Category: Appetizers

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

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)

How to deal with Rhubarb

I love rhubarb.  I love it for it’s old fashioned vibe.  I love it for it’s color, striking tartness, and even for it’s moderate shelf life.  I also love it for showing up so darn early in the spring and sticking around for several months. And I too was at first intimidated by those long,… Continue reading How to deal with Rhubarb

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

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

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

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…

Zucchini, Carrot and Scallion Fritters

  These fritters are an homage to the perfect little hometown restaurant we had in our shoreline Connecticut town growing up in the 80s.  A place where everybody knew our name, where you could pop in casually for a wholesome lunch, or count on it for a suitably festive and elegant special occasion dinner. I’ve… Continue reading Zucchini, Carrot and Scallion Fritters

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

Garlic Scape and Herb Pancake

  Move over scallions.  I may have to cheat on you. My love affair with dim sum scallion pancakes is no secret.  There are few times I can think of when they don’t appeal to me.  (or make me start to go all Pavlovian as I even type the words.)  Though green and doing very… Continue reading Garlic Scape and Herb Pancake

happyradishwednesday.

  Radishes at the Migliorelli Farm stand at the Union Square Greenmarket, NYC Radishes of every color are pushing their way up through the dirt of my garden and attracting paparazzi-esque crowds at the farmers’ market.  This fresh and this young, they are sweet and mild, and add a peppery snap to salads and summer… Continue reading happyradishwednesday.

Sorrel Pistou and Fresh Ricotta Crostini

With sorrel in its tangy, bright abundance at the farmers’ markets now and throughout the summer, this pistou (or pesto or coulis) is a dynamite way to show it off.  Set out a platter of baguette slices, ricotta, and the green stuff and let your BBQ guests at it for a DIY appetizer.  Less work… Continue reading Sorrel Pistou and Fresh Ricotta Crostini

Asparagus Ricotta Galette

As hinted at earlier this week, asparagus is bustin’ out all over on our micro-farm.  One of the very first signs of a long season of fresh food from the gardens, this perennial faithfully returns each May, basically without us having to do a thing.  (That’s my kind of garden vegetable!) Since it is never… Continue reading Asparagus Ricotta Galette

Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Here is another cracker recipe with which to send you off into the weekend! This recipe and the Cornmeal and Chive Cracker recipe from earlier this week contrast each other nicely, and would make a sublime little cracker basket assortment.  This cracker is a little more subtle in flavor and more tender in texture than… Continue reading Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

In my ongoing quest to eliminate store-bought processed foods from our kitchen and life, this week I tackled crackers.  There is a long and growing list food items that I no longer even think of not making myself, and yet almost weekly I think nothing of tossing (overpriced) box after box of these crisp vices… Continue reading Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

Pan-Seared Sea Scallops, with Pickled Watermelon Radish and Microgreen Salad

  Here’s a great little dish using those irresistable watermelon radishes and microgreens now growing at a farmers’ market near you.  Ready in under a half hour, this would be a deceptively easy, super impressive first course for a local-chic dinner soiree.  Or triple the scallops, and pair it with cool buckwheat soba noodles dressed… Continue reading Pan-Seared Sea Scallops, with Pickled Watermelon Radish and Microgreen Salad

Scallion Pancakes

Scallion pancakes.  Oh how I love thee. These remarkable, little chewy, salty, scallion-y, layered disks of oily crunchy heaven completely stole my heart when I first had them my first year living in the city a decade and a half ago.  Often I would grab a late night snack of scallion pancakes and dumplings on… Continue reading Scallion Pancakes

Flavored Salt

In honor of last week’s National Popcorn Day, I’ve done some tinkering in the kitchen with flavorings.  My favorite project was coming up with different flavored salts.  It is outrageous that I haven’t done this sooner, and even more outrageous the number of super costly little precious jars of flavored finishing salts that I have sitting… Continue reading Flavored Salt

Popcorn

This Wednesday was National Popcorn Day.  Yes, I seemed to miss the parade too. We ate gallons of air popped popcorn growing up.  And later in the 80s, I quite willingly made the transition to the ballooning bags in the microwave.  Then on August 14, 2003 my popcorn life was changed forever.  That day was the massive… Continue reading Popcorn

New Year’s Thai Sauce for Oysters

First, I would love to have mouthwatering photos of fresh, succulent oysters, glistening under the spell of my dipping sauce.  But alas, the shucking big snow storm this week kept my delivery from getting from the Chelsea Market to me in middleofnowhereville, and my dinner guests from being my oyster sauce guinea pigs. So you’ll… Continue reading New Year’s Thai Sauce for Oysters

Turnip Soup

This remarkably simple, and remarkably comforting recipe has always been a part of our holiday meals.  When she first started making it, my grandmother used to enjoy quizzing unsuspecting guests as to what the star ingredient was in the soup.  It is so mellow, and balanced, and not cluttered with leek or potato, that it… Continue reading Turnip Soup

Utterly Chard-ming

First, yes, it is a terrible pun.  But in all honesty, I had a dream about writing this post, and that is the title I watched myself type in the dream.  So who am I to interfere with subconscious inspiration/intervention? Moving on… Our garden is still loaded with beautiful food.  But as is the case… Continue reading Utterly Chard-ming

Right Here, Right Now

This, all too brief, time of year when the garden is offering up treasures I would drive multiple time zones for in February, I find myself stumped in the kitchen.  Surprising, since I have before me the best raw materials I will see all year. But that’s just the point.  I want to step aside,… Continue reading Right Here, Right Now

Herb and Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Our few small winter squash plants, that I started from seed this year, have taken off, and taken over, and are now literally climbing the walls of the new squash garden we put in.  It is still amazing to me that one tiny 1.5 cm long seed can turn into a gigantic sprawling little-shop-of-horrors-like vine… Continue reading Herb and Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Ramp Tortilla Recipe

Ummmm…eggs…ramps…potato… When my brother returned from his junior year in Spain, he craved the egg tortilla espanola found on the counter at most tapas bars and eateries.  It also happened to be one of my favorite recipes I learned in my “egg” lesson in my first weeks in culinary school (thank you Chef Justin).  The… Continue reading Ramp Tortilla Recipe

Spicy-Tart Pickled Ramp Recipe

This past weekend friends who live near us upstate, on an area overrun with ramps, graciously invited us over for our second annual swap of all-we-can-pick ramps for a pick-up truck full of our “like gold” sheep manure for their garden. (So very cutting-edge-hipster-locavore.   Then again, poop for weeds…) After a very muddy morning,… Continue reading Spicy-Tart Pickled Ramp Recipe

Polenta with Goat Cheese, Shallots, and Greens recipe

On a trip to the farmers market it doesn’t serve you to bring a list or to have rigid expectations.  The most effective shopping there is always done by just discovering what is the very best of this week’s offerings.  As mentioned before, that can sometime be rough in the less produce-friendly times of year.… Continue reading Polenta with Goat Cheese, Shallots, and Greens recipe

Homemade Fresh Ricotta

Lately we have been getting the most wonderful fresh milk from Dirie’s Farm, a small family-owned dairy farm near us.  The milk has a whole melody of flavor, that clearly illustrates what people are talking about when they refer to the terroir in wine.  You can taste this area.  You can taste the differences in… Continue reading Homemade Fresh Ricotta

Pea Shoot, Celeriac, Apple and Hazelnut Salad

One of the toughest parts of eating almost exclusively locally in Upstate, NY, is the lack of bright, refreshing, crunchy, raw foods and salads in the colder months. We are overflowing in hearty carrot and squash soups, but there are definitely days I would kill for the snap of a thick slice of fresh cucumber.… Continue reading Pea Shoot, Celeriac, Apple and Hazelnut Salad

Winter Chicken “Noodle” Soup, with Dill Parmesan Crisps

After the 3+ feet of snow we had this past week, I find it impossible to believe that I am watching even more flurries outside today.  The blizzard this week caused the farmers, whose work ethic is only outdone by their good sense, to not come to NYC for the greenmarket this Friday.  Union Square,… Continue reading Winter Chicken “Noodle” Soup, with Dill Parmesan Crisps