lesley stowe's raincoast crisps - chefshop.com/enews
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In this issue:
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Mama Lil's
Chef's Pick
Einkorn
Back in Stock
Recipes of the Week
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Dana Cowin tweets:
Tasting fragrant, sweet, delicious Etruria Honeydew Honey Vinegar at Chef Shop. Perfect for proscuitto + arugula salad or on honeydew w/mint - Dana Cowan, Editor, Food & Wine Magazine
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 Picked, Pickled & Packed by Hand
From Abruzzi, Italy to Youngstown, Ohio and then to the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington comes a recipe that has moved with the people. At the core of this condiment is the Hungarian Hot Wax, known as the Goathorn Pepper. It took a young man who moved to Seattle who learned early on that his one jar allotment from his Mom every year was not enough to satisfy his cravings. If he wanted to share with his friends, he needed to make it himself.
In 1992 he did just that. In the basement kitchen of the Seattle Unitarian Church the first batch was born. Over the years Mama Lil's has transformed from the Church Kitchen, to a robust food service business, serving hundreds of hot dog joints and fancy dancy eateries. Mama Lil's classic Peppa's should be a staple to any kitchen arsenal.
The Goathorn pepper grows best in the Yakima Valley, where the ashen enriched soil, arid climate, and the cold nights during harvest creates a firm, natural-sugaring orange and red chile pepper. It's this sweetening that gives this spicy condiment its universal charm. This pickled pepper plays well with almost every dish!
Picking and pickling all in the same day keeps the commercial tasting flavors away. Pickling for as long as needed and then drained for the same, creates a product that is just as it was in the Church Kitchen almost a decade ago.
Shop now for Picked, pickled Peppers
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Triticum monccocum
Einkorn, the truly ancient grain, is the next secret ingredient in the kitchen. It's beautiful, smooth, lush exterior makes this one of the prettiest grains we have ever seen. If you dive your hand into a bag of Einkorn it feels like a smooth massage caressing your skin.
Lentz Ancestral Grains has finally released a small amount of Einkorn. Eight years of trials and tribulations to grow this crop from a handful of seeds, Lena & Renee have finally released a grain that meets their very high standards.
High standards? Take for instance, Emmer (Triticum diccocum,) Lentz is not satisfied with just having a crop to harvest, they insist that the quality of the grain be superior to all others. It is not enough to just be organic (which it is), or have the highest protein (which it has), it also has to perform in the kitchen (which it does).
A new grain, like the million-year-old Einkorn, has many steps it goes through before it makes it to market. For Lentz Ancestral Grains, they are meticulous about every detail so that each grain is treated with care to ensure that it is a superior offering.
Shop now forTriticum monoccocum
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KATZ Chef's Pick
Albert is a man of precision and finite adjustments - a perfectionist in almost everything he does. And, like every olive farmer in the world, he has no control from year to year over how his olives will behave. And, unlike the olive oil producing giant behemoths who source oil from the cheapest suppliers they can find in order to make the blandest oil possible, small producers like KATZ work very hard to make oil that has personality.
In all the years we have had oil from California and from Albert and Kim, we have never had an oil that didn't make us think, debate and argue over the nuances, the subtly of it all. And while some years are not as good as my memory of years past, Chef's Pick is always great.
This year's oil is no exception. Rounder, softer, and more mature than any in the past. Albert has done a masterful job in blending the Leccino (which adds traditional Tuscan fruitiness with spicy, grassy notes, and a soft pungency,) the Frantoio and Maurino (which adds rustic character, with grassiness and a hint of artichoke,) the Taggiasca and Casaliva (which adds fruitiness and sweetness that bring the lush full mouth feel,) and Allegra, a rare Italian variety (which adds body and round flavor.)
This year's oil has a very low .13 free acidity reading, an international indicator of the oil's very high quality.
Shop now for KATZ Chef's Pick
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Pickled Green Beans
Mama Lil's LiliBeans
Green Beans in a pepper infused vinegar, garlic and salt. What could be better?
They crunch when you munch. Hard to resist. You pull one out, and without a doubt, it's a treat that can't be beat!
Now we show it on a sandwich, in a salad, or on a plate as a cool side. But really, we have eaten every last one of the first sample jar just plain. IT must be good for you and healthy too ... 'cause we crave them soooo!
Though it's a silent jar, every time I open it, there magically seems to be hands reaching in to have "just one"!
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| Recipes of the Week |
Farrotto with frozen Peas
Farro, Italian for hard grains, like Einkorn, Emmer and Spelt, is great as the base in a dish. When Farro is used like rice in risotto, it gives a nuttier base with a firmer texture, less of a "vehicle" and more as an element. It shows off how easy it is to make any Farro.
Einkorn and Bean Minestrone
Easy to do with only a little attention, the smells fill the house while it is cooking.
The Perfect Chicken Breast
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DESIGN: JODI LUBY & COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK CITY, NY; EMAIL STRATEGY: CRM Group USA, SEATTLE, WA
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