chicago food – In Good Taste

Five Things You “Knead” to Know About Homemade Pasta

Maris Callahan — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:06:51 +0000

The first time I tried making homemade pasta I was sure I was going to break it, drop it or roll the delicate sheets so thin that I could barely lift them without poking finger sized holes into the pliable dough. I wish I could finish this anecdote with a heroic tale of how I hit my linguine out of the park but actually? I did all three of those things and at the end of my class, still ate some magically delicious pasta. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I was cooking the pasta with a dozen other people considerably less clumsy than I am in the controlled environment of a recreational cooking school, so please try not to kill my fantasy. Despite plenty of bumps in the road (and in the dough) I can crank out a halfway decent sheet of lasagne and make just enough not-screwed-up wontons to stuff a melt-in-your-mouth ravioli, but I’m far from a master pasta maker. Enter, our friend Phil Rubino, former sous chef at Cicchetti Restaurant in downtown Chicago, now helming the kitchen at Dusek’s in Pilsen. Rubino has just a tad more experience handling fresh-Italian focused ingredients than […]

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How To: Make a Charcuterie and Cheese Board

Maris Callahan — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:00:28 +0000

It’s time to move beyond the cheese board, whether you’re planning your next dinner party or ordering from your favorite restaurant menu. A charcuterie and cheese board is the perfect way to feed a crowd. Charcuterie, which is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, primarily pork products like bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, pâtés, and confit, are gaining popularity. Whether you want to add complementary cheeses, or bypass the cheese altogether, a charcuterie and cheese board is the perfect guest at any table. Charcuterie and cheese boards are popping up on menus at eateries everywhere, ranging from the elegant to the easygoing. Because there are so many different ways to build the perfect board, price should not be a barrier that keeps you from getting your next cured meat fix. If you’re trying to save more money by experimenting with boards at home, you can find most cured meats at your local, meat market, butcher shop or specialty grocery store. At your next dinner party or date night, give guests their choice of the best local charcuterie, in a mix of flavors and textures…and save the cooking for later. I recently spent an afternoon with Chef Christian Fantoni […]

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Fresh Cherry Cheesecake Bars

Maris Callahan — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:41:10 +0000

People ask me all the time: do you still cook a lot? The answer, as I think we all can guess, is no, but that doesn’t mean it never happens. Every once in awhile the urge to make a big, fantastic mess in my kitchen will strike and I’ll wind up with more leftovers than I can feasibly eat three days later. Ironically, when I do find myself in need of a hostess gift or with a potluck style party to attend, I also find myself with no time to do anything that takes more effort than running into a store to buy a bottle of wine with a pretty label. A few weeks ago, a group of my friends were planning to do one of my favorite Chicago summer activities and bring a picnic to a free concert at Millennium Park. I serendipitously had a large bag of cherries and a meeting-free afternoon, so I made fresh cherry cheesecake bars courtesy of Cooking Light. This is an absolutely perfect summer recipe. Though it requires use of an oven, which can be off-putting when the heat index is somewhere between “miserable” and “seventh circle of hell” you serve the bars […]

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