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Archive for 'scratch supper'

QUICK-BRAISED PEAS AND LETTUCE

Something about garden peas makes me nostalgic for … I don’t know what. At their best, picked when small and young in the pod, they are what spring has always tasted like. I see gardeners, kneeling in the earth, working hard, being patient. Waiting for the world to wake up. That’s why, last month, I […]

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

Some soups require a lengthy list of ingredients and plenty of time on the back burner—they are worth preparing in a big batch so you can freeze a couple of quarts for another day. Leek and potato, however, does not need this sort of commitment. It’s an uncomplicated, almost austere, farmhouse soup that makes the […]

SCRATCH SUPPER: WILTED DANDELION SALAD WITH PINE NUTS AND PARM

Young, tender dandelions are as green as spring itself. And their flavor, clean and sharp like the air at dawn, is what I crave now. Although the greens are found around the world today, their use in the kitchen developed a very long time ago in the Mediterranean. You can trace the name “dandelion,” in […]

BROCCOLI & CARROTS WITH GINGERED BUTTER

Lovely spring ingredients are just starting to appear at the markets in New York City, but you couldn’t really tell by a peek inside our vegetable crisper. Aside from fat bunches of kale and overwintered broccoli rabe—destined for meals later in the week—all I’ve got to work with at the moment are broccoli and carrots. Those […]

GRILLED ONIONS: A BUILDING BLOCK FOR SUMMER SCRATCH SUPPERS

The neat, workmanlike, and—let’s face it—really cute bunches of onions stopped me in my tracks. Vince D’Attolico, delighted at my reaction, unloaded the last of the crates from his Hudson Valley farm and stood back from his stand at Union Square to gauge the overall effect. “It’s a Dutch variety I haven’t tasted for twenty […]

EATING RADISHES AND BUTTER

It’s cool and rainy and we walk miles along the East River. The water is gray today and moving fast. So are we, breathing in the salt air and happy that we live on an island. On the way home, we run into friends and invite them over for an early supper. We stop for […]

YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND: A QUICK PAN SAUCE

In the kitchen, as in life, a little finesse goes a long way. And when you are simultaneously in front of the stove and behind the eight-ball, nothing proves my point faster than a pan sauce. Unlike voluptuous egg- or butter-based sauces such as hollandaise or beurre blanc, a pan sauce is an extension of […]

SPRING FLING: BROCCOLI RABE AND GARLIC (A SCRATCH SUPPER)

For the past few weeks, we have not been able to get enough of broccoli rabe (pronounced rahb), an assertive green that’s actually closer kin to the turnip than to common broccoli. Descended from the wild mustard that flourishes in Sicily,  it was introduced to the United States in 1927, by the immigrant D’Arrigo Brothers […]

SCRATCH SUPPER: SPAGHETTI WITH MELLOW-YELLOW ONIONS

    Italians have an uncanny knack for making something out of nothing, for making something that is simultaneously minimalist—austere, even—and luxurious. Think of the interiors, the clothes, the jewelry, in last year’s film I Am Love. In an Italian kitchen, this trick relies, in part, on impeccable ingredients that aren’t fussed over too much. But, […]

ABOUT SOUP

I am not an original cook, but I’ve learned when and how to follow my own instincts. Take soup, for instance. The brilliant thing about soup is that it can be anything you want it to be. Hot or cold. Substantial or brothy. A homey meal in a bowl or something more refined to kick-start a […]