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Content about Mediterranean cuisine

The Porchetta Party January 18, 2011 Porchetta for 20, alongside semolina Roman-style gnocchi. Just another Saturday night... Read the Full Article	My Chicago: Cafe Spiaggia August 11, 2010 Chicago's famed restaurant revamps their cafe Spiaggia isn’t the sort of restaurant you waltz into on a whim--you have to wear a jacket to eat there, its gorgeous dining room has floor-to-ceiling windows, they have a cheese cave, and, oh, it’s really, really expensive. But the secret is that Spiaggia also has a cafe. It’s casual, intimate, and the food is superb. The attention to detail that is expected of a high-end restaurant like Spiaggia filters down to its more... Read the Full Article	Romesco Sauce, Meet the Summertime Grill July 15, 2010 A blend of bread, nuts, olive oil, tomato, and peppers My fridge lately has been so full of food I can hardly see what’s inside of it. Since joining a CSA, I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of food I have, and how to cook it all quickly enough. The other day I realized that I had, like, 2 or 3 pounds of green onions--and not wispy little ones, big, fat ones, the white roots thick and juicy, the green shoots long and vibrant. I’d been using them as quickly as I could,... Read the Full Article	Baba Ganoush and a Fear of Eggplant June 30, 2010 Hummus' neglected cousin When it comes to Middle Eastern dips, hummus hogs most of the love and attention. (The New York Times recently reported that hummus is "catching on" in America, where it dominates the $325 million-a-year refrigerated flavored spreads category). You see tubs of it everywhere, and for good reason: it's a great snack to have around. But there's another beige spread (now doesn't that sound appetizing?) that gets short... Read the Full Article
Pasta with Butter, Bottarga, and Breadcrumbs May 11, 2010 "The bacon of fish" elevates this simple pasta to transcendence You may remember awhile back my lamenting post about a favorite ingredient I couldn't find in Chicago. The ingredient that Claudia at Cook Eat Fret christened "the bacon of fish." Something relatively undiscovered and very difficult to find in the U.S. A secret ingredient, you might say. Well, I'm done lamenting. Because I have found bottarga, the cured roe sack that's pressed and dried to become the density of hard... Read the Full Article	My Chicago: Caputo Cheese Market, and a Search for Bottarga January 26, 2010 This fishy roe is a meal in itself. My Chicago is about life as a cooks and eaters in our home city. Markets, restaurants, secret finds, really tasty bites--or just a great story. We're lucky to live here. Bottarga would handily win the award for "foodstuff with least correlation between attractiveness and deliciousness," if such a thing existed. It is a brown, firm lobe, and, poor thing, really quite ugly. A cured, pressed, and dried fish egg sack. How... Read the Full Article	Deep-Dish Pizza: Round 2 April 3, 2009 Nick learns from his mistakes and makes a good deep-dish pie at home. I was determined not to fail this time. My last attempt at deep-dish wasn't an absolute failure, but it was close. It was too soggy and messy, and had none of the glorious qualities that my favorite Chicago pizzeria, Pequods, displayed. I theorized about all kinds reasons for the failure, thinking it had something to do with the crust. Then I just gave up and asked you all to help me. Ended up I was way off... Read the Full Article	Pan-Seared Salmon with Pasta and Spinach Cream Sauce February 9, 2006 This pasta is surprisingly light, a delightful characteristic considering the richness of the cream. While our enthusiasm for cooking has grown immensely over the past year, we still feel mostly reluctant to toss our recipe books aside and approach the task with our own original ideas and ingredients. A sense of improvisation comes with confidence, and as the acting theorist Konstantin Stanislavski suggests, cultivating concentration and trusting one's instincts. Instincts. We don't do those so good. See,... Read the Full Article
Pasta Carbonara January 15, 2006 This recipe loses the cream altogether, replacing it with white wine. Pasta Carbonara 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 small onion, diced 3 thin slices bacon 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 pound farfalle pasta 4 egg yolks small handful chopped Italian parsley 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water Serves 4. Recipe adapted from Cucina Rustica Get a huge pot of salted water boiling right away--you can always turn it off... Read the Full Article