Green Gourmet To Go: Healthy Eats in Bridgeport Ingredients Features Local Farm Organic Special Dietary Needs Vegetarian healthy Farm Fresh Liz Rueven April 28, 2010 If you discover sweet potatoes and spinach in your fudge brownies at Green Gourmet to Go don't be surprised. OK, you can keep that a secret from your kids because the veggies are not detectable in these moist, chocolatey bites or in the Blondies with a sweet potato base. The chocolate (anti oxidants a plenty!) masks the veggies and you will be better off for having added a few more to your daily intake. My fave desserts were the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and the almond oaties. They tasted most like what I would expect (read: crave) from a cookie. Imagine eating your veggies in your dessert! I didn't mean to jump to the end first but I was so enthralled by the ingredients list that I did exactly that! Linda Soper-Kolton has been open in Black Rock for only 5 weeks but she is well on her way to establishing herself as a resource for healthy meals and nutrient dense foods. Read More
Bringing Back The Martini Ingredients Features Cocktails Recipe Amy Kundrat April 27, 2010 The gin martini deserves to be revered. Done well, it's a study in radical simplicity. Done poorly, and you’re better off using it as a cleaning solution. Each Monday I encourage you to celebrate the start of the week with a classic dry gin martini. A weekly ritual in our house, it should begin with good quality gin, a whisper of vermouth, combined with a shaker full of ice and finished with a twist of lemon served in a chilled glass. (If you'd rather not serve, but be served this classic cocktail, check out our "Martini Map" below.) An acquired taste for many, the juniper and botanical essence of gin over time will grow on you, especially when paired with an olive or olive juice (the dirty martini), perhaps a pickled onion (the gibson) and of course (my preferred pairing) the lemon twist Read More
Chef Leticia Brings Brazilian Cooking To Fairfield County Ingredients Features Brazilian Cooking Classes Education Deanna Foster April 19, 2010 You never know what to expect when you sign up for a cooking class. How much cooking will you do? Who will attend and what will they want from the class? How will the personality of the chef influence the experience? What if you could cut down on all those variables by gathering a group of friends with common food interests and visiting the home of a chef whose only motive is to ensure you have a good time and eat well? It would be a fabulous experience – wouldn’t it? Recently, eight CTBites contributors had just such a fabulous culinary experience with chef, teacher and cookbook author Leticia Moreinos Schwartz at one of her in-home Brazilian cooking classes. Read More
Kids Talk: The Under 10 Set Reviews Sunny Daes Kids Bites Restaurant Fairfield Stamford Trumbull Westport ice cream Kid Friendly Dessert Multiple Eaters April 14, 2010 When Ben & Jerry's closed in Westport this Fall, there were murmurs of discontent amongst the younger crowd. Where does one get homemade ice cream with solid mix-ins in this town? Fortunately help was just around the corner...literally. Sunny Daes opened just months later and now Westporters young and old don't have to drive to Fairfield to get their fix. This full service ice cream shop has 68 flavors of frosty desserts says owner, Sergio Keskin. Plus, it isn't shipped in on trucks; it's made right behind the counter. If this isn't enough to get you in the door, they also serve gelato, frozen yogurt, soft-serve ice cream, and ice cream cakes. Sure, I could tell you how good the ice cream is, but I thought it made more sense to let the kids tell it like it is... Read More
Learn While You Lunch @ Sport Hill Farm: Season 2 Ingredients Restaurant Events Local Farm Organic Recipe Farm Fresh Lunch Stephanie Webster April 10, 2010
Kids Cooking Party With "Cindy's Sous Chefs" Kids Bites kids activity kids cooking party Kid Friendly Stephanie Webster April 06, 2010 It's not easy finding a unique kids birthday party activity in Fairfield County. Sure, there is My Three Sons and Pump It Up but what if your kid doesn't want to jump around or collect coins? What if you just want something with more food science and less bouncy castle? With the emergence of the Food Network's 24/7 culinary programming, kids have been acquiring valuable cooking tips during their sick days and developing an interest in all things related to food. In fact, so many of our readers are looking for "cooking themed birthday parties" we decided we had best do some research. What better way to acquire data than to host a cooking party for my five year old daughter chez moi. Read on for Cooking Parties for Kids, Part 1. Read More
EspressoNEAT: Home Brewing Basics Class Ingredients Coffee Darien Education Stephanie Webster April 05, 2010
Artisanal Honey Tasting Event @ Red Bee Apiary Ingredients Events Stephanie Webster April 02, 2010 Join us for a Tasting Flight of Seven Artisanal honeys with Red Bee Apiary's own Marina Marchese. Learn how honeybees make this liquid gold we call honey, how location and nectar source determines a honeys color and flavor and how honey is harvested and extracted from the comb. Marina will show us how to taste and evaluate honey using the Honey Sommelier tasting guide in her new book "HONEYBEE Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper." Each guest will receive one sample 2 oz. jar of Red Bee's signature Wildflower Honey. Go to the Red Bee website to RSVP and pre-pay to reserve your spot. Red Bee Honey Tasting Menu: Farmhouse comb honey Red Bee's signature wildflower Alfalfa honey Goldenrod honey Blueberry blossom honey Tulip poplar honey Star thistle honey Read More
Free For Kids: Mondays Just Got A Little Bit Better Kids Bites Norwalk Comfort Food Kid Friendly Burgers Stephanie Webster March 30, 2010
Honor the Earth: "Retake Our Plates" Film Series Ingredients Education Events Stephanie Webster March 25, 2010
What Makes Great Chili? Where to Sample in FC? Ingredients Features Events Recipe Comfort Food Stacy Lytwyn Maxwell March 24, 2010 Stacy Maxwell is the author of the upcoming book, El Cheapo Gourmet—Thinking Outside the Restaurant Box: The Best Homemade Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner in Connecticut. Chili with…corn? Absolutely….That’s what some of the evening’s guests at this past winter’s Connecticut Audubon Society Center’s Adirondack Night felt about the three corn-laden crock pots full of chili while others at the event felt: absolutely not! Without doubt, the bright, sunny specks of color added aesthetic appeal to the Adirondack, Sweet and Vegetarian-style dishes that provided the main fare for one of three major annual fundraisers. Of course, when the palate is involved, beauty amounts to beans. As I sampled a cup full of chili while chilling next to a guest who was also hankering down on his eats, I commented, “Perhaps the corn in the chili is a Yankee tradition.” While chewing intently on the kernels, he shrugged off my assumption, saying, “This belongs somewhere in northern New York—far north.” Chidings in the chili world are not new. Back in the 1980s, I was part of a television crew Read More
Green Gourmet To Go in Bridgeport Ingredients Features Bridgeport Organic Elizabeth Keyser March 19, 2010 Originally written for the Fairfield Green Food Guide. It’s way too soon to change the name to Green Rock, but Black Rock is getting greener. Green Gourmet To Go, offering local, organic vegetarian and vegan meals, will open on Fairfield Avenue in April (yes I know the photo says March, but dates slip). The attractive little storefront, with its soothing celedon walls and coppery silk curtains will offer healthy and environmentally conscious hot and cold lunches and dinners. Chef-Owner Linda Soper-Kolton was a lifelong food lover and dedicated home cook before she decided to attend the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. The recent NGI graduate is inspired. She wants makes to make eating healthy meals easy and approachable. “I’ll serve burritos, but healthy burritos,” she said in a recent interview. Think burritos filled with sweet potatoes, kale, black beans and grains. Her Dixie burger is made from black-eyed peas and sweet potatoes and served with chipotle sauce. Her hummus and avocado wrap gets punch and crunch from shiitake “bacon” crisps. Read More
GourMom's Homemade Organic Salsa & Simmer Sauce Ingredients Organic Specialty Market Recipe Farm Fresh Kid Friendly Liz Rueven March 18, 2010 Sarah Galluzzo waits with great anticipation for the ground to thaw and the spring to arrive in CT. OK, we are all yearning for spring.... but her product depends on it! GourMom's USDA certified organic salsa and simmer sauce is her scrumptious creation. She is committed to using LOCAL and CERTIFIED ORGANIC ingredients for this chunky, choc full o'flavor salsa. As a salsa enthusiast, I was enthralled by her story and her product. We chatted at the Pantry in Fairfield, one of her retail outlets, and she explained about the launching of this super local, super delicious product. Her excitement was contagious as she shared her story. In 2008 Galuzzo decided to get serious about selling her salsa and test the market. She had been dubbed "GourMom" by friends and family Read More
Kids STILL at home? Bake Up Some Pizza Pops Kids Bites kids activity Recipe Comfort Food Kid Friendly Stephanie Webster March 16, 2010
Kid-friendly Cooking Project for Stir-Crazy Adults Kids Bites Features Holiday kids activity Recipe Kid Friendly Jennifer Spaide March 15, 2010 For those of you with functioning ovens and kids home from school, here is a tasty time consumer. For creative great tasting "homemade" cookies in a pinch, try this shortcut from Jennifer Spaide of Greenchic.com. As a chef it’s important to know your weaknesses in the kitchen. And I am fully willing to admit that mine is baking. If it’s more complicated than emptying a mix into a bowl, cracking a few eggs, and whisking, don’t expect me to do it well. So you can imagine the panic that pulsed through me when I was asked to bake cookies for some gift baskets. What, me? Really?! But I was up for the challenge… or the cheat. Don’t tell, but I decided to pull a Sandra Lee and take some “semi-homemade” help from the grocery store by purchasing premade sugar cookie dough. I chose an all-natural brand because it’s a little healthier (no trans fats or high fructose corn syrup). With the basic batter under control, and a little stress off my shoulders, I was free to get creative with the flavors & fillings. I decided to make three different kinds of cookie: Chocolate Cherry Almond, Ginger Sesame Coconut, and Orange Fig Thumb Drops. These recipes are so simple it's genius (not to toot my own horn, but “Toot toot”). Read More
Great Wines for $15 & Less: Uncorked Event + Contest Ingredients Education Events Westport Wine Chat Stephanie Webster March 12, 2010 After a successful Restaurant Week, the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce is preparing for their next event, The Chamber-Uncorked, A Food and Wine Experience taking place on March 25th @6pm. The concept for this wine focused event will be “Great Wines for $15 and Less,” proving that fabulous wine does not need to break the bank. Wine enthusiast and shop owner Robert Appell of Westport's new Bottles Wine & Spirits, will be acting sommelier for the evening, lending his expertise to the tasting. Naturally, where there is wine – there is food! The cuisine for the evening is a virtual tour around the world, and will complement the diversity of the wine. There will be sushi presented by Matsu Sushi, BBQ from Bobby-Qs, Indian cuisine from Bombay, Caribbean dishes by Blue Lemon, an Italian bounty table by Collyer Catering, and sweet treats by CakeSuite. Here comes the fun part: Testing one’s wine knowledge, a pricier wild card bottle of wine will be poured among the many others for folks to see if they can taste the difference. Plus, a common food ingredient will be used by all of the restaurants/caterers – again, challenging one’s palate. Guess the wine, and receive the bottle. Guess the secret ingredient and receive a basket full of all things delicious! Read More
School is Back in Session @ Fairfield Cheese Company Ingredients Education Fairfield Specialty Market Stephanie Webster March 08, 2010 Fairfield Cheese Company classes are back in session and school has never been this delicious. Whether you are a cheese novice looking for a an introduction to the basics, or a cheese-aficionado seeking to expand your knowledge on a specific variety, they've got the class for you. I jumped at the chance to attend one of these sessions back in October and spent some time with owners Laura and Christopher who lead these entertaining and informative evenings. If you would like some background on Fairfield Cheese Company, check out our review, "Cheese 101." With wine pairings from Harry's Wine & Liquor, this is the perfect way to break out of that dinner-and-a-movie date night rut. If you attend any of the classes below, let us know what you think! Cheese School Class Schedule-Spring 2010 Read More
Taste Testing the NEW Sono Baking Co. Cookbook Ingredients Bakery Cookbooks Education Norwalk Dessert Deanna Foster March 06, 2010 A good cook book is like a map. It takes you to places in the kitchen you couldn’t have gone with out it. A great cook book is like a navigation device. It not only gives you the maps, but shows you points of interest along the way and tells you how to get back on track if you veer off course. The Sono Baking Company Cookbook is a great cookbook and it's on sale March 9th! From its thick, glossy pages to its gorgeous photos and instructive recipes, this book is an inviting and engaging kitchen travel companion. The first thing you notice about the Sono Cookbook is its beautiful photos. Much credit to Ben Fink, who makes the food pop off the page and look so stunning and real you’re surprised you can’t reach into the book and pick up the pastry brush to glaze a tart on the Table of Contents page. When we decided to do a tasting as part of the book’s review Read More
CTbites Shout Out: What's Your Guilty Food Pleasure? Ingredients CTbites Shout Out Stephanie Webster March 04, 2010 Ok CTbites readers, we all have our guilty food pleasures... a secret stash you hide in the back of the pantry, or a fast food stop you make mid-day when your kids aren't in the car? Here's what our contributors have hankerings for. What do you crave? Stephanie Webster: I've got a serious problem with S'mores. I make them in the toaster oven with dark chocolate...Also anything with bacon and grilled onions. Marcy Shinbaum: SALT SALT SALT! A great piece of artisan bread, well toasted, lightly buttered, and heavily salted. Perfection. Jennifer Spaide: My guilty pleasure is Fish Filet sandwiches from McDonalds... extra tartar sauce please! They are one of the worst things on the menu to order, and I don’t do it often, but they have a magical way of making me feel like a kid again. Damn you Micky D!!! Read More
