Italian Influences

Grilled Veal Chops with Caprese SaladWhen I was growing up, I didn't really like Italian food.  This was probably because I never had "real" Italian food; the heavy, gloppy, flavorless masses called "Italian Food" in the US are a poor substitute.  Italian food is remarkably light, simple, and very flavorful.  Ingredients, however, are key. 

Sadly, we got back from Bermuda yesterday.  After six days of eating fish, I craved red meat.  I seasoned a couple of veal chops with olive oil, fresh garlic, salt and pepper and grilled them over charcoal.  Veal is very tender and the meat didn't not require a true marinade with vinegar.  However (and this is a trick I learned in Italy) I drizzled the chops in a little more olive oil and high quality Balsamic Vinegar before I served them.  The tangy sweetness of the vinegar enhanced the meat.  I served the chops with a tomato and mozzarella salad.  It was a delicious meal!

Ode to Rum

Forget the Bermuda Triangle. The most dangerous thing about this Island is all of the delicious cocktails made with the local liquor, rum. Rum and tropical climates work so well because the sugar cane based rum mixes seamlessly with the naturally sweet fruit juices. The island is famous for a few cocktails. The mighty tasty Rum Swizzle, which was invented on the island, is a combination of lemon, orange, and pineapple juices and rum. It is sweet because of all of the juices, but its perfect for a hot and lazy afternoon on the beach.

Bermuda is also famous for its Dark and Stormies, and no, I’m not talking about rough seas. Dark and Stormies are a simple combination of dark rum and ginger beer. When mixed properly, the dark rum clouds with clear ginger beer, and leaves a sea froth like foam on top. Don’t confuse ginger beer with ginger ale. They are not the same. Ginger beer is by far spicier (unlike American ginger ale you can actually taste the ginger) and less sweet. I hope I can find genuine ginger beer in the US!

Another delicious cocktail is the yellowbird, a combination of orange juice, pineapple juice, banana liquor, vanilla liquor, and, of course, Rum.

In the land of Rum and Fish

That national bird of Bermuda is the Bird of Paradise. While it isn’t exactly paradise here, it comes close. Bermuda is still a British Colony (although you wouldn’t know it on July 4th! There were so many fire works displays I thought that we were back in DC. I wonder if the inhabitants of this British Isle noted the irony of celebrating the American War of Independence…) Since its roots are British it isn’t exactly know for its stellar food. I was actually surprised about how little fresh fruit grows on this island. However, as long as you stick to the staples—fish and rum—you can’t go wrong.

Since it’s an island nation, it’s not hard to find a good fish. Some of my favorites so far are the red grouper—I’m not sure that it is in fact a grouper, since it is much smaller than any grouper I’ve seen and doesn’t have the characteristic dopey expression; muddled snapper—a white, flakey fish with sweet flesh. You also commonly see on menus this time of year gambas (big shrimp), Wahoo—being a UVa Grad this fish, which as legend has it is the only fish that can drink twice its weight, has special significance—and yellowtail snapper.

Another staple here is Bermuda Fish Chowder. It is a slightly spicy, tomato based soup with vegetables and of course lots of fish. I think each cook has their own special recipe, but the chowder I have had so far didn’t have any crustaceans, and usually is made with some rum. The chowder is traditionally served hot with “sherry pepper” (sherry vinegar infused with hot peppers) and for flavor, of course, rum. I like the fish chowder, but I’m not crazy about it. The fish gets a bit overdone in the chowder which imparts a grainy texture onto the soup.

For dessert, you can’t go wrong with a Rum Cake. We took a special trip to the rum cake factory which of course involved sampling all the different cakes. Rum cake is your standard light and fluffy and very, very good coffee cake. The only difference is that it is made with Bermudan rum! The modern rum cake comes in lots of different flavors including chocolate, banana, ginger, rum swizzle (more on that tomorrow), and my favorite, coffee.

Stay tuned…the next post is all about the best Bermudan drinks!

Life is Good

What can I say? I’m sitting outside, sipping a rum swizzle, listening to the melodious harmonies of tree frogs, blowing smoke rings, and watching the moonlight sparkle off the clear Bermudan waters. Maybe I’ve had one too many swizzles, but I am also watching a boat with four shadowy figures on board coast through the inlet with its lights off…Images of “The Beach” come to mind, but unfortunately Leonardo DiCaprio is nowhere to be found….

Medallions of Veal With Gran Marnier ReductionAnyway, a lot of my friends ask me how I come up with recipes. It is a process based off of my own experiments and shamelessly “borrowing” the work of others. I love to read cookbooks, but I hate to follow recipes. I use them for ideas, however I hardly ever follow a recipe word for word. I often cook what I crave (good thing for my regular dining companions, my husband and my brother, I’m not pregnant) or what I have readily available. For example, on Tuesday, I wanted to cook something high in protein, i.e. meat, but something I had in my freezer so I didn’t have to make a separate trip to the grocery store. I defrosted some lovely veal medallions. I was contemplating making a lemon caper sauce, but I ran out of regular olive oil to sear the meat, and I only had blood orange infused olive oil. Orange made me think of Gran Marnier. Because it has a high sugar content and of course lots of flavor, Gran Marnier reduces into a perfect syrupy consistency, and was a lovely pairing with the veal. I had some Swiss chard in the fridge. I quickly sautéed the greens with garlic and the remainder of the unflavored olive oil, added a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes, a can of kidney beans, and a teaspoon of sugar and cooked until almost all the liquid was gone.

Yes. Life is good.

Easy Summer Meals

Insightful remark of the night...summer is here.  Just because it is hot outside doesn't meant you have to stop cooking, but on these hot nights I crave lighter meals.  (Ignore my posts on venison stew and the five course meals we have been eating lately).  Light doesn't mean lacking in flavor, however.  On Saturday we went to a concert and brought a picnic supper of prosciutto, mozzarella, and sun dried tomato sandwiches.  Last night we didn't have much time to prepare dinner, so I defrosted some Smithfield Farm Lamb sausages, seared them in a hot skillet, and served them with a fresh baguette, sauteed peppers and onions, and stone ground mustard.  It was easy and delicious.  Tonight we had another favorite--lemon and herb grilled trout.