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Monthly Archives: September 2012

What We’re Cooking: Concord Grape Recipes

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Megan Labrise
Concord Grape Sorbet

Concord grapes arrived early this year, and I couldn’t be happier. Patience is a must: the longer on the vine, the sweeter the fruit; sunlight develops their sugars. Now they’re begging to be picked, burdening vines with tight clusters of purple-black orbs covered with bloom, the cloudy film on the surface of the skin.

Hardy and versatile, they’re as welcome in wines as in jellies and jams, a feat few cultivars can accomplish. Hats off to Ephraim Wales Bull, who won top honors at the 1853 Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition for developing these full-bodied beauties, named for the Massachusetts town where they first grew.

I like mine straight from the vine, but my friends look forward to the Concord Grape Sorbet (Sorbetto di Uva) that marks harvest time. It is the simplest Gourmet recipe I know, with only two ingredients: ripe, fragrant Concord grapes and superfine sugar. Pulverize the grapes in a blender or food processor, strain, stir in the sugar, chill and freeze. The glowing purple sorbet is pure Concord grape perfection.

This year I plan to expand my repertoire with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Tart, filled with homemade Concord grape jelly. This dessert dresses up those classic lunchbox flavors for a treat the whole family will love. I’m saving Wine Cake with Macerated Strawberries, featuring medium-dry Concord grape wine, for when the vines are bare, so I can enjoy my favorite grapes between seasons.

What will you do with your Concord grapes?

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Charity Begins in the Kitchen

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Tanya Steel

It’s Hunger Action Month but the sad fact is every day is a hunger day for one out of five American kids, who live in poverty and hunger-insecure households. This lack of nutrition not only impacts the children and their families, but also their communities and the nation at large, as the spiral of poor concentration due to hunger leads to poor grades, which eventually leads to a growing uneducated class that has a hard time lifting itself out of poverty. One of the many things we can do is give to our local food banks, or attend one of these culinary events, all happening in the next few weeks:

Share Our Strength: This extraordinary organization, begun in 1984 by brother and sister team Bill and Debbie Shore, is committed to making sure no kid in America goes hungry. They have eight Taste of the Nation events across the country to raise money: On Sunday, chef Tim McKee of La Belle Vie is hosting one in Minneapolis. Sixteen restaurants are coming together and tickets are $200. A few weeks later, Austin is getting into the act with its own Taste of the Nation event; tickets start at $500.

City Harvest’s Bid Against Hunger: The world’s first food rescue organization, they have collected and donated 42 million pounds of food in their tenure, and feed more than one million New Yorkers a year. Their annual event, which raised $1 million last year,  will be on October 16. More than 70 top New York City restaurants are participating, such as Blue Hill, Al Fiori, and Tertulia. Tickets start at $350, which will fund food for 1,400 hungry children. If you’re not in NY, you can always make a contribution.

The NY Coalition for Healthy School Food: Dedicated to offering plant-based healthy options to school kids in New York State,  as well as promoting farm to school programs, this organization is holding its annual fundraiser with 20 restaurants participating on October 10. Tickets start at $100.

Feeding America: The nation’s largest network of food banks, feeding 37 million Americans annually, raises awareness and dollars each and every day. One in eight Americans are fed through their network, including people that live in your own neighborhood. Contribute today.

Posted in News & Events | Tagged |

Weekly Roundup: All Things Mushroom

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Madison J Papp
Chanterelle Tacos
The September mushroom season is in full swing—boasting large quantities of porcinis, oysters, and chanterelles to savor. Channel your inner forager and explore these mushroom recipes:        
Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Beer Bites

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Kendra Vizcaino-Lico
Cheddar Beer Soup

Photo: Romulo Yanes

We all know that beer tastes great with food, but how about in food? As it turns out, ales and lagers are great in a wide variety of preparations, from braising and baking to roasting and stewing.

What’s your favorite thing to cook with beer?

Posted in Reader Polls | Tagged , , , |

A Spicy Chile Story

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Kemp Minifie
Chiles

Photo: Romulo A. Yanes

Chileheads rejoice! It’s chile bonanza time right now at many farmers markets in the country. Tim Stark’s Eckerton Hill Farm is a favorite at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City. His three tables are solidly paved with boxes of so many different varieties of chiles, you wonder how Stark even keeps track of them. But he does. He can identify every single one.

Chile time at the market has its pluses and minuses for a chile farmer. Yes, you attract lots of passionate and curious shoppers, but you also get peppered with questions all day long.

Stark wrote about his fan base among Caribbean immigrants—Cubans, Trinidadians, Jamaicans, and Venezuelans, to name a few— in “Burning Love,” an article that appeared in Gourmet magazine in August, 2008 (it’s not online at gourmet.com, but many blog posts by Stark are there).  Thanks to word of mouth, it’s a steadily increasing group. I was reminded of Stark’s article and the accompanying recipe for Trinidadian Green Seasoning, when I saw a small crowd gathered around his chiles last weekend. Continue reading →

Posted in Kemp's Kitchen | Tagged , , , , |

09.26.12: The Big Cheese

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Kelly Senyei

The Big Cheese

We’re feasting on fromage with a farm-to-table cheese story, a cheese-tasting party primer, tips for making homemade pizza, and a cheese shop guide in our Big Cheese 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:
Posted in New on the Gourmet Live App | Tagged , |

Image of the Week: Tri-color Potato Galette

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Megan Labrise
Tri-color Potato Galette

Cooler weather stimulates a taste for heartier fare, but it’s still warm enough for dining outdoors. Emily Hilliard of Nothing-in-the-House and photographer Stephanie Breijo packed this Tri-color Potato Galette for a picnic in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park. With caramelized onion, goat cheese and rosemary, the free-form tart is a vibrant introduction to autumn.

Posted in Image of the Week | Tagged , |

How To Quickly Core and Slice An Apple

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Kemp Minifie
How to Core and Slice An Apple

Photo: Kemp Minifie

Fess up. Has the following scenario happened to you? You learn a nifty cooking tip, then eventually forget it, only to be reminded of it much later, at which point you wonder how you could have forgotten something so smart and easy. Sound familiar?

I was kicking myself this weekend when I was testing an upcoming recipe—stay tuned for our Thanksgiving Modern Menu!—that involved apples. I called Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez, a gifted baker and the developer of the recipe, to check just how she got to those ¼-inch thick slices of apple (for instance, she could have quartered the apples and cut each quarter into thinner wedges, the way my mother would have done it).

As Eriquez enthusiastically described her method, we simultaneously realized that she’d done a video demonstrating this timesaving trick. The photograph above also illustrates the technique, but you’d want to do it with a peeled apple—I left the skin in place for the visual appeal.

The basic approach is this: You cut the sides, or cheeks, off the apple, leaving a skinny, squared-off core. Then slice each cheek piece lengthwise.

The benefits are numerous. It’s fast, and the cuts are straight and vertical; no messing with a paring knife trying to pry a curvy core from a quartered piece of apple. Better yet, it’s safer, because each slice provides a flat surface for the apple piece to rest on, which is much more secure, lowering the risk of a bloody knife accident.

Between the photograph above, the video, and the act of writing the tip down, there’s no way I’m forgetting it again!

Posted in Kemp's Kitchen | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

What We’re Cooking: Creative Crab Recipes

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Elizabeth Morgan

Corn Custards with Crab

I stumbled across this recipe for Steamed Corn Custards with Crab and knew immediately that this creamy custard—a variation on the classic Japanese egg custard, chawan mushi—was going to be making an appearance at my next dinner party.

While the individual servings are bound to score big flavor points with my guests, I’m also finding inspiration for a more finger-friendly take with hearty Potted Crab. The dish can be prepared ahead of time and is served with your choice of crispy toasts or crackers, which will be ideal for cocktail hour perusing. But who could celebrate the versatility of crab without an ode to classic Crab Cakes? This is one recipe that makes an appearance time and time again on my dinner table.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy crab?

Posted in News & Events | Tagged , , |

Happy Birthday To Us!

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Kendra Vizcaino-Lico
Gourmet Live's 1st Birthday Cake

Photo: Kimberly Sentner

Today is Gourmet Live‘s 2nd Birthday and we’re celebrating with cocktails, snacks, and a great big slice of birthday cake.

 What is your favorite thing to eat on your birthday?

Posted in Reader Polls | Tagged , , |

ChopChop Gets Kids in the Kitchen

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Tanya Steel

Many have written cookbooks for and to children (including my own Real Food for Healthy Kids) but strangely, there have been few cooking magazines for kids, until now. ChopChop, a quarterly publication that has the blessing of the American Academy of Pediatrics, aims to speak directly to children, showing them how to make simple, healthy recipes, such as Pumpkin-Pie Smoothie, Basic Chicken Soup, and Best-Ever Apple Sauce. The recipes are written simply and directly, and begin with reminders like wash your hands and the counter, and get out all of your equipment and ingredients, just as any trained chef does. The brainchild of Sally Sampson, who has more than 20 books under her belt, ChopChop makes nutritious food fun and accessible. Subscriptions are only $14.95 and for every paid sub, ChopChop can give away 3 issues to kids in need.

Posted in News & Events, Recipes | Tagged | 2 Comments

Weekly Roundup: All Things Peanut Butter

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Early Morning Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal

Peanut butter and jelly go together like … well, you know. But what surprised me this week were the myriad ways bloggers are breaking peanut butter out of the back-to-school sandwich mold. All grown up and on its own, peanut butter stars in breakfasts, dinners and desserts in this week’s roundup of our favorite recipes from across the Web.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , | 3 Comments

How Bruce Feiler Became a Maître D’ at Union Square Café

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Kemp Minifie
Bruce Feiler 450

Illustration: Eric Hanson

Sometimes the backstory to an article is as good, if not juicier, than the article itself. Such is the case with Bruce Feiler’s “The Therapist At The Table,” the archival piece from Gourmet magazine’s October 2002 issue that Gourmet Live featured in its Restaurant Issue last week. In it, Feiler describes what it’s like to go through the Danny Meyer restaurant training program and work as a maître d’ at Union Square Café in New York City.

So did how Feiler land this plum insider job? It all began with his first James Beard award winning article, “A Pocketful of Dough,” in which he chronicles his success at bribing his way into “hard-to-penetrate” New York restaurants, which ran in the October, 2000, issue of Gourmet magazine. (Full disclosure: I was one of the lucky ones roped in to fill out the foursome at Alain Ducasse.)

“The bribing piece really became a thing,” Feiler said when I called a couple of months ago to catch up with him as part of an editors’ note to “The Therapist At The Table,” updating what’s happened to Danny Meyer, Union Square Café, and Feiler since that story ran.  How could a story describing Feiler’s success at bribing, along with “Ten Tips for Tipping” not create a lot of buzz in the restaurant and media worlds?

Before it ran, however, Editor-In-Chief Ruth Reichl was worried about lawsuits. “I spent weeks in the legal department,” recounted Feiler. “I had to get everybody’s name. And everybody was fine except for Danny Meyer, who was upset I had bribed my way into Union Square Café… He wanted to know who took the bribe and I never told him.”  Continue reading →

Posted in Kemp's Kitchen | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

09.19.12: The Brazil Issue

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Kelly Senyei

Gourmet Live: The Brazil Issue

We’re betting on Brazil as the next great cuisine to conquer the American palate—because açaí, Caipirinhas, and world-class steaks are just the beginning. Learn why Brazil’s regional dishes and international flavors make it ripe for discovery in our Brazil 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:

Posted in New on the Gourmet Live App | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Image of the Week: Seafood Paella

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Elizabeth Morgan

Seafood Paella

Big flavor is matched by bright colors in Whole Grain Foodie’s one-pan Seafood Paella. Brown rice is the base of this eclectic dish featuring fresh veggies, sweet and smoked paprika, and four types of seafood, including squid, mussels, shrimp, and salmon. The dish is finished with a burst of fresh citrus and a sprinkle of parsley.

Posted in Image of the Week | Tagged , |

Great Greens: Tatsoi

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Kemp Minifie
Tatsoi

Photo: Kemp Minifie

Isn’t this a gorgeous bunch of greens? What you’re looking at is a head of tatsoi (taht-SOY), an Asian green in the large brassica family, which means it’s related to broccoli and mustard. Even if it’s not familiar to you, chances are you’ve likely eaten the smaller spoon-shaped leaves in Asian salad mixes. Sometimes you’ll see the leaves sold loose in upscale markets with large produce sections.

In order to see a whole head of tatsoi, though, you’ve got to go to a farmers market. I was blown away the first time I saw a tatsoi plant in its entirety. It looked remarkably like a flat leafy Frisbee. So I was surprised to see the tatsoi heads standing tall this past weekend, but according to the Kitazawa Seed Company, tatsoi grows more erect in warm weather and flattens out in colder weather. Considering the warm summer we’ve had, no wonder the tatsoi heads aren’t Frisbee-like this season.

Some people describe the leaves as having a mild mustard flavor. I didn’t detect any of that characteristic mustardy heat in the raw leaves from this bunch, and when cooked, it was as mild as baby bok choy. I could have just cut off the leaves and served them in a salad, but I can’t bear to waste stems, so I cooked the whole head. Continue reading →

Posted in Kemp's Kitchen | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Food Blog of the Week: Dinner With Weijia

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Elizabeth Morgan

Name: Weijia Xia
Blog: Dinner With Weijia

Location: Austin, TX

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Noodles, they are so versatile and can be adapted across various cuisines, courses, and dietary considerations. Japanese Ramen, Chinese Dan Dan noodles, Vietnamese Pho, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken noodle soup… it might actually be possible for me to cook a different noodle dish everyday for 365 days!

I will never eat:
Canned cheese or aerosol cheese. It looks like playdough.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?

I love having family and friends over for dinner. There is nothing more satisfying than cooking up a big meal and have everyone you care about share that with you. With everyone’s increasingly busy schedules and lives, being able to set that time aside and bond with your loved ones over food that was prepared just for them is a special thing.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Some type of pasta with pesto, and I usually have a few types of pasta in my pantry. Pestos are great because you can use what you have in your pantry. All you need is some sort of nuts, olive oil, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste, and then you blend all the dry ingredients in a food processor while gradually drizzling in the oil. Pine nuts and walnuts are good standards, but recently I’ve been really into using smoked almonds for that extra kick of smoky flavor. You can add Parmesan cheese and lemon zest if you’d like as well. I’ll cook the pasta according to the package instructions and then drain and toss the pasta with the pesto. It takes less than 20 minutes to make, and I usually have all these ingredients already.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
I love cooking at home, so when I eat out at a restaurant, I like to be taken care of completely. I don’t even want to worry about deciding what dishes to order, which is why I love ordering omakase at Japanese restaurants. Omakase means “I’ll leave it to you” in Japanese, and basically the chef will bring you a series of small dishes, ranging from lightest to heaviest, made from the finest selection of the day’s ingredients. This also allows the chef be creative and serve you new dishes that he or she might be experimenting with. Not all sushi restaurants offer omakase, but I love the one from Musashino in Austin, and I would love to try it at Uchiko as well.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged | 2 Comments

What We’re Cooking: Fast and Fresh Frittatas

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Elizabeth Morgan

Bacon and Potato Frittata

If I had my way, I would have breakfast for every meal. I love eggs and can think of no better way to enjoy them than as part of a fully loaded frittata, which is a great way to clean out your fridge (or pantry). I’m making the most of the season’s fading produce with a Summer Vegetable Frittata.

Next, I’m taking my baked eggs up a notch with an unbeatable Bacon and Potato Frittata.  This killer combo of parmesan cheese, potatoes, spinach, roasted peppers, and bacon makes for a delicious meal bursting with fresh flavor. And last but not least, I’m turning to a Cowboy Frittata packed with peppers, sausage, onion, and extra-sharp Cheddar.

What are your favorite ingredients to use in a frittata?

Posted in News & Events, Recipes | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Epicurious Cookbook

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Tanya Steel

While there have been several Gourmet cookbooks–and some new excellent Gourmet Special Editions available at newsstands, bookstores, and markets–our sister digital food brand, Epicurious, has never had it’s extraordinary content published on the printed page, until now.

The Epicurious Cookbook: More than 250 of our Best-Loved Four-Fork Recipes for Weeknights, Weekends & Special Occasionsis chock full of delicious, doable, decadent dishes (try saying that four times!).

Broken down by season and meal course, the book has top-rated recipes culled from its 200,000 recipes collection, including some of the best from home cooks. Member tips are included with each, as well as insightful new headnotes, menus, wine pairings and gorgeous photography from the renowned Ellen Silverman. If you order now, you can get an autographed copy and a discounted price of $21.99. It will definitely be the ultimate cookbook to give and get for the holidays!

Posted in News & Events | Tagged , |

Weekly Roundup: Sweet and Savory Dumplings

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Kelly Senyei

Tart Cherry Dumplings

Steamed, pan-fried, boiled, deep-fried—I don’t discriminate when it comes to dumplings, and I can imagine few foods more alluring than doughy pockets stuffed with endless varieties of fillings. Wrap up big flavor with our picks for sweet and savory dumpling recipes from around the Web:

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , | 1 Comment
 
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