dessert

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A Tavola

April 18, 2012 in Food, Restaurants, wine by traveleatlove | 6 comments

An absolute must-visit, A Tavola in Winchester ended up being our Saturday night, pre-marathon date. Initially we had reservations to go out in Boston’s North End and decided to head in to town early to have a drink and wander around.

Crazy town. Between the marathon, the Red Sox, the Bruins, and the beautiful holiday weekend, Boston, and especially the North End, was packed. I was already anxious about being in the sun or on my feet too long, so we picked the first spot that looked opened, had a quick beer and tried to figure out dinner plan B after my husband noted that town would be even crazier after the hockey game let out. I was not in the mood for crowds.

Luckily, I had spoken with Richard at lunch earlier in the week, and he had mentioned A Tavola as a great spot for dinner. I quickly looked them up on my phone, gave them a call to make a reservation, and we were on our way to Winchester.

The quiet town common and quaint streets were a nice change from the swarms of people in Boston. I was nervous, and I needed to be in a calm and cozy place. A Tavola was it.

We were seated right away at a sunny table and went over the menu; the top boxes are Piattini, meant for sharing, while the other options include larger appetizers and entrees.

We also went over A Tavola’s wine list which is comprised solely of Italian wines, many of which are offered by the glass or quartino. Since it felt so summery out, we decided to share a bottle of the Masciarelli Rosato. We have tried and love Masciarelli Trebbiano D’Abruzzo, and we equally loved the Rosato. It was perfect for our Piattini as well as our entrees.

For Piattini, we decided to split the house-made Sopressata with pistachios an pickled vegetables and the ricotta with olive oil and lemon zest. Both were simply heavenly, and based on the options available, you could easily make a meal out of small plates.

I didn’t photograph our entrees, but we enjoyed dishes of fresh, house made pasta. I had the Bigoli al Pomodoro, thick spaghetti with a tomato sauce, while my husband had the Rigatoni Bolognese. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the sauces were flavorful and rich. The tangy tomatoes and thick ropes of pasta in mine were exactly what I wanted.

We feasted on Piattini and pasta, but I did save room to share two desserts. I had this vanilla gelato with hot fudge and hazelnuts while my husband had the house-made doughnuts. There was, of course, sharing involved. These were SO good.

After our dinner the chef came out of the open kitchen to check on how our meal went. He was delightful, and it was a nice touch.

The service at A Tavola was outstanding, making for a really enjoyable date night that left me dreaming of bowls of homemade pasta. A Tavola definitely requires a return visit.

It’s only my second day of work this week, but I am ready for the weekend. How about you?

Tags: dessert, dinner, Food, gelato, Restaurants, wine

Easter Cake Recipe and Gift Card Giveaway

April 2, 2012 in recipe by traveleatlove | 20 comments

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered, and congratulations to Renee for winning the $100 gift card!

Thanks to HP Hood for sponsoring this giveaway and for providing me with a gift card to buy ingredients as well.

Well hello there, April. Where did you come from? With our somewhat non-existent Winter, I feel like I am completely confused as to what month it’s supposed to be, and I am just not ready for it to be the month I am running the Boston Marathon. Gulp.

I AM ready to share a delicious recipe that is perfect for Easter or any Spring weekend AND a $100 Visa gift card to help you buy the ingredients and whatever other fun groceries or cooking items you would like.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a representative of HP Hood sharing a recipe for a Sweet Raspberry Tea Cake (recipe is at the very bottom of this post). I love sour cream cakes, and I love raspberries, so I was definitely on board. Random memory – the first time I ever made a sour cream cake was in 9th grade in my Food for Daily Living class. My neighbor and class partner was a 12th grader, big shot athlete, and he would always steal my paper during tests, make me do all the work, and then eat everything. I put up with it then, but I definitely would not today. I wonder what he got up to after the glory days of high school sports were over? It’s kind of interesting how memory works, isn’t it?

Anyway, I received my own Visa gift card to buy the ingredients, and over the weekend I whipped up my own version of the cake. I just can’t seem to ever follow a recipe 100%. . .

The cake came out great, with sweet bursts of raspberry jam popping up here and there. I also threw in whole raspberries, which wasn’t part of the recipe but made it even better.

To help you all make the recipe, Hood is offering a coupon for a discount on their sour cream. To access the coupon, click here.

(I used frozen raspberries instead of fresh; the fresh ones didn’t look very good.)

If you make the cake, let me know what you think!

To enter the giveaway:

1) Leave a comment here telling me a favorite baking memory or baked good.

2) Like either HP Hood or Hood New England Dairy Cook Off on Facebook

3) Check back on Thursday; I will choose a winner and announce it then.

Good luck!

Hood^® Sweet Raspberry Tea Cake

Ingredients

(Cake)

1 cup Hood Sour Cream

1 cup Hood Half & Half

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus 2 tbsp to coat the pan

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup seedless raspberry jam

3½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

(Icing)

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp Hood Half & Half

½ pint fresh raspberries

Instructions

Cake:

Before starting, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Generously coat a large 6 cup bundt pan with 2 tbsp of unsalted butter and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325°. In a large mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together and set aside.

Thin out the raspberry jam with the vanilla extract in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the remaining unsalted butter until smooth. Add in the sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs in one at time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Mix in the Hood Sour Cream.

Add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the Hood Half & Half, being careful to not over mix.

Carefully fold in ½ of the raspberry jam mixture, but do not incorporate completely.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Take the remaining raspberry jam mixture and spread it over the batter in the pan, being careful to stay away from the edges.

Pour the remaining cake batter into the pan.

Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Cool completely and remove from the pan.

Icing:

Combine the Hood Half & Half, vanilla, and confectioners sugar in a small bowl and stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the top, allowing the icing to fall down the sides of the cake. Garnish the top with fresh raspberries and serve.

Tags: cake, dessert, Easter, giveaway, Hood, recipe

Progressive North End Dinner

February 22, 2012 in cocktail, Cocktails, Food, Restaurants by traveleatlove | 10 comments

Saturday night was one spent eating and drinking my way through Boston’s North End with three fabulous friends. I have been down about work and a few other things, not feeling great about training (until my 18 miler on Sunday which was awesome!) and in general just wiped out, and a night out with Daisy, Megan, and Michelle was exactly what I needed.

For Michelle’s 30 While 30 list, she wanted to go on a progressive dinner, with five different stops: cocktails, appetizers, entrees, desserts, and cocktails again. Over a month ago when we were trying to set a date to catch up, we started on the idea of dinner in the North End which turned into a progressive dinner. If you have an occasion where you need many restaurants close together, the North End is definitely it.

We ate, drank, and a laughed a LOT over the course of the evening. Like I said, it was exactly what I needed.

We kicked off the North End crawl with cocktails at Ristorante Fiore. I grabbed this photo to illustrate that when we met at 5:30, it was this bright out. Yay.

Fiore makes great cocktails and has a fabulous roof deck that is open in warmer weather, a great place to grab a drink and some oysters. On our progressive dinner agenda, we had time for a drink, and I had a cocktail made with gin and basil. It was delicious, herbaceous, and very strong. It definitely kicked off the night on a fun note and got me chatting away.

Next up was a stop at the recently reopened Mare Oyster Bar. We are all oyster fans, so we ordered two each and enjoyed the briny goodness.

Oysters and bubbly go perfectly together, so we ordered a bottle of Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut. I became a fan of Schramsberg on our cave tour, and it was the perfect choice to go with oysters. What I love about this wine is how many layers of flavor it exhibits, starting with the yeasty brioche and moving on to more acidic green apple and lemon. I thought it was divine.

Since we felt like we needed a little more food to add to our drinks, we also split the mussels at Mare and the polenta and clams. The polenta was so creamy and comforting. I tried to make some the next day, and it was gritty and not-so-great. If only I could make polenta this amazing!

I think we were all very happy with Mare Oyster Bar, and I am looking forward to returning for a date night.

With dinner on our minds, we moved on to Mamma Maria, one of my North End favorites. We have celebrated my birthday in their room for two, the Piccolo room, and we also celebrated our first anniversary there. The food is fantastic, and the interior is a quaint old house.

We moved on to red for dinner, Umani Ronchi Cùmaro, a wine made with 100% Montepulciano grapes. This wine packed a spicy punch! It also had a velvety mouth feel and a long finish and went so well with our Italian feast.

My photos don’t do it justice, but Mamma Maria’s pesto is bright, fresh, and bursting with flavor. A little of that on some bread, with a few olives on the side, is the perfect thing to curb hunger while waiting for dinner.

By the time my beautiful Bolognese arrived, I was starting to get full, but I carried on because it was just so good. Is there anything better than homemade pasta?

Prezza was our dessert stop. I had forgotten that I went to Prezza for marathon weekend dinner 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls ordered Bailey’s on the rocks while I stuck with bubbles, a glass of Bouillot Cremant. Sparking wines from Burgundy are quickly becoming a favorite for me, and this copper hued beauty definitely went will with dessert. It had a creamy mouth feel but was also bright and fruity. It was love at first sip.

I don’t know how we ate more, but somehow we shared white chocolate bread pudding and fig and chocolate turnovers.

The turnovers had a slightly burnt taste to them, but I actually kind of liked it. It went well with the fig and chocolate and my Cremant. Smile

Completely full, we made our way to our final stop, Bricco (with a stop at Stanza di Sigari, only to find it too crowded and just too smoky for us) for an after dinner drink. Bubbly was my choice there too; a Prosecco that was okay but not as memorable for me as either the Mirabelle or the Cremant. Prosecco just has too much of a pear flavor for me sometimes.

What a night. There was some out-loud singing of Whitney Houston songs as we tried to use social media to find karaoke bars in the neighborhood without luck. At least our fellow North End goers were treated to our beautiful song. I have to say that everything I ate and drank was really pretty great. Girls nights out are an absolute must in life, and I am so lucky to have such fun friends!

What’s your favorite way to spend a night out with friends?