I brought these black radishes home from the market for the precise reason that they were so difficult to love. Do you have a friend or family member like that, who constantly seems to wage war with you in a bet to lose your loyalty? We have relationships with food all the time, believe it or not. Maybe you’ve been having an affair with the same chicken salad sandwich from that deli for weeks, and maybe you’ve long since parted … Read More
Gnocchi might seem tricky to master at home: you want them to be light and somewhat fluffy inside, textured outside, and preferably a little crisped from hot butter in a pan. Instead, first attempts might yield some over-boiled, chewy nuggets that taste like pretty much nothing. If that’s the case you’re working too hard — overworking the dough, over-boiling; gnocchi can be made with much more speed and carelessness. And to give them a seasonal-tasting twist, they can also be … Read More
So maybe you consider yourself an aficionado of Chinese dumplings. Maybe you’re a sucker for hearty, all-American food, too. Maybe you’re just searching for a vegetarian dumpling filling that isn’t a mosaic of brown-green ingredients with an ultimately bland, nondescript taste (mei wei dao! if you speak Mandarin, that is). In actuality, you don’t need to hail from any of these persuasions to enjoy the unexpected delight of these dumplings — because it’s so unexpected yet delicious.
And lots of garlic. And slowly cooked, finely chopped carrots, onions, green olives and cured sausage — oh my! This stew was so terribly satisfying on a cold winter night. I’ve eaten it (with a poached egg) for breakfast every morning since, too. I really wish I had more for tomorrow’s, and may start one anew.
I’ve warmed up to baked, savory dips lately, the kind you schmear onto a cracker or crisped piece of bread at parties. I love cracking the golden crust like a creme brulee, revealing an oozing interior and steam. On Thanksgiving, I mustered my first-ever artichoke dip, a simple concoction using tangy Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise or cream cheese. Last weekend, it was this creamy blend of white beans and spinach, pulsed just enough to create a velvety texture but … Read More
Easy as tart, the saying would be better put. The elegant, refined-looking, open-faced pie — tart — is a holiday crowd-pleaser that requires about half the work. This recipe will also yield a treat that’s about half the height of an average fruit pie with a top crust, but top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and I don’t think you’ll hear any complaints. With juicy pears now in season, I’ve added just a touch of sugar to … Read More
Crisp, sweet cabbages, nutty, gnarly-looking roots — who said winter wasn’t a good season for salads? I thought I’d give myself an extra-special treat this morning, since my birthday is around the corner (can you believe I’m turning thirty-one?!). So instead of the new boots I’ve been ogling, I went for some sunchokes at the farmers market, because they’re charmingly rustic-looking, too.
I decorate my home with food, not flowers — a bowl of peaches or tomatoes to grab from in the summer, jaunty new herbs like mint in the spring, and a fetching squash of some type to plunk on the coffee table in fall and winter. A great pile of apples often paints the scene, from mid-September to about May. If you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself equipped with a good squash and clutch of apples from a recent … Read More
Sometimes you’ve just got to eat something ooey, gooey, and rich. That doesn’t mean it can’t be vegetables, layered with all that good stuff and little else. It occurs to me now that whoever drafted that recipe for green bean casserole and sold it to millions via labels on condensed soup cans was probably trying to come up with a “healthier” alternative to most casserole recipes. In this recipe, I’ve probably found the most decadent way of preparing a side … Read More
Winter squashes can seem intimidating to cook. They have thick, hardened skins often scuffed with dirt, and their dense flesh can make for quite a dangerous job of cutting it if you’re not careful with a big knife. Their seed pockets are stringy and stick to your fingers. They take a long time to soften — or do they? Not when using these red kuri squashes, in thin slices for instance.