Luxury Eating For Mom

 Mother's Day is all about pampering and treating Mom to something special. Why not treat her to some luxurious meals from  breakfast to lunch to dinner. She'll appreciate not just the time and effort but also those special recipes.

The most commonly made Mother's Day meal is breakfast. Nothing beats breakfast in bed. Make it even more special than eggs Benedict. This is actually nothing more than a breakfast sandwich with Hollandaise on it. The great thing about this recipe is that it can be varied. The original one calls for one one or two slices of Canadian bacon to be layered with sunny side up eggs. However think how Mom would react if you subbed in small filet mignon for the ham for a truly lush Mother's Day treat. If; she's  big seafood lover then think a crab or lobster Benedict. The last requites lobster tails to be cooked and shredded.  You could also do a take on the Southern shrimp and grits breakfast by adding shrimp to the  recipe too. Another idea is French toast.Yes, you could whip up the traditional sweet recipe but what about a savory one that would work well with a Bloody Mary? This is swapping the cinnamon and sugar for pepper and eggs. The basic ingredients are the same,  - a dense chewy bread like a sour dough , dunked in an egg and milk batter.Any kind of shredded cheese is then added on top.If you like add a smear of tomato jelly and top with bacon strips.

Of course this could also work for a lush lunch, especially when it's topped with slices of paper thin prosciutto. Serve with a red wine spritzer, which is just red wine mixed with a seltzer for a different but elegant lunch or supper.Grilling is usually a Father's Day activity but Mom can also have grilled meat. If the filet mignon was too much for breakfast then think of it as a nice Sunday lunch or supper idea. Marinate in olive oil and rosemary for extra flavor. first before cooking . Serve on warmed French or Italian bread. Again grilled shrimp and lobster are perfect . The shrimp can be turned into tasty kabobs , layered with cherry tomatoes and small onions. The lobster can be cut in half and remove the green insides or tomally  and break off the claws. (These can also be grilled) Drizzle with oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper..What would go with this? Try a simple spinach salad with a lemon vinaigrette or a tomato salad that can be spooned onto crusty rolls. Quiches are also a nice lunch or supper. They're easy to make yet rich in flavor and texture. They can be the traditional or a lovely veggie one.

Mom deserves the best on her day. make it special with lush meals she's sure to enjoy. Celebrate her with luxurious recipes.

A Warming Picnic

 These past few days haven't been Springlike. There's still a wintry chill in the air despite the blooming flowers and bright sunshine.It's still a nice time to gou outside for a picnic, just bring warm food.

A picnic with hot food is an easy gather. You can always buy a whole roast chicken just from the rotisserie at any of your local grocery stores. Pack a sharp carving knife so you can cut slices for sandwiches.  Another idea is bringing buckets of assorted pieces from Popeyes' or KFC along. Make sure you have plenty of wet wipes for afterwards. Of course a barbecue is another way of having warming food on an outing. There's the usual fare of hot dogs and hamburgers but you could also bring steaks or wursts for something different. if you want gravy for the steak, heat it up before hand at home, and then pour into a thermos. This creates a tasty French dip sandwich , perfect for chasing away a a Spring chill. To accompany the meat  think baked potatoes. You can roast them either with or without foil. One usually takes forty -five minutes to an hour  to thoroughly cook through If you want a faster cook precook them for about five to six minutes in the microwave before leaving home.

What about sides? Can they be hot as well? yes. You can easily whip up a hot potato salad and then put it in a container in an insulated bag.  To make this, it's cooking the potatoes in a vinegar and oil mix along with sauteed  chopped onions, flour sugar salt, celery salt and pepper. Bacon gives it an added kick of flavor but you can omit it if you want.  Another side is sauteing  cannelini beans with spinach and garlic.This can also be put into a container and carried to the picnic. A lighter hot picnic can be soup in a thermos with hot grilled bread. You can either make the soup yourself or just heat up cans of Campbells' or Gardein and pour into a thermos.What do you drink it out of? Get a set of camping coffee mugs on Amazon. A set of six stainless steels ones is only $15.99. These are great because they  can be easily rinsed out too. Use these for hot tea, coffee or hot cocoa that you can bring along too. These are the perfect ends to a hot picnic at the park or beach. Bring slices of plain pound cakes or shortbread cookies to end the meal.

Yes it's a chilly Spring right now. Yet you can still enjoy a meal in the fresh air. Just make it a hot one for a more enjoyable experience.

Small Parties Everywhere

 May is almost upon us and that means a slew of parties, from showers to graduation celebrations. it is time to celebrate yet many don't like the idea of big crowds. What do do? Go small. A gathering of only a few people over a series of days is better than a big do.

This is the season for bridal and baby showers. You can scale them down to six to ten people at a time. This makes for easy prepping cooking and clean up. Hosts can spend more time on cooking a smaller variety of nibbles and hors d'ouevres. Showers can have individual mini quiches. These are smaller than the usual nine inch ones and bigger than the appetizer ones. You can customize them with guests' favorite ingredients .Make a bacon and cheddar for one guest and two or three veggies for those who want a vegetarian version. Another great idea for a smaller party is serving Cornish game hens.  All you would need would be three or four for a small party. They can be easily spatchcocked and grilled on an outdoor grill. Think a honey mustard glaze for more flavor. Serve with timbales of rice and minced portabella mushrooms. A simple salad with a vinaigrette is s lovely side. You don't have to go crazy making a huge one. An average sized one will do nicely for a small gathering. As for desserts, think little tea cakes or a tray of prettily colored macarons or meringues.

Graduation parties, especially college ones have always been splashy with kegs and endless burgers on the grill. Suppose the grad leans towards a more intimate get together? Throw a small outdoor party under the backyard trees. You can still have grilled meats but instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, think filet mignons Just slice and marinated in a mix of olive oil, lemon and rosemary. The slices can be put on grilled sliced baguettes. London Broil can also be put on the grilled. Again for a moister meat marinated in olive oil for a juicier bite.  A truly memorable graduation meal for a small crowd is grilled lobster tails.  They're an easy outdoor cook which can be made in under twenty minutes. If lobster is a tad expensive then think of marinated shrimp kebobs for a tasty party meal.Intersperse with onions and grape tomatoes for a fun colorful look. Keep the sides simple. A plain garden salad is your best bet.Add some radishes and bell pepper strips for some color. As for the cake, think a delicate pavlova , a confection of meringue , whipped cream and fresh fruit  layered to airy perfection. You can also think a Bundt cake  that can be served with ice cream.

Little parties are the way to go these days. Think about an intimate dinner , small on guests but big on flavor.It makes for a more memorable gathering all will enjoy.

Happy Gummy Birthday

 There is one candy in every Gen X'ers and Millennium's life that cries childhood. That is Gummy Bears. These classics are celebrating their one hundredth (!!!) birthday this year.

Restaurant critic and new contributor Mahira Rivers wrote about this candy shop staple in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Haribo has been a part of German life for the last century thanks Hans Riegel who adapted a recipe for fruit flavored pastilles to create the first gummy bears. The densely chewy  gelatin based gummies were modeled after real life dancing bears , a form of entertainment at the time. They were rebranded as Goldbears. Gummy candy didn;t take off in America until 1981. It was then that the Herman Goetlitz Candy Company, later renamed Jelly Belly introduced the first American made gummy bear. Haribo cane to the States a year later. The Indiana based company Albanese introduced their version in 1983 and soon after there were gummy everythings. from Trolli's wriggly worms to Mondelez' Sour Patch Kids. Not surprisingly Disney was added to the mix in 1985 thanks to its' medieval themed adventures of the Gummi family in the animated series "Adventures of The Gummi Bears". The pandemic also boosted sales with people comforting themselves with turning to the candy for solace. Sales of chewy candies hit a record high of 4.6. billion in 2021.

The candies are part of the American scene now. There are gummy bear pool floats along with strings of gummy bear lights for parties.The little treats are even gracing other sweets such as raspas - Mexican shaved ice dessert and dulces enchilados a Mexican American snack of chamoy - a sweet and savory paste made with dried fruit and chili. Ashley Garza and her boyfriend Adrian Martinez  m ixes the bears along with other gummy candy like watermelon belts with a generous drizzle of the chamoy followed by a liberal sprinkling of tart chili seasoning. Gummies are a large part of a candy charcuterie platter too according to Elizabeth Bond owner of the Ruby Bond Candy Company. She expertly layers various shapes onto plastic trays to create a sweet charcuterie platter.There are lines of not just bear but also stars,butterflies and other chewy bites. Gummy bears are not without controversy. Haribo used "forced labor" during World War Two, after it declined to donted money to support surviving former enslaved workers.. As recent as 2017, there were allegations that slave labor was being used on the Brazilian plantations that supplied the carnauba wax that helps in creating a non sticky surface. Now the company uses beeswax which may cause future controversy.

Gummy bears have hit their centennial. Their chewy goodness have gladdened the heart s of kids around the world for ten decades now. They'll keep on making little - and big ones happy.

Will Banh MI Be The New Take Out

 Vietnamese food is fasting becoming an integral part of American cuisine. Now it may become part of American fast food thanks to the creativity of Vietnamese American entrepreneurs. Will it replace burger and fries? Possibly. 

Regular contributor, chef and cookbook author Priya Krishna wrote about this phenomena in today's New York Times Food section. It's starting in Texas where there is has always been a huge Vietnamese population.Paul Pham is leading the way with this, starting a chain called Hughie's.It's much more than a McDonald's or Burger King with offerings of wine to accompany the food. One of his in an old Dairy Queen and he does make that chain's famed chicken tenders., complete with their buttermilk brine and thick crust. The menu features such Vietnamese classics as pho soup along with shaken beef - a quick savory and sweet wok fried meat dish and banh mi - the famed sandwich using baguettes, meat and pickled veggies. In recent years several Vietnamese eateries have opened with that same intent - take out. They all have drive throughs which helped a lot during the pandemic. They hope to expand beyond their community and reach other Americans who love the cuisine.

Fast food and the drive through is a great way to introduce a particular cuisine to Americans. The drive through emerged in the mid Twentieth Century  and flourished in the Seventies. It started with burgers and fries thanks to Mc Donald's and Burger King. Mexican fast food chains like Taco Bell and Taco Cabana have also widely accepted it. The pandemic only emphasized the need for it, with no contact for food pick up. Vietnamese dishes such as banh mi and spring rolls are portable and easy to package. However for Kenny To, co owner with Hien Nguyen , owners of To me Vietnamese Sub, the food is much more labor intensive than just the average taco or burger. He bakes the subs himself and creates the marinades for the meat. These can be limited too. A condiment like Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce can be hard to find in non Asian American communities. At least one Vietnamese fast food has already figured out how to deal with a national audience. One of the oldest,Lee's Sandwiches started in 1983 by Ban Le and Hanh Nguyen expanded into Vietnamese neighborhoods across California and eight more states.

Vietnamese fast food will be as ubiquitou as other fast food cuisines. The food is tasty and filling, a level above the usual drive through fare. It will be a refreshing change from the usual.

Disaster For Dinner

 It's just a fact of life that there could be a cooking or baking disaster. Every home chef goes through several during a lifetime.What to do? Keep calm and carry on with some quick thinking and amending.

This happened to me the other night, I was all set to try chickpea gnocchi from Aldi. I was st to my my favorite sauce burst tomatoes, anticipating the sweet -savory flavor of this on the potato dumplings. Unfortunately it was not to be. i taste tested two or three gnocchi, discovering that those had an extremely sour taste. These were ditched right away, the consensus was they had been left too long on the store's shelf.What to do with the sauce? Luckily there was sliced semolina bread. This proved to be a life saver. The sauce was spooned over the slices, sort of like a hot bruschetta. It was delicious and a great idea for a quick lunch in the future. Luckily it was a family meal and not meant for guests. Yet suppose there had been guests? What to do? One good and easy solution is subbing in the gnocchi with already cooked pasta. Barilla offers this and it can be made in the microwave. Rice could also work in this situation too. what happens when the sauce gets screwed up? I'f it's too salty, add more tomatoes or a teaspoon of honey to balance it out. As for meats, cut away the burnt part and if it's too dry, get some gravy to moisten it. Melted butter or olive oil also helps.

Baking and frosting has their share of disasters.Again I recently found this out when I made frosting with Melt plant butter. I thought it would be just like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and produce a thick, creamy icing that would stay in place. It didn't. It slid off my Easter lambs, making them look like they had mange.I just arranged the fallen frosting to make it look like a bed the lambs were resting on. Again luckily these were not made for company. Frosting can be thickened and not just with more confectioner's sugar.. You can use cornstarch, flour and even butter  to create a rich paste. What about if your cake or cupcakes burn? Like with meat, cut away the burnt parts and cover with frosting or a dusting of confectioner's sugar.  The cake's top may be dry and crumbly too, thanks to the excessive heat. Pour melted butter over the top. This will ensure a moist crumb.  This can be done to cupcakes too. Homemade puddings and custards can be amended thanks to an immersion blender  whipping away all those lumps. Also adding whipped cream and turning it into an instant mousse is also a dessert saver.

Disaster sometimes comes for dinner and dessert. Be prepared if ti does. It's easy to fix a meal or dessert gone bad.

A Very Stout Burger

 Can a burger's taste be improved? The answer is most definitely yes. Surprisingly even a drop of alcohol can do wonders to add to the meaty and unami flavors.it does'r have to be a teaspoon of ground onion.

I recently discovered the stout burger during a visit to Paragon Tap and Table in Clark New Jersey. To be honest I was kind of hesitant to go in, expecting the brew house to have a limited menu. It didn't with an abundance of choices. One item from the menu caught my eye.

Their stout burger. This was something to be tried and it didn't disappoint. This was a thick patty served on a buttery brioche bun.A huge slab of bacon along with sauteed  and fried onions(!!) mushrooms and a stout aioli graced it but it was the burger itself that stood out. The waiter was kind enough to give me the recipe.

The stout is Guiness , that  famed creamy velvety brew from Dublin, drizzled onto already made patties and cooked quickly on a hot grill. Instead of the stout's flavor being mixed in and absorbed by the meat as in other stout burger recipes, it stood out on it's own, hence the purer flavor. It was really wonderful, marrying with the beef perfectly. The kitchen used just the right amount  as to not smother the hamburger's own taste. Even without the extras a  plain stout burger  on its' own with just the bun  and an onion would be good. Paragon also offers hanger steak and filet mignon. I wonder how those cuts would taste with a quick splash of stout. Their lamb burger with red wine sounds good too and I may try that on my next trip there.I am planning on using their stout recipe for my Beyond Burgers just to see how the drink holds up against plant based proteins. Will they taste the same?Or have a different taste vibe because real meat wasn't used.

Beer and burgers are always good together, Burgers with a splash of stout added to them are way better. Try one  today on a fun trip to Paragon Tap and Table.

Paragon Tap and Table is located at 77 Central Ave, Clark NJ. It shares the same parking lot as the Clark Target and Marshalls. It's right off the Clark Exit 135 on the Garden State Parkway South.