Unable to gain entrance to French medical and law schools, the young men, who missed the caviar from home, became caviar importers. It was they who introduced caviar to Paris!

Had Melkoum and Mouchegh become a doctor and a lawyer, their names would probably not be known by connoisseurs worldwide. Instead, the name Petrossian is sets the world standard in fine caviar and other delicacies.

We are huge fans of Petrossian and urge anyone passing through Manhattan to treat themselves to a luxurious meal at the company’s Art Deco restaurant at Seventh Avenue and 58th Street, steps away from Carnegie Hall, Columbus Circle and Central Park.

There is a more casual café next door to the restaurant, where the restaurant’s beautiful pastries and savory delicacies (including caviar and foie gras) in an informal atmosphere.

 
This week we were invited to the restaurant and treated to a cocktail that is so fine (and memorable) that we wish we were getting married. Although most of us are probably not going to create it at home, it’s the perfect recipe to hand to the caterer for a special celebration. The name was inspired by fleur de sel, the finest French sea salt. We like to think of it as a bit of poetry (vers is French for verse or poetry).

 
RECIPE: THE PETROSSIAN FLEUR DE VERS

Ingredients For One Cocktail

 
For The Garnish

 
*St. Germain is one of our favorite liqueurs. Don’t hesitate to buy a bottle. It makes a delicious cocktail with Champagne or any sparkling wine.

†You can substitute yellow chartreuse if that’s what you have; see the note on chartreuse below.

 
Preparation

1. HALVE and juice the lemons. Set aside the juice and cut the juiced halves into three or four wedges, 3/8 to 1/2 inch wide. Remove all of the pulp and pith until you have a smooth “boat.”

2. COMBINE the gin, elderflower liqueur, chartreuse, lemon juice and rose water. Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a Martini glass or Champagne flute or tulip.

3. PLACE the caviar beads in the lemon boat and float atop the cocktail.

 
WHAT IS CAVIAR POWDER?

Pearls of fine caviar are dried via a proprietary technique that intensifies its flavor. The dried pearls are sold in a grinder that enables you to grind some caviar over your food (eggs, buttered toast, grilled fish or seafood, potatoes and pasta for starters). Or, you can open the grinder and sprinkle full pearls of the caviar on the food.

We’re on our fourth refill of Petrossian Caviar Powder, a unique (and more affordable) way to enjoy fine caviar. We gave it our Food Innovation Award of 2011.

The grinder with 30 grams of caviar is $88.00; refills are $74.00. It’s a sure-to-enthrall gift for any caviar lover. Buy it at Petrossian.com.
 
WHAT IS CHARTREUSE?

Chartreuse, pronounced shahr-TROOZ, is a pale green or yellow liqueur made from brandy and aromatic herbs (green Chartreuse is aged with 130 different herbal extracts!). We prefer the original green Chartreuse, which has more complexity. Yellow chartreuse is a later recipe, lower in proof and a sweeter mix of herbs.

The liqueur, first made by Carthusian Monks in the 1740s, is named after the Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in southeastern France (in the general region of Grenoble). The liqueur, in turn, gave its name to the startling greenish-yellow color.

Apple pie, banana pudding, beef stew, chicken pot pie, chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken, a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and meatloaf…the list goes on and on.

Depending on your ancestry, there will be additions from foreign lands. Borscht with boiled potatoes and sour cream and bagels with chopped herring or smoked whitefish are on our list.

Blake’s All Natural Foods specializes in frozen comfort food entrées from American and U.K. traditions. The line consists of all natural, frozen meals. They get popped into the oven or microwave, wanting only a large side salad to round out a convenient, healthful, and delicious lunch or dinner.

There are individual portions and family-size:

Most varieties can be cooked in either a microwave oven or a conventional oven. For the pot pies, you’ll want to use the oven so the lovely crust will crisp delightfully.

For more information and to find a retailer near you, visit BlakesAllNatural.com.

The products are made from scratch by actual people (not machines) in small batches by hand. The ingredients are all natural, the poultry and meats antibiotic- and hormone-free, the cheese rGBH-free.

There’s also an organic line that includes most of the varieties above plus All Meat Chicken Pot Pie and Upside Down Chicken & Waffle Pie. The organic meals contain at least 70% organic ingredients and some varieties are 100% organic. The organic vegetables are also used in the all-natural line.

We tasted a few varieties—all comforting, some requiring a bit of extra seasoning (a tablespoon of grated Parmesan, a shake of nutmeg, some fresh-cracked pepper). In particular, the sauce for the Veggie Mac & Cheese was very buttery, but not cheesy enough for us. A couple of heaping tablespoons of Parmesan solved that!

 
ABOUT BLAKE’S

The company traces its origins to a 25-acre farm purchased in Concord, New Hampshire in the Great Depression the farm’s first season in 1929. Clara Blake’s son Roy grew up to farm award-winning turkeys.

In the third generation, grandson Charlie was experimenting with his grandmother’s recipe for turkey pot pie. With a dozen pies in 1970, he sold out in 20 minutes. For the next 40 years, he sold turkey and chicken pot pies throughout New England—through modern distribution networks, not the back of the van.

Charlie’s daughter Amy and her husband joined the business, and expanded the line to accommodate the wishes of their own young family—a fifth generation that one day may be the face of Blake’s.

Grandma Clara would be proud.
  

You don’t have to lower the flame and watch that the water doesn’t boil over. Just add rice, water and salt, set the dials and walk away until it’s time to serve the rice.

The rice cooker can cook other grains as well. So if your goal is to pack more fiber and nutrition via barley, brown rice, quinoa and other whole grains, consider adding a rice cooker to your countertop.

Thanks to USARice.com and Blendworx.com for some of these tips.

You can find an electric rice cooker for under $20, or a superpremium Zojirushi model for $150 or more (take a look at this beauty). You’ve got decisions to make, starting with capacity. Size: Is a a four-cup rice cooker enough, or do you want the option to make 10 cups? Then, consider your other options:

 
Other rice cooker features include slow cook, quick-cook (a cooking cycle that bypasses the soak stage for faster rice), cake “baking” functions and more.
 
MEASURING RICE FOR A RICE COOKER

The rice cooker includes a measuring cup that conforms to rice cooker industry standards. Different from U.S. cooking standards, it measures 180 ml or about ¾ cup.

If your recipe does not call specifically to measure a “rice cooker cup,” you may need to adjust your recipe accordingly.
 
TYPES OF RICE

How many different types of rice have you had? Check out our rice Glossary and discover some new options.

Roasted beets and carrots: colorful,
healthful, tasty. Photo courtesy Love Beets.

We love this dish for the harvest season. It evokes the Halloween and the harvest moon. And root vegetables are good for you as well as pretty. They’re filled with antioxidants, fiber and vitamins.

While we love all of the beautiful varieties of beets we find at farmers markets, packaged, precooked beets are a real time saver.

This recipe is courtesy Love Beets. It can be customized with three different favors: garlic and caraway, orange and maple syrup or capers and parsley.

Preparation time 5 minutes, cooking time 15-20 minutes.

RECIPE: ROAST BEETS & CARROTS THREE WAYS

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Garlic & Caraway Recipe

Orange & Maple Syrup Recipe

 
Capers & Flat Leaf Parsley Recipe

Preparation

Garlic & Caraway Recipe

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish, sprinkle the garlic and carawayover them and drizzle with olive oil.

3. BAKE for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
 

Orange & Maple Syrup Recipe

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish. Drizzle the maple syrup and orange juice over them; then sprinkle with orange zest and dot with butter.

3. BAKE for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. LAY the beets and carrots in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

3. REMOVE from the oven and stir in the capers and parsley.
 
CARROT TRIVIA
Carrots are native to the Mediterranean. Early Romans ate them wild, then cultivated them.

The original carrots were purple, not orange. Today’s ubiquitous orange carrot was bred in Holland in the late 16th century. You can find heirloom purple carrots and other colors at some farmers markets. A mutant strain of white carrots—the same pale color as parsnips—is also grown.
  

Crystal Head vodka gets our vote for “best packaging.” Photo courtesy Crystal Head.

Today is National Vodka Day, a spirit that comprises up 25% of distilled alcohol sold in America.

Skip the Stolichnaya, the biggest Russian brand, and other Russian imports. We’ve got 10 excellent brands to recommend that are neither made in Russia nor owned by Russian interests.
 
10 EXCELLENT NON-RUSSIAN VODKA BRANDS

Special diet alert: Vodkas distilled from corn or potatoes are gluten free. Crystal Head Vodka is certified kosher.

Absolut Vodka is owned by the French group, Pernod Ricard, and distilled in Sweden. It is made from winter wheat.

Chopin Vodka is a family-owned Polish brand. The original expression was distilled from potatoes; the potato vodka has since been joined by vodkas distilled from rye and wheat, respectively.

Crystal Head Vodka is owned by a Canadian company, Globefill Incorporated, and distilled from corn in Newfoundland. You pay a premium for the crystal skull bottle, but we love it! Here‘s the story behind the skull. The vodka is certified kosher by OU and is gluten-free.

Grey Goose Vodka is produced by Bacardi Corporation, a family-owned spirits company that began in 1862 with rum production in Cuba. The company is now headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Grey Goose is distilled from winter wheat and bottled in France.

Ketel One Vodka is made in Holland. It is jointly owned by the Nolet family of The Netherlands and Diageo, a multinational alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, England.

Pinnacle Vodka is owned by American distiller Beam Inc., and produced in France.

Skyy Vodka was founded in the U.S. and distilled by SKYY Spirits in San Francisco. The brand is now owned by the Campari Group of Milan, Italy.

Smirnoff Vodka, the world’s largest vodka brand, began in Russia in the 1800s but is now owned by British company Diageo. It is distilled from corn in Ireland, Italy, Scotland and the U.S.

 
Vodka originated in Poland, not Russia.

CHECK OUT THE HISTORY OF VODKA.