An Easy Dinner and Planning for the Week Ahead

After a busy weekend, filled with fun times and good friends, we settled in for the first Sunday football games and decided on a very easy dinner of some marinated steak tips and a nice, spinach salad. We didn't have the ingredients for any of those things so I had to run to the store, but I hadn't planned my menu yet! I think the next week or so will consist of some quick trips to the farmer's market/grocery store as I figure out a plan for the next menu.

We are having friends over tomorrow night, and they are vegetarians, so I promised them a good meal...sans meat. I don't normally cook with tofu, but I'm going to give it a shot! We're going to try a recipe for Kung Pao Tofu, from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook, served with a side of brown rice and some kale. I hope it's good! I added the ingredients for these recipes to the list and off to the store, we go!

Easy, pre-marinated steak tips on the grill, and a delicious spinach salad. I bought some adorable heirloom tomatoes the size of cherry tomatoes, and threw those in along with some minced shallots, and crumbled feta. I tossed the salad with this awesome avocado dressing that Matt found at the store, and dinner was ready! This left me plenty of time to write to all of you, my culinary comrades, and then get down to work on the upcoming website. I think that we're going to do things a little differently with the menu for awhile. As I need to photograph, use, and write about certain ingredients for the site, I'll be using them and writing about them on the blog. That way, I'll "kill a few birds with one stone," so to speak, so I'll have posts for you on a daily basis, and still get in the writing I need to do to bring this website to you as fast as possible!

That being said, if there's an ingredient you want to learn more about, comment here and let me know. I'll move it to the top of the list!

Slightly All-American

The new menu is here! It's begun! Our trip around the world has commenced...and naturally, we are starting our journey in the United States. Where else would we start? ;) I'll be honest, I chose this menu partially because it's entitled "Slightly All-American," in A Platter of Figs, by David Tanis. I love these menus because they are always so well-tailored and they make sense in the timing department. Each component comes together naturally well, making it easy to do lots of things at once!

Aside from the name of this menu, the ingredients, and the final product, reminds me of a Fourth of July BBQ, and what could be more all-American than Independence Day! The introduction in the book talks of a woman named Josephine, a self-taught cook with a knack for making simple, delicious food. Her response when complimented is always, "It's nothing fancy. I'm just a salt and pepper cook." And really, that's the only seasoning that I used while cooking today. The flavors are simple, yet bold, and it made for a delicious and hearty meal!

Sliced Tomatoes with Sea Salt: I bought some heirloom tomatoes at Whole Foods today. I made sure to get different species so that the colors would pop on the platter. One purple, one green, and one yellow...it's just the prettiest combo to see sliced and on display. I sprinkled some basil ribbons, chopped parsley and chives on top, and just before serving, a dash of Tuscan Sea Salt...a gift from my dear friend Heidi. It was simple, refreshing, and really just epitomized the late summer season for me.

Grilled Chicken Breasts: I made four chicken breasts so that we'd have some leftovers for tomorrow. I cleaned them of their fat and chewy tendons, and placed them between two sheets of plastic wrap to pound them down a little bit. Remember what I told you? An even piece of chicken will cook a lot better than an uneven one. I drizzled the chicken with olive oil and then sprinkled it with ... you guessed it ... salt and pepper! I also chopped up some rosemary and sprinkled that on both sides as well. I allowed them to sit at room temperature for a bit while I prepared the other components of the meal, but once it was time to grill, I placed them in a grill pan for 6 minutes on one side, and about 3 minutes more on the other. They were perfectly cooked and juicy as all get out!

Corn, Squash, and Beans with Jalapeno Butter: While the chicken was resting before grilling, I prepared this vegetable dish. There was a bit more prep involved in this one since I had to cut the kernels off ears of corn, dice some zucchini, summer squash, green beans and onions, make some garlic paste and also create the jalapeno butter, but it was totally worth it. After cooking the onions for a few minutes, and then cooking them a few more minutes with the rest of the veggies, I transferred the mixture to a bowl and tossed it with the jalapeno butter (consisting of butter, minced jalapeno, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper).

Blueberry-Blackberry Crumble: Finally, while we enjoyed this delicious all-American meal, my oven was quietly cooking a delicious dessert for us to enjoy later on in the evening. This crumble was totally simple to assemble, consisting only of blackberries, blueberries, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. The syrupy berry goodness that was hidden only by some browned crumbly topping was deliciously sweet and tart at the same time. My only wish is that I had bought vanilla ice cream at the store today!

To me, the ingredients that I used tonight are very American ingredients. Heirloom tomatoes, mixed berries, and fresh ears of corn are all things that I can buy at local farmer's markets, items that are always readily available to us. Nothing on this list of ingredients was difficult to find, nor was anything foreign to our everyday cooking practices. American cooking, in general, is a hodge podge of mixed cuisines, due to the fact that America itself is a melting pot of different ethnicities. I love that we can find so many different types of food on our continent, and that even something as all-American as grilled chicken with some vegetable sides incorporate ingredients such as jalapenos, an ingredient more widely used in other cuisines. But now it's time to see what's going on in other corners of the world! What do they have that we don't? What spices should be more readily accesible in our stores? What techniques can we learn from other cultures?

Here we go! :)

Dante!

I had a lovely time with some of my favorite ladies last night! We went out to dinner at a local establishment in the Cambridge area, called Dante. Chef Dante de Magistris's sister restaurant, Il Casale, is in Belmont, and I've been to that one...so I had to try Dante as well. I like them both very much.

We started our evening with a round of cocktails. I had checked out the menu ahead of time, as I always do, and knew exactly which one I wanted. It was called Zecca, and it had lemongrass, apple, vodka and mint. It was a lovely, smooth drink and it wasn't at all too sweet, as you'd think it might be with the apple. The bite of the vodka and the savoriness of the lemongrass flavor really balanced everything out perfectly. (apologies for the pictures - I didn't want to use my flash and disturb the diners around us, so we'll work with what we've got here)

Zecca

We started off with a few sfizi, an Italian version of tapas, or small plates for sharing. At only $5 each, we were able to order a bunch of them without feeling as though we were driving up the bill! We opted for four of them. The Cotechino is a rich sausage, cooked under ash, served with charred fennel. What was so interesting about this dish is that you could smell the ash as soon as the plate was placed on the table, but you didn't get the ashy taste when you took a bite. It was a very interesting use of the senses, to be smelling one thing, and tasting quite another.  The Arancini is a porcini risotto, scamorza, and truffle honey ball that is then fried to perfection. Upon seeing them, I thought they looked a bit over-fried, but I was wrong...they were perfect! The risotto was wonderful and creamy and the middle just oozed with the scamorza, a cheese similar to mozzarella. The Burrata is a buttery "mozzerella" from Apulia, Sicilian oregano and pistacios. If you've never had burrata, you should...because comparing it to mozzarella does it NO justice...it's an incredibly creamy, buttery, deliciousness that just cannot be compared to. :) Lastly, we got the Mascarpone, which is a whipped, roasted hot pepper and mascarpone dip, with baby carrots, fennel and crostini. I think this one was my favorite. It was so delicious, and the baby carrots and radishes were crunchy and amazing. But the fennel...the fennel went so well with the flavors of the dip...I had a hard time when that plate was empty!

Cotechino

Arancini

Burrata

Mascarpone

We ordered two salads, to share between the three of us. The Rughetta is made up of baby arugula, endive, pear mostarda, Pecorino Romano, olio nuovo, and lemon. It was extremely simple, but very flavorful and my favorite of the two salads. The other one is not on the menu online, and I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was heirloom tomatoes, with mozzarella and zucchini blossoms, drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It was extremely tasty, especially since now is the perfect season for those heirloom tomatoes. I just have a soft spot for anything with arugula.

Rughetta

Heirloom Tomatoes

For my entree, I had a small portion of the Gnocchi, made in-house, and tossed with gorgonzola dolce and roasted peaches. (This isn't the one that is on the online menu.) This is an incredible dish! I was so intrigued by the combination of gorgonzola, peaches, and the potato dumplings that I just had to try it and I am so glad that I did. It was the perfect size too! It was a very rich dish so I was happy not to have a ton of it in front of me. I was so satisfied when the plate was cleared.

Gnocchi

We opted for one dessert because we all just needed to finish the meal off with a bite of something sweet. It was very difficult to decide but we finally came to the conclusion that the Fritelle sounded the best. It is Venetian-style fried dough served with four sauces: caramel, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla-ginger. The Vanilla-Ginger sauce made this dish what it was ... I actually could have done without the other three. It was the most unique of the sauces, and went so well with the gooey richness of the hot dough. 

This was...Fritelle.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Dante, and I will certainly go back! It wasn't overly expensive, it has a lovely atmosphere, and the servers are super-friendly and fun to interact with! It's casual in a fine-dining setting, and I loved every second of it!

Spring! It's-a comin'!

I think it's accurate to say that Spring is on it's way...and with Spring comes farmer's markets, and farmer's markets are one of my favorite things! The three seasons out of the year that allow for outdoor markets are a wonderful time of year because ingredients are so fresh, and it's nice to know you're supporting the local economy as well!

from Flickr - by BostonRunner

I'm especially looking forward to the Farmer's Market that sets up shop in Dewey Square (right near South Station, in the Financial District of Boston) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are so many booths that sell breads, cheeses, local meats, and beautiful fruits and vegetables. Because I work right near the market, I alter the way I grocery shop during these seasons!

It's so convenient to stop by the market on my lunch break and pick up the freshest of the fresh! Now don't get me wrong, I still go to the grocery store, and I definitely still make a menu...but I pick and choose what I buy at the store, saving myself for those enormous heirloom tomatoes, freshly packed bags of salad greens, and locally-made feta cheese.

from Flickr - by NatalieMaynor

I'll be sure to keep you all posted on my favorite booths at the markets so that you, too, can stop and check out the goods!