The Mediterranean Influence

In the last few years Eastern Mediterranean foods are becoming part of the American culinary landscape. It's easy to see why - with the melange of flavors and textures They can be spicy or mellow , simple or complex. The combination is a refreshing breeze of warm, fragrant air.

I discovered this at King Falafel,down the road from me in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.It's a place on the highway - Route 46 West, that I usually pass by.I went there for lunch  and had the one spice mix I've wanted to try for the last few years - za'atar.. It was served, heavily layered on warm, puffy pita.The taste was pure heaven, a dark green spread rich with olive oil and such spices as sumac(yes sumac  which also give Greek gyros their earthy flavor) along with fresh oregano, cumin, and  sesame seeds along with Kosher salt. Unfortunately King Falafel doesn't sell the mix so I will be making it at home (along with providing a how to for home chefs sometime soon. We also had this

an incredible chopped salad, rife with parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. It is a refreshing bite on a hot October day. This is my new favorite - I even took a container home for dinner.

Mediterranean cooking has been around for millennia. Some recipes such as za'atar have been around since Biblical times yet we're just discovering it now, thanks to Instagram. I'm looking forward to making my own blend and plan on using it on everything from scrambled eggs to Gardein's beef tips. It would even be great sprinkled on fries or mixed with olive oil to be used as a dip. Hummus is another Middle Eastern food that is now so common. It's also easy to make as is falafel - fried chickpeas balls. This is another recipe on my radar.It can be a labor intensive one because the chickpeas have to be soaked overnight.Another dish that's on America's culinary must try list is the hugely popular shakshouka. This is a Tunisian and Israeli version of huevos rancheros. Fried eggs simmer in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, peppers and spices. It's usually a breakfast or lunch dish, but can be made for a vegetarian dinner too.Cumin, cayenne, garlic and paprika, give it spark and color.It's an easy cook.

Mediterranean food is part of our American landscape. discover it, cook it, enjoy the variety of flavors and textures. It's as refreshing as a warm, fragrant breeze ,

Fall's Latest Trends

Falls brings about everything new, from TV shows to fashions. What we eat and drink are no exception. There are some new products and celebrity driven trends that are on any foodie's radar.

Two of the latest trends are pictured below.

One is Bubly, a refreshing new seltzer. To be honest it made its' debut a couple of months ago. There are a variety of flavors and unlike other seltzers are flavored much more strongly than other seltzers. I first became aware of them when I would buy their strawberry flavor for rides down the New Jersey shore. The taste was amazing - as if I had squeezed fresh strawberries in plain seltzer. It was refreshing and delicious , especially for an hour to an hour and a half trip in solid Sunday traffic. When my Stop & Shop offered their twelve box cans on sale, I snapped them. up. The cherry flavor was crisp, think regular cherry soda without all that cloying sweetness. (it made a phenomenal base for egg creams.) Their lemon and lime was also very flavorful and I 'm looking forward to trying their grapefruit. and mango. Another trend is whipped cream made with different milks. Living in a vegan household, makes having certain foods difficult. One of them is whipped cream, the type you spritz on sundaes and hot cocoas. I tried Reddi-Whip's new vegan creams. in coconut.  The taste was slightly like that of an Almond Joy .Unfortunately the trademark ruffly look didn't come out and it kind of looked like vanilla pudding on my coffee. Maybe the almond milk one will be better.

For those wanting a better non-dairy whipped cream  try  this Soyatoo Rice whip.It does have a slightly boiled rice flavor but it holds its'. shape once it's squirted out.

Hershey's has come out with a chocolate and even a peanut butter whipped cream which I can see on ice cream, Death By Chocolate or even cupcakes.Reddi-whip already has a chocolate whipped cream which has been out for some time.Some celebrities  that are trending for the fall food season may be using any of these for their dessert recipes. One big trend right now is Chrissie Tiegen, who just recently published a cookbook. Hungry For More.Her banana chocolate bread looks amazing, especially since she pairs it with salted butter. Another celebrity with a cookbook is the ever practical Joannna Gaines whose Magnolia Table has a juicy homemade chicken pot pie recipe.   (both recipes can be found in the latest issue of People Magazine.

It's fall and that means new food trends and products. Try them for novelty's sake . They may just be your family's new favorite.                            

Carolyn Robb Royal Chef Extrodinaire

 Royal chef Carolyn Robb , has cooked for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall s well as as for William, Harry, and their mother , Diana. Her new cookbook, The Royal Touch Cookbook, (ACC Editions 2018) highlights some of the princes' favorite sweet and savory recipes along with her inspiration for the book, her mother's family ones, and ones she's made for her daughters. It is a fascinating recipe book, complete with royal notes, from Prince Charles and Diana, along with the recipe for the groom's cake Prince William and Catherine Middleton had at their 2011 wedding reception. Below is my exclusive interview with her.

·  Welcome to Foodie Pantry! My readers would like to know what inspired you to be a professional cook and a baker? · My mother was a fantastic cook and my father was amazingly green fingered, so there was always wonderful fresh produce growing in the garden. As a child I was fed delicious home-grown home-cooked food which had a big influence on me and I loved being at my mother's side in the kitchen - learning from her and helping her. The older I got the more I knew that I wanted to be a chef!

·  Who was your biggest culinary influence  growing up? Definitely my mother!

·  Did you attend any cooking academy and if so which one and where? Yes - I attended the Tante Marie School of Cookery in Surrey.

·  How did you get into the professional side of cooking and baking? Whilst I was at university I worked in a coffee shop and restaurant and then I spent a ski season working in a hotel in Switzerland - this experience reinforced to me that I wanted to. cook professionally.

·   What is the new cookbook about and what inspired you  to write about it? . It is a collection of 100 of my favourite recipes drawn from my childhood, my time as a royal chef and from the present when as a mother I love cooking for my daughters. It is a project that my mother and I discussed doing together, but sadly we never got around to it so it is written in her honour.

·  You’re famously associated with the House of Windsor. How did you become involved with them and when did HRH Prince Charles hire you? When I was at cookery school I was invited to go to Kensington Palace for an interview with TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester - I worked for them for 2 years before being hired by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1989.

·  I see from your cookbook, you also knew Diana. Did you ever meet Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is also famously known for her excellent meals? I cooked for Princess Diana for 4 years and yes, I did also meet and cook for The Duchess of Cornwall.

·  What were the prince’s favorite dishes and desserts? Prince Charles loved dishes made from his home grown vegetables, and in the winter he enjoyed game. Home-made ice cream and fruit from the garden was a favourite dessert. 

·  You also cooked for a young Prince William and a young Prince Harry. What were their favorites growing up? The young princes enjoyed traditional British food such as roast chicken , roast beef and Shepherds pie.

·  Have you cooked  and baked for the latest generation of royals, namely Prince George and Princess Charlotte? No.

·  And of course, the wives of Windsor, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Have you met them? No.

·  Did you ever cook or bake for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh? Yes I have.

·  I’m in the New York metropolitan area, where everything royal and British is adored and admired. Have you ever thought of opening up a restaurant or tea shop in Manhattan? I would love to open a tea shop, especially as baking is my great passion. I had not thought of Manhattan as a potential location, but I would never say never!

·  What is your advice to this upcoming generation of chefs? Choose your produce and ingredients carefully, use local products wherever possible and cook simply and in tune with the seasons .

·  And the last “I have to ask” question – what is your favorite savory recipe? Your favorite sweet one? There are so many things that I love, but the Pea and ham risotto in my book brings together my favourite Italian dish with a very traditional English combination - Peas with ham.  The sweet recipe that springs to mind is my 'Coffee caramel pecan streusel triangles'  whch I created as a way of combining vanilla, coffee, caramel and pecans my 'can't do without' sweet ingredients. Perfect served with coffee or as a dessert.

Sheet Pan Dinner Without The Star

Meat, whether, it's' beef, chicken, fish, or pork is the main course and main reason for a sheet pan dinner. Yet what happens when there is no meat. Then let veggies rule supreme. They can create a tasty dinner on their own.

Melissa Clark tackled this in yesterday's weeknight cooking issue in The New York Times Wednesday Food section.What is the protein in a meatless sheet pan dinner? Beans.  They can be crunchy and golden or soupy and soft like they are in chili.Cooking them in an oven is a snap be cause you don't have to worry about them browning.Ms. Clark gives a delicious recipe for tostadas with roasted black beans, These are cooked with canned sliced tomatoes and a chipotle chile in adobo sauce. This may a bit involved because you also have to roast yellow and red peppers. The two pans are put in 400 degree F oven for half an hour. Both have to be tended to often with the beans being stirred every ten minutes or so.The tortilla are added with a third sheet pan. This is just to crisp them and it only takes five to seven minutes. It's them piling the beans and peppers on the tortillas and topped with crumbled queso fresco along with cheddar For more flavor Ms. Clark suggests making cumin salt which is cumin salt and lime zest mixed together and sprinkling that on top. A squeeze of lime is optional but gives the tostadas a fresh zing.

Another protein Ms Clarks suggest is tofu or tempeh. Start with these, add vegetables, some kind of fat for browning and any seasonings you like. One of her favorites is tofu marinated in tamari - soy sauce without the wheat  added. She then coats the squares  in cornstarch and baked until they're crunchy  The veggies Ms. Clark suggests is sweet potatoes. They're cut into wedges  that turn velvety in texture however broccoli and mushrooms . She also recommends not spraying the pan to make it easier to flip them.It would take away the crunchiness and inhibit the browning. I would say use it because it makes it easier to turn and to wash the pan afterwards.Another idea is chickpeas  which is like a fun appetizer when they're roasted. Ms. Clark pairs them with cauliflower and roasted lemons. Again she uses two sheet pans to cook. The cauliflower, tomatoes and jalapenos are cooked on on pan with oil and salt while the chickpeas and fingerling potatoes have been roasted on another, after they've been doused with a spiced oil, rife with turmeric and cumin,

Sheet pan dinners are an easy cook after a busy day. What's great about them is that they can be veggie centric as opposed to meat. The veggies and beans can provide a tasty and simple, easy to make dinner.

The Week Night Issue

Cooking on a week night can be a chore.It's prepping and cooking food after a busy,hectic day that probably started at six or seven AM. High calorie, empty nutrition take out looks good around this point.Don't despair. There is a way to have easy home cooked food that both delicious and nutritious. Thankfully the New York Times Food section has come to the rescue.

The section's heavy hitters, such as Julia Moskin and Melissa Clark., offer suggestions and recipes to not only get you through the Monday through Friday slog but also deal with busy weekends.There's even an article by Rosie Schaap on minimalist drinks that can ease the sting of tiredness and a demanding family.One of the best recipes for a weeknight comes from Ms. Moskin in the form of chicken franchese.It's an easy recipe (that also can be made with tofu chicken as well) that's delicious without the stress of too much work. Chicken breasts are easy to cook. They can made made in  little time and please a hungry horde.They're also low fat, perfect for those watching their weight. However there is that chance that they  can also be dry, tough and tasteless. That's where chicken franchese comes in. This is an American classic, with no roots in Italy whatsoever.It was originally made with veal and might stem from similarly made classics such as piccata, Marsala and saltimboca. Basically,a thin cut of meat gets a thin coating of flour and then it's browned in oil with a drizzle of instant pan sauce. It can be a challenge because the chicken must be cooked in a flash or it will become scorched. The sauce must be quickly made or it can go cold really fast too.

Franchese is a lot more forgiving according to Ms. Moskin.It has an egg coating to keep it moist and a plentiful pan sauce to keep it comfortingly warm. This is a European custom seen famously in Wiener schnitzel and fritto misto. The sauce can be made a few hours ahead and the cutlets can be cooked at a more leisurely pace. Chicken cutlets are easy to whip up.It;'s first creating a batter composed of two eggs. milk, salt and pepper. The second coating, the flour is put in a separate bowl. The breasts are first dredged in the flour, shaken to get rid of any excess then dipped into the egg wash. They 're then fried in oil for about four minutes, until both sides are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. When finished, wipe the pan with paper towels and return to the stove.If you're adding the lemon slices  (and why not - they add color to the dish) fry them in oil until the edges are slightly brown,The sauce is made from butter and white wine along with  freshly squeezed lemon juice and chicken stock. The cutlets are then added and they'll add to the sauce thickening. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with a nest of plain linguine or  steamed vegetables such as green beans or broccoli. that go well with the lemon I would serve both the pasta and veggies , possibly asparagus.

Weeknight cooking needn't be extra work.It can be an easy and fun way to end a hard day. whip an easy drink, chicken franchese and enjoy the meal.

The Flavor Star

How do chefs get the flavors right? How do they balance sweet with sour? Or add a dash of unami in a dish? They may have help - not just from the spice rack but also from the flavor star. It's appropriately named because for many chefs and home chefs it's their guiding North Star.

The Flavor Star is a chart showing the five flavors - salty, sweet, bitter, sour and unami, that savory taste usually associated with meats. namely steak.Using the chart can help in leveling a recipe's complex array of flavors , along with improving a dish's taste.Flavors can enhance each other. For example add a dash of salty to sweet and you've got a sensation. Home bakers for centuries have known that a pinch of salt brings out a cake's sweetness, Ramp that up a notch - add a dash of sea salt to chocolate chip dough or caramel and their sweetness plus other flavors such as chocolate and butter intensify. Here's an experiment you can try that exemplifies it. Take a heaping teaspoon of a caramel, topping - Smuckers is the best - and sprinkle some small nuggets of sea salt on top. Now eat the whole dollop, Yes, you do taste the salt, it's the first thing that hits you  - but you also taste the sugar and cream as if for the first time. Another example is the addition of something sweet to a salty tomato sauce.Without sugar, honey, or even carrot slices, the salt might be too tangy and even unpalatable.With the sweeteners, the sauce  is mellowed, savory without any lingering harshness of flavor.

You can download and print out the chart if you want. It's easy to remember what to do. If a savory broth  is too blah or bland, then give the dish a dash of soy sauce or miso. Anchovy paste is both unami and salty It is wonderful on steak (as any Piedmontese chef will tell you) . It brings out the meat's rich mineral flavor. It also brings out the flavor of vegetables, such as Savoy cabbage and Swiss chard. For a tasty sauce for these and even London Broil, make bagna calda, a Piedmontese "hot bath" primarily made of anchovy fillets., butter, olive oil, and garlic. The food's flavor will be the best you've ever had and you'll wonder why you didn't try this sauce before. As for foods being too bitter, a dash of sweetness helps. Even vinegar such as balsamic and apple cider can cut a savory dish's sour taste. You can also stir in a drop of maple syrup or dark honey too. If you don't have those then ketchup or barbecue sauce will do. Sour balances out spice and sweetness. If a dish is just too hot them  flick a teaspoon of sour cream or yogurt on top of it. As we all know spicy also helps both sour bland and even sweet bland. A chocolate cake with a kick of chili pepper makes for an exciting dessert. It just using the flavor star for a memorable bite.

 Make the Flavor Star your North Star. Use it to create memorable meals, desserts, and treats.  They'll be remembered for their incredible tastes.

It's Apple Season

With fall comes apples along with the myriad of recipes. What is great about them is that they can be a snack , a side or a dessert. They're perfect for any meal from breakfast to lunch to dinner.Be creative and brave with autumn's gems!

What you pick decides what you make,If you bring home baskets of Golden Delicious apples, then realize that they're best for apple sauce while Honey Crisps are better for eating fresh and to put into salads.Most of the varieties are good for snacking. Think about pairing slices with peanut butter or even better pair it with slices or cubes of sharp Vermont cheddar. A fun snack or dessert is the tart Granny Smith slices with a caramel dip. You can buy it or make your own using brown sugar and sweet cream. Some recipes call for cream cheese for extra creaminess along with a dash of brown cinnamon for extra bite.You could also just microwave caramels such as Kraft' s with a spritz of water added in for smoothness.Fresh apple slices are also perfect added to any breakfast. Slip them in to hot oatmeal or cold rice puffs for more flavor and fiber.A fun weekend breakfast or brunch dish is a Dutch baby. This is a giant (think skillet size) pancake baked in the oven and then sprinkled with a dusting of powdered sugar. Apples can even be added to French toast as a topping or baked inside a French toast casserole.

Of course apples can also liven up a lunch too. A few crisp slices in any salad makes it special. Use two different types such as the sweet Golden Delicious and the crunchy Roma, Try one that just has apples and cherry tomatoes. Spike it up with chilis and peppery mesclun greens.  Think of adding slices to a chicken salad, whether it's made with greens and last night's leftover roaster or one with mayo and raisins. Apples can be used as a side dish for a dinner as they are in Germany. Many German pork dishes comes with a side of sauteed apples. The apples' sugars break down the complex proteins of the meat, making it easier to digest. It also is a great foil for the pork's distinct flavor. You can easily make an applesauce in your crock pot or pressure cooker and use it for roasted pork or pork chops. An easier spin is sauteed apples. This is just simply sauteing the slices with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. Add cornstarch to thicken it. Sauteed apples are even good reheated with the pork as the meat's savory juices mix with the apples. Of course , anything with apples is the perfect dessert. Think an untraditional one with a cheddar crust. This is a bit more flavorful than the average crust. Or go sweet with a caramel walnut loaded apple pie. Baked apples are another great dessert. Go elegant with ones poached in a sweet red wine or fun with ones stuffed with caramel, butter and chopped nuts.

This is apple season. Use them in any recipe or as a sweet , fiber filled snack. They 're delicious any way you serve them.