New Foods @ Whole Foods

What's great about Whole Foods is that they offer a lot of options (especially in produce) that aren't commonly found in traditional grocery stores.

This is what I picked up today:


1. Pomelo

Pomelos aren't very common in regular supermarkets, but I've seen them here and there at Whole Foods. I remember looking at them over in the produce section, just thinking they were some sort of mutant grapefruit. Little did I know that pomelos are the original grapefruit; and that grapefruit itself is thought to be a hybrid of pomelo and orange (who knew?!).

Admittedly, I had to google how to properly prepare the pomelo for eating (no shame here). However, going against internet advice, I just ended up cutting off the rind with a knife, then cutting the fruit into supremes (that is to say, cutting the fruit wedges away from the membrane), like so: 

Image Credit: Foodie Journey

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend the supreming technique for pomelos... the fruit segments aren't aligned in such a symmetrical way like the other citrus varieties.

The type of pomelo I bought had the ruby red colored fruit within, belying its similarity to grapefruit. However, most pomelos have a light green or yellow fruit. 

This is what mine looked like:

The taste of the pomelo was like a mild grapefruit, except with twice the work needed to eat it. While it was great to try a new citrus, I think I'll stick with grapefruit and oranges.



2. Challah 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Whole Foods carried challah in their bakery. It's not something I usually see in regular grocery stores (to my chagrin).

Challah is a traditional Jewish bread that is chewy, eggy, and delicious. In accordance with Jewish religious law, it is not made with dairy. However, it still maintains a rich texture in a similar way to brioche (a French bread).

The Jewish religion and culture is to thank for a variety of delicious eats– lox, bagels, pretzels, and pickles, to name a few. But challah (in my opinion) is one of their best culinary achievements. 

3. Kombucha

Kombucha is one of the newest health fads, following in the footsteps of trendy superfoods like kale and kefir.

Kombucha is basically a fermented, effervescent tea drink that contains probiotics (like yogurt). As someone who's not a huge fan of yogurt (unless its frozen), I was hoping to get some good bacteria from Kombucha.

First, let me say that I really wanted to like this drink. I'm not discriminatory when it comes to tea at all– I can handle anything from the most pungent black teas to bitter green varieties. But when I tried the Kombucha, I almost gagged. It tasted like vinegar beer. I even checked to expiration date to make sure the vinegar taste wasn't a result of spoiling. But alas, the expiration date was many months away, leaving an inexplicable (and disgusting) taste of vinegar.

So I googled the method of making Kombucha, and it turns out its brewing process is similar to the way vinegar is made. Apparently Kombucha develops the vinegar taste as the fermentation progresses... if the tea is fermented for a shorter period of time, it won't taste as vinegar-y. So I'm not ready to completely cross off Kombucha (at least not yet), but I definitely won't be buying the GT's Multi-green Tea ever again.

Restaurant Review: Hana Sushi

Today I went to Hana Sushi, a kind of "hidden gem" near my hometown. I had personally never tried it before, but a friend of mine swore by their sushi.

When I say it's a hidden gem, I mean it– it's sandwiched in between an indistinct Asian grocery store and a cliché Chinese takeout place. Hana Sushi's interior was small, with only six or seven tables. But what they lacked in décor, they made up for in deliciousness.

For my sushi, I ordered:

1. Black Dragon roll: spicy shrimp roll topped with eel and avocado (right); and
2. "Year End" Special roll: spicy tuna and crab roll topped with smelt roe (left)

(If you haven't guessed by now, I like spicy foods)

For my main course I ordered a bento box:

1. Teriyaki Chicken
2. Vegetable and Shrimp Tempura
3. Shrimp Shumai (a type of dumpling)
4. And, of course, white rice

The tempura and teriyaki were pretty standard, but the shrimp shumai dumplings were amazing. But the star of the show was, without a doubt, the Black Dragon roll. It was the best sushi I've ever had. I hope to try more of their offerings in the future, but I'm sure the Black Dragon will always be my favorite!

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's is one of my favorite grocery stores. In terms of offering quality foods for a great price, Trader Joe's is worth the half-hour drive every time.

What I like most about them is that they offer a lot of products that are hard to find in traditional grocery stores (not counting Whole Foods). For example, their Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar is only $2.99, but is light and delicious on salads. Unlike grocery store-brand salad dressings that often taste processed and unnatural, this Champagne vinegar is extremely refreshing. What's more, Trader Joe's takes pride in their products, often writing brief blurbs on their website describing their products:

Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar is hand crafted for us by a small company in Northern California that specializes in "gourmet" products made with the abundant produce of the state's "farm belt" and wine country. Try this special vinegar with extra virgin olive oil to create a light dressing for a salad of sliced avocado, jicama and orange segments. Or pair it with sesame oil to make an original dressing for a Chinese Chicken Salad. You could use Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar right out of the bottle as a marinade for chicken or fish. 

Below is a sampling of a few of my favorite TJ's products:

Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's Organic Kale / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's / Trader Joe's


However, my favorite thing to buy from Trader Joe's is their "Mideast Feast" snack box. It contains falafel, tahini, hummus, pita, and tabbouli. It makes a great, light lunch meal that won't weigh me down at the office.

1. Falafel: A fried ball of chickpeas or fava beans (but usually both), flavored with Middle Eastern spices (like garlic and coriander).
2. Tahini: A paste made from ground sesame seeds; often served as an accompaniment to falafel.
3. Hummus: A savory paste made from mashed chickpeas, tahini, and other spices (usually including garlic and olive oil).
4. Tabbouli: A sort of pasta and herb "salad" made from bulgur wheat (or sometimes couscous), mixed with freshly chopped parsley and mint, with olive oil, garlic, and lemon.
5. Pita: An unleavened flatbread made simply from flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Best Supermarket Olive Oils

Finding a high-quality olive oil in a supermarket is certainly a challenge these days. Many labels boast that their oil is "extra virgin", but all too often, that's not the case. (Don't even get me started on Bertolli....)

Extra-virginity refers to the amount of free fatty acids the oil contains. If the olive oil contains more than 0.8 grams of FFAs per 100 grams, it cannot be labeled as "extra virgin". But somehow, supermarkets still stock sub-par olive oils that called themselves extra virgin but are actually extremely defective. And while oils from speciality food stores are usually your best bet, they can be terribly expensive.

So here are my top three supermarket olive oil picks:

1. California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil (can be bought here)
2. Trader Joe's Premium 100% Greek Kalamata Olive Oil
3. Lucini Reserve Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil

California Olive Ranch

Trader Joe's

Lucini

P.S. For pricier (but higher quality) olive oils, I would recommend checking out Williams Sonoma, Dean & DeLuca, and Sur la Table. 

New Year's Eve: Prosecco Cupcakes

For New Years Eve, I wanted to make a festive dessert that celebrated the holiday. Clearly, that meant Prosecco cupcakes.

As a fan of the Food Network show Cupcake Wars, I had seen the bakers make many Champagne cupcakes in the competition. However, I personally prefer Champagne's sweeter, Italian cousin– Prosecco.

Cupcake Vineyards produces quality wines at great prices. Unlike many other American-based wine manufacturers, they correctly label their sparkling wine based on the region from which the grapes were cultivated. Unfortunately, many American winemakers label their sparkling wines as Champagne, when in fact the grapes were not from the Champagne region in France.

But I digress... The Cupcake Prosecco was suited perfectly for my baking needs. And the name was quite apropos for the situation!

The result: perfectly fluffy cupcakes with just a hint of the grape-y Prosecco. Needless to say, they were a huge hit at the party!


P.S.– A word on the frosting: I hand-piped the frosting using a large Ziploc bag and a piping tip left over from my days as a cake decorator. The steps are really simple:

1. Cut a hole in the bottom corner of the Ziploc bag that's just large enough for the piping tip
2. Stick the piping tip in THEN fill the bag with frosting
3. Go ahead and pipe!

Continual Learning: Food Network Style

One of my favorite hobbies is watching Food Network and expanding my culinary knowledge via the shows. My three favorite shows are:

Iron Chef America

Next Iron Chef

Chopped

Watching professional chefs cook with expert narration (especially by Alton Brown) can be very instructive. It is also a great way to learn about ingredients not commonly used in the average home kitchen. In order to remember everything I've learned, I've started compiling a Culinary Dictionary using Google Docs, so I can add new terms whenever I watch a cooking show. Here are some of my recent additions:

1. Sabayon: is a type of dessert "foam", made by whipping together egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine (like Moscato).
2. Cava: a Spanish sparkling wine; what Champagne is to France or Prosecco is to Italy.
3. Dacquoise: a cake made from layers of almond and hazelnut meringue, buttercream, and often ganache. 
4. Pistou: a French sauce made with basil, garlic, and olive oil. It differs from its Italian cousin pesto, which is made with the same ingredients and pine nuts. 

So far my culinary dictionary has reached 264 entries. As soon as I think I've got every possible food term in my dictionary, they'll give a new ingredient to the contestants on Chopped that I'll have to add it. At this rate it will never be finished!

Christmas Morning Brunch: Raspberry Compote

This Christmas morning, I told my mom I wanted to cook a nice brunch for my family. I ended up making Quiche Lorraine (à la Julia Child), with bacon and toast on the side. To accompany the toast, I wanted to try cooking something that I'd never made before– raspberry compote.

I'd seen chefs make a simple syrup on my favorite TV show, Chopped, a thousand times before. So I figured I could use that technique to make a simple syrup compote from raspberries, sugar, and water.

This was my method: I took a cup of frozen raspberries and mixed them with about two tablespoons of water, then put them in the microwave to thaw. After, I put the raspberry mixture in a sauté pan on low heat. Once the mixture started to steam a little, I started slowing adding in a cup of sugar while stirring.

I let the compote simmer until it had reached the consistency I wanted (taking about 8 minutes on low heat). Once the compote was done, I put it in a glass jar and stuck it in the fridge for five minutes so it would thicken a little.

Finally, it was the moment of truth– I spread my compote on a slice of toast, and took a bite. It ended up being absolutely delicious!

This compote was very quick and easy to make, and the recipe can be adapted for other fruits. But for those of you who don't have as much of a "wing-it" attitude about cooking as I do, here's an actual recipe for simple syrup. Happy Cooking!

UPDATE: For the sake of culinary clarity, I'd like to rename this as a "compote" rather than a jam. While the two terms are similar, jam refers to a sweet fruit jelly made with gelatin; whereas a compote is a simple syrup cooked with fruit.

A Wine and Cheese Tasting

The other night, I had a mini wine tasting at J. Gilbert's with my good friend, Fatima. As a fellow foodie (albeit a much more experienced one) and wine lover, I asked Fatima to choose the wines for us. We ended up trying two whites and two reds, accompanied by a cheese and charcuterie board.

Our wines:

1. J. Lohr 2011 Seven Oaks Cabernet (Paso Robles)
2. Tierra Divina 2009 Malbec (Argentina)
3. La Crema 2012 Chardonnay
4. Kim Crawford 2012 Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand)

The flavors in wines are often compared to fruits. For example, a wine might be described as "the perfect combo of cherry, boysenberry, plum and chocolate flavors." (Taken from a Barefoot Merlot description). But having a fairly inexperienced palate, I always thought those comparisons were ridiculous. I mean, wine is made from grapes, why would it taste like cherries?!

However, when I tasted the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and swished it around my mouth, I was immediately hit with the taste of grapefruit. Fatima explained that New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs often are redolent of grapefruit, thanks to the unique soil (aka terroir) that the grapes are grown in. She also said that I may not have been drinking good quality wines, which would explain why I never tasted the fruit. Luckily for me, the Kim Crawford Chardonnay has a score of 91 from Wine Spectator.

It also helped that our wines were paired with a beautiful cheese and charcuterie board.

Our cheeses: (From Cato Corner Farm)

1. Womanchengo (similar to a young Manchego)
2. Vivace (like a combination of Gruyere and Italian Provolone)
3. Dairyere (a firm washed rind cheese in the style of Gruyere or Comte)

Our charcuterie:

1. Prosciutto di Parma
2. Rosette de Lyon Salami
3. Hot Coppa

Accoutrements:

1. Cornichons
2. Pickled onions
3. Dijon mustard
4. Grilled Bread
5. Peppers

It was a great meal– full of delicious wine and scrumptious edibles. But more importantly, it was shared with a dear friend, allowing us to connect over our mutual love of food.

Restaurant Review: La Petite France Café

After reading Mastering the Art of French Eating (that I mentioned in my last post), I had a serious craving for French food. Upon consulting Yelp, I found a French café in West Hartford that looked like the perfect spot. So I grabbed my best gal pal, and we made our way to La Petite France Café.

Immediately accosted with the scent of freshly-baked croissants, I felt as if I'd stepped back to a certain café I liked in Toulouse, with its mismatched chairs and authentic feel. Upon examining the menu, I decided on crêpe complète (a crêpe made with buckwheat flour, Swiss cheese, and ham; topped with a fried egg). My friend got quiche lorraine (a quiche made with Swiss cheese and bacon).

My instagram of our meal

The owner of the café, I found, is from France. It was amazing to be able to eat authentic French food in West Hartford, Connecticut. In fact, I was so delighted with the café's fare that I took home a handful of croissants and two types of macaron– pistache and vanille. 

If you like French food, or simply want to have a delicious breakfast or lunch, I would highly recommend checking out La Petite France. Happy Eating!

Book Review: Mastering the Art of French Eating

The late Julia Child is, without a doubt, the figurehead of American francophiles who also love food. Her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has inspired thousands of cooks worldwide to try their hand at French cuisine. 

One such cook (and fellow American expat in Paris) inspired by Julia's enthusiasm for all things French was Ann Mah, the author of Mastering the Art of French Eating. She found herself stationed in Paris with her Diplomat husband; another striking similarity to Julia Child's circumstances. However, when Ann's husband was unexpectedly relocated to Iraq, she was left to navigate the myriad of culinary wonders in France alone. 

The fruit borne from Ann's solitary sojourn in Paris is her novel, Mastering the Art of French Eating. I flew through this book– absorbing page after page of sumptuous food writing. Included at the end of every chapter are recipes from various regions in France. Two of my favorites (that I can't wait to try cooking) are:

Salade Lyonnaise

Soupe Pistou

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who's interested in France, food, or travel. Happy reading!

Foodspiration

To me, cooking and eating go hand-in-hand. By cooking, you can appreciate the time and effort that went into making a delicious meal; by eating, you can learn what properly cooked food tastes like. I'm not talking about ostentatiously elaborate dishes you'd find at a pricey restaurant– oftentimes, the best meals are made simply with fresh, quality ingredients.

For me, the question usually remains of what to cook. So, to help me with my "Baker's-block" (if you will), I like to download menus from top-rated restaurants to find inspiration. It's especially helpful to look at the ingredients and combinations they use– like endive (a bitter leaf often used in salad), roasted pear, Roquefort (a blue cheese), and walnuts.

Dinner menu from Le Parisien in NYC

Recipes aren't necessary to use these menus; it's all about the inspiration. Because, really, where else would I get the idea to make a roasted artichoke salad with cherry tomatoes and lemon tarragon vinaigrette?

Christmas Gift Guide for the Foodie

I'd like to consider myself an amateur foodie, but I don't go too crazy when it comes to food. The most adventurous things I've had were in France– duck, pâté, tartare, and escargot. However, I can boast a near-perfect winning record in the "Food" category in QuizUp. Which makes me a foodie, right?

So here are my Christmas gift picks for the foodie in your life. Personally, I'm hoping to see the Silpat baking mat under the tree this year... it's made from woven glass fibers and coated with a layer of silicon. Nothing sticks to a Silpat.

Happy gift-giving!

Silpat kitchenware dining / Kitchenaid stand mixer / Tiffany Co drinkware / Cake plate / Williams-Sonoma wine glasses / Pier 1 Imports kitchen gadgets tool / Black Truffle Oil / Tahitian Vanilla Extract