Chez Panisse's choice for Finishing Oil, Katz Chef's Pick, the best most approachable year ever and more at chefshop.com/enews EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER 5% OFF CODE olive  Recipes | Chef's Pantries | Shop for Food & Ingredients | Food Blog Open the bottle and take your first big whiff for 2018. What you get first is this wonderful olive oil smell with a little bit of a tickle in the nose and a plethora of happy images. Images which include the feeling of the sun warming your shoulders and a skillet of pasta tossed with olive oil and capers. Pour it into your soup spoon and you see a beautiful yellow greenish color this year. Before taking a swig I often slurp into the mouth whilst dipping the tip of the tongue to decipher what’s up. This oil has some wonderful notes. Smooth flavor of artichoke, almond, fennel and hints of green and grass. Not quite buttery this oil is very strong without excessive aggression. Initially fluffy, it dissipates nicely (cleanly) without leaving tracks. And just as you think your mouth is done the edges of your tongue get wrapped with a round bitter blush. And then dead center in the back of your throat, not a pointed hit, instead a nice blunt tipped inspired cough ensues, almost a stumble. Exactly what you want from an organic EV Olive Oil. These trees were planted in 2001 and first harvested in 2004. Age definitely plays a part in how the olives mature and create the oil. Older is better. And, hard to believe, it seems that stress helps create even better oil. Even with the wild swings in rain, drought, fire and politics, the trees produced a low yield but more fluidity to deliver a good harvest! Overall, it’s like a stratocumulus cloud, soft and fluffy on the underside but, at the end, more like a stormy cloud with lots of interesting flavors and punch as it finishes with a light, almost banana-like essence. It might be just the time of year but it is, in my recent memory, my favorite Chef's Pick harvest ever. Over the last few (or more) years, Katz Chef’s Pick has been THE finishing oil upstairs and downstairs at the famous Chez Panisse. Chef Alice Waters “and Chez Panisse are convinced that the best tasting food is organically and locally grown, and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound, by people who are taking care of the land for future generations.” Shop Now for Katz Chef's Pick! Basic Pasta with Olive Oil and Capers This recipe is so simple. And because it is simple, every ingredient is critical. Only the best will do - because you will taste every bite. Heat the oil and capers in a small skillet, add the pasta and serve. Skip the plate and eat from the skillet. Of course, you can add this or that, tuna, semi-dried tomatoes, hard-neck garlic, etc. Get the recipe here! Capers from Morocco After all these years, these are still my favorite capers. Easy to use, spoon ready right out of the jar. Fast and meaty! Delicious in sauces and with seafood, capers add a slightly bitter bite to cuisines throughout the Mediterranean. They are a common ingredient in Southern France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. Try capers in pasta, salads, stews, vegetables, poultry and meats, on pizza, or in remoulades and tapenades. Capers go especially well with lemons or tomatoes. Click here for Moroccan Capers! Bucatini Pasta This is a holy long pasta! This is a meaty pasta with a great bite. Italian bucatini pasta is thicker than spaghetti and the center of each long strand is hollow - think of a drinking straw. Sapori di Napoli bucatini is thicker than the average store-bought version, and superior ingredients and traditional production methods give it exceptional flavor and texture. The drinking-straw shape of bucatini pasta allows sauces to not just coat it, but to get all the way inside the tubes, too . . . the better to maximize the melding of pasta and sauce! Shop now for Holy Pasta - Bucatini long pasta Fossil River Flake Salt Perhaps you know the Castle of the Pies Negros, also known as Villena Castle. What you may not know is that there are underground rivers & springs in the earth nearby. And from those waters an amazing salt is harvested. When you do try a salt that is out-of-this-world, you know it instantly. Fossil River salt is indeed one of them. These big, beautiful flakes of salt are created after extracting the water from the river and poring it into saline pools whilst the hydrogen and oxygen atoms disperse. This allows the natural elements to be retained and remain in these glorious salt crystals. Big flakes that crunch and disappear with ease, leaving nothing but the flavor of salt. So large you can pick them up with delicate fingertips and place one or two choice crystals in key strategic locations on a brownie, it is indeed divine. Shop now for Fossil River Flake Sea Salt! Bonito del Norte This can of tuna is the perfect size for lunch! We love the shape of the can, which fits easily in the palm of your hand. Opening it reminds us of those romantic (fantasy or real) wicker basket picnics in a green field in your locale of choice. A pantry must! Click here to find your can of tuna! Organic Chocolate Do you remember when, if you loved dark chocolate, you had to hide in a closet and not tell anyone? It seems now if you like milk chocolate you can't admit it in public. And to be cool nowadays you have to get a deeper voice and talk about that 100% bar you had last week. Well, this is a milk chocolate that can fill the void that you have in your heart. That yearning for a soft milk chocolate that you love! Finissimo Couverture Chocolate Shop now! * Aleppo Pepper! The wonderful Aleppo pepper is a dark red, robust pepper variety traditionally grown in the area around Aleppo (Halab in Arabic) in northwestern Syria and southern Turkey. With its high oil content, this dried and crushed red pepper has a deliciously deep, aromatic flavor. With a bit more heat than paprika - but not so much that it masks the pepper's flavor - it is truly a versatile ingredient in the kitchen and at the table. In Syria, fresh Aleppo Pepper is traditionally used for many dishes, especially soups, salads, and fish. It's also delicious in chili, meat loaf (really!), and sauces, or anywhere paprika is called for but a bit of a stronger flavor is desired. Aleppo pepper is also excellent on grilled meats like chicken breast, steak, and chops, and makes an attractive sprinkle for potato, chicken and tuna salad and deviled eggs too. Shop now for Aleppo Pepper! * Panettone is selling quickly! Colomba. Spring Italian Bread "Yummy!" "Ordered this last year and it was great. Very fresh and delicious. I will definitely order it again." - Mike - It's time to order up! Sun is shining and setting after 7PM! ChefShop Cocoa Powder! Best Cocoa on the Planet!! "I have been using this exclusively for years now. I have a 'secret' brownie recipe that I make with this cocoa, [I make a] syrup made from the cocoa and only the best ingredients. Everyone goes ga-ga over them. Syrup - so easy to make - anything that calls for cocoa I use this. Sometimes I mix just a touch into my coffee from a treat. If you have not tried this yet you need to. You WILL NOT be disappointed!!!" - Ellie Mae Feeling like it's time to make Brownies! NEW Chef Darin - Cast Iron Cooking Class Cast Iron cooking is back in vogue thanks to a resurgence in artisan producers. Although it's been a cooking standard for hundreds of years there is still a bit of mystery (maybe anxiety) about using it. Join Chef Darin for an overview of the history of cast iron plus the best ways to season, clean and cook with it! You'll enjoy: Baked Camembert with Cranberry Relish and Walnut Cakes, Charred Radicchio and Apple Slaw, Warmed Escarole and Heirloom Beans Salad with Lemon and Herbs, Pan-Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Brown Butter, Skillet and Rhubarb Cake with Whipped Cultured Cream. You will enjoy the foods created in class, plus appetizers, wine and lots of good conversation. Chef Darin Cast Iron Cooking Class - Sign up and have fun! Store Hours - come visit and have some nuts! Monday thru Saturday 10AM to 5PM. ChefShop.com 1425 Elliott Ave W Seattle, Wa 98119 206-286-9988 Our parking lot is to the north of the shop and to south of Champions Party Supply. Easy open parking lot. Click here to see the map. This Week's Recipes Plumped Ginger Caramel Recipe Pasta con Bottarga Recipe In 1988, Giuliano Bugialli released a great cookbook called Bugialli on Pasta (Simon and Schuster, 1988). Not only is it a great resource for many types of traditional vegetable and meat sauces for pasta, but it also contains a lot of information about regional pasta shapes and making pasta out of a variety of flours. This recipe is an adaptation from one of Giulliano's recipes. Filé Gumbo Recipe This traditional stew known as Gumbo is what one thinks of as the food of Louisiana. Filé Gumbo is when the ground leaves of sassafras are added to the recipe. Because Filé (sassafras) should be added as the final step, as a topping at the end, adding it to any gumbo is possible. See what you missed in previous Newsletters Once In a While Honey & 3 Mexican Honeys Too Great Nuts - Spring Panettone has Arrived & Shipping This Oil Will Change Your Life! New Lower Price on Cocoa Powder! ChefShop.com Toll-free: 1-800-596-0885 You've received this email because you have purchased from us or subscribed. We respect your privacy online, and will never share your email address. 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