Francesca's on Chestnut

On Friday night we had a terrific meal at the new Francesca's on Chestnut. We were fortunate enough to be served a few new items not typically on the menu. One was a large raviolo with fresh spinach and ricotta filling that contained a soft egg yolk. The raviolo was then bathed in a perfectly browned buerre noisette and dusted with parmigiano reggiano. It was almost exactly like the one we had eaten at La Cantinetta in Barolo, Italy last year (picture above), which you can read about in the post Best Meal in Barolo.

Another off-menu treat we were served was a large wedge of a bosc or red pear that had a dollop of mascarpone cheese filling the core which was then wrapped in prosciutto. It was a much better combination than the ubiquitous (and not so well balanced) cantaloupe with prosciutto everyone else serves.

A green olive topped wrapped in ground meats (pork and beef?) which was then lightly breaded and fried was quite tasty. It was a salty nibble quite appropriate for an appetizer when paired with a light sparkling wine. A salad of baby frisee with shaved fennel (finoccio) and candied walnuts rounded out the starters.

The rest of the meal consisted of familiar and delicious Francesca's fare - pork with the creamiest polenta you'll ever find, gemelli with pesto, potatoes and green beans, sauteed tilapia and so on....

It's a great addition to the Francesca's family and priced very reasonably for a near Mag Mile location.

Seared Red Snapper with Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel

Made this tasty dish a few nights ago. It was very light tasting and yet satisfying.


We roasted the thinly sliced fennel and onions with a touch of olive oil in the oven at 425 deg F until they started to soften and caramelize, about 15 minutes, stirring at least once.


Meanwhile we brought some home-grown, oven-roasted tomatoes (previously slow-roasted at 275 deg F for 3 hours with whole garlic cloves, a hint of thyme, salt and pepper) up to serving temperature in an oven proof skillet. We added the onion/fennel mixture to the pan reserving about 1 cup for later. We did not mix the onion mixture with the tomatoes, just let it fall into the tomatoes.


We then high heat seared the skin-on Red Snapper fillets in a non-stick skillet with olive oil and then placed them on top of the tomato/fennel and onions and topped with the remaining onion/fennel mixture. The entire pan was then returned to the 425 deg F oven to finish cooking the red snapper through and to give additional browning to the veggies.