dessert in it, a chocolate carrot cake. I love carrot cake because its so moist and of corse the cream cheese frosting that is so good with it. But this chocolate cake version has no cream cheese frosting, but it's got a crumb topping (what??).

Brown Tomato Caprese Salad

Whole Foods had these great looking brown tomato variety that I thought looked like a good choice for tonight. So caprese salad is a cobination of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. I put some good looking watercress lettuce on the plate first and layered on the mozzarella thinly sliced then sliced tomatoes that I seasoned with salt and pepper seperately and fresh basil. I drizzled on some olive oil and served with lightly toasted fresh bakery bread that I rubbed with fresh garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Fantastico!!

Grilled Pork Chops with Cherry Peppers, Cipolline Onions and Balsamic Vinegar

These pork chops are soaked in a brine overnight to ensure they are flavorful and tender. Dissolve 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/8 cup of sugar in 4 cups of water. I put the brine in a zip-lock bag and placed 2 pork chops in and closed the bag, making sure I get out all the air so the brine really gets into the pork chops. He says to brine it 12 hours, but mine was more like 16 hours and it was fine (I am always worried about it becoming too salty if it sits too long in the brine, that happened to me before). You combine bell peppers, cipolline onions, red onions, pickled cherry peppers, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and olive oil. The vegetables are cooked until softened and it's spooned over the perfectly charcoal grilled pork chops. He says to use aged balsamic vinegar just drizzled over the final dish, but I just reduced some regular good quality balsamic, to make it a bit more syrupy and deepen the flavors a bit. Really good, the pork had really perfect amounts of saltiness and sweetness.

Smoky Mashed Potato with Egg Yolk Centers

I saw this on some show, I think it was Unique Eats. The guy made his own smoke oil by charring a brickette then removing it to a small pot then pouring olive oil over it and when it cools down you get this olive oil that tastes like you cooked it on the grill. I made some mashed potatoes and flavored it with the oil and some milk, salt and pepper. I soft boiled 2 eggs for about 3-4 minutes and after spooning the mashed potato onto the serving plates I cracked the egg into the center of the potatoes. It was really good, I was afraid of using too much oil in the potaoes so it was a mild smoke flavor. The egg just added a nice "sauce" the the dish.

Steamed Snap Peas

Cocoa-Carrot Cake with Cocoa Crumble and a Cup of Espresso Ice Cream

This was in the new Food & Wine magazine (as I said above). It's basically made like you would make a carrot cake with the additon of cocoa powder and it's baked in a loaf pan instead of a cake pan. Instead of the cream cheese frosting there is a chocolate crumble that you make by combining flour, sugar, almond flour, cocoa, salt and soft butter. This mixture is clumped together by your hands and chilled for 15 minutes. You then bake it for 15 minutes and let it cool and it hardens as it cools. When you put the cake batter in the loaf pan you top it with the crumble and then it bakes all together. Its really good and different. Its a combination of a coffee cake and a carrot cake. I served this with a "cup of espresso ice cream". I came across these small espresso cups in the bacement and I thought they would be a perfect little vehical for the ice cream. Basically I made a vanilla ice cream but infused the milk with espresso powder. When I finished mixing it, I tasted it and it was like a cup of coffee that needed sugar, what do I do now?? I made some simple syrup with 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup of sugar. I whisked this into the custard and tasted it, and it was perfect, thank goodness!!

Friday Night, April 8, 2011, Walnut Veal

This was one of those weeks I found myself with no idea for Friday dinner and it was Wednesday night. I started flipping through magazines and books for something different and interesting. I saw this Cauliflower bisque in the back of a Veranda magazine, I remembered how good it was at Daniel Boulud's restaurant called Bar Boulud. Then I found the Chocolate Truffle Pie from the new Bon Appetit magazine, April 2011. Laura Calder never disappoints and we are always surprised about her dishes from French Food at Home, they are different and always delicious, that's where the Walnut Veal came in...

Cauliflower Bisque

This is very rich and delicious. I made it with half the amount of heavy cream, basically I made my own half and half in place of the 4 cups of heavy cream the recipe called for. You melt some butter in a pan and add the white part of a leek, a small amount of celery, 1/2 garlic clove minced and 1/8 cup dry vermouth. Cover the pot and sweat the vegetables for a few minutes. Add 1 small head of cauliflower that's been sliced thinly and 4 cups of half and half. Cook until very soft. I used a stick blender to puree it smooth. Season with salt and nutmeg. I roasted some of the thinly sliced cauliflower for a garnish which added a nice texture, very good.

Walnut Veal

This was in Laura Calder's book, "French Food at Home". It was crazy looking, it kind of didn't look like it would be good, but I haven't made anything bad from her book yet so I gave it a shot. I am glad I did because it was delicious, easy and quick too. You make a paste in a mortar and pestle; 1 garlic clove and 1/2 cup walnuts. Grind it into a paste and add about 1/4 cup or so of walnut oil. Add 1 Tbsp of drained capers and about 2-3 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper. That's the sauce that you top the veal with. To make the veal it's 2 veal cutlets that I pounded (just to help tenderize them), season with salt and pepper then cut into 1/2 inch strips. Heat a skillet over medium high heat then add 1 Tbsp of butter and let it brown slightly, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and let it get quite hot. Toss in the veal and cook it 2 minutes, until its just cooked (too long and it will toughen). Remove to serving dishes and spoon some of the walnut sauce over top. The whole thing takes about 5 minutes and we loved it. We used the rest of the walnut sauce today as a spread on a sandwich, so flavorful!!

Baked Corn Pudding

I don't know where this idea came from, it just popped into my head. It was good, but I have made better ones in my opinion. I kind of followed Sunny Anderson's recipe but instead of just cheddar cheese I did half cheddar and half Gruyere, no jalapeno and no bread topping. It was good, Tony loved it.

Roasted Eggplant with Soft Goat Cheese and Watercress

I wasn't sure what else to serve so I got some eggplant and watercress without a plan for them. I decided to roast diced eggplant with minced shallots and some diced tomatoes from a can with olive oil, salt and pepper and do a ratatouille kind of thing. When they were finished roasting about an hour later, I added a bit of red wine vinegar. After sitting a couple hours at room temperature I folded in some softened goat cheese and served it on a bed of watercress.

Chocolate Truffle Pie with Orange-Champagne Sabayon and Strawberries From Bon Appetit Magazine

This was one of these desserts that I really had no idea what to expect from the combination of all these ingredients. I thought it couldn't be bad. We each took a bite and looked at each other and we smiled and we each said wow with our eyes. I love when that happens. The richness of the chocolate pie with the small amount of toasted almonds on top and the orange zest that is mixed within. The airiness of the Orange-Champagne Sabayon (which is egg yolks, sugar, orange zest and I used Prosecco whisked over a double boiler until it reaches 170 degrees then you whisk over a ice water bath to cool it completely). And the thinly sliced strawberries that are macerated with some sugar for a few hours. This combination is heavenly...

Friday Night Menu, February 1,2011, 7 Hour Pork Shoulder

The dessert Tony and I shared at Eastern Standard a few weeks back was still fresh in my mind. I had to recreate it! It was the Butterscotch Bread Pudding with Praline Ice Cream and Salted Caramel. I saw a picture that looked like thinly sliced potatoes layered, and in the shape of a mini cupcake pan, baked probably and filled with a tasty filling...it wasn't...I think it was phyllo dough or something. But anyway, the picture led to my idea for this appetizer which was "mini potato cups with Gruyere, panchetta and Creme fraiche". The main dish was an idea I got from Jamie Oliver, he was traveling somewhere and he filled a earthenware pot with lots of different ingredients, tightly covered it and it slowly cooked in a communal oven for hours. I also have been wanting to do a pork shoulder in the oven (usually Tony smokes a pork shoulder in his smoker outside for 16 hours, and it's always very good, but for a change I wanted to try the oven).

Mini Potato Cups with Gruyere, Panchetta and Creme Fraiche

So I have two mini cupcake pans, one I oiled the top side and the other one I oiled the bottom side so when I filled the cups with thinly sliced russet potatoes I could put the other pan on top to force them into a cup shape. I just sprinkled salt on the potatoes after I layered in about 7-8 sliced potatoes into each cup. After putting the other pan on top and pressing it down a bit I put it into a 300 degree oven (pork was cooking at that temp) for about 20-30 minutes or so, until you can start to see the edges of the potatoes browning slightly. Remove the top pan and continue to cook until the rest of the cup turns golden. It was a little tricky, you have to make sure you put plenty of oil or they will stick. I happened to have cooked potatoes in the frig and I made a small amount of mashed potatoes with it, mixing in Gruyere cheese. I put the mashed potatoes in the cup and sprinkled more Gruyere cheese on top, then a piece of panchetta that I already cooked and baked it until heated through and the cheese was melted. I topped each one with a bit of creme fraiche, very good appetizer!!

7-Hour Pork Shoulder with Prunes, Currants and Fennel over Creamy Polenta

I have a clay pot called a "Romertopf". You soak it in cold water before baking anything and you put everything in at room temperature or cold, and you even put the whole thing in a cold oven and slowly heat the oven. Sudden changes in temperature will crack it. I decided to use it for this dish. I have only made bread and I think a whole chicken one time in it, so I am not familiar with it too much. I put the whole 3 lb pork shoulder in that I rubbed with freshly ground fennel seeds, allspice seeds and chili powder. Of course I sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper. I added one large sweet onion cut into 1 inch wedges, 2 small fennel bulbs cut into 1 inch wedges, 1 garlic clove cut in half, a handful of dried currents and about 10 dried prunes. I splashed in about 1/4 cup dry sherry and 1/4 cup chicken stock, and salt on the vegetables. I covered the pot with the lid and put it into the oven. I turned the oven onto 325 degrees and figured I would let it go until 6:00pm. I started smelling it a couple hours into it (which is a good hint that its about done) and I bet you it was done after 3-4 hours. It had great flavor and the vegetables and fruit were so good, but the pork was slightly dried out. I strained and thickened the juices with a corn starch slurry that came out great. I served this with creamy polenta.

Butterscotch Bread Pudding with Praline Ice Cream and Salted Caramel

I looked for a recipe for butterscotch bread pudding and Sara Moulton had one that looked good. Her bread was diced (which is normal) and put into ramekins, but I kept my slices whole, because that's what I think it was like at the restaurant (above). I actually made this the night before because Tony went out and I had nothing better to do. So you put in the bread and pour the butterscotch custard over, I let it sit a bit to really soak in and then bake it in a water bath. I made a vanilla ice cream from my Avec Eric cookbook and when it was done churning I layered in some hazelnut praline that I had made probably a year ago and had in the freezer. Basically to make a praline its toasted nuts of your choice and you mix it into a hot caramel then pour it out onto a Silpat on a sheet pan and let it harden. You then process it into fine bits. That ice cream was really good, its gone now! Then I made some salted caramel just to pour over the bread pudding and ice cream. It was to die for!!!

Weekday meals, March 27-31

I am starting to do weekday meals on the blog, mainly for myself. I always try to make something I never made, even during the week (not just Friday Nights). So I think it will be helpful for me, to remind myself of the things I have made (maybe make changes to perfect it), and even maybe perfect it to put it into another cookbook. I am not going to describe each dish but I will list the name and/or description along with a picture.

Sunday Lunch- Pistachio and Panko encrusted lamb loin chop atop a salad of mixed greens, hearts of palm, tomato, cucumber, pistachio nuts and dried cranberries. Shallot, sherry vinegar and mustard vinaigrette.

Sunday Dinner- Grilled Cheese (cheddar, gorgonzola and boucheron) with sliced poached chicken and fried egg on a thinly sliced round boule loaf of bread from Whole Foods.

Sunday dessert- Honey cookies from Laura Calder filled with apple, lemon and orange granita.

Monday dinner- Brown rice mushroom risotto with chicken and beet greens.

Tuesday dinner- Soup and salad; Roasted beet, goat cheese and mixed greens salad with lemon vinaigrette and sesame semolina bread. White lentil soup with homemade chicken stock, finely diced onion, celery and carrots.

Wednesday dinner-Baked savory crepes filled with steamed kale and cream cheese pesto and a big meatball on the side.

Thursday dinner- Pan seared salmon with braised Brussels sprouts and baby potatoes.

Naples, March 19 and 20

We are having a fantastic vacation!!! Yesterday we left Naples and headed to the Key's. We saw that Morada Bay (a restaurant we had been to a couple times that we love in Islamorada, FL) was having a "full moon party". It turns out they have this party every full moon. With fire jugglers, live music, buffet (if you are hungry... we had a regular dinner), drummers and fire works. We got there about 6:30, they don't take reservations so we waited about 45 minutes for a table (which was perfect). She sat us in a prime location, right by the water's edge, people walking by said "wow, you guys got a great table, do you know someone??" We got some great house margaritas while we waited for the table and stuck with that during the meal too.

Tony ordered stone crabs as his appetizer. He said they were very special, he got 4 of them and he enjoyed them obviously. I was a little more boring but I loved it, an arugula salad that I had last time we were there and it was really good. I ordered something I had never had before... The Mahi Mahi dish, so good! It was a nice white mild fish and they pan seared it, maybe with some cornstarch coating and cooked in butter. Nice texture in and out, and it was served with Israelis Cous Cous and some kind of baby green sprouts. Tony ordered a whole yellow snapper (with the head and everything) with coconut rice, braised zucchini and summer squash and a sweet chili sauce. We shared a warm chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache center and two cappuccino's. We didn't get any pictures of those because it wouldn't have come out, just too dark.

This morning we woke up and decided to walk to a local breakfast place that we actually had been to before called "The Midway Cafe". Its just this small tiny place that doesn't look like anything from the outside but really good food and coffee. I got a goat cheese, spinach, tomato and egg pita (really good and fresh pita). Tony got the Swiss scramble, it was scrambled eggs, Swiss cheese, caramelized onion and spinach onto of foccacia (I didn't realize it until now but we had similar dishes). Really good dishes, Tony said his foccacia was really good and fresh too.

We drove back to Naples after breakfast, we got on the road about 11:00, and we thought we might go out to lunch or dinner in Naples but after driving for 3 and a half hours we decided to go to the store again and pick up some ingredients for dinner. I got some pizza dough, a can of diced tomatoes, an onion (that I am caramelizing right now) and zucchini to make a grilled pizza. We already have some goats cheese and Peccorino Romano from other meals. Tony got some sushi for himself too.

We took Rt 41 back from the Key's and I saw a lot of alligators in a stream that basically follows the road the whole way back. We didn't pull over to take any pictures, but there were so many of them.

Whole Foods tiramisu and cannoli

Fresh whole wheat pasta with Naples tomato and red wine sauce

Final plates...delicious!

First dinner in FLA...

Cooking dinner in Naples.  Thick cut pork chops on the grill with sauteed baby Bella shrooms...and grilled asparagus....

NE Foodie heading South!

We're taking a vacation here at NE Foodie!  But we'll still be blogging.  Heading to southern FLA to temper our bones before the hot summer in New England.  We'll be spending significant time in the Naples and Islamorada areas.  Let us know your restaurant recommendations....or at least what you think we should we be cooking/grilling in FLA.....

Friday Night, March 11 2011, with Lisa and John

This week we invited John and Lisa over. Should I make new recipes or shall I revisit some old ones???? I have been wanting to go back and make some that I have only made one time. I thought I'd do a couple appetizers, a salad, a main pasta dish and dessert.

Fried Sausage-stuffed Green Olives

This was in the Bon Appetit September 2010 (the restaurant issue). These stuffed olives came from a restaurant called Barbacco Eno Trattoria in San Francisco. They are stuffed with sweet sausage, Parmesan cheese, parsley, lemon zest, crushed red pepper and garlic then they are breaded with flour, egg and bread crumbs and fried to crisp the outside and cook the sausage inside, about 7 minutes.

Pot Stickers

I combined ground pork, peanut oil, onion, garlic, cilantro, soy sauce, scallions and sesame oil. Filled some wonton skins with this mixture and fried them in a little oil for a minute then steamed them by splashing them with a bit of water and covering the pan with a lid. After 5 minutes remove the lid and let any remaining water cook off. You get one side that's crispy and the other side is soft. I combined soy sauce, sugar, rice wIine vinegar and sesame oil for a little dipping sauce.

Walnut, Apple and Candied Bacon Salad

Lisa is a big fan of walnuts so I had to make a salad like this. I slow cooked some fat bacon in the oven with brown sugar on each one until perfectly done. It was just some baby arugula, spring mix, cherry tomatoes, thin slice apples, walnuts and the bacon. I made a dressing with white wine vinegar, honey, mustard, shallots, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Penne with Five Cheeses

I have made this many times but not lately, so I forgot this pasta should be penne rigate (with the ridges). I bought the regular penne, it was still good but the ridges makes such a difference because it holds more of the sauce. Its easy to make and it's assembled ahead of time so all you have to do is bake it off just before you are ready to eat. It only takes 8-10 minutes in the oven. You combine heavy cream, tomato puree, pecorino Romano, Italian fontina, Gorgonzola, ricotta, mozzarella and fresh basil in a large bowl. Boil Penne Rigate for 5 minutes (underdone because it will finish cooking in the oven) then add to the bowl of cheeses. Either cook in one big shallow baking dish or individual ones. Dot with butter and refrigerate until you are ready to bake it off in a 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

Ruffled Milk Pie

I made this one other time and I have been wanting to make it again. It's store bought phyllo dough that's defrosted in the refrigerator then you pick one piece up and scrunch it into a long gathered piece and spiral it, and place it in the middle of a cake pan. Continue to scrunch into long pieces and go around and around. This is drizzled with clarified butter and baked for 25 minutes in a 350 oven. While its baking you make a custard with eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and when it comes out of the oven you pour the custard over the cooked phyllo and return it to bake another 25 minutes. Dust it with confectioners sugar and more cinnamon. It says to serve it right away but I think I like it better the next day right out of the refrigerator. This is a recipe that was featured on the Martha Stewart show, it's originally made by Chef Vefa Alexiadou.

New England Foodie mentioned on BonAppetit.com!!!

Our little blog has been mentioned on BonAppetit.com!  Click HERE to see....

Jeanne's description and photos of Rigatoni with Eggplant and Pine Nut Crunch is included in their "What people are cooking" column.  This is an area where they show food blogger feedback on receipes that appeared in Bon Appetit.

You can see Jeanne's original blog post HERE.

Friday Night with Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain

Tony heard about Anthony Bourdain going to different cities to give these "talks" on a big stage and was hoping he would come around here sometime. Well shortly after that thought, there was an announcement that he was coming to Boston, but this time with his friend and fellow chef Eric Ripert. Tony bought a set of tickets for the two of us and he splurged for the front section at the Symphony Hall, we were in the 3rd row and back stage access after the show (Tony's 40th birthday is the same weekend, so this was part of his birthday celebration).

Tony made reservations at a restaurant that he's been wanting to try called Eastern Standard, located somewhat near the Symphony Hall, so we could walk everywhere. We had some good food there, definitely have to go back. We shared a Camembert cheese, fresh oregano and roasted tomato Flat bread. We almost didn't get a flat bread dish because we were thinking we should get something different, but I am glad we got it. We loved the fresh oregano on this and the tomatoes; I think they were, slowly roasted and maybe with a little sugar or just a touch of something sweet. The crust was so good, they weren't shy with the use of olive oil, which made the crust crunchy and delicious.

I got the vegetable risotto (we just grilled a big steak the night before, so I was staying away from meat). Wow, this was sooo good! It was a roasted Brussels sprout leaves, parsnips and pine nut risotto with a hollandaise sauce. I have never had risotto with something so creamy as an accompaniment. Hollandaise is that sauce you get on an Egg's Benedict, it's yolky, lemony and silky. I will recreate that for sure!

I was curious about one of the side dishes on the menu which was cauliflower, pine nut and crispy sage leaves. I love my vegetables and had to have it, it was also very delicious!

Tony got the lobster special which was a ricotta gnocchi dish with beautiful lobster meat, brised leeks and lemon brown butter. The gnocchi was so light, I had to have a bite and now I have to recreate that too!

We couldn't decide on dessert. There was a Creme Brulee which is always a good choice and a butterscotch bread pudding with a hazelnut praline crunch and ice cream...so we got them both and shared. The creme brulee was delicious but there was nothing different (which is how it should be) and the bread pudding was fantastic! It was very dense, but in a good way and with the butterscotch sauce just perfect, and the crunchy praline "cookie" and a scoop of delicious ice cream, I don't remember what flavor but it tasted like vanilla and maybe with praline too. To keep us awake and to go with dessert we got two cappuccino's.

We finished dinner and still had an hour and a half to kill before the show so we got out of the cold and had a seat at the bar of a place called "Symphony 8", it was a bar that was hoppin' right near symphony hall. I had a glass of Pino Noir and Tony had a Sam Adams Noble Pills. We headed into the hall about 30 mins early and found our seat right in the third row, but on the outer edge, but still good seats.

About 10 past 8 Anthony Bourdain was announced and he walked out. He was happy to see the large crowd that came to see him and he then announced Eric Repert. They are really good friends and they started by interrogating each other, in a funny way. Anthony told Eric to sit in this lonely chair in the front and center of the stage and Anthony asked him questions as if he was a lawyer and Eric was the suspect. Asking him if he's French and about places he's worked to be where he is today. He asked him about Gordon Ramsey, I guess Eric doesn't agree with the way Gordon Ramsey treats people on his shows and so he talked about that. Asking him about sustainable fish; which ones he won't eat because he is worried that there will be no more of certain species if we continue eating them today. Then Anthony was done with him and Eric asked Anthony to sit in the chair. He asked similar questions to Anthony. He asked him..."Is it true your wife can kick your ass?", (Eric introduced Anthony to-who is now-Anthony's wife). So after a few more silly questions, Eric said that he is done with his questions for Anthony.

They then sat together in two chairs that looked much more comfortable then that one lonely interrogation chair and they talked about how Americans eat more about quantity then about quality and in France they may have proteins like meats and chicken only a couple times a week and the rest of the meals are based more around vegetables. They talked about eating at places like McDonald's and how it's not good for you but Anthony can see why people do it, because it's cheap to buy and convenient and 3 year old kids want it so you have to give in sometimes. The kids don't want to hear about Micheal Pollens points to healthy eating. They talked about Eric's Michelin stars for his restaurant in NYC called Le Bernardin. They then took some questions from the audience. Someone asked Anthony about why he doesn't agree with vegetarians and he went off on that. His answer was that he travels all over the world and he is offered these dishes that he is honored to receive from these people that don't have much money or anything and they feed him what they like and what they think is good food (and I assume they aren't vegetarian foods, is what he meant from that). Someone asked "Where are you going to eat in Boston while you are here?" and they said where they wanted to eat (Craigie on Main) but they wouldn't have the time. The next morning Anthony was going to be on a flight to Cuba for an up coming show so he wouldn't be able to check out any places after the show.

The show ended at 10:00 and they said thanks for coming and they left the stage. We made our way along with 198 other people to a room where they served passed hors dovers and there was a bar to get a cocktail, beer or wine. We were too slow and before we knew it the line formed all the way around the room. By the time we got to the signing table to meet the two chef's it was just before midnight. I was so tired after eating and drinking and sitting comfortable in the seats for two hours and then standing in line for another hour and a half, but it was worth it. They sold books to have them sign and I planned on buying a book there instead of carrying around my "Evec Eric" book all night. Tony bought another copy of "Kitchen Confidential" which he has and already read, but wanted another copy to have him sign. I got another book by Eric called "A Return to Cooking", which I hadn't even heard of but it looks like a good one to me...

Here's the Boston Globe article about the show.

March Foodie Poll is now live!

Be sure to vote in our March Foodie Poll at http://www.nefoodie.blogspot.com/!  Snack foods is the topic this month.

The monthly poll is still new to us here, so here is how we think this is going to work:

• We'll do our best to post a new poll on the 1st of each month.
• Topics will be food related.  Your suggestions are encouraged!
• We'll keep the prior month's results posted for a week or two after the end of the poll so everyone can see.  From the Feb poll....Gin is the spirit of choice!!