Grilled Sweet Polenta and Balsamic Vinegar and Honey Nectarines

Unfortunately, I've had a busy night, so I'm bringing you another set of photos from tonight's grilling session. New reviews will be up starting tomorrow. Sorry for the delay!
In addition to your nightly food porn, I wish to reiterate that this website, although I love it so, is not a democracy. It is a ruthless dictatorship using sarcasm and sex as weapons, a kind mistress, if you will. This, of course, means that comments should and will be civil. I have had to close comments on one particular entry as a result of all the spammity spam emanating from its bowels. Remember, guys. I don't really care if you're butthurt, especially when it's in defense of a multi-billion dollar corporation. I'm not here to make you happy. I'm here to write about things I love and, more often than not, things I hate. I suggest you hate them with me or visit a more appropriate, friendlier website like NAMBLA or forums about conspiracy theories and aliens.
And lo, I bring you nectarines. I enjoyed this recipe for its mingling of flavors, but found the polenta remarkably difficult to grill even when coated in fine sugar like an upside-down crème brûlée. Next time, I would make thicker cubes or pan-fry it à la French toast.
Cheers.

Roast Beef Smitty Sandwich, State Street Deli, Northampton, MA

I wrote extensively about my lust for the curried turkey salad at the State Street Deli in Northampton, MA, last year. While I was courting the curry, a new item caught my eye the last time we were in State Street, and some five-odd sandwiches later, I can now confide to you that I am smitten with Smitty- the Roast Beef Smitty sandwich, that is.
It combines my love for simplicity in a sandwich and spreads it with a sultry housemade Boursin cheese. With that bogglingly slight change, it transforms a provincial brown bag lunch into a savory treat for the senses. You'd consider it an overreaction, unless, of course, you had one of these yourself. By combining the gustatory, albeit caloric, pleasures of adding cheese and mayo, the Boursin acts as both a condiment and a necessary lubricant for maintaining a textural balance in the sandwich's core. The saltiness is a predominant flavor, but comes across as a medley of flavors spawning from the roast beef and the spread without overwhelming. The slight tang from the sourdough turns stodgy into sophisticated.
In my daily sniffing around of the grocery store, I pleaded with the cute employees and begged them to sell me the Boursin separately, so that I could make these in my own kitchen, turn into a gleeful, obese monster, and never have to leave the house again. They declined, possibly for fear of lawsuits or losing the 7% of sales I currently bring in, but did indulge my gluttony with the recipe. I have not made it yet. The risk is too high.We ate sandwiches for dinner in lieu of the pasta and meatballs we'd planned on making. The humidity lightly steamed the bread and it stuck to the roofs of our mouths, plastered with cold sesame noodles and buffalo chicken salad as sides. The homemade oatmeal cookie whoopie pie, a larger, softer denizen of the snack cake genre, topped off the night. And who says humid evenings aren't fun?If you're not in town and can't get your hands on one of these, I have a special review in the next few days if you've got a hankering for roast beef...

Free Freschetta By the Slice Event

Frozen pizza lovers, this is your wheelhouse, baby. On August 4th, Freschetta Fresh Connection is having a fairly massive giveaway consisting of 5,000 coupons for a free By the Slice product (MSRP $2.39) every half hour for the day, starting at 11 AM when the giveaway's website, www.FreeFreschetta.com, launches. That gives you the potential to snag one of over 50,000 slices of free frozen pizza. If one slice isn't enough, Freschetta is also holding contests throughout the day with more coupons for prizes. It's like a food festival for neckbeards. Not a bad giveaway, if you ask me.

While the coupon is mailed rather than sent electronically, you can satisfy your frozen pizza cravings by seeing what I thought of the pizza here. It wasn't necessarily the Cadillac of pizza, but I'll probably grab a few coupons for those late nights studying.

How I Used My CSA: Week 10

Week 10: 2 bunches of Bulls Blood beets, Red Gold potatoes, sweet corn, green bell peppers, carrots, green beans.

Swapped out onions and cabbage (had some of both already at home) for bell peppers (had a plan for these) and an extra bunch of beets (beets are like gold in our house) from this week's Lancaster Farm Fresh half share.
The green bell peppers went into a large batch of peach salsa that I canned over the weekend. I also used three pounds of onions from previous weeks' CSA shares in the salsa.
I kinda went peach crazy last week and made peach jam, as well as peach upside down cake. While the cake was baking, I went ahead and tossed the beets in the oven to roast, in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone and not heat up my already 90-degree house even further on, yet, another night. The beets were peeled, chopped, tossed with oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper, then left to chill in the fridge overnight. Perfect the next day!
A couple of beets were thrown in the juicer along with a pineapple, oranges, and apples, giving our fresh juice a lovely, bright pink color.
Decided to try a miso potato salad recipe I saw on the kitchn, because, hey, I had both potatoes and beans in my share. I didn't follow the recipe exactly (used nonfat Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt, and omitted the oil), and it was kinda weird. The miso wasn't weird, but nonfat Greek yogurt coated on starchy potatoes gets sort of pasty and ugly. Next time, I'd (maybe) follow the recipe. You know you have a really great, fresh, sweet cob of corn when you can eat it straight without even cooking it. I tried that with one of the cobs of corn immediately upon getting home with my share (corn's sugars quickly turn to starch upon picking, so freshness in of the utmost importance, not to mention that some varieties of corn are just sweeter), but this corn was not quite that sweet. Not bad, just not exceptional enough to warrant eating it raw. So, it was cooked and combined with the rest of the green beans from the CSA, cherry tomatoes and cilantro from the market, and jalapeno infused olive oil.

No picture, but carrots were used as a vehicle for hummus on an early evening snack plate of cheese, pickles, pita, and vegetables.

How did you use your CSA or farmers' market haul?

Hot Diggity

Well, hot diggity, if there isn't a new hot dog joint in town serving piled-high, funky, fusion, fun dogs! Hot Diggity also happens to be the name of the South St. shop which opened about a month ago by Keith Garabedian (who trained at Craft under Tom Colicchio) with friends Tom Zmijewski, Sean Kendall and Matt Anderson.

As a longtime fan of hot dogs, I'm excited to see the hot dog trend growing in Philly — as long as dog slingers invite us vegetarians to the party. Hot Diggity sent out the all-inclusive invitations, and parties with all-beef, natural-casing Sabrett dogs, as well as Worthington Vegan Linkettes.

Hot Diggity's menu is simple — hot dogs, fries, dipping sauces, soda, and, coming soon, local craft beer — but they are doin' it to it!
There are ten "gourmet" dogs on the menu, each ranging from $5-$6. Above the open grill counter you'll find colorful illustrations of each hot dog on the menu by local artist and hot dog connoisseur, Hawk Krall. The Plain Old Dog with your choice of ketchup, mustard, onions, or relish is always a choice, but live a little and order a dog all done up with toppings representing old and new regional hot dog classics.

The Windy City with pickle spears, sliced tomato, mustard, electric green relish, red onion, and celery salt pays homage to Chicago's most beloved dog, while The Seattle Grunge with garlic cream cheese, red onion straws, and scallions hints at Seattle's cream cheese slathered street dogs. Ride the Hawaiian waves with The Big Kahuna, a dog topped with guava mustard, grilled red onion, pineapple salsa, and orange habanero aioli. The Saigon Fusion with house pickled cucumber, cilantro, red onion, carrots, jalapeno, Thai chilli vinaigrette and Sriracha is obviously taking cues from the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. Toppings were super fresh and crunchy, but didn't quite meld together like a real banh mi does, probably because of Hot Diggity's more generous piling of vegetables on the soft Liscio rolls than a traditional, sparsely filled banh mi on a crispy baguette. But, hey, you're eating a hot dog, not a banh mi! Great, veggie-filled dog, nonetheless.

Note that two vegan hot dog links come to a bun, since they are shorter than beef dogs. And, while I'm not entirely happy with the Liscio rolls ( it seems that gourmet dog places are opting for larger rolls to accommodate the generous fillings) in place of a smaller, softer, true hot dog bun, I think Hot Diggity's buns would benefit from a steaming or a minute on the grill. In addition to the ten dogs on the menu, Hot Diggity will feature a hot dog-of-the-month; this month it is The Farmers' Market Dog with tomatillo pickles, corn and jalapeno salsa, fried tortilla chips, queso fresco, and a lime wedge. The combination of all these ingredients was fantastic! Again, all the veggies and ingredients were super fresh. And that's fresh, grilled corn, y'all! Hot Diggity tries to make as many of their toppings as they can in house.
If you're wondering what the holes cut into the high-top, communal dining tables at the front of the restaurant are for, they're for holding up the paper cones filled with thick, fresh cut, skin-on Belgian-style fries made to order and sprinkled with coarse salt. Pretty much perfect!

And don't miss their rotating list of house made dipping sauces, like chipotle mayo, roasted garlic rosemary aioli, spicy ginger, and curry mayo.

Every thing at Hot Diggity was fabulous — from the creative topping combinations, to the freshness of the vegetables, the perfectly cooked fries, and the flavorful dipping sauces. Hot diggity, indeed!

Hot Diggity
630 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
267-886-9253
Mon-Thurs: 11am-10pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-2pm
Sun: 10am-9pm

Simple pleasures on a summer day...

...need only include sunny, windy weather and a hot dog a la Blackie's of Cheshire. As you know, I hail from what ought to be officially known as the hot dog stand capital of the United States- Connecticut. But then we'd have the hamburger (Louis' Lunch) as well as the hot dog and all the other states would be jealous. Admit it, Idaho.
I don't boil my dogs. I prefer them cremated to a snappy, crisp finish and slathered in spicy mustard on a steamed bun.
One can never have too much mustard. And yes, there's another link hiding under there. Oddly enough, it all comes out to be perfectly proportioned.
And as much as I've been harping nutritional facts lately, this is a hot dog that has all the frippery of appearing indulgent, but with a caloric count that really won't make a dent in your diet. After slaving the day away, I've been coming home and playing around with my meat. Meat combinations, that is, and found this one to be the tastiest and the least caloric. I used chicken links instead of beef hot dogs and, because I wanted two hot dogs, shaved a bun off by just stacking them both together. I think it had a better flavor because when I had two dogs in two buns the night before, most of the flavors were lost in the squishy sweetness of the split New England bun. The first night I grilled up some dogs (I've been eating these for a few days now. I just can't get enough of them when the weather is nice) I toasted the buns as well, but found that with the charred, salty flavor of the meat, the buttered finish on the buns was too overwhelming.
So, with my variables accounted for and my condiments carefully smeared on, I believe I have created a hot dog worthy of a place on the ultimate list of Connecticut pups. The total calorie count for two chicken franks, one steamed New England split bun, two tablespoons of hot mustard, and a bit of oil or butter for cooking came out to 350 calories (and this is a filling dog) and around 13 grams of fat. I'm sure even that could be reduced by finding a fat-free hot dog or grilling in margarine or a noncaloric cooking spray. I just happen to like the taste of butter. So simple, and yet, so satisfying.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter Butterbeer

Along with candy and chocolate, Harry Potter is another one of my great loves. Shortly before the fourth book was released in the summer of 2000, I was introduced to the series, and have been a rabid an avid fan ever since. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in 2007, I was feeling bittersweet, but I remember thinking, at least I have the movies to look forward to.

With the recent release of the last movie, I thought it'd be a good time to post a little non-review of the Butterbeer served at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Florida. My husband and I went there in June on vacation, and it was like a dream. Even though my husband is not really a Potter enthusiast, he had a blast there as well.


After riding The Forbidden Journey (which was incredible) and the Dragon Challenge, we headed to the Hog's Head Pub to beat the heat. There's only one way to cool off in Hogsmeade, and that's with an ice cold Butterbeer. Only available in the Harry Potter section of the park, Butterbeer comes on ice or frozen, and both varieties are about $3 US.

The regular, on ice variety smelled of cream and mild soda. The bartender first dispensed the amber-colored soda, then topped it with a fascinating bit of magic in the form of a thick white cream. The soda tasted like mild cream soda with hints of butter and vanilla, but the topping was incredible. It was thick and frothy and reminded me of marshmallow fluff, only smoother. It had a lovely vanilla flavor with a hint of saltiness, and seemed to expand and bubble with the carbonated soda, so that there was soda and cream in every single sip.


Here's that magical topping in action!
Later that evening, we returned to the Harry Potter area to ride the Forbidden Journey again, and top off the night with a frozen Butterbeer and a Pumpkin Fizz. Again, the bartender first dispensed the Butterbeer, this time a frozen slurry, and then the magical topping. Because the topping comes out of the tap at around room temperature, it melted some of the frozen Butterbeer, dripping down the inside of the cup.

The frozen Butterbeer was much denser and thicker than the regular variety. If it was carbonated, I didn't notice, and the buttery flavor was much richer. While I really enjoyed it, neither my husband nor I could quite finish it, as it was a much more filling beverage.


I should also mention the Pumpkin Fizz; when I ordered Pumpkin Juice, the bartender recommended a Pumpkin Fizz instead - half juice and half club soda. Apparently, the Pumpkin Juice on its own is nearly unbearably sweet, and the soda cuts down on the sweetness. The Pumpkin Fizz was still sweet, but it was tasty and refreshing. The pumpkin pie spices were great: cinnamon and nutmeg were easily detected. It was much easier to finish than the frozen Butterbeer!

I expected Butterbeer to be more like a thick butterscotch than a fancy cream soda, but I wasn't disappointed at all. Harry and his friends drink it warm in the books, but that's not practical in the Florida heat. The Harry Potter-themed beverages were highly enjoyable and not terrible overpriced (for a theme park).

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is an absolute delight for fans of the books and movies, but anyone would have fun there. It's absolutely worth the admission price! If you made it this far, thanks for putting up with my fangirlish raving. Are any of you Harry Potter fans? The last movie was amazing, wasn't it?