I've been noticing as of recent that a lot of restaurants have a "dip" on their menus. By this statement, I'm not implying, a hummus or a spinach artichoke sort of dip, but a dressed up dish that is meant for sharing and typically is accompanied by crusty bread or crudities. Pulino's has an entire section on their menu, which they call "bruschette," dedicated to dips; Avoce Columbus serves a warm ricotta dip to all of its diners gratis; Ward III in Tribeca has a blue cheese and walnut terrine; you name it, a lot of restaurants are jumping on the dip bandwagon! It's an easy item to order with a group or to share with that special someone and a nice way to wet your palette.
So I thought on this positively balmy April Wednesday, I too would jump on the dip bandwagon. I'm envisioning this dip being eaten on a rooftop overlooking Manhattan with glasses of Channing Daughters Rosati di Merlot and crusty toasted baguette slices -- a perfect end to the day.
My dip is meant to highlight one of spring's classic ingredients - Peas! I personally love peas year round, but the frozen kind that one is forced to buy over the course of the winter does not even begin to compare to the little delicacies that you find at your local greenmarket come springtime. In the spring, you tend to find three different varieties of peas fresh: english, sugar-snaps, and snowpeas. Each pea type provides you with a healthy dose of Vitamins K and B6, along with folic acid -- essential nutrients for strong bones and cardiovascular health. Spring's peas are fresh, flavorful, sweet, and delicate and that is why we are going to incorporate all three pea varieties into the dip.
So lets get going on our locavore springy dip:
Let's start by lightly sauteing two cups of fresh English peas and one cup of fresh Fava Beans with extra virgin olive oil, one diced shallot, salt and pepper. Now we will place the peas and fava beans into a food processor with 2 oz of a fresh Montchevre herbed crottin goat's cheese and about a dozen basil leaves. Blend till coarsely chopped up. Place this mixture to the side. This will be combined with Salvatore Brooklyn's Ricotta, made by Besty Devine and Rachel Mark with milk from Hudson Valley Fresh, a non-profit co-operative of upstate farmers. What you get is a lovingly made, really unique ricotta cheese that has that crave-able quality of good fresh ricotta, mixed with the creamy unctuousness of a triple cream, and even the tangy, grassy, lighter notes of a fresh goat cheese. Moving along, you will combine a pound of the ricotta with your coarsely pureed pea mixture so that you get a white and green swirl of a dip. This will be topped with a sprinkling of pine nuts, a handful of thinly diced snowpeas, a few basil leaves, a drizzle of both extra virgin olive oil, a light sprinkle of sea salt, and some freshly ground pepper. Serve with slices of warm crusty baguette and the crisp, crunch of fresh Sugar snap peas. Enjoy the weather ladies and gents!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Day Fifty - Eight : A salad for a veritable summer day in the beginning of April
Today's high was 78 degrees and it is April 6th, sound bizarre to you? Sounds like global warming rearing its head to me. Don't get me wrong, I do not mind in the slightest! As the temperatures creep up, I seem to crave a diet of salads, sorbets, frozen yogurts, fruits, and gazpacho -- light and airy foods that do not leave you feeling heavy after you have ingested them!
So I thought since I was wearing a little silk sundress and just a cardigan in the beginning of April, no coat, no hat or anything, I had to give you all one of my favorite summer salad recipes. This is perfect to bring to a picnic in the park or to have while sunbathing on the beach -- its got fruits, vegetables, cheese, and nuts all tossed together into one dish, simple, delish, and nutritious.
The ingredients for the salad are:
Baby Spinach
Sliced Fresh Strawberries
Slivered roasted almonds
Gorgonzola Dolce - The sweeter and younger sibling of its more piquant and grownup relatives. This cheese has that blue cheese-ness while maintaining a creamy, crumblyness all at once. If you are not the biggest blue cheese fan, this baby is not overwhelming but is delish and packs a nice subtle punch! Perfect with all the other ingredients of the salad.
Poppy seeds - I know this might sound bizarre but the slight crunch and tang of the poppy seeds adds an excellent dimension to the salad, nutritious and delish.
The salad is topped with a homemade shallot vinaigrette which is simply a sauteed shallot mixed with extra virgin olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar, and Maille's Honey Dijon Mustard - sweet and savory, a perfect dressing for the ingredients of this salad.
Toss everything together and serve with a crisp white like a Sancerre. Enjoy the weather ladies and gents!
So I thought since I was wearing a little silk sundress and just a cardigan in the beginning of April, no coat, no hat or anything, I had to give you all one of my favorite summer salad recipes. This is perfect to bring to a picnic in the park or to have while sunbathing on the beach -- its got fruits, vegetables, cheese, and nuts all tossed together into one dish, simple, delish, and nutritious.
The ingredients for the salad are:
Baby Spinach
Sliced Fresh Strawberries
Slivered roasted almonds
Gorgonzola Dolce - The sweeter and younger sibling of its more piquant and grownup relatives. This cheese has that blue cheese-ness while maintaining a creamy, crumblyness all at once. If you are not the biggest blue cheese fan, this baby is not overwhelming but is delish and packs a nice subtle punch! Perfect with all the other ingredients of the salad.
Poppy seeds - I know this might sound bizarre but the slight crunch and tang of the poppy seeds adds an excellent dimension to the salad, nutritious and delish.
The salad is topped with a homemade shallot vinaigrette which is simply a sauteed shallot mixed with extra virgin olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar, and Maille's Honey Dijon Mustard - sweet and savory, a perfect dressing for the ingredients of this salad.
Toss everything together and serve with a crisp white like a Sancerre. Enjoy the weather ladies and gents!
Day Fifty - Seven (albeit a little late) : Marriage Mondays - Shittake Mushrooms
With the risk of sounding trendy, like "black is the new black," let me just make the statement, umami is so hot right now. By that, I mean there is resurgence in Western interest in the sensation of and flavor profiles associated with umami. If you are drawing a blank as to what umami is, no it is not a name for a fish that you would potentially order at a Japanese restaurant, it is described as savoriness. A taste that has been adopted from Japanese culture and is considered the fifth taste, after sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and sourness.
In a Sake and Food Pairing class I assisted in Monday night, we had a sake and grilled shittake mushroom pairing which was described as umami so I got to thinking, ding, that was what I was going to do for Marriage Mondays! Shittakes paired with three different cheeses, one of which will be a match made in Umami heaven and one of which will be on the road to Umami divorce and the last of which is a possible match, left for you to decide whether or not it is a success.
So lets get going with our Shittakes, Cheeses, and Umami!
Let me first discuss how I envision the shittakes to be prepared. They should be roasted with some olive oil, fresh rosemary, garlic, a little shallot, and salt and pepper. I recommend placing the mushrooms in the oven for around 20 minutes at a medium heat.
So now that the shittakes are out of the way, lets get onto the cheeses:
1. Match made in Umami heaven - Roasted Shittakes topped with melted shavings of aged Parmesan, the quintessential umami pairing. Umami is recognized and achieved by the taste receptors on your tongue, identifying the presence of a naturally occurring amino acid typically found in meat, cheese, broths, stocks, and select protein rich foods, typically known as glutamate. When you taste the mushroom with the cheese, you get that puckery, salty, savoriness on your tongue that characterizes that certain "je ne sais quoi" of umami. This pairing is excellent as an hors d'oeuvres, or as an appetizer on a bed of greens or as a main tossed with pasta. The thing that makes this a successful pairing is the fact that both of the separate ingredients have an umami quality on their own and when put together, you get an aha moment. I would pair this with a nice spicy Tempranillo or a smooth Malbec, you need to have a red wine with character to go with this pairing.
2. Potential Match - Roasted Shittakes topped with Roquefort cheese. A favorite of Charlemagne, this King of Cheese, has been made for centuries from sheep's milk in the caves of Combalou in Auvergne in the midi-Pyrenees in France. It is the quintessential blue cheese, spicy, pungent, puckery, sweet and sharp all at once. Most people find blue cheese to on occasion give you that umami taste on its own - savoriness all rolled up into a ball of one cheese, I find this in say Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue for example. However, it is sometimes found in Roquefort as well, it does have the highest level of glutamates of any cheese. Roquefort and roasted shittakes is a potential match pairing for our Umami Matchmaking. Why you might ask? If Shittakes definitely have that umami quality to them and Roquefort can have that same quality, then why wouldn't this pairing work? You might disagree with me and think this pairing works excellently, and most times, it does work quite well, however I think it depends on the season in which you are eating this pairing. I find it best to eat in the springtime and early summer, then I think you will find this to be a successful match! Not that it can't be a successful match in fall and winter, but the sheep's milk that is utilized in the cheese at the time of year tastes somewhat different, I find it becomes a more accentuated version of the spring and summer Roquefort and in doing so, the cheese overwhelms the mushroom and the sense of a successful Umami match is somewhat lost. So see, it can go both ways.
3. Match destined for divorce: Roasted Shittakes and Delice de Bourgogne. Delice de Bourgnone is a standout when it comes to French bloomy rind cheeses, because it is one of the few of its kind produced in the Burgundy region of France, a complex little cheese! The bloomy rind exudes a mushroomy, moldy aroma that cuts through the creamy unctuousness of the interior. An awesome mouth-coating creamy cheese! Great with a medium bodied white wine like a Chablis. However in our umami marriage pairing, the creamyness of this cheese overwhelms the savoriness of the mushrooms and therefore masks the flavors of the mushrooms, so that the pairing becomes more about the cheese than the mushroom and we all know that a relationship where it is all about one person is not successful!
I hope you guys enjoyed this week's dose of Marriage Mondays and that you learned something about how to pair mushrooms with cheeses to attempt to achieve umami.
In a Sake and Food Pairing class I assisted in Monday night, we had a sake and grilled shittake mushroom pairing which was described as umami so I got to thinking, ding, that was what I was going to do for Marriage Mondays! Shittakes paired with three different cheeses, one of which will be a match made in Umami heaven and one of which will be on the road to Umami divorce and the last of which is a possible match, left for you to decide whether or not it is a success.
So lets get going with our Shittakes, Cheeses, and Umami!
Let me first discuss how I envision the shittakes to be prepared. They should be roasted with some olive oil, fresh rosemary, garlic, a little shallot, and salt and pepper. I recommend placing the mushrooms in the oven for around 20 minutes at a medium heat.
So now that the shittakes are out of the way, lets get onto the cheeses:
1. Match made in Umami heaven - Roasted Shittakes topped with melted shavings of aged Parmesan, the quintessential umami pairing. Umami is recognized and achieved by the taste receptors on your tongue, identifying the presence of a naturally occurring amino acid typically found in meat, cheese, broths, stocks, and select protein rich foods, typically known as glutamate. When you taste the mushroom with the cheese, you get that puckery, salty, savoriness on your tongue that characterizes that certain "je ne sais quoi" of umami. This pairing is excellent as an hors d'oeuvres, or as an appetizer on a bed of greens or as a main tossed with pasta. The thing that makes this a successful pairing is the fact that both of the separate ingredients have an umami quality on their own and when put together, you get an aha moment. I would pair this with a nice spicy Tempranillo or a smooth Malbec, you need to have a red wine with character to go with this pairing.
2. Potential Match - Roasted Shittakes topped with Roquefort cheese. A favorite of Charlemagne, this King of Cheese, has been made for centuries from sheep's milk in the caves of Combalou in Auvergne in the midi-Pyrenees in France. It is the quintessential blue cheese, spicy, pungent, puckery, sweet and sharp all at once. Most people find blue cheese to on occasion give you that umami taste on its own - savoriness all rolled up into a ball of one cheese, I find this in say Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue for example. However, it is sometimes found in Roquefort as well, it does have the highest level of glutamates of any cheese. Roquefort and roasted shittakes is a potential match pairing for our Umami Matchmaking. Why you might ask? If Shittakes definitely have that umami quality to them and Roquefort can have that same quality, then why wouldn't this pairing work? You might disagree with me and think this pairing works excellently, and most times, it does work quite well, however I think it depends on the season in which you are eating this pairing. I find it best to eat in the springtime and early summer, then I think you will find this to be a successful match! Not that it can't be a successful match in fall and winter, but the sheep's milk that is utilized in the cheese at the time of year tastes somewhat different, I find it becomes a more accentuated version of the spring and summer Roquefort and in doing so, the cheese overwhelms the mushroom and the sense of a successful Umami match is somewhat lost. So see, it can go both ways.
3. Match destined for divorce: Roasted Shittakes and Delice de Bourgogne. Delice de Bourgnone is a standout when it comes to French bloomy rind cheeses, because it is one of the few of its kind produced in the Burgundy region of France, a complex little cheese! The bloomy rind exudes a mushroomy, moldy aroma that cuts through the creamy unctuousness of the interior. An awesome mouth-coating creamy cheese! Great with a medium bodied white wine like a Chablis. However in our umami marriage pairing, the creamyness of this cheese overwhelms the savoriness of the mushrooms and therefore masks the flavors of the mushrooms, so that the pairing becomes more about the cheese than the mushroom and we all know that a relationship where it is all about one person is not successful!
I hope you guys enjoyed this week's dose of Marriage Mondays and that you learned something about how to pair mushrooms with cheeses to attempt to achieve umami.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Day Fifty - Six : Easter, Eggs, and more...
Happy Easter Folks! Certainly a glorious day for parades, bonnets, pastels, and plenty of time outside! Although I don't celebrate Easter I have always enjoyed watching the families who do, it really seems like the first proper day when people come pouring out of their apartments rejoicing over the fact that winter is reaching its end. It sure was a day to enjoy the weather, savor the sunshine, and certainly be outside for as much time as you could.
Today, on this lovely Easter Sunday, I met an old friend for brunch down on the Lower East Side. I'm sorry to disappoint ladies and gents my wallet did not allow for a decadent brunch, chock full of descriptions of dishes that make your mouth water; but more of a good standby place that we knew we could have a satisfying meal and not feel like it was overpriced. Don't get me going on all these places around town that serve somewhat mediocre food that is tremendously expensive for no reason...back to our Easter Sunday brunch on a quiet corner of Orchard street at noon today, we sat down to a small French bistro. In the evening hours this area and even the particular place we were eating at, would have been jam packed, but we lucked out! It was noon and the neighborhood was quiet.
So I'm sure you're thinking enough of the neighborhood and all, what did she eat?!?!?!
Well ladies and gents, let me let you in on a little secret, I love smoked salmon and rarely do I let myself buy it for my apartment, partially because its expensive but partially because if you don't eat smoked salmon within a few days of purchasing it, it will go bad. Needless to say when I go out to brunch, I always like to order something with smoked salmon, if possible. So today, I ordered an egg white omelet with goat's cheese and smoked salmon with a side salad -- the breakfast version somewhat of the linner dish I made for you all yesterday. What I like about this simple dish is how all the flavors meld so successfully together -- the creamyness of the goat cheese holds up perfectly to the consistency of the eggs and the savory saltiness of the salmon was just the perfect oomph to top off all the flavors perfectly. A nice satisfying meal for a beautiful Sunday! I know it might not be an overly exciting discussion topic for our purposes here but it is an excellent example of how you can really successfully pair cheese and fish, they need to have a stable backdrop that pairs well with a variety of flavors. (More on other options in future musings...)
I think I will leave you all to enjoy your evenings, I hope you too got to enjoy the outdoors and had your fill of eggs, whether they were the chocolate kind or the breakfast / brunch kind...
Today, on this lovely Easter Sunday, I met an old friend for brunch down on the Lower East Side. I'm sorry to disappoint ladies and gents my wallet did not allow for a decadent brunch, chock full of descriptions of dishes that make your mouth water; but more of a good standby place that we knew we could have a satisfying meal and not feel like it was overpriced. Don't get me going on all these places around town that serve somewhat mediocre food that is tremendously expensive for no reason...back to our Easter Sunday brunch on a quiet corner of Orchard street at noon today, we sat down to a small French bistro. In the evening hours this area and even the particular place we were eating at, would have been jam packed, but we lucked out! It was noon and the neighborhood was quiet.
So I'm sure you're thinking enough of the neighborhood and all, what did she eat?!?!?!
Well ladies and gents, let me let you in on a little secret, I love smoked salmon and rarely do I let myself buy it for my apartment, partially because its expensive but partially because if you don't eat smoked salmon within a few days of purchasing it, it will go bad. Needless to say when I go out to brunch, I always like to order something with smoked salmon, if possible. So today, I ordered an egg white omelet with goat's cheese and smoked salmon with a side salad -- the breakfast version somewhat of the linner dish I made for you all yesterday. What I like about this simple dish is how all the flavors meld so successfully together -- the creamyness of the goat cheese holds up perfectly to the consistency of the eggs and the savory saltiness of the salmon was just the perfect oomph to top off all the flavors perfectly. A nice satisfying meal for a beautiful Sunday! I know it might not be an overly exciting discussion topic for our purposes here but it is an excellent example of how you can really successfully pair cheese and fish, they need to have a stable backdrop that pairs well with a variety of flavors. (More on other options in future musings...)
I think I will leave you all to enjoy your evenings, I hope you too got to enjoy the outdoors and had your fill of eggs, whether they were the chocolate kind or the breakfast / brunch kind...
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day Fifty - Six : All scrambled up..
So what do you get when you mix breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Eggs + a Sandwich + pasta OR Pancakes + Salad + Fish all rolled into one? No, no, I'm not implying that you combine all three daily meals into one larger life meal, that wouldn't be healthy...what I am implying is having a l-inner (lunch + dinner, typically served around 5pm or around the time of the "Early Bird Special) utilizing breakfast ingredients because honestly who doesn't like breakfast all day long? There's even a restaurant in the East Village who caters to those of us who enjoy eggs benedict and waffles at 10pm....
After a whirlwind day of work, errands, photographing, running, and attempting to enjoy some of the mid-60s weather we were lucky enough to enjoy, I decided since I hadn't had lunch yet and I was going to be otherwise occupied for a portion of the evening, I might as well make myself a l-inner, to satisfy my desire for lunch and dinner all in one. Quickly I ruled out quinoa, or baby raviolis, or a tofu stir-fry, and then I realized, you know what I hadn't had in a while -- scrambled eggs! Ding! I was going to make truffled scrambled egg whites with sauteed mushrooms, herbs, and goat's cheese and then I would toss it with some mesclun greens, cherry tomatoes, and diced peppers and I'd get a lovely warm salad packed with veggies and greens and protein in the form of egg whites and the cheese..yum yum.
So lets start with the eggs- I like to take out two frying pans and spray them with cooking spray, putting the egg whites in one pan for me and the yolks in the other pan for my dog. Yes yes, I know that sounds weird, but egg yolks are good for her coat and plus I hate wasting them. Ok, so back to the egg whites, crack two eggs and separate the whites into a bowl, whisk to get the egg whites frothier and more pillowy. While the egg whites are in a bowl, you should have chopped up about five small to medium sized portobello mushrooms caps and tossed them with chopped shallots, some extra virgin olive oil, a little white wine, some rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. After about five to seven minutes of sauteing the mushrooms, transfer your egg whites to a pan over low heat and once you see the eggs go from translucent to opaque, add the mushrooms and some truffle oil, scramble till you feel they are done enough for you. Some people like soft scrambled eggs and other folks like more well done almost golden brown eggs, I'm of the later party, preferring to get my eggs nice and well done. Once they are finished to your satisfaction, toss them into a bowl with fresh mesclun and crumbled cana de cabra, a fresh, young Spanish goat cheese with a little extra tangy grassyness than say its French or American cousins. Next chop up a hand of full of cherry tomatoes and a quarter of an orange pepper for crunch. I know some people do not like raw pepper, but I think in this situation, the pepper is the perfect crunchy oomph! Now toss everything together and you will get a veritable symphony of colors! Reds, oranges, greens, whites, browns all in your salad bowl. I like to toss this with a simple homemade garlic vinaigrette (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Maille Mustard, and a chopped up garlic clove). Now you have scrambled eggs mixed with salad and veggies and I guarantee it is not an overload of flavors but a symphony of different tastes. I enjoyed this with a glass of Capezzana'ss Barco Reale di Carmignano which is made from traditional Carmignano grapes (Sangiovese, Cabernet, Canaiolo). This wine is produced by the Nobil Casa Contini Bonnacossi at Capezzana in Carmignano with grapes grown on vines in an ancient Medici estate. I tend to not be the biggest fan of Italian reds but this maybe was perfect, medium bodied with a decent amount of fruit but not overly heavy or tannic on the palate, turning what could otherwise be a lunch meal for some into a dinner meal for me!
A nice mixture of different tastes and flavors all rolled into one for a delish meal. If you don't necessarily like my combo of ingredients, at least take its basic principle to heart -- foods that you associate with certain meals do not always have to be eaten only at that meal and sometimes mixing up a lot of distinct food items will give you something so unique and different, it will blow you away. So loosen up folks and make yourself a meal of a smorgasbord of ingredients from your fridge tonight. I guarantee you will be surprised at how yummy it will taste. And you know why? Because, deep down the thing that ties all those foods together is the fact that you like them otherwise you wouldn't have bought them and so when combining them, they will definitely satisfy your palate.
Enjoy!
After a whirlwind day of work, errands, photographing, running, and attempting to enjoy some of the mid-60s weather we were lucky enough to enjoy, I decided since I hadn't had lunch yet and I was going to be otherwise occupied for a portion of the evening, I might as well make myself a l-inner, to satisfy my desire for lunch and dinner all in one. Quickly I ruled out quinoa, or baby raviolis, or a tofu stir-fry, and then I realized, you know what I hadn't had in a while -- scrambled eggs! Ding! I was going to make truffled scrambled egg whites with sauteed mushrooms, herbs, and goat's cheese and then I would toss it with some mesclun greens, cherry tomatoes, and diced peppers and I'd get a lovely warm salad packed with veggies and greens and protein in the form of egg whites and the cheese..yum yum.
So lets start with the eggs- I like to take out two frying pans and spray them with cooking spray, putting the egg whites in one pan for me and the yolks in the other pan for my dog. Yes yes, I know that sounds weird, but egg yolks are good for her coat and plus I hate wasting them. Ok, so back to the egg whites, crack two eggs and separate the whites into a bowl, whisk to get the egg whites frothier and more pillowy. While the egg whites are in a bowl, you should have chopped up about five small to medium sized portobello mushrooms caps and tossed them with chopped shallots, some extra virgin olive oil, a little white wine, some rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. After about five to seven minutes of sauteing the mushrooms, transfer your egg whites to a pan over low heat and once you see the eggs go from translucent to opaque, add the mushrooms and some truffle oil, scramble till you feel they are done enough for you. Some people like soft scrambled eggs and other folks like more well done almost golden brown eggs, I'm of the later party, preferring to get my eggs nice and well done. Once they are finished to your satisfaction, toss them into a bowl with fresh mesclun and crumbled cana de cabra, a fresh, young Spanish goat cheese with a little extra tangy grassyness than say its French or American cousins. Next chop up a hand of full of cherry tomatoes and a quarter of an orange pepper for crunch. I know some people do not like raw pepper, but I think in this situation, the pepper is the perfect crunchy oomph! Now toss everything together and you will get a veritable symphony of colors! Reds, oranges, greens, whites, browns all in your salad bowl. I like to toss this with a simple homemade garlic vinaigrette (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Maille Mustard, and a chopped up garlic clove). Now you have scrambled eggs mixed with salad and veggies and I guarantee it is not an overload of flavors but a symphony of different tastes. I enjoyed this with a glass of Capezzana'ss Barco Reale di Carmignano which is made from traditional Carmignano grapes (Sangiovese, Cabernet, Canaiolo). This wine is produced by the Nobil Casa Contini Bonnacossi at Capezzana in Carmignano with grapes grown on vines in an ancient Medici estate. I tend to not be the biggest fan of Italian reds but this maybe was perfect, medium bodied with a decent amount of fruit but not overly heavy or tannic on the palate, turning what could otherwise be a lunch meal for some into a dinner meal for me!
A nice mixture of different tastes and flavors all rolled into one for a delish meal. If you don't necessarily like my combo of ingredients, at least take its basic principle to heart -- foods that you associate with certain meals do not always have to be eaten only at that meal and sometimes mixing up a lot of distinct food items will give you something so unique and different, it will blow you away. So loosen up folks and make yourself a meal of a smorgasbord of ingredients from your fridge tonight. I guarantee you will be surprised at how yummy it will taste. And you know why? Because, deep down the thing that ties all those foods together is the fact that you like them otherwise you wouldn't have bought them and so when combining them, they will definitely satisfy your palate.
Enjoy!
Day Fifty - Five : A little delayed GCF
What a crazy week! The mixture of work, family get-togethers, events to attend for work, seeing friends, running, blogging, and keeping up with life has certainly produced quite the whirlwind of a week! In my whirlwind, I managed to get a little behind in my weekly GCF recipe, but fret not folks, it is about to delivered to you right now..
I was thinking while running about what I wanted to do for this week's GCF and how I had primarily paired cheeses, bread, fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts, compotes, and the such but I had not yet paired cheese with one of my favorite sources of protein -- tofu! You might be thinking why isn't she pairing meats with cheeses, well folks that is because I do not eat meat...I do eat fish and although some people find fish and cheese pairings to be bizarre or not successful over the course of my musings here, I aim to prove you wrong that there are excellent fish and cheese pairings. Well enough of that, lets get on to this week's Health Nuts GCF.
I know some people find the consistency of tofu to be unappealing and my opinion on that is either they haven't had fresh tofu like you can get at EN Japanese brasserie, it melts in your mouth. Needless to say for our purposes here, you don't want a melt in your mouth tofu, you want a firm tofu because it will hold up to the sandwich and the cheese more successfully than its silken soft sibling. The cool thing about firm store bought tofu is that it can pick up flavors very easily, it's somewhat like a blank canvas. If you are feeling like you want to infuse your tofu with your own flavors, you can grill it with some olive oil, herbs, and garlic, OR roast it with the same ingredients and your blank canvas will suddenly be full of flavor! However, if you are feeling uber lazy, you can always buy already "flavored" tofu from the supermarket. I have actually just discovered a new great brand of Tuscan herb tofu from Fairway, soft yet firm, full of flavor, not too processed (sometimes flavored tofu from the market becomes too processed in terms of taste), and all around delish! The cool thing about this specific tofu is its flavors do not overwhelm you so it can be paired with a lot of other tastes.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of this week's GCF, lets just go over a few of the health benefits of tofu:
1. It's good for heart health - the soy protein and isoflavones are great cholesterol fighters.
2. Good for muscles and energy level with the high levels of protein.
3. The tofu's isoflavones become a form of estrogen in the body which has been found to be beneficial to women in both peri-menopause and menopause. The same isoflavones also help prevent prostate cancer in men.
4. The dietary calcium in tofu also promotes bone health.
So for ease's sake, as GCF recipes are meant to be fast and easy after a long week, we will use my new discovery of Tuscan herb tofu as our tofu star for our health nuts GCF. Along with tofu, we will use Beemster Reduced Fat Aged Gouda Cheese, nutty, buttery, caramelly and delish, but lower in fat that an its counterparts but just as delish and lighter in taste, in an excellent way. To showcase these two elements, I like to sandwich them between two nice slices of Eli's health bread and top them with some crunchy bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts and mesclun greens. Then to finish off the sandwich, I like to doctor and then use a traditional Japanese sesame sauce, used for my green tea noodles typically. To doctor the sauce, I like to add some chives, ground ginger and a little bit of garlic so you get a sweet, savory, Asian feel that will complement the other flavors perfectly and round out the sandwich. When toasted, you will have a lovely, flavorful sandwich that is light, delish, and really good for you. This is perfect with Geyser Peak's Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley -- a light wine with flavors of lime, citrus, lychee, grass, and gooseberries, perfect for our health nuts GCF on this lovely sunny day.
Enjoy ladies and gents!
I was thinking while running about what I wanted to do for this week's GCF and how I had primarily paired cheeses, bread, fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts, compotes, and the such but I had not yet paired cheese with one of my favorite sources of protein -- tofu! You might be thinking why isn't she pairing meats with cheeses, well folks that is because I do not eat meat...I do eat fish and although some people find fish and cheese pairings to be bizarre or not successful over the course of my musings here, I aim to prove you wrong that there are excellent fish and cheese pairings. Well enough of that, lets get on to this week's Health Nuts GCF.
I know some people find the consistency of tofu to be unappealing and my opinion on that is either they haven't had fresh tofu like you can get at EN Japanese brasserie, it melts in your mouth. Needless to say for our purposes here, you don't want a melt in your mouth tofu, you want a firm tofu because it will hold up to the sandwich and the cheese more successfully than its silken soft sibling. The cool thing about firm store bought tofu is that it can pick up flavors very easily, it's somewhat like a blank canvas. If you are feeling like you want to infuse your tofu with your own flavors, you can grill it with some olive oil, herbs, and garlic, OR roast it with the same ingredients and your blank canvas will suddenly be full of flavor! However, if you are feeling uber lazy, you can always buy already "flavored" tofu from the supermarket. I have actually just discovered a new great brand of Tuscan herb tofu from Fairway, soft yet firm, full of flavor, not too processed (sometimes flavored tofu from the market becomes too processed in terms of taste), and all around delish! The cool thing about this specific tofu is its flavors do not overwhelm you so it can be paired with a lot of other tastes.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of this week's GCF, lets just go over a few of the health benefits of tofu:
1. It's good for heart health - the soy protein and isoflavones are great cholesterol fighters.
2. Good for muscles and energy level with the high levels of protein.
3. The tofu's isoflavones become a form of estrogen in the body which has been found to be beneficial to women in both peri-menopause and menopause. The same isoflavones also help prevent prostate cancer in men.
4. The dietary calcium in tofu also promotes bone health.
So for ease's sake, as GCF recipes are meant to be fast and easy after a long week, we will use my new discovery of Tuscan herb tofu as our tofu star for our health nuts GCF. Along with tofu, we will use Beemster Reduced Fat Aged Gouda Cheese, nutty, buttery, caramelly and delish, but lower in fat that an its counterparts but just as delish and lighter in taste, in an excellent way. To showcase these two elements, I like to sandwich them between two nice slices of Eli's health bread and top them with some crunchy bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts and mesclun greens. Then to finish off the sandwich, I like to doctor and then use a traditional Japanese sesame sauce, used for my green tea noodles typically. To doctor the sauce, I like to add some chives, ground ginger and a little bit of garlic so you get a sweet, savory, Asian feel that will complement the other flavors perfectly and round out the sandwich. When toasted, you will have a lovely, flavorful sandwich that is light, delish, and really good for you. This is perfect with Geyser Peak's Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley -- a light wine with flavors of lime, citrus, lychee, grass, and gooseberries, perfect for our health nuts GCF on this lovely sunny day.
Enjoy ladies and gents!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day Fifty-Four: A Crostini for a glass of Asti
Happy April Fool's Day Folks! Did you get a joke played on you today? Whoopie cushion on your desk chair? A plastic mouse under your feet? Thankfully, I didn't have the pleasure of being on the receiving end of a prankster either at the office or outside....
As an aperitif this evening I had a glass of Asti, a sweet Italian sparkler good for the pre evening drink or even at the end of a meal with dessert, it is celebratory, cheap, and delish. Even good, as previously discussed with brunch because it is so light...So I thought instead of pairing the Asti with Oysters which is what I did (not overly successful, Oysters need something more like a Cava or Champagne, sparkling and light as well but not nearly as sugary sweet as the Asti), we would pair it with a twist on a typical blue cheese honey crostini, something sweet and savory.
Blue cheese and honey is a very typical pairing -- the piquant qualities of the blue cheese balanced out nicely with the sweet gooeyness of the honey...here we will make a few adjustments to the typical pairing so that it pairs excellently with the Asti.
For the blue cheese we will utilize Old Chatham Sheepherding Company's Ewe's Blue. An American artisanal blue cheese made in the Roquefort style from one hundred percent sheep's milk. It is a classic blue that delights and awakeness the tastebuds, not too harsh but just piquant enough. To go with the citrus and honey flavors in the Asti we will pair this with an orange blossom honey that will complement the blue and the Asti perfectly. On top I like to slice a few dried figs and some pinenuts for crunch - sweetness, saltiness, creamyness, and crunchyness all rolled into one. I think this is best served on freshly toasted french baguette so that you are able to experience all the flavors independently and the tastes of the bread do not overwhelm the delicate tastes of your crostini.
Enjoy the crostini with a late afternoon/early evening glass of Asti and toast the springtime weather that is hopefully here to stay. Check back tomorrow for GCF. Wouldn't want to keep you all reading for too long on such a lovely evening, go out and enjoy!!
As an aperitif this evening I had a glass of Asti, a sweet Italian sparkler good for the pre evening drink or even at the end of a meal with dessert, it is celebratory, cheap, and delish. Even good, as previously discussed with brunch because it is so light...So I thought instead of pairing the Asti with Oysters which is what I did (not overly successful, Oysters need something more like a Cava or Champagne, sparkling and light as well but not nearly as sugary sweet as the Asti), we would pair it with a twist on a typical blue cheese honey crostini, something sweet and savory.
Blue cheese and honey is a very typical pairing -- the piquant qualities of the blue cheese balanced out nicely with the sweet gooeyness of the honey...here we will make a few adjustments to the typical pairing so that it pairs excellently with the Asti.
For the blue cheese we will utilize Old Chatham Sheepherding Company's Ewe's Blue. An American artisanal blue cheese made in the Roquefort style from one hundred percent sheep's milk. It is a classic blue that delights and awakeness the tastebuds, not too harsh but just piquant enough. To go with the citrus and honey flavors in the Asti we will pair this with an orange blossom honey that will complement the blue and the Asti perfectly. On top I like to slice a few dried figs and some pinenuts for crunch - sweetness, saltiness, creamyness, and crunchyness all rolled into one. I think this is best served on freshly toasted french baguette so that you are able to experience all the flavors independently and the tastes of the bread do not overwhelm the delicate tastes of your crostini.
Enjoy the crostini with a late afternoon/early evening glass of Asti and toast the springtime weather that is hopefully here to stay. Check back tomorrow for GCF. Wouldn't want to keep you all reading for too long on such a lovely evening, go out and enjoy!!
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