Fat Cat Pie Co.'s Butterscotch Pudding Features Chef Talk Recipe Dessert Stephanie Webster February 28, 2011 Chef Robert Herlihy, Chef at Fat Cat Pie Co., puts out a darn fine thin crust pizza, but if you've never tasted his Butterscotch Pudding, you are missing out. This dessert has garnered a cult-like following amongst those in the know. Personally, the obsession stems from a subtle saltiness hiding under the smooth sweet pudding. I thank Chef Herlihy for sharing this recipe with us. If you sample this dish at Fat Cat Pie Co. or in the comfort of your home, let us know what you think. Read More
Friday Froth: Harpoon's Biblical Fish & Praise For A Saint Ingredients Beer James Gribbon February 24, 2011 So: who joined me at the Harpoon tasting event at Monster B's last Friday? Anyone? Bueller? I don’t know if it was the Harpoon or the fact that it was a Friday, but the place was packed like the gym in January. There or not, hit us up in the comments and tell us what beers you’ve been digging on lately. We encourage conversation around here, and we promise not to mock your affinity for Land Shark… much. Speaking of animals that have no business being on land, Harpoon launched its Leviathan series of craft beers in 2008 as “an exploration in brewing big beers for adventurous palates.” The series was originally intended as a 100-barrel, limited edition release, but the market responded with enthusiasm, and they’re back. The Imperial IPA, Baltic Porter, Saison Royale, and several more will be offered in 120-barrel batches this time, and in bottles as well. Read More
Chili Con Carne via The Parsley Thief Features Recipe Comfort Food katie vitucci February 24, 2011 I was given my first French oven {a.k.a. a Dutch oven, or an enameled cast iron pot} about 10 years ago, by my mother-in-law. For years now, a smaller version has been on my wish list...something more practically suited for a family of four & everyday cooking. So, when I recently won a gift certificate to a cooking store, I finally took the plunge & bought myself one! It's been sitting on my stove for a week now...bringing a smile to my face every time I look at it. I christened the pot with a lovely, Sunday roast chicken. Next up, I wanted to make some kind of stew, pot roast, or chili suitable for the cold, winter days we've been having. This Chili Con Carne recipe is what I decided on. Read More
The Flaxette Debuts @ The Dressing Room Ingredients Bakery Stephanie Webster February 22, 2011 Last spring we reported on a new local artisan bread baker, Fairfield Bread Company. Their wonderful Flaxette is made with organic flax and whole wheat, using slow, old-world methods. The result...a hearty loaf with a delightful caramelized crust and a tender chewy crumb. This small-batch artisan bread is making its restaurant debut at The Dressing Room on their new lunch menu with four new sandwich offerings including: DR Steak and cheese with grass-fed beef and Nobel cheddar sauce, Pulled pork with root vegetable BBQ sauce, and a Roasted organic vegetable sandwich- all on the Flaxette. Executive Chef, Jon Vaast, describes his excitement about this menu addition: "The Flaxette for sandwiches is really something else, it grills great, and holds up to the different sandwiches we are doing right now. It's just a really great hearty loaf of bread which is what makes a great sandwich." Read More
Friday Froth: XX, ADD and IPA Ingredients Beer James Gribbon February 18, 2011 “He is the life of parties he’s never attended. His business card simply says 'I'll call you.'” The “Most Interesting Man In The World” commercials get me every time. Do you know what the two X’s in the Dos Equis name signify? Unlike the “33” on bottles from Old Latrobe, this one actually has an answer. XX was first brewed in 1900 by a German émigré to Mexico named Wilhelm Haase, and named “Siglo XX”, or “Twentieth Century” to commemorate the dawn of a new era. Concise and easily recognizable, the brand name has survived 111 years. Pacifico remains my personal favorite Mexican beer but, like the big building with patients, that’s not important right now. Shall we? Read More
A Guide to Juice Fasts in Fairfield County CT Ingredients Restaurant Special Dietary Needs Specialty Market healthy CTbites Team February 17, 2011 If you’re not going three times per day, then something’s not right ,”says Glen Cavallo, who, along with Lisa Storch, owns Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in Fairfield, where I’m sampling one of the Super Smoothies that is bottled up for customers doing the Café’s Five Day Juice Cleanse. To hear Glen, and other cleansing gurus like Carissa Delicicchi at The Stand in Norwalk, and Carrie at Kaia Café in Westport, talk, it seems that most of us could probably use a little “cleaning out” every now and again. A Juice Cleanse is a nourishing diet consisting of liquid food allows the digestive organs time to rest and heal from the toxins of modern living. They give your body a break from bad habits like caffeine and alcohol and reset the palette for healthier foods. Read More
LeFarm's Spaghetti with Braised Veal Leg Features Chef Talk Recipe Bill Taibe February 15, 2011 On New Years eve we came across a a dish for Spaghetti with Braised Veal Leg on leFarm's dinner menu. My husband (A.K.A the braise-master) decided to sample the slow-cooked meat to compare it to his own braised meat explorations. The analysis proved positive. Bill Taibe's braise had kicked our "you know whats," and layered atop fresh spaghetti, the dish was richly comforting. When winter weather abounds, it's time to hunker down and get cooking. Read More
Shout Out: Where & What Did You Eat for V-Day? Features Restaurant CTbites Shout Out Stephanie Webster February 15, 2011
Friday Froth: Easy Find, Easy Drink Ingredients Beer James Gribbon February 11, 2011 I was talking to a friend of mine recently, and asked him how he made his decisions on which beer to drink. “Whichever one is closest,” he said. Wit aside, there’s enlightenment to be found in those words. Most people will just drink whichever beer is available to them, so let’s take a look at some brews that are easy to find, but just far enough out of the main stream to be interesting. Just about everyone who has ever been to an Indian restaurant has had Kingfisher beer as a choice. This and Cobra seem to be the Bud and Miller of the subcontinent, as far as I can tell. Read More
The Schoolhouse's Chef LaBant: Extra Credit on Yelp Features Chef Talk Recipe Stephanie Webster February 10, 2011 Chef LaBant of The Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton is doing his homework. The followng is an exchange from a Yelp reviewer, Andrew R. Fairfield, CT, who posted a comment on a dish he had particularly enjoyed at The Schoolhouse, Braised baby carrots with a harissa sauce, dates, fried crispy chic peas and mâché. A few weeks later, LaBant responded with the recipe for this very dish. Here's the post and the recipe: "Back tonight 2 weeks later and will add that I was privy to one of the single best first courses I have had in a restaurant in quite a long time. Braised baby carrots with a harissa sauce, dates, fried crispy chic peas and mâché - there was an underlying hint of garam masala that united the dish and played off the spicy harissa. BRAVO chef! & might I add -not a spec of meat." --Andrew R. "Here is my personal recipe if you are ever so inclined to make it" -- Chef LaBant Read More
Making Chocolate Truffles With Knipschildt Chocolatier Features Holiday Norwalk Amy Kundrat February 08, 2011 My chocolate-covered Valentine’s Day mission to you, if you so choose to accept it, is to make your own Knipschildt-inspired truffle. For inspiration, I went behind the scenes of Knipschildt Chocolatier to learn how to make one of these decadent chocolate confections, or at the very least, become acquainted with the shop when I inevitably fail miserably and need to buy a box. Thanks to Torben Bang, Executive Pastry Chef and Executive Chocolatier for Knipschildt Chocolatier and Chocopologie Cafe as my able guide and my Plan B, making me look good either way. Read More
Friday Froth: Super Bowl Gold Ingredients Features Beer James Gribbon February 04, 2011 Diane de Poitiers, a mistress of French King Henry II in the first half of the 16th century, subscribed to the idea that gold was imbued with magical youth-preserving powers by the Sun’s energy, so she drank it in elixirs made by the King’s apothecaries. John Barry, the man who composed scores and themes for a dozen films in the James Bond franchise, died this week at 77. One of his most recognizable themes has Shirley Bassey booming out the word “gold” eight times in the last nine lines of the song in her unmistakable foghorn of a voice. In the film, Goldfinger famously tells 007 “No, Mr. Bond – I expect you to die,” which is exactly what happened to Mdme. de Poitiers when the gold in her body reached Bond-villain levels. We’ll hope to avoid that fate this week as we toss back a little gold to honor Mr. Barry. Super Bowl Sunday, that highest of February holidays (What? OW! Stop it.) introduces the yawning mouth of the Boring Beer Pitfall into our collective path. Read More
Salmon Fish Tacos via Chef Nicole Features Ask Chef Nicole Chef Talk Seafood Recipe Mexican Nicole Straight February 04, 2011 Growing up in California, fish taco’s were very common. When we moved to the East Coast, they were almost impossible to find. I’ve been making this dish for years and everyone loves it! These Salmon Fish Tacos are a little bit o'sunshine with the crunchy purple cabbage and blood orange slaw. I still remember the first time I had ever seen a blood orange, my husband and I were in Venice and we wandered past a fruit stand selling Sanguines- blood oranges. We peeled one and the ruby colored flesh immediately took us by surprise. The flavor is similar to an orange, but a little sweeter and a little tarter. Read More
Martha Stewart @ Stamford's Fairway Market Ingredients Features Chef Talk Cookbooks Events Stephanie Webster February 03, 2011
Ask Conrad: More Ideas For Your Super Bowl Party Features Restaurant Entertaining Events CTbites Team February 02, 2011 The best way to ensure a successful Super Bowl party—and I say this with the most wholesome attitude in the world—is to pack as much vice into it as you can. First, offer your guests plenty of opportunities for gluttony. (Here is a suggestionfor a delicious, non-heart-healthy game-day menu. Suggested portion sizes: extra large.) And have more alcohol on hand, and in all its glorious variety, than may be strictly necessary. A Super Bowl party is one of those times when some wives let their husbands slip the leash. You never know when one of the men will find himself on a binge. But nothing adds interest to watching football quite so much as gambling. Read More
Cap'n Crunch Milkshakes @ The Filling Station Ingredients Restaurant Organic Kid Friendly Dessert Stephanie Webster January 31, 2011
Ask Conrad: Super Bowl Party Planning Tips Ingredients Features Cocktails Recipe CTbites Team January 29, 2011 Conrad Banks (a pseudonym) lives in New Canaan and operates a web site, ConradBanks.com, devoted to planning & hosting great parties. The main thing to keep in mind as you plan your Super Bowl party is that most of the men who’ll be attending it, no matter how enthusiastically they gush otherwise when they arrive, would rather be somewhere else. Where that somewhere else is, of course, is in their own houses, on their own Barcaloungers, in some peace and quiet so they pay attention to the darn game already. But this reluctance can easily be overcome with some adroit planning by you. Read More
Friday Froth: Notable Wheats Ingredients Features Beer James Gribbon January 28, 2011 Isn't it odd how our tastes change? I remember when I used to ride my bike five miles to buy Charleston Chew and Cry Babies at the old Vic's Variety in Stratford, and now I won't even lean forward in my seat to grab a piece of Halloween candy. Every dinner accompanied by broccoli used to be a contest of wills. Now I'll do actual work to pair my steak with asparagus, and I order collard greens with my BBQ at Smokey Joe's. So it is with wheat beer: I couldn't be bothered after an unimpressive first pint, but that may be changing. Broccoli remains a better projectile than comestible, though, in most cases. The dog seems to appreciate it. I decided years ago that wheats just weren't up my alley, and have largely ignored them since. Having a first-person column gives one Nursultan Nazarbayev-like power, but I'd like to be a more benign dictator, and really, this column is about you and I both learning - so on it was to round two. Read More
