There were a number of things I saw at the Winter Fancy Food Show that really intrigued me this year. But tasting something is not the same as cooking with, or trying something in my own home kitchen, so I decided I would put some of the most provocative products into a separate post from my favorites. Hopefully this makes sense. Next up will be the trends from the show and beyond...


If you love cheese, how can you not fall head over heels for this wedding cake? It's made entirely of Cypress Grove chevre and lovely fresh flowers. For someone who prefers cheese over sweets, it would be a fantastic way to celebrate in style. In fact, master cheesemaker and Cypress Grove founder Mary Keehn served one at her own wedding.


I've been hearing about black garlic for quite some time, but I'm not sure I'd ever tried it before the show. It was offered up in various forms from whole heads, to cloves to liquid. It is fermented and all the natural sugars come out creating a very sweet molasses like flavor and a texture somewhat chewier than a raisin. It has no bite and is actually used in various desserts, believe it or not. I think it would be great with caramelized onions, on pizza, or even in bread. I snagged a sample and look forward to experimenting with it. Hopefully it will be more widely available soon.


Let me tell you, the show floor was simply buzzing about smoked olive oil. Everyone I met asked if I had tried it. Yes, I did. And I liked it, but will need to see how it works on various dishes. It seems like it would have good potential on soups and drizzled over vegetables or to boost flavor on grilled foods. It's supposedly a top seller in Tyler Florence's kitchen shop in Mill Valley.


When I was in Japan I discovered yuzukosho, a paste made from the yuzu citrus and kosho, a Japanese green chili pepper. It's got loads of tangy citrus flavor not just pure heat. I was so crazy about it I bought tubes to bring home, afraid that I might not find it here (fortunately it is available in my local Japanese grocery store). This new product is yuzusco, like Tabasco, and it is yuzu and kosho but in a thin vinegar sauce. It has all the complexity and mild heat of yuzukosho but is much easier to use. I would use it in place of Tabasco, which I find to be fairly simple and one note. I hope the company producing it is able to get distribution soon.


I only tried a packaged mole sauce once, and it was dreadful (actually Trader Joe's discontinued it not long after I bought it)l. I tried both the black and red mole sauces from award-winning San Angel as well as the red cascabel sauce and was very impressed. The red was a bit spicier, the black a bit sweet but each tasted homemade and contains high quality natural ingredients. They were layered with flavors and I could see keeping them on hand to use with leftover chicken and turkey. I'd use the cascabel to make enchiladas.


My friend Vanessa of Italy in SF introduced me to these fantastic Etruria Gourmet vinegars from Italy and their producer, Giuseppe Cagnoni. I had never had honey vinegar before and fell for it, hard. I plan to pick up a bottle and see how many ways I can use it. I bet it would be great on fruit salad as well as bitter green salads. Vanessa suggested using the mild honey vinegar with sparkling water for an aperitif, which sounds great. The raspberry vinegar was also amazingly fragrant and floral. Giuseppe explained how the ancient honey vinegar was probably first invented by accident. All his vinegars are living, contain "mother" and are not filtered.


Another vinegar I liked was this Sparrow Lane pear vinegar. Again, I tried it plain, so I don't have a good idea how it will perform in recipes, but I did like it very much.


One of the oddest things I tried, also all the buzz at the show, were savory filled macaroons from Fabrique Delices. Supposedly these are popular in France. I liked the goat cheese one, but the other flavors such as porcini and sun-dried tomato were problematic for me, as the cookies were too sweet. Since they are made from egg whites and sugar, I'm not sure how the baker will get the balance of sweet and savory right, but I think it's an interesting idea and look forward to trying them again, perhaps with a glass of wine?


The Fancy Food Show has very few gadgets and gizmos, but there was an interesting invention, Bread Armor a special plastic zip top bag designed specifically to keep artisanal bread fresh. It wasn't an ordinary plastic bag, but one made of 7 layers and supposedly it keeps baguettes fresh for up to 20 days. Obviously I need to put this to the test! But as someone who routinely makes bread crumbs or tosses out petrified baguette remnants, I am very excited at the prospect of this product. It can also be reused many times.

Here's the thing about the Fancy Food Show, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet the prince. There are thousands of products to sample and not nearly enough time to try them all, so I let my intuition guide me and keep my eyes peeled for what could be something delicious (plus I ask everyone I can about their best discoveries).

Today I'm excited to show you the things I loved the most. Next I will show you some cool new discoveries that I think have a lot of potential...

So without further ado I give you my top 10 picks!

Please don't be offended but I affectionately call this salted butter caramel sauce, sex in a jar. It is hands down the most delicious caramel I have ever tasted. It comes from Isigny in Normandy featuring one of the only AOC's for butter. This jar of caramel contains salted butter, sugar and creme fraiche. That's all. It has depth, balance, texture, and the flavor lingers lusciously on your tongue. I discovered it in the French section of the show floor and so far it is unavailable in the US, but I did my best to convince someone at Zingerman's to import it. Fingers crossed!


Mother-in-law's Kimchi was the only kimchi I saw or tasted at the show. I liked both varieties, but was most impressed with the fresh and crunchy cubed daikon kimchi, it had a wonderful bright quality. I think I could have eaten a whole jar. It wasn't too spicy, and was bursting with freshness.


I'm already a big fan of Rogue Creamery blue cheeses but there were two new ones I fell for at the show, Cave Man, which is aged in a limestone cave and has some earthy notes, and Brutal a limited edition cheese which is intensely flavored and super creamy aged for 3-4 years. Good stuff! Keep your eyes open for it.


Do you ever use creme fraiche? Then you must seek out Kendall Farm's creme fraiche. It is the most delicate and scrumptious creme fraiche on the market. It also works great in recipes, you can whip it and you can add a dollop to pan drippings and it won't just melt into nothingness, it will thicken your sauce. It's tangy and silky and very decadent.


I found Zix ravioli cookies in a section of products searching for a home "on the shelf." They are flaky and rich, filled with a raspberry almond filling. I liked both the regular and gluten-free versions. These are pretty cookies that taste as good as they look. Locavores take note! They are from Sonoma county.


Sometimes you give something a chance that you're not quite sure about. So it was with J. Burger Seasoning from August Kitchen. It is kind of like a mirepoix, that mixture of onions, celery and carrot but in this case it has onions, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, bread crumbs and spices, cooked down to a flavorful melange that can season and add texture to meatballs, burgers, sauces, soups, stews, you-name-it. Available at Foodzie. Makes me wonder if I should make something like this to keep on hand in my own kitchen?


I liked all the Ramar ice cream flavors I tried, but the More Than Coconut was my favorite. It was green and included the flavoring of pandan leaves which lent herbal vanilla notes. Very memorable. I look forward to finding this ice cream from the Philippines in Asian grocery stores in the Spring of this year.


I recently went out to a much lauded Italian restaurant in San Francisco. The pizza was ok, and the pasta wasn't anything special. I knew exactly what was wrong. The dough of the stuffed pasta lacked that silky smoothness with just a bit of give. Bertagni pasta from Bologna is way better. It's available fresh in the refrigerator section of markets and delis. The thickness of the pasta varies depending upon the filling, for fillings that take longer to cook the pasta is thicker. I tried the tortellini and am looking forward to trying some of the ravioli next.


I have mixed feelings about goat milk products. Some cheeses and yogurts made with goat milk are good, others are stinky, with too much barnyard for me. The goat milk caramels from Happy Goat made in old fashioned copper pots are pure genius, mild, soft but not too soft, smooth and tremendously satisfying. Very impressive! A local product too.


The final product is something I was sent a sample of not too long ago. It's the pancake and waffle mix from Kodiak Cakes. I generally make pancakes and waffles from scratch, because no mix ever lives up to my expectations. Kodiak not only makes light and crisp waffles, and fluffy, tender pancakes, it is lowfat and filled with whole grains! The ingredients are 100% whole grain wheat flour, 100% whole grain oat flour, non-fat dry milk, dry honey (honey, wheat starch), leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), egg whites and salt. Amazing! Available at my local supermarket and a new staple in my pantry.

Other Fancy Food Show round ups:
Oyster Food & Culture
Foodhoe
Wasabimon
Lettuce Eat Kale
Yum Sugar
Food Channel
SFoodie
Lick My Spoon
Local Food About.com
Eat Something Sexy
The Baking Bird
Go Dutch Baby
Cake Grrls Cakery
Bay Area Bites
What's Cooking?
A date with flavor
Eat. Drink. Better.
Food Bat
The Second Lunch
3 posts on the show from Is it EDible(!)
The Well-Tempered Chocolatier
Italy in SF note: Vanessa and I went to the show together, so seeing her post will give you a sneak peek at some of the products I will be writing about next...

I love quick and easy recipes. So I must confess, when I make macaroni and cheese I generally cook it on the stove top and subsequently eat it as fast as I can get it onto my plate. But if I had my choice, I like a bubbly casserole of macaroni and cheese, moist, oozing with cheese, spiked with a little hot mustard and paprika. The perfect macaroni and cheese for me would also have some chewy cheese around the edges and a crisp topping for contrast. I wondered, does everyone prefer this style? So I asked on Twitter and fifty nine people told me they prefer baked macaroni and cheese and about four said they are happy with stove top versions. Baked it is!


Macaroni and cheese is a very versatile dish, some recipes use a white sauce, others a custard sauce and some have no sauce at all. Many variations include the addition of ham, bacon, tomatoes or peas. When it comes to cheese, I've seen recipes using American cheese, gruyere, cheddar, Colby, Monterey jack, and even goat cheese. Most recipes I've seen rely on a combination of cheeses, which adds more depth of flavor.


In preparing to create a baked version I read an article in the New York Times that said most times recipes don't use enough cheese, they recommended twice as much cheese as macaroni. It took several tries to get this recipe right, and along the way I discovered a few more keys to a great macaroni and cheese casserole. If you cook the macaroni all the way through, it will be overcooked after you bake it. For baked versions, you need to undercook the macaroni, and make sure the sauce is fairly soupy so the macaroni has something to absorb. I like layering some cheese to ensure some gooey cheesiness along with a cheesy sauce. Finally a topping of butter, parmesan and panko yields a crunchy and flavorful crust. Panko is crunchy even before being baked, but if you want a dark brown crust, you may need to broil it for a few minutes.


For this recipe I used a combination of sharp cheddar and a fairly new cheese, Bellavitano made by Sartori in Wisconsin. In some ways it's a bit similar to parmesan cheese, it has a dry texture and little crunchy crystals, but it's also a bit like an aged cheddar in terms of flavor and how it melts. Because it's so intensely flavored you don't need quite as much of it when you cook with it. My personal touches to this recipe were the addition of sweet sauteed onions, smoked paprika and piquillo peppers. I wanted to spice it up, but gently. The smoked paprika also lends an orange color to the casserole which is nice if you are using a white cheddar, as I did.


Macaroni & Cheese with Spanish PeppersServes 6-8

Ingredients
3/4 lb elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tablespoon Spanish smoked sweet or hot paprika "pimenton de la vera"
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1/2 lb Bellavitano cheese, shredded
1/2 lb sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
10 ounces about 1 1/4 cups piquillo peppers drained and diced

Topping
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta to the water, cook until almost al dente (half as long as directed) drain and reserve.

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add butter. When butter melts, add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stir in paprika and dry mustard, cook over low for about a minute. Add the flour and cook a minute more, stirring. Whisk in milk slowly, and bring up to a simmer, thicken over medium low heat for a couple of minutes.

Turn off the heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then stir in the drained macaroni, Bellavitano cheese and piquillo peppers. Layer the pasta and cheddar cheese in a broiler safe 13 x 9 inch pan, in 3 layers, starting with the macaroni and ending with the cheese. In a small bowl combine the panko, butter. and parmesan. Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake for 30 minutes. Broil for 2-3 minutes if you want a browner crust.

Enjoy!

For more macaroni and cheese recipes check out http://www.30days30waysmacandcheese.com/

Olio nuovo means "new oil" in Italian. Extra virgin olive oil is the first pressing of olives, and olio nuovo is fresh extra virgin olive oil, the very first pressing of the season. It's typically pressed beginning in late October or early November and is available only for a short time. It's not filtered or even allowed to settle the way most oil is, so it may be somewhat cloudy due to particulate matter and moisture. What makes it so prized? Olio nuovo has a creamy, bright, pungent and peppery flavor. It's also rumored to have a greater amount of polyphenols, which may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

When I lived in Tuscany, my host family had a fattoria or family farm in the country outside Florence. The arrival of olivo nuovo pressed from olives grown on the property was a big deal. We enjoyed it by making fettunta, which is bread toasted over an open flame, then scraped with a raw clove of garlic, drizzled generously with olio nuovo and finally sprinkled with salt. It's greasy and messy but the best garlic bread you will ever eat!

While I loved the Tuscan olio nuovo, if you live in the US, I recommend you buy olio nuovo from a California producer, because it's going to be much fresher, and because the ones I've tasted have been very high quality. They range in price from about $10 a bottle up to $40, depending upon the producer. If you're interested in learning more about olive oil produced in California check out The New American Olive Oil which includes profiles of artisan producers and 75 recipes, each using extra virgin olive oil. There are also many California olive oil producers that offer public tours so you can taste, purchase and maybe even see the oil being pressed. Since most olio nuovo can be expensive, even if you don't go visit a producer, I'd recommend going to a store where you can try before you buy such as Pasta Shop/Market Hall Foods in Oakland or Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. To enjoy it at its best, use it within a few months after purchase.

How to use it
In my opinion, olio nuovo is best for finishing a dish, not for cooking. In addition to using it to make fettunta, I recommend drizzling it on:

Cannellini beans
Fennel salad (raw, shaved thin and tossed with lemon juice, salt and pepper)
Fish, grilled or seared
Goat cheese
Greens that are steamed, such as chard, spinach or Tuscan kale
Lentil salad or soup
Pinzimonio (Italian vegetable antipasto)
Polenta
Potatoes, either red or gold boiling potatoes
Salad, but a delicate one, such as Spring mix or herb
Scallops, raw or seared
Spaghetti
Wild nettle and green garlic soup

If you have a special way of using olio nuovo, please feel free to share it in the comments section.

Today I ate six containers of Greek yogurt. Ok, not really. I tasted six different brands of Greek yogurt. You can probably find Greek yogurt in your local supermarket, its become increasingly available in the United States over the past few years (I've been told it's still a bit hard to find in parts of Canada).

First of all, let me clear something up, the Greek yogurt you find in the US is not yogurt from Greece. All the brands I found were produced domestically. Greek yogurt is strained and some of the whey is removed, so it's thicker than typical yogurt. It's dense and creamy, buttery in flavor and higher in fat. But there are also non-fat and low-fat Greek yogurts. You can use the yogurt in place of sour cream, with granola and/or fruit, drizzled with honey or a dollop of jam or preserves. It's also used in lots of Greek recipes.

The good news is, that all the full fat Greek yogurt I tried was absolutely delicious. You really can't go wrong with the full fat versions when it comes to flavor and texture. Choose something that is organic, or comes from milk from cows not treated with rGBH if you prefer.

The bad news? All Greek yogurt is substantially more expensive than regular yogurt and higher in fat as well. You can make Greek style yogurt by draining conventional yogurt (with live active cultures) with cheesecloth or a yogurt strainer. But perhaps you are wondering, as I was, are the non-fat varieties worth buying? Here are my ratings of the non-fat varieties:

? Brown Cow
Almost sour in flavor, the texture is soft, but not very thick or creamy. Flavor is good. Recommended

Chobani
Very thick, unpleasant chalky texture, mild flavor. Not recommended

??? Fage
Tangy, very thick, creamy, very slight chalky aftertaste. Recommended

Greek Gods
This yogurt had the funkiest flavor of them all, soft, not terribly thick and a bit sour. Not recommended

?? Oikos
Creamy texture, mildly tangy and light. Recommended

Voskos
Very tangy, chalky, more like sour cream. Not recommended, my least favorite

Notes:

A tiny bit of honey improved all the non-fat varieties of yogurt balancing some of the acidity.

The yogurt develops a more tangy flavor the longer you keep it.

The percentage of fat and number of calories vary on the full or low fat varieties of Greek yogurt, check the labels.

Greek Gods was my favorite of the full fat varieties. Fage was also outstanding.

Chobani flavored yogurts were very good, I especially liked the pomegranate flavor. Because the flavorings are on bottom, you can mix in as much or as little as you like.

Ready to try?
Coupon available for free sample of Chobani
Coupons available for Oikos, after registering at Stonyfield

Oikos and Chobani were provided to me as product samples, the rest I purchased.

On the TV show Top Chef, contestants create dishes to impress the judges often with limited resources of time or money or ingredients. From a viewer's perspective, the biggest problem with the show is that you can't taste the food. Still I love it. Perhaps it's because I enjoy the challenging aspects of cooking--like every other home cook, I am challenged to use what ingredients I have and the techniques I know, to cook something delicious, day after day, night after night.

Sometimes I wonder if I would agree with the judges. And I wonder how good those cooked-in-a-flash dishes with barely any ingredients really taste. I may never bother cooking something sous vide, break down an entire side of beef or serve 200 guests in one evening, but I'm happy to say I can now duplicate various dishes presented in the quickfire challenges on Top Chef thanks to Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook.

Top Chef: The Quickfire Challenge Cookbook features mostly recipes that home cooks can easily duplicate. They don't take much time or many exotic ingredients. Some of them are straight forward like Mia's Bean Salad that's basically three bean salad with a few twists--fresh mint, capers, canned beets and artichoke hearts all served over salad greens. Other dishes are more sophisticated like Jennifer's Shrimp and Scallop Beignets. There are desserts, breakfast dishes, salads, entrees, soups and even a few cocktails. Recently I got a chance to try Jamie's Chickpea Soup and it was divine. It's flavored with vadouvan (or use curry) and topped with a cilantro, mint and lemon zest spiked yogurt.

There are lots of fun features that will appeal to Top Chef fans in the book, little inside peeks at the filming, contestants and chances to test your foodie IQ. Something I especially like are the detailed instructions on some "molecular gastronomy" style dishes and flourishes you can make at home. Andrew's Faux Caviar made from tapioca pearls seasoned with balsamic vinegar and soy sauce is top on my list to try! So too are Stephanie's White Ale-Orange Juice Mussels, Radhika's Kebab Sausage with Tomato Jam and Hung's Chocolate Pie with Bananas.

Top Chef: The Quickfire Challenge Cookbook is just a tremendously accessible and fun book to dig into. It's perfect for fans of the show or anyone wanting to try to add a bit more flair to their cooking. Best of all, you can get a chance to win a copy of this book signed by chef contestants Jennifer Biesty, Ryan Scott and Jamie Lauren along with a salt cellar, a selection of Diamond Crystal� kosher, coarse and fine sea salt, a $25 CHEFS gift certificate, a signed copy of Michael Symon's Live to Cook, as well as Good Eats: The Early Years, Top Chef: The Cookbook and Top Chef Quickfire Challenge Game. How can you win this fabulous prize package ? By bidding on it over at the Menu for Hope campaign.

To bid on this prize package, go to the donation site at Firstgiving, specify prize code UW21 in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation and how many tickets you'd like to purchase, keeping in mind that tickets are $10 each and all proceeds go towards the UN World Food Programme. The Menu for Hope bidding ends December 31st, 2009, so don't be left out!

Note: This prize package, worth more than $200, is available to anyone with a United States shipping address.