This fruity concoction is light, refreshing, and easy to drink. The pureness of sweet strawberries is the defining flavor, but fresh lime juice provides a balancing tartness. Because the vodka is not overpowering, it's the perfect cocktail to enjoy on a hot day. If strawberries are in season at your farmers market, I strongly suggest you give this drink a try — trust me, you won't be disappointed! Read more to get the redhead in bed recipe.
Low-effort yet luxurious, garlic confit (garlic stewed in fat — in this case, olive oil) is my favorite sort of edible gift. In addition to its ease of preparation, it's also a welcome respite from the deluge of holiday sweets — though I'm certainly not denouncing fudge, truffles, or holiday cookies. To top it off, garlic confit is the gift that keeps on giving, thanks to its highly adaptable nature.
Creamy and mellow, garlic confit shines wherever one might use roasted garlic. Try mashing it into butter (or the garlic oil it's packed in) and spreading it on a crusty baguette for extra-special garlic bread, add it to compound butter to top sizzling steak, whip it into mashed potatoes, blitz it with its oil for a pungent salad dressing, or tuck the cloves under the skin of roasted chicken. Its uses are near infinitesimal.
One of the most coveted awards in the food industry is the title of Best New Chef, an honor bestowed upon 10 young chefs each year by Food & Wine magazine. Now, the editors of the magazine are taking the accolade — along with sophisticated dining — to the next level, with a new dining adventure called Chefs Club. The concept? Build a restaurant inside a well-respected hotel (in this case, the St. Regis Aspen Resort) and feature a menu with a rotating guest list of current and former Best New Chef winners. Behold: a new way to afford diners a chance to eat the food of Best New Chefs from around the country.
The menu will change according to season, with Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter menus, each featuring dishes from four chefs. Since Chefs Club's been in the works for over a year, the inaugural menu won't include the Best New Chef class of 2012 just yet. "We didn't know who they were until a month ago, but it's possible we'll use one or two of them for the second season," said Christina Grdovic, Food & Wine's publisher.
Food won't be the only item to write home about. "We'll have 10 cocktails from 10 different bars, based off of Food & Wine Cocktails," Grdovic added. In addition to this program, curated by deputy editor of Food & Wine Cocktails Jim Meehan, there'll be a wine list, too. The list, developed by executive wine editor Ray Isle, will include specific wine pairings for each of the Best New Chef dishes.
In an era of food truck meetups and Fashion Week pop-up shops, Chefs Club could be the next frontier in dining. "People want to be able to go out and have a high-end, innovative experience, but also a quick, affordable meal. Chefs Club is going to do both of those things," Grdovic said. "It'll be the kind of restaurant where you want to go back over and over again. That's what people want."
Source: Thinkstock, Food & Wine
With the recent announcement of the IACP Cookbook Awards and James Beard Awards on the horizon, the cooking world's award season is in full force. Today, Food & Wine magazine unveiled its 2012 class of Best New Chefs, an award it's bestowed upon 10 chefs annually for nearly a quarter of a century. The accolades have been widely regarded as a harbinger of lifelong culinary success; after all, the inaugural 1988 class included Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, and Thomas Keller.
Winners include Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone of New York's restaurant of the moment, Torrisi Italian Specialties. An awards ceremony honoring the chefs takes place tonight in New York City. Find out which other chefs have made the cut when you keep reading.
I'll start off by saying that pairing wines with food can be subjective. But over the years we've talked or listened to many culinary experts and sommeliers — from Rick Bayless to Peter Marks.
At tastings, festivals, dinners, and food events, these authorities have shared their knowledge of the art of wine pairings.
Since I trust the know-how they've gleaned over the years, here's a quiz on tips for pairing nibbles with sips. So pour a glass of your favorite Sauvignon Blanc or Cab, and take this wine pairing quiz. When you're done, raise a glass to learning something new!
Take the Quiz
I'm a little sick of the traditional Thanksgiving meal. That's why this year I plan on serving slightly different versions of old favorites — like a turkey roulade instead of a whole roasted turkey, for instance.
Rather than the usual green bean casserole, I'm reaching for a neo-Southern riff on the creamed spinach standby, and plan on impressing guests with creamed collard greens. Unlike creamed spinach, this vegetable side isn't swimming in heavy cream; the cream adds subtle body, while smoky bacon rounds out the collards' bitter character.
But the pièce de résistance is really the crispy, cheesy crumb topping. Be sure to make a generous amount, because the more, the better. Add a new tradition to your meal when you keep reading
If you can't bear the thought of this year's beloved heirloom and Early Girl tomato crop coming to an end, there are two things you can do to prolong your enjoyment of Summer's sweet and seedy fruits. If you're really itching to enjoy them in a few months, learn how to can them. Or, if you find the idea of pressurizing any sort of jar in boiling water intimidates you, there's always quick-and-dirty pickling.
If you belong to the latter camp, I highly recommend this farm-stand tomato recipe; it only requires a few hours before it's totally ready to consume. These pickled tomatoes have a smoky, slightly spicy flavor that comes from cumin, fresh ginger, and jalapeños. The high proportion of olive oil in the base imparts a mild flavor on the tomatoes (although you can play with the proportions for a more pickled taste), and the tomatoes last up to three days when refrigerated. Keep reading to see the recipe with step-by-step photos.
As much as I love chili and a simple meatloaf, they often become an all-too-regular part of my weeknight meal rotation. The best cure for a rut, I've discovered, is to stray for a moment from the usual suspects (chicken, beef, tofu) and opt for something less habitual.
The last time I did this, I sat down to a light but piquant plate of briny scallops tossed together with angel hair pasta and a chipotle-and-garlic-inflected Chilean pil-pil sauce.
To keep the dinner from being price-prohibitive, I subbed bay scallops instead of sea scallops, but the latter would be a nice splurge. The whole dish is extremely quick-cooking; prepare to sit down within the half hour! For the recipe, read ahead.
Earlier today in a white tent at the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Tim Love grilled up some big meat. The cowboy chef from the Lone Star State has a very specific steak-cooking method. He uses premium cuts of beef (his current fav is the Italian-equivalent to Wagyu) and is not a fan of marinades. "You want the meat to taste like meat. You don't want it to taste like Worcestershire sauce. If you want to taste Worcestershire sauce, have a shot of it with your steak," the chef joked. To check out his technique for perfectly grilled steak, read on.
If you've never made paella, the traditional Spanish rice dish with origins in Valencia, I highly recommend you give it a try this weekend! This uncomplicated recipe is easy to follow and has awesome results. The paella is filling, flavorful, and delicious. It's packed with chorizo and shellfish, so it has a wonderful surf-and-turf quality.
Although the recipe has you cook the paella on the grill, I made it on the stovetop. Other substitutions to note: I used Mexican chorizo instead of Spanish chorizo and omitted the squid and saffron, because of a restricted selection at the local market. Despite these changes, I really enjoyed this paella and plan to make it again soon! Check out the recipe now.
