Today is the day!📅

Howdy Florida Foodie friends,

It’s Thomas Mates and I’ll be your captain today for this journey into the unknown.

[ADD YOUR BUSINESS TO THE FLORIDA FOODIE DIRECTORY]

After much hype, today is the day. We are really Hitting the Road here at News 6.

This afternoon, we will be live at Rio Pinar Golf in East Orange County and you are invited to come out and join us.

You’ll have the chance to meet our team and tell us about your community and the stories you want us to cover.

We will be going live from 4 to 7 p.m. Plus, food and drinks will be available for purchase, and I can tell you the menu is great.

OK, let’s jump in.

Macarons by mail🗼

Olivier Saintemarie was raised in Paris but he has spent a portion of his career bringing the flavors of the City of Light to Central Florida. He is in the process of opening up a bakery, La Maison Du Macaron, which will offer macarons by mail.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Candace Campos and Lisa Bell got a lesson on the finer points of macaron making — though things did not go exactly as planned for the chef.

>Check out the episode here<

Don’t forget you can also find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube.

Small bites🥑

BBQ Boom🍖: An Ocala area chef is looking to expand his already successful barbecue business. Rashad Jones opened his first restaurant last year in Ocala — Big Lee’s - Serious About BBQ — and he already has ambitious plans to expand across the country. Read all about it here.

Berry fun🍓: A “berry” fun weekend awaits you at the Palm Coast Strawberry Fest. The festival is happening at Central Park at Town Center on Saturday and Sunday. Here are all the details.

Reservations open🏰: Reservations are now open at 1900 Park Fare, as one of the most iconic character dining venues on Walt Disney World Resort property prepares to reopen on April 10. You can find the revamped menu here.

Something to try at home🍽️

I’m giving you something of a twofer.

This recipe is for one of my favorite sandwiches, the Italian beef. It is deeply savory with a hint of sweetness from the giardiniera that tops this masterpiece. No, I do not know how to properly pronounce giardiniera.

So, I will teach you how to make the giardiniera and assemble the sandwich. The best part is the giardiniera keeps for a good amount of time and goes great on really any sandwich.

This recipe comes from Matty Matheson.

Ingredients:

Giardiniera

• half a head of cauliflower, chopped into quarter-inch pieces
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 jalapenos, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 quart of white vinegar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• olive oil

Beef

• 2 onions, quartered
• 32 ounces of beef stock
• 2 pounds of chuck roast
• salt and pepper
• 4 hoagie rolls

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Generously season your beef with salt and pepper. Add the roast, onions and beef stock to the stock pot and place it in the oven to cook for 2-3 hours. You want the beef to be able to shred with you pull on it with a fork. If you happen to have an Instant Pot, you can pressure cook your beef in there for about an hour to achieve the same results. Also, for some added flavor, you can sear your roast before you braise it, but this is totally optional.

Step 2: For the giardiniera, combine all of your vegetables in a bowl and set aside. In a saucepan, combine your sugar, salt and vinegar. Place it over high heat and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally to make sure all of the sugar and salt are dissolved.

Step 3: Once the vinegar mixture is boiling, take it off the heat and pour it directly over your vegetables. Then let it sit, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.

Step 4: Once the veggies have steeped for about 10 minutes, you can drain off about three-quarters of the vinegar. Then, toss the giardiniera generously with olive oil. You don’t want to drown it, but it should be on the oily side.

Step 5: Shred your beef and place a generous portion on one of your hoagie rolls. Top the sandwich with your giardiniera and serve it with some of the braising liquid on the side for dipping. If you want to enjoy it the way they do in Chicago, then take the whole sandwich and dip it in the braising liquid before serving it.

This is not strictly a traditional Italian beef. Usually, the meat is sliced, but this is how I learned to do it. It is delicious and you won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for today.

Also, please take the time to rate and review the Florida Foodie podcast.

Send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.

Don’t forget to send in your foodie pictures as well through our PinIt! program.

- Thomas