The Great Chef

Being reminded this morning about our Wine Club reunion this evening, I realized that I was yet to review our last meeting, that happened on the beginning of February. We dedicated our last reunion to Portugal. Sadly, my country is still waiting for the deserved truly recognition of its wines. For the majority of wine enthusiasts, Portugal is synonym with Porto wine and that is it. While Porto wine is, undoubtedly, a wonderful flag for our place in the world of wine, either disregarding or poorly rating everything else that is produced is a shame, to say the least. The only thing Portuguese producers can be blamed for is their scarce investment on serious international advertisement. But if the quality of the wine was dependable on that, the new wine enthusiasts would never know about many Premiere Cru . Wine should be experienced apart from prejudices - as everything in this life - but I guess that is just me daydreaming again. As a matter of fact, some renown wine critics (this i...

Everything that might suggest that I am on "stew mode" is pure coincidence. I am not even a fan of mediterranean style stews where all the ingredients are cooked together. In fact, I cannot stand such stews because since the meat or fish are cooked along with all sorts of vegetables, the pleasure of enjoying different flavors in one dish is lost. Almost invariably, everything tastes like the meat or fish, depending on what is being used. And that is one of the worst things I have ever tasted. It doesn't pleases me at all. But I must admit that there are some types of meat that I really like and that only make sense cooking in a stew. One of those types of meat is ox tail. Properly cooked, it rewards any foodie with a flavorful and melting meat course. Plus, it is really cheap! So, yesterday, I decided to cook ox tail for dinner. It is not a fast dish to cook. If you want to try cooking it and you work late, I suggest that you choose the weekend to do it because you will h...

Among many other things, Portuguese cuisine is known by its ability of reduce the waste to the minimum, meaning "Portuguese eat almost every part of the animals included into their diet". In case of pork, actually, we eat everything. And when I say everything, I mean... everything! With chicken, it happens almost the same thing. We eat legs, thighs, wings, breast, neck, claws, liver, heart, gizzard (or the stomach) and we use the bones either to make stock or soup. In this process of making a less common animal part edible, the inners are probably the biggest challenge. But as all big challenges, when successfully accomplished, it turns into a tasty victory. One of the Portuguese's favorite snack is chicken gizzards' stew. Going to a neighborhood small restaurant/bar/cafe - aka "tasquinha" - and have a serving of gizzards and a cold beer is one of those classics one cannot skip while in Portugal. It is a must have! Hey, I can hear you: "Eww! That is SO ...

Today I will share with you a recipe that I came up with last week. I had a bag of green lentils and I was craving for them for some time (I really like lentils. They are extremely versatile, and extraordinary source of protein, fibers and minerals such as manganese, phosphorus, and iron (to mention a few), which means that they are super good for your health). I decided to make a soup this time but without following anything but my taste and what I have learned so far. Here it is my recipe for a spicy lentil soup that will serve 6 to 8 people: In a medium pot, put a medium yellow onion finely chopped, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and place over medium heat. When the onion gets translucent add half a green pepper cut into julienne. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cook for 1 minute. Add 1 stalk of celery and half a cup of carrots, everything finely chopped. Allow to cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, and add two tomatoes, peeled and chopped. Season with 1...

After a fine dinning experience, cooking is a challenge for me. How can you be proud of something you put on the table after being overwhelmed by cooking genius? But, hey, you have to eat and I rather face my cooking than go out to some place and eat bad food. The only think we have to do is to take the good experiences and use them as inspiration. And so, there I was yesterday evening, struggling to say yes to everything that was coming to my mind that qualified for dinner. I opened the fridge for some more ideas hopping those would satisfy me enough to take the risk. I glimpsed some baby portobello mushrooms among the veggies and I remembered that I had some home made mushroom stock in the freezer and... voila ! I had my dinner! I was going to cook mushroom risotto. Here it is my recipe for baby portobello mushroom risotto (it will serve two as main course). You can use water to cook the risotto but if you want to have a really flavorful dish, allow yourself 15 minutes extra to make ...

Special days call for special celebrations. And which places foodies choose for special celebrations? That's right! Special restaurants! Yesterday was my husband's birthday and we decided to include on the celebration's program a meal at Eleven Madison Park Restaurant. This restaurant got its 3rd Michelin star in the latest edition of the Michelin Guide and was one of those places under the scope of our curiosity since we started our experiences of fine dinning. And so, we headed there yesterday in the company of our good friend Bebiana. The space is gorgeous. Simple and classic decoration brings a skyscraper ceilings and enormous windows space into an elegant and comfortable room. The fresh seasonal flowers arrangements make you feel at home and in tune with Nature. At our arrival, we were greeted by the maître d' , who was very warm and considerate. I had the restaurant's cookbook with me because I was planning to surprise my husband and ask if the chef could sig...

Long time no see, fellow eaters! For those of you who might have wondered if I had lost my passion for writing and for food, I can assure you that both passions are of good health. :) It happened that I had the most crazy month of my recent history: apartment hunting, moving and everything bureaucratically implied, with all my activities and job interviews in between! I did not stop cooking but I just did not have the time or the mind set to write about it. Now that I am settled again, in a beautiful apartment, I am ready to return to my writing. Uff! At last! I missed you! Before all this craziness had began, my husband and I decided to go for a dinner at the only (or so considered) upscale French restaurant in New Haven, CT: Union League Cafe. Even though this restaurant offers a Contemporary French style, we had never been there before because one can feel from the outside the snobbish mood that prevails on the inside, and that is something we cannot stand. Being as it may, we had t...