Let's Cook with Titina

It was of my dear friend's birthday this past week, so I tried finding something fun and different to do to celebrate.  We both love to eat and cook, and I remembered taking a cooking class at Capri Flavors, a Italian food distributor in Morrisville, NC.  Perfecto!  I had her go to their website and peruse the menu - there are four different menus offered in a three month span, and the menus change quarterly.  She settled on the Bologna menu, and settled on a Friday evening class.  (They also have classes on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings, as well as private classes).

We arrive about 15 minutes before our class, and we walk into a small store stocked with all Italian specialties, from Italian pastas and tomatoes to cured meats, cheeses and wine.  Costanzo, one of the proprietors, greets you and checks you in for class.  Through the store, there is a beautiful kitchen with twelve barstools lined around it, and Titina, Costanzo's wife, greets you with an apron and name tag.  Her son, Ugo, was also assisting in the kitchen this evening.  We go back out into the shop and purchase a bottle of Sicilian wine to enjoy while taking our class.

Titina and Costanzo came to the United States from the small island of Capri back in 1994, settled in North Carolina after spending a couple years in Rhode Island.  They had run a hotel back in Capri, and desired to bring all the Italian specialties to the United States.  Titina's mother is credited for creating the caprese salad back in her restaurant in Capri.

We begin our class by preparing a simple bruschetta, which my friend and I are asked to help assist by chopping grape tomatoes, while Titina puts the olive oil, garlic, and parsley together.  Then we mix our chopped tomatoes in, and top some warmed ciabatta bread.  Once assembled, each student gets a couple pieces to enjoy as class begins.

Titina starts preparing dinner by preparing the dough to make fresh sheets of pasta for our lasagna bolognese, which one of the students helps mix and knead, then lets set.  While the dough is resting, she begins teaching another student to make prosciutto and peas, by simply crisping up some proscuitto in olive oil, onions and garlic, then adding peas to a pan and letting simmer.


We continue through the class making a fine meal - watching two gentlemen cut dough and make the fresh pasta sheets, another student help make the bolognese and bechamel sauces, and my friend and I help assemble the lasagna.

Not to forget a dessert, two students help assemble a tiramisu.  Although it needs overnight to properly set up, another class graciously assembled the one we got to eat.  Tiramisu always seemed like it was a daunting task, but after this class, I am ready to add it to my dessert recipe arsenal.

Lastly, we make a quick opening plate of prosciutto and melon and a salad with a light lemon dressing.  Once everything is ready, we sit at a family style table with the entire class and Titina and Costanzo, and exchange stories of Italy and good food.  The food you are taught to make is not only delicious, yet relatively easy to make, and if you don't have the tools (like a pasta rolling machine), Titina will take questions and help you make simple, wonderful Italian food in your home.  The cost of all this is only $60/person, and with the $13 bottle of wine we bought (which would have been $40-50 in a restaurant), you get a high quality restaurant meal, without the restaurant price, and you get the recipes to try your hand at it.

My friend absolutely loved her gift, and we are looking forward to doing the same thing for Christmas. Hopefully, we can get in the class where we can make gnocchi, and enjoy yet another fabulous Italian meal with two wonderful hosts from Capri.

Capri Flavors
1012 Morrisville Parkway
Morrisville NC 27560
www.capriflavors.com

Beasley's Chicken + Honey

Fried chicken never really was my thing. However, being entrenched in the southern lifestyle, I've discovered that fried chicken, when done right, can be amazing.  Beasley's Chicken + Honey gets it done, and then some.

Beasley's is part of three establishments opened in 2011 in one corner spot in downtown Raleigh. The trio is owned by local chef Ashley Christensen, who also owns the very popular and previously blogged Poole's Diner.  Beasley's focuses on fried chicken - serving a quarter chicken standalone, a chicken biscuit, or the combo chicken & waffles.  The chicken biscuit is an entire fried chicken breast served on a huge buttermilk biscuit served with a fried green tomato, dijon mustard and honey.  The chicken and waffles is by far my favorite - the waffle is so soft and flavorful, and the combination with the moist fried chicken (with your option of light or dark meat) make it extremely craveable.  This picture below was taken on a Friday night (alongside a moonshine margarita...), and I went back a week later and couldn't order anything else....and was just as delicious as I remember.

In case you want to branch out from fried chicken, the pork shoulder meatloaf, served with charred onion gravy a top a bed of whipped yukon potatoes.  The flavorful gravy truly brings this dish up a notch.  The man sitting next to us, who is a regular who always gets the fried chicken, said he was not disappointed on his opportunity to branch out.

Now what would a southern food restaurant be without its sides?  Sides are served a la carte, but you can buy a trio of sides as an entree.  The sides seasonally rotate, such as sauteed summer squash, watermelon with sea salt & olive oil, and stewed field tomatoes & vidalia onions, but the staple is the Ashe County cheddar pimiento mac and cheese custard.  It arrives at your table in a block of glory, and the pimiento gives it that added kick.  I'm not ashamed to say when I offered to split a side of it with a friend, we ordered a second helping because it was that good (and I think I got one forkful of the first serving...)

They go old fashioned by serving Nehi, RC Cola, and North Carolina favorite Cheerwine all in glass bottles, and also make fine cocktails as well like the moonshine margarita pictured above.  They are open for lunch every day and serve an additional brunch menu on Saturdays and Sundays until 4pm.

When I went to Beasley's, my expectations were not as high as when I went to the sister restaurant Poole's, since I left disappointed.  However, Beasley's simply blows all expectations out of the water, and think Beasley's far exceeds Poole's. I will put the chicken and waffles up against any I've had - even at the famous Roscoe's in Los Angeles and Hash House in Las Vegas.  And the mac & cheese here is better than the mac & cheese at Poole's, which is what they are known for.  If Ms. Christensen can keep up this high quality southern food, I will be channeling my inner southern girl more often, and I'll be saying "y'all" before you know it.

Beasley's Chicken + Honey

237 S Wilmington Street

Raleigh NC 27601

http://www.ac-restaurants.com/beasleys/

Foodie Road Trip to Durham

Memorial Day weekend is typically for taking a road trip to the beach to relax for the three day weekend.  Since I had a management development program to attend the week before the long weekend, we opted to stay local for this rare weekend of no plans and perhaps do things that we normally don't do, given our hectic schedules.  Immediately I gravitate to food, and say to MM "let's go to those places we typically don't get a chance to go to....let's go eat in Durham."  Durham?  Really?

For those that don't know the lay of the land in the Triangle, Durham and Raleigh are only 25 minutes apart.  Chapel Hill is another 10 minutes past Durham.  It's not far, yet seems a world away at times. MM and I both work and live in Raleigh, so it's easy to just stay in Raleigh for dinner. We will go to Durham for baseball games and events at the Durham Performing Arts Center, but never can seem to fit time in for dinner and an event, even though it's a short drive away.

Durham is known for Duke University and the site of the movie "Bull Durham."  It does get a rap for being a little rough, but it has a unique character with many tobacco factory buildings revamped into strips of shops, offices and restaurants.  They also do have a great food scene.

We make reservations Saturday evening at Vin Rouge, a French bistro on 9th Street, which is the heart of the Duke University area. There is a large patio in the front that is reminiscent of a true French bistro.  Once inside the restaurant, the exposed kitchen is immediately ahead of you, while there is a small waiting area surrounded by several tables on the way to the bar. We are seated in an adjacent room next to a window that overlooks a second patio, lined with potted herbs and assorted flowers.  This patio was not being used that evening, but easily could be, as the restaurant was packed.  The tables are quite close together, so it is a little tight.

We start with the oysters gratinee, which are served on an oyster platter, but are not served in the shell - they are shucked, covered in bacon, leeks and gruyere cheese.  I did pick up some pernod (licorice) flavor as well, and they did not skimp - one order had approximately 15 oysters, and they were delicious.

For our entrees, I get the Poulet Rôti Grand-Mére, also known as rotisserie chicken.  Two small chicken breast and thighs are served a top a broth with braised carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, potatoes with thyme.  The chicken, while small, is incredibly moist, and there is great depth of flavor in the braised vegetables.  The thyme is really what accents this dish.  It's tough to have chicken after having Thomas Keller's chicken at Bouchon, but still pretty darn good.

MM gets the steak au poivre, which was being served as a ribeye this night instead of the usual sirloin.  It is served with a huge serving of pomme frites and a side of bearnaise sauce.  The steak was rather rare for a medium rare steak, and was a little overseasoned on the pepper, but the frites and bearnaise were delicious. I took half my chicken home and continued to eat MM's frites (isn't that what women are supposed to do?)

The highlight of the night may have been dessert, surprisingly.  We order the apple bread pudding, which our waiter tells us is his favorite.  A piece approximately 3 inches high makes its way to the table, with a dollop of house made whipped cream and in a bed of apple caramel sauce.  The perfect dessert, as it wasn't too heavy but full of flavor.

Vin Rouge has received many accolades, and is referred to as one of the best restaurants in the area.  Maybe not the best restaurant, but would definitely put it in my top 5. 

The next morning, we meet some friends that live in Durham for brunch, who recommend a couple restaurants, and based on the menus, we choose Watts Grocery, which is adjacent to the Duke campus.  In an old small brick store front, the interior is very modern with exposed beams and bricks and colorful decor.

We start with southwestern churros, smothered in cinnamon and served with a chocolate dipping sauce.  They had enough crunch on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside.  Choosing an entree was no easy feat, as one entree sounded better than the next.  I opted for the omelet, which had chicken confit, arugula and pimiento cheese.  I chose grits over hash browns as my side, and a biscuit.

The chicken was very moist, the arugula was still raw which gave it some texture, and pimiento cheese melted? Need I say more?  The omelet, however, was overshadowed by the grits.  I usually don't order plain grits, as they tend to be very bland.  However, these were buttery and perfectly prepared.  The best standalone grits I've ever had (and I know...I'm a northerner, so nowhere near an expert...so we could say they are Yankee-approved).  The other surprise on the plate was the homemade raspberry jam.  I could have licked the inside of the cup, but that may have been frowned upon.  Nothing is better than homemade jam, and this was no exception.

MM got the house made chorizo and scrambled egg tacos, that were served with avocado and crumbled queso fresco.  Jalapenos were optional, which were even making Mr. Spicy sweat.  The chorizo was full of flavor and spice.

We hit two jewels in less than a 24 hour span, and will make me make the drive to see what else the Bull City has to offer my taste buds.  

Vin Rouge

2010 Hillsborough Road

Durham NC 27705

www.vinrougerestaurant.com

Watts Grocery

1116 Broad Street

Durham NC 27705

www.wattsgrocery.com

Carolina Brewing Company

As craft beers have become more popular over the past few years, MM and I have developed into a bit of beer snobs.  I do enjoy me a Labatt Blue or two, but with the increasing number of craft beers that are available, I would choose a good Pale Ale by a small brewery over a mass-produced bottle that I can have any time.  North Carolina has started to become the East Coast gem of craft brews, with most of the growth in Asheville, on the western side of the state.  Landing New Belgium (Fat Tire) and Sierra Nevada as site of their East Coast facilities will catapult them into a beer lover's mecca.  Not to be outdone, the Triangle area has a handful of breweries with their own delicious offerings.  The most popular brewery is Carolina Brewing Company, which is housed in suburban Holly Springs, about 30 minutes southwest of Raleigh.  Their Carolina Pale Ale is available in many bars and restaurants in the Triangle area.

Every Saturday at 1pm, they have a free brewery tour to show their facilities and their brewing process.  MM and I get to the brewery, which is nestled in a business park off a major state highway, about 10 minutes before the tour starts.  We grab a pint glass, and walk into the facility and get our pre-tour complimentary beer.  I get a Wiggo, which is a seasonal IPA, with more hops that their traditional IPA, and MM gets a Carolina Nut Brown Ale, which is one of their original brews.  The Wiggo has great flavor, but the Nut Brown seems to be slightly lacking.  The tour begins by Mark (one of the 4 partners in the brewery) giving an overview of the history of the brewery, which has been in existence since 1995, and distributes to 25 counties through North Carolina.  Then he goes through the brewing process and shows the bottling line, which is only being used at 2/5 capacity, as they look to stay small and work only with bottles and kegs.  

Once the tour concludes, the taps re-open, and I enjoy the seasonal Spring Bock - a seasonal Maibock to complement my pint glass that says "Fear the Goat."  MM enjoys another seasonal - the Winter Porter.  The taps stay open for approximately another hour.  We move to the retail room to get some A/C (60 people + brewing supplies = HOT), and chat up a couple that live nearby, and learn the husband always comes up on Saturdays to have a couple pints, have a quick tour, and pick up a six pack for the week.  Quickly, we learned there are many "regulars" on these tours, but it is quickly compensated by the stream of people leaving with kegs and six packs, since the retail room is only open on Fridays and Saturdays.  We leave with a six pack of Wiggo, and the promise to head back to the brewery again - next time with some friends.

Carolina Brewing Company

140 Thomas Mill Road

Holly Springs NC 27540

www.carolinabrew.com

You're Gonna Wanna Go to Lackawanna....for meatballs

Living in the south, I've struggled to find good Italian food.  When I lived back north, great Italian places were on nearly every block.  I was spoiled when I lived in North Buffalo, which is the section of the city where Italian immigrants settled.  There were great little Italian places, so it was a luxury to have to pick and choose.  So when I travel back to my hometown for a weekend, Italian food is usually in the mix of my self-induced 72 hour food coma.

Back in Raleigh, one night while watching TV, MM and I flipped over to Food Network and all we see is a huge piece of lasagna and a huge meatball at the Mulberry Italian Ristorante.  Our mouths watered instantly.  Where in this great country could we get this lasagna and meatball?  We hit the info button on the TV, and it simply says New York.  We assume that it's somewhere downstate near New York City (sidebar: Buffalo is not close to NYC - about 8 hours...I lived closer to the City when I lived in Virginia.)  When I pull up the website to get the address, I'm amazed.  It's in Lackawanna, NY.  LACKAWANNA?

Lackawanna, NY is an immediate southern suburb of Buffalo, which is a blue-collar town with a Ford plant and old steel mills, so hearing there is a culinary gem in there is quite surprising. The restaurant opened back in 2005 and changed to an Italian format a year later. So on my most recent trip back home, I was tasked with choosing where to go for family dinner.  No question - I needed to try this place.  Fortunately, my family had dined here before, but was limited on the menu since it was lent (no meat), so they were as excited as me.

We navigate through a quaint neighborhood that runs up against one of the old steel mills (coincidentally, one of my good friends grew up in that neighborhood) and we find Mulberry -  a little corner restaurant with a black awning.  We head in and the restaurant is long and narrow, with some old Yankee Stadium chairs as a waiting area.  The walls are painted a deep red, covered in pictures of the Rat Pack, New York City, and New York and Buffalo sports memorabilia.

The menu has an ample selection of Italian favorites - pasta, chicken, eggplant.  The lasagna is their speciality - the beautiful thing about it is that it changes daily.  The night we were in there, it was a 3 meat lasagna, made with beef, shredded pork and italian sausage.  My sister and her fiancee were both set on getting that, so I knew I could snatch a bite of the house specialty. But I wanted the other house specialty - the meatball.  

The meatball comes with select entrees or can be an appetizer.  Right - one meatball as an appetizer.  So I choose for my entree the Gnocchi di Ricotta Fatto in Casa - homemade ricotta filled gnocchi, which comes with the meatball.  The soup of the day is a Banana Pepper Bisque, which sounds amazing, so I have to partake in that as well.

The soup had more heat than I was expecting, but it is served with a piece of fresh bread, that helped cut the heat.  Super creamy and super flavorful.  But this still did not prepare me for my entree....when it arrives, I'm amazed at the size of the meatball.  It's the size of my fist!

The meatball is huge and packed with great flavor.  But the gnocchi was easily the best I've ever had.  Usually gnocchi is rather dense, but each dumpling was so light and the ricotta was so incredibly fresh.  Simply to die for.  I flew back to Raleigh the next day, and brought my leftovers home with me so MM (who is Sicilian and picky on his Italian) could try, and I received these two texts:

"I had the gnocchi.  Oh Dear."

"That meatball is not fair."

My sister and her fiancee get the full size portion lasagna (mainly so he could have leftover lasagna for lunch the next day...), and blown away at the size - a full size portion is easily 3-4 portions anywhere else.

I'm not a huge meat lasagna fan, but I really enjoyed this, especially the shredded pork inside, since it's a texture not usually seen in lasagnas.  The cheese again was so light and fluffy that this didn't seem like a weight in your stomach. My sister barely put a dent in this, much to the delight of her fiancee, since he was the benefactor of lunch the second day.

I did save room for dessert, since my sister's fiancee talked about the cannolis all weekend.  The standard cannoli has a citrus ricotta filling, but I opted for the nutella cannoli, topped with pistachios.  Simply heavenly.    When you reach the bottom of your dessert plate (after you've licked it clean), the proprietors' humor comes out with a message on the plate.

The only big mistake with Mulberry is that I hadn't been there sooner.  MM is already planning his trip back home to drive to Lackawanna.  There was a jingle back in the 80's for (from what I can remember) a furniture store that said "you're gonna wanna come to Lackawanna....", and you definitely will want to come again and again for an amazing meal.

Mulberry Italian Ristorante

64 Jackson Street

Lackawanna NY 14218

www.worldfamouslasagna.com

Lent and a Boatful of Sushi

As a catholic, I spend 8 Fridays a year observing the lenten obligation abstaining from eating meat.  As a person who loves a good ham sandwich or a nice juicy steak, this isn't the easiest to accomplish, since I always crave a meat product on these select Fridays.  It's like wanting Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday.  But, there is one thing that helps this catholic get through this - sushi.

I had sushi for the first time 10 years ago while on my honeymoon.  MM and I found a place in San Francisco. I was skeptical, but he said "don't worry, it's OK.  The Montreal Expos are here." Sure enough, while they were in town playing the Giants, Bartolo Colon and a couple other players were eating at the sushi bar.  We ordered mostly cooked items, since I still was unsure.  One thing we ordered was deep fried prawns.  The sushi chef asked me "how you want the head - raw or fried?"  My response? "No."  Well, he didn't like that answer, so my logic was "everything is good deep fried, so I just humored him and said fried.  I ate it, MM didn't.  But what we had was so good and fresh, I was hooked.

A couple years later while living in Richmond, we found a place close to our house that had 1/2 price rolls each night, so we would go every Friday night, get a couple rolls, a Kirin Light, and the bill barely made $30.  It was awesome.  They knew MM since he always asked for Srichacha sauce (the hot sauce with the rooster on it), so he was dubbed Mr. Spicy.  We were brokenhearted when arrived one night saying they were closing on Sunday, as they had sold to a new owner.  The new place, called Ichiban was just as good, if not better, since Sue (the owner) made her own spring rolls that were to die for.  She was so successful she opened a second restaurant called Umi in the high traffic, high rent Short Pump area which at last check, was named as one of Richmond's 25 best restaurants.

In Raleigh, we are very fortunate to have found 3 places all within a few miles of our house all that serve amazing sushi, so we just have to decide which one to hit up.  This Friday, we hit up Sushi Thai right before closing.  Even as we were probably the last customers of the night, everything came out super fresh and delicious.  And there is something about when your food comes out on a boat....

MM is a spicy tuna guy (see Mr. Spicy above), and I like Philadelphia or Bagel rolls, since I love the play on textures with the cream cheese.  My new favorite at Sushi Thai is the Florida Roll - spicy tuna and batter served inside out (rice outside) with avocado and Srichacha on top.  The avocado cools the Srichacha, and the tuna has just a bit of texture.  Oh, and did I mention their rolls were buy one get one free?  There are two locations (which supposedly are not related - they just have the same name.  This one is in Raleigh, but the one in Cary is allegedly even better.)

Other places we like are Waraji, where you can dine a a true Japanese-style table with pillows and no shoes, and they have a secret menu, like their crack rolls - a cone style roll with spicy tuna and avocado.  The other is Haru Sushi, which is tucked in the back of a shopping center (actually next store to the previously blogged  Glenwood Grill), where they have great sashimi, like fatty white tuna.

Lent makes our trips to the sushi bar a little more frequent, but give me a boatful of sushi any day, and I'm one happy girl.

Sushi Thai

2434 Wycliff Road

Raleigh NC 27613

sushithairaleigh.com

Waraji

5910 Duraleigh Road

Raleigh NC 27612

warajirestaurant.com

Haru Sushi

2603 Glenwood Avenue

Raleigh NC 27608

harusushiusa.com

Buffalo Cupcakes? Really?

I love to cook, but I've never been a big baker, probably because I'm not a huge sweets lover. I would much rather have a plate of cheeses for dessert than a triple layer chocolate cake.  When I make a trip to my local cupcake shop, I usually choose carrot cake, since it's not overly sweet.

A couple weeks ago before the super bowl, a friend tweeted me a recipe for buffalo chicken wing cupcakes, since she enjoys my Required Chicken Wing Dip (which was required for her baby shower...).  At first I was scared by the concept, but wanted to see how this would turn out.  The recipe called for full sized cupcakes with a huge chicken wing placed on top, but I'm a functional eater - I'm not going to eat a cupcake where I have to take something off to eat.  Also, I thought these would be better as a mini cupcake, given it's not your typical cupcake, as well as being the perfect size for a party. 

While not a typical cupcake, they are quite delicious.  It's like a spicy cornbread.  The cake itself holds some heat from the 1/2 cup of hot sauce (which I had used wing sauce, which had already been cut once with butter), so you can tweak the amount of hot sauce to your liking.   The blue cheese buttercream frosting helps balance the heat, so you get that sweet and savory mix.  Since there is no chicken in them, my vegetarian friends can enjoy the taste of chicken wings without the meat, which is why I took "chicken wing" out of the name of my recipe.

I took these to a super bowl party, and bite size was definitely the way to go, since everyone had the same reaction...."Buffalo Cupcakes?   Really?" Really.  And delicious. 

Buffalo Cupcakes 

Makes 36 mini cupcakes

Cake:

• 1/2 cup hot sauce or chicken wing sauce (Frank's Red Hot) - cut the amount of hot sauce to your liking.
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat, heat hot sauce and butter until butter is melted. Add the blue cheese and mix periodically until blue cheese is melted. Remove from heat and mix in the sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg.  Once the hot sauce mixture is cool enough to touch, mix the sour cream mixture into the hot sauce mixture. In another small bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda. Fold the flour mixture into the hot sauce mixture. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Blue Cheese Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Mix blue cheese on high speed until smooth. Add the unsalted butter and mix on high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Slowly mix in the powdered sugar until fully combined. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.