Recipe: Minted Pea Puree Canapes

When Spring arrives, we are compelled to enjoy the pleasures of the first green peas, for there is nothing as naturally sweet as these tender harbingers of the new season. This dish pairs the bright and creamy pea purée with a crisp and flaky puff pastry vol-au-vent, which “flies to the wind."

gilded fork, recipe, minted pea puree, canapes

Mise en Place: New Year's Eve Cocktail Party

We are of two minds when it comes to New Year's Eve: We either want to be dressed to the nines at a fabulous ballroom-esque gala, or gathered with friends in a casual setting at home. This year we're opting for the latter, so we've put together a menu perfect for a casually elegant night in. For further tips, we've crafted test kitchen dossiers on both Cocktails and Hors d'Oeuvres for this month, so take all the notes you need to. Don't forget that the rest of our Entertaining section has further tips on decor and the trimmings. Now get that celebration started, and say adieu to 2006!

gilded fork, cocktail party, New Year's Eve, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, appetizers

Recipe: Thyme Focaccia with Kalamata Mascarpone Spread

The rich, smooth taste of the mascarpone blends delightfully with the tangy kalamata olives and thyme creating a deliciously creamy combination to savor. This focaccia recipe is highly adaptable, and can be flavored with any herb, fresh or dried. We have included other mascarpone spread variations below.

gilded fork, recipe, appetizer, focaccia, mascarpone, kalamata

ReMARKable Palate Podcast #71

ReMARKable Palate #71: CityMeals on Wheels and Chicken and Grapes

Jennifer and I speak once again with Gael Greene, founder of CityMeals on Wheels, on the occasion of the organization serving its 34 millionth meal to homebound elderly New Yorkers. Consider making a donation to citymeals.org this holiday season to help in the effort.

And I go into the kitchen to show you how to make an easy weeknight meal of Chicken and Grapes (yes, grapes!)

Voice Mail: 646-787-3196
Skype: remarkablepalate
remarkablepalate@gmail.com
remarkablepalate.podshow.com

The ReMARKable Palate Podcast is a production of The Gilded Fork. www.gildedfork.com

www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com
food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, CityMeals on Wheels, Gael Greene, chicken and grapes, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

Chef's Table: A Gilded Year

What a year it’s been for me! Twelve months ago I was in paradise, but also in a small version of hell: I was working as a private chef for a billionaire, traveling back and forth between New York City and a private island in the Caribbean on a tricked-out 727. What a glamorous life, eh? Well, actually, when you’re the one charged with making it glamorous, it’s not exactly a walk in the park... (read more)

gilded fork, food, food writing, Chef Mark

Recipe: Grilled Lemongrass Shrimp

Lemongrass is used in this recipe as both a flavor component and a presentation tool. The stalks, when used as skewers, delicately flavor the shrimp from the inside, while the sweet, spicy marinade opens the palate. Because the shrimp are so flavorful, the dipping sauce should be treated more as a garnish rather than a sauce. The trick is of course not to overcook your shrimp. We use Vietnamese spotted prawns for this plating -- the large, luscious crustaceans provide a meaty platform for the fusion of ingredients. Your first taste is the succulent meat of the shrimp and then the explosion of flavor components arrive on the palate.

gilded fork, recipe, grilled shrimp, lemongrass

The Indulgence: Hors d'Oeuvres -- Little Bites of Heaven

The French phrase hors d'oeuvre (often pluralized as hors d'oeuvres in English) literally means "outside of the work," and originally referred to an outbuilding not incorporated into the architect's main design of a house or building. The phrase eventually found its way into the culinary lexicon, meaning appetizers served apart from the main course of a dinner.

Hors d'oeuvres can encompass a wide variety of foods, and range from casual finger foods to elegant nibbles. Their versatility makes them ideal for any kind of event, either as snacks taken at the cocktail hour prior to a seated meal, or as the main menu for a party where the guests won't be seated. Tapas, dim sum, antipasti, antojitos and appetizers all can fit into the theme of hors d'oeuvres, leaving the menu open to your imagination.

gilded fork, indulgence, holiday entertaining, hors d'oeuvres

Recipe: Layered Caviar Torte

This is our adaptation of a traditional hors d’oeuvre favorite. It’s a fun way to indulge for a large New Year's Eve party, and although it uses quite a bit of caviar, the dish serves up to fifty people at a party, so your investment will go a long way. You can use American Roe such as Paddlefish, or even a combination of different colored roes, laying them out in a fan pattern on the top of the dish.

gilded fork, recipe, hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, New Year's Eve, entertaining, caviar

Need a Last-Minute Gift?

If you are "one of those" who waits until the very last possible moment to get a holiday gift, we're happy to say that we can still save your butt from a lifetime of embarrassment. See, we're always thinking of you. Our digital gift certificates can be purchased until 5:00 PM on December 24th, and can be used for anything in our Gilded Fork Boutique. You're welcome.


gilded fork, holiday gifts, gift certificates, gourmet gifts, Christmas

Cocktail Recipe - Love Potion: Family Edition

Petite but strong, the sweet raspberry notes come to the forefront in this martini-style whiskey cocktail. Amaretto, the Italian liqueur of love, then appears while vanilla comforts like a family’s love. The delicate port sipper delivers the Love Potion: Family Edition. Enjoy the warm embrace of the golden hue with your loved ones by the fireplace.

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, love potion

Food Philosophy #34: Pairing Wine with Food

Food Philosophy #34: Pairing Wine with Food

At last, the heady realm of food and wine pairing is demystified for the hungry (and thirsty) layman. Mark and I chat with Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page about their new book, What to Drink with What You Eat, and discover their philosophy about a sensual approach to it all (yes, I'm giddy).

www.becomingachef.com

Music: Beau Hall (www.beaurocks.com)

Food Philosophy is a production of The Gilded Fork (www.gildedfork.com).

www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com


food, food podcast, sensuality, Food Philosophy, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork, Jennifer Iannolo, PodShow, Andrew Dornenburg, Karen Page, food wine pairing, what to drink

Pastry Princess: The Twelve Blogs of Christmas

The Pastry Princess has made her list and checked it twice, so see what she has mentioned in her list of inspirations for the year.

gilded fork, Pastry Princess, Monica Glass, baking

Cocktail Recipe: Gaia - Inspired by Mother Earth

Named after Mother Earth, this unique pecan cocktail is led by a most refreshing combination of lemongrass and Hoegaarden white beer, a sharp contrast to butterscotch and pecan’s full “buttery” notes. Together with the other elements, we create “Gaia”, like a shot of green bursting forth from the hardest rocks…

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, holiday

Book Review - The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami

There are some foods that inherently evoke a unique and irreplaceable experience; we taste one tomato soup and are humbly content, while another sets off fireworks in our mouths. For tasters seeking answers to such causes, modern science catches up with thousands of years of culinary tradition and provides a rational explanation for those irresistible tastes. In The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami, David and Anna Kasabian explore an area of taste that until recently has been overlooked, and not particularly understood.

What is umami, anyway? The modern view, at least among many chefs and food scientists, is that umami qualifies as an official taste alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Umami is a taste that is sometimes more difficult to detect and describe, however, and it is exactly this delicacy that makes it all the more mysterious and captivating. It is that rich, savory, satisfying taste found in mushrooms, meat, aged cheeses and red wine, among other flavors — pretty much all the good stuff! (read more)


gilded fork, book review, umami, Kasabian

Break out the Bubbly!

In case you missed it, our Champagne issue is full of recipes, descriptions and ideas for your holiday celebrations.

gilded fork, Champagne, cocktails, holiday entertaining

Recipe: Lychee Martini

With an illustrious recorded history going as far back as 1059 A.D. in China, the lychee fruit is symbolic of both royalty and love. Legend speaks of the imperial Lady Yang Kuei Fei who had a passion for fresh lychees; the Emperor Hsuan Tsung had guards mounted on fast horses traveling 600 miles south of the palace to bring back the fresh lychees to woo her. Today, used to create the lychee martini, perhaps the lychee can help you do to some wooing of your own.

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, lychee martini

Little Drops of Heaven

My bottle of Allure Estates Olio Nuovo 2006 just arrived, and I don't know what to do with myself. They've outdone themselves, because this year's vintage is even better than last year's; I won't even use this one for cooking, as it is to be enjoyed solely for dipping and drizzling. More than once since it arrived, I've found myself sitting down to dinner with a a healthy drizzle of olio nuovo and a piece of bread, ignoring most of my meal to focus on the elixir.

There is something so pure and exquisite in a perfect bottle of olive oil -- one whose potency hits the back of the throat with a peppery punch and tastes like olives at their very best moment of ripeness. Olio nuovo is the first pressing of the olives, bottled and presented immediately for consumption. Its pungent flavor and aroma is likely not for the consumer accustomed to mass-produced olive oils with little more than a bland flavor and aroma, so I like to see this as the connoisseur's oil.

Laurie and her husband Alex shared their story with us in last year's Artisan's Corner article, Adventures in a Pile of Dirt, and it is one of risk, toil and soil. I hope it pays off for them in spades, because of all the olive oils I have tasted from around the world, this one is the very best.

gilded fork, olive oil, olio nuovo, Allure Estates

Food Philosophy #33: Tasting Wine with the Senses

Food Philosophy #33: Tasting Wine with the Senses

You’ve probably tasted wine with your tongue, but have you ever engaged all of your senses in the process? How about your retronasal passage?

Explore along with me as I learn how to approach wine more sensually – and how the mind can trick us along the way. Rosina Tinari Wilson is back with a lesson in tasting, which happened during an impromptu gathering in the tasting room at Fontanafredda Winery in Piemonte. (www.fontanafredda.it)

We’ve also got lots of wine advice for the holidays at the Gilded Fork, including wines for under $10, food and wine pairings and a complete cocktail party how-to. ‘Tis the season, people! (www.gildedfork.com)

If you find yourself in a bind, you can also call our friends at ChefsLine, the live cooking hotline, for advice and comfort. Chef Mark might even pick up the phone! We’ve made special arrangements for Food Philosophy listeners, so you can get 30 free minutes of consultation with a live chef through January 1st, 2007.

ChefsLine: 800-977-1224 enter code 986445#
www.chefsline.com

ChefsLine memberships are also available in the Gilded Fork Boutique, and make a perfect holiday gift! (https://shop.gildedfork.com)

Music: Beau Hall (www.beaurocks.com)

Food Philosophy is a production of The Gilded Fork (www.gildedfork.com).

www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com

food, food podcast, sensuality, Food Philosophy, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork, Jennifer Iannolo, PodShow, wine tasting, senses, ChefsLine, holiday entertaining

The Main Ingredient: Cocktails, Anyone?

Ah, the cocktail. It is the introduction to “happy hour,” the ice-breaker, the way to finish a long day and start a magnificent evening. Cocktails can be as simple as scotch on the rocks or as complex as one’s imagination will allow, so it is the one type of beverage that allows for utter creativity.

Some cocktails have fallen strictly under the umbrella of “girlie,” i.e. the Cosmopolitan, sweet martinis (chocolate et. al.) and fruit-laced concoctions, while others are very “masculine.” Think of the dry martini, gin and tonics or any kind of strong spirit. We tend to stay away from lines of gender demarcation and bring all varieties of cocktails together for our favorite type of gathering: the cocktail party. (read more)


gilded fork, cocktails, cocktail party, holiday entertaining

Cocktail Recipe: Clove Spiced Champagne

The flavors and fragrances of this champagne are elegant and timeless, with a generous hint of spice, echoing the flavors of a mulled wine. The spiced syrup can be made well in advance, and its flavors will intensify as it rests.

gilded fork, cocktail, recipe, champagne, clove, spice

Tasty Libations: The Provocachic™ Blog

From malted barley to the Singapore cocktail scene, Gilded Fork mixologist Damian Sim has your behind-the-bar insights for all things liquidly delicious.

gilded fork, drinks, cocktails, mixologist, Damian Sim, Provocachic™

Cocktail Recipe: Vanilla Sea

Based on the sensuous flavors of vanilla, with a light ginger twist and citrus notes, “Vanilla Sea” was specially created by Damian Sim of Provocachic™ for the Gilded Fork to pair with our ocean gem, the lobster. The aroma of the sage leaves teases the rich flavors in this cocktail, and overall, the bubbly cocktail offers a light yet provocative experience.

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, vanilla

Gastronomic Meditations: Christmas Cocoa

Cradling a steaming mug in my hands and stifling a yawn, I surveyed the pile of presents underneath the tree. “Mom,” I asked with concern, “you put in two packets instead of one, right?” She had indeed — the cup I was clutching enclosed the contents of two whole packets of Swiss Miss powder, some hot water, and a candy cane for stirring. As steam rose from the mug the candy cane began to sweat, the red and white stripes melding into a sticky pink. It was 6:30 in the morning on Christmas Day, and I was twelve years old. Whenever I wasn’t tearing into a present (we opened them youngest to oldest, one by one), I held the candy cane between my fingers and gently swirled the cocoa around it, causing the cane to dissolve into a peppermint icicle with a deathly sharp tip. (read more)


gilded fork, food, food writing, Christmas cocoa

Recipe: Garden Temptations Cocktail

This cocktail is an epicurean experience designed with figs in mind, inspired by their mention in the Garden of Eden. This gentle libation comprises notes of elderberry that seduce the palate while the other flavors blend deceptively behind into a delicious orange hue; the Earl Grey tea and carrot complete the “garden flavor.”

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, Damian Sim

ReMARKable Palate Podcast #68

ReMARKable Palate #68: Kitchencasting!

I take you into the kitchen this week and show you how to prepare an easy Argentinian-inspired weeknight meal: Dry-rubbed Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce, and a side of Balsamic Roasted Green Beans with Red Onions.

See the full recipe HERE.

Voice Mail: 646-797-3196
remarkablepalate@gmail.com
remarkablepalate.podshow.com

www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com
food, food podcast, cooking, recipe, flank steak, chimichurri, ReMARKable Palate, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork

Share your comments in our discussion forum.

Messages in a Bottle: Stalking the $10 Wine

We've been chasing after them for as long as we've had legs to run and the extra brain cells required to do more than avoid falling on our faces; from Nessie to Yeti to Sasquatch to Squid, the allure of mythical beasts has been too strong to resist. They are symbols of the barely attainable, while also being fragments of the deepest hopes and dreams our little brains are capable of rendering. It seems that collectively we have enough hysteria to generate these imaginary creatures ad infinitum, and I'm sure we'd be content with forever hunting ghosts of our own making. But to add to the excitement, once in a while someone miraculously manages to “catch” one, causing a collective global raising of the eyebrows that is nearly palpable. We don't have a unicorn yet, or Bigfoot, but we got the Coelacanth and the giant squid. Can the Yeti be far behind?

For wine lovers, one of the greatest quarries of the modern age is the fantastic Ten Dollar Wine. Some of us seem to remember a time when such a thing was common – a time when rampant capitalism and global markets had not yet discovered the wine valleys of the world, and you could buy second-growth Bordeaux for eight bucks. Those of us under forty scrunch up our foreheads at stories like this, suspicious of the power of nostalgia while at the same time intensely jealous of those who can remember a day when good Burgundy was under fifty dollars a bottle. (read more)


gilded fork, wine, Alder Yarrow, Vinography

Recipe: Vanilla Vixen Cocktail

When life hands you vanilla, make a cocktail! Always open to exploring new gastronomical indulgences, we were immensely rewarded with building the flavor profile of this cocktail. Light and refreshing with a generous essence of vanilla, guests will certainly savor this tempting libation. The vanilla syrup and sugar should be made well in advance to allow the vanilla flavors to intensify as it rests.

gilded fork, recipe, cocktail, vanilla

Food Philosophy #32: The Stress-Free Holiday Host

Food Philosophy #32: The Stress-Free Holiday Host

If you want to avoid a feeling of overwhelm this holiday season, consider some of our hosting tips for remaining calm and collected -- and that means cocktail parties, people! Mark and I discuss the ins and outs of hosting a fun evening without panic, as well as the protocol for hostess gift giving and receiving.

Listen for our final Golden Ticket Moment!

Folgers Gourmet Selections Flavor: Vanilla Biscotti
www.folgers.com/gourmet

Featured Recipe: Vanilla Cafe Cocktail

Listener Comment: Foie Gras Ban

Music: Beau Hall (www.beaurocks.com)

Food Philosophy is a production of The Gilded Fork (www.gildedfork.com).

www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com


food, food podcast, sensuality, Food Philosophy, Culinary Podcast Network, Gilded Fork, Jennifer Iannolo, PodShow, entertaining tips, holiday entertaining, holiday parties, etiquette, hostess gifts, stress-free entertaining

Monthly Meditation: Fast Away the Old Year Passes

I’ve crafted the habit of taking time each December to reflect on the past year and its adventures, and this year’s rewind has been exceptionally fun. When I glimpse at the mental snapshot of where we were twelve months ago, I see that the days were long, the nights were longer, and there seemed to be no end to the obstacles impeding our forward movement. I felt…old. Suddenly things reached a synergistic groove and we started moving at warp speed – the year went by in a flash.

What a long way we’ve come in that time. Not only have we transformed from a web site to a new media company, but we’ve now launched a separate production company, and our audience has surpassed our expectations (even the hopeful ones). Our collaboration with PodShow has helped us to reach more than 200,000 podcast listeners each month, and this site now welcomes more than 2,000 visitors per day. (read more)


gilded fork, food, food writing

Recipe: Provocachic Cosmopolitan

Thought to have first appeared on menus in New York City in the late 1980s, the Cosmo was popularized by sophisticated ladies (rumour has it especially since Madonna was seen drinking one). It has an appealing reddish hue, and tartness from the cranberry which contrasts the cloying sweetness of most cocktails. This version has a much fuller body than most recipes, with an interesting floral touch.

gilded fork, recipes, cocktail, Cosmopolitan