Nothing like Nutella

Nutella, that lovely Italian spread of nuts and cocoa, raises even graham crackers to the level of treat. I really wanted some on a waffle this morning, but alas, there was no jar of Nutella in my pantry. But I did have a dark chocolate bar and some blanched hazelnuts, and I was quite pleased with the result. It was chunkier than Nutella, which has the consistency of chocolate frosting out of a can. I suppose if I wasn't in such a hurry, more processing would have made it smoother.

Choconutty spread

1 large dark chocolate bar, 4.2 ounces

1 cup whole raw hazelnuts

2 tablespoons canola oil

Break up the chocolate bar into the food processor and add the hazelnuts. Process until the mixture starts forming into a ball. Add canola oil slowly until the ball relaxes back into a smooth mixture. Makes about 1 cup of spread.

Tangy Tuscan chicken

Toward the end of October last year, I published a method for easy preserved lemons (if you missed it, click on the orange words and you'll be taken to that post with the recipe). Now that your lemons are quite soft and ready to use, you may be wondering what else can benefit from this tangy condiment.

This week's Washington Post food section has a yummy recipe for Tuscany chicken, cooked on a Tuscan grill in the fireplace. If you don't have one, you can still make this chicken on the stove in a large, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, weighting the chicken with foil-covered bricks or even a slightly smaller skillet; or on your grill, if you haven't stored it away for the winter. Just be careful and keep the heat rather low, so that the chicken cooks through before its outside is charred.

Tuscan Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

If you would like to make an aioli dipping sauce for the chicken, remove 2 tablespoons of the marinade before mixing it with the chicken and combine it with 3/4 cup mayonnaise. Refrigerate until ready to use.

MAKE AHEAD: The lemon-garlic paste can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. The chicken should marinate for at least an hour or as long as overnight.

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 preserved lemon wedges
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles removed from the stem, stem discarded
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 3- to 4-pound chicken, butterflied
• 1 tablespoon crushed red chili pepper
• Coarse salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

To prepare the marinade for the chicken, place the lemon wedges, garlic, rosemary and olive oil in a blender. (A food processor may be used, but the blender makes a more pastelike mixture.) Blend on low speed, just until coarsely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Butterfly the chicken by cutting along the backbone on both sides and removing the bone. Place the chicken breast side up on a stable surface; press down on both sides of the breast and pull out the legs to flatten the chicken. Place the chicken on a shallow platter, skin side down. Rub the cavity of the chicken with one-third of the marinade and season with half of the crushed chili pepper, salt and pepper. Turn the chicken over and rub the remaining two-thirds of the marinade over the chicken to coat the skin. Season with the remaining half of the crushed chili pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and as long as overnight.

Meanwhile, prepare a fire in the fireplace. It should be hot, but allow the flames to subside before you begin cooking. Have ready a Tuscan grill (see headnote).

Place the flattened chicken on the Tuscan grill, skin side up. Place the grill in the fire in an area where there is the least amount of heat, so the chicken won't burn before it is thoroughly cooked. Place 2 bricks covered in aluminum foil (or other heavy weight) on top of the chicken to keep it flat. Cook for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove the bricks, turn the chicken over and put the bricks back on top of the chicken. Watch the fire carefully. As the embers burn down, move the grill around or adjust the grill's height to allow the chicken to cook evenly. You will also need to watch for flare-ups and move the grill if the heat is too high. Cook, turning the chicken over every 10 minutes or so and adjusting the grill as needed, until the the skin is lightly charred, the chicken is flattened and an instant-read meat thermometer inserted in the thigh area reads 170 degrees. Cooking times will vary, but it should take 30 to 45 minutes.

From Alisa Barry, owner of Bella Cucina Artful Food (www.bellacucina.com).

Tested by Bonny Wolf for The Washington Post.

McD's turns other chic in Europe

I might consider going to McDonald's again if their Eurostyle jumps the pond. The photo shows the remodel, top, and the original, below. Which would you rather eat at? The story also noted the local foods that McDonald's provides on its menus abroad. For the full Forbes story, click here.

Berkeley Bowl West

From dealing with snow removal, to power outages, to teaching skiing part time this winter, I haven't been cooking nearly enough to blog about it. But going through some old photos, I thought I'd share this one of me shopping at the (then)new Berkeley Bowl West. While I still think the old Berkeley Bowl is perhaps the most fun shopping experience in the world, the new one just looked like food art, so clean and pristine with all the excellent produce displayed in aisles where people could actually turn around. I'm pictured with a fava bean, one of my favorite harbingers of spring in California.

If you're ever in Berkeley, be sure to stop at the old store or the new, even if you're staying in a hotel and have no need to shop. Berkeley Bowl is an icon, crammed full of the most amazing array of fresh produce, a hundred varieties of olive oil and vinegars, an aisle of artisan bread from a half dozen local bakeries, a dozen varieties of fresh wild mushrooms, avocados from XXL to small, artichokes with leaves still tighter than Mike Tyson’s fist. Berkeley Bowl West has all this, too, but the stocking is much less chaotic and there’s room to move down the aisles without playing shopping-cart chicken.

30 most important U.S. restaurants?

The 30 Most Important Restaurants in the United States and their ratings (click on the chart to see it full size), according to Opinionated About Dining:

1. The French Laundry, Yountville, Calif., 100
2. Per Se, New York, 99.73
3. Masa, New York, 99.00
4. Manresa, Los Gatos, Calif., 98.53
5. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, N.Y., 98.50
6. Mini-Bar, Washington, D.C., 98.48
7. Urasawa, Beverly Hills, Calif., 98.43
8. Jean Georges, New York, 98.30
9. Alinea, Chicago, 97.78
10. Corton, New York, 97.53
11. McCrady's, Charleston, S.C., 97.50
12. Le Bernardin, New York, 97.17
13. Sushi Yasuda, New York, 97.08
14. Guy Savoy, Las Vegas, 97.00
15. Schwa, Chicago, 96.71
16. Kuruma Sushi, New York, 96.43
17. Eleven Madison Park, New York, 96.27
18. Momofuku Ko, New York, 96.26
19. Komi, Washington, D.C., 96.11
20. Cyrus, Healdsburg, Calif., 95.93
20. Providence, Los Angeles, 95.93
22. Marinus, Carmel, Calif., 95.81
23. Town House, Chilhowie, Va, 95.73
24. Coi, San Francisco, 95.72
25. Hugo's, Portland, Me., 95.66
26. Bouley, New York, 95.45
27. Aubergine, Carmel-By-the-Sea, Calif., 95.39
28. L' Atelier de Joel Robuchon, New York, 95.28
29. O Ya, Boston, 95.16
30. Elements, Princeton, N.J., 95.04.

So where did this survey come from? Here's the bio of the Opinionated About Dining blog creator:

The OAD weblog is dedicated to publishing the dining adventures of Steve Plotnicki. Steve has been involved in dining since the age of 14 when he weaned himself off his mother's kosher cooking by forcing himself to eat White Castle hamburgers and Veal Parmigian. Now, decades later, not only is he a frequent visitor to the greatest restaurants in the U.S. and Europe, but he still manages to eat his fair share of simple food like a good hamburger or of course, a juicy pastrami sandwich.

Steve is a strong proponent of dining as a hobby. As a way of promoting the hobby, Steve moderates a discussion forum group which also goes by the name Opinionated About Dining. In addition to Steve's reviews, the OAD weblog will also publish reviews written by various members of the forum discussion group. Steve firmly believes that food criticism as it is practiced by the mainstream media is often compromised by their self interests. He feels that if you give knowledgable diners a platform where they can speak their minds, without the pressures of trying to please either publisher or reader, then diners will have access to better information than any of the well-known guides to dining can offer.

Steve lives in Manhattan with his wife and twin teenage sons. He has a day job in the entertainment industry with offices in New York and London. More importantly, he gets hungry every day.

I couldn't find the survey methodology, so I'll just add my 2 cents: The French Laundry, site of possibly the most expensive meal I've ever consumed, should be considered four hours of entertainment by the waitstaff, who appear en masse with each course and explain each dish. Of course, the great food is the star, and it's a really fun place to go as a group for lunch. Yet, I think I enjoyed the No. 20 place on the list, Cyrus, much more as a restaurant. The meal took about half the time, the waitstaff was attentive without drama, and the place was very warm and inviting. It's also $90 less per meal.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the East Coast restaurants on this list, once our budget recovers from unexpected snow expenses.

No electricity? No problem

A disclaimer: No electricity during a snowstorm also means no heat, which, believe it or not, suppresses one's appetite. Or maybe it was the coffee and hot chocolate consumed to make one FEEL warm that suppresses the appetite. Regardless, two days and a night without heat was all we could take, especially as the firewood dwindled away. We decamped into town.

Yet, I really enjoyed this dish on the first night we were without power and I thought I'd share it. I intend to make it again once the heat comes back on. Along with Meyer lemon pudding cakes (I have not forgotten them!).

Scallops coriander

Ingredients

3/4 pound scallops (the bigger, the better; look for creamy to rosy colored ones)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Ground coriander (if you have seeds, toast them a little first in a cast-iron pan over medium heat until you can smell them, cool then grind)

Sea salt

Whole pepper

Instructions

• Rinse the scallops well and pat dry. Toss with the olive oil. Season scallops lightly with the ground coriander, and grinds of sea salt and whole pepper (go very easy on the pepper as not to overwhelm the delicate scallops), and toss again.
• On the camp stove, heat a medium cast-iron skillet to very hot. Add the scallops, turn the heat to low, then stir the scallops around to brown them on all sides. Cook about 10 minutes until just firm.
• Serve immediately with a salad of baby greens and arugula, cooked baby carrots tossed with brown sugar and ginger, and a side of lemon orzo (or rice). Any juice from the pan is a good addition to the orzo or rice.

Many thanks to Stuart Leavenworth, who posted a menu on his Facebook page:

What's for dinner? Corriander chicken with preserved Meyer lemon, kale and cous cous.

It inspired me to try coriander on scallops.

Go bananas - with pancakes

It's the season leading up to Mardi Gras, and Mardi Gras always reminds me of my favorite New Orleans recipes, especially desserts. And one of my most favorite desserts is bananas Foster.

If you're not up for the formality (or effort) of flaming crepes filled with ice cream, here's a simple dessert that has much of the famed taste.

Bananas Foster Pancakes

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas

Your favorite pancake mix or recipe (about 1 cup or enough for 4 servings of pancakes)

Sauce:

2 tablespoon butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon Myers's Rum

Instructions

Mash bananas in a bowl. Add the dry pancake mix and stir. Add the liquid recommended and mix until just moistened.

Heat a griddle to medium. Spray it with olive oil. Make four large pancakes, turning when bubbles appear. Put each pancake in a bowl.

Make the sauce: Melt the butter and brown sugar until liquid and add the half and half. When bubbling, add the vanilla and stir, then add the rum and stir again. Remove from heat and pour over the pancakes. Serve. Add a scoop of ice cream on top if you'd like.

Warning: I don't even have the calorie count for this recipe, but it's totally delicious. For super decadence, double the sauce recipe.