tartare

Mmmm...Spider Pizza

Of course, different cultures will have varied tastes in ingredients, so why not have the ultimate Italian and Japanese mashup?  I give you Spider Pizza.

Hunting Morels

The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on morel hunting.  We found morels (well, a morel) on our property last year and while we haven't found any yet this year (well, we haven't looked), hope springs eternal.  It's getting a bit late for Ohio, but I am going to try anyway on Sunday. 

White Truffle Shortage

Interesting New York Times piece on the white truffle shortage:

Last year at this time, said Paulo Lima, export manager of Appennino Funghi e Tartufi outside Bologna, his company was shipping 35 kilograms (77 pounds) of white truffles every week. This year he’s been unable to ship more than a kilogram (2.2 pounds) a week. He said wholesalers are paying $4,000 a pound in the United States, where the weak dollar makes imported delicacies even more expensive.

Joe Bastianich, a partner in Del Posto, Babbo and other New York restaurants, said large truffles, the size of baseball, are selling for as much as $6,000 a pound, if they can be found.

And while they weren't cheap, I think back to when I worked at Nicola's and how generously white truffle would be shaved over certain dishes. At $4K to $6K a pound, that would now be one expensive garnish.

Adulterated Olive Oil

[via megnut.com]
Really glad to see Meg is posting again. This is a fascinating New Yorker piece on adulterated olive oil. It used to be a big problem, what with all those mysterious container ships floating around and people slapping an Italian olive oil label on say, Tunisian olive oil or worse. Thank goodness those days are over. Or are they?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller?printable=true

Summer's Bounty

Summer is the easiest time to cook, or at least, that is what I think. When else are you arrayed with such bounty, and above that, such variety? I'd like to share a few ways I had prepared summer items.

First, C had been reveling in watermelon, which has been especially good this season, at least here in lovely Ohio. So, the first dish was a play on watermelon, namely Watermelon / Heirloom Tomato / Basil:

This dish was very successful. The very sweet watermelon paired well with the mild and strong acidities of varying heirloom tomatoes, and the nice, almost sweet, anise touch of the basil.

A wonderful Caprese salad (heirloom tomatoes / fresh mozzarella / basil) presented a nice counterpoint:

Also, sorry blogging has been light. For the past three weeks, I have been pained by my knee. Turned out to be a mere flesh wound, nothing that won't bother me after another week or so. By the way, keep those cards and letters coming -- it is so nice to hear from everyone and to get all your questions!

Also, the remaining post for "A System for Creativity" is still on the way; it had been put on hold by my knee malady.