Latest Blog Posts
Coconut Curry Mustard Sheet Pan Chicken (And A Giveaway!)
Soon into developing recipes for Sheet Pan Chicken, I realized that so many recipesâ ingredients could be interchangeable, and their procedures could lend themselves to endless iterations. Case in point: I developed a recipe loosely based on a hearty, French Dijon chicken stew. It was a pan full of mustard-rubbed chicken roasting alongside chopped bacon, potatoes and heaps of sliced onions and mushrooms, which sizzled as they cooked and... Read More
Come Home to Roast with ‘Sheet Pan Chicken’
For every cooking obsession, there should be a cookbook that speaks to it, and it alone. These are often called single-subject cookbooks, a genre that I adore. They can be pocket-sized or gargantuan, cheap or expensive, dusty-old or shiny-new and Iâll find it hard not to keep flipping the pages, nodding, appreciating its tight focus and unique perspective on the food topic in question. From exploring the historical underpinnings... Read More
Homemade Hummus with Fried Chickpea Skins
I had so much fun making and eating this bowl of warm, homemade hummus that even though Iâm far from an authority on the Middle Eastern spreadâand even though there are many acclaimed recipes for it onlineâI just had to share this journey and recipe with you. Why hummus? Itâs something I had been dropping into my shopping cart a lot lately, and eating up the tubs far too... Read More
Salmon Poke with Chayote on Cassava Chips
Whenever I travel somewhere, I like to geek out on its food and then, immediately upon returning home, try to relive some of those flavors in my own kitchen, while theyâre fresh in my memory. Often, this culminates in a dinner party on the theme of the place I had last visited. I recently traveled to Jamaica for my friend Karolâs 40th birthday, where we spent a languid 4-day weekend... Read More
Gefilte Fish and Beet-Horseradish Chrein
I have long wanted to make gefilte fish from scratch. This is not a refrain I have heard too many people repeat. Something else I have not heard too often (or ever?) is, âI really want to eat gefilte fish sometime!â Maybe because of this, I just have never gotten around to homemade gefilte fish before. I am so glad to have finally done so, prompted by a great recipe from a Russian-American... Read More
Ukrainian Cabbage Dumplings (Varenyky), and a Confession
The holiday season has arrived, and that means a lot of dumpling-making from November through February to my family and friends. Although no time of the year is spared of this tradition, we really bring it on the nights before Thanksgiving and Christmas: at least two types of fillings, stacks of round wrappers, and often, square, yellow wonton wrappers for boiled wontons and their filling are brought out onto the... Read More
Curried White Beans and Kale with Cherry Tomatoes
Beans, greens and grains: Remember this formula, and you will be fed for a lifetime in a very healthy, inexpensive and earth-friendly way. And itâll never get old. You simply cannot exhaust the shapes, sizes and varieties of beans, grains and green vegetables alone (but have fun geeking out over heirloom beans and trying!). And thereâs no limit to how you can prepare theseâfrom black beans and rice to daal to minestrone,... Read More
Easy Like Sunday Sauce
Call me a culinary thief, but I love cooking passed-down family recipes from other peoplesâ families. I say that with a bit of mischievousness because usually, the recipe-writerâthe nonna, auntie, etc.âhad shared their recipe with someone whom they love, but they probably never imagined that it would one day be used by a total stranger, me. Itâs kind of thrilling. Read More
Winter Squash Fritters with Walnuts and Feta
Say you want something savory, crispy, and friedâto start out a dinner, perhaps. Or to round out a more wholesome meal. Or to bring to a party, instead of a bag of chips (which Iâve done many times out of sheer enthusiasm for good potato chips and its place and purpose, and find no shame in). But letâs say you have time to roll up your sleeves in something... Read More
Gobo (Burdock Root) Gratin
When faced with a vegetable that youâve never cooked before, you can always try making it a proxy for a something that you have. Especially if that vegetable is as familiar as a potato, and the preparation is as adaptable as a gratin. Nowadays, we tend to think of this dish as a creamy, cheesy casserole of sliced potatoes. But you can cook anything in the oven with a sprinkling of... Read More
Sticky Rice Stuffed Cabbage
Food tucked inside individual portion-sized packagesâitâs a formula that has served many favorite dishes of mine. From dumplings to tamales, these dishes are often clever ways to stretch or use up scraps and leftovers. Because yesterdayâs stale starches and bits of proteins are much more charming dressed up in a wrapper. This dish is a cross between the minced mushroom and meat-laden Chinese sticky rice that I grew up... Read More
Spicy Chili Crisp and Peanut Ice Cream (with Spicy Chili Crisp Peanut Sesame Brittle)
Sweets with a salty, savory hint have always been aroundâthink the pinch of salt in a chocolate-chip cookie recipe. But in recent years, itâs become a selling point. From âsaltyâ caramel to âsaltedâ chocolate chip cookies, the emphasis has really moved over to the savory side of the equation in sweets. And, weâve seen plenty of sweets with a spicy kick as well. For me, the worlds of spicy, savory and sweet all came... Read More
Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie
Iâve had an earworm for the last few weeks. Ever since finding a record called âApples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pieâ by Jay & the Techniques, the title track has been playing in my head nearly constantly. Itâs a great songâhave a listen. This pie is not what the song is actually about, but I just couldnât shake the idea of making it. In an uncanny confluence of new seasonal fruits and old... Read More
Corn on the Cob with Gochujang Mayo
Thereâs really nothing that parallels that burst of succulent kernels when sweet corn is in season, late summer. Just the noise of biting them straight off the cobâoften uncontrollably fastâis a soundtrack to the season. Not to diminish the enjoyment of pure corn on the cob, maybe slicked with butter, but Iâve been slathering those juicy ears with a combo like this all summer: mayo mixed with some kind of spicy sauce. This... Read More
Caesar Salad with Seared Scallops
You donât have to reinvent the wheel for a meal. Especially not in the summer, when itâs often hot and humid enough to make the stove a scary place. I seem to wind up with so many heads of lettuce in the summer, tooâfrom my CSA or farmers markets or friendsâthat I have to play a version of pin the tail on the donkey with them that involves lettuce heads,... Read More
Chicken and Basil Wontons
This wonton filling is proudlyâif improbablyâfashioned after san bei ji or Three Cup Chicken. This is one of the ultimate dishes from Taiwan, and one I love enough to try to twist into different forms any day. It starts with a deeply satisfying blend of soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine (the eponymous âthree cupsâ), and itâs splashed with copious aromaticsâgarlic, ginger and basil. I wanted to get its zingy,... Read More
Asparagus and Feta Quiche
It may be the twilight hour for spring but Iâm savoring as much fresh asparagus as I can get. You know those ethereally green, snappy twigs of juicy, crispy, woody goodness wonât be in season for much longer here in the Northeast. If youâve been simply grilling them like I have been a lot these short pre-summer nightsâor perhaps enjoying them raw in a lightly dressed saladâthen you may... Read More
Reason For Not Eating Out #64: To Cook Things You Didn’t Think Were Possible
Cooking is empowering. And itâs unique, in that this simple exercise provides you with one of the few daily necessities for survivalâfood. You canât say that for going to the gym, or writing a brilliant essay, as empowering as those activities may be. Itâs not always the case that whipping up a plate of dinner gives you a great sense of personal accomplishment. But when you cook something that... Read More
Apple and Roasted Hakurei Turnip Salad with Hot Honey-Mustard Dressing
Iâm a big fan of two-ingredient âsaladsââif youâll allow me to call them that. What makes a salad a salad? Itâs not uncommon to see a âtomato saladâ with just tomato and dressing. So is the imperative on fresh vegetables? (Not so! What about chicken, egg or grain-based salads?) Does it need to be cold? (No! Warm or room-temperature salads are a typical Moroccan side, like with carrots, for instance.) To... Read More
Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine, Tomatoes and Rutabaga
Iâm convinced that big chunks of root vegetables are the perfect complement for rich, hearty winter stewsâthey absorb all their juices like savory sponges while adding to the complexity of the sauce. Even if nontraditional, they can make a stealthy starring role in such venerable cold-weather, long-cooked staples as cassouletâwith or without the addition of meat. Or wine-braised short ribs. Read More
Miso Chicken Soup with Leeks, Cabbage, Shiitake Mushrooms and Radishes, with Radish Chips
Who says you canât put miso in chicken soup? Or chicken in miso soup? I get itâmiso paste is a great plant-based source of protein and flavor. Chicken soup, made from flesh and bone, needs little help in those departments. But I couldnât decide. When it comes to winter slurping satisfaction, both chicken soup and miso soup are such all-time comforts. If you like both those soups, too, they... Read More
Steamed Whole Fish With Spicy Black Bean Sauce
Growing up, pretty much any time I ate fish it was prepared in one of two ways: steamed whole, then drenched with julienned ginger, scallions and soy sauce. Or, pan-fried whole, then drenched with spicy, garlicky bean sauce. Later on, I would grow to love dipping fried fish sticks into ketchup and savoring every juicy bite of a Cajun-seasoned catfish fillet. But at the beginning, it was all about... Read More
Philly Cheesesteak Dumplings
What doesnât taste good in a dumpling? Good question. Another: Is there any festive occasion whose theme canât be dumpli-fied? I say there is definitely not. So when Super Bowl LII weekend was approaching, and I realized that one of the teams playing was the Philadelphia Eagles, I decided to make dumplings with a filling a la the cityâs signature hoagie. Cheesesteak Dumplings arenât that different from Cheeseburger Dumplings, after all. Read More
Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Preserved Lemon
Thereâs evil starches, then thereâs good-for-you starches, from a modern-day health perspective. White potatoes are roundly shunned as one of those bad, rotten, festering ones of the bunch, bound to metastasize into a gummy tube of fat around your waistline. Refined white flours are bad, too, if you can even eat them without experiencing painful gluten intolerances! Now, I will never call either of these types of food âbadâ entirely,... Read More
New England Clam Chowder
Letâs start off a year of fewer regrets. Itâs 2018, a good time to start getting things done! Itâs about time to do things that have long been neglected and put off, like a laundry list ofâwell, laundry is one of them. And for some reason, I have never made New England-style clam chowder before. Letâs knock this one off and keep on going strong. Read More
Reason For Not Eating Out #63: Because It’s Cold Outside
The lyrics to the classic wintry song, âBaby, Itâs Cold Outside,â did not age too well. Sung as a male-female duet, the woman repeatedly insists âI really must go,â to which the male singer retorts, âBaby, itâs cold outside.â But you can tell from the smugness in his voice that heâs really not that concerned about the cold. He wants to get her into his bed. And maybe she... Read More
The Worst Dish of 2017, Reimagined
Happy End of the Year. Itâs that time of looking back at all the highs and lows of 2017. Best-ofs and worst-ofs. Instead of offering my take on the best food books of the year, or ranting again about Gifts Not To Give the Cook, I wanted to try to put a positive spin on one of the worst moments in dining of 2017, according to Eaterâs Senior Food Critic, Robert Sietsema. Reviewing... Read More
“Italian Sub” Lasagna
Late fall, when the heaters turn on and the skies turn gusty and gray, is the start of dinner party season for me. The days of strolling around and sitting down in the park for an impromptu picnic are done for the year. The air conditioners have been deposited to their upper reaches of closets. Itâs cozy indoors, and even when you pack a table with twelve guests and blow... Read More
Cassoulet and Rillettes: A Post-Thanksgiving Trip to France
The greatest Reason For Not Eating Out is having leftovers in the fridge. And the greatest reason for having leftovers in the fridge, of all days of the year, is perhaps Thanksgiving. If you made the requisite roast turkey for the grand dinner, youâre bound to have lots of bits and pieces of turkey meat clinging to the carcass, no matter how much of it you and your family ate. Many cultures can... Read More
Torn Cabbage Salad with Apples and Pecorino
This dish is part-recipe, part-stress therapy. When I served it as part of a baby shower brunch recently, people kept coming up to ask me a) Was that raw cabbage? and b) How did you cut it? You donât cut it, I told them. You have to roll up your sleeves and tear it with your bare hands, which I demonstrated by air-tearing. Itâs a lot of fun. Read More
Coconut Curry Mustard Sheet Pan Chicken (And A Giveaway!)
Soon into developing recipes for Sheet Pan Chicken, I realized that so many recipesâ ingredients could be interchangeable, and their procedures could lend themselves to endless iterations. Case in point: I developed a recipe loosely based on a hearty, French Dijon chicken stew. It was a pan full of mustard-rubbed chicken roasting alongside chopped bacon, potatoes and heaps of sliced onions and mushrooms, which sizzled as they cooked and shrank in size. A glug of heavy cream added to the … Read More
Come Home to Roast with ‘Sheet Pan Chicken’
For every cooking obsession, there should be a cookbook that speaks to it, and it alone. These are often called single-subject cookbooks, a genre that I adore. They can be pocket-sized or gargantuan, cheap or expensive, dusty-old or shiny-new and Iâll find it hard not to keep flipping the pages, nodding, appreciating its tight focus and unique perspective on the food topic in question. From exploring the historical underpinnings of an iconic dish like Pho (as masterfully told by Andrea … Read More
Homemade Hummus with Fried Chickpea Skins
I had so much fun making and eating this bowl of warm, homemade hummus that even though Iâm far from an authority on the Middle Eastern spreadâand even though there are many acclaimed recipes for it onlineâI just had to share this journey and recipe with you. Why hummus? Itâs something I had been dropping into my shopping cart a lot lately, and eating up the tubs far too quickly for my once-or-twice-a-week grocery-shopping routine. It had been several years … Read More
Salmon Poke with Chayote on Cassava Chips
Whenever I travel somewhere, I like to geek out on its food and then, immediately upon returning home, try to relive some of those flavors in my own kitchen, while theyâre fresh in my memory. Often, this culminates in a dinner party on the theme of the place I had last visited. I recently traveled to Jamaica for my friend Karolâs 40th birthday, where we spent a languid 4-day weekend with a handful of friends. I didnât expect it to be … Read More
Gefilte Fish and Beet-Horseradish Chrein
I have long wanted to make gefilte fish from scratch. This is not a refrain I have heard too many people repeat. Something else I have not heard too often (or ever?) is, âI really want to eat gefilte fish sometime!â Maybe because of this, I just have never gotten around to homemade gefilte fish before. I am so glad to have finally done so, prompted by a great recipe from a Russian-American co-worker.
Ukrainian Cabbage Dumplings (Varenyky), and a Confession
The holiday season has arrived, and that means a lot of dumpling-making from November through February to my family and friends. Although no time of the year is spared of this tradition, we really bring it on the nights before Thanksgiving and Christmas: at least two types of fillings, stacks of round wrappers, and often, square, yellow wonton wrappers for boiled wontons and their filling are brought out onto the table and everyone gets busy folding. The inevitable chatter over how … Read More
Curried White Beans and Kale with Cherry Tomatoes
Beans, greens and grains: Remember this formula, and you will be fed for a lifetime in a very healthy, inexpensive and earth-friendly way. And itâll never get old. You simply cannot exhaust the shapes, sizes and varieties of beans, grains and green vegetables alone (but have fun geeking out over heirloom beans and trying!). And thereâs no limit to how you can prepare theseâfrom black beans and rice to daal to minestrone, to new creations that are somewhere in between these various classics of … Read More
Easy Like Sunday Sauce
Call me a culinary thief, but I love cooking passed-down family recipes from other peoplesâ families. I say that with a bit of mischievousness because usually, the recipe-writerâthe nonna, auntie, etc.âhad shared their recipe with someone whom they love, but they probably never imagined that it would one day be used by a total stranger, me. Itâs kind of thrilling.
Winter Squash Fritters with Walnuts and Feta
Say you want something savory, crispy, and friedâto start out a dinner, perhaps. Or to round out a more wholesome meal. Or to bring to a party, instead of a bag of chips (which Iâve done many times out of sheer enthusiasm for good potato chips and its place and purpose, and find no shame in). But letâs say you have time to roll up your sleeves in something a bit more involved than grabbing bodega potato chips. And itâs … Read More
Gobo (Burdock Root) Gratin
When faced with a vegetable that youâve never cooked before, you can always try making it a proxy for a something that you have. Especially if that vegetable is as familiar as a potato, and the preparation is as adaptable as a gratin. Nowadays, we tend to think of this dish as a creamy, cheesy casserole of sliced potatoes. But you can cook anything in the oven with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top and call it a âgratin,â in French tradition. … Read More
