Everyone loves romanesco, the green fractal cauliflower that has been appearing more and more in stores and greenmarkets in the area over the past few years. It’s gorgeous, in a geeky sort of way, and very tasty, especially when you let it get a good pan sear during the cooking process. Don’t let the green […]

I actually think it’ll be easier to get back to posting regularly once I use up all the drafts I have waiting to be posted. Seems a bit backwards, but it’s sort of like the way deadlines make it easier to get work done. (Good thing I am in a profession with an overabundance of […]

Yesterday morning, I took and passed the final exam for New York’s food protection certification. Not a difficult hurdle, but it’s nice to have that under my belt at last. If you’re at all interested in ever working in food preparation in New York, I suggest you go out and get the certification now, while […]

I’ve been focusing so much on heavy, rich winter dishes lately, it’s really time to switch gears and try something different. Something clean and fresh and light to clear the palate. So instead of a braise, why not a try a nice quick pickle to go with a simple dinner? Crunchy, salty, spicy, and satisfying, […]

Here is an absolutely luscious, rich winter dish. I started off working with an Alice Waters recipe, but then I was inspired by Michael Ruhlman‘s love of veal stock to meat things up a bit to great effect. Way I see it, he’s absolutely wrong in declaring veal stock to be “a selfless stock” – […]

About two weeks ago, I received an email from Edelman Interactive, offering me a free promotional fish – a Kona Kampachi from Kona Blue. Given that I was under no obligation to blog about the fish at all, and I love fish, I accepted. I was offered my choice of fillets or a whole fish, […]

This puree was inspired by a dish we had at Alinea, during the most impressive meal I have ever been served. The dish that inspired us was lobster (butter-poached, I believe), served with lobster mousse, sunchoke puree, and sweet orange, all surrounded by the hyacinth aroma released by boiling water being poured over hyacinths in […]

For my first attempt at making this sweet, salty, spicy, satisfyingly crisp bite o’ banchan, I followed this recipe from one of my favorite Korean food blogs, Evil Jungle Prince. Unfortunately, it turned out to be way too fishy for me. (This may have something to do with my misreading the measurement for anchovy sauce […]

This post actually contains two recipes: Roasted Leg of Lamb Stuffed With Pork, Chestnuts, and Morels and Lamby Cranberry Beans with Itsy Bitsy Potatoes. Dave and I just took the Pork and Apples class taught by Aki and Alex of Ideas in Food. We really enjoyed it quite a lot. I’m mostly thrilled that I […]

This is way, way too buttery to be considered healthy, but I do consider it delicious. Red lentils shining like jewels among the pasta, bursts of flavor from the spinach, and that’s all it takes to keep me happy. It is surprisingly gingery! The ginger comes out as a floral flavor here, not particularly sharp. […]

I can’t really take any credit for this recipe, aside from the eating. It was almost completely the brainchild of our friend Bonnie, who had all the ideas except adding in the crispy garlic, which Dave came up with. I’m just playing photographer and stenographer, this time. (Incidentally, Bonnie makes and sells the cutest, awesomest […]

When I think of cucumber salad, I think of all the love and sheer stubborn energy that only your grandmother can bring to the table. My grandmother, my Ima, makes very classic Hungarian cucumber salad, with vinegar and (again, you guessed it) paprika. Alanna of A Veggie Venture learned to make cucumber salad with sour […]

If you have studied symbolic logic, you are familiar with the logical operator x-or. ‘A x-or B’ means ‘either A or B, but not both’. A friend of mine once suggested that there must also exist the illogical operator x-and, where ‘A x-and B’ means ‘A and B, but not both’. He put forth the […]

I just noticed that my photo of Sweet and Sour Lotus Root won in the Originality category for Does My Blog Look Good in This? – March, 2007. I am delighted and extremely flattered. Thank you! On to the tale of the cauliflower. We hosted a fairly non-traditional seder this year. We served pomegranate ginger […]

Actually, it’s a rhizome. But never mind that. I ordered sweet and sour lotus root at a restaurant not too long ago, and it was my favorite dish of the evening. Naturally, I tried to replicate it at home the very next day. I looked at the wildly different recipes in Fuschia Dunlop’s two cookbooks, […]

The latest edition of Fine Cooking had instructions for making these potatoes. You get some baby red potatoes and boil them until they are soft. You then place them on a baking sheet and squish them flat, about 1/2″ thick. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and pour olive oil over them fairly liberally. Bake […]

I know it’s past the deadline for Hey Hey It’s Donna Hay Day #8: Tempo di Risotto, run by Cenzina at il cavoletto di bruxelles, but nonetheless, this risotto was so tasty and such fun to make. Truffle salt is my latest discovery. Truffle salt is just a blend of ground dried truffles and sea […]

Originally I was not going to bother posting this recipe, because it is such a simple thing, and not all that much to look it. Never mind that it is delicious and addictive and goes unbelievably well with our favorite skirt steak for a quick and easy autumn dinner. Never mind that it is an […]

My favorite Afghan restaurant is Bamiyan, on the corner of E. 26th St. and 3rd Ave., just a few blocks away from Kalustyan’s. I discovered it when I was taking the bar exam last summer. Dave’s job over those few days was to make sure that I actually ate dinner, when all I wanted to […]