Falling in love with French food... over and over again... ooh la la...

I should preface this by saying that this is not a restaurant review, but rather, a declaration of how much I love fresh food executed well. You know that flushed heartwarming feeling you get after you've had an amazing meal? Rob's Bistro in Madison, New Jersey earned it's keep in my heart after my dinner there last Friday night.

You know you're being fed by a proud chef when there is not salt or pepper on ANY of the tables; in fact, there are no condiments at all. A proud chef is aware that everyone has a different palate, but you should know that his pork is cooked with just the right amount of salt - any more would mask the flavor of the meat. If you do want more salt, you must get your waiter's attention and risk the chance of a contentious side-eye as you nervously ask for a salt-shaker that may or may not exist. But this small French restaurant is not contentious or stuffy as is the French restaurant stereotype. The lighting is a perfect shade - not too bright, but enough so you can see every detail on your plate. The wait staff is friendly and unpretentious. The menu is partially written in French, but the waiter was happy to describe anything we had questions on. If we had any doubts about how authentic the cuisine was, the table across from us was speaking fluent French and an American lady who had too much wine was proudly wearing a black beret.

This was my second time at the restaurant. The first time, I had organized a team event where the hostess worked with me so that we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. I had to choose a special prix fixe menu for our group of 16+ people with different meat options. Everything was delicious. I had salad of mixed greens with lardons that was out of this world. The roast chicken entree was also delectable, but my favorite was the crème brûlée; cooked to perfection, it was neither hot nor cold - a comfortable room temperature with the gleaming sheet of golden caramelized sugar you had to crack with your spoon to get into. That dessert is main reason I wanted to go back.

This second time around, on a date with my fiancé, I decided to try different dishes and be a little bit more adventurous. I know you really just want to see the food pictures, so here they are:

Side-note: this place is a BYOB, so we brought some white wine. We had an Australian Riesling, which went well with everything I ate.

This was my first time having escargot, which is the French word for SNAILS! Yep, I had snails and they were great! They have a similar texture to clams with a milder flavor so they take on whatever flavors they are cooked in. These were smothered in butter, garlic, and parsley, and cooked to perfection. Snails cannot be under-cooked because they may carry harmful bacteria that needs to be cooked off, and they cannot be overcooked or else they will be rubbery and unpleasant. Good escargot is the sign of a well-trained French chef.

This is a pork loin wrapped in bacon on top of a polenta bake with caramelized pearl onions. It was served with a side of roasted brussel sprouts and a whole grain mustard aoli sauce. Eating this dish reminded me of a quote by acclaimed three-Michelin star chef Juan Mari Arzak on a documentary called "Three Stars," where he explained that food should be seasoned with it's own flavor. For example, onions should be seasoned with onion powder. In this case, the pork loin was seasoned with bacon and when I took my first bite of it, I understood what he was saying.

I ended the meal with a lemon financier, topped with house-made honey lavender ice cream and a crumbled almond cookie. A financier is like a small French cake (similar to spongecake), but with a crispy exterior because it's made with almond flour. It tasted like springtime in my mouth. The floral notes of honey, lavender, and almond, complemented by the lemon, worked extremely well together.  It had a balance of warm, cold, soft, crunchy, and creamy. I would go back for this dessert, but then again, I had originally gone back for the crème brûlée and instead, discovered this treasure.

People like to think that first impressions are the most important, but in this case, it was my last. Hook, line, and sinker - I will be back... again.

Mel's "I Can't Believe It's Turkey" Meatballs and Thick Spaghetti

Meatballs are a great delivery system for bold flavors because you can incorporate all kinds of herbs and spices  into the meat. I came up with this recipe when I was cooking Giada deLaurentiis’s turkey meatballs recipe and was missing the parsley and fresh garlic, but it was so cold out that I didn’t want to run to the store. I had some sofrito at home and used that as a substitute. It made for a lighter and more flavorful meatball; it had that rich, meaty flavor you can usually only get with beef. Using sofrito also meant no chopping and less cleanup work for me… yay! I made sofrito a permanent part of this recipe and never looked back.

Ingredients for the meat balls:

• 1 package of lean ground turkey (1 – 1.4 lbs)
• 1/3  cup of plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of grated high quality Parmesan cheese (you will not get the same sharp flavor with the Kraft version)
• ¼ teaspoon of sea salt or ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons of sofrito
• 1 heaping tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (for browning the meatballs in the pan)

Instructions for the meatballs:

Add all of the ingredients, except for the olive oil, into a large bowl and mix by hand until incorporated (do not over-mix).

Using light pressure, shape the meat into balls about the size of golf balls or slightly smaller.

Arrange them on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil until you've used all the meat from that bowl.

Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a large non-stick pan with medium high heat and carefully drop each ball into the pan.

Brown on all sides.

Lower the heat to a medium low simmer. Add half of a 24 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce and cook for ten minutes. You can add additional olive oil to the sauce if you want it thinner. I prefer olive oil instead of water because it thins the sauce without making the meatballs mushy or diluting the flavor.

You can cut open the largest meatball and if there is no pink in the middle then you know it’s done. You should turn off the heat at this point otherwise your meatballs will overcook and come out dry.

Ingredients for the spaghetti:

Half or a whole package of thick spaghetti (you can use regular, sprouted, or whole wheat spaghetti if you want). I used Barrilla.

Half to an entire jar of your favorite pasta sauce. I like Newman’s All Natural Tomato and Basil Bombolina.

A large pot of water

1 – 4 teaspoons of salt

Instructions for the spaghetti:

Fill a pot with cold water and salt to taste (the 1 – 4 teaspoons depends on the amount of water and spaghetti you use and how salty you like it). If  you have fresh spaghetti, wait until the water is boiling then add it in and cook until al dente. With dry spaghetti, you add it in with the cold water, only when the water starts to boil do you time it for the 8 – 11 minutes until it’s al dente. Capiche?

Strain the cooked spaghetti, mix in a little bit of good olive oil and serve it on a plate with the sauce and meatballs on top. I like to keep the meatballs and spaghetti  separate until the food is served in order to give guests the option of how much sauce they want.

Dominican Sofrito

Sofrito is a liquid seasoning that's popular in Spanish-Caribbean cuisine and made from fresh herbs and vegetables. This seasoning is very special to me because making it with my mother is my first memory of cooking. My mother would have me wash the cilantro and peppers, and chop the onions and garlic - not my favorite vegetables to work with, but I learned to use a knife and how to properly wash vegetables. My favorite part was the end result, a liquid seasoning that could transform the flavor of beef, chicken, fish, and beans into pure deliciousness. Many people have their own variations, but I think mine has a pretty good balance of flavors. Here is the recipe:

Sofrito:

• 2 bunches of cilantro (fresh coriander)
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 5 medium heads of garlic
• 2 green bell peppers
• 5 limes
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano

Preparing the vegetables:

Soak the cilantro in a large bowl of ice cold water, separating the stalks; the leaves will float to the top and the dirt will sink to the bottom. Cut off the thick bottom parts of the stems and discard them. Chop the cilantro into 2 or three pieces and set aside on a clean plate.

Remove the outside skin of the yellow onions and cut them into quarters, set them aside.

Remove the stems and seeds from the tomatoes and bell peppers, chop in large pieces and set aside.

To prepare the garlic, separate the cloves, chop the ends off,  crush each piece with the side of a knife tp easily peel off the thick outer skin. Do not chop the garlic - just put the whole pieces in a clean bowl and set aside.

To get the most juice out of your limes, pop them in the microwave individually for 10 - 15 seconds. This doesn't cook them, but it loosens the fibers, making the juice come out more easily.

Put all of the ingredients (including the dried oregano) in the blender and squeeze the juice of all the limes on top of them, making sure to catch any seeds. If the mixture is too thick, add a tablespoon of water at a time to loosen it and move the vegetables around if needed. The end result should have a thick, applesauce-like consistency.

Store it in a glass container in the fridge. It will keep for at least a few weeks.

To use it:

I like to marinate meats in the fridge overnight in a zip-lock bag with the sofrito and some sea salt. When you cook the meat the next day, it will have that deep, tangy and herbaceous flavor common in Latin cuisine.

You can also make Latin-style beans by adding 1 - 2 teaspoons to a can of beans; mix in some sea salt and tomato sauce and cook for 20 minutes. Depending on the bean type, you may want to add some brown sugar, or Worcester sauce to balance out the acidity.