Mission Pappardelle

 Mission: perfect the Girl and the Goat's Sugo with Pappardelle, which they have recently changed to cavatelli! Why?! Pappardelle has replaced my lasagna craze ever since Pappardelle and I met way back in college at Osteria via Stato, who also for a limited time, took it off their menu. Quit playing games with my heart! I'm glad they came to their senses, and brought it back. 

Speaking of my once insatiable appetite for lasagna, I used to pride myself in my lasagna baking skills, until The Great Dane and I decided to have a lasagna bake off. The votes swung my way, and I won by one or two votes; all thanks to the hard working sailors of America who miss home cooked meals. But I couldn't accept the victory. After tasting TGD's lasagna, I gave him the victory, and swore to never make my lasagna again. TGD's was just that good.

Now that I've banned myself from ever making lasagna, and the Girl and the Goat has messed with my sugo, I had to learn a new pasta skill... the Girl and the Goat sugo, O.G. style...with pappardelle. I got the recipe here:

INGREDIENTS:

½ pound goat meat

½ pound goat sausage

½ pound goat meat, braised

½ pound onion (¼ pound, diced and ¼ pound, small diced)

½ ounce garlic, minced plus 1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

⅛ cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon aji amarillo purée

1 apple, cored and sliced

1½ cups dark stock

Looking at the recipe, I knew goat would be hard to come by so I substituted with beef. 

I decided to skip pre-braising the the cubed meat. Julia Child, I am not! I just went ahead and browned it to give it that caramelized flavor.  I used the same pot to brown the onions in. I have great difficulty dicing onions as I could not keep my eyes open, but have no fear my  friends, I discovered as I progressed into the cooking directions that all the onions were going to be placed in the food processor to be turned into mush!!! I wish I knew that before I cried my eyes out!  Now what the deuce is an aji amarillo puree you say? I found out that that it's reminiscent of cayenne pepper. So instead of going aji hunting, I grabbed my trusty cayenne pepper and used that. 

Now that all the components are prepped as logically close to what the instructions said, I dumped all of it in a slow cooker and kicked my feet up! 

And finito! I topped it off with mornay sauce and a pinch of parsley. I'm missing some caper gooseberries to make this look like the perfect pre-cavatelli Girl and the Goat sugo doppleganger; we eat with our eyes first after all. 

Pictured above the is the original Girl and the Goat sugo. What do you think? twinning? Twinning or not, the dish turned out a success for reasons like not burning my place down, not inflicting food poisoning on to the brave TGD, and most importantly TGD's tastes buds liking it so much, the pot was cleaned out!

Now that I've gone through the adventure of this recipe, and found the little shortcuts, I found this beyond easy to make, easier than lasagna! 

If you're wondering where one would find pappardelle noodles, your local Trader Joe's and QFC now carries it. I got mine from Eataly. Based on experience, I prefer the Garofalo brand from Eataly vs TJ, as it was thinner, but wider than the TJ brand. I have two more bags of pappardelle to use, so off to more cooking I go!

                                   

And a Blog is Born: Little Goat Sunday Rooftop Tapas

       It's a nice day to start a blog! It's the first day of real spring like weather, sunny, a high 61 degrees Fahrenheit, and most importantly...Im on a roof!!! It was my version of a rain dance, but instead of rain, I was demanding asking for the return of the long lost historical artifact called spring and summer. If you were one of the people traipsing, slipping and sliding, and falling on your behinds in and around Chicago this past winter, you had better join me in that "summer dance!"

      Now the roof I was on was not just any roof, it was Chef Stephanie Izard's Little Goat roof. If you've never been, put your wallet with your (insert some big spender credit card name here)credit card down! It's not that type of roof! Think of it as having a fabulous, but down to earth bff, and she just happens to love to cook, and invite you over on this gorgeous day for a Rooftop Tapas Party! This event is part of their Sunday Suppers. 

    As I walked into the roof dining room, I was greeted by the sight of Stephanie toiling away in the kitchen. I must admit I was a little chef-struck, and I was transported back to watching Top Chef Chicago. So geeked!

The menu today was served family style, accompanied with sangria      (it was booze, no questions needed):

                   

I'm not going to get all foodie on you and describe every morsel. You would be asleep by then. Instead, I want to take you through the whole experience, and browse through the "Nosh" that made me want to accost someone for more! 

Crisp White Anchovies
If you asked me if I would like some, I would answer with a hard NO! Not even if you entice me with the words "deep fried tempura batter." I'm glad no one asked me, and just served it...and I can't say no to something that looks this good. It looked and tasted like it had some parmesan cheese on it

 Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Fritters
Where was Stephanie when I was a vegetable hating kid?! She does wonders with cauliflower! You can find another of her genius versions of a cauliflower dish at her other restaurant, Girl and the Goat.

Duck Tongue Salad

Speaking of vegetable hating, I don't hate this at all. My friend and I looked at each other with skepticism when we saw the word "duck tongue." As I shoveled every bit of this dish while agreeing to my friend's description of the duck tongue as "crispy fat," my mind traveled, thinking of the anatomy of a duck. It just dawned on to me that... gasp! I just french kissed Donald duck!!! and it tasted like a non greasy piece of crispy bacon fat.  That Daisy Duck is one lucky duck!   The picture beside quack quack,  came as a surprise. It was not on the menu. It was steak with MOJO. Although it's pronounced moe-hoe, this sauce' got mojo! It's like a citrusy pesto. It definitely elevated the perfectly cooked steak. Hmmm, good idea to fancy up your balcony barbqs. 

Ham and potato or Skate Croquettes they looked the same...One was filled with with cheesey goodness, the other was deliciously creamy. Beside the croquette picture, the sangria has creeped in and I've made friends with THE Goat, sharing my Shrimp Skewers with him/it/her. It would be rude not to. The shrimp was coated with some breading that's not Panko. I can't put my finger on what it was, (corn flakes perhaps?) but it was a good crispy balance to the perfectly cooked shrimp. Is it ok to describe shrimp as juicy? because it was delectably juicy!

The grand finale...What's a meal without dessert? I'm the type that would be willing to skip the meal and have 3 courses of just pure dessert.

Marcona Almond Olive Oil Cake and Salted Chocolate Crackers
I've only heard of Olive Oil cake from the constant hum of the Food Network Channel as my background noise.  I really did not taste the Olive oil in it, but it was really (brace yourselves, for the word) moist. It had a drizzle of something citrusy or was there?(or was it my sangria mixing in with everything), and topped with whipped cream. It would have been perfect, if it came with ice cream. The crackers, are not the crackers you and I were thinking of. They did not taste nor resemble a saltine. It had a wafer consistency, almost like a Pizzelle, and dipped in chocolate. Need I say more? Yep! MORE!!!

As I loosened my belt, I tried to suck in my belly full of food because THE chef came out to mingle, shake hands, and oblige to a billion pictures. I should've "selfied" with her (hehlk!)  Yah I was too excited to form any intelligent words to ask her the typical questions of... what her inspiration  behind the theme was, what was her fave dish of the night, did you do a rain dance because it's beautiful out, and yada yada yada. Amateur here! Guess I'll just have to go back. Sunday Supper is definitely a must go. It's so worth the money ($65+.) Overall, it was deliciously poetic to start the roof top season...and this blog! on the very same roof that I ended last summer at.

Where to next? Leave me a comment as to where I and the cast of characters in my life should Nosh next!