SPAC Wine and Food Festival 2010

This past Saturday we decided to shut down Catskill Maison because we have a huge weekend next weekend with the warrior race, and take a rare break to enjoy ourselves. We went to SPAC's annual wine and food festival in Saratoga and it was a blast! There was a celebrity guest appearance from Lidia Bastianich who is owner of Becco and the renowned Del Posto in the city, and she is my grandfather's favorite chef so I met her (she's incredibly humble) and got a personalized signed copy of her latest Italian cook book for him. There was food from restaurants all around the Capital region (Albany area) and a showcase on Italian wines, spirits and food (it was an Italian themed wine and food festival). We picked up on some great possibilities to feature at our wine bar next year, so look out for some gems from the Italian vintages that we found this weekend. We really had a wonderful time at this laid back not overly crowded wine festival and I encourage those who have the time to check it out next year.

When It's Over It's Over (The inevitable end of summer)

I, like most people greet Labor Day with mixed emotion. Usually it's a beautiful day, very sunny with low humidity and quite warm which is perfect weather for a BBQ or picnic. But it also marks the unofficial end of summer and all that it means; the upcoming cold weather, snow and a lack of farm fresh fruits and vegetables. Every fruit and vegetable has it's season, and from living so many years part time in the Catskills where local fruits are vegetables grow regularly I'm a very strong proponent of eating things "in season" when they taste the best. What baffles me about so many people who come up for the weekend from the City is their obsession with corn. The harvest season for corn is mid July until early September, but some of the farms up here bring out these tiny ears of underdeveloped corn for July 4th weekend because the "weekenders" demand it and the end of corn season is about now (or in a week or two)...I can't begin to tell you how many incredulous stares the farm owners are given when the "corn bin" is replaced with butternut squash. Corn doesn't last forever, nor do tomatoes or berries or any other fruit or vegetable. They all have seasons and that's what makes them so special. Corn wouldn't be special if it tasted like crisp candy in January would it? Seasons are not something that we can control, so it makes sense to appreciate each one for the gift it presents.

The Hunt For Really Inexpensive White Wine

I always love a good wine bargain. Clearly sometimes you get what you pay for, but I've been able to find some quite good red wines for under $7.00, the Liquor Depot in Oneonta often has really good red wine specials for $3.99 and $4.99 of wines that the distributor wants to move and once the cases are purchased that's the end. PJ's Wine and Liquor store on 204th and Broadway in Inwood (the mecca as far as I'm concerned) has TONS of great red wine bargains (many from Spain and Argentina). However I'm usually hard pressed to find a decent white wine for under $10.00. I like generally like full white wines and they have to be dry, and trust me it's really hard to find a good white wine. Sure there are specials at my favorite shops for $4 and $6 dollars, but the entire bottle of white ends up in a stew or a marinade because it's generally not pleasing at all to my palate.

Yesterday my mom and I went to the Liquor Depot, and she found this $4.99 bottle of Italian white wine Trevini Primo that is 85% Chardonnay grape and 15% Pinot Grigio. So I snidely told her that we will add this to our "cooking wine" collection, because the last $5 purchase of white wine was a usual disaster. We chilled the wine and took a taste and were blown away! No this isn't a Cakebread Chardonnay by any means, but it's a totally drinkable white, even drinkable as a sipping wine without food. This wine is really good, actually for the price it's great. So today I purchased the last case and a half, and lucky me, the distributor was in the store at the time and he said that he had two more cases that he was going to deliver on Thursday and that was it...too bad for other shoppers who might like this wine because I've already purchased the other two cases!

Hot For Hot Pepper Jelly

Last year a guest who stayed at our Bed and Breakfast Catskill Maison gave me a jar of hot pepper jam. It was incredible, hot and spicy and tangy and sweet all in one bite. It's pepper season at the farms so I decided to give it a go and try my own version of hot pepper jelly. I went to Shaul Farm today and got a huge red pepper and some red jalapenos and made the below recipe. It seems to be tasty and I hope that the jelly sets. I really want to perfect this recipe because I want it to be a condiment on the cheese plate that customers can order at the wine bar next year.

Hot Red Pepper Jelly – makes Four 8 oz jars

1 really large very ripe sweet red bell pepper or 2 medium sized seeded and coarsely cut to put into food processor

3 or 4 red jalapenos seeded

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Process all peppers and add into a pot with 2 cups of sugar, a ½ cup of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, 1 lemon and ½ cup of sweet cherry juice. Bring to a boil and then take off the heat and add 1 ½ packets of pectin. Return to heat and bring to rolling boil for 1 minute, then reduce to simmer, skim the foam and simmer for 5 minutes. Then put the liquid in 8 oz mason jars and close lid.

Can as usual in boiling water to the time appropriate for your altitude.

Newport Mansions Food and Wine Festival

My birthday is in a month, and for the past 5 years I've made it a ritual to do something "wine related" for my birthday. I've gone wine tasting in the Finger Lakes, the Niagara Wine Region in Canada, and this year am heading to the Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival. This festival is taking place the weekend of my birthday (Sept 24th thru 26th), there will be a grand tasting of over 100 wineries and samples from some of New England's hottest restaurants (and I love seafood)...So very exciting and it's my first time going to this particular festival. To make it even better one of my favorite chefs Chris Cosentino who really believes in sustainable local produce and the humane treatment of meat (something that I preach about regularly on this blog) of Incanto restaurant, an offal hotspot in San Francisco where I had one of the best 5 meals of my entire life, (and considering that I love food and am always trying restaurants that's an achievement) and Boccalone and the Boccalone Salumeria which has some incredible cured pork and since pork is my favorite thing in the entire world you can imagine how much I love this meat, will be there doing a cooking demo and signing his cookbook! Newport is a beautiful village with some of the best seafood that NE has to offer, I'm looking forward to a weekend of steamers, lobster and lots and lots of wine!!!!

Its Corn Season

As most who read my blog are aware, I'm very passionate about cooking and eating what is in season whenever possible. Right now is corn season and corn is something that once you eat it locally from the farm you will never eat that frozen cob again! We get our corn from RSK Farm in Prattsville, Bob and Sandy (owners of RSK) have the very best corn, it's so incredibly sweet and crunchy and perfect...however this weekend when I got corn there was a small worm at the top of the ear. So being the city kid I am, I promptly informed Bob and Sandy that the corn (and a few other ears that I peeled back and saw worms) was bad and wormy. So Bob sarcastically told me that there was an instrument invented about ten thousand years ago called a knife, and to cut the very top that the worm was beginning to eat. He then told me that I had choices, either to have him spray the corn until it glowed to avoid the worms or to deal with a harmless worm (because that's what happens in nature) every now and then and get good non pesticide filled corn. I clearly opted for the worm and flicked it off my corn LOL! That's the difference with local corn and knowing your farmer. In the grocery store, that so called perfect produce that we get isn't so perfect...farmers have to subject the fruits and vegetables to some not so environmentally friendly practices for those perfect peaches! Worms aren't so bad after all, and boy am I getting an education!

So, it's been corn season since mid July and I've eaten corn about twice a week now for over a month...but corn season will end in about 3 weeks so I'm getting my fill now, because once it's over it's over. There is but so much grilled corn on the cob that anyone can eat, so at some point in the summer I have to get a little innovative (not that anything is wrong with a simple grilled corn on the cob with or without a compound butter). But tonight it was cold and rainy so I wasn't about to freeze my butt off grilling corn, so I cut the corn off the cobs (best way to do it is to get a kitchen towel and place the cob upright on the towel and cut down the side of the cob, the kernels fall off and don't end up rolling off the counter). My mother and I sauteed the corn in compound butter made up of roasted garlic, fennel, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper added some scallops, lobster and smoked salmon to the corn, sauteed it in wine and lime juice and sprinkled basil on top and had an incredible meal! We ate it with some Rose and 6 grain bread and it was delicious. There are so many options for corn, I only wish it was fresh in December.

Round 2 Recipes

My mother is the queen of the round 2 recipe. She is the most innovative leftover user in the world, and takes "waste not, want not" to a whole new level! Nothing was ever thrown out of her fridge when I was a child, and I mean NOTHING. She is the original recycler and I'm not talking about reheating last night's meatloaf and putting in between 2 slices of bread and calling it lunch; I mean completely different meals out of what was left over from dinner a couple of nights before. When I was a kid, I used to think it was a whole new meal! Want to get my mom pissed off? Come over to our house and waste food. She's so good at creating a second dish out of a leftover that she has even rubbed off on me; I turned tzatziki sauce into a topping for fish tacos by adding a little of it into fresh shredded cabbage, and then turned those leftovers into coleslaw.

My mother swears that she learned these tricks from her grandmother...I personally think that she has Great-Grandma beat hands down!

Late last week I made a roasted chicken that was coated in pesto. It was easy and delicious because the pesto was utilized in place of herbs that I usually use when roasting chicken. After the meal we had a ½ chicken left and I stuck it in the fridge assuming that I would cut it up and put it over salad for lunch. Last night, I walked in to a very pleasant surprise. My mother took the ½ chicken off the bone and transformed it into an incredible Caribbean/Indian/Moroccan chicken and rice dish that was to die for. She really emptied the spice rack on this one! It was sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy, sour, nutty and soft at the same time…it appealed to all senses and touched every inch of the palate. What an incredible use of leftover chicken. If you like food that is well-seasoned and spiced, you have to try this dish. I promise you will not be disappointed… and it’s a great dish for a crowd too. I couldn't even believe it was a leftover. I'm learning that with a little creativity I can make two to three dishes out of an original dish. On a regular basis, it makes cooking that much more exciting.

The next time you have leftover roasted chicken please try this recipe. Most of the ingredients are probably right in your cupboard!

Ingredients:

• Left over roasted chicken taken off the bone
• Slivered almonds
• Chick peas
• Dried apricots - sliced
• Green onion (scallions) – thinly sliced
• 7 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups of short grain brown rice (you can use white but there are major health benefits of using brown)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Cardamom
• Ground Allspice
• Ground Cinnamon
• Smoked Paprika
• Black Pepper
• Coriander
• Garam Masala
• Ground Ginger
• Tumeric
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Cloves
• Salt

Mix all spices together, and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to make a paste. Take half of the paste and coat all chicken. Put chicken in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least an hour.

Add 4 cups of water to 2 cups of brown rice. Bring to a boil and then lower flame to make the water a simmer. After 15 minutes add the green onions, and cook until tender. When the rice is finished put to the side.

When rice is finished, take chicken out and bring the chicken to room temperature

Take a tablespoon of butter and olive oil and heat in a large saucepan. Add chickpeas and almond and apricots and sauté. Add chicken to this mixture and brown slightly on all sides. Add the rice and add the rest of the spice mixture. Let simmer for 15 minutes and then add additional almonds and green onions on top as a garnish and serve.

Obsession with Okra

I know, the title of this blog post might perplex many readers, especially those who think of okra as a nasty slimy vegetable that they wouldn't eat if it were the last food on earth. But yes, despite the fact that I used to be one of those people who found okra to be on the "absolutely not to eat EVER!" list, I'm now completely obsessed with it.

My Grandfather who is from South Carolina has tried to get me to give okra a try for the past couple of years, convinced that since my taste buds have matured considerably I would like it. But I didn't trust it, I couldn't get the reminder of my fierce negative reaction to being forced to eat it as a child at holiday dinners. So I made the "nasty face" and told him that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that I was going to try okra. And then I went back to South Carolina this spring after a 10 year hiatus.

So here begins the obsession. When I went to Charleston South Carolina for a family visit/vacation I had fresh pickled okra and fresh okra rice and fresh okra, tomato and corn stew that wasn't slimy at all, but quite crunchy and tasty. This wasn't the okra that I remembered as a little girl being forced to eat at holidays. My Grandfather sat in the background as I devoured plate after plate of okra while watching me with a hint of a smug "I told you so" smile. I absolutely loved this stuff and couldn't get enough of it. But in New York, the okra in Wegmans was okay but kind of slimy and not perfect. I then thought it was an illusion, I really must not like okra that much after all, because it doesn't taste like the vegetable that I devoured in South Carolina.

Then last week I went to Eger Bros Farm and low and behold there were baskets of okra. I purchased a basket and made sauteed okra with bacon and onions. It was absolutely AMAZING!, crunchy and fresh and tasty and wonderful, just like the okra I had in Charleston. I went back today and am going to make okra and tomato stew for dinner, and have put a bunch in pickling juice because I'm pickling them for the winter time when it isn't so fresh anymore.

Farm fresh okra is really wonderful. If you are able to try it, I promise that you will no longer think of okra as a nasty slimy vegetable on the "never to eat" list again!
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For those of you who aren't convinced try the below recipe:

(serves 4)
1 lb of okra no longer than 4 inches long (any longer and the okra is tough and stringy) - cut okra lengthwise on a bias diagonal (you should have 2 or 3 pieces cut okra per pod)
4-5 strips of thick cut bacon
1/2 onion
a few dashes of hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bacon in a cast iron or heavy frying pan for 2 minutes until it begins to render fat, then add the onions and saute until just translucent. Then add your okra and hot and saute for about 5 minutes on medium high heat, add the hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and saute for 2-3 more minutes until a little browned. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Jerk Shrimp - Some Like It Really Hot

I have a huge affinity for spicy food; really spicy food, the kind that makes tears run down my face and my nose run and my ears ring. I make my own hot sauces from chili peppers at Shaul Farm that range from pure heat and fire, to a little milder but really flavorful. I also make my own Jerk marinade.

Jerk seasoning, which originated in Jamaica, comes as either a dry rub or a marinade, and the best kind is always homemade. I put about 6 scotch bonnet (habanero) peppers per cup of Jerk marinade, so needless to say my marinade is a$$ kicking hot! We are in the process of designing the menu for our much anticipated Wine Bar, and we plan to put jerk shrimp on the menu so I decided to try it for myself and my mother last night. I marinaded my shrimp for 3 hours in the jerk marinade (but didn't marinate my mother's), and then skewered and grilled the shrimp. I basted my shrimp with the marinade on each side, and basted my mother's on one side.

We made a basil and watermelon salad to go with the shrimp, because the sweet cool of the watermelon and basil would be a good pairing to offset the heat of the shrimp, and we are considering doing the same paring at the Wine Bar.

The shrimp were incredibly hot, but very flavorful. My mother who loved the flavor commented that if it was any hotter she wouldn't be able to enjoy it (Punk! to think I only basted hers on one side)...but she made a good point because when cooking for others I've learned that everyone's tolerance for spice is not the same therefore I'm going to make a new marinade that is less "potent" in the upcoming weeks. I will definitely have this dish at the Wine Bar!

Can she bake a Cherry Pie? Why yes she can!

In early July it's cherry picking season at Bohringer farm up here in the Catskills. This year we picked 35 pounds of cherries because we incorporate cherries into our breakfasts at Catskill Maison Bed and Breakfast. Though 35 lbs of raw cherries shrink to about 10 lbs of cooked cherries, it's still too many cherries to store at the B&B so I decided to make jam and jelly and cherry sauce (a blog on that later)...but my father kept hinting (okay so his hints are the equivalent of knocking you over the head with a brick to get your attention) at wanting a cherry pie.

So one Saturday evening a couple of weeks ago, he came home from golfing, and to his surprise his request was answered. A piping hot, fresh out of the oven cherry pie was on the counter in our kitchen.

Cherries extract a lot of water, so it's best to cook them down before adding them to the base of a pie because you will get very runny and watery pie even if you add cornstarch or flour. Some recipes call for tapioca flour, but the pearls are hard and rubbery so not my favorite and it's an extra step to grind them down.

You can make crust from scratch or buy the prepared crust in the freezer section of the grocery store. Blind bake your bottom pie crust in the pie pan with pie weights on the crust (or some beans on parchment paper) for 10-15 minutes before you add the filling because if you don't the bottom crust will get soggy.

Put your cherries in a pot and cook for about 7 minutes and drain all of the liquid (or keep the liquid to make jelly or sauce in the future like I do). Then add sugar to taste (maybe a cup or so), a tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ginger and a pinch of clove. Finally add 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Combine all ingredients and pour into your par baked pie shell. Cover with the second crust but don't forget to make holes in the crust so steam can escape. Then bake for 50-55 minutes (until crust is golden) at 350 degrees F.

Let pie cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Neighbors Feeding Neighbors

We don't come from a large family, and on any given day my mother and I usually only have my father and grandfather to cook for...but we are of Southern descent so often our dishes can feed way more than 4 people. We also bake, and if only the four of us finished each goodie we created, lets just say instead of blogging about new and innovative recipes I would be blogging my Jenny Craig shipments. My mom is really big on "it takes a village" and "extended family" and I have "Aunts" who are not remotely blood related to me. Therefore it's not a surprise that when we cook, we want to share our cooking with those in our "family". Some of our neighbors are like family to us, and if we bake a cake, make a macaroni and cheese or make a pot of oxtails we often give some of our food to our neighbors. Annette who lives next door (who I've mentioned in other blogs) has a son named Joe who lives across the street. I've known Joe since he was 2 years old, and he is a great friend our general contractor for the Wine bar that we are constructing at Catskill Maison, and an incredible cook and bigtime "foodie" (though I'm not sure he realizes that he is). Joe is from Italian descent, and he makes "gravy" (for those of us non Italian's that's code for "red sauce") almost every Sunday. We often bake cakes or make food and give to Annette and Joe, and Joe makes gravy on Sunday and I'm the lucky recipient! A couple of weeks ago I made an incredible Zuppa de Pesce over angel hair with his sauce and my family raved about it.

Last night I received a special treat, and I'm so incredibly touched. Joe made Zucchini Parmigiana from the zucchini in his garden, and he and his beautiful family came over with red sauce in a container AND the zucchini parm and pasta!!!!! OMG that zucchini parm was AWESOME! And though we were in the middle of preparing our own dinner it didn't stop me from having a sample. I had a taste for eggplant parmigiana and said to myself that if I was lucky enough to snag some of Joes special sauce on Sunday I might make an eggplant parm because eggplant is available at Barber Farm and Shaul Farm this weekend. I (the self proclaimed foodie) never thought about making zucchini into parmigiana, and I think that zucchini might actually be better. It's sweet and not bitter like black eggplant is if you don't remove the tough outer skin, and more easily accessible than the white and purple eggplant that we often try to find at the farm to cook with. Joe breaded it, pan fried it, added mozzarella, and ricotta and his magical sauce and baked it and created a wonder, Brilliant!

This zucchini parm is so good that I really don't want to share...hmmm, I hope my dad isn't reading this blog post!

Joe thank you thank you thank you for all that you do...

I see a lasagna in our future to be shared with all of our neighbors! An excuse to go to one of my favorite shopping haunts, Arthur Avenue Little Italy in the Bronx for ingredients!

Farmstand Quality

I had a serious taste for string beans today...not just any string beans but the string beans from RSK farm. Not all string beans are created equal, not even from the farm stands...just like not all potatoes or salad or corn etc. are created equal. Some farm stands are ones that mass produce bushels and bushels of vegetables which are of good quality but not the best. Other farm stands such as RSK which is a tiny farm stand that hand picks everything, plant the best quality vegetables of heirloom variety, which might cost a little more, but the flavor is so superior that it's more than worth it.

There is really a difference when a farm is very small, the level of care and attention to detail comes through in the end product. The string beans at RSK are almost as thin as haricot verts and extremely crisp and tasty. The heirloom grape tomatoes really taste like candy, and the potatoes are so incredibly creamy that I will do a blog on those another day. When you go to the farm stands don't be afraid to taste the vegetables in their raw state. If they are a song on your palate raw then the flavor will only intensify when it's cooked.

Beer Can Chicken - AKA a Chicken That's Been Violated

I just picked up another fresh chicken from Horton Hill Farm yesterday and as I've stated over and over again, there is nothing like the taste of a fresh, never frozen free range/free roaming chicken. Last month we had a 4th of July BBQ for our family, it was wonderful, great weather, great friends and family and great food! I decided to make chicken for the "masses" at the BBQ, and didn't want to compromise the integrity of the taste of the chicken because it was a fresh chicken nor did I want to have to "babysit" the chicken on the grill because I wanted to have some fun. One of the most fool proof ways to have super moist chicken on the grill without having to worry about babysitting it, is to stick a beer can in the chicken's butt...literally. Standing a chicken on a 3/4 full can of beer and placing it upright on the direct heat (but making sure the chicken itself doesn't touch the grill and only the beer can touches it) creates a super crispy but not burned skin and an extremely moist chicken. I lather the chicken with olive oil, and then rub in a spice mixture of choice, and then add herbs and garlic into the beer can (for aromatics) and shove that can into the cavity of the chicken and put it on the grill for about 1 and a half hours for a 4lb chicken (until the instant read thermometer reads 163 degrees in the thigh). Remove the beer can and tent the chicken with aluminum foil for 7-10 to let the chicken rest minutes as it will carryover cook and the juices will redistribute, and then carve. Delicious!

Just as a note you can also remove the beer from the can and add 3/4 can of wine as well for a different taste. I'm also going to test this recipe with a can of coca cola.

The Dog Peed On My Basil!!!!

This weekend I had an epiphany that if I really wanted to be a "farm to table" cook I needed to start doing some farming. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew so I decided to start small. I purchased a basil plant, in part because it's finally tomato season (and I will only eat tomatoes in season and had a vision of a tomato basil and mozzarella salad) and in part because Bob at RSK farm (where I purchased the basil) told me that basil is an annual so it will die at the end of the summer and won't come back next year. So the basil will expire without my killing it by my lack of preservation techniques over the winter and therefore making me discouraged about my farming ability (which is what happened with one of my mint plants from last year).

So I purchased this basil, and since it's not going to come back next year I made a conscious decision not to put it into the soil around my house because I figured the plant would be safer on the porch than in the ground below where it could be ravaged by deer. I didn't figure into my equation Tucker, our next door neighbor Annette's (who also happens to be a really close family friend) dog.

Let me start off by saying that I love Tucker, my mom loves Tucker and most of all Spoon (our girl cat) really loves Tucker. Tucker is Spoons dog boyfriend (which upsets Grant, my cat who is her husband but that's another story). So Tucker, who is really an extended member of our four legged family is welcomed on our porch and yard and we leave all of the windows and doors open (screened in) so that Spoon can communicate with him. She would have it no other way. This morning Tucker came over to serenade Spoon, and found my basil plant sitting on the floor of the porch. Well I guess it was unfamiliar territory to him so before I could stop him he lifted his leg and the rest was history. Bob said the plant needed to be watered everyday but I don't think that's what he meant LOL!!!!! So my early morning job wasn't that of farmer it was that of janitor. I had to soap off the porch, and wash off the basil. I considered throwing out the whole basil plant (clearly showing my Bronx roots and that I'm not a country farmer girl after all), but my mother who spent her summers in the gardens of rural South Carolina as a child shook her head and said "you will not be throwing out that basil, what do you think those animals in the woods do to the vegetables that you eat??? They pee on them!!!" Oh yeah, that makes sense. So I rinsed the basil and it seems no worse for wear...and Tucker isn't going anywhere because Spoon would have it no other way, basil vs. Spoon and Tuckers happiness? Spoon and Tucker win hands down...maybe I should leave farming to the farmers, and just concentrate on representing their bounty to the best of my ability as a final product on a plate.

Pork Tenderloin - Really the other white meat

I'm always hearing commercials touting pork as "the other white meat". "White meat" invokes thoughts of chicken or turkey breast, a generally low fat and healthy alternative to eating red meat (beef, or lamb for example). Pork is in that gray area, it's not beef but there are certain cuts of pork that are just as fattening as a ribeye! So I decided to see if there were any cuts of pork that really did resemble the fat and calorie content of a chicken breast, and low and behold there are a few (and I mean very few) cuts of pork that really can be touted as "the other white meat". Pork tenderloin is an example of one of those cuts. Being a true pork fanatic I never really liked the tenderloin, it is not an exciting cut (those offal cuts that I love like the cheek, snout, ears and feet) and generally it's not flavorful on it's own like a shank or shoulder. In restaurants I often find that it's dry (sometimes to the point of resembling saw dust) and full of glazes and gook and toppings as what I thought was a disguise for its bland flavor.

Because we have a whole pig at our disposal of course there are cuts of tenderloin, so I figured that I would at least try to cook it, considering that if I could make it taste like something it would allow me to eat pork (my absolute favorite food) more than once a week because it's calorie content at 34 calories an ounce resembles chicken breast.

I marinated the tenderloin with a dry rub that included chili pepper, cumin, adobo, brown sugar and ginger and frilled it on the outside grill to exactly 140 degrees and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing and then served it with a side of peach chutney that I made with local peaches and spices and onion. It was a flavorful and delicious! I would definitely make it again. The trick is to marinade and make sure you don't over cook it.

S'MORES!!!!

Every now and then something will take you right back to a really vivid childhood memory. Last night my mother and I dined at Blue Mingo Grill in Cooperstown, a restaurant on Ostego lake about 2 miles north of Cooperstown village (where the Baseball hall of fame is) which serves innovative and imaginative American food. Our home in Jefferson is less than an hour from Cooperstown, and because it's a tourist destination we dine there a few times a month because the quality of food is really "kicked up a notch". One of the coolest things about Blue Mingo is that they have S'mores on their dessert menu! And you can roast your own marshmallows and assemble the s'more yourself...it took me right back to Girl Scout camp, in a flash! I was so excited I had to blog about it, I was instantly in front of a campfire singing "Little Bumblebee" at Rocky Brook with about 10 marshmallows lined up on a stick and a bunch of graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate bars waiting on the side. I remember being the only little Girl Scout sitting in front of the fire slow roasting my marshmallows to a golden brown while my fellow brownies burned theirs to a crisp! I guess I should've known then that I was destined to be in the kitchen.

Grilling Whole Fish

I love whole fish, and I'm one of those people who grosses my friends out because in a restaurant I decapitate a whole fish, even eating the eyeballs. North American's aren't generally fans of whole fish, getting annoyed by the process of having to take the time to debone plate side and prefer the fillet. However, in the Caribbean and in Asia (which are the two places where my family comes from) the only way to eat a fish is whole, whether grilled, poached, escabeched or fried, it's always the whole fish head and tail intact! In restaurants often the preparation is only for fish fillet which is a true shame because the natural flavors of fish really stand out when you cook it with the bones, therefore the extent of seasoning and glaze that is found on fillet isn't necessary and you really get to appreciate the true flavor and essence of the fish that you are eating.

An advantage of whole fish (when purchasing it and preparing it at home) is that you don't have to be at the mercy of the fish monger (or inexperienced teenager with the summer job at the fish counter) because it's VERY easy to tell when a whole fish is fresh. Of course you first want to smell it, it shouldn't have a smell or it should smell very faintly of the sea, if it smells like "fish" pass up on it right away. Then look at the eyes, make sure they are clear and not cloudy, some fish (like snapper) will have very red eyes when fresh. Then take a look at the gills that are right between the head and the body, those gills should still have blood and be bright red, if they are dull colored or too brown once again pass up on that fish. Then you need to ask your fish monger to clean and gut that fish for you, you don't want to be in your kitchen at the sink pulling scales off the fish and cleaning out fish guts (I've done it and trust me it's not a fun task, I even had scales in my hair)...Once you get that fish home, only refrigerate for 2 days maximum before making it.

You can definitely make whole fish in the oven but my favorite way to make whole fish is on the grill. I recently grilled a whole branzino with a side of couscous and salad, the recipe is below.

Ingredients for the whole fish 1 to 1 1/2 lbs
1 lemon zested and cut into round slices
fresh herbs of your choice
Salt, pepper, dried oregano, and fennel seed to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil or extra virgin olive oil

Mix the salt, pepper, fennel seed,oregano and lemon zest in a small bowl.
If you desire (to make it easier to get the fish away from the bones when eating) you can make 2 inch diagonal slits across the body of the fish on both sides.
Place fresh herbs and all but 2 lemon rounds into the center pocket of the fish. Coat the fish with olive oil and then rub in the seasoning mixture on both sides.

Turn on the grill and make sure the temperature reads to 375 degrees. Make sure that grill is really well oiled because if it isn't half of your fish will remain on the grill (yes I've done this before and the presentation at the end isn't cute at all).

Place fish on the grill, grill for about 10 minutes on side one and 8 minutes on side 2 (general rule is 10 min per inch of thickness so if the fish is 2 inches thick (which most 1 to 1 1/2 lb fish are) then grill first side for 10 minutes and the other for 8, longer for thicker fish and remember that the second side always cooks quicker than the first.

Recipe for Couscous
You can really make any couscous combination for fish, I made a couscous with zucchini and onion and garlic and golden raisins with a seasoning of cumin and turmeric salt and pepper...what you need to know is that couscous takes on the flavor of whatever you add to it, and that the liquid to dry ratio is approximately 1 to 1 (one cup of couscous to one cup of liquid) also remember to saute your ingredients, add the couscous and then add the boiling liquid (I use chicken stock) and turn off the couscous in the sauce pot and cover it as soon as you add the liquid and let it stand for approximately 7 minutes covered without peeking! I always have a bit of reserve hot liquid on the side in case the couscous is a tad dry after I fluff it with a fork after the 7 minutes, I add a couple of tablespoons of the liquid and cover again for 2 minutes and fluff again.

Too Hot to Cook

Today it was too hot to cook, it was almost too hot to even eat (NOT!)...But seriously, when it's this hot I can't begin to think about turning on the stove, oven or even the grill and up here in the Catskills there are very few places that deliver. Therefore on days like today I try to think of innovative ways to have meals that don't require cooking. The first thing that comes to mind is a salad of course, but after eating salads and FroYo for the past 2 days I was ready for a little variety. I had a cucumber and some garlic left over from our 4th of July BBQ that I picked up from Shaul Farm, and a full container of non fat fage yogurt so I realized that I had ingredients for the makings of a damn good tzatziki. I quickly rummaged through my fridge, took out the following ingredients and I made tzatziki for dinner which I paired with some pita bread, this meal took me right to my favorite restaurant in Astoria; Agnanti and the only appliance that I had to turn on was the food processor.

Ingredients*
1 cucumber peeled with seeds removed, shredded in the food processor (or with a cheese grater) and with all liquids squeezed ou
2 cloves of garlic
1 16 oz container of Greek yogurt (preferably Fage)
1/4 cup of sour cream
Zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 lemons
Parsley for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if you like on top

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill and serve with pita.
* Note that some people use dill, I'm not a huge fan of dill so I never add it to my tzatziki recipe however feel free to use a teaspoon of dill if you like dill.

Ice Cream Sundaes for Grownups!

Its really hot today, hot to the point where I think it should be a designated "lets eat ice cream for dinner" day! When I was a kid I loved vanilla ice cream sundaes with butterscotch topping and sprinkles and whipped cream. And if the sundae came from Carvel soft serve then I really felt that I hit the jackpot. Just because I'm all grown up doesn't mean that on a day like today I don't crave a sundae, the combination of the cold texture with the decadence of a syrup or sauce is something that brings me right back to the 1970's. However now that I am all grown up, I experiment with grown up sundae flavors. One of my favorites is warm strawberries with a red wine and balsamic reduction over Edy's caramel praline frozen yogurt...AMAZING, sweet and sour and tangy and crunchy all in one bite...now that's decadent!

Steamers - The True Meaning of Summer

For me nothing signals that the summer has arrived more than eating a bucket of steamer clams. Steamers are clams that are steamed in a pot, with a tail hanging off then end of the pot and served with hot water (to dip and clean) and a cup of melted butter for dipping. Steamer with a ear of corn, and boiled exemplifies a hot summer day. Dayboat Cafe in Irvington New York which is a wonderful seafood restaurant has steamers now on special, they also have outdoor dining. I ordered the steamers with a bottle of Rodney Strong Chardonnay and it just put me in the mode for summer! So exciting my favorite season of all is finally here!!!