Charles

Peach Italian Ice

August 13, 2009 by Charles 5 Comments

Angelo Brocato’s Italian Ice Cream Parlor is an unassuming place, sandwiched between an Asian restaurant unsure about its own ethnicity, and a sports bar with saloon doors for an entrance. On one corner of the street sits a warehouse, with stacks of rolled carpet piled high in all directions; on the other corner rests Junque Antiques, the building itself looking several birthdays older than its wares.

Parking for Angelo Brocato’s is limited to an empty gravel-filled lot, or whatever spaces are available at 45-degree angles on the wide sidewalk on the river side of North Carrolton Avenue. The parlor itself occupies a one-story storefront in the mid-city neighborhood of New Orleans, a safe distance from the reverie of the French Quarter. Inside, the store displays the black-and-white portrait of its founder, and the wire-rimmed chairs, apothecary jars, and …

Peach and Plum Clafoutis

August 2, 2009 by Charles 4 Comments

I have an impatient streak. It’s why I don’t play golf, and why I can’t read music. It’s why I prefer talking to texting, and why I bring work home. It might also be why I scheduled this post to publish while on vacation. So when things take longer than I think they should, I get frustrated. And when things don’t work out the first time, to say nothing of the second time, I get equally frustrated.

In the kitchen, however, I’m a little more forgiving. In the kitchen, I’m usually willing to forgive a first mishap, and to chalk it up as a culinary rough draft. Some of my recipes even look like the galleys of a novel, with the characteristic cross-outs and line-edits. Ingredients are substituted or subtracted like unwanted sentences, cooking times expand or contract like secondary characters, and quantities increase or decrease as if page numbers.

As writing is to cooking, I’m willing to work through a few rough drafts. And this recipe took more than a few. In all, …

Grilled Peach Salad

July 26, 2009 by Charles 1 Comment

Summer is a good time for fresh fruits and vegetables. But it’s not the best time to spend stuck in your kitchen, laboring over a hot stove. The perfect summer salad solves this potential paradox.

The grilled peaches took me outside for a few minutes, and provided a sweet taste and a vibrant color for the salad. After that, I laid some arugula down as a base, topped it with roma tomatoes, feta cheese, toasted pecans, and a homemade vinaigrette. The salad was ready in fewer than five minutes – which left me plenty of time to enjoy a sunny Sunday stroll in Saint Louis.

Incidentally, if you’re looking for more salad ideas, …

Homemade Vinaigrette

July 26, 2009 by Charles 2 Comments

A simple vinaigrette requires no more than four ingredients and can be whisked up in a matter of seconds. The simple rule for a vinaigrette is vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil, with the olive oil to vinegar ratio at 2:1. A little Dijon mustard helps emulsify the combination.

But since you’re making this at home, there’s no reason to settle for simplicity. You can add diced shallots, roasted garlic, grated ginger, dried oregano, or wild honey to your vinaigrette, tailoring it to the tastes and dishes before you. A homemade vinaigrette will typically …

Tomato Gazpacho

July 16, 2009 by Charles 4 Comments

Tomato gazpacho is not redundant.

Gazpacho got its start in Andalusia, the southern-most province of Spain, sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries – long before the tomato arrived on European soil. Owing to its origins and its meaning – gazpacho comes from an Arabic word meaning “soaked bread” – some food historians believe the Moors brought the dish to Spain as a sophisticated field ration.

Other food historians trace the dish to the early Romans, who soaked their stale bread…