It took 32 years for me to start listening to my mother. I’m only just beginning to understand how annoying this must have been, only just appreciating how many gray hairs I may have caused, only just accepting how many wrinkles I may have induced. The other day I asked Ella (my four-year old) to help me pick up a mess she created, and she said: “Um, you can just do it all by yourself....
Greek chicken souvlaki is one of my favorite meals and couldn’t be simpler to throw together: marinate the chicken and make tzatziki in the morning; skewer the chicken while the grill is preheating; make a simple, refreshing salad somewhere in between. Served with warm pita or naan , this meal couldn’t be more summery! When I think of summer dinners growing up at home, I think of this meal. I think of the smell of charred garlic and basil; I think of my stepfather sweating at the grill, a slave to his stopwatch, the wrath of my mother should the chicken be the slightest bit overcooked driving his utmost concentration; I think of sitting at the table in our screened-in porch with my brother and sister and eventually Ben, too....
Several weeks before heading to Paris, the September issue of Food and Wine arrived, and I quickly dog-eared a half dozen of their “40 Best Recipes Ever,” including this one: Miznon’s Whole Roasted Cauliflower . What struck me about the recipe was its simplicity, calling for nothing more than salt, water, and olive oil. I have seen (and made ) other fussier whole-roasted cauliflower recipes, calling for entire bottles of wine for poaching and brown-butter bread crumbs for garnishing....
I am not so fortunate to have a prolific backyard garden, and I have yet this season to feel overwhelmed by anything from my CSA, but when I saw a Bam Bam-sized pale green club on a friend’s counter, I knew the time had come — the time to pull out the zucchini-recipe file, to scour the Internet, to ask anyone and everyone for zucchini-culling inspiration. This recipe essentially is an adaptation of the No Breading, No Frying, No Fussing Eggplant Parmesan from last summer, calling for roasting zucchini rounds for 10 minutes, then layering them with homemade sauce and parmesan cheese....
If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever consider buying farmed salmon, I would have politely said no while thinking: ABSOLUTELY NOT! I’ve seen too much of the disturbing footage, read too much about the detrimental effects on the environment, etc. But in the past few months, I’ve been buying farmed salmon from a local seafood market, Hooked , which I love for two reasons: the fish is always fresh, and they only source from sustainable fisheries....
I was so lazy this week. Looking to add a little more roughage to my diet, I piled a whole head of barely chopped kale into a pie dish, submerged it with custard, and threw it in the oven. I suspected it would be good. I make crustless quiche nearly once a week, always with uncooked greens, always with fresh thyme, always with crème fraîche, always following the Tartine recipe ....
Last fall, just before beginning a French bistro cooking class at the Hillsdale General Store , a woman walked in wearing stripes and a black beret, her berry red lips matching the silk scarf tied artfully around her neck. We said hello and she introduced herself as Jamie, but we didn’t get to chat until class wound down, when I learned her love for all things French and, from her friend sitting beside her, that her book, Parisian Charm School , would be coming out in January....
A food processor makes this rosemary shortbread recipe effortless. It literally takes five minutes to prepare. But careful: these are addictive. They’ve got that sweet-salty dynamic, but also a hint of rosemary, a savory touch that might lead you to eat ten of them, as you would a cracker. Try not to do that. If you’re like me, you won’t want to share these with anyone, but they do make a wonderful gift....
My latest, favorite discovery: Fried Greens Meatlessballs . The recipe comes from Twelve Recipes by Chez Panisse’s Cal Peternell. The beauty of these meatlessballs is that any green can work — turnip, beet, chard, kale , etc. Last week, when no greens arrived, I used the greens from the carrots and the greens from the onions — it worked like a charm. More greens will be arriving today — phew!...
You all know it takes no time to whip up homemade applesauce, right? And you know it requires no peeling, no additional sugar, and no spices, right? It’s so tasty, too. There is one stipulation. You sort of need a food mill . Unfortunately, I only use mine to make applesauce. Am I missing something? Are there other recipes out there requiring a food mill? If you know of any, please share....
These rice noodles with herbs, cucumbers, and crispy tofu are so delicious. The dressing essentially is nuoc cham , a spicy, sweet, sharp condiment ubiquitous at nearly every Vietnamese meal. Crispy tofu makes it a meal, and tons of herbs, cucumbers, and scallions make it especially refreshing! When the heatwave hit earlier this week, I craved these noodles. I first ate them years ago while working at Fork , where the chef, Thien Ngo, would whip them up for lunch almost daily during the hottest weeks of the summer....
In this vegetable side dish, roasted kabocha squash slices are showered with crispy garlic, capers, and chilies, and served over a simple, lemony yogurt sauce. Start to finish this takes about 35 minutes to assemble, and the combination is irresistible! 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 Here’s a vegetable side dish I am loving: lemony yogurt sauce + roasted kabocha squash + spicy garlic-caper oil. I still have not made the vinaigrette, but at the tail end of last winter, I replaced the crushed red pepper flakes in a sauce used in a favorite green bean recipe with a spoonful of the Calabrian chili paste and poured the mixture over roasted kabocha squash slices....
About this time last year, I learned how to properly cook quinoa , a revelation that not only gave the ancient grain a permanent spot in my pantry, but also inspired a number of grain salads I made all summer long. While the ingredients in each salad varied from radishes and peas to cherry tomatoes and cucumbers to roasted squash and wilted mustard greens, the formula was always the same: something fresh, something crunchy, something spicy, something sweet....
When braised, leeks release a ton of water, which causes them to shrink and become meltingly tender. When braised with white wine, olive oil, a little butter, and thyme, they emerge swimming in an especially fragrant broth, which can be used as a base for soup, as a sauce for pasta, or a side dish to roast chicken (or any number of meats). Ronna Welsh, author of The Nimble Cook, where I discovered this recipe, has other ideas, too: chop them up and stuff them into a quiche, layer them on a sandwich, toss them with shaved cabbage for a salad, use them as a flavoring in pork meatballs....
Making fresh pita bread at home couldn’t be easier. This recipe uses instant yeast and requires no kneading or complicated shaping. The pita rounds balloon into perfect pockets in 2 minutes in the oven. Read on to learn three tips for success! Making pita requires neither kneading nor complicated shaping. It’s one of the easiest bread recipes you could make, in fact, right up there with no-knead focaccia and homemade pizza dough ....
Before I begin, I would like to note this is not an authentic recipe for butter chicken, a classic creamy Indian curry. I adapted this recipe from Urvashi Pitre’s recipe on Food52 and you can find many more authentic Indian recipes on Urvashi’s blog, Two Sleevers . Let’s start from the top: My friend Michelle has been telling me about this Instant Pot butter chicken recipe for years. For reasons I will get to, I only just got around to making it last month and instantly understood her enthusiasm....
I hate wasting food. I really do. But sometimes, I stash things in the freezer merely to avoid the guilt of trashing food at the present moment. By “things” I mean 4 tortillas or 6 egg whites or the heels of a loaf of bread. I have good intentions. I really do. With the tortillas, I envision making a quick wrap for lunch one day. With the egg whites, an angel food cake....
Light and airy, bronzed and burnished, homemade brioche hot dog buns are surprisingly easy to make. The no-knead dough comes together in minutes without a mixer, and the shaping process is simple. Find step-by-step instructions below 🌭🌭🌭 Here it is, a no-knead recipe, the dough identical in makeup to these brioche rolls , with the mixing process simplified even further. If you are familiar with that brioche roll recipe, you know that as far as brioche recipes go, it’s on the light side, calling for a single egg and a modest amount of sugar, milk, and melted butter....
This one-pan chicken with sherry vinegar sauce emerges with beautifully golden and crisp skin, meat falling off the bone, a plentiful sauce pooling all around. The best part? There’s no need to brown the chicken. Simply make the simple sauce, add the chicken, and chuck it in the oven. About 45 minutes later, dinner will be done! Inspired by Diana Henry’s method for Moroccan Chicken and Rice, this recipe calls for foregoing standing at the stovetop browning chicken in batches, opting to chuck everything into the oven at once....
Kristen Miglore’s Genius Desserts arrived at my door at the end of August, and about five minutes later, I found myself at my Co-op buying peaches, the cobbler with hot sugar crust calling my name. The peaches, unfortunately, were rock hard, and for a minute I considered putting the experiment on hold until the peaches ripened. I decided instead to compromise: I would use the rock-hard peaches immediately, but halve the recipe to minimize waste in the event of disaster....
