Search Results for cabbage

Does anyone remember “buddy burgers” from Burger King? I think that this retired menu item from the fast-food chain must have appeared sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s. As little kids, my brother and I enjoyed the novelty: two little hamburgers attached by virtue of a conjoined bun. I didn’t really have a taste for hamburgers then, but we liked pulling them apart and each getting a burger (for what that was worth). Here I’ve revamped the memory by making two … Read More

Sometimes a food becomes so iconic for one dish that it’s rarely seen in preparations otherwise. This is certainly the case for split peas, which I’ve seldom eaten, seen, heard about, nor read about being used for anything else than soup. And that soup carries the stigma of being cooked with a ham bone, most commonly. This is still a soup-y dish, but it doesn’t adhere to the status quo for split peas. Because there’s really no need to.

I may never master the all-American macaroni and cheese myself. But after sampling some thirty best efforts of this dish at Brooklyn’s second Mac & Cheeze Takedown on Sunday, I may have some more clues. Mac and cheese is one of those quintessential home-cooked dishes (along with chili, the food that began the Takedown), meant to be shared by many and enjoyed by all. But as I wasn’t competing in this Takedown myself (I’d asked host Matt Timms to but … Read More

This past Sunday marked a collision of occasions, not the least of which being the eve of Chinese New Year. But it was also the day of a major football game, a pre-Superbowl Sunday, you might say. Most important, and the one I chose to celebrate: it was Karol’s finger-food potluck birthday party. I think this dish could have satisfied the crowds at gatherings for all three.

Chinese New Year is coming up this weekend — the Year of the Dragon is just upon us. Remembering a few good-luck foods for the holiday can be simple: anything long suffices for promoting “long life.” That includes noodles, which are traditionally served on New Year’s, often pan-fried. Make it as fancy as you want with additional ingredients, or as down-home and cheap as this one. With an assortment of healthy winter vegetables, it’s life-lengthening, in more ways than one.

Vegetarian dumplings were once a strict equation to me: finely shredded cabbage, minced five-spice tofu, chopped scallions, and maybe some shiitake mushrooms, or clear strands of bean starch noodles. This simple formula I had been raised to identify as the proper filling for a meat-free (and admittedly inferior) version of the favorite comfort food. It wasn’t until more recent years that I realized this colorless, choppy mixture didn’t need to be just so… or just so inferior.

No doubt, it’s been a great year for food. One thing that I’ll remember 2011 for is that it marked a time when fusing “Asian” food with Western finally became became okay. I mean that it became more widely accepted, and for the most part, was done with more thoughtfulness and sophistication than in the past. It was a year when restaurants of other cuisines began using Asian ingredients with more dexterity; mixing distinct Asian cuisines amongst one another was … Read More

It might seem a bit more challenging to whip up a simple pasta dish when all the choicest, go-to ingredients are out for the season. Until only recently, eggplants and tomatoes were still around in NYC Greenmarkets, thanks to a fair-weathered fall. But now — and especially felt by this weekend’s gusty winds — it’s clear that the party is over. Coarse, rubbery greens reign supreme in this season, and ecru-colored heads of cauliflower, like snow-capped mountains, foretell of colder … Read More

Think spring is the best time of year to eat leafy greens? Fall’s cabbage, Swiss chard, lettuce and spinach are just as great, if not better, having been sowed in summer’s warm soil. In this region, it’s usually a sure bet that they’ll mature in time for the first frost to hit, but before they wilt in strong sun. And despite the recent snowstorm on the Northeast, New York’s local greens are looking ship-shape, especially the spinach.

I was peeling apples the other day, scraping off bits of smooth, ruby red skin like rose petals, when they appeared just as that instead of waste. The flesh of the apple was supposed to go toward a simple tart, but what about these crisp, juicy peels?