Believe it or not, we're just back from a long weekend in Grand Cayman, where Zach's sister got married (huzzah!). It was a beautiful trip filled with some great food, including a dinner at Eric Ripert's Cayman restaurant, Blue. It was our first trip to a Ripert establishment and it did not disappoint.
When we weren't eating on the island or drinking Dark 'n Stormy's (above), we went snorkeling (the first time for both of us!) and even swam with some stingrays.
And now, back to reality and impending spring. So here are The Leftovers for February.
Is Ras El Hanout Having a Moment?
Never heard of Ras El Hanout (pictured at right, from Fine Cooking)? Neither had we, and then out of the blue, we ran into it twice in just a few weeks. First, we saw it featured in Fine Cooking, and then it showed up again in the March Bon Appetit.
If you're unfamiliar, it's a Moroccan mix of spices. Fine Cooking says it can have as many as 50 ingredients and there's no prescribed recipe. The translation is "top of the shop," meaning the best spices. Bon App says it's great for fish.
Fine Cooking has a recipe for making your own (along with a delicious sounding Rabbit Tagine to go with it). We started to make our own so we could make this rabbit, and then had trouble sourcing a rabbit, so we gave up. Another time! If you don't want to make your own, it's also available from ChefShop.com.
New Equipment: Stovetop Smokers and Electric Pressure Cookers
Though we have a standing moratorium on buying new kitchen equipment (which we broke twice this month, but more on that in a later post), we're fascinated by new gear and what's available to home cooks. So two February features caught our eye.
The first was in Food & Wine, which features Chef Jason Alley's use of a Stovetop Smokers. Using the device, Alley smokes food for 1 minute prior to cooking it, to give the dish a smoked flavor. The recipes for his smoked dishes are available on the magazine's website. The recipes say that you need to use the device in a well-ventilated area, but we can't quite get our heads around using it in our kitchen.
Camerons Professional Cookware Stovetop Smoker is available on Amazon.com ($43.49, pictured right).
The second set of products that piqued our interest were the new models of pressure cookers featured in Fine Cooking. We're fascinated with pressure cooking, but a little afraid of them, too, after hearing too many stories of them exploding. It seems as if those days are behind us, though, with newer models being, in the magazine's words, "nearly foolproof."
Two of the recommended pressures cookers are Cuisinart's Electric 6-quart model ($84.99, pictured right) and the higher-end WMF Perfect Plus 4.5-quart model ($229).
Do You Read Food Zines?
Also in Food &Wine, we were intrigued by their featuring "Put an Egg on It," a New York-based food zine. We suspect there are a number of regional food zines around the country similar to this one. Do you read any? If so, we'd love to hear about them. More about Put an Egg on It is available at putaeggonit.com.
We Make Mistakes, Too.
It's true. When we featured Corn and Amaranth Griddlecakes with Spicy Black Beans last week, we noted that one tweak we would suggest is making the cakes less thick, since the recipe called for 3-inch cakes. As several readers commented, we likely made an error and the recipe meant that the cakes should be 3 inches in diameter. Indeed! Check out the post and let us know what you think.
