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
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
Local Artisan: Making Maple Syrup with Mark Harran Ingredients Local Artisan Dessert Neil Gluckin March 02, 2010 Neil Gluckin is a writer, communication consultant and local food advocate who lives in Wilton, CT. He explores the links between food, self and community in his blog at forageprimeval.com. After firing up the generator that runs the vacuum pump, Mark Harran watches intently as liquid begins to flow through plastic tubing connected to a sleek spout protruding from the trunk of a tree. We are a long way from wooden buckets, tanks of sap on horse-drawn sleds and rustic smoke-filled sugar houses, but Harran is aiming at the same result: maple syrup, the addictive nectar that Americans have been distilling from the sap of the sugar maple since the legendary Chief Wokis first struck a tree with his tomahawk and made it weep sweet tears. A 30-year veteran of the food industry, Harran, now retired, has returned to his roots. He grew up on a farm in upstate New York that hung buckets from 5,700 taps, and he lives on one now, in Litchfeld, where he does the same thing albeit on a smaller scale. In addition to being a private farmer, he also serves as President of the Maple Syrup Producers Association of Connecticut. Read More
A Guide to Fairfield County 2010 CSAs Ingredients Features Delivery Service Local Farm Organic healthy Farm Fresh CTbites Team February 26, 2010 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a means for consumers to buy a share in a farm's seasonal production directly from the farmer. Consumers benefit from buying local, farm fresh, high quality produce at an attractive price and farmers benefit from pre-selling the harvest. It’s a clear win-win. CSA members typically pick up their weekly shares at the farm or a location in their community, but a new CSA option is delivered to your door! Community pick up locations generally involve a small volunteer commitment, perhaps two hours per season, during which the site is readied and broken down for weekly share distribution. CSA membership is not for everyone because in such a partnership arrangement, the consumer shares both the bounty of the farm's harvest and some of the risks inherent in farming. We have lost so much farmland in Connecticut that less than one percent of our residents earn a living by farming. Eat well, support your local farmer and do your bit to preserve farmland by buying a CSA share in one of our precious organic or IPM (Integrated Pest Management) farms. Back in January I announced that it was CSA registration month and shared that two organic farms were expanding and had opened their lists to new CSA families: Sport Hill Farm in Easton and The Hickories in Ridgefield. The CSAs from these two farms quickly sold out. The good news is that there are still a few CSAs open for new subscribers, but you should act quickly if you want to secure a share. Read More
Superior Snacking: BlueBelle Premium Granola Bars Ingredients healthy Kid Friendly Dessert Liz Rueven February 24, 2010 For some time now I have been making special trips to a Doc's, a Westport coffee house, just to purchase their hand made BlueBelle Granola Bars. I would look for any excuse to drive down their street in the hopes of finding my favorite flavor. Always on the hunt for talented small local producers, I recently tracked down the owner of BlueBelle Premium Granola Bars, Westport's Jerri Graham, to learn more about her take on this popular snack. Jerri's mission is to create healthy bars that are delicious, satisfying and enhance over all well being. She takes simple, nutritionally dense ingredients and combines them such that each one is identifiable and discernible. She is a creative soul with great business integrity, who understands the importance of a product to both enhance one's health and thrill the palate. There are currently 4 variations on the bar, all using the same base of organic oats and oat flour. The choices are Lemon Ginger, Fruit and Nut, Cherry Cranberry Almond and Chocolate Coconut, Read More
Sustainable Dark Chocolate Tasting: 21 Bars, 12 Tasters... Ingredients Holiday Organic Dessert CTbites Team February 11, 2010 Last week, Analiese Paik, Editor of the Fairfield Green Food Guide, walked the CTbites staff through a sustainable dark chocolate tasting. We managed to consume (in very small pieces) 21 different varieties of chocolate...it was a very productive morning. Here's what you should buy for your loved one... If someone had told me there were more than 20 different companies that made premium, organic and fair trade chocolate bars, I might have doubted the veracity of that statement. But there I was in Whole Foods Market in Westport, in chocolate heaven, scrutinizing the sustainable labeling on beautifully wrapped bars of Dagoba, Equal Exchange, Newman's Own Organic, Kallari, Divine and 15 more chocolate companies, each just begging to be chosen for the sustainable chocolate tasting I was holding with the help of CT Bites. I couldn't choose; they all had to come home. It was only fair. Read More
IzzI B: Allergen Free Cupcakes Everyone Will Love Ingredients Kids Bites Bakery Norwalk Special Dietary Needs Kid Friendly Dessert Sarah Green February 07, 2010 Do you have a child with food allergies? I do. It stinks. It’s not the end of the world, I realize that, but it certainly makes everyday events (and I really mean just about EVERY day in this town!) like birthday parties a hassle. My son is allergic to dairy, egg, sesame, and tree nuts. OK, the sesame isn’t usually a cupcake issue. But there haven’t been a lot of options for dairy free or egg free desserts! And I have several friends whose children also need gluten-free food. ( Yikes!) There ARE products out there that you can bake yourself; Cherrybrook Kitchen has a whole line of boxed items that you can order on-line and even purchase in some grocery stores. But the cakes and cookies from Cherrybrook are just -ok. They are not particularly tasty, especially for the sophisticated and discerning taste buds of the seven-year-olds in Fairfield County! And, you have to bake them yourself. But there’s a new kid in town and she is singing my song- her name is Pam Nicholas and she is the owner and baker at Izzi B’s Allergen Free Cupcakes. I recently purchased Izzi B cupcakes for my son’s birthday party and they were a colossal hit! Delicious, ‘B’utiful, fun, and 100% allergen-free Read More
Granola 3 Ways: Let Them Eat Oats! Ingredients Features Ask Chef Nicole Recipe Breakfast multiple Authors February 01, 2010 If you spend any time in any grocery store these days you can't help but notice a serious proliferation of high end granola. Everyone and their grandmother is packaging their "one-of-a-kind" recipe for this oat-some breakfast treat. Many of these are high in fat, loaded with sugar, and quite frankly, not that good. We decided to consult our experts for their takes on this perennial favorite. All of these recipes are highly customizable and have an endless array of add-on possibilities. Here is 'Granola 3 Ways." At long last...three reasons to wake up in the AM. Read More
Beautiful Baked Goods @ CakeSuite Ingredients Bakery Specialty Market Westport Dessert Liz Rueven January 26, 2010 Westporters have had their cake prayers answered with the recent opening of Michelle Klem's designer cake boutique and bakery storefront CakeSuite. Actually, given CakeSuite's proximity to I-95, pretty much everybody in Fairfield County should be feeling pretty lucky. CakeSuite opened just before Christmas but launched officially last week with a festive tasting event. Eager to sample the goods at this new sweet shop, we arrived hungry. The retail space is a bright, pristine, white tiled bakery with a glass case filled with trays of cookies and other elegant treats. The work area of this bakery is in full view for all you cooking voyeurs. For this celebration, Michelle had prepared a generous variety of miniatures to taste. Supporters and cake lovers mingled in the bakery, sipping champagne and nibbling on the irresistible cookies and cakes. The tiered trays were piled high, but S. and I managed to taste everything. Read More
The Flaxette: There's a New Artisan Loaf in Town Ingredients Bakery Breakfast Comfort Food Kid Friendly Stephanie Webster January 21, 2010 Attention bread lovers. There's a new artisan loaf in town…"The Flaxette," a beautiful crusty, nutty bread featuring organic ground flax seeds and a marvelous chewy tender interior. The bread is made by a Michael Mordechai and his startup, The Fairfield Bread Company. A few months ago, we attended a gypsy dinner where we sampled "The Flaxette" for the first time. It accompanied a bread and cheese platter, and while the cheese was very good, it was the bread I couldn't stop eating. When I heard he had taken his bread on the road, I raced over to The Pantry in Fairfield to purchase the delicious loaf. Moments later I was ripping off the ends and hoping there was some left once I got home so I could sample the product with butter. Mind you..it's not a long drive. Read More
Maine Shrimp Are Coming to Norwalk! Ingredients Norwalk Seafood Specialty Market CTbites Team January 14, 2010 The season for sweet, Maine shrimp is here but not much, if any, makes it to Fairfield County. That’s about to change. Yesterday’s New York Times had an article about Maine shrimp that said the season is so bountiful this year that “the State Department of Marine Resources has extended it to May 1.” How crazy are foodies about these shrimp? According to the same article Community Supported Fisheries programs where consumers sign up to receive “frozen hand-peeled shrimp in five one-pound bags once a month for five months” are popular but the closest drop sites are in Brooklyn. The article’s end note states that the shrimp are sold “fresh in the shell in Manhattan for $9 a pound at Wild Edibles at Grand Central Market.” Don’t go to Manhattan or ask your spouse or friend to do you a favor and pick some up at Grand Central, because you can get them at 1/3 the price of their Manhattan brethren this Saturday from 10-2 at the new Norwalk Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market at 61-65 Wall Street. Read More
Chef Talk: Beat the Winter Blues With Booze Ingredients Features Chef Talk Cocktails Holiday Norwalk Recipe Stephanie Webster January 12, 2010 When asked to share a recipe with our CTbites readers, Jennifer Balin of Sugar & Olives went right for the drink. If you have been to an event at her great retail/party space you already know that she mixes a mean cocktail loaded with organic infusions and flavorful syrups. Here are two cocktail recipes you can try at home, including directions for her wonderful ginger syrup. Whip up one of these "Sugar & Olives Martinis" or "Bourbon Marries Ginger" drinks on a cold winter's night (when you aren't carpooling) and you'll barely feel the cold. Read More
Fairfield Cheese Company: Cheese 101 Ingredients Features Catering Education Fairfield Specialty Market Farm Fresh Stephanie Webster January 11, 2010 Have you ever walked into a cheese shop, and been utterly confused by the array of choices in front of you? For those of you who just nodded your heads, let me introduce you to Fairfield Cheese Company. Their bright beautiful retail space, right next door to Harry's Wine and Liquors, serves as a canvas for carefully chosen specialty foods and an impeccable selection of artisinal and locally produced farmstead cheeses. When Laura Downey and Christopher Palumbo opened their doors in May of 2009, they did so with a purposeful dedication to demystifying the daunting process of buying cheese and introducing their customers to the range and craftsmanship of artisan cheeses. "Cheese stores can be intimidating. We wanted to take away the mystique….It's not rocket science" says Laura. Read More
What The Heck Is A CSA? Ambler Farms Event Tells All Ingredients Features Education Local Farm Organic Wilton healthy Farm Fresh Stephanie Webster January 05, 2010
Behind the Scenes @ The SoNo Baking Company Ingredients Restaurant Bakery Catering Education Norwalk Breakfast Dessert Deanna Foster January 03, 2010 It is still really dark at 4:30 AM , but the pre-dawn hours hold transformative powers. Darkness will turn to light and the promise of a new day will be realized. Sometimes, both happen sooner than you expect. When we arrive at the SoNo Baking Company for a behind-the-scenes tour, it's shortly before 5:00 a.m., but the aroma of warm yeasty bread has transformed two half-asleep writers into bakers in training. Owner, John Barricelli, welcomes us in through the still dark café, chairs resting upside down on tables; display cases standing empty. Our eyes have to adjust as we walk through the sleepy cafe into the brightly lit kitchen. Suddenly awake, we are immediately caught up in the rhythm of the bakers at work. Read More
Shopping Guide: Green Foodie Finds for the Holidays Ingredients Fairfield Holiday Westport New Canaan Farm Fresh CTbites Team December 17, 2009 Analiese Paik, Founder of the Fairfield Green Food Guide is constantly scouring the farm stands and markets of Fairfield County for great green foodie finds. She has come up with a list of wonderful local products just right for the holidays. Happy shopping! Holy smoke!: The Willie Bird whole smoked turkey, formerly available exclusively through Williams-Sonoma’s catalog, is now available at Palmer’s Market in Darien. You can thank Richard the butcher for bringing in this famous all-natural, vegetarian fed bird from Sonoma, CA to grace your holiday table. Save yourself the shipping and head to Palmer’s Market at 264 Heights Road in Darien, just off exit 10 on I95 across from the Noroton Heights train station. They also have fresh Long Island duck! Read More
