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Sooo Passe!

NY Times has a post today's Dining & Wine about people who now take a camera out before their fork! I thought this was hitting big time 2 yrs ago, but I guess that was before it was considered publishable material: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/dining/07camera.html?ref=dining

Shameless Plug

For Cake Monkey in Los Angeles! Every so often you find a bakery with one or two things that you really really love. This is the case of me loving EVERYthing this woman produces (and the gorgeous way she displays everything). She not only creates lovely, delicious desserts that taste like home, she creates her own versions of our favorites we find at 7-Eleven: Snowballs, Ho Ho's, Pop Tarts, you name it! Above (Cake Monkey Moguls) and below (Almond and Candied Kumquat cake) was a summation of my recent dinner....http://www.cakemonkey.com/

it!

Desserts from Los Angeles

Wackadoo desserts from Jordan Kahn! First is a grilled pistachio financier, a grilled milk mousse, caramelized croissant - with pistachio marzipan (those little green balls), coffee glass, kataifi tuile, green tea vines, cocoa nib ice cream, cocoa crumbs, black sesame halva and pistachio oil gel.

Second dish is crispy Jasmine meringue, aerated white chocolate, aerated buttercream flavored with bitters, coca cola pate de fruit, spice bread crisps, cashew penuche, confit baby carrots, saffron glass, folded mango, juniper cotton candy and bourbon custard. phew!

My Risotto Pot

I'm getting so much milege out of this thing....I pre-heat it in a 450 degree oven, then drop my bread dough in. No spraying the water bottle in the oven, no need for an 800 degree professional oven - I always get a great firm crust and a soft chewy inside! I kind of cheated on this one...made bread the old fashioned way (kneading, a few rises - the horror!) rather than the Sullivan Street bakery no-knead version that's been getting so much attention http://www.sullivanstreetbakery.com/recipes...hey I didn't have a snow day today and 18 hours to kill! Give a girl a break!

Result: I like the no knead version better. This bread was great with the homemade meatballs I made, but was really dense - no great air pockets, crucial to a light-chewy, not heavy-chewy bread. Still, homemade bread during a blizzard? not so bad...

oh and I got flowers from my sweetie too! good end to a nasty day!

Something Savory...Tuscan style

I'm going to try to be better about my posts!! It's been a busy winter!!

Lately I've been running into lots of people who are headed to Italy. Since I'm green with envy and forgetting my Italian, I figure the next best thing is to eat like I did in Italy! So I made a pappa al pomodoro - really better in the summer with ripe tomatoes, but who has time for that? This is a Tuscan style bread soup (because who really wants to eat the salt-less Tuscan bread anyway?!) which is actually really just like a bruschetta - in soup form! I think this would make a fantastic dish for kids who can't chew a lot yet...if they like the onions and garlic that is! Here is the recipe:

3 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 small onion, chopped, 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced, Pinch salt, 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped, 3/4-pound day-old Italian bread, roughly sliced, 2 cups water, 1 cup basil leaves, chopped, Freshly ground black pepper, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, optional, Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano,

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame until hot but not smoking. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes, until onion is translucent. Add a pinch of salt. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook until the tomatoes begin to soften and break down, about 5 minutes.

Place the bread slices in a bowl and cover with 2 cups water. Tear the bread into rough pieces and add to tomato mixture. Add the remaining water from the bowl. Continue simmering until all the bread has absorbed as much liquid as possible, yielding a baby food-like consistency.

Stir in the basil. Season, to taste, with pepper. Add extra-virgin olive oil, if desired. Let the soup continue simmering for 10 more minutes, then serve immediately in warmed soup bowls.

That's it!!!!!!

Meatz n Cakez

I think many aspects of the main meal segway beautifully into dessert.
I'm just not sure a dessert needs to resemble dinner. Case in point:

Dylan Prime’s Chocolate “Porterhouse” for Two: Red Velvet “N.Y. Strip,” Frozen Mousse “Filet,” and White Chocolate Bone, $24.00.

Then when you cut inside:
Ummmmmm....
Um.

How 'bout a baked potato to go with it?

Cowgirl’s Original Ice Cream Baked Potato, $6.95 (image courtesy of The Village Voice).
A hunk of vanilla ice cream is shaped like a potato and then rolled in cocoa powder to replicate the tarnished, brown skin of a baked potato. This sweet spud is split open with whipped cream mimicking the overflowing insides. Chopped pecans are dyed green to give the appearance of a scallion garnish, and yellow slices of fondant “butter” complete the copycat confection.

Can always rely on the Feedbag to keep me informed of anything and everything to do with meat. Especially when it's not!