Archive for 'cooking'
PANTRY ENTERTAINING: ROASTED RED-PEPPER AND WALNUT DIP
The most efficient pantry I’ve ever had was in the smallest apartment I’ve ever lived in—a studio on the top floor of a brownstone on Berkeley Place, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The kitchen, which was teensy but shipshape, boasted an old-fashioned porcelain double sink (luxurious suds up to my elbows was how a dinner party […]
Posted: March 25th, 2013 under cooking, early spring, Gourmet magazine, pantry, people + places, recipes.
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LEEKS—FROM MARKET TO MESOPOTAMIA AND BACK
Leeks are a slow-growing crop; the beauts you see here were planted last summer. They’re as stalwart and noble as whoever is outside this time of year, digging them out of the frozen ground. I bought plenty—enough for a pot of leek and potato soup and then some. Beneath that rugged appearance, you see, the leek […]
Posted: March 19th, 2013 under cookbooks, cooking, culinary history, early spring, recipes.
Comments: 1
A BED OF ROASTED VEGETABLES
We have all been there: Trying to plan a company meal around a guest who is—well, not a picky eater, exactly, but a staunchly unadventurous one. This can be especially fraught when your idea of familiar food is not your guest’s idea of same. Take roast chicken, for instance. One of my favorite things to […]
Posted: February 26th, 2013 under cooking, recipes, Union Square Greenmarket, winter.
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FROSTBITTEN GREENS: A MARKET STORY
It was bound to happen sooner or later: The temperature dipped down into the single digits and made itself at home. Last Saturday’s trip to the Union Square Greenmarket began, then, with swathing myself in Heattech—Uniqlo’s fabulously comfortable thermal line of turtlenecks, T-shirts, leggings, and socks. Forgive the shameless plug, but the stuff really works, and […]
Posted: January 28th, 2013 under cooking, Market Stories, people + places, recipes, winter.
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FIVE THANKSGIVING TIPS
You probably don’t have time to read this because Thanksgiving is only two days away. If you aren’t cooking, odds are you have to travel, and you need the time to fret about potential traffic snarls and perhaps wonder if a copy of Sam Sifton’s Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well would make a good hostess gift. The […]
Posted: November 19th, 2012 under autumn, cooking, recipes, TakePart, Thanksgiving.
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SCRATCH SUPPER: CROUTON SALAD WITH KALE
I’m all for kitchen thrift, but I take exception to the notion that croutons, like bread crumbs, are a byproduct of a loaf (often one of indifferent quality) gone stale-verging-on-rock-hard. When you start with top-drawer bread that’s no more than a day old, use good olive oil, and toast the bread with care, you have […]
Posted: November 14th, 2012 under autumn, cooking, scratch supper.
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WEATHERING THE STORM
This just in, a postcard from our true-blue friend Robert Clepper (and the ever-delightful Wanda, his Jack Russell terrier). “Dear Jane and Sam, Hope that you are well, warm and fed. Sorry for the adversity. You remain in our prayers and hearts. Love, Robt. & Wanda” Take it from someone who knows: Robert hails from […]
Posted: November 6th, 2012 under autumn, cooking, people + places.
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SWING-SEASON POLENTA: A MARKET STORY
I am eating my way through October with gusto and greed. It’s the year’s great swing season, after all. The days are still warm and long enough to allow the last of the tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, and corn to sweeten and mature. Short-season cool-weather crops of lettuces and radishes—tender and juicy—are being harvested. And […]
Posted: October 16th, 2012 under cooking, early autumn, Market Stories, people + places, recipes, scratch supper.
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NEW YORK STATE SORGHUM: A MARKET STORY
About six years ago, I’d heard that a couple of farmers, two brothers, from the Catskills region had started making sorghum syrup, a tangy, deep-flavored sweetener better known south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I filed the information away, then forgot about it; I always seem to have a jar of the stuff, lugged back from […]
Posted: October 9th, 2012 under cooking, culinary history, early autumn, Market Stories, pantry, people + places, recipes, Union Square Greenmarket.
Comments: 3
SCRATCH SUPPER: SOUTHERN RATATOOEY
One of the great things about having a blog is that sooner or later you can work in a topic that has been gnawing at you for years but has never found a home. Southern ratatooey is an excellent example of what I mean. I have wanted to write about it ever since the masterful Laura Shapiro asked […]
Posted: September 12th, 2012 under cooking, recipes, scratch supper, summer.
Comments: 2