Make Your Best Dish For Dudes and Win a Copy of Mad Hungry

If you're anything like me, then cooking for someone is definitely an act of giving. And now that we've officially reached "the season for giving," I can think of nothing better to give someone special than some home-cooked food. This is a rich topic, and one that never fails to fascinate me. So I'm curious, what foods do you like to cook for someone else... and specifically, for those of the male species?

Parsnip Pancakes

Good morning, turkey-filled, shop-till-you-dropped long weekenders! Wake up and smell the sizzling parsnips. (It's a really good smell.) It's a good week for simple, seasonal cooking. But that doesn't mean the food has to be boring or predictable.

Thanksgiving Leftovers with Working Class Foodies

I'm back in the States just in time for the most American holiday of them all: Thanksgiving! Where'd I go? Please forgive the week-long break from blogging -- I took off in a rush for Australia, to attend a very important friend (VIF) Jordan's wedding in Melbourne. It was a blast. But now I'm ready to cook a grand Thanksgiving feast... another one, that is. Shortly beforehand, I got together with Rebecca and Max from Working Class Foodies for a great round of recipes all made from typical Thanksgiving spread leftovers. Here's what they shot! And below, more on what we made.

See “Hungry Filmmakers” December 15

For many folks, the kitchen is a creative outlet for expressing one's belief in healthy, more sustainably grown food for all. For others, it might be the field, where they grow and harvest. Other movers and shakers in the food movement, as it were, publish books and articles, teach, or lecture the masses. But on December 15th, 2009, we're celebrating a handful of filmmakers, whose documentary films vividly illustrate their unique and thought-provoking messages on many of today's urgent food issues.

Blanched Brussels Sprouts with Proscuitto

Few vegetables have come such a long way in public opinion in my lifetime as the Brussels sprout. As a kid, it was one of the most despised foods one could deign to eat, grown-up or not. Now, twenty years or so later, it accompanies chops and half-chickens on so many restaurant plates, and at a recent Thanksgiving-themed potluck dinner, it was the first vegetable side to be cleared up by the crowd (while the broccoli, another not-so-kid-approved food, was one of the last).

Reason For Not Eating Out #37: Going Back to School

When Taylor Erkkinen and Harry Rosenblum opened their Williamsburg store for kitchen appliances and cookware in 2006, they'd had a notion about cultivating a community around cooking through occasional classes and demos. But who knew that the educational programs they would hold at the store would soon become The Brooklyn Kitchen's biggest draw, with classes frequently selling out a day after being announced?

The Food Obstructions II is December 6

A second helping of fun! You asked for it, and we've come to serve: Karol, David and I will be manning the mic and passing out plates at the next Food Obstructions, the only cook-off (we know of) based on a little-known film experimentation called The Five Obstructions. It'll be held once again at The Gutter, on Sunday, December 6th, right in time for your awakening from that post-turkey roasting slump.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Arugula and Hazelnuts

If there was one thing you could eat every day, for the rest of the days of your life, it probably wouldn't be arugula. If asked to name a potato preference, sweet ones would rarely take the cake. I'm going to wager that one's favorite pasta or starch substance isn't typically gnocchi. And when you feel like a nut, hazelnut isn't the first type that springs to mind. Yet in this dish of culinary underdogs, there's another unsung aspect about the ingredients: these foods are category busters when it comes to health and nutrition. And combined, like this, you might even consider it for that eternal daily dose.

White Bean and Brassica Ragout with Creamed Potatoes

Forgive the excessively esoteric sound of this dish's name. I had tried coming up with other things to call it: Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli and Braised Broccoli and Cauliflower Greens with Navy Beans and Creamed Potatoes? Too long. White Cauliflower, Cheddar Cauliflower, Broccoli and Their Combined Greens Braised with Navy Beans and Roasted Red Pepper and Served on Creamy, Truffled, Mashed Fingerling Potatoes? Too specific. Stuff That I Got From My CSA This Week, Cooked and Piled Ceremoniously Together on a Plate? That sounded better. But it was still pretty dense. I think the main thing to chew on with any dish should be the food, not the words.