Not Your Ordinary Can of Tuna

Likely we all have noticed the progressively expanding variety of tuna offerings on our grocer shelves over the last ten years. We went from simply packed in oil or water to all white albacore and chunk light in a can to vacuum sealed packages and individually portioned varieties. This week in a rare opportunity I found myself parked in front of a television to watch the Food Network on two separate occasions. I caught an episode of the Barefoot Contessa and an episode of Giada at Home that both featured an Italian canned version of what I only know of as Chicken of the Sea or StarKist. I immediately look up tonno (Italian for tuna) on the internet to learn that what makes Italian canned tuna better is the 1-2 month marination with olive oil that transpires before the canned product is distributed. I'm hopeful that the one local venue that I imagined carrying this product, The Market at Michael Anthony's, will not disappoint in offering or ordering what I'm clamoring to try. Both Food Network recipes are delightful alternatives to my usual tuna fish salad, celery sticks, and sesame crackers or tuna casserole. Ina Garten's open faced sammy sounded highly unusal, but seriously the combination of flavors appeals...Tuna and Hummus Sandwich. Giada's recipe is straight out of Davy Jones' locker as Pirate Pasta...something that clearly has many treasured ingredients deliciously tossed together and a definitively different pasta offering for dinner. We take great pride in our Lowcountry shrimp and oysters in these parts, but it's was fun to learn that off the coast of Sicilia there's another product that changes up the ordinary to something quite extraordinary.

Homemade Orange Marshmallows

Fall heralds a time of year when an assortment of beverages not enjoyed during any other period become a routine offering until the next change of season transpires. The crisp cool air, camp fires, and comfy sweaters are made for wrapping one's hands around a steaming hot mug. For me, it's hot chocolate made from rich dark cocoa, not the convenient packaged versions, rather the prepared from scratch topped with marshmallows rendition. Visualize the same spicy Mayan delicacy Vianne poured in the movie Chocolat and that's my preferred version, but I also like an assortment of other preparations. Chocolate changes lives no matter the version you are consuming (so would say my friend Karen Hawkins the romance novelist). I personally rank marshmallows high on the pleasure list of self indulgence, right up there with creme fraiche and whipped cream. Perhaps these delicate white clouds are the yang to the yin of chocolate. I could happily eat them singularly all day long as well as on whatever they were actually prepared to be served with. Made from scratch hot chocolate, homemade marshmallows, there's a great deal of love in my mug right now. This marshmallow recipe is from Giada DeLaurentis (Giada at Home, Sugar Rush episode)

Ingredients

* Butter, for greasing the pan
* Powdered sugar, for dusting
* 1/2 cup water, plus 1/4 cup
* 3 tablespoons (3 packets) unflavored gelatin
* 2 cups sugar
* 1/2 cup evaporated milk
* 1 large orange, zested
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* Orange decorating sugar*
* *Can be found at cake decorating stores
* Special equipment: a candy thermometer

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/homemade-orange-marshmallows-recipe/index.html