Category: Food Finds

Needed some plain tuile-like cookies to go with the cantaloupe sorbet the other day, and found these at Whole Foods: Jules DeStrooper Crisp Butter Wafers. Turns out they are fabulously delicious: caramelly-sweet, buttery and crunchy. And only 50 calories per cookie, bonus! Everyone who’s had any has raved.

Cento has a new line of sauces and cooked tomatoes packaged in jars rather than cans: San Marzano-based marinara and other pre-made sauces, plus some crushed tomatoes ready for use. I got pretty excited when I saw them on the shelf at Victory, because usually I have had to schlep to the North End or to Federal Hill in Providence, or at the very least to some Italian specialty market, to find San Marzanos. And San Marzanos *are* worth the hype; they really do taste different, richer, somehow stronger. Having them available from a mass-market producer in mainstream supermarkets would be just freaking awesome.
So I worried a bit that these new treasures wouldn’t be that good, that they’d be just another marketing label slapped on some mundane tomatoes to move them at a higher price. But tonight a bunch of people came over for dinner, and it was so gorgeous out this weekend that I spent all my time out in the sunshine, not figuring out what to cook for a crowd… so I defrosted some spicy Italian sausages, boiled pasta, and turned to my cupboard for the new Cento treats. The marinara went over the sausages, and the crushed tomatoes went over some sauteed green beans, summer squash & garlic (with a parmesan rind in for some flavor*) for the vegetarians. Both tasted great — and with such simple dishes, I can’t really take much credit; it was all about the tomato flavor. No icky jarred-sauce sweetness or wacko off-flavors, just rich red meaty tomato goodness.
Let the word ring out across the land: San Marzanos in your local grocery at last!
(* I learned this trick, of putting an old hard parmesan rind into tomato sauce while it simmers, from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for cacciatore sauce. It works like a dream, and it saves me from trying to decide whether to keep trying to grate the nasty old rind or feel guilty about throwing it away. The sauce gets a subtle richness and depth that’s hard to get otherwise. Yum.)
oh and ps: the new rigati pastas from Barilla are rocking my world. Those wee ridges look pretty and hold lots of sauce (I can never get enough sauce — i know, i know, the Italians use way less sauce than Americans do, so sue me, I like sauce). My favorite is the bucatini rigati, but they’ve applied the texture to lots of strand-pastas and even some smaller shapes like tubes. I would link to Barilla’s website for more info, but it is an unbelievably annoying collection of popups and other egregious interactivity. Gah!

The Japanese conception of cuteness continues to astound and delight me. The iconic example for me is the smiling, dancing cartoon octopus apparently emblazoned on every takoyaki stand in Tokyo, beckoning you to come closer and eat delicious deepfried fritters containing chunks of his dead brethren. (Oishii!)
Anyway, the newest entry is this box of the most adorable little cookies: wee tiny chocolate-covered cookies in the shape of bamboo shoots. There was another style that was cookie straw-mushrooms with chocolate covered tops. I was unable to resist the cuteness. (Also note gratuitous amounts of high-quality packaging.) The cookies themselves are a little lackluster, dry dusty cookies with waxy chocolate, but who can complain when a humble savory vegetable is anointed with the mantle of cuteness in such a way?

A creamy white, soft goat cheese from Catalunya. Utterly luscious. Texture like a firmish brie, with smooth, fatty, milky, goaty flavor. First had at LaBrea Bakery, but also found locally at Whole Foods Fresh Pond. *swoon*

These wee tuscan crostini that they have at the Whole Paycheck and other foofy food stores are freaking yum-o-rama! Plain or rosemary flavor, so tasty… and they make cheese taste even better than usual. Especially the delightful truffley number that hedge got this past weekend. And there’s nothing in them — flour, olive oil, yeast, & salt, that’s it. Buying these for every cocktail party I ever throw ever again. Yum.

While diligently taking it excessively easy this memorial day weekend, we accepted an invitation from spleen to motor up to Portsmouth NH for the afternoon. Of course, how could we refuse, seeing as how Portsmouth features THE FRIENDLY TOAST? *swoon*
Leaving aside the decor (excessively red, excessively retro, excessively bad-art), and the waitstaff (excessively sexy and retro/arty), this place has firmly grasped a few essential truths about food.
First, the pinnacle of the sandwich maker’s art: The Mr. Haegar. Monstrous slices of homemade white bread, filled with cheddar, pickles, tomato slices, mustard and horseradish cream sauce, and grilled in butter. Served with onion rings, mmmm. This thing is a beast, a titan of filling tastiness — it is the absolute best approach to a grilled cheese that ever was. The mustard and the horseradish kick it over the edge, by bridging the creamy cheese and the tangy pickle (and lots of it, woohoo!). Even though it is a foodgasm, I can only eat half the sandwich, so the fact that it keeps well in the fridge is a sweet bonus.
However, my inability to fully consume the sandwich’s glory may have had something to do with the enormous plate of cheese fries that preceded it. Blue cheese and provolone cheese fries, broiled to a perfect gooey, crunchy brown and served with strawberry habanero sauce. Blue cheese. Plus melty provolone goodness. Need I say more?
The frappe machine was busted this day, but we’ll be having at the frosty treats next time, because they looked *good*. Those Friendly folks have a way of mixing up crazy flavors in the best of ways.
And just because really good is never enough, our waiter put on my favorite Ramones album of all time and played it in its entirety. Bliss.
(postscript: I can’t speak for the others, but we ate at 2pm, and neither tallasiandude nor i was even remotely hungry at 10pm, when we met a friend for “dinner.” Bloated? Yes I was. But no regrets.)

ooh, and another thing from this past weekend: One of my fellow cabinmates sliced up some of that nasty shelf-stable summer sausage, the kind you often get at xmas from Hickory Farms, and put it on the grill, and it came off dee-licious. It renders some of the fat, I think, and toasts up the edges, giving it a little more texture. Who knew?

While on a rampage at the den of temptation known as the Whole Foods Cheese Department, I acquired a hunk of sheep’s-milk cheese from France: Etorki. It’s just wonderful: it’s creamy, yet nutty and slightly pungent and ever so faintly sheepy. Mild-cheese lovers like it, stinky-cheese lovers like it, and it’s a perfect eating cheese. Good on bread or plain.

went to the boozer just now to fetch some champagne (more on that later) and out of the corner of her eye, littlelee spied a rack of Herr potato chips… and in there we found a new treat: Steak & Worcestershire flavor chips. Oh yes. Yum yum. Full authentic worcestershire flavor, with undertones of meat. Mmmmmm….

Found this stuff at CostCo, and I figured anything organic and on discount was worth a shot. And turns out it rules. It’s delicious in that thin, old-skool red sauce way, hovering somewhere in a hazy area between what an Italian mama makes in Somerville and what you get at the Chateau. Comes in marinara and tomato basil flavors.
I had some Muir Glen sauce around the same time, and I figured that their canned tomatoes are so superior, their sauce would be good too. And it is, but merely good. It was very useful in a veggie lasagne, but I don’t think I’d dig it just over pasta.