Pappardelle al Ragù

PAPPARDELLE AL RAGU

As promised, here is the second Rome-inspired post (and right in the nick of time since Passover starts tomorrow night and it's bye-bye pasta).  While I've made pasta from scratch multiple times, and even some marinara, this was my first ragù.  Considering that the ragù alla lepre (rabbit) on pappardelle was the absolute best dish we had in Rome, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make this ragù reminiscent of that experience (without access to rabbit, of course).  I won't claim to have replicated the original dish, but Garrett and I were both very happy with the flavor...and we learned a lot about ragù-making along the way.

The first thing you should know is that this is a time-consuming recipe.  Ragù absolutely needs time to simmer and develop flavor, and there are no shortcuts.  It doesn't require your constant attention, but I was tasting and adjusting the seasoning about every twenty minutes.  The flavor after the first twenty minutes, compared to after the full two hours simmering, was very different.  Even then, I wish it was more rich and full-bodied, but I chalk up its limitations to the quality of meat and wine I was using.  While I used a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal, next time I would either go with just pork/veal, or try something a bit more gamey, like lamb.  Another option I would like to explore is using pancetta (instead of olive oil) as a cooking base for the vegetables, since I think a bit of smokey flavor would also contribute to the body of the sauce.

Of course, you do not need to make your own pasta from scratch to enjoy the ragù.  In fact, I made the ragù yesterday and tried it with some standard store-bought spaghetti and it was great.  I actually really liked added bite the dried pasta had, whereas the homemade pappardelle is very delicate.  I'll leave that up to you and your busy schedule to decide.  Some good news is that the time you'll take on this ragù will pay off in time saved throughout the week, using the leftovers to pull together easy meals with grilled vegetables or even a quick lasagna.      

Spaghetti alla Carbonara di Carciofi (Spaghetti Carbonara with Artichoke)

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA DI CARCIOFI 

Listen, I'm not going to sugar coat this for you because I know you're already really jealous of the week I spent in Rome.  Yes, the historical sites helped me transcend space and time.  Yes, the piazzas and winding, narrow streets had that perfect paint-chippy authenticity.  Of course the people were enthusiastically kind, loud, and gesture-y.  But the food: effing amazing.

Now, like I mentioned in my previous post (where you can see some photos of the space/time transcending monuments and paint-chippiness), there's a lot of crappy food in Rome and it can be quite tricky to tell the difference between a restaurant dishing out frozen pizzas to tourists or making homemade pasta and ragu.  While in other cities proximity to tourist hot spots and kitschy decor might be dead giveaways that the place is a dud, that's not necessarily the case in Rome.  The landlord of the apartment we rented directed us to places I would normally disregard, but truly had that great blistered pizza crust everyone is searching for in life.  So, location, decor, and prices really aren't reliable indicators of whether a restaurant will disappoint or amaze.   I was left to develop my own investigatory process that mostly involved snooping around and peering over the shoulders of diners to catch a glimpse of their crusts and sauces.  

If you're going to Rome, my best advice for choosing a restaurant is to look at plates, and be prepared to feel fooled from time to time.  But, when you find a place that gives you exactly what you're looking for - freshly made pasta, homemade sauces, high quality ingredients, a wood burning pizza oven - don't be afraid to keep going back.  I mean, why waste your time on a wild hunt for another pizza/pasta place that's just as good?  And, by going back to a little place that you love, you're probably going to find the same host and waitstaff will remember you and your order, making your next experience seem even more local than your first.  If you have a short amount of time in Rome, just go immediately to Hostaria Farnese, on a side street between the Campo di'Fiori and Piazza Farnese.

Garlic Linguine with Fresh Tomato and Basil

GARLIC LINGUINE W/ FRESH TOMATO & BASIL

I'm mentally marching full steam ahead into spring, regardless of what the weather app says.  The year is being measured out in airfare miles and adventures, the first of which is a trip to Dallas in mid-February for a friend's baby shower, followed by spring break in Rome with Garrett.  We have tickets and a 50 square meter apartment off the Plaza Navona (twice as big as Paris!), and Garrett has also gotten hooked on Duolingo learning Italian.  That seems like all we need.

I've had the great joy of visiting Rome on two previous occasions with students, which means I don't feel I have anything really to plan as far as an agenda goes.  I'll just exist in Rome for a week, and eat a bunch of pasta, pizza, and gelato along the way.  Garrett, on the other hand, has never been to Italy so I'm sure that will take us around to the standard sites.  While the parallel experience of going to Paris made me most excited to show Garrett the physical beauty of the city, in Rome my anticipation lies in watching him eat his first bowl of fresh Italian pasta.  I know it seems difficult to imagine that the pasta is much better there, but it is.

This weekend we did start to think about places we might want to go for a day trip or two, which built up a craving for pasta.  Here was my attempt to embrace the texture and simplicity that marks a solid Italian bowl of pasta, as opposed to the mushy noodles we drown in oily red sauce in the States.  The dish is fresh, flavorful, light, and easy (taking only about 15 minutes from start to end).  As far as pasta goes, it's pretty guilt-free (just a hair above the 500-calorie mark) as long as you don't overdo it on portion size.  It takes just a few basic ingredients, and you can taste every single one of them in each bite.  Buon appetito.

Cornmeal Crusted Eggplant and Roasted Tomato Lasagne

These past few weeks I've really been reminded of what an important support system colleagues can be, especially as they offer encouragement over professional hurdles.  Work has pushed me to a breaking point recently, as I strive to make my progressive (and, sometimes, radical) vision of education a reality at the institutional level.  (The kids, however, are amazing and continue to blow me away every day by their ideas.  This week, they've been tackling solutions to the issue of gross income inequality in the U.S. after learning how it caused collapse of the Roman Republic.) 

One colleague, Jim, brought me lunch the other day - some homemade eggplant and asparagus lasagna that was cheesy and delicious.  I was inspired to try out a recipe makeover that adapted such a good comfort food for those on a low-cal, gluten-free, paleo, or vegetarian diet.  

Perhaps significantly less cheesy, this version of lasagna is super rustic - almost like a combination of bruschetta and lasagna.  It doesn't use traditional tomato sauce, but roasted tomatoes layered between crusty pieces of baked eggplant.  It's very light on the cheese, but there's definitely enough for richness without becoming greasy.  I thought it offered a nice combination of crusty eggplant, chunky tomato, and creamy ricotta.  More rustic fall dishes to come later this week!

Pesto Gnocchi and Roasted Tomatoes

PESTO GNOCCHI & ROASTED TOMATOES
 

Well, as you can see, this is a rustic dish.  I did a little research to see if the term "gnocchi" really does entail those perfect little ridges that I didn't even attempt to create, and as it turns out, the answer is sadly "yes."  Wikipedia told me that the etymology of gnocchi might go back to translations of either "knot" or "knuckle," neither of which my gnocchi resemble. 

The more aptly-named (read "honest") post title would be "potato dumplings in the Italian style with pesto and roasted tomatoes."  However, my approach to all of these aesthetic technicalities is that people can go shove it if they complain about the imperfections of your scratch-made food. 

Speaking of the technicalities of food-naming, I recently began listening to The Sporkful, a food podcast, and the episode "The Existential Nature of Soup" and "Sausages" produced a philosophical conversation on exactly what constitutes soup and whether a hot dog is a sausage.  At best, these debates are entertaining banter and hardly change the fact that good food is good.  So call these gnocchi, or potato dumplings, or whatever you want.  They taste delicious. 

If you do let go of the idea that gnocchi have to be these perfect little ridgy footballs, then it is an awesome alternative to more intimidating and labor-intensive pastas (and it doesn't require a pasta machine). 

Lasagna Soup

LASAGNA SOUP

 

Well the last week has been a whirlwind of travel from Frankfurt to Venice via Rothenberg, Munich, and Innsbruck. I've never traveled this route before, and I'm finding it pronounces the cultural differences between Germany and Italy in a great way. While Germany has always been steadfastly loyal to me in that I'll always get what I expect (in a good way), Italy gets better and better each time. For a while I resisted falling in love with Italy - what a cliche, right? - but it truly is a beautiful country.

As this was my first time to Venice I had to do the gondola ride and all that jazz. It was peaceful and serene, an unexpected respite from the narrow streets filled with tourists. For lunch: a pizza of arugula and Parma ham and good conversation with a New Yorker here for work (her boss is some guy with the last name Armani).  And gelato...but not as many gelatos as eiskaffees in Germany!

Best of all, the students I'm traveling with have been wonderful.  They are excited for every new experience and are doing their best to learn a little of the local languages.  Of course, they love the food as well.

Well, I obviously made this lasagna soup before I departed, but thought it timely to post it while in la Bella Italia. By no means is it traditional (or all that seasonal) but extremely delicious and very simple to make. Tomorrow I'm off to Verona, completing my stay in Italy before continuing back north to Switzerland. Inspiration for future posts guaranteed.

Frittata

FRITTATA 

W/ CARMELIZED ONION, TURKEY SAUSAGE, MUSHROOM, & SPINACH

Why is it that my most successful meals are always the "kitchen sink" recipes?

I guess there are just some culinary platforms that lend themselves well to combining nearly whatever is left over in the fridge at the end of the week producing a highly edible result - like soups, salads, and pizzas.  (I mean, what wouldn't  you put on top of a pizza?)  Well, add "frittata" to that list.

While I don't have the gastronomical or anthropological background to support this claim, I'm pretty convinced that the frittata was invented for the purpose of avoiding wastefulness.  The brunch restaurant down the street from me always has a frittata that just so happens to use ingredients on the last week's menu...hmmm.  But, imagine your average leftovers - your scraps of meat dried out by reheating, your vegetable side dishes turned to mush in the microwave - and consider the bright future they might have when combined with some eggs and baked into a healthy comfort food!  Free those leftovers from their Tupperware prisons and give them new life!

This recipe was thrown together from a number of fresh ingredients I had lying around in-wait, and certainly a whole range of meats and vegetables would work.  I just happened to have onion, mushroom, spinach, and ground turkey.  Of course, you can spin a frittata into any cultural flavor spectrum by spicing your sauteed vegetables or meat with your favorites from the spice rack.  I know many a frittata adds cheese to the mix, but I wanted to keep this one as lean as possible.

So bottom line: go sautée some meats and vegetables (separately), combine with seasoning and eggs, bake, enjoy hot or cold.

Roasted Rosemary Tomatoes & Zucchini Pasta

What a fabulous weekend I had out in D.C. for Bree's wedding shower.  Well, actually, it was to Maryland for a stay with the Rodgers - Bree's adopted D.C. family, relatives of her maid-of-honor, Lizzie, and hosts of the shower.  Before I get much more into the lovely company, let me just give Maryland a big "wowza!"  My travels within the U.S. are relatively poor, but Maryland's natural beauty was a rare moment of encouragement to see more of my own country.  Check out the gorgeous Potomac River that runs through Great Falls Park, separating Maryland and Virginia.

Now that I've misled you to believe that I spent a weekend outdoors checking out the Chesapeake, let me outline exactly how many completely-worth-it calories inspired this week's blog post.  The shower was a totally homemade affair from the drinks all the way down to the table decorations.  Ten small dishes were served, followed by a completely homemade decorated cake with edible flowers and white chocolate dipped Oreos that easily could have sold for $4 each in some fancy confectionery.  These dishes were my favs: roasted rosemary tomato bruschetta (inspiration for this post), baked goat cheese stuffed crimini mushrooms with rosemary breadcrumbs, crab cakes, and zucchini tots.

Judy Rodgers and her best friend, Connie, (with some help from the rest of the gang) pulled off an incredible feat: cooking and preparing for this party without completely losing it or turning into she-devils (like me, whenever I host).  In fact, it was totally the opposite.  Apparently, planning and preparing an elaborate meal of small dishes can actually be an occasion for friends and family to laugh at their blunders and collaborate lovingly!  This was a foreign concept to me, as holidays and hosting growing up were pretty anxiety-ridden affairs.  I woke up each morning to laughter and delicious smells wafting from the kitchen.  Perhaps the only thing better than the food this weekend was the great company - I haven't laughed (or eaten) that much in a long time.

So here is Judy's delicious recipe for a bruschetta topping that I knew would be great tossed with zucchini pasta.  But, trust me, it was awesome on top of toasted bread.  The oven will fill your house with the scent of rosemary, and that will last much longer than the food itself.

three grain salad

Let me start by saying this: I'm not a doctor.  Or a dietician.  But as a casual observer, it would seem that carbs are the enemy of man.  I see more and more students needing gluten-free diets every year for serious health reasons, and I also note that many a friend has had lots of success loosing weight on the paleo diet.  In the case of the former, I hope medical science soon explains the cause of rising gluten intolerance, but I have a bone to pick with the latter (pun intended!).  Not with the paleo diet, per se, but with the (mis)use of the terms "paleo" and "caveman."

Again, I'm not a doctor or a dietician,  but I know as a historian that our paleolithic, pre-agricultural, "caveman" ancestors ate tons of carbs.  Any anthropologist can tell you that hunting alone isn't a reliable and efficient enough source of energy to support human groups.  Perhaps we forget that gathering of grains has always been central to human survival because we imagine grain growing in perfect rows of industrially fertilized farmland, but grains are wild and can be gathered as plentifully (if not more so) than fruits and vegetables.  Grains and carbs aren't the enemy of human genetics: in and of themselves they don't make you plump (although carbs in the form of twinkies, do).  Eating grains and carbs and not burning off the complex carbohydrates that provide you with really efficient little packages of energy will make you plump.  We're programmed to store this energy that is meant to eventually be expended.  So if you were more plump eating carbs than on your paleo diet, it just meant that your body was working exactly the way it was programmed to work: saving your padded ass in the case of drought or famine.  It's just our lifestyles that have changed (decline in drought, famine, and general energy expenditure). 
Really, I'm not trying to bash my paleo friends at all.  Your fit, post-industrial bodies are getting all the energy and simple carbs needed for your lean physique.  Chances are, you're in better shape than me.  All I'm saying is that this salad full of three unrefined, whole grains is just as "paleo" as steak.  (Maybe more).

So go eat like a caveman and make this three grain salad recipe.  It's perfect for finding yourself with random and smallish amounts of barley, farro, wheatberries, quinoa, millet, or whatever whole grains you might have around.  Special thanks to Mandy over there at Lady & Pups (my favorite food blog of many months now) for her arugula pesto inspiration.

Sweet Potato Ravioli

One of the best things about travel is how it changes your perspective on home.  I've learned through travel how lucky Chicagoans are to live in a relatively affordable city with world-class culinary options.  While getting a phenomenal meal in Paris will really cost you, Chicago offers a truly fine dining experience at pretty much every popular corner in the city.  In fact, after finishing an impressive meal at Les Créations de Narisawa, Tokyo's contribution to one of the top 30 restaurants in the world, I couldn't help but think that I could have had a meal of that caliber right here in Wicker Park (and for a lot less).

Les Créations de Narisawa, Tokyo, Summer 2010

Yes, I think every city in the world has those delicious dives and street vendors that make them all equally travel-worthy, but when it comes to fine dining I've never been to a city like Chicago.  A few years back, Garrett and I went on a stint of visiting all these newer fine dining establishments (Blackbird being my favorite), because we figured one's twenties were really the best time to look back on and say "remember when we ate there?"  What we've realized since is that you hardly need a reservation weeks in advance at these places to enjoy an amazing meal.  Usually just walking in and asking for a seat at the bar will give you access to a full menu with better service since a bartender or server is always around to chat with you.  This last Saturday was an excellent case-in-point.

I can't rave enough about Storefront Company, a year-old restaurant that's right down the street from my apartment.  Saturday was our fourth visit.  We always stopped in for the drinks - which are designed with as much care and attention to flavor pairings as the menu - and to watch the pastry chefs work with furrowed brows in their open laboratory of delicious.  That always convinced us to order a dessert and call it a night.  So when we went to order some small plates, dessert, and drinks on Saturday we were left in love with the food and the staff.

The open kitchen at Storefront Company, 3/23/13

Go to Storefront Company and sit at the bar for some awesome dinner theater as you watch the kitchen execute artfully designed plates.  Order anything, because its going to be their awesome interpretation of whatever you expected in your head.  Best of all, talk to them and ask them what they're doing with all their little tweezers.  On our first visit we couldn't help but pull aside the pastry chef and say, "Excuse me, but we're just wondering what you're doing."   She's so charming, she laughed and said, "I don't know!"  One gets a sense that the owners appreciate the hours of experimentation that goes in to finding the best flavors for their dishes.  Not only did we get to speak to her again about an incredible chocolate dessert she crafted (below, right), but in the course of the evening we had meaningful banter with the bartender, a sous chef, and the executive chef about what they were creating and their process of design, preparation, and execution.

In the course of the meal I turned to Garrett and said things like: "Do they treat everyone this well?" and "I think this is as good as Blackbird" (particularly in reference to the rabbit/ravioli dish).  Garrett's favorite was the beet-cured salmon on brioche cups filled with fennel jam (above, center).

So, I'd like to thank the staff at Storefront Company for treating us so well - and for the drink on the house because it didn't come perfectly timed with dessert, and that extra plate of salted caramels and macarons post dessert (slipped to us by the pastry chef with a wink and "shhh").  And, of course, thanks for inspiring me to dust off the old pasta maker for this post.  About a foot in front of us the chef rolled out fresh pasta and filled it to make ravioli in a matter of minutes, all the while carrying on hospitable conversation about their days-long process to make their delicious beet-cured salmon.  It was impressive.

This recipe is a bit more involved than a typical post, but definitely worth it if you have the time or the occasion.

Italian Wedding Soup

We got home Sunday evening from a weekend in Michigan to attend a wedding of some old college friends.  Three days ago I probably wouldn't have used the phrase "old college friends," but now I do so endearingly.  I hadn't realized that three years or so have passed since I last saw their faces, and it was a treat to confirm that everyone had satisfyingly both changed/not changed at all.  New careers, new babies, new homes; same warmth, same humor, same good characters.  I hope to see them again soon.

Stopped in Ann Arbor on the way home for an extra dose of nostalgia.  Everything had satisfyingly both changed/not changed at all.  Even the ugliest building on campus now struck me as mid-century modern in its unchanged-ness.  So it goes.  Happily.

Here's an Italian Wedding Soup in honor of the new bride and groom. 

Tofu Ricotta Eggplant Rolls

TOFU "RICOTTA" 

EGGPLANT ROLLS 

W/ SPINACH PESTO & MARINARA

In celebration of Pulaski Day yesterday, I tossed around the idea of trying out homemade pierogies, but decided I was dumplinged out after all that bao last week.  Besides, Garrett's response to that idea was excitement, but followed by "What should we serve along with it...other brown things?"  So he rained on my Polish parade and I committed myself to patronizing Podhalanka next Friday, instead.  

While my paternal background is Polish (some shtetl in Russian-occupied Poland, to be exact), Garrett is half Italian-America, so I went that route instead.  I do feel like I've been going for lots of Italian and tofu lately, so why not combine them?  I was inspired by this vegan eggplant "rollatini," but I dropped both the vegan and the "rollatini" (the former because I bought my favorite cheese* this week and the latter because that's the worst made up Italian word, ever).  If you want to keep it as healthy as possible and/or vegan, by all means leave out the cheese.

Besides adding a bit of cheese love to the dish (but not so much as to compromise the value of the tofu substitute for real ricotta), I also made the filling more of a tofu ricotta with spinach-basil pesto.   I was eating it by the spoonful and was glad it made plenty to still fill all my eggplant slices.  Use a pre-made marinara sauce if you want, or make my simple go-to recipe from the zucchini spaghetti and meatballs post.