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Boston Globe – November 24, 2004
The day after Thanksgiving...
Leftover dishes so good you might want to buy another turkey.
By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven
If you didn’t end up with leftover turkey this year, try making a second turkey or cooking turkey cutlets or ground turkey.
Cutlets, in our opinion, were brought to the marketplace by a culinary genius. These thin slices of turkey breast cook in minutes, and you can do everything with them that you might do with expensive veal scallopine - for much less money.Includes recipes for Mulligatawny, Curried Turkey Cutlets, Turkey Cabbage Soup and Turkey Meat Loaf.
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Recipes:
* Turkey sandwiches with chipolte spread and avocado
* Turkey soup with roasted vegetables and orzo
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The cook may be tired, but the fridge is bulging
By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent
One of the most exciting days on the culinary calendar is this Friday. The fatigued cook opens the refrigerator the day after Thanksgiving and is greeted by shelves bulging with leftovers. Faced with all those containers of cooked food -- and the possibilities therein -- the industrious home chef has to find inspiration beyond the traditional reworkings.Recipe:
* Potato-crusted turkey pot pie
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Scones are a welcome wake-up call
By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent
Every overstuffed diner around the Thanksgiving table vows afterward to forego food for several days. Don't believe them, of course. By the time morning dawns, everyone in the household has forgotten how full they were the day before. They want breakfast -- and more sweet carbs are just fine.Recipe:
* Dropped buttermilk-currant scones
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On Wine: French connection lifts Chilean wine
By Michael Apstein, Globe Correspondent
Over 100 years later, in the late-20th century, another emigration of Bordeaux wine talent has reinvigorated the Chilean wine industry. The French connection, both originally and now, explains the appealing style of so many Chilean wines made from cabernet sauvignon, a principle grape variety of Bordeaux.---------------
What kind of guest, or host, are you?
By Joseph Kahn, Globe Staff
On Thanksgiving we plan the menu and set the table, or pack up the car and the pumpkin pies, as friends and family gather to celebrate. What’s the bare minimum a guest should contribute? What might the discerning host be expected to provide, and what qualifies as over the top? Etiquette mavens agree on a few basics.Kahn includes a chart of guest contributions, from “minimum” to “overboard.”
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By Estes Thompson, Associated Press
More and more customers are buying complete Thanksgiving meals to take home, according to retailers and food-trend observers. Nearly every grocery store with a deli now offers the meals, which consumers can order in advance and pick up on Thanksgiving eve. -
Boston Globe – November 17, 2004
The Bergs expand on the standard Thanksgiving menu with fresh tastes and year-round favorites
By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent
In their Jamaica Plain kitchen, Jill and Erik Berg put their own stamp on tradition, simmering an unusual and slightly tart cranberry sauce, adding a bright splash of sauteed vegetables to the table, and including a favorite family pasta dish. Those are added to recipes the couple were given by their own mothers.Recipes:
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The best advice for selecting wine for the Thanksgiving table comes from Bob Harkey of Harkey's Fine Wine, a superb shop in Millis. ''Match the wine with the people, not the food," Harkey tells his customers.Michael Apstein includes suggestions priced from $10 to $75.
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Lemony classic for a fortunate event
By Jennifer Wolcott, Globe Correspondent
Success at lemon meringue pie starts with a good recipe and a careful hand. Nashoba Brook Bakery's Frances Grandinetti has both. The pastry chef has been making this classic American pie since she first wrapped herself in an apron. Her meringue topping boasts what she calls a ''basic Betty Crocker swirl," the lemon filling is generous, and the homemade crust is flaky and buttery.---------------
Holiday tables can sport sprouts
Finding Cinderellas among the vegetables usually offered on the Thanksgiving table might sound unlikely. But Brussels sprouts, late autumn perennials, can burst out of their drab reputations and gleam.Recipe:
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Adaptation of Indian cornmeal pudding really fills the bill
Indian pudding is a classic, though not often served anymore. The first settlers made this pudding with the Indian cornmeal that they found here. The basic formula combines hot milk, cornmeal, and molasses, which is baked for two hours. This produces a wonderfully thick concoction that may take some getting used to.Recipe:
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Colors that will bring tears to your eyes
Make room on the groaning board for mini red and yellow onions to join the little pearly whites. Pure whites are now being mixed with a gorgeous garnet and the glow of amber, which look like jewels in a box. The multicolored onions come in net bags ($1.99 to $2.99 for 10 ounces) and make a great side dish with a sweet-and-sour coating.---------------
We do make apple pies in the fall, but the number of guests at the holiday table often means two pies, or more speci.cally, rolling out four pastry rounds on a frantic cooking day. Along with all the other things to make, that seems too ambitious. So we took the same number of apples we would use for two domed pies and combined them in one baking dish.Recipe:
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Additional recipes:
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Toronto Star – November 17, 2004
The British 'domestic goddess' breezes into Toronto for a one-day visit
She adores food, abhors diets and misses her kids
Nigella came to Toronto for the first time and promoted her fifth cookbook, Feast: Food That Celebrates Life.
Nigella dips into various cultures to make meals in Feast. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentine's Day get lavish attention, as do Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Eid, not to mention wedding and funeral feasts, "kiddiefeasts" and even Halloween.---------------
Christmas means fun and feasting
Annual fair runs on weekend
Along with great cars, talented hockey players and catchy ABBA tunes, those tall, handsome Swedes certainly know how to celebrate Christmas in style.Their traditional holiday smorgasbord is such a groaning board of delights, they serve it for three days, relishing every morsel of marinated seafood.
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Gordon Stimmell reviews wines for $14 or less to pair with lemon chicken, scallops, chicken pot pie and barbecued spareribs.
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What's the latest trend in dining? Water, according to sommelier David Smuck of Epic restaurant in Toronto.Oops, make that l'eau — not tap water. The restaurant reports it has introduced a "L'Eau menu" of 25 bottled waters from around the world.
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The colour purple is chic in the kitchen
Pamela Steel finds purple – in the form of the herb, lavender – showing up on restaurant menus. Includes recipes for Lavender Crème Brûlée and Sliced Oranges with Lavender Honey.
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Grate expectations for getting that barbecue clean
An alternative to the standard brushes and scrapers is the GrillStone. It looks like a soft, crumbly pumice stone and conforms to the grate as you rub, easily stripping grease, as well as some rust, and adding a shine. The crannies where horizontal and vertical joints meet are still tricky bits.---------------
Food editor Jennifer Bain gives a few phyllo tips along with a recipe for Salad with Goat Cheese Phyllo Bundles.
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Great blog! Thanks for inviting us into your house.
So I'm prepping dinner for tonight and since I'm just working around the house all day I have my glasses on vs. my contacts. YEOWWWW! How can all of you non contact lense wearers stand to chop onions and peel shallots???
That stings!! gotta go throw my contacts in!
I don't know how they do it either. I love having that little layer of protection between my eyes and the world. Although once I went straight from chopping onions to throwing my contact lenses in, and... ouch!
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I absolutely hate nutritional yeast. I cant even stand the smell of it. But I love Frontier Cheddar and Spice Popcorn Seasoning even though it has nutritional yeast. It is terrific -- good flavor without sweetness.
I make my own seasonings sometimes. Just throw the ingedients in a food processor.
PIZZA POPCORN
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
HERB POPCORN SEASONING
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
NACHO POPCORN
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
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Boston Globe – November 10, 2004
Molly Stevens has rescued the underappreciated cooking technique with a book that extols its homey, flavorful virtues
By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent
Molly Stevens has her cookbook, “All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking,” published last month.
Now dishes such as braised short ribs are standard fare at high-end restaurants. And home cooks have gained a new appreciation for this quintessential slow technique, prizing its simplicity. At its core, ''All About Braising" is everything you need to know about comfort food. ''Braising is relaxing both for the cook and the people eating it," Stevens says as she reduces liquid in the red Le Creuset pot she used to brown the meat. ''There's nothing fussy or contrived about braised dishes. All you're doing is putting out a big pot of delicious food."
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Barrel to Bottle: It's time for Beaujolais
'Lush' 2003 vintage arrives amid anticipation
By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent
It's almost time. Next week, splashy posters in wine shops all over town will trumpet the arrival of the 2004 Beaujolais nouveau, the young and fruity French wines made from gamay grapes that are drunk the same year they're grown. Georges Duboeuf, the shipper who dominates the Beaujolais trade, is responsible for this yearly onslaught. His nouveau has a reputation for being fruity and fun, but also commercial and ordinary. Plenty of wine drinkers dismissed it -- until 2003.
A very good year for Beaujolais
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SHORT ORDERS
Good to Go: It’s a classic
The Busy Bee Restaurant is a diner with a long counter, turquoise vinyl stools and booths, and a neon sign in the window that invites you to have "a snack or a meal." And although club sandwiches for lunch and Yankee pot roast for dinner are enticing, you can't beat breakfast at a diner. It's fun to shake off the morning fog with hot coffee and a dose of banter with the waiter.
Without Reservation: The hottest pot in town
Is there a cozier meal on a cold night than a pot of warm melted cheese? Thierry Charles of the Wine Cellar, a new fondue restaurant in the Back Bay, doesn't think so.
What can you expect at a dinner party when you sit down to a place setting with three forks, four knives, and three spoons? Aside from the fact that hired help will probably be carting all that fancy flatware away, and you won't have to help wash up afterward? Those utensils mean there's a seafood appetizer coming, a steak course somewhere, and soup. (Don't slurp!) These are among the lessons of ''A Gentleman at the Table" ($14.99), a new guide to table manners by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis.
The terrain is the same, but the taste -- and the nutritional content -- is different. Pepperidge Farm's 100 percent whole wheat English muffins ($2.69 for six) have the requisite nooks and crannies, but they have an earthier flavor than their refined cousins, and a slight extra crunch.
Around Town: Headline
An evening of privately hosted dinners will take place Nov. 20 to benefit the Jewish Community Day School of Watertown.
Cookbook author Joan Nathan will speak in Gloucester on Sunday. Nathan is the author of ''Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook" (Schocken) and hosted the public television show ''Jewish Cooking in America With Joan Nathan."
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World Table: Hot Breads bakery full of the flavor -- and feel -- of India
By Jan Gardner, Globe Staff
Woburn is home to the first Hot Breads bakery in New England, pleasing many Indian immigrants.
Founded in India in 1985 by a former marketing professor, Hot Breads now has more than 100 bakeries, most situated in India and the United Arab Emirates. Other locations include Nepal, Bangladesh, and France (two are in Paris). While the shop caters to Indians, it is a fusion bakery, mixing elements of Indian and French fare and offering American goods as well. Plain and almond French croissants are here, for instance, but you can also buy croissants filled with chicken curry, chicken tikka, or Indian-style goat meat.
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Mimi Sheraton is known for writing but she's motivated by eating
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
Arnett mentions that before the interview, Mimi was participating on an eGullet thread.
Her critical eye, honed for years as the restaurant critic for The New York Times, New York magazine, and several national publications, falls squarely on food in ''Eating My Words: An Appetite for Life" (Morrow Cookbooks). Others may use food as a connection to history or to tell stories of their romances. Sheraton unravels her life in this volume, but keeps her eyes on the prize. ''Writing about food gave me just the excuse I needed to eat," she explains. ''It was, after all, my job."
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A Q&A with food writer Alan Richman
Food writer Alan Richman, contributor to GQ, Bon Appetit, and Conde Nast Traveler, wasn't always an epicurean. Originally a sports writer, he came from Philadelphia to the Boston Globe for two tenures -- 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984 -- before heading to New York and a life of foie gras and culinary excess. Recently named the dean of food writing for the French Culinary Institute, he has also just released ''Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater" (HarperCollins).
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Toronto Star – November 10, 2004
There's a need for speed when members of the oyster cult feed seafood lovers at festival
Susan Sampson went to Charlottetown to the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival.
Oyster shucking is like a cult. Bil belongs to a small fraternity (yes, mostly men) of true believers who pick up converts on the competition circuit. They make the rounds at shuck-offs and fight each other for titles like "The Shuck-King." They have shucked thousands of oysters in places as far-flung as Japan, Australia and Ireland, home of the world cup.---------------
Heavenly retreat for wine lovers
Gordon Stimmell went to Banff for the 13th annual Festival of Wine and Food at the Fairmont Banff Springs resort. He sampled 92 wines and shared his thoughts on some of them.
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Jon Filson’s Suck It Back column discusses the lack of good beer lately, and recognizes a company that just might change that.
Enter Sleeman's. For two reasons, it's great to see Sleeman's introduce a porter as a seasonal beer this winter, as part of its "John Sleeman Presents" series. For one, it's simply terrific that Sleeman's, one of the great craft breweries in this province and once an industry leader, is getting back to brewing beer — instead of focusing on über-market-friendly items like Sleeman Clear, its low-carb beer or hyping that it re-invented the can.---------------
Canadians adore their Milk Calendars, and the 28th annual rendition arrives Nov. 20 in 40 Ontario daily newspapers. The calendar even starts in December, for almost instant gratification. Chicken and pasta dishes dominate the 22 recipes, but carnivores will like Pan-Seared Steak With Caramelized Onions (December) and Mini Meat Loaves in muffin tins (September). -
Toronto Star – November 3, 2004
CLAWS AND EFFECT
Food writer Susan Sampson finds out what makes a healthy lobster.
As you head down the stairs at the Atlantic Veterinary College, the air starts to smell like the sea. Here, in a series of small rooms and labs, dubious lobsters are inspected, injected and investigated. Big, beautiful, speckled specimens scuttle in saltwater tanks. The unlucky ones lie dissected in the post-mortem room. In a lab down the hall, the fridge is stocked with pathogens and parasites. Scientists bend over microscopes and inject lobster DNA samples. Their white coats are stamped with the centre's clever and classy logo, featuring a letter L formed from the claws of a stylized lobster.
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Food writer Susan Sampson brings us to “lobster central” in Prince Edward Island.
Tourists by the busload arrive hungry to taste an Island tradition: the lobster supper. The tourists mingle with Islanders who have proudly brought along their visitors "from away." And then there are the local families celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, and conference-goers who prefer to eat and drink their fill to the raucous sounds of Celtic music.
Recipes include Lobster Salad with Spicy Lemon Dressing, Tomalley Croutons and Sweet Potato and Lobster Soup With Orange Crème Fraîche.
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Columnist Gordon Stimmell reviews inexpensive wines to go with Thai-battered shrimp, veal scallopini and saffron shrimp paella.
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So thank you Tandoori Bazaar/Apna Pizza for devising an Indian-style pizza that's so unequivocally delicious, it's bound to make a dent in our rabid consumption of plain-old pepperoni and not-truly Hawaiian pies.
Includes recipe for Bombay Bhel Puri.
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Toronto Star – October 27, 2004
White or red?
For chowder lovers, those are fighting words. They still argue the merits of creamy Boston-style versus tomatoey, Manhattan-style chowder. At the Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival, one couple lean over to tell me that a chowder simply must be creamy — anything else would be sacrilege. They are from Boston.
Includes recipes for Seafood Elyse Chowder and Southwest Seafood Chowder.
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Celebrity chef recipes include Rôti De Porc Au Lait, Kicked-Up Fiesta Loaf, and Tarragon-Shallot Egg Salad Sandwiches.
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Schoolkids learn passion for food
Columnist Marion Kane visited with Paul Finkelstein, chef turned teacher.
"Finkel," as he's affectionately known to his students, grew up in Don Mills and is married to a fellow graduate of the Stratford Chefs School with whom he has three young children. Four years ago, he joined this school where he is a popular, natural-born teacher.
As we enter his giant classroom, which, for the past month, has also operated as the Screaming Avocado Café serving breakfast and lunch five days a week, I can hardly believe my eyes.
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Peanut butter substitutes put to taste test
Food editor and writer Susan Sampson gathered young taste testers to check out five peanut butter substitutes.
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It was the best of wine values and the worst of wine values in two fascinating tastings amid a swarm of wine events in recent days. Some of the best wine buys were discovered in a Chilean blind tasting. And some of the worst among — what else? — the most expensive wines in the world.
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Boston Globe – November 3, 2004
A tale of two cheese lovers: Ryan Hardy makes it on the Vineyard
By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent
The Kentucky-born Hardy, 29, has been here for three years. Fourteen months ago, when he found out that he could buy goat's milk on the Vineyard, he began teaching himself how to make cheese. Today, diners who order the extensive cheese plate are likely to be served their cheeses -- and given an in-depth explanation -- by Hardy himself.
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A tale of two cheese lovers: Matt Rubiner brings it to the Berkshires
By Timothy Q. Cebula, Globe Correspondent
By noon on a busy Saturday, Matt Rubiner estimates he's had to say ''cheese" almost 200 times. He may not smile every time, but rest assured, he's happy.
From behind the central island counter in the bright, high-ceilinged shop, the owner of Rubiner's Cheesemongers and Grocers says, ''There's nothing that satisfies me more than being an arbiter of people's tastes."
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The fine art of making banana cake
Creating a perfect balance between flavor and texture
By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent
Most fruit-based cakes charm with their flavor and intensity. An apple cake, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, can taste boldly mellow. Blueberries sweetly dot a butter cake. Gingerbread batter guilelessly allows smacks of ground ginger to penetrate its molasses-centered crumb. Thoroughly succulent banana cake gets its flavor and distinctive texture -- moistness -- from the fruit.
Recipe: Banana cake
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SHORT ORDERS
Without Reservation: You're getting warm
At the Butcher Shop, owner Barbara Lynch's combination of wine bar and retail shop, Reynoso fashions a hearty ragu from Italian sausages; it's spicy with tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers.
Counterpoint: It’s in the bag
More fascinating than the fresh-faced and smiling retro woman on the front of the Evert-Fresh Green Bags package are the three little photographs next to her. They show you what happens to a carrot that's been stored for 50 days in one of the company's special green produce bags (it's bright and fresh-looking); then in an ordinary polyethylene bag (the carrot is covered with mold); and with no wrapping at all (poor little black carrot has shriveled to a fraction of its size).
World Table: Do you want to know a secret?
Have you ever happened upon a special place and imagined you were the first to find it? And then meted out your knowledge to a privileged few, only to find that the spot's been there for years? Droubi Bakery, a Lebanese market and pita bakery in Roslindale, is one of those places.
Good to Go: Tray cool
The music at Punjabi Dhaba, an Indian restaurant in Inman Square, is the first thing you notice. The Hindi tunes, with their swirling melodies and persistent beat, are loud -- until a customer approaches the counter with an order. Down goes the volume. When you retreat to your seat, the volume goes back up.
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Without Reservation: With citrus and spice, ceviche makes seafood sparkle
This time of year, Chez Henri chef and owner Paul O'Connell turns his cravings for bay scallops into ceviche.
Recipe: Bay scallop ceviche
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First Draft: Is this heaven? No, it's Belgium.
By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff
What makes the beer so interesting is partly the sheer variety of brews produced and the number of different ways the Belgians go about making them. They employ a range of techniques, including brewing with indigenous and exotic herbs and spices -- citrus peel and flowers; brewing with fruit; brewing with sugar; fermentation in open tanks; fermentation by wild yeast or bacteria; fermentation and lagering in oak casks; and even blending of aged and fresh beer before bottling to produce traditional Belgian beer styles, according to brewer and beer writer Horst Dornbusch.
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Homemade ramen noodles satisfy
By Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, Globe Staff
Ramen are fine yellow Chinese noodles served Japanese-style in a big bowl of broth. In Japanese noodle houses, the bowls are often very cheap and so huge they're hard to polish off. You need both a spoon and chopsticks to maneuver the morsels of meat, noodles, and broth, and when you're done, you're practically too full to leave the table. Partly because it's fun to eat, and also because it's so widely available in packaged form, instant ramen has become many children's introduction to cooking. They measure the water themselves, add the ingredients from the various packets, let the soup simmer for a few minutes, and tip the contents into a big bowl.
Recipe: Ramen with chicken
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Boston Globe – October 20, 2004
First Draft: Not your father's beer: your grandfather's
Pabst Blue Ribbon is winning back a following
By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff
At Downtown Wine & Spirits in Davis Square on a recent Friday evening, among the professionals in business suits stopping to pick up a bottle of wine or a microbrew on the way home, you're likely to see a stream of 20-somethings buying six-packs -- even 30-packs -- of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
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Farmers tell of Fair Trade benefits
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
In Nicaragua, Lopez and his cooperative grow coffee sold under the Fair Trade label, which guarantees family farmers a fair market price for their coffee, cocoa, and bananas and other fruit.
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Dinner parties can be simple and elegant
By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent
It does take some ingenuity to put together a sophisticated meal in an hour. But plan shrewdly and shop cleverly and you can succeed.
This menu begins with a mesclun salad and homemade balsamic dressing, offers salmon with a mustard crust and sauteed spinach for the main course, and finishes with individual spicy apple crisps.
* Mesclun salad with goat cheese and pears
* Roast salmon with mustard crust
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SHORT ORDERS
World Table: Spread peace
It seems like too much to expect from an olive spread -- promoting peace in the Middle East and tasting good -- but somehow, Meditalia manages to pull off both. This line of pesto sauces and tapenades, a product of the New York company PeaceWorks, is produced in Israel using olives from Palestinian villages and sun-dried tomatoes from Turkey. The seven spreads ($3.99 for 6.35 ounces) are bottled in glass jars made in Egypt.
While we don't dip them in caramel or bob for them in water, sweet, juicy, perfectly ripened pears are still a wonderful fall treat. Bosc pears, with their reddish brown skin and rough speckling, are in season now (about $1.50 per pound).
Cinnamon monkey bread has to be the most addictive yeasty treat ever. Soft, slightly sweet, and gooey, this pull-apart round bread keeps tempting you. Also known as bubble bread, it's made with little balls of dough dipped in melted butter, then layered with cinnamon sugar. Karen's Bakery in Lynnfield, owned by Dottie and Carl Wold Jr., supplies the best around.
Good to Go: You’ll be back
On a warm Saturday afternoon recently, the line at Victor's Deli in Ball Square stretched to the door. When they're not peering at the hot food behind a glass partition, customers banter loudly with one another and with Rosa Moccia, wife of Victor (left) and hostess extraordinaire.
Save some summer heat for winter
Chili peppers are among the easiest vegetables to "put by" for the cold season. And though chilies are dried so they can be kept all winter long, the drying process actually intensifies their flavor.
We Cook: Seared scallops are the ultimate fast food
Scallops are the pearls of the fish counter. The plump white rounds look especially tempting this time of year, when both small bay scallops and the larger sea scallops are harvested off our coasts. Seared in a hot pan with both oil and butter, the round jewels caramelize at the edges and become the ultimate quick dinner.
* Seared scallops with creamy spinach and yellow potatoes
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UpStairs on the Square's muhammara
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World Table: Spring rolls: a fresh approach to appetizers
By Debra Samuels, Globe Correspondent
Through the translucent wrapping on a Vietnamese spring roll, you can see curls of pink shrimp and the deep greens of basil, mint, and cilantro leaves. This healthful version of the deep-fried egg roll has become standard starter fare in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.
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Toronto Star – October 13, 2004
Raclette is the new fondue for hungry do-it-yourselfers
Canadians embrace this French meal
The popularity of raclette grills is increasing.
An electric element under the Swissmar grill heats the metal to close to 450F — perfect for searing food quickly. We gladly let our experienced hostess arrange pieces of food on the grill to cook while we melt cheese under the broiler in our trays. Then we transfer a few choice cooked morsels to our dinner plates. The grilled scallops are especially delicious.
Where to buy cheese that will melt nicely for your raclette party
Getting the goods on the grills
With four companies now selling raclette party grills in Canada, you know this trend is hot.
Tips for preparing for a raclette party.
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Each year, Canada's smallest province welcomes, feeds, entertains and soothes 1.2 million visitors. Even the ones who find it difficult to slow down. That's about eight guests for every Islander.
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Gordon Stimmell discusses Bulgaria, and some of the wines from Bulgaria that are available in Ontario.
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It happens all the time: You're standing there, staring at a wall of whisky in the LCBO, with cash to spare and a desire to try something new ... but without a clue to what brand you should be considering blowing your bucks on. So even though you know Jack Daniels has watered down its proof from 86 to 80 per cent, you grab another bottle of the same old thing, head home and wonder what might have been ....
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Boston Globe – October 13, 2004
New York: If you eat it there, you'll see it everywhere
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
Time Out New York food editor Maile Carpenter says that her staff covered about 2,000 restaurants considered important enough to explore for "Eating & Drinking 2005," the publication's sixth annual guide to New York restaurants.
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By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent
Butcher John Dewar finally got the place in Wellesley he always wanted.
The meat counter runs nearly the full length of one wall in the 1,700-foot store, and it is filled with selections such as Wagyu beef, a domestic version of Japanese Kobe beef; Kurobuta pork from black Berkshire pigs, which has more marbling than the lean pork so prevalent today; and dry, aged sirloin prepared in Dewar's Boston plant. Dewar, who carries the same Niman Ranch pork the Wellesley Whole Foods Market does, says he is not concerned about competition from the national chain. He feels that hard-to-find specialty items give his store an edge. "We're a little more daring than some other markets."
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Oil comes in all varieties. Which is up to the task?
By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent
What's different about oils -- aside from the fact that they're pressed from varying plants, seeds, grains, nuts, and beans -- is their flavor, color, texture, and, perhaps most important, their taste. An oil should not overwhelm the dish it is added to. So, too, you should not use some oils in cooking, because their taste is better if you don't heat them.
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SHORT ORDERS
Around Town: Celebrating chocolate
Massachusetts chocoholics hold bragging rights to the fact that the first production in this country was in Dorchester at a factory started by John Hannon and Dr. James Baker. Thus began our nation's obsession with the smooth, rich sweet. Continuing with the tradition, the gastronomy program at Boston University is holding its first chocolate weekend ($75, or $50 for students with ID).
Magnets for the cook who has everything
What to get for the cook who has all the best pans, the sharpest knives, the widest array of spices? Dress-the-chef magnets for the refrigerator, of course. Titled "Cora's Cookin' Now" ($9.99), this set from Erika Oller's "Fashion the Crowd Can Understand" series features a pleasantly plump chef in her undies, along with chef's whites, a dress and apron combo, and a few pastries. Please, dress this poor woman so she can bake again!
First Draft: Beer of the month
With beer halls, oompah bands, and dirndl-clad waitresses wearing Princess Leia hairdos, Munich has cornered the market on Oktoberfest. The 16-day party is over in Germany, but Boston still has the beer: Samuel Adams makes the best-selling Oktoberfest beer in the world, says Sam founder Jim Koch.
Good to Go: Slurp happy
Other than the food, the best thing about visiting Chinatown's Taiwan Cafe is watching everyone eat.
Around Town: Feast to help farmers
Celebrating the harvest can be paired with helping those who grow it at a benefit dinner at Lumiere in West Newton.
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Cookbook for kids is fun, useful
By Meg Colton, Globe Correspondent
Meg Colton, an eighth-grader at Hingham Middle School, reviews "Look and Cook" and found it to be useful for cooking with children. In addition to the recipes below, she also tried pigs in blankets and blueberry muffins.
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Pumpkin is not just for pie anymore
Pumpkins are such a welcome sign of fall that there is something warm and comforting about walking into a kitchen filled with their aroma. And the firm orange flesh, often pureed for a pie, always goes hand in hand with gingerbread spices.
* My mother's pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies
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Boston Globe – October 6, 2004
Local restaurants show less is more with inventive little creations
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
Entering the world of small takes some explanation. This current darling of the culinary world has been working its way into restaurants slowly. It all began about a decade ago, when Americans embraced tapas, the Spanish snacks sold in bars to encourage patrons to drink more. Today's small plates might borrow tapas ideas, but they also boast tastes and textures from all kinds of cuisines.
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Apples make the season sweeter
By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent
When the apple harvest comes in, it's always a little bittersweet. This may be one of the region's most beautiful seasons, but apples are the last fruit of the growing year. As fall gives way to winter, apple pickers will reach high into the trees, propping ladders on stout branches, gathering peck by heavy peck as if the taste of sweetness itself were about to head for the tropics.
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A cookbook that's by teens, for teens
The Carle sisters, Megan and Jill, like to cook. They like cheesy snacks and easy-to-prepare main dishes, and it bores them, they say, to even think about making soup stock from scratch. In short, they're the perfect people to write a cookbook for teenagers; in fact, they're teens themselves. They've been whipping things up in the kitchen since they were 3, and now they've whipped up "Teens Cook: How to Cook What You Want to Eat" (Ten Speed Press; $17.95).
Good old reliable Swiss chard ($1 to $2 a bunch) is delicious on its own but it serves as a fine conveyance for other flavors, as well.
Glass Notes: Glass act
Wine tasting is often criticized for being a subjective, to-each-his-own affair. One reason may be glassware. In the right glass, a so-so wine will show its best; in the wrong one, even a luxe sip may underperform. To level the playing field, many pros prefer to ply their trade with a glass developed by Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, the organization responsible for French wine legislation.
Good to Go: Just plain good
In a neighborhood saturated with good food, how do South End residents decide on their favorite spot? Where you eat, of course, is a mark of who you are.
Around Town: A gathering of family and friends celebrates Julia Child's life
"A Tribute to Julia," to celebrate the life of Julia Child will be held on Oct. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. Her family and friends will gather for a wine reception and to hear more than a dozen speakers at Boston University.
Joy of Baking: Crispy treat takes the cake
While a crisp, slightly tart Rome apple is one of the many pleasures of a New England fall, it gets exponentially better when sliced and tossed with cinnamon-sugar and baked between two layers of buttery vanilla-scented sour cream batter. This coffee cake is finished with a crunchy and sugary walnut topping.
Recipe: My grandmother's sour-cream apple coffee cake
We Cook: Any way you slice them, apples add flavor to meat dishes
Slip a cut-up apple or two into the beef stew pot and you get a subtle sweetness to the sauce. Add them to a pan of roasted squashes and the apples add just the right juiciness to the orange-fleshed vegetables. Before you roast a chicken, tuck some apple wedges into the cavity of the bird; they are succulent after cooking.
* Recipe: Chicken on a bed of apples and onions
Heading Out: Sean and Nora's celebrates food from every neighborhood
BARRE, Vt. -- If you're looking for Sean and Nora here, you won't find them. But the two Irish immigrants, grandparents of owner John Mayfield, are all over the menu in this homey but upscale restaurant, about seven miles from Montpelier. Located in a 19th century Victorian-style building, in a region best know for its granite industry, Sean and Nora's celebrates regional and ethnic American foods, from Germantown Wiener schnitzel to New Orleans's favorite muffuletta.
Eating with Friends: Eggplant Parmesan
In this modern version of the Italian- American classic, eggplant is baked rather than fried, and plump, ripe tomatoes are chopped and tossed with garlic, basil, and a touch of oil for a fresh, uncooked sauce. Just the right amount of mozzarella melts over the eggplant slices, and a top crust of Parmesan turns beautifully golden.
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Enjoy the fruit of your labors at a pick-your-own orchard
This article lists over 25 orchards where you can pick your own fruit.
Before you leave for picking, call the farm. Some have websites so you can check apple varieties and other activities. You can also call the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture (877-627-7476) or go to http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/apple_pyo.htm.
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* Recipe: Meat Loaf
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* Recipe: Crab cakes with hot-lime aioli
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Thanks for the report. I live in this great state, but sadly, I have not eaten in every restautant... yet. I'm adding some of your stops to my "to eat at" list.
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Boston Globe – September 29, 2004
Gourmet magazine wants its cookbook to be the go-to guide
By T. Susan Chang, Globe Correspondent
It's not every day that we experience a frontal assault on culinary history. But there is no doubt that the 1,300-page "Gourmet Cookbook" -- priced to fly at a bargain $40 -- is trying to make a statement no one will soon forget. Swathed in its buttercup-yellow dustjacket with an embossed copper metallic title, fat with the promise of easy and luscious dinners, the book arrives in stores this week amid much speculation.
Recipe: Steak Diane
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Foundation cooks up controversy
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
Arnett reports on the Boston area reaction to the controversy surrounding the James Beard Foundation.
Early this month, The New York Times reported that the foundation could not account for how thousands of dollars of revenue was spent and was under review by the New York state attorney general's charities bureau. Longtime Beard foundation president Leonard F. Pickell Jr. resigned, and last week he was accused by the newly appointed chairman, George Sape, of misusing funds in undocumented or unjustified expenses.
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Butter, eggs, and vanilla, straight up
By Lisa Yockelson, Globe Correspondent
The lightly sweetened, yeast-raised dough is created in two stages and pressed into free-form ovals. When they're puffy and enlarged, the tops are glazed with a wash of melted butter and more vanilla, then scattered with sparkling sugar, a simple but luxurious finish for yeast breads. The sugar retains its shape, crackle, and luster in a way plain granulated sugar cannot, and its light and festive crunch adds a contrasting texture to the tender interior.
Recipe: Fragrant vanilla flatbreads
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Chocolate jimmies and colored sprinkles won't do it for your kids once they discover the world of tiny animals designed to decorate their cupcakes. Xcel International produces festive toppings, assorted colored baking sprinkles in bright colors and minuscule shapes, packed in little four- and six-compartment jars.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you . . . well, you pretty much always do. Especially if it's almonds and pecans mixed with popcorn and coated in caramel glaze. But for those watching their carbohydrates, such a treat is probably off-limits. Now, however, Lincoln Snacks, makers of Poppycock, has created a low-carb version of the snack (about $2.70 for a 5 ounce box).
Good to Go: Get steamed
We've never been much for steam tables. They're too reminiscent of food courts and Old Country Buffets. And we try to ignore the lure of fast food. Somewhere in our brain, heat lamps seem to be linked to steam tables. But something in there shifted when we visited Flames Restaurant in Mattapan. Owner Linval Chambers and his staff serve fine West Indian and American food -- from red-pea soup to barbecued ribs. And the best dishes simmer in steam tables.
Our annual pick-your-own apples listing will appear next week.
Around Town: A recipe for fighting cancer
The Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have just released a fund-raising cookbook, "Great Chefs Cooking for Great Friends." With a foreward by Clio's Ken Oringer, the book includes recipes from many Boston kitchens.
After Work: Japanese bread crumbs pack a crunch
Think of panko as the superior, five-star cousin to preseasoned, finely ground supermarket crumbs. Panko is not made of rice, as some think, but rather of tiny flakes of bread ground from traditional yeast-risen dough. The most commonly available panko is white, made from the crumb of the loaf.
Recipe: Crispy chicken drumsticks
Watermelon rinds, hot peppers, and green tomatoes are all varieties of brine-fermented delicacies known as pickles. Still, the ones made from cucumber reign supreme as the king of cookouts, sandwich shops, and pregnancy cravings. Most cucumber pickles are made from kirbys, also known as pickling cucumbers. These small green vegetables are only 3 to 6 inches long, with thick middles and small, underdeveloped seeds.
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Sabra's Middle Eastern influence is spreading throughout town
By Lisa Zwirn, Globe Correspondent
On these BU menus -- and in cafeterias in colleges and hospitals all over town -- some of the most popular choices are the chickpea spread hummus, the parsley and grain salad tabbouleh, and the smooth, smoky eggplant dip called baba ghanouj. Sabra Foods has been delivering ready-made Middle Eastern specialties for 21 years. Lebanese-born Pierre Saroufim began the company by making what he knew best, using recipes from home.
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Boston Globe – September 22, 2004
Ready! Set! Assemble that dinner!
Company does the shopping, chopping, cleanup for the families' meal
By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent
The Massachusetts franchise of a two-year-old Seattle-based company, Dream Dinners is a commissary, open Thursday through Saturday, where you can go to assemble meals from ingredients provided. Customers also receive recipes and access to the equipment necessary to make the dishes on site. After several hours of work, six to 12 meals are ready to freeze until it's time to reheat them.---------------
Unripened garden tomatoes can be put to delicious use
By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff
This time, the tomato harvest is a beautiful shade of green. Unlike the ripe ones, these green tomatoes aren't good raw, which makes the deluge that much more challenging. You can't just throw them into a salad, dry them, or can them. They have to be cooked first.Recipes:
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Healthy Plate
At a Brookline school, lunch just got better
By Bev Bennett, Globe Correspondent
Concerned parents Dr. Hope Ricciotti and her husband, Vincent Connelly got a committee together to make changes to the school lunches.
This year, students can anticipate baked -- not fried -- chicken, vegetarian burritos, fresh salads with mixed greens, and lentil-barley soup. Tofu is no longer an exotic food: It's an ingredient in meatballs.---------------
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Around Town: Drinking in Art Deco
Because Prohibition overlapped with the Art Deco era of the 1920s and '30s, many of these libations became as much a part of the Art Deco movement as the Chrysler building or pastel Miami Beach hotels. In conjunction with the exhibition "Art Deco: 1910-1939" at the Museum of Fine Arts, museum restaurant BRAVO is presenting the Cocktail Hour, on Thursdays from 5:30-9 p.m. Customers can listen to live jazz piano while sipping the drinks of the times (or, if preferred, those of a more contemporary era) and may also purchase a ticket for the exhibit. Flapper dresses not required.For dim sum fans, dining can be a delicious mystery. When the cart rolls around, you don't ask; you just point and eat. But if you've ever wondered what exactly is inside that dumpling or those deep-fried whatnots, a set of flashcards from Chronicle Books ($8.95) is here to help.Without Reservation: Worth a fry
New Englanders don't know much about fried dill pickles, but they are immensely popular in the South. Now Bostonians have access to this crispy, moist, and piquant treat. Firefly's, in Framingham and Marlborough, has been serving these as an appetizer for a year -- either paired with the traditional fried green tomatoes ($4.99) or on their own ($3.99).Good to Go: A trip to the Coast
"Everything." That's what's recommended by the staff at Coast Cafe, a takeout spot in Cambridge where the food is as straightforward as the service. On a recent lunchtime visit, owner Tony Brooks was at the stove (a full five feet from the counter), replenishing his stock of collard greens. Brooks says that a few side dishes -- macaroni and cheese, collards, and sweet potatoes -- are the bestsellers on a menu that includes solid standards such as fried chicken, fish sandwiches, and pork chops.Around Town: These events fit to a tea
Tonight at 6 p.m., Harvest restaurant in Cambridge will host a five-course dinner where chef Keith Pooler will offer dishes such as salmon poached in chamomile broth.Eating with Friends:
Recipes for Pesto moro
We Cook: Pastry and plums: a fleeting pleasure
As soon as the plums arrive in the market, we begin making tortes. These take on various guises each year, from a thin, cakelike bottom to a rich, crisp pastry base.Recipe for Prune plum torte
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Lemon juice makes a pasta dish to pucker up for
By Jill Santopietro, Globe Correspondent
Lemons are an essential cooking ingredient, next to onions and carrots. But how often do we dismiss them as just another garnish? During the harvest, the lonely lemon often takes a back burner to seasonal produce. Here, lemon shines as the main component in a simple, light pasta with ingredients that are still in season on the first days of fall -- zucchini, summer squash, and mint.Recipe:
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Boston Globe – September 15, 2004
At Primo, food goes from the garden to the plate
Restaurant is uniquely connected to the land
By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff
Alison Arnett spoke to Melissa Kelly, owner of Primo in Rockland, Maine.
Here, Kelly brings to life the vision of Alice Waters, the doyenne of back-to-the-land chefs, who changed the food scene forever at Chez Panisse in Berkeley in the 1970's. At Primo, despite Maine's rocky soil and challenging climate, Kelly and her staff manage to raise most of the vegetables and the pork right on the property's 4 acres. Then that bounty is gently transformed by Kelly's creativity.---------------
An advanced guide to local brewpubs
By Ann Cortissoz, Globe Staff
Ann Cortissoz looks at ten local brewpubs from Anam Cara Publick House to Watch City Brewing Company.
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Before the season fades into fall, celebrate the last of the summer vegetables with cranberry beans. These red-streaked, cream-colored, kidney-shaped beans come in bright reddish speckled pods (about $2 per pound).Want a treat but can't have wheat? You can still have delicious cookies. Country Choice makes organic oatmeal raisin cookies (about $3.50 per box or $18 for a six-box case) that are both wheat-free and milk-free.And there's the Reef Cafe, where the Monzer family serves Lebanese food you'll remember for the next three days. Food that has you gushing to strangers and inventing errands to run in the neighborhood, just to get your hands on a plate of vegetarian kibby ($7.25).The best matzo balls, bar none,are made by Cheryl Rubin of La Bonne Cuisine caterers in North Easton. Alas, it's too late to place an order for the tender rounds made with her skilled hands -- and it's time to make tonight's Rosh Hashana dinner.September means back to school, even if you're all grown up. This might be a good time to brush up on kitchen skills, and there are plenty of cooking classes out there to help.A happy -- and tasty -- anniversary
For 30 years, the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts has been training chefs in its spot near Porter Square. On Sunday the school will open its doors to would-be chefs, professionals, and alumni to watch the school's pastry instructor, Mary Bergin, work her magic or see UpStairs on the Square's executive sous chef Tony Bettencourt cook, among others.---------------
Cultivating the Cape's famous oysters
By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent
Nowhere is the taste and texture of the oyster examined more closely than on Cape Cod, described as the Napa Valley of shellfish by fisheries and aquaculture specialist Bill Walton. Oysters grown in cold, clear water -- as on the Cape or in Canada -- have a sweetness to them, says Walton, who works at the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. Even within the Cape, conditions, and therefore flavor, vary from bay to bay and grower to grower.---------------
Shaking up the drink scene in Chinatown
By Leigh Belanger, Globe Correspondent
It's lunchtime at Lu's Sandwich Shop in Chinatown, and the tiny take-out counter is bustling with customers ordering bahn-mi (Vietnamese subs), spring rolls, and pork sausage wrapped in banana leaves. For many, lunch is incomplete without one of the thick shake-like drinks offered at Lu's, an item that is sipped and spooned for either dessert or as a midday snack by many of the regular customers here. -
Boston Globe – September 8, 2004
Will Boston get a public market?
Other cities revel in theirs while planners here still dream
By Joe Yonan, Globe Staff
To Christensen and others, a public market would help preserve Massachusetts farmland by encouraging the development of year-round crops, and it could become a gathering place for food lovers, offering inspiration to both home cooks and chefs. "As a cook there's nothing more exciting than seeing all that food," says chef Laura Brennan, owner of Caffe Umbra in the South End, which is hosting one of the dinners. "You feel tired after you spend time in a mall, but after shopping in a food market I never feel tired."---------------
Making chocolates a rabbi can love
By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent
Buhr, who stops any conversation to interject something about the chemistry of chocolate, had a full life before launching her business, Renaissance Chocolates. In her tiny kitchen, housed in a nondescript Brighton office building, she's busy folding hazelnut paste into white chocolate to make the traditional chocolate filling known as giandujia. She's working flat out these days.---------------
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We're in tomato heaven, a condition that should last for several more weeks. Though any kind of ripe, native tomato is great, heirlooms -- with their unusual colors and shapes -- can be the talk of your table. Now that word has gotten out about these prize fruits with their old-fashioned tomato taste, many farmers' markets and farm stands sell themSeptember goes quickly into autumn. Seize the brief window of opportunity and run to Legal Sea Foods' Terrace Bar, in front of the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. The al fresco bar, in its first year, is a stainless-steel horseshoe with a roof overhead and a makeshift kitchen at one end.The town of Gouda in the Netherlands may be known for its cheese, but to the Dutch, it is best loved for stroopwafels (also known as siroopwafels). These chewy treats, consisting of a layer of rich caramel or honey syrup sandwiched between two waffle-like thin cookies, have long been Holland's favorite sweet delight.There are things besides sausage at Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Saugus, but it's the deli case full of links, made on the premises, that draws shoppers like worshipers to a shrine. "We leave it alone; we make perfect stuff, and people keep coming," says owner Mike Engel, who took the store over from his father, Karl.First you grill the corn, then make a chowder
When you grill fresh ears of corn in their husks over hot coals, you never really get the kind of smoky flavor you're expecting. The husks char and the kernels steam inside them, but later, at the table, pulling back the husks to eat the ears makes a big mess. The entire process is cumbersome and leaves you thinking it might have been easier just to boil the corn. Shuck the ears and set the cobs directly on the flame and you have fine-looking corn, lightly charred, smelling almost of popped corn -- in fact, you do hear the occasional pop as the corn roasts on the grill rack. Alas, this method often makes chewy kernels. The heat of the fire seems to take the life out of the succulent corn.Recipe: Grilled corn chowder
Somewhere between pancakes and popovers lie Dutch babies. They're eaten for breakfast or brunch and ideal for cooks who don't want to stand at the stove flipping pancakes. The babies are baked -- all at once.Recipe: Dutch babies
FDA has a cow over unauthorized Greek yogurt
Fage Total Greek Yogurt had to stop sales after the US Food and Drug Administration discovered that the company did not have proper certification for interstate sales, according to Antonios Maridakis, general manager of Fage USA. "It has nothing to do with the product," Maridakis said in a phone interview from Athens. "This is not a quality issue."---------------
Kugel contest celebrates tradition, variation
By Faye Levy, Globe Correspondent
Many Jewish families make kugel for Rosh Hashana, which begins next Wednesday at sundown. Kugel is also popular for the break-the-fast meal at the end of Yom Kippur. Noodle kugel, a pudding usually made with wide egg noodles, is often served on a holiday table as part of a nonmeat meal if the kugel contains dairy products. Recipes for kugel, an Eastern European dish, are often passed down through generations, with home cooks learning to make it from their mothers and grandmothers.Recipes:
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Boston Globe – September 1, 2004
Add a layer of cake, a crumbly crust, and voilà! You've got a party
By Andrea Pyenson, Globe Correspondent
By the time September rolls around, the thrill of slurping up an ice cream cone has waned. It's time for a little more sophistication in our ice cream routine. A cookie sandwich, a crumbly crust, or cake can be delightful bonuses with ice cream. And, though an ice cream cake or pie looks like a party, the desserts are quite easy to make.Recipes:
* Coconut ice cream pie with gingersnap crust
* Coffee Heath Bar ice cream cake with butterscotch sauce
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By Sarah M. Hearn, Globe Correspondent
Ask anyone familiar with Kimball Farm about the place and they will mention the apple picking in the fall, the driving range, the quaint country store, the miniature golf course that is like no other. But then they will smile and say that what really draws them is the ice cream: ice cream so good that promises are made never to eat the chain or grocery store version again.---------------
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You put your sunflower seeds in my chocolate
As if we needed further convincing that chocolate makes almost anything taste better, the Sunflower Food Company has created chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. One handful of Sunny Seed Drops ($3.99 for 3 oz.) and you may never eat an M&M again.The Portuguese fishermen who settled along the Southeastern coast of Massachusetts in the 19th century brought along their sausages -- chorizo and linguica -- and introduced new tastes to complement our native seafood. The garlicky cured pork (chorizo is spicy, linguica smokier) is a popular base for seafood stews, says Joe Cerqueira, owner of a trio of Portuguese restaurants in Cambridge.In the swarm of great food to be found in Coolidge Corner, Takeshima, a Korean-owned Japanese restaurant, is a familiar standby. The 20-year-old place has a nice neighborhood feeling. Waitresses and sushi chefs greet everyone who comes through the door, and J Yoo, the manager, has decorated the walls with his sushi cartoons.Food you boil in a bag generally isn't much to get excited about. But the tasty Spaa Cuisine Thai creations ($3.99 each) from New England Herbal Foods practically had us doing cartwheels.---------------
It was love, but now it's gone
By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent
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Try some new twists on grilled steak
By Tony Rosenfeld, Globe Correspondent
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Recipes:
* Southwestern grilled skirt steak with a tomato salsa
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Toronto Star – September 1, 2004
The road to school is filled with kitchen gear for food lovers as we present our annual cooking school directory
As school kids and university students return to class, the rest of us can take a moment to consider continuing (or starting) our kitchen education with a cooking class.This annual list is compiled as a service to readers by requesting listings from Ontario cooking schools. The free listings are edited due to space limitations, so please verify all details with the schools directly. The Star has not visited or reviewed any of the schools for this article.
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Randy Starkman, is a Toronto Star sports reporter, spoke with David Wood. Wood had a food business in Toronto that left little time for his family. He sold his interest in the business and moved back to his family farm in B.C., where he happily makes cheese.
The Salt Spring Island Cheese Co. makes about eight flavours of goat cheese, plus a white-and-blue cheese version of goat camembert. The cheese is vacuum-packed for a two-month shelf life.---------------
Gordon Stimmell talks about Bad Dogs wine.
Calling any wine a dog seems foolhardy, but naming it Bad Dog seems downright dangerous. But with so many critter wines around - like the chunky Little Penguin wines from Oz, and the dry Thirsty Lizard, not to mention the rotund Fat Cat - I was not surprised.---------------
Susan Sampson reviews Best Summer Weekends Cookbook. Includes recipe for Grilled Mango with Ginger Coconut Cream.
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I haven't met that many celebrities, but they tend to get a lot of things -- from restaurant meals to gym memberships -- free when they travel. So I suppose it is possible that Jolie just didn't have the cash or credit cards with her that she should have. Although in my experience I have seen wealthy people who are bad tippers.
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There are so many ethnic grocery stores down your way, it seems to me it might be feasable to have some ingredients from a different one each week and then go into a restaurant kitchen of a different type and cook a meal.
This would not put too much burden on one store, they would get publicity (just look at what Huell Howser has done for some Mom and Pop places he visited) and the restaurant would also get publicity and if you timed it for a time or a day when they are closed, they would have publicity and with no loss of covers.
Many small restaurants are closed on Monday.
I would ask the grocer to choose things that would make a complete meal and then let you try to put them together, along with some staples from the host restaurant, (might have a "fusion" thing going).
I don't like the short timed versions of this. I think there should be some type of time limit but one should have a reasonable time for the decision of what to prepare and to execute.
I completely agree with this. Small businesses often will bend over backwards for free publicity, and gladly would give out some free ingredients in exchange for their show being on television. You could start with a brief business profile as an introduction to the episode, then do some cooking. With stores, they could give you ingredients to prepare and possibly cook with you on camera offering hints and tips as you cooked. For restaurants, the chef could cook in the restraurant's kitchen and you could assist.
You could do a lot of unique things as well, like visiting a caterer who helps you pack a picnic and then going to a nice local scenic place for a picnic. Or visit a local camping store for hiking food advice and then take viewers on a hike. You could talk to local food makers like people who make small amounts of salsa, jellies, or wines for stores or craft fairs and show their business and then cook things using their ingredients. Farmers markets would be a good resource too.
I love shows like this that focus on local businesses and ingredients, and by doing something like this I don't think your budget would be an issue at all because you would get a lot of free stuff.
DIGEST: The Toronto Star
in Ontario: Dining
Posted
Toronto Star – November 24, 2004
Sommelier skills
Gordon Stimmell was a judge at the Best Ontario Sommelier Competition for the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.
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Seaweed and a slice of life
Irish moss is a commodity that links a coastal community, Seaweed extract called carrageenan is a food additive in big demand
Susan Sampson traveled to Miminegash on Prince Edward Island to the Seaweed Pie Café and their seaweed pie made with Irish moss.
Includes recipes for Emeril's Spiced Irish Moss Pudding and Orange-Scented Carrageen Mousse.
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It's easy drinking Green
In this week’s Suck It Back column, Jon Filson claims that “Johnnie Walker has woken up.”
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Truffles that kick
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Singling out doubles
Jennifer Bain explores Toronto’s fast food: Trinidadian Doubles.
Bain includes the best places to get one, and a recipe for Trinidadian Doubles.
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Puerto Rican Recipes
Jennifer Bain attended the annual Association of Food Journalists conference in Puerto Rico, and shares her food experiences as well as recipes for Ritz-Carlton Muffins With Guava And Cheese and Ritz-Carlton Red Beans.