Adventures with Sophie

Since losing our beloved Frances a few months back, the house just hasn't felt right. Although we eventually were able to enjoy some of our newfound freedom (that we would have traded in a heartbeat to have our girl back), and of course were able to take a guilt-free trip to Europe, we were both anxious to bring a new pup into our lives.

Enter: Sophie.

The husband encountered her out on a walk with her foster mom on Stanford's campus last week. She was wearing a cheery little vest that said, "Adopt me!" So, we did.

We know a little about her. The basics, of course: yellow lab, two years old. From Idaho. Has had a litter of puppies. She is remarkably well-trained, so must have had a caring owner at some point. She's absolutely gorgeous, with a cream-colored coat and "toasted" face and tip of her tail.

The rest we have learned in the few days we have had her: she is incredibly affectionate and friendly; good with people (including children), other dogs, and cats. She does not bark at the doorbell or howl at sirens (yet). She makes happy clucking noises when you get her leash or put out her kibble. When you pull on socks, she associates it with going for a walk, and she nibbles your big toe, gently, for about two seconds.

We have been having the best time with her, which partly explains my lack of posts for the last week. And I suspect she'll be making more than than a few appearances in this blog; while we're actually feeding her dog food (in contrast with Frannie's daily hamburger and weekend roast chicken), I anticipate some food adventures with her.

So, everyone: meet Sophie, our new hungry dog.

Brown butter raspberry tart

While I'd argue that the best things about blogging are 1) being creative and 2) the free cookbooks you get for review, following closely at third is giving the world a glimpse of your perspective on food and life. And, in turn, getting a snapshot of other people's angle.

When I first started The Hungry Dog, it wasn't intended to be about food. However, it quickly became apparent that I had nothing else to talk about. At the time, I didn't read food blogs, but once I got sucked in, I began reading a lot of them. Too many, in fact, and I got overloaded. Now I just read a handful that I really like. Some I read because they have beautiful photography, or great recipes. Some are friends of mine. Most I read because I like the voice behind the blog. Perhaps because my background is as a writer and not a cook, this seems to be the most compelling reason to pluck one blog from the millions.

One of my favorites is Cook, a oui chef journal. I like the look of Connie's site, which is elegant and more artful than mine. As a trained chef, she often has useful professional advice (like how to go about choosing knives). And, I think she strikes a nice balance between writing about food in a general sense and giving a peek into her specific world.

When I saw that she made this gorgeous brown butter rhubarb tart last month, I put it immediately on my to-make list. But by the time I got around to it, I had raspberries on hand, so I decided to go with the original recipe, which is from Bon Appetit.

This is a lovely tart, extremely simple, and worth making while either berries or rhubarb are in season. It's truly not difficult: even the crust you just press into the pan. For those of you who are as crust-impaired as I am, this is a dream come true. And for something so easy, it looks more than a little bit impressive.

Fancy spaghetti and meatballs

As you may know, I have a love-hate relationship with Giada de Laurentiis. I use and like many of her recipes, as evidenced by this blog (I'm sure a search of The Hungry Dog would result in at least 15 of her recipes, maybe more). However, I dislike her for being so much better than me in every single way. This is a good example of my immaturity.

Usually, though, she makes stuff I want to eat. Hunger trumps pettiness in this house. So when I  saw her make a fancy version of bucatini alla amatriciana during an episode she filmed with her Aunt Rafi (who, incidentally, I'd like to be related to), I knew it was going on my to-try list.

Giada took a basic recipe amatriciana recipe (a staple in our house, though I use a Marcella Hazan recipe, tweaked) and as my little niece Scrappy would say, "kicked it up a nacho." She put together some delicious and simple meatballs, stuffed them with mozzarella, and served them alongside the pasta amatriciana.

This is a very good idea. While I did make some minor adjustments--I swapped pork for the veal; doubled the amount of crushed tomatoes; and used plain mozzarella instead of smoked--the overall concept is spectacular. And although it's a little more work than just making amatriciana, it's a whole lot more exciting.

The only other adjustment I'll make next time is to use spaghetti--or rigatoni maybe-- instead of bucatini. Although it's traditional with this sauce, I've always found bucatini hard to eat. The husband agreed, although he seemed happily distracted by the savory little meatballs oozing mozzarella into the spicy tomato-and-bacon sauce.

Clearly, this is not a sauce for the vegetarian. Or even for those who don't eat pork. While I think the meatballs would be delicious with ground chicken or turkey, I can't imagine a good amatriciana without pancetta or bacon. I mean, that's just tomato sauce.

It'd be hard to not to love a big bowl of this pasta, especially if you're enjoying it on a windy friday night with your sweetie and a good bottle of Chianti. In fact, I'm certain nothing trumps that.