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

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

Continue reading Meet Norway's Nøgne Ø

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

Continue reading Allergy Season Got You Down? Helloooo, Honey!

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

While this goat's milk cheese looks identical to the famous Loire valley Valencay, Mekkerbeck is a unique farmhouse goat's milk cheese handmade in Westmalle in Northern Belgium by Paul D'Haene and his wife, Veerle Minsaer. This larger format Valencay has an outstanding bright flavor that is hard to find in many of the industrialized Valencay imported from France.

You'll automatically smell the exquisite herbal and floral notes that emanate from the paste. While tasting Mekkerbeck, the thin skin of ashed rind slowly dissolves into the luscious creamy texture of this pristine white goat's-milk cheese. Both the succulent texture and complex finish produce an unforgettable and exhilarating gastronomic experience.

Mekkerbeck tastes even more exquisite during the springtime when the 200 goats are grazing on natural pasture. In a country dominated by washed-rind cow's-milk cheeses, D'Haene's passion for producing some of the finest goat's milk cheeses is truly unique. For 30 years, the couple has been perfecting their craft.

To taste this one-of-a-kind goat's milk cheese, head to Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Mass., or to Formaggio Essex in New York. Formaggio is the sole purveyor of Mekkerbeck in the U.S. One piece sells for about $19. It's worth it.

A sip of this deliciously creamy and smooth cup of coffee is sure to please even those non-coffee drinkers. Similar to the French cafe au lait and the Italian cappuccino, the Viennese melange is a combination of coffee with steamed milk and foam. Unlike cappuccino, this "Wiener Melange" is made with milder coffee and is traditionally served with a glass of water. The accompaniment of water allows the coffee to go down more easily without dehydration.

The experience of sitting in a plush Viennese café with a cup of Viennese coffee, a glass of water and a newspaper seems to awaken the intellect within you. It conjures up images of the Austrian intelligentsia in the early 20th century with characters like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.

While in Vienna, I visited several Viennese cafés, such as the famous Café Central, and tried several variations on this deep rich coffee. My favorite, Franziskaner, also called an "espresso con panna," is served with whipped cream instead of foam. I also tasted rich delicious café mocha served with whipped cream. The Viennese café culture dates as far back as the late 17th century.

The influence of the melange on American coffee can be seen in Starbucks and several smaller coffeeshops. One of the best places to try the classic melange is Café Sabarsky located on the first floor of the Neue Galerie in Manhattan.

Continue reading Culinary Degradation, Part III - Deep Fried Horrors

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

Continue reading Human Vending Machines - A Little Orwell With Your Candy?

Continue reading Boerenkaas - Cheese Course

Continue reading USDA Declares That Jamon Iberico Is Off the Hoof

Continue reading German Cuisine: Using Simple Ingredients to Create Complex Tastes

Quick: what field crop comes to mind of when you think of the Napa Valley? If you immediately thought "mustard," you're not wrong, and you're not alone. In the right circles, the Napa Valley is as well known for its mustard as it is for that other crop which does well there. Those fields of endless yellow are celebrated in festivals, are a staple of local cuisines both formal and informal, and are a welcome sight in the great client-relations tradition of the Napa Valley gift basket.

It was in one such that I recently received a jar of Napa Valley Mustard Company mustard. I received the gift basket around the holidays but what with getting blotto on New Year's Eve and a more recent mishap involving a brace of oysters on the half shell, I just got around to tasting it. Wow. This jar was Whole Grain with Chilis and Garlic.

Continue reading Napa Valley Mustard Company Mustard

Continue reading Haggis Quest, New York Style

View Poll

Continue reading Merlot - Wine of the Week