Polenta with Spigarello, Wild Boar Sausage, Bacon & Goat Cheese February 20, 2008

Broccoli spigarello - a funky name for a delicious vegetable. It’s a type of wild broccoli that sprouts a head of thick leaves and only a few tender florets. The flavor is a bit more intense than the common broccoli head and is quite delicious. It caught my eye while I was at theColeman Farms table at the SM farmer’s market perusing their beautiful lettuces.

I knew whatever I did with the spigarello was going to be Italian influenced. I thought about what I had in the pantry and creamy polenta with sauteed spigarello seemed like a good idea. I started the polenta in one pot and amidst the frequent stirring I quickly blanched the spigarello then sauteed it in olive oil with shallots, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. I added a handful of cooked and sliced wild boar sausage to the pan and warmed it up together. Meanwhile a slice of bacon crisped up in the oven making my kitchen smell smoky edible. I layered the bacon, sausage and spigarello on top of a scoop of the hot creamy polenta and topped it with a spoonful of organic goat cheese, a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar, chopped parsley, and a grating of parmigiano reggiano. I paired this with a glass of Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale ($20 at Trader Joe’s).

Tagiatelle with Chanterelles, Black Truffle Butter & Creme Fraiche February 18, 2008

Sometimes all you need is a warm bowl of pasta. In this case a bowl of tagiatelle with chanterelles, black truffle butter and creme fraiche. The earthiness of the chanterelles, the pungent (and affordable) aroma of black truffle butter, and the creaminess of the creme fraiche combined well to make this rich but not too rich pasta. I herbed it up a little bit with fresh thyme, parsley and chives and finished it with a grating of parmigiano reggiano.

I made a quick stop at Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits & Cheese and the wine buyer and specialist, Simon, made a great white wine pairing for the pasta. It was De Concilis, Fiano, Donna Luna (I think ‘06) - fruity, medium-bodied with a touch of acidity and creamy finish. Imagine that with the creamy earthy pasta. Yeah, not so bad huh?

Bagna Cauda February 12, 2008

I picked up these gorgeous baby romanesco and baby cauliflowers at the Weiser Farms stand at the farmer’s market. Although at that point I had way too many bags of produce in my hands I could not pass them up. First dish that came to mind was bagna cauda, a winter Piedmontese treat consisting of a “hot bath” of anchovy-garlic olive oil in which raw vegetables are dipped.

Against the bagna cauda rules I lightly blanched smaller florets in salted water for about thirty seconds. Still close to raw but softened around the edges a bit and color more expressed ever so slightly. Boy thought these looked like little pieces of toys. The colors are just too lovely.

But since I cannot make a meal out of just baby florets I went ahead and made my own very untraditional dipper - mozzarella and spicy giardiniera panini. Simple and perfect for dipping into the warm oil.

Candy Cane Joe Joe’s-Mint Ice Cream February 7, 2008

I’m not an avid consumer of mint related confectionaries or mash-ups of chocolate and mint, especially chocolate chip-mint ice cream. The combination is not bad but definitely not great. The pharmacy green-hued chocolate chip-mint ice cream was also a big turnoff whenever I hit up ice cream shops in the younger days. However during this holiday season I ran into a sweet treat that actually inspired me to make mint ice cream. That would be Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Joe Joe’s.

These candy cane-studded filled oreo knockoffs were calling out to me to be crushed into ice cream like an oreo mcflurry. Last time I had that was about eight years ago (scary!) and I remember how good the oreo chunks and bits were in the soft ice cream. The only problem was that there wasn’t enough oreos in the mix. There would be none of that nonsense in my version. And since I surprisingly found these minty Joes Joe’s rather enjoyable I ran with it and decided to make a mint flavored ice cream. At least if I still wasn’t feelin the mint ice cream deal I knew Boy would be there to finish the pint since chocolate chip-mint is one of his favorite ice cream flavors. But the ice cream turned out rather delicious - creamy, generously cookie studded and refreshingly minty. And most definitely not green. I added some dark chocolate chips in there too. Best served with the Candy Cane Joe Joe’s on the side for some extra oomph.

Petrale Sole, Ham Hock Heirloom Beans, Black Truffle Butter February 6, 2008

While perusing the bean section at Surfas I saw this gorgeous heirloom bean mix. I was planning to make a simple bean and kielbasa stew but I remembered my friend Imani’s delicious black eyed peas cooked with ham hocks and quickly changed my mind. I wanted to give the beans the same treatment - simmered for hours with smoky ham hocks. I looked up a recipe and saw how very simple it was. All it took was chopped onion, ham hocks, beans and a few hours on the stove. It only seemed right to accompany this with homemade cornbread.

Then I recalled having a delicious petrale sole dish at AOC that had split peas, ham hocks, and truffle butter. So another AOC-inspired meal was born. The mock version is similar to the original except for that fact that I used heirloom beans.

I seasoned the petrale sole with cayenne, salt and pepper, dredged it flour, and sauteed it. I topped a plate of hot ham hock beans with the fish and dabbed it with a generous dot of black truffle butter and served grilled cornbread on the side to soak up all them smoky bean juices. A satisfying warm dinner for a cold night.

Avocado Salad with Pomegranate Salsa &… February 5, 2008

…Prosciutto, Roncal, Hazelnuts, Wild Arugula, Meyer Lemon-Hazelnut Oil Dressing.

Hello salad whose name is way too long! I couldn’t decide which ingredient to leave anonymous because they were all important. But I really wanted to highlight the beautiful quality of my farmer’s market organic avocados so that’s how this salad came about. The avocados were so creamy rich and perfectly ripe. These were after all ripe-handle-with-care haas avocados. I thought they would be well treated paired with Suzanne Goin’s tart and sweet pomegranate salsa.

But I cannot dismiss the importance of the rest of the salad crew though. The creamy avocado with the tart juicy pomegranate salsa, salty meaty prosciutto, tangy sharp roncal, super nutty toasted hazelnuts, peppery wild arugula from Coleman Farms, and last but not least the meyer lemon-hazelnut oil dressing. The dressing was great and I’m in love with hazelnut oil. The can was freshly opened for this salad so it was so supa dupa fresh.

I think my favorite sorta salads have saltiness, nuttiness and crunchiness. This salad’s got a whole lot more than that, in a good way. Loved all the different textures and flavors coming together.

Super Bowl Snackin’ February 4, 2008

Hope everyone had a fun super bowl! Or at least ate some yummy food! I’m not too much of a sports fan but I am a fan of drinkin and eatin. So I made some snacks for the big game and noshed with Boy and a few friends. I made some traditional snacking food with a Middle Eastern twist. First off - baked chicken wings with ras-el-hanout. I dry rubbed these wings overnight and baked them off at 400 degrees for about an hour. When the wings came out of the oven I sprinkled a touch of smoked paprika over them. I ate these with sriracha which went remarkably well with it. It goes well with everything actually.

I redid the already cheeky 5-layer dip. Starting from the bottom - hummus, pickled turnips, baba ganoush, cucumber yogurt sauce, and lastly tabouli. These were served with baked pita chips. I served these in invidual servings using plastic cocktail cups.

Double dip to your heart’s content!

To replace the popular bagged chips I made oven fries. Once again in a super hot oven until they were browned and crispy on the edges. I seasoned these with za’atar and served it with homemade ketchup. It made the oven fries tasty.

All around a pretty healthy meal.

*Beer imbibed: Duvel, Victory Brewing Prima Pils, Alesmith IPA, Cantillon Vigneronne, Rodenbach Grand Cru