Gateaux de Crêpes à la Florentine - It All Began With a Classic

Last year at this time, I happened upon Mary Bergfeld's post for a proposed blogging challenge  called '50 Woman Game Changers'. The premise was to follow a list of influential women that Gourmet's on-line magazine editors had deemed the most talented, inspiring, inventive, ground-breaking, marketed, media saturated, and controversial of all women in the food industry over all time. A tall order it is to make a list of that nature ... and a tall order it is to address these women on a weekly basis, but that's just what Mary and a group of women did.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Stacks and A Nod to Julie Powell

Julie, Julie, Julie! Just look what you've done! I wonder if you sometimes think about the numbers, no, legions, of foodies that have joined the blogging world because of your memoir and blog. I wonder if you are completely happy with the level of notoriety that your romping through Julia Child's masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking brought to you? It has certainly earned you the final place on Gourmet's on-line magazine list of 50 Woman Game Changers. Your humor, angst, and fearless approach toward some of those daunting recipes have inspired many a cook to haul out the cookware, sharpen the knives, track down the ingredients, and get to it in the kitchen!

Good for you! I imagine, though, that you don't give a ratatouille's ass about all the attention. Somehow, I think your mind must be on the next great project ... I see that you've spent a huge block of time recently learning the art of butchering and charcuterie. I can only speculate what will come next! Perhaps cheesemaking or pastry preparation?

Foodspotting ... 49th Game Changer(s) Spot Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

... a chunk of lobster in almost every bite ... this is the goal with a killer lobster mac & cheese

No longer must we go blind in any city we're visiting when it comes to picking a restaurant or finding that dish that we are dying to knosh! Join Foodspotting, an on-line foodie network! Build up a trusted group of foodies to 'follow', check out their posts for restaurants that they find worthy, and when you're in town, you've got a pretty good line on 'killer eats'. Then, go where it looks and sounds best.

If you really want to get specific, search for just what you're craving and you'll get a list of visuals and short blurbs on the posters' impressions. The posting people may be unknown, but pictures don't lie and if you link to the reviews, you can make a decision pretty quickly as to whether a restaurant's dish will hit your spot ... of not.

Pan Seared Poppy Seed Crusted Scallop Salad with Romesco Sauce

Today's light dinner comes to my kitchen from Cat Cora, # 48 on Gourmet's 50 Woman Game Changers.

Zarela Martinez and a Different Kind of Chile Relleno

I am late posting this tribute to Zarela Martinez. I almost skipped this last week's exercise in researching and blogging to the 47th game changer, but I found a recipe of hers that sounded so delicious and seemed so unique that I had to go ahead ... lateness, be damned.

Image: San Diego RED file photo

If you haven't already visited the other women who have posted their tributes to Ms. Martinez or if you're new to the 50 Woman Game Changer blogshare posts, visit Mary's most recent post at One Perfect Bite to see more about Zarela Martinez and her incredible recipes.

Albóndigas de Jalisco - Diana Kennedy

Sometimes a love of a culture will change a person so dramatically that their life's work becomes a mission to encapsulate the best of the culture in their everyday lifestyle ... and they end up becoming the ultimate ambassador for that culture. In the world of food, we have seen numerous such ambassadors as we've investigated Gourmet's 50 Woman Game Changers - Julia Child and her love of French culture and cuisine, Elizabeth Andoh and her passion for Japanese philosophy and cuisine, and now, Diana Kennedy and her immersion in Mexican culture and cuisine.

50 Woman Game Changers - Oh, Nigella!

Nigella says that these high airy scones look like they have cellulite ... what do YOU think ?

Nigella Lawson's book, How To Be A Domestic Goddess - Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, is certainly a book on which to build one's reputation. Nigella Lawson has done that and moved on to perfect the naughty nuance and 'meaningful glance' on camera, pulled all the stops out to build whole episodes of her show around 'guilty pleasures', 'late night knoshing', and 'posh dinner parties'. For all her posturing, though, Nigella has the chops to brag on. She consistently comes up with excellent recipes, has a devil-may-care-attitude when filming her cooking procedures that gives viewers the confidence to 'throw together' their versions of her dishes, and gives good solid advice on technique and ingredients. For these reasons, she has made the cut and is included on the 50 Woman Game Changers list that Gourmet posted on-line last Spring.

Basque Cod ... and Elena Arzak

Basques had been crossing the ocean since the Middle Ages, voyaging to the rich cod fisheries of the Grand Banks and pursuing whales into the treacherous sub-Arctic waters off Greenland. Indeed, John Cabot's celebrated discovery of Newfoundland in 1497 was greeted by the Basques with something approaching wry bemusement, for it was hardly a new-found-land, two of their own captains having dropped their anchors off the very same coast over a hundred years before.  - Mark Mills in Amagansett

This week, I have had my nose in a couple books. In one particularly good mystery novel, I came across this quote. It reminded me of reading Mark Kurlansky's book, Cod - A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. Kurlansky writes extensively about the importance of the Basque fishermen's discovery of the Grand Banks. The codfish became such an important sea harvest that it played a dominant role in the development of the European rush to colonize the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Salted cod became a staple of naval stores and fed many a sailor, as countries like Spain, France, and Great Britain made their marks on the world beyond their countries' immediate political borders. To this day, salted cod is an important ingredient in Basque and Catalonian cuisine.

Warm French Lentils ... and Sausages

This week, Ina Garten is the 39th star of the 50 Woman Game Changers blog posts.  You can bet there will be a bunch of fun recipes! Ina Garten has become a fixture of the Food Network's star chef line up. Long before that, though, she established herself as a talented cook who had a knack for throwing a great dinner party and later, a purveyor of excellent gourmet foods at her shop Barefoot Contessa on the outer end of Long Island ... in The Hamptons. Her business savvy and easy way of presenting simple, delicious, basic foods in a tastefully elegant manner made her an attractive mark for the summer folk and entertaining crowd. The attention she got from her successful storefront brought her to the attention of the television foodie show production people and the rest is history. The storefront is gone at this point, but Ina has moved on to bigger and better things.

She's intelligent and likeable, makes foods that are not so unhealthy that we shake our heads, has an incredibly clean and crisp sense of style, produces cookbooks that are pleasing to the eye with recipes that are easily accomplished. Plus, she has not become so ever present in the stores and magazines that we gag when her name is mentioned.

She's Ina ... she has a beautiful smile and a friendly manner. She has mapped out an excellent business strategy for sharing her culinary style while maintaining her personal lifestyle and family privacy. I personally adore her.

Darina Allen and Christmas in March

If it can snow in March, then I guess I can bake one last wintertime dessert and give it my own snowy dusting! Darina Allen's recipe for Ballymaloe Mincemeat Crumble Tart is a highlight in her book of Christmas recipes. It was more than I could resist ...

Farmers, CSA's, and Severine von Tscharner Fleming

                                                                                                

 Photo Credit - Rich Pomerantz Photography

SvTF is the way I'm going to refer to her. I'm sure she must have a nickname that she goes by ... perhaps Madame Greenhorn ? She's worked very hard to bring organization and support to young farmers nation-wide through her efforts in forming The Greenhorns. The homesteading and CSA movements have blossomed while she has been recruiting the most enthusiastic of supporters in the fields of agriculture, film, art, technology, and marketing to jump on board the Greenhorns advocacy group and help promote its mission to recruit and support young farmers as they go up against the large agribusiness complex that threatens small scale farming. The organization's blog,  the irresistible fleet of bicycles , is a wealth of information on finding available farm land, farming issues, seminars for learning farming practices and business strategies, ways to advocate for the small farmer in the political arena, and celebrations of successes. This is grassroots organization in a 21st century world and technology is helping a lot! The Greenhorns organization, with SvTF as its director, has its hands in the worlds of on-line communication, independent film production, and radio.

SvTF is an eloquent advocate. Yes, she's on a mission. Sounds a little daunting, doesn't it?  Well, it is when you really think about it, but there are so many small farms struggling to grow good food and raise healthy animals to supply the American public with healthy local foodstuffs. CSA's are just the tip of the iceberg. Local farmer's markets are the place to really see what small farmers can provide. The networks that are formed through those markets and regional food festivals are the backbone of the locavore movement  ... and I'm sure SvTF is cheering the little explosions of enthusiastic support that are occurring all over this country (and the world!). Yup, she must be ... and giving small farmers a place to connect and collaborate ... and THAT's game changing. Period. Peace.

As an aside - For a really great look at SvTF and other young farmers who are jumping headlong into this resurging agricultural renaissance, see Rich Pomerantz's blog and, in particular, his Young Farmers series at Rich Pomerantz Photography . He's taken some amazing pictures and has given  great write-ups on all these young people.

50 Woman Game-Changers - Edna Lewis

"Edna Lewis" - oil painting by Elayna Shakur

There is nothing like a beautiful cake and Edna Lewis's Famous Coconut Lane Cake is just that! This cake attests to the rich tradition of Southern cooking and Ms. Lewis's place in preserving it.

This is a cake that is rich with eggs, butter and sugar, coconut, pecans, and chopped raisins - three layers of confection worthy of gracing a table at a garden party with big jugs of iced tea served on the side. I made it to share with friends at a small weekend dinner party. Folks will certainly be 'wowed', don't you think?

50 Woman Game-Changers - Delia Smith

I had never heard of Delia Smith until reading Gourmet Live's article on 50 Woman Game-Changers. It  just goes to show that we tend to pay attention to the media and TV shows on our particular continents and that cross-over is a rare and wonderful thing. Now, if Delia had a role in one of the BBC Masterpiece Theatre productions or in one of the Brit comedies or dramas that are becoming increasingly popular state-side, I might have had a chance.  Instead, she's big on cooking shows, in cookbook publishing, and in football (go figure!) - things that don't often make the cut on our US television cable systems. The Internet, however, is alive with information about her! I have added her official website to my list of  'favorites', so that I can get to know her recipes (boy, there are a lot of them!). I've been reading archives of her posts and making links to media articles written about her. She seems to be the Betty Crocker of modern day British society.

Ella Brennan Inspired ...

Sometimes you just have to go to a place where the food and the atmosphere pull you in, wrap around you, and make you settle back in total comfort - a place of happy people, happy food, and happy music.  Ella Brennan has played her game on that premise for many, many years! She has been a signature presence in the restaurant business for most of her life, starting young in her brother's New Orleans restaurant as a kitchen grunt and working her way up to menu development and front house management. When his restaurant ran into financial trouble, she took over and as they say, ''the rest is history". She has spent her years creating just the kinds of places of which I speak!

                                                                                                               photo by Steven Forster of the Times-Picayune

Okay, so that's the back story ... let's come forward. She is considered the grande dame of New Orleans haute creole/cajun, has worked with the likes of Prudhomme and Lagasse, has a chain of successful restaurants that the family runs, has stepped back because of age and family factors but still keeps a presence in the New Orleans Restaurant, Commander's Palace. Her awards are many, but when all is said and done, she is really just an excellent hostess with impeccable taste in food and style ... and a great business sense! What a lady!

Ryder and Topalian's Edible Communities !

Tracy Ryder and Carole Topalian may be able to make a killer salad or fresh local fish fillet or free-range beef roast, but what they have done even better is to take the idea of regional foods and food communities and meld the technology of communication and advertisement on the Internet to create Edible Communities a publishing company that sells franchises and editorial support to regional entrepreneurs who want to publish regional magazines that support and advertise for local farmers and artisan food projects, local community gardens, and all things that support the locavore movement. Pretty clever, huh? So, a project that started with Edible Ojai blossomed to 64 regional magazines and counting. Not only do they produce hardcopy of these local foodie magazines so that copies can be distributed at farmer's markets, restaurants and through Chambers of Commerce, but they support on-line editions that are freely accessed and archived ... now, THAT'S game-changing!

Donna Hay's Sticky Chinese Chicken

Until this week, I'd never heard of Donna Hay. Doing a bit of research, though, gave me a kazillion 'hits' to touch base on ...  from Donna Hay's General Store to the Donna Hay magazine, to numerous news and blog posts on Donna and her bright, crisp, stylish presentation of everything from pasta to potholders! She is, apparently, a media sensation Down Under ... cut from the same bolt as Martha Stewart, perhaps? Her background is squarely in the area of food styling and editing, as she spent her young professional life as food editor at marie clare. Since her early success and exposure, she has been savvy enough to develop a brand and market it to the max. Nothing wrong with that! This past year she stepped into the world of television when she began her fast, fresh, simple. lifestyle show. With an accompanying cookbook release, her star continues to rise.

I am making a fast, fresh, and simple batch of chicken legs today. While Donna's recipe is at its most basic, I did little things to enhance the spices and assure that the meat would absorb as much flavour as possible before I popped it into the oven. I also doubled the amount of sauce so that the legs were almost covered as they marinated.

50 Woman Game-Changers - Barbara Tropp

Barbara Tropp is, in my humble opinion, one of the finest interpreters of Asian cuisine that America has ever seen. Her two cookbooks are incredible references - the first The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking - Techniques and Recipes has been an invaluable tool for me, as I have learned about Chinese cuisine. The second The China Moon Cookbook has challenged me to find ingredients and dedicate myself to the recipes that I've chosen to make ... there are usually multiple steps, interesting ingredients, and new techniques for me to play at. 

Ms. Tropp lead a whirlwind professional life as a restauranteur, a culinary teacher, a cookbook author, a contributing writer for news and food media, an advocate for young women chefs. Her death in 2001 of ovarian cancer came after a lengthy battle with the disease and was a real loss to food culture. Had she beat the 'wolf at the door', I'm sure she would have continued creating interesting fusion foods that incorporated classic techniques, new food trends, and the freshest and best ingredients. She'd have continued teaching young and upcoming chefs the tricks of her trade and sponsoring young women chefs as they made their way up through the professional culinary ranks. She was a remarkable woman with real talent.

                                                        Credit: SF Chronicle photo

That's all I'm going to say about her ... other than the fact that I have never had a better springroll than at her San Francisco restaurant, China Moon.

50 Woman Game-Changers ... and Betty Fussell's Risi e Bisi

When I got out of college, I didn't want to read anything that was required ever again. I didn't want to read anything at all, in fact, for a good while. When I finally settled down to a job and an apartment, I didn't have a lot of disposable cash for outside entertainment. No more partying on my parent's dollar ... no more eating out. So, I stayed in and I started reading again. I joined a book club, but I only read what I wanted ... and one of the first freebie cookbooks that I got when I joined the book club was Betty Fussell's Eating In.

It's a neat and narrow little paperback, designed to fit nicely in your purse or the top drawer of your desk at work ... perfect for referring to when you want to shop for something good on the way home from work. Most of the recipes are pretty basic and easy to accomplish with fresh basic meats and vegetables. Plus, good old Betty gives advice on what to serve with the dish and what wine to sip alongside. It was pretty perfect inspiration for this girl!

50 Woman Game-Changers ... Dessert and Anne-Sophie Pic

“My cuisine, I would say, is simple and sophisticated. I attach supreme importance to getting the flavours just right.”
                                                                                                                
                                                                                                - Anne-Sophie Pic

Sometimes, one must leave the realm and explore the world before returning home to make one’s mark. I think Anne-Sophie Pic might agree with this statement. She left her family’s strong culinary environment to study business and design, worked in various design and merchandising fields, and then returned to her family roots and placed her energies into becoming a world-class chef. She is chef and co-owner with her husband of Maison Pic in Valence, France and a newer venue in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Following in the footsteps of her grandfather and father … both much-lauded chefs, she has busted the glass ceiling of the French Michelin judging system … being the first woman to earn a three-star chef rating by the stodgy – yet esteemed organization.

Her food sensibilities tend toward limited numbers of ingredients, but attention to the details of bringing each ingredient’s flavour to its perfect level in whatever dish she creates.

Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and White Truffle Oil

Paula Wolfert and I go back a ways ... I first heard of her when I began using clay-pot techniques and pottery to make fish stews and tagine recipes a couple years back. I bought her cookbook Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking and never looked back. She has good solid instincts on writing recipes so that they are clear and sequenced nicely. I have read somewhere that that is one of her claims to fame ... that, and her encyclopedic knowledge of the rustic cuisines of the Mediterranean cultures.