Scone-o-licious by Teri Hiben May 10, 2022 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment Are you looking for the perfect baked treat for your family and friends? Look no further than a delicious scone – crispy on the outside and tender and flaky inside. Scones are perfect for weekend breakfasts, to bring for brunch, or a welcome gift for new neighbors and close friends. They’re simple to make, use ingredients you have at home, and are a quick way to fill your home with appetizing aromas and tasty treats! Scones are versatile too. They can lean sweet with fresh or dried fruits: blueberries, cranberries, raisins, apples, lemons. Scones can highlight the warm spices of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper. And they can be savory to accompany a salad or a cup of soup using a variety of cheeses, caramelized onions, flavorful seeds like caraway and cumin, or fresh herbs of the season. You’re only limited by your imagination. Here are a few tips for perfect scones every time: line your baking sheet with parchment to make clean up a breeze whisk dry ingredients together before adding any fruit, eggs, or butter your butter must be cold and in small pieces so cut it small and place it back in the refrigerator until needed or you can even freeze the butter and use the largest holes on your box grater to get those perfect pea-sized butter pieces use a light touch when mixing scones to keep them light and flaky you can mix and form scones ahead of time, place them on your sheet pan, tightly cover them with plastic wrap, and freeze or refrigerate until you’re ready to bake If you’re short on time, Marcel’s offers several scone mixes from Invisible Chef: Classic Creme and Ginger & Lemon. They are tasty, have great texture, and are super easy. And while you’re in the store, grab some American Spoon jam or a jar of lime or lemon curd to serve alongside your scones. By the way, you can come taste these when I bake them for a free demo on Tuesday, June 7 from 11am – 2pm. So, jump in and get baking! Soon, you’ll be an expert scone baker and your family and friends! Lemon Cream Scone 2022-05-10 17:13:12 Print Ingredients 3 cups flour 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 1/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt ¾ cup heavy cream, plus 3 tablespoons for egg wash 2 large eggs, and 1 more for egg wash 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla bean paste 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon paste Instructions Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a food processor or large bowl, combine flour, butter, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal. In a separate bowl, whisk together ¾ cup cream, 2 eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Add cream mixture to flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Turn onto a floured work surface and form into a flat disc, about 8” across for large scones; or form 2 discs about 4-5” across each for smaller scones. Cut each disc into 8 wedges and transfer to baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and the 3 tablespoons cream to make an egg wash. Brush scones with the wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until tops or golden brown and firm, 20-25 min. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/ Caraway Current Scones 2022-05-10 17:25:08 Yields 4 Print Ingredients 1 cup flour 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 2 ½ tablespoons cold butter, plus ½ tablespoon melted butter 6 tablespoons buttermilk 2 tablespoons dried currants ½ teaspoons crushed caraway seeds, toasted lightly Malden flake salt to taste Instructions Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Into a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, slat, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Blend in cold butter with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal (or freeze the butter and grate into dry ingredients.) Stir in buttermilk, currants, and caraway seeds until mixture just forms a dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently and flatten into a 1 ½ inch thick disc. Cut dough into quarters and arrange on baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar and some Malden flaked salt. Bake approximately 15 min. or until pale golden. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
For the Love of Cookbooks by Shannon Burgess April 5, 2022 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment A customer asked me recently, “how many people actually buy cookbooks these days?” They were curious why someone would spend money, and use up valuable counter and cabinet space, when an overwhelming number of recipes can now be accessed online for free. This got me thinking about why I continue to use cookbooks for most of the meals I prepare and why I continue to buy new cookbooks (despite having a rather large collection of them already). First and foremost, I am a lover of books, and cookbooks are no exception. I enjoy the sensory experience of holding a good cookbook in my hands and leafing through pages with beautifully printed photos and illustrations (yes, I am one of those people who “ooh and aah” over gorgeous cookbooks, as those who witnessed me looking through Mandy’s Gourmet Salads for the first time can attest). A good cookbook is more than just a collection of recipes – the combination of food, words and images tell a story about the authors who write them, and they provide a glimpse of the time and place they were written. Some provide a window into the culture and cuisine of a region, while others help you learn to become a better cook through tricks, techniques and notes about why things are done a certain way or in a certain order. Well-loved cookbooks are more than just recipes though – those that we use over time are rooted in nostalgia, and family memories and traditions are built from their pages. Every Christmas, I bring out the Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book that was my moms. It is essentially loose pages held together within the cover with a rubber band, but its mere presence on my counter brings back memories of making holiday sugar cutout cookies with her on snowy December Saturdays. In a similar way, the history of the everyday and favorite “special” meals and desserts I made as my own kids were growing up can be found in the cookbooks that line our kitchen counter. The most used and loved are well-worn, grease stained and tabbed with sticky notes to help me find the recipes quickly. The family meals made from them, again and again, have forged memories and traditions that continue to this day. After our kids went away to college and then moved out on their own, these are the recipes they yearn for and request when they come home to visit. For our family, these tastes of home mostly originated from my collection of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. The meals we share from their pages rekindle memories and continue to make new ones, long past when bellies are full and dishes are done. Not every cookbook inspires this amount of nostalgia, of course. There are some cookbooks I keep and continue to use because they can be relied on for quick, easy recipes for weekday dinners. These contain the tried and true recipes that have become part of the regular rotation – meals made so many times that I only need to glance at the recipes to check details like cooking temperature. There are times though, when I fall into a cooking slump – tired of cooking the same things all the time and lacking the energy required to plan, shop for and prepare meals at home. And this brings me to why I still sometimes buy new cookbooks – I have found that nothing snaps me out of a cooking funk like a fantastic new cookbook. This week, I have found renewed inspiration to cook fresh and healthy meals at home in Tieghan Gerard’s new cookbook, Half Baked Harvest Every Day: Recipes for Balanced, Flexible, Feel-Good Meals. Last night I made the Lemon Harissa Chicken – it is easy to prepare and absolutely delicious and I’m looking forward to cooking my way through what is sure to be a new favorite. Wherever you are in your cooking journey, if you’re looking to try something new or breathe new life into your regular meal rotation, the windows and shelves at Marcel’s are full of new titles and staff favorites to energize and inspire your cooking.
Come Together by Denise Stano December 21, 2021 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment This season our gatherings are finally inching back to normal. We might be gathering in smaller numbers with masks and rapid tests, but it sure feels good to be celebrating together again. This is the time of year when the majority of us are celebrating something (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkha, Kwanzaa, Diwali). The traditions, history and customs behind each of our special holidays differ, but they do share a common thread in that we typically gather together with our family and friends to share fabulous food, conversation, fun and games, and always little bit of stress. We each hold memories of holiday gatherings with our favorite foods. My sister and I still talk about going to our Aunt Lucy’s house on Christmas Eve to gather with my dad’s large family. Aunt Lucy always had French Onion chip dip that she served with Ruffles potato chips. Her wonderful buffet of Northern Italian entrees, spinach ravioli in brodo, cheeses, panettone, and pizzeles was lost on my group of cousins. All we cared about and still fondly remember are the Ruffles, dip, bottomless cups of sherbet punch and Coca Cola we drank unmonitored while the adults played cards. I have expanded my palate with age and have given up the Ruffles, dip and soda. I now set aside a Sunday afternoon in December when my sons and I make the ravioli and pizzeles that I overlooked in my youth. Our dinner that night is always fresh pasta made with the excess dough…which my dog, Brooke, loves to sneak while we are cleaning up the kitchen! As you once again come together with your family and friends and prepare the recipes that say “Holiday” to you, the staff at Marcel’s is alway here to help guide you in the selection of just the right kitchen tool, baking pan, table decor or hostess gift. See you soon.
I Wish Someone Would Host… by Hope Rodine October 28, 2021 by Jenny Chang 1 Comment Before our children were of an age to trick-or-treat we went to an annual party at a friend’s home in Evanston. Although we only knew the host and a few other couples, it was one of our favorite parties of the year. There was comfort in having an annual routine that included good food, drink and festivity. When our kids were old enough to want to trick-or-treat with their friends I mourned the loss of that party we had loved to attend every year. I remember thinking “I wish someone here would have that kind of party.” That was when I realized that I had the power to create that environment for ourselves and others to enjoy. Since 2013 we have hosted a post trick-or-treating soup bar / pizza party. There’s no guest list, it is open to all our neighbors, even those we haven’t met. We want others to feel like we did years ago – that they have a fun, filling and festive place to spend Halloween. In return we’ve made wonderful new friends and memories and experimented with countless new soup recipes.Here is the crowd’s favorite, 6 years running: Butternut Squash Chili. The next time you have the thought “I wish someone would host ….”, take time to consider whether you could be that person. Butternut Squash Chili 2021-10-28 12:31:52 Print Ingredients 1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage (I use half mild, half hot) 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves 1 15 ounce can cannellini beans 12 ounces fresh or frozen butternut (or winter) squash cooked soft / puréed 1 cup chunky style chipotle salsa 1 1/2 cups water Goat cheese to garnish (we like honey goat cheese with this chili) Instructions In a large soup pot, over medium-high heat, cook the sausage and fresh sage - breaking up the pieces of sausage into small bite-sized pieces. Drain the excess fat. Add the beans, squash, salsa and water to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the chili comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered 10-15 minutes until the chili thickens. Sprinkle with goat cheese, serve immediately. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
It’s the People by Jill Foucré September 25, 2021 by Jenny Chang 1 Comment I said I would write the blog post. As is often the case, things that appear effortless require planning and work. Our Marcel’s blog posts are one of those things. Both retail staff and chefs write them, alternating every two weeks. I make out a schedule six months at a time but I don’t assign topics. Everyone can write about what they want as long as it has some connection to Marcel’s. I also do very little editing. We have a lot of really good writers in our midst. And no one really gets paid to do it – they get a token of appreciation from me but not nearly the value of the work they put in. But everyone does it (generally) without complaint. So when I made the schedule for the second half of 2021, I said I would write the blog post that fell around our anniversary week. I have been thinking for weeks about an angle. A grand metaphor. A heartwarming story. I even looked at world, national, and local headlines from September 26, 2011. Kind of a boring day, as it turns out. Charlie Sheen settled his lawsuit with Chuck Lorre. Stuff like that. Then I decided to think about what has been on my mind lately. There are so many reasons why I have a heart full of gratitude. Friends and family with serious illness but with loved ones to help them. People in my life who have propped me up during some pretty dark days the past few years. Those in our community and in our world who have compassion and caring for all individuals, especially those who are in the most need. What’s the common thread? People. So that’s my angle. Marcel’s is about the people. Yes, we have fabulous merchandise and wonderful classes and beautiful displays and all of that. But what we really have are the people. The customers. The staff. The chefs. The culinary assistants. The dishwashers. The partners. The makers. The creators. And quite a few people fall into more than one of these categories. Generous, thoughtful, imaginative, resourceful, talented – and all with a dedication to Marcel’s. It doesn’t happen without all of you and absolutely everyone plays a role of some kind. Thank you for being my people. Cheers to the next 10 years.