A Rainbow Of Spices

Indian food is a variety of so many different colors and tastes.It reflects this mysterious, ancient country with it's exotics recipes and amazing ingredients.It is also a fun cuisine to cook,from it's" appetizers to desserts. There's a new cookbook put there showcasing these, and they are the perfect dishes to welcome in the summer. The cookbook is Spices And Seasons,Simple Sustainable Indian Flavors (Hippocrene Books,New York)written by Rinku Bhattacharya.This is her second book and she has written for newspapers and appeared on television.I love this book, not just because I love Indian food but because Ms. Bhattacharya also explains and show how to make your own arsenal of Indian spices.These are vital in creating the right flavor and can be made for a few pennies.Not only that she lists the health benefits of them as well. Another plus is that she uses farm fresh vegetables from the far den.With spices, such as turmeric and cardamon ,mixed with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants she creates dishes that are not only flavorful but also better than any tonic or medicine.These recipes are also the direct opposite of Indian take out which is usually sodden with cream and butter.Most of her recipes don't have these, opting for a tiny bit of ghee or clarified butter.Even the dessert recipes such as the Ginger and cardamon cookies and the frozen treat, raspberry mufti are far from being rich. The other recipes are drool worthy.This is not all curry, although there are recipes for it.There is also chutney ones and many focus on dal, the creamy lentil dish that's made a variety of ways.You could try lentils with cabbage or slow simmered for a tasty dinner.Ms. Bhattacharya includes some great recipes for these warm days.Tofu is put on skewers with tomatoes and onions.There's a long list of salads to choose from ,such as a black ,bean corn and stone fruit one and an essential Indian one that have cucumbers and tomatoes drenched in spices and dusted with crushed peanuts.Eggplants and potatoes are curried with tomatoes to create a light summer dinner.There recipes for winter too,fiery pilafs that contain chickpeas and mushrooms.Another is a chicken orzo spiced one ,fragrant with cinnamon, cardamon and saffron.A different kind of holiday dish is the Surprise The Guests Pink Chicken Biryani, chicken cooked with a tomato rich tika sauce. Breads are a must at an Indian table and there are several recipes to choose from naan to parathas.There's even a version of crostini which is perfect for dipping into the curries or dal's. Spices And Seasons, Simple , Sustainable Indian Flavors, is a great cookbook for any Indian food lover like myself. it also is a great book for a home chef wanting to try cooking of the Subcontinent too. The recipes are flavorful and healthy, a perfect combination for modern eating.

Waking Up Brunch

Sometimes brunch can be a sleepy affair.It's the same old omelets, French toast and eggs Benedict.Once in a while a delicate salad or quiche is thrown into spike it up a little.Yet it still remains the same - a sedate meal for both the mind and the palate.However it's time to give this weekend tradition a well deserved jolt. Melissa Clark got the chance to do this and garner some interesting recipes from some of Manhattan's best chefs.New York City is notorious for its brunches . In fact the town probably invented them but as with every meal ,dishes can become boring .Chefs stuck on the shift resentfully whip up the same over used recipes.Luckily that's all changing.Cooks are tapping into their creative vein and inventing new recipes that are sure to be favorites.The ingredients are all the same, eggs,bread, and sausages along with fruit but they're being reconstructed. Instead of a frittata, eggs are now being whipped into a silky terrine ,more like a savory bread pudding.The reasonably priced restaurant El Rey Coffee Bar and Luncheonette. Chef April Bloomfield will still serve a variety of egg dishes at her place, the Breslin. She gives brunch goers, eggs poached with curried lentils and and yogurt or fried with cotechino sausage and beans.There are even baked eggs, flavored with tomato and chorizo. These new dishes will bring in new diners too,looking for something different as well as keeping regulars happy.For most restaurants brunch is the most lucrative meal of the week.Many who can't afford the restaurants dinners will usually try the cheaper Sunday brunch menu.Brunch is also cost effective too.It has given rise to nose to tail cooking.Every part of the animal is used in these new recipes. At the famed Hearth restaurant, the chef serves a slab of pork blade steak, that works well with breakfast menu but not with a lunch or dinner one.Also fruits and vegetables never go to waste.Danny Amend of the Brooklyn hotspot Marco's reconfigured grapefruit slices as a savory salad,drizzled with olive oil and seasalt,served with chorizo sausages.The fruit would maybe be used as decoration otherwise and in this recipe, the entire fruit is being used.As for the booze that always accompanies brunch,that too has been reconfigured.The new star of the city cooking scene,Wylie Dufresne serves popcorn seasoned with Bloody Mary spices, such as Tabasco at his restaurant, Alders. Brunch is no longer a snooze affair in New York restaurants.New recipes are waking up brunch lovers. It's eggs and sausage but with a spark .

Nouvelle Jewish Cuisine

Can traditional dishes and ingredients be turned into haute cuisine?Yes,.and it's happening with the richly historical Jewish cuisine.Foods that great grandparents brought from Eastern Europe are now being reconstructed into artesenal dishes .They may be all fancied up but their core remains the same : homey ingredients being made into earthy, flavorful main meals and desserts. It was explored in today's New York Times Dining section.Dining regular ,Julia Moskin, wrote about this as she also visited some famous New York Jewish delis.Many young cooks are embracing schmaltz and liver ,turning them into hipsters must haves.Gefilte fish restaurants along with bagel shops ,are becoming on trend again. Yet these are not your great granddad's white fish and bagels.The fish is being made into chowder while the bagel makers are employing traditional baking methods to produce artesenal products.The results are delicious foods that embrace past centuries of Jewish cuisines.Smoked whitefish ,a staple in many homes ,is now being paired with creme fraiche and capers in a salad.Trout is also added to it ,to giving the variation of a chill. Salade Nicoise more oomph.Bagels are being and rolled and boiled before baking, giving us a crunchier, much more flavorful bagel.Onion ones have chopped onions as well as scallions put into the dough as opposed to having them sprinkled on the roll's surface. This renewed interest in Kosher cuisine is actually saving some dishes such as babka and borscht from extinction first.Babka, a sweet chocolate laced bread , is being reconfigured into bread pudding.A new generation is starting to appreciate it's, rich cocoa flavor and density.All beef hot-dogs and pastrami are also getting a revival as well.With this, comes a renewed interest in famed family owned eateries.The very well known Russ And Daughters is popular again .The restaurant is now owned by the fourth generation of the family.Where Joel Russ first had his pushcart of smoked herring, his great grandkids, John Russ Tepper and Niki Russ Federmanare running the deli he built there in 1904. Homemade soda, a hallmark of any Jewish restaurant, is remade into a ginger soda with hints of lemon and lime.Matzoh is roasted with butter and salt for a crackly yet creamy treat.Jewish bakeries are also cropping up again and with them comes sinful butter cookies and strudel,yeast raised coffee cakes and sour breads.Pumpernickel bread is being baked in the traditional method , first wrapped in a thin layer of dough before hitting the oven. The cuisine of the Eastern European Jews has always been a rich and flavorful one. Thanks to some clever modern twists it's also trendy too. Foods once long forgotten or simply ignored are finding their way back to tables. they represent both the past and future of Kosher cooking and baking.

Mommy 's Foods, Baby's Poisons

Who knew honey is pure poison to babies under one year? This writer didn't and I was shocked that food in some cases could be poisonous. We know about peanuts but there are some other surprises that are hard to swallow, literally.It seems one man's treat could be another's poison, deadlier than even hemlock. As far as honey , it is true poison to children less than a year old.It creates infant botulism , a type of stomach complaint that is different from the botulism adults get from canned food, namely mushrooms.This is when a baby swallows the spores that are within the sweetener.They then activate in the gut and produce botulinum toxin.The child loses muscle tone ,allowing with having a problem swallowing.Even when honey is used mixed with other ingredients, it is still not safe.Wait until your child is about eighteen months before introducing him or her to honey. Sadly enough dark corn syrup falls into this category too.Light corn syrup is fine however and can even be used as a laxative for constipated infants. Surprisingly there are several other foods that are also not baby friendly.Low fat or skim milk is one of them.While giving this to an older child is fine, feeding it to any of the diaper set is a taboo.Babies need as much fat as allowed.Whole milk provides this.It also has the nutrients need for bone and brain growth.Foods dangerous to a child's trachea are problem.Well meaning godparents and grandparents along with lackadaisical baby sitters may think it's cute or OK to give the little one pretzel nuggets or Crackerjack but these are dangerous. Even adults could choke on them.Sub in healthy treats like apple or pear slices or zwieback.Remember that soft sticky foods like marshmallows and gummy bears are also dangers too. Little ones could get these lodged in their throats too. Keep these well out of reach if you have them for your older kids. What works for Mommy may not work for baby. keep this in mind if you're expecting a little foodie to be or you're just babysitting.Those little bellies are developing. treat them with the utmost care.

Memorial Day Remember Our Troops

With Memorial Day today we think about soldiers and wars past.Unfortunately there are still conflicts and still soldiers and their families who need a good meal along with a good ear for listening. We have to honor them now while we can, whether through small or large gestures. If you know a service man or woman, invite them over while they're on leave or just returned from a tour of duty. Cook and bake their favorites. They'll appreciate both the food and the company.Offer to take a newly returned vet 's children for the night so that the vet and spouse can have a romantic dinner alone.Gift them with gift cards to their favorite restaurants. Some communities do have place for veterans of all ages to hang out. Volunteer at them by either cooking or even holding classes on nutrition. You could also ask your local VA hospital if you could help out and treat the elderly servicemen to fresh produce either from your yard or the local farmer's market. Hopefully this will be the century that will not see any more conflict.Right now though we should be focusing on our newly returned vets.Repay them with good nutritious food and a good solid support.

Rib Ticklers

Barbecue happiness is a tasty rack of ribs slathered with a tangy sauce or fiery rub.Dogs and burgers can't compete with them.Done right ,they're almost as soft as butter and just as flavorful as any roast.Many home chefs are intimidated by grilling ribs.Yet they're pretty easy to work with and they require little tending while on the grill. The first step is deciding what kind of rib you want for your barbecue.Pork is the tastier of the two but it comes with warnings.Any pork cut has to be cooked thoroughly ,Eaters can wind up with trichinosis or even swine flu surprisingly.Despite this, pork ribs are still popular and many home barbecuers would get them before buying the beef ones.If planning a barbecue, figure five to six ribs per person.Beef ribs are the bigger of the two and a person can probably finish off two at a dinner.These kinds of ribs do require more work.The cuts have a thin ,gummy,membrane that has to be pulled away.You can do this ,by simply inserting a knife point or even a screwdriver between the meat and the membrane.A butcher can do this as well. It will make for a more tender, juicier rib.Beef ribs also have more calories and more grams of fat.If you're having a big party , it"s more cost effective to have the pork ones.Beef ribs are great for a small barbecue with just family and a few friends. Either one can be slathered with sauce or rubbed with a spicy jerk.You can buy both or make them on your own.One of the best sauces is made with Dr. Pepper.The soda is a fun summer drink on it's own however also is great blended into a homemade sauce.One recipe calls for the drink to be mixed with orange juice ,honey, cider vinegar and cayenne pepper.If this is a bit too sweet, then go with a traditional sauce.!Most of them do contain sugar however notvas much as the Dr.Pepper one.Most contain a good amount of ketchup and cider vinegar.Liquid smoke is often added for an even smokier flavor. Finely minced and onion are also added.If you want a more teriyaki styled one, then use a mix of saki, soy sauce and cut scallions.A dry rub is another good way to infuse flavor.Most rubs give a nod to the Jamaican jerks.These are super spicy ,packed with chili powder ,and two or three kinds of ground peppercorns.Most ribs have some brown sugar added and this works well on both pork and beef.As for cooking both , use wood chips and not charcoal briqueetes.Try either apple, hickory or pecan for more flavor. Ribs are the ideal barbecue meat. Prepped and cooked right, they are pure heaven.This is the best of the grill,get them and enjoy!

Memorial Day Ades

With the first official weekend of summer unfolding, it's time to make refreshing and zesty fruit ades. A cold homemade drink is the perfect treat after grueling lawn work or just for a lazy Sunday in the chaise lounge.Best of all they're easy to make. there's no extra sweat. Lemonade practically screams summer.It is one of the simplest drinks to make! It also allows for variety to the recipes as well.A basic lemonade recipe calls for six or seven lemons , along with a cup of granulated sugar and six cups cold water.For juicing you can you the lemon juicer attachment on your juicer to get as much liquid as you can.Another method for complete extraction is zapping your lemons for ten seconds in the microwave.The process breaks down the pulp ,giving more for a fuller richer ade.If you're not happy using all that refined sugar try coconut water or even honey. If you opt for the second you can emulsify the mix for thirty seconds in a b Enders.You can also use monk fruit sugar or stevia.Start out with three or four packets and add more if the ade is too tart. You can also make the fun pink lemonade by adding strawberries.For a naughty adult version add beer to create a shandy or vodka for a thirst quencher with kick. Lime ade is another warm weather cooler. The simplest recipe is six to seven ones ,some grated lemon zest , a scant cup of granulated sugar and three cups of water?Use Persian limes which are bigger( think lemon size)and are much easier to squeeze than the regular key limes.However if your grocery doesn't carry them ,then use the smaller ones but double the amount(twelve or thirteen will do it). Again use the microwave or juicer for obtaining the most juice. You can add natural sweeteners too. A lesser known but just as invigorating is peach ade.This requires a bit more work than the other too.Put three large peaches including their skins with a third of a cup of both lemon juice and granulated sugar and purée in a blender.Also add a cup of orange juice,blend and serve in tall glasses over cracked ice.Raspberries can also be made into a tasty summer drink.Use three cups of raspberry cooked into purée with a cup of sugar. mix well with three to four cups of water and serve chilled. Nothing beats a frosty home made drink on a warm day. It's a great way to cool down and relax. m Make a pitcher today, kick off the flip-flops and just chill .