Summer Desires, paste, sugar, salt, vanilla, ketchup, curry, lemon and more at chefshop.com/enews
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Summer Desires
Almond Cake - it is really good!
So...the holiday arrived and I cooked some hamburgers, all of them rare, raw actually – oops.
Oh well, everyone is still alive, so no harm, no foul, just kind of gross. (I did throw them back on the grill).
The food was all good: comforting and simple. It was perfect. Friends and family and the little ones.
The day brought to light how important gatherings are to me. And the food, the dishes, the effort – that is really how we show we care, how we show we love one another.
The dish matters, but not what the dish itself is. If it is the Jello you’ve made for the last 40 years, or the secret punch which involves 7-Up and mint ice cream it doesn’t matter, as long as you make it, or your aunt makes it – it’s all good. It is timeless, it is tradition.
I have been craving not dinner, or lunch, or even breakfast – though a nice stack of pancakes with bacon, sausage and eggs sounds good right about now – no, what I’m craving is sweet and salty, separately of course. Salty snack foods like nuts and cheese and sweet foods like cake and cookies. And fruit – though so far this summer the fruit has not been as bountiful as I wish.
I keep hoping that someone will stop by and drop off the perfect something, though I’m not sure what it would be. So, instead of waiting and hoping, I made an almond cake, and I found some okay strawberries and gave them a nice sugar bath for a couple of days.
This Almond Cake recipe from David Lebovitz is the cake he describes as his “dessert island cake . . . It’s this simple beauty”.
If you don’t know David’s cookbooks and blog you should definitely check them out. He really does have some amazingly great recipes – and his Almond Cake is one of his best.
The cake is so easy to make if you have a food processor. All you need are the best ingredients and success is guaranteed!
Top this cake with fresh fruit of the season or enjoy it unadorned – it is truly spectacular!
See the Amazing Almond Cake Recipe here!
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Premium Almond Paste
the very best Almond Paste
No fancy packaging here, this commercial tub of Mandelin premium almond paste is the real deal. You can shape this white treat into little animals for your next birthday cake. Or into leaves for the top of an apple pie. OR just eat it. It's that good.
This is a professional, premium almond paste that is made with 66% almonds, whereas most almond paste is made with 50% or less almonds. Our almond paste contains bitter almond oil for an extra boost of almond flavor, a flavor the Europeans are known for.
Did you know that most of the almond paste used in countries like Switzerland and France is made from almonds grown in California. And even some almond paste made in Europe with California almonds is then exported back here to the USA!
Best Almond Paste EVER!
"This almond paste is just so fabulous. Fresh from California, but made in the European tradition it really adds a true almond flavor to anything it's used for. Amaretti cookies with a good luxardo cherry in the middle? forget about it, try to have just one."
-- ella
Shop now for the Best Almond Paste!
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Superfine or Caster
Cane Sugar
Also known as "caster sugar", this superfine cane 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.
Perfect for cake, like almond cake.
This sugar is the creme de la creme!
"This sugar is as smooth and fine as silk. It makes a huge difference everywhere I use it, notably in baking and in beverages."
-- ellen
Shop now for Superfine Cane Sugar!
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Caputo "00"
Chef's Flour
12-13% dry gluten content - and designed for home ovens and longer fermentation times.
This finely ground wheat flour from Italy has a little more gluten than the Caputo Pizza Flour (a smart choice for those looking to make thin crust pizza!).
It also works well in cakes and pastries, though a little less gluten (8-10%) when making pastries to get a gentle flake. The fine ground works well to get that light crumb on cakes.
Shop now for Caputo "00" Chef's Flour
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Fine Sea Salt
from Trapani Sicily
Two pounds of some fine sea salt from Italy. We use it as our everyday salt. Not too salty to the taste, it's inexpensive enough to use in your pasta water. And it's tasty enough to finish your best dishes!
My Fave Everyday
"Sea salts taste different. This is my favorite fine sea salt, everyday use includes pasta water (yes lots), baking and sometimes meat. It's a price and taste issue, it adds saltiness."
-- jodi
Shop now for Trapani Fine Sea Salt!
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Double Strength Extract
Heilala Bourbon Vanilla
No chemicals or nasty synthetic imitations here. Only the best organic vanilla beans are used for Heilala's cold extraction and unique aging process. The result? A true vanilla aroma and the purest taste imaginable.
This versatile bourbon vanilla extract is perfect for all your baking needs. Whenever a recipe calls for vanilla extract or essence, turn to Heilala. Freshly harvested each year, this bourbon vanilla extract tastes like vanilla and smells more like a bean than alcohol. This is double strength (two-times the "vanilla" flavor or less diluted than 1X), No sugar, and Heilala is wheat free.
Amazing results
"I bought my mom some Heilala Vanilla to try and she LOVES it. She took some carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to a function and she had more compliments on the cream cheese frosting. "such a great flavor" was the general comment. This recipe had been made before and enjoyed but she was quite impressed with the reaction when she tried Heilala!"
-- linda
Adore this vanilla
"This is my my favorite vanilla in our house - the difference using this in making baked goods is above and beyond! Though it is 2x I always just use it 1:1 in recipes and it's fantastic. I have also given this as a gift and got rave reviews."
-- katherine
Shop now for Heilala Bourbon Vanilla Extract 2x (Double Strength)!
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Almond
Extract
Our natural oils and flavorings from Boyajian are a great way to to add flavors to baked goods, homemade candy, ice cream, or cocktails and other drinks. Almond flavor is ideal for macaroons, cakes, and holiday treats!
And perfect for almond cake.
Shop now for Almond Extract!
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Sometime you just want
a strawberry jam!
Peanut butter and jelly. Most of us grew up with it. The go to sandwich made with Wonder bread for much of our grade school life until we hit puberty and high school where cool was not a peanut butter and jelly anything.
Today, we skip the bread and the combination of peanut butter and jelly, split them apart, otherwise known in hip terms as “deconstruction” and a term that is no longer cool, either.
Peanut butter in your milk shake makes it a "protein" shake and it makes the ice cream healthy for you. Or, for dinner when you are trying to cut your calories (and too lazy to make anything), peanut butter with an apple is easy.
And bread is now a delicacy when you bake it yourself, slathered in a couple of tablespoons of protein butter and made from an "exotic" flour called whole wheat that you got at the grocery store.
And jam is no longer jam or jelly. We know now that marmalade is different from jam or jelly or conserves or even a fruit spread.
And this is a good thing! There is no denying that there are a million great fruit based spreads out there.
Finding ones you like is both, easy and difficult. When you crave for a jam any one will often do.
If you have time, though, and you’re not traveling, having one on hand that is outstanding is an important job to succeed at.
As many of you know that the Abricot (Apricot) jam we sold out a month or so back is divine. One giant spoonful and you are in a happy place. It takes on the apricot and makes it crazy delicious!
When it comes to strawberry 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 spread ability 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 of 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 French 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
Great strawberry jam!!
"OK...it is not as good as what my mom made many decades ago, but leave it to the French to make fantastic, wonderful strawberry jam. As an expert I highly recommend it. I just ordered some more so I can give some to my mother-in-law. Great stuff. Get some before they sell out again."
-- john
Shop now for La Trinquelinette Strawberry Jam
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Black Garlic Ketchup
Healthy longevity comes from eating Black Garlic!
Sometimes great things just appear and when they do it’s a WOW kinda thing!
This dark, very dark gourmet ketchup is nothing like the red stuff we have used our whole lives. In fact, it does not resemble anything we have had before. Though, I am thinking that the next burger I make will have this as the condiment of excellence.
Like most ketchups it has vinegar, the basic acid and tomato combination. And then, the similarity stops there.
To the nose, Hawkshead Black Garlic Ketchup has a big twing-y tickle from the acetic acid - balsamic vinegar. To the tip of the tongue, it is sweet. And to the mouth, it is a squeeze in the cheeks pleasure. It took a couple of “tastes” to notice the little bits of garlic. At the end, some of the time, there is a tickle in the back of the throat.
The flavor of this gourmet ketchup is not “garlic”, at least not to the taste buds. It takes some cheek smacking to get the garlic...the flavor is much more about the complete experience. You get a sweet twinge of goodness with hints of Balsamic and caramel. This is like an enhancement of black garlic in a ready to pour form!
To make black garlic you heat a full head of white garlic at 150 degrees for several weeks. The browning action is created by Maillard reaction, not caramelization. The sharpness in fresh garlic is transformed as it breaks down over time, minimizing the strong flavor.
Black Garlic has been around for a long time, and is long associated with longevity and even immortality, black garlic is rich in color, rich in flavor, with roundness, fullness and lots of fun.
Great condiment and a must try!!
"I was pleasantly surprised with the unique flavor of this Black Garlic Ketchup. Its the perfect topping for my plant based burger. Now I’m going to have to get more before its gone and try the Smoked version as well. Bon Appetit"
-- raymond
Secret sauce
"This was given to me as a gift, I might not have risked it but I’m so glad I have tried it now. The other night I made a pecan crusted chicken breast and smashed fried potatoes and salad. Everything was good but needed some oomph so I tried this and it went from good to great. We tried mixing with some mayonnaise and smoked chipotle Tabasco and voila, a perfect sauce for pretty much anything. The flavor is just the right level, not overbearing, but different than anything I’ve had before."
-- jodi
Shop now for Hawkshead Black Garlic Ketchup!
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Established 1876 for export to England
by two industrious locals in India
The Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder tin encases a recipe that has been handed down generation to generation, maintaining the quality that the two founders, Merwanjee and Poonjiajee, created 145+ years ago.
Madras Curry is like many spice mixtures, there are many variations of the ingredients and proportions. Madras, (or Madrasapattinam) India, now called Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, India, is on the Coromandel Coast and the second largest port in India. Sun Brand Madras Curry was one of the first curries to be exported.
We carry Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder because we have many curry lovers who tell us it is the best that you can find out there. You, of course can make your own but, we like the very fine powder and the ease of having it in our Essential Pantry.
A yellow curry powder with a following. Try it out and see what people are talking about!
Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder
"This is indeed a curry powder with a following! My husband recycled the tin before I could write down all the details and I was afraid I wouldn't find it again. But this is a curry powder worth searching for - I've used nothing but this brand for nearly 30 years, because no other measures up. So glad that you stock this!!!"
-- safiya
Shop now for Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder!
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Lemon Candy
Candied Lemon Peel!
Make candied lemon peel once, and you realize how great it can be. Do it right, and you know that it takes time -- lots of time and lots of space. The results are always enjoyable, if you can get the correct lemons when you want them.
On the other hand, when these peels come in from France, we can't help ourselves and eat a few (testing, we are always testing) to ensure our memory is still working. These peels are the best we have tasted, especially when it comes to price to volume.
Don't think we are looking for cheap, because we are not. We are still looking for the best glace fruits online, and for peels that we would use ourselves. And, in fact, these are so good we eat them out of hand like candy.
Bakers know that these are the ones to get.
Shop now for French Candied Lemon Peel!
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Olives
Stuffed with Anchovies!
My Green O’Love !
"These are the ONLY green anchovy olives in my home. And This is the Only place to find ‘em!! The olives are fresh, firm and salty, not sour. It carries the fresh texture of anchovy that is neither fishy, nor pastey like the other anchovy olives. I DO NOT DRINK! So my addiction to Novia del Sol is about its presence in the Food Group. It’s a fast solution when visitors knock in my door. I’ll usually open a can for myself when I don’t answer the door and they walk away.. but if I DO answer the door and let my friends in, I’ll open a can of Novias for a beautiful sit-down and chat. Even those who don’t “know” or like olives have been pleasantly addicted to these rare cans of joy... sigh, again.. and again.."
-- evelyn
Simply Fabulous
"Such a great treat. Delicious....."
-- lawrence
Absolutely delightful
"I purchased these for my wife, who loves anchovy-stuffed olives, and she says that these are the best ones she has ever had. I will agree with her, as these olives have a strong anchovy flavor that is desired, but it is quickly "cut" with the delightful taste of the olive, perfectly marrying the two flavors in one bite."
-- dan
Shop now for Anchovy-Stuffed Spanish Manzanilla Olives!
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Meatloaf with Pinhead Oatmeal
Recipe
This meatloaf with oatmeal recipe calls for adding pinhead oats to a blend of beef, pork and veal. The flavor is brightened by the addition of original Hawkshead Relish Brown Sauce – a delicious Worcestershire Sauce-style condiment – and the pinhead oats provide a hearty and robust texture – a satisfying and really delicious combination.
Oatmeal and breadcrumbs have long been used in meatloaf as extenders and to keep the meat moist. Using breadcrumbs will yield a soft, tender texture, while the pinhead oats produce a more interesting loaf.
See the Meatloaf with Pinhead Oatmeal here!
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Organic Stone-Cut Oatmeal
from Scotland
Every list of “super foods” has oats near the top. You’ve seen the commercials - eating oats is known to lower cholesterol and improve cardiovascular health. Oats are an excellent source of fiber and they even help stabilize blood sugar - at any time of day.
Must buy for oatmeal lovers
"Excellent oatmeal! Lovely oaty taste and cooked up beautifully."
-- amanda
This oatmeal is amazing
"I never thought I'd find oatmeal that surpasses my love of steal cut oats, but this is not only tastier, but also cooks faster. Love it with toasted almonds and berries."
-- jennifer
Am I back in Scotland?
"Reminds me of B&Bs in Scotland. Easy and surprisingly quick to prepare and almost toasty/ nutty. If you do toast them before cooking for a few minutes in a 325 oven or on the cooktop in a heavy pan, they are very nutty and extra flavorful. Add raisins or other dried fruit just before they're done and you'll have a wonderful start to your day."
-- dehart
Shop now for Organic Stone-Cut Oatmeal from Scotland!
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Mori Spaghetti
Bigoli Nobili Mori Pasta
This spaghetti is absolutely fabulous! How is it possible that a pasta can taste this good? We don't know but we love it! If you can have only one pasta, it might have to be this one!
Bigoli is a traditional pasta from the Veneto region of northeast Italy and references to Bigoli date from the mid-1400s. In 2002 Pastificio Sgambaro re-introduced its bronze-drawn Bigoli in three versions: Mori, Bianchi e Sottili, and al Radicchio Rosso. They gave these amazing pastas the name "Bigoli Nobili" to pay tribute to the best culinary traditions of the Veneto region.
About the size of spaghetti, Bigoli takes its name from the extrusion press used to create it. Sgambaro "Mori" (dark) is made from the best durum semolina grown in Italy; it's slightly darker and denser than most pasta, and its surface has a rougher texture, perfect for encouraging sauces to cling - and the taste is sensational!
Shop now for Bigoli Nobili Mori Pasta!
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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: 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 in the shop.
Please keep in mind we are limiting the number of people in the shop at one time and masks are required. If you are feeling sick for any reason please choose a different time to visit. We may perform random temperature checks.
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KISHIBORI SHOYU
amazing Japanese Soy Sauce
Positively our favorite soy sauce.
Wow!
"I so enjoyed the series "Salt Fat Acid Heat", so when I saw that ChefShop carried this, I decided to try it. WOW! I was blown away by the taste and smell of what no-kidding real soyu. I used a small daub on my bean soup, a splash in my sauteed greens--it has such a bright umami taste--you can use this for any dish that you want to add a more complicated salty flavor. Really yummy!"
-- alice
Order Japanese Kishibori Shoyu Now!
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Choose the amount in $25 increments by changing the quantity number and we will take care of the rest.
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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.
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This Week's Recipes |
Chocolate Pinhead Oatmeal Recipe
So easy, everyone should be doing it. You just add 1 tablespoon ChefShop Cocoa Powder to your regular oatmeal recipe!
Homemade Carrot Soup Recipe
This is an easy recipe and amazingly delicious.
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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