Tag Archives: bread

Over-the-Humpday Challenge: Luck of the Irish

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St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. carries a lot of connotations. Green, shamrocks, beer, leprechauns, pots of gold, beer, luck, rainbows…did I mention beer?

I’m not a fan of beer. I’m a bread gal, through and through. And what better time of year to try your hand at making Irish Soda Bread?

Answer: none. Roll up those sleeves and preheat that oven people. We’re goin’ green – and for once, I’m not talking about the environment.

 

This is the first recipe I’ve made from the big yellow food bible, also know as The Gourmet Cookbook.

After hours of online research in a quest for the ideal soda bread recipe, it finally hit me: go to Gourmet. You can’t go wrong there. True story. They have not one, but two recipes for this particular kind of bread – I went with the Irish Brown Soda Bread. Love me some whole grain action!

Irish Brown Soda Bread (ever-so-slightly adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. oats (not instant – but I don’t have to tell you that, right? ;)

1/4 c. toasted wheat germ

1 tsp. sea salt (scant tsp. unless using table salt)

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 stick or 4 T. cold unsalted butter

1 1/3 c. buttermilk

If your wheat germ needs toasting:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Spread 1/4 c. wheat germ on a silpat or baking sheet (it shouldn’t stick much, so don’t worry about greasing the pan yet) and stick it in for about 2 1/2 – 5 minutes, depending on the intensity of your oven. Mine, for example, is a beast and in 3 minutes my wheat germ was a little well-done. Moral of the story: watch your wheat germ.

On to the good stuff:

Now preheat your oven to 425 F.

Cut the butter into bits and set aside or back in the fridge – you want it cold. Ireland-in-January-cold.

Get all the dry ingredients mingling together in a large bowl and whisk it all together.

Throw in the butter bits and toss the mix around to coat – don’t get too intense about this. We’re talking seconds here.

Ok, now you want to work the butter into the mix with your fingertips. You can use a pastry blender too, but if you actually have a pastry blender, I probably didn’t even need to tell you that.

Anyway, you want to get the mix to look like a “coarse meal.” I’ve never done this before, so I was a little anxious. Don’t worry – it’s pretty hard to eff-up butter. You basically want to massage the butter into the dough. It takes a bit of elbow grease, and if your counters/working space is a little on the high side, you may want to do this at a table that is hip-height. Or just flex your marching band backstep muscles and stand on your toes like me.

Now measure out your buttermilk and stir it in. I started with a spoon and switched to my hands after a while – sometimes messier = easier.

 

At this point, your dough [and hands] will be quite sticky and dare I say, gloppy. That’s ok! Just make sure you have floured the heck out of your work surface – and keep that flour canister handy. Knead the dough for about a minute and try not to get frustrated with its stickiness. This might be the most difficult step of the entire recipe. I promise you the result is worth it!

Your oven should be ready and rarin’ to go! Plop that dough on a silpat/greased/lined & floured baking sheet and form it into a 7-inch-wide round. Use a knife to mark a shallow X in the top.

It’s completely acceptable to pretend you are Zorro when you make the X. [Xorro?]

Now bake that dough-baby for 30-40 minutes or more – it should sound hollow when you tap the bottom. It took my loaf a looooong time to get close to that, probably closer to an hour, and I even think I took it out a little early. But I’m a big fan of doughy bread, so I had no problem with this. Personal choice.

Sit it on a rack – not a sheet or cutting board because the bottom will get soggy (yes, I did learn that the hard way) – and let it cool for about 2 hours before cutting it. That’s what the directions told me, anyway, although I don’t think the world would stop spinning if you cut into a little early.

Holy Saint Patrick, this bread is SO GOOD. It tastes incredible – crusty, dense, doughy, with the subtlest hint of sweetness from the buttermilk. I just had it plain today because I think fresh bread is best eaten naked, but I’m pretty sure this is going to make some epic toast and grilled cheeses in the incredibly near future. And it didn’t take that long to make – we’re talking half an hour prep time tops.

Mission: Irish Soda Bread Accomplished. Move over, Guinness. This is officially the best way to celebrate this holiday. Ever.

Oh, and about the luck? Tonight I also poached first egg ever with great success, and created a pretty awesome roasted chickpea recipe off the top of my head in minutes. This bread is better than pot of gold any day.

I know what you’re thinking – that stupid leftover buttermilk. Stay tuned, my friends. I’ve got you covered.

A Few of My Favorite Things

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Sometimes, the world appears to be caving in. When you feel like you are watching helplessly as lives are destroyed by natural disasters and heartless dictators, I find that it can help to turn to what you love. Because when the big things make you cry, you have to find the little things that make you smile.

Like a crusty and perfectly golden piece of baguette.

 

Juicy red plums. As tasty as they are pretty.

 

My long tea spoon that I [not-so] secretly stole from home. I use it multiple times a day. It’s perfect for eating oats, yogurt, nutella, and everything in between.

 

The vino-themed kitchen towels I found on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond. Affordable, adorable, and amazingly wine-stain-free. So far.

 

Warm spring breezes, new flowers, and extra sunlight.

 

What makes you smile?


 

That Darn Swing and the Return of OTHdC

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It’s official. My “to-do today” list is 9 items long, I’ve had to fit in 2 short-notice meetings today, and I made lunch while talking on the phone and checking my email. The semester is, without a doubt, back in full-swing.

Really, it’s a good thing. I need to-do lists – they make me feel efficient – and I like have a variety of things to do. Too much free time is dangerous for me; I get into ruts and am easily frustrated.

That is, at least, what I keep telling myself.

I’d really like to say that I’m an old pro. That balancing school, 3 jobs and 2 blogs is a cinch for a near-compulsive organizer like me and just a matter of having the right day planner. But I would be lying, and that’s just lame. In all acutality, I live via the post-it note on my computer that lists everything I need to do just today, and I generally drink lots of tea and spend some quality time with Tastespotting. PS – Cookie-dough stuffed cupcakes. I can’t make this stuff up. Already on my devo fare list. (That’s “I must make” in Italian.)

As a general rule, I write things like little notes and my grocery list in Italian. Mostly to keep it in my head. Well, that….and I’m really just a huge geek.

BUT – this is a food blog, not an I-need-to-whine-about-growing-up blog, so let’s get to it.

For those of you who followed my previous blog, I started a Wednesday post called Over-the-HumpDay Challenge. I’d pick a recipe or certain goal for the day and report back. Recipes are probably the most fun :) SO, today, I had every intention of bringing that back while making use of the buttermilk left in the fridge from these lovely cupcakes.

With images of warm and flaky buttermilk biscuits danced in my head, I opened the fridge…and saw this:

Now, I realize that buttermilk has some staying power, but I draw the line at 10 days. One sniff and my mind was made up: mission aborted.

So I made some tea and went back to reading about food in Florence post-WWII. It’s for class, I swear! A class I designed myself actually, syllabus and all, about the role food plays in the lives of women of the Mediterranean region in the 20th century. Man, I love going to a liberal arts college. More on that later.

And as a fresh wave of homemade tomato sauce and thick crusty bread flooded my brain, a new challenge came to mind:

Anchovies.

Now, don’t judge. It took going to Florence and finding the best sandwich shop in the whole world (ignoring the fact that I have not been to every sandwich shop in the whole word, that is not an exaggeration) to get me to fall in love with these salty little slivers of goodness.

Anchovies + herbs + pecorino + schiacciata = true sandwich love.

I like to think of anchovies like bacon. I could eat it by itself, but it’s so much better when it’s used for flavor. I looked at the use-by date and was all the more inspired – I will NOT be foiled by expiration dates twice in one day!!! I also had the end of a bag of frozen brussel sprouts and some arugula that was begging to be eaten quickly, and was seriously craving some olive oil. And thus, dinner was born.

I chopped up about half of the tin of fishies small and a clove of garlic after blanching the frozen sprouts. Blanching is just a fancy word for plunging (yes, plunging) uncooked veggies into boiling water and cooking it for about ONE minute. They turn a really vibrant green color, and they are easy to cut in half after.

I mixed everything together in a bowl and doused it with salt and pepper, herbs (rosemary-oregano-sage-basil-parsley) and olive oil. I was craving olive oil after reading about Florentine diet & culture. Normal? Probably not. But that’s how I roll.

I broiled this mix for, um, 10 minutes? on high. I don’t know, I just kind of watched it until it started to brown a bit. While I waited, I tossed some arugula (my FAVORITE green!) in a little balsamic and sea salt in the same bowl I used to mix the veggies & fishies. Out of the broiler, onto the arugula and top with some parmigiana.

Dinner.

Don’t forget the bread!

This was delicious! I love when my meals are successful. There’s nothin like that feeling, right?

Mission Use-Up-Anchovies: Accomplished.

I guess those biscuits will just have to wait…

Product Review: Nature’s Pride bread

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As a member of Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program, I occasionally receive an offer to try new products and review them right here, on home sweet blog. I have two lovely loafs just begging to be written about from Nature’s Pride Oven Classics line of sliced bread – Oatmeal, and Whole Wheat.
You don’t have to have read much of this blog to know that when it comes to bread, I am obsessed addicted a real enthusiast. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to try a brand I’ve never had before – let’s see if there really is something better invented since sliced bread!
[Leave me and my insistence on using cheesy adages alone pleasekthanksbye.]
Oh bread. How I do love you.
Especially when covered in dark chocolate almond butter and smashed banana.
But this post is not about toppings – let’s face it, what are nut butters for without a vehicle upon which to put them?

Enter: bread.
This bread.

Nature’s Pride Oven Classics

I tried the Oatmeal bread first, mostly because it was all white and fluffy and shares a name with one of my favorite breakfast foods ever.
Appearances were not deceiving.
Dark chocolate almond butter (addict? who, me?) + raspberry jam.
This combination might not have been as good, however, if not for the soft, honey-sweet bread beneath it. While I usually don’t like white bread – the crust always tastes weird to me compared to the white part – this made a mean pb &j. And no high fructose corn syrup to boot? Win.

I really liked the Whole Wheat.

Yes, that’s right – enough to eat it plain. (So I eat plain bread. If that’s weird, I don’t wanna be normal.)
It had that nostalgic, homey taste – like, “this is what mom packed in my lunch every day” homey. It really had a nice flavor, not just blah dry wheatness. Now, I have had plenty of other good-tasting wheat breads – they’re kind of hard to avoid nowadays – but what I love about this is that it has no HFCS involved. Seriously, get your creepy overprocessed crap out of my bread. Major props to Nature’s Pride for keepin’ it real. Or natural, as it were.

I will admit, I am not a huge fan of sliced bread. Tasty as it can be, it still has an overprocessed feel to it. Bread is so easy to make and it always tastes better when it’s fresh and, um, not found in plastic bags. BUT – and that’s a big but (teehee) – I am the first to recognize that not everyone, myself included, has the time/ability/patience/etc to make their own bread or buy the fresher stuff, and sliced bread is just so convenient. I love seeing products like Nature’s Pride stuff that aims to keep it natural and without the preservatives, fillers, and words with more syllables than should be allowed in any language in the ingredient list. This is not just a crunchy-granola-head-organic-eating-locavore rant – this is based on my own experience. I not only enjoy bread more without all the icky stuff, but I feel better physically. And that’s where I stand :)

As much as I miss my dearly beloved bakery and constant access to fresh bread in Florence…

Yum.
….maybe that’s a memory to keep in Florence. Corner bakeries aren’t exactly a cornerstone of American culture, and I think that’s an important thing to acknowledge. I talk a whole lot about how much I love & miss Italian culture and the lifestyle there, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to impose that culture on my own country, which has its own interesting culture and foods and peoples. It’s so easy to go abroad and look down on your own country for what they don’t have – but for me, I’ve realized that there is no ‘better’ or ‘worse’, just different. That’s why studying abroad is so important – you gain that respect and understanding not just for other cultures, but for your own. That’s pretty important too.

America, land of sliced bread? Well, yes. But we’ve got some darn good sliced bread.

~Namaste~

On The Road Again

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I completely forgot to mention that as of Wednesday, mia mama and I hit the road. We are driving to Georgia, were most of my material life is residing all packed away in boxes at my grandparents’ house. On Sunday, we’re driving up to South Carolina to move me in! I’m SO excited to reunite with all my friends – haven’t seen them since December!
That said, it will be a bit more difficult to blog for the next few days. 
BUT, I went and missed yesterday’s Over-the-Humpday Challenge, and feel the need to make up for it…with a restaurant review!
Mom & I rolled into Charlotte after a very long day of driving. We were hungry, exhausted, and just wanted a nice, rejuvenating sit-down dinner. Charlotte did not let us down.
At the concierge’s recommendation, we walked down the corner from the hotel to LaVecchia’s, a seafood/steak restaurant.
[The pictures aren't super clear; in LuLu's defense, the lighting was not exactly food-blogger friendly.]
They had really funky decor – I love it when restaurants use the industrial look of the space to their advantage. I think it looks really modern & fun!
Lots & lots of metal fishies hanging from the ceiling. As true fish-lovers, we took this as a good sign.
Things only got better from there:
Bread baskets just make me happy. This arrived warm with a light but doughy interior and a perfectly crispy crust. Never mind the basket – bread alone is enough to make me grin like an idiot. I had 2.5 pieces, and I’m not ashamed to say it.
Mom ordered a salad as an appetizer:
Arugula with beets, blue cheese, and candied walnuts in a lemon-y dressing. It was delicious – she all but licked her plate! I helped her out a little ;) Although it would have been better with goat cheese…but I’m getting to that.
For dinner, I ordered exactly what I was craving: a big bowl of spinach.
Well, alright. Spinach with goat cheese, caramelized onions, tomatoes, pancetta & spicy grilled shrimp. The shrimp was actually a little too hot for me, but I’m a big fat baby when it comes to hot-spicy. I’m also a big fan of shrimp, so I still ate every single bite.
I was not expecting the pancetta – I don’t think the menu mentioned it – but much to my surprise, it was perfect on this salad! I’m not much of  bacon person at all and since basically giving up red meat, I haven’t really had it in years – and when I have, I always remember why I don’t like it. But on this salad….holy pork.  (I think it was pancetta because it both looked & tasted more like it than bacon, but I could be wrong.) It was diced into teeny tiny pieces and was absolutely drool-worthy when combined with the caramelized onions. It totally had that sweet-salty thing going on. I am a little in love with this salad, actually. Spinach + goat cheese is one of those to-live-for combos in my book. If you haven’t tried it, please do. You can thank me later ;)
Mom’s entree was beautiful, in more ways than one!
Almond-crusted tilapia with blue crab beurre blanc and mashed potatoes over roasted corn, baby asparagus and red peppers.
It was in a cute little edible tower with the veggies hidden on the bottom, the taters, the crab, and the fish on top.
Ok, I was one of those kids who ate everything on her plate separately and freaked.out if one section of my plate touched another. Woe to anyone within ear range if my baby carrots began mingling with the ketchup for my hot dog. Thus, I was a bit skeptical about this stacking situation currently going on on my mother’s plate. 
But damn if it didn’t meld perfectly! I would never have put mashed potatoes with tilapia, but they actually complemented each other quite well. It definitely helped that the fish was super fresh and delicious. The crab beurre blanc…well, put it this way: I only got one bite. The vegetables underneath also went well with the potatoes (which weren’t in and of themselves amazing per se, but they tasted like my mom’s mashed potatoes, and there is certainly something to be said for keeping it simple and comforting!). It was just a great dish overall.
I will add that my mom ordered 3 different white wines, all of which were rather disappointing. But it’s hard to tell if that was just due to bad luck on her part or something else. Either way, the food made up for it.
And of course, I can’t not have some form of dessert. It’s simply a must.
Yep. Definitely a must.
That is mango sorbet – and downright delicious at that. I think sorbet is actually the perfect summer dessert. It’s cold, light, and refreshing, and satisfies a sweet tooth without causing that pushing over the edge into too-stuffed-to-move land. Although it didn’t have a smooth and creamy texture like, say, a certain gelato place, I could definitely taste how fresh the mango was and I think that’s more important anyway. It was exactly what I wanted. Don’t you love it when that happens?!
A lovely meal in a lovely city.
Now that is delicious.
~Namaste~

Barrific

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A food blogger walks into a bar…and reviews it! Bahahahaha…..alright, all done.

Reviews, anyone?

Let’s start with Odwalla! They were recently on sale at Whole Foods, and, um, I had fun. What can I say, I see those yellow-and-red sale tags and all but jump for joy! Yes, this is what grocery shopping does to me. Totally normal.

This kind of reminded me of a cross between a Nutrigrain bar and a Fig Newton. Had that dense, datey feel with that vague berryness in NGs. I found it pretty boring, unfortunately. The whole berries were nice, it had a decent texture, but…meh. Not bad, just nothing special.
NEXT.
Another letdown. I made my brother try some too, for a second opinion. He took two bites and looked at me with a “why do you do these things to me” expression. I wasn’t exactly excited. This would actually be a great, cookie-like treat if the first and most prevalent flavor is dates. It’s one thing to sell a date bar and advertise it as such, quite another to name something “chocolate chip peanut”, one of the best combos ever, only for those flavors to be the least obvious. The few chocolate chips thrown in helped, but not enough. 

Now this is one tasty bar. The banana nut flavors are spot on and it tastes like a particularly good and chewy piece of banana bread. I loved every bite – even more so than the Larabar version! Yum!

Speaking of Lara…

Ok, I will start out by saying that I do NOT like coconut. Why, you ask, did I buy this? Well, I’ve found that in Larabars I actually can appreciate the flavor, and I figured with chocolate thrown in, how bad can it be! (The coconut cream pie is one of my favorite flavors!) But this was…sad. It was neither chocolatey nor coconutty, just some vague middle ground between the two that was lacking in any distinct flavor at all. Maybe I just got a bad one? Oh well. 
This is the Lara I know and love. Very cinnamony and the dates added a light, fruity flavor. Plus the added texture of the nuts, this is a great bar! Came just in time too; couldn’t have made it through the last 2.5 hours of my shift without it!
Clif bars are another favorite of mine to take to work. After 3 hours of nonstop movement, I definitely feel the need for some protein.
*Sigh* Let down again. This had a really weirdy soapy(??) taste to it that I could not get over! It wasn’t very peanutty or toffee-y, just sweet and blah. But it gets points for looking pretty.
This I liked very, very much! It wasn’t too sweet and those 3 fruits came out really well and meshed well too, to my relief and surprise. Most of the Clifs are waaaay too heavy on the brown rice syrup even for my sweet teeth, but this was really well balanced.
As was this guy:
This is probably my fave Clif so far. Just like a gooey peanut butter treat with crunchy chopped peanuts – perfect. I definitely recommend this to peanut butter lovers!
I know, this is a LOT of bars! They’ve been filling my camera since the road trip and I’m just now getting around to all of ‘em, oof! I would like to throw out my personal opinion (although I probably already have) on bars: I don’t like using them as meal replacements, and unless cirsumstances are unusual, won’t eat more than 1 a day. I have always had problems with hypoglycemia and for me, they are a great and easy way to raise my blood sugar quickly when I need it (you do NOT want to be around hungry Gillian. It aint pretty.) I also discovered that when working in the coffee house when I usually get about 3 minutes to chomp something down during a 5 or 6 hour shift while making coffee and generally running around, there is nothing quite as easy to eat as these. That said, I do prefer to snack (and eat meals) on whole “real” foods, mostly because I find them more filling and my body functions better with them. I am not defending myself or anything here, I just wanted it to be known that I do not live off 4 Larabars a day, nor do I recommend it. I like Michael Pollan’s saying a lot” “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” Word.
As for real food, there’s been aplenty of that going on as well:
Supercharge Me cookies. I’m determined to maintain a constant supply. They make the best pre-yoga snack. Ever.
Oh, and they are super DUPER if you add cardamom and nutmeg along with the cinnamon. Trust me.
Fresh bread! Nothing like it. 
WAAH I miss my little Italian bakery on the way home to the apartment!!!
Sorry. Random nostalgic moment done.
Fage, raw oats, blueberries, peach and cinnamon. Happiness in a bowl.
Cream of wheat with blueberries cooked in, swirled with applesauce. Yes, I love the taste…but look how pretty!
As for that preview? Pasta Alla Norma! My aunt & uncle were in town last week and I decided it was the perfect occasion to attempt to recreate one of my favorite dishes from my cooking class this past semester. I’ll  admit, it wasn’t as good…although I have a feeling that fact that I was in Italy made it a little better…but it was still a delicious plate of pasta!
1. Buy fresh pasta. It makes a difference. And start your water boiling now – it takes freakin forever to get there.
2. Start your sauce: heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan with some chopped garlic and half a chopped onion (or one small). When the onion becomes translucent, add in 3 cans diced tomatoes, give it a stir, cover and let it cook. Just keep an eye on it and cook it low; if I don’t burn it, I promise you won’t!
3. Get a big ole eggplant (or 3ish small ones) and cut it into rounds, pretty thin. Dust both sides of all of them with some flour – this will keep the oil from completely saturating the eggplant when it goes in the pan and leaving them crispy.
4. Heat up some more olive oil in a pan and start throwing the eggplants in. I gave them about half a monute or so, flipped them over, then put them on paper towels to drain and blotted the tops lightly with another towel. [Fyi, I didn't actually make these in my class - I worked on a different dish that day - so I was going with what I remembered seeing others do. Worked for me!]
5. Your water has GOT to be boiling by now, right? Good. Throw in the pasta and check it in 3 minutes – fresh cooks faster than dried. No one likes soggy pasta! Al dente just tastes better and will hold up the dish better.
To plate, toss the pasta in your wonderfully fresh-tasting tomato sauce. Top with the eggplants rounds, then with some basil, then with some parmesan or grana padano. 
Mangia bene!

~Namaste~

Restaurant Review: Sagra

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Thank goodness I have a family who can eat Italian food any day of the week.
Tonight, we decided to try out a brand new restaurant tht’s just opened up in my town (Dedham, Mass): Sagra.
[For anyone who lives farther away in Mass, there is another one in Somerville!]
Now, not gonna lie, part of the reason we went was so I could look into job opportunities – I want so badly to work in an Italian restaurant! If nothing else, to talk to patrons and use all my food-talk to explain the wonderful dishes. And wonderful they are!
No good Italian restaurant lets a table be without bread.
This was goooood. Garlic bread, light on the garlic. I actually liked that – it makes it more versatile, so anyone opposed to having garlic-breath (or just someone on a date) won’t have to worry. It was very much like focaccia, although the texture seemed a little denser to me than usual. Maybe it’s just their way of preparing though. The beauty of bread is that the same 4 ingredients can make SO many different things!
Oh, and also, that it goes with cheese.
This is not just any cheese. This is ricotta spiked with parsley and orange zest in a ring of olive oil. The olive oil was very light in flavor, which I didn’t totally dig, but this ricotta was pretty incredible. The orange and parlsey combo gave it such a wonderful, fresh flavor! It meshed really well with the creaminess of the cheese. Forget cream cheese – I will have this on a bagel, please!
To start, we ordered my absolute favorite – bruschetta tradizionale. I have been craving it lately – honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t made it sooner myself! Bread + olive oil + fresh veggies. Hard to go wrong.
And Sagra’s was no exception. I loved the grilled bread, and the added arugula underneath (I always eat the garnish!). Could have used a little basil, but that’s my only issue. I love the funky-shaped plate it came on, too! At this point, I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t have any room for my dinner…
But I can generally make room. Especially when goat cheese is involved.
I was feeling some greens, so I ordered the Spinaci Caprino salad – spinach, radicchio, goat cheese, Turkish apricots in a raspberry vinaigrette. I added grilled shrimp to it, because…well, it’s shrimp. That’s just a given.
This made so happy. Unlike SO many restaurants, the amount of dressing was perfect – enough to taste it and, well, dress the salad, but not so much that it was overwhelming [or caused soggy spinach....serious pet peeve of mine.]. The goat cheese was good goat cheese, and the sweetness of the apricots and raspberry complemented the bitter radicchio very well. It was massive, but I ate most of it :)

My mom ordered a verdi misti (mixed greens salad) to start [she needs her greens too]:
A truly excellent simple salad. The dressing was just a balsamic + oil, also very well proportioned. And the best part was the addition of fennel! LOVED it. Really added a nice crunch and fresh flavor (yup, I stole several bites ;) .
Her entree was too pretty not to show off:
The special risotto: Golden Beet risotto
The risotto was very well done, with a very strong parmesan flavor – very much like mac & cheese with rice instead of pasta. You couldn’t really taste the regular beets – but you sure can see them! That yellow thing would be a bog ole roasted golden beet – and it was de-LISH. We’ve already decided to look for it at the Farmer’s Market (which opens next week – I’m.SO.excited.). It was a little sweet, with a nice smokey flavor from the roasting, and went so well with the strong cheese flavor and rich creaminess. On top are “hen of the woods” mushrooms – I’d never heard of that type of mushroom before, but they sure were tasty! I just love that deep, earthy tasty of mushrooms. Again, a perfect addition to this dish. A little fresh parsley and black pepper, and my mom was quite content. As was I to steal a bite or three.
My brother got a rigatoni pasta dish with broccoli rabe (which I always forget how much I like, but I do!), red peppers, and sausage. He was unimpressed, but I loved it – took my right back to Florence. AND, our waitress studied abroad in Rome when she was an undergrad and, well, I get really excited when I meet someone who’s had a similarly amazing experience in Italy. We bonded over mutual loves of Nutella.
Speaking of Nutella….
Nutella Bread Pudding. Boom.
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t as hazelnutty as just straight chocolatey, but that did not stop me from helping my brother polish the plate clean. This was lick-the-plate good (I refrained…but it wasn’t easy.). Although I have one teeny tiny criticism – that white scoop was supposedly “hazelnut semifreddo,” but it was really gelato/ice cream. Semifreddo is much more mousse-like, light and airy. It was definitely hazelnit though – it had big chunks of what tasted like caramelized hazelnuts in it and was heaven on a spoon. As was most of this. Cakey, chocolate, melty, moist…if you go and just get this, that would be acceptable. My cooking professor always told us that you judge a restaurant by its desserts – and in this case, Sagra gets a big fat 4 stars.
Why have I never made bread pudding before? Hell if I know, but I think it’s high time that changed. Mission: Bread Pudding is ON.
~Namaste~

For the Love of Anchovies and Flowers

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Oy. I have been thinking about changing the blog layout…and after 4 hours of clicking, copy-and-pasting, and tearing my hair out, I think I give up. Too…many…choices….
I didn’t end up having to babysit this AM, so I went back to bed and made AM turn into PM! Does anyone else get a lot of crap from other people about sleeping late? Somedays it seems like everyone’s favorite joke is how late Gillian sleeps and I gotta say, it gets old. I am perfectly aware it is because I stay up late, but that is simply because I am most productive from about midnight on. Always have been, too. I think it’s something about the total quiet and solitude that just frees up a certain part of my brain and lets me think more clearly.
I’m so excited to hear from those of you thinking of/going to Italy to study abroad!!!! Italy is just a magical, wonderful place. DisneyWorld ain’t got nothin on Tuscany. If any of you have any questions or concerns about it – or just want some sweet restaurant tips – please email me! It literally makes me giddy when people tell me they are going to Italy now. I’m ready to go back, like, right now.
Recently, I have been trying every fun flavor of Stonyfield Farms yogurt I can get my hands on. It may or may not be a coincidence that this week they were 2 for $1 at Whole Foods. So, on with yogurt week!
This morning included:
The likes: Very creamy, not fruit-on-the-bottom. For lemon yogurt fans, you can’t go wrong with this. And it tasted sooo good this hot & humid morning!
The not-so-much: Kind of had a weird aftertaste after I finished it. Can’t really relate it to anything, maybe I was just thirsty. Other than that – YUM!
Next up:
Maple Vanilla!!! 
The likes: Very creamy, and the flavors were definitely there. Would be ca-razy good on pancakes!
The not-so-much: Had an odd tang that didn’t so much appeal to me. Also, this is a limited edition “seasonal” flavor – what is summery about maple-vanilla? Hell if I know. My real problem with that is it means it will go away – this should clearly be kept on year-round!
And finally, my addiction continues:
Yes, another Pomegranate Berry.
The likes: No fruit on the bottom, yet the flavor was not fake at all. Probably because none of the ingredients are…imagine that!
The not-so-much: The berry flavor is, well, just that – vaguely berry-like. I wish it was blueberry pomegranate; that is one of the most genius fruit combos ever. That’s pretty much my only problem :)
Breakfast this morning also included this beauty:
Blushing!
And this guy (too hot for toast or oats and I was too lazy to whip out the blender):
Odwalla’s Superfood bar
Yes, it is green! It contains spirulina, a blue-green algae with a whole bunch of good whole food benefits. It has a very…interesting flavor. I go through the same cycle every time I eat it: I hate it, then like it, then end very confused. It has this weird stick-in-the-back-of-your-mouth thing that I find it hard to get over, but the flavor is very complex and earthy kind of like green tea, which I like. [Hence the confusion.] This bar was nothing if not complex. Every bite was a different flavor – from dates, to banana, to raisins. And that is what the bar claimed its flavor profile was, so I guess mission accomplished? It also had little bits of little rice crispies that added a nice crunch for texture variety. Would I buy it again? Honestly, I have no idea. It’s the type of thing I would never buy, but could get a random craving for and nothing else would do. Ya know?
I dragged my brother out to walk the dog with me – mostly because I wanted to take pictures, and as I discovered last time, that’s not so easy to do when you are on the other side of a leash from a very eager, excited dog.
For once, I was off pick-up patrol!

Tell me these are not the coolest flowers ever?!!! The colors are like crayons!


Flowers = the non-edible fruits of summer.
We came back just in time for dinner – Friday=Pizza night! I was pretty excited for this:
Broccoli + Anchovies. Italy changes a girl. At the very least her tastebuds! The broc worked really well with the anchovies, too – earthy matched with salty, and the mozzarella added just the right sweetness. Oh anchovies, where have you been all my life?
Dessert was one of Bertucci’s (Italian/pizza classy chain in New England – their pizza is exactly what I had in Italy. Che buono!) rolls. They are famous for their complementary dinner rolls, and once you taste one, you know why.
Doughy and delicious. I eat them plain – they don’t need anything.
Dessert also included this:
A Raspberry “Sherbetter” Bar!
It’s a little too “milky” tasting for me, but the texture and creamy flavor is enough to overcome that little detail. I’m way more of a sorbet fan than sherbet (the milk thing again), but this is really quite tasty! I will enjoy the rest of the box, but not really sure I’d buy it again unless I was craving it in particular.
This is a pretty exciting weekend for me…but you’ll just have to wait to see why! Here’s a hint: I’ve been brainstorming new names….
~Namaste~

Restaurant Review: Gran Gusto

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What to do when you’ve just returned from a semester in Florence and are itching to go right back?
Go to one of the best Italian restaurants nearby.
Enter: Gran Gusto.
Located in Cambridge, Mass., Gran Gusto is owned and run by native Napolitani. Chef Giuseppe Castellano was generous enough to bring a taste of his home country to my home state, and boy am I grateful. Everything is homemade – from the focaccia slices brought in classy metal conical baskets, to the pasta and pizza, to the classic Italian dessert offerings. Oh, I was home!
After reading the menu and listening to our waiter (who spoke to me in Italian – I wanted to hug him!) list the specials with a certain flair that can only be described as veramente italiano, my parents each started out with a salad – and I stole plenty from each of their plates.
This is baby spinach, fresh asparages, roasted red peppers and a slice of what I am mostly sure was an aged pecorino (but might have been a good parmegiano reggiano…my tastebuds’ memory is failing me). It was all dressed up in a light oil-and-vinegar dressing and drizzled with a touch of balsamic. It was just lovely. The freshness and different flavors of the veggies, the sharp pungent taste of the cheese, and the sweetness of the balsamic was Italian simplicity at its finest. 
I should also mention the wine – my parents ordered a really nice red from Montalcino and gave me sips. YUM! Oh, I miss a glass of wine with dinner. It really makes the whole thing more satisfying.
For our entree, my parents and I ordered the same thing – boring, yes, but it sounded SO good!
Fresh fettuccine with morel mushrooms (some of the best funghi in the world), spinach, and baby squid called calamarelle. I heard squid and I was there! None of us were sorry, either. The pasta was perfectly al dente. The sweetness of the squid melded beautifully with the earthy mushrooms flavor, and I was just so happy. There’s just something about a wonderful plate of fresh pasta that gets me grinning every time.
No picture, but my brother ordered a pizza with ham, mushrooms, olives, artichokes, and the mandatory fresh tomato sauce and bufalo mozzarella. Though I’m quite sure no slice will ever top the pies we made in cooking class, this was as authentic as it gets. My dad said it really took him back to his childhood, when he could wander down to a pizza place that used the fresh tomato sauce and mozz. The boys at the table were quite satisfied :)
When dessert time rolled around, the words of my beloved cooking professor resonated in my head: “The true way to judge a restaurant is by its dessert list. The way the chef chooses to finish the meal is very important.”
Couldn’t agree more.
My brother went with the tiramisu – one of our mutual favorite desserts. The thing I love about tiramisu is that it’s always a little different every time I taste it. This was no exception. Though I still prefer our rendition, this was good with a thicker than usual layer of cocoa, giving it a really nice deep cocoa-y flavor. 
My parents, hankering for something lighter and fruity, went with the delizia limone:
A wonderfully light lemon sponge cake with a chilled lemon cream in the middle and a couple big fat slices of strawberries hiding!
I ended up helping them out a lot with this – I love that it was chilled! It turned the tart lemon, sweet cream and airy cake into a light lemony cloud of dessert perfection. And the strawberry slices in the middle were like finding buried treasure!
If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Cambridge and have a hankering for bell’ Italia, or even just want to brush up on your Italian language skills, take a trip to Gran Gusto. It certainly helped this homesick Florence-sick chick!
~Namaste~