Next Up: My Kitchen Ineptitude!

Wow, it's been two months since I've written here. I thought about just abandoning it, but instead, I'm renewing my efforts with a new focus for the time being. I still might throw in some restaurant reviews here and there - in fact, I still have lots of notes and photos lined up from the last few months - but for the next few weeks or months or however long, I'll be writing about my kitchen adventures.

My long-time roommate/chef/dining companion has moved out, leaving the kitchen in my potentially dangerous hands. Let's just say I managed to set a bagel on fire in the microwave the other day. I'm capable of basic pasta dishes, an excellent Passover brisket, and some other easy stuff, but I really don't have any background knowledge of the basics of cooking. This blog will chronicle my adventures as I start from scratch and see what I'm actually capable of in the kitchen.

My kitchen goals are also intersecting with my summer weight loss goals, so I'll be focusing on making healthy, lasting changes to my lifestyle - no fad diets or anything. I've always been on the picky side, so each week I'm going to add a new fruit or veggie into my menu, something that I've never really eaten or liked in the past, and see if I can diversify my diet. I'm also going to cut back a little on red meat and try to add more chicken and fish.

This afternoon, I'm going to put together a menu for the week and then head out to Whole Foods (and possibly the Container Store, which is almost like a giant playground for me) to get some food and get organized.

Stay tuned...my first kitchen adventure will take place tonight.

Any suggestions for my summer of health/not burning the kitchen down/trying healthy new foods? If you know of any useful websites or books about cooking and healthy eating for dummies, please let me know :)

One site I'll be using a lot is Still Tasty, a giant database of foods with information about how to store them and for how long.

I'll be back later...we'll see if my kitchen survives the day!

Edit: I forgot to mention that I'll be hitting the Farmers Market circuit too, and I don't have much experience with that, so leave some tips for me :) To haggle or not to haggle...how to find the freshest produce...etc.

EventBite: Food Blogger Dinner at Petit Robert Bistro

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of schoolwork, internship searching, and some pretty awesome food blogger events, so I have some catching up to do! Today's post is about the first food blogger dinner that I attended. It was at the newest Petit Robert Bistro location, which is in Needham. (Disclaimer: As this was a special event, I received free food. I'll of course review the food honestly, but keep in mind that this wasn't a typical dinner experience.)

Just like the first two locations (Kenmore Square and Columbus Ave), the Needham Petit Robert Bistro has a distinctive mini Eiffel Tower out front. When you walk inside, you come to the bar area first - a cozy, welcoming bar that had a decent crowd despite the draft that the curtained vestibule couldn't keep out. Beyond the bar, Petit Robert Bistro is long and narrow, decorated with Eiffel Tower themed art and large dark wood shelves full of wine bottles. It was a chilly Tuesday night, and nearly every table was full.

Other food bloggers in attendance were Jennifer of Palate to Pen, Chelsee and Susie of We Are Not Martha, and JJ from Cuisine En Locale. JJ's friend Melina, a photographer, also came to the dinner, and our wonderful hostess was Chris Lyons, who does PR for a bunch of restaurants around Boston.

We started out with plenty of wine and delicious bread (which is trucked in all the way from Montreal.) The bread had a nice light crust on the outside and a perfectly soft inside.

For appetizers, we got a whole table full of dishes that were very French, and I was too picky to try most of them, but here are some photos:

Trio of Homemade Patés with Condiments - I don't eat pate, but the others really liked these.

Green and Red Vegetable Paté, Basil Oil and Tomato Concassé - Same as above.

Moules Marinières - These were great.

Old Fashion Fish Quenelle, Lobster Sauce - The French version of gefilte fish. Not my thing (I'm of the gefilte-hating minority of Jews) but the lobster sauce tasted great on the bread! Others at the table described the quenelle as very rich.

For the main course, I went the simple route and ordered the Steak Frites, a generous portion of steak with a mountain of fries. It comes with a choice of bordelaise, bearnaise, or poivre sauce; I chose bordelaise. The skirt steak had a hint of spice and a lot of juiciness, and the fries were reminicent of McDonald's (and I mean this in a good way) - thin, floppy, and delightfully salty.

Other entrees on the menu included venison with blueberries and foie gras, calf's liver sauteed with carmelized onions and bacon, and pan-seared sweetbreads in a creamy leek-mustard sauce. These wintery items are on the way out though; a new spring menu is on the way.

There's really nothing to say about dessert except that it was spectacular and decadent, so I'll just post the photos. I didn't manage to get a picture of my favorite, the mousse au chocolat with a langue de chat cookie, but here are the rest of the desserts that we devoured:

Crème Caramel with Palmier

Five French Cookies

One Giant Profiterole with Vanilla Ice Cream and Fudge Sauce

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

It was nice to get out to Needham, not a typical food destination for me. I haven't been to other locations of Petit Robert yet, so I'm not sure how this one compares to its older siblings, but the Tuesday night crowd was a good sign for this location. The menu is ambitiously French, and even if you're picky about French food like I am, you'll certainly be pleased with the dessert selection. As far as the main course goes, there are a few classic entrees, like steak frites and coq au vin, that'll satisfy almost anyone. If you do like French food, you'll find plenty of authentic gems at Petit Robert Bistro.

Bacco Ristorante

by Rachel Blumenthal

Inhabiting the quiet corner of Salem and Parmenter Street, the two-story Bacco Ristorante seems a world away from the exuberance of the North End’s main drag, Hanover Street, which is just a short, narrow block away. In a neighborhood that hardly allows for sideways sprawl, Bacco maximizes real estate with a chic bar downstairs and a candlelit dining room upstairs. Full of glossy hard wood and brick, the dining room features large Renaissance-style paintings that almost clash with the downtempo house music and otherwise modern ambience, but the odd pairing works.

A moody hostess in red stilettos brings us to our table, which looks out onto a small balcony covered with flower boxes – certainly a nice view on a spring day, but all we see is the torrential downpour of an oddly warm winter evening. A large pew-like bench offers seating for the tables along the other side of the dining room. Our waiter greets us warmly, making up for the hostess’ disinterest, and tells us about the irresistible specials.

Two of us start out with cocktails – a refreshing but overly sour mojito and a martini named Donna, a mix of Stoli Blueberi, Prosecco, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice. The Donna is done well in the tradition of girly martinis – fruity, but not overwhelmingly sweet. We share an appetizer of jumbo shrimp perched atop a salad of shaved fennel, cherry tomatoes, and lemon olive oil. The succulent shrimp are plump but not filling, an appropriately light prelude to the hearty entrees to come.

The daily specials are tempting, so we order both, along with a pasta selection from the regular menu. The seafood scampi special offers generous portions of lobster, shrimp, and scallops served over spinach linguine, artichoke hearts, and tomatoes. The scampi sauce, though creamier than expected, pairs satisfyingly with the thick green linguine. Artichokes are an unexpected gem amidst the pasta and seafood. A fried, airy cheese crisp balances precariously on top of the dish and almost steals the thunder from the other ingredients.

The second special also features a delectable seafood trio. Jumbo shrimp top a pan-seared salmon steak, which sits on a bed of ample lobster ravioli. The dish is finished off with a thick piccata sauce, a flavorful mix of lemon and butter with capers sprinkled throughout. Three asparagus spears lean against the tower of seafood, adding an agreeable crunch to the dish.

From the regular menu, we try the orecchiete (“little ears”) with sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, garlic, and olive oil in a lightly tangy tomato sauce. A more traditional dish, it holds its own against the more daring daily specials. The delicate sauce bridges the gap between the bitter broccoli and mild sausage, and it makes this brimming bowl of pasta feel like a demure version of comfort food, warming your stomach but leaving room for dessert.

And it’s a good thing to leave room for dessert at Bacco. Even though gelato and pastry shops tempt the masses throughout the North End, Bacco’s ambiance is so relaxing that we pass up the nearby cannoli offerings and stay put. All desserts are made in-house, so the selections vary. We share a molten chocolate cake, a sweet ending to a surprisingly light meal.

It’s rare to leave an Italian restaurant without having to loosen your belt, but Bacco’s offerings satisfy without stuffing.

MiniBite: Margherita Pizza with Vodka Tomato Sauce

I was watching "Ask Aida" on Food Network the other day, and she baked four pizzas, the first of which looked both easy and delicious. I'm a pizza purist; I generally only like one topping, and it has to be meat. I hate veggies on my pizza. The first pizza she made was simple but with a small twist - vodka sauce. Since I love simple pizza and I love pasta dishes with vodka sauce, this seemed like a great recipe for me to try. You can view the recipe here.

First, I started the sauce so that it could simmer while I worked with the dough. The recipe said to cook it long enough so that the vodka smell cooks off, but mine didn't really smell like vodka at all even at the beginning...I guess I didn't use enough, but it didn't seem to hurt the taste. (I also used a really cheap sketchy vodka.)

While the sauce cooked, I started rolling out the dough - just a bag of plain fresh pizza/bread dough from the grocery store.  Maybe in the future, I'll try making my own dough from scratch...that might be beyond my kitchen capabilities, though!  My dough seemed to think it was still Valentine's Day.  Try as I might, I could not get it into a circle.  It kept bouncing back to a heart shape.

Next, I chopped up some fresh mozzarella.  According to Aida, the key is to get low moisture mozzarella.  Otherwise, it'll sweat all over the pizza.  I was afraid my slices were too thick (about a half inch), but they actually melted down pretty thinly as the pizza cooked.

Here's the dough on the oily pan...still heart-shaped...

The recipe didn't call for pepperoni, but I like meat.

Here's the pizza, ready to go in the oven.  Toppings include vodka sauce, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.

And the final product!  The basil got a little scorched.  In the future, I might add it on in the middle of the baking so that it stays a nice green.  The crust expanded nicely (and nearly formed a circle, not a heart.)

Overall, this was a quick and easy recipe, and it tasted great!  Next, I might try Aida's dessert pizza.  The next day, I used some of my leftover ingredients for lunch - ziti with pepperoni, basil, and mozzarella.  Too bad I didn't have any vodka sauce leftover.

PodBite: Absinthe Tasting, the Arrival of Wegmans (or not), French Comfort Food, and More

Listen to today's podcast by clicking here!

It includes news about food events going on this week around Boston and an update on the Wegmans planned for Westwood Station.