Continue reading White Chocolate Brownies

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Peach jam. Photo: FL4Y, Flickr

What treat is nicer on an icy morning than fresh jam? Upon opening it, the eater is greeted with the sunny fragrance of fruit that once hung heavy on its limb or vine. Upon tasting it, memories come alive of the orchard, woodland and garden.

After the jump, an original recipe for a spicy peach jam to slather on autumnal scones, dribble on winter waffles or spread on humble anytime toast. Once you get the hang of canning, it's really simple, so go ahead: Grab a bushel of peaches while they're plentiful, and seal some summer into a jar.

Continue reading Make Your Own Peach Jam

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Heirloom tomato salad. Photo: Eric Diesel

If you're lucky enough to live near a farmers market, don't forget to thank your local farmer and gardener for that sparkling-fresh produce, especially those who grow heirloom vegetables and fruits. In addition to growing delicious produce, they're cultivating history, right on the vine.

Though there are some differences of opinion about its exact definition, an heirloom variety of fruit or vegetable is generally agreed to be one that has been cultivated for at least 50 years. Beans are an heirloom veggie ever-growing in popularity, but the food that truly sings of summer is the tomato.

Heirloom tomatoes are beginning to appear in gardens, at roadside stands and lining produce aisles. In honor of the unique flavors and colors of these beauties, beyond the jump is an original recipe for a summer tomato salad: history you can eat. But remember to save some seeds -- preserving them is the least we can do for these species that give so much to us.

Continue reading Heirloom Tomato Salad

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French vegetable tian. Photo: Eric Diesel.

Provençal cooking celebrates the earthy traditions of the French countryside and southern France in general, with food as simple and good as bread, wine, cheese. A tian -- a layered, baked vegetable dish that originated in Provence but is also common to city kitchens -- is the perfect complement to this French holiday. Unlike a gratin, a tian does not include bread crumbs or cheese, which allows the juices in the vegetables to evaporate in the oven's dry heat, concentrating their flavors.

Beyond the jump is an original recipe for tian of summer vegetables, which has been streamlined for the home cook while retaining fidelity to the original French dish. Serve this with your Bastille Day poulet, boeuf or pouisson, and watch as wine glasses around the table clink and diners agree: "Vive la France!"

Continue reading Tian: French Vegetable Recipe & Explanation

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Corn relish. Photo: bookgrl/ Flickr.

As you lug all of your fresh produce home, don't worry -- as always, we've got your back. Beyond the jump is an original recipe to use that corn, those peppers and those onions to make a quick, fresh corn relish.

This relish has a Southwestern twang, but it can accompany virtually anything coming off of your grill for Fourth of July barbecues, from juicy burgers and seared steaks to perfectly smoked chicken. And if the summer corn is too irresistible to resist buying a bushel, you can double the recipe and send some home with your guests.

Continue reading Corn Relish for Fourth of July Burgers

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You've seen that sliced-up green apple sitting up top aside the Slashfood logo. Perhaps you've pondered its culinary potential -- the crisp snap of that bright green skin, the half-sweet/half-tart flavor that is the special domain of the Granny Smith apple.

Voila. Slashfood sorbet!

In sorbet, a single element is distilled into an intense burst of flavor. It should be so vivid that only a bite is necessary. Perhaps you're most familiar with it as an intermezzo to cleanse the palate, in a fluted paper cone to hold while walking alongside your companion and his gelato or in scoops piled high in a frosty parfait glass almost too cold to touch.

After the jump, an original recipe for a gorgeous green apple Slashfood Sorbet. We challenge you to only eat one bite.

Continue reading Slashfood Sorbet

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An unmistakable perfume is in the air: the intoxicating vapors of resiny cedar, sweet applewood, sexy mesquite and reliable ol' hick'ry, arising from grills and escaping from smokers on every block and in every park. Brats are sizzling, hot dogs plumping, chicken breasts marinating, hamburgers being seasoned. And he-men and she-women can barely wait to tuck into perfectly seared T-bones, dry-aged Porterhouses, smoky brisket, even refined filets mignons.

In steakhouses, spinach, typically creamed, is a traditional accompaniment for steak. This is because steak demands to be in the company of strong flavors, and spinach -- among the most assertive of greens in both texture and taste -- delivers. So, as grilling season commences, Slashfood reminds you to eat your spinach. Beyond the jump is an original recipe for a spinach salad that's nothing like the oily, eggy cafeteria staple; gilded with lemon and oregano and with a smoky bacon crunch that resonates with food from the grill. C'mon, give it a try -- it'll please both your mother and Popeye!

Continue reading Summertime Spinach Salad

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Just in time for your next Saturday night pasta party, a new jarred sauce that's worth a first taste and second helping has appeared on store shelves. Mezzetta, the company famous for such glass-jarred wonders as snappy peperoncini and an addictive giardiniera, has launched Napa Valley Bistro, a line of pasta sauces prepared with Napa Valley wines. We were glad to cook up a sample sent our way and toss it with some noodles. Hey, anything for our readers - especially if it involves eating spaghetti.

We tried two versions: basic marinara and the creamy version. The saucy results are after the jump.

Continue reading Mezzetta Jarred Pasta Sauces

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Ancient yet modern at once, Greek cuisine radiates with sunshine and bright, fresh flavors. Succulent lamb enlivened with rosemary and garlic, a classic dish, is as redolent of Greece as it is of springtime. And as is true of anywhere with a shoreline, seafood is center stage. Always present are plates of local feta, stark-white and salty, and olives whose depth of flavor will keep you from ever opening canned olives again. For dessert, honey forms a sinful pact with walnuts and cinnamon, or yogurt made in-house just that morning cozies up to macerated cherries.

A Greek dinner is lovely to prepare and a joy to eat. Many of the ingredients are staples you probably have in your kitchen, such as lemons, herbs, eggs and olive oil. Here are some ingredients you might want to try.

The Basics: Olives and Feta. Olive oil is central to Greek cooking. The essential Greek olive is kalamata. They should be deep black and packed in an olive oil and vinegar brine; a taste should reveal a distinctive, fruity flavor and a firm bite without mealiness. Here's a great recipe for using these beauties. There are other Greek cheeses beyond feta, but this standard should be available in every cheese case. The cheese should be pure white with a gently pocked surface, lounging in a clean bath of salt-water brine (never buy dry feta).

Continue reading Greek Groceries

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We realize we may seem a little holiday-fixated around here. But one Easter has yet to come: Orthodox Easter, which falls on this coming Sunday, April 19. The use of two calendars often results in different timing in Western Easter's and Orthodox Easter's arrivals, which makes the day truly a movable feast.

Why is this worth a certain amount of hoopla? Well, look at the hunger pang-inducing bread shown above. One of the centerpieces of the Greek Orthodox Easter table, tsoureki paschalino (tsoo-REH-kee pahs-khah-lee-NO), or Greek Easter bread, is typically baked on Holy Thursday and traditionally shaped in a braid around an Easter egg. (The deep red dye symbolizes the crucifixion.) Tsoureki, a light yeast bread sometimes sweetened with a light touch of orange or almonds, has an airy, eggy texture similar to challah. A similar bread known as pinza is a mainstay on Italian Easter tables.

Within the Greek Orthodox church, Easter is considered by many to be the holiest day of the year. For many celebrants the period of Lent is one of self-discipline and self-purification during which one might refrain from treats or certain animal products. Additionally, on some days (traditionally Wednesdays and Fridays during the first weeks of Lent and every day during Holy Week) both wine and olive oil are also forbidden. The first post-Lenten meal is served after midnight Mass on Holy Saturday, where the traditional meal consists of mayeritsa (a soup made from the internal organs of the Easter lamb) and the deep maroon-dyed eggs that are part of the tsoureki.

Tsoureki is available in Greek bakeries; try this one, which ships its tsoureki.

Continue reading Greek Easter Bread

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Just as April showers bring May flowers, so do the hard-boiled eggs that arrive via Passover seder or an Easter egg hunt bring us, well, a lot of hard-boiled eggs. What to do with them all?

Many of those who celebrate Easter open a lunch box the first Monday thereafter to be confronted with a big scoop of egg salad. And while that's always an option -- as is the Cobb Salad that centers many an April luncheon -- there are recipes out there beyond the standards. So hide your eggs and eat them too.

First, though, safety is critical. According to the USDA, Easter eggs are safe to eat after the hunt provided you follow a few basic guidelines: Use food-safe coloring to dye the eggs and refrigerate them within two hours of boiling them. Boiling an egg removes a protective coating that occurs naturally on the shell, which leaves the shell vulnerable to bacteria. After the hunt, discard any eggs whose shells have cracked or that nestled in a bacteria-friendly environment such as dirt, hay or anywhere accessible to pets. Don't keep hard-boiled eggs away from the fridge for longer than two hours and use them within seven days of boiling them.

Beyond the jump is a delicious recipe for using those safely-handled eggs. (Hint: It's a salad, but it's not egg salad).

Continue reading Hard-Boiled Eggs - Safety and Salads

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We all saw Sideways -- heck, to some of us, it's not just a movie, it's a manifesto. So we know that we're supposed to admire Pinot Noir and barely tolerate Merlot (it's not the demon grape it's made out to be).

The folks at Castle Rock winery are contributing to the dialog on Pinot Noir, and they put their answer in bottles.

Castle Rock currently bottles juice from seven species of grape, each chosen by informed vintner magic from its own West Coast microclimate with the appellation noted on the bottle.

Thus Castle Rock Chardonnay drinkers are choosing bottles from either the Russian River Valley or the Central Coast, Syrah drinkers choosing between Columbia Valley and Sonoma, and so forth.

In the wine as in the geography, the star grape is Pinot Noir, which for the 2007 vintage offers bottles from eight appellations. Some are easy to come by and some are selling out, and I can't pretend to have tried all eight (though I'm working my way through the list).

But I can pass along a few notes on those I have tried, which perhaps will inspire you to consider these sturdy, poetic Pinots the next time you're looking for a bottle to open with dinner.

My suggestions after the jump.

Continue reading Castle Rock Pinot Noir 2007

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A Foodie's Notes on the Vernal Equinox:

We very rarely had snow where I grew up, but as I stood at my grandmother's apron strings, I was taught to respect the turning of the seasons.

Winter was cold enough for the warming comfort food most of us still associate with it -- steaming bowls of soup, pot roast in rich gravy, hot coffee and cake to go with it.

Summer meant barbecue, soft drinks ("pop" to grandma, and we never got it except at cookouts) and pies bubbling with the best of the summer fruit while less perfect specimens were packed into canning jars by an assembly line of women working in the basement of the church.

Autumn was pumpkin, apples and turkey as we got ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. And spring ... well, spring was getting ready for Easter.

On the weekend of the Equinox, my grandmother changed all of the household linens -- sheets to tea towels -- from winter's cream and evergreen to her favorite shades of sky blue and butter yellow.

That Monday, she set up the glass pots with thermometers that clipped onto the sides, steel baking sheets that unrolled like April thunder and vials of curiously intense flavor extracts that heralded Easter candy-making. Always planning, (Depression-era housekeepers needed no time management coaching), she made candy in the mornings before turning her attention to lunch and the afternoon errands.

Keep reading about why a chiffon cake is an important statement of spring awakening after the jump.

Continue reading Contemplating the Vernal Equinox With Orange Chiffon Cake

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In a previous life as a non-blogging private citizen, I enjoyed many spirited e-mail exchanges concerning sightings of that wondrous denizen of the deep, the behemoth squid. How fervid our imaginations were in picturing this colossal beast contentedly lurking in the deepest waters or rousing surfaceward to feast upon plankton and (in our imaginations if not in reality) the occasional shipwreck survivor.

Just imagine my pleasure when, during a post-dinner walk this weekend, I encountered the Nemo Whisk. Yes, it is just what it sounds like: a kitchen whisk whose handle design is a squid. And that's appropriate: in lesser dimensions than behemoth, squid graces many a table -- dipped in cornmeal and deep fried, carved into sushi or sashimi, even wiggling as fondant across the top of a cake.

Like the best design, the idea informs the execution -- in this instance, an animal whose cylindrical body lends itself to the handle shape and function and whose eyes are routinely described as "the size of a dinner plate" can whip up your eggs before they land on that selfsame plate -- a task it handles just fine if without threat to your favorite balloon whisk.

The Nemo Whisk and numerous other delights are offered courtesy of Pylones, a French company whose schtick is creating whimsical daily-use items. Mais oui, they work in themes beyond "squid." If we're still talking about eggs, use a chicken timer to boil yours after using a hen bag to carry your shopping list and your money to the grocer's. Pepper your eggs using a pepper mill in themes from Pirate to Native American and then nestle them in coordinating egg cups. Perhaps you'd like an elephant funnel, a dachshund cake server, an Eiffel Tower grater or demitasse spoons crowned with fancy chocolates? Or, simply, Melamine dinnerware printed with a jumble of tempting candy, plump red strawberries, an anchovy pizza or (if you must) a nice healthy salad?

If you like Pylones, they have an easy to use Web site and free-standing stores in New York City. Their merchandise is available at numerous online merchants -- start here.

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Pie-making is a true expression of a cook's love: of ingredients, of process, of feeding hungry people something good to eat. For cooks, the pie is the hug, but how about a pie you can hug? We're way ahead of state fair blue-ribbon season, but in one shopfront at the venerable etsy they believe in being prepared for contests beyond pie-baking and pie-eating. Buggabug's shop features not just a menu but a feast of patterns for creating your own huggable food easily and inexpensively from felt.

The Blue Ribbon Pie collection features lemon meringue, cherry, pumpkin, even grasshopper. If that's not enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, try tea cakes, doughnuts, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls -- even a box of Valentine's day chocolates. A lumberjack's pancake breakfast will get your day going, and after the whistle blows, why not unwind with some Chinese take-out and a movie?

If you take a cup of tea with your pie, Martha Stewart shows you how to make adorable teacup pincussions. If your pie of choice is cherry, Martha has her take on that as well. So does Better Homes and Gardens, where embroiderers can try your hand at this cherry redwork pillow (free log-in required). Finally, yarn expressionists can try this cherry pie slice at craftbits.

All of these projects are simple to intermediate to accomplish. And if your favorite way of pie crafting is the old-fashioned one -- rolling out dough and lining a tin with it, tossing fruit with sugar and spices, artfully layering a top crust over the filling, and putting the whole thing into a hot oven -- then slashfood can help you with that. Though we're not averse to the crafts of cooking, our heart is still with the craft of cooking.

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Continue reading There's a Bug on my Saucer

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While on weekend food safari (scored: manchego, kraeme kase, smoked mozzarella, soppresata, genoa salami and muffaletta for Oscars antipasti), I was reminded that there is nothing like a Manhattan supermarket. If you only experience the city through media, you might never think that urban superpeople on the move need to buy groceries, so somehow it's touching to be among us when we do. For those who've never had the pleasure: picture a supermarket where there's barely room to maneuver yourself, let alone a cart, and then picture that space full of lifers piloting push-carts filled with whatever can be stored in tiny kitchenettes.

Another secret of urban foraging is the Roland Corporation, a New York City-based food importer whose offerings grace my cupboards in every format from tinned anchovies for Caesar salad to fragrant pumpkinseed oil for the accompanying pasta. Someone at Roland knows me and my kind: we orthodox mustardphiliacs cannot enter a space where condiments are vended without investigating what treats the mustard aisle is offering. And that's how, in a Chelsea Gristedes, I discovered Roland Tarragon Mustard.

Continue reading Roland Tarragon Mustard

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Escazu is a town in Costa Rica and a chocolatier in Raleigh, North Carolina. According to the Escazu website, chocolatier Hallot Parson formed Escazu Artisan Chocolates after travels through Venezuela and Costa Rica, including visits to the cocoa farms. Thus was born -- perhaps more accurately bloomed -- the vision of artisinal chocolate executed with respect to chocolate's Latin American heritage.

Continue reading Escazu Artisan Chocolates

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You might wonder what a tidbit about a jewelry designer is doing among the nibbles and bites we usually share at Slashfood, and one click to Rachael Sudlow's website will give you the answer. You may prefer to eat your veggies rather than wear them, but this designer and photographer (RISD '05) creates jewelry that makes your mouth water -- even if peas are your forbidden food.

Sudlow interprets pea pods in a variety of stones as earrings ($42 - $43), necklaces ($37 -- $50), even a keychain ($42). If you prefer sweets to savories, there's a metal cupcake ring ($55). Outside of Sudlow's site, limited edition oyster earrings lurk in the waters of a storefront on Mintd, while Etsy offers Sudlow's cranberry earrings and a tasty ice cream cone pendant.

If Sudlow's work or name looks familiar to you, it might be because she is the artist who made drinking glasses by repurposing liquor bottles. Whether you drink your handcraftsmanship or wear it, take a look at Sudlow's work - you may find your self giving these peas a chance.

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So how are your New Year's Resolutions going? Still making it to the gym, cutting down on the carbs, repurposing your Starbucks addiciton to a fix of regular joe from the deli? Good luck with all that. You can never let it be said that one of the world's leading suppliers of premium carbohydrates isn't in your corner.

Saturday was the fifth running of what has become a tradition in Raleigh, North Carolina: the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Challenge, in which the power of a mountain of doughnuts is harvested as motivation and fuel for a four mile race whose midpoint is not a shot of some namby-pamby sports drink but the scarfing of a dozen glazed. Finally, a sport everyone can support, and athletes everyone can identify with: carbo track and field.

Here's how the doughnut triathalon works: registrants gather at the belltower on the North Carolina State campus as early as 6:30 a.m., pre-doughnut-run doughnuts optional but not exactly wise. These finely-tuned thoroughbreds warm up in anticipation of the 9:30 a.m. start time for a run to the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on Peace Street, where will be awaiting one dozen warm glazed doughnuts. These have to be scarfed (coffee optional but allowed), and then the journey repeated to the belltower (barfing optional but presumably allowed). The runner does not have to eat all of their doughnuts but has to weather the resulting humiliation if they don't. They have to complete the entire triathalon in one hour or less.

Continue reading Krispy Kreme Doughnut Challenge

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