Capers, easy tasty, flavor, heat, sweet and more at chefshop.com/enews
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Shio Koji
The making and the adventure
I have been grinding koji rice into a powder and massaging it into a piece of meat, then letting the koji powder and the meat live together in a zip lock bag for 3 days or so before I clean it all off and cook the meat over a fire of some kind. The results have been great. Generally a softer bite, easier chewability, and a sweeter taste.
This process works beautifully on good steaks like a New York cut. Where this koji process really shines is on a tougher and less expensive piece of steak where you can get great results, as well.
At first, it seemed easy to remember to get a few steaks and drop them in a ziplock and store for a few days...then life got busier, and summer's fresh fruit filled the refrigerator. And if I had a steak in hand, which is rare these days, it meant that it was for dinner tonight, not in 3 days.
So, I am embarking on making Shio Koji, a very common way of having koji on hand, ready to go, in the refrigerator.
You can use it as is, rough and tumble, or put it in the blender to make it creamier. I am going to use my stick blender to get something in between.
You can use it in marinades for poultry, fish or meat. You spread the marinade on, leave it for 30 minutes or more, then wipe off the excess and cook. It does not need to be “clean” of every iota of shio koji.
You can add it to your gravy or sauces to create a bump in flavor. Think of shio koji as salt with a bit of miracle.
And in addition to awakened taste, shio koji has benefits to help with immunity, help you feel better when you are tired, improve intestinal issues, and even make your skin beautiful!
This is going to be an interesting, kitchen taste-filled adventure! Join me and make your own shio koji.
See how to make Shio Koji here!
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Tuna & Caper Rice-Stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes
Recipe
Stuffing a tomato is a wonderful, summery fun thing to do. Take any tomato, open the top like a lid and make a delicious dish container! By stuffing the tomato with a grain, like rice or emmer, then adding spices and herbs makes a side dish that is a treat!
When you add beans, or protein like tuna, it becomes a complete meal. I always think of it as a surprise dinner with friends...though I have made it for myself, all alone, and it has been perfect.
This recipe is a great place to start and you can change out almost everything to suit your taste buds or mood. Or use what you have on hand.
See the Tuna & Caper Rice-Stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes Recipe here!
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Large Pantescan Capers
in salt from the island of Pantelleria
Capers grown on the island of Pantelleria and preserved in the native sea salt for La Favorita Fish. The island of Pantelleria is 70 km away from Africa and 85 km from Sicily. It is considered by many culinary aficionados as the ultimate source for capers.
These are large capers, picked just before they are ready to flower. Preserved in sea salt as they are also means that none of the aromatic flavor has been lost.
Capers are great little flavor bits to add to savory dishes, like chicken in a sauce, or a simple pasta and olive oil. Add this and you have delish! Remember to wash the salt off in a quick bath as in most recipes this would add too much salt.
Shop now for Large Pantescan Capers in Salt!
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Fond de Poulet
Classic Chicken Stock
Want home-made chicken stock at the ready, but just don't have time? Well...now you can. This 16-oz container creates approximately 5 gallons of gourmet chicken stock! It's a 40-time reduction, so a little goes a long way. And they have done all the work for you -- cooked down the bones and everything. Hard to beat!
You know all those times that you've substituted water for chicken stock in a recipe? And it turns out fine...but you know that with the stock, it would have been simply delicious. Then this is the solution for you! Fond de Poulet results in a perfect chicken stock whenever you need it - especially at the last minute.
This chicken stock concentrate is gluten-free.
Great base for Chicken Stock
"This product is excellent as a base for Chicken Stock or just to fortify existing stock."
-- jerry
Shop now for More Than Gourmet Classic Reduced Chicken Stock!
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Best Tuna
perfect for your stuffed tomatoes!
This sashimi-grade young tuna is individually caught with single hook lines and is flash-frozen solid at sea right after it is caught, making it a sustainable canned tuna, as well as a tasty one! Averaging up to 50% less mercury than many common store brands, this tuna has more omega-3 fatty acids than most salmon!
All of Lummi Island's wild-caught canned tuna comes from one second-generation tuna fisherman, Paul Hill, and his crew, who care about the fish and making sustainable canned tuna. Because of the special gear they use, they get virtually no bycatch.
This was hands-down one of the best canned tunas I’ve ever had—
"and it’s not even oil-packed! I was expecting dry and dense, as water-packed tuna often is. This was so flavorful, moist and delicious on its own that I had it straight from the can, with just a small blast of lemon juice. It easily rivals any of the fancy Italian and Spanish olive oil-packed tuna brands. It’s the perfect tuna to build a Salade Niçoise around!!! "
-- tina
Shop now for Lummi Island Wild-Caught Canned Tuna!
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Bigoli Nobili Mori
Pasta from Sgambaro
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 reintroduced 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.
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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Parmigiano-Reggiano Spring Milk
Preorder now!
This carefully chosen selected mountain farm located in the Mountains of Apennine of Italy, creates some of the finest Parmigiano-Reggiano we have tasted.
This cheese is aged over 24 months and is a very special treat, so place your order now to reserve your wedge. We sell out of our wheels of cheese quickly.
One way in which various Parmigiano-Reggianos differ is the season during which they were started. This is a spring cheese, meaning that it was begun during the spring months. Parmigiano-Reggiano is also made at other times of year, and each of them has its merits.
Spring cheeses are often the most pungent and herbaceous due to the concentration of fresh, spring grasses and young wild herbs and garlic where the cows forage - as compared to, say, milk collected in the winter when the cows are fed a higher concentration of dry hay.
Preorder Spring Milk Parmigiano-Reggiano Now!
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No.5 Spaghetti
Sgambaro Pasta
A traditional spaghetti - drawn through bronze, so that the surface is rough, and ready to take whatever sauce you give it. Sgambaro Spaghetti is made only with locally grown, certified Italian Durum wheat.
Third generation family-run Pastificio Sgambaro carefully chooses durum wheat varieties that give their pasta its truly high-quality flavor and texture.
Shop now for Sgambaro Spaghetti No.5 Pasta!
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Wild Salmon
Smoked Chowder Pouches
These are perfection. Whether RV camping or tent camping or fireplace camping at home. Easy to make, from microwave to stove top, to boiling in the pouch, it takes just a few minutes.
And the result is way better than you expect. Always! This is why the chowder is so perfect for Glamping!
And with a long shelf life (not so long you wonder how it is possible) and easy to make anywhere, it is a perfect solution when you just don’t want to make dinner. And for a camping trip it might just be what the doctor ordered!
Shop now for Wild Smoked Salmon Chowder!
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Casa Del Grano
Traditional Malloreddus Pasta
This pasta is sometimes referred to as “gnocchi” in Italian and “cigiones” in Sassari. If you think about olive oil, bacon, peas, Parmigiano-Reggiano, fennel, sausage, tomatoes, garlic, basil, saffron, etc., all of these ingredients can make a wonderful dish with this traditional Malloreddus Pasta!
Malloreddus is a small pasta shape from Sardinia, made with water and semolina flour in plain or saffron dough. The name has Latin origins from “malleoulus” meaning small morsel. It is also believed the origins of the name comes from the word malloru, meaning bull, and that malloreddus means calves, and the shape is like the calf of a leg.
With a little bounce in the bite, a space to hold flavor and an exterior that grabs the sauce, what more could you want in a pasta shape? This is the Malloreddus without the Saffron.
Shop now for Casa Del Grano Traditional Malloreddus Pasta!
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Finding Spicy
It’s a cool refreshing treat,
it’s a taste that’s got some heat!
These chili sauces have some serious punch and spiciness that can give you a good burn. I would use caution before you down a spoonful of it for testing. Your nose is going to give you a warning that there is some delightful heat packed in there.
It’s not hard to find super-spicy, blow your senses out heat. It is much harder to find heat that allows you to still taste the food. And even harder to find one that has great heat that an even a not-so-spicy person would enjoy.
And that is what we think is inside these 220 gram, ready-to-squeeze bottles!
Think eggs, think soup, think chili, think brisket, think dogs and burgers, think avocado, think burrito, think stir fry, think dumplings, think steak, think a line on a plate, think mac and cheese, think bringing a freshness to your food!
The El Peruano, Peruvian Native (Red) Chili Sauce is smoky with a tingle on the tip of the tongue and a tickle across the upper throat, and then a flavor of expanding vibrancy. It has a nice sweetness from the honey and mangoes and a complexity from the two types of chilis, grown by Inca farmers in the south of Peru. With caution it is quite tasty and will cause the pores to open on your head.
Shop now for Paqu Jaya Native Peruvian Chili Sauce!
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Murakami Syouten Kokuto
sugarcane from Hateruma Island
I found a wonderful thing to do with this sugar - sweeten not-so-sweet fruit, like the giant batch of strawberries I had. It sweetened without making them white sugar sweet. It just made the strawberries the way I wanted them to be.
This crushed black molasses sugar is perhaps the loveliest sugar in the world available today.
This sugar is from the southern most island in the chain of over 150 islands in Okinawa Prefecture, south of the mainland of Japan. Hateruma Island is, as a crow flies, 2,006 kilometers (1,246 miles) south of Tokyo and 247 kilometers (153 miles) to the east of Taipei.
This small island is just 1270 hectares (3138 acres), or 4.9 square miles. In comparison, Orcas Island is 11.69 times larger. The only way to get to the island is via a 60 minute fast boat. If the seas are too rough you can take the cargo ferry, leaving at 9, taking 2.5 hours.
The island is a destination for holiday makers and is known for its relaxing island life.
And Hateruma is where they make this very special brown sugar. Unlike many brown sugars (made with white sugar mixed with molasses), Kokuto (rich black sugar) is made by slowly cooking and reducing the sugarcane juice.
Sugarcane is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Antioxidant rich, it is a fighter of infections and helps strengthen your immunities. Rich in calcium, iron, potassium, vitamins B1 & B2 and essential amino acids.
Potassium helps excrete excess sodium and keeps the blood pressure balanced. Calcium is known for preventing high blood pressure, arterial sclerosis, and keeping you calm.
Kokuto can help with dehydration, infections, and can even help fight a fever. Keep in mind that processed white sugar cane is not the same and can have the opposite health benefits.
Kokuto dates back to the 17th century and now is a protected process regulated by the Okinawa Prefecture Brown Sugar Industry Council, ensuring that quality production methods are used. Just seven of the islands grow sugar cane.
To taste Kokuto is nothing like a spoonful of sugar or a cube of table sugar. To taste Kokuto is like an awakening! It is not sweet like you expect from sugar. It is almost savory, with hints of molasses, earthy tones, and even a rich subtle touch of tobacco on the top of the edge of the back of the tongue. It is full of complexities with many flavor hits and hints.
It is most often used for savory dishes like noodle soups, stir-fry, hot pots and sushi rice. And of course straight up, like a health pill of sugar.
How great is this? Pop some sugar and get healthy!
Shop now for Murakami Syouten Crushed Brown Sugar from Hateruma Island
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Smoked Habanero BBQ
Marshall's Haute Sauce!
To the nose, it smells initially like a traditional BBQ sauce, but then when you get a second whiff you can smell the underlying Habanero, which then gives your nose a tickle.
To the mouth, it's BBQ'y, sweet and delicious, with little bits of onion to crunch and a complex wonderful flavor. Though the name of this BBQ hot sauce might appear to be the hottest, this smoked habanero hot sauce comes across the palate as the mildest.
Even Ryan, the banker, loved this smoked habanero hot sauce on his hamburger, pouring it liberally even though he doesn't really like hot.
Shop now for Marshall's Smoked Habanero BBQ Haute Sauce
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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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Hardneck Garlic
Preorder soon
Typically, fresh hardneck garlic is harvested in July and August and is available to ship anywhere between mid-August to mid-September - but you never know...Mother Nature can be very unpredictable.
The selection of garlic varieties this year is extremely limited as is the expected availability. We have a small amount of each "type". Please order ASAP as the hardneck garlic always sells out.
See the eight varieties available this year here.
Preorder Now! Mark's Fabulous Hardneck Garlic
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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 |
Fresh Beets with Goat Cheese and Toasted Walnuts Recipe
Fresh Goat Cheese and Beets just go so nicely together - something about the sweetness of the beets together with the slightly acidic taste of the goat cheese creates a perfect flavor balance. Add the crunch of toasted walnuts and you have a special combination. We made the dish as a vegetable side. But you can add a little more dressing and serve it on a bed of greens or butter lettuce, and you have a side salad. Many chefs add chunks of avocado to add a little more anti-oxidant punch.
Blueberry Mango Salsa with Grilled Avocado Recipe
There are two keys to successfully grilling avocados. First, the fruit cannot be overly ripe - if too ripe it won't hold its shape on the grill. Second, make sure your grill is very clean. Also, make sure you have a good spatula available to gently scrape the avocado off the grill when done.
Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil Recipe
So simple and oh, so good! The key, as with all simple Italian recipes, is having the right ingredients -- the right olive oil, the right garlic, and the right pasta!
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