To that end, we made oven-baked buffalo wings with blue cheese and yogurt dip, brought out the chips and dip, and made a football-appropriate meal:

Ellie Krieger’s three bean and beef chili, served over roasted acorn squash, and smothered in cheese and plain yogurt in lieu of sour cream.

It was a meal that made football worthwhile.

Almost.

I miss the colors of summer.  Red tomatoes, yellow zucchini, purple scallions…

Pungent, summery herbs…

A quick turn in the pan with salt and olive oil…

And you have a fresh, healthy meal.  Or in this case, a quick snack before running into the city for dinner.

It tasted great in my Campbell’s bowl.

But it was even better the next evening, with a few generous dollops of ricotta and some freshly diced tomato sprinkled on top.

Summer loving, indeed.

Enter my current favorite granola:  Pumpkin Flax Plus.  Delicious and nutritious and available at Target.  Great with milk or yogurt.  But I have REALLY been enjoying it with the So Delicious cultured coconut milk.  It’s loaded with probiotics, and it combines the tang of kefir with the sweet, tropical hint of coconut.

Circled with bananas and with a cup of coffee, this is possibly the perfect no-cook breakfast.

The soup du jour was a roasted tomato soup.  It was rich, savory, and lightly dusted with fresh black pepper and a side of humor (the waiter earnestly asked if wanted ketchup with our soup while clutching the pepper mill.)

Mr. S.G. ordered the steak frites, and his steak was juicy, cooked perfectly medium rare, and tasted juicily delicious with the crispy fries.  I enjoyed the salad as Mr. S.G. claimed he was too full.   Hmm.

I ordered the Saturday special, pot au feu, which consisted of beef and vegetables cooked separately in a braising liquid.  It was tender, flavorful, and filling.  It was pure comfort food, plain and simple but delicious.

It seems to me that going to a French restaurant and not ordering a dessert is more sinful than simply ordering it, so I went for the glory and ordered the chocolate mousse and Mr. S.G. had the flour less chocolate cake.  The chocolate mousse was divine.  Please, please order it if you love life, chocolate, and the  pursuit of happiness.  It was creamy, smooth, and redolent of chocolate.  I would not recommend the chocolate cake – it was not served warm and was fairly bland.

And of course, the perfect meal is always punctuated by cappuccino.

The food was delicious at Rob’s and the service was very friendly.  The decor is a bit bare and the room was on the noisy side, but those are minor complaints I’m more than happy to overlook.  I’m looking forward to sampling the food at Resto in the not-too-distant future.

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Rob’s Bistro
75 Main Street
Madison NJ  

A smaller menu focuses your decision making...

I knew things were off to a good start when this arrived.  Cappuccino makes everything better.  Even getting woken up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. 

It's very Hopper meets tole chandeliers, no?

This is why I love breakfast.  The cinnamon raisin French toast was perfect – nicely crispy on the outside, melting into a silky custard texture with each bite.  Real maple syrup and fruit guilded the lily.

Mr. S.G. ordered a ham and cheese omelette which tasted as good as it looks - the ham was sliced thin and smoky, the hash browns were delicious, and the toast came with the restaurant’s signature plum preserves.  They were so good that I ate them like a dessert, without bothering to grace the toast with them.  (In part because Mr. S.G. ate it all.)

There are also smoothies and a juice bar on offer, as well as baked goods for dessert, and gluten-free options. 

I’m eager to try the sandwiches which sound promising, but in the meantime I’m excited to have a new brunch spot to enjoy while I continue to work my way through the menu at Raymond’s.

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Plum on Park
14 Park Street
Montclair NJ 07042

Corn
Asian pears (which I’ve never tried before)
Grape tomatoes
Carrots
A yellow pepper
Roma tomatoes
Chives
Red onions
White peaches
Fingering potatoes
Salad greens
And my favorite, currant raisin bread.

Yum.

To quote J.C., bon appetit!

To start, you need to prepare Perfect Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs as per this recipe, which directly precedes the salad recipe in the magazine.  And let me tell you, when they say it’s the perfect way to pan-roast chicken thighs, the good folks at BA aren’t lying.  I may never make chicken any other way.  You start off by searing the one-in, skin on thighs in a cast iron pan, and then move them into the oven where they roast to a perfectly crisp state.  It sounds simple, and it is, but the flavor – and I only seasoned with salt and pepper – is unreal.

Then, you fry up croutons in the chicken fat – and that elevates the humble crouton to dizzying heights.  I had to taste a few while Mr. S.G. was preparing the salad dressing (quality control) and the way the crispy, browned bread gives way to the unctuous seduction of chicken fat is borderline illicit.

I defied the recipe and used a spring mix of lettuce rather than butter lettuce, but it was visually pleasing and tasty.

Next time I think I’d add a bit more honey to the dressing, because it was a little tart for my taste, but overall this is fresh, delicious summertime fare at its best.

Thanks for talking me through that, guys.

A few months ago I had a craving for white pizza.  Just pure cheesy bliss, unadulterated by the rouged kiss of tomatoes.  Fortunately, Barefoot Contessa provide a stalwart kitchen companion with her recipe for White Pizza topped with Arugula.  It was perfect:  the arugula added an exotic yet healthy touch.

So I took the plunge.

My Kitchen Aid did the dance of dough.

Not quite as seductive as the dance of the seven veils.

Once you’ve swirled your water, honey, yeast, flour, and olive oil into nascent pizza dough, you can turn the dough out, knead by hand a few times, and then let it rise for thirty minutes.  Coat the dough lightly in olive oil so it doesn’t stick to the bowl.

While the dough is rising, you make garlic oil to brush the pizza with.  As B.C. would say, how bad can that be?

And it gets better.  This white pizza combines the virtue of three cheeses:  fontina, goat cheese, and mozzarella.  I discovered that I am not a huge fan of fontina while grating it.  Next time, I might try gruyere.  Mmm.

Once the dough has risen, you hand stretch individual little pizzas.  Aren’t they cute?  Glaze them liberally with the garlic oil…

…then cover them with a healthy helping of the three cheeses and douse with more garlic oil.  If you have a pizza peel you could use that, but I just covered my baking trays in parchment paper and popped the pizzas on top.  They cook relatively quickly in the oven at 500 degrees.

Unfortunately it was dark in my kitchen when the pizzas came out of the oven, but they smelled amazing.

Look at all of that oozy bubbling cheese!

Top with arugula and a light lemon vinaigrette and you have… white pizza!

Go forth and make dough, gentle readers.

We are celebrating tonight with a delicious clafouti, courtesy of Christopher Kimball’s recipe.  In honor of America’s birthday, I used both cherries and blueberries, and it worked out quite nicely.

Hope everyone had a delicious weekend.

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