Gourmet Live

Gourmet Live Blog

Category Archives: From the Food Blogs

Weekly Roundup: Recipes Starring Leeks

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Megan Labrise

Chicken and Vegetable Turnover

Bake or sauté, roast or fry, frizzle or grill: leeks can take the heat. We’re rounding up a few of our favorite ways to make leeks the star of your next meal, including flaky turnovers, tasty tarts, and cozy casseroles.

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , |

Weekly Roundup: Biscuits

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Megan Labrise

Cheddar-Jalapeno Biscuits

What’s better than a biscuit? Not much. They’re best when still warm, steaming, presented in a dish towel-draped basket—when you split them and a butter pat just glides over the inside. Of course they’re good packed in a lunchbox or frozen then toasted, too. An indulgence to be sure, one biscuit always leaves me wanting more. Here are some fresh takes on biscuits for your next meal:

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged |

Food Blog of the Week: parsnips aplenty

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Parsnips Aplenty


Name: Lauren Mitchell
Blog: parsnips aplenty

Location: Portland, Oregon

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
See, I grew up in rural Appalachia, with well water that turned the white laundry rusty-colored, so every couple of weeks we had to go to the laundromat to wash the light-colored clothes. One day when I was 14 or so I ripped out a ridiculously complicated carbonara recipe from Family Circle, and I spent approximately two hours and twelve pans to make it. And even if it wasn’t actually carbonara, it was pretty stellar.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Onions.

I will never eat:
Blue cheese (yuck), foie gras (unless it comes from that one guy in Spain who raises his happy animals), and probably not the still-beating heart of a cobra. I also find jackfruit revolting.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
If “dinner” is a euphemism, Nathan Fillion. If it’s not, then I like making food for people who treat it like a cooking lesson. If Nathan Fillion wants a cooking lesson, I mean, that’s cool too.

What is your all-time favorite recipe from your blog?
There are so many, but the Garlic Chive Pesto was probably one of the better surprises I made, and every time I eat it I’m ecstatic that it’s there. The entry I wrote above it is one of the more personal ones, too, and it carries the satisfaction of saying just what I needed to say.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Weekly Roundup: Christmas Cakes

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kelly Senyei

Eggnog Mini Loaves

Now that the Chrsitmas countdown is in the final stretch, we’ve got one thing and one thing only on our minds: dessert! Celebrate the holiday season with a handful of our favorite festive cakes from across the Web.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , , |

Featured Food Blog: APT. 2B Baking Co.

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Madison J Papp

Apt. 2B Baking Co.

Location: New York, NY
Name: Yossy Arefi
Blog: Apt. 2B Baking Co.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Fresh, seasonal produce. Living somewhere with four distinct seasons has taught me to love and appreciate the changing gifts that nature gives us every few months.

I will never eat:
I have a “never say never” attitude when it comes to food, but there are certainly things I wouldn’t choose to eat twice. The tête de veau I sampled once on a cookbook shoot comes to mind…

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
This isn’t very exciting, but I’d love to have my family over for dinner. We live on opposite coasts and I’ve never had the pleasure of cooking for them in my own home. I’d just love to host a big party where my little nieces could run around the table and cause a ruckus while the adults sipped wine and indulged in a delicious meal.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Marcela Hazan’s tomato sauce with butter and onion. I always have the ingredients in the pantry, it takes about 1 minute of hands on time, and it is incredibly delicious, which I think is the appropriate time-to-satisfaction ratio for a quick and easy dinner.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
I am notoriously indecisive, so I don’t have a favorite restaurant, but when I go out to eat I love to try fresh and unique dishes that I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make for myself at home. On the other hand, I also love a good-quality cheeseburger with fresh, crispy fries.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Food Blog of the Week: Quick and Dirty in the Kitchen

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Quick and Dirty in the Kitchen


Name: Ashley Baquero
Blog: Quick and Dirty in the Kitchen

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
My earliest kitchen memories are with my grandparents, breading and frying eggplant slices to accompany pasta and marinara sauce. My grandfather’s Italian roots are always with me in the kitchen, and my first “on my own” meal was meat lasagna.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Lemons! Everything is better with a splash of fresh lemon juice. You can cook virtually any vegetable and dress it in lemon. Fish with lemon? Delicious! Lemonade, lemon bars, lemon cake … sweet or savory, lemons are amazing.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Salad with protein such as this, this, or this. Roasted fish is always a good, quick option as well.

I will never eat:
Brain, heart, testicles … I’m just not that adventurous.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Oh boy, what a fun question! I would love to enjoy a meal with Graham Elliot (he seems like such a down-to-earth, lovable kind of guy, plus I could learn a thing or two), Bill and Hillary Clinton (I have a million questions on a million topics), Paulo Coelho (philosopher extraordinaire), and Chris Powell (I think he’s fabulous).

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Weekly Roundup: Baked Eggs

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Five-Ingredient Breakfast Stuffed Acorn Squash

It’s not hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, so why not bake it? The blogosphere is abuzz with hundreds of ways to get eggs out of the frying pan, into the oven. Make them the main event in quiches and frittatas, or the crowning glory of a hearty breakfast. Have a soufflé-a-day. These incredible edibles are packed with protein, minerals and vitamins—they’re one of the few containing Vitamin D. Make sure you get the good stuff: a hen’s diet affects the flavor and color of the yolk.

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , |

Food Blog of the Week: CakeWalk

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Megan Labrise

CakeWalk


Name: Rebecca Gagnon
Blog: CakeWalk

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
I’m not sure I remember the very first, but one very early meal was homemade pizza. I was 11, and I put raw pork sausage on my humble homemade dough. Even after baking, my mom wouldn’t let us eat it.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
One ingredient? I’d cleverly choose wheat, so I could talk about bread everyday.

I will never eat:
I don’t think there is anything I wouldn’t try, but I will never eat processed foods so much as I can help it!

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
If I could have anyone, I would pick Peter Reinhart. He seems like he would have a million great stories, and I’m sure I would learn a lot and be infinitely inspired in my baking life.

What is your all-time favorite recipe from your blog?
Lacto-Fermented Cilantro-Raisin Chutney. I know it sounds strange, which is why I dismissed it until I took my first taste. It goes well with everything, and I have had a perpetual jar in the fridge ever since I first posted about it. I always leave out the anise seed so my husband will also eat it.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Weekly Roundup: Recipes Starring Chia Seeds

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Chia Seed Pudding

Remember Chia Pets? Their “hair” was made from sprouted chia seeds, which are novelty no more. Chia is taking over supermarket shelves, coming into its own as a healthy ingredient with diverse applications. Dry, it feels like poppy seeds, but when wet it produces a gel coating, making the seeds slip and slide inside your mouth. Chia doesn’t pack much of a flavor punch—it’s subtly nutty, less so than flaxseed—but when it comes to nutritional value, watch out: according to the USDA website, chia has 9.8g of fiber and 4.7g of protein per ounce. It’s also a good source of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, with no cholesterol or trans fat. Make cooking with chia your pet project this week:

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , , , |

Food Blog of the Week: Emiko Davies

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Emiko Davies


Name: Emiko Davies
Blog: Emiko Davies

Location: Melbourne, Australia

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Can I say it would be a local ingredient – I think that cooking with only ingredients made, grown, or produced in your region would be a real and sometimes near impossible challenge (especially for me, as I tend to use a lot of imported Italian products!). I think we easily forget how much we use and have the luxury of food coming from far-flung places of the world. It’d be an interesting experiment, that’s for sure!

I will never eat:
This is actually a really difficult question! I don’t normally say no to any sort of fresh food or ingredient and luckily I don’t have any allergies, so the only thing I think I could honestly say “never” to is endangered or threatened species! Sharks, for instance, and other non-sustainably fished seafood would be up there.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Time warps aside, it would have to be a dinner party with my favorite historic cookbook writers, Pellegrino Artusi, Elizabeth David, Alice B. Toklas, and her partner and fellow foodie, Gertrude Stein.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Uova al pomodoro, a rustic, one-pot meal of eggs poached in a quick tomato sauce.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
There’s a great, absolutely tiny family-run restaurant in Florence called Vini e Vecchi Sapori. They have a simple, constantly changing menu but whenever they have it, the sweet tooth in me can never go past the tiramisù ai lamponi (raspberry tiramisu).

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Food Blog of the Week: The Novice Chef

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Madison J Papp

The Novice Chef

Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Name: Jessica Segarra

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Either garlic or sugar. I know, two opposite ends of the spectrum, but I love both equally!

I will never eat: a lot of types of meat. Some of it’s for ethical reasons, some of it’s for flavor.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Paula Deen, because she loves to laugh and eat!

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken. The one dinner where my two favorite flavors combine.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
In Jacksonville, my favorite restaurant is BB’s. I get the Warm Goat Cheese Salad (with dates, prosciutto, walnuts, and honey) and the Croissant Bread Pudding. It’s divine!

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Weekly Roundup: Pumpkin Pie-Inspired Recipes

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Kelly Senyei

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

We are just five days away from one of the biggest food days of the year. And while the main event will likely highlight some traditional favorites like turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, all eyes post-feast rest on the dessert table. Pumpkin pie, the holiday’s quintessential dessert, has inspired countless sweet and savory spinoffs in this week’s recipe roundup:
Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , |

Food Blog of the Week: Figs in the Sun

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Figs in the Sun


Name: Ayano Hodouchi
Blog: Figs in the Sun

Location: New York, New York

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
I think it was a pancake – a big, fluffy pancake. One of the picture books I loved the most as a child was a series called “Guri and Gura.” (The original is in Japanese but has been translated into several languages, including English.) In one of the books, Guri and Gura (a couple of field mice) find a huge egg. It’s so big they don’t know what to do with it, so they decide to make the biggest pancake ever. They go home and grab a big pan, flour, butter, milk, sugar, a bowl, an eggbeater, two aprons, matches, and a rucksack. The image of this big, yellow, fluffy pancake cooking in the middle of the forest, attracting all the animals nearby, caught my imagination and I kept on obsessing about huge pancakes. I think by the time I was 10 or 11, I was making pancakes for Sunday breakfast while my parents were asleep.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Hard question. Cheese, perhaps. Asian cuisines traditionally don’t use cheese, but otherwise, most dishes benefit from a bit of cheese in (or on) it. Cheese is great for baking as well, I can think of dozens of bread, cookie, and cake recipes using cheese. I could introduce various types of cheese – fresh, blue, smoked, goat, sheep, water buffalo – and probably by the end of the year I would start dabbling in cheese-making myself!

I will never eat:
Offal. I know there are many different recipes using various organs in European cuisines (not to mention Chinese,) but in Japan, organs are considered “unclean” parts of the animal and traditionally not eaten. Having grown up in a Japanese household, I stay away from organs. That said, I do occasionally eat chicken livers if they are cooked very well, but that was a recently-acquired taste for me.

Continue reading →
Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , |

Weekly Roundup: Thanksgiving Essentials

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Madison J Papp
Pumpkin Cauldron

Thanksgiving can be a lot to handle, but let’s do it right this year. From breakfast parfaits to tasty turkeys, we’ve wrangled the best in Thanksgiving recipes from across the Web.

Before Dinner
Prepare for guests who may arrive hungry. You don’t want to overstuff them, so we suggest that you leave out some light snacks and nibbles, such as Baked Sweet Potato Chips from the Minimalist Baker. Chips often call for dip, so whip up a batch of Butternut Hummus from The Little Things. Family Style Food also has a yummy recipe for Ricotta Flatbread with Pomegranate Salsa. This dish is flavorful, yet light so guests can munch safely, feeling satisfied and never uncomfortably full.

Dinner
Begin the meal with soup. You can even make the soups the day before and properly cool and reheat them for Thanksgiving consumption. Cauliflower-Kale Soup with Dill and Roasted Chestnuts from So Hungry I Could Blog is a light and aromatic soup thanks to the fresh dill and drizzled olive oil. Chopped and roasted chestnuts additionally garnish the soup and provide a buttery crunch. Pumpkin Cauldron Soup from Warm and Snug and Fat (pictured above) looks gorgeous in its toasted pumpkin shell. To make the soup, reserved pumpkin flesh is sauteed with spices including sage and nutmeg. The dish is then layered with cream and stock in a baked pumpkin cauldron. Continue reading →

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , |

Food Blog of the Week: Como Water

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Megan Labrise

Como Water


Name: Tiffany M. Griffin
Blog: Como Water

Location: Washington, D.C.

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
This is a tough one! I’ve been cooking since I was 7. I can’t remember the first thing I cooked, but I can remember the first thing that impressed my mom. I must have been 10 or 11 and I breaded some whiting in an egg wash, flour, and bread crumbs. I come from pretty meager beginnings, but I remember going to the dollar store and spending my allowance on dried parsley. I added the parsley to the bread crumbs before sautéing the fish. It was pretty fancy for my household and my mom actually thought that I bought it! After convincing her that I had actually made it, she ran and bragged to my nana about how good of a cook I was.

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
I know, I know, it’s totally clichéd, but I’m going to say it anyway: chocolate. A close second would be onion, because literally everything savory that I make starts with onions.

I will never eat:
Raspberries. Yeah, I said it. Give me any berry but raspberries.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Another tough one! Ok … living: Junot Díaz, Assata Shakur, and Jack Kornfield; dead: the Buddha and the Kellogg Brothers.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Cereal, cheese and crackers, rice and beans. Not together.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , |

Weekly Roundup: Satisfying Soups

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Megan Labrise

October Evening Lentil Soup with Spinach

Soup simply soothes the soul. It often cures the common cold. All I need is a rounded cup and curved spoon to take the edge off a rainy day. When the weather turns cold, give me soup by the bowlful. Fragrant and filling, there’s no meal quite like it; of course it’s diverse, equally fitting as appetizer or entrée. To bisque and back, from broths to a hearty mélange approaching stew or ragù, here are a few soups to inspire you:

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , |

Image of the Week: Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter and Feta

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Madison J Papp

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter & Feta

There is nothing better than a sturdy, autumnal pumpkin dish, and Halloween is the perfect day to transform the gourd into a ghoulish dish. Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter and Feta from Reclaiming Provincial stars homemade, pillowy gnocchi fried in sage brown butter until golden and crisp. A final sprinkle of crumbled feta lends a smooth and humble tang.

Posted in From the Food Blogs, Recipes | Tagged , , , , |

Food Blog of the Week: Sweetapolita

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Ashley Rudder

Sweetapolita

Name: Rosie Alyea
Blog: Sweetapolita

Location: Toronto, Canada

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Vanilla beans!

I will never eat:
Peanut butter and jelly. I love them separately, but please don’t make me eat them combined.

Is there a food you used to hate, but now love?
I used to cringe at the thought, smell, or taste of pineapple, but now I can’t get enough of it. I believe it was one fabulous pineapple upside-down cake that changed my fruity fate for good.

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
With two small girls who are super particular, I find myself making homemade pizza at least twice a week. It’s makes us all happy, they can help me prepare it, and we can get as simple or as fancy as we like with the toppings and flavors. With less than 10 minutes active time, it’s the ultimate dinner solution for me.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
I love Woodenheads in Kingston, Ontario, which I often dine at with my sister-in-law, who has introduced me to all of their best dishes. I typically order the Nonna Mela Pizza made with apple butter, roasted garlic, cheddar, sweet onions, and blackened chicken. It’s amazing!

What is the first meal you ever cooked?
I can clearly recall the first meal I ever cooked from start to finish, because I was so proud of myself. I was in my young 20s and worked in a restaurant with the most incredible food. I decided to create a meal from the menu (in my tiny apartment) for my two best friends celebrating birthdays. I can still remember the kitchen “boys” giving me a crash course at work the day before, since it was pretty apparent that I wasn’t a seasoned chef! The meal was a great success and included Caesar Salad, Cheddar-Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and one seriously decadent orange and dark chocolate cheesecake.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
I’d love to have a circle of my fellow food bloggers over for a true foodie feast. What a down-to-earth and laughter-filled (and likely wine-filled) evening that would be. I hope to someday make that happen!

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged |

Featured Food Blog: Kitchen72

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Madison J Papp

Name: David Kiernan
Blog: Kitchen72

Location: Dublin, Ireland

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Butter, always butter. We’re blessed here in Ireland with some fantastic produce, but none better than the butter. Everything good starts with butter rubbed or crumbled in; melted and sizzling to fry with; whisked to emulsify in a sauce; or simply slathered on some toast. I love my butter.

I will never eat:
Life’s too short to live by absolutes, but there are a number of Scandinavian fermented fish dishes that evolve to become putrefied rancid flesh that really don’t sound too appealing.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Nigel Slater, author of the first cookbook I ever bought, and someone who I have always adored reading for his marvelous writing and recipes. 


What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Hummus (homemade of course) swimming in a good olive oil with pine nuts and a hard-boiled egg. Super simple, always satisfying.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
Things change and I find myself eating out less and less these days. However, the one place I have eaten more often over the last couple of years is Crackbird in Dublin. How can anyone can resist good fried chicken is beyond me, and their buttermilk fried chicken is amazingly addictive. Genius place. I’ve celebrated my last two birthdays there — drunk, sober, and hungover — and I’ve always had a great time. It’s the type of place you love going back to, hanging out with friends, sharing fried chicken, and a few beers.

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

Food Blog of the Week: Buns in My Oven

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Ashley Rudder
Buns In My Oven

Name: Karly Campbell
Blog: Buns In My Oven

Location: Pekin, IL

If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what would it be?
Peanut butter! I could put it on or in just about everything. I even dedicated an entire week to chocolate and peanut butter recipes on my blog, so I think a whole year just for peanut butter sounds pretty fabulous.

I will never eat:
Octopus. I will never ever eat it. And, for the record, I will never drink eggnog, either. No, you can’t convince me, stop trying.

Who would you love to have over for dinner?
My family. There aren’t too many people I’d rather spend time with and there is no pressure from them to dress up or clean the house like a madwoman prior to their arrival!

What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
It is usually something Mexican. I’m a big fan of my chicken tamale casserole and enchilada casserole recipes. Both dishes are so quick and simple to make, but are still full of flavor!

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
The Burger Barge! It’s a total dive, with sticky table tops, grimy seats, and outrageous decor. However, the burgers are out of this world good. Their special chipotle mayo makes my world go ’round. Not to mention, they make homemade potato chips that I eat by the bucketful.

Posted in From the Food Blogs | Tagged , , , |
 
Visit Our YouTube Channel Follow Gourmet Live on FourSquare Subscribe to our RSS Feed Follow Gourmet Live on  Foodspotting Download Gourmet Live Download Epicurious App

Search Gourmet Live

Gourmet Live Categories

Twitter

Facebook

Blogroll

Gourmet Live Blog Archive

Use of application constitutes acceptance of our Application Terms of Use (REVISED DECEMBER 21, 2010). Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (REVISED JANUARY 7, 2009) and Privacy Policy (REVISED JANUARY 6, 2009). Gourmet © 2010 Condé Nast Digital. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast Digital.