Quick reality check on what’s not going to be going on in my backyard: flying in three trowel wielding Italians from the old country over to SoBur (South Burnet) to stomp around my sod. From Slice on Nella Grassano’s new restaurant in Chicago, “Nella Pizzeria Napoletana”. The oven itself is a point of personal pride for Grassano. Through her father, she reached out to three oven builders in Naples, a 70-year-old man and his two nephews, and brought them to Chicago to build an oven out of tufo, an Italian brick made from volcanic ash, and volcanic sand.
Category Archives: Cooking At Home
Breaking the Rules: Fried Chicken Edition
Sometimes there is the proper way to make something and then there is the way it actually gets done. There are a few steps that I would have done to the above dish that I didn’t. Four to eight hour brine? Didn’t have time. Buttermilk soak? Didn’t feel like going to the store (who has buttermilk hanging around?). What I did have was some chicken, carrots, cabbage and the desire to get off the couch for a meal that isn’t that complicated and everybody likes: Fried Chicken and Coleslaw.
Setting Goals To Stay Focused
I have finally reached my all-time baking goal of baking a loaf of bread in the shape of the egg pod in the movie Alien. Yes! What’s next?
Secret Sauce
Here’s the problem I have with pizza sauces (or most tomato sauces in general). Long and slow is great, but it kills the bright tomato flavor. Simmer a sauce for three hours? You might as well just squeeze a tube of tomato paste on your pie.
Show Me Your Hands
Did you see Okervile River on Austin City Limits? Holy crap! They killed it! I dig how food and music are intertwined in Austin. Both are creative endeavors that are shared with others (minus that grilled cheese sandwich I made at midnight).
Winter Soup: Tortillas Deconstructed
Cold weather, hot soup. Great combination. A long time ago, in the 1990’s, the soup de jour was Tortilla. Dean Fearing (then at the Mansion in Dallas) was famous for his. The base of the soup is chicken stock with pureed tomato and onion and spices. Chopped tortillas are cooked in. They break down into the liquid, adding flavor and thickening the stock. The next decision is to strain or not to strain. I don’t, thicker soups seem heartier to me. Go crazy with the toppings: fried tortilla strips, diced red onion, cheddar cheese and sliced avocado.