If you're not already sick of Halloween candy -- make that, if you're sick of that waxy, pedestrian, drugstore stuff filled with stabilizers and subpar ingredients -- check out today's story and recipes from Anita Chu's Field Guide to Candy. Better yet, check out the book.
I've been toting around the pocket-sized guide for weeks now like my 4-year-old does her nubby, floppy bear. There were only so many recipes I needed to test for the sake of the story, but now that that's in the can (and I'm off my sugar high), I can scratch my itch for Chu's version of Almond Joys, one of the world's greatest candy bars.
Chow's take on the DIY Halloween candy story, meanwhile, also tackles the Almond Joy as well as the three other big guns in the candy world: Twix, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers. At a glance, Chu's recipe appears more doable. But then, Chow gets points for its printable wrappers and super cool cross-sections of the chocolate bars (which reminds us of how much we love looking at cross-sections of food).
Sad news to start off the week: Sheila Lukins, author of the seminal Silver Palate cookbook, died Sunday of brain cancer.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with the delightfully quirky Lukins back in late November. She was on tour promoting her book, "Ten: All the Foods We Love and 10 Recipes for Each."
The New Yorker, who with her writing and business partner Julee Rosso eased American home cooks into a world of raspberry vinegar, pesto and other then-esoteric ingredients via the pages of the Silver Palate Cookbook, gushed about visiting the Green City Market earlier that day and produce that "would have knocked your socks off." She talked about how frozen peas are a godsend, and that "people were yelling at me because I didn't have a cookie section [in Ten]."
Chances are, you have the Silver Palate on your shelf. Hang on to it. If you don't, at least hang on to the following recipe. Chicken Marbella is a Silver Palate classic, not to mention damn tasty. Thank you, Sheila.
By guest blogger and New York writer Seanan Forbes
NEW YORK -- Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine's executive dining room, has a new cookbook coming out next year.
Last night, in New York Botanical Garden's Edible Garden, she was asked the title of the book. "Oh, I don't remember," she said, laughing, and went back to cutting plums for fruit potstickers. (Yes, fruit potstickers, as in crisp, fruit-filled dumplings. Last night's focus was on summer fruits in pastries.)
Whatever its title, next year's cookbook will be tailored for those of us who like cooking at home but who don't have loads of time.
Moulton, who cooks for a living and then cooks dinner at home five nights a week, certainly understands being in that position. She has loads of tips for the home cook:
* When you're rolling pizza dough, forget the flour. Put a little bit of olive oil - not too much, or the dough will slide all over the place - and roll it out. The dough will stay in place and roll out beautifully.
* Rolling out dough for a circle: rotate the dough in eighth-turns.
* Skinned chicken and lean cuts of pork can taste dry. Soak them in seasoned buttermilk for 20 minutes before cooking, and they'll be as tender as could be desired.
* Soak fish fillets or game in milk for 20 minutes to take the edge off the gamey or fishy scent,
* Buttermilk has two assets in tenderizing: acid and dairy.
* There are only two kinds of dairy you can boil: heavy cream and creme fraiche.
* Choosing oils for cooking: canola is healthy; grapeseed is flavorless.
* Thickeners: flour makes things opaque; cornstarch and tapioca, translucent.
* Refrigerating pastry dough relaxes the gluten (giving you more tender pastry).
* When blending pastry dough, it is better to have more, rather than fewer lumps.
* Wonton skins are a great cheat for everything from large ravioli to miniature lasagna - and nobody has to know you didn't make them yourself.
You can find more about Moulton on her website, saramoulton.com. Sweet and savory Edible Garden recipes are here.
Moulton encourages people to be creative. You're not stuck with the fruit that's in the recipe. If something else looks good to you, then use that instead. See what's available at the Green City Market.
With Moulton's inclinations, you know that her recipes are going to feed your passions without consuming too much of your time.
By guest blogger and New York writer Seanan Forbes
NEW YORK -- Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine's executive dining room, has a new cookbook coming out next year.
Last night, in New York Botanical Garden's Edible Garden, she was asked the title of the book. "Oh, I don't remember," she said, laughing, and went back to cutting plums for fruit potstickers. (Yes, fruit potstickers, as in crisp, fruit-filled dumplings. Last night's focus was on summer fruits in pastries.)
Whatever its title, next year's cookbook will be tailored for those of us who like cooking at home but who don't have loads of time.
Moulton, who cooks for a living and then cooks dinner at home five nights a week, certainly understands being in that position. She has loads of tips for the home cook:
* When you're rolling pizza dough, forget the flour. Put a little bit of olive oil - not too much, or the dough will slide all over the place - and roll it out. The dough will stay in place and roll out beautifully.
* Rolling out dough for a circle: rotate the dough in eighth-turns.
* Skinned chicken and lean cuts of pork can taste dry. Soak them in seasoned buttermilk for 20 minutes before cooking, and they'll be as tender as could be desired.
* Soak fish fillets or game in milk for 20 minutes to take the edge off the gamey or fishy scent,
* Buttermilk has two assets in tenderizing: acid and dairy.
* There are only two kinds of dairy you can boil: heavy cream and creme fraiche.
* Choosing oils for cooking: canola is healthy; grapeseed is flavorless.
* Thickeners: flour makes things opaque; cornstarch and tapioca, translucent.
* Refrigerating pastry dough relaxes the gluten (giving you more tender pastry).
* When blending pastry dough, it is better to have more, rather than fewer lumps.
* Wonton skins are a great cheat for everything from large ravioli to miniature lasagna - and nobody has to know you didn't make them yourself.
You can find more about Moulton on her website, saramoulton.com. Sweet and savory Edible Garden recipes are here.
Moulton encourages people to be creative. You're not stuck with the fruit that's in the recipe. If something else looks good to you, then use that instead. See what's available at the Green City Market.
With Moulton's inclinations, you know that her recipes are going to feed your passions without consuming too much of your time.
Plucked from our mailbox: a proof of Thomas Keller's forthcoming cookbook, "Ad Hoc At Home," for the home cook - that's right, the home cook.
Sh-yeah right, you're tempted to say. Home cooking from the chief mentor to Grant Achatz?
Take our word for it -- the book isn't false advertising in the least. Keller is only just a guy, after all. There are recipes for beef stroganoff, pineapple upside-down cake and chocolate chip cookies, for crying out loud. These are dishes meant to be served family-style. As far as we can tell, ingredients are all familiar and available; no need for Fed Ex or all-night Google searches. (And the graphics, oddly enough, are reminiscient of the opening and closing credits to "Juno.")
With every chef and their dog doing a downscale concept of some sort (Keller included; the book's title refers to Ad Hoc, his casual restaurant down the road from the French Laundry), and the economy as it is, Keller's timing is perfect. But, as Keller writes, his aim was less capitalistic. His father died soon after he began work on the book. Keller cooked his dad's last meal: barbecued chicken with mashed potatoes and braised collard greens (bought at the grocery store -- he shops at the grocery store!).
"And now I am unspeakably grateful to have made it -- that dinner remains important to me," Keller writes. "And so does the food we -- friends and family -- would have in the following days, brought together in grief, comforted by food."
"Ad Hoc at Home" (Artisan, $50) will be out in November.
And speaking of Achatz: The Alinea chef's memoir about his cancer-ridden path to culinary stardom has been picked up by Gotham Books, the NYT's Diner's Journal blog reports.
The book, co-written by Colleen Rush (picture above), is a gem as is Wiviott, a founder of the LTHForum culinary chat site. We finally met Wiviott face-to-face a few weeks ago (it is entirely possible and all too common in this line of work to correspond with someone for a good amount of time without ever actually meeting them).
Anyway, we're glad we did. He's a bear of a guy, as the photo suggests. This being his first book -- and his first book signing -- he admits he's a little nervous. So go meet the guy. You'll probably pick up some good grilling tips. To work past the nerves, he'll just be picturing you all naked.
If you've ever talked to Gary Wiviott, you know the man can talk. (If you've never talked to Gary Wiviott, try it sometime. Even if he doesn't know you from Adam, chances are he'll engage and get going and before you know it, you'll be downing dumplings and Tsing Taos at some hole-in-the-wall joint on Argyle Street).
It's perhaps the only cookbook we know of that begins with a section on cooking gear that "should be avoided at all costs," charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid among them. But that's refreshing. We like that. (And kudos to co-author Colleen Rush for capturing Wiviott's voice so perfectly).
Our Dave Hoekstra spent some time barbecuing and eating with Wiviott recently; his story runs in Food next week. The book is in stores now. And Wiviott and Rush are hosting a book release party at 6 tonight at the Paramount Room, 415 N. Milwaukee. What more do you need?
By guest blogger and New York writer Seanan Forbes:
Grant Achatz says he's fine. He looks fine, with his neck circled by
an orange band bearing a round medal.
Alinea the restaurant has earned recognition. Alinea -- this time,
the book -- has its own websites: www.alinea-book.com and alineamosaic.com. Now, it (or, more precisely, its author) has a
medal, as well: for "Cooking from a Professional Point of View."
Is Achatz startled to have won? "Of course I'm surprised," he says.
"When you're up against Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal, you have
to be surprised."
With that, he lopes off to find the rest of his team. Some people
strive to be in the limelight. Achatz, who could easily claim the
shine, is always swift to state that he could do none of it alone.
By guest blogger and Swap Shop columnist Sandy Thorn Clark
As I was (once again) purging the refrigerator of leftovers - leftover roast beef and mashed potatoes from Monday night and leftover cranberry salad from ... well, from Easter - I decided it was time to enlist in cookbook author Annette Sym's concept of "Sunday Night - Freezer Night" to spare leftovers an untimely and costly demise in the garbage disposal.
Sym was in Chicago on a whirlwind trip to promote the American version of her "Symply Too Good to be True" cookbook featuring 150 low-fat recipes and the 28-day weight loss program that helped her shed 77 pounds in 1993.
She says her budget-conscious waste-not, want-not solution is to freeze leftovers in individual portions, writing the contents and date on each package.
And then - here's the best part - on Sunday nights, Sym family members go to the freezer and select the leftovers of their choosing. A quick trip to the microwave is all that's needed and, voila, the meal saves time and money.
"It's my fun night. I always volunteer to 'cook' on Sunday nights," kids Sym, 54, who lives in Queensland, Australia.
Sym's favorite uses of leftovers? She makes omelets or frittatas by pouring eggs over leftover cooked or roasted carrots, potatoes and butternut squash ("You've got bliss"); adds salmon or tuna, green onions and a little lemon juice to mashed potatoes for pan-fried rissoles; microwaves veggies and meat in wraps for lunch; uses rotten bananas in cakes, muffins and smoothies; and mounds bolognese sauce, curry or stews over baked potatoes.
Sun-Times Food editor Janet Rausa Fuller is always thinking about her next meal.
Lisa Donovan
For almost 20 years now, reporter Lisa Donovan has been hitting Chicago's neighborhood markets and restaurants not only for the
best grub at the best prices but also as a way to understand the city's melting
pot.
James Scalzitti
As Rhoda Morgenstern would say, food is the first thing Sun-Times Wire Service reporter James Scalzitti remembers liking that liked him back..
Sun-Times Food editor Janet Rausa Fuller is always thinking about her next meal.
For almost 20 years now, reporter Lisa Donovan has been hitting Chicago's neighborhood markets and restaurants not only for the
best grub at the best prices but also as a way to understand the city's melting
pot.
As Rhoda Morgenstern would say, food is the first thing Sun-Times Wire Service reporter James Scalzitti remembers liking that liked him back..
