Goes Together Like… Corn and Tomatoes
10 Sep 2007

Goes Together Like… Corn and Tomatoes

by | posted in: Recipes | 3

So many times after posting a recipe, I come up with a slightly weird sister of that night’s recipe for dinner the next night. It absorbs its leftovers, remaining scraps of ingredients from the original and whatever’s left over from something else. Last night’s tart? Onion, roast carrot, broccoli and tomato. As most single cooks out there know, you commit yourself to the ingredients you buy for at least three or four meals, up to a week more commonly. Hence, … Read More

Fresh Tomato Tart
6 Sep 2007

Fresh Tomato Tart

by | posted in: Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegetarian | 6

Damn. I knew I should have bought more tomatoes from that roadside produce stand in upstate New York. Having good tomatoes these days is something akin to having a house in the Hamptons, or the hottest new technology from Apple. Newer and better species keep cropping up, the heirlooms perhaps being the Amagansett abodes or Macbook Pros of the pack, and rarely will you ever break their superior, hand-painted looking skins when no one else is looking. Or at least, … Read More

Eating (and Drinking) Out Around Seneca Lake, NY
3 Sep 2007

Eating (and Drinking) Out Around Seneca Lake, NY

by | posted in: Eating Excursions | 10

grapes at Lamoreaux Landing vineyard, on the northeast side of the lake Ah, vacation. A little respite from the heat, the smog, the whiny, cosmopolitan attitude that had been pressure-cooking in me all summer long. Though it was only two days in total and a whopping five hours drive from New York City, this weekend I escaped for a holiday up north. And it was just in the nick of time, too. A change of pace on Labor Day weekend … Read More

Cucumber Melon Salad
29 Aug 2007

Cucumber Melon Salad

by | posted in: gluten-free, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 17

I made this dish twice to get it right. The first time, I was going for salsa. It had hot peppers in it, vinegar, oil and sea salt. The second incarnation was more of a fresh fruit salad. Both were mellow, juicy and crisp little concoctions, like a summer cocktail. When I finally decided on the right balance of flavors, I hit a wall on what to name it. Salsa, or salad? Then again, what is the difference — really … Read More

Eggplant: Itchy Mouthfeel?
25 Aug 2007

Eggplant: Itchy Mouthfeel?

by | posted in: Ruminations | 162

Is there something wrong with me? Does anybody else suffer from this problem? Let me back up. Throughout my entire life, I have eaten and enjoyed eggplant. I recall one day at my old apartment, I proposed cooking an eggplant dish with then-roommate Erin. She said she was allergic to eggplant — “It makes my mouth itchy.” Well that’s unfortunate, I thought. Then today I made this baked eggplant, sauteed spinach, fresh mozzarella and sundried tomato crostini, and found myself … Read More

Meatball Bruschetta alla Puttanesca
22 Aug 2007

Meatball Bruschetta alla Puttanesca

by | posted in: Meat & Poultry, Recipes, Sides & Salads | 7

This is a leftover dish. It combines leftover ground pork (which I used to make some cilantro-spiked Vietnamese-style meatballs), fresh bread crumbs (aka: all those properly manicured tea sandwich crusts), spicy Thai chiles and fresh thyme (just had some sitting around). Those were some mean ‘balls. They’re neither Sicilian or Italian-American, nor Asian or Asian/Italian fusion — I don’t know what style they would be most influenced by, but “random leftover.”

Mango Frozen Yogurt (and a discussion on theory vs. practice)
15 Aug 2007

Mango Frozen Yogurt (and a discussion on theory vs. practice)

by | posted in: Desserts, gluten-free, Ice Cream, Recipes, vegetarian | 16

A week or so ago, I bought a pint of thick, full-fat Greek-style plain yogurt. I planned on making the most mouthwatering, yet-undiscovered frozen yogurt flavor, but had no idea what it would be. A week of contemplation went by. What about a fresh, spicy ginger flavor with brown sugar? Maybe those sour cherries can be cooked down to a syrup and swirled in. What if I threw blueberry cobbler pieces into it with mascarpone cheese?

Not Fannie Farmer’s Four-Cheese Macaroni
8 Aug 2007

Not Fannie Farmer’s Four-Cheese Macaroni

by | posted in: Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, vegetarian | 11

I digress… I don’t really think of myself as an all-American girl, being a New Jersey-bred half-breed who grew up mostly on stir-fry. It was a long time until I had a meal that was all baked in one casserole dish, and wasn’t dessert. I didn’t like many of these American classics at first, encountered at friends’ houses or potlucks. And whose crazy idea was it, anyway, to cook a whole dish in the oven in one pan? A genius … Read More

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