A Message for Amazing Women Everywhere

I don't ordinarily veer off the topic of food.  But, this is something I felt compelled to share. 

I hope you find it inspiring. I hope it makes you want to fist pump the air and give a little shout. And I'm hoping it's also something you'll take to heart and share with other like-minded humans.

It's a keynote speech that was delivered at the Milwaukee Business Journal's Women of Influence awards event this past week. But, it's probably not like any speech you've read lately.  

Please read -- and then pass it on to amazing women everywhere!

So who is Juli Kaufmann?

Some know her as the President of Fix Development, a Milwaukee consulting company at the fore of projects that create more sustainable communities. In fact, many people (including myself) got to know Kaufmann after she finished one of her most well known projects --  The Clock Shadow Building- home to Wisconsin's first urban cheese factory.

But, Juli Kaufmann is much more. She's also the founder of Fund Milwaukee, a group that provides opportunities for investment in small, locally owned businesses. And the manager for Afterglow Farm, a 400-acre farm just north of Milwaukee that is building a brand new template for best practice in sustainable agriculture. In 2013, she herself was nominated as a Woman of Influence by the Milwaukee Business Journal. And that's not all... every time I turn around, Juli is starting up something new (and amazing) here in my city. 

Suffice it to say, she's the embodiment of so much of what's good and right in our Milwaukee community.

Thank you, Juli!

You're an inspiration to all of us.

©BURP!

Never the Same Dish Twice: Caramelized Onion & Poblano Enchiladas

There's just something about a cheese enchilada.

It's not complicated. Or fancy. If you're honest, you'll probably even admit that it's really not even all that interesting.  But, there's something about a deliciously soft tortilla that's filled with cheese and covered in sauce that seems to capture the imagination. 

Of course, if you're like me, you're always trying to play with perfection... tweaking a little bit here, adjusting there. Making things better (hopefully)... or at least different.  Keeping the spirit of the experimentation alive.

This dish has been a perennial favorite in the Burp! kitchen. In fact, the recipe goes way back -- to the beginnings of the blog.

It was one of our very first blog posts -- published toward the end of June in 2007.  At the point it was written, we weren't cognizant that we had an audience.  In fact, we were pretty sure that we didn't. You'll notice there's no pretty photo of our meal. No story about where we got the idea for the recipe. In fact, there's not much of anything interesting about the post at all, except maybe the recipe itself (and that's probably somewhat debatable).

The fact of the matter is, the idea stemmed from a recipe for cheese and caramelized onion enchiladas that we found in Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen.   We loved the concept of using sweet caramelized onions in an enchilada, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the recipe on its own.  So, we started tweaking.

Rather than using pickled jalapeno peppers, I decided to sub in slices of roasted poblano chiles. To add a bit of delightful creaminess, we added a few ounces of cream cheese to the filling. We neglected to use Bishop's sauce.  And suddenly, we had a brand new dish.

Years later, I'd venture a guess that we've made this dish at least 10-15 times. And it's likely to have been different every go-round. We've used various sauces (a mole, a red chile sauce, and a roasted tomatillo sauce). We've substituted roasted red peppers and fresh jalapenos for the poblanos. We've added goat cheese to the mix, rather than cream cheese.  And every time, it's been a completely new kind of fabulous.

But, that's exactly what I love about cooking. And blogging.  It's never the same twice. Ingredients change. Trends come and go. We approach the same dishes with different perspectives. And recipes have this miraculous way of morphing into new experiences right before our very eyes.

Every single time we step into the kitchen, we learn something new. And we find something unexpected.

So, go ahead -- tweak that recipe. See what it becomes for you.
Caramelized Onion & Poblano Enchiladas


And don't forget -- in celebration of our Burp-Day, we'll be giving away at least THREE (3) Burp! t-shirts during the month of June. Visit Burp! Blog on Facebook to find out how to win!


©BURP! Where Food Happens

In Memoriam: Artichoke a la Mode Pizza

When I awoke (literally) this morning to the news that one of our favorite pizza joints (and a Milwaukee icon) was ablaze, I was in shock.

Pizza Man has always been our "go to" restaurant.  It was one of the places we chose to mark any number of celebratory occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, job offers).  It was the place where we'd go when life had taken us for a ride, and left us yearning for familiarity and the comfort of an old friend. (how many tear-filled sessions I've had, drowning my sorrows in deep dish pizza, I may never know).  It was also one of our favorite spots to dine with friends and family.

Seems there was NO occasion that didn't suit the Pizza Man.  And we weren't the only ones to think so.  There was always a wait. I can't count the number of times we found ourselves standing around waiting for a table (though, in most cases, we simply left the friendly hostess our cell number and grabbed a beer or two over at the Eastsider, a neighborhood bar just across Oakland Avenue).  And that fact alone should be seen as a testament to the quality of both the food and the atmosphere -- which included an old wooden door (which opened and closed thanks to the power of pulleys and weights), darkly stained wooden booths, and walls hung with shelves of jars featuring Italian specialties like olives, roasted red peppers, and canned beans.

If a comparison is even fair, Pizza Man was the historic equivalent of Lombardi's (New York), Santarpio's (Boston), and Giordano's (Chicago).  The interior of Pizza Man itself was a historic marker, since it became a Milwaukee tradition to write or carve one's name or other messages on the wooden booths.  The restaurant was also known for its huge wine list, which included over 500 wines from California, Washington, and Oregon.

When we weren't ordering Pizza Man's delicious deep dish pizza (sometimes just their plain old cheese, sausage, mushroom & onion -- which was simply incomparable), we'd often order a pie affectionately referred to as artichoke a la mode -- a thin crust variety topped with mozzarella cheese, artichokes, generous dollops of cream cheese, and slices of fresh tomatoes and garlic.

This wonder of a pizza became one of our absolute favorites -- so much so that we decided to recreate a riff on the original at home.  A sourdough crust replaced the thin crust, and roasted cherry tomatoes stood in for the fresh tomato slices... but this pizza was a pretty great stand-in for the real thing.

In memory of Pizza Man, all the good times shared -- and, hopefully, all the good times to come:
Artichoke a la Mode Pizza

Other great memories and photos also available on ThirdCoast Digest.


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Crispifried Okra

Our adventures with oven "fried" zucchini made us eager to try this technique out with another vegetable. But what would be next??

Now, neither of us are from the south, but we're both suckers for some good old down-home cooking. So, we were super excited to find some delicious looking okra at the farmer's market. And since okra is made for frying, we decided to put it to the test.

We figured it was a good idea to show you that we really did start off with some nice, fresh okra.

Because the delightfully crisp results were almost too good to be true. These were crisp, light, and delightfully crunchy. Paired with four imaginative sauces (ginger wasabi, ketchup, siracha chile sauce, and ginger teriyaki), these were really too good for words.
Crisp. Crunchy. Browned. Delightful.

Oven Fried Okra
LOCAL QUOTIENT: The okra was locally grown, breadcrumbs came from leftover buns from a local bakery, and flour was milled in the Midwest. So, that's pretty darned local! Close to 90%


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Mozzarella Rosemary Skewers with Bagna Cauda

I've got to agree with Lisa over at What We Eat... bagna cauda (or "magna carta" as we often jokingly refer to it) is one of our very favorite things off of the Omnivore's 100. But, our love for bagna cauda was initially a bit of a surprise.

And yes, you do feel a story coming on.

It all started on a Saturday night in May — Memorial Day weekend of 2005, I think. We decided to have what we call a “cooking night” — which means we spend the entire evening cooking together, making little plates of this and that, noshing and enjoying the whole experience. This is usually the sort of night when we come up with our best ideas for the “Burp” menu.

On this particular evening, we shopped and settled on some tasty dry-packed scallops (this was our first time buying these, and we are converts!), some fresh spinach, a nice loaf of French bread, some fresh mozzarella cheese… and a bottle or two of decent wine.

We’d run across a sandwich cookbook at the library earlier in the week, and were tempted by a particular baked appetizer featuring the most amazing looking melty cheese, French bread, and rosemary.

Unfortunately, it also happened to call for a warm anchovy “broth” to be poured over the top. And we all know what a huge fan of anchovies Paul is (NOT)… As it turns out, it took a BIT of coercion before he warmed up to the idea. But, once we got into the cooking process and actually put the lemony bagna cauda sauce together, he couldn’t stop exclaiming about how GOOD it was.

“This is LOVE,” he proclaimed. And I laughed.

Now, if the idea of eating a warm, buttery anchovy sauce still doesn’t appeal, maybe you need some new imagery. Just imagine … 4-5 slices of deliciously crusty French bread paired with thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese — skewered together with sprigs of freshly picked rosemary...
... sprinkled with a bit of freshly cracked pepper...
And then grilled to a fantastic golden brown.
We ate our mozzarella skewers with some lovely chile-marinated olives. And we sopped up the extra sauce with a few additional slices of baguette.
This is the perfect starter course. But, it also serves as quite the meal if you pair it with a lovely summer tomato salad...

Recipe for Bagna Cauda
LOCAL QUOTIENT: Baguette from a local bakery, cheese from a Wisconsin farm, locally grown garlic, and rosemary from the backyard ... Olive oil, olives, and anchovies were from a bit farther flung, but we're 80% local with this dish!


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Fava-lous

Ah, fava beans!
The diva of spring vegetables.

Although we've both been lucky enough to have EATEN favas in our lifetimes, we've never had the opportunity to bond with them in our own kitchen. Rumor has it that favas are kind of a pain to prepare (not difficult, mind you, just labor-intensive). So, we were eager to experience them for ourselves.

Would they be worth the effort?

We decided to see for ourselves.

First, we peeled back the protective pods. Not hard at all -- and kind of fun. I'd even go so far as to say that this stage is somewhat meditative. And the spongey pods are really pretty cool in and of themselves (I keep wondering what merits all the extensive protection for these little wonders).

After marvelling at the perfectly shaped beans we found inside, we threw them into a violently boiling pot of water. Kind of mean, but apparently necessary.

After blanching, we were able to peel away the second, waxy pod from the brilliantly green favas.

Incidentally, pound of unshelled fava beans in their pods will produce about a cup of shelled beans. We shelled about two pounds this time around -- and it took us roughly 1/2 hour.

We used this first batch as a componant in a thoroughly delightful spring salad (local spring greens, steamed & chilled asparagus, and fava beans with a lemon-garlic vinaigrette and liberal shavings of grana padano).

For anyone curious about the flavor of a fava, I'd compare it to the taste of fresh spring peas. Very green. Luscious. And not starchy at all.

The verdict?

These babies were totally worth the effort.

NPR's Kitchen Window has a nice little article about favas online too, if you're interested.



©BURP! Where Food Happens

Cupcakes - the obsession

OK -- I'm inspired. By a company who does a phenomenal job of making truly creative (and apparently tasty) cupcakes. Whiskie Bits Bakeshop.

Whiskie Bits is a one-woman dealio, if I'm not mistaken. So, her creations are truly impressive. Just check out her site and tell me you don't agree.... mochamisu cupcakes, anyone? And they're PRETTY too!

Some of you might know that Peef and Lo have been obsessed with cupcakes for quite a while now. And that we baked up a veritable FEAST of cupcakes for our niece's birthday just last year.

Now, it appears, we have more food for thought.