A Sweet & Savory Dinner Featuring Truffle Honey

cooking with truffle honey, bacon wrapped pork loin

A Sweet & Savory Dinner ~ Featuring Truffle Honey

Pan-Seared & Roasted Pork Loin Wrapped in Bacon
Demilune of Baked Butternut Squash & Apple with Truffle Honey & Rosemary
Sauteed Purple Cabbage with Truffle Honey, Balsamic Vinegar, Caraway Seeds

My generous friends at Gourmet Attitude in NYC, purveyors of fresh truffles and fine truffle products, sent a gift box called the “Trio Boutique” containing three jars of fancy truffle products ~ truffle honey, truffle carpaccio, and white truffle cream. Merci and Grazie! We thought it would be fun to cook three separate dinners, each featuring one of these preserved truffle goodies.

For the first truffle dinner, lean and mild pork loin was enhanced with thick smoky bacon. Nutty butternut squash was baked with gala apple and laced with truffle honey, rosemary and butter. Then for contrast, purple cabbage was sauteed with onion and butter, flavored with balsamic vinegar and toasted caraway seeds, finished with truffle honey. This rather common combination of pork, apples, and cabbage was elevated by the truffle honey and the pretty demilune squash presentation with a rosette of colorful cabbage. It’s a meal that exemplifies uncomplicated effortless elegance.

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Joël Robuchon, Claude Monet & 5 Years of Taste With The Eyes

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
A Menu of Small Tasting Portions

Monet’s Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet
(book giveaway at the end of this post, thru July 6)

“Cap Martin, Near Menton”
Claude Monet

cap martin, near menton floral arrangement

“Cap Martin, Near Menton”
Floral Arrangement

On our trip to Las Vegas we “encountered” two ultra-gifted Frenchmen, artists Joël Robuchon and Claude Monet – the Chef and the Painter. It wasn’t until after I returned home that I realized how the two are ultimately connected…

The oil-on-canvas landscape painting “Cap Martin, Near Menton” is from Monet’s more experimental works of the French Riviera in 1884. We were delighted by the ingenious flower arrangement on display at the Bellagio Conservatory which has been modeled after Claude Monet’s painting.

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Copper River Sockeye Salmon, Pink Peppercorns

copper river sockeye, copper river salmon, pink peppercorns

Pan-Seared Copper River Sockeye Salmon, Pink Peppercorns
Blistered Shishito Peppers

The celebration continues! Taste With The Eyes is 4-years-old and we’re splurging with Copper River Salmon. The most expensive fresh salmon is only available for about four weeks of the year, from mid-May through mid-June, when the King salmon swim up the Copper River in Alaska to spawn. At our local Bristol Farms Market, Copper River King Salmon was selling for $50/lb.! At $50/lb. the 8 oz. filet in the photo above would have cost $25. Market factors such as commercial harvest, supply and demand, plus the cost of oil have pushed the price from $40 last season to this all time high of $50.

Even for the crème de la crème of salmon, this price is out of range for most people (myself included). In fact, after speaking with the fishmonger at the market, I learned that they were unable to sell their entire shipment of Copper River King at that price, and some had tragically gone to waste. The good news was that Copper River Sockeye sales went way up, as folks were introduced to this smaller, more plentiful species of salmon. Some say that sockeye has the truest pure salmon flavor and is preferred by aficionados.

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Blog is 4! Caviar Cake! Cookbook Giveaway!

caviar cake

Four-Layer Caviar Cake

Taste With The Eyes is 4-years-old and we’re celebrating with cake! A unique cake apropos of a savory anniversary. Black Lumpfish Caviar from Iceland tops a molded sour cream/cream cheese/shallot layer over a molded avocado/parsley/lemon layer. The base is creamy egg salad/mayonnaise/green onion, all decorated with a pretty tomato rosette. We served pieces of Caviar Cake on sliced crusty baguette, with Champagne of course. This fabulous Caviar Cake is the creation of Lisa’s Bon Appetit Catering.

TASTE WITH THE EYES IS 4 YEARS OLD

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rose arrangement, rose bouquet, julia child rose

Caviar Cake Rose Arrangement

I designed the centerpiece with flowers from my garden to whimsically complement the cake. The orange Sunset Celebration Hybrid Tea Rose mirrors the tomato rosette. Yellow Julia Child Floribunda Roses represent the egg salad, while white Fabulous Floribundas represent the sour cream layer. Lemon Verbena and Calla Lily leaves symbolize the green avocado layer, all arranged in a “caviar black” vase.

caviar cake

Taste With The Eyes is a culinary adventure. It’s here where I love to cook and share dishes, exotic flavors, or presentations that I find interesting and hope you do too. It’s here where I share entertaining ideas, from our themed dinner parties to celebrating the holidays in style. We travel, dine, and photograph meals at some of the world’s finest restaurants and equally enjoy writing about the local hole-in-the-walls as well. Our own underground-style restaurant, The Sunken City Supper Club, debuted in 2009. It’s a fresh, local and secret place to seasonally mingle with friends and neighbors, and I always look forward to blogging about our Supper Club events. At Taste, I also share my passion for satisfying heart healthy dishes. Sure I still serve sumptuous foods to company, but I am equally enthusiastic about heart healthy cuisine.

I hope Taste With The Eyes continues to inspire you just as reading your blogs and hearing your comments inspires me. It continues to be an absolute pleasure to share culinary experiences with you. I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know you. I’m grateful for the knowledge, creativity, and joy this little hobby has brought into my life. It has turned into quite a passion over the past four years…

Giveaway – My Thank You Gift

I’d love to giveaway a Caviar Cake, but alas, it doesn’t travel that well. So I thought you might enjoy a cookbook as a token of my appreciation. It can be my all-time favorite, the one I gave away last anniversary, or the cookbook of your choice (up to $50 retail). And I will ship it anywhere in the world through amazon.com.

So, simply leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win. The fortunate recipient will be chosen using random.org. The winner will be posted on Taste With The Eyes on June 23rd. Just for fun, if you are so inclined, share with us your favorite cookbook or the one on the top of your wish list.

pink champagne

Thank you for helping me celebrate.
Thank you for your support, friendship, and inspiration.

Toujours Toujours Toujours Bon Appétit,

Lori Lynn

UPDATE:

Congratulations to Peter of the fabulous Kalofagas blog from Toronto, Canada,
winner of the cookbook giveaway!

Thank you to everyone for your generous comments and continued support.
I cherish your friendship.

Blog is 3! Celebrating with King Trumpets and Shishito Peppers!

Grilled King Trumpet Mushrooms &  Shishito Peppers on Rosemary Skewers
Baby Spinach and Rosemary Roasted Golden Soybeans
Toasted Sesame Oil & Tomato Water

Pleurotus eryngii
King Trumpet Mushroom also known as King Oyster, Eryngii, Pleorote du Panicaut,
Argonane, Bouligoule, Champignon de Garrigue, Cardoncello, Cardarello

Taste With The Eyes is 3 years old!

Cooking, photographing, writing, then ultimately sharing my culinary adventures on Taste With The Eyes is a source of much joy for me. This little food blog is an ongoing learning experience, a terrific creative outlet, and a source of pride. It has opened doors and provided new opportunities. It is the means with which to connect with fellow foodies, and a wonderful way make new friends with various interests and passions from all around the globe. I am grateful to have the opportunity to share food and ideas and experiences with you.

Reading your blogs provides an awesome source of inspiration, a conduit of creativity, and a heartfelt connection through your personal stories. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I cook, dine, laugh, and cry with you.

Your kind, knowledgeable, clever, and sometimes funny comments are deeply appreciated. I learn so much from you, way beyond food and cooking. You amaze and inspire me.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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