Lora's Thoughts
Lora is a former newspaper reporter who's moved on from writing about real estate and the occasional dog mauling to one of her favorite subjects -- food.
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
August 7, 2008
I think the first thing I thought when I saw Heidi's Cottage Cheese Pancake Mix was "???," settling once and for all in my mind whether it is possible to think solely in punctuation. I was even more surprised when I bought some, took it home, and realized that it called for twice as much cottage cheese as pancake mix.
Here's how the pancakes look when you first ladle them into the pan:
And here it is after the flip:
Heidi's makes more traditional pancake mixes -- Grainy Day and Apple -- but her main selling point for these is the health benefits. They're high in protein and low in fat. So I was curious how the diet food lived up to actual pancakes. Consensus was that it tasted considerably different than a pancake -- but pretty good. Mom said they reminded her a little of a potato pancake. The texture seemed almost eggy or spongy to me. You might actually be able to roll them around some kind of savory filling.
The instructions say the smallest amount of mix makes 5-6 pancakes. It made 4, even though I'm pretty sure I made the size the instructions called for. You might want to consider that when you're making them.
Prosciutto Fig Flatbread Pizza
August 1, 2008
We launched our new lunch menu yesterday with some old favorites, like our vegetarian and chicken pesto paninis, and a few new items, like our savory crepe, barbecue chicken sandwich and curry chicken wrap. We've also got full-size versions of the buffalo and ostrich burger we feature as sliders on our appetizer menu, as well as the flatbread pizzas we've been offering as appetizers.
Yesterday I tried the Prosciutto Fig pizza with gorgonzola and fresh arugula (they substituted mixed greens on it for me since we ran out of the arugula). I thought it might be a little weird with all those flavors on one pizza, but I was amazed by how the semi-sweet fig slices, pungent gorgonzola, salty prosciutto and bittersweet balsamic vinegar drizzled on top worked in tandem. I'd definitely order it again.
My family eats at Market Limone
July 30, 2008
I took my boyfriend and my family to eat at Market Limone last Saturday. I ordered the ahi (very elegant); my dad and boyfriend got the kurobuta pork chop; my brother got the sea bass; and my mom tried the airline chicken (the name apparently refers to the cut, and has nothing to do with airline food; in fact, I had a bite and thought it was one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had -- crispy on the outside, moist and tender with a wonderful creamy sauce). We split the mussels (everyone loved the Thai broth) and a chocolate mousse trio and the panna cotta (which may have been my favorite part of the meal -- very rich). Everyone was impressed with everything, but I think the biggest compliment came from my brother Dan. He's in his twenties and still doesn't eat his veggies. Ever. Mom's pretty much given up asking him to have any. He'd finished up his bass and was just sitting there with the bok choy on his plate. I finally convinced him to try one bite. He did. And then he kept eating it until it was all gone. I never would've guessed he'd do that. So how's that for a review? "Food so good my brother ate all his bok choy."Cheese Plate 3
July 29, 2008
I fell in love with the medieval pictures on these two cheeses from Britain. Fortunately, the taste lived up to the packaging.
These are nice, strong mature cheddars. Either one goes great on a ham sandwich, and I think the Tintern chive and shallot cheddar goes well with eggs. I've been eating the Red Dragon wholegrain mustard cheese on some mustard and ground pepper crackers I have from Fine Cheese Co., and the Tintern on a rosemary cracker. I think I'd like to try the Red Dragon on a burger with a good beer, and maybe put the Tintern on a grilled chicken sandwich.
Lavender Soda
July 25, 2008
I don't drink soda very often, but this week I was just in the mood:
This was lightly flavored, not overly sweet and smelled lovely. I'll have to go back and try the lemongrass and kumquat flavors, too.
One pasta, two ways II
July 24, 2008
I bought a couple packages of this gorgeous yellow Saffron Linguini from Rossi Pasta recently and over the last two weekends I tried them with different sauces. This is with Lump Crab with Asiago and Garlic Cream sauce suggested by Rossi Pasta. It calls for garlic, a shallot, chicken stock, heavy cream, Asiago cheese, lump crab meat and asparagus, and a little cornstarch and water to thicken it. I substituted green beans my mom had picked that day for the asparagus and thought they tasted great in it. We loved the sauce. I didn't put in all the cornstarch the recipe called for, but I think I would leave it out entirely next time -- the melted Asiago and cream thicken enough on their own, I think.
I decided to try a saffron sauce to go with the saffron in the noodles. I've had saffron sauces with pumpkin and butternut squash ravioli before in restaurants and wanted to try it out myself and found this recipe online (I used shallots instead of onion). Of course, I figured saffron on saffron wouldn't give us very much variety in the color palette, so I decided to throw some greens in and allow them to wilt. I think it worked:
One pasta, two ways
July 22, 2008
We got several gorgeous new linguinis and fettucinis from Rossi Pasta in a few weeks ago, in lots of different flavors -- Curry, Southwestern Chipotle, Lemon Pepper, Tomato Basil Garlic. I bought a couple packages each of the Vino Rosso Linguini and Saffron Linguini, figuring I'd try out the suggested recipe for each one and try to come up with my own sauce to go with them.
This is the Vino Rosso with Rossi Pasta's suggested recipe, Steak Aux Poivre Vino Rosso Linguini. It calls for beef tenderloin, white onion, red bell pepper, carrots, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, A1 steak sauce and cream. You saute the vegetables in butter until the onions are translucent, dredge the beef in flour, pepper and thyme and brown it along with the veggies, add the red wine and let it reduce, and then add the cream, A1 and Worcestershire.
We thought the sauce was excellent (even me, and I normally object to the idea of carrots in my pasta sauce), but we thought the colors matched the pasta too closely to make the presentation that great. By the time the wine has reduced, it has completely dyed the traslucent onions a bright shade of red -- you'd swear you started out with a purple onion. The sauce is a beautiful wine-red until you add the cream, at which point it turns the exact same shade of pink as the noodles, just slightly muddied by the beef. The orange carrots and red peppers, which might stand out nicely on a plain white pasta, don't exactly pop against the pink-red noodles. I would suggest using this sauce on a different color of pasta or retooling this one to use white wine, broccoli and yellow peppers and possibly shrimp to introduce more color to the plate. It might be pretty with something simple like olive oil, garlic and herbs or an alfredo sauce.
I'm not sure that my next attempt, a Buttery Herb Wine Sauce I looked up (and modified to use fresh herbs, a fresh portabella, and some leftover chicken), was any better in terms of presentation -- I fear that with the creamy sauce it looks a little like chipped beef. So I think if you're going to do an alfredo or a cream sauce, you definitely want to set it off with more color, like broccoli and red and yellow peppers. I was ambivalent about the taste of the Buttery Herb Wine Sauce, but Mom and Dad liked it quite a bit.
This pasta is only lightly flavored, but as you can see from the noodles on the edge of the first dish, it's a lovely, unusual color. If you play it right, could be a great centerpiece for a meal. I didn't have much luck with presentation on this one, but I did a lot better with the saffron pasta. More on that in my next post.
Not Just in White Castle Any More
July 17, 2008
The New York Times (via the always excellent Slashfood) had a story yesterday about sliders invading trendy restaurants and bar & grills all over New York City. Well, it's happened here, too. Market Limone is debuting its new appetizer menu at 2:00 today, and our ostrich, buffalo and Kobe sliders are on it. (I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I can at least vouch for the Beer Chips we've paired them with here.) There's also the elk sausage flatbread pizza or our Mediterranean plate if you're looking for something different.
Update July 18: I tried the slider trio for dinner last night. I loved how tender and moist the three meats were, and the range in flavor in each meat. The buffalo was easily my favorite of the three -- I liked the slightly gamey quality to the meat -- and while the wasabi ginger sauce on the Kobe burger struck me as a little odd, Jackie, who's trying the sliders today, says that one's her favorite. (The ostrich burger has dijon mayo and the buffalo burger has red pepper aioli.) I love how plump the burgers are despite their tiny size, allowing them to stay a bit rare and juicy in the center.
Matiz Tortas
July 16, 2008
I was in the mood for something different again today, so I went back to the table downstairs where a lot of our imported goods are and picked up these Spanish tortas from Matiz. Matiz calls it an olive oil crisp bread. It's very thin and crispy, with sesame seeds throughout. I tried the savory ones; they make sugared ones, too. Both are pretty tasty.
Be forewarned that if you eat these, people might try to speak Spanish to you. At least that's what happened to me today when one of our chefs, Frank, came into the office to talk to me about the appetizer menu. He asked me in Spanish if they were good tortas. I didn't understand him at all -- I took Japanese in high school and have forgotten most of it, although I recently had the opportunity to teach one of my cousins, who's going to live in Japan while my aunt is there on a long-term business contract, that "tako" is Japanese for "octopus."
I let Frank try a torta and he agreed with me that they were good. He should know. His mother is from Spain.
Road Trip 3: Phinney chocolate
July 15, 2008
I picked these up just because the wrappers were so quirky:
We busted this one out just outside of Council, Idaho, on a hot day. When I opened it up, I could see the inside of the wrapper had been stained yellow by the turmeric in the curry powder. Of the four 3400 Phinney chocolate bars I picked up, this was easily my favorite, which kind of surprised me. Normally I go for dark chocolate. This was almost at melting point when we ate it, though -- perfect for maximum chocolate flavor. The toasted coconut was a nice touch instead of plain old flaked coconut, and the curry powder added a lot of flavor without robbing the chocolate of its due. It surprised my boyfriend, who thought it was going to be weird and concluded that it was pretty good.
We had this at the campsite. It was strong and roasty, even a little smoky. What impressed me about this one is that it has exactly four ingredients in it -- cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter and coffee beans -- and they're all fair trade and 100% organic. The other bars are similarly minimal in their contents, and are 100% organic and mostly fair trade.
This one had bits of French bread in it and was a little like an upscale Crunch bar.
My boyfriend and I parted ways on this one. I liked it -- I thought the unusual flavor combo of fig and fennel worked for it -- but he told me he prefers "plain old chocolate."
I find his comment highly ironic.
Here's the ingredient list on a Hershey bar -- the same Hershey bar my boyfriend will buy with no hesitation from a gas station:
Milk chocolate (sugar; milk; chocolate; cocoa butter; lactose (milk); milk fat; soy lecithin; vanillin, artificial flavor; PGPR, emulsifier).
"Plain old chocolate"?
Here's the ingredient list on the Fig, Fennel and Almond bar:
Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, almonds, figs, fennel.
I'll take the ingredient list I can understand, thank you very much.
Breakfast just got a little sweeter
July 15, 2008
I give you ... the Strawberry Nutella Panini. Market Limone can make it with bananas too -- just ask. Two slices of sweet, airy French brioche, sliced strawberries, chocolaty Nutella spread, lightly grilled on a panini grill (you can see the ridges) and dusted with powdered sugar. Warm, sweet, delicate -- everyone should get to try one of these at least once in their lives.
Taste Test
July 10, 2008
Oh. My. God.
Today we're taste-testing appetizers and entrees for the restaurant we're opening July 15. This is the quail, stuffed with ripe peaches and accompanied with spinach and red quinoa.
I've been talking up the buffalo and the boar to other people, but I've personally always set down the stuffed quail as the first thing I wanted to try when we opened the restaurant, and I want to tell you, this surpassed every expectation. It tastes every bit as gorgeous as it looks.
And check this out: the Kurobuta pork chop with cornbread pudding, cherries jubilee and vanilla bourbon sauce:
Great texture, great flavor combo, and perfect with The Black Chook, our suggested wine pairing.
These are the mussels we tested yesterday:
Beautiful. And the coconut basil lime sauce? Mmmmm..... We paired this one with Source Sauvignon Blanc; they seem to go well together.
They didn't save any ahi for me. Bastards.
Road Trip 2: Sweet Potato Chips
July 9, 2008
It pays to read the fine print. If I'd paid more attention to the words "tortilla chips" on the bag, I might not have been so disappointed. I was expecting something more like a kettle chip style chip made from slices of sweet potato. It would be like combining the best aspects of a kettle chip and sweet potato fries, if you've ever had those. Yum! As it is, these were not too bad. There's really only a hint of sweet potato in them, though; the corn flavor is predominant. They probably would have been a lot better with fruit salsa, as suggested on the package. We polished off the bag without any trouble. They just didn't live up to the chip in my mind. So maybe I'll pick these up again next time I make fruit salsa (probably next time I ended up with a bag of bruised peaches that are ready to turn). We'll see. But in the meantime, won't someone please get on making those kettle-style sweet potato chips? Because that would be awesome.
Road Trip 1: Beer Chips
July 9, 2008
I brought tons of snack foods from the market on my camping trip last weekend. I thought I'd start with the Beer Chips, which were a big hit with my folks and my boyfriend. Mom loved how crisp and thick they are ("I like fat chips," she said) and I loved how sweet they were, something I wasn't expecting in beer-flavored food.
We had them on the trip up by themselves and at the campsite with some Fat Tire. Though they're good on their own, and though the bag takes great pains to point out that beer is used in making the chips -- even printing "BEER" in all caps in the otherwise lower-case ingredient list -- I think eating them with even more beer is actually an improvement. The sweet-salt taste is a great accompaniment to beer.
Bumble Bar
July 2, 2008
It's a lot like a sesame candy. I've always kind of like those -- such a simple flavor. This was chewy, which made it appealing, and seemed to have quite a bit less sugar to it, so the nutty seed taste comes through more. I liked the addition of flax seeds, too -- I've always liked the flavor of those in my granola.
Vegan Taquitos
July 2, 2008
It tastes like chicken.
Okay, so that's a really bad cliche. But the verisimilitude in these "chicken style" taquitos is fairly uncanny, at least compared to frozen chicken taquitos I've had before (which, admittedly, don't always have a lot of textural quality in the filling). I am a big taquito fan, whether it's from a great Mexican restaurant, a Jack in the Box or the frozen food aisle. There's something about the crispy little buggers I can't get enough of. And the fact that no animals were harmed in the making of these soy taquitos didn't change anything. They were good. We tried them with a black bean and corn relish, which was a nice combination, but I'd still love to try them with guacamole.
I knew they were vegan when I tried them, but didn't realize until after reading the box more closely that they're also gluten-free, trans fat-free and cholesterol free. Who knew you could get that in a taquito?
Olive chips
July 2, 2008
I'm going camping starting tomorrow, and I'll be back and blogging again Tuesday. I bought a bunch of snack foods for the road trip from Market Limone, and I'll let you know how they all fared. In the meantime, I want to get a few quickie posts up.
Burnt Sacrifice
June 30, 2008
Time for another bad cartoon:
Herb and Jamaal is kind of the king of lame, implausible and awkwardly phrased joke set-ups. But credit where credit is due -- in terms of joke set-ups, having a priest show up unannounced at one of his parishioner's homes is a lot more plausible than, say, Herb's friend Jamaal asking his crush Yolanda how she feels about friends kissing only to get the response in panel two, "You mean an anatomical juxtaposition of two orbiscular oris muscles in a state of contraction?", or a guy with a newspaper at a restaurant exclaiming, "Wow, check out the latest on the hotel socialite! The stuff they say about her really makes you think, doesn't it?" If you want to know what's really going on in this day's strip, check out the funny take on the day's events in Jamaal's blog.
That said, I had to post this comic after trying out our new barbecue line, Burnt Sacrifice. For those familiar with our gourmet hot chocolate line, Holy Chocolate, it's made by the same organization, led by Father Stan Smith, an Eastern Syrian Orthodox priest. I had the opportunity to talk to Father Stan a couple weeks ago about why he started making the barbecue sauces and rubs. He told me that he was astonished by how little some of his California parishioners knew about quality barbecue. He sees his new product line as a great way to teach people the truth of good barbecue, a good opportunity for Christian fellowship, and a way to raise funds for his mission work, including building hospitals in impoverished areas around the globe with the Knights Hospitaller.
Father Stan makes two rubs, Dallas Style BBQ and Santa Maria Style, and three sauces -- Saint's Sauce, Fiery Trials and Judgment Day, which range from "Tame and Sassy" to "3X Habanero Hot." Each jar of sauce comes with a tiny booklet of tips, including approximate cooking times for various cuts of meat and the internal temperatures they should register when they are done; some recipes for side dishes; instructions on smoking your food with wood chips; and some suggested barbecue prayers: "Almighty God, our Help and Refuge ... direct me by Your wisdom and power, that I may worthily BBQ for my family and friends according to your divine will...." The booklets also answer the age-old question, "Will there be BBQ in heaven?" (Short answer: Yes.)
The sauces are made with real honey, molasses and all-natural ingredients, and contain no gluten, no corn sweetener and no preservatives.
My family and I made pork with the Santa Maria Style rub yesterday:
I cut up a pork roast Sunday morning, coated the pieces with the rub and stuck them back in the fridge for about nine hours. I'm pretty inexperienced at grilling, and most of the experience I do have comes from using a small charcoal grill (and the handy instruction booklet that came with it) instead of my folks' big gas one. So I ended up handing off the grilling to my dad while I made the salad.
The spice rub didn't have a lot of heat to it, but was very flavorful and got thumbs up from everyone at the table. The paprika, brown sugar and tarragon blend brought out the best in our pork, and the meat went great with our watermelon and a grapefruit radish salad with homemade cinnamon-cumin vinaigrette. The dark rub made it even more difficult than usual to get a feel for whether the cuts of pork were done, and some of them were a bit underdone when we pulled them off the grill, so definitely have that meat thermometer handy when you do your barbecuing. (We cooked slices of the underdone cuts in a pan with a little olive oil so we can use them without firing up the grill all over again.)
I'll have to try one of the sauces next time. When I do, I'll use the grilling booklet and I'll report back how helpful it is for grilling n00bs.Apricot Bread
June 27, 2008
Today I tried a Spanish apricot bread from Matiz. Matiz seems to use the term "bread" loosely. I think the only ingredients are compressed dried apricots and almonds.
Their website suggests eating it with cheese, so that's what I did. I looked for a soft cheese and picked out La Petite Creme, a soft dessert cheese from Rouge et Noir.
I was amazed by how well the flavors worked together. I did have to double-check the wrapper to make sure I didn't have the fig bread, which we also carry -- it seemed to taste kind of fig-like. The texture was probably a big reason for that -- the chewiness was more reminiscent of figs than dried apricots to me -- but it still seemed like there was something fig-like about the actual flavor. I didn't think that detracted from the flavor though. I was impressed by how rich the taste was, and surprised by how well it worked with the cheese.
This seems like it would work well for breakfast or for dessert. It would probably go well with coffee or a port.A little love for our wheat-free friends
June 26, 2008
"Hey Lora, do you want to try some gluten-free bread?"
"Uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh...okay?"
"So you've heard how horrible gluten-free bread is, right?" my boss Laurel asks.
I thought it was pretty obvious that I had. I hadn't actually eaten gluten-free bread before, but I did have the misfortune of eating some low-carb bread once. It was the only bread in the house that wasn't frozen, and I had to slap something together and dash out of the house since I wouldn't have the chance to eat again for more than three hours. It was some of the nastiest stuff I have ever tasted. After a couple forced bites, I threw it away, deciding I would rather starve.
Gluten-free bread may be a bit different, but I wasn't expecting great things. I have a friend in theater who's allergic to wheat and had to eat a roast beef sandwich every night for one of his roles. I helped check his props every night, so I became intimately familiar with the look and texture of his tapioca breads and the like. They didn't look so hot.
Laurel gave me a piece of gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread from Hydroblend, a company here in Nampa. (They also make a gluten-free sunflower seed bread.) I bit into it. And I kept eating. Way better than the trash-bin low-carb bread.
"That's a lot better than I was expecting," I told Laurel. I'd give it a "not bad." It's not the best raisin bread I've ever had, but with a little apple butter it'd probably be pretty good. In the world of gluten-free breads, I expect that's a breath of fresh air.
Cilantro Chutney Chicken Salad
June 25, 2008
Mixed greens from the garden, leftover grilled chicken and leftover Maya Kaimal cilantro chutney from my lamb curry. Yum! This tastes great and it's a great way to use leftover chicken. Since I'd already purchased the chutney and it uses household ingredients, I didn't have to go to the store for anything to make this. Recipe's right under the lid.
Fresh Cilantro Chutney
June 24, 2008
I made a lamb curry with yellow split peas, tomatoes and chillies over the weekend. I took the leftovers to work yesterday to try out some of the chutney we carry.
I've made my own chutney before, but most of the time I don't really want to bother by the time I'm done fixing the entree and rice or dessert. And I've had mixed results with the store-bought ones I've tried; the mango ones are all right, but they don't always pair with everything. Cilantro pairs with a lot of stuff, but the jar I bought at one Indian specialty store was pretty wretched.
Maya Kaimal's cilantro chutney was completely different from any other chutney I've tried. I was raving about how awesome it was. It has a wonderful creamy texture and flavor, which I assume must be the combination of sour cream and ground cashews on the ingredients list. I love creamy curries, but last weekend I made a more water-based one. This was a great way to add creaminess to my curry.
The flavor complemented my curry very nicely. One thing I was a little concerned about was whether the chutney would be too hot, since the chillies in my curry made it hot enough on its own. But the sour cream in this chutney almost makes it serve as a raita -- it cools it down even while it's adding spice, so it adds a little heat, but not too much.
There's a recipe under the lid for how to use this to make Cilantro Chicken Salad, which sounds fantastic, and it seems like it'd be a good option for fish, instead of a dill sauce. We also carry coconut chutney, fig chutney and mango chutney from Maya Kaimal.
If Indian sounds good tonight, Market Limone carries Maya Kaimal's Tamarind Curry sauce and Seeds of Change's Madras, Korma, Jalfrezi and Tikka Masala simmer sauces. Or you can use any of the chutneys as dips for veggies or pita chips or spreads for meat or fish.
Cheese Plate 2
June 20, 2008
I tried the Le Chatelain Camembert today. It was the first time I'd tried Camembert before, so as much as I liked the taste -- I like pungent cheeses -- I can't say how it compares to others. But I am happy to report that it was a bit runny, as you can see in the photo. And we all know a good Camembert should be a bit runny.
A few days ago I tried the Vintage Gouda with a friend of mine who I know likes gouda. This is very different than other goudas we've had, though -- firmer and much stronger in flavor, but with a marbled, almost greasy quality that made it almost melt in your mouth. I liked it a lot, but it seemed more appropriate for a wine and cheese party or perhaps after dinner instead of as an appetizer. Especially when your meal is tofu. The cheese had a lot stronger flavor than the tofu.
Summer Lightning
June 19, 2008
We got some new beers in at Market Limone today. One of them was Summer Lightning, a golden ale from Britain:
We tried it out this afternoon. It's hoppy, but not at all bitter, and very smooth -- perfect for a hot day. Very refreshing. Hop Back Brewery has apparently won more than 70 awards for this beer.
Get them while you can. Jackie just came back to the office to announce that she just sold six of them.Capicola Panini and Cream of Spinach
June 19, 2008
I got an unusual compliment for Market Limone's panini sandwiches today. A woman told me that they were "meaty, but without being meaty, you know what I mean?" I think I do -- I'm guessing she meant they have a lot of flavor and they're very satisfying without being too heavy.
This is the spicy capicola ham. It's probably my favorite of the grilled sandwiches. We've got a roast chicken and pesto, a Genoa salami and prosciutto with olive tapenade, and a roasted portabella mushroom with roasted red pepper and caramelized onion. But I love the capicola ham because of the blue cheese mayo we put on it. You grill that and it just melts into gooey bliss.
I had the soup of the day, cream of spinach soup, with my spicy capicola today. Our cook Gigi always makes the soups from scratch. She's made some wonderful combinations -- a chicken and basil soup, Caribbean black bean, cream of asparagus.... The cream of spinach today was super creamy and very thick, even for a cream soup.
Cheese Plate 1
June 18, 2008
The Fromager d'Affinois Double Cream was easily my favorite of these three cheeses -- softer and gooier than most bries I've had, with a subtle, creamy scent with slightly pungent bleu cheese-like undertones. I tried this on Rosemary Crispbreads from 34 Degrees.
I figured that the Rosenborg Crumbled Danish Blue Cheese with Cranberries would be a natural on a spinach salad. I tried it on two different green salads and thought it was pretty good, but I wasn't wild about it. That may be an individual taste.
I liked the Yogurt Cheese a lot -- it's a little softer bit than most cheddars, but still very much a semisoft cheese. It's a little sharp, but not too sharp; it added a lot of flavor to a ham sandwich, and was great on the Rosemary Crispbreads, but I found that when I tried it on The Fine Cheese Co.'s Charcoal Crackers and Mondovino Spicy Moroccan Seed and Nut Crackers, I tasted the cracker a little more than the cheese. The Charcoal Crackers were perfect with a stronger cheese I tried them with, and the Moroccan crackers do seem to go nicely with red wine (I tried a Syrah), as the box suggests -- I may have to try them with hummus next time.
Unequivocal Praise for our Pimm's Cups
June 18, 2008
Thanks to Chris at The Unequivocal Notion for the nice post on our bottomless Pimm's Cups, Mimosas and Sangrias! Chris talks politics and food on his blog, and he has a lot of great posts critiquing Nampa-area restaurants, as well as great pictures of his own culinary creations. I'm looking forward to reading a lot more from him in the future.Solea Polenta Corn Chips
June 17, 2008
One of my favorite things to write about, other than food, is bad comics. When this Pluggers comic ran last year, I posted this comment on one of my favorite blogs, The Comics Curmudgeon: "Can someone please help me find a recipe that contains tahini, orzo, jicama and polenta? Because I'm all about that Middle Eastern Italian Central American fusion cuisine." Another commenter replied that perhaps it was a recipe for chunky wallpaper paste.
Pluggers, for the uninitiated, are simple, hardworking folks who keep plugging along, day after day. Most Pluggers can be easily identified by their advanced age, the fact that they're eating out of a metal lunchbox, or their inclination to eschew anything high-tech or gourmet.
One of the first snacks I tried out at Market Limone was a form of polenta that I think even a Plugger could handle:
I tried the sea salt variety of Solea Polenta Corn Chips (they also come in Mediterranean lime and guacamole). I thought it tasted a lot like Bugles or Fritos, but without all the salt or grease. They have a flavorful corn crunch, and I found myself munching on them for the rest of the afternoon.
My mom's on a diet, so I was curious how they would fit into her diet. The back of the bag says a 1-ounce serving has 120 calories and just 3.5 grams of fat (about 65% less fat than comparable corn chips, according to the bag, with no saturated fat or trans fat). I decided to measure out how many chips were actually in a serving, so we weighed them out. It turned out to be quite a few.
Mom and Dad both liked these chips, and neither of them are very fancy people. So I think I'm on solid ground when I say polenta chips are pretty Plugger-friendly food.
If you'd like to try out actual polenta, we sell that downstairs. If you're feeling really adventurous and want to try orzo too, the market sells a wonderful premade Orzo Pesto Salad with Pine Nuts in Zeste Food Boutique, our deli area.
Strawberry Soup
June 16, 2008
For lunch today, I had our Fresh Strawberry Soup. The strawberries weren't completely pureed -- they were a little pulpy -- but the soup was still creamy because of the creme fraiche we add. No, that little green bit you see on the right in the bowl isn't a strawberry leaf -- it's a bit of minced basil, which adds a nice tang to the soup. A really nice chilled soup -- sweet, but not too sweet, and very summery.
This will be on the menu for Market Limone's full-service restaurant when it opens in July. One of our wine distributors helped us pair wines with all of our entrees, appetizers and desserts. He's suggesting a Riesling with this soup, and I imagine they'd taste great together.
We're opening the restaurant upstairs where we used to keep the kitchen equipment, which is now downstairs. We'll still have our deli area, Zeste Boutique, on the ground floor. We've curtained off the mezzanine so we can show some black and white movies upstairs in the restaurant. Being put in charge of ordering the movies probably ranks up there with writing a story about an escaped alligator as one of my best work assignments ever. I've been previewing them with my mom. We watched Sabrina and Roman Holiday last week. I think Audrey Hepburn is going to pair well with the strawberry soup too.
If you want to learn to make our strawberry soup, sign up for our Hors d'oeuvre Party cooking class tomorrow. There's still a few seats left.
Update (July 15, 2008) -- One of the cooks informed me we're pureeing the soup more finely now.
Welcome to the Market
June 16, 2008
I've been working at Market Limone for a few weeks now, and every day I seem to learn something new. (Who knew chocolate and bacon go so great together? Look for a chocolate bacon bar to come to the market soon).
I've learned that the soybeans in our edamame salad may protect against heart disease, osteoporosis and cancer. I've learned that our wines pair with everything from wild game to barbecue and meatloaf. And I've learned that you can get polenta in chip form instead of in tubes.
In this blog, I'll be posting about products I try at the market, entrees we'll be serving in the restaurant we're opening in July, and my experience cooking with ingredients we sell in the store. I hope my cooking experiences in particular are helpful. I can follow a recipe pretty well, and I'm pretty good at making Indian food ... and casseroles ... and salad ... but with almost anything else I'm kind of a novice. Please comment with your own cooking suggestions, or with questions or suggestions of products you'd like to see reviewed here.
Happy eating!