Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Recipes Allergen-friendly Chocolate Banana Mousse
Posted by Joyce Clark Hicks on Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:22 PM
Makes 4 to 6 servings
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 (10-ounce) box silken tofu
2 large, very ripe bananas, peeled and broken into chunks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Place the chocolate chips in a glass bowl and melt in the microwave set on low power just until the chips begin to lose their shape. Remove the bowl and stir until completely melted and smooth.
Place the tofu and half of the banana chunks in a blender and purée. Add the remaining banana along with the vanilla, brown sugar and salt and purée until completely smooth.
Scrape in the melted chocolate (it's OK if it's still warm). Purée once more until the chocolate is completely incorporated. Scrape the mousse into a glass or metal bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours, before serving.
Top each serving with some sliced banana and additional chocolate chips, if desired.
Recipe courtesy of Sheri Castle
Recipes Allergen-free Maple Pumpkin Pie Filling
Posted by Joyce Clark Hicks on Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:22 PM
1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 can (14 fl. oz.) full-fat Thai Kitchen® coconut milk
2 Tbs. tapioca flour
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup water
2 tsp. agar-agar powder (not bar or flake, see notes)
In a blender, blend the pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut milk, tapioca flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
Pour the water into a saucepan, sprinkle the surface with the agar-agar powder and whisk. Bring to a boil, then gently simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the simmering agar-agar. Return the mixture to a boil and gently simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour the hot pie filling into a prebaked pie shell (see recipe). Refrigerate until firm and set, 3 to 5 hours. Serve chilled or bring to room temperature. Either way, with the help of the agar-agar, the pie will remain firm.
Notes: Thai Kitchen® coconut milk may be found in the Asian section of most major grocery chains. Agar-agar is a plant-based gelatin derived from seaweed. Agar-agar powder may be found at Asian markets, many natural grocers and on Amazon. Be sure to buy agar-agar powder, not bars or flakes. Alternatively, in place of the pumpkin pie spice, you may use 2-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. ground cloves.
Recipe courtesy of Williams-Sonoma
Recipes Tofu Special Occasion Chocolate Pie
Posted by Joyce Clark Hicks on Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Makes two pies
1 package Marjon Soft Tofu
1/2 stick safe margarine/butter, melted
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups sugar
Mix all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into two graham cracker pie shells (I have also used a baked Pillsbury/allergy safe pie crust) and chill. Cover with safe whipped topping if desired.
Recipe courtesy of Theresa Nguyen
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Restaurants / Food Events Capital 16 Club celebrates Game Week, as in wild game, not Twister
Posted by Lisa Sorg on Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 3:13 PM
Tonight Capital 16 Club in Raleigh launches Game Week, when the menu features food you hunt in the woods or fields—as opposed to raising on farms—including wild boar, rabbit, venison and pheasant.
Game Week runs through Saturday, Nov. 12.
According to the eatery's newsletter, the menu "spans from rustic, earthy recipes to those inspired by meals served at the grand restaurants of the early 19th and 20th century, and in particular the historical NYC’s Luchow’s Venison Festival."
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Food Events On Cloud Wine: Book signing and Burgundy tasting Tuesday
Posted by Adam Sobsey on Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 8:38 PM
- Photo: Vintage '59 Imports
Cloud is the founder and President of Vintage '59 Imports, which, like Lynch's and Rosenthal's outfits, specializes in small-production, grower-made, predominantly French wine "whose common thread is a respect for the land and a value decidedly placed on vineyard work over cellar wizardry," as Cloud's bio puts it. (I've always had a thing for the wildly aromatic and quite inexpensive white wine, Champ de Roy Blanc, of Coupe Roses, a Minervois producer imported by Vintage '59.) He is in town not only to promote his new book at A Southern Season, but also to lead a tasting of wines in his portfolio from Burgundy's excellent 2009 vintage. Some real studs are included in the $25 tasting, which includes hors d'oeuvres.
As for To Burgundy and Back, although it breaks little new ground either geographically or philosophically—Lynch and Rosenthal are old-school terroirists, champions of family-owned and operated domaines, and have much larger portfolios than Vintage '59—it is written with a distinctly youthful ebullience and sense of purpose. (Cloud harvests an inspirational quote from a 1951 book called The Scottish Himalayan Expedition: "[T]he moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too.") When Cloud first went to France to prospect for vignerons, in 1997, he loved wine and knew it well but "had little experience with the intricacies of importing and distributing."
To top it off, he spoke no French. So he took with him his older brother, Joe, who had learned the language while studying abroad years earlier. To Burgundy and Back reads like a sort of Kerouacian, brothers-on-the-autoroute reminiscence—but with wine as the operative dharma.
Yet there is a sobering subplot. Thanks to a geographical coincidence and a freak accident, the Clouds' father lay in a coma in the Burgundian city of Dijon during their trip. On vacation there, Cloud père had gone over the bars while careening downhill on a bicycle. In To Burgundy and Back, his sons arrive, find him still in his coma, and spend the next couple of weeks driving around France in a treasure hunt for wine to import.
The narrative involving their father doesn't really develop—he soon disappears from the book until the epilogue, which reveals him to have emerged largely okay—but it does remind the reader that wine importers in the Cloud/Lynch/Rosenthal mold are, like the winemakers whose product they import, human beings. They have lives, feelings, families and personalities, and their wines reflect their characters and circumstances just as they reflect the grapes, the winemakers and the vagaries of any given vintage. Tuesday's tasting offers a sort of reading of Chapter 2009, Burgundy, in the story of Roy Cloud and Vintage '59.
"A Sit-Down Burgundy Tasting" with Roy Cloud of Vintage '59 is Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. at A Southern Season. The $25 cost includes hors d'oeuvres. Cloud will also sign copies of his book. Call (919) 929-7133 or visit www.southernseason.com.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Food Events Tonight: Visiting Chef/Writer Tamar Adler in Five Points, Raleigh
Posted by Jane Hobson Snyder on Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 10:39 AM
This evening from 7-9:30 p.m., meet Brooklyn-based chef Tamar Adler on the occasion of her new book, An Everlasting Meal, inspired by M.F.K. Fisher's classic How to Cook a Wolf. Tonight is Adler's only North Carolina appearance.
This is a book launch party like you may never have seen before: The event will take place on the patio at the former Bickett Market in Raleigh's Five Points. Expect bluegrass and old-time music; sausages on the grill; sides by the new Pullen Place Cafe; beer tastings from super-local Sub-Rosa; wine poured by the Raleigh Wine Shop; and a whole lot of relaxing by the fire pit.
The Patio @ Bickett is a magical, tucked-away courtyard just on the edge of downtown, and tonight is shaping up to be a beautiful evening under the stars.
I'll be onstage with Tamar Adler to discuss the book and talk about her years working in the kitchens of the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Prune in NYC, then on to dinner and music and mingling.
TICKETS are $35—and get this: 100 percent of all proceeds will be donated to InterFaith Food Shuttle.
Buy online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/205857 ...or with cash/check at the door.
QUESTIONS?
Contact Adam Mitchell
AnAutumnalEvening@gmail.com
LOCATION:
The Patio @ Bickett Market
219 Bickett Blvd.
Raleigh, NC 27608
United States
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