Cooking all over the World: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Back in the Kitchen

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 07:28 PM PDT

I am back home in Toronto and I had an amazing time in New Orleans Louisiana! I went to New Orleans for the International Food Bloggers Conference put on by Foodista. I went to the IFBC last year when it was in Seattle and I really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this years! When I heard that it was in New Orleans, I immediately signed up as I have long been fascinated by Southern/Creole/Cajun cuisine and I had been wanting to head down there for a while.

I left for the conference a few days early to ensure that I would have plenty of time to explore and eat at a lot of different restaurants. When I got to New Orleans on the Wednesday it was just in time for lunch and given my recent obsession with po-boys I quickly went out to try a fried shrimp po-boy at Jonny's Po-boys. After the very filling lunch that I wandered around the French Quarter until the heat got to me and I headed back to the Monteleone to relax in the air conditioned Carousel Bar with with a pint of Abita, a local beer. For dinner I went to the Red Fish Grill to have their signature dish, the hickory smoked red fish along with a cup of their seafood gumbo.

New Orleans Vacation 2011

On Thursday morning I went on a swap tour with Cajun Encounters and had a great time traveling through the swamp. Along the way we encountered several alligators, some turtles, birds and a family of raccoons. Of course we got to see the alligators up close as the tour guide lured them in with marshmallows. The tour guide even had a baby alligator that had been sick. They were waiting for it to fully recover before releasing it back into the swamp. By the time the tour was over I was pretty hungry and I headed over to Drago's to try the char grilled oysters along with a bowl of their seafood gumbo. For dinner I met up with Stephanie of Copy Kat Recipes and Brooke of Learn to Preserve who were also in town for the IFBC and we headed out to Pascal's Manale where I had some drum fish topped with BBQ shrimp.

New Orleans Vacation 2011

On Friday morning instead of going for the hotels continental breakfast I headed out to Something Else Cafe to try their crab cake topped with sunny side up egg with corn machoux after hearing Brooke talk about it the night before. For the rest of the morning I wandered around the French Quarter and stopped by a few art shops before heading to Mr B's Bistro for lunch where I had the blackened red fish. And with that my free time was up and it was time to head to the conference. There were two sessions on Friday afternoon and they were on the morality of food blogging and a food styling and photography talk by Andrew Scivani which was really good. Up next was the food which was provided by several local restaurants and I got to try the following:

Fried pork cheek balls by Le Petite Grocery
Spicy tuna tartare with avocado mousse, coriander, grilled country bread and rabbit ragu with house-made pappardelle, parmesan by Ste. Marie
Shaved brussels sprouts with apples, pecorino, hazelnuts and chicken liver crostini with Maras Farm's sprouts, dandelion gastrique by Sylvain
Crawfish etouffee by Langenstein's
Black truffle hazelnut macaroon 'PoPs' by Sucre

After consuming far too much tasty food it was time to head out on the Cocktail Crawl put on by Nosh by Firespotter Labs which included stops at three bars on the edge of Bourbon Street with the final one having some live music. Although I was having a fun time on the crawl, I made sure to head back to the hotel in time to get a good night sleep for the big day in the IFBC.

One recommendation that came up a lot when I ask you my readers about where to eat in NOLA was beignets and chicory coffee de lait at Cafe du Monde and I was quickly running out of time. To make sure that I got there I decided to get up a bit early on Saturday morning and do it then and there. I am not really a big coffee drinker but I have to say that I am glad that I got the chance to try out Cafe de Monde! After enjoying a leisurely breakfast I ran back to the conference for the session that I was most looking forward to, the session on marketing and branding and it did not disappoint. Up next was a really interesting session on food and culture and then it was time for the IFBC meal that I was looking forward to the most. I had seen the menu ahead of time and it was filled with tasty sounding food and I ended up getting to try the following:

Oyster po-boy with spinach, artichokes and lemon thai aioli by Pierre Maspero's
Grilled gulf shrimp and blackened avocado po-boy and crab bisque by Red Fish Grill
Shrimp and jambalaya grits by Riverfront Restaurant
Stewed turkey and alligator sausage gumbo by Parkway Bakery
Shrimp remoulade by Royal House Restaurant

There were some more dishes but unfortunately I was completely stuffed and could not eat another bite. After lunch we continued with a talk about food sustainability by Poppy Tooker, a very entertaining local from New Orleans and a cooking demonstration by John Folse.

New Orleans Vacation 2011

Next up was a small break before the final meal of the conference and I took the opportunity to walk around a bit. While I was out I passed by a Bourbon Street wedding procession which I certainly had not been expecting. Dinner was really nice and it consisted of a dariole of crab ravigote topped with shrimp, a tournedo of beef perigourdine topped with foie gras an black truffles and a white chocolate creme brule topped with fresh berries. Dinner ended with an entertaining talk by Chef John Besh about food in New Orleans and his restaurants.

On Sunday morning I went back to Something Else Cafe as I had seen another dish on their menu that I had to try, the Crawdaddy Omelette which was an omelette filled with crawfish etouffe and melted jack cheese topped with more crawfish etouffe. For the final sessions of the IFBC I attended the session on time management and the one on food science and they were both very interesting. With the end of the final session there was a wrap up talk by Foodista and then it was time to say goodbye to friends both new and old.

While I was at the IFBC I met a few old friends and I got the chance to meet many new friends! It was really amazing having the opportunity to talk to some fellow food bloggers and friends about food, blogging and this and that! I am definitely looking forward to the chance to attend next years IFBC!

New Orleans Vacation 2011

I took the opportunity to do all of my souvenir shopping on Sunday afternoon after enjoying a fried oyster po-boy with blue cheese and hot sauce mayo at Pierre Maspero's. After an afternoon of walking around in the sunny New Orleans heat I went down to the carousel Bar to meet up with some friends who were still in town; Jamie of Life's a Feast, Jennifer of Merry Gourmet, Chef John of Food Wishes and Deb of Smitten Kitchen. After enjoying a Sazerac Jamie, Jennifer, Chef John and I headed over to GW Fins to enjoy a really excellent seafood meal.

On Monday I finally got the chance to hop onto the St Charles street car and I headed out to the Garden District where I took a tour of the Lafayette Cemetery before crossing the street to Commanders Palace. Commanders Palace came highly recommended and I have to say that the meal was one of my favourites! The food was really good and the service was amazing! I even got to try their Creole cream cheese cheesecake. After lunch I walked around the garden district and looked at all of the fantastically expensive houses before hopping back on the street car to ride to the end of the line stopping off at Audubon Park to take a look. For my final meal in New Orleans I headed back to Mr B's Bistro as I just had to have the BBQ shrimp! When you order the BBQ shrimp they bring you a bib so you know that it is going to be messy but it turns out that it is really worth it! The shrimp are so nice an moist and tender and succulent and good and the sauce is so addictive that you will use every last piece of that complimentary bread to sop up every drop of it that you can.

Overall I had an amazing time in New Orleans! My trip was just packed full of tasty food and that is thanks to all of your suggestions! Thank you so much for all of your great suggestions!

I think that this just might be my longest post to date. If you have made it this far, I promise to get back into the kitchen and get back to posting about food wand recipes tomorrow! :)

If you are interested in seeing more photos from my vacation you can see them in my Flickr gallery: New Orleans 2011

For the Love of Cooking

Farmer's Salad

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 07:30 PM PDT

This recipe was given to me by my friend Sharon. It's light, simple to make, and tastes wonderful - it's perfect for the summer!! I love the combination of soft cottage cheese, crunchy vegetables, and dill. I also really like that there is no dressing on this salad...it just doesn't need it. This dish is very versatile - you can use whatever veggies you have on hand. My kids thought it was good

Dairy Goodness - Nourish your Day

Bento Mania

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 08:16 AM PDT

With lunch box season back in full swing, why not let yourself be inspired by lunch creations with an Asian twist?

For many years now, the Japanese have elevated the simple boxed lunch into edible works of art, known as bento. It's a trend that's recently begun spreading across Europe and North America; it's bento mania!

Bento, much more than just lunch in a box

Bento, a Japanese term, refers to a meal, usually lunch, packed in a container and eaten outside the home; it's our version of a boxed lunch. In Japan, bento can be store-bought or made at home. Traditionally, however, it's been the woman's responsibility to prepare the bento for lunch for her husband and children.

It's not just a container

Highly refined, Japanese cooking prides itself on the freshness of its food and the aesthetic value of the presentation of its dishes. Bento is no exception. The flawlessly elaborate, even whimsical at times, arrangements of the foods included in the meal, are what distinguish it from a regular lunch in a box. The "cute" bento (kawaii in Japanese) trend is reflected in the wide range of accessories and products available to prepare these pretty Japanese lunches. There are numerous websites and blogs dedicated to them.

The content…

In general, the box is divided into compartments that contain a cold meal in which cooked white rice or noodles is the main ingredient. This starchy and nourishing food is accompanied by fish, meat, hard-boiled eggs or tofu, and fruits and vegetables, all cut into pieces that are easy to eat with chopsticks. Served with tea, bento makes a complete and nutritious meal.

...and the container

Compartmentalized to adequately keep the meal's contents separate, bento boxes have become true fashion accessories and come in an infinite variety of colours, shapes, patterns, etc. Traditionally made of varnished wood, they are now available in plastic, resin and bamboo. A whole host of additional accessories are also available on the market: egg moulds shaped like stars, rabbits, bears and other "cute" animals, as well as small decorative containers for sauce and other condiments, etc.

Bento can range from simple to very elaborate. They can also be truly inventive small works of art that make a meal an experience as pleasing to the eye as it is to the taste buds.

Be inspired!

Embrace the trend and add a touch of bento creativity and folly to your kids' lunches. The possibilities are endless!

cookblog

This Is The Story Of The Hurricane

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 07:00 AM PDT

The power is back on after three days, which is most welcome, and there are plenty more houses all over the area who still have a while to wait; I drove around some yesterday and it’s a huge mess, with trees hanging off of lines on street after street. I had to drive under several just to get to the pottery. It’s hard to find a bridge or culvert that wasn’t overtopped with rushing water; there’s dirt and gravel across the roads in many places and brown mud four feet high in the bushes in others. Our little taste of the storm’s power was this, which happened at about 7:00 Sunday morning:

That’s the garden, in case you can’t tell. The other half is under water, though all the growing plants’ roots meant that only one bed–the one with carrot seedlings–floated up and got shifted. We’re lucky here because there are steep hills just downstream of us, so the water always has somewhere better to be.

After the rain let up, I climbed up and took off all the small branches with a one-handed tree saw and stacked them. It was not too bad; willow is very soft wood and I like physical projects. The incessant roar of neighbors’ generators was annoying, as was my knowledge that I’d be lucky to get a tepid shower at the end of the day since our heater doesn’t work with no electricity.

Then, with perfect timing, a friend wandered over with his chainsaw because he heard we had a tree down. We took the rest of it apart in no time. Small towns can be great this way. I heard lots of stories of people helping each other out, and none of panicked assholishness (until I turned on the radio, of course).

I straightened up one of the posts and then tacked the wire fence back to it with staples. It’s wrinkled, but will see us through the season. And now I have room to expand into the former footprint of the tree.

On the whole, we got off lightly. Hunter Mountain to the Northwest of us got sixteen inches of rain, and further up the Route 28 corridor in the Catskills got massive, violent flooding with many bridges and houses damaged or gone. So I’m not going to be complaining about this minor inconvenience.

We took advantage of our thawing freezer to invite over a dozen friends and neighbors to eat a leg of lamb with fresh-made pita and pesto, grilled vegetables (much of the garden is fine):

and then grilled duck breast on polenta with homemade smoked salsa.

And, of course, the obligatory platter of tomatoes, which wisely I picked the night before because that bed took it on the chin and our non-paste tomatoes are done for the year.

It was a very nice party, and there was much to be grateful for, not least among which these:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go take a hot shower and shave because I can.

IDEAS IN FOOD - Cured Venison Heart

Click here to read this mailing online.

Here are the latest updates for jorgehumbertocoelho.cooking@blogger.com

"IDEAS IN FOOD" - 1 new article

Cured Venison Heart

The idea for curing the heart is inspired by our friend chef Chris Cosentino. He prepares a salt cured tuna heart which he shaves over pasta, and probably numerous other preparations. Since he had the tuna version wrapped up (which is absolutely delicious and we hope he will some day divulge the recipe in printed form) we took it to venison. Our cure blends salt and sugar, an array of aromatics and some fresh herbs. It is not that we are keeping the complete recipe close to the hip indefinetly but just for now. We will publish the full recipe in October. Besides, our cryptic approach allows for creative extrapolations. After the heart is cured we wrap it in cheesecloth and let it dry in the refrigerator. The heart is then firm enough to grate on a rasp, replicating the beautiful grated tuna heart we experienced at Incanto. The salt cured heart is rich and minerally. It brings a salinity to foods as well as a gaminess in a delicate manner. We are excited to see how we may use this new addition to our pantry.

Years Past:

• Email to a friend • Article Search • View comments •

•

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

New Cooking with Amy post

Behind the scenes with Joanne Weir

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 09:23 AM PDT

It may come as a surprise, but the best thing about being a food writer isn't the food, it's the people you meet. And Joanne Weir is certainly one of them. I met her years ago and we quickly became friends. I've given her advice on blogging and social media and she has always been there when I needed career counseling and the inside scoop on folks in our industry. She's a genuinely nice and generous person full of enthusiasm and desire to help others learn to cook and have fun. Which brings me to her new show-Joanne Weir's Cooking Confidence. It's a natural progression from her most recent shows where she takes individual students into the kitchen and in no time gets them cooking.

Chris Styler setting up

"You stayed longer than anyone!" said Joanne as I was leaving. Despite the cramped space, I had a hard time tearing myself away. I wanted to see her at work and to share some tidbits about her new show. First of all it's shot in her home kitchen which gets transformed into a television studio for filming. As executive producer this time around, Joanne has assembled a crack team including director Paul Swenson who has worked with Lidia Bastianich, Eric Ripert and Christopher Kimball, culinary producer Chris Styler who has worked with Julia Child, Jacques Pepin and Jamie Oliver and a cameraman she has worked with since day one, eleven years ago. The result is a smooth quality to the process where everyone seems to know exactly what they are doing and anticipate each other's needs.

So what's different about the new show and what can you look forward to?

* A wider range of recipes
While Joanne is known for Mediterranean cuisine this time you'll get her take on all kinds of food including Indian, Asian and North African. Everyone on set was raving about her Moroccan chicken and sweet potato salad with pumpkin seeds. The day I was there she made an ahi burger with wasabi mayo and a crunchy slaw with grapefruit spiked with ginger and also an Italian pasta with tomato and cream and a salad made with ribbons of zucchini, summer squash and daikon radish. Look for ways to use more unusual ingredients too like farro and fregola.

*Great tips
I always learn something when I watch Joanne's shows. From little things like how to peel ginger with a spoon to making mayonnaise with nothing but mustard, an egg yolk and oil. I've always wondered what the heck to do with red pepper jelly and in this series she make corn muffins stuffed with a spoonful of it. And did you know if a label on produce begins with a "9" it means it's organic?

* Video app
This series will not only have an accompanying cookbook but also an app that has 20+ recipes and exclusive content. Look for it this Fall on iTunes.

* Confidence
You'll see it in the students and you'll see it in Joanne who literally seems more "at home" than ever before. I talked to her director about it and he said "She's evolved, you're seeing more of the real Joanne." Without missing a beat, she balances responding to student's questions with making sure every cooking step is explained. On the day I was there everything was being shot in real time, there was no swapping out of dishes. She's the quintessential cooking teacher on PBS and really what more could you ask for?

For the Love of Cooking

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

Posted: 29 Aug 2011 08:00 PM PDT

It was a cold and rainy day today so my daughter wanted me to make pot roast and potatoes for dinner. Instead of making my regular pot roast I searched the internet for something different. I came across a recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen that looked interesting so I decided to give it a try. I adapted the recipe to suit my families tastes and I used my oven instead of a crockpot. The meat turned out

The Perfect Pantry's top 10 salads for picnic, potluck or barbeque

The Perfect Pantry new & recent posts

The Perfect Pantry's top 10 salads for picnic, potluck or barbeque

Unofficially, summer draws to a close here in the United States on Labor Day Weekend. All around the country, kids return to school, and women pack away their white pants and shoes. For those who, like me, still have a barbeque or two on the calendar, and who (again, like...

• Email to a friend •

New posts on The Perfect Pantry

Click here to safely unsubscribe from "The Perfect Pantry." Click here to view mailing archives, here to change your preferences, or here to subscribe

Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498