Panzanella

Panzanella, or bread salad, is a great way to make a slightly stale baguette into something edible and tasty. I had the requisite main ingredient sitting around - a rock hard baguette that had been sitting on the kitchen table for almost a week - so I decided to give it a try. To make it, cut the bread into cubes and, if it is still soft, dry it out by sticking in the oven for a few minutes. Throw in whatever vegetables and herbs you have lying around and toss it all together. I uses a couple tomatoes, a yellow bell pepper, a roasted red pepper, half a cucumber, onions, some olives, capers, basil, parsley, and tuna packed in olive oil. I think that last ingredient is a bit untraditional, but it tasted good.You will also want to add olive oil and vinegar. I made a dressing of olive oil, mustard, orange muscat vinegar, oregano and garlic. For the amount I was making, I needed about 1/3 cup of dressing. You can also top the salad with freshly grated cheese. Let everything sit for at least an hour so the flavors mix and the bread soaks up a lot of the moisture. If the bread is hard enough to begin with, it will have this nice texture where it is soft on the outside from all the dressing and liquids from the vegetables, but still a bit crunchy in the middle.

Bailey's French Toast and the World's Best Bacon

This morning I was trying to come up with something to make for brunch when I noticed the bottle of Bailey's that was sitting on the liquor cabinet. French toast is one of my favorite breakfast foods, and a little Irish creme seemed like the perfect accent for a French toast mix. I headed over to Savenor's to pick up some bread - I was looking for challah bread, but ended up getting this amazing cinnamon bread instead - and I also got some applewood smoked bacon. Savenor's bacon, by the way, is the best bacon ever.

As you can see, they cut their bacon fairly thick. It's at least twice as thick as what you normally find at the supermarket, and about 20 times better.

Here's the recipe for the French Toast. These portions make enough for two servings.
4 slices of bread (challah or cinnamon bread, about 3/4" to 1" thick)
2 eggs
3/4-1 cup milk
3 Tbsp Irish cream
1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

The Bailey's adds a great flavor that goes well with syrup or whipped cream. If you want to go with a fruit topping instead, try switching our the Bailey's for some orange juice or 1/8 tsp of lemon extract. This will give you a "brighter" tasting French toast.

Mix together the ingredients.
Soak the bread in the mixture. It should soak up everything
Cook over medium to low heat until done. Since the bread is really thick, you want to keep the heat fairly low so you don't burn the surface before the the middle is done. You can turn the heat up at the end to get some color. The time really depends on how thick and soaked the bread is and what heat and cooking surface you are using, so just cook until the color looks right. You should also cook the bacon over medium heat. In my opinion, bacon turns out better when you use a lower heat.
Plate and serve with the topping of your choice.

Cambridge area restaurants

Below, I posted my favorite place to buy ingredients, but I don't always cook my own meals. Here's a map of restaurants the I like and would recommend. I'm always looking for new places to try, so please comment if you have any suggestions. Click on link below to the full page and click on the markers for comments about each place.


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Here are my recommendations:
High end - Oleana
Mid range - East Coast Grill, The Garden at the Cellar
Inexpensive - Muqueca
Sandwiches - Darwin's, All Star Sandwich Bar
Burritos - Olecito
Tacos - Tacos Lupita
Mexican - Tu y Yo
Chinese - Shangri La
Japanese(Inexpensive) - Blue Fin
Other fun ethnic foods - Muqueca, Machu Picchu, Ortanique
Burgers - The Cellar (best fries), O'Sullivan's
Brunch - Sound Bites, East Coast Grill
Seafood - Muqueca

A Culinary Map of Cambridge

With just one more year left in Cambridge, Abby and I have started thinking about where we'll land next. While there are plenty of things not to miss about the Boston area (long winters) I will certainly miss the food. I have never lived in a city that has so many great places to get ingredients. Having access to Cambridge's culinary resources really allows you to get creative. Here's a map of my favorite places (click on the link below to get to the full map).

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Flat breads

An Indian guy recently bought the convenience store next door to Savenors. I hadn't been in there too many times because the place never had much to offer, but the last time I bought something there, I noticed that he had started to stock all sorts of Indian food products, sort of like the great little market in Davis Square - the name escapes me at the moment. Anyway, where there were once a bunch of tv dinners, he had an assortment of different flat breads. This tandoori naan is great when reheated on the grill pan. I kicked it up a little bit by making three different types of flatbread "pizzas." On the left is grilled flatbread with whitebean, marjoram, and truffle oil puree, caramelized onions, sweet italian sausage and cheddar. On the right is grilled flatbread with hummus, sauteed spinach, and feta cheese. I also made one with the white bean puree, tuna packed in olive oil, and cheese. These were really, really quick and easy.

Blue fish baked "en papillote"

I had never cooked bluefish before, so I thought I would give it a shot when the fine folks at Savenor's recommended it. Not knowing much about the fish, I decided to go a safe route and bake it en papillote, which is a fancy way of saying a cooked it in a parchment paper envelope with a few random ingredients (onion, lemon, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil).

When you bake the fish this way, all the moisture stays in the pouch, so everything steams together and flavors are infused into the fish.

I served the fish with sauteed spinach and Isreali couscous with clam broth. The couscous dish would work equally well with any short cut pasta such as orzo or anchellini. I made this dish on the fly, but it worked out pretty well.
Israeli Couscous in Clam Broth:

INGREDIENTS
-1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous (or orzo)
-Instant clam broth (available at Whole Foods) or clam juice
-4-5 shrimp, shelled and minced.
-1 plum tomato
-1/2 onion, finely chopped
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 bay leaf
-pinch of saffron
-lemon juice
-salt, pepper to taste

Sweat the onion with garlic with a bit of olive oil in a medium pot. Mix up 2 cups of clam broth and add to pot. Throw in the bay leaf and a pinch of saffron (this is primarily for color). When the mixture reaches a boil, add couscous and turn heat to med low. Stir occasionally, and after about 10 minutes add the tomato and minced shrimp. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Continue cooking until the couscous is soft. Add water if the mixture dries up. The finished product should be a bit soupy, more so than a risotto.