Tag: catie baumer schwalb

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

Meet Matthew Goldfarb and Petra Page-Mann, from Fruition Seeds.

Matthew Goldfarb and Petra Page-Mann, co-founders of Fruition Seeds. Through the marvelous thing that is this internet, though email, mutual blogs, and a mutual friend’s Kickstarter encouragement, I have very recently been put in touch with this wonderful couple, Matthew Goldfarb and Petra Page-Mann, co-founders of Fruition Seeds.  Located in the Finger Lakes region of… Continue reading Meet Matthew Goldfarb and Petra Page-Mann, from Fruition Seeds.

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

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

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

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…