monavano

Last night I had a hankering for pasta-decadent pasta! I made fettucine alfredo with shrimp and scallops.

Pan-seared lamb chops in a red wine sauce. Dandelion greens and red onion in a warm bacon vinaigrette. Browned pecorino and ramp gnocchi.

We're lucky to have Calhoun's Country Hams here in VA. Patrick O'Connell, chef and owner of The Inn at Little Washington has this recipe. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes...-and-pine-nuts/

Ramps and morelsappeard at my local farmers markets this weekend. I made Braised Chicken Thighs with Morels, Ramps, Thyme, Marjoram, White Wine and Cream. Ramp crepes (made yesterday while the braise was in the oven) were stuffed with some leftover minced braised chicken and sauced on top.

A slice of Bucheron, Serrano Ham and Date tart that I made previously.

Hi Bella, Here's the recipe for the feta and tomato tart: Feta and Tomato Tart serves 6 Ingredients Pâte Brisée 1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 stick butter, cut into small cubes 2 1/2 Tablespoons ice-cold water Topping Freshly ground black pepper 6-8 ounces herbed feta of your choice* 14-16 cherry tomatoes (more if you wish, or depending on the size of your tomatoes) 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling over the top after baking. Directions Cut the butter into cubes and place in freezer for 10 minutes. In a food processor, place the flour and salt. Pulse 5 times. Add butter in thirds and pulse until it crumbs into pea size balls. With the processor running, slowly pour water through the top. The dough should come together and not crumble. Take dough out of processor and form it into a flat disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to one month; defrost in refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly butter a 9 inch springform pan. Lightly flour a board and rolling pin. Place dough disk onto board and roll out to about a 10 inch diameter. Roll from center-out and make 1/4 turns to form a circle. Don't worry if the dough edges crack or become uneven. You can easily patch the dough once it is in the pan. Place rolling pin at one end of the dough and roll the dough around the pin. Transfer dough to pan and pat down evenly. Tamp down the edges to make a bit of a crust at the edges. Patch holes in dough as needed. Crack black pepper over dough to taste. Place crumbled feta, then tomatoes over the dough. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the tart. Place tart in oven and turn heat down to 425 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes. Allow tart to cool for 5 minutes, and release the pan. Transfer/ slide tart gently onto a cutting board and drizzle more olive oil if you like. Cut into 6 pie pieces and serve warm, or at room temperature. *If you wish to use plain feta, fresh herbs can be added later during the last 10 minutes of baking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I also made a Boucheron, Serrano Ham and Date Tartwhich was really tasty...and easy!

Herbed Feta and Tomato Tart

Lasagna a la Mona

Regarding all the speculation that the food in the homes was staged, check out Lee Anne's blog: http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/4/b...he_block&page=4 WYSIWYG

I take my cheesesteak with "sauce" (marinara), so I'm going to give a pass on the ketchup! I know how you feel about onions. I have a love/hate thing with onions. I cook them all the time, but they have no place on my hoagie or cheesesteak. With hoagies, it's a taste thing. With cheesesteaks, it's a texture thing. Go figure. Grissle would just ruin a cheesesteak for me. Was either meat tender??

Good Friday is probably the busiest day for all things kielbasa in Port Richmond. Pork reigns supreme on Easter, and traditionally smoked and fresh kielbasa (and bread etc) are bought on Good Friday. The fresh kielbasa is prepared along with hard boiled eggs, breads and pastries. Everything is layed out on the dining table for blessing on Holy Sat., whether in house or brought to the church. Be sure to treat yourself to stuffed cabbage (golabki) at Syrenka's soon!

Ann T. and C. Sapidius, your photos are stunning. Any special equipment or techniques?

West African Groundnut and Chicken stew, long grain rice, dilled cucumbers.

Brisket with herbed gnocchi and asparagus. I braised the brisket in a mixture of coke, onion soup mix and chii sauce. It was great! Although, I cooked it a tad too long and it kinda fell apart when I sliced it...so it's more like pulled brisket. The herbed gnocchi have dill and Pecorino, and the asparagus is baked with evoo, s&p, Pecorino.

Herbed Gnocchi with Dill and Pecorino, browned in a pat of butter and garnished with Pecorino.

Yesterday, I made gnocchi and when I was done, I couldn't help but fry some up in butter Dill gnocchi with Pecorino:

Add it to fettucine with shrimp or chicken. Amazing!

Well, then. What would you say about the only person in the entire Philadelphia metropolitan area who always asks for mustard as well as mayo on his hoagies? Except at Salumeria, where they have a very good sauce of their own making. Said sauce, however, is mayo-based, so I'm not sure I'd sign on to this particular purist distinction even if I didn't request mustard. --Sandy, whose last excursion to Salumeria was an unfortunate bad hoagie trip ← Mustard..that's a wild card! What about a cheesesteak hoagie. It's a cheesesteak, and a hoagie. Does that make it a choagie?? At any rate, I think the WaPo writer was using the local vernacular when referring to the hoagie/sandwich as subs. It just rolls off the tongue with the locals here and nobody say's hoagie. Even at places that serve up honest to goodness hoagies. Nope-still a sub. Oh well. BTW..Steak and Cheese subs are very popular here, and are essentially a cheesesteak hoagie. Even with the word "Philly" in front of it, and even with the words transposed to say cheese steak, they always come with mayo, tomato and lettuce. Oh well. By now I know where to get my fixes of pizza, cheesesteaks and hoagies. Call them what they may here in the DC region.

I'm so happy to hear you made the trip to Port Richmond, Sandy. I agree that Czerw's have the best kielbasa. It's a good thing you didn't get the fresh, because you could stink up an entire bus with garlic! Of course, I think that's a good thing. Near me, the closest Polish shop is The Kielbasa Factory in Rockville, Md. Where they get their keilbasa from doesn't hold a candle to Czerw's. I have very, very high standards when it comes to Polish products: http://www.dcfoodies.com/2008/01/the-kielbasa-fa.html Czerw's is pronounced "chairv's". That's as close as I can spell it! ps...do they still have Philly cheesesteak pieorgies? Thanks!

John, are you aiming to go for lunch or dinner?. How about weekend or weekday? Are you restricted to the District, or are you considering VA, just outside of DC?

Along with what Busboy is saying, perhaps the question in not what our local cuisine is, but how and where can you taste the terroir? (I hope I'm using that term correctly). Our local market scene is rife with produce, animal products, herbs etc. There is a growing number of chefs who are focusing their menus on local foods and cooking seasonally with them. So, although the type of cuisine or manner of cooking can be had in Paris, Parisians can't taste food grown from our soil (VA/MD/PA), cheese and meat from cows, goats, chicken, pigs etc. who feed in our pastures and woods. I love our markets, so this is what excites me and is what I would want to share about where I live.

For which I apologize. So how about a place that say, specializes in Virginia ham, like we have in Pomze, Rouge Tomate, Coco & Co, JGo + Meating which respectively focus on Apples, Tomatoes, Eggs, Lamb and Beef? Not all great but not bad either. ← A local specialty is shad roe, which is in season now. Oceanaire Seafood Restaurant is serving it up now: Shad at The Oceanaire Seafood Room Shad began to make its first appearance in early February and diners can enjoy this classic East Coast favorite at The Oceanaire Seafood Room from now until the end of the season, which will probably run until May. Executive chef Rob Klink has created pan-fried shad and shad roe with crisped bacon, asparagus and citrus beurre blanc, for $29. Guests can also order just the roe for $28 or just the fish for $25. The Oceanaire Seafood Room, 1201 F St. NW, Washington, DC, 202-347-BASS.

You can always further thicken soup with a beurre manie if you did not use enough roux in the beginning. Just a thought.

I'd love to grab one of Ann_T's baby bok choy. Hey, this is virtual fun! I bought sunchokes at my local farmers markets on Sunday and yesterday, made Puree of Sunchoke Soup with a small drizzle white truffle oil.

I want to reach into my screen and pop one of those shrimp in my mouth! I'll have to wait for Chinese take-out tonight