Piquant

Happy Birthday to The French Laundry

There are restaurants that star in my recurring gastronomic fantasies. Among them is Thomas Keller's The French Laundry.

This month marks the 15th anniversary of Chef Keller's Napa Valley culinary vision and the 10th anniversary of  The French Laundry Cookbook, a compendium that tells the stories behind the menus created at his Yountville restaurant.

The wit and the whimsy behind these beautifully focused small plates bring food enthusiasts out for tasting menus which never replicate a food or flavor at a cost of $240 per person.

Beginning with a signature amuse-bouche of Salmon Tartare Cornets with Sweet Red Onion Creme Fraiche and ending with mignardises, the menu is famous for its Oysters and Pearls, Sabayon of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar - among others. There are websites dedicated to cooking their way through this gorgeously photographed tome.

Each night's variation just a bit different from the last, Chef de cuisine Corey Lee collaborates with staff and purveyors to produce nightly menus from what is fresh, local and seasonal. The result is magical. 

The one word that is a recurring theme in Keller's restaurants: finesse. And if rumors are true, NYers will be treated to a new Keller restaurant this fall.

Edible evenings at BK Botanic Gardens

Join FOOD NETWORK stars Anne Burrell, host of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and Sunny Anderson, host of  Cooking for Real while they demonstrate healthy cooking recipes for great local, sustainable meals you can make at home.

Learn more about local, sustainable food choices Thursday, July 23, from 6-9 pm Grilling in the Gardens. 

Discover how to grow your own edibles, sample food, wine and beer and pick up a trick or two from your favorite chefs.

NYC restaurant week runs through July 31st

Now is the time to eat at the city's best restaurants for premium prix fixe prices - $24.07 for lunch & brunch and $35 for dinner. 

From Nobu to Bar Artisanal, expect to find some great eats over the next few weeks.

Check out some menus in advance and book online at OpenTable.com

Heart Healthy Goodness to Go: Dr. Lankin's Awesome Almonds

CONTRIBUTING WRITER   Maura Alia Badji

My friend Velma, a school nurse, always packs healthy snacks for work, family, and social outings.  Carrot sticks and hummus, celery and low-fat cheese.  I admire that in a school nurse. 

When I remember to pack a snack, I tend to pack carrot sticks & dark chocolate,  pears & brie,  Pringles & yogurt.  It's all about balance, I say when she laughs at me. 

Lately, I've been trying to follow in her healthy footsteps and snack on more globally healthful foods.  In June we took our two sons to see the UniverSoul circus, where all the snacks for sale promised immediate cardiac events, which did not stop 90% of the audience from chowing down on funnel cakes bigger than their heads. 

Right in the middle of a death-defying yet hilarious stunt, performed by what looked like the host of Sprockets and a young Mr T, Velma passed me a can of raw almonds. 

Raw.  Unsalted.  Almonds.  At the circus.  Festive as gluten-free cookies at Christmas. (My apologies to the celiac sufferers.)

Undaunted,  I reached in my bag and pulled out a plastic pouch of Awesome Almonds' Cocoa Espresso almonds.  Heart-healthy nuts, rich cocoa and a little kick of caffeine in one bite.  Who would have thought to put these three taste treats together yet still keep the calories down?  A doctor, as it turns out.     

Dr. Ken Lankin developed Awesome Almonds seven years ago as a healthy treat for his patients who were following low-carb, but sometimes unexciting diets. 

Artisanally crafted in small batches,  Awesome Almonds are heat-sealed right from the roasting kettle for maximum flavor and aroma.  At 170 calories per 1 ounce serving, this snack has no cholesterol, sodium, or transfat; Awesome Almonds are naturally preserved with Vitamin E. 

Also available in orange vanilla, and cinnamon vanilla, this certified Kosher and Vegan snack is portable, tasty, and yes Velma, healthy.   

Awesome Almonds can be purchased at www.awesomealmonds.com, as well as fine food and healthfood stores. 

Maura Alia Badji's writing can also be found at www.moxiebee.wordpress.com and many literary journals, such as The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and Switched-On-Gutenberg.

The CIA instructs: Zucchini Pancakes with Tzatziki Sauce

Looking for different ways to utilize all those wonderful garden cucumbers and zucchinis this summer?

The chefs at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) have a delicious suggestion: crispy zucchini pancakes with a yogurt and cucumber sauce that the Greeks refer to as tzatziki sauce. Throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, tzatziki is considered both as a salad as well as a sauce.

Black Soul, Jeweled Heart : Soul of The Sea Kilauea Black Solar Sea Salt from Hawaii Kai

CONTRIBUTING WRITER   Maura Alia Badji

Black Soul, Jeweled Heart         

 

I admit I had never tried black sea salt before encountering the pearl-like grains of Soul of The Sea’s Kilauea Black glistening in its 12-ounce jar.    One of the few black sea salts available, Soul of the The Sea's hand-crafted version of this exotic seasoning is made with mineral rich hand-harvested Molokai sea salt and activated charcoal—a proven anti-toxin/digestive aid.   

 

Soul of The Sea has also received the prestigious Star Diamond Award for Outstanding Quality from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, the only gourmet salt ever to do so.

 

Intrigued by the ebony salt’s dramatic luster and rich aroma, I noted that Kilauea Black has been prized by international chefs as a finishing salt to enhance vegetables, meats, fish, and poultry, and as a complement to the most sophisticated recipes.   

 

It seemed fitting that such a jewel-like seasoning was routinely used as a finishing touch— a flourish to complete a culinary picture. 

 

Yet, the rich aroma of the solar salt hinted that it could readily be combined with other seasonings and spices in the body of recipes, both simple and complex.   I found that in both cases a little bit of Kilauea Black goes a long way to enhance flavors.   On grilled salmon and vegetables, a finishing sprinkle added just the needed salty top note to the slight sweetness of fish, Vidalia onions, and match-sticked zucchini.  

 

While perusing Hawaii Kai’s website,  I found an Asian-inspired eggplant and ground pork dish, which proved that these black crystals can meld beautifully with other elements, yet still impart a distinctive, complex flavor.   I played with the recipe, included below; it can easily be further tweaked to suit different palates, for instance tofu can be substituted for the pork, and other Asian vegetables may be added. 

Spicy Eggplant and Ground Pork with Black Sea Salt

Ingredients

1 tbsp. canola/olive oil blend
.5 lb. (one-half) ground pork
1 lb. diced eggplant (Chinese eggplant works best)
1 tbsp. tamari sauce
1 tsp. Black Sea Salt plus .5 tsp for finishing garnish
2 tsp. black bean paste with chili
1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

1 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp raw sugar
.5 cup (one-half) vegetable broth
2 tbsp. sesame oil
.25 cup (one-quarter) chopped green onion for garnish

Method

Heat large wok and add 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Add eggplant and all remaining ingredients except sesame seed oil & garnishes
Cover wok, bring to a boil and simmer until eggplant is tender
Add sesame seed oil and toss to combine
Garnish with green onions and  finish with sprinkle .5 tsp of black sea salt

Serve over rice or soba noodles.

Yields two servings

 

Hawaii Kai’s Soul of The Sea salts and other products are available online at www.hawaiikaico.com and at many gourmet food stores.   These distinctive salts are available in a rainbow of other flavors, including Haleakala Red (with purified and refined Red Alaea clay), Papohaku White (the basis for other Soul of the Sea varietals),

and Hanalei Green (with certified bamboo-leaf extract). 

 

 

Maura Alia Badji is a writer, poet, teacher and mother who lives and works in the Seven Cities of South-Eastern Virginia.

.

$59 for One-Month Unlimited Pass to Bikram Yoga

Whether you're a yoga vet or just yoga-curious, today's Groupon is for you. For just $59, you get a one-month unlimited pass to Bikram Yoga Studios. With four locations throughout Manhattan and more than 250 classes offered each week, Bikram's convenience and variety make it easy to fit yoga into your busy schedule.

So what exactly is Bikram yoga? It's a series of 26 Hatha yoga postures and two Pranayama breathing exercises designed to challenge and rejuvenate you no matter what your fitness level. This 90-minute class is conducted in a heated room to let you detoxify through perspiration. During that hour and a half, you'll strengthen your body inside and out by working every muscle, tendon, ligament, joint, and organ. Imagine how good activating those muscles and joints will feel after years of neglect.

As always, read the fione print.

I love the butcher at Brighton Bazaar

Not only is he an expert with the cleaver, he could give lessons in customer service (Ladies, in cured meat and cheeses, please take note.)

He's never too busy to explain his product and what product it is -- dark marbled lamb chops, pale skinless D'Artagnan rabbits ($5.99 a pound), plump-breasted chicken. 

Beautiful glistening mounds of meat greet the carnivores at his ultra-clean counter in a gorgeous display of excess. 

No order is too small (like yesterday's pound of ground beef mixed with pork when what I really wanted was a lovely rabbit).  He is too kind to make any disdainful observation about your market basket and gently dashes your hopes of rabbit with the average price of $30 for a mature roaster. 

I breezed in from the beach, body still tacky with sea salt and hair unkempt, to shop for a few comestibles to take home - pickled mushrooms, a sour cherry and clabbered cream parfait,
the Russian version of ravioli made with veal, latkes, Challah, blackly ripe sweet Bing cherries, smoked chicken.

I love shopping the aisles with the Russian women dressed like they just stepped from the pages of Vogue - even if I feel slightly frumpy by comparison.  Yesterday I negotiated the aisles beside a stunning brunette - with that perfect skin cultivated only in Eastern Europe it seems - in a floor-length, fitted white dress and spike heels that could put an eye out.

But my butcher treats me like one of the glamorous women, giving me a courtly bow and pretending to think I'm Russian by greeting me in his mother tongue then fluently switching to English to accommodate the foreigner in Little Odessa.  He is chivalrous when it is not necessary to be so, and since it is a quality I find sadly lacking in modern life, I lap it up like sweet cream.

And even when he knows (the way a good salesman knows the depth of his customer's pockets) that my choices are utilitarian rather than frivolous, he asks if there isn't something else he can get for me. He assumes there is a day when I will spend more.

Thank you, my beautiful butcher.

Context Florence goes behind scenes at major restorations

Ever wonder what goes on behind closed doors in Florence?

Context Florence is brushing away the shrouded mystery by teaming with Friends of Florence to give visitors a peek at several of the nonprofit's ongoing restoration projects, including the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery and the San’Antonio cloister at San Marco.

Context, the network of scholars who lead critically acclaimed walking tours in several major world cities, is partnering with esteemed non-profit organization Friends of Florence on this  unique collaboration, "Salvaging Art."

The walk will take place on July 8^th, 2009 at 9:30AM and is part of the biannual Out of Context series, which offers special lectures, site openings and events in our cities, providing unique and exclusive experiences far off the beaten track. This event marks the first collaboration between Context Florence and Friends of Florence, founded in 2002 by Simonetta Brandolini D’Adda, organizations both widely regarded for their dedication to mitigating the negative affects of mass tourism on Florence’s precious landmarks and artwork.

The walking seminar will first start at the Tribuna of the Uffizi, the octagonal display room that has held many of the masterpieces of the Medici ducal collection for over 400 years. The group will then move on the San’Antonio cloister, nestled in the placid San Marco complex, which boasts some imperiled Renaissance-era frescoes.

At both spaces, we will discuss not only the history behind the structures but the science and technique behind their current endangered states and their ongoing restoration.

Founded by National Geographic writer Paul Bennett and graphic designer Lani Bevacqua, Context is a network of English-speaking scholars and professionals – including art historians, writers, architects and gastronomes – who organize and lead didactic walking seminars in several world cities: Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples, Paris, London, New York and Istanbul.

 To learn more about Context, visit its website at: www.contexttravel.com