If pork belly is the cut craze of the moment, then I nominate Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches as its most appetizing summer application. I’ve been hearing about pork belly all over the food world lately: 23% of the chefs polled in this month’s Food & Wine magazine thought of it as the ingredient more home cooks should try. And in the New York Times, Frank Bruni drools all over it, along with other fatty cuts of “fat, glorious fat.” It … Read More
the closest I’ve gotten to Napa The excitement I had yesterday afternoon. I had just taken some napa cabbage slaw leftovers from Sunday’s picnic out of tupperware from the fridge to snack on, gone back for some tangy sriracha sauce just to kick it up because leftovers, as good as its predecessor may have been, are never quite as exciting as they were when you were first exploring its flavors, and returned to my desk — when lo and behold! … Read More
me (not Steve) grating zest into a not-so-authentic crust Don’t get me wrong: I’ve nothing against the venerable institution that is Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies. There is no contest — key lime pie greatness has been said for, and I couldn’t tell you of a better way to spend an afternoon than to go down to the waterfront in Red Hook and sit on the picnic table outside the old warehouse where the key lime pie magic happens and … Read More
Okay, so you won’t get any points from the 100-mile diet club with this recipe, since okra is grown in the South and the shrimp I got in Chinatown was caught or farmed probably in… the South. But you will have enjoyed a classic southern combination while satisfying your craving for spicy Thai basil stir-fry. Which is a gastronomic feat of very trifling importance bordering on nonsense. It’s Friday…
Is there anything you can do with rhubarbs except make pies and jams and jellies, often in combination with a sweet red fruit? The world may never know. I’m not in any mood to find out myself, because before this I was a virgin to making the classic rhubarb pie. Okay, maybe I still am, since I chose cherries as its pie partner. They just looked so fresh and plump and made me want to buy more than I could … Read More
There’s always those nights when I’m craving something that feels like it’s from a greasy take-out restaurant. My creations never, thankfully, end up quite as greasy, and I hope it stays that way. I’m not sure that I would even know how to make food as greasy as some restaurants do — is it not trimming globs of fat from meat? Cooking in copious amounts of oil oil slathering butter and mayonnaise from a greasy wand with reckless abandon, like … Read More
Bartenders all over the city have been loving the lychee, so why can’t I? Especially in the summer months, when cool, juicy and sweet flavors rule. And especially when Sugar High Friday, the dessert food-blogging event created by The Domestic Goddess, is calling this month’s challenge theme “Shades of White”, hosted by Seven Spoons. I’m not sure exactly what shade of white the lychee is. It begins much more white fresh than it looks canned, which is a slight shell-pink … Read More
I can’t find anything bad to say about this pantry meal. I made it one night accidentally, when I was craving a light pasta dish with maybe a little sundried tomato and some fresh artichoke, neither of which my local Associated Market had. It was getting late, and I didn’t feel up for walking much farther than a block. It had just begun to rain. So dismayed and with lowered expectations as I was, I wandered into my corner bodega … Read More
If I had my way with space, I’d have three different types of basil growing in my front yard (okay, my apartment building’s front patch of grass). This would have to include the ubiquitous Italian variety, with its shiny, fat teardrop-shaped leaves. As well as the purple basil which I’ve been eyeing and smelling at Farmer’s Markets but have no idea what it tastes like (it smells like basil). And most direly, a Thai basil plant: a matte, darker green-leaved … Read More
Moms love French food. Soufflés make her sparkle. Provençal sounds like a good name for a kid to her. Bistros are her preferred bar. The allure of this country’s culinary je ne sais quois can might coincide with a vast generation clued in to its mysteries and virtues by a tall, warbly-voiced, and ever so ladylike American named Julia Child. Then again, my dad knows much more about The Way to Cook than my own mom, who’s never dabbled in … Read More