Take-out food with a good, affordable wine
makes for a pleasant evening. Photo
by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

We live in New York City, perhaps the take-out food capital of the world. Most times, you can’t a single city block without finding something to take out.

But every town has its favorite take-out spots. In a survey conducted by Turning Leaf wine, 38% of respondents nationwide said that Friday night—after a long week—was their favorite night for take-out food.

Most Americans enjoy their take-out on the sofa or the dining table. We recommend adding a nice glass of wine to the experience. Here are Turning Leaf’s take-out-and-wine pairing suggestions:

But you can freestyle: We enjoyed Turning Leaf’s Merlot with Szechuan noodles and a chicken breast on microgreens with a classic vinaigrette. The Turning Leaf Pinot Grigio went well with most Asian foods that would invite a white wine. The Turning Leaf Chardonnay, which has a lot of minerality in addition to ripe California fruit, stands up to bold flavors.

Find our favorite special-occasion wines in our Wine Section.

This week we visited the website of Saint Cupcake, a cupcake bakery in Portland, Oregon.

In addition to buttercream and cream cheese frostings, the busy bakers came up with a third concept: icing cupcakes by dipping them in chocolate sauce (a.k.a. hot fudge).

We like that idea—especially since our Top Pick Of The Week is Sassy Sauce’s delicious line of chocolate sauces (and caramel sauces).

A good chocolate sauce is like fudge-in-a-jar. Chocolate sauce becomes “hot fudge” (as opposed to calling it “hot chocolate”) when it’s heated to a liquid consistency. (There is no official definition of “hot fudge”; see our Dessert Sauce Glossary for details.)

To create our own hot fudge cupcake topping, we first tried using Sassy Sauce’s chocolate sauces (in Bittersweet, Peanut Butter, Spicy and Milk Chocolate Caramel) right from the jar at room temperature. In another test, we warmed the sauce slightly—10 seconds in the microwave.

We copied Saint Cupcake’s idea. Here, a
peanut butter cupcake frosted with
chocolate sauce and garnished with peanuts.
Photo courtesy SaintCupcake.com.

While we didn’t achieve the glossy sheen of Saint Cupcake’s version, both results were absolutely delicious.

Soup will be dished out more cheerfully at
the reopened location of the original Soup
Nazi. Photo courtesy OriginalSoupman.com.

As many soup lovers are aware, the International Soup Kitchen immortalized 15 years ago on “Seinfeld” (the episode was first broadcast on November 2, 1995) is a real place. The small, modest storefront has stood since 1974 at 259A West 55th Street in Manhattan, just east of Eighth Avenue.

After the place, its owner and the Larry David-penned catchphrase, “No soup for you!” entered the national consciousness, a group of investors enlisted owner Al Yageneh (who abhorred being called the ‘Soup Nazi’) to turn his name and likeness into a franchise operation. The first The Original Soupman store opened in 2004.

The franchise did not find the same success as the little shop on West 55th Street. Outside of New York City, people resisted paying $7.00 for a cup of soup. Some franchises closed, including the first The Original Soupman store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Others are still ladling out the soup.

Now, the original International Soup Kitchen location, which has been shuttered since 2004, is reopening as The Original Soupman.

Al Yageneh will not be in the kitchen, behind the counter or even at hand. Instead, baseball great Reggie Jackson and Chef Dan Rubano will be there to cut the ribbon—with a chef’s knife instead of a scissors.

What will the soup be like without the original soupman at the helm? We’ll drop by to check it out—but not on opening day, when Reggie Jackson and the draw of free tee shirts will have lines wrapping around the block.

The ribbon cutting is at noon on Tuesday, July 20th. If you want to be part of the opening day crowd, show up between 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. But if you want to meet Reggie and get a shirt, come early. Otherwise: No shirt for you—and no Reggie, either.

Not sure what to do with that head of lettuce or bag of salad greens? Want some inspiration beyond croutons and grated cheese? Fruit can go a long way toward helping your salad sing.

Everyday fruits such as apples, grapes, oranges and grapefruit, are excellent ingredients. But you can follow your palate and add anything from seasonal fruits to exotics such as star fruit. Here’s an easy yet absolutely delicious salad recipe:

Ingredients

Our fruit-accented salad pairs well with
baked or grilled proteins. Photo by
Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.

Preparation
1. Sauté grapes in a pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or until the grape skins wrinkle.
2. Mix apples with grapes and any citrus fruits you’re including in the salad. The acid from oranges or grapefruit will keep the apples from oxidizing and turning brown. Otherwise, toss the sliced apples in some lemon juice, or wait until the last minute to slice them.
3. Stir all other ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Do not season with salt and pepper and do not dress until ready to serve.
4. When ready to serve, add fruit, season with salt and pepper and dress with your favorite vinaigrette. Toss and serve.

Find other great salad ideas in our Gourmet Vegetables Section.

One of the three shots in a deconstructed
Margarita. Photo courtesy Sauza.

For cocktail fun this weekend, try this deconstructed Margarita.

Deconstruction means taking something apart. In the case of deconstructed food, creative chefs and mixologists deconstruct a familiar recipe to present the ingredients in a new and exciting way.

In this recipe, the Margarita is deconstructed into three cocktail shots: a shot of reposado tequila, a shot of sweetened lime juice and a shot of citrus foam. You take a sip of each to “reconstruct” the drink.

Have fun deconstructing!

Oops: National Gummy Worm Day, which was yesterday, flew by before we had a chance to post this recipe.

The dessert, “Dirt In A Box,” was created by Ruby Foo’s restaurant in Times Square, New York City. It’s a no-cook “dirt pudding” or trifle, decorated with Gummy Worms.

You can make the recipe more elaborate, or turn it into a dirt cake, by preparing it in a small casserole or cake pan. Our preference is to use a small, clean flowerpot (we ran ours through the dishwasher).

While we’d prefer a flowerpot, a box
works just fine. Photo courtesy Ruby Foo’s.

When purchasing meat and poultry, you need a plan. Cook it or freeze it: Those are your choices with fresh chicken. Whether whole or in parts, the chicken should be cooked or frozen within two days.

While it’s difficult to throw out “good food,” if you’ve exceeded the two days, it’s best to err on the side of safety and dispose of raw chicken. If the chicken is cooked, the same two-day rule applies: You can safely freeze chicken within two days of cooking.

Cooked or raw chicken can be stored for six months in the freezer, properly wrapped in freezer paper and plastic wrap or in containers suitable for freezing.

Find our favorite chicken products and a coop full of recipes in our Gourmet Poultry Section.

Cook it or freeze it. Photo © Lobel’s Of New York.

Get one for yourself and one as a gift.
Photo courtesy Kuhn Rikon.

The most whimsical gift for the summer season must be this nonstick Melon Knife from Swiss premium cookware manufacturer Kuhn Rikon. Not only is it a conversation piece; it makes it easy to safely slice through thick melon skins.

With function and flare, this handy kitchen tool with an 11″ serrated blade cuts the largest of melons (and small ones, too) easily.

Made of high-quality Japanese carbon steel, the blade has a nonstick coating. The seed-shaped cut-outs prevent sticking and help the sliced melon slide off the blade easily. The ergonomic handle helps to maintain a firm grip while applying pressure to cut through tough melon skins.

The red safety sheath makes the knife easy to store and to transport to picnics.

The Melon Knife is sold at specialty stores and online retailers such as Williams-Sonoma (search for “watermelon knife” or order by phone at 1.877.812.6235). The suggested retail price is $24.95.

Find more of our favorite kitchen gadgets.

Many Americans want healthier foods and more veggies in their diet. Yet, many of us are in a rush and prefer to grab grub at fast food restaurants.

Wendy’s has merged the two concepts with its reinvented Garden Sensation Salads line: a fresh and flavorful quartet featuring Apple Pecan Chicken, BLT Cobb, Spicy Chicken Ceasar and Baja.

The goal was to bring the quality of a restaurant salad to fast food so each salad is made to order. There’s no premade salad waiting in a refrigerator case. As a result, the warm chicken, bacon and other proteins make these freshly-made salads real comfort food, as well as a fiber- and vitamin-packed meal.

We recently tasted three of the four new salads, and give them a thumbs-up. Each contains one-to-two cups of vegetables. Atop a mixture of crunchy romaine and other lettuces and greens are:

Three of four fast salads, made to order.
Photo courtesy Wendy’s.

Next time you want a crunchy salad for lunch—or are having a snack attack—you can head to Wendy’s. The chain will continue to offer its Garden Side Salad and Caesar Side Salad.

Find more of our favorite salads and recipes in our Vegetables & Salads Section.

Save your investment: Freeze meat properly!
Photo courtesy Allen Brothers.

Do you purchase meat and toss it straight into the freezer in the flimsy packaging it came in? If so, you’re leaving it subject to freezer burn— dehydration and oxidation from the air that gets in through non-airtight packaging.

Follow these steps to conserve that pricey meat:

1. Discard the supermarket packaging.
2. Rewrap the meat tightly with plastic food wrap or aluminum foil.
3. Place it in a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag. While sealing the bag, squeeze out as much air as possible.
4. Remember to slowly defrost the meat in the fridge prior to cooking (see why in this prior post).
5. You can re-use the heavy-duty plastic freezer bag—it’s environmentally-friendly and cost-saving. Wash the bag with soap and water, rinse thoroughly and invert it on a tall bottle to dry.

Want to know more about the cuts of meat? See our:

Find our favorite meats and recipes in our Gourmet Meats Section.