The end of summer can be bittersweet as we wave goodbye to seasonal ingredients that are at their peak. Join in our ultimate summer sendoff as we celebrate Labor Day with recipes starring a few of our favorite summer foods, from tomatoes and watermelon to corn and blueberries.
Photo: CN Digital Studio
Tomatoes are at the peak of their season and these plump, juicy, firm fruits not only taste great, but are great for you. They are packed with lycopene and Vitamin C. Tomatoes are also wonderful in a wide variety of preparations like soups, pizzas, salads, pastas, sandwiches, and sauces. But, we want you to tell us:
What is your favorite thing to cook with tomatoes?
Photo: Stephanie Foley
Gourmet Live’s latest issue, Sweet Heat, reminded me of what a wimp I used to be about chiles. It took two trips to Mexico—a week’s study with Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy at her home in Michoacan, and another week with cookbook author and teacher, Susana Trilling, touring the different areas of Oaxaca to sample some of the many regional dishes containing their richly varied capsicums—to transform me from a chile-phobe to a chile fan. I learned that not all chiles are searingly hot, and that once you get beyond the heat, each chile has it’s own unique flavor.
I’m particularly fond of the big dried Mexican chiles, and these days, I’m finding them in supermarkets everywhere, even in a Walmart in northern New Hampshire. When reconstituted in water and puréed, the resulting sauce is thick and velvety. My cupboards are now stuffed with cellophane bags of anchos, guajillos, pasillas, and fiery little chiles de arbol.
Anchos are probably my favorite, because their heat tends to be milder, and there’s an earthy sweetness to their meaty pulp. I turned to them for a corn chowder I created several years ago, when I was looking for a way to give the soup a rich and creamy texture without adding milk or cream. True, a simple purée of cooked corn kernels and water is pretty darn creamy on its own in a soup, but the chiles add an extra layer of warmth and body. From the anchos to the corn and potatoes—all native to the Americas—this chowder is a bowl of New World flavors.
My soup is just one example of a way to incorporate more chiles into your life. Tell us, what do you like to make with chiles?
We’re turning up the temperature with fiery new recipes for grilled chicken, summer rolls, and dessert jellies, plus homemade kimchi and hot spots in Arizona dining in our Sweet Heat Issue.
Download the free Gourmet Live app for access to all of the issues and recipes, and visit Gourmet.com to read this week’s issue in full, including:
TidyMom brings big flavor to a classic bake sale treat with her Salted Caramel Cupcakes. Tender cake is topped with caramel cream cheese frosting and a final drizzle of salted caramel for the ultimate combination of sweet and salty flavors.
Photo: CN Digital Studio
There’s nothing like humor to bring on the banter from the creative minds of Gourmet Live and Epicurious.com readers! In Gourmet Live’s latest, The Water Issue, I wrote about the shortest and funniest recipe on Epicurious.com, “Salted Water For Boiling,” which, since it first appeared in November, 2001, has generated over 880 comments in the review section of the recipe. With only 14 words and two numerals, it’s the shortest and simplest recipe that was ever attributed to Gourmet. In the few days since the article appeared last week on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 22, new comments have been added, and they are too much fun not to share.
The first reader to jump in since December, 2011, was “SgtPsychosis,” who asked, “Do you need to rinse the water before boiling?”
Thank goodness “dkphilbin” rushed to this cook’s aid with an answer: ”Do you need to rinse the water before boiling? NO! NO! NO! You rinse the water AFTER boiling! Jeeze, do I have to explain everything;)” Continue reading
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what food it be?
Milk! The obvious reason is because I could keep making ice cream. It would also be interesting to blog about how to incorporate different types of milk into sweet treats and savory meals. There are so many types of milk (cow, goat, almond, coconut, etc.), and now you’ve got me thinking…
What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
It would be my clean-out-the-fridge pasta or pizza. Any day of the week I usually have small pieces of vegetables and cheese lying around in the fridge. I always keep a can of diced tomatoes on hand in case tomatoes are not in season or not on my shelf. Using pasta or pizza crust as a base is a great way to use up the leftovers and a make a quick and tasty meal.
I will never eat:
Liver. There are a lot of people out there who like liver, but I never have and never will choose to eat it. It just sounds gross.
What is your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
I live in New Orleans, where there is a plethora of great restaurants. One of my favorite restaurants is actually a restaurant that I frequented when I lived in Columbus, Ohio called Northstar Cafe. There are local, fresh, and thoughtful dishes on the menu each day, and the restaurant atmosphere is causal and inviting. I order the Northstar Burger (a veggie burger). It is one of the best burgers that I have ever tasted, and I am full-fledged meat eater. I’m going to cheat and pick my favorite restaurant in New Orleans as well – Coquette. If you are ever in New Orleans, be sure to check it out. The menu includes elegant meals and cocktails made with local ingredients. If it’s on the menu, order the quail appetizer.
Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. I first tasted one of her ice creams when I moved to Columbus five years ago, and it was so full of flavor. It inspired me to purchase my own ice cream maker, and the rest is history. I have heard Jeni speak a few times; it’s inspiring to hear how passionate she is about her work and her community. She also seems like a down-to-earth person.
From burritos and tacos to sushi and salads, avocado is one of the creamiest, most versatile ingredients, and I’m gearing up for a weekend’s worth of recipes starring the pale green goddess. First up, I’m turning to quick and easy Avocado and Chile-Spiced Fried Eggs on Shrimp Toast, which stars perfectly fried eggs, cilantro, and fresh lime juice atop crispy toasts.
Next, I’m sampling a simple Lobster, Avocado, and Grapefruit Salad that’s dressed with fresh citrus and a pinch of sea salt. And last but not least, I’m taking this savory ingredient into a world of sweets with Avocado Crème Brûlée that tops avocado mousse with a crunchy caramelized sugar shell.
What is your favorite way to cook or bake with avocados?
As some of you know, I had the honor of being at the White House this week. It was the culmination of a long project I began with some colleagues, one that ended up becoming the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ State Dinner. The event was on Monday, and I had the tremendous honor of speaking first, followed by 12-year-old Marshall Reid, who then introduced the First Lady in poignant and heartfelt fashion. Mrs. Obama’s speech was inspiring, moving, funny, and off-the-cuff. She is a true leader and one of the vital issues she has spearheaded is eradicating childhood obesity within a generation. This was the genesis of Let’s Move. She has already made remarkable inroads, along with White House Assistant Chef, Sam Kass.
We will post all three of our speeches on our sister site, Epicurious, but meantime, here is the text of my speech, given Monday August 20, 2012, in the East Room of the White House:
Mrs. Obama, I speak for all of us in this historic room today when I say thank you so very much for inviting us, for welcoming us to your home, and for your tremendous vision and leadership on the issue of childhood health.
We are gathered here together to celebrate the winners of The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. I was so impressed by the quality and quantity of entries we got for the contest: They were sophisticated, creative, and downright tasty and it seems as if quinoa and salmon are two of America’s kids’ favorite ingredients. But while today is a joyful and celebratory moment for us all, it is essential to remember that we are here for a very important reason—to make real and lasting changes in the health of families today and tomorrow. The 54 winning junior chefs and their family members know how important that is. In the 1,200 submissions to the contest, many children described in detail their personal experiences with family members who suffer from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These young leaders understand that by eating healthfully and exercising, we can all strive to be the best we can be, for ourselves and for our country.
I want to tell you winners how inspiring you are not just to the adults in the room but to your family and friends, your community, and kids throughout America. I know that you’ve all become local celebrities as a result of winning this contest, that some of you have appeared in People Magazine, Good Morning America, CNN, CBS, Nightline, and Newsweek, and received congratulatory calls from your senators. And although it is thrilling to be a star, remember the old saying: To whom much is given, much will be required.
The contest you won was called the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge for a reason. Now we are challenging you to go out and lead the fight to teach your friends and family the importance of healthy eating and exercise. You can also mention to your friends that, according to a recent New Yorker article, there is a new activity called “going outside.” You don’t need a keyboard or a mouse, it’s 3-D, and it comes with surround sound—no headphones required!
And now, before we taste a few of the delicious creations you dreamed up, I want to leave you with this thought. As some of you recently saw, Mrs. Obama led our U.S. delegation to the Olympics. She carried America’s torch just as she carries the torch for good health and well-being. She and I are passing the torch to you, to bring the message to your own communities.
I am confident you will carry this light of inspiration and information because you are born leaders. How else can you explain finding yourselves here, sitting in the same room where America’s greatest visionaries changed the future of our nation–extraordinary people such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And who knows, perhaps one of you here today may even stand in this very same spot a few decades from now as President of the United States, inspiring the next generation of young people to be their best for themselves, for their families, and for their country. And now I want to introduce one of those torch bearers, author of Portion Size Me, 12-year-old Marshall Reid. Thank you very much.
Photo: Romulo Yanes
One of the best things about camping is cooking your meals over an open fire. With classic dishes like s’mores, beans, stew, fresh fish, hot dogs, pancakes, baked potatoes, chili, and oatmeal, there are lots of outdoorsy eats to enjoy. But, we want you to tell us:
What’s your favorite campfire food?
Photo: CN Digital Studio
Gourmet Live’s latest issue on Water got me thinking about how our most precious liquid gets a bum rap in recipes. It’s essential to cooking, yet it often gets taken for granted. Sometimes it doesn’t even rate inclusion in the ingredient list.
Where water really gets ignored is in soups. Many cooks automatically turn to chicken broth for the liquid base, when water would work just as well, if not better, where a pure flavor is the goal. Ask any vegetarian.
In late August, when corn is busting out all over, I’m reminded of one of the simplest summer soups, made from just three main ingredients: Water, corn, and salt. Period. Okay, there are chives, too, but they’re more for garnish. Continue reading
We’re examining the planet’s most important liquid asset with a look at new clean-water technologies, a global tour of ice treats, a visit to Newfoundland, and more in our Water Issue.
Download the free Gourmet Live app for access to all of the issues and recipes, and visit Gourmet.com to read this week’s issue in full, including:
Need some convincing to eat your veggies? Think French fries meet tempura, and go no further than Brown Eyed Baker’s Beer-Battered Zucchini Fries. Crunchy on the outside with tender zucchini in the middle, it doesn’t get much better than these golden brown beauties.
Photo: Kemp Minifie
Unless you have a vegetable garden, or a friend or neighbor who does, you likely haven’t seen the gargantuan zucchinis that peek out from beneath a canopy of wide squash leaves around this time of year. It’s as if they balloon from baby-squash cute to ginormous in the span of a couple of days, not weeks. City slickers like me, who normally only have access to farmers market produce, won’t see these behemoths, but they are the real stuff of zucchini jokes and unwanted gifts.
Next-door neighbors in northern New Hampshire, where we go on vacation, practically pleaded with us to eat from their vegetable patch, and now I get why. I stumbled upon a four-pound zeppelin while hunting for some tender little zucchinis. My neighbor stuffs and bakes the blimps, but I immediately thought about some individual zucchini pecorino frittatas baked by former Gourmet magazine food editor/stylist Lori Powell, now the food director at Prevention Magazine.
How to tackle my elephantine squash? I peeled it (the skin’s quite tough), cut it crosswise into sections, then quartered each section to facilitate discarding the seedy cores. Next, I coarsely grated 3 pounds of the pale flesh, tossed it with 1½ teaspoons salt, and let it weep in a bowl for 10 to 15 minutes. Continue reading
Location: New York, NY
If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Well, this blog is an experiment with my affinity for bourbon. It is so versatile, and really fun to develop with (unless you’ve had a bit too much of it to drink recently). It can really be used in so many ways that haven’t been touched on in the past, and it’s so great to be able to bring my own culinary style and vision into this project. Unfortunately because of other recipe development and food styling I work on almost daily, it’s easy to get distracted from my own recipes.
I will never eat:
Insects. I keep the “I’ll try anything once” attitude towards most things, but I am not a bizarre food fanatic and can’t truly believe I will be missing out on anything.
Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Ina Garten and Martha Stewart at the same party. There have been whispers about what happened to their friendship, but I really admire both of them, and I’m sure a few whisky sours could get out the truth. While I’m not sure the menu would be bourbon-centric these two ladies both value the same high-quality and incredibly fresh ingredients that I love to cook with. And I also wouldn’t turn down Ryan Gosling.
What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
There is nothing easier than a roast chicken stuffed with garlic, thyme, lemons, and heavily seasoned with salt and pepper, with carrots, potatoes, or whatever I happen to have at my apartment. That… or frozen meatballs, which I make ahead of time in really big batches.
What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
I eat probably the most frequently at Peter Hoffmann’s Back Forty in the East Village. They have fantastic burgers, even better bourbon cocktails, and it’s a friendly, calm atmosphere to enjoy being out of the kitchen. I always get my burger with cheddar and bacon, and their house-made pickles and ketchup. They also have biscuits and Bloody Mary’s on their brunch menu, which is a weekend staple for me.
As you may have heard, our sister site, Epicurious, created the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge with the office of the First Lady, as well as the USDA, the Department of Education, and Let’s Move. Open to kids ages 8 to 12 across the country, the contest asked for healthy lunch recipes that satisfied My Plate guidelines, were creative and original, affordable, and delicious. We got over 1,200 entries but we could only choose one winner from each of the 50 states and the U.S. Territories. Those winners will be feted at the White House this Monday morning, where there will be almost all of the pomp and circumstance used in a State Dinner. You can watch all of the proceedings live, via the Whitehouse.gov, letsmove.gov, and Epicurious, starting at 10:15 am. Or, you can follow along on social media via Twitter channels for Let’s Move and Epicurious, or on our Facebook, Google Plus, and Pintrest channels.
And, to have a taste of the menu, you can get the free downloadable cookbook of the winning recipes available on the contest site, Epicurious, Let’s Move, the USDA and the Department of Education come Monday. Try some out with your junior chefs and let us know what you think!
Photo: Romulo Yanes
We can’t resist our cravings for melty, chewy, creamy, stretchy, gooey cheese. With delicious options like Cheddar, Brie, gouda, American, Parmesan, goat, bleu, Asiago, feta, Swiss, Fontina, gorgonzola, and camembert, the choices are almost endless. But, we want you to tell us:
What’s your favorite kind of cheese?
Photo: WWD
I will always be grateful to Julia Child, because her success made the field of cooking a legitimate career pursuit for bright intelligent young people at a time when it was still considered vocational training for those not college bound.
My three brothers and I knew practically from birth that college was a definite in our future. There was no question of taking time off after high school. We were on track starting in nursery school. So imagine my parents’ surprise when I returned home after college and took a job in a trendy Georgetown restaurant in Washington, D.C. Not quite what they had in mind for a newly minted art history major.
The hours were terrible, but I loved learning new skills. When I complained after a couple of months that the waiters were making triple the money I was, my father sat me down, looked me sternly in the eye and said, “If you want to be a galley slave the rest of your life, go right ahead, but I urge you to write to Julia Child, write to food editors, and find out how they got to where they are.” Continue reading
