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New RecipePhile Mobile Site

Hey Everyone.... No recipe today, but some GREAT news. Kate, my business partner, and I are meeting with our newest client, Proteus. Proteus makes mobile technology solutions. One of their products, Swift, (www.swiftmob.com) lets you create a mobile Web site in minutes.

We are sitting here in the conference room and I just created a mobile site. Grab your WAP enabled phone and log on to http://recipephile.swiftmob.com.

Now you check RecipePhile from your cell phone.

Enjoy!

Wine Musings From Jerry - Are Screw Caps really cool?

The hottest topic in the world of wine today isn't about vintages, varieties or locations. While Mother Nature's legendary temper makes each year exciting for winemakers around the world, it seems that one of her other wonders has taken precedence: that wonderful tree bark known as cork. Today the big question is whether or not to screw. A nasty little infection called Trichloranisole, or TCA, has made its mark. It occurs during the cork-sterilization process, so little can be done to halt it other than careful bark selection and lot inspection. As many as 5% of all cork finished wines are ‘corked’ resulting in a musty-flavored wine. A significant number of highly regarded wineries in the United States are taking the " Stelvin" closure plunge; aka the screw cap. Plumpjack has been bottling 50 percent of its reserve production in Stelvin. This year look for Calera, Argyle and Sonoma-Cutrer to join in the action. Don’t be an old fart. Screw caps are cool.

The Never Ending Chicken

I spent the weekend in Fire Island Pines. The Pines is an amazing little town on Fire Island in New York. Lots of time is spent cooking for a houseful of people and this past weekend we cooked up a storm. On Friday night I decided to roast a chicken and serve it with sauteed shitake mushrooms and risotto. Most of the food was eaten, but we had some leftover chicken and mushrooms. So of course I put my money where my mouth is and used the leftovers.

Notes on Creativity - Use Your Leftovers

For some, leftovers have a bad connotation, likely bringing back reminders of Chinese food boxes that get pushed way way back into the deep abyss of the refrigerator only to emerge during the annual refrigerator clean out. My memories of leftovers are luckily a little different. Words cannot describe the taste of leftover meatloaf piled high on a crusty italian roll with some red onion and mayonaise. Or the next day tastiness of those few pieces of lasagna that remained in the pan at the end of a meal. I am a big proponent of taking leftovers and eating them 'as is' or taking them to the next level by recreating their flavor in an entirely different recipe.

Roasted Tomato and Tomatillo Salsa

On Cinco de Mayo my good friend Tim hosted a margarita and Mexican food party. He served shrimp, chicken and beef fajitas marinated in tequila and lime as well as a delicious torilla macaroni and cheese casserole. Tim is a master at guacamole and so he whipped some of that up while I prepared a roasted tomato and tomatillo salsa with my friend Nick. As usual, we just kind of made this one up as we went along. The end result was a smoky and deliciously incredible salsa that I highly recommend trying.

Wine Musings From Jerry - Is there any danger from sulfites in wine?

Only if you are allergic. Sulfites are a naturally occurring compound that nature uses to prevent microbial growth. They are found on grapes, onions, garlic, and on many other growing plants. No wine can ever be "sulfite free", since they come in with the grapes. (Unless they are removed in the lab, which will make the wine very unstable - it would need to be consumed within weeks.) On average, 2oz of dried apricots have 10 times the sulfites as a glass of wine does.

Easy Crab and Artichoke Dip...

Whenever I make this cheesy dip people lap it up almost immediately. So I try to keep a second helping on the side so that there is more to go around. My mother makes this dip all of the time and chuckles at the ease of preparation. I must say that most of the dishes mom makes are not only absolutely delicious, but also rooted in simple preparation. Usually this dip is served with toasted baguette slices, but cracker or tortilla chips will do too.

Notes on Creativity - Fail Forward

Back in the day when the Internet was just getting hot and publications like Fast Company, Business 2.0 and Red Herring were uber popular there was a saying that resonated in the pages of these tech rags -- fail forward. The concept was all about learning from your mistakes in the world of fast paced technology startups. Over the years this saying has stuck with me and with every failure a vauable lesson has also come shining through. This definitely holds true for my kitchen failures, one of which just occurred last Saturday at my friend JB's house. In addition to slicing the top of my finger off (this is true) I also made squid that turned out kind of icky. Here is what happened and what I learned...

Wine Musings From Jerry - Do the “Legs” of a Wine Indicate Quality?

The “legs” are the tiny rivulets of wine that run down the sides of a glass after the wine has been swirled around the glass. The speed of the legs will tell you more about the alcohol and growing climate of the wine than anything else. Slow moving legs indicate a warm climate; quick moving legs – a cooler climate.

When someone in the know says that a wine has "nice legs” this implies the presence of good quantities of glycerin, a natural component of a balanced wine, and alcohol, and tends to be associated with full- bodied wines.

Not My Mother's Meatballs

On Saturday my friend Scotty hosted a little dinner soiree at his place. All invitees were asked to pitch in and prepare a dish. The theme... German food and the basis for the meal was a apple and dijon pork loin, which turned out to be absolutely delicious. I really really wanted to make Swedish meatballs with that sweet and tangy sauce. Although not German I figured Sweden is close enough and with the many similarities in their choice of foods my meatballs would be fine.

So I took my mother's traditional recipe and altered it a little to give it a little lederhosen flair. These are pretty easy to make and tasty too.