Author: foodnerd

He has friends who give him freshly foraged chanterelles. And this is what they do with them:
“Favorite recipe of the
moment, in addition to dead ass plain:
Sautee over medium/high with no oil. Allow to cook in its own juices until
1/2 cooked. Add a tablespoon of butter and a splash of white wine. Reduce
by around 1/3, and add some heavy cream. Return to a simmer for a minute or
two. Salt/Pepper. Eat.
Made mushroom risotto and mushroom bruschetta so far. Pizza tonight, and
eggs tomorrow. We were fantasizing about northwest triple crown:
Chanterelle and crab stuffed wild salmon fillet. Or perhaps grilled wild
halibut smothered in chanterelles…”

Because they are capable of producing dishes like the one we ate in a neighborhood osteria in Milan, near our friends’ apartment, called La Piola. Everything that came to the table for the four of us was spectacular, but the porcini risotto was just completely out of control in its exquisite deliciousness and intense mushroominess. A true foodgasm.
All the risottos we had on the trip were perfectly cooked, exactly the right texture of soft creamy with a firm bite, even the ones at the wedding. Since when have you ever had good food at a wedding? Same goes for the gnocchi — fluffy little cloud-pillows robed in cheese. Hot damn.
LA PIOLA
Viale Abruzzi, 23 (Circonvallazione)
Tel.02/29531271
Sadly, we’d left the camera in the friends’ apartment during dinner by mistake, so no pictures of the foodgasm. You’ll just have to trust me.

to post about my food adventures in europe, here is what i made for dinner last night. There was a big sale on beef chuck roast at Whole Paycheck, and I’d been eyeing the daube provencale recipe in Cook’s Illustrated, and this is what happened.

Put the oven on 325F. Trim the fat from the roast and cut it into big chunks, 2-3″ or so. Salt & pepper them, then brown in olive oil in your dutch oven. Take them out when brown on all sides, and add a bit more oil, along with a sliced onion, 2-3 carrots cut into chunks, and 2-3 potatoes (i used yukon gold) cut into chunks. Sprinkle with salt & fry until they’ve taken on most of the color from the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle them with several tablespoons of flour and cook until it browns. Add in most of a bottle of red wine. Also add 2 cups of hot water in which you’ve soaked some broken up dried shiitakes and about 1/4 of a bouillon cube that was left over. Add some dried thyme or savory, a bay leaf (i didn’t have one last night, fresh out), a few shots of vietnamese fish sauce, a tablespoon of harissa, a cut up head of fennel and strips of zest from about half an orange. Bring it up to a simmer, then put the meat and juices back in, submerging them. Add some olives if you like. Bung it in the oven with the top on partially and leave it there for 3 hours. You might want to stir it once or twice as the surface does get a bit grotty looking from the dry heat. Makes the house smell lovely. The magazine recipe asked for tomatoes and parsley at the end, but i just ate it as it was and didn’t miss them.

“This morning, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Miers is a long-time political appointee, campaign counsel, personal lawyer and Bush loyalist who has never served as a judge.”
I don’t generally want to drag politics into this blog, but you have got to be kidding. Never served as a judge? Fucking hell.

Found these strawberries at the farmer’s market, and was unable to resist their adorable tininess and intoxicating fragrance. I ate them with a bit of sweetened sour cream, which actually was a bit like Icelandic skyr. Dreamy.