蘑菇视频

Nov 28, 2018 By Joe Carei for The 6 min read

Once again, I will be serving as the guide to Christmas giving this year. As in the past, my advice is biased and personal. But, hopefully it will help with your shopping list.

One of the most personal and heartfelt ways to give a gift is to make something for someone. So much goes into the thought, effort and presentation that it cannot be matched by anything else. (My wife just yelled 鈥渄iamonds鈥�it can be matched by diamonds!鈥�) Ok, diamonds.

Food also falls into the most personal of gifts. Not only is it usually something that is given, it is, most times, special to the giver. It can be a family recipe, personally created recipe or one that reminds one of something special. Whatever it is, it comes from the heart.

It may seem that it takes a lot of time to create presents in the kitchen. But, think of how long it takes to shop or to navigate online shopping. The average person spends 15 hours a year Christmas shopping, so a couple of hours in the kitchen is minimal. Also, it can make your Christmas list more economical. You will be able to touch more people with personal gifts like these.

To make the food more present(able), packaging will help make your gift even more personal. Taking a little time to think about it will help turn ordinary into extraordinary. There is packaging for everything; you can buy boxes, jars and custom food containers. And they work great. Mason jars are an excellent choice for soups, jellies and 鈥�the right size boxes are a great choice to get your cookies or breads to your loved ones. Cellophane and tin cans are a great wrap for bark and muffins. Repurposing jewelry boxes, leftover poster tubing (cookies), paper bags and enhancing it with a bow, stencils, ribbon or colored cellophane makes it even more economical, and it looks great.

If the kitchen is not your shtick, but you have someone who is a kitchen lover, here are some popular gifts. I usually get a few calls (now texts) a year on gadgets and what to get the cook. Here are a few from this year. Tops are the multi-cooker and sous-vide circulator. The multi cooker is led by Instant Pot and seems to be a glorified crockpot, which is okay. There are multiple settings and also serves as a pressure cooker; this is a big plus. There are some multi-cookers that can be accessed by your phone. Welcome to the new world. Sous-vide (under a vacuum) is cooking in water at a constant temperature. It breaks down what you are cooking more evenly and creates a very consistent product. The circulators are very affordable now. I have a Sansaire, but Anova, All-Clad and Chef Steps are some others. Knives are my number one call. As many of you know, a good knife is irreplaceable. Get a professional knife such as Henckel, Wustoff or Masahiro.

Other gadgets that have caught my eye were the dumpling maker by Cook Joy, this is a great timesaver when making dumplings or small pierogies. Chef鈥檔 herb/greens stripper is something I have been looking for, so this is a must for me. The other was a Bakestone Pizza oven. It is a pizza oven for your grill or stovetop. We love making pizza on stone, and it is hard to get our oven up to the right temperature, maybe the grill鈥�

And of course, you can鈥檛 go wrong with a good cookbook. This year蘑菇视频 top cookbook will be Grub to Gourmet: The History of Food on the National Road. It was co-written by yours truly. It will be available for order on the National Road website www.nationalroadpa.org within the next week. It will be printed in time for Christmas.

No matter what you give, if you put your heart into it, it will be special.

Gift ideas

Candy Cane Bark

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups white chocolate chips

陆 teaspoon peppermint extract

4-6 candy canes

2-3 drops red food color (optional)

Break up candy cane into small pieces. Best way is in a plastic sealed bag and break up with rolling pin or meat mallet. In double boiler, melt chocolate chips until smooth, add extract stirring until incorporated. Then pour onto wax paper in cookie sheet. Spread chocolate evenly. Chill chocolate while doing next step. Melt white chocolate chips in double boiler until smooth. If pink or red color desired, add food coloring. Pour over chilled chocolate and spread evenly. Scatter candy cane pieces over chocolate. Chill for a couple of hours or overnight in fridge. Break up into desired size pieces. Makes 2 pounds of bark.

Mimi蘑菇视频 Refrigerator Pickles

录 cup salt

3 cups sugar

2 cups cider vinegar

2 tablespoons Mustard seeds

2 dozen cucumbers

2-3 onions

2-3 sweet peppers

Heat salt, sugar, vinegar and water til dissolved. Add mustard seed. Cool

Slice vegetables and distribute in prepared canning jars.

Top with pickling brine. Cap and place in refrigerator. No need to process canning jars when filled, unless you will be storing for a long time.

Macaroons

1 cup blanched almonds

1陆 cups confectioners sugar

3 egg whites

录 cup sugar

陆 teaspoon almond extract (or extract of other flavor desired)

Process almonds then add confectioners sugar in food processor until ground fine. Push through mesh colander or sieve. Repeat processing if necessary. Beat egg whites until soft like sour cream. Add sugar and beat until glossy and stiff鈥�about 5 minutes (if coloring cookies, add food color now). Fold almond flour and egg whites together. Fold in extract. Pipe batter into 1 inch circles on parchment paper. Let sit until batter is no longer sticky, about 30 minutes. Bake in preheated 325-degree oven for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Let cool and fill flat side with filling (buttercream, ganache, flavored cream cheese, jams, etc.) top with second cookie. Makes 36 cookies.

Chef Joe Carei has been an award-winning chef in Fayette County nearly half of his life. The former PA Restaurateur of the Year now operates Ellie Mae蘑菇视频 Catering and Food Clubs. He can be reached at joe@elliemaescatering .com.