Chris Phillips

Simple Kale & Potato Soup
Some soups work well in polite company — a light bisque or a boeuf bourguignon, for instance, are the stars of a dinner party menu. But then there are other soups that are really just for you, just for those days when you need something simple and nourishing without much fuss. That’s this kale and potato soup. It’s humble, unassuming, and best enjoyed alone at the kitchen counter with the last hunk of some sourdough bread.
Aug 10, 2023
6 Ways to Thwart the Office Lunch Thief
My office has witnessed The Case of the Missing Spaghetti, The Hidden Brown Rice, and most recently A Summertime Spring Roll Mystery. Clearly there’s an office lunch thief among us. And while I have my suspicions, I’ll leave cracking The Case of the Office Refrigerator to the professional sleuths. Instead, with apologies to Nancy Drew, let’s focus on six proactive ways to make sure your lunch meets the right mouth. When I bring lunch from home, I eat right at noon.
Sep 28, 2016
What New Dads Really Want for Father’s Day
Buddy, you’re never going to get another decent night of sleep again! My husband and I heard this line several times a day in the months leading up to our son’s birth. Now that he’s here, people continue to inquire almost daily about the sleeping habits of our new little family. I implore you: Stop asking new dads about how much sleep they are getting. If dad or baby aren’t sleeping well, they don’t want to talk about it more than they already are.
Jun 14, 2016
Why Didn’t My Roasting Turkey Smell? A Post-Thanksgiving Tell-All
I will be forever haunted by memories of Thanksgiving 2015. While so much of my Thanksgiving was just right — my grandmother’s china, a pecan pie from a hip bakery, carefully cooked Brussels sprouts and chestnuts — one major element was missing. My turkey didn’t smell! No, my guests were not greeted with the fragrance of perfect heritage turkey roasting with apples, onions, and sage.
Dec 2, 2015
Best Black Peppercorns
Pepper makes its way into just about every dish that passes through the kitchen so make sure you’re using good quality pepper. After all, the good stuff doesn’t cost more than lesser pepper. You don’t use pre-ground black pepper, do you? Ground black pepper really isn’t worth buying.
Oct 1, 2008
How To Broil a Steak in the Oven
Why not cook a dry-aged Porterhouse steak tonight?We suggest serving steak for mid-week celebrations because they are quick. The only prep work required is a trip to a good butcher. Your steak will broil to rare perfection in under ten minutes. On Valentine’s Day, less time in the kitchen means more time for, umm, other things.Here’s our step-by-step guide to cooking steaks in your broiler.
Feb 14, 2008
Good Question: Why Are My Onions Rotten Inside?
Dear The Kitchn,I make a habit of going to the farmer’s market, even in the cold months. I want to support the farmers and buy their onions, squash, and garlic. But, as you can see in this picture, many of the onions I’m buying at the farmer’s market are brown in the middle and have a slightly spoiled smell. Is there something I can look for when shopping for onions so that I avoid these spoiled specimens? Thanks for your help,RPRP,Thanks for your question.
Dec 12, 2007
Jessica Seinfeld’s New Cookbook
Have you heard about the brownies made with carrots and spinach (PDF recipe)? The new cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian and sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld, shares advice on how to hide vegetables so kids will eat them. There’s recipes for pureed cauliflower in mac and cheese and kale in spaghetti and meatballs.
Oct 22, 2007
NYC’s Fresh Direct Promises To Go Green
Fresh Direct will stop using cardboard delivery boxes. They’ll use recyclable totes and bags instead. Seems like a big improvement, right?Bummer is that Fresh Direct will take up to three years to make the change. “Switching our systems will involve a complex re-engineering process,” Fresh Direct explained in an email they sent to customers yesterday.
Oct 2, 2007
Hot or Not?: Rachael Ray’s Garbage Bowl
Rachael Ray’s garbage bowl flies as a concept: put a bowl on your counter and drop peels and meat trimmings into it as you cook. This tip frm the Queen of Quick saves trips to the garbage can and keeps kitchen floors and counters cleaner. But do cooks really need a Rachael Ray branded melamine Garbage Bowl to get the job done? Wouldn’t a compost pail or a regular bowl be a better solution?
Sep 28, 2007
Recipe: Basic Tomato Sauce
You’ve been asking for our sauce recipe using fresh tomatoes. We’ve been refining our recipe, double-checking our measurements, and now we’re ready to share. Let us know how this compares to your tomato sauce recipe and the recipe your great-great grandmother carried over from Italy (we should be so lucky!). This basic tomato sauce manages to hold on to the fresh, bright flavors of a garden tomato while also providing some complexity.
Sep 20, 2007
Food Mill for Sauce Season
Tomatoes and apples fill the markets right now and they are begging to be sauced. On Monday, we talked using a wide pan to keep tomato sauce tasting more lively. Today we want to check in with you on another tool of serious sauce makers: the food mill. We’ve heard many people scoff at the food mill. We think they don’t understand how this old-fashioned looking tool differs from a food processor, blender, or standing mixer.
Sep 19, 2007
Good Question: Where Can I Find Squash Blossoms?
Dear Kitchen,Last September, I was in Italy and tried Fiore di Zucca. I think that was pumpkin blossoms stuffed with ricotta and baked. I became obsessed and now I’m craving them.When are squash blossoms in season and does anyone know a place in NYC where I can buy some?Thanks,Rachel (To All Good Questions)Rachel,Thanks for your question. We’ve experimenting with squash blossoms this summer. Look for them at the Yuno’s Farms stand at the Greenmarket near the UN on Wednesdays.
Aug 30, 2007
Finally! A Recipe Just For Baby Pattypan Squash
Let’s stand up for the baby pattypan. The baby pattypan has its own unique crown shape and an olive-oil like flavor that cries out for attention. While baby pattypans can work in recipes created for zucchini or yellow summer squash, we’ve been hunting all summer for recipes that were created just for the little pattypans. Isn’t it a shame to slice them up when their shape is so perfect on the plate? Until this weekend, we hadn’t had much luck in our recipe hunt.
Aug 21, 2007
Hot or Not: Tupperware’s Forget Me Not
We cut into a lime with the best intentions. We’ll squeeze half the lime over chicken tacos one night. Then, we’ll stick the left over lime half in the fridge with plans to use the rest in gin and tonics the next night. The problem is that we often forget these little dribs and drabs. They sit in a forgotten corner of the fridge until they go bad. Enter Tupperware’s Forget Me Not.
Jul 23, 2007
Try Full Flavored Flat Beans
Italian flat beans, also known as Romano green beans, are in season now. These beans are flat in form, but not in flavor. Compared to standard green beans, these beans have a bright, slightly sweet flavor and more meaty texture. “… More green-tasting, more alive-tasting than other beans,” reports Veggie Venture. We blanched our flat beans in salted boiling water and then finished them in a frying pan with some olive oil, garlic, and chopped fresh tomato.
Jul 17, 2007
How To Pour Ingredients into the Mixer Without a Mess
Pouring ingredients into a running standing mixer is a big challenge. It is too awkward to push ingredients from a standard mixing bowl into a running Kitchen Aid. We’ve struggled with this since we first bought our mixers and we’re not the only ones . . . We watch carefully when TV chefs pour ingredients into their whirring, running standing mixers. Celebrity chefs struggle with this little detail too.
Jun 12, 2007
Survey: How Do You Store Your Drinking Glasses?
Heads or tails Kitchen reader Josie-o emailed in to ask us for drinkware storage advice … and we’re passing her question along to see if we can find any consensus on this. “Just one of those things I’ve always wondered about. I was raised with ‘right side up’ yet curious when friends’ kitchens had their glasses upside down,” Josie-o said.
Jun 8, 2007
Fishs Eddy: New York,NY
End your search for affordable everyday dinnerware at Fishs Eddy. Visit the store in Manhattan’s Union Square or stop by their excellent website to send a gift. Fishs Eddy sells American-made sturdy plates and mugs for every price point: from overstock items made for hotels and diners to special dishes that celebrate the New York City skyline, Brooklyn Bridge and brownstones, or even the Brooklyn accent (Cawffee, anyone?).
May 25, 2007
Are You A Condimaniac?
“One whose cabinets and refrigerator doors are filled with an excess of food seasonings . . . a person affected by a mania for condiments.”That’s a condimaniac according to the spring issue of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. You know the type: a fridge bulging with three kinds of capers, a rainbow of olives, plus a collection of aging pestos, ketchups, and tapanades.
May 10, 2007
Tip: Don’t Store Onions and Potatoes Together
Potatoes and onions are great companions in potato salad and frittata, but potatoes and onions should be stored separately. That’s the advice reader RB shared on the Open Thread over the weekend. An eHow expert agrees: “Avoid storing potatoes with onions because, when close together, they produce gases that spoil both. ” Bigspud.com says, “First and most important, don’t put [potatoes] anywhere near onions. Onions will make potatoes deteriorate in a hurry.
Apr 30, 2007
Search For Our Favorite Frozen Peas
Easy peas-y Frozen peas will be a staple of our shopping cart for a few more weeks, until the fresh local vegetables hit the markets.This week we tested six different kinds of frozen peas from four different stores and set to work systematically tasting them all.Going into it, we wondered if Birds Eye easy-to-find peas packed in silver paper (Key Foods, $1.29, 10 oz.) could win. We had great expectations for the fancy Bonduelle extra fine petite peas imported from France (Fairway, $2.
Apr 27, 2007
A Swiss Peeler from the Streets of New York City
We introduced Joseph Ades, New York City’s best sidewalk sales guy, yesterday. Today we’re reviewing the Swiss made Star brand peeler he peddles. This peeler is a Swiss kitchen classic, according to Swissinfo.org. The Rex ($2.99 on eBay), a similar peeler made by the same manufacturer, appeared on a Swiss postage stamp in 2003!
Apr 18, 2007
How To Use a Stove Top Heat Diffuser
Persnickety stoves can seem like they have just two settings: off or devilishly hot. That’s no good for braising. But don’t get all hot and bothered if you can’t find a low, slow heat source to finish your braise. There is a solution — the stove top heat diffuser. We asked Norman Kornbleuth, owner of Broadway Panhandler and Taylor Erkkinen from The Brooklyn Kitchen, to tell us more about stove top diffusers.
Mar 26, 2007
Fish on Fridays: Linguine with Clam Sauce
We’re dreaming of clam bakes and lobster rolls served oceanside, but we’re still leaping over snowbanks here in New York.Beach weather is months away, but a quick dinner of Linguine with Clam Sauce might help you conjure summer.We checked in with Wild Edibles in Grand Central Market this morning. Today, they have Little Neck Clams from Connecticut and Manila Clams from Washington State.
Mar 9, 2007
Recipe: Dried Fruit Warmed With Red Wine and Spices
Here’s the hot water bottle of desserts, warming and weirdly pink. While dried fruit simmered in wine may seem old-fashioned or unsexy, we think this is a rich luxury for an icy night. The warm wine, cloves, cinnamon, and pepper wake up summer’s stone fruits and turn them in to something more than we were expecting. Serve the fruit with a scoop of ice cream, sour cream, Greek yogurt, or fresh ricotta. Try leftovers on your oatmeal the next morning.
Mar 8, 2007
Westside Market: New York, NY
A good jack-of-all-trades grocery store is vital. While Manhattan’s Westside Market is not as elegant as some stores or as cheap as others, consider Westside Market as an everyday efficient way to make meals happen.A one-stop-shop in a store like the Westside Market also gives cooks the opportunity to spend less time shopping and more time in the kitchen (or napping!).
Feb 13, 2007
Adapting Jamie Oliver’s Baked Lemons with Mozzarella
Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook and television show bring us Jamie’s Italy. Jamie crosses Italy to find homecooks and sends their recipes on to us. Jamie’s trip reminds us that flexibility and simplicity are at the heart of cooking at home. If you want to serve stuffed lemons today, but don’t have anchovy filets, how about some olive paste instead? Basil leaves bring freshness and color, but parsley or arugula might do in a pinch.
Feb 6, 2007
PoachPod: Silicone Egg Poachers
There’s more than one way to poach an egg, that’s for sure. I’m still practicing the whirlpool method, but I took a crack at these silicone PoachPods ($9.95, Amazon.com) from Lamson & Goodnow. I agree with the recent thumbs-up from The New York Times (subscription required). The eggs come up from the water with a rich flavor since hardly any poaching water mixes in to them.
Jan 26, 2007
Recipe: Broiled Grapefruit
It is finally snowing here in New York City! And Florida grapefruit are at their peak now. This is the perfect morning to pucker up, keep warm in front of the oven, and make yourself a sunny broiled grapefruit for breakfast.
Jan 19, 2007
Western Beef: New York, NY
Another grungy New York City icon is gone. Western Beef supermarket recently moved from West 14th Street to West 16th Street and lost its personality in the process.In its old location, Western Beef was sandwiched between a bottle service nightclub and a stylish Belgian bistro. With its orange signs and sidewalk carts overflowing with discount corn chips, the store was the neighborhood eccentric. The new store is sadly much like any other faceless chain supermarket.
Nov 28, 2006
Schaller and Weber: New York, NY
Schaller and Weber is a well-respected butcher, but the shop is also an opportunity to experience the Christmas season in a new way.They sell chestnuts, Christmas cookies, foil wrapped chocolate Santas in many sizes, and marzipan shaped into fruits and even some marzipan pigs.Schaller and Weber offers the largest variety of Lindt chocolates I’ve ever seen.
Nov 21, 2006
Brown Bag Lunch Recipe: Better Than Hellman’s Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is a main part of many lunches: tuna salad, salad dressings, turkey sandwiches and more. British food writer Elizabeth David called mayonnaise “the beautiful shining golden ointment.” While I’ve made mayonnaise a few times, I’ll admit that for a potato salad or a smear on a sandwich, I’ve relied on Hellmann’s mayonnaise, known as Best Foods in the West.
Nov 16, 2006
A&S Pork Store: Brooklyn, NY
The butchers at A&S Pork Store want their customers to know they are “real butchers.” Unlike the meat departments in supermarkets and gourmet stores, these experienced guys know what they sell. If you have a special request, they might be able to butcher it while you wait, or you might have to place a special order and wait until tomorrow. They deliver in the neighborhood.
Nov 14, 2006
Grand Central Market: Penzeys Spices
Your spice collection needs a little attention this week. As the seasons change, inventory your spices to make sure you have everything you need on hand: bay leaves for stocks, cinnamon and all spice for pies, and how about some cloves, cardamom and mace for mulling wine or cider?I made my check list and went to Penzeys Spices in Grand Central Market.Cinnamon was first on my list.
Nov 7, 2006
NYC Scavenger: Hammered Aluminum Cookware for $50
Amy is clearing out her kitchen on the Upper East Side. She’s posting a variety of brand-name kitchen items here including a white Williams-Sonoma corner cabinet, a Bodum electric grill and a Moulinex Julienne Machine.My pick is her collection of vintage hammered aluminum cookware. My great-grandmother cooked with pots like these. Take look at her post here.And don’t forget to post your own listings at The Kitchen’s classifieds by clicking the yellow button to the right.
Nov 6, 2006