Emporio Rulli Welcomes Easter with La Colomba Pasquale

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Easter wouldn't be complete without La Colomba Pasquale from Emporio Rulli.

Easter wouldn’t be complete without La Colomba Pasquale from Emporio Rulli.

 

As much as I love chocolate eggs and marshmallow bunnies for Easter, there’s something that trumps all of that. At least in my book.

And that’s La Colomba Pasquale (“The Easter Dove”), baked by Larkspur’s famed Emporio Rulli.

Originally made only in the Lombardy province, it’s now made baked throughout Italy. Emporio Rulli has been offering its version for more than 24 years for the Easter holiday.

Think a soft, airy brioche loaded with organic butter and egg yolks that’s studded with candied orange peels. It rises overnight until it’s regal in height, then it’s remixed with yet even more butter, egg yolks and sugar.

Candied orange peels are added in, then the dough is formed into a traditional dove shape before it’s coated with almond paste, whole almonds, sugar crystals and vanilla powdered sugar before baking.

It’s bread. It’s dessert. It’s a dream.

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Ham It Up For Easter

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A mini bone-in Kurobuta ham from Snake River Farms.

A mini bone-in Kurobuta ham from Snake River Farms.

 

You’ll definitely want to do that if the ham in question is made from Kurobuta pork, otherwise known as Berkshire.

The heritage breed pig is famed for its marbling, which produces impeccable flavor.

Last week, I had a chance to try a sample of a bone-in “Mini Karver,” a 3-pound Kurobuta ham ($40) from Snake River Farms, the Idaho-based specialty meat company.

The hams come from American Kuobuta pigs raised on small family farms in the Midwest. No sodium or water is added, either.

The ham can be enjoyed cold or warmed up in the oven. Snake River Farms says the mini ham serves 4. But it’s more like 5 servings, plus enough leftovers for a couple of sandwiches or a few ample ham and egg scrambles. Don’t forget to save the ham bone, too, for future soup-making.

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New Gluten-Free Menu at The Counter, Pinkberry Goes Greek & More

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Cranberry-Avocado Turkey Burger on a gluten-free bun at The Counter. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Cranberry-Avocado Turkey Burger on a gluten-free bun at The Counter. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

The Counter Serves Up Gluten-Free Options

The Counter, with 33 locations including ones in the Bay Area, has added a new gluten-free menu.

The separate menu still allows you to build your own burger creation or to choose from pre-designed signature ones. The latter includes such offerings as the Cranberry & Avocado Turkey Burger with organic mixed greens and horseradish may on a gluten-free bun; the Spinach, Avocado & Salsa Bison Bowl with roasted corn and black bean salsa; and beef chili with Tillamook cheddar, red onion and sour cream.

Chow down on it all with a gluten-free milkshake or a gluten-free beer from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.

The gluten-free menu is available at all locations of The Counter, except airport ones.

Pinkberry To Serve Non-Frozen Yogurt

You already know Pinkberry for its tart fro-yo.

But now, it’s introducing a new yogurt — all natural, thick, nonfat Greek yogurt that’s fresh, not frozen.

Pinkberrygreek boasts 15g of protein per 5 ounces.

Pinkberry's new, fresh Greek yogurt. (Photo courtesy of Pinkberry)

Pinkberry’s new, fresh Greek yogurt. (Photo courtesy of Pinkberry)

As with any Pinkberry yogurt, you can customize it with your choice of an array of toppings. Or take the suggestions from Pinkberry for sweet and savory creations such as: Chocolate Berry (blueberry, raspberry, dark chocolate granola, chocolate shavings, cinnamon honey), Tomato Basil (grape tomato, fresh basil, olive oil, sea salt, balsamic glaze), and Sunflower Cucumber (cucumber, sunflower seed bites, olive oil, chile powder).

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Enchanting Endive

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Endive salad with creamy Maytag blue cheese.

Endive salad with creamy Maytag blue cheese.

When it comes to bitter, its best buddy is something equally aggressive.

Oh, don’t worry. This isn’t a case of butting heads.

In fact, it’s a recipe for perfect harmony, as one assertive taste needs another, lest one overtake the other completely.

That’s why when it comes to endive, its pleasant bitterness practically begs for something sharp like mustard or vinegar or a piquant cheese.

“Tangle of Radicchio and Endive with Chives and Maytag Blue” proves just that.

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New Chef Lights Up Parallel 37 in San Francisco

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A steamed bun like no other.

A steamed bun like no other.

When you’re the former executive chef of renowned Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, you don’t make a steamed bun with pork belly like everyone else.

No, the fluffy clam-shell bun that Chef Michael Rotondo now does at Parallel 37 in San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel comes stuffed with a crispy chicken foot instead.

One that is impossibly, improbably but absolutely devoid of all bone and cartilage.

If you’ve ever gnawed on a chicken foot at a dim sum restaurant, you know just how many bones that small appendage contains. So, it’s quite an astonishing, er, feat to remove them all, while still retaining the shape of the feet.

The dining room.

The dining room.

But at Parallel 37, Rotondo does just that, assigning a team of two chefs to create this playful dish that requires steaming the chicken feet, then carefully taking tweezers to them.

All for one dish that can be eaten in two bites.

The Fort Orange cocktail.

The Fort Orange cocktail.

Since taking over as chef de cuisine from Ron Siegel who departed to head the kitchen at Michael Mina in San Francisco, Rotondo has put his own spin on the menu, creating dishes that seem familiar in name or taste, but are actually reborn anew.

Not surprising from a chef who received the “Most Promising Chef” award from icons Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller after Rotondo competed in the U.S. Bocuse d’Or competition in 2008.

Written in the style that’s all the rage now, the menu ($14 to $32) at Parallel 37 is divided into “Vegetable,” “Fish” and “Meat,” with a few ingredients listed for each dish, but no clues as to how it’s prepared. For instance, there’s a dish of “octopus — smoked sunchoke, breakfast radish ($21).”

There’s also a chef’s tasting menu option of eight market-inspired courses for $135 per person.

This style of dining invites you to sit back, be adventurous and put your trust in Rotondo’s hands. Which is exactly what I did earlier this month, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

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