Dinner reviews from our Casa SaltShaker evenings
Falling as it did between the U.S. and Argentine independence days, this weekend was a quiet one for us – whether or not there was any cause and effect, no idea, but it stood out between past weekends and upcoming ones as one with very few reservation requests. Didn’t stop us from having a whole… Read More Independence Weekend
Continuing our weekly series of regional Italian lunches, we ventured this week to the northeast and the land called Friuli-Venezia Giulia. I have a bit of a special connection to the area, having spent a quintet of years working for Lidia Bastianich at her flagship restaurant Felidia, and there, having had the chance to learn… Read More Istrian Eating
Private party on Thursday for a family from Brazil – a parade of some recent dishes… Cherry tomato tarte tatin with a little mixed herb salad dressed in a vinaigrette made with our new tomato-vinegar. A caldillo, a chowder like stew from Chile, made with salmón blanco, sans shrimp due to a family allergy. From… Read More The Weekend Review
In your weekly Italian classroom update I bring you the last of our five-session northwest lunches, Liguria. The crescent shaped state, most of it perched high atop a windswept cliff, is probably best known for Cinque Terre, the “five lands”, a group of five villages that dot the arc, and la Superba – Genoa –… Read More Five Towns Cooking
The Inti Raymi festival was once more upon us and Henry prevailed on me to bring some Peruvian flavors to the table this weekend. Or at least some inspirations…. Starting with ceviche was pretty much a given – sole ceviche with a guacamole mousse (very non-Peruvian the latter, but I like it). Vegetarian option this… Read More Our Annual Festival of the Sun
In the north central part of Italy is the Trentino-Alto Adige, oft-times referred to as the Sudtiröl – the southern Tirol, much of it being located in the southern slopes of the mountains. Here, the cuisine is heavily influenced by its Swiss neighbors to the north, and here, we headed for lunch in today’s class.… Read More The Hills are Alive…
One of my guilty pleasures is watching competition cooking shows. I don’t watch them for the reason that, I think, most people do, which tends to be getting deeply involved in the whole competition process. It’s easy to see on the online forums for these shows, people railing against judges whom they’re quite sure are… Read More Too Many Inspirations
The weekend’s dinners were a bit on the quiet side. One night we just had six folk, and two of them were friends who jumped in to the rescue at the last minute; the second night was fully booked, but a trio backed out due to one of them having food poisoning from lunch, at… Read More Of Sweetbreads and Lamb