A Hungry Bear

grilled salmon with basil aioli

What I’m about to tell you is a true story, and hopefully no one will get in trouble for it… The other day my neighbor, who works for a major airline here in Atlanta, knocked frantically on my door. She was holding a plastic bag and practically jumping with excitement. What’s was in the bag? Fresh salmon fillets, each about 3 pounds, that were flown in that morning from Alaska.

Why was she holding these salmon fillets? Because the crate they were flown in on (via a competing airline) had fallen to the ground during cargo unloading, and my neighbor was kind enough (devious enough?) to sneak several fillets away before the competition noticed they were missing. She was generous enough to share one of these with me. I have to say that it was, hands down, the best piece of salmon I have ever had. I just grilled it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and made this basil aioli featured in July’s Bon Appetit. On the side I made grilled polenta squares and a little caprese salad (to use up an avocado and some extra tomato and mozzarella I had leftover). It was the perfect summer meal. (more…)

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burger review: gourmet magazine’s aussie burger

I think I recently read about Aussie burgers in several places (other food blogs? - no google blog search can help me find this so far), and then it popped up again right in the July issue of Gourmet magazine. In my quest to eat every possible combination of burger toppings at least once in my life, this went to the top of the list of recipes to try from this issue. I like the grilled pineapple, but think it could be better utilized as a contrast to something spicy - maybe like a jerk sauce for the burger, or spicy jack cheese? We all agreed that the sliced beets are just too weird; they add sogginess and stained fingers without a lot of flavor. The “chile mayo” (just chile paste, mayo and ketchup) was definitely great, and could be used to dip fries and onion rings in if you were making them and didn’t feel the fat content was quite high enough… And the fried egg was absolutely fantastic. Next time I’ll try that with bacon and cheese (which would actually be a burger called “the coronary bypass”, as made famous by the Vortex restaurant here in Atlanta). (more…)

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green 3 cheese ravioli + tomato sauce with garlic and basil (”alla carrettiera”)

In Marcella Hazan’s “essentials of classic italian cooking”, she talks about the “only” 2 ways to EVER make fresh pasta dough: basic egg pasta (covered numerous times, albeit imperfectly, on this blog), and “green” pasta. Green pasta incorporates fresh spinach right into the dough - and why did I think I needed even more of a challenge? It’s not like I’ve perfected pasta in the first place, so why make it more complicated? Because after steaming, draining and mincing the spinach, and adding it to egg and flour, there was nothing but a soggy sad mess on my counter. I was THIS close to wiping it all straight into the disposal. But then I added a little more flour and started kneading. And then more flour, more kneading. After a few minutes, I had this bright green ball of pasta dough, ready for rolling. Who knew? So if you try this recipe, expect it to get very ugly before you see anything that resembles a potential dinner. And if the idea of slaving over green pasta isn’t appealing - just try this sauce. Wow. (more…)

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one more thing to love about weekends: ABLT egg sandwiches

Bacon, egg whites, lettuce, heirloom tomato slices, mayo, extra sharp cheddar, all on a toasted bun. How could you NOT have the best Sunday ever?

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thai green curry chicken

In viewing this blog, you could probably infer that I only like Italian food, and Americanized interpretations of Italian, at that. But what I cook is an inaccurate representation of what I love to eat - if I want good Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican, or anything more adventurous, I go out (blog entries are not daily for a reason). But a few weeks ago our good friends Karel and Talia had us over for dinner, and Talia whipped up some red coconut curry seemingly effortlessly. Not only did it seem approachable, but it was also delicious. Ever since, I’ve been thinking about how I might need to forget about the disaster that was my one experiment with phad thai (HORRIBLE waste of 3 hours in the kitchen), and try this whole Thai thing again. I found a few recipes on Epicurious and one from Tyler Florence that I was able to work together. It would have still been easier to go to Thai Palate for some take out, but it was great, I knew exactly what was in it, so I’m marking this one down as a win. See what you think… (more…)

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is it summer in atlanta or winter in northern italy?

This is what I made for dinner last night: roast beef braised in red wine and artichoke risotto. Makes perfect sense for a 93 degree day in Atlanta…?? Let me explain. Last week I was in Sri Lanka (yes, I sandbag my blog posts sometimes), and although the food was delicious, I missed red meat, my beloved Italian food, and most of all, COOKING. So I figured I would make a few favorites for dinner last night, not caring if I heated up the oven (and the rest of the loft) for 3 hours roasting meat, or having to stand over a boiling pot stirring chicken broth constantly for 45 minutes. And I’m so glad I did. (more…)

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tagliatelle with spinach

This is a simple recipe from The Silver Spoon, a huge cookbook that proclaims itself “Italy’s best selling cookbook for 50 years” (I don’t know if this is true, but it the several of the 2000+ recipes I’ve tried so far have been great). I’m always looking for new ways to dress up fresh pasta, so I have more motivation to keep practicing.  This is an excellent recipe for just that purpose.  (And I promise I’ve had more to eat in the last few days than just carbs — will try to post something other than pasta next!) (more…)

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more fun with homemade pasta: fettuccine alla trapanese

I think I’m starting to make some good progress with homemade pasta… This time, I went back to my new favorite obsession (Jamie’s Italy) for inspiration. Jamie describes this as the Trapanese method for making pesto sauce (although Marcella Hazan vehemently denies that pesto can be made with anything other than pine nuts, olive oil, basil, and parmesan). It was delicious, although I was more proud of how the fettuccine turned out - finally, I was able to make a batch without any real problems! (more…)

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lamb and beef burgers with caper remoulade

As you might have noticed by now, I’m pretty obsessed with Food & Wine magazine. When the June issue arrived last month with the theme of “best new grilling ideas,” I flipped - burgers are my favorite food. These burgers were almost light - the caper remoulade, the cucumber and tomato slices, and the fact that the bun was replaced with a much lighter english muffin - there was less “heft” than a normal burger. That being said, it took absolutely no longer than the usual prep time for burgers, so this will go into the summer menu rotation for sure. (more…)

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greatest steak marinade of all time (really)

This simple grilled hangar steak salad was inspired by a menu item at my favorite neighborhood restaurant, Murphy’s, in Atlanta’s Virginia Highland neighborhood (there’s features a flank steak, but I’ve been wanting to try hangar steak for some time now). Here’s what I learned: stop whatever you are preparing for dinner tonight, and try this marinated steak. It might be the best marinade I’ve ever had. (more…)

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