I don’t mean to pretend: a) that cauliflower totally resembles steak; b) you should eat cauliflower as a meat substitute, works just as well; or c) cauliflower is inherently awesomer when sliced in thick and satisfying slabs. No, no, no. But this is fun, and you should try it.
For me, it’s pretty difficult to separate “fall pasta dish” from “squash.” It’s perhaps second only to severing “brown butter” from the presence of “sage.” These things just go together like beets and goat cheese, it would seem. But look what happens when you squash kale inside ravioli (because you’ve used up your squash), and toss them with brown butter, apples and sweet onions (because your sage plant died while you were traveling) instead? It’s a new marriage of flavors … Read More
It’s the end of October, and squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are everywhere — on people’s doorsteps, dining tables, and planted like portly pebbles on city park displays. But it doesn’t take witchcraft to turn winter squash into a hearty meal. It doesn’t even take a long time to cook! Here, some butternut squash slices are steamed first, then quickly stir-fried. And for a little scare, in keeping with the season, I’ve given them a Sichuan kung pao lick of spice.
One great misconception about Asian food is that there isn’t much use of tomatoes. In everyday Chinese cooking, for example, there are tomatoes: in scrambled eggs (which is exactly the way it sounds), in eggdrop soup (as soft, vibrant wedges), and as a base for sauces (like a stir-fry of shrimp). Well, I can think of one space where tomatoes don’t factor in too much in Asian food: noodles. And that happens to be where we encounter tomatoes in Western, … Read More
Years ago, I posted a Reason of the Month that had to do with cooking becoming contagious amongst friends. It was a natural domino effect, I surmised, that occurred when one household threw a dinner party and an invited one felt obliged (or inspired? I hoped) to replicate soon after, then another, and another. This time, I’m writing about that particular strain of culinary infection that not only conquers one’s social circle, but his or her own life, career, and … Read More
A distinctive, crisp, and very bitter green, puntarelle is a real sign that fall has arrived. This member of the chicory family is typically harvested in fall through the winter, although it’s widely eaten fresh, in salads. If you’re not quite ready to fully embrace the food of this chilly season yet, then a refreshing salad–with a unique, seasonal ingredient–is a great compromise.
Being burglarized is not fun. You come home, find out someone’s snuck in through your window, pushing around your tomato plants on the fire escape to steal your stuff inside. I lost my Macbook Pro, and a camera. No, not fun. But what they didn’t steal were my plants, my food, my goshdarn enthusiasm for all that, and a crusty laptop tucked in the closet, going seven years strong.
Of all the elaborate communal meals to make, there is one that should stand without question should you ever be on a private New England beach: the clambake. After a whole summer of firing up charcoal for barbecues on the stuffy, blackened rooftops of Brooklyn, eight friends and myself found ourselves in such a tranquil idyll last weekend. We did not miss the opportunity.
Too many tomatoes. That’s something I didn’t think I’d ever be saying earlier on in the summer, or, least of all, during the colder months we’re heading into now. But currently, in the Northeast, it’s tomato mayhem. For the last several weeks, I’ve gotten more and more reinforcements of tomatoes from my CSA. I had my volunteer shift last week, and was given the task of sorting tomatoes. There were far too many for the (many of them vacationing) members … Read More
I like nibbling at cold chicken. Especially when there’s bone and skin and a deeply absorbed marinade in the meat. This dish was inspired by stealing bites of leftover chicken from the fridge. A little bit sweet, a little bit nutty, and very savory, here’s a wing to bring to barbecues this holiday weekend that you don’t even have to heat up.