At Il Sogno, Andrew Weissman’s Italian restaurant in the Pearl Brewery complex, 200 E. Grayson St., this dish is featured among the array of antipasti.

Fennel, Apple and Celery Root Salad

1 Granny Smith apple, sliced paper thin
Celery root, or celeriac, sliced thin, to taste (see note)
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin with fronds reserved
Olive oil, to taste
Salt, to taste
Trace amount of lemon juice, to taste

Note: When slicing the celery root, or celeriac, use about as much as you use apple.

Toss apple, celery root and fennel bulb together in a non-reactive bowl with a little olive oil, a pinch of salt, or more to taste, and a splash of lemon juice. Add some finely minced fennel frond. Serve immediately.

Source: Andrew Weissman/Il Sogno

Sign is in place a Culinary Institute Wednesday. Photograph by Elizabeth Johnson-Kossick, CIA.

It took two or three crane trucks, lots of workmen and interested onlookers to get the new, 20-by-20-foot square Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio,  sign up on the newly expanded school this afternoon.

“It looks fabulous,” said one white-coated CIA student, taking photos during the placement. Under a hot sun, the sign-raising also raised some sweat on brows, but a light breeze started up just as the sign was finally being hoisted into the air.

To everyone’s relief, the breeze calmed down, so the sign, with a base made of perforated metal, didn’t try to take off. It was slowly placed in its final position above the front entrance to the San Antonio campus of the CIA.

Classes begin this month. The new school will be celebrated at an opening on Oct. 9.  Check out the CIA website for more information.

Sign approaches final positioning over front of the institute.

Photographs by Bonnie Walker

Sautéed Shrimp with Margarita Sauce

1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 tablespoon red bell pepper or zucchini or tomato, diced
2 tablespoons pure olive oil
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
5 local, wild-caught shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons triple sec and tequila (1:1 ratio)
1/4 cup organic black beans
1/4 cup organic coconut milk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cook the rice according tot the package instructions, adding 1 tablespoon red bell pepper or other vegetable.

When the rice is done, tightly pack it into two 4-ounce ramekins. turn out the molded rice onto two serving plates.

Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté them for 1 minute.

Add the shrimp and sauté them for 3 minutes. Add the lime juice and cook for another minute. remove the pan from the heat and deglaze the pan with the liquors. Return the pan to the heat and add the beans, coconut milk, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for a minute or two longer to reduce the pan sauce; then serve.

Makes 2 servings.

From “The Harvest Eating Cookbook” by Keith Snow

Basil

The flavors of summer combine in this refreshing, simple salad.

Bibb, Basil and Mint Salad

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 head Bibb or butter lettuce, leaves torn
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/3 packed cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/3 packed up fresh mint leaves, chopped

In a salad bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and oil until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lettuce, fennel, basil and mint and toss well.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Adapted from “Giada at Home” by Giada De Laurentiis

Use fresh fava beans when they are available.

Fresh fava beans or frozen lima beans work equally well in this recipe. “Be careful not to overcook the beans, as they can turn an unattractive gray,” Giada De Laurentiis warns. “Red snapper, with its pinkish hue, is a quite flavorful white fish that works perfectly with the fava beans. Finish it off with a drizzle of really good-quality extra virgin olive oil.”

Red Snapper with Fava Bean Purée

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled, or 1 1/2 pounds frozen lima beans, thawed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) center-cut red snapper fillets

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the beans. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the beans are tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain the beans and reserve 1 cup of the broth. If using fava beans, when the beans are cool enough to handle, pop them out of their outer pods, discarding the pods. Combine the fava or lima beans and reserved broth in a blender or food processor. Add the mint and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until brown and the center is just opaque.

Divide the fava bean purée among 4 serving plates. Place a fillet of red snapper on top of the purée. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

From “Giada at Home” by Giada De Laurentiis

Roasted Cauliflower

5 cups cauliflower florets
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss the cauliflower in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place in a roasting dish and cook until the cauliflower begins to brown slightly, about 15 minutes.

The roasted flavor of the cauliflower makes many dishes special, such as cauliflower soup, fresh salads, pizza or mashed cauliflower.

Makes 2-4 servings.

From “The Harvest Eating Cookbook” by Keith Snow

CiCi's pizza buffet.

CiCi’s Pizza has opened a location at 2335 S.W. Military Road.

The new south San Antonio location will employ 40 people, while offering patrons an endless pizza buffet for $5.49 a person.

CiCi's Pizza Italiano

“We’ve been a part of the San Antonio community for years, and we’re excited to bring yet another CiCi’s location to the area,” franchisee Tommy Marlin said. “CiCi’s endless buffet offers so many choices, there’s something for everyone in the community, and every family member to enjoy.”

CiCi’s offers a variety of unique pizzas, including Macaroni & Cheese, Mexican Pizza Olé and Spinach Alfredo. The latest is the Italiano, a thin-crust pizza with several cheeses, sausage and a special spice blend.

Hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Click here for more information.

What they have in common is that they are both tie-ins to TV shows and feature plenty of pretty pictures of food. Yet neither has little writing in them to rob you of an extra second to spare.

So don’t look for a lot of technique here. Instead look for sound recipes that come together quickly. Snow even provides prep times as well as cooking time, so you can have Roasted Cauliflower on the table in no time. Snow says you should be able to prep the vegetable in two minutes and cook it in 15, so it’s ready in 17 minutes. Whip that up while you’re working on Sautéed Shrimp with Margarita Sauce, which takes 10 minutes of prep time and 25 minutes of cooking.

What is Harvest Eating? Snow answers in his brief introduction: “Harvest Eating is not a fad diet. Rather a lifestyle of cooking and eating using methods that have been practiced for centuries all over the globe. The method is simple: Buy foods that are fresh and in season; then prepare them using whole, natural ingredients produced by farmers, not chemists. If your second-grader can’t read it, you definitely don’t want to eat it.”

Snow breaks down his recipes into the seasons, using an icon to differentiate among the dishes. That doesn’t always work here in South Texas; the better advise would be to use whatever is freshest at the farmers market, mixing and matching what is available now, no matter what the rest of the country is eating.

If I prefer Snow’s work to De Laurentiis’, it could be because so many of the recipes and few tips that the Food Network star seem old hat. “Chimichurri is the A1 sauce of Argentina,” she writes as a preface to one recipe. “Italians love lentils and cook them in lots of creative ways,” she burbles in another. Some of her information is helpful, though: “Leftover caponata will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to a week. Toss with warm pasta, serve on top of meat, chicken or fish, or simply serve it with some toasted bread or crostini.”

Essentially, though, the usefulness of “Giada at Home” boils down to whether you like De Laurentiis’ Cal-Ital approach to cooking. After leafing through the book on several occasions, I came to the conclusion that I don’t. A few recipes were intriguing, but more often than not, I kept flipping pages hoping to find something I might make. For every Bibb, Basil and Mint Salad or Red Snapper with Fava Bean Purée, there were too many dishes like the sickly sweet sounding Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops or the yawn-inducing turkey meatloaf.

No amount of photos of De Laurentiis in her kitchen or dining with friends could make up for the cavernous gastronomic pauses.

Your tastes could be wildly different. Just take the time to leaf through the both books before deciding.

The top attraction at such events is, of course, the radiant bride-to-be. On the food side of things, it was a tray of cookies on the refreshments table that stole the show.

This famous cookbook title decorated one of The Cookie Lady's frosted sugar cookies.

The sugar cookies, frosted with famous cookbook titles, such as “Joy of Cooking,” Julia Childs’ “Art of French Cooking” and “The Fanny Farmer Cookbook,” weren’t just there for looks.

“It took me years to develop that recipe,” said Sandy Kelso, co-owner of The Cookie Lady, at 1031 Patricia Ave.  As any cookie baker knows, as simple as a sugar cookie might seem, a perfect recipe is a masterpiece indeed. So, we didn’t push (well, not too hard) for Kelso’s recipe, as it is an important part of her livelihood.

Kelso partners with her daughter, Hallie Rodgers at the store. The business has been in operation for six years and in addition to decorated cookies, Kelso and Rodgers and three full-time bakers, plus other part-time staff,  make a full lineup of other cookies and baked goods, such as muffins and cakes. Their chocolate chip cookies are the top sellers, with the oatmeal, dried cranberry and white chocolate cookies coming in second. She also makes snickerdoodles, two other types of oatmeal cookies, pecan sandies and more.

“We don’t do any cake decorating. We bake the cakes, but send them out for the decorating,” Kelso said.

The frosted cookbook cookies go for around $1.50 each. Decorated cookies in general are between $1 and $2, says Kelso.

Kelso also gets big orders from companies such as USAA, plus weddings and other special orders. Without a doubt, Christmas is Kelso’s busiest time.

“By mid-November, we’ll be totally booked, but we do keep a waiting list,” Kelso says.

That’s more than two months away, but I’m getting in line now.

Contact Kelso at 210-342-6428.

Photograph by Catherine Boone

Saffron threads suffuse food with a dusky, exotic flavor and golden color.

Q. I love the color and flavor of saffron, especially in paella, but it’s expensive. Can you substitute other seasonings when it is called for in a dish, such as achiote or turmeric?     — K.W.

A. Saffron is one of the world’s more exotic flavorings, used since ancient times and difficult to harvest. The thin threads are pricey, but the flavor is really what makes it all worth it. It has a dusky perfume that suffuses anything from delicate rice dishes or hearty stews. It’s delicious with fish or chicken and a perfect seasoning for slow-simmered lentils or garbanzo beans.

If it is just a pale golden or slightly orange color you want to impart to food, and all you have on hand is turmeric, a pinch or two of this less-expensive spice, in dried form, is OK to use. Fresh turmeric (from the rhizome, part of the root system, of a tropical plant) has a more pungent flavor, and is good on its own terms, not just as a substitute for saffron.

Achiote (from annatto seeds, from a tropical evergreen plant)  is mild in flavor but will yield a more reddish-orange color. It is used to color some cheeses, for instance, as an alternative to artificial colorings that might cause allergic reactions.

The reason for saffron’s expense is first that while the saffron crocus grows in places throughout the planet, it doesn’t grow just anywhere. The stigma, or threads that are the female part of the plant’s reproductive system, must be painstakingly hand-harvested from the blossom of a type of crocus plant. But a little saffron goes a long way, and it’s a valued addition to any good cook’s spice cabinet.

Photograph by Bonnie Walker

Island Coleslaw

Looking for a different take on your coleslaw? Try this Caribbean version from Trinidad and Tobago, where ripe fruit is plentiful and the combination of it with the cabbage is delicious.

Island Coleslaw

1 small head green cabbage, shredded small
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
2 small oranges, pith and seeds removed
1/2 cup diced mango
1 cup plain yogurt
Pinch of salt, or to taste
Dasheen or spinach leaves, for serving (optional)

Mix cabbage, pineapple, orange and mango. Stir in yogurt. Salt to taste. Serve either in a bowl or on a bed of dasheen, leaves of the taro plant, or spinact leaves.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Adapted from “Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival” by Dave DeWitt and Mary Jane Wilan

The chef and owner of the Lodge Restaurant of Castle Hills and Bin 555 among others, has announced that he’s continuing his specials through the end of September.

The menus will change weekly, he says, but three-course lunches will be offered for $15 and three-course dinners for $35. The specials will be available at the Lodge, 1746 Lockhill-Selma; Bin 555 at Artisans Alley, 555 W. Bitters Road; Tre Trattoria, 4003 Broadway; and Restaurant Insignia in the Fairmount, 401 S. Alamo St.

For more information, call 210-349-8466.

Bruce Auden of Biga on the Banks, 203 S. St Mary’s St., also reminded us that his restaurant has a three-course dinner special every evening for $37.

The official Restaurant Week concludes tonight. For more information, click here.

In other restaurant news, Freebirds World Burrito has opened a new location. It’s at 125 N.W. Loop 410 in the Plaza del Norte center.

Cuzco Salad at Biga on the Banks.

The ongoing Restaurant Week has been a great opportunity to sample the culinary riches of San Antonio at an affordable price. The latest we’ve tried was the avocado-friendly menu at Biga on the Banks, 203 S. St. Mary’s St.

The first course was a choice between an avocado soup and a Peruvian-influence Cuzco Salad. Both were well worth trying.

The soup was velvety, with plenty of avocado flavor. Offering a delightful contrast to the smoothness was some pico made from orange, jicama and shrimp that added immeasurably to an already-wonderful dish. It was also beautifully presented in a martini glass.

Halibut with cilantro rice at Biga on the Banks.

The salad, meanwhile, was a zesty assortment of marinated red onion, avocado, sweet potato, posole and more tucked into butter lettuce leaves.

For the main course, I couldn’t resist achiote pork tenderloin in a lively cinnamon-laced tomato sauce. Guacamole was perched atop the slices of moist meat, while roasted fresh summer corn and plantains rounded out the plate. Again, the presentation, this time on a banana leaf, added to the enjoyment.

Another option was tortilla-crusted halibut – which chef Bruce Auden and his staff provided without the tortilla – topped with an avocado purée and served with chayote squash and an excellent cilantro rice that had everyone raving.

A third option is quail atop multi-colored, house-made fettuccine in a lemon cream sauce. No avocado, but the dish was just fine with the pasta being a standout.

You can continue the avocado fix into dessert, if you choose. There’s a delicate avocado mousse with a lime lift that arrived with a scoop of coconut ice on top and an array of fresh fruit, including perfectly ripe cubes of pineapple, on the plate. For those who don’t eat sweet avocado on a regular basis, the flavor will be exotic, but the creaminess of the mousse is pure comfort.

Chocolate cake at Biga on the Banks.

Chocolate lovers, though, will find it hard to resist the dense, rich cake, which gives you a feeling that you’re eating both fudge and cake. A generous slice with a touch of chocolate whipped cream was gone almost before I had a taste.

The cost of the three-course meal is $35 during Restaurant Week. Many of the dishes are offered on the regular menu.

For more on Restaurant Week and the participating restaurants, click here.

The crab cake at Tost.

If you’re celebrating Restaurant Week, with its series of specially priced meals at a host of eateries across the city, then you may want to consider the four-course special dinner at Tost Bistro, 14415 Blanco Road.

The dinner menu begins with a choice of crab cake with red cabbage slaw over creamed corn (with a rich chipotle mayo on the side) or succulent Kurobata pork belly with kimchi. Second course is a choice of fresh soup (vegetable with summer corn the night we visited) or a spectacular salad with watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, blue cheese and garlic croutons.

Braised short ribs at Tost.

The main course is a choice of the fish of the day or braised short ribs that fell apart at the touch of a fork plated with mashed potatoes and fresh pickles. The evening is capped off with beignets and a chocolate dipping sauce.

The cost is $35 for the meal, plus the restaurant has a series of wine specials each evening.

Beignets at Tost.

For a full list of restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, which is sponsored by Culinaria, click here.

When we met, the two were about to have their first and only child. Now 20, Brad is studying accounting at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Ruth was over last night to catch up, have some wine and Mediterranean food and watch a movie. During the evening she got a text from her son who now watches over his mom. He was checking to see if she’d taken care of the flat tire she’d had earlier in the day on her car, and if she needed a ride.  That was worth a smile.

Today, I thought of that banana cake as I looked at two very, very ripe bananas in my kitchen and argued with myself whether it would be: banana smoothies or banana cake? You see here which won out!

The recipe is from Southern Living’s “Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies.” I had to cut this recipe in half and substitute half-and-half for buttermilk. I added a teaspoon of lemon juice to the half-and-half and used a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of baking powder. The single-layer cake turned out just fine.  I’m going to whip up the Luscious Lemon Frosting for the cake as soon as it has cooled.

Decadent Banana Cake

2 1/2 cups plus 5 1/2 tablespoons cake flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 cup buttermilk
Luscious Lemon Frosting (recipe below) or frosting of your choice
Banana chips for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat unsalted butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add granulated sugar and light brown sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

Beat in mashed bananas at low speed. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium speed until just blended after each addition. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks and let cool 1 hour before frosting.  Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired.

(Cake, in photo above, has sifted powdered sugar over the top.)

Luscious Lemon Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (32-ounce package) powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons half-and-half

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Stir in lemon zest and juice. (Mixture will appear curdled.) Gradually add sugar; beat at high speed 4 minutes or until spreading consistency. Gradually beat in up to 2 tablespoons half-and-half, if necessary, for desired consistency.

Makes 1 two-layer cake and frosting for a 2-layer cake.

From Southern Living’s “Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies”

The event, part of a nationwide effort, runs from 5 to 8 p.m.

All money raised will go to Catholic Charities of New Orleans, which will, in turn, benefit the education of the children of fishermen hit hard by the oil spill, says Jennifer Milikien, who is working on the fundraiser. “Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster), Colleen Pence (@colleenpence) and Luis Sandoval, Jr. (@luissandovaljr) are all actively involved in this event, and Social Media Club, Social Media Breakfast of San Antonio and TweetBabes are all organizational sponsors of the event,” she says.

The theme of the evening is Bingo for the Beach, and Texas Tide will be playing beach music and old favorites during the evening. An oil-themed bingo game and other events are scheduled during the evening.

The cost is $10 a person, which includes a bingo card as well as admission.

For more information on the national event, click here.

Pecan-crusted Fried Chicken is the featured main lunch dish at Citrus

Citrus, at the Hotel Valencia on Houston Street, stepped up to the Restaurant Week plate in fine style on Monday. On the $15 prix fixe menu was a salad of baby greens, tomatoes, pecans and olives that couldn’t have been fresher or more carefully dressed. The Pecan-crusted Chicken entrée, on mashed potatoes was full of crunch and good, nutty  flavor. It said a lot for this Texas-style preparation of chicken-fried chicken.

Citrus brought the meal to a happy conclusion with a trio of citrus and tropical sorbets that set the taste buds tingling.

This meal is featured throughout Restaurant Week for $15; a $35 per person prix fixe dinner is also on the menu.

Check out more restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, sponsored by Culinaria. The event goes through Saturday.

Photographs by Bonnie Walker

• 

  Party food from Godai Sushi Bistro

  Godai Sushi Bistro, 4553 N. Loop 1604 W., is now open for lunch and dinner. For more information, call (210) 492-9262.

• Bellacino’s Pizza & Grinders, 6044 FM 3009, has closed, according to the rumor mill. The phone has been disconnected. If the story is true, it would be a loss for those who lived in the area and enjoyed the toasty grinders that they served as well as the great ice cream dishes.
• Also, Restaurant Week continues at a host of restaurants. Specials include three-course, $15 lunches and $35 dinners. Click here for more details.

I’m a sucker for chocolate pudding and all of the comfort it brings, so picking a type was easy. So was the assembly. Stir 2 cups cold milk into the pudding mix, which is made from organic cane sugar, organic cornstarch, organic cocoa and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until it begins to thicken. This will take some time, so have some music or the TV on the background to keep you entertained while you stir and stir.

Stirring pudding takes time.

I actually like the way you sense the starch begin to do its job and thicken as it slowly moves from liquid to a silky surface over the bottom of the pot and the wooden spoon. Then it gradually gets richer and denser until the pudding forms. You’re not through stirring yet, but the aroma of the chocolate that fills the air makes any effort worth it as you finish off the dish before pouring it into cups.

The flavor is less sweet than most American pudding (Dr. Oetker comes from Canada), which makes it even more inviting.

One 4.5-ounce box, which makes four servings, sells for just under $2 at Sun Harvest.

Oak barrels will be cut in half and people can stomp for fun. You can also purchase T-shirts and put your own “stomp prints” on them as a souvenir.

Concessions will be by Fired Up Wood Oven Baked Pizza.

Hours for the stomps:  Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. ;  Sunday, Noon-6 p.m. Becker Vineyards is 11 miles east of Fredericksburg off U.S. Hwy. 290 at Jenschke Lane .  830-644-2681.  www.beckervineyards.com

Through Sept. 29, patrons will receive a free bottle of wine with the purchase of two adult lunches or dinners. The choice is between two Chilean favorites from Casa Lapostolle: the Cuvée Alexandre Merlot or the Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines regularly sell at the restaurant for $60 or more.

Reservations are required. If you make them online at fogo.com, then mention “Wine 2010″ in the comments box. If you prefer to make your reservations over the phone, call 210-227-1700 and mention the promotion at that time.