Restaurant Widow

Tune into 820am Tomorrow at 11am!!!

I will once again be on All Sides with the lovely Marilyn Smith tomorrow morning (Thanks for inviting me again)! We will be discussing food and restaurants in Columbus along with Rich Terapak and his son Rich Terapak.  If you have anything you'd like us to talk about, please call in (614.292.8513) or send emails! 

If you would like to participate, email and call as close to 11 as possible, because usually people only start calling in at around 11:35 and then we never have time to get to everyone!

Summer in the Widow Household Just Got a Whole Lot Better...

...because we are getting a Big Green Egg!!!

What? you might be saying?  What is a Big Green Egg (hereafter referred to as BGE)?  It's a ceramic grill and smoker which is loved dearly by its devotees.  Here it is, in all of her glory:

 

I worked with a chef a few years ago who had a BGE which he used all the time (and made delicious things like amazing brisket and lamb bacon, and smoked maple syrup); he convinced me it would beat out all other outdoor grilling/smoking/cooking options and ever since I have been hoping and dreaming for a Big Green Egg. 

This Saturday, my dream will come true, thanks to new RW sponsor the Hamilton Parker Company.  If you are interested in seeing a BGE in action, please come join me this Saturday, May 1st at their Columbus (near East side location) from 10am-noon, when Doug the Grillmaster will be cooking up some brisket (mmmm....brisket).

What makes the BGE special is its ability to maintain incredibly consistent temperatures for long periods of time (the general consensus seems to be one can smoke an entire pork shoulder at around 225 degrees without ever opening the egg).  It can heat to temperatures in excess of 800 degrees F, which means I can make really great pizza in it! and sear big steaks!  Because it maintains temperature so well, it also works well as an oven.  And to boot, it uses about 1/6th the amount of lump charcoal as typical charcoal grills, AND, it doesn't require any chimney starters - it's ready in 10 minutes.  (I am most of this on their claims and from talking to some people I know and trust - we'll see how it works!)

So.  I pick up my BGE on Saturday.  Of course I have to work Saturday night so I won't be able to experiment right away, but I'm thinking I'm gonna fire that baby up on Sunday.  No here's the hard part - something hot and quick or long and slow?  Maybe both?  Maybe something hot and fast and then let the temperature fall a bit and put in a pork shoulder.

I will, of course, be documenting this and pretty much every other BGE dinner.  So, what do you think? What would you like me to do first?  Assuming I can score some local asparagus this Saturday at the Farmer's Market, there will definitely be some asparagus on that puppy.

Inaugural 2010 Market Report

 

Cue the birdies chirping. I think it's officially Spring.  We might be a few weeks away from our safe planting date, but the trees have leaves, our jardin potager is back with fennel in force, sage, oregano, and mint, and I heard a rumor that the very first local asparagus spears are arriving in restaurant kitchens.

I wasn't really planning on going to the market this week (I've been enjoying sleeping in, I'll admit it), but at work this week Chef shared a plate of this amazing arugula which Tim from Toad Hill Organics had just brought by the restaurant, and after one taste I knew it was time to start heading back to the market.

I braved the drizzle and headed to the North Market.  It was a light wee - just a bag of arugula, a dozen eggs, and a bunch of chives from Toad Hill.

Husband turned the arugula into a simple salad to go with frozen pizza, and I'll be turning the eggs and chives into a pile of creamy scrambled eggs tomorrow.

Nothing crazy, but isn't it nice to get back to the markets?

Did you venture out?  What did you get this week?

But I Love Saturated Fat...

I guess I'm getting old.  My doctor informed me that I'm at the point of my life when things start falling apart. I always thought I'd be a lot older when the center started not being able to hold, but there you have it. Considering I am also getting to the age when I am the same age as my doctors (when did that happen?! doctors are supposed to be old, and grandfatherly, and have gray hair! They aren't supposed to be young and pretty!), I suppose it's time to start considering the rest of my life. 

It's time to start pondering death.  Trying to avoid certain types of death. Those which can be avoided.

Of course, if Calvin were to be believed, there's really nothing I can do to change my death, because everything has been preordained. I've been spending too much time studying old apologetic philosophies, trying to comprehend modern day religion.

Now as a good post modernist, I know that trying to find meaning is, in itself, a fruitless enterprise, because even if meaning does exist, it doesn't change anything.  The meaning is something we assign and does not intrinsically exist.  Meaning can be found, and negated, anywhere, in anything. Just ask Jackson Pollack fans.

I am in great health, overall, but the subject I've been studiously avoiding is this: I have high cholesterol.  This is kind of tragic news for someone who thinks fish tastes best when it's cooked in lard and that bacon has its very own set of blocks in the food pyramid.  To someone who routinely eats ice cream for breakfast and is flat-out creeped out by the thought of skim milk (don't even bring up soy milk), discovering I have to limit my dairy products is almost worse than being told I have be become a vegetarian.  How can vegans face a future without delicious delicious (full fat) dairy? What is the point of existing?

So my doctor (who is awesome, by the way) sat down with me and my numbers and made a few suggestions.  I had an idea I was in trouble when she asked me how many times a day I eat meat.  Incredulous, I said "I don't even eat meat every day!" Then I started to ponder my dairy intake...

Based upon my triglycerides, my doctor thinks my high cholesterol is a result of diet and not heredity (I'm adopted, and therefore have basically no medical history).  Ergo, no medication and instead, the Mediterranean diet!  My doctor then set about creating a list of foods she swore up and down that even a food snob would love (sprouted grain bread, soy-based ice cream) and promised that fat-free sour "cream" really isn't "that horrible."  Even my beloved yogurt should be fat free!  Don't even get me started on the eggs I won't be eating. Oh, the eggs with bacon and buttered toast...

oh the humanity!!

My doctor told me to keep tight control on my saturated fat intake. Up until now, I haven't really paid any attention.  Turns out, the world is full of saturated fat.  

I suppose the good side to this is that I really do need to lose weight, and certainly following this diet plan will knock off a few pounds.  Also, I do love Mediterranean foods, I love olive oil and vegetables and beans and stuff.  I love seafood, even though it's a little cost-prohibitive to eat more than a once a week (fresh, anyway), and of course, I love red wine (we'll work on curbing alcohol consumption in another post. One thing at a time people!).

My doctor suggested I replace the butter in baked goods with olive oil. I wonder if there are any good recipes for olive oil chocolate chip cookies...

So, is anyone with me? Anything you love to eat that could use a lightening-up? Anyone else trying to limit their saturated fat intake? As we get into spring and summer, now is a great time to start healthy eating.  In a few months we'll be up to our ears in local and delicious fruits and vegetables, and we can plan to put some away for next winter so that we can continue healthy eating all year round.  

Come on, it'll be fun!  I promise!

By the way, I also found out I have a pretty severe Vitamin D deficiency! I thought that was rather strange, but it is apparently very common in women, especially fair-skinned women who tend to avoid the sun or use lots of sun screen.  So get your Vitamin D levels checked kids!! Vitamin D deficiency can lead to all sorts of things, and is thought to be a contributing factor in some cancer development.  Below, please find a picture of the Mediterranean diet pyramid.  Gotta love a pyramid which includes wine...

 

5 Things That Will Convince You to Eat Seasonally, Buying at Farmer's Markets

There are all kinds of reasons to buy seasonally, and locally, and from farmers.  Many people make political arguments, some people get so preachy that even the most devout Locavore wants to sew their mouth shut, some want city dwellers to compost in their 98 square foot apartments, others want you to grow half of your own food - I've even heard radio commercials where fearmongers hawk enough seeds for "a one acre crisis garden." Um, okay.

The truth is, though, that when it comes to food, the number one most important factor is taste. That's it. Taste.  The fact that food tastes better and is better for you the closer it grows to your mouth, that's a bonus.

I was recently talking to a friend who had just returned from visiting friends in Hawaii.  We talked about how amazing the avocados were there, and indeed - as much as I love avocados, I have heard many times that I've never really enjoyed one because I haven't eaten one from a tree (having eaten figs flown here from all over the world versus plucking a ripe one from a tree in Napa Valley, I'm inclined to agree).  It was interesting to hear that my friend's Hawaiian friend had always thought she hated peaches and nectarines until she came here to Ohio and had them fresh from a tree.  It was a revelation.

So it can be if you have never given thought to the origin or seasonality of your produce. It's hard to describe the feeling of tasting something that is perfectly ripe, at the peak of season, during peak weather conditions.  I constantly find myself describing it in the way I talk about Jeni's Ice Creams - it tastes the way you remember things tasting but they never do.  There's an exhilaration to it.  A flawless peach tastes just the way it should, the way you always hope it will.  You can smell it from ten feet away. It's soft and sweet with just a pinch of tartness.  The flesh is smooth and silky, not mushy or mealy. It's juicy - it's so juicy you will be sticky after eating it. It's perfect. It's a perfect peach, just the way it should be.  There's a satisfaction there you just don't get when eating a sad hard peach picked green and shipped halfway around the country.

So. If I haven't convince you yet, here is a list of five of my favorite things to convert everyone to the gospel of eating seasonally.  We are talking specifically here about eating things that are fresh, local, seasonal, and hopefully purchased from the farmer's market. No offense to my beloved marketeers, but my general rule is that the fewer hands that touch my produce, the better.  In the growing season, I rarely, if ever, buy produce anywhere but the farmer's market.

I am not being a snob! This is about taste! And price.  Many of these things are far cheaper from the farmer's market than they are at the grocery store; I'm always out to dispel the rumor that it is more expensive to shop at farmer's markets.

Okay, now. Without further ado. Here's my list. For today, anyway.  I am sure that in a few weeks I'll be thinking about something entirely different.

1. Chives. Those of us who work in restaurants have a tendency to think of chives as an afterthought.  They are something we throw on plates as an afterthought to make a dish look pretty, and that's about it.  But the truth is, chives are amazing.  They really add so much to simple dishes, but only when they are purchased fresher than fresh or grown in one's yard (they're cheap and easy to grow, or at least that's what I've heard. I always manage to kill mine).  Never, under any circumstances, should you purchase chives in the little plastic packets in the produce section.  You are better to go without than get those moldy, overpriced sticks of tastelessness.  Or worse, tasting like a refrigerated truck.  If you must buy them in a grocery store, look for locally-grown chives which are freshly cut, green and perky, and are standing in clean water like flowers.  You will be able to find herbs presented in this manner at our favorites - Hill's, Weiland's, and the Greener Grocer.  And probably Whole Foods as well.  My personal favorite source for amazing chives is Toad Hill Organic Farm.  Farmer Tim Patrick sells them beginning late April through May at the North Market on Saturdays. Chive blossoms are beautiful an pack a delicious punch of flavor, so I love to buy those as well as green chives for chopping (the stalks the flowers grow on are usually a little tough for eating raw).  Chives and chive flowers can be dehydrated and enjoyed throughout the year.  Try sprinkling fresh chives over buttered pasta, scrambled eggs, and baked potatoes.  You'll thank me.
2. Strawberries. Strawberries are tricky.  Because they contain so much water and grow so fast, there can be years when a delicious strawberry simply can't be found.  This is because they drink rainwater, and when you find fresh strawberries after a week of rain, you will get a bloated berry which tastes a little like a strawberry and a lot like drinking out of a birdbath.  Buy strawberries which are deep in color and shiny, after a few days of dry weather or only a very small amount of rain.  Because we get so much rain in springtime here in Ohio, we are very susceptible to getting waterlogged berries.  But when they are good, they are oh so good.  Ripe strawberries should be red all the way through. You should be able to smell them from 10 feet away.  The aroma should stop you in your tracks when you are at the farmer's market.  Size is inconsequential, but keep in mind that if it's been a rainy week and you see plump strawberries at the market, you might get more rainbarrel than strawberry.  Strawberries should be treated as simply as possible - Rinse them lightly and eat immediately.  Because strawberries are delicate and extremely prone to mold, you should buy strawberries as close to the time you plan to eat them as possible. If you can't eat them right away, I would recommend freezing them. But if you must keep them, take them from the basket they are sold in and spread them out on a paper towel and place on a plate or baking sheet in the fridge.  Do not rinse them until you are ready to eat them, and it's always nice to allow them to come to room temperature before enjoying (the flavors will be much stronger).  A teeny tiny pinch of sugar stirred into freshly cut strawberries will help get their juices flowing if you are going to put the berries on some vanilla ice cream or chocolate cake.  I personally think cooked strawberries are an abomination, so if you love your rhubarb with strawberries, cook the rhubarb and pair it with fresh strawberries.
3. Eggs. There is nothing like a farm fresh egg.  Especially a duck egg, but really any egg will do.  Do yourself a favor and buy yourself some pastured eggs from 2Silos (available at some local groceries and the Clintonville Market), or Raven Rocks (simply divine eggs at the Worthington Farmer's Market, SW corner).  Make a fried egg and sprinkle it with some salt (and maybe some of those yummy chives you just bought!) and enjoy.  You might never look at eggs the same way again.  Fresh eggs from pastured chickens are more than just eggs.  They are worth every milligram of saturated fat.  (sorry, doc)  Farm-fresh eggs are more expensive than store-bought, so if you can't afford to convert completely, spring for farm eggs for breakfast and use mass-produced for baking, when you won't be able to taste the difference quite as much.  Another great thing about eggs is their ability to last for weeks on end.  When you buy them from the farmer, you know when the eggs were harvested, and know that you have at least 4 weeks to enjoy them.  Eggs last for a really, really long time, and can be used for baking far after that float test (supposedly, a "bad" egg floats).  In reality, the floating eggs are just dehydrated, not bad or rotten. Believe me, if an egg is truly bad, you will know the second you crack it.  And you will remember it for a long, long time to come.
4. Delicate leafy greens especially leaf lettuce, bitter greens and "spring mix." Buy some, wash them, dry them and place in bowl.  Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Eat.  Favorite sources for these things are Toad Hill, Wayward Seed, and especially Elizabeth Telling - she always has tons of greens and bags of "wild things," such as delicious purslane.
5. Peas. If you think you hate peas, try some very, very fresh peas.  I've talked about this before, so I won't go into ad nauseum detail, but peas have a very high sugar content.  The second they are picked, they begin converting the yummy sugar into tasteless starch in an effort to stay alive.  You want them with as much sugar as possible.  Buy your peas and, if you can't eat them immediately, place them in the freezer, which will stall the sugar to starch process.  Boil them until tender (the amount of time this takes varies wildly depending on the size of the pea), usually about 12 minutes if they are on the larger side, then drain and melt a little butter over top.  Season with salt and pepper and if you still hate peas, well then, you can come back and yell at me.
6. Bonus - Pea Tendrils.  While I was writing about peas, I started thinking about pea shots and pea tendrils.  Pea tendrils are one of those things that you can really only experience if you grow them yourselves or shop at farmer's markets.  Even still, they are rarely sold and hard to find, and snapped up early by those in the know.  Pea tendrils are lovely to look at and taste exactly like Spring.  They really only have a hint of pea flavor, and then it's just the sweet greenness.  The tendrils don't have to be cooked and provide a delightful crunch in salads.  Treat just as you would delicate leafy greens - drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. 

Recipes...

Baked Potatoes with Fresh Chive Blossoms.

Salmon with Fresh Baby Spring Greens.

Omelet with Shitakes, Chives, and Goat Cheese.

Scrambled Eggs with Lamb Chorizo and Chive Blossoms.

Salmon with Pea Tendril Salad.

 

Signs of Spring::Morels

 

My first tasting of morels this spring, from the Hill's Market - simply beautiful.
 

Morels have been spotted at both Weiland's and the Hills Market. I am sure they can also be found at the Greener Grocer in the North Market.

So, let's talk about these ephemeral treats. (links to recipes can be found at the bottom of the post)

Morels are the king of the mushroom world. Morels are to the vegetarian world as pork belly is to meat.  The crème de la crème of flavor and delight.  Because morels are extremely finicky and resist efforts to be cultivated, they are typically foraged and are very expensive.  But don't let the price per pound trick you; 1/4 a pound will set you back about $8 in the current market, and will be enough to make a nice little sauté for two.

We haven't quite started morel season here in Ohio, so the current morels are most likely being sourced from West Virginia; I am guessing we will see them here in the next week or ten days. Hopefully warm, wet weather recently will make this a banner year for morels. If my first morel purchase was any indication, this might even rival the epic 2003 season.  Wow, that was a great year.

At any rate, my recommendation with morels is to prepare them as simply as possible. They are so incredibly delicious, they really don't need any gussying up.  Don't combine them with other mushrooms, don't put them in stews, don''t oversalt or overpepper them. We like to simply slice them lengthwise and sauté  them in a little butter (okay, a decent amount of butter, browned slightly for extra tastiness) and a tiny pinch of salt.

Morels have lots of little crevices in which critters and crawlies love to hide.  If you don't mind eating worms and larvae and bugs and spiders and the occasional pieces of dirt and sand, then by all means, put them directly into the pan.  But if you're like me, you will rinse them obsessively until the water is free of living organisms. 

I like to place the morels in a sieve in a bowl (or a nestling bowl/strainer like a rice-rinsing bowl).  Soak for a few minutes in cold water, then strain and repeat.  Then cut the morels in half lengthwise; soak for 30 seconds, strain, and repeat until there are no more worms in the water.  

Sauté the mushrooms in a little bit of butter for about 3-4 minutes.  Morels are particularly suited to being served on scrambled eggs, meat, and fish.  I also like them with asparagus, plain pasta with a pinch of pepper and maybe cream, and on toast.  And of course, I love eating them right out of the pan.

A few of my favorite things to do with morels....

Morels & Monkfish Cheeks on Toast.
The Ultimate Spring Lunch.

Yay!!!

I just wanted to let everyone kniwnthat Husband won the regional Top|Somm competition!!!! We will be going to Napa to compete in the Nationals in August!!

Congratulations Babe!! I knew you could do it.

Xoxoxoxo

Good Luck Husband!

Well. Husband and I are in Chicago (where the weather is lovely, by the by) for the Top|Somm competition). Even as I sit here, drinking a Vinyl Lager with my lunch at The Gage, looking out over the Lake, Husband is sweating through the proper service if giant bottles of Champagne and reciting the generally declared Port vintages of the 1900s.

Good luck Babe. At first I was praying you'd do well, but screw that. You've worked nonstop. I really hope you win. Help put our poor little neglected - but awesome - city in the map.

I will of course keep everyone posted; his status should be evidenced by wherever we are having dinner. Avec = good. Arby's on the way out of town, well...

today, Restaurant Widow is 5.

It's hard to believe it's already been 5 years. thanks for sticking with me!

April Fools....

So, yesterday's post was an April Fool's joke.  Most of you clicked through, but I have received lots of congratulations.  Maybe the Dispatch should consider my idea...

At any rate, I apologize if I "got" you too good - don't be mad!  And thanks to everyone who congratulated me, an did happy dances for me, even if you then emailed to curse me when you realized it was a joke.

I really am working on a super cool second job, but it's not for the Dispatch.  Now back to our regularly scheduled posting.

xoxoxo