Another Summer Cocktail: It’s Sweet, It’s Bitter, It’s a Negroni!

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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bitter, Campari, cocktails, gin, gin cocktail, herbal, Italian vermouth, Negroni, Negroni cocktail, summer cocktail, sweet, sweet vermouth

Sticking with the Italian theme of my previous post, the Negroni has to be near the top of the “simplest cocktails you can make” list. It’s equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari. The Negroni is refreshing, easy to make, and packs quite the wallop. More than two of these and you’re asking for trouble. I find a Negroni prefect for sitting out on the patio on a warm summer evening with a bowl of salty peanuts waiting for Cheryl to come home from work. Hey, she knows when cocktail hour starts around here! Continue reading »

Baking some Italian Bread: Pane di Como

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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baking bread, bread, bread making, Como, cornmeal, flour, homemade bread, Italian bread, malt syrup, milk, Pane di Como, regional Italian bread, salt, water, yeast

My mom is always sending me recipes she’s tried. I’ll suddenly get an envelope in the mail from her and inside will be a recipe clipped from a newspaper or magazine. Every now and then though a larger package will arrive in which I’ll find a cookbook she saw or found. This week, one of those packages arrived. And lucky me, there was not one but two cookbooks in the package! One was a D’Artagnan Glorious Game Cookbook but the one which really excited me was the other: The Italian Baker by Carol Field. The very first bread recipe is Pane di Como, or Como Bread. Since I hadn’t made any bread in a while this seemed like a good time to get back in the game! Continue reading »

How to make Aioli: A perfect condiment for grilled foods

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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aioli, aioli with egg, aioli without egg, condiment, egg yolk, garlic, how to make aioli, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, summer gilling condiment, vinegar, water, whisk

With egg and without. And yes the radishes, rocket, and lettuce are fresh from the garden!

Aioli, when made from scratch is very unlike the flavored mayo you get at places passed off as aioli. It’s much creamier, packs quite the garlicky punch, and can be used to enhance the flavors of almost anything from soups to grilled vegetables to meat to crostini. Aioli is also very easy to make and should definitely be added to your arsenal of grilling condiments for the summer. Continue reading »

Duck Rillette – More Ducky Fun

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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confit jelly, crostini, duck confit, duck fat, duck rillette, how to make duck rillette, pepper, rillette, salt

“How do you make a rillette?” Cheryl asked me when we dug into a pork and duck rillette after a long afternoon of car shopping. I replied that a rillette is just slow cooked shredded meat, kinda like pulled pork, mashed together with some fat. I’m sure you can all guess the follow-up: “Sounds easy. So you can make some, right?” Yes dear, I can. Continue reading »

Dark & Stormy – A Perfect Summertime Cocktail

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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Angostura bitters, Barritts Ginger Beer, Dark & Stormy, Dark and Stormy, Dark n Stormy, ginger beer, Gosling's rum, lime juice, limes, rum cocktail, summertime cocktail

Time to start thinking about summer cocktails, and that means rum. One rum cooler which I think is perfect for the heat is the Dark and Stormy. It’s refreshing, simple to make, and delicious with just the right mixture of spice, sweet, and citrus. Continue reading »

White Bean Bruschetta with Duck Skin Crackling

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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bacon, bruschetta, chili peppers, duck crackling, garlic, green olives, grilled bread, Italian bread, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, pepper, salt, shallots, white bean bruschetta, white beans

It has been a real whirlwind spring so far. I’ve been really busy with work (a good thing) and in our spare time we’ve been revamping the back yard, tearing out shrubs, expanding the patio, making some raised bed gardens (an even better thing). Cooking has temporarily taken a back seat. However, this past Sunday a rare thing happened, I had no work appointments, our backyard project was completed, and I had no soccer game which meant I had time to get a little creative. I came up with a great appetizer to snack on while sitting in the afternoon sun: white bean bruschetta with some duck skin crackling. Continue reading »

A Really Cool Upcoming Event in Chicago: Tale of Two Chefs Pop-Up Restaurant, Bounty of Spring

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Events, Restaurants

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Bounty of Spring, Chef Julius Russell, Chicago pop-up restaurant, Hubbard Street, pop-up restaurant, Signature Loft, Tale of Two Chefs, West Loop

It’s rare that I get to write about an upcoming event since most of my event posts are post-event (har har har). Well here’s a case where I can actually tell you about something coming up where I know exactly what to expect. Coming up on May 18, 2013 is Chef Julius Russell’s next pop-up restaurant event focusing on the Bounty of Spring. Having been to a couple of his other pop-ups (NOLA & Valentine’s Day) I can tell you it’s going to be a pretty delicious dinner. Continue reading »

Herb Butter – Kitchen Essential

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Kitchen essentials, Recipes

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basil, chives, compound butter, fresh herb, herb butter, hotel butter, how to make herb butter, lemon juice, maitre d'hotel butter, marjoram, rosemary

Herb butter. Compound butter. Hotel butter. No matter what you call it, it’s one of the easiest items you can make and add to your kitchen essentials cupboard. It’s also a good example of how a simple uncomplicated item can have tremendous effects on anything you cook. Finish off your vegetables with it, plop a dollop on top of that grilled steak while it’s resting, add it to a sauce, spread some on the outside of your bread before making a panini; the uses for herb butter are endless and the results are endlessly delicious. Continue reading »

48 hours in Barcelona – Things to Do

11 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Travel

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48 hours in Barcelona, Barcelona, beaches, botifarra, Easter, Gaudi, Guell Park, La Boqueria, La Vinya del Senyor, pimenton, saffrron, Sagardi, Sagrada Familia, Santa Maria del Mar, Spain, tapas, what to do in Barcelona, wine bar

After Cheryl and I got married we spent our honeymoon in Rome, Sardinia, Florence, and Barcelona. Barcelona came at the tail end for just a couple of days and we found ourselves wishing we had spent more time there and uttered words many travelers have said “well, we’ll just have to come back.” So when the opportunity to return to Barcelona presented itself over Easter weekend we took it! We’d only have about 48 hours in Barcelona which just goes to show how much we like this city. Continue reading »

Two New Sausages: Mango-Poblano Pepper and Apple-Sage

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome in Recipes

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apple, charcuterie, chili powder, cilantro, cumin, fat back, garlic, hog casings, homemade sausage, how to make sausage, kosher salt, mango, poblano pepper, pork sausage, pork shoulder, sage, sausage, water

I’ve been practicing my sausage making skills over the winter and last week I decided it was time to test myself. Grilling season is approaching here in Chicago so it was time to use the basic skills I’ve acquired and invent something delicious. I settled on two new flavors: a mango-poblano pepper sausage and an apple-sage sausage. Continue reading »

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