Chocolate

Panna cotta Christmas style

Panna cotta Christmas style

Posted on by Pat
As I mentioned in the last post, Broussard's served a dynamite version of panna cotta tweaked for the holiday season. Not only was it an intense pink and redolent of peppermint, it also had a luscious chocolate topping. While my homemade attempt doesn't indulge in some stray raspberries as a garnish, it does boast that winning combination of peppermint and chocolate. Many restaurant chefs offer panna cotta as a dessert option because making it doesn't require a pastry chef's skill set. In fact, it is about as easy as making Jell-O. Still, it's rich and satisfying and can be made to look fabulous. This recipe is a simple adaptation of the restaurant classic, but scaled down to dinner-party volume. To make it even easier, the...Read More
Co Couture embodies the artistry of chocolate

Co Couture embodies the artistry of chocolate

Posted on by Pat and David
Deirdre McCanny had never made a chocolate in her life when she decided to leave her job in international sales and marketing to start a chocolate shop in Belfast. From modest beginnings in her apartment, she moved into her cozy shop with a big workroom in back in December 2009. It's just a few steps down from the sidewalk on the corner of Donegall Square East, literally around the corner from Belfast City Hall. It has become, as Deirdre calls it, “a chocolate oasis in the city center.” The first time we visited, a regular customer had just stopped in for a cup of hot chocolate and a cherry-sencha truffle as a treat at the end of the work day. (The tart cherry and herbaceous...Read More

New book stimulates an appetite for Spain

Posted on by Pat and David
Pat's new book, 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go, has just been published by Travelers' Tales Press (travelerstales.com). In many ways, the book cover photo of a woman striding confidently through the Alhambra captures the deep allure of Spain. Perched on a hillside in Granada and backed by mountain peaks, the Alhambra is a masterpiece of Moorish artistry and a touchstone of a storied and turbulent past. Pat's choices for the book do touch on Spain's most celebrated sites and cities. They range from the futuristic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao that sparked a city renaissance to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Architect Antoni Gaudí's phantasmagoric basilica has been more than 130 years in the making and is finally nearing completion. But many chapters...Read More

Lincoln Inn emerges as Vermont’s gourmet destination

Posted on by Pat and David
The Lincoln Inn in Woodstock is among the most European of the little inns in Vermont, and not just because chef Jevgenija Saromova hails from Latvia. She and innkeeper partner Mara Mehlman describe the property as a “restaurant with rooms.” That's a model common in the European countryside, and often signals great dining. Think, for example, of Maison Troisgros, one of the pioneers of modern French cuisine. Woodstock isn't Roanne, of course, and Jevgenija Saromova (or Chef Saromova, as she prefers) isn't Jean or Pierre Troisgros. Not yet, anyway. But she has impressive classical culinary credentials and a personal style unique in northern New England. She worked in top restaurants in Italy, France, and England before joining Mehlman in Vermont. The two women have applied...Read More

Chocolate around the clock in Madrid

Posted on by Pat and David
Chocolate seems to have its “day” several times a year, with October 28 being named as National Chocolate Day, courtesy of the National Confectioners Association (“Making Life Sweeter Since 1884”). Truthfully, we think chocolate is worthy of international celebration. Our favorite place for hot chocolate, especially during what Spaniards call the “madrugada” (between midnight and dawn) is Madrid's Chocolatería San Ginés (Pasadizo San Ginés 5; tel 91-365-6546; www.chocolateriasangines.com). Here's what we have to say about it in our new edition of Frommer's Spain: “At some point, all of Madrid comes into Chocolatería San Ginés for a cup of the almost fudgy hot chocolate and the fried dough sticks known as churros. When the music stops in the wee hours of the morning, disco queens from...Read More

Mobile DAR House Museum has sweet bite of history

Posted on by Pat
I had a real taste of Southern hospitality when I visited the Richards DAR House Museum in Mobile, Alabama (256 North Joachim St., www.richardsdarhouse.com). The 1860 Italianate-style townhouse was built for a steamboat captain and his wife. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it features an intricate iron lacework facade and a beautiful cantilevered staircase. The home is furnished to reflect the comfortable, upper-class lifestyle of the late 19th century. Visitors are welcome to sit in the chairs and encouraged to play the piano. They are also served tea and a few small sweets in the dining room. This simple Apricot-Almond Delight Candy is always a hit. The recipe is published in the museum's cookbook Tastefully Yours. APRICOT-ALMOND DELIGHT CANDY Barbara Bodie,who...Read More

King’s Hawaiian: White bread with taste and soul

Posted on by Pat
Courtney Tiara's late grandfather founded King's Hawaiian bakery in Hilo on the island of Hawaii in 1950. She brought a taste of the islands to Boston recently when she celebrated the introduction of the products to the area with a luncheon at Catalyst Restaurant in Cambridge. According to Courtney, her grandfather was inspired by his Portuguese neighbors to create a soft and fluffy round bread similar to Portuguese sweet bread, but with a longer shelf life. The family-run company (Courtney's 94-year-old great-uncle is the master baker) has expanded its product line to include dinner rolls, hamburger buns, and more. It relocated first to Honolulu and later to California. “My grandfather never imagined making it to California and then all the way out here,” she said....Read More

PEI potatoes make rich cake for dessert

Posted on by David
My gastronomic adventures on Prince Edward Island were not limited to shellfish. PEI is famous for its potatoes — the tiny island grows more than a quarter of the entire Canadian crop. Chef Ilona Daniel of the Culinary Institute of Canada in Charlottetown consults for the potato board, which was handing out all kinds of recipes at the PEI Internaional Shellfish Festival. Most of them were predictable — potato gnocchi, potato pancakes, potato pizza, etc. But Daniel came up with this delicious cake that uses mashed potatoes and Greek yogurt to create a dense, moist texture that keeps for days. She was giving away samples, and once I tasted it, I knew I had to get the recipe. I cut the recipe to one-quarter of...Read More

What to bring home from a British grocery store

Posted on by Pat
Whenever I visit a British grocery store I scour the shelves for the most unusual items. But it's really the comfort foods that define a cuisine -- or at least taste like home. That's the lesson I learned from a lovely woman in Leeds who had lived and worked in Taiwan for 15 years. When I asked her what I might want to buy in the city's big Sainsbury grocery store, she immediately rattled off the items that she had most craved during her years abroad. At the end of every visit home, she would pack herself a big care package for her return trip to Taiwan. Here are the foods she couldn't do without: Heinz Tomato Soup. It's ultimate comfort food. Heinz Baked Beanz....Read More

Six things to bring home from Vermont

Posted on by Pat and David
It's official. The Food Lovers' Guide to Vermont & New Hampshire has shipped to stores and is available online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thanks to our efficient editors, we beat the technical publication date of July 3. In addition to restaurants, the book highlights great shops and local food producers. Vermont may be best known for maple syrup and cheddar cheese, but there's a whole lot more. Here are some of our favorite things to bring home from the Green Mountain State. The Red Bar from Middlebury Chocolates (2377 Route 7 South, Middlebury, VT; 802-989-1610; www.middleburychocolates.com) is the hardcore chocolate lovers' chocolate. Stephanie and Andy Jackson make all their chocolates straight from the bean. The Red Bar, says Andy, is “a throwback to...Read More