Tag Archives: Ina Garten

Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

You have to applaud the marketing efforts of Nutella.  Nutella is, as the box proudly proclaims, little more than sugar and a mix of hazelnuts and cocoa.  Indeed, the first ingredient listed is sugar.  Owing to its healthy mix of hazelnuts, the spread also has its share of fat.  And yet, Nutella is branded as a necessary component of a balanced breakfast – as if it contained some vital, indispensable nutrients.  In almost all of its marketing literature, Nutella is featured at the breakfast table.

In fairness, Nutella does not advocate downing spoonful after spoonful of its spread.  Instead, the company notes that without Nutella, you might forego that piece of otherwise boring whole wheat toast.  In that respect, Continue reading

Cheese Straws

A savory alternative to cinnamon twists is cheese straws.  The preparation and process is much the same, but instead of cinnamon and sugar, try gruyere, parmesan,  Continue reading

Whole Wheat Grilled White Pizzas


After our adventures in Tuscany, we headed to Rome.  And as the saying goes: When in Rome, eat like a Roman.

On our third night in Rome, we decided to skip the hotel concierge and consult a higher authority: Google.  Google sent us to Pizzeria Baffetto in the Campo Marzio neighborhood.

The cab driver dropped us off as close as he could, and we set out on the cobblestone streets to find the pizzeria.  After a minute of walking, we saw a line extending several feet out of the door.  If this was the line at 9:00 at night, it had to be good pizza.

After forty minutes passed, we took our seat Continue reading

Chive Risotto Cakes

Giffen goods are a hot commodity – literally.

Giffen goods, named for the economist Sir Robert Giffen, are goods that do not respond to normal economic forces.  In a normal marketplace, the price and quantity of goods situate according to the well-established supply and demand curves.  And according to these economic principles, as the price of a good rises, the demand for the good at that price, falls.  Think about your standard flat-screen television.  At $1,200, the market for the product is understandably tepid.  And for that price, you might even settle for the old tube screen.  But at $400, suddenly your living room and kitchen are now boasting brand new televisions.

Giffen goods defy that logic.  As the price Continue reading

Madeleines

French recipes are, understandably, often steeped in history.  The nation is as proud of its culinary traditions as it is of its epistolary and philosophical ones.  It’s why the incursion of soft drinks and hamburgers are as noxious as the incursion of English words like “le leader,” “le power” and “le hot-dog.”  It’s why Jose Bove can become a national icon for burning down a McDonalds, and why Maria Antoinette’s remarks about brioche could topple a monarch.  The evolution of French culture and identity can be easily traced along the x-axis of language, and y-axis of cooking.

The center of this graph, the 0,0 point, might well be Marcel Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, or The Remembrance of Things Past.  In one section Continue reading

Maple-Roasted Winter Squash

Cooking offers the chance to learn something new.

Sometimes, it’s a new cooking style – broiling or deep frying, perhaps.  Other times, cooking offers the opportunity to try a new spice or a new vegetable.  When I learned the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, I went out and bought two different types of yams.

Not surprisingly, when I learned the difference between the different types of winter squash, I went out and bought three different types of squash.  Among them were two varieties I had never tried: acorn and ambercup.

Roasting different varieties together has its advantages.  It offers the chance Continue reading

Apple Cider Brined Roast Turkey

Thanksgiving is no time for experiments.  On any regular Thursday, the pizza parlor is just a phone call away.  But on Thanksgiving, there is no such luxury.

This year, I stuck with Ina Garten’s recipe for roast turkey.  Though, unlike the two previous years, I decided to brine my turkey – a technique which I had not yet tried.  Brining – the process of immersing the meat in a salt-water mixture – works to dry and salt the meat by osmosis.  That is, excess salt from the juice flows into the meat, while excess water from the meat, flows into the juice.  Which doesn’t sound great: who wants dry, salty meat?

Fortunately, the osmotic process is not finished.  As the salt enters the meat, Continue reading

Spanakopita

Spanakopita

During my senior year of high school, I got my first laptop.  By today’s standards, it was slow and it was heavy.  It hardly had any memory and it couldn’t even play a movie.  But it had an ethernet port, and so, it had potential.

When I got to college, Firestone library was only a few hundred yards from my dorm room.  But on a cold, wind-swept winter day, its collection and online database couldn’t  have seemed farther.  Fortunately, with a few keystrokes, and mouse clicks, its newspaper articles and scholarly journals were within reach.  From the university network, I could also stream my Russian language files and download my French politics assignment.  Early into freshman year, my laptop had become the epicenter of my college education.

Ten years later, Continue reading

Apple Pie

Apple Pie

This weekend, Caitlin and I went apple picking in nearby Belleville, Illinois.  Armed with our plastic bags, we each set off to collect the perfect apples.  Careful not to overload on the apples, we each filled our respective bag to the half-way point.  Yet, when we made it to the scale, we had collectively picked over sixteen pounds of Red and Golden Deliciousness.

Apple Pie Collage

Faced with the prospect of an overflowing fruit drawer, Continue reading

Ina Garten’s Perfect Pie Crust

Perfect Pie CrustAs with any recipe by Ina Garten, the question is not whether the dish will be great: it will be.  Rather, the question usually is: “How much butter can I leave out, and still have a great dish?”

In this case, Ina called for twelve tablespoons of butter, which struck me as a bit much.  I consulted my Cooking Light Dessert book, and found a nearly identical recipe, calling for six tablespoons.  Being my judicious self, I simply Continue reading