Showing posts with label 03-FOOD AND DRINK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 03-FOOD AND DRINK. Show all posts
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Pizzeria Via Mercanti...forno and football!
Once inside we could appreciate the authenticity of the place: A great beehive forno behind the prep area, pizzaioli who were right off the last Alitalia flight, barely a word of English in earshot. We were in heaven!
Finally, of course, a great espresso macchiato to send us back out into the Kensington crowds! Arrivederci, Via Mercanti!
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Molto buono!!
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Sunday, June 16, 2013
Bacalaitos!
You may recall that during our recent trip to Vieques we picked up some dried salted fish- Bacalao- with the intention of preparing salt cod fritters, AKA Bacalaitos. Here's the tale of our experiment:
So, the bacalao was purchased and soaked for 72 hours. (See our original post on prepping bacalao here) Each morning and again every evening we would drain, rinse and re-immerse the dried fish. Finally we were ready to try our hand at Bacalaitos or salt cod fritters.
The recipe is pretty simple: Cut the desalted cod into 2 inch segments and gently poach for about 5 minutes. Clean off the skin, remove all bones, then flake the flesh. Meanwhile, make a paste from a clove or two of garlic and add salt and pepper. Prepare a batter using 1 1/2 cups each of flour and water and 1 tsp of baking soda.
Heat oil for deep frying in a 9" wide pot tall enough to safely hold at least 3" of hot oil without splashing. If a small piece of bread bubbles when placed in the oil you know you're ready for action.
Mix the flesh into the batter and incorporate the garlic paste. Carefully lower tablespoon sized dollops of the batter 3 or 4 at a time into the oil and leave in place till they turn golden. Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto paper towels and repeat. Salt them to your preference while they're still warm. Eat immediately, preferably with very cold beer or a margarita!
How did ours turn out? Well, let's say this was a learning experience! Here's why: Earlier in our vacation we had inherited a tub of pancake batter. We decided to not purchase flour and baking soda, which we would certainly not consume before it was time to come home. Instead we thought we'd give the pancake batter a whirl. While the list of ingredients seemed pretty compatible with our objective, in the end the malt extract and some sugar in the mixture added an odd background flavour. We compensated by mixing up a lemony mayonnaise- based sauce with chopped Recao (also known as Culantro or "Mexican Cilantro"), but things still weren't quite right!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
OMG! Company's Coming!
So, let’s say you find yourselves on a small Caribbean island, and let’s say that you’re attending a lovely dinner party. You’ve made a few new acquaintances and are now feeling a wine- induced conviviality that prompts you to invite your new best friends for drinks the next evening, and being of the same frame of mind, they cheerfully accept the invitation. Let’s say that you wake up the next morning and say to yourselves, “OMG, we’re hosting a cocktail party tonight! Now what?”
Don’t panic, we say.
Firstly, aside from maybe the Afghani countryside there aren’t too many places on earth where the drinks part can’t be easily sorted out. In fact, if you’re like us you probably already have a bit of a bar on hand. And since you spent some time together last evening, you probably also know what tonight’s guests like to drink, so your shopping list can be nicely edited. And best of all, given that you’re all on a small Caribbean island nobody’s particularly snooty about whether or not their favourite brand is on offer. A red, a white, some cold beer, and a bottle or two of sparkling water will usually suffice in these circumstances.
Of course, something to nibble on is also usually expected and appreciated. Here’s where things can get a little trickier. If you're cool with the idea of ripping open a bag of Tostitos and unscrewing the lid from a jar of salsa then you need read no further. (Hey, we're the first to admit that this approach has its time and place). But if you've spent the previous evening in the presence of a rather high bar, as we recently had, then a little more creativity and effort will likely be anticipated by your visitors.
It's a fact of life on a small Caribbean island that one must approach a trip to the supermarket with an open mind and only the barest sketch of a menu plan. If you leave home counting on one crucial ingredient, it's bound to be out of stock. With this is mind we recently set forth.
First stop was the cold room at Superdescuento Morales here on Vieques. We augmented the carrots and celery we had at home with some sweet peppers. That gave us the the fixings for a spread of crudite.
Low and behold, we also spied some fresh asparagus! Let us just say right here that we can be a bit snobbish about fresh asparagus, given that the variety that sprouts forth at this time of year back in our recently thawed homeland is superb. It's sweet, splendidly thin, and can pretty much be eaten raw if you're so inclined. The asparagus that presented itself in Morales was, shall we say, rather sturdy. No worries, though, because just a few feet away several packages of prosciutto awaited us. Presto, our second cocktail menu item took form; blanched asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, then lightly sauteed. Like candy...
Beside the prosciutto lay packaged Chorizo, sliced salami-style. Voila! Our finger food- themed menu was really taking shape now! We had eggs and potatoes back home so we decided to whip up a Tortilla Espanol, basically a potato and Chorizo omelet. We'd make it well ahead of time & let it chill, then slice it into one inch squares for serving.
Some nice Spanish olives (which they NEVER run out of at Morales) would do nicely to round out our offerings.
Here are the final results. The party was a hit, and all it really took of our time was an hour after lunch.
Cheers!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Bacalao!
Once again we're going to give preparing bacalao a whirl. At the moment we're about half way through the 72 hour soaking process.
A few years ago we had some success with a salt fish stew while here on Vieques, and we even went on to pen an article for Vieques Events magazine about the history of this global staple and its Puerto Rican connection. The article included our stew recipe (Bacalao guisado)
This year, though, we're going to try making fritters. We have very fond memories of scarfing back these little treats while quaffing ice cold draft beer (Chopp) in Rio de Janeiro. It will be hard to come up with results that will beat that memory, but we'll give it a go! Stay tuned for the results!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Succulent Sicilians!
To date the New Year has not been terribly kind to us; far too much work, and worse, we've traded colds and influenzas back and forth several times over. Naturally then, we rejoiced at the annual arrival to our local green grocer of Sicilian Blood Oranges. We've come to treasure their juicy goodness- not cloyingly sweet, and with a complex depth of flavour maybe best suited to adult palettes. Sure they cost more than a Sunkist, but when you're in need of some top grade vitamin C they're worth every eurocent!
BTW, we have made marmalade using the Seville oranges, and we shared a recipe here.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Two Greedy Italians
Here in Toronto there's a local network called Telelatino which has been featuring a great BBC food show called "Two Greedy Italians" It features two well known Italian godfathers of food- Gennero Contaldo and Antonio Carluccio- who travel their homeland conjuring up memories and dishes of their somewhat distant youth.
Seeing Antonio Carluccio reminded us of another long lost BBC cooking program, "Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feast", one of the early day food programs that helped get us hooked on cooking.
Last evening we went to the bookcase and pulled out the cook book we had ordered when the series aired. Opening it we were delighted to discover a wrapper in which we had brought home from Tuscany a bottle of luscious Vino Nobile di Montepulciano; a memory from our own somewhat distant youth!
Here's a link to the current series:
http://tlntv.com/shows/two-greedy-italians
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Nigella Lawson's Hot Alfajores
1.
Hasn't happened. We checked. So far as we can tell, Nigella Lawson has never baked alfajores, at least not that she's chosen to share with her public. And that's probably a pity, because we bet Nigella Lawson's hot alfajores would be, well...HOT!
2.
"Nigella slowly raised the biscuit to her full glistening lips, a light dusting of icing sugar wafting downward, alighting ever so gently on her cashmere-clad bosom. As she took her first bite she turned slightly to face us and looked directly into our eyes, holding our mesmerized gaze. Her lips curled into a wicked smile, her eyes spoke to us, whispering "naughty, naughty boy", and she gave forth that familiar moan of pleasure, the one she always utters when her own culinary prowess pleases her.In a second it was over; she was straight back to business. "Right..." she said as she started to tidy the kitchen. We didn't hear the rest, but of course we noticed that little lashing of dulce de leche that hung delicately on the edge of her mouth. We swore momentarily that it was animate, regarding us smugly as if it was an ex lover's new boyfriend. For a flash of a second we hated all the men of Argentina."
3.
4.
Occasionally we have a look at the statistics on how people find us here at Bobo Feed. Regularly vying for top "search key words"- and this has been consistent ever since we first blogged them- are *Nigella Lawson*, *Alfajores*, and *Nigella Lawson Hot*. (We hasten to add that the word "hot" has been added by those doing the internet searching, not by us.) We're a class act...until now.
5.
6.
Ah, yes...food and sex. Both, of course are embodied in that Temptress of London. And the act of eating an alfajor immediately forces upon one a choice- look like an idiot as you try to avoid the mess it is about to make of your shirt and face, or become a hedonist so intent on the pleasure of consumption that you have them swooning at your feet while you lick the golden cream from your lips. You may as well make it work for you! Dulce de Leche = La Dolce Vita, we say.
So here we are, shamelessly repeating the words that will bring us traffic, using a little titillation to help us shill the brand. Hmmm, that dish tastes a little familiar ;-)
7.
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Well, you've read this far so we'd better reward you with more than a tease for your time. Here's a nice recipe (untested) for alfajores. Remember to channel your best kitchen goddess or god as you take your first bite!
http://www.ediblesociety.com/2010/11/global-desserts-alfajores-from-argentina.html
Previous Nigella Lawson Posts:
Previous Alfajore Posts:
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Photo Credits
1.deep-camboya.tumblr.com
2.bigmoth.tumblr.com
3.natgeo-covergirl.tumblr.com
4.elorablue.tumblr.com
5.gallifreyanhousepet.tumblr.com
6.mventola.tumblr.com
7.sugarysweetdeath.tumblr.com
8.sleepingseasickness.tumblr.com
9.kickitlikebrucelee.tumblr.com
10. todoporquesi.tumblr.com
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Café Society...meanwhile, on Santa Fe
Naturally, not all lunches are Café Tortoni lunches. Nor would we want them all to be. We've always been pretty open minded about our choices of eating establishments- as long as you serve us good food at a fair price, you've got our seal of approval. In fact, it can be more of a kick for us to find that humble little hole in the wall that blows you away with its quality than to eat with the elite at the latest and greatest culinary shrine. And let's face it, either approach can be a bit of a crap shoot!
Confiteria Los Molinos looks like it's spent many a year on this corner of Avenida Santa Fe, one of Buenos Aires' most egalitarian shopping streets. It's got that blood red and forest green colour scheme that is so pervasive on storefronts and signage in this city, as well as the beautiful varnished woodwork that speaks of a more genteel age when proper joinery was the sign of a quality establishment. Inside, expansive windows and high ceilings with decoratively coffered ceilings and chandeliers suggest that this was once a place to see and be seen.
Unlike Café Tortoni, though, the tourists are not traipsing through Los Molinos with their cameras flashing. Times have changed and these days it is more of an everyman's cafe, serving hearty, abundant and affordable food to weary shoppers and local labourers. (Still, you've gotta love the "table service" of nibbles that arrives with your beverage and ahead of your meal...the crusts are still cut from the bread!)
We had decent Milanesas here, those schnitzels of veal or chicken that seem to fuel this town, along with the ubiquitous fries, and a generous botella of Quilmes.
Wrapped up with a coffee, it was the perfect respite before hopping back onto the avenue!
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