Recipes from Flavors From Afar and Friends Fend Off Frostbite Supper Our "Fend off Frostbite" supper is one that we enjoy after a long day on our feet at our store.  It's full of comforting touches, and many of the components can stand alone as appetizers (Pesto Torte, White Bean Bites, Egg and Bacon Salad) or even as a vegetarian entree (just add cheese to the Navy Bean Balsamic Surprise).  We keep it in our back pocket for an easy, prep-ahead, satisfying meal.  Many of the components can be found at our store.  Click on the links below for recipes.   "Fend off the Frostbite" Menu: Pesto Torte White Bean, Semi-Dried Tomato and Basil Bites Deviled Eggs with Bacon and Truffle Salt Gary's Truffled Mashed Potatoes Nancy's Navy Bean Balsamic East Texas Surprise Walnut Sage Filet Easy dessert of Pastry Party Cups with Sweet Lemon Buttery Jam. Learn to Make Pasta Without a Machine with Sarah Fioroni Click on the video at left and learn to do it yourself!  Or, come on our Insider's Wine and Food Week in Tuscany and you can have a hands-on lesson!  Sarah's family owns Fattoria Poggio Alloro near San Gimignano, and we pay her a visit each time we're in Tuscany.  Chef BJ Harms' Italian Evening Menu Take a little trip with BJ to Italy Tonight!  Here's her menu, recipes, and Flavors From Afar featured products (in italics)! Goat Cheese and Caramelized Red Onion and Fig Tartlets in Pastry Party Cups Bleu Cheese Pear Cups with Sicilian Almond Honey Green Salad with Vanilla Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette Tuscan Chicken with Eolian Spice Mix, Flavors From Afar Marinara Sauce, and Gigli Barley Pasta Green Beans with Prosciutto and Lacrima de Christo Vinegar Italian Cassata with Tripolino and Sicilian Almond Honey Click on each item above to get the recipes, then get on down to Flavors From Afar for your favorite ingredients! To see BJ in her "Owners Pick" winning entry in our video contest last summer, click on the link at left! Easy Elegant Summer Entertaining Menu and Recipes Five courses you must try this summer!  Not an oven in sight!  The Line-Up: Frozen Bellinis or Wine-a-Ritas Artichoke, Cherry Tomato, and Feta Salad with Artichoke-Lemon Pesto Crostini Grilled Pizza with Sausage and Tomato Sauce Grilled Corn with Truffle Salt Sweet Lemon Buttery Jam Cups with Raspberry For recipes, click here. Mint Running Wild in Your Back Yard? These recipes will make you green with envy.  That is, until you make them yourself!  We've got recipes for: Mojitos Mint Pesto Mint Olive Oil Mint Cucumber Salad Strawberries with Baslamic Vinegar and Mint For the recipes, click here.  It's like we really "mint" it! Angel Food Cake with Fruth Farms Eggs Caroline Fruth brought by this Angel Food cake for a tasting a couple of weeks ago and we fell in love with it!  You've just got to promise to do something creative with the yolks - no wasting these precious beauties!  Here is the recipe: 1 Cup cake flour 3/4 cup plus 2 tblspoons sugar 12 egg whites 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or one bean split lengthwise and scrapped Heat oven to 375 Stir together flour and first amount of sugar; set aside In large mixing bowl beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt till foamy.  Add second amount of sugar, 2 tblespoons at a time beating on high speed until meringue holds stiff peaks.  Fold in vanilla. Sprinkle flour-sugar mixture 1/4 cup at a time over meringue, folding in gently just until flour-sugar mixture disappears.  Pour into ungreased 10X14 tube -pan, or two bread pans  Gently cut through batter. Bake 30 to 40 minutes till cake springs back to touch, cracks on top and is browning.  Cool completely before trying to remove cake. Caroline cools the tube pans inverted balanced on a milk glass. Pour a glass of milk and enjoy! College Reunion Recipes Getting together with some friends from decades past?  Want to spend time catching up, not stranded in the kitchen?  Get a few ideas Nancy and her mates from the Emory University Class of 1976. Featured Recipes: Amy's Reunion Chicken Sandwiches with Roasted Peppers and Cilantro Pesto Amy's Reunion Roast Beef Sandwiches with Arugula and Blue Cheese Nancy's Standing Rib Roast Nancy's Overnight Egg Casserole Patsy's Lemon-Yogurt Muffins Patsy's Pumpkin Bars Susan's Artichoke-Rice Salad Susan's Curried Cream Cheese Click here and enjoy! Seductive Chef Ginnie Bivona Spills the Beans on her Tomato Salad! Local award-winning author Ginnie Bivona may say she's a sweet little grandmother, but from reading the racy recipes in The Seductive Chef, you'd never know it! Ginnie loves our Ariston Balsamic Vinegar and Greek Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, and has written a recipe to prove it!  Click here for her Tomato Salad, then whip it up and use for bruschetta, dipping, salad or steak topping.  It's tasty and true to the elements that create it! Recipes from the Copper Spices The Copper Spices, aka DLee Anderson and BJ Harms, are magical chefs who bring their talents to local cooking classes and in-home cooking parties (www.thecopperspices.com).  We'll bring you some of our favorites on this website. Just click on the recipe name below and go! First Place Winners in Slow Food Dallas Competition - The Judges Do Not Lie!  Both Copper Spices scored a First Place entry!  Try DLee's Avocado-Pineapple Rhumba, BJ's Roasted Roots, and Slow Foodie Jennifer Uygur's Caramel-Pecan Sauce.  Balsamic Thyme Pork - Gooey, Caramelized, Easy, and just right!  Uses Ariston Balsamic Vinegar ($13.99 first time, $10.99 refill) and Caramelized Red Onion an Fig Sauce ($9.49)/ Prosciutto, Mozarella, Tomato and Basil Panini!  Try with our O&Co. Basil Oil ($9-$32). Apple-Brie Soup!  Oh my - this brew is velvety and light, sweet and savory.  Crema de Pomodoro Soup - rich, savory, and low fat??  Can this be?  Roasted Garlic Potato Soup - Ditto on the low fat!  Red Beans and Rice - So satisfying and worth it!  Cream of Mushroom Soup - We kick it up a bit with our own Truffle Salt ($24/jar but oh so tasty!).  Ashley Plantation Gazpacho Soup.  Something light and fresh, including a little history of the introduction of Gazpacho to the US.  Serve with our "Wine-A-Rita" mix ($11.99), Black Bean Cilantro Soup.  Bright cilantro flavors.  Smoked Trout with Belgian Endive.  Sample using O&Co. Mix for Fish ($8) Fruited Rice Pilaf:  Comforting mix of sweet and savory.  Add our Oktoberfest pecans to punch up the flavors with cinnamon and vanilla.  ($5.99/4 oz. bag).  Mandarin Couscous.  A little sweet and savory, a little East and West.  Try our Fregola Sardo instead of Couscous ($8.49) for a twist - and toss in our Mint Oil from O&Co ($14) to boot!  Asparagus Bundles in Prosciutto!  Perfect use for the fruits of the season, plus drizzle a little of our truffle oil to finish ($24 for white truffle oil; $19 for black truffle oil from O&Co.).  Charlee's Bread Pudding with Panettone!  We love Panettone just by itself, but for the leftovers, bread pudding is magnifico.  (Panettone $24.95)   Baked Citrus Salmon - Why do we love this dish?  Because it takes the savory appeal of Balsamic Vinegar and stacks it right up against sparkly lemon in the citrus sauce (Balsamic Vinegar $12.99-$180 at Flavors From Afar!) Eggplant Casserole - Rustic and updated at the same time.  We love our Basilic from O&C ($7.99) as an enhanced flavoring - Ligurian Basil! Rockin' Romaine Salad - Perfect for this time of year!  Try with O&Co. Sicilian Spice ($7) or Mix for Salads ($8) Pesto Puffs - THE Appetizer to bring to parties or outdoor cookouts.  Uses Basilic from O&Co ($7.99) and/or Sundried Tomato/Basil Pesto ($8.95) Italian Canteloupe Salad - Fabulous melon with soppressata, Amici Olive Oil ($29.99) and Chateau de Fromage chevre ($7.49). Stuffed Bread - Perfect and Portable for Picnics!  Needs a good olive oil!  Try Ariston ($14.99, refills $12.99). Easy Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Pork Tenderloin - Easy for this time of year, sweet and savory.  (Caramelized Red Onion and Fig Sauce $9.49, O&Co. Balsamic Vinegar $27) Stay tuned for more spice!  Sexy Grandmother Wins Contest with Braciole Recipe! We had a contest to see who could get us the best recipe to cook in Gary's Big Bad new Dutch Oven - all day if possible.  Sexy Grandma Ginnie Siena Bivona (click here to find out why so sexy) provided this winning recipe for Papa Siena's Braciole.  Braciole is a big favorite of Gary's - ever since the glory days of tasting his first at Espo's in Raritan NJ.  It's basically a meat rotini - meat rolled 'round a stuffing.  Merriam Webster says the history of the word comes from brace, or a grill over live coals.  Here's the cite.   We also found this recipe from Giada - another twist with cheese and bread stuffing.  How do you like your Braciole?  Here's how to pronounce it by the way! Buon Appetito We Love "Cookin' with Carol" ...Carol Ritchie, that is.  Her wonderful spirit guides her gourmet cooking show and we stepped in for a brief visit.  We came away with a fabulous Chicken with Swiss Cheese and Creamy Red Pepper Sauce recipe (click here for the goods) that we cooked at home right away.  On our end, we brought over some of our favorite Easy Elegant Entertaining Ideas.  Click here for the transcript from the show.  For more about Carol, her life, her show go to www.cookinwithcarol.com. Making Flavored Oils Flavored oils are great on salads, used in cooking, use on your favorite Bruschetta, or just for dipping a piece of fresh baked Italian or French bread.  Here is how I make my flavored oils. I first start with fresh herbs. In the picture to the right, I am using Rosemary, Garlic, and Basil. The amount for  flavoring 1/2 cup of oil is shown. I find that fresh herbs are the best. Be sure to rinse and completely dry the herbs. Avoid having any water on them, as oil and water do not mix. I crush the garlic, and I remove the stems from the rosemary and basil. I heat the oil to the point that when I test the temperature with my finger, and it is very hot to the touch, but not bubbling or smoking, it is ready. I use a heat resistant bowl for this next step. All you do is pour the hot oil over the herbs and wait til it cools. ENJOY!! I always cook by taste. That is, I add enough herbs for my tastes. Experiment with the amount, and you can't go wrong. You don't need a lot of herbs to make your own flavored oil. When you say "ouch, that's hot", it's ready   More Flavors From Afar Recipes Try these on for size - Our recipes are sorted into the following categories:   Appetizers     Breads and Bread Tips     Pestos & Dressings     Sauces    Soups        Salads        Vegetables       Risotto        Pastas     Chicken         Beef         Pork        Wraps       Desserts Click here to check them out!

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