January 2010 – Not Eating Out in New York

31 Jan 2010

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 … Read More

27 Jan 2010

Carrot Walnut Scones

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Breakfast & Eggs, Recipes, vegetarian | 11

Ever had a really good, juicy carrot? Not the kind that’s all white and dehydrated like your skin in the winter, I mean a plump, bursting balloon of sweetness, with a few wisps of fuzzy roots and wrinkles, maybe, but a thin skin that betrays its more-orange-than-an-orange flesh? Thankfully, I have. And it’ll never be forgotten. Granted, I can eat carrots any way, shape or form: raw, cooked, juiced, shredded or mashed — and yes, wispy and dry as my … Read More

24 Jan 2010

White Bean Puree with Poached Egg

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Beans, gluten-free, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegetarian | 24

Sometimes the simplest things really are the best. I’d planned to cook, eat, and write about an elaborate dish on my day off. It would be exciting, colorful, and completely novel. It would also somehow incorporate soaked and mostly-cooked white beans, which I had leftover. After a morning of deliberation and preparation, it was done: sour citrus wedges, briny olives and mealy white beans, unexpectedly brought to congress with plenty drizzles of olive oil. But once it was photographed and … Read More

22 Jan 2010

Reason For Not Eating Out #39: Because the Hair In My Food Is Always Mine

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 16

There’s nothing ickier than raising a fork to eye level and finding that intimately human object entwined in your food: hair. All the sudden, it’s like you’re in bed with the chef. And how well that person cleans him or herself, or where he or she has been in the last twenty-four hours — and who that person is — you have no clue. Panic ensues.

20 Jan 2010

Food Obstructions III is February 7

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Cook-Offs, NYC Events | 4

It’s time once again, folks. The Food Obstructions III is happening at The Gutter on Sunday, February 7th, and of course we’re giving it a corny Valentine’s Day kiss. Reddy or not! Here are the five obstructions to your dish: -Cannot contain onions or garlic -Must contain hearts (of palm, artichokes, celery, an animal, candy hearts… you name it! Just don’t say you simply cooked it “with heart”) -Must include an ingredient that is red -Cannot require utensils to eat … Read More

19 Jan 2010

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

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Beans, Cook-Offs, Meat & Poultry, NYC Events, Recipes | 8

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 … Read More

14 Jan 2010

Apple Cider-Braised Kabocha Squash with Golden Raisins and Onion

by Cathy Erway | posted in: gluten-free, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 26

Sick of the same old squashes? Bored of the brainless old ways to cook them, too? (i.e. Roast until tender. Puree into soup.) I think this happens just about every January. It’s the winter’s-here, we’ve-done-our-soup-thing, home-cook-head-scratching blues. The holidays are over, and reality has sunk back in; it’s back to the daily grind. And what? You’re coming down with a flu, too? Yep, you’ve got it bad. Better get some antioxidants in the system, STAT. Luckily, eating squashes (not just … Read More

12 Jan 2010

My Favorite Food Books of 2009

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 9

My bookshelf overrunneth. I used to feel this rush whenever my fridge was brimming with food, usually after a summer CSA pick-up, and the need to immediately bestow this farm-fresh goodness upon everyone I knew. I can’t give away all my books, however, and lending only goes so far. But I still want share this bounty of great food literature, somehow. They say that book publishing may be in danger, but according to Lynn Andriani, who moderated a panel on … Read More

11 Jan 2010

Oat Goat Chip Cookies

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Desserts, Recipes | 19

The taste of goat’s milk is hard to articulate. There is a world of verbiage that others have affixed to it, but language fails me here. It’s not pungent, I don’t think… and it isn’t mild enough to be called “buttery.” But it seems too potent for the word, “earthy.” Whatever it is, it was such a novel tastebud sensation for me when I first detected these inscrutable traits — by accident, smothering asparagus (grassy, sulphuric) and scrambled egg (slightly … Read More

7 Jan 2010

Kimchee, Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Breakfast & Eggs, Recipes, vegetarian | 14

What is this, la-dee-da? It’s a frittata. La-dee-da. No, it’s really not la-dee-da, it’s eggs, with pickled cabbage and spinach in it. Okay, well maybe the goat cheese is a little la-dee-dah, but it’s used pretty sparingly. So the whole dish is most certainly not a fancy one. It’s just what you call an omelet if it had never been flipped, so you don’t have to master the art of French cooking like Julia Child and have that euphoric moment … Read More

Monthly Archives: January 2010