Move over romaine, make your Caesar “salad” with roasted Savoy cabbage instead.
Cabbage is the Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables.
It doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves. It seems too plain, too basic, too cheap to be worthy of much attention.
But just consider how integral it is to slaws, salads, soups, corned beef, and so many Russian and Polish staples.
If that doesn’t convince you, surely “Roasted Savoy Cabbage Wedges, Caesar-Style” will.
This incredibly easy dish features all the arresting flavors of Caesar salad — but with roasted cabbage instead.
The recipe is from All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice” (W.W. Norton & Company), of which I received a review copy. It’s the fabulous new book by James Beard Award-winning Molly Stevens, a gifted cooking instructor, recipe developer and food writer who lives in Vermont.
You’ll be forgiven if you leave this rollicking Oakland cafe, oinking.
After all, it just can’t be helped after chowing down happily at The Gastropig.
This sweet little spot is operated by Chef Loren Goodwin, who cut his chops on the line at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
A sweet spot in Oakland.
Amusingly enough, Goodwin was raised vegetarian. But after trying his first taste of ham as a kid, he instantly crossed to the “dark side.” Who can blame him?
The signature Ensalada de Col is featured on the Oakland Restaurant Week menu at Duende. (Photo by Eva Kolenko in my “East Bay Cooks” cookbook)
Now is the perfect time to try some new restaurants or return to favorites because Restaurant Week is happening in full force in so many Bay Area cities.
You’ll find specially priced lunch and dinner menus at participating restaurants.
Here are some of the most popular Restaurant Week celebrations in local cities:
Whole canned cherry tomatoes in their juices from Europe make this pasta dish even more of a treat.
Ancient landmarks, breathtaking artworks, artisan foodstuffs perfected over generations, and the intricate fashions crafted by Prada, Dior and Givenchy.
Those are some of the things I most love about Europe.
Now, comes the newest addition to my list: canned tomatoes.
Yes, really.
I never thought I’d get that excited over such a basic pantry staple until the Italian Association of Canned Vegetable Industries and European Union founded the marketing program, The Greatest Tomatoes From Europe, to spread the word far and wide about its canned tomatoes. As part of the program, they began sending out free samples to food writers like myself to give them a try.
I received two cans, 400g each, of Davio Gragnano whole, peeled long, oblong and cherry tomatoes, vacuum-sealed with their juices. When you open the cans, what’s most striking is that the plump tomatoes are afloat in a fairly thick puree of a sauce, not the weak, watery liquid usually found inside most supermarket canned tomatoes. I dipped a spoon in to taste a very vivid tomato flavor. While you might strain out and discard the liquid in other cans, it would be a waste to that here because it was actually a bonus — getting tomatoes and sauce in one.
Samples from the Greatest Tomatoes From Europe.
Inside my sample box were also packages of Pastificio G. Di Martino Italian dried pasta. So there was no question that I’d be making a bountiful pasta dish out of it all. Of course, not that I ever need an excuse to make pasta.
The Big Rig Jig sculpture by artist Mike Ross on display in downtown Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS, NV —
In the city that never sleeps, one can do major damage even if it’s only
a 48-hour trip, and ostensibly to take in a Lady Gaga show. But one
still has to eat, right? And boy, did my husband and I do just that.
Flock & Fowl
If you’ve never ventured beyond The Strip, you owe it to yourself to take a trek downtown. It’s arguably the city’s hippest neighborhood, with bold murals spanning two to three stories high on the sides of buildings, tongue-in-cheek sayings adorning old motel marquees, and a range of show-stopping public arts pieces.
Wit and wonder downtown.
Case in point, the Big Rig Jig at the Fergusons Downtown, an old motel that has been transformed into a venue of small local boutiques and eateries. The Big Rig Jig looks like something straight out of a “Transformers” movie. Composed of two massive tanker trucks bent and curved into an inexplicable “S,” it’s confounding, perplexing, and just plain amazing.
