Catherine Pappas

Our Carrot Roll Cake is light and moist, with bright spring flavors, making it a perfect centerpiece for spring and Easter dessert spreads. Few cakes are more ‘spring seasonal’ than carrot cake, and today’s carrot log is no different. Being ‘light and bright’ on the palate, while sporting bright spring colors, today’s cake is a festive centerpiece for any spring or Easter dessert spread. Nutmeg is used in a wide variety of recipes, from baked goods to roasted potatoes, nutmeg also features prominently in various beef and pork spice mixes (in both dry rubs and marinades), as well as in stewed, grilled, and roasted vegetables, as well as in a variety of beverages both warm and cold, alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike.

The process also (obviously) involves fermentation, after which the wine is fortified – meaning a distilled spirit is added to the wine. Following fermentation and fortification, sherries deemed of high enough quality are then aged (according to the process described above), and during the aging process a layer of yeast is allowed to develop over the wine, which prevents excessive oxidization. If this process sounds familiar, this is because this is more or less how port wine is produced – except port is fortified halfway through fermentation, rather than after fermentation has been completed. First up, from Williams & Humbert, we’ll be tasting a Canasta Cream, and from Bodegas Hidalgo, we’ll be sampling a Cream Alameda.

We’re combining homemade flatbreads with a gremolata (or is it a chimichurri?), crisped oven fried potatoes, and grilled New York Strip steaks Carne Collective offers cut-to-order prairie raised beef, beef that’s 100% grass-fed and finished along with being Angus Certified, but more on them below. New York Strip is cut from the cow’s short loin subprimal, which is part of the larger short loin primal. Because of how I grew up, I like to say that good quality beef begins with a good quality supplier and ends with an equally good quality butcher – and that’s exactly what Carne Collective is; a supplier of premium Argentine beef, who entrust their meat solely to top quality butchers.

Sweet and savory, with just a hint of background spice, combined with umami notes from crushed garlic and a medley of Italian-themed spices, today’s sauteed peppers are delicious as toppers for crostini, or layered between crusty bread, swathed in a pita, or even tossed with pasta. In recipes like red sauces, chilis, stews, or today’s red peppers, where you have a medley of different flavors coming together, some of which actually contrast quite sharply, you need ‘something’ to help ‘blur’ or ‘meld’ Thus, sugar serves two purposes inside of today’s recipe, melding together flavors and blunting acidity, while itself being a nearly ‘invisible’ ingredient. Or make a meal out of a loaf of Italian bread by layering them with some fresh mozzarella, sliced sausages, a drizzle of oil, and maybe a fresh dusting of grating cheese and red pepper flakes, and you’re good to go.