Local Choice

Happy Valentine’s Day! The cheesiest holiday of the year, and somehow I still love it. The kid version though – with the decorated shoe boxes and Disney-themed Valentines cards. Okay, and bouquets of flowers, if you really want to get them for me.

Yesterday, in honor of Galentine’s Day, my roommates and I made dinner and dessert and watched You’ve Got Mail. I could go on about how much I adore Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and what I would give to have a bookstore like The Shop Around the Corner, but I’ll spare you. Instead, I want to share the recipe we made for dinner. A simple recipe with quinoa and fresh vegetables and of course, feta cheese to top it off. So good.

Spicy Roasted Broccolini Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch broccolini, stalks trimmed
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1-2 tbsp. crumbled goat cheese (we used feta)
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Cut broccolini into bite-sized pieces, about 1 1/2 inches

3. Place broccolini on a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze the lemon over the raw broccolini and season with salt, pepper and the red pepper flakes. Toss to make sure each piece is coated.

4. Roast for 15 to 18 minutes in the pre-heated oven, until stalks are tender and the heads of the broccolini are just lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside.

5. In a medium-sized pot, combine the quinoa and vegetable stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let the quinoa cook until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

6. Once the quinoa is fully cooked, fluff with a fork, and toss in the roasted broccolini, crumbled goat cheese and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

We started off with rosemary olive bread and aged Apple Cheddar cheese we found at the Franklin Farmer’s Market from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese. We’re big on cheese and carbs in our house. Yes, I’m aware that was a poorly-phrased sentence.

Attention local wine and food lovers! Also, attention men who still haven’t planned their Valentine’s date and/or single women like myself who really have no need for a Valentine and are perfectly fine treating themselves, thank you very much.

Really, this event isn’t even on or associated with Valentine’s day, so back to business:

Sky Blue Cafe (another personal local favorite) is hosting “The Perfect Pairing”, a three-course dinner and wine night. Perl Catering created the menu and local wine-enthusiast and blogger, Lisa Mays has chosen wines from 100% Italiano to accompany the meal. That’s a lot of awesome local businesses pairing together – just look at all those links – for what sounds like a delicious and educational night.

Check out Lisa’s blog for more details and the menu. This “delicious culinary adventure” will take place Feb. 20 at Sky Blue Cafe at 700 Fatherland Street from 6-9 p.m. and costs  $69/person + tax and gratuity. Sounds like reservations are a good idea, so plan ahead!

Food trucks + local music + local artists = no, no, not heaven, but I understand your confusion. It’s Meet n’ 3 at the Nashville Farmer’s Market tonight!

Lightning 100 is sponsoring the event and many of our favorite food trucks are participating:  Riff’s Fine Street Food, Love Shack, The Grilled Cheeserie, Hoss’ Loaded Burgers, Blackbird Heritage,  Smoke Et Al, Yayo’s OMG, Wrapper’s Delight, Jonbalaya Catering and The Latin Wagon.

Throw that in with 20 local artists and crafters, live music by Striking Matches and perhaps a glass of wine or beer, and you have yourself a lovely Friday evening in Nashville.

The event takes place tonight from 6-9 p.m.and you better believe I’m getting there early to hit as many of those food trucks as possible.

The Frothy Monkey twitter has been taunting me with photos and updates about their new dinner menu and kitchen reconstruction. I have yet to make it there for dinner, but my friend, Sandra and I did stop in for breakfast today and The Monkey didn’t disappoint.

I ordered the Julie (a bagel sandwich with local eggs, feta, basil and tomatoes) and Sandra ordered the French toast.  I’m a sucker for anything with feta and The Julie had the perfect ratio of feta to basil. Delicious. The French toast was a bit skimpy but also good – the light maple syrup and visual presentation made up for the comically small slices of toast.

The Frothy Monkey is one of my favorite spots for the atmosphere, great coffee and variety of local choices. Extra points for serving breakfast until 5 p.m. and allowing patrons to bring their own wine for dinner. I should also mention that one of my favorite musicians was ordering coffee as we left (I love you, Nashville). I also love you, Frothy Monkey. I’ll be back soon for dinner.

Photos by Sandra Amstutz.

Check back soon.