March, 2010 - - Page 4

by Tyler

My Classy Cheating Confession: Gastronomic Glaze

Part III in our controversial ES series…

When my fabulous former neighbor returned from Paris having successfully smuggled Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese into the States, we knew it was going to be a party.

And party we did. After leaving the contraband Vacherin out overnight, it was exceptionally soft and bore that hallmark of quality cheese, the stink of smelly feet. It was the rustic-looking wild cousin of brie—the one with the beard who gets wasted at your sister’s wedding and hits on the bridesmaids because he knows you’re not going to say shit about it.

But the real star of the party was the goat cheese garnished with crumbled walnuts and fig balsamic gastronomic glaze (glassa gastronomica if you’re pretentious, Italian, or both). It was the perfect tangy and sweet complement to the cheese. She simply took a log of chevre, split it in half lengthwise and glazed up the interior, putting it back together like a wonderful cheese sandwich with balsamic candy in the middle. Gastronomic glaze: garnish of the gods.

Well, after six or seven bottles of Bordeaux and my incessant harping on the brilliance of this balsamic glaze, Jan admitted that she had brought back a couple bottles of plain balsamic glaze from a French grocery. In her drunken state she offered me one, which I’m sure she now regrets.

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Makeover Edition

The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.

– Wait…if Gordon Ramsay gets a facelift, does that make him more or less scary than before? (Note: The above photo is not an artist’s rendering of the surgery.)

– Suffering from Julia Child overload yet? Never fear — there’s a new book coming out.

After the jump…a chef you’ve never heard of on a show you’ll never see, a food show that you can watch between episodes of Stargate and showings of Blade Runner and we get to see what Adam Gertler is willing to eat in exchange for having his own show.

in Celebs / TV 1 comments

by BS

In The Mix: Coca Leaf Liqueur

Our recent rundown of the Top 10 New Things to Put in Your Drink inspired ES’s newest feature, In The Mix, a look at the coolest/craziest/most outlandish new ingredients — alcohols and mixers both — we’ve seen popping up in cocktails.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we’re kicking it off with an alcohol that’s relatively green to the market and also very, very green.

Agwa de Bolivia starts with coca leaves (yes, those coca leaves) plucked in Bolivia, transported by armed guard and sent to Amsterdam to have their cocaine alkaloids removed (sorry, kids). The coca is then distilled and mixed with stimulants like ginseng and guarana to mimic the “oxygen buzz” Bolivian farmers get when chewing coco leaves at high altitudes.

Our tasting team tried Agwa straight (ugh) and mixed with club soda and lime, which brought out a refreshing, floral flavor everyone liked, although if I experienced an “oxygen buzz” I have to say it wasn’t so wildly different from a good old beer buzz.

Normally I’m a proponent of just drinking Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day, but if you must imbibe something unnaturally green, you could do worse than Agwa. For something crazier than club soda and lime, the Agwa folks have a whole bunch of more creative drink recipes over on their YouTube channel, or try it at bars like New York’s Macondo, where it’s mixed with honey, agave nectar, avocado (!) and lime.

in Drinks 0 comments

by gansie

God Damn I Need that Karma

Friday
I was wearing a light gray cardigan that reached to mid-thigh. It had two pockets, like most cardigans. These pockets were shallow. I placed my iPhone in one of the pockets. It fell out of my pocket and into the toilet.

Sunday
I was at the farmers market on Sunday, about to buy an Herbs de Provence cheese for my brother’s birthday (Herbs de Provence is our inside joke), and when I looked in my wallet I realized that my debit card was missing.

Tuesday
I was in one of those beer, wine corner grocery stores and was paying for whole wheat pocketless pitas.
Clerk: That’s $3.99
Me: <Handed the clerk a $5 bill>
Clerk: <Handed me $2.01>
Me:<Hmm, I know I’m not quick at subtracting, but why am I getting 2 dollars back? Did I miss hear him. I’ll just put it in my wallet. Wait, you know what, this isn’t right.>
What’d you say the price was?
Clerk: OH! How much did I give you back? It’s $3.99.
Me: <Gave him a dollar back, smiled and left.>

God Damn I Need that Karma. Fuck. I fucking drowned my very best friend and then I lost my only source of money. I didn’t need that dollar. I need some fucking luck.

And before I get to parsnips (again), if anyone knows how to resurrect a water damaged iPhone or figure out how not to pay $450 for a new one – please let me know! gansie@endlessssimmer.com

Let’s get back to that whole wheat pocketless pita.

in Cheese / Veggie 7 comments

by BS

What’s In Season: Cherimoya

Spring is this close and that means our long winter nightmare of farmers markets with only apples and sweet potatoes is just about over. Hopefully, this will be the first weekend when we show up to the market and say, “ooooh, what the hell is that?!”

To help us decode our anticipated bounty, our pals over at Good Bite have launched a weekly column on What’s In Season, focusing today on something I’ll admit I’d never heard of:

You may have seen this irregular, green, leathery-skinned fruit at the supermarket but it originates from South America. A cherimoya, or custard apple, tastes like a combination of banana, pineapple, and papaya with a cream-colored flesh flecked with black seeds. Cherimoyas should be firm without blemishes, and can be stored at room temperature until slightly soft and ripe. To serve, chill the cherimoya, cut it in half, spoon out the seeds and eat the flesh with a spoon.

As far as cooking, cherimoyas are frequently used in dessert recipes such as custards and puddings, hence the name “custard apple.” Because cherimoyas are in season right now at local farmers markets, next time you see one of these odd-looking fruits, rather than stare at it unknowingly, score a cherimoya to try raw or in one of the following recipes:

in Desserts 2 comments

by LB

Some Soda to Soak Up the Beer

Editor’s Note: New Contributor LB — a Boston-based chef currently studying for her Masters in Gastronomy — joins us just in time for St. Patrick’s day with this classic Irish recipe. Welcome, LB!

The smell of whiskey, green vomit, and shame is clinging to the air….just another morning during St. Patty’s here in Boston. We take our leprechaun-laden drunkfest very seriously around these parts– Patty’s isn’t only on the 17th; rather it starts the Sunday before with the St. Patrick’s parade in the mostly Irish South Boston. Swigging from a communal bottle of Jameson while sharing the sidewalk with nuns and priests is always a bit of a mind-fuck, but hey, where else can you start seeing double and confess at the same time?

All this day-drinking requires a serious amount of food, of course. Corned beef, cabbage and boiled potatoes, bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, and my favorite, Irish soda bread. Aside from a big greasy basket of fries, nothing sets me straight in the middle of a bender better than bread. Bread that is slightly sweet, flecked with raisins, and both crunchy and soft at the same time is just gravy. So do yourself (and your liver) a favor this Patty’s and whip yourself up a loaf before you pour yourself that first green beer.

Irish soda bread has a million incarnations, but this one is pretty fucking delicious– and seriously easy. I’ve seen children make this recipe, so unless you are completely void of pride, quit complaining that baking bread is too difficult and make this. Now. Of course, don’t tell anyone how easy it was — just let them bask in all your flour-laced glory. And demand that they buy you a drink for all your labors.

in Holiday / Recipe 1 comments

by gansie

Follow the Leader: It’s All in the Twirl

Last summer I snagged an invite to a Bon Appetit book signing party for their 770-page Fast Easy Fresh. While juggling Sweetgreen‘s froyo in one hand, a glass of wine in another, and this book in between my arm and my boob, I made my way over to Barbara Fairchild for a signature. We briefly chatted about my oven’s inability to keep heat and then I was off, lugging this book back to my apartment, wondering where to fit this thick, heavy dead tree.

And that was the last time I touched the book. Until Monday’s dinner. I pulled Bon App and Gourmet’s March 2009 mags, plus this monster.

I had one ingredient in mind: parsnips. Ever since my pizza laced with parsnips, I’ve been wanting to cook them myself. Fast Easy Fresh had one parsnip recipe. It was bullshit.

It told me to peel the parsnips, cut them, season with oil, salt and pepper and roast at 425 for 35 minutes. HOW IS THAT A RECIPE. That is crap. That is not interesting. That is not creative. It is not worthy of half a page. Bon App – I turn to you for inspiration. I could have found this on some generic Cooks.com site.

I roasted them anyway, cut in coins, with the addition of Herbs de Provence. But this was only part of my ad hoc meal. And actually the least important.

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

« Previous

March 2010

My Classy Cheating Confession: Gastronomic Glaze

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Makeover Edition

In The Mix: Coca Leaf Liqueur

God Damn I Need that Karma

What’s In Season: Cherimoya

Some Soda to Soak Up the Beer

Follow the Leader: It’s All in the Twirl