When faced with a vegetable that you’ve never cooked before, you can always try making it a proxy for a something that you have. Especially if that vegetable is as familiar as a potato, and the preparation is as adaptable as a gratin. Nowadays, we tend to think of this dish as a creamy, cheesy casserole of sliced potatoes. But you can cook anything in the oven with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top and call it a “gratin,” in French tradition. … Read More
We live in blessed times. I mean, seasonally. It’s late-spring, and we have things popping out of plants that are incredible and edible (and not edible, but fragrantly incredible, like wild lilacs, too). I recently had the plum privilege of being a judge for a cookoff held by GrowNYC, where I got to observe the making of, taste the outcome of, and help decide the winner of two very excellent dishes prepared by local restaurant chefs. Held in partnership with … Read More
It’s time for a little giveaway! This Friday night, the new home-cooked food sharing cooperative, Mealku, will be hosting a dinner party in their Tribeca headquarters loft. The ingredients will be sourced by Local Roots CSA, to celebrate the harvest season at nearby farms. In keeping with the tradition of both CSAs and Mealku, the meal will be prepared by real people (the founders and pretty good cooks at Mealku, to be exact). They’d like to extend the invitation to … Read More
I’ll admit, I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed by all the greenery that’s coming in from my CSA — and growing on the roof. I hit a breaking point when my friend Wen-Jay (of Local Roots CSA) offered me some leftover stinging nettle from a pick-up day, and I found myself biking home with two swinging backs full of stinging weeds, wondering how I was going to stuff them in my fridge. I thought of buying a juicer — a … Read More