Fair Trade Month gives “good eats” new meaning

October is Fair Trade Month, reminding us that buying Fair Trade Certified foods improves the quality of life for farmers and their communities—and the quality of the imported foods we eat.

We were out of the kitchen last week on a food-focused road trip to Columbus, Ohio. Look for a new recipe next week—and a Columbus report soon.

Food is in an interesting place right now. Increasingly, we are urged to eat locally—and farmers markets, locavore chefs and even grocery stores are bringing us ways to do that. On the other hand, our palates have never been more global. Exotic spices, produce and pantry staples are transitioning from ethnic markets and gourmet shops to supermarket shelves. They’re doing so because we’re using them in our kitchens more and more. And then there are those staples so ingrained in our daily lives that we don’t often even think of them as imported—coffee, chocolate, bananas, tea… But how these foods are grown, harvested and processed has a major impact on lives around the world. And on the health of the planet. That’s where fair trade comes in. Continue reading “Fair Trade Month gives “good eats” new meaning” →

Hungry for new experiences, new friendships? SideTour comes to Chicago

New York City startup SideTour is all about trying something new and seeing the world through the eyes of others. And now it’s come to Chicago.

People are naturally curious creatures. Naturally social too. Put those two elements of human nature together and you’ve got the driving idea behind SideTour. Founded in New York in June 2011, SideTour is an online marketplace of “handpicked activities, tours and memorable things to do, all hosted by talented local people.”

Some of the events are food and drink related—creating a gluten-free meal with a holistic chef, dining with a banker-turned-monk in his East Village monastery and brewing your own pale ale with a craft beer expert, for instance. Others range from boxing with a world champ in a Brooklyn gym to visiting Hollywood’s secret (props) arms depot in SoHo and learning the art of disguise from a former CIA agent. Continue reading “Hungry for new experiences, new friendships? SideTour comes to Chicago” →

Shrimp Fideos: Short for little Spanish toasted noodles and shrimp

Toasting uncooked pasta with olive oil in a skillet before adding liquid gives it a pleasingly nutty taste in this globe-trotting, Spanish-inspired dish with shrimp, red bell pepper and edamame. Recipe below.

One of the things I love about cooking is how recipes for the same essential dish can be so different. For fideos—short, thin noodles toasted and then cooked into Spanish (and Italian and Mexican) stews and soups, this is spectacularly so.

Fideos is actually the name of a specific type of thin noodle, most often short, slightly curved pieces. According to Joey Campanaro, chef/co-owner of The Little Owl in New York, fideos is the Catalan word for noodles, and many Spanish cooks use it instead of rice to make paella. Typically, English-language recipes call for using vermicelli, cappellini or spaghetti and breaking it into short pieces. Continue reading “Shrimp Fideos: Short for little Spanish toasted noodles and shrimp” →

Small Bites: 3 new haut chocolates from Vosges and 100 top wines for $15 or less

Vosges Haut-Chocolat introduces three new flavors for fall. And Wine Enthusiast Magazine releases its Top 100 Best Buys for 2012.

Dessert with a capital D is only a sometime thing here at Blue Kitchen, but we do like to keep chocolate on hand. Just a square or two after dinner gives the meal a sweet finish without committing to a big, calorie-laden slice or scoop of anything. So when artisanal chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat invited us to join its VIP Blogger Program, we were more than happy to oblige.

A couple of perks of the program are preview announcements of new flavors and—more to the chocolate-loving point—occasional samples of those new flavors. Case in point are three new chocolate bars for fall. Continue reading “Small Bites: 3 new haut chocolates from Vosges and 100 top wines for $15 or less” →

Senate Bean Soup: Classic comfort food, comfortingly not updated

Served daily in the United States Senate Dining Room since the early 1900s, Senate Bean Soup is a soul satisfying, stubbornly old school dish. Recipe below.

Special Collector’s Issue is a term often used—and abused—by magazine marketers to boost newsstand sales. The October issue of Saveur magazine, however, lives up to the hype.

As the cover promises, it contains 101 classic recipes—and not much else. No restaurant showcases, no travel features, no chef profiles or kitchen gadget reviews. Just a short piece up front by the editor-in-chief celebrating Saveur’s 150th issue and a classic food-related photo of Lucille Ball on the last page, with the aforementioned recipes sandwiched in between. Continue reading “Senate Bean Soup: Classic comfort food, comfortingly not updated” →

I’m in a cookbook! With Helen Mirren!

Made With Love: The Meals on Wheels Family Cookbook features recipes by celebrities and celebrity chefs (and me) and raises money to fight hunger among seniors. And we’re giving away a copy here.

And Mario Batalli! And Martha Stewart, Patti LaBelle, Al Franken, Paula Deen… Made With Love: The Meals on Wheels Family Cookbook includes recipes from the tables of well-known actors, chefs, writers and other celebrities, along with personal stories about their favorite family meals. I was honored to be invited to share a recipe.

Published just last month by BenBella Books, Made With Love features 125 recipes arranged by course, from breakfast to appetizers, soups and stews, main dishes, casseroles, pasta and rice dishes, salads, sides and desserts. The stories told about many of the dishes are as delightful as the recipes themselves. Beautiful color photographs are sprinkled throughout the book. Continue reading “I’m in a cookbook! With Helen Mirren!” →

Maple Syrup Olive Oil Pound Cake and Plums Poached in Wine: Great together or separately

Two dessert recipes that can be used together or on their own: A pleasingly dense olive oil pound cake flavored with maple syrup and cardamom and Italian prune plums poached in red wine. Recipes below.

I SUSPECT THAT EVERYBODY WHO BLOGS ABOUT BAKING has, at some time or other, done an olive oil pound cake. And I can see why. It is easy to make, the results are pleasing, and from the nutritional side, it is not as horrifying as a conventional butter-laden pound cake. But, simply because it’s everywhere, I thought, well, it doesn’t need to be here.

Then recently, Terry brought home a great pile of Italian prune plums to make last week’s grilled pork chops and Italian plums. With a still impressive number of plums remaining, he asked me to think about a dessert approach, and pound cake seemed like an ideal complement. Continue reading “Maple Syrup Olive Oil Pound Cake and Plums Poached in Wine: Great together or separately” →

Grilled Pork Chops and Italian Plums: A smoky, seasonal taste of late summer

Brining pork chops with kosher salt, brown sugar, tarragon, garlic and wine makes them tender and flavorful, especially when grilled with Italian plums. Recipe below.

IN MY WORKING CLASS FAMILY, MEAT WAS STRICTLY THE CHEAP CUTS. When I was growing up, beef was chuck turned into burgers or meatloaf or spaghetti sauce—or the occasional pot roast, slow cooked so the fat melted into it and the toughness cooked out of it (as much as it does). Chicken was chicken, all of it relatively inexpensive back then, cooked and consumed with the skin on. And pork was most often chops, well marbled with fat before that was even a term used in households. Which probably explains why I like meat so much. Continue reading “Grilled Pork Chops and Italian Plums: A smoky, seasonal taste of late summer” →

Small Bites: The organic vs. non-organic story continues and the winner of our first giveaway

Feedback and fallout continue to follow the recently released Stanford study claiming that organic food is no more nutritious than conventional food. And we pick the winner of a copy of Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat.

I love a good verbal dust-up, a spirited exchange of ideas. I’m not so sure a couple of Stanford University scientists would agree right now. They unleashed quite a torrent with their recent statement that organic foods were no more nutritious than non-organic foods. More specifically, Dr. Dena Bravata, an MD and the senior author of the study published in the September 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, said, “There isn’t much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you’re an adult and making a decision based solely on your health.” And that’s where the fun begins. Continue reading “Small Bites: The organic vs. non-organic story continues and the winner of our first giveaway” →