Departures magazine has a feature in its Nov/Dec 2008 issue titled Necessary Luxuries. Mario Batali chooses bottarga along with Dom Perignon Rose 1988 and beef jerky. Not sure about the last one.
Bottarga is the salted roe of grey mullet or tuna from Sicily. You can find it here at Gourmet Sardinia in Houston. It is not meant to be cooked. Typically you grate it over salads, or pastas or over thinly sliced hot toasted bruschetta with olive oil. It can be added to risotto or fregola. As it is seafood, you don't add grated cheese. Thinly shaved slices could be added in a similar way. It seems expensive, but one chunk of it can last a very long time. Very. I use it with a couple of other strong flavors so there's a balance. At best, can be characterized by its strong and most surely acquired taste. Martha Stewart has a simple, quick recipe here.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Something Fishy
Friday, October 3, 2008
Try it For a CHANGE
A sweet, balanced blend of dark and light roasted coffees from Kenya, Java and the Americas. Try it for a change.
I'm going to my first Tweet-up of CT-Rhode Island Twitter people tonight and thought I'd bring a prize for the organizer, Joe Cascio.
My friend Carol from Ashlawn Farm has created the Obama and the McCain Blends. The former fly out of the shop. You can order the latter from the website, but there aren't any on the shelves because it's not a big seller. The Obama blend is described as:
The McCain blend as:A light-roasted, highly caffeinated coffee. This edgy, strong, and reliable single origin, is grown in the hills of Vietnam.
I know that Carol tried to find beans from Panama because that's where McCain was born, but there was some snag.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Pate de fruit
Stumbled upon the food blog Cannelle et Vanille today. Beautiful. I don't even know what pate de fruit is, but I want some. Looks a bit like Turkish Delight.
I have some new Tahitian vanilla beans that are begging for attention. Last summer I was a bit obsessed by combining vanilla and tomatoes. Oh yes, that was the summer of making homemade tomato paste. Six pounds of tomatoes reduced to a tiny dollop of paste. As it turns out, that tomato paste is actually considered healthier than the summer tomato itself. Rather disconcerting.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Yum
Looks like dinner has been decided. Spotted this on Food Porn Daily and knew that the two giant shrimp in my freezer had met their match.
I don't have any dill on hand, but I have an amazing cache of chervil. I'll pair the shrimp with some green beans from my garden and a bit of South African sauvignon blanc in the fridge. There are 2 mangoes begging for my attention, but I can't help them today. I want coriander with them. I should be writing about the amazing dishes in St. Barts, but the details are overwhelming. I think I'm better off living today rather than yesterday. So. If I attempt to replicate any of those recipes, I'll post, but I am NOT going to do a fancy pants post on a restaurant's menu that costs a zillion dollars.
