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Nostrano, A Baking Love Story, Bars of Chocolate, recipes and more at chefshop.com/enews |
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Nostrano - "Our own" Northern Italian Salami! Salami we think of as slices. And as slices it is wonderful for its robust flavor. It is this flavor that makes it more than just a sandwich. Think of small cubes, slices of slices, in pasta, salad, pizza, tortilla, mac 'n cheese, and in your next omelette! Eating Nostrano today reminded me how great, great salami is. We get so used to the pre-packaged stuff we forget that the good is really good! And I mean in every way. This salame from Fra'Mani is delicious! Nostrano means "our own," and this is Fra'Mani's unique expression of a classic Northern Italian salame. Seasoned simply with sea salt, cracked black pepper, garlic and white wine, it is a touch milder than the salametto, yet still tangy and flavorful. Each Nostrano is tied by hand in a basket weave pattern. It is easily sliced thinly or thickly with a good sharp knife, and it's ideal for a party, a hungry family or as an addition to a large salumi platter. Fra' Mani pork comes from family farmers committed to the well-being of their animals and their land. The hogs are never given antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, growth-promoting agents or meat by-products. They eat only the finest grains and natural feed. This old-fashioned way to raise hogs produces pork of outstanding quality, which is the essential ingredient in all Fra' Mani salumi. Fra' Mani dry salami are made from the finest-quality fresh pork and natural hog casings. Hand-tied with natural twine and slowly mold ripened. Extended aging in the Fra' Mani cantina di stagionatura for highly-developed flavor and aroma. Fra' Mani Handcrafted Salumi is based in Berkeley, California, founded by nationally recognized Chef Paul Bertolli. The culmination of Bertolli's zeal for authentic handcrafted food, Fra'Mani brings the art of traditional Italian salumi to America's discriminating palates. Fra'Mani handcrafts salumi from the finest-quality, all-natural pork in the pastoral Italian tradition. Shop Now for Fra'Mani Salume Nostrano! |
A story of baking love... A cookie story It was a cookie story. One that had taken on different shapes and sizes. Lots of spices and flavors, although the favorites always ended up being the simple sugar cookies. They had been friends a long, long time. Almost forever it seemed. Living close together (figuratively), and sharing the important moments in life with each other. She was an artist, a creative who spent a lifetime making money and was only now coming to fruition and to terms with her own personal work. He had traveled the world for various “agencies” and reached his limit for being on the road, so had settled down. Strangely, even though they were super close, they only came together once in a blue moon. With so much to talk about (everything) when they did. And they also loved to cook together. Making elaborate meals, trying new recipes all the while chatting non-stop. This year, they had planned to get together and the timing was going to be Valentine's Day (or at least around that time). She was a big planner and he was a thinker. So, of course, they discussed the symbolic importance of cookies and chocolate in life. The debate turned to the upcoming holiday and the debate was, are cookies with chocolate the same as a chocolate VD day gift? She said yes, of course it is. He said no. Chocolate bonbons in a heart shaped box was what it was all about. She challenged him and asked if he had ever done that?! Of course, he had not. He challenged her: had she done a box of chocolates? She had not. She had though, she said, made cookies once as a gift. “How did that go?” he asked. She shrugged and said, “I don’t remember”. Before it went down the rabbit hole of a discussion that would have no good outcome, they went back to what cookies to make once they got together. And then the conversation turned to chocolate, roses and the latency effect of males needing to buy a gift on the way home. Of course, it was the discussion of chocolate that garnered the most time and heated debate. Though the bonbons and chocolates that were filled with interesting flavors were wonderful, as a gift it was always a hit or miss. They lacked personality. And no mixed box of chocolates will ever have a 100% success rate. And thus the conversation turned to bars. Bars of chocolate, single origins, meaning chocolate made from beans conched to perfection. Each expressing its character of terroir. And bars of chocolate that are intertwined with flavors, fruits and most importantly, personality! It is this part of the chocolate that was wide open for discussion. It was the personality that was interesting. It was like discussing how it all worked out in your mouth, not the actual individual flavors. It wasn’t about which was better, ok, so maybe it was, but it was also about which one came across in totality as best. They agreed that the wrapping and even the name mattered, though the name was not a game changer. And she said what the bar looked like was part of the package too. He was like, “what?”, scoffing, they are just “bars”. She said, “hah, they are not all just plain Jane”, and cited a bunch of bars that looked great, hot even sometimes once you unwrapped them. Each with a wonderful taste and each having a terrific personality, these bars were special. She said, “I will show you what I mean when we bake cookies next....” You can see some of the bars Jane was eluding to here. Shop now for Romeo ?? Juliet bar and more! |
Berry Berry Wildwood Dark Chocolate Bar This is one beautiful bar. And more than that, the balance of 70% dark chocolate with the sweetness of the delightfully placed, freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries is a bite of interest. Perfect for Valentine's Day - or any day really. If you love berries and chocolate together, you can't go wrong. Shop now for the Wildwood Berry Berry Dark Chocolate Bar! |
Brown Butter Texas Pecan Brittle Wildwood Dark Chocolate Bar! If you love a good Texas brittle, you will love this bar. Inspired by his time in Austin, Texas, this bar brings you a touch of the Texas hospitality with crunchy brown butter pecan brittle covering a rich 70% dark chocolate. Enjoy straight up, or break it up and crumble over a bowl of your favorite vanilla ice cream. Either way, you can't go wrong. Shop now for Wildwood Salted Brown Butter Texas Pecan Brittle! |
Ginger and Pistachio Wildwood Dark Chocolate Bar! What a great flavor combination; sweet and spicy and salty and crunchy perfection. Salty roasted pistachios combined with spicy and sweet candied ginger on top of a rich 70% dark chocolate. Your palate will dance with all the flavors and tastes. If you love ginger and chocolate crunched all together, you will love this bar. Shop now for Wildwood Ginger Pistachio Dark Chocolate Bar! |
Orange and Chocolate with Cherries Wildwood Dark Chocolate Bar This is a wonderful marriage of sweet candied orange peel with dried cherries, making this duo a great match when combined with the richness of their 70% dark chocolate. A combination worth having if you like cherries and orange with your chocolate and who doesn't? Shop Now for Wildwood Orange and Chocolate with Cherries in Dark Chocolate! |
Toffee Brittle with Black Sesame! Everyone has been loving this Toffee! It is selling like hotcakes! Toffee is so easy to make. Sugar, butter, water and toppings. Well, it is easy to create. Making it right is way harder. And even though it so easy to make, I never want to. Toffee is such a super treat to eat, and I love it when someone else makes it! It's a gift of simplicity rewarded with a crunch, bite, and flavor! And this toffee? It is not too sweet, it is a great refreshing treat, and it is not thick, like some. Instead it is thin and svelte. The break is the toffee and not your teeth! In the package the view is shards of toffee. Each piece is different in shape and size. One side is flat chocolate, the flip side is topped with small white sesame seeds against the contrasting dark chocolate. And when you look closely you can see the black sesame seeds co-mingling with the chocolate and the other sesame seeds. The first bite is joyous, a crunch that is easy to do, an explosion of subtle flavor of chocolate, with the toasted sesame on the edges of the tongue to tingle and espouse flavor twistys of change. There is a lot more sesame flavor than just what is on top (look closely at the edge and you will see the black sesame is in the toffee too)! Some of the pieces are bigger than a mouthful and need to be snapped into smaller, enjoyable mini-bite size pieces. Don't be afraid, though, the dark chocolate won't melt (unless you have hot hands) when you lightly hold it to make the break. It snaps so easily (and is strangely rewarding) that you start breaking with abandon! The enjoyment factor with a small piece is so much better because a large piece gives you a mouthful of "candy" which you consume because you are forced to chew and swallow. With a small, thumb-size piece you can taste the chocolate, enjoy the crunch of the sugar which blends with the dark chocolate and gets the sesame on the edge of your tongue. You finish with clean molars, and a lovely dark chocolate flavor that makes you want to suck in your cheeks and the sesame. When you are done with a piece or more, the joy of the bite is still with you to enjoy for quite some time. How good is that! Leaving a good taste in your mouth (instead of bad like the news does) is a wonderful thing! Shop now for NeoCocoa Black Sesame Seed Toffee Brittle! |
Recipe Orange Honey Glazed Sticky Buns This recipe is based on the master recipe for babka dough and the cinnamon roll recipes in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone (Broadway Books, New York, 1997). Check out the Orange Honey Glazed Sticky Buns Recipe! |
The Story of Cru Sauvage A Bitter Sweet Journey from Bean to Bar Wild cocoa trees grow in the Amazon region of Bolivia on raised areas of land, which stick out like small islands in the middle of swampland. The Cambas, as locals of this region are known, have lived for centuries in this underdeveloped and hard-to-reach part of Bolivia. From years of experience, they know exactly where to find the wild cacao trees, and during the harvest, they gather the cacao fruit which grows in scattered locations throughout the forest. The Cambas are often away for days, either on foot, on horseback or in dugout canoes, in pursuit of the wild bean. Back on the farm, or finca, called "Tranquilidad," the cocoa beans are allowed to ferment in wooden crates. Regular turning provides consistent aeration. Finally, the beans are dried in the tropical sun for several days. Then, the beans are ready for their long journey to Europe. Transportation of the wild beans is a real challenge. Cocoa pods are harvested during the rainy season and roads are largely impassable during that time. So, the bags filled with beans are carried on riverboats to the Amazon steamer docks in Trinidad. Then the beans will travel 900 miles by truck over Bolivia's antiquated road system to La Paz, Bolivia's capital city, where they will be stored briefly in a high-altitude (13,000 feet) warehouse. The local weather and elevation provide the perfect storing conditions for the dried, raw beans. From there, the beans will soon travel over the high pass (15,700 feet) across the Andes mountains to Chile's Pacific coast port of Arica, where the precious cargo is loaded onto a feeder cargo ship. From there, the wild cocoa beans are shipped to Panama, then through the Panama canal and across the Atlantic to Europe where, upon arrival in Rotterdam they are reloaded onto smaller feeder boats for the relatively short trip to Basel, Switzerland. Once they arrive in Basel, they are painstakingly inspected once more by the receiver - the famed Felchlin Chocolate Company. These unusually small cocoa beans require extra special attention and care during the manufacturing process. All the machines used to process cocoa baking chocolate must be readjusted individually to fit the demands of the Cru Sauvage; the roasting process especially requires intensive care and patience. For Bolivian wild cocoa, the roasting temperature is lower and the roasting time is longer than for all other cocoa beans. Then comes conching. Conching is a time-intensive blending and refinement process requiring a great deal of know-how, experience and dedication - as well as a certain amount of intuition, and a natural sense of what the Cru Sauvage bittersweet baking chocolate needs. Each type of cocoa is different - and so is its conching time. For the Cru Sauvage cocoa baking chocolate, 60 hours in the traditional conches have been determined as the optimum length of time. This extra-long-lasting conching process and aeration allows the still hidden wealth of its aromas and flavors to unfold. At the same time, homogeneity, taste subtleness and ideal texture are reached, leading to a unique flavor and exceptionally high quality mouth-feel. Through such great care in picking and processing, the small wild beans gradually unfold their intensive and unique aromas and flavors. Cru Sauvage bittersweet baking chocolate is truly the only one of its kind - and relatively cheap, considering its long voyage from wild bean to exquisite couverture chocolate! To learn more about Volker Lehmann, and his journey to preserve the Bolivian Wild Cocoa Bean, Cru Sauvage, and the rain forest, click here. Shop now for Cru Sauvage Wild Cocoa Baking Chocolate 68%! |
Simple Easy Chocolate Cake Serves 8 or more - super rich - a sliver is a lot! With just four ingredients and the only skill you need is to mix (and a little melting) to make this drop dead cake! Remember to use only really good chocolate to have the best success. The best thing about this cake is that it is totally forgiving. Getting it perfect might not be possible, as there is no perfect. It is chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs! You can make it, most likely, right out of what you have in your pantry. (Though better chocolate makes the cake). Click here to get the simple easy Chocolate Cake Recipe! |
Superfine Castor Cane Sugar! Also known as "caster sugar", this sugar has granules that are very fine and dry. A superior quality sugar, it is the workhorse of professional Pastry Chefs because it dissolves so easily in batters and doughs, leaving them very smooth. Especially appreciated for genoise, other sponge cakes, and meringue. It also dissolves very quickly in liquids, so it's great for iced tea. Shop Now for Superfine Castor Sugar! |
Winter Greens and Farro Recipe! This perfect fall dish is a prime example of what good produce and a few choice ingredients can get you. Click to see the Winter Greens and Farro Recipe! |
Organic Farro Emmer Triticum Dicoccum The word farro describes a hulled wheat where the grain is "threshed" to remove the hull, or separating the wheat from the chaff. Farro, of which there are three, needs a more aggressive action to remove the hull or chaff. Some grains, like a more common wheat whose chaff is "loose", needs little or no threshing, something as easy as tossing into the air, called winnowing. Farro needs threshing and winnowing to get rid of the hull. The three Farros are Einkorn - Triticum monococcum (1 million years old), Emmer - Triticum dicoccum (500,000 years old), and spelt - Triticum spelta (200,000 years old). The farros were found in the tombs of the Egyptian Kings in the fertile crescent. With all this information in your pocket, what is important to know is that Farro Emmer is a great tasting food that can act like a base, an accompaniment or as a key ingredient. Commercial kitchens love it because it remains firm from the beginning of service to the end! Though we don't cook ours for hours on the stove like they do in restaurants, you can still make it today and use it all different ways over the week! It keeps great! Shop now for Organic Farro Emmer! |
Summer Farro Salad Recipe This has got to be one of the simplest recipes you can make. Because it's so simple, the quality and flavor of the ingredients - especially the vinegar and olive oil - are super important. This salad is a twist on a classic Italian recipe, with added color as homage to summer. Add small cubes of feta cheese or tuna or white beans to give it a protein and filling boost if you like. It makes a wonderful side dish served hot or cold, or prepare it in advance and take it on your next picnic as a healthy and tasty alternative to potato salad. Also perfect as leftovers, as the flavors blend so nicely after it sits in the fridge overnight. In fact, this recipe is so good the next day, I always make the full recipe no matter how many I am serving - just so I can have leftovers. A bright and delicious salad using this ancient of grains - emmer or spelt. It's nice to have a little summer in the middle of winter. See the Summer Farro Salad Recipe! |
Agrodolce Zinfandel Vinegar In Italian, agrodolce means "sweet and sour," and this nuanced vinegar beautifully expresses both. Albert and Kim Katz have long been fascinated with the idea of marrying the sweetness and complexity of wine grapes that have been left on the vine to concentrate the flavors and natural sugars together with bright and crisp acidity. This super versatile, excellent Zinfandel vinegar has a rich, complex sweet and sour flavor - try sipping a bit from a spoon. While the nose combines fruit with pleasantly sharp, the flavor is rich, mellow and winey. Use this sweet and sour vinegar anytime you'd use red wine vinegar. For a simple salad dressing, add just a drizzle of olive oil, along with salt and pepper. You'll find you'll need less oil with the balanced acidity in Agrodolce than in your regular dressing recipe. It's great for sautéing, stir-fries and marinades, or try it in our sautéed apples, onions and mushrooms. It particularly complements tomatoes, and it's just wonderful reduced and sprinkled over figs or perhaps accompanied by some semi-firm white cheese. Perhaps the best surprise is that because there is enough sugar in agrodolce vinegar, you can reduce it in a pan to create a wonderful syrupy topping for everything from fruit to steaks! The Zinfandel grapes that go into this product are harvested late, after their sugars are fully developed. The fermented juice from the grapes is added to oak barrels along with an established vinegar "mother." The finished Zinfandel vinegar has a jammy texture with fresh berry overtones and a tart, crisp finish. Shop now for Agrodolce Zinfandel Vinegar! |
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Katz Zinfandel Agrodolce Vinaigrette Recipe This elegant, versatile dressing is ideal for grilled beef, lamb, or Portobello mushrooms; or drizzled over white beans, lentils or a fresh heirloom tomato salad; or tossed with warm greens with pears, Prosciutto and a good quality blue cheese...just a jumping off point! This recipes courtesy of Albert and Kim Katz of Katz and Company. See the Katz Late Harvest Zinfandel Agrodolce Vinaigrette Recipe |
Parmigiano-Reggiano Summer Cutting the cheese in February! (Oops, we didn't update the pages last week!) Limited number of wheels to cut so order soon! Bella Bella Bella Parmigiano "SO worth the price of admission. My first summer parm and it is my favorite - rich with a lighter texture. Tried by itself and sprinkled on a red wine pasta dish - delicioso!" -- mike Shop now for Summer Parmigiano-Reggiano! |
ChefShop Cocoa Powder! Time for cake. Great Stuff "I freely admit that I'm hooked. The Chef Shop cocoa powder will do that to you. With just a hint of vanilla, and a dark color and intense flavor, a day is no longer complete without a nightcap of strong cocoa made with this product." -- tony Shop now for Cocoa Powder! |
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Got questions? Call or email and we will do our best to answer your questions! We love sharing our taste opinions about all our products. STORE HOURS BACK TO NORMAL: Monday thru Saturday: 10 to 5 Closed Sunday. Please let us know if you would like a private shopping time and we will do our best to accommodate you. We now have multiple HEPA medical grade air filters running 24 hours a day now in the shop. Please keep in mind we are limiting the number of people in the shop at one time and masks are required. Please if you are feeling sick for any reason please choose a different time to visit. We may perform random temperature checks. | |
Last Week's Best Seller! Sometime you just want a Strawberry Jam We sold out the first two times it has been in the newsletter. This time we have lots, though the next shipment has just been reported missing on the water. We don't know what this means, except that it means the next shipment won't be showing up on time, if ever! This jam is crazy good! When it comes to strawberries there are a zillion of those. And these days they are often more jelly-like than jam smooth. Some tout their big chunks of berry, which quite frankly ruins the spreadability of the jam. It is like spreading jam with speed bumps. And many are sickly sweet, not in a happy sugar kind of way. More like a bad taffy that is stuck to your teeth way. And then there is this Fraise (strawberry) jam from the same people who make the Abricot! It tastes like strawberry, like you want it to. The morsels that are left are not visual chunks or bumps. Instead, they are like packets of strawberry explosions. Or are they more like a bite of strawberry flesh you are eating? In any case, the jam is sweet, of course, with sugar, yet when you are done with a spoonful, it is the flavor of strawberry that remains. This Strawberry Jam is like what you remember and want it to be. It is worth always having on hand for the daytime and for the late night saltines, peanut butter and Fraise jam. Just like what I used to do in high school. One of the All-Time Greats!!!!! "This is a wonderful jam, and I consider myself to be a "jam guy". My daughters claim I obsess on jams, and they may be right. La Trinquelinette's Strawberry Jam is sublime. Great texture. The flavor is alive. Just the right sweetness. This one I would buy by the case." -- john Shop now for La Trinquelinette Strawberry Jam! 
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Store Hours - Monday thru Friday 10 to 5, Saturday 10 to 5 If your order has been confirmed as "ORDER READY FOR PICKUP" in email (or you were called) and want it brought to you in the parking lot, call us when you arrive and we will run it out to you. 206-286-9988 ChefShop.com 1425 Elliott Ave W Seattle, Wa 98119 206-286-9988 Our bigger parking lot is north of the shop and next door (south of) Champions Party Supply. Easy to reach and wide open parking lot. Click here to see the map. |
| This Week's Recipes |
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Ancient Grains "Risotto" Style, with Summer Vegetables Recipe This is an awesome recipe using a delicious and healthy grain, emmer (farro), and seasonal summer vegetables. Michel Nischan (James Beard award winning chef) prepared this recipe at the 2011 Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, CO in June. Kick Butt Guacamole Recipe Just open a jar of Mama Lil's. Kick Butt Peppers, simple and quick. This guacamole recipe is the best way to use up very ripe avocados, and no need for tasteless, hot house tomatoes - the peppers will give you the extra color you are looking for, plus a little extra heat. If you want less heat, you can substitute Mama Lil's Original Peppers. If you can get hard neck garlic, you will definitely taste the difference. Hard neck garlic will give the final taste a more mellow garlic flavor. Any avocado will do this time of year. Cottage (Shepherd's) Pie with Minced Beef Recipe Cottage pie refers to an English meat pie made with minced beef and a crust made from mashed potato. A variation on this dish using minced lamb is generally known as "Shepherd's Pie." Although, the distinction between the two may well be an example of folk etymology, based solely on the fact that shepherds clearly herd sheep, not cattle. |
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Diet Food, French Jams, Rigatoni, Recipes Best Finds of 2020 Recipes From Friends 2020 |
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