Come Out To a Paperback Book Launch & Book Swap Party (with Cookies)!

This Thursday, I'm pleased as hot punch to announce a special get-together in the back room at Jimmy's No. 43. I'm throwing a party for the paperback release of The Art of Eating In, and want to share a whole lot of other books as well. See, I recently moved, and upon packing up boxes of cookbooks, foodie lit books, and books of all sorts, it dawned on me that instead of keeping all the ones I've read and enjoyed several times over, I'd rather give them to those who might do the same, too.

Cook-Off With Chowder This Saturday

Another weekend in New York, another cook-off to attend! However, this one's for a brand-spanking new cause. Held at Jimmy's No. 43 this Saturday, from 1-4pm, pots of chowder will be steaming up the back room in a seafood-filled fest to raise better awareness of what's in that soup. This cook-off will be a benefit for the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) and its continuing efforts to bring seafood into the sustainable food discussion. A $10 donation will get you in the door to taste all the chowders, and will go right to the non-profit organization.

Pickled Pepper, Anchovy & Egg Sandwich on Rye

I love sandwiches. But I can't remember the last time I made one with slices of cold meat. I suppose it's partially reactionary, as I was sent to school with turkey breast, salami or ham tucked between two slices of bread each day growing up. Now it's the fixins' I care about most. The more, the merrier. And open-face means there's no chance the sandwich will get smushed by an apple.

Get it While It’s Hot Bread Kitchen’s Cook-Off!

This Sunday, Tastebuds NYC and Hot Bread Kitchen are teaming up to host a charity cook-off like none other. I say that because I have no clue what kind of foods the contestants will come up with! The drill is this: make something using one of these two standbys of the nonprofit bakery, Hot Bread Kitchen: Organic Corn Tortillas or Nutty Granola. Bring it to Jimmy's No. 43. Smile, serve, and see if you win prizes. But if you're not up for being one of the bold chefs in this challenge (I'm guessing some will go savory with the tortillas, some for dessert with granola), you can still join the fun, and fundraising efforts. Come on down and see what happens on April 11th yourself!

Yellow Split Pea Soup with Smoked Paprika & Crisped Leeks

If there's one thing I learned from the Souperama this weekend, it's that a big batch of soup is meant to be enjoyed by many. And, okay, sixteen batches of them, even better. But more importantly, I was reminded of this altruistic goal when it comes to cooking anything in large portion (and really, who's going to make one bowl of soup?): to try to create something that's kosher for almost any diet, sway or fancy, and still make it delicious for all. It can also be a fun creative challenge. And for someone who happens to have a handful of vegetarian friends, making split pea soup without ham sounded like a challenge, indeed.

Spiced Fennel Salad with Creme Fraiche and Meyer Lemon

There are so many things you can do with fennel, that I don't know where to begin. Slivered and sauteed just like onions creates a caramelized, anise-tasting substitute in a savory beef stew. You can lop off the stalks, which most people sadly don't use, and chop them up like celery to use instead of that, in soup and stock. The fronds are mild-tasting, but they make a distinct, sweet garnish that makes me wonder why I haven't steeped them in milk for ice cream, or dried some of the stuff up for tea. But before we get to those things, here's the most basic, popular way to enjoy fennel: slicing the bulb for a crunchy, refreshing salad.

Souperama is This Saturday

Join us at Jimmy's No. 43 for a really warm charity event. The 1st annual NYC Souperama, to benefit Harbor Hope and the Fresh Air Fund, is going to be hot. What better way to escape the wintery mix of slush and snow than slurping up ladles of homemade soup, and craft beer? And, chefs are still welcome to sign up so get your stockpots out and throw in whatever's leftover (my favorite thing to do on a winter weekend).

Hungry Filmmakers II Is Tonight

flyer by Chow Ciao design We're pleased to roll out the green carpet at Anthology Film Archives tonight, for the second installment of Hungry Filmmakers! The food documentary screening and discussion event is back, thanks to the enormous response we received to the first one. In all his years of hosting and having fun at food events, Jimmy Carbone, proprietor of Jimmy's No. 43 and Hungry Filmmakers co-host along with Tim Lynch, Shelley Rogers and myself, has said that he had never seen such enthusiasm for anything like we saw for the first event. That's saying something, but knowing the great films involved, we weren't surprised.

A Chat with Soup & Bread Founder, Martha Bayne

It's on! Soup and Bread, a cozy tradition from Chicago, is making its way to Brooklyn for the first time this Thursday. Over in the windy city, it's a free, open-to-the-public weekly dinner at the Hideout bar and music venue, where staff, friends, cooks, musicians, and whoever's willing donate pots of homemade soup to serve. It's a culi-charity (has that been coined?) event designed to be low-key, easy to participate in, and fun for the community, especially in the middle of a freezing Midwest winter. And, it's raised thousands of dollars for the Chicago Food Depository, by passing around a bucket for donations at each Soup and Bread.

Cassoulet Marocaine (and a recap of the Greenmarket Benefit Cassoulet Cook-Off)

I've been having a love affair with beans lately. This may have happened by default, with so few fresh muses in season to cook with, or else a newfound appreciation simply gained on its own merit: beans are infinitely versatile, used in every cuisine, hearty, and nutritious. They are the main ingredient in comfort foods of so many cultures, like the French cassoulet. But beans also have a stigma attached to them, especially in our meat-loving culture -- that of a "poor man's protein." (And please hold the gas jokes.) "Beans are not enthusiastically embraced by everyone," Ken Albala wrote in Beans: A History. "More than any other food, beans have been associated with poverty." Yet thanks to them, and to a dizzying bar full of folks enthusiastically embracing them, beans have made the Greenmarket of New York City $2,500 richer.

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.

It’s a Slow Food Grill-Off at the Water Taxi Beach

To the BBQ and cook-off nation: A call to tongs! Slow Food NYC and The Good Beer Seal are hosting a benefit grill-off at Harry's Water Taxi Beach Long Island City on July 21st, 6-9pm. This event is all about location, location, location: instead of focusing on a certain ingredient or dish, cook-off contestants must use locally-sourced foods and be prepared to tell which farms they got their grub from. There'll be more food to go around than theirs, too, with chefs from Fette Sau, Fatty Cue, Rub BBQ, Gusto and Jimmy's No. 43 serving feasts from local farms. The event is the crown jewel of Good Beer Month, just declared of July by the mayor himself. So Sixpoint Craft Ales will be sold to the masses along with the regular potions at the Water Taxi Beach bar. With numerous organizations participating, rivers of beer, beats by Finger on the Pulse, and twenty amateur chefs vying for the favor of food-celebrity judges, it'll be a locavore luau like none other, and quite possibly the cook-off to end all cook-offs (just kidding!). All proceeds from the event benefit Slow Food NYC, and it's $35 to get in and eat all you can. Get your tickets now.

The Risotto Challenge ’09

How to say... thanks? For coming out to serve delicious, unique and inspired food, for eating and enjoying the fruits of everyone's labor, for lending your discerning criticism of said dishes as an audience member or one of the expert judges, for donating your money to Just Food, and for essentially making Karol and myself's dream come true. From the bottom of our butter-clogged hearts, thanks to all for Risotto Challenging it up yesterday at Jimmy's No. 43. Especially to Jimmy Carbone, for graciously hosting the fete at his bar.

Eco-friendly prizes aplenty at the Risotto Challenge

It's been fun trawling the Internet today for Earth Day-related articles and blog posts. There's a lot of positive energy out there, and I've been seeing much murmering about how to eat more green, or garden more green, how to drink, or not drink, more green, even date more green. Even the prophet Pollan has spoken on this national holiday, with some urgent calls to action and praise for the rise in home gardening. But I thought I'd mention another aspect of eating and living green, that has less to do with food than what it's cooked in. It comes to me by way of a prize that I'm pleased to offer to a winner of the upcoming Risotto Challenge and Just Food benefit: a cookware set from the eco-friendly Danish manufacturer Scanpan.

Enter the Risotto Challenge & Just Food Benefit

It's here: the 2nd Annual Risotto Challenge! Last spring, eighteen contestants answered this call-to-cooking action with imaginative risottos seemingly spawned while on crack. (The ultimate winner? A citrusy, brown rice "Scarborough Fair" ordeal, named for its profusion of four singsong herbs.) And since there's never an end to variations on the delicious dish, co-host Karol Lu and I are giving the cook-off another spin -- or stir. This time, the event will benefit Just Food, New York City's local and sustainable food think tank. We're also proud that it'll be held at the fundraiser-friendly bar and restaurant, Jimmy's No. 43. Mark your calendars for May 23rd!

The Chowder Slam results!

Thanks to fourteen chowders, it was warm and clammy in the back room of Jimmy's No. 43 on Saturday. Fifteen, if you counted the pot of Manhattan-style chowder that the restaurant's resident chefs cooked up as extra, which was still going strong by the end of the event and made a perfect straggler second-course. But the real battle was fought by the amateurs. This time, the cook-off community of NYC was drawn a wildcard dish du jour: chowder. And a mean chowder they responded with, which was for many of them their first try at cooking the dish.

New Amsterdam Market benefit chowder cook-off is tomorrow!

I do love a new cook-off! Tomorrow, a smattering of home chefs will be bringing their best to Jimmy's No. 43 in celebration of local, sustainable and artisanal foods which New Amsterdam Market vigorously supports, and winter's favorite soup: chowder. There may be few parameters on what makes a chowder just that, but no one can argue that the best chowders are usually chock full of chunks, every spoonful of the stuff a claustrophobic array of deliciousness. And that's probably just what the backroom at Jimmy's No. 43 will be like tomorrow from noon to 5pm.

Pommes de Porc Cassoulet (and Jimmy’s No. 43 Greenmarket Cassoulet Cook-Off Recap)

It was a frigid Saturday in New York when seven chefs gathered in the back room at Jimmy's No. 43 to unveil their steaming pots of the French countryside comfort food, cassoulet. A fluid stream of Greenmarket supporters sampled each one throughout the afternoon until pretty much every bean was scooped up. Asked to vote for their favorite takes, each taster turned their attentions to printed sheets describing the cassoulets, their creators and affiliations. Among them were local and seasonal culinary expert Kelly Geary of Sweet Deliverance, former Greenmarket Manager and chef-to-be Melissa Rebholz, Jimmy No 43's own chef John Crabbs, Italian chef and traveling pizza teacher Mark Bello, Rockaway Beach surf taco shop extraordinaire Andrew Field, and former Pegu Club and wd-50 (whoa!) chef Phillip Kirschen Clark. Then some blogger and cook-off fanatic of Not Eating Out in New York. I'd be lying if I told you that the dish I prepared was pronounced the best cassoulet of the day. Actually, I'd be very publicly, foolishly lying, since the event has been recapitulated (promptly, I might add) by Time Out New York already, as well as Jimmy's No. 43's blog. I'd be drawing out the non-suspense in lame melodrama to continue this post without just declaring a winner. So the top honor was given to...

What is Cassoulet?

photo courtesy of ABC News Or rather, who is Cassoulet? as George Stephanoulos quipped on ABC when a large banner bearing the word was held above the crowds gathered in Times Square during the station's election night coverage. The question of cassoulet echoed throughout the world afterward, as the word rose to the top 100 most searched terms in Google on Election Day. I didn't know what cassoulet was, either, and I completely missed this bit of intrigue at the time. I first heard of cassoulet when it was announced by Jimmy Carbone as the dish to prepare for a cook-off at his restaurant, Jimmy's No. 43, to benefit the Greenmarket. It takes place tomorrow at noon!