Greetings, Noshers!  You may remember that I mentioned Ramp Fest 2013 a few weeks ago – well, today I’m excited to recap this scrumptious event!  I made the day trip up to Hudson, NY, on an absolutely gorgeous day to celebrate this garlicky, pungent spring vegetable.

Ramp Fest took place at the Basilica Hudson, a 19th century industrial factory transformed into an event and festival space – it was such a bright and soaring event space to celebrate the ramp:

Armed with my entrance bracelet, eco-friendly plate, and badge, I was ready to get started!

Ramp Fest 2013 featured twenty restaurants and chefs that created unique and original dishes, all featuring the ramp. Good thing there was a list with descriptions, so I could keep my ramp dishes straight!

Blueberry Hill Market Cafe had a wild blueberry flapjack sandwich stuffed with maple ramp sausage:

Bonfiglio & Bread offered delicious morsels of ramp bialy with ramp leaf cream cheese, ramp-cured gravlax, pickled ramp and ramp relish. YUM! As a New Yorker, I always appreciate a good bialy.

The Red Onion table featured ramp risotto – yum!

Club Helsinki offered these mini cones of crawfish remoulade salad with hickory smoked ramps and Sea Island purple cape beans:

Another Fork in the Road had tasty morsels of semolina & ramp biscuit with pulled rabbit and ramp agrodolce:

Applewood had mouthwatering samples of ramp soup with ramp oil, creme fraiche and applewood smoked bacon.  The bacon added a smoky heat to the cool and refreshing soup:

Gallow Green won my personal award for super-cute presentation – and a delicious offering!  Their charred ramp & Carolina rice custard with ramp pesto was served in these lovely egg shells:

Fish & Game’s tasty sampling involved both a snack and a beverage – gin & ramp tonic and a “small taste of something” (their words!):

If you’re a beef fan, Cucina Woodstock / Market St. had delightful bites of beef carpaccio, ramp coulis and pickled ramp:

The Crimson Sparrow put together a delicious combination of ramps, yolk, mushrooms and nori:

At the Speedy Romeo table, the featured taste was handmade mozzarella, ramp salsa verde, preserved lemon, charred sourdough and olive oil:

Swoon Kitchenbar‘s table featured socca crepe, lambs tongue and grilled ramp romesco sauce:

Not a cloud in the sky – a perfect day for Ramp Fest!

Ramp Fest 2013 was an absolutely delicious event with both expected and surprising ways to prepare this scrumptious spring vegetable.  I was completely stuffed by the end of the afternoon! Whether you are a ramp aficionado or newbie,  Ramp Fest, with its numerous offerings and fun live music, has something to offer for everyone!

Have you tried ramps before?

Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend – can you believe it?  I think that makes today’s Fun Fact especially appropriate:

A delicious morsel from the Pig Island 2012 event I attended last year!

May is National Barbecue Month

YUM!  Will you be barbecuing next weekend? What’s your favorite barbecue item? I love hot dogs, macaroni salad and DESSERT!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Monday, Noshers!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  NYC-area readers, did you get to enjoy the lovely weather?

Today I’m excited to share my experience at a Springtime Past Making Class I attended recently at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina!  Located in one of my favorite foodie places, Chelsea Market, Giovanni Rana is a warm and inviting Italian restaurant with a friendly, family vibe:

I was so excited to attend this class – I’ve made pasta a few times before, but this was my first time making filled pastas.  The class was taught by the daughter-in-law of Giovanni Rana himself – engaging and endearing Antonella.  She was so welcoming and patient – and she even had an extremely helpful assistant – her 9 year old daughter!  The two of them were definitely one of the highlights of the class.

Our workspace was soon to be covered with flour, so I didn’t get to take a ton of photos – but hopefully you’ll have a glimpse of what this class was all about – we started with flour, eggs, and of course an apron and workcloth:

And the supplies and ingredients were all laid out – tons of rolling pins (we rolled out the pasta old-style, no pasta rollers for us!), cheese of various kinds, and fresh spring veggies:

For our savory pasta, we made ravioli filled with asparagus and ricotta (seasoned with salt):

And for our dessert ravioli, we made a tiramisu inspired pasta, with marscapone, coffee and chocolate, all wrapped in a coffee pasta.

Using a rolling pin to roll out your pasta requires both finesse and elbow grease – in the top left of this photo you can see my chocolate pasta ready to be rolled out after “resting”:

The goal was to roll out the dough as thin as possible without ripping it or having it stick to the table – AND it should be a rough circle shape.  Well, mine is a pretty loose interpretation of a circle, I think.  And I did need to have it rescued from being stuck to the table, ha ha. Oh well!

After rolling out the dough, it was then time to portion out the filling (see the first photo for the filling for the dessert pasta).  Then a quick brush with water to promote sticking and the dough was folded over to make the ravioli:

The class not only included your own individually-made ravioli portions to take home, but the restaurant also served the same recipe you made (but more professionally done )!

The dessert ravioli was quite the presentation – featuring not only the ravioli but fresh berries, whipped cream and coffee granita – yum!

The Springtime Past Making Class at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina was fun, educational and delicious!  They also have pasta classes for kids (I really wanted to take my 4-year-old nephew, a budding chef, but his social schedule was full!) which look super cute and fun.  If you ever wanted to try your hand at making your own pasta, check out the classes at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina!

Have you ever made your own pasta before? Tell me about your experience!

Want to try making this on your own? Check out my shrimp curry post!

Today is National Shrimp Day

YUM! I love all seafood, and there are so many shrimp dishes I like that I can’t pick a fave!  I am a fan of shrimp with Old Bay seasoning though. Nice and simple!

What’s your favorite shrimp dish?

Today, I’m excited to share a really fun experience I had at Sweet Savoring‘s French Cooking class.  A relatively new company, Sweet Savoring offers authentic cultural cooking classes, often taught by grandmas – my fave!  Yes, the cooking class I attended was taught by a French grandma and I was absolutely smitten .  We prepared leek soup, endive salad, a fantastic fish, and chocolate mousse. Yum!  Intrigued? Keep reading…

 Our instructor telling us all about leeks!

The evening started out with introductions – Chef Isabelle was accompanied by her lovely daughter as well.  It was great to hear about their family story!  Here, they are accompanied by Sweet Savoring founders Jamila and Taiese:

So we wouldn’t go hungry while we cooked, Isabelle prepared a variety of snacks for us to munch on, such as a scrumptious chocolate brittle and vegetarian pizza.  Sweet Savoring also sells homemade jams and jellies, which we had the opportunity to sample – yum!

We started off with dessert (always start with dessert, in my book!) – the chocolate mousse needed some time in the refrigerator, so Isabelle showed us how to whip that up first.  First, we had to separate eggs – lots of them:

…and whip up the egg whites – there’s nothing quite as satisfying as perfectly whipped egg whites.  Here, Chef Isabelle shows us the consistency we should be aiming for (stiff peaks):

After folding in sugar, good quality chocolate, and a few other ingredients, the mousse was ready to rest in the fridge!  Keep reading for a glimpse of the finished product!

The whole class was hard at work at various tasks, such as cutting and washing leeks and potatoes for the soup or chopping endive for the salad.  What I enjoyed most were the little tips beyond the recipes – such as how to pick good endive, the fact that leeks gather dirt and must be washed very well, and the different types of fish one could use for a particular dish.

Here, Chef Isabelle demonstrates a simple but tangy dressing featuring mustard:

The dressing was a perfect counterpart to the hearty and robust endive:

Checking on the fish, which was prepared in vegetable broth and so tender!

And finished with a creamy cheese sauce – yesssssssssssss.

We were almost ready to eat but needed to put the finishing touches on the leek soup – would you prefer a dollop or swirl of cream? I wouldn’t say no to either…

We had a lovely table set up where we could sample the results of all our hard work!  Okay, mostly Chef Isabelle’s hard work .  The challah and apple tart she prepared earlier that day looked  (and tasted) so good:

So, I may or may not have gobbled up the fish with creamy cheese sauce before I remembered to take a picture.  Occupational hazard, I’m telling you!  Based on the speed with which I finished the fish, you can form your own conclusion on how it turned out!

And for dessert, the apple tart that Chef Isabelle had prepared earlier in the day, and our very own chocolate mousse! SO good.

The French cooking class hosted by Sweet Savoring was a ton of fun, informative, and delicious.  Chef Isabelle was warm and friendly, and a great storyteller – it was so interesting to learn why she prepared certain dishes certain ways and how each dish played a part in her childhood.   Upcoming classes include Russian, Indian and French – check out their calendar and see which one appeals to you!  Perhaps I’ll see you there?

What is your favorite ethnic cuisine to prepare?

Today’s fun fact is healthily delicious:

My recent brussels sprout salad with prosciutto and parm – yum!

May is National Salad Month

I admit that I probably don’t eat as much salad as I should, but maybe I just haven’t found the right salad for me yet!  What are your favorite salad add-ins?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Yes – a festival all about the beloved and much-touted ramp!  On Saturday, May 4th, the city of Hudson, New York, will host the third annual Ramp Fest, a celebration of the arrival of spring’s first forageable delicacy!  For the uninitiated, the ramp is a member of the onion family – to me, I imagine it to be the delectable love-child of a spring onion and garlic. Yum!  Ramp Fest will feature delicious food, drinks, and live music.  Fun!!

And just to really make your mouths water, I’ve been given a little preview of some of the restaurants, chefs and delectable dishes that will be served at Ramp Fest – here are some of my faves!

• Swoon Kitchenbar with Chef Jeff Gimmel serving socca crepes filled with braised lambs tongue and grilled ramp romesco sauce
• Fish & Game with Chef’s Zakary Pelaccio & Jori Jayne Emde
• Applewood with Chef David Shea serving ramp vichyssoise with ramp oil
• Blueberry Hill Market Café with Chef Melanie Hunt serving wild blueberry flapjack sandwiches stuffed with maple ramp sausage
• Gallow Green with Chef R.L. King serving charred ramp and Carolina rice custard and ramp pesto
• Another Fork in the Road with Chef Jamie Perry
• Bonfiglio & Bread with Chef Gaby Gulilmetti
• Ca’Mea with Chef Timothy Storrs
• Club Helsinki with Chef Hugh Horner
• The Crimson Sparrow with Chef Benjamin Freemole
• The Farm on Adderley with Chef Stephen
• The Farmer’s Wife with Job Yacubian
• Fresh Company with Chef Shelley Boris
• Gigi Hudson Valley with Chef Wilson
• Market St. and Cucina with Chef Gianni Scappin
• Miss Lucy’s Kitchen with Chef’s Marc Proper & Justin Balzer
• Panzur with Chef Rei Peraza
• The Red Dot with Chef Marc Luciano
• Red Onion with Chef Kevin Katz
• Speedy Romeo with Chef Jef Deisel

YUM.
Ramp Fest will be held at the Basilica Hudson, a 19th century industrial factory transformed into an event and festival space.  Super importantly for city-dwellers like myself, it is located directly across from the Hudson Amtrak Station, just 2 hours direct from New York City! I’m definitely going to make a day trip out of it!

Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door.  I hope to see you there!!!

Have you had ramps before? Are you a ramp fan?

Yummy Korean tofu stew from my visit to my favorite tofu place!

April is National Soy Foods Month.

Yum, I love soy!  My favorite soy product is tofu – I know tofu can be a bit polarizing, but I absolutely love it!

Are you a tofu fan?

As April is National Grilled Cheese Month (yes, it’s true!), I was invited by Land O’Lakes to create an original grilled cheese sandwich using their Land O Lakes® Deli American Cheese.   My recipe is a part of their “30 Days of Grilled Cheese” celebration, with bloggers contributing recipes this whole month! Additionally, for the rest of this month, with its Pin a Meal, Give a Meal initiative, Land O’Lakes will donate $1 to Feeding America every time someone pins or repins a Land O’Lakes recipe on Pinterest.  That’s eight meals for a hungry family when you pin a recipe—and eight more every time anyone else repins it.  So far they’ve donated more than a million meals!

One of my favorite snacky suppers is foie gras pate with cranberry compote on mini-toasts.  I thought, why not try adding some cheesy meltiness to it and see how it goes? I admit I wasn’t sure how this would turn out until I took the first bite, but the result was decadent and delicious!  But don’t take my word for it – give it a try yourself!

You will need:

Foie Gras Grilled Cheese with Cranberry Compote

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 slices of good bread (I used challah)
• 2 slices of Land O Lakes® Deli American Cheese
• 3 tbsp foie gras pate
• 2 tbsp cranberry compote

1. Butter one side of each slice of bread.

2. Place one slice of Land O Lakes® Deli American Cheese on each slice of bread (on the non-buttered side).  Spread foie gras pate and cranberry compote on top of cheese, then place the two pieces together.

3. On a heated skillet, heat sandwich through 3-4 minutes on each side, until cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.

As I mentioned, this sandwich was decadent, sweet, salty and gone in no time.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  For more grilled cheese recipes from Land O’Lakes 30 Days of Grilled Cheese celebration, as well as to enter to win a panini maker, check out this link!

*Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Land O’Lakes as part of the Kitchen PLAY Sidecar series. All opinions given are my own.

What are your favorite grilled cheese add-ins?

Happy Monday, Noshers!  Did you all have a good weekend?  Mine was pretty busy as I was working most of it, but I was happy to be able to have some downtime as well.  I caught up with some friends and also checked out the first annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo!  Yes, you read that correctly – an expo all about that spicy condiment.  After giving my taste buds major grief at the expo (it was all worth it), I hopped next door to where it was taking place – to Smorgasburg!  I first visited Smorgasburg last summer and loved all scrumptious culinary offerings.  However, to be completely honest – sometimes I  don’t feel like traveling all the way there.  I know, I know, but it’s true!  So that’s why I was so excited when Smorgasburg at Whole Foods Bowery opened up (check out my write-ups of vendors Cemita’s, Milk Truck Grilled Cheese, Mighty Quinn’s, Rice & Miso Everyday, and YUJI Ramen).  Well, I’m delighted to share that Whole Foods Market Bowery has done it again with the brandy-new Smorgasburg Snack Bar!  Featuring the wares, snacks and products of a select group of Smorgasburg vendors, the Snack Bar is a permanent fixture at Whole Foods Market Bowery.  I was super excited to check it out!

Of course I had to peruse all of the offerings to see what I would order:

The Smorgasburg Snack Bar featured 10 different vendors, and I had the toughest time choosing what I wanted to sample!  A Kelvin Natural Slush slushie or Grady’s Cold Brew coffee?  Dough donuts or Magpies “PopTarts”-like pastries?  What was a gal to do?

Well, these whole pies from Butter & Scotch certainly caught my eye:

But I didn’t want to get too sugar-crazy eating a whole by all by my lonesome; thankfully, they offered single slices of this luscious smores pie as well:

I loved the packaging of Grady’s Cold Brew coffee:

And these ginormous Dough donuts….OMG.  Each one was decadently overflowing with flavors such as dulce de leche, hibiscus and blood orange:

These Magpies were pocket-ready and super-cute as well!

In the end, I wanted to sample the wares of all 10 vendors, but for my stomach’s sake I just went with…three. Ha! That’s not too wild, right?

The slice of smores pie from Butter & Scotch was a sophisticated interpretation of the campfire classic, a “smores for adults”, if you will.  The rich, chocolatey crust, decadent mousse and ooey-gooey marshmallow (toasted to perfection, of course) was a luscious delight for the palate.

I supplemented the smores pie with a simple glazed yeast donut from Dough, which was light and airy.  The glazed donut would be a great option for those who prefer a simpler dessert that isn’t cloyingly sweet. Yum!  I also sampled a triple berry Magpie, which, like the smores pie, was a kind of adult version of a toaster pastry.

I look forward to returning to the Smorgasburg Snack Bar at Whole Foods Market Bowery to try out the other snacks offered!  Since the Snack Bar isn’t going anywhere soon, I plan to revisit several times to get my snack fix .

Which one of the three desserts I tried would you like to sample?