All posts tagged: featured

Misfits Market Mushroom-Pea Stir Fry

Published by Kathy Hunt

Timing really is everything. With a spouse who had switched to a vegetable-based diet and my own ongoing concerns about food waste I had become intrigued by the “ugly produce” delivery service Misfits Market. Whether online or walking down the street, I saw their name and boxes of imperfect fruits and vegetables everywhere. As a result, when a PR rep reached out and asked if I would be interested in covering Misfits Market, I took an extremely rare leap and said, “I might. Go ahead and send a sample box of produce.” What’s ugly produce? Ever come across a curled bell pepper, forked carrot or twisted parsnip at a chain supermarket? Probably not. These stores tend to focus on uniform, blemish-free foods. However, if you frequent farm stands and farmers’ markets and seek out organic, non-GMO goods, you’ve probably seen misshapen produce. Odd in appearance, these wholesome veggies and fruits usually are sold at reduced prices, that is, if they even make it to markets. Because they’re not as pretty and profitable as their perfect …

What Would Tea Be without Scones?

Published by Kathy Hunt

Scones. They’re one of the most British of all British dishes and something I’ve been baking for years. What can I say? I’m an Anglophile who spent her childhood immersed in the British punk and new wave scene, BBC television and the works of every 19th and 20th century British writer that the New Castle Public Library carried. When asked what I wanted as a high school graduation gift, I didn’t beg for a car or a trip to the beach with friends. I wanted a ticket to London and a pair of black Dr. Martens. (I instead got luggage, which I never once used.) Ten years later I finally made it to England, bought my black, 1461 Docs and had my first English tea with scones and clotted cream. That initial tea hooked me on those luscious, little biscuits, and I’ve been making variations of them ever since. Origin of Scones The word “scone” has been around since the 16th century and reputedly comes from the Scottish “sconbrot.” It refers to a soft, flat, …

9 Tools for Grilling Seafood

Published by Kathy Hunt

Whether you’re a newcomer to or longstanding fan of seafood, the thought of grilling fish and shellfish can be intimidating. I used to worry about what would happen after I placed a delicate piece of fish onto a searing hot grill. I might cook it too long or not long enough. If I did grill it correctly, the fish might stick to or fall through the grate. Even if the fish made it safely to the dinner table, it could end up as dry and flavorless as parchment paper. Rather than avoid grilling seafood, I selected several tools to ease my concerns and enhance my grilling techniques. With the exception of the grill itself, none were costly. Yet, all helped to make my grilled shrimp, clams, salmon, tuna and other fish look and taste delicious. The Tools Grill or grill pan – If you already own a grill, you can skip this suggestion. If you don’t have one, you should decide whether you want to cook with gas, charcoal or electricity. Once you’ve determined your …

Creamy, No-Cream Mushroom Soup

Published by Kathy Hunt

This past December marked the four-year anniversary of almost moving to Prague, Czechia, or, as it was called then, the Czech Republic. As someone who has always wanted to live abroad, I was set for this new adventure. I’d figured out where I’d get my morning coffee, buy English-language books and learn how to understand, if not master, the Czech language. In a land where pork and potato dishes reigned, I even knew what I’d cook and eat. It wouldn’t be klobása (kielbasa), gulas (pork or beef stew) or schnitzel. Instead I’d make the country’s many versions of creamy mushroom soup. Mushrooms everwhere From late spring to early fall Czechs, like other Central Europeans, forage for wild mushrooms. Once collected and cleaned, the mushrooms might be breaded and fried, made into a pudding, added to scrambled eggs, sautéed or pickled. They may star in the entrée mushroom loaf, in a sandwich, as a salad or sauce or in a hearty soup. Similar to the ever-present potatoes and dumplings, mushrooms make their way into most meals. …

What’s on My Cookbook Shelf

Published by Kathy Hunt

In keeping with tradition I have another list of best cookbooks and food narratives for the food lovers on your holiday shopping list. Some choices reflect recent travels. Others are influenced by current events. All showcase the diversity of cuisines and cultures around the globe and in the U.S. The list begins with cookbooks. You’ll find a short review of the standouts, followed by a few honorable mentions. After that it’s all about food writing. For past years’ best cookbooks reviews, check out Kitchen Kat’s Cookbook Reviews. Best Cookbooks: Feast: Recipes and Stories from a Canadian Road Trip by Lindsay Anderson and Dana VanVeller (Random House, 2017) Anderson and VanVeller traveled 37,000 kilometers/roughly 23,000 miles across Canada to collect recipes and stories about Canadian cuisine. The result of their journey is Feast. Part cookbook, part travel narrative, it features such Canadian specialties as Spicy Haddock and Snow Crab Cakes (Cape Breton Island), Beaton’s Mac & Cheese (NW Territories), Elk Burgers (Ontario) and Okanagan Cherry Buttermilk Chess Pie (Vancouver). Substitutions for exotic ingredients accompany each dish. …

Grab a Cup of Coffee and Some Rusks!

Published by Kathy Hunt

Last month I had a Marcel Proust-madeleine moment where a bite of a baked good—in my case, a rusk—brought back memories of a long ago event. Unlike Proust’s profound experience, where I ate this cookie was far more interesting than the memory itself. Chewing on a nut-flecked rusk while I stared out at four graceful impalas drinking from a water hole in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, I remembered that a decade ago I had written a syndicated article about twice-baked cookies and that that article had included rusks. Yeah, my memory wasn’t nearly as cerebral as Proust’s, either. Rusks have featured in South African cuisine since the 18th century, when Dutch farmers or boers living in South Africa looked for ways to make bread last longer. By baking loaves of dough twice, they learned that they could remove all the moisture from the loaves. This gave their bread or rusks an almost endless shelf life. In times when food was scarce and shopping for supplies involved traveling long distances over hot, barren landscapes, they …

Queso helado — Binge-worthy ice cream!

Published by Kathy Hunt

Ever try a new food and think, “Oh, man! I gotta eat this every day!”? That was exactly how I felt after my first spoonful of queso helado. Prior to visiting the South American country Peru, I had never heard of this iced sweet. As soon as I arrived in the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the country’s second largest city, Arequipa, I saw it everywhere. Along with its reputation for art, literature, baroque architecture crafted from volcanic ash and the volcanoes that produced this ash, Arequipa is known as the birthplace of queso helado. In Spanish queso helado means “frozen cheese” but this creamy, cinnamon-spiced ice cream seems more like frozen heaven to me. Its deceptive name comes from its appearance. When scraped rather than scooped from a metal bowl, the slabs of ice cream resemble wedges of cheese. Don’t let looks fool you. It tastes nothing like cheese. What’s in queso helado? Unlike traditional ice cream, queso helado contains no cream. Instead it features three types of milk, sweetened condensed, evaporated and whole …

Ceviche — It’s fresh and fast!

Published by Kathy Hunt

The national dish of Peru I love learning how to make a local speciality the right way. On a recent trip to Peru that specialty was ceviche. Considered the national dish of Peru, ceviche, or cebiche as it’s sometimes spelled, got its start during the Inca Empire. During that time Peruvian cooks along the coast would marinate freshly caught fish in the Andean corn alcohol chicha. After the Spanish conquest of the 16th century they began to incorporate European ingredients into their cooking. This included adding citrus to their seafood. Although it began as a coastal dish, ceviche is found throughout Peru. Inland, where rivers and lakes are common, cooks use Peruvian trout (truncha) and prawns (camarones). In the capital Lima sea bass, corvina drum and other semi-firm to firm white-fleshed fish are featured. What does it take to make an outstanding ceviche? Obviously, in a dish that features raw seafood, you should have very fresh, clean tasting fish. The fish itself should be semi-firm to firm in texture; you don’t want your fish falling …

pickled herring on brown bread in Denmark

Further Fish Tales: Now It’s “Herring!”

Published by Kathy Hunt

By now most know the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.” In my case it takes a village of friends and family to launch another book. Two Fridays ago a wonderfully supportive group whom I’m honored to have as members of my village celebrated the publication of my nonfiction book Herring: A Global History. Part of Reaktion Books‘ Edible Series, Herring explores the historical, economic, cultural and environmental impact of this small, omega-3-rich, silvery fish. When people hear the topic of my book, they invariably ask the same thing. “Herring?” There are always a few who misunderstand and ask, “Hairy?” No, I didn’t write about hirsute people but I’m sure that would be a fascinating topic, too. Once everyone is on the same page about the subject, we get into what attracted me to it. After the publication of Fish Market I had a wealth of knowledge about seafood. I also had a desire to share more about a specific, historic and fascinating fish, the Atlantic and Pacific herring. Although a …

Cinnamon Pie Crust Sticks Like Nana Used to Make

Published by Kathy Hunt

A few weeks ago I attended a food journalism conference where editors told the assembled writers, “No more grandmother stories.” Everybody has a grandmother. No one wants to hear about her anymore. The timing couldn’t have been stranger. Just that morning, while wandering around Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, I came across something that I hadn’t seen or thought about in years, something that reminded me of my paternal grandmother, whom I also hadn’t seen in years and about whom I’ve never written. A relic from early childhood, they were strips of pie crust dusted in cinnamon sugar. At the Market they were called “cinnamon sugar pie fries.” When I was a little kid, they were ‘scraps of leftover pie dough that Nana had decorated with cinnamon sugar and baked.’ Now I think of them as cinnamon pie crust sticks. Unlike many food writers, I don’t have charming stories of baking with my grandmothers or mother. By the time that I was old enough to whisk eggs or roll out dough, my maternal grandmother was gone …