Bits Of Dust

Archive for October, 2007

I think Jamie Oliver is a brilliant person, but when Italian is not the first thing that comes to mind when I hear his name.

The first branch of “Jamie’s Italian” is due to open in Bath in the spring. Others are planned for Cambridge and Brighton and within a few years, Oliver is intending to open up to 40 “neighbourhood” restaurants serving “authentic” Italian food.

Ahh, but if we read the article we find out more…

Oliver’s mentor, Gennaro Contaldo, the executive chef and co-owner of Passione in Charlotte Street, London, has been helping with the menu and the staff training. “So it’ll all be completely authentic, rustic Italian,” added Oliver.

All pasta will be freshly made on site and the bread will be created daily by artisan bakers. The chicken will be free-range.

Gennaro Contaldo is creating the menu. He’s also training the staff. So the whole thing will be completely authentic, rustic, Italian… well, except for the Jamie Oliver name stamped above the door.

Still not too sure about this one.

My wife decided to cook dinner tonight, and it was so delicious I just had to share a photo.

She started with a version of parmesan chicken, which she then topped with fresh prosciutto, mozarella, and homemade tomato sauce (remember all that canning she did) and baked it in the oven.

She added some pasta (because she can’t eat Italian food without it), garlic bread (homemade bread too), and farm fresh green beans and broiled potatoes (for the kids).

WOW. That was the most flavorful dish I have had in a long time. And the best part? No preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, nothing made in China.

Hands down, it was the best dinner I have had in years.

When she has time, I will sit her down and type up the recipe for the chicken.

Mario Batali posted a recipe for Sweet and Sour Onions over at Serious Eats last week and I meant to post it here. In fact, I thought I already did, and I went looking for it tonight so I could make it, and realized I forgot to post it.

Is this what aging feels like? Anyway, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 pounds cipolline or small red or white onions, about 30, root and stem trimmed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
Pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Brig 6 quarts of water to a boil, and add the onions. Lower to a simmer, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and peel.

2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, warm the olive oil with the bay leaves while the onions are cooking. Turn the peeled onions in the olive oil, and cook for 5 minutes, until just browned. Add the vinegar and sugar, raise the heat slightly, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vinegar-sugar mixture starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and discard bay leaves. Turn the onions gently to coat thoroughly with syrupy mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. Serve at room temperature.

These are absolutely delicious.

I just got done cleaning up soda from my desk and keyboard. Don’t you just hate the feeling of ice cold Coca-Cola shooting out your nose? Yeah, I know, it hurts. So what happened?

Well, I was reading through my favorite blogs tonight and saw the Food Flippin’ Mario over at Food Wishes.

Oh. My. Gosh. I honestly don’t know which was funnier. Watching a little toy tin Mario doll flipping pancakes, or reading Chef John’s post and listening to his commentary.

Maybe I should put up a wish list. I want a tin replica of all my favorite chefs so I can line them up in the kitchen and we can work as a team.

Can you imagine? A Rachael Ray wind up tin toy. It starts by bending over and looking in the fridge for fresh ingredients, and then runs for 30 minutes. Problem is, you never really see it do anything, because it does all the important stuff during the commercial breaks.

Sometimes you need something basic to go with your dinner menu, but your mind is clouded by all the yummy sauces and all the delicous things you can do.

Here is a recipe from So Good, for roasted asparagus.

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus, washed and trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place asparagus on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Place in oven until softened and lightly browned, about ten minutes. Good with so many things.

I think we’ve picked a peck of peppers from those pesky pepper plants. Got any good tabasco pepper recipes? We’re currently fermenting our own to make some homemade sauce, but we have a ton more of these.

Any ideas?

Delicious!

You can find the entire recipe at So Good.

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