Cinque Terre Lemons

Pork Marinara & Fettuccine

                Every once in a while you nail a dish perfectly. It doesn’t happen often, so when it does I am compelled to immediately record preciously how I prepared it. Italian pasta is meant to be cooked al dente and then finished off by mixing in the sauce, so it adheres to every pasta strand. Pasta sauce is also all about using the ingredients at hand. In this case I had the remnants of a pork rib roast to play with. Pasta is in the moment and always best served immediately after preparation. Try this. It will surprise you.

1                           26-ounce jar of Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil Marinara sauce

1              pound dry fettuccine, cooked

4              cups finely chopped cooked pork 

1              cup chopped Vidalia onion

1              garlic clove, minced

1              strip of cooked bacon, chopped

½             cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1              cup chicken stock

3              tablespoons olive oil

1              teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1              teaspoon white vinegar

1              teaspoon dried Greek oregano

1              teaspoon medium hot chili powder

                olive oil to taste

                salt and pepper to taste

                grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Preparation:  In a large pot of boiling salted water cook the fettuccine until al dente; usually about eight minutes. In a large cast iron fry pan sauté the Vidalia onions in the olive oil until just softened, about three minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the 4 cups of cooked chopped pork and bacon and season with the Greek oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper, and sauté for two minutes. Add the Marinara sauce, chicken stock, lemon juice, vinegar, parsley and stir. Bring to a quick boil and then set to low and cook for ten minutes more. Adjust seasoning to your preference.

In a large pan or bowl combine the sauce with the drained fettuccine. Add a splash of olive oil to your preference. Serve at once with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Richard Wottrich

Black Mission Fig & Red Grape Frisée Salad

This salad of bright flavors pairs well with an omelet for dinner, a bistro chicken fricassee, or a flank steak with mustard cream sauce.

                                2              cups of loosely packed Frisée greens

1              heart of Romaine lettuce, chopped into 2-inch lengths

½             cup of loosely packed flat parsley leaves

½             red onion, thinly sliced

                                6              Black Mission figs, quartered

                                12           seedless red grapes, halved

                                ½             orange

                                1              tablespoon sherry vinegar

                                2              tablespoons olive oil

                                                sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste  

Preparation:  In a wooden salad bowl lightly toss the first six ingredients. Squeeze the juice from the half orange onto the salad. Take a fork and scrape the orange pulp into the salad. Add the sherry vinegar and olive oil and toss again. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.      


Richard Wottrich       

Chicken Fricassee with Two Vinegars

(Fricassée de Poulet aux Deux Vinaigres)

Friends often ask me for recommendations on how to get started in serious cooking and I usually go into a tirade on buying small quantities of the best real food you can afford and then getting out of the way of the ingredients. Then I mention cookbooks from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) or Jamie Oliver. But for very sophisticated Parisian fare and perfect technique The Paris Cookbook (Harper Collins, 2001) by Patricia Wells (a close friend of Ina) is another terrific choice. Sauces can be daunting to even the experienced cook, but Patricia lays out straight forward recipes that build sublime sauces before you know it. This is such a recipe.

                 1             fresh farm chicken, 3-4 pounds, cut into 8 pieces (*see note)  

                                sea salt, to taste   

                                fresh ground white pepper, to taste               

                 3             tablespoons extra virgin olive oil     

                 4             tablespoons unsalted butter             

                 1/3         cup best quality white champagne vinegar    

                 1/3         cup best quality red wine vinegar   

                 1/3         cup of the white wine you are having with dinner       

                 2            shallots, finely minced      

                 3/4         cup tomato sauce               

                 1 2/3      cups chicken stock             

                 1            cup heavy cream

Preparation:   1. Pat the chicken dry and liberally season it on all sides with sea salt and white pepper. 2.  In a deep skillet, combine the oil and butter, and heat over moderate heat. When the fats are hot but not smoking, add the chicken, skin side down, and brown until it turns an even golden color, about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces and brown them on the other side, 5 minutes more. Carefully regulate the heat to avoid scorching the skin. (This may have to be done in batches.) When all the pieces are browned, use tongs (to avoid piercing the meat) to transfer them to a platter. 3. Pour off and discard the fat in the skillet. Off the heat, add the two vinegars and deglaze the pan. Add the wine. Add the shallots and cook, covered, over low heat until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken pieces to a large warmed platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. 4. Add the tomato sauce and stock to the skillet; stir to blend thoroughly. Add the cream and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet, cover and cook over low heat, turning the pieces from time to time to absorb the sauce, for about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and serve.

Presentation: I served this with steamed Broccolini and two pieces of chicken per serving and poured the sauce on! A side salad of flat parsley, Romaine leaves and frisée, quartered black figs, sliced red onion and halved red grapes with vinaigrette was perfect.

* Start with the chicken at room temperature. Patricia notes that if you can't find a fresh farm chicken, a free-range or organic chicken will do. I bought an organic chicken at Harrison’s Poultry Farm, Inc. in Glenview for $5.60. Patricia serves the dish over rice or pasta. I used sherry vinegar instead of champagne vinegar, seasoned with dry tarragon, and added thin sliced white button mushrooms in Step. 4.

Jack Daniel’s Squares

Makes 12-16 Squares

These bourbon-spiked brownies hale from the holiday cookie contests Sharon used to host at the A-Plus Talent Agency, Inc. Christmas party, held at our home on 1845 N. Dayton St., in Chicago in the late 1980s. As one of the erstwhile judges, I can attest that many of the submitted confectioneries were truly dismal, but these spiked squares always brought raves. I personally happen to prefer my Jack on the rocks with a twist, water back.

Squares
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup all-purpose flower
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons Jack Daniel’s whiskey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Icing
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon Jack Daniel’s whiskey
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation: 1. Heat your oven to 350°. 2. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan. 3. For the squares: In a bowl combine the granulated sugar, pecans, flour and cocoa and stir until thoroughly mixed. 4. Add the eggs, whiskey, vanilla and melted butter, mixing until smooth. 5. Pour the batter into the buttered pan and bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes. 6. Let cool to room temperature on a wire rack. 7. For the icing: In a bowl, combine the confectioner’s sugar, chocolate, butter, whiskey, milk, and vanilla. 8. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and spreadable. If the icing is too thick, add more milk, a teaspoon at a time. 9. Coat the tops of the squares with the icing and serve cold or at room temperature.

Pavés du Mail

This classic bistro dish of pan-fried steak and mustard cream sauce is simple and quick. Bistro cooking is based upon utilizing humble ingredients that are exalted via supreme saucing techniques – simple fare – glorious results. In Paris this dish would be done with flat iron steaks (flat blade) or hanger steaks. Either is fine, but I would suggest picking up a flank steak when on sale. The flavor is terrific.

1 pound flank steak
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon cognac or brandy
¼ cup heavy cream
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 white button mushrooms, slice thinly
1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley

Preparation: Season the flank steak with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a 12” cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook, turning once, until browned and cooked to the desired temperature, about 6 minutes for medium rare. Remove pan from the heat. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Pour off and discard all but one tablespoon of fat in the pan.

Add most of the cognac to the pan and stir, scraping browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Return pan to medium-high heat and cook for 20 seconds. Add the cream, mustard, and sliced mushrooms, season with sea salt and pepper, and cook, stirring vigorously, until the sauce just thickens. Stir in the remaining cognac.

Slice the flank steak on a slanting angle against the grain. Display several thin slices across the plate and pour on the sauce. Garnish with the minced parsley. Add freshly ground pepper and serve. Pair with a whole leaf Caesar salad.

Richard Wottrich

The Ecstasy of Modern Grocery Shopping

I noticed an essay in the NYT Sunday edition today and was struck by its title, “The Agony of Modern Grocery Shopping.” My immediate reaction was to wonder why the author did not stay out of supermarkets if they bothered him. But upon reflection I decided to take a different tact. “We live in the best of times for real food shopping.”

I am a cook who loves to prepare and present real food made made from scratch. I have been cooking for 20 years, write a cooking blog ( http://coolcook.blogspot.com ), and can say definitively that times have never been better for this passion. For starters I shop every Saturday morning at the Evanston (Illinois) Farmers Market. There I buy eggs from a real farm, organic vegetables, wild mushrooms, artisan cheeses from Wisconsin and local fruit from an orchard. Alternatively there are dozens of cooperative truck farms in the Chicago region that sell shares in their annual crops. You can pick up your produce at the farm each week and show your kids where their food comes from.

Three miles from my home is a 100,000 square foot Asian market with the largest fish bar I have ever seen, and every other Asian ingredient known. I take my grandson there just to show him what seafood looks like. Even closer is a Japanese market with sushi-grade seafood, along with The Fresh Market across the street that has an excellent meat selection. Every few months I visit a Chicago-based chain of spice shops, The Spice House, which carries an astounding variety of ingredients.

Our local Costco carries bulk food items at prices that cannot be duplicated and it has a selection of excellent wines at very low prices that are worth the trip. Just a bit further is a local Greek-owned fruit and vegetable shop that has bakery specialties, excellent lamb and imported feta cheeses and olives. My local butcher shop will accommodate my every whim, including preparing a standing rib pork roast with little notice. Around the corner from me is Harrison’s Poultry Farm, which provides organic poultry products to the top restaurants in Chicago. Almost every month I buy a seven-pound capon and have a magnificent roasted chicken.

You’ll notice that I have described ten food destinations and never mentioned a supermarket. The choices are there if you look. Does quality cost more? Sure it does, but if you quite naturally reduce the quantity you eat and replace it with quality you will dine better and spend the same. Does this take more time? I would ask that question in a differently manner. Does your family deserve this attention? Should your children know where real food comes? Should a family sit down every evening possible and share in breaking bread and conviviality?

Preparing and presenting food is part of the natural rhythm of life and these are the best of times.

Richard Wottrich

Meatloaf Olivera
Serves 20

Sometimes a large crowd is expected for dinner, including several kids. The leaves are turning and it dips below 40-degrees outside. A football game is on and cold beer is replaced with good Scotch. It’s time for an old fashioned 25-ingredient five-pound meatloaf. As for scaling this recipe down, don't even think about it! Leftovers make great rye bread sandwiches the next day.

1 pound ground Bison (Buffalo)
1 pound ground chuck (beef)
1 pound ground pork
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, crumble the stuffing
4 cups Japanese Panko bread crumbs
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, charred, seeded, skinned and chopped
1 tablespoon crushed Aleppo chili pepper (or any crushed chili)
1 cup capers, drained or salt cured
2 cups salsa, medium heat
1 teaspoon hot sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole brown mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 tablespoons fennel seed
2 tablespoons Greek oregano
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
2 tablespoons kosher salt (If using salt cured capons, cut kosher salt in half)
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
8 strips of natural bacon, cut in half (no nitrates)
Springs of fresh rosemary and thyme

Preparation: Set your oven to 400-degrees. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients, except the bacon, rosemary and thyme. Using your hands or two large spoons, mix the ingredients thoroughly making sure not to compress or pack the mixture. Take a large cast iron pan (15-inches) or a large heavy bottomed stainless steel roaster and spray the inside with Pam, or coat it with butter. In the pan free form a large rectangular loaf. Square up the sides and corners with a large spatula, leaving a gently rounded top. Overlap the strips of bacon evenly across the top of the meatloaf. Grind black pepper over the loaf. Surround the loaf with the springs of rosemary and thyme. Roast the meatloaf for roughly 90 minutes, until a nice crust forms and a meat thermometer reads at least 140-degrees. Remove from the oven and cover with aluminum foil. Let the meatloaf rest for at least 30 minutes. Cut into slabs and serve with Cornichons (pickles), mashed potatoes and gravy. If there are leftovers (there won’t be) make cold sandwiches on rye the next day.

Richard Wottrich – richard.wottrich@gmail.com – http://coolcook.blogspot.com

Mushroom Barley Soup

My dad used to make mushroom barley soup in the Fall every year when the leaves started to turn. Coming in after tossing the football around on a Saturday, we’d have hot bowls of soup and chunks of freshly baked bread for dipping.

Years later I have learned that mushrooms may have hypoglycemic activity, anti-cancer activity, anti-pathogenic activity, and immune system enhancing activity. Recent research has found that the oyster mushroom naturally contains the cholesterol drug lovastatin; some mushrooms produce large amounts of vitamin D when exposed to UV light and that certain fungi may be a future source of taxol. To date, penicillin and the statin drugs lovastatin, and mevastatin, are notable pharmaceuticals which have been isolated from the fungal kingdom. Other pharmaceuticals derived from fungi include ciclosporin, griseofulvin, cephalosporin, and ergometrine.

Try an assortment of crimini, Portobello, shiitake, maitake (hen-of-the-woods), oyster, and enoki mushrooms. Also use wild mushrooms if you can. Usually a good farmers market will have a mushroom purveyor who will have interesting selections. They cost a bit more, but the freshness is important. Mushrooms taste fantastic and they are good for you – it’s a win, win.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound cleaned sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon Madeira or Amontillado
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
1 cup barley
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh Thyme

Directions:

Heat the oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic; cook and stir until onions are tender and transparent. Stir in the barley grains until just coated and toasted. Stir in mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes. Mix the flour into the chicken and beef stock and pour into the pot and stir until smooth. Add the lemon juice, vinegar and Madeira and bring to a quick boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until barley is tender, about 50 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and Thyme before serving.

Hemingway's Brook Trout

Most folks who “know” Ernest Hemingway know that he spent many years in Northern Michigan. His family owned a summer home called Windemere on Walloon Lake, near Petoskey, Michigan. Growing up Hemingway fished for Brook Trout in most of the area streams, including School and Bear Creek, and the Boardman, Sturgeon, Black and Pigeon rivers. I have fished many of these same streams over the years, as we owned a family cottage near Elk Rapids on Grand Traverse Bay for over 40 years.

In 1920 Hemingway wrote a piece for The Toronto Star entitled “Camping Out.” In it he wrote, “A pan of fried trout can’t be bettered and they don’t cost any more than ever. But there is a good and bad way of frying them.”

Hemingway’s recipe was simple. “The proper way is to cook over coals [in a fry pan]... Put the bacon in and when it is about half cooked lay the trout in the hot grease, dipping them in corn meal first. Then put the bacon on top of the trout and it will baste them as it slowly cooks. The coffee can be boiling at the same time and in a smaller skillet pancakes being made that are satisfying the other campers while they are waiting for the trout.”

My father and I cooked Brook Trout this way, especially on fly in fishing trips in Canada. Our Indian guide, Eli, would set up a shore lunch right on the banks of a lake and grease the spiders (flat-bottomed fry pans) with lard. The red fleshed Brook Trout were gutted and cleaned a few feet away, then brought over and dredged in corn meal, waiting for the strips of bacon to crackle. The Trout would fry up beautifully in the hot grease, crisp skin on the outside and succulent moist flesh inside.

From the water to the tension of the line to the hot spider is more than just a state of mind, as you cannot create this dish unless you are really there.

Richard Wottrich

Piperies Gemistes Me Feta (Peppers Stuffed With Feta)
This Greek (Macedonia) dish is made with sweet Florina peppers, although Fresno or Anaheim chilies may be substituted. This dish appeared on the Aug/Sep 2010 cover of Saveur magazine. Serve this with a slow-braised leg of lamb and Horiatiki (Greek Salad) for a perfect dinner.

2 Fresno or Anaheim chilies, 4” to 5”
6 ounces of Feta cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
½ teaspoon lemon zest
½ teaspoon dried Greek oregano
2 egg yolks
Kosher salt and ground pepper
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Slice the peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and membranes. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to whip the Feta, oil, yogurt, parsley, lemon zest, oregano and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper. Stuff each pepper with the filling. Roast in a 300-degree oven for 15 minutes, or until the peppers are just softened. Sprinkle the parmesan on top and broil for another 2 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot. Serves Four.

Roasted Shrimp, Feta & Orzo

Orzo is an Italian pasta shape which resembles grains of rice. In fact, “orzo” means “barley” in Italian, and in Italian cuisine, the word “orzo” often refers to barley, as in the case of drinks made with roasted barley.

Feta (Greek: φέτα) is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta has been an EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product since 2002. Only cheeses produced in a traditional way in some areas of Greece (mainland and the island of Lesvos), and made from sheep's milk, or from a mixture of sheep's and goats’ milk (up to 30%) of the same area, may bear the name "feta".

Be aware of the environmental issues surrounding farmed shrimp, especially as farmed in certain Asian countries. You have no control over what steroids, herbicides and similar toxins were utilized in the particular country of origin. Wild shrimp is a better choice.

kosher salt
olive oil
¾ pound of orzo
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 medium lemons)
freshly ground pepper
2 pounds shrimp (16 to 18 count), peeled and deveined
1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts
1 cup fresh dill, chopped
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, medium dice
1 medium-sized red onion, diced
¾ pound good quality feta cheese, ½ inch dice

Preparations: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Fill a large pot of water, add kosher salt and a splash of oil, and bring to a boil. Cook the orzo for 10 to 12 minutes until al dente, stirring occasionally. It takes time for the orzo to plump up, so be patient.

Prepare the dressing by whisking the lemon juice with the olive oil, two teaspoons of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drain the orzo and put into a big bowl. Add the dressing immediately while the orzo is hot and mix well.

Put the shrimp in a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss briefly. Put the shrimp on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 4 to 5 minutes until firm – do not overcook.

Add the shrimp to the orzo and then add the scallions, dill, parsley, cumber and onion. Mix gently. Season with salt and pepper. Add the feta and toss gently. Set aside for one hour or longer to allow the flavors to marry, or refrigerate overnight. Allow to come back to room temperature and taste for seasoning.

Vegetables In Oil For Roasting - Tritto

Simple joys of Italian cooking include keeping a couple of jars of chopped vegetables on hand, steeped in olive oil, for roasting and sautéing – known as Tritto. Pick the best quality vegetables of course and clean and chop them by hand. I mix them dry in a bowl with several herbs from my herb garden and a few thin slices of lemon, and then put them into tall vertical jars. I use a blend of olive oil and canola oil to cover the vegetables. Let them steep for at least 12 hours in a cool room.

The jar on the right has soft vegetables such as red peppers, leeks, fennel, celery, broccoli and cauliflower. These will roast in 20 minutes or so at 350-degrees. The jar on the left has root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, celeriac, and onions. These will roast in 45 minutes or so at the same temperature.

When ready to use, drain the oil (saving it for other uses) and spread the two medleys of vegetables evenly in separate roasting pans. Season with salt and pepper and any other spices you enjoy. Or surround a roast with the vegetables to create wonderful gravy.

Richard Wottrich

Deep Fried Spiced Quail

by Christine Manfield from her great cookbook

We are in the dogs days here in Florida...and it has begun to dent my brain. Sandy Botstein did this great little pastel of the lady & the pigeons (flying rats to some of my friends). It is because of the heat I am sure, but I cannot tell if she is inviting them to eat dinner or to be dinner...and I love little birds (for dinner) so here follows my favorite recipe for quail (which I know is not squab...but they would work just fine).

4 large quail

8 tsp Massaman curry paste (Massaman)

vegetable oil for deep frying & stir frying

6.5 oz. small spinach leaves

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp fried red shallots slices

Preheat oven to 450F Wash quails, pat dry; rub generously w/Massaman curry paste; Heat oil in deep fryer to 350F; deep fry quails 4 minutes transfer to baking tray bake for another 3 minutes; rest 2 minutes before serving; Stir fry spinach w/a little oil w/garlic, fish sauce & pepper until wilted place spinach as a base on each plate, top w/quail, sprinkle w/fried shallot.

Make Your Own Curry Paste

4 tsp cumin

8 tsp coriander seeds

seeds from 5 cardamon pods

6 cloves

2 sticks cinnamon

8 dried birds eye chilies

2 tsp Thai shrimp paste/kapi

6 fresh birds eye red chilies, chopped

20 cloves garlic, chopped

2 small brown onions, chopped

4 tsp green peppercorns

5 cilantro roots, chopped

small amount vegetable oil

zest 2 kaffir limes, chopped

2 stalks lemon grass chopped

2.5 oz palm sugar/zaggery, shaved

2.5 oz fish sauce

2 oz tamarind liquid (1 part pulp simmered w/4 parts water for 30 minutes, strained)

Dry roast cumin, coriander, cardamon, cloves, cinnamon sticks, dried chilies over gentle heat until fragrant, cool & grind to a fine powder. Dry roast shrimp paste over gentle heat until fragrant. Blend fresh chilies, garlic, onion, peppercorns, coriander root, & small amount of vegetable oil as required in a food processor. Cook paste over gentle heat until softens & slightly colored, place in food processor w/lime rind, lemon grass, dry roasted shrimp paste, add remaining ingredients & process thoroughly.

She's not really going to eat those birds is she???????????????

The Best Lobster Roll In the World – Red’s Eats

If you’re ever driven up into Maine on Route 1 you know what I’m talking about. There in the town of Wiscasset, sitting hard on the west side going north just before the Sheepscot River Bridge, sits Red’s Eats. Red’s opened in Boothbay in 1938, and moved to the north end of Wiscasset in 1954. The traffic jams in Wincasset are legendary for this simple reason - Red’s sells a perfect Lobster Roll for $14.00 that people stop for from miles around. In fact the traffic is so bad that they are proposing to move Red’s Eats about 50 feet and put in a new bridge that will divert around Wiscasset and its legendary lobster shack.

Red's is a real lobster shack, a building built around a small house trailer with a single window where you both place and pick up your order. The lines can be 100 feet long on a hot summer day. About 25,000 cars a day cruise through town during the summer months. The cars at the intersection can be backed up a mile or more. It’s worth it.

Each Red’s Lobster Roll contains all the meat from a one-pound lobster extracted in glistening chunks and piled into a toasted split-top bun served with a cup of drawn butter or mayonnaise. It is lobster-eater's nirvana.

Red's Lobster Roll Recipe

New York Times article

Herbal Butter

Over the years I have always used herbal butter for corn-on-the-cob until it has become second nature. After multiple requests here is the recipe for this simple nectar. After all, if it tastes good it has butter in it.

2 sticks butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs; basil, thyme, parsley, lavender, rosemary, oregano, as you wish
1  teaspoon apple vinegar
freshly ground pepper to taste
sea salt to taste

Slowly melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the ingredients. Blanch your just-out-of-the-field corn in boiling water for two minutes or less. Drain and pour the herbal butter over the corn in the bowl. This is also great on any grilled fish, boiled potatoes, grilled onions, boiled cabbage and carrots, and on and on…

Enjoy!

Deconstructing Alice Waters


Anthony Bourdain is the quintessential lighting rod in the narrow confines of the US food world. Folks either love him or hate him. I loved Kitchen Confidential because it humanized the shadowy world of fine dining. He told the truth – or at least his version of the truth.

In his latest book, Medium Raw, we have the added surprise of an older Bourdain who actually has distilled (literally) into an excellent writer. There are the obligatory “Emperor’s New Clothes” undressing of pretentious and over hyped celebrity chefs of course – that’s his trademark. But even here his skill in deconstructing Alice Waters is akin to watching a fine surgeon at work.

Where Bourdain really shines however, far beyond “food writing”, are in his chapters in which he roams the world in jewel-like vignettes of food experiences, and in the amazing profile of the fish butcher at Le Bernardin. Justo Thomas prepares 700 pounds of fish at the country’s best fish restaurant every day – 1,000 pounds on weekends! He is an artist, as is Bourdain’s description.

Or not – you either love the guy or you don’t.
 
Richard Wottrich

Truffles are no Trifle

Italy’s “King of Truffles” died on June 17 at age 79. Paolo Urbani and his brother ran Urbani Tartufi, which claimed control of 70% of the world market for both black and white truffles. Along the way Urbani introduced Italian truffles to the world as well.
Truffles are the coveted fungi above all others dating back to medieval times. The 18th-century French gastronome Brillat-Savarin called truffles "the diamond of the kitchen". Urbani’s family founded the firm back in the 1800s.

The white truffle or Alba madonna (Tuber magnatum) comes from the Langhe area of the Piedmont region in northern Italy and, most famously, in the countryside around the city of Alba. It is also found in Croatia, on the Istria peninsula in the Motovun forest alongside Mirna river. While in Dubrovnik in 2007 I had ethereal white truffles showered on creamed white noodles that were nectar from the gods.

Growing symbiotically with oak, hazel, poplar and beech and fruiting in autumn, truffles can reach 12 cm diameter and 500 g, though are usually much smaller. The flesh is pale cream or brown with white marbling. Like the French black truffles, Italian white truffles are highly esteemed.

The white truffle market in Alba is busiest in the months of October and November, where a 1.6-pound white truffle sold for $150,000 on Nov. 8, 2009 during the 79th White Truffle Festival. In 2001, the Tuber magnatum truffles sold for between $1,000 and $2,200 US per pound; as of December 2009 they were being sold at 10,200€ per kilogram ($28,130 per pound).

The Chinese truffle (Tuber sinensis, also sometimes called Tuber indicum) is a winter black truffle harvested in China. Due to their fast growing nature, Chinese truffles are often exported to the West as an inferior-quality substitute of Tuber melanosporum. Restaurants have been known to serve Chinese truffles and claim they are the real deal.

Urbani has a vast network throughout Italy that supplies the firm with truffles and provides it with competitive information. Farmers keep secret the location of their truffle trees and they have been known to poison competitor’s dogs. Historically truffles were hunted by pigs, but they love to eat the stuff, so dogs have been substituted. Old truffle hunters, known as Cavatori, or extractors, can be recognized by the fingers they have lost to their truffle pigs.

Today more than half the annual black truffle production is farmed. But the illusive and prized white truffles must still be gathered in the wild. As for Urbani, his daughter Olga will carry on the family tradition.
Richard Wottrich

Mise en place at Il Falconiere, Cortona, Tuscany

Packing Eggs

Boy packing eggs at Farmers Market. Portland, Oregon (Photo:RLW)

Methyl Iodide & Strawberries – Oxymoron? Not!

Where do your strawberries come from?

The New York Times reported today on a growing dispute between the California State Department of Pesticide Regulation and a scientific committee over the approval of a new chemical in the growing of strawberries. It is another interesting example of where big agricultural interests trump the safety of you, me and our children.

For decades strawberry growers injected methyl bromide into their soil as a soil fumigant and structural fumigant to control pests before growing strawberries. However this chemical is an ozone-depleting chemical and it was banned by the Montreal Protocol international climate treaty.

Methyl iodide was found as a substitute in 2007. More than 50 chemists and scientists, including members of the National Academy of Sciences and Nobel laureates asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency not to approve the chemical. Nevertheless the California State Department of Pesticide Regulation has bestowed provisional approval for this chemical.

“This is without question one of the most toxic chemicals on earth,” said John Froines, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California.

Breathing methyl iodide fumes can cause lung, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. It causes nausea, dizziness, coughing and vomiting. Prolonged contact with skin causes burns. Massive inhalation causes pulmonary edema.

But the strawberry business in California is a $2 billion industry. I wonder who will win this battle. I wonder even more about what else they spray on the food you, me and our children eat grown in California?

Richard Wottrich

Marius Market, Paris (Photo:RLW)

Brown Rice versus White Rice?


A just-released Harvard study came to the stunning conclusion that eating brown rice instead of white rice decreases the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes by about 10 percent compared to people who eat it less than once a month. And those who eat white rice on a regular basis — five or more times a week — are almost 20 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who eat it less than once a month.

This is of course patently clear to anyone with any knowledge of whole foods, versus highly refined foods - as their perishable nutrients have been removed to make them shelf-stable. Hence The New York Times headline today is a sad commentary on the apparent fact that many think this is new information.

What is more interesting in my opinion is that this study reinforces the erroneous “single ingredient” fallacy of our approach to healthy eating. Year after year studies highlight one ingredient or another and make claims regarding their healthy benefits. Highly engineered foods clog our grocery shelves with absurd marketing claims regarding the few nutrients that have been added back into cheap highly refined food commodities such as high-fructose corn syrup, white rice, refined white flour, and de-oiled soy flakes.

In the holistic approach to healthy eating it is preciously the great diversity of whole foods availability that delivers everything the healthy body needs to function. Isolating down to a single ingredient such as brown rice misses the point and misleads people into thinking there is a “sliver bullet” out there that bestows good health.

One of my cooking heroes, Julia Child, said it best, “Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.”

Richard Wottrch

Quinoa, Rice & Spinach Steamed Pilaf

Quinoa (pronounced "KEEN - wa") is a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is not a true cereal, or grain, or member of the grass family. Quinoa is closely related to beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth.

Quinoa originated in the Andes of South America and it has been an important food for 6,000 years. Its name is the Spanish spelling of the Quechua name. Quinoa is generally easily grown and altitude-hardy, so it can be cultivated in the Andes up to about 4,000 meters (over 13,000 feet).

Quinoa’s protein content is very high (12%–18%). Quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

I created this particular dish to take advantage of unique crunch of Quinoa with the addition of some flavor notes and nutritional side kicks that result in a very tasty side dish, similar to a pilaf - but steamed instead.

1 cup Quinoa (Nuts On Line)
1 cup premium white rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 large tomato, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh spinach
1 tablespoon butter
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Splash of lemon juice
Parsley as a garnish

In a rice cooker combine the Quinoa, rice, chicken stock, wine, tomato, oregano, spinach and butter. Set the cooker to white rice. When done remove the mixture to a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add sea salt and pepper to your taste, lemon juice and serve with parsley as a garnish. This presents well with grilled lamb loin chops.

Richard Wottrich

Relative Nutritional Value - Distance Shipped Plus Time to Market Are Inversely Proportional to Nutrients


Chamonix, France (Photo:RLW)

Why ask where your food comes from? Fresh fruits and vegetables in your supermarket travel an average of 1,500 miles before sale. Fresh fruits and vegetables in a typical farmers' market travel an average of 50 miles.

Fresh fruits and vegetables that come from fields in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, China or any other country may or may not comply with U.S. Department of Agriculture or EPA rules and regulations. What are they spraying on your food in these countries? How do we know?

The antioxidants in fresh fruits and vegetables are there to help the plants ward off insects and diseases. If a plant is grown in the genetically identical mass plantings of an industrial farm it does not need to produce antioxidants to fend off insects and diseases - they have all been killed by herbicides and pesticides.

Fruits and vegetables have been developed to stand up to shipping over great distances. The chief consideration is appearance and long shelf life. There is little if any consideration of nutrient value. In fact, the longer a fruit or vegetable stays on the shelf the lower its nutrient levels are. Nutrients deteriorate over time. That is why the Food Industry breaks foods down and removes active nutrients - to extend shelf life. That is why you have white rice and refined white flour. Those pesky nutrients mess everything up for Food Industry profits.

Donald R. Davis, a research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, recently analyzed data gathered by the USDA in 1950 and 1999 on the nutrient content of 43 fruit and vegetable crops. He found that six out of 13 nutrients had declined in these crops over the 50-year period (the seven other nutrients showed no significant, reliable changes). Three minerals, phosphorous, iron and calcium, declined between 9 percent and 16 percent. Protein declined 6 percent. Riboflavin declined 38 percent and ascorbic acid (a precursor of vitamin C) declined 15 percent.

A study of the mineral content of fruits and vegetables grown in Britain between 1930 and 1980 shows similar decreases in nutrient density. The British study found significantly lower levels of calcium, magnesium, copper and sodium in vegetables, and of magnesium, iron, copper and potassium in fruit. The report concludes that the declines indicate "that a nutritional problem associated with the quality of food has developed over those 50 years."

Relative Nutritional Value (RNV) equals the nutrient level (n) divided by distance shipped plus time to market (d + t), where the nutrient level is assumed to be 100 at perfection. Hence a tomato that travels 1,500 miles in 10 days to reach market has an RNV of .07, while an organic tomato shipped 50 miles in one day has an RNV of 2. And a sprig of parsley grown in your garden that you pick and eat on the spot has an RNV of 100. This is my own equation and its purpose is purely to highlight the issue of nutrient value in our foods.

This formula supposes that local foods are organically grown. Thus their produce had to develop antioxidants to ward off insects and diseases. It also supposes that the soil these plants were grown in is richer than the chemically maintained and exhausted soils of huge industrial farms. This may or may not be true. That is why you ask. Know where your foods come from and how they are grown. It makes a difference.

Richard Wottrich

Sautéed Pineapple & Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are a cultivated member of the wild cabbage family, probably refined in ancient Rome. The first written reference to them is in 1587 in what is now Belgium, hence the name. Folks who don’t like Brussels sprouts probably have had them over cooked - overcooking should be avoided because it releases glucosinolate sinigrin, which has a sulfurous odor.

The combination of pineapple and Brussels sprouts at first seems an unlikely one, but the pineapple’s semi-sweet tartness contrasts beautifully with the butter and cinnamon and the fresh crunch of the Brussels sprouts. Pineapple is a good source of manganese (91 %DV in a 1 cup serving), as well as vitamin C (94 %DV in a 1 cup serving) and vitamin B1 (8 %DV in a 1 cup serving). The contrast of the bright green and white of the Brussels sprouts and the bright yellow of the pineapple make this a great summer dish.

1 whole pineapple, skin removed, quartered, cored and cut into pieces roughly the same size as the Brussels sprouts
1 pound of Brussels sprouts, washed, bases removed, cut in half lengthwise
1 stick of butter (eight tablespoons)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Zest from one orange
Juice from one orange, freshly squeezed
sea salt and pepper to taste
fresh mint as garnish

Put the cleaned Brussels sprouts in a large pot of salted boiling water and blanch for three minutes. Shock them in cold water immediately and reserve. In a sauté pan large enough to hold all the drained Brussels sprouts in a single layer, melt the butter. Add the sprouts and sear at high temperature until they just start to turn brown. Reserve. In the same pan place all the pineapple chunks in a single layer and sear until they just start to brown. Put the Brussels sprouts and pineapple chunks into a large bowl. Deglaze the pan with the orange juice, zest and cinnamon for two minutes. Pour the pan butter mixture over the pineapple and Brussels sprouts. Throw in a quarter cup of chopped fresh mint, sea salt and pepper and toss. Serve at once. [The acid in the pineapple will turn the bright green of the sprouts to a dull color if you let this dish sit too long.]

Richard Wottrich

A Tsunami of Chemicals Hits Your Food

The big food crops globally consist of sugar cane, rice, wheat, corn, soy beans and tubers. These crops account for roughly 80% of everything the world eats. To bring these crops to the worlds’ masses, set to hit 7 billion in 2011, vast amounts of herbicides are used. This is efficient for huge industrial farms because it cuts down on spoilage and weed losses, keeping profit margins robust. We apparently tolerate this as the price we pay for feeding the world. Why?

Most of these industrial crops are broken down into basic cheap derivatives, such as high-fructose corn syrup, that show up in the thousands of engineered foods that populate our supermarket shelves. The food industry churns out advertising that makes absurd health claims about these products. In other words, the nutrients are removed from these foods to be broken into cheap easily shipped bulk commodities, which are then engineered into high value, shelf-stable packaged “food” products we buy to feed our children. Why?

If you look into the world of industrial food crops you’ll see companies like Monsanto, a $10.7 billion giant that sells both crop seeds and the glyphosate-based herbicides (Roundup Ready) that are used to protect them. Monsanto is a fine company. They do a good job for their shareholders and for the farmers who buy their seeds and the chemicals to control weeds. What is missing from this equation are the stakeholders who eat the end products – you and me and our children.

Roundup Ready is an excellent herbicide that has about as small an environmental footprint as can be engineered. Since it was introduced a decade ago it revolutionized farming in that it gave farmers a very effective and relatively safe method of controlling invasive weeds. The trade off for this was the requirement that their crop seeds be genetically engineered with the insertion of genes that made them immune to Roundup Ready. My question is where are the studies regarding the effect of these genetic changes on the nutrients, quality and safety of the resulting food products?

Unfortunately Monsanto lost control of both sides of this equation when the Roundup Ready patent ran out. Chinese companies have been offering look-alike herbicides at drastically lower prices. We all know how trustworthy Chinese chemical companies are. Have you read anything recently about the safety of Chinese herbicides used on U.S. crops?

Mother Nature has changed the game plan as well. Predictably, “superweeds” have appeared throughout the U.S. that are immune to Roundup Ready. Farmers are frantic to kill these weeds. Other herbicide companies are racing to roll out older, more toxic herbicides that can kill them. Monsanto is lowering the price on its Roundup Ready to compete with the Chinese and these older toxic herbicides. Remember, we are talking about the food we eat here.

In order for these older toxic herbicides to work effectively, food crop seeds must be genetically altered again through the insertion of genes to make them immune to these “new” poisons. Rules and regulations governing the use of these herbicides are set by the EPA. The giant herbicide companies obviously lobby congress to influence the EPA rules, many of which were set years ago before genetically engineered foods were so prevalent.

The giant seed companies have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve these new genetically altered seeds. Often, as in the case of Monsanto, these companies offer both products – meaning they have a special inside knowledge of how they want the rules and regulations to favor their products. We all know how effective government rules and regulations have been in the Gulf of Mexico recently.

Superweeds have opened up the herbicide business in a big way, as companies rush new chemicals and new genetically altered seeds to market. It is an insidious cycle of poison – new seeds – new weeds - new poisons – that is disturbing. Everyone is happy - the food company executives, their shareholders, the farmers, members of congress receiving industry political contributions, EPA and USDA career bureaucrats who have what amounts to tenure – all are happy except the folks missing from this cycle – you and me and our children. Who represents the interests of the people who eat these highly engineered commodity food components?

So what can we do? We can eat whole fresh foods that are not part of the industrialized food industry. We can stop buying the highly engineered shelf-stable food products that clog the shelves of our huge supermarkets. And when you have to buy a packaged food item, study the label. When you see derivative food commodities such as high-fructose corn syrup or de-oiled soy flakes or refined white flour, and other nutrient-barren additives on the label, don’t buy it. If a packaged food product has more than five ingredients, or has any ingredient you do not understand, don’t buy it.

Buy fresh. Buy local. Cook.

Richard Wottrich

From Teosinte to Maize to Corn to High-Fructose Corn Syrup in 9,000 Years

For most of the past 100,000 years Homo sapiens relied on gathering fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers and other offerings from nature in order to survive. It was a relatively recent 10,000 years ago that humans began to domesticate and raise animals and plant their own food.

Sean B. Carroll of The New York Times reported in an article on May 25th that the origin of domesticated maize has been determined through advances in DNA research. Corn has of course become an important food globally for humans, livestock and energy. Corn is the third largest food crop in the world behind rice and wheat.

In the past botanists have not found any direct ancestor of modern corn. The biological origin has thus been a bit of a mystery. However through DNA matching it is an unassuming Mexican grass called teosinte that is the Rosetta stone of this puzzle.

Teosinte of the genus Zea is a group of five grasses that grow in Central America and Southern Mexico. Its skinny ears have just a dozen kernels wrapped inside of rock-hard casings, like the tail of an armadillo. It is hard to imagine this plant as the ancestor of corn and in fact in the past it has been classified as closer to rice than to corn.

The DNA evidence taken from teosinte plants throughout its geographical range provides evidence that maize originated in the tropical Central Balsas River Valley in Southern Mexico. It is interesting that the geographical origin of maize is almost a template of the ancient civilizations of Mexico – Olmec, Zapotea, Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltecs and Aztecs. Maize was the mother food of these grand cultures and teosinte is the mother of maize.

It is amazing to me that small groups of people 9,000 years ago were able to select and grow the desirable features of teosinte and evolve it into a high yielding and easily harvested food crop. I thank them for the great American tradition of eating sweet corn with butter and salt on a summer day.

And of course today huge industrial farms across our continent grow just a few highly bred varieties of corn for the production of ethanol, feed for cattle and other animals, and for the great crack cocaine food product of the 21st century – High-fructose corn syrup.

Richard Wottrich

Where It All Began

The Mediterranean Diet, made famous in a study of mortality on Crete by the United Nations published in their demographic yearbook for 1948, is something many of us are familiar with. Cretans lived longer than any other people in the region at the time; hence the interest in their diet. What may not be so familiar is that this diet is largely the result of the influence of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299 to 1923 (over six centuries) and was succeeded by the modern state of Turkey.

So the natural cuisine of Turkey was dispersed and assimilated and added to throughout the Mediterranean Basin. And Turkish cuisine was influenced over the centuries by its earliest people, the Kurds and their cuisine.

The Smithsonian has an article this month entitled "Heritage Reclaimed" that is well worth a read. In it a quote caught my imagination as the perfect expression of a natural holistic approach to life. A Kurdish woman, Semi Utan (age 82), smiled wistfully as she recalled her childhood.

“In my time we lived a completely natural life,” she said. “We had our animals. We made yogurt, milk and cheese. We produced our own honey. Herbs were used for healing the sick. No one ever went to a doctor. Everything was tied to nature.”

Smithsonian article

Raita Sauce

Raita (Raitha) is a Pakistani/Indian condiment based on yogurt (dahi) and used as a sauce or dip. The yogurt is seasoned with coriander (cilantro), cumin, mint, cayenne pepper, and/or other herbs and spices as you wish. It is prepared by frying cumin (zeera) along with black mustard seeds (raie) and these mixtures are mixed into the yogurt.

Minced, raw vegetables or fruits—such as cucumber, onion, or carrot, pineapple, or papaya— are mixed into the yogurt. Raw ginger and garlic paste, green chili paste, and sometimes mustard paste, are used to enrich flavor. 

Serve Raita chilled. It cools the palate with spicy Indian dishes. Raita is also great with kebabs, any grilled meats, poached fish or roasted vegetables. Raita is similar to Greek tzatziki.

We keep a simple version in the frig that can be added to as your imagination allows:

1 large Cucumber, drained, seeded and chopped
1 cup Greek Yogurt (Fage, Oikos, Chobani)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped Mint
juice from one lime

Richard Wottrich

Gazpacho Full Circle

Gazpacho is a tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in Spain in the southern region of Andalusia. Gazpacho is now ubiquitous throughout Latin America and in fine restaurants worldwide.

Upon their arrival in Tenochtitlan the Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valle de Oaxaca, were purportedly astounded by the ninth Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II (1466–1520) and his large gardens. The Emperor had a botanical garden and an aquarium. The aquarium had ten ponds of salt water and ten ponds of fresh water, containing fish and aquatic birds. Several large gardens were irrigated by water channels and had pathways so that visitors could enjoy them.

According to the scholar Francisco Cervantes de Salazar (1514? – 1575): "These gardens contained only medicinal and aromatic herbs, flowers, native roses, and trees with fragrant blossoms, of which there are many kinds." (Granziera 2001:188). Montezuma did not allow his gardeners to grow any edible plants that could be used for food because he believed that only lower classes should grow plants for sustenance. His gardens were only for pleasure; they also served as a collection of plants from all areas of the empire.

Cortez found tomatoes growing in Montezuma’s gardens in 1519, and brought them back to Spain as bounty. Because of its origin the tomato (a member of the Nightshade family) was deemed poisonous and used as a decorative plant. (Who had the strength of character to first eat a tomato in Spain is unknown, but it may have been the brother of the first person to eat an oyster.)

This is my take on this classic cold summer soup:

22 ounces of V-8 juice (four 5.5 ounce cans)
2 pounds of tomatoes, quartered, seeded and finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced in sea salt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 banana pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1 juice from a lime
chives for garnish (or Yellow Chinese chives)
toasted bread points and olive oil

In a stainless steel or glass bowl mix all the ingredients except the garnish. Cool for two hours. Serve the same day it is prepared. Garnish with chives. A dollop of Greek yogurt adds a cool note.

Thyme

The whole point of a holistic approach to eating is that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This refutes the entire notion of big food companies that specific ingredients must be purchased from them and ingested - that we need to take supplements to be healthy. It just doesn’t wash.

Herbs are a case in point. Humans have been eating herbs for thousands of years for good reason - it makes them healthy. In the case of Thyme what follows is a listing of just the antioxidants that have been identified in the leaf of Thymus vulgaris or Common Thyme:

Alanine, anethole essential oil, apigenin, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, caffeic acid, camphene, carvacrol, chlorogenic acid, chrysoeriol, derulic acid, eriodictyol, eugenol, 4-terpinol, gallic acid, gamma-terpinene, isichlorogenic acid, isoeugenol, isothymonin, kaemferol, labiatic acid, lauric acid, linalyl acetate, luteolin, methionine, myrcene, myristic acid, naringenin, rosmarinic acid, selenium, tannin, thymol, trytophan, ursolic acid, vanillic acid

It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature.

Viva D. Rodriguez Cuba!

I didn’t really plan on being in Miami two weekends in one month, it just worked out that way. I stayed at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental and then at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The Fontainebleau recently had a one billion dollar makeover (you heard me right, $1 billion) that resembles a rehab center for celebrities.

The nexus of Latin cool, Miami is vivacious, tacky, hot, multilingual, gaudy, tattooed, hipped and hopped, alive, seedy, gleaming, and whatever you want it to be. It is where the tectonic plates of North and South America collide in a cacophony of human diversity.

Close friends in Chicago recommended that we go to the top Cuban restaurant in town, D. Rodriguez Cuba. Opened last December in the art-deco Astor Hotel at 956 Washington Avenue in South Beach, D. Rodriguez is a big space with high ceilings, a live salsa band and with multi-leveled terraces outside. For a quieter dinner dine around 7:00 pm as the live music starts at 8:30.

Cuban cuisine is historically a blend of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. Typical fare consists of rice and beans; a main pork or beef course; vianda that encompass yucca, malanga, potato, plantains, unripe bananas and even corn; and a salad composed of tomato, lettuce, avocado, including at times cucumber, carrots, cabbage and radish. Fruit is often ignored, except ripe plantains, which can be served with the rice and beans. Cuban fare is usually served family style.

Chef Douglas Rodriguez is considered to be the Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine. He has opened restaurants in Miami, Philadelphia, Arizona, and the most recent, D. Rodriguez Cuba at the Astor Hotel in Miami Beach. You may know him as the executive chef and co-owner of the Patria in New York City.

I won’t dwell on his cuisine except to say that his Tapas (crab and lemon with cucumber yogurt Empanaditas), Ceviches (Fire and Ice - Salmon, lemon juice, chives, jalapenos, dill over yogurt and cucumber granite) and Cassabe Flat Breads are not to be missed. The menu is an adventure. And a few puffs of a good cigar out on the terrace afterwards might have you exclaiming, “Who lives better than us!”

Richard Wottrich