leeks!

last night, i cooked with leeks for the first time ever. and my husband ate it, no complaints as usually accompany my meandering into strange and unusual territory. i suspect that is because the dish involved a lot of cheese and bacon, rendering the leeks palatable.

doing a little reading, i learned that the leek, allium porrum, is a member of the onion family, but with a more subtle and sweet flavor than the standard onion. thought to be native to the mediterranean area and asia, leeks have been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. leeks are actually mentioned in the bible as one of the foods greatly missed when the hebrews left egypt. another interesting leek tidbit is that in france, the leek is known as poireau, which is also a derogatory term meaning "simpleton."

the british also seem to have quite a love affair with leeks, as a google search revealed everything from bridget jones's blue leek soup to the wickham leek club to this victim of leek sabotage in leadgate (he has some big leeks!).

here is the recipe i used (borrowed from rachael ray). it was quite good, and we will be enjoying leeks for the rest of the week, as it makes a ton. and in no way is it good for you. other caveat: my timing never seems to work out as well as rachael's (go figure), so my pasta was cooked way before the bacon mixture. luckily, the resulting clump of pasta was easily broken apart with the greasy bacon mixture.

whisk count (for beth, who mocks the sheer volume of whisks in my kitchen): 1

BLT pasta bake: bacon, leeks, and tomatoes

coarse salt
1 lb elbow macaroni

1 tbsp evoo

8 slices bacon, coarsely chopped

2 large leeks, trimmed of roots and dark green tops

coarse black pepper

3 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

3 cups whole milk

1 cup chicken stock

3 1/2 cups grated gruyere cheese (i used a mix of gruyere and gouda. too much $$. and have you ever tried grating gruyere? what a bitch!)

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 pint cherry tomatoes

3/4 cup plain bread crumbs

cook the pasta with salt.

while the pasta cooks, add the evoo and chopped bacon to a large skillet over medium heat. cook until crisp. split the trimmed leeks in half lengthwise and thinly slice into half moons. clean the leeks in a bowl of water and towel them dry. add to the bacon skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

start the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. add the cayenne, paprika and flour and whisk until it bubbles. cook for 1 minute more. whisk in the milk and stock and bring to a boil. simmer to thicken; about 5 minutes. remove the sauce from heat and stir in 3 cups cheese and mustard. set aside.

add the tomatoes to the leeks and continue to cook for 2 minutes. remove from heat and reserve.

preheat broiler.

drain the pasta and combine it with the leek mixture and cheese sauce. season with salt and pepper.

transfer to a baking dish and combine the remaining grated cheese with the bread crumbs. top the pasta with the mixture and place the dish under the broiler until the cheese melts and the bread crumbs are brown.

arthur's

luckily this burger review was a consensus from three prolific burger consumers - my husband, his friend kevin, and ramon. i was going to order a burger, but i never can quite resist arthur's turkey mushroom grill (sans mayo, of course. gotta watch that figure).

here's the contender, arthur's burger in miscellaneous incarnations:


i thought the black and bleu looked particularly amazing. seeing this pictures now, i think brian and kevin got the same thing. also, seeing them lined up like this, there is a definite disparity in the amount of fries on each plate. (hmmm....racist fry distribution?)

all three panelists agreed the burgers were over-cooked from the requested 'medium'. ramon said he would like the patty to be flatter. it was a good amount of meat, but the love needed to be spread around to be easily bite-able. kevin commented that the beef had good flavor. brian said nothing. his mouth was full.


overall, the boys agreed on a 4.8. kevin was willing to go higher, but detracted points for our mediocre service, a rarity at arthur's.

pure gluttony

my dearest friend from college, crystal, and her husband, ramon, are moving to korea for an undetermined amount of time (at least a year). so this past weekend they came in town for one last hurrah before they depart to the far east next week. ramon has spent limited time in cincinnati, so what better way to show cincinnati's personality than through her food?

last time they were here, ramon gave skyline a try and actually LIKED it the first time out of the gate. please note, liquor was not involved. it was straight up middle of the afternoon.

so we started this visit at larosa's, where we all enjoyed the big italian lunch in various combinations. plus the new cheesy flatbread (nice and greasy) and beer. onward to the zoo, where we sweated like whores in church, saw the new giraffe exhibit, and ramon became acquainted with the fact that everything in cincinnati is somehow uphill.

at that point, we weren't feeling as if we ever wanted to eat again. but we persevered and headed to gajah wong in northside. i wanted to pick a restaurant that was unique and maybe a type of cuisine they hadn't tried before. we sat in the garden, which was beautiful since the sun was sinking and the air had cooled. however, then we proceeded to wait TWO HOURS for our food. i don't know if this is common practice, since i have only been there once before. but that whole feeling like we never wanted to eat again had definitely dissipated by the time our food arrived and we had filled up our time with cocktails (their ploy all along?). their cocktails are really quite remarkable. i never thought of putting a cucumber in liquor, but in their pimm's cup, it really works. between us girls, we tried the bloody mary (has quite a kick), pimm's cup, coconut lime squash (refreshing), and indo iguana (i can never get enough of technicolor drinks). the food finally put in an appearance, and it was good, but not as good as i remembered from my first visit. isn't that always the way? crystal got the colossal prawns. they were quite colossal and quite stubborn. she bent her fork removing them from skewers. for dessert, i had the kalhua cake. it's pretty fantastic. crystal had a coffee drink. amy had samples of both. the boys just drank more beer.

we met up with more friends at o'bryon's. a bit of a distance from northside, but beth and eric were at a rehearsal dinner across the way at the art of entertaining (which she will write about...hint, hint).

oh yeah, and on the way home we got white castle.

saturday morning, my belly was starting to revolt. but there was cincinnati food to be eaten! next up on the list - goetta. and of course, where does a westsider go for goetta? price hill chili. ramon actually ordered a 5-way with a side of goetta. i was so proud. crystal wrinkles her nose at goetta, but ramon deemed it 'pretty good'. i think he ate it with ketchup. i encouraged him to try it with syrup, cause i know some people are fans, but i think that was a little too much for him to swallow.

the late afternoon took us to hyde park. stopped in hyde bark to shop for the pooches (who doesn't need a $375 juicy couture carrier?), but refrained from any purchases. met up with a friend of ramon's from grad school at awakenings. a perfect summer saturday afternoon treat - 2007 elio perrone sourgal moscato d'asti and decadent, rich chocolate desserts. for dinner, we drifted over to arthur's, where i had a panel discussion to rate their burgers (see other entry. this one is getting too damn long).

after dinner, my stomach was ANGRY. that's what happens, i guess.

i wonder how much it costs to send goetta to korea?

burgers and a movie

my husband and i go to the movies almost every weekend. we've seen some good ones and we've seen some...let's say 'disappointing' ones.

nearby the western hills showcase cinema is abby's pub and grill. we can frequently be found on their deck, enjoying miller lite and margaritas. this time, however, we were all business. there are burgers to be rated.

abby's dishes are mostly named for cincinnati high school sports teams, so their burger is called the bomber, after st. x. i have many fond memories of football games at st. x. my first boyfriend was a bomber, and yes, i wore his jacket and we cuddled in the stands during every home game (obviously, he didn't play football. he was a soccer player). but i digress. back to burgers.

the bomber is very thick and hearty, and was definitely cooked according to specifications. juicy, too, as a burger needs to be dripping down your arm to be really a good meal. there are a variety of cheeses available, including monterey jack, and you have a choice of rye bread (which maybe should be toasted) or a bun. the tomato and lettuce were fresh and the fries crisp. despite all these great attributes, the meat itself lacked any complex flavor, meriting a score of 4.

the burgers did score higher than the movie.

honey

i've been slacking a bit, and the hamburgers have been piling up.

the first is honey in northside. the way i understand it, the restaurant is named honey because the owners call each other 'honey'. which is really pretty sweet.

their patio is a pleasant place to wile away the afternoon, enjoying a bottle of pinot grigio. i had a grilled asian pork burger with spicy mustard. it was probably the pinkest burger i've ever eaten. it was tender and thick and quite delicious. however, as much as i love mustard, the burger was fairly lathered and it overpowered the flavor of the meat. while it was a good sandwich, i probably would not order it again. too spicy - made my nose run. overall, the burger gets a 4.

the real star of the meal were the honey fries, which were a mix of sweet, yukon, and idaho potatoes with chili lime honey for dipping. good saltiness. really fantastic.

congratulations

congrats to henke winery! their 2006 norton was awarded the director's choice award at the 2007 ohio quality wines program for the best red wine in the state.

check out the news release from the ohio department of agriculture here.

just cured

when i read on cincinnati locavore about just cured, i had to try some of their salmon for myself. recently, there has been a disruption in their supply chain, so michael decided to experiment a bit with a wild salmon - alaskan sockeye salmon. i emailed him to see if i could reserve a side and he graciously agreed. i served it at a small get together sunday, with fresh dill and cream cheese, and everyone said it was fantastic. the texture was smooth and soft, delicate almost. the flavor was subtle and thoroughly enjoyable. much, much better than what i've had at a lot of restaurants.

go get some. as soon as possible.