cooking

Is a spiralizer necessary? I got one to review, but truth be told I�m unconvinced. It turns out there are lots of ways to get strands and ribbons from vegetables and fruit. The most common kitchen tools, a grater and a vegetable peeler work remarkably well. I'm also a fan of the  mandolin  which can be used to make many more types of cuts.  But if you really enjoy creating these textures and want a single gadget, the Deiss Pro Julienne & Vegetable Peeler is really a three in one. It�s great for peeling potatoes and carrots, but it�s also good for creating those slithery ribbons and shredds for salads. It also has a nifty feature on the side that allows you to remove the "eyes" from potatoes without resorting to a paring knife or use it to create a peel strip from citrus fruit.  I�ve been using this gadget on zucchini. I use the larger ribbons with chunkier pasta and the shreds with skinny noodles. I blanch the zucchini for a minute or two with the pasta...

When I think of the wines of the Alsace I think white wine. After all 90% of the wines produced in the Alsace are white. But there�s growing interest in one particular red wine, Pinot Noir. This is a recent development, in part due to changing climate conditions. The Alsace already has a staggering 15 different soil types and now it has a longer growing season. Limestone and clay ensure that Pinot Noir will develop the right acidity and tannins. Good Pinot Noir never happens by mistake! I recently enjoyed a wine dinner with a number of different bottles of Pinot Noir from the Alsace. They had all the characteristics I expect from Pinot Noir�notes of strawberry or raspberry, smoke, leather, sometimes spice, fresh acidity. Some were fresh and vibrant, others more complex and earthy.  But the wine I enjoyed the most? Allimant Laugner Cr�mant d�Alsace Ros�. It's bright with strawberry and lemon, and deliciously fizzy and can be found for under $20. I love sparking wines and...

Chef Rachelle Boucher shows off our cherry jam If you�ve been to the store or maybe the farmers market recently you might have seen cherries. The sweetness of bing cherries is both intense and fleeting. Cherries don�t last long after being picked, unlike apples or oranges. That's why I'm glad to be a part of the Canbassador program. The past few years I�ve received a crate of fresh sweet cherries from Northwest Cherry Growers . Every year I experiment preserving something different. I�ve prepared cherry barbecue sauce , canned cherries for pie, put up bourbon cherries, made cherry  vanilla  shrub and even dried and frozen cherries. This year I decided to make cherry jam. It turned out to be a very special cooking experience for me because I wasn�t in my kitchen, but over at the Miele showroom in San Francisco, with my pal Chef Rachelle Boucher. She kindly invited me over to do a little cooking. To be honest, working with Miele appliances will spoil you. Here�s how it w...