Blog Posts by Gourmet

These light bites won't fill you up--and they're a snap to put together
by Kelly Senyei, Gourmet

When it comes to the biggest, most hyped meal of the year, ease your way into the overindulgence with pre-dinner nibbles that will ignite palates without ruining appetites. Serve one or two of these stylish, seasonal hors d'oeuvres, and you can skip a first course, impress your guests, and keep your wits in the kitchen. Each recipe below serves 6 to 8 guests, unless otherwise indicated.

1. Parmesan Frico
Transform a single ingredient into a crispy, salty cracker in 10 minutes or less: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat, then cover it with thin layers of shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano in small circles spaced about 4 inches apart. If you wish, add a nutty crunch to each bite by sprinkling the cheese with chopped pistachios or walnuts before baking. Bake at 375°F for about 10 minutes, or until golden, then remove the frico with a spatula. Serve in a glass dish to best

by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet

Getting a bit tired of kale? Then get into collards! Kale may be the "it" green of the moment, but collards are right behind them, ready to grab the spotlight. They're both members of the brassica family, that super-healthy group of plants that include broccoli and cabbage. Collards are distinctive for producing large flat leaves that get so big, Adam and Eve would have found them quite useful.

See more: 9 Turkey Roasting Tips

I'm excited about a glossy new collard that's beginning to appear at farmers markets. The Cascade Glaze Collard is distinctive because the leaves look as though they've been polished to a shine with beeswax. It's unmistakable at the top in the photograph above, and bunches of them really stand out in farmers markets when piled next to regular collards, one leaf of which is in the lower half of the photograph above.

According to Uprising Seeds, the Cascade Glaze Collard may be new to gardeners and growers, but it's

by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet

The perfectly red tomatoes above look a lot like bite-size grape tomatoes, don't they? They're actually miniature San Marzano tomatoes grown by Village Farms, a huge greenhouse and hydroponic company with facilities all over North America. Village Farms worked with a seed company to create what they've trademarked as the Heavenly Villagio Marzano," which they claim is an authentic San Marzano tomato in a miniature size.

San Marzano tomatoes have rock star status among Italian food lovers. (For more about Italian food, check out Gourmet Live's latest issue on Italy.) It's considered the tomato for tomato sauce, and the fruit--yes, tomatoes are technically a fruit--grown near the town of San Marzano in the rich volcanic soil of the Sarno Valley (thanks to nearby Mt. Vesuvius) gets the European Union Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) status. If you've spent any time in the canned tomato aisle of a supermarket, you've seen the labels for San Marzano.

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by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet

Do you get confused in the canned tomato aisle of the supermarket? I sure do. Canned tomatoes come in so many different forms--whole peeled tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato purée, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, etc.--that it's enough to drive you crazy!

All I wanted to do was make a simple tomato sauce. But between the labeling nightmare I was facing in the supermarket this past weekend, and the hysteria of shoppers around me loading up on food with the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy, I was getting pretty darn cranky.

For years, I've always bought canned plum tomatoes packed in juice, not in purée. What irked me was that so many brands today fail to specify that distinction in large type on the front of the label. Notice the two cans above. Both say peeled tomatoes, but La Squisita's are packed in purée, while Sclafani's are packed in juice. The only way to find out is to check the fine print on the ingredient list. It also seemed as though there are

by Gourmet

Warm up as the temperature drops with half a dozen of the season's best soups starring kale, lentils, seafood, and more.

KALE AND CHICKPEA SOUP
by Gourmet
yield: Makes 6 main-course or 8 first-course servings
active time: 20 min
total time: 45 min

Ingredients
* 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
* 2 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 large boiling potato(3/4 lb), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 3/4 lb kale, stems and center ribs cut out and discarded, then leaves very finely chopped in a food processor (4 cups)
* 3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (28 fl oz)
* 2 cups water
* 1 (14-oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
* 1/4 lb Spanish chorizo (cured spiced pork sausage), casing discarded and sausage cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)

Preparation
Cook onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and pepper in oil in a wide 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over

by Melissa Roberts, Gourmet


Movie food sure has gotten fancy since this finger-licking foursome first appeared in Gourmet magazine in 2003, but as with Hitchcock and Truffaut, oldies are goodies. Reprinted for Gourmet Live's Dinner and a Movie issue, these are recipes for popcorn with panache, perfect for a night with Netflix or for sneaking into a multiplex near you.

PLAIN POPCORN
Makes about 8 cups
Active time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1/3 cup popcorn kernels

Instructions
* Heat oil with 3 popcorn kernels in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, covered, until 1 or 2 kernels pop. Quickly add remaining popcorn, then cook, covered, shaking pan frequently, until kernels stop popping, about 3 minutes.

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See more: 15 Perfect Pasta Dishes

MAPLE PECAN POPCORN (pictured above)
Makes about 10 cups
Active time: 35 min
Total time: 1 hr (includes cooling)

Ingredients
* 1 cup pecans (3 1/2 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped
* About

by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet
There's a new kid on the block in the ever-expanding greens department: Spigarello broccoli. It originally hails from southern Italy, particularly around Puglia, the heel of Italy's boot. The long, smooth, skinny, dark green leaves can be curly or flat depending on the variety.

I bought my spigarelllo from Rick Bishop's Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, which operates a hugely popular stand at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City--a line forms as early as 7:30 am on Saturday mornings--and it also supplies specialty produce to many high-end restaurants in the city. Bishop credits chef Michael White of Marea, one of the restaurants in White's Altamarea Group, for asking him to grow spigarello.

See more: 15 Perfect Pasta Dishes

It's a non-heading broccoli, says Chris Field, a chef and apprentice farmer to Bishop. Bishop get's his seeds fromSeeds of Italy, the American distributor of Italy's venerable Franchi Seeds. Although Bishop orders the

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Icing
by Gourmet














When the pumpkin pie is gone, but you've only just begun to get your fill of pumpkin desserts, this bundt will fill the void quite nicely (and the somewhat more assertive spices will welcome the season ahead). Best of all, the flavors continue to develop and the cake tastes even better a few days after it's baked, so it's perfect to have on hand at this time of year, when guests tend to drop in unexpectedly.

MAKES: 12 SERVINGS
ACTIVE TIME: 30 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 3/4 HR (INCLUDES COOLING)

See more: 15 Perfect Pasta Dishes

INGREDIENTS
For Cake:
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)
- 3/4 cup well-shaken