vengroff

Host's note: due to the age of this post, the images are no longer available. I made grilled pizza for the first time yesterday. Purists will scoff at my use of a gas grill instead of a wood-fired one, but that's what I had to work with. Based on my research, I had several concerns: getting the grill hot enough; getting the dough onto the grill without mangling it; preventing the dough from sticking to the grill; and getting the cheese to melt. Fortunately, none of these proved to be a problem for me. My dough was 3 cups AP flour, 1 cup semolina, 2T olive oil, 1t salt, and 1t active dry yeast mixed in 1c of 110 degree water. This was enough for two pizzas. I mixed and kneaded in my KitchenAid mixer, let it rise for an hour, then punched it down, stretched it out, and let it rest for 10 minutes while the grill heated up. Once it reached 500 degrees, I was ready to make pizza. That's when the real fun began, as the following photos illustrate: Here is the dough right before going on the grill. I brushed the top with EVOO, then flipped it onto the grill, quickly brushed the other side as shown, and then closed the grill. I lowered the burners directly under the pizza, but kept the ones on the other side on high, so as to keep the temperature at 450 but not scorch the crust. Five minutes later, it's time to flip Then the toppings go on quickly and the lid is closed again. I stuck to the basic mozzerella, basil, and tomato. Five minutes later the cheese has melted, the dough has baked through and developed a nice crisp exterior, and we are good to go. Here is the finished product: It turns out what I produced is sort of in the middle ground between pizza and focaccia. Whatever it was, it was good, and I will definitely be making it again. Next time I'll start exploring additional toppings.

De Laurenti's selection is the widest I've seen in town, and in my experience the quality has been good to excellent. They aren't cheap, but in the small number of instances I've done a direct comparison their prices were lower than Whole Foods. I recall seeing Morbier, Maytag Blue and Le Chevrot for less at De Laurenti than at Whole Foods.

Armandino was on The Splendid Table on NPR this weekend. Thanks to my friend and fellow Prosciutto adopter Doug for the pointer. Here is a direct link to the audio in Real format.

And don't forget to fit in a lunch down at Salumi.

Union.

He's not going to stay for the game? What kind of fan is he?

Here are some photos from my initial session with Armandino: We each began with a fresh leg of pork, like these: Here is mine, weighing in at 19 lbs. This was actually one of the smaller ones. The largest was 23-1/2 lbs. These came from pigs weighing just over 200 lbs. Armandino said his son Mario has cured 80 lb legs from 500 lb pigs, but that animals that size are extremely rare these days. It's simply not worth the expense for farmers to raise them for that long. Here's another shot of my raw pork leg, from the other side. Once we had made out selections and weighed them, we computed the precise amount of Armandino's secret curing rub we would need and weighed them out. 18.25 oz. for me. Now it was time to get rubbing. We added the salt bit by bit and carefully rubbed it into the meat. It's important to cover all the nooks and crannies. As we rubbed, the salt began to draw the moisture out of the meat. By the time we were finished, our hams were covered with a glaze and the exposed meat had already begun to darken noticably. In a couple of weeks I hope to post some more photos. It will be interesting to see the changes that take place over time. One session down, fifteen months to go.

I think the key to the Dick's cheeseburger is that it is essentially a grilled cheese sandwich with a thin patty of meat in the middle. I'm not sure I've had another fast food burger that uses such a high cheese to meat ratio. I've tried the special and the deluxe, but the extraneous toppings detract from the balanced trio of cheese, meat, and bun on the standard cheeseburger.

I've never been to the Seattle branch of Morton's, but I've been to a couple others. The main difference between Morton's and some of the other top tier steakhouses is that Morton's wet ages their meat, rather than dry aging it. It's a less expensive process because less specialized aging facilities are required and the yield is higher. Wet aging also produces is a milder flavor that tends to appeal to a broader spectrum of diners. Ruth's Chris also wet ages, but the Metropolitan and El Gaucho serve dry aged steak. It may be that Morton's and Ruth's Chris, being large chains, have decided it's not worth the effort to souce dry aged beef.

I've never tried it as anything but espresso. I think David would likely disavow himself from the results of drip brewing it, as it is specifically optimized for espresso use.

Vita Blend at Espresso Vivace on Capitol Hill is extremely hard to beat. I thought I knew what good coffee was before I visited Vivace, but these guys take it to a higher level. They have perfected both the art and science of espresso like nobody else I know. Be warned: if you don't know where Vivace is, you can walk right past it and not even know it. It's on Denny, half a block east of Broadway. Look for the handicapped access ramp across the street from Jack in the Box, and you've found it.

Salumi is now running an adopt a prosciutto program. Participants are given an uncured ham, which they then visit and work with regularly. Under Armandino Batali's expert direction, you prepare, rub, hang, and cure the meat in the traditional manner. 15 months later, you are the proud owner of 17-20 pounds of pure pork heaven. The cost is $150, which on a per-pound basis is hard to beat. Stop by and see Armandino with your checkbook. The process will begin in about three weeks. I signed up today and am really looking forward to it.

Copper River salmon sounds terrific. It is that time of year. How are you going to cook it? I cedar planked it on a gas grill. It was topped with crispy onions, otherwise known as Onion Confit of the Easily Distracted. I decided to pan-steam the asparagus -- melt some butter, add salt and a quarter-inch or so of water, then boil uncovered until the water evaporates. The beverage of choice was a 1998 Loimer Grüner Veltliner. Excellent. I did almost the same. Copper River King on alder planks, red onion dill relish and grilled asparagus. Since there was extra grill space, I did a butterflied leg of lamb marinated with garlic and herbs and an assortement of other grilled vegetables, including zucchini, spring onions, radicchio, portabello mushrooms, baby eggplant, and red pepper. We also sliced some baguettes, slathered them in garlic herb butter, wrapped them in foil and threw them on the grill. At the table we served a caesar salad and a big tray of assorted fruit. Friends brought some excellent local sausages, some raw milk cheeses, and more fruit, and we also had hot dogs for the kids (and a few adults).

Our biggest hit so far this summer has been the delightfully simple concoction I call the Tom Collegrino. It's one part vodka, two parts San Pelegrino Limonata, over ice, garnished with a lemon wedge. It sounds like an idea that might have been cooked up in the product development offices of Absolut and San Pellegrino and featured in ads in trendy glossies, but it really is damn good.

I took the plunge. $23.99/lb for CR King filet at Whole Foods. We soaked alder planks overnight, put them on a medium gas grill for a few minutes before topping them with the fish, which had been given a light dry rub. We cooked it medium rare, then transferred the filets and their planks to serving platters, where the residual heat cooked them a bit more. We served the salmon with a crunchy red onion and dill relish cured in lemon juice with EVOO and white pepper. CR King may be expensive, but this was beautiful fish. It was extremely rich and smooth on the palate, with a deep salmon flavor but none of the fishy aroma you find in lesser or improperly handled fish--you would hardly guess it's the same species as the farm-raised stuff. It restored my faith in salmon being a fish worth eating.

Nishino has good sushi, no question about it, but what their real feature dishes are the hot nouveau-Japanese dishes. They are the sort of thing you find at Nobu--remarkably similar in fact, but at a slightly lower price point and in a decidedly more casual atmosphere. Squid with morels and mushrooms, crab with creamy spicy sauce, and new-style sashimi lightly cooked by pouring hot oil over it, were all well executed. They also did a nice light crispy tempura of maitaki mushrooms. They also have a really smooth diaginjo sake called Ken that I highly recommend. Ask for it very slightly chilled, between white wine and room temperature, for optimal enjoyment.

The spring onions he was serving with the filet of beef earlier this week were quite exceptional. And, it's not exactly produce, but if you like a good calvados after dinner, try to DuPont they serve. It's not cheap, but it's mighty tasty.

The edamame at Chiniose on Madison also happen to be fantastic--nicely al dente with neither too much nor too little salt. They stopped the conversation at my table when they came out because all we couldn't stop eating them long enough for anything but a quick swig of beer.

I never made it to the DC branch, but I still remember enjoying the east-side original in New York. Tonight I made Budin Azteca con Mole Verde and remembered why. The recipe is not in Josefina's book, but the components are, and that was enough to reconstruct it. It's a layered pie of chicken, queso fresco, mole verde, and corn tortillas baked in a springform pan and then covered with more mole verde. The mole verde is made from tomatillo, greens, cilantro, chicken stock and toasted pumpkin seed paste. It's sad indeed that the current incarnation of this place seems not to resemble what it used to be.

Wow, $25/lb.? I'm pretty sure I've paid less than that for Copper River King at Wild Edibles in NYC, and they are not exactly known for their low prices. I don't suppose there are any other rivers with less of a brand name that produce wild Salmon of comparable quality--or are there?

Is there any place in Seattle to get a proper chicken-fried steak? I've rarely had a good one since the my youth in West Texas. Once a year or so I'll break down and make myself one.

Nectar. Jarad studied cheese at Gordan Ramsay. He knows his cheese.

No luck at Madison Market when I looked last week, but I'll check about special ordering.

I've exhausted the supply of durham semolina I brought with me when I moved here. Where is the best placce to buy some more? I checked when I was in DeLaurenti a while back but I didn't see it. But I wasn't yet desperate so I may have missed it.

We stopped in the other night as well. It seems like a place with the potential to be a nice little addition to the valley. The ligting is subtle and the space is small but comfortable, especially the cozy bar along the right side of the room. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of ordering our dishes by their French names, as they are printed on the menu. Unfortunately, it was our waitress' first night on the job, so she wasn't sure what we wanted until we switched to English. We enjoyed the crispy herbed frites, although we had them with merguez sausages rather than the steak, and the Crozes Hermitage they offer was quite charming. Tagliatelle came with a sauce that was a little sweet for my taste, but the wild mushrooms on top were hearty and satisfying. French onion soup was just as it ought to be, full of well-carmelized onions and topped with a manageable crouton covered in oozing melted cheese. Dessert was a lemon tart with a delightfully tangy filling. The crust had been overdone when it was blind baked (I'm guessing) but we really did like the filling. In addition to the language barrier, service was somewhat on the slow side, but this likely had more to do the kitchen not quite being in synch yet. The chef spent some time chatting with friends at the bar, and only when he returned to the back did out main courses and those of the bulk of the guests finally appear. That being said, the food was generally good straightforward bistro French. I think that if Voila gets past some initial service bumps it's going to be a great addition to the neighborhood.