NJ SPICE

The weather this weekend promises to be just loverly!

What could be more pleasant than a gorgeous afternoon on the plaza that fronts Tre Piani restaurant in Forrestal Village?  Well, delicious food and drink, for two things.  Want more?  How about mingling with chefs and other foodies, and bidding on fabulous auction items, while tasting bites from local purveyors and artisans?

But wait, there’s more!  You will also be doing good by participating in the nation’s top hunger-relief fundraiser, Taste of the Nation-Princeton style. (Buy your tickets here.)

It’s the 20th anniversary for Princeton’s Taste of the Nation, and for this very special year Jim Weaver is hosting it at his beautiful restaurant to celebrate the publication of his book, “Locavore Adventures.”  (Which, by the way is a great read, trust me!)

Come out and celebrate some of the good things in life while you help fight hunger - in your own backyard and beyond - with taste.

 In addition to Tre Piani, participants include:

• Brothers Moon
• Frog and the Peach
• Elements
• Terra Momo Bread Company
• Rocky Hill Inn
• Blue Bottle Cafe
• Mercer County Community College
• Mosefund Farm (Mangalista Pork)
• Griggstown Quail Farm
• Jersey Blues Iced Tea
• San Pellegrino
• Bobolink Dairy
• Cherry Grove Organic Farm
• Valley Shepard Creamery
• Salumeria Bielese
• Woods Edge Farm
• Zone 7
• The Bent Spoon Gelati
• Atlantic Cape Fisheries (Cape May Salt Oysters)
• Viking Village
• Bertolotti Gelati
• Gateway Perrone Wine
• Naked Wine Co.

This is what happens when I don’t have my wits about me!  The delicious soup and quiche I had at Za Restaurant a couple months ago drove all thoughts of photos and blogging out of my mind once it was put down in front of me.

The creamy dreamy tomato soup (with goat cheese if I remember correctly?) was gone in a flash, as was the equally delicious quiche Lorrraine. By the way, notice the dark crust on the quiche, no undercooked crust here - pale, underbaked pastry crusts are a pet peeve of mine.

While my friend and I chatted and ate, I was admiring the view out the window of their newly renovated and expanded space. There was a rusty lichen-y looking old water tower, with rivited seams and a screen of berried twigs between it and the window. There was another forlorn  abondoned structure a few feet away. I found it picturesque, but my friend wondered if it all shouldn’t be removed.  Turns out, Za chef/co-owner Mark Valenza told us, that it was used for fire department practice in years by.  A little local history, that, for now at least, seems to deserve to stay.

We’re down to the line!

Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation at Tre Piani Restaurant!

Sunday, May 20, 2012, 2:00-5:00pm.

Featuring Chef Jim Weaver’s New Book “Locavore Adventures“

Join us for Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, Princeton. Mix and mingle with the area’s hottest chefs and food producers, all of whom are coming together to donate their time, talent, food and passion to end childhood hunger in America. 100% of ticket sales supports Share Our Strength’s efforts!
VIP $125.00 per person.
General Admission $85.00 ($95.00 at the door).
For tickets and information, visit: www.strength.org/princeton.
For directions, visit: www.trepiani.com or call 609-452-1515.

Participants:
Atlantic Cape Fisheries, Blue Bottle Cafe, Bobolink Dairy, The Bent Spoon, Bertolotti Gelateria, Cherry Grove Farm, The Brothers Moon, Due Mare, Elements, The Frog and The Peach, Gateway Distributors, Griggstown Quail Farm, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Jersey Blues, Mercer County Community College, Mosefund Farm, Naked Wines, Rocky Hill Inn, Salumeria Bielese, San Pellegrino, Terra Momo Bread Company, Viking Village, Woods Edge Farm, Zone 7, Tre Piani Restaurant

Here’s a recipe for a spring treat from Tre Piani Chef/Owner Jim Weaver:

Fettuccine with Asparagus Sauce
(Serves 4)

1 pound fresh fettuccine
1 bunch asparagus
2 cloves garlic
½ cup cream
1 tbsp. butter
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano cheese plus enough shaved with a vegetable peeler to garnish
Salt and white pepper to taste

Cut off the tips and the tough ends of the asparagus, and reserve the tips. Chop the middle portion of the asparagus. Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pot, add the garlic and cook until lightly browned. Add the chopped asparagus.

Cook over medium heat with half of the salt until tender. Add 1 ½ cups water and bring to a simmer. Let the mixture reduce by half and add the cream. Reduce by another half. Let the asparagus mixture cool and puree in a blender or use an immersion blender.

For optimum results, strain this puree to remove any tough parts of the asparagus. Add the puree back into a sauce pan and add the asparagus tips and parsley. Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The sauce can be cooled and reserved up to 3 days at this point or kept hot and used immediately.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until al dente, about 3 minutes. Strain the pasta and drain completely. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir in the cheese. Portion or plate onto bowls or a platter and garnish with the shaved Parmigiano.

Photo courtesy of Rugters NJ Agricultural Experiment Station.

Tre Piani’s Restaurant Supported Agriculture dinners started up again this weekend; they continue into November.  I quite enjoyed the ones I went to last summer!  Join them on any Friday evening, this year it is $29.95 per dinner, for 3 seasonal/local courses, no prepay or reservations required, although I always suggest a reservation on weekends, unless you are dining very early - 609-452-1515.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Wegmans Market has started holding a lot of events, on food and wine topics, throughout the month. Check out their website for information, or call the store.  For instance, on May 12, they host George Taber from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.  George was the only journalist at the blind wine tasting in Paris in 1976 that rocked the wine world. At that event, California wines - for the first time - were judged better than French wines. The wine world has not been the same since. His book on this event: Judgment in Paris, is fascinating reading, as are his other books. George will also have copies of his books, including his new book, A Toast to Bargain Wines, for signing. 

Events are free but seating is limited, so attendees are strongly advised to sign up to reserve a space. To sign up, call 609-919-9300 or stop by the customer service desk in the store.

And here’s something intriguing-

Introducing Nirpal’s Authentic North Indian Panjabi Cuisine Lunch every Monday at
Chez Alice Catering Company
By RSVP Only, Eat In or Take Out

Monday- May 7, 2012 Chicken Curry
Alu Gobi (Cauliflower & potato)
Yellow lentils (Split Mung & Masoor Beans)
Rice (Basmati Rice)
Chappati (Wheat Flour griddled pancakes)

Monday- May 14, 2012 Lamb Curry
Green Beans & Alu (green beans & potatoes)
Moong Daal (Mung beans)
Rice (Basmati Rice)
Chappati (Wheat Flour griddled pancakes)

Monday- May 21, 2012 Chicken Palak (Chicken in spinach)
Chole Daal (Split Chick Pea Daal)
Mix vegetables
Rice (Basmati Rice)
Chappati (Wheat Flour griddled pancakes)

They are located at 7 Tree Farm Road, Suite 100, Pennington, 609 737 1199 ChezAlice@aol.com.

I couldn’t fit two recipes into today’s In The Kitchen column in the Packet, so am including a second one here.  This chili, one of my weeknight delivered dinners from Simply Nutritious Meals, was simple, yet delicious.  It came with a little cornbread muffin that was not too sweet.

When owner Tiffany Millen shared her recipe with me, I was shocked to find it calls for green pepper, but not green chili.  If you asked me, I would invariably say I don’t like green bell pepper!  I could have sworn I tasted green chili, and will defintely use a little can of those when I make this myself, but for those of you who prefer bell pepper, go for it.  Maybe it was the cilantro that gave the dish the southwestern taste?  As a food writer, I love it when something like this happens and blows my pre-or mis!-conceptions out of the water!

Simply Nutritious Meals White Chili
Serves 6

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups chicken broth- homemade or organic reduced sodium
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
One 11-14oz package of frozen white corn or sweet white and yellow corn mix but fresh when in season is best!
1 can 15-16oz white kidney beans or presoaked and boiled dried beans if you have the time
2 cups cooked chicken breast, think leftovers or a rotisserie chicken breast shredded

In 4 quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, peppers and garlic, stirring occasionally until peppers and onions are tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients except chicken. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Stir in chicken; simmer about 5 minutes or until hot. (1 serving of 1 1/3 cups= 320 calories, 6g fat, protein 31g, fiber 11g)

Serve over crumbled corn bread or brown rice and top with extra cilantro and sriracha sauce for added heat.

This is my favorite way to make Buffalo wings, the spice-dusted oven-fried version I wrote about in an article about sorghum a few months ago. The recipe, below, was patched together from various sources, but the simple method started with the excellent Food52 website.

I try to forget about this recipe, for the most part, so I won’t be tempted too often! But last weekend I just couldn’t resist, so made up a batch.  I was in heaven, but made sure to have plenty of celery sticks on the side and used a yogurt-based low-fat blue cheese dressing, to mitigate the sin of the wings themselves.  Hmmm, the chicken was organic. Does that count for anything? Didn’t think so.

Oven Fried Chicken Wings

Spice Mixture:

4 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons mild chili powder 

1 1/2 tablespoon sweet paprika 

1/2 to 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

20 whole chicken wings, or two 1 pound packages of cut up wing pieces (the tips are usually removed).

Sauce (keep warm):

1/2 stick melted butter

1 tablespoon Tabasco or Crystal hot sauce

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoon sorghum (can substitute molasses)

Optional: celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing for serving

Mix spices together in a small bowl. They will coat 20 wings, so if you are cooking fewer, just use part of the spice mix and save the rest in an airtight container for another day.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Put a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray or brush with oil. Shake wings in a bag with enough spice mix to coat them (or toss together in a bowl) and arrange on rack. Roast 30-40 minutes, turning half way through.  Make sauce as wings bake. Remove wings from oven when they are crispy and golden brown around the edges. Toss with sauce and serve.

April has been National Grilled Cheese month, but I’m only now getting to posting some of my own creations over the last few years.  Bon Appétit!

You may notice tomato is a given, I usually won’t make a grilled cheese sandwich without sliced tomato.  I also like to include bacon.  And, if I happen to have it on hand, chopped parsley. (I’ve been known to use dried…)

Sometimes I make the mistake of letting my attention wander from the skillet for a few moments too long.

My ridged panini press is pretty fool proof, it seems. The buns below are the whole wheat ciabatta from ShopRite.  Kind of “processed,” so a little too soft (darned dough conditioners), but still makes a satisfying grilled sandwich since the outside gets nice and crispy. 

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My friend Angela Chang is a great cook, with several cookbooks to her name. That’s a given, but I was still wowed by a dish of fried sticky rice she recently shared with me (along with some stuffed tofu and red cabbage, seen in photo at left).  It was an unusual spin on regular fried rice, and I found it much more interesting. It seemed to have a gazillion ingredients!  She started with brown sticky rice, and I’m not sure I’ve come across that before, although I’ve wondered if such a thing was available. Now I’ll remember to seek it out.

Angela says (with typical modest understatement), “It was just a little fancier fried rice, not really difficult to make. You saute onion, a little garlic (my bold experiment). ground chicken, chopped sausage, then add the cooked brown sticky rice and stir together with salt and pepper, soy sauce and a box of frozen mixed vegetables. I think I could make it even more aromatic by adding some diced seafood such as shrimp and squid.”

I still had a little rice and cabbage left when I roasted a strip of pork belly a few nights later. I cut that up over the leftover rice and cabbage, and added a little of the new Trader Joe’s Kimchee Rice to the bowl, too, the colorful orange-y one at the bottom of the last photo. Oh my!  (I will definitely be playing with that kimchee rice again, maybe serving it with a fried egg over the top as the package suggests.)

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Martha Stewart will sign her latest cookbook, Martha’s American Food: A Celebration of our Nation’s Most Treasured Dishes, from Coast to Coast, on Wednesday, May 2 at 5:00 pm at the Barnes & Noble, 3535 US Route 1 South in the MarketFair Mall, Princeton, NJ.

In this collection of classic American favorite recipes, Martha celebrates America and its diversity of food with 190 recipes representing the very best of the country’s flavors. Organized geographically and with her trademark beautiful photography that brings the food - and the people and places with which we identify them - to life, Martha’s American Food showcases Martha’s recipes for regional specialties with drinks, appetizers, soups and salads, main dishes, sides, and desserts.

Line pass distribution begins at 1pm with line formation following, at that time.  Customers must purchase a copy of Martha’s American Food to receive a line pass the day of the event. A line pass, book, and receipt are required to be on the signing line. Full details are available either at Princeton Barnes & Noble Customer Service or by emailing crm2646@bn.com.

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Princeton’s 20th Taste of the Nation takes place Sunday, May 20, 2:00-5:00pm, at Tre Piani restaurant in Forrestal Village. Tre Piani Chef/Owner Jim Weaver is hosting the event as a launch party for his new book, Locavore Adventures.

This is central New Jersey’s premier hunger-relief/tasting event, part of an annual nationwide series that got its start in 1984.  Jim is rounding up the best food and beverage purveyors and artisans in the area for this extravaganza (see current list below), so get your tickets early.  You’ll mingle with chefs, bid on fabulous auction items, and taste delicious food, and hopefully the weather will cooperate so attendees can enjoy the beautiful plaza area outside the restaurant, too.

Use my special Promo Code, NJSPICE, for a discount until a week before the event, so your ticket will be $75 instead of $85. Remember, 100% of the ticket price goes to the beneficiary organizations, most of them local.

(Meanwhile, if you just can’t wait until Taste to get your copy of the book, Jim appears at Barnes & Noble Princeton Saturday, May 12 at 2:00pm.)

Paticipants as of April 14:

Tre Piani
Brothers Moon
Frog and the Peach
Elements
Terra Momo Bread Company
Rocky Hill Inn
Blue Bottle Cafe
Mercer County Community College
Mosefund Farm (Mangalista Pork)
Griggstown Quail Farm
Jersey Blues Iced Tea
San Pellegrino
Bobolink Dairy
Cherry Grove Organic Farm
Valley Shepard Creamery
Salumeria Bielese
Woods Edge Farm
Zone 7
The Bent Spoon Gelati
Atlantic Cape Fisheries (Cape May Salt Oysters)
Viking Village
Bertolotti Gelati
Gateway Perrone Wine
Naked Wine Co.�