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2016 Holiday Gift Guide

If you are like me, you start stressing about holiday gifts about a week before Thanksgiving. I frantically google “holiday gift guides” only to find a million variations of hand-made necklaces and  pendants and novelty USB memory sticks. So, I appreciate a good, hand-picked gift guide. This is mine. It’s, of course, focused on food. But everything here is pre-tested and loved by me and Steve. I hope it helps you with your holiday shopping. Enjoy!

Chinese Black Vinegar – Gold Plum Chinkiang Vinegar (Amazon $8.24)

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This isn’t just any old vinegar. It’s made out of black rice and malt and it has a unique malted and slightly smoky taste. It’s like no other vinegar you’ve ever tasted. I love using it for marinades or to make a quick salad dressing. You can also use it to make this recipe for crispy broccoli with black vinegar. It’s sold in most grocery stores but you can also get it from Amazon.

Li Hing Mango (Amazon $24.32 for 40oz bucket)

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We discovered this while we were in Hawaii. It’s dried mango slices that are covered in something called li hing, which is a sweet and sour powder made up of ground plum skin that has been pickled in licorice, aspartame, food coloring, salt, and sugar. I know it sounds disgustingly artificial, but it’s incredibly addictive. We couldn’t stop eating it. The link at Amazon is for a giant bucket of 40oz that lasted us a good 8 months. They also sell it in smaller packages. Make sure you buy the brand “enjoy”. We’ve tried other brands and we weren’t crazy about them.

“My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life” by Ruth Reichl (Amazon $22.75 for hardcover version)

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Like many others, I was so disappointed by Ruth Reichl’s first foray into fiction with “Delicious!: A Novel.” That exclamation point alone made me cringe every time I picked it up to try and read a few more pages. In the end, I gave up on it after about a third of the way into the book. This wasn’t the Ruth I knew, the one that dazzled me with “Tender at the Bone” and “Comfort me with Apples.” But fortunately, she came back with this cookbook that details how she survived the shuttering of Gourmet…moment of silence…by cooking and eating good food. The recipes are written in conversational style and the stories are short and powerful. You’ll get to experience the grief of losing Gourmet all over again but you’ll relish the chance to cook along with Ruth and share in the joy that she brings to the kitchen.

Cuisinart 7193-20P Chef’s Classic Stainless 3-Quart Cook and Pour Saucepan with Cover (Amazon $35.28)

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I have never understood why almost all saucepans are created with a perfectly circular top lip. Every time I’ve had to pour something out of my saucepans, whether it was soup or a sauce or a custard, I’d always end up with some of it running down the side and onto my countertop. I had to search pretty hard to find a good saucepan with a pour spout. This Cuisinart one is great. It also comes in a smaller size. I love being able to pour everything out of it without losing a drop. My only quibble is that the spout is on the left side which means that I can’t pour out using my left hand and scrape with a spatula with my right. But otherwise this is fantastic

Aroma Housewares ARC-914SBD 8-Cup Rice Cooker and Food Steamer (Amazon $31.47) and Thai Sticky Rice (Amazon $14.16)

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I used to not understand why anyone would need a dedicated machine for making rice. I mean, how hard could it be? You put rice and water in a pot, cover, and cook. Done, right? Wrong! We finally gave in and bought this rice cooker and it has changed our lives. I never realized that rice could be cooked so perfectly, every time, without fail. It has a timer so I can just put the rice and water in there in the morning and have amazing rice done just as we are ready to eat in the evening. If you are getting this for someone as a gift, consider getting them a bag of Thai sticky rice along with it. Tell them that they don’t need to presoak the sticky rice, as it’s generally recommended. Just put the rice and water in the rice cooker and let it do its magic. They’ll be rewarded with that chewy, sweet delight of sticky rice that is sometimes the best thing I eat at some Thai restaurants in New York.

SodaStream Fountain Jet Sparkling Water Maker (Amazon $66.04)

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I know. You, your mother, your dog walker, your tax accountant, his dog walker, your car wash guy, they all have one. But maybe there’s someone in your life who doesn’t. It does one thing and it does it simply and well: it makes fizzy water. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that quenches my thirst on a hot summer day better than a glass of ice cold sparkling water with a slice of lemon. And it’s great not to have to waste a can or a plastic bottle every time you want to add a splash of fizz to your cocktails.

Maussane Olive Oil (Zingerman’s $40)

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This might be the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted. There’s a whole explanation of how it’s different over at Zingerman’s, how they pick the olives late, when they’re ripe and they are left to ferment a bit, but really, all you need to know is that this olive oil tastes and smells like an all-expenses paid vacation in an old manor in the French countryside, surrounded by olive groves and sunshine. It’s smooth, herbal, not at all bitter, and makes everything you cook taste heavenly. This isn’t olive oil for cooking. It’s for drizzling over cooked food or making dressings, mayo, aioli and the like.

Sugarfina Candy Gift Boxes (Sugarfina – Prices vary)

screen-shot-2016-12-02-at-5-19-49-pmOur friends Brad and Denny are amazing in so many ways, but there’s one particular way in which they shine: they give the best-ever host gifts. Every time we invite them over for dinner or a party they bring us something unique and interesting and usually mind blowingly delicious. One of those gifts was a box of candy from Sugarfina, a company that sources candy and chocolates from all over the world and packages it like jewels in a jewel box. There are champagne gummy bears from Germany, dark chocolate sea salt caramels from the US, choco crisps from Greece, and many many more. Whoever you give these to, they will praise you till the day they die.

Malted Milk Powder and Double Dutch Dark Cocoa from King Arthur Flour ($21)

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If you’ve been reading this blog, you know how much I love malted milk powder. It’s in many of the recipes listed in this blog, like the Banana Peanut Butter Malt Shake or the Ultimate Chocolate Ice Cream. Combining it with the phenomenal cocoa sold by King Arthur Flour would make a great gift for anyone. Before you wrap those two together, print out and add the recipe for Malted Hot Chocolate Mix to the gift. It will make them happy many times during the winter months.

Amarena Toschi Black Cherries (Amazon $17.70)

71l9zszffbl-_sx522_When you ask most people about maraschino cherries, they’ll mention Luxardo. They are the standard. However, if you want amazing cherries that don’t crystalize into sugar in the refrigerator, the Amarena Toschi cherries can’t be beat. They are fantastic over chocolate ice cream (or chopped up and added to it at the last few seconds of churning) and of course they make a great little sweet ending to a fine The Sommer cocktail.

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Chicken Ttavas/Τταβας (Chicken Stew with Cumin and Onions)

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We decided to drive to Platres, a village resort up near the highest point of Cyprus, on the Troodos mountains. Even though it was mid-April, the weather was wintery. Low clouds played hide-and-seek among the mountain tops, coming down enough to envelop our cars in a thin fog. The sun triumphed occasionally, only to be followed by a short hailstorm and then rain and then back to sun again. Above us, we could see that the highest peaks were snow covered from the night before.DSC03982

We reached the village around noon and parked at its center. Unlike other villages we had seen, with their disorganized chaos of delapidated shacks, restored old houses, and construction garbage everywhere, Platres was pristine. Beautiful houses were dotting the landscape, with tended gardens and flowering trees. “Platres was a popular upscale resort during the British colonial times,” I explained, “and it remained so after independence.”DSC03977

It started to drizzle. “Lunch?” I asked. Everyone nodded. We walked into the closest restaurant, doubtful it was even open. The whole village was quiet and empty. This was Easter week and much earlier than the crowded tourist season. The door to the restaurant opened and we walked in to a dining room empty of any customers, except for three men at a table, with a laptop open. “Come in,” one of them said, the apparent owner.

We sat down and he explained what was available for the day. It was a limited menu but there was enough there to entice us. Steve and JC ordered ttavas, a lamb stew, cooked in onions and tomatoes with a heavy dose of cumin. Traditionally cooked in clay pots in outdoor wood-burning ovens, I always remember it from my childhood, tasting of sweet earth and smoke. When it arrived at our table and Steve took a bite, his eyes lit up. “This is amazing,” he said. JC nodded in agreement.

Last week, back in New York, I decided to create a version of it, tweaking my mom’s recipe and using chicken instead of lamb. No clay pots or wood-burning ovens are involved, but it will get you as close as possible to a cold spring afternoon in Platres without leaving your home.

DSC04012Chicken Ttavas/Τταβας (Chicken Stew with Cumin and Onions)

Ingredients:

½ cup olive oil
1½ teaspoons of salt, divided
2 lbs onions (about 4 medium onions), peeled, cut in half and sliced crosswise in ¼-inch thick slices
6 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed with back of knife
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds, lightly crushed in mortar and pestle
One 14.5 oz (411 gr) can of diced tomatoes in juice
¾ cup white wine
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
1½-1¾ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325° F.

In a large oven-safe pot with lid, heat olive-oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft but have not turned brown, about 15 minutes. Add cumin, and cook, stirring constantly for another minute.

Add diced tomatoes and their juices, wine, vinegar, bay leaves, an additional 1 teaspoon of salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine well. Add chicken thighs and nestle them in the onion mixture to cover them. Bring back to a gentle simmer, cover pot and place in oven.

Cook covered for 60 minutes. Uncover pot and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper, if necessary

To serve, use two forks to separate chicken thighs into large pieces. Serve in shallow bowls with chunks of bread to sop up the onions and tomatoes.

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Chilled Peach Soup with Fresh Goat Cheese

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Last week we spend a long weekend at Cape Cod, at Truro and Provincetown. It’s a summer tradition that for me almost started with a disaster.

It was the fall of 1994. A few months before, at the end of June, I had just told my friend Brad that I was gay. It was the first time I told anyone and during the next few months I was swimming in a mix of exhilaration and loneliness. The freeing sensation of finally acknowledging to someone else that I was gay was an experience like none I had ever experienced (or have since). “You don’t have to come out to your mailman,” Brad joked in that fall of 1994 after I told him how I was on a coming out rampage. I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.

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But it was also a time of loneliness. Here I was, freshly out and eager to start my new, my real, life, but I was stuck. I had just finished college and I was living in New Jersey, in a drab and depressing apartment next to a highway, with a straight roommate I had just met who didn’t know I was gay and with absolutely no gay friends or any idea where to find other gay people. My occasional trips to New York to meet with Brad were just not enough. Most of the time I felt trapped and alone.

So, it was during that fall that Brad told me about the vacation he had just taken with some friends. “We went to this amazing place!” he gushed. “It’s a little town at the tip of Cape Cod and its full of gay people! It’s like heaven.” Neither of us had heard of Ptown, as it’s often called, so this was a revelation. For me, it sounded like exactly what I needed.

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So, since I couldn’t take time off from work and since I needed some time to plan my trip, I ordered a TripTik from AAA (remember those?) and decided that I would drive up to this magical place called Provincetown…in February. Yes. In February. I had no idea that Ptown in February is bitterly cold, as you’d expect for a tiny village perched on the tip of Cape Cod in the middle of the North Atlantic across from Boston. And I didn’t know that almost everything would be closed and only a few locals who stayed around for the winter would be there. That there would be very few if any gay people and they would be old timers, hunkered down in their homes. This was 1994. There was no web and no other easy way for me to know any of this.

When February came, I kept delaying my trip. March came and I still hadn’t left. And then right when I was gearing up to drive up there, I went to a gay community event in New Jersey where I met a guy named Wayne who went on to become my first boyfriend. And when I told him about my plans he laughed. He explained how Ptown would be nothing like what I expected if I had gone in February and instead we planned a trip there that summer. It turned out to be exactly how Brad described it. So we went back the summer after that and the one after that and the one after that. And for twenty years now, along with peaches, chilled soups, and rosé wine, Ptown has been a summer tradition.

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Chilled Peach Soup with Fresh Goat Cheese – Slightly Adapted from Food and Wine

Ingredients:

3 cups sliced peeled peaches (about 4 peaches), plus more for garnish
1/4 cup finely diced peeled seedless cucumber
1/4 cup finely diced yellow bell pepper, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup diced dried apricots
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons crumbled fresh goat cheese, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar, plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt
1 large garlic clove

Directions:

1. In a bowl, toss the peaches, diced cucumber, yellow pepper and apricots. Add the honey, 3 tablespoons of goat cheese, 1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Add the garlic. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Discard the garlic. Transfer the contents of the bowl to a blender and puree. Add 1/4 cup of water and puree until very smooth and creamy; add more water if the soup seems too thick. Season with salt and white balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate the soup until very cold, about 1 hour.

3. Pour the peach soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the diced peach and bell pepper, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and serve.

 

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Happy New Year

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Hi everyone. I’ll be taking a break for about a week, so there won’t be a new recipe on the blog this weekend. We will be ringing in the new year in Corsica with a group of friends. If we come across any interesting food finds, I will be sure to post them here.

Happy new year to everyone and may 2014 bring you all health, happiness, and lots of delicious surprises.