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Filtering by Tag: Entertaining

Candied Kabocha Squash Recipe: Chef Emily Mingrone of Tavern on State

Features Recipe Recipe Holiday Thanksgiving Cooking Entertaining

CTbites Team

For the next two weeks CTbites will be featuring a series of Thanksgiving recipes from local CT chefs. Some of these recipes will be family favorites, or dishes the chefs cook in their own homes. Others will grace the holiday menus found at your local restaurant. One thing is certain. They will all be delicious and worthy of a seat at YOUR table. Our second in this series comes from Chef Emily Mingrone of Tavern On State. Enjoy her recipe for Candied Kabocha Squash.


Polenta Holiday Cookies Recipe from Chef Silvia Baldini

Features Recipe Recipe Dessert Holiday Cookies Entertaining

Silvia Baldini

Crispy, crunchy, polenta cookies. The recipe was kindly gifted to me by my MIL Elisabetta. They have become a welcome tradition in my family. We make them a couple of weeks ahead of the holidays and keep them fresh in metal tin, lined with parchment paper. The mix of polenta and potatoes starch gives them a melt in your mouth texture. I like to dust them with a light coating of powder sugar and I enjoy them as treat with tea or when my sweet tooth requires a fixing.


Holiday Bar Cart Tips + Poinsettia Spritz Cocktail Recipe (sponsored post)

Recipe Holiday Cocktails Recipe Catering Entertaining

CTbites Team

The Holidays are here...time to entertain. A well-stocked bar cart is an essential ingredient in any successful holiday gathering.  Here's some tips from Festivities Catering to ensure that your holiday entertaining is festive, fun  and filled with style.  

Holiday Cocktail Cart Tips:

1. Create a "signature" drink that can be made in batches.  Have some pre-made in pitchers that can easily be poured into glasses as guests arrive. We suggest a Poinsettia Spritz Cocktail. 

Poinsettia Spritz Cocktail Recipe: 3/4 cup vodka, 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice, 2 ounces St. Germain, 3/4 cup prosecco, cranberries & rosemary for garnish.  Serves 6.


Brick + Wood’s Mobile Wood-Fired Pizza Oven

Restaurant Recipe Catering Entertaining Fairfield Pizza

CTbites Team

There's a new pizza "truck" in town, one with built-in street creds. Brick + Wood Pizza in Fairfield has set its pizza making in motion with a mobile wood-fired pizza oven, custom designed by acclaimed fourth generation pizza artisans, Acunto Forni, and imported from Naples, Italy.
 
The mobile Acunto pizza oven mirrors the wood-burning one in-house, ensuring the same tasty pizza is available no matter where it is prepared. The oven reaches over 1,000 degrees in temperature in a short period of time with an overhead flame cooking the pizzas in 90 seconds or less. The surface is made of volcanic brick, which is more porous and prevents the crust from burning.

Top 20 Food Trucks in Fairfield County CT : 2016 Edition

Restaurant Recipe Catering Entertaining Food Truck

Emma Jane-Doody Stetson

Fairfield County residents know that the area rocks… and it also “rolls”!  Fairfield County hosts a number of outstanding food trucks that serve an array of cuisines.  Meatballs, crepes, tacos, potatoes, Carribean… It’s all available right on the city streets or even in your backyard!  

Here are 20 delicious food trucks you can visit or hire for your next event. 

Hapa: Based in Stamford, Hapa serves three types of tacos: Korean short rib, Philippine chicken adobo and Nonny’s sweet peppers, burgers, both beef and Ahi, plus bowls of poke and chicken adobo.

The Poutine King: The Poutine King prides itself on being "the first food truck in the north east United States" to offer Poutine, a Canadian dish. Those wanting a classic version can order the traditional poutine. More adventurous eaters can enjoy the Sweet Potato Poutine or the Poutine Burger.

Skinny Pines: The Skinny Pines pizza truck sells wood fired pizzas. It makes use of local ingredients by sourcing its toppings from area farms. The menu changes with the season, but past pizzas have been topped with fresh sun gold tomatoes, zucchini, scapes, garlic, and eggplant, to name a few.

Taco Loco Party Truck: Taco Loco is recognized as the first Mexican food truck in CT! The restaurant is based in Bridgeport.


Hot Buttered Rum Cocktail Recipe via Saugatuck Grain & Grape

Features Recipe Cocktails Entertaining Recipe

Jeff Marron

When the leaves on the trees in New England start to fall, my cravings for cocktails change a bit. I tend to lean towards drinks that will warm me up next to the fire. The aromatics of cinnamon and clove just seem to pair so well with the scents that come from the fireplace. To me, a Hot Buttered Rum cocktail is the essence of New England in Winter. 

This is an easy drink to prepare. You build it in a coffee mug. There isn't any stirring or shaking or muddling. You don't have to be an expert mixologist to make a perfect Hot Buttered Rum. You just need a dark, aged rum. Here, I use my favorite, Ron Zacapa 23 year old. You can certainly use other brands, as Ron Zacapa can reach premium prices. Some less expensive options that work well in this drink would include El Dorado 12 year or 15 year, Angostura 5 year or 7 year, Diplomatico Anejo Rum or Blackwell Jamaican Rum.