by Peter Moore
Our friend Max is allergic to wheat. He is gluten-free, but not in the sense of the estimated 30% of Americans who are shunning wheat due to currently trendy pseudo-science; rather, Max is gluten-free in the sense that, if he has anything with wheat, there will be an epi-pen and ER visit involved. Continue reading
by Peter Moore
I’m having a good time here at “The Secret Restaurant” and I hope you’re having fun with the recipes. The feedback I’ve gotten has been overwhelmingly supportive and appreciative and I’m grateful—even when my mom adds the line “Not one I would try” to her Facebook share. (That was regarding the goat recipe, by the way.)
by Peter Moore
Our sunny September summer continues in the Bay Area, and there’s nothing like a big salad to enjoy at this time. I’ve always liked a Salade Niçoise and it’s pretty easy to put together—whether or not it’s particularly authentic is another question. A Niçoise is traditionally made with canned tuna, and while I’m not sure if it was a Niçoise they were making when it happened, canned tuna was responsible for the deaths of two women from Michigan who died of botulism in 1963. Continue reading
by Peter Moore
Some years ago, as a friend’s mother was recounting the events of her Mediterranean cruise, she described Greek customs officials coming on the boat in Athens: “They went through everything, they were like the goddamned gazpacho.” It works best in a Texas accent, but in any event, it forever branded this cooling Spanish soup as “the goddamned gazpacho” for me. Continue reading
by Peter Moore
I know I promised the Cassoulet/Cass-Olé recipe this week, but the photo gods did smote me mightily by making my pictures blurry—“pun”ishment comes in many forms—and it will have to wait until next issue.
What I’ve got instead is a take on eggplant parmesan made more as an individual serving rather than a warm mass of layered sautéed eggplant, cheeses, and tomato sauce. And because everything tastes better when you put an egg on it, I topped it with a poached egg. Continue reading
by Peter Moore
Goat is not so much an acquired taste as an abandoned one. People have been eating goat for centuries, just not so much in America. It’s lean and gamey and outside the comfort zone of modern American food. Middle Eastern and Mexican communities have always cooked goat, but it wasn’t that easy to find—certainly not in the supermarket meat counter.
eatdrinkfilms.com 