Sausage & Spring Vegetables Over Grilled Polenta

It's finally warming up outside - and while I fear I may have missed the seasons for camping and skiing (both things I was dying to do...but couldn't without friends on board) the bright side is that now spring herbs and vegetable are hitting the garden and the grocery store. We are on the cusp of winter & spring, so you may not be able to find ALL the vegetables you love fresh. But frozen will work just as well, and it's often cheaper/easier. I debated whether to go to the store & purchase fresh, or to use the bag of veggies that has been sitting in my freezer for several months. Guess what happened. :) I'm not lazy, I'm...efficient! Truthfully, fresh would probably be great in this because you could skewer the veggies and cook them like kabobs instead of skillet-style. But iz up to you. I used frozen and I can tell you now (excuse me...chew chew...mmm) this tastes GREAT!

Okay, you'll need:

1 bag thawed or approx 1lb fresh summer/spring mixed vegetables (bagged here: carrots, bell peppers, green beans, squash, onion)

olive oil

pre-made polenta

cooked sausage, your choice - I used Opa's jalapeno b/c I like my sausage spicy

salt

Heat up the grill (or in my case, stovetop grill pan) to medium high. Cut the sausage into 1/4 inch slices. Taste test it to make sure it's as good as you imagined. IT IS! :) Mix the sausage into the vegetables & set aside.

Cut the polenta into 1/4 inch slices. drizzle the grill lightly with olive oil (or vegetable oil, whatever). It's prob better to spray or brush the grill with the oil, but I didn't, & the polenta soaked up more OO than I wanted it to. Just a note.

So toss the polenta slices on the grill and let 'em sizzle for a bit. It should take a few minutes for them to pick up some of the yummy brown grill color on the bottom - when they do, flip them over.

This is when we add the veggies/sausage to the mix. If you're doing this like I am, or maybe in a pan even, just dump them on. If you're using a traditional grill, try making a flat surface out of foil or put a cast iron pan on the grill.

Either way...keep 'em moving. We want all the stuff to get nice & warm, the sausage to brown a little, the veggies to lose some of their moisture.

Salt them a little while they're on there. Mmm.

Around the time the veggie mix is ready, the polenta should be done. Arrange the polenta on a plate...

and load it up with the sausage/veggie mix, piping hot and ready to eat! So hearty & satisfying, and pretty darn good for you - only about 400 calories in this serving, and it's so filling that you really don't need a big lumberjack portion to feel full. So eat and be merry!

And if you want to go camping or skiing before it's really too TOO late...let me know...wouldn't this recipe be great to eat while sittin' around the campfire??

Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom Thyme Sauce

So, let me explain a lil sump'n about mushrooms and me. When I was little, my parents wouldn't let us be picky eaters. We were each allowed to pick ONE item that we didn't have to eat, but everything else that was put in front of us, it was going in with a smile. This made us charming dinner guests, thanks mom and dad. Also, you guys conned us into thinking salad was dessert. So sneaky. Anyway, when it came to that "one food item," I chose MUSHROOMS. And since then, I have stuck with the choice, trying and failing time and again to love the fun little guys. Get it? Fun guys? Funghi?

Which leads to my next point: nerds/dorks. If you're single (ladies), or you were one day long ago, ya know how sometimes there's a high-waters-wearing, wrinkled-shirt, bad-hair & toothy-grinned guy who for SOME REASON just catches your attention? Like, you're just minding your business and then you're like "ooooh, who's THAT?" and you realize you're looking at a doofus and you don't know why but you want to find out who he is and see if maybe that's what you're looking for after all!

*crickets*

Alright well anyway, what I'm saying is: today I suddenly thought that mushroom sauce might be the perfect partner for delicious gnocchi, despite my longtime disdain for edible fungus. So here's what I tried and here's what happened...

GNOCCHI WITH WILD MUSHROOM THYME SAUCE

You need one package of pre-cooked gnocchi (I suggest Gia Rosso Whole Wheat Gnocchi pasta - made with sweet potatoes)

For the mushroom sauce:

• ½ lb. cremini mushrooms
• ½ lb. shitake mushrooms, stems removed
• ¼ cup shallots, minced
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• 1½ cups light cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• Parmesan cheese for topping

Makes six servings.

Take the stems off the shitake mushrooms.

And cut those shallots up real nice and fine. Like onions, shallots will make you cry sweet tears of spiciness, so I suggest you wear eyegear if you don't have contacts.

Rub the tops of the cremini mushrooms with a damp towel to clean them, then cut them into ¼-inch slices.

In a large skillet over low heat, melt the butter. Isn't butter so beautiful when it's melting? If you lurve butter you can totally use this as your screensaver. THAT'LL get your co-workers talkin'!

Add the shallots and allow them to cook until translucent.

Raise the heat to medium, add in the mushrooms and the sprigs of thyme. Let cook for 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to brown.

Remove the sprigs of thyme...

then add in the chicken stock. Let reduce for 3 minutes.

This is when you want to cook the GNOCCHI! Add the Gnocchi to the boiling water - it only takes about 4 minutes to fully cook...you'll want to use PROTECTIVE WEAR WHILE YOU PUT IT IN THE POT! Most people won't tell you this, but adding gnocchi to a pot causes splassage and that can burn your pretty little hands. So I wear a hot pad glove and I cringe while I add the gnocchi to the pot. I suggest you do the same.

Also, add salt. Always add salt, it's awesome. Pasta loves salt, salt is its favorite.

So you'll notice that when you add the gnocchi to the water, it all sinks to the bottom. Yay! Because when it cooks, you can tell it's ready when it POPS to the top like a little fishing bobber!

Add in the cream, salt and pepper. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened.

You're so ready for dinner, I understand! Just wait for it! Tick...tick...tick...tick..



Finally it is DONE! All the gnocchi has popped to the top of the water, so spoon some of it out (sans water) into a bowl. Serve the sauce over the prepared gnocchi and top with parmesan cheese (which I totally forgot to do, oops, but it was still presentable...)



And I'm gonna be honest with you - I ate the whole bowl. I don't like mushrooms, and the whole time it was like being with with that doofy guy you met and decided to take a chance on. The whole time you're thinking "meh...not really my thing" but at the same time there's something about him that is drawing you in! I ate the whole bowl. I'll admit it. And I might eat the leftovers. :) Maybe! Ok definitely....

La Folie - San Francisco, CA

Hello all! It's been a while since my last post on La Vida Deliciosa - not because I haven't been eating well, don't worry. I've been sampling so many dishes in so many places - alas, with work and life it's been hard to catch up on reviews! But sometimes a meal comes along that deserves - nay, DEMANDS - to be discussed. And last weekend, I had such a meal. Eventually I'll update you on some of the local places I've been trying, but for now, we're going to California.

San Francisco is known for its food - this is an accepted fact. I visited with my family in the 1980's and while I certainly remember some aspects of the trip (the redwoods, the Bridge, the Napa vineyards), good food is not something I cared about at that age. Fast forward to now, a time in my life when fine cuisine is a hobby, a passion, and a near-obsession.

I went to SF for a short last-minute wkend trip and while I hoped to try some amazing food, I didn't have time to do research and find out the best places to go. It was definitely a hit-or-miss trip, but I was prepared to take some risks. Enter the concierge at the hotel: she suggested a little French restaurant called "La Folie" in central SF. "Great fois gras" she said. "Intimate atmosphere" she said. And so, we said, "Let's do it!"

One cab ride later (about 10 minutes from the Financial District) we pulled up to a storefront restaurant. La Folie is actually 2 establishments next door to one another: a lounge/bar, and then the restaurant, both by the same name. We wandered into the bar and a kind employee personally escorted us next door to the restaurant. The owner/proprietor, an older woman, found our reservation and asked us to wait a few minutes to sit (the place was quite crowded). We waited outside and talked to the valet, a charming Peruvian man who was delighted to converse with my date who is proficient in Spanish. Minutes later, we were seated at a table that was in the center of the bustling restaurant. My date asked that we be moved to a better available table, and the owner obliged with an attitude that was more accomdating than I would expect for a restaurant of this caliber on a busy Saturday night.

La Folie dining room:

The menu: La Folie offers a course-based dining experience. Diners choose from fix prix 3-, 5-, or 7-course dinners. From what I could tell, the courses may be chosen from anywhere on the menu. We each chose an appetizer, a 2nd course, and an entree (later we said "we forgot dessert!" but more on that to come...)

The experience started with 2 standard amuse bouche courses on the house. First, a coddled egg, in the shell with brioche, with leek cream and a paper-thin potato wafer on top. AMAZING. I am choosy about my eggs (raw, for example, is not my preference) but the coddled egg was half-firm and tasted like heaven in the onion soup. The crispy brioche was a perfect accompaniment to the sweet egg.

The second amuse bouche was...I don't remember. But it was awesome.

Then, our first courses: for me, the fois gras. For my date, the butternut squash bisque, which arrived as a bowl with a single flaming marshmallow in the center. A second waiter arrived with a terrine of bisque which he dramatically poured around the marshmallow. Exquisite. My fois gras was generously portioned, seasoned to perfection, and set atop a sourdough crostini that soaked up the fois gras juices quite perfectly. The consistency of the fois gras was interesting - pudding like, with just a little texture on the edges to keep it intact. The taste was out of this world. La Folie is known for its expert fois gras and my dish did not disappoint.

2nd course: my date had the escargot, and I had the goat cheese tatin. His dish was actually called "Sauteed Burgundy Snails, Castroville Artichokes, Pernod Lemon Butter" but it was enhanced with bone marrow and was served IN A BONE. A piece of bone was standing on end, filled with snails swimming in a bone marrow/lemon butter sauce. Pure art!

My tatin was beautiful - real undiluted goat cheese layered with Roasted Eggplant, Artichokes, Tomato Confit, Portobello Mushroom, and Sauce Virge. I could have died. The vegetables were cooked to perfection - not mushy, not crunchy. The goat cheese was tart and present but not overwhelming.

3rd course: for context, and because you know I'm cheeky like this, let me explain that upon arrival I made a visit to the ladies room which happens to abut the kitchen. Spotting the chef du maison, Roland Passot, I shouted "What should I order tonight?" and he enthusiastically came over to tell me that the venison and the lamb would be particularly amazing. Then he promised to make them extra special for my date and I. So, of course, we ordered the venison and the lamb. And we were NOT disappointed. My date had the Pancetta wrapped Venison Loin with Apple-studded Potato Galette, Chestnut and Apple Confit. The venison was cooked to perfection - pink in the middle, tender, and just gamey enough to taste like venison but not so earthy as to be overwhelmingly dull. My dish- Niman Ranch Lamb Loin, with Carrot and Medjool Dates, Potatoes “Fondante”, Lamb Shoulder Crepinette - was so tender I could cut it with a fork. Again, pink in the middle, served on full bone, a most exquisite arrangement. The pairing with dates and carrots was divine, a perfect marriage of meat and sweet. No photos of the venison, sorry. I forgot my camera and I'm relying on borrowed internet photos, none of which have captured the venison. But, the lamb...oh, the lamb...

We were stuffed. Utterly stuffed. We had a bottle of St. Peter's cabernet, a California varietal which started out tasting a little too light, but as we ate through our courses, it matured into a perfect pairing with our robust food choices.

Then...dessert. On the house, a platter arrived with 6 small tasting portions of what looked like the following:

- Pink Lady Apple and Quince Bread Pudding, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Pomegranate Poached Apple, Spiced Walnuts
- Valhrona Milk Chocolate Passion Fruit Bombe with Hazelnut Dacquoise, Black Pepper Gelato
- “Kabocha” Pumpkin Cake with a Chocolate-Oolong Tea Mousse, Kabocha and Caramel Ice Cream, Fuyu Persimmons

"Please box this up for us!" we pleaded. And of course they willingly obliged, but unfortunately on the way out our "to-go" bags were accidently mixed, and we didn't get the dessert to-go after all. Instead we got my leftover 1/2 lamb shank. I would kill to go back and try that dessert!

The atmosphere was intimate and romantic - low lights, candles, curtained walls. The service - inscrutable. Our waiter was attentive, and the house sommelier (nee owner, perhaps?) topped our glasses quietly throughout the night. The chef, who suggested the venison and lamb, stopped by to chat and to ask if we'd enjoyed. He even indulged my embarrasing attempt to parlez francais avec il, which I completely botched because I ALWAYS feel nervous speaking French with a French person. MERDE.

Chef Roland Passot:

3 courses = $75 a person, and while it may seem a bit crude to say this without having paid the bill myself, I must say that I believe it was worth it for the quality of service and food. La Folie was perhaps the best meal I've had in my life, and that's saying something. Never before have I eaten food that made me FEEL so much. I don't do drugs but I imagine the euphoria I experienced as I ate at La Folie is pretty close to being high. I didn't know food could cause such sensations.

Go to San Franciso. Eat at La Folie. Try to convince them to move to San Antonio and open up a place here, because I am still floating on my La Folie food high and I'd love love LOVE to experience this again.

Cool Cafe review

I have a new favorite restaurant in San Antonio! My bff, Lauren, came to San Antonio to visit. Knowing how much she loves crepes (with Nutella and banana, specifically) I did a search for crepes in the city. There weren't many results, but one of the few really got my attention: Cool Cafe, a little local place with a random Greek/Italian/American/Thai menu and...crepes! Savory and sweet, any kind you can imagine. So...we went. And let me tell you, we were NOT disappointed!

I had the "Fisherman" crepe - shrimp, green onions, and a peanut sauce, all wrapped in a thin delicious crepe. Served with a little green salad on the side, it was delicious!



Lauren had the Thai basmati rice, which boasted spinach, bell peppers, black oives, green onions, and a peanut sauce. She loved it - saved the leftovers and ate more later, in fact!


And of course for dessert we had CREPES, but we inhaled them so quickly that we forgot to take photos! So I'm going to convince Nick to take me back, and when he does, I promise to take photos of dessert. To whet your appetite, I'll tell you what we had: Lauren, of course, had a classic crepe with Nutella and banana. It was INCREDIBLE - just like the street vendors sell in France, if you can believe it! I had the "Jamaican" crepe, with bananas and coconut in caramel. It was heavenly. You can believe me, because we inhaled them! And at about $3.50 apiece, these wonderful desserts were well worth the trip.

I'm going back, you can bet on it!

Paloma Blanca review

One of our favorite places in town is Paloma Blanca, a high-end Mexican food restaurant in the ritzy part of the city. It's a 20 minute drive but the patio and interior are so nice that it's worth it to leave the suburbs for a drive into the heart of things. It's their slogan, in fact - "Always Worth the Trip."



Raves:

Their ceviche - which I've now had twice - is wonderful. Fully "cooked" white fish and (I think) some shrimp, along with tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. My only gripe is that they serve the ceviche with packaged saltines, while tortilla chips (which they also serve in unlimited amounts with salsa, as an appetizer) are so much better with the dish. The best thing about the ceviche is that an appetizer portion - which is HUGE, more than enough for one person - is only about $8. This is half the price of their cheapest entrees.

Complaints:

We've been to Paloma Blanca several times - the first visit was for a friend's birthday party, on a busy night, with a reservation for 8 made ahead of time. Nick and I arrived first (on time) and were told we could not be seated until the entire party arrived. With 8 people expected to show up at various times, this was very inconvenient. We waited in their lobby, which thankfully has a bar and very comfortable leather sofas. Unfortunately, the bar waitstaff is painfully slow and the bar is very crowded (probably with people waiting for their parties to be seated!).



Last night, a Tuesday, we called the restaurant on our way to see if they take call-aheads. They said they do not, but that things were "slow" (because it was a Tuesday night) and that a table for 2 on the patio would be easy to get. We arrived 15 minutes later, and were promptly told that there were no tables available and that we should wait at the bar. In truth, the restaurant was packed, and there were many people waiting for tables. ARGH! On top of this, the hostess we spoke with was very short with us, and had no explanation for the fact that 15 minutes earlier we'd been told a table on the patio would be available.

We waited at the bar (most of that time waiting for the bartenders to serve us) and 15-20 minutes later the hostess activated our buzzer. Without a smile, she escorted us onto the patio, where there were at least 6 empty tables available! We were seated in the back of the patio, the least picturesque part - again without a word of apology.

Final complaint: the wine prices. I know as well as the next person that a bottle of Beringer costs about $7 at the grocery store. Beringer was the least expensive wine on their list, and they charged $8 per GLASS. I don't mind paying a little bit more than wine is worth in exchange for the convenience of drinking it at a restaurant with a meal, but $8 a glass for Beringer? It was almost enough to keep me from ordering that first glass, and it was the reason I did not order a second glass. They would be wise to lower the prices so that patrons could "wait at the bar" with something affordable to sip on, and so that their patrons could order more than one glass without breaking the budget.

Roaring Fork - 1604 & Huebner

Roaring Fork is a "new" (to San Antonio, at least) restaurant near where I live, and they have a decent patio with a fireplace and eureka! - it's not facing a highway. I keep going back to Roaring Fork and every time I go, we get the green chile pork stew appetizer.



It's savory and delicious - tender chunks of pork with just-spicy-enough green chilies and a sauce that is gravy-like and hearty. The stew comes in a little kettle, and it's accompanied by 4 warm flour tortillas wrapped in butcher paper. Highly recommended!

Mini Chocolate Eclairs

Another kitchen experiment...and it turned out WONDERFULLY! I love chocolate eclairs, and I needed a snack to take to Bible Study (great excuse to bake, huh?) so I decided it would be fun to make tiny chocolate eclairs! But how? Hmmm....


Filling:
8 cups of pre-made sugar free vanilla pudding


Eclair pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Frosting:

1 container pre-made dark chocolate cake frosting

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter, water and salt over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.





Pour in flour all at once and stir vigorously until fully incorporated and mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, let rest 5 minutes. Mmm, it's resting... what a perfect opportunity to drink a glass of wine.






Then beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. The dough will be very wet - that's good, we want that. And be sure to explain the process to Tinkerbell and Buttercup as you go... because they love cooking too! That's why they watch. To them, you are Emeril. Nevermind the fact that Buttercup seems to be falling asleep...





Drop dough into twelve equal mounds on baking sheets. Spread each mound into a 4x1/2 inch rectangle.


Bake in preheated oven 35 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and make a one-inch slit in the side of each eclair. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Return eclairs to oven for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.








To assemble: Slice each eclair in half lengthwise. Spoon vanilla pudding into a plastic bag and cut off the corner to make a piping bag. Isn't pudding cute?



Pipe about 1 tablespoon vanilla pudding into the middle of each eclair. This can get messy, so be sure to lick your fingers a lot.

Replace tops and frost with chocolate icing, warmed up in the microwave for easy spreading. This is also messy, so get your man to help you ice the little guys. He doesn't have to ice them perfectly - chocolate is chocolate, no matter what it looks like! :)

Lick fingers again. Then.......chill until serving.