Food Crush.

Ah Mr Bittman {cue dreamy music} . . . I must admit, I have a little crush on the man. When I see his videos on the NYTimes my heart flutters, my mouth waters, and I get all giddy inside. What can I say, the man can cook!

His recent dish was a creamy leek and garlic pesto pasta. Now as you folks know, I regretfully don't eat bacon, so I had to come up with an alternative option to make my dish pop. Low and behold, wild salmon was on sale this week, haaayyy! {You'll be seeing a lot of it by the by}

While Bittman's recipe is minimalist, it's not easy peasy. Especially when you've got a few burners going in a 90 kitchen. It was well worth the effort in the end though. 

Leeks! Dudes, make sure you clean them very throughly. 

Slice them in half a rinse downwards to get rid of dirt and sand. 

I lightly seasoned the wild salmon with some kosher salt & pimenton. 

First of all, this is my Cuisinart. This introduction is well overdue. 

Inside my friend is the leek & garlic pesto. 

Put the pesto back in the pan you sauteed the leeks & garlic in. 

You'll add the pasta and some pasta water to complete the dish.  

Hello Lovely. . .

Yeah . . . this is the shit you don't get to see . . .

Farewell Farinata . . .

It is with deep sadness and regret that I have to announce Mr. Mark Bittman has retired his weekly column, The Minimalist. Ughs and expletives all around. I can't say I followed religiously, but Bittman's work often brought me out of a cooking slump. His recipes introduced me to pimention & chickpea flour, which are now two staples in my kitch cabinets.

Bittman's final column was a compilation of his 25 favorite recipes. I prepared Socca or Farinata as a solitary homage. And of course it was easy and delicious. You will certainly be missed. 

Batter Up!

I broke out the hand mandolin to add some red onion.

Out of the oven & into the belly.

Golden, light, & savory. 

Don't Call it a Comeback!

First and foremost, Happy 2011 peeps! To put it frankly, 2010 was a shitty year for a lot of people. But hey, we got through it right? One of my last dishes of the year was courtesy of Mark Bitman once again. I'm not the biggest fan of gnocchi, but there was something about Bitman's Ricotta Gnocchi recipe that appealed to me. Here's how it went down:

Scoop out pasta dough, I used a tablespoon and fingers. Add the dough to a large pot of boiling water.

Then transfer to a small pan and sautee in a pan with fresh sage. 

So you'll notice my gnocchi is darker than Mr. Bitman's. There is an awful lot of multi-tasking involved with this dish. I got distracted and the gnocchi started to brown. I thought they looked even more beautiful and it added another texture to the dish.  

I diced some campari tomatoes then simmered them in a pan for a few minutes. The lightness and sweetness of the tomatoes were a perfect contrast to the saltiness of the cheese. 

Superb!

Spicy Shrimp Tortillitas

So, in the spirit of food exploration, I bought some chickpea flour from Sahadi's the other day. {More on that wonderful place soon.} I couldn't remember the recipe that called for it and when I did a google search for chickpea flour, of course a Bittman recipe for tortillitas with shrimp was one of the first to pop up. This delicious Spanish treat is fairly painless to prepare. Ya'll know me, I had to make the recipe my own. I used cayenne pepper instead of black and half a cup of whole wheat flour instead of white. You will need to add more water since the flour is heavier. I used a generous amount of olive oil on the first pancake as Bittman instructed. As you can see below, it spilled over a bit, but it's actually a good thing. I used less oil on the second pancake and it wasn't quite the same consistency. They are brilliant. Explore & Enjoy!

Don't mind the oil on top, it helps cook the other side.

I almost never make pancakes, but I flipped this b like a pro!

Great color & texture. Try it with a small salad.