A Food App from Alain Ducasse

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just came across a new foodie app:  My Culinary Encyclopedia : recipes and techniques by Alain Ducasse.  

I don’t know about you, but these days I hardly ever use a cookbook for actual cooking.  I do still love to read them for inspiration, and I do still collect them (at a decreasing rate…it has to be spectacular for me to buy it now) but for the most part, if I’m not making up my own recipe, I’m googling or checking Pinterest.  So an app that I can access via my iPad would work for me.

But at almost $35, it’s hard for me to justify this app, as amazing as it might be. However for a newbie cook, this might really work well.  It has numerous videos that show good technique as well as how to plate, with 250 recipes.  You can add your own comments or  email yourself an ingredients list.  There’s nutritional information, plus insights into food origins, storage and more.

Of course if you’re looking to learn how to cook, you can just as easily peruse YouTube videos, or enroll in one of the online cooking schools that have been cropping up.  But then…this is Alain Ducasse one of only two chefs to hold 21 Michelin stars throughout his career!

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Food Inspiration

pile of cookbooks (Photo credit: penguincakes)

Food inspiration comes from many places.

It should come as no surprise that I read food blogs and food magazines.  I peruse cookbooks as if they were novels.  The husband likes to say that dinner each night is preceded by a research period as I scour the articles or books for new inspiration.  While it’s not true every night, I actually do that a few nights a week, mostly for inspiration although I do sometimes cook a recipe exactly as written (but not often.)

Lately I’ve added Pinterest to the mix, and I’m finding that the recipe pins are particularly interesting because they are most often from just plain folks…recipes that appeal to them as they peruse “the nets”.

You can find inspiration in novels, food tv (of course), even in paintings, traveling (or watching Anthony Bourdain), childhood memories, and of course…by the ingredients you have on hand.  (I’m endlessly fascinated by Chopped.)

This weeks’s inspirations for me came from:

http://steamykitchen.com/21289-brussels-sprouts-chinese-sausage-recipe.html  I don’t know if I’ll be making this exact dish, but I did buy some Chinese sausage at the Asian market this week.

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2012/04/strawberry-spoon-bread.html  I’ve been having a love affair with strawberries of late.  Sure they’re great on their own or with whipped cream.  But I’m discovering the joys of adding them to salad, make a compote out of them, and discovered this strawberry spoon bread that’s sure to grace my dinner table this week.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/roasted-and-pureed-cauliflower-recipe/index.html  There’s nothing that brings out the flavor of vegetables like roasting.  In cauliflower it brings out a nutty flavor that makes pureed cauliflower a taste sensation. I substituted cream cheese for the butter, and added some Parmesan cheese for extra flavor.  And pureed it using an immersion blender.  Delicious!

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