Work Potluck Week Ten: Welcome to Chicago Anna!

A few weeks ago we welcomed Anna, our new Lead Teacher to the School Programs team. What better way to welcome her to Chicago than to make dishes based on Chicago neighborhoods? We each randomly drew from a cup filled with Chicago neighborhoods, emphasis on randomly.


Amanda: Little Italy
Panzanella: bread salad with Italian bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. We love carbs, but I think she made a little too much.

Duo: Chinatown. IT WAS RANDOM I SWEAR.
Cold eggplant salad: chilled boiled eggplants with garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, Szechwan peppercorns, and homemade sesame paste. I've been wanting to cook eggplants for a while, and since I knew people will be needing the stove for their hot dishes, I made the eggplants ahead of time. It's not the prettiest dish, but it is flavorful.

Greg: Lincoln Square
Assorted root beer: Lincoln Square is on the Brown line, and root beer is brown. Lincoln Square is a German neighborhood, and Germans make the best root beer. Square Roots Festival also takes place in Lincoln Square.

Jaycie: Andersonville
Swedish pancakes: Jaycie and Andersonville are both Swedish (randomness is not without a sense of irony), so she made slightly sweetened pancakes, rolled and served with jam.

Sam: Pilsen
Re-imagined churros: cinnamon sugar pitas with salted caramel and cream cheese sauce. Pilsen is famous for its multitude of great Mexican restaurants. Also, remember when I said we love carbs? We really, really love carbs.

Sarah: Lincoln Park
Bow tie pasta with garlic scape pesto: garlic scapes are the green shoots that grow from garlic bulbs. You may have seen them when you've had bulbs of garlic for a while. There's this great farmer's market called Green City Market by where we work, and Sarah picked up some garlic scapes on a whim. The pesto is made from said garlic scapes, pistachios, parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Even though garlic scapes are not as overpowering as raw garlic cloves, they still pack a punch!