Chicken Fingers aren't just for kids....

I love chicken fingers and always feel jealous that kids get to enjoy these delights on most restaurant menus. The idea of getting to eat with your hands and dunk crispy, fried, boneless chicken into yummy sauce, makes me smile! Tonight, I felt like making my half fried, half baked chicken fingers with spicy mustard sauce and barbecue sauce. Here is my recipe for Somewhat Healthy Chicken Fingers....

Serves 2

3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch strips
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper
3 cups vegetable oil to shallow fry the chicken

In a bowl, place the chicken and pour the buttermilk over it. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and set in the fridge for 30 minutes. In a plastic ziploc bag, place the flour, allspice and cayenne, then shake. Strain the chicken and then add to the flour. Give the chicken a good shake, ensuring all the chicken is coated. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the vegetable oil, test the oil by throwing a pinch of flour in it, if it sizzles the oil is ready, if it sinks let the oil heat up some more. When oil is ready, lay the chicken fingers in the oil. Cook, until golden on both sides, they will have to be flipped, as you are just shallow frying these. Then place on wire rack and that has been placed on top of a sheetpan. When all the chicken is browned, place the pan in the oven and finish baking. The chicken should take another 15-20 minutes in the oven. While the chicken is cooking, whip up your favorite dipping sauce. Here's what we had tonight....2 tablespoons whole grain mustard, 1 tablespoon hot pepper jelly, 1 tablespoon honey, pinch of salt and pepper. When the chicken is cooked, sprinkle with some kosher salt and start dunking. Enjoy!

Monesta

Last week mom made a classic dish, Monesta or savoy cabbage and pork. I have seen many variations of this recipe. Some recipes use escarole instead of cabbage and some add white beans as well, which I think would be delicious, but I wanted to share my mom's recipe for Monesta.

Serves 4

2 heads Savoy cabbage, cut into quarters and blanched in salted water
2 lbs pork pieces, boneless or with the bone
2 pepperoni links, cut into 2 inch rounds
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch red pepper flake
salt and pepper


When the Savoy cabbage is blanched, reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid, then strain and set aside. In a heavy bottomed pan, go once around the pan with olive oil and preheat it. Sear the pork pieces and then the pepperoni. When completely seared, set aside in a dish. Go once around the pan again with oil, now adding the garlic, rosemary and red pepper flake. Let this season the oil. Add the cabbage and 1/4 cup of the reserved water. Stir cabbage and season with salt and pepper. Add the meat back into to the pot and add 1/4 cup more of the reserved water. Cover and let cook about thirty minutes. Taste the cabbage and adjust seasonings accordingly. Let cook fifteen more minutes. Serve with some crusty bread or how mom serves it, with a simple black pepper and rosemary flatbread. Enjoy!

My not so Border Cafe Quesadilla

Last night we celebrated a much deserved promotion at Rt 1's Border Cafe. Border Cafe is known for their Tex Mex menu, buzzing atmosphere and reasonable prices. I sat staring at the menu, listening to the toddler behind me screaming, and couldn't decided what to eat. I quickly chose the vegetable quesadilla for my dinner when the server came to take our order. The quesadilla turned out to be your average quesadilla, not crisp, just kind of soggy with a random assortment of vegetables including carrots, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli and way too many red onions.

Though my food wasn't great, the company was and we had a great time and finished our meal with homemade cheesecake and smores bars, thanks Meghan and Malissa!

I wanted to share my favorite recipe for lime chicken quesadilla with mango salsa....

For the quesadilla Serves 4

2 boneless chicken breasts
1 lime
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 yellow pepper, sliced julienne
1/2 red onion, sliced julienne
salt and pepper
4 flour tortilla shells
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the salsa
1 ripe mango, diced brunoise
2 plum tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced brunoise
1 jalapeno, diced brunoise
1 tsp lime zest, 1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Cilantro
1 teaspoon hot sauce
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
For the chicken, cut chicken into cubes and put into bowl. Zest the lime and then juice it, then marinate the chicken with the zest and the lime as you preheat a saute pan on the stove. When the oil is hot, add the onions and peppers and cook for five minutes, season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and saute together until the chicken is golden and the vegetables are tender. On a sheet pan, lay the flour tortillas down and divide the chicken/veg mix among the four, covering only half the shell. Divide the cheese among the four tortillas and then fold them in half. Brush both sides with oil and put the pan in the oven. Bake for ten minutes, then flip them and bake for ten more. They will be golden brown and crisp when finished. Remove them from the oven and cut each into fours.

For the salsa, combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and fold together. Serve with the quesadilla and your favorite flavored Jarritos. Enjoy!

Dinner with the girls!!

Last night Erica, Amanda and I had a wonderful dinner at Sportello. Sportello is Barbara Lynch's interpretation of the lunch counter and has some the tastiest Italian food in the city. I had the pleasure of being part of the Sportello team last year and met some great people while there. Sportello was a unique restaurant experience, having both a dine in and a bakery/cafe part to the restaurant. There are many mornings now that I wish I were back there enjoying some rosemary raisin toast with cheese and fruit and chatting with Amanda about her adventures from the night before! Working at Sportello made me solidify my dream to open a bakery/cafe and it also made me realize how much I had learned over the years about business, food and management. When I look back, I feel lucky to have been able to work with Chef Barbara and sit in meetings with her and the other managers while we brainstormed ideas about the retail area of Sportello. It really was a great experience and so was our dinner last night.

Erica and I started the night early at Papagayo (I will save that for another blog). We met Amanda for drinks at Drink before we went to eat dinner. I order a dark and stormy, which was spicy from the house made ginger beer. At around eight we made our way upstairs to Sportello and were seated in Haileys section. As always, we started with some sparkling and looked over the menu. I always stick to the classics when I eat at Sportello, Bolognese or Gnocchi, but tonight we were going to try some new menu items. To start we had the Vongole Misto, which had mussels, clams, periwinkles, potatoes and an herb aioli. This dish was fresh and light with really good flavor. I liked that there were periwinkles in the misto because I haven't had them since my grandmother were alive. Hailey sent out the calamari with garbanzos, and pea pesto. The calamari were tender and slightly buttery. For our pasta course we tried the smoke potato agnolloti with black trumpets, hedge hog and Monte Veronese. Erica and I were hoping they would be as delicious as the ones at No. 9 Park. These were soft potato filled pillows tossed with the mushrooms and cheese. We both agreed the dish was delicious, but the ones at No. 9 were perfection, no disrespect to Sportello. For our main course, we enjoyed the Crescent duck breast with swiss chard, marinated peppers and potatoes. Let me just say this duck had the crispiest, most delicious skin I have ever tasted on duck. The duck was also kept rare and when eaten with all the components on the plate, tasted sweet and sour (agro dolce). With our meal we enjoyed a bottle of the Sportello Barbera. I left full and inspired by the food.

The night couldn't end with just dinner. We enjoyed another drink across the street at Luckys and then headed home. It was another great night with the ladies. Erica and Amanda thanks for being the two most perfect dates! Hailey, what can I say, you crack me up, miss working with all you girls!

Thanks Sportello for a delicious meal...

Sweet Soda Bread

I believe that a good soda bread should be enjoyed throughout the year and not just on St Patrick's Day. My sweet soda bread is the perfect combination of savory and sweet. It goes perfect with a boiled dinner or toasted with jam in the morning. Here is my recipe for Sweet Soda Bread....

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons of cold butter cut into pieces
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 cup golden raisins
1 tsp sugar in the raw and 1 tablespoon melted butter for the top

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and whisk together. Using your fingers, combine the cold butter with the dry ingredients, rubbing your hands together until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Fold in the beaten egg and then the buttermilk. When mixed, fold in caraway seeds and golden raisins. Pour into greased loaf pan or free form the loaf on a sheet[pan. Brush with melted butter and then sprinkle with the sugar in the raw. Bake in the oven about 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Enjoy!

Another fabulous time at Eataly in NYC...

Yesterday, I had a wonderful day in my favorite city, NYC with mom, Stacy and Auntie Joanne. As always, when I visit the city I always think about where I want to eat. NYC is filled with too many restaurants, some completely geared to the tourist and some for the foodies. I always try to plan where I am going to eat based on location, if I'm downtown I like Pastis and brownies from Fat Witch bakery and if I am uptown, you can't go wrong with Bouchon for something sweet and savory. Midtown is all about deli's Carnegie, Stage and Maxi's. You can't visit New York and not have a hot pastrami sandwich and a slice of New York style cheesecake.

For dinner last night, we went to the Flat Iron district and visited Eataly Cafe for the second time. The place was buzzing when we arrived and again I walked through with my eyes moving every which way, trying to take in everything. We headed straight for the pizza and pasta restaurant, passing by all the sweets, the fish, the meat, the bread and wine. We managed to only have to wait about twenty minutes and then our dinner began. What I liked about the menu is that it offered various shapes of pasta in different sauces, some fresh pasta and some dried. The pizza menu, again good variety of veggie pizzas and meat pizzas, but not overwhelming. I knew when I sat down and looked at the table to my left, that I would be getting pizza as my meal, it looked just like the pizza in Rome. We placed our order, got some wine, I had a glass of Barbera and had some bread. A winter salad was our appetizer and it was the cold, crisp that we needed after all the walking we did. When our meal arrived, and the waiter placed my Massese pizza in front of me, I felt I was back in Italy and that when we left we would be walking through the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. The crust was thin and crisp, there was the perfect amount of sauce to mozzarella and then what turned out to be my favorite bit of the pizza thin slices of spicy salami dotted the entire pizza. I was ready, fork and knife in hand, I dove in. My mom had the meat filled agnolotti with a simple butter sauce and they were tiny pillows filled with a nutmeg spiced meat. Cooked al dente and with the right amount of sauce, perfection.

Again, Eataly Cafe who have surpassed my expectation and I thank Mario, Joe and Lidia for a wonderful concept that truly transports you to Italy for a couple hours.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day Everyone! Though I am not Irish, I do believe in enjoying some of what St Patrick's Day has to offer, like soda bread and a really good stew! I also don't mind an ice cold Guinness to celebrate the day and if you add something sparkling to it, it's even better! Here is my recipe for a Black Velvet....

Makes 1 drink
3 oz cold Guinness
3 oz cold champagne or sparkling wine

In a champagne flute, slowly pour the Guinness into the glass and let settle a minute. Using the back of a spoon, pour the champagne slowly into the glass and let it rest for two minutes so that it settles at the top. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Thank You Maine Diner....

Tonight we dined at one of my favorite places, The Maine Diner. The Maine Diner is located in Wells, Maine and prides itself on "World famous food, just like grandma used to make". It has been serving food for 27 years and going strong. Like many diners, it serves breakfast all day and has a menu filled with some classic diner dishes, like the Eddie Andelman, which is Mac & Cheese with grilled Pearl Kountry Klub Franks or the homemade baked beans with grilled kielbasa. They also have some delicious desserts on the menu, coconut cream pie, grapenut custard and their very own, blueberry chip ice cream, just to name a few. Are you hungry yet?

I can't finish this blog without talking about my favorite treat at The Maine Diner and that is their corn muffins, moist and delicious and served with a sweet cream butter. They really are perfect.

So, thank you Maine Diner for my warm and comforting roast turkey dinner tonight and my corn muffin. If you are ever in Wells or Ogunquit visit the Maine Diner, the food is fresh, classic and satisfying and the service is speedy and friendly all the time! Thanks again Maine Diner!

Worms in the soup.....

Every once in a while when I was young, my grandmother would treat us to passatelli or what we kids called "worms in the soup". When she made this pasta made of breadcrumb, nutmeg, eggs and grated cheese, she would dry it on pieces of wax paper on her bed. Her bed would be covered with "worms" and her house would smell of her chicken soup and nutmeg, which makes these passatelli special.

The first Christmas after my grandmother passed we tried to recreate these for our Christmas meal. Picture my mother, my aunt Virginia, my uncle Frank, my brother, me and I even think Jason might have been there, squeezed around my mom's kitchen table trying to figure out this recipe. We had all eaten them for years, but had never been smart enough to learn how to make them. After a couple hours and not much success, we gave up, feeling defeated by breadcrumb and eggs! A couple days after that famous Friday night, I asked my mom if I could try to make them myself. We bought all the ingredients and I began to put things together with a small prayer to my kitchen god, which is grandma and miraculously a dough was formed. I waited until my mom came home from work that night before we cranked them out using my grandmother's manual meat grinder, which is how she used to do it. We covered the table with wax paper and a little at a time filled up every square with the "worms". Come Christmas day that year, mom made her delicious chicken broth and we enjoyed passatelli in brodo or "worms in the soup".

Here is my recipe for passatelli...

4 quarts of chicken broth to serve them

4 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1 whole nutmeg, grated
7 whole eggs
salt
pepper

On a clean work surface, pour the breadcrumbs, cheese and grated nutmeg in the middle. Using the tops of your fingers, create a well in the middle for the eggs. One a time crack the eggs in the middle. Season entire thing with salt and pepper. Using a fork begin to beat eggs and a little at a time, pull the breadcrumb mix into it. When it becomes too difficult to use the fork, pull the dough together using your hands. You are looking for the dough to come together easily and not be sticky as it will get stuck in the press. Chill dough for fifteen minutes. Line your table or counters with parchment paper. To press your passatelli you can use, the meat grinder attachment to the kitchen aid (1/4 in diameter holes) or a ricer, which again has 1/4 inch diameter holes). Press the passatelli, cutting them when they are about 1 inch long, then separate them and let dry on paper. If you'd like you can crank these directly into simmering broth. Traditionally these are eaten in a chicken broth and are most common in the Northern part of Italy. Some recipes also use lemon zest as well, but whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy my family's recipe for Passatelli.

Tuna Gravy...

Lent is here and so begins the season of no eating meat on Friday! I remember when I was a little I didn't understand why we couldn't eat meat on Fridays or why once every year on a Wednesday we also couldn't eat meat. Safe to say years later, I almost understand, goes to show how much I paid attention in CCD.

My grandmother used to make this really simple gravy with Italian tuna in it and I wanted to share that recipe with those who need a little help with planning their meat free Friday dinners during Lent. Here is my recipe for Tuna Gravy....

Serves 4

1 can Italian tuna, packed in oil
1 can plum tomatoes, processed in a food mil or food processor
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound bucatini pasta

Put water on to boil the bucatini and add salt to the water. In a saucepan, heat the oil and then add the tuna with the oil that it was packed in. Chop it up using a rubber spatula or fork and let cook about five minutes. Put in the tomato and season with salt and pepper. Add 3/4 cup of water and let simmer on the stove for 30-45 minutes. Be sure to adjust seasonings at the end. When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook for 8-11 minutes. Strain the pasta well and add to the sauce in the pan. Toss pasta with the tuna gravy and serve. Enjoy!

Mardi Gras

It's Fat Tuesday and if you were down in New Orleans you would be getting ready for the biggest celebration of the year. New Orleans is a beautiful city filled with interesting history, great music, welcoming people and some of the best food. We are talking Po-Boys, Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya, Muffelettas, King Cakes, Bananas Foster and my personal favorite Beignets covered in powdered sugar.

About ten years ago I went down to New Orleans with my mom and some friends and we had a blast. My mom and I toured Mardi Gras World, which is a warehouse outside of the city where they store the floats for the parade. I remember jumping on them pretending that it was Mardi Gras throwing fake beads to mom (no flashing required). We also visited a sugar plantation called Oak Alley, named for the canopy of live Oak Trees that lead you to the mansion. The plantation was beautiful and as we walked around we sipped on Mint Juleps (a typical bourbon based drink from the south). Mom and I enjoyed beignets at a Cafe Du Monde kiosk on the River Walk and then finally one night enjoyed them at the real Cafe Du Monde. We dined at some great restaurants, Emeril's NOLA, Mr B's Bistro, The Court of Two Sisters and some place on Bourbon that had a great Po-Boy and a deck!! It seemed no matter the place, the people of New Orleans were so proud to me residents of the area and they were happy to share their way of living, if only for a few days, with all the visitors that come through day after day.

I hope to one day travel back to New Orleans and treat myself to some southern life. Now I would like to share with you a beverage I loved drinking while I was down in New Orleans and it is the Cafe Au Lait....

First a little history with the Cafe Au Lait stems from the same tradition as "cafe con leche" in Spain, Milchkaffee in Germany, and cafe com leite in Portugal all meaning the same thing, coffee with milk. In homes you would typically find this drink made with a dark coffee and hot milk from the stove top, but in cafes typically milk is steamed using an espresso machine and sometimes espresso is used in place of the dark coffee.

In New Orleans the cafe au lait was made popular by Cafe Du Monde and there they use a very dark coffee with roasted chicory root which makes the coffee slightly bitter, they then add warm milk to the coffee and enjoy. So, the difference between European style cafe au lait and New Orleans style is mainly the addition of of the chicory root to the coffee and that the milk is warmed on the stove. The end result should be equal parts coffee and milk that have been joined together in the cup to create a creamy and rich coffee drink. Remember the chicory does make the coffee slightly bitter and the coffee in New Orleans is dark, but it is delicious! Happy Fat Tuesday Everyone!! Get out there and eat some King Cakes!

To CSA or not to CSA?

As the days turn longer and the sun gets a little warmer, I am thinking about all the farmer's markets that will be opening soon! This leads me to a question about whether or not to sign up for a CSA.

I've done some research and here are some CSA basics, a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but can also have other farm products included. Some of these products could be dairy, fruits, flowers, honey/jams, etc. Interested consumers purchase a share or membership and each week visits their local farm or farmer's market to pick up their box of seasonal produce throughout the entire farming season (June-November). I like the idea of getting new treats every week and maybe getting Phil to eat more veggies. The other thing I like is that I would be supporting local farms, which to all foodies is very important. The price is also something that is really impressive, for a half share it would break down to be $15-17 per week, which is reasonable for two people. One question I have is, does anyone out there know of any farms that allow you to mix and match your basket? I would love to have the option of some weeks being able to mix and match, not every week, but the option would be nice.

No matter the decision, I can't wait for late May when the markets open, especially the Copley Market. Visiting Siena Farms just to get a peak of the sunflowers makes my day, not to mention the cookies they sell from Sofra, delicious. I would love any suggestions or feedback if there is anyone who has had a membership to a CSA and to all you foodies, the markets will be open soon and our fridges will be filled with local fruits and vegetables ready to be enjoyed!

Sunday Gravy....

When I was young typically Sunday dinner consisted of macaroni and gravy. My mom would have gravy cooking on the stove from early in the morning filled with sweet Italian sausage, meatballs, pork and if we were lucky, Braciole (pounded piece of beef filled with breadcrumbs, garlic, fresh parsley and grated romano cheese then rolled, tied and cooked in the gravy). I remember I used to love dunking fresh slices of scali bread in the gravy and sampling it through out the morning.

Typically, we would sit down to eat at 2:30 or 3 on a Sunday and feast on Ravioli in the gravy and then enjoy the gravy meat as a second dish with a tossed green salad. To me this was normal and then we moved to Winthrop, where gravy was called sauce and macaroni was called pasta.

Even though we have been in Winthrop for years, it's still gravy to us and I wanted to share my recipe (I hope I do grandma and nana proud) for Sunday gravy....

Ingredients

6 Italian sausage (3 sweet and 3 hot)
4 pieces boneless pork
1 flank steak (1 1/2 pound), pounded, sprinkled with breadcrumb, grated romano, chopped garlic, chopped flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper. Roll flank and tie it with butcher twine.
12 meatballs (use your favorite recipe because mine I keep secret)
2 garlic cloves, left whole
3 cans whole plum tomatoes, pureed in a food processor or ground through a food mill
2 cans of tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine
3 cups water
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. In batches sear the meat. You are looking to just get color on the meat as it will cook in the gravy. Typically, I sear my meatballs in another pan. When all the meat is done, set it aside and add a little more oil to the pan (make sure the oil you used to sear the meat is not burnt as it will hurt the taste of the gravy if it is) and add the garlic cloves. When the oil is hot begin to put in the tomato, be careful it might splatter. Add a little salt and pepper to the tomato and let cook about five minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix in, then put in the wine and the water. Bring this to a simmer and then add all the meat. Let it simmer for at least 2 hours, turning it occasionally ensuring the bottom is not burning. Remember you want it to simmer and not boil, it's not a race to get it done in a half hour, gravy takes some time to develop flavor. I keep mine on the stove for close to 3 hours and just let it get thick and delicious. The end result should be a thick gravy, with no acidity left to the tomatoes. Sometimes I eat a bowl of gravy with a spoon and some bread that's how much I love it! Serve it with your favorite pasta, mine is Fusilli which is a long corkscrew like pasta and it is the perfect pasta to go with your Sunday Gravy. Enjoy!

Phil's Birthday Malt Frappe

On Wednesday night we celebrated Phil's birthday, diner style! Every year I put together a little dinner and typically cook the usual chicken and pasta for Phil's birthday, but this year I wanted to do something different and thought it would be fun to cook up some diner classics including burgers, chili dogs, cheese fries and to wash it all down, a malt milkshake. None of it was healthy, but boy was it all good! It made me want to jump in my car and head up to the Maine Diner for some pie!

Here is my recipe for Phil's Birthday Malt Frappe.......

Makes 4 10oz glasses

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 gallon of your favorite chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup malt powder
For the Whipped Cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

4 maraschino cherries with stems

Put four 10 0z glasses in the freezer to chill. In a bowl, place the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla inside and using an electric mixer with a whip attachment whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Put in fridge until ready to use. In a blender combine frappe ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into each glass, top with a tablespoon of whipped cream and a cherry. Don't forget the straw and enjoy!! Happy Birthday Phil, cheers!