Touring Boston's North End with Bertolli

There are worse ways to spend a Saturday than wandering around Boston's North End, tasting authentic Italian food. This past weekend, a small group of bloggers (myself included) were shown the wonders of the North End by Bertolli (yep, the olive oil and pasta sauce people). Just because we're not in Italy doesn't mean we can't eat like we're in Italy, and Bertolli is focused on bringing quality ingredients and products to everyone. One thing they wanted to highlight with this tour was the ways in which pasta and sauce or one of the Bertolli frozen dinners could be supplemented by antipasti, fresh ingredients, wine, or dessert to make it that much closer to a real meal in Italy.

Our first stop was Caffe Vittoria on Hanover Street. We sat in the back of the restaurant, sipping on cappuccino and nibbling on assorted pastries while we waited for everyone to arrive. The cafe is a great spot to grab a leisurely snack (much more leisurely than Mike's Pastry next door) and talk with friends. I used the time to compare notes about curly hair with Janel (we both drive all the way to Beverly to go to a great salon for curly girls) and to meet some great new people.

When Caffe Vittoria's manager came out to speak to us, he told us about the workings of the oldest Italian cafe in the city. We were all especially impressed with the fact that Caffe Vittoria sells up to 700 cannolis a day! When asked what his favorite thing on the menu was, our host mentioned the gelato (pistachio especially) and had a few bowls sent up so we could try it. Vittoria's gelato is smooth and rich - the coffee was my favorite of the bunch.

Our next stop was Salumeria Italiana on Richmond Street (but just steps off Hanover). Even though this shop is so close to the main drag, I think it often gets overlooked (a number of people in our group had never heard of it before). The tiny shop is packed with ingredients shipped in from Italy, including meats, cheeses, oil and vinegar, spices, and packaged food. There is a huge display of fresh breads in the front window, as well.

We were greeted by the staff and then started in on a tasting of meats, cheeses, and olive oils with chef Raymond Gillespie, who is in the shop most days to help customers put together authentic meals. The meats (above, left to right)were speck (a smoked prosciutto), porchetta (roasted pork with a mild flavor), and prosciutto di Parma (which literally melted in my mouth). From there, we moved on to cheeses (bottom to top in this picture) - carozzi capriziola (a creamy blue that was quite mild - I generally dislike blue, but this was quite tasty), piave vecchio (an aged cheese with lots of character and something that most people would enjoy), and seemingly everyone's favorite, moliterno al tartufo (an aged sheep's milk cheese infused with black truffles). Having those meats and cheeses on a platter would be a quick and easy way to dress up a meal, and Salumeria Italiana has plenty of olives and salads to go alongside them.

And then it was time for our second (officially, only the first) gelato of the day. We headed back to Hanover Street to Gigi Gelateria, which has both a street-side counter and a more expansive counter inside. I have had gelato from Gigi's many, many times (why is it that the only time I wander around the North End is when it's a million degrees? At least gelato helps cool you off), enough times to already have a favorite flavor. I could rhapsodize about the grapefruit sorbetto all day, so I decided to try something else to get a wider grasp of their flavors. Made in small batches, Gigi's gelato is flavorful and satisfying (and you don't need to eat a whole lot to be happy). Gelato uses milk and has less air churned into it, while ice cream uses cream and eggs (plus all that churning time), so you can ever feel slightly more healthy with gelato.

I opted for the caramel and the tiramisu, and both tasted just like their names. But I had gotten the grapefruit sorbet in my head, and these two didn't stand up against the sorbet. I tasted a few other sorbets as well, and I can safely say they're all amazing. Gigi's has great gelato, but even better sorbet.

We had a little time to kill, and we started talking about our favorite things to do in the North End. I said "This may sound crazy, but I love going to the True Value hardware store, which has one of the best selections of kitchen wares in the area." I'm sure no one there was expecting that answer (and I'm sure my father will now use this as an excuse to drag me to Home Depot with him). And since we had some time to kill, I hijacked the tour and led us over to the hardware store (which is filled with things like fancy glass jars from Italy and ravioli stamps and pizelle irons, all of which I covet). Seriously, check out this hardware store on Salem Street the next time you're in the North End; there is some awesome stuff to be had there.

We moved onto the next stop in the tour, DePasquale's Homemade Pasta on Cross Street, right across from the Greenway. This shop makes tons of fresh pasta for customers as well as a few of the restaurants in the North End. They have more shapes, sizes, and flavors (lobster, squid ink, mushroom) than I knew existed, and they have tons of traditional and not-so-traditional (marshmallow and chocolate, anyone?) ravioli to choose from. I asked the manager what his favorite was, and he pointed out the radiatori, because its unique shape allows the sauce to cling to it. We were also told that a good way to choose a pasta is to start backwards and think about the kind of sauce you want. The sauce will often dictate the flavors needed in the pasta, so you can create a more unified meal by working backwards. The staff at DePasquale's was wonderful and filled with ideas on how to prepare each and every kind of pasta in the shop.

For our last stop, we headed to Lucca for dinner. Bertolli was started in the town of Lucca in Italy, so it seemed like a fitting spot to celebrate everything we had learned throughout the day. As we talked, we enjoyed this wonderful antipasto plate, filled with meats, cheeses, calamari, olives, and pickled vegetables.

Although pasta is not considered a main dish in Italy, we were all pretty full, so a sampling of two different pasta dishes was more than enough. The pasta duo consisted of tagliatelle with lobster, chanterelle mushrooms, corn, scallions, and crispy bacon in a cream sauce and ravioli stuffed with goat cheese and caramelized onion, served with fava beans, escarole, cherry tomatoes, and basil. The two dishes were so diverse that I felt like I could go back and forth between them and not get tired of the flavors. The ravioli were sweet and fresh-tasting, while the tagliatelle was luxurious (and you didn't even need the lobster on there for it to be delicious).

We were all well and stuffed by then, having eaten for a good part of the last 5 hours. We ordered a few of Lucca's desserts to pass around the table, including the chocolate flourless cake, the panna cotta, the tiramisu, and my favorite, the almond basil cake. There were lots of tastes of grappa around the table, but I opted for some espresso (I was joining my friends for Harry Potter later that evening).

I waddled back to my car, filled with wonderful food and good ideas and toting a bag filled with goodies we received at each stop along the way. I now have all the ingredients needed to make an authentically Italian meal at home - Lavazza coffee (thanks to Caffe Vittoria), Rubio balsamic vinegar (thick and unlike any vinegar from the supermarket) and pecorino cheese (thanks to Salumeria Italiana), some of that fine radiatori (thanks to DePasquale's Pasta), and of course, some olive oil and tomato sauce from our hosts, Bertolli. I can happily say that I have tried some of all of these already (with a post to come), and if I sit amongst my tomato and basil plants while I eat, I can really feel like I'm enjoying a meal in Italy.


Caffe Vittoria

Gigi Gelateria

Lucca

Full Disclosure note: This tour and samples were provided to me for free from Bertolli. But I wouldn't write about it if I didn't like it!

Where To Eat Magazine's Taste of Lucca

I love trying new restaurants, but it can be hard to get a good idea of what they offer from only a dish or two. Tasting menus can be a great way around this, but they're usually a little too expensive for me. Enter Where To Eat's 10th Anniversary dinners. The magazine, which publishes restaurant information for casual dinners and insiders alike, has been celebrating 10 years in print by hosting "A Taste Of" dinners, featuring a different restaurant each month. These dinners have been going on since September, but you still have four more months to jump on the train. They are held on the first Tuesday of every month until July, and people who make their reservation early are able to attend the cocktail hour beforehand. They've already had dinners at Radius, Gaslight, Masa, and Upstairs on the Square... and now Lucca in the Back Bay.

These special dinners are built around three tastes of three courses. The other restaurants have served all three tastes on one plate, as if they were a regular course, but the chef at Lucca chose to serve each item separately, which made the meal longer but also a touch more formal.

Our appetizers started with an Island Creek oyster topped with bacon, lemon, and truffle oil. The flavors were remarkably balanced - truffle oil can be delicate, but it held its own here. We moved on to the Insalata alla Romana (above), which was basically a deconstructed Caesar salad. I especially loved the pickled shallots and slice of lemon (I don't have it in my notes - was it preserved lemon?), which added a nice bite that was different from the usual garlicky-ness of Caesar dressing. The deviled egg on the plate, however, was superfluous. Finally, we had a pureed soup of sunchoke and fennel with confit fennel and a pomegranate-peppercorn syrup. Everyone at the table loved this soup, and I was scraping the sides of the cup clean with my bread. It was definitely a warm and hearty soup for a cold winter's night - I would have loved more than just a taste.

Our entree dishes began with Rigatoni Bolognese, with homemade pasta covered in a thick sauce of beef, veal, and pork. Now THAT'S a bolognese. My favorite of the entrees was up next, a beautifully pan-seared scallop (above) with spinach and shiitake mushrooms, drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette. I love ordering scallops at restaurants because I have such a hard time cooking them - this one was perfect. And the lemon vinaigrette? I could drizzle it on everything and be happy. The final entree was hanger steak with a semolina dumpling and broccoli rabe. The starch was my favorite part of the dish, filled with herbs and pan-fried to have a crispy exterior and creamy interior.


By dessert, we had lost most of our dining companions - the evening was simply stretching out too long. A brave few of us, though, including Where To Eat's publisher Jill Epstein and Fiona from A Boston Food Diary, held strong throughout the dessert course. Our first taste was pound cake with passion fruit panna cotta, coconut crumble, and a butterscotch pudding sauce. The cake was too dense for my taste, but I found the panna cotta tart and fresh - it whisked me away to a tropical place. This was followed by apple crisp - while strange because it feels so out of season, this was one of the best apple crisp's I've had. The topping was actually crisp, while the apples were cooked through and well seasoned. The last dessert, though, was my favorite - a chocolate semifreddo with orange marmalade, coffee anglaise, and candied pistachios (above). Billed as an "Orange Mochaccino," the dish tasted just perfect with all the flavors combined. But then, I do love a good chocolate dessert - it was nice to see something other than a flourless chocolate cake on a menu for once.

I'm not sure where the next four Where To Eat dinners will be held, but if they're anything like this fabulous meal at Lucca, they'll be worth a reservation.

Cheap Eats: Pizzeria Dante

Sometimes a restaurant's decor can be misleading. We've all been to places that seem fancy but serve up mediocre food. In the case of Pizzeria Dante in Coolidge Corner, the exact opposite is true - it may look like any other brightly lit pizzeria, but the food choices prove that there's more going on in the kitchen.

Dante's pizza is built on basics: a chewy dough with just enough crunch on the bottom, a tomatoey tomato sauce, and plenty of cheese that's not too greasy. Unusual toppings only add to the fantastic basics. The Rabe pizza is topped with bitter broccoli rabe, sweet Italian sausage, and roasted red peppers. The LA pizza is covered in thin slices of potato, bacon, and scallions (although why it's named LA is beyond us). And the Bianco features black olives, breaded eggplant slices, and some of the creamiest, sweetest ricotta we've had.

Pizzeria Dante also offers other tasty Italian dishes. This Bostonist really loved their arancini, homemade rice balls mixed with peas, shredded carrots, ground beef, and plenty of mozzarella cheese. For $5, the serving of arancini was huge and filling and sated our need for warm comfort food. To end your meal, try a scoop of gelato, piled high in little tubs next to the register, just like in Italy (or the North End).

Pizzeria Dante is located at 1398 Beacon Street in Brookline. They are open Monday through Saturday, 11:30am to 10pm, and Sunday, noon to 9pm.

Originally published on Bostonist.

Cheap Eats: Dante

The Royal Sonesta near the Cambridgeside Galleria and the Museum of Science may seem like an odd place to go for food, but once you realize that it is the home of chef Dante deMagistris' first restaurant, Dante, the destination doesn't seem so odd. The restaurant overlooks the river, making it a quiet escape in a traffic-harried area. And while Dante's regular menu runs $35 for 3 courses, you can take advantage of Buzz Hour, a menu of special sfizi (whimsies), for only $1 each.

The $1 sfizi menu is available weekdays from 4-7pm in the bar area. With six different choices, you can order them all and still be spending short money. Bostonist recommends the arancini (above), delicately fried risotto balls drizzled with honey. The best value is in the olives and the hummus, both rather large servings considering the price tag. Smaller, but more interesting ingredient-wise, are the fresh ricotta bruschetta and the pepe imbottiti, small peppers stuffed with meat and cheese. Oysters are also available at $1 a piece.

Whether you're looking for a post-shopping rest or a pre-IMAX bite, Dante's Buzz Hour delivers delicious food quickly and cheaply. Even the cocktails are reasonably priced (on Boston's standards, at least). Dante is located at 40 Edwin Land Boulevard in Cambridge, and Buzz Hour is available from 4-7pm weekdays.

Originally published on Bostonist.

Blogger Dinner at Tavolo, Dorchester

High ceilings, large windows letting in plenty of light, long red curtains, cool swirly globe lamps, and one of the coolest wall murals I've seen in a long time all set the stage for a fantastic meal at Tavolo in Dorchester. The restaurant, which mostly has a name as a pizza place, hosted a dinner for ten bloggers last night, and they really took the chance to showcase some of their dishes that stray away from pizza and pasta.

I took a seat facing the wall, and usually I wouldn't spend so much time avoiding my dining companions, but the wall murals by local artist Kiki Ikura were just tremendous - it looked like chalk on a blackboard, but was smudgeless, and was whimsical and lighthearted without being silly or childish. She painted two walls like this, using a cherry picker to get all the way up to the ceiling, and they murals give a lot of life to the room and the restaurant.

We started off with a light salad of watermelon, feta, lemon, olive oil, mint, and basil. Watermelon and feta are really an amazing combination, and this version of the dish was a perfect balance of sweet and salty and tart. I even sopped up the leftover juices with a slice of bread.

Next was gnocchi alla Gricia, little puffs of potato with pancetta, pecorino, and local fava beans. I guess I've had too many bad renditions of gnocchi - hard, dense, gummy, or just gross - but these were fantastic. They were light and fluffy, didn't stick to my teeth, and soaked up just enough of the sauce to take on the flavors without becoming too sticky. The pancetta and pecorino added salt and umami, and the fava beans were a nice surprise of bright, fresh flavor. I would have been content to just eat a big bowl of this and call it a night...

We also enjoyed a taste of the house's meatballs, which were amazing. They were homey and evenly spiced, and the tomato sauce they came in was something that the chef had obviously spent a long time cooking. On the regular menu, the meatballs feature prominently - they can be added to many of the pasta dishes, or can be front-and-center in a panini. Definitely a dish to take advantage of.

After the gnocchi and meatballs, we moved on to a swordfish involtini. This was one of the many things that were on our menu that I would never order, but yet greatly enjoyed the way it was cooked at Tavolo. I'm just not a fan of swordfish - but after eating this, I think it may be because it is usually served in thick steaks without much seasoning, which brings out the fishy flavor to me. The involtini was a thin slice of fish, wrapped around a mash of fontina, garlic, and parsley. It was so tasty, in fact, that I cleaned the plate. (Note for my parents, who are undoubtedly going to read this and think swordfish is now my favorite fish: Unless you wrap it around cheese and garlic, I don't want it.)

Next up was a roast duck breast, served over faro and fresh string beans, with a little bit of red currant jam. Duck is another thing I don't like, but this rendition was nicely cooked and had a delightful crispy skin. The beans were perfectly cooked - still crispy, but not raw, and with enough salt to really bring out their flavor.

By then, we were all stuffed, but still felt the need for something sweet to wrap up the meal. We were served a blueberry "Genetti" cake - toasted blueberry pound caked with a touch of whipped cream and a light blueberry sauce. (For those of you keeping track at home, blueberries are another food I can't stand, but were very actually quite tasty in this form.) I absolutely loved that the cake was toasted - the edges were crisp and almost caramelized, which took something simple like pound cake to a whole different level.

Looking more closely at my menu and the restaurant's regular menu, I see that almost all of what we ate is not on the regular menu. That being said, each and every bite was delicious, and I'm sure the regular offerings are just as good. Tavolo is really trying to get away from their image as "just" a pizza place, and if the dishes I tried were any indication, they are definitely doing a great job of it.

Cheap Eats: Rocca

It seems that happy hour is truly back in Boston. No, bars still can't offer drink specials like in so many other states, but they can offer a close second with cheap and delicious food. Rocca is one of the many Boston restaurants that has picked up on this trend, and their 5@5 deal is one of the best around. Two choices would definitely be big enough for a meal, or order them all and share with friends.

Take a seat at the bar at Rocca Monday through Friday from 5 until 6:30 to take advantage of their special menu. They offer some of their regular appetizers at basically half price. The corn and tomato pizzetta (above) is a satisfying, crunchy pizza, with something closer to cracker for a crust than the usual dough. The calamari (below) with red pepper aioli, served in a pile larger than you'd think for $5, is light and crisp, a delight compared to so many bad versions of the dish that are available out there. The farinata, a type of flatbread made with chickpea flour and mixed with mushrooms and caramelized onions, is crunchy and dense - a full meal by itself. The zucchini fritti features long spears of squash with the same crispy exterior as the calamari, and it is served with a garlicky yogurt and a tomato relish. Oh, and a lobster slider? Served with fennel mayo, pancetta, tomato, and arugula, it's hard to say no.

Rocca is located at 500 Harrison Boulevard in the South End, and they offer free parking in the lot next to their building. The 5@5 bar menu is available Monday-Friday, 5:00-6:30. Rocca also offers a three-course dinner Sundays and Mondays, 5:30-10:00pm, for $22, for those looking for a slightly more expensive cheap eat.

Originally published on Bostonist.

Cheap Eats: Sage

Sage, formerly of the North End, now of the South End, doesn't seem like the best spot for cheap eats. Pastas hover around the $20 mark, and entrees run between $20 and $35. But between the hours of 5:00pm and 7:30pm on Monday through Friday, only $10 will buy you a heap of food in the form of delicious little bar bites.

The stuzzi menu is part of the dinner menu, but don't be afraid to make them your whole meal. For your $10, pick any three of the dishes. Everything is great for sharing - or you could just selfishly keep them all for yourself. Sage's short rib arancini (below), crispy little rice balls stuffed with savory meat, are an excellent choice, as are the hearty potato panzeroti with fontina cheese, the meatballs (polpetti - either with meat or veggies), the chickpea caponata (a lovely light salad with plenty of chickpeas and pickled eggplant), or the lightly fried zucchini (above). Depending on how hungry you are, the stuzzi could make up your entire meal or could just start your night out right. The menu on the restaurant's website is a little out of date - there were 22 choices available when this Bostonist visited.

Sage also offers pizzas for $10 each. They offer a traditional Margherita with tomato, mozzarella, and basil, as well as a white pizza with spinach and mozzarella. With a crisp crust and served on a wooden board, these pizzas are big enough for a meal, or you could split a pizza and 3 stuzzi with a friend.

Sage is located at 1395 Washington Street in the South End. The 3 for $10 stuzzi deal is available from 5:00-7:30pm Monday through Friday.

Originally published on Bostonist.

Butternut/Hazelnut Lasagna

It started when my friend Ann told me about a butternut squash lasagna that she had made - very tasty, but it had no structure. The squash was too loose, basically forming a mush that the noodles floated around in. Definitely not up to lasagna criteria. She was still craving the dish, though, so we went about trying to find a better recipe.

When I eventually stumbled across this recipe on Epicurious, I was intrigued. The hazelnuts, it seemed, would give the filling enough substance to stand up on its own, and I also tend to favor lasagnas that use bechamel, so I was sold. I did have to tweak the recipe anyway, though, because their rendition of bechamel - well, it just didn't work. We had to get out a strainer and there was lost garlic and - yeah, not worth it. I've subbed in a better (and easier) version of bechamel below.

We served with with some pan-fried kielbasa, and I think it was almost needed. The saltiness of the meat cut the sweetness of the lasagna and made for a more balanced flavor.

Also, my cheese measurements are approximate. I'm not one to cook with definite quantities (especially of things like cheese), so really, feel free to put in as much or as little cheese as you see fit (although, if you see fit to add less, we can no longer be friends).

Butternut/Hazelnut Lasagna

For the filling:
1 large onion, chopped
3 Tbsp butter
3 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, loose skins removed, and finely chopped

For the bechamel:
5 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
5 cups milk
1 bay leaf
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp salt

For layering:
2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella
1 cup finely grated pecorino Romano
1 lb fresh lasagna noodles, uncooked (you can use 12 sheets of no-boil lasagna noodles if you can't make or buy fresh pasta)

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes. Add squash, garlic, salt, and white pepper, and continue to cook until the squash is tender, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley, sage, and half of the hazelnuts. Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender until smooth (if you like it a little chunkier, puree with an immersion blender). Set aside.

For the bechamel, using a small sauce pot on medium-low, heat butter until melted. Add flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture is golden, stiring constantly, about 6 minutes. In a separate pot, heat milk until almost boiling. Add milk to butter, 1 cup at a time, whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil, add bay leaf and garlic, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add salt and nutmeg; remove bay leaf.

To assemble the lasagna, spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 glass baking dish. Lay down pasta sheets to cover the bottom of the pan, making sure they do not overlap. Spread with 2/3 cup of the sauce, then a third of the squash filling, then a half cup of mozzarella. Sprinkle with pecorino and remaining hazelnuts. Repeat layering process two more times, going from pasta to cheese and nuts. Finish with a layer of pasta topped with the remaining bechamel and cheese.

To bake, preheat oven to 425°. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbly. Let lasagna sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Cheap Eats: Galleria Umberto

If the snow this weekend proved anything, it's that it's definitely the season for comfort food. And pizza and fried foods are on many people's comfort food lists. Galleria Umberto, a no-frills cafeteria-style restaurant in the North End, is one of the most perfect places in the city to find hot and filling treats to make your stomach happy.

Galleria Umberto specializes in Sicilian-style fast food at amazingly cheap prices. Square slices of pizza ($1.35) are better than anything you ate at school as a kid, with a springy and yeasty dough, sweet tomato sauce, and cheese that is just this side of the golden/burnt divide (despite the poor lighting in the picture above). The arancini ($2.50), fried rice balls stuffed with ground meat, cheese, and peas, are the size of a fist and have a crispy exterior and a creamy interior. The panzarotti ($1.25) are giant potato croquettes, studded with flavorful parsley and with a little bit of cheese at the center. Galleria Umberto also offers a variety of personal-sized calzones, with both meat and vegetarian filling options. Beer and wine are available, which always make lunchtime a little more fun.

Galleria Umberto is located at 289 Hanover Street in the North End. They are open Monday through Saturday, 11am until food runs out (usually sometime after 1pm). And don't forget to bring some patience - it can take a little while to get to the head of the line.

Originally posted on Bostonist.

Cheap Eats: Bottega Fiorentina

Fall and the accompanying cooler weather mean apples, pumpkins... and comfort food like pasta. Luckily, Bottega Fiorentina (both on Newbury Street and the original location in Coolidge Corner) offers a multitude of fresh and fantastic pasta dishes daily to fill that need.

You could eat at Bottega Fiorentina every day for weeks and never have the same thing twice. There are five specials a day (like Tuesday's lasagna with meat and bechamel or Friday's pumpkin tortellini in a butter sage sauce), plus a made-to-order option with your choice of pasta and sauce. The penne with Fedora sauce (tomato, red pepper, garlic, rosemary, and cream), pictured above, is both sweet and spicy, and the pasta is cooked to a perfect al dente. The majority of the pasta dishes are under $10 and are available for dine-in or take-out.

Bottega Fiorentina is located at 264 Newbury Street in Boston (open daily 10am-10pm) and 313 Harvard Street in Brookline (open Monday through Saturday 11am-8:30pm).

Originally posted on Bostonist.

Brookline
Boston

Rosewater Pizzelles

Pizzelles are one of my favorite Italian treats... there's nary a time when a trip to the North End doesn't end with me swinging a big bag of pizzelles in my hands as I walk back to the T. But on my last visit, when I realized that two packages of these cookies set me back about $10, I decided it was time to make my own. Thankfully, my friends gave me a pizzelle iron for my birthday - you can't make these without one of these mini-waffle makers.

My first try, though, did not work out as I had expected. They were way too sweet, and there was no anise in the house, so they were a bit boring in flavor. For this batch, I wanted to try something a little different - rosewater. I love baking with rosewater because the heat of the oven (or iron, in this case) really calms the floral taste, leaving just a hint of rose behind.


Rosewater Pizzelles
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons rosewater
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add the melted butter, vanilla, and rosewater and beat until smooth. Add flour and baking powder and mix with a large spoon.

Heat pizzelle iron according to manufacturer's instructions. Spray with non-stick cooking spray before the first use (do not spray for each cookie, though). Using two spoons to scoop the batter into rounded spoonfuls, put batter slightly behind the center of the iron, so it doesn't smoosh out when you close the top. Pizzelles take 30-45 seconds to cook. Lift cookies off the iron with a wooden spoon and let cool on a wire rack. Cookies can be shaped (over small bowls, around wooden dowels, etc) while still hot. Store in an air-tight container.

Obscene Amounts of Food at Maggiano's

Dinner at Maggiano’s has become a roughly once a year tradition with my friends. We always do the family style meal – all you can eat for $26 – and because there’s so much food, it’s no surprise that we only manage it once in a blue moon. For a chain restaurant with such a low price point for the whole meal, it’s amazing that the food is any good at all… but it is surprisingly tasty (oh, and did I mention plentiful?). In fact, I think the quality is better than many of the more touristy places in the North End.

With the family style meal, you pick two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two entrees, and two desserts, and they’ll bring refills of whatever you want – plus wrap up whatever you haven’t finished so you can take it home. With so many choices, it leaves plenty of room for everyone to get something that they want.

On this outing, we ordered the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Mozzarella Marinara, Caesar salad, Chopped salad, Gnocchi in Vodka Sauce, Chicken and Spinach Manicotti, Lemon Salmon, Chicken Saltimbocca, Chocolate Zuccotto Cake, and the Profiteroles. The Apple Crostada was given to us as well to make up for some bad service – I don’t know if it was a timing issue with the kitchen or what, but the second half of our meal was mired by longer than normal waits and inattentive service. The food, though, was all delicious. We had to keep reminding each other that more food was coming so we wouldn’t fill up on any one dish. I don’t think I would order the mozzarella (fairly mundane) or the salmon (boring, and more fishy-tasting than I expected) again, but everything else was great – the manicotti and desserts stand out in particular.

Kale Lasagna with Bechamel

Lasgna is not a difficult thing to make, and there are so many variations that it can be a completely different meal every time. I've always made lasagna with a tomato sauce and lots of ricotta, subbing in whatever veggies I have on hand. Lasagna made with bechamel, which I order whenever I see it on a menu, always seemed difficult and time-consuming. It wasn't until I actually tried making bechamel that I discovered just how easy it is.

Replacing tomato sauce and ricotta in a lasagna with bechamel makes the final product seem lighter and springier (even if the milk has more fat than the ricotta would have). The pasta doesn't need to be cooked beforehand as long as it it completely covered with sauce; the heat, moisture, and steam will cook it through.

Kale Lasagna with Bechamel
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6-8 large leaves of kale, chopped and stems removed
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
5 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
4 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped
1 pound fresh pasta, rolled out as thin as possible

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add oil and cook until fragrant. Add kale and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until kale is wilted down and carrots are tender. Set aside to cool.

For the bechamel, using a small sauce pot on medium-low, heat butter until melted. Add flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture is golden, stiring constantly, about 6 minutes. In a separate pot, heat milk until almost boiling. Add milk to butter, 1 cup at a time, whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add salt, nutmeg, and parsley.

To assemble, cover the bottom of a glass baking dish with a layer of sauce. Lay down a layer of pasta. For each layer, add bechamel, making sure the pasta is completely covered by the sauce so it will cook through. Alternate layers of the kale mixture and the chopped mozzarella, finishing with mozzarella on the top.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake lasagna for 30-50 minutes, until cheese on top begins to brown. Cut a few holes through the layers to allow steam out.

Restaurant Week: Rocca

I went to my last Restaurant Week dinner on Friday night with friends at Rocca in the South End. I arrived wicked early and ended up spending plenty of time in the bar, where my roommate and I spent about an hour discussing how there were too many shades of gold going on in the decor. The drinks, however, were much better than the clashing golds - the Scandalo al Sole is like a margarita with the sharp bite of ginger beer, and the Vino Francesca is a rose wine infused with sage, lemon, and honey, which all blend together to form a very unique flavor.


What grabbed me about the Rocca RW menu online was the farinata appetizer. I love farinata (and the similar socca), crispy pancakes made with chickpea flour that are popular in southern France and all of Italy, especially in Liguria (Rocca is focused on Ligurian cuisine). This version was delicious - thicker than I expected, but crispy on both sides and slightly creamy in the middle. And while I'm not a big mushroom fan, the mushrooms incorporated into the batter were tender and flavorful. The farinata was paired with spicy arugula tossed in a bright and lemony vinaigrette for a very well-rounded taste. Yum!


For my main meal, I really wanted beef, so the options were hanger steak or short ribs. Since I had also been craving tender and slow-cooked meat, I had to go with the ribs. They were just what I wanted - rich and tender and meaty and delicious. The dish was served with polenta, brussel sprouts, and a horseradish gremolata. The polenta was perfect - creamy with butter and just a bit of cheese. The gremolata was tasty, but there wasn't much horseradish flavor there. The brussel sprouts were a big loss for the dish; they were undercooked and rather forgettable. Overall, though, the dish was very satisfying and filling (and warm, perfect for a night with 50+ mph winds).


As with the rest of the menu, dessert included some unique and fresh ingredients that sounded delicious. I opted for the pine nut custard tart with fresh figs. The tart was very good, especially the custard. It was served with whip cream that I thought must have included some egg whites; it was too stiff to have been only cream. I really enjoyed the tart, but it was very rich - I could have used a smaller slice.

As a note, I've read a lot of complaints about the temperature of food in the second floor dining room after its trip from the basement kitchen. I had no issue with this and was quite happy with the temperature of my dishes.

Overall, the food at Rocca was very good. I would gladly go again, especially to try the handmade pasta. It is, unfortunately, very out of the way for me, but the free parking at the restaurant is a big help (so at least I can go with friends with cars).

Restaurant Week: Sage

My Restaurant Week meals continued last night with dinner at Sage in the South End. I had been meaning to try it forever, well before they moved from the North End last year. Luckily, my friends entrust RW reservations to me, so I put it on our short list.

I arrived well before my friends, so I took a seat at the bar for a drink and a little reading time. The Ruins is hard to read while perched on a bar stool in the middle of a room (although it does make T rides fly by), so I kept getting distracted by the Food Network on the TV. The bartender mixed me an excellent Tuscan Flare - gin, orange bitters, orange juice, and muddled rosemary. The rosemary paired beautifully with the gin, making it a little less pine-y and a lot more delicious. Mix me up another!


For my appetizer, I went with the gnocchi with sage and butternut squash. The gnocchi were soft and not at all gummy, but not quite melt-in-your-mouth either. At first, I was a little turned off by the slight crunchiness to the squash, but I began to appreciate the contrast in textures with the pasta. The seasoning was excellent, with the sage in a supporting role.


The Chicken Milanese was the weakest part of the meal, but still quite good. The fry on the crust was perfect - the crispy breadcrumbs sealed in the juiciness of the meat. The dish was topped with arugula and tomatoes and served with a gazpacho-like sauce, which added the right amount of enhancement for the dish. We also ordered a side of arancini, stuffed with braised beef - salty and so good.


I ordered the ricotta zeppole with berry compote for dessert. The little fritters had almost custard-like centers. They seemed small on the plate, but the taste was huge when paired with the warm and syrupy berries. I also snagged a few bites of the warm chocolate mousse and was pleasantly surprised by the orange undertones. We all thought that, had it been a slightly thinner consistancy, it would have made unbelievable hot chocolate (much like L.A. Burdick's). Of course, I'm always happy to see a chocolate dessert that is on the bitter side.

Regular prices at Sage would make a 3-course meal around $45 - higher than the $33 RW deal, but still pretty good for the caliber of food.

Another big plus about Sage? They were playing Morphine on the stereo when I went to the ladies' room. Definitely made me smile.