Holiday Platters @ foodink's catering counter!

Just in time for the busiest weekends of the year, we've opened up our catering counter for those about to party...and need some help! Gorgeous to look at and delicious to taste - stop by for all your entertaining needs. We've got party platters ready to go, elixir & infusions for your bar, edible holiday decor & hostess gifts, all in one convenient location! From Friday December 10 to Friday December 24, when we will be merry with some Champagne for our customers! Happy Holidays all from our kitchen to yours!

Friday Turkey Ideas!

You've slept well, gotten up & braved the Black Friday Crowds...and are now back home, starving & ready to chow down on the left overs! If you didn't order from us this year (and thus didn't get our Turkey Leftover Postcard tucked into your order), here's some ideas we have brainstormed for you - from breakfast through to the end of the day! All super easy, no real recipes needed - just follow the concepts & enjoy it either way!

black friday ideas for your turkey!

Turkey Chiliaquiles (breakfast!) – dice up turkey, slice up tortillas into strips, add onion & peppers, then scramble a couple of eggs over the top – garnish with cilantro & salsa!

Stuffing Hash - fry off the stuffing in a little olive oil or butter, add herbs & shred turkey bits; top with a poached egg & chives.

Breakfast Cranberry Pastries : put some cranberry sauce in the middle of a 3" puff pastry square; fold edges over (rustic works) to meet each corner in the middle. Brush with egg wash & sprinkle with turbinado sugar, bake in 400 oven centre rack.

Next day turkey sandwiches : lay slices of turkey, smidge of gravy, some cheese on bread, toast in the oven

Turkey roti wraps : mix some curry paste with plain yoghurt & lime zest, add in turkey, spread on a tortilla or roti wrap & add lettuce, roll up!

turkey bahn mi on a crisp baguette : Vietnamese turkey sandwich with a chili-lime dressing

Turkey pot pies topped with puff pastry – use the gravy to keep it moist

Shepherds pie topped with two potato topping : similar to the pot pie, but use your left over mash & sweet potato to top off!

Turkey paella : add in your diced vegetables to cooked rice, season with a dash of stock or wine

Asian turkey noodle soup : start with a ginger & herb base, dice in your turkey & veg; add stock to volumise

Crisp potato pancakes – mix mash potatoes with egg & breadcrumbs, seasonings & perhaps some cheese! Griddle like a pancake, top with turkey & gravy

Cranberry sorbet – put leftover cranberry jelly in a food processer, add in a little wine or champagne, process until smoother & less jelly like: freeze in plastic

Thanksgiving Prep!

All is happening here at foodink - the chef team has been in since before the coffee was brewed, sorting through a mound of fresh produce from our suppliers, WorldWide Produce, Harvey Guss meats & Chefs Warehouse. Thanks to our fabulous customer service reps, who have responded to last minute requests, additions & changes with good humour (Teri, Harvey & Janice). For the last few days we've been underneath boxes on top of boxes, and we only just made space post our holiday cookie project! Attached are some of the great shots from the week of cookies to the beginning of our prep for next Thursday. We're opening the store front on Tuesday for those who want to stop in for last minute Thanksgiving things - extra stuffing, deep dish apple pies with calvados sauce, meyer lemon tartletts, chocolate pecan pies (even vegan versions!) plus some wonderful fall squash soup & faro salad. We hope to see you!

Wine for Turkey, Pies & beyond

It's always the agony of choice for me, deciding what wine to put with our meals -- there are so many great options out there, and I'm learning about a new varietal or vintage or vineyard every event we do! We have some especially knowledgeable clients & they've taught us some great yet unexpected pairings over the years.

Given the timbre of the times, a lot of our clients have asked about a couple of go-to wine choices that would suit the entire turkey meal if possible - did we know of any good ones reasonably priced? We reached out to a couple of our favourite wine peeps - Dave over at John & Pete's on La Cienega & Lucian Fick, who helps us curate wine pairing dinners for parties. Here are some of our picks & theirs - all available locally & at reasonable pricing for a crowd! Enjoy!

Our Executive Chef Emma's suggestions & picks....(read with a "kiwaus" accent!)

Pinot noir is always a good choice for a large holiday meal as there are so many competing flavours, you need something versatile. Australian Rieslings or an American Rhone style blend are also great, especially if you are adding other meats to the meal. Try the Paso Robles wines for a locavore touch to your meal. I also always recommend a Martinbough Pinot from New Zealand!

For pumpkin pie 2005 Quady Winery Electra Orange Muscat - spices hit the right notes & blend without being overly sweet on the finish."

Dave Griffith & Pete Burra, from John & Petes Liquor on La Cienega in West Hollywood (a great full service liquor caterer, from olives to nuts to glassware & ice, they deliver it all!) have suggested the following wines that they have on the shelf at the moment:

"For your Turkey : the Inception Central Coast Pinot Noir $20. We also love the Qupe Bien Nacido Cuvee Viognier Chardonnay blend, great value @ $20. Both will appeal to those at your table who are fussy about only drinking red wine with meat or white wine with white poultry!

To pick up the grassy notes in the green beans and other green vegetables : Crios Torrentes White Argentine wine $14. Great New World wine .

Chocolate Pecan Pie - needs a more complex flavour to linger with : try the Niepoort late bottled vintage Port $25

And for your apple pie : Saracco Moscato d’Asti $16 - stands up to spices & cream!"

And from Lucian, who's also the Head Wine Buyer for Wholefoods in Beverly Hills on Crescent Drive:


"Thanksgiving fare begs for red wines that are fruity, softer, bright and less tannic. So, when in doubt, go with Pinot Noir. Another inspired choice is Beaujolais made from the Gamay Noir grape. These two wines, both of which exhibit subtle notes of earth, sweet fruit, and spice, offer a generous mid-palate mouth-feel, and are a perfect foil for the holiday table.
 My suggestions for great value are also stocked at our Wholefoods store - I look forward to chatting with our customers about their wine & food choices!

Castlerock Pinot Noir. Regular price $13.99, on sale $9.99

Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2009 $13.99"

Whichever wines you choose, we're sure you'll have a tasty Thanksgiving & wish you & your families all the best for the Holiday Eating!

Kate & the FoodInk Team

Coriz Family Thanksgiving

Coriz Family Thanksgiving

As some of you know, my family is native American but I’m a Kiwi from Australia! In an effort to reach across the great cultural canvas that is our family we do celebrate with a traditional family meal . This year I am going to attempt to reach into the heritage of the New Mexico region ( location of the pueblo homes of the Santa Domingo people) and try doing some different side dishes with my roasted turkey - which given the restraints of my somewhat picky children, I do have to keep a little less flashy! I am going to start with mini Navajo fry bread appetizers, topped with a corn and lime salsa, which will look too tempting for them to say no!

Then for the sides : new mexico red beans, grilled blue corn and cactus salad, and dry-baked yams. Maybe I’ll even mix up our traditional New Zealand style turkey by making a green mole sauce for it and a nice poblano chilli based rub !

For dessert I have been musing over a few options, but haven’t decided yet due to all the busy-ness at foodink’s kitchen but I was thinking of using a corn custard as a base, or going the flan route... maybe a sweet corn tart topped with a pine nut crumble? I’ll let you know & post up some recipes once we get through the madness of our Gourmet2Go pick up day! You can see the photo of me looking at the Thanksgiving orders on our "menu wall", as well as some of my kids Jai & Jazzy, helping me out with some holiday baking.

Don’t forget to call us to place your Thanksgiving-to-go Orders – we are getting super busy & this year are offering a curb-side pick up that we know will help all our clients get to their final tukey destination a lot faster!

Yo-Gobble-Gobble!

We're getting excited about Turkey Time. We've already checked in with our butcher, the fabulous Harvey Gussman, of Harvey Guss Meats in Miracle Mile. The Willie Bird turkeys are all doing well & on their way to us! For those who are not partaking of the bird, we have created some amazing vegetarian & vegan dishes to taste this year, as well as new salads & desserts. Exec Chef Em is going to start working on our stock for the jus, and we have begun our baking program! Below is a recipe for Emma's newest favourite dish on our Gourmet2Go menu for 2010, Candied Yams with Ginger Marshmallows. If you don't use all the marshmallows, they make great take home treats for your guests!

Next up for me is pumpkin & gourd & squash - I love them all. As it starts to get colder, I begin to crave pumpkin risottos with crispy sage leaf & shaved parmesan....I'm going to experiment with some heirloom varietals this year & I will let you know which one ended up my favourite - and the one I am most thankful for!

Let us know your Thanksgiving Questions - the things that you need to trouble shoot & we'll have a few tips going up over the next 23 days, as we begin the march towards Thursday 25! Call us today to place your Gourmet2Go order & you might even be rewarded with a special gift!

Candied Garnet Yams with Ginger Marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (convection) 400 degrees (normal)

Peel 3 large garnet yams cut into cubes, toss in light olive oil, sea salt, white pepper, brown sugar & ginger powder.

Spray shallow baking dish & put yams in one layer. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until just fork tender & remove from oven. At this point you can leave ready to finish, or do the night before and store covered in the fridge.

30 minutes before serving, bring to room temp. Add marshmallows cut into cubes, scattered across top of yams & mixed through. Bake in high oven for no more than 3-5 minutes to glaze. Serve immediately . Serves 6 -8 ppl approximately!

Ginger marshmallow recipe

2 Tbsp gelatin

½ cup water

2 cups sugar

1 cup

1tsp vanilla

To Dust:

½ cup powdered sugar

2 tsp powdered ginger

Method:

Combine gelatin and first measure of water.

Swell for 10 minutes.

Heat second measure of water and sugar, dissolve gelatin over hot water, pour into sugar mix and boil. Boil steadily for 15 minutes cool until lukewarm and beat until thick and white.

Mix powdered sugar and ginger together.

Line sheet tray with cling film and dust with ¼ powdered sugar and ginger mix .Pour marshmallow in to tray to set, sprinkle with another ¼ of sugar /ginger mix . Leave at room temperature when dry completely cut into desired size and then toss in the remaining gingererd sugar

© foodinkcatering, inc.

CookBooks!

FoodInk Kitchen – Kate’s Blog

I love a good cookbook. I love the recipe titles, notes from the author as to what their inspirations were; the food styling (one of the jobs I used to do, but can't get to these days!) and the wide range of gourmet ingredients that you just have to have on hand. Sometimes we only have to see the title or the photo of the food recipe & we can take our version of it & turn it into an appetizer instead of the main dish it once was. I think we have over 400 cookbooks between foodink shelves & my own kitchen library...but it's never enough! Our food team sits around flipping through our favourites, riffing menus for clients, getting new inspirations & ideas or going back to the amazing basics - like Jane Grigson's Fish Cookery; Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, and Stephanie Alexander's recipe compendium called “The Cook’s Companion” (check her out, the Julia Child of Australia!). Her collection of recipes detail every possible food concept that you could want – the sort of book you need by you when looking in the fridge & you see a random scarlet globe of beetroot – she has so many ideas for what to do with it, you’ll immediately be inspired.

Our current modern go-tos are Cocina Nueva by Jane Lawson (sold in the states as “Spanish Kitchen” ) for new tapas ideas; Maurizio Terzini’s “Something Italian” (even his pizzas are stylish) & “Pier” By Greg Doyle, for incredible fish recipes & presentations and “Middle East CookBook” by a friend’s amazing mother, Tess Mallos. It’s one of the first ones I ever bought, and remains a staple in the kitchen. Sorry – we are a little biased towards the antipodes at the moment – and even Ruth Reichl & S. Irene Virbila agree that what is happening in food in Australia is at the forefront of interesting menus around the world. I’ve just suddenly realized that we are attracted to cookbook covers that have a lot of red on them!

We also browse second hand book stores looking for the rare editions, unusual or no longer published ones, like good english translations of the Larousse Gastronomique, or L’Arte Culinaire.

A few years ago I found The South American Gentleman’s Companion, beautifully bound in blue linen, by Charles H Baker Jr; with the subtitles “Volume 1 being an Exotic Cookery Book and Volume II being an Exotic Drinking Book” which has actually been more invaluable for developing our classic cocktails, infusions & elixirs bar ideas. Sample drink titles are “Guyaquil Spirit Egg Nog” and the recipe begins: “our second evening in this intriguing port city we were walking down the Malecon with Don Eduardo…” – that makes you immediately want to join him in his libation! Another of my favourites is the “Chilean Vina del Mar Scabbard Cocktail”, which contains the priceless phrasing : “which is 1 all the ladies admire exceedingly” This book was first published in 1947. Some of the food “receipts” would be a hard sell in health & socially conscious Los Angeles’ event world : “Doves deep fried in true latin ranch style”.

Another amazing book we have collected (one my mother actually found for me at Strand Books in New York) is Amy’ Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookery Book. First published in 1961, it notes “drawings by Andrew Warhol” – unfortunately, not a first edition!

I think now so fondly of the Cook's Library, once on 3rd Street in Los Angeles -- how on earth did this close?! So it is with great anticipation that I look forward to the Southern Californian CookBook Sale on Sunday, August 22 at the Hollywood Farmers Market from 8am until the books are sold! (link: http://slowfoodla.com/2010/08/culinary-historians-of-southern-california-cookbook-sale/). I am definitely getting together a hot list of foodie books I am looking for (MFK Fisher, old James Beard, classic Frances Parkinson Keyes)

Other ones we love – there is not enough blog in the world to cover books!

Plenty Yottam Ottolenghi

Le Guide Culinaire – August Escoffier

Mediterranean Cookery by Claudia Roden

Thai Food – David Thompson

My favourite ingredients – Skye Gyngell

World of the East Vegetarian Cookery – Madhur Jaffrey

Look up, Cook up & Enjoy!

farmer's market dilemma!

Chef Emma’s Blog

I was recently at the Farmer’s Market and a thought occurred to me. I was looking at all the stands claiming Organic, Pesticide free, Natural etc – all words that denote the goodness we have come to desire, expect & want from our farm fresh produce – but how do you evaluate these claims? A trip to the FDA.

I know that the spirit of farm-to-table and locavore producing is the drive behind the farmers market movement ,and most farmers live up to their impression of an honest, hard working farmer + grower, but who is regulating the claims individual farmers make about how they produce? Is it really true that our families are not being fed chemicals, pesticides or GMO ingredients?

Please don’t get me wrong -- I am 100% behind the farmers market movement, even though not everything is available in a certified organic capacity; but when someone says to you “oh we are beyond organic “ but has no certification to prove it, what does that mean?

Of course I am going to continue to shop at all our local farmers’ markets for both myself & foodinkcatering: not just for the amazing produce but to support the diversity of the farms & producers represented -- but I feel my only recourse to investigate these claims of chemical free growing is to travel to the farms and check it out for myself! Who knows where the time will come but hopefully soon. We are going to start by visiting one of our favourite suppliers in Los Angeles: Country Fresh Produce, based in Encino. We get our amazing fresh herbs, flower garnishes, leaf salads & even heirloom produce like sweet 100 tomatoes, zucchini flowers etc from them! More to come on that! Though not completely organic, we love the sustainability & locavore nature of the farm for all our clients in Los Angeles. And, of course – they don’t claim they are organic – just local!!

Organic Consumers Association has great articles on this whole concept, and we encourage you to investigate.

http://www.organicconsumers.org

After the Fireworks...

After a lovely traditional 4^th of July picnic of foodink’s peach glazed ribs, apricot wings and a delicious coleslaw whilst watching the park fireworks, now here we are on a gloomy old 7^th of july Wednesday.

We really felt like the weather warranted a good old roast chicken dinner . So out to the garden we went, the only things that were ready were our cherry tomatoes, loads of vibrant smelling herbs and of course the ever giving lemon tree.

We have settled on a classic French provencal lemon and herb roasted chicken, with a rustic free form tomato tart, nice and simple after our fabulous but hectic holiday weekend.

Summer Peaches Update

Well the peach and ginger relish was phenomenal (recipe to follow) . Zuckermans baby fingerlings were just lovely on the grill , and the perfect combo with the blue lake beans and watercress, for which I did a light basil dressing and it came together perfectly .

Who knew that basil and cherry were the perfect partners along with the oh so beautiful ciao bella blackberry and cabernet sorbet. The stone fruit salad was a huge hit, the perfect end for a hot SoCal Sunday Lunch.

3 x peaches, ripe

liquid to poach – ½ litre white wine or champagne

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tlbspoon finely chopped onion

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

2 tblspoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon white balsamic or wine vinegar

1 sweet Italian pepper, finely diced

2 tbslspoons chopped cilantro

• Score peaches to make peeling easy by making an X on the stem end

• Poach peaches in a liquid (like white wine or verjus or even champagne) until skin comes away easily, but don’t let them get too soft.

• refresh in an icewater bath & peel

• Dice peeled peaches to a 1” square cube

• sauté onions in the olive oil, add onion, ginger, garlic, sugar, vinegar & the diced peaches.

• simmer to reduce liquid, finish with pepper & cilantro.

Season to taste – note you can up the chili factor with flakes or chili sauce as you like!

Farmer's Market!

At last back to the farmers market after a crazy busy month of June . It is so exciting to see all the beautiful stone fruit coming round .We are planning a nice casual sunday bbq , so I grabbed some deliciously sweet organic snow angel peaches from Nicholas farms. I thought a spiced peach and ginger relish to serve with my slow cooked baby back rib

s would be nice. Iam also going to use it as a base for the barbecue glaze on the ribs.

The Zuckerman potatoes were beautiful and colorful. I went with the tiny fingerling as I am going to do them on the grill and toss them with my organic smith farms blue lake beans, and serve them over some water cress .To give the salad a little crunch I am going to roast some almonds in lemon juice (from the tree in the yard ) - I tasted these fantastic ones at the market and was inspired to make them. Then to top it off I tasted this fantastic goats cheese from Soledad Goats, they have a soft marinated cheese that was so subtle and just perfect (and we will be getting it at foodink soon), and then we tasted the raw s

moked goat cheddar! This we decided would be perfect & can't wait to shave it over the salad. Along with the summer fruit bounty I spotted all these beautiful herbs but I really wanted to keep dessert simple and not mask the flavours of the stone fruit so I decided on some beautiful basil to make a syrup. I’ll have the kids help me chop the fruit and drizzle the syrup over & the adults will get to enjoy it with some Ciao Bella Blackberry&Cabernet Sorbet.

I can't wait for lunch now, I guess I need to get busy . We are also going to make a minted citrusade from our own trees and herb patch and maybe douse it with vodka !!!!!