Proud Italian Cook

NRA SHOW 2011

June 5, 2011 by Marie 22 Comments

Recently I attended the 92ND Annual National Restaurant Association show at McCormick Place, Chicago. Oh what a fun time it was, sensory overload in the best kind of way! Celebrity chefs cooking up close and personal, chit chatting with the audience while the room filled with the smells of their signature dishes. The day I arrived at the culinary showcase arena, Chef Kevin Sbraga, winner of Top Chef DC Season 7, was demonstrating how he smokes olive oil, a trend that’s really taking off, (more about that later) and right after that, Chef Rick Tramonto, a well known Chicago chef and cookbook author, started cooking up some good old fashioned Italian comfort food.

Rick Bayless, Marcus Samuelsson, Wylie Dufrense, Gayle Gand and many others were a part of this years show.
The visuals were a food lovers dream, sort of like Disneyworld for foodies! Walls and walls of the latest gadgets, top quality knives of every kind, beautiful platters and plates in all different colors, shapes and designs.
Food companies from all over represented their very best, I was surprised to see how many Italian products were featured, breads, olives, oils, vinegars, pastas, gelato, coffee, espresso, desserts, cheese everywhere you turned, meats, believe me I could go on and on!
Did I tell you there were samples everywhere! Smiling faces ready to pitch their products, and eager for you to taste. I told you it was fun!
High end pastas in wonderful shapes coming straight from Italy.
Entrepreneurs of all sorts looking for distributors.
Dietz and Watson always had a huge crowd around them as the fumes of their gourmet chicken sausages filled the air!
Innovative technology was the focus on equipment to run any type of restaurant or food service business.
I want one of these on my kitchen counter!

And this pizza oven in my back yard!

Vendor after vendor representing all the top brands in cookware, bakeware and specialty pots and pans. Waffle and crepe makers filling the air with sweet smells! Panini grills, meatball machines, honestly I haven’t even scratched the surface!

Are you ready for some dessert now? How about some Chicago based Eli’s Cheesecake.

A little chocolate never hurt anyone!

Or maybe you prefer gelato?

I had a great time navigating all the isles and looking at all the beautiful displays of food. Thank goodness I wore comfortable shoes! I came home with lots of goodies too.

I have to give a shout out to two of my favorite products, Flamous Falafel Chips, they come in original and spicy, all I can say is… FIND THEM!

So addictingly good!

My ultimate favorite food product of the show was this smoked olive oil from a company called, The Smoked Olive. A Napa Valley couple created this award winning olive oil using their own innovative process to infuse extra virgin olive oil with wood smoked flavor without exposing it to light or heat. There business has taken off in a direction they never could have imagined, they knew they were on to something good when celebrity chefs starting endorsing them and international companies started calling.
When I tasted the samples, I immediately fell in love with the flavor, it’s so unique, imagine using it with scallops or any type of seafood for that matter, it enhances meats and all sorts of veggies, a little pricey but worth every luxurious drop! There are 3 different versions
do check them out when you get a chance.

The NRA show unfortunately is not open to the public.

22 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Flamous Falafel Chips, McCormick Place, National Restaurant Association, The Smoked Olive

Pizza on the Grill

May 27, 2011 by Marie 40 Comments

Want something fun to cook on your grill this Memorial Day weekend? If you haven’t tried grilling pizza yet, forgive me, but what are you waiting for? The texture you get from the dough cooking on the grill is incredible! Light, crispy and crunchy!

Start with good quality dough, either homemade or storebought. Let it come to room temperature before you even attempt to roll it out. I like to cut my dough ball in half, it’s much easier to manage on the grill.

Make sure your grill is super clean and all that former BBQ sauce has been burned off and scraped clean. Get the grill nice and hot, coasting on medium high. Your dough is going to cook up so fast, so don’t walk away, it can burn!

Fresh, lighter ingredients work best for grilled pizza, have everything ready to go because things go really fast! For this pizza I used veggies that I grilled the day before, eggplant, zucchini, red and yellow peppers with fresh mozzarella for my cheese, all on top of a light tomato sauce base.

In the past I’ve made many margherita pizza’s, you can’t go wrong with that, or just melt your favorite cheese on the dough and when its done add some prosciutto and arugula, actually that’s one of my absolute favorites!

Think caramelized onions, pancetta with blue cheese, feta or goat, cherry tomatoes tossed with fresh basil and olive oil spread all over creamy bubbly cheese. Another favorite of mine is shrimp with pesto, I could just ramble on and on for an hour about all the good combinations you can make! Chicken is good too, alright, alright I’ll stop!

No matter how hard I try my pizza never comes out round, I roll it out round but when I plop it on the grill it morphs into another shape, who cares, it’s all about the taste!

And believe me it tastes phenomenal! Pour yourself some wine or grab a beer, ice tea or lemonade and enjoy casual dining at it’s finest!

Here’s what you do:

Heat your clean grill up to a medium high heat, I like to oil my grill grates a little too.** While the grill is heating up, roll your room temperature dough out and brush the top with olive oil** Place dough, oiled side down on grill, don’t move it, it will start to bubble up and cook, use tongs and check the bottom side it should look crispy with nice grill marks, once cooked it will be easy to flip** Pull it off, lower your heat and add all your toppings on the cooked side.** Place pizza back on the grill and when the cheese is all melted and bubbly and the underside is cooked it’s done.

Happy Grilling!

40 Comments Filed Under: Pizza, Summer Tagged: Grilled pizza, Memorial Day BBQ, vegetable grilled pizza

My Idea of Fast Food

May 23, 2011 by Marie 30 Comments

Whenever I need to make a quick dinner, my go to meal is always something made with pasta. Having my pantry stocked with a variety of pasta shapes, we never ever get bored! There’s always fresh vegetables handy here and using just a few other basic Italian staples you can get something fresh, fabulous and fast on the table in less than 30 minutes!

My pasta of choice for this meal was Tripoline which looks like the long curly edges of lasagne. Put a pot of water on for the pasta and while that’s heating up, take a saute pan and drizzle the bottom with olive oil then add in 4 or 5 cloves of chopped garlic. When the garlic gets golden brown toss in a pint or more of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half and seasoned with salt and pepper, cook gently until softened.

Drain the pasta ( I used a 1/2 lb.) and stir it into the skillet. Add a handful of arugula or two, and 1/2 cup of cubed and drained fresh mozzarella, asiago is good too! Toss until the leaves wilt and the cheese melts slightly. Add some reserved pasta water if needed, more olive oil and a generous handful of grated romano or parmesan cheese.

The combination of flavors blend so well together it might not make it to the table!

Just saying!

No doubt you’ll have some arugula leftover, don’t waste it, toss it into a bowl and make this incredible salad of arugula, shaved fennel, toasted walnuts with a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, all topped off with thin shavings of Grana Padano.