(Side note: about nicknames and abbreviations, since this seems to be something people keep asking me about. All I’ll say is: I’ll keep this one my Dirty Little Secret… just another regret…)

The salmon adorably comes wrapped in brown paper listing off just some of the positive attributes of the Verlasso salmon. Fun!

The salmon was brilliantly vibrant and orange, gorgeous.

I chose to make the salmon en papillotte - which is just a fancy pants way of saying ‘in a pouch’. Honestly, though, I realized much later that I did it wrong… I’ve never cooked this way before, and I didn’t realize you need to add liquid to the packet. But… well, you’ll see.

I served it with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts, but due to a miscommunication about when dinner should be served, they got a little over browned. Still delicious and super crispy, but not burned, just not the prettiest to look at.

On the other side, I added more veggies – Earthbound Farms baby kale and dried Calimyrna figs with a simple lime vinaigrette. This went over very well!

And the salmon, which I cooked to the rare side of medium rare, came out gloriously. This was also very well received!

One of the lightest, healthiest meals I’ve made for DLS to date. I had a lot of fun working with the Verlasso salmon, and found it flavorful and delicious. I highly recommend it for those who care about the origins of their fish, the sustainability and about a fish’s life before it gets to your plate.

Lime Dill Salmon en Papillotte (sort of)

2 6-8 ounce fillets of Verlasso salmon
dried dill
slices of lime
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take a measure of aluminum foil and lay each piece of salmon on its own piece of aluminum foil. Season the salmon liberally with the dill, salt and pepper, then lay the slices of lime on top to make it look pretty. Lift the ends of the foil (along the longer side of the salmon) and bring the edges together, then fold down twice. Roll the short ends up, crimping as you go. (If you want to make this truly “en papillotte” you would do well to add a tablespoon of water, wine or broth before you close it up.)

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes for rare to medium rare, up to a full 20 minutes for medium.  Be careful when you take them out – it’s hot!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Batali-style

1 lb of Brussels sprouts, cut in half
Olive oil
salt/pepper
5-10 peeled whole cloves of garlic

Preheat oven to 475 degrees with sheet pan inside. (I line mine with foil for easy cleanup, but that’s up to you.)

In a bowl, toss the Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic cloves. Once the oven has come to temp with the sheet pan inside, take the pan out and quickly spread the Brussels sprouts across it in a single layer, then replace inside the oven. Roast for about 20-30 minutes or until it’s as tender/cooked as you like.

Try not to eat them all while they cool.

Baby Kale & Calimyrna Fig Salad

1 box of Earthbound Farms baby kale, chopped
5-8 chopped dried Calimyrna figs
juice of one lime
extra virgin olive oil
salt/pepper, to taste

In a bowl big enough for everything, add olive oil, lime juice, salt/pepper and taste. Whisk together until it emulsifies. Add kale and figs, tossing to coat, then store in fridge until you’re ready to eat. (The kale wilts a little bit and softens as it sits.)

Happy eating!!!

Please note that as a result of the $20 gift certificate to Fresh Direct that I received, I did not pay for the salmon or the Brussels sprouts. I also received the Earthbound Farms kale mix from a Food Fete event that I attended, as I did with the Calimyrna figs as well. However, I was under no obligation to post about any of these items and received no monetary compensation to do so.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: brussels sprouts, DLS, figs, kale, salmon

Do you go to Seattle’s Best? Do you have a recommendation for a drink I’d like? Leave it in comments…

I received this $5 gift card courtesy of Seattle’s Best, but was under no obligation to post about it and received no monetary compensation to do so.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: coffee, drinks

I was invited to attend a launch party celebrating Ben & Jerry’s latest breakthrough in tasty frozen treats – Greek Frozen Yogurt! I was pretty excited because I’m a huge fan of Ben & Jerry’s (late night snack, chunky monkey, half baked, cherry Garcia, more… I’ve been eating this stuff since I was a kid, and getting fat from it since 2001 when I began eating entire cartons in one sitting, ahem). I’m also a fan of Greek yogurt – everyone has their favorite brands so I’ll just smile mysteriously and let you think what you want on that topic – so I was curious how the combination worked out. I’ve eaten a lot of the Korean frozen yogurts that bear that signature sour taste that I enjoy (Pinkberry, Red Mango, and more), but hadn’t heard of Greek yogurt style frozen yogurt… how would this stack up?

The Ben & Jerry’s flavor experts (seriously, how do I get a job doing that?!) explained to us that the idea came very suddenly and yet was there all along, as many of the employees already enjoy eating Greek yogurt themselves on a regular basis. They settled on 4 flavors to sell prepackaged – all of which are around the 200 calories per half-cup serving, and contain more protein per serving than regular ice cream. Nice.

The first flavor Sarah and I tried together was Strawberry Shortcake. (Funny moment: we were sharing, and the guy serving was all “We have plenty to go around! Take one each!” but in reality, I didn’t want to waste – which I certainly would if I took a serving of each flavor, since we tried them all… and I wanted to cut back on calories! I guess he thought we were being shy?) Really creamy, dense, and actually, it tasted like cheesecake to me – which isn’t a bad thing. It just had that richness to it that I didn’t expect when the container said “yogurt” on it.

Next up, raspberry fudge, which was also creamy, and slightly tart from the raspberries, along with a bit of chocolatey taste from the bits in there.

Third, we tried banana peanut butter.

Last was blueberry vanilla graham.

Can you guess by the contents of our cups which ones were our favorites?

Shockingly, our favorite was the Strawberry Shortcake. I say shocking because it had the fewest calories and I thought for sure anything I picked would be laden with calories. Pretty close second was peanut butter banana (which was the room’s overall favorite), and far away – for me, anyway – were raspberry fudge and blueberry vanilla graham. Not because they were bad, but because I don’t like raspberries (I used to be allergic, so the taste just throws me now), and blueberries aren’t my favorite thing aside from in muffins and pancakes or fresh/whole. I guess I’m weird. Regardless, I was really impressed with the new line – there was barely a noticeable difference from ice cream!

We were then treated to parfaits and smoothies made with the frozen yogurts as well. This is a peanut butter banana parfait which was super tasty… and might actually help me achieve my goal of protein-loading my diet more easily without resorting to meat-heavy meals! Mmmmmmm…

Expect to see these in your local supermarket soon, starting this month, and definitely try the strawberry shortcake one to let me know how you like it – yummm!

Please note that I attended this event courtesy of Ben & Jerry’s, and received no compensation to post about this, positively or negatively. Thank you again to Ben & Jerry’s for their hospitality and the pints of Greek frozen yogurt I was sent on my way with! Yum!!!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: frozen yogurt, press event

One particularly gorgeous Saturday afternoon, a group of us gathered on the 47th floor of a lovely building in Yorkville/Upper East Side, with these lovely views (and one I foolishly did not photograph that showed Central Park’s lake), for a tea party of deliciously epic proportions.

I’ve mentioned Chambre de Sucre in the past, when I had the fortune to be able to sample and play with some of their uniquely shaped sugars. However, this time we were all brought together to try them – with such a lovely spread for tea, catered by Kyotofu and Two Little Red Hens (the cupcakes only).

Since I last mentioned them, they’ve also come out with some new items, fun.

One of the super fun items that I definitely need to get my hands on – wing, elephant or cat shaped sugars that perch on the rim of your glass (mug, tea cup, or a champagne flute). I think it would be adorable to have these for a bridal shower – it’s the perfect touch to drop into your flute and enjoy a bit of sweetness as you toast the bride! Or just for an extra special tea party, have these set up on each person’s tea cup… Plus if you get food safe markers, you can write names on them (if you have a steady hand) for the ultimate in adorable place cards… ooh, idea!

There are also star shaped sugars, hearts, and pyramids.

And of course, the tasty nibbles I tried. I actually revisited Kyotofu around this time as well, and headed to Two Little Red Hens afterwards, so expect to see some new reviews of those places as well soon…

In any case, I continue to be fascinated by Chambre de Sucre and their adorable products. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next! Check out their website for ordering info.

I was under no obligation to post about this, positively or negatively, though I attended this event courtesy of Chambre de Sucre. Thank you again for you hospitality – everything was lovely!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: press event

You know what makes my job easy? Sometimes, I get emails from companies whose products I already enjoy, asking if I’d like to sample some of their new products. Yes, of course I would like to try your product that I already like, and write about it (though no one ever asks me to write about their product, they just ask if I’d like to try them – I always get to choose what I write about).

Such was the case recently when Tazo Tea contacted me to introduce me to their line of bottled teas. Well, one of the things I ingest on a regular basis but rarely talk about on Feisty Foodie is my Starbucks habit; I have a fondness for many of their prepared foods, and sometimes, I’ll grab one of the Tazo Teas in there to go with a quick bite for lunch. I really like the iced green tea because it’s low calorie, tasty, and is just the right amount of sweetness to go with just about any food I eat.

However, I could only ever find bottled Tazo Tea at Starbucks. Now Tazo is launching an entire line, and sent over a bowlful of goodies – literally, the above bowl! – for me to try. The first flavor I pulled out to try was plum pomegranate, which, if you know me, is not really something that I’d think would strike my fancy (I’m not a huge fan of fruit teas in general). But the plum flavor was strong, and wasn’t overwhelmed by pomegranate’s tanginess. (I’ve long wondered why there are no plum juices easily available… it’s so delicious!)

As for the rest of the goodies in the bowl, there was a journal, a yoga mat bag, and a $15 iTunes gift card… to help me reach my zen place.

Tazo’s bottled teas are available at a Whole Foods Market near you. Keep an eye out!

Please note that I was under no obligation to post about this, positively or negatively. Thank you again to Tazo for the adorable gift basket!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Product Reviews