catching up

Sometimes, there is no drama. Sometimes, I just go to the store, and everything i need is just there. Sometimes, there is no process that I've never dealt with before. 

These are a few of those stories. Very, very short stories. (And there will be more.): 

rigatoni with five lilies

 

This one was easy. Pretty much everything I need for this dish is available at any supermarket.

The five lilies refer to all the onions in the dish. There are Vidalia, red, leek, scallion, garlic and chives. Wait … that's six.

Pretty sure they are all alliums, so I'm not sure which one isn't getting credit in the title.

Either way, totally up my alley, caramelize the Vidalias, then sauté everything else and toss it with some big pasta. 


chocolate and valpolicella crema

Easy one: This is basically a thick, rich … really thick, really rich … chocolate pudding, flavored with red wine. Bulletproof.

I had a little bit of trouble finding valpolicella. Well, until I asked at Mazzaro's. Then I had to pick from one of the 4-5 kinds they had. I should really ask about stuff more often.

One thing: The recipe says it serves 8-12. I made 9 servings, and no one … no one … was able to even eat half. And not because it wasn't delicious. It was probably the best pudding I've ever had. Just. Soooooo. Rich.

tomato bruschetta

Easy one: You just have to have good tomatoes. If you do, this will be awesome. If you don't, it can only be as good as the tomatoes.

I got good tomatoes from a roadside stand. They were great. And I got bread at Mazzaro's. So that worked out, too.

The cheese is cacio di roma, a semi-firm sheep's milk cheese. I haven't seen it around here, but I found it at Whole Foods while I was in Miami. I suspect if I looked hard enough around here, I could have found it, but it jumped out at me in Miami. Let this be a lesson to you: Always travel with a cooler.

* Note: These were all made -- and written -- before I left Florida. So that explains some of the references.

Up next: duck braciole