Constant state of flux

Well enough about all that petty stupid personal shit that doesn't really matter all that much, this post is going to be dedicated to entirely food.

First off pasta, this probably isn't going to be coming as much of a surprise to anyone who has had even the smallest conversation with me in the last coupe of weeks, but I am near obsessed with my fresh pasta. What I really enjoy is how people are reacting to it, so dang positive. This week the pasta is very simple, mushrooms (wild blend), leeks, rainbow chard, san marzanos, truffle oil, and parsley thyme puree. Simple but I really like it, of course or else I wouldn't have put it on the menu in the first place. The pasta this week is tagliatelle, not quite as wide as paparadelle but close. Up until today we were using just the regular semolina pasta dough recipe which I have pretty much perfected over the last couple of years. Tonight while going through the cooler, I noticed that someone blanched, shocked, and pureed all the watercress left over from last weeks menu. So there in front of me was a half a gallon of bright green liquid, just begging to be utilized. Usually my pasta dough is just eggs, semolina, salt and olive oil. Tonight I omitted half the amount of eggs, and subbed a quantity of the cress puree. The resulting pasta dough was vibrant green, and lucky for me still stiff enough to keep the elusive al dente we all crave. So for the rest of the week the menu will just say tagliatelle, but it will with the green pasta. For the same reason the menu just says "mushrooms" but I am using a wild mushroom blend. I would rather people be surprised than disappointed.

Also in terms of pasta, I made my first vegan pasta dough tonight. I was a little worried about how the pasta would hold up not having the eggs as a binder, but it turned out just fine. The only problem was an easily rectifiable one, I used a bit too much water. But just to think about how this will ease menu writing, I can always think of vegan pasta ideas, that shit is easy. Tim, one of our resident vegan employees was really grateful and excited about the prospect of having vegan pasta on the menu. I think it will be a hit, while usually our vegan entrees are by far the lower sellers. The switch to pasta might just reverse this trend a little.

Other stupid food stuff.

The Ahi BLT has made a triumphant return to the b'wood menu, and first day it was vaulted to #1 status. There was a reason I brought it back, it was too popular not to.

The curried egg salad sandwich, really fucking good, surprisingly so. I put it on the menu thinking about people would enjoy it, even if I didn't. Last night I tried a little bit right after I made it, and proceeded to eat an entire sandwich. Then again, curry, eggs, mayo, how can you go wrong?

I will spare you all more details about the menu this week, but suffice to say I am happy with almost everything. The pizza with drunken golden raisins, lemon zest, gorgonzola and garlic is particularly good (to me).

I am right now writing next weeks menu though, so if any of you have suggestions, kick them my way a'ight?