On Risotto
Certain foods carry a mystique around their preparation. Whipped cream, souffles, mayonnaise, pie crusts: all are imbued with advice, caveats, admonishments. Your batterie de cuisine must be immaculate, your hands chilly, your heart resolute. Or you must stir until your arm falls off–this exact wording frequently used. Stir until your arm…
Potato Knishes
So, hi. Here we are on day whatever, depending on where you live. I haven’t kept count, myself. I’ve been out exactly once in the past ten days. I tried shopping at the local market–a corner shop that stocks vegetables, wine, and some dry goods. The shelves were literally bare….
Thai-Style Chopped Chicken
Before the cultural appropriation police come knocking, know I make no claims of authenticity regarding this Thai-style chopped chicken, save one: it’s delicious. This is an immodest claim, but the ingredients do all the work. And yes, the ingredient list is longish, but committed cooks likely have most of this…
Eating European Tomatoes with The Tomato Sisters
Disclaimer: I’ve recently partnered with The Greatest Tomatoes from Europe, working to publicize their canned tomato products. I am not being paid for my participation, aside from some wonderful canned tomato products from Europe–and some Italian pasta. Any views posted are strictly my own. It’s 8:41 am. I am…
Plum Galette
From Dictionary.com Goat Rodeo: a slang term for something going totally, unbelievably, disastrously wrong, and there’s nothing left to do but to sit back and watch the trainwreck. — Plum galette came about the way most of my recipes do: by accident. I had a glut of pluots…
Pork Chops with Italian Butter Beans
It’s October. The season of pumpkin spice is upon us. Everywhere you go, pumpkin spice: pies, cakes, cookies. Pumpkin spice candles, therapeutic oils, scented sprays. Okay, maybe not everywhere. My local office supply store has no pumpkin spice in sight. They’re closing October 18th to make way for a high-rise…
Flank Steak with tamarind, honey, garlic and red wine
Well, there’s a mouthful of a recipe title after a silent summer. And what a summer it’s been. Your hostess has spent her summer–nay, all year–contending with crippling back pain. Said pain makes standing for long peroids challenging. Meaning blogging–recipe testing, photographing, cooking–is also challenging. Many were the false starts,…
Surviving the Holidays
One day my kindergarten teacher put some clay out for us to play with. I was thrilled until some boys started flinging it at each other. I crept outside to hide by the milk machine. The milk machine stood just outside the classroom door. It was tall and cool and…
Marble Pound Cake
The past week saw your hostess dealing with rodents in kitchen (that screaming you heard? it was me), and a near automobile accident. The other driver–who was at fault–attempted to confront me. (That screaming you heard? It was me.) This driver, who was backing out of a parking lot…
Recipe failures and other disasters
The IK has been woefully quiet of late, and not for lack of interest. It’s at times like this that I recall David Lebovitz, who writes of having a 40-post backlog. This must be a source of confidence, virtual money in the bank, as it were. (It’s also a fine way…