Recipes
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Cooking Korean: Ojingo Bokum
If you’ve ever wanted to learn to cook squid, here’s a good introductory recipe. Ojingo bokum is a dish of sauteed squid and vegetables in a spicy sauce. The flavors are savory and the dish is very filling.
Oct 16, 2008
Recipe: Sticky Spiked Double-Apple Cake with a Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce
It’s harvest time, which means apples, which means that we’ve already made our harvest apple traditional recipe once – and we’ll make it again. What’s this recipe? An outrageously amazing apple cake, spiked up with brandy and drizzled brown sugar sauce. And when we say outrageous here, we mean it. This recipe is from Regan Daley’s fabulous dessert cookbook, In the Sweet Kitchen (see our review here).
Oct 16, 2008
Dinner for One: Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with Fried Egg
This is definitely one of those dishes that evolved from being home alone on a weeknight and having nothing in the fridge. Success! Who knew a handful of leftover soba noodles, the last egg in the carton, and a few condiments could make such a delicious and satisfying meal?!The best part about this meal is the fried egg, in our humble opinion. The runny yolk mixes into the sesame-coated soba noodles like a creamy sauce, adding richness and substance to the dish.
Oct 16, 2008
Recipe: Cabbage Beet Coleslaw
This is the last post that will reference anything about my recent wedding, I promise. (I think.) But after the wedding cakes, the ice cream, and the butternut pasta, I do believe I saved the best for last. When we were first talking about our menu with our delightful caterer, I initially planned on serving a fall salad with walnuts, apples, and goat cheese. Then he casually mentioned a beet coleslaw that had been served at a farm conference he helped run. Beet coleslaw!
Oct 15, 2008
Appetizer Recipe: Crab Apples Poached in Sweet Wine
We’re talking about local apples this week, and we couldn’t let the week pass without a mention of crab apples. Crab apples are the wild, cherry-sized fruit clustered on trees all over our neighborhood this time of year. The trees are prized for their hardiness and gorgeous flowers, but the fruit usually goes to waste. Have you ever tasted a raw crab apple? So sour it will make your mouth pucker and your eyes squeeze up!
Oct 14, 2008
Recipe Redux: Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta
Did you know that we have over 500 original recipes in our archive? There are some gems way back there that we really need to revisit. Here’s one that I had never tried, personally, until last night – an easy yet sublime dish of tomatoes and shrimp.I had just a bit of that feta cheese left, plus some late summer tomatoes on the vine.We hunted out those last few ripe cherry tomatoes (poking around in the dark on our tomato plant!
Oct 14, 2008
Recipe: Tarte Aux Pommes
This is the time for apples. I cannot get enough of the Honeycrips at the Greenmarket now, always buying two more than I think I want, since we usually down two on the stroll home. If you can stand it, save some for baking.When I was in culinary school, I learned a classic Tarte Aux Pommes, which looks and sounds fancy, but is really easy to make. Great for your weekend dinner party. Impresses the socks (sure, in some cases, pants) off people.
Oct 14, 2008
Recipe: Miso Potato Salad with Yellow Wax Beans
Springtime brings one of my favorite farmers market treats: tiny new potatoes. Their fresh flavor is delightful in a simple potato salad, like this one, which trades in mayo-laden dressings for a lighter sauce of tangy yogurt mixed with savory miso. I’m always looking for ways to use another spoon or two of miso; after all, we can’t eat miso soup every day. (Well, I probably could, but it still wouldn’t use up that miso very quickly.
Oct 13, 2008
Recipe Recommendation: Ribollita
Dana’s post last week on cavalo nero kale reminded me that we’re in ribollita season. Ribollita is a simple, earthy Tuscan soup made from whatever vegetable scraps and stale bread is on hand, and is eaten in the fall and winter months.The word “ribollita” means “reboiled” and is used to refer to this soup because it requires a lot of cooking to get the right flavor and texture. It’s very hearty and filling, and keeps you warm in the winter.
Oct 13, 2008
Recipe: Sweet Potato and Tempeh Stew
Rich and comforting, sweet potatoes are an ideal soup ingredient. Pairing them with tempeh and warm spices makes for an even heartier nutrition-packed meal. With a dollop of tangy yogurt and sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds, this stew can be served on its own or ladled over grains like quinoa for a satisfying fall dinner.
Oct 10, 2008
Recipe: Roasted Fall Vegetables with Feta Cheese
This dish of slowly roasted fall vegetables with cheese is our last entry in a week of recipes that take advantage of the delicious local feta cheese we have in our fridge.We didn’t get a shot of these vegetables after they were roasted. Frankly, they are much prettier beforehand. But more delicious – oh, so much more! – after an hour or so in the oven, bubbling away with a little lemon juice and broth, salt and pepper.
Oct 10, 2008
All in the (Cocktail) Family: Sours Straight Up Cocktails
Margaritas. Daiquiris. Sidecars. It wasn’t too long ago that I realized some of my favorite drinks had something in common. Each is a member of a certain tart and delicious extended cocktail family: the Sour.The perfect combination of citrusy freshness and mellowing sweetness, backed by the rich warmth of alcohol, Sours are one of the earliest cocktail types on record (Brandy Sours were big in the 1850s), and their modern cousins (Cosmos, anyone?) are still holding their own.
Oct 10, 2008
Recipe: Hearty Kale and Sausage Soup
After reading Dana’s post earlier this week on cavolo nero kale, we started craving this favorite kale and sausage soup. Made even more satisfying with creamy white beans and potatoes, this is exactly what we need on these crisp autumn afternoons!We leave most of the ribs in our kale because we like the crunch it adds to the soup. If this isn’t your style, feel free to remove them.
Oct 9, 2008
Recipe: Warm Wheat Salad (Or, Reverse Tabbouleh)
We’re big fans of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern parsley salad tabbouleh. We frequently make it ourselves – see our recipe here. We had a bunch of fragrant parsley last week, a gift from our aunt’s garden, and we pondered a batch. But it’s getting a little chilly for cold salads; we wanted something warm, and we still had all this locally-made goat feta.So we invented something new: reverse tabbouleh!
Oct 8, 2008
What On Earth Is A Flammeküeche?
It’s a cute Alsatian word for what is known in plain French as the tarte flambée — a thin-crust pizza made with crème fraîche, sliced onions and smoked lardons and traditionally baked in a wood-burning oven.
Oct 8, 2008
Recipe: Watermelon, Rosemary, and Feta Salad
Yesterday we showed you the local artisan goat feta that we’re spotlighting this week. Local cheese like this (and the Consider Bardwell Dorset cheese that Nora showed us this morning) can be expensive. We feel that wise splurges like these are completely worth it, however, because they can add enormous flavor and value to your food – even when used in tiny amounts.Here’s the first recipe we’re featuring with this cheese – a very late watermelon salad.
Oct 7, 2008
Recipe: Cavolo Nero Kale
We’re heading into kale season and I couldn’t be happier.  Kale provides everything you want and need in food:  it’s nutritious, delicious, easy to prepare, affordable and readily available well into the frost season. Indeed, those of you who live in frost areas are really in luck because a good frost can deepen and sweeten the flavor of kale and other winter vegetables.
Oct 6, 2008
Recipe: Savory Kabocha Tofu Pie
It’s that time of year when winter gourds start tumbling across farmers’ market tables and we become reacquainted with our ovens. Here’s a little recipe for a warm and savory main dish pie featuring winter squash and rosemary.The recipe is loosely based on a favorite dish that my mom used to cook, tofu spinach pie from Brother Ron Pickarski’s Friendly Foods cookbook. I’ve adapted it to incorporate the autumn flavors of sweet kabocha and fragrant rosemary.
Oct 3, 2008
How To Prepare and Serve Raclette
Raclette is a firm, pungent cheese from Switzerland that is the center of a popular winter social event in the Alpine parts of Europe. The cheese is made of cow’s milk and is salty, and can come in variations made with wine, pepper, and herbs.The word “raclette” comes from the French word “to scrape.” Raclette makes up a simple meal that was enjoyed by shepherds in the fields.
Oct 2, 2008
Recipe Review: Oatmeal Toasting Bread
An egg on a crispy slice of toast is an essential part of our morning routine. We usually buy whole grain or oatmeal bread, but when we ran out of bread a few days ago, we decided to plunge into baking a sandwich loaf.
Oct 2, 2008
What Can You Do With Green Tomatoes?
Tomatoes can keep producing fruit well into fall, but they need temperatures of 75 degrees or more in order to reach full growth and optimum ripeness. Therefore, most tomatoes that start growing in the fall stay small and green. Don’t throw them out, though.Unripe green tomatoes are edible, and can be used to make all manner of tasty treats. Last year, we had a Green Tomato Contest where readers submitted their favorite green tomato recipes.
Sep 23, 2008
Recipe: Sweet and Salty Cinnamon Almonds
Cinnamon nuts – crunchy, sweet and salty – are one of our favorite fall snacks. This recipe is super easy, and it’s good for snacking or for sprinkling on ice cream and other desserts.We bought a large bag of sliced almonds in a bulk foods section, tossed them with egg whites, spices and sugar, and roasted at a low temperature – easy and delicious. It makes your house smell wonderful, too!
Sep 23, 2008
Classic Recipe (and Video): Martha Stewart’s Pâte Brisée
It’s the first day of fall, and fall is high pie season for us. Sara Kate has already shared her favorite pie plate and a great sour cream pie crust recipe. But we also love this recipe from Martha Stewart for Pâte Brisée, a fancy name for a very basic French pie dough. It’s our go-to for pie crust. We use it all the time.
Sep 22, 2008
End-of-Summer Cocktail: Whiskey Peach Smash Straight Up Cocktails
As summer cools and mellows into fall, it’s time to begin shifting the way we eat – and drink. Why not celebrate the Autumnal Equinox with a cocktail that mixes the best of both seasons?A warm/cool, tart/sweet concoction of muddled peach, mint, and lemon, shaken together with whiskey and a touch of simple syrup for balancing sweetness, the Whiskey Peach Smash is the perfect sipper for this transitional time of year.
Sep 19, 2008
Non-Intimidating Dessert: Free-Form Crostatas
In her cookbook Barefoot Contessa Parties, Ina Garten says of her Apple Crostata, “This is my absolute, all-time favorite dessert. I’ve made it so often that I’m sure my friends are saying behind my back, ‘No, not the apple crostata again’…”We’ve made the recipe so many times, our friends probably think the same thing.
Sep 18, 2008
Recipe: Ratatouille
Ratatouille is the quintessential late-summer dish. Not only does it make short work of extra produce, but it fills your kitchen with such a comforting and homey aroma that you might never want to leave!This isn’t exactly a quick weeknight recipe, but you can make a lot at once by doubling or tripling the recipe. Then you can eat leftovers the rest of the week or freeze ’em for later.
Sep 18, 2008
Breakfast Recipe: Plum and Fig Flognarde
It’s the season for Italian prune plums. These tiny oval fruits are delightful for baking – they soften and run into plummy jam in the oven. These and figs are a perfect late summer pair, which is why we put them into a clafoutis on Saturday morning – or, as we discovered, a flognarde, since clafoutis is a term reserved only for the cherry version of this eggy baked pancake.
Sep 18, 2008
Top 5: Quick Uses for Pistachio Nuts
We recently made pistachio ice cream, using Jeni Britton’s no-egg method (loving it), and we had a bunch of shelled pistachio nuts left over. Days went by, and there was no time for baking pistachio biscotti or pistachio cookies, and snacking on them while cooking dinner wasn’t depleting the supply very fast.Here’s how we’ve been using them up in fast, savory ways…Salad. We love nuts on salads, and pistachios add some beautiful color, too.
Sep 17, 2008
DIY Wedding Recipe: Creamy, Tangy Lemon Ice Cream
A little while ago I asked for your opinions on what kind of ice cream and sorbet I should make to pair with my homemade wedding cakes. Well, the decision is made! Read on for the recipe…I decided in the end to go with a creamy, tangy lemon ice cream based on the recipe and techniques in the Jeni Britton Food & Wine article. She talked about how she boils down the cream then uses a pinch of cornstarch for thickening. We tried this out recently and it made such wonderful ice cream!
Sep 15, 2008
Cooking Korean: Soondubu jjigae
I had a jar of kimchi that was a little over a month old. At that point it’s got a little tang in it and doesn’t taste as good as fresh kimchi. It’s still edible, though, and is best used for stews and other cooked dishes.So, I decided to make soondubu jjigae, which translates to “soft tofu kimchi stew.” A jjigae is a savory, hearty Korean stew. There are many varieties of jjigae using various ingredients.
Sep 15, 2008
From The Email: Easy Summer Gazpacho
A version of this post was originally sent to our email subscribers on August 14th when tomato season was just starting for us. To receive Sara Kate’s weekly email, sign up in the column to the left or click here. Something tasty will arrive in your inbox every Thursday.When August (or September) brings on the steamy nights (or the cooling ones) and the tomato plants are (still) hot and heavy with ripe fruit, it’s time for gazpacho.
Sep 12, 2008
Recipe: Zucchini-Potato Frittata
Last week we highlighted Andrea Chesman’s fabulous book Serving Up the Harvest, a down-to-earth and accessible guide to vegetables and recipes for each season. We love her style of cooking and we’re excited to give you a recipe straight from her pages. This was just about the most delicious thing we’ve eaten this week, so it seemed like a safe pick!Read on for the recipe, our thoughts, and step-by-step photos of this frittata.
Sep 8, 2008
Tip from Gourmet: Slice Citrus Lengthwise, Get More Juice
We know this is the second Gourmet video in as many weeks that we’re promoting, but this one really surprised us. You can get three times as much juice from a lemon just by slicing it lengthwise instead of crosswise? Wow. Get a link to the video, below…According to food editor Ian Knauer, who demonstrates the technique in the video, this is how they juice citrus in Mexico. You can watch Knauer juice two lemons, sliced different ways, and then measure the juice.
Sep 8, 2008
Recipe: Armenian Cucumber Salad
I don’t know about you, but in my neck of the woods Armenian cucumbers are a rare, seasonal treat so whenever I spy them in my Mystery Box, I start to get a little happier. Long and skinny, with natural two-toned green stripes, these ‘cucumbers’ are technically a variety of melon and can usually be found in farmer’s markets or, if you’re lucky, in your CSA.
Sep 8, 2008
Recipe: Crispy Sage
While attending an olive oil workshop last week, we were inspired by some of the other participants’ tales of beloved olive oil-infused meals. One woman’s description of Italian fried sage leaves intrigued us so much that we couldn’t wait to return home and try making them for ourselves.
Sep 5, 2008
Good Question: Good Wine For Sangria?
I recently dined at Mochica and was impressed with their fantastic sangria. Unfortunately, I tried replicating the recipe and couldn’t come up with a good alternative. Although I have looked online for a variety of add-ins (apples, pineapple, grapes, etc.), I think my problem is with the wine itself.Any tips on a good wine I can use to make my own sangria?Thanks,RuthRuth, there is no set recipe for Sangria.
Sep 5, 2008
Recipe: Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Green Beans and Dried Cranberries
We’ve started referring to this as our “ease into fall” salad! We can eat it hot or cold depending on the mood of the day, and the earthy flavors of the rice and roasted veggies help us look forward to the crisp days ahead.For our salad, we were using up some farmer’s market veggies that were just about past their prime. Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand or change the quantities.
Sep 4, 2008
Fresh Tomato Bloody Marys in the Los Angeles Times
Oh, we wish we’d seen these before the long weekend rather than after…This is seriously a revelation for us. Why haven’t we thought of this before? We love bloody marys, and yet we always use pre-made tomato juice or bloody mary mix.In this recipe from the Los Angeles Times food section, you blend fresh, diced tomatoes with lemon and lime juices, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and some Old Bay to get a spicy base for the drinks.
Sep 2, 2008
Recipe: The Best Chocolate Ice Cream
OK, calling it the best might be a bit of a stretch: the true merit of something as beloved and simple as chocolate ice cream comes not just from its formula, but when and where it’s consumed, the quality of the ingredients, and perhaps foremost, the mood. I can’t control any of those variables, but I can give you a pretty simple recipe for chocolate ice cream to get you on your merry way.I was inspired by two things.
Aug 29, 2008
Restaurant Re-Creation: Avocado Toast from Cafe Gitane
We’re not exactly going to win a medal for figuring this one out, but still. We’ve eaten this simple, creamy, peppery dish several times at Cafe Gitane in New York City (for breakfast as well as an appetizer at dinner) and finally made it at home…We don’t know the restaurant’s exact preparation, but the bread is always a thick, nutty whole grain and there’s a kicker — a big sprinkling of red pepper flakes over the top of the mashed-up avocado.
Aug 29, 2008
Recipe: Sesame Cucumber Salad
I have a cucumber problem: suddenly I have armfuls of giant, prickly cukes in my garden. They’re called Suyo Long Cucumbers and most gardeners would say there’s not a lot to do with such a large fruit and ideally, they should be picked before reaching such a massive size. That one in the photo above weighed in at 1 1/4 pounds. And I’ve seen bigger.The thing with these guys, though, is that they do not lack in flavor as you might expect them to.
Aug 27, 2008
Recipe: Peach, Plum, and Ginger Jam
You may remember our last attempt at this jam, when it turned out a wee bit hard. But because the flavor was so good, and because we were determined not to let the jam win, we gave it another try…This time, we made a couple of changes. We peeled the peaches, making the jam a little paler than our last batch.
Aug 26, 2008
Grand Marnier Apricot Ice Cream With Almonds Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest Entry #19
Original Ice Cream Flavor:Ice Cream Chef: StephanieWhat inspired this recipe? I was inspired to make this dish by reading about Prunes in Armagnac being a favorite of many chefs. I wanted to do something with apricots that are so delightful in the summer but couldn’t locate any Armagnac. I thought the orange flavor of Grand Marnier would pair well with the apricots, which I chose to use dried, so this tasty treat can be made year round.
Aug 26, 2008
Back to School Recipe: Peanut Butter and Fruit “Sushi”
We’re not usually big on gimmicky recipes, but the beginning of another school year put us in the mood to make something fun for lunch boxes, even if our own school days are long behind us.We’ve seen a few peanut butter and jelly “sushi” recipes, but they are usually more like thin wraps, and we wanted to make something with a little more structure.
Aug 26, 2008
Recipe: Fresh Shell Bean and Sage Spread
Earlier this week, we shared pictures of fresh shell beans at the farmers’ market. Rattlesnake beans in particular caught our eye with their colorful, twisty pods. We brought some home, shelled them, and were delighted to find purple and brown striped and speckled seeds (above). Given our love of farmers’ market sandwiches, we cooked them into a hearty shell bean and sage spread for toasty bread.
Aug 22, 2008
Mint Raspberry with a Chocolate Swirl Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest Entry #13
Original Ice Cream Flavor:Ice Cream Chef: KateWhat inspired this recipe? I love anything with mint but there aren’t many ice cream flavors out there made with mint as the base.Tastetester comments and full recipe after the jump. Take a look, then vote here!Tastetester Comments: My sister-in-law Joanne said she loved the combination of mint and berry, and of course the big hunks of frozen chocolate.
Aug 22, 2008
Chinese Comfort Food: Stir-Fried Egg and Tomato
Before the Beijing Olympics end, we want to share this dish, which we found out about from a friend who lived in China for many years.
Aug 22, 2008
Escape to Bermuda with Dark and Stormy Cocktails Straight Up Cocktails
Whether you’re catching some rays at a beach-side getaway, or enjoying a relaxing “staycation” at home, nothing beats the August heat like a tall, cool Dark and Stormy.And, best of all, the national drink of Bermuda is almost as easy to make as it is to sip.A simple highball-style cocktail, the Dark and Stormy is made with one part dark rum to four parts ginger beer.
Aug 22, 2008
Recipe Recommendation: Pickled Beets
Looking for a new way to enjoy this sweet and earthy vegetable, a friend suggested we try pickling! Now that we’ve tried it, we may just need a jar of pickled beets on-hand 24/7 to satisfy our craving.Read our review of Alton Brown’s recipe for pickled beets after the jump…For our first venture into pickling, we wanted a simple, straightforward recipe that we could potentially use as a base for future variations. Alton Brown’s recipe from his Beet It!
Aug 21, 2008
Tastes Like Summer: The Perfect Tomato Sandwich
Oh, we’ve been waiting for this for a while…Tomatoes finally showed up in our CSA this week, and we got straight to eating them. First it was a no-cook tomato sauce for dinner. Today, tomato sandwiches for lunch.This is how we make ours. Nothing fancy — no bacon or lettuce or even toasted bread. Just plain, white bread, lots of mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. The tomato juice runs out with the mayonnaise, leaving milky, pink drips on the plate… Heaven.
Aug 21, 2008
Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt with Pistachio Biscotti Bits Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest Entry #9
Original Ice Cream Flavor:Ice Cream Chef:What inspired this recipe? Four years ago, I met my boyfriend, a native of India, in London (where I was studying). When we met, I had never even tasted Indian food, but since then, I’ve grown to love it and can cook many authentic dishes at home. Mango lassi has long been one of our favorite Indian beverages, and I thought it would be fun to try and use those ingredients in an ice cream.
Aug 20, 2008
Grape Ice Cream Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest Entry #6
Original Ice Cream Flavor:Ice Cream Chef:What inspired this recipe? Every year, a city near us hosts its annual Grape Festival. They have a midway, rides, a spaghetti dinner, etc. But what we really go for is this one vendor who sells grape soft serve ice cream. It is very flavorful and creamy. Last year, we decided to try making our own. Once a year is just not enough. So, with a little engineering, this is it.
Aug 18, 2008
Recipe Review: Indian Spiced Carrot Soup with Ginger
We had a bunch of carrots to use this week and were craving something Indian-inspired. It being Escapes Month and all, this soup from Bon Appétit sounded like the perfect recipe to celebrate far-flung locations and exotic flavors. Read on for our full review…The process of making this carrot soup is pretty much identical to our own technique for how to make soup from almost anything — sauté carrots and onions with some spices, pour in chicken broth, simmer, then purée.
Aug 15, 2008
From The Email: Weeknight Fish for Two
A version of this post was originally sent to our email subscribers on June 26th. To receive Sara Kate’s weekly email, sign up in the column to the left or click here. Something tasty will arrive in your inbox every Thursday.Ask most “good cooks” and they’ll probably admit that sometimes, even for them, it’s a struggle to get dinner made during the week. This is especially so when you’ve been writing about food all day long.
Aug 15, 2008
Recipe Review: Vietnamese Rice Noodle Pho
We’ve had this recipe from The Splendid Table’s How To Eat Supper earmarked for a while. Given the dreary weather we’ve been getting all along the East Coast, we thought a bowl of noodles and tender beef in a fragrant broth sounded like just what we needed!The recipe is fairly straight forward: cooked noodles and thinly sliced raw beef go into a bowl, and then the boiling broth gets spooned over top.
Aug 14, 2008
Ice Cream Topping: Shortcut Dulce de Leche
Anything with caramel on top and we’re sold. But give us the deep flavorful richness of dulce de leche and we’re complete goners.When we don’t feel like making the long version of dulce de leche, we like to make this shortcut version instead:Here’s what you do:Take one can sweetened condensed milk. Remove the wrapper. Put it in a pot. Cover it with water. Boil for an hour or two. Presto chango, dulce de leche!
Aug 14, 2008
Roasted Apricot Ice Cream with Almond Praline Ripple
Ice Cream Chef:My Sweet VeganBittersweet BlogWhat inspired this recipe? Apricots are at their peak right now, and I just couldn’t resist loading up on the golden stone fruits while I was at the market. The seem to be working their way into all of my recipes now, but this is my favorite so far!Tastetester comments and full recipe after the jump. Take a look, then vote here!
Aug 12, 2008
Recipe: Blackberry Buttermilk Ice Cream
Last weekend I found a bush on the side of the road teeming with wild blackberries. Our two-year old thought it great fun to pick them, and drop a few of them into her red bucket, while eating the rest. That left us with about seven berries. Later, when she wasn’t looking, I dashed back out and filled the bucket again for Blackberry Buttermilk Ice Cream. The lighter berries you see in the photo are some pale pink raspberries from my garden.
Aug 12, 2008
DIY Mochi Ice Cream Balls
Now that we’ve got our ice cream makers churning away this month, we’re looking for fun ways to play with the results. Mochi ice cream balls have popped up everywhere from swanky restaurant dessert menus to the freezer case at Trader Joe’s.But why not make a batch of your own?
Aug 9, 2008
Learning to Love Eggplant: How to Pick ‘Em, Cook ‘Em, and Eat ‘Em
Eggplant is a love it or hate it kind of a vegetable. Mention it in conversation and you’ll either get an ode to the purple globe or stony silence.If you’re in the “stony silence” camp, we’d like to think that you just haven’t found the right recipe yet! Let us try and convince you…Eggplant 101:First, it’s important to know that there are other eggplant varieties beyond those bloated, rubbery supermarket balloons.
Aug 8, 2008
Culinary Cocktails: The Spicy/Cool Flavors of India Straight Up Cocktails
Cool slabs of watermelon and cucumber. Fiery slivers of hot pepper. Dark dollops of sour tamarind. Bright dashes of orange juice and muddled cilantro. These are some of the unexpected flavors and textures featured in the cocktails I sampled at the New York, New Indian restaurant, Tabla, this week.The best part? Each deliciously different drink was simple enough to make at home.
Aug 8, 2008
Recipe: Kale Salad with Pecorino and Lemon
One of our favorite late summer and early autumn salads is quite simple: just kale, Pecorino Romano, and a light vinaigrette. Black and green kale comes in season at the end of the summer, and often it’s the only green hardy enough to survive late into the fall. So this salad is a favorite staple; it’s so rich and delicious, yet so simple, and it gives us that green dish we crave later in the fall. It’s chewy, salty, robust and yet also vibrant with the rich kale greens.
Aug 6, 2008
Sense of Place: Food and Cuisine of the Midwest
When it’s not meat and potatoes, it’s…well, it’s still meat and potatoes, except it’s disguised as casserole, soup, or meatloaf!Meals in the Midwest are a hearty mix of German and Scandinavian cuisines: heavy on the cream and light on the spices. And with this being the birthplace of the potluck dinner, you can be sure that you’re always welcome to pull up a chair.Communal dinners, church suppers, and potlucks were a big part of life on the frontier.
Aug 6, 2008
Summer Refreshment: How To Make Cucumber Juice
We had an abundance of cucumbers starting to pile up in our fridge, so we thought we’d try an experiment: making cucumber juice.We decided that cucumber juice not only makes a refreshing, slightly sweet beverage for a hot summer afternoon, but it looks darn pretty, too!Personally, we thought the juice was a bit strong and bitter all on its own. We liked it better when we mixed in some sparkling water and a squeeze of lemon.
Aug 6, 2008
Recipe: Red Ogo Seaweed Salad
One of the newer vendors at the Hollywood and Santa Monica farmers’ markets is Carlsbad Aquafarm. Hailing from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon outside San Diego, the family-run business provides farm-raised, sustainably-harvested oysters, mussels, clams, and abalone. (The business was interviewed on Good Food earlier this year.) Being a vegetarian, I must admit I had been passing the stand by, until I discovered that they also carry fresh seaweed.
Aug 6, 2008
Cooking Inspiration: Where Do You Find Your Recipes?
A few years ago it still seemed like cookbooks and magazines were where it was at. But more and more these days, we find ourselves turning to the internet as our main source for our recipe inspiration.What about you? Where do you find most of your recipes?Upon further reflection, we realize that we use the internet for actual recipes, cookbooks as a resource on technique, and food magazines for inspiration on new flavors and ingredients.
Aug 1, 2008
Recipe Review: Melissa Clark’s DIY Maraschino Cherries
Last summer I spotted Melissa Clark’s ultra-simple and delicious-sounding recipe for homemade maraschino cherries in the food section of The New York Times, and was intrigued. I made a mental note of it – and promptly forgot.Then, the other night, while out for cocktails, a friend mentioned she’d made her own maraschinos. But the conversation soon bobbed and wove in a different direction (we were at PDT, and there were taxidermied animals everywhere!).
Aug 1, 2008
Recipe Review: Yogurt Sorbet from Patricia Wells
Readers, we’re going to let you in on a little secret. This stuff tastes like Pinkberry…We watched cookbook author Patricia Wells make this yogurt sorbet for Ina Garten on an episode of Barefoot Contessa and thought, “Really? That’s it?”It was one of the first things we made when we bought our ice cream maker, and we proceeded to make it again and again until we got sick of it. But this summer, we’re getting reacquainted.
Aug 1, 2008
Recipe Review: French Country Boule from Local Breads
Looks pretty good, right?Alas, this loaf made from Local Breads by Daniel Leader fell far short of our hopes and expectations. Read on for the whole saga…This country boule started the night before with a liquid levain, one type of preferment commonly used for sourdoughs. We used our own starter instead of making a new one following Leader’s instructions. After examining his recipe and ours, they both seemed to result in the same liquid-to-flour ratio.
Aug 1, 2008
Top 5 Intriguing Cocktail Names Straight Up Cocktails
Half the fun of cocktails is all the fascinating lore behind them. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite cocktail names – and the colorful stories they bring to the table with them: Harvey Wallbanger. There’s something kind of 1950s, Alfred E.
Jul 25, 2008
Recipe Recommendation: Fried Green Tomatoes
I grew up in Florida and Georgia. Now I live in California, where some things related to Southern cooking are hard to find. Unripe green tomatoes for frying aren’t sold in the supermarkets; to obtain them, one has to go to the farmer’s markets and hope one of the tomato vendors has some unripe green ones, or one has to grow their own.Another thing, Californians seem confused as to what “green tomatoes” are.
Jul 24, 2008
Twelve Steps To a Better Pasta Salad
Pasta salad is often the ugly stepsister at a summer cookout. Too greasy, too bland, too mushy, too limp. We spent years passing swiftly by the pasta salads at our family’s cookout buffets. But Sara Dickerman at Slate wants to change all that. Pasta salad, she says, can be the star.She has 12 steps for a better pasta salad – a pasta salad your friends will love. We agree with all of them, and we admit that we’ve become pasta salad lovers too!
Jul 23, 2008