Celeriac Miso Soup

I do love a good fool. Not the kind that walks on two legs (or tries to), but a gag, a practical joke, and especially when it has to do with food. Like translucent off-white cubes of soft-cooked celeriac instead of tofu bobbing in an otherwise traditional miso soup. It's a culinary deception, and I think it's in fair form because the soup is still uniquely delicious, despite it all.

Sake Stir-Fried Scallops with Root Vegetables

A stack of new cookbooks sits on my coffee table, and I can't put them down. I've got pickling books, a bread book, an Italian book and a Japanese homestyle cookbook. It's all very overwhelming, but I'm taking them one at a time. So after pickling some lotus root, gratineeing some cauliflower, and baking a savory loaf of bread, I closed them and looked at my leftover ingredients. A trip to the market for seafood, and a glance at a chicken and sake recipe in the Japanese book later, this simple stir-fry was spurred.

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

Another soup, is it? Yes, indeed. Sometimes you just gotta do -- and cook -- what feels right. And spending this past gusty weekend sniffing and sneezing beneath scarves and wearing sweats around the apartment just spelled "soup's on" to me. Not only is hot soup therapeutic to eat, but I wouldn't be the first one to say that breathing in the fragrant steam of something gently simmering in the kitchen for an entire afternoon is a good way to get out from under the weather, too (nor would this be the first time I've said this). Even if it's just a simple vegetable stock, which I made a great batch of, and used some of for this wholly vegetarian soup. It's my new chicken soup, for the soul, body and tastebuds, and especially with its hint of spice.

A lil’ ode to eggs

"I can't cook eggs. My mother couldn't cook eggs, either. I just can't." This was once stated by an old roommate of mine. Genetically handed down or not, we all sometimes have mental blocks with kitchen skills. I found that I don't have the patience to fillet a fish property, opting to throw in the towel and just cook it whole after a recent fishing trip. "I can't cook rice" is another commonly voiced one. But with something as open-ended as cooking eggs, this boycott is really too bad. It eliminates a lot of great foods to make with them, but most of all, crosses out one heck of a cheap, quick and easy to prepare protein from the time and money-crunched home cook's repertoire. And that's not cool by me.

Support Urban Farming at Roberta’s Pizza Tonight

On Friday, as I sat in the converted shipping container outside of Roberta's Pizza that's home to Heritage Radio Network preparing for the first Cheap Date episode with my guests Keith and Rachel, we were interrupted by a series of loud, clanking noises coming from the roof above. "Can they stop farming now?" I think I muttered. But really, it was music to my ears. There is more than a tree growing in Brooklyn, or for that matter, cities all over: a bonafide agricultural movement. And it was happening above our heads on the rooftop garden of Roberta's Pizza that day, as well as at farms, community gardens and backyards throughout the city. Tonight, Roberta's Pizza is holding a celebration of all that, as well as what more can come. You're welcome to come join the party, the dialogue, the movement -- and with your contribution to a new rooftop farm next spring, one of the most delicious feasts I have ever heard of.

Cranberry and Corn Pancakes with Rosemary

I once ordered a stack of "harvest pancakes" from the menu of a small diner. They came to my table beautifully browned, light and fluffy, and studded with dried, sweetened cranberries and kernels of canned corn. Well, it's "harvest time" now, and instead of reaching for these preserved legacies of previous ones, I'll make use of the fresh bounty, with tart cranberries just in season and sweet corn on its last ears of the year.

Cheap Date airs on Heritage Radio Network, 3pm EST

A while ago, I was asked by the New York Daily News to cook a "romantic" meal for two that cost less than $15, including the bottle of wine. When the story ran, the paper concluded that I had given special meaning to the term, "cheap date." While this might sound a little so-so, at best, for a single in New York, I've decided to embrace that title ever since. And I hope to give it new meaning each week, by talking about cooking and dating with a number of guests. It's my new radio show! And it launches today on Heritage Radio Network, from 3 - 3:30pm.

The Food Obstructions Cook-Off Series at The Gutter

Whether you're cooking for one or preparing a huge feast, there's always some obstructions in your path -- a too-small kitchen, not enough flour. Instead of cursing bloody hell, let's have fun with that concept, and cook up something great given five obstructions. It's a cook-off -- yes, another one! -- with a twist, and the first installment of the monthly series of them will commence October 18th, at The Gutter.

“Crisper Drawer” Soup

I was going to call this recipe "Kitchen Sink Soup," since the standard household equipment is a common way of describing anything that could be anything in the way of food. Kitchen Sink pizza, salad, pasta -- we've heard it before. But you know what? "Kitchen sink" just doesn't conjure very appetizing images to me. I'll admit something's not right with my drain these days. It's probably clogged up with all those random foods I've been tossing on pizzas.

Reason for Not Eating Out #36: For the Sport

You can't exactly sit through a restaurant meal and claim to have the best culinary know-how of a group by pooh-poohing this, or extolling that. Well, maybe you can to an extent, and many people do -- and I have, too. But it's much more convincing, in my opinion, if you walk into a social setting with your own homemade dish, and compare it against those of all the others in the room, who did the same. And that's what I'm speaking to in this Reason, perhaps long overdue: the competitive aspect of eating in.

Summer Borscht

Okay, it's not summer anymore, and Indian summer has not yet arrived. Instead, this is about the time of year people start taking flu shots, and sweaters and scarfs out from hibernation boxes and changing their sheets to flannel. I do all these things minus the flu shots. But I do have a good way to boost the immune -- fresh veggies and bloody, bloody, antioxidant-rich beets. To keep that blood pumping.