Skip to content

May 6

6 Comments

Grilled mozzarella, prosciutto, and ramp pesto sandwiches

Update: I’ve received a few comments/emails/phone calls asking me what the heck ramps are. I should have known better, having recently migrated from the West Coast where ramps are basically nonexistent. For most of the rest of the country, though, the painfully-short three-week ramp season is a thing to anxiously await – because of both how incredibly delicious this rare, wild ingredient is and how it acts as a harbinger of warmer conditions. I haven’t experienced a day in the last two weeks where I haven’t heard someone talking or read someone writing about ramps, and restaurants around here are featuring them in everything possible. It’s somewhat surprising, then, how difficult of a time I had finding a good overview on the web. Here’s the best I could come up with, plus a history of their popularity here. 

I’m fairly new to this whole ramp thing – they didn’t really exist in Southern California – but I’m scrambling to do as much as I can with them during the short period of time they’re here. Last week I chopped some finely, sauteed them in butter, and folded them into some spätzle with a bit of pumpkin seed oil, which was very Austrian and very delicious. On Sunday, I sauteed them in olive oil, whirred them together with lemon and Parmesan, and spread it on sandwiches with some fresh mozzarella and a few slices of prosciutto, which were pressed and grilled in a skillet. A wonderful spring dinner, and one I want to remind myself about for when the time comes again next year.

Ramp_sandwich Read more

May 5

Weekend Links, May 5

Goats

Quick visit with my friends the goats, Madison zoo.

I’m excited to be speaking at the next Ignite Madison event on Wednesday, May 21. Food is the theme of the night, and I’ll be giving a talk about fear and eating joyfully. See more about the event and the rest of the line-up at the event’s Facebook page, and get tickets here!

I hadn’t made our staple granola in months, which is sort of strange, but realized I maybe needed to change things up a bit. Made a big batch of Molly’s lastest granola recipe yesterday, and I’m in love. Well-balanced, flavorful, and satisfyingly crisp. I used pepitas, poppy seeds, and flax seeds instead of nuts for me; almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts for Brett.

Snacks Quarterly – bringing together artists and other creative folk to talk about a favorite pastime. (Snacking, that is.)

How the Obamas are changing the White House’s own culture when it comes to health and nutrition.

“So I declared a spaghettata.” Love this. (If only I was ever up that late.)

Data on what people actually order at Chipotle. (Almost 60% of orders are burrito bowls?!) Fascinating – I would love to see this type of data for all sorts of different restaurants!

Speaking of fast food, new data on which cities partake the most. (First thing learned: Do not move to Florida. Second thing learned: Madison, WHOA.)

Milking moose in Russia.

By day, nurse. By night, an Instagram sensation crafting hip hop references from leftovers. (via First We Feast)

David Tanis, making me miss our time in Vietnam. (I took a class at that same cooking school in Hoi An and made rice paper that same way, which reminds me I really need to do that again soon. In case you’re also longing for Vietnamese food, you can see my recap from last year here.)

And if you want something completely unrelated to food, Gabourey Sidibe’s speech from the Ms. Foundation Gala is absolutely fantastic. Go read it.

This week’s meal plan:

  • Grilled mozzarella, prosciutto, ramp pesto sandwiches on sourdough
  • Massaman curry with carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms, jasmine rice
  • Thawed venison stew (need to clean out our freezer!)
  • Braised chicken legs with tarragon, grapes, and bok choy (one of my favorite recipes from my time at Hipcooks)
  • Breakfasts: granola (see link above!)

Apr 28

Baked eggs + weekend links

It’s been a bit rough around here lately – at one point I was nursing two injuries and two forms of illness, all at the same time – and along with work and school and everything else, we haven’t been cooking as much as we normally do. I did make a really fantastic pizza last week – pesto, mozzarella, kale, chicken, and artichoke hearts on a whole wheat crust – and hopefully soon I’ll be posting here about that. But really, considering the doozy of a month we have ahead of us, don’t be surprised if there’s a bit of radio silence in these parts.

To get you by, some baked eggs:

Plated-egg Read more

Apr 21

Weekend Links, April 21

Easter

Easter centerpieces.

If you’re ever at a loss for what to order at a coffee shop – especially if it’s because you’re in a different country or you’re not sure what all of the various drinks actually are – here are two resources: a coffee glossary and a guide to 31 different typical coffee drinks around the world. (There’s quite a few of my favorites on that last list – cortado, melange, and ca phe da, among others.)

National Geographic’s new food section is a pretty great source for cultural, environmental, and political news/thoughts about food.

A new campaign making a pledge for “open source seeds,” rallying against efforts to patent and thus regulate the distribution of seeds. (And the group is based here in Madison!)

Grilling season is upon us – an illustrated guide to filleting whole fish.

Beautiful photographs of meals from literature.

Honey, rum, lime. (What, no, I never put honey and lime in cocktails. No, not ever …)

This makes me even more excited to sometime buy the duck eggs we saw at the farmers’ market on Saturday (first! outdoor! market! of! the! year!).

Yep, I’d eat at these places.

The 25 most popular items at Trader Joe’s. (aka a list of cookies, cranberries, and pumpkin flavoring)

And speaking of Trader Joe’s, this one’s for all my LA friends – this fascinating article about the man who runs the Silver Lake Trader Joe’s parking lot. (You all know what I’m talking about.)

MRIs of 20 fruits and vegetables. Beautiful! See if you can guess them all.

Best rap lyrics about brunch.

Meal plan, post-Easter/end-of-semester edition:

  • Vegetable soup with garlic croutons, testing for my class next week
  • Mac and cheese with leftover Easter ham
  • Pizza with pesto, mozzarella, chicken, kale, and artichoke hearts
  • Lunches: leftover Easter dishes (ham, scalloped potatoes, cheese bread, green beans)
  • Dessert: leftover coconut tres leches cake
  • Breakfasts: leftover 8-grain cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing (these were amazing – definitely a post coming sometime) and yogurt, cereal

Apr 17

1 Comment

Gin gin mules on the porch

Today it’s a little difficult to look at these photos I took last week, since on both Monday and Tuesday mornings this week we woke up to a layer of snow on the ground. On Tuesday, it didn’t even melt before the day was over. It was a harsh reminder of how unsure we should be about the season ahead of us. But we wait, patiently, knowing that nothing is certain, trying to keep the faith that days will come again when everything will look like this:

Gin-gin-mules_2

Porch_drink Read more

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →