[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Never loose sight of simplicity” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%23e69b10″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][mk_dropcaps style=”fancy-style” background_color=”#727272″]I[/mk_dropcaps][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1539656900715{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]recently returned from my first trip to my ancestor’s homeland, Italy. I wanted to go to Italy for many reasons but above all this, I wanted to experience the food. It was a truly incredible experience and I learned so much about history, culture and my heritage, but what I enjoyed the most was the small restaurants that opened a whole new appreciation for both cooking and eating with seasonal ingredients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”351″ img_size=”300×300″ style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1539657451037{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Everything in Europe is so different than here in the U.S. but the food is truly a unique experience. Meals are created around fresh, seasonal ingredients not by what is on sale in the frozen food section. Although I am sure they exist, I could not even find a frozen department in any of the food markets I stopped into! The flavors are simple and beautiful and delicious. It was important for me to remember that sometimes the best meals come from the fewest, freshest ingredients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_blockquote font_family=”none”]

To cook Italian means to… Cook with love. Cook simply. Cook fresh.

[/mk_blockquote][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1539657472171{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Since my return home, I have been cooking with that Italian approach of simplicity. The main ingredient, whether a meat protein or a vegetable, should shine in it’s purest form rather than be masked in other flavors. Usually all it takes to create a wonderful, beautiful Italian dish is some extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and a dash of an acid. It’s remarkably humbling to cook seemingly simple dishes because you must respect each ingredient to it’s fullest and cook it perfectly. In fact, there is nothing simple about cooking simply.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”350″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][mk_dropcaps style=”fancy-style” background_color=”#727272″]S[/mk_dropcaps][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1522976347818{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]ummer seems to have finally arrived and I for one, have welcomed it with open arms- and an grill!

BBQ’s are always the same old thing no matter the crowd – hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and pickles… perhaps an occasional potato salad. I am so bored with this! (Don’t lie- I know you are too.)  I’ve had enough with classic BBQ fare. BBQ’s can be so much more creative and delicious- there’s just no reason not to people! I know it’s an American tradition to grill up those processed dogs made from things you can’t even imagine so you choose not to think about it, and then throw them on a bun. But it doesn’t have to be this way!  I am determined to take take it up a notch this year. Take the BBQ challenge with me and ditch the dogs this summer and skewer up some shrimp!

A few ideas

• BBQ sauce marinated chicken breasts
• Grilled zucchini with garlic, chili pepper, evoo, salt & pepper
• Grilled eggplant with balsamic drizzle
• Grilled Portobellos with honey and Worcestershire
• Grilled Asparagus with evoo, salt, pepper and lemon
• BBQ shrimp kabobs
• Teriyaki Marinated flank steak
• BBQ basted salmon
• grilled mahi mahi on a roll
• Grilled tomatoes

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Port Chester has a unique lock on one thing- pizza!

Not too long ago I was sitting at the now closed Greenwich Lobster House talking to some local PC friends and I posed the question, “Who makes the best pizza?” The debate got intense and lasted a solid hour and ended with no clear winner! I was a little disappointed because I truly wanted an answer! I thought it would help be clean out my take-out folder if I could decide whose pizza I liked the best. But I can’t. So the folder remains as full and active as ever!

For the title of ‘Best Port Chester Pizza,’ the toss up was between Frank’s Pizza, T&J, Frankie & Louie’s and Antonio’s. Many other pizzeria’s were discussed but only the above mentioned were considered ‘favorites.’

I can eat pizza all day, every day so I couldn’t be happier that I actually have the tough task of deciding where to order my pizza from every time I want it! I loved discussing this topic and found it interesting that other people also switch up their pizza place from time to time.

During the debate, some decisions were made that I thought would be fun to share!

Best overall food: T&J
Best Wedge: Tie between T&J and Frankie & Louie’s
Best specialty pizza: Franks
Best salads: Tie between Racanelli’s & Frank’s
Best house dressing: Tie between T&J and Racanelli’s
Best Calzone & Roll ups: Antonio’s

We did collectively decide on one thing- no one likes the chicken parm from Frank’s. The reason? They use thick chicken cutlets. I know most people probably wouldn’t care but this conversation took place amongst Italians and we Italians like our cutlets pounded thin! Sorry Frank’s.

Live Locally? What do you think?

Its a big week of Birthdays and it got me thinking…Cake or Cupcakes? Whats the preference?

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of either. When I was a kid, I distinctly remember this one birthday party held at the Roller Skating rink (why did that close anyway?) and they came around to give out cake and I said ‘no thank you. But can I have another slice of pizza?” I’m still like that! Brett heats up pie for dessert and I heat up mozzarella sticks!

Responses

I vote for mozz. Sticks too! But if I had to choose, I would choose cake. But not a typical cake. It needs to be something special like cannoli cake. Any cake that’s loaded with frosting is just not my thing and that is basically what a cupcake is. But I did drive by the pink cupcake bus the other day and some of the flavors did sound yummy like red velvet…..

I stopped eating farmed salmon years ago because of the high numbers of PCB’s, the excessive use of antibiotics in salmon farms and the the gross fact that farmed salmon meat would be grey without the use of an orange dye called Canthaxanthin, which has been linked to eye retinal problems. I could go on, but I won’t. Just trust me and always opt for wild caught, Alaskan salmon.

Like many other first time sushi goers, tuna was the first type of Sushi I tried and I fell in love with it. Then I learned about the mercury level in fresh tuna. Its so HIGH! The mercury levels change with the different types of tuna but no tuna is considered safe. Bigeye, or Ahi, is the tuna with the highest level of mercury. Guess which kind of tuna is the one most often used in sushi restaurants?

We caught a freezer’s worth of striped bass one summer and I spent 6 hours filleting and portioning the fish- I was so excited! I sat down to look up some recipes and discovered that SEVEN East Coast states issued advisories to limit eating striped bass and bluefish to 4 meals a year, and that women of child bearing years and children should avoid the fish altogether! Little did I know I had been filleting fish flavored with Polychlorinated Biphenyl.

And Shrimp- let me simply quote a caption from the book, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood, where author Taras Grescoe describes the process of shrimp farming. “The shrimp pond preparation begins with urea, superphosphate, and diesel, then progresses to the use of piscicides (fish-killing chemicals like chlorine and rotenone), pesticides and antibiotics (including some that are banned in the U.S.), and ends by treating the shrimp with sodium tripolyphosphate (a suspected neurotoxicant), Borax, and occasionally caustic soda.” So dwell on that for a while next time you enjoy your shrimp cocktail.

All this is bad enough- But radioactive waste in the ocean? Now this is an entirely new ball game. My heart actually hurts to know Japan is pumping radioactive waste into the ocean. How can this not impact the fish? Asia is the leading producer of fish for the world market and places as far and wide as India and the US have banned imports from Japan because of the impact on the food supply from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. No one seems to have any idea about the long term effects on the Pacific and its eco system and if that nuclear waste will find its way to our shores. But I do know this- I don’t think I’ll be ordering up that Big Eyed Tuna sashimi any time soon- or ever again. I have a feeling that dying our salmon is soon to be the least of our concerns.

When making cutlets of any kind, I have always floured, egged, breadcrumbed. After watching my friend, who is an excellent cook, make cutlets without the flour step, I started asking around and it seems the jury is split. Some people use flour and some skip flour.

I can’t seem to taste enough of a difference stay committed to my way, but it is hard for me to break tradition without some reasoning behind it. Its so much easier to skip the flour and soak all the cutlets in egg so you don’t need to dip, dip, dip individually.

So I logged into a cooking forum and I asked, “Does anyone know the actual purpose of flouring cutlets before putting them in the egg?”

The responses ranged but were all very good and thoughtful.

The consensus seems to be that the flour provides something for the egg to stick to (a problem I did not encounter) and without it the breadcrumbs have a tendency to separate from the meat when cooking or cooked (This did in fact happen during testing) But that if you really wanted to skip the step then to make sure you let the cutlets soak in the egg for 15-20 minutes. (I did do this so that makes sense why the breadcrumbs stuck during dipping)

So there I have it. Its optional but there is a reason to flour. But in a rush, it can be done with out the flour, but you have to be a bit more gentle with the meat.