Gravy is located near the state capitol in downtown Raleigh. It is in a nicely renovated older space with a great ceiling and big windows. My service was very gracious and helpful. As the name implies, the restaurant serves Italian-American dishes. It includes some vegetarian and vegan dishes in that repertoire.
The meal started with a very nice knot of garlicky, salty bread.
I started with this very nice Gouda cheese from a local source. I love both the texture and intensely milky taste of Gouda.
I then had this nice apple and fennel salad with a very nice balance of flavors.
My main course was this eggplant pie. It was made of slices of eggplant, cheese, and gravy/sauce, but no pasta. It was nicely hearty but not too heavy. The lack of competition from any pasta allowed the other flavors to shine through.
I didn't have room for any dessert but I relaxed and enjoyed the evening with a little coffee.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...






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