Food Inspires Design | 5 WordPress Food Blogs We Follow + Love

April 2019April 2019Peter Salerno Inc.

Food Inspires Design | 5 WordPress Food Blogs We Follow + Love

The best kitchen designs are inspired by the food created within them.

Food is a muse for master chefs, avid home cooks and hobbyists alike – but it’s also an inspiration for kitchen design experts the world over. Peter Salerno (owner of Peter Salerno Inc., our parent company) is not only an award-winning international custom kitchen designer, but an avid cook and food connoisseur. (Peter’s first cookbook, complete with expert wine pairings, is due out later in 2019.)

Peter Salerno's pumpkin fettucine with creamy sausage sauce. — Peter Salerno’s pumpkin fettucine with creamy sausage sauce.

“It’s important for a kitchen to be as functional as it is luxurious,” Peter explained to us in a recent meeting. “If its owners don’t get a fantastic cooking experience out of their kitchen, then who cares how beautiful it is?”

In order to stay inspired by food, we keep a close eye on some of WordPress’ finest food, recipe and cooking sites. Some are well-traveled, while some are wonderful hidden gems in the deep and varied ocean of food blogs and online recipe collections.

5 WordPress Food Blogs We Follow + Love

Polenta & Baccala

Oh, how we love this gem of a website. Polenta & Baccala (stylized polenta e baccala) is an invitation to cook with Graziano, who creates authentic Italian recipes coupled with marvelous photography and detailed preparation instruction. Besides the rich content and beautiful photography, the blog is presented on a visually stimulating layout.

There’s no guesswork needed with the recipes at Polenta & Baccala. From preview to preparation, creation to consumption, Graziano provides the perfect “map” to all his dishes to cooks of any experience level. Couple this with Graziano’s photography expertise and his very real credentials (a native northern Italian now living in Hungary), and we promise you’ll be spending plenty of time perusing polenta e baccala for recipes and food inspiration.

Homemade mozzarella from Peter Salerno's kitchen. — Homemade mozzarella from Peter Salerno’s kitchen.

Cooking With a Wallflower

It’s important to remember that self-expression comes in all forms. While the statement one can make with food is loud, often the person preparing these artistically resounding meals is quite introverted. Such is the case with Cooking With a Wallflower, a charming (and delicious) blog run by Andrea, a dental hygienist with a passion for food.

We enjoy Andrea’s perspective on food, and creating a fulfilling work-life balance between her occupation and her passion for cuisine. Cooking With a Wallflower offers a highly pleasing blend of recipes and life experiences, which reminds us that the heart and soul of every kitchen is the person who uses it.

In Diane’s Kitchen

In Diane’s Kitchen is so appealing because it’s so real. Recipes are constructed with real life in mind. “What to do with those holiday leftovers?” “How can I make that recipe I saw on TV with the modest kitchen accessories I own?” Diane brings these answers to the table, crafting simple recipes that often provide amazing “bang for the buck” in terms of great rewards with minimal effort and/or skill required.

Websites like In Diane’s Kitchen help keep kitchen inspiration rooted in reality, which is an important aspect of any designer’s process. Like Diane’s recipes, a good kitchen designer knows that ease of use and simple application are of incredible importance in our daily lives.

Peter Salerno's homemade black pepper pappardelle. — Peter Salerno’s homemade black pepper pappardelle.

Foods That Blog

Sometimes, you just want to stare at some pictures of delicious food. For food photography that looks good enough to eat, we turn to Foods That Blog – a place we consider to be source material not only for food trends and food photography, but also design inspiration!

The richness and variety of color and texture in Foods That Blog’s photography can serve as a muse for holistic kitchen design. It’s also helpful to observe what styles and preparations of food are on the rise, as these dishes help signal trends in kitchen appliances and overall kitchen setup.

Cooking Without Limits

Food Photography & Recipes. A simple tagline for a simple, effective blog. Cooking Without Limits pairs a minimalist layout with simple, clean photography and to-the-point recipes to create a user-friendly experience. We love how conversational Cooking Without Limits is; each recipe is an invitation into this cook’s personal kitchen, experiences and tastes. Every recipe comes with a story, and we love that – after all, your kitchen is where so many of your life’s stories are created!

What is YOUR favorite recipe, cuisine, or food photography blog or website? Leave a link in the comments and tell us why!

Our Favorite Summer Farro Salad Recipe

August 2018Peter Salerno Inc.

Our Favorite Summer Farro Salad Recipe

Summer Farro Salad. (Recipe by Marco Canora, Food&Wine. Photo credit John Kernick.)

Over the past few years, we’ve compiled a great list of recipes and trending food topics thanks to Peter Salerno and his love for not only creating kitchen designs, but creating in the kitchen as well!

One of our favorite recipes of the last 5 years is a simple-yet-exquisite summer salad that always leaves us full and refreshed.

This fantastic summer farro salad comes courtesy of Food & Wine (F&W) and their star chef Marco Canora.

Famous for his Tuscan-inspired dishes, Marco Canora’s experience has taken him from Gramercy Tavern in NYC to Cibreo in Florence, Italy, and back again. Canora now calls Hearth & Terroir Wine Bar in New York City home.

If you’ve never eaten farro, it’s all the rage lately in a variety of dishes. From salads to soups to meat dishes, farro is a versatile hulled wheat grain that is well-loved by savvy eaters as a great source of fiber and a “smart carbohydrate”.

This summer salad combines the hearty, nutty flavor of farro with the crunch of carrots, celery and onions and the freshness of cucumbers and tomatoes. We’re sure you’ll love it at your table as much as Peter Salerno and his family love it at theirs.

Recipe: Summer Farro Salad (courtesy Food&Wine, Marco Canora)

Ingredients

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, quartered
1 small carrot, halved
1 celery rib, halved
12 ounces farro (1 3/4 cups)
5 cups water
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 small seedless cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Preparation

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the yellow onion, carrot and celery, cover and cook over moderately low heat until barely softened, about 5 minutes. Add the farro and stir to coat with oil. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until the farro is barely tender, about 10 minutes; season with salt. Cover and simmer until the farro is al dente, about 10 minutes longer. Drain the farro and discard the onion, carrot and celery. Let cool completely.
In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 1/3 cup of olive oil with the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the farro, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes and basil, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Delish Features Memorial Day Recipes To Drool Over

May 2018May 2018Peter Salerno Inc.

Delish Features Memorial Day Recipes To Drool Over

Avid readers of “Design Your Lifestyle” know that 2 recipe blogs make us salivate like none other – Delish and Epicurious.

Since our inception, we’ve relied on Delish and Epicurious more than any other sources for food tips, recipes, drink recipes, and seasonal menus that always fit the bill and ‘hit the spot’. And boy, has Delish delivered once again with its Memorial Day Recipes feature page.

BBQ in style with Delish's Memorial Day Recipes!(Photo: Gyfjonas via Wiki Commons) — BBQ in style with Delish’s Memorial Day Recipes!(Photo: Gyfjonas via Wiki Commons)

From the Delish team:

We wanted to make a space that was for everyone — people who liked to eat more than they actually liked to cook. We created a place that was as much about delicious, easy recipes as it was about food as a fun lifestyle and cultural phenomenon. We produce nearly 200 recipes a month, but we’re also creating videos about our favorite brands, restaurants, and stores, or celebrities and their eating habits. Plus, we’re all about telling the crazy food stories you won’t find anywhere else.

How could we not love that mission statement? (And if that’s not enough, check out their Pinterest page – we dare you not to get hungry and make a recipe immediately.)

The thing we love most about the Delish Memorial Day Recipes feature is that it’s drawn from the real world. We’re not saying that some people don’t adorn their Memorial Day dinner table or cookout table with “deconstructed crawfish etouffee” or “artisanal curated something-or-other with lemongrass foam”. We’re just saying that most people eat burgers, hot dogs, salads and sides.

And this is precisely the foundation of the Delish Memorial Day “menu” of recipes. The splashy lead article, “43 Insane-Slash-Brilliant Things To Do With Hot Dogs“, hooked us from the beginning. Simple summer pastas, summer salad recipes, kebabs and homemade condiments follow the charge, and soon you may find yourself like us…

(“Did I really just spend 52 minutes looking at Memorial Day recipes? Yup, I sure did.”)

Vegetarians and vegans, fear not – Delish has you covered for Memorial Day as well, with grilled veggie recipes that are more than satisfying.

So if you’re at a loss for Memorial Day cooking ideas and need some recipes for inspiration, head over to the Delish Memorial Day Recipes site and get searching! (We’ll give you a call in a day or two if you get carried away.)

From Peter Salerno’s Kitchen: Why We Love Gelato!

August 2015August 2015Peter Salerno Inc.

From Peter Salerno’s Kitchen: Why We Love Gelato!

Our Favorite Reasons You Should Eat Gelato

If you follow Peter Salerno Inc. on Facebook, you know that the staff loves to cool down on a hot summer day by eating delicious gelato! From its roots with the famed Medici family in Renaissance Italy to its growing popularity around the world today, gelato is a delicious, creamy alternative to ice cream that (believe it or not) is healthier for you in many ways!

The Peter Salerno Inc. staff (and Harper the puppy!) enjoy delicious gelato.

Every gelato lover has his or her favorite gelato “spot” – for Peter Salerno and his team, a local Sicilian gelato maker always hits the spot! But whether it’s from a gelato maker, dessert shop or your local grocer, gelato is a wonderful treat – especially during these hot summer months.

So why exactly do we love gelato so much? Here a few great reasons to love this classic Italian dessert delicacy.

Reasons Why We Love Gelato

1. It’s based in all-natural, fresh ingredients. Classic gelato made by hand features milk and water, and generally hazelnuts or pistachios in its base. These natural ingredients, rather than artificial sweeteners, chemicals and preservatives, make gelato a more naturally delicious treat.

2. It’s lower in fat and calories than ice cream. On average, gelato contains 5-6% butterfat, compared to 10-12% in most traditional American ice creams (source: WhyGelato.com). As a result, it’s naturally lower in both fat and calories than its ice cream counterparts!

3. Options, options, options! Gelato comes in several varieties, including cream and fruit-based gelatos. As a result, the tastes you can experience by eating gelato range from sweet to savory, and will satisfy lovers of ice cream, sorbet, sherbet and flavored ices alike!

To many, gelato is a new dessert discovery. But it’s been around since the Renaissance (and in America since the late 1700s) – so why not try it for yourself? It’s about time you discovered why so many people, including Peter Salerno Inc., love gelato!

Peter Salerno Visits Do Hwa Korean Restaurant, NYC

November 2014Peter Salerno Inc.

Peter Salerno Visits Do Hwa Korean Restaurant, NYC

Peter Salerno with his son-in-law Brian and Terrence Segura, co-owner of Do Hwa Korean Restaurant.

Peter Salerno, his son Anthony and son-in-law Brian recently visited one of their family’s favorite restaurants in NYC. Do Hwa Korean Home-cooking is located on 55 Carmine Street in the West Village, and is widely regarded (especially by Peter) as the finest Korean restaurant in Manhattan.

Korean food is often entirely different from other Asian foods and is said to be one of the healthiest diets in the world. Anthony Salerno initially discovered Do Hwa in 2010, and after several attempts was able to get Peter to visit the West Village restaurant. Ever since, Peter and the entire Salerno family have been hooked.

The ambience at Do Hwa is amazing – complete with tasteful Zen decor, Quentin Tarantino posters and memorabilia (Tarantino is a frequent visitor to Do Hwa, and a co-owner), and the occasional film projected onto the restaurant wall. On this night, Peter Salerno and family were greeted by co-owner Terrence Segura and his mother-in-law, owner and executive chef Myung ja Kwak.

The beginning of a beautiful night of Korean cuisine at Do Hwa.

As for what Peter, Anthony and Brian ate on their latest trip to Do Hwa?

The appetizers consisted of:

Japchae – a sesame sweet potato glass noodle with vegetables
Duk Boki – rice cakes sautéed in chili sauce with vegetables and a hardboiled egg
L.A. Kalbi – beef short ribs on the bone
Fresh watercress with a sesame/garlic/chili vinaigrette
Kimchi (pickled cabbage with a chili sauce)

The entrees at Do Hwa are outstanding Korean cuisine.

The main course consisted of:

Bulgogi – thin slices of rib—eye beef in soy sauce and garlic marinade
Deji Bulgogi – thin slices of pork belly with chilis
Lettuce wraps
Frothed egg
More kimchi!
Soybeans and tofu
Rice

Peter, Anthony and Brian finished the meal off with some freshly made sugar-dusted Beignets with a raspberry sauce.

Do Hwa's amazing sugar-dusted beignets were the dessert course. — Do Hwa’s amazing sugar-dusted beignets were the dessert course.

Throughout the dinner the staff at Do Hwa made sure that no one was ever without a cocktail. The house specialties included:

May Julep
Manhattan on the rocks
Ginger Kamikaze
So Ju with fresh cucumber

Do Hwa updates its patrons on a consistent basis with a socially active Facebook page as well.

Peter Salerno, Anthony Salerno and Brian Mayer at Do Hwa Korean Restaurant.

Our thanks to co-owner Terrence Segura, his mother-in-law, owner & executive chef Myung ja Kwak, and the entire staff of Do Hwa Korean Home-cooking for another world-class meal served with remarkable ambience.