Hot From The Kettle ®
Why reinvent the wheel when a classic is one of the best ways to warm up a cold, wet winter day? There are about as many Oatmeal Cookie Recipes out there as there are oats in a tube of Quaker Oats, but it's the original that everyone remembers from childhood.
Enjoy the recipe below, and please share!
2012 was a whirlwind at Olive That & More!, opening their doors in late summer, introducing the concept, and preparing for the holidays, time just flew by and whoops, it's 2013!
Most resolutions begin to fade by the middle of January, so its time to keep everyone inspired. Olive That and More has invited Hot From The Kettle's John Lee (that's me) to demonstrate simple techniques that can be used to create healthy snack options incorporating flavored & infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
I was quite upset to see John Lee report that True North Osteria had closed it’s doors last weekend. It was one of my favorite places for vegan dining in New Jersey and it was home to Montclair’s famous life changing grilled pizza. One of True North’s best dishes was their Pan Seared Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Pistachios – a dish that surely changed diners’ opinions on the much maligned vegetable. Since I can no longer order this tasty dish out in the restaurant world, I set about recreating it in my own kitchen, and I was quite pleased with the results.
There are good Indian restaurants in Montclair and - there are those that are not. Chatni, the new Indian restaurant located at 381 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, should be counted among the very good Indian restaurants.
Rice Krispies treats are an iconic 20th Century American dessert that combined products available through a combination of new technology and mass production to create a classic. The original recipe was developed in 1939 by Mildred Day and the staff at the Kellogg Company home economics department as a fund raiser for Camp Fire Girls. The recipe has since gone through several incarnations but the basic recipe remains the same, marshmallows melted in butter, with Rice Krispies swirled into the puffy clouds of sweetness.
The holidays bring a bounty of invitations. But every once in a while, an invite arrives that’s just too good to refuse. Zod Arifai, renowned chef and owner of Blu in Montclair, invited me to share a special dinner with Dimitrios Leivadas, restaurant manager of Heston Blumenthal's, The Fat Duck, who was visiting New York on holiday.
Suffice it to say, this was no ordinary meal I was invited to. It was a nineteen course Zod Arifai tasting; a series of preparations exhibiting color, balance, texture, and Zod’s signature instinct for coaxing complimentary flavors.