Hammond’s Candy Cane Martini Recipe
By admin | November 4, 2011
This beautiful holiday cocktail is sure to be a hit at your next festive gathering!
Ingredients:
* Vanilla vodka
* White crème de cacao
* Peppermint schnapps
* Hammond’s Peppermint candy cane, crushed (optional mini cane for garnish)
* Martini glasses
* Ice
* Shaker
For two cocktails:
1. In a shaker, combine the ice, 3 ounces of vanilla vodka, 3 ounces of white crème de cacao and two ounces of peppermint schnapps.
2. Shake the drink vigorously until well mixed.
3. Garnish cocktail glass rim with crushed Hammon’ds candy cane and sprinkle a pinch in the bottom of the glass. Pour in drink mixture. Garnish with a mini candy cane if desired.
Rimming the Glass:
Crush up a Hammond’s candy cane using a rolling pin or other heavy object. Then, dip the rim of the glass in a quarter inch of water. Next, dip the rim of the glass in the crushed candy cane pieces and voila, the glass will be rimmed.
Topics: Cooking & Entertaining, Holiday Recipes, Recipes | 1 Comment »
“Blatschindas” Pumpkin Pasties ~ Good enough for Hogwart’s!
By admin | October 18, 2011
Blatschindas are pastries are filled with a spiced pumpkin mixture and baked. The warm turnovers are drizzled with Mieli Thun Dandelion Honey sprinkled with nutmeg to serve. Plan ahead to chill the dough at least 1 hour. You may make these in advance of baking and freeze up to 2 months.
Prep Time: 45 minutes, Cook Time: 20 minutes, Total Time: 65 minutes
Makes about 24 Blatschinda pastries
Ingredients:
Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold water
1 large egg
.
Pumpkin Filling:
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tablespoon sugar, or to taste
Finishing and Serving:
1 egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon cool water (egg wash)
2 Tablespoons Mieli Thun Dandelion Honey, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or to taste
Preparation:
Make the pastry: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and process just to mix. Add the butter and process, using short pulses, until the mixture ranges in size from peas to coarse cornmeal.
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, the water and the egg. Whisk thoroughly, and add to the flour mixture, using short pulses to incorporate it. Process just unti lthe mixture begins to hold together but is still in pieces. The dough should hold together when you press it between your fingers, but it should not feel damp. Press the dough lightly to form a flattened disc, wrap it in waxed paper, and chill it for at least 1 hour.
Make the pumpkin filling: Mix pumpkin, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with the sugar. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface so it is very thin, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out twenty-four 3-inch rounds. Work with six at a time, and place the others in the refrigerator so they don’t soften.
Brush the edge of one pastry round with some egg wash, and then place 1 teaspoon of the filling on the bottom third of the round. Fold the top half over the filling and gently press the edges together. Using the tines of a fork, press the edges together again, more firmly, to seal them thoroughly and to make a design on the edge. Brush the pastry lightly with egg wash, and poke several holes in it to allow steam to escape. Refrigerate it while you repeat with the remaining round of dough. (You can prepare the blatschindas to this point and then freeze them, well wrapped, for up to 2 months. Let them thaw slightly, then proceed with the recipe.)
Arrange the blatschindas about 1/2 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake until they are golden and the pastry is baked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes, then arrange them on a warmed serving platter. Drizzle them with the Mieli Thun Dandelion Honey, sprinkle with the nutmeg, and serve immediately.
Topics: Holiday Recipes | No Comments »
Honey ~ A Rich History
By admin | October 18, 2011
Honey is an organic, natural sugar alternative with no additives that is easy on the stomach, adapts to all cooking processes, and has an indefinite shelf-life. Poggi Bonsi carries a unique selection of honeys from the U.S. and Italy. Our honeys are sumptuous in a cup of tea or drizzled over aged cheeses and are also great for cooking.
Recipes with Honey:
Pecan Pie With MaketSpice Orange Cinnamon Honey
Stonewall Kitchen Baklava with Maine Blueberry Honey
Pumpkin Turnovers Drizzled with Mieli Thun Dandelion Honey
History:
Honey is as old as written history, dating back to 2100 B.C. where it was mentioned in Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittite code, and the sacred writings of India and Egypt. It is presumably even older than that.
Its name comes from the English hunig, and it was the first and most widespread sweetener used by man. Legend has it that Cupid dipped his love arrows in honey before aiming at unsuspecting lovers.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, Israel was often referred to as “the land of milk and honey.” Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey was called “nectar of the gods,” high praise indeed.
Honey was valued highly and often used as a form of currency, tribute, or offering. In the 11th century A.D., German peasants paid their feudal lords in honey and beeswax.
Although experts argue whether the honeybee is native to the Americas, conquering Spaniards in 1600 A.D. found native Mexicans and Central Americans had already developed beekeeping methods to produce honey.
In days of old, honey has been used not only in food and beverages, but also to make cement, in furniture polishes and varnishes, and for medicinal purposes.
And, of course, bees perform the vital service of pollinating fruits, legumes, vegetables and other types of food-producing plants in the course of their business of honey production. In fact, honeybees must tap over two million flowers to make one pound of honey, flying a distance equal to more than three times around the world. The average worker bee will make only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey during its lifetime.
Topics: Cooking & Entertaining, Recipes | No Comments »
Stonewall Kitchen Baklava with Maine Blueberry Honey
By admin | October 17, 2011
Try this delicious Baklava
updated with the added flavor of
dried blueberries and
Stonewall Kitchen Maine Blueberry Honey
Ingredients
½ cup Stonewall Kitchen Maine Blueberry Honey
¾ cup water
1 lemon slice
1½ cups nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts or all three)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch clove
½ cup dried blueberries
20 sheets Phyllo dough
½ cup butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a sauce pan over medium-high heat combine the honey, water and lemon slice. Simmer until thickened and reduced by about half. Cool.
- In a food processor combine the nuts, sugar, cinnamon, clove, and dried blueberries. Pulse until finely ground.
- In a 9″x12″ quarter baking sheet, layer 10 sheets of Phyllo dough, brushing each with butter. Top with the nut mixture. Top nuts with the remaining 10 Phyllo sheets brushing each with butter. Score the top layer of Phyllo with a knife from corner to corner forming diamond shapes. Lines should be about 1½” apart.
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Pour honey syrup over baklava. Cool, cut and serve.
Topics: Holiday Recipes, Recipes | No Comments »
Pecan Pie with MarketSpice Cinnamon Orange Honey
By admin | October 12, 2011
This scrumptous pecan pie is gooey and delicious! The hint of citrus from the lemon and MarketSpice Cinnamon Orange Honey gives a traditional pie a little extra zest. Serve it in our elegant Emile Henry pie pan, perfect for holiday entertaining.
Ingredients:
¼ lb butter 1 Cup sugar
3 beaten eggs
½ Cup Karo brand corn syrup
½ Cup MarketSpice Cinnamon Orange Honey
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp lemon juice
1-2 cups of chopped or whole pecans
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
9-inch uncooked pie shell
Instructions:
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, brown butter over medium high heat to get a nice nutty aroma for the pie. Be careful not to burn it. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, eggs, syrup and honey. Using a wire whisk, blend all ingredients well.
• Add the brown butter, lemon juice, vanilla and pecans. Season with cinnamon and nutmeg. Continue to whip until all ingredients are well blended.
• Pour into pie shell and bake on center rack of oven for 45 minutes to an hour.
• Remove and allow to cool and serve with vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream.
Topics: Holiday Recipes, Recipes | No Comments »
Poggi Bonsi Now Carries Duralex Picardie Bistro Glasses
By admin | October 6, 2011
Poggi Bonsi is proud to introduce Picardie Tumblers, faceted, easy-to-grasp drinking glasses have been the primary drinking glass in France for decades in homes, bars, bistros, and school cafeterias. These crystal clear, dishwasher and microwave safe drinking glasses are once again available in America.
Duralex drinking glasses have a rich, history in the memories of French men and women. According to many, Duralex is a magical name, which tells a story of childhood with the little inlaid numbers, 1 through 48, found at the bottom of the canteen tumblers that students all played with during lunchtime.
There were several games. Some adults remember playing a game where the child with the highest number at a cafeteria table had to clean the table, others remember playing an age game with the numbers and still other remember the numbers being used as the order in which one could go outside. The Duralex glasses were an ordinary part of daily life for decades. They went out of fashion for a little while and returned as a national treasurer, an item that reminds the French of the freedoms and joys of childhood.
Duralex owes its birth to the Saint-Gobain group and the industrial patent for molded, tempered glass, developed in 1936 in the La Chapelle Saint-Mesmin factory. In 1945, Duralex used the technology to create tumblers that proved to be perfectly transparent with lasting clarity and practically unbreakable. This molded, tempered glass took the form of the emblematic “le Gigogne. In half a century, this canteen or cafeteria tumbler has become a legend and a national treasure.
The Picardie tumblers are solid and won’t topple over easily even when bumped as a plastic cup will. The tempered glass is BPA and PVC free. There is absolutely no chemical leaching. The Picardie glasses are made from tempered glass which is 4 to 5 times stronger than standard glass so it can withstand heating and cooling changes and it is shock resistant.
With a track record of success in French cafeterias, this glassware is a must-have for the active American child. It is easy to hold and the faceted sides give kids the extra grip they need. They are extremely tough and durable, and with even a little bit of care will last for decades without breaking or chipping. It is highly likely that the toddler drinking out of a Picardie today will be drinking out of the same Picardie tumbler as he goes off to college.
The tempered glass is non-porous so it does not retain odors, scratch or stain. There are 8 sizes ranging from 3.25 ounces to nearly 17 ounces. Poggi Bonsi carries the 4 most popular sizes for home use. Use them to serve water, milk, juice, wine and even hot espressos and lattes.
Duralex International SAS has been manufacturing drinking glasses in France for more then 80 years and was the inventor of tempered glass in 1939. It is the only glass manufacturing company that manufacturers all of its products in France. The Picardie tumbler,are manufactured in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin near Orleans, France.
Topics: Store News | No Comments »
Emile Henry Pizza Crust Perfect for Pizza Stones
By admin | September 22, 2011
Easy Homemade Pizza Crust recipe
Temperature: 425° F
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 env fast-rising dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tbsp. cornmeal
- 1 cup very warm water
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in mixing bowl. Whisk until ingredients are blended.
2. Stir in water and 2 tbsp olive oil until well blended.
3. Place dough on a lightly floured counter, baking mat or cutting board. Knead 10 minutes. Cover with towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
4. Sprinkle Pizza Peel with 2 tbsp. corn meal. Place dough on peel and press into a circle. Stretch and roll dough shaping a 14 inch circle and add toppings.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 min., or until crust is crispy.
CHEESE PIZZA:
Spread 1 c. tomato sauce with 2 tsp. Italian Seasoning on dough leaving 1/2 to 1 inch rim. Sprinkle on 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
PESTO PIZZA:
Drop 5-6 spoonfuls of pesto on cheese pizza.
MUSHROOM PIZZA:
Slice medium onion and 8 oz mushrooms, saute them in olive oil until soft. Spread on top of cheese pizza.
GRILLING DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat your grill:
CHARCOAL, NATURAL WOOD GRILLS: Light charcoal, dump coals on bottom grate, spread out coals, put top grill grate in place and place Emile Henry pizza stone on top of grill grate. Let stone heat up to cooking temperature 500 – 700 degrees F, depending on your recipe instructions.
GAS GRILL: Light burners, put Emile Henry pizza stone on grill grate, let stone heat up to cooking temperature, 500-700 degrees F, depending upon your recipe instructions.
2. Meanwhile, rollout pizza dough onto a pizza peel. Add sauce, cheese and toppings.
3. Just before cooking, sprinkle2 tbsp. of corn meal on Pizza Stone. Slide pizza directly onto hot Pizza Stone. Cover the grill and cook over high heat for 15-20 min., or until crust is lightly browned and the top is bubbly.
4. When pizza is done, remove it with pizza peel. If you’re making another right away, place a platter; or serve pizza right on the Pizza Stone. Lift up Pizza Stone at handles using potholders. The handles will be very hot.
5. Place the stone on cutting board or trivets.
6. Cut pizza slices directly on Pizza Stone
Topics: Store News | No Comments »
Classic French Mussels in a Mussel Pot from Poggi Bonsi
By admin | July 19, 2011
Create a quick and healthy meal in minutes with our Final Touch Stainless Steel Mussel Pot Set. Quickly steam up to 2 pounds of mussels…steam and eat from the same pot. It features a unique top that holds the shells as you eat, as well as a reinforced sandwich bottom. This beautiful mussel pot is made from durable 18/10 stainless steel which makes it suitable for all types of cook tops including induction.
Classic French Mussel Recipe:
Serves 4 as an appetizer for 4 or 2 as a main dish.
Ingredients:
• 2 lb live mussels
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 2 chopped scallions or 1 chopped shallot
• 2 chopped green garlic shoots or 2 cloves chopped garlic
Preparation:
Scrub and debeard the mussels. The “beard” is the fibrous hairy thing hanging from one side of the tasty bivalve. Pull it off with a side-to-side motion.
In case you are wondering, a mussel is alive if it reacts. Its shell should be closed. If it is open, sit the mussel on the kitchen counter for a bit. It may close when you are not looking.
Heat the butter over medium-high heat in your Final Touch mussel pot. Saute the shallot or green onion until it is soft but not browned. Add the garlic cloves if using — if you are using green garlic, leave it out for now.
Add the white wine (chenin blanc, pinot grigio or something crisp, but you can use any decent white), and bring it to a boil. Add the mussels in one layer if possible.
Cover the pot and let the mussels steam for 3-8 minutes. After three minutes, check the mussels; many should be open. You want them all open, but some will do this faster than others.
As soon as most of the mussels are open, turn off the heat and toss in the green garlic, if using. Cover for a minute while you prepare bowls and plates.
Spoon out plenty of mussels and broth, which should be briny enough to not need any more salt. Throw out any mussels that did not open.
Serve with crusty bread, more white wine or Belgian beer – use the mussel pot lid as a bowl for the shells.
Topics: Cooking & Entertaining, New Products, Recipes | No Comments »
Mussels from Brussels
By admin | July 19, 2011
Say Belgium, and one’s thoughts turn immediately to lace and linens, the EU, Tintin comics, Jacques Brel and the Mannekin Pis. Say Belgian food, and one pictures waffles, chocolate, beer – and mussels.
The mussels I’m referring to are potfuls of steaming mollusks strewn with onions and herbs and glistening with juices redolent of wine and the sea. And it’s hard not to picture a heaping bowl of fries nearby, along with a side of silky mayonnaise and a foam-topped pils beer.
I had a meal of moules years ago in Brussels, but the reality hardly lived up to the fantasy. The fries were limp, the mayonnaise was tasteless and the mussels were sandy. Thank heavens for the beer! When I mentioned this meal – and the name of the restaurant – to my friend Serge Beaumarriage, a Belgian chef, he shook his head. “That place is for tourists. No Belgian would set foot in there.”
When I asked him where he used to eat mussels in Brussels, he said: “In season – months containing the letter R – we eat them in all kinds of places, from the top restaurants to the brasseries and little bistros. In the tourist season, we travel north to the small Flemish towns at the seaside. We’d order classic dishes like tomatoes with grey shrimp, moules casserole, frites and heart-shaped Flemish waffles.”
Born and raised in Brussels, Serge has made Montreal his home for over a decade, and like so many European chefs, he is intensely proud of his homeland and finds many of our local ingredients lacking. For that reason, he rarely prepares mussels at home.
When I asked him to teach me to make authentic Belgian moules and frites, he said it wouldn’t be easy. According to him, Canadian mussels are less meaty – better suited to soups and starters – and our potatoes are all wrong. But I knew deep down he was enthusiastic, for when I asked whether his recipe comes from one of the fancy restaurants where he worked in Brussels, he laughed and said no, he had learned to make mussels from his Flemish grandmother.
A proper moules-and-frites dinner can be made with basic kitchen equipment; all you need is a mussel pot for the mussels and another for the frites. Yet the proper equipment simplifies the undertaking, and Serge convinced me to track down traditional single-serving mussel pots with deep, round lids perfect for depositing the shells as you eat. Sold on every street corner in Belgium, here they are rare, but I did find two restaurant supply stores that sell them.
Chefs tend to show off when they come to cook in someone else’s kitchen. They arrive empty-handed, rustle through the cupboards, and next thing you know, they’re sharpening your knives, setting up colanders in the sink and unearthing odd-shaped pots you’d forgotten you had.
While I sat peeling potatoes for the frites, Serge plunged our P.E.I. mussels into cold water, and began pulling off the odd stray beard and tossing away any that were opened or cracked. Though my fishmonger told me this operation is no longer necessary with farmed mussels, Serge insisted on giving them a once over before cooking.
Next I watched him prepare a mirepoix, a mix of onion, celery, leek and carrot used to flavour soups, stews, sauces, stocks and steamed shellfish.
He then showed me how to prepare the frites (see below). If you want to test whether a cook is a born-and-bred Belgian, ask him to cut fries. Serge’s were perfect, every batonnet cut 6 to 7 centimetres long by 1 centimetre wide.
One of the secrets of Belgian frites is the blanching process, which involves frying the potatoes first and letting them cool before giving them a final blast in hot oil. Serge insists on lard for frying – not the healthiest choice but one that results in frites that are crisp, dry and delicious.
When it came time to prepare the traditional Belgian frites dipping sauce made of mayonnaise, mustard and cream, we agreed that starting with prepared Hellman’s made life a lot easier than whisking it up from scratch. And so good was the final mix, it tasted homemade.
With all the ingredients lined up in front of him, Serge sprang into action, starting by blanching the frites, then heating butter and oil in the two mussel pots. In went the mirepoix, followed by the mussels. He stopped for a minute to drain the frites, covered the mussel pots, then began gently shaking them over high heat. A few minutes before the end of the cooking time, he plunged the frites in for their final hot-oil treatment, and poured a cup of white wine over the mussels.
He then shook the crisp frites into paper-towel-lined serving bowls, placed the mussel pots on serving plates along with the bowls of mayonnaise and, just before serving, poured the beer. Not only was the process quick (about 30 minutes of prep work and 15 minutes of cooking), the results were outstanding.
At the table, there were a few more rules to follow to make the experience truly “Bruxelloise.”
Cutlery is out. Moules and frites is finger food, and the ideal method for eating is to pinch each mussel out of its casing with the aid of an empty shell. (Unopened mussels must be discarded).
To enhance the mayonnaise, Serge suggested we stir in a few spoonfuls of the mussel juices.
And once at the bottom of the pot, we were encouraged to slurp up the remaining juices with the vegetables. My pleasure!
Not only was this one of the easiest meals I’ve ever prepared, it was also one of the least expensive. This generous dinner, consisting of a pot of mussels, a dish of frites and a glass of imported Belgian beer, cost about $7 per person (plus the cost of the frying fat). Expect to pay about $10 for 2 kilograms of mussels, which should generously serve two as a main course.
We may not have started with all the authentic ingredients, but the results were uniformly delicious. Our moules-and-frites could never have hit the heights of the seaside restaurants of Serge’s youth, but they certainly quashed my memories of sandy mussels in Brussels.
Find mussel pots and other gourmet cookware on our website PoggiBonsiGifts.com.
Topics: Cooking & Entertaining, New Products, Recipes, Store News | No Comments »
Memorial Weekend Sidewalk Sale at The Landing in Renton
By admin | May 25, 2011
You find bargain prices on a huge selection of merchandise at selected merchants at The Landing in Renton.
Poggi Bonsi Savings:
Friday, May 27 ….. Save 30%
Saturday, May 28 ….. Save 40%
Sunday, May 29 ….. Save 50%
Monday, May 30 ….. Save 60%
Plus Save 10% of everything inside our Renton and Olde Burien stores all weekend!
Topics: Store News | No Comments »