Olive You…

Stephan and I are big fans of olives. We eat them in salads, in pasta dishes, standing in front of the open refrigerator with a fork and the jar… it doesn’t matter. We love em. A couple months ago, I received a fabulous sampler of olives and other goodies from AJ Gourmet. They are truly some of the best olives I’ve ever eaten, and come with a variety of stuffings. We have agreed that the Parma Cheese Stuffed is both of our favorites. The Orange Stuffed would be my close 2nd favorite. I just ordered a 6-pack of olives… they are that good.

I’ve been wanting to blog about the olives, but I wasn’t sure you all wanted to hear how good it is to eat these directly out of the jar. So I was eyeing the last jar of olives, and decided to bake an olive bread with them. I used a combination of Calamata and Habanero Pepper Stuffed olives, and the outcome was fabulous. The habaneros made it nice and spicy without being overpowering. Very good stuff. The only thing I wish I did was make sure the olives were dry before stuffing it into the bread. The extra moisture and olive oil made the bread separate a little in some places, but it was still tasty.
Read more about this entry >>

August 20, 2008 | Filed Under Bakery, Product Review

13 Critiques

Easy Peasy Season-y

One of my favorite things about my blog is the opportunity to try items I would probably never try otherwise. I received an email from Urban Accents, a company out of Chicago that specializes in gourmet spices, herbs and assorted seasonings. They asked if I’d like to try some of their products and of course, I said yes.

A few days later, I received a nice box of goodies that included dryglazes, lemon and orange pepper and saffron rice. The first thing I noticed was the packaging is very modern and clean, not something you would see in a grocery store. The second thing was the ingredients… all natural herbs and spices. I have this thing about eating food that has ingredients I can’t pronounce with more than 15 letters. Monosodiumslimslam. OK, I made that word up, but you get the drift. The seasonings were also not loaded with salt, which it seems most prepared seasonings are. So no worries of having a case of hot-dog fingers from the excessive sodium! Whew!

I liked the idea of the dryglazes. All you do is coat the meat with olive oil and then sprinkle on the dry rub and place in the fridge. In half an hour, the rub becomes a luscious glaze. All I did then was simply grill the chicken. It was so moist and tasty you would have thought it marinated for hours. Perfect for those evenings you don’t have much time to cook, and are contemplating boring grilled chicken for the third time this week. Both the Puebla Mole and Vermont Grill were flavorful and will definitely be used again.

Here is Broiled Salmon with Sonoma Pepper. I marinated the salmon in orange juice for 30 minutes, sprinkled with salt and Sonoma Pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and broiled for 7-8 minutes. Great citrus flavor from the orange and lemon zest.

Read more about this entry >>

April 10, 2008 | Filed Under Chicken, Dinner, Product Review, Seafood

11 Critiques

Fishing Online?

Since I’ve experienced the joys of online shopping, my days at the mall are few and far between. I’ve recently started to buy some food related products online, and it’s just opened up a whole new world!

I received an email from Kona Blue and was quite intrigued. They asked if I’d like a sample of their product, which is Kona Kampachi. After a little research, I found its more common name is Yellowtail, which happens to be my favorite fish when eating Sushi or Sashimi. So I said… bring it on! I was expecting to receive a little fish, you know, maybe a pound or so.

Imagine my surprise when I got a large box that contained a huge fish! I was excited, then terrified, then came full circle back to excited. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. The only time I’ve cleaned a fish was in culinary school, and that was almost 10 years ago! So I sharpened my biggest knife, and decided to cut it into steaks instead of filleting, as it was big enough to do that. In the end, I was successful, but my counter looked like Tony Soprano had whacked someone on it.

I’ll admit, I was a bit wary of having fish sent to me. However… it arrived, surrounded by quite a few ice packs, and was very very cold. I decided to keep my dinner simple since the fish was so fresh, and chose to pan saute the fish steak and serve it with an orange-passionfruit glaze. Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. The quality is out of this world. Next time I’m in the mood for some fabulously fresh fish, I will definitely be ordering from Kona Blue.

I was too scared to try making Sushi or Sashimi this time, but will definitely try another day. Hmmm, maybe even ceviche. Come back to see what else I do with it… as I’ll be able to make several dinners from this one fish!

Read more about this entry >>