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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Happy Hallowe'en From Ghoulia Child!


Bonjour! I'm afraid I had a little accident in the kitchen this year while trying to hack apart a chicken for a Poulet Financiere. After a bit of a tussle with the plucky devil, the bird got away and I'm still not entirely sure where it went. Just the same, do have a fiendishly good time on Hallowe'en this year and bon appetit!

Ghoulia 


Saturday, October 13, 2012

the pale of memory


This is not my usual sort of post, where I cavort around, gleefully suggesting what to eat. But I hope you will find my first published novel a remarkable feast just the same. I am eager to know if 'the pale of memory' is to your taste. Do enjoy and please watch this snippet from my book party! Tell everybody!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XhfeZ_shpM&feature=player_detailpage

Copies are available now on Amazon.com, BN.com and iUniverse.com.

A bit about the book:


THE PALE OF MEMORY by Peter Halsey Sherwood (iUniverse; On Sale: September 7, 2012; $13.95 USD) is a suspenseful, bracing novel set in a mid-90's Manhattan still hovered over by a dreadful affliction. What starts out as a caper in which the Hardy Boys themselves might have embarked upon turns into a reckless mission of obsession that evolves into a dangerous love affair with dire consequences. From the perspective of a voyeur, the reader peeks into the world of the questionable protagonist, a young man named Scott or ‘Scotty’ to his friends, as he attempts to hide his secrets and transform a new lover in an ultimately futile effort to recreate the past. In a swirling pool of lies amongst all of the characters, nothing is what it seems at first as perceptions are revealed and confronted with haunting vigor. As the reader discovers through Scott's slowly exposed mania, his life has been one stained by a curious, confusing past that eventually brings THE PALE OF MEMORY to a devastating crescendo.
 
A few of my esteemed readers said:
“A period suspense novel, as cleverly pulled off by an expert at the genre.”

Michael Musto, Village Voice columnist

“Hitchcock’s Vertigo with sexy, dangerous young men. Had me hooked from page one.”
Charles Busch, author of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Chef's Recipe - James Corona's Fusilli alla Norcina



This sumptuous pasta featuring thick curls of fusilli pasta and sweet and hot sausage in cream is courtesy of Bocca executive chef James Corona. Thank you for the recipe, James!

Bocca
39 E 19th St (btwn Park/Broadway)
BoccaNYC.com 

Fusilli alla Norcina

Recipe Yield: serves 4
Ingredients: 
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp shallot, minced
1 link of sweet sausage
1 link of hot sausage
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup smoked mozzarella, grated
1 lb fusilli pasta
Salt
Pepper

Directions: 
1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water till al dente.
2. Drain pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water for binding.
3. In a large saucepan, brown the sweet and hot sausage.
3. Combine minced garlic, shallots and heavy cream with sausage in saucepan and reduce for about three minutes.
4. Add smoked mozzarella.
5. Toss fusilli into the sauce. If necessary, use reserved pasta water to bind. Serve.

First published in part in Next magazine

Friday, October 5, 2012

15 East - Next Magazine Review



15 East
15 E 15th St (btwn Fifth Ave/Union Square West), 212-647-0015, 15EastRestaurant.com

Marco Moreira and Jo-Ann Makovitzky add to their culinary empire with the freshest fish hauled in from Japan by executive sushi chef Masato Shimizu.

My gal pal is simply stark-raving mad for sushi. I don’t know anyone who loves the raw devils more profoundly than she does. So it was my thrill on the evening we hastened to 15 East to have her sample executive chef Masato Shimizu’s fresh fish flown, which is flown in from Japan. We were, in a word, wowed. Everything was a small surprise—we were presented with wonderful gifts, which once opened, so to speak, proved to be utter delights, enlivening our taste buds, enriching our hearts and filling our stomachs.
The husband-and-wife team Marco Moreira and Jo-Ann Makovitzky moved their fabulous Tocqueville to a nearby location and reinvigorated its former address as 15 East with the assistance of architect Richard Bloch. Although we considered the crowded sushi bar in front, we made our way to a more capacious corner banquette in the modest dining room composed in an inviting color scheme of sand and slate with pale, billowy curtains.
Settling into cocktails, the Tokyo Manhattan struck my fancy with a light Japanese single-malt whiskey with a masculine uprising about the bosom that bandied about with sweet vermouth and brandied cherries. The summery caipirinha with passion fruit and lime had a good nose and was decidedly more feminine.
A convenient tray of creamy, buttery Kumamoto oysters started us off with sweet, icy ponzu granite and pickled turnips that held a resonating pine flavor in the final execution. Bluefin tuna was served two ways: as red velvet slices of sashimi and chopped toro tartare in a conspiracy with chive oil and paddlefish caviar.
We moved on to a carafe of a floral, elusive, wondrous chilled Koshi no Kanbai “Muku” sake that further enhanced the flavors of our ensuing dishes, which included a rapturous, benevolent and calm pond of caviar, ikura and uni floating along with cold soba noodles and wasabi paste. More sea urchin found its way into a poignant, soft risotto keenly matched with sumptuous matsutake mushrooms and pink wasabi root to set up our pasta course. We dispensed with our chopsticks, resorting to spoons so we could devour the dish more quickly. Eleven kinds of Japanese sea lettuces, in turns sturdy, woodsy, frilly, oceanic, fruity and sweet, cleansed our palates for the upcoming meat.
A tartare of chopped Kobe beef led the way with a presiding flavor of crisped garlic and a cracked, runny quail egg on top. Foie gras terrine bordered on the obscene with miso duck, raisins and brioche that I unashamedly admit I devoured in one orgiastic bite. Medium-rare smoky duck with shiitake mushrooms, sweet Japanese yams in a veal stock reduction and soy had us quacking with vigor.
Resist as we did at first, desserts were a foregone conclusion. Wavering between indulgences such as flourless chocolate cake, kabocha crème caramel, a watermelon parfait and green tea ice cream with matcha jelly and red beans, the crunchy tempura rice pudding won out with its fully rounded ice cream fashioned from sake. With nothing left to do but hug our gracious co-conspirators, we packed up and left 15 East to head home, back west.

Prices: Appetizers: $12-$29; Entrées: $18-$95; Alcohol:  wine, full bar, specialty cocktails.
Short Order: For aficionados of fish, modern Japanese cuisine off of Union Square proves to be a really great catch.
Peter’s Picks: Tokyo Manhattan cocktail; sea urchin and mushroom risotto; foie gras terrine with duck; caviar, sea urchin and salmon roe soba noodles.
Peter’s Pans: 15 East has not taken residence in my apartment building.

First published in part in Next magazine
Photo Credit: Michel Ann O'Malley

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Jeremy's Fresh Pina Colada



Baby had returned from Marrakech after two months away for business and I had been madly editing to put the final touches on my novel. Exciting! But just the same we thought it was high time for some sun, surf, and sand as the fall had descended indeed so unexpectedly. So we headed off to South Beach for a week to stay at Delano. To be perfectly honest, all we did was sleep, eat and drink poolside or at the beach at this utterly spectacular hotel, and not necessarily in that order.

Jeremy, the bartender at the pool was kind enough to make at least several pina coladas on the rocks for me. Now, I love a pina colada when I make them myself, but out and about, when they are frozen, they often don't taste like there's any booze in them and after one they become cloying. One might as well stuff themselves with rock candy! So here is the elegant solution with Jeremy's recipe that certainly made for a few entirely enjoyable afternoons. I suspect the use of coconut water is the trick. Do enjoy!

Jeremy's Fresh Piña Colada
Ingredients:
2 oz. fresh pineapple juice
2 oz. Coco Lopez
2oz. light rum
1oz. Coco Vidal coconut water
Method:
Shake and our over ice, a splash of dark rum on top. Garnish with a pineapple slice.