Dean & DeLuca Merchant Deal Feed
Sammich Nation
If memory serves most of us correctly, we gobbled bunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during our formative years.In fact, the National Peanut Board declares the average child will have consumed somewhere around 1,500 PB&J’s before graduating high school.But that’s just the innocent beginning of our nation’s love affair with the sandwich.Simple, gourmet, toasted or on rye with a liberal schmear of mayo or mustard, Americans have a super-sized appetite for sammiches—we happily chow down 45 billion annually.
Crown the sandwich king of American food—there are countless shops and franchises peddling them and infinite ways to make the filling between two slices of bread interesting.Not the sexiest of cuisines in terms of style, but a sandwich is certainly amongst the most satisfying.And I’m certain there’s some unwritten law in the universe that requires a picnic to have at least one sandwich on its al fresco menu to be deemed a proper picnic—preferably a crusty baguette piled with Italian meats and cheeses.
In grade school I toted lunchboxes packed with braunschweiger sandwiches—thick rounds of smoked pork liver sausage nestled on tears of iceberg lettuce topped with Hellmann’s (we weren’t a Miracle Whip household) and slapped between two sheets of Wonder bread (Mom trimmed the crusts).Certainly not an asset on the lunchroom trading floor, but when my humble sandwich was paired with an irresistible Hostess Twinkie, I could score the luscious from-scratch chocolate buttermilk cake Shari’s mom made or a bag of Fritos from any number of classmates. One of Dad’s signature culinary triumphs was a mouthwatering Reuben sandwich he made by special request, bucking tradition by replacing Russian dressing with homemade Thousand Island. My first real appliance post-college was a toaster oven in which I deftly turned out bubbling ham and cheese sandwiches.And when the Panini craze caught on I joined right in, getting perverse pleasure from making a picture-worthy sandwich with artisan bread and paycheck-busting ingredients—and then smooshing it beyond recognition on a VEG (Very Expensive Grill).
Sandwiches make some lovely cameo appearances in memorable cinematic scenes. Leave it to some YouTube-loving movie fan to post a nearly two-minute video of Greatest Movie Sandwiches, including two of my favorites.There’s Meg Ryan’s iconic everything-on-the-side pastrami sammie at Katz’s Deli in New York City and the Runny Egg Sandwich Adam Sandler made in “Spanglish”—a lousy flick rescued by a crave-worthy recipe (Thomas Keller originated the insanely delicious combo of bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese topped with a fried egg).Add to that my personal honor roll of big- and small-screen sandwiches—the intent munching of Carnegie Deli’s mile-high classic creations in Woody Allen’s “Broadway Danny Rose” and in season five of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David’s valiant attempts to swap sandwich ingredients with Ted Danson, who, just like my stubborn Joy Elementary buddies, refused the sales pitch.Maybe if David had thrown a bonus Twinkie into the trade, Danson would’ve accepted the switcheroo.
Or perhaps the offer of a lowly PB&J could have sealed the deal with Danson.Ah, to remember a simpler sandwich time.Long live the sandwich, the undisputed king of American food.
-Kimberly Winter Stern
Dean & DeLuca stores across the country contribute to the nation’s annual 45-billion-sandwich tally.Executive Chef Andres Moncayo of the Charlotte, N.C. D&D says his store sells approximately 96,500 sandwiches each year.The most popular?“Roasted sirloin and Havarti cheese with caramelized onions and horseradish cream sauce,” grins chef Moncayo. “Not your average sandwich.” My stock would have tripled in value during school lunchtime trading that little number.Two to go please, chef.
Here chef Moncayo shares two sammiches, coming soon to the Dean & DeLuca Wine Bar in Charlotte. Add some homemade sweet potato fries, a crunchy pickle spear and a laid-back attitude for the perfect summer dinner.
CHICKEN MUFFELETTA SANDWICH
Note:The olive spread must be made ahead and refrigerated for at least two days.
Serves one
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 ounce capers
0.7 ounces peeled garlic cloves, minced
1 cup diced celery bunch
3 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
¼ bunch fresh Italian parsley, chopped
¼ cup green onion, chopped
½ teaspoon oregano
0.06 quart extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces red wine vinegar
4 ounces grilled chicken breast, sliced thin
½ ounce provolone, sliced
½ ounce Swiss cheese, sliced
1 ounce baby arugula
Focaccia rosemary bread
METHOD
Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, making sure everything is immersed in olive oil and refrigerate at least two days.To make the sandwich: halve the bread lengthwise.Spoon olive spread on one side and coat the other side of the bread with oil.Add the chicken breast, cheeses and arugula.
MEAN PANINI
Serves one
INGREDIENTS
1 ounce each:
Genoa salami, sliced thin
Prosciutto, sliced thin
Mortadella, sliced thin
Capicola ham, sliced thin
Fontina cheese, sliced
Mozzarella cheese, fresh
Tomato confit
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
One ciabatta bun, sliced
METHOD
Drizzle both halves of ciabatta with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.Layer meats, then cheeses on bun.Top with tomato confit and other half of bun.Preheat a Panini press and cook sandwich according to manufacturer’s instructions until golden and crisp, three to five minutes.Or, if cooking on the stove, preheat a skillet with butter or oil to medium low.Add sandwich, and then press a heavy pan to weigh it down.Cook until golden and crisp, three to four minutes per side.
Overland Park, Kan.-based freelance writer Kimberly Winter Stern writes travel, food, lifestyle and design. Also known as the gregarious and cuisine-informed Kim Dishes, listeners tune in weekly for her on-the-road segments on “LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen,” a popular Kansas City radio food show. Prolific in eating, writing and discovering, this foodie satisfies an innate desire to sample the world’s gastronomic rainbow by meeting food artisans and trendsetters, gaining insight into the culinary points-of-view of everyone from cheese makers, chocolatiers and chefs who set their city’s locavore pace to farmers who are passionate producers.Stern is a sought-after writer, with work appearing inBetter Homes and Gardens, Unity, KANSAS! Magazine, 435 South magazine, KC Homes & Gardens, Generation Boom, Shawnee Magazine, KC Magazine, KC Home Design, KC Business and Midwest CEO. Stern is a national blogger for the Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Blog where she cooks, styles, shoots and writes about life and cooking … and loves to lick the bowl clean. This writer may have been given product and/or other compensation from Dean & DeLuca for this post.
That Kitchen Magic
A food-loving friend of mine in New Jersey lost her mom earlier this year. The jolt of the unexpected loss coupled with its sober reality sent her in search of comfort.Not surprisingly, she found a bit of solace in places where the familiar smells, sights, and sounds elicit virtual hugs: her home kitchen and the instructional kitchen where she teaches cooking. She whipped up cupcakes from her childhood, chicken piccata, and a Passover meal that was perhaps more symbolic this year than others.
My friend is a writer, and like most writers who channel their thoughts about food onto a computer screen, the memories and emotions that swirl around cooking, favorite childhood dishes, and handed-down recipes are filed in the forefront of the mind.And so it is with my friend, whose recollections of spending time in the kitchen with her mom are crystal-clear, as though it was just yesterday they cleaned up the dirty bowls and measuring cups and mixers produced during a baking marathon.
Many of my friends love to cook and are very good at it: they turn out pans of fragrant cinnamon rolls for holiday breakfasts, serve authentic Indian food for dinner parties, and grill like competitive barbecue masters. I don’t cook for a living anymore—I was a caterer for 12 years—but I roll up my sleeves and get into the kitchen for sustenance and most importantly, for therapy from stress-induced deadlines.Although it’s not always the memory of an aproned mother standing at the stove offering me and my pals tender guidance on the finer points of preparing a weeknight dinner for the family, undoubtedly there is the essence of women from generations past whose influences are gently folded somewhere into our culinary genes.
When I was a little girl and spent time in the kitchen with my mom, watching her make a roux for scalloped potatoes or scraping the batter for her famous buttermilk chocolate cake into a well-used sheet pan, there was the ghostly presence of reinforcements:her mother Mary and grandmother Florence.It was the latter cook, my great-grandma, who set the family’s standards for food.Her kitchen remains a perfect snapshot in the recesses of my mind as an efficient and well-equipped room always prepared for action. I remember great-grandma’s ample figure bent over some surface of her small kitchen, kneading dough for a loaf of whole wheat bread, rolling out a piecrust destined to cradle a rhubarb filling, and lifting a heavy roaster splattered with the juices of golden-brown roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions from the oven.
Mother’s Day will be bittersweet for my New Jersey friend as she marks the first without her mom while celebrating with her own children.She will be comforted by the magical memories of those marvelous pink cupcakes but won’t have the woman who was her faithful companion during delightful hours of kitchen time.I’m sure of one thing, though.If my friend chooses to go into the kitchen on that Sunday, it will be crowded with the spirits of her mom and the women before her whose culinary inspiration taught her well.
Raise your glass on May 13 to the women who have taught you well—in sustenance, and in life.
-Kimberly Winter Stern
This Mother’s Day, cancel the brunch reservations and venture back to your roots:prepare a meal that requires a bit of effort in the kitchen, maybe fueled by the memories of the generations of cooks who impacted you.Mom is sure to appreciate these herb drop biscuits and the springtime freshness of the chilled asparagus soup; to round out the meal, add a simple salad and for dessert, purchase gelato from your favorite hometown creamery and serve with fresh berries.
Recipes shared by Dean & DeLuca/Leawood, Kansas, Executive Chef Kevin Johnson
PETITE HERB DROP BISCUITS WITH COUNTRY HAM & CHEDDAR
Serves 10 – 12
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons cold shortening
1 cup whole milk
12 ounces rosemary ham, sliced thin
12 ounces cheddar cheese, sliced thin (white or yellow)
METHOD
Preheat oven to 450°.
Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl, and then cut in the shortening.Add the milk to make moist, soft dough.Using a spoon and your finger, drop biscuits onto a greased baking tray, and bake in a hot 450° degree oven for 12 minutes.Serve hot with a small piece of rosemary country ham and sliced cheddar.
ASPARAGUS SOUP WITH LEMON CRÈME FRAICHE
Serves 4 – 6
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds medium asparagus (2 bunches), cut in half crosswise
as needed kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 bay leaf
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
LEMON CRÈME FRAICHE
½ cup crème fraiche
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
Kosher salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
METHOD
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with salted ice water. Working in two batches, add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to the bowl of ice water. Drain. Reserve 8 cups of the cooking liquid.
Thinly slice 18 of the asparagus tips on the diagonal and reserve for a garnishing the soup. Chop the remaining asparagus spears into small pieces.
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 12 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes more.
Pour in the reserved asparagus cooking liquid and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Add the thyme, and bay leaf and add to the soup. Lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the chopped asparagus and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Working in batches, transfer the asparagus mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Using a sieve over a large bowl, strain the asparagus soup. Return the puree to the pot and reheat over medium heat.
Whisk the heavy cream, white wine, and salt into the soup and season with pepper. Allow soup to cool before serving. Divide among chilled soup bowls, top each soup with the reserved asparagus tips, and a dollop of lemon crème fraiche and serve immediately.
Overland Park, Kan.-based freelance writer Kimberly Winter Stern writes travel, food, lifestyle and design. Also known as the gregarious and cuisine-informed Kim Dishes, listeners tune in weekly for her on-the-road segments on “LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen,” a popular Kansas City radio food show. Prolific in eating, writing and discovering, this foodie satisfies an innate desire to sample the world’s gastronomic rainbow by meeting food artisans and trendsetters, gaining insight into the culinary points-of-view of everyone from cheese makers, chocolatiers and chefs who set their city’s locavore pace to farmers who are passionate producers.Stern is a sought-after writer, with work appearing inBetter Homes and Gardens, Unity, KANSAS! Magazine, 435 South magazine, KC Homes & Gardens, Generation Boom, Shawnee Magazine, KC Magazine, KC Home Design, KC Business and Midwest CEO. Stern is a national blogger for the Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Blog where she cooks, styles, shoots and writes about life and cooking … and loves to lick the bowl clean. This writer may have been given product and/or other compensation from Dean & DeLuca for this post.
Photo by Kimberly Winter Stern
That Kitchen Magic
A food-loving friend of mine in New Jersey lost her mom earlier this year. The jolt of the unexpected loss coupled with its sober reality sent her in search of comfort.Not surprisingly, she found a bit of solace in places where the familiar smells, sights, and sounds elicit virtual hugs: her home kitchen and the instructional kitchen where she teaches cooking. She whipped up cupcakes from her childhood, chicken piccata, and a Passover meal that was perhaps more symbolic this year than others.
My friend is a writer, and like most writers who channel their thoughts about food onto a computer screen, the memories and emotions that swirl around cooking, favorite childhood dishes, and handed-down recipes are filed in the forefront of the mind.And so it is with my friend, whose recollections of spending time in the kitchen with her mom are crystal-clear, as though it was just yesterday they cleaned up the dirty bowls and measuring cups and mixers produced during a baking marathon.
Many of my friends love to cook and are very good at it: they turn out pans of fragrant cinnamon rolls for holiday breakfasts, serve authentic Indian food for dinner parties, and grill like competitive barbecue masters. I don’t cook for a living anymore—I was a caterer for 12 years—but I roll up my sleeves and get into the kitchen for sustenance and most importantly, for therapy from stress-induced deadlines.Although it’s not always the memory of an aproned mother standing at the stove offering me and my pals tender guidance on the finer points of preparing a weeknight dinner for the family, undoubtedly there is the essence of women from generations past whose influences are gently folded somewhere into our culinary genes.
When I was a little girl and spent time in the kitchen with my mom, watching her make a roux for scalloped potatoes or scraping the batter for her famous buttermilk chocolate cake into a well-used sheet pan, there was the ghostly presence of reinforcements:her mother Mary and grandmother Florence.It was the latter cook, my great-grandma, who set the family’s standards for food.Her kitchen remains a perfect snapshot in the recesses of my mind as an efficient and well-equipped room always prepared for action. I remember great-grandma’s ample figure bent over some surface of her small kitchen, kneading dough for a loaf of whole wheat bread, rolling out a piecrust destined to cradle a rhubarb filling, and lifting a heavy roaster splattered with the juices of golden-brown roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions from the oven.
Mother’s Day will be bittersweet for my New Jersey friend as she marks the first without her mom while celebrating with her own children.She will be comforted by the magical memories of those marvelous pink cupcakes but won’t have the woman who was her faithful companion during delightful hours of kitchen time.I’m sure of one thing, though.If my friend chooses to go into the kitchen on that Sunday, it will be crowded with the spirits of her mom and the women before her whose culinary inspiration taught her well.
Raise your glass on May 13 to the women who have taught you well—in sustenance, and in life.
-Kimberly Winter Stern
This Mother’s Day, cancel the brunch reservations and venture back to your roots:prepare a meal that requires a bit of effort in the kitchen, maybe fueled by the memories of the generations of cooks who impacted you.Mom is sure to appreciate these herb drop biscuits and the springtime freshness of the chilled asparagus soup; to round out the meal, add a simple salad and for dessert, purchase gelato from your favorite hometown creamery and serve with fresh berries.
Recipes shared by Dean & DeLuca/Leawood, Kansas, Executive Chef Kevin Johnson
PETITE HERB DROP BISCUITS WITH COUNTRY HAM & CHEDDAR
Serves 10 – 12
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons cold shortening
1 cup whole milk
12 ounces rosemary ham, sliced thin
12 ounces cheddar cheese, sliced thin (white or yellow)
METHOD
Preheat oven to 450°.
Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl, and then cut in the shortening.Add the milk to make moist, soft dough.Using a spoon and your finger, drop biscuits onto a greased baking tray, and bake in a hot 450° degree oven for 12 minutes.Serve hot with a small piece of rosemary country ham and sliced cheddar.
ASPARAGUS SOUP WITH LEMON CRÈME FRAICHE
Serves 4 – 6
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds medium asparagus (2 bunches), cut in half crosswise
as needed kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 bay leaf
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
LEMON CRÈME FRAICHE
½ cup crème fraiche
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
Kosher salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
METHOD
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with salted ice water. Working in two batches, add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to the bowl of ice water. Drain. Reserve 8 cups of the cooking liquid.
Thinly slice 18 of the asparagus tips on the diagonal and reserve for a garnishing the soup. Chop the remaining asparagus spears into small pieces.
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 12 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes more.
Pour in the reserved asparagus cooking liquid and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Add the thyme, and bay leaf and add to the soup. Lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the chopped asparagus and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Working in batches, transfer the asparagus mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Using a sieve over a large bowl, strain the asparagus soup. Return the puree to the pot and reheat over medium heat.
Whisk the heavy cream, white wine, and salt into the soup and season with pepper. Allow soup to cool before serving. Divide among chilled soup bowls, top each soup with the reserved asparagus tips, and a dollop of lemon crème fraiche and serve immediately.
Overland Park, Kan.-based freelance writer Kimberly Winter Stern writes travel, food, lifestyle and design. Also known as the gregarious and cuisine-informed Kim Dishes, listeners tune in weekly for her on-the-road segments on “LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen,†a popular Kansas City radio food show. Prolific in eating, writing and discovering, this foodie satisfies an innate desire to sample the world’s gastronomic rainbow by meeting food artisans and trendsetters, gaining insight into the culinary points-of-view of everyone from cheese makers, chocolatiers and chefs who set their city’s locavore pace to farmers who are passionate producers.Stern is a sought-after writer, with work appearing inBetter Homes and Gardens, Unity, KANSAS! Magazine, 435 South magazine, KC Homes & Gardens, Generation Boom, Shawnee Magazine, KC Magazine, KC Home Design, KC Business and Midwest CEO. Stern is a national blogger for the Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Blog where she cooks, styles, shoots and writes about life and cooking … and loves to lick the bowl clean. This writer may have been given product and/or other compensation from Dean & DeLuca for this post.
Photo by Kimberly Winter Stern
Finding Our Roots at the Farmers’ Market
It’s a brilliant Saturday morning in Madison, Wisconsin, and I’m feasting on a glorious breakfast—a pint of freshly picked Door County cherries.I pop the plump, blood-red orbs into my mouth, savoring the tart burst of each, slowly walking with the snaking throng through the country’s largest producer-only farmers’ market.Ringing the perimeter of the state capitol building, the Dane County Farmers’ Market is a spectacle to behold.Approximately 300 vendors participate in the year-round market, with 150 vendors in attendance on Saturdays, selling meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits, pies, breads and pastries, flowers and every conceivable type of jam, jelly, pesto and relish.Even during the long, cold, dormant Wisconsin winters, the Dane County Farmers’ Market relocates from the capitol’s grounds and thrives in community centers scattered throughout Madison.
As I balance my basket of juicy fruit in Madison, around the country millions of people are meandering through their local farmers’ markets—Portland, Santa Monica, Des Moines, Ann Arbor, New York City, Miami, Austin—clutching eco-friendly
