Search Results for cabbage

‘Tis the season to reflect on the year. Before we go making lists of to-dos for the coming one, we might gain some insight from what’s been accomplished in the food world so far. I’ve loosely based this top-ten list of events, discoveries and movements as “innovations” — rather than mere developments or trends — because I think each one underscores a gradual shifting of times. They’re not “inventions,” nor are they all new, and some of them were old … Read More

It is humbling to enter the home of a world-renowned authority on food such as Hiroko Shimbo. The week before Thanksgiving, I was listening to WNYC and heard the author, chef and food consultant chime in about how the Japanese squash variety kabocha was an excellent choice for making “pumpkin” pie from scratch, for its sweet, nutty flavor and creamy texture. Two weeks later, thanks to some generosity of her publicists, I was standing in her home kitchen in New … 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.

The morning after superstorm Sandy swept through New York City, and the damage was being surveyed, I got hit with a serious cooking bug. I’m sure I’m not the only one. The storm’s aftermath has put many people in this region in dire circumstances comparable to those during the Dust Storm, with basic necessities such as food and shelter compromised for the past week. I saw people with pitchers draining out their cars on the cold, damp streets in Red … Read More

It’s rare when a dish is both uniquely effortless and divine; this doesn’t happen, for instance, when making a decadent, double dark-chocolate cake. It doesn’t exactly hit the same satisfaction triggers either when you toss together some greens with bacon and cheese. But when you fold all the latter three into some hot pasta, along with silky egg yolks and olive oil, there’s some jingling in the air, and the angels will be smiling down upon your kitchen from above.

Just because cool weather and fall produce have arrived doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good salad. I’m not sure if there’s anything that mandates a “salad” but the simple treatment of fresh ingredients, and the clean feeling you get from eating it. This salad, for instance, is served warm thanks to crisp, lightly roasted cauliflower and romanesco florets — and it has no lettuce greens. However, I like to roast the leaves from these brassicas along with them until … Read More

Last Saturday was the seventh annual Great Hot Dog Cookoff, and it was a doggone success. With 30 chefs (including six professional businesses in their own category) making inventive hot dog creations for a good cause; some 700 people attending to eat, vote and drink; amazing volunteers; and Kelso Brewery gathered for the event, we raised more than $10,000 for the Food Bank For NYC. And had a pretty good time.

There are two very different cousins of the squash and melon family working together here. One is seldom cooked (and seldom should be), and one is most commonly cooked to some degree, usually on a hot grill in the summer. They are strikingly similar in appearance and easy to confuse; they are both harvested amply during the same time (mid-summer). They aren’t often served together in a dish, but here take off their fighting gloves and go with one preparation … Read More

Apparently I’ve been mispronouncing hakurei turnips as “haruki” turnips for a long time. This was finally corrected by Keha McIlwaine, who was selling the most beautiful specimens of them I’ve seen at Queens County Farm Museum‘s stand at the Greenmarket last Friday. While shopping there, I witnessed a couple trying to decide whether to buy the turnips, and what to do with them. Keha suggested they could be sliced up and sauteed, along with their healthy, bright greens. But they … Read More

It’s very easy to hide a great deal of things in a pot of black beans. Good things, bad things, all kinds of things — and no one may notice. Cooked to a velvety sauce, with strange lumps that once used to be part of a bean suspended throughout, the soup is thick as tar and opaque brown-black as fudge. You don’t know what’s hiding in it.