A few recent entries from our food and dining blog, The Stew, chicagotribune.com/stew:
— Renee Enna
Learning to cook at Taste of Chicago
Sell a man food and he eats for a day. Teach a man to cook, and he eats forever. I think that’s the idea behind Dominick’s Cooking Corner at Taste of Chicago, where a battalion of cooking experts are sharing their culinary secrets.
Or maybe it’s just a great way to break between binges. Regardless, we can’t think of a better way to kill time while simultaneously building up an appetite.
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Presentations are scheduled on the hour from 11 a.m. every day of the Taste. (They continue until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday).
Presenters during the festival include Joey DiBuono, owner of Tufano’s Vernon Park Tap at noon Thursday, and grilling expert Jamie Purviance, author of “Weber’s Charcoal Grilling,” at 2 p.m. Friday.
Visit the site for a full rundown on all of the presenters: tasteofchicago.us.
— Joe Gray
Apricot smoothie has amaretto kick
Who could want 500 smoothies? Aren’t they all about the same thing? Well, in the new cookbook “500 Smoothies & Juices,” Christine Watson delivers a strong case for imaginative variety. We were drawn right away to the “boozy blends” chapter, featuring such tempters as this one:
Amaretto and apricot boozy smoothie: Blend 4 very ripe peeled, pitted apricots, 1/4 cup amaretto liqueur, 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt in a blender for 1 minute or until smooth. Pour into a glass; serve with 2 amaretto cookies crumbled on top.
Hey, it’s almost apricot season.
Grilling cherry tomatoes
In “Grill Every Day,” Diane Morgan offers a clever touch for grilled skewers of cherry tomatoes. First, alternate them with fresh, folded basil leaves and grill about 1 minute over direct heat and then 2 minutes over indirect. After they have cooled off the grill, “serve the room temperature skewers with a tiny ball (bocconcino) of fresh mozzarella threaded on the end of each,” she writes.
— Renee Enna