oleana

James Beard winner Ana Sortun's Oleana has been open near Central Square since 2001 with rave reviews by all that have been. Focusing on "Arabic influenced foods of the Mediterranean with a strong lean towards Turkish", this was right up T's alley, and right up mine by being a prime example of farm-to-table with most of their produce coming right from Sortun's husband's farm in Sudbury, Siena Farms.

In we headed, up the ramp (looking like a ghost), to the dimly-lit restaurant with winding turns and many smaller rooms spread about. 

We sat & enjoyed a chilly glass of wine while 

admiring the table and deciding on our meals.

We decided to split three meze courses and have an entree each. The first 6 meze course on the menu are more of spreads and small snacks, while the rest range from a shared app to a full app. We started with the spicy fideos & chicken peas with green chard and orange aioli.

I love spice, so I was excited, but sadly it wasn't spicy at all, and I also didn't taste any orange in the smear of aioli, but I did enjoy the dish as it was light and a good start.

Next we had the spinach falafel with tahini, yogurt, beets & crinkled cress.

This meze course was both T and my favorite dish of the whole night. Light, fluffy, and not even a bit dry, the spinach falafel was delicious, and especially perfect paired with the beets and the pickles on the side.

Our final meze course was the one I was most excited for. As you may know I love octopus, and feel a need to order it everywhere it is offered to get my fill. This dish seemed so perfect for me, grilled octopus carpaccio with spring pea, pepper & a spicy olive salad.

It was fine. That's it, just fine. I knew I had high hopes, but I was so disappointed. The octopus was not carpaccio, rather they were large chunks. The spring peas were delicious, but the "spicy olive salad" was not even close to a hint of spicy. There was a nicely crisped toast-like cracker under the components, which was a great touch, but the rest of the dish was just fine.

For my entree I went with the flattened lemon chicken with za'atar & a Turkish cheese pancake, one of their most famous dishes.

Oh, you can't see this picture? Me neither, because I couldn't see my food at this point. Right before our entrees the lights went low low low and we had to squint to see our food. Nevertheless, I could feel I was eating on a sort of platter, which made me feel like I was at Medieval Times or in Game of Thrones, which was exciting. The chicken was delicious, and well-prepared. Not overly lemony, a large portion, and a nice combination with the pancake, my only complaint was the fact that the cheese pancake was almost too cheesy, as I felt the cheese of choice overpowered the delicate lemony chicken flavor.

T on the other hand went with the tamarack tunis lamb with Turkish spices, pita & everything green with garlic & yogurt.  

He was in love. The dish was like a deconstructed gyro, with perfectly balanced & prepared components. The lamb was ground and made into a sausage before being grilled, which made it quite moist and "uh-mazing" (in the words of T).

For dessert we opted to split the chocolate hazelnut nightingale's nest with chocolate truffle & a fig leaf ice cream.

Perfectly portioned for our needs, the salt of the hazelnuts played well with the nest and truffle, and was overall a great dessert.

After a quick tea from their expensive coffee and tea menu, we headed out, but not before checking out the neat little bathrooms. With mirrored tiles mixed in with regular tiles, it's a nice surprise!

 

 

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simple weekend recap: edition 10

Late last week, I headed over to the new waterfront area restaurant, Trade,

 to try a few small plates (and cocktails)...

Grilled squid and fried tentacles with beans, olives and vinegar peppers

Baked mushroom and ricotta tart with lemon and endive

...before heading to Mike's Pastry for some cannolis and a lobster tail.

I made a chicken (and soup) to fend off the flu season...

 

...and a nice neighbor left some goodies from her garden 

on our porch (squash, parsley & rosemary)!

 

 

T & I tested out our new, respective, nespresso machines...

 

 

 

 

 

...while the animals rested up for the tough week ahead!

 

 

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the best chicken pot pie of all time

The deal was simple: Meim keeps me company while T travels for work, and I cook. Her dinner request: chicken pot pie. So let me introduce you to the best chicken pot pie recipe of all time!

Ingredients: 

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed 

1 cup sliced carrots 

1 cup frozen green peas 

1/2 cup sliced celery 

2 small potatoes

1/3 cup chopped onion  

Scallions, broccoli, or any other vegetables of choice (chopped)

1/3 cup butter 

1/3 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

1/4 teaspoon celery seed 

3 3/4 cups chicken broth 

2/3 cup milk 

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, celery, potatoes, and onion. Salt and pepper a bit. Add 2 cups chicken broth and enough water to submerge the ingredients. Cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Place one pie crust on bottom of pie pan, pour chicken mixture into the bottom. Pour hot liquid mixture over.

4. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Brush one beaten egg over top crust to create the darkened crispy top.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until top crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Please share this recipe sparingly as this is the best chicken pot pie recipe of all time...recommended to use only when entertaining to show off amazing cooking skills and seem like a pro (even though it's only 5 easy steps, but that'll be our little secret)!

 

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gardening and antiquing

Today was a busy Saturday filled with town plant sales, swinging by the nearby bakery, antiquing, gardening, grilling, and the first ice cream of the season.

After visiting our already-blooming flowers in our yard, T and I began our weekend with the town plant sale...a small area filled with a variety of plants, and many older ladies in pink shirts. At one point one of these ladies asked me and T who would be planting all of these plants, I obviously told her T would be responsible...and the lady smiled and responded "You're starting out the right way". Why thank you, ma'am. We ended up walking away with day lilies, lilies of the valley, purple iris, summersweet, and some rhubarb for $30...what a steal!

Next stop was the bakery across the little bridge, before returning home to begin the garden for the late spring/early summer season...Erin was too busy with her peanut butter jar to help with the weeding...maybe next time.

I am very excited for my garden. This year it includes strawberries, rhubarb, chives, garlic, parsley, radishes, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, and cantaloupe. We also have blueberries and raspberries growing in other parts of the yard. Hopefully this summer isn't too hot for my little garden!

I dragged a whining T along with me to Concord for some antiquing, making sure to hit one of my favorite shops. Nesting on Main is located upstairs on the main street of Concord. It is beautifully decorated and makes you feel immediately warm and welcome (and also offers free goldfish to eat as you look around!). The shop is filled with antiques as well as some new items with an aged feel. 

How adorable are those cork candles and the shell-filled candles?!

Luckily between Nesting and Thoreauly Antiques (Thoreau...get it? Oh gosh) I was able to pick up a few items to begin decorating the antique French glass tower T got me for our 5-year anniversary.

Dinner soon followed after working up an appetite gardening. I grilled some cedar-plank salmon with corn and asparagus...but I'll talk about that later!

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