eggs Archives - Hungry Travelers

eggs

Miro Tartufi spreads a luscious Istrian truffle feast

Posted on October 5, 2021October 5, 2021 by Pat and David

Miro Kortiga might do the truffle foraging, but his wife Mirjana Kortiga takes charge of the tables at Miro Tartufi (miro-tarufi.com). She began by plying us with drinks before dinner. One choice was a very sweet honey liqueur. The other was a glass of white wine made from Istria's native grape, Malvazija Istriana, known since the ancient Greeks ruled the region. Mirjana and her staff had already prepared truffle hors d'oeuvres boards at each table. They had spread thin slices of bread with a mushroom spread that included some truffles and a soft creamy cheese with flecks of grated white truffle. They did the trick: All of us on the truffle experience found our mouths watering. The two cheeses with flecks of black truffle in...Read More

Chicken meat enriches classic Greek egg-lemon soup

Posted on September 15, 2020September 14, 2020 by Pat and David

The moment we saw eggs stacked up in the Athens Central Market—all sold individually by weight!—we had an immediate hankering for egg-lemon soup. It had been one of our lunchtime standards at home even before we ever got to visit Greece. David has fond memories of the soup because he once edited a small weekly paper housed upstairs from a diner run by Greek immigrants. As he and the production crew would fuss over page layouts (this was in the day of paste-ups of paper type laid down with hot wax), they would send downstairs for cartons of egg-lemon soup. Each came with its own rolled and lightly steamed round of pita bread. The key was not spilling any eggy soup on the layouts. By...Read More

Finding a Greek solution to the zucchini problem

Posted on July 28, 2020July 27, 2020 by Pat and David

Every gardener knows the zucchini problem. When you ordered seeds in January, you were dreaming of ratatouille—maybe even of zucchini bread with sunflower seeds that turn inexplicably green. Then the reality hits about this time of summer. Zucchini sounds like a great idea. So does keeping rabbits—until you're suddenly overrun with rabbits. Or squash. Pre-pandemic, you could invite friends over, get them well lubricated, and send them home with a bag of zukes. Or bunnies. Such solutions don't work in the COVID era. The Greeks take a more pragmatic attitude toward zucchini proliferation. During the season, they throw zukes into everything. One of the tastier light dishes is a bake that falls somewhere between a frittata and an unfussy souffle. There are zillions of different...Read More

World on a Plate: Breakfast worthy of Georgia O’Keeffe

Posted on July 3, 2020July 13, 2020 by Pat and David

For us, the first flavor that springs to memory when someone mentions New Mexico is green chile. But to be honest, green chile isn't very picturesque. When it comes to picture-perfect plates from New Mexico, it's hard to beat the breakfast and brunch dishes served at the Abiquiu Inn (21120 U.S. 84, Abiquiu, N.M.; 505-685-4378; abiquiuinn.com). Conveniently located just down the road from Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch (1708 U.S. 84, Abiquiu; 505-685-1000; ghostranch.org), the inn has a nice mix of rooms, suites, and casitas. Some casitas are arranged to share central courtyards. The inn might be one of the pricier lodging options in the area, but it's worth every penny. For more details, see our post from 2018. The Abiquiu Inn's Café Abiquiu serves meals...Read More

Abiquiu Inn serves tasty dishes (and serene casitas)

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Pat and David

There aren't a whole lot of reasons to visit Abiquiu, New Mexico, 56 miles northwest of Santa Fe. Most of us come for Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived in this high-country village from 1949 until shortly before her death in 1986. O'Keeffe fans stream here to see her home and studio, visit her isolated studio at Ghost Ranch, and drink in the luminous, surreal landscapes. If they come to do all three, they likely stay overnight at the Abiquiu Inn (21120 U.S. 84, Abiquiu, N.M.; 505-685-4378; abiquiuinn.com). We did—and we were delighted. The rooms are essentially casitas. Several casitas back up on a shared courtyard, but we almost always had it to ourselves—unless you count the hummingbirds sipping nectar from the trumpet vine blossoms or having...Read More

Cafe Pasqual’s in Santa Fe also feeds the spirit

Posted on September 6, 2018September 3, 2018 by Pat and David

There's a tradition in the pantheon of Catholic saints to consider San Pasqual as the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. Paschal Baylón was a late 16th century Spanish lay Franciscan brother who was known for adding vegetables, meat, and pieces of bread to the thin broth given to the poor. Cafe Pasqual's (121 Don Gaspar Ave., 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) has been dishing out three meals a day since 1979. Founder and executive chef Katharine Kagel, originally from Berkeley, California, has kept up the charitable heritage. She helped create Santa Fe's food bank and co-chairs the capital campaign for Kitchen Angels, the group that provides free hot meals delivered to Santa Fe's homebound. In 1999, just the second year of awarding America's Classics awards, the James...Read More

Fundraiser gala fare channels Shaker spirit

Posted on August 15, 2018August 9, 2018 by Pat and David

In early August, we had the pleasure of attending the annual fundraising Gala at Hancock Shaker Village (hancockshakervillage.org). One of the more prosperous of Shaker communities in the Northeast, “The City of Peace,” as its inhabitant called it, reached its height in the 1830s. More than 300 Shakers worked 3,000 acres of land just west of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshires. Since 1959, the community has been a history museum with 20 original buildings, a working farm, a wealth of Shaker artifacts, and many excellent interpretive programs. The village's signature building is the Round Stone Barn, pictured at the top of the post. It's a landmark structure in America vernacular architecture. We ate dinner at tables in the hayloft level. Shaker beliefs...Read More

An American shortcut to Spanish tortilla

Posted on July 22, 2018 by Pat and David

Wherever we go, the local cuisine always seems to have a go-to item—something easily ordered, quick to prepare, widely available, and nearly foolproof. In much of the U.S., that's often a hamburger. In France, a slice of quiche and a salad. In Spain, it's the potato omelet, or tortilla española. You never know where you'll get a great tortilla. The lowliest dive bar serves tortilla and bars attached to fancy restaurants offer it. You can even get a decent one in the refrigerator cases in many supermarkets. The tortilla can be the model of simplicity—a magical amalgam of eggs, potato, onion, and olive oil. That's the first image on the right, shown with tomato-rubbed bread in La Gardunya at the back of La Boqueria market...Read More

Crème de la crème ignites apple crisp

Posted on October 25, 2017February 25, 2018 by Pat

On my first visit to London many years ago, I ordered a bowl of apple crumble for dessert in a casual eatery catering to students. It was so good that I went back the next night for another serving. I wanted to figure out why the dish seemed so much better than the very similar apple crisp that I enjoyed every autumn at home in New England. I finally decided that the difference wasn't the apple variety or the recipe. It was the custard that topped each serving. Thick, silky, and redolent of vanilla, the delicious custard just seemed so much more elegant than my usual scoop of vanilla ice cream. Even the custard's more formal name—crème anglaise—lent a certain sophistication to a homey dessert....Read More

Backhouse realizes Niagara’s great potential

Posted on September 25, 2017February 28, 2018 by Pat and David

Too bad the great French gourmand Christian Millau didn't live long enough to visit Ryan and Bev Campbell's Backhouse in Niagara-on-the-Lake (242 Mary St.; 289-272-1242; backhouse.xyz). In 1968, Millau revolutionized the way the French (and, given the era, the world) regarded haute cuisine when he announced that he had discovered “the best restaurant in the world” in the provincial town of Roanne. He might have said something similar had he discovered this grill-centric, hyper-locavore restaurant in a shopping strip at the edge of this Lake Ontario resort village. “Best restaurant in the world” is hyperbole, of course. But the comparison to Les Frères Troisgros is more than fair. Backhouse serves brilliant food far from the metropolitan restaurant scene. Asador Etxebarri in the small village of...Read More