When the leaves on the trees in New England start to fall, my cravings for cocktails change a bit. I tend to lean towards drinks that will warm me up next to the fire. The aromatics of cinnamon and clove just seem to pair so well with the scents that come from the fireplace. To me, a Hot Buttered Rum cocktail is the essence of New England in Winter.
This is an easy drink to prepare. You build it in a coffee mug. There isn't any stirring or shaking or muddling. You don't have to be an expert mixologist to make a perfect Hot Buttered Rum. You just need a dark, aged rum. Here, I use my favorite, Ron Zacapa 23 year old. You can certainly use other brands, as Ron Zacapa can reach premium prices. Some less expensive options that work well in this drink would include El Dorado 12 year or 15 year, Angostura 5 year or 7 year, Diplomatico Anejo Rum or Blackwell Jamaican Rum.
This year, Thanksgiving is coming late, Hanukkah is arriving early and the Christmas holiday almost seems shortened before it has even begun. Have no fear, though, your holiday shopping will not bear the brunt of this crazy calendar...not with some of our suggestions. From unique food products, photographs, jewels and books, there is just about something for all the folks on what seems to be your never-ending list. How could so many people have been so good this year? Buy them some of these goodies and they’ll know...oh, they’ll know....
You don't have to be Jewish to love latkes. And it doesn't have to be Hanukkah to set aside your fear of frying and indulge in a steaming stack of crisp and creamy sautéed potato patties slathered in sour cream, applesauce (or even served a la mode). Indeed, the cold weather holidays offer the ideal excuse to serve warm, welcoming, and festive Latkes.
Fairway Market has brought us a recipe for latkes that is perfect for holiday cooking, secular or sacred, starting with Thanksgiving. Not only are these yummy pancakes a seasonal treat, but they work wonderfully as a do-ahead. After frying, keep the latkes warm in a low oven for up to two hours. You can also make a day ahead, refrigerate and then re-heat on a cookie sheet for five minutes in a medium oven.
Why are these latkes different than all others? Rebecca Martin of Fairway, who created the recipe, says there is no secret, but the following steps make the prep virtually foolproof.
Thanksgiving is the most anticipated and sometimes the most daunting meal of the year. But, in the end, it is all about food, friends and family. Depending on the number of guests in your party, there are several options for celebrating the holiday that don't involve slaving away in the kitchen for days. Here are a few resources for those who would prefer to get a little assistance. (Readers: If you know of other Thanksgiving catering resources, please add them.)
Rosiein New Canaancan handle all your Thanksgiving needs. A full menu of classic sides such as Rosie’s homemade herb gravy, haricots verts with shitakes, & celery root apple fennel soup. Call (203) 966-8998.
Le Farm/ The Whelk will be closed on Thanksgiving, but will be offering LeFarm's Whipped Chicken Livers with bacon marmalade and/or The Whelk's Smoked Trout Dip to serve your family and friends for the holidays! Call to order: (203) 557-3701
Sugar & Olives: Everything but the turkey...but everything is REALLY tasty. Fig and Apple Stuffing Muffins, Pecan and Bourbon Turkey Glaze, Brussels Sprouts w/ Pomegranate Molasses + Duck Bacon. Call for more information: (203) 454-3663
The "cocktail" found its place in literary history in 1806 in the May 6 issue of The Balance and Columbia Repository being defined to a confused reader by the editor as "Cock-tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. It is vulgarly called a bittered sling...". Over the next thirty years or so, this definition became the "Old Fashioned" cocktail and was more of a way to make a drink than just a name for one. Taken by definition, if you use just those ingredients, you can make a Gin Old Fashioned, a Tequila Old Fashioned and so on. There was never any fruit or club soda involved in the original definition. That version seemed to pop up somewhere after Prohibition. Being the "back to basics" kind of guy I am, I don't use fruit or club soda in my Old Fashioned either.
At this time of year the internet is teeming with turkey recipes- brined birds, fried birds, bacon wrapped birds. November also signals an equally important time, football season! We wanted to share our favorite game day, “hangin’ with friends” snack foods. You know the “what you eat on the couch all day long, watching the game in your sweatpants” meal.
The trick to a successful game day with friends is to use make-ahead recipes, so all you have to do is invite your friends, grab the remote, and a seat on the couch.
We’ve taken the classics and added our Marcia Selden Catering touch. Keep it simple, use paper plates, have lots of napkins on hand, and use fun serving pieces. This will keep the feel casual, and most importantly, make clean up a breeze. Enjoy 3 great recipes: Mexican 7 Layer Dip, "Da Bomb" Chili Potato Skins, Michael's Maple Chicken Wings & Sausage Bread. Oh yeah!!
Did you know that October 25 was actually Champagne Day? So we don’t get the day off and the postal service still delivers, but it is, in fact, a holiday celebrated worldwide.
In honor of the occasion, Ruth Frantz of Henri’s Reserve hosted a champagne tasting at Southport Galleries in Southport, CT. She invited an assortment of clients, friends, foodies, wine enthusiasts, writers, and bloggers to try some of the beautiful champagnes she carries.
Henri’s Reserve is an interesting concept. While many of us are used to going to stores to pick up a bottle of wine, all of Ruth’s sales are done online. She represents small, family owned champagnes. Many of her offerings are relatively unknown; she advocates them because she believes in them.
Interestingly enough, Frantzgot her start dealing with larger champagne houses. One of her first restaurant jobs was with Eleven Madison Park.
How cool is it to walk up to a 1952 Chevy Pick-Up truck and order a perfectly prepared Napoletana pizza, with great ingredients imported from Italy, prepared by a classical trained Italian chef, and baked in under two minutes in a blazing hot, wood-fired oven. Pizza Luca, the brain child of Chef Dean Medico, creates pizza masterpieces that are steeped in the tradition of Italy, using only the best ingredients from Italy to create three distinctly southern Italian pizza delicacies, the Marinara, the Margherita, and the sauce-less Bianca.
The best life has to offer often happens around the dinner table. Mealtime moments shared with family and friends over good food and good drinks. However, making a meal that will impress your guests is a time consuming feat, one that takes you away from those life-well-lived moments at the table. That’s when Book-a-Cook steps in, relieving you of any stress and work involved in planning a family meal, dinner party or culinary event. There is so much culinary prowess in Fairfield County, and with Book-a-Cook you can book a chef’s table right in your own kitchen.
Book-a-Cook was founded by Westport native and Fairfield resident, Ashley Hart. Hart, an Institute of Culinary Education graduate and former New York City and Hamptons personal chef, wanted to provide intimate access to some of the great chefs in this area. Many cities offer similar services, but the suburban market had yet to be tapped. “We live in a very social community and it seemed like the perfect fit,” says Hart. With the help of business partner Amy Strife, Book-a-Cook launched in January. “Our goal is to take a restaurant experience into your home and make the experience as seamless as possible,” says Strife. “You are able to have a much more personal experience with the chef.”
I like making (and drinking) this cocktail. Maybe it's because that you can't tell how bitter the Sibila Amaro is. It adds just the right amount of complexity to cut through the sweetness of the preserves. The Domaine Canton adds an underlying ginger spice while the Plymouth Gin and Carpano Antica Vermouth tie everything together. I like to call this kind of cocktail a "think or drink" cocktail. You can either think about every sip, analyze it and pull the flavors apart or just sip it on your front porch on a beautiful Summer day while watching the grass grow.
The Chelsea in Fairfield boasts a vibrant pub scene and some pretty tasty fare. Chef Matt Storch who oversees the kitchen with Jeff Spence (also from Match Restaurant) says, "There's a lot of love in every dish." Given the season, we were feeling the love for this classic mashup: Gazpacho meets Classic Mozzarella & Tomatoes. Enjoy this dish while tomatoes are still in season, because unless you are canning those beauties, the harvest time for local vipe ripened tomatoes is coming to a close in September.
Enjoy a little bit of The Chelsea in your kitchen.
Late summer offers some of the best produce of the season! For those of you who garden, you may be finding yourself with a bumper crop of plump sweet tomatoes. Here’s our recipe for a delicious tomato tart. Don’t let the word tart intimidate you, it’s deceptively easy to make, and absolutely perfect for a picnic at the beach or at home with friends.
Though CTBites traditionally reviews the food created by gifted chefs in the Back of the House, we thought a story about the talent at the Front might be in order. So who better to feature than Tony Capasso, the celebrated maître d of Gabriele’s Italian Steakhouse in Greenwich and unquestionably the biggest personality on the Connecticut restaurant scene? Actually, Copasso may be more MC than Maitre ‘d.
"My mother tells me that when I was five, I was already meeting, greeting and introducing people to each other in my apartment house," he told us. "I've always been a people person. President of my high school. Captain of the football team, I like people, they like me, and that's what this job is all about."
The Awards Season is in full swing! The Golden Globes, Sundance Film Festival are already old news…the Grammy’s just scored record ratings and now the anticipation builds for the “motherlode” of all awards… The 85th Academy Awards for Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences (also known as the Oscar’s ) airing on Sunday 2/24 on ABC. And what better way to spend a winter evening than with Dinner and a Movie!
But, what if you don’t feel like braving the weather, the crowds or JUST can’t stand the smell of popcorn?How about staying in and watching a movie and ordering in or making dinner? Therefore, I offer you the CTbites, “CANNED FILM FESTIVAL" with tasty recomendations for food focused movies in 4 categories: Food Flick Classics, Watch With Your Kids, Food Education, and Flicks For Wine Lovers.
As is always the case, one holiday ends and another is launched into our consciousness almost instantly. Those crumbs from the pumpkin pies are just being swept away, but The Holiday Season is officially here and Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa shopping has begun. What to get? Where to get it? It’s the annual quest. We’d like to make things a wee bit easier for you, as we’ve found some great items for the food lovers on your list. Buy one, buy several! Either way, you will seen as one of those “good gift givers”!
Chef Bernard Bouissou of Bernard's in Ridgefield is somewhat of a Fairfield County legend amongst both chefs and diners alike. Talented chefs including Arik Bensimon and Bill Taibe have gained valuable skills in his contemporary French kitchen, and when it comes to entertaining, no one has a larger repertoire of beautiful holiday recipes.
Recently, Chef Bouissou stepped into CTbites' test kitchen to demonstrate his recipe for Baby Pumpkins filled with Pumpkin Mousseline, Sautéed Shrimp & Wild Mushrooms. These are stunning on a Thanksgiving table and simple to make. Watch the video for great tips while you try out this recipe at home (Recipe Below).
You won't believe what's in our PANTRY! Located at 1580 Post Road in Fairfield, Ct, The Pantry is much more than a food shop - it is Mecca for foodies as well as a one-stop-shop for busy consumers. Established in 2003 through the collaborative effort of chefs & food lovers, The Pantry has blossomed into a bustling marketplace stocked with an array of products and services for today's savvy clientele. What have they got? Top quality butchered meats & seafood (delivered daily from various New York markets), award winning desserts and pastries (the bakery has received "Best Desserts in Fairfield County" from Fairfield Weekly for 9 consecutive years), restaurant quality prepared foods & catering services, a full deli and salad bar, groceries, produce and floral & customized gift baskets. Whether you are looking for a freshly tossed salad, pan seared salmon with citrus, basil & olive oil or a chocolate chip cookie - The Pantry is the place to shop. This Pantry is stocked!!
Years ago, around the time The Brady Bunch was infiltrating almost every T.V. set in America, it was unlikely that your mom would have picked up dinner in lieu of cooking a homemade meal. While it’s true that familiar words in your household at the time may have included Wendy’s, Burger King and Arby’s, you weren’t pulling up to the drive-in window to order healthy, gourmet food. At home it may have been a casserole or a roast while mom always remained neatly coifed, and eating meals at the table as a family were normal.
Fast - forward 40 years and life is a lot different. In our fast paced world today we often find ourselves in a pinch, pressed for enough time to prepare a well-balanced meal for our disappearing family dinners due to time constraints. Enter Cinch, Fairfield’s newest “Gourmet Food Market.” A market where you shop for high quality meals that you just heat and serve in your own home. “Eat your heart out Carol Brady, let me tell you a little bit about the life of a 21st century family on the go.”
It's that time of year again! Head on over to a Holiday Open House here at the Schoolhouse at Cannondale Restaurant. Get inspiration for your upcoming holiday and dinner parties with a few signature ideas of Chef LaBant's. The Schoolhouse will be featuring several workshop stations starring some of their favorite Hor D'oeuvres, Desserts & Pies (also available for pre-order), a Prosecco and Italian Soda Bar, and a Floral Arrangements & Decorations workshop.
The Open House will go from 7 pm to 9 pm on Tuesday, November 20th. Take home an original recipe book by Schoolhouse's own, included in the cost. Tickets are $65.00 per person. To reserve tickets, please contact: openhouse2012@schoolhouseatcannondale.com with your name, number of reservations, and a telephone number should we need to contact youdirectly. We will confirm your tickets via email.
When eggs and bacon come together with pasta, it's all good. When Chef Matt Storch of Match Restaurant demos said dish, it's even better. This is exactly what went down during a recent video shoot, where Storch did a trial run for his entree selection at the CT Chefs' dinner at the James Beard House. Storch's carbonara has a seasonal twist that sets it apart from the classic dish. Instead of mixing the eggs into the pasta, he uses fresh peas and pea shoots to create a puree that serves as the sauce, while gently resting a poached egg atop before serving. This is a great entree to make at home. Watch and learn...
