Food is Food

I am just back from the 34th annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival which is the longest running food and wine festival of its kind not just in Maui, but in the country.

It started out as a wine only event but morphed over the years. Today food is a big part of it with celebrity chefs, classes and tasting events. I got a chance to attend a lunch cooking demo class with Chef and restaurateur Michael Mina and was pleased to see RN74 Executive Chef Adam Sobel acting as right hand man.

Michael Mina and Adam Sobel

Here are some learnings from the event--

- Mina said the biggest mistake home cooks make is not tasting or not knowing what you’re tasting for. Following a recipe is not enough, you must taste. Ingredients are not consistent, they are different all the time and you need to adjust your recipes.

- The four elements he considers most important? Acidity, spice, sweetness and richness, but not all dishes have all four.

- When plating he said, put the pot down! You are going for control. If the pot is on the counter you will have more control of the spoon in your hand.

Chilled Thai spicy lime vinaigrette with purple basil

- When it comes to cooking squid, he recommends that you cut squid then poach it for more tenderness than poaching whole.

- When making a vinaigrette, he lets it sit for a day before using, so the flavors meld better.

Tomato and cocoa powder dusted seared ahi with fried cauliflower, uni aioli and calabrian chiles.

- This dish had caponata an Italian vegetable dish that Mina said goes with everything--fish, chicken, seafood, etc.

- When crusting fish or chicken, be sure to season on all sides before crusting, and season the crusting too.

Brioche banana custard brûlée

- For the French toast style dessert, the brioche was soaked a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour to allow the custard to fully hydrate the bread, then cooked in plenty of butter.

- Toasted flavors of caramel, nuts and brûlée banana complement the richness of the custard.

Thanks for the tips chef!

Disclaimer: My thanks to the Outrigger Kapalua for hosting me at this wonderful event. I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy.

Yesterday was a humbling, overwhelming and surreal day. It was announced that I will be joining the Today Show family as a Today Food Contributor! Every time I'm there, I feel like making a bedazzled poster and joining the energetic plaza crowd... and then someone comes to put a microphone on me and I'm like, oh, you want me to be on TV? Are you sure????? Pinch me.

What I'm even more excited about (if that's possible) is the launch of the new TODAY Food (check out this video if you haven't already). It's a redesigned website with easy-to-follow recipes, tips, meal plans and videos... it's real, healthy, affordable and SIMPLE meals... it's finding your comfort-zone in the kitchen... it's Today.com/food. HA! I'm a commercial! But seriously - no SIRIiously - my goal all along with this blog has been to make cooking FUN. If a recipe freaks you out, change it, if you can't find a weird ingredient, skip it. Cooking does not have to be intimidating!

To answer one big question I got yesterday... NO, this new gig does not mean I will give up blogging. In fact, I'll probably blog more! I seem to be more productive when I'm busier, is that weird? This blog is my happy place, and you virtual people are my virtual family.

So in case you didn't see my segments yesterday, you can view them (and find the recipes) here:

One-pot Summer Vegetable Chowder and Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Thanks for all the well wishes, you guys are THE BEST!

I love how sometimes seemingly random ingredients come together. This dish of roasted cauliflower and chorizo with fresh tomatoes and greens and tahini sauce was created based on what I had on hand. But it was really tasty and something I would make again.

A lot of times when I interview chefs and cookbook authors, I ask how they come up with recipes. I have to admit, I don't usually get very satisfying answers. But recently I met cookbook author Anna Jones. Her book, A Modern Way to Eat has a really cool graphic to explain how she puts together dishes. It goes something like this:

Hero Ingredient
+
How Shall I Cook it?
+
Supporting Role?
+
Add an Accent
+
Add a Flavor
+
Add an Herb
+
Add some Crunch
+
Season and Finish

Her formula has a lot of components and is designed to add layers of flavor and texture to a dish. Do you have a formula that you use or can you deconstruct a dish according to elements? It's a fun exercise and can lead to some interesting new combinations. My formula for this dish was was hero ingredient+salty+green+acid+creamy.

Cauliflower with Chorizo, Tomatoes and Tahini Sauce
Serves 2 - 4

Ingredients

1 Mexican chorizo sausage, about 1/3 cup sausage meat
3 cups cauliflower florets, any color you like (I used golden)
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Greens (I used spinach but you could use anything you like)

Tahini sauce
2 Tablespoons tahini
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch granulated garlic
Water
Salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet crumble the chorizo and cook until beginning to brown. Add the cauliflower and the olive oil and continue to cook until the meat is thoroughly cooked.

Transfer the cauliflower and chorizo to a lined baking pan and sprinkle with salt. Roast until cauliflower begins to turn brown, about 40 minutes. Arrange the cauliflower and chorizo on a platter with the tomatoes and as much greens as you like.

Make the tahini sauce by stirring together the tahini, lemon juice and granulated garlic. Stir in enough water to make a thick creamy sauce, about 2 tablespoons. Season with salt and drizzle the sauce over the salad.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This post includes an affiliate link. I was not paid to write this or any other post on Cooking with Amy

As promised, this is the puff pastry-like dough I used in the apple roses video, and while not exactly “ quick and easy,” this was definitely quicker and easier. Just don’t try and make strawberry shortcake with this stuff.

I wanted to use this dough as the centerpiece of our strawberry shortcake video, but unfortunately the cold pastry was way too hard to cut with a spoon, and so I ended up using a much more traditional, and user-friendly biscuit.

That aside, as a puff pastry substitute, I think this was a huge success. Hopefully, you saw this in action in the apple roses video, which, by the way, was done with scraps. Besides fruit tarts, I’d love to try this for things like ham and cheese turnovers, and chocolate croissants.

With that in mind, I hope any and all successful experiments with this dough will be shared on social media; mostly so I can copy your ideas. By the way, there seems to a little controversy on YouTube as to the exact number of layers we got, so what say you? I hope you give this butter puff biscuit dough a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour (You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt)

3/4 cup cold water (add enough water to make a soft, but not sticky dough)

*7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter (a stick is 8 tablespoons)

*I grated on about 4 tablespoons for the first application, and about 3 tablespoons for the second.

- I generally bake this stuff at 400 F. Time will depend on what it’s being used for.

Don't worry, no tuscan beans or rice were harmed in the baking of this cake. Or used at all. That photo is just for reference, because I baked this cake in a soup can! (Which I've done before here and here.) I mean, is there anything cuter than a tin can cake?? Not if you're a woman, because then you love mini things (don't get me started on the tiny tabasco bottles you get at hotels).

This cake is baked with Biscoff, and is topped with a cookie butter buttercream. If you're a fan of the stuff, you will LOVE this tiny treat! And you might do what Carson and I did, which is dip each bite in tequila. Or rum. Because that's a totally normal and logical thing to do.

Mini Cookie Butter Cake

Recipe adapted from The Baker Chick

(Printable Recipe)

For cake:

1 egg white

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 Tbsp cookie butter spread

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 Tbsp milk

For frosting:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

2 Tbsp cookie butter spread

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an empty, cleaned soup can with baking spray. In a bowl, whisk together the egg white and sugar until combined. Add melted butter, cookie spread and vanilla, and continue to whisk until creamy. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Finally, whisk in milk until everything is combined. Pour into soup can, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool before applying frosting.

For frosting, vigorously stir together the butter and cookie butter spread. Add the powdered sugar and milk, and stir until combined and creamy. Spread onto cooled cake.

Oh you guys, this sauce is SO delicious! It has the perfect balance between salty and sweet, tangy and briny.. you have to try it! It's perfect to go with pickled salmon, which in itself sounds strange but I promise you that it's not. I used my old recipe for that, but omitted the pink peppercorns this time. Great results!

1 tbsp capers, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

1 tbsp chives, finely chopped

2 tbsp mayonnaise

3 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

Stir everything together, and let it sit for at least an hour in the fridge. Serve!

It's Carson's birthday! We are on day 3 of celebrating over here, after having a little party on Saturday and of course Father's Day yesterday. It's all very confusing for our almost-three-year-old daughter, who thinks every birthday party is HERS. On Saturday, Carson requested a "light fluffy cake" with berries and whipped cream, so I found this recipe for a Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake.

For the first time, I made this type of cake properly with a grocery store-bought angel food cake pan. Follow these three pointers, and you TOO can enjoy this deliciously "light and fluffy" treat:

1. As tempting as it may be, do not grease the pan. Apparently the cake needs something to cling to.

2. Fold your ingredients together! Google "how to fold cake batter" if you need a tutorial.

3. Once baked, turn the cake upside down on top of a beer bottle to prevent cake from collapsing.

Happy Birthday Carson :)

About halfway through this video production for how to make a Michelada, I realized I was getting paid to drink beer, which made the experience that much more enjoyable, and that’s saying a lot.

This spicy, savory, tangy, amazingly refreshing beer-based cocktail is considered one of the best hot-weather, adult beverages ever. I’ve heard it described as “Bloody Mary meets Mimosa,” which makes me never want to go to brunch again, but it’s also kind of accurate.

While that may not sound like something you would enjoy, most people do, and very much so. And the hotter it is, the more they enjoy, both literally and figuratively. There’s something about how that slightly bitter, effervescent beer works with the sweet-sour-spicy profile of the other ingredients.

Even though they may seem like odd additions, things like the soy and Worcestershire are very important here, since they bring savoriness, or “umami” as the foodies would call it, to the drink.

I would never wish a horrendous heat wave on anybody, but, if one were to come your way, I hope you give this delicious, and restorative, Michelada “beertail” a try soon. Enjoy!

For Each Michelada:

lots of ice

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp hot sauce or to taste

1/8 tsp soy sauce

juice from half a lime (use other half to rim glasses with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and chili pepper)

1/4 to 1/3 cup tomato juice or homemade vegetable juice (see below)

1/2 bottle ice-cold Mexican lager (6 oz)

lime slices to garnish

For the vegetable juice (makes about 3 cups):

2 pints sweet cherry tomatoes, washed, drained

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

salt and pepper to taste (unless you use a ton on the rim like I did)

I'm a big fan of Paula Wolfert. She has an amazing talent for a kind of culinary cultural anthropology, exploring various cuisines, digging in deep, learning and documenting recipes like nobody's business. I have relished my time with her, especially at her home in Sonoma and subsequently in a class. I love hearing her stories, getting her career advice, not to mention having her cook for me. So I couldn't be more excited to learn of the plan to document her extraordinary life, along with some of her most important recipes. Leading the charge is former Food & Wine editor and cookbook author, Emily Thelin. The top team also includes photographer Eric Wolfinger and my friend, Andrea Nguyen who is acting as project manager.

I was planning to run this interview with Andrea in hopes of encouraging you to support the project and help it to meet its goal. Fortunately the initial goal has been reached. Now it's time to s-t-r-e-t-c-h and make this project even more special by lending your support to help reach the next milestone. Visit the kickstarter page to learn more.

1. How did this project come about?

Andrea Nguyen: Last year, my friend Emily Thelin (formerly of Food & Wine) told me she wanted to write Paula’s biographical cookbook, and that Eric Wolfinger had offered to be the photographer. Eric had also suggested that they publish it themselves as an experimental project, true to Paula's renegade spirit. Emily told me she saw parallels between Paula's and my immersive approaches to our books. Given my experience writing and publishing four cookbooks, she asked if I would help.

 2. Who is publishing the book?

AN: We’re self-publishing Unforgettable.   

3. Why did you decide to go the kickstarter route?

AN:Crowdfunding this project allows us to do meaningful, small-batch cookbook publishing. It has its challenges but it hasn't been as hard as we thought. We're lucky to be pros in our respective areas and plucky enough to get this going. Knowing people like you is invaluable.

 4. What is the process for the book? Are you cooking all the recipes with Paula?  

AN: Incredibly, we’ve met our minimum funding goal. If we’re lucky to reach our stretch goal of $80,000 we’ll be able to double the print run and comfortably cover costs. From now until July 11 when the campaign ends, it’s full tilt boogie to garner community backing for Unforgettable.

Paula wrote nine cookbooks and as you can imagine, can come up with a recipe off the top of her head. A group of folks familiar with Paula’s work will work through roughly 100 select recipes to find ones that are most suitable for the book. Vivid, doable, compelling recipes that speak to Paula’s life journey are what we’re aiming for.

Once we’ve got our short list, we’ll cook through many of them with Paula at her home. Those sessions will enable us to convey the connection between food and memory, the savors of life.

Right now, with the campaign just having been launched, we’re focused on making it super successful. With everybody’s support, we’ll cross the finish line with the ability to make a stellar publication.

 5. Paula has greatly changed her own personal diet since her diagnosis, how many recipes will reflect this?

AN: Many of them will but not all of them. It’s hard to pin point a number because making a book is a fluid process. We do want to incorporate recipes, ideas and techniques that speak to Paula’s current lifestyle. She has ironically been ahead of the curve for most of her life. This time, she has a few companions with her.

Thanks Andrea!

Now please do watch the video above if you haven't already, and head to the kickstarter page to support this project (yes, there are thank you gifts!)

I always find Father's Day hard to shop for. Most of the cool, techy toys I know Carson would LOVE are like, stupid expensive (I'm talking to you, drones). I've found homemade gifts are the most meaningful, whether that's a customized beer bottle label from this site, or a baked treat from MY site! Here are some ideas! Exclamation points! (Or is it marks?)