You Say Brew-shetta, I Say Brew-sketta

As regular readers know, Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood knows his Italian food. So when he says that the appetizer made with thinly sliced and toasted bread topped with all manner of delicious seasonal goodness is pronounced "brew-sketta," you'd best believe him. He's also working on expanding his selection of offerings and, if you're so inclined, you can give him a leg up by voting for him in the Chase Bank-Living Social grant contest. Details below the recipe.

Caramelized Onion, Caper & Sage Bruschetta

Let me get this little detail out of the way. It’s pronounced brew-sketta. Never brew-shetta, no matter what that sweet but not Italian-speaking server might call it. End of pronunciation rant.

I needed something to put on grilled bread this week. Onions in the pantry, sage in the garden and the newly-arrived Pantellerian capers (above, on the vine) seemed like a good idea. Slice a couple of yellow onions and start cooking them slowly in extra virgin olive oil; caramelizing onions takes time, so plan on at least 40 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, chop a handful of fresh sage leaves and a couple of anchovies and add them to the pan. Rinse the salt from a tablespoon or two of Pantellerian capers, chop them coarsely if you want (spreads the capery goodness around and keeps the little spheres from rolling off the bread), and add. A few chopped cloves of garlic are a good idea, too.

Let everything cook over a low flame until the onions start to brown, stirring occasionally. Grill or toast some good bread, drizzle with a bit of extra virgin, top with the onions, sprinkle on a bit of flor de sal, and eat. Then vote for Real Good Food.

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Hi. This is Jim, and I'm applying for a business grant offered by Chase Bank and Living Social. Real Good Food needs to grow, and while the chances of getting the grant are only slightly better than winning the lottery, completing the application has been a good first step in determining the best way to expand. Part of the process is getting at least 250 people to support my application. To help me continue offering you extra virgin olive oil and other delicious stuff, please go to the Mission: Small Business home page and click on the “Log in with Facebook” link. Enter Real Good Food in the search box, choose Oregon from the pull-down menu to the right (you can skip the City pull-down), and click “Vote” when the search results come back. Thanks so much for your support!

Fungi and Farro? Far Out!

It's been deadline city on a couple of stories for FoodDay, so I apologize for the dearth of posts this last week. But fortunately contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood is still recounting his travels in Italy, so we can all be the beneficiaries of the delicious knowledge he gained there. And if you can, get some of the Pantellerian oregano he brought back…it is some of the most amazing oregano I've ever had!

It’s been almost three months since we were on Pantelleria, but I always have a little bit of the island in my kitchen. And since we went mushroom hunting while we were there, using Pantellerian flavors with mushrooms seemed right.

Farro con Funghi Pantesco

Soak and cook a couple of cups of the Bluebird Grain Farms farro. [Other farro is fine, too, but Bluebird is a small NW farm with fantastic products. - KAB] While the grain is simmering, slice a pound of mushrooms, several cloves of garlic, and a couple of anchovies (preferably salt-packed). Cook the mushrooms in a dry skillet over medium heat; they’ll give up their liquid, and when it’s almost completely cooked off, add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add the garlic, anchovies, a few big pinches of Pantellerian oregano, and a couple of tablespoons or so of capers. (You can buy salt-packed capers at New Seasons or order the Pantellerian capers from Gustiamo…if you do, get the salt-packed anchovies from them, too.) Add the cooked farro, simmer together for awhile, and eat.

Photo of Pantellerian Boletus and Agaricus Delicius from FlourishNourish.