Another reason to support local and sustainable meat and poultry

Yech.

Consumer Reports presents its findings that a full TWO-THIRDS of whole broiler chickens purchased nationwide harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter - the leading bacterial causes of foodborne diseases. This is better than results from 2007, when a similar study resulted in eight out of ten contaminated broiler chickens. Worse today, however, is that more than 60% of contaminated broilers were resistant to at least one antibiotic.

Scary.

There is a glimmer of hope: Store-brand organic chickens had NO salmonella at all. More than half still tested positive for campylobacter, but at least they were cleaner than the bigger brands. Most contaminated? Tyson and Foster Farms.

I'm definitely thinking twice about my chicken-buying behaviors!!

Cookie Bake 2009!

So far, here is the list we've come up with. This Sunday, 10am - Should be a marvelous time for all! More to come regarding lunch, and let me know if I missed anything. Yum!

Anne:
Pain d'amande
Rugelach
Rick:
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Chocolate-dipped Peanut Butter Filled Peanut Butter Cookies
Shawn & Fernando:
Bacon Brittle
Cardamom Cookies
Chocolate Chip, Pecan and Cranberry Cookies
Joyce:
Dipped apricots
Chocolate-covered pretzels
Chinese noodle cookies
Jessica:
Turtles
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls -OR- Ginger Molasses Cookies
Barbara:
Krumkake
Sam and Michael:
Gingersnaps (Gluten free?)
Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Meg:
Coconut Macaroons
Damian:
Sugar Cookies
...and...

Pasta with Chocolate

I read about this in an article referencing an Italian tradition of adding chocolate to savory dishes to deepen and enrich the flavors.

From the article:

"It's only the addition of sugar that makes chocolate sweet. Fine dark chocolate, like fine wine, has an amazingly complex taste profile, with hundreds of distinct nuanced aromas and flavors," Mantelli says. "Chocolate is, or should be, in everyone's spice rack."

Among the most classic and simplest uses of chocolate in savory food is as a topping to certain pasta dishes. One simple recipe is to toss cooked pasta with ground walnuts and gorgonzola cheese and top it with grated dark chocolate. Chocolate is also incorporated into fillings for ravioli, such as the Italian fall favorite pumpkin-chocolate ravioli served with a brown butter sage sauce. [Bold emphasis mine!]

And here is another recipe:

Pasta with Sage and Chocolate

Chocolate adds an unexpected rich, deep flavor to this simple pasta sauce. The recipe is courtesy of G.B. Martelli of the chocolatier Venchi S.p.A.

• 1 pound spaghetti or fettuccine

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter

• 4 shallots, finely minced

• 20 fresh sage leaves, plus more for garnish

• Freshly ground black pepper or crushed red pepper, to taste

• 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

• 1 to 2 ounces Venchi Chocaviar bits, or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely grated

Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and saute the shallots and sage leaves, for about 8 minutes, until the butter is golden brown.

Toss the pasta with the sage-shallot butter and about 1/4 cup of the pasta's cooking water. Season with pepper.

Serve topped with the cheese and a generous sprinkling of Chocaviar or grated chocolate. Garnish with sage leaves.

Makes 6 servings.

via Pittsburgh Live

Thanksgiving Turkey Cake!

Lovely, and maybe even vegetarian-friendly! Available in "white meat" and "dark meat" from Madison Park Bakery:



via Serious Eats

Shawn - nice job getting us started. The description of the business meeting captures the atmosphere nicely! Thanks for setting us up. -Meg

Bacon Mug

It's a mug made out of bacon, and filled with melted cheese! We MUST try doing this...anyone game for brunch?

via Neatorama

Cookie and wine pairings

I found an article in the Seattle Times last year about grown-up beverages with which to wash down all our holiday cookies. I wanted to share it in light of our upcoming cookie bake on December 6th!

Original article found here, excerpt below:

Rum balls with a Dark and Stormy cocktail: “Rum in the drink and rum in the candies, what else do you need?” says Miller. To make a Dark and Stormy, mix 2 ounces of dark rum with 3 ounces of ginger beer. Serve over ice.

Snickerdoodles with cream soda: The cinnamon sugar on the cookies pairs well with the vanilla in the soda, esp when the cookies are dunked.

Shortbread and sparkling wine: A dry Champagne cuts through the rich, buttery flavor of the cookie.

Molasses cookies with hot spiced apple cider: In this combination, the spices in the cider stand up to the rich molasses in the cookie.

Lace cookies with a late-harvest riesling: Like lace cookies, a late-harvest riesling is light and delicate. The wine’s peach and apricot flavors also work well here.

(and more in the article!!!)

Annual KTC meeting and dinner at William's

The group convened at 5:30pm last Saturday the 14th to hold our annual Kiss The Cooks meeting and dinner at William’s house. The night opened with a delightful sparkling wine from New Mexico (Gruet?), and in the course of just a few short minutes, small talk degenerated from “Hi, how are things?” to cigarettes to potty training to out-and-out hazing.

After a beautiful welcome and introduction from William, the first order of business was whether to allow Frank, who had left the group the year prior, to re-join the group. Much mirth ensued as current members discussed what would be required of Frank as compensation for permitting him to return. Choices were, 1. prepare dinner for the group, 2. perform a strip tease, 3. write an essay entitled “Umami or Upapi, and Why,” or 4. perform the “I’m a Little Teapot” song with appropriate arm and hand movements.

In short order, we also discussed the following business:

• A “yes” to offering the KTC experience in charity auction events in 2010, but at 2 guests per event instead of last year’s 4 per event
• Improved documentation of our monthly cooking get-togethers, including photos, recipes, and more via a private blog
• In 2010 we would like to try inviting special culinary guests to join us for our monthly cooking get-together
• We’d like to branch out in terms of our creativity, cooking by “themes” and expanding our offerings to include some interesting non-alcoholic beverages
• Traveling together: We’ll try for Lopez or Whidbey in late winter and perhaps look into Walla Walla later in the year to visit Mikey

We called Frank in to give him our enthusiastic approval of his return (as well as a bit of a hard time), and to our surprise (and to many’s disappointment), he elected to cook dinner for the group instead of the aforementioned strip-tease or performance of “Teapot.” At 6:30, dinner was served.

The group filed into William’s dining room, transformed into something even more special than usual by his incredibly beautiful quilted placemats, chargers and table accessories. Stunning stuff!

Now…on to William’s culinary masterpieces (this is the part where we realize that photos would have been particularly nice to have added to this format!):

SOUP: Leek and apple soup in a chicken stock base, with a beautiful velvety texture thickened with potatoes. Perfect for the weather!

SALAD: Slices of heirloom tomato and wine-poached pears served over butter lettuce, topped with bleu cheese, candied pecans, and truffle salt. Yum!

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON: Homage to Julia Child, marvelous execution and rich taste, served over smashed potatoes instead of noodles.

ZABAGLIONE: Sweet Italian dessert made by furiously whipping egg yolks with marsala wine and sugar, served warm in a goblet. Some were eating it straight out of the mixing bowl by the end of the night!

TONIGHT’S LESSON: Cognac is a fabulous secret ingredient. It reduces bitterness caused by accidental over-searing of meats, it enhances complexity of a dish, it adds a special touch to candied nuts…AND it makes the person or persons cooking feel really smiley and warm!