Dinner at Texas French Bread

It started as a bakery with an after hours underground dining club. Now open to more than just close family and friends, dinner at Texas French Bread is an ever-changing joyous experience.

With a menu that rotates weekly, it's printed, popped up on the chalkboard, and uploaded online in a surprisingly timely manner.

Dinner options change based on ingredients sourced from nearby farms, but don't worry they keep it nice and simple. There's usually a beef, a pork, a chicken, a pasta, and loads upon loads of veggies - plenty to please all.

Here was the menu for the week of January 25th:

Always a good idea to start with the mussels and order up a side of the frites!

This week's market salad featured a pickled watermelon radish, ever so refreshing. 

The Ravioli of the Season remains a staple on the menu that customers just can't live without. To many a dismay, it is served as an appetizer, but order up two and make it an entree! Here we have spinach with ricotta, chèvre, and peashoots.

The beef short rib of course fell right off the bone. It was perfect. I just wish it were Kosher to order two!

Brunch at Cipollina

Italian fare with a bistro vibe, Cipollina is a favorite hidden gem for those in the Clarksville area of Austin. The menu is of course seasonal, with a chef ready to give anything and everything a try. And boy, do they get creative...

Today let's talk brunch, starting with the Pork Belly Benedict (pictured below with the hollandaise on the side). A healthy portion of pork and a perfectly poached egg atop a classic Texas biscuit. Toss on a tomato and you can't get much better than that.

There's the Frittata filled with seasonally fresh vegetables, a touch of cheese, and served right up in the cast-iron skillet. It's filling, healthy, and delicious!

A side of fruit? More like a big ole bowl! Definitely a generous portion and sliced to perfection.

Paraduxx, or Pair of Ducks

I mean, how cute is this bottle of wine?!

Added bonus: it's a really good tasting Red.

Matzo Ball Soup

It's cold season in more ways than one. And one of the best cures for the cold is chicken noodle soup, or some version thereof. I still have yet to get my hands on my Grandma's chicken noodle soup recipe, but in the meantime, I came across a close comp - Bubbe's Famous Matzoh Ball Soup. 

Ingredients

1 store-bought Rotisserie Chicken

16 cups of water

6 carrots, washed and peeled

6 stalks of celery, washed

1 onion, peeled

3 parsnips, washed and peeled

1 Bay leaf

2 Tablespoons of Salt

1 cup Matzo Meal

3 eggs

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Important - cook and prep time will make this just shy of a 6-hour process, but it is so well worth it! Plus, most of that time is just letting the liquid do its own thing, so find a good movie to hunker down on the couch in between steps.

Rome, Italy

The ancient city of Rome... A power house rich with history.

ROME BY DAY

The Colosseum

Looking up and around you hear the roaring of the spectators, feel the courage of the gladiators, and you yourself feel small. 

The Ruins

Sure you can buy a pass to tour the Roman Forum, but what really amazes me is that Roman ruins can be seen just walking down the street. They are all around the Eternal City. It's amazing that the ancient architecture has been able to be preserved. They just don't make 'em like they used to…

One of the many angels lining the Ponte Sant'Angelo with a view of St. Peter's and Vatican City.

The Outermost House

The Cape Cod area - Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket - is surely known for its summer, but The Outermost House is an interesting take on the hot spot off season. Highly recommended.

Fluffy Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 cup Buttermilk *
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoon melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Bananas, preferably ripened

Growing up, we all knew Bisquick, or at least had boxed pancakes at one point or another.

But what about pancakes made from scratch? Sounds like a lot of work, right? Well, actually it is quite simple, and simply delicious. In just a few easy steps and a few short minutes one can whip up some fresh and fluffy pancakes.

Up the ante and add a little flavor. Here I find yet another use for old bananas, but you could use blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, spice - you name it.

* You could use regular milk (without too much of an impact on flavor), but the science behind buttermilk is what makes the pancake extra fluffy. Despite its name, buttermilk is not higher in fat content than most other milks, actually quite the opposite. And, buttermilk has probiotic health perks!

Amaretto, a Digestif

Amaretto has always been one of my favorite after dinner drinks, or as the French may say, a good digestif.

Recently, the good folks at Twin Liquors introduced me to a new brand - Lazzaroni Amaretto. Sound familiar? Lazzaroni is famous for their almond macaron biscuits.  

The drink has just the right amount of sweet with a hint of cinnamon and of course that delicious almond flavor. 

Go ahead, give it a try... you can thank me later.

Poinsettias for the Holidays

Each year for the holidays my Mom would fill the house with Poinsettias. Then she'd also buy a few extras for my Dad to deliver to family, friends, and neighbors, spreading around good cheer. I helped one year on the delivery wagon, "Don't forget to wish them happy holidays!" my Mom would shout out as my Dad and I backed out of the driveway.

To this day, Poinsettias bring a smile to my face. I always know the holidays are approaching when these plotted plants start making their way into the local grocery markets.

The leaves are the perfect compliment to Christmas red and green with the plant usually plotted in a gold foil pot, no less. 

Texas French Bread, a restaurant

It started with a man, a woman, a kitchen, and a darn good bread recipe. Pretty soon, word spread around, and Paul and Judy Willcott outgrew home operations with bread demands coming from all corners.

Texas French Bread has been a Willcott family success since 1981 and remains with the family to this day. For a while, Texas French Bread was a bakery and cafe solely serving up bakery items with daytime hours.

 Nowadays they're open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Menus change weekly based upon availability of fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Homemade Chex Mix or Texas "Trash"

Growing up I, like most people, thought Chex mix came in a chip-type plastic bag. Then, in walked holidays with my husband… Fresh Chex mix hot from the oven? Huh? 

Around Christmas time, his family would always make homemade Chex mix. I wasn't sure if it was a Texas thing, but either way, I was smitten in more ways than one. 

And the recipe is actually quite simple. It takes time, but just to bake, so you can kick back, relax and let the oven do all of the work!

Below is the original recipe, taken from the box of Chex cereal, in just 5 simple steps:

3 cups Corn Chex cereal

3 cups Rice Chex cereal

3 cups Wheat Chex cereal

1 cup Mixed Nuts

1 cup bite-size Pretzels

1 cup Rye chips

6 Tablespoons of Butter

2 Tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoned salt

3/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

Aluminum Baking Tray

1) Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2) Pour the Chex cereals, nuts, pretzels, and chips into the aluminum baking tray.

3) Melt the butter and stir in the worshestershire, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder until combined.

4) Pour the wet mixture over the dry mix and lightly stir to mix (trying not to break the chez).

5) Bake for 1 hour, stirring (carefully) every 15 minutes.

Serve it up in a pretty dish and you will have your guests squealing with delight as they scoop it up by the handful.

A Frito Pie at Texas Chili Parlor

After moving down South I kept hearing about this thing they called a Frito Pie, cheese ontop of chili ontop of Frito corn chips. Sounds delicious, right? So I headed on over to where I knew they had to get it right - the Texas Chili Parlor.

The chili at Texas Chili Parlor comes in three different levels of heat: mild, hot, or spicy hot. The heat level is noted as one X, two XXs, or three XXXs. Now, I like to spice up my life, but I decided to just try the double XX, and let me tell you that it packed a punch! I'll stick with level 2 for now, thank you.

Apparently, a true Frito pie is served in the bag. I'll leave that to Anthony Bourdain.