Tag: Cooking

Fine Dining Lovers share its favourite quince paste recipe to treat you this fall. Serve with cheese or simply enjoy as sweetmeats.

This is the ONLY way to make this! Even the pasta gets cooked right in the crockpot! SO stinking easy, right?

I’m finally back home.

I went from Arkansas to Minneapolis to a two-day shoot in Los Angeles to Ecuador and then Big Sur. All in a span of 2 1/2 weeks.

Not to mention but we were actually delayed at the Monterey airport on Sunday for over 4 hours (this is the closest airport to Big Sur). And to give you some perspective, we could have driven back to LA from Monterey in 5 hr and 17 min.

It’s been rough to be away from home for so long to say the least.

But, I am home with Butters nonetheless. And this giant crockpot of spaghetti and meatballs.

It’s such a classic cozy dish, perfect for this time of year. And it’s even better because you can make this right in your crockpot.

Just let it simmer and cook low and slow for 7-8 hours, stirring in the pasta and letting that cook for another 30-40 minutes.

Yes, the pasta gets cooked right in the crockpot so it legit doesn’t get any easier.

Serve with extra crusty bread, and maybe a few more meatballs covered in fresh Parmesan. It’s simply perfection.

The post Slow Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs appeared first on Damn Delicious.

I am a huge fan of Okra thanks to my ajebutter and my dad. There’s no telling how many times I make it in one week. Even my son the gluten free ajebutter loves and prefers a meal of okra over anything else. Infact he calls the Nigerian stew and okra the red and green soup.

Today we will take a trip to Ghana. Ghanaians and Nigerians do have a lot in common; especially when it comes to food. Apart from Egusi, Jollof rice and suya, we do share similarities in how we make our okra and to them it’s called Okra stew. Maybe because of how it’s made with a tomato base. Not forgetting that the Yoruba’s do call theirs Okra stew too.

My ajebutter had to get some allergy shots and with him crying “mommy mommy” I had to make something quick. And what better recipe to make than one with okra. It’s quick it’s easy and it’s damn delicious! 

I have seen some of my Ghanaian neighbors eat this soup with banku. A fufu mix of corn and cassava. Although I didn’t make mine with banku, we enjoyed it with yellow garri. As in the garri dey draw like pounded yam kaiiii!

With what I saw online; and what I’ve seen my neighbors prepare, this stew is usually made to look quite soupy, but mba; not for me o. I couldn’t enjoy any soupy stew. It has to be a little thick for me. When it’s not pepper soup 

To get this recipe, I had to talk to none other than @Kesskravings on instagram.  She does African recipes with a very modern twist. I enjoy looking at her photos; which makes my foodie soul happy. Oh you might also want to check her app; Kravings out on iTunes. The pictures alone are to die for or as the Warri people say “na die!”

You need to see the way my Ghanaian neighbors eat this stew: like it’s the last thing on earth. Nigerians also love Okra soup too. I only met a few who did not like okra. But before I leave you the recipe, I’ll leave you with this question to ponder. In the words of my friend Mike “Ghana again? After contesting jollof with us(Nigerians), they now have their own okro?” I also want to ask “abeg na okro or okra?”

Abeg Mike help me ask them oh. But the stew sweet sha.

Here is my take on Kess’s recipe 

 

You don’t have to miss out if you’re going gluten-free in NYC. From haute cuisine to pizza these destination eateries mean you don’t have to compromise.

When singer-songwriter-vintner Sting serenaded attendees at the 2016 New York Wine Experience, expectations for the event’s entertainment quotient were raised. This year’s Friday lineup did not disappoint.

And like Sting and Trudie Styler’s Il Palagio, the Bon Jovi team’s wine project is more than a lark. “This is not a celebrity wine. This is a fine wine, made with love and created with family,” singer Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd as he presented the HW Wine Company Languedoc Rosé Diving into Hampton Water 2017 (90 points, $25). It all started when his son Jesse Bongiovi joked that rosé was in fact the water of the Hamptons, where the family has a home.

“We really wanted to create a wine that not only had a catchy name, and a label that stood out, but also had the complexity and structure to be taken seriously by the wine community,” said Bongiovi. So they sought the winemaking talent of Gérard Bertrand, himself a star, first on the rugby field and now as a trailblazing vintner in France’s Languedoc region. “He understands that wine, like a good song, can bring people together,” said Bon Jovi.

The wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Mourvèdre, with 25 percent aged in new French oak, which is unusual for rosé, lending a fuller body and more structure than some pinks, added Bongiovi. As guests sipped on “Hampton water,” Bon Jovi slung a guitar over his shoulder and performed an acoustic version of “You Give Love a Bad Name,” in the same room in which, nine years earlier, he’d been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Read Gillian Sciaretta’s interview with Jon Bon Jovi and Jesse Bongiovi about their Hampton Water project in Wine Spectator‘s June 30, 2018, issue.

Learn how to store your stash of seasonal chestnuts correctly and enjoy them at their best all year round.

“Our focus this morning is on the red wines made on the Corton hill in Burgundy,” said senior editor Bruce Sanderson, introducing a lineup of four grands crus. “The wines are influenced by the different characteristics of each vineyard, but if you take a little time to get to know the various terroirs and producers, you will be rewarded.”

Each of the panelists represented a family-run domaine, some of which have been passed down for centuries. The range of vintages showcased how Corton wines age; at 10 years, these Pinot Noirs are just getting started.

Nathalie Tollot, co-owner of Tollot-Beaut, which owns a plot in Corton-Bressandes, noted how crucial the vineyard’s position is: “What makes it quite different to other grands crus is that Corton-Bressandes lies on the east side of the hill, which is facing the rising sun, which dries off the humidity from the night and keeps it warm during the day.”

The 2016 (not yet rated) she poured was young, bottled just in January. “It’s presenting quite well … it’s full of fruit because of a nice cool vintage,” Tollot said. “In Burgundy, we don’t like too-warm vintages. We prefer to have cool ones to preserve the aromas.”

Stepping back a few years for the next wine, Bouchard Père & Fils technical director Philippe Prost shared Le Corton Domaine 2014 (93 points, $125), from a vineyard the house converted to organic farming. The reward is in the glass. Although the 2014 vintage was on the rainier and cooler side, he said, they had “exceptional fruit, a top year for this location. It gives marvelous expression, we can say without a doubt, so the fruit could rise to the top, but there’s still very nice acidity.”

The Domaine Faiveley Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley 2009 (95, $200 on release), picking up notes of leather and truffle, is unusual in that the grand cru designation includes the owner’s name. Erwan Faiveley’s family bought the vineyard in 1874. “In the 1930s, the appellation organization asked us to stop using the name Clos des Cortons because there were many clos around Corton,” he explained. “Eventually we went to court. The judge decided that to avoid confusion it would be called Clos des Cortons Faiveley. We said, ‘Thank you.’”

“With that wine, you can really start to see the complexity” that comes from aging nearly a decade, Sanderson said, “and now we’re going to step back another 10 years.”

That meant 1999—“one of best vintages of the last 25 to 30 years,” said Louis-Fabrice Latour, as the Louis Latour Corton Château Corton Grancey (not rated) was poured. “Perhaps one of the best vintages ever in Burgundy. We were able to make a vintage that is full-bodied, nicely structured, the color is still there, and great focus.”

As the 11th-generation steward of the house (which still has some 1865s in the cellar), Latour has the long view on how Burgundy character changes with age: “We say that the vintage is more important than the terroir; as time goes by, the terroir seems more important.”

Discover our favorite recipe for the ultimate rosemary roasted chicken. Plus, tips and ideas for making easy variations infused with lemon, garlic and more.

Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta travels the world representing one of the most prominent names in Italian wine—a wine that is more than the sum of its parts, synonymous with the birth of a world-class region.

Incisa della Rocchetta brought magnums of the Cabernet Sauvignon–dominated Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2006 (94 points, $215/750ml on release) to share along with the history of the wine. “It’s a wine which is a very classic Sassicaia,” she said. “It’s structured, but at the same time very elegant. It really is a very, very good interpretation of the territory of Bolgheri, and for us, the territory is the main player in the success of this wine.”

It goes both ways: Sassicaia is also key to the success of Bolgheri. In the 1940s, Incisa della Rocchetta’s grandfather, Mario, began experimenting with Bordeaux varieties after moving to Bolgheri from outside of Rome. The wines were unlike the Sangioveses and Trebbianos that the locals were used to, and many were skeptical of the Piedmont native’s new style. Nevertheless, Mario continued making his wines from Cabernet Franc, sharing his creations with family and friends.

About 20 years later, Incisa della Rocchetta’s father, Nicoló, joined his father, Mario, and convinced him to release Sassicaia commercially. “My grandfather was very much against it,” Incisa della Rocchetta said. “He didn’t want to share his baby wine with anybody else.”

Finally, in 1968, Tenuta San Guido produced the first commercial vintage of Sassicaia. With some help from nephew Piero Antinori and his enologist, Giacomo Tachis, along with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon to the blend, it wasn’t long until the world took notice. In 1994, the wine was recognized for bringing attention and credibility to the region with the creation of the Bolgheri-Sassicaia DOC.

While Priscilla was the star on stage, the Tenuta San Guido co-owner emphasized that her father and grandfather made the company what it is: “I am very proud to take the merits today, but it’s actually them that we should thank.”

Read more about Bolgheri, and Sassicaia’s role in its success, in “Tuscany’s Napa,” in Wine Spectator‘s April 30, 2018, issue.

One sip of the Aubert Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Lauren 2014 and it was obvious Wine Spectator senior editor Kim Marcus wasn’t exaggerating when he told the Wine Experience audience, “Mark’s wines are magnificent examples of California Chardonnay.”

Mark Aubert, like his Chardonnay, was quietly intense and dignified on stage, his dark hair accented by white and his humor dusty dry. The Napa Valley native told the crowd that while he’s inspired and guided by the great whites of Burgundy, his goal is to make Chardonnay that’s distinctly Californian.

Aubert turns to western Sonoma County for most of his Chardonnay grapes. Lauren vineyard holds a special significance for him. It was the first estate vineyard he and his wife/partner, Teresa, planted, having bought the property in 2000. They also named it after their daughter. “She has no interest in the wine business, but she sure likes to see her name in print,” he joked.

Located just outside the small town of Forestville, near the Russian River, the 8-acre vineyard is in what Aubert considers his personal sweet spot. The soils, called Goldridge, are a sandy, loamy mix with a high natural minerality. It was once an ancient seabed. “It’s a winemaker’s dream to have this kind of soil mix in a vineyard,” he said.

The 2014 Lauren (93 points, $95) reveals Aubert’s winemaking signature: opulent and rich but sleek and graceful. It was 100 percent barrel-fermented with native yeasts, and aged mostly in new French oak. “Chardonnay has been good to us,” Aubert said. “I’ve been able to coax out a lot of flavors that other people seem to miss.”