Spent a very pleasant evening Sunday with some girlfriends I don't often see, at Donato Loperfido's Sapori Enoteca and Bierrieria. Got a chance to chat with Donato, who was busily serving as host (they were booked, I was glad to see), and was excited to hear that he was just back from Italy where he led a culinary tour for a small group of couples to Piemonte (the Piedmont region), Verona (in the Veneto, near Venizia, my favorite place) and Toscano (Tuscany). They stayed in rustic inns, often in separate cottages, and, since Donato has chef friends all over Italia, they were fed very well, indeed, he said.
He told me of two projects:
• He and some partners are negotiating the tricky process of bringing in some complex Italian pasta-making equipment to develop a wholesale and (hopefully) retail operation for making fresh pasta from a highly regarded type of semolina flour. There are many hurdles, he said, not least that Italian electrical equipment doesn't run on the same kind of current as does ours. And multiple partners always make a deal interesting. I begged him to do a retail outlet or to sell to retail outlets so that we, like the shoppers I watched with envy in Bologna last summer, could walk into a deli or pasticceria (bakery) and pick up a pound of tortellini made fresh that morning, ready to be tossed in a light sauce for lunch or dinner that day.
• He has purchased an olive vineyard of 1,500 trees in Puglia and will be making olive oil under his own brand next year. That will make a nice gift item!
If you'd like to get on a waiting list for information about Donato's next culinary excursion, e-mail him at chefdonato@gmail.com (he invited me to go and the only time I said yes faster was when my husband asked me to marry him). To make reservations or learn more about sapori, go to saporihonolulu.com.
Bad, bad blogger, I didn't take any pictures last night...and you want to know what I had to eat, si? Donato's offers a range of dishes from small plates adequate to make a whole meal for parsimonious eaters to larger dinners of generously sized fish, shellfish and meat items (special last night included a wagyu beef steak and a bouilliabaise).
I chose a polenta cake with grilled goat cheese and a topping of roasted beets and a salad of mixed greens and was perfectly satisfied in all respects: The polenta was creamy, the corn flavor pronounced, the fried exterior perfectly golden and delightfully crunchy; ditto the square of breaded goat cheese. I wished for more flavor, more caramelization, on the beets, though, which seemed to have been braised or steamed rather than roasted; they needed a little sugar and some time under the salamander. Still, I was very happy with my dish and with the it's-steal-price of $9! My friends also seemed to appreciate their orechiette (little ears pasta) with vegetables ($10) and beef carpaccio with crostini ($12). It is just my kind of place and I will gladly return. Have to try the risotto and the gnocchi (oh, I'm such a carbohydrate slut!).
I'll share a picture of tortellini in Bologna to make up for my photographic lapses last night
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
God never closes a door. . .
but he opens a window.
The next time someone says that to me, I'm going to slam the window. And the door.
I just walked out of The Advertiser, the newspaper where I worked for 20 years, for the last time and, truly, I'm not one bit sad. It had become a very difficult place to work. I always loved the work but what went with it wasn't worth the stress. And, obviously, I can write about food without working for a newspaper.
Something happened yesterday that made me laugh out loud. A part of my "aloha" Taste section lead on Wednesday was about how much fun (and frustration) I'd had over the years finding elusive recipes for readers. I mentioned in particular one that, for some reason, has stuck in my mind for more than five years: a chocolate bar cookie called, the reader said, a Froggie.
I combed the Web, checked my hundreds of cookbooks, contacted chocolate companies and never found it.
So what appears on the fax late yesterday afternoon? A recipe for a San Francisco FOGGIE. Foggie, not FROGGIE. I'm SURE this is it because it's a clip of a story from The Advertiser in the right time frame. Thank you, S. Wood!!!!!
Now you think I'm going to share the recipe with you, right? Nope. I'm going to test it. I'm going to gather some other chocolate recipes and I'm going to make it a lead feature either on this Web site or, if I'm able to successfully negotiate a new feature in the Star-Advertiser after it opens on Monday, in that newspaper.
Meanwhile, as my Catholic teachers used to say, "possess yourself in patience." Take one Hershey bar and call me in the morning.
Is there a recipe you can't find no matter what you do? I need a substitute to obsess over now that Froggies, er, Froggies have come into my life. Send your question soon.
The next time someone says that to me, I'm going to slam the window. And the door.
I just walked out of The Advertiser, the newspaper where I worked for 20 years, for the last time and, truly, I'm not one bit sad. It had become a very difficult place to work. I always loved the work but what went with it wasn't worth the stress. And, obviously, I can write about food without working for a newspaper.
Something happened yesterday that made me laugh out loud. A part of my "aloha" Taste section lead on Wednesday was about how much fun (and frustration) I'd had over the years finding elusive recipes for readers. I mentioned in particular one that, for some reason, has stuck in my mind for more than five years: a chocolate bar cookie called, the reader said, a Froggie.
I combed the Web, checked my hundreds of cookbooks, contacted chocolate companies and never found it.
So what appears on the fax late yesterday afternoon? A recipe for a San Francisco FOGGIE. Foggie, not FROGGIE. I'm SURE this is it because it's a clip of a story from The Advertiser in the right time frame. Thank you, S. Wood!!!!!
Now you think I'm going to share the recipe with you, right? Nope. I'm going to test it. I'm going to gather some other chocolate recipes and I'm going to make it a lead feature either on this Web site or, if I'm able to successfully negotiate a new feature in the Star-Advertiser after it opens on Monday, in that newspaper.
Meanwhile, as my Catholic teachers used to say, "possess yourself in patience." Take one Hershey bar and call me in the morning.
Is there a recipe you can't find no matter what you do? I need a substitute to obsess over now that Froggies, er, Froggies have come into my life. Send your question soon.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
E komo mai!
Aloha kaua, readers. I'm Wanda Adams, soon to be formerly of The Honolulu Advertiser (which closes Sunday). I've got lots of plans for new food projects so you'll be seeing me around.
Meanwhile, here are some food photos to whet your appetite.
If the technology doesn't defeat me totally, I'll be posting here periodically to keep you up to date on my cooking discoveries, food writing projects, kitchen tips and kitty escapades. Kitties like to "help," especially when there's flour to be tracked on the floor or something delicate on the counter to be batted off or fish is involved.
Here are some recent food photos of which I'm proud. I'll be writing about all manner of Island food on this blog.
Last night, I made a rustic olive roll that I had seen on television and it was delicious and so easy, though not fast: three risings and punchings over nearly four hours. But the actual work is so easy: You make an instant yeast dough with bread flour, olive oil, yeast, salt, thyme (fresh or dried) and warm water, knead briefly, throw in whole seeded olives (both black and green or kalamata and green), rise, punch down in 30 minutes, rise, punch down in 30 minutes, rise and form into lumpy coils, brush with olive oil and scatter with Parmesan cheese, rise once more time (whew!), then bake 15 minutes at 380 degrees. I got it from the web by Master Bread Maker Didier Rosada but it's one that chef Novelle did on that cooking school show on TV. I love rustic bread. I'm going to try it with half whole wheat, add the cheese into the dough. I also added some sun-dried tomatoes (minced) because I had them. And I want to try it with flat-leaf parsley and fresh thyme, too.
I'll post a pic when I get a minute.
Meanwhile, here are some food photos to whet your appetite.
If the technology doesn't defeat me totally, I'll be posting here periodically to keep you up to date on my cooking discoveries, food writing projects, kitchen tips and kitty escapades. Kitties like to "help," especially when there's flour to be tracked on the floor or something delicate on the counter to be batted off or fish is involved.
Here are some recent food photos of which I'm proud. I'll be writing about all manner of Island food on this blog.
Last night, I made a rustic olive roll that I had seen on television and it was delicious and so easy, though not fast: three risings and punchings over nearly four hours. But the actual work is so easy: You make an instant yeast dough with bread flour, olive oil, yeast, salt, thyme (fresh or dried) and warm water, knead briefly, throw in whole seeded olives (both black and green or kalamata and green), rise, punch down in 30 minutes, rise, punch down in 30 minutes, rise and form into lumpy coils, brush with olive oil and scatter with Parmesan cheese, rise once more time (whew!), then bake 15 minutes at 380 degrees. I got it from the web by Master Bread Maker Didier Rosada but it's one that chef Novelle did on that cooking school show on TV. I love rustic bread. I'm going to try it with half whole wheat, add the cheese into the dough. I also added some sun-dried tomatoes (minced) because I had them. And I want to try it with flat-leaf parsley and fresh thyme, too.
I'll post a pic when I get a minute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
