BBQ Pizza Yea Yea Yea

I am sitting here with a belly full of BBQ pizza listening to REM on Austin City Limits. "If you believe they put a man on the moon"

I was thinking to myself just an hour ago pizza on the BBQ? My youngest son said it was unheard of. He tried a piece and quickly resorted to the cereal bowl. Cereal over my pizza. That hurt.

Would you believe he didn't like my BBQ pizza? I believe it now, but I loved it. It was great. I sauteed squash blossoms with little red peppers. It added great flavor to the pie.

REM is over and my son finished his bowl of cereal and now I am going to eat some nectarines that I poached in some agave water.

Ciao Tutti

Un Bell Caffe

When I fell in love with Italy I fell in love with many things such as the beautiful countryside, the warm people the truly rustic food and of course the caffe. I was a heavy coffee drinker since the age of 14, but it was always very strong drip coffee with a bit of heavy cream or milk if I didn't have the cream. This is what I thought good coffee was. How little did I know.

It wasn't until I had caffe con leche in Spain did I realize what real espresso was meant to taste like. The caffe was strong, but really tasty and I couldn't get enough of that flavor.

Now when I get off the plane in Rome the first thing I do is stop by the bar and have an espresso. I stand with all the Italians and take in the language and the general camaraderie. It's a blast and the coffee is so damn good.

I quit smoking cigarettes 23 years ago. I quit drinking alcohol 14 years ago and now I only drink espresso. No more drip coffee for me. I can't stand the taste. I would rather not drink anything if I can't have un bell caffe.

This picture is from Ground Works in Los Angeles. A great place for un bell caffe.

A pile of table grapes and bottles of olive oil

Yesterday at the farmer's market in Hollywood I took some pictures. Mainly close ups of peaches and tomatoes and other fresh produce. I took a shot of a man singing in a barely audible voice who played the harmonica like Bob Dylan. He jammed really well and seemed as free as they come. Nothing bothering that man. He had his music and his people hanging around him as though he was some prophet.

I happened upon this table of grapes. They were piled high and looked very colorful. I also liked the symmetry of the bottles of olive oil. They were lined up perfectly and somehow went well with the grapes. A combination of two wonderful things. Two things that Italians have lived on for years and years. Can't be bad I thought to myself.

Pears at the market

I took this picture of a very green pear and I thought I would let you see it. I also found some terrific fiori di zucchini which I stuffed with some soy mozzarella and served atop a homemade spicy roasted tomato and chili salsa. Mangia bene.

Smoked Heirloom Tomatoes

Finally got the BBQ working today. I thought I was out of gas but it turned out the regulator was being sensitive and cut off the flow of gas to the burners. Everything is fine now and we're getting ready to grill sausages and sweet corn for a late summer supper.

I also wanted to smoke something (I am sorry I should be clear. I wanted to smoke some food not a cigarette or a joint or anything like that). I haven't done it on the BBQ before. I have smoked some salmon in a covered pan on the stove and it turned out great.

I took some wood chips and soaked them in water for an hour and then I wrapped them in aluminum foil, leaving an opening on top for the smoke to escape. I placed it under the grill on top of the gas burner and set the temperature to medium. In about 15 minutes it started to smoke. At first just small puffs of smoke floated from the foil, but within a few minutes the BBQ was full of smoke and I felt like I was sitting around a campfire.

I laid the tomatoes on the far right side of the BBQ on the upper grill as far from the heat as possible and waited for about 10 minutes. They did not cook but simply absorbed some of the smoke.

Now I'll slice them and drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. If I had some mozzarella I would have smoked that too, but not tonight.

There it is. My homemade fig jam on a poppy seed cracker with a smear of generic brie cheese from Fresh and Easy.

Figs Again

It's been a year since I wrote on this blog. Maybe I am just extremely lazy or perhaps I have been distracted by life. I don't know, but today I went to the farmer's market and saw figs, tons and tons of them. I guess it's the season and looking at the date of my last post it's almost exactly last year.

My wife and I bought some, but we ended up buying them at Trader Joe's. They were organic and a bit cheaper than the ones we saw at the farmer's market. I brought them home and quartered them and put them in a sauce pan with a tiny bit of water and some agave. I brought them to a simmer and cooked them for about 20 minutes. They slowly broke down and the flavor intensified as the water reduced. After the 20 minutes I let them cool.

At fresh and easy we bought some brie cheese. Yes, we shopped in three locations today. I know it sounds crazy. I served the fig jam on a poppy seed cracker with some brie cheese. Wow! Great taste. Here is a picture of figs.