Category: Cooking, Food & Wine

Watch a fresh faced and excited Anthony Bourdain take three of his food loving friends for an unforgettable meal at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant.

Growing up Nigerian, we ate a lot of home grown vegetables. We had our own garden of fresh fruits, vegetables, yam and herbs. On the weekends, mommy made anything from bean fritters to yam and eggs or yam and vegetables. My favorite weekend breakfast was yam and egg plant sauce. Although eating egg plants did take some getting used to, I fell in love with it. It was usually fried in oil, seasoned lightly, cooked slowly and loaded with mackerel.

I have tried egg plants a lot of ways, but this recipe right here is my absolute favorite.

Eating egg plant sauce is a great way to get your healthy vegetables in; especially if you’re one of the fit fam folks who do meatless Mondays.

One reason I love this recipe is because apart from it being easy, it had a certain sweetness. I have tried some egg plants that were bitter to taste after cooking. But I found the hack and it’s boiling the egg plants until a little soft and peeling off the skin.

In finding a pocket of time, I made some egg plant sauce and viola! Yam and fried plantain toh bad!

My sauce had a lot of seeds because of the breed of egg plants I used, but regardless of the seeds, the sauce was delicious. It was a pot of sauce not to be forgotten.

For a foot note, how your egg plant sauce turns out depends on what breed of egg plants used and how you cook it.

Another reason to love this sauce is the umami; and that is the addition of locust beans. Thank you Funmi

I used Thai egg plants which are the same shape as the image below, but green in color.

You may use the purple egg plants, but those are kind of naturally sweeter so they don’t require any form of peeling.

Another good thing I like about this sauce is the fact that it feels like a tight hug, strong enough to hold you and keep you warm throughout the cooler months.

If I were you, I’d start cooking

 

Watch Michelin-starred chefs as Ramsey, Boulud and Blanc teach you how to slow-cook anything: fish, lamb, beef, chicken and pork.

Easy peasy Swedish meatballs made in your pressure cooker! The meatballs are so tender and the gravy is so rich and creamy!

I just love love love a good Swedish meatball. Well, come to think of it, I like the bad ones too. I mean, hello, they’re meatballs smothered in a creamy meatball gravy.

There’s no downside here.

But don’t worry. This is a good Swedish meatball. I would never steer you wrong.

And it’s also made in the Instant Pot so there’s another win for you there.

Not to mention, the meatballs are made with a combination of beef and pork, and they come out amazingly tender. They just fall apart in your mouth.

The gravy is also just perfect – so rich, so creamy, and well, not enough to drink from a bowl. But hey, we can’t get them all, can we?

The post Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs appeared first on Damn Delicious.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Walmart. As always, I only partner with brands that I love and truly believe in, allowing me to create more quick and easy recipes to get us through the week without breaking the bank. All opinions expressed are my own.

Mexican elote is served up right in these hearty bowls with whole grains, pico de gallo, black beans, avocado and so much more!

I have been completely obsessed with these bowls.

It’s hearty, it’s filled with plenty of veggies and produce, and well, hello, we have everyone’s favorite Mexican elote here!

The corn is made irresistibly creamy with mayonnaise, cotija, cilantro, chili powder and zesty lime juice. Yes, yes and yes.

But more importantly, look at all the other fun goodies in here!

Featuring a homemade pico de gallo, romaine lettuce, avocado, more cilantro and more lime wedges, we can easily get all of our fresh produce right at Walmart for these AH-MAZING bowls.

Walmart has locally-grown produce (which varies by location) so be on the lookout for all the farm-to-shelf groceries to pick the freshest, perfectly ripe ingredients.

Because, yes, these Mexican street corn bowls is where it’s at. K, thanks.

The post Mexican Street Corn Bowls appeared first on Damn Delicious.

Whoa. Guys. These are the most mind-blowing tacos EVER! Filled with everyone’s favorite Korean beef, caramelized kimchi + Sriracha mayo!

I feel like I have been all over the place these last 10 days. I was in Arkansas last weekend, then flew off to Minneapolis for a quick work trip at the General Mills headquarters, then worked at the studio in downtown Los Angeles for two days, and now I’m off to Ecuador tomorrow morning!

I literally have been all over the place. But the only thing keeping me sane right now are these tacos.

These Korean beef tacos that are absolutely to die for.

I don’t know if it’s the Korean beef, the caramelized kimchi or the Sriracha mayo, or the combination of everything neatly tucked in a mini flour tortilla.

It’s just amazing. And I’ve had about 17 of these while packing for my next trip.

Maybe I can pack 3-5 for the flight? The passenger sitting next to me probably won’t mind, right?

The post Korean Beef Tacos appeared first on Damn Delicious.

Wine grapegrowers in Northern California’s Lake and Mendocino counties and Oregon’s Rogue Valley are unhappy after some of the industry’s bigger companies refused grapes from growers they had contracts with due to potential smoke taint as a result of summer wildfires. The companies say lab tests showed high levels of compounds that could lead to smoky flavors in wines, but the growers dispute that.

In late August, Constellation Brands and Treasury Wine Estates rejected an estimated 1,200 tons of grapes from several Lake and Mendocino growers, just as harvest was getting underway. A few weeks later, Joe Wagner’s Copper Cane Wines & Provisions refused 2,000 tons of grapes from 15 grapegrowers in Southern Oregon.

“This was a tough decision to make,” Wagner told Wine Spectator. “Knowing that we need to maintain our good reputation with growers as well as with our brand, we made the call after discovering that it was more widespread than we thought.”

Catching smoke

Two wildfires ignited in Southern Oregon in mid-July. One is still burning, with 75 percent containment. Fires in Lake and Mendocino counties broke out at the end of July and took more than a month to contain.

Wagner said his team initially took grape samples to test in labs, like many others, but found that the chemical analyses were all over the board. They then decided to ferment small lots from each vineyard, a tactic first used by the Australian Wine Research Institute. It was only then that they detected the impact of smoke. “If you’re just testing the grapes, you’re throwing money at the wind; you need to do ferments to see for sure,” said Wagner.

Smoke taint occurs when grapes are exposed to smoke-filled air for an extended period of time. The longer the smoke hangs in the area, the more a residue builds on the grapes, which permeates the skins. The smoke compounds, volatile phenols including guaicol and 4-methylguiacol, then bond with the sugars. Grapes can be analyzed for the compounds, but results can be inconclusive. It’s only after fermentation that the volatile compounds are released, which can make a wine taste smoky. Grapes are most susceptible between veraison (when the grapes’ color darkens), and reds are more directly affected.

Unfortunately, growers are at the mercy of contracts, which have stipulations for quality, including smoke taint. But because detecting taint is tricky, it leaves a lot of uncertainty.

Many vineyard owners say they have sent their grapes in for analysis and found they measured below the threshold for what would be considered tainted. Some vineyard owners in Oregon are claiming that Copper Cane never conducted tests on their fruit and they were left high and dry come harvesttime. Copper Cane denies that and contends that they utilized their own labs as well as a third party for testing. (It hasn’t helped Wagner’s cause that he has been involved in a labeling fight with Oregon vintners and politicians.)

Wagner said they worked as fast as they could to determine if grapes were suitable. “You had to give seven to 10 days for fermentation and then another seven to 10 for a return for analysis, and we let everyone know there was a problem at that point.” Wagner claimed that laboratory results were sent to all the growers and many understood the decision they had to make. “This is something we’ve never done before, but we still feel confident in our decision.”

Sam Tannahill, co-founder of Oregon’s A to Z Wineworks, is one of Oregon’s largest purchasers of Rogue Valley grapes for his 375,000-case brand, and believes it’s an unfortunate situation that is difficult to blame on anyone. “A winery doesn’t want to expose themselves to liability or make bad wine, and the grower is upset because they feel like they’ve done nothing wrong,” Tannahill told Wine Spectator. “It’s frustrating, because it’s not an issue of poor vineyard management; it’s outside the control of both winery and vineyard.”

Tannahill noted that he has not refused any of his Rogue Valley fruit and that so far he has seen low levels of smoke-tainted grapes and believes most are isolated incidents. “It’s foolish to say it’s not there, but it’s extremely variable, depending on the microclimate, timing and length of exposure,” said Tannahill.

Debra Sommerfield, president of the Lake County Wine Grape Commission, echoed Tannahill’s comments. “It’s useful to understand that Lake County’s 10,000 acres of vineyard lands are planted throughout a vast, diverse topography of mountains, ridges, hills and valleys, each with a range of elevations and distinct wind patterns.” Sommerfield noted that it’s difficult to generalize the impact of smoke, but that growers are working together to make informed decisions.

Brent Dodd, corporate communications manager for Treasury Wine Estates, told Wine Spectator, “Our viticulturist and winemakers are working through a third party, carefully evaluating grapes from regions effected by wildfires in 2018; if the grapes do not meet our quality standards then they will unfortunately be rejected, which is standard in the industry.” Dodd also said that they are in close communication with their growers to continue testing grapes as needed as harvest carries on.

Banding together

Lawmakers and winery owners in Oregon met last week to help mitigate the estimated $4 million in losses for Rogue Valley vintners. In response, Willamette Valley Vineyards and King Estate Winery have purchased nearly 100 tons from Rogue Valley growers. Other wineries have purchased grapes or offered tank space to help crush the crop, so growers can make the wine and sell it in the bulk-wine market.

The Lake County Winegrape Commission is spearheading a collaborative research project with the University of California at Davis, ETS Laboratories and other partners, including individual grapegrowers, to further understand the effects of smoke and look for options for future years.

Tannahill hopes that incidents like these spur more conversations for the wine industry. “My hope is for there to eventually be federally imposed insurance to keep growers stable, and mitigate the loss for the winery in contract for the grapes.” He noted that vineyard insurance in Oregon is fairly uncommon because growers rarely get enough back from their losses.

Wagner suggested that he’d be more than willing to pay an additional cost per ton to cover the expense of crop insurance for his growers, and hinted that Copper Cane is formulating a plan to offer relief to the affected growers. “We’re farmers ourselves and we hope there’s more crop insurance up there in the future,” said Wagner “We can’t remake the past, but we know what we need to do in the future.”

Tannahill believes the problem with smoke taint isn’t going away any time soon. “This is about climate change, and about how forests are managed, and vineyards just happen to be near these areas,” said Tannahill. “There’s been smoke all up and down the West Coast for several years, and our industry needs to take a serious look at how to deal with it so that it doesn’t become endemic.”

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The pastry chef from Café Pouchkine in Paris talks to Fine Dining Lovers about her creations and passions. Look at her amazing inspirational dishes.

Over 30 of the best chefs from around the world will be gathering in Istanbul on 17 November to discuss “Creativity”. Be sure to book a front row seat.