Upcoming Cambodian New Year Celebrations

                        Eat, Dance, Eat, Pray, Eat, Celebrate                         

            

Cambodians celebrate the new year from April 14th-17th.  The Cambodian American community here in the U.S. loves a party, and manages to roll the festivities into its observances at the temple. 

Next week there will be ample opportunity to dip your culinary finger into Cambodian culture.  For celebrations, foods, and cultural events, click here.

We make this recipe every year, adapted from The Elephant Walk Cookbook.  It's a sweet rice dumpling holding a treasure of palm sugar, jackfruit, or banana, then rolled in toasted coconut or sesame seeds.

Sourseday Chnam Tnai!

Where There's No Smoke, Can There Be Fire?

             All-Weather Pork Ribs Wait Out a Rainy Spring  
                      
I got so excited by today's NY Times' headline Dining article, grilling expert Steven Raichlen's bold exposé of smoke-free barbecue.  Full of anticipation, I grabbed the cappucino (Juliano's, 90th and Lex) and left the paper behind.  

Luckily, the piece was easily retrieved. As a bit of background, Steven has been around the globe many times, chronicling the world's grilling and barbecue foodways.  From The Barbecue Bible through his current release, Planet Barbecue, he teaches us how to prep the grill, how to smoke and singe, marinate and macerate. And now, how to cook ribs in the oven without the aid of smoke. 

What's the difference between grilling and barbecue?  Take your 'cue from this article. 

Don't miss this recipe for luscious Grilled Artisanal Bacon. 

Pig Heaven Is Out in My Back Yard

                  
                     Avoiding Spring Cleaning?  
   This will get you running for the grill brush.   

 Here was this gorgeous slab of the most compelling bacon sitting on my counter. It was in its primal state, rose-and-ivory striped belly that hung over the sides of my beat-up butcher block. Who could resist chunking it into little stackable Legos?  And why not marinate, skewer, and grill?

Since there were dinner-party ingredients strewn all over the counter, the marinade was of the kitchen-sink variety.  It may have included some other bits of this or that, but here is the big idea. 

                                          GRILLED BACON BROCHETTES

                                 a highly caloric balance of sweet, sour, salty and delicious

                    

Cut Aux Délices des Bois Artisanal Farmhouse Bacon (slab) into chunks, about 1 x 1 1/2 inches.  Make sure to include both meat and fat.

Stir together the marinade ingredients:

Honey

Real maple syrup

Worcestershire sauce

Lemon juice

Soy sauce

Cracked pepper   

Toss the bacon with the marinade, and marinate in the fridge for up to 2 hours.  Take out of the fridge for 15 minutes before skewering.  Grill over indirect heat.   Don't let the fat melt away! Just crisp and char and remove.

We served it as an app on baby greens, alongside squid bodies that were drenched in lemon then grilled.  The table fell silent as flavors rolled over our tongues, memorizing the sweet and sour of alternate bites. 

Needless to say, the main course was a letdown.

  More recipes for bacon.

IT'S PIE DAY

                                 PIE WARS

My dad is so fond of pie that on occasion, he'll forgo the diet to fork into a sugar-dusted, ripple-topped pie stuffed with soft, gooey apples. His most difficult separation from this fond childhood food memory was during World War II.   After so long in the trenches, V-Day brought - well, almost - sweet victory.   Jammed into the home-bound freighter, he watched stomachs heaving with the lurches and menus improving over C-rations. There was a lot of eating to catch up on.

Then one day the announcement came -- tomorrow we will have pie! 

Dad hadn't considered that his dreamed-of reunion with pie would come so soon.  The next morning, he was all anticipation.  Will it be apple?  One crust or two?  A la mode?  As lunch drew near, he edged up toward the front of the line.  Lunch would be quick, topped off with a juicy, flaky wedge, topped with - dare he think? - a scoop of vanilla.

The pie was pizza pie.

Which he never really liked.

Now every day is a new opportunity for pie, whether pumpkin, apple, chocolate, blueberry or peach.  It's all the same, when you've paid your dues to your country.  

Here's a pie recipe Dad approves of, from my book, The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer.   Plum Tart with Walnut Crust 

SHOPPING LIST: MILK, PASTA, BLACK TRUFFLES

          Local Black Winter Truffles Coming to a Supermarket Near You

Last week's National Truffle Fest in Asheville, NC was an eye opener. Knowing that Black Winter Truffles are already available in markets around the US, I figured, so what's new?


Lots.  The southeast region of the US produces homegrown, American-born black truffles. Franklin Garland spearheaded this agricultural enterprise 20 years ago. Tilling former tobacco-growing fields, he planted inoculated filbert trees with black truffle spore.  Now, hundreds of acres are planted in NC, VA, and KY, as well as in CA.  Black Winter Truffles are being harvested, with the crop growing a little more bountiful every year.


Presentations at the Fest explored agricultural, economic, and logistical aspects of growing for the long term.  Truffle trees take at least 4 years to produce truffles, and even then, a harvest is a crapshoot.  Overheard at the forum: which  dogs dig best, micro pigs, tree fungus, and other tightly guarded trade secrets.


Not all attendees were growers.  Gourmands made a beeline to the Grand Bohemian Hotel (an adventure unto itself, with its Austrian hunting lodge theme) to get the inside scoop on the local truffle scene and to enjoy truffles in a variety of menus. Tastings covered truffles with wine, restaurant tours and meals, and multi-course splendors provided by high-profile, local and visiting chefs.  And oh, I taught a cooking class with wild mushroom and truffle recipes from my book, The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer (Workman 2000).

The event was hosted by the North American Truffle Growers' Association (NATGA) and organized as a fundraiser for the Frankie Lemmon Foundation, which supports special needs children. 

SPINNING FOR YOUR SUPPER

                                              Raiding the Pantry

Our pantry resides in a double high lazy susan, conveniently disguised as a kitchen cabinet.  When the snow's a foot deep and the fridge is on a quarter tank,  it's time to spin for dinner.  Inventory can be frighteningly dismal - blueberry hoisin jam, what-was-I-thinking, grapefruit-spiked mopping sauce, and pomegranate cactus salsa.  I recently unearthed a can of hominy, a few handfuls of shiitake, and a half bag of faro.   After my usual beginning - an onion saute - the right brain kicked in. The resulting meal was a heart-warming and heart-healthy main course.  Faro is tossed with shiitake, hominy, nicoise olives and orange, and perfumed with Mediterranean spices.  

                                 Mediterranean-Spiced Faro with Hominy and Shiitake

Did Someone Say Chocolate?

Find out how it all began

                     How We Got Here and What We Ate

Valentine's Day used to be a sweet, sticky, family celebration, with red construction paper hearts, bits of cut-out doilies, and candy hearts ground into the carpet. Gone are those days, with the endearments of chocolate-smudged fridge handles, heart-shaped cookie cutters, and homemade bead bracelets. With older kids presumably attending to their own romantic notions, the menu can move front and forward.

Our easiest recipe is not the Mediterranean Chicken en papillotte, although it is a close runner up.  No, the Baked Potato with White or Black Truffle Butter wins that prize.  Both recipes are do-ahead.  On Valentine's Day, just slide the foil packets into the oven, alongside the self-baking spuds. 

Before kids, Food and Wine featured us in a Cupid's Kitchen piece, with some easy-to-prepare recipes sure to get lovers into the kitchen.  Our Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches may have started something, with their cool, creamy centers and crispy bookends.  And it's not likely to stop any time soon.