Braciole

I hadn't had Braciole in at least 6 years since leaving Brooklyn. Then, yesterday, my new facebook food friend, Kevin D Weeks posted a recipe for it. I longed for the days of walking to Bari pork store on 18th Ave in Bensonhurst. When I gave the Philadelphia Pizza Club a tour of Brooklyn, we stopped at Bari before heading back to Philly. They have some of the best cheese and parsley sausage around, and Braciole, of course.

Yes, we all know that Braciole in some circles refers to a different kind of, um, meat. Even the Braciole wiki refers to the slang meaning. Make a dirty joke, grow up, and get over it. I've never made my own Braciole, but supermarkets in Philaburbia seem to never have heard of it. Below, my journey to Braciole.

I started with a boneless pork shoulder, great for braising.

Took the net off, letting it get room temp for easier pounding.

Making good use of the food processor, shredded provolone.

Took the crusts off a loaf of roasted garlic bread for the filling.

Chopped parsley and garlic.

Action shot! Adding oil to the breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley and grated parm.

Finished filling.

Chef snack! Bread crust with filling, provolone and a drizzle of evo.

Pork fillets. Gave my butcher skills a workout.

Larger pieces about to be pounded.








Pressed the filling on.

Provolone on one side so it doesn't all fall out.

Rolled and secured with toothpicks. Use butcher twine if you're adventurous.

Fast forward, brown in pot - deglaze with red wine - add tomato sauce, simmer, cover, braise for 45 min

The finished product. Not in photo - rigatoni.

It was delicious - and I gave my husband the Braciole. ;)

KFC

Wasn't their motto, "We do chicken right"? Well, I can certainly see why they ditched it. I knew that KFC fried chicken is a guilty pleasure of Pinky's. He worked at Roy Rogers in high school and developed a taste for it, then most of the Roy's disappeared. He was kind enough to have it on nights when I wouldn't be home for dinner - and dispose of the packaging before I got home. The first time I took a bite (age 25 or so) the salt content knocked me over. Sometimes I would steal a piece of his if it was in the fridge. Luckily, it has been in the fridge less and less since we discovered I make pretty decent fried chicken (and slamming buffalo wings!).

Fast forward, present day, fast food is sometimes in our rotation after the gym. That can't make sense, can it? Well, if you're avoiding carbs, and it's 8pm - the last thing I'm doing after a long day is making dinner. Sometimes we head to Boston Market where it's easy to assemble a carb friendly meal (double side of creamed spinach or creamed spinach and broccoli or green beans), other times we might head to the salad bar of our gourmet grocery. Last night we went to KFC for their grilled chicken which is being promoted by Sandra Lee. That should have been a sign. I despise this woman mostly because she matches her shirt to the background decor on her show and it makes me want to puke. Pinky said he had KFC's grilled chicken when he was fully a bachelor one of the other million times we've tried to avoid carbs, and it was decent. Well. Last night's chicken was far from decent.

Have you ever seen a grill in a KFC? Nope. I submit that the chicken is flash grilled with the skin off for appearance sake, then frozen and shipped where it sits in a hot oven for hours until someone is silly enough to order it. If they left the skin on it would help the flavor, but not the fat content, and grilled chicken skin doesn't exactly adhere well to the meat. The piece of chicken was so small I thought they were doing a Cornish hen promo for a minute. Dry, sad, a shameful waste of an animal who gave its life for my stomach.

And the sides. Yikes. Pinky's green beans may have been green at some point, but were not when they got to his plate. Coleslaw was acceptable, and my corn on the cob wasn't awful, until they told me they only had ketchup packs of government invented margarine to smear on it. My side salad would have been acceptable if they provided anything other than a SPORK to eat it with. How very junior high of them. Wait, the food in junior high was better. The 'veal' patties weren't half bad when you piled it with every condiment available. I should have taken a cue from when I ordered the salad and they reacted as if the health department just walked in. I take it that is not a common request there. Blah.

Late Dinner

Empty out the fridge scramble: potatoes, grilled asparagus and black forest ham - scrambled into eggs, topped with crumbled blue cheese. Even better with cracked black pepper.

Taste the soup!

I love a last moment to shine. On this chilly, rainy Spring day I thought about split pea soup on the way to work. I don't like hot soup in the summer. I just can't do it. Maybe some tortellini with broth, but no chicken noodle, no kale cold remedy soup, no spicy Asian broth-y pho-like anything.

Forgive the horn tooting, but I am a master soup blender/puree-er. In a professional kitchen, when you are first relegated to the salad station, after you prep your station you get to do the tasks no one else will do. In some cases not even the illegal immigrant hires will do these tasks. Peel grapes. Surgically remove veins from raw foie gras, puree soup. Not "make" soup mind you - this is after another chef has crafted the soup it gets passed to you. First you puree the soup with a home-depot version of a hand blender, then into the almighty Vita Mix blender, strain through a chinois "chino fino" in kitchen Spanish, using a ladle to press the solids. Depending on the soup sometimes you'd have to repeat this ordeal. White gazpacho was the worst. Trying to get stale bread and almonds smooth was an uphill battle. If I never see another chestnut again I'll be OK. Later on in my past career I never worked the grill station that put out the soup so I never got to make soup and pass it to an alternate peon, but I relished being done with those tasks when I took on hot appetizers & risotto.

Translating this skill to my home cooking life, I especially love soup during a week when I'm trying to only spend $50 on groceries for 7 days, when it's cold, and when there is an odd leftover. I can build an amazingly fast soup with a rotisserie chicken, some boxed stock, carrots, spinach and pasta (a MacGuyver recipe!) but I adore pureed vegetable based soups. One I make repeatedly - sweet potato with caramelized onions. I roast sweet potatoes, slice and caramelize a load of onions, and combine them with some stock in the food processor. Swirl in some apple butter and it's an elegant first course. Simmering some vegetables with onions, maybe garlic, and stock and then pureeing is the method for any veggie soup. This works for cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, asparagus, parsnips, and carrots. For carrot soup I like to throw in a load of ginger and big scoop of peanut butter, and garnish with wasabi peanuts. Easy. Cheap. When I want a garnish for cauliflower soup I slice up some Aidell's chicken apple sausage. For tonight's split pea I made a quick ham stock with the Easter Ham bone, sauteed onions in olive oil, added the split peas, stock and herbs with a bay leaf wrapped around it and puttered around facebook while it simmered. Then I pureed it, put it back in the pot, and added some leftover ham and shredded carrots because peas and carrots are funny together.

Maybe this summer I'll work on some cucumber soups (garnish with curry-coconut sorbet??) but I am retiring the soup portion of my dijon colored Le Creuset 6 QT until the fall.

Not Pure Premium Packaging

Not many products have memorable packaging. Sunny delight does. Philadelphia cream cheese does. Bombay sapphire does. Now, imagine Philly cream cheese in a red tub instead of it's classic silver rectangle. Imagine Sunny D looking like a gallon of milk. And Bombay sapphire, imagine that as a behind-the-counter fifth of a liter instead of it's gorgeous blue glass. This entire departure from recognizable packaging is what Tropicana did. Old packaging on the left, new on the right. When I first saw the new carton at a meeting last month, I thought it was a generic brand. On it, 100% orange is more prominent than Tropicana. I likened it to a bland, white label black print store brand of canned beans. The only intriguing part of the new package was that the orange pour cap now looked like the outside of an orange. "Interesting, I wonder how much that adds to the price?" I thought.

I know, too much obsessing over a carton. Same juice and that's all that matters, right? Not to consumers. Tropicana is ditching the new packaging and returning to the familiar. Smart. Click my witty title for full, journalistic write-up.

The Curious Cheese Plate

I am not one to chat with people on the checkout line. While I am interested in what people are buying, I am not interested in talking to them. I had the most intriguing interaction last week at Whole Foods. A woman on line in front of me was buying bulk Spanish Cocktail Mix and it wasn't ringing up in the register. She looked at me and apologized for the delay. I told her it happened simply because I was in line behind her and chuckled. I told her the mix she was buying was tasty so it was OK. She looked at my items (3 gallons of milk and a few quarts of half & half) and said she should drink more milk like me. I told her that my purchase was for a coffee bar and that I am actually lactose intolerant. We giggled at the image of my buying so much dairy. On a side note, despite being expensive for many things, Whole Foods is cheaper for dairy than restaurant supply houses. They are conscience of their price of items that people know and remember the cost of.

I notice the rest of her groceries, and she had at least 4 cheeses, all with 'stuff' in them. Gouda with cumin, Gouda with mustard seed, Cahill's cheddar with Guinness and with sage. At the time I assumed she was serving them all together but as I write this I realize there may have been other plans for them. Served together they break a guideline for a cheese plate to not include more than one cheese with 'stuff' 'in it other than blue cheese. What was she doing with them? Blogging about them? Testing them as burger toppings? Giving them separately as gifts? I can't get my mind around it and should have asked her. Trivial I know, but as I don't socialize with other shoppers, this encounter sticks in my mind.

Leftovers

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. Many are just times to share special foods with friends and family for me, not necessarily a religious celebration. Thanksgiving is the time when everything is supposed to be about the food anyway. A win-win situation for me.

Over the years I've adapted quite a few recipes for leftovers that I look forward to after the feast. Turkey pot pie is my hands down favorite. You can dump in any leftover gravy and veggies and it freezes well if you're at your turkey threshold. Turkey enchiladas, Monte cristos made with french toast, ham, Swiss and turkey, turkey chili - you get the idea. Often it's the side dish leftovers that end up in the garbage disposal abyss. Today's breakfast goes in the side dish leftover category.

I had raw sage sausage from my cornbread stuffing and maple roasted sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Sauteed together with pantry staple onions, I had the makings of Thanksgiving Hash. Metropolitan Bakery's Pumpkin Pecan Cranberry bread was on the side with cream cheese and pumpkin butter. If I was working as a chef again, this would be on the menu this weekend.

Soy Sauce, Steak & Shampoo

One of my favorite places to waste time on the Internet is GroceryLists.Org. It appeals to the voyeur in me - knowing what others intend to buy. Some lists are hysterical, and the typos add to the humor. For example, "Floss picks, ketchup, bourbin". You might expect that a shopping list read like a recipe, simply withholding the quantities of ingredients. Not true. Usually we have some ingredients already - that may be the way we chose a recipe in the first place. The list supplements what is missing. A list may also be a mini game plan for the week. On the left is mine.

Before heading to the store today, I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner this week. "Anything easy for a man to throw together," he replied. Pasta with pre-made sauce, jambalaya rice mix, and hot dogs fall into this category for him. More like heating than actual cooking. I appreciate this because it means I don't have to cook, despite it not being exactly gourmet.

Dinner and snacks are the only meals I shop for as we both usually eat lunch out and unfortunately we both usually overlook breakfast or also purchase it at work. I am anticipating working long days this week and buying dinner on the way home is too costly and often unhealthy. I took this afternoon where the men would be relegated to the living room with marathon sessions of football to conjure a magnum opus in the kitchen.

What would you assume was on the menu from reading the list? Chili powder gives it away a bit - one item is turkey and black bean chili. The small can of tomatoes goes in there too. For the slow cooker - the chicken (turned out to be thighs), onions, bay leaf & stock to make Emeril's smothered chicken, served over polenta. The red onion, garlic (question mark was to check stock before leaving the house) and celery were for a chilled calamari and shrimp salad for dinner tonight. Jambalaya along with chorizo for the hubby to make dinner, and ginger beer for mixing up Jameson and gingers, my favorite drink of late. My list is complete with my own typographical error. Natural cheetos. That may have been out of my own embarrassment of writing that down, yet found in the natural foods section, Cheetohs brand Natural cheesy poofs are yummy.

What's on your list?

Tasting with your mind

The Baldy was mentioning his excitement about football season beginning this week. At Lincoln Financial Field, home of our Iggles, the food is great. Philadelphia institutions like Tony Luke's, Termini and Chickie & Pete's are at the stadium in full force. Chickie & Pete's is famous for Crab Fries - french fries dusted with old bay seasoning served with provolone sauce for dipping. (Insert drool here)

That catapulted a craving. Old bay + potatoes. Old bay home fries - roasted old bay potatoes as a bed for crab eggs Benedict. With that we have a breakfast project for next weekend! The thought of tasting that delayed my sleep for a few hours after that.

Hollandaise sauce isn't exactly Labor Day dinner fare, so as I make my first attempt at grilling pizza this evening, there will be a pizza with roasted old bay potatoes and provolone. Stay tuned for the post game report.

Not Lost in Translation

I love watching British chefs cook. The most appealing is Jamie Oliver. Part of it is due to his wholesome image that makes him perfect for bringing home to mum, and his messy faux-hawk says he's bad enough to make a Saturday night good. The other part is his food. Known as the "Naked Chef" his food is simple and straight forward. No molecular gastronomy, non pretentious, nothing unnecessary.

Today he made his own ketchup so he felt the need to grill a simple steak and grill potatoes alongside. Although his is speaking English, sometimes a guide is helpful.

Whack = Put "Whack it in the oven"

Liquidizer = Blender

Whiz = Whirl or process in food processor

Aubergine = Eggplant

Chicago Meeting of the Big Eaters Club

When traveling, it is always important to sample local fare. I don't mean locally grown produce in it's full terrior. I mean - where Joe Schmo likes to go on Friday night with the guys. This is Calvin Trillin's credo. During a recent road trip to visit my bestest friend and her newly expanded family (my new Godson!) in Chicago, The Baldy and I got our eat on. Visiting 4 restaurants and a bar in 2 days is a good way to start.

The first stop, Portillo's , for a classic Chicago Dog. Donning relish, raw onion, mustard, dill pickle, celery salt and hot sport peppers (everyone knows I always opt out of raw tomato) this is a busy dog. Served on a steamed poppy seed bun, this dog combo is another Chicago staple born at the World's Fair in 1893. This is a product I think Philadelphia and it's love of messy, high grease content, hand held food would thoroughly embrace. The bustling scene of the self seating restaurant which also features a pasta joint for good measure is similar to that of our Reading Terminal Market. On the line I had a never before ordering experience that worked - someone took our order while waiting on a long line, wrote in on a bag that you hand to the cashier. Your food is presented in the same bag the order was on. Smart, progressive - I like it. Imagine that at Jim's Steaks?

The Maxwell Street Polish was an exciting find also at Portillo's. The enchanting crunch of this all beef sausage with mustard and grilled onions could be an everyday food for me.

After the first course of our lunch, it was time for deep dish pizza. Pizano's is always included in the hotly debated "Best Pizza" category. Chicago had a pizza schism similar to Lombardi's and Tottono's in New York. Ike Sewell founded Pizzeria Uno, and Rick Malnati, founder of Pizano's, claims to be the inventor of the deep dish while working at Pizzeria Uno. Strife always tastes good. Here we experienced another first in restaurant service. Due to the long wait for a table and long pizza cooking time (20+ minutes) you can place your order while waiting for a table. This way the pizza arrives shortly after being seated. Kudos also to the hostess, who remembered and used my name when I ordered our pizza after examining the menu on the sidewalk.

The pizza was incredible. This is coming from an occasional member of the Pizza Club of Philadelphia, who led members on a pizza tour of Brooklyn, and considers pizza a food group. Normally I only hold court with thin crust pizzas. I also subscribe to the "don't trust a round pizza" philosophy of Todd English. Pizano's deep dish pizza goes against all my beliefs and yet my taste buds were enthralled. Even their butter crust is against my principles. A healthy, not obscene layer of sliced mozzarella, topped with house made sausage, onions and mushrooms, with a suggestion of tomato on top. We ordered a small thinking it would be just a few bites, enough to give us a good sampling - ample after just having dogs. That turned out to only refer to the first piece of pizza. The second piece was eaten solely on the basis of "could not resist". We got over our objection to having to eat pizza with a knife and fork. The faux pas was worth it.

After eating for almost 3 hours, we waddled over to Lake Shore Drive and enjoyed ocean-sized Lake Michigan where we sat, contemplating a nap as our stomachs were filled to capacity. Our other visits warrant their own post, stay tuned.

Fig & Blue Pizza

The pizza dough mentioned in the below post was a batch made by my Sister-in-law, Kari. She is a great culinary apprentice and sous chef. Recently having saved me from a Ramsay style kitchen nightmare when I got myself in over my head hosting a baby shower in my house, Kari is always eager to learn and doesn't flinch when I give her mundane tasks like making ham snow for these deviled eggs.

Kari is also full of great ideas. When we were embarking on a day of pizza this past weekend, I suggested a fig jam and blue cheese pizza. I had made the combo before on crostini as an hors d'oeuvre and thought it would translate well to a pizza. It did. Kari suggested adding some caramelized onions we made as a topping choice along with a sprinkling of home grown rosemary that she received. This took it from a nice "out there" kind of pizza to one that should be on the menu at restaurants that serve pizza.

Burger King or Buffalo Burger?

When my husband and I happen to be reading in the same room, we read interesting or witty snippets to each other. This book has me reading entire chapters to him. Michael Pollan examines the duality of an American carnivore's life and the new American paradox "a notably unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily."

This is evident of my dining over the past holiday weekend. Venturing to Burger King to investigate their new Steakhouse Burger (terrible but the fried onions were a nice touch) while suggesting cutting the white flour in a pizza dough recipe with some whole wheat, even if only as 20% of the total flour. 20% by the way is the perfect amount for the dough not to taste "healthy".

Check back for book updates as I continue.

Back on the Saddle Again

Yes, I've been gone. Work and life have gotten in the way of a great way to relax. More to come soon.

Mmm... Anchovy Extract

I love finding odd ingredients in food. While anchovy is certainly no stranger to Caesar dressing, I didn't know there was such a thing as ANCHOVY EXTRACT.

I consider Ken's to be a reasonably premium brand of bottled dressings. If I am having a moment of weakness and reach for a bottled brand, I usually do select Ken's if I am not opting for one of the boutique super-thicks in the produce section. is anchovy extract that much easier to work with than anchovy paste? Is it a cost issue? Anchovy extract could possibly cost $.001 and the anchovy paste might cost $.015 per packet. Ah! Well then, an empire founded on fish extract. Yak.

An inspection of T.Marzetti's Supreme Caesar in my fridge showed that they use anchovies straight. Bravo.

Could you imagine it at a gathering, "What do you do for work?" "I'm a fish extract salesman." "No way! Me too!"

Chocolate Corn

Photo by LK

Last summer I picked up a bag of Dale and Thomas sweet and spicy BBQ popcorn. I was addicted. Sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy. I sound like a Taco Bell commercial. Anywho, I found some more of their products at my favorite former employer slash gourmet mart in the form of a chocolate popcorn bar. The chocolate in it is wonderful. Available in dark or milk chocolate, I opted for dark, as always. The popcorn is coated with caramel to keep it crunchy. I also love the box it came in. The only thing I would change is the thickness of the chocolate in the bar overall. It is so thick that by the time you bite through it, you miss the crunch of the caramel and popcorn. I would compare it to a more nutty Krackle.

$3 Beer

Foobooz reports $3 Bell's Beer at South Philly Tap Room this Thursday. Run!

Negative x Negative = Positive

In a quick review of my latest posts, I've been cranky. Very cranky. It's reflective of my mood of late. In celebration of flowers blooming and dormant things making a return this month, I will bring some positivity to this blog.

Last week I made a super tasty pork rib roast. There were 5 ribs that I Frenched poorly as I haven't done it since culinary school. I seared it with some Penzey's tandoori spice, S&P and pan roasted it with onions and apple juice in the bottom of the pan. After roasting, I pureed the onions, juice and drippings with some applesauce and just a dash of BBQ sauce. It made one of the most interesting sauces I have ever had. The onions caramelized during roasting, the juice and apple sauce made for awesome texture and just the right level of apple flavor. It was grown up pork chops and apple sauce. I made cornbread cakes on the side, sauteing jalapenos and scallions, and dropping batter on top of them. In my head this sounded easier than making cornbread, but the procedure was make corn bread batter and fry it rather than let it bake all by itself. Maybe I was drawn to the fried aspect. I wasn't thrilled with the combo of corn product and apple sauce. Next time I'll try moderne latkes of sweet potato! If I had a BBQ joint, or a steak house, this would be on the menu. I guess this is as positive as I get. :)

Dinners No Longer in My Repertoire

It really is true, nothing tastes just like Mom made. In my case, I crave my Mom's meatballs and chicken parm. My husband noted that while mine don't taste like my Mom's, they are more culinarily correct and upscale. That's fine and dandy, but as the years of her passing saunter by, food is one of the ways I honor our time together. Because eating them is often a disappointment now, I am reluctant to make them.

This instance occurs in my new family as well. My sister in law and I have been thoroughly instructed to master my Mother in law's coleslaw, Jewish apple cake, and mashed potatoes. Despite wonderful instruction on each of the recipes, we often fall short of transporting our husbands back to the dinner table of their childhood.

What familial food do you crave?

Morimoto I'm Not

I have been thinking about sushi all week. I had it 3 times last week. My new favorite store bought sushi is from Whole Foods. Their varieties made with brown rice are quite filling and there's never a question about freshness. Of all the things I have made, sushi isn't one of them. I consulted the honorable Mr. Bittman on the makings of sushi rice. What I produced wasn't bad, but was a bit overcooked. I poached shrimp in a quick dashi of ginger, scallions and soy. Lined here with spicy Sriracha mayo & cilantro. Note: this photo shows unrolled sushi with a bit too much rice.



A completed roll with some lettuce. I wasn't adventurous enough to make an inside out roll or a larger maki.











The table complete with pots of tea for everyone, and some chirashi sushi with shrimp and black sesame seeds in rice bowls. This meal really fed my soul.