Tag: recipes

Cavallo Rosso – Red Horse Sauces by Tack and Tweed

Fresh Marinara and Fresh Basil Pesto

Many years ago, a fellow mom friend and I founded a baby food company named Petite Palate (good press: https://people.com/parents/petite-palate-g/ ). I was making food for my newborn son, and started selling it to friends and family and small retailers. It grew pretty large; eventually selling on Amazon, Whole Foods and other regional retailers. We were all the vanguard of the frozen baby food frenzy along with Happy Baby and Plum Organics.

Our Organic Apple Pear Blend

It wasn’t long before our competitors started offering shelf stable options, like pouches. We refused as we really believed that frozen retains more nutrients and is healthier for babies, being closer to homemade. This turned out to be our tragic error, as most retailers do not want to dedicate their prime real estate next to the frozen pizzas to something as novel as frozen baby food.

Next blow was the crash of 2008, and poof, all our funding dried up, sealing our fate. (Not-so-good press: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/smallbusiness/06sbiz.html).

After YEARS of healing and recovering financially and mentally (it was such a labor or love and we dedicated our lives for years to our endeavor), I think I can finally start another project. This time, however, slow growth and complete control over finances is my goal.

I have been selling my t-shirts and equestrian themed apparel (available here), and it’s been so much fun, but I am excited to incorporate my chef skills to my business. I’ve been cooking my own fresh marinara, basil pestos for years. I decided to start exploring how I can monetize my love of cooking and my yearning to start a food business again.

I found a great kitchen incubator named Hudson Valley Beta Kitchen (HVBK), in the adorable town of Croton on Hudson. I’m putting together my recipes, scaling them up for small batch production and will be selling them at local farm stores, farmers’ markets, and local summer festivals.

Starting with Fresh Marinara, Fresh Basil Pesto, and Spicy Thai Basil Pesto under the sub-brand, Cavallo Rosso, meaning Red Horse in Italian – same brand look at feel as Tack and Tweed, but food-related.

I’m hoping to be ready in time to launch at the Summer Fest in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, finger’s crossed I can secure all the necessary permits.

I’ll be posting recipes that can be made with the Marinara Sauce and ways to use the different Pestos, so stay tuned! If you are local to Northern Westchester County, NY and want samples, please email me at TackandTweed@gmail.com; in addition, any comments, please comment below as I need and appreciate any feedback!

xo

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Chicken Pot Nummie

ImageNight 2 of Culinary Boot Camp at Asphalt Green in Battery Park City.  We’ll be using our knife and roasting skills from last week and adding some new techniques: making sauce, sectioning a chicken, making stock, blanching veggies and drinking wine (oh, wait, we have that skill perfected already). Tonight’s class we’ll be making Chicken Pot Pies from scratch, or as my son call is Chicken Pot Nummie. Kids love it, adults love it, cats love it – what can I say, it’s the perfect dish.

This is the recipe from which we’ll be working. Any questions, please ask! I’ll be adding our class pictures to this post tomorrow.

Recipe Yield: 4 servings

Ingredient

Amount
Whole Chicken 1
Olive oil 3 tablespoons
Kosher or sea salt To taste
Black pepper To taste
Homemade Chicken Stock 5 cups
Unsalted Butter 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks)
Yellow Onions, chopped 2 medium
All purpose flour ¾ cups
Heavy Cream ¼ cup
Carrots 2 large
Fresh or Frozen Peas 2 cups
Fresh Parsley 3 stalks
Fresh Thyme 3 stalks
Pastry Dough 1 recipe

EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR RECIPE:

4 aluminum containers per person (small/round) Chef knife Boning knife
Large boiling pot Roasting pan or baking sheet Aluminum foil
Saucepan x 2

Recipe Instructions:   

  1. Break down chicken (set legs aside for frying/left over carcass should be used for stock). Drizzle olive oil and season chicken breasts and roast with skin and bone in a 350 degree oven on a baking sheet for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
  2. Heat up chicken stock in a saucepan.
  3. While chicken is cooking, prep vegetables. Dice carrots, dice onions. Blanche carrots, set aside.
  4. When chicken breast is finished, remove skin and bone; dice
  5. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, melt the butter and sweat the onions. Add the flour and make a roux. Slowly add chicken stock, mixing until thickened.  Season and add cream. Add chicken cubes, vegetables and herbs. Mix well.
  6. Increase oven temperature to 375 F.
  7. Divide the filling into 4 oven proof containers.  Divide the dough into quarters and roll each into an 8 inch circle. Mix egg with a little water and put egg wash on outsides of each circle. Place the dough over the filling/containers, pressing the egg side down onto the outside of the containers. Brush dough with egg wash, sprinkle with s/p and make 3 slits in top of each. Place on baking sheet and bake for 1 hour or until top is golden brown and filling is bubbling hot.

Note: You can make your own pastry dough, or purchase one from the store. If you like a fluffier crust, purchase puff pastry dough instead. You will still use the egg wash to stick the dough to the top of the ramekins.

xo

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Tuesdays with Madeleine

Image

My ritual in the morning, probably like most, is to wake up with a huge latte. I need something to wash down my caffeine, so today I think I’ll make Madeleines; easy and delicious. My daughter is as picky as they come and this is one treat that she eats without a fight – she prefers these to chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, if you can believe it.

This recipe, thanks to Martha Stewart, is my favorite and works every time. For some variety, add chocolate chips, lavender or honey.

Vanilla Madeleines (thanks to MarthaStewart.com)

(The recipe is also a good base for any number of flavors. If using a nonstick pan, which heats up faster than a traditional one, go by the shorter baking time in step 4.)
Martha Stewart Living, September 2011 

  • Prep Time 20 minutes
  • Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Yield Makes 32 (or 160 mini)

Ingredients

    • 2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • Coarse salt
    • 6 large eggs, room temperature
    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
    • 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, plus more, softened, for pans
    • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey
    • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

  1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Whisk together eggs and granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Sift flour mixture over top in 2 additions, folding in after each addition. Fold in melted butter in 2 additions, then honey and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 2 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let batter stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Generously butter 2 standard-size or 2 mini nonstick or aluminum madeleine pans using a pastry brush.
  4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag, and snip tip to create a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe some batter into molds, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake on middle rack until pale gold, 8 to 11 minutes (6 to 8 minutes for mini madeleines). Immediately shake madeleines out. Wash and rebutter molds. Repeat with remaining batter. Dust baked madeleines with confectioners’ sugar.

Cook’s Note

Madeleine batter can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Madeleines are best the day they are made, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days

© 2013 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. All rights reserved.

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