A Few Favorite Photos from the Food & Wine Classic

I've been sorting through the hundreds of photos I took this weekend at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, as I prepare my "Top 10 Highlights" post for About.com. I decided to take a little break to post a few of my favorites. I hope these pictures give you an idea of just how amazing the food really is at this event.

Back From the 2010 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and Ready to Share!

I arrived back in San Francisco late last night after a very memorable five days at the 2010 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. I collected a ton of great content, which I can't wait to share with you all.

In fact, instead of rambling on here, dropping names, and embellishing stories, I think I'll actually get to work writing articles and editing photos!


Stay tuned for these stories and more:

• My 2010 Food & Wine Classic "Top Ten Highlights" (no idea how I'll narrow this down to only ten…the whole event was one long series of highlights!)

• Recipes from Thomas Keller's inspiring lecture on the "World's Best Preserves" (Pictured here, on the right, before his demo... he is "the man")

• Priceless grilling tips (and life lessons) from the one and only, Tim Love. Including a video clip of something he called "Oil Shot Roulette." (He put on maybe the most entertaining demo I've ever seen)

• All about olive oil with the very engaging Top Chef, Fabio Viviani (I was part of a private demo where the popular Italian chef proved he's much more than a pretty face)

Plus, I'll be posting several video recipes adapted from things I saw, smelled, and of course tasted over the weekend. Stay tuned!

This Pan-Fried Butter Beans Recipe Only Sounds Unhealthy!

I can see where a recipe title with the words "fried" and "butter" appearing one after the other may scare a few people off, but there's no reason to be alarmed. This pan-fried butter beans recipe is delicious, super-easy, and yes, good for you.

These big, creamy legumes are just perfect for pan-frying. The thick skins get all crackly, and crusty, and will soak up whatever you decide to flavor them with. Here they get a very traditional treatment of salt, pepper, garlic, and herbs. A little vinegar at the end to balance things out, and you have a beautiful summer side dish.

I'm posting this while waiting for my flight back from the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, so we'll keep things nice and brief. Actually, now that I think about it, there's really not much more to say. So, I'll just finish with a little end-of-recipe advice.

This version is "dry," which is how I like these butter beans served, but if you want something a little moister, towards the end you can add freshly diced tomato, some broth, or even more oil olive and vinegar. Don't worry, you can't break this recipe…it's beans! Enjoy.




Ingredients for 2-4 servings:
1 can butter beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
garlic cloves as needed
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
couple sprigs of fresh herbs
1 tablespoon white wine or sherry vinegar

Medialuna Recipe

Medialunas are Argentine crescent rolls. They are light and sweet and can be served with any meal.



This recipe makes about 20 to 25 medialuna rolls. I found that if you store them in an airtight container, they stayed fresh for about a week.



Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp dry yeast

1 tspn sugar

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/3 cup warm water

2 tbsp butter



Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, mix the yeast, 1 tspn sugar, and 1 tbsp flour. Add 1/3 cup warm water and stir well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or foil and allow yeast to ferment in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, and 1/2 cup warm water. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add flour, salt, and yeast mixture to the large mixing bowl. Mix until all of the ingredients have combined. Add a little more flour, if necessary, so that dough cleans the sides of the bowl.
4. Turn dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and knead until dough is soft and smooth.
5. Form a round loaf and place in a bowl. Cover with a dry towel and let dough rest in a warm place for about an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
   
7. Divide dough into three parts and roll out each part to form a large rectangle. From each rectangle, cut triangles (about 10cm by 12 cm).
8. Roll each triangle up to form a crescent.
9. Set crescents on a greased baking sheet.
10. Brush crescents with egg yolk.
11. Bake medialunas for 12 - 15 minutes.
    
    

Argentina [ print this recipe ]

Hank Ryan

My wife and I invented the Hank Ryan while watching Sleepless in Seattle last summer. It was the middle of peach season and we were trying to use up some left over Georgia peaches. Give it a try this summer.

Recommended Equipment:
blender

Ingredients:
3 peaches, chopped
1 shot rum
1 shot Cointreau
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1 can condensed milk
handful of ice

Preparation:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a blender. Mix until smooth. Add additional ice if necessary for desired consistency. Should be similar to a milkshake.

United States

Food & Wine's 2010 Best New Chefs Dinner Photo Recap

Sure, those dark, blurry Twitpics I psoted last night were nice, but here's what the Food & Wine's Best New Chefs' food really looked like. Congratulations to Jonathon Sawyer and his fromage blanc raviolini for taking home the title!

Here's what these ten incredibly talented chefs created for this very special event:

Roy Choi, Kogi BBQ Truck - Chego meatball in sesame leaf, sweet and spicy sauce, and polenta:

Matt Lightner, Castagna - hearts of Walla onion with BBQ onion glaze, smelt roe:

Clayton Miller, Trummer's on Main - pork terrine, pickled tomatillo, smoked mayo:

Missy Robbins, A Voce - Strachiatella cheese, lamb pancetta, pickled ramps:

Jonathon Sawyer, The Greenhouse Tavern - fromage blanc raviolini, stewed tomatoes:

Alex Seidel, Fruition - lamb rib eye, pea and potato risotto, lamb sweetbreads confit:

Mike Sheerin, Blackbird - sepia noodles, fried chocolate, cardamom tofu:

John Shields, Town House - scrambled egg mousse, salmon roe, birch syrup:

Jason Stratton, Spinasse - rabbit Russian salad, beets, peas, tuna maionesse:

James Syhabout, Commis - Parmesan financier, green strawberry conserve, young herbs:

What's Happenin' in Aspen Update

Hello all! Just a quick check-in to let you know I'm running around like a mad man collecting lots of great photos, recipes, and stories; unfortunately, there's been no time to post any of it yet!

Some of the highlights so far have been the Opening Reception, where the Voltaggio brothers from last season's Top Chef did strange and wonderful things with a BTL (believe it or not, those are bacon dip-n-dots); the always amazing Jose Andres/Wines from Spain BBQ, featuring spit roasted pigs; and an incredible lunch with Chef John Besh and Master Beer Sommelier Marc Stroobandt from Stella Artois, where we enjoyed six courses of crawfish and beer (yes, that is a slice of fresh truffle in the bowl).

I was also interviewed by Aspen's PlumTV as part of a feature on food bloggers covering the Food & Wine Classic. I haven't seen it yet, so I have no idea how much of me actually made it past the editors (if they're any good, it's very little), but if you want to check it out, you can see it streaming live on their website at 8am, 9am, 10am, 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm. Enjoy, and stay tuned for much more!