Fancy Food Show 2012-Highlights

I have to say I was fairly impressed this year. I managed to avoid most of the scary, dye filled unpronounceable stuff, so I must say a hearty 'yay' to that! I came across more than one product that I would willing buy. Some of them are fairly well known and others totally new. I was also really excited to see so many people finally coming to the dark side of spices and using Cardamom! I have been a cardamom addict for years and so I adored Three Twins Cardamom Ice Cream (also really, their Lemon Cookie!), Helliemae's Cardamom caramels and Numi's Cardamom Pu-erh.

I know Lemonaise has been around for quite a while, but I honestly have never tried them before today. Now that I have, I can see this be a product I'd like to have around. I adore lemon so the richness and the lemon combined are a real winner for me. On the new product tip, I went out of my way to find the Almond water because I was quite curious. I agree with their own words: refreshing!

I had the chance to try the new Kerrygold premium butter, which is quite lovely. And for all you low fat fans, they have a reduced fat version which doesn't lack flavor. A highlight for me was the fun family behind SchoolHouse Kitchen. They actually engaged me on Twitter, which I loved, and when I showed up to see them they were so friendly and had super tasty offerings! I love their Ginger Lime Vinaigrette, the orange & Chili chutney and the Cherry Blackberry Jam. Mmmmm....jam.

Speaking of fruit filled goodness, I also loved the sunshine of Fran's1941 Apricot Magic from La Bonita and the jams from Tropical Fruit Stand, including the surprising (because I don't really like them) Banana, Passion Fruit and Pineapple.

I also adored Sonoma Brinery because pickles are a weakness of mine though I rarely buy them. These however may have a permanent place in my fridge alongside the pulp filled Blue Monkey coconut water. Fresh, clean and no bitter aftertaste makes this a good choice.

Last but not least, I was happy to see an old favorite roll out two new flavors. Plush Puffs has a mango marshmallow and a cherry chocolate marshmallow now and I gotta say, that chocolate cherry really hot the spot! I will be writing about some more good finds soon, so stayed tuned!

Be sure to check out the new site @ www.acuriousgirl.com

Kwanzaa

This month I had the chance to write not one but two articles on Kwanzaa and it was quite a learning experience. I figured out why my dad was so against celebrating, as it was clearly due to the usavory past of the holidays creator.

I also realize that may people I know try to embody the principles everyday, which I think we can and should. For example, cooperative economics, the act of creating and supporting local business should be paramount to our daily lives. As should exercising our creativity and doing our best for the community.

Here's a link to both articles which are different and yet on the same subject. Find your principles and live them everyday for a happy healthier you!

http://kwanzaaculinarians.com/2011/12/29/lunas-kitchen-magic-celebrates-ujamaa/

This one comes with a lentil recipe!
http://foodzie.com/blog/2011/12/a-taste-of-kwanzaa/

Black Owned Restaurants in the Bay Area

This is a list I created to go with my article on Kwanzaa Culinarians. Be sure to check out all the articles including my post on Ujammaa aka Cooperative Economics. Whenever you can, support your community by shopping and eating local. Vote with dollars and make each one count! -Luna

Brown Sugar Kitchen

Pican

Souley Vegan

Hibiscus

1300 Fillmore

Brenda's

Yoshi's

Gussie's Chicken and Waffles

Farmer Brown

Bissap Baobab

Have a Black owned business you love and want to share to keep this principle rolling all year long? Please make sure you share!

Pumpkin Challah ala James Beard

Originally posted October 31, 2009 This recipe is perfect for the holidays and will win over even those who don't like pumpkin:

For the Halloween weekend, I decided to go baking mad. I made Pumpkin Challah a few weeks ago, which was delicious, but the recipe itself made the dough too wet & very hard to work with. Most recently I made Challah from the Beard on Bread book by none other than James Beard himself.

Then I thought, well, why not just add pumpkin to the beard recipe and see what happens?

3 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/3 c warm water (approx 100-115 degrees)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp coarse salt (I used sea salt)
3 tbsp soft butter
3 eggs
1 c pumpkin puree
2 ½ c AP Flour
2 ½ c Whole Grain Pastry Flour
1 tbsp white or black pepper (or to taste)
1 yolk mixed with 1 tsp cold water
Poppy seeds

Proof yeast in the water in a large bowl. Add sugar & salt. Then add butter, pumpkin & eggs. Now add your flour, a cup at a time as you may not need all of it. Beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. The book said to dump out the bread, knead it and place in a buttered bowl.

I did that the first time and wasn’t delighted with the results, so I thought I would try something different. I left everything in the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, set it on the counter & walked away for two hours.

Next, I scraped out the dough & set it on my clean counter after I did a ‘bread fling’, meaning I dusted the counter with flour. My final dough weighed approx two lbs. Beard calls for 6 balls, so I weighed each one so they were close to 8 oz each (ish). I then rolled them out to the desired length, did two braids and left them to rise again.


Once they rise, brush them with egg wash and bake for about 45 min at 325 F. They should sound hollow if you tap them. Pull from oven and allow to cool before cutting open and enjoying. This dough also makes for really lovely rolls, nice & fluffy and ready for stuffing with...well, just about anything!

Potato Scones

If there are two words I love, they would be potato and scone. So of course I firmly believe that they belong together. My first experience of having bread and potato together that didn't involve stew or the like, was on a trip to the Haight with family friend/older brother Steve. We had slices and he ordered potato pesto. This was so out there in my mind I simply didn't get it. One bite convinced me that he hadn't gone completely mad and gave me to new views of food.

Since that day I prefer to have pesto on my pizza and I love to make potato focaccia. The layers of pillowy goodness topped with potato and pesto is like a gift from heaven. But I digress....

While reading a Dead Man's Chest (A Phryne Fisher Mystery) by one of my favorite authors, one who has inspired me to bake before (Cardamom Rosewater Cupcakes and Impossible Pie) also rarely shares recipes in the series I was reading and what is shared is usually of the cocktail variety.

Lo and behold not one, not two, but three recipes! I made the Impossible Pie and if you don't, you will be terribly sad about it. The second recipe, which I felt was an absolute must is Potato Scones. Bread and potatoes belong together, like champagne and foie gras, chocolate and strawberries or really good jam and fresh mascarpone.

Gather your ingredients and get busy!

1 cup self raising flour (1 cup flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt)

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup mashed potatoes

1/2 cup milk

Rub flour and butter together. Add potato and mix with milk to soft dough. Cut in rounds and bake 7-10 minutes in a hot oven.

Yes, you read that right, there is no temperature given in the recipe and I have shared it exactly as it was in the book. Also, my dough was so soft I was not able to cut the scones, so I used a cookie scoop. I baked mine for 13 minutes at 325 degrees, when the bottom of the scones were golden brown.

The consistency is more biscuit like rather than sconey these are so easy fast & easy to make! They are soft and moist, perfect for a nice bowl of stew, a lovely roast or as my friend Laurie suggested some good freezer jam & a cuppa! Off now to have a few more with some crispy bacon......