recipes

Macy's Culinary Council's Celebrity Chefs Offer Valentine's Day Recipes

Filed under: Dining

Macy's Culinary Council's Wolfgang Puck offers favorite recipe for Valentine's Day

Macy's Culinary Council, which includes some of the best known chefs in the world from Wolfgang Puck (above) to Nancy Silverton, have offered us some of their favorite recipes for celebrating Valentine's Day. From a goat cheese fondue to a butterscotch budino with caramel sauce, these recipes are bound to make your Valentine's Day entertaining a special one.

Chef Rick Bayless suggests serving his famous "Red Hot Margaritas". The recipe calls for Ferrara Red Hots, which provide the kick. The chef's recipe for the limeade can be used for other types of margaritas as well. "We were trying to come up with a margarita for our winter bar menu at Frontera Grill," says Bayless. "So we were thinking mulling spices...bright red color... and then someone said it: 'The drink should taste like a liquid version of those Red Hot candies.' Bingo."

Chef Takashi Yagihashi, proprietor of Takashi Restaurant in Chicago, suggests making his intensely flavorful Curry Kaffir Lime Soup recipe, which is best served to guests in little cupfuls. It can be passed as an appetizer, with colorful garnishes on toothpicks for a complete dipping and sipping experience. Kaffir lime leaves gives this soup its floral aroma and flavor.

Tags: awards-main, la brea bakery, luxist-awards, macys, Macys Culinary Council, nancy silverton, recipes, recipes+for+valentines+day, recipesforvalentinesday, Rick Bayless, Takashi Yagihashi, Todd English, valentine+day+recipes, valentinedayrecipes, Valentines Day, valentines+day+recipes, valentines+day+recipes+and+macys, valentines+recipes, valentinesdayrecipes, valentinesdayrecipesandmacys, valentinesrecipes, wolfgang puck, www.valentine+recipes.com, www.valentinerecipes.com

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Tips for Throwing a Perfect Holiday Cocktail Party

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Tips for throwing a perfect cocktail party.

Kara Newman, author of Spice & Ice: 60 tongue-tingling cocktails (Chronicle Books, 2009) and Spirits Reviewer for Wine Enthusiast Magazine has offered us some of her best tips for throwing the perfect holiday cocktail party.

First and foremost, it is important to prepare in advance, says Newman, whose articles have also appeared in The New York Times, Imbibe, The San Francisco Chronicle, Gourmet, and Saveur, and many other publications.

Here's what Kara suggests:

The pros pull together their mise-en-place before an event, and so should you. Before guests arrive, make sure you have everything you need to make drinks close at hand. That means glassware, spirits, garnishes, etc. Cut fruit into wedges; wash and dry herbs; squeeze fresh juice and decant into squeeze bottles.
If space permits, put glasses in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before guests arrive. Pull them out as you're making drinks, and they'll be perfectly chilled and have a professional-looking frosty sheen.
Alternatively, set out a "do it yourself" station with a theme, such as a Bloody Mary station with various spirits, mixers, and garnishes. Print up a basic recipe or two, and stand it in a picture frame. Guests can use the recipe as a guideline, or create their own drink riffs.
If you're serving alcohol, always be sure that you're serving food, too.
Good rule of thumb: You can never have too much ice!
If you don't want to tend bar, consider making a party punch and serving in a show stopping, decorative bowl.

Check out our related story on holiday-themed cocktails along with recipes including one created by Kara, herself.

Tags: awards-main, cocktail recipes, cocktails, food-pedia, Kara Newman, luxist-awards, main-pedia, recipes, spirits

Celebrity Chef Todd English to Host Cooking Demonstration at The Plaza Food Hall

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

On Thursday, November 18th Celebrity Chef Todd English will host a holiday-themed cooking demonstration at The Plaza Food Hall in the Concourse level of the Plaza Hotel in New York. The event will run from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Called "Happy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres", the cooking demonstration and tasting will be free and open to the public. English will teach guests how to make festive appetizers for easy, elegant holiday entertaining, preparing Lobster Popovers, Plaza Food Hall Prime Rib Sliders and Chestnut Soup with Nantucket Bay Scallops.

A departure from the usual cocktail fare, these appetizers are unique and delicious while easy to make. Guests will have the opportunity to sample the hors d'oeuvres and take away recipes so that they may try their hand at making them at home.

Gallery: Todd English Food Hall

The Sushi Bar at The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English

The Front Entrance of The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English

The Noodle Bar at The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English

The Ocean Grill at The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English

The Pizza Station at The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English

Tags: awards-main, cooking, demonstration, luxist-awards, Plaza Hotel, recipes, The Plaza, The Plaza Food Hall, The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English, The Plaza Hotel, Todd English

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Classic Cocktail Recipes from the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (with video)

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spirits

Classic cocktail recpioes from the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has reinterpreted authentic cocktail culture for a new generation with a new Classic Cocktail Menu highlighting time-honored libations that are perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

For over 100 years, bartenders in many of the heritage brand's bars and lounges, from The Plaza hotel's Oak Bar (winner of the Luxist Awards' Readers Choice Award for Best Hotel Bar) to The Savoy in London, have helped invent, design, refine and serve drinks that can only be described as classic.

This fall's new menu will be whipped up by the best mixologists in the business, who have been extensively trained in the art of the cocktail. Taking inspiration from many classic cocktail eras, Fairmont's most famous recipes for delicious cocktails across the brand are available online. Expert bartenders have posted photos, tips and tricks for making lip-smacking libations that date from colonial times right up to the present. See the slideshow below for recipes for making your own classic cocktails at home and be sure to check out the video below in which Orlando Rivera, head bartender at The Plaza's Oak Bar talks to Luxist about how classic cocktails have made a comeback.

Gallery: Classic Cocktail Recipes from the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Tags: awards-main, classic cocktails, cocktail recipes, cocktails, entertainment-pedia, luxist-awards, main-pedia, Manhattan, Orlando Rivera, Plaza Hotel, recipes, sidecar, The Savoy

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Silver Spoons and Party Tips From Park Avenue

by Amanda Gordon (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Dining, Books

There's a lot to like about the Park Avenue lifestyle, especially as it is captured in the book "Park Avenue Potluck: Celebrations," published by Rizzoli. This book takes us inside the apartments facing the broad boulevard with a European feel, to tell us, if not everything, then just enough, to entertain Park Avenue style. Hint: there may be a cook for hire involved, and you'll want to get out the china, write place cards, and dust off the napkin rings. As for what you'll be serving: The ladies are not cutting-edge professional chefs, so this is not the place to find culinary revelations on par with "Momofuko." Rather the recipes are for comforting dishes, not too healthy or unhealthy, and presented simply but beautifully. Vetted by New York Times food writer Florence Fabricant, these are gold-plated go-to dishes. And some, such as Coco Kopelman's baked latkes, are a real find.

Source

Tags: cookbook, dining, entertaining, florence fabrikant, FlorenceFabrikant, food, park avenue, ParkAvenue, recipes

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A Taste of Wimbledon at Soho House

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

New York's chic and sophisticated Soho House is offering something special on their roof (right) through July 5th -- a taste of Wimbledon.

The "Wimbledon Pitcher" is sure to be a favorite among guests sunning themselves -- what a great way to pretend you care about tennis while boozing by the pool! The pitchers are also available on the 6th floor where matches will be playing, but only a hard-core fan would turn down the roof of Soho House to watch people hit things with racquets in England -- no offense, tennis-lovers.

If you're not in New York, fear not; you too can make this traditional British concoction. Here's how, courtesy of Soho House:

Wimbledon Pitcher

Drop into the pitcher:

5 leaves of Mint
4 slices Cucumber
2 Strawberries
3 wedges of Lemon
3 wedges of Orange Ice
8 oz of Pimm's

Top it off with Sprite or make it sing with gin (Hendrick's is recommended), stir, and serve. You can even watch tennis while you're drinking it, for good measure.

Tags: cocktails, recipes, soho house, wimbledon, wimbledon pitcher, WimbledonPitcher