While many scents (sunscreen, chlorine, charcoal) remind us of summer, few foodies will dispute fresh basil's ability to capture the essence of the season. Looking at this picture of the sun shining through the stems of The Sweet Kitchen's homegrown basil, one can almost smell its sweet, pungent leaves.
Luckily, the joy doesn't have to end when summer does. Due to the rainy spring many of us witnessed, gargantuan basil plants lurk all over North America. Clever gardeners like The Sweet Kitchen have preserved Mother Nature's summer fragrance with homemade jarred pesto. That way despite the winter blues inevitably kicking in, a bite of sunshine, captured perfectly in this photo, will remain.
One person's haul from Food Fête. Photo: craigemorsels/Flickr
If New York City's annual Fancy Food Show is a hurricane of food-related items, occupying three vast floors of the sprawling Javits Center, then the tiny, cramped Food Fête is its spin-off tornado.
Hosted in a smaller space and likewise designed to get food writers and editors interested in new and interesting culinary products, the Fête was an interesting and slightly chaotic affair. High-end eats were hawked right up alongside lower-end food, from a very tasty slice of grass-fed steak to a Kikkoman "umami" demonstration in which we were subjected to a taste-off between a regular chocolate and one containing soy sauce -- a rather palate-numbing experience, that.
Former Top Cheffer Stephanie Izard was there with Lucini, the spicy olive oil she endorses, which she had drizzled on a very tasty panzanella. She told us she hadn't had a chance to roam the halls yet. But we had, and our faves are after the jump.
Grilling over a wood fire presents many nuanced delights, provided you have the right tools and a high threshold for sweat and smoke.
Sriracha Chili Sauce is a flagship product of Huy Fong Foods, and one that chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten love for its sweet, garlicky heat.
Le Fooding, the group that set France on fire with picnics of finger foods and plastic-cupped drinks, is coming stateside to introduce New Yorkers to a new generation of French chefs.
Across the country, drink menus are showing some love for homemade ginger ale.
Food safety is becoming a mess. Almost every element of processed foods is a potential pathogen carrier, and the industry is shifting the worry to the consumer.
Scotland Yard isn't just the famous face of London law enforcement. It's also a tasty Scotch and Drambuie twist on the Rusty Nail.
Does food symbolism bear any truth? If, so then Italian sweet basil can trigger romance. In Italian culture, basil symbolizes love. When a woman puts out a pot of basil, it means she is ready to receive her suitor. Interestingly, in Ancient Greece, it represented anger. Since basil is one of my favorite herbs, I prefer to believe it's a sign of love. The sweet pungent taste of Genovese basil with hints of anise brings me back to a past trip to Cinque Terre.
While basil is a summer herb, I recently tried a delicious basil tea that reminded me of how much I love it and yearn for summer produce. While it originated in India, Africa, and Asia, it's now grown worldwide. Genovese Basil might be one of the best varieties out of the 150, because it yields about 8 cuttings and makes the best pesto.
While in Cinque Terre, I visited a small pesto factory outside the village of Riomaggiore. I'll never forget the gorgeous cliffs covered in bright green basil and the beautiful enchanting aroma of basil emanating from a red bucket in the pesto factory. If indeed basil activates romance, then this Valentine's Day, find a way to incorporate it into your meal.
Slashfood confession time. I, Annie Scott, am addicted to imitation crab.
It's so colorful and friendly, and you can buy it by the pound! Normally, I'm pretty averse to food that doesn't really look like ... food, but the juicy texture! The way it separates in my mouth! It's just dry enough to eat as a finger food and oh, you bet I do eat it as a finger food.
My worst vice? Dipping it in pesto. Seriously, give me a small vat of pesto and a styro-wrapped pound of imitation crab and you have just bought yourself peace and quiet. For like, an hour.
It has a great balance of protein and carbs, fills me up, and is more fun than (and cheap as) a can of tuna fish. And it's delicious.
I don't recommend it for parties, because everyone knows it's not "real" food, but for the comfort of your own private snacking delight? There is no substitute for imitation crab.
Anthony Bourdain they're not! Canadian Olympians have their own chefs and caterers along for the ride, rather than diving into Chinese cuisine at the next Olympics.
It's mighty convenient, but there are some things to think about when ordering wine by the glass.
Restaurant Review: The Bread Bar -- not bread, but "very nearly the best Indian food I've encountered in Canada" according to reviewer Chris Nuttall-Smith.
Pesto is one of those spreads that's a must-make when you have a food processor. For some minimal effort that includes throwing a collection of ingredients in and hitting pulse, you get a delicious spread that's cheaper than the store variety, and all the tastier.
However, it's not so friendly to the vegan population, with its healthy dose of parmesan cheese in the mix. Luckily, there's a no-cheese, wonderfully vegan variety that can elicit oohs and ahhs as well. (Courtesy of the Fresh cookbook!) But wait -- don't curl up your nose, anti-veganites -- no-cheese pesto serves another function: it allows you to make a tasty pesto that's cheaper, and perfect for those times when you've run out of parmesan.
In fact, the recipe after the jump is so versatile that it tasted pretty darned good even without the fresh spinach (which I didn't have). I just substituted extra basil from my rapidly growing herb garden. Dig in!
For reasons I've yet to understand (perhaps in recompense for my obsessive heirloom veggie gardening), the food fates smiled upon me today. I reached into the crisper drawer for a bunch of scallions, and instead drew out (gasp!) ramps -- still viable, even though my last foraging adventure was several weeks ago, and ramp season is gone, daddy gone. They weren't 100% cook 'em up and eat 'em with nothing else fresh, though, so I hedged my bets and went with a fave of mine -- ramp pesto. Should you not be similarly gifted by the veggie gods, garlic scapes work well, too.
Until last year, I had never heard of green garlic. I was certainly familiar with regular old garlic, it was ever-present in my childhood kitchen, but I generally didn't give much thought to the younger, spring version of that familiar, stinky bulb until it started appearing all over the media. It (along with ramps) was the springtime darling. I actually missed out on it last year because the large Headhouse Square Farmers' Market didn't open until the beginning of July and the smaller markets I frequent didn't carry it, but I was intrigued by it.
But this year, there was an abundance of green garlic, in all of its purple, white and green glory. The first weekend of the market I picked a bunch up (even though I didn't really know what to do with it) and brought it home. That week I chopped up several of the bulbs and their leggy greens and sauteed them with onions and sausage for a quick pasta topper. I've used it in place of regular garlic in lots of things and have also tossed thin slices with some early tomatoes, salt and olive oil for a tasty salad (eat it with toasted pain au levain). I'm enchanted by the idea of making pesto with them like Sarah Gilbert has done.
For the last week or two, I've been feeling like my cooking mojo was off. It started with a sub-par batch of risotto. Then came the pizza dough that wouldn't rise and the dried cherry, pistachio and white chocolate chips that were inexplicably bitter. I was beginning to feel like I'd never cook successfully again. Until along came the baked penne pasta dish you see above.
Over the weekend I made two baked pasta dishes for a small dinner party (I'll post the recipe for number two tomorrow, as it was equally delicious). I realized that there were going to be some vegetarians in the bunch and so I plotted out two different sauces to accommodate the various eating styles. This one is the non-meat version and it was so good. It combines sauteed shallots, artichoke hearts, baby spinach, fresh ricotta cheese, pesto, whole wheat penne and fresh mozzarella. It got rave reviews and happily the leftovers have done nothing but improve while hanging out in my fridge. Follow the jump for the exact recipe.
Although many consider any type of egg-centric dish to be breakfast fare, these Romaine- and Egg-Stuffed Tomatoes with Bacon, from A Mingling of Tastes, strike me as a dinner dish, as well as a brunch one. The dish consists of eggs baked until only slightly runny in hollowed out tomato cups. Underneath the egg, there is a generous spoonful of a romaine lettuce-based pesto sauce, and before serving the entire thing is sprinkled with crisp, crumbled bacon. The presentation, needless to say, is fantastic and makes a relatively simple egg dish suitable for serving to guests. If you're going to try the recipe and take the breakfast route, try serving it with fruit and toast. For dinner, a side salad or even a simple pasta dish would work out nicely.
The season is changing, so how about trying a new variation on something old? The Reuben is a favorite and it inspired the following sandwich. Now, this isn't entry level finger food -- it's vegan, a bit sloppy, and most kids won't like it.
Ingredients:
1 cake extra firm tofu
1 cup sweet teriyaki marinade
2 tablespoons vegan mayo. I use nayonaise but any will do, probably even canola mayo
1 tablespoon relish
1 tablespoon hot pesto or chutney
1 small yellow squash (which is widely available this time of year)
Grilling 
Slashfood confession time. I, 
The season is changing, so how about trying a new variation on something old? The Reuben is a favorite and it inspired the following sandwich. Now, this isn't entry level finger food -- it's vegan, a bit sloppy, and most kids won't like it.
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