which then made me think of...

i ran into a woman i know only slightly the other day.
she was happily humming a tune while waiting on
a long line at the pharmacy.

it made me smile, which then made me think of
other things that make me smile like...

swedish fish
ice cube trays that make ice shaped like dentures
my brand new vintage juicer
chunky monkey
barcelona, the city
the wallpaper at barcelona, the restaurant
my mini cat, cooper
my new mini cooper, cat.
pink leopard fur clogs
a cup of earl grey tea
verlyn klinkenborg
cerignola olives, especially the really meaty chartreuse colored ones
inventing stuff
funky flannel sheets
dotted drinking glasses
evan barreto and matilda


here are some foodie things that made me smile this week.

Smoked Salmon Spring Rolls with Homemade Ponzu Sauce
Makes 50 or so hors d's.

For the Spring Rolls:
1 lb smoked salmon, small diced
1/2 lb shiitakes, thinly sliced
1 pkg mai fun (rice vermicelli), softened and rough chopped
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 pkg wonton wrappers

For the filling: Saute the shiitakes in a bit of butter or olive oil. Season with S.P. When cool, chop. Combine all of the ingredients except the wrappers in a medium sized bowl.

Note: I did not season this mixture with any asian flavorings: soy, sesame, ginger, etc for two reasons: I wanted the powerful flavors of the ingredients to stand alone (the smokiness of the salmon is incredible; it tastes like bacon but isn't so even fish eating vegetarians can enjoy it) and I thought that the ponzu sauce would take care of the rest.

Another note: One of the greatest kitchen tools I own is my mother's Moulinex, a french machine originally marketed, in the 60's, as a meat grinder slash salad maker. I use it to shred carrots into perfect thin wispies of carrot flesh. It somehow makes them taste sweeter. I swear. I realize that I am extremely fortunate to own such a thing and that most others can not claim the same good fortune. Without a Mouli, I can not guarantee your results will be as outstanding as were mine.

To Wrap: Have a small bowl of water standing by. Place wonton wrapper on work board in diamond position (point facing you). Place some of the filling in middle of wrapper. Using your finger, brush some water along the top edges of the wrapper. Fold bottom point over filling and roll, as a cigar. Do not fold in the left and right points. Those ends will stay open in the rolling process, but will magically fold and enclose the filling during the frying process.

To cook: Heat oil in deep pot to 350 degrees or in a tabletop fryer as per the manufacturers instructions. Drop spring rolls in batches of 4 or 5 into the hot oil and fry until golden, about a minute or two. (You will know if oil is the proper temperature if the roll pops up to the surface shortly after being dropped.) Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with a ramekin of ponzu sauce for dipping.

Note: It is best to fry the spring rolls shortly after rolling. If you do, the roll will remain stick like and the side points will nicely curl, enclosing the filling. If you wait, and fry later, the wrapper takes on a bit of moisture from the filling which causes it to fry strangely, into gnarly knobby twisted sticks...which are actually kind of cool, presentation wise. Up to you.

Homemade Ponzu:
1/2 cup Mirin
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup soy
juice and zest of 2 lemons

Combine ingredients and allow to shmeld for a bit. Good to go.


Little Swiss Chard and Ricotta Cannelloni
Sauced with Garlic Cream
Topped with Frizzled Ham Slivers
Slurped From Spoons
Makes 5 dozen-ish hors d's

1 lb rigatoni, with a diameter large enough to fit the tip of a pastry bag, gently cooked to just al dente and cooled

1/2 stick butter
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch of swiss chard, chiffonade
1 lb full fat, whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup or so grated parmesan
S.P.


For the filling: Sweat the garlic in butter in large saute pan. Add chard. Cover to allow chard to steam a bit. Cook until chard is wilted, about 5 minutes. Cool. Rough chop the swiss chard into small, ultimately pipeable pieces. Combine cooked cooled chard with the ricotta and parmesan. Adjust seasonings.

To fill the pasta: Just cover the bottom of a baking dish with cream and set aside. Fill a tipless pastry bag with ricotta chard mixture. Pipe filling into each end of each rigatoni, covering the opposite end of the noodle with the finger of your choice to prevent filling from continuing its forward journey. Place filled rigatoni in prepped baking dish. Continue until you either run out of unbroken pasta or filling.

Roasted Garlic Cream
Makes a few cups or so.

6-8 cloves garlic, roasted
2 shallots, small diced
1 cup white wine
2 cups heavy cream
S.P.

To roast garlic: The easiest way to roast garlic is to gently simmer peeled garlic cloves, submerged in oil, on the stove top over a low flame until soft and golden. You can/should do big batches. It keeps really well in the fridge for future uses.

For the sauce: Combine the garlic, shallots, wine and cream in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes or so. Mixture will reduce a bit.
Puree using a wand or food processor. Adjust the seasoning.

Frizzled Ham:
1/4 lb sliced baked ham, chiffonade

To frizzle: Deep fry chiffonade ham or saute in butter/oil in saute pan until crispy.


To serve: Heat the little cannelloni, covered, in a 375 degree oven until hot. Gently transfer them to individual slurping spoons. Pour some of the garlic cream over each noodle. Top with frizzled ham. Serve.

Lots of little steps, but so worth it.

Variability Factor: Very. Fillings can be changed. We've done butternut squash/pumpkin in the wintry months. Sauces can be changed. The blue cheese cream from the sweet potato gnocchi blog would work nicely with the squash version.
I am certain I could come up with a great variation using.................................CHORIZO.
Maybe if you ask nicely.

Note: I derive lots, and I mean lots, of foodie inspiration from the man I teach with. I've been doing this food thing for a long, long time. Before I started working with him a few years ago, the whole food thing was starting to feel a little stale.
No longer.
This cannelloni recipe is based upon a B. Neumeyer invention.
This blog is dedicated to him with boundless gratitude for his boundless passion for everything food and the stuff we use to make it.
Thanks, Bri.

Eat.