Cooking with Top Chefs - bravo!

Food is something that everyone in the world can understand. Pleasing a person's palate, filling their empty stomachs, establishing new memories and recalling flavors of our past are food's magical blessings besides providing nourishment. Spiaggia, which means beach in Italian, is located at One Magnificent Mile with multi-storied glass windows giving guests the unique unobstructed view north across Lake Michigan, a bright white backdrop this time of year that certainly enhances the culinary experience.


Spiaggia Chef and Partner Tony Mantuano and Executive Chef Sarah Grueneberg, along with their talented Spiaggia team, hosted a Top Chef themed cooking class for an intimate group of fifty or so. Each recipe was created by a chef during their time on the show. Mantuano competed on the second series of Top Chef Masters while Grueneberg is one of the final six in the currently airing Top Chef Texas.

Together the pair is dynamic, funny, informative, entertaining and well - can whip up some damn exquisite food. By the end of the simply awesome couple of hours, the overall consensus was: 'this is the best lunch we've ever had'. Oh, and each course has a wine pairing with a quality that peaked with the 2007 Li Veli, Pezzo Morgana.


For the opening act Chef Sarah walked us through cleaning an artichoke in preparation for Wood Roasted Artichokes with Date Purée, Toasted Pecans and Mint.


Chef Tony prepared a Dungess Crab and Green Bean Salad with Coriander and Lemon for the first course. He was very careful to keep the beans rather crisp. I learned that Coriander is the same as Cilantro whether it's dried, fresh or otherwise.


Sarah made us a Pig Skin Ravioli for the second course, which I have to say was a seemingly odd choice of ingredient. She explained how on Top Chef the contestants were able to choose from all the various parts of a cut and cleaned pig. Even her peers, she said, found her selection odd, but explains that the skin holds excellent flavor.


At the same time Tony put together a goat cheese filled pasta tossed in a braised goat, red wine sauce with corno di capra, or 'goat horn' peppers found only in the south of Italy. He said that on the show they thought he was fibbing about the pepper's name. The truth reveals how clever the chef is.


We learned that water to boil noodles should always be salted to draw out flavor and that, more importantly, the pasta should be cooked just under al dente and tossed in whatever sauce while still cooking. Then the pasta will extract these flavors as well, boosting the overall impact of the dish.



Thirty minutes set on the clock. Go!



For the final Quick Fire Challenge, Sarah whipped up a Pork Sausage Stuffed Cabbage and Spinach with Browned Butter finished with a drizzle of succulent eight-year traditional balsamic vinegar. Spiaggia sells its own vinegar that is a true Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, which means its been aged correctly for (at least) eight years in oak barrels using the solera process. Sarah spent extensive time in Italy studying The Making of Real Balsamic Vinegar. Big take away: if the back label on the vinegar bottle reads anything about wine vinegar, being acidified or caramel coloring, it's a fake.


Tony rivaled Sarah building some gorgeous Polpette, or Meatballs in Tomato Sauce. Because he doesn't like his meatballs to be too dense, he adds bread crumbs and some parsley.


Each chef mentioned that the root of their Quick Fire production is family. Tony's family is from the south of Italy. Sarah is of European descent mixed with a little bit of this and that. The gentleman next to me also said the cabbage rolls heralded the feeling of being in grandma's kitchen, warming up after an afternoon running wild in the snow. Smell and taste are primitive olfactory senses with rooted connections that trigger nostalgia. While none of the recipes reminded me of a familiar kitchen, Tonight I used the chef's techniques and recommendations to create my own sauce for Glorioso's frozen homemade Sausage and Broccoli Ravioli. In the interest of time, I used what I had - a cup of red wine, onion, carrots, garlic and salt and pepper. It turned out beautifully! One for my 'Chemistry' book.


And, I promise you this, I will get to Spiaggia Cafe soon for a lunch of meatballs only with a side of nice Red (the rolls are not on the menu yet). The youngest of the judges called the Quick Fire a tie. At our table, we couldn't choose one over the other either. If we had to...


When I told my mother about the adventure (the reason I found out about it in the first place was a call-in inquiry for her Christmas present) she had a couple of great questions:

Was the shredded bacon in the cabbage rolls cooked already? If so, to what level?
What kind of bread crumbs did you use in the meatballs? Were they fresh?


PS - thanks for all of the tips! This 'class' makes me kick myself for not taking Home Ec in high school, but surely no real comparison. Mrs. Johnson would have never allowed wine pairings. Posted using BlogPress from Dani's Pad

America's Parade of Roses 2012 - a New Year's Tradition

The University of Wisconsin earned a spot to play in the Tournament of Roses' official football bowl held in Pasadena, California on January 2, 2012 for the twelfth time. The launch of this first-ever post season college football match is attributed to the Parade of Roses, originally hosted by the city's Valley Hunt Club in 1890, a group of Midwest and East Coast folks that had taken up residence in the gorgeous state. 


In its early years, after the parade peculiar events like an ostrich race, and a race between a camel and elephant entertained a mere 2,000 attendees, hence the title of tournament. A football match was eventually introduced, but was scrapped for chariot races when the University of Michigan squashed USC in the first match. It wasn't until 1916 that the foundation reintroduced college football. 




The parade and football game are held annually on January 1st, except when it falls on a Sunday like this year, a day that started as a crisp forty degrees and sunny. Historically, rain has only fallen on a few days' festivities. 


Broadcast internationally in Belgium, the Philippines, Peru, India, Japan, Fiji, Mexico, China, Guam and more, the world 'wow'ed together at the complex float designs using only flowers, vegetables, seeds, herbs and other natural products. Professional float engineers work for a near year-in-advance to keep the audience buzzing in the tall 3-story bleachers raised beside the parade route streets. 


Our favorite float was 'Dinosaurs in L.A.'s Backyard' sponsored by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The float featured a life-sized Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex named Thomas. 'T the Rex' had a head covered in green brussel sprouts, dark green galyx leaves, lime green romanesco, parsley flakes and whole split peas.


Professional float firms with productions in the Rose Parade included Artistic Entertainment Services, Fiesta Parade Floats, Downey Rose Float Foundation, and Phoenix Decorating Company. Still, a good handful of entries were self-built.



We watched the floats glide by us on Colorado Boulevard just after their first right turn from Orange Grove Boulevard. 100,000 people squished between the sun and the street - a mix of regular attendees wise enough to bring bleacher cushions and first timers with wide eyes, cameras out and on - felt the excitement of the tradition step-up our hearts' beat. At the same time the temperature crept up to the mid-seventies.



The Natural Balance Pet Foods float featured Tillman  the surfing and skateboarding bull dog. This is one hip pooch that takes life by the horns.


The Girl Scouts of America float had 'all natural' Caramel Delight and Shortbread cookies. They look like a real, giant cookie!


The Good Year blimp repeatedly floated the route from above while other metal birds popped in for a peak too, and to wish the world a Happy - prosperous and healthy - New Year!


B-2 air power stealth bomber with a wingspan half thr size of a football field.


Marching bands, including Wisconsin's and Bucky Badger, revved our spirits in anticipation of the big game against Oregon. We really enjoyed the peppy step in the Kyoto Tachibana High School Green Band from Ktoto-Shi, Japan. First time participants, the group had been one of the Japan's oldest female bands until recently going co-ed.



The Parade of Roses holds true to its original intent: making us momentary migrants jealous of Pasadena's enchanting views and climate in the middle of our winter. By the time the last drum could be heard our sweatshirts were off. Not bad for January second. Taking in the city's character really is a great way to kick-off a new year.