Food & Wine, June 2009

OK, I'm finally caught up on my food mags with this post. Just in time for the next onslaught.

This issue is a must-have if you like to grill. Front cover copy reads "best grilling recipes -- juicy burgers, meaty ribs, easy marinades & sauces plus top summer wines & beers". Makes you hungry just reading it, doesn't it?

Here are the recipes I've bookmarked:

• Smoky Glazed Asparagus - Never thought of using mayo in a marinade, but this sounds darn tasty. F&W says the mayo creates a "beautifully blistered crust when grilled"...Sorry...think I just drooled a little.
• Mustard and Mayonnaise Glazed Asparagus - Again with the mayo marinade, this time with mustard.
• Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce - part of the "grill your sauce on a stick" section. Great idea.
• Chopped Lamb Steak with Garlicky Spinach - basically a lamb burger, with spinach, garlic, and goat cheese. Yum.

Not too many recipes bookmarked this go-round, but the section on grilling with wood, the "ultimate sausage guide", and the grilling tips throughout make this issue worth buying. And the article "A Beer Pilgrim in Brewtopia", showcasing a few San Diego breweries, is a must-read for anyone living here or planning a visit.

Food & Wine, May 2009

Catching up on my backlog of food magazines, here are my picks from the May 2009 issue of Food & Wine:

• Tangy Red Pepper and Nut Dip - otherwise known as muhammara, I love the stuff, and haven't made my own in quite some time.
• Scallion and Pecan Crusted Catfish with Hominy Stew - turnips, carrots, pancetta, scallions, hominy and catfish. What a melange!
• Clams with Pork and Golden Garlic - I've always read about mixing pork with clams, but never had it until just last week. Can't wait to experiment more, and this recipe sounds like a good place to start.
• Shoyu Ramen - I love me some ramen, but have yet to make my own from scratch.
• Vaca Frita - or Crispy Beef (literally fried cow), closely related to ropa vieja, but with happy crispy bits.

Food & Wine, April 2009

April's Food & Wine is chock full of good stuff! Here are my picks:

• Paprika-Rubbed Tenderloin with Citrus-Mustard Butter - Doesn't the name alone make you drool a little?
• Smoky Ham-and-Corn Chowder - I'm sick of this (relatively) cold weather, this chowder would warm me right up!
• Roasted Radishes with Radish Greens - I've only ever had cooked radishes once, and was intrigued. Time to try again.
• Lamb Pita Pockets with Tomato-Ginger Compote - OK, I know I said not too long ago that I'd never try another lamb shank recipe. But that was before I read this one.
• Caponata with Kalamata Olives and Asiago Cheese - Caponata, now with squash! Sounds interesting.

Phew! Writing that made me hungry.

Food & Wine, March 2009

Here are my picks from March 2009's issue of Food & Wine.

• Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Green Peppercorn Sauce - I love brined green peppercorns. And it goes without saying that I love pork. So...
• Wasabi Flank Steak and Miso-Glazed Potatoes - I LOVE wasabi. But I'm thinking maybe roast the potatoes instead of boiling them, for that extra-happy umaminess.
• Shrimp Saganaki - This recipe looks okay, but Peter's looks much better!
• Baked Potatoes with Wild Mushroom Ragù - I've been on a mushroom kick lately, and baked potatoes with mushrooms sounds great for the rainy weather we've been having. I'd probably add some cheese to the top...

Did anybody else think the spread of The Twenty+ Best Healthy Recipes Ever was a little strangely colored? It went from white, to orange, to red, purple, green and finally to almost black. Interesting concept, but I thought the colors were a little too intense.
















This post was sponsored and approved by Bad Kitty and Charlie. (And speaking of colors, I love the color palette of this pic! All my animals and furniture match.)

Food & Wine, February 2009

Not too many recipes jumped out at me from February's Food & Wine:

• Spinach and Shrimp Salad with Chile Dressing
• Chicken with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Cheesy Grits
• Yogurt-Marinated Lamb Kebabs with Lemon Butter

The issue was saved for me by some good reading:

• Is Wine in Half-Bottles Fully Worth It? - Lettie Teague writes about her half-bottle experiences.
• Argentina's Best Reds for $10 to $20 - I love Argentinian reds, now I have a list of new ones to try.
• Dinner with a Deity, Master Chef Michel Bras - a culinary god cooks dinner in a Manhattan apartment.

Food & Wine, January 2009

I just typed 2009 for the first time, where did 2008 go? (Although I have to say I'm glad it's almost over!)

And so, what does the year's first issue of Food & Wine bring us? Lots of tasty-looking treats.

• Braised Pork Shoulder with Chimichurri - Mmm...pork shoulder.
• Broiled Mussels with Hot Paprika Crumbs - Tender-chewy mussels with a crunchy spicy topping, how can you go wrong?
• Braised Romaine with Toasted Almonds and Moscatel Syrup - Cooked lettuce is really good (really!), and topping it with almonds and reduced moscatel vinegar sounds heavenly.
• Welsh Rabbit - because I'm seriously craving something cheesy and comforting right now.

As always, let me know if you make any of the above!

Food & Wine, December 2008

My picks from December's issue of Food & Wine:

• Pepper Pot Soup - ham hocks and chiles, two of my favorite things.
• Gingered Orange Gratin - interesting combination of warm orange, candied ginger, and crème fraîche.
• Pan-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Pancetta - the only thing that could make this better would be to replace the olive oil with duck fat.

I'm surprised that I only found three recipes that really jumped out at me. Kind of depressing for a holiday issue.

But did anybody see the new Acura TL on page 8? Beautiful.

Food & Wine, November 2008

Tasty treats from November's Food and Wine:

• Tiki Snack Mix - Bacon. In snack mix. Yes, please!
• Potato Crisps with Chive-Sour Cream Dip - I love the idea of using the peels for chips, that's where all the flavor is!
• Yucátan Pork Stew with Ancho Chiles and Lime Juice - I'm a sucker for anything that combines pork and chiles.
• Cassoulet with Duck Confit - this needs no explanation. The title alone should be enough to convince you to make it.

As always, if anyone makes any of the above, please let me know how it turned out!

Food & Wine, October 2008

Potentially tasty treats from the October issue of Food & (mostly) Wine:

• Lamb Tagine with Green Olives and Lemon - I am so craving autumn right now. I might have to schedule a trip to Seattle to have this dish at Union.
• Seared Scallops with Bacon-Braised Chard - Scallops. Bacon. Need I say more? Oh, chard's nice too.
  
• Reblochon Tarts with Bacon and Fingerling Potatoes - If I added duck fat somehow, would that make it overly decadent?
• Sauvignon Blanc-Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts - Because I love all of the ingredients.
• Roasted Lobsters with Verjus and Taragon - I typically prefer crab, finding lobster too tough, but maybe that's not the lobster's fault? Now to get my hands on some verjus...
• Grappa-Cured Striped Bass - although I'd probably leave out the fennel seeds, 'cause I hate 'em. Sounds like gravlax, only bassier.

And once again, I'm going to complain about Food & Wine's website and searching capabilities. I noticed that the URL for the lamb dish above is http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lamb-tagine-with-green-olives-and-lemon. So I figured that was an easy way to get the recipe links. But when I typed in http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-lobsters-with-verjus-and-tarragon, I got "Page Not Found". And then when I found the recipe through Google, I clicked on it, and what I typed in previously was exactly what was shown! The cheeky bastards.

Food & Wine, August 2008

Once again, my list of yummy-looking recipes that I'll probably never make from Food & Wine:

Pickled Farm-Stand Tomatoes with Jalapeños - I might actually make this - the phrase "plenty of crusty bread to sop up the ginger-and-cumin-scented tomato juices" made me salivate.

Honey-Tomato Bruschetta with Ricotta - although I think honey in the cooked tomatoes and on top of the bruschetta is a bit much...

Grilled Marrow Bones with Rosemary-Lemon Brushetta - but with marrow bones at $3-4 / lb, subtracting the weight of the bones probably makes it at least $20/lb for the marrow....yikes. But I guess if you treat it like a really good quality butter or cheese, $20/lb isn't too bad.

Kind of a short, boring issue this month. If you don't subscribe, I wouldn't bother with it at the newsstand. (Does anyone shop at a newsstand any more?)

And my favorite quote from this month's issue: Chris Cosentino says "Someone once told me marrow is like God's butter."

Food & Wine, July 2008

Yummy-looking recipes from July's issue of Food & Wine:

• Fettuccine with Tomatoes and Crispy Capers (what the title doesn't tell you is that there's crispy prosciutto!)
• Warm Potato Salad with Pancetta and Brown Butter Dressing (again with the pork products!)
• Tempura Crab Bites with Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce (it's from an advertisement, but who can resist fried soft-shell crabs?)
• Mussels with Speck, Lemon and Oregano (geez, what is it with all the pork?)
• Salmon Sashimi with Ginger and Hot Sesame Oil (pork-free, and the picture made me drool on my keyboard)

Anyone make any of these? Let me know how they turned out!

Food & Wine, June 2008

Once again, here are the recipes from the latest Food & Wine that look tasty. And, just like last month, I probably won't make any of them. But it's fun to think about.

• Grill-Roasted Bacon-and-Scallion Corn Muffins (mmm...bacon)
• Pan-Fried Smoked-Trout Cakes with Lemony Salad (although I've never seen smoked trout around here)
• Sunflower Seed Dip with Dill (like peanut butter but with sunflower seeds?)
• Smoked Salmon Involtini (with avocado!)
• Seared Romaine Spears with Caesar Dressing (seared lettuce, it's good, who would've thunk it?)
• Charred Fava Bean Salad with Lemon and Tarragon (just picked up some favas today!)

Oh, and a note to Food & Wine's web developers (like they're listening), your search capabilities suck. I searched for "sunflower seed dip", and came up with nothing, but searching for "sunflower seed" gave the above link. And your entire website is slower than molasses.

Food & Wine, May 2008

These are the recipes that look yummy (to me, anyway) from the May 2008 issue of Food & Wine. Will I make any of them? Probably not, unfortunately. I have about 100 cookbooks, of which I've cooked from about 15, only 3 or 4 regularly. And I recently got rid of most of my back-issues of Saveur and Food & Wine because they were just taking up space. I'd love to make use of the paper in my kitchen, but the Internet is just so much easier these days. Anyhow, on to the list of things I want to make but probably won't:

Tangy Twice-Cooked Eggplants with Red Peppers
Grilled Mortadella and Robiola Packets
Chickpea-Chile Flatbreads
Shrimp and Noodle Salad with Ginger Dressing
Glazed Japanese Beef and Scallion Rolls

If anybody out there (all three four of you (who are you #4? (I love nested parentheticals (what, you don't?)))) makes any of the above, please let me know. If it's good, I'll make it too (I promise!).