NJ SPICE

I wrote about this recipe, from the new edition of Canal House Cooking (Vol. No. 3), a few weeks ago.

In that post, I said I’d be haunting the produce section of Whole Earth Center to find these young onions, and, sure enough, when I remembered to check one day, they had gorgeous red ones.

I took them right home and roasted them according to that very easy recipe, and - oh my!  So simple, so very, very delicious.

This is, to me, the essence of of-the-moment seasonal cooking, and that has a lot to do with my admiration for the Canal House Cooking series.  They just seem to get it right!

Here are the spring onions I photographed in Florence several years ago (in November yet!).

Once again elements restaurant impresses, this time at Monday’s Taste of the Nation. (Thank you to all who came out and participated!)

What’s in that egg?  It was spaghetti carbonara; a classic Italian pasta dish with a creamy sauce with bacon & sometimes peas.  Chef Scott Anderson made this version with asparagus foam instead of peas though, since the local asparagus have arrived.

He used bucatini pasta cut into tiny pieces (bucatini is a long pasta with a hole in the middle), and house made bacon, and teeny croutons.  So clever.

Delicious and a real show stopper!

This is half a roasted poussin from Griggstown Quail Farm Market.  I buy them pre-marinated in herbs (there’s also a soy-ginger version), and they are reliably tender and juicy. I often keep one in my freezer, and it’s enough for 2 servings.

I roast the poussin for about an hour (to 165°) on a bed of split fingerling potatoes, or rough-chopped carrot/onion/celery, or, in this case, leftover stuffing. 

The young chicken has been spatchcocked, which means the backbone was cut out, and the bird flattened. This ensures even cooking.  For a nice pictorial of this, visit this site.

But, here, Griggstown has done it for us, and each time I enjoy one, I wonder why I don’t have it more often.

Be still my heart. When I win the lottery, I may do something like this.  Paulette Licitra, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Alimentum-The Literature of Food, a publication I’ve mentioned before, is giving a two week creative food writing workshop in Assisi Italy this summer (a one-week option is also available).

Here’s some of the information I received from Ms. LIcitra:

“In this workshop you’ll turn your food imagination and experiences into story with characters, a story arc, scenes, and dialogue. Or transform your food memories into engaging essays and memoir. We’ll make poems out of recipes, and menus into poetry. We’ll keep a journal of our Italian eating experiences and craft the entries into appealing reviews. Plus we’ll discuss what it takes to get published in food magazines-I’ll provide a contact list and guidelines.

“We’ll also read a cross section of fabulous food literature from the ancient Romans and Greeks to present-day taste-tempting authors. We’ll engage in appetizing writing exercises, and examine and discuss your work-and do a little cooking, too!

“We’ll stay at the four-star Hotel Giotto where we’ll gather for breakfast and dinner and meet for our workshop. Hotel Giotto is an elegant hotel, air-conditioned, with many amenities including beautiful dining areas with great views, a wine cellar, and a pool. The Giotto’s noted chef will present us with
the best of Umbrian cuisine.”

Now, that sounds pretty appetizing, doesn’t it?

I’m always going on about how delicious the cupcakes are at Sugar + Sunshine bakery in Plainsboro.

But their cookies are also excellent.  I took this photo a couple weeks ago, and the cookies disappeared so quickly, I didn’t even take notes on what was in each one.  (I’d gone there for some cupcakes for my father’s birthday, and decided to give the cookies a try, too.)

On the left is one with dried cranberries, a smattering of white chocolate chips, and maybe walnuts.  This was maybe my favorite one.  Moving clockwise, you see their exceptional oatmeal raisin, slightly chewy, then their all-chocolate wonder (maybe triple chocolate, cocoa, dark and white?), and then traditional chocolate chip at six o’clock.  Heck, I can’t exactly remember what was in each one, but I’m still dreaming of them!

Now that my review of Penang Malaysian & Thai Cuisine has appeared in the Packet TimeOff, I wanted to share some photos I took at the table during my dinner. 

At left you see the Golden Fried Eggplant, it was quite delicious, addictive, really, with a good hit of heat from the chopped chilies sprinkled on top. (You could pick most of those off if you wanted to, but I toughed it out in the end.)

Next is the Fish Head Rice Noodle “soup,” with its milky broth.

It was a real surprise to see that dairy in an Asian restaurant. The green vegetables and pickled cabbage were just the perfect addition to a mild dish.

Next, at the bottom, is the Volcano Pork in its foil package. The sauce stops short of being a too-sweet sweet-and-sour sauce. It’s more savory than that.

The flavors in these dishes were so varied, each one was good in its own way.  It is always fun to try something new here!

Good work Olive’s!

Olive’s did some catering at an event I ran this past weekend, and they did a great job. The baked-in-house breakfast items were very good, especially an excellent crumb-topped coffee cake.  At lunch, the sandwich trays held a wonderful variety, including one with delicious eggplant.  The potato salad was a hit, just the way I like it, with plenty of celery and not too much mayo. 

And the assorted dessert trays were truly impressive. Here you see a rocky road brownie (upper left), it has a decadent layer of marshmallow, a very nice almond cookie (upper right), and a triangle of tart lemon bar (sorry, I smushed that a little getting it onto the plate - a recycled/biodegradable plate, if you please.)

There were also pieces of baklava (owner Adam Angelakis is Greek), cookies, other brownies - just a lot of very good variety and everyone was happy, happy, happy as Emeril says. 

And Paul, the staff member who assisted - EXCELLENT!

Princeton’s Taste of the Nation is Monday, April 26 at the Westin in Forrestal Village. Don’t miss out on this premier gourmet food tasting with your favorite restaurants.  While you enjoy fabulous food and wine (and much, much more), you’ll be helping to stamp out hunger in your own back yard.  100% of your ticket price goes to organizations fighting childhood hunger.

Local beneficiaries are Mercer Street Friends, Isles, HomeFront, and the Food Bank of South Jersey.

It’s a good thing - grab some friends and come out for a wonderful evening!  Monday (4/19) is the last day to get a discount (from $85 to $75) with my special code, PRFAITH, when you purchase advance tickets online.

I spied some nice thinly sliced pork cutlet at the market recently, and thought of making Japanese tonkatsu. (You could make this with chicken too.)

I dipped the pieces into egg, then Japanese panko bread crumbs, and sautéed them briefly in hot peanut oil.   I “rigged up” my own tonkatsu sauce based on the version below (it has a ketchup base, and store versions are full of fakey ingredients and expensive to boot.)

Some brown jasmine rice and salad on the side completed this dinner, which was quick enough even for a weeknight.

Tonkatsu Sauce (from www.grouprecipes.com)

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup worchershire sauce
• 1/2 cup sake (Japanese Rice Wine)
• 2 tablespoons ginger
• 2 tablespoons garlic
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup mirin

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and simmer about 25 minutes, until thickened.

Lots of wine tastings and dinners on the horizon -

At Princeton Corkscrew on Hulfish Street, there are regular tastings in the store from 5:00-8:00pm.  April 20 brings Matt Cline from Three Wine Company of California, in a tasting of three old vines wines, and on April 29 they welcome Michel Fonne from Domaine Michel Fonne, Grand Cru Alsace, with special guest Luc Luyckx from Belgium of Chateau Fontaynes, Cahors.

Explore Pinot Noirs From Around the World on April 28 at Restaurant One 53 in Rocky Hill.  Select hors d’oeuvres accompany this tasting, and I’ve noticed their tastings often sell out, since they only have room for 24.  For information visit www.one53nj.com, to reserve, call 609-921-0153.

Cool Vines pairs up with Camillo’s Café at the Princeton Shopping Center on May 4.  This dinner is comprised of five courses sourced from Abruzzo Italy (where my maternal grandfather was from!). The food will be paired with organic Jasci wines also from Abruzzo sourced by Sherbrooke Wines for CoolVines; a complete menu and on-line registration are available at www.coolvines.com.  CoolVines also has regular in-store wine tastings, so be sure to check out the schedule on their website.

Meanwhile, over at the bucolic Hopewell Valley Vineyards, the weekend brings regular entertainment, and on June 5 there’s a special cocktail party to benefit Pennington Autism Lifetime Services, with a raffle of a week in a villa in Tuscany.  Sweet!