Fried Olive Salad Toppers

Like I said, olives are delicious and make me happy. I couldn't choose just one January Kitchen PLAY recipe featuring Lindsay Olives, so I tried a second one for kicks. Because what's not to love about CHEESE-STUFFED FRIED OLIVES?! Dear god, they're wonderful.

I followed Fake Ginger's recipe, subbing in feta for roquefort and adding a small oregano leaf with the cheese. I ate a few of these straight out of the fryer and of course loved them, but they needed something. I grabbed some arugula from the fridge and tossed it lightly with a little lemon vinaigrette (basically just 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil), then perched a few olives on top. What a perfect match! The bitter greens stood up to the saltiness of the olives, the tender leaves contrasted with the crispiness of the fried bits, and the unctuous of the olive oil and the olives tied everything together. So while these make a very tasty amuse bouche as Fake Ginger intended, I loved them far more as delicious little croutons on my salad.

Cheese-Stuffed Olives
1 can Lindsay black olives, drained and patted dry
2 ounces feta
handful small oregano leaves
1 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
about 2 cups canola or vegetable oil, for frying

Stuff each olive with a piece of feta and an oregano leaf. (If the cheese is very crumbly, just stuff in as much as you can.)

Heat oil in a tall-sided pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, work a few olives at a time: roll in flour, dip in egg, then coat with panko before adding to the hot oil. Cook until golden on one side, then flip and cook until golden. Cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the rest of the olives. Salt lightly before serving.

Good Intentions Arugula Soup

So I have this problem (I'm sure I'm not alone in this) where I always buy way too much produce than I can use. It stems from good intentions - to eat fresh and healthy. But sometimes the last thing I want to think about is how to use those items before they go bad.

Luckily, my brother was watching Giada on the Food Network last week, and in my grand lazy tradition, I just couldn't be bothered to get off the couch to do something else. The episode was all about how to use leftovers, and one recipe was for lettuce soup. And what did I have in plenty in my fridge, just on the verge of no longer being edible? Lots of arugula, my favorite salad green.

I tweaked the recipe a little, especially to add my favorite arugula accompaniments - honey and pecorino. The original recipe calls for little disks of goat cheese to top the soup, so give it a try either way.

Arugula Soup adapted from Everyday Italian

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large or 2 small shallots, diced
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken stock
washed and dried arugula (about 6 ounces)
salt and pepper
honey
pecorino Romano cheese

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and cook until shallots begin to brown. Add potatoes and chicken stock and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in arugula. When the greens are cooked down (about 3 minutes), puree with a hand blender (you can transfer the solids to a blender if you prefer). Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top soup with a drizzle of honey and a handful of shaved pecorino. If you put leftovers in individual containers, add honey and cheese - the cheese gets all melty when the soup is reheated.

Creamy Polenta

I cleaned out my pantry this weekend and discovered all kinds of good stuff that I had forgotten about. Behind a giant canister of Quaker oats, I found an unopened bag of polenta. I must have bought it in the fall sometime. I've never cooked polenta before (well, besides the preformed slice-and-serve kind), so I was a little hesitant because I thought it would be hard. But having made it now (both creamy and the harder kind, thanks to a misprint in the recipe I was using), I can pleasantly say that this is easy enough for a weeknight meal when I barely feel like cooking. Plus, it's always good to find a new way to eat one of my favorite combos, arugula and pecorino.

Creamy polenta with arugula and bacon

- 5 cups water
- 1 cup polenta
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
- 4-6 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 large bunch of arugula (about 1/2 pound), well washed and dried
- shredded pecorino romano
- olive oil

In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. Add polenta in a slow stream, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low and add a hefty pinch of salt. Stir frequently to prohibit sticking. The polenta is done when big lava-like bubbles form and the grains are no longer hard. Stir in parmesan and set aside.

In a saute pan, fry bacon on medium heat until the meat is nicely browned. Pour off as much fat as possible, then add arugula and let it wilt. Add a little of the bacon fat back in if it seems too dry.

To serve, heap the polenta on a dish and top with the arugula and bacon mixture. Sprinkle with shredded or shaved pecorino romano and drizzle with olive oil.

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).

La Morra, Brookline

My roommate's firm very nicely invited me to their holiday dinner, rounding the list of attendees out to an even 6. I, of course, had to make it 6 1/2 by toting along my camera.

Now, I've had my eye on La Morra in Brookline Village for quite some time, and I would have eventually made a trip there myself had this dinner invitation not come along. The menu, especially, was intriguing, with a more authentic Italian palate than most places, like baccala and game meats.

We started with some items off the cicchetti menu. Cicchetti are bar snacks, served in small portions. We had the arancini stuffed with braised beef and mozzarella, the pickled vegetables, the salt cod crostini, and the fried sage and anchovies. Now, I have to say, I've never been a big fan of salt cod or anchovies, but these were delicious, filled with salty goodness. The arancini were melt-in-your-mouth when they were hot, but started to lose some of their quality as they cooled (as with most fried foods).

Dinner was a hard decision. The pastas sounded wonderful, especially the squash gnocchi with roasted pears and amaretti, but I heeded the steak's siren song instead. The hanger steak was grilled to a redder medium than I would have expected, but tasted fantastic nonetheless. It was served with forgettable potatoes, delicious wilted arugula in a lemony dressing, and a chianti sauce of which I sopped up every last drop.


Chocolate seemed like a good dessert to follow the steak, so I ordered the Torta Caprese, a flourless chocolate almond cake with raspberry sorbet. The cake was good, but wasn't much more than a brownie. But hey, who am I to argue with chocolate? The sorbet was very good, with a bright, fresh raspberry flavor that added depth to the cake.

So after this wonderful dinner (filled with wonderful conversation), I know I'll be back to La Morra soon, to try the gnocchi and some more cicchetti if nothing else.

Vapiano - Dupont Circle, DC

I was a little bummed out that I had to work the weekend before Halloween (that's two years in a row now!). The trustees of my institution met in Washington, DC. A highlight of the meetings themselves was Friday evening at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - drinks in the Hope Diamond room and dinner in the Hall of Mammals. Pretty classy, and I'm slapping myself now for not taking pictures.

Another great part of the weekend was getting the chance to hang out with one of my high school friends. Saturday night we watched the Sox from a bar packed with Boston fans - we couldn't help but laugh as the group behind us talked about going to Sturbridge Village with their elementary school classes... yep, done that.

On Sunday we wandered around the city, shopping and dining as the spirit took us. By the time we were headed back towards my hotel from Dupont Circle, we were both a little peckish. She spotted Vapiano, a place she's been dying to try for a while, and me, well, I'm always up for Italian food, so we headed on in.


This place reminded me a lot of Marche, which used to have a huge outpost in the Prudential Building in Boston, only this was much smaller and hipper. When you enter, they give you a card which you have to swipe at each station as you order your food. At the end, they just run the card through the register, and each order is added up. Much easier and neater than those Marche paper slips and stamps. Everything is red or black or a neutral color, and there are no regular tables, just deep leather chairs with short tables or bar stools along long high tops.

For our first course, we ordered the rucula pizza, a made-when-ordered cheese pizza topped with tons of fresh arugula and loaded with shaved parmesan. Have I mentioned before that arugula is possible the best green in the world? I could eat this pizza every day and be quite happy. The crust was very thin, although a little unstable, especially with the load of salad on top. Definitely a pizza to eat with knife and fork.


Course two was from the other half of the menu, pasta. Right away, both of us were drawn to one unusual combo - lime and mint. The sauce is simple and delicious, and I'm sure I'll be copying it at home. A little olive oil, a little butter, some lime juice, some fresh mint, and garlic, topped with grated parmesan and lots of fresh black pepper. Mmmm. I think I'll add some lime zest when I try it out, it could have used just a touch more lime zing.


And of course you need a little sweet to end the meal. There are a few desserts on the menu, but we opted for the candy dish on the way out. Now, most restaurants offer mints or small chocolates. Not here. Gummi bears, baby!

So the next time I'm in the area (who knows what that'll be) and need a quick and cheap bite, I know I'll be headed for Vapiano.

Unfortunately, this international chain's only US locations are in DC. Testing the waters, I'm sure. I'd love to see this come to Boston where it would fit in well, despite the plethora of Italian food.