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What Do You Know About Beaujolais Nouveau?
As the French like to proclaim: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! Raise your glass, because Beaujolais Nouveau — the first wine of the harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere — has finally arrived. Yesterday was the annual release date for the wine, which is welcomed on what's called "Beaujolais Nouveau Day" with a colossal celebration across France each year.
Name That Dish!
If you prefer to entertain this season with dainty, bite-sized desserts like these pumpkin brownies, chances are, you'd also flip for the small, custardy French pastry, flavored with rum and vanilla, pictured below. Can you identify it?
The Basics: Béchamel Sauce
Calling all home cooks: if you haven't been acquainted yet with béchamel sauce, it's time you learned a thing or two about it. Chances are you've eaten this white sauce more than a few times in your life, whether layered in moussaka, drizzled on a croque monsieur, or as a component in other classic courses. Béchamel is over 300 years old, and is such a key element of traditional French cuisine that it actually serves as the base for many other sauces (see variations after the jump).
Definition: Gastrique
A thick sauce in classic French cuisine that consists of a reduction of vinegar, wine, sugar, and sometimes fruit that has been caramelized over heat.
A gastrique is employed to round out flavors in a dish, and is either served with meat or seafood, or used as a base for other sauces, such as one with tomatoes.
It can also be used to add complexity to fruit-forward cocktails.
Fast & Easy Dinner: Provençal Rack of Lamb
Lots of nights, I crave roast chicken because it's simple and intensely comforting. However, I live alone, and unless I have someone over, cooking an entire chicken seems a bit wasteful. That's why I've taken to roasting rack of lamb instead.
Fast & Easy Dinner: Pissaladière
Tonight, think like the people of Southern France and serve your family a crisp, flavorful, and classic pissaladière. With its flaky crust and savory toppings, pissaladière is similar to a pizza without cheese or sauce. Instead the puff pastry is covered with sweet caramelized onions, fragrant fresh herbs, and nutty, salty anchovies.
Know Your Ingredients: Orange Flower Water
Now that Party's cleared up the mystery around one foreign spirit, Pimm's, I'm going to attempt to demystify another mixer — orange flower water.
A delicate flavoring used in desserts, drinks, and other dishes, orange flower water is a natural extract made from distilling orange blossoms from bitter orange or Seville orange trees. Sometimes known as orange blossom water, it has a delicate yet powerful, jasmine-like scent.
Top Chef Quiz: Vivre Las Vegas
Last night's episode of Top Chef season 6 was a celebration of all things French. The chefs cooked with proteins popular in France, a bunch of French chefs made special appearances, and it was even French contestant Mattin's birthday! Did you pay attention to all of the delicious details?
Top Chef Vegas: Episode 4
This week's Top Chef was all about classical French cuisine. First, the cheftestants had to show what they could do with escargot, then they partnered up to prepare several different traditional French dishes. The star-studded lineup of judges included Daniel Boulud and Hubert Keller.
Definition: Terrine
A terrine can be one of several things. Its original definition refers to an oblong, earthenware pan with straight sides, used for cooking and serving food.
The word has also evolved to mean the various dishes prepared in the loaf pan, most commonly a type of country-style pâté made with finely chopped pieces of meat.
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