Sunday, February 28, 2010

Slow Food at Primo by Annette

Last month Slow Food Orlando partnered with a bunch of restaurants for 'Eat Local Week'. The event kicked off with a $70, 5 course dinner at Primo.

Kate and I took advantage of this great deal. We convinced my sister to join us (which took all of saying 'Wine is included') and off we went to indulge. What made this dinner really unique was that before each course, a representative from the local farms would discuss their business and then head Chef Melissa Kelly would discuss how they used the ingredients to create the dish for each course. This made for something more of a culinary event than merely a dinner. It was grand!

On to the food...
First course was a dish made of locally caught octopus served with a small green salad dressed with a citrus vinaigrette. Remember, all major components of this dish were locally grown or caught, as it were. So the greens were grown in the garden at the restaurant, and the citrus dressing was made from juice of local lemons and tangerines.

The octopus was very mild, much like eating calamari but meatier. Not fishy at all. I think the plating was beautiful, and definitely had the squeamish in mind. So if you didn't want to think about eating octopus, it did not 'look' like you were eating one.

Second course, sambuca braised pork belly with pickled fennel.
Ok, here I started to panic. I don't eat pork for a variety of reasons, the first being it doesn't play nice with me. This however I had to try, and it was delicious. I was able to eat around the fat, which definitely helped and that sauce was amazing!

Third course, artichoke and white bean filled agnolotti with a duo of Florida shrimp, house cured pancetta, spinach, tomato and basil. This was my favorite dish of the night. Maybe it was the locally harvested shrimp... maybe it was the pasta cloud of yumminess it was sitting on... I don't know, but everything about this dish worked for me.

Fourth course, local grass fed beef two ways, roast rib eye and oxtail marmellata with creamed primo leeks and potato with horseradish. I have heard some people complain that grass fed beef is tougher than grain-fed beef. I have not found that to be true and prefer grass-fed beef when I eat red meat. I don't do that very often, I'm not a big fan of beef. However, when it is prepared like this, I dig it. The horseradish was fresh and hot, the leeks were mild and went perfectly with the potato.

Finally, dessert! We had warm baba cake soaked in 'uncle matt's' tangerine"cello", tangerine and vanilla bean panna cotta with coconut bubbles. I was leery of the panna cotta at first. I'm not a big fan of boba tea\tapioca pearls in general, but this was a really good paring. The creamy panna cotta was a nice background to the chewy coconut bubbles. It was a little like eating just the inside of a coconut cream pie. So decadent... and delicious!

We had a variety of wine parings with each course, and unfortunately I don't recall what they were. Mental Note: Don't wait a month to post about a great meal, particularly when there is wine involved!

I can't wait to try Primo again, it is a crown jewel in Orlando dining!

Friday, February 26, 2010

The Conscious Cook

I don't usually go around touting and promoting cookbooks. But Chef Tal Ronnen stopped by the school a few weeks ago for a demo. I was impressed by him on many levels, and even considered going vegan. (For about 10 minutes.)

In all seriousness, when I really stop and to think about it, I estimate that I eat vegetarian at least half of the time. Not on purpose, but because I really enjoy soy and grain products. His book, The Conscious Cook, is full on vegan. I tried the Gardein "Chicken" Scaloppini with Shiitake Sake Sauce, Braised Pea Shoots and Crispy Udon Noodle Cakes. (Gardein is a new fancy meat substitute.) It was quite rich and delicious. And for the record, I could now officially drink Cashew Cream with a straw.


http://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Cook-Delicious-Meatless-Recipes/dp/0061874337

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

An Introduction

Greetings Blogosphere!

This blog is far past due, so it's time to get moving on it. My name is Annette and I'm joining my good friend Kate in Burgers and Barolo, a blog about food, drink, and you know... healthy living. Kate has a really great blog of her own that I've been a fan of for some time. Since we both love food, enjoy the drink and try to live as healthfully as we can while consuming it all, it seemed like a good idea to start a blog together. While our tastes are similar, we do not always agree. So think of us kind of like a Roger and Ebert of food.

Burgers and Barolo, huh? Yeah. See... we are going to cover the gamut from casual dining to fine dining, drinking at a dive bar or ultra chic martini lounge. Our main locale is the City Beautiful, Orlando, FL. However.. have fork, will travel! So don't be surprised to see different locations spotlighted every now and then.

So, a little about me. I've lived in Orlando for the majority of my life and consider it home. For a few years now I've been contributing my thoughts on Yelp and I still will, but here I'll expand a bit on my likes and dislikes and include fun pictures. I do also spend alot of time in the Tampa area, so some posts will include my exploits there.

I do not have any classical training in food. I started cooking pretty early with my family, I don't know exactly when.... but I do remember my Mom got sick of pushing me out of the kitchen and just put me to work. I spent my teens and 20s working in the restaurant industry, both front of the house and in the kitchen, and have family in the business still. I have alot of respect for the industry, but now I am mostly just a consumer.

That's it in a nutshell, so lets get started!