Food Destinations #5 Roundup

Thanks to everyone who participated in Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name. If you are unfamiliar with this event, it was started by Maki at Maki at I Was Really Just Very Hungry. It’s a kind of a guide-in-the-making of food and eating destinations around your home town. It allows traveling food minded people to get recommendations and first hand advice from other food minded people. (I know eating is always the first thing on my mind whenever I travel anywhere.) We can share pictures and experiences from different places all over the world. Pretty cool, huh? Read more about it here.

And now here is the roundup!

Tanna writes about White Rock Coffee in Dallas, Texas.







Maki tells us of Müller’s Buurelädeli, a farm store in Switzerland.







Deena of Sydney, Australia suggests we try cheesecake and coffee at the Fair Trade Coffee Company.







In Rochester, New York, Smita reccomends the Boulder Coffee Company.










Carolyn, all the way from Harare, Zimbabwe, tells us about a dairy with plenty of fresh milk and cheese.







The Alternative Baker is a regular stop for Robin in Kingston, New York.








Chris has two places and two entries for us!
First, Village Sushi and Gourmet in Smyrna, Georgia. And second, Muss and Turner's.







And last but not least, Dirk in Stuttgart, Germany writes about a little italian restaurant, Viavai.








Better late than never, Stuart tells us of his regular dining out spot, Fire.








I think I need to start travelling! Thanks again for the wonderful entries and suggestions. I can't wait for the next round of Food Destinations!

Don't Forget

If you want to participate in Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, entries are due tomorrow! Please send them in and the roundup will go up sometime this week.

And if you're running behind, chocolate is always a good let me in late gift ;)

My Friend Ina's Chocolate Orange Mousse

If I got to chose one celebrity chef to be friends with, I'd have to chose Ina Garten. If you've ever watched her show, the Barefoot Contessa, I'm sure you know why. On every episode Ina cooks up an amazing meal for her husband Jeffrey or some of their friends. Then they feast on it in her amazing garden (which is filled with flowers and home-grown vegetables and herbs), her beautiful house (on a gorgeously set table), or down at the beach (which is very close by). Who wouldn't want to be Ina's friend?

Unfortunately, Ina will (most likely) never be more than a TV friend to me. I'll have to be satisfied watching the eye candy on her show and making her recipes myself. *Sigh.*


Chocolate Orange Mousse
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Ingredients:
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces good bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 extra-large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
Whipped Cream, recipe follows, for decoration
Mandarin oranges, drained, for decoration

1. Combine the 2 chocolates, orange liqueur, 1/4 cup water, and the vanilla in a heat-proof bowl. Set it over a pan of simmering water just until the chocolate melts.
2. Whisk in the orange zest and butter until combined.
3. Place the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 4 minutes, or until very thick and pale yellow.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the chocolate mixture. Transfer to a large bowl.
5. Place 1 cup of egg whites (save or discard the rest), the salt, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until firm but not dry.
6. Whisk 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture; then fold the rest in carefully with a rubber spatula.
7. Without cleaning the bowl or whisk, whip the heavy cream and the remaining tablespoon of sugar until firm. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.
8. Pour the mousse into individual dishes or an 8-cup serving bowl. Chill and decorate with whipped cream and oranges. Serve with extra whipped cream on the side.

Whipped Cream:
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and liqueur and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. Don't overbeat, or you'll end up with butter!

Food Destinations #5

I have something to announce:

{Cue the theme music to Cheers}

Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name


Yes, I’m hosting the next round of Food Destinations, the child of Maki at I Was Really Just Very Hungry. Just in case you’ve never heard about this event before, it’s a kind of a guide-in-the-making of food and eating destinations around your home town. It allows traveling food minded people to get recommendations and first hand advice from other food minded people. (I know eating is always the first thing on my mind whenever I travel anywhere.) We can share pictures and experiences from different places all over the world. Pretty cool, huh? Read more about it here.

For my round of Food Destinations, I want everyone to write about the restaurant, bakery, market, etc. you return to all the time. That place you visit so often that everyone there knows your name and maybe more about you than your own family. And you cannot bear to even think about closing.

Have somewhere in mind yet? Don’t worry if the staff don’t actually know all about your personal life, or even your name. (Just start visiting more often so that they do know all about you by the end of the event. Ok, I guess that’s not necessary.) The next time you stop by, bring your camera and your mental notebook. Then share your photos and thoughts by posting about it on your blog. I’m giving you one month, which should be plenty of time considering you’re there so often anyway. That means posting and emailing me the link by March 18th, so mark your calendars!

How to Participate:
1. Visit that one place you've been to so often that everyone there knows you, photograph it, and write about it on your blog.
2. Link back to this page.
3. Send an email to fromourkitchen@yahoo.com with your name, the name of your blog, and a link to your post.
Please send me the email by March 18th!

Anti-Valentine Brownies

There are two types of people in this world – those that like Valentines Day, and those that hate it. I belong to the latter category. It’s not that it serves as a reminder to the single people that they are very much alone while the rest of the world flaunts their happy relationships right in the singles faces. The real problem with Valentines Day is that it is a completely commercial affair. The whole thing is a marketing scheme to get people to buy flowers, chocolates, and lingerie. “This Valentine’s Day, show the ones you care about how much you love them,” really means “Buy, buy, buy! Spend, spend, spend!” Unfortunately, everyone seems to think this is a fabulous idea.

I must admit, I am promoting Valentines Day a bit, but not by my choice. We’ve been making heart-shaped cakes, cookies, and pastries and filling heart boxes with chocolate at work for the past few weeks. Every cake and pastry is decorated with little red hearts. It’s enough to make any Valentine-hater sick.

Despite all these negative feelings, I couldn’t help but want something rich and chocolaty, even if chocolate is the official food of Valentines Day. I turned to my hero, Alton Brown, and his fabulous recipe for brownies. It was incredibly quick, easy, and (of course) delicious. In about one hour I had the perfect chocolate treat to celebrate my dislike for this so-called "holiday."

Cocoa Brownies
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown (I followed it exactly)

Ingredients:
Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow.
3. Add both sugars and beat well.
4. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
5. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

Happy Anti-Valentines Day!

Another Notch in My Dessert Belt

There are a lot of desserts out there. I've made, and eaten, quite a few of them, but I love trying out new ones. It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I just can't get from making that same old apple pie for the 100th time. It's not that there's anything wrong with that apple pie, but it's important to add another dish to your resume. And variety is the spice of life, isn't it?

With that in mind, I set out to make a clafouti. I've seen pictures, read stories and recipes about them, but I'd never tried one before. So I decided it was to time to scratch another dessert off of my mental "to-make" list. I'm glad I gave the clafouti a try as it is quite delicious. If a souffle and a dutch pancake got together and had a child, this would be it. The texture is very light and airy and it poofs up in the oven then collapses right after it comes out – just like a souffle. It's baked in a cast iron skillet and gets nicely browned and crispy around the edges – just like a dutch pancake. Apples, cinnamon, and vanilla take the basic, eggy flavor to the next level.

This recipe comes from Michael Chiarello. He instructs that the apples be cooked in browned butter first so they'll be very tender and soft when bitten into. Plus, you just pour the batter on top and pop the skillet in the oven for about 15 minutes and voila! You've made a beautiful, delicious dessert and succesfully made a new dessert.


Apple Clafouti
Recipe courtesy of Michael Chiarello
Ingredients:
Batter:
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup whole milk

Apples:
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apple (about 1 large apple)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Make the batter: Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt into a bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and milk until well blended.
4. Add about 1/3 of the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth, then gradually incorporate the remaining egg mixture. Whisk until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
5. Cook the apples: Place the butter in a 10" cast iron skillet and cook over moderately high heat until the butter turns nut brown.
6. Add a pinch of salt.
7. Add the apples and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.
8. Sprinkle the apples with the sugar, reduce the heat to moderately low, and cook until the apples are almost cooked through and the sugar has melted and is coating the apples in a light syrup.
9. Add the vanilla extract.
10. Spread the fruit evenly in the skillet.
11. Working quickly, pour batter evenly over the fruit. Bake until the edges of the clafouti are puffed and browned and the center is set, about 15 minutes.
12. Serve warm directly from the pan. (Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you like. I find that it makes it too sweet and takes away from the flavor of the clafouti.)

What do you think?

To all my readers, fellow bloggers, and foodies, I need your opinion. I want to know what you think of Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen. Do you think their recipes are too time-consuming? Do they go into too much detail? Is all that detail and extra steps worth it? Is the end result really perfect? And what about those pictures? Would real color photos be better, or do you like the black and white illustrations?

Personally, I like it. Cooks Illustrated is the one magazine I read from cover to cover. I love everything in it, from the tip from Joe from Alabama advising me to freeze butter wrapers and then use them whenever I need to grease a pan to the gruelling test determining which type of measuring cups is the best on the market. I read the recipes and accompanying stories like they are the latest Harry Potter book. It's almost suspenseful. How will the cook find the ideal oven temperature? Is a half of a stick of butter enough or too much? It's really quite interesting to see how the recipe was fine-tuned to perfection. I can't help but think it would be fun to work at the Test Kitchen testing and tasting recipes again and again until you're convinced they cannot be improved upon. As for the pictures, I think they're beautiful. I'd love to hang the back covers (which feature drawings of different varities of onions or spices or berries) all around my house.

Because I love Cooks Illustrated so much, I think I set my expectations a little too high. After I finish reading an article, I'm excited and anxious to test out the recipe. "All that work, all those tests! This recipe must make the best (fill in the blank) ever!" I think. But sometimes. once all the measurements are strictly adhered too, all the steps are meticulously followed, and every suggestion taken, the result isn't nearly as wonderful as I was expecting.

Then I start to wonder, "Gee, if I had skipped that extra step where I had to roast those tomatoes for several hours... or if I'd added an extra teaspoon of salt... would this really have tasted sub-par? Would I be cursing myself for being lazy and careless and not doing exactly what the Cooks Illustrated geniuses told me to do?"


This was exactly the case when I made scones from my Baking Illustrated cookbook. I did everything the recipe said, but they just didn't rise nice and tall like they should have. They were more like pancake scones. THe texture and flavor was wonderful. If they had risen properly, these scones would have been the best ever. So what is to blame? Did I do something wrong and didn't realize it? I don't think so. Maybe it was the oven claiming to be a different temperatue than it really was. Living in Colorado, I could easily blame the high altitude. Or perhaps I should blame the folks over at the test kitchen, but surely they wouldn't allow a thing like that to happen, right?

Right?