Peanut Butter and Julie

Vegas Uncork'd and Payard's Decadent Chocolate Cookies

This past weekend, thousands of foodies descended upon the Las Vegas Strip in search of beautifully plated amuse bouche-sized morsels, created by the best chefs in the world.  This culinary pilgrimage was due to Vegas Uncork'd, an annual 72 hour food and wine extravaganza, which is presented by Bon Appetit magazine.  If you happen to be considering a trip to Vegas next year, and you're the type of person who plans your vacations around the food (guilty), you should strongly consider coming to this event.  It seems to get bigger and better every year, and I doubt that you'll be disappointed. 

This year marked the event's 3rd anniversary, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend some of the events on behalf of Foodbuzz.com (thanks, Foodbuzz!)  Armed with my very first media pass and my camera (I felt pretty important), I ate my way through some of the weekend's many events, rubbing shoulders with everyone from Tom Colicchio to Bobby Flay.  Well, I didn't really "rub shoulders" with them.  I did more of a deer-in-headlights stop and stare from three feet away.  I really wanted to tell Tom C.that it was a huge mistake to not have selected Carla as the winner of last season's Top Chef, but I didn't think that would go over very well, so I didn't.

While I only attended a handful of events, some participants seemed to attend just about everything. This basically meant that they did nonstop eating and drinking from the time that they touched down at McCarran Airport to the time that they collapsed into the cab after checkout--likely in a foie gras-induced coma.  For me, this feat would have been physically impossible, so I stuck with a few choice events that sounded the most delicious intriguing.

The first event that I attended was the one that most people attended, The Grand Tasting at the newly renovated Caesar's Palace pool.  For $150, guests were able to sample dishes from a star-studded list of chefs:  Robuchon, Flay, Savoy, Boulud, Ducasse, Batali, Colicchio, English, Mina, Simon, Pellegrini, Payard, Ogden...perhaps you've heard of a few?  The chefs were all there too, well not Batali, but his shoes were (see left).  In between posing for photos, the chefs were all doing what they do best, and in some cases even plating and serving food.  How many people can say that they were handed a hollowed out coconut filled with a spicy mixture of shrimp and shaved vegetables by the Throwdown king himself (a.k.a Bobby Flay)?

Because I was armed with my handy media pass, Eric and I were allowed to enter the tasting a bit early, beating the crowds by about 15 minutes.  After that, I knew that photo opportunities would be nearly impossible, not to mention sampling without being bumped into a few times.  It was really difficult to decide where to start, especially when all of these world-famous restaurant signs are staring at you, just beckoning you to come and sample their cuisine.

Somehow, we made it through the entire event in just over two hours. Because it is very difficult to sample every offering, Eric and I traded off, even skipping a few places that weren't so appealing.  Of all the places that I tried, my favorites dished were a tender lamb chop with curry sauce from Wazuzu (Encore Resort), the perfectly seasoned short ribs from Craftsteak, corn salsa-top sliders from BLT Burger, and the artichoke and black truffle soup, served with a rich brioche, from Guy Savoy (photo below).  This soup sells for something like $65 a bowl at the restaurant (yes, one bowl), so I relished in every sip.

I also had the opportunity to attend some other events during the weekend.  One was a Vegas-style culinary challenge between the chefs of the MGM and Caesars Palace. Cat Cora of Iron Chef fame as the emcee, and Barabara Fairchild, editor of Bon Appetit  magazine served as one of the judges.  There was an All-Star Interactive Lunch, during which you could assist celebrity chefs such as Paul Bartolotta and Daniel Boulud in preparing your meal.  I thought that this was a particularly unique experience well worth the price of admission.  Then of course there was the obligatory Vegas-esque event, the Celebrity Chef Blackjack Tournament.  As I said, there were many other events that I didn't have the chance to attend--you would probably need to clone yourself to attend them all--but I definitely attended enough to get my fill.

I don't like to do a post without offering at least one tasty recipe to go with it.  This is first and foremost a recipe blog, after all.  When we entered the Grand Tasting, we were handed booklets, which provided information about the various Uncork'd events as well as about 70 pages of recipes from the participating chefs themselves (nice touch, huh?)  I thought that it would be fun to try one of these esteemed recipes and share it with my readers.

Hmmm.....but which recipe should I choose?  With so many mouthwatering options, I thought that the selection process alone would be both difficult and time-consuming.  Not so much.  When I took both the economic and feasibility factors of the recipes into consideration, I was really only left with a handful of options.  This meant that I had eliminated all of the recipes that contained one or more of the following ingredients: truffles, truffle oil, truffle juice (what?), Kobe beef, Wagyu beef, duck, Berkshire pork belly, sweetbreads, mountain caviar, and of course foie gras.  From the remaining batch, I got rid of anything with scallops (I'm allergic), aioli (just call it what it is folks--gourmet mayonnaise), or foam.  I finally decided on what ended up being a surprisingly simple, but oh-so-rewarding cookie recipe from the famous pastry chef Francois Payard.  In addition to his New York establishments, Chef Payard owns Payard Patisserie and Bistro at Caesars's Palace in Las Vegas.  These chocolatey cookies are quite rich, despite the lack of butter, cream, egg yolks, or any of the other usual suspects.  Bon Appetit! 

Francois Payard's Decadent Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 12 large cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 cups confectioner's sugar

Pinch of salt

2 3/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped

4 large egg whites

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, salt, and walnuts.  Mix on low speed for 1 minute.

With the mixer running, slowly add the egg whites and the vanilla.  Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes until the mixture has slightly thickened.  Do not overmix, or the egg whites will thicken too much.

Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets.  Scoop 6 sheet, spacing about 3-inches apart.  Put the cookies in the oven and lower the temperature to 320F degrees.  Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until small thin cracks appear on the surface of the cookies.  Pull the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Remove the cookies from the paper, and store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

.......and I'm back!!!

Whew!  This has by far been the longest break that I have taken between posts.  Believe me, I had every intention of posting at least a few recipes over the last week or so.  I even went so far as to prepare the food and take the photos in advance, telling myself that I would find the time and inspiration every three days to write something compelling and witty about my creations.

HA!  I clearly needed this vacation more than I realized.

On the 17th, Eric and I departed for Jackson Hole, Wyoming, our first big vacation in quite awhile.  We had first visited Jackson about four years ago, and we immediately fell in love with the beautiful surroundings and friendly, unpretentious nature of this very un-resortlike resort town, vowing to return as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, as soon as possible didn't occur as soon as we had hoped (life gets in the way, you know.)  On the bright side, we found Jackson to be just as charming, relaxing, and uncommercialized as we had left it.  (The picture above is of me, standing under one of four elk antler arches on the corner of the Jackson Town Square.  They decorate them with lights for the holidays.  I'm really cold in this picture.)  As a bonus, the already fantastic culinary scene, quite unexpected for such a remote area, has only gotten better, with even more places to choose from.  You didn't actually think that I would voluntarily travel somewhere unless they have outstanding food options, did you?  So, if you're ever headed to Jackson and need a recommendation........

The Jackson Hole area is a fantastic place to go if you just want to "reset," as the very wise twenty-something who was sitting in front of me on the plane put it.  Yes, I was listening to his conversation.  It was a very small plane--what can I say?  The area is full of outdoor activities, from downhill skiing to sleigh rides through the Elk Preserve.  It forces you to step away from the laptop, abandon the Blackberry, and skip CNBC (this was a really tough one for Eric) for hours at a time in lieu of the fresh (but unbelievably cold) air and natural surroundings.  I even discovered that I absolutely love, and am quite good at cross-country skiing, which is nice because I gave up any aspiration to be the next Picabo Street years ago.  I pretty much stick to the bunny slopes on downhill since I'm not a big fan of falling face down in the snow and kamikaze snowboarders scare the you-know-what outta me.  

I also found that I am quite the pool shark.  Who knew?  Every night before dinner, Eric and I would head over to the "World Famous" Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and shoot a few games of pool for fun.  Despite the touristy feel of the name, this venue is about as legit as it gets.  Oh sure, they sell the requisite logo t-shirts and mugs, and they have their own micro-brew, but the place is full of locals, and the entire staff could serve as extras in any recent Western film.  Although I would like to tell you that I won every game, I generously allowed Eric to win a few, so I believe that we ended up even.  That being said, someone did come up to me mid-game and asked me if I was "a local."  I must have looked like I knew what I was doing.  Note to self:  Add cross-country skiing and billiards aficionado to resume. 

While I didn't live up to my self-promise of writing a few posts over my vacation, I do indeed feel like I "reset" my brain and my rapidly decreasing energy levels as a result of our trip.  I wasn't even all that affected by the fact that our luggage somehow ended up in Atlanta on our way home, even though Atlanta is a good 2000 miles in the other direction from our final destination.  I mean, I was upset and all, but Eric wasn't subjected to one of my usual "I hate holiday travel" meltdowns.  That, my friends, is a true holiday miracle.

I also was incredibly happy to come home from Jackson having discovered a new food product (eureka!).  Now, when I find a new product that I love, especially one that is made by a small business, I want to do everything that I can to get the word out.  Perhaps this is for partially selfish reasons, so that they continue to grow and produce my new find.  Even so, I wouldn't recommend something unless it really got my attention (I can be quite picky), and this product did.

Every evening, when we returned to our room, the staff at the Rusty Parrot Inn (great name, huh?) left us two little sample-sized Tram Bars, instead of the typical chocolates or mints, on our pillows. I'm usually not a fan of chewy variety granola or power bars.  I find them to be either too sweet or artificial tasting, and they are often loaded with sugary calories.   I brought my Tram Bar on the slopes with me the second day to nibble on if when I got hungry.  One bite and I was hooked.  These bars are the perfect combination of dried fruit, oats, seeds, peanut butter, honey, and a hint of chocolate, all ingredients organic.  Even my little sample size was filling, and I found myself anticipating turn-down service because it meant that I would get another delicious Tram Bar treat.  Luckily the folks in charge of the labels were smart enough to place their website URL front and center, so I could find out how to order some on-line.  These bars, named after the tram that carries skiers up to the top of Jackson Hole Ski Resort, will be perfect for those mornings when I don't have time for a leisurely breakfast, or for just before a workout.  I can't wait to get my order.  When I do, perhaps I'll have a giveaway (if I don't eat them all first, that is.....).

Oh, and as for those recipes that I so dutifully started and photographed prior to my trip--the first one is featured in the post below.  I'll have the second one posted sometime later this week.  Glad to be back!!

Chunky Spiced Applesauce

Remember when flying used to be fun?  When I was little, back when Eastern Airlines, TWA, and People's Express were still in the mix, I remember excitedly looking forward to going on a plane.  I received a set of plastic "wings" when I boarded the plane.  At some point after we had reached our cruising altitude, one of the friendly flight attendants would take me up front to meet the captain.  Best of all, I'd be served a really cool "kid's meal," complete with games and a lollipop, for lunch.  What wasn't absolutely fantastic about that?

Fast forward twenty-something years, and my definition for an "absolutely fantastic" flight has changed.  Yesterday, Eric and I flew to my parents' house in Delaware for my dad's birthday.  We chose to fly Southwest Airlines because I avoid both indirect flights and insultingly unreasonable airfares.  Cattle-call boarding procedures aside, we arrived at Philadelphia Airport on time, having experienced a 2008 version of a "pretty fantastic" flight:  Southwest didn't charge us for our TWO (gasp!) checked bags.   They served drinks and snacks for free (games and a lollipop were not options.)  The middle seat between us was empty (obviously, Eric and I do that whole "avoid eye-contact with the people in the aisle so that they don't sit in our row" thing really well.)  Security only took 45 minutes.  Yes, it was almost modern air-travel heaven. 

What was heaven, at least for me, was the large bowl of MacIntosh apples from Millburn Orchards, which was sitting on the island in my mom's kitchen when I walked through the door.   For some reason, I have a hard time finding McIntosh varietals in Las Vegas, so I had been dreaming of this quintessential Fall fruit for months.  The combination of cooler air, the hint of reds and oranges on the trees, and that big bowl of apples inspired me to make a batch of my chunky spiced applesauce (well, not immediately--we arrived at 2 a.m., and making applesauce at that time would have been a bit odd, so I held off my urge until the next day.)  I make this applesauce every year, and my mom and I always made big batches of it when I was growing up.  It's a little bit different from traditional applesauce in that it is not completely smooth, but I like it better that way.  Other than tasting deliciously sweet and tart by itself, I like to stir in into granola or use it to make applesauce muffins.  Here are my extra tips for this autumn apple treat:

• If your grocery store or orchard doesn't have McIntosh apples, you can substitute another variety.  Gala, Braeburn, and Fuji will all work nicely.  Granny Smith apples are carried pretty much everywhere, and they tart flavor is needed for this recipe, so I wouldn't recommend substituting another variety for them.
• The apple cider can be replaced with regular apple juice.
• I like to can my applesauce in mason jars and give it as gifts.  I tried home canning for the first time a few years ago, and found it to be a surprisingly easy process.  If you are interested in giving it a try, the Ball web site has step-by-step instructions, along with anything else that you might need to get started. 
• In addition to tasting great straight from the jar, homemade applesauce is wonderful to use in muffin or bread recipes, replacing some of the oil and lowering the fat content. 

Chunky Spiced Applesauce

Makes about 2 quarts

Ingredients:

2 pounds McIntosh apples, peeled and cored

2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

1 cup apple cider

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Generous pinch of cloves

Cut the McIntosh apples into 1-inch pieces.  Dice the Granny Smith apples.  Combine the apples and the cider in a large, non-reactive saucepan or pot.  Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  Reduce the heat and boil gently for 20 minutes or until the mixture has reduced by half.

Stir in the sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, salt, and cloves.  Return the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the mixture is very thick.  There should still be some tender apple chunks remaining.

If canning, ladle the applesauce into sterilized jars and process as directed.  If refrigerating, cool the applesauce, and then ladle it into jars or containers with air-tight covers. 

Paying it Forward: Arte y Pico

I was recently surprised to have had the Arte y Pico award bestowed upon me (well not really upon me, but upon Peanut Butter and Julie) by the beautiful and talented Camilla from Enlightened Cooking.   Camilla is quite the renaissance woman: cookbook author, fitness instructor, mother, and reigning queen of recipe contests.  To say that I was honored to receive this pat on the back from her would be like saying that George Clooney is "decent" looking.  Thank you, Camilla.   

I'll admit that I felt a bit like Darren McGavin, the actor who played the father in A Christmas Story, as he opened up the mysterious box marked "FRAGILE" (pronounced fra-gee-lay), when I received this award.  Although ecstatic to have received "A major award," he didn't know what it was.  Fortunately, mine has nothing to do with an illuminated leg lamp.  After googling "Arte y pico," here is what I found:

The Arte y Pico award is given to those who are creative and have a penchant for art.  The responsibilities that go with this award are as follows:

• Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language. (See below)
• Each award needs to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog. (Again, see below)
• Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award. (Check)
• Each winner should show a link to the Arte y Pico blog, so that everyone will know the origin of this award.  (Check. Note: This blog is in Spanish)
• The rules of the Arte y Pico should be displayed. (Check)

So, after much thought, here are my selections (drum roll):

1. Lunch Bucket Bento: I love the concept of this blog.  As Lisa puts it, the concept is to "Jump on the bento bandwagon...and document your journey."  Each post features a new meal theme, packed neatly in colorful little bento boxes.  Lunchrooms will never be the same again!
2. My Sweet and Saucy: This site, containing photos that make you want to reach through your monitor and grab a cupcake, was started "in an attempt to inspire anyone and everyone who has a passion for desserts."  Well, if someone doesn't have a passion, they will after visiting Melody's site!
3. Cook Like Your Grandmother:  I recently discovered this site after the author, Drew, posted a comment on my "Bread and Butter Pickles" post.  First of all, I just love the name.  To quote Drew, this is a site where "You won't find the words lite, low, lean, free or skim anywhere. This is all real food, cooked the way Grandma would have done it."  And who doesn't love that???
4. The Average Cook: The author of this blog, Dani, is much too humble in her selection of titles.  Her recipes, while not overly complicated, are much better than average!  Her writing is witty, and her passion for cooking really comes through.  She is also from New Jersey, and since I spent part of my childhood there, I felt compelled to give a "shout out" (I can't believe I just wrote that.....).
5. Peanut Butter Boy: O.K., so there was no way that I could leave my PBB (peanut butter buddy) out, nor would I want to.  Nick's site, which is "powered by peanuts," is, you guessed it, all things peanut butter.  From good old peanut butter cookies to the not-so-common peanut butter corndog, this blog has it all.  Open up you Jif and take a look!

So congratulations to these five fantastic foodies.  I'm not posting a recipe today, so take a look at one of theirs.  Just promise that you'll be back tomorrow!!!