Savory Bites

...offering tidbits of information on interesting discoveries in the food and wine scene of New Orleans.


a Mano - I was wowed again for the second time by Chef Adolfo Garcia's (a finalist this year for a James Beard award) southern Italian restaurant in the Warehouse District. A packed house on Saturday night, we sat at the bar and enjoyed creative cocktails, a great wine list with a southern
focus and some incredible food by Chef-partner Joshua Smith including one of their handmade pasta dishes. And yet to come, we will be holding our annual Tre Bicchieri Italian Wine Dinner here in May! We'll keep you posted...

Sante Fe - New ownership has taken over and many changes are happening! Besides the new exterior renovations adding a terracotta roofed patio with tons of atmosphere, amazing things are happening in the kitchen. While currently the menu is still the old Sante Fe standards, a major increase in quality has be brought to the food due to the standards of the new owners and their CIA (Culinary Institute of America) trained chef in the kitchen. But listen to me when I tell you to order from the daily special menu! They will soon release a completely new menu, but the specials are where you get an idea of what is really happening here. I'll do an interview with the owners and chef soon, but seriously check them out!

Herbsaint - a big thanks to these guys for hosting an outing for the DC 8 (Matt and Lucie just had a baby so they missed the big night). They designed a fabulous 4 course special menu for us including a cool, refreshing cocktail and amuse, and put up with our loud and somewhat ridiculous behavior. Next up for the DC? Comfort food!

dc 10 does brunch!

High from the Saint’s victory on Saturday, the dc10 celebrated the quite decisive win over the Cardinals with a delicious theme of "brunch". Be it the Saints win, and the euphoria that accompanied it, or the fact that it was brunch and we were all a little sharper, everyone seemed to agree that this was our best yet. The food was taken to another level this weekend as each dish was truly spectacular and thoughts of how were going to top this one will keep everyone on their toes.

We were a full 45 minutes late with our fresh egg ravioli taking more time to assemble than anticipated. But we arrived to a very cheery group (normally we would be severely chastised for being so late!) sipping on Cat and Gabe’s Fiery Fresh Bloody Marys. Rimmed in fennel, coriander and celery salt and made with the fresh juice of 9 different vegetables, fruits and herbs and topped with jalapeno ice cubes, they were a refreshingly spicy start to our day. Served with the amuse of Smoked Salmon Canapés on Rye Toasts with Fresh Dill Hollandaise and garnished with salted capers, they were perfect together and was my favorite pairing of the meal.

Next up was Chris and Treana who were a little tense during their prep time in the kitchen, but when the dish came to the table, we could see why. A take on Japanese brunch of dim sum, they created a Shrimp and Scallion Bun artfully served with a smear of Hoison sauce. Filled with egg, shrimp and scallions, the gently fried, soft, homemade buns melted in your mouth with the hoison adding the perfect combination of salty sweet accents. Admitting that the wine was more of an after thought with all that went into getting the dish right, they served the 2004 Alfred Merkelback Spatlese Urzinger Wurzgarten which ended up pairing quite well with the food.

We had preassembled everything for our dish so all we had to do was basically boil the ravioli, fry the pancetta, brown the butter, plate and garnish. Due to the whole fresh egg yokes in the ravioli, we refrigerated them when we got there, so they were a bit too cold when we put them in the boiling water. I probably should have boiled them a bit longer, but I had to be careful not to overcook the eggs, making the pasta a little more al dente than we would have liked. After plating, we garnished with a drizzle of the butter, a few pieces of the fried pancetta, sea salt, fresh pepper, grated piave cheese and a sprinkle of Kerry’s arugula micro greens. Sunny Side Up Eggs with a Side of Bacon, Italian Style (click here for recipe)! It was pretty cool to see the bright orange egg yoke running out of the ravioli when cut and all of the ingredients paired well together. Our wine was not quite right with the dish as the Ajello Grillo-Cataratto blend from Sicily had a little too much acid to complement the food, but enjoyable none-the-less!

Our hosts, Lucie and Matt went for a Mexican inspired entrée, serving up Scrambled Egg and Blackbean Tacos, Chipotle Mojo marinated Pork Loin with Red Mole`, and delicious sides of Habenero Salsa Fresca, Fresh Fruit with a Spicy Rub, Guacamole, and Queso Fresca. There were so many amazing flavors on the plate, but I think everyone seemed to agree that Matt’s Red Mole was the best any of us had ever had. Served with the refreshingly different Rum Spiked Horchata, Mexican rice milk with a little vanilla, cinnamon and sugar, we were all in gastronomic heaven. Needing to rest our stomachs a bit before dessert, we all rolled into the living room to watch a little of the Dallas/Minnesota game.

Monica and Neal were up next with their Mardi Gras inspired dessert of King Cake Bread Pudding served with “Fun Coffee”. Using a traditional king cake as their base, they prepared deliciously gooey and rich bread pudding topped with purple green and gold sugar and served with a Bourbon and chocolate spiced coffee to give us all a little kick to get through the rest of the afternoon. As full as I was, I ate every bit and even some of Kerry’s, it was a fabulous end to our afternoon!

After 4 hours of eating, drinking, watching football, gossiping and talking about our amazing Saints, we went our separate ways, completely satiated, a few pounds heavier and just a little tipsy. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Pasta for Breakfast?

Ok, so maybe we've taken our love of pasta a bit too far this time, but when we saw this preparation on iron chef, we knew it would be perfect for our upcoming dc10 theme of "brunch". So here's the deal. We've put our own spin on the recipe and made large ravioli stuffed with the usual ricotta and herb filling, but then topped it off with a fresh egg yoke before covering it with the 2nd sheet of pasta. We boiled them, just like you do regular ravioli and then plated them drizzled in melted butter and a little pancetta. Sunnyside up with a side of bacon, Italian style!

My standard pasta recipe is Lidia Bastianich's from her book Lidia's Italian Table. It is simple, delicate and comes out perfect every time I've made it. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer for the initial blending and then add the attachments when it is time to roll it out. I use farm fresh eggs (the fresher the better) that we buy from Justin Pitts at the Crescent City Farmer's Market when possible.

Make the dough first. I've taken the time to type Lidia's recipe word for word and added photos of the steps. You will have lots of left over dough to make regular ravioli or cut it into fettuccine. Click here for Pasta all'Uovo

I did the dough, Kerry came up with filling and we assembled them together. A fun, albeit a bit stressful, Sunday morning in the kitchen... I think the dc10 brunch was our best event yet!

Serves 12

Ravioli Ingredients
2 medium shallots
10-12 oz. fresh spinach
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Peperoncino
1 stick butter
1 t. freshly chopped dill
fresh nutmeg
10-12 oz. fresh ricotta
12 fresh egg yokes (reserve a little of the whites to brush the edges of ravioli
6 oz. pancetta, cut 1/2" slices
Freshly grated Piave or Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese
Fresh pasta sheets, see link to recipe above


Directions
Chop shallots and saute in 1 T. of the butter with a few generous grinds of black pepper and a pinch of peperoncino. When shallots are clear, add spinach and stir until spinach is wilted. Add dill and salt to tasted. Be sure all of the water has cooked out of the spinach, but be careful not to over cook.

Transfer cooked spinach to a cutting board and let cool for a few minutes. Place ricotta in a bowl and grate a small amount of nutmeg in (to taste, and you don't need much). Add cooled spinach and shallot mixture and blend well. Add more salt to taste. If mixture seems to "spinachy" add a little more ricotta. Proportions are not too critical here, you just need to have a good consistency to make the nests for the egg. Taste and add more pepper if desired.

Now you are ready for the fun part! Find a glass or something you can use to make roughly a 5" in diameter circle. Take your sheets of fresh pasta that have been resting for the past 15 minutes, and cut them in half so that each sheet is roughly 6" x 15" (this will make them a little easier to work with). Flour your surface to keep the sheets from sticking. Take your glass and gently mark out 4 ravioli on a sheet. Spoon about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the ricotta mix in the center of each of the four circles. Form the mixture into little, equally shaped nests using a teaspoon or your fingers, their rims have to be high enough to keep the egg yolks from escaping.

Carefully divide the eggs (the egg yolks must stay whole) and gently place one yolk in the center of each ricotta nest. Take one of the unused egg whites and brush the pasta around the ricotta, in order to make the pasta sheets stick together well. Gently place another pasta sheet over the ricotta/egg yolk arrangements and tightly seal each one to avoid any air trapped inside. Stamp out the individual ravioli with your glass or mark and cut with a pasta cutter. Repeat 2 more times until you've made 12 ravioli.



Cook the ravioli in a large pan of salted, slightly boiling water for two to three minutes until just al dente, but with the egg yolks still runny. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a frying pan and brown for a few minutes if desired. In another pan brown the pancetta. Drain the ravioli using a skimmer, place on a warm dish, then top with the butter, freshly ground pepper, a little extra grated Parmesan and place the pancetta on the side. Prepare for an amazing gastronomic experience!

The DC10 Holiday Dinner

The DC 10, our crazy group of wine and food fanatics, held our holiday dinner on Saturday night with a theme of "holiday songs". Festive, silly and very creative, a great time was had by all. I'll do a complete post later in the week, but here is a photo of our presentation of Frosty the Snowman! Handmade butternut squash ravioli with butter and sage and dressed for success with a sauteed mushroom hat, peppercorn eyes, a carrot nose (of course!), habanero pepper mouth, sage leaf scarf, cardamom buttons, radish sprout grass and a little dirty New Orleans snow of crushed amaretti cookies, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and freshly grated nutmeg.

Seared Scallops in Pernod Cream Sauce

Our DC10 challenge this week had a "white on white" theme where each couple had to prepare a dish using only white ingredients. Our assignment was the entree and the first thing that came to mind for me was using scallops, something we rarely cook or eat, making it a bit more interesting for us.

Although Pernod is not usually something I cook with, I found a lot of information on line about how well it goes with seafood. So the challenge took us out of our comfort zone in more ways than one, but the dish was a success, receiving high marks from the very finicky group of foodies.

Expensive, of course, Whole Food sells beautiful large sea scallops that were absolutely delicious. And sorry, the picture is not my best, my photographic skills begin to decline after a cocktail and a few glasses of wine...

Serves 8

2 lbs Large Sea Scallops
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
1 large shallot chopped small
3/4 C white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
3/4 C heavy cream
1 Tbs Pernod (or other anise flavoured liqueur)
2 Tbs fresh tarragon, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2lbs pasta (I used homemade ribbons)

The trick with this recipe is to make the sauce ahead, then time the pasta and scallops so they are done at the same time. Depending on the type of pasta you’re using it will take different amounts of time, so I’ll leave it to your discretion as to when to start the pasta.

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan. Saute the tarragon with the shallots until they are soft and starting to caramelize. Add the wine and lemon juice and reduce until thick and reduced. Add the cream and Pernod and turn down the heat to keep it warm, but don't let it bubble.

Clean and dry the scallops. Heat pan over high heat until hot. Lightly salt and pepper the scallops. Add the butter to the pan and swirl to melt. When the bubbling subsides add the scallops in a single layer without overcrowding the pan. Sear undisturbed until brown then flip with tongs. Cook until the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the scallop is opaque and the middle 1/3 is still translucent.

Transfer the scallops to a plate then add the cream sauce to the pan that the scallops came out of and deglaze. Put the drained pasta in the sauce and stir to coat.

Plate the pasta then top with the scallops and drizzle any remaining sauce on top.

We paired this with the 2007 Ceretto Blange which worked well but I think my second choice, the Bucci Verdicchio would have provided a little more body and acidity for the creamy sauce.

Quip & Mad Dogg's Endive, Pear and Stilton Salad

City Park provided the perfect backdrop for last week's meeting of the DC 10-3=7, and our theme of "picnic" proved to be one of our best endeavors yet. It was one of those wonderful New Orleans nights of perfect weather, fabulous company and delicious wine and food. Although I really loved every course, if I had to pick a favorite, this first salad was probably it! Full posting on the "picnic" themed meeting will be up soon!

Dinner: Picnic
Peeps: Quip & Mad Dogg
Date: May 14, 2009
Course: App
Pairing: 2006 Domaine Bernard Moreaux et Fils 1er Cru St. Aubin

Serving Size: 8

Ingredients:
8 Endive, or 4 Large Endive, halved
10 oz (by volume) Stilton, crumbled
3 Bosc Pears
2 Star Anise
2 Shallots
½ c. Oil (Light Flavor)
2 Ripe Oranges
2 Tsp Tawny Port

Directions - Dressing: (Make ahead if possible)

Chop shallot and crush star anise. In a blender blend shallot, juice from the oranges and port until emulsified. Transfer mixture to jar or bowl and add star anise, salt and pepper to taste. Chill, covered, for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day. Bring back to room temperature, then strain through sieve. Discard solids. Whisk until combined well.

Salad:

Slice pears lengthwise. Lightly sauté them in a little bit of butter (about 2 – 3 minutes on medium heat). Cool pears. Separate endive leaves. Arrange endive, pear slices and stilton onto plates, drizzle with dressing, garnish.

DC10 - Codeword: Bread!

Last Wednesday marked the 4th meeting of the DC10 and the evening's belly-filling theme of "bread" as the secret ingredient was a huge success! The night began with a "yeasty" cocktail, a Garden Varietal Black Velvet that combined St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, Clavelin Cotes du Jura Sparkling and Fee Bros. Rhubarb bitters. A play on the classic cocktail known for it's velvety texture and dark coloring, it way surprising light and the inclusion of rhubarb bitters made the concoction refreshingly fruity a great match with the home made perfectly spiced Crawfish Bread in honor of Jazz Fest!

Kerry and I had cold appetizer this time and with everything going on at the shop, we had little time to prepare. But I think we pulled it off pretty well and got lots of complements on our Spicy Coconut Fish Cakes with Panko Breadcrumbs Wrapped in Grilled Banana Leaves. They had a sort of egg custard like texture and the exotic flavors of Kaffir lime leaves, cardamom, coconut combined really well with the grilled banana leaves (even though Kerry tried to talk me out of using them!) adding another layer of complexity. Kerry prepared a hot and spicy chili relish and a little Asian cucumber salad to accompany the cakes that we topped with her home grown Daikon Radish Sprouts. We chose a Vouvray from the Loire because we felt we needed something with high acidity to cut through the rich coconut milk and the off-dry musky floral notes of the Domaine Ausbuisiere Cuvee de Silex worked beautifully with the spicy heat of the dish.

On to the the adventurous Lavern and Shirley got high marks for their presentation of Les Oeufs en Meurettes, a classic French dish of poached egg in a red wine sauce with sauteed mushrooms and shallots on truffled French bread. Beautifully plated and deliciously elegant the dish was a classic down to it's pairing with the 2006 Domaine Camille Giroud Bourgogne Rouge.

Our hosts went out on a limb and paired their shrimp topped Flat Bread a La Ooh Wah with the powerhouse Paradigm Zin. They pulled it off well as the wonderfully honey, spiced shrimp with rosemary and mint accentuated the herbal spice notes of the Zin. The homemade flat breads were great and the purple slaw seemed to pull everything together with the only complaint being that we were getting too full to eat all of the bread!

Couple 5 did an amazing job with dessert and was it probably my favorite of the night (if I don't count our dish, which I have to admit I really liked...)Their New Orleans Levee Blackberry Gingerbread Cobbler garnished with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Crystallized Ginger accompanied by Basil Haydens Bourbon was divine! With freshly picked blackberries from along the London Avenue canal, and a hint of cinnamon to tie it in with the bourbon it was a perfect end to another amazing DC night!

May brings a simplified "anything goes" picnic theme as Lavern and Shirley are running off to get married next month so they won't be able to attend! But we'll be back up to par in June for our "Wacky Wines" night hosted by the newlyweds!