¡Ché, vamos al fútbol!

Like I said in a previous post, the football season has started. Opening day was on my birthday and it was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We braved it out and even managed to tailgate. If you live in the Chicago area, get to a game - it's cheap, it's fun, and they might even win. Section 8 (in reality, section 117. The name is a reference to section 8 in Soldier's Field where the supporters were at when The Fire played there) is where we are - come over and join in!

Anyway, I got a new gas grill for this years tailgating season and I plan on being a little more adventurous in my tailgate cooking. There's a home game this weekend - we'll see how it goes.

So it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I got the pasta roller attachment for my Kitchen Aid from my mother-in law. On Sunday night, I made ravioli and last night I made tortellini.

I made two types of ravioli - cheese filled and roasted mushroom and onion filled. The cheese filling was easy:

1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped parsley

I mixed them well and put in the refrigerator to firm up.

For the other stuffing I used a recipe I found from the food channel's website:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 pound portobello mushrooms cubed without stems
1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Additional salt and pepper, to taste
Additional olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour olive oil into a skillet and saute onions and garlic for approximately 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Put the mixture in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Once cooked, place the mushroom mixture in a food processor. Add parsley and additional salt and pepper to taste. Then, while machine is running, add enough olive oil to make a smooth filling. Process until pasty, or chunky depending on preference.

There were no portobello mushrooms at the store, so I used white ones instead.

I must say, for my first attempt at creating raviolis from scratch, they came out pretty well. If I could change one thing, I would have rolled out the dough a little thinner ( I think I used a 5 setting instead of going all the way to 8).

I'll post the recipe for potato tortellini later.

So, It's Been Awhile...

It's been incredibly busy lately so I have not had much time to post. And with the football season starting two weekends ago, I have not visited many restaurants in the area. I did hit one place last Friday:

FRANCHSCOS LOUNGE
2404 S PERRYVILLE RD
ROCKFORD, IL 61108-8231
(815)332-4992

This place is supposed to be an institution in the Rockford food scene. Everyone I've talked to who lives in Rockford always asks, "have you ever ate at Franchscos? It's great!" So my wife and I were at a bar and were hungry and a friend suggested Franchscos. She said they have a band there on Fridays and Saturdays. Not in the best of moods and not feeling too adventurous, I went with the old trusty chicken parmigiana and my wife had the cheese ravioli. The chicken was not too bad: a nice breading with a good layer of mozzarella. The red sauce had a little heat to it which I liked. It wasn't your typical bland red sauce. I guess my wife liked the ravioli because there was none left when she was done.

It's not a bad place if you want to take someone out on a date or have a nice dinner with a bottle of wine. If I had my choice though, I would probably choose Lenos - a greater selection (the special salad there is the best!) and the prices are better as well. Overall though, I really liked it.