Genius.

By the Smoke | Part I from Gilt Taste on Vimeo.

By the Smoke | Part 2 from Gilt Taste on Vimeo.

By the Smoke | Part 3 from Gilt Taste on Vimeo.

These videos for Gilt Taste are nothing short of brilliant. I love every frame they shot. The chef here is a friend from college who did this video a while back with another friend from Bates shooting/directing. There are two more in this series coming for Gilt. Don't you wish you were invited to this party ?! Genius.

Energy Squares

I made these yummy goodies the other day for a package going to some Ironman Trainees who are coming down to the wire on their training. They come from Terry Walters' "Clean Start" cookbook which is choc-a-block with wholesome deliciousness. It is one of those cookbooks where you want to try every page, and each recipe sounds healthier and richer than the next. Terry considers "clean food" to be "...whole, minimally processed and close to the source for maximum nutrition." She breaks the book up by seasons so it's easier to eat local and fresh, and everything is dairy and gluten free (which she by no means proselytizes is healthier or better for all -- in fact, she encourages you to find your own path, and if that path is not dairy/wheat free, to enjoy her recipes in addition to your own).

These "Energy Squares" are in her summer section + are irresistible.

1 cup peanut butter (almond, cashew, + sunflower butters can be subbed)
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups crispy brown rice cereal
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup gluten + dairy free chocolate chips (you can find vegan chips at Whole Foods, and don't knock till you try -- they're delicious !)

In a medium pot over low heat whisk together peanut butter, brown rice syrup, and maple syrup. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine rice cereal, almonds, coconut + ground flax. Fold dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture until all ingredients are incorporated.

Rinse 8x8" baking dish with cold water to prevent sticking. Spoon in batter, sprinkle with chocolate chips + press firmly + evenly into dish. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until firm .

Remove from refrigerator, cut into squares + store in an air tight container.
MAKES approx 36 bite size squares.

Dying for the precursor, "Clean Food," as well...

Snacks

I'm not a huge cheese eater, but I always serve it at parties because people go bonkers for it, it's easy, and I loved a beautifully arranged cheese plate. I saw these cheese balls on Martha's app list + knew I wanted to try. I loved having a new shape, new color, and new vehicles for shoveling the cheese in your mouth. Each has the same cream cheese base + then a different cheese + flavor element added PLUS a coating. So fun ;). For example, the red is cheddar + chutney with dried cranberries on the outside. I've already promised my sister them at Christmas. The best part ? They can be made ahead of time !

Beautiful Food

Here is a beautifully styled shot of Parsnip Potato Puree from Honest Fare. You know I'm a sucker for food photography. This picture is very springy, but Parsnip Potato Puree (say that three time's fast) sounds wonderful for your holiday table. Happy Monday everyone !

Beet Hummus

Last week I realized I had some beets lingering in my vegetable drawer and I searched around for some way to put them to use. I came across this easy hummus and had everything in my pantry except for Tahini so I gave it a whirl. On first taste it seemed to be overpowered by the cumin and I dismissed it. Jenny, a friend who was over at the time gave it a thumbs up though so I held on to it. Yesterday I revisited the hummus for an afternoon snack and liked it quite a lot. It's not a super bold flavor so I added some pink sea salt which also gave it a nice little crunch ! But I like their idea of goat cheese and / or mint. Could be a pretty appetizer. If you're a beet + cumin fan you'll enjoy this, and its a beautiful purple.

Beet Hummus ::

• 1/2 pound beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed*
• 2 Tbsp tahini sesame seed paste
• 5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)
• Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

To cook the beets, cut off any tops, scrub the roots clean, put them in a covered dish with about 1/4-inch of water in a 375°F oven, and cook until easily penetrated with a knife or fork. Alternatively, cover with water in a saucepan and simmer until tender, about 1/2 hour. Peel once they have cooled.

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.

Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

Eat with pita chips, or with sliced cucumber or celery, or on a crostini with goat cheese and shaved mint.

Makes 2 cups.

In other news it's Easter weekend ! These candy colored almonds caught my eye in the check out line of Whole Foods. I love these retro colors together. I got a few weird looks for taking off the plastic top, taking a picture, and returning them to the shelf, but now you have a fun spring palette if you need one ! Enjoy the beautiful weather. Happy Easter !!

Reader Question : Hummus : )

This weekend I was in Boston visiting friends. In celebration of a few birthdays we had dinner at Scampo in the Liberty Hotel. First of all, Liberty Hotel gets two thumbs up for a great use of space (it was a jail on Charles Street many moons ago), and two thumbs down for cheesy casino carpeting and making their bars a bit too clubby. In so many design respects they had it down, just cheaped out on the flooring I think. Anyway – I digress. The food at Scampo was yummy. Before the meal they served large homemade bread sticks and pesto hummus. My friend Katie asked what went into hummus, so here I decided to share with all of you.

Hummus, as most of you know is more or less chickpeas mashed. In its most basic form it also contains Tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It is a Levantine Arabic word (obviously translated into the english alphabet), and first appeared in English Dictionaries in 1955. In its native countries it is one of the oldest documented prepared foods. Its also high in Iron, Vitamin C, Folate, B6 and Fiber (thanks Wikipedia).

When looking up recipes I found a lot of good ones. As we see on the shelves of every market, you can flavor hummus with essentially everything but the kitchen sink. In fact Casual Kitchens did a Hummus blogroll with 16 easy to make hummus'. I will definitely be returning to this list for future parties. Thai Basil? Cilantro-Jalapeno? Yum. I ended up with a Pesto Hummus from Two Fat Als, after second guessing that the one on CK's list. It had soy sauce and no pinenuts. Hm... That was until I saw that Two Fat Als had the same ingredients. Interesting--we'll try it.

So judging by my top picture Hummus couldn't be cheaper to make right? A few pantry staples and two 89 cent cans of beans (Maybe you have to buy tahini too--this recipe did not call for it which is sort of cheating). Wrong. At least for me. All of these recipes which suggested a food processor were the straw that broke the camels back. I threw down my computer (metaphorically,or this would have been really expensive--think of tossing a book or newspaper in frustration) and made a trip to my local Bed Bath & Beyond. I returned with what you see above. Oopsie. Not really a planned purchase, but I've had it up to HERE with passing on recipes on account of no food processor. Isnt she a beaut??

Look at how little chopping I had to do! So satisfying to watch that blade do the work!

And here is the end result. Unfortunately not beautifully plated with pita and crudite like you might do for a party, but jarred up for my snacking delight. It is delicious. A little less creamy without Tahini and not SO pesto-y. Much more basil garlic like. If you're looking for pesto I would omit Soy, add pine nuts and more basil (Scampo's was a beautiful green--this not so much). Give one a try!

Whisper Down the Meatball Lane

Last Friday I decided to make dinner for a number of friends. I'm always excited for the project and daunted by menu selection. Are the flavors too similar? Is there enough protein? Is there something fresh to balance the heavy? My head spins. Will everyone even like what I'm choosing?? I was even embarrassingly caught in my Whole Foods by a friend as I popped grapes in my mouth and stared with bewilderment at all of the root vegetables. Alas, it is late fall: meal should be warm. It is a Friday night: wine will be included so meal doesn't need to be huge. I've been keeping up with my food blogs and Smitten Kitchen's baked chicken meatballs were looking reeeallly tasty. And I don't think I'd had a meatball in over 10 years. Literally.

One of my favorite parts of these food blogs is everyone is using everyone elses recipes, and you can see the slow evolutions. I read some that are like "I got it from her, who got it from him, who got it from her..." And you known no two times is exactly alike. Culinary whisper down the lane if you will, or my favorite game to play in the rec hall at camp -- association.

So SK got this recipe from Gourmet (RIP). However, she accidentally put tomato paste IN as well as ON the meatball and liked it. So I kept her first mistake. She also didn't think the extra tapenade she made was necessary (even though Gourmet suggested it) so I omitted that. My grand change? The recipe called for pancetta. I don't eat red meat... So turkey bacon it was! And YUM! I don't know what it tastes like with pancetta, but it was delish with turkey bacon...

So these couldn't have been more simple or more flavorful--extra paste, no sauce, no red meat. I highly recommend. I served them with the hodge-podge of roasted veggies you see below (all my favorites -- brussell sprouts, cauliflower, butternut squash), french bread, and a very simple salad. Two serious thumbs up if I do say so myself.

Serves 4, or more as appetizers or sliders

3 slices Italian bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped (you can swap in Canadian Bacon if you can’t find pancetta)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons tomato paste, divided*
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 400°F with a racks the upper thirds. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened, about four minutes.

Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in one tablespoon oil with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. (Alternately, as in “I thought of this after the fact”, I’d bet you could render the pancetta for a couple minutes and cook the onions and garlic in that fat, rather than olive oil.) Cool slightly.

Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Form 12 meatballs and arrange in another 4-sided sheet pan (I used a 9×13 roasting dish).

Stir together remaining tablespoons of tomato paste and oil and brush over meatballs (the paste/oil does not mix in any cohesive manner, but just smoosh it on and run with it) , then bake in upper third of oven until meatballs are just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes (though mine took a good 5 minutes longer).

Nicest Ever.

Want to do the nicest thing ever? Well someone did it for me this week, so I'll tell you in case you're interested. I had dinner plans with a friend Tuesday night who had been scalloping in Nantucket over the weekend (I know, I know, you don't scallop on Nantucket that often, so it could be difficult to pull off). Monday night however, a client of his sprung on him that he may or may not need to fly to Amsterdam the next day... No problem of course -- dinner plans in NYC are always questionable. I'm pretty sure it's more than other cities and its not because we're not good friends -- its because there are jobs/overlapping celebrations/surprise out-of-town guests -- the stimulus is endless. Anyway, Monday at lunch I get a call from my doorman alerting me of a delivery. With no idea what it was (nope, no online shopping this time, and I don't get personal phone calls there anyway ;)) I walked into my building to the large cooler bag you see above. Yup -- you guessed it. He had to go to Amsterdam but squeezed in a fresh-from-ACK-scallop yellow-cab drive-by. Inside was a ziplock of scallops, a lemon, the shells you see below and instructions on how to prepare.

Now I love Scallops, but had no idea broiling in these shells was an option (and so much less clean up!) so I patted dry as directed, laid them in a single layer on the shells, and salt and peppered (oh and preset the broiler too).

Here is how the looked pre-broil sesh. The instructions called for melting butter with lemon on the stove to be poured over the raw seafood. Im not much of a butter fan, and love the fresh taste of seafood (especially scallops). I contemplated olive oil, but decided to go au naturel (that's french for natural, without artificial additions), spritzed some lemon over them, and popped the suckers in.

Here is the finish product! To be taken out when they're lightly browned on top. Easy peasy lemon squeezey (no pun intended), and divine if I must tell you. Probably the nicest surprise Ive ever come home to. So now you know the traditional (easy as pie) way to prepare scallops, and what you can plan next time you're inclined to do the nicest thing ever.