For the Fairfield County Readers…Bar Rosso
Last night I was having drinks with friends at Napa, here in Stamford, and our friend, bartender and musical mixologist Eric Ribeiro shared a link from CT food blog CT Bites where he is quoted, about their new restaurant opening on Spring Street.
Here is the link to the article:
From CT Bites:
“The menu will focus on a culinary tour of Italy from Sicily to the Dolomites with robust offerings of reasonable small plates and starters that casually elevate “bar food.” The current menu will include inventive appetizers including Marinated cauliflower, Truffle Polenta, Buttata and olives, Crushed Potatoes, and Whipped chicken livers. In addition the menu will include dry plus homemade pastas with delectable toppings including sausages, lamb, rabbit and shrimp. A selection of heartier meat and fish entrees, many of which will be cooked in the wood burning oven are also in the works. Additionally Chef Kardos will prepare his own mozzarella and in house charcuterie.
Bar Rosso will also offer a 250 bottle Italian wine list and the 25 wines by the glass, the cocktail menu will feature Italian classics that will include one of the five homemade bitters plus lemoncello, orange-cella and grappa. Overseeing the creation of this inventive “Libations” menu is a passionate master mixologist Eric Ribeiro, whose experience as a chef and a passion for drink has created some incredible specialty cocktails. His remarkable cocktail menu is a wonderful complement to the Bar Rosso experience and it mirrors the attention given to the food. For months Eric as been formulating a selection of homemade bitters with flavors like “In Bloom” (blending rose petals, 151 proof rum, lavender, and star anise), “Orange” (with orange peel, spices and roots and caramelized sugar), and “Vanilla & Cherry.” Each bitter combines roots, spices, and alcohol which he marinates for 2 months, strains and then bottles. The result is intoxicating, and a cocktail only requires a few drops of Eric’s bitters for the flavors to reach their intended intensity.”
I’m definitely looking forward to the opening. I’m going to have to pick Eric’s brain to get to the recipes for those home made bitters…
Creamy Potato Leek Soup
Wintertime is the perfect time for soups. Thick, hearty, hot soups that can make a meal. Every winter for many years I’ve made this soup, which is quick and easy, and the leftovers will last for a week of lunches. Add home made croutons, and you’ve got a quick, satisfying meal with only 6 ingredients.
A Fatty Crab Cocktail: Fresh Coconut Water and Rum
At one of my favorite restaurants in the city, the Fatty Crab, they have incredible cocktails (read more about the Fatty Crab here). They aren’t cheap ($12/each) but they are tasty. Unfortunately for me, my favorite cocktail there is also the most expensive, at $14 a pop. However, this is no ordinary cocktail. This is a fresh green coconut, opened in front of you at the bar, with dark rum. Served with a spoon and a straw, you can drink the cocktail while you scoop out the fresh, custard-like coconut meat from the inside of the shell. It’s a real treat, to say the least.
The other night I had the inspiration to go find some coconuts and try making this drink at home, utilizing my new favorite dark rum: Kraken. Kraken is a dark spiced rum with heavy vanilla notes, and I think it makes a great Dark ‘N Stormy. You can also enjoy it on the rocks…it’s that smooth.
Cabernet Braised Short Ribs with Gorgonzola Polenta
It has been a year since I started this blog, and though I have had a bit of a hiatus these past few months (moving to a new apartment, skiing for the holidays, fracturing my humerus while skiing for the holidays) I am finally moved in, beginning to heal, and ready to start cooking again! To mark the occasion, I’d like to share a dish that has become like an old friend, one that I can cook in my sleep (and you will be able to as well…it’s not hard!), and one that actually inspired me to start LeChef’s Kitchen one year ago. Cabernet Braised Short Ribs, Gorgonzola Polenta, fresh herb gremolata:
Spaghetti with Clams, White Wine, Butter and Garlic
Yesterday I went to the beach to watch the sunset, and it happened to be low tide. I had planned to make a big pot of red sauce with spaghetti for dinner, but as I walked out onto the flats I saw the telltale marks of a clam bed, and within 5 minutes I had a dozen steamers. Dinner plans changed from a red sauce to a white wine and butter sauce with clams.
Chicken with a Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
Back in the winter of 2000, I had the opportunity to live and teach scuba diving on a tiny island off the East Coast of Thailand called Koh Tao. Koh Tao is the furthest North in a small island chain in the Gulf of Thailand, consisting of Koh Saumui (anyone seen Meet the Parents?), Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao (translated, it means Turtle Island). It was, to put it mildly, paradise. My beachfront, private bungalow was $5/night, and the food was incredible. This may be one of the reasons that I don’t cook Thai food very often…because there is absolutely no way that I could begin to replicate the dishes that I ate over the course of that winter, and I most times don’t even want to attempt it.
That being said, I have no problem making a spicy Thai peanut sauce. Why? Because while I was there I never once ate a spicy peanut sauce. I want to say that it’s an American adaptation to Thai food, because while they cooked with peanuts quite often on Koh Tao, they were always left whole and cooked into a dish, or crumbled on top of pad Thai. Peanut butter was not a staple on the island, so I feel no compunction about cooking this meal. And while it certainly can’t be called “authentic”, it had a lot of the flavors that I remember, and was, in short, delicious. And it’s super easy, and quick.
Sour Cream Softies: A Grant Family Cookie Recipe
In the vein of using sour cream in alternative ways, I wanted to share a recipe that has been in my Mom’s family for generations. This is a cookie that I grew up eating, and I have very fond memories of these. Soft, creamy, like cake, with a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar on top. I’m not much of a baker, as those of you who know me might have already figured out, but after making the sour cream pancakes the other day I was determined to bake up a batch of these cookies for old times’ sake.
On Quesadillas, and my favorite hot sauce…
Quesadillas are one of my favorite snack foods, because I almost always have the ingredients around to throw one together. Flour tortillas keep forever in the fridge, and if you have cheese, some vegetables, leftover chicken or beef of any kind, salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, or any combination thereof, you probably have enough things to whip up a great quesadilla.
Crab Cakes Benedict over Creamed Corn
If you’ve been reading frequently, you will know that it’s blue crab season in Connecticut. Last weekend I pulled two dozen from the water in about 30 minutes, which wound up being far too many for two people to eat in one sitting. After picking out the remaining crab meat, the obvious choice was to make crab cakes. Behold, a breakfast fit for kings:
Sour Cream Pancakes
This past weekend at the Cape I woke up early and decided to make some pancakes. Unfortunately I didn’t have any milk at the house, but we did have a large tub of sour cream. Remembering vaguely a recipe for sour cream pancakes, I did a quick search online and found a wonderful-looking recipe from Smitten Kitchen for sour cream pancakes. I had to give them a shot.
