Awww Cheeeez... Ideas for Cheese Boards

One of the easiest options for party food is always a cheese board. And it's often something requested by our clients. Of course the first option we recommend is Chef Daniel's "Signature" Baked Brie. If you've ever had the pleasure, you know it's not easily forgotten. Especially when served still warm with the glaze of hard crack caramel. But not every home cook is ready to take on that kind of challenge, so we wanted to offer some ideas that explore interesting options more purchased than prepared.

Good cheese is not the least expensive of foods, though there are some less expensive options that are still both delicious and interesting. And consider splurging every now and then for a truly special example. A perfectly ripe Vacherin Mont d'Or on a cold November evening can be life changing, or at the very least, life affirming. Just this week, passing by a split wheel of Gorgonzola Cremoza at the restaurant show I was ready to pull up a stool, a loaf of Sullivan Street Stiratto and make peace with the world. When great cheese is simply served it's about as perfect a food as there is.

First off, cheese varieties: Look for a variety of textures, flavors and intensities. Offer selections that cover several options.

Sharp, extra aged hard cheese (Parmesan, Dutch Aged Gouda, Manchego Viejo, etc.)
Firm Cheeses (Cantal, Gruyere, Cheddar, Piave, etc.)
Goat (Montrachet, Pyramid, La Tur, Boucheron, etc.)
Blue (Gorgonzola Dulce or Cremoza, Stilton, Maytag Blue, etc.)
Runny (St. Marcellan, Brie, Camembert, Pont l'Eveque, etc.)
Triple Creme (St. Andre, Robiola, Brillat Saverin, etc.)

A great cheese store will be a great asset if you have one nearby. Not only can a talented cheese monger make sure you capture the elusive ripe Camembert, but he or she will likely be able to turn you on to specials that you wouldn't otherwise know about.

And then look for some interesting accompaniments for your cheese selections. Grapes and Strawberries are all well and good, but they're just the beginning of the story.

Here's some ideas we love....

Fresh Mozzarella with Black Olive, Sun dried Tomato & Herb Relish
Comte with Fresh Walnuts and Truffled Honey
Manchego with Guava Paste
Bulgarian Feta with Watermelon
English Farmstead Cheddar with Balsamic Shallots
Cabrales Blue Cheese with Almond Turron
Boucheron Aged Goat Cheese with Peppered Grilled Peaches
Fontina Val d'Aosta with Medjool Dates and Almonds

Sparkling Apple and Chamomile Tissane, Hibiscus Cranberry Agua Fresca & Ginger Green Tea Sparkler

What a week! A two day, all day extravaganza for Clinique Cosmetics, a celebration of Black History month in Harlem with Aetna, plus business as usual. Feels great to be busy. And the reviews were fantastic, which makes it even sweeter. One of the surprise hits were the alcohol free refreshment drinks we developed.

We've noticed that most of our corporate clients are drinking a lot less alcohol at events, so we've begun to turn our attention to providing some options beyond seltzer and sodas. It's a whole new canvas for our kitchen to paint on. We get to use all we've learned about flavor and apply it to a liquid form. Apparently it's something we've proven to be pretty good at.

Sparkling Apple and Chamomile Tissane

Make some simple syrup by bringing equal parts granulated sugar and water to a boil for 5 minutes and cool.

Alternately you could use Agave syrup instead of sugar (skip the boiling) or an artificial sweetener added to hot water. We're not sure of the proportions for these substitutions though.

Make an extra strong batch of Chamomile Tea and let it cool.

Sweeten the Chamomile Tea to taste with the simple syrup and mix with Sparkling Apple Cider over ice or chilled in a flute. Garnish with a Granny Smith Apple slice

Cranberry Hibiscus Agua Fresca

Make a strong infusion of Hibiscus Flowers (Sometimes called Jamaica or Sorrel in ethnic markets, or use Red Zinger Tea if all else fails.) Then make a simple syrup as directed in the above recipe, but this time toss in a good handful of clean fresh mint when you remove it from the heat. When cool strain to remove the mint.

Sweeten the Hibiscus Tea with the minted simple syrup and add equal parts of red cranberry juice cocktail over ice. Garnish with fresh lemon.

Ginger Green Tea Sparkler

Make a strong infusion of green tea and set aside to cool. Make a simple syrup as described above, but this time with a handful of chopped fresh ginger. When the syrup is cool, strain and discard the ginger. Sweeten the green tea lightly with the ginger syrup. Combine the lightly sweetened tea with ginger ale over ice. Garnish with fresh lime.

Mushroom Hazelnut Soup

Wow, what a successful tasting we had last Tuesday. The weather cooperated and plenty of potential clients were up for a chance to sample a new cocktail and hors d'oeuvres we're featuring this season.

The Metro Sparkler was the featured apertif - Kurrant Vodka, Rose's Lime, Cranberry and Lemon Juices and splash of Champagne! Seemed like a perfect Post Valentine's Day tipple! Move over Cosmo ....



And one of the most enjoyed hors d'oeuvres was a soup sip that we called

Wild Mushroom and Hazelnut Cappuccino with Madeira Foam

But there's no reason you couldn't enjoy a hearty bowl of this delicious soup instead of a dainty demitasse. Earthy, rich and perfect for this time of year. It's not difficult to make. Unusual yet not intimidating. How am I doing? Have I sold you yet.

This recipe has the additional cache of being based on one served by Joyce Goldstein, a respected San Francisco chef that Chef Daniel worked with way back when he was a "baby chef".







Mushroom Hazelnut "Cappuccino" with Truffle and Madeira Foam

1/2 cup Hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup Shallots, sliced
2 cups Yellow Onions, sliced
4 cups White Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 cups Shiitake Mushroom, cleaned, stemmed and sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
2 1/2 cups Chicken stock (vegetable or mushroom stock optional), plus more to taste
white truffle oil to taste
1/4 cup creme fraiche (or heavy cream)

Madeira Foam
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Madeira (or more or less to taste)
Freshly ground nutmeg

Process the hazelnuts with a steel knife in the food processor until finely ground. Be careful to not over-process into a paste. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium soup pot over medium heat and add onions and shallot. Saute until softened and translucent. Add all the mushrooms, salt & pepper and sweat them, covered for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Add enough sock to just cover the mushrooms, cover and simmer another 10 minutes.
Transfer the mushroom, onion, stock mixture, and reserved ground hazelnuts to a blender and puree until smooth. Add reserved stock to thin the soup.
Return soup to a pot. Stir in creme fraiche and truffle oil. Adjust seasoning and keep warm.
Combine cream, salt and madeira in a bowl. Whisk until a light foamy whipped consistency is reached. Garnish the soup with foam and a sprinkle of fresh nutmeg.

So, try this by the bowl, or as we served it in an espresso cup.

Chocolate Bark - Just in time for Valentine's Day

Truth be told, we couldn't find any romantics roaming the kitchen this week... or any week for that matter. But there were a few fans of Cupid over in the office. Not sure what this says about the temperament of chefs vs. numbers people, but for Brittani and Arlette we're going to focus on things sweet and loving.

Chocolate seems to be a great common ground no matter the level of love in your heart. And if you are full up to the rim with affection y amor, you might want to consider an all out, pedal to the metal, seduction attempt and whip up a batch of Valentine Candy with your own sweet little hands. Too difficult you gasp? Too challenging you protest? Nonsense!

Chocolate Bark is the solution here. Semisweet chocolate melted, poured onto a sheet pan, and topped with nuts, dried fruit, seeds, candies or whatever you will!Couldn't be easier, it's seriously delicious and comes with more flavor possibilities than we will ever be able to list here. Have we persuaded you yet? You'll be personalizing your Valentine's chocolate with every one of his or her favorite sweet nibs....

Here's what you'll need:

Chocolate - Buy the best, it's for your sweetie! We recommend between 50% and 72% cocoa content. Anything lower is probably milk chocolate, which is delicious too, but a bit less stable than semisweet or bittersweet... and we promised you this would be easy. Same goes for white chocolate... save that for your 2nd batch, unless you feel up for the challenge...

The Add Ons - Let your imagination run rampant.. Toasted pecans, peanuts, cashews, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds (shelled), dried apricots, popcorn, peppermints, M&M's ... Don't rule out some savory items as well. After all, sea salt with chocolate is the new black.

Some of our ideas
Valentine's Special - Sugared rose petals
Pig Out - Crisp bacon, CornNuts, chopped nut brittle
Thin Mint - Finely chopped spearmint hard candies (or you can use the red and white peppermint ones).
Peanut Love - Salted roasted Virginia peanuts and chopped peanut brittle
Cracker Jack - Caramel corn and mixed salted nuts
Rocky Road - Miniature marshmallows and toasted pecans
Tropicalia - Macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, toasted coconut, chopped dried mango
Movie Time - Mini pretzels, peanuts, caramel corn, gummy bears
Kiddie Ride - Cap'n Crunch, M & M's, mini marshmallows, golden raisins
Sophisticate - Pistachios, toasted sliced almonds, crystallized ginger, espresso beans
Trail Mix - Granola, dried cranberries, banana chips, cashews
Pacific Rim - Wasabi peanuts, chow mein noodles, dried pineapple
MexiBark - Spicy corn chips, pepitas, raisins, cinnamon breakfast cereal

The Process:
Basic Chocolate Bark

1 pound Top Quality Chocolate, chopped
2 - 2 1/2 cups add ons

Draw a 9 x 12 rectangle on a piece of parchment paper. Flip it over and place on a baking sheet.
Place the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler. (Or in a medium bowl over a pan of simmering water) Melt the chocolate over medium low heat, being careful to prevent any steam from getting into the chocolate. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside and let it cool until just above room temperature.
Pour onto parchment paper and spread over 9 x 12 area. Sprinkle with desired add ons. Let cool several hours and then break into desired shapes.

Tarte Flambee - An Alsatian Twist on Pizza

Seems as though most eyes will be focused on Football this weekend, so we thought we'd toss out a Super Bowl snack idea that puts a little spin on an old favorite.

Tarte Flambee is a huge favorite all over Alsace - Lorraine in northwest France and probably across the border in Germany I'd guess. There's really nothing "flambe" about it. It's a thin round of bread dough topped with thick cut bacon, onions and creme fraiche. The name refers to the charred edges where the wood flames lick up around them. And it is absolutely perfect for these chilly days around New York. A delicious alternative to pizza.

If you want to cut the work in half, purchase some pre-made dough from a neighborhood pizzeria or at the grocery store. But this recipe does produce a more authentic, breadlike crust in our opinion

Alsatian Tarte Flambee
serves 6-12
Crust
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 pound all purpose flour (this is between 3 1/2 - 4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm milk

Dissolve sugar in the water. Sprinkle yeast over the water and mix thoroughly. Allow to proof for a few minutes. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mix and gradually stir in the lukewarm milk. Mix and knead about 6 minutes. Feel free to use the dough hook on your stand mixer if you have one. Let rise until double. Then divide dough as desired, and roll into balls. When ready to bake, roll out dough balls into thin circles, top and bake.

Topping
9 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 Tablespoon olive oil (as needed)
2 medium onions, sliced thin (about 3 cups)
1 1/2 cups creme fraiche (substitute sour cream IF YOU MUST)
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
salt & pepper
cornmeal for dusting

Cook off the pancetta in a skillet over medium heat until well browned. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels, leaving excess pancetta fat in the skillet. Add sliced onions and cook until well browned (caramelized). Add olive oil if needed. Continue to stir the onions often as they brown. When golden colored, remove the onions and cool. In a medium bowl, combine creme fraiche, ricotta cheese, nutmeg, caramelized onions and salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
The tartes can be made individual (12) or larger. (We've never made a full recipe into one tarte. The largest we've made is two from 1 X the recipe. You might need to adjust baking times longer for larger tartes.)
Roll out the dough balls into rounds about 1/8" thick. Prick all over with the tines of a fork. Cover with a thin layer of the onion mix and then sprinkle with the cooked pancetta. Place on a cornmeal dusted baking sheet and bake until browned and crisp.

Popcorn with Benefits

Sometimes we forget about the simple comfort of freshly popped popcorn. Months will go by, with pretzels, tortilla chips, crackers or nuts, and then suddenly a munchy craving will whisper .... popcorn. Typically it's when we find ourselves out of pretzels, tortilla chips, crackers, nuts and such. But that's really a shame. It's also why we remember popcorn with a wisp of nostalgia. A memory for some of us of a time when tortilla chips were the newest kid on the snack block and only came in one flavor ... corn.

Homemade popcorn also brings so much more to the table. First, the smell as it's cooking, Second, it's actually warm and thereby inherently comforting. And finally, for our overstimulated 21st century palates it's refreshingly plain and simple.

And yet it doesn't have to be... lately we've been experimenting with ways to spice up, tweak, and elevate humble popcorn for bar snacks at parties. One current offering is Sweet Glazed Popcorn with crunchy CornNuts and Pumpkin Seeds. That might be more than you want to take on at home while the movie is downloading, but we've been thinking of some quick and easy options for pumping up the volume on popcorn snacking when you tire of the tried and true.

Most of the flavorings added work best when the seasonings are stirred into a little melted butter before tossing with the popcorn. If you really want to avoid that, try spraying the popped popcorn with a little Butter Flavor PAM before adding the seasonings. It just helps it stick.

Palomas with Chipotle
This is the easiest of all and classically Mexican. Look for a product called Buffalo Chipotle Sauce. It's a tall, tapering thin bottle in the Latino Food Section. Just lightly sprinkle freshly popped popcorn with this Chipotle hot sauce and mix thoroughly. Palomas by the way is Spanish for popcorn.

BBQ Popcorn
Melt some butter and stir in a little Paprika, Hickory Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and Chile Powder. Toss freshly popped popcorn with the seasoned butter.

Italian Cheese
Gently warm some Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a saute pan with a crushed garlic clove. When the oil is infused with the garlic flavor, remove the clove and toss freshly popped popcorn with the garlic oil. Immediately toss in a small handful of room temperature finely shredded Parmesan (or Asiago) cheese, freshly ground pepper and some salt if needed. If you want to really impress, or if it's a particularly spectacular Italian film, you could upgrade to Truffle Oil.

Spicy Wasabi
Mix together a little instant Wasabi powder, ground ginger and sea salt. Toss the freshly popped popcorn with a gently drizzle of toasted sesame oil and then sprinkle with the wasabi seasoning. Use a light hand, wasabi is potent stuff. We think this would also be great with some crumbled seasoned Nori seaweed strips added.

Sweet Spices
Making Kettle or Caramel Corn is time consuming and potentially dangerous if you're not used to hot caramelized sugar. But here's an option when your sweet tooth is vying for your attention. Mix together a little sugar (superfine sugar would be great to use here if you have some on hand), some ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Also don't forget to add a few pinches of salt for balance. Again a little melted butter over the popcorn, then a toss with the sweet spices.

This should give you plenty to play with. When you're ready though, here's some other ideas rattling around in our collective heads....
Curry Powder and Toasted Coconut; Lemon Pepper and Dried Dill Weed; Cocoa, Powdered Sugar & Espresso Powder .... We're sure there's more to come

Another Cup of Hot Cocoa Please ...

OK, so something less than wonderful is happening lately. It's the weekly NYC snowstorm.
Really? Another one today? AND another on the horizon for next Wednesday?

We're sure all our California readers are enjoying a smug sunny smile, but have a heart! That's why this week is all about hot cocoa served in a never ending mug. Because one of the truly positive aspects to weekly snowstorms should be cozy afternoons and evenings with a mug of hot cocoa and a great book, stack of magazines or Netflix subscription - pick your own distraction.

So to that end.... following is a recipe for HomeMade Instant Cocoa Mix with several variations. Once you make this, pop it in a air tight container and it will easily last until the first sprouting of the crocus bulbs...

Traditional Hot Cocoa Mix
1 1/2 Cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
6 Ounces Semisweet Chocolate (coarsely chopped)
1 2 inch Piece of Whole Vanilla Bean (optional, but recommended)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with the steel blade. Process until all ingredients are chopped into a smooth powder. Transfer into an air tight container. Store at room temperature for up to 6 months.

Hot Cocoa
8 ounces Milk (Whole, 2% or Skim - your choice)
3 Tablespoons Hot Cocoa Mix

Place milk in a large mug and warm milk in the microwave. (Or warm the milk in a pan on the stove) Add the Cocoa Mix and stir until completely combined. Continue to warm until hot. Garnish with whipped cream or marshmallows if desired.

Note: Occasionally a small amount of Rum, Brandy, Frangelico, etc. has accidentally spilled into the cup of cocoa with no apparent ill effects.

Variations
Sugar Free: Replace the 1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar with 1 3/4 of a 'cup for cup' style sugar replacement. Follow the procedure as printed. (We used bulk Splenda. The Stevia in the Raw Cup for Cup product would also work, among others)

Mocha: Increase the granulated sugar to 1/2 cup and add 1/3 cup of instant coffee to the mix before processing. Then follow the procedure as written.

Mexican Hot Chocolate:Prepare the Traditional Hot Cocoa Mix, adding 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon whole anise seeds and 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne to the mix before processing the ingredients.

Peppermint : Reduce the granulated sugar to 1 Tablespoon and add 2 roughly broken "Starlight" peppermint candies to the mix before processing.