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Crazy fun Wednesday coming up on GREAT TASTE LIVE. 

Two shows are on tap at Hy-Vee. 

First, at 7:00 pm it's our annual Farmer's Market preview. 

The market moves outside in two weeks, and we have some of the key players lined up to tell you what to expect. 

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This Wednesday our LIVE show features Chef Matt Steigerwald of the Lincoln Cafe in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.  Many folks believe Matt has the best restaurant in the state.  I would not miss this one-in the Club Room at Hy-Vee, 7:00 pm sharp.

Claudia Mueller, publisher of The Iowa Source, will be there, along with Nina Benjamin, who wrote an article about Matt for the Source's March issue.

Kicking off the show is Emily Rose Shaw presenting part 2 of her "Ode to Spring Greens."  I almost forgot to mention that Matt's making Harissa cauliflower with local greens, as a nod to Emily's presentation, and a Charred eggplant falafel with goat cheese lemon yoghurt.

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Live at Hy-Vee on Wednesday at 7:00 pm it's Italian food, fun, and family as we welcome SOFIA, the Society of Fairfield Italian Americans, to the show.  SOFIA members will share stories and treasured family recipes, plus they will prepare several dishes-farinata, minestra, fresh-baked Italian bread, and fried peppers Calabrese-style.  Join us in the Club Room for a celebration of Italian life.  Also, Emily Rose Shaw kicks off her new weekly health and nutrition segment with helpful information and tips on how to feel your best.

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Emily Rose Shaw presents Part 1 of her "Ode to Spring Greens."

You can savor Emily's bitesize health segments every Monday at 6:30pm, Wednesday at 12:30pm, and Friday at 6:30am.

 

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Live at the Hy-Vee Club Room A star-studded cast, 60-minute non-stop food happening.  Emily Rose Shaw started the hour with an introduction to her upcoming weekly health and nutrition appetizer segment.  She was followed by the queen of eating healthy and delicious on a food stamp budget, Linda Watson.  Jan Swinton provided the latest triumphs on the local food scene.  Joy Salmon introduced us to cornbread three ways.  Jeffrey Smith put in perspective how Whole Foods decision to label GMO's will play out in the rest of the food industry. And, chef Vanessa Allen prepared guacamole, slaw, and salsa to go along with her blackened fish tacos.  Whew!  Have fun listening.

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We have a double dose of Italy planned on Wednesday live from the Hy-Vee Club room. 

James Beard award-winning author, Alan Tardi, joins us via Skype to discuss Piemontese cuisine, and his experiences after a decade of living in the Italian countryside.  Alan left his career as a chef in New York City, closing his fabulous Tuscan-style restaurant, Follonico, and moving to the Langhe Valley in Piemonte in 2003, a region known for its amazing grapes.

With Laurie Baumann's assistance, we'll prepare a couple of typical Piemontese delights.  Join us at 7:00 pm for a delicious and informative hour.

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Local student of culture and climates, Sean Hickey, will prepare three dishes-dry-style street noodle, chicken rice soup, and kao soy.  Gisella Isidori will visit with us, and we're going to talk about a special Italian trip coming up in June.

If you can't make it to Hy-Vee, join us on the web for our tea show with Bruce Richardson and Corey Morrow.  Bruce is a world-reknowned expert on the Camellia sinensis, while Corey brews the leaves up locally at earth and water.

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it's tea time with one of the world's leading tea historians, Bruce Richardson, joining us via Skype, and local tea ambassador, Corey Morrow, owner of earth and water.  Tea's sordid history along with tastes of four Chinese varieties, and scones at 7:00 pm with host Steve Boss

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It was a delicious experience being in Salt Lake City last week. I had excellent meals at the Copper Onion and Pago. More about those meals on the show.

I love chocolate so it was a treat to enjoy in SLC a brief Chocolate 101 session at Tony Caputo's Market and Deli. This "must" destination fine food shop downtown has its own cheese cave, an in-house salame maker, and a overwhelming number (more than 300) of cacao bean products including three types of rich chocolate drinks that should come with some type of government warning label.

The devil lurking behind these temptations is one of this week's guests, Matt Caputo. Here's how one website described him. "Matt Caputo is one of the world's most discerning connoisseur of fine chocolate bars. The award winning chocolate tasting classes he teaches at Tony Caputo's Market & Deli are highly recommended by many media outlets, chefs and even numerous international chocolate experts. His in-depth research is not limited to books and the internet, he has traveled the globe to meet and learn from the most respected chocolate makers in the world."

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Chef Fátima is the owner of Restaurante Fatima and one of Spain's top mycologists.   Her work with Madrid Fusion, and local mushroom producers and groups including El Congreso Zoria Gastronomica has brought great recognition to the area of Castilla y Leon, where her restaurant is located.

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Major thanks to tonight’s guest, Jeffrey Smith, for stepping in when Mother Nature modified the guest lineup. Our change in programming was a natural result of the snowy weather, but what are the consequences in our food system when scientists modify the genetic code of plants?  According to well-known author and scientist Candace Pert, Jeffrey is equipped to answer that question.  Pert described him as “the leading world expert in the understanding and communication of the health issues surrounding genetically modified foods.”

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For almost three decades, Frank Lotz has been cooking and teaching people how to integrate the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda into their daily lifestyle.  In his book, Heavenly Cooking with Ayurveda, Lotz combines many simple recipes that the home cook can easily use with detailed explanations of spices, Vedic principles of health, ayurvedic food supplements, eating in harmony with the season, ideal Vedic daily routine, and tidbits of wisdom from his Grandma Minna.

Lotz's main body of ayurvedic knowledge comes from having studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for many years and learning ayurvedic cooking under a master chef in Seelisberg, Switzerland.  In addition, he has a unique way of relating this very different approach to eating and lifestyle, moreso than any other person I've met.

When you listen to the discussion Kathy DuBois and Steve Boss held with Frank, pay attention to how he relates the ayurvedic body-type principles to different types of cars.  His approach to the entire subject is also very simple.  According to Frank, if your food experience brings happiness, it's ayurveda.

Catch the stream at www.kruufm.com on Wednesday at 7 pm CT with the replay Friday morning at 7 am CT.

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Joining us for a discussion about the ongoing evolution of the local food economy are four of our dedicated area producers:  Cary Spray (Nature's Way), Claude Nicholson (Sharon's Produce), Steven McLaskey (MUM Green House), and Barb Grijalva (Back to Basics).  Also, we have a delegation coming from Ottumwa organized by Executive Chef/Department Chair of the Indian Hills Culinary Arts Program, Gordon Rader.  Chef Rader has been one of the primary movers behind the effort to establish a year-round indoor market and educational facility in Ottumwa, called Market on Main.

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I ran out of time to get this blog post out for this week's show so here's the short, savory, and sweet message:  Curt Goudy and Sara Valentine, students in the Indian Hills Culinary Arts program, are cooking fondue-three different ways-on Great Taste live at Hy-Vee.  You'll love it.  Come down to the Club Room for the show or listen in on the stream.

Thank you to Wikipedia for the remainder of the blog post :)!

History

The earliest known recipe for cheese fondue as we know it today comes from a 1699 book published in Zurich, under the name "Käss mit Wein zu kochen" 'to cook cheese with wine'.^[4] It calls for grated or cut-up cheese to be melted with wine, and for bread to be dipped in it.

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I cannot keep my weight from creeping back up every holiday season.  You don't think it has anything to do with Egg Nog, do you?  I've been consuming it daily, strictly for medicinal purposes, since just before Thanksgiving?  Who would have guessed that in only four ounces there are 17 grams of fat and nine of them are saturated.  Luckily, they stop stocking it just after Christmas (if I survive that long).

I need company in the expanding waist line department so we're bringing more holiday delights to you on this week's Great Taste. In the Hy-Vee Club Room kitchen, Isha Kinger, notable raw food chef, will work her healthy magic.  If you want to create along with Isha during the show, she has kindly supplied the ingredients needed for two sweet treats.  (I wonder how the Nut Nog compares to the Egg Nog?)

Click "Read more" below for the nut nog recipe & more...

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Pairing wines with foods is a topic that is fascinating and mysterious to me.  For some reason, I don't have the type of mind that can easily assess how to put the two components together and create a synergistic experience.   Fortunately, I'm lucky to know some people who have that gift, and my taste buds are alive enough to perceive the magic result.  And it really is a magical experience if the pairing is right.

I never "got" wine.  All I knew was Manishewitz from our yearly celebrations of Passover.  Later when I started traveling to New York City for work, I had the good fortune and pleasure to enjoy fine meals with, what I was told, were excellent wines.  Still, I didn't understand what all the fuss was about. 

My "awakening" came after becoming friends with Jeff Benjamin, who along with his partner, Marc Vetri, owns four outstanding restaurants in Philadelphia*.  Over a period of years, Jeff would introduce me to many different wines (and beers) from a host of countries.  The wines were always accompanied by a plate of food, and he would encourage me to first experience the wine on its own, and then after a bite of food.  What did that 2004 Grüner Veltliner do to a fisherman's dish from Liguria-corzetti pasta with potato, haricots verts, pine nuts, and pesto?  Did the flavor memory of a bite of black truffle risotto linger on the palate even longer, and enter a new dimension after a sip of a Boscarelli 1999 Super Tuscan?

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The amazing Gisella Isidori is our special guest on a bonus GREAT TASTE show live from Hy-Vee on Thursday evening.  Fresh from surviving Hurricane Sandy, Gisella blew into Fairfield last weekend and proceeded to capture the hearts of local food lovers and Italophiles.  On Sunday, she taught a hands-on class at the At Home Store with 20 people.  In a little over two hours they made 12 different dishes including polenta, sauces, and dessert.  On Monday, a group of middle school students at MSAE learned how to make pasta and two sauces with her.  Tuesday at Indian Hills she interacted with 30 culinary students, and they turned out an array of 12 plates featuring classic Italian dishes such as risotto Milanese.

Wednesday evening she told the Great Taste audience at Hy-Vee about how she and her husband got started making gourmet pastas in New York over 30 years ago.  They were the first to introduce pastas made from quinoa, amaranth, oat bran, and other widely unknown grains.  She even made fresh buckwheat pasta in 1990 at Le Madri, a Manhattan restaurant Bryan Miller, then the New York Times critic, called the hot spot where you find ''the hugs-and-kisses-I-love-your-hat-Ciao-baby crowd.'' [Click on pic to read Gisella's post-Sandy story in the Iowa Source.]

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The holidays are in sight so over the next few shows we're going to ratchet things up to help you prepare.  This week we even have two "live" shows for your listening or, if you are a local, viewing pleasure.

Our first guest is author and editor, Gina Hyams.  Gina came up with a very fun concept-hosting cooking contests at home.  She's packaged the idea, so far, into three "in a box" products-Pie Contest in a Box, Chili Cook-Off in a Box, and her newest release, Christmas Cookie Contest in a Box.  Each kit includes everything you need as the fun party host-judge badges, prize ribbons, scorecards, and more.  We'll cook up some chili and talk with Gina about how to throw a different and exciting holiday party, plus we'll give away one of each of the "in a box" items.  If you bring some chili, a pie or Christmas cookies to share with the audience, you'll get first chance at the prizes.

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We have so much coming up on Great Taste in the next week so take a look at this blog post for all the particulars.  First, this week LIVE at Hy-Vee our guest via the phone from Austin is Chef Jesse Griffiths, author of the just-published book Afield:  A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish.  Jesse is an expert on sourcing and utilizing local foods, preserving items and following the "food" seasons, how to utilize wild game, foraged items, and fish, and something that has piqued my attention-using the internet to forage.

He and his life partner, Tamara Mayfield, have a supper club called Dai Due that pops up in various locations in and around Austin, a butcher shop selling items at Farmer's Markets, and the New School of Traditional Cookery where Jesse offers workshops on hunting and fishing. 

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We're cooking in some very familiar territory during Wednesday night's broadcast of Great Taste live from Hy-Vee.  Comfort food and Italian cuisine always are at the top of my list of food favorites, so the menu includes two different dishes, both using the same cooking technique.  The specific geographical home for these specialties is Northern and a bit of Central Italy, where classic risotto (cooked rice), and farrotto (cooked farro) dishes are found.

Risotti are made primarily with the arborio, vialone nano, or carnaroli varieties of rice.  Farrotti feature the  small, brown, unhybridized grain, sometimes known as emmer, which is a progenitor of the modern wheat family.

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I want to go to the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy.  The autonomous region is in the far north bordered by Austria to the north, Switzerland to the northwest, and two regions of Italy, Lombardia on its west and Veneto in the south.  It's a mountainous area where the residents mainly speak Italian in Trentino and German in the Alto Adige.  I need (notice the verb used) to go there and watch the bruno alpina and grigio alpina cows.  I need to listen to the sound of their bells as they wander the mountain pastureland.  I need to speak with their custodians, and taste the cheeses made from their milk during the short summer grazing season.  I need to wash those cheeses down with some pinot bianco.

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As I think back on all the wonderful meals I've had in the past few days, I am exceedingly thankful for having the opportunity to enjoy local produce grown by committed farmers.  Sweet peppers, purple beans, eggplant, summer squash, and tomatoes all found their way to the table.  With a flourish of flavor, the colorful, fresh vegetables of summer said "so long for awhile" as fall snuck up on us.

A crisp couple of nights threw a knockout punch to the tomatoes and squash, but that white kiss also sweetened up the chard and kale.  The story is pretty routine, but always new in some ways.  This season the chill forced my daughter and son-in-law to pick many green tomatoes that are now beckoning to me from inside their jars where they are transforming into pickled tomatoes.  That caused my mind to race backwards a few decades and see a vision of rows of pickled green tomatoes sitting on shelves in the basement after my mother transformed them.  I can still taste their complex sourness replete with the flavors of dill, garlic, and other pickling spices.

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I am almost drooling with anticipation regarding Wednesday's GREAT TASTE.  It's our monthly show when the Indian Hills culinary students show off their skills so Curt Goudy and his crew will take the stage live at Hy-Vee from the Club Room/Kitchen Lab.  They are going to work with pâte à choux.  If you aren't familiar with the term, think profiteroles, éclairs, gougères, and much more.  Butter, water, flour, eggs equals ecstatic moments.

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"'When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, 'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'
"'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh.  'What do you say, Piglet?'
"'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?' said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.  "It's the same thing," he said.

-A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

Pooh's conclusion encapsulates everything I feel about food.  The thrill of the plate resonates throughout each of us, whether we truly embrace it as a sensual experience worth indulging in, or use food simply as a means of gas for the engine. 

Either way, it is the fuel that drives every part of the human machine.  Why not cherish the experience?  I think being in touch with what you eat and how it effects your emotions is an important tool for enjoying life.

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Our friend, Ermo Bissini, passed away several weeks ago.  I have been thinking about how to pay tribute to him, and finally hit upon a solution that represents who Ermo was and shares his passion.  Ermo was a Modenese.  He lived, breathed, and lauded his beloved city of Modena, Italy in the region of Emilia-Romagna.  Along with his lovely wife, Nazzarena, he represented Modena with his dignified and refined manner.  He honored the city by creating typical food products featuring the trebbiano and lambrusco grapes.  Ermo was a supporter of organic agriculture, and was our first maestro; introducing us to the wonders of his most beloved condiment-aceto balsamico di Modena.  Most of all, he was kind and giving, and it will be a pleasure for me to share some memories of him with you.
We'll celebrate his life by creating a wondrous pallet of flavors with three types of balsamic vinegar; using it to awaken a trio of foods-a salad, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream.  We'll toast Ermo with Lambrusco, the typical wine of Emilia-Romagna, plus enjoy a crispy Frico made with parmigiano reggiano.  One other surprise dish will round out our trip to this region famous for its culinary delicacies. [Click "Read more" below to continue reading.]