Chef Mark continues his tour of La Boqueria Market with Barcelona expert George Semler, who wrote the Fodor’s guide to Barcelona. Here, George shows Chef Mark the fishmonger Pilarin, and they talk all things jamon!

View Part 1 HERE

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by www.catavino.net.

ReMARKable Palate #244: An Irish Culinary Celebration

Jennifer and I chat with 3 Irish chefs who were guest chefs at the Park Hotel Kenmare for a special weekend celebrating the special products of the Emerald Isle. Chef Ross Lewis of Chapter One, Chef Derry Clark of l’Ecrivain, both in Dublin, and Chef Mickael Viljanen of Gregan’s Castle in County Clare sat with us over a glass of Irish Whiskey and discussed their love of Irish food.

www.parkkenmare.com
Euro-Toques Ireland

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

“Limerick’s Lament” (Irish Traditional), by Karin Leitner & Cormac De Barra, from “Music of the Great Irish Houses”. www.karinleitner.com

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Ireland. www.tourismirelandinfo.com

ReMARKable Palate #243: A Smörgåsbord of Chefs

This week, it’s a Smorgasbord of chefs, as I speak with Chef Jordi Artal of Cinc Sentits Restaurant in Barcelona about this Catalan food, then Chef Lee Anne Wong of Top Chef fame after a tofu cooking demo she did at the French Culinary Institute. It wouldn’t be a smörgåsbord without a Swedish chef! I also speak with Chef Danyel Couet from F12 Restaurant in Stockholm, who shared some of his dishes with us at Scandinavia House in NYC.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

CMN Travels Peru: Chef Dan Barber at Mistura Fair

We were privileged to attend the Mistura Gastronomic Festival in Lima Peru last September, where Chef Dan Barber from Blue Hill Farm and Stone Barns Restaurant in NY was a guest speaker. Chef Barber was there to talk about his farm to table concept, which is not so unusual in Peru as it is here in the States. After Chef Barber’s talk, he spoke with Chef Mark about how we can learn from Peru and balance the scales in favor of more farm fresh food here at home.

www.bluehillfarm.com
www.mistura.pe

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and Accommodation provided by PromPeru.

[I'm bringing this show out from the archives in memory of K. Dun Gifford, who passed away very suddenly on Sunday. I have many happy memories of working for him, and know he will be missed. This show was originally published in October 2007. -JI]

The Mediterranean Diet is much more than a diet — it’s a lifestyle. Happily, olive oil plays a big part in that, and this week I’m talking to some experts on the subject of olive oil and living well. Join me as I speak with Dr. Fausto Luchetti and K. Dun Gifford about Sicilian olive oil, their work to advocate the Mediterranean diet, and the new Sicilian Regional Institute of Olives and Oil.

I also caught up with renowned restaurateur Tony May to talk about his adventures with other restaurant owners as they travel through Italy tasting and sipping (I need to get in on that group).

P.S. Don’t miss next week’s three-part video of our eating tour of the Lower East Side, coming out on Food Philosophy, ReMARKable Palate and All You Can Eat!

Music: Beau Hall (http://www.beaurocks.com/)

Food Philosophy is a production of the Culinary Podcast Network (http://www.culinarypodcastnetwork.com/).

Greetings from the Emerald Isle! Chef Mark and I are once again running amok throughout the countryside to bring you our favorite flavors, colors and delights from the other side of the pond. We’re spending a few days in the lovely County Kerry, with its ever-varying landscape of craggy hills and verdant hues. We’re here to participate in a Culinary Celebration of Ireland weekend at the Park Hotel Kenmare featuring some of Ireland’s most renowned chefs, including the hotel’s Head Chef Mark Johnston, who is joined by Dublin restaurateurs Ross Lewis of Chapter One and Derry Clarke of L’Ecrivain, as well as Mickael Viljanen of Gregans Castle in County Clare. As always, we’ll have audio, video and photos of the experience, but here’s a little rundown of what’s on the agenda:

Tonight: “One by Three” dinner featuring 1 Ingredient, 3 Interpretations, 9 Courses and 1 Result

Tomorrow:
Chef Mark will hit the Kerry Way trail on his way to a cheese tasting at the top of the hill, while I’ll be sampling a variety of the hotel’s SAMAS Deluxe Destination Spa offerings. We then have a food and heritage walk of the town of Kenmare, then a whiskey tasting and a surprise dinner menu from the chefs.

Sunday we’ll depart for home!

On our way here, we took a day to wind our way through County Clare to see some of the spectacular views, and enjoyed a night at the Moy House hotel in Lahinch, near the Cliffs of Moher. We both fell in love with the Moy House, which was wonderfully elegant with nary a hint of pretense, so our stay was relaxing and comfortable. We woke to views of the ocean and those famous cliffs, so it was hard to leave! Photos of our mini-tour, followed by dinner crafted by Chef Daniel O’Brien, are in my Facebook album as well as Chef Mark’s.

We’ll have more on that County Clare visit, along with Chef Mark’s interview with Chef Daniel, in the coming days, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek from the road. We hope you’ll follow along with us as Chef Mark revisits his favorite Irish tastes and sights, and as I experience my first (but definitely not last!).

ReMARKable Palate #242: The Alta Cucina Society & Garofalo Pasta

This week, I have lunch at the Alta Cucina Society in New York City, a membership society for the celebration of Italian cuisine from all over Italy. I chat with Alberto Paderi and Amadeo Angiolilli about their mission over lunch of 3 different dishes made with Garofalo Pasta. First, Piero Signorini from Garofalo tells us about his company’s long tradition of pasta making in Campagna. We’re also joined by Susannah Gold, who paired the lunch with some tasty wines!

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

If you’ve been following our doings here at CMN for awhile, you know how much we LOVE Peru. We were lucky enough to travel there this past September, and we have lots of great videos from the trip on the way (we PROMISE they’re coming, we’ve been a little busy!).

This past Thursday, I was invited to pop into the kitchen at Guastivino’s to see how Chef John Stevenson is preparing the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2nd annual ancient gala, celebrating the ancient wonders of Peru and the Inca culture.

Chef John worked with the AIA’s team of archaeologists and anthropologists to develop a menu using as many of the indigenous ingredients of the Andes as possible, and in this video, he explains just how challenging that was. Of course, the goal is to develop dishes that will still be tasty and appeal to high-end diners.

If the preceding video got your appetite going, there’s still time to get your tickets to the gala. The 2nd Annual Gala will be held at Guastavino’s on April 28th, 2010 in NYC. Guastavino’s is found in the arcade underneath the 59th Street Bridge. The event will honor Martha and Artemis Joukowsky with the Bandelier Award for Service to Archaeology and will celebrate the many wonders of Peru at this Peruvian themed evening.

www.archaeological.org/gala

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #240: More Spanish Wines from Alimentaria

Today, it’s more from my trip to Barcelona for the Alimentaria Show. First, I speak with Sonia Anglada Verges from Freixenet, the largest producer of Cava in the world. Then, it’s Ricardo Arambarri Perez from Vintae.com, which has wines form all over Spain. Finally, we speak with an American importer, Andrew Booth, from The Spanish Table, who was there to discover new products for the American Market.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Chef Mark gets a great one on one tour of La Boqueria Market in Barcelona from author, expert and travel writer George Semler. George explains the history of the market, takes us through some of his favorite stands, and introduces us to the great food at Pinotxo Bar. We’ll have more in the series soon.

See Part 2 HERE

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by www.catavino.net.

Ryan Opaz interviews Nico James, a wine importer and distributor in Barcelona. Nico is a British/Caribbean expat living in Spain who imports German, Alsatian and Austrian wines into Spain. Ryan caught up with Nico at the Alimentaria Fair in Barcelona at the end of March. Here, Nico speaks about how he’s using the internet and his video blog to educate consumers, producers, and other importers about his wines and about the wine business in general.

NicoJames.es

We’ll be adding these English-language shows from Vinus and Catavino to our CMN lineup from time to time, and we’re pleased to welcome them as a content provider. They’ll have plenty of coverage of the upcoming European Wine Blogger’s Conference (EWBC) in Vienna, Austria, this coming October 22-24th, 2010.

Travel & accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by www.catavino.net.

We continue our exploration of Toronto’s Green Barn Market. We speak with Bob Proracki from www.OntarioSweetPotato.com, who shows us his huge range of sweet potato products. He also talks to us about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams (hint: You’re only seeing one of them in your store).

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

Vinus.tv is a Spanish wine video site run by Eduardo Benito of winescreen.com, which normally produces all it’s content in Spanish. Catavino.net partners with Vinus.tv to produce videos in English at Wine events of interest to an English-Speaking audience. Well, since Chef Mark interviewed Ryan and Gabriella Opaz from Catavino for the ReMARKable Palate Podcast, turnabout is fair play!

We’ll be adding these English-language shows from Vinus and Catavino to our CMN lineup from time to time, and we’re pleased to welcome them as a content provider. They’ll have plenty of coverage of the upcoming European Wine Blogger’s Conference (EWBC) in Vienna, Austria, this coming October 22-24th, 2010.

We’ll be adding several other videos from Vinus to give a slightly different perspective to the coverage Chef Mark is doing about the visit to Catalunya. Bienvenidos!

Travel & accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by www.catavino.net.

We started out our Catalunya explorations the day before the start of Alimentaria with a visit to one of the largest wine producers anywhere, Freixenet. This is without a doubt the largest winery I’ve ever toured, and as the largest producer of Cava in Catalunya, they have quite a bit of demand to keep up with.

Freixenet is famous around the world for it’s Cordon Negro and Carta Nevada brands, which are mass market affordable cavas. Their yearly New Years ads featuring movie stars and musical acts are well known in Europe, and the familiar black bottle of the Cordon Negro can be found all over the States.

But Freixenet owns many wineries all over Spain and other parts of the world, producing a wide range of still and sparling wines. If you’ve traveled in the Sonoma Carneros region of California, you may be familiar with the Gloria Ferrer Winery, which is owned by Freixenet. The Ferrer family founded Freixenet, and continues to hold a stake to this day.

For lunch we tasted 6 different wines from their lineup, including a Rosé Cava made from Pinot Noir, an Albariño made in Rias Baixas, a Rosé from neighboring Montsant, A new wine, Oroya, made especially for sushi by a Japanese winemaker in Spain (composed of Airen, Macabeo and Moscatel grapes), and a 100% Malvasia Cava. The Malvasia is a dessert Cava with fruity notes, and a hint of maple and buttery pastry.

After lunch, we had a tour of their facility, with sections of the winery dating from 1914, and 4 subterranean levels where we got to see the ENORMOUS capacity of the facility, which produces 200 million bottles a year. The facility is so large, they take you around in a little “Cava Train” like at Hershey or a ride at Disneyland! Our guide was very knowledgable and quite charming. Here’s the video of the afternoon visit:

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by www.catavino.net.

While in Barcelona for Alimentaria last week, I met with Gemma Urgell, a journalist, writer and PR rep for Catalan wines and food products. In addition to representing some really cool folks who are working on a project to produce black truffles commercially in Catalunya (which will generate truffles as well as protect the natural eco-system), Gemma is co-founder of NuestraCausa, a citizen movement that aims to increase citizen’s voice in policy decisions in Catalunya. She interviewed me on camera for her #talkingabout project, which features people talking about their passions, jobs, dreams, and projects to change the world. It looks like I was just spouting off for 5 minutes, but in reality Gemma edited this down from a 20 minute conversation we had in both English and Spanish. She just kept the parts of me talking in English about the use of Social Media to discuss food and wine, and how wineries can better use the web.

#talkingabout – Chef Mark Tafoya from redall on Vimeo.

I’ll have much more content from this trip, not only the discussion of social media, but our regular food and wine focused content about my discoveries in Catalunya & Barcelona’s La Boqueria market. For now, you can find great roundups of the week from Catavino.net, which has a great feed gathering all the content created by the participating bloggers during the course of the week and ongoingly:

Alimentaria “Live” feed from Catavino

Audio Podcast: ReMARKable Palate #238: Barcelona & Social Media with Catavino.net

Disclosure: Travel and accommodations provided by INCAVI. Blogger trip organized and administered by Catavino.net

ReMARKable Palate #238: Barcelona & Social Media with Catavino.net

I’ve just returned from Barcelona, Spain, where I was a guest of Ryan And Gabriella Opaz from Catavino.net, as we explored the Alimentaria fair, the Empordas wine region, and the food sights of Barcelona. Here we discuss the week, and how they are changing the Spanish wine world by using Social Media. www.catavino.net

Travel and accommodations provided by INCAVI.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Chef Mark is running amok in Spain this week with our friends Ryan and Gabriella Opaz from Catavino, and though internet connections are always challenging while we’re on the road, this time I can help from the domestic side!

Focused in Calatonia (or Catalunya), the northeastern corner of Spain, the group has been touring various wineries including Freixenet, the largest cava producer in the world. They are also attending the Alimentaria festival in Barcelona, and from what I can see, having some marvelous meals. (Last night’s Twitter stream featured plenty of sex on a plate.)

Chef Mark has posted some Facebook albums, so take a peek for yourself:

Tour of Freixenet

Dinner at 5 Centits (5 Senses — oh my yes)

Tapas and Tasting

I’ll continue to post updates as Chef Mark sends them, but in the interim you can follow him on Twitter.

ReMARKable Palate #237: Finger Lakes Wines with Steve Shaw

This week, we speak with Steve Shaw, owner and winemaker of Shaw Vineyard in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of Upstate New York. We met at a lunch at Savoy Restaurant in SoHo to taste Finger Lakes wines paired with seasonal winter foods. Steve spoke a bit about his Cabernet Sauvignon to those gathered, adn then he sat with me to tell me about what drew him to the wine business and what he sees for the future of the Finger Lakes.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

During my trip to Rias Baixas, Spain, our gaggle of journalists spent an evening in the dining room of Chef José González-Solla, owner of Casa Solla in Pontevedra. We were in for a delightful interpretation of Galician cuisine, many of which came with a variety of textures, flavors and colors. After dinner I sat down with the chef to talk about his food philosophy and the way he plays with his food. You can see the photos of our various courses below.

www.restaurantesolla.com

Two exciting announcements this week: Our new Knife Skills 101 course is live in our new CMN Academy, so learn the correct techniques (along with some tips) from Chef Mark. We’ve also added Brian Franklin’s DoubleShot Coffee Company coffees to our Gilded Fork Boutique, so oh my, yes, get to sipping.

And in the world of rants, I share my thoughts on the latest piece of inane legislature to be introduced: A ban on salt. You read that correctly.

Music: Beau Hall (www.beaurocks.com), Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

Food Philosophy is a production of the Culinary Media Network
(www.culinarymedianetwork.com)

Photos from our dinner:

“Gin & Tonic” and Olive chips with anchovy paste

Tomato confit with parmesan foam

Potato foam over a roasted onion

Navaja (razorneck clam) with lemon cream

Croqueta cream with shrimp

Caballa (mackerel) in sea salt

Mero en escabeche (grouper in escabeche)

Squab (pigeon) on cornbread crumble with spinach

“Queso de País” cow’s milk cheese

Accompaniments for the cheese course

Almonds four ways (cake, ice cream, cream, toasted/crushed)

Chocolate & strawberries

During my trip to Rias Baixas, I snuck into the kitchen with Chef José González-Solla, owner of Casa Solla in Pontevedra, to watch him prepare our main course. This chef likes to play with his food, and he treated us to an inspirational twist on traditional Galician flavors.

You can also listen to my interview with Chef Gonzalez-Solla on the next Food Philosophy audio podcast. He is a delightfully sweet human being, and we had such fun as we talked about playing with our food!

www.restaurantesolla.com

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & accommodations provided by Wines from Spain and the Rias Baixas wine region.

ReMARKable Palate #236: The Wines of Manchuela

This week, we speak about the wines of the Manchuela region of Spain, a relatively new DO in an area that’s nonetheless been making wines for centuries. I was at a luncheon unveiling these wines for the first time to the American Wine press, and got to taste a number of their whites, rosadas, and especially their reds made from the Bobal grape.

Last week, we offered a copy of The Flexitarian Diet to a lucky commenter. Our winner is Nadine Lefkowitz from www.topanien.com! Congratulations. Contact me with your address and we’ll get a copy sent out to you, Nadine!

I’m so excited to announce that we’ve FINALLY published the long awaited Knife Skills 101 Video Course in the Cooking With Chef Mark school of our CMN Academy! It’s an 8 lesson series of videos, totaling more than 45 minutes, where I teach you the fundamentals of choosing a knife, sharpening your knives, knife safety, and how to slice, dice, and chop a number of vegetables, from onions, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, garlic and herbs. You can check it out at: http://academy.culinarymedianetwork.com.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Chef Mark pays a visit to Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee plantation in the United States. Marty Amaro shows us around the fields, explaining the growing process, and into the factory, where we see some of the roasted coffee being packaged.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & Accommodation provided by the Hawaii HTA as part of the “So Much More Hawaii” tour.

We continue our exploration of Toronto’s Green Barn Market. Chef Mark speaks with Mathieu McFadden from Chocosol Chocolate, a “Pedal powered & Horizontal-trade” chocolate company, which sources all their chocolate direct from growers in Mexico and Central America, and processes it by hand in Ontario.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

ReMARKable Palate #234: In The Kitchen Cooking School

This week, I speak with my old friend Kathy Gold, who owns and runs In The Kitchen Cooking School in Hadonfield, NJ. Kathy is a former personal chef who branched out into running her own school, which gives scheduled classes, private lessons, and corporate team-building exercises. I visit her there, and we speak about what it’s like to run a cooking school.

www.inthekitchencookingschool.com

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

If you’ve followed my musings for any length of time, you probably know that I’m a first-generation American. As such, I’ve made it a mission to learn as much as I can about my family pre-emigration, so the past few years have entailed a lot of research. My mother’s Scottish side has been quite easy to trace, as our clan (Forbes) is a prominent one with a well-documented history. On my father’s Italian side, however, the road has been an emotional one, and at times quite frustrating.

I find that you never really recover from losing a parent; it simply becomes part of the fabric of your history, and at times that material can feel a bit delicate. My father died suddenly when I was 18 years old, at a time in my life when I was absorbed in college and building my future, so I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in his history. The Calabrese are also known for their hard-headedness (“testa dura”), a trait I clearly inherited, so we weren’t always the best of friends.

Now that I’m older, and traveling the world exploring food and culture, it’s as if there’s a giant question mark floating above my head; since my father isn’t here to answer my myriad questions, I’m on my own to find out more about his homeland. Oddly enough, I’ve been to almost every other region of Italy, yet I seem to be saving Calabria. Perhaps because I’m trying to prepare myself.

In the interim, I’m happy to say that the rest of the world has also, at last, taken note of Calabrian cuisine, so I’ve been able to sample some of it from American soil while gathering the information to make my pilgrimage.

On the map of Italy, Calabria is the “toe” of the boot and home to the renowned bergamot orange, used in so many perfumes, and of course as the main accent in Earl Grey tea. Calabria’s landscape is lush, and was highly prized by the ancient Greeks as well as the broad collection of invaders who chose to call the region home throughout its colorful history.

As part of Vino 2010, Italy’s showcase of its regional winemakers, the Italian Trade Commission and the Region of Calabria held a winemaker’s dinner enabling me to explore how Calabrian wines were paired with its foods. The meal was prepared by guest chef Vito Gnazzo of Il Gattopardo restaurant.

During the welcome reception, we were served some of my favorite flavors, like Bruschetta con N’duja, the spicy sausage so indicative of Calabria. We also had Piccoli Peperoni Ripieni di Tonno (peppers filled with tuna) and Arancini di Riso (rice balls filled with veal, peas and Pecorino cheese).

When we sat down to dinner, our antipasto was a welcoming remembrance of childhood: Carciofi e Patate in Tortiera. Though this particular combination paired braised baby artichokes and potatoes, when I was growing up we often had a variation of this with eggplant, peppers and potatoes (which I featured on the Culinary Media Network as Serafino’s Sofrito). I could see this was going to be an evening of comfort.

The first course took the memories a step further with Lagane e Ceci, a thick chickpea soup with pasta. The dish had a fantastic peppery kick so familiar in Calabrian cuisine, and was paired with a big red wine, Ippolito 1845 Ciro Rosso “Liber Pater” DOC 2007. Ippolito is the oldest winery in Calabria, and this particular wine had one spicy profile. I think I may have preferred with the soup with a contrasting wine rather than another layer of spice, but I would love this wine served with beef.

The ever-familiar dried cod appeared in our second course as Lo Stocco di Mammola, a cod fish salad with parsley and extra virgin olive oil from Calabria. This dish was bright and sunny, just like its home region, and would be perfect on a summer afternoon. It was paired with Statti Lamezia Greco Bianco IGT 2008.

After a lemon sorbetto to cleanse the palate, we moved on to Cosciotto d’Agnello Lardellato al Polline di Finocchio Selvatico, a lamb shank scented with wild fennel pollen. (I do love the word finocchio, incidentally, as it is a perfect representation of Italian’s melodic lingual expression.) This mild dish was paired with Cantina Val di Neto Rosso “Arke” IGT 2005.

To cap the evening, we finished with a lightly sweet dish that finished things on a lovely, mellow note: Panzarotti Ripieni di Ricotta con Gelato al Miele, a crispy, flaky pastry filled with ricotta and served with honey ice cream.

This was paired with Amaro, perhaps the most indicative drink of Calabria. This rich, sweet dessert wine, F.lli Caffo Vecchio Amaro del Capo, added the perfect ending to a memorable evening.

There is much to come as I share my discoveries of the region of Calabria, but if you’d like to learn a bit more for yourself, you can visit ItalianMade.com to learn about all of Italy’s wines and regional specialties. Many thanks to the Italian Trade Commission, the Region of Calabria and Chef Gnazzo for enabling me to get a taste of it for myself, and for the comfort it brought me.

(originally published January 4th, 2009)
Winter can be a tough time for fruit lovers like me. I love simple desserts made with fresh fruits.  In North America, most fruits are non-existent, or shipped in from the southern hemisphere and taste like cardboard, since they’ve been picked far from ripe and shipped in a dark boxcar for weeks. (And you know how much we hate that!) So we must rely on tropical fruits or citrus that comes to us from more temperate climates like Florida and the Mediterranean.

One of my favorite fruits of winter is the blood orange. Native to Sicily and Spain, the blood orange is unique among citrus fruits for its intense deep red coloring, in some cases as deep and dark as blood. Like other citrus fruits, the blood orange is high in vitamin C. But what makes it unique is its high concentration of anthocyanin, an antioxidant which is believed to reduce the risks associated with many ailments, including age-related illnesses. Blood oranges diminish the risk of heart disease, some types of cancer and “bad” cholesterol build-up. They may also reduce the risk of cataracts, and aid in the body’s healing process. [wikipedia]

While in Sicily last Spring, I got to taste many fresh blood oranges in the markets of Palermo and in the countryside near the slopes of Mt. Etna, whose rich volcanic soil aids in the growing of the blood orange. There are three varieties of blood oranges, the Tarocco (a “half-blood” variety), the Moro, and the Sanguinello (both “full-blood” varieties). The Tarocco and Moro are native to Italy, while the Sanguinello originated in Spain. All three are grown and highly prized in Sicily.

So while I enjoyed the blood oranges of Sicily greatly, I didn’t expect to be able to enjoy the juice so readily here in the US. Well, recently, I received a package with samples of a new juice available here in the New York area from I.O.  Italian Organics. I.O. is a blend of all 3 major varieties of blood orange, and it’s certified organic. Curious, I drank a bit (chilled, of course), and found it to be nearly as flavorful as the freshly pressed blood orange juice I sampled in Sicily. Sadly, it didn’t have quite the same punch of freshness that you’d get from a just-pressed orange, but it does have the sharp tartness and wonderful bitterness that hits the back of the throat.

So to really test this product, I decided to make a simple recipe, a blood orange granita. I love to have sorbets and granitas as an intermezzo between courses at a long dinner, or as a simple weeknight dessert. Cold desserts have to start with an intensely flavorful base, since the cold dampens the taste buds and makes it harder to taste the subtleties. So what better way to see just what kind of punch this juice would pack?

The recipe is quite simple:

Blood Orange Granita

3 cups blood orange juice

1/4 cup simple syrup:

(2 parts sugar to 1 part water, heated to boiling, then cooled)

splash of lemon juice (optional)

grind of black pepper (optional)

Mix the simple syrup into the juice until it tastes sweet enough to you. You want it to be too sweet to drink, but not so sweet that you won’t taste the distinctive tartness of the blood orange. You may not have to use all the simple syrup. If the juice is not very tart, you can add a splash of lemon juice, or a grind of black pepper to bring out the flavors.

Pour the mixture into a wide flat metal or glass dish. You want to have as much surface area as possible to help it to freeze quickly. Place flat in the freezer for a while, then scrape with a fork to break up the ice crystals and return to the freezer and repeat until the mixture is totally frozen and granular. I prefer to serve it very granular, with “chunks” of crystals. If you prefer, you can run it through a blender, then freeze again, if you want it to have more of a sorbet consistency.

I.O.’s juice did not disappoint. I found it to be very flavorful, very tart, and with a distinctive sharpness, that served as a perfect dessert for our New Year’s Day meal of Sausage and Mussels (see our recent video shot in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia with Chef Rick Ogilvie.) Try this yourself at home, but do try to get real blood orange juice, whether you find them fresh and juice them yourself, or from a quality bottled juice.

-Chef Mark

ReMARKable Palate #233: The Wines of Navarra

This week, we talk about the wines of Navarra, the northern Spanish region from which I derive my heritage, which produces some great wines and some very special foods. Sometime in the shadow of its more famous neighbor Rioja, Navarra has it’s own rich wine heritage that goes beyond the rose it’s most famous for. We’ll taste a few and talk about the foods that pair with them.

www.navarragastronomy.com
www.romeromiller.com
www.zrswines.com
www.bodegasochoa.com

The winner of last week’s cookbook contest giveaway for Rod Rotondi’s Raw Food For Real People is…Robin! Thanks so much for your comment. Please send me your full name and address so I can have the publisher send your book! Keep listening for more giveaways.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Jennifer and Chef Mark explore the Wychwood Barns Green Market in Toronto. with Mark Trealout, a farmer and organizer of Kawartha Ecological Growers, a coooperative of farms from the area northwest of Toronto. We learn about some of the great farm-grown produce, dairy, and baked goods at the Green Barn.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

Chef Mark Tafoya visits the Sumida Watercress Farm in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Celebrated Hawaii Chef Mavro shows us how to make one of his signature dishes: Watercress Salad with Maitake Mushrooms, Sunchokes, and Watercress Essence.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & Accommodation provided by the Hawaii HTA as part of the “So Much More Hawaii” tour.

This past week the second annual Italian Wine Week, Vino 2010, took place in New York City. It’s the largest Italian wine event held outside of Italy, and I was lucky enough to attend last year. This year, because of travel for my birthday, I was not able to attend many of the events, which was a disappointment, since the celebration is filled with grand tastings, seminars, tastings, panel discussions, and did I mention tastings?

So while I couldn’t make the Grand Tasting, I did make it to the Thursday night regional wine dinner event at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. This was a unique event, with 4 separate winemaker’s dinners held simultaneously in different ballrooms of the hotel. Sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, it was an opportunity for winemakers from the regions of Tuscany, Calabria, The Veneto and Apulia to show off their regional dishes and the wines made from native regional grapes.

I was invited to attend the Apulia regional dinner, while my partner in crime Jennifer Iannolo attended the dinner celebrating Calabria, since her father was born and raised there. She’ll have a report from that dinner.

The Apulia dinner was prepared by Chef Patti Jackson from I Trulli Restaurant in New York City, and hosted by wine writer Tom Maresca, who described each wine we had throughout the course of the evening. We snacked on focaccia and other nibbles before the first course, while sipping Alberto Longo Falanghine “Le Fossette” IGT 2008. Falanghine is an ancient native varietal of Apulia, not commonly found outside the Southern Italy. This particular wine had been aged in barrel for 18 months, which imparted quite a bit of oakiness which was not so appealing. Tom Maresca explained that this is not so typical for a Falanghine. I would have liked to taste a more typical interpretation of the grape, and not one that mimics a California style.

Our Antipasto course was a mixed salad of grilled “Cefalapodi”, squid and octopus, served over endive, baby brown chickpeas, and roasted baby tomatoes. I loved this dish, not only for the fresh and tender seafood, but also for the tiny chickpeas which had a nice bite on the outside, but tender on the inside. It was served with a Tomaresca Chardonnay Puglia IGT 2008. I found this a nice pairing, and the Chardonnay, unlike the previous wine, was not at all oaky.

The Pasta course was a Cavatelli with Broccoli Rabe & Toasted Almonds, which is typical of the simple, honest, rustic food of Apulia. The Broccoli Rabe was not at all bitter, and the cavatelli was perfectly al dente. It was served with Cantatore di Castelforte Primitivo de Manduria “Donna Maria” DOC 2007. Primitivo is one of the most typical varietals found in Southern Italy, and is predominant in the neighboring province of Basilicata. Primitivo is a precursor, and sort of “cousin” to Red Zinfandel.

Our main course was a roasted rack of lamb with potatoes and a puree of fava beans and dandelion, served with Sampietrana Salice Salentino Riserva “Vigne delle Monache” DOC 2004, made with the Negra Amaro grape.

We finished off the dinner with Sweet Baby “Calzones” filled with Hazelnut puree, Fried Dough Rosettes topped with Vanilla Ice Cream, and Stuffed Figs. These sweets were served with A Rivera Moscato di Trani “Piani di Tufara” 2007, an appropriately sweet Moscato typical of the sweet dessert wine style, with notes of honeysuckle an melon. It was a fitting ending to the evening.

On our visit to the Condado do Tea region of Rias Baixas, we spent the afternoon with renowned winemaker Cristina Mantilla (right), who showed us around the beautiful Pazo San Mauro vineyard before taking us inside for a tasting.

Pazo San Mauro Winery:
http://www.marquesdevargas.com/
Wines from Spain:
http://www.winesfromspain.com

We also got a wonderful lesson in wine, color and flavor from wine expert Marnie Old, whom Jennifer would like to bring with her on every wine tour from now on. She explains wine in a way that is so completely accessible and intelligent, it was like having a personal tutor along with for the trip.

You can find all of her content, including book and how-tos, at http://www.marnieold.com/.

Disclosure: This wine tour was sponsored by Wines from Spain and the Rias Baixas wine region.

In his latest ReMARKable Palate episode, Chef Mark recapped some of the delicious discoveries we made at a recent dinner at Felidia highlighting the flavors of Basilicata, Italy, which lies between the Apennine mountains and Tyrrhenian Sea (or the “instep” of Italy’s boot). The event was hosted by Lidia Bastianich and our dear friend Lou DiPalo, whose ancestral roots can be found in Basilicata.

Lou’s son Sam was recognized as an ambassador to the region that evening, and it was delightful to see the pride on papa’s face as they both enjoyed that special moment. DiPalo’s (both the store in little Italy and the online store) features the products we tasted at this event should you find your mouth watering.

We would be remiss if we didn’t share images of the dishes from the menu, as the regional flavors came together at the hands of chefs Mario DeMuro, Rocco Cristiano Pozzulo and Francesca Rondinella to emphasize the beauty of simplicity. We were very taken with the dried Senise peppers (left side of photo below), which we were initially hesitant to bite into lest they be fiery hot. Much to our surprise, they had a delicious sweetness that would replace most snack foods for us. They were crunchy like a potato chip, but flavorful and sweet like a natural food should be.

Our first course featured a selection of Basilicata cheeses including Caciocavallo Silano DOP (one of my favorites) and Pecorino de Filiano DOP, served with regional honeys, preserves and olive oil. The orange blossom honey was my absolute favorite, with acacia following at a close second. The dish was accompanied by pickled eggplant slices that packed a tart punch, so our mouths were dancing before we reached the last forkful.

Next was a dish of comfort food at its finest. Rich yet surprisingly light, the cavatelli with Fagioli di Sarconi IGP, this flavorful bowl of goodness was perfect for a chilly winter’s night. Pasta e fagioli is a classic combination (“pasta fazool” for those who insist on using a dialect…sigh).

Our next pasta course highlighted those lovely dried Senise peppers, sprinkled over stracinati pasta with cacioricotta (a sheep’s milk cheese) and toasted breadcrumbs.

A surprise awaited us with the next dish. As it said “flan” on the menu I was expecting the typical flan texture as one might find in a dessert flan; this, however, was firm, composed of Canestrato di Moliterno DOP cheese and with flavors that mimicked the taste of the inside of a ravioli. Decadently rich, the flan’s accompaniments of tomato sauce and crispy fried basil leaf provided a lovely counterpoint to make for a dish that, for me, screamed Italy.

I get a little bit excited about figs. Dessert had me writhing in my chair a little bit, as the honey dessert (described as a tart, but much more like a Madeleine texture) was served with a pistachio sauce and caramelized fig. I would trade chocolate and any other candy for these figs, and must now have them in my pantry. They would be perfection served with a light creamy accompaniment — even vanilla ice cream.

Many thanks to the region of Basilicata, Lou DiPalo, Lidia Bastianich and Felidia for inviting us to be a part of this evening. As Lou DiPalo likes to say, Italy is a region of 20 different countries, and we are learning the unique components of each as we taste our way around the boot. There is never a dull flavor moment.

ReMARKable Palate #230: The Foods of Basilicata

On this week’s show, I attend a special dinner at Felidia Restaurant in New York City to celebrate the foods of basilicata, the region in southern Italy at the instep of the boot. The dinner was hosted by Chef Lidia Bastianich and our old friend Lou Di Palo of Di Palo’s Fine foods in Little Italy, who’s great grandfather emigrated from Basilicata. We got to taste the products of this charming land. Later in the show, I speak with my pal Chris Marquardt about the 2nd Edition of our Brooklyn Cookin’ workshop.

You can register for the workshop at www.tfttf.com/bk2010

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Jennifer Iannolo and Chef Mark Tafoya head to Ontario to taste the culinary delights of Toronto. From the St. Lawrence Market to Chinatown, Greek Town, the Green Barns Market, and a slew of local restaurants, Toronto shows off its love of locally-grown produce and artisanal ingredients.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

Our first Brooklyn Cookin’ Workshop this past October was such a huge success, we decided to do it again this summer! I’ve teamed with Chris Marquardt from Tips From the Top Floor, one of the most popular photography shows on the web, to develop this parallel track workshop. Chris leads the photographers, sharing tips and tricks of photography in general, and food photography in particular. I lead those interested in cooking as we explore the kitchen, learning foundational cooking techniques, and several great recipes that help us practice these techniques. Then every once in a while we get together to shoot the food we made, and then enojy the fruits of our collective labor.

This is the perfect (and rare) workshop where couples can learn together, even if they have different interests.

There are still a few spots left. Learn more about the workshop and register at www.tfttf.com/bk2010

Brooklyn Cookin’ – Be a Chef! Be a Food Photographer! And bring someone to share… from Chris Marquardt on Vimeo.

Theme: Food Photography & Cooking
Date: July 16-18 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Price: starting at $699
Language: English
Instructors: Chris Marquardt (photography) & Mark Tafoya (cooking)

http://tfttf.com/bk2010 – This workshop is for couples, or for friends who share different interests. One’s a cook, one’s a photographer. And finally they can share a great workshop experience together. Personal Chef Mark Tafoya (http://culinarymedianetwork.com) and photographer Chris Marquardt (http://chrismarquardt.com/) share their knowledge about their respective fields with the workshop participants to make them great Chefs and perfect Food Photographers. Extend your horizon and upgrade your knowledge.

Here’s my AUDIO PODCAST from this past year’s workshop, inlcuding words from many of the participants.

And the Podcast we did for TIPS FROM THE TOP FLOOR.

“I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed the cooking workshop — learned a lot and use what I learned all the time: Pork Adobo, poached pears, and having fun in the kitchen!”
-Jacqui North, 2009 Participant

“Mark was great. He is so patient, understanding and knowledgeable. Very easy to talk to.. He showed us how to pick out the proper cuts of meat and ripe vegetables. He was very helpful to anyone who asked him questions, even if they were not in the class. He was a very understanding instructor and made cooking seem simple. This was my first cooking class and Mark made me want to take another one.”
-Sally Lovers, 2009 Participant

“Mark adds so much more to his classes than “just” his expertise and love of cookery. Mark can take you through the full culinary experience, from sourcing the ingredients at local markets through to magazine-cover presentation at the dinner table. His style is informal and entertaining, but still professional and extremely knowledgeable. And if you get the chance to be out and about with him in New York City, his knowledge of the area is encyclopedic!”
-Martin McNeil, 2009 Participant

To Register, CLICK HERE

Jennifer and Chef Mark explore Toronto’s “Greek Town” on Danforth Avenue with The Greek Gourmand, Sam Sotiropoulos. From an array of Greek cheeses & olives to sweets, pastries, and even some flaming saganaki, we see just how much this little area is packed with great delights from the Grecian Isles!

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel and accommodation provided by Tourism Toronto. All opinions expressed are those of the participants.

It’s been an intriguing couple of months. I originally posted this on Food Philosophy, but realized that some of you may read my stuff here instead of there, so I wanted to share it here, too, because it sets up a lot of things to come this year. Hee.

At BlogWorldExpo in Las Vegas, I found myself being introduced in the following manner: I’d like you to meet Jennifer. She does “Sex on a Plate.” To my pleasant surprise, many people already knew about it — or wanted to. Marsha Collier and I talked about it on her radio show for KTRB in San Francisco, and 4 million more people were let in on the secret. I loved that.

I then spent a few days with Kelly Cline, the early inspiration for turning my blog into something more. I am drawn to her food photography like a bee to honey, as she is the only person on earth who can see inside my mind and bring my thoughts to visual, four-color reality. We’ve had a magnificent five years of collaboration, and I’m coming away from my time with her newly inspired. It also turns out she takes more than good food photos…but more on that another time.

Kelly and I breathe a tandem rhythm of sensual stimulation, but we don’t want to be the only two in on the melody — and it looks like many of you feel the same way.

On Facebook, in e-mail and at events, people are asking me what it all means. So what kind of food should I eat? What dish gets you really hot? But that, my friends, is the result, not the cause. Let me explain a bit.

On Food Philosophy #87 I talked about experiencing Zumanity, the Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil. I’m eternally grateful to Jess Berlin for offering me a ticket, because seeing the show brought all my recent thoughts together in a flash of inspiration. Zumanity artfully and powerfully evokes the sensual desires in our minds — even the ones we hide in the light of day — and strikes a chord so deep it’s impossible to leave the theater without an overwhelming need to satiate them. Whether we shiver at the sight of light blue silk rippling in the breeze, or feel a rush of desire at the crack of a whip, something in that show triggers our senses until the hunger in the room is palpable. Every body shape, every sexual preference — every fantasy — is captured on stage, drenched in perfect lighting and pulsating rhythms.

I found myself in such a heightened state of sensory indulgence, I actually purred. Out loud.

After walking out of the theater I realized that if the world could step inside my head in that moment, they would get the idea of Sex on a Plate at its core. It’s not the food, you see, though that is a magnificent component of the satiety; it is what I’ve awakened inside that enables me to feel that kind of passionate arousal in such a moment, and see the world exploding with color and texture all around me. Imagine feeling like that on a regular basis. Oh yes.

The good news is that I’m not an anomaly — I’ve worked to get my senses to this place, but there are lots of you out there, even if you don’t know it yet. I’ve discovered that some of you took my tips to heart in getting started, and are beginning to see food in a whole different way. That excites me. Some of you have taken the tips into the bedroom. That excites me more.

If you haven’t yet started on the road toward Eden, I’m putting out a personal challenge to you, because it’s no fun here with just a few of us: Do something today to satiate your senses. Take a few extra seconds when you nibble that bite of chocolate, and feel its silkiness as it melts on your tongue. Run a finger down your lover’s spine. Drink in a moment of beauty, whether it’s a perfect flower or an exquisite woman.

Do this and you will soon be rewarded in the Garden, because things are in motion to bring Sex on a Plate to life, off the digitized page and right in front of you. Do you want your senses to be tickled? Titillated?

If the answer is yes — and I hope it is — I’ll need you to prepare.

Top photo: Kelly Cline
Bottom photo: Cirque du Soleil

Jennifer and Chef Mark pop in for a spot of afternoon tea at the Lower Slaughter Manor in the Cotswolds. One of the fine hotels of the Relais & Chateaux network, they know how to put out a spread!

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #227: Christmas Food Traditions

On this week’s show, Jennifer and I discuss our family holiday traditions, and what it was like growing up making our favorite holiday foods. I grew up in New Mexico, and talk about my love of posole, tamales, and biscochitos, and Jennifer talks about making both lasagna and Cloutie Dumpling for Christmas growing up in an Italian and Scottish household!

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Jennifer and Chef Mark pop in to the Jesse Smith Butcher Shop in Cirencester, England, which has been in business since 1808. Manager Perry Meredith gives us a tour of this historic shop.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #226: The Red Wines of Long Island

On this week’s show, we take a trip out to the east end to visit 4 different wineries in Long Island. We tasted a couple dozen red wines in one day from just about every producer in Long Island, and got to meet the folks from the Merlot Alliance, as well as get tastes of Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and even BlauFrankish!

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #224: History in a Glass – New Orleans Cocktails

Chef Mark visits the Museum of the American Cocktail, part of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, for the History in a Glass seminar. Elizabeth Pearce led us through the history of New Orleans as told through the stories of 3 of it’s most celebrated cocktails, The Sazerac, The Hurricane, & The Cafe Brulot. Of course, we just had to sample them while we studied!

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

My tasting tour of Rias Baixas led to a wonderful discovery: The female winemakers in this region have made an indelible impression upon the quality of the wines and the respect Albariño grapes have earned internationally.

I spent an afternoon at Pazo de Señoráns with Marisol Bueno, one of the founders of the Albariño D.O., along with her daughter Vicky and their team to learn the history behind the creation of the appellation. Like many of the smaller wine regions around the world, Marisol wanted to showcase the grapes inherent to Rias Baixas, taking advantage of the terroir of Galicia and its unique qualities to craft what has become one of my favorite wines.

Winemakers often become philosophical about the “struggle of the grapes” and how it lends character to their flavor profile. In Galicia the grapes do indeed face difficult conditions, as the climate is consistently moist, presenting the ever-present danger of mildew. Albariño grapes must be coaxed to grow in a manner that enables sunlight to penetrate the vines and keep them dry, which winery manager Javier Izurieta Romero explains in detail in the following video.

Note: This wine tour was sponsored by Wines from Spain and the Rias Baixas wine region.

Pineapple Meets Big Apple

I had the pleasure of being the special guest this week on “From Hawaii With Love” a podcast hosted by Jenny Fujita and Joy Koerte which celebrates the beauty and culture of the Aloha State.

The topic was “Pineapple meets Big Apple”, and we spoke about my recent adventure discovering the foods of Hawaii, and how Hawaiian cuisine has influenced foods on the mainland. I also spoke about our Gilded Fork Cookbook and offered some entertaining tips.

You can find all their shows on www.fromhawaiiwithlove.com