LJ-Picturing Food, 4.16.06: a pasta, a dinner, a breakfast, and afternoon baking

Sometimes, posting feels like The Muppet Show ...

A variation on Michael Chiarello's Red-Wine Spaghetti with Broccoli Rabe. I saw Chiarello make this on his show, and I started daydreaming about its taste. It took a few weeks, but I finally made it, with a few variations. It was delicious, and I'm looking forward to making it again.

Browning chicken so I had some ... brown bits?
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0003ww3d

Linguini, first boiled in water to kick out some of the starch, then finished in wine.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0003xq84

Kale cooked in brown bits.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0003y5z5

Combined.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0003zp29

Plated with parmigiano reggiano. "Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dream ... "
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/000404ah


Wilton's Cake Decorating Course 2.
White mummmms.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0003tbef


Dinner at Chez Mario. I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic chef friend who throws amazing dinner parties. Currently, he's a chef at Rula Bula, which is a local Irish pub and restaurant, but Enough of my inefficient adjectives, though. Eating at his house is always an honor, especially for a Good Friday Dinner. He had something for everybody, and it was definitely a religious experience.

Mario's baguette--I forgot the French word he used, something like epee, but it's basically a beautiful baguette.
Mario's baguette

Focaccia--one day he had fluffy focaccia, and he's made it that way ever since. It's hands down the best focaccia I've ever had. Our friend Justin wanted to jump up and down on it because it was like a mattress. A high-quality mattress ... like double-sided featherbed or pillow-top or something.


Challa bread--not in the traditional braid. I wanted to rest my head on it, these rolls were so soft.


Marinated mozarella balls--sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, olives, basil, spices, yay.


Marinated olive tray--rosemary, pepper flakes, olive oil, more yay. There was yay in everything. I'm just going to stop saying it.


Ham, soft mozz, and ... not quite chives or green onions--it was red inside the ham, and I spaced out on food joy while he was talking about the ingredients.


Spicy (the kind of spicy where you can't stop eating or you die) tomato and roasted red pepper soup with focaccia. The focaccia and appetizers helped cut the heat. It was a good heat.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004bsdx

Star fruit. Star fruit are really good. Really good.


Sauted shrimp.


Salad ...
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004995h

And the finished plated salad with blue corn sweet polenta and cedar ashes.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004ch58

The main course: veg lasagna with eggplant and mushroom risotto.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004fx60

Dessert: brownie with raspberry ganache and fresh barries. I love chocolate and raspberries. A lot.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004edrs

I got to take home leftovers. He put the mozz balls in a Wonder Bread sandwich saver! This inexplicably made me happy, or maybe it was the pillow-like focaccia.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004acxt

Bite?
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004ysdx


Sunday breakfast. Cheeses, tomatoes, and miso mayo on toast.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004gq4c


Sunday baking.

How to use leftovers in one ring. Milk, dried apricots, poppy seeds, and white chocolate chips all had to go, so here we have a sheet of apricot ring.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004h1q0

A roll of apricot ring.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004kd8w

A raw apricot ring.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004pz6z

A baked apricot rings.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004q3es

An about to be eaten apricot ring.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004xx99

I also made a peanut butter torte. There's more white chocolate in the filling and cocoa powder in the cake layer. Then I melted many chips together to make some shavings. I melted it into a saucer, or I would've made caraque (long ol' curls of chocolate--looks pretty marbled).
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004tqt9

Peanut butter torte slice.
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004w3y1


Parting Note
Selma's cookie. This is an award-winning cookie, and I could see why, but it's not quite my type of cookie. It tasted almost raw, but it was really crumbly, almost like an undercooked Chips Ahoy. I enjoyed it a lot more after a prolonged milk dunk, and the different kinds of chocoloate chunks and chips inside just made me giddy. Woot!
http://pics.livejournal.com/razz/pic/0004dtgb

Comments

Popular Posts