The approach of chilly weather may leave many craving warm libations, but this Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz is truly a drink for all seasons. The bloggers of the Bitten Word tackled this Gourmet recipe, which eschews the usual infusion to instead create a simple syrup with sugar, rosemary and lemon juice subbing for water. The syrup can keep for weeks in the fridge and need only be topped with vodka and a dash of club soda to be served.
Rosemary adds a nice mouthfeel and complexity to the crisp, refreshing drink, but almost any herb will serve well in simple syrup, from lavender to Thai basil. Spill your simple syrup recipes or ideas in the comments.
Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.
More ways to eat local -- growing your own, sharing with friends, and swapping with others to get organic boxes that fit your tastes.
Kim Honey talks about pie fear, and faking it with the special-ordered variety.
A run-down of Toronto dessert shops for a sweet-filled walk through the city ... but being someone who walks everywhere, I'm not on-board with the "Toronto is just not a walking town."
Sweet, starchy goodness -- potatoes have had an "exceptional" year!
It's inevitable- a recipe calls for an herb you know you have in your pantry, or at least you thought so. Next time you're in a pickle, check out this herb substitution chart.
It's darned hot outside these days, so I'm a big fan of any recipe that leaves the heat outside. Above you can see a really simple but delicious-looking recipe for a barbecued rosemary and garlic potato pocket, courtesy of summerkitchen.tv. It's a collection of rosemary, garlic, potatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper mixed together and wrapped up in foil, and then cooked on the barbecue. What's particularly great about this recipe is how easy it is to change it up a little and whip up your favorite flavors -- maybe some chopped green onion, or creole spices, or some cherry tomatoes, or even a little bit of cheese. (This is also something that can be made easily over a campfire -- just get small potatoes that you don't need to dice.)
What's your favorite flavor combination for BBQ potatoes?
In addition to all the wonderful greens, fresh onions and fragrant herbs that have been showing up in my CSA box recently, the last few weeks have been bringing with them bags of new potatoes, so recently dug that the dirt still clings to them. I tend to think of potatoes as a fall and winter type of vegetable, but I'm learning that that is because the store well, they still ripen in the summer and early fall like much of the rest of the produce.
I've been treating these potatoes simply, just cutting them into chunks, tossing them with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and some fresh rosemary and roasting them at high heat until they are tender. They are absolutely wonderful straight out of the oven, and if you have leftovers (I rarely do when I roast potatoes like this), they are also delicious cold the next day, reheated and scrambled with eggs or cut smaller and added to salad like a tender crouton.
Some of the herbs are well known to have medicinal uses, like turmeric and cloves, but did you know that onions (and other vegetables related to onions) have been used for centuries as medicines? Apparently they have anti-inflammatory properties. Also, rosemary, cinnamon, and parsley (great for detoxifying carcinogens from cigarette smoke) are just some of the surprising (to me) herbs on the list.
There is no way this list can be complete, though. If you study a natural product long enough, you're sure to find lots of healthy qualities. Does anyone have any herbs they'd like to add? If you disagree with this list, I'd love to read about that, too.
I look at the no-knead bread recipe, created by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery and printed by the New York Times in the fall of 2006, as one of those recipes that will be with us for all time to come. People went crazy for it when it first came out and folks all over the world continue play with it, innovating new ways to make beautiful, flavorful, bakery-quality bread in their very own ovens. In January, Cook's Illustrated devoted an entire issue to no-knead bread, doing their level best to make an already-good recipe even better.
Today's image, from Timothy Gerdes, is a loaf of nearly no-knead bread with olives, rosemary and parmesan made from the Cook's Illustrated version of the recipe. Looks delicious Timothy, thanks for adding it to the Slashfood Flickr pool.
Roasted nuts (along with chips/dips and vegetables/dip) are a good thing to set out at a Super Bowl Party just before the event starts. That way, if guests show up early, or you happened to have underestimated how long you would need in the kitchen, your guests will have something to snack on while you run around the kitchen like a chicken with its Buffalo wings cut off. I like to put out little trios on different tables around my house of roasted peanuts (a standard), roasted pistachios in shells (with a small bowl for the discarded shells), and these ridiculously, deliciously addictive Rosemary Marcona Almonds from Trader Joe's that I ate by the bagful over the Holidays. You can also make these yourself, using a recipe that Bob posted a few weeks, substituting Marcona almonds for the cashews.
I had something of a whirlwind weekend in which I hung out with a bunch of Philly bloggers, helped a friend arrange the couches in her new house and baked a batch of brownies to take to an impromptu dinner party. Other than the brownies, I didn't do much in the way of cooking and by last night, I was aching to get back into the kitchen and make some easy food that tasted good and wasn't ordered off a menu.
The meal I cooked was fairly simple, just some chicken breasts marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil and chopped rosemary (grilled up quickly on my trusty George Foreman grill--it's not fancy but it does the job really well), steamed broccoli and roasted carrots. However, it was deeply satisfying.
The carrots were an especially nice touch as they aren't one of my normal sides. They brought added color and sweetness to a meal that could have been a little boring otherwise. Typically I don't peel carrots, but these had been in my crisper drawer for some time and so had gotten a little furry and funky, so I quickly stripped them of their skins. I cut them on the bias for maximum surface area, tossed them with salt, pepper and olive oil and popped them in a 425 degree oven for about half an hour. They came out sweet and tender, but not mushy. You could do the same thing with those half-empty bags of baby carrots that often gather in the produce drawer. By using them, you wouldn't even have to chop them to prepare.
I first spotted this recipe on Tastespotting and knew instantly that it had my name written all over it. I am a sucker for baked goods that incorporate herbs and so this one called to me (I also have a recipe for Lemon Basil cookies that I want to try). I made some adjustments to the recipe. It didn't come together easily, so I added several tablespoons of milk. For the first time in my life (I normally reduce the amount of sugar in things), I actually added more sugar than the recipe called for, because when I tasted the dough, it tasted like there was hardly any sugar in it at all. I was happy with the way the cookies turned out and I loved the fact that it didn't hurt the dough at all to hang out in the fridge for a full 24 hour period. Check out my adapted recipe after the jump.
Looking for a holiday gift for the food lover in your life? Why not get them this Culinary Three-Herb Wreath! Made from thyme, bay and rosemary, it has a decidedly festive feel while still being practical for year-round use. The herbs are safe to use in cooking and can last up to a year (depending on how fast you incorporate them into your soups and stews). If that doesn't have you convinced, know that a portion of the proceeds from this wreath go to fund Oceania, a non-profit working to save the ocean and care for sea life.
I have a friend who always used to make an addictive, rosemary and sugar spiked nut mix for parties. She moved out of town last spring to go and be a doctor in Ohio. For the last few weeks, ever since the cooler weather really settled in, I've been craving her nut mixture like crazy. On a whim a couple of nights ago I tried to recreate it with half a jar of elderly peanuts. While they tasted good, it just wasn't quite right. I've got an email into her in the hopes that she'll share her secret.
In the meantime I went looking around on the internet to see what I could find and stumbled across this recipe on Epicurious that was printed in this month's issue of Gourmet. It looks pretty darn good. Here's hoping it will hold me until AnnElise comes through with her recipe. If any of you have a signature nut mix recipe, I'd love it if you'd send it my way!
Now that it is officially fall, I declare open season of soup (no matter that it is still a balmy 80 degrees during the day here in Philly). I see bowls of vivid orange squash soups in my future. Vats of chicken noodle and beef barley. And buckets of potato leek soup. It's the potato leek that I'm currently obsessed with, ever since I saw Jennie's post on the Roasted Rosemary Potato Leek soup she whipped up over the weekend. Roasting the potatoes before simmering and blending is an inspired idea (and I'm sort of sad I didn't think of it first). But no matter, the idea is out there now and it's deliciousness must be captured and consumed.
Her recipe is after the jump, but please go over and check out her site, as she posted of the soup from start to finish and they are tantalizing.
I like to spend my mornings cruising the Maine byways, looking for farms and produce stands to put together a fresh and tasty lunch and dinner. I let the season control what is available and the daily finds are always a surprise.
This morning I came across a few nice tasty treats. Fresh green peas in the pod; firm, sweet, and an intense, summery green. Tiny, new, red potatoes the size of marbles. Sweet, green topped, early summer onions looking like fat golf balls. Farm fresh butter made from cultured sour cream and churned pale yellow and creamy with just a hint of sea salt. Local, double rich cream so thick it wouldn't even need whipping. I picked up a potted rosemary bush a deep, verdant green that I could put just outside my front door. Finally I stopped by a U-Pick strawberry field for some deep red, fat and luscious berries. I had some other items at home that would round out these items into a meal that would be full of summer flavors, filling but not too heavy.
In the summer I find I am just not as hungry as other times of the year unless I spend the day hiking or biking. I tend to eat less and much healthier, although I do like a wee bit of fat in my food to appease my craving for luxuriousness. I love soup and decided on a Fresh Pea, Baby Potato, and Sweet Onion Soup; blended into a smooth puree and with a hint of ginger, rosemary, and garlic. This would be a late lunch / early dinner that would be filling enough to last all evening; with just some fresh strawberries and cream for a dessert later in the evening.
More ways to eat local -- growing your own, sharing with friends, and swapping with others to get organic boxes that fit your tastes. 
Looking for a holiday gift for the food lover in your life? Why not get them this Culinary Three-Herb Wreath! Made from thyme, bay and rosemary, it has a decidedly festive feel while still being practical for year-round use. The herbs are safe to use in cooking and can last up to a year (depending on how fast you incorporate them into your soups and stews). If that doesn't have you convinced, know that a portion of the proceeds from this wreath go to fund Oceania, a non-profit working to save the ocean and care for sea life. 
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
