Gourmet tips news

I have yet to meet someone who claims to dislike a doughnut.  For some reason though, (probably the fact they are laden with oil), I just really don't eat them much.  I found a recipe similar to this in the last issue of Donna Hay, I find that magazine one of the best food publications.  Their styling is absolutely amazing and the recipes are usually easy to make and well written.  I had a little epiphany of sorts while making these, I'm almost embarrassed to tell. When I bake I mostly measure by weighing the ingredients.  I have been doing this for years, I can easily say that aside from my 12" chef knife that my scale is the one thing I cannot live without in the kitchen.  If you are familiar with using a scale, then you know that to tare is to re-set the scale to zero even when something is on it. For example, if I measure butter I'll set the mixer bowl on the scale, tare it and then add the butter to whatever weight it's supposed to be.  I then usu...

This Mango Shrimp kebab is a specialty dish from my good friend Mamatha.   Shrimp came out real delicate and flavorful with sweet mango marinade. I just love the way Mango, onion and jalape�o pepper taste together in the Mango Salsa dish, Tangy and spicy, just perfect for the grilled shrimp.   We had the kebabs with grilled vegetables; you can serve this with rice/ noodles. Ingredients: 1/2 lb big shrimp, peeled and de-veined Mango Shrimp Marinade: 2 shallots - finely chopped 1 mango (put the chopped pieces in blender to make it a juice) 3 tablespoons rum 1/2 cup olive oil � teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves 2 teaspoons cilantro leaves 1 teaspoon ground dried red chili peppers � teaspoon black pepper 1 jalapeno � finely chopped 1 lemon (squeeze the juice) Other Veggies to be grilled � green bell pepper, chopped into 1 in. piece � red bell pepper, chopped into 1 in. piece 2 tomatoes � 1 in. slices Mango Salsa : Ingredients 1 large firm mango, peeled, pitted, and diced 1/2 red onio...

It feels like the beginning of a new season.  This is not indicated by the weather (it's still hot as well, hell), but instead by how busy I've been at work.  Business slows a little over the summer around here, July would have been the opportune time to satisfy my wonderlust- (noted!). About a week and a half ago, my books started filling up.  I went from doing a whole lot of piddling around to non-stop cooking in a matter of days.  This was one of last weekends dishes, super easy to make and a standby. No measurements needed, use coarse sea salt and use it generously. Lemon Pepper Asparagus Fresh Asparagus, trimmed grated fresh lemon zest olive oil coarse ground black pepper sal de mer Preheat oven to 400 degrees Place asparagus on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and lemon zest.  Roast approximately 20 minutes or until barely tender. 

I have this bad little habit... it's called chocolate. I require it. Every day, around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, then after dinner and on occasion, in the middle of the night. I don't need a lot of it, but it does have to be good quality and as of late of the darker variety.  I am actually eating chocolate now as I type, I've had a long day and chocolate has this remarkable ability to make it all better. In addition, I read somewhere that certain polyphenols in cocoa and chocolate are thought to have an anti-oxidant affect, just like the polyphenols in red wine.  This of course makes me feel better about eating it, not that I was really needing an excuse.  When I don't have truffles lying about I've been eating these great little 100 calorie bars for Bissingers chocolates, they are wonderful. However,  I seldom eat just one little bar so I just as soon indulge in what I really want and eat a truffle.   In my effort to have more chocolate lying about, I'...

I hope every one is enjoying the hot summer. This smoothie is the perfect delight to cool off the heat.The kiwi fruit with its sweet and sour tastes gives an unusual tantalizing and rejuvenating touch to the smoothie.  The smoothie is delightful blend of tangy and sour flavors that are sweetened by honey and sugars in kiwi and pineapple.  Ingredients: 2 lemons 16 oz of pineapple chunks 5 kiwis 2-3 tablespoons of honey 1 cup of ice Directions : 1.Put all ingredients in a blender and blend till the mixture is uniform.  2. Blend for no more than 3 minutes.  3.You can add rum to give an extra smoothness to the flavor.

I don't know about you, but I would rather eat several little meals than one or two big meals a day. This roast tomato tartine is one of my favorites- a couple of these with a glass of red wine is a perfect dinner for me. I use a cast iron skillet to roast the tomatoes with garlic, rosemary and olives. I like the olives to get a little crunchy and the tomatoes to char a bit. All the flavors come together and the olive oil left in the pot with the little bits of black pepper and salt is amazing to dip bread in. I have made this as an appetizer which in reality is what it is, but when cooking for myself this is my entree. The recipe as I have written it yields about 8 tartines, whatever I have leftover is always delicious the next day as well. If you want to make more, it doubles easily- just be sure to use a large enough pan so that everything touches the bottom of the skillet. I use French Goat Feta which I purchase at Whole Foods, any mild goat cheese will work very well. The oliv...

I have a new obsession: Swiss Meringue buttercream!  I am so utterly pleased with it and don't know why it has taken me this long to discover it.  Swiss meringue is nothing new, just a new discovery to me. So much easier and faster to make than Italian Meringue buttercream, which is what I have been using for all my wedding cakes.  Most of all I think you will find it is very user friendly, even if you don't really know what you're doing. The differences between the Swiss buttercream and the Italian version are mostly in the cooking method.  The Italian version requires you boil sugar and water to 238 degrees, soft ball stage.  While this is not really a problem, it does take considerably longer to make.  I found the Italian version is fluffier at the start and has about 20% more butter in it, but in the end I can't imagine the difference being monumental.  The Swiss version has a larger egg white to butter ratio and delightfully comes together in 10 m...