Fancy Food Show, Part Deux

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Last week, I shared some items that caught my attention at the Fancy Food Show. This week, I’m posting a few recipe acquired there that I look forward to trying.

I met the folks from American Lamb at the show and learned they have a number of informational and recipe brochures, including a beautiful recipe booklet called The Supper Club with Lamb, available at no charge. Since so much of the country has been facing severe weather conditions, I’m featuring a lamb shanks recipe from The Supper Club. With its easy prep, this is a good choice for a weekend meal when you’re holed up indoors. You can keep your kitchen warm and savor scrumptious aromas as the lamb simmers until dinnertime.

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How to Toast Spices

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

Do you find you’re cooking with more spices, more often? I do! I’m lucky to have a floor-to-ceiling herb and spice cabinet in the Special Fork kitchen and I turn to it often – especially for Mexican, Middle Eastern and Indian dishes.

Many recipes I cook these days call for toasted spices or seeds. Toasting brings out the flavor and aroma of spices and takes away the raw taste – especially important when the spice is used uncooked, as in dips, salad dressings and salads.

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Pork Tenderloin – Better with Bacon!

By Debby Goldsmith
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

I’ve heard it said often that everything is better with butter. With that, I can’t disagree! However, I also like to think that everything (almost) is better with bacon – especially pork tenderloin.

Pork tenderloin is a leaner cut of meat and that’s one of the major reasons it’s so popular. (Quick-cooking is probably a close second.) A few strips of bacon wrapped around a tenderloin can make a good thing even better.

This no-fuss recipe, always a popular one with my family, also works well for a dinner party. It’s just as easy to cook two tenderloins as it is to cook one!

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Homemade Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

I love to make and eat breakfast on the weekends…especially cold, wintery ones that cause me to linger in bed for an extra hour or two.

My chickens are still producing quite a lot of eggs this winter (usually they slow down this time of year) so fresh eggs are always in abundance. Also uncured Applegate Farms Organic bacon is a mainstay in my fridge or freezer.

This past weekend, I thought, why not change things up a bit – well, just a little – and make a bacon egg and cheese sandwich with homemade biscuits that are a touch healthier? I swapped out half of the all-purpose white flour with whole wheat and replaced some of the butter with buttermilk. To my surprise, the result was a flaky, crumbly, better-for-you biscuit!

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Goodbyes Are Bittersweet

By Katie Barreira
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

To all the Newbie readers, whether you’ve tuned in for one blog or all 121 (thanks, Mom!) I hope you’ve enjoyed reading, and hopefully cooking along, as much as I have enjoyed sharing.

Today will be my last post, but continue to follow Special Fork’s blog – I promise you won’t be disappointed by the the next act! I must say, I’m sad to go, so like any good cook, I’ll balance out the bitter by leaving you with a little something sweet to remember me by.

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