Food – Page 6 – Tiny Tales

Blue Apron: Baked Fontina Pasta.

March 30, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail HuntLeave a Comment

It was another Sunday for the introverted books. After a go-go-go few weeks, I was relishing in my calm, quiet, planless afternoon. I took a nap, watched about a zillion episodes of Parenthood and decided that maybe I should cook some of the mountains of food in my refrigerator, rather than order sushi from the hole-in-the-wall place down the street.

I haven’t been on a huge meat kick, so I chose to make one of the vegetarian dishes we received in our latest shipment of Blue Apron: Baked Fontina Pasta. It combined quite a few of my favorite ingredients into one — cheese, Brussels sprouts and pasta — so I had a feeling it would be a resounding success for my tastebuds.

As I chopped and mixed and boiled and toasted, dancing around the kitchen to my Catgrooves playlist on Spotify, it dawned on me why I love empty Sundays so much. It’s a day when, generally speaking, I have the house to myself and I can take the time to do the things that I genuinely enjoy, but rarely have time for. Like cooking. And reading. And this: blogging.

So, I cozied up on the couch with a piping hot bowl of my creamy, salty, meat-free dinner, Netflix and Buxton, and I just couldn’t help but smile. I’m really fortunate enough to do the things that I love in a home that I love while surrounded by people (and a cat) that I love. And there’s really not a whole lot that’s better than that.

Ingredients: Campanelle pasta / Brussel sprouts, shaved / Sage, chopped / Flour / Fontina cheese / Butter / Heavy cream / Shallot / Panko breadcrumbs

Directions: Preheat the oven to 450. / Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta until al dente. / Set pasta aside, reserving two cups of the pasta water. / Toast breadcrumbs and chopped sage in two tablespoons of olive oil in a nonstick pan. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. / In the same pan, cook the shallot in olive oil until soft. Add brussel sprouts and cook until softened and bright green. / In the pot used to cook the pasta, melt the butter. Add the flour, heavy cream, reserved pasta water and fontina cheese. Stir until melted and combined. / Add the cooked pasta and sprouts to the sauce and thoroughly mix together. Season with salt and pepper. / Transfer to baking dish and cook for 5-7 minutes. / Serve with a crisp Chardonnay and enjoy!

Dining Out, Food

The Pittsburgh Food Diaries: The Vandal.

March 15, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt1 Comment

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the menu tasting event for The Vandal, a restaurant coming soon to our little neighborhood of Lawrenceville! Chef and owner Joey Hilty — brother of Covalent cofounder, Jeff — and Emily Slagel of Mid-Atlantic Mercantile revealed a small portion of The Vandal’s menu at Bar Marco on one of their weekly No Menu Mondays.

As a group, we ordered two of everything on the menu. There were three appetizers: Shishito Peppers, Potatoes and Carrots. Simply named, but each more delicious than the one before. The peppers were lightly charred and crisp; the roasted potatoes were coated in olive oil, salt and garlic, warm and wonderful when dipped into whatever that magical sauce was that danced across the plate; the carrots — by far my favorite — were cooked perfectly, soft and sweet.

There were two sandwiches on the menu: a cheeseburger and a roast pork sandwich. I’ve had some really amazing burgers in the past; burgers topped with peanut butter and jelly, or made with honey and layered with gouda and bacon in the form of Becky’s famous dream burgers. And The Vandal’s burger is right up there with the best of them. The ingredients are simple: cheddar cheese, thinly sliced red onion and lettuce. But the meat of the burger itself was out of this world. The roast pork sandwich was weirdly reminiscent of the sandwich I ate in Philadelphia, topped with broccoli rabe and a little bit of spice.

Last, but certainly not least, we ordered the fried chicken, which arrived atop a slice of toast, served with sides of homemade ranch and honey. There’s something about the combination of chicken and honey that just works, so I’m pretty sure there was exactly half chicken/half honey in each bite I took… and then I even dipped my burger in the honey… and my potatoes… and even a carrot or two. But that’s besides the point.

After dinner and a few drinks, we sat in the dimly lit space of Bar Marco, enjoying each other’s company and anxiously awaiting the opening of The Vandal, coming this spring. The menu is basic and reminiscent of the traditional foods I ate growing up. Easy, simple foods that you could make for your own family, foods that are done well. Really well.

Dining Out, Food

The Pittsburgh Food Diaries: La Gourmandine.

March 4, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt1 Comment

The morning after anything is (almost) always my favorite. For example, the morning after I graduated college, I woke up to the quiet clamor of my family moving around in my apartment, feeling somehow like an entirely new individual — an adult — and feeling really proud of myself. The mornings after I learned that my great-grandparents had passed away, I cherished that quiet time to myself to reflect on all the things they had taught me in life.

Whether it’s the morning after something wonderful or the morning after something not-so-wonderful, to me, there’s always been something powerful about being curled up in my blankets, light softly dancing across my room, reminiscing about whatever it was that happened the day before, and having an entirely new and blank slate of day in front of me.

So, when Sunday rolled around, the morning after a great day spent with family, I was content. I woke up slowly, Buxton softly purring on my chest, and thoughts of La Gourmandine, a small bakery and pastry shop a few blocks from our house, dancing through my head.

Stepping through the doors of the bakery, it’s hard to imagine that you’re not in a small hole-in-the-wall viennoiserie in Paris. The food, sound and smells are so authentic. To please my palette for sweetness, I ordered un croissant aux amandes (an almond croissant) and un tortillons de chocolat (a vanilla creme-filled twist with chocolate chips)!

And because I genuinely enjoy savory foods, I added a croissant du jambon et fromage and a slice of quiche Lorraine to our order. I walked out with my boxes of treats and went home, anxiously anticipating a hot cup of coffee and our breakfast. I curled up on the couch with our smorgasbord of food in front of me, House of Cards playing on the TV, and Buxton playfully tossing her cat nip-filled fish in the air. A great morning after a wonderful day isn’t something I’ll ever complain about.

Dining Out, Food

The Pittsburgh Food Diaries: Philadelphia Edition.

February 28, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt1 Comment

From when I was young — think: middle school field trip age — I’ve always loved everything about Philadelphia, and as I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that its food is like the city itself: real, hearty, grounded and unpretentious. So last weekend, when I found myself on a spontaneous road trip to the City of Brotherly Love to visit two of my dearest friends, I was excited. Excited for some good, quality time with Nate and Megan, excited to be back in Philadelphia, and excited for some new food.

On Saturday morning, we walked from their apartment in Fairmount to the Reading Terminal Market, a historic institution that, since 1892, has been able to offer the community a blend of locally grown and exotic produce, meats, baked goods, and about a million other things. For the yinzers out there, imagine the entire Strip District in one building. That’s the Reading Terminal Market.

We started by grabbing sandwiches from DiNic’s — Nate and I opted to try the world famous roast pork and broccoli rabe, while Megan went with the Italian-style pulled pork. The pork on each of our sandwiches was amazing: perfectly tender and wonderfully seasoned. And the freshly baked bread? Don’t even get me started. The rabe, eh, I could have done without it — Nate agreed — and Meg made the best choice by throwing peppers and onions onto her ‘wich.

To water down the gratuitous amounts of food we ate for lunch, we headed to Old City Coffee for some freshly ground brew. And then, being the gluttons that we are, we just had to make one last pit stop at Beiler’s Doughnuts, a Pennsylvania Dutch family-owned doughnutery (I obviously made that word up) that serves myriad variations of creme-filled delicacies.

I chose a maple bacon doughnut, while Nate had the salted caramel and Meg ordered chocolate peanut butter. It was hard not to drool over the cases of fresh sweets, and even harder to choose just one.

This food-filled afternoon was then followed by a series of games of Settlers of Catan, lots of snow, lots of laughter, a little whiskey, some wine and a few beers. During this time period, we added in more food in the form of appetizers from Rembrandt’s, including loaded tater tots, French onion soup, cheesesteak spring rolls, crack mayo french fries and the best macs and cheese with truffle I’ve ever eaten in my whole entire life. No joke. 763,159,076 calories later, we walked home, tired, but happy (and full) as clams.

This leads me to the next morning. There is literally nothing more wonderful about the weekend than Sunday brunch. We three musketeers walked through the brisk air to Bishop’s Collar, a local Fairmount eatery whose name is derived from an old Celtic expression for a perfectly poured pint of Guinness. Well, I didn’t have a beer with my breakfast — I stuck with a mimosa — but I did order a simple wrap, stuffed with a fried egg, sliced ham, provolone and guacamole. Seriously, brunch and guacamole?! I literally cannot.

I left Philadelphia with a full and happy stomach, and an even fuller and happier heart. La da dee da dee.

Dining In, Food

Easy Like a Sunday Morning: Chocolate-Dipped Almond Biscotti.

February 8, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail HuntLeave a Comment

This morning, I woke up slowly, warmly snuggled in my bed, wonderfully content and cozy. All of a sudden, my craving for breakfast — and an excessive amount of coffee — kicked in. Not a savory breakfast, which is my usual choice, but something sweet. Something with chocolate.

I stayed in bed for another hour or so — because hey, that’s what Sundays are for — before I dragged myself out of bed and to the grocery store, armed with a recipe for almond biscotti.

An hour and a half and two cups of coffee later, the biscotti was done and wonderful. I always thought that Sundays were for cuddling. Now I know that they’re for cuddling and biscotti.

Ingredients: 1 c. toasted almonds / 2/3 c. sugar / 2 eggs / 1 tsp. almond extract / 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract / 1/4 tsp. salt / 1 tsp. baking powder / 1 3/4 c. flour / baking chocolate for melting

Directions: Preheat oven to 350˚. / In a mixer, beat sugar and eggs until thick. Then, add in the almond and vanilla extracts. / In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. / Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the almonds. / Place dough onto a greased baking sheet. (I recommend using parchment paper, too.) / Form dough into a log, approximately 3″ wide and 10″ long. / Bake for 25 minutes. / Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. / Reduce oven temperature to 325˚. / Cut the log into 1″ diagonal sections. / Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. / Turn biscotti over and bake for another 8 minutes. / Remove from the oven and let cool. / In the meantime, melt your baking chocolate in the microwave. / Dip one side of the biscotti into the melted chocolate, and place back on the baking sheet to harden. / Then, enjoy!

Dining Out, Food

The Pittsburgh Food Diaries: Bar Marco.

February 7, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail HuntLeave a Comment

This week, I stepped foot in Bar Marco, an incredibly unique restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. The eatery lives in an old 1860s firehouse, which has been turned all around and upside down in an effort to restore some of its finest original features, like a crisp tin ceiling, subway tiled walls and a cold, concrete floor. The menu is minimal. The restaurant offers 10ish options on a daily basis, including small appetizers, main dishes and desserts, all made from locally sourced ever-changing ingredients. The cocktail menu, on the other hand, is endless. Actually, there isn’t one. Each drink is handcrafted specifically to the taste of the customer using Bar Marco’s made from scratch ingredients. (I’ve also heard they have a killer collection of unique, hard to find and “natural” wines, but we’ve always opted for the cocktails. And on Mondays, Bar Marco doesn’t have a menu. A guest chef, typically for charity, will reinvent the restaurant in their own way.)

All of these details — the historic building, dark atmosphere, inventive and/or non-existent menu and made-to-order cocktails — make me feel like I’m part of secret society every time I step foot inside. When I arrived last Wednesday, we were greeted by a familiar face: the brother of a friend’s business partner. Within moments, I had passed on my cocktail wishes. I wanted gin, savory.

We were quickly handed two plates, compliments of the chef, each with a thin slice of radish, topped with sweet pineapple chutney and few crunchy pistachios. In just one bite, sweet and tangy and earthy flavors hit my tastebuds. So good.

After I looked over the menu, I decided to try the arancini as an appetizer. But before I could even place my order, two arrived at the table. Two fried rice balls, stuffed with mozzarella, pork ragu and sage. If you’ve never had fried mac and cheese, you should, because it’s as delicious as it sounds, and it’s exactly what Bar Marco’s arancini tastes like. Heaven.

My drink arrived shortly thereafter. A gin cocktail with yellow chartreuse, dill and lemon. Then, the main course. I ordered the braised lamb, which was juicy and tender and sat atop a moist polenta cake, perfectly roasted carrots and a flavor-packed mint gremolata. For the first time in quite a long time, I was genuinely silent as I ate dinner.

On top of all the things we already love about Bar Marco, beginning this April, they will eliminate tips and instead offer all employees a full-time salary. Check out more details here, and don’t forget to check them out the next time you’re in the Strip!

Dining Out, Food

The Pittsburgh Food Diaries: Piccolo Forno.

January 14, 2015August 3, 2017by Abigail HuntLeave a Comment

So far, 2015 has been exhausting. I’m just two weeks in to the new year and the inspirational this is my year feeling hasn’t kicked in. In fact, it’s been more like a you’ve got to be kidding me kind of feeling.

(Reader’s Digest version: work has been a little frustrating, my car was completely totaled three weeks after it was paid off, and Buxton — God bless her sweet, feline soul — will absolutely not let me sleep through the night. Not to mention, it’s winter, which means it’s cold and icy and I rarely see the light of day.)

So, when last Wednesday rolled around, I was desperate for a night out. My brain genuinely needed a break from thinking about work and life, so I decided on an evening at Piccolo Forno, one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. (Bonus points for being in Lawrenceville, too.) The Big Man Upstairs must have known how much I needed something to go right, and we were seated right away in this small, quaint, usually-a-two-hour-wait restaurant. Thanks, dude.

We ordered the bruschette to whet our appetites, and were served two pieces of wonderfully toasted bread topped with creamy goat cheese and sweet roasted tomato compote, two covered in an earthy cannelini bean spread, drizzled with arugula pesto, and one adorned with a mouth-achingly salty olive tapenade.

For dinner, we ordered the Tortelloni di Zucca, a mouth-watering dish of creamy butternut squash filled tortelloni with toasted almond brown butter and amaretti and topped with parmesan cheese. I’ll admit it. Usually, I’m confident that I’ve ordered the best dish of the two of us, but this time, the tortelloni won. Hands down. I kept sliding my fork over to steal little nibbles.

That’s not to say that my dinner wasn’t good, too — it was! Great, even. Braised rabbit and roasted vegetables sat atop a bed of pappardelle pasta, topped generously with parmesan cheese. (What can I say, I love cheese. The more, the better.) My first bite into my dinner was a bone, which gave me the heebie-jeebies and put a slight damper on the whole thing. But, bone aside, the rabbit was tender and gamey and the pasta was cooked to absolute perfection.

The wine, the food, and the company was exactly what I needed to calm my soul in the midst of a maddening week. A few days later, I bought a new car (and named her Jane), and things at work have started slowing down… slightly.

We built the rest of the shelves in our living room, so we’re no longer living in a small construction zone, and the fun of redecorating a new space is invigorating. And — drum roll, please — we got a KitchenAid mixer! Bring on the baked goods!

Dining In, Food

Zuppa Toscana.

November 30, 2014August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt1 Comment

In just under six hours, the clock strikes December. Winter is here, loud and clear. The scattered snowfall and quickly dropping temperatures are here to stay for the next 3-4 months.

With the onslaught of cooler temperature comes my desire for warm, hearty soups. Today, I decided to throw together a simple, but delicious 7-ingredient Zuppa Toscana. (Bonus: I bought all of the ingredients at Trader Joe’s for $17.00! Score.)

Ingredients: One pound of ground hot sausage (I chose a spicy chicken sausage for a lighter soup.) / One small, diced onion / Four cups of chicken stock / One red pepper, diced and roasted / One bunch of kale, chopped and destemmed / One package of gnocchi / Half cup of heavy cream

Directions: Dice the red peppers and roast them. / In a large stockpot, cook the sausage with the onion until both are cooked through. / Remove as much of the grease from the sausage as possible. / Add the chicken stock and roasted red peppers and bring to a simmer. / Reduce the heat to low, and add the kale and gnocchi. / Cook for about five minutes, or until the gnocchi has cooked through. / Add the heavy cream and stir together. / Season with salt and pepper. / Serve and enjoy.

Dining In, Food

Blue Apron: Crispy Salmon & Barley-Fennel Risotto

November 23, 2014August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt1 Comment

I’ll be honest. This meal was the one I was looking forward to the least out of our most recent Blue Apron shipment. Crispy salmon, sign me up. Barley Risotto, sure, why not! But fennel. Eh. Fennel. I have never liked the taste of anise, which is, unfortunately, exactly what fennel reminds me of. It’s been around forever — literally before the beginning of written history. Just ask Prometheus.

Anyway, I put my faith in this perfectly package meal, and started prepping the ingredients. While thoroughly working through this step, I learned that fennel would be used four different ways in our dinner. One little flowering plant, served in four different ways.

I threw two of the four parts of the fennel into a pot with some olive oil and diced onion, and stirred until they were fragrant. Then, we added in the barley and water, and let it simmer until it turned into, well, risotto. Meanwhile, I toasted the chopped walnuts, and mixed them with fresh parsley, tarragon, fennel fronds (fennel #3) and lemon juice to create a fresh herb and walnut salad.

Then, the salmon. We added salt and pepper to each side, and simply cooked it in some olive oil. When the barley had turned into risotto, we added the leaves of brussel sprouts, lemon juice, and generous amounts of salt and pepper. We topped the dish with fennel pollen (fennel #4) and then, we dug in.

The two parts of the fennel that were cooked in the risotto — the stems and the bulb — lost most of their anise flavor. Unfortunately, I didn’t dice the bulb into small enough pieces, so it was still a little much, but the barley risotto was inventive and, due to my heavy hand, perfectly salted. The salmon was expertly crisped, and simple in flavor, accented only by the soft, herbaceous flavors of the parsley, tarragon and lemon.

This dish wasn’t the best of our Blue Apron experiments (I mostly blame the fennel), but hey – it sure does look pretty on a plate, and that’s just about half the battle.

Dining In, Food

Blue Apron, Take 2: Flank Steak and Creamed Kale With Sunchokes Two Ways.

November 20, 2014August 3, 2017by Abigail Hunt2 Comments

Our second Blue Apron shipment arrived last week, and we were so excited to dive in. The first meal we cooked was a spicy little number with turkey meatballs, red coconut curry, wilted bok choy and rice noodles, and – despite it’s spice level – it was delicious.

Last night, we tackled meal #2: Flank Steak and Creamed Kale with Sunchokes Two Ways. For anyone who is wondering, I should note that before yesterday, I had literally never even heard of a sunchoke, let alone seen one, cooked one, or eaten one. In fact, it quickly became a running joke between me and my friends, and we learned that the word sunchoke can easily be mistaken for the word sunstroke to a Brit. (However, Blue Apron did mention that sunchokes are the edible root of the North American sunflower.)

Anyway, I spent nearly 30 minutes prepping all of the ingredients for our dinner: I roughly chopped the kale leaves, peeled off the mint leaves, minced some lemon rind, quartered a lemon, cut 1/4 of the sunchokes into matchsticks and tossed them in lemon juice, and diced the remaining sunchokes.

I followed the rest of the perfectly spelled out Blue Apron directions, slowly working my way towards a complete meal, loaded with a food I still knew nothing about. Sunchokes.

A short while later, I plated our dinner. I looked at it quizzically. I know that I enjoy flank steak. I had the best flank steak of my life at my aunt’s house earlier this year. I’ve never had creamed kale, but it was kale and cream, butter and parmesan cheese, all ingredients I knew would make a fantastic combination.

But sunchokes. They look sort of like ginger root, with an earthy brown color and a crisp texture, yet I had no idea what to expect in the taste. We hunkered down at the table with our beautiful looking dinner and cautiously dove in.

The salad that accompanied our flank steak included the raw sunchokes, the baked sunchokes, sunflower seeds, mint and minced lemon rind. The raw matchsticks tasted mostly of lemon, as they had been soaking in the acidic fruit for almost an hour. The baked sunchokes, however, had just been removed from the over, after being doused in olive oil, salt and pepper. The warm, nutty and savory root was hands down incredible. It reminded me of the look and taste of a roasted potato, but had a slightly stringy texture, reminiscent of an artichoke – which, by the way, is the culinary cousin to the sunchoke.

We slurped down our dinner, agreeing that we would incorporate sunchokes into our routine more often. I mean, come on, they were so delicious! (And, by the way, the majority of this post may be about the sunchokes, but let’s be honest: the creamed kale was the real winner.)

After our hilarious night full of – ahem – noisy bodily functions, I decided to look a little deeper into sunchokes. Because I couldn’t morally tell you about the incomparable, incredible, earthy flavor of sunchokes without mentioning their one small drawback, I leave you all with this: