Hail Caesar!

I'd love to tell you guys that I'm some culinary genius; a mad scientist who dreams up new and exciting concoctions in my science lab kitchen. But the truth is simply this:  I like to cook and  I like to eat.  That's pretty much the long and the short of it.  I don't create recipes with any regularity.  I've created my fair share, I suppose, but unlike some of the big dogs in the cooking blogosphere, I am no future cookbook author. I just like to cook and care for my family and friends via food.  So, when I find someone else's recipe that I like, I am perfectly fine and comfortable giving credit where credit is due. I won't try to pretend it's mine.  My ego isn't that large.  But what I will do is share it.  A good recipe deserves to be shared, passed on and written down for those who come behind us.  

One thing I love is a good Caesar salad.  I like the "classic" style with the creamy, garlicky dressing with fresh Parmesan. The problem is that it's really hard to find a truly good Caesar salad anymore.  Restaurants buy the dressing; I don't care what they might try to tell you.  I can tell when I taste it.  It tastes just like the dressing from the last restaurant I visited.  And cross your fingers that you don't get some heavy handed salad guy in the kitchen who sends you a bowl of lettuce taking a swim in that bottled dressing. But, alas, I am ranting...

I have discovered THE PERFECT Caesar dressing via my super fave website, All Recipes. A brilliant lady named Karen came up with this recipe and frankly, I'd like to meet her. I made a batch of this last week and have already made a second.  At one point, my husband and I were just eating it out of the bowl.  Yes, it's that good.   The only thing I did differently was the anchovies.  I didn't have any so I used about 4 tsp of anchovy paste.  And, believe it, the anchovy is vital.  Even if you aren't an anchovy eater (I'm not) it adds a depth of flavor that can't be duplicated.  You know, it's that ingredient that you just can't put your finger on but you'd know if it wasn't there. 

So, cheers to Karen, wherever you are.  You are my mad scientist hero!

The Altruism Project

They say people cook with love, with the heart...

So, my petit gourmand is in 3rd grade now. She's got a really great teacher who I hear nothing but good things about...from Viv as well as other kids we know who have already had her.  That's a good sign because kids will take any opportunity to tell you how much or what they didn't like about a teacher, but they all love this lady. The class is studying altruism right now.  An assignment came home to go along with this unit.  The kids are to come up with some sort of altruistic deed that they will carry out.  Then, they have to write a descriptive paragraph about their project, how it affected the people they helped, how it affected themselves.  This is awesome and it's only 3rd grade.

My daughter heard at church that our Youth group is always asking for lunch to be donated since they meet immediately following the 11:00 service.  They don't have much of a budget for lunches. So Vivian decided she wanted to make lunch for them.  The plan was for me to act merely as her assistant and she would cook, assemble and cook a lasagna all by herself.  I took the job.  I really just stood back and gave instructions and some occasional advice.  I posed the question "Ground beef or Italian sausage?"  I was really curious to see how her thought process would work here.  She considered it and decided the sausage would have a "richer" flavor. So we made a special trip to Publix to get ground Italian sausage.  I think she made the right call!

Preparing the onions

Browning the Italian sausage

The onions started getting to her; thus the "onion goggles"

I'm here to tell you, as the proud mama I tend to be, my sweet child did this project all on her own.  She chopped onions and then added them to the skillet as she browned her sausage.  She mixed Romano, cottage cheese, mozzarella, eggs and fresh parsley from our garden.  She assembled the lasagna and had it all ready for the oven on Saturday evening.  

Putting it all together

Ready for the oven

Sunday morning, we baked it partially then packed it in an insulated container before heading off to church.  Upstairs in the youth room, she finished baking the lasagna then she assembled a Caesar salad, making sure to finely grate fresh Parmesan. 

Grating fresh Parmesan

As the youth group arrived, they all commented about how good it smelled...they were right.  As I helped bring it all to the table, it was pretty evident to me that these teenagers were impressed by what they saw.  Viv had made a beautiful lasagna and salad.
  

Ta-da!

 The finished product

I'm not sure what they were expecting, but I know they were pleasantly surprised.  They invited us to stay and eat with them which was extra cool that the teenagers wanted their chef to also be their guest.  Many, many compliments later, we had a super easy clean-up because there wasn't a stitch of food leftover!

Everyone with full tummies

I left there feeling immense pride that she took on this project and she carried it out so successfully.  She's pretty modest, but I know her. She was feeling that sweet satisfaction that a job well done brings.  I'm so excited about her work that I can't wait for her to turn it in to the teacher!  And to the 3rd grade teachers at Rosewood, I thank you for creating such a meaningful project for our kids to experience the beauty of altruism.

Delicious Delucca's

It seems that all I'm blogging about lately is eating out.  I do still cook, I promise.  It's just been one of those out on the town kinda weeks.

Today I was having lunch with my mom and dad.  Since mom and I work together and my dad is retired, the three of us lunch together quite often.  As we went through the "what are you in the mood for" conversation, Delucca's came up.  

We hadn't been there in awhile, so off we went.

The Mullaney Salad

As a kid, I was a little weird.  When my friend Christina got glasses, I had to have some.  I carefully began to have trouble reading the blackboard, had increasing trouble seeing my music at piano and generally began to lose my vision.  Come to find out, an optometrist can TELL if you're lying about that stuff.  Then, I saw a teenager with braces...so, I walked around for months with tin foil on my teeth.  One day, in 2nd grade, I saw her.  Coming down the hall was this most majestic creature.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  My mind started racing about all the ways I could go about achieving what this girl had.  It was 3rd grader and she had BROKEN HER LEG.  She had the whole gig going on...white plaster cast, crutches.   This is how I met Mary Beth Mullaney.

Turns out, Mary Beth was the oldest of four Mullaneys.  Steven was next, then Cathleen (same age as my sister) and sweet little Brendan.  These kids and my sister and I would turn into friends and remain so...Steven is married to our former roommate Alyssa, Cathleen and Katherine have been close friends since elementary school and Brendan thought I was the dream girl when he was in high school.  Why is everybody laughing, dammit?



So, what the hell am I trying to tell you people?  It's all about their mom, Fran. Of course, back in those days, she was "Mrs. Mullaney" but we're all mature adults now (at least that's the theory) and we can call her Fran and she'll answer. Fran is a lot of things:  good faithful Catholic, super mom, vacuumer extraordinaire (no, really), philanthropist, athlete, beautiful and she's a damn good cook.  So, to answer your question, what I'm trying to tell you people is about the "Mullaney Salad."


I don't remember how old we were when we got the recipe, but we've been making this for years.  Katherine got it first from Fran and says Fran calls it "garlic salad."  That's a good name; it has so much garlic in it that one time I was accused at work of drinking that morning because of the garlic leaching out of my skin.  That's a true story.  So, for many, many years now, Katherine and I have been making what we call "The Mullaney Salad."  We've taught it to other people as well.  Not sure if my cousin Brooks is making it right now in Hanoi, but I'm pretty darn sure Amy is serving it up in Longmont, Colorado.  


Not only am I going to share it with you, but I had the pleasure of having my sweet little Vivian make it with me the other night.  She was so proud of her Mullaney vinaigrette (I'm teachin' the kid big words, ya see) and lettuce, as you can plainly see from the pix.  So, eat, drink and stink up the joint with this most amazing garlic (Fran) Mullaney Salad!  **Full Disclosure** I don't have Fran's actual recipe anymore, so each time I make this, I have to do "what looks right".  So, these measurements I'm giving you are approximate and you can tweek at will.  

Mullaney Salad

• 1 head romaine (Fran says you wash your leaves, dry them, wrap them in a towel [like a baby] and put in the fridge.  I must admit, I often skip the lettuce swaddling because I'm impatient)
• 1-2 tsp minced garlic
• salt (the coarser, the better)
• 1/4 red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 3-4 shakes of Worchestershire
• some pepper

Using the back of a spoon, mash the garlic with the salt. The idea is to use the salt as an abrasive to make the garlic into a paste of sorts.  Then, whisk in the vinegar, mustard, Worchestershire & pepper; whisk in the olive oil last.  Taste it and adjust the flavor as you wish.  Let it sit for awhile as you cook the rest of your meal.

Toss lettuce with vinaigrette, croutons, parmesan, etc.  I like to add toasted pine nuts too.  It's your salad; do what you want.  My sister Katherine thinks it's best to mix up the salad a few minutes before serving because she likes the lettuce a little on the wilty side.  But, again, it's your salad :-)

**Restaurant Review**Virtu

Yesterday was Friday and Neil and I had time to go out together, thank you "Parent's Night Out" at Capital Karate.  As you know, restaurants are a high form of entertainment for me, so I was really looking forward to this.  But, I spent the better part of my day agonizing over where we should go. I even reached out via Facebook for suggestions.  Got a few good ones, but just wasn't feeling it.  I checked out countless menus online and finally came across one that interested me AND it was a place that I hadn't heard of yet.  How did this escape my attention?  My razor wit?  My eagle eye surveillance?

Virtu:  Located next to Dianne's on Devine.  Well, that would be the old Grazin' Monkey.  And, as irony would have it, Virtu is also a tapas restaurant, just like the Monkey of days gone by.  But, even though the menu looked fantastic, I left my office unsure.  Why, you ask?  

Over the  years, many places have popped up billing themselves as "Tapas Bars" and it's been disappointing.  See, true tapas is a snack and it's FREE.  That's right.  You go into a bar in Spain, order a drink and they bring you a little plate of their house tapas. Some places switch it up from time to time, some have their own signauture tapas that they serve all the time.  Keep drinking, they keep bringing you little snacks.  So, when America got a hold of this idea and Americanized it, what we got were restaurants serving micro-food with macro-prices.  This led me to my mediocre reaction to the discovery of Virtu, because cynicism crept into my brain and told me, "Don't get excited.  It's just another perversion of the tapas idea and you'll be pissed off about your bill."  Oh, cynicism, you're just so bad...

Ok, I need to speed this up...got home, mentioned a few ideas to Neil, he shot them down, then I casually mentioned this new place.  That's what he wanted.  I pulled up the menu to show him; uninterested in seeing it, we're going.  Ok, then.


Long story short (I know you're relieved), I was really impressed.  It's locally owned & operated, which is a biggie for me and the Neilix.  Our waitress, Nicole, was very professional, attentive, knew the menu and brought her *A* game.  Now, for the food.  We each had the "Three Hearts Caesar Salad" which features hearts of romaine (of course), hearts of palm and hearts of artichoke.  I tend to find that restaurants will tell you there is good stuff like heart of palm and you search and search to no avail for it on the plate.  Not so here.  The salad had a generous portion (but not too much) of palm and artichoke.  The lettuce was prepared the right way...bite size, no wilted or bruised leaves, like it's supposed to be.  The dressing was impressive too.  It contained all the classic flavors of a good Caesar dressing, but wasn't too acidic like some and the salad was properly tossed in it, not drowned in it.  The menu features this salad with tomato...I had mine without.  Success.


Then, we shared tapas.  We chose three...Cuban mojo chicken skewers, crab & artichoke fritters and langoustine ravioli in beurre blanc. The chicken was very flavorful and perfectly tender.  We received three skewers of bite-sized chicken breast and it was plenty for the two of us to share.  The sauce was delicious, the chicken tasted "grilly" and the presentation was very nice.  Success.  The fritters were a test.  So often, I find that fried dishes end up over-fried: too greasy, too hard, too damn fried.  And, again with the cynicism, so often, we get gypped on crab, even though we live in a coastal state where we can catch the little suckers all day long!  So, these fritters were going to be scrutinized.  Surprise!  They were very well cooked, nice deep gold color and the inside was soft and warm and CRABBY!  They were drizzled with a super remoulade sauce, making all the flavors work really well together.  Success.  Lastly, there were the langoustine ravioli.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, really outstanding.  The pasta was perfectly cooked and al dente...even fine restaurants have a tendancy to send out rubbery ravioli, in my experience.  Not the case here.  The filling was light and delicately flavored, which was complimented nicely by beautiful beurre blanc with a little bite of citrus.  Success.


I overheard Nicole tell the table behind us that the restaurant has only been open about 9 weeks.  It was a Friday, which is busier anyway, but I was pleased to see the restaurant full and people arrived, ate and more took their places consistently during the time we were there.  This, of course, is a good sign for a new restaurant.  And, if you like to support locals, like we do, this is very encouraging.  


Neil and I will definitely be going to Virtu often.  I recommend it wholeheartedly and would love to hear your comments after you try it out.  Maybe we could all hook up there!