Iron Foodie 2010 - A Family Challenge

This post is our submission to the Iron Foodie Challenge being sponsored by Foodie Blogroll and Marx Foods. Why do we want to compete in this “Iron Foodie” challenge? The name of our blog answers sums it up quite well! We have been cooking together since we met 23 years ago. We love to and experiment with new ingredients and have tried to instill a love for food and exploration in our children. This challenge would give us an opportunity to try new ingredients as a family, work together to create new dishes, and most importantly to spend time together doing what we all love best: cooking and eating!

We are huge fans of Frank Oz and the Swedish Chef (Bort, bort, bort!), but if we could spend one day in the kitchen of the legendary Thomas Keller, it would be nothing short of culinary nirvana. Merely having access to the impeccable ingredients he uses would be a blissful experience. To gain insight into his attention to detail and his passion for new gastronomic achievements would be both educational and enlightening!

The morsel most likely to be plucked from a dish in our house is a dill pickle. Whether it is a Kosher “full sour” dill or a Polish “ogórek kiszony,” watch your plate or it may disappear!

As we have mentioned before, Dom grew up in an Italian community. Every Sunday his grandmother would open their house to a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends to enjoy handmade cavatelli with a meaty pomodoro sauce (made from tomatoes canned from the garden,) homemade bread with peppers in oil, and even homemade wine. It was unbelievably noisy and messy, but entirely enjoyable and memorable.

When we discussed which one mainstream food we couldn’t abide as a family, there was a heated debate which finally ended in a tie. Dom and Sonny (who could survive on tapas alone) feel that “heat and eat” hors d'œuvres are the sacrilege of the century, while Nic and I decided that instant mashed potatoes are the work of the devil and should be avoided at all costs.

Thanks for taking time to read this post, and thank you for giving us the prompts for a lively and animated conversation about food and life!