Archive for January, 2010
Photo via Food52
We love beets and we love the blog Food52. So when Food52 did a post on roasting beets we found ourselves in food blog heaven. According to Food52′s Amanda, the trick to cooking beets is to “soften them while also concentrating their sweet flavor.” Apparently, traditional roasting techniques and boiling are not the way to go. Unless you like beet “jerky” or beets a la “soggy sponge,” that is.
Amanda recommends a roasting technique she read about in Tom Colicchio’s book, The Craft of Cooking. The Top Chef judge roasts beets in a foil packet. This way “the roasting condenses the beets’ sweetness while a layer of steam inside the packet keeps them moist.” Sounds good to us! Here’s how to do it:
1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut off the leggy root and the tops. Then scrub the beets if they’re dirty. We recommend a Chef’n PalmBrush.
3. Lay a large piece of foil on a baking sheet, leaving half the foil hanging off one end. Place the beets on top of the foil. Sprinkle the beets with olive oil — just enough to dress them like salad greens — and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foil in half to make a packet and crimp the edges.
4. Bake until the beets are tender (you can check by piercing a fork through the foil). Approximately 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Let them cool in the foil packets.
5. When the beets are cool enough to touch, remove them from the packet and peel off the skins — they should slip off like Concord grape skins.
Ta da! Perfectly roasted beets :)
The Brazilian magazine Revista Imobiliare recently dedicated an entire page to Chef’n and arta products. The feature includes the Emulstir, G’Rabbits, Mix Pepper Grinder, 4-in-1 Cheese Grater, GarlicZoom XL and arta Cocktail Shaker.
A big thanks to Andre for passing this along!
Wondering what arta is? arta is a new brand of hip, casual bar and serveware created by Chef’n designers. Same designers, but a new look, a new brand and a new identity. More news on arta coming soon!
Not including salt and pepper, what is the one spice or seasoning you can’t live without?
We’re torn between garlic salt and rosemary. But then there’s also oregano. Oh, and paprika! It’s so hard to choose…
Not once, not twice, but three times! The Knot Weddings Magazine featured three Chef’n tools in its January 2010 “Your Wish List” registry spread. The Slicester and Parmesan Cheese Grater appeared in the “Adoring Orange” section and the Ice Cream Scoop was included in the “Lovely Yellow” section.
An evening at the Liberty Bar
Looking for ways to help the people of Haiti? If you live in the Seattle area, we encourage you to have a drink and a bite at one of the following bars and restaurants. A portion of your proceeds will go toward helping disaster relief in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas. Thanks to Seattle Metropolitan magazine for all this great info!
Head to the Liberty Bar and order a $6 cocktail called “the Haiti.” One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated for disaster relief.
Drop off donations for Unicef at Purple Cafe and Wine Bars or either of the two Barrio locations. From now until January 24th, Heavy Restaurant Group has pledged to match anywhere from one to 10 percent of those donations, depending on the total.
Ever wanted a Seattle Sounders autograph? On Saturday January 23rd at the George and Dragon, Seattle Sounders, Steve Zakuani and James Riley will be signing autographs in exchange for a $5 donation. G&D will also be selling $5 raffle tickets for Soundersphenalia and other prizes.
On Sunday January 24th, Quinn’s Pub, Dinette, Restaurant Zoe, Le Gourmand, La Rustica and Skylark Cafe and Club are participating in a dine-out initiative where a portion of the night’s earnings will go toward various relief organizations. Each restaurant determines it’s donation percentage.
January 26th from 7 to 10 p.m., Boom Noodle will offer its happy hour menu during a silent auction to benefit Haiti. Twenty-five percent of the food and drink proceeds will go to Haiti, while 100 percent of the auction earnings will be donated. Auction items include art from Spike Mafford, Dean Zulich, Matt Larson, and Joe Shlichta; there is a $100 bid minimum.
Beef, macaroni and cheese, tomato, onion, cream of crab — all flavors of ice cream offered at the Coromoto, an ice cream parlor in Merida, Venezuela.
The Coromoto Menu
In total, Coromoto offers 860 flavors of ice cream. Just look at that crazy menu! Don’t get us wrong, we love ice cream and are big fans of relatively unconventional flavors such as avocado and Cointreau (both of which are available at Coromoto). But beef? Really? We’re just not sure.
What about you? Would you be open to tasting a “mushrooms in wine” flavored ice cream? What’s the craziest flavor of ice cream you’ve tasted?
Wow, nicely done! The first 5 people to answer did so correctly! Congrats to Abby, Chris, Karen M., Denise and Anna! You are all proud new owners of a Chef’n Garlic Machine. Our CEO, David Holcomb invented the Garlic Machine in 1980, and the rest is Chef’n history.
Winners please send your preferred shipping addresses to media@chefn.com.
We’re in the mood to giveaway some product so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The first 5 people to answer the following question correctly will receive a… Well, now that we think about it, we can’t tell you about the prize. But rest assured that the winners will receive a Chef’n product and it will be awesome!
Which of the following products was the very first Chef’n invention?
A. StemGem 
C. Flexicado 
This is what a "warm fuzzy" looks like.
Today we received an email from Helen, the grand prize winner of our Twelve Weeks of Giveaway contest. Talk about the perfect way to start your Friday! Helen’s note was so sweet. We’re so glad to hear that she’s enjoying all her products, and we really appreciated all her positive feedback. So to toot our own horn a little bit, we’d like to share Helen’s email with you.
“I can’t thank you enough for my box o’ goodies that you sent me. I was like a kid at Christmas – absolutely loved everything! My husband could not believe that I had all of that given to me, and honestly, neither could I! He was especially impressed with the pepper grinder [Olle Due] and the can opener [EZ Squeeze]. He even made a request for a veggie dish that I’ve avoided making because they have to be sliced so thin – but my new slicer [SleekSlice Mandolin] will make short work of that! And he’s already dreaming about summertime corn off the cob [PalmZipper]! I really want to thank you for everything – all of the great things I won and all of the new things I now can’t wait to buy! You’re products are hip & practical and that’s just refreshing!”
Hip and practical — we like that combo! Thanks again for the kind words, Helen.
Have a great weekend everyone!
As many of you know, Chef’n recently launched a line of extra powerful kitchen presses. The so-called FreshForce collection includes a Garlic Press, Citrus Juicer and Potato Ricer (press). A linkage system utilizing two gear mechanisms makes the FreshForce items easier to use and more powerful than conventional kitchen presses.
Seeing as the weather is pretty chilly, we thought it’d be a good idea to show you three ways you can use the FreshForce Potato Ricer to make three delicious wintertime dishes. We’re talking stick-to-your-ribs, warm-you-up-from-the-inside-out kind of food.
Dish 1: Potato Pancakes
via the 1919 edition of the “How to do thing” Farm Journal
Photo via Country Living
Steps: Peel, boil and rice potatoes. Beat egg. Mix together all ingredients and beat thoroughly. Cook on a greased griddle like traditional pancakes.
Note: You can literally use nearly any condiment on these suckers. Go ahead, get crazy!
Dish 2: Stuffed Potatoes with Cheese and Bacon
via Tried and True Recipes
Photo via Food Network
Steps: Cut hot potatoes in halves lengthwise. Remove potato (using a Chef’n FlexiScoop, perhaps?) and put through potato ricer into a bowl. Add cheese, salt, paprika and hot milk. Beat thoroughly. Refill potato skins, lay piece of bacon on top of each potatoes and heat in oven until bacon is crisp.
Dish 3: Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
via Food Network
Photo via McCormick
Steps: Peel, boil and rice potatoes into a pot. In a small pan, heat butter, garlic and cream. Add mixture to potatoes and whip using a whisk. Be careful not to over whip. Finally add rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.
