Dinner Parties/Parmiggiano Popovers

Parmiggiano popovers, braised short ribs, homemade tagliatelle, sauteed broccolini, balsamic glazed cippolini onions and finally, chocolate-croissant bread pudding. If you're mouth isn't watering yet, you should know that this is a very real menu and one which I made this past Friday for a group of 10 friends. If I may humbly stroke my own ego, dinner was awesome. I could not have been happier and I am pretty sure that my guests left as well fed and satisfied as I could have hoped. The only problem with this dinner is that I have no pictures to show for it. Well no pictures except for the ones of these popovers, which I have deemed the best part of the meal (only because I get to showcase them here). Do not despair; I will be remaking a lot of the dishes so that I can post recipes and pictures, so consider the 'menu' a tease of what's to come on TBD. In the meantime, let's get back to the popovers.

These popovers do really deserve a whole post's worth of attention, actually I would say that they might even deserve two posts worth of attention, but I don't want to be boring. I planned, unplanned and replanned Friday's dinner about 25 million times before I finally settled on a menu and these popovers were a very last minute decision. Not usually an impulsive person, I sure am glad that I decided to make these fluffy little guys on a whim, because they are officially my obsession of the week. And I am not just saying that because I actually have pictures of them. To me, popovers have always been that special treat that restaurants serve in their breadbaskets instead of boring old bread, but I knew that a homemade version could only be better, fresher and more satisfying. I was right.

I have always had plain popovers, but I couldn't resist adding some cheese to these and I have absolutely no regrets about that (shocker!). These bulbous, muffin-looking things 'pop' because of all the steam created on the inside, hence the name.

Faux Summer/Broccoli Slaw

One of my favorite things about cooking is that no matter how cold it is outside, inside I can always pretend it's summer. No, I don't have juicy peaches, ultra sweet heirloom tomatoes or melt-in-your-mouth zucchini, but aside from a few missing ingredients it's pretty easy to recreate summery thoughts of tank tops, sunset barbecues, and toes in the sand. My desire to emulate summer vibes is the official reason I made this broccoli slaw yesterday. The unofficial reason is that yesterday was January 31st, aka the end of the month, which means one thing: the only food I'm eating is what I have in the fridge and pantry. As a food blogger, this can be a little bit tricky, but I was impressed with my resourcefulness vis-a-vis available ingredients.

I am surprised I ever made this slaw, because when I first saw this recipe the only thing I could think was "ew, raw broccoli."Then came January 31st and I had the broccoli and the other ingredients in my fridge and suddenly making this summery slaw seemed beyond perfect.

No Regrets/Asian Salmon + Farro Hash

I have a confession to make, I may have a very real crush on the man who sold me this piece of salmon on Saturday. It was the perfect first encounter, I flirted just enough to get the very best piece of fish and he oh-so-kindly acquiesced. As I walked away from the fish counter, he winked and reminded me to always maintain my sense of humor. Gently batting my eyelashes I stopped, looked at him and said, "I'll be seeing you very soon."

The truth is, I probably will be seeing him soon if only because I finally found a decent piece of fish in Montreal and now I want more. Montreal is notorious for it's shortage of good fish; this combined with my 'fish snobbism' and aversion to supermarket fish means that I rarely get to eat it.

About Me/Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Some days there is no time for words, which is why there are pictures....

I miss adventures like these....


And I miss views like these.....

This is my best friend Wifey.

That's a sea urchin, in my favorite place in the world, Pantelleria.

This is my little brother Milo, he's my favorite little brother.

Even when there is little time for words, there is always time for sweet potatoes seasoned with cumin and chili flakes....

Sweet Potato Oven Fries
makes 4 side servings

Ingredients
3 large sweet potatoes, washed and scrubbed
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp. chili flakes (more or less depending on how hot you like them)
Sprinkle of sea salt
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/2" wide sticks along it's length. Toss with oil, cumin and chili flakes.
3) Roast for 15-20 minutes, turning once. Sprinkle with salt, the allow to rest for about 10 minutes before eating.