insanely simple: fresh pasta and zucchini

Beyond the super-delicious croissant kick-off to our vacation, I also picked up some super-fresh pappardelle from the Nicole-Taylor's stand at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It was the perfect ingredient for a simple, easy summer lunch - fresh pasta with zucchini.

the basic ingredients

Nicole-Taylor's Pasta & Market will open at 1134 East 54th in Indianapolis in the near future, headed by local favorite Tony Hanslits, previously of Something Different and currently of the Chef's Academy and Infusion Restaurant & Cocktails. Nicole-Taylor's will offer a range of plain and flavored pastas, which should each be marvelous - the pappardelle was delicious.

I am thrilled that Nicole-Taylor's is moving close to my home. Being too cheap to buy a pasta-maker and too lazy to roll and cut my own, proximity to this shop will surely be key to regular fresh pasta consumption at our home. (Jolene Ketzenberger from the Star also has an article about Hanslits' pasta today - lovely coincidence, huh?)

the finished dish

This weekend's consumption involved a super-simple combination of lightly sauteed zucchini rounds, fresh pasta, salt, pepper, a little bit of heat from our treasured Vulcan's Fire Salt and a splash of half and half. I adore zucchini that is just-barely cooked, with just a touch of browning.

To make one serving of this dish:

• Slice up a half a zucchini into thin half-rounds and saute it in a pan over medium-high heat, with a light coating of olive oil.
  
• Meanwhile, add one serving of pasta to rapidly boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes, until al dente.
  
• Season the zucchini generously with salt and pepper.
  
• Take the pan off the heat, add a splash of half and half, mix the pasta into the zucchini and pile it into a bowl.

the best start for a mini-vacation

Ben and I took a mini-vacation this past weekend, a stay-at-home sort of break. Vacations are all about tone for me. Even if I'm staying in town and probably working on the house or garden a bit, I want to feel like there's a bit of luxury involved.

To set the tone of our ultra-long weekend, I ran to the Broad Ripple Farmer's Market on Saturday. In addition to some veggies, a jar of green tomato marmelade and some fresh pasta (more on that, later), I dropped by Rene's tent and got two croissants - one plain, one almond.

the glorious almond croissant from Rene's

Have you had the almond croissant from Rene's? If not, I implore you, please, to get up immediately from whatever it is you are doing and scour the city for one of these amazing, buttery, nut-filled and -topped treats. Please. (I've seen these goodies at the Rene's actual bakery, the Monon Coffee Company and the Best Chocolate in Town.)

Spice Explosion for Second Helpings

Today is the day. Renee, the Second Helpings crew, a whole bunch of Indianapolis food devotees and I will gather at Second Helpings after work to celebrate and connect at our Spicy Meet & Greet. And it's not too late to RSVP...

What are we celebrating? The fact that people are stepping up to the tune of more than $350 to add a little bit of flavor to Second Helpings' work! See who's donated over at Feed Me Drink Me, where Renee has posted the most up-to-date donation roster.

I'm also thrilled that we'll get to share Second Helpings' work with our community. Here's why I think everyone should know about their work:

Because of the 2,900+ kids, adults & seniors who dine on Second Helpings daily.

Because of the 500+ regular volunteers (and staff, too) who prepare all
those meals from food that would otherwise go to a landfill.

Because of the amazing culinary students who utilize the Second Helpings
training program to transform their lives.

You can add your own spice to Second Helpings' pantry - just check out the list below of unclaimed spices and make a contribution by emailing Ben Shine at ben (at) secondhelpings (dot) com.
Spice donation or no spice donation, we'd love to see you tonight!

$35 Donation: Mint
$25 Donation: Cumin (need 2)
$20 Donation: Garlic tub, Thyme leaves (need 4), Ground Chili (need 5)
$14 Donation: Cajun Seasoning
$10 Donation: Marjoram or Dill
$8 Donation: Coriander, Savory, Cinnamon, Chives or Fennel

plans for the near future

Sometime very, very soon, I would like to buy some of this:

photo by frangit, licensed under creative commons

So that I might make at least one of these:

• Rhubarb and Raspberry Yogurt Pops at La Tartine Gourmande
• Rhubarb Bars (maybe with Tecate), previously recorded here
• Rhubarb Nectar from Canadian Living (look at this pretty picture)
• Orange and rhubarb crepes at vegalicious
• Lentil and rhubarb curry found originally in Peter Berley's The Flexitarian Table

What will you buy and cook this week?

Nikki's artichokes

Sometimes, daily life challenges me just enough that I have to take a blog pause. Then, it gets hard to come back - last time, it took me over a month.

But I came back because my friend Nikki posted a pretty picture. I needed to share. I waited a couple of weeks, because I wanted to make sure you guys were still around.

thank you, Nikki!

Friends are good for reminding me how amazing food is and how much it deserves my attention.

Spicy Meet & Greet - Update!

The spice-raiser leading up to the Feed Me/Drink Me & Middle West Meals meet-up at Second Helpings is off to a great start!

As of today, here's the current donation tally:

• Cheryl: 1 Black Pepper
• Steve and Twyla: 1 Rosemary, 1 Rubbed Sage
• Maggie: 1 Tarragon
• Andy: 1 Garlic or Chili
• Nikki: 1 Black Pepper
• Andrea/Circle City Socialites: 1 Crushed Red Pepper (of course the roller derby gals pick "Crushed" Red Pepper!)
• Vicki: working with vendors
• Kirsten: 2 Cumin
• Renee: 1 Lavender, 1 Clove and 1 nutmeg
• Shawn: $10
• Chuck: $20

There are still plenty of spices to choose from, but we're off to a great start for helping out Second Helpings!

(Lovely picture is "Spice Market In Provence" by flowerwine on flickr.)

pantry upgrade: real grenadine

When I was little, I had a massive love for Max & Erma's, a love that clearly didn't survive my transition to adulthood, based on the visit I made to one location a few years back while in a sentimental mood. (You can't go home again and Thomas Wolfe and all of that? I guess it's true for chain food.) Why did I love Max & Erma's? Two things - Shirley Temples and Fried Mozzarella.

And, true to form, I still love any drink, adult or otherwise, with a dash of sweet redness. Still, the overly sweet corn-syrup and dye concoction that many people would have you believe is grenadine is in fact a cheap, not very tasty impostor. The original recipe for grenadine involved sugar, yes, but also lots of pomegranate seed juice. Ever since reading about real grenadine on Chow a while back, I've been thinking about making my own or trying out the Stirrings version.

Life is busy right now, and pomegranate juice is expensive, so I bought a bottle of the Stirrings version from Fresh Market before Mother's Day, to make a fun little brunch cocktail for my wonderful mom. The Stirrings version was good, though perhaps a bit less pomegranate-y than I had hoped for. Still, it's a huge upgrade from Rose's red corn syrup, and I heartily recommend it to you as a pantry upgrade!

Previous pantry upgrades:
Tamari (ditch your Kikkoman)
Buckwheat Soba Noodles (make some room on your pasta shelf)
Tomato Paste in a Tube (double-strength and fridge-friendly)

Spicy Meet & Greet

Regular readers know of my ardent affection (pre- and post-dating Ben's employment there) for Second Helpings. This month, I'll be bumping that up a notch with a very special co-blog effort...

The much-esteemed Renee from Feed Me/Drink Me and I will join forces with Second Helpings on May 21 to help out their food rescue and culinary training program by hosting a food community get-together.

Here's the deal: Second Helpings need spices! In order for their culinary students to learn, they need a pantry full of herbs and spices. Renee and I think that you - our readers - are the perfect people to add some extra flavor to their culinary education. So, we've created a little spice/herb drive and we're asking you to contribute!

"home to the spice pharaoh's" by drspam

Which herb or spice will you add to the Second Helpings pantry?
$35 Donation: Black Pepper (need 2), Mint
$25 Donation: Cumin (need 4) (Kirsten – 2), Oregano, Crushed Red Peppers
$20 Donation: Garlic tubs (need 2), Thyme leaves (need 4), Ground Chili (need 6), Tarragon
$14 Donation: Cloves (Renee), Rosemary, Cajun Seasoning, Nutmeg (Renee)
$10 Donation: Marjoram, Basil, Parsley or Dill
$8 Donation: Rubbed Sage, Coriander, Savory, Cinnamon, Chives, Fennel or Lavender (Renee)

Want to ante up and sponsor a spice? Contact Ben Shine at ben at secondhelpings.org or 317-632-2664, ext. 29, and reserve your spice of choice. Then join us on May 21, to check out Second Helpings in action, celebrate our effort, and hang out with some fellow bloggers, food writers, chefs, and food lovers in person!

We'll chow down on snacks, prepared by Class 54 of the Second Helpings Culinary Job Training program, as well as the Best Chocolate in Town and Cabot Creamery, sip some wine, and get a chance to take a look around.

What spice to choose? I'm donating two tubs of Cumin - my second favorite spice (cardamom wasn't on the list). Renee chose Cloves, Nutmeg and Lavender - a lovely combination of her favorites.

Here are the details!
5:15-6:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 21
Second Helpings
Eugene and Marilyn Glick Center
1121 Southeastern Ave
RSVP: Me, Renee, Facebook or Ben Shine

Abita Root Beer at Goose

Picking up a post-work-workshop sandwich* at Goose yesterday, I spied a funny little bottle with an Abita label on the bottom shelf of their drinks-grains-cheeses fridge. Abita is well-known for their Louisiana-brewed beer, but I had no idea that they made a root beer.

The label boasted that the Abita root beer was made with real cane sugar. That's about all I need to sample a new soda, and I'm usually pleased with the milder sweetness, but I am rarely blown away. Abita's root beer was so, so good, made with spring water, herbs, vanilla and -surprise- yucca for foam that, indeed, it blew me away. With its balance of herby-rooty flavor and mellow sweetness, Abita root beer may be my official summer obsession of 2009. (See evidence of my Vietnamese bun obsession of 2008 here.)

*How wonderful is it that the Goose staff will whip up a salmon pastrami sandwich, when it is completely not on their menu, and do it so very well? Wonderful, friends, extremely wonderful.

Mother's Day = Brunch Day

Why is Mother's Day all about brunch? Who mandated that for moms, brunch was the ideal meal? The holiday itself was created way back in 1912 by Anna Jarvis, with the intent to celebrate the value and impact of mothers. More history is readily available, but I haven't yet discovered who mandated this brunch-focused policy for feeding honored mothers.

brunch - from morenewmath.com

Who am I to fight tradition? In honor of both brunch and Mother's Day, I've assembled a list just for you of exciting menus and treats for you and your mom. Please enjoy!

Great ideas from all around the web:

• Oh, Crap! It's Mother's Day! menu at Chow
• Easter Brunch Recipes from 101 Cookbooks
• Make Ahead Brunch at Whipped
  

Brunch ideas previously seen on Middle West Meals:

• Ginger-Hibiscus Iced Tea
  
• Ebelskivers, of course
  
• Teensy pancake short stacks
• Easy sandwiches (great for brunch picnics!)
  
• Rhubarb Bars
• Gift for mom: Spicy Pepita Ginger Bark (for my mom, it couldn't be spicy)

Taste at Dinner

Several weeks have passed since I dined at Taste for their relatively new dinner service, several weeks since I had two lovely Wednesday-night meals. In addition to lazy blogging and a busy life, I think the primary source of my delay in writing about my Taste experiences is my struggle with the After-Taste moniker. "Aftertaste" just isn't a word I normally use with glee or memories of yummy meals. And the meals I've had at Taste are certainly in the good-to-delicious category. So in my nitpicky word-obsessed style, I'll be referring to their evening offerings as "dinner at Taste" and referring to them with happiness.

drinks @ Taste

I've eaten at Taste twice now for dinner, once with a group of ladies and once with Ben. Taste takes on a different mood in the evening, with the new-ish interior and its deep tones creating a cozy atmosphere. The low lighting builds on this cozy and stylish mood. The decor and the service worked remarkedly well for my occasionally boisterous group of friends, situated in one of the six-seater round booths. But it also worked well for my dinner date with Ben, which felt intimate, special and just-informal-enough.

Taste does things a little bit differently than other dinner locations, encouraging visitors to order from snacks, salads, tartines, mains and sides all at once. Each dish is delivered to the table as it is made - a challenge for me, because I do always want to wait for everyone to have food. The salads and tartines should be familiar to Taste's lunch regulars; they're not exact matches, but most tend to follow similar flavor combinations as the lunch menu offereings - fresh and bright combinations of produce, seasonings and, often, dairy (beet with citrus, tomato and corn with blue cheese), with a couple of departures from European flavors which rely on soy, daikon or seaweed. Like the salads, the tartines reflect a strong European heritage and a connection to Taste's lunch menu.

The main dishes, the sides and many of the snacks are the real surprise and treasure at Taste's dinner service. Taste's guacamole upgrade, an avocado puree served with house-made plantain chips, and the feta-spinach sauce are both fun, little snacks, but there are so many more that sound well-worth ordering. Some examples of next-time snacks: warm olive bowl with cumin, deviled eggs smoked trout, and truffled eggs.

Taste doesn't offer vegetarian mains, though there is plenty to make a meal out of between the other menu items, but there is a nice balance of seafood, fowl and meats. The sauces are truly the main-dish stars, special and yummy. Ben raved about his pork loin, while my favorite main - so far - is the salmon in pommery-mustard sauce. Mains come unaccompanied; order one of the ample sides to bulk up the meal. The creamy polenta was almost as good as Ben's homemade version, my favorite polenta in the world.

The wine list is moderately sized and moderately priced. Taste also offers select wines in quartinos, little carafes of wine that make it easier to pair a few wines with your dinner. Our server hadn't tried much of the wine; that would be a nice addition to their preparation. Taste serves cucumber-water in recycled Trader's Point dairy bottles, a sweet and refreshing constant in the meal.

Desserts are, as always, well prepared and balanced. Taste's desserts may be decadently rich and served up in share-worthy sizes, but they are not overly sweet. In other words, do try to save some room, the tarts, cobblers and nutella panini are all worth it.

Dinner is only available on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9 pm - a perfect reason to celebrate life and food on a weekday! Taste's dinner service isn't cheap, but it isn't overpriced, either. Check out the dinner menu online to get a sense of prices.