School is out and Summer Vacation is here. Working in a school related industry means that for the next few weeks I have copious amounts of free time. While my furlough will allow for lots of time in the kitchen, there will also be room for adventures outside of said kitchen. That’s what happened recently.
We decided to kick off the summer with a long weekend in Milwaukee. Many of you are saying, “Milwaukee, why?” Well, because it’s a really great city. If Chicago had a “Mini Me” it would be Milwaukee. They are both on Lake Michigan, each has a lakefront rimmed with statue laden parks and impressive museums. There are many other comparisons and I will be touching on some of them in this post. There will not be a recipe, in fact there won’t be a lot about food (though we had some great meals and spectacular dishes), but there will be a bit of beer, and even a distilled spirit or two. Yes, Milwaukee is a drinker’s city, but it is also a whole lot more. (You can explore the places we visited by clicking on the red links in this post.)
Let me start at the beginning. We stayed at the Plaza Hotel, a residence/ hotel, which meant that our room came with a complete kitchen. This little Art Deco gem is located in East Town, an area that is, of course, east of the Milwaukee River. While still considered “Downtown”, it is a grand old residential neighborhood with turn of the century houses and apartments. The housing atmosphere was reminiscent of the Gold Coast in Chicago. This was definitely a walk-able area. Short strolls took us to the lake, museums, and many lovely dining choices. It was the perfect headquarters for our adventure. We never go anywhere to just hang around our hotel however, we had places to go and sights to see.
We are Frank Lloyd Wright geeks. While I don’t like how he chose to live his life, there is no denying that the man was an architectural genius. We have been to some very interesting places in search of his work. This time we went to see his American System Built Houses which were in, for lack of a better word, the seamier side of town.
He designed these as housing for the average family. There were bungalows, duplexes, and four flats that were delivered to the site as do it yourself kits. This was pre-WWI, folks. Sadly, very few still exist. F.L.W.’s differences with the contractor resulted in the project stalling and ultimately the war made materials unavailable.
The block long row of models ran the gambit from hideously sided to beautifully restored. Still the Prairie Style Architecture shone through.
Milwaukee may be know as the Beer Capitol of America, but they have taken a leap into the distilling business as well. Long established Great Lakes Distillery paved the way, but there’s a new kid on the block (actually, a few blocks away) that is raising the standard, (no pun intended…well maybe a little), Central Standard Craft Distillery.
This place is just coming up on its second anniversary and they make some darn good spirits. The best is their vodka which is made from rye. This makes it dangerously smooth and a little fruity. They take it one step further with a Coffee Vodka that is fantastic. A collaboration with the Anodyne Coffee Company (that is just around the corner), the ingredient list is rye vodka and coffee. No artificial flavors or sweeteners involved. The Eye Opener, a concoction of this vodka, oatmeal stout, caramel, and cream was wonderful.
The crown jewel in the skyline is the Milwaukee Art Museum. It is so iconic to the city that it appears in their official logo. 
The building was designed by Santiago Calatrava and for lack of a better word, looks remarkably like a bird or maybe a sailboat (depending on your vantage point). The building itself is a work of art, but it houses a respectable collection of paintings and sculpture. The collection is decidedly American, Modern, and very approachable. Galleries are softly lit and almost intimate. There were many works by lesser known artists, but there was an entire gallery of Georgia O’Keefe, several Joan Miro paintings, and ten Marilyn’s by Warhol.
Picture taking was allowed and as luck would have it, admission was free thanks to Meijer’s Free First Friday.
In numerous trips to Milwaukee, this was our first visit to the museum…it won’t be our last (even if it isn’t free).
Milwaukee is often called “Brew Town” and rightly so. Some of the earliest breweries were founded here. Our adventure took us to the original Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery. Pabst isn’t made there any more, production happens in Los Angeles (odd isn’t it?). 
The old brewery operation which took up several city blocks, is going through a lot of development. The brew house is now a suite hotel called, what else, the Brew House. A number of buildings have been torn down and have been replaced with apartments and lofts. The area is a major work in progress. The original corporate office building however, is still much as it was when Frederick Pabst went to work there everyday. It’s now called “The Best Place” and it is a beautifully restored tavern and beer hall that gives a very entertaining and informative history lesson along with a cold one. We were fortunate to have a former employee on the tour whose insight into working there was wonderful (“I could drink beer any time I wanted”). Actually, back then, a beer break was built into the work day.
There were many other wonderful adventures and the food is outstanding. In spite of what I do in my spare time, I do not take pictures of the food that I eat in restaurants, so here’s a brief description of the best thing I ate in Milwaukee. It was a breathtaking Lemon and Pistachio Semifreddo at Onesto, a small Italian bistro in the Historic Third Ward. My taste buds remember it very clearly. Cold, creamy and perfectly balanced with lemony goodness and pistachio crunch. If you are ever in Milwaukee check it out, the pasta is homemade and the wine list is impressive as well.
See, I did manage to get something about food into this post after all. Mama D is never too far away from a great meal, a great adult beverage, or a great city.
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How to securely enclose this lovely filling? There is always butcher’s twine, but since the little torpedo was going on the grill, something that could provide a bit of protection seemed like a better choice. Enter Thick Cut Peppered Bacon. I precooked it a little before inrobing the tenderloin. It rendered a bit of the fat and ensured both of the porks would be ready at the same time. Again, butcher’s twine could have and probably should have come into service. Instead I used toothpicks, eight to be exact. Knowing the exact number is actually pretty important; it prevents someone getting an unexpected surprise.
Off to the grill it went. The wonderful thing about Pork Tenderloin is that it cooks very quickly making it a perfect weeknight meal. This was average size, weighing in at around a pound and it was ready in about 25 minutes. It rested for a few minutes while the rest of the dinner came together (in this case, steamed broccoli). 
Not to brag, but the slices looked beautiful. The filling created a perfect green bullseye on each slice.
As with any good fritatta, it is at its best when layers of flavor come together. Mama D’s Trinity (Garlic-Onions-Olive Oil) was joined by the chopped jalapeno. They cooked to golden loveliness before I added the zucchini.
The zucchini took mere minutes to cook to “al dente” creating a bed of veggie delight ready for their egg bath. The eggs were gently cooked to the point of almost being set. everyone has their own technique for cooking a frittata. I’m of the shake, lift, and be patient school. All of this paid off, and the eggs cooked to almost set perfection. As a crowning touch, I added some shredded mozzarella and roasted red pepper strips before dispatching it to the broiler.
The magic happened and the frittata came out golden and bubbly. This was the perfect size for two (we’re talking Mama D size servings here), but it could easily serve three or maybe four if you added some crusty bread, a nice salad and a killer dessert. 
These were an interesting size, labeled “Mini” Portobello, they were more like “Giant” Crimini. Whatever the nomenclature, they were the perfect size to create a base for the veggie stacks once the were stripped of their gills and given a little wipe down. The rest of the veggies were cut in thick chunks to fit nicely in the caps. Everything got popped into zip top bags and marinated in a Balsamic Vinaigrette. Any marinade of your choosing will be perfect.
There is an infomercial that offers these, but I know that mine came from a Groupon offer (thank you Loren) that is unfortunately no longer available. If you don’t have these mats, I would strongly recommend a grill pan.
This is where the time to sip wine and tend to the grill come into the picture. The veggies seem to require almost constant moving, turning, and otherwise attending too, but on a beautiful spring evening it’s a perfect excuse to spend time outside. You may notice that the onions are sporting the latest in toothpick accessories. This isn’t just for show, the picks help keep the onions together, the better for them to be a stable layer in the stack. Just remember to take them out before assembling. 
Toothpicks again came to the rescue again. Once the stacks were assembled complete with their lovely mozzarella hats, I used the picks to give them and me an extra level of security.
It was worth the effort and use of wood, not a single stack was lost. They were beautiful and ever so tasty. 
This started with equal parts of pasta and cauliflower. The “Gigli” looked a bit like the cauliflower and the combination lightened the carb load a bit. This could also be a great disguise for vegetables if that is an issue in your family. Any way, the pasta cooked to almost al dente before I added the cauliflower. I drained it all and set it aside.
I combined equal parts of Black Pepper Toscano ( this wonderfully 
creamy Parmesan cheese has made several appearances in Mama D’s recipes) and Olive Oil Rosemary Asiago cheeses (Another Mama D favorite with just the right sharpness and plenty of rosemary kick). Both of these cheeses come from Trader Joe’s, but any sharp Italian cheese would work. Emphasis on the “sharp”…a little goes a long way to create big flavor in a small package. I used about 1/2 cup shredded of each cheese and the flavor was more than satisfying.
It had the creaminess of a full dairy cheese sauce, but the chicken stock lowered the fat content nicely. While it wasn’t completely guilt free, it was darn close. This could easily serve six people, but in reality it is more like four servings, but even at that it still won’t totally break the fat and calorie bank.
