Month: October 2010

Indian Spiced Winter Squash with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

My dear friend from graduate school, January LaVoy, just opened her luminous performance in Arthur Kopit’s Wings, off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theater this past weekend.  When I had the chance to see the show, I thought, “Anyone can bring flowers…I’ll lug down a just-picked squash from our garden.”  I mean, who wouldn’t want to… Continue reading Indian Spiced Winter Squash with Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

Use those apples

Though apples are excellent long-keepers, and will be around for months at the markets, they never taste better to me than right now–sun still warm in the sky, “transition” jacket getting pulled out of the closet, leaves crunching beneath my feet, and halloween fast approaching. Grab a few extra apples at the farmers’ market this… Continue reading Use those apples

Green Beans with Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe

As a follow-up to my previous post about all things salad dressings, here is a recipe for another rock-star of a vinaigrette, following the same formula: 1 part acid + 3 parts oil + seasonings and flavoring ingredients. This is dynamite tossed with fresh blanched local beans, perhaps adding soba noodles for downright craveable homemade… Continue reading Green Beans with Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe

Salad Dressing 101

Just about four years ago, Mark Bittman wrote a great piece in the New York Times; A Well-Dressed Salad Wears Only Homemade, and it got me thinkin’.  Why did salad dressings feel like such a mystery?  Why is there usually a huge amount of grocery store real estate devoted to them?  Why are they so… Continue reading Salad Dressing 101

Food Blogging with Steven Shaw

Last winter I took a phenomenal six session course on food blogging at the International Culinary Center, which is the parent organization that also houses the French Culinary Institute, where I got my culinary degree.  The course is taught by pioneer food blogger, Steven Shaw, who in addition to author and James Beard Award-winning food critic,… Continue reading Food Blogging with Steven Shaw

Put it away put it away put it away now.

Red hot chili peppers.  Sweet orange bell peppers.  Long curly Jimmy Nardello peppers.  Short stubby serrano peppers. All of them. Peppers are still abundant at the farmers’ market, super sweet this time of the season, and the easiest vegetable to put away for the winter months.  You don’t need to peel them or blanch them… Continue reading Put it away put it away put it away now.

Baking with my dad.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my food heritage.  Partly because I have cooked little other than french food for the last two years, and simultaneously have spent more time in Chinatown than ever before.  And in part because as I wade deeper and deeper into a career with food, I am having strong… Continue reading Baking with my dad.