Are you a Food blogger? Maybe you have dreams of starting your own food blog, or writing for JerseyBites or another food publication? Join us for a fun afternoon of cooking, chatting and learning all about the art of Food Writing and Food Photography. Kings Food Markets and JerseyBites are excited to invite you to the first-ever “Jersey’s Best Bites” event on Saturday, June 23.
Attendees will participate in a cooking class, preparing at least three courses (see menu below) under the guidance of a Kings master chef and sampling the fruits of their labor along the way. Throughout the event, a panel of veteran culinary writers will provide answers to need-to-know foodie questions and offer advice on how to best engage your blog following. Bloggers will close out the event with food styling and photography tips from award-winning product and commercial photographer, Conway Yen.
Space is limited, so reserve your spot today! The event will be held at Kings Food Markets in Short Hills (778 Morris Turnpike, Short Hills, NJ, 07078) from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Simply call 973-258-4009 and reference “Jersey’s Best Bites” to register. Registration is $10.00 and is non-refundable, but not only will each participant enjoy lunch during the event but will also receive a special gift for attending, courtesy of Kings Food Markets.
This event will also be streamed live, so for those aspiring food bloggers from out of the area, you will be able to tune in and follow along and maybe catch one of your favorite bloggers in the audience.
The Food Writer Panelists
Deborah Smith, Founder and Executive Editor of JerseyBites.com. Launched in 2007 as a home for her growing collection of recipes, Jersey Bites soon grew into a hub for all things edible in the Garden State. JerseyBites is a collaborative food blog with over 40 contributors throughout the state.
Rosie Saferstein is a food writer for njmonthly.com, the Web site for New Jersey Monthly magazine. Her column “Table Hopping With Rosie” features New Jersey restaurant news, food event listings, information about New Jersey chefs, and a list of New Jersey restaurants that have recently opened or closed. The page is updated Tuesday through Friday More about Rosie
Peter Conway, who works by day in the business technology field, began writing about food and wine in December 2005 as a learning venture into a new Internet publishing medium called “Blogs.” He is often found in the kitchen of his Montclair, NJ home creating some new internationally inspired dish or waiting by the oven for a delicious dessert to emerge. Over the years, living in New York City, with trips to Europe, Australia, South America, California and Canada has provided many opportunities to explore the vast world of fine wine. He is completely self-taught, but fueled by his love of writing and fervent pursuit of new viticulture and culinary experiences Peter’s food and wine blog, manoavino.com has flourished and is enjoyed by thousands of readers around the world and is among the top 100 international wine blogs. In addition to wining, dining, cooking and writing Peter hosts wine tastings for private parties and fund raising events.
The Photographer
Conway Yen is an award-winning New York-born portrait, product, and commercial photographer and director, currently based in central New Jersey. As a food photographer, he has worked with many talented chefs, including chefs from the Food Network, Bravo TV’s Top Chef, chefs from the French Culinary Institute in NYC, and many other local restaurants. Fascinated by what happens when beautiful imagery, great music, compelling subject matter, and talented people intersect, Conway spends his free time blogging and working on video features and commercial spots for local NJ businesses and restaurants.
The Instructor:
Kathleen K. Sanderson is an accomplished culinary professional with experience in all aspects of foodservice. A graduate of The California Culinary Academy, she trained in San Francisco and New York. Kathleen teaches both professional and consumer classes at such institutions as the New York Restaurant School and Kings Food Markets’ Cooking Studio. She spent five years as Restaurant Business Magazine’s Food Editor/Test Kitchen Director. After that, she formed a foodservice company called Food Service Solutions with her partner Blake Swihart where she consults on various products for an extensive client list including: The Catfish Institute, Kraft, the Quaker Oats Company, Tyson Foods, Campbells, Dannon, among many others.
The Menu and Ingredients:
Salad Vert w/ Warmed Goats Cheese
8 Servings
Ingredient
2x 4 ozs. log chilled goats cheese each cut into 4 rounds (3/4 ” each)
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper
3-4 Tbsp. chopped herbs such as chive, thyme, parsley, rosemary and oregano (2 or 3 in combination)
1 ½ cups fresh bread crumbs
1 Tbsp.Dijonmustard
1/4 cup vinegar, red or white wine, sherry or balsamic
8-10 cups assorted greens and herbs (frisse, endive, mesclune)
Procedure
Pre-heat oven 400ºF.
1. Combine olive oil, herbs and mix well. Place goats cheese rounds in a shallow dish and pour the olive mixture over, Turn to coat cheese with oil. Cover and refrigerate 10-15 minutes.
2. Place crumbs on a sheet of wax paper. Remove the cheese from the oil (reserve oil for dressing) and turn into crumbs, totally coat each piece of cheese. Arrange on a baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to bake.
3. Mix together mustard and vinegar, whisk in reserved oil (herbs and all), Adjust seasoning; Set aside.
4. When ready to serve: bake goats cheese in a pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Toss greens with dressing and arrange on eight plates. Top each salad with sliced beets and a round of goats cheese and serve immediately.
Chile Rubbed Salmon w/ Sweet Pepper Lime & Cilantro Vinaigrette
Ingredients
6 x 6 ozs. salmon tails or fillets
2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1-2 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. ground red pepper
Canola oil
Black Bean Relish
Procedure
1. In a bowl combine paprika, salt, sugar, cumin and red pepper, mix well. Brush the salmon with oil and sprinkle over flesh side of the salmon and let stand 20-25 minutes.
2. Pre-heat grill or broiler. Grill or broil salmon 2 -3 minutes per side. Serve fish with Black Bean Relish.
Black Bean Relish
1 ½ qts.
Ingredients
1x 15 ozs. Can Goya black beans, drained and rinsed
1 papaya or mango peeled, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
5 scallions, diced
1x 10 ozs. package corn, defrosted
1 jalapeno, minced
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
Procedure
1. In a medium bowl combine black beans, papaya, red pepper, scallion, corn, jalapeno and cilantro, toss to combine. Add lemon juice and olive oil and toss to blend. Let salsa stand 1 hour or over night before serving as directed above.
Mini Buttermilk Short Cakes
24x 1 ½ -inch biscuits
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour+ more for rolling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 ½ sticks cold sweet butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Procedure
Pre-heat oven 400 ° F.
1. In the bowl of a food processor combine 3 cups flour, sugar, baking powder and soda and salt. Process 30 seconds to blend and aerate. Add butter (and desired ingredients) and process until flour resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and pulse until dough forms DO NOT OVER MIX.
2. Turn sticky dough onto a well floured board and knead lightly. Pat dough into a square and roll out dough to ½ inch thickness. Fold dough in half and re-roll lightly to 3/4 inch. Cut dough with well floured biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake biscuits for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
Berry Shortcakes
4 cups sliced mixed berries
6 Tbsp. sugar, divided
3 cups heavy cream, whipped
Combine berries w/ 3 Tbsp sugar. Whip cream to form light peaks. Add remaining Sugar, Split biscuits and top bottom halves with 1 Tbsp. whipped cream and 1 Tbsp. berries. Top with biscuit top and divide remaining berries and cream among the biscuits.
