Citius, Altius, Fortius

I must say that the answers to the pop quiz were rather amusing and also the first time in the history of the Tangled Web where no one got even close to what they really were....the kitchen gadget of the week and akin to some of the high tech equipment many real Olympic athletes are using these days.

Introducing the Food Loop. An interesting gadget I received at Christmas that thanks to the Olympic challenge, I finally got a chance to use.

So what is it? A heat-resistant, reuseable silicone food trussing tool. I have to be honest. I did have some reservations on the usefulness of this gadget especially in applications involving high heat and long cooking times (read *searing* and *braising*) but I have to admit it lived up to its hype. Extremely easy to lock together (no surgeon's knots or fancy twists) and performed admirably at high heat. Clean-up was a breeze. I just popped them into their mesh bag and tossed it on the upper rack of the dishwasher.

The application of choice? A braciole which kicked off week 2 of the Olympic challenge. Rounding out this week's menu are the following: butternut squash & prosciutto gnocchi with sage butter, white bean & sausage soup with olive parmesan cornbread, ravioli with marinara sauce (I had to sneak an easy one in there somewhere), tilapia with citrus bagna cauda, spaghetti all'Amatriciana, chicken marsala, osso bucco, and finally a white truffle & mushroom risotto to close out the Games of 2006. I'm working on the recipes and they'll be posted next weekend over in the Kitchen.