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Rings and Crumbs - A Big Slice Newsletter for September, 2008

Welcome to our September edition of Rings and Crumbs - the new and improved A Big Slice Newsletter. A Big Slice is proud to introduce A Year of Wine. These radio spots are chock full of information on wine and food pairings, including the recipes! Please take a listen. Clare gives you three recipes this month: Chicken Parmesan, Cornmeal Crusted Grouper and these exquisite little cookies from Paris, macarons (not to be confused with macaroons). Ted has some tips for a successful yard sale and a quick guide to making sure you get the freshest fish at the market. Pass the word! And Grab A Big Slice!

Clare and Ted

A Year of Wine

Would you like to know what wine to pair with a dinner omelette? What exactly is Moscatel de Setubal? Do you remember the French Paradox? No? Well then we have a treat for you! All this and more is on A Year of Wine. These one minute radio spots are a treasure trove of useful and fun information about wine and food. Plus with every paring we include the recipe! Click here to begin listening and stay tuned, there is much more to come.

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
Pinch sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh buffalo mozzarella, water drained
Freshly grated Parmesan
1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente

1. Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hazy, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add the olives and some hand-torn basil. Carefully add the tomatoes (beware of oil splashing), cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

3. Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper.

4. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large oven-proof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

5.Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil. Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.

Quick Guide to Buying and Preparing Fish

Fish is such a great option for a lighter dinner. It is healthy and quick to prepare. Still there are many of you out there who are completely intimidated with it comes to buying and cooking fish. The following guide might help.

1. Find out when the fish arrived at the store. In many stores fish arrives fresh on Wednesdays and Fridays.

2. If possible smell the fish before buying. This is one of the best indications if the fish is fresh. The odor should be sweet and clean, with no strong fish smell.

3. Examine the flesh of the fish. Cracks indicate that the fish is drying out. Make sure that the skin does not feel slimy.

4. Even through the packaging you can press the meat to see if it is firm and will spring back to shape. If it does not them the fish is old and beginning to break down.

5. Cook the fish on the day you buy it. Keep the meat as cold as possible on the way home from the store by packing it is a shallow container with ice.

6. Count on about six ounces per person when serving. This is just the edible meat. If serving whole fish add about another six ounces.

7. delicate - sole, flounder, turbot, plaice and fluke. Delicate fish will break apart easily and should be treated gently. Usually these are sold as fillets are are best poached or baked.

8. medium - trout, catfish, salmon, mahi-mahi, grouper, snapper and tilapia. The meat is firmer and incredibly versatile. You can bake, broil, pan fry or grill with success.

9. firm - pompano, amberjack, tuna, shark and swordfish. The texture of these is going to be meatier and they tend to respond best to high heat cooking, such as grilling or pan frying.

Cornmeal Crusted Grouper Recipe

If you are new to preparing fish and worried about the fish drying out while cooking then use a coating. This will keep the meat tender and juicy and is a little more forgiving.

3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (additional to taste)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (additional to taste)
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 to 6 grouper fillets (about 6 ounces each 3/4 inch thick)
6 tablespoons canola oil
lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place rack in the upper third.

1. In a resealable plastic bag combine the bread crumbs, cornmeal, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and shake to mix.

2. Place the eggs in a shallow dish.

3. Season the fish with salt and pepper to taste on both sides. Working with one fillet at a time, place the fish in the bag and shake to coat well with crumbs. Dip the fish into the eggs, then shake in the crumbs again to thoroughly coat. Transfer to a plate. Continue with each fillet.

4. In a large over-proof skillet (cast iron is perfect), heat 3 tablespoons of the oil on high heat until hot but not smoking. Fry the fillets until the undersides are golden brown, about one minute. Turn the fillets and add the remaining oil and fry one minute more.

5. Place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake until the fish is just cooked through, about five minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Espresso-Raspberry Macarons Recipe

This is one of our trickier recipes. But your patience will be rewarded with some delicious cookies that have a satisfyingly chewy texture.

You will need a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, and a pastry bag (or quart size resealable zip lock bag with the corner cut off) fitted with a 3/8 inch plain tip, and an offset spatula.

Makes about 2 dozen cookie sandwiches.

for the macarons:

3 oz almond flour (2/3 cup) or blanched sliced almonds (3/4 cup) or slivered almonds (2/3 cup)
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon instant-espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large egg whites, at room temperature 30 minutes
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

for the filling:

3 1/2 cups raspberry jam

preparation

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Grind almond flour or almonds with confectioners sugar in food processor until powdery, 30 seconds for almond flour, about 2 minutes for almonds. (If using grinder, grind in small batches.) Sift through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl (if not fine enough for almost all of nuts to go through sieve, regrind). Sift again into a large bowl.

3. Stir together espresso powder and vanilla in a cup until powder has dissolved.

4. Beat egg whites with salt in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Beat in granulated sugar, a little at a time. Increase speed to high and beat until meringue holds stiff, glossy peaks, about 1 minute. Add espresso mixture and mix at low speed until incorporated. Fold meringue into almond mixture with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. (Meringue will deflate and batter will be loose.)

5. Put small dabs of batter under corners of parchment to secure to baking sheets.

6. Spoon half of batter into pastry bag. Holding bag vertically just above baking sheet, pipe 1 1/2-inch-wide mounds of batter about 1 inch apart, stopping pressure and flicking tip sideways to avoid peaks (tamp down any peaks with a wet finger). Refill pastry bag and repeat. Let macarons stand, uncovered, at room temperature until a light crust forms, 20 to 30 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

8. Bake macarons, switching position of sheets halfway through, until crisp and interior does not give easily when a macaron is gently pressed, 22 to 28 minutes total. Cool completely on baking sheets (for residual heat to harden bottoms) then on racks, about 30 minutes. Loosen macarons from parchment with offset spatula (they will be fragile).

9. Sandwich flat sides of macarons together with a thin layer of jelly.

10. Layer macarons between sheets of parchment in an airtight container and let stand at room temperature at least 2 hours to soften before eating.

Filled macarons can be kept in an airtight container wrapped in plastic wrap, chilled 2 days or frozen 1 month. Bring to room temperature in wrapped container (to avoid condensation), about 1 hour if chilled or 2 hours if frozen.

Seven Tips to a Successful Yard Sale

Yard sales are a great way to get rid of some of those things that you had to have, yet, somehow never used. Plus make a little gas money to boot. If you are serious about it, you can make a chunk of change. But preparation is key. Here are a few tips that might help you turn those rags into riches.

1. When choosing items to be included think quality over quantity. This gets the traffic there and keeps them. People are more likely to stop if they see other shoppers perusing your goods. Start the process a few weeks to a month ahead of time and begin sifting through, setting the better stuff aside. Items that tend to sell well are cds, dvds, books, radios, vases, lawn mowers, tools, most furniture and baby items. Consider this: do you have enough "quality" to make it worth the effort?

2. Packing is everything. How do you want to display your items? Group in categories. That way if someone is in the market for baby items, they are all displayed together and not spread out all over the yard. Make sure everything is clean and in working order. Most of the time shoppers will not dig through boxes, place the items in clear view on a table. You need to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they want without having to ask you for assistance. Clearly price each item. Or have a table marked "Everything 50 cents". Good signage is a must.

3. Now the big question, are you doing this to rid yourself of clutter, or are you trying to make money. If you are clearing out the basement, then price things as low as your dare. If you are unsure as to what to price certain things such as furniture, it might be worth your while to visit some yard sales and see what is the going rate. Towards the end of the day, have "Make your best offer" signs on the ready and place them around the yard. Be willing to bargain.

4. If you are just going to have your sale on one day, then Saturday is the best. If you have the time to stretch it out you may be surprised to learn that the second best day is Friday. This brings out the serious shoppers, ones that want to miss the crowds. These are the real bargain hunters and they want to deal.

5, Announce your yard sale on web sites like Craig's List. The familiar hand lettered posters are great, and can direct cars to your exact location. Spread them out around the neighborhood. Make sure the signs are in public use areas.

6. Have plenty of change on hand. $25-$50 in quarters and enough ones, fives and tens to make change. The checkout should be clearly marked. Keep a calculator, pad and pencil close by. Invest in a fanny pouch to keep your earnings close at hand and safe.

7. Go ahead and tell yourself that the leftovers are going to charity. You spent this much time trying to rid yourself of this clutter, don't let it creep back into your house.

Now get out there and sell!

Watermelon, Lime and Mint Granita Recipe

9 cups (about 2 1/2 pounds) seeded, cubed watermelon
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup mint, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
1/3 cup sugar

1. Working in 2 batches, puree watermelon in a food processor. Strain puree through a sieve and strain out solids, forcing liquid out with a wooden spoon. Discard solids.

2. Combine the watermelon puree, lime juice, mint and sugar in a 9 by 13-inch metal pan. Place mixture in the freezer, scraping thoroughly with a fork every 20 to 30 minutes for about 2 1/2 hours, or until the granita resembles coarse crystals.

3. Scrape 1 last time and spoon into parfait glasses or bowls. Top with a mint sprig.

Watercolorist Chris Hartsfield

This image is one of Mr. Hartsfield's amazing works called "Redheads". Hard to believe, but this is indeed a watercolor. Click on the image to enlarge. What follows is the artist's bio and ordering information.

Chris Hartsfield is a self-trained watercolorist who works primarily with bright, clean colors to achieve a realistic style of painting. His technique produces a complicated yet detailed scene which reveals an understanding of depth and realism. He enjoys painting a variety of subjects, including still life, landscape, street scenes, and natural scenes. His compositions are well balanced and flowing, keeping the observer's eye engaged. His realistic paintings utilize flat planes of color layered rather loosely to produce a sense of realism.

Since Hartsfield began his art career in 1988, he has had paintings accepted in national and regional watercolor competitions. Including The American Watercolor Society, The National Watercolor Society, Arts For The Parks, Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma Watercolor Society shows. He has won numerous "Best of Show" and other awards in over 350 juried art shows. His paintings are bought by both private and corporate collectors.

Giclée (zghee-CLAY) is a French term that roughly means “to spray“. Giclée prints are generated from high resolution digital files and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The Giclée process typically uses 12 color high resolution inkjet printers to enable printing on artisan substrates. Giclée prints are used as high quality art reproductions. All this art work has been printed with archive quality, 100 pound art paper.

To purchase these amazing prints and other unique items from Retro Collections click here. To let the artist know that we referred the buyer, please type "abigslice" in the comments field.

Frozen Watermelon Margaritas Recipe

5 cups cubed watermelon, seeds removed
1/2 cup simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water, heated until sugar melts), cooled
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 cups silver tequila
4 ounces orange liqueur
2 ounces melon liqueur
Watermelon wedges, for garnish

1. Place watermelon in a food processor and process until smooth.

2. Pour the pureed watermelon into 2 empty ice cube trays and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Place 8 martini glasses in the freezer to chill.

3. Place 2 cups of the watermelon ice cubes and the remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

4. Pour into 4 glasses and repeat with the remaining ingredients. Garnish each glass with a watermelon wedge.