New Year - New Foods!

2015 is here and it's a great time to start trying new foods.  The other night I went to my friend's birthday party and her mother prepared Indian food for us while we watched  The Hundred Foot Journey. We had Chicken tikki masala, rice, raita (yogurt sauce) and saag paneer (spinach with cheese).  I hadn't had Indian food in a long time and the dishes were flavorful and a nice change of pace to start off the new year.  (Thanks Mrs. P!)


photo credit: Bon Appetit  April,2013

The Indian-themed party has made me want to spend more time cooking with my friends in 2015.  I think I'll invite the girls over next month and have French crepes while we watch Les Miserables or maybe we'll go Greek and sing along to Mama Mia.

What new foods will you try this year?



Chicken Tikki Masala - Bon Appetit
Raita - Epicurious
Saag Paneer - Food Network

Kale Soup - A Real Winner!

Fresh Tuscan kale, spicy, local chourico and delicious, chopped red potatoes floating in steaming chicken broth with a dash of red pepper flakes.  This is my take on a kale soup recipe from a local chef, Emeril Lagasse of Fall River, MA.   My friends and I have entered this recipe in a kale soup charity cook-off two years in a row and it's always a winner!   Be sure to try it out and let me know what you think. 

Emeril's Kale Soup Recipe

Interview: Chef Scott Conant inspires kids in the kitchen

Scott Conant is the chef and owner of Scarpetta Restaurants, host of Food Network's 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, a Chopped judge and a dad to two little girls.  Chef Conant took time out of his busy schedule to speak with me on the phone.  He shared stories of his childhood,what inspired him to be a chef, and gave advice to kids that like to cook - including how to make the perfect plate of spaghetti. 



Julia the Child: I read that you took you first cooking class when you were 11.  Can you tell me about that?

Scott Conant: I grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut and took my first cooking class at a local community center.  I learned how to make pie dough and made my first apple pie.  It's important to know how to make a good pie dough.

JTC: You said you knew you wanted to be a chef when you were 15.  How did you know it was what you wanted to do. 

SC: My first job in a professional kitchen was as a dishwasher.  It reminded me of playing on my baseball team and being with my teammates.   I liked the camaraderie and teamwork of being in the kitchen.   It was the mid-80's and I had no idea what to expect but I knew it was right for me.

JTC: Do you have any advice for children that want to cook?

SC: Taste lots of things, experience new foods.  If you are really interested in cooking, dedicate yourself to it.  When I was in high school, I would carry Escoffier's cookbook with me in my backpack and it became part of my life.  Being inspired by food is a good thing even if you don't make it your career.  My 3 year old daughter loves to cook with me in the kitchen. It's a family experience for us. 

JTC: I read that your wife's family is from Turkey.  That must have brought a lot of new recipes to your home kitchen.  Which dish from Turkey does your daughter love the most?

SC: Breakfast in Turkey is great.  They lay out big tables with plates of olives, yogurt, cucumbers, bread covered in sesame seeds and sometimes boiled eggs.  My daughter likes to eat 2-3 of the baby cucumbers, yogurt and the sesame bread for breakfast. 

JTC: On Chopped, the contestants are sometimes afraid to cook pasta for you.  What can people do to cook pasta perfectly at home?

SC: Spaghetti is actually the best selling dish at Scarpetta.  We cook a lot of pasta! The best way to do it is to boil the pasta until it is 90% cooked, then put it in a sauce pan.  The pasta releases the starch and absorbs the flavor of the sauce while it cooks.  Adding olive oil or butter to the pasta in the pan gives it a nice finish. 

JTC: Which three foods do you suggest all kids try - even if they only try them once?

SC: 1)Try a vegetable - any vegetable.  Vegetables are important and you will find one you like.
       2) Innards like liver or tripe.  Life is more than filet mignon and short ribs. It's important to   appreciate the whole animal that gave its life for us.
       3) Fish is also important, definitely try caviar.

JTC: Kids and families can get in food ruts.  Do you have any tips to get kids to try new things?

SC:  Try adding new things to foods you already like.  Roll vegetables into chicken or add a protein to a dessert.

To learn more about Chef Conant check out the following links:
Scott Conant     24 Hour Restaurant Battle          Chopped

Interview: Carl Warner brings food to life

 

 

 

 

Carl Warner is an artist who doesn't use paint to create his masterpieces, he uses food! 

 

I came across Mr. Warner's work for the first time this Christmas when I got his new book ''A World of Food''.   The book was intriguing to me.  He used everything from vegetables to candy and meat to bread to create landscapes that he photographed for the book.   In this book, each scene was built around a color.   White chocolate castles, pink candy house, yellow Swiss cheese pyramids and a chocolate brown train are a few of the astonishing food scapes in this book.

To learn more about how Mr. Warner creates these scenes I checked out his website at www.carlwarner.com.  The website is really cool. It has a lot of samples of his work, pictures and videos - definitely check it out.  The website gives a lot of information about how the pictures are created.  He takes a series of pictures then overlays them into his final photo.  The food can be tricky to work with so he has to work in stages.

 

It also said he was interested in children's nutrition and healthy eating which made me wonder. So, I emailed Mr. Warner in England. He was really nice and said it would be OK to interview him for my blog. Thanks Mr. Warner!  Now I have a few new foods to try :)

 

Interview with Carl Warner

 

JTC:  A World of Food:  out of all the different foods you used, which top three do you suggest kids should try - even if they only try them once.

 

CW:  1) Curly Kale is an ingredient I work with a lot. If you ever have crispy seaweed in a chinese restaurant it's usually this. One of my sons hates vegetables and anything green but I chop the kale up finely and fry it off in some light olive oil with finely chopped onions or shallots and bacon or lardons that are cooked until crispy and golden. You can finish this off with a little lemon juice and cracked black pepper or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. He loves it!

2) Butternut squash / pumpkin. Cubed and roasted in the oven with garlic, cumin and olive oil, also great on the BBQ!

3) Red peppers, crisp sweet and juicy raw or roasted in the oven in olive oil. 

JTC: Were you a picky eater when you were a kid?

 

CW :A little bit, I had fads really but I also became bored with my mother's cooking because she cooked the same meal on each night of the week and she wasn't very adventurous or creative in the kitchen. This has a lot to do with confidence as well as enthusiasm, but also in the 1970's we didn't have the middle class food culture we have today with all the cook books, online recipes and TV shows we have today.

JTC: Which food have you found to be the most difficult to work with or which scene did you find particularly challenging to photograph?

 

CW: As far as ingredients go fresh herbs are the worst because they wilt so quickly especially coriander.

As far as scenes go it has to be the Fishscape as I didn't know if I could pull it off, and at one point in the shoot I was very doubtful as to whether it would work or not. Thankfully it did!

700 loaves for charity

Ready for the oven!  
    Photo: Julia the Child

          Seven hundred loaves of fresh baked bread made by 4th - 7th grade students were donated to PACE, Mercy Meals, Council on Aging, Salvation Army, and the Friendship Table. I was SO happy when I found out that 700 loaves were sent out because I knew that they were going to people who need them. And thank you Market Basket for the grocery bags, Mrs. Frangos for making this happen, and King Arthur Flour for coming to our schools

 Check out this link for more info on the program

King Arthur Flour Goes to School

Christmas Surprise Cookies

Surprise Cookies
Photo: Julia the Child

Christmas is a time of family traditions. One of my family traditions is making Nana's surprise cookies and my Great-grandmother Rose's sugar cookies with my cousins. Both recipes were passed down to my grandmothers from their mothers. Today my cousins came over and we made the surprise cookies. We call them surprise cookies because you hide a treat inside the dough and you never know what you may find when you take a bite. We use gumdrops, maraschino cherries, Hershey kisses and almonds. They are really easy and fun to make. You roll the dough between your hands, make a thumb hole for the treat, then wrap the dough around the surprise. After they're baked we decorate them and leave some for Santa. I wonder which ones are his favorite?

SURPRISE COOKIES

from the kitchen of Eloisa Gomez

(adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

1/2 cup soft butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup King Arthur flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2 Tablespoon milk (if dough is dry)
food coloring

In a bowl, cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy
Add vanilla, beating until well mixed
Stir in sifted flour and salt
Divide and add food coloring as desired
Take small pieces of dough and put a cherry, kiss, nut, gumdrop, date or dried apricot in the center.
Roll between the palm of your hands into ball - covering treat completely.
(I like to roll the ball first and use my thumb to make a well to put the treat in - then cover it completely.)

Place on cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for for 15 mins.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until firm about 12-15 mins.
Remove rack from the oven and cool.
Dip tops of the cookies in different colored royal icing.
Sprinkle with colored sugars, sprinkles, etc...

ENJOY!

King Arthur Flour Goes to School

Demonstration Time!
Photo used with permission from King Arthur Flour

Wheat Loaf
Photo used with permission
from King Arthur Flour

I am so excited!  King Arthur Flour is coming to my district in January.  They are coming to show kids how to make a loaf of bread and demonstrate the math and science behind baking.  King Arthur will show us how to measure the ingredients and explain how yeast works.  Every student from grades 4-7 in our district will get a kit that will make two loaves of bread.  One loaf for their family and one to give away to charity.  Our school will collect the bread and it will be given to local food pantries and soup kitchens. 

This all started last summer when I stopped in to visit the King Arthur Flour store in Norwich, Vermont.  I became inspired to cook and learn more about King Arthur Flour.  Once I got home, I started following them on Facebook and their website.  That's when I saw that they have a school program called Life Skills Bread Baking and it's free!  I thought it would be nice for King Arthur Flour to come to our school so I contacted my principal, Mrs. Rivet and the Asst. Supt. Mrs. Frangos for their approval and their help.  And now they're coming!! 

I am really pumped that King Arthur Flour is on their way.  We will learn math and science while helping others - I think that is really cool!


You can learn more about the program at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/life-skills-baking.html