recipephile

Cuckoo for Coconut

Hello

If you have been following RecipePhile you know that my friend Tiffany has been sending food challenges each week. This week's challenge was coconut. My assumption is that this was inspired by Tiff's six-month stint in Hawaii where she worked in a resort as a sous chef.

Whatever inspired Tiffany required some creativity. For me, the objective with cooking and with RecipePhile has always been to either create my own dishes or adapt dishes from one of the many cookbooks I own or recipes found online and in magazines.

Coconut made me think immediately of Thai and curry. Easy enough, but lacking in creativity. At least that is what I thought. So this week I decided to do two recipes enhanced with the flavor of coconut. One of the recipes -- actually a desert, which I rarely prepare -- came from my good friend Brooke and another was an adaptation of a family favorite.

Give these two dishes a try and then let us know what you think.

Michael

Where the Buffalo ROMA

This week's RecipePhile was an exercise in creativity. Unfortunately, Crispin and Brian could not join in on the fun this week, so my friend Mike Novelly (wine conossieur/finance man) came over and we had a great time.

Tiffany, a good friend of mine and great chef, has been sending us food "challenges". Kind of like the Iron Chef, Tiff sends along one ingredient that has to be used in one or all of the dishes that we serve each week. This week's challenge was buffalo. UGH, I thought to myself, where am I going to get Buffalo. DUH, I thought again, you live in New York, surely
you'll find buffalo somewhere. It was an easier find than I had expected. Citarella (www.citarella.com) a wonderful, but slightly pricey, grocery store here on the Upper West Side was able to fulfill my need.

UGH, I thought one more time, what am I going to do with buffalo. This is where the creativity started and the brain was going a million miles an hour. My friend Annie sent me an email the same day and the note she sent made reference to the 70's. The 70's, made me think about fondue and then I thought how cool it would be to make fondue and cook the buffalo right in the hot cheese sauce. Then I thought again, the cheese would mask the flavor of the meat and may not cook it as much as is needed. Something simpler... the 70s came back into my head and so did memories of Mr. Ferari's Bagna Cauda at the Oyster Christmas party we used to have every year in the mountains. This simple dish of olive oil, butter, garlic and anchovy is a perfect solution for cooking the meat, my brain continued. My thought was that the taste would add to the flavor of the buffalo and not mask it completely. It was amazing and I definitely insist that you at least try the Bagna Cauda.

The other dishes were also delicious. Read on - I would love to hear your thoughts.

Michael

RecipePhile.org, Roasted Chicken, Golden Globes

My brother-in-law, Chris, is AWESOME. He gave me an early birthday/Christmas present this year by registering the URL www.RecipePhile.org. He also built a blogging site for me. Now ALL of the recipes from RecipePhile are archived on RecipePhile.org. Please log on, send your friends, add comments, ask questions and let us know what you think. Thanks Chris, you rock.

This week Crispin, Brian and I made Roasted Chicken and Lemon Risotto with Shitake Mushrooms. Delicious meal. Two friends, Ken Nilson the furniture designer and Alaine, a friend that I know from my favorite French Restaurant, Gascogne, joined us for dinner.

At the request of New York Post TV critic Linda Stasi, while we were cooking we also watched Star Jones (E!) and Joan Rivers (TV Guide) on the red carpet and called her with some pithy comments that she will hopefully include in her piece. Linda is comparing the two and we cannot wait to read her razor sharp opinions on how these two women perform at the Golden Globes. Here is a question for you... Does Star Jones actually wear Payless shoes?

Michael
"Always remember that food is about more than eating...it is about thinking, buying, preparing, enjoying and most importantly... sharing."

Born Again

With the start of the New Year I have decided to bring RecipePhile back to life. So with the help of my two close friends Crispin and Brian you'll be receiving RecipePhile once again. If you have never received this before, it is a weekly collection of our experiences with food and the recipes that go along with it!

This week we had furniture designer Kenneth Nilson with us to help eat the absolutely delicious meal. Below are descriptions of the food we tried this week. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments!

Happy Eating!

PS -- We have FoodNoteworthies at the end of every RecipePhile. These will help you to learn more and navigate the preparation of many of the dishes we feature.

Introduction

RecipePhile is all about experience. The experience me and my friends and family have shopping for, preparing, eating and enjoying food and wine. The original idea was inspired by my own family's love of food. This love for anything epicurean translated into RecipePhile and is now updated each and every week.

Enjoy, add comments and feel free to sign up for my newsletter by sending me an email if you'd like us to add friends or family to the RecipePhile email list.

Thanks and Enjoy!

Michael