January 12, 2012

Food Trends: What's In, What's Out in 2012

What's hot and what's not in the new year--culinarily speaking?  Yes! "Culinarily" speaking! Artisan Kitchen is always on the cutting edge and we've been perfecting the hottest food trends for the new year for quite some time now!  According to an article in the January 2012 edition of Saveur magazine and a segment on "The Today Show", the culinary trends on the horizon focus on familiarity and hometown pride. Here's a sampling of what's IN this year....

  MEAT LOAF IS THE LATEST "IT" FOOD!

Comfort food is always in and mea tloaf is the King of Comfort Food!  Meat loaf is a grown-up food...a hearty food... and is a true culinary classic.  There are zillions of recipes for meat loaf out there but Artisan Kitchen has THE ABSOLUTE BEST!   What makes ours so special?  "It's the zingy sweet and spicy sauce on top!" says AK Chef Jessi Donaldson.  There are a few special ingredients that take our meatloaf from ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY!  We have it on hand almost every day as a take-it-bake-it casserole.  Pick up some garlic mashed potatoes (another classic comfort food), some country style or spicy ginger green beans and VOILA you have supper!!!!

And speaking of meatloaf...Shandies offers a Bacon and Gouda Encrusted Meatloaf everyday on the regular menu!  It's to absolutely die for!!!!!

  Back to Artisan Kitchen....we have several Artisan Kitchen meat loafs in the case today. We also have;

Pesto Chicken Penne

Shrimp & Prosciutto Penne

Turkey a la King

French Quarter Pasta

Chicken and Dressing

Pork Madison

Beef Pot Pie

 Beef Stroganoff

Kentucky Hot Brown

Vegetable Lasagna

And speaking of lasagna.,..

Italian-American Food Replaces Regional Italian

Not that there's anything wrong with regional Italian food--signature Sicilian dishes or the cuisine from Northern Italy--but the food specialists are stressing that Italian-American food is taking over! What exactly is Italian-American?  It's America's spin on Italian favorites and lasagna is the perfect example.  We offer three versions of lasagna at Artisan Kitchen.  Our traditional lasagna is made with our homemade marinara, creamy ricotta and mouth-watering mozzarella cheese.  It's a favorite with many of our regular customers.  Our vegetable lasagna features our marinara sauce and a bevy of fresh vegetables including spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers and onions. We have another meatless lasagna--Portobella Florentine. It features hearty portobella mushrooms, fresh spinach and lots and lots of cheese. It is very rich and creamy--and is extremely popular.  Our lasagnas are available in three sizes--a two pound pan (which feeds 2-3 unless one happens to be a teenage boy!), a serves-six size and a serves 12 size.  For the larger sizes, we ask that you give us a 24-hour heads up!

Let Them Eat Cake!

I hate to break the news to you but the cutie cupcake craze is slowly dying down and decadent layer cakes are on the rise!  And Artisan Kitchen is the place to get THE BEST layer cakes!  Red Velvet, Old-Fashioned Chocolate, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Neapolitan Sundae, French Vanilla Butternut! You name it...we can make it!  We offer more than 20 different varieties of cake and if it's not on our menu we can perfect a recipe for the flavor you want!  Now we're not saying we aren't doing any more cupcakes--we can do all kinds of cupcakes--but if you want to be on the cutting culinary edge order a layer cake today!

We have several layer cakes in the bakery case today:

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

French Champagne Raspberry Cake

Strawberry Cake

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake
French Vanilla Butternut
Neapolitan Sundae--which could be one of the most decadent  layer cakes!  It's a layer of chocolate, a layer of French Vanilla and a layer of strawberry filled and topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache.

And for those of you reluctant to change, we DO have some delicious Pineapple Macadamia Nut Cupcakes available!

In addition to all of the wonderful cutting edge foods already mentioned....we have several side dishes, including garlic mashed potatoes, Swiss scalloped potatoes, pesto fried corn, country style green beans, spicy ginger green beans, sesame braised asparagus and a variety of the freshest salads.  We also have a SPA pizza and Bacon & Gouda Pizza!  We've got you covered!

Artisan Kitchen.....Catering & Carry Out to Simplify Your Busy Life!