Tag: pitchfork diaries

Eat these now: Shishito Peppers

  This mild pepper from Japan has become quite the culinary rage over the last handful of years.  I first had them as a snack in a benefit cooking master class for Slow Food NYC, and have been growing them in my garden ever since. Shishito peppers are slender, bright green, and about the length… Continue reading Eat these now: Shishito Peppers

Trick of the Trade: the Bottle Brush

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

Salad Dressing of the Week: Yogurt Blue Cheese

  This is a rich, luxurious, and even slightly healthier take on a classic blue cheese dressing.  It certainly marries beautifully with a big old bacon-scattered wedge salad, or as a spread on a tomato and wheat toast sandwich.  But also try it alongside grilled zucchini, eggplant, and even grilled peaches. Blue cheeses tend to… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Yogurt Blue Cheese

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: Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette

I love this dressing and use it all year long–but particularly in the summer over a bowl of fresh sliced cucumbers, or a batch of quick-blanched fresh broccoli or green beans, or sauteed greens, all from the garden. Toasted sesame oil, one of my most favorite pantry staples ever, is widely available, but if you… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette

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

Salad Dressing of the Week: Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (with a hint of white pepper)

  Make this right now, with all those plump ephemeral strawberries lurking around.   (If you are making this out of season–gasp–consider adding a small pinch of sugar to the berry puree to help boost the flavorless winter berries). If you can make it past eating it directly from the mixing bowl, serve this dressing… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (with a hint of white pepper)

Vanilla Rhubarb Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

With rhubarb’s glorious reign quickly coming to a close, I wanted to give it one last hurrah, before it is replaced in the fruit bowl with stone fruit of a multitude of dizzying hues.  I made this rhubarb vanilla ice cream with (generous) dark chocolate chunks to bring to dinner with friends recently, and was… Continue reading Vanilla Rhubarb Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Salad Dressing of the Week: Sherry Vinegar and Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Last night I was having dinner with some of my favorite lady friends, and we were talking about salad dressings, as you do with your lady friends.  They were saying that they each always make their same standby dressing, and were enjoying this new blog feature to help get out of their ruts. We shared… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Sherry Vinegar and Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Salad Dressing of the Week: Fresh Oregano and Dijon Vinaigrette

For another step in my continued fight to close down the salad dressing aisle in grocery stores, I’ll offer you a homemade salad dressing recipe each week. Fresh oregano certainly has a pronounced flavor, but actually so much more mellow and herbal and complex than what dried drab green flecks and pizza restaurant shakers have… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Fresh Oregano and Dijon Vinaigrette

The Garden as Scrapbook

  When I refer to our microfarm, I am talking about just over five thousand square feet of heirloom gardening spaces, that my husband and I have carved out, cared for, slowly added to and greatly benefitted from for the last almost decade.  Our home sits on a very rural, mostly wooded, forty-five acres, so… Continue reading The Garden as Scrapbook

Sesame Roasted Asparagus

    Something to do with asparagus right now…(and what I’m having for dinner.) <recipe> asparagus olive oil salt sesame oil toasted sesame seeds (a mixture of white and black, if available) Heat oven to 350° F. Toss asparagus stalks in olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Roast asparagus at 350° on a baking sheet… Continue reading Sesame Roasted Asparagus

Great Aunt Margaret’s Chocolate Frosting

Aunt Margaret (right) and my great grandmother, on my mother’s graduation day from kindergarten. Their three vastly different expressions are curious, and priceless. My son just celebrated his very first birthday.  I was naturally flooded with an enormous range of huge emotions.  But, instead of being very weepy and nostalgic for the entire month prior,… Continue reading Great Aunt Margaret’s Chocolate Frosting

Put it on Toast. 25 ways to start Thanksgiving.

Help!   Thanksgiving is 72 hours away and while you have been dog-earing cookbooks for weeks, shopped the weekend before, and even managed to avoid the elbow to your shoulder by the feisty octogenarian who was going to in NO WAY let you have the store’s last quart of whipping cream (this actually happened to me… Continue reading Put it on Toast. 25 ways to start Thanksgiving.

Four Fantastic Thanksgiving Hors d’Oeuvres

I have a really lovely huge piece in the current issue of the beautiful Green Door Magazine.  It is on hors d’oeuvres for Thanksgiving and fall gatherings–including southeast asian pickled shrimp, turnip soup, mini endive salads, and stuffed fresh figs. Issues can be purchased online, in either print or digital, and some of my food… Continue reading Four Fantastic Thanksgiving Hors d’Oeuvres

Lentil Soup: my last lunch.

One year and three days ago, at 3:30 in the afternoon on 11/11/11, I was eating lentil soup.  I am able to tell you exactly that, as it was the meal I finished just as my water broke for the birth of my son.  Truthfully, it was lentil soup followed by a scoop of my… Continue reading Lentil Soup: my last lunch.

Cantaloupe and Lime Granita

My grandfather loves cantaloupe.  At least I assume he does, as he has eaten a half cantaloupe filled with cottage cheese for lunch almost every day that I have known him.  I vividly remember him coming home for lunch (coming home for lunch!) when I was visiting them in my childhood, and my grandmother having… Continue reading Cantaloupe and Lime Granita

Pitchfork Diaries: Catch the Fever

local color on my drive home. It has been a pretty swell week for this little blog. First, I get the baby to nap just long enough that I manage to post my first recipe in months. Then, I get not one, but two really lovely mentions, on the websites of not one, but two… Continue reading Pitchfork Diaries: Catch the Fever

Rhubarb and White Cherry Ice Pop

I’m back. My hands have been very, delightfully full these last many months, but I feel like we are all finally starting to figure out a good rhythm together.  And being a mom is, well, utterly remarkable, and it is hard to not devour every minute. Even with our full hands, we did manage to… Continue reading Rhubarb and White Cherry Ice Pop

Pitchfork Diaries is part of the Foodie.com 100!

  Last month I was asked to be one of the Foodie 100 on the new Foodie.com beta site.  It is a very pretty, very full, social network-y site with, among others, 100 great food writers and bloggers as contributors. I have three recipes on the site now, that I created just for them.  Check… Continue reading Pitchfork Diaries is part of the Foodie.com 100!

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

new beginnings.

Food stylin’.  A dendrobium orchid garnish on my tray of hospital food–my first solid meal after giving birth a few weeks ago.  And yes, that is a bacon cheeseburger.  Don’t judge.  It was a very long night. Well, I wouldn’t have had a sudden long hiatus of blog posts, particularly through the biggest food holidays… Continue reading new beginnings.

Little Neck Clams with White Wine Cream Sauce

Here is an elegant meal or appetizer, that takes not more than minutes to whip up.  Warm, rich and creamy, it is a great recipe to keep in mind for winter holidays.  Serve it with crusty bread for soaking up the outrageously good sauce left behind, or serve the whole thing over pasta for a… Continue reading Little Neck Clams with White Wine Cream Sauce

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

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

If you are going to rot your teeth out with sweets on this Halloween, why not do it with a sweet, savory, nutty, homemade confection, that also makes use of the often discarded remnants of jack-o-lantern carving?? There are many recipes for pumpkin seed brittle out there, but most use the raw, hulled seeds (or… Continue reading Pumpkin Seed Brittle

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.

Leek Bacon and Gruyere Tart

This frenchy-french-french tart has the lusciousness of fall written all over it.  Spectacular for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, it is also glorious with a crisp green salad.  And it freezes really well.  So with it almost taking as much work to make one as to make two, do just that and stock yourself with… Continue reading Leek Bacon and Gruyere Tart

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

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Romesco Sauce

Dreaming of our trip to Barcelona, that was this month a year ago, I tried combining two of my favorites:  spanish romesco sauce with just-picked spaghetti squash from our garden.  Nutty, tangy, rich and warm, with a wonderful crunch from the squash, I literally had to make myself put the mixing spoon in the dishwasher… Continue reading Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Romesco Sauce

Market Watch: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash at the Jean-Talon market in Montreal. A complete delight and mystery, spaghetti squash was my favorite vegetable growing up.  Though not terribly popular or widely available in the late 70s, somehow my grandmother was able to procure one at least once a fall.  Into the oven as a hard, nubby, squash, then magically… Continue reading Market Watch: Spaghetti Squash

Chew on this.

“And he gave it for his opinon, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.” -Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s… Continue reading Chew on this.

One more bit of cherry tomato inspiration with which to send you off into the weekend…

I just discovered the Telepan TV channel on youtube.  Bill Telepan is one of my most favorite NYC chefs, who I had the great, great pleasure of cooking with for many months that the start of his inspirational and important Wellness in the Schools school lunch campaign. He has started to put together videos, sharing… Continue reading One more bit of cherry tomato inspiration with which to send you off into the weekend…

happycherrytomatomonday.

Though disappearing soon, cherry tomatoes are still adorning the tables of the farmers markets, and a few are hanging on to the vines for dear life in our gardens. I am trying to take advantage of them now as much as I can, as I know that too shortly I’ll be making deals with the… Continue reading happycherrytomatomonday.

Technique Tuesday: DIY Herbal Tea

It always is the case that this time of year is when I finally start to think about drying and putting away some fresh herbs from the garden.  Maybe it is because I am so busy using them fresh in the previous months, or I’m subconsciously trying to put them away as late as possible… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: DIY Herbal Tea

Chew on this.

” To “put by” is an early nineteenth-century way of saying to save something you don’t have to use now, against the time when you’ll need it…Putting food by is prudence, and it’s involvement.  It’s also a meaningful return to old simplicities and skills.  Above all, it is deeply satisfying.  We know what is added… Continue reading Chew on this.

Pitchfork Diaries joins Gojee.com!

How did you possibly live before the quite-brilliant food blog recipe site Gojee.com??  It serves as your online library/concierge/personal assistant/curator to help find new recipes from top food blogs, selected just for you and what you are craving, or better yet, what you have on hand at the moment. Launched a few months ago, today… Continue reading Pitchfork Diaries joins Gojee.com!

Sweet Corn Crème Caramel

  Corn this time of year is so sweet and full of natural sugar, that it lends itself to both sweet and savory preparations.  (They don’t call it “Butter and Sugar” for nothing.) This recipe is part homage to Meredith Kurtzman, the pastry chef and queen of all things gelato, at New York City’s Otto.… Continue reading Sweet Corn Crème Caramel

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!

Market Watch: Basil

    Basil has definitely arrived at the party.  Bunch upon fragrant bunch are cramming tables at the markets.  Not surprisingly we mostly think green and the same familiar scent and flavor when basil comes to mind.  But there are loads of heirloom varieties that are becoming much easier to track down.  (and grow yourself!)… Continue reading Market Watch: Basil

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

Roasted Nectarine and Zucchini Salad

  Here is a quick recipe I dreamt up, while on my roasted produce kick this week, using what is in abundance in the gardens and at the market.  Thankfully, it turned out to be heavenly, lick-the-bowl-clean good. There is a magical, sum is definitely greater than it’s parts, result here, as with many very… Continue reading Roasted Nectarine and Zucchini Salad

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