Never had one of these in my life until I had a kid. Should have had one decades earlier. (this is the one I own. A friend recently captioned a photo on facebook of the same one, titling it “Ziggy Starbrush”) My bottle brush sits in our dish rack right next to the sink. It… Continue reading Trick of the Trade: the Bottle Brush
Category: Techniques
Trick of the Trade: Pot Lid meets Corks
Most of our cookware have lids that are completely constructed of metal of some variety. Especially the copper pieces. They are my favorite to cook with, stellar conductors of heat, but OUCH if you grab the lid without thinking. Above is the lid from our prized giant stock pot that forever sits on our stovetop,… Continue reading Trick of the Trade: Pot Lid meets Corks
Salad Dressing of the Week: Avocado, Lime and Cilantro
I made this quickly in the blender this week, to go over a cold rice salad with shredded poached chicken, local corn, a few early tomatoes and chunks of avocado. Mostly the goal was to distribute the little bit of avocado I had on hand as much as possible throughout the salad. We loved the… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Avocado, Lime and Cilantro
Kitchen Tip: Get an oven thermometer.
I get a lot of “cooking SOS!” text, emails and calls from friends and relatives. I guess it goes along with my culinary Le Grand Diplôme. But, I love it and often learn something myself. Recently a friend complained that her pumpkin pie was taking much longer to bake, and fully set in the middle, than… Continue reading Kitchen Tip: Get an oven thermometer.
Preserved Meyer Lemons
April 1st. The “I think I can, I think I can…” continues. I think I can make it to the end of this relentless Catskill’s winter. Right now, even as I type this, one day after we were admiring deep purple crocuses at my mother’s for Easter, there are wide swirls of snow flurries mocking… Continue reading Preserved Meyer Lemons
Scallions: Eating within a 10 foot radius
DIY Scallions: 10 days (background) and 36 hours (foreground) of growth. Full disclosure: in season or not, I use a lot of scallions. I love their subtle oniony vibe, pop of color, and exotic feel. I love their tubey shape and making thin cuts on an extreme angle for geometric garnishes. I love that… Continue reading Scallions: Eating within a 10 foot radius
Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Clams
Not just for summer fetes on the beach, clams and other bivalves are a spectacular, and traditional, addition to the holiday table, and perhaps even more importantly, the holiday cocktail hour. A few critical steps can help insure a grit-free mouthful, and will dramatically reduce your chances of getting that one bad clam. Buying Buying… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Clams
Pumpkins: More than a pretty face.
Dame Paula Deen, amid mass fan hysteria (hysteria!), posing next to a pumpkin of her likeness (and Cat Cora’s) at the Food Network festival at Chelsea Market a few years back. We were completely unsuspecting shoppers, caught, literally, in the swell. (Not unlike that terrified-looking couple coming out of the fish market behind her.) I… Continue reading Pumpkins: More than a pretty face.
Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Leeks
Giant Musselburgh leeks from our garden. Though the few nights of just dipping down to a frost have demolished most of the delicate summer produce in our gardens, this time of year signals that our leeks are starting to reach their sweetest. Cousins of the onion, leeks too are many-layered, and because almost… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Leeks
Freeze some corn! Now!
Glorious cobs of corn will still be around at the farmers’ markets for a couple of weeks. Sweet, meltingly tender, golden or pearly white, they are never better (or cheaper) than right now. We eat it with dinner nearly every night for the month when it is at it’s best, just barely cooking it, as… Continue reading Freeze some corn! Now!
How to make Basil Oil
This may be the garnish to end all garnishes. I remember so vividly the day we learned this in culinary school, and how I raced home to try it myself, feeling like I had just unlocked some illusive five star chef secret. This simple little technique gives you magnificent, fragrant green gold to drizzle about… Continue reading How to make Basil Oil
Quick Tip: How to freeze peaches
Peaches and other stone fruit are perfect and plentiful (and pretty cheap!) at the markets right now. Taking an hour or so and freezing a bunch will be total treasure in your freezer come winter. And…far extend your season for making David Lebovitz’s ridiculously good peach ice cream (it contains sour cream, people! Sour cream!!).… Continue reading Quick Tip: How to freeze peaches
Technique Tuesday: Roasted Vegetables and Fruit
By this point in the summer I definitely get into a rut and prepare fruit and vegetables from the gardens and market in almost the same ways daily. Not that that is a bad thing, as with produce this amazing, at the height of their season, there is often very little that can improve… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: Roasted Vegetables and Fruit
Flower Adorned Ice Cubes
Remember those old lady knickknacks of the late 70s of a flower completely frozen in a globe of lucite? There were a few geriatric abodes I visited during that era, and those stopped-in-their-tracks flowers were always a fascination. So perfect and yet so bizarrely frozen. You can make your own, a bit more ephemeral, version… Continue reading Flower Adorned Ice Cubes
Technique Tuesday: Using Edible Flowers
These weeks the gardens are bursting with flowers. Not the flower gardens, but the herb and vegetable gardens. Some of the flowers I planned on (nasturtiums and chamomile), some are part of the journey (pole bean blossoms which will become bean pods), and some are a result of me not harvesting fast enough and… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: Using Edible Flowers
Lemon Verbena and Thyme Soda Syrup, and Sorbet too!
Our herb garden is growing like weeds. Well, truth be told, the weeds are also growing like weeds. But between the weeds are fragrant, mystical herbs, that are spicing up meals and will also shortly be hoarded away in ziplocks in the freezer for less bountiful months. My favorite herb is lemon verbena. It… Continue reading Lemon Verbena and Thyme Soda Syrup, and Sorbet too!
Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Soft Shell Crabs
It’s soft shell crab season! From mid-May to early September for the east coast, and longer if you are near the gulf coast, we are in the time of year when these sweet, oceany delicacies are popping up practically all over. Soft shell crabs are regular crabs who have outgrown their current hard exoskeleton, and… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Soft Shell Crabs
Ramp Compound Butter
A huge part of the allure of pungent, earthy, and exotic ramps, is that their season and availability is so fleeting. With only about a month to harvest until their flavor becomes too strong, the annual pilgrimages into the muddy woods for chefs and epicurians has commenced (or early-bird trips to the farmer’s markets for… Continue reading Ramp Compound Butter
Homemade Butter
Ever since the first time I whipped my own fresh whipped cream, I have kept my gaze obcessively glued to it, in dreaded fear of over-whipping and having it turn into butter. The horror! Imagine! And so to this day I anxiously sweat that critical make or break, stiff peak to useless butter, moment. But… Continue reading Homemade Butter
Lobster Stock recipe
Sweet, elegant, rosy, and full of the ocean, homemade lobster stock grabs my attention like little else. Having a few quarts of this on hand in my freezer has allowed me, on more than one occasion, to pull a seafood risotto out of thin air for unexpected dinner guests. I’ll repeat that–pull seafood risotto out… Continue reading Lobster Stock recipe
Chicken Stock 101
Of all of the amazing things I learned in culinary school, by far the most valuable was how to make great stock. I clearly remember the lightbulb moment when it was demonstrated to us. I clearly remember rushing home that weekend with a bag of carrots, celery, and onions, dying to practice it on my… Continue reading Chicken Stock 101
Homemade Infused Vodka and Spirits
The flavored vodka market appears to have exploded in the past few years. On a recent trip to the spirits shop, there were shelves upon shelves of vodkas in all imaginable flavors. Whipped cream, bacon, and sweet tea were new ones that caught my eye, but not quite my wallet. Infusing alcohols is an ancient… Continue reading Homemade Infused Vodka and Spirits
Blog-y’s first birthday!
My mother and grandmother, 1951. Just a year ago today I published my first blog post. There have been a bunch of changes over the year (including the name and url), but I am so thrilled where I have landed and am so excited for all that is ahead. In the past twelve months I’ve… Continue reading Blog-y’s first birthday!
Technique Tuesday: How to Supreme Citrus
As committed to a locavore diet as I am, for sanity’s sake, a little citrus is a welcome addition at this seemingly endless point in the winter season. Lemons, oranges, limes, tangerines and just recently, blood oranges, have made their way into salads, dressings, marinades and desserts, and brought some desperately needed sunshine to my… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: How to Supreme Citrus