So, now that Emeril has teamed up with Martha, I feel it necessary to tell y’all just how much I love using her cookbooks and reading Martha Stewart Living. Her cooking expertise has been a guide for me throughout my entire career, and when I am stuck on a way to make a recipe just right, it is not uncommon for me to reference her version for a point in the right direction.

With that, I’d like to share one of her recipes for a pickled vegetable salad, called “Vegetables Escabeche,” that I have used time and time again. It is a perfect side dish for a barbeque (the acid in the pickling liquid ease the bite of spicy sauces); of course, it’s delicious; but best of all, it’s easy (just a bit of knife work, really)! However, your guests will think you slaved away and are headed down the path of culinary enlightenment…

Read more »

The microplane, a well-known tool by many professional chefs, is a great way to make zesting and grating an absolute breeze. I love using it for grating hard cheese, citrus zest and garlic. Give it a try and I’m sure you will never resort to your box grater again. (And if you are as clumsy as I am with a box grater, you’ll avoid grating your knuckles too!)

This classic non-alcoholic drink made of ginger ale and grenadine syrup was always my favorite way to feel “all grow up” when I was a child. But now, as an adult, I’ve found another version of the drink for a more mature audience…

Pama, a pomegranate liqueur, is a fantastic alcohol-based substitute for the grenadine. Simply add about a shot of Pama to a highball glass filled with ice and top off with ginger ale. To spruce it up, sugar the rim of the glass first and garnish it with a slice of fresh lime. It’s a perfect summer cocktail, and would certainly fancy up your Fourth of July festivities.

…In Spain, that is.

While living in Madrid, I frequented many tapas bars where it is customary to eat bite-sized portions of a variety of foods while sipping small glasses of local beer called cañas.  While snacking away, it is also common to throw your paper napkins on the floor.  As an American, where this is far from normal, I thought the place I was eating was headed for a health department closing.  How wrong I was.

To the Spanish, the mounds of napkins, toothpicks and straws on the floor are a sign of just the opposite.  They don’t signify that the restaurant is a bad place to eat, but instead, that it is a great place to eat.  And depending on the amount of discards on the floor, will tell you just how good it is.  If there is good-sized mess, they probably have some really great food and drink prices, whereas if the place is spotless, it probably is subpar and hasn’t seen customers all night.

It seems the trend in fine-dining these days is to combine less-than-typical flavor combinations.  Take, for example, how savory ingredients (like bacon) are not that uncommonly found on the dessert menu at a handful of New York City restaurants.  But, tell me, what explains these combinations?

Just the other day, I heard about a guy who ate bagels with ketchup for breakfast at his office desk.  And, not long after, I heard about another person mixing beer and sprite.  Is this just junk food gone terribly wrong, or maybe yet another wave of progressive palate exploration…?  I’m too scared to try them for myself to see!

This Fourth of July my boyfriend and I are going to have a deviled egg recipe contest!

We were invited to a friend’s barbeque and while figuring out what to bring, we both agreed on deviled egg.  However, we did not decide on the recipe.  His recipe is some fancy, schmancy version that calls for shrimp; mine, on the other hand, is a good old-fashioned version that calls for lots of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and mustard.

Once we make them, I’ll post both recipes for you to decide which is best….

Many people associate eggplant with sauces like tomato Parmesan.  However, Japanese eggplant, which is a smaller variety of the typically large vegetable, lends itself well to the intense flavors of Japanese cuisine. Its flavor is very similar to the larger variety–mild and neutral; but I rarely see it used at Japanese restaurants.  Although, just last week I saw eggplant on the menu at my neighborhood Japanese restaurant, so of course, I had to order it!

The dish was comprised of five perfectly roasted Japanese eggplant slices that were drizzled with a salty - sweet miso glaze. The soft pieces of eggplant whose subtle flavor was not lost under the caramelized topping of slightly charred miso glaze, was topped with a fancy little flower carved from a carrot. The result was great!

These traditional Italian cookies are wonderful.  They have a slightly chewy, yet crunchy texture from their almond paste filling and toasted pine nut topping.  They are not too sweet and make a very nice biscotti alternative alongside of a cappuccino.  They are also incredibly easy to make!  I have embellished the recipe below with orange zest, to give it a brighter flavor, but if you prefer these without, you can simply omit it.

Pignoli Cookies

3/4 cup Pine Nuts + 1 1/2 cups for rolling
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Almond Paste (sometimes called Marzipan)
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 large Egg
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
Zest of 1/2 an Orange – finely grated

In your food processor, combine the 3/4 cup of pine nuts, powdered sugar and almond paste—mix until you have a fine, sandy texture.  Then add the egg and vanilla extract.  Once combined, add the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.

Roll the dough into 1” sized balls.  Then roll into the extra pine nuts (you will have leftovers).  Then press the ball into a slightly flat disc and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes, or just until the pine nuts are well toasted.

These are the coolest looking (and great tasting!) hor d’oeuvres and will definitely make your dinner guests think you have been slaving away in the kitchen for hours, even though they take just minutes.

Here’s the how to:

Lightly sore the bottom of each tomato with an X mark.  Pop in rapidly boiling water (just a few at a time) until the skin just loosens from the X marking (a minute or two).  Immediately remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and shock in a bowl of ice water.   Then, with a paring knife, carefully peel the skin back, leaving just a bit attached at the stem.  Dip the underside with a dab of pesto and place on top of a large shaving of Parmesan cheese (you can make these shavings by using a vegetable peeler on a larger chunk of hard cheese).  Arrange on a fancy platter and presto!

Crème fraiche is more or less the French version of American’s sour cream.  It is a fermented cream that has a similar flavor and texture to sour cream, but is a little less tangy and is usually a bit thicker in consistency.

You can find it at your local gourmet food store, and use it for a plethora of recipes.  I love using crème fraiche as a substitute for whipped cream on desserts, or for a tasty veggie dip base.  It’s also a nice way to fancy up a simple baked potato.  However, if you do purchase it in its pre-made state you’ll find yourself paying a upwards of $6 for an 8-ounce package.  So, instead, I suggest you make it yourself!  It is the easiest thing in the world to make; it’ll save you a buck or two; and how cool is it to tell your friends you made your own cheese?!

Here’s the how-to:

For every eight ounces of heavy cream, you’ll need one ounce of buttermilk.  Combine these two ingredients with a quick stir, then pour into a glass mason jar, closed with a screw-top lid.  Let the filled jar sit out at room temperature for 24 hours to thicken slightly and ferment.  Then refrigerate the cheese until cold, even more thickened, and ready to use.