This simple salad made of blanched farmer’s market green beans, sliced radishes and imported sardines, dressed with a little red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil was delicious! I ordered it at a small Italian restaurant in my neighborhood that serves mostly small plates.
And while I love going out to eat (almost 5 nights a week!), I might skip the visit to the restaurant next time I want this and just making it at home because it would be so easy to make myself. I think I might even throw in some chopped Kalamata olives to my version!
I’ve been on a wee bit of a sushi bender. My pal Ann took notice of the situation and brought over this set of sushi roll soaps. I went looking for them on line and found a site that sells, sushi soaps, pillows, bandaids and even a sushi fragrance. By the way, no detail is missed, the sushi roll soaps smell like ginger and they’re vegan.
Olive salad is a thing of beauty. Often it’s comes in jars as bits and pieces of olives and pickled veg, the very thing to gild a Muffaletta (a large round sandwich piled with ham, provolone, salami, mortadella, and Swiss, topped with chopped olive salad). Recently the Louisiana Restaurant Expo beautifully showcased a lot of local flavors, and among them, Perrone & Son’s line of stellar foods - most notably, the return of “whole olive salad.” Giant whole, pit-free green and Kalamata olives tangle in a sharp, briny oil and vinegar-based dressing with tender-crisp carrot rounds, cauliflower florets, pimento bits, capers, and the ocassional pepperocini…heaven. Sometimes, there’s no need for the sandwich, it’s just me, a bowl of olive salad, an ice-cold Moretti beer and my food mags. Ahhh Sunday.
I usually don’t work on Mondays and love to go out for breakfast or lunch by myself, a good book in hand. Last Monday, I decided to go to my neighborhood Spanish tapas restaurant and take advantage of their happy hour special–$1 oysters from 5-7pm! I cannot think of a better way to spend a Monday afternoon.
Instead of regular old French fries, a small taco stand in my neighborhood serves these–deep fried strips of yucca with chipotle ketchup and jalapeno mayo dipping sauces. Muy delicioso! Washed down with a cold cerveza, this was a really great snack. Although, eating two tacos and half a torta with them, did put me over the edge…
Are you gambler, willing to take risks in the name of food and taste? Well, you just might want to try. These petite, bright green, mostly mild, peppershail from and are named for, the Spanish municipality of Padron. They are also known as “Roulette peppers,” because 1 in 10 is hot. During the months of July and August, the number of hot peppers can increase, but it’s always a gamble with this “Capsicum Annuum.” Prepared simply by pan frying or oven-roasting with olive oil and a generous dusting of salt, the gently smoky flavor is addictive and the small size of the pepper makes them easy to pop, one after the other, like chips. Come on, roll the dice.
I’m a pickle fanatic. Sour, dill, briney, winey, or sweet, I love them all. Traditional pickling is a glorious labor of love, but I simply haven’t been able to make the time, so “quick” pickles call out to me for a multitude of reasons, and they are simply delicious. Earlier this week I quick-pickled baby carrots, baby French beans and cucmbers, in organic brwon-rice vinegar spiced with herbs and peppers from my garden, and good-quality whole spices from Flavorbank. This morning these bright, bold pickles decorated my favorite new eye-opener, a Tres Generaciones Anejo Tequila “Sangrita” created by genius bartender “Bobby G.” The only thing to say is Ole!
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