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.
    Chris Phillips
    Aug 10, 2023
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    May 5, 2022
    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 DayHere’s our step-by-step guide to cooking steaks in your broiler.Also see our step-by-step photo tutorial to cooking a steak here: • How To Cook a Steak in the OvenCooking a steak starts with the shopping.
    Chris Phillips
    Aug 6, 2020
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Feb 3, 2020
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Sep 12, 2019
    Recipe: Mini Chocolate Ice Cream Sodas
    A little bit of sparkle, a little bit of chocolate, stirred up in a tiny cut glass cup. That’s the recipe for my Mini Chocolate Ice Cream Sodas.If you don’t spring for champagne for your next party, here’s another way to end the night with some delicious tiny bubbles. I first served these at my holiday party last year and, as my guests quickly discovered, these aren’t your run of the mill float.
    Chris Phillips
    Jun 9, 2019
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Jun 5, 2019
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Jun 4, 2019
    Good Question: Ground Turkey Packaging
    Dear Kitchen,I noticed that ground turkey is now sold in these bubble-like packages. Is it safe? What is it?Stephen(To All Good Questions)There is something a bit frightening about these meat packages. We’ve long been tough to avoid canned goods that have bulging sides, but this time it’s intentional.I emailed your question to Shadybrook Farms, a main seller of ground turkey in the stores here in NYC. Shadybrok is owned by agricultural giant Cargill.
    Chris Phillips
    Jun 4, 2019
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    May 3, 2019
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    May 1, 2019
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Sep 28, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Dec 2, 2015
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Oct 22, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Aug 21, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Jun 12, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Apr 30, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Mar 26, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Mar 8, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Feb 6, 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.
    Chris Phillips
    Jan 19, 2007
    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.
    Chris Phillips
    Nov 16, 2006
    Bowery Kitchen Supplies: New York, NY
    Don’t let the name confuse you. While Bowery Kitchen Supplies does maintain a “to the trade” location on the Bowery, their main retail operation is in the Chelsea Market.Bowery Kitchen Supplies serves the Food Network, which has studios and offices in Chelsea Market. Though I’ve never seen a celebrity chef perusing the aisles of Bowery Kitchen Supplies, pictures on their website prove Alton and Emeril are fans.
    Chris Phillips
    Oct 31, 2006
    Recipe: Graham Cracker Crust
    Dessert can be demanding. So much whipping, melting, baking and waiting. I’ve picked up some tips for putting together a decent “company dinner” on the double, but I can’t get the last course right . . . and I have this frustrating feeling that it’s the end of the night that everyone remembers.I’m learning that some home cooks have a stable of desserts that rely on pantry ingredients that don’t demand too much ambtion or make a mess at the last minute.
    Chris Phillips
    Oct 16, 2006