Food and Motorcycle

Baked Bulgur

I got the idea from one of morrocan cookbooks i was leafing through  while ago at Borders. The description sounded quite appetizing - dry and redolent with olive oil.

50mins at 350 - cup of bulgur is enough for 2; a bit less than 1/4 cup of olive oil and and cup of water. there should be plenty of finely chopped onion in this one but i forgot the rato, and the first time i made this onion was way too crunchy, read undercooked - so i'd think one want to cook it a little bit before adding to the dish

Fiber Biennial

Last weekend i went to Philly planning to finally visit Frida Kahlo and Juan Soriano exhibitions at Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as couple of shows at Fiber Philadelphia.

First stop was Fiber Biennial at Snyderman-Works gallery. Very interesting including some whimsical basketry by Charissa Brock. Actually i was meaning to visit this gallery for a while so used this as a chance and checked around beyond the fiber exhibition.

Several more picture as usual can be found @flickr, including couple of shots i made at Museum of Arts. The Kahlo's exhibition was too crowded to enjoy so i wandered around the museum.

Couple of Good Squid Dishes

There are some interesting changes happened recently in my menu planning and i should probably write them down but for now it  suffices to say that these days i'm thinking  low carb/high protein when shopping for a dinner.

So here are couple of nice squid dishes i made recently:

Tonight it was a quick squid/greens braise - greens being cavolo nero, scallions and dill. The green flavor was tightened up with some generous sprinkle of jalapeno powder.

Arthichokes Again and Again

There are probably as many posts about artichoke dishes on this blog as about mussel ones. Tonight i made a very simple and very tasty variation on that Marcella's artichokes baked with cheese. Halved baby artichokes roasted with  an excellent manzanilla olive oil and a splash of whiskey, then topped with the mountain cheese i brought from Portugal to melt it down in a hot oven. What a flavor synergy - grassy and woody from all four ingredients. And the dish is good cold too as this cheese doesn't get rubbery (like mozzarella does) when it cools down.

Everybody Eats and Drinks Well in Portugal

In one sentence: the food and wine in Portugal are pretty good and cheap, both in stores and restaurants, and portions in the latter are generous.

The discoveries were presunto - a salt cured ham that is quite different from spanish jamon serrano and served cut into quite thick slices), broa - a cornmeal bread made with a combination of corn and wheat flours and is great with some quiejo da serra, a runny mountain cheese. I brought a small wheel of this cheese home - we bought it while driving through Serra da Estrella mountains where it is made.

Restaurants we visited and can recommend: A Cozinha in Coimbra for great consistent portuguese fare - we ate there several times, Pedro dos Leitoes in Mealhada for roasted suckling pig, and Pao de Trigo in Azoia for grilled sardines and other seafood: unexpectedly they also serve pimientos de padron - apparently these peppers belong in both spanish and portuguese cuisines.

Other pictures we made are of course flickered: Dining in Portugal.

Indoor Clambake

Ever since i saw a picture of a clambake by Gabrielle Hamilton served at her Prune i wanted to recreate the dish. Today finally made it, pretty much following a Jasper White's recipe from his book (a simplified version is available online at Epicurious).

Forgot to buy chorizo and used cockles instead of steamers, and didn't use lobsters (or eggs).  The clambake came out very nice. And fingerling potato were perfect for this. Some adjustments for the next time: 15 mins was just a bit much for mussels. I went sloppy with herbs (thyme and crushed fennel seeds) and didn't bother to tie them and they were everywhere almost like a grit. Smoked paprika, bay leaves and lemon peel work nicely. I put everything in two plastic mesh bags (used to sell clams) and they somewhat got torn(melted) in couple of places where they were touching a pan. So probably cheesecloth will work better (intil i invest in a special clambake pan).

More on my Favorite Dish

Just a short update on that favorite dish of mine. The latest incarnation was made with artichokes, scallops and sliced regular and smoked mozzarella.

Scallops worked perfectly, smoked mozzarella not at all.

Noguchi Museum

i meant to post about our visit to Noguchi museum for quite a while. We went there couple of weeks ago on a windy and grey saturday.

Honestly i knew Noguchi only as a designer so was completely unprepared for his sculptural works - and the museum setting is magical. Though pieces in the open garden were plywooded (apparently for the season) we had plenty to see - and in fact for some sculptures grey skies and naked birches created a perfect backdrop. Besides we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

the are more pix on my flickr

Perfecting the Dish

I keep making variations on my favorite Marcella's recipe for artichokes baked with shrimp and cheese. Yesterday version was made with fingerling potatoes and was so good that i decided to write it down.

served with a nice carrot slaw with sliced kumquats and cayenne.

Upscale Macaroni and Cheese

A riff on a favorite baked pasta recipe from epicurious - upscale macaroni and cheese. This time i made it with fennel - it looked too good to pass at Wegmans. With some leeks and St Agur blue cheese it was indeed beyond delicious. Served with just some romaine leaves - it needed nothing more.

And it seems right to write down the recipe for the next time.