Moules "Frites" (Mussels with Polenta "Fries")

TS:
Throwing around ideas, JS and I thought to make moules frites. But, of course, the frying turned us off the whole affair. Why not eliminate the frying altogether and make "frites" out of polenta? Yes, yes, it's totally not the same. But I thought, if I really want fries, I'll just get them on the outside!

Polenta "Fries"


TS:
We haven't made polenta before, so I used the recipe on the back of the back of cornmeal package. It called for water, but I recommend using some stock, or milk, or a combination. The water by itself was a tad bland.



TS:
I added cornmeal to boiling water and stirred until the mixture was thick. I seasoned to taste.


Parmigiano-Reggiano

TS:
To add more flavor and appeal, I sprinkled grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on top of the polenta, which I spread onto a baking sheet.



TS:
A short stint under the broiler, and it was done. I simply cut them into rectangles.


TS: (Yes, yes, I know. They're not like fries at all.)

Mussels


TS:
I decided to go a little Italianesque with the mussels because they were being paired with polenta, after all.



TS:
I sautéed diced onions and chopped garlic in olive oil, with a little bit or red chile flakes. When they were soft, I added a splash of white wine, then some canned tomatoes.



TS:
The mussels went into the boiling liquid, then I covered the pot. After a few minutes, when the mussels had opened, the dish was done.



TS:
There you go, our Italianate moules "frites". Not quite the real thing, but satisfying nonetheless.

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Recipe
Polenta
adapted from the back of the UNICO cornmeal package

3 cups liquid (stock and/or milk, or a combination)
1 1/4 cups cornmeal

Place liquid in a pot and bring to a boil. When boiling, season with salt. Add the cornmeal and start stirring until the mixture thickens and is cooked, about 15 minutes.

Spread polenta onto a baking pan.

To make "fries", sprinkle grated cheese on top and broil until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Cut into slices.

Mussels with Tomatoes
Quantities are up to you.

mussels, cleaned/debearded
chopped onions
chopped garlic
white wine
diced tomatoes (or canned tomatoes)

In a pot/pan, heat olive oil and sauté chopped onions and garlic until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add a splash of white wine, then the tomatoes. With the heat on high, add mussels. Cover the pot/pan, shake about. In a couple of minutes (longer if you have a larger quantity), check the mussels. Once the mussels are open, they wre ready to serve.

Serve mussels and resulting broth with polenta "fries".


For showcasing CORN/POLENTA/CORNMEAL, we're submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging, a world-wide food blogging event (created by Kalyn's Kitchen, now maintained by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once) with the goal of helping each other learn about cooking with herbs and plant ingredients.

If you'd like to participate, see who's hosting next week. WHB is hosted this week by Marija of Palachinka.

Bleecker Street Pizza (New York, NY)

a slice of Nonna Maria

[ts]
JS and I were walking about in Greenwich Village and happened upon this storefront.



[ts]
Pizza, you say? Well, one definitely has to have pizza when in New York, don't you think?

JS and I were actually looking to eat pizza at John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street, but found out they didn't sell slices. It really wasn't the best time for a whole pie, so we decided to pass. But, a few minutes later, here was Bleecker Street Pizza calling out to us.



[ts]
An endorsement, you say? We don't put too much stock into these types of proclamations, but figured, "Well, the pizza should at least be passable!"



[ts]
By luck (I don't exactly recall how we came to choose this flavor), we ordered a slice of their Nonna Maria pizza.

It had tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan and basil.



[ts]
Thin crust. It was very nice and crisp.


posers

[ts]
That was us being posers and trying to fold the slice in half -- without much success, as you can see. The crust was simply too crisp.

I don't know if this is what a "New York pizza" is supposed to be, but this was a fine slice. A very fine slice, indeed.

And look, apparently we were very lucky to have come across this place! Read the NYC Food Guy wax poetical about the Nonna Maria.

NYC Food Guy posts:
Bleecker Street Pizza: Excellent Nonna Maria & Grandma Slices
Bleecker Street Pizza: Nonna Maria Making a case for NY’s Best Specialty Slice


Bleecker Street Pizza
New York, NY
http://bleeckerstreetpizza.com
Visited in August 2009

We ate all the food below -- and more -- in 4 days! Insane. See how: NYC Eating Extravaganza (August 2009)

[eatingclub] vancouver in New York
Rice to Riches
Shake Shack
Grom Gelato
Bleecker Street Pizza
New York Burger Co.
Ess-a-Bagel
Artichoke Basille's Pizza
Katz's Deli
Lombardi's Pizza
Hummus Place
Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man
Anthos
Momofuku Ssäm Bar
Amy Ruth's
wd-50
Taïm Falafel and Smoothie Bar
A Tale of Two Dogs: Gray's Papaya & Papaya King

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Italian Skinless Sausages, the meal

[js]
The inspiration for today's meal was fennel.

I had a couple of bulbs lying wait in the fridge and was at a loss to prepare them. I had plans for a pasta dish with fennel or a pork loin with fennel. . . in the end, the best-laid plans having gone awry, I opted to simply chop up the fennel bulbs and sauté the slices.

As I was getting ready to cook the fennel, I suddenly thought how lonely the fennel dish was going to be. We don't usually eat fennel! You might wonder why I picked up a couple of bulbs in the first place, and you wonder appropriately, but that is a topic for another day.



[js]
My lonely fennel needed a companion, a help-meet.

I put on my thinking cap and dreamed of Italian sausages in a bun with the sautéed fennel as a topping. Fortunately, we had some ground pork in the fridge and our spice cupboard was well-stocked.

Making the Italian sausages were not going to be a problem -- or at least, there weren't any material impediments to my making of the sausages, albeit they would just have to be skinless sausages because we did not have casings in the house.

In my dreams, I also thought of a balsamic-tomato-onion relish for my sausages, but that was a little too ambitious, considering I also had to make some skinless Filipino longganisa for the rest of the family.

Do you not sense a recurring theme here? First, it was the pork barbecue skewers gatecrashing our Korean bulgogi party. Now, Filipino longganisa. Ah, these are the trials and tribulations of preparing meals for picky people! ;) Doubles my work!

Self-Sautéed Fennel


[js]
That is why you'll see I even cheated on the fennel slices and didn't sauté them on the stovetop. I simply put them on a tray with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and let them "sauté" themselves on the grill with the sausages.

They're self-sautéed.



Italian Skinless Sausages


The sausages turned out very well and there was enough Italian flavour in them to make me happy.


before and after

They weren't aggressively Italian though, so if you're looking for something more fierce, then I would double the amount of fennel, bay, and oregano in the recipe.



The sausages looked lonely sitting on a bun; that didn't look right for this meal.

Arugula Spinach Pesto on Penne


TS made this pasta dish with arugula and spinach pesto, and we also had some leftover arugula and spinach leaves that we lightly dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. They seem more fitting companions to our skinless Italian sausages.

The Plate


[js]
It was quite a full plate and this meal left me very satisfied.


Recipe
Italian Skinless Sausages

2 pounds ground pork
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground fennel
1/2 tsp ground bay
4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix everything together in a bowl and form into sausages of desired girth and length. Pan-fry or grill.

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Arugula Spinach Pesto on Penne

[ts]
For some reason, we had two bins of arugula and spinach mix languishing in the fridge. I think perhaps it was supposed to be used for a gathering, but obviously never was.

In any case, we didn't think we could eat all that as "salads", especially since their demise seemed fast-approaching, so we had to think of a way to use up the whole bunch quickly.

Why not a pesto? That definitely needs a whackload of greens.



[ts]
No recipe here. I simply buzzed together the arugula and spinach with a lot of garlic, some lemon juice, salt, and extra-virgin olive oil. I added some pine nuts as well.

For some reason, I reached for the blender instead of the food processor, resulting in a very smooth pesto (instead of the usual pesto texture I'm used to). But, it wasn't bad at all and it grew on me. Who can resist its electric green color?

I tossed some penne with the arugula spinach pesto, and topped it with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Perfect for a light meal.



[ts]
But as you know, light meals seem to be impossible in our household. So, lookee there in the background. What is that? That post is coming up next.

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Chicken "Saltimbocca"

[update] This post was selected as Best of the Web by SAVEUR.com! http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/Chicken-Saltimbocca

[js]
I had a craving for somethin-saltimbocca the other day and the easiest thing to have jump in my mouth was some chicken breasts left over from the weekly butchery.

This is a fairly straightforward recipe and everybody can do it.

As a matter of fact, I caught the episode of Jamie's Ministry of Food where Jamie Oliver taught this dish to people who have never cooked before, which they have been able to replicate in 10 minutes. He called it "chicken prosciutto," because he used a bunch of different herbs in between the chicken and prosciutto.

I chose to do the traditional sage and prosciutto combination for my meal. Our garden is not thriving this year, but the sage plant we planted a couple of months ago seemed to be adapting well enough. I picked a handful of leaves from the plant.

The dish came together pretty quickly. You don't even need a recipe for this dish, because it really is very, very straightforward.



[js]
Step 1: Unlike our previous adventure with chicken breasts (Chicken Marsala), I actually pounded each breast this time to make its thickness even.



[js]
Step 2: Then, I placed a single sage leaf in the center of each piece and sprinkled some of the chopped up leaves around -- because, you know, I wanted to get the sage flavour with each bite.

Step 3: Put the prosciutto over the top and...

Step 4: Place down in the pan. After a bit, flip.

And that was that. I did not even need to salt the chicken breast because the prosciutto is quite salty.


"The Succulence"

[ts]
I believe saltimbocca comes with a butter-y, wine-y sauce, but really, this was already very good as is, that we didn't even feel the need to make one.

Look at how succulent that chicken turned out. These had no trouble "jumping into our mouths" at all.

We served this with some simply sautéed kale and called it a meal.

(Gratuitous Saltimbocca Images)

"The Rocket"


"The Beetle"


"The Plate"

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Sicilian Broccoli Sauté

[js]
We're trying to build up our repertoire of broccoli dishes since it is one vegetable that seems to be always available. It has become our go-to vegetable when I feel that our family is getting vegetable-deprived. Usually, we stick to the same old stir-fry with garlic.

TS decided to do a quick stir-fry -- oops, I mean, sauté -- of the 3 or so heads of broccoli we have sitting in the fridge, but done Sicilian-style with anchovies, garlic, red pepper flakes, and pine nuts.



[js]
It barely needs a recipe, so the one below is simply a guide. Enjoy!

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Recipe

Sicilian Broccoli Sauté

broccoli, cut into florets
garlic, as much as you can handle
anchovies, as much as you can handle
red pepper flakes, as much as you can handle
handful pine nuts, toasted
lemon

Into a cold sauté pan, add olive oil, garlic cloves (simply smashed, or sliced), red pepper flakes, and anchovies. Turn the heat to medium and wait until the garlic starts to sizzle.

Turn the heat to high and add your broccoli florets. Cook until broccoli has softened but still retains a slight "crunch" (you may need to lower the heat if you wish to cook the broccoli for a longer time to a softer texture).

When the broccoli is the desired doneness, add the toasted pine nuts, squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli, and adjust seasoning.

Serve.

Piedmont Marinated Eggs

What's that lurking in there?

[ts]
We don't have many shows to watch on the Food Network (Food Network Canada), but one show we do like is Laura Calder's French Food at Home. She makes everything look so easy, she does almost everything by hand (and you know how the French like to whisk and whip!), and she always manages to make about 5 or 6 dishes in a 30-minute show! She's also a little bit kooky; we like that. =)

In her picnic episode, for example, she made a cherry tart, green beans with toasted almonds, lobster and grapefruit salad, picnic "tabbouleh", whole mushroom salad and Piedmont eggs.

We knew we wanted to make those Piedmont eggs as soon as we saw it. By coincidence, we discovered that October 10 is World Egg Day. What better way to celebrate the egg.



[ts]
It is so simple. We simply chopped parsley, garlic and anchovies. We combined that with olive oil and a touch of tomato paste then plopped in some peeled hardboiled eggs.

The hard part was waiting a for the eggs to marinate. We made it one day before eating.


The reward

[ts]
Of course, once can just grab an egg and a little bit of the marinade and eat it as is. But of course, nothing mops up that lovely savory oil better than crusty bread. (This one is a JS-made European Peasant Loaf.)

Look at all those delicious garlicky, anchovy-y bits!



Some eggy eatingclub dishes
Tarragon-Carrot Deviled Eggs
Golden Egg Torta
Hunanese Stir-fried Eggs with Green Peppers
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes
Stir-fried Egg and Tomato
Oyster Torta
Torta with Pork and Kecap Manis
Curried (Easter) Egg Salad
Taiwanese Stewed Eggs (滷蛋) with Stewed Minced Pork (魯肉 or 肉燥)
Longsilog (Longganisa + Sinangag + Itlog)
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu
Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)
Home-style Chinese Steamed Egg with Pork
Golden Shrimp Torta (Philippine Shrimp Omelette)

Our Laura Calder & Laura Calder-inspired posts
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage with Pork
Pain Perdu (French Toast) with Sautéed Cherries
Hazelnut Roll

Piedmont Eggs
from Laura Calder's French Food at Home
http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=9116

Ingredients
6 x hardboiled eggs, peeled
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 heads garlic, peeled and minced
4 tbsp tomato paste
6 x anchovies
2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Put the hardboiled eggs in a bowl. Beat together the remaining ingredients and pour over. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Put an egg on each plate, spoon over some oil, eat with crusty bread.

Laura Calder website
French Food at Home section on foodtv.ca
Season 1 episodes and recipes
Season 2 episodes and recipes

We're submitting this to Let's Celebrate World Egg Day, hosted by Abby of Eat the Right Stuff. Head on over to her blog for information on submitting an entry. The roundup will be posted on October 10, World Egg Day.