february food blog
if you are what you eat, i am slowly turning into cheese and carbohydrates
before i talk about what i cooked this month, i want to take a moment to discuss where i ate because this week is a special anniversary - my one year of living in jersey city! i want to give a shout-out to one nj restaurant we have been eating at monthly since moving, and another we just tried for the first time this month but wish we had also been eating at monthly :)
the day we moved in (i think), we picked up razza for dinner, and have been eating their pizza once a month since. we love the di natale, which has pine nuts, olives, golden raisins, and chili oil–a lovely combination of sweet and salty/briny, with a touch of spice. the guanciale is another favorite; it reminds me a bit of amatriciana with thin slices of guanciale and pecorino on top. in the summer, they also add a white pie to the menu with corn and chili that théo and i love. we haven’t tried them yet, but people seem to love the mushroom pie and meatballs. it is also our go-to spot for loaves of bread. we love their bread so much that i think my sourdough boule baking has been cut in half since moving here. so you should definitely grab some bread on your way out; it’s fantastic.
this month, we went to sri ganesh dosa house for the first time and it was fantastic. we got the channa onion-chili masala dosa and poori koorma. the dosa was perfectly light and crisp, and the potato filling was so beautifully spiced and textured. we loved how they diced up chilis and onions for some added texture, spice, and flavor. the poori was also fantastic, a little crunchy, super tender, and steaming hot. we also loved their sambar, and coconut and tomato chutneys.
if you want more jersey city recs, of which i have many, you can find them on the amigo app (an app for food and travel recommendations) where i’ve created guides for several of my favorite places and have just posted the inaugural jersey city/hoboken guide! amigo is invite-only and you can skip the wait using code PARISGO (it’s also free!).
and… one last thing before we get into what i ate this month (spoiler: it was a lot of carbs and cheese): i’ve received many requests for a savory galette or a quiche. i am going to get that to you soon-ish, but i need to know if there is a particular version you have seen on my feed that you are interested in. i am at a loss for which one to make, so please drop in the comments section which recipe you were hoping for!
bread and cheese with ratatouille
lunch multiple times this month was bread, cheese, and ratatouille. i had leftover cheese from paris as well as leftover ciabatta that needed to be used up, and i am not complaining because i love this lunch!
i like to keep my bread in the freezer, and whenever i want some, i’ll take a slice out, spritz it with water, and throw it in the toaster (sometimes i will spritz it with water and fry it in a pan with butter or oil). it tastes just as good, if not better than, fresh baked bread (because it’s hot). as for the ratatouille, some of you may remember my first monthly roundup on here that talked about using the last of 2023’s farmers market tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant. i made a colossal batch of ratatouille that lives in my freezer, and whenever i want ratatouille, i just remove some from the container and rewarm it on the stove until hot. i also ate ratatouille twice this month for dinner in an omelette, my other favorite way to eat it.
carbonara
upon returning from rome, i have fallen down a carbonara-inspired rabbit hole and have since made three pasta dishes inspired by it.
the first version i made was with the egg inside the pasta. i had a ton of leftover egg yolks from making meringues for a job earlier this month, so i made an egg yolk pasta dough and filled it with a mix of homemade ricotta and some pecorino we picked up in rome. i dolloped an egg yolk in the center of the ricotta/pecorino mixture and closed up the ravioli. i then seared some guanciale slices and removed them from the pan. i added cracked black pepper to the pan to toast it (too much for a classic carbonara, but i really love pepper on pasta) and then added pasta water to the pan followed by the raviolis. once the pasta water reduced into the guanciale fat to create a beautiful sauce, i transferred the raviolis to a plate, topped them with a slice of guanciale, and tucked in.
the second version was with pici, which for me, is the easiest flour-and-water-based pasta to hand-shape, and i love how chewy the texture is once cooked. while making the dough, i cured an egg yolk in salty water and colatura. for the sauce, i followed the same method as above, but once it reduced and thickened, i turned off the heat and added my cheese until it formed a thick, glossy sauce. i then plated up the pasta and topped it with the colatura-cured egg (and more cheese).
the final version was basically a classic carbonara, although i don’t think i added enough egg yolk; it was not as creamy as the ones i ate in rome.
chanterelles
i needed to order something (that something being 36 lbs of butter) from my wholesaler, but i wasn’t meeting the total dollar amount required to checkout. so i started browsing to see what looked good. they had three pounds of chanterelles for a good price that would bring me over the monetary limit to checkout. so, i made a few things with the chanterelles this month: polenta (soft and fried), gnocchi, and risotto.
i started by making polenta. i love making polenta in the oven: it’s hands-free and i don’t need to worry about the bottom of the pot scalding. imho the trick to a good polenta is cooking it for far longer than you think you need - i don’t cook it based on the cups of liquid used, i go on time. i like to cook my polenta for about two hours in the oven. once it’s nice and tender, i finish with cheese (usually parm) and cream or mascarpone. this time i served it up with mascarpone dollops, melty chive butter, and butter-fried chanterelles.
when i make polenta i usually make it in big batches. right before i finish it off with cheese and fat, i transfer some to a baking mold or fluted tart tin. once room temp, i cover the polenta and transfer it to the freezer until it’s time to use. when i am ready to cook with it, i pop the polenta out of the mold, dust it in flour and cornstarch, and fry it up. i served up the fried polenta with chanterelles braised in cream, garlic, white wine, and a little chicken jus. i finished it with a healthy dose of chives for a very rich lunch.
for the gnocchi i followed the same method i have used for years. i baked some dry potatoes, and as soon as they came out of the oven i cut them open, pushed them through a ricer, and crack on top an egg, i add a touch of grated parm, a large pinch of salt, and flour. i then chopped this all together with a bench scraper, and lightly pushed together to form a block. i cover and let this rest for about an hour, and then cut off a row from the gnocchi block, gently roll the out the row until it forms a log, and then cut pieces off into little pillows, which i then rolled on a pasta board to give some texture. this was served with the chanterelles which were fried in butter until browned with sage. and finished this with lots of black pepper and parm.
finally, i made a chanterelle risotto. i seared off the remaining chanterelles in butter, white wine, chicken jus, garlic, and thyme. i then removed this from the pan added some butter and a blended-up onion, some garlic, and the rice to the pan. i let the rice toast in the onion and butter for two minutes until starting to brown, and then i added white wine and set a timer for 18 minutes, stirring and adding porcini broth as the cooking went on. i finished the rice with some parm and a touch of cream and served it up with the mushrooms.
Those lunches of bread, cheese and ratatouille. Lunches of current-modern times.
All of this food looks so amazing!!