Spending the year as a flavor correspondent for Sargento has proved to be a delicious endeavor. Not only are my monthly food truck visits filled with new and exciting foods, I now love perusing the mushroom section of the grocery store. There are so many varieties! So many possibilities! For this months mushroom experiment I picked up some Hen of the Woods mushrooms and smokey fontina. (As I was making this dish I realized how much I like pairing mushroom with cheese!) I’ve already made mushroom dishes for lunch and dinner so this time I wanted to see what I could make for breakfast.
Last summer my second trimester craving was milkshakes. If an ice cream could be whipped together with milk and sucked through a straw I was game. You name the flavor, I wanted it! Of course, this summer there is nary a dairy shake in sight. I am halfway to my baby weight loss goal and I am not going to so much as sip an Awful, Awful until I am comfortably back in my skinny jeans. Until then, I am making myself milkshake-like smoothies that totally satisfy all my shake cravings without the unwanted calories.
I get a lot of cookbooks in the mail each season. It is always a treat to admire the work of my fellow authors. Every so often one book really stands out and catches my eye. That is the kind of book that I cook from immediately and ends up on my bookshelf for a few years, maybe longer. This spring one of these cookbooks is Modern Mediterranean: Easy, Flavorful Home Cookingby Melia Marden. Her simple Mediterranean dishes are inspired by her childhood summers spent in Greece and frequently served at The Smile, the restaurant at which she is executive chef. The extraordinary color photographs by Lucy Schaeffer pack a stunning visual punch. I am thrilled that Melia stopped by for an interview today and I am even more excited to be giving away a copy of her book!
1) Your story of growing up in Greece is extraordinary. I love how each recipe is a trip down memory lane. What recipes are the most nostalgic for you?
Definitely the stuffed tomatoes were something I only ever ate in Greece in the summers and would think about for the rest of the year. It seemed like such a simply perfect lunch when I was a kid so in the recipe I tried to recreate the flavor that I alwayslooked forward to so much. The zucchini simmered in tomato sauce was a dish my mom made all the time when I was growing up so being able to make it for myself now feels comforting like reliving a basic part of my childhood.
Every week I get a whole bunch of cool newsletters from my favorite cooking site. I love reading them to see what everyone is up to and getting their recommendations and ideas for new dishes and crafts. Last week I was perusing the Food52 newsletter and came across their genius recipe for a fresh spring pasta. With a bunch of fresh asparagus in refrigerator I knew it was just the thing to make for a quick weeknight meal.
I know I am fortunate to not have celiac disease. So many people I know suffer from it and have to cut all gluten straight out of their lives in order to get better. So people handle the news by weeping in their kitchen while tossing all their favorite bread. Others, like April, take a more comedic approach. When April was diagnosed with celiac disease a few years ago she too shed a few tears. But then she started this cool blog, took the bull by the horns, and made gluten her bitch. Anyone and everyone will love this informative and hilarious book and I encourage you to enter to win it, even if just to give to your BFF with celiac. Trust me, they’ll be grateful!
1) Now that you are gluten-free, what do you find yourself craving as your ultimate comfort food?
You know before I was gluten-free, I really didn’t give much thought to donuts. Now all I want is a donut. A good, gluten-filled donut. Yes there are people who have made gluten-free donuts, but gluten-free donuts are actually just round pieces of cake with a hole in the middle. I need some air up in there. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.
2) How does living in LA influence your eating habits as opposed to Brooklyn? I am dying to visit LA because I hear all about the delicious cuisine!
It’s rare that I dine out in LA and my server or the chef does not get gluten-free. Luckily I wasn’t diagnosed with celiac until I moved to LA, so I’m not sure what would have happened in Brooklyn. I know there are great gluten-free options in NYC, but I doubt I could hit all of my old favorites and still eat safely. Not that I’m unwilling to try. Oh, I’ll try.
But to compare the two cities cuisine-wise, they’re both cutting edge and amazing food is around every corner. I’m guessing you can find more vegan options in LA, and of course produce is super fresh year ’round. But other than that, they’re both great cities in which to get your eat on.
One of my favorite things about my year as a flavor correspondent for Sargento is discovering all of the amazing food trucks springing up within ten miles of my house. Turns out Southern Connecticut is a hot bed of food truck entrepreneurs. I LOVE it! To please my daughter, last week we decided to visit a truck popular with both adults and Kindergarten set – Skinny Pines Pizza.It was a Friday night and we were in the mood for an easy dinner that everyone would love.
My friend Julie is one awesome woman. She runs this great website, Dinner with Julie, is an editor, author, and rockin’ mama. Recently she and a friend started this great website, Rolling Spoon. As a music fan I am super excited that someone has finally decided to contact cooking with rock’n’roll. They go hand in hand! Today Julie is stopping in for a quick interview to introduce her site and give us some hot tips for great food and musical pairings.
1) I love the inspiration for this site! Do you always have a play list going when you cook? What are some of your favorite musical/food pairings?
I don’t always have a play list.. but my husband is a musician so music is virtually always on at home. I like cooking to upbeat stuff, and tend to go for the nostalgic, like the GoGos, Blondie, or even ABBA!
2) Given the audio component of this will you be giving us advice on what music to pair with your new groovy recipes?
We’re going to chat with chefs and food writers to ask what’s on their playlists – it’s as interesting to learn what chefs listen to as it is to learn what musicians like to eat!
3) How do you find new chefs/musicians to interview? Do you find that music and food are inextricably intertwined?
I know so many chefs, and Elizabeth knows so many musicians! Actually, I know a lot too…. we’re certainly not short of connections or ideas. And we’re meeting plenty of bands we’ve been fans of but don’t know personally – it turns out everyone loves talking about food! It’s so personal, and a common bond – something we all can relate to. What better way to get to know your favourite bands than getting a peek into their fridge? Or sitting down for a meal with them? Or getting into the kitchen and cooking together?
4) What kind of great content can we expect to find on the site as it grows?
We have so many ideas – we’re just trying to make sense of them and try to organize everything on the site in a cohesive way! We have recipes inspired by bands/albums/songs, and contributed by some well-known musicians. We have interviews, how-tos, playlists and embedded videos.. and will soon start hosting dinner parties and documenting them. This summer, I’m determined to cook with Pat Benetar when she comes to town.
5) Can you share one of your favorite recipes and songs?
I love Blondie – her song Eat to the Beat was part of the inspiration for Rolling Spoon! And so I must share a blondie recipe… {see below}
6) If you could listen to one band while eating one meal what would each be?
Right now? Hmmm.. I’m really into Volbeat, a Danish band we met last month to do our very first Rolling Spoon interview! And I could really go for a pizza – wood-fired and chewy, with extra cheese. And a hot fudge sundae for dessert.
7) {fill in the blank}…..is what makes me a Rolling Spoon.
Preheat the oven to 350F and butter an 8×8-inch pan or line it with parchment paper with extra hanging over the sides (which makes for easy removal and slicing).
In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and sugar, then add the egg, bourbon and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add the flour and salt and stir until almost combined; add the chocolate and pecans and stir just until blended. Spread into the pan.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides and the middle is set. Cool at least slightly before cutting into squares.
