This week madness reigns in my kitchen. My refrigerator is full of luxury foods, truffles, lobster, caviar and foie gras, and every counter in my kitchen is covered with pots and bowls and dishes in various stages of construction. Saturday night is the night of Sarah’s Annual “Dinner from a Cookbook” when she makes a multicourse meal using the recipes from a chef or restaurant’s cookbook. Previous dinners have used cookbooks by Otto Lenghi and Chef Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune in New York City. So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that this year Sarah chose The French Laundry Cookbook by ...
Snacks & Nibbles
A GARDEN DINNER: ZUCCHINI FRITTERS WITH BURRATA, BASIL AND TOMATOES, AND SQUASH BLOSSOM QUESADILLAS
I bet you all are just waiting for tomatoes to come in so you can stop hearing about zucchini. But zucchini doesn’t care. Zucchini is the gift that keeps on giving. Last week I decided to really go after my plant and make a dinner based on zucchini. I started with Zucchini Fritters with Burrata, Basil and Tomatoes followed by some Squash Blossom Quesadillas and a Kale Salad. Zucchini Fritters Using the coarse shred side of a grater, shred the zucchini and toss it in a little salt. Then place it in a sieve to drain for ten minutes. You want the zucchini to be as dry as possible so ...
MOVE OVER PIMENTO CHEESE, THERE’S A NEW KID IN TOWN! JALAPENO CHEESE
Way up north, In Alaska, there is a very popular cheese dip known as Kenai Cheese Dip, or Jalapeno Cheese Dip. But I didn't actually find it when I was there, I found it later in The Alaska from Scratch Cookbook by Maya Wilson which I brought home as a reminder of my trip. The recipe caught my eye because it looked a lot like that Southern favorite, Pimento Cheese, altered to fit the tastes and available produce of the north. It also caught my eye because I have three pounds of jalapenos needing to be eaten or preserved in some form. The cookbook version calls for store-bought ...
ZUCCHINI AND FETA GALETTE WITH FRESH THYME
I drove back up the mountains the other night, returning from Charlotte, the airport and another trip. The sky was clear, the light just fading and lightening flashed in the distance. I smelt the clean air and watched the temperature drop and I was happy to be home. Home means my town, my house, my cat, my friends, and my garden. And this year that garden is not going to get away from me! Weeds are not going to take over. Tomatoes will not spread recklessly everywhere, and zucchini will fight back against mold and bugs. In return the garden is gifting me with quantities of produce ...
SPRING RADISHES AND SMOKED SALMON TART
I love the changing seasons! There is something wonderful about moving from hot to cold and back again. The colors of the world change along with the temperature and the foods we eat change with them. Spring puts me in the mood for colors and lighter food. It also makes me feel like baking fruit tarts and pastries. Maybe it’s an Easter thing, I don’t know! This Spring I have been working on making my own puff pastry. Or actually, Rough Puff Pastry which is one step below traditional puff pastry in labor. Don’t worry, I’m not throwing that at you yet. I need to make it a few more ...
HODGEPODGE WEEK: WHITE BEAN AND CAPER CROSTINI, CITRUS AND HERB MARINATED FETA, AND A WORD ABOUT KNIVES.
It’s Hodgepodge week here: the week I give you a couple of short and easy recipes in a mix-up of hors d’oeuvres, sauces and other items. This serves two purposes. It allows me a moment to catch my breath after a crazy two weeks baby sitting in Chicago followed rapidly by catering an event in Charlotte (which was supposed to be for 50 people but the actual attendence more than 80), and it lets me share with you a few recipes which aren’t really long enough or hard enough for a post of their own. I am going to start with an easy recipe for a quick appetizer which has the added bonus of ...
VALENTINE’S DAY MARGARITA
Valentine’s Day. Hearts and flowers and chocolates, and cards filled with sentimental and silly thoughts. This is great fun when your love life is going well but can be downright painful when it is not. What Valentine’s Day needs is a drink. Not champagne with its celebratory edge. Something with a punch: a little sweet, a little heat and a lot of flavor. Good for the lovers, the between-relationships, the lookers and the hurters alike. It just so happens that I know of such a drink: a Valentine's Day Margarita. This concoction was created by Chef Adrian Ortega at ...
OTT0LENGHI’S EGGPLANT WITH BUTTERMILK SAUCE AND POMEGRANATE
This is a big week for me. I am moving into my new home! It’s kind of hard to believe the day is here at last, especially as the place is still crawling with painters and cabinet makers, but Caine says it will be done when the movers arrive and he is always good for his word. So I hope you will excuse me if this week’s offering is not one of my recipes but that of Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli-British chef, whose stated mission is “the idea of celebrating vegetables or pulses without making them taste like meat, or as complements to meat, but to be what they are.” Ottolenghi brings ...
WATERMELON PUDDING
Somewhere, somehow, while I was living overseas, the watermelon of my childhood disappeared. You remember the one? It was red and juicy and sweet like today’s watermelons but the seeds were big and black and part of the fun (as a child) of eating the melon was spitting the seeds out, best to do it to the ground or a plate but on occasion at each other! The other thing about those watermelons? They were big, very big. So big that you could buy one whole or you could buy a portion of sliced melon at the store. I come from a large family so chances were the melon would get eaten, ...
CORN, TOMATO AND ZUCCHINI MUFFINS, DON’T FORGET THE CHEESE!
A friend recently asked me why I grow vegetables and get a CSA share from my local market. It’s a fair question. But for me the two things serve completely different functions. My CSA share stretches me. Left to myself I would spend the whole summer eating my holy trinity of vegetables: tomatoes, corn and zucchini. I would, and do, walk happily by the produce shelves loaded with greens, root vegetables, and other less favored foods straight to my go-to’s. I can’t do that with my CSA. The dang things are in my home! In my refrigerator right now are Japanese eggplants, radishes ...
